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Thursday, December 24, 2020

CRASTINA DIE: A Meditation on the Nativity of Our Lord

By:    + Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop (24 December 2020)
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Crastina die delebitur iniquitas terrae et regnabit super nos Salvator mundi. (Tomorrow the wickedness of the earth shall be blotted out; and the Savior of the world shall reign over us.)

For more than two thousand years the world has been celebrating the Birth of Jesus Christ, marking the counting of time with a before and after that sees the Son of God as the Lord of History. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity — the Light — became Incarnate in the most-pure womb of the Virgin Mary and was born to repair the guilt of our First Parents and to redeem humanity, which was enslaved by Satan through its rebellion against the Creator in the Garden of Eden.

 

 

The Eternal Word of the Father humbled himself in the Babe of Bethlehem, assuming our human nature, so that as the new Adam he might immolate himself on behalf of men, and as God make infinite the sacrifice offered to the divine Majesty. Let us contemplate the Mystery of the Redemption being realized in time; henceforth, mankind has been divided into two camps: those who have received the Light that has come into the world, and those who have not. Et lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt.

Crudelis Herodes, Deum Regem venire quid times? Cruel Herod, why dost thou fear the coming of the Divine King? We could address this question to the powerful ones of the earth: to the financial elite, to the deep state, to the International Monetary Fund, to the WHO, to the politicians who cancel Christmas and ban the Nativity scene. What are you afraid of? Non eripit mortalia, qui regna dat caelestia: He who bestows a heavenly kingdom does not take away earthly ones, but rather makes them stable and guarantees their prosperity, concord and peace. Why do you fear that Holy Child whom the angels adore, and before whom even the demons, trembling, prostrate themselves?

You fear Him, unhappy ones, because you know that, by His most Holy Birth, your power is definitively compromised, the time of your dominion over the world is running out, and the iniquity you feed on in order to enslave humanity will soon be wiped out. It is the Light that you fear: flee, partes adversae! For the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Shoot of David, the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, has triumphed.

“We pray for mankind, which is entangled and bound in the chains of error, hatred and discord as if in a prison of its own making, repeating the Church’s invocation during the Holy Season of Advent: O clavis David et sceptrum domus Israël; qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit: veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris et umbra mortis! O Key of David, and Sceptre of the house of Israel, Who dost open and no man shutteth, Who dost shut and no man openeth; come and lead forth from his prison the captive sitting in the darkness and in the shadow of death” (Pius XII, Christmas Discourse to the Sacred College, 1943). As has been recently observed, “these words of Sacred Scripture still resound today with their perennial force. Today as then, we are prisoners of darkness, but amid the darkness we place all our hope in the Holy Child of Bethlehem, in his Divine Mother and in Saint Joseph, the head of the Holy Family, asking them for the strength to be a true acies ordinate, fighting cor unum et anima una for love of the Church and Christian Civilization.

Tomorrow we celebrate the Birth of the King of kings and the defeat of the infernal tyrant. Let us, therefore, cast off the cursed yoke of sin and be reconciled with the Lord in the Sacrament of Confession: let us make holy resolutions for the coming year and free ourselves from all affection for what offends God. Let us approach Holy Communion in order to offer the Child King — present in the Blessed Sacrament — our hearts as a worthy resting place where He can truly reign over us, over our families, over the Holy Church, and over the nations that today deny Him and offend Him. Adventiat regnum tuum: Lord, thy kingdom come; a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace.

This is my most sincere wish. To everyone at the “Remnant,” to dear Michael Matt who guides you with wisdom and fearlessness, to his colleagues, to all the readers, to your families and especially to all the children, I send my Blessing with all my heart.

+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop

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Last modified on Thursday, December 24, 2020