Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/448

 the Child  there,  saying:  “I  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  His  (the  Almighty Father’s)  only  Son,  our  Lord.”

The love  of  God.  The  Eternal  Son  of  God  became  Man,  and  hid His Omnipotence  and  Majesty  under  the  form  of  a poor,  helpless  child. He, the  Lord,  took  the  form  of  a servant,  and  became  like  to  us  in all  things,  sin  only  excepted. Why did  He  become  Man? Why did He suffer  and  die? Why did  He  wish  to  redeem  us? It was  because He loved  us  with  an  infinite  and  divine  love. “God so  loved  the  world, as to  give  His  only-begotten  Son  &amp;c.”  (John  3,  16). “Let us  thereforelove  God,  because  God  first  loved  us”  (1  John  4,  19).

Christmas. According to  tradition  our  Lord  was  born  in  the  night between the  24th  and  25th  of  December. Christmas, or  the  Nativity  of our  Lord,  is  therefore  kept  on  the  25th  of  December,  and  on  this  great Feast three  Masses  may  be  said  by  each  priest.

The sufferings  of  Jesus  began  with  His  Birth.  The  Son  of  God became Man  to  suffer  for  us,  to  make  satisfaction  for  our  sins,  and  to redeem  us  from  sin  and  hell. All His  life  He  suffered  unspeakably  for us, and  His  sufferings  began  with  His  Birth. He came  into  the  world in a state  of  the  utmost  poverty  and  humility. For the  Son  of  God  to  take to Himself  human  nature  at  all  would  have  been  an  infinite  humiliation, even had  He  been  born  in  a royal  palace,  and  laid  at  His  Birth  on silken  cushions,  in  a golden  cradle. But He  wished  to  humble  Himself still  more,  and  therefore  was  born  into  the  world  in  a poor  stable, and laid  in  the  rudest  of  cribs. The Lord  of  the  universe,  the  son  of David,  of  whose  kingdom  there  was  to  be  no  end,  could  find  no  home in the. city of  David  I Shut  out  from  the  dwellings  of  man,  rejected  by human  society,  He  was  driven  to  find  a refuge  among  the  beasts,  and, wrapped in  the  coarsest  of  swathing  bands,  was  laid  in  a manger  belonging to  the  shepherds. “The foxes  have  holes,  and  the  birds  of the  air  nests,  but  the  Son  of  Man  hath  not  where  to  lay  His  head” (Luke 9,  58). He had  no  comfortable  little  bed,  no  soft,  w'arm  pillow. His tender  body  lay  on  the  hard  straw,  in  a narrow  crib,  and  was exposed to  the  damp,  raw  winter-air. A piece of  wood  at  His  Birth, and a piece  of  wood  at  His  Death,  that  was  all  that  Jesus  received from this  world! Truly the  Divine  Infant  was  poorer  than  the  poorest child! Our Lord  chose  for  Himself  this  extreme  poverty  and  humility to make  satisfaction  even  from  His  Birth  for  our  many  sins  of  pride, for our  concupiscence  of  the  eyes  and  of  the  flesh,  and  to  give  to us  an  example  of  humility,  self-denial  and  mortification. Man fell  by pride,  desiring  what  was  impossible,  namely  to  be  as  God,  and  his fall was  so  deep  that  he  fell  into  the  bondage  of  Satan  and  the  concupiscence of  the  eyes  and  of  the  flesh,  and  into  sins  and  crimes  of the  basest  description. In order  to  free  us  from  sin  and  hell, God the  Son  became  Man,  and  was  like  to  us  in  all  things,  sin  only excepted, so  that  we  might  become  once  more  the  children  of  God. He humbled  Himself  that  we  might  be  exalted. He became  poor  that