Night Office Readings, Patristic Reading,
www.ibreviary.com/m/preghiere.php?tipo=Preghiera&id=243
Alternative:
4. From a sermon by Saint Proclus of Constantinople, bishop
(De nativitate Domini, 1-2: PG 65, 843-846)
He loved man and became man born of a virgin
Let the heavens rejoice from above, and let the skies rain down justice, for the Lord has had mercy on his people. Let the heavens rejoice from above, for when they were created from the beginning, Adam too was made by his Creator from the virgin earth and stood forth as kin and friend of God. Let the heavens rejoice from above, for now by the presence of our Lord in the flesh the earth has been made holy, and the human race has been freed from its idolatrous sacrifices. Then let the skies rain down justice, for on this day Eve's mistake was corrected and forgiven by the purity of the Virgin Mary and by the God-man born of her. On this day Adam, after his condemnation of old, was released from that terrifying sentence of darkness.
And so Christ was born of a virgin and took his flesh from her, as was his will, in accord with the economy of salvation: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Thus the virgin became the mother of God. She is both virgin and mother, for she gave birth to the Word incarnate without knowledge of man; and yet she retained her virginity because of the miraculous way he chose to be born. She is the mother of the divine Word insofar as in his human nature he took flesh in her, and thus united to this flesh he came forth, in accordance with the will and the wisdom of God, the author of miracles. Of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, as Saint Paul says.
He was as he now is, and he shall ever remain so. Yet he became man for our sake. Loving man he became a man, not being one before; but remaining God he became man without any change. And so he became like me for my sake, becoming what he was not, yet retaining all he was. He became man, finally, to make our suffering his own and thus prepare us for adoption as sons, to win for us that kingdom, into which, I pray, we may all be made worthy to enter by the grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit has glory, honor and power, now and forever. Amen.
RESPONSORY
Psalm 72:6, 19; Revelation 21:3
He shall descend like rain on the meadow;
– and God’s majesty will fill the earth.
Behold the dwelling place of God with his people;
He will live among them;
God himself with be among them as their own God.
– and God’s majesty will fill the earth.
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