First Sermon for the Feast of Circumcision: On the Different Kinds of Circumcision ; on the Name of Salvation and the Three Witnesses

“And after eight days were accomplished that the Child should be circumcised, His name was called Jesus.’’—Luke ii. 22.

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You have heard, my brethren, a “ great mystery of godliness ” announced in a few words. You have heard a passage of Scripture corresponding in its brevity to the “abridgment ” which, according to Isaias, the Lord hath made of His own Word on the earth. For the Word of God, already “ abridged ” by the incarnation, is still more ‘‘ abridged ” to-day by the rite of circumcision. The Only-Begotten of the Father was ““ made a little less than the angels ” when He assumed our humanity, but now surely He has become, not a little, but a great deal less than the angels, by submitting to the remedy of our human corruption. We have here, consequently, a powerful support for our faith, and at the same time an illustrious example of humility. What need hast Thou to be circumcised, O Lord, Who art free from all defilement of sin, both personal and inherited ? That Thou hast committed no sin Thyself is evident from Thy infancy ; that Thou hast not contracted the stain of original sin is more evident still from the Divinity of Thy Father and from the integrity of Thy Mother. Thou art that High-Priest of Whom it is predicted in the Law *—for it is a prophecy rather than a command—that He should contract defilement neither from Father nor Mother. For Thou hast a Father from all eternity, but a Father Who is God and consequently immune from sin; and Thou hast been born in time of a Mother, but of a Mother who preserved her virginity, and being thus incorrupt herself, could transmit no corruption to her Offspring. Yet, notwithstanding His sinlessness, the Virgin’s Child—the Lamb without spot—is circumcised as other infants. He needed it not, yet willed to endure it. Although not having so much as the trace of a wound, He does not decline the remedy. ‘‘ Not so the wicked, not so.” It is not in this way the perversity of human pride acts. We are ashamed to have our wounds bound up, yea, and sometimes even glory in our wounds. We are ashamed to do penance, yet have no shame of doing deeds of shame. Can any madness be greater than this? The Saviour Himself, Whom no man could “convince of sin,” submits without necessity to a remedy for sin as painful as it is ignominious; He refuses not the “ knife of stone ’’ wherewith alone the original corruption could bescraped away ; He “ Who did no sin”’ does not disdain to be reputed a sinner. And we, although willing enough to be sinners in fact, cannot bear to be so esteemed! Is it then the healthy that are in need of medicine, and not they that are ill ? I should rather have said, is it for the physician a remedy is sought and not for his patient ? Who amongst men would willingly submit to be circumcised, if conscious —I will not say of such glory, but—of such innocence

FIRST SERMON FOR THE CIRCUMCISION 425 | as belonged to Christ ? But He contentedly “ paid what He took not away,” as the Psalmist sings, though He came, not to endure the purgation but, as the Apostle says, to “ make a purgation of sins.” However, it may be asked, why should not He Who is only a Little One endure this purgation just as other little ones? But it were more pertinent to ask why should not He endure it Who is so “meek and humble of heart” ?* Or why should not He Who was “ dumb as a lamb before His shearers,” Who was silent before His executioners, submit with patience to His circumciser? For to preserve His own Flesh from the knife of circumcision could not have been hard to Him Who was able to issue forth from His Mother’s womb without injury to her integrity. This Little One Who with all ease guarded His Body after death from corruption, could not have found it difficult to protect It living from the wound of circumcision.

“ After eight days were accomplished that the Child should be circumcised, His name was called Jesus.” How great and marvellous a mystery! The Child is circumcised and His name is called Jesus. Wherefore are these two things united ? For circumcision appears to belong rather to those who need salvation than to Jesus, that is, to the Saviour ; and it seems more proper for the Saviour to circumcise others than to be circumcised Himself. But, my brethren, recognise in this Infant the ‘‘ Mediator of God and men,” Who from the very beginning of His created existence associates things divine with things human, the lowest with the highest,

He is born of a woman; but of a woman who is privileged to bear the fruit of motherhood without losing the flower of virginity. He is wrapped in swaddling clothes; but these swaddling clothes are celebrated with angelic songs. He is concealed in a manger ; but heaven sends down a star to manifest His presence. Thus also His circumcision proves the reality of His Human Nature, whilst the name “which is above all names ” reveals the glory of His Majesty. He is circumcised as being a true son of Abraham ; He is called Jesus as being the true Son of God. For in this Jesus of ours the name is not an empty title, as it was in His forbears. He has not the shadow but the truth of a great name. The Evangelist distinctly tells us that He received this name from heaven, for he says that it “ was called by the Angel before He was conceived in the womb.” Mark what a depth of meaning there is here. After the birth of Jesus He was called Jesus by men, by which name He had already been called by the Angel before He was conceived in the womb. However, we ought not to be surprised at this, because Jesus is the Saviour of both angels and men. He is the Saviour of the angels from the moment of their creation ; He is the Saviour of men from the moment of His incarnation.

“ His name was called Jesus, which was called by the angel before He was conceived in the womb,” “ that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand”; and the same Word announced by the Prophet as about to be “abridged,” is more clearly stated in the Gospel to have been made flesh. This, my brethren, is a parable, and has reference to ourselves. For Christ has no need of testimony from either angels or men, but, as the Apostle says, “all things (are) for the sake of the elect.” We are instructed, therefore, to seek a threefold witness of our own salvation, lest perhaps we should seem to have taken the name of our God in vain. For we also, brethren, must endure to be circumcised, in order to receive the name of salvation.* We must be circumcised, I say, yet not according to the letter but “in spirit and in truth,” not in one part only, but in the whole body ; because the concupiscence which comes from the original transgression and has to becut away, is not confined to any single member, but reigns throughout the flesh. “ From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head there is no soundness ” inus. No part of our body has escaped the infection of this poison. Consequently, although the chosen people, whilst it was as yet but little in faith and love, had enjoined on it a partial circumcision suited to its weakness; now, when it has increased unto the fulness of perfect manhood, it is commanded to be baptised in its whole body, which may be regarded as a circumcision of the entire man. Hence it is that the Saviour vouchsafed to undergo the Jewish circumcision on the eighth day (when He was still only a Little One) and after His thirtieth year allowed Himself to be crucified, by which every part of His Body was racked with pain. And according to the Apostle,

“ we have been planted together in the likeness of His death,” by our obedience to the law imposing the new circumcision.

What else, therefore, is our moral circumcision except that which the Apostle recommends to us where he says, ‘‘ Having food and wherewith to be covered, with these we are content ’’? Assuredly we are well circumcised by our voluntary poverty, which cuts away everything superfluous, by our penitential labours, by our observance of regular discipline. But, as I have said, in this moral circumcision, we have to seek a threefold testimony of our salvation, from the Angel, from Mary, and from Joseph. It is necessary first and before all that the “ Angel of the great counsel ” should impose on us the name of salvation. We have need, secondly, of the testimony of the community in which we live, and which is, as it were, the mother of each of us, but a virgin mother, like unto her whom St. Paul “‘ espoused to one Husband ” and presented “ as a chaste virgin to Christ.” Nor, in the third place, must he who desires to follow the Saviour’s example, neglect the testimony of His minister. For the latter represents Joseph, and holds the place of the Bridegroom, yet only as His servant and steward ;. Joseph is called the father of Christ, but is really nothing more than His guardian.

I will endeavour to put this more clearly. It is necessary for us, my brethren, to have good testimony, both from those who are without and from Him Who is within. Now, the religious whose conversation is agreeable to all and offensive to none has undoubtedly the testimony of the entire brotherhood in favour of his salvation. So far as regards external conduct, it will be useless for the wicked “ accuser of the brethren ” to cite him to judgment whose innocence is attested by the whole community. From his superiors also he has good testimony, whosoever, having a sincere determination to follow their directions, faithfully exposes for their judgment in a candid and humble confession the sins he has been guilty of whilst he lived in the world, as well as the faults committed in the cloister. “ For in many things we all offend,” unless we consider ourselves holier than the disciple whom Jesus loved, Concerning sins thus manifested there is no longer any cause for uneasiness, because the Lord will not judge again what has already been pronounced upon. But perhaps the accuser will attempt to impute evil to our intentions, and endeavour to calumniate us in a matter as to which the testimony alike of our spiritual father and of our brethren shall appear of little avail. For this, therefore, we have need of an internal Witness, Who looks rather to the heart than to the face. And evidently we must begin with this internal Witness, so that we shall conceive nothing in our souls until it has first received from Him the name of salvation. But when that which has been conceived in the mind issues forth into external action, it is necessary that it should also obtain good testimony for itself from those who are without. “For we provide what may be good,” says the Apostle, “ not only before God but also before men.”