SERMON ON THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD. SAN BUENAVENTURA

 

Dear reader, it is possible that the following article is too spiritual, because among all the doctors of the Church Saint Bonaventure is called the “Seraphic Doctor” due to the height and depth of his writings, be patient and ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten you. necessary to understand something. Whoever writes this is trying to make this article more accessible to our intelligence, but let's not forget that in those times the spiritual level in souls was higher than the current one.

For what has been born in her is of the Holy Spirit (Mt 1,20).

These words are evangelical and angelic at the same time: evangelical because they were written by the evangelist Saint Matthew, c.1, when describing the birth of the Lord; and angelic because they were spoken by the angel when he announced the same mystery. The angel, in effect, said them thus: Joseph, son of David, is. do not be afraid to receive Mary, your wife, because what was born in her is from the Holy Spirit. Which is as if he said: do not be astonished at the novelty of the miracle; Do not be surprised, I say, that Mary appears pregnant before having lived with you, because her conception is of the Holy Spirit, and far from you all suspicion of adultery, because Mary has conceived miraculously by the Holy Spirit, for whom there is nothing impossible. Where it is to be noted that the Holy Spirit can only come from the holy, as the angel said to Mary in Saint Luke, c.l: And therefore, what will be born from you holy, will be called the Son of God. (For rationalists, atheists, materialists and some modernists these words of the Archangel sound banal and meaningless because they differ from the spiritual or simply do not have faith and in this last word everything is said, not so for us who, by the grace of God, we have faith and firmly believe in divine omnipotence)

What is born in it, etc., Here are in these words three things that demand consideration: First of all, who is born in it; then who is she, and finally who cooperates in conceiving her.

And it is to know that who in it is conceived is Christ, God and man; the one who conceives is Mary, mother and virgin, and he, by whose work she conceives, is the Holy Spirit. We have, therefore, about this birth three mysteries to admire, praise and bless: the child that is born, the mother that gives birth and the Holy Spirit that sanctifies. (With this deep consideration we would spend our lives meditating and we would never get to the bottom of the mystery) Sanctification that must be understood rightly, since we refer it to the Holy Spirit, not as if it made the Son of God holy, but inasmuch as it makes him holy with respect to her.

Therefore, let's start by considering who is born in her, (Here Saint Bonaventure refers to the eternal verb and not to another being, that is why the one before her, the one during her in the annunciation and the one after her birth who is already Christ Jesus.). And we say that about it three births must be considered. The first, indeed, was before her, the second in her and the third hers. As for the birth before her or rather before every creature, we say that it consists of the eternal generation, about which it is said in the Ecclesiasticus, c. 24: I came out of the mouth of the Most High, begotten first than any creature. - Here is indicated who is born, who is born and how he is born.

 1. First, who is born is the wisdom or the eternal Word, which expressing itself in the first person says: I the Wisdom of God, who in the letter to the Corinthians is Christ himself. Then we are told that the principle from which Wisdom is born is the Father: I came from the Highest. And finally, the way in which it is born, which we are given to understand when it is said: I came out of the mouth of the Most High, that is, how the word comes from the one who says it ", in the phrase of Saint Augustine, a thought that the Saint returns to express it elsewhere when he says: The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father as given, and the Son as born ".

As for the birth in her, it must be said that it is internal, which, taking place in the virginal womb, is conception. (performed at the Annunciation of the Archangel Saint Gabriel)

About her the words of the theme are said: For what was born in her, etc., and those of the psalm: Man was born in her. Such is the birth or conception, whose ineffable realization is signified in what is preceded to the said words of the psalm: "By chance shall Zion be called man?" Which is as if he answered no. So why is it said: Man was born in her? The Lord will tell us in the Scriptures, since it is not for man to investigate it, but it belongs to the Holy Spirit to reveal it. Well, only he knows how to reveal it who only he knows how to do it, that is, to the humble and simple of heart.

And, finally, regarding her birth, we have that it is external, since it implies the exit of the virginal womb to the exterior, in accordance with what is said in Saint Luke, the: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the virtue of the Highest will overshadow you. And that is why the child that will be born of you holy, will be called the Son of God. Promise that found fulfillment, as can be seen in Saint Luke, c.2, where it is said: "When the days of her childbirth were fulfilled in Mary, she gave birth to her first-born son at what we properly call birth." (which occurred in Bethlehem and in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn)

Whereby the three ways of birth that Christ had are clear. (Whoever reviews and corrects this is already overwhelmed by such a great mystery and it is difficult for the mind not to tire) And to understand more fully what we are saying, let us add here that, although nature cannot provide adequate similarities that express realities supernatural, (Saint Bonaventure with the desire to make us understand the mystery a little, adapts to our poor understanding by taking two beautiful and didactic nature, for example, the sun and the vine) offers us three examples or, if you want three similar three similes: the splendor that is born of the light, the germ that is born in the vine and the flower that is born sprouting from the branch or the tree. (For those who know and are into winemaking, they are well aware of these matters, which should not prevent those of us who do not know this trade from understanding it with the help of the Holy Spirit)

Coming, then, to the subject, we must say that the first simile or example is taken from splendor (here the Saint takes the sun as an example, which, we distinguish the star and its light that emits as two things from a single source, the Sun). Splendor, in effect, is born from light, naturally coexists with light and makes a distinction with respect to light, which in turn is distinguished from splendor. An analogous thing occurs between the Father and the Son. The Son, in fact, born of the Father is consubstantial with the Father, however, he is distinguished from the Father; and Father and Son really distinguishing from each other as persons, they are, however, the same thing as regards the divine nature (in the catechism we say that the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God, then he adds, they are three divine persons and one true God) and for this reason, the Church, remembering such a glorious birth, sings joyfully: "O East, splendor of the eternal light!"

The second simile around our theme consists of the germ of the vine (The vine like the sugar cane does not have a seed like the corn since one of the branches of the same vine is born like the cane of the same cane). The germ, in effect, is born in the vine, fertilizing it and filling it with showy germination. But such germinative vitality is born in the trunk of the vine to which it opens, neither stains it, nor breaks it in terms of its integrity, that is, its branches, its leaves, its flower as the fruit of these do not harm the trunk of the vine. vine once sprouted this from the earth. Something like this happens in the Virgin when she conceives. Indeed, God is born in her. And God, upon being conceived, fills her, makes her fruitful, and sanctifies her, but without breaking or violating or contaminating her virginal cloister or her virginity. Hence, God, comparing the one who is born in her with the germ, says through the prophet: I will raise up David, the offspring or germ of justice, etc. And through Isaiah: Send, oh heavens send dew from on high, and let the clouds rain on the righteous; let the earth open and the Savior sprout! and note that by humble, stable and fertile land is understood the blessed Virgin Mary, who opened herself, not bodily to corrupt herself, but spiritually to believe the angel, and thus, believing she produced the Savior.

And finally, the third simile is drawn from the flower. In effect, the flower is born sprouting from the branch of the vine. But it should be noted that the flower, when it sprouts from the branch, does not diminish it, but improves it; it does not crack it, but beautifies it. It is what happens here, in this third way of birth. In fact, God is born from the Virgin, but he is born fertilizing and beautifying her, without adding to her or corrupting her virginal integrity, according to Ezequiel, e.44: This door must be sealed forever, and it will not open or pass through it any man. That is why such a birth is compared with the emergence of the flower, as seen in Isaiah, e.11: And a rod will come out of the root of Jesse, and from its root a flower will rise, and the Spirit of the Spirit will rest on the flower. Mister. Where it is to warn that by rod is understood the Virgin, Mother of GOD; by flower, her divine Son; by leaving the rod the birth of the Virgin; by the rise of the flower, the birth of the Savior. As you can see, everything is based on the root of Jesse. The root of Jesse, in effect, produces the rod; the rod produces the flower, and on the flower rests the Holy Spirit. (Jesse was the father of David king of Israel, he was like that rod of the vine that is made into the earth so that the vine sprouts from it, as has already been seen)

Therefore, the one who is born this way has three ways of birth. It is born, in fact, before its temporal generation, of the Father, as the splendor of light, e.g. Sun; it is born in the Virgin and of the Virgin, like the germ in the vine; and, finally, it is born coming out of the virginal womb, as the flower comes out of the rod, branch or tree. By reason of the first birth, the Son was born and is born of God the Father, according to the divine nature. And by reason of the second and third birth, he is born of the Virgin Mother, according to his human nature.

Furthermore, as regards the first birth, it must be said that the Holy Spirit does not emanate, because, according to the doctrine of originations or Trinitarian origins, the Son does not proceed from the Holy Spirit but the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son. And as for the second and third birth, that is, of the Blessed Virgin, it is indubitable that they must be attributed to the Holy Spirit, as the angel said to Mary in Saint Luke, c.1: 4: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, etc. And to finish, let's say first that of the two births (Speaking of the annunciation and the birth itself that occurred in the Blessed Virgin Mary, they were for our health, through her death on the cross), the second and the third, They are offered to us as a remedy on earth, while the first is reserved for us as a prize in heaven (It refers to the divine fruition to which all blessed is called, according to that of Saint Paul: “now we see him as in darkness, but when we are in heaven we will see Him as He is, as the seraphic doctor later clarifies). That this is our eternal prize, you can gather it from San Juan, c.17:

This is eternal life: that they know you, true God, and your envoy Jesus Christ and let us add, secondly, that the three births correspond to as many solemnities: the first, in effect, corresponds to the day of eternal solemnity; the second, to the solemnity of today, in which we read about the conception in the virginal womb, the third, to the solemnity of tomorrow, in which the Church sings: A child has been born to us.