Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/66



''" Who  shall  declare  His  generation?" — Isa. liii. 8.

Ex.: Masses  signify:  I.  Carnal. II. Spiritual. III. Eternal birth.

I. Eternal  birth :  i.  Ineffable. 2. Pagans,  and  St. Paul. 3. St. John, chap. i.

II. Carnal birth:  1. Prodigies, paradoxes,  and  Eliseus. 2. God  born  of  a  Virgin. 3. Man's  methods  and  God's.

III. Spiritual birth :  1. Grace appeared. 2. To  all. 3. Signs of its  presence.

Per. : Exhortation  to  go  over  (from  world)  to  Bethlehem.

Brethren, why  is  it  that  on  Christmas  day,  and on Christmas  day  only,  the  Church  permits  each priest to  celebrate  three  Masses? She wishes, thereby, to  fittingly  honor  Christ's  threefold  birth; His birth  in  eternity  from  the  bosom  of  the  Father; His birth  in  time  from  the  womb  of  His  Mother; His subsequent  births  innumerable,  without  intervention of  Father  or  Mother,  in  regenerated  and converted souls. The first,  the  midnight  Mass, typifies His  birth  in  Bethlehem,  when  spiritual  darkness enveloped  all  and  men  slept  the  sleep  of  sin. The Mass  of  the  aurora  glorifies  His  first  spiritual birth — the dawn  of  Christian  truth  in  the  minds  and hearts of  the  shepherds;  and  His  divine  birth, though first  in  order,  yet  known  to  us  only through His  temporal  and  spiritual  coming — His