De Bethlehem
The Living Bread in the House of Bread
Bethlehem, the house of bread, is where the living bread from heaven first appeared, nourishing holy souls.
Above all, in Bethlehem you have the house of bread for the refreshment of holy souls, where the One who had descended from heaven first appeared as the living bread, born of the Virgin.✦
Hay in the Manger and the Fading Glory of Flesh
The manger's hay from virgin meadows recalls Isaiah's image of all flesh as grass and all glory as the flower of the field.
There the manger is shown to the devout animals, and in the manger hay from the virgin meadow, so that even so the ox might know its owner and the donkey its Master's feeding trough. All flesh is hay, and all its glory like the flower of the field (Isa.✦ XL, 6).
From Beast to Human Through the Bread of Angels
Humanity, reduced to beasts by pride, is restored by the Word made flesh-hay, so that those who once knew Christ carnally now know him in spirit and life.
But because humanity, failing to understand the dignity in which it was made, has been compared to brute beasts and made like them (Psal. XLVIII, 13); the Word, the bread of angels, became the feed of beasts, so that those who had grown wholly unaccustomed to feeding on the bread of the Word might have flesh-hay to chew on — until, restored through the God-man to their former dignity and turned back from beast into human, they could say with Paul: Even though we once knew Christ according to the flesh, we no longer know him that way (II Cor.✦ V, 16). And I don't think anyone can truly say this unless they have first heard with Peter those words from the mouth of Truth itself: The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life; the flesh is of no avail (John✦
Believing Without Seeing
Those who find life in Christ's words no longer crave the flesh and join the blessed who believed without seeing.
6:64). Otherwise, whoever finds life in Christ's words no longer craves the flesh, and belongs to the number of the blessed who did not see and yet believed (John✦ 20:29).✦
Milk, Hay, and Solid Food
Milk and hay feed infants and beasts, but the mature who do not stumble feed on the solid bread of the word.
For there's no need of a cup of milk except for a little one, or of a feed of hay except, surely, for a beast.✦✦ But whoever does not stumble over the word — that person is a mature man, clearly fit to feed on solid food; and though he eats the bread of the word in the sweat of his face, he does so without stumbling.✦✦✦
One Food for Beast and Mature Believer
The mature speak wisdom among the mature yet preach Christ crucified to infants; the same heavenly food nourishes both beast and human.
But he also speaks the wisdom of God confidently and without scandal — though only among the mature, comparing spiritual things with spiritual — since when addressing infants or cattle he is careful, given their capacity, to set forth only Jesus Christ, and him crucified.✦✦ Yet the one same food from heavenly pastures is both, sweetly indeed, chewed the cud by the beast and eaten by man; and it gives strength to the man, and nourishment to the little one.
Read the original Latin
Habes ante omnia in refectione animarum sanctarum Bethlehem domum panis, in qua primum is qui de coelo descenderat, pariente Virgine panis vivus apparuit. Monstratur piis ibidem jumentis praesepium, et in praesepio fenum de prato virginali, quo vel sic cognoscat bos possessorem suum, et asinus praesepe Domini sui. Omnis quippe caro fenum, et omnis gloria ejus ut flos feni (Isai. XL, 6). Porro homo quia suum, in quo factus est, honorem non intelligendo, comparatus est jumentis insipientibus, et similis factus est illis (Psal. XLVIII, 13); Verbum panis Angelorum factum est pabulum jumentorum, ut habeat carnis fenum quod ruminet, qui verbi pane vesci penitus dissuevit: quousque per hominem Deum priori redditus dignitati, et ex pecore rursus conversus in hominem, cum Paulo dicere possit, Etsi cognovimus Christum secundum carnem, sed nunc jam non novimus (II Cor. V, 16). Quod sane non arbitror quempiam dicere posse veraciter, nisi qui prius cum Petro ex ore Veritatis illud item audierit: Verba quae ego locutus sum vobis, spiritus et vita sunt; caro autem non prodest quidquam (Joan.
VI, 64). Alioquin qui in verbis Christi vitam invenit, carnem jam non requirit, et est de numero beatorum qui non viderunt et crediderunt (Joan. XX, 29). Nec enim opus est vel lactis poculum, nisi parvulo; vel feni pabulum, nisi utique jumento. Qui autem non offendit in verbo, ille perfectus est vir, solido plane vesci cibo idoneus: et, licet in sudore vultus sui, panem verbi comedit, absque offensione. Sed et securus ac sine scandalo loquitur Dei sapientiam duntaxat inter perfectos, spiritualibus spiritualia comparans, cum tamen infantibus sive pecoribus cautus sit pro captu quidem eorum proponere tantummodo Jesum Christum, et hunc crucifixum. Unus tamen idemque cibus ex coelestibus pascuis suaviter quidem et ruminatur a pecore, et manducatur ab homine; et viro vires, et parvulo tribuit nutrimentum.
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.6.51 — I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.
- ↩Isa.40.6 — A voice says, "Cry out!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all its faithfulness is like the flower of the field.
- ↩2Cor.5.16 — So then, from now on we know no one according to the flesh. Even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, we no longer know him that way.
- ↩John.6.64 — But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.
- ↩John.6.64 — But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.
- ↩John.20.29 — Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
- ↩1Cor.3.2 — I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able. But indeed, even now you are not able,
- ↩Heb.5.12-Heb.5.14 — For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you still need someone to teach you the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food. Heb.5.13 — For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. Heb.5.14 — But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
- ↩Heb.5.14 — But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
- ↩Gen.3.19 — By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
- ↩1Pet.2.8 — a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word, to which they were also appointed.
- ↩1Cor.2.6 — Yet we do speak wisdom among the mature—wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are being set aside.
- ↩1Cor.2.2 — For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
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