ADVENT WITH EVELYN 2
(Based the Sermons of St Bernard)
First Question: WHO IS COMING?
Truth is coming to restore what was destroyed by the of father of lies.
“…Ponder well, in
assiduous meditation…and diligently reflect on the meaning of this ADVENT,
asking yourselves: Who is it that comes? Whence does he come? To what place
does he come? For what purpose does he come? At what time does he come? By what
road does he come?” St Bernard
St. Bernard encourages us to consider
in astonishment and admiration the credentials, the greatness and identity
of our expected Guest who, according to
the testimony Gabriel, (He) is the Son of the Most High. Surely if he is
God’s Son then He is God, coequal with
His Father. He is coequal in majesty; He is coequal in dignity. A prince
begets a prince.
Why the Son and not the Father or the Holy Spirit that became
Man? I imagine this was not without
cause. But "who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor?"
The Trinitarian choice of the Son was necessitated by the arrogance Lucifer, who
attempted to usurp a similitude with the Most High, and "it was thought
robbery in him to equal himself with God," an equality which was the Son’s
by right. The Trinitarian mission was an act by He to whom alone belongs vengeance! When the Son empowered and
sent out His disciples, He declared "I saw Satan as lightning falling from
heaven." LK 10:18.
PRIDE OF SATAN VS PRIDE OF MAN
Satan, the most beautiful of the heavenly spirits, had committed no overt act he had but
consented to a thought of pride, yet in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye he
was irreparably rejected because, as the Evangelist says, "he stood
not in the truth." Jn 8:44. Dust and
ashes, why art thou proud? If God spared not pride in His angels, how much less
will He tolerate it in thee, innate corruption? "Pride is the
beginning of all sin" Ecclus 10:15. Lucifer became envious of man’s happiness,
and by his false promises infused his evil in man. Wretch! What dost thou promise, when thou knowest that the Son of God
has the key of knowledge yea, and is Himself the "key of David, that shutteth
and no man openeth "that" in him are hidden all the treasures of the
wisdom and knowledge of God"? 2 Wouldst thou, then, wickedly steal them
away to give them to men?
Man became seduced by the
counsel of the serpent, or, rather, of the devil in the serpent, they tried to
seize upon what belonged by birth right to the Son of God. The Father therefore let His hand fall heavily on us
all, "for in Adam all have sinned”.
The angels sinned through malice and were unwilling to repent so
they perished and God created men to take their place. Man who had been supplanted by another’s malice would by the charity of
another redeemed.
TRUTH COMES TO SET US FREE
Be it so, dear
Lord, I beseech Thee. Be pleased to deliver me, for I am weak. Like Joseph of
old, I was stolen away from my country, and here without any fault was cast
into a dungeon. Yet I am not wholly innocent, but innocent compared with him
who seduced me. He deceived me with a lie: let the truth come, that falsehood
may be discovered, and that I may know the truth, and that the truth may make
me free. But to gain the freedom I must renounce the falsehood when discovered,
and adhere to the known truth; otherwise the temptation would not be human nor
the sin a human sin, but diabolical obstinacy. To persevere in evil is the act
of the devil, and those who persevere in evil after his example deservedly
perish with him.
Behold, you have heard Who He is that comes; consider now whence
and to whom He comes.
