Christmas PhilosophyThe third Preface of Christmas is, as a whole, strongly Christological and is affected by the polemics of the time in which it was composed. It is a strong affirmation of the true faith against AriansApollinarians, Apollinarians, Docetists, etc.
"Per quem hódie commércium nostræ reparatiónis effúlsit, quia, dum nostra fragílitas a tuo Verbo suscípitur, humána mortálitas non solum in perpétuum transit honórem, sed nos quoque, mirándo consórtio, reddit ætérnos."
In Him [today] shines forth in full light the sublime exchange that has redeemed us: our weakness is assumed by the Word, our mortal nature is raised to eternal dignity, and we, united to you in marvelous communion, participate in your immortal life.
Christmas Preface III
The Mystery of Christmas is presented here with the pair of terms commercium-consortium: Christmas is the mystery of this "marvelous exchange":
"O admirable commercium! Creator generis humani, animatum corpus sumens, de Virgine nasci dignatus est; et procedens homo sine semine, largitus est nobis suam deitatem - O marvelous commercium! The Creator took a soul and a body, he was born of a Virgin; made man without the work of man, he gives us his divinity' [Ant. of Vespers in the Octave of Christmas]" (CCC, 526).
The heart of the Christian message at Christmas
After all, this is the heart of the Christian message: that admirable exchange between the divine and the human, thanks to which God assumed human nature so that we could participate in the divine nature. An unequal exchange, brought about by love, the supreme gift of grace.
And at the same time the Mystery of Christmas is consortium, participation, communion. "By the Incarnation, the Son of God united himself in a certain way to every man" (GS, 22).
Concreteness of the Redemption for each person
Around this pair of terms revolves the entire text of the prayer, which gives thanks to God for the gift received with a series of antithetical parallels: thanks to our frailty being assumed by the Word of God, human mortality is not only elevated to perpetual dignity, but each of us is also made eternal.
One perceives in these expressions the desire to underline the concreteness of redemption for each individual person: it is not only humanity in the abstract that is the object of sublime honor, but every human being acquires the immortality that comes from God.
Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Rome)
Christmas Philosophy
