Sermon

Sunday sermons with expositions of the gospels for the year, sufficiently useful and available to all priests, pastors, and chaplains. By another name they are called "Sleep Securely" or "Sleep Without Care" because, without great study, they can easily be incorporated and preached to the people: they begin easily.

First Sunday of Advent

First Sermon

An ornamental woodcut depicts the initial D, decorated with stylized floral motifs.Tell the daughter of Sion: Behold, thy king cometh to thee, meek, etc. Matt. 21. These words are written by Zechariah in the ninth chapter, where it is said: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy king cometh to thee. And the words of this gospel are read on two Sundays: in the first Sunday of Advent and on Palm Sunday. On Palm Sunday they are read as they come on that Sunday, regarding the sense and the historical fact. But on the first Sunday of Advent, it is fitting regarding the sense and the allegorical fact; because, allegorically, the advent of Christ into Jerusalem signifies the advent of Christ into the flesh. For the Lord approaches Jerusalem spiritually when, through the assumption of the flesh, in which there is the vision of peace, He visited it and reconciled it to Himself. Therefore, it is said: Tell the daughter of Sion, etc. In these words, three things are to be considered. The first is what the daughter of Sion signifies. The second is who

this king is and how he is called. The third is how this king comes and to what he is said to come. The first is noted when it is said: Tell the daughter of Sion. The second when it is said: Behold, thy king. The third when it is said: cometh.

¶ First, therefore, by this daughter of Sion, every faithful soul is signified, because Sion is interpreted as a mirror. And every faithful soul is a daughter of Christ, who is the "unspotted mirror and the brightness of eternal light." Wisdom 7. Or the faithful soul is called the daughter of Sion because in her, as in a mirror, the image of God shines and is reflected, in whose image she was made. Gen. 2. God created man, etc. Truly, in every faithful soul, the image of God shines back as in a mirror, especially when it is clean from all mortal sin. But when it is in some mortal sin, it is "blackened above coals." Lam. 4, regarding sinners. Their face is made blacker than coals. And elsewhere: "All her beauty is departed from the daughter of Sion." Or by the daughter of Sion is signified the faithful soul, which ought to behold and contemplate celestial things, because as it is said, Job 5. "Man is born to labor," that is, regarding the body, "and the bird to fly," and the soul to contemplate celestial things.

¶ The second is to see who this king is and how he is called. This king is Christ, and he is called Jesus, that is, the Savior of the world. Luke 1. The angel said to the Blessed Mary: "Behold, thou shalt conceive and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus," i.e., Savior of the world. This king is Christ. He is the king who has written on his garment and on his thigh: "King of kings and Lord of lords." Rev. 19. Behold, all the sons of the kings of this age are nothing but