The Book of the Holy Rosary: Part I, Chapter VI. The Nativity
The Holy Scripture Narrative
“And it came to pass, that in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that the whole world should be enrolled. This enrolling was first made by Cyrinus, the governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, every one into his own city.
“And Joseph went up also from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled, with Mary, his espoused wife, who was with child. And it came to pass, that when they were there, her days were accomplished that she should be delivered; and she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for Him in the inn.
“And there were in the same country shepherds watching, and keeping the night watches over their flock. And behold an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the brightness of God shone round about them; and they feared with a great fear. And the angel said to them: Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people: for this day is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the Infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God, and saying: Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good-will. And it came to pass, after the angels departed from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another: Let us go over to Bethlehem, and let us see this word that is come to pass, which the Lord hath showed to us. And they came with haste; and they found Mary and Joseph, and the Infant lying in the manger. And seeing, they understood of the word that had been spoken to them concerning this Child. And all that heard wondered at those things that were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God, for all the things they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them” (St Luke ii. 1–20).
“While all things were moving silently on their way, and the night was in the midst of her course, Thine almighty word came down from heaven from Thy royal throne” (Wisd. xviii. 14). Such were the words of inspired prophecy in which the accomplishment of this holy mystery of the nativity was foretold to the faithful under the old covenant. Isaias, who is often called the evangelical prophet, had spoken of it in the following glowing language:—“For a Child is born to us, and a Son is given to us, and the government is upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace. His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of His peace: He shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isaias ix. 6, 7).
Jeremias had in the same manner foretold of the stupendous wonder which God was going to accomplish, and of the mercies which would follow in its train, thus:—“The Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth; a woman shall compass a man. Behold the days shall come, saith the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda. Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt: the covenant which they made void, and I had dominion over them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make the house of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord: I will give my law in their bowels, and I will write it in their hearts, saith the Lord: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jer. xxxi. 22, &c.)
“Mary,” writes the Cistercian Abbot Amedeus, “filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea, and rapt in the deepest contemplation, wonders to behold herself a virgin chosen to become a mother, and rejoices to know that she is the Mother of God. She understands that the promises given to the patriarchs are fulfilled in her. She knows that the longing desires of the old fathers and the oracles of the prophets who foretold that Christ should be born of a Virgin, and who, with the utmost powers of their soul, desired to see His coming, are now accomplished. She sees the Son of God entrusted to her, and she rejoices that the salvation of the world is committed to her keeping. She hears the voice of the Lord Himself speaking in her, and saying—‘Behold, I have chosen thee out of all flesh (Ecclus. xlv. 4), and I have blessed thee among all women.’ See, I have committed My Son, My only Son, to thee. Fear not to nurse thy child at the breast; nor to bring Him up to whom thou hast given birth. Behold, in Him not God alone, but thine own Son. My Son is thy Son. My Son as regards the Godhead; thy Son as regards the humanity He has assumed” (Amedeus’ Sermon on the Praises of Mary).
“We must remember,” writes St Augustine, “that there are two nativities of Jesus Christ taught by the Catholic faith—the one Divine, the other human; the one from all eternity, the other in time. Both marvellous—the one without a Mother, the other without a Father. If we are not able to comprehend the latter, how shall we be able to declare the former? And who is there who can comprehend a marvel so entirely beyond all human experience; so completely a thing alone and by itself in the world; so incredible, and yet, in fact, actually received, and even universally believed, in spite of its incredibility—to wit, that a virgin should conceive, give birth, and yet remain a virgin? What human reason cannot grasp, faith holds fast; where reason fails, faith advances. Who is there who would say that the Eternal Word, by whom all things were made, could not have taken flesh without a mother, as He made the first man without either father or mother? But, inasmuch as beyond all doubt He was the Creator of both sexes, the male and the female, so in His birth He wished to pay honour to them both, seeing that He came to redeem both. In neither sex, therefore, ought we to do any injury to our Creator, for our Lord, in His holy nativity, has opened the way for both sexes to hold fast to the hope of their salvation. The honour of the male sex is in the Humanity of Christ; the honour of the female sex is in the Mother of Christ. The grace of Jesus Christ has overcome the craftiness of the serpent” (St Augustine, Seventh Sermon on the Nativity of Christ).
“Eve’s maternity,” writes the same Abbot Amedeus, “was in the way of nature; Mary’s was that of mother and virgin. Eve’s maternity was in pain and sorrow; Mary’s in joy. Eve’s maternity belonged to the old world; Mary’s to the new. Eve became the mother of a servant; and Mary of the Lord of all. Eve gave birth to a transgressor; and Mary to the Just One. Eve brought into the world a sinner; Mary Him who justifies from sin. Eve’s parturition multiplies deaths; Mary’s delivers from death. The serpent stands by at the side of Eve’s childbirth to watch for his occasion; Mary is ministered to by angels. Eve is seized with trembling of heart; Mary is filled with heavenly joy. Eve exposes those to whom she gives birth to many dangers; Mary preserves her children from every evil. Wickedness follows close upon Eve’s childbirth; grace on that of the Virgin Mary. In the maternity of Mary the heavens rejoiced and the earth was glad, hell also was moved to its depths. The clouds above displayed the brightness of their star, and sent forth a glorious company of the angels praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good-will” (Sermon on the Virgin Childbirth of Mary).
“Think not, O man,” writes St Proclus, the Archbishop of Constantinople, “that this birth is a thing to be ashamed of; for it is become the cause of our salvation. For if God had not been born of a woman, He would not have subjected Himself to death; nor would He by His death have overcome him who hath the dominion of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. ii. 14). It is no disparagement to the honour of the architect to dwell in the house which he has himself made; nor does the clay reproach the potter when he remoulds the vessel which he had formed; and in the like manner God, who is all pure, contracts no stain by His being born from the womb of a Virgin. O most blessed womb! in which the writing of discharge from their prison was accomplished for the whole race of man, and a spiritual armoury forged against the deceits of the devil. O blessed field! in which the Husbandman has reaped the ears of corn that sprung up without being sown. O temple! in which God was made Priest, not changing His own nature, but in His mercy clothing Himself with that which is according to the order of Melchisedec” (St Proclus of Constantinople, Sermon on the Praises of Mary).
Let us hear the words of St Leo, Pope and Doctor of the Universal Church, on the subject of this great mystery:—“Our Saviour, dearly beloved, is born on this day. Let us rejoice! For it would not be right that any place should be given to sorrow on the birthday of Life; that Life, I say, which, swallowing up the terror of death, introduces to us the joys of the eternity of which we have received the promise. No one can be put aside from his share in this rejoicing. The cause of our joy is one that is common for all; for as our Lord, the destroyer of death and sin, finds no one free from guilt, so He came for the common delivery of all alike. Let the saint rejoice, for he draws near to his reward; let the sinner rejoice, for he is invited to pardon; let the heathen take courage, for he is called to life. For the Son of God, according to the fulness of time which the unsearchable depth of the Divine counsel had brought about, assumed to Himself the nature of the human race, that it might be reconciled to its Maker, and that the devil, the instigator of death, might be overcome by that which he himself had conquered.
“In this conflict, entered into on our behalf, the battle was fought on a great and marvellous footing of equal justice. For the Almighty Lord joins issue with His most ferocious adversary, not in His own majesty, but in our humility, opposing to him the same form and the same nature with ours, being a sharer to the full in our mortality, though entirely exempt from our sin. For His nativity has no part whatsoever in that which is said of all others: ‘No one is free from stain, not even the babe whose life has been but of one day on the earth.’ Nothing, therefore, of the concupiscence of the flesh passed into this birth, and nothing flowed into it from the law of sin. A royal Virgin of the family of David is chosen, who, when about to become the bearer of the sacred burden, first conceived in her mind the Divine and human offspring prior to His conception in the womb. And lest, for want of a right understanding of the Divine counsel, she might take alarm at the unwonted nature of that which was proposed to her, she learns from a colloquy with an Angel what it was that was to be wrought in her by the Holy Ghost, and she fully believes that she may become the mother of God, without detriment to her virginity.
“Let us then, dearly beloved, give thanks to God the Father by His Son, in the Holy Ghost, who, through the abundance of the love with which He hath loved us, hath had pity upon us; and when we were dead in sin, hath raised us again to life with Christ, that we might be in Him new creatures and a new creation. Let us lay aside, then, the old man with his works, and as we have been admitted to a share in the generation of Christ, let us renounce the works of the flesh. Acknowledge, O Christian, thy dignity; and now that thou art become a partaker of the Divine nature, refuse to turn back to thy former degradation, by a degenerate life. Bear in mind of whose head and of whose body thou hast been made a member. Recollect that having been delivered from the power of darkness, thou hast been translated into the light and kingdom of God” (St Leo, Sermon on the Nativity).
St Augustine writes: “He is born in a stable; He is wrapped in poor swaddling clothes by His mother, Mary, and laid in a manger. For her there was no house of cedar nor throne of ivory, on which she might give birth to her Creator, and lay to rest the Redeemer of all. As an exile and as a wanderer, in the house of another, she brought forth the Lord of the world; and as a poor woman, she wrapped Him up in poor, and not in silken clothing. When her child was born, she adored Him as God. O favoured stable! O blessed manger in which Christ is born, and the God of all is laid to rest! There stood by at His birth the heavenly powers, and angels ministered comfort. There were present the thousands of thousands singing for joy. There was heard the cry of the infant Christ in the stable, and great joy in the heavens. Christ weeping in the manger, and the multitude of the heavenly host exulting around Him, and sounding forth, Glory to God in the highest, and announcing ‘peace on earth to men of good-will,’ for heavenly goodness was born upon earth. True peace had come down from heaven, and the rejoicing angels sang, Glory to God in the highest. The angels exult for joy. Mary trembles at having become the mother of God. The angels crowd together joyfully, without fear, in the presence of the Christ, before whom His mother stands, before whom she exults with great fear and trembling, and timidly perseveres in her joy” (Sermon on the Nativity).
“Rejoice, ye just men,” says St Augustine; “it is the birthday of Him who justifieth. Rejoice, ye that are sick and infirm, it is the birthday of your Saviour. Rejoice, ye captives, it is the birthday of your Redeemer. Rejoice, ye servants, it is the birthday of the Master over all. Rejoice, ye freemen, it is the birthday of Him who maketh all free. All Christians rejoice, it is the birthday of Christ” (St Augustine, Third Sermon on the Nativity).
“But if all things on earth rejoice at the birth of Christ,” writes the Cistercian Abbot above quoted, “what must have been the joy of Mary. The lips stammer, the heart shrinks, and the mind trembles at the thought of such joy. Whence came it that a vessel, still frail and mortal, was able to endure under the burden of such joy? It was because He still overshadowed her in the birth of Christ, who had previously overshadowed her in His conception. He gave her power to bear the joy, who had given to her its abundance; and the same marvellous power of the Godhead sustained her, which had already filled her with the wonderful overflowing of His glory and majesty.”