P. Gorazd Cetkovský, O.Carm.
Christmas is not only a time of rest and pleasant moments among us, but for us Christians, the celebration of Christmas arises from our faith that the born Jesus is the salvation for the world. And the holidays also retroactively influence our faith: they revive it and deepen it. The Christmas liturgy, the texts of the Holy Scriptures, as well as carols and various Christmas customs provide us the opportunity to return to the beginning of all that joyful happiness, all that great effort. This year, I looked for a text from a sermon by Saint Bernard († 1153), which wonderfully expresses the joy stemming from faith in the Born:1
Jesus – Christ, the Son of God, was born today in Bethlehem of Judea.
A voice of joy sounded in our land, a voice of rejoicing and salvation in the dwellings of sinners: rejoice mountains, hear heavens and listen earth, marvel and rejoice all creation; but above all you, O man: Jesus – Christ, the Son of God, was born today in Bethlehem of Judea.
Who has such a stone heart that their soul does not melt at these words? What could be sweeter to be announced? What could be more joyful to be said?
Jesus – Christ, the Son of God, was born today in Bethlehem of Judea. The heart vainly strives to exhaust all the sweetness of that holy announcement, searches for words and cannot find them.
These sentences express joy in the birth of Lord Jesus in beautiful words, but they do not directly reveal the reason for that joy. Why rejoice so much? You might tell me the answer can be found in every catechism. Yes, but more attractively than definitions, the testimony of a specific person affects us. Even though his experience may be only partial and does not capture everything as perfectly as those elaborated instructions. Therefore, I tried to find the continuation of Bernard's sermon and how he perceived and expressed the reason for the great joy in the birth of Lord Jesus. In the historical library of the Vederský monastery, I was able to find his sermon2 and I translated several other paragraphs from it (amateurishly, as I was able, and with slight freedom – for the sake of clarity and flow of the speech). And because I like the saint's sermon, I want to share it with you.
To read more attentively and gain greater benefit from the reading, a short introduction beforehand is worthwhile. Notice: to appreciate the significance of Christ's birth, it is necessary to know Jesus as an adult! We must know how he lived later in adulthood. What he said and taught, what he did, how he died, and what happened after his death. We cannot glean this from a glance at the cribs of our nativity sets! It is necessary to know what is written about him in the gospels afterwards. The experts likewise emphasize this when interpreting the gospel chapters about Jesus' childhood: we do not have before us some reports from a home, when even the evangelist did not yet know what that child would become! The events of Jesus' childhood are told to us from the perspective of the disciples who recognized in Jesus, the adult man, the Savior. And already, about Jesus – the child, they speak to us in a way that his greatness, dignity, and role are prefigured and clearly contained therein.
Saint Bernard, in the entire text of his sermon, explains and repeats the threefold benefit of Christ's birth for us and connects it with three names (or titles) that the Child born in Bethlehem is given by Scripture and our faith: Jesus, Christ, Son of God. A baroque commentator and editor of Bernard's work expressed it in the marginal notes of the text as follows:
The threefold fruit of the Birth:
- Destroys sins.
- Heals vices.
- Raises us.
The forgiveness of sins is expressed by the name Jesus. Healing from the power of evil habits (vices) is associated with the name Christ (the Anointed One). And raising to the dignity of God's children is closely related to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. This threefold meaning of the Lord's birth is emphasized and gratefully praised by Saint Bernard in various forms again and again. And now I will leave the word to him:
And truly it is not a birth of insignificance or a useless show!
Jesus – Christ, the Son of God was born today in Bethlehem of Judea.
You who dwell in dust, awaken and rejoice (Isa 26:19)!Behold, the Lord comes with healing, comes with an anointing, comes with glory.
Jesus is certainly not without healing,
Christ without anointing
and the Son of God does not come without glory,
for he himself is healing, he is anointing, he is glory
– as it is written (in the book of Proverbs): The glory of the father is a wise son (10:1).Happy soul, that has tasted the fruit of healing,
and thus drawn, runs after the fragrance (of his) oil (Song 1:3),
to see his glory, the glory as of the only Son from the Father (John 1:14)!Breathe again, you lost: Jesus has come
to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).
Rejoice, sick: Christ has come,
who heals the brokenhearted (Luke 4:18) with the anointing of his mercy.
Rejoice, all you who long for higher things: the Son of God has descended to you,
to make you co-heirs of his kingdom.And so I implore you: heal me, Lord, and I will be healed,
save me, and I will be saved (Jer 17:14),
glorify me, and glory will fill me.And so my soul will bless the Lord
and all that is within me, his holy name (Psalm 103:1),
when you have mercy on all my iniquities,
heal all my diseases
and satisfy my longing with good things (Psalm 103:5).These three things, beloved, I experience,
when I hear that Jesus, Christ, the Son of God is born.Indeed, why do we address him by the name Jesus (which means: the Lord will save),
if not because he will save his people from their sins? (Matthew 1:21.)
And why does he wish to be called Christ (the Anointed One),
if not because (as we read in Isaiah): the yoke will be broken from off your shoulder as of oil? (Isa 10:27.)
Why did the Son of God become a man,
if not to make every man a child of God?Who can resist his will?
If Jesus justifies, who will condemn (Romans 8:34)?
When Christ heals, who will harm?
And if the Son of God lifts up, who will bring low?Therefore Jesus is born: let anyone rejoice, over whom the consciousness of sins has pronounced the sentence that he is guilty of eternal condemnation. For the kindness of Jesus indeed surpasses every amount or plethora of sins.
Christ is born: let everyone rejoice who is assaulted by old vices. For against Christ's anointing no vice of the soul, no matter how entrenched, can withstand.
the Son of God is born, let anyone rejoice who repeatedly experiences the longing for great things, for a great giver has come. Brothers, here is the heir (Mark 12:7), let us receive him reverently, and thus the inheritance will be ours (Mark 12:7).For he who gave his own son, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? (See Romans 8:32.) Let no one hesitate to believe, let no one waver, we have very credible testimony: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The only begotten of God wanted to have brothers, to be the firstborn among many brothers. And so that humanity's frailty does not hesitate, he first became a brother of people, he became the Son of Man, he became a man. And if man considers this incredible, the eyes support faith (now through what is seen).
