When the holy Virgin offered her womb, the Word rushed in through her sense of hearing; the Holy Spirit built a living temple; the Most High emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, and, finally, the Virgin's womb carried the mystery of the divine economy.O womb wider than the heavens! O birth pregnant with... Continue Reading →

What, then, is the mystery celebrated in yesterday's solemnity? The unexplainable mystery of the divinity and the humanity, a birth that leaves the Mother uncorrupt, an Incarnation that gives a form to the incorporeal Divinity, while it undergoes no passion, an extraordinary birth, a beginning for a generated One who has no beginning. For origin... Continue Reading →

Thanks to her, all women are blessed. It is not possible that woman should remain under her curse; to the contrary, she now has a reason to surpass even the glory of the angels. Eve has been healed; the Egyptian woman [Hagar] has been silenced; Delilah has been buried; Jezebel has fallen into oblivion; even... Continue Reading →

Let the women hasten to come here, because here is a woman who does not point to the tree of death but gives birth to the fruit of life. Let the virgins hasten as well, because a Virgin has given birth without harming her virginity. For the Baby has come forth, leaving the curtains of... Continue Reading →

What is being commemorated is the boast of the female sex, the glory of women, in her who is both mother and virgin at the same time. What a lovable and wonderful union this is.Proclus of Constantinople, Homily I, I; PG 65, 680 C. Let nature exult and human nature be glad: women are honored!... Continue Reading →

In being born, Christ made the former entranceway of sin into a portal of salvation. For, in the place where the serpent had injected its venom through disobedience, the Word, entering by his obedience, built a living temple. Whence had emerged Cain, the firstborn of sin, thence without seed sprang Christ, the Redeemer of the... Continue Reading →

When he appeared in the Virgin's womb, He clothed himself in condemnation. There occurred the tremendous exchange: He gave the Spirit; He received flesh; He was both with the Virgin and from the Virgin; with the Virgin in overshadowing her; from the Virgin in taking his flesh from her.Proclus of Constantinople, Homily 1, 8; PG... Continue Reading →

O man, do not be ashamed of this birth. It was the cause of our salvation. For, if he had not been born of a woman, neither would he have died. And if he had not died, he would not have brought to nothing, by his death, "him who has the power of death; that... Continue Reading →

O earth never planted with seed, which made a heavenly fruit spring forth! O Virgin, who opened paradise to Adam! What is more, you yourself are more glorious than paradise! For paradise was the cultivation of God, but you cultivated God himself, according to the flesh.Now let us all dance, not to celebrate the marriage... Continue Reading →

If the Mother had not remained a virgin, her child would have been a mere man, and his birth not wonderful. If, to the contrary, she remained a virgin after his birth, how will the Son not be God, and the mystery indescribable? Without corruption he was born, who entered the upper room through closed... Continue Reading →