De Concepcio
The Mystery of the Incarnation
The chapter introduces the miraculous conception of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit and the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary.
Son, you must believe in the conception of our Lord God Jesus Christ: it is the joining of the Son of God with human nature, which was united with the divine nature by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the womb of our Lady, the glorious Saint Mary.✦1 In the beginning, when it pleased our Lord God to humble Himself in order to restore His people, He sent the angel Gabriel to Our Lady, Mary. That glorious angel brought greetings to Our Lady, Mary, from our Lord God, and said to her: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.2 Say these greetings often to the glorious Virgin, my son; for the greatest pleasure and the greatest honor anyone can give her is to greet her with those same greetings that the angel Saint Gabriel brought her from our Lord God. And as soon as the Virgin Mary consented to the words that Saint Gabriel spoke to her on behalf of our Lord, she conceived true God and true man and was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit.3 In that conception the work belonged to all three divine persons; but only the person of the Son became incarnate, to show the distinction that is among the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.4 The Son of God is one person with the humanity taken from the pure flesh and sanctified blood of Our Lady, Saint Mary.
The Perfection of the Divine Child
The author explains the hypostatic union and the fullness of Christ's wisdom and power from the very moment of his conception.
At the same time, son, the soul and body of Jesus Christ were joined to the divine nature; his soul and body were together in our Lady's womb, and at that very moment they were there,5 the body of Jesus Christ had all its members and its whole form; and in that wisdom and that virtue and that power in which Jesus Christ was when he was grown and of full age, in that same wisdom and with that power and virtue he was, the instant he was joined to the Son of God.6 Don't be amazed, son, at these words I'm writing to you about the conception of the Son of God, for it was a miraculous work, performed above nature by the divine power that can do all things.7 Son, you are bound to believe what I am telling you about the conception of the Son of God, and you must take your understanding captive so that you may be raised up by the light of faith. Just as we are all naturally bound to die, so by our frailty and the sovereign work of the Most High, we are all bound to believe what we cannot understand about the coming of the Son of God. The coming of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was announced before it happened by the holy prophets and the holy fathers, to whom it was revealed through divine inspiration.8
A Call to Devotion and Love
The author exhorts the reader to contemplate the honor bestowed upon humanity by the Incarnation and to respond with love and service.
Open the eyes of your mind, my son, and see the great honor the Son of God has done to the whole human race, in that he chose to take our nature and to be one and the same person with it.✦9 Remember the goodness, greatness, eternity, power, wisdom, love, and the other virtues of our Lord God, and see how marvelously and clearly they are revealed in the conception and incarnation of the Son of God. Since the sovereign Son of heaven has honored you so greatly by taking on a human nature like your own, my dear son, I offer you this counsel, and I beg and command you as much as I can: put all your strength into knowing, loving, honoring, praising, and serving our Lord God Jesus Christ, so that your words, your life, and your works may be pleasing to the God of glory.10 So if you want to be honored, honor the Son of God who has honored you so greatly; if you want to love, love Jesus Christ who has loved you so greatly; and if you have toil or sadness, take comfort in him who, for your sake, has joined humanity to deity.
Read the original Latin
A creure te cové, fill, en la concepcio de nostro Senyor Deu Jhesu Christ, la qual es lajustament quel Fill de Deu feu ab natura humana, qui fo ajustada ab natura divina per gracia de Sant Esperit en lo ventre de nostra dona Sancta María gloriosa.
En lo comensament, con plach a nostro Senyor Deu ques volch humiliar a recrear lo seu poblé, tramés l ángel Sent Gabriel a nostra dona Sancta María. Aquell ángel gloriós aportá saluts a nostra dona Sancta María, de nostro Senyor Deu, e dix li: Ave María, gratia plena, dominus tecum, benedicta tu in tnulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui: Spiritus Sanctus superveniet in te et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi.
Aqüestes saluts digues, fill, sovint a la Verge gloriosa; car lo major plaer e lo major honrament que hom li pot fer, es que hom la salut per aquelles saluts metexes que lángel Sent Gabriel li aportá de nostro Senyor Deu. E encontinent que la verge María consentí a les paraules que Sent Gabriel li dix de part de nostro Senyor, concebé ver Deu e ver hom e fo ahombrada de Sant Esperit.
En aquella concepcio fo la obra de totes les tres persones divines; mas la persona del Fill sencarná tan solament, a demostrar la diversitat qui es entre lo Pare e lo Fill e lo Sant Esperit.
Lo Fill de Deu es aquell qui es una persona ab la humanitat qui fo presa de la cam pura e de la santificada sanch de nostra dona Sancta María.
Ensemps, fo fill, ajustada la anima el cors de Jhesu Christ ab la natura divina; e la sua anima el seu cors ensemps foren en lo ventre de nostra dona; e en aquell temps meteix que y foren. hach lo cors de Jhesu Christ tots sos membres e tota sa forma; e en aquella saviea e en aquella vertut e en aquell poder en que fo Jhesu Christ con fo creegut e hach perfeta edat, en aquella metexa saviea e ab aquell poder e vertut fo, encontinent que fo ajustada ab lo Fill de Deu.
Not meravells, fill, destes paraules que yo tramet a tu escrites, de la concepcio del Fill de Deu, car obra fo miraculosa, la qual fo feta sobre natura per lo poder divinal qui pot fer totes coses.
Ubligat est, fill, a creure aqüestes coses que yot dich de la concepcio del Fill de Deu, e obligat est a cativar ton enteniment, per so que sies exalsat per lum de fe: car enaxí com naturalment som tuyt ubligats a murir, en axí per la nostra fragilitat e per la subirana obra del Altisme som tuyt obligats a creure so que no podem entendre del aveniment del Fill de Deu.
L aveniment del Fill de Deu Jhesu Christ fo denunciat ans que fos, per los sants profetes e per los sants pares, als quals fo revelat per divinal espiracio.
Obri, fill, los ulls de ta pensa e veges lo gran honrament quel Fill de Deu ha fet a tot lumanal linatge, en so que volch pendre la nostra natura e volch esser una persona metexa ab aquella.
Remembre t la bonea, granea, eternitat, poder, saviea, amor e les altres vertuts qui son en nostro Senyor Deu, e veges con meravellosament e manifesta son manifestades en la concepcio e en la encarnacio del Fill de Deu.
Con lo Fill subirá celestial age tu tant honrat en so que ha presa natura humana semblant a la tua, amable fill, yot don de consell a tu, et prech et man aytant com pusch, que totes les tues forces metes en conexer, amar, honrar, loar e servir nostro Senyor Deu Jhesu Christ, per tal que tes paraules e ta vida e tes obres a Deu de gloria sien agradables.
On, si tu vols esser honrat, honra lo Fill de Deu qui tant ta honrat: e si vols amar, ama Jhesu Christ qui tant ta amat; e si has treball ne tristor, consola t en aquell qui, per tu, humanitat ha ajustada a deitat.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Luke.1.26-Luke.1.38 — In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee whose name was Nazareth, Luke.1.27 — to a virgin pledged in marriage to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. Luke.1.28 — And coming to her, he said, 'Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.' Luke.1.29 — But she was troubled at his message, and she kept pondering what sort of greeting this might be. Luke.1.30 — And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Luke.1.31 — And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. Luke.1.32 — He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. Luke.1.33 — And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. Luke.1.34 — But Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I have not known a man?" Luke.1.35 — And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the one to be born will be called Son of God." Luke.1.36 — And behold, Elizabeth your kinswoman—she too has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren. Luke.1.37 — For nothing will be impossible with God. Luke.1.38 — And Mary said, 'Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.' And the angel departed from her.
- ↩John.1.14;Phil.2.6-Phil.2.8 — And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Phil.2.6 — who, existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to exploit, Phil.2.7 — but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, and appearing as a human being. Phil.2.8 — And he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Notes
- 1 ↩Catalan *lajustament* / *ajustada* (from *ajustar*) is rendered as joining/united rather than a looser 'union' or modern 'incarnation,' to stay close to the source's concrete language of natures being fitted together.
- 2 ↩Source reading "tnulieribus" is treated as a corruption of Latin "mulieribus" ("among women").
- 3 ↩Old Catalan ahombrada corresponds to Latin obumbrata (overshadowed); rendered as 'was overshadowed' to keep the Lucan sacramental sense rather than a generic 'covered' or 'shaded'.
- 4 ↩Catalan diversitat is rendered as 'distinction' (of the divine persons), not modern social 'diversity'.
- 5 ↩"fill" is the teacher's address to the pupil ("son"), as elsewhere in Doctrina pueril; not a claim that someone "became a son" at this moment.
- 6 ↩"fo ajustada ab lo Fill de Deu" names the hypostatic union: the human nature (soul and body from s1) joined to the Son of God. Rendered "he was joined" for natural English continuity with Jesus Christ as grammatical subject of the surrounding clause.
- 7 ↩Medieval Catalan 'Not meravells' = 'No t meravells' (do not marvel/be amazed); rendered as a natural modern imperative to the addressee.
- 8 ↩Old Catalan sants pares, paired with the prophets and said to receive revelation before Christ's coming, means the holy fathers/patriarchs of old, not the later Church Fathers.
- 9 ↩Source reading "lumanal linatge" is taken as "humanal linatge" (human race/lineage); "lumanal" is almost certainly a scribal/orthographic variant or corruption of humanal.
- 10 ↩Reading medieval Catalan 'subirá' as 'sobirà' (sovereign/supreme), the form that yields coherent sense with 'celestial' and the following honor-by-Incarnation clause; 'age' taken as 'haja' (has).
Doctrine for Children — Opening companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit