KRUNICA SV MIHAELA

  The Solemn Feast of the Most Holy Trinity by Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger, 1877

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The mystery of all mysteries is presented to us today by the true Church of Christ, namely, the mystery of the Most Holy and undivided Trinity, to which we owe the deepest honor, love and devotion.
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Our belief on this subject consists principally in the three following points: there is One true God, who rewards all good deeds and punishes all evil ones, either in this world or in the next; but there are, at the same time, three Persons, who according to Holy Writ, are called, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Each of these three Persons differs from the two others, namely the Father from the Son, the Son from the Father and the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost from Father and Son. This difference of Persons implies, however, no difference in their nature; for they all possess only one divine nature and essence. Each of these Persons is true God. True God is the Father: true God, the Son: true God, the Holy Ghost. But notwithstanding this, they are not three Gods, but One God; because all three Persons possess but one divine nature. In regard to men, we say that there are as many separate and distinct natures as there are persons; but in God, as St. Augustine teaches, we find a most perfect Unity in the Trinity, and a most perfect Trinity in the Unity: this means, there is only one God, but there are three Divine Persons.
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The Father is the first Person, the Son, the second, the Holy Ghost, the third. The Father has no beginning nor origin from either of the other Persons. The Son is born from all eternity, in an incomprehensible manner, of the Father, and the Holy Ghost, in an equally incomprehensible manner, proceeds from the Father and Son at the same time. And yet the Father is neither older nor higher than the Son, the Son not younger nor less than the Father, and the Holy Ghost not younger nor less than either the Father or the Son. It is true, Christ has said in the Gospel: "The Father is greater than I am:" but these words must be understood as spoken by Him in His human nature. The Father is greater than Christ as Son of man; for as such, He is not from Eternity: as He took upon Himself human nature in time, that is at His Incarnation, nearly 2000 years ago. As far, however, as His divine nature is concerned, He is equally great and eternal as the Father; and as the Father is from all eternity, so the Son by His divine nature has no beginning. The same we believe and confess of the Holy Ghost: He exists equally from all eternity.
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What we believe of the eternal existence of these three divine Persons we must also believe of their other perfections, namely, of the omnipotence, omniscience, infinity and the other attributes of God. Omnipotent is the Father; omnipotent is the Son; omnipotent is the Holy Ghost. Omniscient is the Father; omniscient the Son ; omniscient the Holy Ghost Infinite is the Father; infinite the Son; infinite the Holy Ghost. Not one of these three Persons is above the other in might, wisdom, infinity, or any other perfection. One is immeasurably perfect as the other. But although each of the three Persons possesses the above named attributes, there are, nevertheless not three Gods thus perfect; as although each Person is true God, there are not three Gods, but only one ; because the three Persons possess but one divine nature. The Son of God, the second Person, possesses, besides the divine nature, also the human nature, which He took upon Himself in the virginal body of Mary, and in which He suffered and died for us. He is true God and Man. This is what the true faith teaches us of the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity.
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In the Old Testament this mystery was revealed to very few and only to the most beloved friends of God; in order, as the holy Fathers write, that the Jews, who were surrounded by heathens, and who were themselves prone to idolatry, should not have an opportunity to regard the three Persons as three Gods. The Prophets impressed them only with the truth that there was only one true God and that they must worship Him alone and not turn their thoughts to the idols of the heathens. But in the New Testament, the mystery of the Holy Trinity is revealed and announced in clear words. Not to mention many passages which have reference to this, let us only regard what Christ said to His Apostles: "Going therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
In these words, Christ our Lord announced the three divine Persons, namely, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost: and at the same time their unity in one, as He does not speak in the plural, saying, in the names, but, in the name, in order to impress us with the truth, that the three Persons are but one God. To the above cited words of the Saviour, we will add those of St. John: "And there are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one," namely, in their nature and essence. (John, v.) After the Gospel had been preached by the Apostles, many thousands of Jews and heathens believed this mystery, and today it is accepted in all parts of the Christian world, as an undoubted truth. It is certain that this mystery is far beyond all human comprehension, and there is no article in our faith which is more inexplicable.
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What is told in regard to it of St. Augustine is well known. This holy teacher while occupied in searching into the mystery of the Holy Trinity, took a walk on the seashore, where he found a boy, who having made a small hole in the sand, poured water from the sea into it with a spoon. After watching the boy for a long time, the Saint asked him what he was doing. "I wish," replied the boy, "to pour the sea into this hole." "O my child!" said the Saint: "that is a useless attempt. So small a hole cannot contain the immense sea." "And you," replied the boy, " will be still less able to contain and comprehend, with your human understanding, the stupendous mystery of the Holy Trinity!" After these words, the child, who doubtless was an angel, vanished.
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Truly this mystery is inconceivable and fathomless; yet we do right, nay more, we are bound under pain of damnation to believe it, as it is taught by Him, who can neither deceive, nor be deceived, as He is Himself eternal and infallible truth. God himself revealed it to us, and this is and must be sufficient for us to cast aside all doubts. Our understanding must, according to the exhortation of St. Paul, submit and become a prisoner in the service of faith. For, the words of God must be true, whether we comprehend them or not. And finally, why do we wonder that we are unable to fathom so great a mystery, when there are so many natural things which our understanding fails to explain? Besides, God does not command us to understand, but to believe it. "Believing is commanded to me," writes St. Augustine. "To search into the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and to wish to comprehend it," says St. Bernard, "is presumption; but to believe it is godliness." Elsewhere, he writes these memorable words: "If any one asks how the Catholic faith in regard to this point can be true, I answer, that it should be enough for any one to believe that it is so. If any one goes further and attempts to explain what he is only expected to believe, he places himself in danger of losing his faith and with it his salvation."
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This was indeed the fate of many who, by their impertinent pondering, came at last so far that they protested against and denied the Most Holy Trinity.
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It is unquestionable that there was no article of faith which in the early centuries was so much assailed as this one. The Jews would not admit of Three Persons in the Divinity; the heathens maintained the plurality of Gods. Some heretics professed only one Person; others denied the Divinity of Christ; and again others the Divinity of the Holy Ghost. There were some who said that the three Persons were only different names; while others taught that one Person was greater than the other, &c. The Arians, who contested the divinity of Christ, caused the greatest disturbance, the greatest evil in the Church of God, on account of their inveigling many bishops and several emperors into their false doctrines. They persecuted the Catholics, especially bishops and priests, as cruelly, and in some places, more cruelly than the heathens had done. It is known that many thousands of Catholics confirmed with their blood their faith in the Holy Trinity and in the Divinity of Christ, during the persecution of the Church by the Arians.
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We read also of many astonishing miracles which God at that time wrought to confirm the truth of the Catholic Faith. In the last few centuries, almost all the errors of the ancient heretics have been renewed by the followers of Luther and Calvin, both of whom assailed the word " Trinity," and would not tolerate it. The old Catholic prayer, "Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy upon us," both rejected. The bible of Luther does not contain the important text of St. John: "There are three who give testimony, &c." He left these words out, because they lead to the conclusion that we have to believe in the Holy Trinity. Calvin taught that the words: "These three are one," were not to be applied to their unity in nature, but only to their conformity of will.
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What is to be concluded from this, I leave to others to find out. The more, however, the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity was assailed by the heretics, the more it was protected and defended by the Catholic Church. The Holy Mass begins daily with the sign of the Cross, the use of which is an emphatic confession of the Holy Trinity and an appeal to the same. This sign of the Cross is made several times during the day by all true Catholics, and as often as it is made, so often is the Holy Trinity acknowledged and honored. The same is done in holy Mass by the repeated Kyrie Eleison, and further by the Angelic song of praise: "Glory be to God on high:" by the Credo, or Nicene Creed, and lastly by the Sanctus, three times repeated; Holy, holy, holy! The prayers ordained by the Catholic Church, as well for holy Mass, as for all other occasions, all end with a confession of the Holy Trinity and an invocation to the same. All hymns of praise, used in the daily office of the priests and in other devout exercises end in the same manner. As often as the priest, during holy mass, or on other occasions, blesses the people, or things for the benefit of man, so often he invokes and confesses the only true God in three Persons. Every litany begins with this invocation and acknowledgment. After every Psalm is the Holy Trinity praised and honored with the well known words: "Glory be to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, &c."
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All this, and much more, has the Catholic Church ordained to honor the Holy Trinity; and to the same end she instituted today's Festival. She requires that we celebrate it most solemnly, that we not only renew our confession of faith in the most Holy Trinity, praise and worship the only true God in three divine Persons, but also give due thanks for all the benefits granted us. One of the reasons that the first Sunday after Pentecost was chosen for this celebration, lies in the fact that the mystery of the Holy Trinity as the principal article of our faith, was not publicly preached by the Apostles until after the Holy Ghost had descended upon them.
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The Lutherans celebrate today's festival with us, although this was instituted by a Pope, John XXII., and is not of such ancient date as many other feasts. Why, therefore, do they not also celebrate other feasts of the Catholic Church instituted by other Popes, and of much older date? They have again admitted into their bible the verse of St. John, which Luther had left out; but what is the reason that they do not eradicate so many errors with which their Bible is filled? The Lutherans also believe in One God and three Persons in the Holy Trinity, although this is an incomprehensible mystery, and it seems impossible to the human understanding that each Person is true God and yet all three only one God. Why, believing this, do they deny other articles of faith, especially that of the presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, and the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ? Why do they say, in regard to it, that it is impossible? Because they are unable to comprehend it. But the same God, who revealed the mystery of the Holy Trinity, has also revealed the other, and has commanded that we should believe the one as well as the other, under pain of eternal damnation. Whoever denies the presence of Our Lord in the blessed Sacrament, or the change of the bread and wine because it is incomprehensible, will surely soon be led to deny the greatest Mystery of them all, that of the Holy Trinity, because it is much more unfathomable! And it is just this which the Evil One tries to accomplish through heresy, in order to overthrow the pillars of the Christian faith.
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Practical Considerations.
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You have learned the three-fold intention of the Holy Church in regard to the institution of this day's festival. Endeavor to regulate your devotions accordingly. First: renew and confess publicly your faith in the great and incomprehensible mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Be zealous in the exercises of your religion and promise before God that you will live and die in it. Make with especial devotion and attention the sign of the holy Cross, which is an emphatic confession of your belief in the Holy Trinity, and form the resolution to avail yourself of it without hesitation, according to ancient custom, publicly on all proper occasions, especially before and after prayers.
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Secondly: exert today all your strength in honor and praise of the Holy Trinity. Worship the same with the deepest humility and reverence. Invite, after the example of David, and the three companions of Daniel, not only all angels and men, but also all other created beings, to join you in praising and exalting the Holy Trinity. Say from the depth of your heart, in unison with the true Church: "Glory be to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Ghost." "Praised and blessed be the holy and undivided Trinity, now and for all eternity." Or with the heavenly Choir; "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of Sabaoth." If you have done all this, still acknowledge that your God deserves infinitely more praise, honor and glory than all created beings can bestow upon Him during all eternity.
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Thirdly: recall to memory the many and great blessings which have been granted to you during your life by the Holy Trinity, and endeavor to give due thanks for them. The heavenly Father has created you, the Son has redeemed you, the Holy Ghost has sanctified you. For these and other numberless benefits, offer today humble thanks. Offer to the Holy Trinity in grateful acknowledgement, all the good deeds which have been done until now on earth and which will be done until the last day arrives: especially the many Masses which have been said and will yet be said: for by them the Holy Trinity is more honored than by all the praises of men and angels. In conclusion, recite the well-known hymn of praise; "Great God we praise thee!" or "Te Deum laudamus, &c."
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Finally, let the frequent invocation of the Holy Trinity, according to the precept of the true Church, be recommended to you. To invoke the Saints and the Blessed Virgin is agreeable to God and beneficial to men; but the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity, the invocation of God is commanded. Hence we should frequently resort to it. The non-Catholics are wrong in declaring the invocation of the Saints vain, wicked and even idolatrous. It would, however, be wrong, if Catholics neglected the invocation of the Holy Trinity. The true Church teaches us, at the beginning of the litany, to invoke the three divine Persons, each separately, and afterwards, all three together under the name of Holy Trinity, and not until then, does she call on the Blessed Virgin and the Saints. She does not teach that we should turn to the Saints oftener and with more confidence than to God; much less that we should invoke them instead of the Almighty, as many non-Catholics assert, either in ignorance or malice.
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May you follow the precepts and teaching of the true Church. Pray frequently to the Holy Trinity, in the words: "Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us!" Say this with so much greater devotion as the non-Catholics, after the example of Luther, have dispensed with this ancient prayer. And why? They rejected first the invocation of the Saints; consequently, perhaps, it is not allowed to invoke the Holy Trinity! Abhor so scandalous an error, and say, with mouth and heart: "Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us!" Add, if you choose, the beautiful words of St. Gregory Nazianzen: "I will not become faithless to Thee, eternal Father; I will not become faithless to Thee, O only-begotten Son! I will not become faithless to Thee, O Holy Ghost; I know whom I confessed at the time of holy baptism, whom I rejected, and to whom I devoted and submitted myself." Maria Angela Grow
20 tim ·
Nine Tuesdays Novena to St. Anthony of Padua, Saint of Miracles, in preparation for the feast of St. Anthony. Day 7 May 28, 2024
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“O gentle St Anthony, beloved of the Child Jesus Who delighted to be held in thy arms, grant thy powerful aid.”
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O blessed St Anthony, thou ledest a pure life and overcame temptation like all virgins and holy innocents. I ask thee and them to plead to God to grant my request:
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your request.
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Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be. Maria Angela Grow
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Sermon for the First Sunday after Pentecost: St. Anthony of Padua.
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(The Gospel for the first Sunday after Pentecost: There was a certain rich man, which is divided into four clauses.)
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[PROLOGUE]
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(First, a sermon for prelates and preachers of the Church, who with sling and staff- that is, with deed and word- should overcome the devil: He took his staff.)
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1. At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day, etc.[Lk 16.19]
In the first book of Kings it says that David took his staff, which he had always in his hands: and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them into the shepherd’s scrip, which he had with him; and he took a sling in his hand; and went forth against the Philistine. [1Kg (Sm) 17.40]
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Note these four words: staff, five stones, scrip and sling. The staff is the cross of Christ, the five stones are the knowledge of the Old Testament, the scrip is the grace of the New, and the sling is the ability to make a balanced judgement.
David (that is, the preacher) must take his staff (the cross of Christ), so that with its support he may more easily bear the labour of his journey. Genesis says: With my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I return with two companies. [Gen 32.10]
The just man crosses the turbulent river of this world’s love leaning on the cross of Christ, and so with two companies, the rewards of the active and the contemplative life, he returns to the Land of Promise. The preacher must always have this staff in his hands, that is, in his works. So Habbakuk says: His brightness shall be as the light: horns are in his hands. [Hab 3.4]
The brightness of a holy life and preaching is light to the sinner. You are the light of the world, says our Lord [Mt 5.14]. The horns of the cross should be in the preacher’s hands, so that with his hands so nailed he may not stretch out to anything unlawful. And he chose five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them into the shepherd’s scrip, which he had with him. The scrip was the leather flask containing milk, and it stands for the New Testament, in which we find the milk of grace. Milk is a good symbol of grace, for a mother gives it freely to her child, and asks nothing in return. The five stones are the five books of Moses, and so they suggest the knowledge of the entire Old Testament. The preacher should gather this to help his preaching from the brook which is the abundance of Holy Scripture, and put it in the scrip of the Gospel. The understanding of the Old Testament is to be found in the context of the New, like a wheel in the midst of a wheel [Ezek 1.16].
An alternative interpretation is to take the five stones to be the hard blows of the five senses; with which those devoted to the sensual pleasures of the flesh will be struck down. Those transgressors who, in the Old Testament, are struck down by stones represent sinners of the New Testament who will be severely chastised.
And he took a sling in his hand; and went forth against the Philistine. The sling is held by two straps of equal length, which indicates that there should be an equality between teaching and life. The preacher must take this sling in his hand, so that his hand should correspond to his mouth, his behaviour to his preaching. Only then can he go forth against the Philistine and slay him. The Philistine (it means ‘one who falls down through drink’) stands for the purple-clad rich folk of this world, drunk with gluttony and lust, who stumble from grace into guilt, and from guilt into gehenna- as today’s Gospel tells us: There was a certain rich man. 2. There are four things to be noted in this Gospel. The first is the unequal lot of the rich man clad in purple, and of Lazarus the beggar: There was a certain rich man... The second is the death of each: And it came to pass that the beggar died... The third is the punishment of the rich man and the glory of Lazarus: Lifting up his eyes... The fourth is the prayer of the rich man for his five brothers: I beseech thee, then, father... As God shall grant, we will concord these four clauses with some stories from the first book of Kings.
Note also that in the Introit of this Sunday’s Mass is sung: Lord, I have hoped in thy mercy; and the Epistle of St John is read, God is charity, which we will divide into four parts and concord with the four clauses of the Gospel just mentioned. The first part: God is charity; the second: In this is the charity of God perfected; the third: Fear is not in charity; the fourth: Let us therefore love God.
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[FIRST CLAUSE]
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(A sermon directed at the rich people of this world: There was a certain man in the wilderness of Maon.)
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3. Let us say, then: There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day. [Lk 16.19] This rich man has no name. It is as if he were unknown in God’s presence, unfit to have his
name recorded in the Gospel, because it is not to be recorded in the book of eternal life. It is his shame to be just ‘a certain man’, as one whom we disregard or do not know. This ‘certain man’ represents every worldly man, enslaved to the flesh and to sin. Behold the man that made not God his helper: but trusted in the abundance of his riches: and prevailed in his vanity. [Ps 51.9] Note especially the phrases ‘made not God’, ‘trusted’ and ‘prevailed’, because these correspond to the opening words of the Gospel, like this: There was a certain rich man- that made not God his helper; He was clothed in purple and fine linen- and trusted in the abundance of his riches; He feasted sumptuously every day- and prevailed in his vanity. There is a concordance to this in the first book of Kings: There was a certain man in the wilderness of Maon, and his possessions were in Carmel. And the man was very great:... And, behold, he had a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and his heart was merry, for he was very drunk... Now the name of the man was Nabal. [1Kg (Sm) 25.2,36,3] ‘Nabal’ means ‘stupid’, ‘Maon’ means ‘a dwelling’ and ‘Carmel’ means ‘soft’, so once again these three correspond to the phrases of the Gospel:
There was a certain rich man- a certain man; who was clothed in purple and fine linen- and the man was very great; who feasted sumptuously every day- and he had a feast in his house.
(A sermon against the pleasures of the five senses: Woe, you that rise up early to follow drunkenness.)
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4. The worldly rich man is stupid, because he ‘savours not the things of God’ [cf. Mt 16.23]. He dwells in the wilderness of Maon, that dwelling of which the psalmist says: Let their habitation be made desolate. [Ps 68.26] His possessions are in Carmel, in softness, and it is he of whom the prophet Amos spoke: Woe to you that sleep upon beds of ivory and are wanton on your couches. [Am 6.4] He is that great man of whom David says: I have seen the wicked highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus, [Ps 36.35] and Job: I have seen a fool with a strong root: and I cursed his beauty immediately. [Job 5.3] He had a feast in his house, like the feast of a king, so that Amos says again: Woe to you that are wealthy in Sion... that eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the herd; that drink wine in bowls and are anointed with the best ointments, [Am 6.1,4,6] and Isaiah: Woe to you that rise up early in the morning to follow drunkenness and to drink till the evening, to be inflamed with wine. The harp and the lyre and the timbrel and the pipe and wine are in your feasts: and the work of the Lord you regard not, nor do you consider the works of his hands. [Is 5.11-12]
These five instruments represent the pleasures of the five senses. Our sight, which as it were stretches out to what it gazes upon, is like the harp which consists of the stretched nerves of a dead animal. The lyre, which gives out varied notes and sounds, represents hearing, which takes pleasure in varied sound. The timbrel, giving sound when it is beaten by the hand, represents touch. The pipe represents the sense of smell, which passes through the nostrils as through pipes. Wine has reference to taste. Those who seek to satisfy these five senses do not regard the work of the Lord, who has ‘worked in the midst of the earth’ [cf. Ps 73.12] by his Passion and death; nor do they consider the works of his hands, his poor, whom he formed like a clay pot upon the wheel of preaching, and baked in the kiln of poverty.
(A sermon against gluttons: The priest’s servant came.)
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5. Let us say, then: There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day. The purple stands for worldly dignity, the linen for costliness of clothing, the sumptuous meals for the pleasure of gluttony. Purple is the colour of royal robes. It is a dye found in certain marine shells when they are cut with iron, the shells being gathered and emptied on moonless nights. How reminiscent of the poor, who are despoiled of their goods when worldly prosperity, fickle as the moon, is on the wane! That ‘certain rich man’, worldly power, slits them open with the force of iron, and extracts their life-blood, their livelihood, to make for himself the purple dye of earthly dignity. Of such, Job says: They reap the field that is not their own: and gather the vintage of his vineyard whom by violence they have oppressed. They send men away naked, taking away their clothes who have no covering in the cold. [Job 24.6-7] The whore of whom the Apocalypse tells is clothed in this kind of purple [cf. Apoc 17.4]. The
‘certain man’ and the whore have the same meaning: the man relishes the earth, the whore exposes herself to the devil. Fine linen, or lawn, is particularly white and soft, and so it represents all soft clothing. They that are clothed in soft garments are in the houses of kings [Mt 11.8], that is, of devils. Glory not in apparel, says Ecclesiasticus [11.4], and St Peter says: Whose adorning, let it not be the outward plaiting of the hair, or the wearing of gold, or the putting on of apparel; but the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptibility of a quiet and a meek spirit which is rich in the sight of God. [1 Pt 3.3-4]
And he feasted sumptuously every day. There is a concordance to this in the first book of Kings: The servant of the priest came, while the flesh was in boiling, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand; and thrust it into the cauldron, or into the pot; and all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took to himself... Also the servant of the priest came, and said to the man that sacrificed: Give me flesh to boil for the priest; for I will not take of thee sodden flesh, but raw. [1Kg 2.13- 14,15]
The priest is the belly, and his servant (or ‘child’) is gluttony, of which Solomon says in Proverbs: The child that is left to his own will bringeth his mother to shame. [Prov 29.15] If a greedy appetite is not restrained, but left to itself, it brings shame to its mother, the flesh. At the beginning, the flesh incurred sickness through its immoderate desire for the fruit, and so fell into a trap. The servant has a fleshhook with three teeth, a reminder of the three-fold manifestation of greed, either devouring what belongs to another, or wasting one’s own substance in prodigal living, or failing to observe due measure as to time and manner even in legitimate foods. With these three teeth the belly-priest takes to himself whatever the hook brings up. He will not accept pre-cooked flesh, but demands it raw, like a wolf, so that he may prepare it according to his own taste! Truly, he feasted sumptuously every day.
6. And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, etc. [Lk 16.20] Compare anything you like with its opposite- gold and lead, for instance. The baseness of lead appears still baser when set beside the splendour of gold. The first character is just ‘a rich man’; the second is named Lazarus. The first is rich, the other is a beggar. One is clothed in purple and fine linen, the other is full of sores. One feasts sumptuously every day, the other desired to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, and no one did give him, moreover the dogs came and licked
his sores. He could not rid himself of his sores by himself, and no-one came to tend him. Divine dispensation! The beggar is blessed and the wretched rich man is damned! "Nothing is more wretched than the happiness of sinners," says St Jerome1 ; and St Augustine says2 , "There is no surer sign of eternal damnation than to have temporal goods at your beck and call." God deprives his saints of temporal goods, lest they lose those that are eternal. As St Gregory says3
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, "We take coins away from children, so as to keep their inheritance complete."
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And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus. That the poor humble man is favoured by God is shown by his very name. ‘Lazarus’ means ‘helped’, and he personifies all the poor of Jesus Christ, who helps them and uplifts them in their necessities. ‘Beggar’ and ‘Lazarus’ go together. The word for beggar, ‘mendicant’, indicates one who lacks what he needs to sustain life, so that he ‘speaks with his hand’ (manu dicere), following the age-old custom of the needy of shutting his mouth and holding out his hand. Spiritually, the poor person is helped by the Lord when he closes his mouth to words of bitterness, and reaches out to God with a devout heart.
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He lay at the rich man’s gate. In a similar manner, the Ark of the Lord lay before Dagon [cf. 1Kg (Sm) 5.2]. But if you read attentively, you will see how their positions were reversed- Dagon was cast down and the Ark was lifted up. The poor man could not enter the rich man’s door, and the rich man did not go out to bestow on him the blessing of food. How unlike Job, who said: The stranger did not stay without, my door was open to the traveller; [Job 31.32] and: If I have denied to the poor what they desired, and have made the eyes of the widow wait: If I have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof. [Job 31.16-17]
Full of sores. The ulcer that arises in the skin is full of putrefaction. Lazarus was full of sores, but soon he would be carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom.
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Desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table and no one did give him. Crumbs are the smallest particles of bread. The really poor person is satisfied with such a little, asks for such a little. Even a little, together with God’s great grace, satisfies and refreshes him. But whoever will not give him even a crumb of bread will not deserve to receive even a drop of water. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. We are told in the Gloss that even if we should see something reprehensible in a poor man, we ought not to despise him; for the medicine of poverty may avail to cure the sickness of sin. God executes a double judgement in a single circumstance: when a rich man sees a poor man and has no pity on him, he heaps up damnation to himself; while when a poor man sees the rich each day, he is tested and proved. It is a great trial, the experience of poverty and sickness on the one hand, and the sight of a rich man’s wealth, who brings him no comfort, on the other. The Introit of today’s Mass well expresses the feelings of a man who is deprived of all human help, yet trusts in the mercy of God: Lord, I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation: I will sing to the Lord who giveth me good things. [Ps 12.6]
He says three things: I have trusted, my heart shall rejoice, I will sing to the Lord. The truly poor man trusts in God’s mercy, his heart rejoices even in the midst of this world’s misery, and so he will sing to the Lord in everlasting glory.
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(A sermon on charity: God is charity.)
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7. The first part of the Epistle is concordant to this first clause: God is charity [1Jn 4.8]. Because charity is the greatest of all the virtues, we will offer a brief and particular sermon. We love God and our neighbour with the same love, the love which is the Holy Spirit, since God is charity. St Augustine says,4 "The law of love is established by God, namely that you love God for his own sake and with all your heart, and your neighbour as yourself. You ought to love yourself by seeking what is for your good, for God’s sake. In the same way you ought to love your neighbour by seeking what is for his good, not what is for his harm, also for God’s sake.
Your neighbour is every man; there is no one whom you ought to do harm to." The manner in which we should love God is implied in the words: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart (understanding), and with all thy soul (will), and with all thy mind (memory). Our understanding, will and memory should be devoted to him from whom these powers come. There is no part of our life which is exempt. Whatever comes into our mind should be directed by love towards its final goal.
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In today’s Epistle, St John tells us much about the love of God and neighbour, and encourages us to practise it. By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world,that we may live by him. [1Jn 4.9]
How great is the love of the Father towards us! He sent his only-begotten Son to us and for us, so that as we live by him, so we may love him: for to live without him is in fact to die. He that loveth not abideth in death [1Jn 3.14]. If God loved us so much that he gave us his beloved Son, through whom he made the world, then we ought to love one another. A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another [Jn 13.34]. The rich man clad in purple did not keep this commandment, and so he remained in death. You might say that he was buried alive, because he lacked the true life which is love. He sins, by getting his priorities the wrong way round. St Augustine says 5 : "There are four things that should be loved. One is above us, namely God. The second is what we ourselves are. The third is beside us, our neighbour. The fourth is below us, our body." The rich man loved his body first and foremost, and cared nothing for God, his own soul or his neighbour. That is why he was damned. St Bernard says6 : "We should treat our body like some sick person in our care. There are many things it would like which are not good for it, and these we must deny it. There are many things which are good for it, but which it does not like- but we must insist on them. we should treat our body as something not really belonging to us, but to him by whom we are bought with a great price, that we may glorify him in our body [cf. 1Cor 6.20]." We should take care not to incur God’s rebuke expressed by Ezekiel: Because thou hast forgotten me and hast cast me off behind thy back, bear thou also thy wickedness and thy fornications [Ezek 23.35]. We should love our bodies in the fourth and last place, "not as something for whose sake we live, but as something without which we cannot live." May he who lives for ever be pleased to lead us from this miserable bodily existence to the life which is himself, who is blessed for ever and ever. Amen.
(A moral sermon on the rich man (the body) and Lazarus (the sinful soul).)
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8. Morally. There was a certain rich man, etc. We will now take the rich man and Lazarus as standing for body and soul. Man, made of earthy, is earthy in respect of his body, of which Jeremiah says: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man [Jer 17.5], that is, in his body. Cursed is he that trusts in what is under a curse, as our body is cursed. Genesis says: Cursed is the earth in thy work [Gen 3.17], meaning that your body is cursed because of your sin of disobedience, your ‘work’. What is the nature of this curse? Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to thee [Gen 3.18]. Hunger, thirst and the inevitability of death- these are the thorns. The temptations of the flesh, that trouble the soul, are the thistles. What fruit our cursed earth brings forth for us! Moses says in Deuteronomy, Accursed is every one that hangeth on a tree [Dt 21.23; cf. Gal 3.13].
Earthly love ties a man to this world’s glory, as a hanged man is suspended by a rope from a dead tree, and so is cursed. This well applies to There was a certain rich man. Alas! With what riches that man abounded and desired to abound! The whole world would not have been enough for him. So many possessions, such great riches- yet not enough for the little body of one man! When the wretched fellow came out of his mother’s womb, he was not covered in purple and fine linen, just the bloody and sticky waters of birth! At the end of his life he goes naked and destitute into the earth. We can see this more clearly from his body’s growth, maturity and decline. Note that in maturity, the upper part of the body- from head to buttocks- is shorter than the lower part, down to the feet. In childhood the upper part is longer, while in old age the proportions are reversed. The reason for this difference is connected with the way a man moves at different ages, as he grows, becomes mature, and declines. At the beginning of infancy, the child goes on all fours, but little by little he learns to walk upright. However, when he reaches old age he becomes bent again. Our wretched body, at the beginning of its life, is small; in old age it is bent; but in between it is big with riches, adorned with fine raiment, and grows fat with feasting, like a pig with acorns. See how well this fits the passage: There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day.
(A sermon on the pool and its five porches, and their meaning:
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There was a pond called Probatica.)
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9. There follows: And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus. Lazarus the beggar is the wretched soul, poor and neglected, lying at the rich man’s gate, full of sores. The rich man’s gate means the five senses, and here the beggar soul lives, full of the sores of sin. St John says: There was at Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered; waiting for the moving of the water. [Jn 5.2-3] The word for ‘pond’ strictly means ‘fishpond’, and this pool is the body, full of vain and useless thoughts like fishes. This fish pond has five porches, the five senses. The porches are like open doors, and the five senses lie open to vice. As Jeremiah says: Death is come up through our windows [Jer 9.21], and Nahum: The gates of thy land shall be set wide open to thy enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars [Nah 3.13]. When the fire of fleshly lust devours the bars- those gifts of grace and nature with which the gates of the soul are made secure- then those gates, the five bodily senses, are laid open to our enemies, the vices and demons. In these five porches the soul lies, sick, blind, lame and withered. Sick, because it is destitute of the strength that comes from virtue; blind, because it is deprived of the light of reason; lame in each foot, good will and good works; withered for lack of the moisture of contrition. Full of these sores it lies at the rich man’s gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. The table is worldly prosperity, and it has four legs: riches, honours, pleasures and bodily health. It is of this table that the Apostle warns the Corinthians: You cannot be partakers of the table of the Lord and of the table of devils. [1Cor 10.22]
The Lord’s table is poverty, in which he and his apostles partook. The table of devils is worldly prosperity, of which the prophet says: Let their table become as a snare before them; and a recompense, and a stumbling block. [Ps 68.23]
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To carnal folk, prosperity is a snare of sin, an occasion of retribution from God (who repays the good things of the world with the evils of hell), and a stumbling block for their neighbour. The crumbs falling from this table are impure thoughts, and all kinds of cares and preoccupations that fester like worms in the sores of the soul. The wretched soul tries to find relief from them, but cannot. As Jeremiah says in Lamentations: They have given all their precious things for food to relieve the soul. [Lam 1.11] Their precious things are the virtues, which worldlings sell for food, for bodily delights which do not satisfy, but which for a little while seem to offer relief to the soul.
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(A sermon for preachers: The dogs came.)
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10. Only one thing is left to comfort poor Lazarus, full of sores: the tongues of the dogs. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. The dogs that bark are preachers, of whom the Psalm says: The tongue of thy dogs out of the enemies by him [cf. Ps 67.24], meaning, ‘by the Lord’: those who were your enemies are made your friends, as happened when Saul became Paul. Just as the tongue of a dog has healing properties, so has the tongue of a preacher, who is a physician of the soul. Jeremiah asked: Is there no balm in Galaad? Or is there no physician there?
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Why then is not the wound of the daughter of my people closed? [Jer 8.22] Galaad, ‘the mound of witness’, is Holy Church, in which the witness of the Scriptures is heaped up. In it is the balm of penance, and the physician who dispenses it is the preacher. Why then is the sore of the sinful soul not healed? Why is her wound not closed? The dogs came and licked his sores. The word ‘licked’ suggests both eagerness and gentleness. The preacher should heal the sinner’s sores with the eager tongue of preaching, yet with gentleness, so that honey and milk are under his tongue [cf. Cant 4.11], sweet and soothing teaching. As the Apostle says: If a man be overtaken in any fault, you who are spiritual instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness [Gal 6.1]. Let us ask our Lord Jesus Christ to make that rich man, the wretched body, to accept poverty of his own free will, and to put on sack-cloth and ashes; and let us ask him to give him spare bread and short water [Is 30.20], to heal the sores of his soul with the tongue of preaching, and to place him in Abraham’s bosom. May he who is blessed for ever grant this prayer. Amen.
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[SECOND CLAUSE]
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(A sermon on the rich man and the poor: There were two women, Phenenna and Anna.)
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11. There follows, secondly: And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died; and he was buried in hell. [Lk 16.22] So there was fulfilled what was spoken by Anna in the first book of Kings: The bow of the mighty is overcome; and the weak are girt with strength... etc., up to: to hold the throne of glory. [1Kg(Sm) 2.4,8]
There is a concordance to this Gospel text at the beginning of the first book of Kings, where it speaks of the two women, Phenenna and Anna: Phenenna had children: but Anna had no children... Her rival (Phenenna) also afflicted her, and
troubled her exceedingly, insomuch as she upbraided her, that the Lord had shut up her womb.... and thus she provoked her. But Anna wept, and did not eat. [1Kg(Sm) 1.2,6,7] Phenenna, whose name means ‘conversion’, represents the rich man clad in purple, whose conversion to the world rather than to God led not to heaven but to hell. Anna, whose name means ‘grace’, stands for Lazarus the beggar, who was led by the grace of God and so passed to glory, both grace and glory being the Lord’s gift to him. Phenenna had children, children to love. The rich man had as many ‘children’ as he had works begotten of fleshly love and worldly vanity. He was like Jerobaal the son of Joas, in the book of Judges, who had seventy sons, who came out of his thigh; for he had many wives [Jg 8.30]. Phenenna’s seven sons (according to the "History"7 ) and Jerobaal’s seventy have the same meaning: seven is the number indicating completeness, in this case fulness of vice. Jerobaal
means ‘superior’, and Joas, ‘temporal’. The rich man was superior to Lazarus in this world. His offspring, in temporal succession, was a world of vice, which he begot from his ‘wives’, pride, gluttony, avarice and vainglory. Anna had no children. She was barren. Lazarus the beggar, the just man, has no evil deeds as children. He is barren, and without fruit. No corn, wine and oil are multiplied for him [cf. Ps 4.8],
no wheat of ostentatious riches, no wine of carnal pleasure, no oil of sumptuous feasting. These three were multiplied to that rich man, that certain man, his wealth heaped up like corn, wine empurpling his lips, rich food every day! Because these increased for him in this life, he was buried in hell. The poor man, however, could say: In peace in the selfsame I will sleep, and I will rest [Ps 4.9], in Abraham’s bosom. Phenenna behaved badly to Anna in four ways: she afflicted her, troubled her, upbraided her and provoked her. In the same way the rich man behaved badly to Lazarus. He afflicted him by depriving him of the benefit he should have given him. Isaiah says of those who do not give the poor the things they have a right to:
The spoil of the poor is in your house. Why do you consume my people, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord. [Is 3.14-15] He troubled him, putting him down by showing him up. There is no more convincing way to demonstrate the baseness of lead, than by putting it alongside gold. In the same way, poverty is shown up by riches. The very abundance of the rich man is an offence to the poor. The rich man
upbraided him, upbraided Lazarus, full of sores and lying at his gate, every time he passed by him, dressed in purple. Yet by so doing he provoked him to love God the more. Therefore Anna wept and did not eat. Lazarus wept for the misery of this life, and for the glory that was delayed; and he did not eat, because though he desired to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, no-one would give him any. How long, O Lord, will the one prosper and the other be afflicted? Why doth the way of the wicked prosper? asks Jeremiah [Jer 12.1].
Why is it well with all them that transgress and do wickedly? And Habbakuk asks: Why lookest thou not upon them that do unjust things and holdest thy peace when the wicked devoureth the man that is more just than himself? [Hab 1.13]. Tell me, Lord Jesus: how long shall this be?
(A sermon on the damnation of the rich man and the glory of the poor man: Dagon lay on the ground; and: I shall die in my nest.)
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12. And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died; and he was buried in hell. [Lk 16.22]
There you see: The bow of the mighty is overcome; and the weak are girt with strength... etc., up to: to hold the throne of glory. [1Kg(Sm) 2.4,8]
There is a concordance to this in the first book of Kings, where it tells how Dagon: lay upon his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord. And the head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold: and only the stump of Dagon remained in its place. [1Kg(Sm) 5.4-5] The ark of the Lord is Lazarus. In him, as in the ark, there are three things, manna, tablets and rod: the manna of patience, the tablets of the love of God and neighbour, and the rod of discipline. This ark rested in Abraham’s bosom, and Dagon lay prostrate before it. Dagon, ‘the Sorrowful Fish’, is the rich man, purple-clad, who swam like a fish in this sorrowful world, and then in hell. His head and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold. Head and hands are worldly excellence, power and abundance; the threshold is the way out of life, the entrance to death. When Dagon fell, when the rich man died, his head and hands- all his honours, power and wealth- were cut off from him and remained upon the threshold of death; while he himself, like a stump, alone, naked and empty, was buried in the place due to him- hell. How truly said: The rich man died and was buried in hell. How great is God’s justice! The beggar lay at the rich man’s gate, full of sores. Now the rich man lies alone, like a stump. In Proverbs, Solomon says: The evil shall fall down before the good:
and the wicked before the gates of the just. [Prov 14.19] Lazarus died in the little nest of poverty, of which Job says: I shall die in my nest, and as a palm-tree shall multiply my days. [Job 29.18] The man who dies in the nest of poverty will be planted like a palm tree in the house of eternity and eternal greenness: The just shall flourish like the palm-tree [Ps 91.13].
(A sermon on the burial of the wicked man: Thus saith the Lord concerning Joachim; and: When a man shall die )
13. The rich man was buried in hell. Jeremiah says of this burial: Thus saith the Lord concerning Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda: They shall not mourn for
him, Alas, my brother, and, Alas, sister: they shall not lament for him, Alas, my lord, or, Alas, the noble one. He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, rotten and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem. [Jer 22.18-19]
When an ass dies, its master keeps its hide and gives its flesh to the dogs. The bones, which remain a long time, represent the soul. Thus the hide, external goods, goes to the children; worms eat the flesh; and the devil gets his soul. As Ecclesiasticus says: When a man shall die, beasts and serpents and worms shall inherit him [cf. Ecclus 10.13]. The beasts are his rapacious children, the serpents are the demons, and then there are the worms! Such is the burial of the rich man clad in purple, who was buried in hell.
The second part of the Epistle is concordant to this second clause:
In this is the charity of God perfected in us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgement; because as he is, we also are in this world. [1Jn 4.17]
The Gloss says, ‘This is the evidence that we love God perfectly, that we are not afraid of the coming of the Judge, or of appearing before the Judge.’ Because the beggar Lazarus loved God perfectly, he was not afraid of the coming of the Judge, whom he expected to reward him rather than condemn. But there was no love in the purple-clad rich man, so he had no confidence in the day of judgement, because he had refused to take pity on the poor man. The righteous have confidence on the grounds that they imitate his perfect love, by loving even their enemies in this
world. Even so, he who is in heaven raineth upon the just and the unjust [Mt 5.45].
We pray, Lord Jesus, we your poor and needy ones, that you will make us die like Lazarus the beggar in the nest of poverty, and be taken by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. Grant this, O you who are blessed for ever and ever. Amen.
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[THIRD CLAUSE]
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(A sermon against detractors: Be not in the feasts of great drinkers; and the three-fold sword of detraction.)
14. There follows, thirdly: And, lifting up his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom; and he cried and said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. [Lk 16.23-24]
The rich man lifted up his eyes, but in vain, since he had set his eyes bowing down to the earth [Ps 16.11]. Isaiah says: We shall look towards the land, and behold darkness of tribulation: and the light is darkened with the mist thereof. [Is 5.30]
Because the rich man looked to the love of earthy things, darkness of tribulation covered him, and his light, his prosperity, was darkened in hell. He saw Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom. The book of Wisdom testifies how great is the affliction of evil people at seeing the joy of the good: These seeing it shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the suddenness of their unexpected salvation.
Saying within themselves, repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit: These are they whom we had some time in derision and for a parable of reproach. We fools esteemed their life madness and their end without honour. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints. [Wisd 5.2-5]
And he cried and said: Father Abraham, etc. He begged a drop of water, who would not give a crumb of bread. He desired to be given a drop of water from Lazarus’ finger, who would not give him the crumbs falling from his table. We speak of a ‘fingertip’, not because Lazarus had fingers any more, but to show that the rich man would have counted even the least help, just the dipping of a finger, to be a great benefit- if only he could have what he wanted. To cool my tongue. He had no tongue, but he was being punished for sins of the tongue! As revellers do, he gave free rein to his tongue. He was tormented even before his judgement, for to a glutton the mere lack of delicacies is a punishment. He sinned not only in the vice of gluttony, but in sins of the tongue committed in the course of his revels. Solomon warns in Proverbs [23.20]: Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat. By speaking ill of their neighbour, they eat not only flesh, but even dung! They not only belittle
good deeds, they tell lies. In so doing, they eat not just animal flesh, but- abominably- human flesh. In other words, they tear the praiseworthy works of their brothers with the teeth of detraction. Alas! How many religious nowadays abstain from eating meat, yet rend their brethren with the teeth of detraction? Seneca 8 says of them, "They stink below, and also above." And St Bernard 9 says, "I can hardly say which is more damnable- to speak detraction or to listen to it;"
and, "The tongue of a detractor is a triple blade, for it slays three people at one blow"- that is, the speaker, the listener, and the one spoken against, when he hears what has been said.
(A note on how, for one living in mortal sin, deeds that are good according to their kind are useful in five ways.)
15. There follows: And Abraham said to him: Son, remember that thou didst receive good things in thy lifetime, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is fixed a great chaos; so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot, nor from thence come hither. [Lk 1625-26] The rich man had had something of good; he had done good things, in a general way, though not from charity, and the abundance of divine mercy had rewarded him with temporal goods. And likewise Lazarus evil things. He accepted the evil of adversity as his just due for such evil as he had done, in respect of venial sin. Now he is comforted and thou art tormented. We
should note that, for a person living in mortal sin, the generally good things he does are beneficial in five ways. First, they make the sinner fitter to receive grace; secondly, they serve to give a good example to his neighbour; thirdly, they accustom him to good; fourthly, they earn the reward of temporal benefits, as with this rich man; and fifthly, they lessen the pains of hell if he dies in mortal sin.
There follows Abraham’s reply to the rich man’s plea: Between us and you, etc. The damned would like to pass from punishment to the glory of the saints; and the just, with compassionate hearts, would gladly go to those in torment, to free them. But they cannot, because the souls of the just, although of the goodness of their nature they have compassion, are yet bound by such devotion to the justice of the Creator that they can show no compassion to the damned. There is a chaos between the poor man and the rich, so that they who would pass, etc.: indicating that after death one’s just deserts cannot be altered.
(A sermon against those who live in riches and delights, which they will soon lack: David took the spear and cup of water.)
16. There is a concordance to this in the first book of Kings:
David took the spear, and the cup of water which was at Saul’s head... When David was gone over to the other side, and stood on the top of the hill afar off, and a good space was between them, he cried to Abner, saying: ...See now. Where is the king’s spear, and the cup of water, which was at his head? [1Kg(Sm) 26.12-13,14,16] David means ‘strong-armed’, and Saul is ‘abuser’. The spear stands for riches and the cup of water for the pleasures of gluttony. David is the beggar Lazarus, who was strong in hardship and adversity; Saul is the rich man in purple, who misused the goods given him by God. David took Saul’s spear and water-jug; and in a sense Lazarus took away from Saul the spear of the power of riches and the water of gluttonous pleasure, by refusing to have pity on him. Lazarus passed from adversity to rest, and stood on the top of a hill far off, that is, he rested in
Abraham’s bosom, far from the pains of the rich man. And lifting up his eyes from afar, etc.: David cried to Abner: See where is the king’s spear, and the cup of water, which was at his head? O you fine rich man,, where now is the spear of riches, with which you used to strike the poor? Where is the jug of water, the pleasure of gluttony? Let it wet your tongue now, tortured in the flame! Yes, indeed: He is comforted and you are tormented.
The third part of the Epistle is concordant to this third clause: Fear is not in charity; but perfect charity casteth out fear, because fear hath pain. And he that feareth is not perfected in charity. [1Jn 4.18] There was no fear in the charity of Lazarus the beggar; perfect charity cast it out. As the Gloss says, ‘Charity makes us not fear present troubles.’ The rich man’s fear, the fear of losing what he had, brought him to the penalty of death. We pray you, Lord Jesus Christ, to free us from the unquenchable fire, and to place us with Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom. Grant this, O you who are blessed for ever and ever. Amen.
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[FOURTH CLAUSE]
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(A sermon on the Father’s house, and on the five rich brothers: I beseech thee, father.)
17. There follows, fourthly: Then, father, I beseech thee that wouldst send him to my father’s house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torments. [Lk 16.27-28]
Too late, this rich man would like to start being a teacher, when before he had had no time for learning or teaching. When he had lost all hope for himself, this rich man, burning in hell, took thought for his family, saying: Then, father, I beseech thee. Notice his father, his house and his five brothers. The rich man’s father was the devil, whom he took after. His house was the world and worldly folk, among whom are his five brothers, all those devoted to the five bodily senses. The rich man sees that he has been damned on account of these five senses, dear as brothers to him. So he, who has had no pity on himself, seeks to forewarn, by a kind of mercy, those still devoted to the senses. Sinners love their bodily senses like brothers; good people treat them as servants.
(A sermon on the slavery of the five senses: Abigail arose and made haste.)
There is a concordance to this in the first book of Kings, where it says that: Abigail arose, and made haste, and got upon an ass: and five damsels went with her, her
waiting maids; and she followed the messengers of David, and became his wife. [1Kg(Sm) 25.42] Abigail means ‘joy of my father’, and she represents the penitent soul over whom there is joy in heaven. She rode upon an ass, controlling her body; and with her went five damsels that waited upon her, the five bodily senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, which stand for understanding, obedience, discrimination, the pursuit of truth and virtuous action. With these, she follows David’s messengers, the poverty, humility and Passion of Jesus Christ, which bring
us tidings of what he was like in this world. In this way she became his wife, betrothed to him with the ring of a well-formed faith. 18. There follows: And
Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. But he said: No, father Abraham; but if one went to them from the dead, they will do penance. And he said to him: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if one rise again from the dead. [Lk 16.29-31] It is clear that the rich man was Jewish, since his brothers were subject to the Law of Moses and
to the prophets. That is why Abraham calls him ‘son’, and he calls Abraham ‘father’. He who had despised God’s words himself, did not think his followers would hear them either. Those who despise the words of the Law will find it still harder to fulfil the precepts of the Redeemer, who rose from the dead, for these precepts are even more demanding. And if they refuse to obey his words, they will surely refuse to believe in him. Those who give themselves to the flesh and to the senses will listen neither to Moses- the prelates of Holy Church- nor to the prophets- her preachers. Worse still, they will not believe Christ as he rises from the dead. Saul believed
Samuel, when he had been called up by the divining spirit. Shall we not believe Christ, truly rising by the power of God the Father?
There is a concordance to this in the first book of Kings. Saul said to the woman with the divining spirit; Divine to me by thy divining spirit, and bring me up him whom I shall tell thee... And the woman said to him: Whom shall I bring up to thee? And he said: Bring me up Samuel. And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice, and said to Saul: Why hast thou deceived me? For thou art Saul. And the king said to her: Fear not. What hast thou seen? [1Kg(Sm) 28.11- 13]
The woman told him she had seen an old and glorious man, wrapped in a priestly mantle; and when Saul understood that it was Samuel, he fell down before him. According to Josephus, the soul of Samuel asked, "Why have you disturbed my rest, that I should be raised up?" According to the "Histories" 10, some say regarding this raising that an evil spirit appeared in the form of Samuel, or that it was an illusion that Saul took to be Samuel. Some say that it was only Samuel’s soul, wearing the likeness of a body by God’s permission; while yet others say that it was only his body, animated with that life-principle which we share with animals, while his soul rested in its own place. Whatever about this, let us treat our bodily senses as servants, not brothers. Let us listen to Moses and the prophets, and let us believe Christ who is risen from the dead and is seated at God’s right hand. And as we believe him, let us love those who believe. 19. And so the fourth part of the Epistle is concordant with this fourth clause: Let us therefore love God; because God hath first loved us. If any man say: I love God, and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not? [1Jn 4.19-20] St Augustine11 tells us, "If someone loved someone else, whom he saw with human sight, with a spiritual love: he would in fact see God, who is love itself, with that inner sight by which alone he can be seen. But he who does not love the brother he sees, how can he love God? He who does not love his brother lacks the love which is God." Beloved brethren, let us ask the God who is love to give us love for the poverty of Lazarus the beggar, and abhorrence for the wealth of the rich man clad in purple; and to deliver us from burial in hell, and to place us in Abraham’s bosom. May he grant this, to whom be honour and glory, dignity and kingship, for ever and ever. And let every truly poor person say, Amen.
Alleluia.
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NOTES
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1 Or rather, AUGUSTINE, Epistola 138.14; PL 33.531
2 cf. GREGORY, Moralia XXVI 18,33; PL 76.368
3 cf. GREGORY, Pastoral Rule III,26; PL 77.100
4 Though Antony quotes AUGUSTINE, this whole section is heavily dependent upon PETER
LOMBARD, Sentences III, dist. 27.5, through whom Antony derives the quotation
5 P. LOMBARD, Sentences III, dist 28,1
6 BERNARD= GUIGO, Ad fratres de Monte Dei I,7,18; PL 184.320
7 cf. PETER COMESTOR, Historia Scholastica, Lib. I Regum, 4; PL 198.1298
8 Perhaps cf. P. SYRUS, Mimi, 338
9 BERNARD, De consideratione II,22; PL 182.756; De diversis, sermo 17,4; PL 183.585
10 cf. PETER COMESTOR, Historia Scholastica, Lib I Reg, 26; PL 198.1321
11 cf. PETER LOMBARD, Sentences III, dist. 27,3Feast of the Most Holy Trinity: Goffine's Devout Instructions On the Epistles and Gospels by Leonard Goffine, 1896.
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EVERY Sunday is dedicated to the worship of the Triune God, and is called accordingly the Lord s day; but the first Sunday after Pentecost is appointed by the Church a special feast of the Most Holy Trinity, because this mystery, as the fundamental doctrine of the Christian religion, began at once to be preached by the apostles, as soon as they had been enlightened and strengthened by the descent of the Holy Ghost.
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What thoughts and affections should occupy our minds on this feast?
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Although the mystery of the Trinity is incomprehensible to us, we must consider: 1. That God would cease to be God, if our limited understanding were capable of penetrating the substance of His nature.
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2. The mystery of the Blessed Trinity, though incomprehensible to our intellect, is yet not without fruit in our hearts. The records of revelation show us God the Father as our Creator, God the Son as our Redeemer, God the Holy Ghost as our Sanctifier ; and should not this move us to a child-like gratitude towards the blessed Trinity?
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In praise of the Most Holy Trinity, the Church sings at the Introit of the Mass, “Blessed be the Holy Trinity and undivided Unity ; we will give glory to Him, because He hath shown His mercy to us. O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is Thy name in all the earth.” Glory be to the Father, etc.
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Prayer.
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O almighty and eternal God, Who hast created Thy servant to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, in the confession of the true faith, and to adore the unity in the power of Thy majesty, we beseech Thee, that by firmness in the same faith, we may be ever protected from all adversities. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, etc.
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EPISTLE. Rom. xi. 33-36
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Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God ! How incomprehensible are His judgments, and how unsearchable His ways ! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counsellor? Or who hath first given to Him, and recompense shall be made Him? For of Him, and by Him, and in Him, are all things : to Him be glory forever. Amen.
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Explanation.
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The ground of St. Paul' s admiration in this epistle is the unfathomable wisdom and love of God, by which He permitted the Jews and heathen to fall into unbelief, that He might have mercy on all, and make all perceive that they were justified, not through their merits, but only through His grace. But the Church makes use of these words to express her reverent admiration for the greatness of the mystery of the all Holy Trinity. Though we can neither measure nor comprehend this mystery, yet no man of sound reason will hesitate to believe it, if he considers that it is most plainly revealed by God ; that as God, the Infinite, cannot be comprehended by the spirit of man, so also He can reveal more than we can understand ; and that, finally, there are many things in man himself, and in nature, which we acknowledge as true, but cannot comprehend. Besides, does not our holy religion assure us, that one day we shall behold face to face the Infinite Whose image is now reflected dimly in the mirror of nature? Let us add hope, therefore, to our faith, and if true and sincere love be based upon these two, our understanding and heart will have abundant consolation in regard to this great mystery.
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GOSPEL. Matt, xxviii. 18-20
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At that time Jesus said to His disciples : All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth; going therefore teach ye all nations : baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you : and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.
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What command does Our Saviour give in this gospel?
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He commands His apostles to teach all nations, and to baptize them.
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Is Baptism a sacrament?
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Yes, for by it we receive the grace of God, through an out ward sign instituted by Christ.
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What is the outward sign?
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Pouring water on the head of the person to be baptized and pronouncing at the same time the words : “I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
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What is the effect of the grace of Baptism?
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Through water and the Holy Ghost, the baptized person is cleansed from original sin, and from all actual sins, if he has committed such; is spiritually new-born, and made a child of God and a joint-heir with Christ (John iii. 6 ; Rom. viii. 17). What is the use of sponsors?
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1. In the name of the child, they express the desire to be baptized, and make the profession of faith, together with the promise to live according to the doctrine of Christ.
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2. In case the parents should die, or neglect their duty, the god-parents may provide for the instruction of the children.
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3. They are witnesses that such a person has been baptized.
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Who is God?
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God is an infinite being, of all possible perfections, the most sublime and excellent of all goods, existing from all eternity, and containing within Himself the principle of His own being and substance ; from Whom all other things have received their existence and life, “for of Him, and by Him, and in Him are all things” (Rom. xi. 36).
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What is the blessed Trinity?
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It is this one God, Who is one in nature and threefold in person, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
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Is each of these persons God?
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Yes, for each possesses the divine nature and substance.
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Is any of these three persons older, more powerful, or greater than another?
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No ; they are all three, from eternity, equal in power, sublimity, and majesty, and must therefore be equally adored.
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From Whom is the Father?
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From Himself, before all eternity.
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From Whom is God the Son?
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The Son is begotten of the Father before all ages.
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From Whom is God the Holy Ghost?
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He proceeds from the Father and the Son.Sursum Corda: Traditional Catholic Writings
Maria Angela Grow · 15 tim ·
De Trinitate: On the Trinity by St. Hilary of Poitiers: Part 2
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Book 2
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1. BELIEVERS have always found their satisfaction in that Divine utterance, which our ears heard recited from the Gospel at the moment when that Power, which is its attestation, was bestowed upon us:--Go now and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I command you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. What element in the mystery of man's salvation is not included in those words? What is forgotten, what left in darkness? All is full, as from the Divine fulness; perfect, as from the Divine perfection. The passage contains the exact words to be used, the essential acts, the sequence of processes, an insight into the Divine nature. He bade them baptize in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, that is with confession of the Creator and of the Only-begotten, and of the Gift. For God the Father is One, from Whom are all things; and our Lord Jesus Christ the Only-begotten, through Whom are all things, is One; and the Spirit, God's Gift to us, Who pervades all things, is also One. Thus all are ranged according to powers possessed and benefits conferred;--the One Power from Whom all, the One Offspring through Whom all, the One Gilt Who gives us perfect hope. Nothing can be found lacking in that supreme Union which embraces, in Father, Son and Holy Spirit, infinity in the Eternal, His Likeness in His express Image, our enjoyment of Him in the Gift.
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2. But the errors of heretics and blasphemers force us to deal with unlawful matters, to scale perilous heights, to speak unutterable words, to trespass on forbidden ground. Faith ought in silence to fulfil the commandments, worshipping the Father, reverencing with Him the Son, abounding in the Holy Ghost, but we must strain the poor resources of our language to express thoughts too great for words. The error of others compels us to err in daring to embody in human terms truths which ought to be hidden in the silent veneration of the heart.
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3. For there have risen many who have given to the plain words of Holy Writ some arbitrary interpretation of their own, instead of its true anti only sense, and this in defiance of the clear meaning of words. Heresy lies in the sense assigned, not in the word written; the guilt is that of the expositor, not of the text. Is not truth indestructible? When we hear the name Father, is not sonship involved in that Name? The Holy Ghost is mentioned by name; must He not exist? We can no more separate fatherhood from the Father or sonship from the Son than we can deny the existence in the Holy Ghost of that gift which we receive. Yet men of distorted mind plunge the whole matter in doubt and difficulty, fatuously reversing the clear meaning of words, and depriving the Father of His fatherhood because they wish to strip the Son of His sonship. They take away the fatherhood by asserting that the Son is not a Son by nature; for a son is not of the nature of his father when begetter and begotten have not the same properties, and he is no son whose being is different from that of the father, and unlike it. Yet in what sense is God a Father (as He is), if He have not begotten in His Son that same substance and nature which are His own?
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4. Since, therefore, they cannot make any change in the facts recorded, they bring novel principles and theories of man's device to bear upon them. Sabellius, for instance, makes the Son an extension of the Father, and the faith in this regard a matter of words rather than of reality, for he makes one and the same Person, Son to Himself and also Father. Hebion allows no beginning to the Son of God except from Mary, and represents Him not as first God and then man. but as first man then God; declares that the Virgin did not receive into herself One previously existent, Who had been in the beginning God the Word dwelling with God, but that through the agency of the Word she bore Flesh; the 'Word' meaning in his opinion not the nature of the pre-existent Only-begotten God, but only the sound of an uplifted voice. Similarly certain teachers of our present day assert that the Image and Wisdom and Power of God was produced out of nothing, and in time. They do this to save God, regarded as Father of the Son, from being lowered to the Son's level. They are fearful lest this birth of the Son from Him should deprive Him of His glory, and therefore come to God's rescue by styling His Son a creature made out of nothing, in order that God may live on in solitary perfection without a Son born of Himself and partaking His nature. What wonder that their doctrine of the Holy Ghost should be different from ours, when they presume to subject the Giver of that Holy Ghost to creation, and change, and non-existence. Thus do they destroy the consistency and completeness of the mystery of the faith. They break up the absolute unity of God by assigning differences of nature where all is clearly common to Each; they deny the Father by robbing he Son of His true Sonship; they deny the Holy Ghost in their blindness to the facts that we possess Him and that Christ gave Him. They betray ill-trained souls to ruin by their boast of the logical perfection of their doctrine; they deceive their hearers by emptying terms of their meaning, through the Names remain to witness to the truth. I pass over the pitfalls of other heresies, Valentinian, Marcionite, Manichee and therest. From time to time they catch the attention of some foolish souls and prove fatal by the very infection of their contact; one plague as destructive as another when once the poison of their teaching has found its way into the hearer's thoughts.
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5. Their treason involves us in the difficult and dangerous position of having to make a definite pronouncement, beyond the statements of Scripture, upon this grave and abstruse matter. The Lord said that the nations were to be baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The words of the faith are clear; the heretics do their utmost to involve the meaning in doubt. We may not on this account add to the appointed form, yet we must set a limit to their license of interpretation. Since their malice, inspired by the devil's cunning, empties the doctrine of its meaning while it retains the Names which convey the truth, we must emphasise the truth which those Names convey. We must proclaim, exactly as we shall find them in the words of Scripture, the majesty and functions of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and so debar the heretics from robbing these Names of their connotation of Divine character, and compel them by means of these very Names to confine their use of terms to their proper meaning. I cannot conceive what manner of mind our opponents have, who pervert the truth, darken the light, divide the indivisible rend the scatheless, dissolve the perfect unity. It may seem to them a light thing to tear up Perfection, to make laws for Omnipotence, to limit Infinity; as for me, the task of answering them fills me with anxiety; my brain whirls, my intellect is stunned, my very words must be a confession, not that I am weak of utterance, but that I am dumb. Yet a wish to undertake the task forces itself upon me; it means withstanding the proud, guiding the wanderer, warning the ignorant. But the subject is inexhaustible; I can see no limit to my venture of speaking concerning God in terms more precise than He Himself has used. He has assigned the Names--Father, Son and Holy Ghost,--which are our information of the Divine nature. Words cannot express or feeling embrace or reason apprehend the re suits of enquiry carried further; all is ineffable, unattainable, incomprehensible. Language is exhausted by the magnitude of the theme, the splendour of its effulgence blinds the gazing eye, the intellect cannot compass its boundless extent. Still, under the necessity that is laid upon us, with a prayer for pardon to Him Whose attributes these are, we will venture, enquire and speak; and moreover--it is the only promise that in so grave a matter we dare to make--we will accept whatever conclusion He shall indicate.
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6. It is the Father to Whom all existence owes its origin. In Christ and through Christ He is the source of all. In contrast to all else He is serf-existent. He does not draw His being from without, but possesses it from Himself and in Himself. He is infinite, for nothing contains Him and He contains all things; He is eternally unconditioned by space, for He is illimitable; eternally anterior to time, for time is His creation. Let imagination range to what you may suppose is God's utmost limit, and you will find Him present there; strain as you will there is always a further horizon towards which to strain. Infinity is His property, just as the power of making such effort is yours. Words will fail you, but His being will not be circumscribed. Or again, turn back the pages of history, and you will find Him ever present; should numbers fail to express the antiquity to which you have penetrated, yet God's eternity is not diminished. Gird up your intellect to comprehend Him as a whole; He eludes you, God, as a whole, has left something within your grasp, but this something is inextricably involved in His entirety. Thus you have missed the whole, since it is only a part which remains in your hands; nay, not even a part, for you are dealing with a whole which you have failed to divide. For a part implies division, a whole is undivided, and God is everywhere and wholly present wherever He is.
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Reason, therefore, cannot cope with Him, since no point of contemplation can be found outside Himself and since eternity is eternally His. This is a true statement of the mystery of that unfathomable nature which is expressed by the Name 'Father:' God invisible, ineffable, infinite. Let us confess by our silence that words cannot describe Him; let sense admit that it is foiled in the attempt to apprehend, and reason in the effort to define. Yet He has, as we said, in 'Father' a name to indicate His nature; He is a Father unconditioned. He does not, as men do, receive the power of paternity from an external source. He is unbegotten, everlasting, inherently eternal. To the Son only is He known, for no one knoweth the Father save the Son and him to whom the Son willeth to reveal Him, nor yet the Son save the Father. Each has perfect and complete knowledge of the Other. Therefore, since no one knoweth the Father save the Son, let our thoughts of the Father be at one with the thoughts of the Son, the only faithful Witness, Who reveals Him to us.
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7. It is easier for me to feel this concerning the Father than to say it. I am well aware that no words are adequate to describe His attributes. We must feel that He is invisible, incomprehensible, eternal. But to say that He is self-existent and self-originating and self-sustained, that He is invisible and incomprehensible and immortal; all this is an acknowledgment of His glory, a hint of our meaning, a sketch of our thoughts, but speech is powerless to tell us what God is, words cannot express the reality. You hear that He is self-existent; human reason cannot explain such independence. We can find objects which uphold, and objects which are upheld, but that which thus exists is obviously distinct from that which is the cause of its existence. Again, if you hear that He is self-originating, no instance can be found in which the giver of the gift of life is identical with the life that is given. If you hear that He is immortal, then there is something which does not spring from Him and with which He has, by His very nature, no contact; and, indeed, death is not the only thing which this word 'immortal' claims as independent of God. If you hear that He is incomprehensible, that is as much as to say that He is non-existent, since contact with Him is impossible. If you say that He is invisible, a being that does not visibly exist cannot be sure of its own existence. Thus our confession of God fails through the defects of language; the best combination of words we can devise cannot indicate the reality and the greatness of God. The perfect knowledge of God is so to know Him that we are sure we must not be ignorant of Him, yet cannot describe Him. We must believe, must apprehend, must worship; and such acts of devotion must stand in lieu of definition.
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8. We have now exchanged the perils of a harbourless coast for the storms of the open sea. We can neither safely advance nor safely retreat, yet the way that lies before us has greater hardships than that which lies behind. The Father is what He is, and as He is manifested, so we must believe. The mind shrinks in dread from treating of the Son; at every word I tremble lest I be betrayed into treason. For He is the Offspring of the Unbegotten, One from One, true from true, living from living, perfect from perfect; the Power of Power, the Wisdom of Wisdom, the Glory of Glory, the Likeness of the invisible God, the ImageUnbegotten Father. Yet in what sense can we conceive that the Only-begotten is the Offspring of the Unbegotten? Repeatedly the Father cries from heaven, This is My beloved Son in Whom I well pleased. It is no rending or severance, for He that begat is without passions, and He that was born is the Image of the invisible God and bears witness, The Father is in Me and I in the Father. It is no mere adoption, for He is the true Son of God and cries, He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father also. Nor did He come into existence in obedience to a command as did created things, for He is the Only-begotten of the One God; and He has life in Himself, even as He that begot Him has life, for He says, As the Father hath life in Himself, even so gave He to the Son to have life in Himself. Nor is there a portion of the Father resident in the Son, for the Son bears witness, All things that the Father hath are Mine, and again, And all things that are Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, and the Apostle testifies, For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; and by the nature of things a portion cannot possess the whole. He is the perfect Son of the perfect Father, for He Who has all has given all to Him. Yet we must not imagine that the
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Father did not give, because He still possesses, or that He has lost, because He gave to the Son.
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9. The manner of this birth is therefore a secret confined to the Two. If any one lays upon his personal incapacity his failure to solve the mystery, ill spite of the certainty that Father and Son stand to Each Other in those relations, he will be still more pained at the ignorance to which I confess. I, too, am in the dark, yet I ask no questions. I look for comfort to the fact that Archangels share my ignorance, that Angels have not heard the explanation, and worlds do not contain it, that no prophet has espied it and no Apostle sought for it, that the Son Himself has not revealed it. Let such pitiful complaints cease. Whoever you are that search into these mysteries, I do not bid you resume your exploration of height and breadth and depth; I ask you rather to acquiesce patiently in your ignorance of the mode of Divine generation, seeing that you know not how His creatures come into existence. Answer me this one question:--Do your senses give you any evidence that you yourself were begotten? Can you explain the process by which you became a father? I do not ask whence you drew perception, how you obtained life, whence your reason comes, what is the nature of your senses of smell, touch, sight, hearing; the fact that we have the use of all these is the evidence that they exist. What I ask is:--How do you give them to your children? How do you ingraft the senses, lighten the eyes, implant tile mind? Tell me, if you can. You have, then, powers which you do not understand, you impart gifts which you cannot comprehend. You are calmly indifferent to the mysteries of your own being, profanely impatient of ignorance concerning the mysteries of God's.
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10. Listen then to the Unbegotten Father, listen to the Only-begotten Son. Hear His words, The Father is greater than I, and I and the Father are One, and He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father also, and The Father is in Me and I in the Father, and I went out from the Fathers, and Who is in the bosom of the Father, and Whatsoever the Father hath He hath delivered to the Son, and The Son hath life in Himself, even as the Father hath in Himself. Hear in these words the Son, the Image, the Wisdom, the Power, the Glory of God. Next mark the Holy Ghost proclaiming Who shall declare His generation? Note the Lord's assurance, No one knoweth the Son save the Father, neither doth any know the Father save the Son and He to whom the Son willeth to reveal Him, Penetrate into the mystery, plunge into the darkness which shrouds that birth, where you will be alone with God the Unbegotten and God the Only-begotten. Make your start, continue, persevere. I know that you will not reach the goal, but I shall rejoice at your progress. For He who devoutly treads an endless road, though he reach no conclusion, will profit by his exertions. Reason will fail for want of words, but when it comes to a stand it will be the better for the effort made.
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11. The Son draws His life from that Father Who truly has life; the Only begotten from the Unbegotten, Offspring from Parent, Living from Living. As the Father hath life in Himself, even so gave He to the Son also to have life in Himself. The Son is perfect from Him that is perfect, for He is whole from Him that is whole. This is no division or severance, for Each is in the Other, and the fulness of the Godhead is in the Son. Incomprehensible is begotten of Incomprehensible, for none else knows Them, but Each knows the Other; Invisible is begotten of Invisible, for the Son is the Image of the invisible God, and he that has seen the Son has seen the Father also. There is a distinction, for They are Father and Son; not that Their Divinity is different in kind, for Both are One, God of God, One God Only begotten of One God Unbegotten. They are not two Gods, but One of One; not two Unbegotten, for the Son is born of the Unborn. There is no diversity, for the life of the living God is in the living Christ. So much I have resolved to say concerning the nature of their Divinity not imagining that I have succeeded in making a summary of the faith, but recognising that the theme is inexhaustible. So faith, you object, has no service to render, since there is nothing that it can comprehend. Not so; the proper service of faith is to grasp and confess the truth that it is incompetent to comprehend its Object.
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12. It remains to say something more concerning the mysterious generation of the Son; or rather this something more is everything. I quiver, I linger, my powers fail, I know not where to begin. I cannot tell the time of the Son's birth; it were impious not to be certain of the fact. Whom shall I entreat? Whom shall I call to my aid? From what books shall I borrow the terms needed to state so hard a problem? Shall I ransack the philosophy of Greece? No! I have read, Where is the wise? Where is the enquirer of this world? In this matter, then, the world's philosophers, the wise men of paganism, are dumb: for they have rejected the wisdom of God. Shall I turn to the Scribe of the law? He is in darkness, for the Cross of Christ is an offence to him. Shall I, perchance, bid you shut your eyes to heresy, and pass it by in silence, on the ground that sufficient reverence is shown to Him Whom we preach if we believe that lepers were cleansed, the deaf heard, the lame ran, the palsied stood, the blind (in general) received sight, the blind from his birth had eyes given to him, devils were routed, the sick recovered, the dead lived. The heretics confess all this, and perish.
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13. Look now to see a thing not less miraculous than lame men running, blind men seeing, the flight of devils, the life from the dead. There stands by my side, to guide me through the difficulties which I have enunciated, a poor fisherman, ignorant, uneducated, fishing-lines in hand, clothes dripping, muddy feet, every inch a sailor. Consider and decide whether it were the greater feat to raise the dead or impart to an untrained mind the knowledge of mysteries so deep as he reveals by saying, In the beginning was the Word. What means this In the beginning was? He ranges backward over the spaces of time, centuries are left behind, ages are cancelled. Fix in your mind what date you will for this beginning; you miss the mark, for even then He, of Whom we are speaking, was. Survey the universe, note well what is written of it, In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. This word beginning fixes the moment of creation; you can assign its date to an event which is definitely stated to have happened in the beginning. But this fisherman of mine, unlettered and unread, is untrammelled by time, undaunted by its immensity; he pierces beyond the beginning. For his was has no limit of time and no commencement; the uncreated Word was in the beginning.
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14. But perhaps we shall find that our fisherman has been guilty of departure from the terms of the problem proposed for solution. He has set the Word free from the limitations of time; that which is free lives its own life and is bound to no obedience. Let us, therefore, pay our best attention to what follows:--And the Word was with God. We find that it is with God that the Word, Which was before the beginning, exists unconditioned by time. The Word, Which was, is with God. He Who is absent when we seek for His or gin in time is present all the while with the Creator of time. For this once our fisherman has escaped; perhaps he will succumb to the difficulties which await him.
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15. For you will plead that a word is the sound of a voice; that it is a naming of things. an utterance of thoughts. This Word was with God, and was in the beginning; the expression of the eternal Thinker's thoughts must be eternal. For the present I will give you a brief answer of my own on the fisherman's behalf, till we see what defence he has to make for his own simplicity. The nature, then, of a word is that it is first a potentiality, afterwards a past event; an existing thing only while it is being heard. How can we say, In the beginning was the Word, when a word neither exists before, nor lives after, a definite point of time? Can we even say that there is a point of time in which a word exists? Not only are the words in a speaker's mouth non-existent until they are spoken, and perished the instant they are uttered, but even in the moment of utterance there is a change from the sound which commences to that which ends a word. Such is the reply that suggests itself to me as a bystander. But your opponent the Fisherman has an answer of his own. He will begin by reproving you for your inattention. Even though your unpractised ear failed to catch the first clause, In the beginning was the Word, why complain of the next, And the Word was with God? Was it And the Word was in God that you heard,--the dictum of some profound philosophy? Or is it that your provincial dialect makes no distinction between in and with? The assertion is that Which was in the beginning was with, not in, Another. But I will not argue from the beginning of the sentence; the sequel can take care of itself. Hear now the rank and the name of the Word:--And the Word was God. Your plea that the Word is the sound of a voice, the utterance of a thought, falls to the ground. The Word is a reality, not a sound, a Being, not a speech, God, not a nonentity.
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16. But I tremble to say it; the audacity staggers me. I hear, And the Word was God; I, whom the prophets have taught that God is One. To save me from further fears, give me, friend Fisherman, a fuller imparting of this great mystery. Show that these assertions are consistent with the unity of God; that there is no blasphemy in them, no explaining away, no denial of eternity. He continues, He was in the beginning with God. This He was in the beginning removes the limit of time; the word God shows that He is more than a voice; that He is with God proves that He neither encroaches nor is encroached upon, for His identity is not swallowed up in that of Another, and He is clearly stated to be present with the One Unbegotten God as God, His One and Only-begotten Son.
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17. We are still waiting, Fisherman, for your full description of the Word. He was in the beginning, it may be said, but perhaps He was not before the beginning. To this also I will furnish a reply on my Fisherman's behalf. The Word could not be other than He was; that was is unconditional and unlimited. But what says the Fisherman for himself? All things were made through Him. Thus, since nothing exists apart from Him through Whom the universe came into being, He, the Author of all things, must have an immeasurable existence. For time is a cognisable and divisible measure of extension, not in space, but in duration. All things are from Him, without exception; time then itself is His creature.
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18. But, my Fisherman, the objection will be raised that you are reckless and extravagant in your language; that All things were made through Him needs qualification. There is the Unbegotten, made of none; there is also the Son, begotten of the Unborn Father. This All things is an unguarded statement, admitting no exceptions. While we are silent, not daring to answer or trying to think of some reply, do you break in with, And without film was nothing made. You have restored the Author of the Godhead to His place, while proclaiming that He has a Companion. From your saying that nothing was made without Him, I learn that He was not alone. He through Whom the work was done is One; He without Whom it was not done is Another: a distinction is drawn between Creator and Companion.
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19. Reverence for the One Unbegotten Creator distressed me, lest in your sweeping assertion that all things were made by the Word you had included Him. You have banished my fears by your Without Him was nothing made. Yet this same Without Him was nothing made brings trouble and distraction. There was, then, something made by that Other; not made, it is true, without Him. If the Other did make anything, even though the Word were present at the making, then it is untrue that through Him all things were made. It is one thing to be the Creator's Companion, quite another to be the Creator's Self. I could find answers of my own to the previous objections; in this case, Fisherman, I can only turn at once to your words, All things were made through Him. And now I understand, for the Apostle has enlightened me:--Things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all are through Him and in Him..
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20. Since, then, all things were made through Him, come to our help and tell us what it was that was made not without Him. That which was made in Him is life. That which was made in Him was certainly not made without Him; for that which was made in Him was also made through Him. All things were created in Him and through Him. They were created in Him, for He was born as God the Creator. Again, nothing that was made in Him was made without Him, for the reason that God the Begotten was life, and was born as Life, not made life after His birth; for there are not two elements in Him, one inborn and one afterwards conferred. There is no interval in His case between birth and maturity. None of the things that were created in Him was made without Him, for He is the Life which made their creation possible. Moreover God, the Son of God, became God by virtue of His birth, not after He was born. Being born the Living from the Living, the True from the True, the Perfect from the Perfect, He was born in full possession of His powers. He needed not to learn in after time what His birth was, but was conscious of His Godhead by the very fact that He was born as God of God. I and the Father are One, are the words of the Only-begotten Son of the Unbegotten. It is the voice of the One God proclaiming Himself to be Father and Son; Father speaking in the Son and Son in the Father. Hence also He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father also; hence All that the Father hath, He hath given to the Son; hence As the Father hath life in Himself so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself; hence No one knoweth the Father save the Son, nor the Son save the Father; hence In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
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21. This Life is the Light of men, the Light which lightens the darkness. To comfort us for that powerlessness to describe His generation of which the prophet speaks, the Fisherman adds, And the darkness comprehended Him not. The language of unaided reason was baffled and silenced; the Fisherman who lay on tile bosom of the Lord was taught to express the mystery. His language is not the world's language, for He deals with things that are not of the world. Let us know what it is, if there be any teaching that you can extract from his words, more than their plain sense conveys; if you can translate into other terms the truth we have elicited, publish them abroad. If there be none--indeed, because there are none--let us accept with reverence this teaching of the fisherman, and recognise in his words the oracles of God. Let us cling in adoration to the true confession of Father and Son, Unbegotten and Only-begotten ineffably, Whose majesty defies all expression and all perception. Let us, like John, lie on the bosom of the Lord Jesus, that we too may understand and proclaim the mystery.
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22. This faith, and every part of it, is impressed upon us by the evidence of the Gospels, by the teaching of the Apostles, by the futility of the treacherous attacks which heretics make on every side. The foundation stands firm and unshaken in face of winds and rains and torrents; storms cannot overthrow it, nor dripping waters hollow it, nor floods sweep it away. Its excellence is proved by the failure of countless assaults to impair it. Certain remedies are so compounded as to be of value not merely against some single disease but against all; they are of universal efficacy. So it is with the Catholic faith. It is not a medicine for some special malady, but for every ill; virulence cannot master, nor numbers defeat, nor complexity baffle it. One and unchanging it faces and conquers all its foes. Marvellous it is that one form of words should contain a remedy for every disease, a statement of truth to confront every contrivance of falsehood. Let heresy muster its forces and every sect come forth to battle. Let our answer to their challenge be that there is One Unbegotten God the Father, and One Only-begotten Son of God, perfect Offspring of perfect Parent; that the Sun was begotten by no lessening of the Father or subtraction from His Substance, but that He Who possesses all things begot an all-possessing Son; a Son not emanating nor proceeding from the Father, but compact of, and inherent in, the whole Divinity, of Him Who wherever He is present is present eternally; One free from time, unlimited in duration, since by Him all things were mode, and, indeed, He could not be confined within a limit created by Himself. Such is the Catholic and Apostolic Faith which the Gospel has taught us and we avow.
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23. Let Sabellius, if he dare, confound Father and Son as two names with one meaning, making of them not Unity but One Person. He shall have a prompt answer from the Gospels, not once or twice, but often repeated, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased. He shall hear the words, The Father is greater than I, and I go to the Father, and Father, I thank Thee, and Glorify Me, Father, and Thou art the Son of the living God. Let Hebion try to sap the faith, who allows the Son of God no life before the Virgin's womb, and sees in Him the Word only after His life as flesh had begun. We will bid him read again, Father, glorify Me with Thine own Self with that glory which I had with Thee before the world was, and In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and All things were made through Him, and He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world knew Him not. Let the preachers whose apostleship is of the newest fashion--an apostleship of Antichrist--come forward and pour their mockery and insult upon the Son of God. They must hear, I came out from the Father and The Son in the Father's bosom, and I and the Father are One, and I in the Father, and the Father in Me. And lastly, if they be wrath, as the Jews were, that Christ should claim God for His own Father, making Himself equal with God, they must take the answer which He gave the Jews, Believe My works, that the Father is in Me and I in the Father. Thus our one immovable foundation, our one blissful rock of faith, is the confession from Peter's mouth, Thou art the Son of the living God. On it we can base an answer to every objection with which perverted ingenuity or embittered treachery may assail the truth.
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24. In what remains we have the appointment of the Father's will. The Virgin, the birth, the Body, then the Cross, the death, the visit to the lower world; these things are our salvation. For the sake of mankind the Son of God was born of tile Virgin and of the Holy Ghost. In this process He ministered to Himself; by His own power--the power of God--which overshadowed her He sowed the beginning of His Body, and entered on the first stage of His life in the flesh. He did it that by His Incarnation He might take to Himself from the Virgin the fleshly nature, and that through this commingling there might come into being a hallowed Body of all humanity; that so through that Body which He was pleased to assume all mankind might be hid in Him, and He in return, through His unseen existence, be reproduced in all. Thus the invisible Image of God scorned not the shame which marks the beginnings of human life. He passed through every stage; through conception, birth, wailing, cradle and each successive humiliation.
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25. What worthy return can we make for so great a condescension? The One Only-begotten God, ineffably born of God, entered the Virgin's womb and grew and took the frame of poor humanity. He Who upholds the universe, within Whom and through Whom are all things, was brought forth by common childbirth; He at Whose voice Archangels and Angels tremble, and heaven and earth and all the elements of this world are melted, was heard in childish wailing. The Invisible and Incomprehensible, Whom sight and feeling and touch cannot gauge, was wrapped in a cradle. If any man deem all this unworthy of God, the greater must he own his debt for the benefit conferred the less such condescension befits the majesty of God. He by Whom man was made had nothing to gain by becoming Man; it was our gain that God was incarnate and dwelt among us, making all flesh His home by taking upon Him the flesh of One. We were raised because He was lowered; shame to Him was glory to us. He, being God, made flesh His residence, and we in return are lifted anew from the flesh to God.
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26. But lest perchance fastidious minds be exercised by cradle and wailing, birth and conception, we must render to God the glory which each of these contains, that we may approach His self-abasement with souls duly filled with His claim to reign, and not forget His majesty in His condescension. Let us note, therefore, who were attendant on His conception. All Angel speaks to Zacharias; fertility is given to the barren; the priest comes forth dumb from the place of incense; John bursts forth into speech while yet confined within his mother's womb; an Angel blesses Mary and promises that she, a virgin, shall be the mother of the Son of God. Conscious of her virginity, she is distressed at this hard thing; the Angel explains to her the mighty working of God, saying, The Holy Ghost shall come from above into thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. The Holy Ghost, descending from above, hallowed the Virgin's womb, and breathing therein (for The Spirit bloweth where it listeth), mingled Himself with the fleshly nature of man, and annexed by force and might that foreign domain. And, lest through weakness of the human structure failure should ensue, the power of the Most High overshadowed the Virgin, strengthening her feebleness in semblance of a cloud east round her, that the shadow, which was the might of God, might fortify her bodily frame to receive the procreative power of the Spirit. Such is the glory of the conception.
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27. And now let us consider the glory which accompanies the birth, the wailing and the cradle. The Angel tells Joseph that the Virgin shall bear a Son, and that Son shall be named Emmanuel, that is, God with us. The Spirit foretells it through the prophet, the Angel bears witness; He that is born is God with us. The light of a new star shines forth for the Magi; a heavenly sign escorts the Lord of heaven. An Angel brings to the shepherds the news that Christ the Lord is born, the Saviour of the world. A multitude of the heavenly host flock together to sing the praise of that childbirth; the rejoicing of the Divine company proclaims the fulfilment of the mighty work. Then glory to God in heaven, and peace an earth to men of good will is announced. And now the Magi come and worship Him wrapped in swaddling clothes; after a life devoted to mystic rites of vain philosophy they bow the knee before a Babe laid in His cradle. Thus the Magi stoop to reverence the infirmities of Infancy; its cries are saluted by the heavenly joy of angels; the Spirit Who inspired the prophet, the heralding Angel, the light of the new star, all minister around Him. In such wise was it that the Holy Ghost's descent and the overshadowing power of the Most High brought Him to His birth. The inward reality is widely different from the outward appearance; the eye sees one thing, the soul another. A virgin bears; her child is of God. An Infant wails; angels are heard in praise. There are coarse swaddling clothes; God is being worshipped. The glory of His Majesty is not forfeited when He assumes the lowliness of flesh.
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28. So was it also during His further life on earth. The whole time which He passed in human form was spent upon the works of God. I have no space for details; it must suffice to say that in all the varied acts of power and healing which He wrought, the fact is conspicuous that He was man by virtue of the flesh He had taken, God by the evidence of the works He did.
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29. Concerning the Holy Spirit I ought not to be silent, and yet I have no need to speak; still, for the sake of those who are in ignorance, I cannot refrain. There is no need to speak, because we are bound to confess Him, proceeding, as He does, from Father and Son. For my own part, I think it wrong to discuss the question of His existence. He does exist, inasmuch as He is given, received, retained; He is joined with Father and Son in our confession of the faith, and cannot he excluded from a true confession of Father and Son; take away a part, and the whole faith is marred. If any man demand what meaning we attach to this conclusion, he, as well as we, has read the words of the Apostle, Because ye are sons of God, God hath sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, and Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in Whom ye have been sealed, and again, But we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things that are given unto us by Gad, and also But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God is in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is not His, and further, But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies for the sake of His Spirit which dwelleth in you. Wherefore since He is, and is given, and is possessed, and is of God, let His traducers take refuge in silence. When they ask, Through Whom is He? To what end does He exist? Of what nature is He? We answer that He it is through Whom all things exist, and from Whom are all things, and that He is the Spirit of God, God's gift to the faithful. If our answer displease them, their displeasure must also fall upon the Apostles and the Prophets, who spoke of Him exactly as we have spoken. And furthermore, Father and Son must incur the same displeasure.
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30. The reason, I believe, why certain people continue in ignorance or doubt is that they see this third Name, that of the Holy Spirit, often used to signify the Father or the Son. No objection need be raised to this; whether it be Father or Son, He is Spirit, and He is holy.
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31. But the words of the Gospel, For God is Spirit, need careful examination as to their sense and their purpose. For every saying has an antecedent cause and an aim which must be ascertained by study of the meaning. We must bear this in mind lest, on the strength of the words, God is Spirit, we deny not only the Name, but also the work and the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Lord was speaking with a woman of Samaria, for He had come to be the Redeemer for all mankind, After He had discoursed at length of the living water, and of her five husbands, and of him whom she then had who was not her husband, the woman answered, Lord, I perceive that Thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. The Lord replied, Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. Ye worship that which ye know not; we warship that which we know; far salvation is from the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. For God is Spirit, and they that warship Him must worship in the Spirit and in truth, for God is Spirit. We see that the woman, her mind full of inherited tradition, thought that God must be worshipped either on a mountain, as at Samaria, or in a temple, as at Jerusalem; for Samaria in disobedience to the Law had chosen a site upon the mountain for worship, while the Jews regarded the temple founded by Solomon as the home of their religion, and the prejudices of both confined the all-embracing and illimitable God to the crest of a hill or the vault of a building. God is invisible, incomprehensible, immeasurable; the Lord said that the time had come when God should be worshipped neither on mountain nor in temple. For Spirit cannot be cabined or confined; it is omnipresent in space and time, and under all conditions present in its fulness. Therefore, He said, they are the true worshippers who shall worship in the Spirit and in truth. And these who are to worship God the Spirit in the Spirit shall have the One for the means, the Other for the object, of their reverence: for Each of the Two stands in a different relation to the worshipper. The words, God is Spirit, do not alter the fact that the Holy Spirit has a Name of His own, and that He is the Gift to us. The woman who confined God to hill or temple was told that God contains all things and is self-contained: that He, the Invisible and Incomprehensible must be worshipper by invisible and incomprehensible means. The imparted gift and the object of reverence were clearly shewn when Christ taught that God, being Spirit, must be worshipped in the Spirit, and revealed what freedom and knowledge, what boundless scope for adoration, lay in this worship of God, the Spirit, in the Spirit.
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32. The words of the Apostle are of like purport; For the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. To make his meaning clear he has distinguished between the Spirit, Who exists, and Him Whose Spirit He is Proprietor and Property, He and Iris are different in sense. Thus when he says, The Lord is Spirit he reveals the infinity of God; when He adds, Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, he indicates Him Who belongs to God; for He is the Spirit of the Lord, and Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. The Apostle makes the statement not from any necessity of his own argument, but in the interests of clearness. For the Holy Ghost is everywhere One, enlightening all patriarchs and prophets and the whole company of the Law, inspiring John even in his mother's womb, given in due time to the Apostles and other believers, that they might recognise the truth vouchsafed them.
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33. Let us hear from our Lord's own words what is the work of the Holy Ghost within us. He says, I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. For it is expedient for you that I go: if I go I will send you the Advocate. And again, I will ask the Father and He shall send you another Advocate, that He may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth. He shall guide you into all truth, far He shall not speak from Himself, but whatsoever things He shall hear lie shall speak, and He shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify Me, far He shall take of Mine. These words were spoken to show how multitudes should enter the kingdom of heaven; they contain an assurance of the goodwill of the Giver, and of the mode and terms of the Gift. They tell how, because our feeble minds cannot comprehend the Father or the Son, our faith which finds God's incarnation hard of credence shall be illumined by the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Bond of union and the Source of light.
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34. The next step naturally is to listen to the Apostle's account of the powers and functions of this Gift. He says, As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God. For ye received not the Spirit of bondage again unto fear, but ye received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father; and again, For no man by the Spirit of God saith anathema to Jesus, and no man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit; and he adds, Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, and diversities of ministrations, but the same Lord, and diversities of workings, but the same God, Who worketh all things in all. But to each one is given the enlightenment of the Spirit, to profit withal. Now to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith in the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings in the One Spirit, to another workings of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh the One and same Spirit. Here we have a statement of the purpose and results of the Gift; and I cannot conceive what doubt can remain, after so clear a definition of His Origin, His action and His powers.
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35. Let us therefore make use of this great benefit, and seek for personal experience of this most needful Gift. For the Apostle says, in words I have already cited, But we have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the the things that are given unto us by God. We receive Him, then, that we may know. Faculties of the human body, if denied their exercise, will lie dormant. The eye without light, natural or artificial, cannot fulfil its office; the ear will be ignorant of its function unless some voice or sound be heard; the nostrils unconscious of their purpose unless some scent be breathed. Not that the faculty will be absent, because it is never called into use, but that there will be no experience of its existence. So, too, the soul of man, unless through faith it have appropriated the gift of the Spirit, will have the innate faculty Of apprehending God, but be destitute of the light of knowledge, That Gift, which is in Christ, is One, yet offered, and offered fully, to all; denied to none, and given to each according to the measure of his willingness to receive; its stores the richer, the more earnest the desire to earn them. This gift is with us unto the end of the world, the solace of our waiting, the assurance, by the favours which He bestows, of the hope that shall be ours, the light of our minds, the sun of our souls. This Holy Spirit we must seek and must earn, and then hold fast by faith and obedience to the commands of God.