Med. XXIII Nativity of Jesus Christ. His Poverty

The Word Incarnate has been Saviour from the first moment of His conception. In His nativity He begins exterior functions of this mission, by the practise of the most perfect poverty.

1.—Poverty of Jesus Christ in His Nativity.

2.—How It Tends to Save Us.

FIRST PRELUDE.—Represent to yourself the abandoned stable in which the Saviour is born; remark all the details. What do you find therein? What is there wanting in it? Do you find there all that is useful, agreeable, or even necessary?

SECOND PRELUDE.—Give me, O my God, an intimate knowledge of the interior disposition of Thy Son at His nativity. Give me His perfect detachment from the goods of earth.

First Point.—Poverty of Jesus Christ in the mystery of His nativity.

I. It is extreme. I go in spirit to the place of His nativity, expected through so many ages. Who would not have believed that the Son of the Most High would have been born in the grandest palace of the world; would have been clothed in purple; that gold would shine about His cradle? Yet what do I see? What destitution? No furniture, no house, no fire in the heart of winter. The most indigent of men have a roof to protect them; and behold Him consigned to a grotto, exposed to the inclemency of the weather. Poor swaddling clothes to cover Him, a manger and straw in lieu of a cradle; two animals to warm Him with their breath. In this apparel does the Master of the world make His entrance into the world He comes to save.

It is true that this state in which Jesus was born at Bethlehem will not be permanent; He will not be there always; He will, however, be always poor, and as in His incarnation He espoused humility and never quit it, so in His nativity He takes poverty for His inseparable companion. It will follow Him into Egypt, to Nazareth, in the course of His preaching, always and everywhere. He will at the age of thirty say what He might have said on the first day of His life. "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests; but the Son of Man has not where to lay His head." On Calvary He will not have even rags to cover Him, nor a glass of water to quench His thirst. Pauper in nativitate, pauperior in vita, pau-perrimus in cruce. (St. Ber. de Pass. c. 2.)

II. The poverty of my Saviour is accompanied with sufferings and humiliations. Is not poverty the companion of privations and sacrifices of all kinds? The first idea connected with the name of a poor man is that of a person who suffers; indigence without want would be a contradiction in terms. The same should be said of humiliations. They are, as it were, an unavoidable part of the condition of the poor, who are despised by a blind world, which judges from appearances only. Jesus is in need of everything, and no one has compassion on Him. They do not so much as think on it. The moment they consider Him as the son of an artisan, they are not surprised to see Him destitute; such is His condition.

III. This poverty is entirely voluntary. The little infant whom I adore in the arms of His indigent Mother is He who has made all things. "By Him all things were made," to whom all things belong. Mea sunt omnia. If He willed it, the earth would put all its treasures at His feet; He need but say the word, and new worlds would spring into existence; everything, therefore, was a matter of choice on His part. If, when He was born at Bethlehem, the royal family of David, from which He was descended, had lost both its former greatness and wealth; if His nativity coincided with a journey of His Mother; if, the inns of Bethlehem being all full, His parents were refused admittance into them, we must not imagine that these circumstances were due to hazard; they had all been determined in the eternal decrees, and as a consequence of His predilection for poverty.

Man, says St. Bernard, ignored the price of this virtue; but the Son of God, attracted by its charms, came down on earth, took it for His inheritance, that by His example He might teach us to love and esteem it. Nesciebat homo pretium ejus; hanc itaque Dei Filius concupiscens, descendit ut eam eligat sibi, et nobis quoque sua aestimatione faciat pretiosam. (Hom. 1, in vig. Nat. Dom.) What, then, has he seen to admire so much in this poverty, which man can not endure, and which they dread as a plague? Either Jesus Christ is mistaken, or the world is in error! (St. Bern.)

Second Point.—How the poverty of Jesus Christ in His nativity tends to save us. This was explained by the angel appearing to the shepherds, and inviting them to rejoice. "A Saviour is born to you; and this will be a sign unto you: you shall find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." A strange manner of announcing a Saviour! It is true, however, it is by these swaddling clothes, this gloomy dwelling, this manger, and, if I may say so, by all this wealth of poverty, that we have been saved. Covetousness, which draws in its train all the passions, which is the source of all crime, was the deadly sickness of which the human race was to be cured. There was need to encourage us to practise this detachment from transient earthly goods, which prepares the heart for the love of heavenly ones. We were to be taught to depend upon God alone, to expect everything from fidelity to His service, and to bury all solicitude in His bosom. Could this be effected by simply saying: "Woe to the rich; blessed are the poor!" Should we have relished this doctrine, had we not seen it confirmed by the example of God made man, an example very much more persuasive than mere words?

On the other hand, how could we resist a Saviour who says to us: "If there be in poverty the evil which you imagine to see in it; if there be in riches the happiness you seek in the possession of them, I should not have failed to see the one and the other. Is your judgment more infallible than Mine? The possession of wealth would have been free from danger for Me. My heart would not have clung to it. Earthly possessions would not have occupied My attention one moment, nor prevented Me from being employed exclusively about the things which are My Father's; but I saw that they were full of danger for you, and in order to guard you against a desire for them, I kept them far from Me, and I pronounced fearful anathemas against those who love and eagerly strive to acquire them; and for this end also I promised true happiness to voluntary poverty, to detachment from all those frivolous goods. Compare what I have said with what I have done, and let My example explain My doctrine."

Do I really have the thoughts, do I have the affections of Jesus Christ in regard to poverty and riches?

I know well that He will be my Saviour, only inasmuch as He shall have been my model. Oh, my Lord! if, in consideration of the high degree of holiness to which Thou callest Thy ministers, Thou wouldst say to them all, as Thou saidst to the young man of the Gospel: "Wilt Thou be perfect, go sell all thou hast, give it to the poor, and follow Me," they ought not to hesitate to make the sacrifice, but Thou dost not ordinarily require of them such a sacrifice. Thou dost not demand of them to deprive themselves in reality of all that they possess, but to detach their hearts from them, and to be disposed to suffer all the incommodities and humiliations of indigence, if Thou permittest them to be reduced to it. However great their destitution may be, O Thou God of Bethlehem and of Calvary, it shall never compare with Thine; it shall ever be in proportion with the infinite reward which Thou promisest to those blessed poor who have left all things to follow Thee. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

Résumé of the Meditation.

First Point.—Poverty of Jesus Christ in the mystery of His nativity. First. It is extreme. His shelter a poor stable; poor swaddling clothes for his garments; a manger in lieu of a cradle. In this apparel does the Master of the world make His entrance into it when He comes to save men. Poverty will be His faithful companion in Egypt, at Nazareth, in the course of His preaching, and principally on Calvary. Second. It is accompanied with sufferings and humiliations. Jesus is poor, nay destitute, and no one expresses compassion for Him; they think he deserves not even a thought. Third. It is entirely voluntary. If He would say but one word, the earth would deposit all its treasures at His feet. What then has He seen in this poverty of which the world is in dread? Either Jesus Christ is deceived, or the world is in error.

Second Point.—The poverty of Jesus Christ in His nativity becomes conducive to our salvation. "A Saviour is born to you, and this is the sign by which you will know Him." So it is in all truth; the stable, the manger, the swaddling clothes are the instruments of our salvation. Covetousness, which draws in its train all the passions, was the deadly sickness from which we were to be cured. Did it suffice to accomplish this object to say to men, "Woe to the rich"? We had need of the example of a God made man. This example is powerful indeed in its effects upon the heart of the man who meditates upon it! Do I have the thoughts, the affections of the Saviour in regard to poverty? Beati pauperes spiritu, quoniam ipsorum est regnum coelorum.