De circumcisione et fletu Domini
The Name and Blood of Jesus
On the eighth day the child was circumcised and named Jesus, the Savior whose blood was shed for us, calling us to rejoice and to weep with him.
On the eighth day the child was circumcised. Two great things were done today. First, the name of salvation was made known — the name that had been given to him from eternity and spoken by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Today it was openly declared and spoken aloud. And they called his name Jesus.✦✦ He is called Jesus, which means Savior — a name that is above every name.✦ For there is no other name under heaven in which we can be saved, as the apostle Peter says.✦1 In keeping with what was done today, for the Lord Jesus began to pour out his most sacred blood for us. It was the right time for him to suffer for us. Though he committed no sin, today he began to bear the punishment on our behalf.✦✦ Share in his suffering, and weep with him — for today he wept bitterly. At these feasts we have every reason to rejoice in our salvation — but we also have every reason to share in his suffering and to grieve over his distress and pain.2
The Stone and the Mother's Grief
The text recalls the poverty of the manger, the stone placed under the infant's head, and the deep compassion of Mary as her Son truly suffered in the flesh.
You have heard how great his affliction and want were at the nativity; and among other things, this too was the case — that when the mother laid him in the manger, at his head she managed to place a certain stone, with hay perhaps put between, so I had this from our brother who saw it, and that stone is still there, built into the wall as a memorial. You would think she would more willingly have placed a cushion, if she had had one; but since she had nothing else to put there, with bitterness of heart she laid down that stone. You hear even today, because he poured forth his own blood. For his own flesh was cut with a stone knife. Should we not, then, sympathize with him? Yes; and certainly with the mother as well. The boy Jesus wept today on account of the pain he felt in his own flesh; for he had true and passible flesh, just as other men do. But while he was weeping, do you believe the mother could have held back her tears?
Tender Comfort Between Mother and Child
Jesus comforts his weeping mother with gentle gestures, while Mary understands his will and they soothe each other in shared grief.
She too wept, and her Son, standing in her lap and looking at her as she cried, would place his little hand to her mouth and her face, as if to soothe her, so that she might not weep — for he loved her most tenderly, and he wanted her to stop crying. In the same way the mother too was moved — her whole being shaken by grief and tears at her Son's suffering — and she comforted him with gestures and with words. For she understood his will, being most wise, even though he did not yet speak. And she would say: 'Son, if you want me to stop crying, then you stop too.' For I cannot help but weep when you are weeping. And then, out of compassion for his mother, the Son would hold back his sobs. But the mother would wipe both his eyes and her own, pressing face to face, nursing him, and comforting him in every way she could. And so she did whenever he wept — as perhaps is often the way with children — both to show the misery of human nature, which he had truly taken upon himself, and to conceal himself, so that he would not be recognized by the devil.
From Circumcision to Spiritual Poverty
The Church now has baptism instead of circumcision, calling believers to spiritual poverty, restraint of the senses, and especially custody of speech.
Indeed, the Church sings of him: "The infant cries in cramped surroundings," etc. But in the present age, physical circumcision has been replaced, and we have baptism, which brings greater grace and lesser penalty. But we ought to have a spiritual circumcision and cast away all superfluous things — this is what poverty commends: for the truly poor person is truly circumcised in spirit. And the Apostle, following Bernard, hands this down in a few words, saying: "Having food and clothing, let us be content with these."✦ Spiritual circumcision ought to be in all the senses of our body: in seeing, hearing, tasting, and touching, let us use restraint, and especially in speaking. Loquacity is the worst vice, hateful both to God and to people — hateful in its very garrulousness, and displeasing. For this reason we ought to be circumcised in tongue, that is, to speak few things and worthless things. Talking too much is a sign of levity. Hence silence is a virtuous thing, and not without reason is it ordained in religious communities. And on this matter, Blessed Gregory says: "He has learned to speak truthfully who has first learned to be silent well — for the restraint of silence is, as it were, a certain nourishment of the Word."
The Discipline of Silence
Following Bernard of Clairvaux, the text warns against idle and harmful speech and commends silence as the guardian of religious life.
The same author writes elsewhere: Those who are light in their sensuality and headlong in their speech will find that what a light conscience conceives, the tongue immediately utters all the more carelessly. Bernard also speaks of this in his sermon on the Epiphany that begins In operibus Domini: But now, who doesn't know how much trouble the tongue has caused us—through idle talk and lies, through slander and flattery, through words of malice or boasting? To guard against all these things, the fifth water jar is needed—namely, silence, the guardian of the religious life, in which our strength lies.✦ The same author writes elsewhere: Idleness is the mother of trivialities and the stepmother of virtues. Among laypeople, trivialities are on the mouth; among priests, blasphemies. But even if trivialities do come up, they may perhaps have to be endured at times; but in the Circumcision of the Lord— of the Lord. , First Letter to Timothy.
Marginal Notes on Speech and Conduct
Fragmentary glosses and editorial notes address trifles, citations, and moral qualifications related to speech and conduct.
y vi, 8. Moral. , iu Dom. 1, 10 1(1. , de lAl. Lighter. Add, trifles. Christ's.
Guarding What Is Sacred
The chapter closes with a counsel of discretion, urging that certain things be referred to God alone and not revealed to the unworthy.
Things to be referred to you — never. You have consecrated it in the Gospel: it would be wrong now to open that up to such people. "
Read the original Latin
Octavo autem die circumcisus est puer. Duo autem magna hodie facta sunt; unum, quia manifestatum est nomen salutis, quod ab aeterno sibi impositum erat, et ab Angelo vocatum priusquam in utero conciperetur, hodie fuit declaratum et nominatum ': Et vocaverunt nomen ejus Jesum. Jesus autem dicitur Salvator, quod est * nomen super omne nomen. * Nec est enim, ut apostolus Petrus ait, aliud nomen sub mlo^ in quo 710$ oporteat salvos fieri. Secundum quod hodie factum fuit, quia incoepit Dominus Jesus suum sacratissimum sanguinem pro nobis effundere. Tempestive enim pro nobis pati; qui peccatum non fecit, pro nobis poenam hodie portare incoepit. Compatere tu ei, et plora cum illo, quia hodie fortiter ploravit. Nam in solemnitatibus multum gaudere debemuspropter nostram salutem; sed multum compati et dolere propter suas angustias et dolores.
Audistis in nativitate quantam afflictionem habuit et penuriam; et inter alia hoc etiam fuit, quod quando mater posuit eum in praesepio, ad caput ejus potuit quemdam lapidem interposito forte foeno, ut habui a fratre nostro qui vidit, et adhuc ille lapis apparet ad memoriam ibidem muratus. Credas quod libentius posuisset pulviuar, si habuisset; sed cum aUud non haberet quod poneret, cum cordis amaritudine posuit illum lapidem. Audis et hodie, quia sanguinem suum fudit. Fuit enim caro ipsius cum cultello lapideo incisa. Nonne ergo compatiendum est ei? Ita; sic certe et matri. Ploravit ergo puer Jesus hodie, propter dolorem quem sensit in carne sua: nam veram carnem et passibilem habuit, sicut ceeteri homines. Sed eo plorante, credisne quod mater potuerit lacrymas continere?
Ploravit ergo et ipsa, quam ploranlem Filius stans in gremio ejus aspiciens, parvulam manum suam ad os, et vultum ejus ponebat, quasi nuturogans eamdem, ne ploraret: quam enim tenerrime diligebat, a ploratu cessare volebat. Similiter et mater, cujus viscera totaliter commovebanlur in dolore et lacrymis filii, et nutu et verbis consolabatur eum. Intelhgebat enim tanquam prudentissima voluntatem ejus, quamvis nondum loqueretur. Et dicebat: FiH, si vis me a ploratu cessare, cessa et tu. iNon enim possum, te plorante, non plorare. Et tunc ex compassione matris, filius a singultibus desistebat. Mater vero et ipsius, et suos oculos tergebat, et vultum vultui applicabat: lactabat eum, et omnibusquibus poterat modis consolabatur. Et sic faciebat quoties plorabat: quod forte seepe puerorum morc faciebat, ad ostendeudum miseriam naturae humanae, quam vere assumpserat, et ad occultandum se, ne a diabolo cognosceretur.
Cantat namque de ipso Ecclesia *: Vagit infans inter arcta, etc. Hodierno autem tempore circumcisio corporaUs, et habemus baptismum, qui est majoris gratiee et minoris poenae. Sed debemushabere circumcisionem spiritualem, et omnia superflua rejicere, hoc est quod paupertatem commendat: nam verus pauper est vere spiritualiter circumcisus. Et hanc secundum Bernardum ^ paucis verbis tradit Apostolus, dicens ®: Habentes victum et vestitum, his contenti simus. Spiritualis etiam circumcisio debet esse in omnibus sensibus corporis nostri; videndo, audiendo, gustando, tangendo parcitate utamur, et maxime in loquendo. Loquacitas est vitium pessimum, etDeo et ho- Loquaciminibus odiosum, et displicibile: unde debe- ^^^'"^ mus esse circumcisi lingua, id est pauca et uti- pessilia loqui. Signum levitatis est multum loqui: '""'^* unde silentium est virtuosa res, et non sine causa in religionibus ordinatum. Et circa hanc materiam, sic dicit Beatus Gregorius "^: " llle loqui veraciter novit, qui prius bene tacere didicerit: quasi enim quoddam nutrimentum Verbi, est censura silentii.
" Idem alibi *: " Qui in sensu leves sunt, et in locutione praecipites erunt: quia quod levis conscientia concipit, levius protinus lingua promit. " De hoc etiam dicit Bernardus sermone de Epiphania, qui incipit, In operibus Domini ^: ((Jam vero de lingua quis nesciat, quam multum inquiuaverit nos, per vaniloquia et mendacia, per detractiones et adulationes, per verba malitise sive jactantiae? Prohis omnibus necessaria est hydria quinta, silentium scilicet, custos religiouis^ in quo est fortitudo nostra. " Idem alibi ^": " Otiositas mater nugarum est, et noverca virtutum. Inter saeculares nugae sunt, in ore sacerdotum blasphemioe. Sed et si nugae incidunt, interdum ferendae fortasse sunt; sed in Circumc. Dom. , I Tim.
y vi, 8. ^ |(]_^ Moral. , iu Dom. 1, 10 1(1. , de lAl. levior. (") Add, nugae. CHRISTl.
referendae nunquam. Consecrasti enimosEvangelio: illicitum jam talibus aperire illud. "
Scripture echoes
- ↩Luke.2.21 — And when eight days were fulfilled for his circumcising, his name was called Jesus, the name called by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
- ↩Luke.1.31 — And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
- ↩Phil.2.9 — Therefore God also exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name above every name,
- ↩Acts.4.12 — And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
- ↩1Pet.2.22 — He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.
- ↩Isa.53.4-Isa.53.5 — And Surely he carried our sicknesses and bore our pains, yet we considered him stricken, struck by God, and afflicted. Isa.53.5 — But he was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
- ↩1Tim.6.8;1Tim.6.8 — But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 1Tim.6.8 — But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
- ↩John.2.1-John.2.11 — On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, John.2.2 — And Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. John.2.3 — And when the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." John.2.4 — And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." John.2.5 — His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." John.2.6 — Now there were six stone water jars standing there, used for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding two or three measures. John.2.7 — Jesus said to them, 'Fill the jars with water.' And they filled them to the brim. John.2.8 — "And he said to them, 'Now draw some out, and take it to the head steward.' And they brought it." John.2.9 — When the master of the banquet tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from—though the servants who had drawn the water knew—the master of the banquet called the bridegroom John.2.10 — and says to him, 'Every man serves the good wine first, and when they have drunk freely, then the lesser. You have kept the good wine until now.' John.2.11 — Jesus did this, the first of the signs, at Cana in Galilee, and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
Notes
- 1 ↩The source text reads 'sub mlo' — a corrupt reading, likely for 'sub caelo' (under heaven). The translation follows the corrected sense.
- 2 ↩The source reads 'debemuspropter,' a scribal fusion of debemus and propter. The translation renders the intended sense: 'we have every reason to… on account of.'
Meditationes Vitae Christi (Pseudo-Bonaventure), Castilian court context companion
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