doubt presided over by midwives. Augustine exhibits a characteristically male disdain, probably
52 SAINT A UGUSTINE - SERMONS gospel he comments on indicate this, but also the beginning of the last phrase, "but rather begin with good will": inchoati a bona voluntate. See note 8. The sermon is a rather original reflection on Gloria in excelsis Deo in combination with Rom 7:18-25.
2. Referring presumably to customary rituals and blessings connected with childbirth, and no doubt presided over by midwives. Augustine exhibits a characteristically male disdain, probably disguising suspicion and fear, of such feminine mysteries, by calling what I have translated "a pack of women" mulierculae4, a word that is male chauvinist to its very core.
3. See 1 Thes 4:17. It is to be noted that by "spiritual body" neither Augustine nor Paul (1 Cor 15:44) means a non-material, non-physical body, which is a contradiction in terms, though one cheerfully entertained by some modem interpreters of the apostle. For Augustine and Paul a spiritual (or "pneumatic") body is contrasted with an "animal" (or "psychic") body; that is to say, it is a body, solidly material, quickened by spirit as opposed to the body we have at present, which is quickened merely by soul, anima, psyche. The old edition of the Jerusalem Bible hits the nail on the head with its rendering of 1 Cor 15:44, "When it is sown, it embodies the soul; when it is raised, it embodies the spirit. " The New Jerusalem Bible, in this as in some other respects retrogressive, reverts to "what is sown is a natural body, and what is raised is a spiritual body."
4. See Heb 12:14. 5. See Ps 102:27; also Ps 27:13; 34:12.
6. In South African English "man" is a mode of address that is undoubtedly of common gender. A South African boy—or girl—for example, may say to his mother after enjoying her cooking,
'That was a smashing dinner, Mom, man" (or possibly "man, Mom"). Well Augustine was a North African; and if he had spoken English at all, it would have been the South African variety.
7. It would seem that the holy readings included the passage from Romans 7, and a section from Psalm 119, probably verses 105-112.
8. This suggests to me he was preaching at the midnight Mass, where they were beginning the celebration of the feast, and that he was hoping they would all be full of charity at the end, its culmination with the final Mass on Christmas day.