St Luke Chapter II : Verses 15-20
Contents
- Luke ii. 15-20. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text & Latin text (Vulgate).
- Annotations
- Douay-Rheims : 1582 text & notes
Luke ii. 15-20.
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| The shepherds... found Mary and Joseph, and the infant... J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
Et factum est, ut discesserunt ab eis angeli in caelum : pastores loquebantur ad invicem : Transeamus usque Bethlehem, et videamus hoc verbum, quod factum est, quod Dominus ostendit nobis.
16 And they came with haste; and they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.
Et venerunt festinantes : et invenerunt Mariam, et Joseph, et infantem positum in præsepio.
17 And seeing, they understood of the word that had been spoken to them concerning this child.
Videntes autem cognoverunt de verbo, quod dictum erat illis de puero hoc.
18 And all that heard, wondered; and at those things that were told them by the shepherds.
Et omnes qui audierunt, mirati sunt : et de his quæ dicta erant a pastoribus ad ipsos.
19 But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.
Maria autem conservabat omnia verba hæc, conferens in corde suo.
20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God, for all the things they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
Et reversi sunt pastores glorificantes et laudantes Deum in omnibus quae audierant et viderant, sicut dictum est ad illos.
Annotations
15. And it came to pass, after the angels departed from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another: Let us go over to Bethlehem, and let us see this word that is come to pass, which the Lord hath shewed to us. This word, a metonomy, common in Scripture, by which the word is put for the thing signified by it, as in ch. i. 37, “No word”—that is, nothing “shall be impossible with God.” And in 2 Kings i. 4, “What is the word that is come to pass?”
which the Lord hath shewed to us. In the Greek ἐγνώρισε—revealed, made known. Yea, and has given us, rather than the scribes and all others, a sign by which we shall find the Messiah that is born. Wherefore, if we, who have been invited by Him through an angel, do not visit and adore Him who is born for us, and revealed first to us, we shall be ungrateful to God, to the angels, and to Christ, and enemies to ourselves.
16. And they came with haste; and they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. With haste, from their longing and zeal to see Christ. Hence S. Ambrose remarks,
“Thou seest that the shepherds make haste; for no one seeks after Christ with slothfulness.”
And Bede,
“The shepherds hasten, for the presence of Christ must not be sought with sluggishness; and many perchance that seek Christ do not merit to find Him, because they seek Him slothfully.”
17. And seeing, they understood of the word that had been spoken to them concerning this child. They made known—in the Greek διεγνώρισαν—they knew distinctly and with certainty. Or it may be translated, according to Pagninus, they made known; Theophylact has, they published abroad. So, too, the Syriac version; and hence it follows:—
18. And all that heard, wondered; and at those things that were told them by the shepherds. The [second] and is not found in the Greek, the Syriac, or the Arabic version, and with this omission the sense is plainer. But, according to the Roman version, the meaning is, they wondered at the birth of the Messiah, and at the other things that were said about him by the shepherds, namely, that an angel had appeared, that angels had sung “Gloria in excelsis,” and Christ was lying in a manger, &c.
So the Gloss, Francis Lucas, and others. Lyranus, however, interprets the “and” as equivalent to “that is.” Hence it appears that the shepherds told to many what they had heard and seen respecting the birth of Christ; and that therefore many went to the crib and saw Christ; but that those only believed in Him whose hearts God touched efficaciously, while others, offended at His poverty, despised Him. S. Ambrose assigns the reason for this—
“The person of the shepherds was not despicable—assuredly the more precious in the eyes of faith, the more despicable it was to worldly wisdom. Not the schools crowded with their bands of wise men did the Lord seek, but a simple folk, that knew not how to deck out and colour the things they had heard. For simplicity is what is sought, ambition is not wanted.”
19. But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.—putting them together and comparing them—not as Bede would have it, the prophecies made about Christ by the prophets, but the things seen and reported by the shepherds with reference to the angels—the “Gloria in excelsis,” &c., with what she had experienced herself—the annunciation of Gabriel, the prophecy of Elizabeth and of Zachary, and the other things which she herself had witnessed and felt in herself. And this she did, first, that seeing the wondrous harmony—all things agreeing so well together—she might be the more confirmed in her faith that the only begotten Son of God was born of her. So speaks S. Ambrose.
Secondly, that by the sweet contemplation of these circumstances so consonant among themselves, she might feed her mind, and look with sure hope for the rest—namely, that God would bring this work to an end, and redeem mankind by Christ.
Thirdly, that in good time she might unfold all these things and narrate them in order to the apostles, and especially to S. Luke, who was destined to write of them. Observe here in the Virgin the rare example of maidenly silence and modesty, of heavenly prudence, and of the firmest faith and hope, as she wonders at the present and waits for the future. She was comparing the signs of deepest loneliness which she saw with what she knew of His Supreme Majesty, the stable with heaven, the swaddling-clothes with that which is spoken of in Ps. CIII, “clothed with light as with a garment,” the crib with the throne of God, the beasts with the seraphim.
20. And the shepherds returned (to their flock, says Euthymius, for God would have the faithful, however exalted by Him, remain in the discharge of their several callings), glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. Hence it is clear that the shepherds remained constant in the faith and gospel of Christ—nay, exulting and jubilant in the joy of the Holy Spirit at having seen Him.
Douay-Rheims : 1582 text & notes
15. And it came to paſſe: after the Angels departed from them into heauen, the ſhepheards ſpake one to an other: Let vs goe ouer to Bethlehem, and let vs ſee this word that is done, which our Lord hath ſhewed to vs.16 And they came with ſpeede: and they found MARIE and Ioſeph, and the infant laid in the manger.17 And ſeeing it, they vnderſtood of the word that had been ſpoken to them concerning this childe.18 And al that heard, did maruel: and concerning thoſe things that were reported to them by the ſhepheards.19 But MARIE kept al these wordes, conferring them in her hart.20 And the ſhepheards returned, glorifying and prayſing God in al things that they had heard, and ſeen, as it was said to them.
19. Kept al.] Our B. Lady ful of deepe contemplations. Our Lady though litle be ſpoken of her concerning ſuch matters in the ſcriptures, becauſe ſhe was a woman, and not admitted to teach or diſpute in publike of high myſteries: yet ſhe knew al theſe myſteries, and wiſely noted and contemplated of al thoſe things that were done and ſaid about Chriſt, from the firſt houre of his Conception til the end of his life and his Aſcenſion.
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SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.
The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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