Who, being mortal, can speak of the Giver of Life to all, who left the height of His greatness and descended into lowliness? You who exalt all by Your Birth, exalt my weak mind so that I may speak of Your Birth—not to search out Your greatness, but to proclaim Your grace.
Refrain: Blessed is He who is hidden and revealed in His mysteries.
A great wonder: the Son dwelt wholly within a body. He dwelt wholly in it, and it held Him; He dwelt in it without being bounded by it. His whole will was in it, yet His whole limit was not in it. Who is able to speak of how, while He dwelt wholly in a body, He also dwelt wholly in all creation?
Refrain: Blessed is the Boundless One who accepted a boundary.
Your greatness is hidden from us; Your grace is revealed before us. I will be silent, my Lord, about Your greatness and speak about Your grace. Your grace clung to You and bent You down toward our wickedness. Your grace made You a Child; Your grace made You a human being. It contracted and extended Your greatness.
Refrain: Blessed is the Power that became small and became great.
Glory to Him who became lowly while by nature He is exalted. In His love He became Mary’s Firstborn, though He is the Firstborn of the Godhead. In name He became Joseph’s child, though He is the Child of the Most High. By His will He became a human being, though by nature He is God. Glorious are Your will and Your nature.
Refrain: Blessed is Your glory that put on our image.
My Lord, Your Birth itself became a mother to creation: anew it conceived and gave birth to the humanity that gave birth to You. It gave birth to You bodily, and You gave birth to it spiritually. All Your coming to birth was so that humanity might be born in Your likeness. Your Birth became the birthgiver of all.
Refrain: Blessed is He who became young and made all young.
When human hope had worn away, hope became abundant through Your Birth. The heavenly beings announced good hope to humanity. Satan, who had cut off our hope, was cutting off his own hope with his own hands when he saw hope increasing. Your Birth became for the hopeless a fountain overflowing with hope.
Refrain: Blessed is the Hope who became good news.
The day of Your Birth resembles You: desirable and beloved like You. Though we did not see Your Birth and cherish it in its own time, on Your day we see You as though You were a Child among us. Loved by everyone, behold, the Churches rejoice in it. Your day adorns and is itself adorned.
Refrain: Blessed is Your day that came to be for us.
Your day gave us a gift for which the Father has no other equal. He did not send us seraphim, nor did cherubim descend to us. Watchers and ministers did not come, but the Firstborn whom they serve. Who can offer sufficient thanks that immeasurable Majesty lay in a lowly manger?
Refrain: Blessed is He who gave us all that He possessed.
Your Birth gladdened that generation, and Your day gladdens our generation. The blessedness of that generation was doubled, because they saw both Your Birth and Your day. The blessedness of later generations seemed less, because they see only the day of Your Birth. Yet because those who were near doubted, the blessedness of those who came later became greater: without seeing You, they believed in You.
Refrain: Blessed is Your blessedness that has been added to us.
The Magi rejoiced from afar; the scribes proclaimed from nearby. The prophet displayed his reading, and Herod his insolence. The scribes displayed interpretations, and the Magi displayed offerings. A wonder: for one Child, those of His own household ran with their swords, while strangers came with their gifts.
Refrain: Blessed is Your Birth that stirred everyone.
Mary’s bosom amazes me: it was sufficient for You, my Lord, and embraced You. All creation was too small to conceal Your greatness. Earth and heaven were too narrow to become, as it were, wings covering Your Godhead. The bosom of the earth was too small for You, yet Mary’s bosom was great enough for You. You dwelt in a bosom and healed through its bosom.
He wrapped Himself in swaddling bands in lowliness, and offerings were brought to Him. He put on garments in youth, and helps went out from them. He put on the waters of Baptism, and rays came forth from them. He put on linen cloths in death, and victories were revealed in them. His exaltations accompanied His humiliations.
Refrain: Blessed is He who joined His glory to His Passion.
All these changes of clothing Mercy put off and put on, devising how to clothe Adam in the glory he had stripped off. He wrapped Himself in swaddling bands corresponding to Adam’s leaves and put on garments in place of Adam’s skins. He was baptized because of Adam’s sin and prepared for burial because of Adam’s death. He rose and raised Adam in glory.
Refrain: Blessed is He who descended, clothed him, and ascended.
Though Your Birth alone was sufficient for Adam’s children as it was for Adam, O Great One who became a Child, by Your Birth You gave me birth anew. O Pure One who was baptized, may Your washing cleanse us from filth. O Living One who was prepared for burial, may we gain life through Your death. I will give thanks for all of You with a full word.
Refrain: Glory to all of You from all of us.