O Rex Gentium,
et desideratus earum,
lapisque angularis,
qui facis utraque unum:
veni, et salva hominem,
quem de limo formasti.
O King of the Nations,
and the one they desired,
keystone,
who makes both peoples one,
come and save mankind,
whom you shaped from the mud.
Christ is born to us. Glorify him.
Cornerstone. We usually think of those ornamental things at the corners of large buildings. We don't usually think of them in substantial ways. If the cornerstone is true, if its angle is precisely correct, the rest of the building will conform itself to the “truth” of the cornerstone. That is to say, the building gains not only its existence but its rightness from the cornerstone. Indeed, its entire unity derives from its conformity to the cornerstone.
Mankind cannot but seek heaven. Encoded in them is this image of God which resolutely awakens the yearning for the fulfillment of that yearning. We desire Life in all its fullness, and we desire unity with our neighbor. And all of human history may be seen as consequences of paths wrongly chosen, the hubris of self-creation, the counterfeiting of life.
In the coming King, the Babe in the Manger, is met all the desires of all mankind for Life and unity, for the cessation of strife and the overthrow of death. But we refuse to see the end of all our yearning, and mistake Emmanuel for our enemy. Or at very least, fail to see how a Jewish baby, even one become an itinerant first century rabbi, can be the locus of our fulfillment.
So we substitute and reinvent. Instead of discipleship, we seek “personal growth.” Instead of the now-and-not-yet Kingdom of heaven, we opt for the right-now of political utopia, pinning our hopes for peace and prosperity on the mortal princes of men. Instead of our daily bread, we look for manna in the stock portfolio. We seek first all the things added, and only then the Kingdom of God.
We need no experts to tell us how well this paradigm is working. It is precisely because we believe we must take our provision for ourselves that we find ourself at enmity with our neighbor. We live in a world of God's abundance. But we act from a perception of mortal scarcity. Our utopias ravage human lives and our wars steal the bread from the mouths of generations.
We need a King to lead us. We have that King, for God-with-us has come to us, will come to us, and prepares for us a home.
Only by confirmation to the Cornerstone, by being made building blocks of his Temple, will we not only be grafted onto Life itself, but all our existence will conform to that Life. We will know unity with our neighbor. We will eat manna and wear the wardrobe of lilies. And we will know what it means to never be forsaken.
Christ is born to us. Glorify him.