Advent Names

Non apices, non litterae, non syllabae, non verbum, non nomina, non personae in Evangelio divinis vacua sunt figuris. Sponsa quaeritur ut jam tunc Ecclesia Christi sponsa signetur, juxta illud Oseae prophetae: Sponsabo te mihi in justitia et judicio et in misericordia et miserationibus et desponsabo te mihi in fide. Hinc Joannes ait: Qui habet sponsam, sponsus est.  Et Paulus: Sponsavi vos uni viro virginem castam exhibere Christo. Vere sponsa quae virginali partu novam Christi regignit infantiam. Procurator Joseph sponsus, ut iste in illo Joseph Christi figuram impleat passionis; Joseph prophetalibus somniis incurrit zelum, Christus propheticis visionibus suscepit invidiam; Joseph missus in lacum mortis, vivus emergit a lacu, Christus mortis sepulcro datus, vivus remeat a sepulcro. Joseph venumdatus est, pretio taxatus est Christus, Joseph transducitur in Aegyptum, ad Aegtptum fugatur Christus; Joseph esurientibus populis panem copiose ministrat, Christus coeli pane manentes orbe toto exsaturat nationes. Sic lucet cur Joseph iste coelestis sponsi typum praetulerit, portaverit imaginem, ambulaverit in figuram. Maria mater vocatur, et quando non Maria mater. Congregationes, inquit, aquarum apellavit maria. Nonne haec exeuntem populum de Aegypto concepit uno utero et emergeret coelestis in novam creaturam renata progenies juxta illud apostoli: Patres nostri omnes sub nube fuerunt, et omnes mare transierunt et omnes sub nube fuerunt, et omnes mare transierunt, et omnes in Moyse baptizatisint in nube et in mari. Et ut semper Maria humane praevia sit salutis, populum quem unda generatrix emisit in lucem, ipse jure praecessit in cantico. Maria, inquit, soror Aaron sumens tympanum in manu sua, dixit: Cantemus Domino, gloriose enim honorificatus est. Nomen hoc prophetiae germanum est, hoc renascentibus salutare, hoc virginitati insigne, hoc pudicitiae decus, hoc indicium castitatis, hoc Dei sacrificium, hoc hospitalitatis virtus, hoc collegium sanctitatis; merito ergo matris Christi nomen est hoc maternum. Diximus quare mater sponsa, quare Joseph sponsus, quare Mariae maternum nomen, ut totum circa ortum Christi fuisse mysticum panderemus. Sanctus Petrus Chrysologus, Sermo CXLVII Source Migne PL 52 592d- 593c

Not a dot, not a letter, not a syllable, not a word, not a name, not a person in the Gospel is without Divine significance. The bride in question was already before as a bride a figure of the Church of Christ, according to which the prophet Hosea, says, 'I shall marry you to me in righteousness and judgement and in mercy and pity and I shall betroth you to me in faith.' 1 Whence John says 'He who has the bride is the bridegroom.'  2 And Paul: 'I have espoused you to one man, a chaste virgin before Christ.'  3 Truly she is the bride who gave birth in virginal birth to the new child of Christ. The overseer Joseph is the groom, he who as a figure of Christ fulfilled the passion. Joseph encountered jealousy by prophetic dreams, Christ with prophetic visions encountered envy, Joseph was thrown into the pit of death and living emerged from it, the dead Christ being given to the tomb came back living from it. Joseph was sold as a slave, for a price Christ was handed over, Joseph was taken into Egypt, Christ fled there, Joseph ministered to a hungering people with abundance of bread, Christ with the bread of heaven satisfies all the nations of the world. So it is evident why Joseph is a type of the celestial spouse, he bore the image, he walked as a figure. Mary is named mother and when not Mary mother. 'And the gathering of the waters he named the sea,' it says, 4 where sea is 'Maria'. And is the going of the people from Egypt not a conception in one womb that they emerge a new creation, a people from heaven reborn, according to the Apostle, 'Our fathers were beneath a cloud, and they passed through the sea and all in Moses were baptized in the cloud and sea.' 5 And that always Mary may be humanely the herald of salvation, a maternal wave which sends a people out into the light, rightly does it occur in a previous song. It says: 'Miriam, the sister of Aaron, took up the timbrel in her hand and said, 'We shall sing the Lord, for gloriously He has been magnified.' 6 The name of this prophetess is appropriate, here is the rebirth of salvation, here the seal of virginity, here the glory of modesty, here the sign of chastity, here the sacrifice of God, here the welcoming of virtue, here the gathering of holiness, and thus with merit is this the name of Christ's mother. And so we have told why the mother was the bride, why Joseph is the groom, why Mary is the mother's name, that we might reveal the whole mystery of Christ's coming. Saint Peter Chrysologus, from Sermon 147 1 Hosea 2.19-20 2 Jn 3.29 3 2 Cor 11.2 4 Gen 1.10 5 1 Cor 10.1-2  6 Exodus 15.20-21