Saint Bernard, in a concise formula, did not hesitate to say that man is only a "mass of corruption". But the holy liturgy seems to contradict such a peremptory assertion. In the Offertory, the priest pours a drop of water into the chalice of salvation while saying: "God, who in an admirable way hast created the nobility of human nature and hast restored it in an even more marvelous way... ".
Dear Friends and Benefactors,
Saint Bernard, in a concise formula, did not hesitate to say that man is only a "mass of corruption". But the holy liturgy seems to contradict such a peremptory assertion. In the Offertory, the priest pours a drop of water into the chalice of salvation while saying: "God, who in an admirable way hast created the nobility of human nature and hast restored it in an even more marvelous way... ".
How should we see human nature? What is man? Do we have to see him as a mass of decay, or rather as a being of a most eminent dignity? In fact, he is the first on account of his sins, and the second by grace of divine Goodness.
There is no doubt that man came forth from the hands of his Creator in the radiant beauty of his spiritual nature. But the fault of our first parents in the garden of Eden rejected that nature, moving it far from God, plunging it into a most reckless opposition. And if baptism destroys the infernal chains that make men to be born as children of anger, the wounds of corruption remain, open and festering in man's nature and the infection spreads by the repetition of faults. Only the Incarnation, in the greatness of the unutterable mystery of Charity, can solve the apparent contradiction between St. Bernard and the liturgy. Because if man carries in his soul the imprint of the first rebellion like a poisonous source, he can - by his union with the mystery of the God-Man be configured with Christ and participate in the divine purity, through and in Him. The nobility of man rests upon the Blood that the Savior shed for him: regenerated in the wood of the Cradle, which preceded the wood of the Cross.
With the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by a divine grace which exceeds all that human intelligence can conceive, man receives the honor of being incorporated into the infinite nobility of God, since human nature is incorporated into the Deity. The nobility of man consists in his participation in the nobility of God. From that moment on, the Incarnation becomes the criterion of all his choices and of his vigilance to conform himself to the design of Christ for his soul. That is man's nobility. His honor is the very honor of God and he finds his friendship in the sacerdotal friendship of Christ, Who makes him to share in His own nature by the sacraments, which impose on him the sovereignty of Christ. The Christian is the knight of Christ, and his title of nobility will be his strict fidelity to acknowledge this blessed subjection.
Nobility is received. But it can also be lost. Shame on the one who trades it, on the one who sells his title of nobility out of greed and who prefers to acknowledge the dominion of money to that of honor and virtue: such a one fails — falls. Shame on the Christian who turns towards the world, becoming again its slave for the thirty coins that are the attractions of the flesh and vanity.
Noblesse oblige! Our nobility obliges us. Adorned with the virtues of the Cradle, it will be an object of derision in the eyes of the world, which cannot see its interior beauty. The feast of Christmas lets the well-born souls realize that the vocation of man rests wholly upon the mystery of the birth of the God-Man, because God restores man, through His Son, to a nobility infinitely higher than that of the original creation.
"Understand, O Christian, your dignity - said St. Leo the Great - and show that you know how to live in consequence!" Thus, the Christian claims victory by Christ and the virtue of His Most Precious Blood. In the eyes of worldly men perhaps he seems to fail, but he stands up again, stronger. The failures, far from stopping the progress of his soul, carve the Cross in him and give him the understanding of the mystery of the love of God, Who incarnates Himself in humble souls.
Christendom, for the last four centuries, has known quite heavy trials and many setbacks mark its history. The enemies of the defunct Christendom have posted, again, guards around its tomb. After two thousand years, too full of themselves, they haven't learned anything! Men continue to mock what they call the "weakness" of God and enjoy insulting Him. Fools! They still do not know that what seems weakness in God is nothing other than the supreme form of His mercy. They laugh, they mock - they sign their own condemnation. They also laugh at our efforts to keep, in honor, our fidelity to God and are pleased with our obvious difficulties. Tomorrow, perhaps, they will try to force us to give up our combat and they will impose upon us laws that will force us to prefer death rather than dishonor and the defeat of abandoning God.
They will laugh loudly then and will claim their triumph. But there will remain to us the certainty that the victory belongs to Christ and to those who want to follow Him. Because Calvary is already a victory.
The only victory that is worthy of a Christian soul.
In Christo sacerdote et Maria,
Fr. Yves le Roux