the blithe Shepherds, who ran for joy to Bethlehem,1 and the glad Magi, who were well-nigh out of themselves with delight, when, on quitting Jerusalem, the star again appeared and led them to the Cave where the Child was.2 Joy at Christmas is a Christian instinct, which originated those many Carols, which, like so many other beautiful traditions of the ages of Faith, are unfortunately dying out amongst us; but which Rome still encourages, gladly welcoming each year those rude musicians, the Pifferari, who come down from the Apennines, and make the streets of the Eternal City re-echo with their shrill melodies. Come, then, faithful Children of the Church, let us take our share in her joy! This is not the season for sighing or for weeping. For unto us a Child is born!3 He, for whom we have been so long waiting is come; and he is come to dwell among us. Great, indeed, and long was our suspense; so much the more let us love our possessing him. The day will too soon come when this Child, now born to us, will be the Man of Sorrows, and then we will compassionate him; but, at present, we must rejoice and be glad at his coming, and sing round his Crib, with the Angels. Heaven sends us a present of its own joy: we need joy, and Forty Days are not too many for us to get it well into our hearts. The Scripture tells us, that a secure mind is like a continual feast, and a secure mind can only be where there is peace; now, it is Peace, which these blessed days bring to the earth; Peace, say the Angels, to men of good will! Intimately and inseparably united with this exquisite mystic joy, is the sentiment of gratitude. Gratitude is indeed due to Him, who, neither de 1 St. Luke, ii. 16. 2 St. Matth. ii. 10. Is. ix. 6. 5 Is. liii. 3. terred by our unworthiness, nor restrained by the infinite respect which becomes his sovereign Majesty, deigned to be born of his own creature, and have stable for his birth-place. Oh! how vehemently must he not have desired to advance the work of our salvation, to remove everything which could make us afraid of approaching him, and to encourage us, by his own example, to return, by the path of humility, to the heaven we had strayed from by pride! Gratefully, therefore, let us receive the precious gift-this Divine Babe, our Deliverer. He is the Only Begotten Son of the Father, that Father who hath so loved the world, as to give his only Son.' He the Son, unreservedly ratifies his Father's will, and comes to offer himself because it is his own will.2 How, as the Apostle expresses it, hath not the Father with Him, given us all things?3 O gift inestimable! How shall we be able to repay it by suitable gratitude, we who are so poor, as not to know how to appreciate it? God alone, and the Divine Infant in his Crib, know the value of the mystery of Bethlehem, which is given to us. Shall our debt, then, never be paid? Not so: we can pay it by love, which though finite, gives itself without measure, and may grow for ever in intensity. For this reason, the Church, after she has offered her adorations, and hymns, and grati tude, to her Infant Saviour, gives him also her tenderest Love. She says to him: "How beautiful "art thou, my Beloved One, and how comely! How sweet to me is thy rising, O Divine Sun of Justice! "How my heart glows in the warmth of thy beams! Nay, dearest Jesus, the means thou usest for gain“ing me over to thyself, are irresistible-the feeble 1 St. John, iii. 16. Rom. viii. 32. • Cant. i. 15. "ness and humility of a Child!" Thus do all her words end in love; and her adoration, praise, and thanksgiving, when she expresses them in her Canticles, get transformed into love. Christians! let us imitate our Mother, and give our hearts to our Emmanuel. The Shepherds offer him their simple gifts, the Magi bring him their rich presents, and no one must appear before the Divine Infant, without something worthy his acceptance. Know, then, that nothing will please him, but that which he came to seek- -our love. It was for this that he came down from heaven. Hard indeed is that heart which can say, He shall not have my love! These, then, are the duties we owe to our Divine Master in this his first Coming, which, as St. Bernard says, is in the flesh and in weakness, and is for the salvation, not for the judgment, of the world. As regards that other Coming, which is to be in majesty and power on the Last Day, we have meditated upon it during Advent. The fear of the Wrath to come should have roused our souls from their lethargy, and have prepared them, by humility of heart, to receive the visit of Jesus in that secret Coming, which he makes to the soul of man. It is the ineffable mystery of this intermediate Coming that we are now going to explain. We have shown, elsewhere, how the time of Advent belongs to that period of the spiritual life, which is called, in Mystic Theology, the Purgative Life, and during which the soul cleanses herself from sin and the occasions of sin, by the fear of God's judgments, and by combating against evil concupiscence. We are taking it for granted, that every faithful soul has journeyed through these rugged paths, and which must be gone through, before she could be admitted to the Feast, to which the Church vites all mankind, saying to them, on the Saturday of the Second Week of Advent, those words of the Prophet Isaias: "Lo! this is our God: we have waited for him; and he will save us. We have patiently waited for him, and we shall rejoice and be joyful in his Salvation! As in the house of our heavenly Father there are many mansions,2 so likewise, on the grand Solemnity of Christmas, when those words of Isaias are realized, the Church sees, amongst the countless throng who receive the Bread of Life, a great variety of sentiments and dispositions. Some were dead, and the graces, given during the holy Season of Advent, have restored them to life: others, whose spiritual life had long been healthy, have so spent their Advent, that its holy exercises have redoubled their love of their Lord, and their entrance into Bethlehem has been to them a renewal of their soul's life. Now, every soul that has been admitted to Bethlehem, that is to say, into the House of Bread, and has been united with Him, who is the Light of the World that soul no longer walks in darkness. The mystery of Christmas is one of Illumination; and the grace it produces in the soul that corresponds with it, places her in the second stage of the Mystic Life, which is called the Illuminative Life. Henceforward, then, we need no longer weary ourselves watching for our Saviour's arrival; he has come, he has shone upon us, and we are resolved to keep up the light, nay, to cherish its growth within us, in proportion as the Liturgical Year unfolds its successive seasons of mysteries and graces. God grant that we may reflect in our souls the Church's progressive development of this divine Light; and be led by its brightness to that Union, which crowns both the year of the Church, and the faithful soul which has spent the year under the Church's guidance! 1 Is. XXV. • St. John, xiv. 2. But, in the mystery of Christmastide, this Light is given to us, so to speak, softened down; our weakness required that it should be so. It is, indeed, the Divine Word, the Wisdom of the Father, that we are invited to know and imitate; but this Word, this Wisdom, are shown us under the appearance of a Child. Let nothing keep us from approaching him. We might fear were he seated on a throne in his palace; but he is lying on a crib in a stable ! Were it the time of his Fatigues, his Bloody Sweat, his Cross, his Burial, or even of his Glory and his Victory, we might say we had not courage enough:-but, what courage is needed to go near him in Bethlehem, where all is sweetness, and silence, and a simple Little Babe! Come to him, says the Psalmist, and be enlightened!' Where shall we find an interpreter of this twofold mystery, which is wrought at this holy season-the mystery of the Infancy of Jesus in the soul of man, and the mystery of the infancy of man's soul in his Jesus? None of the Holy Fathers has so admirably spoken upon it as St. Leo: let us listen to his grand words. "Although that Childhood, which the majesty of "the Son of God did not disdain to assume, has de❝veloped, by growth of age, into the fulness of the perfect man, and, the triumph of his Passion and Resurrection having been achieved, all the humilia"tions he submitted to, for our sakes, are passed; nevertheless, the Feast we are now keeping brings "back to us the sacred Birth of the Virgin Mary's "Child, Jesus our Lord. So that, whilst adoring his 'Birth, we are, in truth, celebrating our own commencement of life; for the Generation of Christ, is "the origin of the Christian people, and the Birth "Day of him that is our Head, is the Birth Day " 1 Ps. xxxiii. 6. |