First Sermon for Christmas Day: On the Fountains of the Saviour

“ You shall draw waters with joy out of the Saviour's fountains, and you shall say in that day : Praise ye the Lord and call upon His name.’’—Isaias xii. 2-3.

Truly great, my dearest brethren, is the festival we keep to-day in honour of the Lord’s nativity. But the shortness of the time at our disposal admits of only a short sermon. Nor ought you to be surprised that I shorten my words, seeing that God the Father has to-day shortened * His own Word. Shall I tell you how extended was that Divine Word, and how much He has been contracted? “Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord,’ by His Prophet Jeremias. But now, made flesh, He lies in a narrow manger. Again, the Psalmist says to Him, “ From eternity and to eternity Thou art God.” And see! He has become as an Infant of a day. Wherefore, brethren, or by what necessity has the Lord of Majesty so humbled Himself, so emptied Himself, so “‘ shortened ” Himself, unless it be in order to induce us to do likewise ? And thus He now already preaches by His example what He shall later on proclaim with His lips: “ Learn of Me because I am meek and humble of heart.” Hence we find it written in the Acts of the Apostles that ‘‘ Jesus began to do and to teach.” I beg of you, then, dearest brethren, and most earnestly beseech you not to allow so noble an example to be presented to you without profiting by it, but rather to make it your model and to “be renewed in the spirit of your minds.” Be diligent in acquiring humility, which is the foundation and the guardian of the virtues. Cultivate humility, because by it alone can you save your souls. What indeed could be more unworthy, what more detestable, what deserving of severer chastisement than that man should still “ presume to magnify himself upon the earth ” after seeing the God of heaven making Himself so little? It is intolerable impudence on the part of a wretched little worm to inflate and enlarge itself, when the Lord of glory has voluntarily laid aside His greatness.

This, then, is the reason why He Who “ in the form of God” was equal to the Father, yet “ emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant.” But He only emptied Himself of His Majesty and His power, not also of His goodness and mercy. For what says the Apostle? “The goodness and kindness of God our Saviour appeared.” Already He had exhibited His power in the creation of the world; His wisdom was constantly revealed in the government of the universe ; but His goodness and kindness became especially manifest in His incarnation. His power was made known to the Jews in signs and wonders. Hence in their law we frequently find the words, “ I, the Lord,” “I, the Lord.” The philosophers likewise, ‘‘ abounding in their own sense,” had knowledge of His Majesty, because, as the Apostle bears witness, ‘‘ That which is known of God is manifest in them.” Nevertheless, the Jews were oppressed by the power which they knew, and the philosophers, becoming “searchers of Majesty,” were “ overwhelmed by glory.” For power demands subjection, Majesty calls for admiration, whilst imitation belongs to neither. Therefore, let Thy goodness, O Lord, appear, to which man, who is made to Thy image, may be conformed. Thy Majesty, Thy power, and Thy wisdom it is not possible for us to imitate, nor is it expedient to emulate. But how long shall Thy mercy confine itself to a part of Thy angelic creation, leaving the rest, along with the whole human race, to be occupied by Thy justice? “ O Lord, Thy mercy is in heaven, and Thy truth, viz., Thy justice, reacheth even unto the clouds,” condemning all the earth, together with the powers of the air. But let Thy mercy widen its boundaries; let it extend its domain; let it expand its bosom ; let it “ reach from end to end mightily and dispose all things sweetly.” Thou art straitened, O Lord, within the compass of Thy justice ; put off Thy girdle and come down to us flowing with mercies, overfiowing with charity. And thou, O man, why art thou fearful? Wherefore dost thou tremble “before the Face of the Lord because He cometh ” ? For He is coming to save the world, not to judge it. Long ago thou wert induced by a faithless fellow-servant to steal the royal diadem and to place it upon thy head. But thou wert discovered in the act. Good reason hadst thou then to be afraid. Good reason hadst thou then to flee from the Face of the Lord. For perhaps He was already brandishing the flaming sword. Now, however, in a land of exile, thou eatest thy bread in the sweat of thy brow, and behold, a voice is heard on the earth proclaiming the coming of the Lord. Whither shalt thou go from His Spirit? Or whither shalt thou flee from His Face? But do not fear, do not fly. He comes not now in anger. He seeks thee not for punishment but in order to save thee. And lest on this occasion also thou shouldst say, “ I heard Thy voice and I hid myself,” behold He has become an Infant, a little speechless Babe. For His wailing cries should rather move thee to compassion than inspire thee with terror: and even if perchance there be some others to whom they are a cause of alarm, surely they are not so to thee. He has made Himself a Little One; His Virgin Mother wraps Him in His poor swaddling clothes: and art thou still fearful and trembling? This alone should convince thee that He comes not to destroy but to save thee, to deliver and not to bind thee, the fact, namely, that He is already fighting against thy foes, that He, as the Power and the Wisdom of God, is already trampling on the necks of the proud and haughty demons.

Thou, O man, hast two enemies, sin and death, that is to say, the death of the soul and the death of the body. Christ is come to conquer both, and from both will He save thee. Only be not afraid. Even already He has vanquished sin in His own Person by taking upon Himself our human nature, free from all defilement. For great violence was done to sin, and it manifestly sustained a heavy defeat, when that very nature which it boasted of having entirely corrupted and completely subdued, was found in Christ wholly reclaimed from it. After this first victory, He “ will pursue after (thy) enemies and overtake them, and (He) will not turn back again till they are consumed.” Fighting against sin during His mortal existence, He will oppose it with His words and example; in His passion He will bind it, He will bind “ the strong man and plunder his house.” Then, as regards death, He will in the same manner and order vanquish it first in Himself, when He rises from the tomb, “ the first-fruits of them that sleep,” “ the First-Begotten of the dead.” Afterwards He will overcome it in us also, when He will raise up again our mortal bodies: so shall our enemy, death, be at last destroyed. Therefore will He be “ clothed with beauty ” at His resurrection, not, as now in His nativity, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Therefore He whose Heart is now brimming over with mercy, Who now judgeth no man, will then, at His rising, gird Himself, and with the cincture of justice will seem to restrain, so to speak, the flowing robes of His mercy. For from that time He shall be prepared for the judgment, which is reserved for our resurrection. And therefore He comes now as a Little One, in order to give mercy the precedence, and that mercy, going before, may temper the severity of the final judgment which must follow.

Yet, although He has come to us now as a Little One, not little but great are the blessings He has brought and bestowed upon us. Would you like to know what these are? Well, in the first place He has brought us mercy, the mercy according to which “He has saved us,” as the Apostle testifies. For Christ is for us as a fountain, in which we may wash ourselves clean, as it is written, “ Who hath loved us and washed us from our sins.” But this is not the only use of water: it can serve us in more ways than by washing out our stains. Thus it can also quench our thirst. ‘‘ Blessed is the man,” says Holy Scripture,

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“ that shall continue in wisdom, and that shall meditate in his justice,” and a little further on, “ With the bread of life and understanding she (justice) shall feed him and give him the water of wholesome wisdom to drink.” Well does the Holy Spirit describe this wisdom as wholesome, since ‘‘ the wisdom of the flesh is death,” and the wisdom of the world also is “an enemy to God.” The only wholesome wisdom is that which comes from God, and which, according to St. James, is “first indeed chaste, then peaceable.” But the wisdom of the flesh is impure instead of chaste, and the wisdom of the world is rather contentious than peaceable. The wisdom which is from God is chaste, in that it seeks not the things that are its own but “the things that are Jesus Christ’s,’”’ so that, instead of letting us follow each his own will, it makes us consider what is the will of God. And, it is peaceable inasmuch as it does not “abound in its own sense,” but rather acquiescesin the judgment and counsel of others.

A third use of water is for irrigation, of which young plants especially have the greatest need. Without it they will either perish entirely or their growth will be greatly retarded for want of moisture. Whoever, therefore, has sown the seeds of good works should seek for the water of devotion, so that, irrigated from the fountain of grace, the garden of his virtuous life may not wither but may flourish in a never-fading bloom. It is for such a soul the Psalmist is praying when he says, “ And may thy whole burnt-offering be made fat.” Thus also is it written in praise of Aaron that a heavenly fire daily consumed his sacrifice. From this, so it seems, we are to understand that our good works ought to be seasoned with the fervour of devotion and with the sweetness of spiritual grace. Do you think it possible to find a fourth use of water, or let me say, a fourth fountain, so that we may be able to recover that paradise which was watered and beautified by a four-branched stream?* For if we despair of having the earthly paradise restored to us, how can we hope for the kingdom of heaven? “If I have spoken to you earthly things,” said the Saviour, “and you believe not ; how will you believe if I shall speak to you heavenly things?” As it is, however, in order that the bestowal of present favours may confirm our hope of the future kingdom, we already actually possess a much better and more delightful Paradise than the one which our first parents lost; and this Paradise of ours is none other than Christ the Lord. In this living Paradise we have now discovered three of the fountains, and the fourth is yet to seek. We have the waters of pardon from the fountain of mercy to wash away our sins; we have the waters of prudence from the fountain of wisdom to slake our thirst ; and we have the waters of devotion from the fountain of grace to irrigate the plants of our good works. Let us now seek for the heated waters of ardent zeal with which to cook our food. For these waters serve both to spiritualise and to warm our affections, and they flow from the fountain of charity. Hence the Psalmist says, “ My heart grew hot within me, and in my meditation a fire shall flame out ”?” ; and in another place, “‘ The zeal of Thy house hath eaten me up.” For the sweetness of devotion engenders the love of justice, and the fervour of zeal a hatred of iniquity. And see if the Prophet Isaias is not alluding to these fountains where he says, “ You shall draw waters with joy out of the

Saviour’s fountains.” But in order to understand that this promise is to be fulfilled, not in the future life, but in the present, consider the words which follow, “ And you shall say in that day: Praise ye the Lord and call upon His name.” Now it is only in this life that we are to invoke the name of God, because He has said through the Psalmist, “ Call upon Me in the day of trouble.”

Furthermore, of these four fountains, the second, third, and fourth appear to belong to the three orders in the Church, one to each. The first is common to all, “for in many things we all offend,’’ and consequently have need of the fountain of mercy to wash away the defilement of our transgressions. ‘“ All have sinned,” says the Apostle, “and do need the glory, that is, the mercy, of God’’; and to whichever order we may belong, whether we are prelates, virgins, or married men, “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” Therefore, since “no one is free from stain,” the fountain of mercy is necessary for all, and all alike, Noe, Daniel, and Job,* ought to run to its waters with the same eagerness. With regard to the other three fountains, let Job seek especially that of wisdom, because he, more than others, walks in the midst of snares, so that it will be a wonderful thing if he avoids all evil. Daniel must have recourse to the fountain of grace, for he has need to irrigate his penitential labours and the austerity of his abstinence with the grace of devotion. It is necessary that we in particular should do everything with cheerfulness, since the virgins, and Job those engaged in the married state.— (Translator.)

“ God loveth a cheerful giver.” For this earth of ours produces now but very little of the seed of good works, and that little easily perishes unless it bewatered with repeated irrigations. Hence in the Lord’s Prayer, we daily solicit this grace of devotion when we ask for our daily bread. And not without reason, since otherwise we might fall under that terrible malediction pronounced by the Prophet, “ Let them be as grass upon the tops of houses, which withereth before it be plucked up.” But to Noe belongs in a special manner the fountain of zeal, because the zeal of charity is looked for particularly in prelates.

Therefore, my brethren, to us who are still living in the flesh, Christ exhibits in Himself four fountains. And He promises after this our exile, to give us a fifth, namely, the fountain of life, for which the Psalmist thirsted when he sang, “‘ My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God.” Perhaps it was to designate the first four fountains that Christ was wounded in four places whilst He hung yet living on the cross ; and the opening of His Side after He had yielded up His Spirit, may have been intended to signify the fifth. He was still alive when they pierced His Hands and His Feet, so that He might allow four fountains to flow forth from Himself unto us, who are also still living. The fifth wound was inflicted after He had expired, in order that for us, after our death, the fifth fountain might be opened. But behold! Whilst discoursing on the mys-teries of the Lord’s nativity, I have suddenly digressed to contemplate those of His passion. However, you must not be surprised that I seek in His passion for what He brought us at His birth. For it was in His passion that the coffer was broken and the treasure it contained poured out as the price of our redemption.