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| Ireland announces third national lockdown, threatens mass vaccination before it ends |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-24-2020, 07:43 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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Ireland announces third national lockdown, threatens mass vaccination before it ends
'It will probably be towards the end of February or early March before a critical mass of the population is vaccinated and I think we need to operate on the basis that these restrictions will be in place until then,' Deputy Irish Prime Minister Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said.
DUBLIN, Ireland, December 23, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Politicians in Ireland have announced a third national lockdown, banning public worship once more and saying that the restrictions will likely continue until there have been mass vaccinations.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin announced the grim news in a press conference Tuesday afternoon, justifying the move by referencing an uptake in COVID-19 ‘positive’ cases. The restrictions take effect at midnight on December 24 and are officially set to last until January 12, when a review is to take place. The Dáil Éireann, Irish parliament, is due to return on January 13, after the Christmas break.
Despite setting a date, Martin admitted to the press that the government did not actually have any targets it wished to have met by January 12.
However, that date seems to have already been altered, as the deputy prime minister Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, intimated that the lockdown would last until March, and would be linked to vaccination roll-outs. “It will probably be towards the end of February or early March before a critical mass of the population is vaccinated and I think we need to operate on the basis that these restrictions will be in place until then,” Varadkar declared.
The Tánaiste’s words are similar to those of U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who on Sunday suggested that newly announced lockdowns in the U.K. could last until a vaccine was widely distributed. “We don’t know how long these measures are going to be in place. It may be for some time until we can get the vaccine going…It is going to be very difficult to keep it [the virus] under control until we have the vaccine rolled out.”
Martin went further in an interviewthe day before, saying that restrictions could last up to six months: “We’ll be looking at restrictions for the next six months. It’s going to be a parallel process of vaccinating the public while at the same time keeping the pressure on the virus.”
Both politicians have also stated that they are operating on the assumption that the newly identified strain of COVID-19 is in the country, although gave no evidence at all to support this. “We do not yet have firm evidence that the new, more virulent, strain of the Covid virus is in our country,” Martin revealed, yet added the government would work “on the assumption that it is already here.”
“We don’t know if the new variant is circulating in Ireland but we’re operating on the basis that it is,” Varadkar echoed.
The latest restrictions are somewhat staggered, with some measures starting on Christmas Eve, others on December 27, and still more coming into effect on New Year's Day. Gyms, leisure centers and swimming pools have been permitted to remain open, along with non-essential retail, although stores have been asked to avoid holding January sales.
From New Year's Day, “no visitors are permitted to your home except for essential family reasons, such as providing care to children, elderly or vulnerable people, or as part of a support bubble.”
Martin made reference to an “alarming scale of the growth” of the virus, saying that this was “of grave concern and couldn’t be ignored.” He made the alarmist claim that Ireland was experiencing a “third wave” of the virus, which could see higher hospital admissions and deaths compared to the ‘second wave’, which saw only “limited” admissions and “low mortality.”
Yet, figures as recently as December 20 show just 1,911 deaths have been attributed to the virus in Ireland, with 238 infected patients currently in hospital, and 28 in intensive care. Including patients termed as probably or possibly infected, 2,171 deaths in total have been linked to the virus, but 2,018 people who died already had underlying health conditions. The average age of those who have died is 81 years.
Speaking on TV last Friday, Varadkar even mentioned how “this winter in Ireland has seen no excess deaths”.
Mass and worship banned...yet again
Whilst retail is permitted to continue, the government has once again moved to force churches and places of worship to close, with effect from December 26. Christmas Day Masses will be the last ones permitted.
All ceremonies are to “move online” and churches will be open only for private prayer. Weddings can occur and have 25 guests present until January 3, from which point only 6 guests are allowed.
It marks the third time this year that the Irish people will be barred from attending Mass and the sacraments. Mass was only re-permitted a few weeks ago after two months without public worship, with lockdown regulations threatening jail to priests who said Mass.
Catholics previously petitioned for a return to Mass and the sacraments, noting that it is actually unconstitutional in Ireland to ban worship.
In a statement to LifeSiteNews, Anthony Murphy, Director of Lumen Fidei Institute and editor of Catholic Voice magazine, described the law as “an unjust and discriminatory attack on our faith fuelled by the anti-Catholicism of our political leaders” adding that “we have a duty to resist this law which takes Ireland back to the penal times.”
Murphy noted the discrepancy between Ireland and England and France, saying that “our bishops chose to abandon the faithful and collaborate with the pagan state - it is particularly shameful that at this time of year our bishops remain silent.”
“How can it be that gyms and shops can remain open, but churches must close even though all churches in Ireland implemented procedures to make public worship safe? The government cannot provide any evidence that public worship is not safe and so this ban must be rescinded immediately and if not then faithful Catholics and priests must be ready to stand up to this new wave of persecution. I encourage Catholics to seek out good priests and with them organise the public celebration of Mass.”
Murphy continued: “While the state has a duty to care for the health of its people the ultimate provider of health is God and at this time of year we must be allowed to celebrate the birth of his Son, the Saviour of mankind not just on Christmas Day but throughout the year.”
“We cannot allow the state to reduce the worship of God to a ‘non-essential’ service while at the same time encouraging people to go to gyms or the hairdresser - we must prioritise the spiritual health of the nation because only God can lead us out of the darkness of this crisis. I pray that one of our bishops finds the courage to speak out against these harmful and unnecessary restrictions. All we need is one good bishop to lead the fight back against the state-sponsored censorship of Christ.”
Newly formed conservative political part Aontú, has called the church closures “incredibly illogical” adding that “The democratic process is another casualty in a long list of Covid.”
Dr. Roger Hodkinson, CEO and Medical Director of Western Medical Assessments, has blasted lockdown measures, saying that “[a]ll of this is draconian … first of all because they have no basis in evidence-based medicine, and secondly because of horrendous consequences of that action.”
“The bottom line is simply this: There is utterly unfounded public hysteria driven by the media and politicians. It’s outrageous. This is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on an unsuspecting public.”
[Emphasis mine.]
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| December 24th - St. Charbel Makhlouf, Sts. Tarsila and Emiliana, and St. Delphinus |
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Posted by: Elizabeth - 12-24-2020, 01:06 AM - Forum: December
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Saint Charbel Makhlouf
Maronite Priest and Hermit
(1828-1898)
Saint Charbel Makhlouf, the modest monk of Lebanon whose perfectly conserved mortal remains exude a miraculous sanguinolent liquid, has become known to many in the past half century, because of the extraordinary miracles which have drawn thousands to visit his tomb.
Youssef Makhlouf was born in 1828 in Bika'Kafra, the highest village of Lebanon, near the grove of the still-conserved famous cedars of Lebanon. The youngest of five children, he became a little shepherd. Their pious mother lived almost as a religious in her family home. She would pray with outstretched arms, telling her family to allow no one to see her at those moments. The children's father also possessed the genuine piety which recommends a Christian to his brethren, but the little Youssef never knew him, for he died when the youngest son was only two years old. An uncle took upon himself the support of the family, which was thereby maintained intact. The child was profoundly affected by the example of two other maternal uncles, who were monks of the Maronite Lebanese Order, living in a hermitage only three miles away, and whom he often visited, at first with his mother, later on his own. They would say to him: All here below is nothing, the world is vanity, life is short. The true beauty is God, near Him there is true happiness. Wisdom is to not find oneself with empty hands at the supreme hour.
By the time he was sixteen, he had completed his basic schooling under an oak in the village churchyard, where he was taught by the priest with the other village boys. The Christian spirit of the entire village was remarkable; the men regarded it as a great privilege to ring the church bells for Sunday Mass. Youssef during his days on the hillside with his little flock, often retired to a grotto to pray, for solitude was his joy, and prayer the breath of his soul. He was serving Mass every morning, and in that function he discovered the true purpose of his existence: to be, like his Saviour, a victim to be offered, with Christ, to His Father.
At the age of twenty-three he left home silently one morning, and made his way to a monastery a day's journey away. Only one thing mattered to him — to obey the voice of the One who summons: Come, follow Me. When his uncle and tutor, Tanios, tried to persuade him to return, he could not succeed; and his mother, who had accompanied her brother, taking his hand in hers, and shaking it energetically, said to him: Well then, if you should not become a good religious, return with me to the house! He received the habit one week after entering the monastery, and chose the name of Charbel, a martyr of the Antioch church in the year 107.
There followed two years of a severe novitiate, completed in the monastery of Annaya, which on its mountaintop seemed to breathe the stars, then the young monk was sent to prepare for the priesthood farther away, at Saint Cyprian of Kfifan, where he was ordained six years later at the age of 31. He returned to Annaya afterwards, where for sixteen years he was in every way a model of perfection, until in 1875, at forty-seven years of age, he retired to its nearby hermitage, where he would remain until his death. He was offering Mass a week before Christmas, when paralysis struck him as he elevated the host. His sorrowing companion, during a week's time, heard him repeating as long as he had voice, the prayers of his uncompleted Mass: O Father of truth, behold Your Son, victim to please You; condescend to approve [this offering], because for me He endured death, to give me life... Saint Charbel died quietly on the 24th of December, attended by three monks.
The events of his life are not often extraordinary save by their heroic virtue, which indeed exceeds description. He endured the extreme cold of his hermitage each winter, without ever adding additional garments to his ordinary very simple ones; this alone sufficed to astonish all who knew of it. The monks who trembled with cold during the night when they kept vigil at his coffin before his funeral, said: See how we find ourselves unable to endure for a single night, the rude cold of this chapel! How could this priest live here for twenty-three years, on his knees, like a statue before the altar, every night from midnight until eleven in the morning, when he rose to say his Mass? Blessed is he, for he undoubtedly receives at present his reward with God! We can nonetheless relate with the biographer whom we cite here, that one day he completely cured a dangerously violent insane man, whom several others had difficulty to make enter the monastery, but who went to its chapel when the Saint commanded him to do so; and there, when Saint Charbel placed a Gospel on his head and prayed, he became calm and silent, remaining thereafter entirely cured. On another occasion, while the monks were outdoors working to harvest their grapes, a huge venomous serpent emerged from beneath a bush, in a threatening attitude. Saint Charbel told the others who had already armed themselves not to touch it, and commanded it to depart, which it did in peace.
After his death a great many miracles occurred. Sick and infirm people of all kinds have been healed: deaf, dumb, blind, paralytic, those with cancer, mental illness, etc. They are also of every religion and every country. God worked these wonders either when people touched the body of His servant of were anointed with the oily liquid that sweated miraculously from his precious remains, or when they touched cloths either impregnated with this liquid or which had belonged to him.
The divine power that strengthens and heals does not limit itself to the needs of the body. It especially cures wounds of the soul in every form — sin, indifference, unbelief, error. Indeed, it is the healing of souls that occurs most often amid the cures that take place at Annaya. Since the death of Saint Charbel, thousands of cases of miraculous healings have been recorded.
Saint Charbel was one of those souls which, in a life of silence, mortification, deprivation and total gift of self, was able to detach itself from everything except the adorable Face of the Lord. Nothing mattered more for him than the redemption and salvation of souls, for whom he wanted to give his life in union with Christ on the cross. He applied these words of Saint Paul in their totality: I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the Passion of Christ for His body, which is the Church. (Colossians 1:24)
Saints Tarsilla and Emiliana
Virgins
(Sixth Century)
Tarsilla and Emiliana were two paternal aunts of Saint Gregory the Great, and it is this holy Pope who narrates their touching story. They renounced the world together, together consecrated their virginity to God and remained in their house as if in a convent, far removed from the conversation of the world. Encouraging one another to virtue by discourse and example, the two sisters soon made considerable progress in spiritual life.
They had a sister named Gordiana, who had taken the same engagements, but little by little fell back into affection for the world, to the great grief of Tarsilla and Emiliana. With gentleness they reproached her, but the inconstant spirit of Gordiana soon forgot their charitable lessons. One day Tarsilla had a vision, in which Pope Saint Felix, her uncle, appeared to her and showed her a palace of marvelous beauty, saying to her: Come; I will receive you into this habitation of light. She fell ill with a fever the next day, which rapidly grew worse. While in her agony, with her eyes lifted to heaven, she cried out to those surrounding her, Make way! Jesus is coming! Soon after speaking these words, as she gazed at the vision, her soul was delivered from the bonds of the flesh. It was December 24th. The fragrance with which the room was filled confirmed the vision the virgin had had before dying.
A few days afterwards she appeared to her sister Emiliana, saying: My sister, come! I did not celebrate with you the birth of the Lord, but together we will celebrate the feast of the Epiphany. If you call only me, Emiliana replied, what will become of our sister Gordiana? Come, Tarsilla answered sadly; Gordiana has decided to remain with the worldlings. And after that vision, Emiliana fell ill and joined her sister for the feast day.
Saint Delphinus
Bishop of Bordeaux
(† 403)
Little is known of the origins of Saint Delphinus; it is after his elevation to the episcopate that he became famous among the bishops of his time as a vigilant protector of the truth. We have written evidence, however, that his piety and learning made him so celebrated that the saintliest bishops of the Church were honored to be his friends and to correspond with him.
He was present at the Council of Saragossa in 380, at which the Priscillian heretics were condemned. Later he assembled a Council in Bordeaux, his episcopal city, which the heretics had entered and where they were working havoc; this assembly condemned once again the same propagators of error. The bishop's force and preaching so reduced their influence that they abandoned the region entirely and fled to Italy.
Saint Delphinus baptized Saint Paulinus, later Bishop of Nola, in 388, and inspired in him the desire to live a life of perfection. He, in several letters, speaks of Saint Delphinus as his father and his master. Saint Delphinus died on the 24th of December, at the beginning of the fifth century.
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| St. Ephraim the Syrian: Hymns in Honor of the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-23-2020, 01:13 PM - Forum: Christmas
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Hymn 1
This is the day that gladdened them, the Prophets, Kings, and Priests, for in it were their words fulfilled, and thus were the whole of them indeed performed! For the Virgin this day brought forth Immanuel in Bethlehem. The voice that of old Isaiah spoke, Isaiah 10:19 today became reality. He was born there who in writing should tell the Gentiles' number! The Psalm that David once sang, by its fulfilment came today! The word that Micah once spoke, Micah 5:2 today had come indeed to pass! For there came from Ephrata a Shepherd, and His staff swayed over souls. Lo! From Jacob shone the Star, Numbers 24:17 and from Israel rose the Head. Hosea 1:11 The prophecy that Balaam spoke had its interpreting today! Down also came the hidden Light, and from the Body rose His beauty! The light that spoke in Zachary, today shined in Bethlehem!
Risen is the Light of the kingdom, in Ephrata the city of the King. The blessing wherewith Jacob blessed, to its fulfilment came today! That tree likewise, [the tree] of life, brings hope to mortal men! Solomon's hidden proverb Proverbs 3:18 had today its explanation! Today was born the Child, and His name was called Wonder! Isaiah 9:6 For a wonder it is that God as a Babe should show Himself. By the word Worm did the Spirit foreshow Him in parable, because His generation was without marriage. The type that the Holy Ghost figured today its meaning was [explained.] He came up as a root before Him, as a root of parched ground. Isaiah 53:2 Anything that covertly was said, openly today was done! The King that in Judah was hidden, Thamar stole Him from his thigh; today arose His conquering beauty, which in hidden estate she loved. Ruth at Boaz' side lay down, because the Medicine of Life hidden in him she perceived. Today was fulfilled her vow, since from her seed arose the Quickener of all. Travail Adam on the woman brought, that from him had come forth. She today her travail ransomed, who to her a Saviour bare! To Eve our mother a man gave birth, who himself had had no birth. How much more should Eve's daughter be believed to have borne a Child without a man! The virgin earth, she bare that Adam that was head over the earth! The Virgin bare today the Adam that was Head over the Heavens. The staff of Aaron, it budded, and the dry wood yielded fruit! Its mystery is cleared up today, for the virgin womb a Child has borne!
Shamed is that people which holds the prophets as true; for unless our Saviour has come, their words have been falsified! Blessed be the True One Who came from the Father of the Truth and fulfilled the true seers' words, which were accomplished in their truth. From your treasure-house put forth, Lord, from the coffers of Your Scriptures, names of righteous men of old, who looked to see Your coming! Seth who was in Abel's stead shadowed out the Son as slain, by Whose death was dulled the envy Cain had brought into the world! Noah saw the sons of God, saints that sudden waxed wanton, and the Holy Son he looked for, by whom lewd men were turned to holiness. The brothers two, that covered Noah, Genesis 9:23 saw the only Son of God who should come to hide the nakedness of Adam, who was drunk with pride. Shem and Japhet, being gracious, looked for the gracious Son, Who should come and set free Canaan from the servitude of sin.
Melchizedek expected Him; as His vicegerent, looked that he might see the Priesthood's Lord whose hyssop Leviticus 14:52 purifies the world. Lot beheld the Sodomites how they perverted nature: for nature's Lord he looked who gave a holiness not natural. Him Aaron looked for, for he saw that if his rod ate serpents up, Exodus 7:12 His cross would eat the Serpent up that had eaten Adam and Eve. Moses saw the uplifted serpent that had cured the bites of asps, and he looked to see Him who would heal the ancient Serpent's wound. Moses saw that he himself alone retained the brightness from God, and he looked for Him who came and multiplied gods by His teaching:
Caleb the spy bore the cluster on the staff, and came and longed to see the Cluster, Whose wine should comfort the world. Him did Jesus son of Nun long for, that he might conceive the force of his own surname: for if by His name he waxed so mighty, Hebrews 4:8 how much more would He by His Birth? This Jesus that gathered and carried, and brought with him of the fruit, was longing for the Tree of Life to taste the Fruit that quickens all. For Him Rahab too was looking; for when the scarlet thread in type redeemed her from wrath, in type she tasted of the Truth. For Him Elijah longed, and when Him on earth he saw not, he, through faith most throughly cleansed, mounted up in heaven to see Him. Moses saw Him and Elijah; the meek man from the depth ascended, the zealous from on high descended, and in the midst beheld the Son. They figured the mystery of His Advent: Moses was a type of the dead, and Elijah a type of the living, that fly to meet Him at His coming. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 For the dead that have tasted death, them He makes to be first: and the rest that are not buried, are last caught up to meet Him.
Who is there that can count me up the just that looked for the Son, whose number cannot be determined by the mouth of us weak creatures? Pray for me, O beloved, that another time with strength endued, I in another legend may so set forth their foretaste, as I am able. Who is adequate to the praising of the Son of the Truth that has risen to us? For it was for Him the righteous longed, that in their generation they might see Him. Adam looked for Him, for He is the Cherub's Lord, and could minister an entrance and a residence hard by the branches of the Tree of life. Abel longed after Him, that in his days He might come; that instead of that lamb that he offered, the Lamb of God he might behold. For Him Eve also looked; for woman's nakedness was sore, and He capable to clothe them; not with leaves, but with that same glory that they had exchanged away. The tower that the many built, in mystery looked for One, who coming down would build on earth a tower that lifts up to Heaven. Yea the ark of living creatures looked in a type for our Lord; for He should build the Holy Church, wherein souls find a refuge. In Peleg's days earth was divided into tongues, threescore and ten. For Him Who by the tongues, to His Apostles divided earth. Earth which the flood had swallowed up, in silence cried to her Lord. He came down and opened Baptism, and men were drawn by it to Heaven. Seth and Enos, Cainan too, were surnamed sons of God; for the Son of God they looked, that they by grace might be His brethren. But little short of a thousand years did Methuselah live: He looked for the Son Who makes heirs of life that never ends! Grace itself in hidden mystery was beseeching on their behalf that their Lord might come in their age and fill up their shortcomings. For the Holy Spirit in them, in their stead, besought with meditation: Romans 8:26 He stirred them up, and in Him did they look on that Redeemer, after whom they longed. 1 Peter 1:11
The soul of just men perceive in the Son a Medicine of life; and so it felt desires that He might come in its own days, and then would it taste His sweetness. Enoch was longing for Him, and since on earth the Son he saw not, he was justified by great faith, and mounted up in Heaven to see Him. Who is there that will spurn at grace, when the Gift that they of old gained not by much labour, freely comes to men now? For Him Lamech also looked who might come and lovingly give Him quiet from his labour and the toiling of his hands, and from the earth the Just One had cursed. Genesis 5:29 Lamech then beheld his son, Noah — him, in whom were figured types relating to the Son. In the stead of the Lord afar off, the type at hand afforded quiet. Yea Noah also longed to see Him, the taste of whose assisting graces he had tasted. For if the type of Him preserved living things, Himself how sure to bestow life upon souls! Noah longed for Him, by trial knowing Him, for through Him had the ark been established. For if the type of Him thus saved life, assuredly much more would He in person. Abraham perceived in Spirit that the Son's Birth was far off; instead of Him in person he rejoiced to see even His day. John 8:56 To see Him Isaac longed, as having tasted the taste of His redemption; Hebrews 11:19 for if the sign of Him so gave life, much more would He by the reality.
Joyous Daniel 4:13 were today the Watchers, that the Wakeful came to wake us! Who would pass this night in slumber, in which all the world was watching? Since Adam brought into the world the sleep of death by sins, the Wakeful came down that He might awake us from the deep sleep of sin. Watch not we as usurers, who thinking on money put to interest, watch at night so oft, to reckon up their capital, and interest. Wakeful and cautious is the thief, who in the earth has buried and concealed his sleep. His wakefulness all [comes to] this, that he may cause much wakefulness to them that be asleep. Wakeful likewise is the glutton, who has eaten much and is restless; his watching is to him his torment, because he was impatient of stint. Wakeful likewise is the merchant; of a night he works his fingers telling over what pounds are coming, and if his wealth doubles or trebles. Wakeful likewise is the rich man, whose sleep his riches chase away: his dogs sleep; he guards his treasures from the thieves. Wakeful also is the careful, by his care his sleep is swallowed: though his end stands by his pillow, yet he wakes with cares for years to come. Satan teaches, O my brethren, one watching instead of another; to good deeds to be sleepy, and to ill awake and watchful. Even Judas Iscariot, for the whole night through was wakeful; and he sold the righteous Blood, that purchased the whole world. The son of the dark one put on darkness, having stripped the Light from off him: and Him who created silver, for silver the thief sold. Yea, Pharisees, the dark one's sons, all the night through kept awake: the dark ones watched that they might veil the Light which is unlimited. You then watch as [heaven's] lights in this night of starry light. For though so dark be its color yet in virtue it is clear.
For whoever is like this clear One, wakeful and prayerful in darkness, him in this darkness visible a light unseen surrounds! The bad man that in daylight stands, yet as a son of darkness deals; though with light clad outwardly, inwardly is with darkness girt. Be we not deceived, beloved, by the fact that we are watching! For whoever does not rightly watch, his watch is an unrighteous watch. Whoever watches not cheerfully, his watching is but a sleeping: whoever also watches not innocently, even his waking is his foe. This is the waking of the envious one! A solid mass, compact with harm. That watch is but a trafficking, with scorn and mockery compact. The wrathful man if he wakes, fretful with wrath his wake will be, and his watching proves to him full of rage and of cursings. If the babbler be waking, then his mouth becomes a passage which for sins is ready but for prayers shows hindrance.
The wise man, if so be he that watches, one of two things chooses him; either takes sweet, moderate, sleep, or a holy vigil keeps. That night is fair, wherein He Who is Fair Song of Songs 1:15 rose to come and make us fair. Let not anything that may disturb it enter into our watch! Fair be kept the ear's approach, chaste the seeing of the eye! hallowed the musing of the heart! The speaking of the mouth be cleared. Mary hid in us today leaven that came from Abraham. Let us then so pity beggars as did Abraham the needy. Today the rennet fell on us from the gentle David's house. Let a man show mercy to his persecutors, as did Jesse's son to Saul. 1 Samuel xxvi The prophets' sweet salt 2 Kings 2:20 is today sprinkled among the Gentiles. Let us gain a new savour Matthew 5:13 by that whereby the ancient people lost their savour. Let us speak the speech of wisdom; speak we not of things outside it, lest we ourselves be outside it!
In this night of reconcilement let no man be angry or gloomy! In this night that stills all, none that threatens or disturbs! This night belongs to the sweet One; bitter or harsh be in it none! In this night that is the meek One's, high or haughty be in it none! In this day of pardoning let us not exact trespasses! In this day of gladnesses let us not spread sadnesses! In this day so sweet, let us not be harsh! In this day of peaceful rest, let us not be wrathful in it! In this day when God came to sinners, let not the righteous be in his mind uplifted over sinner! In this day in which there came the Lord of all unto the servants, let masters too condescend to their servants lovingly! In this day in which the Rich became poor for our sakes, let the rich man make the poor man share with him at his table. On this day to us came forth the Gift, although we asked it not! Let us therefore bestow alms on them that cry and beg of us. This is the day that opened for us a gate on high to our prayers. Let us open also gates to supplicants that have transgressed, and of us have asked [forgiveness.] Today the Lord of nature was against His nature changed; let it not to us be irksome to turn our evil wills. Fixed in nature is the body; great or less it cannot become: but the will has such dominion, it can grow to any measure. Today Godhead sealed itself upon Manhood, that so with the Godhead's stamp Manhood might be adorned.
Hymn 2
Blessed be that Child, Who gladdened Bethlehem today! Blessed be the Babe Who made manhood young again today! Blessed be the Fruit, Who lowered Himself to our famished state! Blessed be the Good One, Who suddenly enriched our necessitousness and supplied our needs! Blessed He Whose tender mercies made Him condescend to visit our infirmities!
Praise to the Fountain that was sent for our propitiation. Praise be to Him Who made void the Sabbath by fulfilling it! Praise too to Him Who rebuked the leprosy and it remained not, Whom the fever saw and fled! Praise to the Merciful, Who bore our toil! Glory to Your coming, which quickened the sons of men!
Glory to Him, Who came to us by His first-born! Glory to the Silence, that spoke by His Voice. Glory to the One on high, Who was seen by His Day-spring! Glory to the Spiritual, Who was pleased to have a Body, that in it His virtue might be felt, and He might by that Body show mercy on His household's bodies!
Glory to that Hidden One, Whose Son was made manifest! Glory to that Living One, Whose Son was made to die! Glory to that Great One, Whose Son descended and was small! Glory to the Power Who did straiten His greatness by a form, His unseen nature by a shape! With eye and mind we have beheld Him, yea with both of them.
Glory to that Hidden One, Who even with the mind cannot be felt at all by them that pry into Him; but by His graciousness was felt by the hand of man! The Nature that could not be touched, by His hands was bound and tied, by His feet was pierced and lifted up. Himself of His own will He embodied for them that took Him.
Blessed be He Whom free will crucified, because He let it: blessed be He Whom the wood also did bear, because He allowed it. Blessed be He Whom the grave bound, that had [thereby] a limit set it. Blessed be He Whose own will brought Him to the Womb and Birth, to arms and to increase [in stature]. Blessed He whose changes purchased life for human nature.
Blessed He Who sealed our soul, and adorned it and espoused it to Himself. Blessed He Who made our Body a tabernacle for His unseen Nature. Blessed He Who by our tongue interpreted His secret things. Let us praise that Voice whose glory is hymned with our lute, and His virtue with our harp. The Gentiles have assembled and have come to hear His strains.
Glory to the Son of the Good One, Whom the sons of the evil one rejected! Glory to the Son of the Just One, Whom the sons of wickedness crucified! Glory to Him Who loosed us, and was bound for us all! Glory to Him Who gave the pledge, and redeemed it too! Glory to the Beautiful, Who conformed us to His image! Glory to that Fair One, Who looked not to our foulnesses!
Glory to Him Who sowed His Light in the darkness, and was reproached in His hidden state, and covered His secret things. He also stripped and took off from us the clothing of our filthiness. Zechariah 3:3 Glory be to Him on high, Who mixed His salt Mark 9:49 in our minds, His leaven in our souls. His Body became Bread, to quicken our deadness.
Praise to the Rich, Who paid for us all, that which He borrowed not; and wrote [His bill], and also became our debtor! By His yoke He broke from us the chains of him that led us captive. Glory to the Judge Who was judged, and made His Twelve to sit in judgment on the tribes, and by ignorant men condemned the scribes of that nation!
Glory to Him Who could never be measured by us! Our heart is too small for Him, yea our mind is too feeble. He makes foolish our littleness by the riches of His Wisdom. Glory to Him, Who lowered Himself, and asked; Luke 2:46 that He might hear and learn that which He knew; that He might by His questions reveal the treasure of His helpful graces!
Let us adore Him Who enlightened with His doctrine our mind, and in our hearing sought a pathway for His words. Praise we Him Who grafted into our tree His fruit. Thanks to Him Who sent His Heir, that by Him He might draw us to Himself, yea make us heirs with Him! Thanks to that Good One, the cause of all goods!
Blessed He Who did not chide, because that He was good! Blessed He Who did not spurn, because that He was just also! Blessed He Who was silent, and rebuked; that He might quicken us with both! Severe His silence and reproachful. Mild His severity even When He was accusing; for He rebuked the traitor, and kissed the thief.
Glory to the hidden Husbandman of our intellects! His seed fell on to our ground, and made our mind rich. His increase came an hundredfold into the treasury of our souls! Let us adore Him Who sat down and took rest; and walked in the way, so that the Way was in the way, and the Door also for them that go in, by which they go in to the kingdom.
Blessed the Shepherd Who became a Lamb for our reconcilement! Blessed the Branch Who became the Cup of our Redemption! Blessed also be the Cluster, Fount of medicine of life! Blessed also be the Tiller, Who became Wheat, that He might be sown; and a Sheaf, that He might be cut! [Blessed be] the Architect Who became a Tower for our place of safety! Blessed He Who so tempered the feelings of our mind, Proverbs 18:10 that we with our harp should sing that which the winged creatures' mouth knows not with its strains to sing! Glory to Him, Who beheld how we had pleased to be like to brutes in our rage and our greediness; and came down and was one of us, that we might become heavenly!
Glory be to Him, Who never felt the need of our praising Him; yet felt the need as being kind to us, and thirsted Matthew 25:40 as loving us, and asks us to give to Him, and longs to give to us. His fruit was mingled with us men, that in Him we might come near to Him, Who condescended to us. By the Fruit of His stem He grafted us into His Tree.
Let us praise Him, Who prevailed and quickened us by His stripes! Praise we Him, Who took away the curse by His thorns! Praise we Him Who put death to death by His dying! Praise we Him, Who held His peace and justified us! Praise we Him, Who rebuked death that had overcome us! Blessed He, Whose helpful graces cleansed out the left side!
Praise we Him Who watched and put to sleep him that led us captive. Praise we Him Who went to sleep, and chased our deep sleep away. Glory be to God Who cured weak manhood! Glory be to Him Who was baptized, and drowned our iniquity in the deep, and choked him Luke 8:33 that choked us! Let us glorify with all our mouths the Lord of all creatures!
Blessed be the Physician Who came down and amputated without pain, and healed wounds with a medicine that was not harsh. His Son became a Medicine, that showed sinners mercy. Blessed be He Who dwelt in the womb, and wrought therein a perfect Temple, that He might dwell in it, a Throne that He might be in it, a Garment that He might be arrayed in it, and a Weapon that He might conquer in it.
Blessed be He Whom our mouth cannot adequately praise, because His Gift is too great for skill of orators [to tell]; neither can the faculties adequately praise His goodness. For praise Him as we may, it is too little.
And since it is useless to be silent and to constrain ourselves, may our feebleness excuse such praise as we can sing.
How gracious He, Who demands not more than our strength can give! How would Your servant be condemned in capital and interest, did he not give such as he could, and did he refuse that which He owed! Ocean of glory Who needs not to have Your glory sung, take in Your goodness this drop of praise; since by Your Gift You have supplied my tongue a sense for glorifying You.
Hymn 3
Blessed be that first day of yours, Lord, wherewith this day of Your Feast is stamped! Your day is like You, in that it shows mercy unto men, in that it is handed down and comes with all generations.
This is the day that ends with the aged, and returns that it may begin with the young! A day that by its love refreshes itself, that it may refresh by its might us decayed creatures. Your day when it had visited us and passed, and gone away, in its mercy returned and visited us again: for it knows that human nature needs it; in all things like You as seeking us.
The world is in want of its fountain; and for it, Lord, as for You, all therein are thirsty. This is the day that rules over the seasons! The dominion of Your day is like Yours, which stretches over generations that have come, and are to come! Your day is like You, because when it is one, it buds and multiplies itself, that it may be like You!
In this Your day, Lord, which is near unto us, we see Your Birth that is far off! Like to You be Your day to us, Lord; let it be a mediator and a warranter of peace.
Your day reconciled Heaven and earth, because therein the Highest came down to the lowest.
Your day was able to reconcile the Just One, who was angry at our sins; Your day forgave thousands of sins, for in it bowels of mercy shone forth upon the guilty!
Great, Lord, is Your day; let it not be small upon us, let it show mercy according as it used to do, upon us transgressors!
And if every day, Lord, Your forgiveness wells forth, how exceeding great should it be upon this day! All the days from the Treasure of Your bright day gain blessings. All the feasts from the stores of this feast have their fairness and their ornaments. Your bowels of mercy upon Your day make abundant to us, O Lord! Make us to distinguish Your day from all days! For great is the treasure-house of the day of Your Birth; let it be the ransomer of debtors! Great is this day above all days, for in it came forth mercy to sinners. A store of medicines is this Your great day, because on it shone forth the Medicine of Life to the wounded! A treasure of helpful graces is this day, for that on it Light gleamed forth upon our blindness! Yea, it also brought a sheaf unto us; and it came, that from it might flow plenty upon our hunger. This day is that forerunning Cluster, in which the cup of salvation was concealed! This day is the first-born feast, which, being born the first, overcomes all feasts. In the winter which strips the fruit of the branches off from the barren vine, Fruit sprang up Isaiah 5:2 unto us; in the cold that bares all the trees, a shoot was green for us of the house of Jesse. In December when the seed is hidden in the earth, there sprouted forth from the Womb the Ear of Life. In March when the seed was sprouting in the air, a Sheaf Leviticus 23:10 sowed itself in the earth. The harvest thereof, Death devoured it in Hell; which the Medicine of life that is hidden therein did yet burst open! In March when the lambs bleat in the wilderness, into the Womb the Paschal Lamb entered! Out of the stream whence the fishers came up, He was baptized and came up Who incloses all things in his net; out of the stream the fish whereof Simon took, out of it the Fisher of men came up, and took him. With the Cross which catches all robbers, He caught up unto life that robber! Luke 23:43 The Living by His death emptied Hell, He unloosed it and let fly away from it entire multitudes! The publicans and harlots, the impure snares, the snares of the deceitful fowler the Holy One seized! The sinful woman, who was a snare for men, He made a mirror for penitent women! The fig that cast its fruit, that refused fruit, offered Zacchæus as fruit; the fruit of its own nature it gave not, but it yielded one reasonable fruit! The Lord spread His thirst over the well, and caught her that was thirsty with the water that He asked of her. He caught one soul at the well, and again caught with her the whole city: John 4:42 twelve fishers the Holy One caught, and again caught with them the whole world. As for Iscariot, that escaped from His nets, the strangling halter fell upon his neck! His all-quickening net catches the living, Matthew 13:47 and he that escapes from it escapes from the living.
And who is able, Lord, to tell me up the several succours that are hid in You? How shall the parched mouth be able to drink from the Fountain of the Godhead! Answer today the voice of our petition; let our prayer which is in words take effect in deeds. Heal us, O my Master; every time that we see Your Feast, may it cause rumours that we have heard to pass away. Our mind wanders amid these voices. O Voice of the Father, still [other] voices; the world is noisy, in You let it gain itself quiet; for by You the sea was stilled from its storms. The devils rejoiced when they heard the voice of blasphemy: let the Watchers rejoice in us as they are wont. Matthew 18:10 From among Your fold there is the voice of sorrowfulness; O You that makes all rejoice, Luke 15:7 let Your flock rejoice! As for our murmur, O my Master, in it reject us not: our mouth murmurs since it is sinful. Let Your day, O Lord, give us all manner of joy, with the flowers of peace, let us keep Your passover. In the day of Your Ascension we are lifted up: John 20:17 with the new Bread shall be the memorial thereof. O Lord, increase our peace, that we may keep three feasts of the Godhead. Great is Your day, Lord, let us not be despised. All men honour the day of Your birth. You righteous One, keep the glory of Your birth; for even Herod honoured the day of His birth! The dances of the impure one pleased the tyrant; to You, Lord, let the voice of chaste women be sweet! You, Lord, let the voice of chaste women please, whose bodies You guard holily. The day of Herod was like him: Your day too is like You! The day of the troubled one was troubled with sin; and fair as You are is Your fair day! The feast of the tyrant killed the preacher; in Your feast every man preaches glory. On the day of the murderer, the Voice was put to silence; but on Your day are the voices of the feast. The foul one in his feast put out the Light, that darkness might cover the adulterers. The season of the Holy One trims lamps, that darkness may flee with the hidden things thereof. The day of that fox Luke 13:32 stank like himself; but holy is the feast of the True Lamb. The day of the transgressor passed away like himself; Your day like Yourself abides forever. The day of the tyrant raged like himself, because with his chain it put to silence the righteous Voice. The feast of the Meek One is tranquil like Himself, because His sun shines upon His persecutors. The tyrant was conscious that He was not a king, therefore to the King of kings he gave place. The whole day, Lord, suffices me not to balance Your praise with his blame. May Your Gracious day cause my sin to pass away, seeing that it is with the day of the impure one, that I have weighed Your day! For great is Your day beyond comparison! nor can it be compared with our days. The day of man is as of the earthy: the day of God is as of God! Your day, Lord, is greater than those of the prophets, and I have taken and set it beside that of the murderer! You know, O Lord, as knowing all things, how to hear the comparison that my tongue has made. Let Your day grant our requests for life, since his day granted the request for death. The needy king swore on his feast that half his kingdom should be the reward of the dance! Let Your feast then, O You that enriches all, shed down in mercy a crumb of fine wheat flour! From the dry land gushed the Fountain, which sufficed to satisfy the thirst of the Gentiles! From the Virgin's womb as from a strong rock sprouted up the seed, whence was much fruit! Barns without number did Joseph fill; Genesis 41:49 and they were emptied and failed in the years of the famine. One true Sheaf gave bread; the bread of Heaven, whereof there is no stint. The bread which the First-born broke in the wilderness, failed and passed away though very good. He returned again and broke the New Bread which ages and generations shall not waste away! The seven loaves also that He broke failed, Matthew 15:36 and the five loaves too that He multiplied were consumed; Matthew 14:17 the Bread that He broke exceeded the world's needs, for the more it was divided, the more it multiplied exceedingly. With much wine also He filled the waterpots; they drew it out, yet it failed though it was abundant: of the Cup that He gave though the draught was small, very great was its strength, so that there is no stint thereto. A Cup is He that contains all strong wines, and also a Mystery in the midst of which He Himself is! The one Bread that He broke has no bound, and the one Cup that He mingled has no stint! Proverbs 9:5 The Wheat that was sown, John 12:24 on the third day came up and filled the Garner of Life. Matthew 13:30 The spiritual Bread, as the Giver of it, quickens the spiritual spiritually, and he that receives it carnally, receives it rashly to no profit. This Bread of grace let the spirit receive discerningly, as the medicine of Life. If the dead sacrifices in the name of devils were offered, 1 Corinthians 10:20 yea eaten, not without a mystery; at the holy thing of the offering, how much more does it behoove us that this mystery be circumspectly administered by us. He that eats of the sacrifice in the name of devils, becomes devilish without all contradiction. He that eats the Heavenly Bread, becomes Heavenly without doubt! Wine teaches us, in that it makes him that is familiar therewith like itself: for it hates much him that is fond of it, and is intoxicating and maddening, and a mocker Proverbs 20:1 to him! Light teaches us, in that it makes like itself the eye the daughter of the sun: the eye by the light saw the nakedness, and ran and chastely hid the chaste man. Genesis 9:23 As for that nakedness it was wine that made it, which even to the chaste skills not to show mercy!
With the weapon of the deceiver the First-born clad Himself, that with the weapon that killed, He might restore to life again! With the tree wherewith he slew us, He delivered us. With the wine which maddened us, with it we were made chaste! With the rib that was drawn out of Adam, the wicked one drew out the heart of Adam. There rose from the Rib Genesis 3:15 a hidden power, which cut off Satan as Dagon: for in that Ark a book was hidden that cried and proclaimed concerning the Conqueror! There was then a mystery revealed, in that Dagon was brought low in his own place of refuge! 1 Samuel 5:4 The accomplishment came after the type, in that the wicked one was brought low in the place in which he trusted! Blessed be He Who came and in Him were accomplished the mysteries of the left hand, and the right hand. Matthew 25:33 Fulfilled was the mystery that was in the Lamb, and fulfilled was the type that was in Dagon. Blessed is He Who by the True Lamb redeemed us, and destroyed our destroyer as He did Dagon! In December when the nights are long, rose unto us the Day, of Whom there is no bound! In winter when all the world is gloomy, forth came the Fair One Who cheered all in the world! In winter that makes the earth barren, virginity learned to bring forth. In December, that causes the travails of the earth to cease, in it were the travails of virginity. The early lamb no one ever used to see before the shepherds: and as for the true Lamb, in the season of His birth, the tidings of Him too hasted unto the shepherds. That old wolf saw the sucking Lamb, and he trembled before Him, though He had concealed himself; for because the wolf had put on sheep's clothing, the Shepherd of all became a Lamb in the flocks, in order that when the greedy one had been bold against the Meek, the Mighty One might rend that Eater. Judges 14:6 The Holy One dwelt bodily in the womb; and He dwelt spiritually in the mind. Mary that conceived Him abhorred the marriage bed; let not that soul commit whoredom in the which He dwells. Because Mary perceived Him, she left her betrothed: He dwells in chaste virgins, if they perceive Him. Matthew 5:28 The deaf perceive not the mighty thunder, neither does the heady man the sound of the commandment. For the deaf is bewildered in the time of the thunderclap, the heady man is bewildered also at the voice of instruction; if fearful thunder terrifies the deaf, then would fearful wrath stir the unclean! That the deaf hears not is no blame to him; but whoever tramples [on the commandments] it is headiness. From time to time there is thunder: but the voice of the law thunders every day. Let us not close our ears when their openings, as being opened and not closed against it, accuse us; and the door of hearing is open by nature, that it might reproach us for our headiness against our will. The door of the voice and the door of the mouth our will can open or close. Let us see what the Good One has given us; and let us hear the mighty Voice, and let not the doors of our ears be closed.
Glory to that Voice Which became Body, and to the Word of the High One Which became Flesh! Hear Him also, O ears, and see Him, O eyes, and feel Him, O hands, and eat Him, O mouth! You members and senses give praise unto Him, that came and quickened the whole body! Mary bare the silent Babe, while in Him were hidden all tongues! Joseph bare Him, and in Him was hidden a nature more ancient than anything that is old! The High One became as a little child, and in Him was hidden a treasure of wisdom sufficing for all! Though Most High, yet He sucked the milk of Mary, and of His goodness all creatures suck! He is the Breast of Life, and the Breath of Life; the dead suck from His life and revive. Without the breath of the air no man lives, without the Might of the Son no man subsists. On His living breath that quickens all, depend the spirits that are above and that are beneath. When He sucked the milk of Mary, He was suckling all with Life. While He was lying on His Mother's bosom, in His bosom were all creatures lying. He was silent as a Babe, and yet He was making His creatures execute all His commands. For without the First-born no man can approach unto the Essence, to which He is equal. The thirty years He was in the earth, Who was ordering all creatures, Who was receiving all the offerings of praise from those above and those below. He was wholly in the depths and wholly in the highest! He was wholly with all things and wholly with each. While His body was forming within the womb, His power was fashioning all members! While the Conception of the Son was fashioning in the womb, He Himself was fashioning babes in the womb. Yet not as His body was weak in the womb, was His power weak in the womb! So too not as His body was feeble by the Cross, was His might also feeble by the Cross. For when on the Cross He quickened the dead, His Body quickened them, yea, rather His Will; just as when He was dwelling wholly in the womb, His hidden Will was visiting all! For see how, when He was wholly hanging upon the Cross, His Power was yet making all creatures move! For He darkened the sun and made the earth quake; He rent the graves and brought forth the dead! See how when He was wholly on the Cross, yet again He was wholly everywhere! Thus was He entirely in the womb, while He was again wholly in everything! While on the Cross He quickened the dead, so while a Babe He was fashioning babes. While He was slain, He opened the graves; Matthew 27:52 while He was in the womb, He opened wombs. Come hearken, my brethren, concerning the Son of the Secret One that was revealed in His Body, while His Power was concealed! For the Power of the Son is a free Power; the womb did not bind it up, as it did the Body! For while His Power was dwelling in the womb, He was fashioning infants in the womb! His Power compassed her, that compassed Him. For if He drew in His Power, all things would fall; His Power upholds all things; while He was within the womb, He left not His hold of all. He in His own Person shaped an Image in the womb, and was shaping in all wombs all countenances. Whilst He was increasing in stature among the poor, from an abundant treasury He was nourishing all! While she that anointed Him was anointing Him, with His dew and His rain He was anointing all! The Magi brought myrrh and gold, while in Him was hidden a treasure of riches. The myrrh and spices which He had prepared and created, did the Magi bring Him of His own. It was by Power from Him that Mary was able to bear in Her bosom Him that bears up all things! It was from the great storehouse of all creatures, Mary gave Him all which she did give Him! Jeremiah 31:22 She gave Him milk from Himself that prepared it, she gave Him food from Himself that made it! He gave milk unto Mary as God: again He sucked it from her, as the Son of Man. Her hands bare Him in that He had emptied His strength; and her arm embraced Him, in that He had made Himself small. The measure of His Majesty who has measured? He caused His measures to shrink into a Raiment. She wove for Him and clothed Him because He had put off His glory. She measured Him and wove for Him, since He had made Himself little.
The sea when it bore Him was still and calmed, and how came the lap of Joseph to bear Him? The womb of hell conceived Him and was burst open, and how did the womb of Mary contain Him? The stone that was over the grave He broke open by His might, and how could Mary's arm contain Him? You came to a low estate, that You might raise all to life! Glory be unto You from all that are quickened by You! Who is able to speak of the Son of the Hidden One who came down and clothed Himself with a Body in the womb? He came forth and sucked milk as a child, and among little children the Son of the Lord of all crept about. They saw Him as a little Child in the street, while there was dwelling in Him the Love of all. Visibly children surrounded Him in the street; secretly Angels surrounded Him in fear. Cheerful was He with the little ones as a child; awful was He with the Angels as a Commander: He was awful to John for him to loose His shoe's latchet: He was gentle to sinners that kissed His feet! The Angels as Angels saw Him; according to the measure of his knowledge each man beheld Him: according to the measure of each man's discernment, thus he perceived Him that is greater than all. The Father and Himself alone are a full measure of knowledge so as know Him as He is! For every creature whether above or below obtains each his measure of knowledge; He the Lord of all gives all to us. He that enriches all, requires usury of all. He gives to all things as wanting nothing, and yet requires usury of all as if needy. He gave us herds and flocks as Creator, and yet asked sacrifices as though in need. He made the water wine as Maker: and yet he drank of it as a poor man. Of His own He mingled [wine] in the marriage feast, His wine He mingled and gave to drink when He was a . In His love He multiplied [the days of] the aged Simeon; that he, a mortal, might present Him who quickens all. By power from Him did Simeon carry Him; he that presented Him, was by Him presented [to God]. He gave imposition of hands to Moses in the Mount, Exodus 33:22 and received it in the midst of the river from John. In the power of His gifts John was enabled to baptize, though earthy, the heavenly. By power from Him the earth supported Him: it was near to being dissolved, and His might strengthened it. Martha gave Him to eat: viands which He had created she placed before Him. Of His own all that give have made their vows: of His own treasures they placed upon His table.
Hymn 4
This is the month which brings all manner of joy; it is the freedom of the bondsmen, the pride of the free, the crown of the gates, the soothing of the body, that also in its love put purple upon us as upon kings.
This is the month that brings all manner of victories; it frees the spirit; it subdues the body; it brings forth life among mortals; it caused, in its love, Godhead, to dwell in Manhood.
In this day the Lord exchanged glory for shame, as being humble; because Adam changed the truth for unrighteousness as being a rebel: the Good One had mercy on him, justified and set right them that had turned aside.
Let every man chase away his weariness, since that Majesty was not wearied with being in the womb nine months for us, and in being thirty years in Sodom among the madmen.
Because the Good One saw that the race of man was poor and humbled, He made feasts as a treasure-house, and opened them to the slothful, that the feast might stir up the slothful one to rise and be rich.
Lo! The First-born has opened unto us His feast as a treasure-house. This one day in the whole year alone opens that treasure-house: come, let us make gain, let us grow rich from it, ere they shut it up.
Blessed be the watchful, that have taken by force Matthew 11:12 from it the spoil of Life. It is a great disgrace, when a man sees his neighbor take and carry out treasure, and himself sits in the treasure-house slumbering, so as to come forth empty.
In this feast, let each one of us crown the gates of his heart. The Holy Spirit longs for the gates thereof, that He may enter in and dwell there, and sanctify it, and He goes round about to all the gates to see where He may enter.
In this feast, the gates are glad before the gates, and the Holy One rejoices in the holy temple, and the voice resounds in the mouth of children, and Christ rejoices in His own feast as a mighty man.
At the Birth of the Son the king was enrolling all men for the tribute-money, that they might be debtors to Him: the King came forth to us Who blotted out our bills, Colossians 2:14 and wrote another bill in His own Name that He might be our debtor. The sun gave longer light, and foreshadowed the mystery by the degrees which it had gone up. It was twelve days since it had gone up, and today is the thirteenth day: a type exact of the Son's birth Exodus 12:3 and of His Twelve.
Moses shut up a lamb in the month Nisan on the tenth day; a type this of the Son that came into the womb and shut Himself up therein on the tenth day. He came forth from the womb in this month in which the sun gives longer light.
The darkness was overcome, that it might proclaim that Satan was overcome; and the sun gave longer light, that it might triumph, because the First-born was victorious. Along with the darkness the dark one was overcome, and with the greater light our Light conquered!
Joseph caressed the Son as a Babe; he ministered to Him as God. He rejoiced in Him as in the Good One, and he was awe-struck at Him as the Just One, greatly bewildered.
"Who has given me the Son of the Most High to be a Son to me? I was jealous of Your Mother, and I thought to put her away, and I knew not that in her womb was hidden a mighty treasure, that should suddenly enrich my poor estate. David the king sprang of my race, and wore the crown: and I have come to a very low estate, who instead of a king am a carpenter. Yet a crown has come to me, for in my bosom is the Lord of crowns!"
With rival words Mary burned, yea she lulled Him, [saying,] Who has given me, the barren, that I should conceive and bring forth this One, that is manifold; a little One, that is great; for that He is wholly with me, and wholly everywhere?
The day that Gabriel came in unto my low estate, he made me free instead of a handmaid, of a sudden: for I was the handmaid of Your Divine Nature, and am also the Mother of Your human Nature, O Lord and Son!
Of a sudden the handmaid became the King's daughter in You, You Son of the King. Lo, the meanest in the house of David, by reason of You, You Son of David, lo, a daughter of earth has attained unto Heaven by the Heavenly One!
How am I astonied that there is laid before me a Child, older than all things! His eye is gazing unceasingly upon Heaven. As for the stammering of His mouth, to my seeming it betokens, that with God its silence speaks.
Who ever saw a Child the whole of Whom beholds every place? His look is like one that orders all creatures that are above and that are below! His visage is like that Commander that commands all.
How shall I open the fountain of milk to You, O Fountain? Or how shall I give nourishment to You that nourishes all from Your Table? How shall I bring to swaddling clothes One wrapped round with rays of glory?
My mouth knows not how I shall call You, O You Child of the Living One: for to venture to call You as the Child of Joseph, I tremble, since You are not his seed: and I am fearful of denying the name of him to whom they have betrothed me.
While You are the Son of One, then should I be calling You the Son of many. For ten thousand names would not suffice You, since You are the Son of God and also the Son of man, yea, David's Son and Mary's Lord.
Who has made the Lord of mouths to be without a mouth? For my pure conception of You wicked men have slandered me. Be, O You Holy One, a Speaker for Your Mother. Show a miracle that they may be persuaded, from Whom it is that I conceived You!
For Your sake too I am hated, You Lover of all. Lo! I am persecuted who have conceived and brought forth One House of refuge for men. Adam will rejoice, for You are the Key of Paradise.
Lo, the sea raged against Your mother as against Jonah. Lo, Herod, that raging wave, sought to drown the Lord of the seas. Whither I shall flee You shall teach me, O Lord of Your Mother.
With You I will flee, that I may gain in You Life in every place. The prison with You is no prison, for in You man goes up unto Heaven: the grave with You is no grave, for You are the Resurrection! John 11:25
A star of light which was not nature, shone forth suddenly; less than the sun and greater than the sun, less than it in its visible light, but greater than it in its hidden might, by reason of its mystery.
The Morning Star cast its bright beams among the darknesses, and led them as blind men, and they came and received a great light: they gave offerings and received life, and they worshipped and returned.
In the height and the depth two preachers were there to the Son: the bright star shouted above; John also preached below, two preachers, an earthly and a heavenly.
That above showed His Nature to be from the Majesty, and that below too showed his Nature to be from mankind. O great marvel, that His Godhead and His Manhood each was preached by them.
Whoever thought Him earthly, the bright star convinced him that He was heavenly; and whoever thought Him spiritual, John convinced him that He was also corporeal.
In the Holy temple Simeon carried Him, and lulled Him, [saying,] "You have come, O Merciful One, showing mercy on my old age, making my bones to go into the grave in peace. In You shall I be raised from the grave into Paradise!"
Anna embraced Him, and put her mouth to His lips, and the Spirit dwelt upon her own lips. As when Isaiah's mouth was silent, the coal which approached his lips opened his mouth; so Anna burned with the Spirit of His mouth, yea, she lulled Him, [saying,] "Son of the Kingdom, Son of the lowliness, that hear and are still, that see and are hidden, that know and are unknown, God, Son of Man, glory be unto Your Name."
The barren also heard, ran, and came with their provisions: the Magi came with their treasures, the barren came with their provisions. Provisions and riches were suddenly heaped up in the house of the poor.
The barren woman cried out, as at that which she looked not for, Who has granted me this sight of your Babe, O Blessed One, by whom the heaven and earth are filled! Blessed be your Fruit, which made the barren vine to bear a cluster.
Zacharias came and opened his venerable mouth and cried, "Where is the King, for whose sake I have begotten the Voice that is to preach before His face? Hail, Son of the King, to whom also our Priesthood shall be given up!"
John approached with his parents and worshipped the Son, and He shed glory upon his countenance; and he was not moved as when in the womb! Mighty miracle, that here he was worshipping, there he leaped.
Herod also, that base fox, that stalked about like a lion, as a fox crouched down, and howled, when he heard the roaring of the Lion, who came to sit in the kingdom according to the Scriptures. The fox heard that the lion was a cub, and as a suckling; and he sharpened His teeth, that while He was yet a child the fox might lie in wait and devour the Lion before He had grown up, and the breath of His mouth should destroy him.
The whole creation became mouths to Him, and cried concerning Him. The Magi cried by their offerings! The barren cried with their children, the star of light cried in that air, lo! The Son of the King!
The Heavens were opened, the waters were calmed, the Dove glorified Him, the voice of the Father, louder than thunder, was instant and said, This is my beloved Son. The Angels proclaim Him, the children shout to Him with their Hosannas.
These voices above and below proclaim Him and cry aloud. The slumber of Sion was not dispersed by the voice of the thunders, but she was offended, stood up, and slew Him because He aroused her.
Hymn 5
At the birth of the Son, there was a great shouting in Bethlehem; for the Angels came down, and gave praise there. Their voices were a great thunder: at that voice of praise the silent ones came, and gave praise to the Son.
Blessed be that Babe in whom Eve and Adam were restored to youth! The shepherds also came laden with the best gifts of their flock: sweet milk, clean flesh, befitting praise! They put a difference, and gave Joseph the flesh, Mary the milk, and the Son the praise! They brought and presented a suckling lamb to the Paschal Lamb, a first-born to the First-born, a sacrifice to the Sacrifice, a lamb of time to the Lamb of Truth. Fair sight [to see] the lamb offered to The Lamb!
The lamb bleated as it was offered before the First-born. It praised the Lamb, that had come to set free the flocks and the oxen from sacrifices: yea that Paschal Lamb, Who handed down and brought in the Passover of the Son.
The shepherds came near and worshipped Him with their staves. They saluted Him with peace, prophesying the while, "Peace, O Prince of the Shepherds." The rod of Moses praised Your Rod, O Shepherd of all; for You Moses praises, although his lambs have become wolves, and his flocks as it were dragons, and his sheep fanged beasts. In the fearful wilderness his flocks became furious, and attacked him.
You then the Shepherds praise, because You have reconciled the wolves and the lambs within the fold; O Babe, that art older than Noah and younger than Noah, that reconciled all within the ark amid the billows!
David Your father for a lamb's sake slaughtered a lion. You, O Son of David, hast killed the unseen wolf that murdered Adam, the simple lamb who fed and bleated in Paradise.
At that voice of praise, brides were moved to hallow themselves, and virgins to be chaste, and even young girls became grave: they advanced and came in multitudes, and worshipped the Son.
Aged women of the city of David came to the daughter of David; they gave thanks and said, "Blessed be our country, whose streets are lightened with the rays of Jesse! Today is the throne of David established by You, O Son of David."
The old men cried, "Blessed be that Son Who restored Adam to youth, Who was vexed to see that he was old and worn out, and that the serpent who had killed him, had changed his skin and had gotten himself away. Blessed be the Babe in Whom Adam and Eve were restored to youth."
The chaste women said, O Blessed Fruit, bless the fruit of our wombs; to You may they be given as first-born. They waxed fervent and prophesied concerning their children, who, when they were killed for Him, were cut off, as it were first-fruits.
The barren also fondled Him, and carried Him; they rejoiced and said, Blessed Fruit born without marriage, bless the wombs of us that are married; have mercy on our barrenness, You wonderful Child of Virginity!
Hymn 6
Blessed be the Messenger that was laden, and came; a great peace! The Bowels of the Father brought Him down to us; He did not bring up our debts to Him, but made a satisfaction to that Majesty with His own goods.
Praised be the Wise One, who reconciled and joined the Divine with the Human Nature. One from above and one from below, He confined the Natures as medicines, and being the Image of God, became man.
That Jealous One when He saw that Adam was dust, and that the cursed serpent had devoured him, shed soundness into that which was tasteless, and made him [as] salt, wherewith the accursed serpent should be blinded.
Blessed be the Merciful One, who saw the weapon by Paradise, that closed the way to the Tree of Life; and came and took a Body which could suffer, that with the Door, that was in His side, He might open the way into Paradise.
Blessed be that Merciful One, who lent not Himself to harshness, but without constraint conquered by wisdom; that He might give an ensample unto men, that by virtue and wisdom they might conquer discerningly.
Blessed is Your flock, since You are the gate thereof, and You are the staff thereof. You are the Shepherd thereof, You are the Drink thereof, You are the salt thereof, yea, the Visitor thereof. Hail to the Only-Begotten, that bare abundantly all manner of consolations!
The husbandmen came and did obeisance before the Husbandman of Life. They prophesied to Him as they rejoiced, [saying,] "Blessed be the Husbandman, by Whom the ground of the heart is tilled, Who gathers His wheat into the garner of Life."
The husbandmen came and gave glory to the Vineyard that sprang of the root and stem of Jesse, the Virgin Cluster of the glorious Vine. "May we be vessels for Your new Wine that renews all things."
"In You may the Vineyard of my Well-beloved that yielded wild grapes find peace! Graft its vines from Your stocks; let it be laden entirely from Your blessings with a fruit which may reconcile the Lord of the Vineyard, Who threatens it."
Because of Joseph the workmen came to the Son of Joseph saying, "Blessed be Your Nativity, You Head of Workmen, the impress whereof the ark bore, after which was fashioned the Tabernacle of the congregation that was for a time only!"
"Our craft praises You, Who art our glory. Make the yoke which is light, yea easy, for them that bear it; make the measure, in which there can be no falseness, which is full of Truth; yea, devise and make measures by righteousness; that he that is vile may be accused thereby, and he that is perfect, may be acquitted thereby. Weigh therewith both mercy and truth, O just One, as a judge."
"Bridegrooms with their brides rejoiced. Blessed be the Babe, whose Mother was Bride of the Holy One! Blessed the marriage feast, whereat You were present, in which when wine was suddenly wanting, in You it abounded again!"
The children cried out, "Blessed He that has become unto us a Brother, and Companion in the midst of the streets. Blessed be the day which by the Branches gives glory to the Tree of life, that made His Majesty be brought low, to our childish age!"
Women heard that a Virgin should conceive and bring forth a Son: honourable women hoped that you would rise from them; yea noble ladies that You might spring up from them! Blessed be Your Majesty, that humbled Itself, and rose from the poor!
Yea the young girls that carried Him prophesied, saying, "Whether I be hated or fair, or of low estate, I am without spot for You. I have taken You in charge for the bed of Childbirth."
Sarah had lulled Isaac, who as a slave Genesis 22:6 bare the Image of the King his Master on his shoulders, even the sign of His Cross; yea, on his hands were bandages and sufferings, a type of the nails.
Rachel cried to her husband, and said, Give me sons. Genesis 30:1 Blessed be Mary, in whose womb, though she asked not, You dwelled holily, O Gift, that poured itself upon them that received it.
Hannah with bitter tears asked a child; 1 Samuel 1:7 Sarah and Rebecca with vows and words, Elizabeth also with her prayer, after having vexed themselves for a long time, yet so obtained comfort.
Blessed be Mary, who without vows and without prayer, in her Virginity conceived and brought forth the Lord of all the sons of her companions, who have been or shall be chaste and righteous, priests and kings.
Who else lulled a son in her bosom as Mary did? Who ever dared to call her son, Son of the Maker, Son of the Creator, Son of the Most High?
Who ever dared to speak to her son as in prayer? O Trust of Your Mother as God, her Beloved and her Son as Man, in fear and love it is meet for your Mother to stand before You!
Hymn 7
The Son of the Maker is like His Father as Maker! He made Himself a pure body, He clothed Himself with it, and came forth and clothed our weakness with glory, which in His mercy He brought from the Father.
From Melchizedek, the High Priest, a hyssop came to You, a throne and crown from the house of David, a race and family from Abraham.
Be unto me a Haven, for Your own sake, O great Sea. Lo! The Psalms of David Your Father, and the words also of the Prophets, came forth unto me, as it were ships.
David Your father, in the hundred and tenth Psalm, twined together two numbers as it were crowns to You, and came [to You], O Conqueror! With these shall You be crowned, and unto the throne shall You ascend and sit.
A great crown is the number that is twined in the hundred, wherein is crowned Your Godhead! A little crown is that of the number ten, which crowns the Head of Your Manhood, O Victorious One!
For Your sake women sought after men. Tamar desired him that was widowed, and Ruth loved a man that was old, yea, that Rahab, that led men captive, was captivated by You.
Tamar went forth, and in the darkness Genesis xxxviii stole the Light, and in uncleanness stole the Holy One, and by uncovering her nakedness she went in and stole You, O glorious One, that brings the pure out of the impure.
Satan saw her and trembled, and hasted to trouble her. He brought the judgment to her mind, and she feared not; stoning and the sword, and she trembled not. He that teaches adultery hindered adultery, because he was a hinderer of You.
For holy was the adultery of Tamar, for Your sake. You it was she thirsted after, O pure Fountain. Judah defrauded her of drinking You. The thirsty womb stole a dew-draught of You from the spring thereof.
She was a widow for Your sake. You did she long for, she hasted and was also an harlot for Your sake. You did she vehemently desire, and was sanctified in that it was You she loved.
May Tamar rejoice that her Lord has come and has made her name known for the son of her adultery! Surely the name she gave him Genesis 38:29 was calling unto You to come to her.
For You honorable women shamed themselves, You who gives chastity to all! You she stole away in the midst of the ways, who paves the way to the kingdom! Because it was life that she stole, the sword was not able to put her to death.
Ruth lay down by a man in the threshingfloor for Your sake; her love made her bold for Your sake, O You who teaches all penitents boldness. Her ears refused [to listen to] any voices for the sake of Your voice.
The live coal that glowed went up into the bed, of Boaz, lay down there, saw the High Priest, in whose loins was hidden a fire for his incense! She hasted and was a heifer to Boaz, that should bring forth You, the fatted Calf.
She went gleaning for her love of You; she gathered straw. You quickly paid her the reward of her lowliness; and instead of ears of grain, the Root of Kings, and instead of straws, the Sheaf of Life, You made to spring from her.
Hymn 8
That Your Resurrection might be believed among the gainsayers, they sealed You up within the sepulchre, and set guards; for it was for You that they sealed the sepulchre and set guards, O Son of the Living One!
When they had buried You, if they had neglected You and left You, and gone, there would have been room to lie [and say] that they did steal, O Quickener of all! When they craftily sealed Your sepulchre, they made Your Glory greater.
A type of You therefore was Daniel, and also Lazarus; one in the den, which the Gentiles sealed up, and one in the sepulchre, that the People opened. Lo! Their signs and their seals reproved them.
Their mouth had been open, if they had left Your sepulchre open. But they went away because they had shut Your sepulchre and sealed it, and closed up their own mouths. Yea they closed it, and when they had senselessly covered Your sepulchre, all the slanderers covered their own heads.
But in Your Resurrection You persuade them concerning Your Birth; since the womb was sealed, and the sepulchre closed up; being alike pure in the womb, and living in the sepulchre. The womb and the sepulchre being sealed were witnesses unto You.
The belly and hell cried aloud of Your Birth and Your Resurrection: The belly conceived You, which was sealed; hell brought You forth which was closed up. Not after nature did either the belly conceive You, or hell give You up!
Sealed was the sepulchre whereto they had entrusted You, that it might keep the dead [safe], Virgin was the womb which no man knew. Virgin womb and sealed sepulchre, like trumpets, proclaimed Him in the ears of a deaf people.
The sealed belly and the closed rock were among the accusers. For they slandered the Conception as being of the seed of man, and the Resurrection as being of the robbery of man; the seal and the signet convicted them, and pleaded that You were of Heaven.
The people stood between Your Birth and Your Resurrection. They slandered Your Birth, Your Death condemned them: they set aside Your Resurrection, Your Birth refuted them; they were two wrestlers that stopped the mouth that slandered.
For Elijah they went and searched the mountains: 2 Kings 2:16 as they sought him on earth, they the more confirmed that he was taken up. Their searching bore witness that he was taken up, in that it found him not.
If then prophets that had had forewarning of Elijah's ascension, doubted as it were of his going up, how much more would impure men speak slander of the Son? By their own guards He convinced them that He was risen again.
To Your Mother, Lord, no man knew what name to give. Should he call her Virgin, her Child stood [there]; and married no man knew her to be! If then none comprehended Your Mother, who shall suffice for You?
For she was, alone, Your Mother; along with all, Your Sister. She was Your mother, she was Your Sister. She along with chaste women was Your betrothed. With everything You adorned Her, You ornament of Your Mother.
For she was Your Bride by nature ere You had come; she conceived You not by nature after You had come, O Holy One, and was a Virgin when she had brought You forth holily.
Mary gained in You, O Lord, the honours of all married women. She conceived [You] within her without marriage. There was milk in her breasts, not after the way of nature. You made the thirsty land suddenly a fountain of milk.
If she carried You, Your mighty look made her burden light; if she gave You to eat, it was because You were hungry; if she gave You to drink [it was], because You were thirsty; willingly if she embraced You, You, the coal of mercies, kept her bosom safe.
A wonder is Your Mother. The Lord entered her, and became a servant: the Word entered her, and became silent within her; thunder entered her, and His voice was still: the Shepherd of all entered her; He became a Lamb in her, and came forth bleating.
The Belly of Your Mother changed the order of things, O You that orders all! The rich went in, He came out poor: the High One went in, He came out lowly. Brightness went into her and clothed Himself, and came forth a despised form.
The Mighty went in, and clad Himself with fear from the Belly. He that gives food to all went in, and gat hunger. He that gives all to drink went in, and gat thirst. Naked and bare came forth from her the Clother of all.
The daughters of the Hebrews that cried in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, instead of lamentations of their Scriptures, used lulling-songs from their own books: a hidden Power within their words was prophesying.
Eve lifted up her eyes from Sheol and rejoiced in that day, because the Son of her daughter as a medicine of life came down to raise up the mother of His mother. Blessed Babe, that bruised the head of the Serpent that smote her!
She saw the type of You from the youth of Isaac the fair. For You Sarah, as seeing that types of you rested on his childhood, called him, saying, O child of my vows, in whom is hidden the Lord of vows.
Samson the Nazarite shadowed forth a type of Your working. He tore the lion, the image of death, whom You destroyed, and caused to go forth from his bitterness the sweetness of life for men.
Hannah also embraced Samuel; for Your righteousness was hidden in him who hewed in pieces Agag as [a type] of the wicked one. He wept over Saul, because Your goodness also was shadowed forth in him. 1 Samuel 2:26
How meek are You! How mighty are You, O Child! Luke 2:52 Your judgment is mighty, Your love is sweet! Who can stand against You? Your Father is in Heaven, Your Mother is on earth; who shall declare You? Isaiah 53:8
If a man should seek after Your Nature, it is hidden in Heaven in the mighty Bosom of the Godhead; and if a man seek after Your visible Body, it is laid down before their eyes in the lowly bosom of Mary.
The mind wanders between Your generations, O Rich One! Thick folds are upon Your Godhead. Who can sound Your depths, You great Sea that made itself little?
We come to see You as God, and, lo! You are a man: we come to see You as man, and there shines forth the Light of Your Godhead!
Who would believe that You are the Heir of David's Throne? A manger have You inherited out of [all] his beds, a cave has come down to You out of all his palaces. Instead of his chariots a common ass's colt, perchance, comes down to You.
How fearless are You, O Babe, that dost let all have you [to carry]: upon every one that meets with You do You smile: to every one that sees You, are You glad-some! Your love is as one that hungers after men.
You make no distinction between Your fathers and strangers, nor Your Mother and maidservants, nor her that suckled You and the unclean. Was it Your forwardness or Your love, O You that loves all?
What moves You that You let all that saw You have You, both rich and poor? You helped them that called You not. Whence came it that You hungered so for men?
How great was Your love, that if one rebuked You, You were not angry! If a man threatened You, You were not terrified! If one hissed at You, You did not feel vexed! You are above the laws of the avengers of injuries.
Moses was meek, and [yet] his zeal was harsh, for he struggled and slew. Elisha also, who restored a child to life, tore a multitude of children in pieces by bears. Who are You, O Child, whose love is greater than that of the Prophets?
The son of Hagar who was wild, kicked at Isaac. He bore it and was silent, and his mother was jealous. Are You the mystery of him, or is not he the type of You? Are you like Isaac, or is it not he that is like You?
Hymn 9
Come rest, and be still in the bosom of Your Mother, Son of the Glorious. Forwardness fits not the sons of kings. O Son of David, You are glorious, and [yet] the Son of Mary, who hides Your beauty in the inner chamber.
To whom are You like, glad Babe, fair little One, Whose Mother is a Virgin, Whose Father is hidden, Whom even the Seraphim are not able to look upon? Tell us whom You are like, O Son of the Gracious!
When the wrathful came to see You, You made them gladsome: they exchanged smiles one with another: the angry were made gentle in You, O sweet One. Blessed are You, little One, for that in You even the bitter are made sweet.
Who ever saw a Babe that was gladsome when in arms to those that came near him, lo! reached Himself unto them that were far off? Fair sight [to see] a Child, that takes thought for every man that they may see him!
He that has care came and saw You, and his care fled away. He that had anxiety; at You forgat his anxiety; the hungry by You forgat his victuals; and he that had an errand, by You was errant and forgot his journey!
O still Yourself, and let men go to their works! You are a son of the poor, learn from Yourself that all the poor had to leave their work to come. You who loves men, hast bound men together by Your gladsomeness.
David, that stately king, took branches, and in the feast among the children as he danced, he gave praise. Is it not the love of David Your father that is warm in You?
That daughter of Saul! Her father's devil spoke in her: she called the stately [king] a vile fellow, because he gave an ensample to the elders of her people of taking up branches with the children in the day of praise to You.
Who would not fear to lay it to You that You are forward? For lo, the daughter of Saul who mocked the child, cut off her womb from childbearing; because her mouth derided, the reward of its mouth was barrenness. 2 Samuel 6:23
Let mouths tremble at blasphemy, lest they be shut up! Refrain, O daughter of Sion, your mouth from Him, for He is the Son of David, Who is gladsome before you. Be not unto Him as the daughter of Saul, whose race is extinct.
Because Elijah restrained the desire of the body, he withheld rain from the adulterous; because he kept under his body, he withheld dew from the whoremongers, who let their fountains be loosely poured out.
Because the hidden fire of the lust of the body ruled not in him, to him the fire from on high was obedient. And since he subdued on the earth the lust of the flesh, he went up there where holiness dwells and is at peace.
Elisha also who deadened his own body, quickened the dead. The resurrection of the dead was in the usual course by a sanctification not in the usual course; He raised the child, because he purified his soul like a weaned child.
Moses, who divided and separated himself from his wife, divided the sea before the harlot. Zipporah though daughter of a heathen priest kept sanctity: with a calf the daughter of Abraham went a whoring.
Hymn 10
In You will I begin to speak, You Head that began all created things. Revelation 3:14 I, even I will open my mouth, but it is You that fills my mouth. I am the earth to You, and You are the husbandman. Sow Your voice in me, Hebrews 6:7 You that sowed Yourself in the womb of your Mother.
All the chaste daughters of the Hebrews, and the virgins' daughters of the chief men, are astonished at me! For You does the daughter of the poor meet with envy, for You, the daughter of the weak with jealousy. Who has given You to me?
"O Son of the Rich One, Who abhorred the bosom of the rich women, who led You to the poor? For Joseph was needy and I also in want, yet Your merchants have come, and brought gold, to the house of the poor."
She saw the Magi: her songs increased at their offerings; Lo! Your worshippers have surrounded me, yea your offerings have encircled me. Blessed be the Babe who made His Mother a harp for His words:
And as the harp waits for its master, my mouth waits for You. May the tongue of Your Mother bring what pleases You; and since I have learned a new Conception by You, let my mouth learn in You, O new born Son, a new song of praise.
And if hindrances are no hindrances to You, since difficulties are easy to You, as a womb without marriage conceived You, and a belly without seed brought You forth, it is easy for a little mouth to multiply Your great glory.
Lo! I am oppressed and despised, and yet cheerful: mine ears are filled with reproof and scorn; and it is a small thing to me to bear, for ten thousand troubles can a single comfort of Yours chase away.
"And since I am not despised by You, O Son, my countenance is bright; and I am slandered for having conceived, and yet have brought forth the Truth who justifies me. For if Tamar was justified by Judah, how much more shall I be justified by You!"
David Your father sung in a psalm of You before You had come, that to You should be given the gold of Sheba. This psalm that he sung of You, lo! It, while You are yet a child, in reality heaps before you myrrh and gold.
And the hundred and fifty Psalms that he wrote, in You were seasoned, because all the sayings of prophecy stood in need of Your sweetness, for without Your salt all manner of wisdom were tasteless. Job 6:6
Hymn 11
(The Virgin Mother to Her Child.)
I shall not be jealous, my Son, that You are with me, and also with all men. Be God to him that confesses You, and be Lord to him that serves You, and be Brother to him that loves You, that You may gain all!
When You dwelled in me, You also dwelled out of me, and when I brought You forth openly, Your hidden might was not removed from me. You are within me, and You are without me, O You that makes Your Mother amazed.
For [when] I see that outward form of Yours before my eyes, the hidden Form is shadowed forth "in my mind," O holy One. In Your visible form I see Adam, and in Your hidden form I see Your Father, who is joined with You.
Have You then shown me alone Your Beauty in two Forms? Let Bread shadow forth You, and also the mind; dwell also in Bread and in the eaters thereof. In secret, and openly too, may Your Church see You, as well as Your Mother.
He that hates Your Bread is like him that hates Your Body. He that is far off that desires Your Bread, and he that is near that loves Your Image, are alike. In the Bread and in the Body, the first and also the last have seen You.
Yet Your visible Bread is far more precious than Your Body; for Your Body even unbelievers have seen, but they have not seen Your living Bread. They that were far off rejoiced! Their portion utterly scorns that of those that are near.
Lo! Your Image is shadowed forth in the blood of the grapes on the Bread; and it is shadowed forth on the heart with the finger of love, with the colors of faith. Blessed be He that by the Image of His Truth caused the graven images to pass away.
You are not [so] the Son of Man that I should sing unto You a common lullaby; for Your Conception is new, and Your Birth marvellous. Without the Spirit who shall sing to You? A new muttering of prophecy is hot within me.
How shall I call You a stranger to us, Who is from us? Should I call You Son? Should I call You Brother? Matthew 12:50 Husband should I call You? Lord should I call You, O Child that gave Your Mother a second birth from the waters?
For I am Your sister, of the house of David the father of us Both. Again, I am Your Mother because of Your Conception, and Your Bride am I because of Your sanctification, Your handmaid and Your daughter, from the Blood and Water wherewith You have purchased me and
The Son of the Most High came and dwelt in me, and I became His Mother; and as by a second birth I brought Him forth so did He bring me forth by the second birth, because He put His Mother's garments on, she clothed her body with His glory.
Tamar, who was of the house of David, Amnon put to shame; and virginity fell and perished from them both. My pearl is not lost: in Your treasury it is stored, because You have put it on.
The scent of her brother-in-law slunk from Tamar, whose perfume she had stolen. As for Joseph's Bride, not even his breath exhaled from her garments, since she conceived Cinnamon. Song of Songs 4:14 A wall of fire was Your Conception unto me, O holy Son.
The little flower was faint, because the smell of the Lily Song of Songs 2:1 of Glory was great. The Treasure-house of spices stood in no need of flower or its smells! Flesh stood aloof because it perceived in the womb a Conception from the Spirit.
The woman ministers before the man, because he is her head. Joseph rose to minister before his Lord, Who was in Mary. The priest ministered before Your ark by reason of Your holiness.
Moses carried the tables of stone which the Lord wrote, and Joseph bare about the pure Tablet in whom the Son of the Creator was dwelling. The tables had ceased, because the world was filled with Your doctrine.
Hymn 12
The Babe that I carry carries me, says Mary, and He has lowered His wings, and taken and placed me between His pinions, and mounted into the air; and a promise has been given me that height and depth shall be my Son's.
I have seen Gabriel that called him Lord, and the high priest the aged servant, that carried Him and bare Him. I have seen the Magi when they bowed down, and Herod when he was troubled because the King had come.
Satan also who strangled the little ones that Moses might perish, Exodus 1:16 murdered the little ones that the Living One might die. To Egypt He fled, Who came to Judea that He might labour and wander there: he sought to catch the man that would catch himself.
In her virginity Eve put on the leaves of shame: Your Mother put on in her Virginity the garment of Glory that suffices for all. She gave the little vest of the Body to Him that covers all.
Blessed is she in whose heart and mind You were! A King's palace she was by You, O Son of the King, and a Holy of Holies by You, O High Priest! She had not the trouble nor vexation of a family, or a husband!
Eve, again, was a nest and a den for the accursed serpent, that entered in and dwelt in her. His evil counsel became bread to her that she might become dust. You are our Bread, and You are also [of] our race and our garment of glory.
He that has sanctity, if he be in danger, lo! Here is his Guardian! He that has iniquity, lo! Here is his Pardoner! He that has a devil, here is the Pursuer thereof! They that have pains, lo! Here is the Binder up of their breaches.
He that has a child, let him come and become a brother to my Well-beloved! Matthew 12:15 He that has a daughter or a young woman of his race, let her come and become the bride of my Glorious One! He that has a servant, let him set him free, that he may come and serve his Lord.
The son of free men that bears Your yoke, my Son, shall have one reward; and the slave that bears the burden of the yoke of two masters, of Him above and of Him below, there are two blessings for him, and two rewards of the two burdens.
The free woman, my Son, is Your handmaid: also if she who is in bondage serve You, in You she is free: in You she shall be comforted, because she is freed; hidden apples in her bosom are stored up, Song of Songs 2:3 if she love You!
O chaste woman, long for my Well-beloved, that He may dwell in you; and you also that are impure that He may sanctify you! You Churches also, that the Son of the Creator Who came to renew all creatures, may adorn you!
He received the foolish who worshipped and served all the stars; He renewed the earth which was worn out through Adam, who sinned and waxed old. The new formation was the creature of its Renewer, and the all-sufficient One repaired the bodies along with their wills.
Come you blind, and without money receive lights! Come you lame, and receive your feet! You deaf and dumb, receive your voice! Come you also whose hand is cut off; the maimed also shall receive his hands.
It is the Son of the Creator Whose treasure-houses are filled with all manner of helps. Let him that is without eyeballs come to Him that makes clay and changes it, that makes flesh, that enlightens eyes.
By the small portion of clay He shows that it was with His hand that Adam was formed: the soul of the dead also bears Him witness, that by Him it was that the breath of man was breathed in; by the last witnesses He was accredited to be the Son of Him Who is the First.
Gather together and come, O you lepers, and receive purification without labour. For He will not wash you as Elisha, who baptized seven times in the river: neither will He trouble you as the priests did with their sprinklings. Foreigners and also strangers have betaken themselves to the Great Physician.
The rank of strangers has no place with the King's Son; the Lord makes not Himself strange to His servants, [or conceal] that He is Lord of all. For if the Just makes the body leprous, and You purify it; then, the Former of the body hates the body; but You love it.
And if it be not Your forming, being Just, You would not have healed it; Deuteronomy 32:39 and if it were not Your creature, when in health, You would not have afflicted it. The punishments that You have cast upon it, and the pains which You have healed, proclaim that You are the Creator's Son.
Hymn 13
(Compare Hymn II. For the Epiphany.)
1. In the days of the King whom they called by the name of Semha, our Lord sprang up among the Hebrews: and Semha and Denha ruled, and came, King upon earth, and Son in Heaven; blessed be His rule!
2. In the days of the king who enrolled men in the book of the dead, our Redeemer came down and enrolled men in the book of the living. He enrolled, and they also: on high He enrolled us, on earth they enrolled Him. Glory to His Name!
3. In the days of the king whose name was Semha, the type and the Reality met together, the king and the King, Semha and Denha. His Cross upon His shoulders, was the sign of His Kingdom. Blessed be He Who bare it.
4. Thirty years He went in poverty upon the earth! The sounds of praise in all their measures let us twine, my brethren, to the years of the Lord, as thirty crowns to the thirty years. Blessed be His Birth!
5. In the first year, that is chieftain over the treasures and Dispenser of abundant blessings, let the Cherubim who bare up the Son in glory, praise Him with us! He left His glory, and toiled and found the sheep that was lost. To Him be thanksgiving!
6. In the second year, let the Seraphim praise Him yet more with us. They that had proclaimed the Son Holy, by and by saw Him when He was reviled among the gainsayers; He bore the contempt and taught praise. To Him be Glory!
7. In the third year, let Michael and his followers, that ministered to the Son in the highest, praise Him with us. They saw Him on the earth when He was ministering, washing feet, cleansing souls. Blessed be His lowliness!
8. In the fourth year, let the whole earth praise Him with us. It is but small for the Son, and it marvelled because it saw that it entertained Him in its bed that is so very mean. He filled the bed, and filled the Heaven. To Him be Majesty!
9. In the fifth year, the Sun shone unto the earth. With its breath let it praise our Sun Who brought His breadth down low, and humbled His mightiness, that the subtle eye of the unseen soul might be able to look upon Him. Blessed be His brightness!
10. In the sixth year again, let the whole air praise Him with us, in whose wide space it is that all things are made glorious, which saw its mighty Lord that had become a little Child in a little bosom. Blessed be His dignity!
11. In the seventh year, the clouds and winds rejoiced with us and sprinkled the dews over the flowers, for they saw the Son who enslaved His brightness and received disgrace and foul spitting. Blessed be His Redemption!
12. In the year also that is eighth, let the fields give praise, that suckle their fruits from His fountains. They worshipped because they saw the Son in arms and the pure One sucking pure milk. Blessed be His good pleasure!
13. In the ninth year, let the earth glorify the might of her Creator, Who laid seed in her in the beginning that she might bring forth all her produce; for it saw Mary, a thirsty land, who yielded the fruit of a Child that was a wonder, yea, a marvel. [Then] it praised Him more exceedingly, for that He was a great Sea of all good things. To Him be exaltation!
14. In the tenth year, let the mount Sinai glorify Him, it which trembled before its Lord. It saw that they took up stones against its Lord; He received stones, Who should build His Church upon a Stone. Blessed be His building!
15. In the eleventh year, let the great sea praise the fists of the Son that measured it, Isaiah 40:12 and it was astonished and saw that He came down, was baptized in a small water, and cleansed the creatures. Blessed be His noble act!
16. In the twelfth year, let the holy Temple praise Him, that saw the Child when He sat among the old men: the priests were silent when the Lamb of the Feast bleated in His feast. Blessed be His propitiation!
17. In the thirteenth year, let the crowns praise with us the King who conquered, that died and was crowned with a crown of thorns, and bound upon Adam a great crown at His right hand. Blessed be His Apostleship!
18. In the fourteenth year, let the passover in Egypt praise the Passover that came and passed over all, and instead of Pharaoh sunk Legion, instead of horses choked the devil. Blessed be His vengeance!
19. In the fifteenth year, let the lamb of the gluttons praise Him: since our Lord was so far from slaughtering it as Moses did, that He even redeemed mankind with His own Blood. He that feeds all, died for all. Blessed be His Father!
20. In the sixteenth year, let the wheat praise by its type that Husbandman, John 12:24 Who sowed His Body in the barren earth, since it covers all, spreads itself out and yields new Bread. Blessed be the Pure One!
21. In the seventeenth year, let the Vine praise the Lord that garnished it. He planted a vineyard, souls were as vineplants. He gave peace to the vineyard, but destroyed the vineyard that brought forth wild grapes. Blessed be its Uprooter!
22. In the eighteenth year, let the Vine which the wild boar out of the wood had eaten, praise the True Vine which trimmed Himself, and kept His fruit, and brought the fruits to the Lord of the Vineyard. John 18:9 Blessed be His Vintage!
23. In the nineteenth year, let our leaven praise the true leaven which worked itself in among those that were in error, and drove them all together, and made them one mind by one Doctrine. Blessed be your doctrine!
24. In the twentieth year, let salt praise Your living Body, wherewith are salted the bodies and the souls of all the faithful, and faith is the salt of men wherewith they are preserved. Mark 9:49 Blessed be Your preserving!
25. In the twenty-first year, let the waters of the desert praise You. They are sweet to them afar off, they are bitter to them Exodus 15:25 that are near, who did not minister to Him. The [chosen] people and the nations were bitter in the desert, and He destroyed them. They were sweetened by the Cross which redeemed them. Blessed be Your pleasantness!
26. In the twenty-second year, let arms and the sword praise You: they sufficed not to kill our adversary. It was You that killed him, even You who fixed the ear on, which Simon's sword cut off. Blessed be Your healing!
27. In the twenty-third year, let the ass praise Him, that gave its foal for Him to ride on, that loosed the bonds, that opened the mouth of the dumb, that opened also the mouth of the wild asses Genesis 16:12 when the race of Hagar gave a shout of praise. Acts 2:11 Blessed be the praise of You!
28. In the twenty-fourth year, let the Treasury praise the Son. The treasures marvelled at the Lord of treasures, when in the house of the poor He was increasing, Who made Himself poor that He might enrich all. 2 Corinthians 8:9 Blessed be Your rule!
29. In the twenty-fifth year, let Isaac praise the Son, for by His goodness he was rescued upon the Mount from the knife, and in his stead there was the victim, the type of the Lamb for the slaughter. Hebrews 11:19 The mortal escaped, and He that quickens all died. Isaiah liii Blessed be His offering!
30. In the twenty-sixth year, let Moses praise Him with us, for that he was afraid and fled from his murderers. Let him praise the Lord that bore the spear and that received the nails in His hands, in His feet. He entered into hell and spoiled it, Isaiah 49:24 and came forth. Blessed be Your Resurrection!
31. In the year which is the twenty-seventh, let the eloquent speakers praise the Son, for they found no cloke to save our cause. He was silent in the judgment-hall, and He carried our cause. Honour be to Him!
32. And in this year let all judges praise Him, who, as being just men, killed the ungodly; let them praise the Son who died for the wicked, as being good. Though Son of the Just One, He gave them all manner of good things in abundance. Blessed be His bowels of mercy!
33. In the eight and twentieth year, let all mighty men of valour praise the Son, because they delivered not from him who took us captive. He only is to be praised, who being slain showed us life. Revelation 5:9 Blessed be His delivery!
34. In the twenty-ninth year, let Job praise Him with us, who bore sufferings for himself, and our Lord bore for us the spitting and the spear, and the crown of thorns, and scourges, contempt and reproach, yea mocking. Blessed be His mercy!
35. In the year that is thirteenth, let the dead praise Him with us, because they are quickened, and the living, because they have turned to repentance, Malachi 4:6 because height and depth were set at one by Him. Blessed be He and His Father!
Hymn 14
(Resp .— Blessed be he who became beyond measure low, that he might make us beyond measure great)
1. Of the Birth of the Firstborn, let us tell on His Feast-day. — He gives on His day, secret comforts.— If the unclean King at his feast, in memory of his day — gave the gift of wrath, the head in a charger — how much more shall the Blessed, give blessings to him — who sings praise at His Feast!
2. Let us not count our vigil like vigils of every day.— His feast, its reward, exceeds an hundredfold.— For this feast makes war, on sleep by its vigil;— speaking it makes war, on silence by its voice — clad with all blessings, it is chief of feasts — and of every joy.
3. Today the angels, and the archangels — descended to sing — a new song on earth.— In this mystery they descend, and rejoice with the vigil-keepers. — At the time when they gave praise, blasphemy abounded.— Blessed be the Birth by which, lo! The world resounds — with anthems of praise.
4. For this is the night that joined, the Watchers on high with the vigil-keepers. — The Watcher came to make watchers in the midst of creation. — Lo! The vigil-keepers are made comrades with the Watchers: — the singers of praise are made, companions of the Seraphs.— Blessed be he who becomes, the harp of Your praise!— and Your grace becomes his reward.
5. The Birth then of the Firstborn, I will sing and tell how — the Godhead in the womb wove itself a vesture.— He put it on and came forth in birth, in death again put it off — once he put it off, twice He put it on.— On the left He wore it, then took it off thence — and laid it at the right.
6. He dwelt in a narrow bosom, the Might that rules all.— While He was dwelling there, He held the reins of the whole:— to His Father He made offering, that He might fulfil His Will:— Heaven was filled by Him, and every creature.— The Sun entered the womb, and in the height and the depth — his splendour abode.
7. He dwelt in the wide bosoms, of all the creatures — too narrow to hold, the greatness of the Firstborn.— How then sufficed for it, that bosom of Mary? — Marvellous if it sufficed, bewilderment if it sufficed not.— Of all bosoms that held Him, one bosom sufficed for Him — His, the Supreme Who begot Him.
8. The bosom that held Him, if it held Him Wholly — equals the wondrous bosom, of the Supreme Who begot Him.— But who dare say the bosom, that is narrow weak and lowly — is equal to His, Who is the Supreme Being?— He dwelt there of His mercy, though so great is His Nature: — it is without bound.
9. Reconciling Peace, sent to the nations!— gladdening Brightness, that came to the sad!— Mighty Leaven in silence, overcoming all!— Patient One that has taken, man after man in Your net!— Happy he who has welcomed, your joy in his heart — and forgot his groans in You!
10. They sounded forth peace, the Watchers to the vigil-keepers. — Among the vigil-keepers the good tidings, were announced by the Watchers. — Who would sleep on that night, which has waked all creatures?— For they bear good tidings of peace, where warfare had been.— Blessed is he who has pleased, the Divine Majesty by his silence — when speaking moved His wrath!
11. Watchers mixed with watchers, they rejoiced that the world came to life.— The Evil One was shamed who was king, and had woven a crown of lies;— and set up his throne, as God in the world.— The Babe laid in the manger, cast him from his dominion.— The Sun rendered worship, doing Him homage by his Magi — in his worshippers he worshipped Him.
12. God saw that mankind, worship things created:— He put on a created body, that in our custom He might capture us.— Lo! In this our form, He that formed us healed us — and in this created shape, our Creator gave us life.— He drew us not by force: blessed be He Who came in ours — and joined us in His!
13. Who would not marvel, at Mary, David's daughter — bearing an infant, and her virginity kept!— She lays Him on her breast, and lulls Him with song and He rejoices.— The Angels raise hymns, the Seraphs cry "Holy,"— the Magi offer, acceptable gifts, — to the Son Who is born.
14. O great above measure, immeasurably made low — praised beyond praises, debased to humiliation! — the tender mercies laid on You, bowed You down to all this — let Your grace bow me down, though evil to give praise!— Happy he who becomes, a fountain of voices — all praising You in all!
15. He was servant on earth; He is Lord in Heaven.— Heir of height and depth, He became a stranger:— Whom men judged in guile, He is judge in truth:— He Whose face they spat on, breathes His Spirit on theirs:— He Who held the frail reed, has become the staff of the world — which grows old and leans on Him.
16. He Who rose to wait on His servants, now sits to be worshipped. — Whom the scribes despised, before Him Seraphs cry "Holy."— This praise Adam desired, to steal privily.— The serpent which made him fall, saw to what height he was raised:— he crushed it because it deceived him; the feet of Eve trod it down — which had sent venom into her ears.
17. The wife proved barren, and withheld her fruit — but the bosom of Mary, holily conceived.— To wonder at fields, and to admire plants — she needed not who received, and rendered what she borrowed not.— Nature confessed its defeat; the womb was aware of it — and restored what Nature gave not.
18. Mary was defeated, in the judgment by Elizabeth.— She that was barren pleaded, that the Will which prevailed — to close the open door, has opened the closed.— He has made childless the married womb; He has made fruitful the virgin womb.— Because the People were accurst faithless, He made her that was married — held from bearing before the face of the maiden.
19. He Who could give moisture, to breasts barren and dead — caused them to fail in youth, made them to flow in age — forced and changed nature, in its season and out of its season.— The Lord of natures changed, the Virgin's nature. — Because the People were barren, He made her that was aged — a mouth on behalf of the damsel.
20. And as He began at birth, He went on and fulfilled in death.— His Birth received worship; His Death paid the debt. — As He came to His Birth, the Magi worshipped Him — again He came to His Passion, and the thief sought refuge in Him — Between His Birth and Death, midway He set the world:— in birth and Death he gave it life.
21. Thousand thousands stand, and ten thousand thousands haste.— The thousands and ten thousands, cannot search out the One:— for all of them stand, in silence to serve.— He has no heir of His Throne, save the Son Who is of Him.— In the midst of silence is the enquiry into Him, when the watchers come to search Him out — they attain to silence and are stayed.
22. The Firstborn entered the womb, and the pure Virgin was not harmed.— He stirred and came forth in her travail, and the fair Mother was troubled by Him.— Glorious and unseen in entering, humble and manifest in issuing — for He was God in entering, and He was man in issuing.— A marvel and bewilderment to hear: fire entered the womb; put on a body and came forth!
23. Gabriel chief of Angels, called Him "My Lord": — he called Him "My Lord," to teach that He was his Lord, not his fellow.— Gabriel had with him, Michael as fellow:— the Son is Lord of the servants; exalted is His Nature as His Name.— No servant can search Him out; for the greater the servant — He is great above His servant.
24. When they stand before You, the watchers with songs of praise — they know not in what part, they shall discern You.— They have sought You above in the height; they have seen You below in the depth:— they have searched for You in the midst of heaven; they have seen You in the midst of the abyss:— they have discerned You beside Him that is worshipped; they have found You in the midst of the creatures:— they have come down to You and sung Glory to You.
25. You are all wonderful, in all parts where we seek You.— Near are You — and far, and who may attain to You?— No seeking avails, that its stretch should reach unto You.— Whereon it stretches to reach You, it is checked and stops — it falls short of Your mountain; Faith reaches there — and Love with prayer.
26. The Magi also sought Him, and in the manger when they found Him — instead of scrutiny worship, they offered Him in silence;— for empty strivings, oblations gave they Him.— Seek too the Firstborn, and if you find Him in the height — instead of troubled questionings, open your treasures before Him — and offer Him your works.
Hymn 15
Resp .— Blessed is He above all in His Birth! (bis).
1. Celebrate, O nations, this feast, first fruits of all feasts;— recount the sufferings that were, and the wounds and pains — that we may know what plagues, He healed, the Son Who was sent.
R., Blessed be He Who sufficed to heal our pains!
2. Celebrate, O saved nations, Him Who saves all in His Birth.— Even my feeble tongue, has become a harp through His mercy.— The excellency of the Firstborn, in His Festival let us sing.
R., Blessed is He Who has made us meet for His Feast!
3. How then can any one, admire a physician — until he hear and learn, what were the pains he healed?— And when our plagues are proclaimed, then is our Healer magnified.
R., Blessed be He Who is exalted in our pains!
4. Created things were worshipped: because the worshipper was foolish — he used to worship all things; but One they worshipped not.— He came down therefore in mercy and broke, the yoke that enslaved all.
R., Blessed is He Who loosed our pains!
5. The mercies of the Highest were revealed; He came down and set free His creature.— In this blessed month, wherein are made releases of slaves — the Lord underwent bondage, to call the bond to freedom.
R., Blessed is He Who brought freedom!
6. The Lord of the months chose Him, two months for His doings.— His Conception was in Nisan, and His Birth in Conun.— In Nisan He sanctified them that were conceived; and them that were born He set free in Conun.
R., Blessed be He Who makes glad His months!
7. The Sun revealed in silence, his worshippers to his Lord: — it was grievous to him, a servant, to be worshipped instead of his Lord. — Lo! creation is glad, that the Creator is worshipped.
R., Blessed is the Child that is worshipped.
8. The months wore three crowns, and crowned Him in His triumphs.— Blessed is the Sun for His Birth, and for His Resurrection desired — and for His Ascension blessed; the months have borne Him crowns.
R., Blessed be He Who has triumphed in His months!
9. Unveil and make glad your face, O Creature, in our feast. — Let the Church sing with voice; Heaven and earth in silence! — Sing and praise the Child, who has brought release for all!
R., Blessed be He Who has annulled the bonds!
10. When fools did reverence to the Sun, in reverence to him they disgraced him.— But now when all know he is a servant, in his course his Lord is worshipped;— all servants rejoice, that as servants they are reckoned.
R., Blessed be He Who ordered their natures!
11. We have done perverse things, who have become servants of servants.— Lo! Our freedom compelled him, a servant, to become lord to us:— the Sun, the servant for all, we have made Lord for all.
R., Blessed is He Who to Himself has turned us!
12. And the Moon too which was worshipped, has been set free by His Birth.— For 'tis strange that by her light, which enlightens the eyes — by it the eyes were darkened, that they gazed on her as a God.
R., Blessed be the beam that has enlightened us!
13. Fire commended Your Birth, which drew away worship from it.— The magi used to worship it: they who have worshipped before You.— They left it and worshipped its Lord; they exchanged fire for the Fire.
R., Blessed is He Who has bathed us in His light!
14. In place of the senseless fire that eats up its own body of itself — the magi adored the Fire Who gave His Body to be eaten.— The live coal drew near and sanctified, the lips that were unclean.
R., Blessed is He Who has mixed His Fire in us!
15. Delusion blinded men, to worship created things:— fellow servants were worshipped, and the God of all was wronged.— He Who is to be worshipped came down to His birth, and gathered to himself worship.
R., Blessed is He Who by all is worshipped!
16. The All-knowing saw, that men worship things that were made:— He put on a body that was made, that in our custom He might take us captive — and by a body that was made, drew us to the Creator.
R., Blessed be He Who drew us with guile!
17. The Evil One knew how to harm us; and by lights he blinded us — by possessions he hurt us, through gold he made us poor — by the graver's graven images, he made us a heart of stone.
R., Blessed is He Who came and softened it!
18. They graved and set up stones, whereon men should stumble.— They set them not on the highway, for the blind to stumble on:— they called them Gods, that on them with open eyes men might stumble.
R., Blessed is He Who exposed the idols which they feared!
19. Sin had spread its wings, and covered all things — that none could discern, of himself or from above, the truth.— Truth came down into the womb, came forth and rolled away error.
R., Blessed is He Who dispelled Sin by His Birth!
20. For Mercy endured not, to see the way hindered.— When He came down for conception, He opened the way and made it easy:— when He came forth in birth, He trod it and marked its miles.
R., Blessed is the peace of Your Way!
21. He chose the Prophets; they cleared the way for the people:— He sent the Apostles; they smoothed paths for the nations.— The snares of the Evil One were shamed, when feeble men cleared them away.
R., Blessed is He Who made our paths plain!
22. The graven images blinded, their gravers in secret:— they graved eyes on stone, and darkened the eyes of the soul.— Praise to Your Birth that opened, the sight that was blinded.
R., Blessed be He Who has restored sight!
23. Let women praise Her, the pure Mary, — that as in Eve their mother — great was their reproach — lo! In Mary their sister — greatly magnified was their honour.
R., Blessed is He Who sprang from women!
24. Let the nations praise Your Birth, that they have gained eyes to see — how their wine has made them reel; and they have seen their own humiliation? — They come to know themselves, and worship Him who has rescued them.
R., Blessed is He Who has taught repentance!
25. Its worship mankind— had spread everywhere:— Him Who is to be worshipped it sought not, that worship should be paid Him.— But He endured not — worshippers that err.
R., Blessed is He Who came down and is worshipped!
26. The gold of the idols worshipped You, that You treated it as alms; which availed not apart, for the uses of life.— It hasted to Your purse, as it had hasted to the manger.
R., Blessed be He Whom Creation has loved!
27. The frankincense worshipped Your Birth, which had served demons.— It sorrowed then in its vapour: it exulted when it saw its Lord. — Instead of being the incense of delusion, it was an oblation before God!
R., Blessed is Your Birth which is worshipped!
28. The myrrh worshipped You for itself, and for its kindred ointments.— The hands that bore its ointment, had anointed abominable graven images.— To You the perfume was sweet, from the anointing wherewith Mary anointed You.
R., Blessed is Your savour which is sweet to us!
29. The gold that had been worshipped worshipped you, when the magi offered it.— That which had been worshipped in molten images, gave worship to You.— With its worshippers it worshipped You, it confessed that You are He that is to be worshipped.
R., Blessed is He Who claimed worship for Himself!
30. The Evil One fled and his hosts, he that used to exult in the world.— In the high places they sacrificed heifers to him, in the gardens they slew bulls for him.— He swallowed up all creation, he filled his belly with prey.
R., Blessed be He Who came and made him disgorge!
31. Of him the Lord said, that he had fallen from Heaven.— The Abhorred One had exalted himself; from his uplifting he has fallen. The foot of Mary has trod him down, who bruised Eve with his heel.
R., Blessed be He Who by His Birth laid him low!
32. Chaldeans went about, in all places and led astray:— the preachers of delusion, were shamed through the world — they were shamed and overcome — by the preachers of truth.
R., Blessed be the Babe Whom they preached!
33. Sin had spread out, her nets for the draught.— Praise be to Your Birth that captured, the nets of delusion.— The soul took flight on high, which had been taken in the deep.
R., Blessed is He Who prepared for us wings!
34. His Will was able, even by force to rescue us.— But since it was not force that made us guilty, it was not by force He purged us.— The Evil One by enticement enslaved us: Your Birth enticed to give us life.
R., Blessed be He Who planned and gave us life!
35. The creatures complained that they were worshipped; in silence they sought release.— The All-Releaser heard, and because He endured it not He came down — put on the form of a servant in the womb, came forth, set free Creation.
R., Blessed be He Who made his Creation his gain!
36. Mercy was kindled on high, at the voice of Creation that cried out:— Gabriel was sent; he came and gave tidings of Your Conception. — When You came to the Birth, Watchers gave tidings of your coming forth.
R., Blessed be by Your Worship above all!
37. For greater is the joy of the Birth than the Conception. — Yea it was one angel, that brought us tidings of Your Conception: — but in the joy of Your Birth, a multitude of Watchers brought tidings.
R., Blessed be Your tidings in Your day!
38. Glory to You I too in Your day, will offer, O You that are worshipped! — Take of the fruit that is mine; and give me mercy which is Yours!— For if the evil that is in me gives gifts, how much more shall You give Who is good!
R., Blessed is Your wealth in Your servant!
39. The two things You sought, in Your Birth have been done for us.— Our visible body You have put on; Your invisible might we have put on:— our body has become Your clothing; Your Spirit has become our robe.
R., Blessed be He Who has been adorned and has adorned us!
40. Height and depth were amazed, that Your Birth subdued the rebels.— For that we gave You hostages, You gave us the Paraclete:— when the hostages went up from us, the Captain of the host came down to us.
R., Blessed be He Who took away and sent down!
41. Come you mouths of all and pour forth, and be in the likeness of waters, and wells of voices! May the Holy Spirit come — and sing glory through us all, to the Father Who has redeemed us through His Son!
R., Blessed is He above all in His Birth!
Hymn 16
(Resp .— Glory to all of You from all of us! (bis.)
1. Who then that is mortal man, can declare concerning the All-Life giver — Who quitted the height of His Majesty, and abased Himself to humility?— You Who exalts all in Your Birth, exalt my weak mind — to declare of Your Birth; not that I should search out Your Majesty, — but that I should proclaim Your grace.
R., Blessed be He Who conceals and reveals in His discourses!
2. It is a great marvel that the Son, dwelt wholly in a body — abode therein wholly and it sufficed for Him; dwelt therein though not bounded thereby.— His Will was wholly therein; His bounds reached wholly to His Father.— Who is sufficient to tell, how though He dwelt wholly in a body.— He likewise dwelt wholly in all?
R., Blessed is He Who though without bounds was bounded!
3. Your Majesty is concealed from us; Your Grace is revealed before us.— I will be silent, O Lord of Your Majesty; and I will tell of Your grace.— Your grace clove to You, and bowed You down to our vileness:— Your grace made You a babe; Your grace made You man:— it straitened, it enlarged, Your Majesty.
R., Blessed be the might that became little and became great!
4. Glory to Him Who became lowly, though lofty He was by His nature! — He became in His love the firstborn of Mary, Firstborn though He be of Godhead. — He became in name the offspring of Joseph, offspring though He be of the Most High. — He became by His own Will man, God though He be by His Nature. — Glorified be Your Will and Your Nature!
R., Blessed be Your Glory which put on our image!
5. Yea, O Lord, Your Birth, has become mother of all creatures; for it travailed anew and gave birth, to mankind which gave birth to You. You were born of it bodily; it was born of You spiritually.— All that You came for to birth, was that man might be born in Your likeness.— Your Birth became the author of birth to all.
R., Blessed be He Who became a youth and to all gave youth!
6. When man's hope had broken down, hope was increased by Your Birth.— Good tidings of hope they bore, the Heavenly Ones to men. — Satan who cut off our hope, his own hope by his own hands had cut off.— when he saw that hope was increased: Your Birth became to the hopeless — a fountain teaming with hope.
R., Blessed be He Who bore the tidings of hope!
7. The day of Your Birth is like You, for it is desired and loved as You.— We who saw not Your Birth, and its flame as in its own time — in this Your day we see You, even as You were a babe — beloved by all men, lo! In You the Churches rejoice — Your day adorns and is adorned.
R., Blessed be Your day which was ordained for us!
8. Your day has given us a gift, to which the Father has none other like — It was not Seraphim He sent us, nor yet did Cherubim come down among us — there came not Watchers or Ministers, but the Firstborn to Whom they minister. — Who can suffice to give thanks, that the Majesty which is beyond measure — is laid in the lowly manger!
R., Blessed be He Who gave us what He had won!
9. That generation Your Birth made glad, and our generation Your day makes glad: twofold was the happiness of that generation, for they saw Your Birth and also Your day:— less is the happiness of them that come after, for the day of Your Birth they see only.— Yet because they that then were, doubted, greater is the happiness of them that come after — who though they have not seen You have believed in You.
R., Blessed be Your happiness that is added to us!
10. The Magi exalted from afar; the Scribes murmured near at hand — the prophet showed his message, and Herod his wrath — the scribes showed their doctrine, the Magi showed their offerings. It is a marvel that to Him, the Babe, they of His own house hasted with their swords, and they that were strangers with their offerings.
R., Blessed be Your Birth which has stirred up all!
11. The bosom of Mary amazes me, that it sufficed for You, Lord, and embraced You.— All creation were too small, to conceal Your Majesty;— Heaven and earth too narrow, to be in the likeness of wings, to cover Your Godhead. — Too small for You was the bosom of earth; great enough for You was the bosom of Mary.— He dwelt in the bosom and healed in her bosom.
R.,
12. He was wrapped meanly in swaddling clothes, and offerings were offered Him.— He put on garments in youth, and from them there came forth helps: He put on the waters of baptism, and from them there shone forth beams:— He put on linen cloths in death, and in them were shown forth triumphs; with His humiliations, His exaltations.
R., Blessed be He Who joined His Glory to His Passion!
13. All these are the changes of raiment, which Mercy put off and put on — when He strove to put on Adam, the glory which he had put off.— He was wrapped in swaddling-clothes as Adam with leaves; and clad in garments instead of skins.— He was baptized for Adam's sin, and buried for Adam's death:— He rose and raised Adam into Glory.
R., Blessed be He Who came down and clothed him and went up!
14. Though Your Birth had sufficed, for Adam's sons as for Adam;— O Mighty One Who became a babe, in Your Birth anew have You begotten me!— O pure One Who wast baptized, let Your Washing wash away our filth — O Living One who wast buried, may we gain life in Your death!— I will praise all of You in Him that fills all.
R., Glory to all of You from all of us!
Hymn 17
(Resp ., Praise to You from every mouth on this Day of Your Birth!)
1. Infants were slain because of Your Birth, You Giver of life to all — But because He Who was slain was a King, our Lord the Lord of Kingdoms — the tyrant in subtlety, gave for Him slain hostages — clad in the mysteries of His slaying: the ranks of heaven received — the hostages that they of earth offered.
R., Blessed be the King who magnified Him!
2. All the Kings of the house of David, transmitted and hauled on each to each — the throne and crown of the Son of David, as guardian of a deposit.— In one they reached their bound and limit, when He came, the Lord of all things — and took away from them all things, and cut off the transmission of all things....
R., Blessed be He Who is clad in that which is His!
3. The doves moaned in Bethlehem, that the serpent destroyed their offspring.— The eagle betook himself to Egypt, to go down and receive the promises.— Egypt rejoiced in Him that there came, abundance for payment of debts, — which had failed the sons of Joseph. Among the sons of Joseph He laboured and paid — the debts of the sons of Joseph.
R., Blessed is He Who called Him out of Egypt!
4. The Scribes read daily, that the Star arises out of Jacob. — For the People were the Voice and the reading, for the nations the rising of the Star and the interpretation:— for them were the Books and for us the facts; for them boughs and for us fruits.— The Scribes read in things written; the Magi saw in things done, the outshining of that which was read.
R., Blessed be He Who added to us their books!
5. Who is able to tell, of the withdrawal and the appearings — of the shining star that went, before the bearers of the offerings? — It appeared and proclaimed the crown; it was hid and concealed His Body. — It was for the Son in twofold wise, herald and guardian;— it guarded His Body, it proclaimed His Crown.
R., Blessed is He Who has given wisdom to them that proclaim Him!
6. The tyrant gazed on the Magi, as they asked "Where is the son of the King?" — While his heart was gloomy, he sought for himself a cheerful countenance.— With the sheep he sent wolves, that should kill the Lamb of God.— The Lamb went down to Egypt, that thence He might judge them — whence He had saved them.
R., Blessed be He Who yet again subdued them.
7. The Magi declared to the tyrant, "When your servants joined us — the bright star withdrew itself, yea the paths hid themselves."— The blessed ones knew not, that the king had sent bitter foes — murderers as if worshippers, to destroy the sweet fruit — whereof the bitter eat and are made sweet.
R., To You be glory, Medicine of life!
8. When there the Magi received, commandment to go and seek Him.— it is written of them that they saw, that bright star and rejoiced.— Thus it is known that it had been withdrawn; therefore rejoiced they at its aspect.— It was hid and hindered the murderers, it arose and called the worshippers;— it overthrew a part and it called a part.
R., Blessed be He Who has triumphed in both parts!
9. The abhorred one who slew the children, how did he overlook the Child? — Justice hindered him that he thought, the Magi would return to him.— While he stayed waiting to seize, the Worshipped and His worshippers, — everything escaped his hands, the offerings and the worshippers took flight — from the tyrant to the Son of the King.
R., Glory to Him who knows all counsels!
10. The blameless Magi as they slept, meditated on their beds:— sleep became a mirror, and a dream rose on it as light.— The murderer they saw and trembled, as his guile and his sword flashed forth.— He taught the men guile, he sharpened the sword to sharpness:— the Watcher taught the sleepers.
R., Blessed is He who gives prudence to the simple!
11. The simple who believe have known, two Comings of Christ: — but the foolish scribes have not even perceived one Coming. — Yet the nations have life in the first, and shall rise again there in the second.— The People whose mind is blinded, the first Coming has dispersed — the second shall blot out their memory.
R., Blessed be the King Who has come and is to come!
12. When the Saviour arose as the blind, the Sun showed forth his beams — and they were clothed in darkness: the Brightness sent forth his light — and He brought the sons of the stars, to make manifest the sons of darkness.— For lo! Among you is the star, but on your eyes the veil.
R., To You be glory, newborn Sun!
13. Prophets declared concerning His Birth, but they made not plain the time thereof.— He sent the Magi, and they came and showed of its time.— Yet the Magi who made known the time, made not plain who the Child should be.— A star of splendid light, in its course showed who the Child was — how splendid was His lineage.
R., Blessed be He Who by them all was pointed out!
14. They scorned the trumpet of Isaiah, which sounded forth His pure Conception, — they silenced the lute of the Psalms, which sang of His Priesthood;— the harp of the Spirit they hushed, which sang again of His Kingdom;— under deep silence they closed up, the great Birth that joined the cry — of them above with them below.
R., Blessed be He Who appeared in the midst of silence!
15. His voice was the secret key that opened the mouths of the Magi.— Whereas preachers were silent in Judah, they made their voice sound through creation;— and the Gospel which those had scorned, these who came from far took and departed.— The scorners began to hear their own orders from strangers, who cried out the name of the Son of David.
R., Blessed be He Who by our voice has put them to silence!
16. Whereas the People scorned offerings, and brought them not to Him the Son of the King, — He sent His herald to the nations, and caused them to come with their offerings: — yet not all of them caused He to come, for it could not suffice for them — the narrow bosom of Bethlehem; but the bosom of Holy Church — enlarged itself and contained her children.
R., Blessed be He Who has made the barren fruitful!
17. The slayers of Bethlehem mowed down the tender flowers that among them — should perish the tender seedling, wherein was hidden the Bread of life.— But the ear of grain that has life had escaped, that it should come to the sheaves in harvest:— the grape that escaped when young, gave itself to the treading — that its wine might give life to souls.
R., Glory to You, Treasury of life!
18. The murderers went into a paradise, full of tender fruits:— they shook off the flowers from the bough, blossoms and buds they destroyed — unblemished oblations he offered, the persecutor unwittingly.— To him woe, but to them blessing! Bethlehem was first to give, virgin fruits to the Holy One.
R., Blessed is He Who receives the first fruits!
19. The Scribes were silenced in envy, the Pharisees in jealousy. — Men of stone cried out and gave praise, who had a heart of stone. — They applauded in presence of the Stone, the rejected that has become the Head.— Stones were made flesh by that Stone, and obtained mouths to speak; stones cried out through that Stone.
R., Blessed be Your Birth that has caused stones to cry out!
20. The Star that is written in Scripture, the nations beheld from afar — that the People might be shamed which is near; O People instructed and puffed up! Which by the nations hast been in turn instructed, how and where they saw — that vision whereof Balaam spoke; a stranger he who spread abroad concerning it — strangers they who saw it.
R., Blessed is He Who has provoked to jealousy them of His own house!
21. Let my supplication draw near to Your Door, yea my poverty to Your Treasury!— Give to me my Lord without measure, as God unto man!— And though You increase gifts as Son of the Blessed, and though You add to them as Son of the King;— though I be thankless as are all creatures of dust, as Adam so is the son of Adam, — and as the Blessed so too is the Son of the Blessed.
R., Praise be to You Who is like Your Father!
Hymn 18
Resp .— Praise be to Him Who sent Him! (bis)
1. Blessed are you, O Church, for lo! In you is the sound — of the great feast the festival of the King!— Sion is deserted, her gates are sore thirsty — and forsaken of festivals. — Blessed your gates that are open yet not filled — and your halls that are enlarged yet suffice not!— In the midst of you lo! Is the sound, of the nations that cry out, and have put to silence the People.
2. Blessed are you, O Church, that in your festivals, — the Watchers rejoice amid your festivity!— for one night the Watchers gave praise — on the earth which withheld and refused praise.— Blessed your voices that have been sown and reaped — and in Heaven stored up in garners!— Your mouth is a censer, and your voices as perfumes, breathing vapour in your festivals.
3. Blessed are you, O Church, that all oblations, — are brought unto you in this feast. — The Magi once among traitors, offered them to the Truth. — Blessed your abode that He bowed Himself and dwelt therein, Son of the King Who is worshipped with gifts! — Gold from the West, and spices from the East — are offered in Your Festivals.
4. Blessed are you, O Church, that there is not with you — a tyrant King slayer of babes! For he killed in Bethlehem the little ones at random — that he might put to death the Child that gives life to all.— Blessed your children that are envied and worshipped, — by Kings, for those are promised for Your worship, — the crowns of the East:— he who trod down your dear ones, shall be trodden down by your beloved.
5. Blessed are you, O Church, for lo! Over you — Isaiah too exults in his prophecy —Lo a Virgin shall conceive and bear — a Son Whose name is great mystery!— O interpretation revealed in the Church! — two names that were joined and became one —Emmanuel, — God be with you ever, Who joined you with His members!
6. Blessed are you, O Church, in Micah who cried out —"A Shepherd shall come forth from Ephrata": — for He came to Bethlehem to take — from thence the rod of Jesse and to rule the nations.— Blessed your lambs that are sealed with His seal, — and your sheep that are kept by His sword!— You are, O Church, — the abiding Bethlehem — for in you is the Bread of Life!
7. Blessed are you, O Church, for lo! In you rejoices — Daniel also the man beloved,— who foretold that the glorious Messiah shall be killed, — and the city of holiness be laid desolate at His killing!— Woe to the People that was rejected and is not converted — Blessed the nations that were called and turned not away!— The bidden guests refused — and others in their stead enjoyed their banquet.
8. Blessed are you, O Church, for on your, lute, lo! King David sings psalms in you! In the Spirit he sings of Him "You are My Son and I— this day have begotten You" in the glories of holiness.— Blessed your ears that have been purged to hear!— On His day watch as His Body and call on Him — be taught by Sion — which saddened His Feast; make Him glad Who has gladdened you.
9. Blessed are you, O Church, that all festivals — have taken flight from Sion and sheltered with you!— In the midst of you the wearied Prophets have found rest — from the labour and the reproach they bore in Judah.— Blessed the books unrolled in your temples, — and the festivals celebrated in your shrines!— Sion is forsaken — and lo! Today the nations shout in your festivals.
10. Blessed are you, O Church, in ten blessings, — which our Lord has given as a mystery complete:— for on ten all the numbers hang, therefore are you perfect by ten blessings. — Blessed your crowns that are twined — with all blessings mixed in every crown!— O blessed one — with every blessing crowned, on me too send your blessing!
11. Blessed are you, Ephrata, mother of Kings, that from you sprang the Lord of diadems!— Micah gave you tidings that He is from everlasting, and the span of His times is not comprehended.— Blessed are your eyes which first of all discerned Him!— you He deemed worthy to see Him when He appeared — Chief of benediction — and Beginning of gladness, you received first of all.
12. Blessed are you, Bethlehem, that the towns envy you — and the fortified cities!— As they envy you, so the women envy Mary, — and the virgins daughters of princes.— Blessed the maiden in whom He deigned to abide — and the city wherein He deigned to sojourn — a poor maiden, — and a small city, He chose Him to humble Himself.
13. Blessed are you, Bethlehem, that in you was the beginning — for Him the Son Who from everlasting is in the Father! — It is hard to comprehend, that before Time He is — Who in you made Himself subject to Time. — Blessed your ears, for in you first was heard the cry — of the Lamb of God who exulted in you!— Narrow though your manger — He spread Himself on all sides, and was worshipped of every creature.
14. Blessed are you too, Mary, that your name — is great and exalted because of your child!— You can tell then how and how long — and where He dwelt in you, the great One in small room.— Blessed your mouth that praised and enquired not — and your tongue that glorified and questioned not!— For His Mother was uncertain concerning Him — even while she carried Him in the womb; who then shall suffice to comprehend Him?
15. O Woman, you whom no man knew — how can we behold the Son you have borne?— For no eyes suffice to stand — before the transfigurations of the glory, that is on Him.— For tongues of fire abide in Him — Who sent tongues by His Ascension. — Be every tongue warned — that our questioning is as stubble, and as fire our scrutiny.
16. Blessed is he the priest who in the sanctuary, — offers to the Father the Son of the Father — the fruit that is plucked from our tree, though it be wholly of the Divine Majesty!— Blessed the hands that are hallowed and offer Him!— and the lips that are spent in kissing Him!— The Spirit in the Temple — longed for His embrace; and at His Crucifixion rent the veil and went forth.
17. The Archangel gave you greeting — as the earnest of holiness— Earth became to him new Heavens — when the Watcher came down and sang glory on it.— The sons of the Highest encompassed your habitation — because of the Son of the King that dwelt in you.— Your abode below — to the Heaven above was made like by the host of Watchers.
Hymn 19
(Resp .— Blessed be your Birth that gladdens all creatures!)
1. The first year wherein, our Saviour was born — is source of blessing, and ground of life — for by it are borne — manifold triumphs, the sum of all help:— as the first day of "the beginning,"— the great pillar of all creatures — bears the building of Creation;— so the year of the Firstborn bears help for man.
2. In the second year, of our Saviour's Birth — the Magi exult, the Pharisees mourn:— treasures are opened — kings are hastening, and infants are slain. — For in it are offered in Bethlehem — oblations precious and terrible — for while love made offering of gold —hatred offered infants by the sword.
3. The day of the All-Lightening, exults in His birth — a pillar of radiance, which drives away, by its beams — the works of darkness. After the type of that day, wherein light was created, — and sundered the darkness that spread — over the fair beauty of Creation;— the radiance of our Saviour's birth — came in to sunder the darkness that was on the heart.
4. The first day the source and the beginning — orders the roots, to make all things grow.— Our Saviour's day — is praised far above it, a tree planted in the world.— For His Death is as the root in the earth; His Resurrection as the head in heaven; on all sides His words reach as boughs; likewise His Body as fruit for the eaters.
5. Let the second day, sing praise to the Birth — of the second Son, and His voice which first — commanded the firmament and it was made — divided the waters that were above, and gathered the seas that were under.— He Who divided waters from waters, divided Himself from the Watchers and came down to man.— For the waters which at His command were gathered.— He cleft the fountain of life and gave drink.
6. Let the third day weave with various hymns— the crown of psalms and with one voice present it — for His Birth who gave growth — of buds and flowers, on the third day.— But now He the All-giver of growth — has come down and become the All-holy Flower; from the thirsting earth has sprang forth and gone up — that he may decorate and crown the conquerors.
7. Let the fourth day praise, first among the four — His Birth Who created as the fourth day — the two lightgivers — which fools worship, and are sightless and blind.— The Lord of Lightgivers has come down — and from the womb has shone on us as the Sun.— His splendours have opened the eyes of the blind:— His rays have given light to the wandering.
8. Let the fifth day laud Him Who created — on the fifth day creeping things and Dragons — of whose kind is the serpent.— He deceived with guile our mother, a maid void of counsel.— The deceiver who had mocked the maid — by the Dove was exposed as false, — which from a virgin bosom sprang, and came forth — the Wise that trod down the crafty.
9. Let the sixth day laud Him who created — on Vesper-day Adam, whom Satan envied; as a feigned friend — cheered him in offering poison in his food.— The medicine of life reached them both — put on a body and came near to both.— The mortal tasted Him and lived through Him — the devourer who ate Him was left void.
10. Let the seventh day hallow the Holy One — Who hallows the Sabbath, and gave rest to all that live.— The Blessed One Who wearied not — has care for mankind, and has care for the beasts.— When Freedom fell under the yoke — He came to the Birth and became bond to make it free:— He was smitten on the face by servants in the judgment hall — He broke the yoke that was on the free, as Lord.
11. Let the eighth day, which circumcised the Hebrews, — praise Him Who commanded his namesake Joshua — to circumcise with a flint — the people circumcised in body, while the heart was profane within.— Lo! As the eighth day, as a Babe, — to circumcision He came Who circumcises all.— Though the sign of Abraham is on His Flesh — the blind daughter of Sion had defiled it.
12. Let the tenth day sing, praises in its turn.— For God the first letter of Jesus (goodly name!), is ten in numbering.— He Who is as a lamb, turns back the numbers.— For when the number goes up to ten, it is turned back to begin again from one. O great mystery of that which is in Jesus, Whose might turns all creation back again!
13. The All-Purifier Firstborn in the day of His purifying — purified the purification of the firstborn and was offered in the Temple: — the Lord of offering needed offerings, — to make offering of birds.— In His Birth were fulfilled the types, — in His purification and circumcision the allegories.— He came and paid over debts in His coming down — in His Resurrection He went up and sent down treasures.
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| Pope St. Leo the Great: Famous Homily of Christmas |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-23-2020, 12:50 PM - Forum: Christmas
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Christmas Homily of St. Leo the Great
Sermon 21 - On the Feast of the Nativity
I. All share in the joy of Christmas
Our Saviour, dearly Beloved, was born this day. Let us rejoice. Sadness is not becoming upon the Birth Day of Life Itself, which, now that the fear of death is ended, fills us with gladness, because of our own promised immortality. No one is excluded from sharing in this cheerfulness, for the reason of our joy is common to all men. Our Lord, the Conqueror of sin and death, since there was no one free from servitude, came that He might bring deliverance to all.
Let him who is sanctified rejoice, for he draws nigh to the palm. Let the sinner rejoice, since he is invited to grace. Let the Gentiles exult, for they are called to life. For the Son of God, in the fullness of time, has taken upon Himself the nature of our humanity, as the unsearchable depths of the divine counsel hath decreed, in order that the inventor of death, the devil, by that very nature which he defeated, would be himself overcome.
And in this contest that was undertaken for us, the battle was waged in accordance with a great and wondrous law of justice. For the Omnipotent God engaged in combat with His most bitter enemy, not in the strength of His own Majesty, but in our human infirmity; confronting him with our very form and nature, and sharing likewise in our mortality; but free of all stain.
Unlike this Holy Nativity, is that of which we read of all men: No one is there free from sin, not even the infant whose life upon the earth is but a day.[Job 14:4] But of the concupiscence of the flesh, nothing has been transmitted in this unique generation; nothing of the law of sin has descended. A royal virgin of the house of David is chosen as the bearer of the Sacred Fruit, who had conceived her divine and human Offspring in her soul, before she conceived Him in her body.
And knowing not the divine purpose, and lest she be fearful at such unheard of tidings, she learns from the angelic colloquy of that which was to be wrought in her by the Holy Spirit; nor did she, who was about to become the Mother of God, believe that this betokened the loss of her virginity.
Why should she be fearful, to whom fruitfulness is promised through the power of the Most High? The faith of the believer is confirmed by the witness of the miracle that went before, when to Elizabeth was given unlooked for fruitfulness; that it might not be doubted, that He Who had given to the barren to conceive, would give it likewise to the Virgin.
II. The mystery of the Incarnation is a fitting theme for joy both to angels and to men
The Word of God, therefore, God, the Son of God, Who in the beginning was with God, by Whom all things were made, and without Whom was made nothing that was made, became Man, that He might free man from eternal death; bending down to the taking of our lowliness, without diminution of His own Majesty, so that remaining what He was, and taking upon Himself what He was not, He might join the form of a true servant to that form in which He is equal to God the Father [Phil. 2:6]; and by such a bond so link both natures, that this exaltation might not swallow up the lesser, nor adoption lessen the Higher.
Preserving therefore, the substance of both natures, and uniting them in One Person, lowliness is assumed by Majesty; infirmity, by Power; mortality, by Immortality. And to pay the debt of our present state, an inviolable Nature is united to our suffering one; and true God and true man are welded into the unity of One Lord, so that, as was needed for our healing, one and the same Mediator of God and men, might, by the one, suffer death, and by the Other, rise again from the dead. Rightly then, did this Birth of our salvation bring no taint of corruption to the Virginal integrity; for the birth of Truth, was the defense of virginity.
Such a Birth, dearly Beloved, befitted Christ, the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God; whereby He would be both joined to our lowliness, yet remain far above us in His divinity. For unless He were true God, He could bring us no aid; and were He not true man, He could offer us no example. The exulting angels, therefore, sing to the new born Lord, Glory to God in the Highest, and they announce unto me, peace on earth to men of good will. For they see the heavenly Jerusalem made up from all peoples of the earth. With what joy may not the lowliness of mankind rejoice in this unspeakable work of the divine compassion, when the angels in their glory so greatly rejoice.
III. Christians then must live worthily of Christ their Head
Let us, therefore, give thanks, dearly Beloved, to God the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit; Who, because of the exceeding great love, wherein He has loved us, has had compassion on us. And even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ [Eph. 2:5], that in Him we might be a new creature, and a new clay. Let us strip ourselves of the old man with his deeds; for being made partakers of the Birth of Christ, let us renounce the deeds of the flesh [Col. 3:9].
Acknowledge, O Christian, the dignity that is yours! Being made a partaker of the divine nature, do not by an unworthy manner of living fall back into your former abjectness of life. Be mindful of Whose Head, and of Whose Body, you are a member. Remember, that wrested from the powers of darkness, thou art now translated into the Light and the Kingdom of God. By the sacrament of baptism you have become the temple of the Holy Spirit. Do not, by evil deeds, drive out from you such a One dwelling with thee, and submit yourself again to the bondage of the devil. Because your price was the Blood of Christ; because in strictness He shall judge you Who in mercy has redeemed you, Who with the Father and the Holy Spirit, livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.
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| Mask mandates ‘all about submission,’ Rand Paul says |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-23-2020, 09:33 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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Mask mandates ‘all about submission,’ Rand Paul says
'It’s all about submission. They want you to submit to their will'
WEST PALM BEACH, December 22, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Requiring Americans to wear masks in public spaces is “all about submission,” not science, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said over the weekend in his latest remarks against overreach in COVID-19 response measures.
“It’d be one thing if we were told you have to give up your liberty, you have to give up your freedom, we’re going to save your life. But what if you have to give up all your freedoms and they’re wrong on the science?” Paul told Breitbart’s Alex Marlow during Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit. “Every one of the mandates — and you look in country after country, state after state — you look at when the mask mandates went in — the incidents went up exponentially after the mandates.”
“The trajectory of the virus hasn’t been altered at all by any of these things,” he continued. “I think the vaccine will, and this is why I really despise people like the CNN Dr. [Sanjay] Gupta, who I think is committing television malpractice by saying, ‘Oh, your mask is a much better thing than the vaccine.’ Well, no, it isn’t. The masks aren’t working at all.”
“And the masks are different, too,” Paul noted. “The N95 mask actually does work to a certain extent, if worn properly and used [with] sterile technique. In the hospital, our doctors — I have a brother and sister who are doctors, they wear the N95 mask, and it’s kept them from getting infected — but there’s no value to the cloth mask, at all. It’s like wearing your underwear.”
“If [Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony] Fauci has his way, you’ll never give up on the mask,” he went on. “It’s all about submission. They want you to submit to their will, whether there’s any science.”
In the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams counseled against wearing masks, as did Fauci himself, claiming they were ineffective at blocking COVID. But the public later learned health officials actually wanted to discourage the general public from buying masks to conserve the supply for health workers.
Despite the popular insistence that has since emerged that masking is essential outside one’s home, there remain reasons to doubt their effectiveness, such as the CDC’s September acknowledgement that masks cannot be counted on to keep out the coronavirus when spending 15 minutes or longer within six feet of someone, or a May 2020 study published by CDC’s peer-reviewed journal Emerging Infectious Diseases which “did not find evidence that surgical-type face masks are effective in reducing laboratory-confirmed influenza transmission, either when worn by infected persons (source control) or by persons in the general community to reduce their susceptibility.”
Paul, an opthamologist who himself tested positive for COVID-19 in March, has also proposed legislation to help parents move children from locked-down public schools to open schools of their choice, and confronted Fauci in Senate hearings for making “wrong prediction after wrong prediction” about the pandemic.
[Emphasis mine.]
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| Abp. Viganò: Vatican Nativity is ‘expression of apostasy, immorality and vice’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-23-2020, 09:21 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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Abp. Viganò: Vatican Nativity is ‘expression of apostasy, immorality and vice’
This irreverent monstrosity is the mark of the universal religion of transhumanism hoped for by the New World Order; it is the expression of apostasy, immorality and vice – of ugliness erected as a model. And just like everything that is constructed by man’s hands without God’s blessing, indeed against Him, it is destined to perish, to disappear, and to crumble.
December 22, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has written the following reflection on this year’s Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square.
En Grege Relicto
Lo! The flock abandoned
Considerations on the Nativity scene in Saint Peter’s Square
At the center of Saint Peter’s Square, a metallic tensile structure dominates the scene, hastily decorated with a tubular light, underneath which stand, disturbing as totems, a few horrible statues that no one endowed with common sense would dare to identify with the characters of the Nativity. The solemn background of the Vatican Basilica only serves to augment the abyss between the harmonious Renaissance architecture and the indecorous parade of anthropomorphic bowling pins.
It matters little that these atrocious artifacts are the fruit of students of an obscure Abruzzo art institute: whoever dared to put together this affront to the Nativity did so in an era that, besides creating countless monstrosities of pseudo-art, did not know how to make anything beautiful or that merits to be preserved for posterity. Our museums and modern art galleries are overflowing with creations, installations, and provocations born from sick minds that straddle the Sixties and Seventies: paintings that are impossible to look at, sculptures that cause disgust, works of which it is impossible to determine either their subject or their significance. Nor were the churches spared: even they are overflowing with such works, always stemming from those unpropitious years, impudent contaminations produced by “artists” appreciated more for their ideological and political affiliation than for their talent.
For decades, architects and craftsmen have been making horrifying structures, furnishings, and sacred ornaments of such ugliness that they leave the simple disgusted and scandalize the faithful. From this same evil root there has also stemmed, in a Bergoglian migrationist key, the bronze barge that is the “monument to the unknown migrant” which now disturbs the harmony of the right side of Bernini’s colonnade and whose oppressive weight is making the very cobblestones sink, to the consternation of the Roman people.
It should be recalled that this year’s blasphemous Nativity scene was preceded by the equally sacrilegious one of 2017, offered to the Vatican by the shrine of Montevergine, a pilgrimage destination for the Italian homosexual and transgender community. This anti-nativity scene, “carefully planned and premeditated according to the dictates and doctrine of Pope Francis,” was supposed to depict alleged works of mercy: a naked man lying on the ground, a corpse with a dangling arm, the head of a prisoner, an archangel with a rainbow flower garland, and the cupola of Saint Peter’s shown in ruins.
Similar attempts, in which the Nativity is taken as a pretext to legitimize very unhappy experiments, have been the torment of many of the faithful, forced to endure the extravagances of the clergy and their craving for innovation at all costs, the deliberate will to profane – in the etymological sense of making secular – precisely that which is sacred, separate from the world, set apart for worship and veneration: “ecumenical” Nativity scenes containing improbable mosques, “immigrationist” Nativity scenes depicting the Holy Family on a raft, and even Nativity scenes made out of potatoes or scrap metal.
By now it is evident even to the most inexperienced that these are not attempts to update the Christmas scene, as the painters of the Renaissance or the 18th century did, dressing up the procession of the Magi with the costumes of the time. Rather, these are the arrogant imposition of blasphemy and sacrilege as an anti-theophany of ugliness, the necessary attribute of the Evil One.
It is no coincidence that the years in which this Nativity scene was created are the same ones in which the Second Vatican Council and the reformed Mass emerged: its aesthetic is the same, as are its inspiring principles, for those years marked the end of a world and marked the beginning of contemporary society, just as they witnessed the beginning of the eclipse of the Catholic Church which has given way to the conciliar church.
Fitting those huge ceramic artifacts into the kiln must have caused not a few problems, which the industrious teachers of the art school in Abruzzo overcame by breaking them into pieces. The same thing happened at the Council, where ingenious experts succeeded in forcing doctrinal and liturgical novelties into the documents that in other times would have been confined to the discussion of a clandestine little group of progressive theologians.
The result of that pseudo-artistic experiment is a horror that is all the more horrifying the more the claim is made that the subject represented is the Lord’s Nativity. To have decided to call such a collection of monstrous figures a “Nativity scene” does not make it one, nor does it correspond to the purpose for which such scenes are exposed in churches, piazzas, and homes; namely, to inspire the adoration of the faithful before the Mystery of the Incarnation. Just as having called Vatican II a “council” has not made its formulations less problematic and certainly has not confirmed the faithful in the Faith, nor increased the frequent reception of the Sacraments, much less converted crowds of pagans to the Word of Christ.
And just as the beauty of the Catholic Liturgy was replaced by a rite that excels only in squalor; just as the sublime harmony of Gregorian chant and sacred music was banned from our churches to make tribal rhythms and profane music resound within them; just as the universal perfection of the sacred language was swept away by the Babel of the vernacular languages; so the impulse of popular and ancient veneration devised by Saint Francis has been frustrated, in order to disfigure it in its simplicity and strip its soul away.
The instinctive repulsion that this Nativity scene arouses and the sacrilegious vein it reveals makes it a perfect symbol of the Bergoglian church, and perhaps precisely in this ostentation of brazen irreverence towards an age-old tradition that is so dear to the faithful and to little ones, it is possible to understand the state of the souls who have wanted it to be there, beneath the obelisk, as an act of defiance against both Heaven and the people of God: souls without Grace, without Faith, and without Charity.
Someone, in a vain attempt to find something Christian in those obscene ceramic statues, will repeat the error that was already made in allowing our churches to be gutted, our altars to be stripped, and the simple and crystalline integrity of doctrine to corrupted by the ambiguous muddledness that is typical of heretics.
Let’s just say it clearly: that thing is not a Nativity scene, because if it was, it would depict the sublime Mystery of the Incarnation and Birth of the Son of God secundum carnem, the adoring admiration of the shepherds and Magi, the infinite love of Mary Most Holy for the Divine Infant, and the amazement of creation and the Angels. In short, it would depict the state of our soul as it contemplates the fulfillment of prophecies, our enchantment at seeing the Son of God in the manger, our unworthiness for redemptive Mercy. Instead, one becomes aware of, significantly, contempt for popular piety, the rejection of a perennial model that recalls the eternal immutability of Divine Truth, and the insensibility of arid and dead souls before the Majesty of the Infant King and the bended knee of the Magi. One becomes aware of the bleak grayness of death, the dark asepticity of the machine, the darkness of damnation, and the jealous hatred of Herod who sees his own power threatened by the salvific Light of the Infant King.
Once again, we must be grateful to the Lord even in this trial, one that is apparently of lesser impact but still consistent with the greater tribulations we are undergoing, because it helps to remove the blindfolds from our eyes. This irreverent monstrosity is the mark of the universal religion of transhumanism hoped for by the New World Order; it is the expression of apostasy, immorality and vice – of ugliness erected as a model. And just like everything that is constructed by man’s hands without God’s blessing, indeed against Him, it is destined to perish, to disappear, and to crumble. And this will happen not because someone else will come to power who merely has different tastes and different sensibilities, but because Beauty is the necessary handmaid of Truth and Goodness, just as ugliness is the companion of lies and wickedness.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
December 23, 2020
Feria IV infra Hebdomadam IV Adventus
[1]The third verse of Adeste Fideles:
En grege relicto, humiles ad cunas, vocati pastores approperant
Lo! The flock abandoned, the summoned shepherds hurry humbly to the cradle.
[Emphasis mine.]
+ + +
For those who may be unfamiliar, here are a few images of the Vatican's 2020 "Nativity" Scene - in the daylight and at night:
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| Dom Guéranger: Christmas - The Hour Before The Midnight Service |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-23-2020, 08:52 AM - Forum: Christmas
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CHRISTMAS DAY: THE HOUR BEFORE THE MIDNIGHT SERVICE
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)
We will begin by telling them that in the early ages of the Church every great Feast was prepared for by long Vigils; during which the people deprived themselves of their usual rest, and spent the hours in the Church, fervently joining in the Psalms and Lessons which made up the Office which we now call Matins. The Night was divided into three parts called Nocturns. At dawn of day they resumed their chants in an Office which was even more solemn than Matins: it was one of praise, and from this its characteristic, was called by the name of Lauds. This Service, which occupied a very considerable portion of the night, is still kept up, though at a time less trying to nature; Matins and Lauds are publicly recited every day in Cathedral and Monastic Churches, and privately by everyone in Holy Orders. They are by far the longest portion of the Divine Office.
The want of the old spirit of devoted appreciation of the Liturgy has made the Laity indifferent to being present at the celebration of Matins, and this even in countries where Protestantism has not rendered their presence almost an impossibility. Thus, there are very few places where the people assist at Matins, excepting four times in the year; namely, on the three last days of Holy Week, and on Christmas Night. It is only on the last named that the Office is said at the same hour as anciently; for with regard to Tenebrae, they are recited on the afternoons respectively preceding each of the three days.
The Office of Christmas Night has always been said or sung with extraordinary solemnity. Firstly, it was so just, that the moments immediately preceding the Hour when the Holy Mother gave birth to her Jesus, should be spent in the most fervent prayers and watchings! But, secondly, the Church is not satisfied to-night with saying her Matins - she does so every night, and the faithful may come and assist at them as often as they wish:- she follows them by the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, that so she may the better solemnize the Divine Birth; and she begins her Mass at Midnight, for it was at that silent hour that the Virgin-Mother gave us the Blessed Fruit of her Womb. We cannot be surprised that the faithful, in many parts of Christendom, used to spend the whole Night in the Church.
In Rome, for many centuries - at least from the seventh to the eleventh - two Matins were sung, the first in the Basilica of St Mary Major. They commenced immediately after sunset. There was no Invitatory. As soon as they were ended, the Pope celebrated the first or midnight Mass. No sooner was it finished, than the people accompanied him to the Church of St Anastasia, and there he sang the second Mass, or, as it was called, of the Aurora. Again the Pontiff and people formed a procession - this time it was to St Peter’s - and having entered the Basilica, the second Matins were begun. They had an Invitatory, and were followed by Lauds. The other Hours having been sung, the Pope said the third and last Mass, at the hour of Terce, which is our 9 o’clock. We are indebted for these details to Amalarius, and to the ancient Liturgist of the thirteenth century published under the name of Alcuin. We also find them clearly indicated by the text of the old Antiphonaries of the Roman Church, which were published by the Blessed Joseph Maria Tommasi, and by Gallicioli.
How lively was the faith of those olden times! To people who lived unceasingly amidst the Mysteries of Religion, Prayer was a tie which knit them closely together, and made them pass hours in the Church without weariness. They understood the value of the Prayers of the Church; and the Ceremonies of the Liturgy, which complete the tribute of man’s inward worship of his Creator, were not looked upon as, unfortunately, they now so often are, as a dumb show, or at best an unmeaning poetry introduced for effect. What, in our days, are found only in individuals, were then in the mass of the people - faith, and a keen sense of the supernatural.
Thanks be to God! this strong practical faith is not dead among us, and is each year spreading in the land. How often have not we ourselves been charmed at seeing the traditions of the old Catholic customs still kept up in some families, especially in those favoured parts of the country where heresy has not been able to corrupt the simplicity of the people. We have seen, and it is one of the most pleasing recollections of our childhood, one of these families seated together, after the frugal evening collation, round a blazing fireside, waiting for the hour to come when the whole house was to go to the midnight Mass. A plain but savoury supper, which was to be eaten on their return home, and so add to the joy of holy Christmas Night, was prepared beforehand. A huge piece of wood, called the Yule-Log, was burning cheerfully on the hearth; it would last till the Mass was over, and warm the old men and the little children, as they came in chilled by the sharp frost.
Meanwhile, till it was time for Mass, their conversation was upon the Mystery of this much-loved Night. They compassionated the Blessed Mother and the sweet Babe, exposed to the inclemency of wintry weather, and with no other shelter than that of a wretched stable. Then, too, there were the Christmas Carols, in the practise of which they had spent many a pleasant evening of Advent. The whole soul was evidently in these dear old melodies, and many a tear would fall as the song went on to tell how the Angel Gabriel visited Mary, and declared to her that she was to be Mother of the Most High God; how Mary and Joseph were worn with fatigue, going from street to street in Bethlehem, trying to find a lodging, and no one would take them in; how they were obliged to shelter in a stable, and how the Divine Child was born in it; how the loveliness of the Babe in his little crib was above all the beauty of the Angels; how the Shepherds went to see him, and took their humble gifts, and played their rude music, and adored him in the faith of their simple hearts. And thus they spent the happy Eve, passing from conversation to song, and from one song to another, and all was on Mary or Jesus, Joseph or Bethlehem. Cares of life were forgotten, troubles were gone, melancholy was a sin; but it was time to leave; the village clock had just gone eleven; and of the happy group, there was a little one who had been too young the other years, and this was his first Midnight Mass. There was no brighter face in the procession than his. Would he ever forget that beautiful Night!
In many of our readers, these reminiscences will excite a feeling of regret that the miseries of the world around us make such Catholic customs as these unrealities: at all events, they will show how the holiest feelings of religion may blend with the best joys of family and home. The lesson is worth learning, though the examples that teach it are too Catholic for these rough times. Let us, therefore, leave them and turn again to objects, which are realities, made holy by to-night’s Mystery, they will assist us to enter still further into the spirit of the Church.
There are three places on this earth of ours which we should visit to-night. For two of them, it can only be in spirit. The first is Bethlehem, and the Cave of the Nativity, which is Bethlehem’s glory. Let us approach it with respectful awe, and contemplate the humble dwelling which the Son of the Eternal God chose for his first home. It is a Stable in the hollow of a rock, just outside the city walls. It is about forty feet long by twelve in width. The ox and the ass, as spoken by the Prophet, are there, standing near the Manger, mute witnesses of the Divine Mystery to which man refused to lend his own dwelling.
Joseph and Mary enter into the Stable-Cave. It is night, and all nature is buried in silence; but these two Hearts are sending up their praise and adoration to God, who thus deigns to atone for man’s pride. The Virgin-Mother prepares the Clothes which are to swathe the limbs of the Divine Infant, and longs, though with a most tranquil patience, for the blissful moment when she shall have the first sight of the Blessed Fruit of her womb, kiss him, caress him and feed him - the Eternal God - at her Breast.
Our Jesus, on his part, now that he is about to leave the sanctuary of his Mother’s womb, and make his visible entrance into this world of sin, adores his Heavenly Father, and, according to the revelation of the Psalmist, which is commented by St Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews, thus speaks: Sacrifice and oblation thou willedst not; but a Body thou hast fitted unto me. Holocausts for sin did not please thee. Then said I, behold I come. In the head of the Book it is written of me that I should do thy will, O God! [Heb. x 5, 6, 7].
All this was happening in the Stable at Bethlehem, about this very hour of the Night. The Angels of God were singing their anthems of praise to this his incomprehensible mercy towards his rebel creatures. They looked down with admiration upon the Mother of their God, the Mystical Rose, whose hidden beauty was soon to bloom and fill the world with its fragrance.
O happy cave of Bethlehem! scene of these stupendous Mysteries! who is there that can forget it to-night? Who is there that does not love it above the richest palaces of Kings? From the very commencement of Christianity it was the object of men’s deepest veneration. When, later on, God sent the great St Helen to resuscitate in his Church the knowledge and love of the Holy Places of Palestine, one of the works of the holy Empress was to build a magnificent Basilica over the spot, where stands this trophy of God’s love for his creatures.
Let us go in spirit to this venerable Basilica; we shall find there groups of infidels and schismatics, but we shall also find the Religious who have the care of it, preparing to sing the same Matins, and in the same Latin tongue, which we are to have. These Religious are the Children of St Francis, heroic followers of the poverty of their Divine Master, the Infant of Bethlehem. Because they are poor and humble therefore they have had, for upwards of four hundred years, the honour of being the sole guardians of these Holy Places, which the Crusaders grew tired of defending. Let us pray in Union with them to-night; and go with them, and kiss that sacred spot of the Cave, where is written in letters of gold: HERE WAS JESUS CHRIST BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY. (HIC DE VIRGINE MARIA JESUS CHRISTUS NATUS EST.)
In vain, however, should we seek at Bethlehem for the holy Crib in which the Infant Jesus lay. The curse of God has struck that unhappy country, and deprived it of this precious relic, which now, for upwards of twelve hundred years, has been venerated in the centre of Catholicity, Rome, the favoured Spouse of Christ.
Rome, then, is the second place we must visit on this blessed Night. And in the Holy City itself there is one special Sanctuary which claims all our veneration and love. It is the Basilica of the Crib, the splendid Church of Saint Mary Major. Of all the Churches which the people of Rome have erected in honour of the Mother of God, this is the grandest. It stands on the Esquiline, rich in its marble and gold, but richer still in its possessing, together with the Portrait of our Lady painted by St Luke, the humble yet glorious Crib of Jesus, of which the inscrutable designs of God have deprived Bethlehem. An immense concourse of people is to-night assembled in the Basilica, awaiting the happy moment when this monument of the love and the humiliation of a God will be brought in, carried on the shoulders of the Priests, as an Ark of the New Covenant, whose welcome sight gives the sinner confidence, and makes the just man thrill with joy. Thus has God willed that Rome, which was to be the new Jerusalem, should be also the new Bethlehem; and that the children of the Church should find, in this the unchangeable centre of their Faith, the varied and exhaustless nourishment of their Love.
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-SY...f=1&nofb=1]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-SYnxmxsy7Zs%2FUB54j7QXBuI%2FAAAAAAAABbM%2FYNp0uipRSQQ%2Fs320%2FMary%2BMajor%2BBasilica.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)
Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore
But the Basilica of the Crib is not the only sanctuary in Rome which has an attraction for us to-night. An imposing ceremony, which embodies a profound mystery, is taking place, at this very hour, in the palace of the Vatican, near the Tomb of the Prince of the Apostles.
The Divine Infant, who is to be born amongst us, is the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace, whose government is upon his shoulders [Isa. ix 6], as we shall sing to-morrow, with the Church. We have already seen how the God of Hosts has honoured this power of Emmanuel, by leading powerful Nations to acknowledge him who lay in the Crib of Bethlehem as the Lord to whom they owed their adoring fealty. The same recognition of that Babe as the Mighty God is made by the ceremony to which we allude. The Sovereign Pontiff, the Vicar of our Emmanuel, blesses, in his name, a Sword and Helmet, which are to be sent to some Catholic warrior who has deserved well of the Christian world. In a letter addressed to Queen Mary of England and to Philip, her husband, Cardinal Pole gives an explanation of this solemn rite. The sword is sent to some Prince, whom the Vicar of Christ wishes to honour in the name of Jesus, who is King: for the Angel said to Mary: The Lord will give unto him the Throne of David his father [St Luke i 32]. It is from him alone that the power of the sword comes [Rom. xiii 3, 4]; for God said to Cyrus: I have girded thee (with the sword) [Isa. xlv 1,5]; and the Psalmist thus speaks to the Christ of God: Gird thy Sword upon thy thigh, O thou most Mighty! [Ps. xliv 4]. And because the Sword should not be drawn save in the cause of justice, it is for that reason that a Sword is blessed on this Night, in the midst of which rises, born unto us, the divine Sun of Justice. On the Helmet, which is both the ornament and protection of the head, there is worked, in pearls, the Dove, which is the emblem of the Holy Ghost; and this to teach him who wears it that it is not from passion or ambition that he must use his sword, but solely under the guidance of the divine Spirit, and from a motive of spreading the Kingdom of Christ.
How beautiful is this union of energy and meekness under the one symbol and ceremony! This power of blending and harmonizing the varied beauty of distinct classes of truth is not to be found save in that Christian Rome, which is our Mother and where God has established the centre of Light and Love. The ceremony we have been describing is still observed. What a grand list it would be, had we the names of all those glorious Christian Warriors, who were thus created Knights of the Church, at this solemn hour, when we celebrate the Birth of him who came to vanquish our enemy! We are going to adore this Babe in his Crib; let us think of our Mother’s teaching, and pay homage to him as our Prince and King, and beseech him to humble the enemies of his Church, and vanquish those who are leagued against both our perfection and our salvation.
And now to the third of the sanctuaries, wherein is to be effected, this Night, the mystery of the Birth of Jesus. This third Sanctuary is near us; it is in us; it is our own heart. Our heart is the Bethlehem that Jesus desires to visit, and in which he would be born, there to live and grow unto a perfect man, as St Paul expresses it [Eph. iv 53]. Why, after all, was he born in the stable of the city of David, but that he might make sure of our heart, which he loved with an everlasting love, and so ardently that he came down from heaven to dwell in it? Mary’s virginal womb held him but for nine months; he wishes us to keep him for ever in our dwelling!
O heart of man, thou living Bethlehem, hold thyself in readiness, and keep a glad feast! Already, thou hast prepared thyself for this union with thy Jesus by the confession of thy misdeeds, by the contrition of thy sins, and by the satisfaction thou hast made for them. Now, therefore, be all attention: he is coming in the Midnight. Let him find everything ready, ready as were the Stable, the Crib and the Swaddling-clothes. True, thou hast nothing to offer him like what Mary and Joseph had - she, a Mother’s caresses; and he, the most solicitous and tender care; but thou hast an adoration and a love like those of the poor Shepherds, and these thou must offer. Like the Bethlehem yonder in the far east, thou art living in the midst of heresy, of infidelity, and of men who ignore the divine mystery of divine love: secret then, but hearty, must be thy prayers, like those which are ascending this night to heaven from the few faithful ones who are assembled in the Holy Cave with the Sons of St Francis; for in that unfortunate Palestine, which has been a slave to the most degrading errors for this last thousand years, there are still a few who know and love God.
On this glad Midnight, let thy soul become like that splendid Basilica of Rome, which possesses the two treasures, the Holy Crib and the venerable Portrait of the Virgin Mother. Let thy affections and thoughts be pure as the white marble of its pillars; thy charity bright as the gold which glitters on its ceiling; thy deeds shining as the countless tapers which light up its beauty, and turn this night into the glare of a summer noon. Thou must learn, too, O soldier of Christ! to use a Christian’s weapons; thou must fight thy way to the Crib of thy Jesus; thou must fight for thy position there, and maintain it by the unbroken loyalty of thy love; thou must fight for the happy consummation of thy victory: union eternal with him. Treasure up these holy sentiments, and let them console and sanctify thee during these moments which precede the coming of Emmanuel into thee. O living Bethlehem! there is a word which heaven gave thee for these moments; take it up, and let it be thy ceaseless prayer; Come, Lord Jesus! come [Apoc. xxii 20].
It is time for us to depart, and go into the House of God. The Bells are not being rung for us, it is true - still, their melody wakens up Bethlehem in our hearts. How strange this joyous pealing at this midnight hour! But is not everything strange in this mysterious night of the Birth of God? He is going to show himself to us - but it is to be in a Crib, and as a little Child. When he came on Sinai, it was surrounded with thick clouds of smoke, and amidst thunder and lightning: now, there is nothing but humility, stillness and loveliness beyond measure. The Moon, emblem of the brightness reflected from Jesus upon Mary, is shedding its soft light on our path. The stars are twinkling in the firmament, and make us think of the Star which is so soon to rise and guide the Magi to our Saviour’s Crib.
And whilst thus thinking over all these strange mysteries, we have reached the porch of the Church. The Sanctuary sends its light down even to the threshold of the holy place. Beautiful sight, indeed! What wonder that King Clovis, as he entered the Church of Rheims on his first Christmas Night, stood dazzled with the blaze of light, and trembling with emotion said to St Remigius, who had just baptized him: ‘Father! is this the Kingdom thou didst promise me?’ ‘No, my Son,’ replied the Bishop, ‘it is but the way that will lead thee to it.’
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| Dom Guéranger: Christmas - Afternoon of the Eve |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-23-2020, 08:20 AM - Forum: Christmas
- Replies (2)
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CHRISTMAS: AFTERNOON OF THE EVE
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)
Christmas Eve, with its own happy spirit, is drawing to its close. Already has the Church terminated all her Advent Offices, by the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice. In her maternal considerateness, she has permitted her children to break their Fast of preparation for the great Feast, by taking their meal at mid-day. Whilst refreshing their bodies with this repast, to which Abstinence gives merit, the Faithful feel an instinct of gladness which comes as a harbinger, to tell them of that immense joy which this beautiful Night will bring them, by giving them their Emmanuel.
But so great a Solemnity as that of to-morrow could not possibly be an exception to that usage of the Church whereby she anticipates all her Feasts on their Eves. In a few moments the Office of First Vespers, in which is offered to God the evening incense, will call us to the Church, and the splendour of the function, and the magnificence of the chants, will open our hearts to those feelings of love and gratitude which will prepare them to receive the graces of to-night.
Let us spend the interval in endeavouring to gain a clear knowledge of the Mystery of our Feast; and let us absorb well the sentiments and spirit of the Church. We shall be assisted to do both by considering some of the principal traditions which attach to this joyful Solemnity.
Let us begin by listening to the Holy Fathers speaking of Christmas Day with an eloquence worthy of the Feast. And first we have St Gregory the Theologian, Bishop of Nazianzum, who thus opens his thirty-eighth discourse, which is on the Theophania, or Nativity of our Lord.
Quote:‘Christ is born – glorify him! Christ comes down from heaven – go ye forth to meet him! Christ is on the earth – be ye lifted up above it! O sing to the Lord, all thou earth! [Ps xcv i] and to say all in one word, Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad [ibid. xcv 11], because he that is now born is both of heaven and of earth! Christ has assumed our Flesh – exult in fear and in joy; in fear, because of sin; in joy, because of hope! Christ is born of a Virgin: women! honour holy virginity, that you may become Mothers of Christ!
‘Who would not adore him that is from the beginning? Who would not praise and extol him that is born in time? Darkness is at an end; Light is created; Egypt remains in darkness, and Israel is enlightened by the pillar of fire. The people that sat in the darkness of ignorance, now possess the bright light of knowledge and wisdom. The old things are passed away, and lo! all things are made new. The letter has given way, the spirit has triumphed; shadows have faded, the reality is come. … The laws of nature are set aside; the world of Heaven is to be peopled; Christ commands it – let us obey.
‘O clap your hands, all ye nations! [ibid. xlvi 2] – for a Child is born unto us, and a Son is given unto us. The emblem of his Government is upon his shoulder, for his exaltation shall come by the Cross; and his name shall be called the Angel of the Great Counsel, that is, of the Counsel of his Father [Isa. ix 6].
‘Let the Baptist now cry out: Prepare ye the way of the Lord! We, too, will proclaim the virtues and power of this day. He that is without flesh takes flesh; the Word takes a Body; the Unseen is seen; the Intangible may be touched; the Eternal has a beginning; the Son of God is made the Son of Man – Jesus Christ, yesterday and to-day, and the same for ever [Heb. xiii 8]. Let the Jew take scandal, and the Greek mock, and the heretic prate. They will believe when they shall see him ascending into heaven; and if not even then, at least when they shall see him coming down from heaven, and seated on his judgement-seat.’
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It is hard to hear such thrilling eloquence as this, and remain cold. But let us now give ear to a Father of the Latin Church, the devout St Bernard, who, in his Sixth Sermon for Christmas Eve, pours forth his heart’s joy in these fervent words:
Quote:‘We have just heard the saying, which is full of grace, and worthy of all acceptation: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is born in Bethlehem of Juda. At these words my soul melts with love, yea, and my spirit that is within me burns with impatience to tell you, as in other years, of this joy, this thrilling joy. Jesus means Saviour. And what so necessary to them that are lost? what so welcome to them that are in misery? what so precious to them that are in despair? Besides, what salvation, what chance of salvation, was there in the law of sin, in that body of death, in so evil a day, and in such a place of affliction – had not a new and unlooked-for Salvation been born? Say not that thou dost indeed desire salvation, but that, knowing thy delicacy and the grievousness of thy sickness, thou fearest lest the cure be violent. No, fear not: this Jesus is Christ, that is, he is all sweetness; he is meek and plenteous in mercy; he is anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows, that is, above them who, though they receive not the fulness, yet receive of his fulness. Yet lest thou shouldst think that because this Jesus is the Anointed with sweetness, he is therefore weak in power, it is added, he is the Son of God. … Let us, then, be exceeding glad, as we think over within ourselves, or say to each other, this sweet sentence: Jesus Christ – the Son of God – is born in Bethlehem of Juda!’
Glorious day, indeed, is this of the Birth of the Saviour! It had been looked forward to by the human race for four thousand years. The Church had prepared for it by the four weeks of her Advent, a Season which has ever such a charm about it. Nature, too, longs for this day, on which the Sun begins his yearly victory over the dreary reign of wintry darkness. A Holy Doctor of the Syrian Church, St Ephrem, has written the most admirable words on the beauty and fruitful virtue of this mysterious day. Let us borrow some of these from him and say them with his enthusiasm.
Quote:‘Grant, O Lord! that we may now celebrate this the Day of thy Birth, which to-day’s Solemnity brings round to us. This Day is like thyself – it is the friend of mankind. It comes to us in its regular course, visiting us each year. It grows old with the old; it is young and fresh with little children. We remember when we were young, how it came and passed away; and here it is again, faithful as ever in its welcome visit. It knows that nature could not do without it; here again like to thee, it comes in search of our fallen race. The whole earth thirsts after thy Birthday, O Jesus! It stands, as it were, between the past and the future, commanding all ages, as thou dost. It is one, and yet it multiplies itself, as thou dost. And since we behold thy past Birthday in this present Feast, make the two resemble each other in this also – that as thy Birthday brought Peace between heaven and earth, when the infinitely High God descended to this low earth; so may this solemnity signify and give us Peace. … And truly, if every day of the year be rich in thy gifts, how much more ought not this to overflow with them?
‘The other days of the year borrow their beauty from this, and the other Feasts owe to this all their solemnity and loveliness. … Thy Birthday, O Jesus! is a treasure out of which we all take wherewith to pay our debts. … Blessed be the Day which has brought us back the Sun, after we had been wandering in the dark night; which has brought us the Divine Sheaf that enriches us with plentifulness; which has given us the Vine-Branch that is to yield us, in due time, the cup of our salvation. … In the bosom of that Winter which robs our trees of their fruit, the virgin Vine has given forth its divine growth. In the Season of frost, which strips our plants of their beauty, the Root of Jesse has given us its Bud. It is in December, which hides the seed sown in the earth, that the Wheat of our salvation appears from the Virgin’s womb, into which he had entered in that fresh Spring-time, when the lambkins were skipping in our meadows.’ [Third Sermon On our Lord’s Nativity.]
It is not, therefore, to be wondered at, if this day, which, we may say, is an important one even to God himself, has been made a privileged one above those of the rest of the year. We have already seen that the old pagan world paid homage to it, and thus, in their own way, were carrying out the design of God. The Holy Doctors, and the Church herself in her Liturgy, allude continually to the material Sun being the symbol of him who is called the Sun of Justice. Then again, there is the venerable tradition which tells us that the Incarnation of the Son of God having been accomplished on a Friday (March 25), the Birth of Jesus, the Light of the world, must have taken place on December 25, a Sunday. This gives a peculiar sacredness to Christmas Day when it falls on a Sunday, as it was on that day of the week that God began the Creation, and said: Let there be Light! and on the same, also, did our Lord rise from the tomb. St Sophronius of Jerusalem has beautifully treated this mystery in his first homily for Christmas Day.
In order to impress the nations of Europe, that is, of the favoured portion of the Church, with the importance of this ever-blessed day, God, who is the Sovereign Ruler of all things, has willed that on it should happen certain events of intense interest. We will select three of these. To begin with the first in order of time: it was on a Christmas Day that the Kingdom of the Franks was founded; for it was on this glorious Solemnity that King Clovis was baptized at Rheims by St Remigius. The haughty Sicambrian, thus admitted into the Fold of Christ, became a meek and humble Christian, and the founder of the first Catholic monarchy, which is now the nation of France.
A century later, that is in the year 596, our own dearest country was converted to the true faith by the labours of St Augustine, of whom St Gregory the Great, who sent him, says: ‘he was a Monk of my Monastery.’ [Lib. 8, Ep. 30]. This holy Missionary had baptized King Ethelbert, and travelled through the land, preaching everywhere the name and Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Having reached York, he preached the word of Eternal Life to the people, and when he had ended, they seek baptism from his hands. Christmas Day is fixed upon for the regeneration of the Catechumens, and the river which flows through the City is chosen as the Baptismal Font. Ten thousand men, not counting women and children, go down into this stream, whose waters were to cleanse their souls. The severity of the season is unheeded by these fervent disciples of the Babe of Bethlehem, who, but a few days before, knew not so much as his name. From the frozen waters there comes, full of joy and innocence, the long line of Neophytes; and the Birthday of Jesus counts, that year, one nation more as belonging to his Kingdom.
Three hundred years after this, God gives us another glorious event in honour of the Birthday of his Son. It was on this divine Anniversary, in the year 800, and at Rome, in the Basilica of St Peter, that the Holy Roman Empire was created, to which God assigned the grand mission of propagating the Kingdom of Christ among the barbarian nations of the North, and of upholding, under the direction of the Sovereign Pontiffs, the confederation and unity of Europe. St Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor. Here, then, was a new Caesar, a new Augustus, on the earth; not, indeed, a successor of those ancient Lords of Pagan Rome, but one who was invested with the title and power by the Vicar of him who is called, in the Sacred Scriptures, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Thus has God glorified, in the eyes of men, the Divine Babe who is this day born: thus has he prepared, at various times, worthy anniversaries of that Birth which gave glory to God and Peace to men. Time will reveal in what other ways the Most High still wishes to magnify, upon this twenty-fifth of December, himself and his Christ.
Impressed with the extreme importance of this Feast, and justly looking upon it as the beginning of the Era of the world’s regeneration, the nations of the West, for a long time, began their year with Christmas Day, as we find in the ancient Calendars, in the Martyrologies of Usuard and Ado, and in numberless Bulls, Charts and Diplomas. It is evident, from a Council held at Cologne m 1310, that this manner of computing the year was still observed at that time. In several countries of Europe, our own among the rest, the custom has been kept up of wishing a Happy Christmas, which was the ancient salutation when this Feast was the beginning of a new year. Hence too, in these countries, the custom of making presents, of writing letters of good wishes, and other friendly acts. How many of our practices of everyday life have originated from Faith, and yet are looked upon as mere consequences of natural good-feeling, or even compliments which society requires us to pay to each other!
To encourage her children in their Christmas joy, the Church has dispensed with the law of abstinence, if this Feast fall on a Friday. This dispensation was granted by Pope Honorius III, who ascended the Papal Throne in 1216. It is true that we find it mentioned by Pope St Nicholas I, in the ninth century; but the dispensation was not universal; for the Pontiff is replying to the consultations of the Bulgarians, to whom he concedes this indulgence, in order to encourage them to celebrate these Feasts with solemnity and joy; Christmas Day, St Stephen, St John the Evangelist, the Epiphany, the Assumption of our Lady, St John the Baptist, and SS Peter and Paul. When the dispensation for Christmas Day was extended to the whole Church, these other Feasts were not mentioned.
In the Middle Ages, the Civil Law, also, contributed to the people’s love of Christmas, by enacting that no creditor could demand any payment from his debtors during the entire week of Christmas, which was called, on that account, the week of remission – a name which it had in common with the weeks of Easter and Pentecost.
But let us interrupt these interesting details regarding the grand Solemnity, whose near approach makes our hearts throb with joy. Let us repair to the House of our Heavenly Father, for the Hour of Vespers is near; and on our way, let our thoughts be at Bethlehem, where Joseph and Mary are already arrived. The sun is rapidly setting; and our Divine Sun of Justice is still hid beneath the Cloud, the Womb of The purest of Virgins. Night is coming on: Joseph and Mary are going through the narrow streets of the City of David, seeking a shelter. Let our hearts be attentive, and united in love with the two holy Pilgrims. Every heart and voice should now be giving forth to our God the tribute of praise and grateful love. Oh! happy we, that have a tribute of Song and Psalmody ready for our use, worthy of the day and of its ineffable Mystery – it is our Mother that offers us her Liturgy. Let us prepare to join her.
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| December 23rd - St. Margaret d'Youville and St. Servulus of Rome |
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Posted by: Elizabeth - 12-22-2020, 11:55 PM - Forum: December
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Saint Margaret d'Youville
Foundress of the Sisters of Charity, called Grey Nuns
(1701-1771)
The oldest of six children, at seven years of age Mary Margaret Dufrost, born at Varennes near Montreal, had already lost her courageous soldier-father. After receiving only two years of excellent education in Quebec City with the Ursuline nuns, she was obliged to return to Varennes before her twelfth birthday, to assist her mother to bring up her five younger brothers and sisters. The Sisters had foreseen the heavy responsibilities which would come upon her, and under their tutelage, as they later testified, she had redoubled her activity and application to all her duties. By means of a subsidy granted by the king of France to the families of his deceased military officers, the little family was able to remain together.
One day, some sixty years later, Mother Margaret d'Youville, Foundress of a Congregation of Sisters of Charity, would be known to the people of Quebec as the Providence of Montreal. It became proverbial among the Church's authorities, even before she died, when there was a charitable work to do, to ask the Grey Nuns; they never refuse a mission. This was indeed an honorable reputation; but in 1730 the twenty-six year-old widow of Francis d'Youville, seigneur of La Découverte, alone with two sons to bring up, could not have imagined such honor, nor what Providence was holding in store for her already strong and experienced charity.
Saint Margaret was living in Montreal with her two sons at the death of Mr. d'Youville. It was soon evident that the pious widow would seek no distraction amid the world's frivolities. She took in sewing and opened a little business, thus becoming known in the city; half of her earnings were always dedicated to her children's Christian instruction. Both of her sons would later become priests. These occupations were not enough, however, to occupy her time; she visited prisoners, cared for the dying, brought peace to many troubled households, and even aided the poor financially. Her work with the unfortunate soon brought to her three apostolic young hearts, to offer their assistance. The four young women put their savings in common, and kneeling before a little statue of the Blessed Virgin, vowed their lives to the care of the poor. They rented a house, and soon received five suffering members of the Mystical Body of Christ as their charges.
The young missionaries did not escape the harsh opinions which always test the perseverance of those who desire to serve God in the person of the unfortunate. Undisciplined tongues accused them of bootlegging alcohol and even of making abundant use of it themselves. Mother d'Youville prayed to the Eternal Father, to whom she would always have an outstanding devotion, that she might not, during her trials, lose her good spiritual director who was ill; she already had lost her closest companion by death. The director was cured, but the little hospital burnt down in January of 1745. The misery of the little group won sympathy for them, and soon lodging, clothes and food were offered them.
Their destitution drew the attention of city authorities, who at that time were wondering what to do about the city hospital, overburdened with large debts and without sufficient personnel to staff it. When Mother d'Youville offered to take on both the debts and the labors, they were very happy indeed to accept her offer. With five companions, nine indigents and two lady-boarders, she entered the hospital in 1747. There a new difficulty for the foundress would soon make its appearance; the work still had enemies, and in 1750 plans were made, without consulting her, to merge it with another of similar nature, staffed by the nursing nuns of Quebec City. Finally an appeal made by the Foundress to the king of France, Louis XV, elicited his command that the decision of the local authorities be canceled, and she was authorized in 1752 to keep the hospital and to found a Community.
It was not only the sick who were the object of Saint Margaret d'Youville's loving care. Foundling children, prisoners, orphans, the handicapped, the aged, were soon the cherished beneficiaries of the Grey Nuns' indefatigable solicitude. Their foundress passed to her reward in 1771; and that night a large luminous cross appeared in the Montreal skies, attesting the death of a Saint. But her community continued and has been richly blessed, not only by the poor it has strengthened for the combats of life, but by the Father of the Poor Himself, who in 150 years gave it extension to fifteen dioceses of North America. The Grey Nuns have labored in the most difficult missions of the extreme north of Canada, as well as in a dozen cities of the more southerly provinces and the United States. Their self-effacement, their missionary spirit, their hardy courage in the face of the rudest living conditions, have earned the admiration of all who know them.
Saint Servulus of Rome
Invalid and Beggar
(† 670)
Saint Servulus was a perfect model of submission to the divine Will; it would be difficult to offer a more consoling example to persons afflicted by poverty, illnesses and the other miseries of life. It is Saint Gregory the Great who narrates for us his edifying story:
We have seen under the portico of the Church of Saint Clement, a poor man named Servulus, who is known to all the people of Rome as to Us. He was deprived of all the goods of this world; a long illness had reduced him to a pitiful state. From his youth he was paralyzed in all his members. Not only could he not stand up, but he was unable to rise from his bed; he could neither sit down nor turn himself from one side to the other, nor bring his hand to his mouth. Nothing in him was sound except his eyes, ears, tongue, stomach and entrails.
This unfortunate man, who had learned the mysteries of religion, meditated unceasingly on the sufferings of the Saviour, and never did he complain. He was surrounded by the loving care of his mother and brother. Neither the mother nor the children had ever studied, yet the paralytic had pious books bought for himself, in particular the Psalms and the Holy Gospels, and he would ask the religious who came to visit him on his cot to read from them to him. In this way he learned these books by heart; he spent days and part of the nights in singing or reciting them, and meditating them, and he constantly thanked the Lord for having taken him to be a victim associated with the pains and sufferings of Jesus Christ.
Many alms came to the little house of the paralytic, to such an extent that he became rich in his poverty. After having taken from these what was necessary for his subsistence and that of his mother, he gave the rest to the indigent, who often assembled around him to be edified by his words and his virtues. His bed of pain was a pulpit of preaching, from which he converted souls.
When the time came which was decreed by God to reward his patience and put an end to his painful life, Servulus felt the paralysis spreading to the vital parts of his body, and he prepared for death. At the final moment, he asked those in attendance to recite Psalms with him. Suddenly he cried out: Ah! Don't you hear that melody resounding in heaven?' At that moment his soul escaped from his body, which until his burial gave forth a marvelous fragrance.
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| "Prophecy" of Archbishop Lefebvre |
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Posted by: Elizabeth - 12-22-2020, 08:34 PM - Forum: Catholic Prophecy
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I would like to thank the person who found this and took the time to translate it. Thank you very much for sharing this treasure!
"Prophecy" of Archbishop Lefebvre
We are going, at the moment, towards a socialization which apparently for us, does not seem as hard as the one of communism but which, in the end, will be simply an image of communism, but realized by scientific means instead of being realized by force.
On August 22, 1979, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre gave a conference in Shawinigan, Quebec.
We have extracted this passage which seems almost like a prophecy, so much so that it announces, more than forty years in advance, the situation that we know.
Let us recall that in 1979 computers were in their infancy, we were at the very first desktop computers.
The Internet did not exist, nor of course the 5G.
We were still in the middle of the Cold War, communism was in the East.
One can think that on this 22nd of August, feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Blessed Virgin gave Archbishop Lefebvre an intuition of what would happen if the popes persisted in not fulfilling his Fatima requests, notably the devotion to the first five Saturdays of the month and the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart.
And the popes were obstinate...
So: "Soon we'll be registered with computers, we'll all have our number and we won't be able to do anything without everything being indicated on the card we'll have, and all this by computer. We will be in a worse situation than in a Soviet country. »
Words of Archbishop Lefebvre:
But what also legitimizes our fear is to think that by this degradation of the Church, this degradation of ideas even in the Church, ideas, because it is liberal ideas that penetrate inside the Church, ideas that are ultimately Masonic that penetrate inside the Church, which was still the bastion that resisted. Now that the enemy has penetrated to the highest heights of the Church, as Our Lady of Fatima said, as predicted by Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of La Salette, at the same time the whole social edifice is leaving, because the Church, through its principles, still supported, I would say, true freedom. The freedom to fulfill our duty. That's it. Why do we have freedom? To fulfill our duty. Because we have the duty to love God and to love our neighbor and therefore to fulfill our duty, our duty to God in religion and our duty to our neighbor by the functions we have; social functions whatever they may be. We have to fulfill our duty of state.
Now, we are less and less able to fulfill our duty of state, both religious and social, because everything is becoming directed and oriented by a socialist state. Socialism is making considerable progress; but this is with all the power of the present Masonry which is everywhere, everywhere, everywhere; which is in Rome, which is everywhere. Masonry is everywhere and directs everything. Soon we will be registered with computers, we will all have our number and we will not be able to do anything else without everything being indicated on the card we will have, and all this by computer. We will be in a worse situation than in a Soviet country. We will say that they are free countries, but they are not free countries: we will no longer be free to do anything. One can imagine, it's absolutely unheard of.
The constitution also of the European government is very serious and very dangerous, because it is a government that is full of Masons, and therefore, they are going to apply now to Europe, in a global way, all the Masonic principles. They went so far as to say this, for the European government, that, obviously, they proclaim human rights, they proclaim the rights of women. If women have equal rights with men, well, we do not have the right not to give women the authorization to be priests. So we are going to prosecute the bishops who do not want to ordain women, because women have the same rights as men. It's possible, it was put in the newspapers, it was put in the newspapers; that we were going to get to things like that, under the pretext of rights, of equal rights.
It's appalling, we can't imagine what we're going towards now, towards a socialization that, apparently for us, doesn't seem as hard as that of communism, but in the end, it's going to be just an image of communism, but realized by scientific means instead of being realized by force, as the communists did, it will be the same thing.
Then all those who do not want to submit to this order will be eliminated from society. To this socialist order. They will be eliminated. There will always be a way to eliminate them. Now we are eliminating the children who are in the way, soon we will eliminate the old people. Soon the old people will also pass away; and afterwards, it is not difficult to give an injection or to do something to someone who is sick, who is annoying; they will make him disappear. They will be made to disappear from society under the pretext that they are embarrassing. They can't get the standards that are in place to deal with them. We are really moving towards a dreadful society, which claims to be free and which will no longer have any freedom, but no freedom at all.
http://www.dominicainsavrille.fr/mgr-lef...#more-9431
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| Twenty One Reasons to Reject Sola Scriptura |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-22-2020, 11:55 AM - Forum: Resources Online
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Twenty One Reasons to Reject Sola Scriptura
"We believe in the Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety as the sole rule of faith for the Christian!"
You may have heard these words or something very similar to them from a Fundamentalist or Evangelical Protestant. They are, in essence, the meaning of the doctrine of Sola Scriptura, or "Scripture alone," which alleges that the Bible – as interpreted by the individual believer – is the only source of religious authority and is the Christian’s sole rule of faith or criterion regarding what is to be believed. By this doctrine, which is one of the foundational beliefs of Protestantism, a Protestant denies that there is any other source of religious authority or divine Revelation to humanity.
The Catholic, on the other hand, holds that the immediate or direct rule of faith is the teaching of the Church; the Church in turn takes her teaching from the divine Revelation – both the written Word, called Sacred Scripture, and the oral or unwritten Word, known as "Tradition." The teaching authority or "Magisterium" of the Catholic Church (headed by the Pope), although not itself a source of divine Revelation, nevertheless has a God-given mission to interpret and teach both Scripture and Tradition. Scripture and Tradition are the sources of Christian doctrine, the Christian’s remote or indirect rule of faith
Obviously these two views on what constitutes the Christian’s rule of faith are opposed to each other, and anyone who sincerely seeks to follow Christ must be sure that he follows the one that is true.
The doctrine of Sola Scriptura originated with Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk who broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and started the Protestant "Reformation." (1) in response to some abuses that had been occurring within the Catholic Church, Luther became a vocal opponent of certain practices. As far as these abuses were concerned, they were real and Luther was justified in reacting. However, as a series of confrontations between him and the Church hierarchy developed, the issues became more centered on the question of Church authority and – from Luther’s perspective – whether or not the teaching of the Catholic Church was a legitimate rule of faith for Christians.
As the confrontations between Luther and the Church’s hierarchy ensued and tensions mounted, Luther accused the Catholic Church of having corrupted Christian doctrine and having distorted Biblical truths, and he more and more came to believe that the Bible, as interpreted by the individual believer, was the only true religious authority for a Christian. He eventually rejected Tradition as well as the teaching authority of the Catholic Church (with the Pope at its head) as having legitimate religious authority.
An honest inquirer must ask, then, whether Luther’s doctrine of "Scripture alone" was a genuine restoration of a Biblical truth or rather the promulgation of an individual’s personal views on Christian authority. Luther was clearly passionate about his beliefs, and he was successful in spreading them, but these facts in and of themselves do not guarantee that what he taught was correct. Since one’s spiritual well-being, and even one’s eternal destiny, is at stake, the Christian believer needs to be absolutely sure in this matter.
Following are twenty-one considerations which will help the reader scrutinize Luther’s doctrine of Sola Scriptura from Biblical, historical and logical bases and which show that it is not in fact a genuine Biblical truth, but rather a man-made doctrine.
1. The Doctrine of Sola Scriptura is not taught anywhere in the Bible
Perhaps the most striking reason for rejecting this doctrine is that there is not one verse anywhere in the Bible in which it is taught, and it therefore becomes a self-refuting doctrine.
Protestants often point to verses such as 2 Timothy 3:16-17 or The Apocalypse (Revelation)22:18-19 in defense of Sola Scriptura, but close examination of these two passages easily demonstrates that they do not support the doctrine at all.
In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we read, "All scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, that the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work." There are five considerations which undermine the Sola Scriptura interpretation of this passage:
1) The Greek word ophelimos ("profitable") used in verse 16 means "useful" not "sufficient." An example of this difference would be to say that water is useful for our existence – even necessary – but it is not sufficient; that is, it is not the only thing we need to survive. We also need food, clothing, shelter, etc. Likewise, Scripture is useful in the life of the believer, but it was never meant to be the only source of Christian teaching, the only thing needed for believers.
2) The Greek word pasa, which is often rendered as "all," actually means "every," and it has the sense of referring to each and every one of the class denoted by the noun connected with it. (2) In other words, the Greek reads in a way which indicates that each and every "Scripture" is profitable. If the doctrine of Sola Scriptura were true, then based on Greek verse 16, each and every book of the Bible could stand on its own as the sole rule of faith, a position which is obviously absurd.
3) The "Scripture" that St. Paul is referring to here is the Old Testament, a fact which is made plain by his reference to the Scripture’s being known by Timothy from "infancy" (verse 15). The New Testament as we know it did not yet exist, or at best it was incomplete, so it simply could not have included in St. Paul’s understanding of what was meant by the term "scripture." If we take St. Paul’s words at face value, Sola Scriptura would therefore mean that the Old Testament is the Christian’s sole rule of faith. This is a premise that all Christians would reject.
Protestants may respond to this issue by arguing that St. Paul is not here discussing the canon of the Bible (the authoritative list of which books are included in the Bible), but rather the nature of Scripture. While there is some validity to this assertion, the issue of canon is also relevant here, for the following reason: Before we can talk about the nature of Scripture as being theopneustos or "inspired" (literally, "God-breathed"), it is imperative that we identify with certainty those books we mean when we say "Scripture"; otherwise, the wrong writings may be labeled as "inspired." St. Paul’s words here obviously took on a new dimension when the New Testament was completed, as Christians eventually considered it, too, to be "Scripture." It can be argued, then, that the Biblical canon is also the issue here, as St. Paul – writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit – emphasizes the fact that all (and not just some) Scripture is inspired. The question that begs to be asked, however, is this: "How can we be sure we have all the correct writings?" obviously, we can only know the answer if we know what the canon of the Bible is. Such a question poses a problem for the Protestant, but not for the Catholic, as the latter has an infallible authority to answer it.
4) The Greek word artios, here translated "perfect," may at first glance make it seem that the Scriptures are indeed all that is needed. "After all," one may ask, "if the Scriptures make the man of God perfect, what else could be needed? Doesn’t the very word ‘perfect’ imply that nothing is lacking?"
Well, the difficulty with such an interpretation is that the text here does not say that it is solely by means of the Scriptures that the man of God is made "perfect." The text – if anything – indicates precisely the opposite to be true, namely, that the Scriptures operate in conjunction with other things. Notice that it is not just anyone who is made perfect, but rather the "man of God" – which means a minister of Christ (cf. 1 Tim. 6:11), a clergyman. The fact that this individual is a minister of Christ presupposes that he has already had training and teaching which prepared him to assume his office. This being the case, the Scriptures would be merely one item in a series of items which make this man of God "perfect." The Scriptures may complete his list of necessary items or they may be one prominent item on the list, but surely they are not the only item on his list nor intended to be all that he needs.
By way of analogy, consider a medical doctor. In this context we might say something like, "The Physician’s Desk Reference [a standard medical reference book] makes our General Practitioner perfect, so that he may be ready to treat any medical situation." Obviously such a statement does not mean that all a doctor needs is his PDR. It is neither the last item on his list or just one prominent item. The doctor also needs his stethoscope, his blood pressure gauge, his training, etc. These other items are presupposed by the fact that we are talking about a doctor rather than a non-medical person. So it would be incorrect to assume that if the PDR makes the doctor "perfect," it is the only thing which makes him so.
Also, taking this word "perfect" as meaning "the only necessary item" results in a biblical contradiction, for in James 1:4 we read that patience – rather than the Scriptures – makes on perfect: "And patience hath a perfect work; that you may be perfect and entire, failing in nothing." Now it is true that a different Greek word (teleios) is used here for "perfect," but the fact remains that the basic meaning is the same. Now, if one rightly acknowledges that patience is clearly not the only thing a Christian needs in order to be perfect, then a consistent interpretive method would compel one to acknowledge likewise that the Scriptures are not the only think a "man of God" needs in order to be perfect.
5) The Greek word exartizo in verse 17, here translated "furnished" (other Bible versions read something like "fully equipped" or "thoroughly furnished") is referred to by Protestants as "proof" of Sola Scriptura, since this word – again – may be taken as implying that nothing else is needed for the "man of God." However, even though the man of God may be "furnished" or "thoroughly equipped," this fact in and of itself does not guarantee that he knows how to interpret correctly and apply any given Scripture passage. The clergyman must also be taught how to correctly use the Scriptures, even though he may already be "furnished" with them.
Consider again a medical analogy. Picture a medical student at the beginning of internship. He might have at his disposal all the equipment necessary to perform an operation (i.e., he is "thoroughly equipped" or "furnished" for a surgical procedure), but until he spends time with the doctors, who are the resident authorities, observing their techniques, learning their skills, and practicing some procedures of his own, the surgical instruments at his disposal are essentially useless. In fact, if he does not learn how to use these instruments properly, they can actually become dangerous in his hands.
So it is with the "man of God" and the Scriptures. The Scriptures, like the surgical instruments, are life-giving only when properly used. When improperly used, the exact opposite results can occur. In once case they could bring physical ruin
or even death; in the other case they could bring spiritual ruin or even spiritual death. Since the Bible admonishes us to handle rightly or rightly divide the word of truth (cf. 2 Tim. 2:15), it is therefore possible to handle incorrectly or wrongly divide it – much like an untrained medical student who incorrectly wields his surgical instruments.
Regarding The Apocalypse (Revelation) 22:18-19, there are two considerations which undermine the Sola Scriptura interpretation of these verses. The passage – almost the very last in the Bible – reads: "For I testify to every one that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book: If any man shall add to these things, God shall add unto him the plagues written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from these things that are written in this book."
1) When these verses say that nothing is to be added to or taken from the "words of the prophecy of this book," they are not referring to Sacred Tradition being "added" to the Sacred Scripture. It is obvious from the context that the "book" being referred to here is Revelation or The Apocalypse and not the whole Bible. We know this because St. John says that anyone who is guilty of adding to "this book" will be cursed with the plagues" written in this book," namely the plagues he described earlier in his own book, Revelation. To assert otherwise is to do violence to the text and to distort its plain meaning, especially since the Bible as we know it did not exist when this passage was written and therefore could not be what was meant. (3)
In defense of their interpretation of these verses, Protestants will often contend that God knew in advance what the canon of Scripture would be, with Revelation being the last book of the Bible, and thus He "sealed" that canon with the words of verses 18-19. But this interpretation involves reading a meaning into the text. Furthermore, if such an assertion were true, how is it that the Christian knows unmistakably that Revelation 22:18-19 is "sealing" the canon unless an infallible teaching authority assures him that this is the correct interpretation of that verse? But if such an infallible authority exists, then the Sola Scriptura doctrine becomes ipso facto null and void.
2) The same admonition not to add or subtract words is used in Deuteronomy 4:2, which says, "You shall not add to the word that I speak to you, neither shall you take away from it: keep the commandment of the Lord your God which I command you." If we were to apply a parallel interpretation to this verse, then anything in the Bible beyond the decrees of the Old Testament law would be considered non-canonical or not authentic Scripture – including the New Testament! Once again, all Christians would reject this conclusion in no uncertain terms. The prohibition in Revelation 22:18-19 against "adding," therefore, cannot mean that Christians are forbidden to look to anything outside the Bible for guidance.
2. The Bible Indicates that In Addition to the Written Word, we are to accept Oral Tradition
St. Paul both commends and commands the keeping of oral tradition. In 1 Corinthians 11:2, for instance, we read, "Now I praise you, brethren, that in all things you are mindful of me: and keep my ordinances as I have delivered them to you." (4) St. Paul is obviously commending the keeping of oral tradition here, and it should be noted in particular that he extols the believers for having done so ("I praise you...."). Explicit in this passage is also the fact that the integrity of this Apostolic oral tradition has clearly been maintained, just as Our Lord promised it would be, through the safeguarding of the Holy Spirit (cf. John 16:3).
Perhaps the clearest Biblical support for oral tradition can be found in 2 Thessalonians 2:14(15), where Christians are actually commanded: "Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle."
This passage is significant in that
a) it shows the existence of living traditions within the Apostolic teaching,
b) it tells us unequivocally that believers are firmly grounded in the Faith by adhering to these traditions, and
c) it clearly states that these traditions were both written and oral.
Since the Bible distinctly states here that oral traditions – authentic and Apostolic in origin – are to be "held" as a valid component of the Deposit of Faith, by what reasoning or excuse do Protestants dismiss them? By what authority do they reject a clear-cut injunction of St. Paul?
Moreover, we must consider the text in this passage. The Greek word krateite, here translated "hold," means "to be strong, mighty, to prevail." (5)
This language is rather emphatic, and it demonstrates the importance of maintaining these traditions. Of course one must differentiate between Tradition (upper-case "T") that is part of divine Revelation, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, Church traditions (lower-case "t") that, although good, have developed in the Church later and are not part of the Deposit of Faith. An example of something that is part of Tradition would be infant Baptism; an example of a Church tradition would be the Church’s calendar of feast days of Saints. Anything that is part of Tradition is of divine origin and hence unchangeable, while Church traditions are changeable by the Church. Sacred Tradition serves as a rule of faith by showing what the Church has believed consistently through the centuries and how it is always understood any given portion of the Bible. One of the main ways in which Tradition has been passed down to us is in the doctrine contained in the ancient texts of the liturgy, the Church’s public worship.
It should be noted that Protestants accuse Catholics of promoting "unbiblical" or "novel" doctrines based on Tradition, asserting that such Tradition contains doctrines which are foreign to the Bible. However, this assertion is wholly untrue. The Catholic Church teaches that Sacred Tradition contains nothing whatsoever that is contrary to the Bible. Some Catholic thinkers would even say that there is nothing in Sacred Tradition which is not also found in Scripture, at least implicitly or in seminal form. Certainly the two are at least in perfect harmony and always support each other. For some doctrines, the Church draws more from Tradition than from Scripture for its understanding, but even those doctrines are often implied or hinted at in the Sacred Scripture. For example, the following are largely based on Sacred Tradition: infant Baptism, the canon of Scripture, the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sunday (rather than Saturday) as the Lord’s Day, and the Assumption of Our Lady.
Sacred Tradition complements our understanding of the Bible and is therefore not some extraneous source of Revelation which contains doctrines that are foreign to it. Quite the contrary: Sacred Tradition serves as the Church’s living memory, reminding her of what the faithful have constantly and consistently believed and who to properly understand and interpret the meaning of Biblical passages. (6) In a certain way, it is Sacred Tradition which says to the reader of the Bible "You have been reading a very important book which contains God’s revelation to man. Now let me explain to you how it has always been understood and practiced by believers from the very beginning."
3. The Bible Calls the Church and not the Bible the "Pillar and Ground of the Truth."
It is very interesting to note that in I Timothy 3:15 we see, not the Bible, but the Church – that is, the living community of believers founded upon St. Peter and the Apostles and headed by their successors – called "the pillar and ground of the truth." Of course, this passage is not meant in any way to diminish the importance of the Bible, but it is intending to show that Jesus Christ did establish an authoritative and teaching Church which was commissioned to teach "all nations." (Matt. 28:19). Elsewhere this same Church received Christ’s promise that the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18), that He would always be with it (Matt. 28:20), and that He would give it the Holy Spirit to teach it all truth. (John 16:13). To the visible head of His Church, St. Peter, Our Lord said: "And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and, whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven." (Matt. 16:19). It is plainly evident from these passages that Our Lord emphasized the authority of His Church and the role it would have in safeguarding and defining the Deposit of Faith.
It is also evident from these passages that this same Church would be infallible, for if at any time in its history it would definitively teach error to the Church as a whole in matters of faith or morals – even temporarily – it would cease being this "pillar and ground of the truth." Since a "ground" or foundation by its very nature is meant to be a permanent support, and since the above-mentioned passages do not allow fro the possibility of the Church ever definitively teaching doctrinal or moral error, the only plausible conclusion is that Our Lord was very deliberate in establishing His Church and that He was referring to its infallibility when He called it the "pillar and ground of the truth."
The Protestant, however, has a dilemma here by asserting the Bible to be the sole rule of faith for believers. In what capacity, then, is the Church the "pillar and ground of the truth" if it is not to serve as an infallible authority established by Christ? How can the Church be this "pillar and ground" if it has no tangible, practical ability to serve as an authority in the life of a Christian? The Protestant would effectively deny that the Church is the "pillar and ground of the truth" by denying that the Church has the authority to teach.
Also, Protestants understand the term "church" to mean something different from what the Catholic Church understands it to mean. Protestants see "the church" as an invisible entity, and for them it refers collectively to all Christian believers around the world who are united by faith in Christ, despite major variations in doctrine and denominational allegiance. Catholics, on the other hand, understand it to mean not only those true believers who are united as Christ’s Mystical Body, but we simultaneously understand it to refer to a visible, historical entity as well, namely, that one – and only that one – organization which can trace its lineage in an unbroken line back to the Apostles themselves: the Catholic Church. It is this Church and this Church alone which was established by Christ and which has maintained an absolute consistency in doctrine throughout its existence, and it is therefore this Church alone which can claim to be that very "pillar and ground of the truth."
Protestantism, by comparison, has known a history of doctrinal vacillations and changes, and no two denominations completely agree – even on major doctrinal issues. Such shifting and changing could not possibly be considered a foundation or "ground of the truth." When the foundation of a structure shifts or is improperly set, that structure’s very support is unreliable (cf. Matt. 7:26-27). Since in practice the beliefs of Protestantism have undergone change both within denominations and through the continued appearance of new denominations, these beliefs are like a foundation which shifts and moves. Such beliefs therefore cease to provide the support necessary to maintain the structure they uphold, and the integrity of that structure becomes compromised, Our Lord clearly did not intend for His followers to build their spiritual houses on such an unreliable foundation.
4. Christ tells us to submit to the Authority of the Church
In Matthew 18:15-18 we see Christ instructing His disciples on how to correct a fellow believer. It is extremely telling in this instance that Our Lord identifies the Church rather than Scripture as the final authority to be appealed to. He Himself says that if an offending brother "will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican" (Matt. 18:17) – that is, as an outsider who is lost. Moreover, Our Lord then solemnly re-emphasizes the Church’s infallible teaching authority in verse 18 by repeating His earlier statement about the power to bind and loose (Matt. 16:18-19), directing it this time to the Apostles as a group (7) rather than just to Peter: "Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven." (Matt. 18:18).
Of course there are instances in the Bible where Our Lord does appeal to Scripture, but in these cases He, as one having authority, was teaching the Scriptures; He was not allowing the Scriptures to teach themselves. For example, He would respond to the Scribes and the Pharisees by using Scripture precisely because they often tried to trip Him up by using Scripture. In these instances, Our Lord often demonstrates how the Scribes and Pharisees had wrong interpretations, and hence He corrects them by properly interpreting Scripture.
His actions do not argue that Scripture should be sola, or an authority in itself and, in fact, the only Christian authority. Quite the contrary; whenever Christ refers His hearers to the Scriptures, He also provides His infallible, authoritative interpretation of them, demonstrating that the Scriptures do not interpret themselves. The Catholic Church readily acknowledges the inerrancy and authority of Scripture. But the Catholic doctrine is that the immediate rule of faith for the Christian is the teaching authority of the Church – an authority to teach and interpret both Scripture and Tradition, as Matt. 18:17-18 shows.
It should also be noted that implicit (perhaps even explicit) in this passage from Matthew is the fact that the "Church" must have been a visible, tangible entity established in a hierarchical fashion. Otherwise, how would anyone have known to whom the wrongdoer should be referred? If the Protestant definition of "church" were correct, then the wrongdoer would have to "hear" each and every believer who existed, hoping that there would be unanimity among them regarding the issue at hand. The inherent absurdity of this scenario is readily apparent. The only way we can make sense of Our Lord’s statement here is to acknowledge that here was a definite organization, to which an appeal could be made and from which a decisive judgment could be had.
5. Scripture itself states that it is insufficient of itself as a teacher, but rather needs an interpreter.
The Bible says in 2 Tim. 3:17 that the man of God is "perfect, furnished to every good work." As we noted above, this verse means only that the man of God is fully supplied with Scripture; it is not a guarantee that he automatically knows how to interpret it properly. This verse at most argues only for the material sufficiency of Scripture, a position which is held by some Catholic thinkers today.
"Material sufficiency" would mean that the Bible in some way contains all the truths that are necessary for the believer to know; in other words, the "materials" would thus be all present or at least implied. "Formal sufficiency," on the other hand, would mean that the Bible would not only contain all the truths that are necessary, but that it would also present those truths in a perfectly clear and complete and readily understandable fashion. In other words, these truths would be in a useable form," and consequently there would be no need for Sacred Tradition to clarify and complete them or for an infallible teaching authority to interpret them correctly or "rightly divide" God’s word.
Since the Catholic Church holds that the Bible is not sufficient in itself, it naturally teaches that the Bible needs an interpreter. The reason the Catholic Church so teaches is twofold: first, because Christ established a living Church to teach with His authority. He did not simply give His disciples a Bible, whole and entire, and tell them to go out and make copies of it for mass distribution and allow people to come to whatever interpretation they may. Second, the Bible itself states that it needs an interpreter.
Regarding the second point, we read in 2 Peter 3:16 that in St. Paul’s epistles there are "certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest [distort], as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction."
In this one verse we note three very important things about the Bible and its interpretation: a) the Bible contains passages which are not readily understandable or clear, a fact which demonstrates the need for an authoritative and infallible teacher to make the passages clear and understandable; (8) b) it is not only possible that people could "wrest" or distort the meaning of Scripture, but this was, in fact, being done from the very earliest days of the Church; and c) to distort the meaning of Scripture can result in one’s "destruction," a disastrous fate indeed. It is obvious from these considerations that St. Peter did not believe the Bible to be the sole rule of faith. But there is more.
In Acts 8:26-40 we read the account of the deacon St. Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. In this scenario, the Holy Spirit leads Philip to approach the Ethiopian when Philip learns that the Ethiopian is reading from the prophet Isaias, he asks him a very telling question: "Thinkest thou that thou understandest what thou readest?" Even more telling is the answer given by the Ethiopian: "And how can I, unless some man show me?"
Whereas this St. Philip (known as "the Evangelist") is not one of the twelve Apostles, he was nonetheless someone who was commissioned by the Apostles (cf. Acts 6:6) and who preached the Gospel with authority (cf. Acts 8:4-8).
Consequently, his preaching would reflect legitimate Apostolic teaching. The point here is that the Ethiopian’s statement verifies the fact that the Bible is not sufficient in itself as a teacher of Christian doctrine, and people who hear the Word do need an authority to instruct them properly so that they may understand what the Bible says. If the Bible were indeed sufficient of itself, then the eunuch would not have been ignorant of the meaning of the passage from Isaias.
There is also 2 Peter 1:20, which states that "no prophecy of scripture is made by private interpretation." Here we see the Bible itself stating in no uncertain terms that its prophecies are not a matter for which the individual is to arrive at his own interpretation. It is also most telling that this verse is preceded by a section on the Apostolic witness (verses 12-18) and followed by a section on false teachers (chapter 2, verses 1-10). St. Peter is obviously contrasting genuine, Apostolic teaching with false prophets and false teachers, and he makes reference to private interpretation as the pivotal point between the two. The clear implication is that private interpretation is one pathway whereby an individual turns from authentic teaching and begins to follow erroneous teaching.
6. The first Christians did not have a Bible
Biblical scholars tell us that the last book of the New Testament was not written until the end of the 1st century A.D., that is, until around the year 100 A.D. (9) This fact would leave roughly a 65-year gap between Our Lord’s Ascension into Heaven and the completion of the Bible as we know it. The question that begs to be asked, therefore, is this: "Who or what served as the final, infallible authority during that time?"
If the Protestant doctrine of Sola Scriptura were true, then since the Church existed for a time without the entire written Word of God, there would have been situations and doctrinal issues which could not have been resolved with finality until all of the New Testament books were complete. The ship would have been left without a rudder, so to speak, at least for a time. But this goes contrary to the statements and promises that Our Lord made about His Church – particularly, "behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world" (Matt. 28:20) – not to mention that He told His disciples: "I will not leave you orphans." (John 14:18).
This issue is of particular importance, as the first several decades of the Church’s existence were tumultuous. Persecutions had already begun, believers were being martyred, the new Faith was struggling to grow, and some false teachings had already appeared (cf. Galatians 1:6-9). If the Bible were the Christian’s only rule of faith, and since the Bible was not fully written – much less settled in terms of its canon – until 65 years after Christ’s Ascension, how did the early Church possibly deal with doctrinal questions without an authority on how to proceed?
Now the Protestant may be tempted to offer two possible responses:
1) that the Apostles were temporarily the final authority while the New Testament was being written, and
2) that the Holy Spirit was given to the Church and that His direct guidance is what bridged the time gap between Our Lord’s Ascension and the completion of the New Testament.
Regarding the first response, it is true that Jesus Christ invested the Apostles with His authority; however, the Bible nowhere indicates that this authority’s active role within the Church would cease with the death of the last Apostle. Quite the contrary, the Bible record is quite clear in that:
a) it nowhere says that once the last Apostle dies, the written form of God’s Word will become the final authority; and
b) the Apostles clearly chose successors who, in turn, possessed the same authority to "bind and loose."
This is shown in the election of Matthias as a replacement for Judas Iscariot (Cf. Acts 1:15-26) and in St. Paul’s passing on his Apostolic Authority to Timothy and Titus (cf. 2 Timothy 1:6, and Titus 1:5). If anything, a Protestant only gives credence to the Catholic teaching by insisting on the authority of the Apostles.
Regarding the second response – that the Holy Spirit’s direct guidance bridged the time gap – the problem with such a position is that the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit Himself is an extra-Biblical (That is, "outside of the Bible") source of authority. Naturally the Bible speaks very clearly of the Holy Spirit’s presence among the believers and His role in teaching the disciples "all truth," but if the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit were, in fact, the ultimate authority during those 65 years, then the history of the Church would have known two successive ultimate authorities: first the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit, with this guidance then being replaced by the Scriptures, which would have become sola, or the "only" ultimate authority. And if this situation of an extra-Biblical ultimate authority is permissible from a Protestant perspective, does this not open the door to the Catholic position, which says that the teaching authority of the Church is the direct ultimate authority – deriving her authority from Christ and her teaching from Scripture and Tradition, guided by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit was given to the Church by Jesus Christ, and it is exactly this same Spirit who protects the Church’s visible head, the Pope, and the teaching authority of the Church by never permitting him or it to lapse into error. The Catholic believes that Christ indeed did give the Holy Spirit to the Church and that the Holy Spirit has always been present in the Church, teaching it all truth (John 16:13) and continually safeguarding its doctrinal integrity, particularly through the office of the Pope. Thus the Gospel would still have been preached – authoritatively and infallibly – even if not a single verse of the New Testament had ever been written.
7. The Church produced the Bible not vice-versa
The doctrine of Sola Scriptura overlooks – or at least grossly underemphasizes – the fact that the Church came before the Bible, and not the other way around. It was the Church, in effect, which wrote the Bible under the inspiration of Almighty God: the Israelites as the Old Testament Church (or "pre-Catholics") and the early Catholics as the New Testament Church.
In the pages of the New Testament we note that Our Lord gives a certain primacy to the teaching authority of His Church and its proclamation in His name. For instance, in Matthew 28:20 we see Our Lord commissioning the Apostles to go and teach in His name, making disciples of all nations. In Mark 16:15 we note that the Apostles are commanded to go and preach to all the world. And in Luke 10:16 we see that whoever hears the seventy-two hears Our Lord. These facts are most telling, as nowhere do we see Our Lord commissioning His Apostles to evangelize the world by writing in His name. The emphasis is always on preaching the Gospel, not on printing and distributing it.
Thus it follows that the leadership and teaching authority of the Church are indispensable elements in the means whereby the Gospel message is to reach the ends of the earth. Since the Church produced the scriptures, it is quite biblical, logical and reasonable to say that the Church alone has the authority to interpret properly and apply them. And if this is so, then by reason of its origin and nature, the Bible cannot serve as the only rule of faith for Christian believers. In other words, by producing the Scriptures, the Church does not eliminate the need for itself as teacher and interpreter of those Scriptures.
Moreover, is it not unreasonable to say that simply by putting Apostolic teaching into writing, the Church somehow made that written teaching superior to her oral teaching? Like the teaching organization Our Lord established, His Word is authoritative, but because the word is one form rather than another does not mean one form is to be subjugated to the other. Since God’s one Revelation is twofold in form, to deny the authority of one form would be to deny the authority of the other form as well. The forms of God’s Word are complementary, not competitive. Thus, if there is a need for the Scriptures, there is also a need for the teaching authority which produced them.
8. The idea of the Scripture's Authority existing apart from the authority of the Teacher Church is utterly foreign to the Early Church.
If you look at the writings of the Early Church Fathers, you will see references to the Apostolic Succession, (10) to the bishops as guardians of the Deposit of Faith, (11) and to the primacy and the authority of Rome. (12) The collective weight of these references makes clear the fact that the early Church understood itself has having a hierarchy which was central to maintaining the integrity of the Faith. Nowhere do we see any indication that the early followers of Christ disregarded those positions of authority and considered them invalid as a rule of faith. Quite the contrary, we see in those passages that the Church, from its very inception, saw its power to teach grounded in an inseparable combination of Scripture and Apostolic Tradition – with both being authoritatively taught and interpreted by the teaching Magisterium of the Church, with the Bishop of Rome at its head.
To say that the early Church believed in the notion of "the Bible alone" would be analogous to saying that men and women today could entertain the thought that our civil laws could function without Congress to legislate them, without courts to interpret them and without police to enforce them. All we would need is a sufficient supply of legal volumes in every household so that each citizen could determine for himself how to understand and apply any given law. Such an assertion is absurd, of course, as no one could possibly expect civil laws to function in this manner. The consequence of such a state of affairs would undoubtedly be total anarchy.
How much more absurd, then, is it to contend that the Bible could function on its own and apart from the Church which wrote it? It is precisely that Church – and not just any Christian – who alone possesses the divinely given authority to interpret it correctly, as well as to legislate matters involving the conduct of its members. Were this not the case, the situation on any level – local, regional or global – would quickly devolve into spiritual anarchy, wherein each and every Christian could formulate a theological system and develop a moral code based simply upon his own private interpretation of Scripture.
Has not history actually seen precisely this result since the 16th century, when the so-called Reformation occurred? In fact, an examination of the state of affairs in Europe immediately following the genesis of the Reformation – particularly in Germany – will demonstrate that the direct result of Reformation teaching was both spiritual and social disorder. (13) Luther himself bemoaned the fact that, "Unfortunately, it is our daily experience that now under the Gospel [his] the people entertain greater and bitterer hatred and envy and are worse with their avarice and money-grabbing than before under the Papacy." (14)
9. Heresiarchs and heretical movements based their doctrines on Scripture interpreted apart from Tradition and the Magisterium.
If you look at the history of the early Church, you will see that it continually struggled against heresies and those who promoted them. We also see the Church responding to those threats again and again by convening Councils (15) and turning to Rome to settle disputes in matters of doctrine and discipline. For example, Pope Clement intervened in a controversy in the Church at Corinth at the end of the 1st century and put an end to a schism there. In the 2nd century, Pope Victor threatened to excommunicate a large portion of the Church in the East because of a dispute about when Easter should be celebrated. In the earlier part of the 3rd century, Pope Callistus pronounced the condemnation of the Sabellian heresy.
In the case of these heresies and/or conflicts in discipline that would arise, the people involved would defend their erroneous beliefs by their respective interpretations of Scripture, apart from the Sacred Tradition and the teaching Magisterium of the Church. A good illustration of this point is the case of Arius, the 4th-century priest who declared that the Son of God was a creature and was not co-equal with the Father.
Arius and those who followed him quoted verses from the Bible to "prove" their claims. (16) The disputes and controversies which arose over his teachings became so great that the first Ecumenical Council was convened in Nicaea in 325 A.D. to settle them. The Council, under the authority of the Pope, declared Arius’ teachings to be heretical and made some decisive declarations about the Person of Christ, and it did so based on what Sacred Tradition had to say regarding the Scripture verses in question.
Here we see the teaching authority of the Church being used as the final say in an extremely important doctrinal matter. If there had been no teaching authority to appeal to, then Arius’ error could have overtaken the Church. As it is, a majority of the bishops at the time fell for the Arian heresy. (17) Even though Arius had based his arguments on the Bible and probably "compared Scripture with Scripture," the fact is that he arrived at an heretical conclusion. It was the teaching authority of the Church – hierarchically constituted – which stepped in and declared he was wrong.
The application is obvious. If you ask a Protestant whether or not Arius was correct in his belief that the Son was created, he will, of course, respond in the negative. Emphasize, then, that even though Arius presumably "compared Scripture with Scripture," he nonetheless arrived at an erroneous conclusion. If this were true for Arius, what guarantee does the Protestant have that it is not also true for his interpretation of a given Bible passage? The very fact that the Protestant knows Arius’ interpretations were heretical implies that an objectively true or "right" interpretation exists for the Biblical passages he used. The issue, then, becomes a question of how we can know what that true interpretation is. The only possible answer is that there must be, out of necessity, an infallible authority to tell us. That infallible authority, the Catholic Church, declared Arius heretical. Had the Catholic Church not been both infallible and authoritative in its declaration, then believers would have had no reason whatsoever to reject Arius’ teachings, and the whole of Christianity today might have been comprised of modern-day Arians.
It is evident, then, that using the Bible alone is not a guarantee of arriving at doctrinal truth. The above-described result is what happens when the erroneous doctrine of Sola Scriptura is used as a guiding principle, and the history of the Church and the numerous heresies it has had to address are undeniable testimony to this fact.
10. The Canon of the Bible was not settled until the 4th Century.
One historical fact which proves extremely convenient for the Protestant is the fact that the canon of the Bible – the authoritative list of exactly which books are part of inspired Scripture – was not settled and fixed until the end of the 4th century. Until that time, there was much disagreement over which Biblical writings were considered inspired and Apostolic in origin. The Biblical canon varied from place to place: some lists contained books that were later defined as non-canonical, while other lists failed to include books which were later defined as canonical. For example, there were Early Christian writings which were considered by some to be inspired and Apostolic and which were actually read in Christian public worship, but which were later omitted from the New Testament canon. These include The Shepherd of Hermas, The Epistle of Barnabas, and The Didache, among others. (18)
It was not until the Synod of Rome (382) and the Councils of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397) that we find a definitive list of canonical books being drawn up, and each of these Councils acknowledged the very same list of books. (19) From this point on, there is in practice no dispute about the canon of the Bible, the only exception being the so-called Protestant Reformers, who entered upon the scene in 1517, an unbelievable 11 centuries later.
Once again, there are two fundamental questions for which one cannot provide answers that are consonant with Sola Scriptura: A) Who or what served as the final Christian authority up to the time that the New Testament’s canon was identified? B) And if there was a final authority that the Protestant recognizes before the establishment of the canon, on what basis did that authority cease being final once the Bible’s canon was established?
11. An "Extra-Biblical" Authority Identified the Canon of the Bible.
Since the Bible did not come with an inspired table of contents, the doctrine of Sola Scriptura creates yet another dilemma: How can one know with certainty which books belong in the Bible – specifically, in the New Testament? The unadulterated fact is that one cannot know unless there is an authority outside the Bible which can tell him. Moreover, this authority must, by necessity, be infallible, since the possibility of error in identifying the canon of the Bible (20) would mean that all believers run the risk of having the wrong books in their Bibles, a situation which would vitiate Sola Scriptura. But if there is such an infallible authority, then the doctrine of Sola Scriptura crumbles.
Another historical fact very difficult to reconcile with the doctrine of Sola Scriptura is that it was none other than the Catholic Church which eventually identified and ratified the canon of the Bible. The three councils mentioned above were all councils of this Church. The Catholic Church gave its final, definitive, infallible definition of the Biblical canon a the Council of Trent in 1546 – naming the very same list of 73 books that had been included in the 4th century. If the Catholic Church is able, then, to render an authoritative and infallible decision concerning such an important matter as which books belong in the Bible, then upon what basis would a person question its authority on other matters of faith and morals?
Protestants should at least concede a point which Martin Luther, their religion’s founder, also conceded, namely, that the Catholic Church safeguarded and identified the Bible: "We are obliged to yield many things to the Catholics – (for example), that they possess the Word of God, which we received from them; otherwise, we should have known nothing at all about it." (21)
12. The Belief that Scripture is "Self-Authenticating" Does Not Hold Up under Examination
Lacking a satisfactory answer to the question of how the canon of the Bible was determined, Protestants often resort to the notion that Scripture is "self-authenticating," that is, the books of the Bible witness to themselves that they are inspired of God. The major problem with such an assertion is simply that even a cursory examination of ecclesial history will demonstrate it to be utterly untrue.
For example, several books from the New Testament – James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, and Revelation – were disputed in terms of their canonical status for some time. In certain places they were accepted, while simultaneously in other s they were rejected. Even spiritual giants like St. Athanasius (297-373), St. Jerome (c. 342-420) and St. Augustine (354-430) had drawn up lists of New Testament books which witnessed to what was generally acknowledged as inspired in their times and places, but none of these lists corresponds exactly to the New Testament canon that was eventually identified by the Catholic Church at the end of the 4th century and which is identical to the canon that Catholics have today. (22)
If Scripture were actually "self-authenticating," why was there so much disagreement and uncertainty over these various books? Why was there any disagreement at all? Why was the canon of the Bible not identified much earlier if the books were allegedly so readily discernible? The answer that one is compelled to accept in this regard is simply that the Bible is not self-authenticating at all.
Even more interesting is the fact that some books in the Bible do not identify their authors. The idea of self-authentication – if it were true – might be more plausible if each and every Biblical author identified himself, as we could more easily examine that author’s credentials, so to speak, or at least determine who it was that claimed to be speaking for God. But in this regard the Bible leaves us ignorant in a few instances.
Take St. Matthew’s Gospel as one example; nowhere does the text indicate that it was Matthew, one of the twelve Apostles, who authored it. We are therefore left with only two possibilities for determining its authorship: 1) what Tradition has to say, 2) Biblical scholarship. In either case, the source of determination is an extra-Biblical source and would therefore fall under condemnation by the doctrine of Sola Scriptura.
Now the Protestant may be saying at this point that it is unnecessary to know whether or not Matthew actually wrote this Gospel, as one’s salvation does not depend on knowing whether it was Matthew or someone else. But such a view presents quite a difficulty. What the Protestant is effectively saying is that while an authentic Gospel is God’s Word and is the means by which a person comes to a saving knowledge of Christ, the person has no way of knowing for certain in the case of Matthew’s Gospel whether it is Apostolic in origin and consequently has no way of knowing it if its genuine (i.e., God’s Word) or not. And if this Gospel’s authenticity is questionable, then why include it in the Bible? If its authenticity is certain, then how is this known in the absence of self-identification by Matthew? One can only conclude that the Bible is not self-authenticating.
The Protestant may wish to fall back on the Bible’s own assertion that it is inspired, citing a passage like 2 Timothy 3:16 – "All scripture, inspired of God, is profitable..." However, a claim to inspiration is not in and of itself a guarantee of inspiration. Consider the fact that the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science sect, claim to be inspired. The writings of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon sect, claim to be inspired. These are but two of many possible examples which demonstrate the that any particular writing can claim just about anything. Obviously, in order for us to know with certainty whether or not a writing is genuinely inspired, we need more than a mere claim by that writing that it is inspired. The guarantee of inspiration must come from outside that writing. In the case of the Bible, the guarantee must come from a non-Biblical source. But outside authentication is excluded by the doctrine of Sola Scriptura.
13. None of the Original Biblical Manuscripts is Extant.
A sobering consideration – and one which is fatal to the doctrine of Sola Scriptura – is that we do not possess a single original manuscript of any book of the Bible. Now it is true that there are thousands of manuscripts extant which are copies of the originals – and more likely than not they are copies of copies – but this fact does not help the Sola Scriptura position for the simple reason that without original manuscripts, one cannot know with certainty if he actually possesses the real Bible, whole and entire. (23) The original autographs were inspired, while copies of them are not.
The Protestant may want to assert that not having original Biblical manuscripts is immaterial, as God preserved the Bible by safeguarding its duplication down through the centuries. (24) However, there are two problems with this line of reasoning. The first is that by maintaining God’s providence with regard to copying, a person claims something which is not written in Scripture, and therefore, by the very definition of Sola Scriptura, cannot serve as a rule of faith. In other words, if one cannot find passages in the Bible which patently state that God will protect the transmission of manuscripts, then the belief is not to be held. The fact of the matter is that the Bible makes no such claim.
The second problem is that if you can maintain that God safeguarded the written transmission of His Word, then you can also rightly maintain that He safeguarded its oral transmission as well (recall 2 Thessalonians 2:14 [15] and the twofold form of God’s one revelation). After all, the preaching of the Gospel began as an oral tradition (cf. Luke 1:1-4 and Rom. 10:17). It was not until later on that some of the oral tradition was committed to writing – becoming Sacred Scripture – and it was later still that these writings were declared to be inspired and authoritative. Once you can maintain that God safeguarded the oral transmission of His teaching, you have demonstrated the basis for Sacred Tradition and have already begun supporting the Catholic position.
14. The Biblical Manuscripts Contain Thousands of Variations
It has just been noted that there are thousands of Biblical manuscripts in existence; these manuscripts contain thousands of variations in the text; one writer estimates that there are over 200,000 variations. (25) Whereas the majority of these deal with minor concerns – such as spelling, word order and the like – there are also variations of a more important nature:
a) the manuscript evidence shows that scribes sometimes modified the Biblical texts to harmonize passages, to accommodate them to historical fact, and to establish a doctrinal correctness; (26) and
b) there are portions of verses (i.e., more than just a single word in question) for which there are several different manuscript readings, such as John 7:39, Acts 6:8, Colossians 2:2 and 1 Thessalonians 3:2. (27)
These facts leave the Protestant in the position of not knowing if he possesses what the Biblical authors originally wrote. And if this is the case, then how can a Protestant profess to base his beliefs solely on the Bible when he cannot determine with certainty the textual authenticity of the Bible? (28)
More importantly, there are several more major textual variations among New Testament manuscripts. The following two examples will illustrate the point:
First, according to the manuscripts that we have, there are four possible endings for Mark’s Gospel: the short ending, which includes verses 1-8 of chapter 16; the longer ending, which includes verses 1-8 plus verses 9-20; the intermediate ending, which includes 2 to 3 lines of text between verse 8 and the longer ending; and the longer ending in expanded form, which includes several verses after verse 14 of the longer ending. (29) The best that can be said about these different endings is that we simply do not know for certain, from the Bible itself, where St. Mark’s Gospel concluded, and, depending on which ending(s) is/are included in a Protestant’s Bible, the publisher runs the risk of either adding verses to or omitting verses from the original text – thus violating the doctrine of Sola Scriptura, which requires "the Bible alone and in its entirety" as the basis of faith. Even if a Protestant’s Bible includes all four endings with explanatory comments and/or footnotes, he still cannot be certain which of the four endings is genuine.
Second, there is manuscript evidence for alternate readings in some pivotal verses of the Bible, such as John 1:18, where there are two possible wordings. (30) Some (such as the King James Version) read along the lines of the Douay-Rheims: "No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son Who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Either wording is substantiated by manuscript evidence, and you will therefore find Biblical scholars relying on their best educated judgment as to which one is "correct." A similar situation occurs at Acts 20:28, where the manuscript evidence shows that Saint Paul could be referring to either the "church of the Lord" (Greek kuriou) or the "church of God" (Greek theou). (31)
Now this point may seem trivial at first, but suppose you are trying to evangelize a cult member who denies the divinity of Jesus Christ. While John 1:18 and Acts 20:28 are clearly not the only passages to use in defense of Our Lord’s divinity, you still may be unable to utilize these verses with that person, depending on which manuscript tradition your Bible follows. That would leave you marginally less able to defend a major Biblical doctrine, and the very nature of this fact become quite problematic from the perspective of the doctrine of Sola Scriptura.
15. There Are Hundreds of Bible Versions.
As mentioned in Point 14 above, there are thousands and thousands of variations in the Biblical manuscripts. This problem is compounded by the fact that history has known hundreds of Bible versions, which vary in translation as well as textual sources. The question which begs to be asked is, "Which version is the correct one?" or "Which version is closest to the original manuscripts?" One possible answer will depend on which side of the Catholic/Protestant issue you situate yourself. Another possible answer will depend upon which Bible scholars you consider to be trustworthy and reputable.
The simple fact is that some versions are clearly inferior to others. Progress in the field of Biblical research made possible by archaeological discoveries (e.g., the Dead Sea Scrolls) has vastly improved our knowledge of the ancient Biblical languages and settings. We know more today about the variables impacting upon Biblical studies than our counterparts of 100, 200, or 1,000 years ago. From this point of view, modern Bible versions may have a certain superiority to older Bible versions. On the other hand, Bibles based on the Latin Vulgate of Saint Jerome (4th century) – in English, this is the Douay-Rheims – are based on original texts which have since perished, and thus these traditional versions bypass 16 centuries of possible textual corruption.
This fact causes a considerable problem for the Protestant, because it means that modern Protestants may have in some respects a "better" or more accurate Bible than their forbears, while in other respects they may have a "poorer" or less accurate Bible – which in turn means that modern Protestants have either a "more authoritative" final authority or a "less authoritative" final authority than their predecessors. But the existence of degrees of authoritativeness begins to undermine Sola Scirptura, because it would mean that one Bible is not as authentic a final authority as another one. And if it is not as authentic, then the possibility of transmitting erroneous doctrine increases, and the particular Bible version then fails to function as the final authority, since it is not actually final.
Another point to consider is that Bible translators, as human beings, are not completely objective and impartial. Some may be likely to render a given passage in a manner which corresponds more closely with one belief system rather than with another. An example of this tendency can be seen in Protestant Bibles where the Greek word paradoseis occurs. Since Protestants deny the existence of Sacred Tradition, some Protestant translations of the Bible render this word as "teachings" or "customs" rather than "tradition," as the latter would tend to give more weight to the Catholic position.
Yet another consideration is the reality that some versions of the Bible are outright perversions of the Biblical texts, as in the case of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New World Translation. Here the "translators" render key passages in a manner which suits their erroneous doctrines. (32) Now unless there is an authority outside of the Bible to declare such translations unreliable and dangerous, by what authority could someone call them unsuited for use in teaching doctrine? If the Protestant responds by saying that this issue can be determined on the basis of Biblical scholarship, then he is ignorant of the fact that the Jehovah’s Witnesses also cite sources of Biblical scholarship in support of their translation of these passages! The issue then devolves into a game of pitting one source of scholarship against another – one human authority against another.
Ultimately, the problem can only be resolved through the intervention of an infallible teaching authority which speaks on behalf of Christ. The Catholic knows that that authority is the Roman Catholic Church and its Magisterium or teaching authority. In an exercise of this authority, Catholic Bishops grant an imprimatur (meaning "Let it be printed") to be included on the opening pages of certain Bible versions and other spiritual literature to alert the reader that the book contains nothing contrary to the teachings of Christ and the Apostles. (33)
16. The Bible Was Not Available to Individual Believers until the 15th Century.
Essential to the doctrine of Sola Scriptura is the idea that the Holy Spirit will enlighten each believer as to the correct interpretation for a given Bible passage. This idea presupposes that each believer possesses a Bible or at least has access to a Bible. The difficulty with such a presumption is that the Bible was not able to be mass-produced and readily available to individual believers until the advent of the printing press in the 15th century. (34) Even then, it would have taken quite some time for large numbers of Bibles to be printed and disseminated to the general population.
The predicament caused by this state of affairs is that millions upon millions of Christians who lived prior to the 15th century would have been left without a final authority, left to flounder spiritually, unless by chance they had access to a hand-copied Bible. Even a mere human understanding of such circumstances would make God out to be quite cruel, as He would have revealed the fullness of His Word to humanity in Christ, knowing that the means by which such information could be made readily available would not exist for another 15 centuries.
On the other hand, we know that God is not cruel at all, but in fact has infinite love for us. It is for this reason that He did not leave us in darkness. He sent us His Son to teach us the way we should believe and act, and this Son established a Church to promote those teachings through preaching to both the learned and the illiterate. "Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the Word of Christ." (Rom. 10:17). Christ also gave to His Church His guarantee that He would always be with it, never allowing it to fall into error. God, therefore, did not abandon His people and make them rely upon the invention of the printing press to be the means whereby they would come to a saving knowledge of His Son. Instead, He gave us a divinely established, infallible teacher, the Catholic Church, to provide us with the means to be informed of the Good News of the Gospel – and to be informed correctly.
17. The Doctrine of Sola Scriptura Did Not Exist Prior to the 14th Century.
As difficult a reality as it may be for some to face, this foundational doctrine of Protestantism did not originate until the 14th century and did not become widespread until the 16h century – a far, far cry time-wise from the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Apostles. This simple fact is conveniently overlooked or ignored by Protestants, but it can stand alone as sufficient reason to discard the doctrine of Sola Scriptura. The truth that the doctrine of Sola Scriptura did not exist before John Wycliffe (forerunner of Protestantism) in the 14th century and did not become widespread until Martin Luther came along in the 16th century and began setting up his own "traditions of men" in place of authentic Christian teaching. The doctrine, therefore, not only lacks the historical continuity which marks legitimate Apostolic teaching, but it actually represents an abrupt change, a radical break with the Christian past.
Protestants will assert that the Bible itself teaches Sola Scriptura and therefore that the doctrine had its roots back with Jesus Christ. However, as we have seen above, the Bible teaches no such things. The claim that the Bible teaches this doctrine is nothing more than a repeated effort to retroject this belief back into the pages of Scripture. The examination of historical continuity (or lack thereof) provides an indication whether or not a particular belief originated with Jesus Christ and the Apostles or whether it appeared somewhere much later in time. The fact is that the historical record is utterly silent on the doctrine of Sola Scriptura prior to the 14th century.
18. The Doctrine of Sola Scriptura Produces Bad Fruit, Namely, Division and Disunity.
If the doctrine of Sola Scriptura were true, then it should be expected that Protestants would all be in agreement in terms of doctrine, as the Bible could not simultaneously teach contradictory beliefs. And yet the reality is that there are literally thousands (35) of Protestant sects and denominations, each of which claims to have the Bible as its only guide, each of which claims to be preaching the truth, yet each of which teaches something different from the others. Protestants claim that they differ only in non-essential or peripheral matters, but the fact is that they cannot even agree on major doctrinal issues such as the Eucharist, salvation, and justification – to name a few.
For instance, most Protestant denominations teach that Jesus Christ is only symbolically present in the Eucharist, while others (such as Lutherans and Episcopalians) believe that He is literally present, at least to some extent. Some denominations teach that once you are "saved" you can never lose your salvation, while others believe it is possible for a true Christian to sin gravely and cease being "saved." And some denominations teach that justification involves the Christian’s being merely declared righteous, while others teach that the Christian must also grow in holiness and actually become righteous.
Our Lord categorically never intended for His followers to be as fragmented, disunited and chaotic as the history of Protestantism has been since its very inception. (36) Quite the contrary, He prayed for His followers: "That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us." (John 17:21). And St. Paul exhorts Christians to doctrinal unity with the words, "One body and one Spirit... One Lord, one faith, one baptism." (Eph. 4:4-5). How, then, can the thousands of Protestant denominations and sects all claim to be the "true Church" when their very existence refutes this claim? How can such heterodoxy and contradiction in doctrine be the unity for which Our Lord prayed?
In this regard, the reader should be reminded of Christ’s own words: "For by the fruit the tree is known." (Matt. 12:33). By this standard, the historical testimony afforded by Protestantism demonstrates that the tree of Sola Scriptura is producing bad fruit.
19. The Doctrine of Sola Scriptura Does Not Allow for a Final, Definitive Interpretation of any given Passage of Scripture.
As we have seen above, the doctrine of Sola Scriptura maintains that the individual believer needs only the Bible as a rule of faith and that he can obtain a true interpretation of a given Scripture passage simply by comparing it with what the rest of the Bible teaches. In practice, however, this approach creates more problems than it solves, and it ultimately prevents the believer from knowing definitively and with certainty how any given passage from the Bible should be interpreted.
The Protestant, in reality, interprets the Bible from a standpoint of subjective opinion rather than objective truth. For example, say Protestant person A studies a Scripture passage and concludes interpretation X. Protestant B studies the identical passage and concludes interpretation Y. Lastly, Protestant C studies the same passage and concludes interpretation Z. (37) Interpretations X and Y and Z are mutually contradictory. Yet each of these people, from the Protestant perspective, can consider his or her interpretation to be "correct" because each one has "compared Scripture with Scripture."
Now there are only two possible determinations for these three Protestants: a) each of them is incorrect in his interpretation, or b) only one of them is correct – since three contradictory interpretations cannot simultaneously be true. (38) The problem here is that, without the existence of an infallible authority to tell the three Protestants which of their respective interpretations is correct (i.e., objectively true), there is no way for each of them to know with certainty and definitively if his particular interpretation is the correct one. Each Protestant is ultimately left to an individual interpretation based on mere personal opinion – study and research into the matter notwithstanding. Each Protestant thus becomes his own final authority – or, if you will, his own "pope."
Protestantism in practice bears out this fact. Since the Bible alone is not sufficient as a rule of faith (if it were, our three Protestants would be in complete accord in their interpretations), every believer and denomination within Protestantism must necessarily arrive at his/her/its own interpretation of the Bible. Consequently, if there are many possible interpretations of Scripture, by definition there is no ultimate interpretation. And if there is no ultimate interpretation, then a person cannot know whether or not his own interpretation is objectively true.
A good comparison would be the moral law. If each person relied on his own opinion to determine what was right or wrong, we would have nothing more than moral relativism, and each person could rightly assert his own set of standards. However, since God has clearly defined moral absolutes for us (in addition to those we can know by reason from the natural law), we can assess any given action and determine how morally good or bad it is. This would be impossible without moral absolutes.
Of course any given denomination within Protestantism would probably maintain that its particular interpretations are the correct ones – at least in practice, if not formally. If it did not, its adherents would be changing denominations! However, if any given denomination claims that its interpretations are correct above those of the other denominations, it has effectively set itself up as a final authority. The problem here is that such an act violates Sola Scriptura, setting up an authority outside Scripture.
On the other hand, if any given denomination would grant that it’s interpretations are no more correct than those of other denominations, then we are back to the original dilemma of never knowing which interpretation is correct and thus never having the definitive truth. But Our Lord said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." (John 14:6). The predicament here is that each and every denomination within Protestantism makes the same claim – either effectively or formally – regarding its interpretations being "correct." What we are left with are thousands of different denominations, each claiming to have the Scriptural "truth," yet none of which is capable of providing an objective determination regarding that "truth." The result is an inability to obtain a definitive, authoritative and final interpretation of any given Scripture passage. In other words, the Protestant can never say that "the buck stops here" with regard to an y given interpretation for any given passage of the Bible.
20. The Protestant Bible Is Missing 7 Entire Books
Much to their chagrin, Protestants are actually guilty of violating their own doctrine. The doctrine of Sola Scriptura prohibits anyone from adding to or deleting from the Bible, but Protestants have, in fact, deleted seven entire books from the Old Testament, as well as portions of two others. The books in question, which are wrongly termed "the Apocrypha" ("not authentic") by Protestants, are called the "deuterocanonical" ("second canon") books by Catholics: they are Tobias (Tobit), Judith, 1 and 2 Machabees, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus (or Sirach), and Baruch. Portions of Daniel and Esther are also missing.
In defense of their deficient Old Testament canon, Protestants invariably present one or more of the following arguments:
1) the shorter, Pharisaic (or Palestinian) canon (39) of the Old Testament was accepted by Christ and His Apostles, as they never quoted from the deuterocanonical books;
2) the Old Testament was closed by the time of Christ, and it was the shorter canon;
3) the Jews themselves accepted the shorter, Pharisaic canon at the Council of Jamnia (or Javneh) in 90 A.D.; and
4) the deuterocanonical books contain unscriptural material.
Each of these arguments is wholly flawed.
1) Regarding the claim that Christ and His Apostles accepted the shorter, Pharisaic canon, an examination of the New Testament’s quotation of the Old Testament will demonstrate its fallacy. The New Testament quotes the Old Testament about 350 times, and in approximately 300 of those instances (86%), the quotation is taken from the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament in widespread use at the time of Christ. The Septuagint contained the dueterocanonical books. It is therefore unreasonable and presumptuous to say that Christ and His Apostles accepted the shorter Old Testament canon, as the clear majority of the time they used an Old Testament version which did contain the seven books in question.
Or, take the case of Saint Paul, whose missionary journeys and letters were directed to Hellenistic regions outside of Palestine. It has been noted, for example, that his sermon at Antioch in Pisidia "presupposed a thorough acquaintance among his hearers with the Septuagint" and that once a Christian community had been founded, the content of his letters to its members "breathed the Septuagint." (40) Obviously, Saint Paul was supporting the longer canon of the Old Testament by his routine appeal to the Septuagint.
Moreover, it is erroneous to say either that the deutero-canonical books were never quoted by Christ (41) and His apostles or that such citation is a prerequisite for a book’s inclusion in the Biblical canon. According to one list, the deutero-canonical books are cited or alluded to in the New Testament not less than 150 times! (42) In addition, there are Old Testament books, such as Ecclesiastes, Esther and Abdias (Obadiah), which are not quoted by Christ or the Apostles, but which are nonetheless included in the Old Testament canon (both Catholic and Protestant). Obviously, then, citation by Christ or the Apostles does not singlehandedly determine canonicity.
2) Regarding the claim that Christ and the Apostles worked with a closed Old Testament canon – which Protestants maintain was the shorter canon – the historical evidence undermines the allegation. First, there was no entity known as the Palestinian canon, for there were actually three cnaons in use in Palestine at that time, (43) in addition to the Septuagint canon. And second, the evidence demonstrates that "Judaism in the last two centuries B.C. and in the first century A.D. was by no means uniform in its understanding of which of its writings were considered sacred. There were many views both inside and outside of Israel in the first centuries B.C. and A.D. on which writings were deemed sacred." (44)
3) Using the Council of Jamnia in support of a shorter canon is manifestly problematic for the following reasons:
a) The decisions of a Jewish council which was held more than 50 years after the Resurrection of Christ are in no way binding on the Christian community, just as the ritual laws of Judaism (e.g., the prohibition against eating pork) are not binding on Christians.
b) It is questionable whether or not the council made final decisions about the Old Testament canon of Scripture, since "the list of books acknowledged to ‘defile the hands’ continued to vary within Judaism itself up through the 4th century A.D." (45) c) The council was, to some extent, a polemic directed specifically against the "sect" of Christianity, and its tone, therefore, was inherently opposed to Christianity. These Jews most likely accepted the shorter Pharisaic canon precisely because the early Christians accepted the longer Septuagint canon.
d) The decisions of this council represented the judgment of just one branch of Pharisaic Judaism within Palestine and not of Judaism as a whole.
4) Lastly, for Protestants to aver that the duetero-canonical books contain unscriptural material is decidedly a case of unwarranted dogmatism. This conclusion was reached simply because the so-called Reformers, who were clearly antagonistic toward the Catholic Church, approached the Bible with an a priori notion that it teaches "Reformed" (Protestant) doctrine. They discarded the deutero-canonical books because in certain instances these books contain decidedly Catholic doctrine, as in the case of 2 Machabees 12:42-46, which clearly supports the doctrine of prayers for the dead and hence of Purgatory: "It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins." (2 Mach. 12:46). Luther, in fact, wanted to discard also the New Testament books of Revelation and James, the latter of which he termed an "epistle of straw" and which he felt had "nothing evangelical about it" (46) – no doubt because it clearly states that we are saved by faith and works (cf. James 2:14-26), in contrast to Luther’s erroneous "faith alone" doctrine. Luther was ultimately persuaded by his friends to retain these books.
In addition to the above is the fact of historical testimony and continuity regarding the canon of the Bible. While we have seen that there were disputes regarding the Biblical canon, two considerations are nonetheless true:
1) the deuterocanonical books were certainly used by Christians from the 1st century onward, beginning with Our Lord and His disciples, and;
2) once the issue of the canon was settled in the 4th century, we see no change in Christian practice regarding the canon from that point onward. In practice, the only challenge to and disregard of these two realities occurs when the so-called Reformers arrive on the scene in the 16th century and decide that they can simply trash an 11-centuries-long continuity regarding the canon’s formal existence and a nearly 15-centuries-long continuity regarding its practical existence.
The fact that any individual would come along and single-handedly alter such a continuity regarding so central an issue as which books comprise the Bible should give the sincere follower of Christ serious pause. Such a follower is compelled to ask, "By whose authority does this individual make such a major change?" Both history and Luther’s own writings show that Luther’s actions were based on nothing but his own personal say-so. Surely such an "authority" falls grossly short of that which is needed for the canonical change he espoused, especially considering that he process of identifying the Bible’s canon was guided by the Holy Spirit, took centuries, and involved some of the greatest minds in Christianity as well as several Church Councils. More disturbing still is the fact that the other so-called Reformers – and Protestants ever since – have followed suit by accepting Luther’s changed canon, yet all the while they claim to honor the Bible and insist that nothing can be added to or deleted from it.
21. The Doctrine of Sola Scriptura Had its Source in Luther’s Own Emotional Problems.
If anything at all can be said with certainty about Martin Luther, it is that he was deeply and chronically troubled by a combination of doubts and despair about his salvation and a sense of utter impotence in the face of temptation and sin. Luther himself notes, "My spirit was completely broken and I was always in a state of melancholy; for, do what I would, my ‘righteousness’ and my ‘good works’ brought me no help or consolation." (47)
In light of this reality, one must assess Luther’s psychological and emotional frame of mind in terms of their impact on the origins of his Sola Scriptura doctrine. Even a cursory examination will demonstrate that this doctrine was born out of Luther’s need to be free from the guilt feelings, despair and temptation which "tortured" him.
Considering that Luther himself admits to an obsessive concern with his own sinfulness, as well as an inability to resist temptation, it seems reasonable to conclude that he suffered from scrupulosity, and even Lutheran scholars will admit to this. (48)
Scrupulosity means that a person is overly anxious about having committed sins when there is no real basis for such anxiety, and a scrupulous person is one who often exaggerates the severity of his perceived sinfulness, with a corresponding lack of trust in God. It is also relevant to note that scrupulosity "often seems to be based on some psychological dysfunction in the person." (49)
In other words, Luther probably never had a moment of emotional or psychological peace, since the voice of "conscience" always pricked him about some matter, real or imagined. It would be quite natural for someone so plagued to seek refuge from that voice, and for Luther that refuge was found in the doctrine of Sola Fide, or salvation by "faith alone."
But since the avoidance of sin as well as the performance of good works are necessary components for our salvation, and since these facts were steadfastly taught and defended by the Catholic Church, Luther found himself diametrically opposed to the teaching authority of the Church. Because the Church asserted the necessity of doing exactly what he felt incapable of doing, Luther made a drastic decision – one which "solved" his scrupulosity problem: he rejected the teaching authority of the Church, embodied in the Magisterium with the Pope at its head, and claimed that such was contrary to the Bible. In other words, by claiming Sola Scriptura to be true Christian doctrine, Luther dismissed that authority which compelled him to recognize that his own spirituality was dysfunctional.
Summary
For all these reasons, then, it is evident that the Protestant doctrine of Sola Scriptura is an utterly unbiblical, man-made, erroneous belief which must be wholly rejected. Those who are genuine Christian believers and who have a commitment to the truths that Jesus Christ taught – even if those contradict one’s current religious system – should be compelled by the evidence to see the inherent flaws in this doctrine, flaws which are clearly obvious from Scripture, logic and history.
The fullness of religious truth, unmixed with error, is found only in the Catholic Church, the very Church which Jesus Christ Himself established. According to the teaching of this Church, founded by Christ, Sola Scriptura is a distorted, truncated view of Christian authority. Rather, the true rule of faith for the followers of Christ is this:
Quote:The immediate or direct rule of faith is the teaching of the Church; the Church in turn takes her teaching from Divine Revelation – both the written Word, called Sacred Scripture, and the oral or unwritten Word, known as "Tradition," which together form the remote or indirect rule of faith.
Scripture and Tradition are the inspired sources of Christian doctrine, while the Church – a historical and visible entity dating back to St. Peter and the Apostles in an uninterrupted succession – is the infallible teacher and interpreter of Christian doctrine. It is only by accepting this complete Christian rule of faith that followers of Christ know they are adhering to all the things that He commanded His Apostles to teach (cf. Matt. 28:20). It is only by accepting this complete Christian rule of faith that the followers of Christ are assured of possessing the whole truth which Christ taught, and nothing but that truth.
Footnotes
Note: Among the references are a few Protestant authors; their works are not cited as "recommended reading," but they show that the points made in the present work are valid even by Protestant standards.
1. The Protestant Reformation was not a reform in the true sense of the word, but rather it was a revolution – an upheaval of the legitimate, established religious and civil order of the day.
2. W. E. Vine [Protestant Author], Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (McLean, VA: MacDonald Publishing House, n.d.), p. 387. Cf. St. Alphonsus Liguori, An Exposition and Defense of all the Points of Faith Discussed and Defined by the Sacred Council of Trent; along with a Refutation of the Errors of the Pretended Reformers, etc. (Dublin: James Duffy, 1846), p. 50.
3. While all the books of the New Testament are considered to have been written by the time St. John finished The Apocalypse (Revelation), they were not formally identified as "the Bible" until much later on.
4. The word translated as "ordinances" is also translated "teachings" or "traditions"; for example, the New International Version gives "teachings," with a footnote: "Or traditions."
5. Vine, op. Cit., p. 564.
6. One example of this interpretive memory involves Revelation 12. The Early Church Fathers understood the "woman clothed with the sun" to be a reference to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. For someone to assert that this doctrine did not exist until 1950 (the year Pope Pius XII formally defined the doctrine) represents ignorance of ecclesial history. Essentially, the belief was held from the beginning, but it was not formally defined until the 20th century. Bear in mind that the Church often did not have a need to define a doctrine formally until it was formally challenged by someone (usually a heretic). Such occasions gave rise to the need officially to define the "parameters" of the doctrine in question.
7. Catholic teaching states that "the body of bishops," successors of the Apostles, also teach infallibly when they, in union with the Pope, "exercise the supreme Magisterium," above all in an Ecumenical Council." (Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, #891). Also, "binding and loosing" is Rabbinical terminology, and it refers to the power to pronounce authoritative interpretations and teachings. Christ clearly intended, then, for His Apostles, under the leadership of Saint Peter (for Saint Peter alone received the power of the keys), to possess the authority to render these authoritative interpretations and teachings.
8. The assertion by Protestants that the Bible is its own interpreter is nothing more than an exercise in futility. They claim that a person can correctly interpret any given Scripture by comparing it with what the rest of the Bible teaches. The problem with this line of reasoning can be readily demonstrated. Ask ten people to give their respective interpretations of a given Scripture passage, and you could get as many as ten different explanations. If the Bible were able to interpret itself, as Protestants claim, why do you not always obtain ten identical interpretations, even if you allow these people an ample amount of time to conduct study and research? And if this diversity of interpretation is true for a mere ten people, image the results, when you multiply that number by one hundred, or one thousand, or one million. History has already seen such a result, and its name is Protestantism.
9. There are some Biblical scholars who maintain that 2 Peter was actually the last New Testament book written, dating it sometime in the earlier part of the 2nd century. Since there is not a consensus among scholars that this date is accurate, it is sufficient for our purposes here to accept the generally held view that all of the New testament books were complete with the composition of Revelation.
10. See, for instance: Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 3; Tertullian’s Prescription against Heretics, Chapter 32; and Origen’s First Principles, Book 1, Preface.
11. See, for instance: Ignatius’ Letter to the Smyrnaeans, Chapters 8-9; Ignatius’ Letter to the Philadelphians, Introduction and Chapters 1-4; and Ignatius’ Letter to the Magnesians, Chapter 7.
12. See, for instance: 1 Clement, Chapters 2, 56, 58, 59; Ignatius’ Letter to the Romans, introduction and Chapter 3; Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 3, no. 2; Tertullian’s Prescriptions against Heretics, Chapter 22; and Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, Book 5, Chapter 24, no. 9.
13. See Msgr. Patrick F. O’Hare, LL.D., The Facts about Martin Luther (Cincinnati: Pustet, 1916; Rockrord, IL: TAN, 1987), pp. 215-255.
14. Walch, XIII, 2195, as quoted in The Facts About Luther (Cincinnati: Pustet, 1916; Rockford, IL: TAN, 1987), pp. 215-255.
15. Bear in mind that the decrees of an Ecumenical Council had no binding force unless they were ratified by the Pope.
16. Two favorite verses for Arians of all ages to cite in support of their beliefs are Proverbs 8:22 and John 14:28.
17. See John Henry Newman, The Arians of the Fourth Century.
18. Henry G. Graham, Where We Got the Bible: Our Debt to the Catholic Church (St. Louis: B. Herder, 1911; Rockford, IL: TAN, 1977, 17th printing), pp. 34-35.
19. This list is the same as the list given in the Church’s final, definitive, explicit, infallible declaration as to which books are to be included in the Bible, which was made by the Council of Trent, Session IV, in 1546. Earlier lists of canonical books were the list in the "Decretal of Gelasius," which was issued by authority of Pope Damasus in 382, and the canon of Pope Saint Innocent I, which was sent to a Frankish bishop in 405. Neither document was intended to b an infallible statement binding the whole Church, but both documents include the same 73 books as the list of Trent some 11 centuries later. (The Catholic Encyclopedia [New York: The Encyclopedia Press, 1913], Vol. 3, p. 272).
20. The reader must note that the Catholic Church does not claim that by identifying the books of the Bible it rendered them canonical. God alone is the author of canonicity. The Catholic Church instead claims that it and it alone has the authority and responsibility of infallibly pointing out which books comprise the Biblical canon already authored by God.
21. Commentary on John, chapter 16, as cited in Paul Stenhouse’s Catholic Answers to "Bible" Christians (Kensington: Chevalier Press, 1993), p. 31.
22. Graham, op. cit., p. 31.
23. The earliest copies of the Bible, Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, both date from the 4th century A.D., and neither one contains the entire Bible, as parts of the manuscripts have been lost or destroyed. The vast majority of the manuscripts that exist are only portions of the Bible.
24. The irony here is that it was due to the tireless efforts of Catholic monks working laboriously in their monasteries that the written Word of God survived down through the centuries. The claim that the Catholic Church did everything in its power to suppress the Bible is a most pernicious falsehood, and it can readily be refuted by even the most cursory examination of and research into Church history. Quite the contrary, the Catholic Church, in its unique role as guardian of the Deposit of Faith, protected the Bible’s integrity from spurious and faulty translations, and it was these spurious and faulty copies of the Bible which it burned or destroyed to prevent false gospels from being circulated.
25. Raymond F. Collins, Introduction to the New Testament (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1983), p. 77.
26. Ibid., pp. 100-102.
27. Bruce M. Metzger (Protestant author), The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration (Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 221-225, 234-242.
28. It has been maintained by Protestants that in all the variations in Biblical manuscripts, not one touches upon a major doctrine. Even though this assertion is untrue, it does not alter the fact that the Protestant is here admitting, at least obliquely, that it is permissible to accept something which is less than or different from the "real" Bible. And if this is true, then the Protestant himself has begun to undermine Sola Scriptura.
29. Metzger, op. cit., pp. 226-228.
30. Collins, op. cit., p. 102.
31. Metzger, op. cit., p. 234.
32. Of the numerous examples which could be cited, space considerations confine us to just a few to illustrate the point. In John 1:1, the NWT reads, "... and the Word was a god" rather than "and the Word was God," because Witnesses deny the divinity of Jesus Christ. In Colossians 1:15-20, the NWT inserts the word "other" into the text four times because Witnesses believe that Jesus Christ Himself was created. In Matthew 26:26 the NWT reads "... this means my body..." instead of "This is my body," because Witnesses deny the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
33. Moreover, the old Latin Vulgate version of the Bible received a very particular approval by the Church at the Council of Trent among all the Latin editions of the Scriptures then in circulation. The Council of Trent declared: "Moreover, the same Holy Council [of Trent]... ordains and declares that the old Latin Vulgate Edition, which, in use for so many hundred years, has been approved by the Church, be in public lectures, disputations, sermons and expositions held as authentic, and that no one dare or presume under any pretext whatsoever to reject it." (Fourth Session, April 8, 1546). Hence, as Pope Pius XII stated in his 1943 encyclical letter Divino Afflante Spiritu ("On the Promotion of Biblical Studies"), the Vulgate, "when interpreted in the sense in which the Church has always understood it," is "free from any error whatsoever in matters of faith and morals."
In 1907 Pope Saint Pius X (1903-1914) initiated a revision of the Vulgate to achieve even greater textual accuracy. After his death, this huge project was carried on by others. In 1979 Pope John Paul II promulgated a "New Vulgate" as "Editio typica" or "normative edition.
34. It should be noted that the inventor of the printing press – Johannes Gutenberg – was Catholic, and that the first book he printed was the Bible (circa 1455). It should also be noted that the first printed Bible contained 73 books, the exact same number as today’s Catholic Bible. Protestants deleted 7 books from the Old Testament after the Bible had already begun being printed.
35. By some estimates there are approximately 25,000 different Protestant denominations and sects. In the approximately 500 years since Protestantism’s origin with Martin Luther (usually dated at 1517), this number translates into an average of one new Protestant denomination or sect every week! Even if you take a conservative estimate of 10,000 denominations and sects, you still have a new one developing every 2 ½ weeks.
36. Even the original "Reformers" – Martin Luther, John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli – did not agree on doctrinal matters and labeled each other’s teachings heretical.
37. The quantity of three is used here for illustrative purposes only. The actual historical quantities (i.e., the number of variant interpretations for various passages) are far larger.
38. It is not denied here that a given passage from Scripture can have different levels of interpretation or that it may have different levels of meaning in terms of its application in the life of a believer. It is, however, denied here that a given passage can have more than one theological or doctrinal meaning in the face of opposing interpretations. For example, if two people assert, respectively, "X" and "not-X" for a given interpretation, they cannot both be correct. Take the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist, for instance. If the first person says that the bread and wine at Mass actually become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and the second person says that they do not, it is impossible for both views to be objectively true.
39. The Pharisaic canon, which was used by Jews in Palestine, did not contain the deuterocanonical books. The Septuagint or Alexandrian canon, which was used largely by Jews living in the Dispersion (i.e., Hellenistic regions outside of Palestine), did contain the deuterocanonical books.
40. W. H. C. Frend [Protestant author], The Rise of Christianity (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1984), pp. 99-100.
41. For some examples, compare the following passages: Matt. 6:14-15 with Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 28:2; Matt. 6:7 with Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 7:15(14); Matt. 7:12 with Tobit (Tobias) 4:16(15); Luke 12:18-20 with Sirach 11:19 (Ecclus. 11:19-20); Acts 10:34 with Ecclus. 35:15 (Sirach 35:12); Acts 10:26 with Wisdom 7:1; and Matt. 8:11 with Baruch 4:37.
42. Lee Martin McDonald [Protestant author], The Formation of the Christian Biblical Canon, Appendix A (Nashville, TN: The Parthenon Press, 1988). (Listing entitled "New Testament Citations and Allusions to Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphal Writings," adapted from The Text of the New Testament, by Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, two well-known Biblical scholars.)
43. They include a) the Qumran canon, which we know of from the Dead Sea Scrolls, b) the Pharisaic canon, and c) the Sadducees/Samaritan canon, which included only the Torah (the first books of the Old Testament).
44. McDonald, op. cit. p. 53.
45. Ibid, p. 60.
46. Hartmann Grisar, S.J., Martin Luther: His Life and Work (B. Herder, 1930; Westminster, MD: The Newman Press, 1961), p. 426.
47. Jansen, Vol. III, p. 84, as quoted in O’Hare, op. cit., p. 51.
48. Cf. Fr. William Most, "Are We Saved by Faith Alone?", cassette tape from Catholic Answers, P.O. Box 17490, San Diego, CA 92177.
49. Father Peter Stravinskas, ed., Catholic Encyclopedia (Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 1991), p 873.
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| Vatican: OK to Get Virus Vaccines Using Abortion Cell Lines |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-22-2020, 08:01 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Spiritual]
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Looks like the SSPX and the modernist Rome are in lock-step here:
Vatican: OK to Get Virus Vaccines Using Abortion Cell Lines
The Vatican has declared it “morally acceptable” for Roman Catholics to receive COVID-19 vaccines based on research that used fetal tissue from abortions.
Associated Press | Dec. 21, 2020
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican on Monday declared that it is “morally acceptable” for Roman Catholics to receive COVID-19 vaccines based on research that used cells derived from aborted fetuses, guidance that came after some churchmen in the United States argued that such products were immoral.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's watchdog office for doctrinal orthodoxy, said it had received several requests for “guidance” during recent months. The doctrinal office pointed out that bishops, Catholic groups and experts have offered “diverse and sometimes conflicting pronouncements” on the matter.
Drawing on Vatican pronouncements in past years about developing vaccines prepared from cells derived from aborted fetuses, the watchdog office's statement was examined by Pope Francis, who ordered it to be made public.
The Catholic Church’s teaching says that abortion is a grave sin.
The Vatican concluded that “it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses" in the research and production process when “ethically irreproachable” vaccines aren’t available to the public.” But it stressed that the “licit” uses of such vaccines “does not and should not in any way imply that there is a moral endorsement of the use of cell lines proceeding from aborted fetuses."
The Vatican didn't name any of the COVID-19 vaccines already being given to people in some countries or authorized to be used soon.
In its statement, the Vatican explained that obtaining vaccines that do not pose an ethical dilemma is not always possible. It cited circumstances in countries “where vaccines without ethical problems are not made available to physicians and patients” or where special storage or transport conditions make their distribution more difficult.
Much of the Vatican's pronouncement had echoes in a statement last week by officials of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The U.S. conference officials said that “in view of the gravity of the current pandemic and the lack of availability of alternative vaccines,” receiving the vaccines being distributed in the United States is justified “despite their remote connection to morally compromised cell lines.”
Getting vaccinated against the coronavirus “ought to be understood as an act of charity toward the other members of our community," the U.S. bishops conference officials said.
Weeks earlier, two U.S. bishops, one in Texas and one in California, had denounced vaccines using cell lines from the tissue of aborted fetuses as immorally produced. One of the bishops said he refused to receive such a vaccine and encouraged rank-and-file Catholics to follow his lead.
The Vatican, in reassuring faithful Catholics that getting a COVID-19 vaccine would not violate the church’s moral teaching, noted that “health authorities do not allow citizens to choose the vaccine with which to be inoculated." Given such circumstances, it is morally acceptable to receive vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses, the Vatican said.
The Vatican said the COVID-19 vaccines that are getting rolled out or are expected to be soon used cell lines “drawn from tissue obtained from two abortions that occurred in the last century.”
The Vatican hasn’t said if and when Francis would be vaccinated against the coronavirus. The 84-year-old pontiff has a pilgrimage to Iraq planned for early March, and it's widely expected that he and the aides accompanying him would get vaccinated ahead of travel abroad.
The Roman Catholic church's doctrinal orthodoxy office said “vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation” and must be voluntary. Still, it said, from an ethical point of view, “the morality of vaccination depends not only on the duty to protect one's own health but also on the duty to pursue the common good.”
Those for reasons of conscience opting not to receive vaccinations produced by cell lines from aborted fetuses, “must do their utmost to avoid,” by appropriate behavior and preventive means, becoming “vehicles” for transmission, the congregation said.
In any case, there is also a “moral imperative” for the pharmaceutical industry, governments and international organizations to ensure that safe, effective and “ethically acceptable” vaccines are accessible to the poorest countries and not too costly for them, the Vatican's doctrinal office said.
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| 13 people died during Moderna’s COVID vaccine trial |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-22-2020, 07:55 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
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13 people died during Moderna’s COVID vaccine trial
The evidence presented listed 13 deaths in the trials, with 6 deaths being people who had taken the vaccine, and 7 those who had received the placebo.
WASHINGTON, D.C, December 21, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Official documents from the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) record that 13 people died during trials of the Moderna vaccine, while the FDA has also issued a new warning regarding Bell’s Palsy as a potential effect of the vaccine.
A sponsor briefing document prepared for the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) recorded the various outcomes on participants in the Moderna vaccine trial, listing the effects of those who had received the vaccine and those who had taken the placebo.
The evidence presented listed 13 deaths in the trials, with 6 deaths being people who had taken the vaccine, and 7 those who had received the placebo. Results were correct up until December 3.
An FDA briefing presentation provided a breakdown of those who died. Of those in the vaccine group who had died, one was a 78-year-old who suffered “cardiac arrest 21 days after dose 1”; a 77-year-old died of “[m]yocardial infarction 45 days after dose 2.” Two participants were found dead at home, and their deaths are declared to be of “uncertain” cause: a 70-year-old was found dead at home “57 days after dose 2,” and a 56-year-old was found likewise “37 days after dose 1.” However, the FDA document continues by saying that for the 56-year-old person, head trauma was given as the official cause of death.
Two more participants died from the vaccine recipient group, a 72-year-old having “multiorgan failure” 59 days after the second dose, while the last committed suicide “21 days” after the first dose. The person who had multi-organ failure was “hospitalized for thrombocytopenia and acute kidney failure due to obstructive nephrolithiasis” prior to developing “complications” that resulted in organ failure.
Out of the 7 participants who took the placebo, three died from “myocardial infarction,” one from “intra-abdominal perforation,” and another from “systemic inflammatory response syndrome in the setting of known malignancy.” Another died from “COVID-19,” and the cause of death for the last person was not known.
Moderna does not connect any of the 13 deaths to either the vaccine or the placebo, saying instead that “[t]hese deaths represent events and rates that occur in the general population of individuals in these age groups.”
The document comes in addition to the news of a Ukranian Greek Catholic priest who died suddenly in his home after previously being a volunteer in the testing of Moderna’s vaccine. Fr. John Fields apparently suffered a heart attack just under two months after his second jab, although it is still unclear if the 70-year-old’s death is related to the vaccine.
ActivistPost.com showed an image of a version of the FDA briefing document, which contained interesting information not found in current versions. The old version of the document stated that during “data cleaning,” one participant who received the vaccine was updated from “death” to “SAE” or severe adverse event. In contrast, a participant who received the placebo was updated from “SAE” to “death” on his record. ActivistPost also referenced an as yet unpublished document by Dr. James Lyons-Weiler, president and CEO of The Institute for Pure and Applied Knowledge (IPAK), who has analyzed the FDA Moderna document, finding worrying and false evidence in the text.
Despite the 13 deaths in the trial, the FDA gave emergency use authorization (EUA) to the Moderna vaccine on December 19, after the VRBPAC voted 18-0 in recommending the vaccine.
An FDA press statement on the issuing of the EUA read: “Through the FDA’s open and transparent scientific review process, two COVID-19 vaccines have been authorized in an expedited timeframe while adhering to the rigorous standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality needed to support emergency use authorization that the American people have come to expect from the FDA.”
However, the FDA previously released its own warning for any potential COVID-19 vaccine, including strokes, encephalitis, auto-immune disease, birth defects, and Kawasaki disease among the potential side-effects to be monitored. First on the list of 22 possible conditions is “Guillain-Barré syndrome,” described as “a rare disorder in which your body's immune system attacks your nerves.” The syndrome has “no known cure,” and its mortality rate is “4% to 7%.”
“There may be limited information available at licensure on level and duration of effectiveness,” the text reads. This might prompt manufacturers to “conduct certain COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness post-licensure studies.”
Since then, the FDA has also issued a staff report, warning of “facial paralysis,” or Bell’s Palsy, as a possible condition to be looked for in those who take the Moderna vaccine. Four out of the 30,000 original participants in the trial developed the condition, with 3 in the vaccine group and 1 in the placebo group.
The report notes a “small imbalance” in participants reporting Bell’s Palsy, adding that one lady in the vaccine group had to be hospitalized “for stroke due to new facial paralysis 32 days after vaccination.” Two other cases of the condition in the vaccine group reported the effects 28 days and 22 days after vaccination.
“[C]onsidering the temporal association and biological plausibility, a potential contribution of the vaccine to the manifestations of these events of facial palsy cannot be ruled out,” the FDA writes.
It is worth noting that in trials for the Pfizer vaccination, 4 out of the 43,000 participants developed Bell’s Palsy, all of whom had received the vaccine.
Dr. Paul Offi, a member of the VRBPAC, spoke to CNBC about the importance of monitoring the condition, saying, “I’m not dismissing that yet.” CNBC mentioned how five cases of Kawasaki disease found in the vaccine recipients of Merck’s rotavirus vaccine were “statistically significant,” resulting in the company having to alter its label to mention the disease.
[Emphasis mine.]
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| Those who fight the crisis in the Church are like Herod |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-22-2020, 07:46 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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It is because the novelties which have invaded the Church since the Council diminish the adoration and the honor due to Our Lord, and implicitly throw doubt upon His divinity, that we refuse them. These novelties do not come from the Holy Ghost, nor from His Church, but from those who are imbued with the spirit of Modernism, and with all the errors which convey this spirit, condemned with so much courage and energy by St. Pius X. This holy Pope said to the bishops of France with regard to the Sillon movement: “The true friends of the people are neither revolutionaries nor innovators, but the men of tradition.”
+ + +
Those who fight the crisis in the Church are like Herod: Pope Francis
Those who resist the novelties of the crisis in the Church are condemned to be 'alone' and 'sterile', he said
VATICAN CITY, December 21, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis has renewed his attack on members of Vatican bureaucracy who object to the theological novelties being forced on the Church. Some of the novelties arising in the crisis, he said, come from the Holy Spirit.
In his annual Christmas greeting to the Curia, the 84-year-old Argentinian pontiff said today that the crisis in the Church “is a necessary moment.” Crises should not be confused with conflicts, he stated.
“Crisis generally has a positive outcome, whereas conflict always creates discord and competition, an apparently irreconcilable antagonism that separates others into friends to love and enemies to fight. In such a situation, only one side can win,” Pope Francis said. (Official English translation here.)
The pontiff said that “conflict” seeks to divide people into the “guilty” and the “righteous,” leading to a loss of the sense of “common belonging”, the growth of “certain elitist attitudes” and “‘cliques’ that permit narrow and partial mindsets, which weaken the universality of our mission.”
Pope Francis emphasized that crisis is normal, whereas conflict is bad.
“When the Church is viewed in terms of conflict—right versus left, progressive versus traditional—she becomes fragmented and polarized, distorting and betraying her real true nature. She is […] a body perennially in crisis, precisely because [the body] is alive. She must never become a body in conflict, with victors and vanquished,” he said.
“For in this way she would spread apprehension, become more rigid and less synodal, and impose a uniformity far removed from the riches and plurality that the Spirit has bestowed to His Church.”
The pontiff then stated that the Holy Spirit is introducing “novelties” (or, in the official translation, “newness”) through the crisis in the Church. He seemed to suggest that new teachings were being germinated from the death of the old.
“The newness born of crisis and willed by the Spirit is never a newness opposed to the old, but one that springs from the old and makes it continually fruitful,” he said.
“Jesus explains this process in a simple and clear image: Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit' (Jn 12:24),” he continued. [N.B. In this passage Jesus was describing, not His teachings, but His death.]
Pope Francis added: “The dying of a seed is ambivalent: it is both an end and the beginning of something new. It can be called both ‘death and decay’ and ‘birth and blossoming,’ for the two are one. We see an end, while at the same time, in that end a new beginning is taking shape.”
It follows, for Pope Francis, that those who resist the novelties of the crisis in the Church are condemned to be “alone” and “sterile.”
“By shielding ourselves from crisis, we hinder the work of God’s grace, which would manifest itself in us and through us,” he said.
The pontiff stated that the Vatican bureaucracy should not be frightened by “realism” that sees them as the sum of their failures and sins, nor deny that there is much in them and their communities in need of “conversion.” However, by using ambiguous language, he seemed to confuse real evil with an adherence to traditional doctrine.
“Everything evil, wrong, weak and unhealthy that comes to light serves as a forceful reminder of our need to die to a way of living, thinking and acting that does not reflect the Gospel,” Pope Francis said, and then continued: “Only by dying to a certain mentality will we be able to make room for the newness that the Spirit constantly awakens in the heart of the Church.
“The Fathers of the Church were well aware of this, and they called it 'metanoia’.”
Lactantius, an advisor to Emperor Constantine, defined metanoia as “a return to right understanding” or conversion in a work he wrote in the early 4thcentury.
The metanoia Pope Francis called for includes a radical reformation of the Catholic Church, which he said, cannot be like sewing a patch on an old garment. He envisions a whole new dress for the Church, and suggests that Jesus’s remarks about sewing old cloth on a new, or filling old wineskins with new wines applies to His Church in 2020.
“In times of crisis, Jesus warns us against certain attempts to emerge from it that are doomed from the start,” Francis said.
“If someone ‘tears a piece from a new garment to put it upon an old garment’; the result is predictable: he will tear the new, because ‘the piece from the new will not match the old’. Similarly, ‘no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. New wine must be put into new wineskins (Lk. 5:36-38)’.”
Pope Francis also applied a parable from the Gospel of Matthew to his plans to give the Bride of Christ a thorough makeover, saying that the “correct behaviour” is like the “scribe trained for the kingdom of God who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old (Matt. 13:52).” [...]
Pope Francis also spoke of the need of being guided “by the Holy Spirit” to “daily draw closer to ‘all the truth’ Jesus promised in the Gospel of John (16:13). He intimated that his view of “synodality” involves “communion with the presence of the Spirit,” not a “democratic assembly of majorities and minorities.”
In the concluding section of his speech, Pope Francis encouraged the members of the Curia to stop “living in conflict” and to feel that they are “journeying together, open to crisis.”
“A crisis is itself movement, a part of our journey. Conflict, on the other hand, is a false trail leading us astray, aimless, directionless and trapped in a labyrinth; it is a waste of energy and an occasion for evil,” he said.
As usual, he decried “gossip”, which he said traps Curial officials in “an unpleasant, sad and stifling state of self-absorption” and “turns crisis into conflict.” Here he compared the shepherds, who heard the “angel’s message” and went to visit Jesus, to King Herod, who heard the Magi’s story and turned to “deceit and violence.”
In the context of his condemnation about gossip, the pontiff seemed to ask those who have reservations about powerful people in the Curia to keep their opinions to themselves.
“Each of us, no matter what our place in the Church, should ask whether we want to follow Jesus with the docility of the shepherds or with the defensiveness of Herod, to follow him amid crisis or to keep Him at bay in conflict,” he said.
Pope Francis also seemed to reflect on his own reputation in the Church when he spoke of the poor and quoted the Brazilian liberation theologian Archbishop Halder Camera, saying: “When I am concerned for the poor, they call me a saint; but when I keep asking why such great poverty exists, they call me a communist.”
Pope Francis has been the subject of frequent criticism in the past two years for the Vatican’s secret accord with the communist government of the People’s Republic of China, and his silence in the face of abuse by the Chinese communists of Christians and other religious minorities in China.
However, the pontiff once again underscored that nobody should speak up against such novelties, saying “Let no one wilfully hinder the work that the Lord is accomplishing at this moment, and let us ask for the gift to serve in humility, so that He can increase and we decrease (cf.Jn 3:30).”
As an afterthought, he told members of the Curia that he was going to give them two books, one by Charles de la Foucauld (1858-1916) and another by a “disciple of Cardinal Martini.”
Cardinal Martini, who died in 2012, was a former Archbishop of Milan and a darling of liberal Catholics. In an interview he gave shortly before he died, he stated that the Church was “200 years out of date.”
“Our culture has aged, our churches are big and empty and the church bureaucracy rises up, our rituals and our cassocks are pompous,” Martini said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Citing the criminal abuse of children by priests to further his agenda, Martini said that “the Church must admit its mistakes and begin a radical change, starting from the pope and the bishops.”
“The pedophilia scandals oblige us to take a journey of transformation.”
Pope Francis’ annual Christmas greetings to the Curia has been the subject of mingled amusement and chagrin since 2014, when he first used the festive event as a platform to berate the assembled Vatican bureaucrats for their sins.
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