24 DECEMBER – VIGIL OF THE NATIVITY

From In Lumine Fidei

On a certain day there was enrolled at Bethlehem, together with the man Joseph, as being of the family of David, Mary who bore in her virginal womb the divine fruit. The time of her delivery was come, and there was no place in the inn; and instead of a splendid palace for the queen, there was but a cave. The moment is come for the accomplishment of the mystic prophecy: “And you Bethlehem in the land of Judea are not the least among the princes, for you are the first to adorn the cave. For there will come to me from you the leader of the nations, born of a virgin according to the flesh; it is Christ, who is God, and He will rule His new people of Israel.”

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Let us all give Him highest praise. This is our God, and there is no other; He was born of a virgin and He conversed with men; the only-begotten Son becomes mortal and is laid in a poor crib; the Lord of glory is wrapped in swaddling-clothes: the star invites the Magi to adore Him. Let us sing: “Holy Trinity, save our souls!” Come, all ye faithful: let us be transported with divine enthusiasm. Let us look at God coming in a visible form from on high and descending into Bethlehem. Then raising up our minds, let us bring to Him our virtues as the myrrh we offer Him, thus preparing with faith for His birth among us. Let us sing, “Glory in the highest be to God, one in three Persons, whose goodwill to man is thus made manifest! For you, O Jesus, the lover of man, have redeemed Adam and restored the work of your hands.”

“At length,” says Saint Peter Damian, in his Sermon for this holy Eve, “at length we have got from the stormy sea into the tranquil port. Hitherto it was the promise, now it is the prize. Hitherto labour, now rest. Hitherto despair, now hope. Hitherto the way, now our home. The heralds of the divine promise came to us but they gave us nothing but rich promises. Hence, our Psalmist himself grew wearied and slept and, with a seeming reproachful tone, thus sings his lamentation to God: But you have rejected and despised us. You have deferred the coming of your Christ (Psalm lxxxviii.). At another time he assumes a tone of demand, and thus prays: you that sits upon the Cherubim, show yourself! (Psalm lxxix.). Seated on your high throne, with myriads of adoring Angels around you, look down on the children of men who are victims of that sin which was committed indeed by Adam, but permitted by your justice. Remember what my substance is (Psalm lxxxviii.): you made it to the likeness of your own, for though every living man is vanity, yet inasmuch as he is made to your Image, he is not a passing vanity (Psalm xxxviii.). Bend your heavens and come down, and turn the eyes of your mercy upon us your miserable suppliants, and forget us not to the end! Isaias, also, in the vehemence of his desire, thus spoke For Sion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest, till her Just One come forth as brightness. Oh! That You would rend the heavens and would come down! So, too, all the Prophets, tired of the long delay of the Coming, have prayed to you, now with supplication, now with lamentation, and now with cries of impatience. We have listened to these their prayers. We have made use of them as our own, and now, nothing can give us joy or gladness till our Saviour come to us, and, kissing us with the kiss of His lips, say to us, I have heard and granted your prayers.

But what is this that has been said to us: Sanctify yourselves, ye children of Israel, and be ready, for on the morrow the Lord will come down? We are, then, but one half day and night from the grand visit, the admirable birth of the Infant-God! Hurry on your course, ye fleeting hours, that we may the sooner see the Son of God in His crib and pay our homage to this world-saving birth. You, brethren, are the Children of Israel, that are sanctified, and cleansed from every defilement of soul and body, ready, by your earnest devotion, for tomorrow’s mysteries. Such, indeed, you are, if I may judge from the manner in which you have spent these sacred days of preparation for the Coming of your Saviour. But if, notwithstanding all your care, some drops of the stream of this life’s frailties are still on your hearts, wipe them away and cover them with the snow-white robe of Confession. This I can promise you from the mercy of the divine Infant: he that will confess his sins and be sorry for them, will have born within him the Light of the World. The darkness that deceived him will be dispelled and he will enjoy the brightness of the true Light. For how can mercy be denied to the miserable this night in which the merciful and compassionate Lord is so mercifully born? Therefore, drive away from you all haughty looks, and idle words, and unjust works. Let your loins be girt, and your feet walk in the right paths. And then come and accuse the Lord, if this night He rend not the heavens, and come down to you, and throw all your sins into the depths of the sea.”

This holy Eve is, indeed, a day of grace and hope, and we ought to spend it in spiritual joy. The Church, contrary to her general practice, prescribes that if Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday the fasting alone should be anticipated on the Saturday, but that the Office and Mass of the Vigil should take precedence of the Office and Mass of the fourth Sunday of Advent. How solemn, then, in the eyes of the Church, are these few hours which separate us from the great Feast! On all other Feasts, no matter how great they may be, the solemnity begins with first Vespers, and until then the Church restrains her joy, and celebrates the Divine Office and Sacrifice according to the Lenten rite. Christmas, on the contrary, seems to begin with the Vigil, and one would suppose that this morning’s Lauds were the opening of the Feast, for the solemn intonation of this portion of the Office is that of a Double, and the Antiphons are sung before and after each Psalm or Canticle. The purple Vestments are used at the Mass, but all the genuflections peculiar to the Advent Ferias are omitted, and only one Collect is said instead of three, which always denote that the Mass is not that of a solemnity.

Let us enter into the spirit of the Church and prepare ourselves, in all the joy of our hearts, to meet the Saviour who is coming to us. Let us observe with strictness the fast which is prescribed. It will enable our bodies to aid the promptness of our spirit. Let us delight in the thought, that before we again lay down to rest, we will have seen Him born in the solemn midnight, who comes to give light to every creature. For, surely, it is the duty of every faithful child of the Catholic Church to celebrate, with her, this happy Night when, in spite of all the coldness of devotion, the whole universe keeps up its watch for the arrival of its Saviour. It is one of the last vestiges of the piety of ancient days, and God forbid it should ever be effaced!

Epistle – Romans i. 1‒6

Paul, the Servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, separated to the Gospel of God, which He had promised before by His Prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning His Son, who was made to Him of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was predestinated the Son of God in power, according to the spirit of sanctification, by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead: by whom we have received Grace and Apostleship for obedience to the faith in all nations for His name, among whom are you also the called of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Gospel – Matthew i. 18‒21

When Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things, behold the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: “Joseph, son of David, fear not to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she will bring forth a Son: and you will call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Gospel of today’s Mass is the passage which relates the trouble of Saint Joseph and the visit he received from the Angel. This incident, which forms one of the preludes to the birth of our Saviour, could not but enter into the Liturgy for Advent. And so far, there was no suitable occasion for its insertion. The Vigil of Christmas was the right day for this Gospel for another reason: the Angel, in speaking to Saint Joseph, tells him that the name to be given to the child of Mary is Jesus, which signifies that He will save His people from their sins.

Let us contemplate our Blessed Lady and her faithful spouse Joseph leaving the city of Jerusalem and continuing their journey to Bethlehem, which they reach after a few hours. In obedience to the will of Heaven, they immediately repair to the place where their names are to be enrolled as the Emperor’s edict requires. There is entered in the public register, Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth in Galilee. To his name, there is, doubtless, added that of Mary, spouse of the above-named Joseph. Perhaps they enter her as a young woman in the ninth month of her pregnancy. And this is all! — O Incarnate Word! You are not yet counted by men! You are upon this Earth of yours, and men set you down as nothing! And yet, all this excitement of the enrolment of the world is to be for nothing else but this — that Mary, your august Mother, may come to Bethlehem and there give you birth! O ineffable Mystery! How grand is this apparent littleness! How mighty this divine weakness! But God has still lower to descend than merely coming on our Earth. He goes from house to house of His people: not one will receive Him. He must go and seek a crib in the stable of poor dumb beasts. There, until such time as the Angels sing to Him their hymn and the Shepherds and the Magi come with their offerings, He will meet “the ox that knows its Owner, and the ass that knows its Master’s crib!” (Isaias i. 3) O Saviour of men, Emmanuel, Jesus! We too will go to this stable of Bethlehem. Your new birth which is tonight will not be without loving and devoted hearts to bless it. At this very hour you are knocking at the doors of Bethlehem and who is there that will take you in? You say to my soul in the words of the Canticle: " “Open to me, my sister, my beloved! For my head is full of dew, and my locks of the drops of the night!” (Canticles v. 2). Ah! Sweet Jesus! You will not be refused here! I beseech you, enter my house. I have been watching and longing for you. Come, then, Lord Jesus! Come! (Apocalypse xxii. 20).