WHO IS COMING? ADVENT WITH EVELYN 2

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.