The
Word, the Wisdom of God, was made flesh
From
a sermon by Saint Peter Chrysologus, bishop
The
holy Apostle has told us that the human race takes its origin from two men, Adam
and Christ; two equal in body but unequal in merit, wholly alike in their
physical structure but totally unlike in the very origin of their being. The
first man, Adam, he says, became a
living soul, the last Adam a life-giving spirit.
The
first Adam was made by the last Adam, from whom he also received his soul, to
give him life. The last Adam was formed
by His own action; He did not have to wait for life to be given to Him by
someone else, but was the only one who could give life to all. The first Adam was formed from valueless
clay, the second Adam came forth from the precious womb of the Virgin. In the case of the first Adam, earth was
changed into flesh; in the case of the second Adam, flesh was raised up to be
God.
What
more need to be said? The second Adam stamped
His image on the first Adam when He created him. That is why He took on Himself the role, and
the name, of the first Adam, in order that He might not lose what He had made
in His own image. The first Adam, the
last Adam; the first had a beginning, the last knows no end. The last Adam is indeed the first; as He Himself
says: I am the first and the last.
I am the
first, that
is, I have no beginning. I am the last, that is, I have no
end. But what was spiritual, says the Apostle, did not come first; what was living came first, then what is
spiritual. The earth comes before its
fruit, but the earth is not so valuable as its fruit. The earth exacts pain and toil; its fruit
bestow subsistence and life. The prophet
rightly boasted of this fruit: Our earth
has yielded its fruit. What is this fruit?
The fruit referred to in another place:
I will place upon your throne one
Who is the fruit of your body. The first
man, says the Apostle, was made from
the earth and belongs to the earth; the second man is from heaven, and belongs
to heaven.
The man made
from the earth is the pattern of those who belong to the earth; the man from
heaven is the pattern of those who belong to heaven.
How is it that these last, though they do not
belong to heaven by birth, will yet belong to heaven, men who do not remain
what they were by birth but persevere in being what they become by
rebirth? The reason is, brethren, that
the heavenly Spirit, by the mysterious infusion of His Light, gives fertility to
the womb of the virginal font. The
Spirit brings forth as men belonging to heaven those whose earthly ancestry brought
them forth as men belonging to the earthly ancestry brought them forth as men
belonging to the earth, and in a condition of wretchedness; He gives them the
likeness of their Creator. Now that we
are reborn, refashioned in the image of our Creator, we must fulfill what the
Apostle commands: So, as we have worn the likeness of the man of earth, let us also wear
the likeness of the man of heaven.
Now
that we are reborn, as I have said, in the likeness of our Lord, and have
indeed been adopted by God as His children, let us put on the complete image of
our Creator so as to be wholly like Him, not in the glory that He alone
possesses, but in innocence, simplicity, gentleness, patience, humility, mercy,
harmony, those qualities in which He chose to become, and to be, one with us.
Taken from the Liturgy of the Hours, according to the Roman Rite, Catholic Book Publishing Corp., New York, 1975
No comments:
Post a Comment