13A

  
SERMON 13A
 On Holy Epiphany
 

DE SANCTA EPYFANIA
SERMO XIIIa

1. IT is possible to understand what thanks we owe to the Lord Christ because He piles up good things on good things and multiplies our joys by more joys. Until now, see, we have been exulting in the newborn Savior, and now we rejoice in Him as one reborn.’ The festival of His birth is not yet at an end and already the solemnity of His baptism is to be celebrated. He has hardly been born to us and already He is reborn in the sacraments.’ For today—although many years have passed—He was consecrated in the Jordan. The Lord has disposed of affairs in such a way, then, as to join good things to good things, so that at one and the same time He would be brought forth by a virgin and be born by a mystery, and the feasts of the births of the flesh and of baptism would be joined, so that just as we marveled then at His conception from an unsullied virgin, now we might raise our thoughts to Him who has gone down into the pure waters. Thus we shall glory in each deed—that a mother begot a son (and she is chaste) and that water cleansed Christ (and it is holy). Just as after childbirth Mary’s chastity was glorified, so after this baptism the cleansing of the water was verified, except that the water was endowed with something greater than Mary was. For she merited chastity for herself alone, while it also conferred holiness on us; she merited not to sin, while it merited to purge away sins; she cast from herself her own sins, while it remits the sins of others in itself; upon her virginity was conferred, while upon it fruitfulness was bestowed; she gave birth to one (and she is pure), while it brings forth many (and it is a virgin); apart from Christ she knows no son, while with Christ it is the mother of nations.

1. Intellegere possumus, quantam gratiam christo domino debeamus, quia uota uotis adcumulat gaudiis gaudia nostra multiplicat.Ecce enim adhuc exultamus natum saluatorem, et iam eum laetamur renatum; necdum ortus eius est expleta festiuitas, et iam eius baptismatis est celebranda solemnitas; uix natus est hominibus, et iam renatus est sacramentis. Hodie enim - licet post multa annorum curricula - consecratus est in iordane. Ita ergo disposuit dominus, ut uotis uota subiungeret, hoc est ut uno eodem que tempore et ederetur per uirginem et per mysterium gigneretur, esset que natiuitatum continuata festiuitas carnis atque baptismatis, ut quemadmodum tunc mirabamur eum inpolluta matre conceptum, ita et nunc suspiciamus illum pura unda submersum, et gloriemur in utroque facto, quia filium genuit mater et casta est, quia christum unda lauit et sancta est. Nam sicut post partum glorificata est mariae castificatio, ita et post baptismum aquae est purificatio conprobata, nisi quod maiore munere quam maria unda ditata est. Illa enim sibi tantum meruit castitatem, ista etiam nobis contulit sanctitatem; illa meruit ne peccaret, ista ut peccata purgaret; illa propria delicta a se repulit, ista in se aliena condonat; illi est conlata uirginitas, isti donata fecunditas; illa unum procreauit et pura est, ista generat plures et uirgo est; illa praeter christum filium nescit, ista cum christo mater est populorum.

2. Today, then, is another kind of birth of the Savior. We see Him born with the same sort of signs, the same sort of wonders, but with greater mystery. And the Holy Spirit, who was present to Him then in the womb, now pours out upon Him in the torrent. He who then purified Mary for Him now sanctifies the running waters for Him. The Father who then overshadowed in powers now cries out with His voice. And He who then, as if choosing the more prudent course, manifested Himself as a cloud at the nativity now bears witness to the truth; for God says: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him.’ Clearly the second birth is more excellent than the first. For the one brought forth Christ in silence and without a witness, but the other baptized the Lord gloriously with a profession of divinity; from the one Joseph, thought to be the father, absents himself,’ but at the other God the Father, not believed in, manifests Himself; in the one the mother labors under suspicion because in her condition she lacked a father, but in the other she is honored because God attests to His Son.

2.Natalis ergo hodie alter est quodammodo saluatoris. Nam isdem eum signis isdem miraculis uidemus genitum sed maiore mysterio. Denique spiritus sanctus, qui tunc adfuit illi in utero, modo eum circumfulsit in gurgite; qui tunc castificauit illi mariam, modo illi fluenta sanctificat. Pater qui tunc obumbrauit in uirtute, nunc clamat in uoce; et quasi maturiore consilio qui tunc umbram praestitit natiuitati, modo testimonium perhibet ueritati. Ait enim deus: hic est filius meus dilectus, in quo bene conplacui; ipsum audite. Praeclarior plane est secunda quam prima natiuitas. Illa enim sine teste silentio christum genuit, ista cum diuinitatis professione gloriose dominum baptizauit; ab illa se ioseph qui pater putabatur excusat, in hac se deus pater qui non credebatur insinuat; ibi laborat suspicionibus mater quia professioni deerat pater, hic honoratur genetrix quia diuinitas filium protestatur. Ho

More noble, I say, is the second than the first birth, since in the one the father is discovered to be the God of majesty, while in the other he is perceived to be Joseph the workman.’ And although the Lord was both born and baptized through the Holy Spirit, yet what cries from the heavens is more noble than what labors on the earth. Joseph the workman, then, is thought to be the father of the Lord, but God, the true Father of the Savior, is not excluded from this; for He is Himself a workman.’ As a skilled workman He Himself contrived the plan of this world, and like a wise architect He hung heaven from the heights, founded the earth on a base, and bound the seas by His will. He Himself is the workman who, according to a certain measure, casts down the heights of pride and raises up the depths of humility.10 He Himself is the workman who removes whatever is useless in whatwe accomplish and preserves whatever is useful. He Himself is the workman whose axe, John the Baptist warns, is laid to our root, so that the tree which goes beyond the proper length of time will be delivered over to the fire when it has been cut out by the roots,” while whatever keeps to the measure of faith will be pruned for the heavenly workshop.

noratior, inquam, secunda quam prima natiuitas, siquidem pater hic deus maiestatis inscribitur, illic ioseph artifex aestimatur; et licet in utraque dominus per spiritum sanctum et natus sit et baptizatus, tamen honoratior est quae de caelis clamat quam quae in terris laborat. Ioseph ergo faber pater putabatur esse domini, nec ab hoc deus, qui uere est pater saluatoris, excluditur; nam est et ipse faber. Ipse enim artifex huius mundi machinam fabricatus est, tamquam sapiens architectus caelum sublimitate suspendit terram mole fundauit maria calculis alligauit. Ipse est artifex qui ad mensuram quandam superbiae deponit fastigia humilitatis extrema sublimat; ipse est artifex qui in nostris moribus recidit superflua opera utilia quaeque conseruat; ipse est artifex cuius securim ad radicem nostram positam iohannes baptista conminatur, ut arbor quae normam iustam excesserit excisa radicitus tradatur incendio, quae autem mensuram ueritatis habuerit caelesti fabricae deputetur.

Christ Consecrates the Water of Baptism.
See also Serm. 100.3 and Ignatius of Antioch, Ep.Eph 18.

3. Today, then, He is baptized in the Jordan. What sort of baptism is this, when the one who is dipped is purer than the font, and where the water that soaks the one whom it has received is not dirtied but honored with blessings? What sort of baptism is this of the Savior, I ask, in which the streams are made pure more than they purify? For by a new kind of consecration the water does not so much wash Christ as submit to being washed. Since the Savior plunged into the waters, He sanctified the outpouring of every flood and the course of every stream by the mystery of His baptism, so that when someone wishes to be baptized in the name of the Lord it is not so much the waters of this world that cover him but the waters of Christ that purify him. Yet the Savior willed to be baptized for this reason—not that He might cleanse Himself but that He might cleanse the waters for our sake.”

3. Hodie ergo baptizatur in iordane. Quale hoc est baptismum, ubi purior ipso est fonte ille qui mergitur?ubi dum susceptum aqua diluit, non sordibus inficitur sed benedictionibus honoratur? quale, inquam, saluatoris baptismum est, in quo purgantur magis fluenta quam purgant? nouo enim sanctificationis genere christum non tam lauit unda quam lota est. Nam ex quo saluator in aqua mersit, ex eo omnium gurgitum tractus cunctorum fontium uenas mysterio baptismatis consecrauit, ut quisque, ubi in nomine domini baptizari uoluerit, non illum mundi aqua diluat sed christi unda purificet. Saluator autem ideo baptizari uoluit, non ut sibi munditiam adquireret, sed ut nobis fluenta mundaret.

 
 
SERMON 13B
A Sequel (to Sermon 13A On Epiphany)
 

SERMO XIIIb

1. Your holiness’ remembers, brethren, that on the day of the most blessed Epiphany we said that the Lord was baptized in the Jordan, and we further said that He wished to be consecrated by this mystery more for our sake than for His own. It is clear that He accomplished all these things on our account. Why would a consecration have been necessary for His benefit, He who is Himself a sacrament?’ What would the solemnizing of a mystery have profited Him in whom is the fulness of mystery? For fulness is in Him, as the Apostle says: For in Him the whole fulness of divinity dwells bodily.’ And again the Evangelist says: From His fulness we have all received! Thus He in whom the fulness of divinity existed did not lack for anything so as to require completion by the mysteries of the sacraments, but He willed to go through the mystery not that He Himself might attain perfection but that the fulness of the mystery might profit us. For this reason, when John the Baptist resists Him and says: I ought to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? the Lord tells him: Let it be so for now, for thus it behooves us to fulfil all righteousness.’ To fulfil, he says, all righteousness. When the Lord is baptized, then, righteousness does not justify Christ, but righteousness is itself made holy by Christ, and unfulfilled virtue is fulfilled by Him in whom is the fulness of virtues. Therefore John says: I ought to be baptized by you. He bears witness to the Lord’s not having been baptized for His own sake because John demands that he be baptized before the Lord is baptized by him. In saying this he shows that there is a greater grace in the mystery of the Lord than there is in the master of the mystery. For how would he have been able to bestow consecration on Him from whom he himself desired to receive sanctification? The master of the mystery was inferior in his merits to the disciple in His holiness. For in comparison to Christ the master is inexpert, righteousness unfulfilled, and the water sullied. But when the Lord is baptized, by His blessing the master is perfected, righteousness is fulfilled, and the water is purged.

Retinet uestra sanctitas, fratres, quod in die beatissimae epyfaniae diximus in iordane dominum baptizatum, et prosecuti sumus quod nostri magis causa quam sui uoluerit hoc mysterio consecrari. Nostri plane causa haec uniuersa perfecit. Nam illi ad quem profectum necessaria consecratio, qui ipse est sacramentum? ad quem usum in eo mysterii solemnitas, in quo est plenitudo mysterii? in ipso enim est plenitudo, sicut ait apostolus: quoniam in ipso habitat omnis plenitudo diuinitatis corporaliter; et iterum euangelista: de plenitudine eius omnes accepimus. Ergo in quo plenitudo diuinitatis erat non indigebat, ut sacramentorum mysteriis impleretur, sed ideo implere mysterium uoluit, non ut ipse profectum caperet, sed ut nobis mysterii plenitudo proficeret. Denique iohanni baptistae renitenti et dicenti: ego a te debeo baptizari, et tu uenis ad me? ait illi dominus: sine modo, sic enim oportet nos inplere omnem iustitiam. Inplere, inquit, omnem iustitiam. Cum ergo baptizatur dominus, non iustitia iustificat christum, sed ipsa iustitia sanctificatur a christo; et semiplena uirtus ab eo inpletur cui inest plenitudo uirtutum. Ait igitur iohannes: ego a te debeo baptizari. Contestat ergo dominum non sui causa esse baptizatum, cum antequam baptizaretur ab eo, se magis baptizari iohannes expostulat. Demonstrat enim hoc dicendo maiorem gratiam esse in mysterio domini quam esse in magistro mysterii. Quid enim illi consecrationis poterat tradere, a quo sanctificationem accipere ipse optabat? inferior enim erat magister meritis quam discipulus sanctitate. Christi enim conparatione et magister inperitus et iustitiam semiplena et aqua est turbulenta. At ubi baptizatur dominus, benedictione eius et magister proficit et iustitia inpletur et unda purgatur.

2. Although it had bet.n-harsh and cold, the water is purged and endowed with the warmth of the Lord’s blessing, so that what had removed material stains a little before now cleanses the spiritual stains of souls.’ Nor should we be surprised that we speak of water, which is something of bodily substance, as cleansing the soul. There is no doubt that it comes and penetrates into all that is secret in the conscience. For although it is already subtle and fine, yet, having become even more subtle by Christ’s blessing, it passes through the hidden tissues of life to the recesses of the soul like a spiritual dew. For the current of blessings is more subtle than the flow of waters. Hence we have also said that in the baptism of the Savior the blessing which flowed down like a spiritual stream touched the outpouring of every flood and the course of every stream. When Christ stood in the Jordan the flood of waters moved wondrously, but the flood of blessings also flowed. In the one the river’s stream was borne more violently, while in the other the most pure font of the Savior diffused itself. And in a certain wonderful way the consecration of that baptism went back to the source of the Jordan, and the flow of blessings was carried in the opposite direction to the flow of the waters, which is the reason, I think, that David said: The Jordan turned back.’ For in the baptism of Christ it was not the waters of the Jordan that turned back but the grace of the sacrament,’ and it returned to the source of its own being in blessing rather than in substance, and inasmuch as the grace of consecration was dispersed to every stream, it may be seen that its own onrush was called back to the beginning of its flow.10

2. Purgata est enim unda, quae cum esset uilis et frigida, benedictionis dominicae calore ditata est, ita ut quae uix antea mundanas rerum maculas diluerit, nunc spiritales purificat maculas animarum. Nec miremini quod aquam, hoc est substantiam corporalem, ad purificandam animam dicimus peruenire. Peruenit plane, penetrat conscientiae uniuersa latibula. Quamuis enim ipsa subtilis et tenuis, benedictione tamen christi facta subtilior per occultas uitae causas ad secreta animae spiritali rore pertransit. Subtilior enim est benedictionum cursus quam aquarum meatus. Vnde et diximus quod in saluatoris baptismate benedictio, quae defluxit tamquam fluuius spiritalis, omnium gurgitum tractus et cunctorum fontium uenas infecerit. Mirum enim in modum christo in iordane posito aquarum quidem flumina labebantur, sed et benedictionum fluenta currebant; inde aluei gurges turbidior ferebatur, hinc fons saluatoris purissimus emanabat; et stupore quodam retrorsum ad iordanis originem consecratio baptismatis ascendebat, et contra quarum fluuium benedictionum fluuius ferebatur, unde dauid sanctum arbitror dixisse: iordanes conuersus est retrorsum. In baptismate enim christi retrorsum iordanes non aquis conuersus est sed sacramentis, et in naturae sui originem benedictione magis quam substantia remeauit. Dum enim consecrationis gratia per eum cunctis fontibus circumfertur, uide[a]tur cursum proprium ad uenarum exordium reuocasse.

  
SERMON 13
 On the Grace of Baptism
 

SERMO XIII
DE GRATIA BAPTISMI1

1. Beloved brethren—I speak to you catechumens—because it is clear (as we showed a few days ago) that Jesus Christ was not baptized for His own sake but for ours, we ought to take up the grace of His baptism in all haste and draw the blessing of consecration from the river Jordan, which He blessed, so that our sins might be drowned in the water in which His holiness was submerged. Thus the same water that swirled about the Lord might also cleanse His servants, the holy stream profiting us from Christ’s venerable washing to the ex-tent that it can, and through the same contact and mystery by which it borrowed a blessing from the Savior might purify us with a more divine warmth, giving back to Christians the grace that it received from Christ.

. Quia constat, sicut ante dies prosecuti sumus, iesum christum non sui causa baptizatum esse sed nostri, debemus, fratres dilectissimi - uobis catecuminis loquor -, gratiam baptismatis eius omni festinatione suscipere et de fonte iordanis, quem ille benedixit, benedictionem consecrationis haurire, ut in eum gurgitem in quem illius sanctitas mersit nostra peccata mergantur; scilicet ut eadem aqua quae dominum circumdedit et seruulos circumpurget, quatenus ex uenerabili christi lauacro nobis unda sancta proficiat, et isdem uestigiis atque mysteriis quibus benedictionem a saluatore est mutuata nos fotu beatiore purificet, gratiam que quam a christo suscepit in christianos refundat.

2. Therefore, brethren, we must be dipped in the same stream as Christ was so as to be able to be what Christ was. Let me say this without detriment to the faith: although both baptisms are the Lord’s, nonetheless I think that the baptism by which we are washed is more grace-filled than the baptism by which the Savior was baptized. For the former is celebrated by Christ, while the latter was celebrated by John; in the one the master asks to be excused, while in the other the Savior extends an invitation to us; in the one righteousness is incomplete, while in the other the Trinity is complete; to the one the holy one comes and departs holy, while to the other a sinner comes and leaves holy; in the one a blessing is conferred through the mysteries, while in the other sins are absolved by a mystery.

2. Ergo, fratres, tingui debemus eodem fonte quo christus, ut possimus esse quod christus.Nam quod salua fide dixerim: licet baptismum utrumque sit domini, tamen gratius puto hoc baptismum esse quo nos abluimur quam illud quo saluator est baptizatus. Hoc enim celebratur per christum, illud celebratum est per iohannem; in illo se magister excusat, in isto nos saluator inuitat; in illo iustitia semiplena, in isto trinitas est perfecta; ad illud sanctus uenit sanctus egressus est, ad istud peccator uenit et sanctus abscedit; in illo benedictio confertur mysteriis, in isto per mysterium delicta donantur.

We must therefore,brethren, be baptized by the same stream as the Savior was. But in order to be dipped in the same water, we do not require the regions of the East nor the river in Jewish lands, for now Christ is everywhere and the Jordan is everywhere. The same consecration that blessed the rivers of the East sanctifies the waters of the West. Thus even if perchance a river should have some other name in this world, there is in it nonetheless the mystery of the Jordan.’

Baptizari ergo debemus, fratres, eodem gurgite quo saluator. Sed ut eodem fonte mergamur, non nobis orientalis petenda regio non fluuius terrae iudaicae; ubique enim nunc christus ubique iordanes est. Eadem consecratio quae orientis flumina benedixit occidentis fluenta sanctificat. Vnde etsi nomen forte fluuio aliud sit de saeculo, inest tamen illi mysterium de iordane.

3. What was accomplished then is accomplished now by the same sacraments,’ except that there is a greater grace. For then we saw the Trinity with bodily eyes, but now we contemplate the same Trinity with the eyes of faith; then the human face scarcely gazed upon Christ, but now the human mind embraces Him; then the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove poured over a man, but now by the same power of divinity He is poured within a man; then the Father came to us on account of His Son by a distant voice, but now He and His Son both come down upon us. That grace is fuller, therefore, wherein God does not descend to human beings under an assumed form but deigns to descend to His children in His own substance. For in the former He wishes, as it were, to draw unbelievers to faith by visible signs, while in the latter He desires to bestow grace on believers by a spiritual power. It is a greater grace, then, to see God as God than to see Him in such a way that you still seek Him. The one is the perfect Trinity, the other the still inscrutable Divinity. It is a greater grace, then, to know God by truth itself than to look upon Him in an assumed form.

3. Denique isdem sacramentis res agitur quibus et tunc gesta est, nisi quod gratia pleniore. Tunc enim trinitatem carnalibus oculis uidimus, modo eandem trinitatem fidei oculis contemplamur; tunc christum uix humanus uultus aspexit, nunc eundem mens humana conplectitur; tunc spiritus sanctus uelut columbae specie hominem circumfudit, modo se in interiora hominis ipsa uirtute diuinitatis infundit; tunc pater ad nos propter filium longo auditu uocis aduenit, modo autem descendit ad nos pariter ipse cum filio. Plenior ergo gratia est, ubi deus non assumpta specie descendit ad homines, sed propria substantia descendere dignatur ad filios.Ibi enim tamquam incredulis fidem uult signis corporalibus persuadere, hic tamquam fidelibus gratiam spiritali uirtute conferre. Plenioris ergo gratiae est deum uidere sicut est deus, quam uidere eum sic ut requiras eum. Hic est perfecta trinitas, ibi adhuc scrutanda diuinitas. Plenior igitur est gratia deum propria ueritate cognoscere, quam in adsumpta specie suspicari.

4. Let us, therefore, do for ourselves what we see that the Lord has done for us. Let us do for ourselves what John desired might be done for him. If he who was a prophet, teacher, and saint yearned for the Savior’s baptism, how much more ought we sinners, poor and ignorant, to pray for this grace! See the Savior’s mercy: what the prophet begs for but does not merit to receive is freely offered to us! We should see why it was that John did not receive the baptism from Christ that he had asked for. For when he asks, the Lord says to him: Let it be so for now, for thus it behooves us to fulfil all righteousness.’ Now we know that John the Baptist was a type of the law. Therefore it was proper that he should baptize the Lord, so that as the Savior was born from the Jews according to the flesh’ the Gospel might also be born from the law according to the Spirit, and thus it might receive itsconsecration whence it derived its origin. Therefore this is what he said: For thus it behooves us to fulfil all righteousness.’ And so it was proper that He who had ordained the commandments of the law should Himself fulfil them, as He says elsewhere: I have not come to destroy the law but to fulfil it.’

4. Faciamus ergo ipsi pro nobis, quod dominum uidemus fecisse pro nobis! faciamus circa nos, quod fieri circa se iohannes optauit! si ille qui erat propheta magister et sanctus saluatoris baptismum concupiuit, quanto magis nos peccatores humiles et ignari gratiam hanc debemus ambire! videte misericordiam saluatoris: hoc nobis sponte defertur, quod propheta postulans non meretur accipere! quid autem causae sit, quod iohannes petierit christi baptismum nec acceperit, debemus aduertere. Ait enim illi dominus postulanti: sine modo; sic enim decet nos implere omnem iustitiam. Scimus autem quod iohannes baptista typum legis gerebat. Iustum ergo erat, ut ipse baptizaret dominum, scilicet ut quemadmodum secundum carnem de iudaeis saluator est genitus, ita et secundum spiritum de lege euangelium nasceretur; ut unde successionem ducebat originis, exinde et traditionem consecrationis acciperet. Hoc est igitur quod ait: sic enim decet nos implere omnem iustitiam. Iustum enim erat, ut mandata legis, quae ipse condiderat, ipse conpleret, sicut alibi ait: non ueni legem soluere sed adimplere.

 
SERMON 64
ON EPIPHANY
 

SERMO LXIV DE EPYFANIA

1. There are very many who, on this holy day of Epiphany, commemorate the marvelous deeds enacted by the Lord at the time when, upon having been importuned at a wedding feast, He changed the substance of water into the appearance of wine and, by His blessing, turned spring water to a better use.’ The servants who had drawn water from the wells discovered wine in the jugs and, by a profitable loss, what they had filled them with disappeared and they found what had not been there. With this marvelous sign the power of His divinity was made manifest for the first time.

1. Plerique in hac sancta epyfaniae die hactenus a domino mirabilia facta esse conmemorant, ut rogatus ad nuptias aquae substantiam in uini speciem conmutaret, ac liquorem fontium in meliorem usum sui benedictione transferret; ministros haurisse aquam de puteis uinum in hydriis inuenisse, atque utiliore dispendio perdidisse quod impleuerant reperisse quod deerat; tunc que primum hoc mirabili signo diuinitatis suae declarasse uirtutem.

Some, however, refer on this holy day to His having been baptized by John in the Jordan.’ In the grace of His washing, God the Father was present in voice, and the Holy Spirit came down. Nor is it remarkable if the mystery of the Trinity was not absent at the Lord’s washing, since the sacrament of the Trinity4 makes our washing complete. For the Lord had to demonstrate first in Himself what He would afterwards demand of the human race, since He accomplished everything not for His own sake but for our salvation. Or did He wish to be baptized on his own account even when He had no sin? As the prophet says: He did no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth.’ But [He was baptized]’ for our sake—we who, subject to punishment because of our many crimes and sins, needed to be cleansed in Christ’s baptism. And therefore the Lord came to the washing not so that He Himself might be purified by the waters but so that the streams of waters might purify us, for He went down into the waters, thereby destroying the sins of all believers. But it was necessary that He who bore the sins of all should destroy the sins of all, as the Evangelist says: This is the lamb of God, this is the one who takes away the sins of the world.’ In a wonderful way, then, one man goes down into the waters and the salvation of all is restored.

Nonnulli autem in hac sancta die ab iohanne baptizatum eum in iordane testantur, atque in lauacri eius gratia interfuisse loquendo deum patrem sanctum quoque spiritum descendisse. Nec mirum si in domini lauacro mysterium non defuit trinitatis, cum nostrum lauacrum trinitatis conpleat sacramentum. Neque enim poterat dominus non primum circa se exhibere quod erat postea humano generi praecepturus, cum omnia non sui causa sed nostrae gratia salutis efficeret. Aut numquid propter se baptizari uoluit, cum peccatum non haberet, sicut dicit propheta: qui peccatum non fecit, nec dolus inuentus est in ore eius? sed propter nos utique, qui multorum criminum peccatis obnoxii opus habebamus, ut in christi baptismo purgaremur; atque ideo uenit dominus ad lauacrum, non ut purificetur ipse aquis, sed ut nobis aquarum fluenta purificet.Ex quo enim ille in aquis mersit, ex eo omnium credentium peccata deleuit. Necesse est autem ut omnium peccata deleuerit, qui omnium peccata suscepit, sicut ait euangelista: hic est agnus dei, hic est qui tollit peccata mundi. Mirum ergo in modum unus mergitur et salus omnium reparatur.

2. God the Father is present, then, when the Lord is baptized, and the Holy Spirit is present. See the kindness of the Savior because of which, in His suffering, He submitted Himself all alone to outrages: alone in His washing He did not seek grace, alone He does not wish to partake of glory. He is present, therefore, as I have said; the Father is present and also the Holy Spirit. And inasmuch as God cannot be seen, the Spirit descended as a dove and the Father as a voice. And this manifestation of the Savior was only necessary to build up the faith of human beings, for our faith depends on nothing but hearing and seeing; consequently the Spirit submits Himself to our eyes as a dove and the Father gives Himself over to our ears in a voice.

2. Adest ergo deus pater, cum baptizatur dominus, adest spiritus sanctus. Videte saluatoris beneuolentiam, qua solus se in passione contumeliis subdidit, in lauacro solus gratiam non quaesiuit, solus non uult particeps esse gloriae! adest ergo, sicut dixi, pater adest et spiritus sanctus; et quia deus uideri non potest, spiritus in columba pater descendit in uoce; quodque solum ad adstruendam fidem hominibus necessarium erat + exhibere + saluatorem. Fides enim nostra nisi auditu non constat et uisu; ideo se spiritus in columba oculis subdit, pater in uoce se auribus subministrat.

Now it would not have been necessary for these things to happen except for the sake of our belief; the Father and the Spirit, as God unseen, could have come down upon the Word, the Son, by an unseen descent. For the sake of our faith, then, when heaven was opened, the Spirit came down to Christ, the Father to the Son, a voice to the Word. For Christ is the Word, of whom it is written: In the beginning was the Word.’ Rightly, I say, is the Father called a voice and the Son the Word, because a word comes only from a voice. Voice and Word belong together, then, and in mysterious conjunction they provide for human salvation.

Nam nisi propter nostram credulitatem ista fieri oportuisset, potuit pater et spiritus tamquam inuisibilis deus ad uerbum filium inuisibili prolapsione descendere. Igitur propter nostram fidem aperto caelo spiritus ad christum pater ad filium uox descendit ad uerbum. Verbum enim christus est, de quo scribitur: in principio erat uerbum.Bene, inquam, pater uox et filius uerbum dicitur, quia uerbum nonnisi de uoce procedit. Conueniunt itaque sibi uox et uerbum, et saluti hominum prouident societate mysterii.

But let us see why the Holy Spirit came upon Christ in the form of a dove. Is there some similarity between the dove and the Lord, as there is between the voice and the Word? Clearly there is no small similarity, for I would also call the Lord Himself a dove, since He is quick, gentle, and simple. He is a dove because He commands His holy ones to be as doves when He says: Be simple as doves.’ But the prophet speaks of what Christ the dove is when, in His person, he describes His return to heaven after His suffering: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I shall fly away and be at rest?10 When Christ the Lord, therefore, initiated the sacraments of the Church a dove came down from heaven. I understand the mystery and I recognize the sacrament. For the very dove that once hastened to Noah’s ark in the flood” now comes to Christ’s Church in baptism. Then it announced safety to the one with an olive branch, now it bestows eternity on the other with a token of divinity; then it bore a sign of peace in its mouth, now it pours out peace itself—Christ, in His own substance.

Qua autem ratione spiritus sanctus ad christum in specie columbae descenderit, uideamus; utrum sit aliqua similitudo columbae uel domini, sicut est uocis et uerbi! est plane non parua. Columbam enim etiam ipsum dixerim dominum, quia est alacer mitis et simplex. Columba est, quia sanctos suos esse praecepit ut columbas dicens: estote simplices ut columbae. Quod autem columba christus sit, propheta dicit ex persona ipsius describens post passionem reditum eius ad caelum: quis dabit mihi pinnas sicut columbae et uolabo et requiescam? cum ergo christus dominus initiaret ecclesiae sacramenta, e caelo superuenit columba. Intellego mysterium agnosco etiam sacramentum. Columba enim ipsa est, quae nunc ad ecclesiam christi in baptismo uenit, quae quondam ad arcam noe in diluuio properauit; tunc illi securitatem adnuntians oliuae ramo, modo huic aeternitatem conferens diuinitatis indicio; tunc signum pacis ore adferens, modo ipsam pacem christum sui substantia superfundens.

3. In the Jordan, then, the Lord is baptized. The Scripture re-counts that many marvelous deeds were frequently done in this river. It says, among other things: And the Jordan turned back.” But I think that what happened when the Lord Jesus Christ was there was moremarvelous. For in the past the waters turned back, but now sins are turned back; and just as the surging river left its bed then, so also now the surge of sins withdraws from a person in error. I think that this already happened in the time of the prophet Elijah. For just as Elijah made a division of waters in the Jordan,” so also Christ the Lord worked a separation of sins in the same Jordan: the one commanded the waters to stand still, the other sins. And just as under Elijah the waters sought the primordial sources from which they had come, so also under Christ the Lord human beings have turned back to their beginning, from which they had sprung in infancy.

2. In iordane igitur baptizatur dominus. Multa mirabilia in hoc flumine saepius facta esse scriptura conmemorat inter cetera dicens: et iordanes conuersus est retrorsum. Puto autem esse mirabilius quod domino iesu christo ibi posito factum est. Ante enim retrorsum aquae conuersae fuerant, modo retrorsum peccata conuersa sunt; et sicut tunc impetus fluminis alueum sui cursus perdidit, ita et nunc impetus peccatorum hominem sui erroris amisit. Quod quidem in propheta helia iam illo in tempore factum puto. Sicut enim helias in iordane diuisionem fecit undarum, ita et christus dominus in eodem iordane separationem operatus est peccatorum; ille stare fluenta praecepit hic crimina; et sicut sub helia fluctus primordia fontium, de quibus exierant, petiuerunt, ita et sub christo domino homines ad originem suam, de qua in infantia fuerant exorsi, sunt reuersi.

 
SERMON 65
Given after Epiphany
 

SERMO LXV DICTUM POST EPYFANIA

1. I believe that my preaching on the holy day of Epiphany reached all of you, brethren, especially you catechumens. In it we spoke to those who assert that water was changed into wine then’ and also to the many who testify that the Lord was baptized in the Jordan on that day.’ Although it is believed by different people that only one of these took place, nonetheless I hold that both took place and that one is a sign of the other, for both took place. For when the Lord was baptized He instituted the mystery of washing and also, by contact with the Divinity,’ changed the human race—brackish water, as it were—into an eternal substance. Likewise, when He turned the jars full of spring water into wine He did both things: He presented something far better to the wedding feast and also showed that, by the washing, the bodies of human beings are to be filled with the substance of the Holy Spirit. The Lord declared this in clearer fashion elsewhere when He said that new wine was to be stored in new skins,’ for in the newness of the skins the purity of the washing is signified, and in the wine the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Ad omnes uos, fratres, praedicationem meam in die sancta epyphaniae peruenisse credo, et ad uos praecipue cathecuminos, in qua descripsimus tunc nonnullis adserentibus aquam in uinum fuisse conuersam, plerisque autem testantibus illa die in iordane dominum baptizatum. Quod licet a diuersis alterutrum factum esse credatur, ego tamen utrumque factum esse confirmo, et aliud signum de alio contineri. Vtrumque enim factum est.Nam cum baptizatus est dominus, et mysterium lauacri instituit et humanum genus uelut uilem aquam in aeternam substantiam diuinitatis sapore conuertit. Similiter et cum hydrias plenas liquore fontium uertit in uinum, utrumque operatus est, et speciem magis necessariam nuptiis praestitit et demonstrauit corpora hominum per lauacrum spiritus sancti replenda esse substantia. Quod alibi ipse dominus manifestius declarauit dicens in utres nouos uinum nouum esse condendum. In nouitate enim utrium lauacri puritas spiritus sancti gratia significatur in uino.

2. Therefore it behooved you catechumens to have listened to this quite closely. There is greater need that your understanding, which is now as chilly as water because of ignorance of the Trinity, should become as warm as wine with a knowledge of the mystery, and that the brackish and weak liquid of your souls may be decanted into a precious and strong grace. Thus, instead of wine we may taste what is good and be redolent of what is sweet, and hence we can say, in the words of the Apostle: For we are the good odor of Christ to God.° For a catechumen is like water, cold and pale, before he is baptized, but a believer is strong and red like wine. A catechumen, I say, is like water, having no taste or smell, valueless, useless, unpleasant to drink, and unable to keep.’ For just as water spoils and smells when it is kept a long time and has deteriorated within itself, so also a catechumen becomes worthless and goes to ruin when he remains a catechumen a long time, for he deteriorates within himself.’ As the Lord says: Unless one is born again from water and the Holy Spirit he will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ The one who does not enter into the kingdom, however, necessarily remains in hell. But rightly is the faithful compared to wine, for just as every part of the whole creation goes to ruin as it gets older and only wine improves with age, so, while all are perishing of old age from throughout the human race, only the Christian improves with age. And just as wine acquires a pleasant savor and a sweet odor as its bitterness diminishes from one day to the next, so also the Christian takes upon himself the wisdom of the Divinity and the agreeable aroma of the Trinity as the bitterness of his sins diminishes with the passing of time.

2, Igitur uos cathecuminos diligentius oportuit hoc audisse, quibus magis est necessarium, ut sensus uester, qui ignorantia trinitatis ut aqua nunc friget, agnitione mysterii incalescat ut uinum, et animarum uestrarum liquor uilis et tenuis in praetiosam et fortem gratiam transfundatur; ut uini uice sapiamus quod bonum est redoleamus quod suaue est et possimus dicere illud apostoli: quoniam christi bonus odor sumus deo. Cathecuminus enim priusquam baptizetur sicut aqua iacet riget et pallet, fidelis autem sicut uinum fortis et rubeus est. Cathecuminus, inquam, sicut aqua nullius saporis nullius odoris nullius est praetii, nec sufficiens ad usum nec delectabilis ad reficiendum nec tolerabilis ad seruandum. Nam sicut aqua cum seruatur diutius, in deterius uersa intra semet putrescit et faetet, ita et cathecuminus cum diutius cathecuminus permanet, in deterius conuersus intra semet uilescit et deperit. Ait enim dominus: nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et spiritu sancto, non intrabit in regnum caelorum.Qui autem non intrat in regnum necessario remanet in infernum. Recte autem uino conparatur fidelis. Sicut enim ex cunctarum creaturarum substantia omnis res uetustate deperit solum uinum proficit uetustate, ita et ex omni genere hominum cunctis antiquitate pereuntibus solus christianus proficit uetustate. Et sicut uinum in dies singulos asperitatem suam decoquens saporis dulcedinem suauitatem odoris adquirit, ita et christianus successu temporis delictorum suorum asperitatem decoquens sapientiam sibi diuinitatis beneolentiam trinitatis adsumit.

3. On this holy day, then, the Lord was baptized. See how well He ordained that He should be born on His birthday and reborn on the Epiphany, so that the vows” of human salvation might not be too distant from Him and that we might constantly give eternal thanks to the Savior. Then our vows were also solemnized, when the Church was united to Christ, as John says: The one who has the bride is the bridegroom.’ Because of this marriage, therefore, it behooves us to dance, for David, at once king and prophet, is also said to have danced before the ark of the covenant with much singing. In high rejoicing he broke into dancing, for in the Spirit he foresaw that through Mary, born of his own line, the Church was to be joined in Christ’s chamber; about this he says: And He, like a bridegroom, came forth from His chamber.” Thus he sang more than the other prophetic authors because, gladder than the rest of them, by these joys he united those coming after him in marriage. And to his own vows he invited, with more than customary charm, all the nations,and he taught us what we ought to do at this wedding feast, inasmuch as, before the wedding feast, he rejoiced in utter joy.

3. Ergo in hac sancta die baptizatus est dominus. Videte quam bene ordinauerit, ut et in natali suo natus sit et in epyphania sit renatus, ut nec longe a se salutis humanae uota distarent et aeternas saluatori iugiter gratias ageremus! tunc et uota nostra celebrata sunt, quo christo ecclesia copulata est, sicut ait iohannes: qui habet sponsam sponsus est. Propter has ergo nuptias saltare nos conuenit, siquidem et dauid rex pariter et propheta, cum multa cecinerit, et ante arcam saltasse dicatur. Elatus enim gaudio in saltationem prorupit; praeuidebat enim in spiritu per mariam de germine suo ecclesiam christi thalamo sociandam, de quo ait: et ipse tamquam sponsus procedit e thalamo suo. Atque ideo prae ceteris prophetarum auctoribus plus cantauit, quia laetior cunctis per haec gaudia suos posteros coniugabat; et ad propria uota omnes gentes solito dulcius inuitabat nos que docuit, quid ipsis facere deberemus in nuptiis, cum ille ante nuptias tota exultatione laetatus sit.

 
SERMON 100
On Holy Epiphany
 

SERMO C
DE SANCTA EPYFANIA

1. The Gospel mentions, as we have just heard read, that the Lord came to the Jordan for the sake of baptism and that He wished to be consecrated by the heavenly mysteries in that same river.’ We should not be astonished that the Lord and master of baptism itself did this, since He said: Whoever does thus and teaches thus shall be called very great in the kingdom of heaven.’ He wished, therefore, to do first what He ordered should be done by all, so that the good teacher4 would not so much suggest His teaching in words as carry it out in actions and would strengthen our faith in deed and understanding alike. That’ all this happened today is clear because we can gather its truth from reason itself. For reason demands that after the day of the Lord’s birth—during the same season, despite the intervening years—this feast should follow, which feast should itself also, I think, be called a birthday. For then He was born to human beings, but on this day He was reborn in the sacraments;6 then He was brought forth by a virgin, but on this day He was generated by a mystery. For the Lord arranged that the festivals of human beings should not be too far separated from one another. Thus in a single season those who rejoiced over the newborn on earth might exult in the one sanctified from heaven, and those who possessed the virgin’s offspring through the angels’ proclamation might hold fast the Son of God through the heavens’ witness, so that people would be certain that He whom the virgin bore and the Divinity acknowledged was the Son of God. Extraordinary births merit extraordinary attentions: in the one, when He is born as a man, Mary His mother nourishes Him at her breast; in the other, when He is begotten in mystery, God His Father overshadows Him with His voice, saying: For this is my Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him.’ The mother, then, caresses the tender child in her bosom, the Father ministers to His loving Son with His testimony; the mother, I say, holds Him up to be adored by the Magi,’ the Father manifests Him to be worshiped by the Gentiles.

Euangelica scriptura refert, sicut lectum nuper audiuimus, dominum ad iordanem baptismi causa uenisse, et in eodem flumine mysteriis se caelestibus consecrari uoluisse.Quod mirari non debemus, cur hoc baptismatis ipsius dominus fecerit et magister, quia ipse ait: qui fecerit sic et docuerit, maximus uocabitur in regno caelorum. Facere igitur prius uoluit quod faciendum omnibus imperabat, ut bonus magister doctrinam suam non tam uerbis insinuaret quam actibus exerceret, et ad fidem nos gestu pariter confirmaret et sensu. Hoc autem totum hodierna die gestum esse manifestum est, quod ita uerum esse ipsa possumus colligere ratione. Ratio enim exigit, ut post diem natalis dominici - licet interpositis annis eodem autem tempore haec - festiuitas sequeretur, quam et ipsam festiuitatem natalem appellandam puto. Tunc enim natus hominibus, hodie renatus est sacramentis; tunc per uirginem editus, hodie per mysterium generatus. Ita enim disposuit dominus non longe inter se hominum uota distare, ut in uno tempore quem genitum gratulabantur in terra, sanctificatum laetarentur e caelis; ut qui partum uirginis angelis adnuntiantibus possidebant, dei filium caelis testantibus retinerent, certi que essent homines quia ipse esset filius dei, quem uirgo pepererat diuinitas agnoscebat. Noui enim partus noua merentur obsequia. Ibi cum secundum hominem nascitur, mater eum maria sinu circumfouet, hic cum secundum mysterium gignitur, pater eum deus uoce complectitur, ait enim: hic est enim filius meus, in quo bene conplacui; ipsum audite. Mater ergo partui molli blanditur gremio, pater filio pio testimonio famulatur; mater, inquam, eum adorandum magis ingerit, pater colendum gentibus manifestat. Mater ergo partui molli blanditur gremio, pater filio pio testimonio famulatur; mater, inquam, eum adorandum magis ingerit, pater colendum gentibus manifestat.

2. He is held, then, by His mother at her breast when He is born, but His Father unceasingly extends the warmth of His breast to Him, for we read that He always reposes in the Father’s bosom, as the Evangelist says: No one has ever seen God except the only-begotten Son, who is in the Father’s bosom.’ Willingly, therefore, does the Lord repose in the bosom of the saints—which is why He chose the breast of John the Evangelist10—so that they might rest in Him.” But the bosom upon which Christ finds rest is not furnished by the corporeal breast nor is it covered with splendid clothing, but it is composed of the practice of the heavenly virtues. In John the Evangelist the bosom for Christ was faith, in God His Father it is divinity, and in Mary His mother virginity. Where there is a dwelling for the virtues, there is a bosom for Christ; where He finds the lodging of the heavenly commandments, there He lays His head.12 Therefore He says to sinners and to the faithless: The foxes have holes and the birds of heaven have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’ 3

2. Sinu igitur retinetur a matre cum nascitur, sed pater ei sinus sui fotum iugiter subministrat. Legimus enim eum sine intermissione in patris gremio quiescentem dicente euangelista: deum nemo uidit umquam nisi unigenitus filius, qui est in sinu patris. Libenter ergo in sinu sanctorum quiescit dominus, unde et iohannis euangelistae sinum, ut in eo accumberet, libenter elegit. Sinus autem in quo christus requiescit non corporis gremio praeparatur, non uestimentorum ambitione conponitur, sed caelestium uirtutum operatione colligitur. Nam christi sinus erat in iohanne euangelista fides in deo patre diuinitas in maria matre uirginitas. Ibi sinus christi est, ubi habitaculum est uirtutum; ibi reclinat caput suum, ubi domicilium caelestium inuenit praeceptorum. Nam ideo peccatoribus et infidelibus dicit: vulpes foueas habent et uolucres caeli nidos, filius autem hominis non habet ubi caput suum reclinet.

Christ Consecrates the Baptismal water: see also Sermon 13A.3 and: Ignatuis of Antioch, Ep. Eph 17.

 Christ underwent baptism first, then, so that after Him the Christian people might confidently follow. I understand that this is a mystery, for thus also the pillar of fire went first through the Red Sea so that the children of Israel might follow on a tranquil path, and it went through the waters first in order to prepare the way for those coming after it.” What took place, as the Apostle says, was the mystery of baptism.16 Clearly this was a kind of baptism, where a cloud covered the people and water carried them. But the same Christ the Lord who did all these things now goes through baptism before the Christian people in the pillar of His body—He who at that time went through the sea before the children of Israel in the pillar of fire.” This, I say, is the column which at that time offered light to the eyes of those who followed and now ministers light to the hearts of those who believe, which then made firm a watery path in the waves and now strengthens the traces of faith in the washing.

  Praecedit ergo christus per baptismum, ut christiani post eum confidenter populi subsequantur. Intellego [ego] mysterium: ita enim et columna ignis praecessit per mare rubrum, ut intrepidum iter israhel filii sequerentur; et ipsa prior per aquas gressa est, ut uenientibus post se uiandi semitam praepararet. Quod factum, sicut apostolus dicit, mysterium baptismi fuit. Baptismum plane quodammodo fuit, ubi homines nubes operiebat unda portabat. Sed haec omnia operatus est christus dominus idem qui et modo, qui sicut tunc per mare filios israhel in ignis columna praecessit, ita nunc per baptismum christianos populos in corporis sui columna praecedit. Ipsa, inquam est columna quae tunc lumen sequentium oculis praestitit, modo lucem credentium cordibus subministrat; tunc in fluctibus undarum solidauit semitam, modo in lauacro fidei uestigia corroborat.

 By which faith — as with the children of Israel — one who walks fearlessly will not fear the pursuing Egyptian[s](Cf. Exod. 14.5-9).

Per quam fidem - sicut filii israhel - qui intrepidus ambulauerit, persecutorem aegyptium non timebit.