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…in Advent and at Christmas

we meditate upon the fact that “in the Incarnation, the Eternal enters time, the Whole lies hidden in the part, God takes on a human face” (Saint John Paul II). Hidden indeed, furled like a bud in the body of a fragile newborn infant. Appropriately enough for December, our Saints series this issue focusses on saints who had a devotion to the Christ child. Why is this a special and particular devotion? Because the Child is the face of God at its most approachable. Infants, in their simplicity and vulnerability, inspire in us a spirit of nurture and service.

Our Hymn of the Month (page 9) speaks to the physical reality of the incarnate Word, connecting the infant Christ with the Eucharist: “O blessed Infancy,/ by which the life of our race/ has been restored!…/ O splendid manger,/ in which lay not just the hay of animals,/ but in which was found the Food of Angels!”

For a great visual of this last stanza, see our Art Enclosure at the back of this issue, with a painting done in the theologically direct medieval style. The Child is elevated in the manger as if in a monstrance, with the ox and ass watching closely over the sacred mystery. As with the Christ Child, so with the Host: “In the host Christ is silent—in fact voiceless, dependent, even helpless. He is carried in the hands of men wherever they choose” (Caryll Houselander). The hand gestures of Mary and Joseph, who are situated beneath the crib, express the wonder this mystery incites.

A Fresh Start

This year Advent begins, very neatly, on 1st December. The Gospels for the Sundays of Advent—this year from the Gospel of Luke—build the sense of anticipation over the course of the month. In dramatic fashion, the opening Gospel of this issue and season kicks off not with the birth of Christ but with Christ’s words about the Second Coming. Here it is in the new translation we in Britain are now using at Mass: At that time: Jesus said to his disciples: “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars; and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.…”

The second Sunday moves from the apocalyptic vision to Saint John the Baptist as precursor of Christ’s mission. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

The third Sunday continues this theme. As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, “I baptise you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire….” The fourth Sunday of Advent moves back in time to the moment when the Baptist’s own mother prophesied the coming of the Saviour as he lay in her womb. “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

The New Lectionary

The English Standard Version translation used in these Gospels may strike our ears a little differently from the one we are used to. But it does provide an opportunity for us to pay more prayerful attention to the Word of God as we hear it in the liturgy. After all, as the principal means of human communication, language—the phrases and emphases we are used to—can get a bit habitual. The ESV has been chosen for various reasons, but one of them is its proclaimable quality (try, for example, reading aloud the words: people fainting with fear and with foreboding). This particular translation emphasises “faithfulness to the text and vigorous pursuit of accuracy…combined with simplicity, beauty, and dignity of expression”, to quote the publisher Crossway. “It seeks to be transparent to the original text, letting the reader see as directly as possible the structure and meaning of the original”. Another way of putting it is that it seeks to remove a hidden interpretative layer between the writers of scripture and the contemporary reader or listener, leaving the exploration of its meaning more to catechesis, study, or preaching.

The ESV is rooted in the legacy of the King James Version and later updates found in the English Revised Version and Revised Standard Version. Interestingly, the King James Bible has had an unparallelled impact on the English language and English literature. It is credited with contributing 257 phrases to the English language—more than any other single source, including the works of Shakespeare. As such, it is an intrinsic part of our literary heritage in these isles.

One thing is certain. Christ came among us as a man, but also as the Word, Logos. And words—that is the form language takes—do impact on us. It was the words of Christ, as much as his miracles and lived example of action which struck home when he shared them with his first disciples. Sacred scripture is the very demeanour of God, and we know his Word works through the word even though no translation will ever be perfect. At the very least, coming to the liturgy with “fresh ears” this season may make us more sensitive to the message of the Incarnation.