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Chapter 10MedVC.1.10

De mora Dominae apud praesepe

Hidden Days at the Manger

Mary and Joseph wait humbly by the manger through the prescribed days, refusing special privilege while Mary watches over her Son with reverent, maternal care.

So after the Magi had been sent on their way and had returned to their own country, and all their offerings had been distributed, the Lady of the world was still standing with the child Jesus and her holy old foster father Joseph beside the manger, in that little spot, patiently up to the fortieth day, as if she were some other woman from among the people, and the boy Jesus were a mere man, who needed the observance of the law.✦ But because they did not want special privileges, they observed the law like everyone else. Many people don't behave this way. Living in a common community, they demand special privileges for themselves and want to be set apart by others as if they were more honorable in such matters. But true humility does not allow this. So the Lady stood in the manner of other women, waiting for the appointed day to go into the temple.✦ She stood watchful and attentive over the care of her beloved Son. O God! With what great care and diligence she guided him, so that he would not be cast down in the least thing. With what great reverence and caution and awe she handled him, whom she knew to be her God and her Lord — on bended knees she received him and laid him in the cradle!

The Mother's Tender Ministry

Mary embraces her child with joyful maternal love, gazing on his body, tending his limbs, and nursing him with incomparable sweetness.

With what great joy, confidence, and maternal authority she embraced him, kissed him, held him tenderly, and delighted in him—the one she knew to be her own son! How often she gazed attentively upon his face, and at each individual part of his most sacred body!1 How seriously and modestly she wrapped his tender little limbs in a strip of cloth! Just as she was the most humble, so she was also the most prudent: and in every duty and service, she diligently ministered to him, whether he was waking or sleeping.23 She drew him close, not only to the infant, but to the old man as well.45 Oh, how gladly she nursed him! It could scarcely have happened otherwise. Indeed, she would have felt a great sweetness, unknown even to other women, in nursing such a son.6

Come and Stand with Her

The reader is invited to join Mary at the manger, delight in the child Jesus, and make daily devotional visitation to the crib from Nativity to Purification.

But Bernard also tells us that Saint Joseph believed the child Jesus, as Joseph held him on his lap, frequently smiled up at him. So with the Lady standing at the manger, stand with her there beside it, and take delight often in the boy Jesus, because virtue goes out from him.✦ Any faithful soul, and especially any religious person, from the day of the Lord's Nativity up to the Purification, should at least once a day visit the Lady at the manger just mentioned, adore the child Jesus and his Mother, and lovingly meditate on their poverty, humility, and kindness.

Read the original Latin

Expeditisigitur Magis, etversus patriam suam regressis, et totis eorum oblationibus erogatis, adhuc stat Domina mundi cum puero Jesu, et nutritore suo sancto sene Josephapud praesepe, in illo locello patienter usque ad quadragesimam diem, ac si esset quaedam mulier alia de populo, et puer Jesus esset homo purus, et indigeret legis observatione. Sed quia nolebant praerogativas singulares, legem observabant ut coeteri. Non sic faciunt multi, qui incommuni congregatione degentes, sibi speciales praerogativas exigunt fieri, et ab aliis, tanquam honorabiliores, volunt in talibus discerni: sed hoc non patitur humilitas vera. Stabat ergo Domina more aliarum, dictam diem expectans iugressura ia templum. Stabat vigilans et attenta super custodia dilecti filii sui. 0 Deus! cum quanta sollicitudine et diligentia ipsum gubernabat, ne in minimo esset dejectus. Cum quanta etiam reverentia, et cautela, et quo timore ipsum contrectabat, quem sciebat esse Deum suum et Dominum suum, flexis genibus accipiebat, et imponebat eum in cunis!

Cum quanta etiam jucunditate et confidentia^ et auctoritate materna, ipsum amplexabatur, osculabatur, stringebat dulciter, et delectabatur in eo, quem sciebat esse filium suum! Quam saepe curiose intuebatur eum in vultu, et singuhs partibus ejus sacralissimi corporis! quam seriose ac pudenter tenella membra fascia componebat! Sicut enim fuit humillima, sic fuitet prudentissima: unde in singulis officiis et obsequiis, vigilanti et dormienti sedule minii? trabat, non solum infanlulo, sed graudaevo. 0 quam libenter eum lactabat! Vix fieri potuit. quin magnam, etiam aliis foeminis inexperlam dulcedinem in talis filii lactatione sentiret.

Sed et de sancto Joseph refert Bernardus se credere, quod etpuerum Jesum super genua sua tenens, eidem frequenter arrisit. Stante ergo Domina apud praesaepe, sta et tu cum ea juxta prsesepe; et delectare frequenter cum puero Jesu, quia virtus exit ab ipso.' Quselibet anima fidelis, et maxime religiosa persona, a die Nativitatis Domini usque ad Purificationem, deberet saltem semel in die, apud prsedictum praesepe Dominam visitare, adorare puerum Jesum et Matrem ejus aflectuose, meditari de paupertate, humilitate et benignitate ipsorum

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Lev.12.1-Lev.12.8;Luke.2.22-Luke.2.24 — And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Lev.12.2 — Speak to the people of Israel, saying: When a woman conceives and bears a son, she shall be unclean for seven days; as in the days of her menstrual impurity, she shall be unclean. Lev.12.3 — And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Lev.12.4 — And for thirty-three days she shall remain in the blood of her purification. She shall not touch any holy thing, and she shall not come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are completed. Lev.12.5 — But if she bears a female child, she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation, and she shall remain in the blood of her purification for sixty-six days. Lev.12.6 — And when the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. Lev.12.7 — and he shall bring it before the LORD, and atonement shall be made for her, and she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for the one who gives birth, whether to a male or to a female. Lev.12.8 — And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and one for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean. Luke.2.22 — And when the days of their purification were fulfilled according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. Luke.2.23 — As it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord." Luke.2.24 — and to offer a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.
  2. ↩Luke.2.22 — And when the days of their purification were fulfilled according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
  3. ↩Luke.6.19;Mark.5.30 — And all the crowd was trying to touch him, for power was going out from him and healing them all. Mark.5.30 — And immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched my garments?"

Notes

  1. 1 ↩singuhs is a scribal error for singulis; translated as 'each individual'.
  2. 2 ↩fuitet is a scribal error for fuit et; translated as 'she was also'.
  3. 3 ↩minii is a scribal error for ministrabat or similar; translated as 'she ministered'.
  4. 4 ↩infanlulo is a scribal error for infantulo or infanti; translated as 'to the infant'.
  5. 5 ↩graudaevo is a scribal error for grandaevo; translated as 'to the old man'.
  6. 6 ↩inexperlam is a scribal error for inexpertae or inexperta; translated as 'unknown'.

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