Reasons For Joy

Nimis dulce quod natus est; nimium salubre quod datus est, Cum audis etiam tibi natum, gaude. Cum audis etiam tibi datum, multo magis laetare. Sed inter patrem et natum, et inter datorem et datum, secundum divinam naturam non contingat tibi ullam tibi credere differentiam. Unius enim substantiae sunt secundum deitatis essentiam pater et natus, dator et datus. Tantus est ille qui datus est quantus est ille a quo datus est. Et qualis est ille qui genitus est, talis est ille a quo genitus est. Non praecessit tempore genitor; non est genitore genitus interior. Ejusdemque naturae, potentiae et majestatis creditur et praedicatur Spiritus sanctus, quo superveniente suscepit Verbum Dei sanctissimae et semper Virginis uterus, cujus singularem partum universus hodie recolit mundus. Tantae enim rei tamque divinissimi mysterii et ineffabilis sacramenti gratia, non solum in terris exsultant justi;sed etiam summae divinitatis in excelsis tripudiant ministri. Odilo Cluniacensis Abbas, Sermo I, De Nativitate Domini Salvatoris Source: Migne PL 142.993a-b

Exceedingly delightful is what is born, very wholesome is that which has been given. Indeed when you hear what has been born for you, be glad, when you hear what has been given to you, much more rejoice. But between the Father and the child, and between the giver and the given, let it not occur to you to think that there is some difference in the Divine nature. For the Father and the Child, the giver and the given, are of one substance according to the essence of Divinity. He who is given is as great as He from whom He is given. And as He who is born is He from whom he was begotten. He who begot did not precede in time, nor is He who was begotten inferior to Him who begot. And the Holy Spirit is believed and preached to be of the same nature and power and majesty, by whose coming the womb of the most holy and always Virgin Mary received the Word of God, whose singular birth the whole world reflects on today. For of such a thing and so Divine a mystery and by the grace of ineffable sacrament, not only do the righteous exult on earth, but indeed in the heights the ministers of the highest Divinity rejoice. Saint Odo of Cluny, from Sermon 1, On The Nativity of The Lord