Nativity Hymn 4: The Month That Brings Every Joy

This is the month that brings every kind of joy. It is the freedom of slaves, the pride of the free, the crown of the gates, the soothing of the body; and in its love it clothed us in purple, as if we were kings.

This is the month that brings every kind of victory. It frees the spirit; it subdues the body; it brings life to birth among mortals; in its love it made the Godhead dwell in humanity.

On this day the Lord, being humble, exchanged glory for shame, because Adam, being a rebel, had exchanged the truth for unrighteousness. The Good One had mercy on him; he counted righteous and set right those who had turned aside. [a]

Let everyone drive away his weariness, since that Majesty was not wearied with being nine months in the womb for us, and thirty years in Sodom among madmen. [b]

Because the Good One saw that the human race was poor and humbled, he made feasts like a treasure house and opened them to the lazy, so that the feast might stir up the lazy one to rise and become rich.

See! The Firstborn has opened his feast to us like a treasure house. This one day alone in the whole year opens that treasure house. Come, let us make gain, let us grow rich from it, before they shut it up.

Blessed are the watchful, who have taken the spoil of life from it by force. It is a great disgrace when a man sees his neighbor take treasure and carry it out, while he himself sits slumbering in the treasure house and so comes out empty. [c]

At this feast let each of us crown the gates of his heart. The Holy Spirit longs for its gates, so that he may enter and dwell there and sanctify it; and he goes around to all the gates to see where he may enter.

At this feast the gates are glad before the gates, and the Holy One rejoices in the holy temple, and the voice resounds in the mouths of children, and Christ rejoices in his own feast like a mighty man. [d]

At the birth of the Son the king was enrolling everyone for the tribute money, so that they might be his debtors. The King came out to us who blotted out our bills of debt, and wrote another bill in his own name, so that he might be our debtor. The sun gave longer light, and by the degrees it had climbed it foreshadowed the mystery. It was twelve days since it had begun to climb, and today is the thirteenth day: an exact type of the Son’s birth and of his Twelve. [e]

Moses shut up a lamb on the tenth day of the month Nisan; this was a type of the Son, who came into the womb and shut himself up in it on the tenth day. He came out of the womb in this month, in which the sun gives longer light. [g]

The darkness was overcome, to proclaim that Satan was overcome; and the sun gave longer light, so that it might triumph, because the Firstborn was victorious. Along with the darkness the dark one was overcome, and with the greater light our Light conquered!

Joseph caressed the Son as a Babe; he served him as God. He rejoiced in him as the Good One, and he was in awe of him as the Just One, greatly bewildered:

“Who has given me the Son of the Most High to be a son to me? I was jealous over your mother, and I thought of sending her away; and I did not know that in her womb was hidden a mighty treasure, which would suddenly make my poverty rich. David the king sprang from my family and wore the crown, and I have come down to a very low estate: instead of a king, I am a carpenter. Yet a crown has come to me, for in my bosom is the Lord of crowns!”

Mary burned with words to rival his, and she lulled him, saying: “Who has granted me, the barren one, to conceive and give birth to this one, who is manifold; a little one, who is great; for he is wholly with me, and wholly everywhere?

“On the day that Gabriel came in to my low estate, he suddenly made me free instead of a handmaid; for I was the handmaid of your divine nature, and I am also the mother of your human nature, O Lord and Son!

“Suddenly the handmaid became the King’s daughter in you, O Son of the King. See, the lowliest in the house of David, because of you, O Son of David, see, a daughter of earth has reached heaven through the Heavenly One!

“How astonished I am that a Child older than all things is laid before me! His eye gazes unceasingly on heaven. As for the stammering of his mouth, to my mind it signifies that its silence speaks with God.

“Who ever saw a Child the whole of whom beholds every place? His look is like that of one who orders all creatures above and below! His face is like that of the Commander who commands all.

“How shall I open the fountain of milk to you, O Fountain? Or how shall I give nourishment to you, who nourish all from your table? How shall I wrap in swaddling clothes one who is wrapped around with rays of glory?

“My mouth does not know what to call you, O Child of the Living One. For I tremble to venture to call you the child of Joseph, since you are not his seed; and I am afraid to deny the name of the man to whom they betrothed me.

“Though you are the Son of One, I would then be calling you the son of many. For ten thousand names would not be enough for you, since you are the Son of God and also the Son of Man, yes, David’s Son and Mary’s Lord.

“Who has made the Lord of mouths to be without a mouth? Wicked men have slandered me because of my pure conception of you. O Holy One, be a spokesman for your mother. Show a miracle, so that they may be persuaded from whom it is that I conceived you!

“For your sake too I am hated, O Lover of all. See, I am persecuted, I who have conceived and given birth to the one House of refuge for mankind. Adam will rejoice, for you are the Key of Paradise.

“See, the sea raged against your mother as it did against Jonah. See, Herod, that raging wave, sought to drown the Lord of the seas. You will teach me where I am to flee, O Lord of your mother.

“With you I will flee, so that in you I may gain life in every place. Prison with you is no prison, for in you man goes up to heaven; the grave with you is no grave, for you are the Resurrection!” [h]

A star of light that was not of nature suddenly shone out, less than the sun and greater than the sun: less than it in visible light, but greater than it in hidden might, because of its mystery.

The Morning Star cast its bright beams among the darkness and led them like blind men; and they came and received a great light. They gave offerings and received life; they worshiped and went home.

In the height and in the depth there were two preachers for the Son: the bright star shouted above, and John too preached below; two preachers, one earthly and one heavenly.

The one above showed his nature to be from the Majesty, and the one below showed his nature to be also from mankind. O great marvel, that his Godhead and his manhood were each preached by them!

Whoever thought him earthly, the bright star convinced that he was heavenly; and whoever thought him a spiritual being, John convinced that he also had a body.

In the holy temple Simeon carried him and lulled him, saying: “You have come, O Merciful One, showing mercy on my old age, and letting my bones go down into the grave in peace. In you I will be raised from the grave into Paradise!”

Anna embraced him and put her mouth to his lips, and the Spirit dwelt on her own lips. As when Isaiah’s mouth was silent the coal that touched his lips opened his mouth, so Anna burned with the Spirit of his mouth, and she lulled him, saying: “Son of the kingdom, Son of lowliness, who hear and are still, who see and are hidden, who know and are unknown, God, Son of Man, glory to your name!” [i]

The barren women heard too; they ran and came with their provisions. The Magi came with their treasures; the barren came with their provisions. Provisions and riches were suddenly heaped up in the house of the poor.

The barren woman cried out, as at something she had not looked for: “Who has granted me this sight of your Babe, O Blessed One, by whom heaven and earth are filled? Blessed be your Fruit, which made the barren vine bear a cluster!”

Zechariah came and opened his venerable mouth, and cried out: “Where is the King, for whose sake I fathered the Voice that is to preach before his face? Hail, Son of the King, to whom our priesthood too will be handed over!”

John came with his parents and worshiped the Son, and the Son shed glory on his face; and he was not stirred as he had been in the womb! A mighty miracle: here he was worshiping, there he leaped.

Herod too, that base fox who had stalked about like a lion, crouched down like a fox and howled when he heard the roaring of the Lion, who came to reign in the kingdom according to the Scriptures. The fox heard that the Lion was a cub, still a suckling, and he sharpened his teeth, so that while the Lion was still a child the fox might lie in wait and devour him before he had grown up and the breath of his mouth should destroy him.

The whole creation became mouths for him and cried out about him. The Magi cried out by their offerings! The barren cried out with their children; the star of light cried out in the sky: See, the Son of the King!

The heavens were opened, the waters were calmed, the Dove glorified him, and the voice of the Father, louder than thunder, spoke out urgently and said, “This is my beloved Son.” The angels proclaim him; the children shout to him with their Hosannas.

These voices above and below proclaim him and cry aloud. The slumber of Zion was not broken by the voice of the thunders; but she took offense, rose up, and killed him because he had woken her.