Even Years: Ambrose of Milan, Commentary on Luke, Book 2, ch. 19, #22-23,26-27
| Angelus cum abscondita nuntiaret, ut fides adstrueretur exemplo, senioris feminae sterilis que conceptum uirgini Mariae nuntiauit, ut possibile deo omne quod ei placuerit adsereret.
| When the angel was announcing the mysteries to the Virgin Mary, he also told her as a precedent, to help her to believe, that an old and barren woman had conceived. This was to show that God can do everything that pleases him.
| | vbi audiuit hoc Maria, non quasi incredula de oraculo nec quasi incerta de nuntio nec quasi dubitans de exemplo, sed quasi laeta pro uoto, religiosa pro officio, festina pro gaudio in montana perrexit.
| When Mary heard this she hurried off to the hill country. This was not because she disbelieved the oracle, or was uncertain about the messenger, or doubted the precedent offered, but because she was overjoyed with desire, eager to fulfil a duty of piety, and impelled by gladness.
| | quo enim iam deo plena nisi ad superiora cum festinatione contenderet? nescit tarda molimina sancti spiritus gratia... cito quoque aduentus Mariae et praesentiae dominicae beneficia declarantur; simul enim ut audiuit salutationem Mariae Elisabet, exsultauit infans in utero eius, et repleta est spiritu sancto.
| Where could she who was filled with God hasten to, except to the heights? There is no such thing as delay in the working of the Holy Spirit. The arrival of Mary and the blessings of the Lord's presence are also speedily declared. As soon as Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and she was filled with the Holy Spirit.
| | vide distinctionem singulorum que uerborum proprietates. vocem prior Elisabet audiuit, sed Iohannes prior gratiam sensit: illa naturae ordine audiuit, iste exsultauit ratione mysterii, illa Mariae, iste domini sensit aduentum, femina mulieris et pignus pignoris, istae gratiam loquuntur, illi intus operantur pietatis que mysterium maternis adoriuntur profectibus duplici que miraculo prophetant matres spiritu paruulorum.
| Notice the choice of words and their precise meaning. Elizabeth was the first to hear the voice; but John was the first to experience grace. She heard according to the order of nature; he leaped because of the mystery. She recognized the arrival of Mary; he the arrival of the Lord. The woman recognized the woman's arrival; the child, that of the child. The women speak of grace; the babies make it effective from within to the advantage of their mothers who, by a double miracle, prophesy under the inspiration of their babies.
| | exsultauit infans, repleta mater est. non prius mater repleta quam filius, sed cum filius esset repletus spiritu sancto, repleuit et matrem. exsultauit Iohannes, exsultauit et Mariae spiritus. exsultante Iohanne repletur Elisabet, Mariam tamen non repleri spiritu, sed spiritum eius exsultare cognouimus inconprehensibilis enim inconprehensibiliter operabatur in matre et illa post conceptum repletur, ista ante conceptum...
Beata quae credidisti...
| The infant leaped, the mother was filled with the Spirit. The mother was not filled before the son, but after the son was filled with the Holy Spirit, he filled his mother too. John leaped and the spirit of Mary rejoiced. As John leaped, Elizabeth is filled, but we know that Mary was not filled but her spirit rejoiced. For he who cannot be comprehended was working in his mother's womb in ways beyond comprehension. Elizabeth was filled with the Spirit after she had conceived, and Mary before. Blessed are you, she said, who believed.
| | sed et uos beati, qui audistis et credidistis; quaecumque enim crediderit anima et concipit et generat dei uerbum et opera eius agnoscit.
| But you too, who have heard and have believed, are blessed. Every soul who has believed both conceives and generates the Word of God and recognizes his works.
| | sit in singulis Mariae anima, ut magnificet dominum, sit in singulis spiritus Mariae, ut exsultet in deo, si secundum carnem una mater est christi, secundum fidem tamen omnium fructus est christus; omnis enim anima accipit dei uerbum, si tamen inmaculata et inmunis a uitiis intemerato castimoniam pudore custodiat.
| Let the soul of Mary be in each one of you to magnify the lord. Let the spirit of Mary be in each one to exult in God. According to the flesh one woman is the mother of Christ, but according to faith, Christ is the fruit of all men. Every soul, indeed, receives the Word of God, provided it remains unstained and free from sin and preserves its chastity in unviolated modesty.
| | quaecumque igitur talis esse potuerit anima magnificat dominum, sicut anima Mariae magnificauit dominum et exsultauit spiritus eius in deo salutari.
| The soul who has been able to reach this state magnifies the Lord, as Mary's soul magnified the Lord and her spirit rejoiced in God her saviour.
| | magnificatur enim dominus, sicut et alibi legisti: magnificate dominum me cum non quo domino aliquid humana uoce possit adiungi, sed quia magnificatur in nobis: imago enim dei christus est et ideo si quid iustum religiosum que fecerit anima illam imaginem dei, ad cuius est similitudinem creata, magnificat et ideo, dum magnificat eam, magnitudinis eius quadam participatione sublimior fit.
| [The Lord is magnified, as you read elsewhere: "Magnify the Lord with me," not that anything could be adeded to the Lord by human voice, but because he is magnified in us. For Christ is the image of God, and if the soul does anything just and religious, it magnifies that image of God in whose likeness it was created. And therefore, while it magnifies that image, by a certain participation in its greatness, it becomes more exalted.]
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Odd Years: Odilo of Cluny, Christmas Sermon 1 (PL 142, 993-994)
| Ecce ego vobiscum sum, omnibus
diebus usque ad consummationem saeculi. Si omnibus diebus, fidelibus suis
se promisit adfuturum, quanto magis die sui natalis nobis erit praesentior, si
nostri famulaminis servitus ei fuerit promptior! Qui per Salomonem loquitur: Ego
ex ore Altissimi prodivi, primogenita ante omnem creaturam; Et iterum: Dominus
possedit me initio viarum suarum, antequam quidquam faceret a principio, ante
saecula, ordinata sum. Et qui per Isaiam dicit: Coelum et terram ego
impleo, mirabili suae dispositionis mysterio natus hodie ponitur in
praesepio. Quem Salomon ostendit ante saecula aeternaliter exstitisse, Isaias
affirmat nullo loco deesse. Ille qui semper est et ubique non potest nobis
deesse.
| Know that I am with you every day until the end of the world. If our Lord has promised to be with his faithful people every day, we can expect him to be even closer to us on the day of his birth; the greater our eagerness to serve him, the more we shall perceive his presence among us. Yes, he who spoke through Solomon, saying: I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, as the firstborn of all creation, and again; The Lord possessed me when his purpose first unfolded, before the earliest of his works; from everlasting I was firmly established; he who said through Isaiah: Do I not fill heaven and earth?—he it is who, in the mysterious plan of his own providence, is born on earth and laid in a manger.
While Solomon's words teach us that Christ was eternally in existence before the world began, Isaiah's declare that there is no place in the whole of creation from which he is absent. And if he exists always and everywhere, he cannot be absent from ourselves.
| | Audenter dixi: non potest. Potenter
hoc non potest. Talis impotentia est omnipotentia. Ista impossibilitas est
summa possibilitas. Quam sint vera et fidelia antiquorum vatum testimonia de
aeternitate Christi ejusque divina et incircumscripta praesentia, ductilis illa
coelestis magnivoce concrepat tuba. Jesus Christus, inquit, heri et
hodie, ipse et in saecula. Et in alio loco Davidico usus testimonio. Tu
autem, inquit, idem ipse es, et anni tui non deficient. Et ipse
Salvator in Evangelio ad Judaeos. Antequam Abraham fieret ego sum. Sed
quia ante Abraham, et ut verius dicam, ante omnem creaturam semper cum Deo
Patre esse aeternaliter habuit, de semine tamen Abrahae nasci temporaliter
voluit. Abrahae namque a Deo Patre dictum est: In semine tuo benedicentur
omnes gentes terrae.
| [I say boldy: He cannot. He powerfully cannot. Such impotence is omnipotence. That impossibility is the highest possibility.] The testimony of the ancient prophets to Christ's eternal being and his boundless divine presence is indeed trustworthy. Our Saviour himself tells the Jews in the Gospel: Before Abraham ever existed, I am. With God the Father from all eternity, before Abraham existed (more accurately, before anything existed) he had his eternal being; and yet he chose to be born in time from the stock of Abraham—Abraham who was told by God the Father: In your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
| | Hujuscemodi etiam promissionis
insigne privilegium beatus David patriarcha promeruit, cui Deus Pater, incerta
et occulta sapientiae suae manifestando, dixit: De fructu ventris tui ponam
super sedem meam. Hoc ipsum Jeremias propheta asseruit ubi dicit: Ecce
dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et suscitabo David germen justum. Hujus
enim nobilissimi germinis magnificentiam, et dulcissimi fructus sublimitatem et
excellentiam, Isaias propheta considerans, Spiritu sancto praeventus
praenuntiabat, dicens: In die illa erit germen domus Domini in magnificentia
et fructus terrae sublimis.
| The blessed patriarch David was also granted privilege of a similar promise. Revealing to him hidden secrets of his wisdom, God the Father told him: The fruit of your body I will set upon your throne. [Jeremiah affirmed the same when he said: The days are coming, says the Lord, and I will raise up for David a righteous seedling. Considering the magnificence of this most noble seedling, and his superior and excellent fruit, the Prophet Isaiah says: That day, Yahweh's seedling will turn to beauty and glory.]
| | Hi vero duo, qui prae caeteris
patribus de adventu Salvatoris promissionem apertissime acceperunt, in
descriptione Dominicae generationis, secundum evangelistam Matthaeum, primum et
principalem locum digne promeruerunt, cujus exordium tale est: Liber generationis
Jesu Christi, filii David, filii Abraham. His sacris evangelistae verbis
conveniunt et prophetarum oracula et apostolica verba. Quod Mediator Dei et
hominum ex semine Abrahae secundum carnem natus sit, Isaias propheta
manifestissime commendare studuit, ex persona Dei Patris dicens: Et sic, Israel,
serve meus, Jacob quem elegi, semen Abraham amici mei, in quo apprehendi te...
| These two received the promise of the Saviour's coming more plainly than any of our other fathers, and so they deserved to be given the first and most important place in the records of our Lord's ancestry according to the evangelist Matthew, the opening words of whose Gospel are: The genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. With these sacred words of the evangelist both the prophetic oracles and the apostolic preaching are in accord. [That the Mediator between God and men would be a descendant of Abraham, according to the flesh, the Prophet Isaiah took care to emphasize, saying: But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham my friend, whom I have taken to myself...]
| | Quisquis ignorantiae tenebris
liberatus et fidei lumine illustratus, in Evangelio Filium Dei filium David
appellavit, non solum spirituale, sed etiam corporale lumen recipere meruit. Vult
se Dominus Christus tali nomine vocari, quia scit non esse aliud nomen in quo
possit mundus salvari. Nos ergo, dilectissimi fratres, ut ab ipso qui est
Salvator mereamur salvari, dicamus omnes, dicamus singuli: Domine, fili David, miserere
nostri. Amen.
| The man in the Gospel who was freed from the darkness of ignorance and enlightened by faith addressed God's Son as Son of David. Not only did he receive spiritual insight, but he also deserved to have his bodily sight restored. Christ the Lord desires to be called by this name, knowing that there is no other name by which the world can be saved. And if we ourselves wish to be saved by him who is the one and only Saviour, each of us must also say to him: Lord, son of David, have mercy on us. Amen.
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