This day, my Lord, gladdened the kings, priests, and prophets, for on it their words were fulfilled and all of them became reality.
Refrain: Glory to You, Son of our Creator! Repeat.
For today the Virgin gave birth to Emmanuel in Bethlehem; what Isaiah’s voice had spoken became reality today.
There was born the One who, in the book, numbers the peoples; the song David had sung reached its fulfillment today.
The word Micah had spoken became reality today: a Shepherd came forth from Ephrathah, and His staff shepherded souls.
See, a Star shone from Jacob, and a Leader arose from Israel. The prophecy Balaam had spoken found its interpretation today.
Again the hidden Light came down, and His beauty dawned from the body; the dawning spoken of in Zechariah shone today in Bethlehem.
The Light of the Kingdom dawned in Ephrathah, the city of kings; the blessing Jacob had given reached its fulfillment today.
Again the Tree of Life brings hope to mortals; Solomon’s hidden proverb received its interpretation today.
Today the Child was born, and His name was called Wonder. For He is the Wonder of God, who showed Himself as an infant.
The Spirit had prefigured Him through the worm, for His birth was without union; the type the Holy Spirit had drawn received its meaning today.
He sprang up like a root before Him, a root from thirsty ground; what had been spoken in secret became openly manifest today.
The King who was hidden in Judah, Tamar stole from his loins; today the victory of that Beauty dawned, whose hiddenness she had loved.
Ruth lay down beside Boaz because she saw that the Medicine of Life was hidden in him. Today her vow was fulfilled, for from her seed dawned the One who gives life to all.
Adam had laid the pain of childbirth on the woman who came from him. Today she repaid him for that pain, for she gave birth to a Savior for him.
Eve, the mother, was given birth by a man, though a man never gives birth. How much more should Eve’s daughter be believed, who without a man gave birth to a Child!
The virgin earth had given birth to that Adam, the head of the earth; today the Virgin gave birth to the Adam who is Head of heaven.
Aaron’s staff had budded and made dry wood bear fruit. Today its mystery was revealed: a virgin womb had brought forth a Child.
Let that people be ashamed who regard the prophets as true, for if our Savior had not come, their words would have proved false.
Blessed is the True One, who came from the Father of Truth and fulfilled the words of the true ones, and they were fulfilled in truth.
Bring forth for us, my Lord, from Your treasury—from the treasures of Your Scriptures—the names of the righteous of old who hoped to see Your coming.
Seth, who took Abel’s place, looked for the slain Son, by whose death the sword Cain had brought into creation would be blunted.
Noah saw the sons of God, holy ones who suddenly fell into lust, and he hoped for the Holy Son, by whom the sexually immoral would be made holy.
The two brothers who covered Noah looked for God’s Only-begotten, who would come to cover the nakedness of Adam, drunk with pride.
Compassionate themselves, Shem and Japheth hoped for the compassionate Son, who would come to free Canaan from slavery to sin.
Melchizedek hoped for Him. As one holding His place, he looked to see the Lord of the priesthood, whose hyssop cleanses creation.
Lot saw the Sodomites overturn the proper order of nature; he looked for the Lord of natures, who gives a holiness beyond nature.
Aaron hoped for Him, for he saw that if his staff swallowed serpents, His Cross would swallow the Serpent that had swallowed Adam and Eve.
Moses saw the raised serpent that healed the bites of adders, and he hoped to see the One who would heal the wound of the first Serpent.
Moses saw that he alone received the radiance of God, and he hoped for the One who would come and increase the number of the godlike through His teaching.
Caleb the scout carried the cluster on a pole and came; he hoped to see the Cluster whose wine would comfort creation.
Joshua son of Nun waited for Him, to understand the power of his own name: if the name made Joshua so great, how much greater would the One born with that name be!
That Joshua who gathered, plucked, and carried some of the fruit with him waited for the Tree of Life, that he might taste its Fruit, which gives life to all.
Rahab too looked for Him: if a scarlet thread saved her from wrath as a symbol, then in that symbol she tasted the Truth.
Elijah longed for Him; because he did not see the Son on earth, he believed and was greatly purified, so that he might ascend and see Him in heaven.
Moses and Elijah looked for Him: the meek one ascended from the depths, the zealous one descended from on high, and they saw the Son in their midst.
They portrayed the mystery of His coming: Moses was a type of the dead, and Elijah a type of the living, who fly to meet Him when He comes.
Because the dead have tasted death, He makes them first; and those who come last, who are not buried, are caught up at the end to meet Him.
Who can enable me to count the righteous who waited for the Son? Their number is beyond the limits of our feeble speech.
Pray for me, my beloved, that I may be strengthened at another time and, in another account, describe their foretastes as far as I am able.
Who is sufficient to praise the Son of Truth who has dawned upon us? The righteous longed to see Him in their generations.
Adam waited for Him, for He is Lord of the cherub and could bring Adam in and settle him among the branches of the Tree of Life.
Abel longed for Him to come in his days, so that instead of the lamb he had offered, he might see the Lamb of God.
Eve too looked for Him, for women’s nakedness was a great shame; He could clothe them, instead of leaves, with the glory they had stripped off.
The tower built by the many pointed in mystery to the One who would come down and build on earth a tower that rises to heaven.
The ark of living creatures also pointed in type toward our Lord, for He would build the Holy Church, in which souls find refuge.
In the days of Peleg, the earth was divided into seventy tongues. Peleg waited for the One who, through tongues, would divide the earth among His apostles.
The earth, which the flood had drowned, called to its Lord through its silence. He came down and opened Baptism, and through it people were lifted up to heaven.
Seth, Enosh, and Kenan were called sons of God. They waited for the Son of God, so that by grace they might become His brothers.
Methuselah lived just short of a thousand years. He waited for the Son, who gives as an inheritance the life that never ends.
Grace itself, on their behalf, pleaded in a hidden mystery that their Lord might come in their generations and fill what was lacking in them.
For the Holy Spirit who was in them pleaded for them in silent meditation; He stirred them, and through Him they saw the Savior for whom they longed.
The souls of the righteous perceived the Son, who is the Medicine of Life, and longed for Him to come in their days so that they might taste His sweetness.
Enoch longed for Him; because he did not see the Son on earth, he believed greatly and was justified, so that he might ascend and see Him in heaven.
Who would scorn grace, when the gift the ancients did not receive despite great labor has come freely to those who came later?
Lamech too looked for Him, that the Merciful One might come and comfort him from his toil, from the work of his hands, and from the earth that the Just One had cursed.
Lamech then saw Noah his son, in whom the Son's symbols were portrayed. In place of the distant Lord, the nearby symbol comforted him.
Noah too longed to see Him, for he had tasted the help He gives. If His symbol preserved the living creatures, how much more would He give life to souls!
Noah waited for Him, having learned by experience that through Him the ark had stood firm. If His type gives life like this, how much more does He give life in His own person!
Abraham perceived in the Spirit that the Son's birth was far off; in place of seeing His person, he longed that he might at least see His day.
Isaac longed to see Him, for he had tasted salvation. If His sign gives life like this, how much more does He give life in His very reality!
Today the Watchers rejoiced, because the Wakeful One came to awaken us. On this night, who would sleep, when all creation is awake?
Adam brought the sleep of death into creation through sins; the Wakeful One came down to awaken us from the deep sleep of sin.
Let us not keep vigil like moneylenders, who stay awake at night over money they have lent, calculating principal and interest.
The thief too is awake and cunning: he has dug into the earth and buried his sleep. All his wakefulness serves only to make sleepers wake.
The glutton too keeps awake after eating too much and becoming restless. His vigil becomes his punishment because he would not keep to measure.
The merchant too stays awake at night, counting on his fingers to reckon how much his money has brought him and whether his wealth has doubled or tripled.
The rich man too stays awake, for Mammon drives sleep from him. His dogs sleep while he guards his treasures from thieves.
The anxious man too stays awake, for care swallows his sleep. Though his end stands at his pillow, he keeps vigil over worries about years to come.
Satan, my brothers, teaches one kind of wakefulness in place of another: to sleep through good things, but to be awake and vigilant for evil things.
Judas Iscariot too stayed awake the whole night and sold the Blood of the Righteous One—the Blood that purchased all creation.
The son of darkness put on darkness, stripping off and casting away the light; and for silver the thief sold the very Creator of silver.
The Pharisees too, sons of darkness, stayed awake the whole night. The dark ones kept vigil to cover the Light that cannot be confined.
You, then, keep vigil like lights on this radiant night. Though its outward color is dark, in its power it is brilliant.
For whoever, like the Radiant One, stays awake and prays in the darkness is surrounded, within that visible darkness, by a hidden light.
An evil person may stand in daylight yet live as a child of darkness. Though clothed outwardly in light, inwardly he is wrapped in darkness.
My beloved, let us not be deceived simply because we are awake. Whoever does not keep vigil as he should keeps an unrighteous vigil.
Whoever does not keep vigil with joy has a vigil that is sleep; and whoever does not keep vigil in purity finds even his vigil turned against him.
The vigil of envy is a mass packed with harm; its wakefulness is a kind of trade packed with ridicule and mockery.
If an angry person stays awake, his vigil is troubled by anger, and his wakefulness becomes full of wrath and curses.
If a chatterer stays awake, his mouth becomes a passage—quick for harmful words, but slow in prayer.
A discerning person who keeps vigil chooses one of two things: either to sleep peacefully or to keep vigil righteously.
This is the beautiful night in which the Beautiful One dawned—the One who came to make us beautiful. Let nothing enter our vigil that can disturb it.
Let the path of the ear be kept clean and the gaze of the eye be chaste. Let the thought of the heart be holy and the speech of the mouth be purified.
Today Mary hid within us the leaven from the house of Abraham. Therefore let us love the poor as Abraham loved the needy.
Today rennet was cast among us from the house of merciful David. Let each person show mercy to his persecutor as Jesse's son did to Saul.
Today the prophets' sweet salt was scattered among the nations. Let us gain from it a new savor, the savor that the former people lost.
On this day of salvation, let our speech be discerning. Let us not multiply needless words, lest we ourselves become needless.
This is the night of reconciliation; let no one be angry or downcast. On this night that gives peace to all, let no one be quarrelsome or disruptive.
This is the night of the Sweet One; let no one be bitter or harsh. On this night that gives peace to all, let no one be quarrelsome or disruptive.
On this day of forgiveness, let us not seek redress for wrongs. On this day of joy, let us not spread sorrows.
On this sweet day, let us not be harsh. On this day of rest, let us not be angry.
On this day when God came to sinners, let the righteous not exalt himself in his mind over the sinner.
On this day when the Lord of all came to servants, let masters also bend down lovingly toward their servants.
On this day when the Rich One became poor for our sake, let the rich man share his table with the poor.
On this day the Gift came forth to us though we had not asked for it. Let us, then, give alms to those who cry out and ask us.
This is the day that opened the gate on high to our prayers. Let us also open gates to those who have wronged us and now come asking.
Today the Lord of natures was not changed in His nature. [Let it not be] difficult for us also to turn our evil will.
The body is bound by its nature: it cannot become greater or smaller. But the will has authority and can grow to every measure.
Today Divinity imprinted itself on humanity, so that humanity too might be adorned within the imprint of Divinity.