De Nativitate Domini.

SERMO VIII. De Nativitate Domini.  
Translator’s Preface by Nick Kamas

In divinae miserationis magnitudinem libet aciem mentis intendere, et quantum rationalis creatura suo debeat Redemptori, ex beneficiorum commemoratione colligere. 

Primo quidem quia hominem cum non esset, mirabiliter de terra plasmavit, dehinc cum astutia serpentis et fallacia mulieris perditus esset, mirabilius reformavit. In plasmando mira potestas, in reformando mirabilior potestatis apparuit humilitas. Nec enim adeo humana miratur infirmitas, si potens aliquis innumeros servos suae ditioni servituros potenter acquirat, quam si eosdem fugitivos interim abscondita potestate, minis remissis, indebitae humilitatis blandimentis revocatos apprehendat. In primo statu conditionis homo desipiens, quia timuit potestatem, non dilexit majestatem: appetivit libertatem, incurrit servitutem: et qui per obedientiam potuit deificari, ex hoc ambiens vanitati meruit subjugari.
 
Benignus ergo conditor nolens perire quod creaverat, in habitu servi conservis apparuit, ut familiari colloquio insinuaret majestatem, excitaret ad charitatem. Facto itaque collyrio de terra et saliva, caeci nati oculos aperuit, quia Dei sapientia, in unitate personae nostrae naturae conjuncta in humano genere caecato a prima origine intellectum, quo Deum cognosceret, et amorem quo agnitum diligeret, reformavit, ut jam multiplici beneficio obligatum eum non amare non posset, cujus tam multa beneficia in se praecessisse cognosceret. In beneficio enim primae conditionis, sapientia et virtus conditoris enituit: in beneficio autem reconciliationis, quo aversos et male meritos ad se revocavit, poenas remisit, praemia repromisit, quantum, quod condidit amaret, evidenter ostendit, et sic in iis quos prior dilexerat, ignem sui amoris accendit. Agnovit enim aegrotus medicum suae salutis affectuosum et peritum, miratus et humilitatem, miratus et sapientiam, dilexit sanitatem. Agnovit quod pretiosum esset antidotum, quod cum fecerat medicus suus ad evadendum morbum tam acutum, tam inveteratum; etiam ingratus esse non potuit, qui tot beneficia sui Redemptoris accepit. 
 
Humilitatem quippe agnovit, quia ipse medicus noster infirmitate carnis nostrae tanquam in lecto discubuit infirmantium, ut experiretur quid sanandum infirmis suis esset necessarium. Sapientiam quoque hujus medici novit aegrotus, quia juxta rationem medicinae, in quibusdam sanitatem contulit aegrotis per similia, in quibusdam morbus [morbum] evacuavit per contraria. Per similia quidem, quia natus est ut renasceremur; infirmatus est, passibilia nostrae mortalitatis perferendo, ut nos ab omni passibilitate servaremur; crucifixus est ne nos cruciatibus aeternis subjiceremur; mortuus est temporaliter, ne nos in aeternum moreremur; suscitatus est, ut ei consuscitaremur; ascendit, ut per suam ad dexteram Patris sessionem secum traheret devoti gregis humilitatem. Si vero quibus contrariis contrarios morbos evacuaverit, attendatur, videmus quia per personam servi nostram reparavit libertatem, per humilitatem suam dejecit antiqui hostis superbiam, per suam obedientiam nostram sanavit inobedientiam. Haec omnia et verbo docuit, et exemplo probavit, ut quae imitanda proposuit, obedienter impleremus; quae speranda promisit, sine haesitatione speraremus. 
 
Quantum autem pretium pro nobis redimendis solverit iste medicus, a montibus audiamus. De profundo enim clamat ille mons altus, cui a monte montium commissae sunt claves regni coelorum. Non enim corruptibilibus auro et argento redempti estis de vana vestra conversatione, sed pretioso sanguine agni immaculati (Matth. XVI; I Petr. I). Huic consonat alius mons, a sole justitiae illustratus doctor gentium: «Empti estis pretio magno, glorificate Deum et portate in corpore vestro (I Cor. VI).» 

Agnus iste immaculatus non ille est, qui in veteri sacrificio requirebatur absque maculae varietate de pecoribus natus: sed verus et innocens, de immaculato virginis utero generatus; non ille, cujus sanguine postes tingebantur, sed in cujus fide fidelium frontes crucis impressione signantur; non ille, cujus sanguis sacerdotum manibus fundebatur, sed qui a seipso sacerdote vero pro salute nostra offerendus praefigurabatur. Neque enim aeque digna hostia, aeque munda potuit inveniri, quae pro nobis emundandis offerretur, neque sacerdos aeque dignus, aeque mundus, a quo tam digna hostia digne offerretur. Ipse enim de seipso sic ait: «Nemo tollit animam meam a me, sed ego pono eam, et iterum sumo eam (Joan. X).» Iste agnus sine macula et ruga virginem sibi sponsam sociavit, sicut ibi matrem viginem antea sanctificavit. Unde nativitas, qua temporaliter natus est Christus, non dissimilis est nativitati, a qua spiritualiter nascitur Christianus. Sicut enim Christi mater virgo concepit, virgo peperit, virgo permansit, sic mater Ecclesia Christi sponsa, lavacro aquae in verbo Christianos populos quotidie generat, ut virgo permaneat. In illa carnis integritas, in hac commendatur fidei puritas. 
 
Audiamus Paulum amicum sponsi casto amore zelantem sponsam non sibi, sed sponso Ecclesia Corinthiorum sic dicentem: «Aemulor enim vos Dei aemulatione, despondi enim vos uni viro virginem castam exhibere Christo (II Cor. X).» Hic quidem pignore spiritus subarrhata in integritate fidei, in morum honestate, fidei virgo est de spe ad spem producenda, ut ibi plena jucunditate in pleno sponsi amore gaudeat, cujus arces [artes], contempta omni serpentis seductione, conservat. 
 
Quomodo autem matrem carnis suae sanctificaverit, deinceps audiamus, ut inde laetetur catholicus, immundus confutetur haereticus. Omnem quippe naevum tam originalis, quam actualis culpae in ea delevit: sicque carnem ejus sumens, eamdem in divinam munditiam transformavit. Etenim sic ait Scriptura: «Deus noster ignis consumens est (Deut. IV; Hebr. XII).» Sicut ergo ignis materialis omnem materiam quam assumit, mundans, in se convertit; sic materiale, carnis nostrae quod divinus ignis assumpsit, divinitatis expers esse non potuit, quatenus, quod Deus est per naturam, hoc inciperet habere per gratiam. Prima etenim humani generis parens, quia serpentinae persuasionis virtus excepit, duplici maledicto succubuit, ut et cum viro mortem incurreret, et ut filios quos carnis delectatione conciperet, cum dolore parturiret. Hujus maledictionis omnes filiae Evae haeredes successerunt, et omnes filios suos sub necessariae mortis condemnatione genuerunt. Sola haec mater, quae non sibilo serpentis, sed angeli nuntiantis verbis credidit benedictionem, quae utrumque maledictum excluderet, audire promeruit: «Benedicta tu in mulieribus (Luc. XIV),» quia nec per concupiscentiam carnis concipies, «nec filium in dolore paries: et benedictus fructus ventris tui (ibid.),» ipse videlicet filius qui nec ex sanguinibus, neque ex voluntate viri natus, non necessitate, sed  voluntate temporalem subiit, et ab aeterna nos morte liberavit. 
 
In hac Christi Nativitate Deus homo natus est, ut homines renascerentur dii. In hac inclinatur divinitas, ut sublimetur humanitas. Inclinans se Deus tanquam humilis et fortis adjutor, quasi humerum supponit ad sublevandum, et inter tantam dissimilitudinem corruptibilis naturae et incommutabilis substantiae, personam suam utriusque naturae participem, mediatricem opposuit, quae per id, quod nobis habet aequale, sublevaret, et tanquam de laterna carnis lippientibus oculis, et solem nisi sub nube videre volentibus, temperati luminis jubar effudit, et ignorantiae nostrae tenebras illustravit. 
 
Miser etenim homo ad imaginem Dei conditus, «cum in honore esset, non intellexit: et «ideo» similis factus est jumentis insipientibus (Psal. XLVIII.)» Haec jumenta fenum, quo alerentur, non habebant: panem suum comedere fuerant oblita, sicut deplorans ait Psalmista: «Aruit cor meum, quia oblitus sum comedere panem meum (Psal. CI).» Ideo panis angelorum factus est fenum animalium, id est alimentum simplicium, ut inde lac sugeret parvulus, unde forti cibo pascitur angelus; sicque in virile robur educatus per alimoniam lactis, quandoque pertingat ad internum et aeternum gustum divinae majestatis, id est, quod «Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis (Joan. I).»
 
Verbum Domini in principio apud Deum contempletur cum angelis, interim per speculum in aenigmate, postea vero manifesta visione. Hic sicut in via, ibi sicut in patria; hic beneficia per medicum nostrae salutis sapienter, fortiter, mirabiliter et misericorditer nobis esse collata gaudeamus. Horum recordatione peregrinationis nostrae labores relevemus, quatenus sic longanimiter militemus in via, ut donarium recipiamus in patria.
  It is agreeable to turn the keenness of the mind toward the greatness of divine compassion, and to sum up, from the commemoration of his kindnesses, how much rational creation owes to its Redeemer. 
  
For at first, since he formed man miraculously from the earth when man had not existed, then, when man had been lost through the cunning of the serpent and the deceit of the woman, he more miraculously formed him again. His power in the act of formation is wonderful; in the act of reformation, the humility of his power appears more wonderous. And indeed human weakness should not so greatly be amazed, if someone powerful should acquire effectively innumerable servants to minister to his dominion, than if he should apprehend those same people as fugitives, called back through the coaxing of unmerited humility, with his power hidden and his threats diminished. In the first state of his condition man was witless, since he did not fear power or esteem greatness: he sought freedom and incurred servitude. And he was able to be deified through obedience, but straying from this he deserved to be subjected to vanity.

Therefore the beneficent creator, not desiring what he had created to perish, appeared to his fellow servants in the form of a servant (cf. Phil. 2:7) that he might introduce greatness through familiar speech and might incite them to charity. And so after the salve was made from earth and spittle, he opened the eyes of the man born blind (cf. Jn. 9:6), since the wisdom of God, joined in unity to a person of our nature, in the human race, blind from its first origins, reformed the understanding though which the human race knew God and the love through which it esteemed what it discerned. This was done so that, being obliged by many kindnesses, he would not be able not to love him, whose many kindnesses the human race would recognize abounding in itself. For in the kindness of the first condition, the wisdom and strength of the creator shone forth: but in the kindness of reconciliation, through which he called the diverted and those deserving of evil back to himself, he remitted the punishments, he promised again the rewards, and he clearly showed how much he loved what he created, and thus, in those whom he had loved before, he kindled the fire of his own love. For the sick man has come to know the physician as well-disposed toward his well-being and skilled, both marveling at humility and marveling at wisdom, he cherishes his health. He has come to know that the antidote is of great value, which, since his physician had made it to avoid so acute and longstanding an illness; he, who received so many of the benefits of his Redeemer, was not able to be ungrateful.
 
Indeed, he has come to know humility, since our physician himself reclined with the infirmity of our flesh, as if in the bed of the sick, so that he might experience what was necessary for healing his patients. The sick man also knows the wisdom of this doctor, since, according to the method of medical practice, in certain sick people he confers health through similar things, in other sick people he has purged the illness through contrary things. Through the similar, because he was born so that we might be reborn; he was sick, through enduring the feelings of pain of our mortality, that we might be saved from every susceptibility to pain; he was crucified so that we might not be subjected to eternal torture; he died temporally so that we might not die eternally; he was raised, so that we might be raised with him; he ascended, so that he might draw with himself, through his sitting at the right hand of the Father, the humility of his faithful flock. And if he has purged different illnesses though some contrary means, let it be noted: we see that through the person of a servant he renewed our freedom, through his humility he cast down the pride of the ancient enemy, through his obedience he corrected our disobedience. He both taught these things by word and proved them by example, so that we might obediently fulfill the things which he showed worthy of imitation; that we might hope for, without hesitation, the things which he promised worthy of hope. 
 
Let us hear from the mountains how great a price this physician paid to redeem us. For that high mountain [i.e., St. Peter] cries from the depths, to whom from the mountain of mountains [i.e., Christ] the keys of the kingdom of heaven were granted (cf. Mat. 16:19). For you have been redeemed from your vain conversation not by corruptible gold and silver, but by the precious blood of the immaculate lamb (I Pet. 1:18-19). Another mountain agrees with this one, from the sun of justice the exalted teacher of the gentiles [i.e., St. Paul]: You have been purchased at a great price, glorify God and carry him in your body (I Cor. 6:20).
 
This immaculate lamb is not the one which was required in the old sacrifice, and which was born from the flocks without the difference of a blemish, but the true and innocent lamb, brought forth from the immaculate womb of the Virgin; not the one through whose blood the lintels were tinged, but in whose faith the foreheads of the faithful are signed with the mark of the cross; not the one whose blood was shed by the hands of the priests, but the one who was prefigured to be offered for our salvation though himself as the priest. For it was not possible that either a worthy or a clean sacrifice was to be found, which could be offered for our purification, nor could a worthy or clean priest be found, though whom so worthy a sacrifice could be offered worthily. For he said concerning himself: No one takes my spirit from me, but I lay it down myself, and I take it up again (cf. Jn. 10:18). This lamb, without stain or blemish, united a virgin to himself as a bride, just as he sanctified the virgin mother before. Wherefore the nativity, at which Christ was born temporally, is not unlike the nativity from which a Christian is born spiritually. For just as the mother of Christ conceived as a virgin, gave birth as a virgin, and remained a virgin, thus the mother church, the bride of Christ, creates the Christian people by the laver of water in the word (cf. Eph. 5:26), so that it might remain a virgin. In the former, the integrity of the flesh is commended, in the latter, the purity of faith. 
 
Let us hear Paul, the friend of the bridegroom, zealous toward the bride with a pure love not for himself, but for the bridegroom, saying at the church of the Corinthians: For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ (II Cor. 11:2). Here indeed with a pledge of the spirit, guaranteed in the integrity of the faith, in the honesty of behavior, the virgin of the faith should be led from hope to hope, so that she might rejoice there with full joy in the full love of the bridegroom, whose citadel he preserves, since the seduction of every serpent has been spurned.
 
Next, let us hear how he sanctified the mother of his flesh, so that the orthodox believer may rejoice and the impure heretic may be confounded. For he wiped away each mark in her, as much of original sin as of actual sin: in thus taking on her flesh, he transformed her into divine cleanliness. And indeed the Scripture says thus: Our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). For just as material fire purifies and converts into itself every substance which it acquires, so the material aspect of our flesh, which the divine fire took up, is not able to be free of divinity, to the point that it began to have by grace what God is by nature. Indeed, the first parent of the human race, since the power of serpentine persuasion ensnared her, succumbed to the duplicitous evildoer, so that she befell death with the man, and so that she would bear children, whom she conceived with the pleasure of the flesh, with pain (cf. Gen. 3:16). All of the heirs of the daughter of Eve followed in this curse, and they bore all of their children under the condemnation of necessary death. This mother alone, who gave a blessing not to the hissing of the serpent, but to the announced words of the angel, who precluded each curse, deserved to hear: Blessed are you among women, because neither will you conceive through the desire of the flesh, nor will you bear a son in pain, and blessed is the fruit of your womb (Luc. 1:28). Clearly the son himself, who was born neither out of blood nor from the will of man, endured the temporal world not of necessity, but voluntarily, and he freed us from eternal death.
 
In this Nativity of Christ, God was born as man, so that men might be born again as gods. Divinity lowers itself in this, so that humanity may be raised up. God, lowering himself as a humble and strong supporter, as though he placed his shoulder underneath humanity in order to raise it up, and between such an unlikeness of corruptible nature and incommutable substance, he brought forward his own person, a participant of each nature, as a mediator. This person assisted though that which it has equally with us, and just as from a lantern to the bleary eyes of the flesh, and to those wishing to see the sun only under a cloud, it poured forth the radiance of a mild light, and it illuminated the shadows of our ignorance.
 
A wretched man created in the image of God, when he was in honor, he did not understand, and the same man is similar to senseless beasts (Ps. 48:13). These beasts did not have the hay by which they were nourished, they had forgotten to eat their own bread, as the Psalmist says: my heart is withered, because I forgot to eat my bread (Ps. 101:5).The same bread of angels was made the hay of animals, that is, the nourishment of the simple, so that the little child could suck milk from the same place where the angel is fed with strong food (cf. Heb. 5:12-13). Thus reared into a manly oak through the nourishment of milk, in time he should attain to the inward and eternal foretaste of the divine majesty, that is, because the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (Jn. 1:14).
 
Let the Word of the Lord, with God in the beginning, be contemplated together with the angels, right now through a mirror as a sort of enigma, but afterward with clear vision; here, as if on the road, but there, as if in one’s homeland. Here, let us rejoice that the kindnesses are conferred by the physician of our salvation wisely, boldly, miraculously, and mercifully. By remembering these things, let us lighten the labors of our journey, and let us serve as soldiers [i.e., of Christ] on the path so patiently, to the point that we receive treasure in our homeland.