Third Sunday of Advent

Thoughts for the Week - Fr. R. Taouk 
15th December 2019

On the Coming of Christ by St. Bernard

He came, as you know, not in the beginning, nor in the midst of time, but in the end of it. This was no unsuitable choice, but a truly wise dispensation of His infinite wisdom, that He might afford help when He saw it was most needed. Truly, "it was evening, and the day was far" (Luke 24:29); the sun had well nigh set, and but a faint ray of His justice light and heat remained on Earth. The light of Divine knowledge was very small, and as iniquity abounded, the fervour of charity had grown cold. No Angel appeared, no Prophet spoke. The angelic vision and the prophetic spirit alike had passed away, both hopelessly baffled by the exceeding obduracy and obstinacy of mankind. Therefore, did the Eternal God come when things of time were reigning supreme. To pass over other points, such was the temporal peace at the birth of Christ that by the edict of one man the whole world was enrolled.

It is delightful to contemplate the manner of His visible coming, for "His ways are beautiful, and all His paths are peace" (Proverbs 3:17). "Behold," says the Spouse of the Canticles, "He cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills" (Song of Songs 2:8). You see Him coming, O beautiful one, but His previous lying down you could not see, for you said: "Shew me, O thou whom my soul loves, where thou feedest, where thou liest" (Song of Songs 1:7). He lay feeding His Angels in His endless eternity with the vision of His glorious, unchanging beauty. But know, O beautiful one, that that vision is become wonderful to thee; it is high, and thou canst not reach it. Nevertheless, behold He hath gone forth from His holy place, and He that had lain feeding His Angels hath undertaken to heal us. We shall see Him coming as our food, Whom we were not able to behold while He was feeding His Angels in His repose. "Behold, He cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills."

The mountains and hills we may consider to be the Patriarchs and the Prophets, and we may see His leaping and skipping in the book of His genealogy. "Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob" (Matthew 1:2), etc. From the mountains came forth the root of Jesse, as you will find from the Prophet Isaiah: "There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him" (Isaiah 11:1-2). The same Prophet speaks yet more plainly: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel, which is interpreted, 'God with us'" (Isaiah 7:14). He Who is first styled a flower is afterwards called Emmanuel, and in the rod is named the Virgin.