On the Mysteries

5. Renouncing the Devil and Entering the Sanctuary

After these things the holy of holies has been unlocked to you, you have entered the sanctuary of regeneration: recall what you were asked, recognize what you answered. You renounced the devil and his works, the world and its luxury and its pleasures. Your voice is held, not in the tomb of the dead, but in the book of the living.

6. The Priest's Office as an Angel of God

There you saw a levite, you saw a priest, you saw a high priest. Do not consider the shapes of bodies, but the grace of the mysteries. In the presence of angels you spoke, as it is written: For the lips of the priest keep knowledge, and they seek the law at his mouth; because he is the angel of the Lord Almighty (Malachi 2:7). There is no room for deceiving, no room for denying: it is an angel who proclaims the kingdom of Christ and eternal life. He is not to be judged by his appearance, but by his office. Consider what he has handed on, weigh its use, and recognize his standing.

7. Turning to the East to Renounce the Devil

You entered, then, so as to behold your adversary, whom you thought must be renounced to his face: you were turned toward the east; for he who renounces the devil is turned toward Christ, and beholds him with a direct gaze.

8. The Invisible Presence of the Spirit in the Water

What did you see? Waters, indeed, but not alone: levites there ministering, the high priest asking and consecrating. First of all, the Apostle taught you that we are not to contemplate the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen, since the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For elsewhere too you have: For the invisible things of God are understood from the creation of the world through the things that are made: his eternal power also and divinity are perceived from his works. Whence also the Lord himself says: If you do not believe me, believe at least the works. Believe, therefore, that the presence of divinity is there. Do you believe the operation, and not believe the presence? Whence would the operation follow, unless the presence had gone before?

9. The Spirit Borne Over the Waters at Creation

Consider, moreover, how ancient a mystery it is, prefigured in the very origin of the world itself. In that very beginning, when God made heaven and earth, the Spirit, it says, was borne over the waters. He who was borne over the waters, was he not operating over the waters? But why should I say "was operating"?—that pertains to presence—he was borne over. Was he not operating, he who was borne over? Know that he was operating in that fabric of the world, when the Prophet tells you: By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and all their power by the Spirit of his mouth. Both are supported by prophetic testimony, both that he was borne over and that he was operating. That he was borne over, Moses tells; that he was operating, David testifies.

10. The Flood, the Ark, and Noah's Dove

Take another testimony. All flesh had been corrupted by its iniquities. My Spirit, says God, shall not remain in men, because they are flesh. By this God shows that through carnal uncleanness, and by the stain of a graver sin, spiritual grace is turned away. Whence God, willing to repair what was lacking, made the flood, and bade righteous Noah go up into the ark. While the flood was subsiding, he first sent out a raven, which did not return; he sent out a dove, which is read to have returned with an olive branch. You see water, you see wood, you behold a dove, and do you doubt about the mystery?

11. The Meaning of the Water, Wood, and Dove

Water, then, is that by which the flesh is submerged, that every fleshly sin may be washed away. There every disgrace is buried. The wood is that on which the Lord Jesus was fastened, when he suffered for us. The dove is that in whose form the Holy Spirit descended, as you learned in the New Testament, who breathes into you peace of soul, tranquility of mind. The raven is the figure of sin, which goes out and does not return, if in you too the guard and form of the righteous man is preserved.

12. The Red Sea Crossing as a Figure of Baptism

There is a third testimony too, as the Apostle teaches you: For our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized in Moses, in the cloud and in the sea. Indeed Moses himself says in the Canticle: You sent your Spirit, and the sea covered them. You perceive that in that crossing of the Hebrews the figure of sacred baptism had already gone before, in which the Egyptian perished and the Hebrew escaped. For what else are we taught daily in this sacrament, but that guilt is submerged, and error is abolished, while piety and innocence remain safe?

13. The Cloud as a Figure of the Holy Spirit

You hear that our fathers were under the cloud, and a good cloud, which cooled the fires of carnal passions. A good cloud overshadows those whom the Holy Spirit revisits. Indeed it came upon the Virgin Mary, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her, when she brought forth redemption for the human race. And that miracle through Moses was done in figure. If then the Spirit was present in figure, is he not present in truth, when Scripture tells you: For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth were made through Jesus Christ?

14. The Sweetening of the Waters of Marah

Marah was a most bitter spring: Moses cast wood into it, and it was made sweet. For water, without the preaching of the Lord's cross, is of no use for future salvation: but when it has been consecrated by the mystery of the saving cross, then it is tempered for the use of the spiritual bath and the saving cup. Just as Moses cast wood into that spring—that is, the prophet—so also into this spring the priest casts the preaching of the Lord's cross, and the water is made sweet unto grace.

15. Discerning Eternal Things Beyond Bodily Sight

Do not, therefore, believe only the eyes of your body: rather is that seen which is not seen; because this is temporal, that is beheld as eternal, which is not grasped by the eyes, but is discerned by the soul and mind.

16. Naaman the Syrian Cleansed of Leprosy

Finally, let the reading run through in Kings teach you. Naaman was a Syrian, and had leprosy, and could be cleansed by no one. Then a girl among the captives said that there was a prophet in Israel who could cleanse him of the contagion of leprosy. Having taken gold and silver, it says, he went to the king of Israel. Who, on learning the reason for his coming, tore his garments, saying that he was rather being tempted, since things not within royal power were being demanded of him. But Elisha informed the king to send the Syrian to him, that he might know there was a God in Israel. And when he had come, he bade him be dipped seven times in the river Jordan.

17. Naaman's Healing in the Jordan

Then he began to reason with himself that he had better waters in his own country, in which he had often bathed, and had never been cleansed of leprosy; and for that reason, drawing back, he did not obey the commands of the prophet: but he yielded to the admonitions and persuasions of his servants, and dipped himself. And having been cleansed at once, he understood that it was not the waters by which each one is cleansed, but grace.

18. The Captive Girl as a Figure of the Church

Recognize now who that young girl among the captives was, namely the congregation from the nations, that is, the Church of the Lord, held down before in the captivity of sin, when she did not yet have the freedom of grace; by whose counsel that vain people of the nations heard the prophetic word, of which it had long doubted before; afterward, however, when it believed it must be carried out, it was cleansed of every contagion of vices. And he indeed doubted, before he was healed: you are already healed, and therefore ought not to doubt. That water does not cleanse without the Spirit is declared by the testimony of John, and by the very words with which the same sacrament is administered. This is also asserted to have been signified by the Gospel pool, and the paralytic healed there by the Lord: in which place the Holy Spirit is shown truly to have descended at the baptism of the same Christ, and what is to be understood in this mystery?

19. The Insufficiency of Water Without the Spirit

It was foretold to you before, for this reason, that you might not believe this alone which you saw; lest perhaps you too should say: Is this that great mystery, which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man? Do I see waters, which I used to see daily? Are these to cleanse me, into which I have often gone down, and was never cleansed? From this recognize that water does not cleanse without the Spirit.

20. The Three Witnesses: Water, Blood, and Spirit

And so you have read that three witnesses in baptism are one—water, blood, and Spirit; for if you take away one of these, the sacrament of baptism does not stand. For what is water without the cross of Christ? A common element, without any effect of sacrament. Nor again, without water, is there a mystery of regeneration: Unless one be reborn of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Even the catechumen believes in the cross of the Lord Jesus, by which he too is signed: but unless he has been baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, he cannot receive remission of sins, nor draw the gift of spiritual grace.

21. Baptism in the Name of the Trinity

So that Syrian dipped seven times under the Law: but you have been baptized in the name of the Trinity, you have confessed the Father—recall what you did; you confessed the Son, you confessed the Holy Spirit. Keep the order of things in this faith; you have died to the world, and risen to God. And as though buried together in that element of the world, dead to sin, you have been raised to eternal life. Believe, therefore, that the waters are not empty.

22. The Angel and the Pool of Bethesda

For this reason it was said to you: For an angel of the Lord went down at a certain time into the pool, and the water was moved; and whoever went down first into the pool after the moving of the water was made whole of whatever infirmity held him. This pool was in Jerusalem, in which one person was healed each year: but no one was healed before the angel had gone down. So that it was a sign that the angel had gone down, when the water was moved, for the sake of unbelievers. For them a sign, for you faith: for them the angel went down, for you the Holy Spirit: for them a creature was moved, for you Christ himself, the Lord of creation, works.

23. True Baptism Cleanses Persons, Not Vessels

Then one only was cured, now all are healed: or rather, one people alone, the Christian; for in some there is even lying water. Baptism does not heal the perfidious, does not cleanse, but pollutes. The Jew baptizes pitchers and cups, as though insensible things could receive either guilt or grace. Baptize instead this cup of yours that has feeling, in which your good works may shine, in which the splendor of your grace may gleam. That pool, then, was also in figure; that you might believe that the divine power descends into this font.

24. The Paralytic at the Pool as a Figure of Christ

Indeed that paralytic was awaiting a man. Whom else but the Lord Jesus, born of the Virgin? By whose coming no longer a shadow would heal individuals, but the truth would heal all. This, then, is he who was awaited to come down, of whom God the Father said to John the Baptist: Upon whomever you shall see the Spirit descending from heaven, and remaining upon him, he it is who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. Of whom John testified, saying: For I saw the Spirit descending from heaven as a dove, and remaining upon him. And why here does the Spirit descend as a dove, if not that you might see, that you might recognize that dove too which righteous Noah sent out from the ark was the form of this very dove, that you might recognize the type of the sacrament?

25. The Dove as Likeness and Truth of the Spirit

And perhaps you may say: Since that was a true dove which was sent forth, whereas here it descended as it were like a dove: how do we say that there was a likeness there, but here the truth; since according to the Greeks it is written that the Spirit descended in the likeness of a dove? But what is so true as divinity, which abides forever? A creature, however, cannot be truth, but only likeness, which is easily dissolved and changed. At the same time, because in those who are baptized there ought not to be mere likeness, but true simplicity. Whence the Lord also says: Be ye wise as serpents, and simple as doves. Rightly, therefore, did He descend as a dove, that He might admonish us that we ought to have the simplicity of the dove. But we read that "likeness" is also to be taken for "truth," both concerning Christ: And in likeness found as a man; and concerning God the Father: Neither have ye seen his likeness.

26. Fire From Heaven at the Prayers of Elijah

Is there yet anything for you to doubt, when the Father cries out to you plainly in the Gospel, saying: This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased; when the Son cries out, over whom the Holy Spirit showed himself as a dove; when the Holy Spirit himself cries out, who descended as a dove; when David cries out: The voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of majesty hath thundered: the Lord is upon many waters; when Scripture testifies to you that at the prayers of Jerobaal fire descended from heaven, and again, at the prayer of Elijah, fire was sent which consecrated the sacrifice?

27. The Priestly Office, Not the Person's Merit

Consider not the merits of persons, but the offices of priests. And if you look to merits; just as you consider Elijah, consider also the merits of Peter, or of Paul, who delivered to us this mystery received from the Lord Jesus. To them fire was sent visibly, that they might believe; for us it works invisibly, who believe: for them as a figure, for us as an admonition. Believe, therefore, that the Lord Jesus is present when invoked by the prayers of the priests, who says: Where there are two or three, there am I also; how much more where the Church is, where His mysteries are, does He deign to bestow His presence!

28. Equal Faith in Father, Son, and Spirit

You have gone down, then; remember what you answered, that you believe in the Father, believe in the Son, believe in the Holy Spirit. You do not have there: I believe in one greater and lesser and last: but you are bound by the same caution of your own voice, that you believe in the Son in like manner as you believe in the Father: that you believe likewise in the Holy Spirit, as you believe in the Son; with this one exception, that you confess that the cross is to be believed of the Lord Jesus alone.

29. The Anointing Signified by Aaron's Beard

After these things you went up, of course, to the priest: consider what followed. Is it not that which David says: Like ointment upon the head, which ran down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron? This is the ointment of which Solomon also says: Thy name is as ointment poured out, therefore have the young maidens loved thee, and drawn thee. How many souls today, renewed, have loved thee, Lord Jesus, saying: Draw us after thee, we run in the odor of thy garments, that they might drink in the odor of the resurrection!

30. The Meaning of the Priestly Anointing

Understand why this is done, because the eyes of the wise man are in his head. Therefore it flows down upon the beard, that is, upon the grace of youth; therefore upon the beard of Aaron, that you may become a chosen race, priestly, precious; for we are all anointed unto the kingdom of God and unto priesthood by spiritual grace.

31. Christ Washes the Disciples' Feet

You went up from the font; remember the Gospel reading. For our Lord Jesus in the Gospel washed the feet of His disciples. When He came to Simon Peter, Peter said: Thou shalt never wash my feet; he did not perceive the mystery, and therefore refused the ministry; because he believed that the humility of a servant would be burdened, if he patiently allowed the service of his lord upon himself. To whom the Lord answered: If I wash not thy feet, thou shalt have no part with me. Hearing this, Peter said: Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. The Lord answered: He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean wholly.

32. Peter's Foot and the Sin of the First Man

Peter was clean, but he had to have his foot washed; for he had sin by succession from the first man, when the serpent tripped him up and persuaded him to error. Therefore his foot is washed, that hereditary sins may be taken away; for our own sins are remitted through baptism.

33. Washing One Another's Feet in Humility

At the same time recognize that the mystery consists in the very ministry of humility; for He says: If I, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet; how much more ought you also to wash one another's feet! For since the very author of salvation redeemed us through obedience; how much more ought we, His little servants, to show the service of humility and obedience!

34. The White Garments of the Newly Baptized

After these things you received white garments, that it might be a sign that you had put off the wrapping of sins, and put on the chaste veils of innocence, of which the Prophet said: Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. For he who is baptized appears to be cleansed both according to the Law and according to the Gospel: according to the Law, because Moses sprinkled the blood of the lamb with a bunch of hyssop: according to the Gospel, because Christ's garments were white as snow, when in the Gospel He showed the glory of His resurrection. He, then, is made whiter than snow, whose guilt is remitted. Whence also through Isaiah the Lord says: If your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow.

35. The Church as Black Yet Comely

Having these garments assumed through the laver of regeneration, the Church says in the Song of Songs: I am black, but comely, O daughters of Jerusalem. Black through the frailty of the human condition, comely through grace: black, because from sinners; comely by the sacrament of faith. The daughters of Jerusalem, beholding these garments, astonished, say: Who is this that goeth up made white? She who was black, whence now suddenly made white!

36. The Angels' Wonder at Christ's Ascension

Even the angels doubted when Christ rose again, the Powers of the heavens doubted, seeing that flesh ascended into heaven. Accordingly they said: Who is this King of glory? And while some said: Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in; others doubted, saying: Who is this King of glory? In Isaiah also you have the powers of the heavens doubting and saying: Who is this that cometh up from Edom, the redness of his garments from Bosor, glorious in his white robe?

37. The Bridegroom Praises the Church's Beauty

But Christ, seeing His Church in white garments, for whom He Himself, as you have it in the book of the prophet Zechariah, had taken up filthy garments, or the soul made clean and washed by the laver of regeneration, says: Behold, thou art fair, my companion, behold thou art fair, thine eyes are as doves; in whose likeness the Holy Spirit descended from heaven. Fair are her eyes as doves, because in his likeness the Holy Spirit descended from heaven.

38. The Church Compared to Shorn Ewes

And below: Thy teeth are as a flock of shorn ewes, which have come up from the washing, which all bear twins, and none is barren among them; thy lips are like a thread of scarlet. This is no mean praise. First, by a sweet comparison to the shorn ewes; for we know that goats feed on high places without danger, and take their food securely on precipices: then, when they are shorn, they are relieved of what is superfluous. To the flock of these the Church is compared, having in herself many powers of souls, who through the laver put off superfluous sins, who bring to Christ the mystic faith and moral grace, who speak of the cross of the Lord Jesus.

39. The Church Called from Lebanon

In these the Church is fair. Whence the Word, God, says to her: Thou art all fair, my companion; and there is no reproach in thee; because guilt is drowned. Come hither from Lebanon, O Spouse, come hither from Lebanon: thou shalt cross over, and thou shalt pass through from the beginning of faith; in that, renouncing the world, she has crossed over the age, and passed through to Christ. And again the Word, God, says to her: How beautiful and how sweet art thou become, O love, in thy delights? Thy stature is become like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.

40. The Church Seeks the Inner Mysteries

To whom the Church replies: Who will give thee to me, my brother, sucking the breasts of my mother? Finding thee without, I will kiss thee: and indeed men will not despise me. I will take hold of thee, and bring thee into the house of my mother, and into the secret chamber of her that conceived me. Thou shalt teach me. Do you see how, delighted with the gift of graces, she desires to arrive at the inner mysteries, and to consecrate all her senses to Christ? She still seeks, still stirs up love, and asks that it be stirred up for her by the daughters of Jerusalem, by whose grace, that is, of faithful souls, she desires the Bridegroom to be provoked to a fuller love of herself.

41. Set as a Seal Upon the Heart

Whence the Lord Jesus, Himself also invited by the ardor of such great love, by the beauty of comeliness and grace; since no sins now defiled her who was washed, says to the Church: Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm; that is, thou art comely, my companion, thou art all fair, nothing is lacking to thee. Set me as a seal upon thy heart; that thy faith may shine in the fullness of the sacrament. Let thy works also shine, and bear forth the image of God, after whose image thou wast made. Let thy love be diminished by no persecution, which many waters cannot quench, nor floods overwhelm.

42. The Spiritual Seal of the Holy Spirit

Whence recall that you received the spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and godliness, the spirit of holy fear: and keep what you have received. God the Father has sealed you, Christ the Lord has confirmed you, and has given the pledge of the Spirit in your hearts, as you have learned from the Apostolic reading.

43. Coming to the Altar of Christ

The people, made rich, washed with these insignia, hastens to the altars of Christ, saying: And I will go in to the altar of God, to God who giveth joy to my youth; for having laid aside the trappings of inveterate error, renewed in the youth of the eagle, it hastens to approach that heavenly banquet. It comes, then, and seeing the most sacred altar arrayed, exclaims: Thou hast prepared a table in my sight. David introduces her speaking thus, saying: The Lord feedeth me, and I shall want nothing: he hath placed me in a place of pasture. He hath brought me up beside the water of refreshment. And below: For though I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils; because thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me. Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil, and thy inebriating cup, how excellent it is!

44. The Sacraments Proved Older Than the Manna

Now let us consider this, lest anyone, perchance, seeing visible things (since things that are invisible are not seen, nor can they be grasped by human eyes), should perhaps say: To the Jews God rained down manna, He rained down quails: but for that beloved Church these things have been prepared, of which it was said: What eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him. Therefore, lest anyone say this, we wish with the utmost effort to prove both that the sacraments of the Church are older than those of the Synagogue, and more excellent than manna.

45. Melchizedek Before the Law of Moses

That they are older, the reading of Genesis, already recounted, teaches; for the Synagogue took its beginning from the law of Moses: but Abraham is far earlier, who, having conquered his enemies, and having recovered his own nephew, while he possessed the victory, then Melchisedech met him, and brought forth those things which Abraham, venerating him, received. It was not Abraham who brought them forth, but Melchisedech; who is introduced without father, without mother, having neither beginning of days nor end, but like unto the Son of God: of whom Paul says to the Hebrews: For he remaineth a priest forever; who by Latin interpretation is called king of righteousness, king of peace.

46. Melchizedek as a Figure of Christ

Do you not recognize who this is? Can a man be king of righteousness, when he himself is scarcely righteous? Can he be king of peace, when he can scarcely be peaceable? Without mother according to divinity; because he is begotten of God the Father, of one substance with the Father: without father according to the incarnation, since he was born of a Virgin: having neither beginning nor end, because he himself is the beginning and end of all things, the first and the last. Not, therefore, of human but of divine gift is the sacrament which you have received, brought forth by him who blessed Abraham, the father of faith, that Abraham whose grace and deeds you admire.

47. The Living Bread Versus the Manna

It has been proved that the sacraments of the Church are older; now learn that they are more excellent. Indeed it is a marvellous thing that God rained down manna for the fathers, and that they were fed daily with the food of heaven. Whence it is said: Man ate the bread of angels. But yet all who ate that bread died in the desert: whereas this food which you receive, this living bread which came down from heaven, supplies the substance of eternal life; and whoever eats this shall not die forever: and it is the body of Christ.

48. Christ's Flesh Compared to the Manna

Consider now whether the bread of angels is more excellent, or the flesh of Christ, which indeed is the body of life. That manna was from heaven, this is above heaven; that was of the heaven, this is of the Lord of the heavens; that was subject to corruption if kept until another day, this is a stranger to all corruption, so that whoever tastes it with reverence cannot experience corruption. For those, water flowed from a rock; for you, blood flows from Christ: them water satisfied for an hour, you the blood cleanses forever. The Jew drinks and thirsts again; you, when you have drunk, cannot thirst: and that was in shadow, this is in truth.

49. The Rock Was Christ: Truth Over Shadow

If that which you marvel at is a shadow, how great is this, of which you marvel even at its shadow! Hear that it was a shadow which was made among the fathers: They drank, it says, of the rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased; for they were laid low in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure for us. You have recognized the more excellent things; for light is better than shadow, truth than figure, the body of its author than the manna from heaven.

50. The Power of Blessing Above Nature

Perhaps you say: I see something else—how can you assert to me that I receive the body of Christ? This too remains for us to prove. With how many examples then do we make use! Let us prove that this is not what nature formed, but what the blessing consecrated; and that the power of the blessing is greater than that of nature, because by blessing even nature itself is changed.

51. Old Testament Wonders That Changed Nature

Moses held a rod, he cast it down, and it became a serpent. Again he grasped the tail of the serpent, and it returned to the nature of a rod. Do you see, then, that by prophetic grace the nature both of the serpent and of the rod was changed twice? The rivers of Egypt were flowing with a pure course of waters; suddenly blood began to burst forth from the springs of the fountains, and there was no drink in the rivers. Again, at the prayer of the prophet the gore of the rivers ceased, and the nature of the waters returned. The people of the Hebrews were enclosed on every side, hemmed in here by the Egyptians, closed in there by the sea: Moses raised his rod, the water divided itself, and congealed in the appearance of walls, and a footpath appeared amid the waves. The Jordan, turned backward against nature, returned to the beginning of its own source.

Is it not clear that the nature either of the sea's waves or of the river's course was changed? The people of the fathers were thirsty; Moses touched the rock, and water flowed from the rock. Did not grace work beyond nature, that the rock should pour forth water, which it did not have by nature? The river Marah was most bitter, so that the thirsty people could not drink. Moses cast a piece of wood into the water, and the nature of the waters put off its bitterness, which the grace suddenly infused tempered. Under the prophet Elisha, the iron head fell off the axe of one of the sons of the prophets, and immediately sank. He who had lost the iron begged Elisha; Elisha too cast a piece of wood into the water, and the iron floated. We recognize that this too was done beyond nature; for the substance of iron is heavier than the liquid of waters.

52. The Word of Christ More Powerful Than Elijah's

We observe, then, that grace is of greater power than nature, and yet so far we have been reckoning only the grace of a prophetic blessing. But if a human blessing had such power as to convert nature, what shall we say of that divine consecration itself, where the very words of the Lord and Savior are at work? For that sacrament which you receive is brought about by the word of Christ. But if the word of Elijah had such power that it brought down fire from heaven, shall not the word of Christ have power to change the species of the elements? You have read, concerning the works of the whole world: For he himself spoke, and they were made; he himself commanded, and they were created. Shall the word of Christ then, which was able to make out of nothing what did not exist, not be able to change things which exist into what they were not? For it is no less to give new natures to things than to change natures.

53. The Virgin Birth as Proof Against Nature's Order

But why do we make use of arguments? Let us use its own examples, and by the example of the incarnation let us establish the truth of the mystery. Did the customary course of nature precede when the Lord Jesus was born of Mary? If we seek the order, a woman joined with a man is accustomed to bring forth. It is clear, then, that the Virgin gave birth beyond the order of nature. And this body which we make is from the Virgin: why do you seek here the order of nature in the body of Christ, since the Lord Jesus himself was born of the Virgin beyond nature? Truly it is the flesh of Christ, which was crucified, which was buried: truly, then, it is the sacrament of that flesh.

54. This Is My Body: The Words of Consecration

The Lord Jesus himself proclaims: This is my body. Before the blessing of the heavenly words another species is named; after the consecration, the body is signified. He himself speaks of his blood. Before the consecration something else is said; after the consecration it is called blood. And you say, Amen, that is, it is true. What the mouth speaks, let the inner mind confess; what the word sounds, let the affection feel.

55. The Bride's Beauty in the Song of Songs

By these sacraments, then, Christ feeds his Church, by which the substance of the soul is strengthened: and rightly, seeing the progress of that continuing grace, he says to her: How beautiful are your breasts made, my sister, my spouse! How beautiful they have become from wine, and the fragrance of your garments above all spices! Your lips, O spouse, drip as a honeycomb, honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon. A garden enclosed, my sister, my spouse, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed. By which he signifies that the mystery ought to remain sealed with you, lest it be violated by the works of a bad life, and by the adultery of chastity, lest it be divulged to those to whom it is not fitting, lest it be scattered among the faithless by garrulous chatter. Good, then, ought to be the keeping of your faith, so that the untainted integrity of life and of silence may persevere.

56. The Church as a Sealed Garden of Grace

Whence also the Church, guarding the height of the heavenly mysteries, casts away from herself the harsher blasts of the wind, and invites the sweetness of springtime grace: and knowing that her garden cannot displease Christ, she calls upon the Bridegroom himself, saying: Arise, north wind, and come, south wind: blow through my garden, and let my perfumes flow forth. Let my brother come down into his garden, and eat the fruit of his fruit trees. For she has good and fruitful trees, which have dipped their roots in the watering of the sacred spring, and have sprouted into good fruits by the budding of a new fruitfulness; so that they are no longer cut down by the prophetic axe, but are made fruitful by evangelical abundance.

57. The Bridegroom Answers: I Have Entered My Garden

Finally, the Lord himself, delighted by their fertility, answers: I have entered into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spices, I have eaten my food with my honey, I have drunk my drink with my milk. Why he said food and drink, understand, if you are faithful. But this is not in doubt, that he himself eats and drinks in us, just as you have read concerning us that he says he is in prison.

58. Eat and Drink: The Spiritual Food of Christ's Body

Whence also the Church, seeing so great a grace, exhorts her sons, exhorts her neighbors, to hasten to the sacraments, saying: Eat, my neighbors, and drink, and be inebriated, my brothers. What we should eat, what we should drink, the Holy Spirit has expressed to you elsewhere through the Prophet, saying: Taste and see that the Lord is sweet: blessed is the man who hopes in him. In that sacrament is Christ; because it is the body of Christ: it is not, therefore, bodily food, but spiritual. Whence the Apostle also says of its type: Because our fathers ate spiritual food, and drank spiritual drink; for the body of God is a spiritual body: the body of Christ is the body of the divine Spirit; because Christ is Spirit, as we read: The Spirit before our face is Christ the Lord. And in Peter's Epistle we have: Christ died for us. Finally, this food strengthens our heart, and this drink gladdens the heart of man, as the Prophet recorded.

59. Regeneration by the Spirit Beyond Nature's Order

Having obtained all these things, let us know that we have been regenerated: nor let us say, how have we been regenerated? Have we entered into the womb of our mother, and been born again? I do not recognize here the practice of nature. But there is no order of nature here, where there is the excellence of grace. Finally, the practice of nature does not always effect generation: we confess that Christ the Lord was generated of a Virgin, and we deny the order of nature. For Mary did not conceive from a man, but received in her womb from the Holy Spirit, as Matthew says: Because she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit. If, then, the Holy Spirit coming upon the Virgin wrought the conception, and fulfilled the office of generation: surely it is not to be doubted that, coming upon the font, or upon those who receive baptism, he works the truth of regeneration.