Homily 3

“And the Angel, being come in, said unto her : Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee ; Blessed art thou among women.

« Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be.

“ And so the Angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.

«« Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son : and thou shalt call His name "Jesus.

“ He shall be great, and shall becalled the son of the Most High, and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David, His Father ; and He shall veign in the house of Jacob for ever.’ —Luke i, 28-32.

I am always glad to borrow the language of the saints, whenever I find that it suits my purpose, in the hope that at least the beauty of the expression may commend to my readers or hearers the thoughts which I desire to communicate. Hence I begin this discourse by saying with the Prophet, “‘ Woe is me,” not indeed because, like Isaias, “ I have held my peace,” but because I have spoken, “ for I am a man of unclean lips.” Alas for me! What words of vanity, of deceit, and of shame do I not remember to have vomited forth from this most filthy mouth of mine with which I now presume to speak the language of heaven! I am very much afraid that I shall soon hear addressed to me these words of reproof, “ Why dost thou declare

My justices and take My covenant in thy mouth?” |

Would to God that I were presented, not as the Prophet, with a single live coal from the heavenly altar, but with an immense volume of flame, which might suffice to burn out completely the thick and inveterate rust

Sele Bee of sin that covers my restless tongue! So should I, perhaps, be deemed worthy to comment in my own poor discourse on the words of modesty and sweetness interchanged between the Angel and the Virgin. Well. The Evangelist proceeds, “ And thè. Angel being come in, said unto her—that is, unto Mary—Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” In whither did Gabriel come? In my opinion, it was into the privacy of her modest bed-chamber, where, perhaps, having shut the door upon herself, she was praying to the Father in secret. For the angels are wont to draw nigh to us when we pray, and to rejoice at the prayer we make with pure hands raised up to heaven. It is a pleasure for them to offer to God, as an odour of sweetness, the holocaust of our fervent devotion. And how pleasing in the sight of the Most High were the prayers of Mary, Gabriel indicated by the reverence with which he saluted her on entering. Nor was it difficult for the Angel to pass through the closed door into the Virgin’s chamber, for in virtue of that subtlety which is a property of his spiritual nature, he could go whithersoever he pleased without experiencing any impediment, even from the obstruction of iron bars. Walls are not an obstacle to the flight of angelic spirits, nothing visible can hinder their movements, and there is no material substance, howsoever solid and dense it may be, which is not pervious and penetrable to them. We must not suppose, therefore, that Gabriel found the door of the Virgin’s chamber ajar, since we know how anxious she was to shun the society of men and to avoid useless conversation, in order thus to preserve that silence so conducive to prayer, and to preclude the risk of temptation. And so at that hour, Mary, as a most prudent virgin, had her door closed, not however against angels, but only to men. Therefore, whilst beyond the reach of every man, she was easily accessible to Gabriel. The Angel, accordingly, ‘‘ being come in said to her : Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” We read in the Acts of the Apostles that Stephen also was full of grace, and that the apostles were full of the Holy Ghost, but very differently from Mary. For Stephen had not, like her, the fulness of the Divinity dwelling in him corporally, nor were the apostles, as was she, so full of the Holy Ghost as to conceive by Him. And the Angel “said to her: Hail, full of grace.” What wonder that she was full of grace since the Lord was with her? It is this that should rather surprise us, how He Who had sent the Angel to the Virgin was found by the same Angel to bewith the Virgin. Shall we then suppose that God came down more swiftly than Gabriel, and by His greater celerity outstripped His hurrying envoy in the descent from heaven to earth ? But neither is there matter for wonder in this. For “ while the King was at His repose,” the Virgin’s “ spikenard sent forth the odour thereof,” and the smoke of her aromatical spices ascended to the presence of His glory, and found favour in the sight of the Lord, the whole heavenly court crying out in admiration, ‘‘ Who is she that goeth up by the desert as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer ? ” The King immediately “went forth from His holy place” and “rejoiced as a giant to run the way”; and although “His going out is from the highest heaven,” yet, flying with the wings of ardent affection, He outdistanced His messenger and was the first to

(iio oe reach the Virgin whom He loved, whom He had chosen, whose beauty He desired. It is this approach of His that the Church contemplates from afar when she exclaims with joy and exultation, “ Behold He cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping over the hills.”

Not without cause did the King desire the Virgin’s beauty. For she had done that which her father, the Prophet David, had so long before recommended, saying to her in the Spirit, “ Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear: and forget thy people and thy father’s house.” (And then, when thou hast acted thus) “ the King shall greatly desire thy beauty.” The Virgin, therefore, hearkened and saw: not like some, who hear without heeding, and see without understanding ; because in her case hearing resulted in faith and sight in comprehension. She also inclined her ear to obedience and her heart to instruction; and she forgot her people and her father’s house. She forgot her people, for the increase of whom by marriage she had no solicitude ; and she forgot her father’s house, since she had bound herself by vow not to leave it an heir. But whatever of temporal honour she could have had amongst her people, whatever of earthly riches from her father’s house, she counted it all as dross that so she might gain Christ. And her desire was most fully accomplished, when, without prejudice to her vow of virginity, she obtained Christ for her Son. Rightly, therefore, is she pronounced full of grace who, endowed already with the grace of integrity, was now to add thereto the glory of fecundity.

“ Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” Notice how the Angel did not say “The Lord is im thee,” but “ the Lord is with, thee.” For God, Who by the

T- G simplicity of His Essence is equally and entirely everywhere present, has nevertheless, by His influence and operation, a presence in His rational creatures, which He has not in others, and amongst the former, a presence in the good different from that which He has in the wicked. He is truly present in irrational creatures, yet without being embraced by them. He is in His rational creatures in such a manner that they all have the power to embrace Him by knowledge, yet only the good by love. Consequently, of the good alone it can be said that He is so in them as to be also with them, because of the harmony of their wills with His. For whilst they so conform their wills to the law of justice that it is not unworthy of God to will what they will, there is established a concord between His will and theirs, and thus they become specially united with Him. But although this is the case with every holy soul, it is particularly true of Mary. So close was the union He contracted with her, that He united to Himself not only her will, but even her flesh ; and from His own Substance and the substance of the Virgin He fashioned one Christ, or rather He became one Christ, Who, although neither wholly from God nor wholly from Mary, yet belongs wholly to God and wholly to Mary: nor are there two sons, but the one same Christ is Son of both. The Angel says, therefore, “ Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” But, O Mary, the Lord with thee is not the Son alone Whom thou hast clothed with thy flesh : He is also the Holy Spirit, by Whom thou hast conceived, and He is also the Father by Whom from eternity thy Child is begotten. The Father, I say, is with thee, Who has given His Son to be also thine. The Son is with thee, Who in a marvellous way has entered thy womb without detriment to thy virginity. The Holy Ghost is with thee, Who, with the Father and the Son, has prepared thy virginal body to be the dwelling of the Word. Therefore “‘ the Lord is with thee.”

“ Blessed art thou among women.” To these words, spoken both by the Angel and afterwards by Elizabeth, I will join these others which the latter added, “‘ And blessed is the Fruit of thy womb.” It is not because thou, O Virgin, art blessed that therefore the Fruit of thy womb is blessed, but on the contrary, therefore art thou blessed, because He “hath prevented thee with the blessings of sweetness.” Truly blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, for “in Him all the nations of the earth shall beblessed,” and it is of His fulness thou also, His Mother, hast received with the rest, although differently from the rest. And therefore art thou also blessed, yet only among women: whereas He is blessed, not alone amongst men, not alone amongst angels, but absolutely, since He is the Same Who, according to the Apostle, “is over all things, God blessed for ever.” We speak of blessed men, and blessed women, and blessed bread, and blessed earth, and other creatures also are said to beblessed : but uniquely blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, “ Who is over all things, God blessed for ever.”

Therefore, “ blessed is the Fruit of thy womb,” blessed in His odour, blessed in His taste, and blessed in His beauty. Long ago the Patriarch Isaac inhaled the perfume of this fragrant Fruit, when he cried out:

“ Behold the smell of my Son is as the smell of a plentiful field which the Lord hath blessed.” Surely He is blessed indeed, Who hath been blessed by the

Lord. And concerning the flavour of this Fruit, the Psalmist after enjoying it, broke forth into song and said, ‘‘ Oh, taste and see that the Lord is sweet,” and, “ Oh, how great is the multitude of Thy sweetness, O Lord, which Thou hast hidden for them that fear Thee!” And to the same the Apostle Peter thus refers, “ If so be you have tasted that the Lord is sweet.” Yea, the Fruit Himself, inviting us to Him, declares, “ They that eat Me, shall yet hunger; and they that drink Me shall yet thirst.” He speaks thus, no doubt, on account of the sweetness of His taste, which, when once experienced, rather excites than appeases the appetite. That certainly is a noble Fruit, Which becomes the food and the drink of those who hunger and thirst after justice. I have spoken of the odour of this Fruit, and I have spoken of His taste: listen now to what I have to say about His beauty. For if the fruit of death was not only pleasing to the palate but also, as the Scripture bears witness, “‘ delightful to behold,” with how much greater eagerness should we not turn to contemplate the beauty of that life-giving Fruit “ on Whom the angels desire to look ” ? This beauty David beheld in the Spirit and longed to see in the flesh, since he said of it, ‘‘ Out of Sion the loveliness of His beauty.” And lest you should consider this but a slight commendation, recollect what is written in another psalm, ‘‘ Thou art beautiful above the sons of men : grace is poured abroad on Thy lips: therefore hath God blessed Thee for ever.”

“ Blessed,” then, O Mother, “is the Fruit of thy Womb,”’ since God hath blessed Him for ever. And it is from the fulness of His blessing that thou thyself art blessed among women, because “an evil tree cannot

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THIRD SERMON ON THE VIRGIN MOTHER qor bring forth good fruit.” “ Blessed,” I say, “ art thou among women,” who alone of women hast escaped not only that general curse pronounced against Eve in Paradise, “ In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children,” but this other also, ‘‘ Cursed be she that is barren in Israel ” ;* and hast instead obtained the singular blessing whereby thou art made a mother without the penalty to bring forth in pain. O cruel necessity and heavy yoke upon all the hapless daughters of Eve! If they become mothers they shall suffer anguish, and if they remain sterile they shall be accurst. The pain debars them from motherhood, the malediction from sterility. What wilt thou do, O prudent Virgin, who hast heard and read of this? Affliction awaits thee, if thou bringest forth ; if thou remainest barren, the curse. Which, then, wilt thou choose, O prudent Virgin? “I am straitened,”’ she seems to say, “ on every side. Yet it it is better for me to incur the malediction by remaining a virgin, than to conceive by concupiscence and to bring forth in pain. On this side I behold a curse indeed, yet no sin ; on that I see both sin f and torment. Moreover, what is this curse but the reproach of men ? For on no other account is she that is sterile declared accursed than because she is held up to scorn and contempt as being useless and unprofitable, and that in Israel only. ‘ But for me it is a very small thing’ to incur the displeasure of men, provided I can present

• Sin is taken here in the same sense in which the Apostle understands it where he says, ‘‘ Now if I do that which I will not, it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me” (Rom. vii. 20), that is to say, for concupiscence.—(Translator.)

399 myself ‘a chaste virgin to Christ. O Virgin most prudent, most devoted, who has told thee that virginity is pleasing to God? What law, what commandment, what page of the Old Testament either enjoins, or counsels, or exhorts men to live in the flesh without living according to the flesh, and to emulate on earth the life of the angels? Where, O happy Virgin, hast thou read that “ the wisdom of the flesh is death ” ? or “ Make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences’’? Where hast thou read of virgins that they shall sing a new canticle which none but they can sing, and shall “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth”? Where hast thou read the eulogium pronounced on them “who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven” ? Where hast thou read that, “‘ Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh ” ? or, “ Both he that giveth his virgin in marriage doth well, and he that giveth her not doth better” ? Where hast thou read, “ I would that all men were even as myself ” ? or, “ It is good for a man if he so continue (in virginity) according to my counsel” ? or, “ Concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give counsel”? ? Thou hast had neither counsel, nor command, nor example to guide thee, but “ His (Christ’s) unction hath taught thee of all things,” and the Word of God, “ living and effectual,” has been thy Master before He became thy Son, and instructed thy mind before assuming thy flesh. Thou hast vowed, therefore, to present thyself a chaste virgin to Christ, not knowing that thou wert also destined to present thyself to Him to be His Mother. Thou hast chosen to be contemptible in Israel, and, in order to please a ee

Him to Whom thou hast devoted thyself, thou art content to incur the malediction pronounced against the sterile. But behold, the curse is changed into a blessing, and the purpose of barrenness is rewarded with motherhood.*

Prepare thyself now, O Virgin, expand thy breast and open thy bosom, “ because He That is mighty ” is going to do great things for thee, so that, instead of being accursed in Israel, “all generations shall call thee blessed.” And fear not, O prudent Virgin, the fruitfulness offered thee, because it shall leave thy virginity inviclate. Thou shalt conceive, yet without concupiscence ; thou shall be pregnant, yet not burdened ; thou shalt bring forth, yet not with sadness ; thou shalt be a mother, yet know not man. But of whom shalt thou be mother? Thou shalt be the Mother of Him Who has God for His Father. The Son of the Father’s glory shall be the Crown of thy virginity. The Wisdom of the Father’s Heart shall be the Fruit of thy virginal womb. In a word, thou shalt bring forth God and conceive by God. Be of good cheer, therefore, fruitful Virgin, chaste child-bearer (puerpera), Mother undefiled, because thou shalt and thankfulness to God’s condescension.” —Newman, Discourses to Mixed Congregations, pp. 372-373:

no longer be accursed in Israel, or reputed with the barren. And if thou shalt continue to becursed by those who are Israelites according to the flesh, not because they judge thee sterile, but from envy of thy fruitfulness, remember that Christ also endured the curse of the cross, and has blessed thee, His Mother, in the glory of heaven. Yea, even on earth thou art declared blessed by the Angel, and all generations of men shall justly call thee blessed. Therefore, “‘ Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb.”

“ Who, having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself, what manner of salutation this should be.” Virgins, who are truly such, are wont to be always fearful, and can never feel secure. And in their anxiety to avoid all real danger, they tremble at what is only an appearance. For they know that they carry their precious treasure ‘in earthen vessels,” and that it is extremely difficult to live as angels amongst men, to lead on earth the life proper to heaven, and to live in the flesh without living according to the flesh. And consequently every strange event, every unexpected occurrence, at once arouses their suspicions : they are afraid of a trap, they conclude it is all an attempt against themselves. Hence Mary was troubled at the Angel’s greeting. She was troubled, I say, but not confounded. “TI was troubled,” sings the Psalmist, “and I spoke not,” but “I thought upon the days of old, and 1 had in mind the eternal years.” In the same way, then, was Mary troubled and she spoke not, but “ thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be.” That she was troubled came from her virginal modesty; that she was not confounded was due to her fortitude, whilst it was under the influence of her prudence that she held her peace and reflected. “She was troubled and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be.” The prudent Virgin was well aware that the angel of darkness often transforms himself into an angel of light ; and as she was humble and simple, she could not believe that any holy angel would greet her thus. And therefore she “ thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be.”

Then the Angel, looking upon the Virgin, and easily perceiving that she is revolving anxious thoughts in her mind, consoles her timidity, dissipates her doubts, and familiarly addressing her by her name, tells her kindly not to be afraid. “ Fear not, Mary,” he says, “for thou hast found grace with God. There is here no guile and no deception. Do not suspect any artifice or treachery in me, because I am not a man but a spirit, and an angel not of Satan but of God. Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Oh, if thou knewest how pleasing thy humility is to the Most High and what a sublime throne of glory awaits thee in His kingdom! Then thou wouldst no longer deem thyself unworthy to be saluted and served by angels. For how canst thou regard as undue to thee the love and devotion of the angels, seeing that thou hast found grace with God? Thou hast found what thou hast been seeking, thou hast found what no one before thee has been able to find: ‘thou hast found grace with God.’ And what is this grace which thou hast found? It is the reconciliation of men with God, the destruction of death, and the restoration of life. Yes, such is the grace thou hast found with God.

‘And this shall be a sign to thee’: ‘ behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus.’ From the very name of the Son promised thee, thou mayest understand, O prudent Virgin, how precious and how extraordinary is the grace which thou hast found with God. ‘And thou shalt call His name Jesus.’”’ The same Angel who spoke these words, gave also the meaning of that name, as another Evangelist records, (Matth. i. 21), interpreting it thus, “for He shall save His people from their sins.”

I have read of two others who, as types of Him Whom the Angel here announces, bore the name of | Jesus and ruled in Israel. One of them led the people home from Babylon, whilst the other brought them into the land of promise. Both of these did indeed defend those under them against the attacks of their enemies, but did they save them from their sins? No, it is only our Jesus Who can save His people from their sins and bring them into the land of the living. “‘ For He shall save His people from their sins.” “Who is this that forgiveth sins also?” Oh, that the Lord Jesus in spite of my unworthiness would vouchsafe to count even me in the number of His people, that so I might be saved from my sins! Truly “ happy is that people whose God is the Lord”? Jesus, because “He shall save his people from their sins.” Yet there are many, I fear, who proclaim themselves to belong to His people, but whom He does not acknowledge. I fear there are many, even amongst those who seem outwardly to be the most devoted of His people, of whom nevertheless He is compelled to say, “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me.” For “the Lord (Jesus) knoweth who are His” in truth. He knows also whom He has chosen from the beginning. “Why,” He asks of some, “ call you Me Lord, Lord: and do not the things which I say?” Dost thou wish to know whether or not thou belongest to His people? Or rather dost thou desire to belong to His people ? * If so, do the things which Jestis says, and He will number thee with His people. Do what the Lord Jesus commands in the Gospel, what He commands in the law and the prophets, what He commands by His ministers in the Church; be obedient to His representatives, thy superiors, ‘ not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward,” and learn from Jesus Himself to be meek and humble of heart ; and then thou shalt be associated to that blessed people, to “the people whom He hath chosen for His inheritance ” : thou shalt be of the noble people “whom the Lord of Hosts hath blessed, saying, Thou art the work of My hands, Israel is My inheritance.” f And concerning the same people (lest thou shouldst grow envious of those who are Israelites according to the flesh) He adds this other testimony, “ A people whom I knew not hath served Me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed Me.”’

But let us hear now what the Angel thinks of Him to Whom, before He is yet conceived, he has given a

• This appears to be a reading of Isaias xix. 25, but differs materially from both Septuagint and the Vulgate.—(Translator.)

name so noble. “He shall be great,” he says, “ and shall becalled the Son of the Most High.” Great indeed must be He Who shall deserve to becalled the Son of the Most High. Has He not a right to becalled great “ of Whose greatness °” according to the Psalmist, ‘‘ there is no end”? And, as the same Prophet elsewhere asks, “ Who is the great God like our God?” Truly great is He Who is as great as He is high, and Who is the Most High. For the Son of the Most High “ thinks it not robbery to be equal ” to the Most High. But he certainly must be judged to have been guilty of robbery, who, having been elevated from nothingness to the angelic dignity, compared himself to his Maker, and attempted to usurp the prerogative of the Son of the Most High, the Son, not made, but begotten by God the Father, as being Himself in the form of God. For God the Father, although Most High, although omnipotent, can nevertheless neither produce a creature equal to Himself, nor generate a Son inferior to Himself. He made Lucifer great indeed, yet not so great as He is Himself and therefore not most high. The Only-Begotten Son alone, Who has not been made, proceeds by generation omnipotent from the Omnipotent, most high from the Most High, eternal from the Eternal, Nor does the Father think it robbery or injurious to His glory that such a Son should be equal to Him in all things. Well, therefore, is it said that He shall be great Who shall becalled the Son of the Most High.

But why does the Angel say that He shall be great, and not rather that He is great? For He is always equally great and has no capacity for growth in greatness: He shall not be anything greater after conception than He is now, or than He has been in His eternal past. Perhaps the future tense is used to indicate that He Who is already the great God is about to become great also as man. If this be so, Gabriel speaks truly when he says, “ He shall be great,” that is, a great Man, a great Doctor, a great Prophet ; for such He is declared to be in the Gospel. Thus we read how the people said of Him, “ A great Prophet is risen up among us.” And a certain lesser prophet promised that He would come as a great Prophet, saying, “ Behold a great Prophet shall come, and He shall restore Jerusalem.” As for thee, O Virgin, thou shalt bring Him forth as a Little One, thou shalt nurse Him as a Little One, thou shalt suckle Him as a Little One : but looking on His littleness, think of His greatness. For He shall be great, because God will magnify Him in the sight of princes so that “all the kings of the earth shall adore Him, all nations shall serve Him.” Let thy soul, therefore, “ magnify the Lord,” because “ He shall be great and shall becalled the Son of the Most High.” He shall be great, and “ He That is mighty shall do great things to thee ; and holy is His name.” For what name can be more holy than that which He is to becalled, the Son of the Most High ? And let us also, who are little, magnify the great Lord, Who in order that we might be made great, has made Himself little. “ A Child is born to us,” says the Prophet, “ and a Son is given to us.” He is born, I say, for us, not for Himself : He Who is eternally and far more nobly born of the Father had no need for Himself of this temporal birth of a mother. Neither is it for the angels that He is born, because they possess Him already as great, and hence do not need Him as little. Therefore for us alone the Child is born and to us He is given, since to us alone is He necessary.

So let us now employ Him Who is born for us and given to us for the purpose for which He is born and given. Let us use Him Who is our own for our own advantage. Let us work out our salvation by means of the Saviour.* Behold a Little One is placed in our midst.t O Little One desirable to little ones! O Little One truly! but only little in malice, not in wisdom.f Let us endeavour to become like this Little One. Let us learn of Him because He is “ meek and humble of heart.” Otherwise the great God will have become a Little One in vain, in vain will have died, in vain will have endured the cross. Let us learn His humility, let us imitate His meekness, let us respond to His charity, let us share in His sufferings, let us cleanse ourselves in His Blood. Yea, let us offer Him as a “ propitiation for our sins,” because unto this is He born and given to us. Let us offer Him to the eyes of the Father : let us offer Him to His own eyes also: for the Father hath “ spared not even His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,” and the Son hath “emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant ” ; “He hath delivered His Soul unto death and was reputed with the wicked, and He hath borne the sins of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors,” so that they.might not perish. They cannot perish for

• “ And Jesus, calling unto Him a little child, set him in the midst of them.’’—Matth. xviii. 2. t Allusion to 1 Cor. xiv. 20: ‘‘ Brethren, do not become children in sense, but in malice be children, and in sense perfect.”’

— tg yee isa iil AAE artical S i CC ET LOTTE a an ee as - whom the Son prays the Father that they may be saved, and for whom, that they may live, the Father delivered His Son to death. Pardon, therefore, is to be hoped for equally from Father and Son, Who are equal in mercy and loving-kindness, equal in omnipotence of will, identical in the Essence of their Divinity, in Which, with the Holy Spirit, They live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.