The reading of the holy Gospel according to St.
Luke
At that time the shepherds were saying to one
another, ''Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to
pass, which the Lord has made known to us." So they went with haste. And
so forth.
Homily of St. Bede the Venerable, Priest
With happy joy, indeed, did these shepherds hasten
to see that which they had heard, and because they instantly sought the Savior
with an ardent and faithful love, they merited to find Him whom they sought.
But they also have shown by their words as well as their deeds with what effort
of mind the shepherds of intelligent flocks, yea, all the faithful must seek
Christ. "Let us go over to Bethlehem," they say, "and let us see
this word that is come to pass." Therefore, dearest brethren, let us also
go over in thought to Bethlehem, the city of David, and in love recall to our
minds that there the Word was made flesh, and let us celebrate His Incarnation
with honors worthy of Him. Having thrown off carnal desires, let us with all
the desire of our mind go over to the heavenly Bethlehem, that is, the house of
living bread, not made by hands, but eternal in heaven, and in love let us
recall that the Word was made flesh. Thither He has ascended in the flesh;
there He sits on the right hand of God the Father. Let us follow Him with the
whole force of our strength and by careful mortification of heart and body let
us merit to see Him reigning on the throne of His Father, Him whom they saw crying
in the manger.
"And they came with haste; and they found
Mary and Joseph, and the Infant lying in the manger." The shepherds came
in haste and found God born as man, together with the ministers of his nativity.
Let us hasten too, my brethren, not with footsteps, but by the advances of good
works, to see the same glorified humanity together with the same ministers
remunerated with a reward worthy of their services; let us hasten to see him
refulgent with the divine Majesty of His Father and of Himself. Lot ug hasten,
I say, for such happiness is not to be sought with "loth and torpor, but
the footsteps of Christ must be eagerly followed. For, offering His hand, He
desires to help our course delights to hear from us: "Draw us, we will run
after thee the odor of thy ointments." Therefore, let us follow swiftly the
strides of virtue that we may merit to possess. Let no one be tardy in
converting to the Lord; let no one put it off from day to day; let us beseech
Him through all things and before things that He direct our steps according to
His word and let not injustice dominate over us.
"And seeing, they understood the word that
had been spoken t0 them concerning this Child." Let us also, most dearly
beloved brethren hasten in the meantime to perceive by a loving faith to
embrace with complete love those things that are said to us concerning our
Savior, true God and Man, so that by this we may be able to comprehend Him
perfectly in the future vision of knowledge. For this is not only and the true
life of the blessed, only of men, but even of the angels, to look continually
upon of their Creator, which was so ardently desired by the Psalmist who said:
"My soul hath thirsted after the living God, when shall I come and appear
before the face of God? The Psalmist has shown that the vision of Him alone,
and not of the things of earth, could satisfy his desire when "I shall be satisfied
when thy glory shall appear." But since neither the idle nor the slothful,
but those who perspire in works of virtue, are worthy of divine contemplation,
he carefully premised these words: “But as for me, I will appear before thy
sight in justice.:
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