In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

SERMON 148A 1 o give adequate expression to what the magnitude of the mystery of salvation and the profound sacredness of the Lord’s Nativity demand, no dutiful acts of homage nor words of praise suffice. Indeed, what will our feeble devotion offer in response to so great a gift and to such great grace, when the Only-Begotten Son of the Most High Father, coeternal with the Father, and inspiring awe in heaven, on earth, and under the earth,2 willed to submit to being united3 with a human body for the salvation of humankind? Or what tongue will be able to tell of it, what familiar experience can be drawn upon to inquire into it,4 and, really, what human being will attempt to appraise it, in which he has God as his only source and witness? “For no one knows the Son except the Father.”5 How is frail humanity that is corrupted by sins able to make headway into the secret of the virgin birth? 248 1. (Angle brackets here indicate an addition to the title in Olivar’s CCL text.) The parallels in both terminology and content between this sermon and some of the indisputably authentic sermons of Chrysologus convincingly demonstrate that he was also the author of this sermon. See A. Olivar, Los sermones , 324–27. F. Sottocornola, L’anno liturgico, 120, believes that this sermon was preached on Christmas Day. He does not, however, present any compelling evidence for his position. V. Zangara, “I silenzi,” 244, is of the opinion, probably correct, that this sermon was preached shortly after Christmas. The one sermon we possess that was certainly preached on Christmas Day, and thus contrary to Chrysologus’s usual practice, is Sermon 140b. For more on Chrysologus’s custom of not preaching on Christmas Day, see Sermon 140a, n. 1, and Sermon 140b, nn. 1 and 2. 2. See Phil 2.10. 3. The Latin word for “being united” is consortium, which, taken literally, means “partnership.” See R. Benericetti, Il Cristo, 94–95. 4. That the Incarnation is so novel that no implications or assessments can be drawn about it from ordinary human existence is a point made also in Sermons 148.3 (FOTC 17.250) and 153.1. 5. Mt 11.27. 2. And so he is born, yes, Christ is born, not out of a need to live, but out of a will to save.6 He who bestows life upon the dead is born among the dead. Let us have no doubts that there came to pass what in the days of old and by the authority of the Holy Spirit Isaiah, the greatest of the prophets,7 predicted would occur: “A virgin will conceive and bear a son.”8 That a woman gives birth is the assurance of the truth of the Incarnation ; the reason why it is a virgin who bears the child is the eternal glory of the One who is born. Christ is born from an inviolate woman, because it was not right that virtue should be born through pleasure, chastity through lust, or incorruption through corruption. The One who was coming to destroy death’s ancient dominion would have been unable to arrive from heaven in a new dispensation ,9 and certainly as Lord of the universe he would not have been able to assume “the form of a slave,”10 by which he was planning to redeem us, if the maidservant11 had not given birth to him. Or else how would the Son of God undergo spittle , lashes, and the cross for us, if he had not offered himself as Son of Man? 3. Judea certainly knows no happiness, since she shuts out such great light for herself by her dark suspicions which lead her to make the false accusation of adultery; while not believing that a virgin has conceived, she alleges that her God’s graciousness is really a sinful human act, and in the deadening gloom of her envy she proclaims as a vice what is actually a virtue.12 But you pitiable human being, put your trust in him whose sole reason for being born was your salvation. Consider carefully, brothers, what and how great is the SERMON 148A 249 6. On this same point, see also Sermons 143.11 and 148.1 (FOTC 17.248). 7. In Sermon 57.1 (FOTC 17.103) Chrysologus calls Isaiah an evangelist as well as a prophet. 8. Is 7.14. 9. The...

Share