03 Rosary Rant – Joyful – 3 – Birth of Jesus!

[Pictured is the altar over the place where Christ Jesus was born.]

Remember that the easiest way to pray the rosary is to recognize that Jesus and Mary and Joseph are with you right here, right now, as they are in heaven, not as they were a couple thousand years ago. Sure, take a look at what they did for you and all back in the day, but, in our Lord’s grace, with a spirit of humble thanksgiving for them, right here, right now.

Remember, it’s not about your imagination that you are in their presence – which Pelagian effort of imagination is a lot of hooey – rather, your act of the will, in our Lord’s grace, to humbly thank Him and our Blessed Mother is what the prayer of the rosary is all about.

Clever meditations, whether in “rant” style or, later, please God, in a style presented in a more genteel manner (when I get all the Scripture tomes out of the boxes and on some now non-existent shelves), don’t get anyone anywhere. The only way what is presented on this blog is going to help anyone is if that someone, by the grace of our Lord, uses these words as an occasion to humbly thank the Holy Family right now for what went on back in the day.

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For this preliminary “rant meditation” on the third joyful mystery of the most holy rosary, let’s take Luke 2,1-20, for which a summary interlinear comment will be provided, based on my own in-your-face translation from the Greek, with an eye to the Vulgate. I’m not into the esoteric practice of translating one word for one word, as if, magically, all languages had absolutely perfect one word for one word equivalents. Such pretension cannot ever provide a great translation, unless you’re in a position to create the language, as was the case with the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, which made up a goodly number of words, but paraphrased the rest. Instead, trying to avoid coining any words, I’ll provide a translation with more in-your-face accuracy than any one word for one word translation could ever present. Note that the “perfect” verbs, with their continuing perfection, are not easy to translate! …

Luke 2,1 It came about in those days that a decree from Caesar Augustus went out for the entire inhabited world to be enrolled. 2 This became the first enrollment, when Cyrenius was governing Syria. 3 And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because of his being of the house and family of David, 5 to be enrolled with Mary, the one perfectly continuing to be perfectly betrothed as a wife to him, she being expectant with child. 6 And it came about in their being there that the days of her to give birth were fulfilled. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn Son, and she wrapped Him in cloths and laid Him down in a manger, for there was no place for them in the guestroom. 8 And shepherds were living outdoors in the same countryside, and keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord stood way up over them and the glory of the Lord shown round about them and they were frightened with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Do not fear! For, behold! I bring you good news, a great joy which is for all the people, 11 that today, in the city of David, was given birth for you a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord. 12 And this is a sign for you: you will find a newborn child, who is perfectly continuing to be perfectly wrapped in cloths, and who is lying down in a manger.” 13 And suddenly it came about that with the angel there was a multitude of a heavenly army, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of good will.” 15 And it came about that when the angels departed from them into heaven, the shepherds spoke to one another, “Let us right now move along as far as Bethlehem and let us see this word, which perfectly continues to be perfectly established, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went, hurrying and looking for the word, including Mary and Joseph and the Child lying in the manger. 17 And beholding, they made known the word having been spoken to them about this Child. 18 And all those listening were awestruck about the things being spoken to them by the shepherds. 19 And Mary closely treasured all these words, throwing them about in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things which they heard and beheld, just as it was spoken to them.

O.K. Let’s try some interlinear commentary:

Luke 2,1 It came about in those days that a decree from Caesar Augustus went out for the entire inhabited world [of the empire] to be enrolled. 2 This became the first enrollment, when Cyrenius was governing Syria. [who would enforce the enrollment in a way that only Romans could] 3 And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because of his being of the house and family of David, 5 to be enrolled with Mary, the one perfectly continuing to be perfectly betrothed as a wife to him, she being expectant with child. [It was only three months previously that Mary had been within a handful of miles of Bethlehem, assisting her cousin Elizabeth. This time, there was no haste. Imagine, she was fully nine months pregnant, ready to give birth at any moment. Joseph must have frantic for the whole trip.] 6 And it came about in their being there that the days of her to give birth were fulfilled. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn Son [This doesn’t imply other sons. “Firstborn” is a technical term, which involves sacrifice.], and she wrapped Him in cloths and laid Him down in a manger, for there was no place for them in the guestroom [perhaps a dormitory-hostel set up for the purpose]. 8 And shepherds were living outdoors in the same countryside, and keeping watch over their flock by night. [Whatever some others have said about these being elite shepherds, these guys would not have had it easy: living outdoors in that roughest of countrysides and staying up at night and being tied to the sheep... Yikes!] 9 And an angel of the Lord stood way up over them and the glory of the Lord shown round about them and they were frightened with great fear. [I bet they were. The Fatima children spoke of the angel’s visits to them as carrying a certain weight, the weight of the glory of God...] 10 And the angel said to them, “Do not fear! For, behold! I bring you good news, a great joy which is for all the people, 11 that today, in the city of David, was given birth for you a Savior, who is Christ, [the Messiah, the Anointed One] the Lord [Kurios, Lord, often used in the New Testament for Yahweh = He who causes to be]. 12 And this is a sign for you: you will find a newborn child, who is perfectly continuing to be perfectly wrapped in cloths, and who is lying down in a manger.” [Not much of a sign, it would seem, which instructs us that the sheer ordinariness is what is being emphasized, but an ordinariness with a difference: They would know Him, perceive Him as the Christ, the Lord.] 13 And suddenly it came about that with the angel there was a multitude of a heavenly army, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of good will.” 15 And it came about that when the angels departed from them into heaven, the shepherds spoke to one another, “Let us right now move along as far as Bethlehem and let us see this word, which perfectly continues to be perfectly established, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went, hurrying and looking for the word, including Mary and Joseph and the Child lying in the manger. 17 And beholding, they made known the word having been spoken to them about this Child. [You get the idea that, while they spoke to those other than the Babe, they couldn’t take their eyes off this newborn Christ, the Lord: “beholding, they made known...” They were awestruck.] 18 And all those listening were awestruck about the things being spoken to them by the shepherds. 19 And Mary closely treasured all these words, throwing them about in her heart. [Words are not treasured until thrown about in our hearts, are they?] 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things which they heard and beheld, just as it was spoken to them. [Their words carried were an occasion of grace for the listeners, the Lord supplying the grace. They were the forerunners of the forerunner, John the Baptist. They were already saying: Ecce, Agnus Dei! Behold, the Lamb of God. While many have spoken of the manger being a symbol that Christ Jesus was destined to be the sustenance of others, which He would become at the Last Supper, and upon the Cross, the Tree of the Living Ones, from which we are provided the Bread of Life, I would like to emphasize the silence of the angels to Mary and Joseph, going only to shepherds, and having them bring the word into listening range of the manger. From the very beginning, our Lord wants to work through us for each other. Remember how, later, after the resurrection, He severely reprimanded those who did not believe the report of the women that He had risen from the dead? Our Lord is so patient to work with us for each other like this, just so good and just so kind.]