God, Swaddled
-
December 24, 2017“She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Lk 2:7)
A word for Christmas Day from Blessed Guerric of Igny:
“Let us again and again make our way to Bethlehem and gaze upon this Word made flesh by Almighty God who has become a little one. In this visible word cut short we may learn the wisdom of God which has become humility. It embraces every virtue. Supreme wisdom willed to know nothing else. I say this to my own bruising that he justly became the master of humility because he learned it from the things he suffered. From his mother’s womb he learned it although he knew it of himself in its origin from his mother, in its nature from his Father. He was born in an inn for wayfarers to teach us by his example to consider ourselves pilgrims and strangers on earth. Choosing the last place, he was laid in a manger that we might put into practice that saying of David: Willingly would I lie forgotten in the house of my God, so I might dwell no more in the abode of sinners (Ps 83:11). He was wrapped in swaddling bands so that we would choose to be meanly clad. Content with his mother’s poverty and entirely submissive to her he presented at his birth the pattern for religious life. Blessed is the faith of the simple shepherds who were not shocked into unbelief on seeing the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes but impelled by loving faith were pleased with his dignity. The more completely his majesty abased and emptied himself, the more easily and fully did charity divest them of self-love and the love of God possess them.
You, too, will find the infant today wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid on the manger of the altar. Take care that his mean apparel does not disturb the gaze of your faith or lessen your reverence for the Body that you behold under another form. For just as Mary, his mother, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, so grace as a mother conceals from us the reality of this same sacred Body under another species and wisdom as a mother covers the mysteries and majesty of the divine Word under symbols and figures. There the simplicity of faith, here the exercise of fervor heaps up saving merits. When I announce the truth to you, brothers, in human words, what else am I doing but wrapping Christ in swaddling bands? Blessed is he who thinks no less of Christ so clothed. Merchandise is no less precious wrapped in sacks. It is plainly Christ whom I desire to give you in my sermon. Enthrone him in your hearts (1 Pt 3:15). Be patient, and cherish the Word implanted in you which can bring salvation to your souls (Jas 1:21). May the word of Christ dwell abundantly in you, that is, love of Christ and remembrance of his incarnation. Sing with blessed confidence: The Word was made flesh and came to dwell among us (Jn 1:14). With filial love let us contemplate Christ in the swaddling clothes with which Mary wrapped him. In everlasting joy may we look upon the glory and beauty in which the Father arrayed him—glory such as belongs to the Father’s only-begotten Son. To him with the father and the Spirit be honor and glory forever. Amen.”
(Fifth Sermon for Christmas)
