From: Hebrews 2:14-18
Jesus, Man’s Brother, was Crowned with Glory and Honor
Above the Angels (Continuation)
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Commentary:
14. As in the prologue of St John’s Gospel (In 1:12-13), “flesh” and “blood” apply to human nature in its weakened condition. Jesus has assumed man’s nature: “He has taken it on without sin but with all its capacity to suffer pain, given that he took a flesh similar to sinful flesh; he ‘shared therefore in flesh and blood’, that is, he took on a nature in which he could suffer and die—which could not occur in a divine nature” (St Thomas, “Commentary on Heb.”, 2, 4).
Christ chose to submit to death, which is a consequence of sin, in order to destroy death and the power of the devil. The Council of Trent teaches that, as a result of original sin, man “incurred the wrath and indignation of God, and consequently incurred death [...] and, together with death, bondage in the power of him who from that time had the empire of death” (”De Peccato Originali”, Can. 3; cf. Rom 5:12, 6:12-14; 7:5; etc.). To explain this power of the devil, St Thomas comments: “A judge has one kind of power of death: he can punish people with death; a criminal has a different kind of power of death—a power he usurps by killing another [...]. God has the first kind of dominion over death; the devil has the second kind, for he seduces man to sin and leads him to death” (”Commentary on Heb.”, 2, 4).
Addressing Christ and his cross, the Church sings, “O altar of our victim raised, / 0 glorious passion ever praised, / by which our Life
to death was rendered, / that death to life might thence be mended” (Hymn “Vexilla Regis”). The death of Christ, the only one who could atone for man’s sin, wipes out sin and makes death a way to God. “Jesus destroyed the demon”, St Alphonsus writes; “that is, he destroyed his power, for the demon had been lord of death on account of sin, that is, he had power to cause temporal and eternal death to all the children of Adam infected by sin. And this was the victory of the Cross that Jesus, the author of life, by dying obtained Life for us through that death” (”Reflections on the Passion”, Chap. 5, 1).
15. Christ has freed men not from physical but from spiritual death and therefore from fear of death, because he has given us certainty of future resurrection. Man’s natural fear of death is easily explained by his fear of the unknown and his instinctive aversion to what death involves; but it can also be a sign of excessive attachment to this life. “Because it does not want to renounce its desires, the soul fears death, it fears being separated from the body” (St Athanasius, “Oratio Contra Gentes”, 3).
The fear of death which some people in the Old Testament had can be explained by their not knowing what fate awaited them, and by the possibility of being completely cut off from God. But physical death is not something to be feared by those who sincerely seek God: “To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain,” St Paul explains (Phil 1:21). “Don’t be afraid of death. Accept it from now on, generously...when God wills it, where God wills it, as God wills it. Don’t doubt what I say: it will come in the moment, in the place and in the way that are best: sent by your Father-God. Welcome be our sister death!” ([St] J. Escriva, “The Way”, 739).
16. “It is not with angels that he is concerned”: the original text says literally “he did not take angels with his hand”, “ did not catch
hold of”, “did not take [the nature of angels]”; meaning that Christ took to himself a human nature, not an angelic nature. St John
Chrysostom explains the text in this way: “What does he mean by ‘take with his hand’; why does he not say ‘took on/assumed’ but instead uses the expression ‘took with his hand’? The reason is this: this verb has to do with those who are in pursuit of their enemies and are doing all they can to catch those who are in flight from them and to seize those who resist. In other words, humankind had fled from him and fled very far, for it says ‘we were very far from God and were almost without God in the world’ (Eph 2:12). That is why he came in pursuit of us and ‘seized us for himself’. The Apostle makes it clear that he did all this entirely out of love for men, in his charity and solicitude for us” (”Hom. on Heb.”, 2).
“This single reflection, that he who is true and perfect God became man, supplies sufficient proof of the exalted dignity conferred on the human race by the divine bounty; since we may now glory that the Son of God is bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, a privilege not given to angels” (”St Pius V Catechism”, I, 4, 11).
17. This is the first mention of the central theme of the epistle, the priesthood of Christ. Because he is God and man, Jesus is the only
Mediator between God and men, who have lost God’s friendship and divine life on account of sin; he exercises this mediation as High Priest; his Love saves men by bridging the abyss which separates the sinful stock of Adam from God whom it has outraged.
It first refers clearly to our Lord’s human nature: he is in no way different from men (except that he is not guilty of sin: cf. Heb 4:15). “These words mean that Christ was reared and educated and grew up and suffered all he had to suffer and finally died” (Chrysostom, “Hom. On Heb.”, 5). “He partook of the same food as we do,” writes Theodoret of Cyrus, “and he endured work; he experienced sadness in his soul and shed tears; he underwent death” (”Interpretatio Ep. Ad Haebr.”, II).
Christ the Priest is able perfectly to understand the sinner and make satisfaction to divine Justice. “In a judge what one most desires is
mercy,” St Thomas writes, “in an advocate, reliability. The Apostle implies that both things were found in Christ by virtue of his Passion. Mankind desires mercy of him as judge, and reliability of him as advocate” (”Commentary on Heb.”, 2, 4).
Christ’s priesthood consists in making expiation by a sacrifice of atonement and a peace-offering for the sins of men: he takes our place and atones on our behalf: “Christ merited justification for us [...] and made satisfaction for us to God the Father” (Council of Trent, “De Iustificatione”, Chap. 7).
18. Suffering can link a person to Christ in a special and mysterious way. “The Redeemer suffered in place of man and for man. Every man has his own share in the Redemption. Each one is also called to share in that suffering through which the Redemption was accomplished. He is called to share in that suffering through which all human suffering has also been redeemed. In bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ has also raised human suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus each man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ” (John Paul II, “Salvifici Doloris”, 19).
Christ’s main purpose in undergoing his passion was the Redemption of mankind, but he also suffered in order to strengthen us and give us an example. “By taking our weaknesses upon himself Christ has obtained for us the strength to overcome our natural infirmity. On the night before his passion, by choosing to suffer fear, anguish and sorrow in the garden of Gethsemane he won for us strength to resist harassment by those who seek our downfall; he obtained for us strength to overcome the fatigue we experience in prayer, in mortification and in other acts of devotion, and, finally, the fortitude to bear adversity with peace and joy” (St Alphonsus, “Reflections on the Passion”, Chap. 9, 1).
A person who suffers, and even more so a person who does penance, should realize that he is understood by Christ. Christ will then
console him and help him bear affliction: “You too some day may feel the loneliness of our Lord on the Cross. If so, seek the support of him who died and rose again. Find yourself a shelter in the wounds in his hands, in his feet, in his side. And your willingness to start again will revive, and you will take up your journey again with greater determination and effectiveness” ([St] J. Escriva, “The Way of the Cross”, XII, 2).
From: Luke 2:22-35
The Purification of Mary and the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
Simeon’s Prophecy
[33] And His father and His mother marvelled at what was said about Him; [34] and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, His mother, “Behold this child is set for the fall and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against [35] (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.”
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Commentary:
22-24. The Holy Family goes up to Jerusalem to fulfill the prescriptions of the Law of Moses—the purification of the mother and the presentation and then redemption or buying back of the first-born. According to Leviticus 12:2-8, a woman who bore a child was unclean. The period of legal impurity ended, in the case of a mother of a male child, after forty days, with a rite of purification. Mary most holy, ever-virgin, was exempt from these precepts of the Law, because she conceived without intercourse, nor did Christ’s birth undo the virginal integrity of His Mother. However, she chose to submit herself to the Law, although she was under no obligation to do so.
“Through this example, foolish child, won’t you learn to fulfill the holy Law of God, regardless of personal sacrifice?
“Purification! You and I certainly do need purification. Atonement and, more than atonement, Love. Love as a searing iron to cauterize our soul’s uncleanness, and as a fire to kindle with divine flames the wretchedness of our hearts” ([St] J. Escriva, “Holy Rosary”, Fourth Joyful Mystery).
Also, in Exodus 13:2, 12-13 it is indicated that every first-born male belongs to God and must be set apart for the Lord, that is, dedicated to the service of God. However, once divine worship was reserved to the tribe of Levi, first-born who did not belong to that tribe were not dedicated to God’s service, and to show that they continued to be God’s special property, a rite of redemption was performed.
The Law also laid down that the Israelites should offer in sacrifice some lesser victim—for example, a lamb or, if they were poor, a pair of doves or two pigeons. Our Lord, who “though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9), chose to have a poor man’s offering made on His behalf.
25-32. Simeon, who is described as a righteous and devout man, obedient to God’s will, addresses himself to our Lord as a vassal or loyal servant who, having kept watch all his life in expectation of the coming of his Lord, sees that this moment has “now” come, the moment that explains his whole life. When he takes the Child in his arms, he learns, not through any reasoning process but through a special grace from God, that this Child is the promised Messiah, the Consolation of Israel, the Light of the nations.
Simeon’s canticle (verses 29-32) is also a prophecy. It consists of two stanzas: the first (verses 29-30) is an act of thanksgiving to God, filled with profound joy for having seen the Messiah. The second (verses 31-32) is more obviously prophetic and extols the divine blessings which the Messiah is bringing to Israel and to all men. The canticle highlights the fact that Christ brings redemption to all men without exception—something foretold in many Old Testament prophecies (cf. Genesis 22:18; Isaiah 2:6; 42:6; 60:3; Psalm 28:2).
It is easy to realize how extremely happy Simeon was—given that many patriarchs, prophets and kings of Israel had yearned to see the Messiah, yet did not see Him, whereas he now held Him in his arms (cf. Luke 10:24; 1 Peter 1:10).
33. The Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph marvelled not because they did not know who Christ was; they were in awe at the way God was revealing Him. Once again they teach us to contemplate the mysteries involved in the birth of Christ.
34-35. After Simeon blesses them, the Holy Spirit moves him to further prophecy about the Child’s future and His Mother’s. His words become clearer in the light of our Lord’s life and death.
Jesus came to bring salvation to all men, yet He will be a sign of contradiction because some people will obstinately reject Him—and for this reason He will be their ruin. But for those who accept Him with faith Jesus will be their salvation, freeing them from sin in this life and raising them up to eternal life.
The words Simeon addresses to Mary announce that she will be intimately linked with her Son’s redemptive work. The sword indicates that Mary will have a share in her Son’s sufferings; hers will be an unspeakable pain which pierces her soul. Our Lord suffered on the cross for our sins, and it is those sins which forge the sword of Mary’s pain. Therefore, we have a duty to atone not only to God but also to His Mother, who is our Mother too.
The last words of the prophecy, “that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed”, link up with verse 34: uprightness or perversity will be demonstrated by whether one accepts or rejects Christ.
36-38. Anna’s testimony is very similar to Simeon’s; like him, she too has been awaiting the coming of the Messiah her whole life long, in faithful service of God, and she too is rewarded with the joy of seeing Him. “She spoke of Him,” that is, of the Child—praising God in her prayer and exhorting others to believe that this Child is the Messiah.
Thus, the birth of Christ was revealed by three kinds of witnesses in three different ways—first, by the shepherds, after the angel’s announcement; second, by the Magi, who were guided by a star; third, by Simeon and Anna, who were inspired by the Holy Spirit.
All who, like Simeon and Anna, persevere in piety and in the service of God, no matter how insignificant their lives seem in men’s eyes, become instruments the Holy Spirit uses to make Christ known to other. In His plan of redemption God avails of these simple souls to do much good to all mankind.
39. Before their return to Nazareth, St. Matthew tells us (2:13-23), the Holy Family fled to Egypt where they stayed for some time.
40. “Our Lord Jesus Christ as a child, that is, as one clothed in the fragility of human nature, had to grow and become stronger but as the eternal Word of God He had no need to become stronger or to grow. Hence He is rightly described as full of wisdom and grace” (St. Bede, “In Lucae Evangelium Expositio, in loc.”).
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From: Luke 2:36-40
Anna’s Prophecy
The Childhood of Jesus
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Commentary:
36-38. Anna’s testimony is very similar to Simeon’s; like him, she too has been awaiting the coming of the Messiah her whole life long, in faithful service of God, and she too is rewarded with the joy of seeing Him. “She spoke of Him,” that is, of the Child—praising God in her prayer and exhorting others to believe that this Child is the Messiah.
Thus, the birth of Christ was revealed by three kinds of witnesses in three different ways—first, by the shepherds, after the angel’s announcement; second, by the Magi, who were guided by a star; third, by Simeon and Anna, who were inspired by the Holy Spirit.
All who, like Simeon and Anna, persevere in piety and in the service of God, no matter how insignificant their lives seem in men’s eyes, become instruments the Holy Spirit uses to make Christ known to other. In His plan of redemption God avails of these simple souls to do much good to all mankind.
39. Before their return to Nazareth, St. Matthew tells us (2:13-23), the Holy Family fled to Egypt where they stayed for some time.
40. “Our Lord Jesus Christ as a child, that is, as one clothed in the fragility of human nature, had to grow and become stronger but as the eternal Word of God He had no need to become stronger or to grow. Hence He is rightly described as full of wisdom and grace” (St. Bede, “In Lucae Evangelium Expositio, in loc.”).