St. Bernard: The Advent of the Lord and its Six Circumstances: PL 183, 35-40, Homily I; Sermo II
Behold He cometh, leaping upon the
mountains, skipping over the hills. In place of mountains and hills understand
patriarchs and prophets, and as He came leaping and skipping, read in the book
of the generation of Jesus: Abraham begot Isaac: and Isaac begot Jacob
and so on. From these mountains came forth, as you will find, the Root of Jesse,
whence, according to the prophet, there came forth a Rod, and thence a
flower shall rise up, upon which the sevenfold Spirit of the Lord shall
rest (Is. xi. 1).
And revealing this more plainly in another place,
the same prophet says: Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and
His name shall be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us
(Mt. i. 23). For He whom he first refers to as a flower, the same he here calls
Emmanuel; and that which he before calls a rod, (virga) he here speaks of as
the Virgin.
From this I believe it to be evident who is the
Rod coming forth from the Root of Jesse, and Who is the Flower upon which the
Holy Spirit rests: that the Mother of God is this Rod, and her Son Jesus the
Flower. A Flower accordingly is the Son of the Virgin; a flower white and
ruddy, chosen out of thousands (Cant. v. 10); a flower upon which the
angels desire to look (I Pet. i. 12); a Flower whose fragrance restores the
dead to life; and as He himself has said, a Flower of the field, and not
of the garden. For the field flowers without human help, it is by no man sown,
unbroken to the spade, nor made rich with soil. So truly has flowered the Womb
of the Virgin; so has the inviolate, the unstained, the pure flesh and blood of
Mary, as a field, brought forth this flower of eternal beauty; Whose perfection
shall see no glory shall be forever unfading.
O Virgin, Sublime Rod, to what holy eminence are
you come on high? Even to the very Throne, even to the Lord of all Majesty? And
what wonder, since to the very depths thou dost send down the roots of thy own
humility. O Truly Celestial Blossoming Rod, more precious, more holy, than al]
the rest! O True Wood of Life, that alone was found worthy to bear the fruit of
salvation!
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