Ortus Christi: Meditations for Advent

"INCARNATUS EST"

Regem venturum Dominum venite adoremus. [Come let us adore the King our Lord Who is to come.]

1st. Prelude. Picture of the Annunciation.

2nd. Prelude. Grace to understand the mystery of the Incarnation.

Point I. Venite adoremus

"Come let us adore the King our Lord Who is to come." These are the opening words of the Invitatory which the Church uses every day at Matins during the first fortnight of Advent. Let us turn then from the Precursor, who has taught us so many lessons, to Jesus Christ Himself. What is He doing during these months of waiting before Christmas? He, too, is preparing, preparing for the work for which He has already come into the world, although He is not yet manifest. John the Baptist has pointed Him out to me: "Behold the Lamb of God!" Now I will do what his disciples did – leave "the Friend of the Bridegroom" for the Bridegroom Himself. He has become incarnate for me; it behoves me then to keep as close to Him as possible, to love Him with all my heart and to copy Him as far as I can. He is God and therefore there can be nothing imperfect about Him; from the first moment of the Word being made flesh in the womb of His Mother till "she brought forth her first-born Son" on Christmas day, His faculties, His reason, His intelligence, His sensibilities were all in a state of perfection; He knew the past, the present, and the future; and He, the Source of grace, was pouring forth grace on all around Him. Directly we understand this, we feel that we must draw near, not only to adore but to sympathize, to wonder, to love, to learn, to imitate. For those who understand the Incarnation, His work did not begin on Christmas Day, but on the Feast of the Annunciation, when Mary said: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to Thy word." What happened at that moment? The Holy Ghost overshadowed her, the Body of Our Lord was formed from her pure blood, God created the human Soul to dwell in it, and by the act of the Incarnation that Soul and Body became the Soul and Body of the Word, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity; Mary became the Mother of God and Gabriel worshipped before the Tabernacle of the Word made flesh.

Mary was the next to adore; Joseph, Elizabeth, John, Zachary followed, and there may have been other privileged ones to whom Our Lord Himself revealed His secret; but the world at large went on as usual – it "knew Him not." The same thing happens every day in our midst. When the priest with his God hidden on his breast passes on his way to give the Bread of Life to some sufferer, only a few privileged ones know the secret and offer their silent adoration. Venite adoremus.

Point II. Divine Adoration

It was a new life that Our Lord entered upon at the moment of the Incarnation. He had had His Divine Life from all eternity, but God had never before been man. He now for the first time could express Himself through a human body. God could adore with human lips, could love with a human heart, could suffer through human senses, could plan with a human intelligence, could reason with a human mind. The consequence of the union of the two natures was that the human nature was perfect, more than perfect – it was Divine, and God received at the moment of the Incarnation, the first perfect human act of adoration, the first perfect human act of love, of humility and of all the other virtues. The God-Man could adore perfectly, because being God He knew God and knew what adoration was fitting for God; it was God adoring God and yet it was a human act, the act of a man like ourselves. At that moment God received what He wanted from one of the human race. The first breath drawn by His Son Incarnate made it worth His while to have created man in spite of the Fall. He received not only reparation but all He expected from the human race when He first created it. He was satisfied, and would have been satisfied even if that first moment had also been His last on earth. The Incarnation would have done its work, the justice of God could have required no more – a human will was perfectly submissive to His Will, a human heart beat in unison with His, a human creature offered itself as a victim for the race: "Behold, I come to do Thy Will, O My God," I have desired it. (Ps. xxxix. 8, 9). God received at the moment of the Incarnation a higher act of worship than He had ever received from all the nine choirs of Angels, and that act was a human act. Did the Angels who fell understand this and was this the cause of their rebellion? It is true that this first moment of the Incarnation would have more than satisfied God, but it was not enough for the God-made-Man. He would go on, on even to the death of the cross, not to satisfy His Father's justice, but His own love, and to show to those whom by His Incarnation He had made His brethren to what lengths love can go. Every breath He drew was as perfect as the first – a perfect offering, a perfect act of adoration; every beat of His Heart until He said: "Father, into Thy Hands I commend My Spirit," was a perfect act of love; every act, every thought, every word perfect, because they were the acts, thoughts and words of God.

Point III. The practical Conclusion

What have I to do with these sublime truths? Everything, for He was incarnate for me. What does it mean? It means that He is my Brother and that He is giving to God what God must have, but what I cannot give Him; and that all I have to do is to unite myself to Him and to offer my imperfect acts of adoration, love, humility with His perfect ones. He has given Himself to me, that I may give Him back to God – a perfect offering with which God will be entirely satisfied. My God, I cannot adore Thee as I should, though I desire to do so with my whole heart, but Jesus is there incarnate for me, He is adoring Thee perfectly for me, accept His adoration and mine with it. My God, I love Thee, but I cannot love Thee enough, I cannot love Thee as I ought, I cannot love Thee as Thou deservest to be loved, but Jesus is incarnate for me, He has a human Heart which is loving Thee perfectly; I put my heart inside His, accept His love and mine with it. My God, I want to be perfectly submissive, perfectly humble, a perfect victim, but great though my desires are, I cannot arrive at the perfection which Thou dost require. Oh, look upon my Brother incarnate for me, accept all His perfections; let me offer my little struggles and desires and efforts with all that He is doing, for is it not all for me? "Through Him and with Him and in Him."

Let me go to Nazareth to Mary; she will welcome me for she knows that He has become incarnate for me. The Angel has just left her to take back her Fiat to Heaven. I will take his place and on bended knees before that holy shrine where the new Life has just begun, I will meditate. Never before perhaps have I so felt the need of thanksgiving, of adoration, of wonder, of love. All I offer now and from henceforth must pass through Mary to her Son, Who will offer my gifts with His own to His Father.

Colloquy with God-Incarnate.

Resolution. To thank God often to-day for the Incarnation.

Spiritual Bouquet. "He was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made Man."

"EX MARIA VIRGINE"

"Apud me est fons vitae." [In me is the Source of life.]

1st. Prelude. Mary, just after the Angel had departed from her.

2nd. Prelude. Grace to understand Mary's part in the Incarnation.

Point I. Mary shares all with her Son

All the joy that the Incarnation brought to the Blessed Trinity, Mary to a great extent must have shared. There was the joy of God the Father, because He saw His designs in creating man fulfilled, His justice satisfied and a human creature doing Him perfect homage and bringing Him so much glory. There was the joy of God the Son, because at last He was united to our human nature, because He being God had nevertheless a human Soul and a human Body, to which He could unite all the Divine perfections, and by means of which He could carry out all His Father's designs for the lost human race. There was the joy of the Holy Spirit Who had overshadowed Mary and by His Divine power created in her a Soul and a Body so beautiful that they were worthy to be taken by the Eternal Word and for ever united to the Divinity. The Holy Ghost saw now a human Soul into which He could pour all the grace that would be needed by the whole human race. Of His fulness all were to receive (St. John i. 16).

And what was the means whereby all this joy was given to the Blessed Trinity? The Body which had been formed from the most pure flesh and blood of Mary. She had lent herself at God's request to be the instrument used, and now she was the Tabernacle where the God-Man lay hidden. As He shared His life with His Mother, since it was her blood which was coursing through His Veins, so He shared all His acts with her. That first perfect act of adoration made by a human Soul to God was shared by Mary – she adored too. That first whole-hearted oblation of a human Soul to God was shared by Mary when she said her: "Fiat mihi secundum verbum Tuum." That first perfect act of love from a human Heart was shared by Mary for how close was the union between the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the most pure heart of Mary! When Jesus made acts of reparation of humility, of conformity to His Father's Will, Mary made them too – she could not but do so, for her life was so closely bound up with that of her Son; He became the mainspring of all she did. It was the charity and humility in His Heart that made her go to visit her cousin Elizabeth and make herself her handmaid; it was His salutation that made hers so powerful with regard both to Elizabeth and to the infant John; it was the thanksgiving in His Heart which overflowed into hers and made her sing her Magnificat. That Mary spent the nine months in adoration we may well believe, but she spent them also in union with her Son, sharing all with Him and giving us a perfect model of the interior life – which means not only that God shares in the acts of the soul, but also that the soul shares in the acts of God, Emmanuel – God with us – in order that we may be "with the King for His works" (1 Paralip. iv. 23).

Point II. Mary my Example

He was incarnate for me, and His Mother is my Mother; it is to her that I must look now to teach me how to spend these days before His birth. Teach me, my Mother, to follow the great example which you set. Teach me, too, to rejoice in the wonders of the Incarnation. Who should be more filled with joy than I for whom He was incarnate? Teach me what the interior life means, teach me to allow Him to be the mainspring within me of all I do, so that the life which I live is not mine but His, the words which I speak not mine but His, – Jesus acting, thinking, speaking through me. This is the interior life which Mary understood so well and lived so perfectly during her time of waiting. There is, however, another side to the interior life, and this is the one we want to meditate about more especially, while we are thinking of the Son of God incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. He has taken human nature, my nature, and joined it to the Godhead. He has made Himself a partaker of my human nature in order that I may be a partaker of His divine nature. I must not only think, then, of His working in and through me, but of my working in and through Him. Mary entered into and shared not only His Acts of adoration and love and praise, but also the work He had come to do, His plans for the Redemption of the world. "They dwelt with the King for His works, and they abode there" (1 Paral. iv. 23). How true this was of Mary! It is in this that I must try to copy her. "I will abide in the Tabernacle of the Most High," and I will offer myself for His works, His interests shall be mine, He shall feel that one soul at least, sympathizes and cares and intends to co-operate in the great work He has come to do.

Let me, then, as the season of Advent is fast passing, ask myself once again: Am I doing all I can for the spread of the Kingdom which He came to this earth to set up? Am I trying to look at the world with the eyes of love with which He regarded it, when He first made Himself incarnate for it? Am I helping His poor, tending His sick, instructing His ignorant, bringing Home His sheep, loving His little ones, comforting His sorrowful ones? Such are "His works," and if I would do them, I must dwell with the King and learn to do them in His way – I must live an interior life.

Point III. All passes through Mary

It is only those who do not understand the Incarnation who stumble over this statement. What could be more natural? If He chose to redeem the world through Mary, to do all His great works which depend on the Incarnation – such as the foundation of the Church with all her Sacraments – through Mary, is it strange that when I want to help the King in His works, I should do the same and put my little gifts for the King into her hands? Rather would it be strange if I wanted to work on a different plan from my King's. She is the Janua coeli, the Turris Davidica, the Sacrarium Spiritus Sancti; the Tabernacle where He was incarnate for me. Through her and by means of her, He hands me all the graces I receive. What more natural than that I should make use of such a messenger to take back my offerings? And do they lose in the transaction? Surely they must gain, first because she will purify them and add to them her own merits and graces, and secondly because a gift presented by His own Mother cannot but be enhanced in value.

Blessed Grignon de Montfort says: "God has chosen her for the treasurer, steward and dispenser of all His graces, so that all His graces and all His gifts pass through her hands; and according to the power she has received over them, as St. Bernardine teaches, she gives to whom she wills, as she likes, and as much as she likes, the graces of the Eternal Father, the virtues of Jesus Christ and the gifts of the Holy Ghost." We may, if we like, "do all our actions with Mary, in Mary, by Mary, for Mary, in order to do them more perfectly with Jesus, in Jesus, by Jesus, and for Jesus, our Last End."1

If I am a child of Mary in anything more than in name, I shall not hesitate to use this great privilege which is offered to me, knowing that by so doing, not only will the value of my prayers and penances and actions be enhanced in God's sight, but my merits and graces will be increased. Mary will see to it that her children who thus trust her have a Benjamin's portion.

Colloquy with Mary, asking her to obtain for me during this waiting time the grace to trust her with all my secrets for her Son.

Resolution. To dwell "with the King for His works" to-day.

Spiritual Bouquet.Janua coeli, ora pro nobis.

"THE LORD IS NIGH"

"Brethren, rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say rejoice. Let your modesty be known to all men. The Lord is nigh. Be nothing solicitous; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

(Phil. iv. 4-7).(The "Epistle" for the Third Sunday of Advent).

1st. Prelude. Before the Tabernacle.

2nd. Prelude. Grace to remember the Presence of God.

The Lord is nigh because by His grace He is within us, because by His omnipresence He is "not far from every one of us" (Acts xvii. 27), because in the Blessed Sacrament He is with us "all days, even to the consummation of the world" (St. Matt. xxviii. 20) and because it may be to-day that He will come in judgment. In consequence of this nearness of our God to us, from whatever point of view we regard it, St. Paul tells us that there are certain practices which are incumbent upon us.

Point I. "Rejoice in the Lord always."

To rejoice always– this is my duty, because the Lord is nigh. When joy is absent from me, it is because faith in His nearness is absent. When clouds hide the Sun of Justice, and I am disposed to be sad and despondent, let me make an Act of Faith in His Presence: My God, I know that Thou art within my soul, because I have reason to believe that I am in the state of grace. My Jesus, I believe that Thou art there in the Tabernacle. My God, I believe that Thou art truly present behind every person and every circumstance and every trial. My Jesus, I believe that it may be to-day that Thou wilt summon me to stand before Thee as my Judge… I shall find that Acts of Faith, such as these, will help to dispel the despondency and send me on my way rejoicing. How can I do anything but rejoice when I think of the Divine Inhabitation? Can I be sad when I realize the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar and all that means to me? Can I allow circumstances and trials to depress and crush me when I know with what infinite love and care they have been arranged for me by Him who hides Himself in each one of them? And if the thought that the Lord is nigh in judgment can hardly in itself be a thought that brings joy, yet, when I know how much value He sets on joy, I should like Him to find me rejoicing when He pays that always unexpected visit to my soul. The Lord is nigh, therefore rejoice. To rejoice in the Lord is always possible, it only means a realization of the supernatural, and as soon as that is realized, everything is seen in a different light. "In Thy light we shall see light" (Ps. xxxv. 10), and "at Thy right hand are delights even to the end" (Ps. xv. 11). It is just because the Lord is nigh that I cannot but rejoice, and it is only when I forget His Presence that the clouds have the power to chill and depress me and rob me of my joy. St. Paul is afraid that I may forget, and so he adds: "Again I say: Rejoice."

Point II. "Let your modesty be known to all men."

The Greek word which is translated "modesty" means more, it means fairness, kindness, gentleness, moderation, self-restraint, not insisting on strict justice. These are the qualities by which I am to be known to all men, because the Lord is nigh. He is within me – always if I will by His grace and often by the Blessed Sacrament. I may truly be said to "bear God in my body." What follows? I am His representative to the world; He is living His life in the world through me; if people want to know something about God and what He is like, they ought to be able to find out by watching my life.

The Lord is nigh – my gentleness has to recall this fact to others. "The servant of the Lord must not wrangle, but be mild towards all men." (2 Tim. ii. 24). He must not stand up for his rights, though strictly speaking he may have them; he must not be wedded to his own opinions and ever anxious to give them; he must not argue and strive to show that he is in the right, which means that everybody else is in the wrong. No, if he does these things, he is giving an altogether false representation of Christ Who is within him, of the Lord Who is so nigh.

Some people are gentle by nature, but it is not this natural quality of gentleness, often a mark of weakness of character and will, which is to be known to all men. It needs a strong will and much self-restraint to show the gentleness of Christ; it means the temper kept in check when slighting, insulting or unkind words are said; it means keeping silence when misjudged or falsely accused because "Jesus was silent;" it means keeping back the cutting word or the stinging sarcasm and letting them die away before His Presence; it means giving up a cherished plan or desire and letting no one except Him Who asks for the sacrifice know what it costs; it means being able to let a matter drop, though we may be in the right – such is the gentleness of Christ, which we have to make known so that by our behaviour others may be attracted to Him Who is so nigh. What a point it would give to our preparation for His Coming this Advent, if each day found us striving to let our gentleness win others to Him and make them long to know the Babe of Bethlehem.

Point III. "Be nothing solicitous."

Take no thought, for your Heavenly Father knoweth that you have need. Do not be solicitous, careful, anxious about anything, there is no need for the Lord is nigh. He knows what is best for His child. He can alter things if He likes, leave all to Him. All worry and anxiety only come really from want of faith. Does a child worry when its father is near? No, it leaves everything to him without any care. The Lord is nigh, be nothing solicitous. The way may seem blocked, but it is not blocked to Him; the Lord is still nigh, "He knoweth my way" (Job xxiii. 10), is it not enough?

Let me love and trust and continually talk to Him Who is so near; let me remember that I am never alone, that the difficulties and problems and sorrows of life concern two, that the responsibility is shared, that the important business of life is a joint one. Surely with such a Partner, One who is never absent but always nigh, I need be in nothing solicitous.

Point IV. "In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,

let your petitions be made known unto god."

The conclusion I arrived at in the last point is a just one, but I am not on that account to do nothing. He must have my active co-operation and whether I am working for my own salvation or for the salvation of others or, which ought to be the case, for both, I must in everything I do, let my petitions be made known unto God, that is, I must never act on my own responsibility. I am going to see such and such a person, come with me; I have this letter to write, tell me what to say; I have a difficult matter to settle, give me the necessary wisdom and tact; I am going to rest, or to take my food or my recreation, I want Thee with me all the same – such must be my requests. What about my mistakes, the things I forget and leave out, the faults that I mean with all my heart not to commit, but which I am always falling into all the same? Ah, it is here that the inestimable benefit of having such an all-powerful Partner comes in. Instead of bewailing my incapability, which only makes me still less capable, I must make my requests known to Him. What sort of requests will these be? I have committed that fault, made that same mistake again, please forgive me and correct it; I have forgotten to say something I meant to say, please say it for me; I have been stiff, unyielding, ungracious, discourteous, harsh, severe, please make up for my deficiencies and whatever happens do not let them judge Thee by Thy representative, make them understand that He for whom I am working is never anything but gracious and gentle, that He never breaks the bruised reed nor quenches the smoking flax; do not let me spoil Thy work. Such are the prayers and supplications by which I should continually be making known my needs to Him Who is always nigh.

And what about the thanksgiving? This is most necessary, otherwise, ashamed though I am to confess it, I shall be attributing the successes to my own powers and skill and capability! It seems hardly credible, but unfortunately past experience tells me that it is all too true. In order to guard against such a distorted and absurd view of things, St. Paul tells us not to forget the Thanksgiving. The Lord is nigh, let me turn to Him and say: Deo gratias, for it is He Who has prevented my awkwardness from spoiling His work. He loves to be thanked and He notices when He is not. Let me be thoroughly persuaded that the work is all His, and that if anything succeeds that I do, it is only because He has allowed His success to pass through me, thus thanksgiving will not only be easy but natural. But who is ever going to persuade me that no glory is due to me? "Who is sufficient for these things?" He Who condescends to be my Co-worker. He can do even that, if I love Him sufficiently to want Him to have all the glory.

Point V. The result – Peace

"The peace of God which passeth all understanding (shall) keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." This will be the result, not of Our Lord being nigh, but of our realization of His nearness. A great peace will keep, that is, take possession of, our hearts and minds. Everything will be right because it comes straight from God's Hands. "My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth do I give unto you" (St. John xiv. 27). God's peace passes the understanding of the world, it has nothing to compare with it. It passes the understanding of God's children too. It is one of the mysteries with which He blesses His own and makes life possible for them in a world of turmoil.