John Seleden’s
FOR THE FEAST OF THE NATIVITY
Sermon 192
(1) On this day 'Truth is sprung out of the earth'[1]
Christ was born as Man. Rejoice as befits a great feast;
reminded by this temporal day, consider the Eternal Day and
desire eternal gifts with unfaltering hope; according to the
privilege granted to you, presume to be the sons of God. For
your sake the Maker of time has been made in time; for your sake
the divine Architect of the world has appeared in human form;
for your sake the Creator has been created. Why, O mortals, are
you still delighted with passing trifles and why do you attempt
to grasp this fleeting life, as if this could be done? A far
brighter hope has now shone upon the earth as a pledge to mortal
men of life in heaven. To gain credence in this promise an
incredible event has been permitted. He who was God became Man
in His effort to make godlike those who were men; without
relinquishing what He was, He desired to become what He had
made. He Himself fashioned what He would become, in that He
added man's nature to God without losing God's nature in man. We
marvel at the child-bearing of a virgin and we try to convince
unbelievers of this unheard-of manner of birth wherein the fetal
life began without seed, and the mother, without human
intercourse, brought forth a son of man, whose father she did
not embrace as man, and wherein the integrity of virginity
remained intact in conception and incorrupt in parturition.
God's power is wonderful but more marvelous is His mercy, for
He, who was able to be born in this manner, wished to be so
born. He who was born as the only Son of His Mother was already
the only Son of His Father; He was fashioned as man by the
Mother whom He Himself had made; existing eternally with His
Father, He took a temporal existence from His Mother; created by
His Mother after His Mother, He was uncreated by His Father
before all time; without Him the Father never existed; without
Him His Mother would never have existed.
(2) Rejoice, virgins of Christ, for the Mother of Christ is your
associate. You could not have borne the Christ-Child, but for
the love of Christ you have not desired to bear any child. He
who was not born of you was born for you. However, if you
remember His words, as you should, you know that you are His
mothers because you do the will of His Father. For He Himself
has said: 'Whoever does the will of my Father ... he is my
brother and sister and mother.'[2]
Rejoice, widows of Christ, for you have vowed the holiness of
continency to Him who made your virginity fruitful. Rejoice, you
who are chaste in marriage, living faithfully with your
husbands; guard in your hearts what you have lost in body. Since
physical integrity is no longer possible for you, let your
conscience be intact in faith even as the whole Church is
virginal. In Mary, consecrated virginity brought forth Christ;
in Anna, aged widowhood recognized the little Christ; in
Elizabeth, conjugal chastity and late fertility struggled for
Christ. All classes of faithful members have brought to their
Head what by His grace they were able to give. In like manner do
you, because Christ is Truth and Peace and Justice, conceive Him
in faith and show Him forth in works. Let your heart accomplish
in the law of Christ what Mary's womb wrought in the flesh of
Christ. How are you not included in the child-bearing of the
Virgin since you are the members of Christ? Mary brought forth
your Head; the Church, you His members. For the Church, too, is
both mother and virgin: mother by the bowels of charity, virgin
by the integrity of faith and piety. She brings forth diverse
peoples, but they are members of Him whose body and spouse she
is, and even in this respect she bears the likeness of the
Virgin because in the midst of many she is the mother of unity.
(3) Let us all, therefore, unanimously, with chaste minds and
holy affections, celebrate this birthday of the Lord on which we
came into being according to the words: 'Truth is sprung out of
the earth.'[3]
For the following passage of the same psalm has already been
fulfilled. When He who sprang from this earth, that is, who was
born of flesh, ascended into heaven, then without a doubt
'Justice hath looked down from heaven,' because He came from
heaven and is above all men.[4]
He Himself commends this justice in the words He used when
promising the Holy Spirit: 'He will convict the world of sin,
and of justice, and of judgment: of sin? because they do not
believe in me; of justice, because I go to the Father, and you
will see me no more.'[5]
This is the justice which hath looked down from heaven for 'his
going out is from the end of heaven, and his circuit even to the
end thereof.'[6]
Lest anyone should despise the Truth because He sprang from the
earth when as a spouse He came forth from His bride-chamber,
that is, from the virginal womb and when He, the Word of God,
was united in an ineffable union with human nature I repeat,
lest anyone should despise Him on that account and believe that
Christ, although marvelous in His birth, and in His words and
deeds, was, because of the likeness of sinful flesh, nothing
more than man, the Psalmist, after saying: 'As a bridegroom
coming out of his bride-chamber hath rejoiced as a giant to run
the way,' immediately adds: 'His going out is from the end of
heaven.'[7]
Therefore, the words which you hear, 'Truth is sprung out of the
earth,' constitute an honor, not a mere condition; they are a
mark of mercy, not of misery. Truth descended from heaven that
He might spring forth from earth; His going out is from the end
of heaven so that as a bridegroom He might proceed from His
bride-chamber. Hence it is that He was born on the day which is
the shortest in our earthly reckoning and from which subsequent
days begin to increase in length. He, therefore, who bent low
and lifted us up chose the shortest day, yet the one whence
light begins to increase. By such a coming, though silent, He
urged us, as with the sound of a mighty voice, to learn how to
be rich in Him who became poor for us; to accept freedom in Him
who took the form of a slave for us; to possess heaven in Him
who sprang from earth for us.
[1]
Ps. 84.12.
[2]
Cf. Matt. 12.50.
[3]
Ps. 84.12.
[4]
Cf. John 3.31.
[5]
John 16.8-10.
[6]
Ps. 18.7.
[7]
Ps. 18,6,7.
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Adoration of the Shepherds
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