Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday in Advent

Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.” (Luke 1:39–45)

Not yet born, already John prophesies and, while still in the enclosure of his mother’s womb, confesses the coming of Christ with movements of joy since he could not do so with his voice. For Elizabeth says to holy Mary: As soon as you greeted me, the child in my womb exulted for joy. John exults, then, before he is born, and before his eyes can see what the world looks like he can recognize the Lord of the world with his spirit. In this regard I think that the prophetic phrase is apropos which says: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb I sanctified you. Thus we ought not to marvel that, after he was put in prison by Herod, from his confinement he continued to announce Christ to his disciples, when even confined in the womb he preached the same Lord by his movements.

Maximus of Turin, Sermon 5.4

Believe what says the angel who was sent
From the Father's throne, or if your stolid ear
Catch not the voice from heaven, be wise and hear
The cry of aged woman, now with child.
O wondrous faith! The babe in senile womb
Greets through his mother's lips the Virgin's Son,
Our Lord; the child unborn makes known the cry
Of the Child bestowed on us, for speechless yet,
He caused that mouth to herald Christ as God.

Prudentius, The Divinity of Christ 585–93.

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Give comfort, fainthearted in mind! Be strong; do not be frightened! Look, our God is repaying judgment, and he will repay! He himself will come and save us! Then blind people’s eyes will be opened, and dumb people’s ears will hear. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the stammerer’s tongue will be clear, because water has broken forth in the desert, and a ravine in a thirsting land. And the waterless place will turn into marshes, and there will be a spring of water in the thirsty land; there birds’ happiness will be a dwelling of reed and marshes. (Isaiah 35:4–7 LXX)

Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” (Mark 7:31–37)

Now what can [those who deny the incarnation] say to this, or how can they dare to face this at all? For the prophecy not only indicated that God is to sojourn here but also announces the signs and the time of his coming. For they connect the blind recovering their sight, and the lame walking, and the deaf hearing, and the tongue of the one who stammers being made plain, with the divine coming which is to take place. Let them say, then, when such signs have come to pass in Israel, or where in Judah anything of the sort has occurred. Naaman, a leper, was cleansed, but no deaf man heard nor lame walked. Elijah raised a dead man; so did Elisha; but none blind from birth regained his sight. For in good truth, to raise a dead man is a great thing, but it is not like the wonder wrought by the Savior. Only, if Scripture has not passed over the case of the leper and of the dead son of the widow, certainly had it come to pass that a lame man also had walked and a blind man recovered his sight, the narrative would not have omitted to mention this also. Since, then, nothing is said in the Scriptures, it is evident that these things had never taken place before. When, then, have they taken place, save when the Word of God himself came in the body? Or when did he come, if not when lame men walked, and those who stammer were made to speak plainly, and deaf men heard, and men blind from birth regained their sight?

Athanasius, On the Incarnation 38

Deafened ears, of sound unconscious, every passage blocked and closed,
At the word of Christ responding, open all the portals wide,
Hear with joy friendly voices and the softly whispered speech.
Every sickness now surrenders, every listlessness departs,
Tongues long bound by chains of silence are unloosed and speak aright,
While the joyful paralytic bears his pallet through the streets.

Prudentius, Hymns 9.64–69

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday in Advent

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26–38)

The angel greeted Mary with a new address, which I could not find anywhere else in Scripture. I ought to explain this expression briefly. The angel says, “Hail, full of grace.” The Greek word is κεχαριτωμένη. I do not remember having read this word elsewhere in Scripture. An expression of this kind, “Hail, full of grace,” is not addressed to a male. This greeting was reserved for Mary alone. Mary knew the Law; she was holy, and had learned the writings of the prophets by meditating on them daily. If Mary had known that someone else had been greeted by words like these, she would never have been frightened by this strange greeting. Hence the angel says to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary! You have found grace in God’s eyes. Behold, you will conceive in your womb. You will bear a son, and you will name him ‘Jesus.’ He will be great, and will be called ‘Son of the Most High.’”

Origen, Homilies on Luke 6.7

A heavenly fire engenders Him, not flesh
Nor blood of father, nor impure desire.
By power of God a spotless maid conceives,
As in her virgin womb the Spirit breathes.
The mystery of this birth confirms our faith
That Christ is God: a maiden by the Spirit
Is wed, unstained by love; her purity
Remains intact; with child within, untouched
Without, bright in her chaste fertility,
Mother yet virgin, Mother that knew not man.
Why, doubter, do you shake your silly head?
An angel makes this known with holy lips.
Will you not hearken to angelic words?
The Virgin blest, the shining messenger
Believed, and by her faith she Christ conceived.
Christ comes to men of faith and spurns the heart
Irresolute in trust and reverence.
The Virgin’s instant faith attracted Christ
Into her womb and hid Him there till birth.

Prudentius, The Divinity of Christ 566–584

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” So He spoke this parable to them, saying: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. (Luke 15:1–7)

When one ailing sheep lags behind the others
And loses itself in the silvan mazes,
Tearing its white fleece on the thorns and briers,
Sharp in the brambles,

Unwearied the Shepherd, that lost one seeking,
Drives away the wolves and on His strong shoulders
Brings it home again to the fold’s safekeeping,
Healed and unsullied.

He brings it back to the green fields and meadows,
Where no thorn-bush waves with its cruel prickles,
Where no shaggy thistle arms trembling branches
With its rough briers,

But where palm trees grow in the open woodland,
Where the lush grass bends its green leaves, and laurels
Shade the glassy streamlet of living water
Ceaselessly flowing.

Prudentius, Hymn for Everyday 8.33–48

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to Sunday

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.  For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.  But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.  For you are all children of light, children of the day.  We are not of the night or of the darkness.  So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.  (1 Thess 5:1-6)

The winged messenger of day
Sings loud, foretelling dawn’s approach,
And Christ in stirring accents calls
Our slumbering souls to life in Him.

“Away,” He cries, “with dull repose,
The sleep of death and sinful sloth;
With hearts now sober, just, and pure
Keep watch, for I am very near.”

Prudentius, Hymns 1.1-8

He writes this as though to people already instructed.  He compared the suddenness of the Lord’s coming to a thief, who tries to escape notice, but the one guarding the house detects the coming of the thief, whereas the one who is heedless and goes to sleep is robbed.  In similar fashion the one keeping watch for the Lord’s return recognizes the signs.… The pregnant woman knows she is carrying an unborn child, but does not know the time of labor.  So too in our case, the fact that the Lord of all will come we know, but we have not at all been given clear teaching about the time itself; hence we must always be on the lookout for that day.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on First Thessalonians