Over the past week, we have
posted a few articles related to the temporal generation of the Son – on Mary’s
pregnancy [here],
on the miraculous birth itself [here],
and on the rational perfection of the Child conceived [here].
In these articles, we showed
that our Lady did not suffer any pain when giving birth to her Son, that the
physical closure of her virgin womb remained intact even in the very act of
giving birth (for Christ passed through without causing any harm to her
virginal integrity), and that the Christ Child already knew all created things
and loved each of us in his humanity from the very first moment of his
conception (thus, while an infant, he was already a rational man).
While all of these articles
were firmly rooted in the magisterial teachings of the Church and in the
doctrines of the Church Fathers, it is always good to compare our theological
insights with the lived faith of the great saints. We will not be the least
surprised to discover that the mystical revelations given to St. Bridget of
Sweden (surely, one of the greatest saint-mystics of the Church) wholly confirm
all that the saint-theologians have taught and all that the Magisterium has
declared.
This
is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about
The following is taken from the
revelations given to St. Bridget regarding the Nativity of our Lord – for a
biblical proof that Christ really was born in late December, please look to the
excellent article by Dr. Taylor Marshall [here].
“When I was present by the manger of the Lord in Bethlehem I
beheld a Virgin of extreme beauty wrapped in a white mantle and a delicate
tunic through which I perceived her virginal body. With her was an old man of
great honesty and they had with them an ox and ass. These entered the cave and
the man having tied them to the manger went out and brought in to the Virgin a
lighted candle which having done he again went outside so as not to be present
at the birth. Then the Virgin pulled off the shoes from her feet, drew off the
white mantle that enveloped her, removed the veil from her head laying it
beside her, thus remaining only in her tunic with her beautiful golden hair
falling loosely over her shoulders. Then she produced two small linen cloths,
and two woollen ones of exquisite purity and fineness which she had brought to
wrap round the Child to be born, and two other small cloths to cover His head,
and these too she put beside her. When all was thus prepared the Virgin knelt
with great veneration in an attitude of prayer; her back was to the manger, her
face uplifted to heaven and turned toward the East.
“Then, her hands extended and her eyes fixed on the sky she
stood as in an ecstasy, lost in contemplation, in a rapture of divine
sweetness. And while she stood thus in prayer I saw the Child in her womb move;
suddenly in a moment she gave birth to her own Son from whom radiated such
ineffable light and splendour that the sun was not comparable to it while the
divine light totally annihilated the material light of St. Joseph's candle. So
sudden and instantaneous was this birth that I could neither discover nor
discern by what means it had occurred. All of a sudden I saw the glorious
Infant lying on the ground naked and shining, His body pure from any soil or
impurity. Then I heard the singing of the angels of miraculous sweetness and
beauty. When the Virgin felt she had borne her Child immediately she worshipped
Him, her hands clasped in honour and reverence saying: ‘Be welcome my God, my
Lord, my Son.’
“Then, as the Child was whining and trembling from the cold
and hardness of the floor where He was lying, He stretched out His arms
imploring her to raise Him to the warmth of her maternal love. So His Mother
took Him in her arms, pressed Him to her breast and cheek, and warmed Him with
great joy and tender compassion. She then sat down on the ground laying the
Child on her lap and at once began to bestow on Him much care tying up His
small body, His legs and arms in long cloths, and enveloped His head in the
linen garments, and when this was done the old man entered, and prostrating
himself on the floor he wept for joy. And in no way was the Virgin changed by
giving birth, the color of her face remained the same nor did her strength
decline. She and Joseph put the Child in the manger, and worshipped Him on
their knees with immense joy until the arrival of the Kings who recognized the
Son from the likeness to His Mother.”
Lessons
from the Revelations of St. Bridget
1) Though the unborn Child did
truly weigh something in her womb and also he took up space (so that she was
“heavy” and “showed), the Blessed Mary was not under a heavy burden in her
pregnancy. Notice that, even in the moments just before giving birth, our Lady
was able to prepare things herself and needed no assistance.
2) Mary was awake, aware, and
at prayer when the Child was born. She did not suffer any contractions or the
other pains associated with delivery. Neither was she exhausted or wearied.
3) Christ came forth from our
Lady in such a way as to cause no harm whatsoever, for he did not damage the
integrity of her womb’s virginal cloister.
4) The exact manner of the
miraculous birth of our Savior is beyond man’s comprehension, but can be
compared to light. We ought not to seek too specific an understanding of the
mechanics of this mysterious birth – “So sudden and instantaneous was this
birth that I could neither discover nor discern by what means it had occurred.”
5) The birth of our Savior was
not bloody or violent, there was no afterbirth or defilement, but he came forth
in all purity and cleanness. In a later place, St. Bridget specifies that,
throughout his infancy, the Child never had tangled hair or any other such
defect.
6) The Christ Child is truly
man, for he was cold and shivered – he longed for the touch of his Mother. St.
Bridget is by no means so carried away with Christ’s divinity as to forget his
humanity, through the whole revelation the Child is seen to be both perfect God
and perfect man.
7) Mary and Joseph recognize
the Child as true God and worship him. Indeed, the theologians and mystics
emphasize this point – Mary and Joseph knew who Jesus was all along, and they
did not receive him as only a frail child but (as he truly is) the Son of God.
The revelations given to the
mystic-saints confirm what the theologian-saints have taught and what the
saintly popes have defined. How can any doubt the wondrous miracles associated
with Christ’s Incarnation and Nativity?
