The Beginning — God Becomes Man.19
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The Beginning — God Becomes Man The Angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the House of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And so on.
We may wonder what the evangelist's intention was when he made such specific mention of so many proper names. I think he wanted to be sure we would not give careless hearing to what he was going to narrate so carefully.
You notice that he mentions the messenger who was sent, the Lord by whom he was sent, the virgin to whom he was sent, and the virgin's fiance. He even mentions by name their race, the city they came from, and the district.
Why? Do you suppose that any of these details were set down without a good reason? Of course not! If no leaf can fall from a tree without cause, and not a single sparrow falls to the ground without the heavenly Father's knowledge, am
I to think that a superfluous word could fall from the lips of the holy evangelist — especially in recording the sacred history of the Word? I think not. All his words contain supernatural mysteries and are full of heavenly sweetness, if only they have a diligent reader (one who knows how to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the hardest stone).
Now in those days the mountains dripped with sweet wine
An Incamational Spirituality and the hills flowed with milk and honey. Then the heavens dropped dew from above and the clouds showered the Just
One, causing the earth to open out and, rejoicing, to blossom with the Savior. The Lord showed his kindness and our earth bore its fruit. On the mountain of mountains, the mountain rich and fat, mercy and truth met, justice and peace kissed. Then, too, the holy evangelist, himself one of the mountains — and by no means the least — made known to us in words flowing like honey the beginning of our salvation, so long desired. It was as if a gentle southerly wind were blowing, as if the Sun of righteousness were shining close by, causing sweet smelling spiritual spices to flow. Yes, and now may God send forth his Word and may it make them flow in us. If only his Spirit would inspire us that we might understand the gospel words. If only they could become for our hearts more desirable than gold, than the most precious stone, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.
The evangelist writes: "The angel Gabriel was sent by God." I do not think that Gabriel was one of the lesser angels, one of those ambassadors usually sent to earth to handle affairs. I deduce this from his name, which means
"God's fortitude."
"The angel Gabriel was sent by God." Where? "To a city of Galilee named Nazareth." Like Nathaniel, we might well wonder whether anything good can come from Nazareth.
Nazareth means flower. It seems to me that the heavenly promises, which were made to the patriarchs Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, were some sort of seed of divine knowledge cast down, so to speak, from heaven to earth. They are the seed of which it is written: "If the Lord God of hosts had not left us a seed, we should have been like Sodom and reduced like Gomorrah." This seed flowered first in the wonderful doings which were shown forth in symbols and in riddles as Israel came out of Egypt, all along the way
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through the desert to the Land of Promise, and afterward in the visions and foretellings of the prophets, in the setting up of the kingdom and the priesthood, even until Christ's coming. Not without reason do we understand Christ to be the fruit of the flowers sprung from this seed, for David says,
"The Lord will look with kindness upon the earth and it shall bear fruit." And again, "I will place the fruit of your womb upon your throne." It was at Nazareth, therefore, that Christ's birth was first announced, because in the flower lies the hope of fruit to come.
Into that particular city, then, the angel Gabriel was sent by God. To whom? "To a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph." Who is this virgin noble enough to be greeted by an angel and yet humble enough to be the fiance of a workman?
How gracious is this union of virginity and humility! A soul in whom humility embellishes virginity and virginity ennobles humility finds no little favor with God. Imagine then how much more worthy of reverence must she have been whose humility was raised by motherhood and whose virginity consecrated by her childbearing. You are told that she is a virgin. You are told that she is humble. If you are not able to imitate the virginity of this humble maid, then imitate the humility of the virgin maid. Virginity is a praiseworthy virtue, but humility is by far the more neces sary. The one is only counseled, the other is demanded. To the first you have been invited, to the second you are obliged. Concerning the first he said: "He who is able to receive this, let him receive it." Of the second it is said,
"Truly I say to you, unless you become like this little child, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." The first is rewarded, the second is required. You can be saved without virginity, without humility you cannot be. Humility which deplores the loss of virginity can still find favor. Yet I dare say that without humility not even Mary's virginity would
An Incarnational Spirituality have been acceptable. The Lord says, "Upon whom shall my Spirit rest, if not upon the one that is humble and contrite in spirit?" On the humble, he says, not on the virgin.
Had Mary not been humble, then the Holy Spirit would not have rested upon her. Had the Holy Spirit not rested upon her, Mary would not have become pregnant. How indeed could she have conceived by the Holy Spirit without the Holy Spirit? It seems evident then that she conceived by the Holy Spirit because, as she herself said, God "re garded the humility of his handmaiden" rather than her virginity. And even if it was because of her virginity that she found favor, she conceived nevertheless on account of her humility. Thus there is no doubt that her virginity was found pleasing because her humility made it so.
(.Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Maty 1: Iff) But in Mary there is something else still more admirable: her childbearing allied with her virginity. Never since the world began had it been known for any woman to be at once a mother and a virgin. If you just think whose mother she is, surely you must be astounded at such marvelous greatness. Who could ever admire this enough? To your way of thinking, or rather, not to yours but Truth's, should she not be exalted above all the choirs of angels, she who bore God the Son? Who else would dare, as Mary did, to call the Lord and God of angels her son, saying, "Son, why have you treated us so?" Would any angel dare this? They already consider it a great favor to be made and to be called angels by grace, when by nature they are no more than spirits, as David witnesses when he says, "He makes the spirits his angels." Yet the same majesty whom they served with awe and reverence Mary, knowing herself the mother, confidently called her son. Nor did God disdain to be called
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what he had deigned to become. As the evangelist tells us a bit later, "He was obedient to them." Who? God. To whom? To humans. God, I repeat, to whom the angels are subject, he whom the principalities and the powers obey, was obedient to Mary. And not only to Mary but to Joseph, too, for Mary's sake. Marvel then at these two things: the gracious kindness of the Son and the surpassing dignity of the mother. Choose which you consider more wonderful.
Just imagine! Double marvel! God does what a woman says — unheard-of humility. A woman outranks God — unpar alleled sublimity.
(.Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary 1:7) This is what the evangelist is telling us here when he states that an angel was sent by God to a virgin. He says by God to a virgin: from the highest to the humble, from the Maker to the handmaiden, from the Creator to the creature!
How kind God is! How matchless is the Virgin! Behold, God has sent down for the Virgin. Behold, Mary is being spoken for by the angel. Put your ear to the door, strain to listen to the tidings he brings. Maybe you will hear soothing words to comfort you.
(.Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Maiy 2:2) Let us now hear what the angel thinks about this child to whom even before conception he has given so great a name. The angel says, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High." Is he not great when there is no end of his greatness? And he says, "Who is great like our
God?" He is clearly great, he is as great as the Most High, for he is himself none other than the Most High. Nor, being the Son of the Most High, did he count it robbery to be
An Incamational Spirituality equal to the Most High. The one who must be thought to have premeditated robbery is he who having been called out of nothing into the form of an angel, likened himself to his
Maker and snatched at what belongs to the Son of the Most High, to him who in the form of God was not made by God but begotten. The Most High Father, although he is al mighty, could neither fashion a creature equal to himself nor beget a Son unequal to himself. He made the angel very great but not as great as himself and therefore not most high. That the only-begotten Son, whom he did not make but begot, the Almighty from the Almighty, the Most High from the Most High, co-eternal with the eternal, claimed to be compared to him in every way, he thought neither robbery nor effrontery. How rightly then will he be called great: He is the Son of the Most High.
But why does the angel say, "He will be," and not, "He is" great? His greatness, forever unvarying, is not subject to growth. He will not be greater after his conception than before. Is it possible the angel meant to say that he who is a great God will become a great man? In that case he was right to say, "He will be great." For he will be a great man, a great teacher, a great prophet. We do in fact read of him in the gospel, "A great prophet has risen up among us." In the past there were lesser prophets who foretold the coming of this great prophet: "Behold, a great prophet shall come and he shall restore Jerusalem." You, however, virgin maid, will give birth to a little child, you will feed a little child and suckle a little one. But as you gaze at this little one, think how great he is. He will indeed be great, for God will magnify him in the sight of kings, and all kings will come to adore him, all nations shall serve him. So let your soul magnify the Lord, for he will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. He will be great and he who is mighty will do great things in you. Holy is his name. What holier name could he have than to be called the Son of the Most
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High? May this great Lord be magnified by us little ones as well. That he might make us great, he was made a little child. "Unto us a child is bom," someone said, "for us a son is given." For us, I repeat, not for himself. He who was born of the Father before all ages was of more noble birth and had no need to be born in time from a mother. And he was not even born for the angels. They had him great among them and had no need of a little child. He was born for us, therefore, and given to us because we need him.
Now that he has been born and given to us, let us accomplish the purpose of this birth and this donation. He came for our good, let us use him to our good. Let us work out our salvation from the Savior. Look, a little child is put in our midst.
O little child, so desired by your children! You are indeed a little child but a child in evil-doing, not a child in wisdom.
Let us make every effort to become like this little child.
Because he is meek and humble of heart, let us learn from him, lest he who is great, even God, should have been made a little one for nothing, lest he should have died to no purpose and have been crucified in vain. Let us learn his humility, imitate his gentleness, embrace his love, share his suffering, be washed in his blood. Let us offer him the propitiation for our sins, because for this he was born and given to us. Let us offer him up in the sight of the Father, offer him too in his own sight, for the Father did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. And the Son emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. He freely poured out his soul in death and was numbered with brigands. He bore the sins of many and interceded for transgressors that they might not perish. How can they perish who the Son prayed might not perish, and for whose life the Father gave up his
Son to death? We may therefore hope for forgiveness equally from them both, for they are equally merciful in their steadfast love, united in a single powerful will, one in
An Incarnational Spirituality the substance of the Godhead in which together with the Holy Spirit they live and reign, God, through all the ages of ages. Amen.
(Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary 3:12ff) Then the angel said, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you."
What does "and the power of the Most High will over shadow you" mean? "Let him who can grasp this, grasp it."
Who indeed can, except perhaps she who alone deserved to have this most blessed experience. Who can grasp by his or her intelligence and discern with reason not only the way in which the inaccessible Splendor could pour himself out into a virginal womb, but also how, in order that she might support the approach of the Inaccessible, it became a shade for the rest of this body, a small portion of which he had vivified and appropriated? And perhaps it was for this reason the angel used the words, "He will overshadow you."
Because the event was so great a mystery that the Trinity wished to accomplish it in the Virgin alone and with her alone, and she alone was allowed to understand it because she alone was allowed to experience it. Let us admit then that "the Holy Spirit will come upon you" means "You will become pregnant by his power." And the words, "The power of the Most High shall overshadow you" mean "The means by which you are to conceive by the Holy Spirit is that the Power of God and the Wisdom of God, Christ, will be so concealed and so hidden in the shadowing of his most secret counsel that it shall be known only to him and to you." It is as if the angel replied to the Virgin, "Why ask me about something which you are going soon to experience in yourself? You will find out, how happily you will find out, and your teacher will be none other than he who works this.
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I have been sent only to announce this virginal conception, not to bring it about. This is something which can only be taught by the giver and learnt only by the receiver. There fore the Holy to be born of you will be called the Son of God.' This means you are to conceive, but by the Holy
Spirit, not by a man. You will, therefore, conceive the Power of the Most High, the Son of God. Therefore the Holy to be born of you will be called the Son of God.' This means he who comes from the bosom of the Father into your womb will not only overshadow you. He will even take to himself something of your substance. He who is already the Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages, will henceforth be acknowledged to be your son as well. In this way, the Son born of God will be yours, and the child born of you will be God's, in such a way that there will be not two sons but only one. A1 though he had one thing from you and another from the Father, yet you will not each have your own son, but he will be the one Son of both of you."
(.Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary 4) Virgin, you have heard what will happen, you have heard how it will happen. You have a double reason for astonishment and rejoicing. Rejoice, O Daughter of Sion, and be exceedingly glad, Daughter of Jerusalem. And since you have heard joyous and glad tidings, let us hear that joyous reply we long for, so that broken bones may rejoice.
You have heard what is to happen, I say, and you have believed. Believe also the way you have heard it is to happen. You have heard that you will conceive and bear a son. You have heard that it will be by the Holy Spirit and not by a man. The angel is waiting for your reply. It is time for him to return to the One who sent him.
We, too, are waiting for this merciful word, my Lady, we who are miserably weighed down under a sentence of condemnation. The price of our salvation is being offered
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to you. If you consent, we shall immediately be set free. We all have been made in the eternal Word of God, and look, we are dying. In your brief reply we shall be restored and be brought back to life. Doleful Adam and his unhappy offspring, exiled from paradise, implore you, kind Virgin, to give this answer. David asks it. Abraham asks it. All the other holy patriarchs, your very own fathers, beg it of you, as do those now dwelling in the region of the shadow of death. For it the whole world is waiting, bowed down at your feet. And rightly, too, because on your answer depends the comfort of the afflicted, the redemption of captives, the deliverance of the damned, the salvation of all the sons and daughters of Adam, your whole race. Give your answer quickly, my Virgin. My Lady, say this word which earth and hell and heaven itself are waiting for. The very King and Lord of all, he who has so desired your beauty, is eager for your answer and assent, by which he proposes to save the world. Him whom you pleased by your silence, you will now please even more by your word. Lie calls out to you from heaven, "O beautiful among women, let me hear your voice." If you let him hear your voice, then he will let you see our salvation. Is not this what you have been waiting for, what you have been weeping for and sighing after day and night in your prayers? What then? Are you the one who was promised or must we look for another? No. It is you and no one else. You, I say, are the one we were promised, you are the one we are expecting, you are the one we have longed for, in whom your holy ancestor Jacob, as he was approaching death, put all his hope of eternal life, saying, "I shall wait for your salvation, Lord." You are she in whom and by whom God, our king himself, before all ages decided to work out our salvation in the midst of the earth. Why hope from another for what is now being offered to you? Why expect from another woman what will soon be shown forth through you? If you will only consent and
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say the word. So answer the angel quickly, or rather, through the angel answer God. Only say the word and receive the Word. Give yours and conceive God's. Breathe one fleeting word and embrace the everlasting Word. Why do you delay? Why be afraid? Believe, give praise and receive. Let humility take courage and shyness confidence.
This is not the moment for virginal simplicity to forget prudence. In this circumstance alone, O prudent Virgin, do not fear presumption, for if your reserve pleased by its silence how much more must your goodness speak. Blessed
Virgin, open your heart to faith, your lips to consent, and your womb to your Creator. Behold, the long-desired of all nations is standing at the door and is knocking. Oh, what if he should pass by because of your delay and, sorrowing, you should again have to seek him whom your soul loves?
Get up, run, open! Get up by faith, run by prayer, open by consent!
"Behold," she says, "I am the handmaiden of the Lord.
Let it be done unto me according to your word."
(Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Maiy 4:8f) Let it be to me concerning the Word according to your word. May the Word, who in the beginning was with God, become flesh of my flesh, according to your word. I beg that the Word be to me not a word which once pronounced fades away, but the Word which conceived remains, clothed with flesh and not with air. Let it be to me a Word not audible to the ear but visible to the eyes, one which hands can touch and arms can carry. Let it be to me not a written and mute word, but one incarnate and living, that is to say, not one scratched by dumb signs on dead skins but one in human form truly given, lively, within my chaste womb, not the tracings of a dead pen but the working of the Holy Spirit.
An Incamational Spirituality Let it be to me as it has never been to any person before me and will be to no one after me. For in many and various ways God has spoken of old to our fathers by the prophets.
And it is known that the word of the Lord was put into the ear of some, into the mouth of others, and even into the hands of a few. But I ask that it be to me in my womb according to your word. I do not want it to be a word proclaimed to me in discourse, symbolized in figure, or dreamed in the imagination. But one silently breathed forth into my being, personally incarnate, corporally present in my womb. May the Word which could not and had no need to be made in himself, deign to be in me, deign to be done unto me according to your word. Let it be done for the whole world, but let it be done unto me uniquely, according to your word.
(.Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Maiy 4:11)