Advent Meditation~By St. Alphonsus de Liguori (December 7)

[Dawn Marie]

THE MYSTERIES OF THE FAITH

THE INCARNATION

Discourse by Saint Alphonsus de Liguori

December 7, 2014

 

Discourse 8

 

“The Eternal Word from being Lord became a Servant”

 

Semetipsum exinanivit, formam servi accipiens.

 

“He humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant.”--- Phil. ii. 7, 8.

 

On considering the immense mercy of our God in the work of the human redemption, St. Zachary had good reason to exclaim,  “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because He hath visited and wrought the redemption of His people.”  Blessed forever be God, who vouchsafed to come down upon earth and to be made man in order to redeem mankind.  “That being delivered from the hands of our enemies, we may serve Him without fear.”  In order that, loosened from the shackles of sin and of death, wherein our enemies held us fast, bound and enthralled, we might fearlessly, and with the freedom of the children of God, love Him and serve Him during this life, and afterwards go and possess and enjoy Him face to face in the kingdom of the blessed,---- in that kingdom closed against us indeed, heretofore, but now thrown open to us by our Divine Saviour.

 

We were, in fact, all heretofore the slaves of hell; but what has the Eternal Word, our sovereign Lord, done to free us from that slavery? From being Lord He became a servant. Let us consider what a mercy and what an excessive love this has been; but first let us beg light of Jesus and Mary.

 

I.

 

Almighty God  is Lord of all that is, or that can be in the world:  “In Thy power are all things; for Thou hast created all.”  Who can ever deny God the sovereign dominion over all things, if He be the Creator and Preserver of all?  “And He hath on His garment and on His thigh written King of kings and Lord of lords.”  Maldonatus explains the words “on His thigh”, to mean here, “by His own very nature;” and the drift of it is, that to the monarchs of earth outward majesty is annexed by gift and favor of the supreme King, that is God; but God Himself is King by His very nature; so that He cannot possibly  be otherwise than King and Lord of all.

 

But this sovereign King, though He bore sway over the angels in Heaven, and ruled all creatures, yet He did not rule over the hearts of mankind; mankind was groaning under the miserable tyranny of the devil. Yes, before the coming of Jesus Christ this tyrant was lord, and even made himself worshipped as God, with incense and sacrifices, not only of their animals, but even of their own children and of their own lives; and he, their enemy and tyrant, what return did he make them?---- how did he treat them? He tortured their bodies with the most barbarous cruelty, he blinded their minds, and by a path of pain and misery conducted them down to everlasting torments.

 

It was this tyrant that the Divine Word came on purpose to overthrow, and to release mankind from his wretched thraldom, in order that the unfortunate creatures, freed from the darkness of death, rescued from the bondage of this savage monster, and enlightened to know what was the true way of salvation, might serve their real and lawful Master, who loved them as a Father, and from slaves of Satan wished to make them His own beloved children:  That being delivered from the hands of our enemies, we might serve Him without fear.  The prophet Isaiah had long ago foretold that our Redeemer should destroy the empire which Satan held over mankind:  “And the scepter of their oppressor Thou hast overcome.” 

 

And why did the prophet call him oppressor? Because, says St. Cyril, “This heartless master exacts from the poor sinners who become his slaves heavy tribute, in the shape of passions, hatreds, disorderly affections, by means of which he binds them in a still faster servitude, while at the same time he scourges them.

Our Saviour came, then, to release us from the slavery of this deadly foe; but how?---- in what manner did He release us?---- Let us learn from St. Paul what He did:  “Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal to God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.”  He was already, says the Apostle, the only-begotten Son of God, equal to His Father, eternal as His Father, almighty as His Father, immense, most wise, most happy, and sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth, of angels and of men, no less than His Father; but for the love of man he stooped to take the lowly form of a servant, by clothing Himself in human flesh, and likening Himself to men; and since sin had made them vassals of the devil, He came in the form of man to redeem them, offering His sufferings and death in satisfaction to the Divine justice for the punishment due them.

 

Ah!  Who would have believed it, if holy faith did not assure us of it? Who would ever have hoped for it?---- who could ever have conceived it?  But faith tells us and assures us that this supreme and sovereign Lord emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant.