In Christi natalem diem

On the Birth of Christ. The sun of justice has risen today, and has obscured the one that formerly rose; I have been delivered from darkness, and I cannot bear the rays; the light has been born to me again, and I am darkened with fear; I rejoice at the birth, and I am troubled by the manner; I see a new spring flowing forth, and an ancient wound fleeing; I have seen an infant being born, and heaven bending down to worship him; a mother giving birth, and a womb not opening; a child sealing its own conception; a father without a husband, and a son without a father; a savior being born, and a star being created; an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, and bearing the infinite; a manger being fashioned into a heavenly throne, and beasts imitating a cherubic array; a luminary appearing, and the wonder being proclaimed; angels announcing beforehand, and shepherds prophesying; magi theologizing, and priests warring against God; Herod falling, and death being mourned; Adam being released, Eve rejoicing, and the serpent grieving; captives being set free, and tyrants being punished; an infant being nursed, and nourishing the one who nourishes him; carried in hands, and carrying the one who carries him; creation recognizing, and nature trembling. Hence I too am amazed at the wonder, trembling at the mystery. I will take courage from Gabriel, and banish my fear.

The words to Mary, interpreting wonders. What are these? And he says: Hail, full of grace, unharvested field of the heavenly ear of grain; hail, full of grace, true mother and virgin of the true vine; hail, full of grace, unfailing net of the immutable divinity; hail, full of grace, spacious place of the uncontainable nature; hail, full of grace, undefiled birthgiver, bridegroom of the widowed world; hail, full of grace, you who wove for creation a crown not woven by hand; hail, full of grace, holy dwelling of fire; hail, full of grace, return of the fugitive world; hail, full of grace, inexhaustible storehouse of the starving creation; hail, full of grace, the boundless grace of the holy virgin; hail, full of grace, torchbearer adorned with many virtues, the inextinguishable light brighter than the sun; hail, full of grace, bait of the intelligible hook; hail, full of grace, intellectual ark of glory; hail, full of grace, golden jar holding the heavenly manna; hail, full of grace, you who filled the thirsty with the sweet drink of the ever-flowing spring; hail, full of grace, intellectual sea holding the heavenly pearl, Christ; hail, full of grace, bright heaven holding in yourself the uncontainable and uncramped God, uncontainable in the heavens; hail, full of grace, pillar-like cloud holding the God who led Israel in the desert.

What shall I say and what shall I speak? How shall I bless your wholly-rooted glory? That, apart from God alone, you are above all. And she was disturbed at the word, and fleeing with her gaze, she stands with her body, shaping the sight like a cross-formed image, and she stood before the angel in doubt, neither daring to flee nor confident to stand. Seeing the bodiless one standing as a man, she was ashamed to remain, honoring her virginity; she did not dare to question the unlike. And the face of the virgin came forward as a mirror of fear, saying within herself, What kind of greeting is this? Or who is it that 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 with a body, and stands before a woman, walking on the earth with wings as feet. What does he seek from one of earth? He appears to me as an angel, and speaks as a man; a voice from bodiless holy ones is projected to me; his face is adorned brighter than a light-bearer; he has put on a tunic; I see a youth not clothed in flesh, treading the ground, and not tracing a footprint; possessing no tongue, and crying out Hail to me; not moving lips, and prophesying joy to me. I do not know how to reckon this terrifying vision. If I do not understand the one sent, how shall I know the sender? If the messenger is fearful, the one announced is more fearful; if he, flashing so, has darkened my mind, with what body shall I hide the sun of righteousness? If the creature disturbs me, how shall I bear the creator? If I am terrified of the slave, how shall I give birth to the Master? And the angel said to her: Do not fear, Mary.

She does not trip as Eve did; from that one came death, from you immortal life; from that one a fruit of mortification, from you a life-giving fruit; from that one deceit, from you love; from that one the separation of God from men, from you the ineffable interweaving of God and flesh; from that one the dark sleep of Hades, from you the bright lamp of the world; from that one a curse, from you a blessing; from that one the condemnation, from you the forgiveness; from that one affliction, from you faith; from that one tears, from you rivers of living water; from that one sweats, from you rest; from that one the ancient wound, from you the life of the Trinity; from that one brother-hatred, from you love of humanity; from that one a flood, from you a bath of immortality; from that one murderers, from you rebirth; from that one slaughters of the living, from you the raising of the dead; from that one the hateful twelve-tribe, from you twelve apostles united in love; from that one death running through the world, but stumbling against you it will fall; from that one the fall, from you the resurrection. Do not fear, Mary; for you have found grace with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb the one who is in the Father and in flesh; and you will bear a son older than Adam, you will bear a son older than me, you will bear a son higher than the sky, you will bear a son higher than the Cherubim, you will bear a son the creator of the ages, you will bear a son co-beginningless with the Father, you will bear a son co-eternal with the Spirit, you will bear a son to whom all things belong, you will bear a son whom we do not behold, you will bear a son whose form escapes me, you will bear a son before whom I stand trembling.

And her days to give birth were fulfilled, and she bore her firstborn son, whom no man planted; she bore her son, whom no father carried; she bore the ear of grain, which no body sowed; she bore the Creator become man; she bore in a cave, and he appeared in Persia. For when Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying: Where is the born king of the Jews? Where is he who was not sown and yet born? He who sent forth his own star before himself? Where is he who by a strange ray draws us to an unknown light? Where is he who with immeasurable hand walls in the inhabited world? Where is he who appears everywhere, yet is hidden in flesh? Where is he who released us from error and leads us to grace? Where is he who appeared under the oak to a triad of angels? Where is he who did not burn the bush and did not corrupt his mother? Where is he who is from the Father, not seen, yet held by a mother? Where is he who dried up the Red Sea and is fed milk? Where is he who struck Pharaoh and hides from Herod? Where is he who drowned the serpent and lies in swaddling clothes? Where is he whom archangels did not see, yet men behold? And behold, the star which they saw in the east led them, until it came and stood above where the child was; and having worshipped, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And having been instructed not to return to Herod, they went by another

they departed to their own country. And to the born Christ, our God, let us sing hymns and glorify, together with his Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, unto the ages. Amen.