Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/435

 Person. There are,  therefore,  two  natures  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  divine nature and  the  human  nature,  but  there  is  only  one  person  in  Him, the person  of  God  the  Son. Jesus Christ  is  therefore  God  and  Man, the Son  of  God  and  the  Son  of  David,  the  true  Emmanuel,  i.  e.  God with us.

Proof of  our  Lord's  Divinity  taken  from  the  angel’s  words.  Firstly, Gabriel said  that  Jesus  was  the  “Son  of  the  Most  High”  and  the  “Son of God”. Secondly, he  said  that  Jesus  should  “save  His  people  from their sins”. Now, God  alone  can  redeem  from  sin;  therefore  Jesus must be  God.

Fulfilment of  the  prophecies.  This  chapter  relates  how  those  prophecies were  fulfilled  which  foretold,  firstly,  that  the  Redeemer  would be born  of  a virgin;  and  secondly,  that  He  would  be  a descendant of David.

Mary co-operated  in  our  salvation  by  giving  her  consent  to  become the Mother  of  the  Saviour. The angel  of  the  Lord  was  sent  to  Mary in order  to  procure  this  consent. The time  had  arrived,  and  the  Son of God  was  ready  to  descend  from  heaven  and  become  Man. It only remained for  her,  whom  God  the  Father  had  chosen  to  be  the  Mother of His  Son,  to  give  her  consent  to  be  so. The angel  of  God  therefore explained this  great  mystery,  and  waited  for  her  answer,  on  which  depended the  salvation  of  the  world. While meditating  upon  that  decisive moment, St.  Bernard  uttered  this  prayer  to  Mary: “Now,  O Virgin,  thou hast heard  what  is  to  be,  and  how  it  is  to  be. Both mysteries  are  exceeding joyous  and  wonderful. But the  angel  awaits  thine  answer,  for it is  time  for  him  to  return  to  God  who  sent  him. We too,  O Mary, our Queen,  we  who  are  weighed  down  by  the  divine  sentence,  we  wait for thy  speech,  thy  words  of  mercy. For behold,  the  price  of  our redemption is  offered  to  thee; and  as  soon  as  thou  dost  accept  it,  we shall  be  saved. We were  all  created  by  the  eternal  word  of  God,  and yet, behold,  we  die! But if  thou  wilt  speak  one  little  word,  we  shall live! Speak then,  Oh,  speak  that  decisive  word. Adam and  his  unhappy children, banished  from  Paradise,  beseech  this  of  thee! David and  all our holy  fathers — thy  fathers  too — -beseech  thee! The whole  world, prostrate before  thee,  looks  to  thee  and  beseeches! On thy  words  depend the  comfort  of  the  afflicted,  the  deliverance  of  the  condemned, the salvation  of  the  children  of  Adam! Hesitate not,  O Virgin! Speak, O Mary, that  sweet  word  of  consent,  which  we  who  are  on  the  earth, and under  the  earth,  now  wait  for!”  Mary,  as  you  know,  did  utter that decisive  word  of  compliance:  “Behold  the  handmaid  of  the  Lord, be it  done  to  me  according  to  thy  word!”  By  these  glorious  and  precious words she  pronounced  the  longed-for  consent. Our Redemption  began from the  moment  in  which  Mary  acknowledged  herself  to  be  the  handmaid of  the  Lord,  and  became  the  Mother  of  God! It is  therefore reasonable, just,  and  right  that  all  Christians  should  honour  Mary  as