On the Sacraments

4. Anointed as Christ's Athlete for the Contest of Faith

We came to the font, you entered: consider whom you saw, consider what you said, recall it diligently. The levite met you, the presbyter met you: you were anointed as an athlete of Christ, as one about to wrestle in the wrestling-match of this age, you professed the contests of your struggle. He who wrestles has something to hope for: where there is a contest, there is a crown. You wrestle in the world, but you are crowned by Christ, and for the contests of the world you are crowned? For although the reward is in heaven, yet the merit of the reward is established here.

5. Renouncing the Devil and the World

When he asked you: Do you renounce the devil and his works, what did you answer? I renounce them. Do you renounce the world and its pleasures, what did you answer? I renounce them. Remember your word, and let the sequence of your caution never slip from you. If you give a man a written bond, you are held bound, so that he may receive his money; you are held fast, and the moneylender constrains you though you resist; if you refuse, you go to the judge, and there you are convicted by your own bond.

6. The Heavenly Bond and the Ministry of Angels

Consider where you have promised, or to whom you have promised. You saw the levite, but he is a minister of Christ. You saw him ministering before the altars. Therefore your bond is held not on earth, but in heaven. Consider where you receive the heavenly mysteries. If here is the body of Christ, here also the angels are stationed. Where the body is, there also are the eagles, you have read in the Gospel. Where the body of Christ is, there the eagles are wont to fly; that they may flee earthly things, and seek heavenly things. Why do I say this? Because also men, whoever announce Christ, are angels, and seem to be admitted into the place of angels. How so? Take the case of the Baptist. John was born of a man and a woman; yet hear that he too is an angel: Behold, I send my angel before your face, and he shall prepare your way before you.

7. The Priesthood as the Angel of God

Take another example, from the prophet Malachi: For the lips of the priest guard knowledge, and they seek the law from his mouth; for he is the angel of the almighty God. These things are said in order that we may proclaim the glory of the priesthood, not that anything should be attributed to personal merits.

8. Keeping Faith as an Eternal Bond

Therefore you have renounced the world, you have renounced the age, be watchful. He who owes money always considers his bond: and you who owe faith to Christ, keep the faith, which is far more precious than money; for faith is an eternal inheritance, money a temporal one. And so always remember what you have promised; and you will be more cautious. If you keep your promise, you will also keep your bond.

9. Approaching the Font Like Naaman's Doubt

Then you drew nearer: you saw the font, you saw also the priest over the font. Nor can I doubt but that what happened to that Syrian Naaman could have come into your mind; for although he was cleansed, yet before that he doubted. Why? I will tell you, take note.

10. The Visible Rite and the Unseen Reality

You entered, you saw the water, you saw the priest, you saw the levite. Lest perhaps someone should say: Is this all? Indeed it is the whole. Truly the whole, where there is whole innocence, whole piety, whole grace, whole sanctification. You saw what you were able to see with the eyes of your body, and with human sight: you did not see those things which are effected, because they are not seen. Those things which are not seen are much greater than those which are seen; since the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

11. Christian Sacraments More Divine Than the Jews'

Let us then say first, keep hold of the bond of my word, and demand it. We marvel at the mysteries of the Jews, which were given to our fathers, first for the antiquity of the sacraments, then for their surpassing sanctity. This I promise, that the sacraments of the Christians are more divine and prior to those of the Jews.

12. The Crossing of the Sea and the Meaning of Pasch

What is more notable than that the people of the Jews crossed through the sea? That we may speak meanwhile of baptism. Yet those Jews who crossed all died in the desert. But whoever crosses through this font, that is, from earthly things to heavenly things—for this is the crossing, therefore Pasch, that is, his crossing, a crossing from sin to life, from guilt to grace, from defilement to sanctification—whoever crosses through this font does not die, but rises again.

13. Naaman the Leper and Elisha's Instruction

Naaman then was a leper, and a certain girl said to his wife: If my lord wishes to be cleansed, let him go into the land of Israel, and there he will find one who can take away his leprosy. She told her mistress, the wife told her husband, Naaman to the king of Syria, who, as one most acceptable to him, sent him to the king of Israel. The king of Israel heard that a man had been sent to him whose leprosy he should cleanse, and he tore his garment. Then the prophet Elisha sent word to him: Why have you torn your garment, as if God were not able to cleanse a leper? Send him to me. He sent him; and when he came, the prophet said to him: Go into the Jordan, dip yourself, and you shall be healed.

14. Naaman's Doubt and Healing in the Jordan

He began to think within himself and to say: Is this all? I have come from Syria into the land of Judea, and it is said to me: Go and go down into the Jordan, dip yourself, and you shall be healed; as though there were not better rivers in my own country. So his servants said to him: Lord, why do you not do the word of the prophet? Rather do it and try it. Then he went into the Jordan, dipped himself, and rose up healed.

15. The Water and the Spirit Distinguished

What then does this signify? You saw water: but not every water heals; but the water heals which has the grace of Christ. The element is one thing, the consecration another; the work is one thing, the operation another. The water is the work, the operation is that of the Holy Spirit. The water does not heal, unless the Spirit has descended, and has consecrated that water; just as you have read that when our Lord Jesus Christ was giving the form of baptism, he came to John, and John said to him: I ought to be baptized by you, and you come to me! Christ answered him: Allow it now. For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all justice. See that all justice is established in baptism.

16. Why Christ Was Baptized Though Without Sin

Why then did Christ descend, except that this flesh might be cleansed, the flesh which he took on from our condition? For the washing away of his own sins was not necessary for Christ, who committed no sin: but it was necessary for us, who remain bound by sin. Therefore, if baptism is for our sake, it has been established as a form for us, it has been set forth as a form of our faith.

17. The Holy Spirit Descending Like a Dove

Christ descended, John, who baptized, stood by, and behold, as a dove the Holy Spirit descended. Not a dove descended, but as a dove. Remember what I have said: Christ took on flesh, not as if flesh; but the truth of that flesh, Christ took on true flesh: but the Holy Spirit descended from heaven not in the truth of a dove, but in the likeness of a dove. So John saw, and believed.

18. Why Christ Preceded the Spirit's Descent

Christ descended, the Holy Spirit also descended. Why did Christ descend first, and afterward the Holy Spirit; since the form and custom of baptism has this, that the font is first consecrated, and then he who is to be baptized descends? For when the priest first enters, he performs the exorcism over the created water, then he offers the invocation and the prayer, so that the font may be sanctified, and the presence of the eternal Trinity may be there: but Christ descended first, the Spirit followed. For what reason? So that the Lord Jesus might not seem himself to need the mystery of sanctification: but that he himself might sanctify, and the Spirit also might sanctify.

19. The Presence of the Trinity at the Jordan

Christ then descended into the water, and the Holy Spirit descended as a dove. The Father also, God, spoke from heaven. You have the presence of the Trinity.

20. The Red Sea as a Figure of Baptism

That in the Red Sea there existed a figure of this baptism, the Apostle says, saying: For our fathers were all baptized in the cloud and in the sea. And he added: Now all these things happened to them in figure: to them in figure, but to us in truth. Then Moses held the rod, the people of the Jews were enclosed; the Egyptian pressed on with weapons from one side, and on the other side the Hebrews were shut in by the sea; they could neither cross the sea, nor turn back upon the enemy: they began to murmur.

21. The Guilt of Murmuring Despite God's Mercy

See, let it not provoke you that they were heard. Even though the Lord heard them, yet they are not free from guilt, who murmured. It is yours, when you are constrained, to believe that you will escape, not to murmur: to call upon, to entreat, not to put forth complaint.

22. The Pillar of Light and the Pillar of Cloud

Moses held the rod, and led the people of the Hebrews by night in a pillar of light, by day in a pillar of cloud. What is light, but truth; because it pours forth open and full illumination? What is the pillar of light, but the Lord Christ, who drove away the darkness of unbelief, and poured the light of truth and of spiritual grace into human hearts? But indeed the pillar of cloud is the Holy Spirit. The people were in the sea, and the pillar of light went before: then followed the pillar of cloud, as a shadowing of the Holy Spirit. You see that through the Holy Spirit and through the water he showed the type of baptism.

23. The Flood as an Early Figure of Baptism

In the flood too there was already then a figure of baptism, and yet even then the mysteries of the Jews did not exist. If then the form of this baptism preceded, you see that the mysteries of the Christians are prior to those of the Jews.

24. Closing Exhortation and the Promise of Further Teaching

But meanwhile, according to the frailty of our voice, and according to the measure of time, let it suffice today to have tasted also of the mysteries of the sacred font. Tomorrow, if the Lord grants power or abundance of speaking, I will explain more fully. It is needful that your holiness have ears prepared, a more ready mind; that you may be able to hold fast the things which we can gather from the sequence of the Scriptures, and which we shall have made known to you, so that you may have the grace of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. To whom, the Trinity, belongs perpetual kingship from the ages, and now and always, and unto all ages of ages.

We began yesterday to discuss that in the flood too a figure of baptism preceded. What is the flood, except that in which the just man is preserved as a seed of righteousness, and sin dies? Therefore the Lord, when he saw the sins of men multiplying, preserved the just man alone with his offspring; and he commanded the water to rise even above the mountains. And thus in that flood all the corruption of the flesh perished, and only the lineage and form of the just man remained. Is not this the flood, which is baptism; by which all sins are washed away, and only the mind and grace of the just man is raised up again?

2. One Baptism Amid Many Washings

There are many kinds of baptisms, but one baptism, the Apostle proclaims. Why? There are baptisms of the gentiles, but they are not baptisms. They are washings, they cannot be baptisms. The flesh is washed, guilt is not washed away; rather in that washing it is contracted. There were also baptisms of the Jews, some superfluous, some in figure. And the figure itself profits us, because it is a messenger of the truth.

3. The Angel Stirring the Pool of Bethesda

What was read yesterday? An angel, it says, went down at a certain time into the pool, and as often as the angel had gone down, the water was moved; and whoever went down first was healed of whatever infirmity he was held by. This signifies the figure of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

4. The Angel of Great Counsel and the Meaning of Signs

Why an angel? For he himself is the Angel of great counsel (Isaiah IX, 6). According to the time, which was kept for the last hour; that he might come upon the day at its very setting, and delay the setting. As often, then, as an angel had descended, the water was moved. Perhaps you say: Why is it not moved now? Hear why. Signs are for unbelievers, faith for believers.

5. Descending First in Time or in Honor

Whoever had descended first was healed of every infirmity. First—in time, or in honor? Understand both. If in time, he who descended first was healed sooner, that is, more from the people of the Jews than from the people of the nations. If in honor, he who descended first, that is, he who had the fear of God, zeal for justice, the grace of charity, the affection of chastity; he was healed the more. Yet at that time only one was healed; then, I say, in figure, only he who had descended first was cured. How much greater is the grace of the Church, in which all are saved, whoever descend into it?

6. Christ at the Pool and the Cross as Baptism's Source

But behold the mystery. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to the pool, and many sick lay there. And easily many sick lay there where only one was healed. Then he said to that paralytic: Descend. He said: I have no man. See where you are baptized. Whence comes baptism, if not from the cross of Christ, from the death of Christ? There is the whole mystery, because he suffered for you. In him you are redeemed, in him you are saved.

7. The Man Who Awaited the Mediator

I have no man, he says; that is, because through man came death, and through man the resurrection of the dead. He could not descend, he could not be saved, who did not believe that our Lord Jesus had taken flesh from the Virgin. But this man, who was awaiting the mediator of God and men, the man Jesus Christ, expecting him of whom it was said: And the Lord shall send a man to save them (Isaiah XIX, 4); said: I have no man; and therefore he merited to attain health, because he believed in the one who was to come. Yet he would have been better and more perfect, had he believed that the one he hoped would come had already come.

8. The Captive Girl as a Figure of the Church

Now see each point. We have said that a figure preceded in the Jordan, when Naaman that leper was cleansed. That girl among the captives, who is she but one who had the appearance of the Church, and represented her figure? For the captive was the people of the nations; captive, I do not say a captivity established by some enemy people, but I speak of that captivity which is greater, when the devil with his own rules with savage dominion, and subjects to himself the captive necks of sinners.

9. Four Kinds of Baptism and the Trinity's Presence

You have therefore one baptism, another in the flood; you have a third kind, when the fathers were baptized in the Red Sea; you have a fourth kind in the pool, when the water was moved. Now I ask you whether you ought to believe that you have the presence of the Trinity in this baptism, by which one is baptized in the Church.

10. The Command to Baptize in the Trinity's Name

Thus the same our Lord Jesus Christ says in his Gospel to the Apostles: Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. This is the Savior's word.

11. The Axe Head Restored, a Figure of the Cross

Tell me, O man! Elijah called down fire from heaven, and fire descended from heaven. Elisha invoked the name of the Lord, and from the water the iron of the axe rose up which had sunk down. Behold another kind of baptism. Why? Because every man before baptism is pressed down and sunk like iron; when he has been baptized, he is raised up not like iron, but like the lighter form of fruitful wood. So here too is another figure. It was an axe with which wood was being cut. The handle fell off from the axe, that is, the iron sank down. The son of the prophet did not know what to do; but this alone he knew, to ask the prophet Elisha, and to seek a remedy. Then he cast in the wood, and the iron was raised up. Do you see, then, that in the cross of Christ the infirmity of all men is raised up?

12. Moses and the Bitter Waters of Marah

Another example, even if we do not keep order; for who could comprehend all the deeds of Christ? As the apostles said. Moses, when he had come into the desert, and the people were thirsty, and he had come to the spring of Marah, and wished to drink the water: because when he first drew it, he perceived bitterness, and could not begin to drink; therefore Moses cast wood into the spring, and the water which before was bitter began to grow sweet

13. The Cross That Sweetens the Water

What does it signify, but that every creature liable to corruption is bitter water to all. Even if for a time it is sweet, even if for a time pleasant, it is nevertheless bitter, since it cannot take away sin. Where you drink it, you will thirst; where you begin to drink its sweetness, you will again feel bitterness. Bitter, then, is the water; but where you bring the cross of Christ, where you receive the heavenly sacrament, it begins to be sweet and pleasant; and rightly sweet, in which guilt is recalled. If, then, baptisms in figure alone had such power, how much more does baptism in truth avail?

14. The Priest's Invocation and the Sign of the Dove

Now, therefore, let us consider. The priest comes, says a prayer at the font, invokes the name of the Father, the presence of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: he uses heavenly words. What heavenly words? They are Christ's, that we baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. If, then, at the speech of men, at the invocation of the saint, the presence of the Trinity was there, how much more is it there, where the eternal word itself operates? Do you wish to know that the Spirit descended? You have heard that he descended as it were a dove. Why as a dove? That unbelievers might be called to faith. In the beginning there had to be a sign; in later times there must be perfection.

15. The Tongues of Fire at Pentecost

Take another example: After the death of our Lord Jesus Christ the apostles were in one place, and were praying on the day of Pentecost; and suddenly a great sound was made, as if the Spirit were borne with great force, and there were seen tongues divided, as of fire. What does this signify, but the descent of the Holy Spirit, who wished to show himself even bodily to unbelievers, that is, bodily by a sign, spiritually by a sacrament? Manifest, therefore, was the testimony of his coming; but to us now the prerogative of faith is given; because in the beginning signs were made for unbelievers, but to us, now in the fullness of the Church, the truth must be gathered not by sign, but by faith.

16. What Is Baptism

Now let us discuss what that is which is called baptism. You came to the font, you descended into it, you observed the high priest, the levites and the presbyter at the font. What is baptism?

17. The Sentence of Death and the Remedy of Resurrection

In the beginning our God made man, so that if he did not taste sin, he would not die by death. He contracted sin, he became liable to death, he was cast out of paradise. But the Lord, wishing his own benefits to remain, and to abolish all the snares of the serpent, and also to rescind whatever had done harm; first indeed pronounced sentence upon man: You are earth, and into earth you shall go; and made man liable to death. It was a divine sentence, which could not be loosed by human condition. A remedy was given, that man should die, and rise again. Why? That what before had fallen out in the place of condemnation, should fall out in the place of benefit. What is that but death? You ask how? Because death, intervening, makes an end of sin. For when we die, we surely cease to sin. The sentence therefore seemed satisfied, because man, who had been made to live, provided only he did not sin, began to die.

But that the perpetual grace of God might persevere, man died; but Christ found resurrection, that is, so that he might restore the heavenly benefit, which had been lost through the deceit of the serpent. Both, then, are for us; because death is the end of sins, and resurrection is the reformation of nature.

18. Baptism as the Counsel of God

Nevertheless, lest in this world the deceit or snares of the devil should prevail, baptism was devised. Concerning this baptism hear what Scripture says, indeed the Son of God, that the Pharisees who refused to be baptized with the baptism of John despised the counsel of God. Baptism, therefore, is the counsel of God. How great is the grace, where the counsel of God is?

19. The Font as a Burial

Hear then: for that in this world too the bonds of the devil might be loosed, a way was devised whereby a man, still living, might die, and living rise again. What is "living"? This is the life of the body living, when he came to the font, and was plunged into the font. What is water, but from the earth? The heavenly sentence is thus satisfied without the horror of death. When you are plunged, that sentence is dissolved: You are earth, and into earth you shall go; the sentence fulfilled, there is room for the heavenly benefit and remedy. Water, therefore, is from the earth; but the possibility of our life did not allow that we should be covered with earth, and rise again from the earth. Moreover it is not earth that washes, but water that washes; therefore the font is, as it were, a burial.

20. The Threefold Immersion and Confession of Faith

You were asked: Do you believe in God the Father almighty? You said: I believe, and you were plunged, that is, you were buried. Again you were asked: Do you believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, and in his cross? You said: I believe, and you were plunged; therefore you were also buried together with Christ; for he who is buried with Christ rises again with Christ. A third time you were asked: Do you believe also in the Holy Spirit? You said: I believe, and a third time you were plunged; that the threefold confession might absolve the manifold fall of the former age.

21. Peter's Threefold Profession of Love

Finally, that we may bring you an example, the holy apostle Peter, after in the Passion of the Lord he had seemed to fall through the weakness of human condition—he who had before denied him—afterward, that he might abolish and dissolve that fall, was asked three times by Christ, whether he loved Christ; then he said: You know, Lord, that I love you He said it three times, that he might be absolved three times.

22. Baptized in the One Name of the Trinity

Thus, then, the Father forgives sin, as the Son forgives, so too the Holy Spirit. But he commanded that we be baptized in one name, that is, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Do not marvel that he said one name, where there is one substance, one divinity, one majesty. This is the name of which it was said: In which it is necessary that all be saved. In this name you are all saved, you have been restored to the grace of life.

23. Baptized into the Death of Christ

The Apostle cries out, then, as you have heard in the present reading: For whoever is baptized, is baptized into the death of Jesus What is "into death"? That, as Christ died, so you too might taste death; as Christ died to sin, and lives to God, so you too might be dead to the former enticements of sins through the sacrament of baptism, and might rise through the grace of Christ. Death, therefore, it is, but not in the reality of bodily death, but in likeness; for when you are plunged, you take on the likeness of death and burial; you receive the sacrament of that cross, because Christ hung upon the cross, and his body was fixed with nails. You, therefore, when you are crucified, adhere to Christ, you adhere to the nails of our Lord Jesus Christ; lest the devil be able to draw you away. Let the nail of Christ hold you fast, whom the weakness of the human condition calls back.

24. Anointed unto Eternal Life

You were plunged, then, and you came to the priest: what did he say to you? "May God the Father almighty," he says, "who has regenerated you by water and the Holy Spirit, and has forgiven you your sins, himself anoint you unto eternal life." See where you have been anointed: unto, he says, eternal life. Do not prefer this life to that life. For example, if some enemy should rise up, if he should wish to take away your faith, if he threatens death, that someone might play the traitor, see which you choose: do not choose that in which you were not anointed, but choose that in which you were anointed; that you may prefer eternal life to temporal life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Yesterday we discussed the font, whose form is, as it were, a certain likeness of a tomb; into which, believing in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, we are received and plunged and rise up, that is, we are raised up again. You receive, moreover, myron, that is, ointment, upon your head. Why upon the head? Because the wise man's understanding is in his head, Solomon says; for wisdom is cold without grace; but where wisdom has received grace, then its work begins to be perfect. This is called regeneration.

2. Regeneration as a Likeness of Resurrection

What is regeneration? You have it in the Acts of the Apostles, that that little verse which is spoken in the second psalm: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, seems to look toward the resurrection. For the holy apostle Peter in the Acts of the Apostles interpreted it thus, that when the Son rose from the dead, the Father's voice resounded: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Whence he is also called the firstborn from the dead. What, then, is resurrection, but when we rise from death to life? So too in baptism, since it is a likeness of death, without doubt while you are immersed and rise again, a likeness of resurrection is made. Rightly then, according to the interpretation of the apostle Peter, as that resurrection was a regeneration, so also this resurrection is a regeneration.

3. The Fish and the Waters of Regeneration

But why do you say that you are immersed in water? Is that why you feel yourself a stranger, why doubt holds you? We read indeed: Let the earth bring forth of itself the fruit that sprouts. Likewise you have read also concerning the waters: Let the waters bring forth living creatures, and living creatures were born. That indeed was in the beginning of creation: but it has been reserved for you, that water should regenerate you unto grace, as it generated other things unto life. Imitate that fish which indeed obtained a lesser grace; yet it ought to be a marvel to you. It is in the sea, and it is above the waves: it is in the sea, and it swims above the billows. In the sea a tempest rages, the storms shriek: but the fish swims, it is not submerged, because it is accustomed to swim. So too this world is a sea for you. It has diverse waves, heavy billows, savage tempests.

And be you a fish, so that the wave of this world may not overwhelm you. Beautifully the Father says to the Son: This day have I begotten thee, that is, when you redeemed the people, when you called them to the kingdom of heaven, when you fulfilled my will, you proved that you are my Son.

4. The Washing of Feet After Baptism

You have come up from the font; what followed? You heard the reading. The high priest, girded—though the presbyters too have done it, yet the beginning of the ministry is from the high priest—the high priest, I say, girded, washed your feet. What is this mystery? You have surely heard that when the Lord had washed the feet of the other disciples, he came to Peter, and Peter said to him: Dost thou wash my feet? That is: dost thou, the Lord, wash the feet of a servant? Dost thou, the unstained one, wash my feet? Dost thou, the author of the heavens, wash my feet? You have this also elsewhere: He came to John, and John said to him: I ought to be baptized by thee, and comest thou to me? I am a sinner, and thou comest to me a sinner, as though to lay aside my sins—thou who hast committed no sin?

See all justice, see humility, see grace, see sanctification: Unless I wash thy feet, he says, thou shalt have no part with me.

5. The Roman Church and the Washing of Feet

We are not unaware that the Roman Church does not have this custom, whose type and form we follow in all things: yet it does not have this custom, of washing the feet. See then, perhaps she declined it because of the great numbers. There are, however, some who say and try to excuse it, on the ground that this is not to be done in the mystery, not in baptism, not in regeneration, but that the feet are to be washed as for a guest. One thing belongs to humility, another to sanctification. Finally hear that it is a mystery and a sanctification: Unless I wash thy feet, thou shalt have no part with me. I say this not in order to reprove others, but to commend my own observances. In all things I desire to follow the Roman Church: but yet we too are men with understanding; therefore what is more rightly kept elsewhere, we too keep more rightly.

6. Peter's Offer of Hands and Head

We ourselves follow the apostle Peter, we cling to his own devotion. To this, what does the Roman Church answer? Surely the very author for us of this practice is the apostle Peter, who was a priest of the Roman Church. Peter himself says: Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. See the faith. What he excused before was of humility: what he offered afterward was of devotion and faith.

7. Washing the Feet Against the Serpent's Poison

The Lord answered him, since he had said hands and head: He that is washed does not need to wash again, except to wash his feet only. Why is this? Because in baptism every fault is washed away. The fault, then, departs: but since Adam was tripped up by the devil, and poison was poured out upon him at his feet, therefore you wash the feet; so that in that part in which the serpent laid his snare, a greater aid of sanctification might come, whereby afterward he cannot trip you up. You wash, therefore, the feet, that you may wash away the poisons of the serpent. It also serves for humility, that in the mystery we may not blush at what we disdain in mere service.

8. The Sevenfold Gifts of the Holy Spirit

There follows the spiritual seal which you heard read today; because after the font it remains that perfection be effected; when at the invocation of the priest the Holy Spirit is poured out, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and godliness, the Spirit of holy fear: seven, as it were, powers of the Spirit.

9. The Principal Powers of the Spirit

And indeed all virtues belong to the Spirit: but these are, as it were, cardinal, as it were, principal. For what is so principal as godliness? What so principal as knowledge of God? What so principal as strength? What so principal as the counsel of God? What so principal as the fear of God? As the fear of the world is weakness, so the fear of God is great strength.

10. The Manifold Wisdom of the Spirit

These are the seven powers when you are sealed. For as the holy Apostle says: Because manifold, he says, is the wisdom of our God. And as the wisdom of God is manifold, so the Holy Spirit is manifold, who has diverse and various powers. Whence he is also called the God of powers: which can be fitted to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. But this belongs to another discussion, to another time.

11. The Blind Man Sent to Siloam

After these things, what follows? You must come to the altar. Since you have come, you must see what before you did not see, that is, the mystery which you read in the Gospel; if, however, you did not read it, you certainly heard it. A blind man presented himself to the Savior to be healed: and he who used to heal others by word alone and speech, and by his command poured back light into the eyes; yet in the book of the Gospel which is written according to John, who indeed among the rest most saw the great mysteries, and marked them out, and declared them, wished in that instance to prefigure this mystery. All indeed the holy evangelists, all the apostles except the betrayer, all the saints; yet holy John, who wrote his Gospel last, having been sought and chosen by Christ as one necessary, poured forth eternal mysteries with a certain greater trumpet. Whatever he spoke is a mystery.

Another said the blind man was healed—Matthew said it, Luke said it, Mark said it: but John alone, what does he say? He took clay, and anointed it upon his eyes, and said to him: Go to Siloam. And rising up he went, and washed, and came seeing.

12. The Clay as a Sign of Confession

Consider you too the eyes of your heart. You saw with bodily eyes the things that are corporeal: but the things that belong to the sacraments you were not yet able to see with the eyes of the heart. Therefore, when you gave your name, he took clay, and anointed it upon your eyes. What does this signify? That you should confess your sin, that you should recognize your conscience, that you should do penance for your offenses, that is, that you should acknowledge the lot of human generation. For even if he who comes to baptism does not confess his sin, yet by this very fact he fulfills the confession of all sins, in that he asks to be baptized, so that he may be justified, that is, that he may pass from guilt to grace.

13. Answering the Claim of Sinlessness

Do not think this idle. There are some—I know for certain there was one who used to say, when we said to him: At this age you especially ought to be baptized—he said: Why should I be baptized? I have no sin. Have I contracted any sin? This man had not the clay which Christ had not applied to him, that is, had not opened his eyes; for no man is without sin.

14. The Meaning of Siloam as Sent

Therefore he acknowledges himself a man, who takes refuge in the baptism of Christ. And so he has laid upon you too the clay, that is, modesty, prudence, consideration of your frailty; and he said to you: Go to Siloam. What is Siloam? It is interpreted, he says, "sent," that is: Go to that font in which the cross of the Lord is preached; go to that font in which Christ has redeemed the errors of all.

15. The Opening of the Eyes at the Altar

You washed, you came to the altar, you began to see what before you had not seen; that is, through the font of the Lord and the preaching of the Lord's passion your eyes were then opened: you who before seemed blinded in heart began to see the light of the sacraments. Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, we have come as far as the altar, to a fuller treatment. And since it is now that time, we cannot begin the whole discussion: because the treatment is rather lengthy, let what has been said today suffice; and tomorrow, if it please the Lord, we shall treat of the sacraments themselves.

In the Old Testament the priests were accustomed frequently to enter the first tabernacle: into the second tabernacle the high priest entered once a year. This the apostle Paul, clearly recalling it to the Hebrews, expounds as the order of the Old Testament. Now in the second tabernacle there was manna, there was also the rod of Aaron which withered and afterward flourished again, and there was also the censer.

2. The Baptistery Prefigured by Aaron's Rod

To what does this look? That you may understand what the second tabernacle is, into which the priest introduced you, into which the high priest was accustomed to enter once a year, that is, the baptistery, where the rod of Aaron flourished. Before it was dry, afterward it flourished again: and you were dry, and began to flourish again in the watered font. You had withered by sins, you had withered by errors and offenses: but now you have begun to bear fruit, planted beside the courses of the waters.

3. The People as a Royal Priesthood

But perhaps you say: What has this to do with the people, if the priest's rod had withered and flourished again? Who is the people itself, if not priestly? To whom it is said: But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, as the apostle Peter says. Each one is anointed unto priesthood, is anointed also unto kingship: but it is a spiritual kingship, and a spiritual priesthood.

4. The Fragrance of Christ

In the second tabernacle also there is a censer, which was accustomed to give off a sweet fragrance; so too you are already the good fragrance of Christ, now there is in you no lot of offenses, no odor of graver error.

5. The Angels' Wonder at the Soul Made White

It follows that you should come to the altar. You began to come: the angels watched, they saw you approaching, and beheld the human condition, which before was foul with the dark squalor of sins, suddenly shining forth. And therefore they said: Who is this that comes up from the desert made white? So even the angels marvel. Do you wish to know that they marvel? Hear then the apostle Paul saying that these things have been bestowed upon us, which even the angels desire to look into. And again: What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, which God has prepared for them that love him.

6. Made Whiter Than Snow by Grace

Then recognize what you have received. The holy prophet David saw this grace in a figure and desired it. Do you wish to know that he desired it? Hear him again saying: Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. Why? Because snow, although it is white, quickly grows black by some filth and is spoiled: but this grace which you have received, if you keep what you have received, will be lasting and perpetual.

7. Renewed Youth Like the Eagle

You were coming, then, desiring to the altar, as one who had seen so great a grace; you were coming desiring to the altar, that you might receive the sacrament. Let your soul say: And I will go in to the altar of my God, to God who gives joy to my youth. You have laid aside the old age of sins, you have taken up the youth of grace: this the heavenly sacraments have granted to you. Finally, hear David again saying: Thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle's. You have begun to be a good eagle, seeking the sky; you disdain earthly things. Good eagles are around the altar: For where the body is, there also are the eagles. The form of the body is the altar, and the body of Christ is on the altar: you are the eagles, renewed by the washing away of offense.

8. The Familiar Elements Upon the Altar

You came to the altar, you saw the sacraments placed upon the altar, and you marveled indeed at the creature itself; yet a creature customary and known.

9. Comparing Manna to the Christian Sacraments

Perhaps someone will say: God bestowed so great a grace upon the Jews, he rained manna upon them from heaven: what more has he given to his faithful, what more has he bestowed on those to whom he has promised more?

10. Melchisedech's Offering of Bread and Wine to Abraham

Take what I say, that the mysteries of the Christians are earlier than those of the Jews, and that the sacraments of the Christians are more divine than those of the Jews. How so? Listen. When did the Jews begin to exist? From Judah, indeed, the great-grandson of Abraham; or, if you prefer to understand it thus, from the Law, that is, when the Jews merited to receive the Law. Therefore they are called Jews from the great-grandson of Abraham, or from the time of holy Moses. And if at that time God rained manna from heaven upon the murmuring Jews, yet for you the figure of these sacraments came earlier, when Abraham lived, when he gathered together three hundred and eighteen home-born servants, and pursued the adversaries on your behalf, snatching his nephew out of captivity; then, coming as victor, Melchisedech the priest met him, and offered him bread and wine. Who had bread and wine? Abraham did not have them. But who had them? Melchisedech. He therefore is the author of the sacraments.

Who is Melchisedech? He who is signified as king of righteousness, king of peace. Who is this king of righteousness? Can any man be a king of righteousness? Who then is the king of righteousness, but the righteousness of God, who is the peace of God, the wisdom of God? He who could say: My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you.

11. The Christian People Before the Law

Therefore, understand first that these sacraments which you receive are earlier than the sacraments of Moses, whatever the Jews say they possess; and that the Christian people began before the Jewish people began: but we began in predestination, they in name.

12. Melchisedech as a Type of Christ

Melchisedech, then, offered bread and wine. Who is Melchisedech? Without father, it says, without mother, without order of generation, having neither beginning of days nor end of life: this the Epistle to the Hebrews states. Without father, it says, and without mother he is. Like whom? Like the Son of God. The Son of God was born without a mother by heavenly generation, since he was born of God the Father alone; and again he was born without a father, when he was born of a Virgin; for he was not begotten of male seed, but was born of the Holy Spirit and of the virgin Mary, brought forth from a virginal womb, in all things like the Son of God. Melchisedech was also a priest; for Christ too is priest, to whom it is said: Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech.

13. The Manna from Heaven and the Sacraments' Divine Origin

Who then is the author of the sacraments, if not the Lord Jesus? These sacraments came from heaven; for every counsel is from heaven. But truly a great and divine miracle it was that God rained manna from heaven upon the people, and the people did not labor, and yet ate.

14. How Bread Becomes the Body of Christ by Consecration

Perhaps you say: My bread is ordinary. But this bread is bread before the words of the sacraments; when consecration has been added, from bread it becomes the flesh of Christ. Let us then establish this. How can that which is bread be the body of Christ? By consecration. But by what words is the consecration effected, by whose utterances? Those of the Lord Jesus. For all the other things which are said in the preceding parts are said by the priest: praises are offered to God, prayer is entreated for the people, for kings, for the rest; but when it comes to the confecting of the venerable sacrament, the priest no longer uses his own words, but uses the words of Christ. Therefore the word of Christ confects this sacrament.

15. The Creative Power of Christ's Word

What is the word of Christ? Surely that by which all things were made. The Lord commanded, and heaven was made; the Lord commanded, and the earth was made; the Lord commanded, and the seas were made. The Lord commanded, and every creature was generated. You see, then, how operative the word of Christ is. If, then, there is such power in the word of the Lord Jesus that things which were not began to be, how much more operative is it that things which already were should be, and be changed into something else? Heaven was not, the sea was not, the earth was not; but hear David saying: He spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created.

16. A New Creature Made by Consecration

So then, to answer you: the body of Christ was not there before the consecration; but after the consecration I tell you that now it is the body of Christ. He himself spoke, and it was made; he himself commanded, and it was created. You yourself existed, but you were an old creature; after you were consecrated, you began to be a new creature. Do you wish to know how new a creature? Every one, it says, in Christ is a new creature.

17. The Virgin Birth as Nature Changed by God's Will

Learn, then, how the word of Christ is accustomed to change every creature, and does change, when it wills, the institutions of nature. How, you ask? Take, and first of all, let us take an example from his generation. It is the custom that a man is not generated except from a man and a woman, and by the custom of marriage; but because the Lord willed it, because he chose this mystery, Christ was born of the Holy Spirit and a Virgin, that is, the mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus. You see, then, that he was born contrary to institution and order, that a man was born of a Virgin.

18. Further Signs of Nature Overturned by the Divine Word

Take another example. The people of the Jews were being pressed hard by the Egyptians, hemmed in by the sea; by divine command Moses touched the waters with his rod, and the wave divided itself; not indeed according to the custom of its own nature, but according to the grace of the heavenly command Take another example. The people were thirsting, they came to a spring: the spring was bitter, holy Moses cast wood into the spring, and the spring which was bitter became sweet; that is, it changed the custom of its own nature, it received the sweetness of grace Take also a fourth example. The iron of an axe had fallen into the water, sinking as iron does by its own custom; Elisha cast in a piece of wood, and immediately the iron was raised up, and floated upon the waters: certainly contrary to the custom of iron; for it is a heavier substance than the element of water.

19. The Heavenly Word at Work in the Eucharist

From all these things, then, do you not understand how much the heavenly word accomplishes? If it worked in an earthly spring, if the heavenly word worked in other things, does it not work in the heavenly Sacraments? So you have learned that from bread the body of Christ is made, and that wine and water are put into the cup; but it is made blood by the consecration of the heavenly word.

20. The Likeness of Blood in the Eucharistic Cup

But perhaps you say: I do not see the appearance of blood. But it has the likeness: for just as you have taken on the likeness of death, so also you drink the likeness of the precious blood; so that there may be no horror of gore, and yet the price of redemption may be effected. You have learned, then, that what you receive is the body of Christ.

21. The Words of Institution Over the Bread

Do you wish to know that it is consecrated by heavenly words? Hear what the words are. The priest says: Grant us, it says, that this oblation may be approved, ratified, reasonable, acceptable: which is the figure of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who, the day before he suffered, took bread in his holy hands, looked up to heaven to thee, holy Father, almighty, eternal God, giving thanks, blessed it, broke it, and, having broken it, gave it to his apostles and his disciples, saying: Take, and eat of this, all of you; for this is my body, which shall be broken for many.

22. The Words of Institution Over the Cup

Likewise also the cup, after supper was ended, the day before he suffered, he took, he looked up to heaven to thee, holy Father, almighty, eternal God, giving thanks, blessed it, gave it to his apostles and his disciples, saying: Take, and drink of this, all of you; for this is my blood. Observe all these things. Those words belong to the evangelist, up to Take, whether of the body or of the blood. From there on the words are Christ's: Take, and drink of this, all of you; for this is my blood. And observe each detail.

23. Bread and Wine Made the Body and Blood of Christ

Who, the day before, it says, he suffered, took bread in his holy hands. Before it is consecrated, it is bread; but when the words of Christ have been added, it is the body of Christ. Finally, hear him saying: Take, and eat of it, all of you; for this is my body. And before the words of Christ, the cup is full of wine and water; when the words of Christ have taken effect, there the blood of Christ is brought about, which redeemed the people. See, then, in how many ways the word of Christ is powerful to change all things. Then the Lord Jesus himself testifies to us that we receive his body and blood. Should we doubt his faithfulness and testimony?

24. The Body of Christ Surpasses the Manna

Now return with me to my proposition. Great indeed and venerable it was that manna rained upon the Jews from heaven: but understand. Which is greater, manna from heaven, or the body of Christ? Surely the body of Christ, who is the author of heaven. Moreover, whoever ate the manna died; whoever shall eat this body will have the remission of sins, and will not die forever.

25. The Meaning of the People's Amen

Therefore not idly do you say: Amen, already confessing in spirit that you receive the body of Christ. The priest says to you: The body of Christ; and you say: Amen, that is, true. Let the affection hold what the tongue confesses.

26. Christ's Command to Commemorate His Passion

But that you may know this to be a sacrament, its figure preceded beforehand. Then, learn how great a sacrament it is. See what he says: As often as you shall do this, so often shall you make a commemoration of me, until I come again.

27. The Priest's Offering Compared to Abel, Abraham, and Melchisedech

And the priest says: Therefore, mindful of his most glorious passion, and of his resurrection from the dead, and of his ascension into heaven, we offer to thee this unblemished victim, this reasonable victim, this bloodless victim, this holy bread and cup of eternal life: and we ask and pray that thou wouldst receive this oblation on thy sublime altar by the hands of thy angels, as thou didst deign to receive the gifts of thy just servant Abel, and the sacrifice of our patriarch Abraham, and that which the high priest Melchisedech offered to thee.

28. Receiving the Eucharist for the Remission of Sins

Therefore, as often as you receive, what does the Apostle say to you? As often as we receive, we proclaim the death of the Lord. If we proclaim his death, we proclaim the remission of sins. If, as often as blood is poured out, it is poured out for the remission of sins, I ought always to receive it, that my sins may always be forgiven me. I who always sin, ought always to have the medicine.

29. A Closing Blessing and Promise to Continue

Meanwhile, today too, as much as we were able, we have explained; but tomorrow, on the Sabbath and on the Lord's Day, we will speak concerning the order of prayer, as best we can. May our Lord God preserve for you the grace which he has given, and the eyes which he has opened for you, deign to illumine more fully through his only-begotten Son, king and savior, our Lord God, through whom to him, and with whom to him, is praise, honor, glory, magnificence, power, together with the Holy Spirit, from the ages, and now, and always, and unto all ages of ages. Amen.

Yesterday our discourse and treatise was carried down to the sacraments of the holy altar. And we learned that the figure of these sacraments preceded in the times of Abraham, when holy Melchisedech offered the sacrifice, having neither beginning nor end of days. Hear, man, what the apostle Paul says to the Hebrews. Where are those who say the Son of God is from the time of Melchisedech? It is said that he has neither beginning nor end of days: if Melchisedech does not have a beginning of days, could Christ have one? But the truth is not less than the figure. You see, then, that he is the first and the last. First, because he is the author of all things; last, not because he finds an end, but because he concludes all things.

2. The Mixing of Wine and Water in the Cup

We said, then, that on the altar are placed the cup and the bread. What is put into the cup? Wine. And what else? Water. But you say to me: How then did Melchisedech offer bread and wine? What does the mixing of water mean? Receive the reason.

3. The Rock Struck by Moses as a Figure of Christ

First of all, what does the figure which preceded in the time of Moses contain? That when the people of the Jews were thirsting, and murmuring that they could not find water, God commanded Moses to touch the rock with his rod. He touched the rock, and the rock poured forth a very great stream, just as the Apostle says: And they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them; and that rock was Christ. Not an immovable rock which followed the people. Do you also drink, that Christ may follow you. See the mystery. Moses, that is, the prophet; the rod, that is, the word of God. The priest with the word of God touches the rock, and water flows, and the people of God drink. The priest touches, then, water overflows into the cup, it springs up unto eternal life, and the people of God drink, who have obtained the grace of God. You have learned, then, this.

4. Water and Blood from Christ's Pierced Side

Take another example. At the time of the Lord's passion, when the great sabbath was approaching, since our Lord Jesus Christ and the thieves were still alive, men were sent to break their legs; but coming, they found the Lord Jesus Christ already dead; then one of the soldiers touched his side with a lance, and from his side there flowed water and blood. Why water? Why blood? Water, that it might cleanse; blood, that it might redeem. Why from the side? Because whence came the fault, thence should come the grace. The fault came through a woman, the grace through the Lord Jesus Christ.

5. The Invitation to Christ's Kiss at the Altar

You have come to the altar; the Lord Jesus calls you, or your soul, or the Church, and says: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. Do you wish to be joined to Christ? Nothing is more pleasing. Do you wish it for your soul? Nothing is more delightful.

6. The Kiss That Admits the Soul to the Heavenly Banquet

Let him kiss me. You see that you are clean from every sin, because your offences have been wiped away; therefore he judges you worthy of the heavenly sacraments, and therefore invites you to the heavenly banquet: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.

7. The Soul's Worthiness to Approach Christ's Altar

Yet, on account of what follows, your soul, or the human condition, or the Church, seeing itself cleansed from all sins, and worthy to approach the altar of Christ (for what is the altar, but the form of the body of Christ?), beholding the wonderful sacraments, says: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, that is, let Christ fix a kiss upon me.

8. The Sacraments Likened to Wine in the Song of Songs

Why? Because thy breasts are better than wine; that is, thy perceptions, thy sacraments, are better than wine. Better than that wine which, though it has sweetness, has gladness, has grace; yet in it the gladness is worldly, but in thee the delight is spiritual. Already then Solomon introduces the wedding, either of Christ and the Church, or of the spirit and the flesh and the soul.

9. The Ointment Poured Out and the Young Maidens

And he added: Thy name is as ointment poured out, therefore the young maidens have loved thee. Who are these young maidens, but the souls of individuals, who have laid aside the old age of this body, renewed through the Holy Spirit?

10. Being Drawn to Follow Christ

Draw us, we will run after the odour of thy ointments. See what he says. You cannot follow Christ unless he himself draws you. Indeed, that you may know this: When I shall be lifted up, he says, I will draw all things to myself.

11. The King's Chamber and Storeroom of Delights

The King has brought me into his chamber. The Greek has: into his store-room, and into his cellar, he has. Where there are good libations, where good odours, where sweet honeys, where diverse fruits, where varied feasts; that your banquet may be seasoned with the most abundant delicacies.

12. Coming to the Altar and the Twenty-Second Psalm

So then you have come to the altar, you have received the body of Christ. Hear again what sacraments you have obtained. Hear holy David speaking; and he in the Spirit foresaw these mysteries, and rejoiced, and said that nothing was lacking to him. Why? Because he who has received the body of Christ will not hunger forever.

13. The Rod and Staff as Christ's Dominion and Passion

How often have you heard the twenty-second psalm, and not understood it? See how fitted it is to the heavenly sacraments: The Lord feeds me, and nothing shall be lacking to me, in a place of pasture, there he has set me. He has brought me up beside the water of refreshment, he has converted my soul. He has led me forth upon the paths of justice, for his name's sake. For even if 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. The rod is dominion, the staff is the passion, that is, the eternal divinity of Christ, but also his bodily passion: the one created, the other redeemed. Thou hast prepared a table before me against those who afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and how excellent is my inebriating cup.

14. The Church's Joy and the Fruit-Bearing Trees

You have come, then, to the altar, you have received the grace of Christ, you have obtained the heavenly sacraments. The Church rejoices at the redemption of many, and is glad with spiritual exultation that the candidate household stands before her. You have this in the Song of Songs. Rejoicing, she calls upon Christ, having prepared a banquet worthy, as it seems, of the heavenly feast. And therefore she says: Let my brother come down into his garden, and gather the fruit of his fruit-trees. Who are these fruit-trees? You had become dry wood in Adam: but now through the grace of Christ you sprout as fruit-bearing trees.

15. Christ's Answer to the Church in the Garden

The Lord Jesus gladly accepts, and answers his Church with heavenly condescension: I have come down, he says, into the garden, I have gathered myrrh with my spices: I have eaten my bread with my honey, and I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, my brethren, he says, and be inebriated.

16. The Vine Brought Out of Egypt

I have gathered myrrh with my spices. What is this gathering? Know the vine, and you will recognize the vintage. Thou hast brought a vine, he says, out of Egypt, that is, the people of God. You are the vine, you are the vintage: as a vine you were planted, as a vintage you have given fruit. I have gathered myrrh with my spices, that is, in the fragrance which you have received.

17. The Bread of Sweetness and the Sober Inebriation

I have eaten my bread with my honey. Do you see that in this bread there is no bitterness, but all sweetness? I have drunk my wine with my milk. Do you see that such is the gladness which is defiled by the filth of no sin? For as often as you drink, you receive remission of sins, and are inebriated in the spirit. Whence the Apostle also says: Be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit; for he who is drunk with wine staggers and totters: he who is inebriated with the Spirit is rooted in Christ. And therefore it is a glorious inebriation, which produces sobriety of mind. These are the things which we have briefly run through concerning the sacraments.

18. The Apostles Ask to Be Taught to Pray

Now what remains, but prayer? And do not think it a matter of small virtue to know how to pray. The holy Apostles said to the Lord Jesus: Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. Then the Lord gave the prayer: Our Father, who art in heaven: hallowed be thy name: thy kingdom come: thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth: give us this day our daily bread: and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors: and suffer us not to be led into temptation, but deliver us from evil. See how brief a prayer, and full of every virtue: how great the grace of the first word!

19. Presuming to Call God Our Father

O man! You did not dare to lift your face to heaven, you kept your eyes fixed upon the earth, and suddenly you received the grace of Christ, all your sins were forgiven you. From a wicked servant you were made a good son; therefore presume, not on your own action, but on the grace of Christ: for by grace you have been saved, says the Apostle. This then is not arrogance, but faith: to proclaim what you have received is not pride, but devotion. Lift up therefore your eyes to the Father, who begot you through the laver: to the Father who redeemed you through the Son, and say: Our Father. A good presumption, but a measured one. You call him Father as a son does: but do not claim anything for yourself alone. The Father is the special Father of Christ alone; to us all in common he is Father, because him alone he begot, but us he created. Say then, you too, through grace: Our Father; that you may deserve to be a son.

Commend yourself by regard for and consideration of the Church.

20. The Meaning of Being in Heaven

Our Father, who art in heaven. What is "in heaven"? Hear Scripture saying: The Lord is high above all the heavens. And everywhere you find that the Lord is above the heavens of heavens, as though the angels were not in the heavens, as though the Dominations were not in the heavens. But in those heavens of which it is said: The heavens declare the glory of God. There is heaven, where fault has ceased; there is heaven, where sins keep holiday from harm; there is heaven, where there is no wound of death.

21. The Meaning of Hallowed Be Thy Name

Our Father, who art in heaven: hallowed be thy name. What is "hallowed"? As though we were praying that he be sanctified who says: Be ye holy, because I am holy, as though some increase of sanctification should come to him from our prayer. Not so, but let it be hallowed in us, that his sanctification may be able to come to us.

22. The Meaning of Thy Kingdom Come

Our Father, who art in heaven: hallowed be thy name: thy kingdom come. As though the kingdom of God were not eternal. Jesus himself says: For this I was born; and yet you say to the Father: Thy kingdom come; as though it had not yet come. But then the kingdom of God comes, when you have obtained his grace. For he himself says: The kingdom of God is within you.

23. The Meaning of Thy Will Be Done

Thy kingdom come: thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth: give us this day our daily bread. By the blood of Christ all things have been made peaceful, both in heaven and on earth: heaven has been sanctified, the devil has been cast down. Where does he dwell now? Where man also dwells, whom he deceived. Thy will be done, that is, let there be peace on earth, as in heaven.

24. Daily Bread as the Super-Substantial Bread

Give us this day our daily bread. I recall my own sermon when I was treating of the sacraments. I told you that before the words of Christ, what is offered is called bread; when the words of Christ have been uttered, it is no longer called bread, but is named the body. Why then in the Lord's Prayer, which follows afterward, does it say: our bread? He did indeed say bread, but ἐπιούσιον, that is, super-substantial. This is not that bread which goes into the body, but that bread of eternal life, which sustains the substance of our soul. Hence in Greek it is called ἐπιούσιος; but the Latin has called this bread "daily," which the Greeks call "the coming one"; because the Greeks call τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν ἡμέραν the coming day. Therefore what the Latin said, and what the Greek said, both seem useful: the Greek signified both meanings in one word, the Latin said "daily."

25. Job's Daily Sacrifice and the Daily Sacrament

If it is daily bread, why do you take it after a year, as the Greeks in the East are accustomed to do? Take it daily, that it may profit you daily. Live so as to deserve to receive it daily. He who does not deserve to receive it daily, does not deserve to receive it after a year. How did holy Job offer sacrifice daily for his sons, lest perhaps they had sinned in heart or in word? Do you then hear that as often as the sacrifice is offered, the death of the Lord, the resurrection of the Lord, the ascension of the Lord are signified, and the remission of sins: and do you not take this bread of life daily? He who has a wound seeks a remedy. The wound is that we are under sin: the remedy is the heavenly and venerable sacrament.

26. Christ Rises Anew for Us Each Day

Give us this day our daily bread. If you receive it daily, it is "today" for you daily. If Christ is "today" for you, he rises for you daily. How so? Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. It is "today," then, when Christ rises. Yesterday and today he is the same, says the Apostle Paul. But elsewhere too he says: The night has passed, but the day has drawn near: yesterday's night has passed, today's day has drawn near.

27. The Debt of Sin and Christ's Cancelled Bond

There follows: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. What is a debt, but sin? For if you had not taken money at another's interest, you would not be in need; and therefore sin is imputed to you. You had money with which you were born rich. You were rich, having been made in the image and likeness of God: you lost what you had, that is, humility, while you desired to vindicate arrogance for yourself: you lost the money, just as Adam was made naked: you took from the devil a debt which was not necessary. And so you, who were free in Christ, became a debtor of the devil. The enemy held your bond, but the Lord crucified it, and blotted it out with his own blood: he took away your debt, he restored your freedom.

28. Forgiving Others as the Condition of Forgiveness

Well then does it say: And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. See what you say: As I forgive, so also do you forgive me? If you forgive, you rightly agree that it be forgiven to you. If you do not forgive, how do you ask him that it be forgiven to you?

29. Temptation Measured Like an Athlete's Trial

And suffer us not to be led into temptation, but deliver us from evil. See what he says: And suffer us not to be led into a temptation which we cannot bear. He does not say: Lead us not into temptation, but, like a trainer of athletes, he wishes such a temptation as the human condition is able to bear; and that each one be delivered from evil, that is, from the enemy, from sin.

30. Protection from the Devil and the Closing Doxology

The Lord is powerful, who took away your sin and forgave your offenses, to protect and guard you against the snares of the adversary the devil; that the enemy, who is wont to beget guilt, may not creep upon you. But he who commits himself to God does not fear the devil; For if God be for us, who is against us? To him therefore be praise and glory from all ages, and now, and always, and world without end, Amen.

Just as our Lord Jesus Christ is the true Son of God, not as men are through grace, but as a Son from the substance of the Father; so too is that true flesh, as he himself said, which we receive, and true is his drink.

2. The Objection That Only a Likeness Is Seen

But perhaps you will say (as even the disciples of Christ said at that time, hearing him say: Unless a man eat my flesh and drink my blood, he shall not abide in me, nor have eternal life); perhaps you will say: How is it true? I see the likeness, I do not see the reality of blood.

3. The Word of Christ Changes the Order of Nature

First of all I told you concerning the word of Christ, which works so that it can change and convert the established orders of nature. Then, when his disciples could not bear the word of Christ, hearing that he would give his flesh to eat and his blood to drink, they withdrew; yet Peter alone said: You have the words of eternal life, and how shall I depart from you? Lest, therefore, many should say this, as though there were a certain horror of blood, but the grace of redemption might remain; therefore you receive the sacrament indeed in a likeness, but you truly attain the grace and power of the nature.

4. The Living Bread That Came Down from Heaven

I am, he says, the living bread which came down from heaven. But flesh did not come down from heaven, that is, he took on flesh on earth from the Virgin. How then does bread come down from heaven, and living bread? Because our same Lord Jesus Christ is partaker both of divinity and of body: and you, who receive the flesh, are made partaker in that food of his divine substance.

5. One Operation of the Trinity in the Sacraments

Therefore you have received of the sacraments, you have known most fully all things, since you were baptized in the name of the Trinity. In all that we have done, the mystery of the Trinity has been preserved. Everywhere Father and Son and Holy Spirit, one operation, one sanctification; even though certain things may seem, as it were, particular.

6. The Anointing and Sealing of the Heart

How so? God who anointed you, and the Lord who sealed you, and placed the Holy Spirit in your heart. You have received, therefore, the Holy Spirit in your heart. Receive another thing, that just as the Holy Spirit is in the heart, so too is Christ in the heart. How so? You have this in the Song of Songs, Christ saying to the Church: Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arms.

7. Sealed to the Form of Christ's Cross

Therefore God anointed you, Christ sealed you. How so? Because you were sealed to the form of his cross, to his passion: you received the seal in likeness of him; that you might rise to his own form, live according to his own image, who was crucified to sin and lives to God: and your old man, submerged in the font, was crucified to sin, but rose again to God.

8. Union with Christ and the Seal of the Trinity

Then you have elsewhere something particular, namely that God has called you, but in baptism you are, as it were, particularly crucified together with Christ. Then again, as it were particularly, when you receive the spiritual seal, see that there is a distinction of persons, but the whole mystery of the Trinity is joined together.

9. One Spirit Dividing Gifts as He Wills

Then what did the Apostle tell you, as was read the day before yesterday? There are diversities of graces, but the same Spirit. There are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord. There are diversities of operations, but the same God, who works all things in all. All things, he says, God works. But also concerning the Spirit of God it was read: But one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one as he wills. Hear Scripture saying that the Spirit divides according to his own will, not out of obedience. Therefore the Spirit divides grace to you as he wills, not as he is commanded; and especially because the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ. And hold this fast, that the Holy Spirit himself, the Spirit of God himself, the Spirit of Christ himself, is the Paraclete Spirit himself.

10. Against the Arian Denial of the Paraclete

The Arians think they derogate from the Holy Spirit if they call him the Paraclete Spirit. What is Paraclete, but comforter? As though it were not also read of the Father, that he himself is the God of consolation. You see, then, that they suppose derogation to be made to the Holy Spirit in that very thing by which the power of the eternal Father is proclaimed with dutiful affection.

11. The Apparent Contradiction on Where to Pray

Now receive how we ought to pray. There are many virtues of prayer. Where we ought to pray is no small matter, nor a small question. The apostle says: I desire, then, that men pray in every place, lifting up pure hands without anger and disputing. And the Lord says in the Gospel: But you, when you pray, enter into your chamber; and having shut the door, pray to your Father. Does it not seem to you contrary, that the Apostle should say: Pray in every place; and the Lord should say: Enter into your chamber, and pray? But it is not contrary. Let us then settle this: then how you ought to begin prayer, and in what order to distinguish it, what to weave in, what to allege, how to close the prayer, then for what you ought to pray: let us say all these things.

12. Your Mind as the Secret Chamber of Prayer

First, where you ought to pray. Paul seems to say one thing, the Lord another. Could Paul teach against the precepts of Christ? By no means. For what reason? Because he is not contrary, but an interpreter of Christ: Be imitators, he says, of me, as I also am of Christ. What then? You can pray everywhere, and always pray in your chamber. You have your chamber everywhere. Even if you are placed among the Gentiles, among the Jews, you nevertheless have your secret place everywhere. Your chamber is your mind. Though placed in the midst of the people, yet in the inner man you keep your hidden and secret place.

13. Praying from the Heart Not the Lips

But you, when you pray, enter into your chamber. He rightly says, enter; lest you pray as the Jew, to whom it is said: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Let not your prayer proceed from the lips only. Attend with your whole mind, enter into the recess of your breast, enter wholly. Let him not see you perfunctory, whom you desire to please. Let him see that you pray from the heart, that he may deign to hear you praying from the heart.

14. Enter Your Chamber and Shut the Door

But you, when you pray, enter into your chamber. You have this elsewhere too: Go, my people, and enter into your chambers, shut your door, hide yourself a little while, until the wrath of the Lord pass by. This the Lord spoke through the prophet: but in the Gospel he said: But you, when you pray, enter into your chamber; and having shut the door, pray to your Father.

15. The Door of the Mouth in Secret Prayer

What is meant by, having shut the door? Hear that you have a door which you ought to shut, when you pray. Would that women might hear this! You have already heard; holy David taught you, saying: Set, O Lord, a watch upon my mouth, and a door of enclosure round about my lips. There is elsewhere a door, of which the apostle Paul speaks, saying: That a door of speech may be opened to me, to speak the mystery of Christ; that is, when you pray, do not cry out with your voice, nor spread your prayer abroad, nor cast it before the crowds. Pray in your secret place, secure that he who sees all things and hears all things can hear you in secret. And pray to your Father in secret, who hears you entreating in secret.

16. Why Prayer Should Be Silent Not Shouted

Let us ask, then, what it profits, for what reason we ought to pray in secret rather than with loud crying. Listen: let us take an example from the custom of men. If you ask something of someone who hears quickly, you do not think a shout is needed: you ask gently, in a moderate voice. If you were to ask something of a deaf man, would you not begin to cry out, that he might be able to hear you? He, therefore, who cries out thinks that God cannot hear otherwise than one who cries out; and when he asks him thus, he derogates from his power: but he who prays in silence bears witness of faith, and confesses that God is the searcher of heart and reins, and that he hears your prayer before it is poured forth by your mouth.

17. Why the Apostle Addresses Men in This Precept

Let us see, then: I desire that men pray in every place. For what reason did he say men? Certainly common prayer belongs both to women and to men. I find no other explanation, except perhaps that the holy Apostle said men for this reason, lest women should presume upon it and misunderstand "in every place," and begin to cry out everywhere, which we cannot tolerate in the Church.

18. Lifting Up Pure Hands in Prayer

I desire, then, that men, that is, those who can keep the precept, pray in every place, lifting up pure hands. What is meant by lifting up pure hands? Must you display the sign of the Lord's cross before the nations in your prayer? That indeed is a sign of virtue, not of shame. Yet there is a way you can pray without displaying the figure, but by lifting up your actions. If you wish to work your work, lift up pure hands through innocence. Lift them up, not daily: you have lifted them once, there is no need to lift them again.

19. Approaching Prayer Without Anger

I desire, then, that men pray in every place, lifting up pure hands without anger and disputing. Nothing is truer: Anger, he says, destroys even the wise. Therefore at all times, as far as possible, the Christian man ought to temper his anger, and especially when he approaches prayer; lest the indignation of anger disturb your mind, lest some fury impede your prayer: but rather approach with a peaceful breast. For why should you be angry? Has a servant sinned? You approach prayer that your own sins may be forgiven you, and yet you grow indignant. This is what "without anger" means.

20. The Distracted Mind of the Merchant at Prayer

Now let us consider disputing. Often a merchant comes to prayer, or a miser: one thinks about money, another about gain, another about honor, another about desire; and thinks that God can hear him. And therefore, when you pray, it is fitting that you prefer divine things to human.

21. A Woman's True Adornment in Prayer

Likewise also women, he says, I desire to pray, not flaunting themselves in ornaments, nor in pearls, says the apostle Paul. But also the apostle Peter says: The grace of a woman avails very much, that the affection of her husband may be converted through his wife's good conduct, and the unbeliever may turn to the grace of Christ through her. This is the power of a woman's gravity and modesty, and her good conduct, that she call her husband to faith and devotion, which also the speech of a prudent man frequently accomplishes. Therefore let a woman, he says, have her adornment not in the arrangement of her hair, not in braided locks, but in prayer from a pure heart; where the hidden man of the heart is, who is always rich before God. You have, then, that in which you may be rich. In Christ your riches are the fillets of modesty and chastity, faith, devotion, and mercy. These are the treasures of righteousness, as the prophet recalled.

22. Beginning Prayer with Praise of God

Then, from where you ought to begin. Tell me, if you wished to ask something of a man, and you began thus: Give me, behold, that which I ask of you; would not the request seem arrogant? And therefore prayer ought to begin from the praise of God, so that you may ask the omnipotent God, to whom all things are possible, who has the will to grant. There follows supplication, as the Apostle taught, saying: I exhort, then, that first of all prayers, supplications, petitions, thanksgivings be made. The first prayer, therefore, ought to hold the praise of God: the second, supplication; the third, petition: the fourth, thanksgiving. You ought not, as one famished for food, to begin first from food, but first from the praises of God.

23. The Orator's Method Applied to Prayer

Whence also those skilled orators have this discipline, that they render the judge favorable to themselves: they begin from his praises, that they may make the one who is to judge them well disposed. Then little by little he begins to ask the judge to deign to listen patiently. Thirdly he dares to bring forth his petition, to express what he asks. Fourthly, just as he began from the praises of God, so he ought to end in praise.

24. Expounding the Lord's Prayer

You have this in the Lord's Prayer: Our Father who art in heaven. It is the praise of God that he is proclaimed Father: therein is the glory of piety. It is the praise of God that he dwells in the heavens, not on earth. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, that is, that he may hallow his servants; for his name is hallowed in us, when men are proclaimed Christian. Therefore it is the part of one wishing: hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. A petition, that the kingdom of Christ may be in us. If God reigns in us, the adversary can have no place. Guilt does not reign, sin does not reign: but virtue reigns, chastity reigns, devotion reigns. Then: Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread. This petition is the greatest of those that are asked. And, he says, forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.

Therefore receive daily, that you may daily ask forgiveness of your debt. And suffer not that we be led into temptation: but deliver us from evil. What follows? Hear what the priest says: through our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is to thee, with whom is to thee honor, praise, glory, magnificence, power with the Holy Spirit from ages, and now, and always, and unto all ages of ages, Amen.

25. Psalm Eight as a Pattern of Prayer

Another example: the Psalms of David, though they be a single little book, having those virtues of prayer which we have mentioned above; yet very often all these parts of prayer are found in one psalm, as we find in the eighth psalm. For thus it begins: O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is thy name in all the earth! Therefore the first is prayer. Then supplication: For I will see thy heavens, the works of thy fingers: that is, I will see the heavens, the moon and the stars, which thou hast founded. Certainly he does not say I will see heaven, but I will see heavens, in which the grace and heavenly splendor begins to grow white. These heavens the Prophet then promised would be given to those who should merit heavenly grace from the Lord. The moon and the stars which thou hast founded: he calls the Church the moon, and the saints, shining with heavenly grace, the stars.

Then see his petition: What is man that thou art mindful of him: or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, and hast set him over the works of thy hands. And another thanksgiving: Thou hast subjected all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, moreover also the beasts of the field.

26. Closing Exhortation and Blessing

We have taught, according to our capacity, perhaps what we did not learn; and as we were able, we have set it forth. May your holiness, instructed by the priestly institutions, labor to keep what it has received from God: and may the oblation, like a pure sacrifice, ever recognize in you its own seal, that you yourselves also may be able to attain to the grace and to the rewards of the virtues, through our Lord Jesus Christ; to whom is glory, honor, praise, perpetuity from the ages, and now, and always, and unto all ages of ages. Amen.