John Seleden’s
FOR THE FEAST OF THE NATIVITY
Sermon 188
(1) It is not at all strange that human consideration and human
speech are inadequate when we undertake to praise the Son of
God, the Word of God and God Himself, the Life and Light of men,
as He exists in the bosom of the Father, equal to and co-eternal
with Him in whom all things visible and invisible, in heaven and
on earth, were established. For how would our tongue be able to
pay suitable tribute to Him whom our heart, destined by God to
be the instrument by which He is to be seen, as yet cannot see,
if iniquity would be purged, weakness be healed, and the clean,
of heart become blessed because they will see God?[1]
1 It is not strange, I say, for us to fail to find words in
which to speak of the Word by whom the word was spoken which
gave being to us who would now say something about Him. For our
mind brings words into existence after they have been thought
over and formed, but our mind itself is formed by the Word. Nor
does man fashion words in the same way in which man was made by
the Word, because the Father Himself did not beget His only Word
in the same way in which He made all things through the Word.
For God begot God, but the Begettor and the Begotten are one and
the same God. Moreover, God made the world but the world passes
while God remains. Although these things which were made
certainly did not make themselves, He by whom all things were
made was made by no one. It is not strange, then, that man, one
of those created things, does not know how to discuss the Word
by whom all things were made.
( 2 ) Let us direct our ears and minds to this consideration for
a little while to see if, by any chance, we can say something
suitable and worthy, not by reason of the fact that In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word
was God,' but because 'the Word was made flesh'; to see if, by
chance, something adequate may be expressed by us because He
'dwelt among us';[2]
or if, perchance, He may be satisfactorily discussed there where
He wished to be seen. For these reasons we celebrate this day on
which He deigned to be born of a virgin, a generation which He
Himself caused to be narrated by men. But 'who shall declare his
generation'[3]
in that eternity in which God was born of God? Such a day set
apart for solemn celebration does not exist in eternity, for the
day in eternity does not pass, destined to return with the
revolving year; it remains without a setting because it began
without a rising. Therefore, the only-begotten Word of God, the
Life and Light of men, is indeed the Eternal Day, but this day
on which, joined to human flesh, He became, as it were, a
'bridegroom coming out of his bride-chamber'[4]
4 is our today and passes as tomorrow becomes yesterday.
Nevertheless, our today commends the Eternal Day born of the
Virgin because the Eternal Day born of the Virgin consecrated
this day. What praises shall we voice, what thanks shall we give
for the charity of God who so loved us that for us He by whom
all time was made became Man in time; that He, in His eternity
more ancient than the world, became inferior in age to many of
His servants in the world; that He who made man became Man; that
He was formed in the Mother whom He Himself formed, carried in
the hands which He made, nourished at the breasts which He
filled; that, in the manger in mute infancy, He the Word without
whom all human eloquence is mute wailed?
(3) Consider, O man, what God became for your sake; understand
this lesson of surpassing humility presented by a teacher who,
as yet, says no word. Once, in paradise,[5]
you were so eloquent that you named every living thing; for your
sake, however, your Creator lay speechless and did not even call
His Mother by her name. By disregarding obedience, you have lost
yourself in the tractless reaches of fruitful groves; He, in
obedience, came into the very narrow confines of mortality so
that by dying He might seek you who were dead. Though you were
man, you wished to be God, to your own destruction; though He
was God, He wished to be man that He might find what He had
lost. Human pride brought you to such a depth that only divine
humility could raise you up again.
Therefore, let us celebrate with joy the day on which Mary
brought forth the Saviour; on which the one joined in marriage
brought forth the Creator of the union, and a virgin, the Prince
of virgins; on which one given to a husband is a mother not by
that husband, since she was a virgin before marriage and in
marriage, a virgin when with child and when nursing her child.
The birth of her omnipotent Son detracted in no way from the
virginity of holy Mary, whom He Himself chose when He
contemplated the assumption of human nature. Fertility is a
blessing in marriage, but integrity in holiness is better.
Therefore, the Man Christ who was able to furnish both
prerogatives to His Mother (for He was God as well as Man) would
never have granted to His Mother the blessing in which wives
delight in such a way as to deprive her of the better gift for
which virgins forego motherhood. And so, the holy Church, as a
virgin, celebrates today the child-bearing of a virgin. For to
the Church the Apostle says: 'I have betrothed you to one
spouse, that I might present you a chaste virgin to Christ.'[6]
Why, addressing so many persons of both sexes, including not
only youths and maidens but also married men and women, does he
say a chaste virgin'? Why is this, I repeat, unless he refers to
the integrity of faith, hope, and charity? Hence, Christ,
intending to establish virginity in the heart of the Church,
preserved it first in the body of Mary, In human marriage, a
woman is given to her husband so that she may no longer be a
virgin; but the Church could not be a virgin, unless she had
first found the Son of the Virgin as a spouse to whom she might
be given.
[1]
Cf. Matt. 5.8.
[2]
John 1.1,14.
[3]
Isa. 53.8.
[4]
Ps. 18.6.
[5]
Cf. Gen. 2.19-21; 3.
[6]
2 Cor. 11.2.
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Adoration of the Shepherds
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