737 SPURIA. [...] with the glory of that one, and of the host of angels arriving, if we would only desire to be gentle and brotherly. And we shall not simply touch him, but we shall also become his temple, as the Lord said: “I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God.” And we shall not only hear from him, “Rejoice,” as he said to the women, but also those words worthy of the kingdom: 738 “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” May we all attain this, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
On the Birth of Christ
A The Sun of righteousness has risen today, and has covered the one who rose before; I am redeemed from darkness, and I cannot bear the rays; the light has been born for me again, and I am darkened by fear; I rejoice in the birth, yet I am troubled by the manner of it; a new fountain I see emerging, and the ancient wound fleeing; I have seen an infant being born, and heaven bowing down for his worship; a mother giving birth, and the womb not opening; a child sealing his own conception; a parent without man, and a son without father; a savior being born, and a star being created; an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, and bearing the infinite; a manger figured into a heavenly throne, and beasts representing the standing of the Cherubim; a light appearing, and the wonder speaking; angels announcing in advance, and shepherds prophesying; Magi theologizing, and priests making war upon God; Herod falling, and death being mourned; Adam being loosened, Eve rejoicing, and the serpent mourning; captives becoming free, and tyrants in straits; an infant being suckled, and feeding the one who feeds him; carried in hands, and carrying the one who carries; the creation recognizing him, and nature fearing.
B Wherefore I, too, am amazed at the wonder, trembling at the mystery. I will take courage with Gabriel, and I will drive away my fear. What are the words interpreted to Mary? What are these? And he says: “Rejoice, full of grace, unpartitioned threshing floor of the heavenly grain; rejoice, full of grace, truthful virgin mother of the true vine; rejoice, full of grace, unerring dragnet of the unchanging divinity; rejoice, full of grace, spacious container of the uncontainable nature; rejoice, full of grace, bridegroom of the orphaned world, undefiled birth; rejoice, full of grace, weaver for the creation of a crown not woven by hands; rejoice, full of grace, holy dwelling of fire; rejoice, full of grace, return of the fugitive world; rejoice, full of grace, unsparing treasury of the hungering creation; rejoice, full of grace, the boundless grace of the holy virgin; rejoice, full of grace, lamp-bearer adorned with many virtues, the light unquenchable and brighter than the sun; rejoice, full of grace, bait for the intellectual hook; rejoice, full of grace, intellectual ark of the glory; rejoice, full of grace, the golden jar, containing the heavenly manna; rejoice, full of grace, who has filled those who thirst with the sweet drink of the everlasting fountain; rejoice, full of grace, intellectual sea, and containing the heavenly pearl, Christ; rejoice, full of grace, the bright heaven, having within yourself the God who is uncontainable in the heavens, [God who is] uncontained and not confined; rejoice, full of grace, pillar-like cloud, having the God who guided Israel in the desert.”
C What shall I say, and what shall I speak? How shall I bless the glory that is all-rooted? Because, apart from God alone, you exist as superior to all. She was disturbed at the word, and fleeing with her gaze, she stood with her body, representing the vision in the form of a cross, and she stood in doubt before the angel, neither daring to flee nor daring to stand. Seeing the incorporeal one standing as a man, she begged him to remain, honoring her virginity; she did not dare to question the unlike one. And the mirror of nature of the virgin went forth from her countenance, saying within herself: “What manner of greeting is this? Or who is the one who has greeted me?” He outshines the sun, and converses with clay; he has run down from heaven, and greets a maiden; he is not clothed in a body, and stands by a woman, as if walking on earth with feet. What does he seek from the one of earth? An angel appears to me, and speaks as a man; a voice is set forth to me from the incorporeal saints; a face more luminous than a light-bearer is adorned; he is clothed in a tunic; I see a youth not wearing flesh, treading the ground, and leaving no footprint; possessing no tongue, and yet crying out ‘Rejoice’ to me; lips not moving, and yet prophesying the ‘rejoice’ to me. I do not know what I shall account this awesome sight. If I do not understand the one who was sent, how shall I know the one who sent? If the announcer is fearful, the one announced is more fearful; if he, shining thus, has darkened my mind, with what body shall I hide the sun of righteousness? If the creature terrifies me, how shall I bear the Creator? If I am struck with fear by the slave, how shall I give birth to the Master?
D And the angel said to her: “Do not fear, Mary. You are not tripped up as Eve was; from her was that death, but from you immortal life; from her the fruit of death, from you the life-creating fruit; from her deception, from you love; from her the separation of God from men, from you the uninterpretable union of God and flesh; from her the dark sleep of Hades, from you the bright lamp of the world; from her a curse, from you a blessing; from her the sentence, from you the forgiveness; from her tribulation, from you [192] faith; from her tears, from you rivers of living water; from her the ignorant, from you the rest; from her the ancient wound, from you the life of the Trinity; from her hatred of brothers, from you love for mankind; from her a flood, from you a bath of immortality; from her murderers, from you regeneration; from her the slaughter of the living, from you the resurrection of the dead; from her the hated twelve-tribe, from you twelve apostles united in love; from her death running through the world, but in you it shall fall; from her the fall, from you the resurrection. Do not fear, Mary; for you have found grace with God. And behold, you shall conceive in your womb the one who is in the Father and in flesh; and you shall give birth to a son older than Adam, you shall give birth to a son older than I, you shall give birth to a son higher than heaven, you shall give birth to a son above the Cherubim, you shall give birth to a son, creator of the ages, you shall give birth to a son co-beginningless with the Father, you shall give birth to a son co-eternal with the Spirit, you shall give birth to a son, of whom all things exist, you shall give birth to a son, whom we do not understand, you shall give birth to a son, whose form escapes me, you shall give birth to a son, before whom I stand trembling.”
And the days were fulfilled for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son, whom no man sowed; she gave birth to her son, whom no father carried; she gave birth to the grain, which no body sowed; she gave birth to the Creator becoming man; she gave birth in a cave, and in Peraea he appeared. For when Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea, behold, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying: “Where is he who has been born, the King of the Jews? Where is he who was not sown and yet born? He who sent his own star before him, where is he who draws us through a strange ray towards a light unknown? Where is he who fences in the inhabited world with a palm that cannot be measured? Where is he who appears everywhere, and is hidden in flesh? Where is he who loosened us from error, and guides us towards grace? Where is he who appeared under the oak to the trinity of angels? Where is he who did not burn the bush, nor corrupt the mother? Where is he who is from the Father, not being seen, and being held by a mother? Where is he who dried up the Red Sea, and is suckled with milk? Where is he who struck Pharaoh, and is hidden from Herod? Where is he who loosened the dragon, and lies in swaddling clothes? Where is that one whom the archangels did not see, and humans gaze upon?” And behold, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, until it came and stood over where the child was; and having worshipped, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned not to return to Herod, they departed by another way into their own country. To the having-been-born Christ our God let us chant, and let us glorify, together with his Father with the holy Spirit, now and always, unto the ages. Amen.