"Radiant and paradoxical is the subject matter of the present festival [Christmas]: radiant, because it has brought salvation to all men; paradoxical, because it ran counter to nature's law. For nature no longer acknowledges a virgin after childbirth, but grace] made her parent and kept her virgin; grace made her a mother and did not violate her virginity...O earth unsown that flowered forth fruit that saves! O Virgin who surpasses Eden's garden if delights!...The Virgin is made more glorious than paradise. For paradise was cultivated by God; but Mary cultivated God Himslef according to the flesh, willing as He did to be united to human's nature."