John And The Nativity

Hic est enim de quo dictum est per Isaiam prophetam dicentem, Vox clamantis in deserto: Parate viam Domini, rectas facite semitas ejus. Idem vero Joannes secundum alium evangelistam requisitus quis esset, respondit: Ego vox clamantis in deserto. Qui ideo vox a propheta vocatus est, quia verbum praeibat. Vox ergo inter duo verba solet fieri, hoc est animae incorporale et oris corporale. Sic et Joannes venit inter nativitatem Christi divinam, de qua dicitur: In principio erat Verbum, et humanam, de qua ita scribitur: Et Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis. Qui etiam in deserto clamat, quia derelictae et destitutae Judaeae solatium redemptionis annuntiat. Quid autem clamaret aperit, cum subditur: Parate viam Domini, rectas facite semitas ejus. Omnis qui fidem rectam et bona opera praedicat, quid aliud quam venienti Dominio ad corda audientium viam parat, ut hanc vis gratiae penetret, et lumen veritatis illustret, ut rectas Deo semitas faciat, dum mundas in animo cogitationes per sermon bonae praedicationis format. Rabanus Maurus, Commentariorum In Matthaeum, Liber I Source: Migne PL 107.767c-d

For this is the one concerning whom it is spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 'A voice crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.' 1 And then the same John, according to another Evangelist, being asked who he was, answers: 'I am a voice crying out in the wilderness.' 2 He who thus was called a voice as a prophet, because he came before the Word. Therefore 'voice' is accustomed to found shared between two words, that is between the incorporeal of the soul and the corporeal of the mouth. So John comes between the Divine nativity of Christ, about which it is said 'In the beginning was the Word,' 3 and the human birth, about which it is written: 'And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.' 4 And he cries out in the wilderness because he announces the consolation of redemption for the forsaken and lost Jews. And what he cries out is revealed when it says after: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.' Everyone who preaches on correct faith and good works, does so that he might prepare a way in the hearts of those who hear for the coming of the Lord, so that the power of grace might penetrate, and the light of truth shine. So he makes the straight paths to God, while he fashions clean thoughts in the soul by the speech of good preaching. Rabanus Maurus, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Book 1 1 Mt 3.3, Isaiah 40.3 2 Jn 1.23 3 Jn 1.1 4 Jn 1.14