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PL 39 · cols. 2053–2057
Appendix to Augustine's Sermones: Sermones supposititii, Sermones 155-173
Sermons CLVI–CLVIII
dimitteret illis peccatum. Et quomodo, inquis, possum Dominum imitari? Si volueris, poteris. Si enim impossibile erat imitari eum, quomodo dicebat, Discite a me quoniam mitis sum et humilis corde (Matth. XI, 29)? Nam si impossibile esset imitari eum, nunquam Paulus dixisset, Imitatores mei estote, sicut et ego Christi (I Cor. XI, 1). Quod si Dominum imitari non vis, imitare servum ejus Stephanum, quem et apostolum dico; nam et ille Dominum imitatus est. Et quemadmodum Christus inter crucifigentes se relinquens crucem, relinquens propriam persecutionem, pro crucifigentibus se deprecabatur Patrem: ita et servus ejus inter lapidantes se, suscipiens jacula saxorum et dolores qui ex ipsis fiebant, dicebat, Domin⟨e⟩, ne statuas illis peccatum hoc. Audisti quomodo secundum Dominum locutus servus. Ille ait, Pater, dimitte illis peccatum; nesciunt enim quid faciunt (Luc. XXIII, 34). At iste dicit, Domine, ne statuas illis peccatum hoc. Et ut discas, quoniam cum omni sollicitudine oravit, Positis, inquit, genibus orabat dicens, Domine, ne statuas illis peccatum hoc (Act. VII, 59), qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
He might forgive them the sin. And how, you say, can I imitate the Lord? If you are willing, you will be able. For if it were impossible to imitate Him, how was He saying, Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart (Matt. 11:29)? For if it were impossible to imitate Him, Paul would never have said, Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ (1 Cor. 11:1). But if you do not wish to imitate the Lord, imitate His servant Stephen, whom I also call an apostle; for he too imitated the Lord. And just as Christ, among those who were crucifying Him, leaving aside the cross, leaving aside His own persecution, was entreating the Father for those who were crucifying Him: so also His servant, among those who were stoning him, receiving the missiles of stones and the pains that came from them, was saying, Lord, do not lay this sin against them. You have heard how the servant spoke after the manner of the Lord. He says, Father, forgive them the sin; for they do not know what they do (Luke 23:34). But this one says, Lord, do not lay this sin against them. And that you may learn that he prayed with all earnestness, Having knelt down, it says, he was praying, saying, Lord, do not lay this sin against them (Acts 7:59), Thou Who livest and reignest for ages of ages. Amen.
SERMO CLVI. De Passione Domini, VII.
Sermon 156. On the Passion of the Lord, 7.
1. Redemptionis nostrae beneficium. Quid Deus pro ipso exigat. Dilectissimi fratres, Dominus noster Jesus Christus nobis salutem exhibuit; divinae vero naturae nihil minuit. Gratias ergo agamus pietati ejus, qui infirmitati nostrae de homine suo vitale composuit medicamentum. Magnificemus eum, quia nullum divinae virtutis, dum nobis subvenit, fecerit detrimentum. Vere pius, vere Salvator, qui in tantum dilexerit opus suum, qui in tantum reputaverit servum suum, id est, humanum genus universum, ut culpam ejus suo verbere expiaret, vulnera ejus suo livore sanaret. Denique ille peccat, hic vapulat; ille praevaricatur, iste crucifigitur. Quis hoc existimet, et quis cogitet? Quis compenset Dominum pro servis mori dignatum? Et hoc pro quibus? Pro sceleratis, pro impiis. Quid tibi, Domine, retribuet opus tuum bonum a te factum, propria voluntate perversum, sed tua miseratione reparatum? Quid ab eo pro tantis beneficiis expetis? Numquid aliquid ejus eges, aut ab eo quod ei non dedisti, requires? An forte, imo hoc quaeris, ut aptum facias cui miserearis, ut dignum constituas quem immortalitatis tuae participem reddas, ut facias bonum quem corones in aeternum?
1. The benefit of our redemption. What God requires in return for it. Dearly beloved brethren, our Lord Jesus Christ has bestowed salvation upon us, yet He has diminished nothing of the divine nature. Let us therefore give thanks to His goodness, Who from His own manhood compounded a life-giving medicine for our infirmity. Let us magnify Him, because, while He came to our aid, He incurred no loss of divine power. Truly kind, truly Saviour, Who loved His own work so much, Who valued His servant so much, that is, the whole human race, that He expiated its guilt by His own scourging and healed its wounds by His own bruise. In short, the one sins, the Other is beaten; the one transgresses, the Other is crucified. Who would suppose this, and who would conceive it? Who could repay the Lord for having deigned to die for servants? And for whom was this? For the wicked, for the ungodly. What will Thy work repay Thee, O Lord, the good work made by Thee, perverted by its own will, but restored by Thy compassion? What dost Thou seek from it for such great benefits? Dost Thou need anything of it, or wilt Thou require from it what Thou hast not given it? Or perhaps, nay rather, this is what Thou seekest: that Thou mayest make fit one on whom Thou mayest have mercy, that Thou mayest establish as worthy one whom Thou mayest make a sharer in Thy immortality, that Thou mayest make good one whom Thou mayest crown for eternity?
2. Ars Dei ut terrae subveniret, et justitiae faceret satis. Sed quid a nobis, ut hoc retribueres, accepisti? Nihil certe, an aliquid? Indulgeat Dominus terrae miserae, si quidpiam terra et cinis praesumpserit dicere. Non repudiet insipientem, sed respiciat confitentem. Dicat terra Domino suo, dicat homo factori suo: Nempe accepisti aliquid ex me, quod non habuisti in te. Volens enim subvenire terrae, sed excedere nolens modum justitiae, mortalem morte tua redimere cogitabas: sed unde mori posses ex te nihilominus non habebas. Tu omnipotens, ego egens; tu immortalis, ego mortalis: accepisti ex me egestatem pulveris, sumpsisti de me mortem carnis; fudisti pro me pretium redemptionis. O pretiosum pretium perditorum! Dicant nunc qui redempti sunt a Domino, quos liberavit de manu hostis: Confitemini Domino, quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia ejus (Psal. CVI, 2, 1). Dicat ei terra redempta, terra irrigata; redempta sanguine, irrigata baptismate: Magna iniquitas mea, sed major est redemptio tua.
2. God's skill, so that He might come to the aid of the earth and also satisfy justice. But what didst Thou receive from us, that Thou mightest repay this? Nothing, surely, or something? May the Lord pardon wretched earth, if earth and ashes presume to say anything. May He not reject the foolish one, but regard the one who confesses. Let earth say to its Lord, let man say to his Maker: Surely Thou didst receive something from me which Thou didst not have in Thyself. For, wishing to come to the aid of the earth, but unwilling to exceed the measure of justice, Thou wast purposing to redeem the mortal by Thy death: but that whereby Thou couldst die Thou nevertheless didst not have from Thyself. Thou almighty, I needy; Thou immortal, I mortal: Thou didst receive from me the neediness of dust, Thou didst take from me the death of the flesh; Thou didst pour out for me the price of redemption. O precious price of the lost! Let those now say who have been redeemed by the Lord, whom He has freed from the hand of the enemy: Confess to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy is for ever (Ps. 106:2, 1). Let the earth say to Him, the earth redeemed, the earth watered; redeemed by blood, watered by baptism: Great is my iniquity, but greater is Thy redemption.
3. Hinc diabolus elusus et prostratus. Audiat ergo
3. Hence the devil mocked and laid low. Let him therefore hear
Editors' notes and page, col. 2053
Footnotes
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Alias de Tempore 122.
Elsewhere De Tempore 122.
(printed under page 289)
(b) ‹anchor: De Passione Domini, VII› · call in col 2053
In Appendice nunc primum collocatur. Lovaniensibus dubius, falsus Verlino et Vindingo videtur. Huc omnino sermonem hunc, quem in manuscriptis frustra quaesivimus, rejicere compellit dicendi ratio ab Augustiniana manifeste dissidens. De num. 1 vide serm 160, n. 5, et serm. 163, n. 1; de num. 3, confer serm. 13[9?], n. 3.
Now placed in the Appendix for the first time. To the Louvain editors it seemed doubtful, to Verlinus and Vindingus spurious. We are wholly compelled to relegate this sermon here, which we sought in the manuscripts in vain, by its manner of speaking, plainly at odds with Augustine's. On no. 1 see Sermon 160, no. 5, and Sermon 163, no. 1; on no. 3, compare Sermon 13[9?], no. 3.
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vocem Domini mei humani generis adversarius, et nihil jam sibi applaudat elatus: quia pro totius mundi facinore in cruce pependit Dominus noster Jesus Christus. Nunc, inquit, judicium est mundi, nunc princeps hujus mundi mittetur foras. Et ego, cum exaltatus fuero a terra, omnia traham ad me ipsum (Joan. XII, 31 et 32). O quam bene te tuo impetu, diabole, percussisti! Credulitas tua tibi exitium, nobis attulit commodum: dum nulli parcis, te ipsum tandem interimis. Per unius delictum omnes captivasti; per unius justitiam omnes nihilominus amisisti. Si illum qui tibi consenserat invasisti, istum in quo nihil inveneras cur indebite occidisti? Effudisti innoxium sanguinem; redde damnatam progeniem. Tu certe ille es, qui tibi divinitatis similitudinem arrogabas elatus: nunc ab homine divino prosterneris superatus. Et quid mirum, si te, utpote creaturam suam, virtus divina fecisset? Sed hoc est magnum atque mirificum, ut de pulvere assumeret unde tuam nequitiam prosterneret atque contereret: ut qui supra sidera superbus erigebaris, nunc a carne supereris. Ille igitur sanguis quem effudisti, te vicit, me redemit. Denique illum bibo; et veneni tui perniciem salvatus ultra non timeo. Praevaluisti in paradiso; sed victus es de patibulo. Quid mihi circumjectam paradiso igneam rhomphaeam opponis? Ecce exaltati Crucifixi profluens unda restinxit versatilem flammam. Jamjam patet humano generi paradisus, in quo latronem confitentem reduxit Dominus Jesus Christus.
the voice of my Lord, the adversary of the human race, and let him, elated, no longer applaud himself: because for the crime of the whole world our Lord Jesus Christ hung upon the cross. Now, He says, is the judgement of the world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, when I shall have been lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself (John 12:31–32). O how well, devil, you have struck yourself by your own onslaught! Your credulity brought ruin to you, benefit to us: while you spare no one, you at last destroy yourself. Through the transgression of one you took all captive; through the righteousness of one you have nonetheless lost all. If you assailed him who had consented to you, why did you undeservedly kill Him in Whom you had found nothing? You have shed innocent blood; give back the condemned offspring. You are surely he who, elated, arrogated to yourself a likeness of divinity: now you are laid low, overcome by a divine man. And what wonder, if divine power had made you, as being its creature? But this is great and marvellous, that it took from the dust that by which it might lay low and crush your wickedness: so that you who in your pride were raised above the stars are now overcome by flesh. That blood, therefore, which you shed has conquered you and redeemed me. In short, I drink it; and, saved, I no longer fear the deadliness of your poison. You prevailed in paradise; but you were conquered from the gibbet. Why do you set against me the fiery sword placed around paradise? Behold, the stream flowing from the exalted Crucified has quenched the turning flame. Now, even now, paradise lies open to the human race, into which the Lord Jesus Christ has led back the confessing thief.
4. Hinc paradisus reseratus. Conversio nunquam tarda. Latronis fides. Unde, et quare ista mutatio. O quam grande mysterium! Paradisus qui clausus fuerat praevaricatori, jam reseratur latroni. An forte et in hoc latrone totum hominem, vel illum etiam primum generis humani parentem advertere convenit? Si enim is qui aliis interficiendo intulerat mortem, latronis accepit nomen: quanto magis qui ipsam mortem, quae non erat, peccando invenit, latronis non immerito crimen incurrit? Christus autem ait latroni: Hodie, inquit, mecum eris in paradiso (Luc. XXIII, 43). Cui aliquando, charissimi, tarda videatur esse conversio, cum latronis jam pendentis, jam morientis non fuerit repudiata confessio? O ampla Domini miseratio, obliviscentis injusti crimen, suscipientis poenitentis fidem; pro scelere damnatum facientis electum, mortis debitorem reddentis aeternitatis vitae participem! Sed plane hujus latronis extrema quidem, sed non minima fides, qui Dominum tunc non suscitantem mortuos, sed morientem pro peccatoribus propemodum agnoscere et confiteri promeruit! Solus denique Petrus passionis timore perterritus, quasi hominem denegat, latro crucifixum adorat: sed Petrum Dominus correxit respiciendo, latronem vero beatificavit in gloria assumendo. O latronem laudabilem, mirabilem, imitabilem, saevientem gladio, violentum coelo, rapinis inhiantem, fide ferventem! Sed haec mutatio dexterae Excelsi est (Psal. LXXVI, 11); ut versam vicem redderet diabolo Christus: videlicet, ut quemadmodum diabolus primum depravando hominem abstulerat de paradiso, sic Christus latronem confitentem erueret de inferno. Ille praesumentem de interdicto ligno decepit; iste pendentem de poenali ligno redemit.
4. Hence paradise unbarred. Conversion never too late. The thief's faith. Whence, and why, this change. O how great a mystery! Paradise, which had been shut to the transgressor, is now unbarred to a thief. Or perhaps it is fitting to discern in this thief the whole of man, or even that first parent of the human race? For if he who had brought death upon others by killing received the name of thief, how much more did he who by sinning found out death itself, which did not exist, not undeservedly incur the charge of a thief? But Christ said to the thief: Today, He says, you shall be with Me in paradise (Luke 23:43). To whom, dearly beloved, may conversion ever seem too late, when the confession of a thief already hanging, already dying, was not rejected? O ample mercy of the Lord, forgetting the crime of the unjust, receiving the faith of the penitent; making one condemned for crime elect, rendering a debtor of death a partaker of eternal life! But plainly the faith of this thief was last indeed, yet not least, who earned to recognize and confess, almost, the Lord at a time when He was not raising the dead but dying for sinners! Finally, Peter alone, terrified by fear of the passion, denies Him as though He were a man; the thief adores the Crucified: but the Lord corrected Peter by looking back at him, while the thief He beatified by taking him up into glory. O praiseworthy, wonderful, imitable thief, raging with the sword, violent towards heaven, gaping after plunder, fervent in faith! But this change is of the right hand of the Most High (Ps. 76:11); so that Christ might pay the devil back in turn: namely, that just as the devil, by first corrupting man, had taken him away from paradise, so Christ might snatch the confessing thief from hell. The one deceived him who presumed upon the forbidden tree; the Other redeemed him who hung upon the tree of punishment.
5. Latronis vox nobis usurpanda. Etenim, fratres, assumamus et nos vocem latronis hujus, si non volumus esse latrones. Dicamus et nos: Memento nostri, Domine, cum veneris in regnum tuum. Hanc ergo confessionem illius sancti latronis, fratres charissimi, quam decantando protulimus, et respondendo propria voce fecimus, devotione certissima proferamus: et sic dicamus, ut audiamur; sic confiteamur, ut salvemur. Fide ergo dicamus, corde clamemus. Ipse autem Dominus noster Jesus Christus audiet profecto vocem nostri clamoris, si integram devotionem approbaverit mentis. Ipse perducat nos ad arborem vitae, qui eruit nos de lacu miseriae. Ipse aperiat nobis januas paradisi, qui confregit portas inferni. Ipse populum
5. The thief's voice to be taken up by us. For indeed, brethren, let us too take up the voice of this thief, if we do not wish to be thieves. Let us too say: Remember us, O Lord, when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. This confession, then, of that holy thief, dearest brethren, which we have uttered in chanting and made with our own voice in responding, let us bring forth with most assured devotion: and let us so speak that we may be heard; so confess that we may be saved. Let us therefore speak with faith, cry out with the heart. And our Lord Jesus Christ Himself will surely hear the voice of our cry, if He approves the whole devotion of the mind. May He lead us to the tree of life, Who drew us out of the pit of misery. May He open to us the doors of paradise, Who broke the gates of hell. May He the people
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suum eruat a flagello, qui se contineri permisit ante praesidem Pontium Pilatum. Ipse in regnum suum perducat confitentes, qui pati dignatus est pro impiis innocens: ut sit nomen Domini benedictum in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
that are His own rescue from the scourge, He Who allowed Himself to be held before the governor Pontius Pilate. May He lead into His kingdom those who confess Him, He Who, innocent, deigned to suffer for the ungodly: that the name of the Lord may be blessed for ages of ages. Amen.
SERMO CLVII. In Vigilia Paschae, I. De verbis Genesis, cap. I, 1-61, In principio fecit Deus coelum et terram, etc.
Sermon 157. On the Vigil of Easter, 1. On the words of Genesis, chapter 1, 1-61, In the beginning God made heaven and earth, etc.
1. Sermonis exordium. Multa sunt et magna venerandae Paschae mysteria, quae divinis Libris sunt consecrata, et in antiquis Judaeorum archivis fuerant reservata; quorum admirabilis ratio et mira, fides pura, religio sincera, veluti quodam velamine tecta, suam sanctitatem in abditis occulebant, et prisci antistites adumbrata cernebant, et sacrificia cruenta muneribus offerebant. Hanc artifex non terrenis coloribus, sed coelestibus virtutibus, clypeo devotionis auro coruscante depinxit, et animum tenaciter diligens in ipso templo humani corporis dedicavit, integris et acerrimis sensibus officia distribuit, et amorem in ejus corde conclusit. Et cum ille clarus rector astrorum, poli genitor, dux diei, luminis imperator, interjector germinis, autumni temperies, anni cursum et quadripartita temporum spatia compleverit, diei hujus solemnitatem nos docuit celebrare. Quanta nobis bona Dominicae passionis admirabiles triumphi contulerint, mortali et humana voce nec praedicare, nec memoriter valeo enumerare. Ex illo itaque beneficiorum acervo, quae coelestis munificentia humano generi largita est, unum granum fidei, quod in se continet multiplicem vitae rationem, in gremio sapientiae collocabo: ut in ipso prudentiae sulco coalescat divini sermonis imbre satum, magnaque et admiranda ex modica praebeat stirpe, et orationis opacitate exuberantia praestet.
1. Opening of the sermon. Many and great are the mysteries of the venerable Pasch, which were consecrated in the divine Books and had been kept in reserve in the ancient archives of the Jews; their admirable reason and wondrous [nature], pure faith, sincere religion, covered as if by a kind of veil, hid their holiness in secret places, and the ancient priests discerned them in shadow, and offered bloody sacrifices with gifts. This the Artificer painted, not with earthly colours but with heavenly powers, on the shield of devotion gleaming with gold, and, loving the soul tenaciously, He dedicated it in the very temple of the human body, distributed their duties to the senses, whole and most keen, and enclosed love in its heart. And when that bright ruler of the stars, begetter of the sky, leader of the day, commander of light, sower of the seed, tempering of autumn, has completed the course of the year and the fourfold spaces of the seasons, he has taught us to celebrate the solemnity of this day. How great the goods which the admirable triumphs of the Lord's passion have conferred on us, I am able neither to proclaim with a mortal and human voice nor to enumerate from memory. From that heap of benefits, then, which heavenly munificence has bestowed upon the human race, I shall place in the bosom of wisdom one grain of faith, which contains within itself a manifold principle of life: so that, sown in the very furrow of prudence, it may grow strong by the rain of the divine word, and from a small stock may yield great and admirable things, and in the shade of discourse may provide abundant things.
2. Lux creata, quantam potuit mortalis oculus capere. Terra invisibilis. Fit visibilis. — In principio, inquit, fecit Deus caelum et terram. Exclusit omnium infelicium errores: unum imperatorem Deum Patrem ostendit, unum conditorem universitatis Filium indicavit. Fiat lux: et facta est lux. Et vidit Deus lucem, quia bona est: non quod Deus lucem ante non nosset, quam nonnisi visam laudaret, cum sit lux solus omnium ipse, sicut evangelista testatur, Ego sum lux mundi (Joan. VIII, 12); et Apostolus, Qui habitat lucem inaccessibilem, quam nemo hominum vidit, nec videre potest (I Tim. VI, 16). Hanc lucem dixit in saeculo, quia bona est secundum hominem, non secundum Deum. Deus enim non tantam hanc lucem tribuit, quam poterat ipse largiri; sed quantum mortalis oculus capere potuit. Nec qui universum orbem illuminat, tribueret splendorem, nisi quem mortalis capere aut sustinere utique posset. Terra erat invisibilis et incomposita. Sed terra invisibilis esse non poterat: cui ergo invisibilis erat? Si Angelis; ubi tanta moles abscondi poterat? si hominibus; adhuc homo non erat. Deus quippe fundavit terram super aquas, et medietatem aquarum super coelos imposuit, et medietatem abyssis demersit, et in maria congregavit, et sic terra apparuit. Et dixit Deus: Fiat firmamentum inter aquam et aquam. Et vocavit Deus firmamentum, caelum. Videtis quia aquam super firmamentum coeli imposuit, et per separationem
2. Light was created as great as the mortal eye could take in. The earth invisible. It becomes visible. — In the beginning, it says, God made heaven and earth. It shut out the errors of all the unhappy: it showed one ruler, God the Father; it pointed to one founder of the universe, the Son. Let there be light: and light was made. And God saw the light, that it is good: not that God did not know the light beforehand, so as to praise it only once seen, since He alone is Himself the light of all, as the evangelist testifies, I am the light of the world (John 8:12); and the Apostle, Who dwells in light inaccessible, which no man has seen nor can see (1 Tim. 6:16). He called this light [good] in the world because it is good according to man, not according to God. For God did not grant this light as great as He Himself could have bestowed, but as great as the mortal eye could take in. Nor would He Who illuminates the whole world grant a splendour other than one which a mortal could indeed take in or endure. The earth was invisible and unformed. But the earth could not be invisible: to whom, then, was it invisible? If to the Angels, where could so great a mass be hidden? If to men, man did not yet exist. For God founded the earth upon the waters, and placed half of the waters above the heavens, and sank half in the abysses, and gathered them into seas, and so the earth appeared. And God said: Let there be a firmament between water and water. And God called the firmament heaven. You see that He placed water above the firmament of heaven, and through the separation
Editors' notes and page, col. 2055
Footnotes
(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 2055
Alias, de Tempore 134.
Elsewhere, De Tempore 134.
(printed under page 290)
(b) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 2055
In Appendice nunc primum collocatur. Est ambiguus Lovaniensibus: sed Verlino et Vindingo falsus. Ab his quippe observatur Augustinum in lib. 13 Confessionum cap. 6-9, aliisque locis id omnino affirmare quod hic negatur, scilicet spiritum Dei, qui ferebatur super aquas, fuisse Deum. Ipsi etiam in lib. 2 ad Simplicianum, quaest. 1, displicuisse eorum nominatim opinionem, qui illum intelligerent spiritum esse, « quo mundi, » ait, « moles universa « ista corporea, velut animatur, ad ministerium quorum- « que gignentium et in sua specie continendarum corpora- « lium creaturarum. »
Now placed in the Appendix for the first time. To the Louvain editors it is doubtful, but to Verlinus and Vindingus spurious. For they observe that Augustine, in Book 13 of the Confessions, chapters 6–9, and in other places, firmly affirms what is denied here, namely that the Spirit of God who was borne over the waters was God. And that in Book 2 to Simplician, question 1, he expressly rejected the opinion of those who took it to be the spirit "by which," he says, "this whole bodily mass of the world is as it were animated, for the service of generating all things and of keeping bodily creatures each in its own kind."
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- other: ligature doubt raised by the check (text not changed): fecit Deus caelum | fecit Deus coelum
- other: ligature doubt raised by the check (text not changed): firmamentum, caelum | firmamentum, coelum
aquarum arida terra apparuit, et recedentibus aquis visibilem significavit? Quod autem invisibilis et incomposita, necdum fuerat ordinata, necdum diversis fructibus plena.
of the waters the dry land appeared, and by the receding waters it signified [it as] visible? But as to its being invisible and unformed, it had not yet been set in order, not yet full of diverse fruits.
3. Spiritus super aquas, non Deus, sed res Dei. Est seminarius animandae conditionis. Spiritus duo, Dei et mundi. — Tenebrae, inquit, erant super abyssos, et Spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas. Si enim faculam in tenebris inferas, continuo illuminantur universa: quanto magis ubi Deus erat, tenebrae esse non poterant? Hic spiritus quidem res est Dei: non tamen ipse Deus intelligetur esse. Nam etsi spiritus dicitur, non omnis spiritus Deus est. Sic enim spiritus Dei dictus est, quomodo et angelus Dei: hoc est, res Dei; non tamen ipse Deus, qui spiritus Dei. Hic ergo spiritus qui superferebatur aquas, seminarius est animandae conditionis: unde et aquae et terrae mox jussu Dei emerserunt; quia nec aqua, nec terra viveret, aut aliquid generaret, nisi hoc Dei spiritus animaret: unde et terra fruges, et aqua produxit pisces. Duos autem spiritus esse, unum Dei, alterum hujus mundi, Apostolus dicit: Nos jam non habemus spiritum hujus mundi, sed spiritum qui ex Deo est (I Cor. II, 12): ut ostenderet alterum esse spiritum Dei, qui Deus est; alterum spiritum hujus mundi, quo animantur universa. Amos propheta dicit, Qui solidat tonitruum, et condidit spiritum: cum utique qui Deus dici non poterat, generatus.
3. The spirit over the waters is not God, but a thing of God. It is the seed-bed of the creation that was to be animated. Two spirits, of God and of the world. — Darkness, it says, was over the abysses, and the spirit of God was borne over the waters. For if you bring a little torch into the darkness, at once all things are lit up: how much more, where God was, could darkness not be? This spirit is indeed a thing of God: yet it will not be understood to be God Himself. For although it is called spirit, not every spirit is God. For it is called spirit of God in the same way as angel of God: that is, a thing of God; yet that which is the spirit of God is not God Himself. This spirit, then, which was borne over the waters, is the seed-bed of the creation that was to be animated: whence both the waters and the lands soon emerged at the command of God; for neither water nor earth would live, or generate anything, unless this spirit of God animated them: whence both the earth produced crops, and the water fish. That there are two spirits, one of God, the other of this world, the Apostle says: We now have not the spirit of this world, but the spirit which is from God (1 Cor. 2:12): to show that the one is the Spirit of God, Who is God; the other the spirit of this world, by which all things are animated. Amos the prophet says, Who makes firm the thunder, and created the spirit: since assuredly that which could not be called God was brought into being.
4. Expositio allegorica terrae invisibilis, divisionis aquarum, terrae germinantis, solis, lunae, astrorum et piscium. — Fecit ergo in principio coelum et terram: coelum spiritum, terram carnem, hoc est, hominem spiritualem; in principio, hoc est, in Christo. Interrogaverunt eum Judaei, Quem te dicis? Respondit, Principium, qui et loquor vobis (Joan. VIII, 25). Terra, inquit, invisibilis et incomposita. Quia carnem hominis Christus assumere disponebat, incomposita dicebatur. Composita necdum erat; quia necdum Gabrielis angeli annuntiatione composita, necdum assumptione Domini visibilis facta, necdum virtutum frugibus plena. Divisio aquarum, Judaeorum populorum et Christianorum, sicut Apocalypsis: Aquas quas vidisti, populi sunt et nationes (Apoc. XVII, 15). Cum aquas dicit super coelos impositas, christianum populum nuntiat. Tertia die germinat terra herbam pabuli secundum suum genus, et omne lignum faciens fructum. Cum igitur terram germin⟨a⟩re jubet, in Ecclesia catechumeni sunt quasi herbae: cum credunt, velut in culmos se erigunt. Fideles quoque in spica maturi accrescunt; unde et sanctorum grana in horreis coelestibus reconduntur. Lignum enim fructiferum, diversa sunt genera sanctorum. Quas arbores nec turbines cupiditatum possunt evertere, nec ardentis libidinis flammae exurere. Fiat, inquit, luminare majus in inchoatione diei, et luminare minus in inchoatione noctis. Sol Christus est; Luna Ecclesia in orbe completa, solis claritate quotidie illustrata. Stellae quoque lucentes, sanctorum sunt millia; id est, Apostoli, Patriarchae, martyres, virgines, sacerdotes, cuncti justi pariter et fideles virtutum suarum flamma radiantes. Quinta die fetus suos pisces et aves factum est ut producerent. In comparatione piscium sanctos dicimus, qui in aqua Baptismatis vivunt. Ideo pisces benedictionem primo consequi meruerunt, quia fideles in sacramento Baptismatis benedici potuerunt. Sexta vero die fecit Deus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem suam.
4. An allegorical exposition of the invisible earth, the division of the waters, the sprouting earth, the sun, the moon, the stars and the fish. — So in the beginning He made heaven and earth: heaven, the spirit; earth, the flesh, that is, the spiritual man; in the beginning, that is, in Christ. The Jews asked Him, Whom do you say you are? He answered, The Beginning, Who also speak to you (John 8:25). The earth, it says, was invisible and unformed. Because Christ was arranging to assume the flesh of man, it was called unformed. It was not yet formed; because it was not yet formed by the annunciation of the angel Gabriel, not yet made visible by the Lord's assumption [of it], not yet full of the fruits of the virtues. The division of the waters [is that] of the Jewish peoples and of the Christians, as the Apocalypse [says]: The waters which you saw are peoples and nations (Rev. 17:15). When it speaks of the waters placed above the heavens, it announces the Christian people. On the third day the earth sprouts the grass of pasture according to its kind, and every tree bearing fruit. When therefore He commands the earth to sprout, in the Church the catechumens are like grass: when they believe, they rise up as it were into stalks. The faithful too grow up ripe in the ear; whence also the grains of the saints are stored away in the heavenly granaries. For the fruit-bearing tree is the diverse kinds of saints. These trees neither the whirlwinds of desires can overthrow, nor the flames of burning lust consume. Let there be, it says, a greater light at the beginning of the day, and a lesser light at the beginning of the night. The sun is Christ; the moon is the Church made complete in the world, illuminated daily by the brightness of the sun. The shining stars too are the thousands of the saints; that is, the Apostles, patriarchs, martyrs, virgins, priests, all the just and faithful alike, radiant with the flame of their virtues. On the fifth day it came about that the fish and the birds brought forth their young. In the comparison of the fish we speak of the saints, who live in the water of Baptism. Therefore the fish were the first to deserve to obtain a blessing, because the faithful were able to be blessed in the sacrament of Baptism. And on the sixth day God made man to His image and likeness.
SERMO CLVIII In Vigilia Paschae, II.
Sermon 158. On the Vigil of Easter, 2.
1. A Pilato Joseph petit corpus Jesu. Peracta
1. Joseph asks Pilate for the body of Jesus. When there had been accomplished
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Alias, de Tempore 132; et post, in Appendice 50.
Elsewhere, De Tempore 132; and afterwards, Appendix 50.
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Incerti auctoris, qui cum hic Petrum resurrectionis Filii Dei et ante crucem conscium fuisse; ipsumque, cum videret resurrectionem quam Dei Filius praenuntiaverat impletam, qui sollicitus venerat, securum abscessisse dicat, in Evangelium Lucae cap. 18, et Joannis cap. 20, peccare (continues)
By an uncertain author who, since he says here that Peter knew of the resurrection of the Son of God even before the cross, and that, seeing the resurrection which the Son of God had foretold fulfilled, he who had come anxious went away untroubled, sins against the Gospel of Luke ch. 18 and of John ch. 20 (continues)
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passione Domini nostri Jesu Christi, et resurrectione in qua fidei nostrae omnis summa consistit, emergit quidam Joseph, olim quidem amator et discipulus Domini, et qui pro ratione temporis defuncto exsequias occultas impendebat; quia et noti misericordiam furor persequentium prohibebat. Quod factum ita Joannes evangelista narravit: Rogavit, inquit, Pilatum Joseph occulte, propter metum Judaeorum; et petivit corpus Jesu, et permisit Pilatus (Joan. XIX, 38). Cum in animo religioso metus cum devotione certaret, excogitavit statim quod et fidei satisfaceret et timori, occulte postulans; ut et humo mandaret occisum, et declinaret insaniam Judaeorum. Judex vero eumdem servat animum mortuo, quem impendit audito: nam quem coactus dederat poenae, libens tradit sepulturae. Postquam vero corpus Jesu humatum est, statim potentiam suam repetit, qua venerat reditura majestas. Nam cujus nativitas hominis ostenderat filium, mors prodidit Deum.
the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the resurrection, in which the whole sum of our faith consists, there emerges a certain Joseph, formerly indeed a lover and disciple of the Lord, and one who, as the circumstances of the time required, was paying hidden funeral rites to the dead; because the fury of the persecutors forbade mercy even to one known [to Him]. This deed John the evangelist narrated thus: Joseph, he says, asked Pilate secretly, for fear of the Jews; and he sought the body of Jesus, and Pilate permitted it (John 19:38). When in his religious mind fear was contending with devotion, he at once devised what would satisfy both faith and fear, asking secretly; so that he might both commit the slain One to the earth and escape the madness of the Jews. But the judge keeps towards Him dead the same disposition that he showed towards Him when he heard Him: for Him whom he had given up to punishment under compulsion, he willingly hands over to burial. But after the body of Jesus was buried, at once the majesty that was to return reclaims its power, with which it had come. For Him whose birth had shown Him to be the son of man, death revealed as God.
2. Petrus Christi resurrectionis ante crucem conscius. Cum enim Maria Magdalene venisset ad monumentum, quam memorem Salvatoris, amissa fide, devotio in lacrymas compellebat, videns revolutum a foribus lapidem, cum non invenisset in sepulcro Dominum, coepit acrius dolere, quod perdiderat et defunctum. Mox autem ad Petrum ejus discipulum pervolat, quem pro meriti qualitate vel fidei, major de ejus obitu cura tangebat: nuntiat inane sepulcrum; quaeritur corpus ablatum. Petrus vero resurrectionis Filii Dei et ante crucem conscius, quam praedixerat ipse passurus, sub tali nuntio non flevit aut doluit: sed morem suum in divinis virtutibus servans, properat experiri quod credidit. Ad sepulcrum itaque Domini celeri cursu festinat, laetior rediturus, si non inveniret quem quaerebat. Beatus autem Evangelista et ex consequentibus probat potentiam resurgentis. Venit, inquit, Simon Petrus, et introivit in monumentum: et cum non invenisset Dominum, vidit linteamina posita, et sudarium quod fuerat super caput ejus (Id. XX, 6 et 7). Jam manifestus Deus, perlaturus quem vivificaverat in coelum, et mortem vacuat et sepulcrum. Nam linteamine, quo funus tegebatur, exposito, reliquit terrae mortis exuvias, vitali jam corpore induta majestas. Petrus igitur videns resurrectionem, quam Dei Filius praenuntiaverat, impletam, qui sollicitus venerat, securus abscessit.
2. Peter aware of Christ's resurrection before the cross. For when Mary Magdalene had come to the tomb, she whom, mindful of the Saviour, devotion was driving to tears, her faith lost, seeing the stone rolled away from the entrance, when she had not found the Lord in the sepulchre, began to grieve more bitterly, because she had lost even the dead One. But soon she flies to Peter His disciple, whom, by reason of the quality of his merit or of his faith, a greater concern about His death touched: she announces the empty sepulchre; the body taken away is sought. But Peter, aware even before the cross of the resurrection of the Son of God, which He Himself, when about to suffer, had foretold, did not weep or grieve at such news: but, keeping his custom in divine powers, he hastens to put to the test what he had believed. So he hurries to the sepulchre of the Lord at a swift run, to return the more joyful if he should not find Him whom he was seeking. And the blessed Evangelist proves the power of Him who rose also from what follows. Simon Peter, he says, came, and went into the tomb: and when he had not found the Lord, he saw the linen cloths laid there, and the napkin which had been upon His head (John 20:6–7). Now God, made manifest, about to carry up into heaven that which He had brought to life, empties both death and the sepulchre. For, having laid aside the linen cloth by which the corpse was covered, majesty, now clothed in a living body, left to the earth the spoils of death. Peter therefore, seeing fulfilled the resurrection which the Son of God had foretold, he who had come anxious went away free from care.
3. Maria ab angelo objurgata. Maria tamen resurrectionis ignara non cessat lacrymas fundere, nesciens hanc esse Dominici corporis gloriam, quam putabat injuriam. Cujus inanem moerorem angelus magis prohibet quam consolatur, ut etiam Evangelista testatur: Maria, inquit, quid ploras? Si spirituali prudentia intentionem divini sermonis intelligas, lacrymarum causam non tanquam ignarus interrogat, sed importunos fletus dolentis objurgat. Maria, inquit, quid ploras, cum vacuo monumento, non damno funeris, sed merito resurgentis, Jesu Christi corpus virtus sibi, non facinus vindicasset? Culpat eodem tempore a Maria lacrymas fundi, quo debuit gloriari. Quid ploras, aut quem quaeris? Angelus instruit nescientem sano consilio, ne viventem quaereret in sepulcro. Quae mulier, quia revixisse quem flebat, nec correpta cognovit, superfluis postmodum lacrymis revocatur vocibus resurgentis. Similibus etenim Jesus Mariam verbis alloquitur: Mulier, inquit, quid ploras, aut quem quaeris (Id. XX, 13, 15)? Hoc est dicere, Me jam vivente, pro quo mortuo lacrymas fundis? aut, Me praesente, quem quaeris? At illa Jesum secundo appellata cognoscens, divinae majestatis operante potentia, vivum invenit quem quaerebat occisum, Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum; cui semper in Patre gloria in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
3. Mary rebuked by the angel. Mary, however, unaware of the resurrection, does not cease to shed tears, not knowing that this, which she thought an outrage, was the glory of the Lord's body. Her empty grief the angel forbids rather than consoles, as the Evangelist also testifies: Mary, he says, why do you weep? If you understand the intention of the divine word with spiritual prudence, he does not ask the cause of the tears as one ignorant of it, but rebukes the untimely weeping of one grieving. Mary, he says, why do you weep, when, the tomb being empty, not through the loss of the corpse but through the merit of Him who rose, power, not crime, has claimed for itself the body of Jesus Christ? He blames tears being shed by Mary at the very time at which she ought to have gloried. Why do you weep, or whom do you seek? The angel instructs the unknowing woman with sound counsel, that she should not seek the living One in the sepulchre. This woman, because she did not recognize, not even when rebuked, that He whom she was weeping for had come back to life, is afterwards called back from her needless tears by the voice of Him who rose. For Jesus addresses Mary with similar words: Woman, He says, why do you weep, or whom do you seek (John 20:13, 15)? That is to say: Since I am now alive, why do you shed tears for Me as dead? or: Since I am present, whom do you seek? But she, recognizing Jesus when called a second time, by the working power of the divine majesty finds alive Him whom she was seeking as slain, Jesus Christ our Lord; to Whom be glory always in the Father unto ages of ages. Amen.
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