Celebrating the Seasons. Robert Atwell
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they are happily gone before us.
[In the old ritual of the Church we find that on the cover of the canister wherein was the sacrament of his body, there was a star engraven, to shew us that now the star leads us thither, to his body there. So what shall I say now, but according as St John saith, and the star, and the wise men say ‘Come’. And he whose star it is, and to whom the wise men came, saith ‘Come’. And let them that are disposed ‘Come’. And let whosoever will, take of the ‘Bread of Life which came down from heaven’ this day into Bethlehem, the house of bread. Of which bread the Church is this day the house, the true Bethlehem, and all the Bethlehem we have now left to come to for the Bread of Life – of that life which we hope for in heaven. And this our nearest coming that here we can come, till we shall by another coming ‘Come’ unto him in his heavenly kingdom.]
7 January
A Reading from a sermon of Bernard of Clairvaux
‘The goodness and humanity of God our Saviour have appeared in our midst.’ We thank God for the many consolations he has given us during this sad exile of our pilgrimage here on earth. Before the Son of God became human his goodness was hidden, for God’s mercy is eternal, but how could such goodness be recognised? It was promised, but it was not experienced, and as a result few believed in it. ‘Often and in various ways the Lord used to speak through the prophets.’ Among other things, God said: ‘I think thoughts of peace and not of affliction.’ But what did we humans respond, thinking thoughts of affliction and knowing nothing of peace? They said: ‘Peace, peace, there is no peace.’ This response made the ‘angels of peace weep bitterly’, saying: ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’ But now they believe because they see with their own eyes, and because ‘God’s testimony has now become even more credible.’ He has gone so far as to ‘pitch his tent in the sun’ so even the dimmest eyes see him.
Notice that peace is not promised but sent to us; it is no longer deferred, it is given; peace is not prophesied but achieved. It is as if God the Father sent upon the earth a purse full of his mercy. This purse was burst open during the Lord’s passion to pour forth its hidden contents – the price of our redemption. It was only a small purse, but it was very full. As the Scriptures tell us: ‘A little child has been given to us, but in him dwells all the fullness of the divine nature.’ The fullness of time brought with it the fullness of divinity. God’s Son came in the flesh so that mortals could see and recognise God’s kindness. When God reveals his humanity, his goodness cannot possibly remain hidden. To show his kindness what more could he do beyond taking my human form? My humanity, I say, not Adam’s – that is, not such as he had before his fall.
How could he have shown his mercy more clearly than by taking on himself our condition? For our sake the Word of God became as grass. What better proof could he have given of his love! Scripture says: ‘Lord, what are we that you are mindful of us; why does your heart go out to us?’ The incarnation teaches us how much God cares for us and what he thinks and feels about us. We should stop thinking of our own sufferings and remember what he has suffered. Let us think of all the Lord has done for us, and then we shall realise how his goodness appears through his humanity. The lesser he became through his human nature, the greater was his goodness; the more he lowered himself for me, the dearer he is to me. ‘The goodness and humanity of God our Saviour have appeared,’ says the Apostle.
Truly great and manifest are the goodness and humanity of God. He has given us a most wonderful proof of his goodness by adding humanity to his own divine nature.
8 January
A Reading from a sermon of Leo the Great
The day on which Christ, the Saviour of the world, first appeared to the Gentiles is a great day of celebration for us all. In our hearts we should be experiencing those same joys which the three Magi first felt when, urged on by the sign and leading of a new star, they fell down in worship before the visible presence of the king of heaven and earth, in whose promise they had believed. Although this feast celebrates an event which took place many years ago, we are not simply commemorating an episode which has been handed down to us from the past. Our bounteous God is giving us the same gift now.
The gospel records the circumstances in which these three men who had no previous knowledge of the Jewish prophets or law, came from the remotest regions in the East to acknowledge the true God. But we see the same thing occurring before our eyes in the way in which people from far and wide who have been called by God, are receiving the light of faith. The prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled among us: ‘The Lord has bared his holy arm in the sight of the nations, and all the nations of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.’ And again: ‘Those who were not told of him shall see, and those who had not heard will understand.’ We are seeing people who have only a worldly kind of knowledge and who are far from belief in Jesus Christ, being led out of the darkness of ignorance to acknowledge the true light. There can be no doubt that the splendour of God’s grace is at work among us; and whatever new light that shines in their darkened hearts is coming from rays of that same star which leads us all to the worship of God.
The gifts the Magi first brought to Bethlehem are still being offered by all who come to Christ in faith. When we acclaim Christ as King of the universe we bring him gold from the treasury of our hearts; when we believe that the only-begotten of God has become one with our human nature, we are offering myrrh for his embalming; and when we declare him to be equal in majesty to the Father, we are burning the incense of our worship before him.
9 January
A Reading from a treatise On the Incarnation by Athanasius of Alexandria
The Word of God did not abandon the human race, his creatures, who are hurtling to their own ruin. By the offering of his body, the Word of God destroyed death which had united itself to them; by his teaching, he corrected their negligences; and by his power, he restored the human race.
Why was it necessary for the Word of God to become incarnate and not some other? Scripture indicates the reason in these words: ‘It was fitting that in bringing many children to glory, God, for whom and through whom all things exist, should make their leader in the work of salvation perfect through suffering.’ This signifies that the work of raising men and women from the ruin into which they had fallen pertained to none other than the Word of God, who had made them in the beginning.
By the sacrifice of his body, he put an end to the law which weighed upon them, and he renewed in us the principle of life by giving us the hope of the resurrection. For if it is through ourselves that death attained dominance over us, conversely, it is through the incarnation of the Word of God that death has been destroyed and that life has been resurrected, as indicated by the Apostle filled with Christ: ‘As death came through one man, so the resurrection of the dead comes through another also. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will come to life.’ It is no longer as condemned that we die. Rather, we die with the hope of rising again from the dead, awaiting the universal resurrection which God will manifest to us in his own time, since he is both the author of it and gives us the grace for it.
When the figure of someone has been painted on wood, but then effaced by external elements, we need the presence of the person whose portrait it was if we are to restore their image on the same material. And if this material is not discarded, it is because of the image painted on it which we value and wish to restore. In like manner, the most holy Son of the Father, being the image of the Father, has come into our land to renew us who had been made similar to him, and to seek us out when we had been lost, pardoning our sins, as Scripture says: ‘I have come to search out and save that which was lost.’
Thus, when Jesus says, ‘Unless you are born again’, he does not allude to birth from a woman, but to the rebirth and recreation of humanity in his image.
10 January
A Reading from a treatise Against Heresies by Irenaeus
No one can know the Father apart from God’s Word, that is, unless the Son reveals him, and no one can know the Son unless the Father so wills. Now the Son fulfils the Father’s good pleasure: the Father sends,