CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SIX
BETHLEHEM
B EFORE ALL ELSE for the nourishment of holy souls1 you have Bethlehem, the house of bread. It was there he first appeared—he, the living bread come down from heaven,2 born of the Virgin. There to docile draft animals is shown the crib,3 and in the crib the straw from the virgin field; and there the ox may recognize his owner, and the ass the manger of his Lord.4 All flesh is grass, of course, and all its glory is as the wildflower.5 But man, having failed to understand the honor in which he was made, has been likened to the dumb beasts, and made like them.6 The Word, the Bread of Angels, has become the fodder of animals so that the flesh, which had become quite unused to eating the bread of the Word, might have grass to ruminate until through the God-man having been returned to its prior dignity and converted from being a beast again into being a man, it may say with Saint Paul, Although we have known Christ according to the flesh, we know him so no longer.'7
This I think nobody can truly say unless he has with Peter first heard from the mouth of Truth this other saying, The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and life, but the flesh is of no profit? Someone who has found life in the words of Christ no
Wis 3:13.
Jn 6:51.
Lk 2:7.
Is 1:3.
Is 40:6.
Ps 48:13.
2 Cor 5:16.
Jn 6:64.
In Praise of the New Knighthood longer seeks the flesh9 but is now one of the number of the blessed who believe without seeing.10 Only a child needs a cup of milk,11 and only an animal hay fodder.12 But someone who does not offend in word is a full grown man,13 capable of taking solid food.14 Albeit by the sweat of his brow,15 he eats the bread of the "Word without revulsion. Secure and without scandal he will speak the wisdom of God when he is in the company of full grown men,16 comparing spiritual truths with spiritual persons.17
Yet when he is with children or the beasts of the herd, he will be careful to adjust himself to their capacity, and to speak only of Christ and him crucified.18
Yet it is one and the same sweet nourishment from the heavenly pastures which furnishes fodder for animals to ruminate and bread for men to eat, a source of strength for adults and of growth for the immature.
Prov 8:35.
10 Jn 20:29.
1 Cor 3:2.
Ps 103:14.
13 Jas 3:2.
Heb 5:14.
Gen 3:19.
1 Cor 2:6.
1 Cor 2:13.
1 Cor 2:2.