Second Sermon for the Feast of the Annunciation

“And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him: the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of piety, and He shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord.’’—Is. xi. 2, 3.

Brethren, to-day when we are keeping the solemnity of the Lord’s annunciation, the simple history of our redemption presents itself to our view as an immense plain of most pleasing aspect. The Archangel Gabriel is charged with a new embassy, the Virgin Mary reveals to the world a new virtue and is honoured by the heavenly envoy with a new form of salutation. The ancient curse pronounced upon women (Gen. iii. 16) is now cancelled, and the new Mother receives a new benediction. She who never felt the fire of concupiscence is filled with heavenly grace; so that by the power and operation of the Holy Ghost descending upon her, she, who knows not man, may conceive in her womb the Son of the Most High God. The remedy for our ruin enters us by the same channel through which was infused the serpent’s poison which corrupted the whole human race. Innumerable flowers of this kind could be gathered without labour in these pleasant fields : but it is the central abyss of awful profundity that now attracts my gaze. Truly, the mystery of the Lord’s incarnation is an inscrutable abyss; an unfathomable gulf of significance yawns beneath that sentence of the Evangelist, “The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us” (John i. 14)

For who is able to penetrate it? or to sound it? or to understand it? “The well is deep and I have nothing wherein to draw” (John iv. 11). But I remember that the canvas which people sometimes use to cover the mouth of the well, is wont to bemoistened by the vapour exhaling from the water. Therefore, although (conscious of my infirmity) I do not dare to plunge in, I often nevertheless “ stretch forth my hands to Thee, O Lord,” over the mouth of this darksome deep, because “ my soul is as earth without water unto Thee ” (Ps. cxlii. 6). And now, dearest brethren, whatever little moisture my weak thought has been able to absorb from the vapour uprising out of this well of mystery, I will endeavour to communicate to you ungrudgingly: I will wring the cloth so as to extract from it if possible even a few drops of the celestial dew.

And first of all, I inquire the reason why it was the Son Who became incarnate rather than the Father or the Holy Ghost, since the three Divine Persons are not alone coequal in glory and majesty but in Substance are one and the same. But “‘ who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counsellor ? ” (Rom. xi. 34). My brethren, we are face to face with a most profound mystery upon which it would be irreverent to pronounce an opinion too lightly. It appears to me, nevertheless, that the incarnation of either the Father or the Holy Ghost would necessarily involve the confusion of a plurality of sonships, since one Person would becalled the Son of God and a different the Son of man. It seems also specially appropriate that that” Person in particular should become a Son in time

Who was already a Son from eternity, lest otherwise - we should have ambiguity in the name. Besides, it is the singular glory of our Virgin, it is Mary’s grandest prerogative that she has merited to have one and the same Son in common with God the Father, which prerogative, as is evident, would be lost to her had any other Person but the Second become incarnate. And with regard to ourselves finally, we should not have the same grounds for our hope of salvation and of the inheritance from the incarnation of either the First Person or the Third. We are confident that He Who was the Only-Begotten, being made now “ the First-Born amongst many brethren” (Rom. viii. 27) will admit to participate in the inheritance those whom He has called to share in His sonship: for if brothers, “joint-heirs also” (ibid. 17).*

As Christ Jesus, therefore, our faithful Mediator, in an ineffable mystery united together in His own single Person the Substance of God and that of man: so, in the act of reconciliation, following a counsel of infinite wisdom, did He observe perfect equity between the Creator and the creature, assigning to each what was due to each, honour to the Former, mercy to the latter. For this was the most admirable manner of effecting a reconciliation between the offended Lord and His guilty servant : that zeal for the Lord’s honour should not be allowed to crush the servant with too severe a chastisement, nor, on the other hand, should that honour suffer prejudice by excessive condescension to the sinner. Hear, then, and ponder carefully the division made by the angels at the very birth of this Mediator. “ Glory to God in the highest,” so they sang, “ and on earth peace to men of good will ” (Luke ii. 14). And furthermore, it was that He might observe the same distinction of equity that Christ, our faithful Conciliator, was never without the spirit of holy fear whereby He always showed reverence and deference to His Father, and always sought His glory, or the spirit of piety, by which He tenderly compassionated men. Therefore He had need also of the spirit of knowledge, lest without it fear and piety should be confounded in their functions. Note here that the first sin committed by our first parents had three authors, and that each of them lacked a different one of the three virtues aforesaid. The three authors of the sin were Eve, the devil, and Adam. Now it is manifest that Eve lacked knowledge, since, as the Apostle says, “ the woman, being seduced, was in the transgression ” (1 Tim. ii. 14). The serpent indeed had knowledge enough, for he is represented as being “‘ more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth” (Gen. iii. I) ; yet that malignant one was without piety, being “a murderer from the beginning ” (John viii. 44). As for Adam, it may perhaps be allowed that he possessed piety, inasmuch as he was unwilling to sadden the woman, but he certainly forsook the fear of the Lord by hearkening to her voice rather than to His. Would to God it were the fear of the Lord that prevailed in him, just as it is significantly said of Christ that “ He shall be filled with the spirit—not of piety, but—of the fear of the Lord” (Is. xi. 3)! For in all things and always the fear of the Lord should take precedence of piety towards our neighbour, and it is that alone which has a right to claim possession of the whole man. It was by means of these three virtues, therefore, fear, piety, and knowledge, that our Mediator reconciled man to God, as it was by counsel and fortitude that He delivered him from the hand of the enemy. For by counsel He deprived the devil of his ancient power over the human race, by allowing him to lay hands on the Innocent ; and by fortitude He prevented him from forcibly retaining the redeemed when, arising victorious from the dead, He raised up together with Himself the life of us all.

From that time, my brethren, “ He has fed us with the bread of life and understanding, and given us the water of wholesome wisdom to drink ” (Ecclus. xv. 3). For the understanding of spiritual and invisible things is the true bread of the soul, the bread that “‘ strengtheneth man’s heart” (Ps. ciii. 15), and fortifies it for every good work and every spiritual exercise. “ But the carnal man who perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God, for it is foolishness to him ”’ (x Cor. ii. 14),—let him weep and lament, saying, ““My heart is withered because I forgot to eat my bread ” (Ps. ci. 5). Thus, it is an evident and absolute truth thatit shall profit a man nothing “ if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul” (Mark viii. 36). But when could an avaricious man be brought to understand it ? Thou wouldst only lose thy labour didst thou attempt to bring it home to him. And wherefore this? Simply because he judges it to be foolishness. Again, what is more true than that Christ’s yoke is sweet ? (Matt. xi. 30). But offer this truth to a man of the world, and see if he does not think thou art reaching him a stone instead of bread (Matt. vii. 9). Nevertheless, it cannot be doubted that it is by the understanding of such interior truths the soul properly lives, and that that is her spiritual food: for “ not in (material) bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God” (Deut. viii. 3, Matt. iv. 4). Certain as this is, it is equally certain that until thou hast acquired a relish for truth, it cannot without much difficulty gain admission to thy soul. But when thou beginnest to feel a delight in it, it is no longer food for thee: it has become drink, and flows easily into thy mind, so that “ the water of wholesome wisdom ” may help to digest “the bread of understanding,” which would be rather a burden than a benefit to the members of the interior man, if they suffered from the lack of this moisture. Therefore, my brethren, of all that was required for the salvation of His people, nothing whatever was __ wanting to the Saviour. For He it is of Whom the Prophet Isaias foretold: “ And there shall come forth a Rod out of the Root of Jesse, and a Flower shall rise up out of his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him: the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of piety, and He shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord”’ (Is. xi. I-3). Note well how the Prophet said that the Flower was to rise up out of the root, not out of the rod. But, as is obvious, if the Flesh of the Infant Christ had been newly created in the Virgin’s womb, and was not derived from her substance, as some have maintained, the Flower should have been represented as arising not from the root, but rather from the rod. Consequently the fact that this Flower is declared to have arisen from the root proves beyond the possibility of a doubt the common origin of the matter composing It. In remarking that the Spirit rested upon the Flower, the Prophet desires to insinuate that the Spirit of God found nothing to contradict Him in the Flesh of Christ. As for ourselves, the Spirit does | not yet rest in us, because He is not yet completely Master of our hearts: there still “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh” (Gal.v.¹). From this domestic strife may He deliver us in Whom nothing such existed, the New Man and the True Man, Who took His true and common Flesh from the common source, yet without any of the leaven of concupiscence.

Footnotes

1. Cf. Vol. i, of this Series, p- 6, note. ↩