Be Joyful: The Lord Is with You

That is why I say to you, “Be joyful, you who are full of grace,” since you have been given more grace than all of creation; and I know and appreciate the reason for your joy and grace. That is why I go on to proclaim and cry out, “the Lord is with you.” The Lord, because as Creator He lords it over all creation, and with you because He is carried in your womb and is gestated in an inexpressible pregnancy. The Lord is with you, He who was begotten eternally from the Father and is always thought of with the Father, with you now in the conception, and achieving the awesome Incarnation through you. The Lord is with you, He who alone has a first eternal generation and receives a second birth through you. The Lord is with you, He who with the Father lords it over all creation, but from you puts on the form of a slave, thereby liberating mankind from slavery. This is why the Lord becomes a slave, in order to make the slave a lord by grace. The Lord is with you, He who was formerly outside of all creation, but now with you is seen as partaking of creation, and through you is counted among creatures; for in you the uncreated is created, and from you the Creator emerges as created; in you I see the uncreated become a creature and I behold the one without flesh becoming fully fleshed.

When He was above, sending me as messenger to you, Virgin, He was without flesh and body; but here below I see Him becoming flesh and body. Above, being uncreated, He transcended all creation; but here below I find Him to be a creature who became immutably a created being in you, Virgin. Above, I saw a God totally free of human element—for how could humanity be seen in heaven? No nonsense again from Origen! No madness from Didymos! No raging again from the followers of the furious Evagrios! These men expound empty myths, fantasize the prior existence of souls and make libations with the abominable Hellenes!—but here below I see Him becoming human without changing and a wonder within a wonder, because He is God beyond change and m an outside of understanding; He is double in nature, but not double in hypostasis, being one and the same in person; He is recognized in two natures, but not divided because of the duality of natures, nor—thanks to the sameness, unit, and absoluteness of hypostasis—creating a confusion of His constituent natures; nor does He increase the number of the heavenly Triad which rules over everything; and manifesting Himself to men as one of mankind, I find Him to be both God and man, and I am in awe of the magnitude of the miracle.

“Be joyful, you who are full of grace, the Lord is with you.” What could be more sublime than this joy, Virgin Mother? Or what could be more beautiful or more glorious than this grace, which you alone have received from God? Everything is secondary to your miracle, everything ranks lower than your grace, and everything that is judged excellent places second to you and obtains the lesser glory. God is with you, so who would dare to contend with you? God is from you, so who will not be immediately bested and will not rather declare joyfully your excellence and superiority? That is why I announce to you the greatest things, seeing your superiority among all creatures. Be joyful, you who are full of grace, the Lord is with you, for from you joy is not only bestowed on mankind, but is granted also to the powers in heaven.

“Truly you blessed among women,” for you turned the curse of Eve into a blessing; for you made Adam, who was at first accursed, to be blessed through you. Truly you are blessed among women, because the blessing of the Father came upon men through you and freed them from the ancient curse. Truly you are blessed among women, because through you your forbears are saved; for you will give birth to the Savior who will bestow divine salvation upon them. Truly you are blessed among women, because without seed you produced a fruit that will bestow blessings on the whole earth and will ransom it from the thorn-laden curse. Truly you are blessed among women, because being a woman by nature you will in face become the Mother of God; for if He who will be born from you is God incarnate in truth, you will be most justly called Mother of God as the one that truly gives birth to God.

*Excerpted from Sophronios of Jerusalem, Homilies, edited and translated by John M. Duffy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020), pp. 181-185. Available for purchase from Eighth Day Books.