In that I applaud your division of natures into manhood and godhead and their conjunction in one person. For Christ in the manger, God made Man, the Word become a babe,—is the love and admiration of all the angels and all the faithful, at whom they stand amazed and shall be amazed for all eternity. 22 ud Eustochium), John of Avila, commenting on Lev. Origen says, “Then first Jesus made His forerunner a prophet,” and Irenæus (lib. 3 c. 18) says, “He recognised the Lord in the womb, and leaping for joy saluted Him.” And S. Gregory (lib. 3 Moral. Meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary ©2016 by St. Cecilia Congregation, LBP Communications Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation 801 Dominican Drive Nashville, Tennessee 37228-1909 Nihil Obstat: Father Alfred Wilder, O.P., Ph.D. 6. “0 God, we have thought of thy loving kindness in the midst of Thy temple. We have found him out thinking and speaking in an impious fashion, from his letters, from his writings that have been read out, and from the things that he has recently said in this metropolis which have been witnessed to by others; and as a result we have been compelled of necessity both by. The second, that the mother offer to God a lamb, as a holocaust for her own purification (not that of her child, as S. Augustine would have it), and a young turtle-dove or pigeon as a sin-offering, if she be rich; but if poor, only a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons (Lev. And the third, that if the offspring be a male, and the firstborn, it be set before God, and offered to Him as His due, and holy, that is, consecrated on account of the immunity of the firstborn of the Hebrews granted them by God, when the firstborn of Pharaoh and the Egyptians were smitten by the angel in the time of Moses (Exod. For we do not say that theÂ, 2. We made investigation and the god-fearing and reverent Valerian produced a synodical document concerning these people, which had been drawn up in great Constantinople in the time of Sisinnius of blessed memory. Christmas Novena Ask her to help you trust that even if the path ahead is full of crosses, God will be walking with you. He had, therefore, sinful desire, and did commit venial sin, falling into it unawares, but perhaps, never deliberately. The firstborn is he who is born first, though no other be begotten after him; for such an one enjoys the rights and privileges of primogeniture. Through this mystery, she can help your heart accept what your mind cannot understand. For at the age of twelve childhood ends, and youth and perfect judgment begin. The Visitation. xii., and Erasmus on this same passage, affirm that she did. I make no mention of circumcision and sacrifice and sweat and hunger, which all belong to the flesh and are adorable as having taken place for our sake. “I believe”, they say, “also in our Lord Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son”. And it has, in fact, happened that the first compact looses from the second tie, but that the second tie takes the position of the first which has been cancelled. St. Iraneaus, Against Heresies, Book III, Chapter 22.Â. Furthermore we all confess that the Word of God is impassible though in his all-wise economy of the mystery he is seen to attribute to himself the sufferings undergone by his own flesh. JOYFUL MYSTERIES. They were also acknowledging that this child was not their own, and that his first bond of kinship was to his Heavenly Father. 1st Joyful Mystery -The Annunciation And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. God was asking a great amount of her. Why do we need to mention: “the mother of Jesus was there”? THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES Rosary Meditation on the Dignity of Women Page 15 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. Hence also was Adam himself termed by Paul the figure of Him that was to come, Romans 5:14 because the Word, the Maker of all things, had formed beforehand for Himself the future dispensation of the human race, connected with the Son of God; God having predestined that the first man should be of an animal nature, with this view, that he might be saved by the spiritual One. Superfluous, too, in that case is His descent into Mary; for why did He come down into her if He were to take nothing of her? Others think that Christ was received into the arms of His Mother, with exceeding joy,—for this would seem to be becoming for such a mother and such a son, and would be natural, and is gathered from what Luke immediately adds, “and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes.” Taking Him in her hands she adored Him, kneeling, and then kissed Him most sweetly, and wrapped Him in the clothes and bands. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. The holy synod said: As, in addition to all else, the excellent Nestorius has declined to obey our summons and has not received the holy and God-fearing bishops we sent to him, we have of necessity started upon an investigation of his impieties. On one matter, however, I cannot be silent, as silence would in that case be very dangerous. For the tradition goes that an ox and an ass were tethered to this manger, and such is the common belief of the faithful. . 12. The King of the universe enters the world in extreme poverty, His body placed on itchy straw, between two brute beasts, in the manger, as a model for all to live in complete detachment from the things in the world. All the angels accompanied Christ, their God and Lord, to earth, as all royal households accompany a king when he goes abroad. In our lives too, God gives us spiritual friendships and soul-mates who help us grow closer to him. viii. Ver. xv.—“God Himself bent low His majesty, and, descending into the womb of the Virgin . The shepherds go in haste and find Mary, Joseph, and the Babe. The divine scripture says Christ became “the high priest and apostle of our confession”; he offered himself to God the Father in an odour of sweetness for our sake. . 14:—“For while all things were in quiet silence, and that night was in the midst of her swift course, Thine Almighty Word leaped down from heaven out of Thy royal throne, as a fierce man of war into the midst of a land of destruction.”. But I recall the promise of brevity that I made at the beginning and that both restrains my discourse and moves me on to the second subject of your reverence. In the end, on 23 April 433, Cyril and John of Antioch made peace. Symbolically, the leaping of John prefigured his own martyrdom; for by his dancing he represented the dancing of the daughter of Herodias, by which having pleased Herod, she asked and obtained of him the head of John. “In his mother’s womb he was filled with the spirit of prophecy.” So a1so S. Cyril, S. Ambrose, S. Chrysostom. In the precocious wisdom of a 12-year-old boy, Jesus gives his parents and the teachers a glimpse of his true stature. Lucius Dexter in his Chronicle, which he dedicates to S. Jerome, says, “A.U.C. His poverty, therefore, is my heritage, and the weakness of my Lord is my strength.”, A fourth reason is that we could not conceive the idea of God, who is a pure and uncreated spirit, so God clothed Himself in our flesh that we might see Him with our eyes and hear Him with our cars. Meditations on the Joyful Mysteries by Dawn Pisturino . Luke 1:28, 31, 38. The Blessed Mother is preserved from the punishment of original sin and so experiences no labor pains in childbirth. Find out more here. c. 5). I pass over the insults against us contained in your extraordinary letter. Hence we gather that Christ was born in the night, probably after midnight, when the 25th day of December was beginning. The host of heaven awaits in silence. With reference to the question whether the Blessed Virgin suffered this impurity, S. Jerome (Ep. Scripture. 10. First, that suffering and dying in the flesh He might redeem us from our sins and from hell. Love the Madonna and pray the Rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. There is no mistake or coincidence that the liturgical calendar begins with Advent, and the holy Rosary begins with the Joyful Mysteries. All other authorities, however, agree in the contrary view, since the Virgin’s parturition was perfectly pure. [Read at the council of Ephesus and included in the proceedings . A decree about the autonomy of the church of Cyprus. . my Lord! 3, “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib,”—such is the explanation given on these passages by S. Jerome, Nazianzen, Cyril, Paulinus, and others, quoted by Baronius. Mary and Joseph also redeem their offered Son according to the law with five shekels, which are said to represent the five wounds of Christ with which He redeems the human race. We are further confirmed in our view by the words of our holy spiritual teachers. 22.—And when the days of her purification according to the law o Moses were accomplished, they brought Him to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord. Observe that here three different ordinances are intertwined and joined together. During those months, Mary and Elizabeth don’t just sit around waiting. “Because He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” These words are a prediction of that honor that the Church in all ages will pay to the blessed Virgin. They were amazed at God the immeasurable as it were straitened into a span’s breadth, they venerated Him and adored Him. Hence S. 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