Third Sermon for Christmas Eve: On the Three Days, the Three Watches, the Three Winds, and the Three Unions

‘3 To-day you shall know that the Lord will come and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord.” *—Exod. xvi. 6-7.

Oh, “all you that are earth-born and ye sons of men,” “ awake and give praise, ye that dwell in the dust,” because the Physician is coming to the sick, the Redeemer to the captives, the Way to the wanderers, Life to the dead; because He is coming Who “ will cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea,” Who will “heal all our diseases,” and will bear us back upon His own shoulders to the place of honour which originally was ours. This no doubt, is an exercise of great power. But far more wonderful is the mercy therein displayed : that He who is able to succour us should be willing thus to come. ‘“ To-day you shall know that the Lord will come.” These words, my brethren, have been set down in Holy Scripture in their proper place and order as relating to an event of an earlier time; yet not unappropriately are they addressed to us by mother Church on the vigil of the Lord’s nativity. For the Church is guided by the counsel and by the Spirit of Him Who is at once her Bridegroom and her God. She has the Beloved “ abiding between her breasts,” guarding her heart for Himself, and occupying it like a king upon his throne. She is the Spouse who has wounded His Heart, who with the eye of contemplation pierces the abyss of God’s hidden designs, and so makes an everlasting dwelling for herself in His Heart and for Him in her own. Whenever, therefore, she changes the meaning or the application of a text of Holy Scripture, the words in the accommodated sense possess even greater authority than belongs to them in their primary signification. And perhaps the adapted meaning surpasses the original by as much as the reality excels the image ; the light, the shadow ; the mistress, the maid-servant.

“To-day you shall know that the Lord will come.” It appears to me, my brethren, that in these words we have expressly commended to our notice two days of unequal duration. The first of these embraces the whole period from the fall of the first man to the dissolution of the world. It is the day which the saints, as we read, have so often cursed. For when Adam was exiled from that most luminous day of innocence in which he had been created, and thrust out into the miseries consequent on his sin, he entered upon a day of spiritual darkness in which the light of truth was all but extinguished. We have been born, every one of us, in this darksome day, if day it may becalled and not rather night. However, I will call it day on account of the light of reason, which, as a glimmering spark, has been left to relieve its gloom, by God’s unconquerable mercy.* But the second day shall shine “ in the splendours of the saints ” for everlasting ages, after the break of that most serene morning (whereon we hope and pray that mercy shall be granted us) when death shall be “ swallowed up in victory,” and when the brightness of the true and living Light shall occupy all things above and below, within and without, expelling the shadows and the darkness. ‘“‘Cause me to hear Thy mercy in the morning,” implores the Psalmist, and elsewhere he acknowledges, “ We are filled in the morning with Thy mercy.” But let us return to our own day, which by reason of its comparative brevity is called “a watch of the night,” which is “ counted as nothing and vanity ” by that familiar mouthpiece of the Holy Ghost who says, “all our days have vanished,” and, “my days are vanished like smoke,” and, “ my days have declined like a shadow.” The holy Patriarch Jacob, who “ saw the Lord face to face ” and conversed with Him so familiarly, spoke of the days of his pilgrimage as “few and evil.” Nevertheless, even in this day God gives man the light of reason and understanding. But it is further necessary that, at the moment of our departure from this world, He shall illumine our souls with the splendour of His own divine knowledge.

good and evil, and of the distance of truth and falsehood ” (Imitation of Christ Bk. III. ch. lv.).

For were we to go forth in darkness out of the prison- | house of the body and from the shadow of death, our darkness could never more be enlightened. Here is the reason why the only-begotten Son of God, the Sun of justice, has shown Himself amidst the gloom of this place of our banishment as a burning and shining Torch, of large and brilliant flame, in order, namely, that all who desire to be illuminated may approach and be united to Him so closely as to leave nothing intervening between Him and them. For it is our sins that “ separate between us and God.”’ Therefore, as soon as these are removed, we are placed in contact with the true Light of the world, to be enlightened by and, as it were, made one with It; just as when we want to light an extinguished taper we touch it to another that is burning and shining, if I may be allowed to illustrate an invisible truth by an example drawn from things visible.

Let us, therefore, my brethren, light for ourselves the lamp of knowledge—as the Prophet speaks *—at this great and luminous Star, before we pass out of the darkness of this world. Otherwise we shall only exchange darkness for denser darkness, the darkness of time for the darkness of eternity. But what is this knowledge which is so necessary for us to possess ? It is to know that the Lord will come, even though we cannot ascertain the time of His coming. This, my brethren, is the sum-total of the knowledge required of us. But I may be told that so much knowledge is in the possession of all. “For who,” it will be said, “ even amongst nominal Christians, is not aware that the

Lord will come,—‘ that He will come again to judge the living and the dead,’ and to ‘ render to every man according to his works?’”’ I answer by denying that all have this ‘knowledge, or even many. It belongs but to the few, because in truth, it is only the few that shall be saved.* Do you suppose that they “ who are glad when they have done evil and rejoice in most wicked things,” do you suppose that such persons have the knowledge and the remembrance of the Lord’s future coming? Should they tell you so, believe them not, because, as St. John Evangelist bears witness, “‘ He who saith that he knoweth Him and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar.” And, according to St. Paul, “ They profess that they know God, but in their works they deny Him.” For “ faith without works is dead.” Surely if they had a true knowledge and fear of the coming of the Lord they would not defile their souls with all manner of moral filthiness, but would rather keep careful watch and not suffer such violence to be done to their consciences.

Now, the first degree of this knowledge produces penitence and sorrow, changing laughter into tears, song into mourning, joy into grief; insomuch that you begin to have a dislike now for what particularly pleased you before, and what you were wont to seek with the greatest avidity you avoid now with the greatest disgust. For so it is written, ‘‘ He that addeth knowledge, addeth also sorrow.” Hence true and holy knowledge proves its presence by the sorrow it excites. In its second degree, this knowledge produces amendment of life, so that you no longer

“ yield your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity,” but instead you begin to bridle gluttony, to mortify the passion for pleasure, to humble your pride, and to compel your body, which has hitherto been the instrument of sin, to co-operate henceforth unto your sanctification. For repentance without amendment will profit you nothing. Hence the Wise Man says, “ When one buildeth up and another pulleth down, what profit have they but the labour? When one prayeth and another curseth, whose voice will God hear? He that washeth himself after touching the dead, if he toucheth him again, what doth his washing avail? ” Rather he ought to fear “lest some worse thing should happen to” him, as the Saviour gives warning. But because this amendment of life cannot long be sustained, unless the soul keeps watch and ward over herself, with wakeful and unwearying circumscription, she has need of the third degree of knowledge which produces solicitude, so that she may begin to walk carefully with her God, ever and in all things anxiously vigilant, lest she should offend, even in the very least, the eyes of so tremendous a Majesty. Thus, in repentance she is warmed; in amendment she is set on fire ; in solicitude she becomes all luminous and radiant, so that the whole man is renewed within and without.

The soul that attains to this third degree begins at last to enjoy a respite from “ the trouble of evils and sorrow,” and to temper with spiritual gladness the excess of her fear, lest at the thought of the greatness of her sins, she should “ be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.” Therefore, although she is afraid of the Judge, she has hope in the Saviour. Fear and joy are now contending and battling for the government of her mind. Nor seldom fear comes off triumphant, but more often the victory rests with joy, which puts fear to rout and shuts it up within its own secret stronghold. Happy the conscience wherein this conflict is being perpetually carried on until ‘‘ that which is mortal is swallowed up by life,” until “ that which is perfect” —namely, joy—reigns alone and “that which is in part, viz., fear—shall be done away.” For it is not fear that shall endure for ever, but only joy. Nevertheless, although such a soul is now burning and shining, let her not imagine herself to be at home in the shelter of her own house, where a lighted torch may be carried about without any fear of draughts. Let her remember that she is still out under the open sky, consequently, that she must be careful to protect with her two hands the flame of her candle, and not to trust it to the air,even when it appears most tranquil. For on a sudden, and at a moment when she is not suspecting, it will change its mood : then, if the sheltering hand has been withdrawn, although but for an instant, the light shall be promptly extinguished. And even if (as sometimes happens) the light of the candle begins to burn the hand that protects it, let her rather choose to suffer the pain than to withdraw the shelter, for otherwise, ‘‘ in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” the flame shall be blown out. Were we at home, in that “ house not made with hands, eternal in heaven,” to which no enemy gains admission, and from which no friend departs, then, my brethren, we should have nothing to fear. But so long as we live here below, we are exposed to three winds of the greatest power and malignity, namely: the world, the flesh, and the devil, which endeavour to extinguish the light of our conscience by blowing in upon our hearts evil desires and illicit motions, and suddenly bewildering us in such a manner that one can scarcely tell “ whence he cometh or whither he goeth.” Two of these spiritual winds sometimes cease from troubling us, but the third never makes a truce with anyone. Consequently, we must employ both our hands, and the hands of our souls rather than those of our body, to protect our consciences, lest perchance the light which has been kindled in them should be lost. We must not yield, we must not give way, even though the violent heat of temptation is furiously burning us in both our spiritual and material parts. But we must say with the Psalmist, “ My soul is continually in my hands.” Let us endure the fire rather than surrender. And as we do not easily forget what we hold in our hands, so we should never lose sight of the interests of our souls, and our spiritual concerns ought to hold the first place in our hearts.

When, therefore, our loins have been thus girded and our lamps thus lighted, we must begin to keep the “night-watches’’ over the flocks of our thoughts and actions, so that if the Lord shall come at the first watch, or at the second watch, or at the third, He shall always find us ready. The first of these night-watches, my brethren, is regularity in your exterior conduct, so that you endeavour to conform your whole life to the Rule you have sworn to observe, and do not transgress the bounds which our fathers have set in all the exercises of this way and life, declining neither to the right hand nor to the left. The second is purity of intention, so that the eye being simple may render the whole body lightsome. Thus, all that you do now is done purely for the glory of God, and “unto the place from whence the rivers (of grace) come they return to flow again.” The third night-watch is zeal for the preservation of concord and unity. And thou keepest this when, placed in the community, thou givest the will of each of thy brethren the preference over thine own,* so that thou conversest amongst them not alone without blame, but with the kindliness of charity, supporting all and praying for all, in such a manner as to deserve to have applied to thee what Onias said of the Prophet, “‘ This is a lover of his brethren and of all the people of Israel : this is he that prayeth much for the people and for all the holy city.” It is thus, my brethren, that on this day the advent of the Only-Begotten enkindles for us the light of true knowledge : I mean the knowledge by which we know that the Lord will come, which is, the firm and enduring foundation of our spiritual life.

“And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord.” O most desirable morning! O day in the courts of the Lord that is “ better above thousands,” wherein for ever month shall succeed to month and sabbath to sabbath, whilst the splendour of light and the fervour of charity shall unfold and illumine the loftiest mysteries of God for the contemplation of the blessed! Oh, who shall presume—I do not say, to describe—but even to imagine thy glories? Yet, in the meantime, my brethren, let us strengthen our faith, in order that, if we cannot behold the wonders which are reserved for the life to come, we may at least contemplate something of the marvels accomplished for us on earth. In assuming our flesh the Majesty of God by an exercise of omnipotence wrought three works, effected three unions, so uniquely wonderful and so wonderfully unique, that nothing like them has ever yet been done upon the earth or shall be done hereafter. For the Divine Nature was united to the human, virginity to motherhood, and faith to the heart of man. Very admirable in truth is each of these unions, and more marvellous than any miracle: how elements so heterogeneous and, in a sense, so opposed, could be brought together and made to combine.

And consider first of all the creation of the universe, and the disposition and ordering of its various parts. What a display of power in the production of a world out of nothingness! What wisdom in the collocation of the different orders of creatures! What benignity in their manifold combination! Reflect on the multitude and magnitude of the things created by almighty power, how wisely they are all distributed, with how much goodness they have been compounded, the highest being united to the lowest, with a charity as amiable as it is admirable. For to this slime of the earth has been added the vital force, as for instance, in the trees where its presence is manifested in the beauty of the foliage, in the brilliancy of the flowers, and in the sweetness and wholesomeness of the fruit. Not content with thus ennobling our common clay, the Creator has further endowed it with the principle of sentiency in the brute beasts, which are not only gifted with life but also possess a fivefold faculty of perception. And He has stopped not even at this, but in order to

Y honour the material element still more, He has associated with it the rational soul in the case of man, who, in addition to life and sensibility, is invested with the power of discriminating between what is helpful and what is harmful, between good and evil, between truth and falsity. Lastly, the Divine Majesty, wishing to elevate matter to a yet higher glory, contracted His own immensity and gave Himself—the greatest gift in His power to bestow—to be united to our earthy substance, so that in the unity of a single Person should be wedded together God and matter, Majesty and weakness, infinite Sublimity and utter abjection. For there is nothing more sublime than the Divinity and nothing more abject than clay. And nevertheless with so much condescension has God lowered Himself to the level of matter, with so much honour has matter been raised to the level of God, that by an ineffable and incomprehensible mystery, whatever God has done in it, matter may be said to have done, and whatever matter has suffered in Him, God may be said to have suffered. * But observe here that, just as in the Godhead there is unity of Substance with trinity of Persons, so, in this special composition, we have a trinity of substances, with a unity of Person, And as in the former case, neither the plurality of Persons prejudices the unity of Substance, nor does the unity of Substance exclude the distinction of the Persons ; so likewise in the latter, neither the unity of the Person confounds the distinction of the substances, nor does the plurality of the substances destroy the unity of the Person. My brethren, the Divine and Sovereign Trinity has exhibited to us this inferior trinity as the most wonderful thing in creation, as a work singular amongst all and over all the multitudinous works of God. For here the Word, the soul, and human flesh are united in the unity of a single Person. These three are One, and this One is three, not by any confusion of the substances, but by the unity of the Person of the Word. This is the first and most excellent union, it is the first amongst the three unions to which I have referred. Remember, O man, that thou art but dust, and be not proud ; remember also that thou art made one with God and be not ungrateful.

The second union is the truly singular and admirable alliance of virginity with motherhood. “From the beginning of the world it hath not been heard ” that one who brought forth remained still a virgin, or that one who remained a virgin brought forth. According to: the ordinary course of nature, virginity is never found co-existent with fecundity, nor is there any room for fecundity where virginity is preserved intact. Mary world, because such terms express only the nature, whereas it is true to say that God suffered and died, and that the Man Christ created the world. Cf. Hurter, vol. ii. p. 423.—(Translator.)

is the only woman in whom integrity and motherhood have met together. In her was once accomplished what had never been done before nor shall be done hereafter, for it is of her the Poet sings,

“ Whose like had ne’er been seen before, Nor shall appear for evermore.” —(Sedulius).

The third union is that of faith with the human heart. This, although inferior in dignity, both to the first and to the second, is yet perhaps their equal in strength. For it is very extraordinary, how the heart of man yields the assent of faith to those two mysteries, how it can believe that God has become man, and that Mary has remained a virgin after child-birth. Just as iron and clay cannot be welded together, so it is equally impossible to conjoin so mighty a force of faith with the weakness and inconstancy of the human heart, @vithout the solder of the Holy Spirit. Are we then to believe that He Who is laid in the manger, Who weeps in the cradle, Who suffers all the miseries and pains incidental to childhood, Who is scourged, Who is spat upon, Who is crucified, Who is placed in the sepulchre and confined between two stones—are we to believe Him to be God, God immense and majestic? And with regard to Mary, how can we believe in the virginity of her whom we behold suckling her Babe, who lives with her husband and is always at his side, accompanying him in his long journey to Egypt and back again to Nazareth ? How can the human race, how can the whole world be induced to credit this? Nevertheless, these truths have won acceptance, and that with so much power and facility that the very multitude of those who believe in them makes them credible to me. Yea, “young men and maidens, the old with the younger,” have chosen to die a thousand deaths rather than renounce this faith for a moment.

This third union is indeed very excellent, but still more excellent is the second, and most excellent of all is the first. “ Ear hath heard ” of the first, although “eye hath not seen” it. For that “great mystery of godliness ” has been heard and believed even to the ends of the earth. But “eye hath not seen, O God, besides Thee,” how Thou hast united Thyself to a human body within the narrow limits of a virgin’s womb. “ Eye hath seen’’ the second union, because that glorious Queen who “ kept all these words pondering them in her heart,” saw herself at one and the same time a mother and a virgin. And Joseph also was no less the witness than the guardian of his consort’s integrity. The third “ hath entered into the heart of man,’ when what was accomplished was believed as it had been accomplished, when more credit was given to the oracle of heaven than to the human eye, when men believed firmly, nothing doubting, the things that were said or done. Therefore, in the first of these three unions, thou mayest perceive what God has bestowed upon thee, in the second by what intermediary He has bestowed it, and in the third for what purpose. He has given thee Christ, through Mary, for thy salvation. Hence the first union contains the remedy : it is a poultice, so to speak, made up of the Divine Nature and the human, and intended for the cure of thy infirmities. These two elements have been ground and mixed in the mortar of the Virgin’s bosom; the Holy Spirit, as the pestle, sweetly blending them together. But since thou wert unworthy to receive so great agift directly from the Lord, it was given to Mary, so that thou mightest receive through her hands whatever of good was destined for thee—through her hands, I say, who by her motherhood has for thee given birth to God, and because she was a virgin has been “ heard for (her) reverence,” when pleading thy cause and the cause of the whole human race. Were she a mother alone, it would be enough for her to “ be saved through childbearing,” as the Apostle speaks; and were she a virgin alone, she would be sufficient for herself indeed, but there would be no fruit of her womb to be pronounced blessed, or to become the world’s ransom. Therefore, whilst the first union contains the remedy, it is only in the second that we enjoy the benefit of that remedy, because it is the will of God that we should have nothing which has not passed through the hands of Mary. In the third of these unions we find merit, for it is accounted merit to us when we believe firmly in the two preceding; and there is salvation in faith, as the Lord assures us, where He says, “ He that believeth shall be saved.” Amen,