Deuxième semaine (Jours 20 à 26): Sujet de la semaine : Connaissance de la Sainte Vierge
Second week (days 20-26): Theme for the Week: Knowledge of the Blessed VirginDémarche : Actes d’amour, affections pieuses envers la Très Sainte Vierge, imitation de ses vertus ; en particulier son humilité profonde, sa foi vive, son obéissance aveugle, son oraison continuelle, sa mortification universelle, sa pureté divine, sa charité ardente, sa patience héroïque, sa douceur angélique et sa sagesse divine. « Ce sont, comme l’affirme Saint Louis De Montfort, les dix principales vertus de la Très Sainte Vierge ». Oraisons jaculatoire recommandées par St L.-M. de Montfort : Je me donne tout à vous o Marie… je vous prends pour tout mon bien.
Acts of love, pious affection for the Blessed Virgin, imitation of her virtues, especially her profound humility, her lively faith, her blind obedience, her continual mental prayer, her mortification in all things, her surpassing purity, her ardent charity, her heroic patience, her angelic sweetness, and her divine wisdom: "there being," as St. Louis De Montfort says, "the ten principal virtues of the Blessed Virgin."
Nous devons nous unir à Jésus par Marie : c’est la caractéristique de notre dévotion; voilà pourquoi Montfort demande que cette seconde semaine soit employée à la connaissance de la Sainte Vierge.
We must unite ourselves to Jesus through Mary - this is the characteristic of our devotion; therefore, Saint Louis De Montfort asks that we employ ourselves in acquiring a knowledge of the Blessed Virgin.
Marie est notre Souveraine et notre Médiatrice, notre Mère et Maîtresse. Appliquons-nous donc à connaître les fonctions de cette royauté, de cette médiation et de cette maternité ainsi que les grandeurs et les prérogatives qui en sont le fondement et la conséquence.
Notre Mère est aussi un moule parfait qui doit nous former, afin que nous devenions conformes à Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ. Il nous faut prendre les dispositions, les intentions mêmes de ce moule divin. Nous ne le pourrons faire, sans étudier attentivement la vie intérieure de Marie, c’est-à-dire ses vertus, ses sentiments, ses actes, sa participation aux mystères du Christ et son union avec lui.
Mary is our sovereign and our mediatrix, our Mother and our Mistress. Let us then endeavor to know the effects of this royalty, of this mediation, and of this maternity, as well as the grandeurs and prerogatives which are the foundation or consequences thereof.
Our Mother is also a perfect mold wherein we are to be molded in order to make her intentions and dispositions ours. This we cannot achieve without studying the interior life of Mary; namely, her virtues, her sentiments, her actions, her participation in the mysteries of Christ and her union with Him.
Readings
Saint Luke - Chapter 2
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| The adoration of the shepherds. J-J Tissot |
And it came to pass, after the angels departed from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another: Let us go over to Bethlehem, and let us see this word that is come to pass, which the Lord hath shewed to us.
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass. This thing, a metonomy, common in Scripture, by which the word is put for the thing signified by it, as in ch. 1:37, “No word”—that is, nothing “shall be impossible with God.” And in 2 Kings 1:4, “What is the word that is come to pass?”
Which the Lord hath made known unto us. In the Greek ἐγνώρισε—revealed, made known. Yea, and has given us, rather than the scribes and all others, a sign by which we shall find the Messiah that is born. Wherefore, if we, who have been invited by Him through an angel, do not visit and adore Him who is born for us, and revealed first to us, we shall be ungrateful to God, to the angels, and to Christ, and enemies to ourselves.
[16] Et venerunt festinantes : et invenerunt Mariam, et Joseph, et infantem positum in praesepio.
And they came with haste; and they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. With haste, from their longing and zeal to see Christ. Hence S. Ambrose remarks, “Thou seest that the shepherds make haste; for no one seeks after Christ with slothfulness.” And Bede, “The shepherds hasten, for the presence of Christ must not be sought with sluggishness; and many perchance that seek Christ do not merit to find Him, because they seek Him slothfully.”
[17] Videntes autem cognoverunt de verbo, quod dictum erat illis de puero hoc.
And seeing, they understood of the word that had been spoken to them concerning this child.
And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. They made known—in the Greek διεγνώρισαν—they knew distinctly and with certainty. Or it may be translated, according to Pagninus, they made known; Theophylact has, they published abroad. So, too, the Syriac version; and hence it follows:—
[18] Et omnes qui audierunt, mirati sunt : et de his quae dicta erant a pastoribus ad ipsos.
And all that heard, wondered; and at those things that were told them by the shepherds.
And all they that heard it wondered at these things which were told them by the shepherds. The and is not found in the Greek, the Syriac, or the Arabic version, and with this omission the sense is plainer. But, according to the Roman version, the meaning is, they wondered at the birth of the Messiah, and at the other things that were said about him by the shepherds, namely, that an angel had appeared, that angels had sung “Gloria in excelsis,” and Christ was lying in a manger, &c.
So the Gloss, Francis Lucas, and others. Lyranus, however, interprets the “and” as equivalent to “that is.” Hence it appears that the shepherds told to many what they had heard and seen respecting the birth of Christ; and that therefore many went to the crib and saw Christ; but that those only believed in Him whose hearts God touched efficaciously, while others, offended at His poverty, despised Him. S. Ambrose assigns the reason for this—“The person of the shepherds was not despicable—assuredly the more precious in the eyes of faith, the more despicable it was to worldly wisdom. Not the schools crowded with their bands of wise men did the Lord seek, but a simple folk, that knew not how to deck out and colour the things they had heard. For simplicity is what is sought, ambition is not wanted.”
[19] Maria autem conservabat omnia verba haec, conferens in corde suo.
But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart—putting them together and comparing them—not as Bede would have it, the prophecies made about Christ by the prophets, but the things seen and reported by the shepherds with reference to the angels—the “Gloria in excelsis,” &c., with what she had experienced herself—the annunciation of Gabriel, the prophecy of Elizabeth and of Zacharias, and the other things which she herself had witnessed and felt in herself. And this she did, (1) first, that seeing the wondrous harmony—all things agreeing so well together—she might be the more confirmed in her faith that the only begotten Son of God was born of her. So speaks S. Ambrose. (2) Secondly, that by the sweet contemplation of these circumstances so consonant among themselves, she might feed her mind, and look with sure hope for the rest—namely, that God would bring this work to an end, and redeem mankind by Christ. (3) Thirdly, that in good time she might unfold all these things and narrate them in order to the apostles, and especially to S. Luke, who was destined to write of them. Observe here in the Virgin the rare example of maidenly silence and modesty, of heavenly prudence, and of the firmest faith and hope, as she wonders at the present and waits for the future. She was comparing the signs of deepest loneliness which she saw with what she knew of His Supreme Majesty, the stable with heaven, the swaddling-clothes with that which is spoken of in Ps. 104, “covered with light as with a garment,” the crib with the throne of God, the beasts with the seraphim.
[20] Et reversi sunt pastores glorificantes et laudantes Deum in omnibus quae audierant et viderant, sicut dictum est ad illos.
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God, for all the things they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them
And the shepherds returned (to their flock, says Euthymius, for God would have the faithful, however exalted by Him, remain in the discharge of their several callings), glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. Hence it is clear that the shepherds remained constant in the faith and gospel of Christ—nay, exulting and jubilant in the joy of the Holy Spirit at having seen Him.
Bethlehem, shepherds, the Flock Tower: typology
Bethlehem is linked in Bible History with Jacob, David, shepherds and sacrifices of unspotted animals to the Lord in His Temple.
[Addendum 1-11-2019: Abel was also a shepherd, the first. [1] And Adam knew Eve his wife: who conceived and brought forth Cain, saying: I have gotten a man through God.Adam vero cognovit uxorem suam Hevam, quae concepit et peperit Cain, dicens : Possedi hominem per Deum.[2] And again she brought forth his brother Abel. And Abel was a shepherd, and Cain a husbandman.Rursumque peperit fratrem ejus Abel. Fuit autem Abel pastor ovium, et Cain agricola.[3] And it came to pass after many days, that Cain offered, of the fruits of the earth, gifts to the Lord.Factum est autem post multos dies ut offerret Cain de fructibus terrae munera Domino.[4] Abel also offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat: and the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offerings.Abel quoque obtulit de primogenitis gregis sui, et de adipibus eorum : et respexit Dominus ad Abel, et ad munera ejus.[Gen 4]After the Fall of Adam and Eve, the Lord promised a Saviour would be born and He renewed this promise through covenants, for example, with Noah and Abraham. The latter's grandson was Jacob ('Israel') who was to become the father of twelve sons, through Leah, her sister Rachel (whom he loved dearly) and their handmaids. Here is the account of the birth of the twelfth son:
[16] Egressus autem inde, venit verno tempore ad terram quae ducit Ephratam : in qua cum parturiret Rachel,The Flock Tower, or Migdal Eder, as it is known, was only a 1000 paces from Bethlehem, and was a place of elevation, where Shepherds would keep watch over their sheep that grazed in the valley’s meadow below. Several generations later, it became the place where they raised the unblemished sheep used for Temple sacrifice.
And going forth from thence, he came in the springtime to the land which leadeth to Ephrata: wherein when Rachel was in travail,
[17] ob difficultatem partus periclitari coepit. Dixitque ei obstetrix : Noli timere, quia et hunc habebis filium.
By reason of her hard labour she began to be in danger, and the midwife said to her: Fear not, for thou shalt have this son also.
/[18] Egrediente autem anima prae dolore, et imminente jam morte, vocavit nomen filii sui Benomi, id est, Filius doloris mei : pater vero appellavit eum Benjamin, id est, Filius dextrae.
And when her soul was departing for pain, and death was now at hand, she called the name of her son Benoni, that is, The son of my pain: but his father called him Benjamin, that is, The son of the right hand.
[19] Mortua est ergo Rachel, et sepulta est in via quae ducit Ephratam, haec est Bethlehem.
So Rachel died, and was buried in the highway that leadeth to Ephrata, this is Bethlehem.
[20] Erexitque Jacob titulum super sepulchrum ejus : hic est titulus monumenti Rachel, usque in praesentem diem.
And Jacob erected a pillar over her sepulchre: this is the pillar of Rachel's monument, to this day.
[21] Egressus inde, fixit tabernaculum trans Turrem gregis.Departing thence, he pitched his tent beyond the Flock tower.[Genesis 35]
Eleven generations would pass before Jacob’s descendant David was born in the little town of Bethlehem. He is quite possibly born near this very spot where Jacob pitched his tent to mourn Rachel's death. One day David would become a conquering hero and later King of Israel, but as a young man, David was a shepherd in the hills and valleys of Bethlehem. It was his duty to watch over the sacrificial sheep used in the temple worship. The daily Temple sacrifice required unblemished sheep from Bethlehem, sacrificed in the morning and in the evening as a continual sacrifice before the Lord. During Passover, the feast required thousands of sacrifices.
The typology is stunning: the little baby born at Bethlehem would receive His first public homage from shepherds, His cousin John would point Him out as the Lamb of God and He Himself would reveal that He is the Good Shepherd. He was the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed; mankind's King and their Saviour promised in Genesis.
[21] Et postquam consummati sunt dies octo, ut circumcideretur puer, vocatum est nomen ejus Jesus, quod vocatum est ab angelo priusquam in utero conciperetur.
And after eight days were accomplished, that the child should be circumcised,[1] his name was called JESUS,[2] which was called by the angel, before he was conceived in the womb.[3]
[1] And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, His name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before He was conceived in the womb—when eight days were fulfilled—when the eighth day from His nativity was come. That the child should be circumcised—this indicates that He was circumcised, implying that He underwent the rite, not of obligation, but freely and of His own will. For, in the first place, He was God—the Author of the law, and, therefore, not bound by the law; and, in the second place, He was not of the common generation of men, who are procreated of the propagation of sin and conceived in iniquity, says Bede, but conceived and born of the Holy Spirit, and, therefore, without original sin, for wiping out of which circumcision was instituted. For circumcision was the sign and stigma of sin, the cautery with which it was burnt out, and in Christ there was no sin, no lust. So in His circumcision Christ humbled Himself to a still greater degree than in His nativity—in the latter He took upon Him the form of man, in the former the character of a sinner.
Here are seven reasons why Christ would of His own accord be circumcised, drawn from the writings of S. Cyprian, S. Augustine, Bede, and others, and given by S. Thomas, (part iii., quæst. 37, art. 1):—
- First, to show the reality of His human flesh, as against Manichæus, who said that He had a phantom body, Apollinarius, who said that the body of Christ is consubstantial with the Godhead, and Valentinus, who said that He brought His body from heaven.
- Secondly, to sanction the rite which God had instituted.
- Thirdly, to show that He was of the seed of Abraham, who had received the ordinance of circumcision as a sign of the faith which He had in reference to Christ.
- Fourthly, to take away all excuse from the Jews, lest they should not accept Him if He were uncircumcised.
- Fifthly, to commend to us by His own example the virtue of obedience. Hence it was that He was circumcised on the eighth day, as the law prescribed.
- Sixthly, that, having come in the likeness of the flesh of sin, He might not seem to reject the remedy by which the flesh had been wont to be cleansed of sin.
- Seventhly, that, bearing the burden of the law Himself, He might free others from that burden, “God sent forth His Son made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law,” Gal. 4.
S. Augustine (Serm. 9 on the Nativity) gives yet another reason—that putting an end to the carnal, Christ might put in its place that spiritual circumcision which consists in the mortification and cutting away of vices and concupiscence—“Christ,” he says, “took circumcision upon Himself as about to do away with circumcision; He admitted the shadow as about to give light—the figure as He that should fulfil the verity.”
Lastly, by this act He began that suffering by which He became the Redeemer and Saviour of the world. So it was that in this rite the name of “Jesus” was given Him, because He healed not our infirmities with drugs, as the physicians do, but by taking them upon Himself and making satisfaction for them to God, so earning the power of healing all the diseases of soul and of body, all our passions, temptations, sorrows, and afflictions, whether in this life or in the life to come. Art thou afflicted, then, with fear or over-scrupulousness, with anger or bitterness, with sorrow or poverty? Call upon Jesus, and thou shalt feel that He is thy Consoler and thy Saviour.
Christ was circumcised in the cave where He was born by some priest or Levite, and felt greater pain than other infants, in that He had the use of reason which other infants lack, and possessed a more delicate and active sense of touch.
[2] His name was called Jesus. The name of Jesus signifies the function of Saviour in its greatest fulness, inasmuch as He not only saved men Himself, but gave to His apostles and to those like them the power of saving. This is what is implied by the word Josue, or, as the Hebrews say, Jehosua. Let the faithful then remember that they are children of Jesus, and that they ought therefore to imitate Him in bringing about the salvation of souls.
[3] Which was so named of the angel (when Gabriel announced to the Blessed Virgin His conception, ch. 1. ver. 31) before He was conceived in the womb. For Christ was conceived at the end of the Annunciation, when the Blessed Virgin answered, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to Thy word.” In this sentence S. Luke gives us to understand that the name of Jesus had been decreed by God for this Child from all eternity, to signify that He was to be the Saviour of the world.
Observe here how God joins and couples in Christ the humble with the sublime, the human with the divine, the poison with the antidote, to show that in Him human nature was joined to the Divine Majesty. Christ would be circumcised, so taking on Him the appearance of sin, but presently, when He wipes away this appearance He gives Him the name of Jesus—the Saviour that heals all sins. So, too, He would have Christ born in a stable and laid in a manger, as being poor and abject; but soon He summoned by the star the three kings, and by the angel the shepherds to adore Him. So, again, He would have Him suffer, be crucified, and die; but at the same time He darkened the sun and the moon, rent the rocks and shook the earth, that all the elements might testify of, and mourn for, the ignominious murder of their Creator. The more, then, Christ humbled Himself, the more the Father exalted Him. To thee, Christian, He will do the same; wherefore fear not to be humbled, knowing for certain that by this means thou art to be exalted. For the road to glory is humiliation, according to that promise of Christ, “Every one that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
Saint Luke - Chapter 2
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| Jesus lost. J-J Tissot |
And when he was twelve years old, they going up into Jerusalem, according to the custom of the feast,
And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. The Syriac has “as they had been accustomed on the feast”—namely, of the Passover.
[43] consummatisque diebus, cum redirent, remansit puer Jesus in Jerusalem, et non cognoverunt parentes ejus.
And having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem; and his parents knew it not.
And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem. In the Greek, after they had finished, or gone through, the days—namely, of the Passover; for this feast was kept for seven days, and S. Luke here implies that Mary and Joseph kept all these days at Jerusalem, though they were not bound by the law to remain so long—tarried behind in Jerusalem, there to shed some little ray of His wisdom and Divinity, as though longing to begin the ministry for which His Father had sent Him For at the age of twelve childhood ends, and youth and perfect judgment begin. So says Bede.
And Joseph and his mother knew not of it, because Jesus asked leave of His parents, who were lingering a little in Jerusalem from motives of devotion or business, to visit His relations, as if he were about to go on with them, and, having obtained permission, went to them, but soon withdrew quietly to the Temple—God so directing—in order that His parents, though at other times always solicitous about Him, should be unaware of this, and think that He was in the company of His kinsfolk,
[44] Existimantes autem illum esse in comitatu, venerunt iter diei, et requirebant eum inter cognatos et notos.
And thinking that he was in the company, they came a day's journey, and sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance.
But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey; and they sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance, who had gone on, and with whom Mary and Joseph, who were about to follow a little later, would that evening lodge and, as they thought, there find Jesus,
[45] Et non invenientes, regressi sunt in Jerusalem, requirentes eum.
And not finding him, they returned into Jerusalem, seeking him.
And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking Him. Jesus having been seen by none of His kinsfolk on the way, His parents understood that He must have remained in Jerusalem; and so they sought Him there with great anxiety. Origen gives the reason, and Theophylact and Titus follow him. “But did they seek Him so anxiously? Did they imagine that the Child had been lost, or had wandered from the way?” Far otherwise, “For this would not have been characteristic of Mary’s wisdom (she knew that Jesus was full of wisdom, yea, that He was God), and they could never have thought that the Child was lost, when they knew that He was Divine, but they sought Him lest by any means He might have gone away from them; lest perchance He had left them;” lest He should wish to remain not with them at Nazareth, but with others in Jerusalem, that He might there make haste to begin the ministry of teaching for which He had been sent by God. Origen adds, “They sought Him, lest perchance He might have gone away from them, lest He might have left them and betaken Himself elsewhere—or as seems most probable—lest He might have returned to heaven, to descend from thence when it should please Him … but she mourned because she was a mother, and the mother of a Son worthy of her immeasurable love—because He had departed without her knowledge, and quite contrary to her expectation.”
S. Antoninus adds that the mother of Jesus feared lest He might have fallen into the hands of Archeläus, the son of Herod the Infanticide, who would slay Him. Euthymius and Francis Lucas think she feared lest Christ might have wandered from the road, since He did not thoroughly know all the way. For, though He knew its turns and windings by His Divine and infused wisdom, yet, according to the experimental knowledge which He, as a child, was following, He did not know it. Whether this be correct I leave to theologians to decide.
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| Jesus in the midst of the Doctors. J-J Tissot |
And it came to pass, that, after three days, they found him in the temple,[1] sitting in the midst of the doctors,[2] hearing them, and asking them questions.
And it came to pass, that after three days they found Him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. After three days, that is, on the third day. The first day was that on which they left Jerusalem; the second, that on which, not finding Him at the inn, they returned; and the third, when they sought and found the Holy Child in the Holy Temple. So S. Ambrose, Euthymius, and others. Just as we read in ver. 21, “When the eight days were accomplished”—that is, on the eighth day—Jesus was circumcised. And in S. Mark 8:31, “The Son of Man must suffer many things … after three days (that is, on the third day) to rise again.”
[1] In the Temple—For the place of God Incarnate is in the Temple. There is He to be sought, there shall He be found—not in the market-place, not in the tavern, not in the theatre. S. Basil and S. Gregory Nazianzen imitated Christ, for they, according to Ruffinus, when they were studying at Athens, knew but two streets in the city—one led to the church and the other to the school.
The whole of these three days, then, Jesus spent in praying and hearing and answering the doctors in the Temple; His food He received from the doctors, who, being present, and admiring His wisdom, invited Him. Others, with less probability, think that He lived by begging from door to door; such is the opinion of S. Bernard (Hom. infra Oct. Epiphan.), Bonaventura, Alensis, and others. S. Thomas, in the Summa, favours this view, proving that Christ did sometimes beg. from the words of Ps. 40:17, “But I am poor and needy.” On the other hand, Nicholas de Lyra, Dionysius the Carthusian, John the Greater, commenting on this passage, and John of Avila, on S. Matt. 17, hold that Christ never begged, begging having been unlawful among the Jews. “There shall be no poor among you,” Deut. 15:4. However, these words are not a precept, but a promise of riches, if they obey the Law of God.
[2] Sitting in the midst of the doctors. A Hebraism—among the doctors, but in a lowly position like a disciple, in order that He might rouse them to think and inquire about the advent of the Messiah, which was now nigh at hand, because the sceptre had departed from Judah, and the seventy weeks of Daniel and other oracles of the prophets were now fulfilled. It is very probable that Christ questioned the doctors about the coming of the Messiah, so that His manifestation might not be unexpected, but that, afterwards, when preaching and working miracles, He might the more readily be received by them as the Messiah, from these same indications which now flashed out like sparks upon them.
Asking them questions, (1.) Because it was fitting that the child should ask questions of these learned men, and not teach them. (2.) To teach the young modesty, and the desire to hear, to question, and to learn, “Lest,” says Bede, “if they will not be disciples of the truth, they become masters of error.” (3.) That, asking them questions, He might be questioned in turn by them, and might teach them by His replies.
[47] Stupebant autem omnes qui eum audiebant, super prudentia et responsis ejus.
And all that heard him were astonished at his wisdom and his answers.
And all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. That a child of twelve, the son of a carpenter, one who had never attended the schools, should be so versed in Holy Scripture, should question so wisely and answer so intelligently as to surpass even the doctors themselves, so that they said, “What thinkest thou that this child will be?”—will He be a Prophet? will He be the Messiah, whom we all anxiously expect from day to day to be the Teacher of the World?
[48] Et videntes admirati sunt. Et dixit mater ejus ad illum : Fili, quid fecisti nobis sic? ecce pater tuus et ego dolentes quaerebamus te.
And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
And when they saw him, they were amazed. His parents, who were seeking Him, wondered and rejoiced at finding him alone disputing with the doctors, manifesting such wisdom, while the doctors, and all the rest who were present, wondered at Him.
And His mother said unto Him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, Thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing—the Arabic adds, “with labour.” Such are the words of His mother, not as finding fault with Christ, but in wonder and in sorrow, and sorrowfully unfolding her grief. The reverence felt by this mother for her Child—the God-Man—assures us of this; so it is most likely that she said this to Him, not publicly in the assemblage of doctors, but privately, calling Him aside, or when the assembly had dispersed. So Jansemus, Maldonatus, and others.
Thy father and I. S. Augustine (Serm. 63 De Diversis, xi.) remarks upon the humility of the Virgin, who, knowing that she was in every sense (in solidum) the Mother of Christ, and, therefore, of God, and that Joseph had no part in begetting Him, yet modestly puts herself after Joseph as her husband. “She expresses herself always,” says an anonymous writer in the “Catena Græca,” like a mother, with trustfulness, humility, and affection.”
Tropologically, let the soul that has separated itself from Jesus by mortal sin, or from its wonted communion with Him by venial negligence, seek Him again (1) with the sorrow and tears of a penitent heart, for, as S. Gregory Nazianzen says (Orat. 3), “The tears of righteous men” (and of sinful too, if they repent) “are the flood that covers sin, and the expiation of the world, as was Noah’s flood; (2) with earnestness and solicitude, as the Blessed Virgin did, and that in the Temple, by passing some time in prayer and in spiritual reading and meditation; (3) among the doctors, among learned and good men, who shall instruct the soul as well in knowledge as in piety.
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| Jesus found. J-J Tissot |
And he said to them: How is it that you sought me? did you not know, that I must be about my father's business?
And He said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? S. Ambrose holds that these are the words of one administering reproof. And Christ, as the Messiah, and as a Lawgiver, might rightfully have reproved His mother had she sinned. But there was no blemish of sin in His mother, neither therefore was there any reproof on the part of Christ. Still, there is in the words a certain sharpness of tone, savouring of reproof, that He may teach them by His question and incite them the more keenly to learn the things that concerned Him, just as parents are wont to stimulate their children to zeal and diligence with sharp words, and masters their pupils. These words of Christ, then, are the words of one instructing and consoling; excusing himself, and defending what he has done:—There was no need for you to seek Me, for you might have considered that I was treating concerning the beginning of that business, the salvation of the world, for which My Father sent Me. Neither must you suppose that I shall always remain with you; some day I shall leave you and go away about this business, as I have already begun to do. And, as for My going without your knowledge, I did so purposely, to teach you that, in these matters, I depend not on you, but on My Heavenly Father, and that I must act according to His will and His plan. It is not I, then, who have given you cause for sorrow, but partly your love for Me and partly your ignorance of the mystery I have now told you of; you knew not that I was occupied with My Father’s affairs. For, though this ought to have presented itself to your mind, your tender love prevented it, and turned aside the thought. Hence Bede says, “He blames her not because she sought Him as her son, but forces her to raise the eyes of her mind to what He owes Him whose Eternal Son He is.”
In order to understand this thoroughly we must notice that Christ, besides His Divine actions, which He had as God and the Son of God, such as creating, preserving, and ruling all things, and breathing the Holy Spirit, had human actions of two kinds. (1) Of these He had some as man, common to Him with other men, eating, walking, labouring, &c.; (2) others were proper to Him as the God-Man, the Redeemer, the Christ, and these actions are called by S. Dionysius “Theandric” (Θέος ἀνηρ), being the works partly of God and partly of a man. Such actions were those of teaching, working miracles, calling His disciples, creating and ordaining apostles, &c.
In respect of the former class of actions Christ was willing to obey His parents; but as to the latter He would obey only God His Father, because these, as being of a higher order, were received by and were under the direction of God alone. Wherefore He answered His parents, when they sought an explanation of His conduct, that these things were to be done, not at their will and pleasure, but at God’s—as appears from this passage, and at the marriage at Cana, in the turning of the water into wine, S. John 2:4, and in other similar cases.
And these actions which Christ did as the God-Man He calls the actions of God His Father, and attributes to His Father, not to Himself (1) because on account of these works He was sent by His Father into the world; (2) because He had His Divinity from the Father, and these were the works chiefly of His Divinity; (3) because He did them by the Father’s command; (4) because in these matters He was subject to no one but His Eternal Father, to teach us that God’s command or counsel must come before even the tenderest love for a mother—as when God calls any one to religion, to the priesthood, to martyrdom, or to the apostolate, and his parents are opposed to the call.
[50] Et ipsi non intellexerunt verbum quod locutus est ad eos.
And they understood not the word that he spoke unto them.
And they understood not the saying which He spake unto them. Some make these words refer to the ignorance of those who stood by, who were astonished at the wisdom and the answers of Jesus—others to Joseph alone by a synecdoche. But they clearly refer both to the Blessed Virgin and Joseph; for, though they knew that their Jesus was Christ, the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world, still they did not understand in what manner He was going to set about the work of this His office, or what was that business of His Father which He had said that it behoved Him to be about—that is to say, whether, or when, or how He was going to teach, to live, to die, and to be crucified for the salvation of the world; for these things had not yet been revealed to them by God. However, they learnt all this in progress of time, either by experience or by revelation from Jesus. And, out of reverence for Him, they durst not ask Him curiously in this place what those mysteries were, but prudently awaited the fitting opportunity.
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| The Youth of Jesus. J-J Tissot |
And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them [1]. And his mother kept all these words in her heart.[2]
And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth; and was subject unto them. He “came to Nazareth” of His own accord, notwithstanding that S. Bernard says (Serm. 19 in Cant.), “Having remained in Jerusalem, and having told them that He must needs be engaged in what belonged to His Father, He yet did not disdain to follow them to Nazareth—the Master—the disciples—God—Men, the Word and Wisdom,—a carpenter and a woman.”
[1] Subject. In the Greek ὑποκείμειος, obedient, that is, as regards His human nature, not as regards His Divine nature, as S. Augustine shows, in opposition to the Arians (Contra Maximinum, lib. iii. cap. xviii.)
Observe that the human nature in Christ, though considered in itself, it was under the rule of His mother, yet, being elevated by God to the Person [Hypostasis] of the Word, and being, therefore, one with God—one Divine Person—was, for this reason, exempt from the obligation of obedience to His mother as much as from that of obedience to the laws of Augustus and all other worldly authorities. Just as a member of a religious order, if he be made Pope, is exempted from the obedience of his order, and, indeed, becomes its superior. Yet Christ, to give us an example of profound humility and perfect obedience, made Himself subject to His mother, and to Joseph too.
Let children learn, says S. Augustine (Serm. 63 De Diversis), to be subordinate to their parents, because the world is subject to Christ, and yet Christ was subject to His parents. And S. Bernard (Serm. 1 on the text “missus est”) exclaims, “He was subject to them. Who? To whom? God to men, not only to Mary, but also to Joseph. On both sides an astounding thing! On both sides a marvel! both that God obeys a woman—humility without example! and that a woman rules over God—exaltation without a parallel!… Blush, proud dust and ashes (cinis)! God humbles Himself, and dost thou lift thyself up?… As often as I desire to rule over men so often do I strive to surpass my God.”
Christ wished to teach us by the whole of His early life, for thirty years without cessation, that the perfection of virtue, and especially of religious life, consists in obedience. He did and said many things in these thirty years, but S. Luke sums them all up in the sentence, “He was subject to them.” Glorious panegyric of a religious man! All His life He was obedient and subject to His superiors.
It is the opinion of the old writers that Christ assisted Joseph in his trade as a carpenter. For it was fitting that He, who, together with His true Father, is the Artificer of the Universe, should practise with His supposed father the trade of an artificer.
These scanty facts only does S. Luke recount of the youth of Christ until His thirtieth year; and during the whole of this time He lived privately and unknown. The statements from the apocryphal book, called “The Infancy of the Saviour,” and other books of the same kind, the Church rejects.
S. Justin (Dial, contra Tryphonem) says that Christ used to make ploughs, yokes, &c., and that for this reason He often took them as figures of speech in the Gospel, as, “Take My yoke upon you,” and “No man putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Lyranus, Jansenius, Maldonatus, Dionysius the Carthusian, and John of Avila are of the same opinion, as also Cajetan, and Francis Lucas (on S. Mark 6:3); but Paulus Burgensis, Baradius, and Simon de Cassia (book iv. ch. 3) deny that Christ worked as a carpenter, and hold that He lived a retired life like a religious until His thirtieth year, passing His time in prayer, contemplation, and fasting. To the objection that the Nazarenes, who were neighbours of Jesus, asked, “Is not this the carpenter?” they find an answer in S. Augustine (De Cons. Evang., l. ii. c. xlii.), “They thought Him a carpenter because He was a carpenter’s son,” S. Matt. 13:55. But since the Nazarenes saw Jesus every day, and studiously watched what He did, they seem likely to have called Him a carpenter from His occupation. Otherwise, indeed, had they seen Him idle, they would have taxed Him with idleness, for not succouring the poverty of His parents by His labour, and helping His father Joseph in his work.
Besides Christ wished by this labour to give an example to working-men. So S. Paul was a tent-maker, even when he preached, as appears from Acts 18:3.
[2] But His mother kept all these sayings in her heart—that, in course of time, she might the more fully understand all that Christ should say and do, and also that she might impart them to S. Luke and the other Apostles, to be written or handed down to posterity. “For although,” says Titus, “she did not perfectly follow all that was said by Him, yet she understood them to be Divine things, and above human understanding. She heard Jesus, not as a child of twelve years, but received and heeded His words as those of a man perfect in every way.” Or, as Euthymius says, “as the words not merely of a child, but also of the Son of God.”
[52] Et Jesus proficiebat sapientia, et aetate, et gratia apud Deum et homines.
And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. For stature the Greek has ἡλικίᾳ, “age,” or “proficiency.” See also chap. 12:25. Both renderings are true and apposite.
To the question whether Jesus really progressed in wisdom and grace, as He did in age and stature, S. Athanasius (Serm. 4 Contra Arianos) and S. Cyril (Thesaurus, 1. x.) seem to answer in the affirmative; for they seem to say that the humanity of Christ drew greater wisdom from the Word by degrees, just as the Blessed Virgin and other men and women did.
But the rest of the fathers teach differently. For, from the first instant of His conception, Jesus was, as has been said at v. 40, full of wisdom and grace, this being due to that humanity on account of its hypostatic union with the Word. S. Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. 20 in laudem Basilii) says, “He progressed in wisdom before God and men, not that He received any increase, since He was, from the beginning, absolute in grace and wisdom, but these gradually became apparent to men [hitherto] unaware of them.” For, as Theophylact says, “the shining forth of His wisdom is this very progress;” just as the sun, though it always gives the same degree of light, yet is said to increase in light as it unfolds it more and more from morning until midday. It is to be noted that there were in the soul of Christ three kinds of knowledge—(1) beatific, by which He saw God, and all things in God, and so was rendered blessed; (2) knowledge infused by God; (3) experimental knowledge guided by daily use. The two former were implanted in Christ in so perfect a degree from the first moment of His conception that He could not increase them. I assert the same with respect to His habitual grace and glory. So say S. Augustine (De peccat. mor. et rem., l. iii. c. xxix.), S. Jerome (on the words of Jer. 31:22, “A woman shall compass a man”), S. Athanasius, Cyril, S. Gregory Nazianzen, Bede, and others, S. Thomas and the schoolmen everywhere—for this is required by the hypostatic union.
Christ, therefore, is said to have progressed in wisdom and grace as He progressed in years—
1. In the estimation of men, and in outward seeming. For sometimes Scripture speaks according to what is seen outwardly, and the judgment formed by men. So Origen, Theophylact, Nazianzen, S. Athanasius, and Cyril.
2. Christ did really increase in experimental wisdom, for from mere use He acquired experience—“He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” Heb. 5:8.
3. Though Christ did not increase in habitual, yet He did increase in actual and practical wisdom and grace. For, even while yet a child, He daily exerted more and more of the strength of mind and heavenly wisdom that lay hidden in His soul; so that in face and manner, in word and deed, He ever acted with greater and greater modesty, gravity, prudence, sweetness, and piety.
To the objection that Christ is said to have increased in grace before God, S. Thomas (p. iii. Quæst. vii.), answers that Christ increased in grace in Himself, not as regards the habit, but as regards the acts and effects produced by it.
Among other differences between the grace which Christ had, and that which we have, there are the four following:—
1. Christ had grace, as it were, naturally by virtue both of the hypostatic union and of His conception of the Holy Ghost; but with us all grace is undue, gratuitous, adventitious, and supernatural.
2. In us grace (1) wipes out original sin, and whatever actual sins there may be, and so (2) makes us pleasing to God; but in Christ grace existed not only previously to sin, but actually without it, sanctifying Him per Se primo, for from the grace of the union with the Word emanated habitual grace, as rays from the sun, immediately and naturally. So that we are adopted and are called sons of God, but Christ is truly and naturally the Son of God, as S. Hilary (De Trinit., l. xii.), and Cyril (In Joannem, l. iii. c. xii.), teach.
3. In us grace is peculiar to the individual, justifying the man in whom it resides; but the grace of Christ is the grace of the Head, and so sanctifying us. For “of His fulness have we all received, and grace for grace” S. John 1:16.
4. Grace increases in us (even in the case of the Blessed Virgin) by good works; but in Christ it did not increase, because, proceeding from the union with the Word, which from the beginning was full and perfect, this fulness of grace, which could not be increased, was given Him at the moment of that union.
Tropologically, Damascene (De fide, l. iii. c. xxii.) says that Christ progresses in wisdom and grace, not in Himself, but in His members, that is, in Christians. For He went on producing greater acts of virtue day by day that He might teach us to do the same. All our life is without ceasing either a progress or a falling off; when it is not becoming better it is becoming worse, as S. Bernard tells us. Ep. 25.
With God and man. “For,” says Theophylact, “it behoves us to please God first and then man.” If we please God He will make us pleasing to men. It is not enough to please man, for this is often false and feigned, nor to please God only, for this is peculiar to oneself and unseen, but we must please “God and man,” that we may show to men that grace by which we are pleasing to God, and so attract them to it. “To God,” says S. Bernard, “we owe our conscience, to our neighbours our good reputation.”
The picture
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| The Youth of Jesus. J-J Tissot |
[Taken from The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J. James Tissot. Sampson, Low & Marston, London, 1897]
Daily Prayers
Litaniae de Sancto Spiritu
Ave Maris Stella
Litaniae Lauretanae
Oraison à Marie, by Saint-Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort. See below.
Rosary
Oraison à Marie
Je vous salue, Marie, Fille bien-aimée du Père Eternel; je vous salue, Marie, Mère admirable du Fils ; je vous salue, Marie, Epouse très fidèle du Saint-Esprit ; je vous salue, Marie, ma chère Mère, mon aimable Maîtresse et ma puissante Souveraine, je vous salue, ma joie, ma gloire, mon cœur et mon âme! Vous êtes toute à moi par miséricorde, et je suis tout à vous par justice. Et je ne le suis pas encore assez: je me donne à vous tout entier de nouveau, en qualité d’esclave éternel, sans rien réserver pour moi ni pour autre. Si vous voyez encore en moi quelque chose qui ne vous appartienne pas, je vous supplie de le prendre en ce moment, et de vous rendre la Maîtresse absolue de mon pouvoir; de détruire et déraciner et d’y anéantir tout ce qui déplait à Dieu, et d’y planter, d’y élever et d’y opérer tout ce qui vous plaira.
Hail Mary, beloved Daughter of the Eternal Father! Hail Mary, admirable Mother of the Son! Hail Mary, faithful spouse of the Holy Ghost! Hail Mary, my dear Mother, my loving Mistress, my powerful sovereign! Hail my joy, my glory, my heart and my soul! Thou art all mine by mercy, and I am all thine by justice. But I am not yet sufficiently thine. I now give myself wholly to thee without keeping anything back for myself or others. If thou still seest in me anything which does not belong to thee, I beseech thee to take it and to make thyself the absolute Mistress of all that is mine. Destroy in me all that may be displeasing to God, root it up and bring it to nought; place and cultivate in me everything that is pleasing to thee.
Que la lumière de votre foi dissipe les ténèbres de mon esprit ; que votre humilité profonde prenne la place de mon orgueil; que votre contemplation sublime arrête les distractions de mon imagination vagabonde; que votre vue continuelle de Dieu remplisse ma mémoire de sa présence; que l’incendie de la charité de votre cœur dilate et embrase la tiédeur et la froideur du mien ; que vos vertus prennent la place de mes péchés ; que vos mérites soient mon ornement et mon supplément devant Dieu. Enfin, ma très chère et bien-aimée Mère, faites, s’il se peut, que je n’aie point d’autre esprit que le vôtre pour connaître Jésus-Christ et ses divines volontés ; que je n’aie point d’autre âme que la vôtre pour louer et glorifier le Seigneur; que je n’aie point d’autre cœur que le vôtre pour aimer Dieu d’un amour pur et d’un amour ardent comme vous. Je ne vous demande ni visions, ni révélations, ni goûts, ni plaisirs même spirituels. C’est à vous de voir clairement sans ténèbres; c’est à vous de goûter pleinement, sans amertume ; c’est à vous de triompher glorieusement à la droite de votre Fils dans le ciel, sans aucune humiliation ; c’est à vous de commander absolument aux anges et aux hommes et aux démons, sans résistance, et enfin de disposer, selon votre volonté, de tous les biens de Dieu, sans aucune réserve.
May the light of thy faith dispel the darkness of my mind; may thy profound humility take the place of my pride; may thy sublime contemplation check the distractions of my wandering imagination; may thy continuous sight of God fill my memory with His presence; may the burning love of thy heart inflame the lukewarmness of mine; may thy virtues take the place of my sins; may thy merits be my only adornment in the sight of God and make up for all that is wanting in me. Finally, dearly beloved Mother, grant, if it be possible, that I may have no other spirit but thine to know Jesus and His divine will; that I may have no other soul but thine to praise and glorify the Lord; that I may have no other heart but thine to love God with a love as pure and ardent as thine I do not ask thee for visions, revelations, sensible devotion or spiritual pleasures. It is thy privilege to see God clearly; it is thy privilege to enjoy heavenly bliss; it is thy privilege to triumph gloriously in Heaven at the right hand of thy Son and to hold absolute sway over angels, men and demons; it is thy privilege to dispose of all the gifts of God, just as thou willest.
Voilà, divine Marie, la très bonne part que le Seigneur vous a donnée et qui ne vous sera jamais ôtée; et ce qui me donne une grande joie. Pour ma part, ici-bas, je n’en veux point d’autre que celle que vous avez eue, savoir: de croire purement, sans rien goûter ni voir; de souffrir joyeusement, sans consolation des créatures; de mourir continuellement à moi-même sans relâche; et de travailler fortement jusqu’à la mort, pour vous, sans aucun intérêt, comme le plus vil de vos esclaves. La seule grâce que je vous demande, par pure miséricorde, c’est que, tous les jours et moments de ma vie, je dise trois fois Amen:
Such is, O heavenly Mary, the "best part," which the Lord has given thee and which shall never be taken away from thee-and this thought fills my heart with joy. As for my part here below, I wish for no other than that which was thine: to believe sincerely without spiritual pleasures; to suffer joyfully without human consolation; to die continually to myself without respite; and to work zealously and unselfishly for thee until death as the humblest of thy servants. The only grace I beg thee to obtain for me is that every day and every moment of my life I may say:
Ainsi soit-il, à tout ce que vous avez fait sur la terre, lorsque vous y viviez; Ainsi soit-il, à tout de que vous faites à présent dans le ciel; Ainsi soit-il, à tout ce que vous faites en mon âme, afin qu’il n’y ait que vous à glorifier pleinement Jésus en moi pendant le temps et l’éternité. Ainsi soit-il.
Amen, so be it's all that thou didst do while on earth; Amen, so be it's all that thou art now doing in Heaven; Amen, so be it-to all that thou art doing in my soul, so that thou alone mayest fully glorify Jesus in me for time and eternity. Amen.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam
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