Nativity Hymn 12: The Child I Carry Carries Me

The Baby I carry carries me, says Mary, and he has lowered his wings, taken me and placed me between his feathers, and risen into the air. And a promise has been given me that height and depth will belong to my Son. [a]

I have seen Gabriel, who called him Lord, and the high priest, the aged servant, who carried him and held him. I have seen the Magi when they bowed down, and Herod when he was troubled because the King had come. [b]

Satan too, who strangled the little ones so that Moses might perish, murdered the little ones so that the Living One might die. He fled to Egypt, he who came to Judea to labor and wander there. He sought to catch the man who would catch him. [c]

In her virginity Eve put on the leaves of shame. Your mother, in her virginity, put on the garment of glory that is enough for all. She gave the little garment of the body to him who covers all. [d]

Blessed is she in whose heart and mind you were! Through you she was a King’s palace, Son of the King, and a Holy of Holies through you, High Priest! She did not have the trouble or the worry of a household, or of a husband!

Eve, on the other hand, was a nest and a den for the accursed serpent, who entered and lived in her. His evil counsel became bread to her, so that she might become dust. You are our Bread, and you are also of our race and our garment of glory.

If someone who is holy is in danger, see, here is his Guardian! If someone has done wrong, see, here is his Pardoner! If someone has a demon, here is the one who pursues it! Those who are in pain, see, here is the one who binds up their broken places.

Whoever has a child, let him come and become a brother to my Beloved! Whoever has a daughter, or a young woman of his family, let her come and become the bride of my Glorious One! Whoever has a servant, let him set him free, so that he may come and serve his Lord. [e]

The son of free men who carries your yoke, my Son, will have one reward. But the slave who carries the burden of the yoke of two masters, the one above and the one below, has two blessings, and two rewards for the two burdens. [f]

The free woman, my Son, is your handmaid. And if the woman in bondage serves you, she is free in you. In you she will be comforted, because she is set free. Hidden apples are stored up in her bosom, if she loves you! [g]

You chaste women, long for my Beloved, so that he may dwell in you; and you who are impure, long for him so that he may make you holy! You churches too, long for him, so that the Son of the Creator, who came to renew all creatures, may adorn you!

He received the foolish, who worshiped and served all the stars. He renewed the earth, which had been worn out through Adam, who sinned and grew old. The new creation was the work of its Renewer, and the One who is sufficient for all repaired the bodies together with their wills.

Come, you blind, and receive light without money! Come, you lame, and receive your feet! You deaf and mute, receive your voice! Come, you too whose hand has been cut off; the maimed too will receive his hands. [h]

He is the Son of the Creator, whose treasure houses are filled with every kind of help. Let the one who has no eyes come to him who makes clay and changes it, who makes flesh, who gives light to eyes. [i]

By the small portion of clay he shows that it was by his hand that Adam was formed. The soul of the dead man also bears him witness that it was by him that the breath of man was breathed in. By these last witnesses he was shown to be the Son of the one who is the First.

Gather together and come, you lepers, and receive cleansing without labor. For he will not wash you as Elisha did, who baptized seven times in the river, nor will he trouble you as the priests did with their sprinklings. Foreigners and strangers too have made their way to the Great Physician. [j]

With the King’s Son, the rank of stranger has no place. The Lord does not make himself a stranger to his servants, nor hide that he is Lord of all. For if the Just One makes the body leprous and you cleanse it, then the one who formed the body hates the body, but you love it.

And if it were not your own forming, you, being just, would not have healed it; and if it were not your creature, you would not have afflicted it when it was healthy. The punishments you have cast on it, and the pains you have healed, proclaim that you are the Creator’s Son. [k]