celebrate this day; not as the day on which the Lord Christ began to be, but on
SERMON 190 39
Christ wished to honor each sex in his birth
2. So, Christians, let us celebrate on this day, not his divine, but his human birth, by which he adapted himself to us, in order that by means of the invisible one made visible we ourselves might pass over from visible things to invisible. Catholic faith, you see, obliges us to accept two births for the Lord, one divine, the other human; the first apart from time, the second in time; both, however, wonderful; the first without mother, the second without father. If we can't grasp this one, when will we ever tell the tale of that one?6
Who can grasp this new, unheard of novelty, unique in the history of the world, something unbelievable that has become believable and is unbelievably believed throughout the whole world; that a virgin should conceive, a virgin should give birth, and a virgin she should remain in giving birth? Faith grasps what human reason cannot work out; and where reason falls back, faith marches on. Who's going to say, after all, that the Word of God through whom all things were made (Jn 1:3) could not make himself flesh even without a mother, just as he made the first man without either father or mother?
But the fact is, he himself created both sexes, male and female; and that's why he wished to honor each sex in his birth, having come to liberate each of them. You know, of course, about the first man's fall, how the serpent didn't dare speak to the man, but made use of the woman's services to bring him down. Through the weaker he gained a hold over the stronger; and by infiltrating through one of them he triumphed over both. In order, therefore, to make it impossible for us7 with a show of righteous, horrified indignation, to put all the blame for our death on the woman, and to believe that she is irredeemably damned; that's why the Lord, who came to seek what was lost (Lk 19:10), wished to do something for each sex by honoring them both, because both had got lost. In neither sex, then, should we wrong the Creator;8 the birth of the Lord encouraged each to hope for salvation. The male sex is honored in the flesh of Christ; the female is honored in the mother of Christ. The serpent's cunning has been defeated by the grace of Jesus Christ.
Both speechless infant and Word
3. So let each sex be bom again in the one who was bom today, and let each celebrate this day; not as the day on which the Lord Christ began to be, but on which the one who was always with the Father brought to light the flesh he had received from his mother; bringing his mother fertility, not depriving her of integrity. He's conceived, he's bom, he's an infant. Who is this infant? Infant, you see, means one who cannotfari, that is, cannot speak. So he's both speech¬ less infant and Word. He says nothing through the flesh, he teaches through angels, by whom the prince and shepherd of shepherds is announced to the shepherds; and he lies in the manger, the feeding trough, as fodder for the faithful beasts. This had been foretold, you see, by the prophet: The ox recognizes its owner, and the donkey its master's manger (Is 1:3).
That's why he sat on the little donkey, when he entered Jerusalem to the