and

HIS LOVE FOR US
BY

REGINALD GARRIGOU'LAGRANGE, OP.

TRANSLATED BY A. BOUCHARD

B. HERDER BOOK CO.
15 & 17 SOUTH BROADWAY, ST. LOUIS a, MO.
AND
33 QUEEN SQUARE, LONDON, W. C.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Printed in US.A.

NIHIL OBSTAT

Innocentius Swoboda, O.F.M.
Censor Librorum

IMPRIMATUR
4* Joseph E. Ritter

Archiepiscopus

Sts. Ludovici, die ry Augusti, 1951

Copyright 195s
B. HERDER BOOK CO.

Reprinted 1958

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: y 1-7708

Vaü-BaHou Pres», Inc., Binghamton and New York

TRANSLATOR’S NOTE

Excerpts from St. Thomas’ Summa theologica
are taken from the translation published by Benziger Brothers, 1947.

PREFACE

N an earlier work, Providence, we sought to explain, according to
revelation and theology, the nature of divine Providence, its ex­
tension and infallibility, and the way we must confidently abandon
ourselves to it by fulfilling our duties a little better each day. We
have also shown in that work how conformity with God’s signified
will permit us to abandon ourselves to His will of good pleasure
even before it has been manifested to us. Thus, “fidelity and aban­
donment” is a maxim that preserves the equilibrium of the interior
life in the face of two opposing deviations, namely, restless, sterile
agitation, and lazy, quietistic indifference.
This book on the Savior is in a sense the sequel to the one men­
tioned above. Who, indeed, if not the Savior has made the correct
notion of Providence, so often expressed in the Old Testament, pre­
vail over the notion of destiny or of an unknown and irresistible link­
age of events and causes? Who has liberated men from the clutches
of blind fate, spoken of by the Greek poets? Who has enabled us to
free ourselves from the bonds of fatality, of chance or ill fortune, of
life’s countless worries, of slavery to the passions? Who, if not He
whom we call the Savior?
The greatest Greek philosophers sought deliverance in contempla­
tion of the Sovereign Good, which they conceived variously, depend­
ing on whether they were more or less idealistic. But they admitted
that this contemplation of the Sovereign Good was accessible to only
a very few men. They themselves attained to it only for a few fleeting
moments; and if they spoke of the life to come, it was in terms of a
beaut iful possibility. Even Plato expressed himself thus in the. Phaedo,
as did Seneca in one of his Petters to Lucilius (102).
The problem of men’s individual destinies remained obscure, and
the necessity resulting from the very nature of things weighed
heavily on men’s souls. There was nothing to do but to be resigned

I

V

vi

PREFACE

to it. “The philosophers do not free us from it. Quite the contrary,
they buttress by their doctrines the stern necessity of universal laws.” 1
According to the Stoics, fate leads those who submit to her, but carries
along in spite of themselves those who resist. The determinist doc­
trines from the Orient added still more to the weight of destiny.
The Savior came not only to deliver us from the stranglehold of
fate, from the irresistible chain of known and unknown causes, and
from the blows of misfortune; He came also to deliver us from sin,
from injustice with respect to God and men. He came to justify us
and to promise us, no longer as a beautiful possibility but as an abso­
lute certainty, not only future life in the natural order, but eternal
life in the supernatural order, participation in the intimate life of
God: a life in which we shall see Him as He sees Himself and love
Him as He loves Himself.
Belief in destiny has been superseded by faith in God’s love for us
and faith in Providence: “God so loved the world, as to give His
only-begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not
perish, but may have life everlasting.” 2 The weight of destiny
has been lifted, and our individual destinies are brighter. The Savior
brings deliverance to all who do not through lust or pride resist the
light and the grace of God. It is from this point of view that we shall
consider the mystery of the redemptive Incarnation.
On several occasions we have explained to theological students
St. Thomas’ treatise on the Incarnation, making use of his principal
commentators. We judge it useful for our present purpose to extract
certain portions of this treatise that bear directly on the personality
of the Savior, His interior life, and His love for us, and to present
this material in a form accessible to all interior souls. In our presenta­
tion we shall go back as much as possible from theology to faith itself,
since the latter is far superior to the former.
Theology helps us to discover the innermost meaning of the Gos­
pel. The farther it advances the more, in a sense, it must hide itself.
For, like St. John the Baptist, it must somehow disappear after an* Seneca, Ep. 107, ioj Volentem ducunt fata, nolentem trahunt. Cf. A. J. Festugière,
O.P., l.’ldlal Religieux det Greet et l'Evangile (1931), p. ioj.
• John j :i6.

PREFACE

vii

nouncing the coming of our Lord. It makes known the structure of
the body of doctrine, but as is fitting it must express itself as much as
possible in the terms of Scripture, that is, in God’s own words. Thus
theology tends upward toward faith, its source.
We frequently speak of the intimate life of God, which is espe­
cially the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. Likewise the interior life
of the sacred soul of the Savior derives from the mystery of the In­
carnation. We shall therefore consider the Savior’s interior life first
with relation to the mystery of the Incarnation, and then with rela­
tion to the mystery of the Redemption.
In Part One we shall seek to explain Christ’s personality according
to His own testimony and that of the apostles, His intimate life as it
was and is eternally with relation to the fittingness and motives for
the Incarnation. We shall consider Christ’s sanctity, the fullness of
grace that enriched His sacred soul from the first moment of His
conception, and that radiates through all His faculties: His intelli­
gence, His will, and His passions.
In Part Two we shall deal with the mystery of the Redemption
and of the Savior’s love for us, dwelling on His humility, His prayer,
His merits, His priesthood, the sacrifice of the Cross and that of the
Mass. By thus contemplating at close range the intimate life of Jesus
on earth, in heaven, and in the Eucharist, we shall learn how we must
go about entering into His close friendship and how the mystery of
Christ is bound up with the mystery of our own individual destinies.
We have set out to write neither a treatise on technical theology
nor a popularization. Our purpose is to invite interior souls to the con­
templation of the mystery of Christ.
To this end, two different pitfalls are to be avoided. Often, even
on this subject, the spirit of technical research, when it succeeds in
avoiding pedantry, turns the mind to minutiae, and this result is al­
ways detrimental to contemplation. Even apart from any defect in
theological exposition, a good manual of theology on the solution of
the difficulties concerning the communication of idioms, transubstantiation, or the Eucharistic accidents will be of less help in preparing us
for contemplation than Bossuet’s Elévations sur les mystères or his
Méditations sur PEvangile. The majority of interior souls do not

viii

PREFACE

need to undertake much of the research which is indispensable to
theologians. In fact, to understand these matters they would require
a philosophical background that they do not possess and that in a
sense would encumber them. For, even at the start—in a different
way, of course—these theologically untrained souls are on a higher
level. This truth was well understood by the great classical theologians
who must ever be our models.
On the other hand, many popularizations, and many pious books as
well, lack a solid doctrinal foundation. Yet, far from being separated
or merely juxtaposed, sacred doctrine and piety ought to be closely
united, the latter springing spontaneously from the former.
Inasmuch as popularizations are characterized by excessive simpli­
fication, they often fail to examine certain fundamental and difficult
problems from which, however, light would burst forth, perhaps
even the light of life.
On the contrary, we have purposely laid emphasis on several of
these problems, notably the personality of Christ (wherein it is
formally constituted), the motive for the Incarnation, considered in
terms of the predestination of Christ, the first of the predestined souls.
We have also dealt at considerable length with the mystery of the
reconciliation of Christ’s liberty with His absolute impeccability, as
well as several other difficult questions of this nature. These ques­
tions, which because of their difficulty are neglected in many works,
are none the less important not only for the theologian but for the
contemplative who wishes to live by his faith.
That is why at the end of this work we shall discuss Jesus in His
relation to different forms of sanctity. In this regard we have made a
special study of a problem much under discussion at the present time:
the grace of Christ and the non-Christian mystics.
In an effort to enlighten interior souls desirous of becoming more
closely united to the Savior, we have sought to explain the doctrine
of the Church on the Word made flesh, according to St. Thomas
Aquinas, not in the often technical language of his commentators but
in words that can be understood by all. We have tried to do this with­
out succumbing to a superficial oversimplification, but in order to
attain the superior simplicity of divine revelation as it is expressed in

PREFACE

ix

the Gospels, above all in the Gospel of St. John and in the Epistles.
St. Thomas, who was never a popularizer but will remain the great
classic of theology, progressed from the learned complexity of the
disputed questions to the superior simplicity of the beautiful articles
of the Summa theologica, a simplicity that possesses a high value
which often escapes those who are unaware of the learned complexity
that prepared the way for it. This simplicity lights our way even if we
do not always know at what price it was achieved.
The Common Doctor of the Church shows us the path to follow,
and he followed it so well himself that at the end of his life he was
unable to dictate the conclusion of the Summa. He could no longer
descend to the complexity of the questions and articles that he still
wished to compose, because he had risen to a contemplative state
that touched the things of the kingdom of God in a much simpler
way, above the letter and in the spirit.
Superficial oversimplification and finicky concern with minutiae
are two enemies of contemplation very different in nature. Contem­
plation rises between and above these two opposing deviations like a
summit which is the goal of prayerful souls.
If we follow closely the doctrine of St. Thomas on all that relates
to the intimate life of the Savior we shall see, as if enlightened from
above, that our own spiritual life—allowing for inevitable differ­
ences—must be an imitation of our divine Model. Indeed, this is well
shown in the masterpiece known to all, the Imitation of Jesus Christ.
May the Lord bless these pages and make them fruitful for the ex­
tension of His kingdom and for the salvation of souls!

CONTENTS

tag»

chatte*

Preface

..........................................................................................................

v

PART ONE

THE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION AND
THE PERSONALITY OF THE SAVIOR
I.

II.

The Interior Life

Jesus,

the

Son

of

and the

God

Mystery

....

3

First Three Gospels

12

Christ

of

according to the

III.

Our Savior, the Author of Life, according to the First
Sermons of St. Peter and of the Apostles.................................28

IV.

The Mystery of the Incarnation according to St. Paul .

V.
VI.

The Word Made Flesh

according to

The Prophetic Announcement

37

St. John................................ 46

of the

Savior ....

56

VII.

The Divine Personality of Jesus..................................................... 78

VIII.

The Fittingness of the Incarnation and Our Interior Life ioi

IX.
X.

XI.

XII.

The Motive of the Incarnation and the Intimate Life
of Jesus................................................................................ 111

The Predestination

The Human Intelligence of the Savior and His Con­
templation

XIII.

ofChrist........................................................... 120

The Sanctity of Jesus...................................................................... 125

........................................................................... 143

The Human Will of OurSavior..................................................... 172

part two

OUR SAVIOR’S LOVE FOR US AND THE
MYSTERY OF REDEMPTION

XIV.
XV.

XVI

The Testimony of Jesus on the Mystery of the Redemption 183

The Redemption
God’s Love

for

according to

His Son

in the

xi

St. Paul..................................... 195
Mystery

of the

Redemption 204

CONTENTS

xi i

PAGE

*
CHAPTE

XVII.

Christ’s Redemptive Love........................................................ 213

XVIII.

Jesus’ Humility and His Magnanimity..................................... 221

XIX.

Our Savior’s Prayer..................................................................... 230

XX.
XXI.
XXII.

The Priesthood of Christ........................................................ 238

The Infinite Merits of Christ.................................................. 248

The Last Supper

and the

Eucharistic Heart

of

Jesus

.

. 260

His Passion.............................. 269

XXIII.

The Peace

XXIV.

Jesus, Priest and Victim on the Cross.................................... 278

XXV.

Christ’s Victory over Death.................................................. 288

XXVI.

XXVII.
XXVIII.
XXIX.

XXX.
XXXI.

XXXII.

of

Jesus

during

The Principal Priest of the Sacrifice of the Mass .

.

. 298

The Infinite Value of Each Mass Offered up by OurLord

Sovereign Redemption

The Intimacy

of

and

Its Fruits in Mary

of

.

. .321

Christ........................................................ 33 «

Our Participation in the Mysteries

The Grace

.

311

Christ

and the

Epilogue. The Three Births

of

Our Lord’sLife

Mystics Outside

of the

. 341

theChurch

355

Word........................385

Index................................................................................................ 391

PART ONE
npHE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION
AND THE PERSONALITY OF THE SAVIOR

1

Φ I#
MpHE INTERIOR LIFE AND
THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST

1

“For to me, to live is Christ.”
Phil. 1:21

N ORDER first of all to understand the importance of the
mystery of Christ for each one of us at every stage of our interior
life, even the lowest, let us inquire what is meant by the interior life
in the more general meaning of the term, and then in the more
specific and deeper sense.

I

The Intimate Conversation of Every Man with Himself
and the Basic Tendencies of the Will
The words “interior life” at once call forth a mental picture of a
state of relatively profound recollection that may seem inaccessible
to most of us who live in the world, engrossed in our affairs from
which at times we seek recreation in amusements of one sort or an­
other. This commonplace impression contains both truth and error.
The interior life, as its name indicates, presupposes a certain recollec­
tion in God, but this recollection is not as out of reach as may at first
appear.
Every man, whether good or evil, holds a more or less serious
conversation with himself at certain hours of the day whenever he
is alone and often enough even amid the throngs of a bustling city.
On his way home from work in the streetcar a laborer, when he is
not joking or talking with his fellow workers, may appear pensive:
he is holding an interior conversation with himself. What is he think­
ing of? Perhaps that within a week he will be out of a job. How,
then, will he provide for his wife and his children? The tenor of his
3

4

OUR SAVIOR

interior conversation varies with his age. When he is young, he thinks
of the future. When he is old, he carries within himself the accumu­
lated experience of some sixty years which tends to be translated into
an over-all judgment on life; and this judgment will vary widely,
depending on whether a man’s life has been good or bad and on
whether he is or is not a Christian.
The interior life is an elevated form of the interior conversation of
every man, when this conversation becomes or tends to become a
conversation with God.
In this intimate discourse which each man has with himself, the
life of the senses, of the imagination, of the sense memory, and of
the emotions all take part, as is the case with animals. In addition,
there is participation by the mind, the intelligence, which passes judg­
ment on life. There is also a more or less latent act of the will, which
is created to love and to desire what is good. In this interior state
there is a fundamental love, a basic tendency of the will, that differs
widely among men.1
A man will judge differently about the ultimate goal to be pur­
sued, according as the basic tendency of his will is or is not rectified,
good or evil.2 All men seek happiness. Some seek it where it is to be
found, in the true good; others seek it where it is not, in satisfying
their sensuality or their pride.
Many persons, without being willing to admit it, love themselves
above all else, and more or less consciously make everything con­
verge upon themselves as if they were the center of the universe.
Along with this self-love, and as it were on the side, they also have a
somewhat ineffectual love for their family or their country. Such men
do not have an interior life, for their interior conversation with them­
1 Tauler has stressed this point emphatically. He brings it up again and again. Cf. Ser­
mons de Tauler, translated by Hugueny-Théry (editions de La vie spirituelle, 1927).
Cf. ibid., Vol. I, Introduction, pp. 79—82.
2 St. Thomas often states this principle in the form given it by Aristotle (Ethics, Bk. Ill,
chap. 5) : Depending on whether a man is virtuous or not, he will judge differently as to
the ultimate goal to be pursued, for according to his interior disposition the true good
appears to him as fitting or not so. Cf. St. Thomas, la Ilae, q. 9, a. 25 la Ilae, q.58, a.jj
and Cajetan’s commentary on the latter passage.
This principle, the portion of truth in the philosophy of action, we have stressed else­
where: Le réalisme du principe de finalité, Part II, chap. 6.

THE INTERIOR LIFE

5

selves is of death rather than of life. Instead of elevating them, it
lowers them.
According to the Gospel, these souls are in a state of spiritual death
or of mortal sin. The basic tendency of their will is turned away
from the true good, away from the Sovereign Good which is the
principle of all others. What they are really seeking is not truth and
the true good of man, of their family, of their children, of their
country. On the contrary, they are seeking perpetual pleasure and
the money needed to procure it. According to Christian philosophy
they live by the quest of pleasurable good and of the useful, without
rising to really desire moral good conceived by right reason as the
object of virtue.
Their fundamental will is directed toward death, not toward life.
They have no interior life. What they discover deep within them­
selves is death ; and hence they seek to escape from themselves, to
externalize themselves in study, in science, in art, or in social and
political activity, or to live by their imagination and their senses and
thus forget their sad evaluation of life which would lead them to
discouragement and pessimism.
In this regard Pascal says that the man who would escape from
himself by taking up hunting, for instance, prefers the pursuit of the
hare to the hare, and in a more elevated order of activity prefers the
search for truth to truth itself. He is ever in need of something new.
This is the reverse of changeless contemplation of attained truth.
Such a man seeks to escape from himself to avoid boredom, empti­
ness, discouragement. But sometimes the hour of discouragement
can become by the grace of God the moment of conversion. This has
happened many times: a despairing man about to seek death rememI )crs the name of God, invokes it, and, perceiving the grandeur of the
mystery of Christ and of our Redemption, is converted and thence­
forth gives himself wholly to the service of God and to the salvation
of souls.
On a lower level and without going that far, souls in the state of
mortal sin may at moments entertain some such noble thoughts as
these: “I lonor is the poetry of duty”; “a beautiful life is a thought
of youth realized in maturity.” Sometimes an actual grace may il-

I
6

OUR SAVIOR

luminate one of these noble maxims and lead souls to seek higher
things.
When the basic tendencies of a man’s will are directed toward the
moral good, the object of virtue, when this man desires the good
itself or duty, efficaciously and not merely as a fancy, more than he
desires pleasure and what is useful to obtain it, then it can be said of
him that he already has an interior life. If such are the basic tenden­
cies of his will, then the interior conversation that he holds with
himself in hours of solitude or in crowded streets is a conversation
that is directed toward life. In reality this man who genuinely and
efficaciously loves the good more than himself is beginning to con­
verse interiorly with God and no longer with himself.
St. Thomas 8 says that when a child, even one who has not been
baptized, attains to the full age of reason, he must choose the path
of goodness and duty in preference to the path of pleasure. He must
efficaciously desire the true good and from that instant on orient his
entire life toward it. For one wishes the end, even if it is only dimly
understood, before wishing the means. But to desire efficaciously the
true good more than self is already to love more than oneself the Sov­
ereign Good, God, the Author of our nature. Fallen man is not capable
of such an efficacious love without being regenerated through grace,
which cures him of original sin. That is why St. Thomas does not
hesitate to teach that a child—even one who has not been baptized—
who after he has reached the full age of reason efficaciously loves the
good more than self, is justified by the baptism of desire, because this
love, which is already the efficacious love of God, is not possible to man
in his present state without regenerative grace.4
Doubtless if this child is not in a Christian environment he will find
it most difficult to persevere; but if he does persevere, he will receive
ever richer graces and will be saved. Ina Christian environment he will
naturally receive much more help. That is why it is such a great grace
to have been born in the Church.
We cannot overemphasize this point: the moment the fundamental
will of a man is efficaciously directed toward the true good, the man is
justified, he is in the state of grace, he possesses within himself the
1 Summa thiol,t ïa line, q. 89, a.6.

4 Cf. St. Thomae, la line, q. 109, a. 3.

THE INTERIOR LIFE

7

seed of eternal life. He already has a certain interior life which is truly
alive, even if it is not yet as recollected as might be desirable.
The man who has persevered in the state of grace for a considerable
time comes to have especially in moments of solitude, in the silence of
a church, or in the midst of a crowd, an interior conversation with him­
self which is no longer one of egoism and self-love, but which is al­
ready in its own way a conversation with God.
As we ride in a crowded bus of an evening we can sometimes, even
without having the gift of the discernment of spirits, recognize those
men and women who have gone astray in misconduct and are the de­
spair of their families—if they have any—and those who on the con­
trary live by the thought of the good and gropingly by the thought of
God, by a faith that may indeed need to be enlightened but that is
nevertheless the pupil of their mind’s eye. These persons offer up a
short prayer from time to time; and when they are not praying, their
interior conversation does not separate them from God. They are the
living proofs of the truth of Christ’s consoling words to His apostles:
“For he that is not against you, is for you.” 8 Often they seem happy to
meet a priest and sometimes ask him to pray for them and for their
families.
They are good at heart. God is hidden in the depth of their hearts,
and He draws them to Himself by lights and graces proportioned to
their condition. In their own way these men are treading the path to­
ward eternal life. Are there many of them of an evening in a crowded
bus? God knows who they are. In any case we should remember that
it is never by chance that two spiritual and immortal souls meet,
wherever it may be, in a train or elsewhere, especially if one of them
is in the state of grace, even more so if one is very closely united to God
and can through prayer call down on the other the light of life.
What has just been said gives us a distant glimpse of the interior
I i fe, what it must become in a truly Christian soul that is destined to
tend ever more rapidly toward God. As a stone falls faster when ap­
proaching the earth that attracts it, so must souls tend more rapidly
toward God in the measure that they come closer to Him and that He
draws them to Himself with increasing force. Their fundamental will
* Murk 9:391 Luke 9:50.

8

OUR SAVIOR

must tend with ever-increasing efficacy toward God. They must there­
fore, especially in moments of solitude whether in a church or in a
crowded street, converse ever more intimately, not in a selfish manner
with themselves, but generously with God who dwells within them.
Their fundamental will thus rectified and supernaturalized must
be more and more victorious over selfishness in all its forms. They
must reach out beyond themselves, and instead of seeking to relate
everything to themselves they must try to relate everything to God.
Their fundamental will must become zeal for the glory of God and
for the salvation of souls. Then they will have an interior life that is
truly fruitful for themselves and for their neighbor.
Clearly, the interior life is all that really matters for each one of
us. It is much more indispensable than what we speak of as the intel­
lectual life. For without a true interior life man is the prey to selfish­
ness and pride and can have no wholesome, lasting, and profound
influence on society.
This true interior life is realized in its fullness by the saints, but
especially by the Saint par excellence, our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence
the necessity of reflecting, and reflecting with love, upon the interior
life of Jesus and of not being contented with knowing Him from the
outside in a purely historical manner, as the speculative theologian
may do when he does not strive hard enough to live what he teaches.
What Christ Must Be to Us
The need of reflecting on the interior life of the Savior is particularly
great in the present period of general confusion, when individuals and
entire peoples misunderstand the ultimate end of human life and for­
get the profound difference between perishable, material goods and
immutable, spiritual goods. Material goods divide us in the measure
that we eagerly seek them; for they cannot belong at one and the same
time to everyone as a whole and to each one in particular. A given
house and lot cannot belong integrally and simultaneously to several
men any more than the same territory can belong to several nations.
On the other hand, as St. Thomas, following St. Augustine,” has
* Cf. St. Thoma·, la tine, q. 2 8, *
.4 ad a | Illa, q. 23, a. 1 ad 3.

THE INTERIOR LIFE

9

often remarked: spiritual goods can belong at the same time and in
plenitude to all and to each ; and they unite us the more in the measure
that we seek them. Thus, each one of us can live by the same truth, by
the same virtue, by the same God, by the same Christ our Savior.
Every Christian should ultimately be able to say, as did St. Paul:
“To me, to live is Christ.” T
As St. Thomas remarks in explaining these words,8 a man’s life is
what interests him most. It is by living that his faculties reach fulfill­
ment. It is to life that his existence is dedicated. For example, the
Angelic Doctor adds, for some, to live is to hunt; for others, it is
study, intellectual activity; for others still, to live consists in exterior
activity. For a soldier, to live is to engage in military service. Finally,
to the Christian, to live—once he has become fully conscious of the
grandeur of his destiny—is Christ. This is particularly true of the
priest, the apostle, whose mission it is to reveal to others the mystery
of Christ.
Indeed, it is not enough for us to understand Christ’s message. We
must also put it into practice. Jesus Himself has told us in the conclu­
sion of His Sermon on the Mount: “Everyone therefore that heareth
these My words and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that
built his house upon a rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and
the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not for it
was founded on a rock. And everyone that heareth these My words
and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house
upon the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds
blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the
fall thereof.” 9
In his commentary on St. Matthew, St. Thomas remarks: The rock
on which we must build signifies Christ Himself: as St. Paul tells us,
the spiritual rock is Christ.10 . . . But there are those who listen to
Christ’s message only in order to know it (without putting it into
Itractice) ; they build on the intelligence only, and that is to build upon
the sand. . . . Others listen to His message in order to put it into
I>i actice and to love God and their neighbor; these build on rock . . .
’ Phil. i:u.
• Matt. 7 :i4 f.

" In Epistolam ad Philipp., i :u.
,0 I Cor. 10:4.

ΙΟ

OUR SAVIOR

and they can ask with St. Paul: ‘Who then shall separate us from the
love of Christ?’ ” 11
These words, written by a man of learning like St. Thomas, are
significant.12 For to St. Thomas, to live was not only to study. To live
was Christ, to whom he had consecrated all his labors and his entire
life.
Certainly, both intellectual and exterior activity are necessary. But
the Christian must love his work not only for the natural satisfaction
and the profit he derives from it, but for Christ who must be known
and loved, “that a man may live not to himself, but to God.” 18 In this
way his powers are increased tenfold, even a hundredfold. He is no
longer giving only himself, he is giving Christ for the salvation of
souls.
To live more and more by Christ we must die to ourselves, that is,
to the life of egoism, sensuality, and pride. “For to me, to live is
Christ, and to die is gain.” We must stop making ourselves the center
of existence, and unconsciously relating everything to ourselves. On
the contrary, we must relate everything to God. This is the precious
fruit of the spirit of sacrifice, which progressively causes to die within
us all that is disorderly. The spirit of sacrifice gives us peace and the
tranquillity of order by making us give first place in our souls to
charity, to the love of God and of souls, a love that is ultimately vic­
torious over all egoism and all disorderly love of self.
As we mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, man since his
fall is inclined consciously or unconsciously to relate everything to
himself, to think continually of himself, and to love himself in prefer11 Rom. 8:35.
12 St. Thomas’ own words are as follows (Z« Matthaeum, 7:26): “Fundamentum est
illud super quod ponit aliquis intentionem suam. Quidam enim audiunt ut sciant, et hi
aedificant super intellectum: et haec est aedificatio super arenam. . . . Quidam autem
audit ut faciat et diligat ; et hic aedificat super petram, quia super firmum et stabile. . . .
Istud enim fundamentum est super caritatem. Quis nos separabit a caritate Christi? ”
18 St. Thomas, lia Hae, q. 17, a. 6 ad 3. In his commentary on the Epistle to the Gala­
tians ï:ïo, St. Thomas also says: “Homo quantum ad illud dicitur vivere, in quo prin­
cipaliter firmat suum affectum, et in quo maxime delectatur. Unde et homines qui in studio
seu in venationibus maxime delectantur, dicunt hoc eorum vitam esse: quilibet autem homo
habet quemdam privavivit quaerens tantum quod suum est, soli sibi vivit. . . . Cum
vero quaerit bona aliorum, dicitur etiam illis vivere.” In this sense St. Paul could truly
say : “For me, to live is Christ.”

THE INTERIOR LIFE

II

ence to all else. If, however, he listens to Christ’s message and puts it
into practice, the day will come when, instead of thinking continually
of himself and of relating everything to himself, he will live by
Christ, and through Him he will think almost always of God, the
Supreme Truth and Goodness, and he will relate everything to Him.
Then will the fundamental will of his soul be truly rectified and
supernaturalizedj his interior life will be founded in the image of
God’s, in whom the Word, the expression of the thought of the Fa­
ther, produces Love by spiration and makes all things converge to­
ward the Supreme Good.
It is from this point of view that we must meditate upon St.
Thomas’ treatise on the Incarnation. When, during the last days of
his life, the saintly doctor was so absorbed in superior contemplation
that he could no longer dictate the last pages of his Summa, he
thought that the mysteries hidden in Christ are inexhaustible and that
the doctors had discovered only a minute portion of them.
St. John of the Cross tells us the same thing in the Spiritual Can­
ticle,1* in which he calls these mysteries “caverns” to symbolize their
unfathomable depth. May the Lord deign to give us a deep and keen
understanding of these mysteries so that we may the better see the
radiation of His goodness.
14 Stanza 37.

ESUS, THE SON OF GOD ACCORDING TO
THE FIRST THREE GOSPELS

J

F WE would fathom the interior life of our Lord, we must first
hear the testimony He has given of Himself, of His divine sonship, and of His mission as Redeemer.
We shall begin by examining this testimony as it is presented in the
first three Gospels, written between a.d. 50 and a.d. 70. Next we
shall observe in the Acts of the Apostles, composed around a.d. 6364, how St. Peter in his first sermons proclaimed Jesus to be the Son
of God. In the third place we shall note St. Paul’s testimony on the
divinity of Christ as expressed in the first epistles, written between
48 and 59. Finally we shall study on this point the Gospel of St.
John, written between a.d. 80 and a.d. ioo precisely to defend
Christ’s divinity against the denials of the first heretics.
The historical study of the Gospels has its use, especially from the
point of view of apologetics, as a means of enlightening unbelievers
and of answering their objections. However, such a study is not al­
together indispensable. For, even if primitive documents were lost,
the living tradition and the living magisterium of the Church would
suffice. This oral tradition preceded Scripture, and through it in the
first place the word of God was transmitted by our Lord and by the
apostles.
We know that many liberal Protestants, and after them the mod­
ernists, have maintained that the divinity of Jesus is not expressed in
the Gospels, but that it is a dogma deduced by Christian thought from
the notion of the Messiah.1 They further hold that in all the Gospel
texts the name “Son of God” is equivalent only to “Messiah” and
does not signify that Jesus is in reality and by nature the Son of God.

I

1 Cf. Densinger, EfiMrulion, nos. 2017-1038.
ta

JESUS IN THE SYNOPTICS

13

Several rationalists, among them Renan, B. Weiss, H. Wendt,
and A. Harnack, have recognized in Christ a certain divine sonship
superior to Messiahship. Yet they deny that by reason of this sonship
Jesus is truly God. Renan, concluding his Life of Jesus, writes: “Rest
now in thy glory, noble pioneer! Thy work is done; thy divinity
founded. . . . Henceforth, beyond frailty, thou shalt behold from
the heights of divine peace the infinite results of thy acts. . . . Be­
tween thee and God men will no longer distinguish.” 2
A little further on, Renan adds: “In order to make himself adored
to this degree, he must have been adorable. . . . The faith, the
enthusiasm, the constancy of the first Christian generation is not ex­
plicable, except by supposing, at the origin of the whole movement,
a man of surpassing greatness.8 . . . This sublime person, who each
day still presides over the destiny of the world, we may call divine,
not in the sense that Jesus has absorbed all the divine, or has been
adequate to it (to employ the expression of the schoolmen), but in
the sense that Jesus is the one who caused his fellow-men to make
the greatest step toward the divine.” 4
Among conservative Protestants, F. Godet in Switzerland, Stevens,
Gore, Ottley, and Sanday in England have in recent years defended
the divinity of Jesus as expressed not only in the Fourth Gospel and
in the epistles of St. Paul but in the Synoptics as well.®
To rightly understand the testimony of the Gospels, we must re­
member that they contain over fifty passages in which Jesus is called
the “Son of God.” It is important also that we grasp the sense in
which these words, “Son of God,” must be taken.
In Scripture the word “son” is used with reference to another man
either in the strict sense to denote one who is born of another, or in
the broader sense to designate a disciple or an adopted heir. Likewise
the word “son” is used with respect to God, either in the broad sense
that Christians are the children of God and live by His Spirit, or in
( he strict and exact sense reserved to the Second Person of the Blessed
’ Ernest Ronan, The Life of Jesus (Everyman’s Library, 1934), p. 227.
• Ibid., pp. 237 f.
* Ibid., p. 243.
• See the account of their teaching in Rev. Marius Lepin’s work, Jésus Messie et Fils de
Dieu, p. »37.

OUR SAVIOR

14

Trinity, who in the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel, is called “the onlybegotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father.” 6 We shall see that
even in the Synoptic Gospels Jesus is called the Son of God in the
strict and exact and most elevated sense, inasmuch as He has declared
that He not only participates in the divine nature through grace, as
we do, but that He possesses the divine nature with all its properties
and rights.
Jesus’ Reserve in Manifesting His Divinity

It should be noted that Jesus manifested His divine sonship only
by degrees. More important still, when in Caesarea St. Peter said to
our Lord in the name of the apostles: “Thou art Christ, the Son of
the living God,” St. Matthew reports: “Then He commanded His
disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.” 7
Likewise one day when He was casting out unclean spirits, the latter
cried out: “Thou art the Son of God,” and St. Mark tells us: “He
strictly charged them that they should not make Him known.” 8
Again, after the Transfiguration, our Lord said to the three apostles
whom He had taken with Him to Thabor: “Tell the vision to no
man.” 9
Why this reserve? Because men’s souls were not yet prepared to
receive such an exalted revelation and they could not have borne it.
In fact, Jesus saw that many Jews understood the prophecies only in
a material sense, that they were awaiting a temporal Messiah who
would restore the kingdom of Israel and set them over the other
peoples. Thus, if from the start of His ministry Jesus had declared
Himself to be the Messiah, the Son of God, He would have aroused
a wholly exterior enthusiasm in this throng which craved wonders and
earthly prosperity, and the true meaning of His words would have
been lost. Even at the end of His ministry Jesus said to the apostles:
“I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear them
now.” 10 The sublime truth of the mystery of the Incarnation had to
be unveiled slowly in the subdued light of the parables, so that little
* John i :i8.
•Matt. 17:91 Mark 9:8.

’Matt. i6:ao.
10John 16:11.

1 Mark 3:1a.

JESUS IN THE SYNOPTICS

15

by little souls might grow and become capable of hearing the divine
message.
We have here an example of Christ’s humility: although He had
infinite treasures of light, love, and power, He remained hidden,
never seeking to astonish or arouse admiration. He wished to save
souls by working secretly deep within men’s hearts. Far from de­
claring His divine sonship, as He did at the end of His ministry be­
fore His death, He at first tended to conceal it so that those whom He
wished to enlighten and mold would not be dazzled or blinded by a
light that was too powerful. He disposed them progressively to re­
ceive greater light. How totally differently are His ways from those
of false wonder-workers who would astound and deceive! There is
a great lesson here for us: souls must be taught the truth gradually,
as much of it as they can bear at a time.
But Christ’s testimony, very reserved at first, became more and
more articulate until, during the last days of His ministry, it became
clear and luminous to all who had ears to hear.
As recorded in the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus first manifested His
divinity by claiming certain privileges, and He then affirmed with
cver-increasing clarity that He was the Son of God. Let us follow
this ascending progression, for it is the accomplishment of all the
Old Testament prophecies, the fullness of revelation bearing the
authentic mark of God’s works, fortiter et suaviter, power and gentle­
ness.

The Divine Rights Claimed by Jesus

Jesus has claimed seven major privileges that can belong to God
alone.
According to St. Matthew and St. Mark, Jesus proclaimed Him• elf to be greater than the prophet Jonas, greater than Solomon,11
greater than David, who called Him his Lord in Psalm 109: “The
I .ord said to my Lord: Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thy
enemies Thy foolstool.” With respect to this prophecy Jesus said to
I Ik· Pharisees: “If David then call Him Lord, how is He his son?”
Mutt, t » :·ν> f.

16

OUR SAVIOR

St. Matthew adds: “And no man was able to answer Him a word.” 11
Jesus has also shown Himself to be greater than Moses and Elias,
who appeared at His side at the Transfiguration.13 He is greater than
John the Baptist, as we see by His answer to the precursor’s disciples
who had been sent to ask Him: “Art Thou He that art to come, or
look we for another?” 14
He stands forth even greater than the angels, for we find in St.
Mark 16 and in St. Matthew 16 that, after His victory over Satan,
“the angels ministered to Him.” And He Himself said: “The Son
of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels: and
then will He render to every man according to his works.” 17 “And
He shall send His angels . . . and they shall gather together His
elect from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to
the utmost bounds of them.” 18 Neither Isaias nor any other prophet
ever spoke of sending his angels.
Now, He who is superior to all the prophets and to the angels is
superior to all creatures.
Moreover, Jesus demands with regard to Himself faith, obedience,
and love, even to the abnegation of all contrary affections and to the
sacrifice of one’s life. In foretelling the persecutions of the first three
centuries, He said: “A man’s enemies shall be they of his own house­
hold. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy
of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not
worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth
Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and
he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it.” 19
Jesus knew, when He spoke thus to His apostles, that they would
suffer martyrdom. These words, which were to be fulfilled especially
during the persecutions, would bespeak intolerable arrogance if Jesus
were not God. What prophet ever dared to say: “He that loveth fa­
ther or mother more than me is not worthy of me”? As for the saints,
the higher they rise the less they speak of themselves; their ego tends
to be obliterated beforeGod. How is it, then,that Jesus spoke with
” Matt. 21:45 j Mark 1i:j6.
’•Mark 1:13.
” Matt. 14:3t.

11 Matt. 17:3.
14 Matt. 4:11.
le Matt. 10:36

14 Matt. 11:3, 11.
1T Matt. 16:17.
f.| Luke 14:16.

JESUS IN THE SYNOPTICS

17

such majesty of Himself, He who was so humble that He accepted
the deepest humiliations for our salvation? Again, after the rich young
man had refused His call to perfection, He said: “Amen I say to you,
there is no man who hath left house or brethren or sisters or father
or mother or children or lands for My sake and for the gospel, who
shall not receive a hundred times as much now in this time . . . with
persecutions: and in the world to come life everlasting.” 20 “He that
is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me,
scattereth.” 21
St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Commentary on St. Matthew, 12:30,
sees in these last words a manifestation of Christ’s divinity. God alone,
he remarks, is the final end toward which every man must tend, and
that is why he who is not with God (who does not tend toward Him)
is separated (or turned away) from Him. That is why Elias said:22
“How long do you halt between two sides? If the Lord be God, fol­
low Him.” 23 But, St. Thomas continues, a mere man could not say:
“He that is not with Me is against Me.” While it is permissible to
remain neutral or indifferent with regard to a man who is a man and
no more, one cannot remain neutral or indifferent with respect to God,
our final end. Therefore, since Jesus has spoken these words, it must
mean that He is superior to all creatures.
About the very beginning of His ministry, Christ also declared in
His Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are ye when they shall revile
you and persecute you and speak all that is evil against you, untruly,
for My sake.” 24 “For My sake” means to suffer persecution for
justice’ sake and for the noblest of all causes, an act that will be richly
rewarded in heaven.
Jesus calls for obedience and perfect abnegation. He also speaks
as the supreme Lawgiver, equal to the Lawgiver of Sinai who gave
Moses the ancient law for the chosen people. Since Christ came to
complete this divine law and to purge from it the false interpreta­
tions of the rabbis, He expressed Himself several times in the fol­
lowing manner: “You have heard it was said to them of old. . . .
But I say to you. . .
28 Thus He forbade divorce, which Moses
•° Mark 10:19 f.
•"Matt. 5:11.

21 Matt. ia:jo.
24 Matt. j:ti.

22 HI Kings i 8 :îi.
20 Matt, j :a 1-48.

OUR SAVIOR

ι8

had permitted only because of the hardness of the Israelites’ hearts.2*
He also proclaimed Himself “Lord of the Sabbath.” 27
In addition, He performed miracles in His own name, using the
form of a command. To the paralytic He said: “Arise, . . . and
go into thy house.” 28 He raised Jairus’ daughter by saying to her:
“Talitha cumi,” that is to say: “Damsel (I say to thee), arise.” 29
He also brought back to life the son of the widow of Naim, saying
to him: “Young man, I say to thee, arise.” 30 He commanded the sea
swollen by the storm: “Peace, be still.” And St. Mark tells us, “the
wind ceasedj and there was made a great calm.” 31 And they feared
exceedingly: and they said to one another: “Who is this (thinkest
thou) that both wind and sea obey Him?”
The apostles, on the contrary, performed miracles in the name of
Jesus.82 Peter said: “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise,
and walk. ... By the name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth
. . . this man standeth here before you whole.” 83
In addition, Jesus claims the power to remit sins, to make souls
over, to fill them once again with divine life, a power which, the
Pharisees recognized, can belong only to God. This calls to mind the
scene described in St. Matthew: “And behold they brought to Him
one sick of the palsy lying in a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said
to the man sick of the palsy: Be of good heart, son, thy sins are for­
given thee. And behold some of the scribes said within themselves:
He blasphemeth. And Jesus seeing their thoughts, said: Why do you
think evil in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, thy sins are for­
given thee: or to say, Arise, and walk? But that you may know that
the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (then said He
to the man sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and go into
thy house.” 84 St. Matthew adds, “And the multitude seeing it,
feared, and glorified God that gave such power to men.”
Likewise He said: “Come to Me, all you that labor, and are bur­
dened, and I will refresh you.” 38 Beyond this, He claimed the right
to communicate to others the power to remit sins: He said to His
”
*’
“
**

Matt.
Mark
Matt.
Matt.

j:j2> 19:9.
j 141.
7:1a.
11 ;at.

2T Mark 2:17 f.
•° Luke 7:14.
” Act» 3:6j 4:10.

28 Matt. 9:65 Mark 2:9.
81 Mark 4:39.
Matt. 9 :a—8.

JESUS IN THE SYNOPTICS

19

apostles: “Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth,
shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon
earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.” 36
Jesus has claimed not only the power to remit sins, but also the
power of judging the living and the dead. He answered Caiphas:
“And you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of God,
and coming with the clouds of heaven.” 37 “And He shall send His
angels with a trumpet, and a great voice: and they shall gather to­
gether His elect. . .
88
He also promised to send the Holy Ghost, saying to the disciples
before the Ascension: “And I send the promise of My Father upon
you: but stay you in the city, till you be endued with power from on
high.” 89 Therefore He is not inferior to the Holy Ghost whom He
promised to send.
Finally, Jesus accepted adoration,40 of which Peter, Paul, and
Barnabas—and even the angels, in the Apocalypse—declared them­
selves unworthy.41
Thus it is clear that Jesus, according to the Synoptic Gospels,
claimed for Himself seven major privileges which can belong to God
alone, namely:
1. He is superior to all creatures: greater than Jonas, than Solo­
mon, than David, than Moses, than Elias, than John the Baptist; and
He is superior to the angels, who are “His angels.”
2. He demands with regard to Himself, faith, obedience, and love,
even to the abnegation of any contrary affection and to the sacrifice of
one’s life.
3. He spoke as the supreme Lawgiver, in the Sermon on the
Mount.
4. He performed miracles in His own name.
5. He claimed the power to remit sins and has conferred this power
on others.
6. He claimed the power to judge the living and the dead of all
human generations.
44 Matt. 18:i8 j 16:19.
44 Matt. 24:3t.
48 Matt. 8:25 28:9, 175 Mark 5:6.

8T Mark 14:625 8:385 13:26.
80 Luke 24:49.
41 Act» 10:25 f.) 14:14s Apoc. 19:105 22:8.

OUR SAVIOR

20

7. He promised to send the Holy Ghost, and His promise was ac­
complished on Pentecost.
Jesus can claim these rights and powers only if He is not merely
God’s envoy, the Messiah, but God Himself. He affirmed His God­
head only in a veiled manner in order to prepare souls little by little
to receive a more explicit affirmation, which was to become increas­
ingly clear and powerful up to the moment of His condemnation to
death.
The Divine Sonship of Jesus according to the Synoptic Gospels
In the first three Gospels our Lord not only claims privileges and
rights that belong to God alone, but on several occasions He declared
that He is the Son of God in the strict and proper sense, which is
totally different from the meaning of the term applicable to the souls
of the just as a whole.
First of all He declared Himself to be the Son of God when speak­
ing of the happiness in store for the humble who answer the divine
call. In St. Matthew we read: “I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise
and the prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father,
for so hath it seemed good in Thy sight. All things are delivered to
Me by My Father. [He does not say merely ‘our Father,’ as we do,
but ‘My Father.’] And no one knoweth the Son, but the Father:
neither doth anyone know the Father, but the Son, and he to whom it
shall please the Son to reveal Him.” 42
These words are also recorded in St. Luke,43 and the authenticity
of this text is admitted not only by Catholic exegetes but by the ma­
jority of Protestant critics as well. What is here affirmed is the equal­
ity of the Father and the Son with regard to knowledge and cognosci­
bility: “No one knoweth the Son but the Father: neither doth anyone
know the Father, but the Son.” The Father is by nature unknow­
able, for He is beyond the reach of natural knowledge. The same is
true of the Son. Yet they know each other perfectly. This equality in
knowledge, as St. Thomas remarks,44 presupposes consubstantiality,
** Matt. t t :ij f.

** Luke 10 :it.

44 Comment, in Ev. tec. Matthaeum, 11:17.

JESUS IN THE SYNOPTICS

21

or the possession of the same divine substance. In other words, it is
the common substance of the Father and of the Son which is said to be
unknowable inasmuch as it is beyond natural cognition. If no one
knoweth the Son but the Father, it is because, like the Father, the
Son is inaccessible to any created natural knowledge; therefore, it is
because He is God.
Loisy, among the Modernists, has conceded this traditional ex­
planation of the text. He even goes on to remark that its meaning is
substantially the same as the following words of St. John: “No man
hath seen God at any time: the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom
of the Father, He hath declared Him.” 45 That these texts of St.
John and St. Matthew are equal in sublimity, Loisy recognizes. Yet
he adds without any basis whatever, and against almost all other
critics including the liberal Protestants, that, while this affirmation is
contained in St. Matthew and St. Luke, Jesus did not make it Him­
self, it having merely been attributed to Him by Christian tradition.46
Jesus made a similar declaration in His response to Peter’s con­
fession at Caesarea : “Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ,
(he Son of the living God. And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed
art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed
it to thee, but My Father who is in heaven.” 47
Some critics say that it cannot be proved historically that in this confession Peter affirmed anything more than the Messiahship. For
Peter’s words are reported by St. Mark (8:29) as: “Thou art the
Christ”; 48 and by St. Luke (9:20) as: “The Christ of God.” 49 It is
.uily St. Matthew who records the words: “Thou art Christ the Son
<>f the living God.” As a matter of fact, on the basis of Peter’s words
11 lone it would be difficult to prove that they affirm anything beyond
the Messiahship. But we also have Jesus’ answer: “Blessed art thou,
Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee,
Imi My Father who is in heaven.” By these words Jesus showed that
Peter had affirmed more than the Messiahship, for the signs of the
44 John i :i 8. Cf. Alfred Firmin Loisy, The Gospel and the Church, trans, by Christopher
Home, 1903·
44 Against this opinion of Loisy’s, cf. Father Lagrange, Revue biblique, April, 1903, p.
I<>4 i also Lcpin, op. cit., p. 323.
*’ Mutt. 16:16.
4,Mnrk 8:29.
40 Luke 9:2ο.

22

OUR SAVIOR

Messiahship had already been manifest since the beginning of the
Savior’s ministry, and several of the apostles had already recognized
Him to be the Messiah. Thus Andrew, Philip, and Nathaniel60 had
already recognized Jesus as the Messiah, and for this reason followed
Him.
Jesus had already clearly enumerated the signs of His Messiah­
ship to the disciples of St. John the Baptist.81 Thus the Messiahship
in itself did not require any such revelation as that spoken of by our
Lord in His answer to Peter: “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona:
because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father
who is in heaven.” These words are equivalent in meaning to the
preceding text of St. Matthew: “And no one knoweth the Son, but the
Father.” 82 Therefore it can be said: If Peter could know only
through the Father what he affirmed concerning Jesus, he must have
affirmed His divine sonship. It does not, however, follow that Peter
was given to know through faith at that moment the nature of this
divine sonship as explicitly as it would later be defined by the
Church.88
In the parable of the vineyard and the wicked husbandmen, there
is a third affirmation of Christ’s divine sonship. It is recorded by all
Synoptics.84 The authenticity of these texts is conceded by most critics,
even by many liberal Protestants. St. Mark tells us: “And He [Jesus
in the presence of the scribes and chief priests] began to speak to them
in parables: A certain man planted a vineyard . . . and let it to
husbandmen; and went into a far country. And at the season he sent
to the husbandmen a servant to receive of the husbandmen of the
fruit of the vineyard. Who having laid hands on him, beat him, and
sent him away empty. And again he sent them another servant; and
him they wounded in the head, and used him reproachfully. And
again he sent another, and him they killed: and many others, of whom
some they beat, and others they killed. Therefore having yet one son,
most dear to him; he also sent him unto them last of all, saying:
They will reverence my son. But the husbandmen said one to another:
60 John i :4i, 49.
81 Matt, i x :4.
82 Matt, i x :»7.
88 Cf. Lcpixx, op, cit., p. 33a.
64 Matt. »1:33-465 Mark x»:x—x»j Luke »0:1—19.

JESUS IN THE SYNOPTICS

23

This is the heir; come let us kill him; and the inheritance shall be
ours. And laying hold on him, they killed him, and cast him out of
the vineyard. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He
will come and destroy those husbandmen; and will give the vine­
yard to others.” 58
At the conclusion of this parable, Jesus at once added: “And have
you not read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected,
the same is made the head of the corner. By the Lord has this been
done, and it is wonderful in our eyes.’ ” 5β St. Mark reports that
thereupon Jesus’ enemies “sought to lay hands on Him, but they
feared the people. For they knew that He spoke this parable to them.
And leaving Him, they went their way.”
The application of this parable of the wicked husbandmen is in
fact evident. The servants of the lord of the vineyard, whom he sent
to the husbandmen, were the prophets. A little later, Jesus tells the
Pharisees unequivocally: “You are the sons of them that killed the
prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. You serpents,
generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of hell?
Therefore behold I send to you prophets and wise men and scribes:
and some of them you will put to death and crucify, and some you
will scourge. . . . That upon you may come all the just blood that
hath been shed upon the earth. . . . Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou
that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee,
how often would I have gathered together thy children . . . and
thou wouldest not?” 57
Therefore, if the servants of the Lord of the vineyard are the
prophets, His dearly beloved Son is more than a prophet and Messiah,
I Ic is truly His Son.
This parable describes exactly the same mystery as that spoken of
nt the beginning of the Epistle to the Hebrews: “God, who at sundry
times and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the
prophets, last of all, in these days hath spoken to us by His Son, whom
I Ic hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the
world. Who being the brightness of His glory, and the figure of His
·· Mark ia:t f.

“e P«. :17:2a.

eT Matt. 23 :j 1—37.

OUR SAVIOR

»4

substance, and upholding all things by the word of His power, mak­
ing purgation of sins, sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on
high.” 68
What is more striking about the application of the parable of the
wicked husbandmen is that the priests of the synagogue who heard
and understood it were the men who by very reason of their function
were supposed to know the Scriptures and the signs of the Messiahship best. Therefore they should have been the first to welcome the
Messiah. Yet it was they who resisted Him most obstinately. God
offered them the fullness of revelation and great glory: participa­
tion in Christ’s work and entrance with Him into eternal life. They
preferred a merely human glory to one that was wholly divine: “to
sit in the first chairs in the synagogues” 59 and to remain there. It
follows that in trying to resist the majesty of God they were over­
whelmed by His glory, which was to have become theirs. As they
were too deeply attached to things of least value—their human tradi­
tions and their status, to which they clung jealously—their souls did
not open up to receive the great gift of salvation that God wished to
give them. Thus the apostate priest was crushed beneath the grandeur
of his priesthood because he did not receive with humility the im­
mense grace it bestowed on him. “He hath put down the mighty from
their seat, and hath exalted the humble.” 80 Zaccheus’ eyes were
opened, whereas the priests of the synagogue were blinded.
There is a fourth affirmation of Jesus’ divine sonship in His ques­
tion to the Pharisees: “What think you of Christ; whose son is He?
They say to Him: David’s. He saith to them: How then doth David
in spirit call Him Lord, saying: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on
My right hand, until I make Thy enemies Thy footstool? If David
then call Him Lord, how is He his son?” 81 St. Matthew adds, “And
no man was able to answer Him a word: neither durst any man from
that day forth ask Him any more questions.” 82
The authenticity of this text is admitted by the principal liberal
critics. The Lord referred to in the psalm which Jesus quotes is
superior to David, and equal to the highest Lord, God the Father.
••Heb. 1:1-3.
·' Matt. 11:42-43.

“’Mark 12:39.
’’Lukejîj».
” Cf. ul»o Luke 20:441 Mark 12:37.

JESUS IN THE SYNOPTICS

25

A fifth affirmation of the divinity of Jesus is to be found in His
answer to Caiphas during the Passion. In St. Matthew we read: “And
the high priest said to Him: I adjure Thee by the living God, that
Thou tell us if Thou be the Christ the Son of God. Jesus saith to him:
Thou hast said it. Nevertheless I say to you, hereafter you shall see
the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and
coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his gar­
ments, saying: He hath blasphemed} what further need have we of
witnesses? Behold now you have heard the blasphemy.” 63
It was not merely His Messiahship that Jesus affirmed in His
answer to the high priest. For divine sonship and the privilege of be­
ing seated at the right hand of the Almighty as well as of exercising
sovereign power are not attributes of the Messiah as such. That is why
Caiphas tore his garments and cried out “He hath blasphemed,” as
is recorded in the first three Gospels. The Gospel of St. John throws
light on the other three. In St. John we find that after the paralytic’s
cure “. . . the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He did
not only break the Sabbath, but also said God was His Father, making
I limself equal to God.” 64 Again in St. John, after Jesus had said “I
and the Father are one,” we read: “The Jews then took up stones to
tone Him.” 85 This is the explanation of Caiphas’ question to Jesus,
lor the high priest was aware of Christ’s earlier declarations: “I ad­
jure Thee by the living God, that Thou tell us if Thou be the Christ
t he Son of God.” Finally, in St. John there is another text that throws
light on the Synoptics: “The Jews answered him: We have a law;
and according to the law He ought to die, because He made Himself
the Son of God.” 88 Certainly it would not have been considered a
< rime for our Lord to affirm His Messiahship, for everybody was at
I hat time expecting the Messiah, the anointed one, God’s envoy. Thus
I Ic must have affirmed that He was superior to the Messiah.
In St. Matthew there is a sixth affirmation of Jesus’ divinity. It
appears after the recital of the Savior’s resurrection in the formula of
baptism: “And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is
given to Me in heaven and in earth. Going therefore, teach ye all
·" Matt. 26:63 f.
"" John 19:7.

e‘John 5:18.

*’John 10:31.

26

OUR SAVIOR

nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things what­
soever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days,
even to the consummation of the world.” 87 Thus ends the Gospel of
St. Matthew.
Loisy denies without valid reason the authenticity of the baptismal
formula, as having been pronounced by Jesus Himself. But he at
least recognizes that the use of this formula is attested to in Didache
7:1, and it is probable that it was universally accepted by the Churches
at the beginning of the second century.68
Now in this formula of baptism the Son is equal to the Father and
to the Holy Ghost. But if He were not God He would be infinitely
inferior to Them. As to the closing words, “I am with you all days,
even to the consummation of the world,” they give promise of divine
assistance which is a fulfillment of Isaias’ prophecy: “And they shall
call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us.” 66
What are we to infer from these six affirmations? We must con­
clude, in opposition to the Modernists, that in the Synoptic Gospels
the declarations of Jesus regarding His eminent dignity proclaim far
more than His Messiahship and announce the divine sonship which
is His alone.
Moreover, this divine sonship is superior to Messiahship, not only
in the sense conceded by such rationalists as Harnack, but in the
sense that it places Christ above all creatures, equal to God and Him­
self God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.
That is the meaning of the words quoted above: “No one knoweth
the Son, but the Father: neither doth any one know the Father, but
the Son.” Equality of knowledge. “Going therefore teach ye all
nations: baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost.” And according to the Synoptics as according
to St. John, Jesus was crucified because He had declared He was the
Son of God, equal to His Father. It should be added that in St. Luke
the angel Gabriel declared to Mary: “The Holy which shall be born
of thee shall be called the Son of God.” 70 Also, in St. Matthew it is
·’ Matt. 18:18 f.
·" I·». 7:141 Matt. I :*
j.

·· Loï«y, Lis Evangiles Synoptiques, H, 7ji.
,0 Luke 1:231 cf. Matt, i :ao f.

JESUS IN THE SYNOPTICS

27

recorded that when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, the Pre­
cursor “saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon
Him. And behold a voice from heaven, saying: This is My beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 71
What is truly remarkable is that those who should have been the
first to recognize Christ’s mission failed to do so. This throws a search­
ing light on the meaning of a divine mission. Father Clerissac tells us
that “The Incarnation is a mission of the Son of God in the world and
is propagated through the multiplicity of ecclesiastical ministries in
all epochs.” 72 Thus the Church carries on Christ’s mission. She has
been sent by Him, and she preserves His spirit. Our task is to be docile
to her voice, which transmits God’s word to us and which leads us,
sometimes amid many snares and errors and ruins, toward eternity.78
71 Matt. 3 :i 6 f.
72 Le mystère de l'Eglise, chap. 7.
73 Ibid. “The unmistakable sign that we are adhering to the full spirit of the Church
is never to admit that we can be made to suffer by the Church any differently than by God.”

# in &
UR SAVIOR, THE AUTHOR OF LIFE,
ACCORDING TO THE FIRST SERMONS
OF ST. PETER AND OF THE APOSTLES

O

E HAVE seen that according to the Synoptic Gospels Jesus
affirmed not only His Messiahship but also His divine sonship, by claiming privileges that belong to God alone, such as perfect­
ing the Mosaic law, remitting sins, judging the living and the dead,
and declaring that “no one knoweth the Son, but the Father: neither
doth anyone know the Father, but the Son.” 1 Besides, it was because
He proclaimed Himself to be the Son of God that He was accused of
blasphemy by the high priest and that He was afterward crucified.2
Certain rationalists, like Welhausen and Loisy, have maintained
that these declarations in the Synoptics resulted from a progressive
idealization after Jesus’ death and were attributed to Him although
He Himself never really pronounced them.
To defend such an interpretation, these rationalists would have to
prove that after Jesus’ death there was time for the progressive ideal­
ization of His preaching to take place. Yet it is historically certain that
the opposite was the case. For, according to the Acts of the Apostles
and the epistles of St. Paul whose authenticity is not open to doubt,
the apostles began teaching even as early as Pentecost that Jesus had
proclaimed Himself to be not only the Messiah but also the Son of
God.8

W

St. Peter’s Discourses in the Acts of the Apostles
The authenticity of the Acts of the Apostles is historically cer­
tain. It has been accepted not only by all Catholic critics and conserva1 Matt. 11:17.
2 Matt. 16:6j.
• E. Jacquier, Les Actes des apôtres (Etudes bibliques, Paris, 1916) j cf. J. M. Vosti,
O.P., Theses in Actus A pottolorum (1931), chaps. 1 f.
18

ST. PETER AND THE APOSTLES

»9

tive Protestants, but by many rationalists like Renan, Reuss, Harnack,
etc., who attribute the entire book to St. Luke, the companion of St.
Paul. Very probably the Acts, which close abruptly with the recital of
St. Paul’s arrival in Rome in a.d. 62, were written around the year
a.d. 63-64, and at least before a.d. 70, the year of the destruction of
Jerusalem. The rationalist Harnack declared in 1908 that this opinion
should be considered plausible.4
The Acts of the Apostles record the sermons delivered by St. Peter
on Pentecost and the days following. In these sermons Peter, speak­
ing to the Jews, laid particular emphasis on the Messianic character
of Jesus, calling to their attention that He was approved of God,8
for He performed miracles, He rose from the dead,® and the proph­
ecies were fulfilled in Him and through Him. But in addition Peter
attributed to Jesus a sanctifying role that far surpasses the Messiahship, and ascribed to Him privileges that can belong only to
God.
In his Pentecost sermon, St. Peter said: “Ye men of Israel, hear
these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you,
by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by Him, in the
midst of you, as you also know: this same being delivered up, by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you by the hands of
wicked men have crucified and slain. Whom God hath raised up, hav­
ing loosed the sorrows of hell, as it was impossible that He should be
holden by it. For David saith concerning Him: . . . Thou wilt not
. . . suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption. ... Ye men, breth­
ren, let me freely speak to you of the patriarch David ; that he died,
and was buriedj and his sepulcher is with us to this present day.
Whereas therefore he was a prophet, . . . foreseeing this, he spoke
of the resurrection of Christ. For neither was He left in hell, neither
did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised again,
whereof all we are witnesses. Being exalted therefore by the right
hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the
I loly Ghost, He hath poured forth this which you see and hear.
. . . Therefore let all the house of Israel know most certainly that
• Die /1 postelgeschichte. (1908), p. 221 ; cf. P. Batiffol, Orpheus et l'Evangile (1910),
p, 1)2.
nAct
2!22.
*
” Ibid., 4:33.

30

OUR SAVIOR

God hath made both Lord and Christ this same Jesus, whom you have
crucified.” 7
The apostles often called Jesus “Lord,” 8 a term which the Jews,
when they spoke Greek, reserved for Yahweh.®
In his second sermon, after he had cured in Jesus’ name the man
born lame, St. Peter said: “Ye men of Israel, why wonder you at this,
or why look you upon us, as if by our strength or power we had made
this man to walk? The God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and
the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus,
whom you indeed delivered up and denied before the face of Pilate,
when he judged He should be released. But you denied the Holy
One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you. But
the Author of life you killed, whom God hath raised from the dead,
of which we are witnesses. . . . And the faith which is by Him, hath
given this perfect soundness in the sight of you all.” 10
The expression “Author of life” can be applied to Jesus only if He
is the Son of God in the true sense, and Himself God. For God alone,
who is life by essence, can by participation produce the life which
pulses in every living creature. Only God can bring a corpse back to
life ; and above all God alone can give the life of the soul, grace,
which is a participation in His intimate life. Therefore, when St.
Peter said, “You killed the Author of life,” it is the same as if he had
said, “Jesus is God.” The thought of Jesus especially as the Author
and the dispenser of supernatural life, and his words are equal in
sublimity to those of St. John: “In Him was life, and the life was the
light of men”; 11 “I am come that they may have life, and may have
it more abundantly”; 12 “I am the way and the truth and the life.” 13
There is testimony also in St. Peter’s beautiful answer to the high
priest, when he and St. John were arrested and brought before the
Sanhedrin. The high priest of the synagogue, surrounded by the
ancients and scribes, asked the two prisoners: “By what power, or by
what name, have you done this?” They were referring to the cure
of the man born lame. “Then,” it is reported, “Peter, filled with the
T Act· 2:22-36.
· Acts 2:20, 11, 36> 3:201 4:29s 7:58, 59j 10:36.
• In the Scptungint see psalm· 1—3.
10 Acts 3:12 f.
** John 114.
11 John 10:10.
11 Ibid., 14:6.

ST. PETER AND THE APOSTLES

31

Holy Ghost, said to them: Ye princes of the people, and ancients,
hear: If we this day are examined concerning the good deed done to
the infirm man, by what means he hath been made whole : be it known
to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God hath
raised from the dead, even by Him this man standeth here before
you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you the builders,
which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in
any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men
whereby we must be saved.” 14 The record adds that the members of
the Sanhedrin “could say nothing against it. . . . And calling them,
they charged them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Je­
sus.” 16
In this testimony Peter made three major affirmations. First, he
said that the miracle was performed in the name of Jesus. Miracles,
however, are not accomplished in the name of a mere prophet, but
in the name of God, for He alone can produce a genuine miracle,
that goes beyond all natural forces. Secondly, he called attention to
psalm 117, as Jesus Himself had done in the parable of the wicked
husbandmen: “The stone which was rejected by you the builders,
. . . is become the head of the corner.” Thirdly, Peter affirmed that
Jesus is the Savior of the world, as did the converted Samaritans ac­
cording to St. John: “Neither is there salvation in any other.” This
was equivalent to saying that Jesus is the Author of salvation; and,
according to the psalms the Author of salvation is God Himself,18
the Author of grace. This is to say once again that Jesus is the Author
of life.
Peter continued to give the same testimony when, after he had
been delivered from prison by an angel, the high priest questioned
him again. He and the other apostles answered: “We ought to obey
( hid, rather than men. The God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus,
whom you put to death, hanging Him upon a tree. Him hath God
exalted with His right hand, to be Prince and Savior, to give repent14 Acts 4:8—11.
15ActS4:i8.
” ‘'Attend unto my help, O Lord, the God of my salvation” (Ps. 37:13) j “O Lord, the
Gud of my salvation: I have cried in the day, and in the night before Thee” (Ps. 87:1)1
"(> Lord, Lord, the strength of my salvation . . .” (Ps. 139:8).

J*

OUR SAVIOR

ance to Israel, and remission of sins. And we are witnesses of these
things and the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to all that obey
Him.’’17
Exasperated by what they had just heard, the members of the
council wished to have the apostles put to death, but a Pharisee, named
Gamaliel, a doctor of the law revered by the entire people, took up
their defense, showed the drawbacks to putting them to death, and
added: “Refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this coun­
cil or this work be of men, it will come to naught: but if it be of God,
you cannot overthrow it, lest perhaps you be found even to fight
against God.” 18 The members of the Sanhedrin followed his advice
and were content to scourge the apostles. Then, forbidding them to
speak in the name of Jesus, they released them. “And they indeed
went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were ac­
counted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus. And every
day they ceased not in the temple, and from house to house, to teach
and preach Christ Jesus.” 19
At the first Council of Jerusalem, Peter, in order to show that the
converted Gentiles were not to be obliged to observe the law of
Moses but only the gospel, rose and said: “Men, brethren, you know
that in former days God made choice among us, that by my mouth
the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And
God, who knoweth the hearts, gave testimony, giving unto them the
Holy Ghost, as well as to us; 20 and put no difference between us and
them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why tempt you
God to put a yoke upon the necks of the disciples, which neither our
fathers nor we have been able to bear? But by the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, we believe to be saved, in like manner as they also.” 21
Again this is as much as to say that Jesus is the Author of salvation or
of the supernatural life.
Several times during his sermons Peter called Jesus “Lord,” 23
“Lord of all.” 23 To Cornelius the centurion he said: “He commanded
1T Acts 5 :»9 f.
18 Acts 5138 f.
10 Acts 3:41 f.
10 In fact, as stated in the Acts of the Apostles (10:46), some converted Gentiles began
“speaking with tongues, and magnifying God,” a sign that they, too, had received th»
Holy Ghost. Cf. also Acts 11:15.
’‘Actsijiyf.
22 Acts 1:36) n:ao.
22 Ibid., 10:36.

ST. PETER AND THE APOSTLES

33

us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ap­
pointed by God, to be judge of the living and of the dead. To Him
all the prophets give testimony, that by His name all receive remis­
sion of sins, who believe in Him.” 24 The author of the Acts tells
us that as Peter was still talking, “the Holy Ghost fell on all them
that heard the word,” 25 and they began to speak with tongues and to
glorify God.
It was also in the name of Jesus that the apostles performed mir­
acles and conferred baptism.
Lastly, there is a twofold testimony in the martyrdom of St.
Stephen and in the conversion of St. Paul, both recorded in the Acts.
The Martyrdom of St. Stephen and the Conversion
of St. Paul, Signs of the Divinity of Jesus
The account of the martyrdom of St. Stephen says in part: “But he,
being full of the Holy Ghost, looking up steadfastly to heaven, saw
the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And
he said: Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man stand­
ing on the right hand of God.” 20 The Jews then “crying out with a
loud voice, stopped their ears, and with one accord ran violently
upon him. And casting him forth without the city, they stoned him; 27
and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man,
whose name was Saul.” And as they stoned him, Stephen prayed say­
ing: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” “And falling on his knees, he
cried with a loud voice, saying: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.
And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord.”
As he was dying, Stephen, the saintly deacon, said: “Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit,” just as Jesus had said to His Father: “Into Thy
hands, I commend My spirit.” 28 It seems, therefore, that St. Stephen,
seeing the Son of man standing on the right hand of God, recognized
1 lim as the Son of God. And it was from Jesus that he received the
(■race of dying like Him, praying for his executioners.
1'he prayer of the dying Stephen, said in Jesus’ name, had ex** Ibid., 10:42.
28 Acts 10:44.
•T Stoning was the punishment reserved for blasphemers.

28 Acts 7:55 f.
28 Luke 23:4e.

34

OUR SAVIOR

traordinary efficacy. We read in the Acts: “And Saul [the young man
guarding the garments of those who were stoning the holy deacon]
was consenting to his death. And at that time there was raised a great
persecution against the Church which was at Jerusalem; and they
were all dispersed through the countries of Judea and Samaria.
. . . But Saul made havoc of the Church, entering in from house to
house, and dragging away men and women, committed them to
prison.” 28
A few days later, Stephen’s prayer was answered. As recorded in
the Acts, Saul was converted on the road to Damascus: “Suddenly
a light from heaven shined round about him. And falling on the
ground, he heard a voice saying to him: Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou Me? Who said: Who art Thou, Lord? And He: I am Jesus
whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the goad.
And he trembling and astonished, said: Lord, what wilt Thou have
me to do? And the Lord said to him: Arise, and go into the city, and
there it shall be told thee what thou must do.” 80 And in fact, Ananias,
one of the Lord’s disciples, heard the following words with regard
to Saul: “Go thy way; for this man is to me a vessel of election, to
carry My name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of
Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My
name’s sake.” 81
Then Ananias went to Saul and said: “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus
hath sent me, He that appeared to thee in the way as thou earnest ; that
thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And
immediately there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received
his sight; and rising up, he was baptized. . . .” 82 Paul then spent
several days with the disciples who were at Damascus, and “imme­
diately he preached Jesus in the synagogues, that He is the Son of
God.” 38 The Jews then began to persecute Paul and plotted to kill
him. But he went to Jerusalem to contact the apostles. Since they
were afraid of him, he had Barnabas tell them how on the road to
Damascus “he had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken to him.”84
Thus Saul saw the Lord in His glorified humanity. He bore testi88 Act» 7:59 f.
88 Acts 9:17!.

80 Acts 9:3 f.
88 Ibid., 9:10.

81 Acts 9:15 f.
84 Ibid.. o:»7.

ST. PETER AND THE APOSTLES

35

mony to it in the recital of his conversion 85 and added certain new
details to convince his listeners that he had not been the victim of an
illusion: “And they that were with me, saw indeed the light, but they
heard not the voice of Him that spoke with me.” 38 He also recorded
the words of Ananias,37 and the warning that he received from Jesus
Himself.38 He retold the story of his conversion before King Agrippa,
who recognized his innocence.89
Finally, in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, he wrote: “Am I
not an apostle? Have not I seen Christ Jesus our Lord?” 40 And again,
a little farther: “. . . He rose again the third day, according to the
Scriptures: And that He was seen by Cephas [Peter] ; and after that
by the eleven. Then was He seen by more than five hundred brethren
at once: of whom many remain until this present. . . . After that,
He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. And last of all, He
was seen also by me, as by one born out of due time. ... If Christ
be not risen again, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also
vain.” 41 That is to say, we have no guaranty that God has accepted
His death for our redemption. If, on the contrary, Jesus is victorious
over death by His resurrection, it is because on the cross He conquered
sin, the consequence of which is death, and therefore He is the Savior
of the human race.
What are we to conclude from the testimony contained in the Acts
of the Apostles concerning the divinity of Jesus? We must conclude
that immediately after Pentecost the apostles declared Jesus to be
the Son of God, the Author of life, the Savior of the human race, the
Judge of the living and the dead.
How could the apostles, who had been, as it were, morally crushed
during the Passion, give such steadfast testimony even at the price
of martyrdom, had they not been sustained by the One who gave aid
to St. Stephen during his martyrdom and who converted Saul on the
road to Damascus?
What is particularly evident is that, contrary to the rationalists
J. Weiss, Holtzmann, and Loisy, sufficient time did not elapse for
·’ Acts 22:6 f.
"" Ibid., 22:18.
41 Ibid., 1 514 f.

,e Ibid., 22:9.
” Acts 26:12 f.

’‘''Ibid., 22-.HÎ.
40 I Cor. 9:1.

36

OUR SAVIOR

a progressive idealization of Jesus’ teaching to take place. Jesus was
proclaimed the Son of God, the Author of life, and the Savior on
Pentecost and consistently thereafter. This was the belief of the first
Churches from their very foundation. And when between a.d. 50 and
59 St. Paul wrote his first epistles—to the Romans, to the Corinthians,
and to the Thessalonians—he affirmed the divinity of Jesus as a
dogma already held by these Churches, which were composed in part
of converted Jews who were firm believers in monotheism and there­
fore scarcely inclined to accept the divinity of the Savior without in­
contestable divine revelation. Sufficient time did not elapse to permit
a gradual idealization of Jesus’ teaching. When, a little later on, the
Ebionites denied the divinity of Jesus they were unanimously re­
proved by the Church; and St. John wrote the Fourth Gospel in ref­
utation of their heresy.

$ IV ®
ΓΠΗΕ MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION
ACCORDING TO ST. PAUL

I

HE epistles of St. Paul corroborate the testimony concerning
the divinity of Jesus contained in the Synoptic Gospels and the
Acts of the Apostles. St. Paul expressly affirmed the divinity of Jesus,
and he spoke of it not as of a belief unknown until then but as of a
dogma already accepted by the Churches to which he was writing.
We must not forget that the principal epistles, the two to the Thes­
salonians, the two to the Corinthians, and those to the Galatians, the
Romans, the Ephesians, the Colossians, and the Philippians, were
written between 48 and 59, or between 50 and 64, as is recognized
by several rationalists, among them Harnack and Jülicher.
Let us first view St. Paul’s Christology in broad outline, and after­
ward stress what he said concerning the divinity of Jesus.*
1

T

St. Paul’s Habitual Contemplation
and His Christology
The Apostle of the Gentiles did not come to know the Savior in
the same manner as the other apostles, by accompanying Him in His
ministry, listening to His sermons, witnessing His miracles, and ob­
serving His actions. St. Paul was converted after the death of Jesus,
on the road to Damascus, and he saw Him only in His glory after
I lis resurrection.2 He attained this knowledge in a single instant by
an extraordinary grace at the moment of his miraculous conversion.
The divine words that he heard then were to remain engraved in his
1 Cf. F. Prat, S.J., The Theology of St. Paul; M. J. Lagrange, O.P., Commentaire sur
l'Epitre aux Romains; J. M. Vosté, O.P., Studia Paulina ( 1928), chap. 10; Commentarius
m Epistulam ad Ephesios, Commentarius in Epistulam ad Thcssalonicenses.
• Acts 9 :i f.
37

38

OUR SAVIOR

soul forever: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? ... I am
Jesus whom thou persecutest.” 3 And the Lord had said to Ananias:
“. . . this man is to Me a vessel of election, to carry My name be­
fore the Gentiles; ... I will show him how great things he must
suffer for My name’s sake.” 4
It follows that the object of St. Paul’s habitual contemplation was
not what Jesus accomplished during His ministry, but His infinite
greatness, His divine character as Creator, His action upon redeemed
mankind, His mind, His reign in souls. St. Paul almost always con­
templated Jesus in His glory. That is why he wrote to the Ephesians:
“He . . . ascended above all the heavens, that He might fill all
things. And He gave some apostles and some prophets and other
some evangelists and other some pastors and doctors, for the perfect­
ing of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the
body of Christ: until we all meet . . . unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the age of the fullness of Christ.” 6
Indeed St. Paul thought of Jesus as truly man, born of woman
and of the posterity of David,® but a man who has never known sin,7
and who by His love, His humiliations, and His sufferings on the
cross, has won for us the eternal life which He Himself enjoys in
heaven: “He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even
to the death of the cross. For which cause God also hath exalted Him,
and hath given Him a name which is above all names: that in the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven,
on earth, and under the earth: and that every tongue should confess
that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.” 8
St. Paul proved by Scripture that the Messiah was to suffer and die
for us, and then rise from the dead,8 and that Jesus is the Messiah
thus defined.10 He habitually designated Jesus as “the Lord.” 11 In
the Septuagint the term “Lord” is the usual translation of the word
Yahweh (or Jehovah). Thus, to call Jesus “Lord” is to say that He
is God. Like the Latin Dominus, the term κύριος implies absolute
• Ihid., g :4 f.
* Ibid.., 9:15 f.
e Rom. 8:3) 1:3 f.
TII Cor. 5:21.
8 Act» 17:2 fj 18:4 f.j IThcss.i:to.
11 Phil. 1:8 f.

* Eph. 4:10-13.
8 Phil. 2:8 f.
10 Rom. 1:3) 9:4 f.j 15:8 f.

TESTIMONY OF ST. PAUL

39

sovereignty not only in the natural order over the world, but in
the order of grace over the Church and over consciences. It is in
this vein that St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “I give thanks to
my God always for you, for the grace of God that is given you in
Christ Jesus, that in all things you are made rich in Him, ... so
that nothing is wanting to you in any grace, waiting for the manifesta­
tion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who also will confirm you unto the end
without crime, in the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 12
In his epistles St. Paul calls Jesus “Lord” more than 230 times. But
in many passages he affirms more explicitly that Jesus is the Son of
God not by adoption but by nature.
The Divine Sonship of Jesus according to St. Paul
The epistles of St. Paul proclaim the divine sonship of Christ Jesus
by attributing to our Lord three great privileges that could belong to
no creature, however exalted it might be: First, He is the first-born
and the head of all the just, even of the angels. Secondly, every­
thing subsists through Him and for Him. Thirdly, at the end of the
world all things will be finally placed under His dominion.
Jesus is the first-born and the head of all the just according to the
testimony of the Epistle to the Romans: “For whom He foreknew,
1 le also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of His
Son ; that He might be the first-born amongst many brethren. And
whom He predestinated, them He also called. And whom He called,
them He also justified. And whom He justified, them He also glori­
fied.” 13
Tliis doctrine is often developed in the other epistles: “But I would
have you know that the head of every man is Christ.” 14 “In whom we
have redemption . . . according to the riches of His grace, which
hath superabounded in us . . . that He might make known unto us
the mystery of His will ... in the dispensation of the fullness of
limes, to re-establish all things in Christ, that are in heaven and on
earth, in Him.” 18 “The exceeding greatness of His power . . . He
wrought in Christ, raising Him up from the dead, and setting Him
l* I Co». 1:4 f.

»’Rom. 8:29 f.

14 I Cor. 11:3.

18 Eph. 1 7 ff.

+0

OUR SAVIOR

on His right hand in the heavenly places, above all principality and
power and virtue and dominion and every name that is named, not
only in this world, but also in that which is to come.” 18
“He is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the
first-born from the dead; that in all things He may hold the pri­
macy.” 17 “Who is the head of all principality and power,” 18 that is,
the head of the angelic powers. In fact, Christ has said: “The Son of
man shall send His angels” 19 on judgment day to gather together
the elect. And during His life on earth He had the power to cast out
devils and gave this power to His apostles. Christ’s superiority over
the angels is explained in its every aspect in the Epistle to the He­
brews, 1:5—2:18.
The second privilege of Jesus Christ, according to St. Paul, is that
everything subsists through Him and for Him. To the Colossians, he
wrote: “Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every
creature [according to eternal generation]. For in Him were all
things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or dominations or principalities or powers: all things were
created by Him and in Him. And He is before all, and by Him all
things consist.” 20 “. . . the body of His glory, . . . whereby also
He is able to subdue all things unto Himself.” 21
The third privilege attributed to Christ Jesus by St. Paul is that all
things will finally be placed under His dominion at the end of the
world. In the First Epistle to the Corinthians he writes: “And as in
Adam all die, so also in Christ all [the just] shall be made alive.
. . . Afterward the end, . . . when He shall have brought to
nought all [rebellious] principality and power and virtue. For He
must reign, until He hath put all His enemies under His feet.22 And
the enemy death shall be destroyed last: For He hath put all things
under His feet.23 . . . And when all things shall be subdued unto
Him, then the Son also Himself shall be subject unto Him that put
all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” 24
18 Ibid., 1:19 fl.
17 Col. 1:18.
18 Matt. 13:40 14:31» Mark 13:27.
’’Phil. 3:2t.
” Cf. P». 109:1.
** I Cor. 15:22 ff.

18 Ibid., 2:10.
’° Col. 1:15-17.
”Cf. Ps. 8:8.

TESTIMONY OF ST. PAUL

41

To the Colossians St. Paul likewise wrote: “For I would have you
know, what manner of care I have for you and for them that are at
Laodicea. . . . That their hearts may be comforted, being instructed
in charity, and unto all riches of fullness of understanding, unto the
knowledge of the mystery of God the Father and of Christ Jesus: in
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” 28 By
reason of these treasures Jesus surpasses the highest choirs of angels.
These three privileges cannot belong to any creature whatsoever.
Of no creature, not even the angels, can it be said: “He is the first­
born, head of all the just”; “all things subsist through Him and in
Him”; “all things will be finally subject to Him at the end of the
world.”
Moreover, many texts of St. Paul explicitly speak of Jesus as the
Son of God in a particular sense that is fulfilled in Him alone.
In the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul declares he is the apostle of
Christ Jesus, to announce “the Gospel of God, which He had prom­
ised before by His prophets, in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His
Son, who was made to Him of the seed of David, according to the
flesh, who was predestinated 20 the Son of God in power, according
to the spirit of sanctification, by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus
Christ from the dead.” 27 In other words, Jesus, true man, born of
the race of David, was proven to be the Son of God by the miracle of
His resurrection.
Likewise, in Romans: “God sending His own Son, in the likeness
of sinful flesh and of sin, hath condemned sin in the flesh; that the
justification of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not ac­
cording to the flesh, but according to the spirit.” 28
To the Galatians: “But when the fullness of the time was come,
God sent His Son, made of a woman, under the law: that He might
redeem them who were under the law: that we might receive the
adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God hath sent the Spirit
of His Son [that is, the Holy Ghost, promised by His Son], into
” Col. a:i—3.
** The Vulgate uses the word “predestinated” instead of “declared,” the former being
it possible meaning of the Greek but more difficult to explain because of what is said
immediately following concerning the miracle of the Resurrection.
*T Rom. 1:1—4..
28 Rom. 8:3 f.

OUR SAVIOR

42

your hearts, crying: Abba, Father.” 29 This text shows more clearly
the difference between the just who are the sons of God by adoption,
and He who is truly the Son of God by nature.
St. Paul affirmed this natural divine sonship even more explicitly
when he spoke of the eternal pre-existence of the Son of God, or of
the divine person of Christ before the Incarnation. In fact, he wrote to
the Colossians: “Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born
of every creature [born before all creatures, and not created] : for
in Him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and in­
visible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers:
all things were created by Him and in Him. And He is before all,
and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the
Church, . . . Because in Him, it hath well pleased the Father, that
all fullness should dwell; and through Him to reconcile all things
unto Himself. . . .” 80
In the above text the Son of God is manifestly called “Creator” in
the same sense that God Himself is so called in the Epistle to the
Romans: “For of Him, and by Him, and in Him are all things.” 31
St. Paul often liked to contrast the annihilation of the crucified
Jesus with His glory, His power, and His sovereign wisdom as Son
of God. In the First Epistle to the Corinthians he wrote: “But we
preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and
unto the Gentiles foolishness: but unto them that are called both
Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
. . . But of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom, and justice, and sanctification, and redemption.” 32
We find the same antithesis in the Epistle to the Philippians: “For
let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but
emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the
likeness of men, and in habit found as a man. He humbled Himself,
becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the Cross. For
which cause God also hath exalted Him. . . .” 88
It would be impossible to express more forcefully the annihilation,
”G«1.4:4-0.
·’ I Cor. i :i j-jo.

,0Col.
·’ Phil, a y-9.

’‘Rom. u:j4.

TESTIMONY OF ST. PAUL

43

the crushing of the humanity of the crucified Jesus, and at the same
time the eternal pre-existence of His divine personality as Son of God,
equal with God.
Likewise, Paul said to the Colossians: “For in Him [Christ]
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead corporeally [really].” 84 And
to the Romans: “For I wished myself to be anathema from Christ,
for my brethren . . . who are Israelites . . . and of whom is
Christ, according to the flesh, who is over all things, God blessed for
ever. Amen.” 38 This text is similar to the one in the Epistle to the
Colossians, cited above, in which it is said that the Son of God created
all things and “by Him they consist.” 38
In the New Testament there are several analogous doxologies in
honor of Christ,37 whence comes the “Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui
Sancto” at the conclusion of the psalms in the Office, affirming the
equality of the three persons of the Blessed Trinity, and offering to
all three equally the cult of adoration reserved for God alone.
All of St. Paul’s testimony concerning the divine sonship of Jesus
is summarized at the beginning of the Epistle to the Hebrews, i :i ff.,
which calls to mind the parable of the wicked husbandmen: “God,
who at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the
fathers by the prophets, last of all, in these days hath spoken to us
by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also
He made the world.· Who being the brightness of His glory, and the
figure of His substance, and upholding all things by the word of His
power, making purgation of sins, sitteth on the right hand of the
majesty on high. Being made so much better than the angels, as He
hath inherited a more excellent name than they.” 88
The remainder of chapter i of the Epistle to the Hebrews ex­
plains clearly that Jesus Christ is the Son of God by nature, the
Creator and Master of all things, the head of the kingdom of God,
whereas the angels are only servants of God and His sons by adop­
tion.80 Thus, if men were required to obey the commands of the angels
84 Col. 2:9.
85 Rom. 9:3—5.
80 Col. i:i6f.
87 Cf. Heb. 13:215 I Pct. 4:115 II Pet. 3:18.
88 Matt. 21:33—46.
80 “For to which of the angels hath He said at any time, Thou art My Son, today have
I begotten Thee? And again . . . Thou in the beginning, O Lord, didst found the earth:
mid the works of Thy hands are the heavens” (Heb. 1 :y—10). Cf. also Heb. 2:10.

4+

OUR SAVIOR

of the Old Testament, how much more must they obey the word of
Jesus Christ who, after having been humbled and humiliated during
His passion for our salvation, is now crowned with glory.40
This adheres to the general principles of St. Paul’s Christology,
which derives from the fact that Paul was converted on the road to
Damacus after Jesus’ death, and thought of Him especially in His
glory, risen from the dead. Paul saw Christ in His infinite grandeur,
as God’s only Son, as Creator and preserver of all things, as the head
of the kingdom of God. Let us bear in mind that St. Paul was “caught
up to the third heaven . . . and heard secret words, which it is not
granted to man to utter.” 41
It was Paul also who wrote: “And lest the greatness of the revela­
tions should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an
angel of Satan, to buffet me.” 42 Paul’s enjoyment of very elevated
revelations did not prevent his being afflicted by one of those humiliat­
ing crosses that all men must drag after them as ceaseless reminders
of their nothingness.
Now, in speaking so magnificently about the divinity of Jesus in
his Epistles written between a.d. 48 and 59 (or between 50 and 64),
St. Paul wrote not as of a dogma hitherto unknown but as of a dogma
already accepted by the Churches which he was addressing. We must
therefore conclude, contrary to the rationalists J. Weiss, Holtzmann,
and Loisy, that this dogma of the divinity of Jesus did not result
from a progressive idealization which might little by little have trans40 Some liberal Protestants and rationalists, like Sabatier and Guignebert, have main­
tained that according to several texts of St. Paul it seems that Jesus is inferior to the
Father, and that God sent His Son and raised Him from the dead (Rom. 8:35! Thess.
1:10); that there is only one God, namely, the Father, and one Lord, who is Jesus Christ
(I Cor. 8:6; 12:5 f.) ; everything is Christ’s and Christ is God’s (I Cor. 3:23) ; the Son
will place His kingdom in the Father’s hands and will be subject to Him (I Cor. 15:2428; 11:3; Eph. 1:17).
The answer to this difficulty is that Jesus possesses two natures, one divine and the other
human. As man He is inferior to the Father, and as Son of God He receives His divinity
from the Father. This is manifestly the meaning of these texts, which would otherwise
contradict the ones cited earlier that affirm the equality of the Father and the Son. The
first rule for interpreting an author’s texts is not to interpret them in such a way as to
make him contradict himself.
41 II Cor. 12:2-4. The Hebrews called “third heaven” (empyrean) the spiritual heaven
where God dwells, above the heaven of air (atmosphere) and the heaven of the stars
(ether).
48 II Cor. 12 7.

TESTIMONY OF ST. JOHN

45

formed and transfigured the original teaching of Jesus and of the
apostles. Sufficient time did not elapse for such a progressive idealiza­
tion, since about the year 48 or 59 St. Paul already spoke in his
Epistles of the divinity of Jesus as of a dogma accepted by the Christian
world. This acceptance was the result of the apostles’ teaching from
Pentecost onward. Had not St. Peter preached on Pentecost and con­
sistently thereafter that Jesus is the Author of life, the Savior of all,
the Judge of the living and the dead? 48
St. Paul’s affirmations on the eternal pre-existence of the divine
person of Jesus are equal in sublimity to those in St. John’s Gospel, of
which we shall speak last.
43 Acts 3:13-16; 4:10—18; 3:29—31.

e
qpHE WORD MADE FLESH ACCORDING
TO ST. JOHN

JL

F RECENT years Catholic exegetes have proved at great
length that there is no valid argument against the authenticity
and the historicity of the Fourth Gospel, unanimously attributed by
tradition to the apostle St. John.*
1 It has been demonstrated that by
reason of both the language and the style in which it is written, this
Gospel was composed by a Jew, an eyewitness and a disciple of Jesus.
Moreover it has been shown that the author was he who is called “the
disciple whom Jesus loved” in this book where the apostle St. John
is never mentioned by name. St. John wished to supplement what was
lacking in the Synoptics in the matter of factual description especially
of events that occurred in Judea, and also in the matter of our Lord’s
sermons which the first three Gospels often recorded only in sub­
stance.2
The Fourth Gospel was written between the years 80 and too, as
the rationalist Harnack admits. Its chief purpose is unquestionably
dogmatic. It was written in particular to prove, in opposition to the
Cerinthians and the Ebionites, that Jesus is really the Son of God, as
proclaimed in 20:31. The events recorded are never presented as
allegories or parables. They are set forth as facts that really occurred.
Nor can it be said that in reporting Jesus’ sermons St. John tended to
present his own personal views. In several places he has clearly dif-

O

1 St. Irenaeus in his book Adversus Haereses, written between A.t>. 174 and 189, says
that the Fourtli Gospel was composed by John, the disciple of the Lord who leaned on
His bosom at the Last Supper, and that he published it while living in Ephesus. Now, St.
Irenaeus had close relations with St. Polycarp and with other direct disciples of the
apostles, and he is an exceptional witness inasmuch as he was born in Asia, lived in Rome,
and became bishop of Lyons.
’ Cf. Lagrange, O.P., Saint Jean (1915), chaps, t-jj J. M. Vosti, O.P., Studia
Joannea (1930), chaps, a, 6j Batiffol, L’enseignement de Jisus, pp. 196 ff.
46

TESTIMONY OF ST. JOHN

47

ferentiated between the words of Christ and the private reflections
he was making about them.8
The Prologue
The prologue of the Fourth Gospel provides the dogmatic founda­
tion and presents the point of view of the entire work. It explains
the meaning of the expression “Word made flesh,” and the nature
of the relationship between the Word and God (l:i f.): “In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God; the same was in the beginning with God.” That is to say:
before the world and before time, the Word was from all eternity.
He was with God, as His interior thought. He was in substantial and
active communion with God the Father, but distinct from Him, and
He was sent by Him. Although He is distinct from the Father, the
Word is none the less consubstantial with the Father, for it is said:
“. . . and the Word was God.” The Word was eternally united to
His Father by nature and by His will. In these first verses of the pro­
logue, St. John raises his mind’s eye from the Savior’s humanity to
I lis divine personality and to His divinity. It is as if someone stood
on the shore gazing out over the ocean and became lost in its im­
mensity, though actually seeing but a tiny portion of it. Yet the ocean
is finite and limited, whereas the perfection of the Word is infinite.
The relationship of the Word to creatures in general is expressed
in the following verse (1:3): “All things were made by Him: and
without Him was made nothing that was made.”
All things without exception, even matter, were made by Him.
The Father possesses the creative power, but nothing comes into
existence unless the Word gives it form. The world, before it was
created, existed ideally in the Word; for it was eternally present to
the divine intelligence wherein all is life.4
Finally, the relationship of the Word with men is expressed in
verses 4 and 5 : “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
•John »:»ij 11:331 7:39·
* Cf. St. Augustine, In Evang. sec. Joannem, chap. 1, §§ 1, t6j St. Thomas, la, q. 18, a.41
Bossuet. Elevations sur les mystères. 12th week, 10th elevation.

+8

OUR SAVIOR

And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not compre­
hend it.” The natural light of the intelligence and the supernatural
light of revelation and faith that the Word pours upon the earth
shine among men in the darkness of ignorance and sin; and many
men have remained hardened in spite of the miracles performed by
the Word made flesh and they have not received the light He brought
them.
A little further on, the Evangelist says: “He came unto His own,
and His own received Him not” (i:ii); and “. . . the light is
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light:
for their works were evil” (3:19).
By contrast, what did He give to those who received Him? “But
as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons
of God, to them that believe in His name” (1:12-13); that is, to all
those who received Him as the Creator and as the Author of eternal
salvation, whether they were Jews or pagans, He gave the power to
become, in the supernatural order, adopted sons of God. This sonship is not the result of natural generation. It is not born “of blood nor
of the will of the flesh [the blind instinct of the senses] nor of the
will of man [enlightened by reason].” It comes directly from God.
It can be said that the adopted sons of God are “born of God”
(1:13) in the sense that Jesus used when He spoke to Nicodemus:
“Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he can­
not enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh, is
flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit.” 8 Likewise St.
Peter says that by the grace that sanctifies us we become “partakers
of the divine nature,” 8 and we participate in the intimate life of
God.
This is the nature of the relationship of the Word with God the
Father and with men. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among
us.” 7 “Flesh” in this case means “man,” as it often does in biblical
language; 8 it was chosen in order to emphasize the reality of Christ’s
human nature and the supreme self-abasement of the Word. All the
heresies concerning Christ Jesus have been shattered by this word
“John 3:5 f.
0 II Pet. 114.
’John 1:14.
’“All flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth” (Gen. 6:ii| Isa. 40:5) Joel a:a8).

TESTIMONY OF ST. JOHN

+9

“flesh,” whether they denied His divinity or His humanity, or the
unity of the two natures in the person of the Word.
What are the sources of this doctrine? ® They are to be found in our
Lord’s own teachings, preserved in the apostolic tradition and com­
pared with what the Old Testament tells us of the eternal wisdom
of the word of God.10
After the prologue, the Fourth Gospel divides naturally into two
parts. First, Jesus manifests His mission and His divinity during His
public life (1:19 through chap. 12). Secondly, Jesus manifests His
mission and His divinity during His passion and after His resurrec­
tion (chapters 13 to 20).

Jesus Manifests His Mission and His Divinity
during His Public Life
First of all, men of good will acknowledge Jesus as God. Then the
unbelief and opposition of many Jews break forth and increase.
Finally, Jesus is glorified in His triumphal entrance into Jerusalem.
There are the three sections of the first part of the Gospel of St.
John.
It was John the Baptist who first designated Jesus as the Messiah
and the Son of God (1:29 f.): “Behold the Lamb of God, behold
I lim who taketh away the sin of the world. ... I saw the Spirit
coming down, as a dove from heaven, and He remained upon Him.
’ Several rationalists maintain that the doctrine of St. John on the Word or Logos is
derived in part from Philo, his Jewish contemporary. Philo indeed speaks of a Logos whom
he calls “son of God” and who has a part in the formation of the world and brings to men
n celestial revelation. But Philo’s Logos is not the Creator; he is the son of God in the
eume sense as is all creation. He is neither Messiah nor Redeemer. Philo never had any
idea of the Incarnation.
10 In the Old Testament creation is attributed to the word of God. “And God said: Be
light made. And light was made” (Gen. 1:3). The word of God is then personified in
tin· Psalms (Ps. 32:65 106:205 ’47:iS> J8> 148:8). According to Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom
lias its origin and seat in God (1:1); it is eternal and is made manifest in the works of
ciration (1:4, 9, 10) 5 it is an unfathomable abyss of knowledge (24:38 ff.). This docII ine is developed and clarified in 7:24-265 8:6, 8; 9:4, 9.
I he epistles of St. Paul contain several of the elements of the Johannine doctrine of
tli·· Logos: Col. 1:15 f. i Phil, a :j—11 ; Hcb. 1:1—35 4:12. St. John may have used the word
Logos, whose meaning was being distorted by several philosophers, in order to clarify its
meaning.

SO

OUR SAVIOR

And I knew Him not; but He who sent me to baptize with water,
said to me: He upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and
remaining upon Him, He it is that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
And I saw, and I gave testimony, that this is the Son of God.”
On the two succeeding days the first disciples, Andrew, Simon
Peter, Philip, and Nathanael, accepted Jesus as the Messiah and even
as the Son of God, according to the testimony of John the Baptist
(1:35, 41, 45, 49). Then Jesus performed His first miracle at Cana
(2:11), and manifested Himself at Jerusalem by driving the traders
out of the temple, saying: “Make not the house of My Father a house
of traffic” (2:16). Many, seeing the miracles He performed, believed
in Him (2:23).
Then He said to Nicodemus (3:13 ff.): “And no man hath as­
cended into heaven, but He that descended from heaven, the Son
of man who is in heaven. . . . So must the Son of man be lifted up:
that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have life
everlasting. For God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten
Son; that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have
life everlasting.”
John the Baptist gave further testimony (3:31-36): “He that
cometh from above, is above all. . . . He that cometh from heaven,
is above all. And what He hath seen and heard, that He testifieth:
. . . for God doth not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loveth
the Son: and He hath given all things into His hand. He that be­
lieveth in the Son, hath life everlasting.”
Jesus then manifested Himself in Samaria, and the Samaritans
recognized Him: “We . . . know that this is indeed the Savior of
the world” (4:42). In Galilee Jesus cured the son of an officer, and
the latter together with his entire household believed in Him (4:53).
Yet scarcely had the men of good will acknowledged the divine
sonship of Jesus when the Jews’ unbelief burst forth and became in­
creasingly bitter. This opposition found its first outlet when the
Savior cured a paralytic on the Sabbath (5:16 ff.). “But Jesus an­
swered them: My Father worketh until now; and I work. Here­
upon therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He
did not only break the Sabbath, but also said God was His Father,

TESTIMONY OF ST. JOHN

51

making Himself equal to God. Then Jesus answered and said to
them: Amen, amen, I say unto you, the Son cannot do anything of
Himself, but what He seeth the Father doing: for what things soever
He doth, these the Son also doth in like manner. . . . For as the
Father raiseth up the dead, and giveth life: so the Son also giveth
life to whom He will. For neither doth the Father judge any man,
but hath given all judgment to the Son; that all men may honor the
Son, as they honor the Father. . . . Amen, amen I say unto you,
that he who heareth My word, and believeth Him that sent Me,
hath life everlasting. . . . For as the Father hath life in Himself,
so He hath given to the Son also to have life in Himself.”
The Galileans, too, were incredulous when Jesus said that He was
the bread of life on which they must feed through faith and that later
He would give Himself to them as food (6:48-52).
The opposition in Judea increased at the feast of the tabernacles
(chapters 7 to 9). Then Jesus said to the Pharisees: “I am the light
of the world. . . . Neither Me do you know, nor My Father: if
you did know Me, perhaps you would know My Father also” (8:12,
19). And He added (8:42, 56, 59): “If God were your Father you
would indeed love Me. . . . Abraham your father rejoiced that he
might see My day: he saw it, and was glad.” The Jews answered
Him : “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham?
Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham was
made, I am. They took up stones therefore to cast at Him. But Jesus
hid Himself, and went out of the Temple.” The words “Before
Abraham was made, I am,” imply that Jesus’ life had no beginning
and therefore express the eternal and immutable pre-existence of the
person of the Word before the Incarnation.
The same opposition was intensified on the occasion of one of Jesus’
sermons given at the time of the feast of the dedication. As He walked
in the Temple, Jesus said (10:27 if.): “My sheep hear My voice:
and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them life ever­
lasting; and they shall not perish forever, and no man shall pluck
them out of My hand. That which My Father hath given Me is
greater than all: and no one can snatch them out of the hand of My
Father. I and the Father are one.”

52

OUR SAVIOR

The Jews again took up stones to stone Him as a blasphemer “be­
cause,” they told Him, “that Thou, being a man makest Thyself
God” (10:33). Jesus had indeed affirmed His divinity when He said:
“I and the Father are one,” and by claiming to be almighty like the
Father and therefore able to preserve souls in the path of goodness
so that no one could snatch them from His hand. The Jews under­
stood so well that He had affirmed not only His Messiahship but also
His divinity that they treated Him as a blasphemer and decided to
stone Him. They were awaiting a Messiah, but a conquering Messiah
who would answer their nationalistic aspirations. A short while later
Jesus, after saying “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25),
brought Lazarus back to life. The Jews who witnessed the miracle
believed in Him. It was then that the Sanhedrists decided to put Him
to death (11:53).
At the end of His ministry, Jesus made a triumphal entry into
Jerusalem. There were Gentiles who wished to see Him. A voice
from heaven uttered these words: “I have both glorified it [My
name], and will glorify it again. . . . Jesus answered, and said:
. . . I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to My­
self” (12:28-32). Nevertheless the Savior’s enemies persisted in
their unbelief.
Jesus Manifests His Divinity during His Suffering
and in His Glory
At the Last Supper our Lord said to His disciples: “You call Me
Master, and Lord; and you say well, for so I am” (13:13). In the
discourse after the Last Supper, Jesus said: “I am the way and the
truth and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me” ( 14:6).
God alone can say not merely “I have the truth and the life,” but “I
am the truth and the life.” For God alone is the eternally subsistent
Being. Later, when Philip asked: “Lord, show us the Father, and
it is enough for us,” Jesus answered him: “Have I been so long a
time with you, and have you not known Me? . . . Do you not be­
lieve that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? . . . The Fa­

TESTIMONY OF ST. JOHN

53

ther who abideth in Me, He doth the works,” the miracles that I
perform ( 14:9 ff.).
When He promised the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, Jesus
added: “He shall glorify Me; because He shall receive of Mine, and
shall show it to you. All things whatsoever the Father hath, are
Mine. Therefore I said that He [the Holy Ghost] shall receive of
Mine, and show it to you” (16:14 ff.; cf. 16:28, 32).
In His prayer for His disciples (John 17:1-5, 9 f.), Jesus said
again: “Father, the hour is come, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may
glorify Thee . . . that He may give eternal life to all whom Thou
hast given Him. ... I have finished the work which Thou gavest
Me to do. And now glorify Thou Me, O Father, with Thyself, with
the glory which I had, before the world was, with Thee. ... I pray
... for them whom Thou hast given Me: because they are Thine:
And all My things are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glori­
fied in them.”
The divine glory of Jesus was also manifested in His passion, in
spite of the hatred of His enemies and the humiliations they inflicted
on Him. The soldiers who had come with Judas fell back when Jesus
said to them: “Whom seek ye?” “Jesus of Nazareth.” “I am He”
(18 4-6). And He proclaimed to Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this
world. . . . Everyone that is of the truth, heareth My voice” (18:
36 ff.). And when Pilate sought to save Him and said: “I find no
cause in Him,” the Jews answered: “We have a law; and according to
the law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God”
(I9:6f.).
Finally, to those who had eyes to see, the glory of Jesus was made
manifest in His last words: “It is consummated” (19:30); as well
as by the heroism of His death, by His magnanimity toward His
executioners, and last of all by His resurrection. His glory was mani­
fested again after the Resurrection in His last commands to His
apostles: “Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent Me, I also send
you. . . . Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall for­
give, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they
arc retained” (20:21 ff.). Thomas the apostle, at long last convinced

5+

OUR SAVIOR

of the reality of the Resurrection, cried out to Him: “My Lord and
My God” (20:28).
Later, after the miraculous catch of fish, Jesus fulfilled the prom­
ise He had made to Peter and conferred upon him the office of gov­
erning the entire Church: “Feed My lambs. . . . Feed My sheep”
(21:16 f.). Thus He stood forth ever more clearly as the head of
the kingdom of God.
What are we to conclude as to the testimony of the Fourth Gospel
concerning the divinity of Jesus? As recorded in that Gospel, Jesus’
declarations state explicitly that He is the Son of God by nature and
not by adoption: and it is for this very reason that the Jews demanded
His death. For they said: “He said God was His Father, making
Himself equal to God” (5:185 10:33; 19:7).
Now, this testimony is the same as that in Matthew 11:2γ and
Luke 10:22: “All things are delivered to Me by My Father. And
no one knoweth the Son, but the Father: neither doth anyone know
the Father, but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to
reveal Him.”
Finally, the affirmations contained in St. Matthew and St. Luke
are equal in sublimity to the magnificent prologue of St. John: “In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. . . . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us (and we saw His glory, the glory as it were of the onlybegotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. . . . No man hath
seen God at any time: the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of
the Father, He hath declared Him” (1:1, 14, 18).
St. John also says in his First Epistle, 1:1: “That which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our
eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of
the word of life. . . . That which we have seen and have heard, we
declare unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and our
fellowship may be with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
This is the tenor of St. John’s contemplation, and it is very similar
to St. Paul’s.
The persecutor converted on the road to Damascus met the disciple
that Jesus loved. What St. John tells us in his Gospel around a.d.

TESTIMONY OF ST. JOHN

55

8o is what St. Paul wrote in his Epistles around a.d. 53. It is also
what St. Peter preached on Pentecost and thereafter when he said
that Jesus is the Author of life and the head of the kingdom of God
which was announced by the prophets.

*
VI
rpHE PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENT
OF THE SAVIOR

1

E KNOW that taken as a whole the prophecies of the Old
Testament all contain three fundamental assertions: There
is but one God; His spiritual kingdom is to encompass all nations; the
Messiah to be sent by Him is to be the head of this kingdom. This
general view is clarified and abundantly confirmed by the study of the
principal prophecies taken individually, especially if we consider the
progressive development of the divine revelations from the prom­
ises made to the first man and to the patriarchs, to the prophecies of
David and Isaias which describe in detail even the circumstances of
the life and passion of the Savior.
It is also well to remember that these patriarchs and prophets in­
cluded several that prefigure the Christ who was to come. For ex­
ample, Abraham the Father of believers, Isaac who carried the wood
of his sacrifice and allowed himself to be bound in preparation for his
immolation, and Joseph who was sold by his brothers and became the
savior of his people. Then there were Moses, the liberator, the head
and lawgiver of the Hebrews; Job, the figure of the suffering Christ;
David, who typified the Messiah by his trials, his kingship, his prayer,
and his psalms; and Jeremias who loved and suffered for his people;
and then there was Jonas. It was our Lord Himself who pointed out
Jonas as the figure of His preaching and His burial.1

W

The Prophecies of the Patriarchal Period
The prophetic revelations of the patriarchal period up to and in­
cluding Moses announced the Savior of the world who was to be of
1 Matt. 12:39 ff. ; Luke 11 129 ff.
S®

THE PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENT

57

the family of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Juda the son of Jacob, who
gave His name to one of the twelve tribes of Israel and who was the
father of the royal race of David.
Immediately after the sin of the first man, God, at the same mo­
ment that He decreed punishment for sin, announced the future
Savior who was to be of the race of the woman, and by whom this race
would crush the head of the serpent.2 Lamech announced that the
future benediction would pass through Noe,3 who was in fact saved
from the flood together with his family and with whom God renewed
His alliance, giving him the rainbow for a sign.4
Noe in his turn announced that God would choose the tents of Sem
in which to dwell.® In fact, it was Abraham, the son of Sem, whom
God chose to make the father of His people. He said to him: “Go
forth out of thy country . . . and come into the land which I shall
show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless
thee, and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed.” 6 God re­
newed this promise to Abraham several times,7 particularly when He
told him of the birth of Isaac from whom would come his posterity.
Finally, Abraham was put to the test when the Lord asked him to
sacrifice Isaac, the son of the promise. But the angel of the Lord
stopped him: “Lay not thy hand upon the boy; . . . now I know
that thou fearest God, and hast not spared thy only-begotten son for
My sake. . . . Because thou hast done this thing, ... I will bless
thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven. . . . And
in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” 8
Then Isaac, by virtue of his father’s merits, received the same
divine blessing: “Because Abraham obeyed My voice.” 9 When
Jacob won his brother Esau’s birthright away from him, he heard
from his father Isaac’s lips these words of blessing: “God almighty
bless thee, and make thee to increase, and multiply thee: that thou
mayst be a multitude of people. And give the blessings of Abraham
to thee, and to thy seed after thee.” 10 Jacob even heard the Lord tell
him: “And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth: . . . and in
* Gen. 3 ftj.
* Ibid., 11:1 ff.
“ Ibid., 26:5.

* Ibid., 5 :zg.
4 Ibid., 9 :i ï.
, Ibid., 13:14 ff.j 17:1 ff.j 18:17 ff.
10 Ibid., »8:3 f.

5 Ibid., 9 :2η.
1 Ibid., 22:12 S.

58

OUR SAVIOR

thee and thy seed all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed.” 11 It
was then that he saw a ladder that touched heaven; on the ladder the
angels of God were ascending and descending and above it was the
Lord Himself. It was the same Jacob who, on the verge of death,
blessed his sons and said in particular to Juda: “The scepter shall not
be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till he come
that is to be sent, and he shall be the expectation of nations.” 12*
To summarize the prophecies of Genesis: Salvation was to come
from the posterity of the woman, from the race of Seth, from the
branch of Sem, from the family of Abraham, from the family of Isaac,
and of Jacob, and from the tribe of Juda.18
Later, Balaam announced: “A star shall rise out of Jacob and a
scepter shall spring up from Israel.” 14 Finally Moses, the legislator
and liberator of Israel, announced: “The Lord thy God will raise up
to thee [Israel] a Prophet of thy nation and of thy brethren like
unto me: Him thou shalt hear.” 16 This promise in its fullest sense
clearly includes the Messiah, the prophet par excellence, the uni­
versal mediator between God and men, the author of the second al­
liance as Moses was the mediator of the first alliance. That is why
the New Testament relates this promise to Christ and declares that
it was fulfilled in Him. Jesus Himself says to the Pharisees: “For
if you did believe Moses, you would perhaps believe Me also; for he
wrote of Me.” 14
After Pentecost St. Peter said to the Jews: “Moses said: A prophet
shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto
me: him you shall hear according to all things whatsoever he shall
speak to you. And it shall be, that every soul which will not hear that
prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. . . . [For] to
you first God, raising up His Son, hath sent Him to bless you; that
every one may convert himself from his wickedness.” 17 St. Stephen,
the first martyr, also repeated this prophecy of Moses before he was
stoned by the Jews.18
11 Ibid., 28 :i4.
12 Ibid., 49:10.
18 For these prophecies cf. Gen. 3:151 5:291 9 :s6 j 12:31 26:1-4) 35:9 i 44:10.
14 Num. 24:17.
18 Deut. 18:i5·
18 John 5:46.
1T Acts 3:22.
18 Ibid., 7137.

THE PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENT

59

The Period of the Kings
During this period, which was primarily David’s, the Messiah
was announced as king, Son of God, priest par excellence, and there
were even descriptions of His passion and sacrifice.
First of all Anna, Samuel’s mother, saluted from afar in her canti­
cle the king and the Christ that God would send: “The Lord shall
judge the ends of the earth, and He shall give empire to His king,
and shall exalt the horn of His Christ.” 19
Through the lips of the prophet Nathan God promised to David
as a reward for building the Temple: “And when thy days shall be
fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will raise up thy seed
after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish
his kingdom. He shall build a house to My name, and I will establish
the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he
shall be to me a son. . . . My mercy I will not take away from him.
. . . And thy house . . . and thy throne shall be firm forever.” 20
The title “son of David” given to the Messiah in rabbinical writings
presupposes the universal acceptance by the Jews of the Messianic
significance of the passage just quoted.
David himself in the psalms announced the universal dominion of
God, and he described the glories and sorrows of the Messiah, who
was to be the King of all peoples: “And all kings of the earth shall
adore Him: all nations shall serve Him. For He shall deliver the
poor from the mighty: and the needy that had no helper.” 21
How pregnant with meaning are these words, especially when ap­
plied to the feasts of Epiphany and of Christ the King! David called
this King “the Anointed of the Lord,” “Christ,” and even “Son of
God,” as, for instance, in psalm 2: “The kings of the earth stood up,
and the princes met together, against the Lord, and against His
Christ,” that is, against the One who had received the royal anoint1β I Kings i:io.
,0 II Kings 7:11-16. This prophecy refers specifically to Solomon (verse 13), but in
Solomon are included all his descendants (verses 14-16). St. Peter applied this prophecy
to Jesus Christ (Acts 1:30).
« Ps. 71:11 f.

6o

OUR SAVIOR

ing, the Anointed One par excellence, the Messiah-King. The psalm
continues: “He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them: and the
Lord shall deride them. . . . But I am appointed king by Him over
Sion, His holy mountain, preaching His commandment. The Lord
hath said to Me: Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee.
Ask of me, and I will give Thee the Gentiles for Thy inheritance,
and the utmost parts of the earth for Thy possession.” This prophecy
has been fulfilled in the catholicity of the Church.
Psalm 109 describes the kingship and the priesthood of the Mes­
siah: “The Lord said to my Lord: Sit Thou at My right hand: until
I make Thy enemies Thy footstool. The Lord will send forth the
scepter of Thy power out of Sion. . . . The Lord hath sworn, and
He will not repent: Thou art a priest forever according to the order
of Melchisedech. The Lord at Thy right hand . . . shall judge
among nations.” St. Paul enlarged on this prophecy in his Epistle to
the Hebrews.
Yet David also foretold in psalm 39, verses 7-9, that the Mes­
siah would offer Himself up voluntarily as a victim for sin; “Sacrifice
and oblation Thou didst not desire. . . . Burnt offering and sin of­
fering Thou didst not require. Then said I, Behold I come. In the
head of the book it is written of Me that I should do Thy will: O My
God, I have desired it, and Thy law in the midst of My heart.” In the
Epistle to the Hebrews, St. Paul says that Christ uttered these words
upon coming into the world and offered Himself as a voluntary victim
because the sacrifices of the Old Law were powerless to wipe out
sin.22
Psalm 21 contains the words Jesus pronounced on the cross: “O
God, My God, . . . why hast Thou forsaken Me? . . . O My
God, I shall cry by day, and Thou wilt not hear: and by night. . . .
But Thou dwellest in the holy place. ... In Thee have our fa­
thers hoped: they have hoped, and Thou hast delivered them. They
cried to Thee, and they were saved. . . . But I am a worm, and no
man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people. All they that
saw Me have laughed Me to scorn: they have spoken with the lips,
and wagged the head. He hoped in the Lord, let Him deliver Him:
” Heb. 10:7-9.

THE PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENT

61

let Him save Him, seeing He delighteth in Him. For Thou art He
that hast drawn Me out of the womb: . . . depart not from Me. For
tribulation is very near: for there is none to help Me. . . . Fat bulls
have besieged Me. ... I am poured out like water; and all My
bones are scattered. . . . My tongue hath cleaved to My jaws. . . .
For many dogs have encompassed Me: the council of the malignant
hath besieged Me. They have dug My hands and feet.23 They have
numbered all My bones. And they have looked and stared upon Me.
They parted My garments amongst them; and upon My vesture they
cast lots. But Thou, O Lord, remove not Thy help to a distance from
Me; look toward My defense. . . . Save Me from the lion’s
mouth.”
Finally, in psalm 15, verse 10, David announced the fruits of the
Messiah’s sacrifice and His resurrection: “Thou wilt not leave My
soul in hell; nor wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see corruption.”
As Father Lagrange, O.P., shows, the only literal explanation of
psalm 16 (15), verse 10, especially according to the Greek, is that
made in the Acts of the Apostles:24 the person who speaks in this
psalm hopes to rise from the dead. The apostles, who testified to the
resurrection of Christ, quite naturally saw in it the fulfillment of the
verse.2’
Even in psalm 21, which begins with the words “O God, My
God, . . . why hast Thou forsaken Me?” David described the glory
of the Messiah as being the fruit of His passion: “I will declare Thy
name to My brethren: in the midst of the church will I praise Thee.
Ye that fear the Lord, praise Him: all ye, the seed of Jacob, glorify
Him. Let all the seed of Israel fear Him: because He hath not
slighted nor despised the supplication of the poor man. Neither hath
He turned away His face from Me: and when I cried to Him, He
heard Me. . . . All the ends of the earth shall remember, and
shall be converted to the Lord [to the God of Israel] : and all the
kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in His sight.” 28
2S Likewise in Ps. 68:22 we read: “And they gave Me gall for My food, and in My
thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.”
24 Acts 2:25-32; 13:35-37.
28 Lagrange, “Le Messianisme dans les Psaumes,” in Revue biblique (1905), p. 192.
2β P». 21:13-28.

6î

OUR SAVIOR

Summing up, David announced the sufferings and the glories
of the Messiah. The Messiah was to be the Son of God, He was to be
the mighty king, merciful to the humble but dreaded by the wicked,
the priest par excellence.27 At the same time He was to be the volun­
tary victim for sin; He was to be overwhelmed with anguish and
suffer a terrible death; but He would rise glorious from the
grave.28
After David there was Solomon, who sang of the eternal Wisdom
that was to be manifested to the world: “The Lord possessed me in
the beginning of His ways. ... I was set up from eternity. . . .
Wisdom hath built herself a house. . . . She hath slain her victims,
mingled her wine, and set forth her table. . . . And to the unwise
she said: Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have min­
gled for you, . . . and walk by the ways of prudence.” 29 Today
we have the Eucharist, the Eucharistic bread, and the precious
blood.
Then too, the Canticle of Canticles, according to tradition, sings of
the union of Christ with His Church, mention of which is also made in
psalm 44:7.
It is clear that the prophecies of the period of the Kings, as well
as the earlier ones, always refer to a Messiah who was to be of the
race of Israel, but who was also the Son of God, and Himself God:
“The Lord said to my Lord.” It was by referring to this psalm 109,
that our Lord silenced the Pharisees with the words: “What think
you of Christ; whose Son is He? They say to Him: David’s. He
saith to them: How then doth David in spirit call Him Lord, saying:
The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on My right hand, until I make Thy
enemies Thy footstool? If David then call Him Lord, how is He his
son? And no man was able to answer Him a word: neither durst any
man from that day forth ask Him any more questions.” 80 Thus the
prophecies of this period are clear and explicit.
The predictions of the period of the prophets, particularly those of
Isaias, shed still more light on the Savior and on the work He was to
accomplish.
,T Ps. 1:71 71 j 110.
”1’8.39:7-9111,4
115:10.
*
•°Matt. 11:41-461 cf. Mark 11:35-371 Luke 10:41-44.

” Prov. S:n—9:6.

THE PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENT

63

The Period of the Prophets
At this period in the history of Israel, it is the origin of the Savior,
His qualities, His functions, and His sacrifice that were brought into
relief.
Abdias (chap. 21) made the general prophecy that saviors were to
come on Mount Sion. Joel predicted the pouring forth of the Spirit
of God on all flesh, and he added: “And it shall come to pass, that
everyone that shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved:
for in Mount Siop and in Jerusalem shall be salvation, as the Lord
hath said, and in the residue whom the Lord shall call.” 81 Osee an­
nounced the conversion of Israel and the kingship of the future Mes­
siah.82 Micheas portrayed the peoples flocking toward Jerusalem the
city of salvation,88 and the Messiah’s birth at Bethlehem: “And thou,
Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda: out
of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be the ruler in Israel:
and His going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity.
. . . Now shall He be magnified even to the ends of the earth.”84
We can see the fulfillment of this oracle in our own time in the prog­
ress of the missions or of evangelization.
It was Isaias especially who in his great prophecy described the
birth of the Messiah, His divine attributes, His universal kingdom,
His sacrifice which was to bring salvation to all peoples, and His
triumph.
First, the nativity: “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a
sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and His name
shall be called Emmanuel.” 86 This isolated text is indeed remarka­
ble, but it is somewhat obscure. Who is this virgin? The answer is
made clearer further on, for the name “Emmanuel” is more explicitly
defined in the following chapter, in which Emmanuel means “Lord,”
“Messiah,” “God is with us.” 88 St. Matthew, and after him Catholic
tradition, interpret the “virgin” of Isaias’ text to mean the Virgin·*
·* Joel 1:3» j cf. ibid., 1:28-31.
,a Mich., chap. 4) cf. also Isa. 2:2 ff.j Zach. 8:20 ff.
·* Mich. 3:1-3.
,6 Isa. 7:14.

22 Osee 3 :j j 11:1.
” Ibid., 8 :8, 10.

64

OUR SAVIOR

Mary, and “Emmanuel” to mean the Word incarnate, the Son of
God made man, truly God with us.87 In St. Matthew i :2O f., we see
how the revelation made to Joseph before the birth of Jesus is the con­
summation of the one made earlier to Isaias: “Behold the angel of
the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David,
fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived
in her, is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son: and thou
shalt call His name Jesus. For He shall save His people from their
sins.” Now all this was to happen, St. Matthew tells us, “that it
might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Be­
hold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall
call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
The functions of the Messiah are described in chapter 9 and those
following: “For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the
government is upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to
come, the Prince of Peace.” 88 The coming of no greater person could
be prophesied. The words “God the Mighty” clearly mean that in
this child who was to come into the world would rest the fullness of
divine power. Very few grasped the meaning of these words when
they were written. They have the sublimity of the prologue to St.
John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. . . . And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us.”
In chapter 11 we read: “And there shall come forth a rod out of
the root of Jesse [David’s father], and a flower shall rise out of his
root. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him: the spirit of
wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude,
the spirit of knowledge and of godliness.89 And He shall be filled
with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. . . . He shall judge the poor
with justice, and shall reprove with equity for the meek of the earth.”
These are the gifts of the Holy Ghost that the Messiah was to re•T Cf. Lagrange, “La Vierge et Emmanuel,” in Revue biblique (1892), p. 48 ij and
Knabenbauer, Comm, in Isaiam, I, 172.
38 Isa. 9:6 ff.
80 According to the Hebrew this verse should read, “fear of the Lord”) but the Septuagint
and the Vulgate use the word “godliness,” which has almost the same meaning.

THE PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENT

65

ceive in an eminent degree and the just were to receive also by par­
ticipation.
The Messiah’s universal kingdom is proclaimed in 16:5 ; 18:7; and
in chapters 24 to 27. His character as cornerstone is spoken of in
28:16: “Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lay a
stone in the foundations of Sion, a tried stone, a cornerstone, a precious
stone, founded in the foundation. He that believeth, let him not
hasten.” After Pentecost St. Peter tells the members of the Sanhedrin:
“This [Jesus, in whose name the lame man had been cured] is the
stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the
head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there
is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be
saved.” 40 Isaias had said that this cornerstone would be “a stone of
stumbling. . . . And very many . . . shall stumble and fall, and
shall be broken in pieces [against it].” 41 St. Paul also mentions it in
the Epistle to the Romans, and he adds: “whosoever believeth in
Him shall not be confounded.” 42 Similar references are to be found
in Ephesians 2:20 and in I Peter 2:4.
Isaias announced that God Himself would come: “God Himself
will come and will save you. Then shall the eyes of the blind be
opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the
lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free.
. . . And a path and a way shall be there, and it shall be called the
holy way: the unclean shall not pass over it, and this shall be unto
you a straight way, so that fools shall not err therein. . . . They
shall walk there that shall be delivered. And the redeemed of the
Lord shall return, and shall come into Sion with praise, and ever­
lasting joy shall be upon their heads.” 43 Usually the prophets as­
sociated the Messianic deliverance with the supreme apparition of
God upon earth.44
The virtues and works of the servant of God are clearly foretold:
“Behold My servant, I will uphold Him: My elect, My soul delighteth in Him: I have given My spirit upon Him, He shall bring
forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor have respect
MAct
4:n.
*
42 ha. 35:4 ff.

41Tsa8:i4f.
42Rom.9:jaf.
44 Cf. ibid., 7:14» 40:3 j Mai. 3:1.

OUR SAVIOR

66

to person, neither shall His voice be heard abroad. The bruised reed
He shall not break, and smoking flax He shall not quench: He shall
bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not be sad nor trouble­
some, till He set judgment in the earth. . . . Thus saith the Lord
God that created the heavens and stretched them out. ... I the
Lord have called Thee in justice. . . . And I have given Thee for
a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles: that Thou mightest open the eyes of the blind, and bring forth the prisoner out of
prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. I the
Lord [the One who is], this is My name: I will not give My glory
to another, nor My praise to graven things.” 48
According to some rationalists, “servant of God” signifies the peo­
ple of Israel as a whole. However, most present-day critics and all
Catholic exegetes point out that in this prophecy the “servant of God”
is clearly differentiated from the people of Israel. The words “The
bruised reed He shall not break, and smoking flax He shall not
quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth,” refer to a real
person, distinct from the mass of the people. In fact, as St. Matthew
tells us,4® Jesus commanded His apostles not to speak of His miracles
so as not to arouse in the populace a craving for marvels, thereby ap­
plying the prophecy to Himself.
Isaias placed great stress on the Savior’s sacrifice. He described it,
even specifying certain details that were accomplished to the letter
in the passion of Jesus: “I have given My body to the strikers, and
My cheeks to them that plucked them: I have not turned away My
face from them that rebuked Me. The Lord God is My helper, there­
fore am I not confounded: therefore have I set My face as a most
hard rock, and I know that I shall not be confounded.” 47
“Behold My servant shall understand, He shall be exalted, and
extolled, and shall be exceeding high. As many have been astonished
at thee, so shall His visage be inglorious among men, and His form
among the sons of men. . . . And there was no sightliness, that we
should be desirous of Him. Despised, and the most abject of men, a
man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and His look was as
it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed Him not.
“ha. 41:1-9.

“Matt, iany.

47 ha. 50:6 f.

THE PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENT

67

Surely He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows.4* . . .
But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins:
the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we
are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned
aside into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of
us all.” 49 Here we have the mystery of the Redemption in its en­
tirety, both in its essential aspects and in some of its details.
“He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb
as a lamb before His shearer, and He shall not open His mouth. He
was taken away [put to death] from distress, and from judgment:
who shall declare His generation? because He is cut off out of the
land of the living: for the wickedness of My people have I struck
Him.” 80
Not even the apostles, with the exception of John, realized at the
moment of the passion and death of our Savior that it was for our
salvation that He was thus offering Himself and dying on the cross.
This prophecy is so extraordinary that it has been called “the Pas­
sion according to Isaias.” For it is the redemptive Passion in the most
profound sense, in its supreme motive of mercy and justice. It is the
Passion glimpsed in advance in its most inward aspects, as it was in
a measure understood by Mary at the foot of the cross, by St. John,
the holy women, the good thief, and the centurion. It is the Passion,
infinite wellspring of grace, whose true nature was to remain hidden
to the great majority of those who saw Jesus die on the cross.
Finally, after describing the humiliations and sufferings of the
Messiah, the prophet told of His triumph and the conversion of
many: “And the Lord was pleased to bruise Him in infirmity: if He
shall lay down His life for sin, He shall see a long-lived seed, and
the will of the Lord shall be prosperous in His hand [that is to say,
the conversion of all peoples and the coming of the kingdom of God
throughout the world]. . . . Because He hath delivered His soul
unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and He hath borne
the sins of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors.” 81 After the
Resurrection and the Ascension St. Paul writes to the Hebrews: “He
4* Likewise the friends of Job looked upon him as a sinner.
“ Isa. ja:i3 ff.
,0 Ibid., 5 j .7 if.
41 Ibid., 33 :io ff.

68

OUR SAVIOR

[Christ] continueth forever. . . . Whereby . . . always living, to
make intercession for us.” 82
Isaias’ prophecy comes to a close with a description of the glory of
the New Jerusalem that attracts all nations by its light, its holiness,
and its splendor: “All you that thirst, come to the waters. . . . And
the nations that knew not thee shall run to thee, because of the Lord
thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for He hath glorified thee.
Seek ye the Lord, while He may be found: call upon Him, while He
is near. Let the wicked forsake his way ... for He is bountiful to
forgive. For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My
ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth,
so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above
your thoughts.” 83
“Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy light is come, and the
glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold darkness shall cover
the earth, and a mist the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee,
and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall walk
in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising.” 84
Isaias even gives us a glimpse of the celestial Jerusalem: “Thou
shalt no more have the sun for thy light by day; . . . but the Lord
shall be unto thee for an everlasting light, and thy God for thy glory.
Thy sun shall go down no more, and thy moon shall not decrease:
for the Lord shall be unto thee for an everlasting light, and the days
of thy mourning shall be ended.” These texts anticipate what our
Lord was so often to speak of as “eternal life.” 88
As Father Condamin, S.J., says in L,e livre d'Isaïe: “In this mag­
nificent poem Jerusalem is represented as the center of the universal
kingdom, extending over all nations, a religious kingdom where
everything converges toward the cult of Jehovah composed of the
just and the saints, an eternal kingdom (55:3; 60:15, 19, 20; 61:8).
The theologians are correct in seeing the realization of these promises
in the Church founded by Jesus Christ, since the Servant of Jehovah
is Jesus Christ and since the numerous posterity of the Servant, the
multitudes of men given to Him at the price of His sufferings and
M Heb. 7:»4 f.
“ Ibid., 60:19 f.

” Isa. 55:i, 5-9.

** Ibid., 6o:i-j.

THE PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENT

69

death, are to people the New Jerusalem (53:10-12; 54:1-3).” 60
Isaias is unquestionably the greatest of the prophets because of the
importance of his revelations and the majesty of his style. He lived
during one of the most troubled periods in the history of Israel, which
at that time suffered much at the hands of the Assyrians.07 As Ec­
clesiasticus (48:25-28) tells us: “Isaias . . . comforted the mourn­
ers in Sion. He showed what would come to pass forever, and secret
things before they came.” Isaias’ style is both simple and sublime,
perfectly natural, majestic and powerful. His judgments are concise,
penetrating, and stress the salient points, dissipating illusions and
emphatically drawing attention to the kingdom of God, giving a
presage of the Messiah’s greatness and of the majesty of divine glory.
Isaias also had true poetic genius. His vigor and imagination were
equal to the great ideas he was called on to express. His poetic genius
is particularly evident in the contrasts, the antitheses of his predic­
tions. In his work, the prophecies themselves are always in poetry,
some of it in verse; and very beautiful verse it is. His writing is the
product of the noblest inspiration, in the truly supernatural sense of
the word.
After Isaias, there was Jeremias who foretold the coming of the
true pastor whom God would raise from the dead:08 “Behold the
days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to David a just branch:
and a king shall reign, and shall be wise: and shall execute judgment
and justice in the earth.” 00 Ezechiel also said in the name of the
Lord: “And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed
them; . . . there shall be showers of blessing. . . . And they shall
know that I the Lord their God am with them.” 00 After the vision
of the restoration of life to the dried bones, Ezechiel said: “And My
68 P. 361.
87 Isaias now appears to us clothed in glory, but during his life he was a simple man
even though he came from a noble family (7:3), married only one woman (3:3), and
became the father of two children (7:3; 8:3, 18). He was the friend and counselor of a
much-harassed king, Ezechias; and after the invasion of Sennacherib (chap. 37 ff.), the
prophet whose name was to be known to all succeeding generations retired into obscurity.
According to a very ancient tradition he suffered martyrdom, being cut asunder with a
wooden saw. St. Paul (Heb. 11:37) speaks of the prophets who were thus put to death.
Λ similar Jewish tradition holds that Jeremias was stoned to death.
Jcr. 23 :j-8,
” Cf. Jer. 33 :i4.
80 Ezech. 34:23-31.

OUR SAVIOR

70

servant David shall be king over them, and they shall have one
shepherd.” 81
Later Jesus would say: “I am the good shepherd. The good shep­
herd giveth His life for His sheep. ... I am the good shepherd;
and I know Mine and Mine know Me. As the Father knoweth Me,
and I know the Father: and I lay down My life for My sheep. And
other sheep I have that are not of this fold: them also I must bring,
and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one
shepherd.” 82 The universal kingdom of God announced by the
prophets is realized in the Church militant, suffering, and triumphant.
Daniel saw the little stone flung down from on high that was to
overthrow the colossus with clay feet, the symbol of idolatry. He
saw, too, that “the stone that struck the statue became a great moun­
tain, and filled the whole earth.” Then he explained the symbol
by saying: “The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never
be destroyed, and His kingdom shall not be delivered up to another
people, and it shall break in pieces and shall consume all these king­
doms, and itself shall stand forever.” 63 This was the announcement
of the indefectibility of the Church.
Daniel also foresaw the power that would be given to the Son of
man: “And He gave Him power and glory and a kingdom: and al!
peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve Him: His power is an ever­
lasting power that shall not be taken away: and His kingdom that
shall not be destroyed. . . . The saints of the most high God shall
take the kingdom: and they shall possess the kingdom forever and
ever.” 84
Finally, Daniel announced in a very mysterious manner in the
prophecy of the seventy weeks the time of the coming of the Mes­
siah (9:24) : “Seventy weeks are shortened upon thy people, and upon
thy holy city, that transgression may be finished, and sin may have an
end, and iniquity may be abolished: and everlasting justice may be
brought; and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled; and the saint of
saints may be anointed.” The tradition of the Church has understood
this verse to refer to the work accomplished in the world by the com·’ Ibid., 37:14.
·* Ibid., 7:14-1!.

" John 10:11-16.

·’D»n. i :j4-44.

THE PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENT

71

ing of Jesus Christ. The seventy weeks are seventy periods of seven
years, like those in Leviticus,68 until the advent of Him who was to
wash away the sins of the world.
Among the last prophets, Aggeus promised his contemporaries that
the Messiah would enter the new temple they were then building.®6
Zacharias saluted the Messiah on Sion (2:8-13), the “Orient,” who
will raise up the true temple of the Lord, the king on his humble
mount, on an ass, the Savior, the source of grace to Jerusalem.67
Malachias, the last of the prophets, announced the forerunner who
was to follow him four centuries later; 68 he spoke of the sacrifice that
would replace all others: “From the rising of the sun even to the go­
ing down, My name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place
there is sacrifice, and there is offered to My name a clean oblation:
for My name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.” 69
Catholic tradition applies this verse to the sacrifice of the New Law,
that is, the Eucharistic Sacrifice which perpetuated in substance the
sacrifice of the Cross until the end of the world among all evangelized
peoples.
Such was the progressive development of the divine revelations on
the Messiah. From the very beginning of the period of the prophets
this development was characterized by wonderful unity. All these
prophecies announce the establishment of the monotheistic religion,
the universal reign of the true God, the God of Abraham, of Isaac,
and of Jacob, who was to become the God of all the nations of the
earth. The prophecies all announce the Messiah, the head of the king­
dom of God, Savior of the world, who was to be of the family of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of the tribe of Juda, the son of David
according to the flesh and yet the Son of God and the priest par ex­
cellence whose painful sacrifice would wash away the sins of the world
and would be an infinite source of grace to all souls of good will.
85 Lev. 23:8.
88 Agg. 2:1-10.
87 Zach. 2:8—135 3:85 6:9-135 9:95 13:15 14.
80 Ibid., i :i 1—14.

88 Mai. 3:1.

OUR SAVIOR

7»

The Power of the Prophecies

Once we understand the true meaning of the divine testimony con­
tained in the Old Testament, telling of the coming of the Savior, we
can grasp some of the power of these predictions.
God alone by His foreknowledge could know long before the event
(at least 400 years) and even in detail many free acts of the future
involving the free will of a number of persons, the free will of the
Messiah and that of His disciples and persecutors.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem70 of the family of Juda and of Da­
vid,71 to preach the gospel to the poor and the meek; 72 He opened the
eyes of the blind, restored the infirm to health, and led to the light
those that languished in darkness.73 He showed the perfect way and
was a teacher to the Gentiles.74*He was a victim for the sins of the
world.7® He was both the stone of stumbling and the cornerstone.7®
He was also like the little stone which Daniel spoke of 77 that was to
grow into a mountain and fill the earth.
He was rejected, misunderstood,78 betrayed, sold,78 struck in the
face, mocked, covered with spittle,80 given gall for drink.81 He was
pierced, His hands and His feet were nailed; 82 He died as a result
of this brutal treatment,83 and upon His vesture men cast lots.
He rose from the dead 84 the third day.8® He ascended into heaven
to take His place at the right hand of the Almighty.80 Kings took up
arms against Him.87 But afterward the kings of many peoples
throughout the earth adored Him.88 And the calling of the Gentiles,
through Jesus Christ, foretold by the prophets, was accomplished.
Considering all these prophecies from our vantage point, after they
have been abundantly fulfilled, we are aware of something truly
remarkable about them.
70 Mich. 5 :2.
T8 Ibid., 61:1.
70 Ibid., 8:145 Ps. 117:22.
70 Zach. 11 :i 2.
82 Zach. 12:105 Ps. 21:17.
80 Ibid., 109 :i.
88 Isa. 60:14.

71 Gen. 49:10; Isa. 7:13 f. 72 Isa. 29 :i 8 f.
78 Ibid., 53:5.
74 Ibid., 55:4; 42:1-7.
78 Ps. 108:8 ; Isa. 53:2 f.
77 Dan. 2:35.
81 Ps. 68‘.11,
80 Isa. 50:6.
84 Ps. 15:10.
83 Dan. 9:26.
87 Ibid., 2 :a.
80 Ibid.

THE PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENT

73

Only God could forsee all these free acts by men, many of whom
were in opposition to one another. Above all, only God could fore­
see the unquestionably extraordinary facts which depend on His
liberty alone and are beyond the natural expectations of men, such
as the birth of the Messiah at Bethlehem rather than elsewhere, or
His triumph after the annihilation of His passion, or again the evan­
gelization of the entire world, as known to the ancients, by a few poor
Galilean fishermen.
Such numerous, confident, and extraordinary predictions cannot be
natural phenomena. They surpassed human sagacity, and the natural
aspirations of the Jews as well. For the Jews were much inclined to
view even religious matters in a materialistic light, and they were lit­
tle disposed to allow other peoples to participate in their religious
privileges.
Nor can these predictions be fortuitous in nature. For blind chance,
being accidental, cannot be the first cause of order in the world or of
the great events which give history its noblest meaning. If it were,
then order would spring from the absence of order, the harmony and
beauty of great human lives would derive from an unintelligent
cause, and what is more perfect would come from what is less per­
fect, without any reason whatever.
Lastly, the extraordinary holiness of Jesus which everyone—even
Renan and the other rationalists—recognize, can come only from an
intelligent and holy cause, and this cause must be God Himself by
whom Jesus was sent forth.
Thus Pascal was able to write: “The greatest proofs of Jesus Christ
are the prophecies. And God Himself furnished them most liberally.
. . . For sixteen hundred years (that is, since Abraham) He raised
up prophets; and for the next four hundred years He spread these
prophecies, together with the entire Jewish people which held them
in custody, throughout the world:89 it was necessary not only that
there be prophecies to make people believe, but that these prophecies
be diffused over the face of the earth so that everyone would accept
the Gospel.” 90
"" During this period the Jews spread into Alexandria and Asia Minor, and from the
latter into Grecee and the Roman Empire.
>0 Ptntfa, sect. 1i, “Les Prophéties.”

OUR SAVIOR

74

Pascal, to show more clearly the power of these predictions, em­
phasizes the multiplicity of prophets who came at different epochs,
in various conditions, and yet who were all in agreement with regard
to what they were announcing.
“Had even one man written a book of prophecies about Jesus
Christ, as to the time and the manner [in which He was to be born,
live, and die], and had Jesus Christ come in fulfillment of these
prophecies, this would have been evidence of infinite power. But we
have much more here: we have a succession of men over four thou­
sand years [that is, since the beginning of the world] who came one
after the other and constantly and without variation foretold the same
advent. It was an entire people that announced it and that subsisted
for four thousand years in order to bear witness as a body to the
assurances they had of it, from which neither threats nor persecutions
could deter them: this fact has a far greater significance.”
The time foretold by Daniel in particular 91 could not have been
humanly foreseen because of the complexity of the events involved.
Pascal says: “It takes courage to predict one thing in so many ways:
the four idolatrous or pagan monarchies (spoken of by Daniel), the
end of the kingdom of Juda and the seventy weeks (or seven years)
had to be simultaneous and to come before the destruction of the
second temple [of Jerusalem].” In fact, Daniel had said: “And after
sixty-two weeks [to follow immediately upon the other seven] Christ
shall be slain. . . . And a people with their leader that shall come,
shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.” 92 As it actually happened,
a few years after the death of our Lord, in the year 70, the Roman
army led by Titus captured and destroyed Jerusalem.
It was also predicted that during this period, before the destruc­
tion of Jerusalem, many pagans would be taught and brought to a
knowledge of the true God adored by the Jews, and that many would
be converted. Pascal adds: “During the fourth monarchy, before the
destruction of the second temple, large numbers of pagans adored
God and led an angelic life: young girls consecrated their virginity
and their lives to God; men gave up their pleasures. What Plato was
unable to persuade a few chosen and learned men to do, a secret power
Dan. >:>7i 9:aoi 11 :a ff.

*’ Ibid., 9:16.

THE PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENT

75

could succeed in urging upon a hundred million ignorant men by vir­
tue of a few words.”
In fact, between the time of Jesus’ death and the year 70, the date
of the destruction of Jerusalem, many notable events occurred includ­
ing Pentecost, the conversion of St. Paul, his three apostolic voyages,
the first council of Jerusalem, the foundation of the different Churches
to which St. Paul addressed his letters, his own martyrdom and that
of St. Peter.
Indeed, what was the cause of all this? Pascal continues: “The
rich give up their possessions, children leave the comforts of their
parents’ homes for the austerity of the desert. What does all this
mean? It is what was foretold long before. For two thousand years
(that is, since Abraham) no pagan had adored the God of the Jews;
and at the time predicted throngs of pagans turned to adore this one
and only God. Temples were destroyed, kings bowed before the
Cross. What does all this mean? It is the Spirit of God which has
been poured out over the earth.”
The prophet Joel, speaking in the name of the Lord, had an­
nounced: “I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons
and your daughters shall prophesy. . . . Moreover upon My serv­
ants and handmaids in those days I will pour forth My Spirit.” 93
And this is what really happened. As Pascal also tells us: “All the
peoples of the world lived in infidelity and in concupiscence; the
whole earth was aflame with charity. Princes left their honors; girls
suffered martyrdom. Whence comes this power? It is that the Mes­
siah has come. These are the effect and the signs of His coming.”
Despite persecutions and passions in revolt, this all came to pass:
“All the great of the earth unite [against Christ and the apostles],
the scholars, the wise men, the kings. The former write, the latter
condemn, still others kill [during three centuries]. And, notwith­
standing all this opposition these simple and helpless people resist
all these powers and conquer even these kings, these scholars, and
these wise men, and wipe idolatry from the earth. And all this is
accomplished by virtue of the force that had foretold it.” 94
Through the lips of Ezechiel the Lord had announced the king·· Joel a:iS.

04 Pascal, loc. cit.

OUR SAVIOR

76

dom of the Messiah : “I the Lord have brought down the high tree
[idolatry], and exalted the low tree. ... I the Lord have spoken
and have done it.” 98
Pascal did not fail to note an objection that comes naturally to
mind with respect to these prophecies: “If all this was so clearly fore­
told to the Jews, why did they not believe it? And why were they not
exterminated for resisting something so evident?”
“I answer,” he says : “First of all, it was predicted that they would
not believe something so clear and that they would not be extermi­
nated. Secondly, nothing brings greater glory to the Messiah ; for it
was not enough that prophets should exist; it was necessary that their
prophecies be preserved without suspicion.” That is how everything
came to pass. “The Jews, by killing Jesus in order not to accept
Him as the Messiah, gave Him the crowning mark of the Messiah.
And by continuing to misjudge Him they became the irreproachable
witnesses [speaking against themselves though not wishing to be
conscious of it] ; and by killing Him and continuing to deny Him,
they accomplished the prophecies.” 98
In fact, both David and Isaias had announced the Servant of God
would be “despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows,
and acquainted with infirmity. . . . And we have thought Him as
it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted.” 97
Yet the prophets announced not only His sufferings and His death
of expiation, but also His elevation and the establishment by Him
of a spiritual kingdom of God over all peoples. This has been accom­
plished by the evangelization of the whole world.
Thus, from all eternity God foresaw the sin of the Jews, but He
did not will it in any way. He merely permitted it for the sake of a
greater good, for the sake of the heroic patience of the Savior. This
divine foresight suppressed neither the free will of Jesus nor that of
His persecutors.
Two conclusions come forth from all this. The expectation for the
Messiah was distorted, given a materialistic turn by the national
prejudices of the Jews. But let us not give a materialistic interpreta·· F.zech. 17:14.

” Pascal, Zoc. cit.

·τ Isa.

jj:j

f.

THE PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENT

77

tion to the Gospel, let us not lower it to our level; but by our fidelity
let us rise toward its level, let us allow divine grace to raise us to­
ward the Gospel, and let us truly put it into practice.
The penetrating force of the prophecies must produce its effects
not only upon our minds, but also upon our hearts and souls. We
must show by our own lives that Christ has really come into the world,
that He is the Savior, that His regenerative action is ever at work
in the world and must continue until the end of time, just as in the
early days of Christianity.

«VII»
■Λ

HE DIVINE PERSONALITY OF JESUS

F WE would glimpse at the intimate life of our Lord as it has been
from all eternity, we must pause and contemplate the mystery
of His divine personality.
We have seen with what reserve He at first manifested Himself
so as not to arouse a wholly external enthusiasm in a crowd craving
for marvels and for earthly prosperity. Now we can understand a
little better why in the beginning He showed Himself under the
veil of the parables as the Sower of divine truth, as the Good Shep­
herd who gives His life for His sheep, as the only son of the master
of the vineyard who was sent after the servants had been ill-treated
and killed by the husbandmen. In the last-mentioned parable He
announcd that He would be put to death.
In the course of His ministry He gradually showed Himself to
be equal to the divine Lawgiver of Sinai, since He came to perfect
the divine law. When He cured the paralytic He claimed the power
to remit sins, to remake or regenerate men’s souls: “Come to Me, all
you that labor, and are burdened, and I will refresh you.” 1
Finally, as His passion approached, He declared more openly the
fact of His divine sonship. He affirmed it before the Pharisees with
an authority that can belong only to God. He who was meek and
humble of heart did not fear to tell them: “Amen, amen I say to you,
before Abraham was made, I am.” He declared: “I and the Father
are one.” “I am the way and the truth and the life.” 2 He did not
merely say, as had the prophets, “I have received the truth that 1
might transmit it to you.” He said: “I am the truth and the life,”
words that God alone can rightfully use.

I

* M*tt. ti:xS.

* John 8:58) 10:301 14:6.
78

THE PERSONALITY OF JESUS

79

Such was Jesus’ teaching with respect to His divinity and it was
so understood by the apostles. St. Peter saw in Him “the Author of
life.” 3 St. Paul spoke of Him as “the Son of His [God’s] love, . . .
who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every crea­
ture,” in whom “were all things created in heaven and on earth, visi­
ble and invisible”; 4 the Son who being equal with God the Father
“humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death
of the cross.” 8 St. John the Baptist looked upon Him as “the Lamb
of God . . . who taketh away the sin of the world.” 8 And St. John
the Evangelist called Him the Word made flesh: “In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”
(John 1:1).
Thus the Church merely repeats the testimony that Jesus gave of
Himself when she professes in the Creed that He is “the only-begot­
ten Son of God, light of light, true God of true God, . . . being of
one substance with the Father,” and that by Him “all things were
made” (Nicene Creed).
Such in brief is our Lord’s testimony about His divine sonship.
With the help of theology, let us meditate on the meaning and scope
of this testimony. Let us also ask God to give us the grace of con­
templating this mystery. For in this contemplation our souls must
find their daily nourishment and they must live by it more and more
with each passing day.
In order to penetrate even a little into the mystery of the divine
personality of Jesus, we must understand the fittingness of the In­
carnation with respect to both God and man. This will give us much
light.
Jesus has claimed for Himself the properties of divine nature and
those of human nature as well. He has shown Himself to us as truly
a man, who was born in time at Bethlehem and died on the cross. At
the same time He had told us: “I am the way and the truth and the
life.” I am the truth and the life in their fullness.
How can one and the same person have two natures that are infi­
nitely apart, divine nature and human nature? We have perhaps
ceased to look upon this with astonishment, the holy astonishment
*AcUj:ij.

4 Col. 1 :i j—16.

4 Phil. i:6-S.

’John 1:29.

8o

OUR SAVIOR

of contemplation. There is, of course, another form of astonishment
that leads to negation.
Incredulity objects: A God made flesh would be no longer God
or man, but a fabulous being, a myth, half-God, half-man. He would
have a hybrid nature, neither divine nor human (this was Eutyches’
error).
The incredulous ask: How could the infinite God who governs
the world be in person in the body of a helpless little child? An infi­
nite God in the womb of a virgin! Thus does human wisdom speak,
seeing only darkness in supernatural truths that are far too lofty
and too mighty for it.
Indeed, the union of humanity and divinity in the person of Jesus
remains an incomprehensible mystery for the believer, and it will be
definitely explained only in heaven. Yet the light of faith shows us
even here below that on the one hand God tends to communicate
Himself as much as possible to man and that, on the other hand, man
tends to be united as much as possible to God. When we place these
two truths side by side, we begin to glimpse from afar the union of
humanity and divinity in the person of the Savior. We shall strive to
develop these two points in what follows.
God Has Given Himself in Person to Humanity

God, on the one hand, tends to communicate Himself as much
as possible to man. Why? Because God is the Sovereign Good, and
goodness is essentially communicative. The good naturally tends to
pour itself out, to share the riches within it.7 And the more perfect a
good is, the more it tends to communicate itself fully and intimately.8
The sun sheds about it light and heat. Plants and animals having
reached adulthood give life to other plants and animals. At a higher
level, the artist and the scholar, who have conceived ideas, strive to
make them known. The apostle who loves goodness passionately,
desires to communicate it to others. Goodness is fundamentally
communicative; the higher its level the more abundantly and in’ Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q. t, a. I.
• Cf. St. Thomas, Contra Gentet, Bk. IV, chap. 11, no. t.

THE PERSONALITY OF JESUS

81

timately it gives itself. Whereas the friendship of a superficial soul
remains totally external and a matter of the affections, the friendship
of a noble soul is the generous gift of its innermost self.
Thus, since God is the Sovereign Good, it is highly fitting that He
communicate Himself in the highest degree possible to His creatures,
both intimately and fully. But this divine communication, fitting as
it is, remains free—something that the Neo-Platonists did not under­
stand. It is in no way necessary to the infinite beatitude of God. For
He finds His beatitude in the possession of His own sovereign good­
ness, which is infinitely superior to all created goods and cannot be
increased by them.
*
God created all things freely. At the dawn of
creation it was through His goodness that He gave His creatures be­
ing, life, intelligence. Through a wholly gratuitous love He raised
men and angels to the supernatural life of grace, to a participation in
His own intimate life. Is this the limit of what God can do?
Why could He not give Himself in person? Is it not the peculiar
quality of friendship to inspire us to give our innermost selves? Why
could not the Word of God give Himself in person to a privileged
soul, in such a manner that the Word, this soul and its body would
form only one person, a single self, that of the Word made flesh, in
whom would dwell divine perfections and human properties, a per­
son who could truthfully say: “I who speak to you am the way, the
truth, and the life.”
Thus in a marvelous manner would be realized the principle that
God, the Sovereign Good, tends to communicate Himself to man in
the highest degree possible. Goodness is essentially communicative,
and the nobler it is the more abundantly and intimately it gives it­
self. This is the most elevated aspect of the mystery of which we are
speaking.
The Full Development of the Human Personality and
Union with God
The unbeliever objects: But then, since Jesus would possess no
human personality, He would not be truly a man. This was the ob’ Cf. St. Thomas, la, q. 19, a. j.

82

OUR SAVIOR

jection once raised by Nestorius and his disciples. Some modern ra­
tionalists expand this view by saying that human personality consists
primarily in the consciousness a man has of himself and in the liberty
by reason of which he is his own master.10 Thus, if Jesus did not have
a human personality,—and this is what the Church teaches—then
He had no human consciousness of Himself nor any human liberty,
but only a divine consciousness and a divine liberty. Hence, they
claim, He was not truly a man, and having no human liberty He
was powerless either to merit or to obey. If on the other hand, these
rationalists add, it is held that He had both a human consciousness and
human liberty coexistent with a divine consciousness and a divine
liberty, then it must be said that there were in Him two personalities,
two persons, doubtless very intimately united by knowledge and love,
but none the less two persons and not a single person. Therefore, the
rationalists conclude, Jesus is only the greatest of the saints who was
intimately united to God in a truly extraordinary degree; but He can­
not be called God. In short, if personality is formally constituted by
consciousness or liberty, in order for Jesus to be only one person, He
could have only one consciousness and one liberty. Thus He could not
be at one and the same time truly God and truly a man.
This objection is based on a superficial and false conception of
personality, and it leaves out of consideration the very intimate
relationship between the full development of a human personality
and union with God. We have to lay very much stress on this matter,
for it is the second aspect of the mystery of Christ’s divine personality.
To understand how Jesus, without having a human personality,
a human ego, can be truly a man, and how His humanity is glorified
and not lessened by the divine personality of the Word, we must con­
sider for a moment the nature of personality in general. This would
be an easy enough task had not so many errors piled up regarding this
matter. We must therefore clear them away so as to preserve the true
meaning of the words “I” and “me” which everybody uses.
With St. Thomas we must ask ourselves what is personality, and
rise progressively from the lowest degrees of human personality up
10 Gilnther and Rosmini erred in thu· viewing Christ’· penonality. Cf. Denzinger,
Enchiridion, no. 1917.

THE PERSONALITY OF JESUS

83

to the most perfect. We shall then be able to glimpse through the
twilight of faith at the personality of the Savior, far above that of a
St. Paul, a St. Peter, or a St. John.
Personality is a positive thing. It is that which makes every being
endowed with reason an independent subject who can say “I,” “me”;
and which makes him a being who belongs to himself, his own master
sui juris; and by reason of which are attributed to him a reasonable
nature, being, and ability to carry on the operations in which his activity
consists. In this sense it is ordinarily said that Peter and Paul are per­
sons, two distinct persons. Each of them is an independent subject
and a totality to which we attribute human nature, existence, activity.
Each of them says “I,” “me.” This fact differentiates the person as
a primary subject of attribution from all that is fitting to him, and
the person cannot be attributed to another subject. We say: “Peter
is a man, Peter exists, Peter speaks well.” But we cannot attribute
Peter to another subject. He himself is the primary subject of at­
tribution existing and functioning as a separate entity.11
It follows that our personality, or that by which every being en­
dowed with reason is an independent subject, an entity to which its
nature, its existence, and its operations are attributed, cannot be
formally constituted by anything which is attributed to it as a part.
Our basic personality can therefore not be formally constituted either
by our body, or even by our soul, that is, by either of the two parts of
the nature which is attributed to us, nor by any one of our faculties or
of our acts.
It is therefore clear that our basic personality, from the ontological
point of view, cannot be formally constituted by our consciousness.
Consciousness of the ego, the “me,” is not the ego, the “me.” The
former presupposes and knows the latter, but does not constitute it.
Nor does our liberty formally constitute our personality. It is merely
a psychological and moral manifestation of our basic personality, the
latter belonging to the ontological order, or the order of being. For
the act presupposes being: in order to act, one must first be.
Thus our personality is more fundamental than consciousness and
11 Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q.a, a.aj q.4, a.a (Cajetan’s commentary, nos. 6-8) j q.i7>
uf.

84

OUR SAVIOR

liberty. Personality is what makes each one of us an independent
subject to which is attributed all that is fitting to him. And if we can
attribute to Jesus as to a single independent subject two intelligences
(one divine and the other human) and two liberties, it will follow that
there are not in Him two persons, but only one.12
All this contains a great mystery which we cannot understand. But
it is not unintelligible or absurd. On the contrary, we can progres­
sively rise to it, starting from the lowest degrees of the human per­
sonality. It is easy enough to see that from the psychological and
moral point of view a human personality grows in the measure that
it tends to become more intimately united to God, obliterating itself
before Him. This union in self-effacement, far from being servitude,
is a glorification.13 If we study this fact carefully, we shall get a
glimpse of what is realized in Christ, not only from the psychological
and moral points of view, but from the point of view of being or of
the basic personality.
Whereas God, as we were saying earlier, tends to give Himself as
much as possible to man, the perfect man tends to become as closely
united as possible to God.
Some have thought that personality develops in the measure that
man becomes more and more independent in his existence and in his
action from all that is not himself, and in the measure that others de­
pend upon him. In this sense, the personalities of Napoleon and
Goethe have been glorified.
Such a concept leaves out of account the fact that our personality
12 When we say with St. Thomas that our personality is that by which every reasonable
being is an independent subject to which is attributed his nature, his existence, and his
operations, we are not conceding that what formally constitutes our personality is our
existence. Existence is a contingent attribute of every created person, and it is not what
makes a person a primary subject of attribution. No created person is his own existence,
he merely has existences in this respect he differs from God. The Thomists say: Persona
Petri, imo personalitas Petri, non est suum esse, sed realiter distinguitur ab eo. And St.
Thomas himself wrote (Illa, q. 17, a.2 adi) : “Being is consequent upon person, ... as
upon that which has being.” Cajetan has shown with much penetration (In lllam, q. 4,
a. 2, no. 8) that without this notion of personality we cannot explain the truth of the
following judgments: Peter is a man, Peter exists, but he is not existence. From this it also
follows that in Jesus there is only one person, a single subject, and one existence (Illa,
q. 17, a.2) and that He was truly able to say: “I am the truth and the life,” that is, being
it seif.
** Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q. 2, a. 1 ad a.

THE PERSONALITY OF JESUS

85

consists especially in independence with regard not to all things, but
to those which are inferior to us and which we dominate by our rea­
son and our liberty, such as the independence of the soul which can
subsist after the dissolution of the body.
When we glorify certain human personalities that have disregarded
the rights of God, we are forgetting that our special independence
with regard to inferior things is based on the very strict dependence
of our souls with regard to the superior things, that is, Truth and
Goodness, and in the last analysis with regard to God. If our reason
rules space and time, the things of the senses, it is because it was
created to know God, the supreme Truth. If our liberty conquers the
attraction of the things of the senses, it is because it was created to
prefer God to them, and to love Him, the universal and total Good
above all else.
From these facts derives a noble and neglected law, namely, that
the full development of the personality consists in becoming more
and more independent of inferior things, but also in becoming ever
more closely dependent upon Truth, Goodness, that is, upon God
Himself.
False personality, on the contrary, consists in a so-called inde­
pendence with regard to everything, including God Himself, to
whom obedience is refused. This false personality scorns the so-called
passive virtues of humility, patience, and gentleness. It is nothing but
insubordination and pride, and reaches its fullest development in
the devil whose motto is: Non serviam (“I will not obey”). As a mat­
ter of fact, it leads to the worst of all servitudes. True personality, on
the other hand, is realized in the saints, but particularly in our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Many false ideas arise about the development of personality be­
cause the mystery of the Incarnation is no longer contemplated and
because it is forgotten that the full development of the human per­
sonality consists in being effaced before that of God, by becoming as
united as possible to Him. We must consider this fact most carefully
that we may begin to understand how it is that the humanity of Jesus
is in no sense diminished because in Him human personality has made
way for the divine personality of the Word. This is the culminating

86

OUR SAVIOR

point of the lofty law: Human personality grows by effacing itself be­
fore that of God.
Indeed, wherein lies the superiority of the good man over the
libertine? It is that the good man conforms his will to God’s. Whereas
the libertine is crushed by adversity, the good man grows with it, ever
conforming his will more closely to God’s. Whence comes the supe­
riority of the man of genius over the ordinary worker? He is inspired
by God; he is closely dependent upon a superior inspiration.
Nobler than the man of genius, a higher and more powerful per­
sonality has manifested itself through the ages: that of the saints.
Personality is measured by the profound and lasting influence it can
exert. Now, the influence of a saint is not limited to his own country
or his own time. In a sense it extends to the whole Church in a sphere
superior to space and time.
For almost two thousand years millions of souls have been living by
the epistles of St. Paul, as if these pages had been written yesterday,
whereas almost nobody, except for a few scholars, reads the letters of
Seneca. For the past seven centuries thousands of religious have lived
by the thought of a St. Bernard, a St. Dominic, a St. Francis of As­
sisi, of a St. Catherine of Siena and a St. Claire. How is it that these
saints have exerted such a tremendous influence on souls? Whence
comes their prodigious personality that raises them above the limits
of their country and their time?
The secret is that in a sense they were one with God. They had
died to themselves in order to live for God. No one but the saints has
fully understood that human personality can truly grow only by
dying to itself so that God may reign and live ever increasingly
within it. That is why the saints, and only the saints,—as St. Cather­
ine of Siena tells us—declared war on their own egos, the ego com­
posed of self-love and pride. They have sought to live more and
more not for themselves but for God, and consequently to die to their
own judgment and to their own will, in order to live solely by the
thought and the will of God. They have willed that God should be
their alter ego, more intimate than their own ego. They have willed
to become the servants of God, just as the hand is the servant of the
will. They have willed to become genuinely adopted sons and friends

THE PERSONALITY OF JESUS

S7

of God, to the point of living continually for Him and of orienting
the basic tendencies of their thought and of their will always toward
Him. At certain moments of union they were able to say with St.
Paul: “I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me.” 14 The full devel­
opment of human personality consists in losing itself in that of God.1516
And yet even the greatest saint remains a being distinct from God,
a creature. He has indeed substituted divine ideas for his human ideas,
and the divine will for his own will, but he is none the less a being
distinct from God. Even our Blessed Lady during moments of most
intimate contemplation remains a creature.
At the summit of holiness we find our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him
God has given Himself in person to the greatest extent possible to
humanity, and humanity has been personally united to God to the
greatest extent possible, to the point of forming a single ego with the
Word of God. In Jesus Christ, God’s ideas have been substituted for
human ideas, and the divine will has fully subordinated the human
will. But that is not all. Something far more fundamental has taken
place. At the root of the intelligence and of the will, at the root of the
soul itself, in the order of being, the divine person of the Word has
assumed the humanity of Jesus. That is why He could say: “I who
speak to you, I am the way, the truth, and the life.” “The Father and
I are one.” 10
14 Gal. a :io.
15 This superior impersonality of the saints is the fruit of their interior life. We can see
it in St. John the Baptist, who wished ever more ardently to efface himself so that our
Lord might be increasingly acknowledged. Likewise St. Thomas Aquinas retired more and
more into the background of his books so that only the light and the truth might shine out
of them. By this self-effacement the saints make place for God, and at certain moments
it is clear that it is God who lives and speaks in them.
16 We can see here the profound difference between personality and individuality. In­
dividuality derives from matter, which is the principle of individuation. Thus two men
are two distinct individuals because in each of them human nature has been received in a
determinate portion of matter, at a given point in space and in time. Likewise two drops
of water, similar as they may be, are two because the nature of water is received in each
in a given portion of matter and in a given quantity. Individuality, deriving as it does
from matter, is thus a reality of a very low order.
Personality, on the contrary, is something very lofty. For it is that by which every reason­
able being is an independent subject, sui juris, the subject of existence and of his operations
(Illa, q. 2, a. 2 ad 2). This fact is true not only of man but also of the angels and of the
divine persons of the Blessed Trinity. Each of the three divine persons is a distinct “I” even

88

OUR SAVIOR

That is why Jesus has a unique manner of pronouncing the word
“I,” a word that the saints rarely use except to accuse themselves of
their faults. They know that all the good we do is accomplished
through the power of the Lord, whereas evil comes only from our­
selves. They know that our egos, composed of self-love, are, as Pascal
has said, hateful, whereas the ego of Jesus is adorable: It is the ego
of the Word made flesh.17 He alone has been able to say: “He who
loves his father and his mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.”
No one but God can speak thus.
How is it that Jesus infinitely surpasses all the saints whose model,
light, strength, and life He is? It is because in Him, in the strictest
meaning of the words, human personality, the human ego, has been
replaced from the first moment of His conception and for all eternity
by the divine personality of the Word.
In Jesus Christ there is no human personality, no human ego, and
yet He is truly a man. His humanity, far from being lessened by per­
sonal union with the Word, is glorified by this union. From its union
with the Word, Christ’s humanity receives, as we shall see, an innate,
substantial, uncreated holiness. Similarly, our imagination is nobler
than that of the animals because it is united to our intelligence. In us
imagination serves a superior faculty, and it is elevated by this sub­
though all three possess the same indivisible nature, fully communicated by the Father to
the Son and by Them to the Holy Ghost: Goodness is fundamentally diffusive of itself,
and the more intimately and fully diffusive it is, the higher the order to which it belongs.
(Cf. St. Thomas, Contra Gentes, Bk. IV, chap. 11.) It follows that in Jesus the personality,
which is that of die Word, is uncreated, whereas in Him, as in ourselves, individuality
derives from matter, the principle of individuation, by virtue of which His body is a specific
body rather than some other and occupies a given portion of space rather than any other.
Thus individuality and personality are quite distinct: to develop one’s individuality often
means to become ever more egoistical ; whereas the real development of personality is to
be found, as we have seen, in an ever more intimate union with God.
17 Here we get the full meaning and scope of the following words of St. Thomas
(Illa, q. 2, a. 2, ad 2) : “Personality pertains of necessity to the dignity of a thing, and
to its perfection so far as it pertains to the dignity and perfection of that thing to exist
by itself (which is understood by the word person). Now it is a greater dignity to exist
in something nobler than oneself than to exist by oneself. Hence the human nature of
Christ has a greater dignity than ours, from this very fact that in us, being existent by
itself, it has its own personality, but in Christ it exists in the Person of the Word. Thus
. . . the sensitive part of man, on account of its union with the nobler form which
perfects the species, is more noble than in brutes, where it is itself the form which perfects."

THE PERSONALITY OF JESUS

89

ordination, as is strikingly clear in artists of genius. It is the glory of
the inferior to “serve” and thus to contribute to the realization of an
end superior to itself. This has been understood by those who have
associated the words “servitude” and “greatness.” “To serve God is
to reign,” and no creature ever served Him so well as did the holy
humanity of our Savior.
Innumerable corollaries could be deduced from this doctrine. Let
us merely mention the more important ones.
The Hypostatic Union
The Most Intimate Union after That of the Trinity

We can see that this personal or hypostatic union (that is to say,
the union in a single person or in a single subject of divinity and
humanity) is not merely a moral union born of the conformity of
the human will with the will of God through grace and charity.
Indeed, this moral union with God, which exists especially among the
saints, can become most intimate. In the Old Testament, Abraham
was called the friend of God, but he remained infinitely removed
from God. The same holds for the apostles and for the greatest
saints.
Nor is this personal or hypostatic union a natural and essential
union, for it does not constitute a single nature or essence. The two
natures remain completely distinct, although intimately united. As
a matter of fact, divine nature is absolutely immutable and cannot
convert or change itself into a created nature; and if it could, then
Jesus would no longer be truly God. On the other hand, human
nature cannot be converted or changed into divine nature; and if it
could, Jesus would then not be truly a man. Nor can the two natures
enter into the composition of a third nature, for this would presup­
pose a modification or alteration of divine nature, which is absolutely
immutable, and which cannot be the incomplete part of a whole that
is more perfect than itself.
The personal or hypostatic union of divinity and humanity in Jesus
docs not in any sense involve the confounding of the two natures.
Likewise, in ourselves the union of body and soul docs not involve

90

OUR SAVIOR

any confusion of the two. Within limits we might make the following
comparison and say that, just as our body is dominated, vivified by
our soul, and will be reanimated by it on the day of resurrection, thus
in Jesus human nature is completely dominated by God, possessed
by the Word.18 Christ is not a fabulous being, demi-god and half­
man. He is true God and true man, without any pantheistic confusion
of the two natures united in His divine person.
Thus are supernaturally realized in this sublime mystery God’s
desire to give Himself as much as possible to man, and man’s yearn­
ing to be united as much as possible to God.
This is the strongest and most intimate union possible, after the
union of the Blessed Trinity. In the Blessed Trinity the three persons
are necessarily one and the same divine nature. In Jesus it is a fact
that the two natures belong to the same person. This personal or
hypostatic union, which constitutes the God-man, is incomparably
more intimate than that of our soul with our body. Whereas the
body and the soul are separated at death, the Word is never separated
either from the soul or from the body which He has assumed.18 The
union is immutable and indissoluble for all eternity.
We do not contemplate enough this ineffable mystery of merciful
Love. The sublimity of the mystery derives from the very fact that
two natures infinitely remote from each other, one supreme and the
other lowly, are so intimately united. Beauty results from unity
shining through variety. When the diverse elements are infinitely
removed from each other and yet intimately united, we have not
merely beauty but the truly sublime. Only divine love is strong
enough thus to associate supreme riches and human nature, with all
the sufferings which can overwhelm it.
When we make the way of the cross and contemplate Jesus on His
painful journey, bowed beneath the weight of our sins, let us re­
member that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and through Him
18 Yet there is a notable difference: whereas our body and our soul are the two parts
of our human nature, the humanity and the divinity of Jesus are not parts of a single
nature, but they are united in the same person.
18 Even when the body of Jesus was separated from His soul after His death, it was
not separated from the person of the Word. There remained on the cross and in the holy
sepulcher the sacred cadaver or the Word made flesh. Cf. St. Thomas, Ilia, q. 50, a. a.

THE PERSONALITY OF JESUS

91

we shall go toward this ocean of divine life where He alone can lead
us, by giving us the grace of perseverance.
We love to contemplate the sea and the mountains, and to gaze
long at them in admiration. Why do we not contemplate more often
this immense mystery of the Incarnation, which brings us salvation?
Very simple souls, molded by the Gospel and the liturgy, attain this
contemplation, as has happened quite often in the countryside of
France, Spain, and Italy.
When we enter a church we often do no more than ask for a special
favor for ourselves and for our dear ones. Should we not remember
sometimes to thank God for having given us our Lord? The Incarna­
tion surely merits a special act of thanksgiving. This thanksgiving
which must begin here below will be continued by the saints for all
eternity. This will be the canticle of the elect about which we read in
the Apocalypse: “To Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb,
benediction, and honor, and glory, and power, forever and ever.” 20
A soul that thanks God daily, in the intimacy of meditation, for
having given us His Son, is certain to attain to a high degree of union
with God. Any humble soul, even one lacking in human culture, can
thank God for the infinite gift He has given us.
20 Apoc. 5:13.

NOTE

Personality

In What It Is Formally Constituted
VERY theologian knows that personality cannot be formally
constituted either by consciousness or by liberty. Consciousness
of self presupposes the existence of the self of which one is conscious,
but it does not constitute the self. Liberty is also a psychological and
moral manifestation of the fundamental personality, to which it is
attributed and which it therefore presupposes. Persons are free, but
it is not liberty that constitutes them formally. Therefore it is pos­
sible for Jesus to be a single person, even though there are in Him
two consciousnesses and two liberties, one divine and the other hu­
man.
Basic personality is not of the order of the act, as we have said, but
of the order of being, for action presupposes being. In order to act,
one must first of all be.
This basic personality is, according to natural reason or common
sense, that by which every reasonable being is a primary subject of
attribution who can say “I,” “me,” and to whom is attributed all that
belongs to him, whereas he himself is attributable to no other person.
Thus, Peter and Paul are persons. It is commonly said: Peter is a man,
Peter exists, Peter is good, and so on. In each of these affirmative
judgments the verb “to be” expresses the real identity of the subject
of the proposition and of the attribute. When we say “Peter is a
man,” we are in fact saying that Peter is the same being who is a man,
who exists, and so on.
How can the real identity of the subject and the attribute of each
of these propositions be safeguarded? This requires that there exist
in Peter, beneath the diversity of the qualities which arc attributed to

E

9»

PERSONALITY

93

him, something that is “one,” that is identical and real, something
that formally constitutes him as the primary subject of attribution of
all that is fitting to him. That is his basic personality in the ontological
order, or the order of being.
According to some, this personality is something negative: Peter
would, according to them, be a person because his humanity would not
depend either radically or actually upon a divine person, or because
it had not been assumed, as was the humanity of Jesus, by a divine
person.1
Many theologians have rejected this opinion for a number of rea­
sons: I. What formally constitutes that by which each of us is a
primary subject of attribution cannot be something negative. If de­
pendence is a positive thing, independence is all the more a positive
perfection, even though we express it in negative terms. In fact, the
independence of God in the realm of being is the supreme perfection,
positive in the highest degree.
2. The natural personality of each one of us cannot be defined by
the absence of a wholly supernatural and exceptional grace, that is,
by the absence of the grace of hypostatic union. It is not the absence of
a supernatural gift which constitutes the realities of the natural order.
If this were so, it would follow that the realities of the natural order
are not naturally knowable and definable.
3. In the Blessed Trinity there are three personalities which are
not negative but positive realities, and which must have an analogical
similarity with created personality; otherwise we could not know
them.
4. The real identity affirmed by such judgments as “Peter is a
man, Peter exists, Peter is good” cannot be constituted and explained
by something negative. There must be something positive that con­
stitutes the subject as such, fundamentally identical in itself, under
the diversity of qualities which are attributed to it.
This identity is not assured, either, by the portion of matter which
exists in each of us. For, if this were the case my body, inasmuch as
it is this individual body constituted by this particular portion of mat­
ter, or my hand, inasmuch as it is this individual hand, would each be
' Cf. Srotus, In III Sunt., d. 1, q. 1, 110». 5 ff.| d. 5, q.i, nos. 4 f.

94

OUR SAVIOR

primary subjects of attribution. Now this is not true at all, for both
my body and my hand are attributed to me as parts of myself. And
with respect to Christ, the individuation of His humanity by matter
is infinitely removed from His uncreated personality.
5. Moreover, those who maintain that personality is a negative
thing usually refuse to admit that there is, prior to the consideration
of our mind, a distinction between every created essence and its exist­
ence, between every created person and its existence. Now it is true,
prior to the consideration of our mind, that the humanity in us is not
its existence and the person of Peter is not his existence, for God alone
is His existence. God alone has been able to say: “I am who am.” And
it is because He is God that Jesus was able to say: “I am the truth and
the life.” No created person is existence; it merely has existence,
which it has received. Of themselves a created essence and a created
person are merely susceptible of receiving existence.
6. Those who hold that personality is something negative gener­
ally also refuse to admit that in Jesus there is only one existence. Now,
as St. Thomas has well shown, the unity of existence follows from the
unity of the person.2 If the humanity of Jesus had its own existence,
then it would have in the order of being its ultimate actuality or per­
fection independently of the Word, and the hypostatic union would
be merely an accidental union, so it seems. There is in this view the
danger of unconsciously returning to Nestorianism, which held that
there were in Christ two accidentally united persons.
For these various reasons most theologians admit that personality
consists in something positive. But there remains some divergence of
opinion among them.
Some theologians hold that personality is a substantial mode which
presupposes existence.8 The reason for this view is that they, like
those mentioned above, make no real distinction (that is, no distinc­
tion prior to the consideration of our mind) between created essence
and existence. As a result, the substantial mode which constitutes hu­
man personality presupposes not only human essence or nature, but
the existence which is identified with the essence.
* Summa theol., Illa, q. 17, a. 1.
• Ci. Suarez, Dhfut. Mftaph., di«p. 34, »ect. : f., 4 ) D» incarnation», di«p. 11, lect. 3.

PERSONALITY

95

The Thomists answer this objection as they did the preceding
opinion: Before the consideration of our mind the humanity in us is
not existence, for God alone is His existence. Hence the distinction
between the created essence and existence does not follow the con­
sideration of our mind, but on the contrary precedes it. That is to say,
it is a real distinction. Indeed it is not a spatial distinction of things
which can be separated one from the other. Yet it is a distinction which
is real, infinitesimal as it may appear, for it is anterior to the considera­
tion of our mind. The so-called distinction of reason follows the
consideration of our mind. And there is no middle ground be­
tween the real distinction and the distinction of reason, for a dis­
tinction either does or does not precede the consideration of our
mind.
Thus personality does not presuppose existence, but the opposite
is true, as St. Thomas says: “Being is consequent upon person, . . .
as upon that which has being.” 4 Existence is attributed to it as to a
primary subject of attribution, which is itself not attributable to any
other.
In addition, since existence is in all things the ultimate actuality or
perfection in the order of being, all that happens to a substance
already endowed with its own existence happens to it accidentally.
Hence, if Jesus’ humanity were to have its own existence, the sub­
stantial mode subsequent to existence (spoken of by the second group
of theologians) would be only accidentally fitting to it. Thereupon
the hypostatic union would become accidental, bringing us unwit­
tingly back toward Nestorianism.
A third opinion holds, in opposition to the two preceding ones, that
personality is indeed something positive that does not presuppose
existence but is identified with existence, which in turn is distinct
from the created essence. Thus Peter’s personality would be identi­
fied with his created existence, and the personality of Jesus with the
uncreated existence of the Word.®
Although this opinion is very similar to the doctrine of St. Thomas,
it still differs from it on a significant point. St. Thomas wrote: “Esse
4 Illa, q. 17, a.a ad i.
* Cf. Billot, S.J., De Verbo incarnato, jth cd., q. a, pp. 75, 84, 1J7, 140.

96

OUR SAVIOR

non est de ratione suppositi.” ’ On the contrary, personality is what
formally constitutes the person.
He also wrote: “Being is consequent upon nature, not as upon that
which has being, but as upon that whereby a thing is: whereas it is
consequent upon person or hypostasis, as upon that which has be­
ing.” T Being is consequent upon nature, by reason of which Peter is
a man ; and it is consequent upon the person of Peter, which exists.
Thus if, according to St. Thomas, existence follows the person, it
does not formally constitute the person.
It is even absolutely impossible for existence, which is a contingent
attribute of every created person, to formally constitute the latter as
a primary subject of attribution. That would amount to saying that
the personality of Peter is his existence. Now, God alone is His exist­
ence. As the Thomists say: “Persona Petri (imo personalitas Petri,
qua formaliter constituitur ejus persona) non est suum esse.”
Prior to the consideration of our mind, this proposition is true:
“Peter is not his own existence.” “Only God is His own existence.”
St. Thomas says: “An angel is composed of esse and quod est.” 8
“Quod est” is the person who exists. There is a real distinction not
only between created essence and existence, but between the created
person (understood to be fully constituted by its personality) and
existence.
Likewise the identification of created personality with existence
leads to the denial of the real distinction between created essence and
existence, a distinction which is none the less maintained by the parti­
sans of this opinion and which is also a fundamental doctrine of
Thomism.
It may be objected: But Peter is not his humanity either, and yet
he is not really distinct from it. Why then, since he is not his existence,
would he be really distinct from his humanity?
’ Quodlibet, II, q.ï, a.4: Esse non est de ratione suppositi creati. On the contrary, “per­
sonalitas est de ratione personae seu suppositi rationalis naturae.” Moreover, in the Treatise
on the Incarnation, St. Thomas docs not deal with the unity of existence in Christ (Illa,
q. 17) until he has dealt with the hypostatic union and considered its consequences. This
consequence (i.e., est unum esse in Christo) is therefore not the formal constituent of the
personal or hypostatic union of the two natures.
’ Summa theol., Illa, q. 1 7, a. 1 ad t.
* Ibid., la, q. 50, a. 2 ad j.

PERSONALITY

97

We answer: Peter is really distinct from his humanity, just as the
whole is distinct from its essential part, and he is all the more distinct
from his existence, which is in him not an essential part but a con­
tingent attribute.
Prior to any consideration of our mind, the following propositions
are true: Peter is not his human nature. Peter is not his existence. In
fact, Peter is not his human nature, for it is only the essential part
of all that he is. The part, even the essential part, is not the whole.
Therefore it is false to say: Peter is his nature. The verb “to be” ex­
presses the real identity of the subject and the attribute, and even the
essential part is not really identical with the whole.
Furthermore, Peter is not his existence either, for his existence is
for him only a contingent attribute. In fact, Peter could very well not
exist. Existence is in him neither an essential attribute nor what for­
mally constitutes his person, since his person is merely susceptible of
existing. In all created persons existence is a contingent attribute
which, because it is a contingent attribute, cannot formally constitute
the person as a primary subject of attribution.
In addition, as St. Thomas says, in God there are three personal­
ities and only one existence: “The three persons have merely one
being.” 9 Thus the divine persons are not formally constituted by
existence; hence they would not be analogically similar to human
personality if the latter were formally constituted by existence.
If then personality is (i) something positive, (2) which does not
presuppose existence, and (3) is not identical with existence, what is
it?
The answer is, as the Thomists teach in general 10 and as Cajetan
teaches in particular: Personality, according to natural reason or to
common sense, is in every reasonable being that by which he is the
primary subject of attribution of individuated reasonable nature, of
existence, of accidents.11
In other words, personality is required in him to safeguard the
real identity affirmed by all of the following propositions: Peter is a
• Ibid., Illa, q. 17, a. a ad 3.
,0 Cf. also Jacques Maritain, Les degrts du savoir, pp. 845-53.
11 In 111am, q.4, a. 1, nos. 6-u.

98

OUR SAVIOR

man, Peter is existent, Peter is good, that is, Peter is the same being
or subject who is a man, who is existent, who is good. Beneath the
variety of essential and contingent qualities that are attributed to
him, there must be in him something real, positive, identical, which
is not any of the parts attributed to him and which formally consti­
tutes him as the primary subject of attribution or as the whole. Thus
what formally constitutes personality cannot be either individuated
nature or existence or consciousness or liberty. It is what constitutes
the primary subject of attribution as subject (suppositum'). In Latin it
is called “subsistentia,” and with respect to beings endowed with rea­
son, “personalitas.”
This conception which seems too abstract and too subtle for some
minds is merely, as Cajetan remarks, the simple explanation of what
natural and common sense tell us. This is of major importance.12
That by which every reasonable being is the primary subject of
attribution is manifestly of the substantial order and not of the ac­
cidental order. It is the term in which are united individuated nature,
1S Cajetan (In Illam, q.4, a. 2, no. 8) explains admirably how it is necessary to go
from the nominal definition of the person, conceded by common sense, to the real defi­
nition which he defends and which is nothing but the metaphysical explanation of the
nominal definition, an explanation by means of a simple conceptual analysis, without
reasoning. It suffices to search for the profound meaning of the personal pronouns: I, me,
thou, he. Aristotle had already noted (Metafh., Bk. V, chap. 8) that the so-called primary
substance is the primary subject of attribution, in opposition to the so-called secondary
substance, which is the nature of the subject. For example, Peter is a primary substance,
or more exactly, he is more than the humanity that is attributed to him as his nature.
St. Thomas has clarified this notion of the person in his explanation of the mystery of
the Incarnation (Illa, q.2, a. 1·, q.4, a.2; q. 17, a. 1 f.) by showing, as we have seen,
that personality is in every reasonable being that by which he is a primary subject of at­
tribution of individuated nature, of existence, and of operations. And Cajetan adds (In
Illam, q.4, a.2, no. 8) : “Accedit ad haec quod nomen hypostasis, aut personae et similiter
nomina propria naturarum cum pronominibus, ut hie homo, hie bos, et similiter pronomina
demonstrativa personaliter, ut ego, tu, ille, omnes confitemur significare formaliter
substantiam, et non negationem aut accidens aut extranea. Si omnes hoc fatemur cur ad
quid rei significatae perscrutantes, divertimus a communi confessione?” That is to say:
Why, when we seek the real definition of the person, do we turn away from the notion of
common sense, or the nominal definition commonly received by all of us, which is the
starting point that we all wish to safeguard?
Cajetan is not indulging in a reverie here. This is the metaphysics of what the gram­
marian calls the personal pronoun: I, me, thou, he. This metaphysics of the personal
pronoun (or of the possessive adjective, my, thy) is no less important than that of the
noun, the substantive, than that of the verb or of the adverb of time or of place. Cf.
Aristotle, I’eri/iermeneiai, Bk. I, de nomine, de verbo, etc.

PERSONALITY

99

existence, the operations attributed to the person, as parts of the same
entity. Thus, by analogy, the top of a pyramid is the term and the
culminating point of the lines which converge toward it. This is in
reality quite mysterious for us, for we do’ not have an immediate intel­
lectual intuition of it, as do the angels. Our knowledge rises only with
difficulty from the sensible to the intelligible. Yet what is here af­
firmed is not any more mysterious than what is commonly affirmed
with regard to continuity. As St. Thomas remarks: “If the humanity
of Christ were separated from the Word, it would become a distinct
person, just as when one separates two parts of a continuous line,
each of the two becomes a whole.” 13 What is here affirmed is not any
more surprising than the commonly accepted fact that the division
of a ringed animal like the worm produces two animals instead of
one. The division creates a term that did not previously exist. Thus,
any continuum is divisible ad infinitum, without ever being infinitely
divided; for it is composed of infinitely divisible parts. (Cf. Aristotle,
Physica, Bk. Ill, chap. I.)
It follows from this that the humanity of Christ, which is com­
pleted by the uncreated personality of the Word, is not a human per­
son. For it is not a primary subject of attribution. When Jesus says,
“I am the way, the truth, and the life,” He attributes to Himself,
to the same self, the properties of human nature (I who speak to you)
and those of divine nature (lam the truth and the life). That is why
St. Thomas says in substance: “Temporal nativity would cause a real
temporal filiation in Christ if there were in Him a subject capable
of such filiation.” 14 He also writes: “If the human nature had not
been assumed by a divine person, the human nature would have had
its own personality; . . . the divine person by His union hindered
the human nature from having its personality.” 15 “Si praeestitisset
(■personalitas humana) . . . , desiisset per corruptionem.” 18
Thus, according to St. Thomas, the humanity of Christ does not
have its own personality as it would have had if it had not been per” III Sent., dist. V, q. 3, a. 3. “Ad tertium dicendum, quod separatio dat utrique partium
totalitatcm et in continuis dat ctiain utrique esse in actu; unde supposito quod (Verbum)
hominem deponeret, subsisteret homo ille per se in natura rationali, et ex hoc ipso acciperet
rationem personae.”
14 Summa theol., Hia, q. 35, a. 5 ad 1.
” Ibid., 11Ia, q.4, a. 1 ad 3.
,e Contra Gentet, IV, 43.

100

OUR SAVIOR

sonally united to the Word. But it does not follow at all that there is
something lacking to Christ’s humanity, for, as St. Thomas says, it
is much nobler to exist in the Word than to exist in oneself.17
On the basis of this notion of personality, the truth of the follow­
ing propositions is proved: Peter is a man, but he is not his humanity,
which is the essential part of him; Peter exists, but he is not his exist­
ence, which is in him only a contingent attribute.
From this we can also see why there is in Jesus only one personality,
only one primary subject of attribution, to which both human nature
and divine nature are fitting, as well as both human liberty and divine
liberty. There is in Him therefore only one existence,18 for existence
follows the person, which is the subject that exists. The unity of the
person thus entails unity of existence.
Finally, the hypostatic union is not accidental, it is substantial, in­
asmuch as the two natures belong to the same person and exist by the
same existence.18 In this manner is maintained the profound mean­
ing of Jesus’ affirmation: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
17 Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q. », a. 2 ad ».
18 Illa, q. », a. 6.

18 Illa, q. 17» a· »·

® VIII
*
rr^HE FITTINGNESS OF THE INCARNATION
AND OUR INTERIOR LIFE

1

“Come to Me, all you that
labor, and are burdened,
and 1 will refresh you.”
Matt. 11:28

AVING considered the fittingness of the Incarnation from the
point of view of God, who is inclined to give Himself as much
as possible to man, and from the point of view of man, who is dis­
posed to become as united as possible to God, we must now consider
this mystery with reference to the loftiest virtues which are, as it
were, the soul of our interior life.
These loftiest of virtues are called the “theological virtues,” be­
cause they have God as their immediate object and because they unite
us to Him. Through faith we adhere to what God has revealed of
Himself and of His works. Through hope we tend toward God, sus­
tained by His help, in order some day to possess Him and to see Him
face to face. Through charity we supernaturally love God more than
ourselves, above all things, because He is infinitely lovable, infinitely
better than we are, and because He first loved us as a Father.
Undoubtedly these three virtues are the noblest of all ; from above
they inspire the moral virtues which bear not on our final end but on
the means to attain it. Thus faith must inspire prudence; and our
charity, our love of God and of souls, must inspire and also quicken
from above the virtues of justice, fortitude, and temperance, by mak­
ing them meritorious with respect to eternal life.
If these are the three most exalted virtues that can dwell in a hu­
man soul, what is their relationship to the mystery of the Incarnation?
For no other divine intervention could more successfully have snatched

H

101

102

OUR SAVIOR

us away from evil and more powerfully dispose us toward goodness.
Following the thought of St. Augustine, St. Thomas 1 tells us
that after man’s fall God could have redeemed us by other means
than that of the Incarnation. For example, He might have sent a
prophet to explain to us the conditions of forgiveness. But then there
would not have been perfect reparation for the offense against God
caused by mortal sin, which by turning us away from God actually
denies or refuses to God the infinite dignity of final end or Sovereign
Good. In order to make perfect reparation for this offense, which has
a gravity immeasurable as is the person offended, it was necessary that
a human soul offer to God an act of love of infinite value. This could
be accomplished only by a human soul which belonged to a divine
person, who alone is capable of performing acts of truly infinite value.
Thus the Word made flesh can offer to His Father in reparation
an act of love of unlimited value, which can please God more than all
the combined sins of men displease Him.
That is why the Incarnation was the most fruitful source of grace
to redeem us, and at the same time necessary for perfect reparation
to God for the offense committed against Him. No divine interven­
tion could so successfully tear us away from evil. Nothing could have
cured us so completely of our three wounds—concupiscence of the
flesh, concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life—as the suffer­
ings, the poverty, and the humility of our Savior.
At the same time, the mystery has a second aspect which we must
insist on particularly because of its bearing on the interior life: The
Incarnation, by extricating us from the forces of evil, disposes us
powerfully toward goodness. For it offers us the perfect model of all
virtues and it increases tenfold, so to speak, our most exalted virtues:
faith, hope, and charity.

Faith Increased Tenfold
First of all, faith is given much greater certainty by the Incarna­
tion because of the fact that we believe in God who has come to us in
sensible form to speak to us.
’ Hla, q.i, «.».

FITTINGNESS OF THE INCARNATION

103

The formal motive of faith, as a theological virtue, is the authority
of God who reveals the truths we are to believe.
It is because God is infallible and cannot err or lead us into error
that the first man after his fall believed the divine promise of a
Redeemer, that Abraham believed that the Messiah would be born of
his race, and that the prophets believed that He would come not only
for the salvation of Israel but for the salvation of mankind. The au­
thority of God, who makes revelations and seals His revelations by
miracles, is a motive in itself very firm and infallible. Yet God re­
mains hidden, and dwells in an inaccessible light. He remains in­
visible even when He speaks through prophets like Moses, Elias, or
Isaias, even when He confirms their preaching by extraordinary mir­
acles.
Very much more certain does our faith become when God comes to
us and, taking a body and human lips like our own, speaks to us Him­
self through the medium of the senses yet in a tone and with an
authority which can belong only to God! How much is our faith
reinforced when the Word of God is made flesh and comes to tell
us: “Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believeth in Me, hath ever­
lasting life”; 2 or again: “I am one that give testimony of Myself,” 8
for I am light itself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” *
None of the prophets could speak in these terms. They were able to
say: “I have received the truth,” but not one of them could affirm:
“I am the truth and the life.”
Jesus Christ, our Savior, is Himself the prime truth, both reveal­
ing and revealed. That is why, as St. Augustine says,® He can bear
witness to Himself and to the other mysteries, just as light mani­
fests itself by manifesting colors and all that it illuminates.
Primary revealing truth, the formal motive of our faith, in other
words, the authority of God the Revealer, is manifested palpably, so
to speak, in Christ and in His sublime manner of teaching.
True, we do not see Christ’s divinity here below, either with the
eyes of our body or with those of the mind, but Jesus speaks with
such great authority when He says: “Amen, amen I say to you, be’ John 6:47.
• In Joannem, 8:18.

* Ibid., 8:18.

* Ibid., 14:6.

104

OUR SAVIOR

fore Abraham was made, I am,” e that there can be no doubt He is the
living God become palpable who now speaks to us in order to increase
our faith tenfold. In fact, the messengers of the Pharisees could not
help saying: “Never did man speak like this man.” 7 The Samaritans
also said to the woman whom our Lord had converted and who had
called them to hear the Messiah: “Now we believe not because of
what you have told us but because we have heard Him ourselves and
we know that He is really the Savior of the world.”
If the tone of the Curé of Ars’ voice betrayed his holiness when he
preached, how much more must the tone, the authority, and the
magnetism of our Lord Jesus Christ have bespoken His holiness!
That is why from the time of His first Sermon on the Mount, “the
people were in admiration at His doctrine. For He was teaching them
as one having power, and not as the scribes and Pharisees,” 8 who
commented on the scriptural texts without making them live. The
simple in heart have an understanding of the greatness of things.
They recognized our Lord’s greatness from the moment of His first
sermon. The fact that the populace afterward condemned Him re­
sulted from their having been misled by perverse men.
What a privilege to have heard even for an instant the Word made
flesh preach and to have received directly from His lips His doctrine
in all its vigor, simplicity, and grandeur!
St. John has written in his Gospel: “No man hath seen God at any
time: the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He
hath declared Him.” 9 Again, in his First Epistle he said: “That
which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have
handled, of the Word of life: . . . that which we have seen and
have heard, we declare unto you.” 10
Our faith is thus supremely confirmed by this highest testimony,
which has been made palpable, so to speak, by the Incarnation. Thus
St. Paul could write to the Hebrews the following words in order to
confirm them in their faith: “God, who at sundry times and in divers
manners spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all,
•John 8:58.
,0' I John 1:1—3.

T Ibid., 7:46.

8 Matt. 7 :a8 f.

8 John 1:18.

FITTINGNESS OF THE INCARNATION

105

in these days hath spoken to us by His Son, whom He hath appointed
heir of all things, by whom also He made the world.” 11
Let us suppose for a moment that the Incarnation had not taken
place and that the loftiest teaching was that of the prophets, of Elias
or Isaias. How much diminished would our faith be, how meager the
history of humanity, by comparison with what they are in reality!
The very greatness of the prophets would vanish, for they were great
only inasmuch as they were the precursors of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Those who have ears to hear” cannot be mistaken as to the tone of
the Savior’s voice nor as to the sublimity of His doctrine. Despite
trials, obscurity, temptations, let us believe in the word of Jesus, let
us keep it in our hearts, and let us live by it in the spirit of faith. “The
just man liveth by faith.” 13

Hope Strengthened
The Incarnation not only confirms our faith; it also greatly arouses
our hope.
Through this theological virtue we desire and await the Supreme
Good, and we tend toward it supported by the divine assistance prom­
ised by God to those who believe. The prime object of hope is a future
good and one that is difficult to attain, the Supreme Good which we
are to enjoy for all eternity. The formal motive of hope is divine
assistance, or, better still, it is God Himself infinitely willing to help
us, Deus auxilians. He is infinitely willing to help because He is in­
finitely merciful and all-powerful, and because He has promised to
help us to achieve the summit of our destiny. God is true to His
promises. This is one of His most beautiful titles: “The Lord is faith­
ful in all His words.” 18
St. Paul was fond of repeating this thought. Anyone who despairs
doubts the infinite mercy of the One who is Goodness itself. Judas’
greatest sin, after he had been unfaithful, was to doubt the fidelity of
God, who has promised His help to the greatest sinners if they asked
it of Him.
Yet, although hope is entirely consonant with the deepest aspira11 Heb. i :i f.

12 Roni, i :x 7.

“ Ps. 144:13.

ιο6

OUR SAVIOR

tions of our hearts, there is in us, alas, an inclination toward discour­
agement, especially after we have for many years been bruised by the
battles and hardships of life.
Now the mystery of the Incarnation is calculated to revive our
confidence, for it brings us not only the divine assistance of grace, but
the Author of grace Himself. It is God infinitely willing to help us
who was given to us at Bethlehem, Deus auxilians. He is the formal
motive or the reason for our hope, and He remains with us in the
Eucharist.
Our confidence is increased because God, by coming to us in per­
son, gives a palpable manifestation of His infinite goodness. We tend
to have greatest confidence in our friends and in the measure that they
prove to us that they have a genuine and deep affection for us. But
Jesus is God infinitely willing to help, Deus auxiliator, who never
tires of telling us of His merciful love.
He says to all men: “Come to Me, all you that labor and are
burdened, and I will refresh you” (Matt. 11:28). The One who
speaks thus is the Author of salvation, as the liturgy tells us: “God,
the bestower of pardon and the author of human salvation, we im­
plore Thy clemency. . . .” 14
To the paralytic who thought only of his bodily cure, Jesus said:
“Thy sins are forgiven thee”; that is to say, I am curing your spirit­
ual and immortal soul, which is much more precious than your body
that is destined to return to dust. And as a sign of the spiritual
cure of the soul, Jesus cured this poor man of his paralysis. This mir­
acle was but a sign of something incomparably more wonderful: the
resurrection of the soul to the essentially supernatural life of grace.
St. Paul wrote to the Romans in order to confirm their hope: “If
God be for us, who is against us? He that spared not even His own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how hath He not also, with Him,
given us all things?” 15 These words must have strengthened the
Christians in the catacombs during the three centuries of persecution.
St. Paul added: “Who shall accuse against the elect of God? God
that justifieth. Who is he that shall condemn? Christ Jesus that died,
14 Prayer from the Office of the Dead, according to the Dominican rite.
’· Rom. 8:ji.

FITTINGNESS OF THE INCARNATION

107

yea that is risen also again ; who is at the right hand of God, who also
maketh intercession for us. Who then shall separate us from the love
of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or
danger? or persecution? or the sword? (As it is written: For Thy
sake we are put to death all the day long. We are accounted as sheep
for the slaughter.)” 18
All these things were fulfilled to the letter in Rome during the
ten general persecutions which the Roman emperors inflicted upon
the Christians from the days of Nero to those of Diocletian. And the
following words of St. Paul were also fulfilled in their entirety: “But
in all these things we overcome, because of Him that hath loved
us.” 17 We overcome in the sense of making the life of grace shine
upon and illumine even our adversaries through our love for them.
“For I am sure,” St. Paul went on to say, “that neither death nor life
nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things
to come nor might nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord.”
That is to say, no created power whatever can separate us from the
love that Christ has for us and that enkindles in us a reciprocating
love. No created or creatable power can cause God to abandon the
just, those who have been justified by the blood of His Son, unless
they themselves abandon Him first. The Colosseum of Rome is a
reminder to each succeeding generation of the victory of Christ’s love
over the blind fury of His persecutors. The imposing ruins of this
amphitheater built by Vespasian and Titus bear enduring witness to
the hope and the fortitude of the martyrs who were sustained by
the promises and the love of the Word made flesh.
Through all their tortures they remained faithful by the efficacy
of the grace of Christ. As St. Paul says, they overcame “because of
Him that hath loved us.” 18 The formal motive of our hope is not
our own personal effort, by which we cooperate with divine assistance.
The formal motive of our hope is God Himself, infinitely willing to
help, Deus auxilians, God Himself who through the Incarnation is
with us and remains with us in the Eucharist as the daily nourishment
*· Ibid., 8 :jj ff.

11 Ibid., t-.jj.

11 Ibid.

io8

OUR SAVIOR

of our souls. It is thus that our confidence in God is greatly strength­
ened by the Incarnation. The Word did not become incarnate with­
out good reason. It was not for material progress or the advancement
of science, but for the sanctification of our souls, and we, too, should
ardently yearn for this sanctification.

More Ardent Charity
Finally, this mystery of our faith should enflame to the highest
pitch our charity, our love of God and of souls. As St. Augustine says
in words that theologians will repeat until the end of time: “For what
principal reason did the Word become Incarnate, if not to manifest
His love for us? . . . Since we cannot love Him [first], let us at
least learn to give Him love for love.” 10
Through infused charity which we receive in baptism we are called
on to love God supernaturally more than ourselves. We are called
on to love Him as our great friend who loved us first and who is in­
finitely better in Himself than all His blessings taken together. To
love Him thus is to desire efficaciously the accomplishment of His
holy will as expressed in His commandments; that is, we must desire
that He should truly and completely reign in our souls and that He
be glorified by us eternally in the words of psalm 112:1 : “Praise the
Lord, ye children: praise ye the name of the Lord.”
Thus charity is superior to hope. Through hope we desire to possess
God, ultimately for God who is the final end of our hope as of all the
virtues.20 Through charity we efficaciously love God, our best friend,
formally for Himself alone; and we love Him more than ourselves,
desiring for Him all the blessings that are fitting for Him; that His
kingdom come and that His goodness be manifested in what we call
divine glory. To love God is to conform our entire life to these words
of the Our Father: “Thy will be done”: Thy will, as expressed in Thy
commandments, be done on earth as it is in heaven. To love God is
also to say to Him with trusting abandonment: “Into Thy hands I
12 Dt catechizandis rudibus, chap. 4.
20 As Cajctan says (7n Ham llae, q. 17, a. 5, no. 6) : “Per spem, desidero Deum, non
propter me, sed mihi (jam finaliter), propter Deum qui est finis ultimus actu» spei.”

FITTINGNESS OF THE INCARNATION

109

commend my spirit,” I offer Thee the marrow of my will, do with it
whatever Thou please.
Through charity, by efficaciously loving God more than ourselves,
we generally love all His eternal decrees, ordered toward the mani­
festation of His goodness. So God, the infinitely Good, becomes for
us another self, who is in a sense more truly we than we are ourselves.
For He possesses within Himself all the good that can exist in each
one of us. In this sense God contains more of me than I do, for He is
what I am in an eminent degree.
This divine goodness, the formal object of charity, has been mani­
fested to us by the supreme love through which God has given us His
only Son: “God so loved the world, as to give His only-begotten
Son.” 21 We can even say that this is the fundamental truth of Chris­
tianity, for it was this act of God’s love for us which gave us our Lord
Jesus Christ as our Savior.
St. John tells us this in his First Epistle: “By this hath the charity
of God appeared toward us, because God hath sent His only-begotten
Son into the world, that we may live by Him. In this is charity: not as
though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and
sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. My dearest, if God hath
so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 22
St. Paul writes in the same vein to Titus: “For the grace of God
our Savior hath appeared to all men; instructing us, that, denying
ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly and justly
and godly in this world, looking for the blessed hope and coming of
the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” 23
The incarnation of the Word thus greatly strengthens our faith,
our hope, and our charity. It gives us the example of all the virtues,
and particularly it is the principle of an act of love infinite in value
rising upward within the soul of Jesus, a redemptive act of love which
is more pleasing to God than all the sins in the world can displease
Him.
Let us give thanks to God for this blessing of the redemptive In­
carnation which to some extent makes palpable for us primary re­
21 John 3:16.

82 I John 4:9-11.

28 Titus a:n—13.

no

OUR SAVIOR

vealing Truth, merciful Omnipotence, and supreme Goodness; and
which never ceases to pour out to us, especially through the Eucharist,
all the graces that we need in our indigence. These three divine per­
fections, which are the formal motive of the three theological virtues,
are for us like three stars of the first magnitude, three lamps of fire,
St. John of the Cross tells us, which guide us through the night on our
pilgrimage toward the light of eternity.
We can indeed say with St. Paul in profound gratitude: “God
(who is rich in mercy) for His exceeding charity wherewith He loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in
Christ (by whose grace you are saved).” 24 This grace is the seed of
glory. Let us pray that we may persevere in it and through it, so that
it may truly be within us “the beginning of eternal life.”
24 Eph. 2:4 f.

rpHE MOTIVE OF THE INCARNATION AND
THE INTIMATE LIFE OF JESUS

1

“I believe in God . . . the Son . . .
who for us men and for our salvation
came down from heaven.”
Nicene Creed

NE of the considerations which can help us penetrate deeply
into the intimate life of Jesus is the motive of the Incarnation,
the motive of His coming into the world, which must always have
been present in His mind as the purpose of His earthly life. We
should like to call attention, as St. Thomas himself has done, to the
three following points: i. The motive of the Incarnation was a motive
of mercy. 2. The Word, in becoming incarnate to redeem us, did not
in any sense subordinate Himself to us but on the contrary re-estab­
lished the primitive order on an infinitely loftier level. 3. In His
intimate life Jesus is first of all Savior, priest, and victim.

O

The Motive of the Incarnation,
a Motive of Mercy
The opinion is held by some that in the actual plan of Providence,
the Word would have become incarnate even if man had not sinned.
Christ would then have come not as a Savior and victim, but as the
head of the kingdom of God and as the supreme doctor, in order to
give greater glory to God and thus to crown creation. He would
have come with an immortal body, not subject to pain. But, cham­
pions of this opinion maintain, sin having supervened, Christ came
in mortal flesh, in carne passibili^ as Savior and victim for our sal­
vation.
According to this opinion, it is accidentally, so to speak, that in the
tn

I 12

OUR SAVIOR

actual plan of Providence Jesus is Savior and victim. He is first of all
the King of kings, the head of the kingdom of God.
St. Thomas has weighed the value of this opinion, which had al­
ready been expressed in his own time, and he writes with regard to
this subject: “There are different opinions about this question. For
some say that even if man had not sinned, the Son of man would have
become incarnate. Others assert the contrary, and seemingly our as­
sent ought rather to be given to this opinion. For such things as spring
from God’s will, and beyond the creature’s due, can be made known
to us only through being revealed in the Sacred Scripture, in which
the divine will is made known to us. Hence, since everywhere in the
Sacred Scripture the sin of the first man is assigned as the reason of
the Incarnation, it is more in accordance with this to say that the work
of the Incarnation was ordained by God as a remedy for sin; so that,
had sin not existed, the Incarnation would not have been. And yet the
power of God is not limited to this; even had sin not existed, God
could have become incarnate.” 1
In other words, according to St. Thomas, Thomists in general, and
many other ancient and modern theologians, the motive of the In­
carnation was above all a motive of mercy, to liberate fallen humanity
from its misery. From this point of view Jesus is first of all Savior and
Victim rather than King, and therein lies the primordial trait of His
spiritual physiognomy.
This interpretation is based on many passages of Scripture and on
some very weighty testimony of tradition. Both Daniel2 and Zacha­
rias 3 declared that the Messiah would come “that sin may have an
end, and iniquity may be abolished.” Jesus Himself said: “The Son
of man is come is seek and to save that which was lost.” 4 Likewise,
in St. John He said: “God so loved the world as to give His onlybegotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but
may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world,
to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him.” 8
St. Paul wrote: “Christ Jesus came into this world to save sin­
ners.” 9 To this St. John added in his First Epistle: “The blood of
1 Illa, q.i, a. j.
4 Luke 19:10.

* Dan. 9124.
’ John 3:16 f.

• Zach. 3:9>
" I Tim. i :i 5.

MOTIVE OF THE INCARNATION

u3

Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 7 And “If any man
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just: and
He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also
for those of the whole world.” 8 Finally, “God . . . hath first loved
us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins.” 9
Moreover, the name “Jesus” does not mean King or Doctor, but
Savior, and the names God gives always express the primordial trait
of the spiritual physiognomy of those who receive these names. The
angel Gabriel, sent by God, said to Mary: “Behold thou . . . shalt
bring forth a son; and thou shalt call His name Jesus.” 10 To Joseph
the angel said: “Thou shalt call His name Jesus. For He shall save
His people from their sins.” 11 Thus the motive of the Incarnation is
that reason for which it was necessary: to save us through perfect
reparation for offense against God by means of an act of reparative
love which would be more pleasing to God than He is displeased by
all the sins of the world, and which would be an infinite source of
grace for us.
Tradition is no less affirmative than is Scripture, as we can see in the
Nicene Creed: “I believe ... in one Lord Jesus Christ, the onlybegotten Son of God. . . . Who for us men, and for our salvation,
came down from heaven.” This is the meaning of the entire liturgy of
Advent and of the Nativity, which for many centuries has prepared
the faithful for the celebration of the birth of the Savior.
The Fathers of the Church also teach in general that according to
the actual plan of Providence the Word would not have become in­
carnate if men had not been in need of redemption. This is the doc­
trine in particular of St. Irenaeus,12 St. Athanasius,13 St. Gregory
Nazianzen,14 St. John Chrysostom who was the greatest of the Greek
Fathers, and St. Augustine, the most illustrious of the Fathers of the
Latin Church.
21 John 1:7.
8 Ibid., 2:1.
* Ibid., 4:10.
10 Luke 1:31.
11 Matt. 1:21.
12 “If flesh had not been in need of being redeemed, the Word should not have be­
come Incarnate {Adv. haereses, V, xiv, 1).”
18 “The Word would not have become man if it had not been necessary to redeem us”
{Adv. Arian., or. 2, no. 56).
14 “Why did God assume humanity, united to divinity (in Jesus)? Without any doubt,
in order to prepare our salvation. What other reason can be given?” (Oratio 3, no. 2.)

114

OUR SAVIOR

St. John Chrysostom says explicitly: “There is no other cause for
the Incarnation than this: God saw us fallen, abject, oppressed by
the tyranny of death, and He had mercy.” 15 St. Augustine likewise
says: “If man had not fallen, the Son of man would not have
come.” 16 The motive of the Incarnation was a motive of mercy. This
is repeated by St. Thomas, all the Thomists, and many other theolo­
gians.
The Thomists in particular add this reason: Once God has deter­
mined the plan of Providence, He does not modify it because of some
unforeseen accident. He has foreseen all things. No good can occur
unless He has willed it, and no evil unless He has permitted it for
a greater good. Therefore, it cannot be said that God modified His
actual plan as the result of the sin of the first man. The efficacious
divine decree on the world extended from the start to everything that
was to happen, in a positive manner with respect to the good and in a
permissive manner with respect to evil.17 Now, in actuality the Word
came in flesh that was mortal and subject to suffering, which fact, as
universally admitted, presupposes sin. Therefore, by virtue of the
primitive decree, the Word would not have become incarnate if man
had not sinned. This is, as we have seen, what the Scriptures and tradi­
tion tell us clearly. In other words, the motive of the Incarnation has
been a motive of mercy. As our Lord told us Himself: “The Son of
man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” 18 There is
much consolation for us in this fact. For even the greatest sinners who
cry out to the Savior are saved.
God Has Permitted Evil, Man’s Sin,
Only in View of a Greater Good
There is another aspect of this mystery which makes it possible to
answer the sometimes agonizing question that is called the problem of
1S In Efist. ad Hebr., hom. 5, no. 1.
18 Sermon 174, a.
1T The efficacious divine decree of the Incarnation bears from the outset not only on
the substance of this fact, but also on the circumstances hic et nunc under which it was
realized, particularly on the circumstance in a passible and mortal flesh j a circumstance
which by common consent presupposes die prevision of Adam’s sin.
18 Luke 19:10.

MOTIVE OF THE INCARNATION

115

evil. Why did God permit evil, especially moral evil, the sin of the
first man, foreseeing as He did that it would spread to all men, who
would because of it be deprived of grace and of the privileges of the
state of innocence?
St. Thomas presents very well this second aspect of the mystery,
which some of his commentators have neglected 19 but which happily
others have emphasized.20 He says: “There is nothing to prevent
human nature from having been raised after sin to a level above its
original state. For God permits evil only in view of a greater good.
This is why St. Paul wrote to the Romans, 5:20: ‘Where sin
abounded, grace did more abound.’ And the Church sings during the
benediction of the paschal candle: ‘O happy fault, that merited so
great a Redeemer! ’ ” 21
It is indeed clear that God cannot permit evil, especially sin, ex­
cept in view of a greater good. Otherwise the divine permission which
allows sin to occur would not be holy. It would be impossible to say
a -priori for what great good God permitted the sin of the first man.
But after the fact of the Incarnation we can and we must say with St.
Paul: God has permitted sin to abound only so that grace might more
abound in the person of our Savior and through Him in us.
Thus, when the Word became incarnate to redeem us He did not
subordinate Himself to us in any way whatever (He remains in­
finitely superior to us, and the Incarnation is of greater value than our
redemption) ; but He stooped down toward us to raise us up to Him­
self. For it is the nature of mercy to incline the superior person to­
ward the inferior one, not to subordinate the former to the latter but
to elevate the inferior person. In this way, when the Word became
incarnate He bent down in order to restore the primitive order, the
original harmony, and even to raise this primitive order far above its
original level by uniting Himself personally to human nature and
10 For example, John of St. Thomas and Billuart.
20 See the explanation of this point of doctrine by the Carmelites of Salamanca and
by the Dominicans Godoy and Gonet. See also Cajetan’s excellent presentation (In lam,
q. ia, a. a, no. 7) : (Si non esset peccatum a Deo permissum) “deesset universo hostia illa
divini suppositi, quam in cruce obtulit; quod adeo bonum fuit et est, ut excedat in bonitate
omne malum culpae non solum hominum, sed daemonum. . . . O felix culpa.”
’* St. Thomas, Illa, q. 1, a.3 ad 3.

116

OUR SAVIOR

thus manifesting to us in the most perfect manner possible His om­
nipotence and His goodness.22
God permits evil only for a greater good, and He would not have
permitted the immense evil which is original sin if He did not have
in view the greater good which is the redemptive Incarnation. Thus
it is that divine mercy, far from subordinating to us the Word made
incarnate for us, is the highest manifestation of the power and good­
ness of God. It sings the glory of God more loudly than all the stars
in the firmament.
The Word made flesh, our Savior, is infinitely greater than the
first innocent man. Making necessary allowances, Mary is also in­
comparably superior to Eve. And when Mass is celebrated in the
poorest village church, a worship is offered to God which is infinitely
superior to that offered to Him by the first innocent man in the Gar­
den of Eden.
The Primordial Trait of the Spiritual
Physiognomy of Jesus

It follows that it was not accidentally that Christ is Savior, priest,
and victim. This is the chief aspect of His life. He is not first of all a
king and a sublime doctor who became accidentally, because of man’s
sin, a victim and the savior of humanity.23 As His name “Jesus” signi22 It has been objected that it would be perverse to order the superior with respect
to the inferior. But the Incarnation is superior to our redemption. Thus it would be
perverse to order the former to the latter.
The Thomists have always answered as follows: It would certainly be perverse and
even absurd to order the superior to the inferior as to a principle of perfection and to a
final end. However, it is not perverse to order the superior to the inferior as to a per­
fectible subject which must be perfected. Thus, although our body is made for our soul,
God orders the soul in a certain manner to the body in order to vivify it, and He would
not create the soul of a particular child unless the body of that child were about to take
shape. Likewise, although we exist for Christ, who is our end, yet He came to save us
and He would not have come if we had not needed to be saved. As there is a mutual de­
pendence between the body made for the soul and the soul which vivifies the body, "causa»
ad invicem sunt causae, sed in diverso genere," there is also a mutual dependence between
the Incarnation in view of which original sin was permitted, and to deliver us from this
sin the redemptive Incarnation was willed by divine mercy.
*’ Even in the Mass and the Office of Christ the King, mention is repeatedly mad·
of Christ ns the Savior, for He is king both by right of birth and by right of conquest.

MOTIVE OF THE INCARNATION

117

fies, He is first of all the Savior, and His entire life was ordered to
His heroic death on the Cross, through which He accomplished His
mission and His destiny as Redeemer. The motive of the Incarnation
was our redemption by the heroic act of love on Calvary. The stigmatics like St. Francis must have penetrated very deeply into this
truth.
As a result, Christ appears greater and the unity of His life much
more profound. His life was ordered completely toward the act of
love by which, in offering Himself up on the cross, He conquered sin,
Satan, and death, an act of love which is more pleasing to God than
He is displeased by all the sins of men.
This is what St. Thomas says: “God loves Jesus Christ not only
more than the entire human race but also more than all creatures
taken as a whole. For He willed for Him a greater good by giving
Him a name above all other names. He willed that He be truly God.
This supreme excellence of Christ has not been diminished by the fact
that His Father delivered Him up to death for our salvation. On the
contrary, Christ thus became the glorious victor (over sin, Satan, and
death), ‘the government is upon His shoulder’” (Isa. 9:6).2425
Now we can understand why the thought of the redemption by
the Cross, together with the thought of the glory of God, were upper­
most in the mind of our Lord when He came into the world and re­
mained so throughout His life.28 As St. Paul says: “Wherefore when
He cometh into the world, He saith: Sacrifice and oblation Thou
wouldest not: but a body Thou hast fitted to Me. . . . Then said I:
Behold I come . . . that I should do Thy will, O God.” 26
This oblation was ever living in His heart. It was the soul, as it
were, of His preaching and of His sacrifice. The first three Gospels
report that Jesus said: “The Son of man is not come to be ministered
unto, but to minister, and to give His life a redemption for many.” 27
In one of His most beautiful parables, the parable of the Good
He conquered this universal kingship during the Passion when He was crowned with
thorns before He received the crown of glory in heaven.
24 la, q.20, a. 4 ad 1.
25 On this point see the beautiful book written in the seventeenth century by Chardon,
O. P., La croix <le Jérur.
20 Heb. 1 o '.5-7.
22 Matt. io:t81 Mark 10:451 Luke 1:685 2:385 21:28.

118

OUR SAVIOR

Shepherd, He said: “I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd
giveth his life for his sheep. . . . Therefore doth the Father love
Me: because I lay down My life, that I may take it again. No man
taketh it away from Me. But I lay it down of Myself.” 28
Again He said: “I am come to cast fire on the earth: and what will
I, but that it be kindled? And I have a baptism wherewith I am to
be baptized: and how am I straitened until it be accomplished?” 29
He was speaking of the baptism of blood, the most perfect of all.80
He expressed the purpose of His mission in still different words:
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to My­
self. (Now this He said, signifying what death He should die.)” 81
This thought was continually in our Savior’s mind when He was
training the apostles, when, for instance, He told Peter that he could
not bear to hear of the coming Passion: “Thou savorest not the
things that are of God, but the things that are of men.” 32 Likewise,
when He said to the sons of Zebedee: “Can you drink of the chalice
that I drink of: or be baptized with the baptism wherewith I am
baptized?” 83 This was His underlying thought also at the Last Sup­
per, at the moment when He instituted the Eucharist: “This is My
body, which is given for you. . . . This is the chalice, the new testa­
ment in My blood, which shall be shed for you.” 34 “Greater love
than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” 88
Finally, Jesus on several occasions spoke of the hour of His passion
as “His hour,” 80 for it is the hour above all others to which His
whole earthly life was dedicated.
Jesus is above all else Savior, priest, and victim. This is the primor­
dial trait of His spiritual physiognomy, the fundamental character
of His interior life. What are the consequences of this for us?
It follows that in the actual plan of Providence, it is not by accident
that souls must, in order to be sanctified, carry their crosses in union
with the Savior. He Himself has told us so: “And He said to all:
If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up
his cross daily and follow Me. . . . For he that shall lose his life for
28 John to:ii—18.
“ John 12 132 f.
•’John t$!ij.

20 Luke 12:49 f·
°* Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q.46, a. 12.
“Matt. 16:23.
·· Mark 10:38.
“Luke 22:19 f.
“John 2:41 12:231 *
J :,I 16:21, 23, 321 17:1.

MOTIVE OF THE INCARNATION

119

My sake, shall save it.” ST This was magnificently fulfilled by the
martyrs who, by uniting their sufferings to those of the Savior, in
turn saved souls, sometimes even the souls of their persecutors.
It follows also that in order to be a saint, and even a great saint, it
is not necessary to be a doctor or a man of action. It is enough to be
genuinely configured to the crucified Christ, as was St. Benedict
Joseph Labre who could call his own only his poverty and his heroi­
cally supported pain, and who appeared to be the living image of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Finally, it follows (as St. Thomas explains with great profun­
dity 38 in speaking of the effects of baptism) that while the sanctify­
ing grace which the first man in the state of innocence possessed is a
participation in divine nature and makes us children of God, the
specifically Christian grace which was communicated to us after the
fall by Christ the Redeemer makes us “living members of Christ.”
That is why Christian grace as such inspires us to suffer following the
example of Jesus in order to expiate, to make reparation for the out­
rages committed against God, in order to collaborate for our salvation
and that of our neighbors, just as the members of a single body must
help one another.
That is why no Christian idea can win acceptance, and no Christian
work can persevere, until it has passed through trials and tribulations.
“Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remain­
ed! alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” 89
This is how Christians are profoundly configured to their head,
who said concerning Himself to His disciples of Emmaus, although
they did not yet understand it: “Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, and so to enter into His glory?” 40 Isaias had announced
it in his prophecy of the Passion.41 It is required every day in the
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and it will be repeated until the end of
the world.
” Luke 9 :z3 f.
•’John 12:24.

•s St. Thomas, Illa, q. 62, a. a.
40 Luke 24:26.
41 Isa., Chap. 53.

HE PREDESTINATION OF CHRIST

HE light that illumines from above the whole life of a saint is
his predestination, that is, the act of intelligence and love by
which God has from all eternity ordered or destined him to a given
degree of glory and has decided to grant him for the attainment of
this glory all the graces he will need, from the very first to that of
final perseverance.1 Through many bitter trials perhaps, the servant
of God will with the help of these graces merit the beatitude of
eternal life, to which he has been predestined from all eternity.2
As for children who die after baptism without having had time to
merit, they have been predestined to glory without having to strive
for its attainment.
What is true of all the elect, angels and men, adults and children,
is that they have been predestined to glory, i.e., eternal life.

T

The Exceptional Nature of
Christ’s Predestination
The predestination of Christ, the first among predestined souls, is
absolutely exceptional. His is not only the predestination to glory
or eternal life. His is predestination to the unique grace of personal
union with the Word, a grace that is incomparably superior to that
possessed in heaven by all the angels and saints.
As man, Christ was predestined to become not the son of God by
adoption but the Son of God by nature.8
x Cf. St. Thomas, la, q. 13, a. 1, 4.
’ Ibid., a. 5.
8 Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q. 24, a. 1 f. Thomists who have meditated at length on the
articles of St. Thomas bearing on the motive of the Incarnation and on the predestina­
tion of Christ know that for St. Thomas these two questions balance each other and
that the second permits us to insist on what in the preceding chapter we called the
I JO

THE PREDESTINATION OF CHRIST

121

St. Paul wrote to the Romans: “For whom He foreknew, He also
predestinated to be made conformable to the image of His Son5 that
He might be the first-born among many brethren.” 4 Jesus is thus the
first of the predestined souls. From all eternity God has willed Him
to be His Son by nature, and He has desired to make of the elect,
angels and men, His sons by adoption. The first-mentioned sonship
vastly surpasses the latter.
In the Epistle to the Colossians, we read: “Who is the image of the
invisible God, the first-born of every creature: for in Him were all
things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. . . . He
is before all, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of
the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the first-born from the
deadj that in all things He may hold the primacy.” e
It was first of all to divine sonship by nature that Jesus as man was
predestined, and all the gifts that He received derived from this
first one, which is the noblest of all. It is from this sonship by nature
that springs the beatitude of His saintly soul, the light of glory that
permits Him to see the divine essence with a penetration which is
superior to that of all the blessed. Not only does Jesus see God face
to face as do all the saints in heaven, but He Himself is God. And it
is certainly much greater to be God than to see Him.
Christ’s Predestination, the
Cause of Our Own
It follows that Christ’s predestination is the supreme model of
our own,® as our divine sonship by adoption is a participating likeness
of the divine sonship by nature. In this sense, as St. Paul says, we
have been “predestinated to be made conformable to the image of” T
God’s only-begotten Son. But we receive only a participation in the
divine nature, sanctifying grace, whereas the only-begotten Son of
second aspect of the mystery: God permitted the sin of the first man for a greater good,
which is the redemptive Incarnation. He permitted sin to abound that grace should more
abound. We thus grasp better the meaning of the “felix culpa quae talem ac tantum
meruit habere redemptorem.”
4 Rom. 8:29.
5 Col. 1:15—18.
0 Cf. St. Augustine, De praedestinatione sanctorum, chap. 13. Cf. also St. Thomas
Illa, q. >4, a. 3.
’ Rom. 8:29.

122

OUR SAVIOR

the Father has received from Him divine nature in its entirety by
eternal generation. He is “God of God, Light of Light, true God of
true God,” as is said in the Nicene Creed. He is the Word of God
made flesh, and, being the Son of God by nature, He cannot become
His son by adoption and by participation. For a father does not adopt
someone who is already his own child.8
Lastly, in predestining the elect from all eternity, God decided
that Christ the Redeemer would be the cause of their salvation,8 and
that He would merit for them all the effects of predestination: grace,
final perseverance, and eternal life. This is brought out in all the
texts of Scripture in which Jesus is called “Savior,” “author of salva­
tion.” For instance: “He that believeth in the Son, hath life ever­
lasting”; 10 “I am come that they may have life, and may have it
more abundantly”; 11 “My sheep hear My voice: and I know them,
and they follow Me. And I give them life everlasting; and they shall
not perish forever, and no man shall pluck them out of My hand.
That which My Father hath given Me, is greater than all: and no
one can snatch them out of the hand of My Father. I and the Father
are one.” 12
As God, Jesus predestines the elect. As man, He has merited for
the elect all the effects of predestination: habitual grace, actual graces,
final perseverance, and glory.18 Thus all the elect are subordinated
to Him, according to the words of St. Paul: “All are yours; and you
are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” 14
This gives us an insight into the grandeur of the prologue to the
Epistle to the Ephesians: “Blessed be the God and Father of our
8 Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q.23, a.4: “Christ, who is the natural Son of God, can nowise
be called an adopted son.”
8 Cf. ibid., q. 24, a. 4.
10 John 3:36; 5:24,405 6:47.
11 Ibid., 10:10.
12 Ibid., 10:27—30.
18 As God, Jesus has predestined all the elect, angels as well as men. As man, He has
merited for men grace and glory, and He merited for angels at least the accidental graces
by which they serve Him as His ministers in the kingdom of God. They are His angels,
as the Gospels tell us on several occasions: “And then shall He [the Son of man] send
His angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost
part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven” (Mark 13:27). Cf. also Matt. 13:411
24:31. Cf. St. Thomas, Ilia, q. 8, a.4: Christ is the head of the angels, who are part
of the Church triumphants Illa, q. 59, a. 6: Christ Judges the angels, His ministers, and
He is terrible to the demons.
14 I Cor. 3

THE PREDESTINATION OF CHRIST

123

Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in
heavenly places, in Christ: as He chose us in Him before the founda­
tion of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight
in charity. Who hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children
through Jesus Christ unto Himself: according to the purpose of His
will: unto the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He hath
graced us in His beloved Son. In whom we have redemption through
His blood, the remission of sins, according to the riches of His grace,
which hath superabounded in us in all wisdom and prudence. . . .
In whom [Jesus Christ] we also are called by lot, being predestinated
according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things according to
the counsel of His will; that we may be unto the praise of His glory,
we who before hoped in Christ.” 15
This lofty doctrine of the predestination of Christ throws light on
the predestination of Mary to be the Mother of God. The predestina­
tion of Christ, as man, to be the Son of God by nature is in fact identical
with the eternal decree of the Incarnation. Now this decree bears upon
this fact as it was to be realized hic et nunc, in certain given circum­
stances. And therefore it includes not only Jesus, but Mary as well.
From all eternity it had been decided that the Word of God made
flesh would be born miraculously of Mary ever virgin, united to
Joseph the just by the bonds of a genuine marriage. The execution
of this providential decree was expressed thus by St. Luke: “The
angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Naz­
areth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the
house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel be­
ing come in, said unto her: . . . the Most High shall overshadow
thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God.” 18
We see therefore that Mary’s predestination is intimately bound
up with that of Jesus, and since our Lord is not the adopted son of
the Most High, since He is His Son by nature, Mary is, in the order
of dignity, the first adopted daughter of God, far higher than the
18 Eph. 1:3—11.

18 Luke 1:26-33.

124

OUR SAVIOR

angels through the degree of grace she received at the moment of the
Immaculate Conception, in view of her unique mission as Mother of
God and Mother of men. Her predestination is all of a piece, so to
speak, with that of her Son, as are their lives here on earth and in
heaven.

p
±HE SANCTITY OF JESUS
Innate, Substantial, Uncreated Sanctity
and the Fullness of Created Grace
“And we saw His glory, the
glory as it were of the onlybegotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth.”
John 1:14

AVING considered the motive of the Incarnation, which is our
salvation, we must, in order to penetrate deeper into the in­
timate life of our Savior, consider His sanctity. This will help us to
understand ever better the meaning of these words of St. Paul:
“Where sin abounded, grace did more abound.” 1 Jesus is infinitely
more perfect that Adam was in his innocence; and while there are
obstacles to grace since the fall which did not exist in man’s innocent
state, yet the grace which comes to us from Jesus is more abundant,
if we do not resist it, than that which the innocent Adam would have
transmitted to us. The grace we receive through Jesus introduces
saints into a more profound intimacy with God, the intimacy of the
Eucharistic Communion, which did not exist in the earthly paradise.
Let us therefore consider the radical perfection of Jesus which
permeates His entire soul and which shines forth in all His faculties
and virtues. We refer to His sanctity and to the fullness of grace
that He has received.
As St. Thomas shows 2 holiness in general has two essential char­
acteristics: first, absence of all stain, of all sin, and of all directly or

H

1 Roin. j:»O.

2 Ila line, q.8:, a.8.
IS5

126

OUR SAVIOR

indirectly voluntary imperfection; and second, a firm union with
God. The latter is, in fact, the principal trait of sanctity, from which
the former derives. For it is in the measure that one is firmly united
to God that one avoids directly or indirectly voluntary sin, sins of
commission as well as sins of omission or negligence. These two as­
pects of supernatural perfection have often been expressed as follows:
Sanctity is separation from all that is impure, from all that is earthly
in the pejorative sense of the word,8 and it is also the immutable and
fundamental consecration of the soul to God. This separation and this
consecration are perfected in heaven, but they exist to a lesser degree
here below, sometimes even in children who have the sanctity of their
age, such as St. Tarcisius and Blessed Imelda.
But where shall we find here below perfect sanctity? A Greek
philosopher once asked: “Where shall we find the ideal man?” We
have the answer in the life and death of Jesus.
Let us contemplate these two aspects of sanctity as they exist in
Jesus. Whereas in us, who come from below, a progressive separation
from the world leads to union with God, in Jesus, who comes from
above, it is the personal union of His humanity to the Word which
leads to a separation of all that is impure or even merely less perfect.
The better to understand this radical perfection of the Savior, let
us progressively rise from our earthy regions toward those where He
dwells. Let us first inquire what the absence of sin and of imperfec­
tion means with relation to Him. We shall then be better able to
grasp the most positive characteristic of His sanctity and its unique­
ness.

Jesus Was without Sin

Unbelievers are forced to admit on the basis of the history of
Christ’s life that no man as perfect as He ever walked the earth.
Even those who, like Renan, spent their lives denying the divinity of
Jesus—something terrible in its consequences—even they have been
obliged to concede that He is incomparably superior to all the pagan
sages, that the virtue of Socrates pales before His goodness, His pa* In Greek iyict (holy) come» from d γή (unattached to earth).

THE SANCTITY OF JESUS

127

tience in tribulation, His gentleness toward His tormentors. Several
rationalists have gone so far as to say: There will never be any higher
moral perfection on earth; Jesus will always remain the unequaled
model, the ideal man of wisdom.4
In actual fact, no one was able to discover any sin or imperfection
in Jesus. Certain mealymouthed humanitarians have reproached Him
with His anger against the Pharisees and the money-changers in the
Temple, but it is clear that this anger was the holy indignation of
zeal. Only those can disapprove who through their egoism have
become totally indifferent to the rights of God and to the salvation of
souls.
Not only has it been impossible to discover any fault in Jesus, but
even before His birth heaven was gathering testimony in favor of
His absolute innocence.
Isaias announced: “And His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the
Prince of Peace.” 5 And: “Behold My servant, I will uphold Him:
My elect, My soul delighteth in Him: I have given My spirit upon
Him, He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
cry, nor have respect to person, neither shall His voice be heard
abroad. The bruised reed He shall not break, and smoking flax He
shall not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall
not be sad, nor troublesome, till He set judgment in the earth.” 6
Later, on the day of the Annunciation, the archangel Gabriel said
to Mary: “The Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the
Son of God.” T
An angel said to Joseph: “Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy
wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost. And she
shall bring forth a son: and thou shalt call His name Jesus. For He
shall save His people from their sins.” 8 Jesus, virginally conceived
4 A young woman who did not have the faith but who was seeking truth began to
read Renan’s Life of Jesus upon the advice of her unbelieving father. The result was
the opposite of what her father expected. In reading what Renan had been forced to
say about the greatness of Jesus in order not to contradict the truth too obviously, she
received a great interior light, believed at once in the divinity of the Savior, and from
that day became an excellent Christian and a soul of prayer. She finally obtained the
conversion of her father.
8 Isa. 9:6.
* Ibid., 42:1—4.
’Luke 1:35.
8 Matt. i:aof.

128

OUR SAVIOR

in the womb of Mary, was thus exempt from original sin; and it was
in prevision of His merits that His Mother was preserved from this
stain.
The aged Simeon, divinely enlightened, saw in the child Jesus “the
salvation . . . of all peoples: a light to the revelation of the Gentiles,
and the glory of Thy people Israel.” 9
St. John the Baptist at first refused to baptize our Lord, and said
to Him: “I ought to be baptized by Thee, and comest Thou to me?”
Jesus answered him: “Suffer it to be so now. For so it becometh us
to fulfill all justice.” And that day the Holy Ghost descended upon
Jesus in the form of a dove, and a voice from heaven was heard to
say: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 10
Later on, the Pharisees spied upon our Lord, seeking some excuse
to make an accusation against Him. Jesus, with supreme dignity which
equaled His humility, answered them: “Which of you shall con­
vince Me of sin? . . . He that is of God heareth the words of God.
Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God.” 11 In
defense of the woman taken in adultery, who was about to be pitilessly
stoned, Jesus said: “He that is without sin among you, let him first
cast a stone at her.” But no one felt himself pure enough to cast that
first stone, and so they “went out one by one.” 12
During the Passion, Pilate declared: “I find no cause in Him.” 18
He washed his hands before the crowd, saying: “I am innocent of
the blood of this just man: look you to it.” 14 The Jews could say only
one thing: “We have a law; and according to the law He ought to die,
because He made Himself the Son of God.” 18
The centurion, seeing Jesus’ gentleness toward His persecutors
during the crucifixion and the signs which accompanied His death,
cried out: “Indeed this was the Son of God.” 18
Finally, Christ’s resurrection is the glorious manifestation of His
sanctity, as the apostles never tire of proclaiming. St. Peter, calling
attention to one of Isaias’s prophecies, wrote in his First Epistle:
“Christ . . . suffered for us, . . . who did no sin, neither was guile
found in His mouth, . . . who His own self bore our sins in His body
’Luke 2:30-32.
IbiJ., 18:38.

10 Matt. 3 :« 4—17.
14 Matt. 27:24.

11 John 8:46!.
” John 19:7.

12 Ibid., 8:7-9.
,e Matt. 27:34.

THE SANCTITY OF JESUS

129

upon the tree: that we . . . should live to justice: by whose stripes
you were healed.” 1T
The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us: “For it was fitting that we
should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated
from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; who needeth not
daily (as the other priests) to offer sacrifices first for His own sins,
and then for the people’s: for this He did once, in offering Him­
self.” 18
All these testimonials from heaven and earth attest that Jesus is
without sin. He was never grazed by original sin, and He never com­
mitted even the slightest personal sin.
Far more, not only did our Savior never actually commit sin, but
He was absolutely impeccable. As is commonly taught by the Fathers
and by theology, our Lord was impeccable on three grounds: by rea­
son of His divine personality, by reason of the inamissible plenitude
of grace that is His, and by reason of the immediate vision He had
of Supreme Goodness, from which He could not turn away. Just as
a mass of red-hot iron which is kept in the fire cannot grow cool, so
it was that Jesus’ soul, personally and indissolubly united to the Word
and thereby enriched with the fullness of grace, and always illumined
by the light of glory, could not sin.
It is absolutely impossible to attribute sin to the Word made flesh.
That would amount to saying: God has sinned. He could die for our
salvation, but not sin. God cannot turn away from Himself, outrage
Himself. This is crystal clear.
Likewise, a soul which has received the fullness of grace in an in­
amissible manner cannot sin; for this would involve losing this pleni­
tude, or at least diminishing it.
Finally, a soul which sees God immediately, as do the saints in
heaven, cannot turn away from Him or cease for a single moment to
love Him.
Jesus Free from All Imperfections

Apart from sin, there was never in Jesus the slightest involuntary
disorder of the emotions, nor any moral imperfection. There was
,f I Pet. 1:21—24.

w Heb. 7:26 f.

130

OUR SAVIOR

never in Him a focus of covetousness and lust such as exists in us as
one of the consequences of original sin. Indeed, He was not exempt
from the attacks of the world and the devil. He even allowed tempta­
tion to rise up against Him, in order to teach us how to conquer it.
“[Jesus] was led by the Spirit into the desert, for a space of forty
days; and was tempted by the devil.” 19 These were temptations of
vainglory and pride, to which He made answer with words from
Scripture and acts of humility.
There was no moral imperfection in our Savior which might have
diminished His sanctity. He was never unfaithful or slow to respond
to the slightest inspiration from His Father. “He that sent Me, is
with Me, and He hath not left Me alone: for I do always the things
that please Him.” 20 He never had any other purpose than to “glorify
God” by saving souls, in accordance with the fullness of His mis­
sion.21
Such is what is sometimes called the negative aspect of Christ’s
sanctity: the absence of all sin. But since sin is itself a privation, a
disorder, this aspect—that is, the absence of disorder—is already
very positive and it manifests to us to a certain extent the intimate
union with God which formally constitutes the sanctity of Jesus.
Before entering upon this great subject of the holiness of Jesus,
with particular emphasis on the aspect of separation from the spirit
of the world, from the spirit of covetousness and pride, let us come
back to what we mentioned at the beginning of this chapter: namely,
the difference between the Savior who comes from heaven and our­
selves who come from below.
The sacred soul of Jesus is separated from the spirit of the world
by His very elevation, because He comes from above, because He is
the Word made flesh, come down from heaven to save us. It is His
inward greatness that separates Him from all that is inferior. He
cannot become attached to these things. By reason of His very eleva­
tion He is detached from earthly pleasures, from honors, from
worldly affairs. He is a perfect model of poverty: He “hath not where
to lay His head.” For the same reason He was detached from the
pleasures of the world, and He was free from family responsibilities
‘•Luk
*
4:1 f.

,0John 1:19.

” Cf. John, chap. 17.

THE SANCTITY OF JESUS

131

because He came to found a universal family, the Church. Hence He
is the perfect model of religious chastity. His elevation also separates
Him from any spirit of willfulness. When He was twelve years old
He declared that He had come to tend to His Father’s business,23
and He obeyed even unto death, and to the death of the cross. St.
Thomas tells us that He had no need to make the three vows of pov­
erty, chastity, and obedience because from the first moment of His
conception His will was strengthened and immutably fixed not only
upon the good, but upon the best.
Since our Lord comes from above, it is His greatness which sepa­
rates Him from all that is inferior, not to isolate Him but so that He
may act upon the world from a great height, and so that in conse­
quence His action may be more universal and more profound. Such
is the action of the sun upon the earth when it is at its zenith, at the
highest point above the horizon. Because our Lord was by His very
elevation free from the bonds that attach men to earthly goods, to
their family, to their own little ideas, to their own will, He was able
to act not only on the men of one nation or of one era, but upon the
whole human race, to whom He has brought eternal life. It is because
of the greatness of the Savior that the Gospel is accessible to all, even
the most humble, while at the same time surpassing the understand­
ing of the greatest geniuses. It is for the same reason that the Gospel
has never grown old and that it will always be timely with an im­
mutable timeliness, superior to that of the fleeting moment.
Jesus was not of the world, but He was given to the world by God’s
infinite mercy that He might redeem it. This is brought out by the
first aspect of His sanctity, freedom from all sin and imperfection.
There is a vast difference between our Lord and ourselves in this
respect. Since He comes from above, He is separated by His very
elevation from all that is inferior, evil, or less good. As for us, we
come from below, from the world of sin, of lies, of covetousness and
pride. So we have to separate ourselves progressively from the spirit
of the world, from all that is disorderly in it, and progressively rise
toward God. This is the meaning of the Commandments and of the
three evangelical counsels.
22 Luke a =49.

132

OUR SAVIOR

At this point some may at times be tempted to think that in this
work which is so hard for us we have more merit than our Savior. This
is an aberration, for our merits would not exist without the grace
which comes from Him. Besides, this would be forgetting that by
reason of His very elevation our Lord suffered more acutely from
sin than we shall ever suffer from it. The fullness of grace increased
considerably in His soul the capacity of suffering from the greatest
of evils, namely, mortal sin, about which we are not sufficiently grieved
because the disorder which it involves is too deep-seated for us to
perceive. Our Lord suffered because of sin in the measure of His love
for His Father whom sin offends, and in the measure of His love for
our souls which sin ravages and kills.
Thus, whereas we must struggle and suffer in order to free our­
selves from sin, our Lord has suffered from it infinitely more than
we, in the measure of His purity and of His love.
To understand better this most consoling aspect of the sanctity of
Jesus, let us repeat the beautiful prayer recommended as a thanks­
giving after Holy Communion: “Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body
of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Passion of Christ,
fortify me. O good Jesus, hear me. Hide me in Thy sacred wounds.
Never permit me to be separated from Thee. Defend me from the
evil spirit. At the hour of death, call me and command me to come
to Thee, so that in the company of Thy saints I may praise Thee for
all eternity. Amen.”
Let us now enter the sanctuary of the Savior’s soul and contemplate
the most positive aspect of His sanctity, which constitutes it formally.
The Innate, Substantial, Uncreated and
Inamissible Sanctity of Jesus

Through its personal union with the Word, the soul of Jesus has
an innate, substantial, uncreated sanctity which is in consequence ab­
solutely perfect and inamissible. This sanctity is constituted especially
by the grace of union with the Word and it infinitely surpasses the
sanctity of even the greatest servants of God.28
’· Cf. St. Thoma», Illa, q.6, a.6: “The grace of union is the personal being that is

THE SANCTITY OF JESUS

133

No doubt, when we read the lives of these privileged beings, the
saints, we are struck by the splendor of their virtues, of their good­
ness, of their generosity, of their ardor in sacrifice. Next to them, the
most radiant integrity is dull, and the lives of pagan heroes seem
external and without depth.
The outstanding trait of the saints is that they have given them­
selves not merely to an earthly ideal of the intellectual or moral or­
der, but they have given themselves fully to God, they are taken and
possessed by Him, and they live only for Him and for the sake of
saving souls. They interpret the counsels of God’s love as com­
mands, and they allow themselves to be guided by divine inspira­
tion, even when it leads to the greatest sacrifices. And, the more they
abandon themselves to God, the more the Lord showers His gifts
upon them 5 and the more they receive, the more they give, bring­
ing life to their fellow men.
Withal, this sanctity of the greatest of God’s servants is infinitely
inferior to that of the Savior. The sanctity of the saints gradually frees
itself from many imperfections; it is not an innate perfection; it is
the crowning of a long and painful effort, the fruit of the workings of
grace and of their merits. It is the end of a slow ascent during which
even the guides sometimes stumble, as did Peter during the passion
of his Master. It is easier of course to walk in the plain on the beaten
paths than to make this ascent, especially where there is no trail to
follow and no firm footing. Sometimes one turns back. It seems as if
one is lost and will be caught without shelter in the darkness and cold.
As St. John of the Cross remarks, there are ups and downs in this as­
cent. For three steps forward one makes two backward, but one ad­
vances none the less; and after long periods of tribulation during
which the servant of God is not free from committing sin, he progres­
sively arrives under the illumination of faith to union with God. His
sanctity, alloyed now with impetuosity and again with cowardice, is
a slow and laborious task, the work of grace and of personal coopera­
given gratis from above to the human nature of the person of the Word.” Ibid., Illa,
q. 22, a. a ad 3j q. 24, a. 1 f., on whether Christ was predestined to be the Son of Godj
q. 26, a. r f., on Christ as Mediator. Cf. John of St. Thomas, De incam., disp. 8, a. 1 j
Gonct, De incam,, disp. ti j Billuart, De incar»., disp. 8, a.i.

134

OUR SAVIOR

tion, and it has still many signs of human fragility, as we see in the
lives of the greatest saints, namely, the apostles.24
Besides, the holiness of the servants of God is in their case an ac­
cidental perfection, in the sense that it is superadded to their being.
It consists in the higher degree of sanctifying grace which they have
received and in the charity that has blossomed in them. This perfec­
tion is also accidental in the sense that while still here below they can
lose it, as Adam lost it for himself and for us. Finally, it is a perfec­
tion which always leaves room for a greater perfection, for a deeper
understanding of the mysteries of God, and for a more burning char­
ity, the fruit of greater graces and greater efforts.
The sanctity of Jesus, on the other hand, did not progressively free
itself from manifold imperfections: it is innate in Him. Jesus was
born holy. He was holy even from the first moment of His concep­
tion, by the personal union of His humanity with the Word. Thus His
soul was from the start sanctified by the divinity of the Word, by the
grace of personal union with the only-begotten Son of the Father. It
is therefore incomparably better consecrated than a chalice, than the
soul of a priest marked with the sign of priesthood. Jesus is above all
others the “Anointed of God.” 25 He is given exclusively to His Fa­
ther’s “business,” as He said at the age of twelve when He was found
among the doctors. His sacred soul was supremely pleasing to the
Father from the first moment; within it the kingdom of God is real­
ized in its absolute fullness.
The sanctity of Jesus is thus innate and anterior even to His birth.
And, by reason of His merits, His mother, the Virgin Mary, received
the grace of innate sanctity through the grace of the Immaculate Con­
ception.
But what belongs to Christ alone and what is not to be found in any
other human soul or in any angel is the fact that His sanctity is not
merely innate, but substantial and uncreated. This is not an accidental
perfection, superadded to His being. It is the sanctity of the eternal
Word that substantially sanctifies the soul of Jesus in giving it sub*4 Although the just can avoid each venial sin taken individually, they cannot avoid
them all taken as a whole or continually. To do that, they would need the very special
grace received by the Blessed Virgin.
Ps. 44:8.

THE SANCTITY OF JESUS

135

sistence. The sanctity of the Word thus penetrates His soul in the
highest degree possible. If the saints are beings taken by God, pos­
sessed by Him, how much more so is “the Anointed of God,” who has
received the fullness of the divine unction and who subsists by it?
For, as we have seen, there is in Jesus only one subject of attribution,
a single person, and thus a single subsistence or personality, that of
the Word, and a single existence, by reason of which He said: “Be­
fore Abraham was made, I am.” 28
That is the same as saying that the sanctity of Jesus, like the grace
of union with the Word, is not only substantial, but it is uncreated.
For it is formally constituted by the uncreated personality of the
Word, which has united itself for all eternity with the soul of the
Savior, so that in Jesus the two natures exist through the uncreated
existence. This is what makes it possible for Him to say: “I am the
truth and the life” or “I am who am.” 27
Isaias spoke of Jesus when he said: “I saw the Lord sitting upon a
throne high and elevated. . . . Upon it stood the seraphims: the
one had six wings, and the other had six wings: with two they covered
His face, and with two they covered His feet, and with two they flew.
And they cried one to another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord
God of hosts, all the earth is full of His glory.” 28
St. John likewise records these words in the Apocalypse: “Holy,
holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is
to come.” 29
This substantial and uncreated sanctity of Christ is therefore the
most perfect sanctity conceivable, the most intimate, and the most
steadfast. Because of it He is the Saint of saints. Can a divine person
be more intimately and indissolubly united to a soul, to a created
nature, than by communicating to it Its own subsistence, or personal­
ity, and Its existence? A greater sanctity than this cannot be conceived.
In fact, we can say that while the apostles Peter and Paul are saints,
20 John 8 :j8.
27 Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q. 6, a. 6: “The grace of union is the personal being that is
given gratis from above to the human nature of the Person of the Word, and is the term
of the assumption. Whereas the habitual grace pertaining to the spiritual holiness of
the man is an effect following the union.” Illa, q. 17, a. 1: “Whether there is only one
being in Christ.”
22 Isa. 6:1—3.
20 John 4:8.

136

OUR SAVIOR

Jesus is sanctity itself, just as He is God Himself and the Deity. This
sanctity is therefore inamissible, for Christ cannot cease being Christ,
the Anointed of God. This He will always be, in aeternum. By the
same token He is a priest for all eternity.
In a word: the sanctity of Jesus is constituted above all by the grace
of uncreated union, which consists in the possession forever of the
Savior’s humanity by the person of the Word.
Jesus continually lives, therefore, in an order superior to that of
nature, and to that of grace, that is, of supernatural created sanctity.
His soul lives in a special order, the order of the hypostatic union, the
order of the personal and substantial life of God, wherein He is
placed by the grace of His union with the Word.30
The saints, especially those who are in heaven, enjoy the ecstasy
of knowledge and of love. Their intelligence and their will are, as it
were, lost in God, taken away by the divine object. The blessed soul
of Jesus, on the other hand, enjoyed from the first moment of its
creation an ecstasy superior to that of contemplation and of love. It
enjoyed, as we have said, the ecstasy of being or of existence, an
habitual, tranquil, permanent ecstasy. For the soul of the Savior sub­
sists only by the personality and by the uncreated existence of the
Word.31
Such is the innate, substantial, and uncreated sanctity of Jesus, for­
mally constituted by the personal union of His humanity to the Word.
Taking up this affirmation by the Church that the sanctity of Christ
is innate, some unbelievers have said that in consequence His sanctity
is without difficulties and without merit. Though Jesus’ sanctity is not
the fruit of merit, it is the source of all His merits and of ours as
well.3233
Besides, if anyone has faced here on earth hardship, contradic­
30 The Virgin Mary touches this hypostatic order by reason of the grace of her divine
maternity, inasmuch as she is the Mother of God, or the mother of Jesus who is God. That
is why she is entitled to the worship of hyperdulia.
31 As the soul separated from the body subsists after death and will on the day of
resurrection communicate its existence to the body which it will once again vivify, so
the Word communicated His uncreated existence to the humanity of the Savior at the
moment of the Incarnation.
33 As St. Thomas explains (Ilia, q. 19, a. 3), it is true of Christ as of ourselves that
it is nobler to have something through merit than without merit. Thus Jesus merited the
glory of 11 is body, His Resurrection, His Ascension, the exaltation of His name, and the sal-

THE SANCTITY OF JESUS

137

tion, combat, it was our Savior. Shall we say that the saints, endowed
with special graces from their childhood, have less merit than we?
The principle of merit is charity or love of God. Therefore he who
has a greater love of God has more merits, and he also suffers much
more than others from the greatest of all evils, namely, sin. We can
see, therefore, that we cannot even surmise how much our Savior suf­
fered. His innate, substantial, and uncreated sanctity considerably
increased the capacity of His soul to suffer here on earth from sin,
which is an offense against God and which brings us death by turning
us away from Him.

The Fullness of Created Grace
From His substantial and uncreated sanctity our Lord derived
created sanctifying grace, and this He received in its fullness. And
from grace derive the supernatural virtues and the gifts of charity,
wisdom, piety, humility, patience, meekness in a proportionate de­
gree, which is far superior to that of the saints and to that which was
realized within the soul of Mary.
Was it possible that the soul of the Savior, which was united in the
highest degree possible to God, the source of all grace, should not
have been full of grace? Was it possible that His soul, which was to
make us participants of all the supernatural gifts, should not itself
have been adorned with all of them? 88
Created grace is a participation in divine nature which, like a second
nature, increases the stature of our souls to produce connaturally 84
supernatural and meritorious acts. It is like a divine graft in us which
elevates us to a superior life. The soul of Jesus received this grace in
its absolute plenitude. That is what St. John meant when he wrote:
“And we saw His glory, . . . full of grace and truth.” 35 A few
vation of our souls. But we must make one exception to this principle if the temporary
deprivation of something would diminish our Savior’s perfection more than the merit
which presupposes this deprivation would increase His perfection. Thus Jesus did not
merit the beatific vision, for the temporary deprivation of this vision would diminish
His perfection more than the merit would increase it. Christ could merit only what was
in Him the principle of merit: His divine personality and the fullness of grace.
Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q.7, a.9.
•4 That is to say: ns if it were naturally.
” John 1 34.

138

OUR SAVIOR

great saints, such as St. Stephen the first martyr, and above all Mary,
received a relative plenitude of grace, proportioned to their mission
in the Church. Thus the archangel Gabriel said to Mary: “Hail, full
of grace.” 88 Jesus, however, received grace in its absolute fullness,
that is to say, in its supreme degree.
According to the actual plan of Providence, this grace cannot be
any loftier, for it is morally proportioned to the highest dignity, that
of the person of the Word made flesh.87 Furthermore, in the soul of
Jesus this grace cooperates in supernatural and meritorious acts which
are, by reason of the personality of the Word, of infinite value.
Finally, this grace possesses the maximum of extension, for it cor­
responds to the most universal of all missions, that of the Savior of all
men. It extends to all supernatural effects, and it contains within it­
self in an eminent degree, as a superior well-spring, all the graces
necessary to the apostles, the martyrs, the confessors, and the virgins
of all lands and of all times. As St. Thomas tells us,88 the soul of
Jesus received habitual grace just as the sun receives light, with the
greatest intensity and radiance. And since there is probably in the
physical world a center of light of even greater intensity and radiance
than the sun, let us use it as a feeble symbol of the fullness of created
grace within the soul of our Savior. This is to say that the habitual
grace within the soul of Jesus surpasses in intensity and splendor that
of all the saints and angels together, as the light of the sun excels that
of the planets and their satellites.
Christ received this fullness of grace from the first moment of His
conception, for it is an immediate consequence of the personal union
with the Word. And even in this first instant He received it freely ;
for His holy soul was created as were those of the angels not in a state
of sleep but in a waking and freely acting state.89
This plenitude was so perfect even from the first moment that it
could not increase during the course of the earthly life of our Lord.40
88 Luke i :i 8.
87 St. Thomas, Illa, q. 7, a. 9 ad 3 j a. 1 a ad 2.
88 Ibid., a. 9—ii.
88 Cf. ibid., q.34, a. 3. Thus the justified adult freely receives sanctifying grace, the
principle of merit. Likewise the angels were created in the state of grace. Cf. St. Thomas,
la, q.61, a.3.
40The Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (553) defined, in opposition

THE SANCTITY OF JESUS

139

But with the same degree of grace, He accomplished works that were
ever more perfect as He grew in years, until the consummation of
His mission on the cross.41 Thus we might say that the sun’s light,
while maintaining an unchanging degree of intensity, lights and
warms the earth more as it approaches the zenith, the highest point
in the sky.42
This plenitude of grace was from the first moment of Jesus’ life
the source of the virtues and gifts which are reconcilable with the
beatific vision and with personal union to the Word.43 And these
virtues and gifts proceed from it in a proportionate degree, that is, the
supreme degree.44 This fact gives us an insight into the charity of
Christ, even from the first moment, and into His love for His Father
and for souls, His wisdom, His prudence, His piety, His justice, His
fortitude, His patience, His humility, His meekness.
From the first moment of His earthly life, He possessed in the
supreme degree all the virtues excepting those which fundamentally
admit of an imperfection that cannot be reconciled with the beatific
vision. For He received the beatific vision from that first instant. Thus
it was that He had neither faith nor hope, both of which will disap­
pear in us to make way for the vision of God.45 Nor did He have con­
trition, which presupposes personal sin, but He took upon Himself the
punishment which our sins demanded.4®
This shows us the falsity of saying that Christ, having received so
__________

·

to Theodore of Mopsuestia, that the blessed soul of Christ was not subject to the pas­
sions and that it did not become better through progress in virtue and good works: “ex
perfectu operum non melioratus est Christus.” (Cf. Denzinger, no. 224.)
41 Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q.8, a. 12 ad 3.
42 In Mary, on the contrary, there was an increase in grace and in charity, from the
initial plenitude at the moment of the Immaculate Conception until the moment of final
plenitude at her death, before the Assumption.
48 Cf. Isa. 11:1: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a
flower shall rise up out of his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the
spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the spirit
of knowledge and of godliness. And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the
Lord.”
44 Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q. 7, a. 2.
48 From this it follows that there was never faith or hope greater than Mary’s. Her
heroic faith and hope, especially at the foot of the cross, far surpassed the faith and
hope of the angels while they were still in their transitory state.
48 For the same reason Mary did not have contrition, although in union with her
Son she bore the punishment for our sins.

140

OUR SAVIOR

much, could not suffer. Quite the contrary. As we have already re­
marked, the fullness of grace in Christ’s soul greatly increased His
capacity for suffering here on earth from the worst of all evils, namely,
sin. The nobler and purer a soul is here on earth, the more it suffers
from mortal sin, the radical disorder that turns souls away from God,
their final end.
This spiritual suffering began in our Lord’s soul from the instant
He knew of His mission as Savior.47 It was then that He offered His
first act of love, in union with those which were to follow until His
death. From the start He offered up His whole life in an incompa­
rably more perfect manner than does the religious when at his profes­
sion he promises obedience until death.48
This fullness of grace is manifested in the marvelous harmonizing
of apparently opposed virtues. Harmony, which is unity in diversity,
is all the more beautiful in the measure that there is a more profound
unity in a vaster diversity, and that there is a deeper intimacy be­
tween widely separated elements.
In Jesus are admirably reconciled the loftiest supernaturality and
the simplest and most spontaneous naturalness. But when we try to
be natural, we often forget the exigences of grace and fall into the
practical naturalism of indifference. If, on the other hand, we try to
attain supernatural perfection without passing through the indispen­
sable intermediaries, we fall into a state of arrogant rigidity, reminis­
cent of the Jansenists, or into a false supernatural exaltation which
borders on eccentricity. In Jesus, nature and grace are wonderfully
harmonized because He possesses the fullness of grace and because
His nature is completely docile.
In Jesus also the most sublime wisdom and the most astute prac­
tical sense are also harmonized. As for us, we are usually either too
abstract, lost in vague generalities, or, on the contrary, we put undue
emphasis on details, without viewing things from a sufficient height.
47 St. Paul says: “Wherefore when He [Christ] cometh into the world, He saith:
Sacrifice and oblation Thou wouldst not: but a body Thou hast fitted to Me: . . . Be­
hold I come: . . . that I should do Thy will, O God” (Heb. 10:5-7).
48 This explains why the first meritorious act of Christ, although of infinite value, did
not render the succeeding acts superfluous. He offered up the first united to all the others,
as destined to lead Him to the death of the cross.

THE SANCTITY OF JESUS

141

Within Jesus are also united perfect justice and boundless mercy,
whereas in us justice often turns to severity, and mercy to weakness.
Let us call to mind our Savior’s forgiveness of the adulterous woman:
what firmness and yet what generosity!
Likewise in Him are harmonized a supreme dignity and the deep­
est humility. Among men, however, magnanimity is frequently ac­
companied by haughtiness, and souls that are naturally modest often
remain pusillanimous and without energy.
Finally in Jesus are reconciled the most heroic strength and the
greatest meekness, as witnessed by the smile of the Crucified praying
for His executioners: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what
they do.” 49
Nowhere else can we find a loftier or deeper moral harmony, more
far-reaching in its scope, or of greater splendor, couched in terms of
such noble sobriety.

The Consequences for Us
Jesus is the sun of sanctity, eager to shower His splendors upon us.
He received holiness as the universal principle of all graces, graces of
light, of attraction, of power. He is not a vessel, a brook, or even a
river of sanctity: He is its living source.
St. John tells us: “And of His fullness we all have received, and
grace for grace.” 00 Let us contemplate the radiation of this sanctity
in the lives of the saints, of the apostles, martyrs, confessors, and
virgins of all times, including our own.
Let us remember that when we were baptized we received from the
Savior the same emanation of supernatural life. If we have fallen back
into the death of sin, we have been spiritually revivified by absolu­
tion, Christ’s own pardon, and our souls have been placed once again
beneath the living waters of grace, beneath the torrent of divine
mercies. If we face tribulation, let us remember that the grace offered
to us is proportionate to the sacrifices demanded of us. Let us allow
ourselves to be drawn to the Savior, to be illumined, warmed, and
vivified by Him. Let us allow ourselves to be loved by His pure and
4* Luke *
3:34,

00 John 1:16.

141

OUR SAVIOR

powerful love, which will purify us more and more. If He makes us
suffer, it is to make us like Himself, and to associate us with the
mystery of the Redemption through suffering. Let us ever ask Him
for new graces, including the grace of final perseverance. And, with­
out resisting, let us allow these graces to inspire us to ever greater acts
of generosity, for our own salvation, for that of our neighbor, and
for the glory of Christ. Let us also pray for saints who will tell the
men of our time what they most need to hear, saints who by their lives
will reveal to them Christ’s love for us.
Even in the Old Testament the Lord said to His ministers: “Be
holy because I am holy.” 61 Now that we have received the One who
is the Saint of saints, let us say to Him: “Lord, sanctify us, so that
we may sanctify Thy name, that we may bear witness to Thy mercy,
and that Thy kingdom may become more firmly established within
us.” This is the first prayer that children learn from their mothers,
for these are the first words of the Our Father: “Our Father who art
in heaven, hallowed be Thy name,” that is, may His name be glori­
fied, may its holiness be recognized, not only by our words but by our
acts, by our whole life, which should be a song of glory for the Creator
in recognition of His goodness.
S1 Lev. 11

*XII®
rpHE HUMAN INTELLIGENCE OF THE SAVIOR
AND HIS CONTEMPLATION

1

“Never did man speak like
this man.”
John 7:46

E HAVE inquired into the nature of the innate, substantial,
uncreated sanctity of our Lord and into the absolute fullness
of grace which derives from this sanctity and radiates upon the souls
of all men.
We must now consider the supernatural riches of the Savior’s intel­
ligence, will, and heart. We shall speak first of His human intelli­
gence, for there can be no doubt that Jesus has a human intelligence,
the property of His human nature, as well as a divine intelligence, the
property of His divine nature. This point has been defined by the
Church in opposition to Apollinarianism. To maintain that He has
only a divine intelligence is to claim that He has no soul and that the
Word takes its place. If this were the case, Jesus would not be truly
a man, since He would possess only the least important part of hu­
man nature, namely, the body.
To gain some insight into the spiritual riches of Jesus’ human intel­
ligence, let us first of all consider Him in His actual role as teacher,
and then inquire into the nature of His contemplation of the truths
which He taught.

W

What Kind of Teacher Was Jesus?

Modern rationalists are willing to see in Him a profound moralist
of great delicacy and charm, who translated into figurative and highly
popular language the maxims of ancient Judaic wisdom, “giving
>43

144

OUR SAVIOR

them a new life by filtering them through His impressionable soul,”
as one of these rationalists puts it.1 But they are generally agreed
that Jesus never had any doctrine; that He never taught a body of
truths or of dogmas that no one could knowingly and willfully reject
without turning away from God and losing his soul. According to
them, it was only much later, by a slow process of elaboration, by the
union of the Christian religion with Greek philosophy, that Catholic
dogma was constituted.
To make Jesus seem more like one of us, liberal Protestants and
modernists have held that He was ignorant of many matters relative
to the kingdom of God and that He did not have from the beginning
of His life the consciousness of His Messiahship. Both groups admit
that He bore within Himself a ferment that brought forth a new
religious movement, but they hold that He did not teach a doctrine
and a truth which no one can refuse to believe without turning away
from the way of salvation.
What on the other hand do we see in the Gospel? In St. Luke
(2:46-49), we read that when Jesus was twelve years old He was
found by Mary and Joseph “in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the
doctors, hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard
Him were astonished at His wisdom and His answers. . . . And
He said to them [Mary and Joseph] : How is it that you sought Me?
Did you not know, that I must be about My Father’s business?” 2
Thus, long before His public ministry, Jesus knew His mission.
During this ministry He spoke repeatedly of His doctrine, of the
truths to which He came to bear witness, of the light He was bring­
ing into the world, of the faith to be given to His words. As St. Mark
reports, He began His ministry by preaching the gospel of the king­
dom of God and saying: “The time is accomplished, and the kingdom
of God is at hand: repent, and believe the gospel.” 8 St. Matthew
says that “when Jesus had fully ended these words [the Sermon on
1 To a believer, this word “impressionable” seems to have been chosen in order to de­
nature as much as possible the lofty inspiration here in question. This word robs it of all
that it is, while apparently conceding to it a certain poetic grandeur of the order of the
imagination and of sensibility. To think that such words have been spoken with regard
to Him who is “the way, the truth, and the life”!
’Luke 1:46-49.
"Mark i:tj.

CHRIST’S CONTEMPLATION

145

the Mount], the people were in admiration at His doctrine. For He
was teaching them as one having power, and not as the scribes and
Pharisees.” 4*St. Matthew also reports that Jesus said to His apostles
before leaving them: “All power is given Me in heaven and in earth.
Going therefore teach ye all nations: baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost 5 teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I
am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” s St.
Mark reports these words even more fully: “Go ye into the whole
world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth
and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be
condemned.” e This is indeed the doctrine necessary for salvation.
In the Gospel, Jesus continually appears as the Master and con­
tinually speaks of His doctrine. On Holy Thursday, having washed
His apostles’ feet, He said to them : “Know you what I have done to
you? You call Me Master and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.
If then I, being your Lord and Master, have washed your feet. . . .
I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do
also. ... If you know these things, you shall be blessed if you do
them.” 7
Jesus often said: “My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me. If
any man will do the will of Him, he shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself.” 8 In the Gospel
of St. John, Jesus says as many as six times: “He that believeth in
Me [with a faith quickened with love], hath everlasting life.” 9 And
to the Pharisees, He said: “If I do [the works of My Father], though
you will not believe Me, believe the works: that you may know and
believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” 10 And:
“Whilst you have the light, believe in the light.” 11
The apostles also preached everywhere that Jesus’ word was di­
vine. St. Paul declared that he had received his doctrine from Jesus
I limself, when he wrote to the Galatians: “I give you to understand,
4 Matt. 7:28!.
6 Matt. 28:18-20.
’John 13:12—17.
8 Ibid., 7:16 f.
•John 3:15, 361 5:24} 6:471 7:3*1 11:25 f.
11 Ibid., 12:36.

’ Mark 16:15 f.
10 Ibid., 10:38.

146

OUR SAVIOR

brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according
to man. For neither did I receive it of man, nor did I learn it5 but by
the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 12 At this point St. Paul calls to
mind his conversion and the fact that his doctrine conforms with that
of the other apostles, and that it was approved in a conference with
them at Jerusalem. It is by this evangelical doctrine that the entire
primitive Chuch lived, without any concern at all about reconciling
it with Greek philosophy. We see, therefore, that Jesus presented
a unified doctrine, whatever the rationalists may say to the contrary.
Far more than this, the sublimity of Jesus’ doctrine is apparent the
moment one hears it preached, especially when one compares what it
tells us of God and of human life with what the philosophers or even
Moses and the prophets have said. A person easily finds in Jesus’
teaching the loftiest dogmas and the purest morality. And the more
it is put into practice, the more does its grandeur impress itself upon
us. The more anyone lives by it the more he loves it, the more he sees
its eternal timeliness, whereas the works of even the greatest geniuses
always grow old in some particular.
The most eminent philosophers of antiquity, Plato and Aristotle,
had certainly risen above the materialism and skepticism of their
predecessors. Indeed, they had affirmed the existence of God, the
Supreme Intelligence and the Sovereign Good. But they had not
been able to attain the explicit idea of creation ex nihilo, which pre­
supposed no pre-existing subject to be transformed. Especially they
had not been able to grasp the idea of a free creation, the idea of the
creative Fiat expressed in the first lines of Genesis. They could not ar­
rive at an understanding of the extent to which this world’s beings de­
pend upon God. In consequence their idea of Providence remained
very timid. They dared not affirm that divine Providence can extend
to the smallest details of the lives of each of us. They spoke with even
greater timidity of the life to come, of its rewards and punishments.
When they did affirm it, their affirmation, as they said, was in terms of
a beautiful possibility.18 Their moral teaching, beautiful in certain
respects, remained marred by some rather gross errors. They did not
even think it was possible to abolish slavery, and their personal lives
” Gal. i :i 1 f,

11 Life to come was thus presented even in the Phaedo.

CHRIST’S CONTEMPLATION

U?

were far below the level of their teaching; in fact, their lives some­
times were the negation of their teaching.
How different is the Gospel, in which Jesus speaks with absolute
certainty of God, His Father and ours, of Providence, and of eternal
life! Did He train Himself naturally, as has been claimed, by the
simple meditative reading of the Old Testament, of Moses and the
Prophets?
Moses and the Prophets certainly far surpassed the ancient phi­
losophers inasmuch as they affirmed, through the light of revelation
and with absolute certainty, that God is the One who is, that every­
thing has been created from nothing, that God made man holy and
good in the beginning, and that after our fall He labored mercifully
for the restoration of His people, to whom He had promised a Savior.
Yet, in the teaching of Moses and the Prophets the intimate life
of God, the Blessed Trinity, remained hidden, and the omnipotence
of the Creator inspired especially fear, the beginning of wisdom. The
Lord’s commandments had taken into account the imperfection of
men’s souls, which were going through the hard experience of being
in need of redemption, and which had to be slowly guided toward the
new era of the promised Savior.
Jesus, on the other hand, taught with the most absolute certitude,
without any timidity whatever, not only the truths of creation and of
the soul’s immortality, but the dogma of eternal life which was far
beyond any conception of the life to come that the philosophers talked
about. And He made eternal life known not merely by symbols like
that of the promised land, which were used in the Old Testament;
but even in His first words on the beatitudes, He declared: “Blessed
are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their
fill. . . . Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God. . . .
Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake: for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. ... Be glad and rejoice, for your re­
ward is very great in heaven.” 14 In the parable of the talents the faith­
ful servant was told: “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” 15 That
is to say: See God as He sees Himself, and love Him as He loves
Himself.
14 Matt. j:6-ia.

· Ibid., *
*
5:11,

aj.

i48

OUR SAVIOR

From the start of His ministry, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus
did not merely tell us, as Moses did, that God is the Creator and
Master of all things, but that He is our Father. Accordingly Jesus
taught us to pray thus: “Our Father who are in heaven, hallowed be
Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.” 18 What loftier
idea of God can be given to men, and what more sanctifying power
for their lives? This is the essence of the whole of Christian dogma
and morality.
This eternal Father, Jesus continued, has an only Son, begotten
from all eternity, and “God so loved the world, as to give His onlybegotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but
may have life everlasting.” 1T Jesus increasingly manifested Himself
to be this only-begotten Son, come to save us, to redeem us by His
mission and by His death: “The Son of man is not come to be min­
istered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a redemption for
many” (Matt. 20:28).
He declared that He would rise from the dead, ascend into heaven,
but that He would still be present in the Church until the end of
time in the form of the Eucharist,18 and through the Holy Ghost
whom He would send and who would dwell in us in order to make
us grasp the meaning of the gospel and thus lead other souls to eternal
life.19 Thenceforth eternal life is seen to be indissoluble union with
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in the radiance of the bea­
tific vision: “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.”
Can we fail to endure patiently anything that is said untruly about
us when we remember that it has been said of Him who is the Teacher
of teachers, who is “the truth and the life,” that He never had a
doctrine?
His teaching includes not only the dogma of creation which had
been so clearly enunciated in the Old Testament, but also those of
the Blessed Trinity, the Incarnation, the Redemption, the Eucharist,
and eternal life. These are all, of course, unfathomable supernatural
mysteries, but mysteries which answer our most deep-seated natural
ie Ibid., 6:9 f.
lT John 3:16.
” Matt. 26:26} Mark 14:1x1 Luke 21:19.
’’John 14:^6, ?6| 15:261 16:7, Act» 1:8.

CHRIST’S CONTEMPLATION

149

aspirations and which arouse in us nobler ones. They are mysteries
which harmonize admirably with one another, and it is in vain that
the incredulous seek to find any contradiction in them. How superior
is this doctrine to the timid affirmations of the philosophers and to the
often obscure predictions of the prophets!
In its simplicity this doctrine is sublime in the true sense of the
word. The sublime is indeed what is most elevated, most extraordi­
nary in the order of the beautiful. And as the beautiful is a splendid
harmony, the splendor of unity in diversity, so the sublime is the
loftiest and most intimate harmony of most diverse and separated
elements, in appearance irreconcilable. The sublime is particularly
the intimate union of supreme goodness and the deepest wretched­
ness. When divine mercy bows to this extent, gratitude must find
expression not merely in words but in tears: the sign of a relationship
that is so profound that it is beyond expression in human terms. Now
the mysteries of the Incarnation, the Redemption, the Eucharist, are
the union of the infinite riches of divine mercy with the universal
wretchedness of man, the union of man’s poverty with the infinite
grandeur of God.
This sublimity is no less apparent in the moral teaching of Jesus
than in the mysteries He revealed.
How petty the maxims of the pagan sages seem, compared to the
Gospel! They say, as Socrates did: “Know thyself”; “be manly”;
“The measure of goodness is the good man,” who lives by right rea­
son. Jesus came to say: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heav­
enly Father is perfect.” 20 Be you perfect, not merely as the angels
are, but as the heavenly Father is perfect. For you have been made par­
ticipants not only of the angelic life, but of the intimate life of God,
the seed of eternal life, which will consist in seeing God as He sees
Himself, and in loving Him as He loves Himself. “Blessed are the
clean of heart: for they shall see God.”
The wise men of antiquity said with pride: “The strong man
grappling with adversity is a divine spectacle.” Jesus said with humil­
ity, simplicity, and depth: “Blessed are they that mourn [their sins],
Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake: for theirs is
*° Matt. 5:48.

150

OUR SAVIOR

the kingdom of heaven,” it is already realized within them. Such
words had never been heard. So lofty are they that even believers are
often slow to understand when persecution comes to them. They are
astonishing words, and yet so simple when spoken by our Savior.
There is no affinity between the highest moral teaching of the
pagans and that of Jesus. The philosophers spoke of acquired virtues,
which are often unstable. The virtues our Savior spoke of are the
infused virtues which must grow with merit until the supernatural
life of eternity.
The new law of the Gospel, which is a law of love, is likewise far
superior to the law of fear promulgated by Moses: “You have heard
that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not kill. . . . But I say
to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of
the judgment.” 21 “You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt
love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy. But I say to you, Love your
enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that
persecute and calumniate you: that you may be the children of your
Father who is in heaven, who maketh His sun to rise upon the good
and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love
[only] them that love you, ... do not even the publicans this?
... Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is per­
fect.” 22 These words summarize the entire Sermon on the Mount,
spoken at the beginning of our Savior’s ministry.
As we have said before, Jesus substituted for the petty nobility of
the human virtues the highest nobility of sanctity. He preached
hunger and thirst for the justice of God, that is, for union with
God.28
It is difficult to know what in this doctrine is most to be admired:
its loftiness, its depth, its scope, its intimate understanding of the
heart’s secrets,24 its infallible views on the future. All these super­
natural splendors harmonize wonderfully with the most complete
naturalness in expression and with the most astute practical sense.
21 Ibid., 5:21 f.
22 Ibid., 5:43—48.
23 Ibid., 5:6.
24 Ibid., 9:4. Before curing the man sick of the palsy, Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“Why do you think evil in your hearts?” On several occasions He showed that He knew
the heart’s most intimate secrets. Cf. Matt. 12:25 j 22 :i 8 j 26:101 John 2 =25 ) 4:191 6:651
7:20) 13:11.

CHRIST’S CONTEMPLATION

151

Nowhere can there be found a more perfect harmony between nature
and grace. Here natural aspirations are not merely filled but sur­
passed, and the word of Christ inspires far superior aspirations which
are united in the efficacious and powerful desire for the supernatural
life of eternity, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. These
were words completely ignored by the pagan sages, and the Old
Testament prophets could only lisp them.
Here indeed the plenitude of divine revelation is given to us here
on earth in a still obscure manner, in order to lead us to the definitive
and dazzling revelation of eternity.
By its sublimity and its conformity with our highest aspirations,
the doctrine of Jesus so far surpasses all other doctrines, even that
which the chosen people rightly gloried in having received from God,
that we cannot fail to recognize in it a powerful and superhuman
originality. But this is not the originality of an innovator who is
breaking with the past. Jesus said: “Do not think that I am come to
destroy the law, or the Prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfill.” 28
We can well understand that the astonished Jews asked: “How
doth this man know letters, having never learned?” 26 And the mes­
sengers of the Pharisees, daring not to lay hands on Him, admitted:
“Never did man speak like this man.” 2T
It cannot be maintained, therefore, that Jesus merely bore within
Himself a ferment which became the principle of a new religious
movement, but that He did not have a doctrine. The entire Credo
is to be found in His teaching and can be expressed in His own words,
not only in the words reported by St. John, but in those of the first
three Gospels, words which are bound up with the whole fabric of
the story, with all the facts of His life, His passion and death.

How Jesus Taught

The manner in which Jesus taught is no less sublime in its simplicity
than the object of His doctrine. It has been said that “A man’s style
is the man.” Christ Jesus has indeed His own style. In order to have
’’Malt. 5:17.

“’John 7:15.

Ibid., 7:46.

IJ2

OUR SAVIOR

even a vague notion of His ascendancy over souls, it would be neces­
sary to have heard the sermons of great saints like St. Bernard, St.
Dominic, and the holy Curé of Ars.
St. Thomas tells us that the apostle 28 must express himself in such
a manner that the word of God may enlighten the intelligence, stir
the heart, and arouse the will to the accomplishment of the Command­
ments. The apostle, therefore, must speak with authority, in the name
of God, with simplicity so as to be understood by every soul, with
supernatural unction to stir hearts, and with power to turn wills to­
ward God.
Jesus’ method of teaching reveals a sovereign authority which is
equaled only by the simplicity and unction with which He communi­
cates the loftiest truths; whence the power of the Gospel and the pro­
found influence it has exerted for almost two thousand years, in spite
of its austerity and its demands.
The incomparable authority of Jesus is manifested through His
power in affirmation and through the influence of His sanctity. How
did He affirm? He did not make use of the procedures of human
eloquence which flatter the hearer, seeking to please him and to gain
his admiration rather than enlighten him. There is not the least bit of
oratorical artificiality in the sermons of the Master. He also avoided
the abstract considerations of the philosophers and the scriptural dis­
cussions of the scribes, who scrutinized the sacred texts without bring­
ing out their true meaning. Jesus did not argue. He spoke in brief,
clear, penetrating formulas: “If thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck
it out; . . . and if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off.” 20
“Love your enemies: . . . and pray for them that persecute and
calumniate you.” These are formulas that jostle unruly passions,
amaze the reason, but that address themselves directly to souls of
good will, and arouse this good will in those who are seeking the
truth. As for unreasonable and rebellious spirits, these formulas sink
deep into them like streaks of light and condemnations.
“All things therefore whatsoever you would that men should do to
you, do you also to them.” 30 “If one strike thee on thy right cheek,
turn to him also the other. And if a man will contend with thee in
»· Ila line, q.177, n.i.

“’Matt, jtaçf.

»° Ibid., 7:1a.

CHRIST’S CONTEMPLATION

153

judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him.” 31
For in this manner you will win the soul of your brother, you will
enlighten and save him. These maxims are so new and so beautiful
that they are not easily forgotten. They remain within us like the
light of conscience which inspires us toward goodness and chides us
for our selfishness.
Jesus affirms with the authority of the supreme Master: “You
call Me Master and Lord 5 and you say well, for so I am.” 32 He
considers Himself above any human judgment, above any crossexamination, any criticism, any contradiction. No one else has ever
used His formulas: “For this was I born, and for this came I into
the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. Everyone that
is of the truth, heareth My voice.” 33 “Amen, amen I say unto you:
... I speak that which I have seen with My Father.” 34 “You be­
lieve in God, believe also in Me.” 35 “I am the light of the world: he
that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light
of life. . . . Although I give testimony of Myself, My testimony
is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go.” 36 “I am the way
and the truth, and the life.” ST There is no loftier doctrinal authority.
The authority of His life confirmed that of His intelligence. As
for the philosophers, their conduct was often in contradiction to their
moral teaching. Even Moses was not as perfect as the Lord de­
manded of him, and because of this he did not enter the Promised
Land.38 Jesus, on the other hand, began by practicing in all perfection
everything that He taught: “Jesus began to do and to teach.” 39
Because He had accomplished perfectly all the commandments and
counsels, without the slightest flaw, He was able to say: “Which of
you shall convince Me of sin?” 40 “For I have given you an example,
that as I have done to you, so you do also.” 41 “If you keep My com­
mandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My
bather’s commandments, and do abide in His love.” 42 His teaching
was but the reflection of His conduct, and He asks incomparably less
” Ibid., 5 139 f.
•4 Ibid., 8:34, 38.
*' Ibid., 14:6.
4nJohn 8:46.

’’John 13:13.
” Ibid., 14:1.
” Dcut. 31:51.
41 Ibid., 13:15.

” Ibid., 18:37.
” Ibid., 8:11-14.
,0 Acts i :i.
42 Ibid., 15:10.

154

OUR SAVIOR

from us than what He Himself has done for us: “He humbled Him­
self, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.” 48
The authority of a man’s life has never so well confirmed the au­
thority of his doctrine.
What is no less remarkable is the fact that this sovereign authority
was coupled with the greatest simplicity. Among many human teach­
ers simplicity is destroyed by pompousness born of pride, which is in
reality foolishness. Jesus is too great to feel the least pride in His in­
telligence and in His life. In His greatness, He is the model of hu­
mility: “My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me.” 44 He cares
neither for titles nor honors, nor for the role of learned doctor. Of the
scribes and Pharisees He said: “They love the first places at feasts,
and the first chairs in the synagogues, and salutations in the market­
place, and to be called by men, Rabbi. But be not you called Rabbi.
For one is your master; and all you are brethren.” 48
And while the Pharisees loved to sit in the chair of Moses, to whom
did He choose to preach the Gospel? The poor, the poor who were
so despised by the pagan sages. This, together with the miracles, is
actually a sign of His Messiahship: “The poor have the gospel
preached to them.” 46 Isaias had declared that He would “preach to
the meek” and “heal the contrite of heart.” 47 Thus it was that Jesus
preached throughout the countryside, on the shores of Lake Genesareth, in Solomon’s portico, always in a simple unstudied manner.
There was nothing about Him that bespoke artistic or human effort.
As He told His listeners, “the words that I have spoken to you, are
spirit and life.” 48
One of the most extraordinary things about our Lord’s preaching
is that the more sublime the object He spoke of, the calmer was His
language. There was never the slightest tinge of exaltation in His
words. As Bossuet has well said: “Who can fail to admire the con­
descension with which He tempered the loftiness of His doctrine?
It is at once milk for infants and bread for the strong. One can see that
He is filled with God’s secrets, but it is evident that He is not aston­
ished by them as are other mortals to whom God reveals Himself:
4,Phil. a:8.
‘•Matt. tt:j.

“John 7:16.
4TIia. 61:1.

40 Matt. 23 :i-8.
48John 6:64.

CHRIST’S CONTEMPLATION

ISS

He speaks about them naturally, as one being born into these secrets
and into this glory. And what He possesses beyond measure,48 He pours
forth by measure, so that our weakness may be able to bear it.” 60
After the Last Supper, He said to the apostles: “I have yet many
things to say to you: but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the
Spirit of truth, is come, He will teach you all truth.” B1 Finally, it
was with the utmost simplicity that He recommended humility to
His apostles: “. . . calling unto Him a little child, [He] set him
in the midst of them. And said: Amen I say to you, unless you be con­
verted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven.82 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as
this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven.” 53 For
such a man enters into intimacy with God through mental prayer and
through love. Thus are admirably reconciled in Jesus’s manner of
teaching the highest authority, along with simplicity and humility.
How complicated does the abstract doctrine of the philosophers seem
beside this eminent simplicity!
Lastly, Jesus spoke with an unction that was truly divine, despite
the austerity of His counsels. His own words were realized within
Himself: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” 84
He preached continually of the love with which God first loved us,
when we were still sinners. One could feel that He Himself was over­
flowing with charity and wished ardently for our salvation. He said:
“I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abun­
dantly.” 88 His preaching was one of glad tidings: “Come to Me, all
you that labor, and are burdened, and I will refresh you.”88
This unction, the expression of His mercy, was particularly pal­
pable in His conversation with the Samaritan woman: “If thou didst
know the gift of God, and who He is that saith to thee, Give Me to
drink; thou perhaps wouldst have asked of Him, and He would have
40 Ibid., 3:34.
60 Discours sur l'histoire universelle, Part II, chap. 19.
31 John 16:12 f.
02 Clearly the reference here is to the second conversion, for the apostles were in the
state of grace, three had been on Mount Thabor, and all of them were to receive Com­
munion before the Passion. Peter’s second conversion took place at the end of the Passion,
immediately after his denials. It was then that he began to enter into the intimacy of the
kingdom of God, and even more so on Pentecost.
03 Matt. 18:2—4.
64 Ibid., 12:34.
“’John io:to.
63 Matt. 11:28.

ι$6

OUR SAVIOR

given thee living water.” 87 This unction was also noticeable in His
preaching of the beatitudes and in His last conversation with the
disciples before the Passion. During His last discourses it was as if
sheets of light, luminous waves, descended from heaven to become
diffused in ever wider circles upon the generations to come.
This divine unction, which was the effect of grace, gave foreknowl­
edge of the Holy Ghost of whom it has been said: “His unction
teacheth you of all things.” 88 There is no romantic sentimentalism
about it. It is accompanied by renunciation, it fights against sin, against
the spirit of the world and the spirit of evil: “If any man will come
after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow
Me.” 89 While Jesus tells us often that He brings us peace, union
with God, He also says that in order to attain this peace we must know
how to fight against all within us that would lead us to evil. It is with
this in mind that He said: “I came not to send peace, but the sword.” 00
Those most beloved of God have been called on to suffer most
cruelly from the persecution of those who would not hear the joy­
ful tidings of the Gospel.
In St. Luke we read: “The father shall be divided against the son,
and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter.” 01
And in St. Matthew: “And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own
household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not
worthy of Me.” 82 These family rifts were frequent during the three
centuries of the persecutions. One can sense here the exigencies of the
divine law.
It is this saintly austerity united to humility which demonstrates
the wholly supernatural origin of the Savior’s unction. He has some­
times told His saints: “Do not lay too much store on the favorable
judgments of men, for I love thee with a perfect love. I spent My
earthly existence in humiliations and scorn and in a hidden life. It
was thus that I glorified My Father, laid the foundations of My
Church, and remedied the evils of pride. This is the path that thou
must follow.” 88 This is truly Christ’s own style, His own manner.
“’John 4:10.
08 I John 2:27.
Matt. 16:241 Luke 9:231 14:27.
80 Matt. 10:34; Luke 12:51.
81 Luke 12:53.
8J Matt. 10:36!.
88 Cf. Vie de la Vénérable Marie-Céletle Croslaroia by Rev. J. Favre, C.SS.R., p. 152.

CHRIST’S CONTEMPLATION

157

As Father Grou, S.J., says very well: “A humble teacher can teach
great things, but he will teach them with humility. ... If he speaks
with emphasis and authority, it will not be for his own glory but to
extol the one in whose name he speaks and to make a deeper impres­
sion on the minds of his listeners. This is how Jesus Christ taught.
... It is impossible to say such lofty and divine things in a simpler
manner. . . . This is how those who have an interior spirit teach.
. . . They speak with assurance and at the same time with humility,
because they are not speaking of themselves. . . . Their discourses
exert upon well-prepared hearts a persuasion, an efficacy that can
come only from the grace which prompted their words.” 84
These are the reasons why the Gospel has such power and such a
profound attraction upon our souls. It both jostles and captivates
them. It jostles our unruly passions and captivates our good will. And
yet this book was not written directly by our Lord. As St. Thomas
says:85 “It was fitting that Christ as the most excellent of teachers
should adopt that manner of teaching whereby His doctrine is im­
printed on the hearts of His hearers,” by the grace of light and
strength which He granted them. This is the highest magisterium,
the living magisterium. And this is why, as St. Thomas also re­
marks,88 the new law of the Gospel is first of all written spiritually
in the hearts of the faithful by the grace of the Holy Ghost, before
being materially written on stone or parchment. Jesus was content
to write in the souls of His apostles a living letter that they have
made known to the world: “Going therefore teach ye all nations.”
And in actual fact, His doctrine spread, in spite of innumerable ob­
stacles, to the limits of the world known to the ancient peoples.
Today, after twenty centuries, this power of communication con­
tinues to exert its influence, thus verifying the affirmation: “Heaven
and earth shall pass, but My words shall not pass.” 87 As St. Peter
said, these are “the words of eternal life.” 88 Until the end of the world
our Savior will raise up new priestly vocations so that the gospel may
ever be preached for the salvation of souls.
L’Intérieur de Jésus, chap. 14: “Manière d’enseigner.”
’’Illa, q.42, a.4.
""la Ilae, q. 106, a.i.
""John 6:69.

” Matt. 24:35.

158

OUR SAVIOR

While the books of the Greek philosophers stay on library shelves,
consulted by a handful of scholars, the Gospel has been for twenty cen­
turies the spiritual food of millions of souls. Even the modern societies
which reject the Gospel are none the less impregnated with it in spite
of themselves. Whereas the more sincere among the philosophers
admit that they are powerless to change the interior dispositions of
men, Jesus, with but a few poor Galilean fishermen and in spite of
three centuries of persecutions succeeded in changing the moral ideas
of humanity.60 Through His grace He gave to multitudes of souls the
love of goodness, to many He gave a supernatural ardor for sacrifice,
and He dispersed among all peoples marvelous flowers of sanctity.
The Christian martyrology which is read daily in the Office after
Lauds is a great motive of credibility, a notable sign of the divine
origin of Jesus’ doctrine.
No one else has been able to keep a doctrine ever living down the
centuries through an immortal race of disciples, so that after two
thousand years we still accept it as “the words of eternal life.”
When we read the Gospel in a recollected manner we wonder how
our Savior was able to unite in His teaching and in His manner of
preaching such diverse qualities: the supreme authority of His doc­
trine and of His life together with such perfect simplicity and humil­
ity, an unction which moves men’s hearts together with an austerity
which makes heavy demands on human nature. The intimate union
of such different qualities cannot be explained naturally. Our tem­
peraments are in a sense determined by nature, and must be completed
by virtue. The profound union in Jesus of such diverse qualities can
be the effect only of very high virtue and of very lofty contempla­
tion, in other words, the effect of the most extraordinary grace.

Our Savior’s Contemplation Superior to All Others
according to the Gospel of St. John

In what light did Jesus contemplate the things He taught? In an
effort to understand this, let us raise our minds progressively toward
Him, starting with a less sublime teaching. Then we shall see what
” Cf. St. Thomas, Contra Gentet, Bk. I, chap. 6.

CHRIST’S CONTEMPLATION

159

Jesus has Himself told us in the Gospel of St. John concerning his
vision of divine things.
The greatest geniuses of the pagan world, such as Plato and Aris­
totle, contemplated their doctrine in the natural light of the intelli­
gence, in the light of first principles abstracted from sensible things,
and in the mirror of these things the power of their vision discovered
a reflection of divine perfections. Thus they taught that God is the
primary Being, the supreme Intelligence who ordained all things
and who is the sovereign Good. Yet there remained in their affirma­
tions much obscurity and uncertainty.
The prophets of the Old Testament contemplated the doctrine that
they announced in the light of prophecy united to the supernatural
light of faith. This light was incomparably superior to the natural
light of the intelligence with which the greatest Greek philosophers
were endowed. Thus Isaias foresaw the promised Savior: “A child
is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his
shoulder: and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, God
the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace.” 70
However, the light of prophecy and that of infused faith are still
obscure in the sense that they do not give us the evidence of the super­
natural mysteries. They merely lead us to adhere to the infallible
testimony of God. Just as the most distant stars cannot manifest to us
the outermost limits of the firmament, so the infused light of prophecy
and that of faith do not suffice to shed light on what St. Paul calls “the
deep things of God,” 71 namely, His intimate life which we shall
clearly understand only in heaven. Beyond doubt the gifts of the
Holy Ghost, gifts of knowledge and wisdom, give us a living, quasiexperimental knowledge of the supernatural mysteries, helping us to
penetrate and enjoy them. Yet these gifts do not bring us out of the
obscurity of faith.
The apostles, as had the prophets before them, received the light of
prophecy and that of infused faith in a high degree. One of them, St.
Paul, in view of his exceptional ministry, received even a special and
extraordinary grace of light which he described as follows: “I know
a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I
70 I«a. 9:6.

711 Cor. 2 :i o.

i6o

OUR SAVIOR

know not, or out of the body, I know not; God knoweth), such a one
caught up to the third heaven. And I know . . . that he was caught
up into paradise, and heard secret words, which it is not granted to
man to utter.” 73 In this passage St. Paul seems to be recalling the
ravishment mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, where these words
of the great convert are recorded: “And it came to pass, when I was
come again to Jerusalem, and was praying in the Temple, that I was
in a trance, and saw Him saying unto me: Make haste, and get thee
quickly out of Jerusalem; becasue they will not receive thy testimony
concerning Me.” 78
When St. Paul says that he was ravished to the third heaven he
meant, as did the Hebrews, the spiritual heaven where God dwells,
the empyrean above the heaven of the air (the atmosphere) and even
above the heaven of the stars (the ether). It is therefore probable
that, in accordance with the thought of St. Augustine 74 and of St.
Thomas,75 St. Paul means that for a short moment he was raised up
to the beatific vision of the divine essence. These great doctors, who
had themselves received extraordinary graces of contemplation,76 say
it seems that in that brief moment Paul contemplated what “eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard . . . what things God hath prepared for
them that love Him.” 77
After this ravishment the great Apostle was so profoundly con­
vinced of the truth of the divine doctrine which he was preaching that
his conviction was always far beyond even the loftiest words that
came to his lips. Sublime words flowed from his pen, sometimes pour­
ing forth like a torrent rushing down a mountainside, and yet they
cannot express what he saw. His noblest words are but the inadequate
means of expressing, in terms suited to our intelligence, an intuition
far above us. Sometimes, alas, a preacher may have more on his lips
than exists in the faith of his own heart, and then his preaching be­
comes theatrical, affected, and bombastic. St. Paul, on the contrary,
knew far more than he could tell. There was always much more
78 II Cor. 11:1-4.
78 Acts 11:17 ff.
74 De Genesi ad litteram, 11, 18, etc.
75 Ila Ilae, q. 175, a. 3, 4, 5.
78 The authority of those who reject this opinion is very slight compared to that of
Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.
77 I Cor. 1 19.

CHRIST’S CONTEMPLATION

161

within his soul than on his lips ; the spirit dominated the letter and
vivified it.
St. Paul spoke of what he had contemplated in God. St. Thomas
says that “preaching must derive from the fullness of contempla­
tion” T8 if it is to be living and sanctifying and in any way resemble
the words of fire that are referred to in the psalms (118:140).79 We
cannot hope to describe the magnificence of a mountain view unless we
have actually been up there ourselves. It will not suffice merely to page
through a travel guide. That Paul might speak with the greatest pos­
sible light and vigor concerning God and the redemptive Incarnation,
he had been raised at least for an instant to the summit of divine con­
templation. That is why he was the great Doctor of the Gentiles,
charged with transmitting to them for the first time the teaching of
the Master.
But if Paul was raised for at least one moment to the contemplation
of the divine essence, what are we to say of Jesus Himself?
It is true of course that through His divne intelligence Jesus never
ceased seeing God. Far more than this, His divine intelligence which
is common to the three persons, is identical without any real distinc­
tion whatever with the divine essence known from all eternity; and
the person of the Word is “the brightness of eternal light,” 80 “the
brightness of His [the Father’s] glory.” 81
However, with respect to His human intelligence, was it only in
the obscurity of faith that Jesus ordinarily attained the supernatural
mysteries of which He spoke, the deep things of God which He
teaches us to know dimly? Did Jesus have but a few moments of
ecstasy, as St. Paul did, remaining ignorant of many things relating
to the kingdom of God?
The infallible magisterium of the Church has given a partial an­
swer to this question. It has been defined, in refutation of the heresy
of the Agnoetes, that Jesus as man was not ignorant of anything what­
ever relating to the kingdom of God,82 that will be consummated in
” Ila Ilae, q. 188, a. 6.
Te Ps. 118:140.
80 Wisd. 7:26.
81 Heb. I :j.
” Cf. Denzinger, Enchiridion, no. 248. Declaration of Gregory I (a.d. 600) : “Omni­
potens Filius nescire se dicit diem (judicii) quem nesciri facit, non quod ipse nesciat, sed
quia hunc sciri minime permittat . . . Diem ergo et horam judicii scit Deus et hornoj

102

OUR SAVIOR

heaven and that includes all the elect, both angels and men. Can He
who even as man is the head of the kingdom of God be ignorant of
anything that relates to His function? Can He be ignorant of the day
of judgment and the number of the elect for whom He is meriting
salvation? The Church tells us that such ignorance could not have
been in Him.
But in what light did Christ’s human intelligence know here be­
low everything concerning the kingdom of God? Was it only in the
light of prophecy united to the light of faith? Or was it in a higher
light? Was the sacred soul of our Savior deprived during His life
on earth of the light of glory by which the saints in heaven see God
face to face? If it is probable that St. Paul while here on earth re­
ceived this light for at least one instant, what are we to say of the
sacred soul of Christ?
The theologians answer in unison: Jesus saw what He taught in
the light of the beatific vision.*
83 Jesus possessed throughout His
earthly life and in a far higher degree the contemplation which St.
Paul seems to have attained for an instant during an ecstasy. The con­
templation of Jesus even here on earth was not inferior to that which
the saints enjoy in heaven. This has been the common teaching of
theologians particularly since the twelfth century, and the Church
has declared that it would be rash to deny it.84
What is the foundation for this doctrine which is commonly ac­
cepted in the Church? It is founded first of all on several of Jesus’
statements. In St. John He said to Nicodemus with regard to spiritual
regeneration: “Amen, amen I say to thee, that we speak what we
sed ideo, quia Deus est homo. Res autem valde manifesta est, quia quisquis Nestorianus
non est, Agnoita esse nullatenus potest . . . Scriptum est: ‘Sciens Jesus, quia omnia dedit
ei Pater in manus’ (Joan., 13:3). Si omnia, profecto et diem judicii et horam. Quis ergo
ita stultus est, ut dicat quia accepit Filius in manibus quod nescit?”
83 It is no slight matter that on this point all theologians agree, whether they be
Thomists, Scotists, Suarezians, or Molinists. Their disagreement on controversial matters
shows the value of their agreement on those that are not controversial.
84 Cf. Denzinger, Enchiridion, nos. 2183 ff. The Holy See declared by a decree of
June 5, 1918, that it would be foolhardy to teach the following propositions: “Non constat
fuisse in anima Christi inter homines degentis scientiam, quam habent beati seu comprehcnsorcs.—Nec certa dici potest sententia quae statuit animam Christi nihil ignoravisse,
sed ab initio cognovisse in Verbo omnia, praeterita, praesentia et futura, seu omnia quae
Deus scit scientia visionis.”

CHRIST’S CONTEMPLATION

163

know, and we testify what we have seen, and you receive not our
testimony. If I have spoken to you earthly things, and you believe
notj how will you believe, if I shall speak to you heavenly things?
And no man hath ascended into heaven, but He that descended from
heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven.” 86
The words “what we know” in this passage are synonymous
with “what we have seen,” as is said immediately afterward. Now,
Jesus spoke as a man. It was therefore as a man that He saw God and
the things of heaven. Must not testimony correspond to the knowl­
edge from which it derives?
And as at the particular moment when Jesus was saying these words
the souls of the deceased just were awaiting their entry into heaven,
He said as we have just seen: “No man hath ascended into heaven
but He that descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven.”
Thus Jesus was already in heaven not only as the Son of God, by rea­
son of His divinity and of His divine intelligence, but as the Son of
man, by reason of His human intelligence. Not only was He to be in
heaven after His death, resurrection, and ascension, but He was there
already at that moment. This was the same as saying that as of that
instant through His human intelligence He already saw God face to
face, without any intermediary whatever. For what is heaven if not
the spiritual homeland where the blessed enjoy the immediate vision
of God or of eternal life, which consists in seeing God as He sees Him­
self and in loving Him as He loves Himself?
Tradition commonly holds, therefore, that Jesus even while here
on earth was at once viator et convprehensor, that is, He was a way­
farer toward eternity and a comprehensor or blessed, already in pos­
session of eternal life.86
Jesus also said in St. John: “Every one that hath heard of the Fa­
ther, and hath learned, cometh to Me. Not that any man hath seen
the Father; but He who is of God, He hath seen the Father. Amen,
amen I say unto you: He that believeth in Me, hath everlasting
life.” 87 Jesus was here saying that the believers have heard the Fa­
ther, I lis word, but have not seen Him; whereas He, Jesus, “who is
of God, He hath seen the Father.” Therefore this can mean only that
••John j:n ff.

*· Cf. St. Thom»·, Ilia, q. tj, a. io.

,T John 6:43 f.

164

OUR SAVIOR

He was more than a believer, that He was not reduced to believing in
God, to believing in His own divinity and in His own divine per­
sonality. For He had more than faith; He had the vision that the
blessed possess in heaven.88 There is an immense difference between
believing and seeing.
Likewise, in His priestly prayer, Jesus in praying for His disciples
said again: “Father, I will that where I am, they also whom Thou
hast given Me may be with Me; that they may see My glory which
Thou hast given Me, because Thou hast loved Me before the crea­
tion of the world.” 88
These last words are singularly expressive: “I will that where I
am [that is to say, in heaven], they also whom Thou hast given Me
may be with Me.” The apostles already had supernatural faith. Jesus
was asking for them the beatific vision, the vision of the divine es­
sence and of the glory which had been given to Him as man, and
which derives from the uncreated glory or essential beatitude which
He enjoys as God. He asked for His apostles the perfect grace which
He Himself already had, that is, eternal life, which consists in see­
ing God and Him whom God has sent.80
This is how St. John the Baptist and after him St. John the Evan­
gelist understood the testimony of the Master. St. John the Baptist
said to Jesus’ disciples: “I am not Christ, but ... I am sent before
Him. . . . He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh
from above, is above all. He that is of the earth, of the earth he is, and
of the earth he speaketh.81 He that cometh from heaven, is above all.
And what He hath seen and heard, is above all. And what He hath
seen and heard, that He testifieth: and no man receiveth His testi­
mony. . . . For He whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of
88 It follows from this that the loftiest faith that ever existed was Mary’s, especially
when she stood at the foot of the cross. It was a faith superior to that which the angels
had during their short journey toward eternity.
88 John 17:24.
80 Cf. John 17:3: “Now this is eternal life: that they may know Thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.”
81 “He that is of the earth, of the earth he is,” is the principle of contradiction or of
identity applied to the order of spiritual things, to show how much they differ from the
things of earth. Flesh is ffesh, spirit is spirit. They must not be confused.

CHRIST’S CONTEMPLATION

165

God: for God doth not give the Spirit by measure.92 The Father
loveth the Son: and He hath given all things into His hand. He that
believeth in the Son, hath life everlasting,” that is, he has entered
upon eternal life.93
The testimony of St. John the Baptist given above is as lofty as
that of St. John the Evangelist in the prologue of the Fourth Gospel:
“No man hath seen God at any time: the only-begotten Son who is
in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” 94 Is this not
saying that in contrast to the prophets who had not seen God, the onlybegotten Son had seen Him, and that He had seen Him as man, for
it was as man that Jesus made God known? This vision is the source
of His testimony, infinitely superior to all those that preceded.
In his First Epistle St. John also says: “Dearly beloved, we are
now the sons of God; and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be.
We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like to Him: be­
cause we shall see Him as He is.” 98 Then will Jesus’ priestly prayer
be answered: “Father, I will that where I am, they also whom Thou
hast given Me may be with Me; that they may see My glory which
Thou hast given Me.” 96
The more deeply one contemplates in the real sense of the expres­
sion these words of Christ, the more one grasps in the obscurity of
faith the truth that our Savior possessed even here on earth the light
of glory. It was this light that He manifested to three of His disciples
on Mount Thabor when for a few moments His body was transfigured.
Finally, is this not what St. Paul tells us: “In Him, it hath well
pleased the Father, that all fullness should dwell; 97 ... in
whom [Jesus] are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” 98
“That . . . you may be able to comprehend, . . . what is the
breadth and length and height and depth . . . also the charity of
Christ.” 99 “God, who, at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke
in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all in these days
” God would have given Him the Spirit with measure if here on earth Jesus as man
had had only the obscure and limited knowledge of infused faith, and not the knowl­
edge of vision.
03 John 3:28—36.
114 Ibid., 1:18.
” I John 3:2.
00 John 17:24.
•T Col. 1:19.
” Ibid., 2:3.
’“Eph. 3:18.

ι66

OUR SAVIOR

hath spoken to us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all
things, by whom also He made the world. Who being the brightness
of His glory, and the figure of His substance, . . . being made so
much better than the angels, as He hath inherited a more excellent
name than they.” 100 Since Jesus was “appointed heir of all things”
even here on earth, He also enjoyed here below the eternal heritage.
Otherwise His human intelligence would have been less enlightened
than that of the angels whom He already called “His angels” or His
ministers in the kingdom of God. Lastly, if Jesus did not already
possess the beatific vision here on earth He would have been made
more perfect when He received it after His death, His charity would
have increased with His knowledge of God. But this is contrary to
the teaching of the whole Catholic tradition, according to which Christ
did not become better or more perfect.101 Therefore He did not make
the transition from faith to the vision of the divine essence. For, if
that had been the case His charity or love of God at the moment of
transition would have increased as would habitual created grace, and
this is contrary to all traditional teaching concerning the absolute
plenitude of grace that Jesus received from the very first instant of
His conception.102
The Savior’s Contemplation according to Theology
Can theology make even more explicit the meaning of the scriptural
passages that we have just quoted? It can and does indeed by means
of highly fitting arguments which St. Thomas has admirably pre­
sented.103
St. Thomas says that Jesus must have possessed even here on earth
the vision which thousands of blessed souls have in heaven. Every
intelligent being must have the knowledge fitting to his state. This is
true of the physician, the magistrate, and the priest. Too often in­
capable and improvident persons occupy high posts, to the detriment
100 Heb. 1:1—4.
101 Cf. Conci/itim Constantinofolit. II (a.d. 553) j Dcnzinger, no. 124.
102 Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q.7, a. 12: “The grace of Christ cannot be increased . . .
since Christ as man was a true and full comprehcnsor from the first instant of His con­
ception.”
108 Illa, q. 10, a.4.

CHRIST’S CONTEMPLATION

167

of those whom they are guiding. However, this cannot be the case of
those directly chosen by God to be His extraordinary ministers in
the transmission of revelation. Thus Providence owed it to itself to
give Jesus the science or knowledge proportionate to His mission.
Jesus’ mission is that of the Teacher of humanity, charged with
leading it to eternal life. He was constituted for all time as the
Teacher of teachers, the Master of the apostles, the doctors, the great­
est contemplatives. After Him no one will come who is more en­
lightened or who will teach us better the way that leads to eternal
blessedness. Must not the perfect Master, then, possess the evidence
of what He is teaching, especially if He is Himself “the way, the
truth, and the life”?
The great Sower of truth, charged with telling all human genera­
tions until the end of time “the words of eternal life,” must have
known this eternal life even while He was still on earth. He knew
the divine essence not “through a glass in a dark manner” but “face
to face” according to St. Paul’s words.104
The divine essence that St. Paul probably saw for a brief moment in
an ecstasy, Jesus saw continually here on earth through His human
intelligence, without needing to interrupt His conversation with His
apostles. He was above ecstasy, and His words were so luminous pre­
cisely because His intelligence was perpetually illumined by this
spiritual sun which never suffered eclipse even while He slept, even
during the dark hour of His passion.
Millions of souls in heaven enjoy this contemplation, and they have
attained it only through the merits of Jesus Christ. Could He, then,
have been deprived of that which He gave to others through His
merits? The Master of all humanity must have had the vision of the
goal toward which He was leading it. This is the principal reason
given by St. Thomas.
There is a second reason. It was fitting that He should have this
vision so that He might possess a clear knowledge of His own divinity
and not merely believe in it obscurely. We do not yet fully grasp the
immense difference between believing and seeing. We shall have a
clear knowledge of this difference the moment we enter heaven.
J Cor.

ι68

OUR SAVIOR

Finally, the third reason is that Jesus is the natural heir of God, as
St. Paul tells us.105*Even as man, Jesus is the Son of God by nature,
and not by adoption as we are. But the natural heir enjoys his heritage
from the start. Jesus has therefore had eternal life as a birthright.
The fullness of grace which He received at the moment of His con­
ception must have blossomed forth at that very instant, otherwise
Jesus would have become more perfect afterward. This, as we have
seen, is contrary to the Second Council of Constantinople.108 For had
this been the case, His charity, His love of God, would have increased
later on when He emerged from the obscurity of faith and received
the light of glory.
The fact that the upper reaches of Christ’s soul enjoyed the bea­
tific vision even here on earth is not irreconcilable with the fact that
Jesus was still in a sense a wayfarer toward eternity. He was pro­
ceeding toward eternal life in His mortal body which was still sub­
ject to suffering and in His soul as well, inasmuch as it too was still
capable of suffering and like ourselves knew through acquired knowl­
edge, which is the fruit of experience and reflection. Thus Jesus was
at once wayfarer and comprehensor. He enjoyed beatitude in the
highest reaches of His soul, and He was a voyager in its less elevated
parts which were in contact with the hardships of His life as Savior
and victim.107
Even during His passion He did not lose the beatific vision, but He
freely prevented the irradiation of the light of glory upon His lower
reason and sense faculties. He did not wish this light and the joy that
proceeds from it to lessen in any way by their radiance the sorrow
which was invading Him from all sides. He completely yielded Him­
self up to suffering, so that the holocaust might be perfect.108 Thus,
although in a much less perfect manner, did the martyrs in the midst
of their sufferings rejoice, as they gave their blood in testimony of
their faith in Christ.
What did Jesus’ human intelligence contemplate under the light
of glory? The divine essence, the Blessed Trinity, which He already
105 Hcb. 1:2: “[God] hath appointed [Jesus] heir of all things.”
χού Cf. Denzinger, no. 224.
107 Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q. 15, a. to.
I0’ Cf. ibid., q. 46, a. 8 ad 2.

CHRIST’S CONTEMPLATION

169

knew in a more perfect manner than did the angels inasmuch as His
sacred soul through its personal union with the Word was nearer to
God than they. He also contemplated in the divine essence every­
thing that related to His universal mission as head of the kingdom of
God, as leader of men and of angels, as judge of the living and of the
dead. This is to say that in God He already knew all creatures, all
souls, all that they have done, are doing, and will do. He knew the
number of the elect, on what day and at what hour this number will
be complete: in other words, at what hour the world will come to
an end. Nor is there anything about the angelic world that He did not
know, for the angels are His ministers in the kingdom of His Fa­
ther, and He has said that they are “His angels” whom He will send
on judgment day to gather the elect.109
We can now understand what St. John of the Cross wrote for con­
templatives in his Ascent of Mount Carmel (Bk. II, chap. 22): “In
the law of Scripture the inquiries that were made of God were lawful.
. . . But now that the faith is founded in Christ, and, in this era of
grace, the evangelical law has been made manifest, there is no reason
to inquire of Him in that manner. . . . For, in giving us, as He did,
His Son, which is His Word—and He has no other—He spoke to us
all together, once and for all. . . . And this is the sense of that pas­
sage with which St. Paul begins . . . ‘God, who, at sundry times
and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the
prophets, last of all, in these days hath spoken to us by His Son [Heb.
1:1]. . .
Wherefore he that would now inquire of God, or seek
any vision or revelation, would not only be acting foolishly, but would
be committing an offense against God, by not setting his eyes alto­
gether upon Christ, and seeking no new thing or aught beside. . . .
Set thine eyes on Him alone, for in Him I have spoken and revealed
to thee all things, and in Him thou shalt find yet more than that
which thou askest and desirest. For thou askest locutions and revela­
tions, which are the part; but if thou set thine eyes upon Him, thou
shalt find the whole; for He is My complete locution and answer,
100 Mark 13:27: “And then shall He [the Son of man] send His angels, and shall
gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the
uttermost part of heaven.”

170

OUR SAVIOR

and He is all My vision and all My revelation ; so that I have spoken
to thee, answered thee, declared to thee and revealed to thee, in giv­
ing Him to thee as thy brother, companion and master, as ransom and
as reward. For since that day when I descended upon Him with My
Spirit on Mount Thabor, saying: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased: hear ye Him [Matt. 17:5],’ I have left off all
these manners of teaching and answering, and I have entrusted this
to Him. Hear Him5 for I have no more faith to reveal, neither have
I any more things to declare.” 110
Jesus is the Master of teachers, the Master of the greatest con­
templatives. He saw immediately in the divine essence what He
taught. That is why the more souls advance the more they forsake all
other books and seek nourishment only in the Gospel or in the words
of our Savior.
In an order inferior to the beatific vision, Jesus also had the infused
knowledge which is possessed by the angels and which is sometimes
granted in a measure to the saints, as when, for example, the apostles
after Pentecost preached in foreign languages without having learned
them. Jesus also knew the various dialects better than did the apostles
through the grace of Pentecost.111
Finally, Christ Jesus, like all other men, had the knowledge of ex­
perience which He rapidly gained through the exercise of His senses
and of His intelligence. This was one more of His perfections, which
was not made useless by reason of His superior knowledge, for even
though experience taught Him the same things He already knew by
110 The Complete Works of St. John of the Cross, I, 173 f.
111 According to several theologians, it was this infused knowledge which made it
possible for Christ to merit from the first moment of His life when He did not yet have
any acquired knowledge, and also later on to merit while He slept, for this infused
knowledge does not necessarily require the participation of the imagination (Illa, q. 11,
a. 2).
As said by John of St. Thomas (De incarn., d. 17, a. 3, n. 14) and the Salmanticenses
(De incarn., disp. 27, dub. 3, 55), Jesus was able to merit even by acts of love which
were the immediate consequence of the beatific vision. For the beatific vision allows
the liberty to love God, if not in Himself and for Himself, at least inasmuch as He is
the reason for loving creatures. Thus God necessarily loves Himself and freely wills to
create in order to manifest His goodness. Thus, too, the blessed in necessarily loving
God whom they see face to face freely pray for us. See below, chap. 13 : “The Liberty
of Christ.”

CHRIST’S CONTEMPLATION

171

other means, it taught Him to know them in a different way. He
foresaw far in advance and infallibly that He would be crucified at
a given hour on a certain day. Yet when the moment of the crucifixion
came, the experience of pain taught Him in a way something new
that no prevision could reveal to Him in the same degree. Thus, St.
Paul tells us: “And whereas indeed He [Jesus] was the Son of God,
He learned obedience by the things which He suffered: and being
consummated, He became, to all that obey Him, the cause of eternal
salvation.” 112
Thus did Christ’s human intelligence contemplate even here on
earth, under the illumination of His divine intelligence. Let us medi­
tate on the light of His sacred soul, and the supernatural riches which
it possessed from the very first moment of His life. He knew us be­
forehand and He knows our entire existence as it is in the book of life.
He knew then and He knows now all the hereditary influences that
have contributed to form our temperaments. He knows all our natural
aptitudes, all the supernatural graces we have received and those we
have refused. He sees all our acts, past, present, and future. He sees
the state of our souls thirty years from now, three hundred years and
three thousand years from now. He knows our faults much better
than we do; and what deep humility this should inspire in us! He
knows the exact moment and the circumstances of our death, and
what will follow for each one of us.
Lord Jesus, give us Thy light when we pray, lead us from reasoned
meditation on Thy perfections to the prayer of the heart which will
unite us more intimately to Thyself. Thou art the Good Shepherd
who leads His sheep into eternal pastures. Make Thy words come
to realization within us: “The sheep hear his [the shepherd’s] voice:
and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. ... I
am the Good Shepherd; and I known Mine, and Mine know Me. . . .
My sheep hear My voice: and I know them, and they follow Me. And
I give them life everlasting; and they shall not perish forever, and
no man shall pluck them out of My hand. That which My Father
hath given Me, is greater than all: and no one can snatch them out of
the hand of My Father. I and the Father are one.” 118
*” Heb. j:if.

,u John 10:3-14, »7-30.

*
«XIII

r

£ HE HUMAN WILL OF OUR SAVIOR

“As the Father hath given Me
commandment, so do I.”
John 14:31

OW that we have spoken of the human intelligence and of the
contemplation of Jesus, we must consider His human will and
the eminent perfection of His liberty.
The Church has defined that Jesus has two wills, as He has two
intelligences: a divine and uncreated will, the property of His divine
nature, and a human will, the property of His human nature.1 If our
Savior did not indeed have a human will beneath His divine will, He
would not be truly a man, and He would not have been able to obey
or to merit. For obedience and merit presuppose the submission of a
will inferior to another that is more elevated.

N

The Mystery
The human will of Jesus possesses a very high perfection and a
great mystery: His will was even here on earth impeccable, and yet
it was perfectly free in obeying and in meriting.
Not only did Jesus never disobey His Father in actual fact, but
He could not disobey Him. He was impeccable by reason of His di­
vine personality, by reason of the inamissible plentitude of grace and
of the beatific vision which were His. For these three reasons He was
absolutely impeccable. Yet He obeyed freely, with perfect liberty,
which is not merely spontaneity but the absence of necessity in mak1 Cf. Third Council of Constantinople, against the Monothelites, definition of the
two wills of Christ. (Denzinger, no. 189.)
173

OUR SAVIOR’S HUMAN WILL

173

ing a choice {libertas non solum a coactione, sed a necessitate').2
How can obedience be free and meritorious when disobedience is
not possible? This mystery is so great in the eyes of some theologians
who have been unable to avoid contradiction, that they have claimed
that Jesus had not received from His Father the commandment, the
obligation to die for us. His Father, according to their reasoning,
merely suggested or counseled this sacrifice, without requiring it of
Him, and Jesus accepted it freely.
This manner of thinking, which is foreign to the doctrine of the
great masters, has no foundation whatever in Scripture. On the con­
trary, Jesus in the Gospel speaks several times of the commandment
He received from His Father, the commandment to die for us: “I
lay down My life, that I may take it again. No man taketh it away
from Me: but I lay it down of Myself, and I have power to lay it
down: and I have power to take it up again. This commandment have
I received of My Father.” 3
Likewise, after the Last Supper and just before the Passion Jesus
said again: “I will not now speak many things with you. For the
prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything. But
that the world may know, that I love the Father: and as the Father
hath given Me commandment, so do I. Arise, let us go hence” (John
14:30 f.). When St. Paul told the Philippians (2:8) that “Christ
2 Animals act spontaneously when they go toward food that they like, but they do not
act freely. Their action is necessitated by instinct. In another, infinitely superior, order of
things, God loves Himself spontaneously but necessarily, not freely. The blessed who see
God love Him spontaneously, but necessarily, with a love superior to liberty, for they
are infallibly ravished by divine goodness immediately known as it is in itself. Cf.
St. Thomas, la Hae, q.4, a. 4: “The will of him who sees the essence of God, of neces­
sity loves whatever he loves, in subordination to God.”
Merit, which no longer exists in heaven, presupposes not only spontaneity but true
liberty, the absence of necessity in making choices and in loving. That is why the Church
has condemned the following Jansenist proposition: “Ad merendum et demerendum in
statu naturae lapsae non requiritur in homine libertas a necessitate, sufficit libertas a
coactione” (Denzinger, no. 1094). Psychological free will is not moral liberation from
disorder either, for the former can exist without the latter and vice versa, as in the love
that the blessed have for God whom they see face to face.
8 John 10:17 f. In this text of St. John are affirmed both the commandment to die for
us and, immediately preceding, the liberty with which Jesus accomplished this com­
mandment. St. Augustine even says that by these words Jesus demonstrated that He gave
His life because He willed to, when He willed to, and in the manner He willed. (De Trin.,
Bk. IV, chap. 13, no. 16.)

«74

OUR SAVIOR

Jesus . . . humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even
to the death of the cross,” he was speaking of this commandment and
not of a mere counsel.
Besides, Jesus spoke of other divine commands that constituted an
obligation for His human liberty: “If you keep My commandments,
you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s com­
mandments, and do abide in His love.” 4
How, then, are we to reconcile this free and meritorious obedience
of Jesus with His absolute impeccability? This will always remain a
mystery for us here on earth, but it appears impossible only to those
who conceive of liberty after the manner of the world and not after
the manner of saints. Liberty, in the eyes of the world, is freedom to
disobey as well as to obey, freedom to do evil as well as to do good.
True liberty, according to the saints, is not freedom to disobey but
only to obey, it is not freedom to do evil, but only freedom to do
good. Now this liberty of goodness is supreme in Jesus.
Liberty in the eyes of the world is the power to choose between
good and evil, between duty and selfish whims, between obedience
and revolt. It is the power to say with Satan: “I will not obey.” One
might as well claim that reason is the faculty for knowing what is
false as well as what is true.
If liberty is thus understood, clearly it is impossible to see how
Jesus was free, He who never rebelled against divine authority or the
commandments of His Father, and who could not rebel against them.
But as reason is the faculty for knowing the true and not the false
(although it can be put to bad use by incorrect thinking), so true
liberty, according to God and the saints, is the power to choose not be­
tween good and evil but between several goods whose attraction does
not necessitate the will.8 It is this free will that exists in God, in the
sacred soul of our Savior, and among the blessed in heaven. In order
* John 15:10.
8 Cf. St. Thomas, la, q.62, a. 8 ad 3: “Free will in its choice of means to an end is
disposed just as the intellect is to conclusions. Now it is evident that it belongs to the
power of the intellect to be able to proceed to different conclusions, according to given
principles; but for it to proceed to some conclusion by passing out of the order of the
principles, comes of its own defect. Hence, it belongs to the perfection of its liberty
for the free will to be able to choose between opposite things, keeping the order of the

OUR SAVIOR’S HUMAN WILL

’75

to understand it, let us rise for a moment to the contemplation of
God’s impeccable liberty. We will then realize that the human liberty
of Jesus is the purest image in the created order of God’s own liberty.

God’s Impeccable Liberty
It is clear that God is both sovereignly free and absolutely impec­
cable. He is in no sense free to sin, that is, to turn away from Himself,
from His divine goodness that he necessarily loves. Yet He enjoys
sovereign liberty in the order of goodness, inasmuch as His divine
goodness leads Him to love the creatures which He can create or fail
to create as He wills. It is with perfect liberty that He created us to
manifest His goodness. This is the dogma of divine liberty.®
There is indeed a mystery in all this, but there is no contradiction:
whereas it was truly fitting that God should create, yet He did so
with perfect liberty, so that there would have been no disadvantage
to Him had He not created. The theologians say with great exact­
ness :“Creatio ita conveniens est ut non creatio non sit inconveniens.”
Contrary to Leibnitz’ view,*
7 God would not have been less good and
less wise if He had not created, for as Boussuet says, “God is no
greater for having created the universe.” Before creation, God was
already infinite, so that after creation there is not any more being but
only several beings, there is not more life but only many living be­
ings. As St. Thomas says, “since the goodness of God is perfect, and
can exist without other things inasmuch as no perfection can accrue
to Him from them, it follows that His willing things apart from
Himself is not absolutely necessary.” 8
Likewise God has freely raised angels and men to the life of grace,
end in view; but it comes of the defect of liberty for it to choose anything by turning
away from the order of the end; and this is to sin.”
0 Cf. Council of the Vatican : “Deus bonitate sua et omnipotenti virtute, non ad augen­
dam suam beatitudinem nec ad acquirendam, sed ad manifestandam perfectionem suam
per bona quae creaturis impertitur, liberrimo consilio simul ab initio temporis utramque
de nihilo condidit creaturam, spiritualem et corporalem, angelicam videlicet et mundanam
ac deinde humanam quasi communem ex spiritu et corpore constitutam.” Cf. Lateran
Council IV, ibid., no. 418.
7 Leibnitz erred on this point when he said that God would be neither good nor wise
if He had not created.
" Cf. St. Thomas, 1a, q. 19, a. j, c. and ad j; Contra Gentes, Bk. I, chaps. 76 and 8a.

176

OUR SAVIOR

and He could without any disadvantage to Himself not have so raised
them. Furthermore, God has freely willed the Incarnation, and He
might well not have willed it and have remitted sin in some other way.
So, too, God sows the divine seed in men’s souls in greater or less
abundance, according to His good pleasure. “The Spirit breathes
where He will.” It is with perfect liberty, of course, that God has
chosen one race of people rather than another which by its patriarchs
and prophets would prepare the way for the mystery of Redemption.
It is with perfect liberty that He chose within this people Mary rather
than some other virgin to become the Mother of the Savior, and
Joseph rather than any other just man to be the foster father of Jesus.
It is with complete liberty also that God chose one century rather than
another for the coming of the Messiah, just as He freely chose a given
hour for the creation or beginning of the universe and another hour
for the end of the world when the number of the elect will be com­
plete.
This is the sovereign liberty which is admirably reconciled with
absolute impeccability. God cannot turn away from Himself. He is
absolutely impeccable, but He is perfectly free with regard to all
created things. He does not have the liberty of evil, which is a form
of our defectiveness, but He has the liberty of goodness in its absolute
fullness.
Christ’s Impeccable Liberty,
the Perfect Image of God’s Liberty
The sacred soul of our Savior enjoys now and enjoyed while on
earth through grace a human liberty superior to that of the angels.
No created liberty ever was or ever will be more conformable to di­
vine liberty. Our Savior’s human liberty was from the first moment
the living image of God’s liberty.
As we have just said, God is free, not to love His own divine good­
ness, but to desire to manifest His goodness by creating us who had
no right whatever to existence. And as God is infinitely good and wise
from all eternity He did not become any better by freely creating the
universe. Thus God enjoys both absolute impeccability and the sov­

I
OUR SAVIOR’S HUMAN WILL

i77

ereign liberty which can be exercised only in the order of goodness.
Now, Christ’s human will is the pure image of the uncreated will,
since it is the human will of the Word of God made flesh, superior to
the angels and to all the blessed in heaven.
We must conclude, therefore, that Christ’s human will is like
God’s, of which it is the image, at once absolutely impeccable and
perfectly free, possessing a liberty which can be exercised only in the
order of goodness.
Like God, the sacred soul of Christ while here on earth was free,
not to love divine goodness in itself, which He clearly saw in the light
of the beatific vision, but to love the manifestation of divine goodness
in creatures.9
Christ’s sacred soul while here on earth loved God seen face to face
with a love superior to liberty, just as God loves Himself necessarily;
but Christ loved creatures freely, as finite manifestations of God’s
infinite goodness.
So it was that Jesus was free to call to the apostolate His first
twelve disciples rather than other Galilean fishermen. He was free
to choose Peter rather than another of His apostles to become His
vicar, the head of His Church. He was free to call John to a friendship
of predilection. He was free to convert Saul on the road to Damascus
on a given day and at a given hour, and to make him or not to make
him the Apostle of the Gentiles. He was free to choose among several
goods within the order of goodness itself, but He was not free to
will evil. His impeccable liberty could not deviate, just as His human
intelligence, always enlightened by divine light, could not err.
Can a Command Requiring a Free Act
Destroy the Liberty of That Act?
A precept or commandment in the true sense certainly takes away
the moral liberty to act otherwise, since it constitutes a moral obliga• St. Thomas says (la, q. 19, a. 3): “God wills His own goodness necessarily. . . .
Hence, since the goodness of God is perfect, and can exist without other things inasmuch
as no perfection can accrue to Him from them, it follows that His willing things apart
from Himself is not absolutely necessary. Yet it can be necessary by supposition, for sup­
posing that He wills a thing, then He is unable not to will it, as His will cannot change.”

178

OUR SAVIOR

tion. For the contrary act is illicit and forbidden. But no command­
ment takes away the psychological liberty to act in conformity with
its demands. On the contrary, a free act of obedience is required, and
if the precept destroyed the psychological liberty of this act, it would
destroy itself as a precept. For example, the commandment to love
our neighbor makes the contrary act of hatred illicit or forbidden,
but far from destroying the liberty of our act of love for our neigh­
bor, it demands a free and meritorious act.10
Our Savior had during His life and still has an impeccable psy­
chological liberty, the pure image of God, with regard to all goodness
whose attraction did not necessitate His will. We must conclude,
therefore, that this impeccable psychological liberty was not destroyed
by the divine command to die for us. Otherwise this precept which
demanded a free act of love and obedience would have destroyed it­
self.11
Faced with the command to die for us, Jesus was free in the ac­
complishment of this inevitable duty. His freedom with respect to
this duty was the freedom of goodness and not the freedom of evil.
He could not disobey, but as St. Paul tells us, He freely obeyed “unto
death, even to the death of the cross.” He had given expression to
this liberty Himself when He said: “I lay down My life. . . . No
man taketh it away from Me: but I lay it down of Myself. . . . This
commandment have I received of My Father.” 12
10 Thus man is not free to choose the religion that pleases him. He must choose the
true religion, but he chooses it freely.
11 Jesus necessarily loved only God as seen face to face. This fact is necessarily and
intrinsically connected with supreme beatitude. Thus the soul necessarily wishes to exist,
to live, and to know, otherwise it would not see God. But Jesus freely chose the means
that had only an accidental connection (by virtue of an extrinsic precept) with the final
end, for example, death on the cross. This form of death, terrible in one of its aspects
and salutary for us in another of its aspects, did not necessarily attract our Lord. The
precept which demanded this death, did not change its horrible nature, and did not
destroy the liberty of the free act that it required.
Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q. x 8, a. 4 ad 3: “The will of Christ, though determined to good,
is not determined to this or that good. Hence it pertains to Christ, even as to the blessed,
to choose with a free will confirmed in good.” Cf. also Illa, q. 15, a.i. See also among
St. Thomas’ commentators, John of St. Thomas, the Carmelites of Salamanca, Gonct,
Billuart, and others.
” John 10:18.

OUR SAVIOR’S HUMAN WILL

179

Precisely wherein lies the liberty of this heroic obedience? In order
to truly grasp it, we must consider two things. First, this death on the
cross, under one aspect is terrible. Secondly, under another aspect it
is eminently salutary for us, for the deliverance of souls. This death
does not invincibly attract the human will of our Savior, as the good­
ness of His Father whom He sees face to face attracts Him. On the
one hand, this horrible death is repugnant to Christ’s sensibility and
to every fiber of His human nature. On the other hand, it attracts our
Savior as being the consummation of His mission. The commandment
that is also related to it does not change the nature of this death, at
once dreadful and salutary. Nor can this commandment destroy the
liberty of the free act which it demands.
Under these conditions, what will be the deciding factor causing
one or the other of these contrary aspects of a death at once horrible
and attractive to prevail? The will of Jesus intervenes here freely,
giving the preference to the good, to heroic sacrifice 5 but as this will
is fundamentally righteous, it always intervenes in the correct man­
ner. It intervenes freely because death on the cross is not in itself a
good that invincibly attracts. Quite the contrary. Still, the human
will of Jesus intervenes infallibly and impeccably because it is the
will of the Word made flesh, because it is enlightened by the beatific
vision, because it is full of grace and continually receives a very power­
ful and very gentle actual grace which, far from doing violence to
liberty, actualizes it or puts it into action as is fitting.
Thus Jesus obeyed freely, although He could not have disobeyed.
One catches a glimpse of this mystery when, for example, an act of
painful obedience is required of a good religious. He obeys freely,
without even thinking that he could, if he chose, disobey. He might
be forbidden, for instance, to go to the bedside of a loved one who is
dying, since the trip would be too long and another priest could just
as well perform the last rites. This may be a most painful act of
obedience required of him, but he accomplishes it freely. The idea
does not even occur to him that he might disobey. As the virtue of
obedience develops, it leads a soul further and further from the con­
trary act. It takes away the liberty of evil, but certainly not the liberty

ι8ο

OUR SAVIOR

of goodness. In Jesus’ soul this virtue, like the virtue of charity, is
absolutely eminent and inamissible.18
In heaven Jesus retains this liberty of goodness, even though He
can no longer merit, since the hour for merit has passed. He has
reached the end of His journey, He is no longer a wayfarer. Yet He
retains the liberty of goodness, if not in the act of loving God seen
face to face, at least in His love for creatures. The same is true of the
saints. St. Dominic in his heavenly abode loves God whom he clearly
knows with a love superior to liberty, but it is freely that he prays
for one or another of his sons to obtain certain graces for them. If this
is true of each of the blessed in heaven, it is much more true of our
Savior.14
In addition, our Lord’s sensibility while He was on earth was per­
fectly obedient to His infallible intelligence and to His impeccable
will. His emotions or passions, such as melancholy, fear, sensible joy,
18 In this sense the Thomists say: “Christus non potuit non obedire privative, scilicet
recusando mortem ut praeceptam; sed potuit non obedire negative, recusando mortem
secundum se.” Thus the good religious freely obeys a very hard command without even
thinking for a moment that he might disobey this command. He feels that the order is
hard in itself, but the idea does not even occur to him to go against the order he has
received.
14 The Thomists have wondered whether Christ while on earth freely accomplished
the commandment to love God. They have divided into two main schools of thought
on this point.
Capreolus, Ferrariensis, Medina, and Soto declare that Christ’s love of God, ruled by
the beatific vision, was necessary, above liberty, but that in Him the act of love of God
ruled by infused knowledge, comparable to the natural knowledge of the angels, was
free. These theologians hold that these were two distinct acts, as are the acts of knowl­
edge from which they derived. Therefore, according to this view, it is probable that
Jesus merited not only in loving creatures for God but in loving God Himself whom
He knew through infused knowledge, as distinct from the beatific vision. This solution
does not exclude the following one, which appears to be more probable.
Alvarez, John of St. Thomas, the Salmanticenses, and Gonet think that Jesus’ love
of God, ruled by the beatific vision, is necessary, above liberty inasmuch as it related to
divine goodness in itself, and that this love was free inasmuch as it related to divine
goodness as a reason for loving creatures. They hold with St. Thomas: “Although God
necessarily wills His own goodness, He does not necessarily will things willed on ac­
count of His goodness; for it can exist without other things” (la, q. 19, a. 3). God neces­
sarily loves His divine goodness considered in itself; He freely wills the manifestation
of His goodness. It is probable that the same thing applied to the sacred soul of Christ
while He was still on earth. And the blessed in heaven, although they necessarily love
God whom they sec face to face, yet freely pray for certain sinners still on earth in order
to obtain graces for them.

OUR SAVIOR’S HUMAN WILL

181

never went beyond the bounds of moderation. These emotions never
took precedence over reasoned judgment and the consent of the will,
as happens with us, but always followed them. When Jesus became
angry with the merchants in the Temple, it was because it was His
considered judgment that He must manifest to them His holy anger,
the zeal for the glory of God. And if He was “sorrowful even unto
death” at Gethsemane, it was because He willed to know this over­
whelming misery so that the holocaust might be complete.18
What a great lesson there is for us in this doctrine of the impeccable
liberty of Christ! It teaches us that true liberty consists in being able
to choose the good, not evil, just as reason is the faculty of knowing
the true, not the false, though it may at times go astray. When the
Church has condemned some error such as Jansenism or Modernism,
there have been persons who have said: “We must either submit or
depart.” On the contrary, there is absolutely one thing only to do:
obey and not disobey.
This doctrine also teaches us that the more we love God, as our
Lord and the saints do, the freer we shall be with respect to all created
goods to dominate the attraction of worldly goods and not to fear
the threats of the impious. The martyrs have demonstrated the power
of Christian liberty, which endures all kinds of torture rather than be
unfaithful to God, and which is more concerned with union to God
than with union to the body.
Let us ask our Lord that He continually decrease our inclination
toward evil by making virtue thrive in us, and by confirming our will
in the direction of goodness, so that it may one day be definitely con­
firmed in goodness in heaven, when sin will no longer be possible and
when we shall have become through the power of Christ impeccable
and truly free, enjoying the liberty of the children of God.
10 Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q. 15, a. 4, 6, 9.

PART TWO

UR SAVIOR’S LOVE FOR US AND THE
MYSTERY OF REDEMPTION

O

*
«XIV
ΜρΉΕ TESTIMONY OF JESUS ON THE
MYSTERY OF THE REDEMPTION

1

N THE preceding pages we have dealt with the mystery of the
Incarnation, with the personality of Jesus, His sanctity, the con­
templation of His human intelligence, His human will that is at once
free and impeccable. We are now about to consider the mystery of the
Redemption according to the testimony of the Gospel and of the
Epistles, in order to determine the relation to this mystery of our
Savior’s interior life as priest and victim.
In our Lord’s teaching, the mystery of the Incarnation is intimately
bound up with the mystery of the Redemption. For the name “Jesus”
means Savior or Redeemer, and, as the Creed proclaims, it was to re­
deem us that the Word was made flesh. “I believe in one God, the
Father almighty . . . and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begot­
ten Son of God . . . who for us men, and for our salvation, came
down from heaven, and was incarnate . . . and was made man”
(Nicene Creed).
We know, of course, that the Modernists have claimed that the
doctrine concerning the expiatory character of Christ’s death is not
evangelical, but merely Pauline, that is, the fruit of St. Paul’s per­
sonal reflections on the death of Jesus.1
How were the Modernists led to entertain such a notion? Because,
following in the footsteps of the liberal Protestants who had almost
become rationalists, they sought to suppress all supernatural elements
in the mystery of the Redemption and to reduce it to the level of a
truth of the natural order. Following this trend of thought, they have

I

1 Among the Modernist errors condemned by Pope Pius XT in the decree Lamentabili,
the thirty-eighth is this one: “Doctrina de morte piaculari Christi non est evangelica, sed
paulina” (Denzinger, no. 2038).
185

186

OUR SAVIOR

claimed that the Redemption as the Catholic Church has always un­
derstood it, is contrary to God’s mercy and justice.
The Catholic concept of the Redemption is contrary to God’s
mercy, they have held, because an infinitely merciful God cannot de­
mand as reparation for sin such rigorous satisfaction as is far superior
to anything man can offer Him. The answer to the objection is that
this view leaves out of consideration the fact that, while God had de­
manded such a reparation, He has in His infinite mercy given us His
own Son to redeem us. He has loved the world so much as to deign
to give to it not only grace and pardon but the Author of grace Him­
self.
The Modernists further hold that the Redemption as conceived
by the Catholic Church, is contrary to divine justice, for it is unjust
and cruel to strike an innocent person in place of those who are guilty.
Is this not to forget that our Savior is a voluntary victim, who gen­
erously offered Himself up for us?
By thus deviating from the fundamental truths of Christianity the
Modernists and the liberal Protestants have entirely removed from
the death of Jesus on the cross its supernatural character. In their
eyes Jesus is only a wise man, a saint who was not understood by His
contemporaries, and who courageously died rather than renounce
His ideas. He did not die to make reparation in our place, to re­
deem us, to give us supernatural grace, to merit eternal life for us.
His death, as they see it, has value only as an example, such as
had the death of Socrates or Leonidas. His death is the greatest
example of strength and greatness of soul amid the most terrible
trials.
This is what becomes of a supernatural mystery when viewed with
the eyes of human wisdom, which in seeking to explain everything
naturally finds only darkness in the faith of the Church, the faith of
all the martyrs, and of all the saints.
We shall see that contrary to these naturalistic views this doctrine
of the Church has been clearly expressed in the words of our Lord
preserved in the four Gospels. We shall then see that this doctrine is
also to be found in the Acts of the Apostles and in St. Paul’s writings.

THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS

187

The Mystery of the Redemption
in the First Three Gospels

First of all, let us bear in mind that Jesus manifested the mystery
of the Incarnation only by slow degrees, because men’s souls would
not have been able to bear all at once such a lofty revelation. The
same is true of His announcement of His painful passion, for it was
even more difficult to bear the revelation of this mystery, especially
for the Jews who, because of their national prejudices, were awaiting
a temporal and conquering Messiah who would have made them
dominant over other peoples.
Let us bear in mind also that Jesus began to announce His painful
passion to His disciples only after He had brought them to believe
in His divine sonship, in His divinity. Only after Peter’s confession
at Caesarea, in which he professed his belief that Jesus was “the Son
of the living God,” did our Lord begin “to show to His disciples, that
He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things . . . and be put
to death.” 2 This mystery which had been announced repeatedly by
the prophets, especially in certain Messianic psalms 8 and by Isaias,4
was difficult to accept. It required a great spirit of faith.
Let us see how our Lord manifested this mystery progressively,
according to the first three Gospels and also according to St. John.
It is like a leitmotif, at first soft but powerful, which gradually grows
louder and finally bursts forth and is dominant.®
At the start of His ministry, in the synagogue at Nazareth Jesus
read in the book of the prophet Isaias: 6 “The Spirit of the Lord is
upon Me, wherefore He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel
to the poor, He hath sent Me to heal the contrite of heart: to preach
deliverance to the captives, and sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and
the day of reward.” 7 This is more than an example of high virtue.
2 Matt. 16:2t.
8 Ps. 39, 21, 68.
* Chaps. 50, 53.
8 Thus, in the overture to Tannhauser the leitmotif of the Pilgrims’ Chorus is at first
almost imperceptible, but it gradually rises above the leitmotif of sensuality and evil, until
it dominates all.
* Isa. 61 :t.
T Luke 4:18 f.

188

OUR SAVIOR

The announcement is general, but it is certainly clear, and it was to
become progressively clearer.
A little later, as we read in St. Matthew,8 after Matthew the pub­
lican is called to the apostleship, as Jesus was at table in Matthew’s
house together with many publicans and sinners who had joined Him
and His disciples for the feast, the Pharisees said to the disciples:
“Why doth your master eat with publicans and sinners? But Jesus
hearing it, said: They that are in health need not a physician, but
they that are ill. Go then and learn what this meaneth, I will have
mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the just, but sin­
ners.” 9 But mention was not made of the cruel passion He was to
suffer. It was too early for that.
It was only after Peter had confessed at Caesarea that Jesus was
“Christ the Son of the living God,” 10 that “Jesus began to show to
His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things
from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death,
and the third day rise again.” Peter, drawing Him aside, began to
rebuke Him, saying: “Lord, be it far from Thee, this shall not be
unto Thee.” But Jesus, turning to Peter, said: “Go behind Me,
Satan, thou art a scandal unto Me: because thou savorest not the
things that are of God, but the things that are of men.” 11
Peter indeed had so little understanding of the things of God when
he said these words that he was speaking without knowing it against
all of God’s plans for the salvation of mankind, against the motive
of the Incarnation or of the coming of the Word made flesh into
the world. And he spoke thus because his natural affection for Jesus
was so great that he could not bear the announcement of His cruel
passion. By contrast, the words of the Stabat Mater are: “Grant that
I may bear the death of Christ, following Mary’s example who re­
mained standing at the foot of the cross.”
We should note that it was after the first prediction of His passion
that Jesus said:12 “If any man will come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” 18 This expression,
8 Matt. 9:10—13.
0 Cf. Mark 11:17.
10 Matt. 16:16.
11 Matt. 16:21—23. Cf. Mark 8:31—33.
12 Matt. 16:241 Mark 8:34—391 Luke 9:23—27.
18 It is in this sense that someone has said: “Any destiny that does not have its calvary is

THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS

189

“take up one’s cross,” was then still obscure to His hearers, but it
would become increasingly clear.
Again alluding to His sacrifice and to its fruits, Jesus said: “I am
come to cast fire on the earth: and what will I, but that it be kindled?
And I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized: and how am I
straitened until it be accomplished?” 14
He announced His passion again even more precisely as He was
going up to Jerusalem, before His triumphal entry. It is recorded in
St. Matthew: “And Jesus . . . took the twelve disciples apart, and
said to them: Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall
be betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall con­
demn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to be
mocked and scourged and crucified, and the third day He shall rise
again.” 18 The apostles must have been struck by these words, and
yet they forgot them during the Passion.
It was then that the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached
Jesus with her sons and asked that they might sit, the one on His
right and the other on His left in His kingdom. Jesus, alluding to His
passion which He had just announced, answered: “Can you drink
the chalice that I shall drink?” 16 He then added that, whereas the
princes of the Gentiles lord it over them, “the Son of man is not come
to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a redemp­
tion for many.” 17 Here we have the mystery of the Redemption
enunciated by Jesus Himself. It would therefore be difficult to
claim, as the Modernists do, that this was the personal notion of
St. Paul, born of his reflection on the life and death of Jesus. Our
Lord has told us Himself that He came “to give His life a redemp­
tion for many.”
Likewise, in St. Mark we read: “The Son of man ... is not
come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a
redemption for many.” 18 This certainly bespeaks the expiatory char­
acter of Jesus’ death.
The Passion was also foretold in the parable of the wicked husa punishment from God.” “Life disappoints only those who do not expect enough from
it,"
14 Luke 12:49 f.
*
lft Matt. 10:17-181 cf. Mark 10:341 Luke 18:31 ff·
10 Matt. 20:2a.
,T Ibid,, 20:28.
*“ Mark 10:45.

190

OUR SAVIOR

bandmen: “And last of all he sent to them his son. . . . But the
husbandmen seeing the son, said among themselves: This is the heir:
come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance. And taking
him, they cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him.” 19
Finally the Passion was foretold for the last time during the Last
Supper, as recorded in St. Matthew,20 in St. Mark,21 and in St.
Luke.22 In St. Matthew we read: “And whilst they were at supper,
Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to His disciples,
and said: Take ye and eat: This is My body. And taking the chalice,
He gave thanks, and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of this. For
this is My blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many
unto remission of sins.”
This was very clear, especially after the preceding predictions of
the Passion, and inasmuch as Jesus had already said during the Last
Supper: “The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of Him: but
woe to that man by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed.” 23
In order to give further warning to His apostles, He added as
they proceeded to the Garden of Olives: “All of you shall be scan­
dalized in Me this night. For it is written: I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed. But after I shall be risen
again, I will go before you into Galilee.” 24 And St. Luke adds that
our Lord said to Peter: “Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired
to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:25 But I have prayed for
thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm
thy brethren.” 28
This last announcement of the Passion was singularly clear, and
by the words of the consecration at the Last Supper, especially those
referring to “My blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed
for many unto remission of sins,” 27 it was manifest that during His
passion and crucifixion which He had foretold, Jesus would offer His
blood as a sacrifice of reparation or of redemption.
None the less, in spite of all these predictions which confirmed
10 Matt, ai :j7 f.
10 Ibid., 26:26-28.
22 Luke 22:19 f.
23 Matt. 26:24.
20 Just as he had desired holy Job (cf. Job r :i 1).
” Matt. 26:28.

21 Mark 14:24.
24 Ibid., 26:31 f.
20 Luke aatji f.

THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS

19’

those of the Messianic psalms and those of Isaias 28 about the suffer­
ing Messiah, the man of sorrows—in spite of all this light, when the
sacrifice began at Gethsemane the apostles fell asleep, and as soon as
the Passion started they fearfully forsook our Lord. At the moment
when the mystery of the Redemption was accomplished on the cross,
at the moment of the Consummatum est, they did not understand
that this was the realization of Christ’s promises. Many of them even
thought that all was lost. And if the apostles behaved in this manner
during the dark night of the Passion, how might we expect to react
if we were placed in comparable circumstances?
The mystery of the Redemption was clearly announced in the
Synoptic Gospels, as we have seen. In one of these Gospels it is also
reported that after His resurrection Jesus said to His disciples of
Emmaus: “O foolish, and slow of heart to believe in all things which
the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these
things and so to enter into His glory?” 28
The Testimony of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel

The mystery of the Redemption has been expressed even more
perfectly in the Gospel of St. John. In this Gospel, Jesus repeats
insistently that He is sent by the Father to do His will and to perfect
His work.30 But this work consists in bearing witness to the truth,31
and in saving men’s souls and giving them eternal life. According to
this Gospel, Jesus said to Nicodemus: “So must the Son of man be
lifted up : that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may
have life everlasting. For God so loved the world, as to give His
only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not
perish, but may have life everlasting.” 32
To this end, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, gave His life for His
sheep. There is no simpler or greater expression of the mystery of
the Redemption than the parable of the Good Shepherd: “I am come
that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly. I am the
*· Chap. 5 j.
•’John 4:341 5:303 6:38 fl.
·* Ibid., 3 :14—16.

” Luke »4:15 f.
,J Ibid., 18:373 17:83 14, a6.

IÇ2

OUR SAVIOR

Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth His life for His sheep.
. . . I am the Good Shepherd; and I know mine, and mine know
Me. ... I lay down My life for My sheep. And other sheep I
have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall
hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd. There­
fore doth the Father love Me: because I lay down My life, that I
may take it again. No man taketh it away from Me: but I lay it
down of Myself, and I have power to lay it down: and I have power
to take it up again. This commandment have I received of My Fa­
ther.” 33
This is indeed the spontaneous oblation of the voluntary victim,
and this victim is the Good Shepherd Himself, the Priest above all
others, who was to pronounce the priestly prayer before He died.34
Jesus did not die as the result of unforeseen circumstances, as did
Socrates, rather than renounce His ideas. Jesus was sent by God to
offer Himself up for us.
At the time of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus an­
nounced to His disciples that His death would be a triumph, but
that before the triumph He would have to be immolated. He told
them in fact: “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be
glorified. Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling
into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth
forth much fruit. . . . Now shall the prince of this world be cast
out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to
Myself.” St. John adds: “Now this He said, signifying what death
He should die.” 38
A little later, Jesus said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that
a man lay down his life for his friends.” 30 Then, during His priestly
prayer, He added: “And for them do I sanctify Myself, that they
also may be sanctified in truth.” 37
Through the fruits of our Savior’s death, Satan was defeated, he
lost the rights and the power he had over a sinful humanity,38 and
grace was given back to men. Jesus is the vine, we are the branches:
“He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much
88 Ibid., 10:10-18.
,Λ Ibid., 15:13.

84 Ibid., chap. 17.
81 Ibid., 17:19.

80 Ibid., 12 3-25, 31 f.
88 Ibid., 12:j 1.

THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS

193

fruit.” 39 St. John speaks in the same vein in his First Epistle: “We
have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus His Son
cleanseth us from all sin. . . .40 He is the propitiation for our sins:
and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. . . .41
By this hath the charity of God appeared toward us, because God
hath sent His only-begotten Son into the world, that we may live by
Him.” 42
St. John develops this doctrine of the precious blood in an admi­
rable manner in the Apocalypse, in the canticle sung to the Lamb:
“Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God, in Thy blood, out
of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And hast made us
to our God a kingdom and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.” 43
This is the same teaching that we find in St. Peter’s first discourses
after Pentecost, as reported in the Acts of the Apostles: “This [Jesus]
is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become
the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For
there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must
be saved.” 44 “Him hath God exalted with His right hand, to be
Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of
sins.” 48
Finally, St. Peter says in his First Epistle: “You were not re­
deemed with corruptible things as gold and silver, . . . but with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled.” 40
“Who His own self bore our sins in His body upon the tree: that we,
being dead to sins, should live to justice: by whose stripes you were
healed.” 4T
Such is the testimony of the Gospels, of the Acts of the Apostles,
and of St. Peter’s Epistles on the mystery of the Redemption.
Hence it cannot be held that the expiatory character of Christ’s death
is not evangelical, that it is merely the result of St. Paul’s personal
reflections on the death of Jesus, which he compared with the sacri­
fices of the Old Law. Our Savior’s own words as recorded by St.
·· Ibid.,
42 Ibid.,
45 Ibid.,
4’ Ibid.,

i 5:5·
40 I John 117.
419.
4’ Apoc. 5 :ç f.
5:455 cf. ibid., 8:375 10:435 15.
1 :i4.

41 Ibid., 2.2.
44 Acts 4:11 f.
48 I Pet. t :i 8 f.

194

OUR SAVIOR

Matthew and St. Mark tell us that He gave His life “a redemption
for many.” And St. John the Baptist, before St. Paul, saluted Jesus
as “the Lamb of God, . . . who taketh away the sin of the world.” 48
Even if we did not have St. Paul’s epistles, this testimony would suf­
fice to make us know in the obscurity of faith the very essence of the
mystery of the Redemption.
48 John i :z9·

® XV ®
ΓΊρ\ΗΕ REDEMPTION
JL ST. PAUL

ACCORDING TO

The Meaning of This Dogma and the Contrary Errors

HE testimony of the Gospel, completed by that of the Acts of
the Apostles, shows us clearly, as we have already seen, that
Jesus “gave His life a redemption for many,” 1 that His blood was
shed “for many unto remission of sins,” 2 and that He is “the Lamb
of God, . . . who taketh away the sin of the world.” 3 Let us now
consider what St. Paul tells us with regard to this dogma of our faith,
and seek to grasp its true meaning.

T

The Testimony of St. Paul on the Redemption
It is false, of course, to pretend that the expiatory character of
Christ’s death is not evangelical, but merely the fruit of St. Paul’s
personal reflections. The truth of the matter is that the great apostle
has made known the full glory of this doctrine. Innumerable pas­
sages in his epistles show that the Redemption and sanctification of
men were accomplished by the death of Jesus. In fact, he tells us that
God delivered His Son up for us,4 for our sins,5 for all men,® even for
the ungodly? This death was an act of obedience,8 a voluntary gift of
Jesus’ love. In the Epistle to the Ephesians we read: “Walk in
love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered Himself for
us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness.” 9
“Christ . . . loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for it;
1 Matt. 20:28} Mark 10:45.
* Matt. 26:28.
•John 1:29.
· I Thess. 5:10; Rom. 5:9.
• I Cor. 15:3.
® Gal· *
:°ί
H Cor. 5:145 Rom. 8:32.
’ Rom. 5:6 f.
" Phil. 2:8 5 Rom. 5:19.
’ Eph. 5 :i.
«95

196

OUR SAVIOR

that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the
word of life: that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church,
not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be
holy, and without blemish.” 10 “Christ our pasch is sacrificed”; 11
in other words, Jesus is the paschal Lamb whose immolation has
taken away the sins of the world, as John the Baptist had announced
He would.
St. Paul specifies that he is speaking of a sacrifice of expiation.
In fact, he wrote to the Romans: “For all have sinned, and do need
the glory of God. Being justified freely by His grace, through the
Redemption, that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath proposed to
be a propitiation, through faith in His blood, to the showing of His
justice, for the remission of former sins.” 12
St. Paul also shows that the death of Jesus on the cross was a
redemption by substitution: “You are bought with a great price.” 13
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a
curse for us.” 14 This is the same idea that Jesus expressed in St.
Mark: “The Son of man ... is not come to be ministered unto,
but to minister, and to give His life a redemption for many.” 15
St. Paul again affirms this doctrine: “For there is . . . one medi­
ator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus: who gave Himself a re­
demption for all,” 16 that is, who delivered us for a ransom, at the
price of His own blood,17 the supreme expression of His love.
Contrary to the opinion of a number of Protestant liberals,18 St.
Paul holds that the dying Christ substituted Himself for sinful man­
kind, since he says: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the
law, being made a curse for us” 10 on the cross. “Him, who knew no
sin, He hath made sin for us, that we might be made the justice of
God in Him.” 20 That is to say, God treated Him like sin for us, and
Jesus had in actual fact taken all our sins upon Himself in order
to expiate them. “Jesus Christ, our Lord . . . was delivered up
10 Eph. 5:2jf.
111 Cor. 5:7.
12 Rom. 3:23—25. 18 I Cor. 6:20; 7:23.
14 Gal. 3:13.
16 Mark 10:455 cf. Matt. 20:28.
18 I Tim. 2:5 f.
17 Cf. Prat, The Theology of St. Paul, Vol. I, note 50: Expiation, propitiation, re­
demption.
18 Sabatier, L’Apôtre Paul, 3rd ed., p. 328: La doctrine de Pexpiation et ton evolution
historique Paris, 1903.
18 Gal. 3:13 f.
80 Π Cor. 5:21.

THE REDEMPTION ACCORDING TO ST. PAUL

*97

[to death] for our sins, and rose again for our justification.” 21
Thus by His death Christ delivered us from sin,22 from the snares
of the devil.23 He freed us from the Mosaic Law which was an oc­
casion of sin.24 The result of all this is the attainment of true liberty 25
by all Christians, “so that we should serve in newness of spirit, and
not in the oldness of the letter.” 26
Moreover, Christians are reconciled with God:27 by Christ’s blood
they are cleansed, sanctified, justified,28 accepted as adopted sons of
God, and heirs of heaven.29 The victory will be complete at the end
of the world, when death will be thoroughly vanquished by resur­
rection.30 Then, too, will the Redemption be fully accomplished,
“when this mortal hath’put on immortality. . . . Thanks be to God,
who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 31
The doctrine of the expiatory nature of Jesus’ death on the cross
is not the fruit of St. Paul’s personal reflections. It is an evangelical
doctrine which was clearly formulated on several occasions by Jesus
Himself. But it was St. Paul’s mission to bring out all its glory, not
only through the texts which we have just quoted but also through his
teaching on the sacraments, especially baptism 32 and the Holy
Eucharist,33 inasmuch as the Mass perpetuates in substance in an
unbloody manner the Sacrifice of the Cross, so that its fruits may be
applied to each succeeding generation until the end of the world.

The Doctrine of the Redemption
and Its Theological Explanation
From St. Paul’s testimony, which completes and clarifies that of
the Gospel, the real meaning of the Redemption is clearly revealed.
In the general sense of the word, redemption or repurchase is the
act by which a person acquires again by paying the required price what
21
24
20
22
81
82
83

Rom. 4:25.
22 Ibid., 4:25; 6:1—12.
Rom. 7:4; Gal. 3:131 4:5-7. Col. 2:13 f.
Rom. 7:6.
27 Ibid., 5:10 f.
Rom. 8:14—171 Gal. 3:26—4:4-7.
Ibid., 15:54-57.
Eph. 4:51 5:263 Tit. 3:51 Rom. 6:3—125 Gal. 3:27;
I Cor. 10:1 5-21 i i 1 :17-34.

23 II Tim. 2:26; Col. 2:15.
23 Gal. 4:31.
28 Rom. 3:241 5:9, 10, ii S.
80 I Cor. 15:24-27.
I Cor. 12:13.

198

OUR SAVIOR

he formerly possessed but no longer possesses. Thus we speak of the
repurchase of a house or of a piece of property, as captives and prison­
ers of war are ransomed.
The redemption of the human race can therefore be defined as fol­
lows: It is the act by which our Savior, at the price of His own blood
(an expression of His love), snatched the human race from slavery
to sin and to the devil, and reconciled it with God. In other words,
to use the terms dear to both St. Anselm 34 and to St. Thomas:38 He
made satisfaction for our sins, He payed the debt to divine justice,
and He merited our salvation. The Council of Trent defines this
dogma as follows: “The meritorious cause of our justification is the
only-begotten Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who when we were
enemies of God,33 because of His great love for us,37 has by His very
holy passion on the wood of the cross merited our justification and
has made satisfaction for us to God the Father.” 33
The Redemption thus conceived was necessary after the fall of
man, if God wished to raise us up again and exact reparation equiva­
lent to the gravity of the offense which is mortal sin. It was fitting,
of course, that after the fall God should wish to raise us up again.
For man’s sin, being less grave than that of Satan, is not irré­
missible, and moreover original sin was voluntary only in the first
man.
Yet God could very well have raised us up again by forgiving us
and exacting only an imperfect reparation.39 He might have been
content to send us a prophet who would have made known to us the
conditions of pardon.
God has done infinitely more for us. In exacting a reparation
equivalent to the gravity of the offense, He has given us His own
Son as Redeemer. If His justice has exacted this reparation, His
mercy has given us the Savior who alone was capable of making full
reparation for the offense or disorder of mortal sin.
The injury is all the more grave in proportion to the greater dignity
of the person offended. It is more serious to insult a magistrate than
84 St. Anselm, Cur Deus Homo, P.L., 158, 361-430.
88 St. Thomas, Illa, q. 1, a. 2; q.46, a. 1-4.
88 Rom. 5:10.
8T Eph. 2:4.
88 Cf. Concilium Trid., Sess. VI, chap. 7. Denzingcr, nos. 799, 820.
88 St. Thomas, Illa, q. 1, a. 2.

THE REDEMPTION ACCORDING TO ST. PAUL

199

to insult a passer-by on the street. Mortal sin, by which man with full
knowledge and consent scorns divine law on a serious matter by dis­
obeying that law, mortal sin by which man turns away from God,
thus has infinite gravity. For mortal sin practically denies God the
infinite dignity of being our final end, and falsely sets a wretched
created good as our final end. If an offense increases in gravity with
the dignity of the person offended, the injury done to God by mortal
sin is limitless in gravity; it denies Him the infinite dignity of
Sovereign Good.40 In order to understand in full the gravity of this
injury, it would be necessary to have seen God. The angels and saints
understand this far better than the devils and even the most perverse
beings.
To repair this disorder, an act of love of God of infinite value was
necessary. But no creature that is a creature and no more can give
infinite value to its acts of love. Even if such an act is supernatural,
the fruit of grace and of infused charity, it remains finite, like the
creature from which it proceeds, like created grace and charity, even
though this act has an infinite object, namely, God Himself. We can
love God who is infinite, but we cannot love Him infinitely. He alone
is capable of loving Himself in this manner.
Therefore, for a human soul to make an act of love of God infinite
in value, that human soul had to belong to a divine preson. Such was
the soul of the Word made flesh. Our Lord’s soul drew from the
divine personality of the Word infinite capacity for satisfying and
meriting. It was the act of love of a human soul, but also that of a
divine person. For this reason, it is called a theandric act, both divine
and human.
This is the essence of the mystery of the Redemption, which St.
Thomas expresses in these terms: “He properly atones for an offense
who offers something which the offended one loves equally, or even
more than he detested the offense. But by suffering out of love and
obedience, Christ gave more to God than was required to compensate
for the offense of the whole human race. First of all, because of the
exceeding charity from which He suffered; secondly, on account of
the dignity of His life which Fie laid down in atonement, for it was
40 Cf. St. Thoma», Illa, q. 1, a. 1 ad 1 j also De veritate, q. a8, a. 2.

200

OUR SAVIOR

the life of one who was God and man; thirdly, on account of the
extent of the Passion, and the greatness of the grief endured, as
stated above.41 And therefore Christ’s passion was not only a suf­
ficient but a superabundant atonement for the sins of the human race;
according to I John 2:2: ‘He is the propitiation for our sins: and not
for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.’ ” 42
In short, the love of Christ dying on the cross for our sakes was
more pleasing to God than the totality of all men’s sins can displease
Him. It is on this point above all others that we should pause in
contemplation. Everything else converges toward the contrast ex­
pressed in the two words: Sin and redemptive love.

The Depth of This Mystery and the Errors
Opposed to It

Here indeed is a great mystery. As the Catechism of the Council
of Trent43 tells us: “If the human mind finds difficulties elsewhere,
it is incontestably in the mystery of the Redemption that it meets the
greatest difficulties of all. It is hard for us to conceive that our salva­
tion depends upon the Cross and upon Him who let Himself be nailed
to it for love of us.44 But it is in this very fact that, according to the
teaching of the Apostle, we must admire the sovereign providence of
God. For, ‘seeing that in the wisdom of God the world, by wisdom,
knew not God, it pleased God, by the foolishness of our preaching, to
save them that believe. . . . We preach Christ crucified, unto the
Jews indeed a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness:
but unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power
of God, and the wisdom of God.’ ”48
The Catechism of the Council of Trent continues: “It can be said
that the mystery of the Cross, humanly speaking, is more than any
other outside the conceptions of reason. That is why, since Adam’s
sin, God has never ceased announcing the death of His Son, at times
41 Q. 46, a. 6.
42 St. Thomas, Illa, q.48, a. 2.
48 Part I, article 4 of Symbol t.
44 It is hard for us to believe that life issues from death and that victory proceeds from
annihilation.
451 Cor. 1 :2 1-24.

THE REDEMPTION ACCORDING TO ST. PAUL

201

through figures of speech, and again through the oracles of the
prophets.”
There is a most powerful chiaroscuro in this mystery, especially
when we also consider the application of our Savior’s merits.
On the one hand, it is clear that God’s mercy bends down toward
us to raise us up. But what is obscure is the intimate reconciliation of
this most tender mercy with the exigencies of infinite justice. We
firmly believe both are united in God and in the bruised heart of
Jesus, a voluntary victim dying through love of us. We believe this,
but we do not see it; and to our superficial gaze it seems that such
rigorous justice places limits upon infinite mercy. We do not yet see
how they are two forms or two virtues of uncreated love, which are
identified in it without any real distinction.40 Still we can perceive
that avenging justice is itself a proclamation of the rights of the
Sovereign Good to be loved above all else.
If we stray from the straight path that leads toward these heights,
we deviate toward two errors each opposed to the other: either the
error of the first Protestants, or the error of their successors who re­
acted against them.
The first Protestants, Luther, Calvin, and their disciples, falsified
the mystery of the Redemption by saying: Christ took our sins upon
Himself to the point of becoming odious to His Father, and both on
the cross and in Plis descent to hell, He suffered the torments of the
damned. Thenceforth they have added, there remains nothing for us
to do and to suffer for salvation, but only to believe in the merits of
Christ.
This interpretation of the Redemption makes of it a mystery not
superior but contrary to right reason. How could the Word of God
made flesh have become odious to His Father? How could He who
is God Himself, who is the truth and the life, have endured in the
uppermost regions of His soul the torment of the damned, the priva­
tion of God? Luther and Calvin have sought to find in the Redemp­
tion a penal compensation, a physical torment, rather than a work of
spiritual love, and they also suppressed the necessity of love in our
4β Cf. St. Thomas, la, q. zo f.

202

OUR SAVIOR

life, by saying that all that is necessary is to believe. How could faith
without love, without obedience to the precepts, suffice for salva­
tion? 47
These manifestly inadmissible excesses of the first Protestants pro­
voked the reaction of present-day liberal Protestants, who fall into
the contrary error when they say: Christ did not die to expiate our
sins and to obtain for us grace and eternal life ; but He saved us solely
through His doctrine and His example, like the prophets and the
martyrs, though His heroism did surpass theirs.
The Catholic doctrine rises like a mountain peak above these two
contrary errors. It tells us that Jesus has redeemed us not merely by
His example and His doctrine, but by making satisfaction for our sins
and by meriting for us grace and eternal life. He offered Himself
up for us, especially on the cross, like a veritable host.
There is certainly a profound mystery in all this. Yet this dogma,
in affirming the exigencies of divine justice, is in no respect contrary
to God’s mercy, as the liberal Protestants claim. Conversely, we shall
see that God the Father in asking His Son to die for us as a victim has
loved Him with a supremely great love, since He has wished thereby
to make Him the victor over sin, the devil, and death. Those who
have accepted suffering for the salvation of souls enter into the depths
of this mystery. At the same time God has wished to proclaim the
rights of the Sovereign Good to be loved above all else and to forgive
us our sins because of the love of His Son, who was a voluntary victim
for us.
4T One day, after I had given a conference in a Protestant city on sanctifying grace, the
beginning of eternal life, a man with searching eyes came to me and said: “I belong to
a Lutheran family. My father and grandfather were pastors. I have followed your talk
with great interest.” I turned to him and asked: “How can you explain that Luther
should have written: ‘Sin boldly and believe even more boldly?’ How could he have so
completely misunderstood the precept of love which is the soul of the Gospel: Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, with thy whole soul, with all thy strength,
and with all thy mind?” The man answered: “It is very simple. It was diabolic.” I should
not have dared to tell him this, and I understood that this son of a Lutheran family was
about to enter the Catholic Church, after having gone through great trials.
On the other hand, the devil is sometimes obliged to tell the truth. Thus he admitted
during an exorcism that the value of suffering derives from love, and that Christ’s suffer­
ings would have been valueless if He had not endured them for love of God and for love
of us. This is what “he who docs not love,” as St. Theresa calls him, is at times forced to
admit.

THE REDEMPTION ACCORDING TO ST. PAUL

103

Far from destroying each other in being thus united on the cross,
divine mercy and justice rest in a way upon each other, like the two
arcs of a circle that form a pointed arch, and the exigencies of justice
are revealed to be the consequences of love’s own exigencies. Love
of the good requires that evil be atoned for, and it gives us the Re­
deemer, so that this reparation may be offered up and that we may
regain eternal life.
The full grandeur of this mystery is manifest in St. Paul’s letter
to the Ephesians: “God (who is rich in mercy) for His exceeding
charity wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together in Christ (by whose grace you are saved)
and hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in the
heavenly places, through Christ Jesus, that He might show in the
ages to come the abundant riches of His grace, in His bounty toward
us in Christ Jesus.” 48
48 Eph. 2 14-7.

I

»xvi«
OD’S LOVE FOR HIS SON IN THE
MYSTERY OF THE REDEMPTION

G

“And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all things
to Myself.”
John 12:32

E HAVE seen what the exact meaning of the dogma is ac­
cording to St. Thomas: The love of Christ dying for us on
the cross pleased God more than the totality of all men’s sins can dis­
please Him.1
In order to delve more deeply into this mystery, we must consider
how it is the manifestation of the uncreated love of God for His Son
and for us.
At first blush it might seem that God the Father appears to be
cruel to His Son by striking down an innocent person in place of the
guilty. This is what the liberal Protestants hold, in their reaction
against the thought of Luther and Calvin. It might also seem that God
the Father loves us more than He loves His Son, since He has de­
livered up His Son for us.
This is not so at all, but is but a very inferior view of the matter.
This mystery is incomparably superior to any such contentions.

W

God Has Wished for His Son
the Glory of the Redemption

St. Thomas Aquinas has written these profound words: “God’s
loving one thing more than another is nothing else than His willing
for that thing a greater good: because God’s will is the cause of good1 Illa, q.48, a. 2, 4.

204

GOD’S LOVE FOR HIS SON

205

ness in things; and the reason why some things are better than others,
is that God wills for them a greater good. Hence it follows that He
loves more the better things. God loves Christ not only more than
He loves the whole human race, but more than He loves the entire
created universe: because He willed for Him the greater good in
giving Him a name that is above all names, so far as He was true
God. Nor did anything of His excellence diminish when God de­
livered Him up to death for the salvation of the human race; rather
did He become thereby a glorious conqueror: the government was
placed upon His shoulder, according to Isa. 9:6.” 2
In his treatise on the Incarnation, St. Thomas develops this lofty
idea when he inquires:3 Did God the Father Himself deliver up
His Son to His passion and death? He answers by explaining St.
Paul’s words: “He that spared not even His own Son, but delivered
Him up for us all.” 4
In his explanation St. Thomas says: “In three respects God the
Father did deliver up Christ to the Passion. In the first way, because
by His eternal will He preordained Christ’s passion for the deliver­
ance of the human race, according to the words of Isaias: ‘The Lord
hath laid on Him the iniquities of us all’; 8 and again: ‘The Lord was
pleased to bruise Him in infirmity.’ 6 Secondly, inasmuch as, by the
infusion of charity [so that it might pour out upon us], He inspired
Him with the will to suffer for us; hence we read in the same pas­
sage: ‘He was offered because it was His own will.’7 [This was in or­
der that He might accomplish His redemptive mission.] Thirdly,
by not shielding Him from the Passion, but abandoning Him to His
persecutors: thus we read (Matt. 27:46) that Christ while hanging
upon the cross, cried out: ‘My God, My God, why hast Thou for­
saken Me?’8 Because, to wit, He left Him to the power of His per­
secutors, as Augustine says.” 9
What we must consider here is the love of God the Father for His
Son, even at the moment that He delivered Him up for us. In this
there is a very lofty truth that often passes unnoticed because of its
* la, q. 10, a.4, c. and ad i. · Illa, q.47, a. 3.
“ba. 53:6.
"//>/</.,53:10.
"Matt. 17:46.
0 F.p. 140.

* Rom. 8:31.
11bid., 53:7.

2o6

OUR SAVIOR

elevation and that must be the object of contemplation for souls
whose vocation is one of atonement.
Despite appearances to the contrary, the cross on which Jesus
seemed to be vanquished is the trophy of His victory. Jesus said: “If
I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all things to Myself.” 10
God the Father, through love of His Son, has from all eternity willed
for Him this painful triumph, this victory over sin and the spirit of
evil. But this far surpasses our human ideas, and we can scarcely find
here upon earth even a symbol of this sublime divine love.
Yet, during wartime when a general must sacrifice a handful of
men to save his country, who are those that he chooses? He chooses
the bravest and those he loves most. He sends for his best lieutenant
and tells him categorically: You must be killed to save our country
and our army. He embraces the young man and sends him to his
death, a death that is all the more glorious because the peril is greater
and because there is no escape from it. The young officer leaves, happy
that he has been chosen. His general could not have given him a
greater proof of his esteem. He accomplishes his destiny as a soldier.
The story is told that under similar circumstances a Japanese gen­
eral chose his own son among his lieutenants and asked him to go to
his death to save the army. The young man understood how great
was his father’s love for him and immediately sacrificed himself.
Similarly, what officer is chosen to carry the flag into battle? One
of the bravest, for he is the chief target of the enemy and he cannot
defend himself. He cannot return blow for blow, because he is hold­
ing the flag.11
These examples of human heroism give us a faint glimpse of our
Savior’s heroism and of His Father’s love for Him when He de­
livered Him up for our salvation.
After sending His prophets, of whom several were put to death,
God sent His only-begotten Son, as the parable of the wicked hus­
bandmen tells us. God the Father sent His Son to the glorious death
10 John 12:31.
11 It would be a far too materialistic conception of a soldier to think that he is first of
all a man who kills. The real soldier is a man who offers his life to eave his country, to
defend its homes and its intellectual and moral heritage.

GOD’S LOVE FOR HIS SON

207

of the cross for the salvation of mankind. And, as St. Paul says: When
Christ came into the world He said, “Behold I come. . . . Sacrifices
and oblations and holocausts for sin Thou wouldest not. . . . Behold
I come to do Thy will, O God.” 12

Through Love of His Son, God Asked of Him
the Most Heroic Love
It is easy to love one’s country when such love costs nothing. It is
heroic to love it when under fire. It is easy to love God when every­
thing is going our way. It is heroic to love Him when everything goes
against us, when friends abandon us, and when heaven itself seems
to be closed to us. Let us now consider what was demanded of our
Savior?
Love of the good demands the reparation of evil. The stronger the
love, the more it demands. God’s love of the good demands the repa­
ration of sin which ravages souls, which turns them away from their
final end, and plunges them into the concupiscence of the flesh, and
of the eyes, into the pride of life, and ultimately into eternal death.
When God the Father gave us His Son to redeem us, He could
have been content with the smallest act of charity by the Word made
flesh. For the least of Jesus’ acts derived from the divine personality
of the Word an infinite value to satisfy and to merit. But then we
would not have understood the abysmal chaos which is sin. Even
now we understand it so little, after all the sufferings which our
Savior endured for our sakes.
God the Father did not retreat before the prospect of the painful
death of His own Son, and He asked His Son to expiate our sins by
terrible sufferings, and by enduring these sufferings through love to
make reparation for all criminal sensuality. He called upon His Son
to show us by His own absolute denudation all the shame of the
concupiscence of the eyes and pleasure-seeking egoism, to make us
realize through His own humiliations the utter folly of pride, and to
blot out by His heroic love the disorder of hatreds which divide per­
sons, families, classes, and peoples.
” Heb. 10:5-9.

2O8

OUR SAVIOR

By thus making the utmost demands of His justice, God was not
taking pleasure in punishing. On the contrary, He showed how great
is His love of the good and His holy hatred of evil, which is merely
the reverse of love. No one can sincerely love the good without hat­
ing evil. No one can love truth without hating lies. God cannot love
the good with infinite love without hating evil with holy hatred. That
is why the exigencies of justice are identified with those of love: “Love
is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell,” says the Canticle of
Canticles.13
It is this uncreated love of the good united to holy hatred of evil
which required of our Savior the most heroic of all acts and sent Him
to the glorious death of the cross.
This brings us once again to the very essence of the mystery of the
Redemption: God the Father asked of His Son an act of love which
would please Him more than the totality of all men’s sins can dis­
please Him, an act of redemptive love, of infinite and superabundant
value.
This was to be the Consummatum est, the crowning glory of
Christ’s life, victory over sin and over the spirit of evil. This victory
of Good Friday is far superior to the victory of Easter, for the Resur­
rection or victory over death is merely the sign of Christ’s triumph
over sin.
Thus it was indeed through love for His Son that God the Father
asked Him to die for us. He predestined His Son through love to
the glory of the Redemption. What would Jesus’ life have been
without Calvary? Similarly but on a far humbler level, what would
the life of St. Joan of Arc have been without her martyrdom? And
for that matter, what would have been the life of all the others who
have been called to shed their blood in testimony of the truth of the
Gospel? Without this consummation, their lives would now seem to
us merely mutilated. And we can understand without too great dif­
ficulty that it was a predestination of love that sent them to their mar­
tyrdom.
The liturgy sings eloquently of this victory of Christ on Good Fri­
day:
*· Cant. 8:6.

GOD’S LOVE FOR HIS SON

209

Sing, my tongue, the Savior’s gloryj
Tell His triumph far and widej
Tell aloud the famous story
Of His Body crucified;
How upon the Cross a Victim,
Vanquishing in death, He died.

Thus did Christ to perfect manhood
In our mortal flesh attain:
Then of His free choice He goeth
To a death of bitter pain;
And as a lamb, upon the altar
Of the Cross for us is slain.
Faithful Cross, O tree all beauteous,
Tree all peerless and divine: . . .
Tree which solely wast found worthy
Earth’s great victim to sustain,
Harbor from the raging tempest,
Ark, that saved the world again,
Tree with sacred blood anointed
Of the Lamb for sinners slain.

The depths of the mystery of the Redemption help us to under­
stand why God through love sends such great sufferings to certain
souls, to make them labor in union with our Lord, and in a small way
like Him, for the salvation of sinners. This is the loftiest of all voca­
tions, superior to the vocation of teaching, just as Jesus was greater on
the cross than when He was preaching the Sermon on the Mount.
What greater proof of His love can God give a soul than to make
of it a victim of love, in union with the crucified Savior? As the first
cause does not obviate the secondary cause, but communicates to it the
dignity of causality, so our Savior’s sufferings do not render ours use­
less but raise them up and make us participate in His life.
Let us call to mind, among many others, the example of St. Cath­
erine de Ricci. From 1542 to 1554, a period of twelve years, she ex­
perienced each week an ecstasy of suffering lasting twenty-eight hours,
from Thursday at noon until Friday at four in the afternoon, an
ecstasy in which she relived every moment of our Savior’s passion.

210

OUR SAVIOR

Motionless, her face either pale or radiant, her eyes and arms reach­
ing out toward the Beloved, who remained invisible to others pres­
ent, she followed Him step by step and heart to heart, in each of the
stations of this long sacrifice.14 The witnesses of this fact were aware
of the saint’s sufferings because her whole being quivered and trem­
bled during this painful way of the cross. When these sufferings be­
gan again on the following Thursday, nature must have begged for
respite, but our Lord gave this great soul to understand that she must
thus unite herself to His passion for the salvation of a certain sinner
who was dear to Him or the deliverance of a particular soul in purga­
tory. It is in this manner that Jesus initiates the souls He loves most
into the depths of the mystery of the Redemption.
One of these beloved souls who had offered herself up and who
after her oblation saw everything go against her, so to speak, cried out
one day when she had been overwhelmed by a new misfortune : “But
Lord, what have I done to Thee?” In answer she heard these interior
words: “Thou hast loved Me.” She then thought of Calvary and un­
derstood with greater clearness that the seed must die in order to bear
abundant fruit.
Divine Providence calls forth these extraordinary occurrences not
for us to consider with curiosity but to make us understand better the
grandeur of Jesus’ passion. Indeed we should meditate upon it every
day. These occurrences also remind us that, if the saints have accepted
such sufferings in union with our Savior, we in turn should each day
learn to accept better life’s daily ups and downs in atonement for our
sins, for our sanctification, and so that we too may labor in a measure
for the salvation of souls. These extraordinary occurrences are meant
to help us understand how much depth there is in the ordinary course
of a genuinely Christian life, from early morning Mass and Com­
munion throughout the day until night prayers are said at the close
of the day.
We should grasp a little better each day the splendors of the liturgy
of the Passion, those sublime verses which express lofty contempla­
tion and great love:
14 Cf. the chapter dealing with this ecstasy of the Passion in the excellent Vie de St,
Catherine de Ricci by Rev. C. Bayonne.

GOD’S LOVE FOR HIS SON

211

Forth comes the Standard of the King.
All hail, thou Mystery ador’d!
Hail, Cross! on which the Life Himself
Died, and by death our life restored!

This is the habitual object of contemplation of the saints.
We can see, therefore, that the demands of justice are ultimately
identified with those of love, and mercy wins out because it is the most
immediate and deepest expression of God’s love toward sinners.116 The
terrible justice of God which first holds our attention is but the sec­
ondary aspect of the Redemption, the latter being above all a work
of love and mercy.
Divine justice has been appeased by the Just One who bore the
burden of human sin in its totality, by the Victim of love who was
struck down in our place, by the Word made flesh who died for us.
But mercy also triumphs: God the Father is reconciled through
Jesus with sinners, and restores grace to them. He offers eternal life
to all, even to the most perverted, and He glorifies the Redeemer by
giving Him victory over sin, over the devil, and over death. It is
with this in mind that St. Paul says: “All is yours5 and you are
Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” 10
This idea has been beautifully rendered by a great painter in the
Oratory of the Dominican Superior General at Rome. Above the altar
Jesus is represented dying on the cross and offering His life to His
Father for our salvation. The Father appears directly above the
Savior, receiving His last sigh. In this painting the artist sought to
show the harmony between the wills of the Father and of the Son on
Calvary. He desired to bring out the fact that on the cross our Lord
not only accomplished the will of His Father, but also continued to
1S Cf. St. Thomas, la, q. »i, a.4: “Now the work of divine justice always presupposes
the work of mercy; and is founded thereupon. For nothing is due to creatures, except for
something pre-existing in them, or foreknown. Again, if this is due to a creature, it must
be due on account of something that precedes. And since we cannot go on to infinity, we
must come to something that depends only on the goodness of the divine will—which is
the ultimate end. ... So in every work of God, viewed at its primary source, there ap­
pears mercy. In all that follows, the power of mercy remains, and works indeed with
•ven greater force; as the influence of the first cause is more intense than that of second
causes.”
,β I Cor. j:ij.

212

OUR SAVIOR

express His love for the Father. Conversely, it was out of love for His
Son and for us that the Father sent Jesus to the heroic death of the
cross, in order to make Him the glorious victor over sin, the devil,
and death, the Savior of all men.
That is why in this beautiful painting there is only one gesture:
the Father has His arms outstretched to sustain and accept the sacrifice
of His Son, and it is on His Father’s heart and in His arms that our
crucified Lord expires: “Father, into Thy hands I commend My
spirit.” 17 The expression of the Father is full of mercy and nobility,
the Son’s expression manifests the full heroism of His love for the
Father and for us.18 This is the very essence, so far as it can be ex­
pressed in human terms, of the mystery of the Redemption.
17 Luke 23 .-46.
18 There is a fine reproduction of this painting in the quarterly review of religious art
edited by Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, O.S.B.: L’Artisan liturgique, October-December, 1932,
p. 571: “Trois tableaux du Pere M.-A. Couturier, O.P.,” and in L’Année Dominicaine,
June, 1933.

*
«XVII
Christ’s

redemptive love

“Love is strong as death.”
Cant. 8:6

E HAVE spoken of the mystery of the Redemption in terms
of the love of God the Father for His Son, whom He sent
to the glorious death of the cross, in order to make Him our Savior
and the victor over death. It is fitting now to delve deeper into this
mystery and to consider Christ’s redemptive love, as expressed by
His pierced heart whose last drop of blood was shed for us.1
What is perhaps most striking in Jesus’ love, whether directed to­
ward His Father or toward our souls, is that it intimately unites the
greatest tenderness and the most heroic strength in suffering and
death. These two qualities of love are too often separated in men’s
hearts, and yet they are completely interdependent. Tenderness with­
out strength becomes merely languor and affectation. Strength with­
out mercy becomes severity and bitterness. Unlike men, God orders
all things with might and sweetness.2

W

The Tenderness and Strength
of Jesus’ Love for His Father
Jesus’ love for His Father began at the instant of His conception,
in all the fullness of its tenderness and strength. For the rest of us,
on the other hand, spiritual love of God usually awakens only very
slowly. The life of the senses and of the imagination develops in us
before spiritual life, and too often our first tendency is to enjoy the
1 The inspiration for this discussion of doctrine comes from a sermon by Father
Monsabre which we have remembered for many years.
2 Wisd. 8:t.
ai3

214

OUR SAVIOR

pleasures of the senses which surround us. It sometimes takes many
years for generous love to blossom even between members of the
same family. This is the love that desires the welfare of another,
which gives itself, lavishes itself, forgets itself, the love that con­
summates the perfect union of hearts. The progress of our love for
God, beyond the reach of the senses, is even more gradual as a rule.
The human will is, of course, naturally inclined to love the Author
of human nature more than itself, and to love the true and the good.8
Little by little, we also learn that God is the supreme and wholly
supernatural beauty. Yet the efficacious love of God, the desire for
His kingdom and His glory, wins out only with great difficulty over
our selfishness, and our more or less unruly love of creatures. It suc­
ceeds only by slow degrees in inspiring all our affections, vivifying
and ennobling them. Our poor hearts are slow to give themselves to
God for all eternity.
Christ’s heart, on the other hand, did not hesitate a moment to give
itself entirely to His Father. From the first instant of His existence,
His heart possessed the fullest generosity. As St. Paul says: “When
He [Christ] cometh into the world, He saith: Sacrifice and oblation
Thou wouldest not: but a body Thou hast fitted to Me. . . . Behold,
I come to do Thy will, O God.” 4
No one knows how tender was the filial love of the child Jesus for
His Father. Indeed, He loved His Holy Mother and St. Joseph
deeply, and from the first moments of His life He loved souls ar­
dently. But how much more did He love His Father in heaven, His
one and only Father!
This powerful love derived from the start from the supernatural
love that always enlightened His sacred soul. This light revealed to
Him without any obscurity the infinite splendor and the infinite good­
ness of the heavenly Father. This light guided His preferences, and
so He could not err in His choices of affection.
This tender and enlightened love of Jesus for His Father inspired
and continues to inspire in Him adoration and thanksgiving. As He
Himself told us: “God is a spirit; and they that adore Him, must
adore Him in spirit and in truth.”5
• Cf. St. Thoma», la, q. 60, a. 5.

4 Heb. 10:5-9.

* John 4:14.

CHRIST’S REDEMPTIVE LOVE

215

Adoration springs spontaneously from His heart. He is happy to
acknowledge that God is infinitely good in Himself, that He is our
Creator and our Father. He acknowledges this in practice by bowing
with love before His infinite majesty. Jesus even rejoices in His own
abasement, in His hidden life, ignored by men. He annihilates Him­
self, to some extent, in terms of His human nature, so that He may
better recognize God’s infinite sanctity. Thus we bow and fall to our
knees upon entering a church, to acknowledge our own nothingness
before the infinite greatness of the Most High. But this is only a mo­
mentary attitude on our part. We have hours of adoration and hours
of forgetfulness and indifference. Christ, for His part, never for a
moment ceased adoring His Father, from the first instant of His life
until His death on the cross. And this adoration continues now and
will continue forever within His sacred soul, in acknowledgment of
His Father’s infinite goodness and as a song of praise to Him. Christ
the Savior is the praise of God.
This tender love also ceaselessly inspires Christ to acts of thanks­
giving; for God is not merely good in Himself, He is our benefactor,
and no one will ever receive more from Him than did Christ. What
manner of thanksgiving has Christ made? He thanks God for Himself
and for all creation, for the treasure of supernatural life given to
souls: “I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
Thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and hast
revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father; for so hath it seemed good
in Thy sight.” 8
The strength and generosity of Jesus’ love are as great as its tender­
ness. From the first moment, this love inspired in Him not only adora­
tion and thanksgiving, but reparation as well. In fact, while God is a
benefactor, He is also a Father who has been outraged by His chil­
dren. He is the Creator and Master that thousands of souls refuse to
acknowledge, even though they have been created to sing His praises
more perfectly than do the stars in the firmament.
Besides, in saying to His Father, “Behold, I come,” 7 Jesus from
the first moment of I lis life offered Himself up as a victim of repara­
tion in the place of the guilty, in the place of entire people who
• Mutt. 11 :i$ f.

T Heb. 10:9.

2l6

OUR SAVIOR

through pride and error are unwilling even to pronounce God’s name
when they need His help most.
Many saints have been enlightened from their childhood with
regard to their providential mission, whether apostolic or reparative.
Why, then, should not Jesus not have been enlightened regarding His
own mission? And from the first moment Jesus, foreseeing Calvary,
loved His Father and offered Him in advance His entire life and His
death on the cross. This is the strongest and most generous love. It is
the love of the Word made flesh which pleases God more than all of
men’s sins displease Him.
Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity, have mercy on us! What
is sweeter or more tender than divine charity? What is stronger than
the fire in a furnace which burns and consumes all? Hell makes furious
efforts against the Savior, but its rage merely arouses His love to
even more heroic acts which change the opprobrium that envelops
Him into an incense of adoration. Heart of Jesus, loaded down with
opprobrium, have mercy on us! This is strength in the highest degree
united to the most profound humility and the greatest tenderness.
“Love is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell.” 8 Jesus, most
powerful, have mercy on us! Jesus, meek and humble of heart, have
mercy on us! This love is the source of all virtues, of all energy.
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues, have mercy on us! Whether the
Savior’s heart is touched by an angel or a man, even when the devil
strikes it, it always answers with love of God. This created love within
Christ’s sacred soul is the highest manifestation of the uncreated love
of God.
The Strength and Tenderness
of Our Savior’s Love for Us
Christ’s love descends upon our souls from the summit of the bea­
tific vision, and in Jesus’ love for us we find the same two qualities
which are so different: the deepest tenderness and the most heroic
strength. Our Lord’s tender mercy for souls did not lessen for a mo­
ment, in spite of all the ingratitude, the opposition, and the hatred
that He met on His path.
* Cant. 8:6.

CHRIST’S REDEMPTIVE LOVE

217

We human beings find it easy to love with tender affection a few
persons in our family or among our friends, but often this tenderness
is entirely a matter of superficial feelings. Such affection does not
often reach the soul of those whom we love. Do we pray much for
them? Do we earnestly desire that they attain eternal life? Moreover,
often this affection is as narrow as it is superficial: we save it for a
few intimates. Feeble as it is, it would lose much of its purely relative
intensity by being diffused. Our hearts are poor, miserly with their
affection: the indifferent remain outside, and all the more so those
who have offended or wounded us. Toward the latter we are even
hard and sometimes pitiless.
The supernatural tenderness of Christ for souls is deep, because its
primary object is the soul and the desire for its eternal happiness. At
the same time, it is universal, immense, and extends to everyone.
Jesus is, as He Himself says, the Shepherd of souls ; all can be­
come the sheep of His fold, and He knows each of them by name.®
He is concerned about those that are absent, He rushes forth to seek
them and takes them up on His shoulders.
One of the greatest signs of His coming is this: “The poor have the
gospel preached to them.” 10 The poor, as well as children, have a
chosen spot in His heart. He does not fear to compromise His dignity
by admitting them to His side. He explains to them with kindness
the doctrine of salvation, and He even waits upon them. He chooses
His apostles among the poor and the humble. On Holy Thursday He
humbled Himself before them: He washes and kisses their feet, to
make them better understand the precept of fraternal love. Heart of
Jesus, delight of all the saints, have mercy on us!
What does He say to sinners? “Come to me, all you that labor and
are burdened, and I will refresh you” (Matt. 11:28). He has pity
for the terrible wretchedness to which sin has brought them, and He
inspires them to repent without judging them severely. He is the
father of the prodigal son, He embraces the child who is unhappy
through his own fault. He forgives the adulterous woman who was
about to be stoned. He receives repentant Mary Magdalen, and at
•John io:j: “The sheep hear His voice: and He callcth His own sheep by name, and
leadeth them out.”
10 Matt, 21:51 Luke 7:22.

218

OUR SAVIOR

once opens to her the mystery of His intimate life. He speaks of
eternal life to the Samaritan woman in spite of her unsavory past.
He promises prompt entry into heaven to the good thief. The words
of Isaias the prophet are truly accomplished in Jesus: “The bruised
reed He shall not break, and smoking flax He shall not quench.” 11
Indeed He sharply rebukes the Pharisees who are obstinately
rooted in their pride, but it is only because He desires to preserve souls
from error, remove them from Pharisaical influences. He also wishes
to give the Pharisees a last warning which would still save them if
they were not hardened in their pride. In thus warning them, Jesus
still loves them. He even gives them grace which makes it possible
for them to accomplish their duty.
Christ’s love loses none of its tenderness in embracing all souls. It
encompasses all nations and all eras. While He certainly has His
preferences, for example, for St. John, for Zacheus, for the good thief,
He remains accessible to all. “Christ died for all,” says St. Paul.12
Many turn from Him, but He drives no one away. And even when
many have turned away from Him, He intercedes for the ingrates,
as when He prayed for His executioners. This is the supreme degree
of mercy, sweetness, and humility. He tells Peter that he must forgive
“seventy times seven,” that is, always, and He is the first to do it.
At the same time Jesus’ love for us has such power that His is the
greatest of all hearts. Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts,
have mercy on us! It is not only for the glory of His Father but also
for our salvation that He has chosen to be a victim in our stead. Heart
of Jesus, victim of sin, have mercy on us!
The strength and generosity of His love for us is manifested with
increasing force from Bethlehem to the cross. As St. Paul tells us,
“The Son of God . . . loved me, and delivered Himself for me.” 13
Each of us can repeat these words. The unbelievers wish to see in the
dying Christ only a great man crushed by jealous mediocrities. He
is infinitely more than that. He is the voluntary victim who offered
Himself up to save us. “Greater love than this no man hath,” Jesus
Himself has told us, “that a man lay down his life for his
friends.” 14
11 Isa. 42:31 Matt, t a :ao.

*’ II Cor. j:i 5.

Gal. 2 :ao.

14 John 15:13.

CHRIST’S REDEMPTIVE LOVE

219

Generous souls sometimes offer themselves as victims to obtain the
conversion of a sinner or to shorten the torments of purgatory for a
loved one. Jesus offered Himself as a victim for millions of souls, for
all without exception and for each one in particular; and no adult is
shut out from the benefits of the Redemption unless he refuses them
through pride or to satisfy his passions. Jesus bore the punishment
that each of us should have borne. He suffered because of sin in the
measure of His love for God whom sin offends, and in the measure of
His love for our souls which sin ravages and kills. Heart of Jesus,
bruised for our offenses, have mercy on us! The sorrowful and im­
maculate heart of Mary was intimately associated with this heroic
oblation, and helps us to fathom this mystery.
No one has ever loved us or ever will love us as Christ does. That
is why, when the faithful of Corinth were divided among themselves,
—some of them saying they belonged to Paul, or to Apollo, or to
Cephas, or to Christ—St. Paul wrote to them: “Was Paul then cruci­
fied for you?” 15
Jesus has consented to take for Himself the loathsome chalice of
Gethsemane, so that He might give us the chalice of His precious
blood which is raised up every morning on the altar. These two chal­
ices represent the whole history of the world of souls. They are as it
were the two pans of the scales of good and evil, and it is good that
prevails. The precious blood of Christ can obliterate all crimes if their
perpetrators beg forgiveness.
Jesus, by His victory over sin on the cross, is the source of life and
of holiness, the source of all consolation, the salvation of those who
hope in Him, the hope of the dying, the delight of the saints, as the
Litany of the Sacred Heart reminds us. Finally, He has left us the
Eucharist so that He might remain with us until the end of the world
and give Himself as food to each and every one of us.
To His privileged friends who follow His example, He says: “It
is My love which keeps open the wound of My heart. I desire to prove
to souls that My heart is never closed. On the contrary, My greatest
wish is that souls may enter through My wounded heart, which is an
abyss of charity and mercy. It is only in the heart of God that they
18 1 Cor. 1 :t 3.

220

OUR SAVIOR

will find solace for their sufferings and strength for their weakness.
If they will but hold out their hands to Me, I will lead them to it
Myself.”
We remain selfish because our love is too weak, too poor, too nar­
row, and because it is pitifully engrossed with our own selves. The
heart of Jesus will dilate our hearts by teaching us to love above all
else the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
Why do we let ourselves fall prey to jealousy or passion? Because
our love does not reach high enough, to the Supreme Being whom we
may all possess together and still possess individually. Instead of giv­
ing in to jealousy, let us rather thank the Lord for having given to
our neighbors qualities that we do not have, and let us rejoice, just
as the hand profits by what the eye sees.
Why are we cowards? Because we do not love enough, because our
hearts are cold, because we rely far too much on our own strength
when our helplessness is obvious, and because we do not depend
enough on the heart of Jesus, on His love for us.
The heart of Jesus is able and desires to give us the saintly powers
we need, confidence and love, which inspire adoration, thanksgiving,
and atonement, by placing the glory of God above all else.
Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness we have all received, have mercy
on us! Let us go to the Father, by Him, with Him, and in Him.

* XVIII «
ESUS’ HUMILITY AND HIS
MAGNANIMITY

J

“Learn of Me, because I am meek,
and humble of heart.”
Matt. 11:29

HE mystery of the Redemption, as we have said, is especially
the manifestation of our Lord’s love for us. Supernatural love
or charity contains virtually all of the virtues which rank below it.
Charity vivifies the other virtues, inspires them and orders their ac­
tion to the supreme end, which is its own object: to the love of God
above all else. Among these other virtues of our Lord, humility is
one that merits special attention because through it in particular Jesus
cures us of pride, which according to Scripture is “the beginning of all
sin.” 1
The ancient philosophers who have described at length nearly all
the moral virtues, have never spoken of humility because they ignored
its twofold foundation: namely, the dogma of creation ex nihilo (we
have been created out of nothingness), and the dogma of the neces­
sity of actual grace for even the smallest salutary act.
Worldly wisdom often maintains also that humility is nothing but
an air of virtuousness that is affected by the weak, the cowardly, the
discouraged. In its eyes, humility hides a lack of intelligence, ability,
and energy. According to the world, the prudent and determined
man must know what he is worth in order to assert himself and com­
mand respect. He can have no use for a humble attitude that would
denote a lack of vigor and dignity. Thus are humility and cowardice
confused.
Our Savior, He who was the strongest of the strong and who could

T

1 Ecclu». 10:15.

221

222

OUR SAVIOR

say to His disciples, “Have confidence, I have overcome the world,” 2
Jesus, true God, the Word made flesh, who could awe everyone by the
power of His intelligence and of His character, by the splendor of
His miracles, Jesus, the greatest man in mind and heart that ever
walked the earth, tells us: “Learn of Me, because I am meek, and
humble of heart; and you shall find rest to your souls.” 8 God wishes
that we learn this virtue of self-effacement through Him whose great­
ness surpasses anything here below.
The reason for this is that our Lord’s humility, far from being an
indication of a lack of intelligence or of energy, derives from a very
elevated knowledge of God and is united to a very high dignity.
Pascal, wishing to show how infinitely superior Jesus is to all human
heroes and geniuses, was content to write: “He gave us no invention,
He did not reign; but He was humble, patient, holy, holy to God,
terrible to demons, without any sin whatever! Oh! in what magnifi­
cence was He clothed to the eyes of the heart which see Wisdom!” 4
Let us inquire into the principle of Jesus’ humility, how He prac­
ticed this virtue, and how it was united in Him to magnanimity or
greatness of soul.

The Principle of Christ’s Humility
True humility does not arise from any lack of clear-sightedness or
ability; it springs from a profound understanding of God’s infinite
greatness and of the nothingness of creatures which cannot exist by
themselves. This twofold knowledge becomes ever more unified, for
God’s infinite majesty manifests the frailty of creatures, and inversely
our helplessness reveals to us by contrast God’s immense power. St.
Catherine of Siena tells us that these two truths are, as it were, the
highest and lowest points on the circumference of a circle which grows
continually in size. When anyone knows where the lowest point is,
he can see by contrast where is the diametrically opposite point. The
ever-growing circle is the symbol of contemplation.
Humility is born of the realization of the abyss which separates
God from creatures. God the Father, desiring to instill this thought
‘John 16:33.

’Matt. 11:29.

* Ptnsiet.

JESUS’ HUMILITY AND MAGNANIMITY

223

into the soul of St. Catherine of Siena, said to her: “I am who am, thou
art who art not.” This is what He had said to Moses.
God is Being. He cannot not be, having existed from all eternity,
without beginning and without any limitation whatever, the infinite
ocean of being. God is also sovereign wisdom, who knows everything
that is to happen in the most remote future, and for whom there is no
mystery. He is love, never-failing and impeccable. He is power, be­
fore whom nothing can resist without His permission.
On the other hand, no matter how gifted a creature may be, by
itself it is not, that is, it is not self-existent. If a creature has received
its existence from God it is gratuitously on His part, because He has
most freely loved it, by creating it out of nothingness. The ancient
philosophers never rose in their thinking to the explicit idea of crea­
tion ex nihilo. The thought of the absolute liberty of the creative act
never occurred to them. God might very well not have created
us. He had no need of us, He who is infinite goodness and beati­
tude.
Creatures by themselves are nothing, and once they exist they are
still nothing in comparison to God. The glow of a candle is something,
minute as it may be, in comparison to the blazing sun. However, even
the noblest creature is nothing compared to God’s infinity, compared
to the infinite perfection of His wisdom and His love. Since creation,
there have been more beings, but there is no more being, no more life
or wisdom or love. Likewise, in relation to the Most High, angels,
men, and grains of dust are equally infinitesimal, for between all
creatures and God there is always an infinite distance.
Moreover, intelligent creatures depend upon God for the direc­
tion of their lives, for He assigns to them their final end, eternal life.
“What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the
loss of his own soul?” And what is the best path to attain eternal life?
The path that divine Providence has mapped out for us from all
eternity. It is incumbent on us humbly to recognize this path. It is
not for us to determine it ourselves. It may be a hidden way, to pre­
serve us from pride and from forgetting God. Perhaps it is a path
of suffering, one that is richer than any other in the fruits of life.
The apostolate of prayer and of suffering is no less fruitful than the

224

OUR SAVIOR

apostolate of teaching, and it even fecundates the latter by inspiring
the search of doctrine not only in books but from the source of life.
We must humbly accept the path, which may be hidden and painful,
that our Lord has chosen for us in His mercy, the path that is indi­
cated to us by circumstances and by those that our Lord has given us
as guides.
Finally, in order to advance in this path which leads to eternal
life, what can a creature accomplish of itself? Nothing. Even if a
creature has received an abundance of sanctifying grace, it cannot
accomplish the slightest salutary act or make the smallest step for­
ward without God’s actual help. This help is offered to each creature,
but it cannot benefit by this help if it falls prey to the attraction of
pleasure or to the temptation of pride. Those who best understand
the sublimity of the goal to be attained, are also best aware of their
own frailty. Who knew this better than the saints? They mistrusted
themselves and placed their confidence in God.
This is the principle of humility: the realization of God’s infinite
greatness and of our own nothingness. What then, was the nature of
Jesus’ humility?
In order to understand Christ’s humility, we would need to fathom
as He did the mystery of the creative act and the mystery of grace.
Both here on earth and in heaven Jesus is even humbler than Mary
and than all the saints, for He understands better than they the
infinite distance that separates every creature from its Creator and
He knows better than anyone else the greatness of God and the frailty
of every human soul and of every created spirit.
As we said earlier, Jesus enjoyed the beatific vision while He was
still here on earth. He saw God face to face through His human in­
telligence, enlightened by the splendor of the Word. Instead of hav­
ing to use His reason, as we do, and to use human words to express
the idea that God is Being, Wisdom, and Love, Jesus saw the divine
essence, the Deity, directly. The most elevated portion of His sacred
soul was as in a perpetual ecstasy, captivated by the splendor of God.
And with the same vision, which is superior to reason and to faith, He
saw the nothingness of all creatures and of His own humanity. Like
a painter of genius who can at once tell a masterpiece from a paltry

JESUS’ HUMILITY AND MAGNANIMITY

225

reproduction, Jesus could see continually, even while here on earth,
the infinite distance separating time from eternity.
Whereas men who undertake difficult human tasks on their own
initiative often take on a determined and dominating attitude, Jesus
thought only of humbly accomplishing under His Father’s guidance
the divine mission He had received: “Father, . . . not as I will, but
as Thou wilt.” 8
Jesus was also perpetually aware that by His human powers alone
He could accomplish absolutely nothing toward the divine goal He
was seeking: namely, to lead souls to eternal life. He rejoiced in this
powerlessness, for it glorified God and demonstrated how lofty is the
supernatural end to which Providence has destined us: “My doctrine
is not Mine, but His that sent Me.” 8 “The Father who abideth in
Me, He doth the works,” 1 that is, the miracles that Jesus worked in
His name.
There is a particular act of humility which consists in recognizing
not only our nothingness but our wretchedness as the result of sin.
This act is necessary for contrition, for sorrow at having offended God,
and naturally our Lord, who is impeccable, never made such an act
of humility. But He who was innocence itself wished to take upon
Himself all our sins. He understood the gravity of mortal sin better
than anyone else, and He suffered from it more than anyone else in
the measure of His love for God who has been offended and of His
love for our souls. He more than anyone else felt inexpressible dis­
gust before such an accumulation of defilement, before so many acts
of cowardice and injustice, so much treachery and sacrilege. At Geth­
semane this disgust almost overwhelmed Him with nausea: “My Fa­
ther, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me.” 8
The Union of Humility and Magnanimity in Jesus

Jesus understood better than any creature, even while He was still
on earth, the greatness of God, man’s weakness, and the gravity of the
sin He came to wipe out. That is why He was the humblest person
that ever lived. This humility, far from being a cloak for a lack of
• Matt. 26:39.

John7:i6.
*

T Ibid., 14 :io.

" Matt. 26:30.

226

OUR SAVIOR

intelligence and energy, was the sign of the loftiest contemplation and
the condition of a unique spiritual power. Moreover, it was united to
the most perfect dignity, to the noblest supernatural magnanimity
which inspires to great things, regardless of the sufferings and hu­
miliations that must be encountered.
These two virtues, humility and magnanimity, in appearance so op­
posed, are reality related and mutually support each other like the
two sides of a pointed arch. They rise together. No one is deeply
humble unless he is magnanimous, and it is impossible to be truly
magnanimous without great humility.® In the spiritual physiognomy
of our Savior these two virtues are wonderfully united.
Let us call to mind St. Thomas’ description of magnanimity, en­
larging upon Aristotle’s. Magnanimity seeks only great things worthy
of honor, but places little value on honors in themselves. It does not
dread scorn if it must be borne for a great cause. It is not elated by
success or discouraged by failure. Material goods mean little to it, and
it is not greatly disturbed at losing them. The magnanimous man
gives freely what he can to all. He is truthful and takes no stock in
any opinion that is opposed to truth, no matter how formidable it
may become. He is ready to die for the truth.10
This greatness of soul is to be found in all the saints, intimately
united to their profound humility. It was, of course, present in an
eminent degree in Jesus.11 And He was never greater than during
His passion, in the hour of His last humiliations. Let us call to mind
His answer to Pilate who had asked Him if he was a king: “My king­
dom is not of this world. . . . Thou sayest, that I am a king. For
this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give
testimony to the truth. Everyone that is of the truth, heareth My
voice.” 12
8 Cf. St. Thomas, Ila Hae, q. 129, 1, 35 q. 161, a. 1 f. ad 3. Humility prevents presump­
tion and pride; magnanimity strengthens us against discouragement. Humility turns us
toward God and before what there is of God in our neighbor. Magnanimity inspires us
to great things, to those which the Lord wishes us to accomplish even at the cost of men’s
censure. Alfred de Vigny perceived this when he said: “Honor is the poetry of duty.” In
his Servitude et grandeur militaires, he called to mind the oft-hidden heroism of the best
soldiers.
10 Cf. St. Thomas, Ila Ilae, q. 1 29, a. 1-8.
11 John 18:36—38.
12 In the most magnanimous saints, like St. Paul, we discover deep humility, and in the
most humble saints, like St. Vincent de Paul, we find great magnanimity.

JESUS’ HUMILITY AND MAGNANIMITY

227

These two virtues of humility and magnanimity are always united
in the life of our Savior. He willed to be born in the humblest condi­
tion, although He belonged to a royal race. He was the son of a virgin,
but He was thought by men to be the son of a carpenter. He who was
the Word of God and could awe everyone, chose to live for thirty
years a hidden life working at the most commonplace trade, in order
to show us that nothing is accomplished without recollection and hu­
mility. Yet we often tend to complain because we are given work
beneath our abilities.
After He had emerged from His hidden life, Jesus—innocence
itself—sought out John the Baptist to ask him for the baptism of
penance, just as if He had been a sinner. But John at first refused,
saying: “I ought to be baptized by Thee, and comest Thou to Me?” 13
Jesus’ answer was: “Suffer it to be so now. For so it becometh us to
fulfill all justice.” 14 By this he meant that it was fitting that the
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world should voluntarily
place Himself in the ranks of the sinners. When John heard this,
he resisted no more, and when Jesus had been baptized the Spirit of
God descended upon Him in the form of a dove, and a voice from
heaven was heard, saying: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased.” 18
After His baptism, Jesus willed to be tempted in the desert so that
He might be more like us. This was still another proof of His hu­
mility, and it also taught us to conquer the spirit of evil and to answer
his seductive offers with the word of God.
At the very outset of His ministry, what were His first words?
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,” the humble. To them He promised
great things: the kingdom of heaven.
Whom did He choose as His apostles? Unlettered fishermen, a
publican like Matthew, and He made of them “fishers of men,” than
which there is nothing greater.
How did He teach them, when they were wondering among them­
selves who was the greatest? He called a little child to Him and,
placing him in their midst, He said: “Amen I say to you, unless you
be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into
11 Matt. 3:14.

**Ibid., j:t$.

” Ibid., 3:17.

228

OUR SAVIOR

the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself
as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven.” 18
Here indeed is the union of humility and supernatural magnanimity
which reached up for the great things which are obtained only through
the grace of God humbly prayed for each day. As a great Catholic
writer, E. Hello, once said, “It is time to become humble, for it is
time to become proud,” or magnanimous in the sense God wished us
to be.
These two virtues are also united in the words Jesus spoke to His
apostles on Holy Thursday when He was washing their feet as a
supreme mark of humility: “You call Me Master and Lord; and you
say well, for so I am. If then I being your Lord and Master, have
washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another’s feet. . . .
The servant is not greater than his lord; neither is the apostle greater
than He that sent him.” 17
His glory and one of the signs of His mission is to preach the
gospel to the poor. He allowed the publicans to approach Him, and
also Magdalen the sinner, and He made of her a great saint.
Although He did indeed enter Jerusalem in triumph, He came
mounted on an ass and opposed by the Pharisees. He permitted this
opposition. Let us, then, not be irritated when we meet with contra­
dictions.
The Passion was the hour of supreme humiliations accepted for our
salvation, to cure us of our pride. Barabbas, the outcast of his people,
was preferred to the Word of God made flesh. Men sneered at our
Savior, they struck Him and spat in His face, they insulted Him until
He breathed His last upon the cross. Yet His greatness shone forth
to the centurion, who could not help crying out: “Indeed this was
the Son of God.” 18
Never was deeper humility united so closely to a loftier magna­
nimity. It is in recognition of this fact that St. Paul said to the Philippians: “For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God; but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made
in the likeness of men. . . . He humbled Himself becoming obedi18 Ibid., 18:2-4.

1T John 13:13-16.

18 Matt. 37 :j4.

JESUS’ HUMILITY AND MAGNANIMITY

229

ent unto death, even to the death of the cross. For this cause God also
hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a name which is above all
names: that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those
that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth: and that every
tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of
God the Father.” 18 Humility and magnanimity, self-abasement and
a wholly supernatural greatness, these two virtues are to be found, in
an attenuated form in all the saints.
Likewise the Church is unceasingly humiliated, and she seems to
be vanquished although she is always victorious. It is necessary that
certain interior souls should be particularly united to these humilia­
tions of the Church and should work for the salvation of sinners, al­
ways seeming to fail. This is the path of pure love.
There are certain works that will always be a source of humiliation
and of graces for those who undertake them. These souls must not
complain if things go well in the eyes of the Lord, although they do
not seem to succeed. For the Lord Himself has placed His hand on
these works and accepts the oblation of reparation which through
these works is offered up to Him each day. St. Philip Neri used to
say: “I thank Thee, O my God, that things are not going as I should
like them to.”
These humiliations and sufferings are good, and were all the con­
solations of earth to come at such moments, they would not console.
The Lord does not will it. For there is a certain dose of suffering that
we must bear, and if it were taken away from us, we should have lost
the better part.
We sometimes complain at the lowliness of our state in life and we
desire the appearances of greatness. God loves us much more than
we dream. He has already given us great things through baptism,
absolution, and Holy Communion. These blessings are infinitely
superior to those which we are foolish enough to desire. And even
greater blessings have been promised to us: to see Him for all eternity
as He sees Himself, and to love Him as He loves Himself.
19 Phil. X

11.

«XIX»
Our

savior’s prayer

ET us now speak of the way Christ prayed, so that we may pene4 trate even deeper into His sacred soul and into the mystery of
the Redemption. We feel a need of praying, especially when we are
in trouble, because it has been said to us: “Ask and you shall receive,
knock and it shall be opened unto you.” Yet we also feel that our
prayers are too often unworthy of being answered, as it is written in
the Dies irae:

t

Worthless are my prayers and sighingj
Yet, good Lord, in grace complying,
Rescue me from fires undying.

Our prayers often lack the necessary humility, trust, and persever­
ance. They remain superficial and do not cry out from the depths of
our souls. That is why we often feel the need of relying on a deeper
and stronger prayer than our own, and we ask the Blessed Virgin
and the saints to intercede for us. Especially we feel the need of de­
pending on Christ’s great prayer, as does the Church at the end of
each of the prayers at Mass: -per Christum Dominum nostrum. And
in reality, it is Christ’s own prayer that is continued in the Church un­
til the end of time, each morning at Mass and in the Divine Office.
Let us inquire how Jesus prayed while He was on earth, and
whether He continues to pray in heaven.

How Jesus Prayed While on Earth

St. Luke tells us that before Jesus chose the Twelve, He “went
out into a mountain to pray, and He passed the whole night in the
2.10

OUR SAVIOR’S PRAYER

231

prayer of God.” 1 A little earlier in the same Gospel,2 we read that
He retired into the desert for the same purpose. We all know His
priestly prayer after the Last Supper, as recorded by St. John,3 and
also His prayer in the Garden of Olives: “My Father, if it be possible,
let this chalice pass from Me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou
wilt.” 4 A little later on, He implored His Father’s mercy for His
executioners. And His last breath was a prayer of adoration, of sup­
plication for us, of reparation and of thanksgiving.
It is certain that Jesus prayed not as God but as man, for prayer is
the lifting up of the soul toward God and the expression of a desire
that we ask Him to grant us. As man Jesus knew divine Providence
had ordered from all eternity that certain graces would be obtained
only through His prayer. He knew that it was through His prayer
that He would obtain the conversion of Mary Magdalen, of the good
thief, and of the centurion. It was fitting also that He should pray in
order to give us an example of humble, filial, trusting, and confident
prayer. For He told us: “We ought always to pray, and not to
faint.” 8 He wished us to pray unceasingly, as we breathe. When He
taught us to say the Our Father, He said it with us and for us, thus
reminding us that God is the author of all good.
For what great intentions did Jesus pray? Did He pray for Him­
self? He certainly did at Gethsemane, when He cried out as He lay
prostrate on the earth: “My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice
pass from Me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” 6 That
is, not as My emotions and the inclination of My nature desire, for
death—and particularly such a terrible death—is repugnant to them;
but as Thou desirest. It is a prayer of supplication which expresses a
conditional desire, “if it be possible,” a desire dominated by full con­
formity of the free will with the will of God. “My Father, if this
chalice may not pass away, but I must drink it, Thy will be done.” 7
Since our Lord had already announced several times that He
would be put to death and that He would rise again,8 He knew very
well that this conditional prayer would not be answered. Yet He said
this prayer to show that He was truly human and that we are per1 Luke 6:12.
•Luke 18:1.

2 Ibid., j:i6.
· Matt. 16:39.

’John, chap. 17.
'Ibid., 16:41.

4 Matt. 26:39.
* Ibid., 16:11.

232

OUR SAVIOR

mitted to express the suffering which our nature feels, while con­
forming our will to that of God.
But whatever Jesus asked in an absolute and not a conditional
manner, He always obtained. Whenever His prayer was the expres­
sion of His deliberate and absolute human will, it was always an­
swered.9 In this prayer He asked what He saw was manifestly within
the intentions of God and what He was inspired to ask for earnestly:
namely, the graces which according to the plan of Providence were
to be obtained through His intercession. For instance, we all believe
in the infallible efficacy of His prayer for Peter, of which He spoke
to him before His passion: “Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired
to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee,
that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy
brethren.” 10 And after his defection which Jesus then foretold, Peter
was indeed converted by a very powerful grace which Christ’s prayer
obtained for him and which led him to martyrdom. No one in the
Church doubts that it is in virtue of this same prayer which Christ said
for Peter that each of Peter’s successors confirms his brethren in the
faith.
The disciples knew the power of the Savior’s prayer. After Lazarus’
death, Martha said to Jesus: “Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my
brother had not died. But now also I know that whatsoever Thou wilt
ask of God, God will give it Thee.” Jesus answered her: “Thy brother
shall rise again. ... I am the resurrection and the life.” 11 At the
moment of Lazarus’ resurrection, Jesus raised His eyes to heaven and
said: “Father, I give Thee thanks that Thou hast heard Me. And I
knew that Thou hearest Me always.” 12 St. Paul, in his Epistle to the
Hebrews, wrote that Jesus “was heard for His reverence. . . . And
being consummated, He became, to all that obey Him, the cause of
eternal salvation.” 18 In this respect His prayer is answered every
day and will continue to be answered until the end of the world.14
* Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q. 21, a.4.
10 Luke aztji f.
11 John 11:21—24.
12 Ibid., 41 f.
18 Heb. 5:7—9.
11 This distinction between conditional and unconditional prayer applies to us also,
making all necessary allowances. Thus we must unconditionally ask for the graces which
are manifestly necessary for our salvation, and we must ask conditionally for temporal
blessings in the measure that they are useful for our salvation.

OUR SAVIOR’S PRAYER

»33

How did Jesus while here on earth pray for His apostles and for the
Church? We have an example of it in His priestly prayer after the
Last Supper and just before the Passion. As recorded by St. John,
this prayer begins with these words: “Father, the hour is come, glorify
Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee.” 15 Why did the meek and
humble of heart ask to be glorified? He asked this at the moment of
His last humiliations, so that He might glorify His Father by His
death, by His very humiliations which, because He accepted them
with love, were to make Him victorious over sin and Satan.
This prayer asked for the spreading of God’s glory, and it was
answered during the Passion, for never was Jesus greater than at this
supreme hour. His prayer was answered by the conversion of the good
thief and of the centurion, by His own glorious resurrection, and later
by the conversion of the world to the Gospel.
Jesus continued His priestly prayer by beseeching His Father to
keep His apostles: “Holy Father, keep them in Thy name whom
Thou hast given Me; that they may be one, as We also are. While I
was with them, I kept them in Thy name. Those whom Thou gavest
Me have I kept and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition,
that the Scripture may be fulfilled. And now I come to Thee; and
these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy filled
in themselves. ... I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of
the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from evil. . . . Sanc­
tify them in truth. . . . And for them do I sanctify Myself, that
they also may be sanctified in truth.” 18
Jesus foresaw the profound dejection of His disciples a few hours
later, during His passion. Yet His prayer would sustain them. It
would be answered and it would win for them the strength to remain
faithful until their martyrdom.
Jesus also foresaw the great persecutions that would come. Indeed,
He had already announced them: “And you shall be betrayed by your
parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they
will put to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My name’s
sake. But a hair of your head shall not perish. In your patience you
shall possess your souls.” 17
“John 17:1.

· Ibid., 17:11-19.
*

,T Luke xi 116-19.

OUR SAVIOR

234

In His priestly prayer Jesus also besought His Father for all those
who would believe in Him through the preaching of the apostles and
of their successors, “that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, in Me,
and I in Thee; that they also may be one in Us; . . . that the world
may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou
hast also loved Me.” 18 Thus Jesus asked two things for His Church:
unity here on earth and the vision of glory in heaven.
He asked the multitude of believers should become but a single
heart and soul. This was to be accomplished in the new-born Church,
as we learn from the Acts of the Apostles.19 He asked that the Church,
despite the diversity of races, languages, customs, and human institu­
tions, should appear as a permanent moral miracle, through the unity
of faith, worship, hope, charity, and hierarchy. This is being accom­
plished in the Church, especially in the most saintly souls of each
generation, whatever their nation or race. Human weaknesses do
exist in the Church, but she always has within her holy souls whose
great spirit of faith, of trust, and of love is in each generation the
realization of our Lord’s expressed desire.
Finally, He asked for His Church the glory of heaven: “Father,
I will that where I am, they also whom Thou hast given Me may be
with Me; that they may see My glory which Thou hast given Me,
. . . that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me, may be in them,
and I in them.” 20
Jesus wishes us to be the members of His mystical body and, after
we have participated here on earth in His hidden life and in a measure
in His life of sorrow, to participate in His glorious life for all eternity.

Our Savior’s Prayer for Us in Heaven

St. Paul wrote to the Romans: “Christ Jesus . . . that is risen also
again ... is at the right hand of God, . . . also maketh interces­
sion for us. Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ?” 21
That is to say, who will separate us from the love which Christ has
for us and which arouses in us a reciprocating love?
In the Epistle to the Hebrews, the great Apostle also says: “For
*· John 17:21-23.

1’Act«4:j2.

,0 Ibid., 17!24-2i.

11 Roin. 8 :j4 f.

OUR SAVIOR’S PRAYER

235

that He [Jesus] continueth forever, hath an everlasting priesthood,
whereby He is able also to save forever them that come to God by
Him; always living to make intercession for us.” 22
Before leaving us, Jesus Himself assured us that He would pray
for us: “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will ask
the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may
abide with you forever.” 23
Some theologians 24 have said Jesus in heaven no longer prays for
us in the real sense of the word, but that He simply shows to His Fa­
ther His humanity and His glorious wounds, signs of His past merits.
In the eyes of many other theologians,28 followers of St. Augustine
and St. Thomas, this interpretation attenuates without reason the in­
spired words that we have just called to mind. When St. Paul says
that Christ always living continues to make intercession for us, there
is no reason to say that this is no longer a prayer in the true sense of
the word. If our Lord continues to ask that His past merits be applied
to certain specified souls, there is no imperfection in this. On the con­
trary, it is a new expression of His love for us.28
We are certain that the Blessed Virgin and the saints in heaven pray
for us. When we say litanies we ask them to intercede on our behalf,
and St. Thomas remarks on this subject: “Since prayers offered for
others proceed from charity, . . . the greater the charity of the
saints in heaven, the more they pray for wayfarers, since the latter
22 Heb. 7:24!.
28 John 14:15!.
24 Medina and Vasguez.
20 Cf. Gonet, De incarnatione, disp. 22, a. 2, likewise Salmanticenses, Billuart, Tolet,
Suarez, etc.
28 In In Epistolam ad Hebraeos, 7:25, St. Thomas says with regard to this text: “Sem­
per vivens ... : Aliter enim sacerdotium ejus fineretur. . . . Excellentiam pietatis
ostendit, quia dicit: Ad interpellandum pro nobis, quia licet sit ita potens, ita altus, tamen
cum hoc est pius, quia interpellat pro nobis. Advocatum habemus apud Patrem, Jesum
Christum (I Joan. 2:1). Interpellat autem pro nobis, primo humanitatem suam, quam pro
nobis assumpsit, repraesentando. Item sanctissimae animae suae desiderium, quod de salute
nostra habuit exprimendo, cum quo interpellat pro nobis.”
St. Thomas also says (Zn Epist. ad Romanos, 8:34) concerning this text: “Jesus, qui
est ad dexteram Dei, qui etiam interpellat pro nobis: Nunc autem ejus interpellatio pro
nobis est voluntas ipsius de nostra salute: Volo ut ubi sum ego, et illi sint mecum” (Joan.
17:24).
See also In IV Sent., diet. 15, q.4, a. 6, qaa, ad 1 : “Christus, in quantum homo, orat pro
nobis) sed ideo non dicimus: Christe ora pro nobis, quia Christus supponit suppositum
aeternum, cujus non est orare, sed adjuvarej et ideo dicimus: Christe audi nos vel miserere
nobis, et in hoc etiam evitamus hacresim Arii et Nestorii.”

236

OUR SAVIOR

can be helped by prayers: and the more closely they are united to God,
the more are their prayers efficacious: . . . Wherefore it is said of
Christ (Heb. 7:25):‘Going to God by His own power . . . to make
intercession for us.’ ” 2T
St. Ambrose also says: “He is ever pleading our cause before His
Father, and His prayer cannot go unheeded.” 28
St. Augustine speaks in the same vein: “He still prays for us now
inasmuch as He is our priest and our head; and inasmuch as He is
God, He is prayed to for us.” 29 St. Gregory the Great expresses the
same view: “Quotidie orat Christus 'pro Ecclesia.” 30 He remains ever
our advocate and our mediator.81
There is no doubt, of course, that Jesus does not pray in heaven as
He did in the Garden of Olives, prostrate and overwhelmed with
sadness. The perfect holocaust has been offered up. But He continues
to ask that its fruits be applied to us at the opportune moment, espe­
cially at the hour of death.82
If when we recite litanies we do not say “Christ, pray for us,” but
“Christ, have mercy on us; Christ, hear us,” it is to remind us that
Jesus is not man only but that He is also God, and when we address
ourselves to His divine person, it is God Himself whom we are ad­
dressing, begging Him to grant our requests.83
27 Ila Ilae, q. 83, a. 11.
28 In Efist, ad Rom., 8134. 29 In Psalm. 85.
80 In V Psalm, foenitent.
81 Cf. I John 2:1.
82 As Gonet says (JDe incarn., disp. 22, a. 2), there is no reason why Christ even now
that He is in heaven should not pray for us in the true sense of the word. If it were im­
possible for Him to pray because He is God, then He could not have prayed while here
on earth. If He could not pray because He is blessed, then the Blessed Virgin Mary could
not pray either. On the contrary, it is fitting that He should make this act of religion to
honor God and to obtain for us what is necessary to our salvation, by the application of
His past merits.
Jesus remains a priest for all eternity, and one of the principal functions of a priest is
to pray for the people who have been placed in his care.
He prays not through indigence but so that the superabundant redemption which has
already been accomplished may be applied to us. The infinite merits of Christ do not pre­
vent the Blessed Virgin and the saints from praying so that the fruits of the Passion may be
applied to us, nor do they prevent Christ from continuing to pray for us.
Beyond doubt, Christ, now that He has fulfilled His mission, no longer merits. There­
fore His prayer, like that of the saints and of Mary, is no longer meritorious (the time
for merit has passed), but it is eminently worthy of being answered.
See likewise Salmanticenses, De incarn., de oratione Christi.
88 Cf. St. Thomas, IV dist. 1 j, q. 4, a. 6, qa 2a, ad 1.

OUR SAVIOR’S PRAYER

237

Besides, it is absolutely certain that in the heart of the glorious
Christ, adoration and thanksgiving are ever alive. These prayers are,
as it were, the soul of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Far more, this
prayer of adoration and of thanksgiving will continue for all eternity,
even after the last Mass has been said. This is what is said every day
in the Preface: “It is truly meet and just . . . that we should at all
times and in all places give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father
almighty and everlasting God, through Christ our Lord. Through
whom the angels praise Thy majesty, the dominions worship it, the
powers stand in awe.” This worship of adoration and of thanksgiving
will continue eternally, even after the prayer of petition has ceased
with the last Mass at the end of the world.
What a consolation to think that Christ “always living” never
ceases “to make intercession for us,” that this prayer and this oblation
is, as it were, the soul of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and that we
can always unite our own prayer to it! Our prayer often lacks the
necessary humility, trust, and perseverance. Let us rest it upon
Christ’s prayer. Let us ask Him to inspire us to pray as is fitting, in
accordance with God’s intentions, to make prayer spring from our
hearts and to present it to His Father, so that we may be one with Him
for all eternity. Let us thus ask Him for ourselves and for the dying
the grace of graces, the grace of a happy death, or of final perseverance,
which is the prelude to eternal life.

*
*XX

r

±ΗΕ PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST

HE Savior’s sacerdotal prayer which we have just spoken of can
be understood only in relation to the priesthood of Christ. We
must first of all call to mind St. Paul’s teaching on this point in the
Epistle to the Hebrews, then what the Church says about it in its
Councils, and finally what theology adds in order to help us to pene­
trate the meaning and the scope of this teaching which is so spiritually
fruitful.

T

St. Paul’s Testimony
The Epistle to the Hebrews shows us the full splendor of Christ’s
priesthood in the light of ideas expressed by St. Paul in the Epistles
to the Romans, to the Corinthians, and to Timothy on Christ the
Redeemer, the universal mediator, and the head of the Church, and
on the necessity of believing in Christ in order to be saved: “For there
is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus:
who gave Himself a redemption for all.” 1
The first part of the Epistle to the Hebrews sets out to show the
superiority of the priesthood of Jesus Christ, the mediator of the new
alliance, over all the organs used by God in the Old Testament to
manifest Himself to men. Jesus, as Son of God, is declared to be
superior to all the priests of the Old Law, superior to all the prophets
who announced Him, superior to Moses, superior even to the angels
who are only God’s servants whereas Jesus is the Son of God by origin
and by nature, the Creator and Master of all things.2
St. Paul says: “For it was fitting that we should have such a high
priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made
2 Hcb. i :j, i j j i :i 8 j 4:11 j 7:24.

11 Tim. x:j f.
238

THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST

239

higher than the heavens j who needeth not daily (as the other priests)
to offer sacrifices first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for
this He did once in offering Himself.” 3 He did this by offering Him­
self up not for His own sake but for all sinners, for all men.
To enlighten the recently converted Jews who were at times
tempted to return to the rites of the Levitical priesthood, St. Paul
showed them that, while the sacrifices of the Mosaic worship were
many and varied and at times of great exterior magnificence, yet they
remained of themselves without efficacy. These sacrifices, he ex­
plained, were but the figure of the great sacrifice to come which was to
be accomplished not in exterior magnificence but in the perfect den­
udation of Golgotha.
In St. Paul’s words, “Christ, being come a high priest of the good
things to come, . . . neither by the blood of goats or of calves, but
by His own blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained
eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and of oxen, . . . [of­
fered up to God] sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the
flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who by the Holy
Ghost offered Himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience
from dead works, to serve the living God?” 4 Such is the efficacy and
the infinite value of Christ’s sacrifice.
Finally, whereas the priests of the Old Law succeeded one an­
other as death struck them one after the other, Christ “continueth
forever, hath an everlasting priesthood 5 whereby He is able also to
save forever them that come to God by Him; always living to make
intercession for us.” 8 It is Christ who remains the chief priest of the
Eucharistic Sacrifice, the commemoration of the Passion which will
be offered up until the end of the world.
This lofty doctrine on Christ’s priesthood has been clearly formu­
lated by the Church at the Council of Trent: “Since the work of the
Redemption could not be accomplished under the Old Testament,
because of the weakness of the Levitical priesthood, it was necessary,
according to the mercy of God the Father, that another priest . . .
arise, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who could lead to salvation and per­
fection all who were to be sanctified. Our God and our Lord Himself
• Ibid., 7:26 f.

4 Hcb. 9:11—14.

· Ibid., 7:24!.

240

OUR SAVIOR

was to offer Himself up once and for all to His Father on the altar of
the cross for our redemption, . . . and at the Last Supper He left
to His spouse, the Church, a visible sacrifice which until the end of
time will commemorate the bloody sacrifice of the cross and apply its
fruits to us.” e

Christ’s Priesthood, the Most
Perfect Conceivable
On the basis of St. Paul’s testimony, St. Augustine 7 and theologians
as a whole, especially St. Albert the Great8 and St. Thomas,® have
demonstrated that Christ’s priesthood is the most perfect that can be
conceived. The reason they give is as simple as it is profound. It de­
rives from St. Paul’s own definition of the priesthood: “For every
high priest taken from among men, is ordained for men in the things
that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for
sins.” 10 As St. Thomas explains,11 the function of the priest is to be
a mediator between God and men, to offer up to God the prayers of
the people, particularly sacrifice, which is the most perfect act of the
virtue of religion, and also to give to the people the things of God
(sacerdos means sacra dans} : through preaching, the light of truth,
and through the sacraments, the grace necessary for the accomplish­
ment of God’s law.
This twofold ascending and descending mediation is accomplished
especially through sacrifice, the supreme sacred act. Ascending media­
tion is accomplished by the oblation of the sacrifice of a victim. De­
scending mediation is accomplished by giving to the faithful a part
of the victim offered up, so that they may thus communicate with our
Lord.
The external oblation and immolation of the victim must be a
visible expression of the interior oblation of the priest, of his adora­
tion, his supplication, the sentiments of his “contrite and humbled” 12
• Sess. XXII, chap. i.
T De Trinitate, Bk. IV, chap. 14.
“ De Eucharistia, dist. 5, chap. 3, ed. Borgnct, XXXVIII, 347.
11 Summa theol., Illa, q. 22, a. 1-4 j q.48, a. 3 ; q. 50, a.4 ad 3 j q. 83, a. 1 ad 3.
10 Hcb. 5:1.
11 Illa, q. 11, a. :.
,a Pa. 50:19.

THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST

»41

heart, as well as of his thanksgiving. Thus through the sacrifice, which
is an exterior and public act of the virtue of religion, the adoration,
the supplication, the reparation, and the thanksgiving of the entire
people rise up to God. For the prayer of the people is united to that
of the priest and to a certain extent is one with his.
What follows from this with regard to the perfection of the priest­
hood, and particularly the priesthood of Christ? As St. Augustine
has shown,13 it follows that the priesthood is all the more perfect in
the measure that the priest, the mediator between God and men, is
more united to God, more united through interior oblation and im­
molation to the victim offered up, and more united to the men for
whom the victim is offered up.
It is clear, of course, that the more closely united to God the priest
is, that is, the holier he is, the more perfect will be the sacrifice he
offers up as the principal act of his priesthood. For the priest, in his
role as mediator, must make up by his own sanctity for the imperfec­
tion of the adoration, the gratitude, the reparation, and the supplica­
tion of the people.
Likewise the more closely the priest and the victim are united, the
more perfect will the sacrifice be. For the external oblation and im­
molation of the victim are but the symbol of the inward oblation and
immolation of the priest who is accomplishing the greatest act of the
virtue of religion. Also the more the victim is pure, precious, and en­
tirely consumed in God’s honor, the more perfect will be the sacrifice.
That is why the holocaust was the most perfect sacrifice of the Old
Law: the entire victim was consumed in God’s honor, to signify that
man must offer all of himself up to God.
Finally, the more the priest and the people are united, the more
perfect is the sacrifice. For the priest must bring together all the adora­
tions, petitions, reparations, and thanksgivings of the faithful in one
elevation toward God, rising up as the soul of the whole people. Con­
sequently the more people are thus united to the priest, the greater
will be the homage, the worship of adoration given to God, and the
more universal or widespread will be the effects of the sacrifice.
It is enough for us to consider the priesthood of our Savior in the
*· Loc. cit.

242

OUR SAVIOR

light of these principles in order to see at once that no greater priest­
hood can be conceived.
Christ Jesus is a priest not as God but as man. For the mediator
must be an intermediary between God and men, and in that capacity
inferior to God. Yet no soul can be more closely united to God than
the sacred soul of Christ. We have seen that His sanctity was innate,
substantial, and uncreated.14 Jesus is not only absolutely free from any
original and personal sin and from any imperfection whatever; He is
sanctity itself. He is the Word of God made flesh. His humanity is
sanctified first of all by its personal union with the Word, by the Word
Himself who possesses it intimately and for all eternity. That is why
Jesus’ priestly actions, which proceed from His human intellect and
will, had while He was here on earth an infinite value in terms of merit
and reparation. This infinite value derived, of course, from the di­
vine personality of the Son of God. And even now it is the Word made
flesh who through His human soul makes “intercession for us.” 15
It is impossible to conceive of a priest more intimately and indis­
solubly united to God, or holier than Jesus. Moreover, our Lord, as
head of the Church, has received the fullness of created grace which
must overflow upon us, and a power of excellence to institute the
sacraments, to give them the power to produce and augment divine
life, and also to institue a priesthood that will be indefectible until
the end of the world, a priesthood that is a participation in His own.1’
“Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who taketh away the sin
of the world” 17 by His perfect sacrifice. If sin continues, it is not be­
cause the virtue of this sacrifice is insufficient, as was that of the sacri­
fices of the Old Law, but because men often refuse to receive its fruits.
We cannot conceive of a holier priest than Jesus.
In addition, Christ’s priesthood cannot be more perfect by reason
of the union of the priest and the victim, and of the dignity of the lat­
ter. Jesus could not offer to His Father for us any victim but Himself.
The boy Isaac, a figure of Christ, had consented to let himself be
offered up as a sacrifice. Jesus offered Himself up when He was crud-11
*
11 Cf. chapter io supra.
15 Heb. 7:25.
»· Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q.64, a.4, and Supplement, q.35, a.».
IT John 1:29.

THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST

»43

fied. As He said: “Therefore doth the Father love Me: because I
lay down My life, that I may take it again. No man taketh it away
from Me: but I lay it down of Myself, and I have power to lay it
down: and I have power to take it up again. This commandment have
I received of My Father.” 18
We have become so accustomed to this idea that we cannot picture
to ourselves our Lord immolating merely a lamb distinct from Him­
self, or a dove. He Himself is the victim.
This purest of victims is of infinite value, for it is the body of the
Word of God, which, torn and nailed to the cross, sheds all its blood.
The union of priest and victim cannot be more perfect, since Jesus
is a victim to the depths of His soul, plunged in sorrow and in uni­
versal abandonment: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken
Me?” It is complete immolation, a perfect holocaust in reparation for
the pride of life, the concupiscence of the flesh, and that of the eyes.
Priest and victim cannot be more perfectly united than in our Lord,
immolated for us.
Finally, the union of priest and faithful cannot be closer. Jesus is
the head of the mystical body of which we are the members. The fruits
of the sacrifice of the Cross, the life of grace, pour down incessantly
from Him to us. At the same time, through Him, our prayers rise up
to God united to His at the moment of the Mass which perpetuates
in substance the sacrifice of the Cross.
It is particularly at Mass, at the moment of the Consecration and
Communion, that the words of St. Paul are verified: “Christ is the
head of the Church. He is the Savior of His body.” 19 “Now you are
the body of Christ, and members of member.” 20 “That ... we may
in all things grow up in Him who is the head, even Christ.” 21 Our
Savior is, therefore, the priest of the entire human race, for He “died
for all,” 22 for the men of all times and places. And all men can be­
come progressively incorporated in Him through the succession of
human generations, and remain members of His mystical body for all
eternity.
Thus Christ has made satisfaction and merited for all men. He con12 Ibid., 10:17 f·
21 Eph. 4:15.

18 Eph. 5:13.
22 II Cor. 5:15.

20 I Cor. 11:17.

244-

OUR SAVIOR

tinues to pray for us; and His humanity, as an instrument ever united
to His divinity, communicates to us all the graces we receive. The
vital influx of grace thus passes continually from Him to us.23
We are unable to conceive of a more perfect priesthood, of a priest
more closely united to God, more united to the most pure victim that
is offered up every day on the altar, and lastly more united to the body
of the Christian faithful which is ever renewing itself until the end of
time and whose living members are to remain incorporated to Him
forever. Our Savior is a priest for all eternity. His adoration and His
thanksgiving will never cease, and the glory of the elect will be the
consummation of His sacrifice.24
What Formally Constitutes Christ’s Priesthood

What is there in Christ which corresponds to the priestly character
which is indelibly stamped on the souls of His ministers? Some theo­
logians, among them the Carmelites of Salamanca,28 have thought
that Christ’s priesthood is formally constituted by habitual created
grace (through which He is the head of the mystical body), so far as
this grace presupposes personal union to the Word. Thus Christ
would be a priest by the very grace which constitutes Him head of
the Church and through which He exerts direct influence upon us.
Other theologians in increasing numbers, including several Thomists,26 think—and, it seems, on solid grounds—that what formally
constitutes the priesthood of Jesus Christ is the substantial grace of
union with the Word by reason of which He is holy, as well as a
sanctifier and mediator able to offer up a sacrifice of infinite value.
The latter approach is being increasingly accepted by theologians
at the present time, and was in a way approved by Pope Pius XI in
an allocution given on December 28, 1925.2T It derives from the
28 Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q. 6a, a.5.
24 Cf. ibid. q. 22, a. 5.
26 Cursus theologicus, de incarnatione, disp. 31, dub. 1, §4, no. 16.
28 Cf. Gonet, O.P., Clypeus thorn, theol., de incarnatione, disp. 22, a. 3. Hugon, O.P.,
De Verbo incarnato, and ed., pp. 6a8 ff.
27 Pope Pius XI says: “E unicamente perché POmoousios di Nicea si è incarnato . . .
che si effuse e si effonde, inesauribile ed infinita, in Gesu Christo, quella che i tcologi
chiamano unzione sostanziale, che lo consecrava sacerdote” (Civilia Cattolica, 1916, p.
18a).

THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST

245

doctrine which has prevailed on the substantial and uncreated as well
as innate sanctity of Jesus.28
Indeed it it the substantial grace of union to the Word that first of
all sanctifies the humanity of our Savior. This grace does not merely
give Him an accidental sanctity as does the grace which in us—and
in the greatest saints including Mary—proceeds from habitual created
grace, an accident of our nature, a divine graft upon our souls. Per­
sonal union with the Word gives to Jesus’ humanity a substantial and
uncreated sanctity 29 which is the source of the infinite value of His
human meritorious and propitiatory acts. This uncreated sanctity sub­
sists in heaven, now that the hour of merit and of painful expiation has
passed.
In His formal role as universal priest and mediator, Jesus must
offer up not a sacrifice of limited value such as those of the Old Law,
but a sacrifice of infinite value. The priestly acts of His sacred soul
must have a theandric value. And a priest capable of offering up a
sacrifice of such value must be more than “the head of humanity.”
Adam, in his innocent state, was the head of humanity (caput naturae
elevatae}. Yet he was not able, as priest and mediator, to offer up a
sacrifice of infinite value.
Therefore what formally constitutes Christ’s priesthood seems to
be the grace of substantial union to the Word which makes of Him the
Lord’s Anointed One.30 This grace of union which is uncreated, for
it is the Word Himself who completes and possesses the humanity of
our Savior,31 implies a unique priestly vocation and is the source of
the habitual created grace by which Christ, the head of the Church,
has immediate influence upon its members or communicates super­
natural life to them. All these gifts are necessary to His priesthood,
but the first-mentioned is its formal constituent.
This is what St. Thomas seems to think of the matter.32 In discuss­
28 See chap, io supra·, cf. John of St. Thomas, De incam., d.8, a.ij Gonet, De in­
carnatione, disp. ii.
20 Jesus’ humanity also exists through the uncreated existence of the Word (cf. St.
Thomas, Illa, q. 17, a. 1).
80 Ps. 44:8.
81 Cf. St. Thomas, IIla, q. 6, a. 6: “The grace of union is the personal being that is
given gratis from above to the human nature in the person of the Word.”
82 St. Thomas Illa, q. aa, a. a ad 3.

246

OUR SAVIOR

ing Jesus as priest and victim, he says that His humanity was sancti­
fied by the grace of union. The same is true when he speaks of the
predestination of Jesus not only to glory, as in the predestination of
the saints, but of His predestination to natural divine sonship, which
is infinitely superior to adopted divine sonship.83 Lastly, according
to St. Thomas, Jesus as man is the mediator between God and all men
through the grace of the hypostatic union.34 For, by reason of this
hypostatic union, He touches the two extremes to be reunited and
reconciled: God and humanity.35
This is what Bossuet tells us in his Elevations sur les mystères
(13th week, 1st and 6th elevations), in which he expounds the priest­
hood of Jesus Christ: “O Christ! O Messiah, who art awaited and
given under this sacred name which signifies the Anointed of the
Lord! Teach me, in the excellence of Thy unction, the origin and
foundations of Christianity. ... It is a matter of explaining the
unction which makes Thee Christ.” “Come, Jesus, eternal Son of
God. . . . Thou dost receive the powers of the priesthood from
Him alone who has said to Thee: ‘Thou art My Son, this day have I
begotten Thee.’36 For this divine priesthood, one must be born only
of God, and Thou hast Thy vocation ‘according to the power of an
indissoluble life.’8T . . . The law of this priesthood is eternal and
inviolable. Thou art alone: yet Thou hast left after Thee priests who
are only Thy vicars who can offer up no other victim than the one
Thou hast Thyself offered up on the cross and that Thou offerest
eternally at the right hand of Thy Father.”
Thus Jesus is priest by reason of the Incarnation. His priesthood is
88 Ibid., q.24, a. i f.
84 Ibid., q.26, a.25 q.58, a. 3.
85 Theologians have at times placed too much emphasis on the distinction between Jesus
as God and as man, without always giving enough consideration to what is fitting to Him
as God-man, or what is fitting to His humanity by reason of the divine personality of the
Word. Jesus, as God and not as man, created all things. As man and not as God, He
suffered and was sorrowful even unto death. As God-man, He has loved us with a theandric love which, though it is a human act, has infinite value by reason of the divine
personality from which it proceeds.
St. Thomas has made these distinctions very clearly, in particular in Illa, q.58, a. 3,
in explaining that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father: first, as God; secondly, as
God-man, fecundum gratiam unionis; thirdly, as man, by reason of the fullness of created
grace.
88 Ps. 2:7.
81 Heb. 7:16.

THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST

247

substantial as is His sanctity, and it is from His priesthood that derives
the priestly character of His ministers, impressed indelibly in their
souls. And in these priestly souls He will raise up vocations until the
end of time.

*
«XXI
Λ

HE INFINITE MERITS OF CHRIST

“And of His failure we all
have received, and grace for
grace.”
John 1:16

OW that we have discussed the priesthood of Christ, it is fitting
that we consider the source in Him of the infinite value of the
meritorious and satisfactory acts that He accomplished for our salva­
tion. This brings us to the very essence of the mystery of the Redemp­
tion, that is, to the source of all the graces we have ever received or
ever will receive.
We shall consider Christ’s merit rather than His satisfaction.1 This
difference is to be noted between the two: satisfaction relates to the
right of the offended person who demands reparation, whereas merit
relates to the reward to be obtained and therefore to the good of the
one who merits or of those for whom he merits. Thus we can dis­
tinguish between merit and satisfaction, although both are intimately
united in Christ’s acts of love, and in Him the infinite value of His
merit and of His satisfaction derives from the same principle.
Let us first inquire what revelation tells us of the value of Christ’s
merits. We shall then discuss the explanation generally given by the
theologians.

N

The Testimony of St. Paul

St. Paul wrote to the Romans: “God commendeth His charity to­
ward us; because when as yet we were sinners, according to the time,
1 We have already spoken of satisfaction in chapters 8, 13-161 and we shall discuss it
again with reference to the sacrifice of the Cross (chap. 25).
248

THE INFINITE MERITS OF CHRIST

249

Christ died for us; much more therefore, being now justified by His
blood, shall we be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son;
much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. . . .
Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin
death; ... if by the offense of one, many died; much more the
grace of God, and the gift, by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, hath
abounded unto many. . . . For as by the disobedience of one man,
many were made sinners ; so also by the obedience of one, many shall
be made just.” 2*
The Apostle then shows 8 that the Christian who is united to
Christ by baptism is dead to sin and has risen to a new life, in the
measure that he believes in Christ’s merits with a lively faith united
to charity. “But now . . . the justice of God is made manifest, . . .
by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe in
Him.” 4
In the Epistle to the Ephesians, St. Paul develops the same idea
in a sublime manner: “We all conversed in time past, in the desires
of our flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh and of our thoughts, and
were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God (who is
rich in mercy), for His exceeding charity wherewith He loved us,
even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ
(by whose grace you are saved) and hath raised us up together, and
hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ
Jesus.5*That He might show in the ages to come the abundant riches
of His grace, in His bounty toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace
you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the
gift of God; . . . For we are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus in good works, which God hath prepared that we should walk
in them.” *
2 Rom. 5:8-19.
2 Ibid., 6 :i—i i.
* Ibid., 3:21 f.
5 Here St. Paul contemplates the supreme unfolding of the grace received in baptism,
which is the seed of glory.
0 Eph. a:i-io. The mention of good works in this context shows that in order to be
justified faith is not enough. Love of God and of neighbor is also necessary, that is, the
accomplishment of the two great commandments. Luther’s great error was that he denied
this.

2$0

OUR SAVIOR

It is this doctrine that the Church sums up as follows: Our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, through the great love He had for
us,7 when we were enemies or sinners,8 has merited our justification
by His sacred passion on the cross.®
Pope Clement VI said that “the merits of Christ are infinite, and
that a single drop of His blood, because of the [personal] union with
the Word, would have sufficed for the redemption of the human
race.” 10 This is what St. Thomas proclaims in the Adoro Te:
O loving Pelican! O Jesu Lord!

Unclean I am, but cleanse me in Thy
blood !
Of which a single drop for sinners
spilt,
Can purge the entire world from
all its guilt.

This amounts to saying, as the Church generally teaches, that the
least act of love that Jesus performed while still a child had infinite
meritorious value to obtain for all men of the past, the present, and
the future, sanctifying grace, eternal life, and all the assistance neces­
sary to attain them. That is all the more reason why the most heroic
act of charity which Jesus accomplished in dying for us on the cross,
has merited for us justification and salvation. “Where sin abounded,
grace did more abound.” 11 “And of His fullness we all have re­
ceived, and grace for grace.” 12
It should give us great strength and consolation to contemplate
these infinite merits of our Savior, which are the source of our entire
spiritual life. There is no better way than this to revive our confidence
in periods of lassitude and depression, or when we see souls we love
adrift and feel the need of praying for them with greater ardor.
To understand revealed doctrine on this point, as proposed by the
Church, let us lift our gaze progressively from the most ordinary
7 Ibid., 2:4.
8 Rom. 5:10.
8 Council of Trent, Sess. VI, chap. 7: Denzinger, no. 799; also nos. 795, 8iz, 8zo.
10 Cf. Denzinger, nos. 550, 552: “Gutta ejus sanguinis modica, . . . propter unionem
ad Verbum pro redemptione totius humani generis sufccisset.”
11 Rom. 5:20.
12 John 1:16.

THE INFINITE MERITS OF CHRIST

251

things, from our imperfect merits, to the infinite merits of Christ.
We shall then begin to grasp the influence of Christ’s merits on our
whole lives.
Merit in General. Its Conditions

Merit in general, or meritorious action, consists in any act worthy
of a reward. Merit in the exact sense of the word—condign merit—
is that for which a recompense is due in justice or at the very least
in virtue of a promise. Thus, in the natural order, the officer merits
his pay. As to congruous merit, this is an act for which a reward is due
not in justice or because of a promise, but for reasons of fittingness
such as friendship, esteem, liberality. So in the natural order the
valiant soldier deserves to be decorated.
In the supernatural order there is an incomparably superior form
of merit. It is an act that gives one the right to a supernatural reward,
which is far more precious than all the world can offer us in the way
of honor and glory. This reward is even far superior to the natural
life of the most gifted minds, even to the intellectual life of the
angels, that is, to the life they possess by reason of their nature, which
is very inferior to grace.
Supernatural merit is a supernatural act accomplished through
love of God, an act which, according to a divine ordination, gives one
the right to a supernatural reward. Thus it is that every Christian in
the state of grace merits by his acts of love of God and of his neighbor,
and by the exercise of all the virtues duly inspired by charity, an in­
crease in sanctifying grace and eternal life. This is condign merit
properly so-called. It is in this sense that St. Paul says: “For that
which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh
for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory.” 18
And so it was that Jesus, when He preached the beatitudes, pro­
claimed the merits of the just and their reward: “Blessed are the
poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. . . . Blessed are
they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their
fill. . . . Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God. . . .
“ II Cor. 4:17.

2$2

OUR SAVIOR

Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake: for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. ... Be glad and rejoice, for your reward
is very great in heaven.” 14*
Such is the grandeur of supernatural merit correctly understood.
In addition to this, from congruous merit, based not on justice or
on a promise but on God’s friendship, a just man can obtain the con­
version of a friend, a holy Christian mother like Monica can win the
conversion of her son.
What is the source of the immense value of supernatural merit?
Let us delve into the secret recesses of our souls where our acts of
love of God and of our neighbor are formed. Then by degrees we
shall be able to rise to the contemplation of Christ’s merits, the emi­
nent source of our own.
What are the conditions necessary to make an act supernaturally
meritorious, so that it will give us a right to a supernatural reward?
The conditions of supernatural merit in the true sense of the word
are generally considered to be as follows: It must be a free act, pro­
ceeding from charity, performed during one’s earthly life, for which
God has promised a reward. The meritorious act must be free, pro­
ceeding from free choice.18 The soul must freely give of its own and
offer it up to God.
The second condition of a supernaturally meritorious act is that it
proceed from charity, which presupposes the state of grace. The merit
and the reward must be proportionate. Merit of the natural order can
obtain a reward of the same order, but not a supernatural reward.
Nor would faith and hope suffice. There must be charity too, as
St. Paul tells us: “And if I should have prophecy . . . and if I
should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not
charity, I am nothing.” 10 Indeed, without charity our will remains
the slave of sin and is turned away from God’s will and toward sensu­
14 Matt. 5:3—1».
le This point has been defined in contradiction to the Jansenists. Cf. Denzinger, no. X094:
The third condemned proposition of Jansenius: “Ad merendum et demerendum in statu
naturae lapsae non requiritur in homine libertas a necessitate, sed sufficit libertas a co­
actione.” Libertas a coactione is pure spontaneity, such as exists even in animals, whereas
libertas a necessitate, or free will, is the principle of a choice that is not necessary.
*· I Cor. 13 :».

THE INFINITE MERITS OF CHRIST

253

ality or pride. When our souls are deprived of sanctifying grace and
charity, they do not live the supernatural life. How then can they
produce supernatural fruit? On the contrary, charity calls forth, in­
spires, and vivifies all the other virtues; and the more charity in­
creases the more merit grows.
The supernatural value of meritorious acts, whether produced im­
mediately by charity or by the virtues which charity inspires, increases
with the love of God of which these acts are a sign. It is like offering
twice the price of something that is offered for sale. Thus the Blessed
Virgin merited more by easy little acts than we do by difficult ones,
for there was more love of God and of souls in one of her smiles to a
poor old man than there is in our most generous efforts. The meri­
torious act must, therefore, proceed from charity, that is, it must
possess supernatural goodness or be accomplished through love of
God.
The third condition of a meritorious act is that it be accomplished
during one’s earthly life or in the state of passage toward eternity. In
heaven we shall no longer merit, but shall enjoy our reward. Nor
do we merit in purgatory, for there we are merely purified.
Finally, the fourth condition of merit is that God should have
promised a reward for the act which we offer up to Him. Thus He
has promised that the just who perform acts of charity will be given
an increase of this virtue as well as of the other infused virtues, the
gifts of the Holy Ghost, and also eternal life if they die in the state
of grace.
These are the conditions of merit: It must derive from a free act,
proceeding from charity, performed during one’s earthly life, and
it must be an act for which God has promised a reward. This being so,
what is the value of Christ’s merits?
Do Christ’s Merits Have Infinite Value
in Themselves, Intrinsically, or Solely through
God’s Acceptance of Them?
Christ’s free acts, performed during His life on earth and proceed­
ing from His love of God and of souls, had immense value by the

254

OUR SAVIOR

very reason of His eminent charity, which surpassed that of all the
angels and saints taken together, since He had received the plenitude
of created grace. Yet this eminent charity of Jesus’ soul remained a
created thing which could not give to His meritorious acts a truly
infinite value.
Christ’s merits derive their absolutely exceptional value especially
from the fact that they were the human acts of a divine person, of
infinite dignity. “The blood of Jesus Christ His [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin,” 1T St. John tells us, because it is the blood of the
Son of God shed through love of us, for which God has promised
this reward, namely, the justification and salvation of all who believe
in Christ and who follow Him.
However, one group of theologians, the Scotists, has maintained
that Christ’s acts of love did not possess in themselves intrinsically
an infinite meritorious and satisfactory value, by reason of the divine
person of the Word. They held that, on the contrary, it was fitting
that these acts be extrinsically accepted by God for our salvation.
Nearly all theologians, on the other hand, admit that the smallest
of our Savior’s acts of love possesses in itself, or intrinsically, an in­
finite value by reason of the divine person of the Word made flesh.
These acts are called theandric or divine-human, because they are
the human acts of a soul personally united to the Word, the human
acts of the person of the Son of God. Now, the value of a meritorious
or satisfactory act depends not only on the nobility of its object but
even more upon the dignity of the person who produces it. In this
case, the person of the Word is of infinite dignity. It is the Son of God
Himself who is offering Himself up for us.
If the gravity of the offense increases in proportion to the dignity
of the person offended, the value of the satisfaction and of the merit
increases with the dignity of the person who makes satisfaction and
who merits. Our Savior’s human actions are united to a divine person
by an indissoluble bond, as strong as eternity, in a personal union so
close that we can truly say: It is God, the Son, who acts, suffers, merits,
and makes satisfaction in the human nature that He has taken on to
save us. These reparative acts are most intimately united to God. In
1T I John i 7.

THE INFINITE MERITS OF CHRIST

255

consequence their infinite value outweighs the infinite gravity of all
mortal sins of all men, which can offend God only morally but can­
not touch Him in His substantial and intimate reality.
Hence it is clear that the least of Jesus’ merits was more pleasing to
God than all the sins of mankind taken together displease Him. Simi­
larly but on the much lower, human level, the expressions of love
that are most precious to us are those given to us by the persons to
whom we are closest. The smallest act of thoughtfulness by one we
love dearly is sometimes enough to make us forget great injustices.
This doctrine, without any exaggeration, teaches us to value beyond
measure the least of our Savior’s actions.
The following objection has at times been raised with regard to this
teaching: If all our Savior’s acts are of infinite value, it seems that they
are absolutely equal and hence Jesus’ death on the cross was of no
greater merit than His childhood acts. Therefore, the reasoning
goes, His death adds nothing to His earlier acts since they were al­
ready infinite in value. The Cross would thus appear to be super­
fluous.
This conclusion, which is so contrary to the Christian approach, re­
sults from confused thinking. It can easily be refuted by saying: All
Jesus’ acts, the least as well as the most heroic, have the same personal
value deriving from the union of His humanity with the Word; how­
ever, these acts do not have the same objective value, which relates
to the object and to the circumstances of these acts. In fact, there is
a subordination in the different objects of the virtues. Thus the su­
preme acts of the Passion which had such a lofty object, such excep­
tional and painful circumstances, surpassed His preceding acts in
objective value, added to the treasure already amassed, filled to over­
flowing Christ’s merits and satisfactions, because these acts represented
the ultimate in sacrifice, suffering, and love.
Nothing is superfluous to the love seeking to glorify God to the
highest possible degree and to manifest itself to souls in an irresistible
manner. Finally, Jesus offered His first acts of love up to His Father
not separately but as the beginning of His sacrifice which was to be
accomplished in its plenitude on the cross. From the first moment He
entered the world He offered up I lis life usque ad mortem, mortem

OUR SAVIOR

ï$6

autem crucis. This is what each Christian must do after Christ’s ex­
ample, and especially every religious who professes to live in obedi­
ence, chastity, and poverty until death.
Such was the value of Christ’s merit. It is a spiritual wellspring
from which every human soul can slake its thirst, without ever ex­
hausting its flow. “Where sin abounded, grace did more abound.” 18

What Did Our Lord Merit for Himself and for Us?
He merited for Himself neither the Incarnation nor habitual grace
nor the essential glory of His soul, for these gifts are anterior to His
merit. These gifts precede His merit and are, as it were, its root.
Meritorious acts presuppose grace, charity, and a supernatural knowl­
edge, which in Christ was not faith but the vision of God.
Are we to infer, then, that Jesus merited nothing for Himself?
Not at all. He merited His glorious resurrection, His ascension, the
exaltation of His name, the expansion of the Church, and the grati­
tude and love of the faithful. He could have claimed all these things
by right of birth, but He chose to obtain them by right of conquest.
That is why He said to the disciples of Emmaus: “Ought not Christ
to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His glory?” 18 And
St. Paul added: “He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto
death, even to the death of the cross. For which cause God also hath
exalted Him, and hath given Him a name which is above all names:
that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in
heaven, on earth, and under the earth: and that every tongue should
confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.” 20
Jesus was crowned king of glory only after He had been crowned
with thorns. Satan’s pride is far more deeply hurt to have been thus
vanquished by the humility of our Savior and of the Virgin Mary
than to have been immediately crushed by divine Omnipotence, as
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort tells us. Our Savior has merited that
the power of His name and of the sign of the cross should rout the evil
one and deliver souls.
For us Jesus has merited the life of grace and that of eternity, that
’•Rom. 5:10.

,e Luke 14:16.

20 Phil. 1:8-t 1.

I

THE INFINITE MERITS OF CHRIST

257

is, all the supernatural aids which lead souls to be converted, to per­
severe, and to attain their ultimate destiny. “Of His fullness we all
have received,” St. John tells us.21 Jesus Himself said: “I am the way,
. . . and the life.” 22 “If any man thirst, let him come to Me and
drink. He that believeth in Me, as the Scripture saith, ‘Out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water.’ ” 23 “He that eateth My flesh,
and drinketh My blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him
up in the last day.” 24 Our Savior has merited for us all the effects of
predestination, and He could thus say: “My sheep hear My voice:
and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them life everlast­
ing; and they shall not perish forever, and no man shall pluck them
out of My hand. That which My Father hath given Me, is greater
than all: and no one can snatch them out of the hand of My Father. I
and the Father are one.” 28
Jesus merited these great graces for us not merely through a merit
of fittingness, as did our Blessed Lady, but in strict justice inasmuch
as He was the Word made flesh and therefore the head of humanity.
By reason of His divine personality His merits were of infinite value,
and because He was head of humanity He could communicate these
merits to us just as the head of the human body transmits nervous im­
pulses to the limbs. Thus Jesus merited for every one of us in the
same manner as each just man merits for himself. And as St. Peter,
enlightened by the grace of Pentecost, told the Jews: “This is the
stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the
head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there
is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be
saved.” 28
The Passion, which merited the salvation of all men, does in fact
save all who do not resist Christ’s grace. It makes available even to
the most debased pagans graces of light, of attraction, and strength.
I f these men do not resist these graces, they will be led from grace to
grace until they attain faith, justification, and salvation. The entire
human race was consecrated to the Sacred Heart by Leo XIII at the
opening of the twentieth century, so that it might be made more docile
21 John 1:16.
34 Ibid.) 6:5 j.

22 Ibid.) 14:6.
lft lbid.t 10:27—30.

287:37.
20 Acte 4:11 f.

2$8

OUR SAVIOR

to these graces of light and attraction. The infidel child who after
reaching the full age of reason chooses the path of goodness and turns
away from evil does so only through Christ’s grace.27
In evangelized society, in the Church, the Passion makes grace con­
tinually available to us through the sacraments—baptism, confirma­
tion, absolution, the Eucharist, extreme unction; it sanctifies the home
by the grace of the sacrament of matrimony; it molds the priestly
soul by the grace of the sacrament of holy orders. Apart from the
sacraments, our Savior sustains us by countless interior inspirations
and other helps which inspire us to make good resolutions and confirm
us in them. Having once merited these graces for us on the cross, the
sacred humanity of our Lord, being the instrument ever united to
His divinity, communicates these graces to us with each passing day.28
Unbelievers sometimes object: Well, if Christ’s merits were in­
finite, then our own would be superfluous. The reply to this is clear.
As the First Cause, far from making secondary causes superfluous,
communicates to them the dignity of causality,29 as God the Author
of life creates living beings whereas a sculptor can produce only life­
less works, so does our Savior by His own merits call ours into being
and make us work at our own salvation and that of our neighbor. He
does not save free beings against their will. We must allow ourselves
to be saved by our Savior and we must not resist Him. And precisely
because His merits are infinite, He has the power to make us merit
with Him and to participate in His redemptive action and to save
other souls with Him, through Him, and in Him. Thus it is that He
lives again to a certain extent in the saints, and through them proves
to the world that He is eternal.
Let us always—and particularly in hours of sadness and tempta­
tion—place our trust in the infinite merits of Christ, as does the
Church in closing all her prayers with the words, “Through Jesus
Christ our Lord.” Like the prodigal son and the repentant good thief,
even the souls that have gone farthest astray must remember to rely
upon Christ’s merits. A case in point is that of the penitent who, after
confessing his sins for the first time in forty years, heard the priest
” Cf. St. Thomas, la Ilae, 9.89, a. 6.
” Ibid., la, q. 105, a. 5.

28 Ibid., Illa, q. 62, a. 5.

THE INFINITE MERITS OF CHRIST

259

ask: “Well, what good have you done?” He answered: “I have kept
my faith in the infinite value of Christ’s merits, and that is why I have
come to confess my sins.” Through his faith in Christ this man had
touched the depths of God.
Likewise a sorely troubled soul of our acquaintance at times heard
our Lord say to her in moments of great darkness from which others
seemed to find rays of light: “Your poverty is extreme. But fear not:
though you are poor, I am rich, and My riches suffice for you. What
could you give Me? Do I not place within you the good I wish to see
there? For your part, walk in My presence, for I never leave you.”
This shows us how closely the mystery of Christ is bound up with the
mystery of our own destinies.

*XXII»
rqpHE LAST SUPPER AND THE
EUCHARISTIC HEART OF JESUS

1

N REPORTING the events of the Last Supper so as to complete
the record presented in the first three Gospels,1 St. John wrote
as follows: “Jesus knowing that His hour was come, that He should
pass out of this world to the Father: having loved His own who were
in the world, He loved them unto the end.” 2 A father who is about
to die wishes to leave to his children a supreme proof of his love for
them. Often such a father cannot find words to express his love and
he remains silent with a silence that is more eloquent than speech.
When Jesus was about to die He found not only the words to express
His meaning but also the words which would make His meaning a
reality, the words of transubstantiation. He gave us the Eucharist as
a testament, and in this sacrament He left to us His own divine Per­
son.

I

The Gift of Self, an Expression of Love
The greatest proof of love is the perfect gift of self. Generosity is
essentially communicative, goodness is naturally self-diffusive. St.
Thomas goes so far as to say: “It belongs to the essence of goodness to
communicate itself to others. . . . Hence it belongs to the essence of
the highest good to communicate itself in the highest manner to the
creature.” 8
Thus does the sun shed forth light and warmth, thus do adult
animals and plants give life to others each after their kind. So too
1 Cf. Matt. 26 :26-29s Mark 14:22-25 j Luke 22:15, 10 ! I Cor. 11 :aj.
* John 13 :i.
• Summa, Illa, q. 1, a. 1. Also: “Secundum diversitatem naturarum, diversus emanationi»
modus invenitur in rebus, et quanto aliqua natura est altior, tanto id quod ex ea emanat
magis est intimum” (Contra Getitei, Uk. IV, chap. 11, initio).
a6o

THE LAST SUPPER

261

does a great artist conceive and produce his masterpieces, so do the
scientist and the scholar communicate their intuitions and discoveries,
and share their spirit with their disciples. In the same manner the
virtuous man inspires others to virtue, and the apostle, passionately
in love with goodness, gives the best of himself to the souls of his fel­
low men, to lead them to God. Goodness tends essentially to com­
municate itself to others, and the more perfect a being is the more
intimately and abundantly he gives himself.
He who is the sovereign Good, the fullness of being, communicates
Himself as fully and intimately as possible by the eternal generation
of the Word and by the spiration of the Spirit of love, as revelation
teaches us. The Father, in begetting the Son, not only communicates
to Him a participation in His nature, His intelligence, and His love,
but He communicates to the Son the totality of His indivisible nature,
without multiplying it in any respect. The Father gives to the Son to
be “God of God, light of light, true God of true God,” and the Fa­
ther and the Son together communicate to the Spirit of love
who proceeds from them this same indivisible divine nature
and these infinite perfections. Goodness is naturally self-diffusive,
and the more perfect it is the more fully and intimately it gives
itself.
By virtue of this principle, we have seen 4 that it was fitting that
God should not be content merely to create us, and to give us existence,
life, intelligence, sanctifying grace, and a participation in His nature.
Indeed, it was fitting that God should give Himself to us in person
through the incarnation of the Word.8
Even after the fall of the first man, God could have willed to re* Cf. swpra, chap. 6.
5 Hia, q. i, a. i : “Whether It Was Fitting That God Should Become Incarnate?” (This
is the question of the possibility and the fittingness of the Incarnation, rather than the
question of its motives, which are analyzed in articles z and 3.) St. Thomas answers: “To
each thing, that is befitting which belongs to it by reason of its very nature j thus, to reason
befits man, since this belongs to him because he is of a rational nature. But the very nature
of God is goodness. . . . But it belongs to the essence of goodness to communicate itself
to others. . . . Hence it belongs to the essence of the highest good to communicate itself
in the highest manner to the creature, and this is brought about chiefly by His so joining
created nature to Himself that one Person is made up of these three—the Word, a soul
and flesh, as Augustine says (Di Tri»., xiii). Hence it is manifest that it was fitting that
God should become incarnate.”

202

OUR SAVIOR

deem us in some other manner,® for example, by sending us a prophet
who would have made known to us the conditions of forgiveness. But
He has done infinitely more; He has willed to give us His own Son
in person as our Redeemer. “God so loved the world, as to give His
only-begotten Son.” 7
Jesus, priest for all eternity and the Savior of humanity, has also
for His part willed to give Himself to us perfectly throughout His
life on earth, particularly at the Last Supper and on Calvary. He
continues to give Himself to us each day through the Mass and Holy
Communion. There can be no greater example of the perfect gift of
self than these riches of the priestly and Eucharistic heart of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Nor can anything do more to inspire the particular act
of thanksgiving which is due to our Lord for having instituted the
Eucharist and the priesthood.
The Eucharist should produce in each of us the same effect as the
Incarnation produced with regard to humanity in general. For it is
through the Eucharist that Jesus gives Himself to each of us.8
The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus
and the Gift of Self in the Institution
of the Eucharist
As God gives His entire nature in the eternal generation of the
Word and the spiration of the Holy Ghost, as God willed to give
Himself in person in the incarnation of the Word, so Jesus has wished
to give Himself in person in the Eucharist. And His priestly heart is
a Eucharistic heart for the very reason that it gave us the Eucharist,
just as pure air is said to be healthful because it is health-giving.
Our Lord might well have been content to institute a sacrament
which was a sign of grace like baptism and confirmation. He has chosen
to give us a sacrament which contains not only grace but the Author of
grace Himself.
e Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q. i, a. a: “God of His omnipotent power could have restored
human nature in many other ways.”
’John 3:16.
• Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q.79, a. t : “Just as by coming into the world, He [Christ]
visibly bestowed the life of grace upon the world, ... so also, by coming sacramentally
into man, causes the life of grace.”

THE LAST SUPPER

263

The Eucharist is thus the most perfect of the sacraments, superior
even to holy orders.® And it is with a view to the Eucharistic conse­
cration that Jesus instituted the priesthood simultaneously with the
Eucharist.10
True and generous love, by which we wish others well and do them
good, leads us to bend down toward them if they are below us. It
inspires us to unite ourselves to them in a perfect union of thought,
desire, and will, to devote ourselves to them, to sacrifice ourselves if
necessary to make them better, and to encourage them to reach out
beyond themselves and attain their destiny.
When our Lord was about to deprive us of His sensible presence,
He wished to leave Himself to us in person under the Eucharistic
veils. Loving us as He did, He could not bend down any lower to­
ward us, toward the lowliest, the poorest and most wretched. There
was no way by which He could unite Himself or give Himself more
completely to each of us.
There are times when we yearn for the real presence of loved ones
who are no more. The Eucharistic heart of the Savior has given us the
real presence of His body, His blood, His soul, and His divinity.
Everywhere on earth wherever there is a consecrated host in a taber­
nacle, even in the most far-flung missions, He remains with us, the
sweet companion of our exile. He is in each tabernacle, “patiently
waiting for us, eager to grant us favors, yearning for our prayers.”
He is brought even to repentant criminals about to meet their
end.
The Eucharistic heart of Jesus has given us the Eucharist as a
sacrifice, in order to perpetuate in substance the sacrifice of the Cross
• Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q. 65, a. 3 : “The sacrament of the Eucharist is the greatest of all
the sacraments.” The sacrament of the Eucharist is the most perfect of all because it con­
tains not only grace but the Author of grace Himself. And the sacrament of holy orders
owes its greatness to the fact that it is ordained to the consecration of the Eucharist. Cf.
ibid., ad 3.
10 The expression “Eucharistic heart” is, in consequence, superior to the expression
“priestly heart.” The latter is included in the former. For when Jesus gave us the Eucharist
He instituted the priesthood. Moreover, it is permissible to call even the heart of Christ’s
minister a priestly heart. For instance, we speak of the priestly heart of the Curé of Ars,
whereas the expression “Eucharistic heart” can be applied only to the heart which has
given us the Eucharist.

204

OUR SAVIOR

on our altars until the end of the world and to apply its fruits to us.
And at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, our Lord who is the principal
Priest continues to offer Himself up for us.
Christ “hath an everlasting priesthood, whereby He is able . . .
always living to make intercession for us.” 11 He does so particularly
at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass where, according to the Council of
Trent, it is the same Priest who continues to offer Himself up through
His ministers in an unbloody manner, having once offered Himself
up in bloody sacrifice on the cross.12*
This interior oblation, ever alive in the heart of Christ, is as it
were the soul of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and gives it its in­
finite value. Jesus Christ also continues to offer up to His Father our
supplications, our reparations, and our thanksgivings. But especially
it is always the same infinitely pure victim which is offered up, the
body of the crucified Savior, and His precious blood sacramentally
shed on the altar so that it may continue to wipe away the sins of the
world.
The Eucharistic heart of Jesus in giving us the Eucharistic sacrifice
has also given us the priesthood. Early in His ministry He said to
His apostles: “Come after Me, and I will make you to become fishers
of men.” 18 On the night of the Last Supper He told them: “You have
not chosen Me: but I have chosen you ; and have appointed you, that
you should go, and should bring forth fruit; and your fruit should
remain.” 14 Then He gave them the power to offer up the Eucharistic
sacrifice when He said: “This is My body, which is given for you. Do
this for a commemoration of Me.” 18 With these words He gave them
the power of the holy consecration which continually renews the sacra­
ment of love.16*The Eucharist, sacrament and sacrifice, cannot in
truth be perpetuated without the priesthood. That is why for nearly
two thousand years the grace of the Savior has brought into being and
11 Heb. 7 :i4 f.
12 Cf. Cone. Trid., Sess. XXII, chap, a: “Una enim eadem est hostia, idem nunc offerens
sacerdotum ministerio, qui se ipsum tunc in cruce obtulit, sola offerendi ratione diversa.
Cujus quidem oblationis (cruentae inquam) fructus per hanc incruentam uberime per­
cipiuntur.”
18 Mark 1:17.
14 John 15:i6.
15 Luke 22:19.
18 The Divine Office of the Eucharistic Heart emphasizes clearly these different but
closely intertwined manifestations of Christ’s love for us.

THE LAST SUPPER

265

to fruition generation after generation of priestly vocations. And this
will continue until the end of the world.
Finally, the Eucharistic heart of Jesus has given itself to us in Holy
Communion. Our Savior gives Himself to us as food not so that we
will assimilate Him to ourselves, but so that we may become more
and more like Him, ever more vivified and sanctified by Him, in­
corporated into Him. One day He said to St. Catherine of Siena: “I
take thy heart from thee and give thee Mine.” This is a sensible
symbol of what occurs spiritually in a fervent Communion. Our hearts
die to their narrowness and selfishness and self-love, dilating and be­
coming like the heart of Jesus in purity, strength, and generosity. On
another occasion, our Lord granted to this saint the grace of drink­
ing deeply from the wound in His heart. This, too, is a symbol of a
fervent Communion in which the soul drinks spiritually, so to speak,
from the heart of Jesus, from this “source of new graces,” “the sweet
refuge of the hidden life,” “the master of the secrets of divine union,”
“the heart of Him who sleeps but is ever watchful.”
St. Paul had said: “The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it
not the Communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread, which
we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord?” 17 And as
St. Thomas remarked, when the priest receives the precious blood
in Communion he does so for himself and for the faithful also.18

The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus
and the Daily and Ceaseless Gift of Himself
Lastly, Jesus again and again, day after day, gives us the Eucharist
as sacrament and sacrifice. He could have willed that the Mass be
celebrated only once or twice a year in certain sanctuaries to which men
would travel from afar. Yet the Holy Sacrifice is celebrated per­
petually every minute of the day, over the whole surface of the earth,
wherever the sun rises. It is the unceasing manifestation of Christ’s
1T I Cor. 10:16.
»· Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q. 80, a. 1 a ad j : “The body can be received by the people with­
out the blood: nor is this detrimental to the sacrament, because the priest both offers and
consumes the blood on behalf of all) and Christ is fully contained under either species.”

ï66

OUR SAVIOR

merciful love, answering the spiritual needs of each era and of each
soul. “Christ . . . loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for
it: that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the
word of life: that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church,
not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be
holy and without blemish.” 10
This being so, He grants to His Church, especially through the
Mass and Holy Communion, the graces she needs at the various mo­
ments of her history. In the catacombs the Mass was a source of ever
new graces, and so it was during the great barbarian invasions and
during the Middle Ages. And so it is today, giving us the strength
to resist the great perils that threaten us, above all the atheistic
phalanxes which Communism is pouring out over the world to destroy
all religion. Despite the sorrows of the present, the interior life of the
Church in our time in its highest aspects is indeed beautiful when
viewed from above as God and the angels see it.
All these graces come to us from the Eucharistic heart of Jesus
who has given us the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Com­
munion, and who is ever giving us His blood sacramentally shed on
the altar.
Father Charles de Foucauld had a deep understanding of this
truth, as he prayed and died for the conversion of Islam and of
Moslem lands. This truth is also understood by those who pray with
all their souls and have Masses said for lands ravaged by materialism
and Communism. A single drop of our Savior’s precious blood can
regenerate thousands of souls that have gone astray and have dragged
others along with them.20
Indeed, it is a truth that we too often forget. This cult of the pre­
cious blood of the Savior and deep suffering at the sight of it flowing
in vain over rebellious souls can do much to turn the Eucharistic heart
of Jesus toward His poor sinners—yes, His poor sinners. They are
His, and apostles like St. Paul, St. Francis, St. Dominic, St. Catherine
18 Eph. 5 tay—27.
80 This is what St. Thomas says in the Adoro Te:
“Undean I am, but deanse me in Thy blood!
Of which a single drop for sinners spilt,
Can purge the entire world from all its guilt.”

THE LAST SUPPER

167

of Siena, and so many others loved our Savior enough to strive by His
side for the salvation of these souls.
When we think of Christ’s love for us, we should suffer agonies at
the sight of souls turning away from His heart, from the source of
His precious blood. He shed His blood for them all, far removed as
they might be from Him, even for the Communist who blasphemes
and wishes to extirpate His name from the earth. May our Lord, who
does not will the death of the sinner, grant through the Holy Sac­
rifice of the Mass a new effusion of His heart’s blood, as it were, and
of the blood from His sacred wounds.
There have been saints who at the moment of the elevation during
Mass have seen the precious blood overflow the chalice, spill over the
arms of the priest as if it would flow into the sanctuary, and be caught
up in gold cups by angels who then carried it over the whole world,
particularly to lands where the Gospel was little known. This was a
symbol of the graces flowing from the heart of Christ upon the souls
of unfortunate pagans. It is for them, too, that He died on the cross.
The practical consequence of this truth is that the Eucharistic heart
of Jesus is by no means the object of an affected devotion. It is the
supreme model of the perfect gift of self, a gift which in our own lives
should become more generous with each passing day. Each new con­
secration should mark for the celebrant progress in his faith, trust,
and love of God and of souls. For the faithful, each Communion
should be substantially more fervent than the preceding one, since
each Communion should increase the charity in our hearts and make
them resemble our Lord’s more closely and thus dispose us to receive
Him more fervently on the morrow. As a stone gathers momentum
in its fall toward the earth which attracts it, so should souls tend to­
ward God with increasing speed as they come closer to Him and are
more powerfully attracted to Him.
The Eucharistic heart of Jesus yearns to attract our souls to itself.
This heart is often humiliated, abandoned, forgotten, scorned, out­
raged, and yet it is the heart that loves our hearts, the silent heart
that would talk to souls to teach them the value of the hidden life and
the value of the ever more generous gift of self.
The Word made flesh came among His own, and “His own re­

268

OUR SAVIOR

ceived Him not.” 21 Blessed are those who receive all that His merci­
ful love deigns to give them and who do not by their resistance reject
the graces which should radiate through them upon other less favored
souls. Blessed are they who after they have received follow the ex­
ample of our Lord and give themselves ever more generously by
Him, with Him, and in Him.
If there is in the midst of even the most benighted pagans a single
soul in the state of grace, a truly fervent and renounced soul such
as that of Father Charles de Foucauld, a soul which receives every­
thing that the Eucharistic heart of Christ wishes to give to it, sooner
or later the radiation of that soul will inevitably transmit to straying
souls something of what it has itself received. It is impossible that the
precious blood should not in some measure overflow the chalice at
Mass and some day—at least at the moment of death—purify those
straying souls who do not resist divine attentions or the actual prevenient graces that inspire their conversion. Let us think now and then
of the death of the Moslem, or of the Buddhist, or the Communist
in our own town who may have been baptized as a child. Each of them
has an immortal soul for which the heart of our Lord gave all its
blood.
11 John i :i i.

*
«XXIII
r
± HE PEACE OF JESUS DURING HIS PASSION
“My peace I give unto you.”
John 14:27

F WE would delve even deeper into the mystery of the Redemp­
tion, we must consider how during the Passion Christ’s love united
within itself two distinct elements. In His love were united the great­
est suffering that any human being ever endured during his life on
earth and the most perfect peace that can exist even among the blessed
in heaven.
These are two apparently contrary effects of the fullness of grace
that our Lord received from the first instant of His life: two effects
which are, as it were, the two poles of His interior life upon earth.1

I

The Fullness of Grace
and Redemptive Suffering
As we have seen above,2 this fullness of grace derives from the un­
created personality of the Word made flesh. It is morally propor­
tioned to His dignity as Son of God and also to His mission as
universal Mediator. It is absolute plentitude, both intensive and exten­
sive. And there is every evidence that this fullness of grace inclined
our Lord to wish to accomplish as perfectly as possible His mission as
Savior, Priest, and Victim. Every servant of God, as can be seen in
the lives of the founders of religious orders, is inspired by a special
1 This very lofty idea is the core of a book written in the seventeenth century by Louis
Chardon, O.P., La croix de Jésus, a book which shows that these apparently contrary effects
derive from the fullness of grace enjoyed by the Savior and are participated in to various
degrees by the members of His mystical body.
2 Cf. supra, chap. 11.
369

i-jo

OUR SAVIOR

grace to accomplish as perfectly as possible the mission which he has
received. This grace gives him the spirit of his mission, that is, the
manner of seeing, judging, feeling, willing, and acting to accomplish
it properly. If this was so with the founders of religious orders such
as St. Benedict, St. Dominic, and St. Francis, how much more must
it have been true of the Savior!
The fullness of grace that our Lord received from the first moment
of His human life awakened in Him an ardent thirst for our salvation
and a yearning to offer Himself up as a victim to redeem us. “Amor
meus, 'pondusmeum” were the words St. Augustine used: My love
is like a weight which pulls me toward the beloved object. Christ’s
love impelled Him to offer Himself up as a sacrifice to save our souls.
This desire found continual expression in our Savior’s sermons,
and even before that in His first words: “Did you not know, that I
must be about My Father’s business?” 3
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to My­
self.” 4 “I am come to cast fire on the earth: and what will I, but that
it be kindled?” 5 “With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with
you, before I suffer. . . . This is My body, which is given for you.
. . . This is the chalice, the new testament of My blood, which shall
be shed for you.” 6
This hunger of our Lord for our salvation, this yearning for the
cross, correspond to the very motive of the Incarnation: “Who for us
men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven,” as we repeat
each day at the Credo of the Mass.
This desire found ever more powerful expression as the moment
of the Passion approached, which Jesus had called “His hour,” the
hour that had been set by Providence from all eternity and yet inter­
fered in no respect with His own liberty or that of His executioners.
As the hour of the Passion approached, our Lord’s will to die for
us found ever more forceful expression. In His discourse after the
Last Supper, He said: “That the world may know, that I love the
Father: and as the Father hath given Me commandment, so do I:
Arise, let us go hence.” 7
'Luke 1:49.
4Ibid., ai:ij-ao.

4 John 11:3 a.
'John 14:31.

'Luke 12:49.

JESUS’ PEACE DURING HIS PASSION

271

At Gethsemane His soul was indeed “sorrowful even unto death,”
but He chose to experience this sorrow to show that He was truly a
man and that we, too, may be allowed to cry out in our hours of sad­
ness. He chose to experience this anguish also so that the holocaust
might be perfect; and He said to His Father: “Not as I will, but as
Thou wilt.” 8 Soon afterward, when Peter sought to defend Him
with his sword, He answered: “The chalice which My Father hath
given Me, shall I not drink it?” 9 This calls to mind His words before
entering Gethsemane: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a
man lay down his life for his friends.” 10 Here was the effect of the
fullness of grace which impelled our Savior to desire to accomplish
as perfectly as possible His mission as priest and as victim.
In actual fact, as St. Thomas explains,11 His suffering was the most
intense that can be suffered during man’s earthly life. He did not of
course endure all possible sufferings, for some torments are the
antithesis of others. Death on the cross differs from the sufferings
caused by weapons or fire. Yet Jesus experienced every form of
physical and mental suffering. He suffered in every part of His body,
which was but one great wound after the scourging, and which was
made to bleed anew when His clothing was torn off before the cruci­
fixion. All these sufferings were made more intense by the delicacy of
His constitution, for His was a body miraculously conceived in the
womb of a virgin.
Jesus also experienced all the moral sufferings caused by the stray­
ing of His people from the path of salvation, by the priests of the
Synagogue who were embittered against Him, by the fact that divine
justice was striking Him in our stead. This was the most terrible of
His sufferings because it was caused by the greatest of all evils, sin,
whose gravity and extent Jesus understood better than anyone else.
This suffering was as intense as His love of goodness. It was a suffer­
ing from which He sought no alleviation but to which He freely of­
fered Himself up, so that He might feel in our stead that hatred of
evil which is the essence of contrition.
It has been objected that the desolation of a sinner who has lost
* Mutt.
’John 18:1 >.
11 III», q.46, a.6, c. and ad 4.

10 Ibid., 15:13.

272

OUR SAVIOR

grace, such as Peter’s after the denials, seem to be greater than that
which Christ suffered. For Jesus at least preserved the joy of His
innocence. St. Thomas answers as follows: “Christ grieved . . . over
the sins of all others. And this grief in Christ surpassed all grief of
every contrite heart, both because it flowed from a greater wisdom
[by which He knew better than anyone else the infinite gravity of the
offense against God and the multiplicity of men’s crimes] and charity,
by which the pang of contrition is intensified, and because He grieved
at the one time for all sins.” 12
We cannot begin to imagine the suffering Jesus must have experi­
enced at the exact and penetrating view of men’s crimes. If St. Cath­
erine of Siena was nauseated at the sight of the state of certain souls,
how much must our Lord have suffered! For He saw the concupis­
cence of the flesh and of the eyes and the pride of life just as we see
purulent sores on a diseased body.
He suffered from the sight of sin in proportion to His love for God
whom sin offends and in proportion to His love for our souls which
sin ravages and kills. And He was not content to look upon these sins
with profound sadness. He had taken them upon Himself: “Surely
He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows.” 13 If Mary
standing at the foot of the cross suffered because of sin in proportion
to her love for God, for her Son, and for us, what then must Christ’s
suffering have been! The fullness of grace and charity greatly in­
creased in Him the capacity for suffering from the greatest of all
evils, an evil which our selfishness prevents us from grieving over.
Peace in Suffering

In spite of His most intense suffering, Jesus maintained a deep
peace during His entire passion.
This is evident from the seven last words that He spoke. One of
them, it is true, does appear to be a cry of anguish: “My God, My
God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” 14 Calvin chose to see in it a cry11
11 Illa, q.46, a.6 ad 4.

18 Isa. 53:4.

14 Matt. 17:46; Mark 15:34·

JESUS’ PEACE DURING HIS PASSION

273

of despair. But such was not the case at all, as shown by the words of
trust and thanksgiving which followed: “It is consummated.” 18
These words, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
are the first verse of a Messianic psalm which fittingly rose to Christ’s
lips, for it is a psalm in which Jesus spoke in the name of the sinners
whose sins He had taken upon Himself.
Here is what psalm 21 says:
O God, my God, . . . why hast Thou forsaken me? . . .
I shall cry by day, and Thou wilt not hear: and by night. . . .
But Thou dwellest in the holy place, the praise of Israel.
In Thee have our fathers hoped: they have hoped, and Thou hast delivered them.
They cried to Thee, and they were saved: they trusted in Thee, and were not
confounded.
But I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people.
All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken with the lips,
and wagged the head.
He hoped in the Lord, let Him deliver him: let Him save him, seeing He
delighteth in him.
For Thou art He that hast drawn me out of the womb: . . .
From my mother’s womb Thou art my God, depart not from me.
For tribulation is very near: for there is none to help me. . . .
For many dogs have encompassed me: the council of the malignant hath be­
sieged me.
They have dug my hands and feet. They have numbered all my bones. . . .
And upon my vesture they cast lots.
But Thou, O Lord, remove not Thy help to a distance from me; look toward My
defense. . . .
I will declare Thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the church will I praise
Thee.
Ye that fear the Lord, praise Him: all ye seed of Jacob, glorify Him, . . .
Because He hath not slighted nor despised the supplication of the poor man.
Neither hath He turned away His face from me: and when I cried to Him He
heard me.
The poor shall eat and shall be filled: and they shall praise the Lord that seek
Him: their hearts shall live forever and ever.
All the ends of the earth shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord.
And all the kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in His sight.
‘•John 19:30.

274

OUR SAVIOR

Thus does the psalm which began with a cry of pain: “My God,
my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” end in words of trust and
praise. Jesus in His dying moments lived this psalm in its entirety with
a depth of experience which we cannot begin to fathom.
As for the remainder of Christ’s last words, they are all manifestly
words of peace, the most beautiful that a martyr-priest can say. Not
only do these words prove that the heart of Jesus was full of pro­
found peace. They also show that His was a radiant peace which He
communicated to those around Him, to those whom He strengthened
at the very moment He was being crucified for them.
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” 16 This
was said for His executioners when they were nailing Him to the
cross. The martyrs would repeat these words, and first among them
St. Stephen obtained through his prayer the conversion of Saul who
was keeping the garments of Stephen’s murderers.
There is peace also in the words spoken to the good thief, for they
promise him heavenly peace: “This day thou shalt be with Me in
paradise.” 1T After these words, the good thief’s cross was no longer
merely a punishment, as was the other thief’s. It became a reparation
which opened the portals of heaven to him. These words were to be
repeated again and again by Christ’s ministers entrusted with the duty
of preparing condemned men to meet their God.
The words addressed to Mary and to John were also words of peace,
pouring a gentle balm on their aching hearts: “Woman, behold thy
son.” 18 By these words Mary became more than ever the Mother of
all men personified by John, and mediator and distributer of all
graces. “Behold thy mother.” 19 These words of mercy produced in
John’s soul the most respectful and filial affection for Mary, from
whom he would receive so many graces for his apostolic ministry.
After saying the first words of psalm 2i, Jesus cried out: “I thirst ;
... it is consummated.” 20 He thirsted for souls, but He Himself
was bringing to them at that moment the living waters of grace. He
had the immense joy of consummating the work of the Redemption.
There is more joy in giving than in receiving, and Jesus was giving
18 Luke 23:34.
18 Ibid., 19:17.

1T Luke *4133.
80 Ibid., 19: 18-30.

18 Ibid., 19:16.

JESUS’ PEACE DURING HIS PASSION

275

reconciliation with God, profound peace of soul to all men who would
accept it, to all who would place no obstacle in its way.
The last word, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit,” 21
is, as it were, the consecration of the sacrifice of the Cross which re­
stores all things and brings upon all souls the outpouring of divine
mercy.
How did Jesus preserve this profound and radiant peace in the
midst of His torments and intense sufferings? Theologians 22 admit
that this is a miracle and a supernatural mystery of the order of grace,
resulting from the fact that Jesus was at once viator et comprehensor,
a wayfarer toward eternity and a comprehensor enjoying the vision
of the divine essence. This mysterious union of most profound suffer­
ing with the most sublime peace has been explained diversely by
various theologians.23
St. Thomas gives us the truest explanation, one which in spite of
its obscurities is very luminous.24 “If we take the whole soul as com­
prising all its faculties, . . . His entire soul did not enjoy fruition
51 Luke 23 :φ6.
22 Cf. Salmanticenses, De incam., disp. 17, dub. 4, no. 47.
2S Some nominalist theologians like Aureolus in the fourteenth century have said that
during His passion Jesus suffered only in the sensible part of His soul which is common to
both men and animals.—This is contrary to the doctrine of Scripture and tradition, for
Jesus suffered above all from sin, a suffering which like contrition is essentially spiritual
and even supernatural, in the sense that it derives from charity, from God’s offended love
and from love of souls who are being lost.
Other theologians have maintained that on the contrary while Jesus on the Cross con­
tinued to enjoy the beatific vision, He did not want to continue to enjoy the happiness
w’hich this vision normally causes in the highest reaches of the soul. This is the view
taken by Salmeron, Melchior Cano and several others.—This opinion is opposed to that
of St. Thomas (Illa, q. 46, a. 7, and a.8), and appears to be untenable. For it is inconceiv­
able that a soul should see God face to face, should possess Him through this vision and
not experience immense joy in the highest of its faculties.
Still others, like Théophile Raynaud, have said: Supreme beatitude and the depths of
sadness are contrary to each other, and yet they have been united miraculously in Jesus.
To this contention the answer has been made that a miracle cannot be a consummated
contradiction. The first two explanations diminish the mystery, and the last ones make a
contradiction of it.
24 In Illa, a.46, a. 7 and 8, St. Thomas first gives an abstract answer which prepares
the ground for the solution. He remarks that if we consider the soul according to its essence
which as essence is indivisible, it can be said that Christ’s whole soul suffered in each part
of His shattered body, and at the same time His whole soul, which was the subject of His
superior faculties whose highest parts were beatified, rejoiced. But if we would speak in
concrete terms we must consider not only the essence of the soul but its different faculties.

276

OUR SAVIOR

. . . by any overflow of glory, because, since Christ was still upon
earth, there was no overflowing of glory from the higher part into
the lower.” 28
Only the summit of our Savior’s human intellect and will were
beatified. Jesus willed very freely to abandon to suffering the less
elevated regions of His superior faculties and of His sensibility.2® In
other words, He freely prevented the irradiation of the light of glory
on His lower reason and on His sensitive faculties. He did not wish
that this light and the joy which derives from it should by their ir­
radiance lessen in any way the moral and physical suffering which
He had chosen to bear for our salvation. He who was on several oc­
casions to preserve His martyrs from suffering in the midst of their
torments, by granting them abundant graces, chose to yield Himself
up completely to suffering, so that He might save us by the most per­
fect of holocausts.27
Christ’s peace amid suffering reminds us of a high mountain peak
whose summit is bathed in sunlight, while its lower reaches are in the
grips of a terrible storm. Thus only the uppermost portion of Christ’s
superior faculties was free from suffering, because He freely yielded
Himself up to suffering without seeking any relief in the vision of the
divine essence.
There is undoubtedly a mystery in all this. Yet we can at least get
a faint idea of it in the case of a penitent. St. Augustine tells us that the
truly contrite penitent rejoices because he grieves over his sins, and
the more he grieves the more he rejoices.28
Christ’s suffering and peace, far from being opposed, harmonize
very well. His love of God gave Him peace and made Him suffer at
the sight of sin. Love of souls also made Him suffer because of our
25 Illa, 9.46, a. 8, c. and ad i.
28 Cf. St. Thomas, Compendium theologiae, chap. 232: “Ratio superior Christi plena
Dei visione fruebatur. . . . (Sed Christus) permittebat unicuique inferiorum virium
moveri proprio motu, secundum quod ipsum decebat.”
27 Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q.47, a.t: “Christ . . . could have prevented His Passion
and death. Firstly, by holding His enemies in check, so that they would not have been
eager to slay Him, or would have been powerless to do so. Secondly, because His spirit had
the power of preserving His fleshly nature from the infliction of any injury. . . . There­
fore . . . He is said to have laid down His life, or to have died voluntarily.”
28 St. Augustine, De vera et jalsa poenitentia, chap. 13 : “Semper doleat poenitens et de
dolore gaudeat.” Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q.84, a.9 ad a.

JESUS’ PEACE DURING HIS PASSION

177

transgressions and gave Him joy in our salvation. This thought never
left Him. Even on Thabor, He spoke of His passion to Moses and
Elias, and immediately after His transfiguration He announced to
His disciples what manner of death He would die.29
The great lesson to be learned from this mystery is that, following
in the Savior’s footsteps, each of us must carry his own cross if we
would participate in the fruits of His cross. There are many crosses
that accomplish nothing for the suffering souls that endure them.
Such was the cross of the bad thief. By contrast, in union with our
Lord, we must carry our cross with patience and even with gratitude
and love. Thus shall we gain little by little a deeper understanding of
the mystery of the Redemption, and from it we shall receive the
fruits of life that endure for all eternity.
18 Luke 9 :j 1-44.

«XXIV»
J ESUS, PRIEST AND VICTIM ON THE CROSS
“Christ . · . hath loved us, and
hath delivered Himself for us,
an oblation and a sacrifice to God
for an odor of sweetness.”
Eph. 5:2

E HAVE spoken of the peace of Christ during His passion.
In this sublime contrast we are given a glimpse of the depth
of His love. There is another contrast that is quite as remarkable: that
of divine strength in weakness. During His passion and on the cross
Jesus was at once a broken victim, annihilated as it were for our salva­
tion, and the most powerful of priests by reason of His merit and His
intercession.

W

Divine Strength in Weakness

In the Old Testament we find several examples of this strength
in weakness in the most beautiful figures of the Christ to come, par­
ticularly in the person of Isaac who carried the wood of his sacrifice
and allowed himself to be bound on an altar by his father Abraham,
in preparation for the immolation. At that moment a voice from
heaven was heard saying to Abraham: “Because thou hast . . . not
spared thy only-begotten son for My sake: I will bless thee, and I
will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by
the seashore . . . because thou hast obeyed My voice.” 1 Isaac’s
greatness lies in the fact that he obeyed with his father and that he
allowed himself to be bound on the altar of sacrifice as a victim to be
immolated.
1 Gen. 12:16-18.
278

JESUS, PRIEST AND VICTIM

279

Divine strength in weakness is also apparent in another figure of
Christ, indeed one of the most touching: Joseph, sold by his brothers,
sold out of jealousy because he had prophetic dreams and because he
was especially loved of his father Jacob. Joseph, sold for a few pieces
of silver, became the salvation of his brothers when he made himself
known to them and said: “I am Joseph. Is my father yet living?” 2
Thus was the Savior persecuted through jealousy, because He had
a divine message, and was hated by the priests of the Levitical priest­
hood which was the figure of His eternal priesthood. Thus was He
sold for thirty denarii and became the salvation of us all, of all who
believe and hope in Him.
The Lord said to St. Paul: “Power is made perfect in infirmity.” 8
And the Apostle himself writes: “We preach Christ crucified, unto
the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness:
but unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power
of God, and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God [Christ
crowned with thorns] is wiser than men; and the weakness of God
[the crucified Savior] is stronger than men.” 4
This remarkable contrast between the power of Jesus and the op­
pression He endured constitutes the austere and sublime beauty of
His spiritual physiognomy. It is something that escapes the eyes of
the world and unfolds itself to the saints as they progress in the path
of contemplation. If beauty, which is harmony, derives from unity
in diversity, the sublime, which is the extraordinarily beautiful, de­
rives from the most intimate unity in the greatest diversity. It is the
reconciliation of two extremes which God alone can harmonize.
This mystery has been completely disfigured by two opposing
heresies. In the second century the Docetae were scandalized by the
passion of the Savior which they considered unworthy of a God, and
they declared that Jesus’ sufferings had been only apparent. Accord­
ing to them, Jesus had not really suffered at Gethsemane and on the
cross, nor had He been a victim. The painful Passion, they said, had
been only a sham. To support this senseless contention, which is con* Ibid., 45 :j.
• II Cor. 12:9. In this text, according to the Greek, reference is made to divine power
rather than to man’s virtue.
4 I Cor. 1 taj-aj.

28ο

OUR SAVIOR

trary to the most soundly established facts, the Docetae maintained
that the Word had not taken a real body in Jesus, but only the ap­
pearances of a body like a ghost. What errors we are led into when
we are scandalized by the Cross!
In contrast to this error, there were other heretics later on, like
Calvin, who held that Jesus had suffered so very much on Calvary
that He had yielded for a moment to despair, and that He had en­
dured the pains of hell at the moment when He cried out: “My God,
My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Calvin seemed to think
that Jesus redeemed us more through the intensity of His sufferings
than through the infinite value of the love with which He endured
them.
Thus error swings from one extreme to the other, because men do
not know or choose to ignore the culminating point where apparently
contrary truths are reconciled. The doctrine of the Church remains
on the lofty levels where the diverse aspects of truth are harmonized.
It maintains that Jesus on the cross was the most powerful priest by
His oblation and the most annihilated voluntary victim. Far more,
it holds that divine power has never manifested itself in such a sublime
manner as in the passion of the Savior, for this was the greatest action
of His life, the consummation of His mission. There is here an
admirable law of the spiritual world, which is continually fulfilled
in men’s souls. “Power is made perfect in infirmity,” saith the
Lord.
Let us first consider Jesus as victim: the extent of His immolation.
We shall then consider the power of the Savior in the midst of this
immolation.
Jesus, Victim.
The Extent of His Immolation

Our Lord willed to experience all the sufferings of body and soul
which were fitting to His mission as Redeemer and victim. He chose
to go through all our trials, to go to the utmost limits of sacrifice in
order to expiate our sins and merit eternal life for us by leaving us
the example of the loftiest virtues amid the greatest adversity.

JESUS, PRIEST AND VICTIM

281

He was a victim in His body: His garments were torn off Him, He
was mocked, struck, scourged, until His body was one vast wound,
He was crowned with thorns and was spit upon. He was treated like
a vile wretch, a murderer was given preference over Him ; He was
nailed to a cross between two thieves. He was given gall to drink, and
He was sneered at as He hung dying.
He was a victim in His heart. The affection of His people was
taken from Him, this people who eight days earlier when He trium­
phantly entered Jerusalem acclaimed Him with shouts of “Hosanna,
Son of David!” How His heart must have suffered when He cried
out in lament: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets,
and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have
gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens
under her wings, and thou wouldest not! ” 8 The world in its wisdom
refuses the exceptional gifts that the Lord sends to it. And in giving
expression to this suffering Jesus foresaw all the acts of ingratitude
that were to come in the future, some even from souls upon whom He
would heap the greatest favors.
He was a victim in His innermost soul, for He suffered most in­
tensely from the sight of sin, from the numberless sins He was to
expiate, from the deicide that was to be committed through pride and
voluntary blindness. Our Lord’s soul was crushed by this spiritual
and moral suffering inasmuch as it wounded to the quick His charity,
His love of God and of souls. He suffered from sin to a degree that
we cannot begin to understand: in the measure of His love for God
whom sin offends, in the measure of His love for our souls that sin
kills. Stigmatists, such as St. Francis of Assisi and St. Catherine of
Siena, who participated in these spiritual sufferings, have told us
that they are inexpressible.
Our Savior suffered from the sins of all men not only because He
understood their limitless gravity, but also because He had taken
them upon Himself to expiate them and because He wished Him­
self to bear the weight of the divine curse due to sin.
Jesus could not have been more completely a victim. There could
be no more absolute immolation. We read in Isaias 53:
• Matt. *3 :J7·

OUR SAVIOR

281

Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with
infirmity: and His look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed
Him not.
Surely He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought
Him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins: the chastise­
ment of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way:
and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Jesus as victim understood to what degree God loves goodness and
detests evil. “Love is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell,” says
the Canticle of Canticles (8:6). The heart of Jesus, victim for sin,
endured these rigorous demands of the love of God. Indeed, as St.
Paul says, “Christ Jesus . . . emptied Himself, . . . becoming
obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.” 9
The Fortitude of the Savior in His Immolation

It is in this weakness and this annihilation that the power of the
Lord is manifest in its fullness. Jesus was indeed a victim. But He was
also a priest, and the oblation of Himself which He offered up was of
infinite value. As St. Paul says, “The weakness of God [Christ cruci­
fied] is stronger than men. . . . But the foolish things of the world
hath God chosen, that He may confound the wise; and the weak things
of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong,
. . . that no flesh should glory in His sight.” 7
David among the prophets, after announcing, “They have dug My
hands and feet,” added: “All the ends of the earth shall remember,
and shall be converted to the Lord.” 8 Likewise in Isaias we read:
“And the Lord was pleased to bruise Him in infirmity: if He shall
lay down His life for sin, He shall see a long-lived seed, and the will
of the Lord shall be prosperous in His hand. . . . He hath borne the
sins of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors.” 9
The Savior’s teaching had progressively brought to light this great
law of the supernatural world. From the start, in the Sermon on the
• Phil » 7 f.

r I Cor. 1:25-29.

· Pi. 21: 17—28.

’112.53:10-12.

JESUS, PRIEST AND VICTIM

283

Mount, He had announced: “Blessed are they that suffer persecution
for justice’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” 10
In the parable of the good shepherd He clearly announced His
sacrifice: “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth His
life for His sheep. . . . There shall be one fold and one Shepherd.
Therefore doth the Father love Me: because I lay down My life,
that I may take it again. No man taketh it away from Me: but I lay
it down of Myself, and I have power to take it up again. This com­
mandment have I received of My Father.” 11 Again He said: “The
Son of man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and
to give His life a redemption for many.” 12 Also: “And I, if I be
lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself. (Now this
He said, signifying what death He should die.)” 18 Of the sons of
Zebedee He asked: “Can you drink of the chalice that I drink of?” 14
When He instituted the Holy Eucharist, He said: “This is My
body, which is given for you. . . . This is the chalice, the new testa­
ment in My blood, which shall be shed for you.” 18 “Greater love
than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” 18
Lastly, the priestly prayer which St. John records in his seventeenth
chapter is, as it were, the introit of the bloody Mass of the Cross.
We would expect that the apostles, enlightened by all these words,
should have understood that the hour of oppression would be the hour
of supreme victory. Yet when armed men led by Judas seized Jesus,
the apostles, unable to endure this mystery of the Savior’s cruel death,
abandoned their Master at the very moment when He was about to
consummate His work. At that moment they saw only the human side
of things and not what God accomplishes in them.
Yet at the very moment when abuse was heaped upon Him and
when He was crushed by the weight of our sins, our Lord displayed
supreme dignity and invincible fortitude. It was He who determined
the course of events, by making even His enemies and the blind fury
of the spirit of evil serve the glory of God, and by making of the
10 Matt. 5:10.
11 John 10:11—18.
11 Matt. 20:28 ) Mark 10:45 j Luke 1:68| 2138 ; 21128.
18 John 11:31.
14 Mark 10:38.
18 Luke 11:19 Lj Matt. 16:26 f.) Mark 14:11-25) I Cor. 11:23-15.
18 John 15:13·

284

OUR SAVIOR

cross with which He was burdened the great means of salvation. He
transformed the greatest obstacles into means.
At the time of His arrest, St. John tells us, He asked the soldiers
who were with Judas: “Whom seek ye?” “Jesus of Nazareth.” “I am
He.” 1T And at these words they went backward and fell to the ground,
as if struck by an invisible force. A few minutes later He said to Peter,
who wished to defend Him with his sword: “Put up thy sword into
the scabbard. The chalice which My Father hath given Me, shall I
not drink it?” 18
Before Caiphas, He confessed that He was the Son of God and that
He would come to judge the living and the dead.19 Before Herod,
He did not answer the questions of the voluptuous monarch who was
eager to witness some prodigy.20 Before Pilate, when asked if He
was king of the Jews, He answered: “My kingdom is not of this
world. . . . For this was I born, and for this came I into the world;
that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the
truth, heareth My voice.” 31
On Calvary He showed His fortitude by His patience and by His
heroic constancy. St. Thomas tells us that the principal act of the virtue
of fortitude is to endure tribulation, to stand firm under blows, not to
be crushed by adversity.22 Heroic fortitude, St. Thomas says, is con­
nected with the other virtues and must be accompanied by virtues
which may seem the most completely opposite, humility and gentle­
ness. This is what the false martyrs lack. This is the fortitude and
gentleness that we see in Jesus when they pierced His hands and His
feet and when He prayed for His executioners, saying: “Father, for­
give them, for they know not what they do.” 23
Christ’s gentleness at such a moment is a manifestation of the most
complete mastery of self, utter forgetfulness of self for the salvation
of souls. Truly Jesus gave up His life as He had foretold in the
parable of the good shepherd: “I lay down My life for My sheep.
. . . No man taketh it away from Me: but I lay it down of Myself,
« John 18:4 f.
18 Ibid., 18:11.
le Matt. 26:64.
20Luke2j:9.
21 John 18:36-38.
22 Ila Ilae, q.i23, a. 6: “The principal act of fortitude is endurance, that is to stand im­
movable in the midst of dangers rather than to attack them.” 28 Luke 23:34·

JESUS, PRIEST AND VICTIM

285

and I have power to lay it down: and ... to take it up again.” 24
This interior oblation is the soul of the sacrifice of the Cross. The
sovereign power of the dying Jesus is also apparent in His words to
the good thief: “Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me
in paradise.” 28 The oblation also finds expression in these words:
“It is consummated.” 26 Finally, as St. Luke reports, “the sun was
darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And Jesus
crying with a loud voice, said: Father, into Thy hands I commend
My spirit. And saying this, He gave up the ghost.” 27 These last
words were the words of the consecration of the sacrifice of the Cross,
the supreme expression of oblation.
At that very moment, St. Matthew tells us, “the earth quaked, and
the rocks were rent. And the graves were opened: and many bodies
of the saints that had slept arose. . . . Now the centurion and they
that were with him watching Jesus, having seen the earthquake, and
the things that were done, were sore afraid, saying: Indeed this was
the Son of God.” 28
To our limited human reason, Jesus on the cross may appear van­
quished. On the contrary He is the all-powerful conqueror over sin
and Satan. He is the “Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the
world,” as His resurrection was to demonstrate in a visible and strik­
ing manner: victory over death, which is the consequence of sin, is
the sign of victory over sin.
This admirable contrast of power in immolation is to be found in
all souls in whom the image of the Crucified is profoundly imprinted:
in Mary, Mother of Sorrows, in the persecuted apostles, who were
considered “the refuse of this world.” 29
This should teach us the marvelous fruitfulness of suffering when
supernaturally endured in union with the Savior. The apostolate of
prayer and suffering fructifies far more than we imagine the apostolate
of preaching, teaching, and exterior works. As St. Paul exhorts us, let
us be “followers of God, . . . and walk in love, as Christ also hath
loved us, and hath delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a sacri­
fice to God for an odor of sweetness.” 30
34 John 10:15-18.
*’ Matt. 17:51-54.

26 Luke 13:43.
” I Cor. 4:13.

20 John 19:30.
80 Eph. 5:1 f.

27 Luke 13:45.

286

OUR SAVIOR

It is clear that our Savior’s passion was a true sacrifice, the greatest
of all sacrifices, as St. Paul explains at length in his Epistle to the
Hebrews (chapters 9 and 10). On the cross, Jesus was at once priest
and victim, for He was offering Himself up voluntarily.31 From the
time He prayed at Gethsemane until He expired, all His words and
acts were expressions of this voluntary oblation which is, as it were,
the soul of this sacrifice of adoration, supplication, reparation, and
thanksgiving: “Consummatum est.”
All the sacrifices of the Old Law, from that of Abraham preparing
to immolate his son Isaac until the sacrifice of the paschal lamb, were
figures of the sacrifice on Calvary, which alone could wipe out sin,
for it alone has an infinite value through the person of the priest who
offers it up and through the worth of the victim that is offered up.32
Jesus on the cross is the victim for sin, by which sin is remitted, the
victim of peace which preserves grace, the perfect holocaust which
raises us up toward God. This is the holocaust of which all past sacri­
fices were but the préfigurations.33 This is the holocaust which will be
commemorated and perpetuated in substance until the end of the
world in every Mass, at which the Savior will always be the principal
priest and the victim truly present on the altar and sacramentally im­
molated.
St. Paul tells us: “Christ, being come a high priest of the good
things to come, . . . neither by the blood of goats or of calves, but
by His own blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained
eternal redemption.” 34 “For Jesus is not entered into the holies made
with hands, the patterns of the true: but into heaven itself, that He
may appear now in the presence of God for us.” 38 The sacrifice of the
Cross thus appears as the most perfect of all sacrifices. It is excellent in
itself and through itself quite apart from the other sacrifices, and
the latter derive their worth wholly from the sacrifice of the Cross.88
81 Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, 9.48, a. 3.
82 Cf. ibid.
88 Ibid.., q.22, a.ij la Hae, q. toa, a. 3.
84 Heb. 9:11 f.
88 Ibid., 9124.
·· Of recent years it has been maintained that the sacrifice of the Cross would not be
complete without the Last Supper, for it would then lack sufficient and ritualistic expres­
sion of the oblation. As a matter of fact the entire Epistle to the Hebrews, and after it
tradition and the greatest theologians, notably St. Thomas (Illa, q.48, a.3), point to the

JESUS, PRIEST AND VICTIM

287

Each day as we assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass let us learn
to live by the sacrifice of the Cross which is perpetuated in substance
on the altar. Let us especially ask for an understanding of the Cross
and for a love of those crosses which Providence has reserved for us
from all eternity until we enter heaven. Let us remember this law of
Christian life: “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die,
itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” 87
Let us often repeat the seven last words of Christ, which are, so to
speak, His testament, and let us ask Mary to enable us to understand
them: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.—
This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise.—Woman, behold thy
son. Behold thy mother.—My God, my God, why hast Thou for­
saken me?—I thirst.—It is consummated.—Father, into Thy hands
I commend My spirit.”
Cross, without making reference to the Last Supper, as being the greatest of all sacrifices,
and as being excellent in itself and by itself alone. The sacrifice of the Cross is eminently
ritualistic, for symbolic reality contains all symbols in an eminent degree, above all
when this reality is that of the priest and victim par excellence chosen by God from all
eternity. Let us avoid all liturgical formalism here. Symbols have value only in relation
to reality expressed through these symbols. Melchisedech has a place in religious history
only in relation to Christ. There is a real and complete sacrifice where God and Christ
have willed that there should be, where there is interior immolation and oblation mani­
fested by all the words and acts of the victim who offers Himself up. Thus does the Coun­
cil of Trent (Denzinger, no. 938) speak of the oblation which Christ made of Himself in
ara crucis, on the altar of the Cross.
8T John 12:24 f·

®xxv®
Christ’s victory

over death

“And if Christ be not risen again,
your faith is vain, for you are
yet in your sins.”
I Cor. 15:17

N PENTECOST, as the Acts of the Apostles record, Peter, en­
lightened and strengthened by the Holy Ghost, said to the
Jews: “Jesus of Nazareth . . . being delivered up, by the determi­
nate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you by the hands of wicked
men have crucified and slain. Whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the sorrows of hell, as it was impossible that He should
be holden by it.” *1 On the following days Peter repeated it: “The
Author of life you killed, whom God hath raised from the dead,
of which we are witnesses.” 2 *“Neither is there salvation in any
other.” 8
Thus the Resurrection appears to Peter and to the other apostles
as the definitive confirmation of our faith in Christ. And remarkably
enough, the great adversaries of our Lord had anticipated this. With­
out knowing it, they served the designs of Providence in a most as­
tounding manner. Just as Caiphas the high priest had said during the
Passion: “It is expedient that one man should die for the people,” 4 *
so, as St. Matthew reports,8 the chief priests and the Pharisees remem­
bered that Jesus had said: “After three days I will rise again.” There­
upon they “made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone, and setting
guards.” 8 It was these guards, the soldiers, who were struck with ter­
ror at the moment of the Resurrection, at the sight of the angel from

O

1 Acts 2:11-14.
4 John 18:141 11:51.

* Ibid., 3 :i5.
“Matt. 17:61—66.
388

· Ibid., 4:11.
· Ibid., if :66.

CHRIST’S VICTORY OVER DEATH

289

heaven,7 and it was they who told the priests and Pharisees what had
happened.8
The resurrection of the Savior was the decisive sign of His divine
mission. Peter and the apostles never tired of affirming it. St. Paul
said the same thing in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, about the
year 55: “For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received:
how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures: and that
He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to the
Scriptures: and that He was seen by Cephas; and after that by the
eleven. Then was He seen by more than five hundred brethren at
once: of whom many remain until this present, and some are fallen
asleep. After that, He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
And last of all, He was seen also by me, as by one born out of due time.
. . . For whether I, or they, so we preach, and so you have be­
lieved.” 9 Then Paul adds: “If Christ be not risen again, your faith is
vain, . . . for you are yet in your sins.” 10
What does Paul mean by these last words? He means that if this is
the case, our faith in the risen Christ, which faith is the basis of justifi­
cation,11 is vain and false and consequently our sins have not been for­
given.
He also means, as St. John Chrysostom remarks: If Christ is not
risen, we have no guaranty that God has accepted His death as redemp­
tion. Thus nothing has been accomplished, and the work of salvation is
yet to be done.12
To help us grasp the inner meaning of these words of St. Paul, as
understood by St. John Chrysostom and many other interpreters after
him, let us first bear in mind what our faith in Christ must be if
we are to be saved. We shall then understand how His victory over
death is the great sign of His victory over sin and over the spirit of
evil.
* Ibid., 28:5.
* Ibid., 28:11.
*1 Cor. 15:3—11.
10 Ibid., 15:14-17.
11 Rom. 4:25.
” St. John Chrysostom says: “Si mortuus non potest resurgere, neque ablatum est pec­
catum, neque mors est perempta, nec ablatum est maldedictum” (P.G., LXI, 335). Cf.
Theophylactus and Ecumenius. The latter writes: “Si deletum esset peccatum, utique mors
etiam, quae per ipsum erat, extincta esset.” In other words, sin is truly wiped out only
if its effect, namely, death, is abolished.

tgo

OUR SAVIOR

What We Must Believe about
Christ’s Victory over Sin

We must first of all believe in the existence of God, the author of
grace and supreme rewarder.18 Next we must believe that Jesus, the
Son of God, is the Savior, the “Lamb of God, . . . who taketh away
the sin of the world.” 14 We must fervently believe in the truth of His
words: “Come to Me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will
refresh you.” 181 will refresh your souls by extricating them from sin,
by giving them the life of grace, the seed of eternal life.
This act of lively faith should be not only a speculative certainty
without influence on our lives, but a deep and perpetual conviction
which transforms all we have to do or to suffer each day. This act of
faith often remains too feeble within us. If in the midst of our troubles
we remain depressed, introverted, it is because we do not have enough
faith and confidence in Jesus Christ, our Savior.
The apostles were the first to feel on certain days before Pentecost
the weakness of their faith. One day during a storm on Lake Genesareth our Lord said to them: “Why are you fearful, O ye of little
faith?” 16 They became even more conscious of their frailty during
the Passion. Indeed, they had been enraptured by the sublime teaching
of the Master, they had seen Him perform miracles, raise Lazarus
from the dead, cast out devils, walk on the water. Three of the apostles
had even been present at His transfiguration on Mount Thabor. But
they also saw Him sad unto death at Gethsemane, and later they saw
Him insulted, scourged, spit upon, and even Peter went astray for a
moment to the point of denying three times that he knew Him.
What we must believe and what those at the foot of the cross were
called on to believe was that the agonizing Jesus was the Savior of
souls precisely because of His agony, far more than He had been
through His sermons and His miracles. Agony means combat, and
Christ’s agony was the great combat against the spirit of evil, a combat
in which Jesus was completely victorious.
18 Heb. 11:6: “He that comcth to God must believe that He is, and is a rewarder to
them that seek Him.”
14 John 1:19.
18 Matt. 11 :i8.
,e Matt. 8:i6j 14:31.

CHRIST’S VICTORY OVER DEATH

291

He had said to His disciples after the Last Supper: “Have confi­
dence, I have overcome the world.” 17 It was on the cross that He won
His definitive victory over the gravest of all evils, the most profound
evil in the world, namely, sin and Satan.
At the moment of the “Consummatum est,” Mary made the great­
est act of faith that was ever made on earth. She did not cease for an
instant to believe that her crucified Son was the Savior of all men.
Participating in the Virgin’s great faith were the holy women near her,
also St. John, the good thief, and the centurion. In varying degrees
they all believed that the work of salvation was consummated in this
annihilation of the Victim chosen from all eternity to carry the burden
of our sins in our stead.
But few were those who believed it in that supreme hour. The great
majority could not bear the death of Christ: “Fac ut 'portem Christi
mortem,” are the words of the Stabat Mater.
What it was necessary to believe then and what we must still be­
lieve is that the object of derision, regarded as the offscouring of
humanity, before whom men wagged their heads mocking, is in
reality the strength and the life of souls, the one who has overcome
the world. What we must believe is that the hour of darkness and
shame, when viewed from above, is also the glorious hour of salva­
tion, the most fruitful of all for souls.
At that hour many disciples—as we can see from the words of the
disciples of Emmaus—felt themselves weakening, and this can hap­
pen to anyone in the face of persecution and hatred. Yet we must be­
lieve that the crucified Christ, who seemed totally defeated, was
victorious over sin, that He is the one “who taketh away the sin of the
world.” This mysterious and hidden victory needed to be confirmed
by a tangible and overpowering proof that would rekindle the con­
fidence of the disciples. Divine Providence had decided from all
eternity that this would be not merely another miracle, but the resur­
rection of the Lord. What is the reason for this? Because of the very
close relation between sin and death. This is one of the great truths of
revelation.
17 John

292

OUR SAVIOR

Christ’s Victory over Death,
the Sign of His Victory over Sin
In the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul reminds us that death
entered the world as the consequence of sin and that, as Adam was
the representative of the human race for its perdition, so Christ is the
representative and head of humanity for its salvation and He is the
inexhaustible wellspring of grace: “By one man sin entered into this
world and by sin death. ... If by the offense of one, many died,
. . . if by one man’s offense death reigned through one: much more
they who receive abundance of grace and of the gift and of justice
shall reign in life through one, Jesus Christ. . . . Where sin
abounded, grace did more abound.18 St. Paul adds: “The wages of sin
is death. But the grace of God, life everlasting in Christ Jesus our
Lord.” 19
In the actual plan of Providence if Adam had not sinned, if there
had not been this disorder, this ruin, this moral corruption which con­
sists in the separation of the soul from God, then there would not have
been this ruin, this physical corruption which consists in the separation
of the body from the soul. Death is the consequence and the punish­
ment of sin.
Doubtless man is mortal by nature, as the animals are. Yet, through
grace the first man had received for himself and his descendants the
privilege of immortality, provided he should remain faithful to God.
As Genesis records it, when the Lord placed him in the Garden of
Eden to cultivate and preserve it, He said: “Of every tree of paradise
thou shalt eat. But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die
the death.” 20
This was but a gentle testing of man’s submission, as Boussuet
says,21 a light brake on the exercise of his free will, to make him realize
that he had a master, though a most merciful one.
The devil, on the other hand, told him: “No, you shall not die the
18 Rom. 5:12—20.
10 Ibid.f 6:23.
81 Elévations sur les mystères^ 6th week, 7th elevation.

80 Gen. 2:16 f.

CHRIST’S VICTORY OVER DEATH

293

death. For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat
thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil.” 22 That is to say: you will be able to rule yourselves,
with no need to obey. The devil himself had said: “I will not obey.”
What happened immediately after the sin of disobedience and
pride? As Scripture records it, “the eyes of them both were openened.” 23 They acquired the knowledge of good and evil: not the
knowledge that enables one to conduct oneself wisely, but the knowl­
edge that is nothing but the bitter experience of evil committed and
of its profound difference from goodness and from the holiness they
had just lost for themselves and for their descendants.24*They real­
ized how true had been the Lord’s warning to them and how the devil
had lied.
Their souls seemed dead within them. For in tasting evil through
their pride, they had lost divine life and God’s friendship. Their
souls had withdrawn from God who gave them life, and God had
withdrawn from them. In consequence they lost mastery over their
passions. The emotions, until then subject to right reason and to the
will, revolted, just as the will had revolted against God. Finally, in­
asmuch as the soul had ceased to be under God’s dominion, the body
ceased to be under the soul’s governance. Once the soul had with­
drawn from God who vivified it, the body separated from the soul,
the source of its life. The soul had been untrue to its divine friend­
ship, and God withdrew from the body its wholly gratuitous privi­
leges of impassibility and immortality. Man had preferred nature to
grace, and nature’s threadbareness was apparent. The human body,
thenceforth subject to natural laws, was exposed to winds and incle­
ment weather, to pain, sickness, and death. Until then man had domi­
nated death. The Lord now said to Adam: “In the sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou
was taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.” 26 The
Church reminds us of this every Ash Wednesday.
22 Gen. 3:4-j.
28 Ibid., 3 :y.
24 The Council of Trent say·: “Adam lost for himself and for us both the holiness and
the original justice he had received from God.” Denzinger, no. 789.
28 Gen. 3:19.

*94

OUR SAVIOR

Death of the body, the consequence and punishment of sin, was also
the symbol of sin. For mortal sin is, as it were, the death of the soul.
Loss of the life of grace was followed by the loss of physical life.
Horror of death should inspire in us a horror of sin, through which
death came into the world.
Immediately after the fall of man the Lord promised a redeemer,
when He said to the serpent: “I will put enmities between thee and
the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head.” 28
As all the prophecies specify, Jesus eminently represents the pos­
terity of the woman. On Good Friday He conquered both sin and the
devil. But this hidden victory, won by the One who might have
seemed to be vanquished but who was really a victim for us, was to
be manifested by an overwhelming sign. Here we can see the super­
natural logic of these mysteries according to the plan of Providence.
It was highly fitting that this great sign should be the resurrection of
the Savior. If death is the consequence of sin, it was altogether fitting
that Christ’s victory over death should be the sign of His victory over
sin. In other words, Christ’s victory over death, proved by His resur­
rection, means that He was victorious over sin on the cross.
That is why St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “And if Christ be
not risen again, your faith is vain: for you are yet in your sins.” 27
That is to say: we have no guaranty that God has accepted His death
as redemption. And St. Paul added that the Savior’s resurrection is
the guaranty of our own future resurrection: “For by a man came
death: and by a man the resurrection of the dead. And as in Adam all
die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.” 28 Jesus had said at
Lazarus’ tomb: “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth
in Me, although he be dead, shall live.” 20 He had also said three
times when He promised the Eucharist: “Now this is the will of the
Father who sent Me: that of all that He hath given Me, I should
lose nothing; but should raise it up again in the last day.” 30 This
formula recurs several times in this discourse by our Lord, who was
called to save both our bodies and our souls and to make us participate
in His glorious life.
** Ihid., 3:15.
” John 11 :a 5.

*’ I Cor. 15:17.
•° Ibid., 6:39-53.

” Ibid., 15 :n f.

CHRIST’S VICTORY OVER DEATH

*95

That is why St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “And the enemy,
death, shall be destroyed last.” 81 “And when this mortal hath put on
immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written [Osee
13:14]: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy
victory? O death, where is thy sting? Now the sting of death is sin.
. . . But thanks be to God, who hath given us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ.” 82 Likewise the Apocalypse (1:17) tells us
that Jesus appeared to St. John and said to him: “Fear not. I am the
First and the Last, and alive, and was dead. And behold I am living
forever and ever and have the keys of death and of hell.” 88 “Write:
These things saith the Holy One. . . . He that openeth and no man
shutteth, shutteth and no man openeth.” 84
This is the triumph that the liturgy proclaims on Easter Day in the
Sequence Victimae -paschali laudes:
The Lamb redeems the sheep j
And Christ the sinless one,
Hath to the Father sinners reconciled.
Together, death and life
In a strange conflict strove.
The Prince of life, who died,
Now lives and reigns.

We know that Christ indeed
Has risen from the grave:
Hail, thou King of Victory,
Have mercy, Lord, and save. Amen.

Let each of us consider how different the history of humanity would
be and how different our own lives would be if there had been no
Redemption and no Resurrection.
There is every evidence that the victory of Christ over sin is far
superior to His victory over death. The former is the very essence of
the mystery of the Redemption. The latter is but a sensible sign of
*· I Cor.
“ Ibid; 15:54-57·
••Apoc. IÎ171 cf. Ilcb. 2:141 Apoc. 10:131 Rom. 14:9.
•‘Apoc. 3:7. Cf. I«a. aa:ai.

2ÇÔ

OUR SAVIOR

the inward and invisible supernatural mystery. The symbol derives
its value from the grandeur of the thing symbolized. The moment of
the “Consummatum est” was the greatest and most glorious in the
whole history of mankind. But this victory was so mysterious, so hid­
den, that it escaped even the majority of the apostles themselves, and
so it needed to be made manifest by an incontestable sensible sign.
This was provided by Christ’s triumph over death, the consequence
of sin. And that is why we celebrate Easter with great magnificence,
to honor the great victory won by our Savior on Good Friday. The act
of love of Good Friday, which is commemorated at every Mass, far
surpasses the corporeal resurrection which is its manifestation.
The apostles were made to see the light. The Savior’s death had
left them broken, crushed. They were going to return to their earthly
occupations and forget the kingdom of God. From the day they knew
of the Resurrection, their faith faltered no more. Given still new light
through the grace of Pentecost, they scattered over the earth to preach
the good tidings^ and following their Master’s example, they
preached His gospel until they were martyred. In the midst of their
torments they put all their trust in the glorious Christ, as St. Stephen
had done before them, and they trod the same path as he to eternal
happiness.
This mystery of resurrection continues in the Church in a certain
sense. Jesus made the Church in His own image, and if He allows her
to pass through terrible tribulations, He enables her to rise up again
and to be more glorious after the mortal blows of her enemies have
been struck. This is what happened during the persecutions of Nero,
Diocletian, and Julian the Apostate. From the blood of thousands of
martyrs sprang up thousands of Christian Churches.
The Church likewise triumphed over the great Arian and Pelagian
heresies, which were the occasion of immortal works by the Greek Fa­
thers and by St. Augustine.
During the early Middle Ages the barbarians spread desolation
everywhere, but the Church was able to conquer and convert them.
In the thirteenth century the Albigensians tried to revive Manichae­
ism, but great new religious orders arose, and this thirteenth century
became the golden age of theology.

CHRIST’S VICTORY OVER DEATH

297

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it might have seemed to
some people that the Church would perish under the blows of the
pagan Renaissance and of Protestantism. Large areas of Germany
and England were lost to Catholicism. However, at that very moment
there arose in Europe a galaxy of saintly founders or reformers. The
Church was established in India, where St. Francis Xavier renewed
the prodigies of the apostolic era. In America, Louis Bertrand and
Las Casas proclaimed the charity of Christ, and the true reform was
being organized at the Council of Trent.
The French Revolution set out to destroy the Church once more.
Priests were massacred, religious orders were suppressed, altars were
profaned, and the foundations of a new life and a new religion were
laid down. But in 1801 the Concordat was signed, the Catholic wor­
ship reappeared in the churches. Little by little the dispersed religious
orders were re-established, saints like the Curé of Ars called back
into being all the vitality of Christianity, and the missions of the
Orient, Asia, Africa, and America made astonishing progress.
Thus will it be until the end of time. The mystery of the Savior’s
resurrection is in a sense reproduced in the Church. The life of the
Church is a life that has experienced death and amid the most ter­
rible tribulations finds once again an ever-blossoming youth. This is
particularly true of the saints who can say with St. Paul: “I die
daily,” 35 and who, after experiencing martyrdom of the heart in or­
der to labor for the salvation of souls in union with our Lord, appear
more vital than ever and live on in their works that bear fruit for
eternity.
Thus is the truth of the Master’s words, manifested: “I am the
resurrection and the life.” 38 “If any man thirst, let him come to Me
and drink. . . . Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water,” 37
and “I will raise him up in the last day.” 38
80 I Cor. 15:31.

M John 11:25.

87 ibid., 7:37!.

88 Ibid., 6:40.

«χχνί®
ΓΤΛΗΕ PRINCIPAL PRIEST OF THE SACRIFICE
OF THE MASS

1

"Christ . . . always living
to make intercession for us.”
Heb. 7:25

AFTER His resurrection and ascension, our Savior, who is a priest
JL-X-forever,1 did not cease to exercise the principal act of His priest­
hood, and He does this especially through the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass. The Mass is a sacramental sacrifice substantially perpetuating
in an unbloody manner the sacrifice of the Cross, of which it is a
memorial; and it applies to us the fruits of the sacrifice of the Cross.
Such is the doctrine of faith clearly formulated by the Council of
Trent.2 3 * * * *
As the Council explains, the Sacrifice of the Mass is in substance
the same as that of the Cross, because it is the same victim, really
present on our altars, that is offered up and because it is offered up
by the same principal priest.8 This victim, once nailed to the cross,
1 Ps. 109:45 Heb. 5:65 7:17.
1 Sess. ΧΧΠ, chaps. 1 and a.
3 Cf. Concilium Trid., Sess. ΧΧΠ, chap. 2 : “Una enitn eademque est hostia, idem nunc
offerens sacerdotum ministerio, qui se ipsum tunc in cruce obtulit, sola offerendi ratione
diversa. Cujus quidem oblationis (cruentae, inquam) fructus per hanc incruentam uber­
rime percipiuntur: tantum abest, ut illi per hanc quovis modo derogetur.”
St. Thomas had said (Hia, q.83, a. 1 ad 1) : “As Ambrose says (ibid.'), there is but one
victim, namely that which Christ offered, and which we offer, and not many victims, be­
cause Christ was offered but once. . . . For, just as what is offered everywhere is one
body, and not many bodies, so also is it but one sacrifice.” Ibid., ad 3 : “The principal
priest at Mass is Christ, who continues to offer Himself up.”
Ibidem, q.22, a. 3 ad 2: “The Sacrifice which is offered every day in the Church is
not distinct from that which Christ Himself offered, but is a commemoration thereof.”
The Thomiste say quite generally: “Missa et sacrificium Crucis sunt idem numerice sacri­
ficium quoad substantiam (ratione hostiae oblatae, principalis offerentis, ac finis), non
vero quoad modum oblationis externae (quae nunc est incruenta, et olim fuit cruenta).”
In philosophical terms, the numerical identity of the victim and of the principal priest is
398

THE PRINCIPAL PRIEST

199

is now offered under the appearances of bread and wine, and is sacra­
mentally immolated by the separate consecration of the body and
blood of our Savior, who is present on the altar in the state of death,
as it were. Of course His precious blood is no longer physically sep­
arated from His body, but we can say that it is sacramentally shed.
For, by virtue of the words of the first consecration, only the body of
the Savior is present under the species of bread, and formally by the
words of the second consecration it is only the precious blood that is
under the species of wine.*
45*
The Mass is therefore a real sacrifice, but an unbloody one. It is
not merely a symbolic sacrifice or the simple re-enactment of a past
sacrifice, for the victim is really present and not merely the image of
this victim. There is also the real oblation of the victim and not merely
a symbol of this oblation. But in this unbloody sacrifice, the real and
bloody immolation of Calvary is merely symbolized and commem­
orated, and its fruits are applied to us. As the theologians say: the
Mass is a true, unbloody sacrifice which represents the bloody im­
molation of the sacrifice of the Cross.8 Hence the Mass is far supe­
far more important than the diversity of the exterior mode of oblation, just as Christ’s hu­
manity remains substantially the same, though it is now not able to suffer. It is therefore
necessary to preserve as much as possible the terminology of the Council of Trent. It is
eminently philosophical and gives admirable expression to this unique case, without losing
sight of its elevation and the way it is superior to time. Thus the substance of this sacrifice
is perpetuated rather than renewed.
4 By concomitance, however, of the fact that the body and blood of the glorified Christ
are no longer separated, both are present under each of the two species. But, vi verborum,
formally the words of the first consecration render Christ’s body present, and the words of
the second consecration, His blood.
5 The chief objection raised by the Protestants is this: every genuine sacrifice requires
essentially a true immolation of the victim offered up. But at Mass there is no real immola­
tion of the body of Christ, which is now beyond suffering. Therefore the Mass is not a
genuine sacrifice, but only the memorial of a past sacrifice.
Several theologians, having apparently forgotten that this difficulty had already been
examined by St. Thomas and by St. Albert the Great, accepted the major premise without
question and were unable to disprove the minor premise by showing that in the Mass a
real immolation of Christ’s now impassible body takes place.
According to the doctrine formulated by the Council of Trent, it was necessary to dis­
tinguish the major premise: Every true bloody sacrifice requires a real immolation of the
victim offered up, yesj but this is not true of an unbloody and sacramental sacrifice. And
there can be a real sacrifice without a real immolation, for in sacrifice in general the ex­
terior immolation is i» genere ligni, it is the symbol of the interior immolation of the
“contrite and humbled heart," and derives all its worth from the latter. As St. Augustins

300

OUR SAVIOR

rior to the sacrifices of the Old Testament, for even the sacramental
immolation of the Word of God made flesh is a far more eloquent
expression of reparative adoration due to God than was the bloody
immolation of the paschal lamb and of all the victims of the Old Law.
Moreover, this sacramental immolation is far more efficacious than
all the ancient sacrifices.
The Mass is the great memorial of the Passion. Without it, the
sacrifice of the Cross would be forgotten and would be lost in the
night of passing time. The Holy Eucharist makes it possible for each
succeeding generation to preserve a living, daily, and fruitful memory
of the sacrifice of Calvary. It makes each of us participate in
this sacrifice, if we so desire, through Holy Communion. Thus the
source of all graces remains open until the end of the world, and
everyone can come to it to quench his thirst.®

In What Sense Jesus Is the Principal Priest
of the Sacrifice of the Mass
The Council of Trent says: “Una eademque est hostia, idem nunc
offerens sacerdotum ministerio, qui seipsum tunc in cruce obtulit, sola
says in a text often cited by St. Thomas: “The visible sacrifice is the sacrament or sacred
sign of the invisible sacrifice” (De civitate Dei, Bk. X, chap. 5). Cf. St. Thomas, Ila Ilae,
q. 81, a. 7 j q. 85, a. 2, c. and ad 2.
Even in the bloody sacrifice, the exterior immolation of an animal is required, properly
speaking, as the sign of interior oblation, adoration, and contrition, without which it has
no meaning or value whatever. That is why Cain’s sacrifice had no value in God’s eyes.
“Sacrificium externum est in genere signi” ; cf. John of St. Thomas, In Illam, q. 83, a. 1.
Since this is the case, we can understand that there can be a real and unbloody sacrifice
whose immolation is solely sacramental, without any real separation of the Savior’s body
and blood. This sacramental immolation, the memorial of the bloody immolation of
Calvary, is a sign of reparative adoration that is far more expressive than the bloody im­
molation of all the victims of the Old Testament. St. Augustine and St. Thomas (Illa,
q.83, a. 1) certainly demand in the Mass nothing more in the way of immolation than
the sacramental immolation. See in the article by St Thomas that we have just cited
(arg. Sed contra) the important text of St. Augustine.
0 Moreover, no religion can subsist without a priesthood and without sacrifice. Sacrifice
is even the most perfect act of religion, of worship, an act that is at once exterior and
interior. And today anyone who considered the sacramental immolation of Christ inade­
quate and therefore wished to immolate a lamb or kid in a bloody manner, would be con­
sidered senseless. There can be only one victim worthy of Christ’s priesthood: Himself.
And His sacramental immolation on the altar, although merely sacramental, expresses

THE PRINCIPAL PRIEST

301

offerendi ratione diversa.” T It is the same victim as on Calvary, it is
the same priest who offered Himself on the cross and who now offers
Himself through His ministers. The only difference lies in the exte­
rior mode of the oblation: on Calvary it was bloody, and here it is
sacramental and unbloody.*
78
Is it enough to say with certain theologians 9 that Christ offers up
the Mass virtually and not actually, inasmuch as He originally in­
stituted it by commanding that this sacrifice be offered up until the
end of the world? Let us not underrate the actual influence of Christ,
our Redeemer.
In fact, if during the Mass we pay attention to the words of the
double consecration, we see that the priest pronounces them not in
the name of the Church but in the name of Christ Himself, whose
minister, instrument, and mouthpiece the priest is. When the priest
consecrates the bread he does not say “This is the body of Christ,” but
“This is My body.” It is Christ who speaks through the mouth of His
minister.10 Moreover, it is our Lord Himself who now, just as He
love of God and hatred of sin far more perfectly than all the bloody sacrifices of the Old
Law. It is in actual fact the sacramental immolation of the Word made flesh.
7 Sess. XXII, chap. 2.
8 Attention should be given to the more developed text that was first proposed to the
fathers of the Council of Trent and subsequently merely abridged. Cf. Concilii Tridentini
Acta, Pars V, p. 752: Doctrina de sacrificio missae proposita examinanda patribus die
6 Aug. 1563: Caput I, fine: “Quare nemo negare audeat, missam, quo nomine oblationem
hanc exprimere communi consensu consuevit Ecclesia, esse opus bonum ; est enim ipsius
Christi opus, qui simul est offerens et oblatus, sacerdotum tamen ministerio, qui, dum
digne sacrificant, opus certe Deo gratum ideoque meritorium exercent.”
Caput 2, fine: “Quemadmodum assiduae atque perpetuae Christi preces, quas ipse apud
Patrem pro nobis in caelis advocatus existens fundere creditur, nihil potentissimae illi
orationi detrahunt, qua in cruce cum lacrimis Patrem pro nobis oravit et ‘exauditus est pro
sui reverentia’ (Heb. 5:7) ; ita profecto confitendum est, nihil cruento illi crucis tametsi
efficacicissimo derogare.”
8 This is the opinion of Father de la Taille, Mysterium Fidei, elucid. 9, p. 103 ; elucid.
23, pp. 295 ff. It was also taught by Scotus, the Scotists, and by Americus. Cf. infra, chap.
27.
10 St. Thomas even makes the distinction, in the case of a valid Mass celebrated by an
unworthy minister, between the worth that the priest says in the name of the Church and
which retain their value, and the words of the consecration pronounced not in the name
of the Church but in Christ’s own name. He says (Illa, q. 82, a. 5): “The priest conse­
crates this sacrament not by his own power, but as the minister of Christ, in whose per­
son he consecrates this sacrament. But from the fact of being wicked he does not cease
to be Christ’s minister.”
St. Thomas adds (ibid,, a. 6): “So far as the Mass itself is concerned, the Mass of the

30i

OUR SAVIOR

did originally, gives the words of the consecration their transubstantiative value, capable of converting hic et nunc the substance of the bread
into that of His body, and the substance of the wine into His blood.
The Savior’s sacred humanity, St. Thomas tells us,*11 remains the con­
scious instrument, perpetually united to God, to produce the transubstantiation, the real presence, and all the graces that derive from
the Eucharist.
At the same time—and this is the point to stress here—Christ,
priest for all eternity, continues to offer Himself up sacramentally in
order to apply to us the satisfaction and the merits of His passion. In
His human capacity, He is the principal cause of this continuing obla­
tion, which is the chief act of His priesthood, the act to which His
ministers ought to unite themselves as instruments, becoming each
day more conscious of the grandeur of this sacrifice.
The teaching that Christ continues even now to wish to offer Him­
self up in each Mass is held by theologians in general. What is more,
in his encyclical on Christ the King, His Holiness Pope Pius XI has
written: “Christus sacerdos se 'pro peccatis hostiam obtulit, perpetuoque se offert.” 12 The words of the Council of Trent, quoted above,
are thereby clarified: “Idem nunc offerens sacerdotum ministerio, qui
seipsum tunc in cruce obtulit. . . .” Having once offered Himself up
in a bloody manner on the cross, Christ continues to offer Himself up
in a sacramental and unbloody manner through the ministry of His
priests.
It follows that even if the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated
by a bad priest, the consecration is still pronounced in the name of
Christ who thereby converts the substance of the bread into that of
wicked priest is not of less value than that of a good priest, because the same sacrifice is
offered by both. . . . Again, the prayer put up in the Mass can be considered in two
respects, . . . inasmuch as the prayer is said by the priest in the Mass in the place of the
entire Church, ... in this respect the prayer even of the sinful priest is fruitful. . . .
On the other hand, his private prayers are not fruitful.” Ibid., q. 83, a. 1 ad 3. It is evi­
dently on purpose that St. Thomas made a distinction in the Mass between what is done
in the name of Christ and the prayers said in the name of the Church.
11 Cf. Illa, q. 62, a.5.
11 Denzinger, no. 2195. Encyclical, Quas -primas, December 11, 1923, Df principatu
Christi: “Cum autem Christus et Ecclesiam Redemptor sanguine suo acquisiverit et Sacer­
dos se ipse pro peccatis hostiam obtulerit perpetuoque offerat, cui non videatur regium
ipsum munus utriusque illius naturam muneris induere ac participare?”

THE PRINCIPAL PRIEST

303

His body, and the sacrifice thus retains its infinite value. Even if the
minister were in the state of mortal sin, he would still be the instru­
ment of Christ, provided he intended to perform the act instituted by
our Lord.
Our Savior is therefore the principal priest at the Sacrifice of the
Mass, not only because He participates in it in a remote manner inas­
much as He instituted the Eucharist both as sacrament and as sacri­
fice; nor merely inasmuch as He once commanded that this sacrifice
be offered up in His name until the end of the world. He is the prin­
cipal priest because He actually participates in it at the present time
in two ways.13 He continues actually to wish to offer Himself up
through the ministry of His priests, as the Council of Trent says. In
the second place, in His human capacity He is the conscious and in­
tentional instrument, always united to God, that truly produces the
transubstantiation and the graces that derive from the Sacrifice of the
Mass.
There is no doubt whatever that when the priest at the altar pro­
nounces in the name of the Savior the words of the double consecra­
tion, Jesus actually intends them to be pronounced hic et nunc, and
He Himself gives them their transubstantiative power. If an act of
will on the part of the minister is necessary, this is far truer of the
principal priest. Moreover, though the minister may at times be a
little distracted at the moment of the consecration, our Savior never
is. Our Lord continues to intend to offer Himself up in this manner
in order to apply to each passing human generation and to the souls
in purgatory the merits of His passion and of His death.
There have been saints who have been privileged to see our Savior
Himself, and not merely the celebrant, perform the Holy Sacrifice.
This is a special grace that reminded them of something that we must
all believe: that Jesus is the principal priest of the sacrifice offered
up on the altar. In thus continuing to offer Himself up, Christ does
not cease to intercede for us,14 as we read in the Epistle to the He­
brews, which is entirely devoted to the grandeur of His priesthood.
We cannot insist too much on this point.
14 Cf. Salmanticenses, Di Euch., disp. 1 j, dub. 3, nos. 49 f.
14 Heb. 7 :i j.

304

OUR SAVIOR

Christ’s Interior Oblation Always Alive in His Heart

It is certain and an article of faith that the sacred soul of the glorious
Christ never ceases to see God immediately, to love Him above all
else, to love us, and to desire our salvation. It is equally certain that
Christ in heaven does not cease to adore God and to offer up to Him a
thanksgiving that will never end. This is what the Preface of the Mass
declares: “It is truly meet and just, right and availing unto salvation,
that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto Thee, O
holy Lord, Father almighty and everlasting God, through Christ
our Lord. Through whom the angels praise Thy majesty, the domin­
ions worship it, the powers stand in awe. . . . With whom we pray
Thee join our voices also, while we say with lowly praise: Holy, holy,
holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory.
Hosanna in the highest.”
This worship of adoration and of thanksgiving will continue for all
eternity. It will always be offered up by Christ and by His mystical
body.18 Likewise, it is said of Christ during the Mass, just before the
Pater Noster: “Through Him, and with Him, and in Him, be unto
Thee, O God the Father almighty, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all
honor and glory, world without end.”
Let us call to mind what St. Thomas said concerning Christ’s
prayer. Does the Savior, now that He is in heaven, continue not only
to adore and give thanks but also to pray for us, as He did on earth?
In time of need we recommend ourselves to the prayers of the saints.
Can we also recommend ourselves to Christ’s prayers? It is certain
that He no longer merits or makes satisfaction for us, for He has
reached the end of His course. He is no longer viator, a wayfarer to16 However, according to St. Thomas (Ilia, q. 22, a. 5), this worship of adoration and
thanksgiving, which will be “the consummation of the sacrifice of Christ,” will no longer
be a sacrifice in the true sense of the word after the last Mass. For a sacrifice requires an
immolation, at least a sacramental one, of the victim offered up, and this sacramental
immolation will cease at the end of the world. Likewise, at the present time, Jesus who
is really present in our tabernacles does not cease to adore His Father and to give thank»
to Him. But these interior acts are not enough to constitute a sacrifice properly »0 called.
Such a sacrifice exists only during the Mass and not because of the simple fact that th
*
real presence lasts afterward in the consecrated hosts.

THE PRINCIPAL PRIEST

305

ward eternity. But does He not continue to pray so that the merits of
His passion may be applied to us? It is certain that the Blessed Virgin,
who no longer merits for us, continues to pray that her Son’s merits
may be applied to us. That is what we ask of her each day in the Hail
Mary and in the Litany. Why would not Christ continue to pray for
us in this same sense?
In explaining St. Paul’s words, “Christ . . . always living to
make intercession for us,” 16 St. Thomas says: “Christ intercedes for
us as our advocate,1T and He does so in two ways : first, by offering up
to His Father His manhood which He took on for us and in which
He suffered for us. He also intercedes by expressing to His Father
His desire for our salvation.” 18 St. Thomas presents the same views
in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans 8:33~35, in explain­
ing the words: “Who shall accuse against the elect of God? . . .
Who is he that shall condemn? Christ Jesus that died: yea that is
risen also again, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us. Who then shall separate us from the love of
Christ?” With the same thought in mind St. John says, “If any man
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just.” 19
In the Summa theologica™ St. Thomas also says: “Since prayers
offered for others proceed from charity, . . . the greater the charity
of the saints in heaven, the more they pray for wayfarers; . . . and
the more closely they are united to God, the more are their prayers
efficacious.21 For the divine order is such that lower beings receive
an overflow of the excellence of the higher, even as the air receives
the brightness of the sun. Wherefore it is said of Christ:22 ‘Going to
God by His own power ... to make intercession for us.’ ” 28
Among the Thomists, Gonet and the Carmelites of Salamanca have
18 Heb. 7:13.
1T I John »:t.
18 Cf. St. Thomas, In Efist. ad Hebr., 7:25.
18 I John »:i.
20 Ila Ilae, q. 83, a. it.
21 If we recommend ourselves to the prayers of living persons whom we consider holy,
how much more fitting is it to recommend ourselves to the saints in heaven!
22 Heb. 7:15.
22 In the Commentary on the Sentences (IV, d. 15, q.4, a. 6, q* a*, ad 1), St. Thomas
says: “Christus in quantum homo, orat pro nobis j sed ideo non dicimus: Christe ora pro
nobis, quia Christus supponit suppositum aeternum, cujus non est orare, sed adjuvare, et
ideo dicimus: Christe audi nos vel miserere nobis, et in hoc etiam evitamus haeresim Arii
et Ncstorii.”

3o6

OUR SAVIOR

shown particularly well in their treatment of Christ’s prayer,24 that
Christ even now that He is in heaven and even in the Eucharist truly
prays for us, so that the merits of His passion may be applied to this
or that sinner at the most opportune moment, such as the moment of
a happy death.28 In this sense, when He adores and gives thanks He
prays not because of any indigence but through His superabundance
and filial piety, in order to render to His Father the worship that is
due Him.
St. Ambrose has said: “The risen Christ always defends our cause
before the Father.” 26 St. Gregory the Great declared: “Christ prays
for the Church every day.” 27 The interior oblation, that never ceases
in Christ’s sacred soul, is thus an oblation of adoration, of impétra­
tion, and of thanksgiving.
Is this interior oblation, which is ever ablaze in Christ’s heart,
numerically the same as the oblation by which He offered Himself up
in accepting to die for us, from the moment of His coming into the
world and especially on the Cross? Some theologians have denied this
because, as they see it, the interior act of oblation on the cross was
meritorious, whereas the one by which the glorious Christ offers Him­
self up at Mass as its principal priest is no longer meritorious. Con­
sequently some have thought that Christ offers Himself up at each
Mass by a new act.
This view, which would multiply the successive acts of oblation
of the glorious Christ, is foreign to the teaching of the great masters
and does not seem acceptable for several reasons.
First of all, it is not in conformity with the life of union of the
Savior’s sacred soul. This is an eminently simple life, through which
He attains divine eternity, and in it there is no succession or innova­
tion but solely the immutable continuation of what already exists.28
24 In IIIam, q. z i.
25 Cf. Gonet, De incam., disp. zz, a. z : “Christus etiam nunc in caclo existons, vere et
proprie orat, nobis divina beneficia postulando.” Cf. Salmanticenses, Tolet, Suarez, and
others.
2’ St. Ambrose, In Ep. ad Rom. 8 : “Christus resurgens, semper causas nostras agit apud
Patrem, cujus postulatio contemni non potest, quia in dextera Dei est.”
27 St. Gregory the Great, In
Ps. poenit.: “Quotidie Christus orat pro Ecclesia, de quo
testatur Ap. Paulus Hebr. 7:zy.”
·· Even when we say a decade of the Rosary contemplating, for example, the mystery

THE PRINCIPAL PRIEST

307

Moreover, this opinion that would multiply the acts of oblation in
the Savior’s soul does not agree with the words of St. Paul : “Christ was
offered once to exhaust the sins of many,” 29 and: “For by one oblation
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.”30 Christ does
not offer up a new sacrifice, and His minister acts only in His name.
It is therefore fitting to state that this unique interior oblation, which
was the soul of the sacrifice of Calvary, continues forever in Christ’s
sacred heart.*
81 Moreover, to concede a second act of oblation is to
say that the first was inadequate. Lastly, He who is the priest forever
must perform a priestly act that lasts forever, with neither interrup­
tion nor innovation.82
Doubtless this oblation is no longer meritorious, but there is no
of our Savior’s resurrection, this involves but a single continuous act of our intelligence,
an act of lively faith united to an act of love and of prayer. The multiplicity of the Hail
Mary’s exists only for the inferior faculties, the senses and the imagination.
28 Heb. 9:28.
80Ibid.., 10:14.
81 It must also be remembered that many Masses are celebrated at the same moment
and many consecrations occur at the same instant by virtue of the same unique actual will
of Christ, although His will is virtually multiple by reason of the different Masses.
82 It has been objected: What has already been offered up in the most perfect degree
and manner possible and accepted cannot be offered up again. For movement ceases at its
termination. Christ offered Himself up as wayfarer, and now He no longer offers Himself
up.
In accordance with what we have just said, we must answer that the question is not
of a new interior oblation but of the continuation of the oblation, as well as of the adora­
tion, thanksgiving, and prayer. Movement as movement («/ via) ordained to an end,
ceases when this end is reached. But what does not cease is the act ordained to the ultimate
end. St. Thomas even says that the act of the gift of counsel (which relates to the means)
continues in heaven. Lastly, Christ offered Himself up in a meritorious manner as way­
farer, but, although He no longer merits, He continues to offer Himself up as man and as
priest forever by offering up His entire mystical body together with Himself. As Pope Pius
XI said : “Christus sacerdos se pro peccatis hostiam obtulit perpetuoque offert” (Denz., no.
2195). This is the significance of the words of the Council of Trent: “Idem nunc offerens
ministerio sacerdotum, qui seipsum tunc in cruce obtulit.”
The objection has also been made that the love by which Christ gained merit on earth
was fitting to Him as wayfarer, and could not therefore be ruled by the beatific vision.
Several Thomists, among them Alvarez, Gonet, and Billuart, have answered : This love
could not be ruled by the vision of God considered in itself, which invincibly attracts the
will, but it could be ruled by the vision of God inasmuch as He is the reason for freely
loving creatures, particularly men to be saved. This love that was both free and meritori­
ous was fitting to Christ as wayfarer. Now it is no longer meritorious. Moreover, even if
Christ’s love is ruled by infused knowledge, it can continue just as His infused knowledge
does. What is more, the act of love of God made by every just soul at the moment of a
happy death can continue afterward.

jo8

OUR SAVIOR

reason why an act that was once meritorious should cease to be mer­
itorious afterward. For example, when a dying man makes a final act
of love of God, this act is meritorious. Why, then, cannot this act
continue after death in purgatory where there is no longer any op­
portunity to merit? This spiritual act does not cease because of the
simple fact of the separation of the soul from the body. Likewise,
when Christ was on earth His act of love of men was meritorious.
Why should it not continue, without this modality of merit, after
His death? 88 Even here on earth this act of Christ’s sacred soul was
performed in the light of glory, and He never ceased to enjoy the
beatific vision.
This beatific vision, which He always enjoyed on earth, was al­
ready measured not in terms of time but in terms of His participation
in eternity, as many theologians agree.84 Why would not the same
hold true of the act of love by which Christ’s sacred soul loved God
and men? 88 Christ’s act of love for us was meritorious here on earth.
88 Undoubtedly the act of the virtue of fortitude, by which Christ suffered heroically,
has ceased. But that does not hold for His act of love for us, or even of the interior act of
oblation by which He willed first to offer Himself up in a bloody manner and afterward
in a sacramental manner.
84 Cf. St. Thomas, la, q. io, a. 5 ad 1 ; a. 3 ad 1 and 3. In Contra Gentes, Bk. HI, chap.
61, he says: “Quod per visionem Dei aliquis sit particeps vitae aeternae. In hoc enim
aeternitas a tempore differt, quod tempus in quadam successione habet esse; aeternitatis
vero esse est totum simul. Jam autem ostensum est, c. 60, quod in praedicta visione non est
aliqua successio, sed omnia quae per illam videntur, simul et uno intuitu videntur. Illa
ergo visio in quadam aeternitatis participatione perficitur. . . .
“Haec visio nequidem est in tempore ex parte videntis, quod est intellectus, cujus esse
non subjacet tempori, cum sit incorruptibilis, ut supra (Bk. II, chap. 79) probatum
est. . . .
“Hinc est quod Dominus dicit (Joan. 17:3) : Haec est vita aeterna ut cognoscant te
solum Deum verum.”
It is not incongruous for an act which is beginning (and even for an act which termi­
nates like the beatific vision fer modum transeuntis which was probably granted to St.
Paul when he was caught up to the third heaven) to be measured by participation in
eternity. All that is necessary is that as long as the act continues it be measured not by a
fleeting instant of time but by the unique instant of immutable eternity. This can hold
true of the glorious Christ’s prayer of intercession until the end of the world. As for His
prayer of adoration and thanksgiving, it will continue eternally.
85 Some good Thomists like the Carmelites of Salamanca and several others concede
that the free act by which Christ in His capacity as man loved us could be immediately
governed by the beatific vision. In God Himself, the free act by which He loves us is
governed by the uncreated vision of divine goodness inasmuch as it is the non-necessitated
reason for His love of creatures. Cf. St. Thomas, la, q. 19, a. 3.

THE PRINCIPAL PRIEST

309

It is no longer meritorious but it can continue without this modality
of merit, just as the act of charity of a human soul can continue after
this soul has left its body.36 It is certain that the glorious Christ does
not cease to love us, to adore His Father and give thanks and offer
Himself up to Him. This interior act of oblation, ever alive in His
heart, is the soul of the Sacrifice of the Mass.87 This sacrifice is in
substance the same as that of the Cross, just as the Savior’s humanity
remains the same, although it is no longer subject to suffering and
death.
This truth, superior to theology, belongs to the realm of divine
faith. The doctrine that the essence of the Sacrifice of the Mass is
in the sacramental immolation actually offered up by Christ, the
principal priest, appears susceptible of definition as a dogma of
faith.
Let us recollect ourselves under the wings of Christ’s great prayer,
so that He may present our prayers to His Father and thus increase
the value of our adorations, our supplications, our reparation, and our
thanksgiving. Let us remember that when Christ offers Himself up
in the Masses said all over the world He also offers up His entire
mystical body, symbolized by the drop of water poured into the
chalice at the beginning of the Mass, to be converted with the wine
into His precious blood.
As we become each day more conscious of the human misery within
us and around us, let us ask Christ Jesus, priest for all eternity, to
save us, to have pity on so many misguided souls, the victims of the
education they have received. Let us beg our Savior to hold in His
hand all the children who are in danger of being snatched away from
Him in Russia, Eastern Europe, and many other lands. And though
the evil be great, let us look upon it not with pessimism and discour­
agement but with the thought that the Savior is stronger than all
88 Even if the interior oblation of the sacrifice of the Cross could not continue in the
Savior’s soul after His death, it would suffice for Him to renew it once afterward and then
continue it, without renewing it at each Mass.
,T Just as the beatific vision is measured by participation in eternity, the same is true of
the beatific love with which Christ loved His Father and our souls. Moreover, even if the
free act of redemptive love was governed by His infused knowledge, it can continue after
death just as this knowledge does, especially since the act of redemptive love is the supreme
expression of this knowledge.

OUR SAVIOR

jio

His enemies taken together, and that His act of love pleases God more
than all the sins of the world displease Him.
Made strong by this conviction, let us recall the words of St. Paul:
“When I am weak, then am I powerful.” 88 “I can do all things in
Him who strengtheneth me.” 39
88 II Cor.

iï:io.

88 Phil. 4:13.

® XXVII®
rqpHE INFINITE VALUE OF EACH MASS
OFFERED UP BY OUR LORD

1

E HAVE seen that the Savior is the principal priest at the
Sacrifice of the Mass, and that the interior oblation which
was the soul of the sacrifice of the Cross continues in the heart of
Christ, who desires our salvation and who thus Himself offers up all
the Masses that are celebrated each day. What is the value of each
of these Masses? A correct idea of this value will help us to unite our­
selves more intimately each day to the Holy Sacrifice and to receive
its fruits in greater abundance.
It is commonly taught in the Church that the Sacrifice of the Mass,
considered in itself, has infinite value, but that the effect it produces
within us is always finite, however exalted it may be, and that this
effect is proportioned to our interior dispositions. These two points of
doctrine merit further elucidation.

W

The Infinite Value of the Mass
The reason for the doctrine that the Mass, considered in itself, has
infinite value, is that it is the same in substance as the sacrifice of the
Cross, which has infinite value because of the dignity of the victim
offered and of the priest who offered it up, inasmuch as on the Cross
the Word made flesh was at once priest and victim.1 At Mass the
Word made flesh continues to be the principal priest and the victim
truly present, truly offered up and sacramentally immolated.
But whereas the effects of the Mass that relate immediately to God,
* The worth of the victim give» the sacrifice an infinite objective value, and the dignity
of the person of Christ gives it an infinite personal value, which is more important. When
Mary presented her Son in the Temple, this oblation had an infinite objective value, but
not an infinite personal value. Christ’s oblation of Himself is far superior.
3>>

JIZ

OUR SAVIOR

such as reparative adoration and thanksgiving, always occur infallibly
in their infinite plentitude even without our cooperation, its effects
that relate to us are poured forth only in proportion to our interior
dispositions.
At each Mass, adoration, reparation, and thanksgiving of limitless
value are infallibly offered up to God. This is true because of the
nature of the victim offered and of the principal priest, independently
even of the prayers of the Universal Church and of the fervor of the
celebrant.
It is impossible to adore God more perfectly, to better acknowledge
His sovereign domain over all things and all souls, than by the sacra­
mental immolation of the Savior who died for us on the cross. This
adoration is given expression in the words of the Gloria: “Glory to
God in the highest. And on earth peace to men of good will. We
praise Thee. We bless Thee. We adore Thee. We glorify Thee.”
This adoration is again expressed in the Sanctus, and still more per­
fectly in the double consecration.
It is the most perfect fulfillment of the commandment: “Thou
shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt serve Him only.” 2 These are
the words our Lord used in answering Satan’s taunts : “The kingdoms
of the world and the glory of them . . . will I give Thee, if falling
down Thou wilt adore me.” 3 Only God’s infinite grandeur merits
this worship of latria. At the Mass, the adoration that is offered up
to Him is in spirit and in truth of immeasurable value.
Likewise it is impossible to offer up to God more perfect reparation
for the sins that are committed each day than by the Sacrifice of the
Mass, as the Council of Trent maintains.4 It is not a new reparation
distinct from that of Calvary. True, the risen Christ no longer suffers
or dies. But, according to the same Council,5 the sacrifice of the altar,
being substantially the same as that of Calvary, pleases God more
than all the sins of the world displease Him.® Just as the Savior’s
humanity, now no longer subject to death or suffering, remains sub­
stantially the same, thus is the sacrifice of Christ perpetuated in sub’ Deut. 6:13.
’ Matt. 4:8 f.
4 Sess. XXII, chap. 1.
’ Ibid., chap. 2, initio, and can. 3 (Dcnzingcr, nos. 940, 950).
’ Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, q. 48, a. 2.

THE INFINITE VALUE OF EACH MASS

313

stance. The inalienable right of God, the Sovereign Good, to be
loved above all else is most perfectly acknowledged by the oblation
of the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.
Finally, it is impossible to give Him more perfect thanksgiving
for benefits received: “What shall I render to the Lord for all the
things that He hath rendered to me? I will take the chalice of salva­
tion, and I will call upon the name of the Lord.” 7 Often we forget
to thank God for His blessings, as did the lepers whom Jesus had
cured. Only one of the ten came back to thank Him. It is fitting often
to offer up Masses of thanksgiving. A pious custom that is gaining
favor at the present time is the celebration of a Mass of thanksgiving
the second Friday of each month, in reparation for our ingratitude.
Adoration, reparation, and thanksgiving are effects of the Sacri­
fice of the Mass that relate to God Himself and are infallible.
Through each Mass, through the oblation and sacramental immola­
tion of the Savior on the altar, God infallibly obtains adoration, rep­
aration, and thanksgiving of infinite value. This is so because of the
dignity of the victim and of the principal priest. The interior oblation
that continues ceaselessly in Christ’s heart is a theandric act, a human
act of His human will, that derives from the person of the Word a
value that is truly infinite.
At the moment of the consecration in the peace of the sanctuary,
a great surge of adoration rises up toward God. Its prelude is the
Gloria and the Sanctus, whose beauty is enhanced on certain days by
Gregorian chant, the most exalted, simplest, and purest of all re­
ligious chants, or sometimes by magnificent polyphonic music. But
when the moment of the double consecration arrives, all is silent.
This silence tells in its own way what music cannot express.
It is a silence that mirrors the silence which, according to the
Apocalypse (8:1), occurred in heaven when the Lamb opened the
book of the seven seals, the book of God’s decrees concerning His
kingdom.8 May this silence of the consecration be our solace and our
strength.’
* Ps. 115:1a.
• “And when He [the Lamb] had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven,
as it were for half an hour” (Apoc. 8 :t ).
“ “In silence and in hope shall your strength be" (Isa. 30:15).

314

OUR SAVIOR

Thus are the adoration, the reparation, and the “Consummatum
est” of the sacrifice of the Cross perpetuated in substance. And this
adoration that rises up toward God with each daily Mass falls again
like a life-giving dew upon our poor earth to fertilize it spiritually.
We should never forget that the highest end of the Holy Sacrifice is
the glory of God, the manifestation of His goodness, which is the
very purpose of the universe. Thus, by one Mass the whole of crea­
tion surges up toward its Creator in a prayer of reparative adoration
and thanksgiving. If these effects relate to God Himself, there are
others that relate to us. The Mass can obtain for us all the graces
necessary for salvation. Christ “always living makes intercession for
us,” 10 and His intercession has as great value as His adoration.
What Effects Can the Mass Produce in Us?

The Eucharistic Sacrifice has infinite value in itself by reason of the
dignity of the victim offered up and of the principal priest. Yet the
effects it produces in us are always finite because of the limitations of
creatures as such and those of our particular interior dispositions as
well. There is no disagreement among theologians on this point.
The only disputed question is this: Is the effect of the Sacrifice of
the Mass limited not only by our own fervor but also by the will of
Christ, so that a Mass that is applied to several persons obtains less
graces for them than if it were said for only one of them?
Some theologians 11 answer affirmatively: The effect of each Mass,
10 Heb. 7:25.
11 This is the opinion of Scotus, the Scotists, Americus, and several others. It has been
reasserted recently by Father de la Taille (Mysterium fidei, elucid. 33a), as a corollary
of His opinion that Christ does not actually offer up the Masses that are celebrated
throughout the world, but merely does so in a virtual manner. We have explained in the
preceding chapter why we cannot accept this view, which is contrary to generally ap­
proved doctrine.
The relationship of these two questions has been noted several times. Vacant (Université
Catholique, 1894, XVI, 529) wrote: “The Scotists held that Jesus Christ is the priest of
the Eucharistic Sacrifice only because He instituted it and conferred upon priests the power
of offering it up. They concluded that two important consequences emerged from this
theory. . . . The second is that the Mass, not being an act of the God-man, does not
have the same value as the sacrifice of the Cross, that it applies only a part of the fruits
of Calvary, and that this application is made by reason of the prayer of the Church and
not by reason of an actual offering up of the sacred victim by Jesus Christ Himself.”

THE INFINITE VALUE OF EACH MASS

315

they say, is limited by the will of our Lord, and consequently a Mass
offered for ten of the faithful is less profitable to them than if it were
said for one of these faithful. If this were not the case, they add, it
would be superfluous to say more than one Mass for the same inten­
tion of one particular person.
This reason is really weak, for the person in question may not have
all the dispositions required to receive all the desired graces through
the first Mass said for him. Moreover, this person must desire eternal
life above all else, and cannot ask for it with too much insistance.
As for souls in purgatory, the Mass is applied to them by way of suf­
frage, according to God’s good pleasure, the measure of which re­
mains unknown to us, and we do not know when these souls are
delivered. It is therefore desirable to have several Masses said for
them.11
1213
Other theologians, among them many Thomists,18 follow the in­
spiration of St. Thomas 14*in saying: The effect of each Mass is not
limited by the will of Christ, but only by the devotion of those for
whom it is offered up. Thus, a single Mass offered up for a hundred
persons can be as profitable to each of them as if it were offered up
solely for each individual.18
11 Those who hold this opinion have also said that were it otherwise the priest might
say one Mass and thereby satisfy for several stipends, something that the Church does not
permit. Nor is this reason very compelling, for the stipends are not the price of the Masses
but simply a means of subsistence allowed by the Church under certain conditions. Besides,
even though a Mass can benefit many persons simultaneously the Church can forbid the
priest to receive several stipends for a single Mass.
13 Cajetan, In IIIamt q. 79, a. 5; John of St. Thomas, In Illam, disp. 31, a. 3; Gonet,
Clypeus thorn., De Euchar., disp. ix, a. 5 no. 100; Salmanticenses, De Euchar., disp. ΧΙΠ,
dub. 6. We disagree completely with what Father de la Taille has written on this subject,
namely, his Esquisse du mystère de la foi (Paris, 1942), p. 22.
14 Illa, q. 79, a. 5, a. 7 ad 2.
16 St. Thomas says (Illa, q. 79, a. 3) : “Although this offering suffices of its own quantity
to satisfy for all punishment, yet it becomes satisfactory for them for whom it is offered,
or even for the offerers, according to the measure of their devotion, and not for the whole
punishment.” St. Thomas sets up no limits except those resulting from the dispositions of
the subject. He implies that the love of Christ, the principal priest, has an infinite value.
The Angelic Doctor expresses the same view in Illa, q. 79, a. 7 ad 2. He says that the
Mass, like the sacrifice of the Cross, produces a greater or lesser effect in those who benefit
by it according to the measure of their devotion. St. Thomas does not speak of any limit
deriving from the will of Christ.
The Council of Trent, which does not assign any limit, declares: “God, appeased by

316

OUR SAVIOR

The reason for this is that the influence of a universal cause is
limited only by the capacity of the subjects who receive it. Thus, the
sun lights up and warms a thousand persons as well as one in a given
area. Now, inasmuch as the Sacrifice of the Mass is substantially the
same as that of the Cross, it is in terms of reparation and prayer a
universal cause of graces, of light, of inspiration, and of strength. Its
influence on us is therefore limited only by the dispositions or the
fervor of those who receive it. Like the sacrifice of the Cross, it can
thus be as profitable for a large number of persons as if it were offered
for a single one of them. The sacrifice of Calvary, which was offered
up for all men, was no less profitable to the good thief than if it had
been offered up for him alone.
In other words, as the sacrifice of the Cross had infinite value in
terms of merit and satisfaction because of the theandric act of love
that inspired it, now the Sacrifice of the Mass which perpetuates in
substance that of the Cross is of infinite value to apply to us the merits
and satisfactions of the Savior’s passion.
This explains the Church’s practice of offering up Masses for the
salvation of the entire world, for all the faithful living and dead, for
the Sovereign Pontiff, for national leaders, bishops, without limiting
its intentions. In so doing, the Church does not expect to render the
Mass less profitable to the one for whom it is specifically applied.
This manner of thinking appears much sounder than the former.
It even seems to be a corollary of the accepted doctrine that the Sacri­
fice of the Mass is numerically the same in substance as that of the
Cross, inasmuch as the victim and the principal priest are the same in
each of them. There is nothing to justify our limiting the intention of
Christ, as He continues to offer Himself up by a theandric act of
infinite value, in order to apply to us the fruits of His passion. The
limitation is not His doing, but ours. It stems from our own disposi­
tions and fervor. As St. Thomas says, just as we receive more heat
from a fireplace the closer we approach it, so we derive more benefit
from the fruits of the Mass in the measure that we attend with a spirit
of faith, trust in God, love, and piety.
this oblation, forgives great crimes, and die fruits of the bloody oblation of the Cross
are thus abundantly applied” (Denz., no. 94.0).

THE INFINITE VALUE OF EACH MASS

317

What, specifically, are the effects that the Mass produces in us?
The Mass remits our sins, inasmuch as it obtains for us the grace of
repentance. If we do not resist this grace, our sins are forgiven.18 Just
as the sacrifice of the Cross obtained this grace for the good thief, the
Sacrifice of the Mass obtains it for those who desire it. It is not in
vain that the words, “Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the
world, have mercy on us,” are said before Holy Communion. Who
can count the sinners who have gone to Mass and there received the
grace of repentance and the inspiration to make a good confession of
their entire past life? 17
Inasmuch as the Mass remits our sins, it follows that it can be of­
fered up even for hardened and impenitent sinners, who would not
be permitted to receive Holy Communion. The Holy Sacrifice can
obtain for them at least sufficient graces of light and inclination. It
can even be offered up, as was the sacrifice of the Cross, for all the
living, even for infidels, schismatics, heretics, the excommunicated,
provided it is not offered up for them as for members of the Church.18
Thus St. Paul called for public prayers for all men.19 And since we
can pray for all men, the Holy Sacrifice can be offered up for all men.
It is with this in mind that Father Charles de Foucauld, the hermit
of the Sahara, often celebrated Mass for the Moslems in order to
prepare their souls for the subsequent teaching of the Gospel. Like­
wise many Masses are now being celebrated for the conversion of
Russia.
18 The Council of Trent, Sess. ΧΧΠ, chap. 2 (Denz., 940), says: “Hujus oblatione
placatus Dominus, gratiam et donum poenitentiae concedens, peccata etiam ingentia
dimittit.”
17 A young man who despite his indifference was destined—without knowing it—to
become a priest and religious, entered a church one Sunday morning to attend Mass. He
was at once conscious that something very great was happening at the altar, but he had
in great part forgotten what the Mass is and had only vague memories of the catechism
that had prepared him for his First Communion. He saw the priest raise the chalice, and
though he had no clear idea of what this chalice signified, he felt that an immeasurable
mystery was unfolding before him. This was the moment of his conversion. He then pre­
pared for confession, changed his life completely, and soon afterward became a religious.
18 However, for the excommunicated vitandi, according to ecclesiastical law, the priest
can celebrate Mass only in a private manner by praying for their conversion. Cf. Code of
Canon Law, can. 2262, # 2, 20: “Sacerdotes Missam privatiin ac remoto scandalo pro
excommunicato applicare non prohibenturj sed, si excotnmunicatus sit vitandus, pro ejus
conversione tantum.”
10 I Titn. 2:1 f.

318

OUR SAVIOR

The spirit of evil fears nothing so much as a Mass, especially one
that is celebrated with great fervor and in which many souls partici­
pate with a spirit of faith. When the enemy of goodness meets some
insurmountable obstacle, it is because in some church there was a
priest, conscious of his own weakness and poverty, who with faith of­
fered up the very powerful host and the blood of our Redemption. It
is fitting here to mention that there have been saints who, at the mo­
ment of the elevation of the chalice at Mass, have seen the precious
blood overflow and trickle down the arms of the priest, whereupon
angels gathered it up in golden cups to carry it to distant places and
to the souls in greatest need of participating in the mystery of the Re­
demption.
The Sacrifice of the Mass remits not only our sins but the punish­
ment due to sins that have already been forgiven. This applies to
both the living and the dead for whom the Sacrifice is offered up.
We can go so far as to say that this effect is infallible. However, the
punishment is not always remitted in full, but according to the dis­
position of Providence and the degree of our fervor. Thus the words
“Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world, grant us peace,”
are accomplished.
It does not follow that rich men who have left much money for
Masses are delivered from purgatory more quickly than certain poor
men who could leave nothing or almost nothing, for it may well have
been that the latter had smaller debts to pay divine justice, had been
better Christians, and therefore participated more fully in the fruit
of the Masses said for all the dead as well as in the general fruit of
each Mass.20
Finally, the Sacrifice of the Mass obtains for us the spiritual and
temporal blessings necessary or useful for our salvation. Christ’s
prayer, as He continues to offer Himself up on our altars, has infinite
value. Therefore it is fitting, as Pope Benedict XV has recom­
mended,21 to have Masses said in order to obtain the grace of a happy
20 St. Augustine (Enchiridion, c. i io), says that the dead participate in the fruits of the
Mass in the measure that they have merited on earth, “qui cum viverent, meruerunt ut
haec sibi postea prodesse possent.”
21 Letter to the Director of the Archconfraternity of our Lady of Happy Deaths.

THE INFINITE VALUE OF EACH MASS

319

death, for this is the grace of graces, the one on which our eternal sal­
vation depends.
This being so, it is fitting when we attend Mass to unite ourselves
with a great spirit of faith, trust, and love to the interior act of oblation
that continues forever in Christ’s heart. He invites us to do so, as the
author of the Imitation of Christ tells us: “As I willingly offered My­
self to God the Father for thy sins, with My hands stretched out upon
the Cross . . . even so oughtest thou willingly to offer thyself to
Me daily in the Mass, . . . for a pure and holy oblation. . . .
Whatsoever thou givest except thyself, I regard not 5 for I seek not
thy gift, but thyself. . . . But if thou wilt depend upon self, and not
offer thyself freely to My will, thy offering is not complete, nor
will there be an entire union between us.” 22 The more closely we
unite ourselves to our Lord at the moment of the consecration, which
is the essence of the Sacrifice of the Mass, the better will be our Com­
munion, which is a participation in this Sacrifice.
We must answer this call, as the Imitation also advises: “Lord, I
offer to Thee all my sins and offenses, . . . that Thou mayest . . .
blot out all the stains of my sins, . . . fully pardoning me. ... I
offer also to Thee all my good works, though few and imperfect; that
Thou mayest amend and sanctify them, . . . and make them ac­
ceptable to Thee. ... I offer to Thee also all the pious desires of
devout persons; the necessities of . . . all those that are dear to
me. . . . I offer up also to Thee prayers, and this sacrifice of propitia­
tion, for them in particular who have in any way injured me or
grieved me. . . . And for all those likewise whom I have at any
time grieved, troubled, oppressed, or scandalized, . . . knowingly
or unknowingly; that it may please Thee to forgive us all our sins
and mutual offenses . . . and grant us so to live that we may be
worthy to enjoy Thy grace, and that we may attain unto life ever­
lasting.” 23 Let us also offer up our daily difficulties. This is the best
way of carrying our crosses, as our Lord asked us to.
Please God that we may have the capacity and strength to renew
this oblation at the moment of our death, and to unite ourselves with
great love to the Masses that are being celebrated, to unite ourselves
,a T/if Imitation of Chriit, Bk. IV, chap. 8.

’* Ibid., chap. 9.

320

OUR SAVIOR

to the sacrifice of Christ perpetuated at the altar! May we thus make
of the sacrifice of our life an oblation of adoration, reparation, sup­
plication, and thanksgiving, the prelude for us to eternal life!
When we realize that in some places certain priests must serve three
or four parishes, we are forced to conclude that the number of Masses
has diminished and it has become much more difficult for many of the
rural faithful to attend Sunday Mass. Now, when the faithful gradu­
ally cease to attend Mass they progressively lose the meaning of
Christianity, the meaning of the things of the spirit and of eternity.
There was a lay saint who, seeing the state of these churches where
Sunday Mass was celebrated only rarely, entrusted these parishes to
the care of certain saints who had been priests while on earth, in par­
ticular the Curé of Ars, so that from heaven they might watch over
these shepherdless flocks, intercede for them, and obtain the grace of
a happy death for those who died without the sacraments. We should
often remember this when we attend the Holy Sacrifice, and inas­
much as every Mass is of infinite value we should pray that the Mass
we attend may radiate its graces to those places where the Holy Sacri­
fice is no longer celebrated, and where the faithful are gradually los­
ing the habit of going to Mass. Let us implore our Lord to call priestly
vocations into being in such places. Let us beg Him for priests, holy
priests, who become each day more aware of the grandeur of Christ’s
priesthood, so that they may be its zealous ministers, living only for
the salvation of souls. Providence always sends us galaxies of saints in
our most troubled times. We must beseech our Lord to send saints
into the world who have the faith and trust of the apostles, as in the
early days of the Church.

* XXVIII *

S

OVEREIGN REDEMPTION AND ITS
FRUITS IN MARY

“He that is mighty hath done
great things to me.”
Luke 1149

HE special manner in which the mystery of the Redemption
was accomplished with relation to Mary, the Mother of God,
contains such profound harmonies that they long remained hidden
even from great theologians and great saints like St. Bernard, St.
Bonaventure, and perhaps St. Thomas Aquinas.*1 Now that the Church
has made an infallible pronouncement by defining the dogma of the
Immaculate Conception, all the faithful can see in this privilege the
most eminent form of the mystery of the Redemption. Let us first
consider it in the light of the privilege itself, and secondly in the
light of its consequences.

T

The Preservative Redemption

The harmony of a mystery is all the more beautiful when it inti­
mately reconciles things that are apparently most contradictory and
1 It is often said that St. Thomas denied the privilege of the Immaculate Conception.
Such a categorical assertion does not seem justified on the basis of a work recently written
on this subject by Father N. del Prado, O.P., of the University of Fribourg, Divus Thomas
et bulla dogmatica “Ineffabilis Deus” (1919). In this work the author shows that St.
Thomas made more of a distinction than is generally believed between the body of the
Blessed Virgin before the animation, and her person which presupposes the presence of a
rational soul within the body. According to the saintly Doctor, the body of the Blessed
Virgin before the animation was not preserved from original sin. But with regard to the
person of Mary, several reliable authors maintain that St. Thomas neither affirmed nor
denied the privilege. Since the Church had not yet made any pronouncement on the mat­
ter, neither did he sec fit to make. Cf. P. Frietoff, O.P., Angelicum, July, 1933t "Quomodo
caro B.V.M, in originale concepta fuerit.”
321

322

OUR SAVIOR

that God alone can bring together. Thus the mystery of the Redemp­
tion, considered in terms of the Savior Himself, reconciles in the
sufferings endured through love the most rigorous justice and the
tenderest mercy. Therein lies the sublimity of the Cross.
The Immaculate Conception presents a reconciliation of the same
order. On the one hand the Virgin Mary, by reason of her birth as a
daughter of Adam, was destined to contract original sin. The first
man, through his sin, lost original justice for himself and for us. That
is to say, he lost sanctifying grace and the privileges that accompanied
it. Had he remained innocent, he would have transmitted this original
justice to us, together with his human nature.2*The law that weighs
on our fallen nature is universal : human nature is transmitted to all
of us by way of generation, but it is transmitted deprived of grace and
of the privileges of the state of innocence. Every child is born not
merely deprived of sanctifying grace but moreover inclined to covet­
ousness, to disorders of the passions, to error, and subject to suffering
and death. “By one man sin entered into this world,” 8 St. Paul tells
us. Mary, therefore, by reason of her birth as a daughter of Adam,
was destined to contract original sin. How could she, caught in the
current of generation, escape the current of sin? And, as St. Peter
declares, “there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby
we must be saved” [except that of Jesus Christ].4*St. Paul also says:
“There is . . . one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus
who gave Himself a redemption for all.” 8 There is no salvation for
anyone except through the blood of the Savior, who is the Redeemer
of all men without any exception. In this sense Mary needs redemp­
tion, just like the other children of men.
St. Thomas lays great stress on this point, for this is a capital dogma
of our faith. There is no salvation except through Christ who died for
us.
Mary, on the other hand, has been called from all eternity to be
the mother of the Savior. The heavenly Father chose her through a
2 The Council of Trent says clearly: “Si quis Adae praevaricationem sibi soli et non
ejus propagini asserit nocuisse, acceptam a Deo sanctitatem et justitiam, quam perdidit,
sibi soli et non nobis etiam eum perdidisse: an. sit” (Denzinger, no. 789).
• Rom. 5:12.
4 Acts 4:12.
“I Tim. 2:5.

MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD

323

love of predilection from among all women, so that in time she
should give a body to the Son, only begotten from all eternity. No
one but the heavenly Father and Mary can call Jesus, “My Son.” The
Holy Ghost was to overshadow her and, without sullying her virgin­
ity in any way, was to make it possible for her to conceive the Savior.
The Word of God, who exists eternally and therefore existed before
creation, was to be truly Mary’s son, and He was to love her among
all creatures as His true Mother.
Could it be that Mary, called to this glorious maternity, should
have come into the world bearing the stain of original sin? Was it
possible that she who was to be the Mother of the Author of grace
should be born deprived of grace? Could she who was to be the
Mother of the Word made flesh have been born inclined toward
covetousness, disorders of the emotions, and error?
These reasons are so compelling that even the theologians who
once doubted the privilege of the Immaculate Conception declared
unequivocally that Mary was sanctified before her birth in the womb
of her mother, St. Anne. But the Church goes still further and has
solemnly affirmed the privilege of the Immaculate Conception, ac­
corded at the very instant when Mary’s soul was created and united
to her body.
How then can we reconcile these two things that are apparently so
irreconcilable: Mary, being the daughter of Adam, must contract
original sin; but, being called to be the Mother of God, she must be
exempt from any stain whatever, she must escape the universal con­
tagion?
How can these things be reconciled?
We can understand an exception to the law of man’s fall, in view
of a mission that is unique in the world, a mission that is superior to
that of the prophets and apostles. But how was this exception to be
accomplished? Was Mary preserved from the common stain inde­
pendently of the future merits of her Son? Is it possible that Christ,
the sole Mediator and Savior of all souls, is not Mary’s Savior? Can
it be that she does not owe her holiness to Him? St. Thomas rightly
placed great emphasis on this point, for he was deeply concerned with
safeguarding the dogma of universal redemption.

324

OUR SAVIOR

The Church, in defining the Immaculate Conception, answers:
Mary was the beneficiary of a unique mode of redemption, a preserva­
tive redemption, and not merely a liberating and reparative redemp­
tion. Mary was preserved from original sin because of the future
merits of her Son, and this truth reveals to us the deep harmony of
the mystery, which long remained hidden even from great saints.
What kept St. Thomas from stoutly affirming the privilege of the
Immaculate Conception, not yet defined by the Church at that time,
was his fear of contradicting the dogma of the universal redemption
of souls by Jesus Christ. He feared he might detract from the Re­
deemer’s glory. And divine Providence seems to have permitted the
great doctor to remain in darkness on this point, and with him St.
Bonaventure and St. Bernard, because the proclamation of this privi­
lege was reserved for much later, for our era of unbelief and natural­
ism which denies original sin and the necessity of redemption.8
Preservative redemption is one of the marvels of Catholic dogma.
To truly understand it we must realize that not only is Jesus Christ
Mary’s Savior, but that she benefited more than anyone else from His
redemptive mission. Herein lies all the grandeur of the mystery. Let
us consider it in some detail. Indeed it is fitting that the absolutely
perfect Savior should exercise sovereign redemption for at least one
soul, the soul called to be most intimately united to Him in His work
of salvation. But perfect redemption consists not only in rescuing a
soul from sin, but also in preserving it from this sin even before sin
has had a chance to sully it. He who preserves us from a mortal blow
saves our life even better than if he healed the wound caused by this
blow. It is therefore highly fitting that Christ Jesus, the perfect Re­
deemer, should bestow upon His Mother redemption in all its pleni­
tude: a redemption that is not merely reparative and liberating, but
a preservative redemption. It is highly fitting that Mary should not
be liberated, purified, cured of original sin, but that she should be
totally preserved from it by the future merits of her Son.
Christ’s love for His immaculate Mother is immense. At the
thought of it our souls should rejoice and soar upward. Only the
0 If these great doctors had made definite pronouncements in favor of the Immaculate
Conception, this dogma would probably have been defined before the nineteenth century.

MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD

325

Mother of the Son of God could have this unique prerogative. How
fitting that she should have it!
Inasmuch as she had been called to become the Mother of God
and the Coredemptrix, the Mother of all men, it was necessary that
she be redeemed as perfectly as possible. Being closer than anyone to
the stream of grace that pours from the Word made flesh, she re­
ceived His blessings in their plenitude.
At a time when all truths were being depreciated, when many re­
fused to believe either in original sin or in the necessity of baptismal
regeneration, it was fitting that the Church should solemnly define
this dogma and that Mary should remind us of all these truths by
telling us at Lourdes: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” This privi­
lege, far from detracting from the dogma of the universal redemp­
tion of souls by Jesus Christ, discloses to us in the person of Mary
sovereign redemption in its most perfect form conceivable?
In preserving His Mother from original sin, the Savior gave her
an initial plenitude of grace greater than that of all the saints and
angels taken together, just as a single diamond may have greater value
than a great pile of lesser stones. From this initial plenitude of sancT Let us note that, since Mary was fully redeemed by Christ, she was not able, properly
speaking, to merit the Incarnation even de congruo. Why? Because the principle of merit
cannot be merited, just as the first cause cannot be an effect produced. It cannot produce
itself. Thus the merits of the Blessed Virgin Mary derive from the future merits of her
Son as their primary source. Her merits depend on those of her Son not only as on a final
cause, but as on an efficient moral cause, foreseen and willed by God. Mary therefore
could not have merited the Incarnation.
But having received the initial plenitude of grace through the future merits of her Son,
she merited the superior degree of grace which made her the worthy Mother of the Savior.
St. Thomas (Illa, q.2, a. 11 ad 3) says with admirable precision: “The Blessed Virgin is
said to have merited to bear the Lord of all j not that she merited His incarnation, but be­
cause by the grace bestowed upon her she merited that grade of purity and holiness which
fitted her to be the Mother of God.”
Several modern theologians seem to forget this distinction and therefore to misunder­
stand the great principle that the principle of merit cannot be merited. Some wish to apply
in this connection the axiom “causae ad invicem sunt causae,” but one must not forget to
add “in diverso genere.” There is certainly a mutual priority of final and efficient causes,
but on condition of keeping in mind that they are of diverse orders. The principal root of
Mary’s merits lies in the merits of Christ, and these latter presuppose the Incarnation. Thus
Mary could not merit the Incarnation. It is clear that here we are dealing with the same
order of causality. Cf. the commentators of St. Thomas on Illa, q. 2., a. 1 1, for example
Billuart: “Nullum meritum est aut concipi potest pro praesenti hominum statu, quod non
accipiat valorem suum et vim merendi ex Christi meritis.”

326

OUR SAVIOR

tifying grace sprang forth in the same eminent degree faith, hope,
charity, the infused moral virtues, and the seven gifts of the Holy
Ghost. Moreover, this initial plenitude did not cease growing until
Mary’s death, for no venial sin or imperfection impeded its progress.
Because of Mary’s unceasing fidelity, the initial treasure increased in
a marvelous progression. Just as bodies fall with increasing speed as
they approach the earth by virtue of the law of acceleration which
is a corollary of universal gravitation, so do souls progress more
quickly toward God as they come closer to Him and are increasingly
attracted by Him.8
This law of acceleration of the progress of souls toward God, which
is approximately verified in the lives of the saints especially by fre­
quent Holy Communion,8 was fully verified in Mary. Whereas Jesus
never increased in goodness,10 since He had been conceived in the
absolute plenitude of grace, Mary continued to increase in perfection
until her death, until the moment of the final plenitude of grace when
her soul entered glory.11
It is a consolation to think that there has been one soul that re­
ceived in its plenitude everything that God desired to give her and
that never impeded the pouring of grace upon other souls. There is
one absolutely perfect soul which allowed the divine life-giving tor­
rent to flow through her without obstacle. There is at least one soul
that never for a single instant failed to measure up to what God de­
sired of her. This is the soul of the Mother of God, the Mother of all
men, who watches over them to lead them to eternal life.
This is what we mean by sovereign Redemption, a redemption that
8 Cf. St. Thomas, In E-pistolam ai Hebraeos, 10:25: “Motus naturalis (v.g., motus
lapidis cadentis ad centrum terrae) quanto plus accedit ad terminum, magis intenditur.
Contrarium est de motu violento. Gratia autem inclinat in modum naturae. Ergo qui sunt
in gratia, quanto plus accedunt ad finem, plus debent crescere.” Cf. St. Thomas, Ia Hae,
q. 35, a. 6 ad 2: “Omnis motus naturalis intensior est in fine.”
8 In principle, if we fought generously against negligence and every attachment to
venial sin, each of our Communions should be substantially more fervent than the pre­
ceding one since each of them must not only preserve but increase charity in us and there­
fore dispose us to receive our Lord with a more fervent will the following day.
10 Cf. Concilium Constantinop. II (Denzinger, no. 224).
11 As the theologians say in describing this instant which is preceded by a period of time
that can be divided ad infinitum: “primum non esse viae, seu primum esse separationis
animae a corpore, fuit primum esse vitae ejus gloriosae.”

MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD

327

is not merely liberating and reparative but also preservative. This is
what motivated the words of the archangel Gabriel when he said to
Mary: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou
among women.” 13
The Consequences of the Preservative Redemption

Did the privilege we have just discussed remove from Mary even
here on earth all the consequences of original sin? What happens to
us even after baptism which remits original sin and restores us to
sanctifying grace with all its accompanying infused virtues and gifts
of the Holy Ghost? Even after baptism, there remain in us as a con­
sequence of original sin concupiscence or the roots of covetousness that
enkindle our evil passions, inclination toward error or weak judgment
that easily goes astray, as well as suffering and death.
None of these evils existed in the state of original justice in which
human nature was ennobled by grace and endowed with privileges.
The body was perfectly submissive to the soul, the passions to right
reason and to the will, and the will was submissive to God. Baptism,
while it cleanses us of original sin, leaves the consequences of original
sin in us as so many occasions for struggle and merit.
What is so striking about Mary is that the privilege of the Im­
maculate Conception exempts her from two of the consequences of
original sin that are blighting and incompatible with her mission as
Mother of God, but her privilege does not exempt her from suffering
and death. This is most illuminating.
From the first moment of her life Mary was exempt from every
form of concupiscence. The embers of covetousness never existed in
her. No movement of her emotions could be disorderly or circum­
vent her judgment and her consent. Hers was perfect subordination
of the emotions to the intellect and the will, and of the will to God
as was the case of man in the state of innocence. Thus Mary is the
most pure Virgin of virgins, “inviolata, intemerata,” the tower of
ivory, the most perfect mirror of God.
Likewise Mary was never subject to error or illusion. Her judg11 Luke i :i8.

328

OUR SAVIOR

ment was always enlightened, always clearsighted. In the words of
the Litany, she is the Seat of Wisdom, the Virgin most prudent, the
Mother of good counsel. All theologians agree that even here on
earth she possessed an eminently superior and simple understanding
of the Scriptures on the subject of the Messiah, the Incarnation, and
the Redemption. She was more intimately initiated into the secrets
of the kingdom of heaven than were the apostles. Then too, every­
thing in nature spoke to her of the Creator more poignantly than to
the greatest poets. In its simplicity her contemplation was superior to
that of the greatest saints, to that of even St. John, St. Paul, or St.
Augustine. Mary was above ecstasy. She had no need to lose the use
of her senses to become very intimately united to God. Her union
with Him was continual. She was thus perfectly exempt from covet­
ousness and error.
Why then did not the privilege of the Immaculate Conception
exempt Mary from suffering and death, which are also consequences
of original sin? The truth of the matter is that suffering and death,
as Mary and Jesus experienced them, were not consequences of orig­
inal sin, as they are for us. For original sin had not touched them.
Suffering and death were for them the consequences of human nature
which by its very nature is subject to suffering and to corporeal death
just as is the nature of the animal. It was only through a supernatural
privilege that Adam in his innocence was exempt from all suffering
and from the necessity of dying.
That He might become our Redeemer by His death on the cross,
Jesus was virginally conceived in mortal flesh, and He willingly ac­
cepted suffering and dying for our salvation. Following His example,
Mary willingly accepted suffering and death also, so that she might
be united to her Son’s sacrifice, make expiation with Him in our stead,
and thus redeem us.
And, astonishingly enough, the privilege of the Immaculate Con­
ception and the plenitude of grace she enjoyed, instead of exempting
Mary from pain, considerably increased her capacity for suffering.
This truth never ceases to arouse the admiration and wonder of the
contemplatives. Mary suffered extraordinarily from the gravest evils
precisely because she was absolutely pure, because her heart was

MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD

319

aflame with divine charity. Yet we in our flightiness are not much
troubled by these evils. We suffer because of things that wound our
susceptibility, our self-love, our pride. Mary suffered because of sin
in the measure of her love for God whom sin offends, in the measure
of her love for her Son whom sin crucified, in the measure of her
love for our souls that sin ravages and kills. Just as the Blessed Vir­
gin’s love for God was superior even here on earth to that of all the
saints taken together, the same is true of her suffering. Here on earth,
the closer a soul is to God—that is, the more it loves—the more it is
destined to suffer. Mary loved the Savior, not only as her beloved
Son but also as her Son the legitimate object of adoration, with her
most tender virginal heart. The depth of her love made of her the
queen of martyrs. As the aged Simeon had prophesied, a sword pierced
her soul. The privilege of the Immaculate Conception, far from ex­
empting Mary from sufferings, thus increased them and disposed her
so well to endure them that she wasted none of them.
Finally, although this privilege did not save Mary from being
subject to death, the Assumption was one of its consequences. Mary,
conceived without sin, preserved from all sin, was not to know the
corruption of the grave. The Savior was thus to associate her to
the glories of the Ascension and to hasten for her the moment of the
resurrection of the body.
Such were the consequences of the sovereign redemption which
was accomplished in her. Not only was Mary redeemed by the most
perfect redemption conceivable, but she has been intimately associated
with the work of the salvation of mankind through her love and suf­
fering.
This preservative redemption reminds us of the value of a less ex­
alted grace, but one that is so necessary to us: baptism. Although we
are born sinners, we are cleansed of original sin by baptismal grace,
which is the seed of eternal life. There is an immense difference be­
tween an unbaptized child and one who has received the sacrament
of regeneration. And as Mary’s initial plenitude of grace never stopped
growing within her during her lifetime, so the seed of eternal life
should never cease growing in us until the moment of our death.
God loves us much more than we realize. In order to grasp the full

330

OUR SAVIOR

value of the sanctifying grace received in baptism, we should have
to see God. For grace is nothing but a true and formal participation in
God’s intimate life.
Lastly, the sovereign redemption that we have just contemplated
in Mary reminds us of the value of sanctity, and inspires us to pray
earnestly, especially at the thought of the spiritual wretchedness of
present-day Russia and other vast areas of the world. As the con­
templatives tell us, the actual state of the world is at once much sad­
der and more beautiful than we know. The world desires no more
saints, and expels them from persecuted lands. But God for His
part wishes to give the world saints of every age and station in life.
God wishes to give the world saints, but we must ask Him for them
and secure them from His mercy. For a number of years now, Rome
has been multiplying its beatifications and canonizations. In moments
of great confusion like that of the Albigensian heresy and that of
Protestantism, God sent galaxies of saints to carry on His Son’s work
and to lift up afflicted and tempted souls.
Although the world’s plight is grave, let us not view it with dis­
couragement and thereby depress those around us. Let us look at the
other pan of the scales with a holy realism, and see in it the infinite
merits of the Savior, those of Mary Coredemptrix and Mediatrix,
and those of all the saints. This is the supernatural contemplation
superior to all science, the contemplation that awakens in us not merely
momentary enthusiasm but “the hunger and thirst for God’s justice.”
It tells us that the only genuinely and profoundly interesting thing
for us is sanctity and whatever leads us toward it. When this sanctity
is incontestable, as in Mary, it becomes manifest to all as the profound
reign of God in souls, and it permits us to glimpse even here on earth
the grandeur of the mystery of Redemption, that is, the mystery of
eternal life given back to souls that are willing to receive it.

*
®XXIX
HE INTIMACY OF CHRIST

“Can you drink the chalice
that I shall drink?”
Matt. 20:21

O ENTER truly into the depths of the mystery of the Re­
demption, we must consider the intimacy of Christ, that is,
the friendship of predilection He had for certain particularly faithful
and generous souls. Among these souls there is one described in the
Gospel by these simple words: “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” 1
If we would understand the greatness of the Savior’s friendship, its
wellsprings, its pattern, its tenderness and its strength, as well as its
inestimable gifts, we can do nothing better than contemplate His
friendship for St. John.
The most beloved of all the apostles must have been perfect
for our Lord to love him so much. John’s purity delighted Him.
Yet it was not John’s perfection that attracted the love of Jesus. On
the contrary, John’s perfection was the effect of Jesus’ love for him,
Bossuet tells us, just as a fine work of art reflects its author’s joy in
creation. The love that God the Father and the Son have for our
souls does not presuppose that we are lovable. Rather, their love
for us implants and increases our lovable qualities by assimilating us
to itself. When divine love pours into us, it produces the life of grace
in our souls, and it continues to increase this grace in us if we do not
set up any obstacles?
Let us see how our Lord, through His friendship, made John re-

T

1 John 13:23.
* Cf. St. Thomae, la, q.20, a. 2: “The love of God infuses and creates goodness.” St.
Thomas relates hie entire treatise on grace to this principle: Cf. la Ilae, q. 110, a. 1, c. and
ad i : "Whatever is pleasing to God in a man is caused by the divine love.”
331

OUR SAVIOR

33»

semble Him ever more closely. Bossuet has remarked that the Savior
gave His beloved disciple three gifts: His cross, His Mother, and
His heart.8 But it seems preferable to follow the chronological order
in which He bestowed these gifts, for it gives us a better understand­
ing of St. John’s progress in grace, and how the beloved disciple
gradually entered ever deeper into Christ’s intimacy. At the Last
Supper Jesus gave John His heart. Soon afterward, when He was
dying, He gave him His Mother. And then, to make John’s ministry
fruitful, Jesus gave him His cross.
At the Last Supper, Jesus Gave John His Heart

At that moment, all the apostles were ordained priests, received
the priestly character, and also received Holy Communion. But St.
John came closer to the Master’s heart, and laid his head on the sacred
heart of the Savior.
When our Lord instituted the sacrament whose purpose is to in­
crease our love of God, He willed that one of His privileged apostles
should be more aware than the others of the beat of His heart, that
would thereafter continue to live in the Eucharist for the consolation
and perfect regeneration of souls.
What interior grace did St. John receive at that moment? We can
get some idea of it when we remember that Jesus’ body emitted a
virtue capable of healing the sick. How much more must His heart
have poured forth vivifying grace! Beyond any doubt John received
in that instant a grace of light and love. He learned experimentally
that the Savior’s heart lives only for love of God and of souls. He
understood how the Eucharist is the great manifestation of this love
on earth, and that even under its humble appearances it is the very
life of God always present among us. Predestined from all eternity to
be the great doctor of charity, John drank in charity at its very source
and was inspired by the words that were to inspire a holy tenderness
in the faithful until the end of time. So that he might speak more
eloquently of the Savior’s love for us, he came very close to the spirit8 Panegyric on St. John.

THE INTIMACY OF CHRIST

333

ual fire that burns without destroying and that would transform us
into itself.
As St. Paul recalled in his writings that he had been caught up to
the third heaven, so St. John remembered that he had rested on the
Master’s heart. And how the eagle of the Evangelists wrote! He pro­
claimed the fundamental principles of Christian doctrine to be as
follows: God is light and love. It was He who first loved us gratui­
tously. Our love for Him must be a response to the love He has
shown for us, and fraternal charity must be the great sign of our love
of God. He summed up his views in his First Epistle: “Dearly be­
loved, let us love one another: for charity is of God. And everyone
that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not
knoweth not God: for God is charity. By this hath the charity of God
appeared toward us, because God hath sent His only-begotten Son
into the world, that we may live by Him. In this is charity: not as
though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and
sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. My dearest, if God
hath so loved us, we also ought to love one another. . . . God is
charity: and he that abideth in charity abideth in God, and God in
him.” 4
This is an abstract of the whole of Christian dogma and morality,
reduced to its essentials: love of God and of neighbor, the charity that
must inspire and animate all the virtues. “We know that we have
passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.” 8 This is
the great sign of the love of God.
We also have received what John received: the Master’s heart.
We can receive the Eucharistic heart of Jesus each day at Holy Com­
munion. And if we receive it, if we truly believe in it, we must imitate
it. The Savior’s heart is open to all the faithful. In His heart we are
all united, to be consummated into one. He turns no one away.
If we would enter into Christ’s intimacy, our hearts must exclude
no one, they must forget the wrongs our neighbors have done us,
and be compassionate for the sufferings of others; our hearts must be
generous, keeping nothing for themselves, giving their lives for oth* I John 4:7-16.

“I John 3:14.

334

OUR SAVIOR

ers and thereby possessing life all the more securely. Let us remem­
ber that God will multiply His blessings to us in the measure that we
desire to share them with our brothers. We do not lose truth or good­
ness when we give them to others. Rather we possess them more se­
curely and in a holy manner.
We should rejoice also in seeing in our neighbor what is lacking in
ourselves. Instead of falling prey to jealousy, we ought to rejoice
in his qualities, which are ours too in a sense, inasmuch as we are all
one in the mystical body of Christ. The hand can rejoice in what the
eye sees. Charity thus enriches our poverty. It makes all our goods
the common property of all. It appropriates for us in a sense all the
gifts of the mystical body of the Savior, and makes us participate in
a measure in all the blessings of the City of God.
But to enter even more deeply into Christ’s intimacy we must be
taught by Mary, for she more than any other creature was privileged
to enter into the heart of this sanctuary. That is why, when He was
about to die, Jesus confided His Mother to St. John.
John was the only apostle at the foot of the cross. He was there, a
heartbroken witness of all the Master’s physical and moral suffering.
Jesus had invisibly drawn him there to let him hear His last words
and to give him a final proof of His love.
Those who are about to die leave to their dearest ones the most ex­
pressive testimony of affection. What did Jesus leave St. John, as He
was dying? He had nothing left. He had been stripped of everything,
abandoned by all. It even seemed that His Father had rejected Him
when, as a victim in our stead, He cried out the first words of the
psalm: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” 8 In this
state of utter destitution, what did Jesus leave to St. John?
He left him a living memory, the very holy soul whom He cher­
ished more than all other creatures taken together. He left Mary
to him. “Behold thy mother,” He said to John. And to Mary:
“Woman, behold thy son.” “And from that hour, the disciple took
her to his own.” 7
Contact with Jesus’ heart at the Last Supper spiritually vivified
John’s soul. The Savior’s words spoken from the cross also had sacra• Matt. 28:46.

T John 19:26 f.

THE INTIMACY OF CHRIST

335

mental power, as it were. Although He spoke these words on the point
of death, He was still strong enough to touch men’s hearts and to
enrich them as He pleased.
These words created between Mary and John a most intimate bond,
analogous to the bond that unites Jesus to His Blessed Mother. They
gave Mary a most maternal and deep love that would thenceforth
enfold John’s soul, and they awakened in John a most filial and re­
spectful love that made him a true spiritual son of Mary.
In this moment of anguish the words of the dying Christ touched
their souls to their depths like a gentle balm, soothing their sufferings
and their broken hearts. They brought immense consolation to John
and to Mary too, for she could see into human souls and, looking into
the soul of the beloved disciple, she could see what he himself could
not: the living image of the Savior, the image that Mary would make
perfect, to render it ever more like its divine model.
And so it happens often in the history of souls. When Jesus seems
to draw away to test the confidence of His friends, He leaves His
Blessed Mother to them, and He entrusts them to her care. Who
can describe all the blessings St. John received from Mary? If St.
Augustine and St. Monica had conversations on such an exalted plane,
what are we to think of the talks between Mary and St. John?
Through the plenitude of grace she had received, the Mother of
God was superior to the angels. The charity ablaze in her heart sur­
passed that of all the saints taken together. Its lively flame ever
aspired toward God, even while she slept, in the words of the Canticle
of Canticles: “I sleep, and my heart watcheth.” 8
Blessed with such a supernatural intimacy, how greatly St. John’s
charity must have grown, especially when he celebrated the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass in Mary’s presence for her intentions, and when
he gave her Holy Communion! Did he not know that the Blessed
Virgin understood immeasurably better than he the sacrifice of the
altar which perpetuates in substance the sacrifice of the Cross? Mary
did not have the official capacity of the priesthood and she could not
consecrate, but “she had received the plenitude of the spirit of the
priesthood, which is the spirit of Christ our Redeemer.” 9 As uni• Cant, f :a.

* These are the word· of Jean Jacques Olier.

j36

OUR SAVIOR

versai Mediatrix and Coredemptrix, Mary never ceased lifting the
soul of the apostle up toward God. Thus did He develop great love
for the hidden life and become the model of contemplatives.
It was St. John’s purity that had prepared him to live in Christ’s
intimacy. It was his purity, too, that disposed him to inherit Christ’s
love for Mary, who thus became his spiritual mother in the deepest
and truest sense.
Following St. John’s example, let us place ourselves under the
immediate direction of the Virgin, as St. Louis Marie de Montfort
urges. She is our mediatrix before Christ, as He is our mediator be­
fore His Father. She will be our counsel and our strength, our defense
against the devil. She will increase the worth of our merits by offer­
ing them herself to her Son. Let us abandon into her hands the repara­
tive and impetratory value of our actions, our struggles, our prayers,
so that she may make them available, according to her good pleasure,
to the souls that need them most. Thus to strip ourselves is in reality
to enrich ourselves. Under Mary’s direction we shall with a much
surer step follow the path blazed by the Word, who Himself obeyed
her on earth. Then we shall run swiftly on the path of God’s com­
mandments, because we shall receive the grace that dilates the heart,
in the words of the psalm: “I have run the way of Thy command­
ments, when Thou didst enlarge my heart.” 10 The Blessed Virgin
will teach us countless things through her inspirations, as a good
mother yields up to her child by a simple look, without need of words,
the treasure of her interior life. With her and in her intimacy, we
shall make more progress in a few days than during years of personal
effort made without her. Thus speaks St. Louis Marie de Montfort,
a true spiritual son of Mary as was St. John.11
Our Lord gave St. John His heart, He gave him His Mother.
What else did He give him to make his apostolic ministry fruitful?
He gave him His cross, and progressively made him understand its
inestimable value.
Jesus’ friendship does not consist wholly in sweetness and joy. It
10 Ps. 118 :jx.
11 See his Treatise on the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, no. 1JJ. Also the
summary of this work, entitled The Secret of Mary.

THE INTIMACY OF CHRIST

337

is as strong as it is tender. It tends to purify through tribulations, and
through suffering to associate souls with itself in the mystery of Re­
demption.
The apostles did not understand this at first. When Jesus spoke of
the foundation of the kingdom of God, the apostles wondered which
of them would be first in this kingdom. Then, as St. Matthew records,
“Jesus calling unto Him a little child, set him in the midst of them,
and said : ‘Arnen I say to you, unless you be converted and become as
little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Who­
soever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the
greater in the kingdom of heaven.’ ” 12 The Master had also said on
several occasions: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny him­
self and take up his cross and follow Me.” 18 But the apostles did not
yet understand the full meaning of the word “cross.” They could not
accept the idea that Jesus would be crucified. Yet several times He
had told them that this would happen.
One day, as He was going up to Jerusalem with them, our Lord
again predicted His passion, crucifixion, and resurrection. He wished
to implant it more deeply into the mind of John and that of his
brother. At that moment the mother of the two apostles approached
Jesus and bowed down as if to ask something. As St. Matthew records
it,14 Jesus said to her: “What wilt thou?” She answered: “Say that
these my two sons may sit, the one on Thy right hand, and the other
on Thy left, in Thy kingdom.” Jesus then said: “You know not what
you ask. Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink?” Quickly they
declared: “We can.” He answered: “My chalice indeed you shall
drink; but to sit on My right or left hand is not Mine to give you,
but to them for whom it is prepared by My Father.” That was the
day Jesus gave His cross to His beloved disciple.
These words spoken by the Savior, like those spoken on the two
other occasions, produced their effects in the disciple’s soul. From that
moment John no longer sought to be the first. He began to love suf­
fering and humiliation, and this love continued to grow in his heart
through the influence of grace.
Jesus was to make John more and more like Himself. He came to
*’Matt. 18:1-4.

’* Ibid., 16:14.

“ Ibid., 10:11-13.

338

OUR SAVIOR

suffer as a victim of salvation, to save us by His agony more than by
His sermons. So He united John more and more to His toilsome and
crucified life. Bossuet says, “Whenever Jesus comes, He brings with
Him His cross and His thorns, and He shares them with those who
love Him.” As John was His beloved apostle, He gave him the im­
mense grace of loving the cross.
John had at first thought that in order to have an honored place
in the kingdom of the Son of God it was necessary to be seated at
His right hand and to be clothed in His glory. He was to learn that
we penetrate far into this kingdom even here on earth through suf­
fering. He was to learn also how tribulation makes one clairvoyant in
contemplating Jesus in the souls of men. Affliction was to open his
eyes. He was to understand the profound meaning of the noblest of
the beatitudes, the one that is most astonishing to human reason:
“Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake: for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.” This kingdom is already theirs here on
earth even in the midst of persecution, because of the profound peace
that Jesus gives them.
What was John’s cross? If we look at things outwardly, it may
seem that his was the lightest of all the apostles’ crosses. He alone
among them did not die in the throes of martyrdom. He did of course
suffer persecution. In Rome under Domitian he was plunged into a
cauldron of boiling oil. But this oil changed into dew, and he emerged
refreshed and purified. He was then exiled on Patmos, where our
Lord appeared to him in His glory and revealed His secrets to him,
commanding him to write them down in the most mysterious of all
the sacred books, the Apocalypse.
Viewed externally, St. John’s cross may seem to have been lighter
than those of the other apostles. But as Bossuet says, “St. John’s cross
was inwardly the greatest of all. Learn the mystery and consider the
two crosses of our Savior. The one was seen on Calvary, and it seemed
the more painful. The other is the one He carried all through His
life, and it caused Him far more suffering.” 15 Jesus explained to St.
Catherine of Siena several times that this interior cross is the desire
for the salvation of souls, a desire that was combated by the spirit of
11 Panegyric on St. John, Point i.

THE INTIMACY OF CHRIST

339

evil, by the spirit of the world, and by covetousness that sweeps mil­
lions of souls to perdition. In Jesus’ life we can follow the progress of
the malice of those who hated Him, thus increasing His thirst for the
salvation of souls that was burning and consuming Him. The mar­
tyrdom of the heart is often more painful than outward martyrdom,
and it can last for years and not merely for a few hours.
It was particularly this interior cross of desire for the glory of God
and for the salvation of souls that Jesus gave to St. John. It did not
strike at the senses, but it was implanted by God in the depths of his
soul together with a very strong desire for the salvation of sinners.
To make His apostle capable of carrying this interior cross, Jesus
inspired in him the love of suffering which at once quickened the de­
sire to a calm, steady flame, and prevented the soul from finding
solace in anything outside of God. Likewise, when certain souls called
to holiness find too much natural satisfaction in creatures, our Lord
will quickly pour a little bitterness on this satisfaction, and this bitter­
ness far exceeds the pleasure formerly enjoyed. This is a crucifying
and purifying grace.
Finally, St. John’s interior cross consisted most of all in the heresies
that were mutilating Holy Mother Church by denying the divinity
of Jesus. How these denials must have tortured the heart of the
author of the Fourth Gospel which was written to make known the
Word made flesh in all His glory! This interior cross derived from
the divisions arising in the new-born Church to the detriment of
charity. When the apostle was eighty years old, he had his disciples
carry him to the church of Ephesus, and since he could no longer
preach long sermons, he merely said: “My little children, love one
another.” He who in his youth had been called “son of thunder” by
our Lord because of his ardor, could now speak only of fraternal
charity, the great sign of love of God. He had lost none of his ardor,
of his hunger for justice, but it had become more spiritual and gentle.
And when his listeners asked him why he always repeated the same
thing, he answered: “That is the Lord’s command. If you accom­
plish it, that is sufficient.” Such was John’s cross; above all an interior
cross.
The Lord gives us interior crosses, too. There are three kinds of

340

OUR SAVIOR

crosses: those that remain useless, like that of the bad thief; those we
carry to make reparation for our own sins and to merit salvation, like
that of the good thief; and those that make us think of the Savior’s
cross, and that we bear in order to labor with Him for the salvation
of souls. When we carry a cross well, it in turn carries us. It unseals
our eyes and leads us toward contemplation, and helps us to see God
hidden in the souls of men. If such a cross sometimes seems very
heavy, let us ask our Savior to give us a love of suffering, or at least
orient us in the path of suffering.
That is what He desires, since He has given us His heart, a
wounded heart. He has also given us His Mother, and one of the
greatest graces that our Lady of Sorrows can obtain for us is the grace
of delighting in the crosses that the Lord places on our shoulders to
purify us and to enable us to labor for the salvation of souls.18 This
is truly to enter into Christ’s intimacy and to participate in His hid­
den and sorrowful life before having a part in His glorious life in
heaven.1*
18 The expression “to delight in the cross” reminds us that our Lord declared : “There
are some . . . that shall not taste death till they see the Son of man coming in His king­
dom” (Matt. 16:28). St. Thomas said in this regard (Z» Matthaeum, 16:28) : “Sinners
are absorbed, swallowed up as it were, by death, the just delight in death, which is their
entrance into eternal life.”
1T To help us enter into Christ’s intimacy, let us from time to time reread a hymn
composed by St. Bernard of Clairvaux :18
Jesus, sweet is love of Thee
Nor may nothing so sweet be 5
Nought that man may think or see
Can have sweetness near Thee.

Jesus, no song may be sweeter
Nor thought in heart blissfuller,
Nought may be felt lightsomer
Than Thou, so sweet a Lover.
Equally beautiful is a German prayer that has long been sung by the faithful:
Ich danke dir, Herr Jesu Christ,
Dasz du fur mich gestorben bist.
Lass dein Blut und deine Pein
An mit doch nicht verloren sein.
O Liebe, o unendliche Liebc Gottes!
Let us repeat with Blessed Nicholas de Flue: “Nimm mich mir, und gib mich dir: Lord,
take me from myself and give me to Thee!”
18 Thomas Walsh, The Catholic Anthology. The World’t Great Catholic Poetry (New
York, 1947), pp. 49 f.

*
«XXX
UR PARTICIPATION IN THE MYSTERIES
OF OUR LORD’S LIFE

O

“In My Father’s house there are
many mansions.”
John 14:2

HRIST’S intimacy takes on different forms that contribute to
the harmony of His mystical body, that is, to its variety within
its profound unity. In the Church the union of these two factors,
unity and catholicity, in the face of so many causes for division, con­
stitutes a permanent moral miracle.*1 For in the Church unity of faith,
hope, charity, worship, and government exists despite the diversity
of place, time, race, language, customs, and institutions. This is in­
deed the accomplishment of one of Christ’s prophecies, that His
Church was to extend to all peoples,2 *and
* *that
* * it would nevertheless
remain one 8 in order to lead the souls of every land and every cen­
tury to eternal life.
It is important to understand the reason for this variety in unity.
Diversity of temperament, character, or spiritual cast, is often an
occasion for salutary suffering but also for failures in charity, for
irritation, impatience, and for arbitrary judgments. In our narrow­
view we may sometimes wish that all souls were absolutely alike, and

C

1 The Council of the Vatican (Denzinger, no. 1794) says: “Ecclesia per se ipsam ob
suam nempe admirabilem propagationem, eximiam sanctitatem et inexhaustam in omnibus
bonis fecunditatem, ob catholicam unitatem, invictamque stabilitatem, magnum quoddam
et perpetuum est motivum credibilitatis et divinae suae legationis testimonium irre­
fragabile.”
2 Cf. Matt. 28:19: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations: baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” Cf. Mark 16:15.
’ Cf. John 17:20: “And not for them [the apostles] only do I pray, but for them also
who through their word shall believe in Me. That they all may be one, as Thou, Father,
in Me, and I in Thee.” Cf. Matt. 16:18) John 10:16) Acts 1:8.

34»

342

OUR SAVIOR

had the same dominant inclinations as we do. Fortunately that is not
the case. The harmony of the Church, as well as that of the religious
orders and of religious communities, requires a certain diversity. In
the vast fertile plain that is the Church there are a number of hills
from which one can look out with the eyes of a St. Benedict, as it
were, or of a St. Dominic, or a St. Francis, a St. Ignatius, or a St.
Theresa. Our Lord has told us: “In My Father’s house there are
many mansions.”
To gain light on this point we may consider the different forms of
holiness that correspond to various dominant inclinations and to dif­
ferent types of trials. Each of these spiritual physiognomies has its
own grandeur and beauty. Holiness takes three rather distinct forms,
that correspond to the three predominant graces and tend to con­
verge, as trails on different slopes of a mountain all lead to the sum­
mit. These three forms of holiness, as we shall see, are eminently
present in the sacred souls of Jesus and Mary.
Holiness takes three rather distinct forms that correspond to the
three great duties toward God: the duty to know Him, the duty to
love Him, and the duty to serve Him. Every Christian must of
course fulfill each of these three duties. Yet in the mystical body one
must excel in one function and another in some other function.
There are holy souls whose special mission is to love God ardently,
and thus to make reparation for the offenses made against Him. They
receive early in life graces of love that transform their will and
make of it a living power that never ceases spending itself for the
glory of God and the salvation of their neighbor.
Other souls are called upon to excel in the contemplation of God,
to make Him known, and show us the way that leads to Him. From
the start they receive graces of light that increasingly enlighten their
intelligence and make of it a beacon to guide the faithful in their
progress toward eternity.
Finally, there are holy souls whose mission is essentially to serve
God by their fidelity to daily duties in various works of charity. Their
memory and their entirely practical activity, under the influx of the
theological virtues, are placed continually at the service of God and
of their neighbor.

OUR PARTICIPATION IN THE MYSTERIES

343

Let us consider each in turn these three forms of holiness that are
personified in the three privileged apostles whom our Lord led first
to Thabor and then to Gethsemane: Peter, John, and James.
Each of these souls excels naturally in the exercise of one faculty.
And as grace perfects nature’s good points, it takes hold of this faculty
more directly and powerfully, afterward reaching the other, less
developed faculties. Grace thus makes use of the resources of our na­
ture for our own perfection and salvation, and constitutes our special
supernatural inclination that we must always follow, since it is in­
spired by God.4 On the other hand, each of these souls has its domi­
nant fault to conquer, a special pitfail to avoid, and that is why the
Lord sends appropriate trials to each one.
Enlightened directors recognize in souls the special supernatural
inclination that God has given them and also the dominant fault to
be combated. We need to know both of them, the white and the black,
in order to understand the trials that God sends us, to derive greater
benefit from them, and to avoid making arbitrary judgments of other
souls that are going toward the same summit but up another slope.
Those who are naturally gentle must become strong, and those who
are naturally strong must become gentle. “Alius sic, alius sic ibat” in
the words of St. Augustine. There are different paths that lead to the
same goal, and even among those traveling in the same direction one
may progress more slowly than another and still not be retrogressing.®
In the molding of souls the Lord finds a way to make use of every4 St. Thomas (la Hae, q. 66, a. 1 ad a), after showing that all the infused virtues related
to charity increase proportionately together like the five fingers of the hand, notes that
some saints excel in one virtue and others in another, because they are more inclined in that
direction by nature and special vocation or by the attraction of grace: “One saint is praised
chiefly for one virtue, another saint for another virtue, on account of his more admirable
readiness for the act of one virtue than for the act of another virtue.”
s Differences in character do not derive, as do differences in temperament, from organic
differences. They are distinctive traits of the soul. In the first period of the spiritual life,
while the senses still predominate, the temperament is very noticeable. But after the second
conversion, or passive purification of the senses, the temperament loses much of its in­
fluence, the superior faculties have become much stronger, and therefore the spiritual
physiognomy of each one becomes more pronounced. We should beware of artificial clas­
sifications, but not of those based on the very nature of the soul and of its faculties. For
the different spiritual physiognomies, such as that of the scholar, the man of action, or the
artist correspond to the predominant exercise of a given faculty and to the grace that
places this faculty at God's service.

344

OUR SAVIOR

thing. He does not deal in the same way with a man of action who is
devoured by zeal, a missioner, as He would with a theologian, a St.
Thomas, or with a painter like Angelico, a poet like Dante, or a musi­
cian like Beethoven. But He makes everything serve for the expres­
sion of faith, hope, and charity. He puts Aristotle’s logic to work in
the mind of a theologian, and the learned harmonies of colors and
sounds in an artist. And in the last analysis nothing in the intellectual
and sensible order has value except as an expression of God’s per­
fections. Leading to this summit are several slopes, and only what
leads to it can have any deep and lasting interest for us. The Office of
All Saints admirably takes into account all these variations in holiness
as found in the apostles, martyrs, doctors, confessors, and virgins.
The souls in whom the exercise of the will and the ardor of love
dominate resemble the seraphim.® According to revelation, these
superior angels are inflamed with the love that the Holy Ghost com­
municates to them. It is this love that leads them to contemplate God’s
sublime beauties. Their spiritual flame generates more heat than light.
They sing the canticle: “Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord God of
hosts! ” 7 They constitute the supreme order of the first hierarchy of
angels. For the highest virtue of those who strive toward God is
charity or divine love, which in contrast to knowledge is incompati­
ble with mortal sin.8
Likewise, ardent souls are first of all ravished by graces of love.
They strive toward the good with zeal and determination, and often
ask themselves: “What shall I do for God?” They have a burning
thirst to suffer, to mortify themselves, in order to prove their love
for Godj they yearn to make reparation for the offenses committed
against Him and to save sinners. Their desire to know God better is
secondary.
This group of souls would, it seems, include the prophet Elias,
full of zeal for the Lord,9 the apostle Peter who chose to be crucified
head downward through humility and love for his Master, the great
* Their name signifies “the fiery ones.” They represent divine holiness, and their func­
tion is to consume or destroy sin by means of the burning coal of love. Cf. Isa. 6 :a~7·
T Isa. 6:3.
8 St. Thomas, la, q. 63, a. 7, ad x j a. 9, ad 3 j q. xo8, a. 5, ad 5 ; q. 109, a. 1, ad 3.
’Ill Kings 10:10: “With zeal hava I been zealous for the Lord.”

OUR PARTICIPATION IN THE MYSTERIES

345

martyrs St. Ignatius of Antioch and St. Lawrence, the seraphic St.
Francis of Assisi, St. Margaret Mary who from her youth wished to
suffer through love and in a spirit of reparation, St. Benedict Joseph
Labre the impassioned lover of the cross. Also there were St. Charles
Borromeo, St. Vincent de Paul, and countless other apostles and
servants of mankind.
All these souls are more outstanding because of their charity, the
surge of their hearts toward God, than because of their understand­
ing.
The pitfall of those among them not sufficiently docile to the Holy
Ghost would lie in the very energy of their will, which might degen­
erate into rigidity, tenacity, and obstinacy. This is a dominant fault
that is quite visible among the less fervent of these souls. Their zeal
is not sufficiently enlightened, nor patient and gentle enough. Some
of them may turn too much to active works at the expense of prayer.
The Lord sends these souls trials designed in particular to make
their will more malleable, sometimes even to break their will when
it has become too rigid. He permits grave setbacks so that their natural
ardor may develop into a truly supernatural, disinterested, patient,
and gentle zeal. He teaches them to put their trust not in the natural
enthusiasm of the heart but in divine mercy that is always ready to
help. The Lord humiliates these ardent souls sometimes by per­
mitting them to endure violent temptations, even temptations of
despair. This was the case of Elias when he lay down in the desert
under the juniper tree.10 God even permits serious falls, as when
Peter denied his Master.
The Lord also sends great aridity to these souls and allows their
contemplation to be painful even when it is full of love and merit.
Their ardent love burns them, consumes them, and makes them suf­
fer keenly from all the offenses committed against God. He inspires
them to expiate or to make reparation.
Thus does God mold these souls that are more ardent than lumi10 Ibid., 19:4: “And he [Elias] went forward, one day’s journey into the desert. And
when he was there, and sat under a juniper tree, he requested for his soul that he might
die, and said: It is enough for me. Lord, take away my soul; for I am no better than my
fathers. And he cast himself down, and slept. . . . And behold an angel of the Lord
touched him, and said to him: Arise and eat . . . for thou hast yet a great way to go.”

346

OUR SAVIOR

nous, dominated by the burning zeal of charity, the highest of the
theological virtues.
A second group of souls is made of those in whom the exercise of
the intellect dominates, rather than of the will. The grace that impels
them directly and powerfully toward God is the grace of light. They
resemble the cherubim who, the prophets tell us, cluster around the
throne of God.11 These angels, wonderfully enlightened by the eter­
nal Word, are first of all overwhelmed with awe as they contemplate
God’s beauty, and they are thereby inspired to love Him and to make
others know Him.12 Their spiritual flame produces more light than
heat.
Likewise these souls are first enlightened by graces of illumination.
They are inclined to rejoice in the contemplation of God, in the great
over-all views that are born of wisdom. Their love increases only as
a consequence of their enlightenment. They experience in a lesser
degree than the first group the need to act, to mortify themselves, to
suffer in reparation. But if they are faithful, they attain heroic love
for the God who enchants them. The great doctors of the Church be­
long to this family of souls: among them, St. Augustine, St. Anselm,
St. Albert the Great, St. Thomas Aquinas, and many others who
through the centuries have been beacons showing humanity the path
that leads to God.
The pitfall of the less perfect among these souls is to be content
with the lights they receive and not conform their lives to the truths
they know. Whereas their intelligence is highly enlightened, their
will often lacks ardor. St. Francis de Sales bemoaned this condition
in himself, and prayed for the grace of fortitude.
It is not rare for these souls to be given grave interior trials. The
night of the senses and of the spirit described by St. John of the Cross
leads them progressively to complete selflessness and generous love.
The interior trials these souls endure are usually less painful than
those of the first-mentioned group of souls. They find consolation in
the lights they receive, and they are more strongly attracted toward
11 Dan. 3:55: “Blessed art Thou [O Lord] that beholdest the *depth and sittest upon
the cherubims.” Cf. Ps. 17:115 79:15 Isa· 37:,ί·
12 St. Thomas, la, q.63, a. 7 ad 15 a. 10S, a. 5 ad j.

OUR PARTICIPATION IN THE MYSTERIES

347

contemplative prayer. But they must bemoan their lack of energy
for quite a while. Their love of truth makes them suffer especially
from error, false doctrines that lead men’s minds astray. This is at
once their cross and a stimulus to labor in making God known.
When these luminous souls have been purified by suffering and
remain faithful to the lights that God sends them, they aspire ever
more to be united to Him, to lose themselves in Him without falling
into self-absorption. A faithful luminous soul will become more
closely united to God than an ardent soul that is unfaithful.
There have been great saints like St. Paul, St. John, St. Benedict,
St. Dominic, St. Gertrude, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Theresa of
Avila, St. John of the Cross, who were both very contemplative and
very ardent even from the start. They early combined within them­
selves the qualities of the first two groups of souls. For that matter,
these two types of souls tend to resemble each other more closely as
they approach the summit toward which all of them aspire.
Lastly, there are the souls whose particular mission is to serve God
through fidelity to daily duty. The faculty they use most is memory
combined with activity of a wholly practical order. This group in­
cludes the great majority of Christians. Their memory makes them
attentive to specific facts. They are enraptured by the history of God’s
generosity toward man, as recorded in the Old Testament, the Gos­
pels, and the life of the Church. These souls are easily touched by the
words of the liturgy and by the outstanding virtues of various saints.
Grace adapts itself to their nature and shows them clearly through
the maze of their multiple occupations the duty to be accomplished,
the neighbor to be helped, and the glory to be given to God.
Only rarely does divine inspiration send them broad over-all views,
but it does make them attentive to the various means of perfection.
In this way these souls, when they are faithful and generous, attain
a practical and personal understanding of the things of God as well
as a great love of God and of their neighbor. They are thus able to
reach the loftiest levels of holiness.
Their pitfail would lie in becoming too attached to practices that
are good in themselves but do not lead directly to God: for instance,
certain exterior austerities or vocal prayers. They would then run the

348

OUR SAVIOR

risk of becoming excessively anxious about details, scruples, and be­
coming unduly attached to methods that are useful at the start but
somewhat too mechanical. These things can prevent the attainment
of intimate union with the Lord.
The trials of these souls generally have less to do with the interior
life and more with the practice of fraternal charity and the exercise
of their generosity. They suffer much from the faults of their neigh­
bors and from the obstacles they encounter in their labors. The great
interior purifications come to them much later than to the souls in
the aforementioned categories. Yet if these practical souls are gen­
erous, they also attain an intimate union with God.
These are the three forms of holiness that seem personified in the
three privileged apostles, Peter, John, and James, whom our Lord
took with Him to Thabor and afterward to Gethsemane. All these
souls are called in various ways to the contemplation of the mysteries
of faith and to intimate union with God. The closer they come to the
summit toward which they are striving the more closely they resemble
one another, the more deeply they resemble Christ, without losing
their own individualities.
These three forms of sanctity are to be found in their most eminent
degree in Christ’s soul, without any of the imperfections that subsist
in the saints. It reminds us somewhat of the way white light contains
the seven colors of the rainbow. Indeed, no one ever knew God better,
loved Him more, or served Him more perfectly than did Jesus Christ.
Jesus has shown us the excellence of these three forms of holiness
in the three periods of His life on earth : His hidden life, His apostolic
life, His sorrowful life.
During His hidden life in the obscurity of Nazareth, in the car­
penter’s house, He was the perfect model of fidelity to daily duty in
the performance of acts that were outwardly very modest but in­
wardly of immeasurable greatness because of the love that inspired
them.
In His apostolic life He shone forth as the light of the world and
told us that those who follow Him do not walk in darkness but shall
receive the light of life.18 He not merely believed but actually saw
18 John 8:ia.

OUR PARTICIPATION IN THE MYSTERIES

349

immediately in the divine essence the things that He taught about
eternal life and the means to attain it. He founded the Church, en­
trusted it to Peter, and said to His apostles: “You are the light of
the world.” 14 Then He sent them out to teach all nations and to bring
the peoples of the earth baptism and the Eucharist.
Finally, in His sorrowful life Jesus manifested all the ardor of
His love for His Father and for us. This love was so great as to in­
spire Him to die for us on the cross. He thirsted to suffer in repara­
tion for the outrages done to God, to save souls, and to consummate
the work of Redemption. His thirst for suffering was incomparably
greater than that of St. Andrew, St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Lawrence,
St. Theresa, or St. Benedict Joseph Labre. For Jesus’ heart is a fiery
furnace of charity. No one ever suffered more because of sin, and from
His wounded heart come all the graces received by reparative souls,
those associated with the great mystery of the Redemption.
Jesus possessed all three forms of holiness without any shadow of
imperfection. He was attentive to even the smallest details of God’s
service, ever fulfilling them with prompt exactitude. He enjoyed the
most exalted contemplation, but was never lost in it, as are saints in
ecstasy. Jesus was above ecstasy. He could simultaneously see the
depths of the divine essence and converse with His apostles concern­
ing the smallest details of their apostolic life. His ardent love and
fiery zeal were united to the greatest patience, gentleness, and com­
passion that inspired Him to pray for His executioners: “Father, for­
give them, for they know not what they do.”
The holiness of Christ’s soul is manifested by its reflection in the
souls of His saints, as white light is manifested by the seven colors.
The same holds true of Mary, making all due allowances, for she too
possesses in an eminent degree all the forms of holiness.
Let us not underevaluate our Lord’s life by trying to explain it too
much in terms of our own personal psychology. This is how a Jansen­
ist Christ was invented, and then, as a reaction against this view, a
liberal Christ. Let us lift our souls up toward Him instead of bring­
ing Him down to our own level. He is infinitely above even our most
generous sentiments, and He has no illusions. Though He is far
14 Mutt.

350

OUR SAVIOR

superior to the greatest saints, He is still our perfect model and
ceaselessly offers us the grace and strength to follow Him.
The mysteries of Christ’s life must in a sense be reproduced in us
in the measure that the Savior wishes to assimilate us to Himself
and make us participate in His hidden life, in His apostolic life, in
His sorrowful life, and finally in His glorious life in heaven. This
progressive assimilation is noticeable in the life of a number of saints.
Daily meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary can help us to ad­
vance ever more securely in this path if we really desire to do so.
The joyous mysteries of Christ’s childhood, the sorrowful mys­
teries of His passion, and the glorious mysteries of the Resurrection
and Ascension correspond to the three great acts in the life of a soul:
I. the act of desiring the ultimate end : holiness and eternal beatitude,
the thought of which causes happiness and inspires the soul to make its
first steps toward God; 2. the act of desiring the means that can enable
us to attain this end: fulfillment of the commandments to carry our
cross after the Master’s example and to follow in His footsteps; 3. the
act of finding rest with Him once the goal has been won.
These mysteries of Christ’s life must become more and more the
food of our souls, the object of our contemplation, so that we can
penetrate their depths and rejoice in them. This will be a foretaste,
as it were, of eternal happiness. We shall grasp ever better the fact
that sanctifying grace is the seed of glory,10 that a profoundly Chris­
tian life is the beginning of eternal life, according to the Savior’s
own words recorded several times by St. John: “Amen, amen, I say
unto you: He that believeth in Me hath everlasting life . . . and I
will raise Him up in the last day.” 16

The Meaning of the Incarnation
for Certain Contemplatives
Contemplative souls that are being tested by suffering may find
help in the following reflections. After reading a commentary on St.
Thomas’ thought concerning Providence, one such soul wrote: “When
ls St. Thomas, Ila Ilae, q. 24, a. 3 ad 2.
14 John 6:40, 44, 47, 551 3:36l 5:14> 39·

OUR PARTICIPATION IN THE MYSTERIES

351

I read the first chapters dealing with God’s attributes, a black veil
descended over all that I read. Only the Deity stood out in relief.
It also was wrapped in darkness, but darkness of a different nature
from that to be found in the lights of theology. For to me all light
is darkness. . . . My soul lives apart, divorced from the sensible
portion of me, and does not participate in any way, so to speak, in the
celebration of feasts and commemoration of mysteries. The soul gives
life to the body, and that is all. The body remains alone, always alone
in the presence of these things that are made for the soul and that
consequently encounter this human obstacle, inert as a corpse. . . .
Then from time to time, but only rarely, a sudden certainty fills my
mind, accompanied by an embrace that touches the depths of my
soul. At such moments I am sure that I love God with a true love.
. . . My walled-up soul (separated from the sensible) thus becomes
conscious at times of an abyss and a life of unfathomable depth. It is,
as it were, the experimental knowledge of immense but unknown
riches; of an incandescent furnace, which neither lights nor warms
me; of an overflowing but half-perceived plenitude, for which I
hunger but which does not nourish me.”
As a matter of fact, the prayer of certain souls that are being sub­
jected to grave trials is almost totally devoid of the intellectual and
effective elements normal to prayer. Yet there is in their prayer a
consent and abandonment which amounts to saying: “My God, I
trust Thee,” and which contains faith, trust, love, and true prayer.
Souls in this state may have the same reaction to the preceding
pages on the mystery of the redemptive Incarnation. For such souls
“all light is darkness” compared to the inaccessible light which they
dimly glimpse from afar, especially through the words of the Savior.
In fact, the sun is but a shadow by comparison with the intellectual
light of the first rational principles. These latter are themselves
shadows compared to the supernatural mysteries, as it will some day
be given us to see them. And among these mysteries, the redemptive
Incarnation is a shadow compared to the Deity which, as it exists in
itself, contains eminently, formally, and explicitly all the divine at­
tributes and the three divine persons. The Deity as we know it here
on earth contains only implicitly the divine attributes deduced from

35*

OUR SAVIOR

it. But when we shall see it as it is in itself there will no longer be
any need for deduction. We shall see explicitly in the eminence of
the Deity, superior to being, to unity, to goodness, all the infinite
perfections and the three divine persons.17 Certain souls have an ex­
perimental foretaste of this, as it were, and that is why the superior
portion of their souls is never satisfied with anything that can be said
about the divine attributes or the personality of the Word, who be­
came man to save us.
The words of St. Thomas are appropriate in this connection: “Mat­
ters that concern the Godhead are, in themselves, the strongest
incentive to love and consequently to devotion, because God is
supremely lovable. Yet such is the weakness of man’s mind that it
needs a guiding hand, not only to the knowledge, but also to the love
of divine things by means of certain sensible objects known to us.
Chief among these is the humanity of Christ, according to the words
of the Preface, that through knowing God visibly, we may be caught
up to the love of things invisible. Wherefore matters relating to
Christ’s humanity are the chief incentive to devotion, leading us
thither as a guiding hand, although devotion itself has for its object
matters concerning the Godhead.” 18 In other words, it is the Deity
particularly that attracts love and devotion; but inasmuch as it is
invisible we need to be progressively lifted toward it, starting with
things of the senses. Thus the Savior appeared to us first in His hu­
manity, as the way. Later He appeared in His divinity, as the truth
and the life. This is what the Preface of the Nativity proclaims:
“Because by the mystery of the Word made flesh the light of Thy
glory hath shone anew upon the eyes of our mind: that while we
acknowledge Him to be God seen by men, we may be drawn by Him
to the love of things unseen.” This is the perfect way to eternal life.
The state of the contemplative souls we have just spoken of is not
solely one of aridity or absence of consolation. It is a state of impo1T Cf. Cajetan, In lam, q. 39, a. 1, no. 7 : “Res divina prior est ente et omnibus differentiis
ejus: est enim super ens et super unum, etc. Est in Deo unica ratio formalis, non pure ab­
soluta, nec pure respectiva, non pure communicabitis, nec pure incommunicabilis j sed
eminentissime ac formaliter continens quidquid absolutae perfectionis est, et quidquid
trinitas respectiva exigit.”
18 St. Thomas, Ila Hae, q. 82, a. 3 ad 2.

OUR PARTICIPATION IN THE MYSTERIES

353

tence, quite different from the natural tendency to sleep. When souls
are in this helpless state they can still read a few verses of the Gospel,
but they cannot return for the moment to active prayer, that is, dis­
cursive meditation.
Active prayer is something like a child’s effort to spell and then
to read little poems. If the poems were taken away from him and he
had to return to his alphabet, he could not do it. He would have no
interest or incentive to relearn the alphabet since he knows it already.
If the little poems that he loves to read are taken from him, he is
helpless to find what he needs.
We have another example of impotence in the preacher who looks
at the text of a sermon on the Passion that he preached several years
earlier with special fervor. He no longer possesses the grace that
would enkindle his notes. He understands the text quite well, he
remembers it, but grace does not gleam through. He is like a poet
who has lost his inspiration. His soul is like the becalmed water of a
lake, or like the leaves of a poplar when there is no breath of wind.
It is a dead calm. Whence comes his impression of impotence to
preach the Passion as it should be preached. And yet beneath this
impression of impotence, or perhaps above it, exists a real thirst to
do good to souls and a deep prayer that will be answered in the end.
This preacher, who is so thoroughly dissatisfied with his notes, al­
ready dominates them. The awareness of his impotence is a sign that
he is docile in God’s hand. The same holds true for the tested con­
templative souls of whom we speak. They feel empty of God, but
they are thirsting for Him more than ever.
Father de Caussade, S.J., in his beautiful book, Abandonment to
Divine Providence, has described this state very well: “Souls who
walk in light sing canticles of joy; those who walk amid shadows sing
anthems of woe. Let one and the other sing to the end the portion
and anthem God assigns them. We must add nothing to what He has
completed. There must flow every drop of this gall of divine bit­
terness with which He wills to inebriate them. Behold Jeremias and
Ezechiel: theirs was the language of sighs and lamentations, and their
only consolation was in the continuation of their lament. He who
would have dried their tears would have deprived us of the most

OUR SAVIOR

354

beautiful portions of the Holy Scriptures. The spirit that afflicts is
the only one that can console. The streams of sorrow and consolation
flow from the same source.
“When God astonishes a soul she must needs tremble ; when He
menaces, she cannot but fear. We have but to leave the divine opera­
tion to its own development; it bears within itself the remedy as well
as the trial. . . . Make no effort to escape these divine terrors. . . .
Receive into the depth of your being the waters of that sea of bitter­
ness which inundated the soul of Christ.” 19
If the contemplatives of whom we have just spoken no longer seem
to understand what they read concerning the mysteries of salvation,
it is because they are so eager to pass beyond narrow formulas and
enter into the infinite depths of the mystery of God, in His unfathom­
able love. “O Liebe, O unendliche Liebe Gottes!” The truth is that
they are the ones who understand best. While their Holy Commun­
ions may seem arid to them, and their poverty extreme, they under­
stand incomparably better than others the sublime words:
Panis angelicus fit panis hominum.

•

••••••a····
O res mirabilis, manducat Dominum
Pauper, servus, et humilis.

19 Rev. J. P. de Caussade, S.J., A bandonment or, Absolute Surrender ta Divine Ρ· evi­
dence, translated by Ella McMahon (New York, 1945), p. 129.

«χχχΐ®
rqpHE GRACE OF CHRIST AND THE
MYSTICS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

1

Natural Pre-mysticism and Supernatural Mysticism *1

HERE is much talk these days of certain mystics outside the
Church who, without visibly belonging to the true Church of
Christ, seem to have lived the life of grace and charity in the superior
degree that characterizes the mystical life.
The studies of Louis Massignon 2 and of Asin Palacios 3 on Islam
are written from this point of view. These works which contribute
mostly documents should be examined with care, and their authors
would probably not accept the general conclusions that have been
drawn from their works by certain critics.
Emile Dermenghem goes much farther than they in one of his
works.4 In 1930, with regard to several Moslem mystics whom he
had studied, he wrote: “All these çoufis, thinkers, poets, or saints,
have given expression to the great mystical experience: to die to the
world in order to live in God, in compelling formulas analogous to
those of the Christian Fathers, doctors, and mystics, and often also
of the Hindu Vedantists. This would confirm the thesis of R. Guénon
on the universality of tradition: quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab
omnibus, according to the Catholic formula. They repeat incessantly
with the Scholastics that creatures have no being except that which

T

1 The following pages have appeared under this title in the Etudes Carmélitaines of
October, 1933.
2 Louis Massignon, La fassion d’Al-Hosayn-ibn-Mansour-al-Hallâj, martyr mystique de
Plslam, 1 vols., 1922. “Le Dîwân d’al-Hallâj,” Journal Asiatique, January-March, 1931.
a Miguel Asin Palacios, El Islam Cristianizado, Estudio del "Sufismo” a Travis de las
Obras de Abenarabi de Murcia, 193t.
* Emile Dermenghem, “L’Eloge du Vin (Al Khamriya),” Poème mystique de Omar ibn
al Faridh, L’Anneau d'Or, 1931. Integral translation accompanied by notes, a critical
introduction, and a historical and theological essay on Moslem mysticism.
355

356

OUR SAVIOR

they receive from God, and with St. Paul that it is in Him that we
have our life, our movement, and our being.” 8
Father Eliseus of the Nativity, O.C.D., commented aptly on this
subject: “We do not know what Dermenghem means by ‘great
mystical experience’; at any rate, the Church will never take this
universality of tradition as the sole criterion of truth.” 6
On the other hand certain rationalists and surviving Modernists
have been trying to explain even the supernatural mysticism of St.
John of the Cross in terms of the natural mysticism which is to be
found in varying degrees in all religions and which from their point
of view is superior to any single creed. According to this approach,
the revelation of the mysteries of salvation as proposed by the Church,
the person of our Lord, His example, the sacraments instituted by
Him, bring nothing essential to the Catholic but merely a greater
security. The essential, they say, lies elsewhere and on a higher level:
in a mystical experience that is to be found in the more interior souls
of every religion and that is nothing but the natural blossoming of the
religious sentiment.
To the theologian, this is one of the most delicate aspects of the
very difficult problem of the salvation of unbelievers, and it is be­
coming more and more acute.T
8 Nouvelles littéraires, January 15, 1930. Review of the work by Rev. Bruno, O.C.D.,
on St. John of the Cross.
8 Etudes Carmélitaines, October 1931, p. 162. “L’Expérience mystique d’Ibn ‘Arabi,
est-elle surnaturelle?”
1 Father Clerissac, O.P., had seen how the great problems of the present time culminate
in this one. He wrote:
“There is a remarkable fact. I shall not call it the conflict of the great modem tendencies
(scientific, social, and mystical), but rather their convergence, inasmuch as they all con­
verge toward a single religion regardless of the aims of those who represent them.
“No doubt the scientific question has existed in every age, although it probably did not
in former times imply the philosophical enigmas of the present day nor any problem of
history or exegesis.
“Under the various forms of servitude and pauperism, the social question has always
haunted us.
“Between the extreme forms of illuminism and quietism, mystical aspirations formerly
found many means of expression. But in our own day these tendencies have taken on a
special aspect and a new life. Each of them borrows from the other two and communicates
to them in return something of itself. Science pretends to be a religion. Socialism desires to
be a code of morals and offers itself as a feverish worship of justice. Mysticism in its turn
upholds its right to be scientific. Moreover, these three tendencies by their contents and

MYSTICS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

357

I. Statement of the Problem
Errors of Extremism to be Avoided
Everybody knows the two radically opposed positions that the
Church has rejected as grave errors. One of them is worse than heresy.
It does not choose from revelation what it will retain. It denies all
supernatural revelation.
On the other hand, naturalism, as it is formulated, for example, by
Spinoza and his successors, absolutely denies the supernatural order
as well as miracles and the life of grace. It sees in the various religions
nothing more than the natural evolution of religious sentiment.
Modernism reached this same conclusion by renewing and aggravat­
ing the Pelagian error.*
8 From this point of view Catholicism is at
best the most exalted form of the evolution of religious sentiment;
the mysticism described by St. John of the Cross is an interesting form
of natural mysticism which is expressed in pantheistic terms by the
Buddhists in the Orient, for instance, and in the West by the theosophists who find their inspiration in Jacob Boehme or in Schelling’s
second philosophy.
their action compete for the attainment in a definite and supreme form either of the ex­
perimental knowledge of God or the apotheosis of man. I do not think it is an exaggera­
tion to say that here is the greatest historical event since the invasions of the barbarians.
Let us not take this fact to be a simple manifestation of blind forces. Let us beware of the
seduction of these tendencies that are everywhere captivating men’s minds and hearts. Let
us beware of the importance of the inevitable transformations that will ensue.”
Indeed, the most recent encyclicals of the Sovereign Pontiff are an answer to these gen­
eral aspirations of humanity. In particular the encyclicals on Christ the King, on His
sanctifying influence on His whole mystical body, on the family and the sanctity of Chris­
tian marriage, on social questions, on the necessity for reparation, and on the missions.
All these encyclicals center around the reign of Christ over all men. It follows that for
religion to maintain the pre-eminence that it must have over scientific and social activity,
the interior life of its members must be deep, it must be a true life of union with God.
This is manifestly necessary.
8 Cf. Bulletin de la Société Française de Philosophie, May-June, 1925: “Saint Jean de
la Croix et le problème de la valeur noétique de l’expérience mystique”) cf. ibid., p. 87,
“Remarques,” by M. Blondel and J. Baruzi, on the infused character of the contemplation
which St. John of the Cross speaks of. See also R. Dalbiez, “Une nouvelle Interpretation
de Saint Jean de la Croix,” La vie spirituelle, 192S: “The integral interpretation of the
mystical experience must be theological or else there is no explanation for it whatever.”
Rev. Benoît Lavaud, O.P., “Psychologie indépendante et prière Chrétienne,” Kevue
Thomiste, 19291 also “Les problèmes de la vie mystique,” La vie spirituelle, June, 19J1.

358

OUR SAVIOR

The extreme opposite of naturalism is none other than the pseudosupernaturalism that appeared under various forms among the predestinarians such as Wyclif, the Protestants, and the Jansenists. They
have all maintained that as a result of original sin human nature is
so corrupt that every act of the infidel is a sin, and his apparent virtues
are but splendid vices deriving from self-love and pride.
In opposition to these last-mentioned errors, Catholic doctrine
holds that predestination is not necessary for the performance of even
excellent actions, nor are sanctifying grace and infused faith required
for an action that is morally good, such as paying one’s debts or teach­
ing sound principles to one’s children. Fallen man can, without grace,
even have a certain ineffectual love of God, the Author of nature, a
love consisting of admiration and slight desire, capable of inspiring a
naturally poetic soul to describe God’s perfections in lyrical terms.
Thus the pagans can, without grace, accomplish certain morally good
acts. They are also endowed with actual grace by the help of which
they can accomplish certain salutary acts that will dispose them to re­
ceive habitual grace, the radical principle not only of salutary acts
but also of meritorious acts. “To anyone doing what in him lies (with
the help of actual grace), God does not deny (habitual) grace.” ’
Pope Pius IX said in effect that those who invincibly or through
no fault of their own ignore the true religion but who do what is in
their power to observe the natural law can, through an illumination
and a grace from God, attain the supernatural acts of faith and charity
necessary for salvation. In other words, such persons can receive the
life of grace, the seed of glory, and be saved.10 These men “of good
8 Cf. St. Thomas, la Hae, q. 109, a.6: “Whether a man, by himself and without the
external aid of grace, can prepare himself for grace. . . . Now in order that man prepare
himself to receive this gift, it is not necessary to presuppose any further habitual gift in
the soul, otherwise we should go on to infinity. But we must presuppose a gratuitous gift
of God, who moves the soul inwardly or inspires the good wish.” Also la Hae, q. 112,
a. 3: “Whether grace is necessarily given to whoever prepares himself for it. . . . Man’s
preparation for grace is from God, as Mover, and from the free will, as moved. Hence
the preparation may be looked at ... as it is from God the Mover, and thus it has a
necessity—not indeed of coercion, but of infallibility—as regards what it is ordained to
by God, since God’s intention cannot fail, according to the saying of Augustine in hi·
book on the predestination of the saints (De dono fersev., 14) that ‘by God’s good gifts
whoever is liberated, is most certainly liberated.’ ”
10 “Notum nobis vobisquc est, eos qui invincibili circa sanctissimam nostram religionem

MYSTICS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

359

will,” in the theological sense of the term, belong to the soul of the
Church, as is generally agreed by theologians.*11
We can see how Catholic doctrine rises above the diametrically
opposed errors: 1. the error of naturalism, which denies the order of
gracej 2. the error of narrow pseudo-supernaturalism, which denies
that God wishes to offer to all adults the sufficient grace for the ac­
complishment of the commandments necessary for salvation. Yet a
great mystery remains: the mystery of predestination. It is a great
grace to belong visibly to the Church, to benefit by its infallible teach­
ing, by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and by the sacraments. Hence
the necessity of the missions.

Two Tendencies Relating to the Mystics Outside the Church
and the Importance of the Problem
As we have seen, there have been and still are diametrically op­
posed errors relating to the salvation of unbelievers. Within the limits
of orthodoxy one can also distinguish two rather contrary tendencies
with regard to those who have been called the “mystics outside the
Church.”
There are those who are inclined to think that, inasmuch as sanctify­
ing grace, infused faith, and charity can exist in souls that do not be­
long visibly to the Church, we can also find the mystical life in them
more often than has been heretofore admitted, especially when we
recognize that this mystical life is the normal blossoming of the
life of grace.
This tendency leads to the rather easy admission that certain mystics
outside the Church are “authentic” mystics, and even to speak of
Moslem, Hindu, Jewish, and other forms of mysticism as if they
were, despite their errors, true mysticism. This leads to specific state­
ignorantia laborant, quique naturalem legem ej usque praecepta in omnium cordibus a
Deo insculpta sedulo servantes ac Deo obedire parati, honestam rectamque vitam agunt,
posse, divinae luci» et gratiae operante virtute, aeternam consequi vitam” (Denzinger,
no. 1677).
11 Cf. Dublanchy, De axiomate: Extra ecclesiam nulla salus, 1895, pp. 373 ff., and the
article “L’Eglise,” Dictionnaire de théologie catholique. Capiran, Le problème du salut
des infidèles (theological essay), pp. 80 ff., 92. Edouard Hugon, Hors de l'eglise joint de
salut, 19 >4, chaps. 1-4.

j6o

OUR SAVIOR

ments that this or that mystic outside the Church has had authentic
supernatural graces, and even very exalted graces, which might be
compared to the transforming union, that is, the stage called by St.
Theresa of Avila “Seventh Mansion,” or at least the stages imme­
diately preceding it. There are at times striking analogies to be sure,
as L. Massignon and Miguel Asin Palacios 12 have noted.
But beneath these analogies, the questions of nature and origin re­
main obscure. And in such a delicate matter, exaggeration, which is
contrary to all scientific prudence, would quickly become dangerous
as well as easy. On these frontiers of the nature of grace we touch upon
the most difficult problems of theology, and scholars who have studied
them all their lives may often hesitate to formulate an opinion on
them. On the questions about the limits of the two spheres, final judg­
ment can only be the result of a profound knowledge of each of the
two domains.
12 As Maritain remarks {The Degrees of Knowledge, p. 337) and also Father Bruno,
the case of Ibn ‘Arabi discussed by Palacios calls for much greater reserve in judgment
than that of al-Hallâj studied by Massignon.
In the April, 1932, issue of the Etudes Carmélitaines, pages 139 to 139, Palacios cites
striking texts of the “Sharh Hikam” of Ibn ‘Abbad Rondi which certainly call to mind
what St. John of the Cross writes later on, particularly the following maxims and the
commentaries on them: “God often teaches thee in the night of desolation what He does
not teach thee in the splendor of the day of consolation. ... It is therefore fitting that
the servant recognize the grace God gives him in the day of anguish” {ibid., p. 152).
“Tribulations lead the soul to the presence of God and teach her to converse with Him on
the carpet of sincerity. ... Be convinced of thy own lowliness, and God will help thee
in His greatness. . . . Say to thy Lord as thou liest prostrate on the carpet of spiritual
poverty: ‘O Rich One! Who will help the weak if not Thee?’ ‘O Noble One! Who will
help the worthless if not Thee?’ ” {Ibid., p. 158.)
We are no less astonished by what is said {ibid., pp. 118 fif.) concerning the virtues of
this master. They are described in these beautiful maxims: “He who loves celebrity is not
sincere toward God” {ibid., p. 140) ; “Pray for him who has offended thee, and thy prayer
will be heard” {ibid., p. 143) j “It is in tribulation that man practices interior virtues,
the least of which is more meritorious than mountains of exterior works of virtue” (p.
145) ; “For those who seek God, days of tribulation should be great feast days” (p. 157).
On the other hand, a person of penetrating vision who is also deeply religious has
written to us from his home in Morocco after reading these texts: “Daily experience with
the fathmas who serve us has proven to me how circumspect we must be in interpreting
their religious vocabulary and in judging their interior life. For example, they repeatedly
use the same words as we to signify abandonment to divine will. Yet what an abysmal dif­
ference there is between their flabby fatalism and our vital Christian abandonment! This
helps me to understand how there may be a deep difference in the source of the most exalted
states that are analogous in appearance.”

MYSTICS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

361

Several thinkers who have formulated reservations that help state
the problem with greater penetration and also bring out its impor­
tance.
First of all, even admitting that the mystical life is the full normal
culmination of the life of grace, this normal summit is still a summit.
And because of negligence, spiritual laziness, lack of generosity in
trials, and insufficient docility to the Holy Ghost, this summit is rarely
attained even in the Catholic Church, even in religious orders. And
yet here are available so many supernatural lights, examples, graces,
particularly through the sacraments and through daily Holy Com­
munion most of all. How much more difficult it must be to reach this
summit when one is deprived of these many aids !
Moreover, as a missioner who is well versed in these matters has
recently stated, it is easy when a person chooses wisely—and is it
not on choices of this kind that we are depending—to group a large
number of texts describing these mystics outside the Church that
seem to use terms strikingly similar to those used by St. John of the
Cross with regard to the essence of the mystical life. This will lead us
to the following conclusions:
a) For all of them the essence of contemplation is indeed the lov­
ing, obscure, indistinct, general knowledge with neither form nor
image that the Doctor of Carmel teaches.
b) For all of them the practical behavior to be followed during
contemplation is a kind of universal nada, and consists in abstracting
the understanding from any particular notion (Ascent of Mount
Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 12), and to be occupied with a loving attention
in God, without wishing to specify anything (Living Flame of Love,

c) For all of them (and this is perhaps the most remarkable fact)
the summit and the perfection of the mystical life exist when the soul
totally transformed into its Beloved has become God by participation
(Spiritual Canticle, Stanza 22).
It seems, therefore, that all these souls meet at the summit re­
gardless of the path they have chosen, whether or not they have en­
joyed the help of the infallible doctrine and the sacraments of the

363

OUR SAVIOR

visible Church. Do they really meet? This, of course, is a most im­
portant question:
If, as we admit, the same sanctifying grace is presupposed in these
diverse souls, it follows that, according to the view presented above,
everything seems to happen as if this grace sufficed to reach even the
highest degrees of supernatural union with God, with no need of
having an explicit knowledge of the mystery of the redemptive In­
carnation or of receiving the sacraments. (This also presupposes, of
course, faith in the two primary truths of the supernatural order,
namely, that God, the author of salvation, exists, and that He rewards
good works. It also presupposes charity.) This explicit faith in the
divine person of the Savior, His example, the sacraments, the teach­
ings and regulations of the Church, would then seem to give the
Catholic no more than secondary, not to say accidental, assistance and
greater security. The essential, however, would lie elsewhere and on
a higher level.18
Far more important, it would appear that St. John of the Cross
himself defined and described contemplation in a manner that is not
specifically Christian and Catholic by notes and definitions that are
actually used to “recognize” and “authenticate” the mystics outside
the Church. (In reality of course, he founds his mysticism on the full­
ness of revelation received from our Lord, on the explicit understand­
ing of the mystery of the Cross perpetuated on the altar during the
Mass, and on the sacraments, especially on the union with the Savior
through spiritual and sacramental communion.) Would this provide
11 That is why the Thomists generally maintain as the more probable the well-known
thesis of St. Thomas, Ila Hae, q. 2, a. 7: “Post Evangelium sufficienter promulgatum,
fides explicita Incarnationis est omnibus necessaria necessitate medii ad salutem.” St.
Thomas, ibid., says: “After grace had been revealed, both learned and simple folk are
bound to explicit faith in the mysteries of Christ.” Cf. Ila Ilae, q. 2, a. 8, fine ad 1 and 2.
The reason for this is that Jesus Christ is the way to salvation: “I am the way and the
truth and the life” (John 14:6). And St. Peter says in Acts 4:12: “There is no other
name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved.” We can be saved only by
Christ, by being incorporated in Him, by belonging to His mystical body. This seems
to require of adults not only the realization of the mystery of the Incarnation but also an
explicit faith in this mystery, an explicit faith in the One who takes away the sins of the
world.
However, we can inquire whether the Gospel is to be considered as promulgated in
places where it has not yet been preached or where it has been completely forgotten. In
any event, true mysticism presupposes at least an implicit faith in the Redeemer.

MYSTICS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

363

adequate safeguard for Jesus’ words: “I am the way, and the truth,
and the life”? 14
Thus presented, the question is serious. Following the first-men­
tioned trend of thought which takes on more or less definite forms,
would we not, under the influence of present-day syncretism, gradu­
ally lose the meaning of true contemplation, which St. Paul calls “the
mind of Christ”? 16 This is the question brought up by the missioner
we quoted earlier.
The answer will no doubt be given: The doctrine of implicit faith
is definitely opposed to this syncretism and does not signify at all that
explicit faith and the sacraments have only an accidental value. Fa­
ther Eliseus of the Nativity has made some apt remarks on this
point:18 “The difficulty originates with regard to faith in the Medi­
ator. The adult can be justified only by believing in one way or an­
other in the redemption that Christ has won for humanity. This faith
in Christ the Redeemer has three states or degrees: the explicit knowl­
edge of the mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption, as we
Christians know it; the idea of a mediator between God and man;
lastly, the conviction that God in His mercy has provided in some
undefined way for the salvation of the human race. This last degree
of knowledge of the Redeemer is called implicit faith in Christ and
is to a certain extent indistinguishable from supernatural faith in
Providence and belief in a God who rewards. ... To believe that
God saves men by whatever means He pleases is to possess an im­
plicit faith in Christ the Redeemer [and according to St. Thomas
this was sufficient before Christ’s coming]. ... It is difficult to
maintain that conditions have changed for those who lived after
Christ’s coming but never heard of Him.”
14 In his Spiritual Canticle, verse 37, St. John of the Cross says that the mysteries within
Christ are called caverns to symbolize their depth and height, that the treasures hidden
in Him are like an inexhaustible mine, and that the doctors have discovered only a minute
fraction of them. In the Ascent of Mount Carmel (Bk. II, chap. 20) he shows that to ask
for private revelations is to exhibit disrespect for Christ who has brought the fullness of
revelation. The saint lays stress on the divine words of Thabor: “This is My beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him” (Matt. 17:5). Indeed, St. John of the Cross,
like St. Theresa of Avila, maintains that the contemplative must not of his own initiative
turn away from the consideration of Christ’s humanity.
111 I Cor. :i6,
*
Ie Etudes Carmflitaines, October, 1931, p. 16s, article cited above.

36+

OUR SAVIOR

A serious difficulty remains even for those who accept the view
that explicit faith in Christ the Redeemer is not a necessary means
since the promulgation of the Gospel. Indeed, there is a vast differ­
ence between what is strictly necessary for salvation or in order to
avoid damnation and what is required for mystical union with God,
especially the loftiest stages of this union.
We are led to ask ourselves if two most important matters are not
being left out of consideration.
1. Do we find among these mystics outside the Church the com­
bination of conditions, especially profound purification, requisite for
true mysticism, that is, supernatural contemplation and the intimate
union with God that results from it?
2. When they are in the state of grace is not theirs a natural mysti­
cism or pre-mysticism, that is, a natural contemplation of God simi­
lar to that of Plato and Plotinus, or even of certain Christian Platonists like Malebranche and the most recent ontologists? 1T
If we failed to consider these two points carefully, we should be
led, precisely as were the ontologists, to a more or less latent identifica­
tion of nature and grace, and we should finish by speaking of a uni­
versal mysticism which expresses itself in a rather halting manner.
Our Catholic mysticism would merely be the most correct form.18
Not only would this confusion be deplorable for us. It would also be
17 Rev. Allo, O.P., “Mystiques Musulmans” (La vie spirituelle, May t, 1932, p. no),
cites the words of the Persian Bisthâmi, who, having been transformed by union, cried
out in the name of Allah: “There is no God but me. Adore me. Glory be to me! How
great is my majesty!” and also the words of Al Hallâj : “Ana al Haqq. I am the Truth.”
“Let us allow,” he says, “for Oriental exaggeration. But in Christian lands the Inquisition
would have dealt with them. ... As for their ‘pure love,’ are we to admire the good
woman [spoken of by E. Dermenghem, op. cit., p. 30] who desired to put out the fires
of hell with her pail of water and burn heaven with her torch so that God should be loved
for Himself alone?” This excellent article by Father Allo should be read in its entirety
for its bearing on the question under discussion.
18 Concerning E. Dermenghem’s book, Father Allo writes correctly (loc. cit., p. 114.) :
“We should have wished that the distinguished translator and commentator had put more
emphasis on criticism and had made it clear that he grasped the significance of all these
differences. As a matter of fact, his very noble confidence in the human spirit enlightened
and guided by God, and an almost too ‘catholic’ breadth of feeling led him to discover
everywhere the same effects of divine illumination and to explain everything in terms of a
catholicity that can express itself with varying degrees of success. Apparently he saw only
shades of difference where there are profound contrasts of color. . . . There are differ­
ences in kind, and only one can be the good, true, supernatural kind.”

MYSTICS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

365

profitless to the souls of good will who even outside the visible Church
might seek the true interior life and profound, intimate converse
with God. This is clearly a serious question. It is important not to
state one’s views lightly. Undue haste in reaching conclusions would
be particularly dangerous.
As Father Allo says: “At the present time among those given to
the study and admiration of mysticism, a perilous syncretism is begin­
ning to take shape. And believers endowed with knowledge and zeal
should not close their eyes to this menace. It should be told.” 19
The Difficulties of the Problem
First of all there are the two great inherent difficulties of mystical
theology: 1. The object is transcendent, inasmuch as it concerns
union with God considered in terms of His intimate life, and not
merely known naturally from the outside through the reflection of
His perfections in the mirror of sensible things. 1. The subject under
consideration is the human individual, of whom the ancients said: the
individual is ineffable. Certainly man is not ineffable the way God is,
whose intimate life is above the frontiers of intelligibility accessible
to us by natural means. Man is ineffable because the human individual
is a mysterious composite of spirit and matter, matter that is not very
intelligible in itself and that is, so to speak, beneath the frontiers of
intelligibility. There can be science only of the general, of the uni­
versal, for science is the result of abstraction from individual matter,
which is thus in a manner repugnant to intelligibility. From this fact
comes the mystery of the individual human composite wherein are
perpetually intertwined the acts of the superior faculties, the will and
the intelligence, and those of the imagination, the memory, the ex­
ternal senses, and all the emotions or passions that are more or less un­
controlled and either healthy or diseased.
As a result there are “dark nights,” fundamentally different but
resembling one another on the surface. Some are the product of the
deep-seated workings of divine grace, the others are not. Some of
these states are mainly neurasthenic and the result of human frailty.
La vit ipiritucllt, loc. cit., p. 117.

366

OUR SAVIOR

These are the difficulties of mystical theology in general and of its
application even in fervent Christian and Catholic circles. But these
difficulties are greatly magnified with regard to the mystics outside
the Church.
We must not forget that there can and does exist a certain natural
mysticism or pre-mysticism, midway between true supernatural mys­
ticism and the false mysticism that is evidently diabolical. The indis­
tinct “experiences” of this natural pre-mysticism become the obscure
and sometimes poisoned source of the most contradictory systems. It
had been said that certain non-Christian philosophies are nothing
more than formulations of the mysticism of the savages which
has always existed. There are methods of ecstasy that are prehis­
toric.
Can we be sure that these “experiences” are “ordered toward the
truth”? Have we the right to conceive of them in terms of authentic
Christian mysticism, rather than in pantheistic terms?
Much has been said about false charity that, sometimes without
even being aware of it, has not at all the same formal object as infused
charity, yet parades its name. At bottom such false charity is nothing
but liberalism or vain sentimentalism. The principle, corruptio optimi
pessima, is applicable here to an extent which is often unrealized.
Though nothing on earth is greater than true charity, which is essen­
tially supernatural, nothing is worse than false charity. Likewise, al­
though nothing is greater than true mysticism, which is the eminent
exercise of the three theological virtues and of the gifts of the Holy
Ghost that accompany them, nothing is worse than false mysticism.
This false mysticism is all the more dangerous to the extent that it
takes on the external aspects of true mysticism. One might be tempted
to speak of the “soul of truth” within this false mysticism. Yet there
may be in it only a “grain of truth” which, far from being its soul, is
at the service of the voluntary or involuntary error at the root of this
deviation. In what is false simpliciter and not merely secundum quid,
the true is deviated from its goal. These remarks, in direct opposition
to theosophy, should not be forgotten.
Insufficient realization that a natural pre-mysticism exists, leads
to a falsification, not to say caricature, of the contemplative life. This

MYSTICS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

367

might be the favorite work of the spirit of lies, which hides as much
as possible under the appearances of truth.
A certain modernistic syncretism is inclined to proclaim: “Christ
is here” or “He is there.” The Gospel tells us: “Do not believe
him.” 20 From this point of view, Christ would be everywhere except
perhaps where He really is.
This gives us an idea of the difficulty of the problem. How can we
distinguish a supernatural mysticism which, because of the ignorance
of several revealed mysteries, is rather amorphous, from a natural
mysticism or pre-mysticism which can exist even in souls in the state
of grace? The latter form of mysticism, of course, was that of the
Christian Platonists, of whom it was at times hard to say whether they
were Platonistic Christians or Platonists with a taste for Christianity.
The difficulty is increased by the fact that the mystical vocabulary
comes in part from Dionysius and from the Neo-Platonists and there­
fore does not strictly belong to the Church. Plotinus often speaks of
“purification,” but in an entirely different sense from that in which
St. John of the Cross uses it.
Moreover, this vocabulary is often more one of practical psycho­
logical description than is the case with theological descriptions, that
is, those written by the light of speculative reason based on revealed
principles. It is human language, expressing itself in terms of the
“experience” of the contemplative soul. Therefore we should not be
surprised that pseudo-mystics use it just as the true mystics do.
In our opinion, these are the chief difficulties of the problem. Some
of these difficulties derive from the nature of this mysterious subject.
For in it there is the darkness from above, coming from God whose
light is inaccessible, and also the darkness from below, which comes
from matter, one of the essential parts of the human composite. Be­
tween these two darknesses it is no easy task to distinguish true super­
natural mysticism from its natural analogies. The difficulty is in­
creased by the fact that the true and the false mystics often use a
vocabulary that is rather common to both. It is further increased by
the impossibility of seeing and of watching the lives of the mystics
outside the Church, who are known to us only by documents that are
,0 Matt. 14:33.

368

OUR SAVIOR

for the most part incomplete. Spiritual directors have difficulty in
judging those under their direction on the basis of a few conversations
and letters. They often reach conclusions quite different from the ones
of those who have lived in close contact with these persons over a long
period of time. How much more difficult, then, to pass an exact judg­
ment on the mystics outside the Church under discussion here! But
since this question has been presented to theologians and missioners,
let us inquire what guiding principles can help solve it.
IL Elements of the Solution
Two theologians who have lived among the Moslems, the late
lamented Father Lemonnyer and Father Allo,21 have indicated sev­
eral of these elements, as has also Jacques Maritain in his remarkable
work, The Degrees of Knowledge.22
Let us raise our thoughts progressively from the highest degrees
of the natural order to the loftiest degrees in the order of grace. We
would first consider the work of the imagination and of the rather dis­
orderly emotions on the first ideas on which religious sentiment lives,
whether these come from natural reason rising toward God or from
religious traditions that have been more or less distorted. This field
is unlimited. We have but to think of the sometimes improbable
fantasies written even by Christian and Catholic poets, without men­
tioning the decadents. We shall limit ourselves to the formulation
of principles concerning our superior faculties: the intellect and the
will.
These principles concern first of all natural contemplation and
21 A. Lemonnyer, “L’Existence des phénomènes mystiques, est-elle concevable en dehors
de l’Eglise?” (La vie spirituelle, May 1, 1932, pp. 73 ff.). In this article Father Lemonnyer
calls to mind the good distinction between “minor mystical graces that may be called
‘substitutive’ (because of the frailty of the subject or the special difficulties he encounters)
and major mystical graces that are called graces of perfection.” These latter are the graces
which mystical writers usually speak of, particularly St. Theresa of Avila, beginning with
the Fourth Mansion or the first passive prayers.
22 Translated by Bernard Wall and Margot R. Adamson, 1938. See Part II of this work,
chapter 5, “Mystical Experience and Philosophy,” especially pages 331-36: “I» there an
Authentic Mystical Experience of the Natural Order?” p. 331. “First Objection,” p. 333.
“Second Objection,” p. 333. “Third Objection,” p. 336» “The Natural Analogies of
Mystical Experience,” pp. 345-49.

MYSTICS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

369

natural love of God to the extent that they are possible in the present
state, and then the different forms of superior inspiration that man can
receive. It is easy to reduce the guiding principles to these two cate­
gories.
Natural Knowledge and Natural Love of God
We must remember that, according to Catholic theological teach­
ing as formulated by St. Thomas (la, q. 60, a. 5; la Ilae, q. 109, a.
I, 2, 3; Ila Ilae, q. 26, a. 3), man since his fall28 can still, without
grace, by his natural powers know the existence of God, the author of
our nature, he can know the more manifest divine attributes, and he
can love God the author of our nature with a natural, inefficacious
love. Although this love does not make us renounce mortal sin, that
is, does not fundamentally rectify our will and our life, it prompts us
to admire God’s perfections that are naturally knowable, His infinite
wisdom and His goodness.23
24 This admiration leads to flights of the
imagination which in poetic souls, especially in great artists, find
lyrical expression reminiscent of true mysticism. Yet this might really
be nothing but a sentimentalism full of deceiving fluctuations, one
whose fires soon flicker out.
This natural and inefficacious love of God, the author of our nature,
appears more powerful in souls naturally endowed with a vigorous
intelligence or a strong will. This is particularly true when natural
love of God is united, as in the case of Plotinus, to a love of philos­
ophy, or perhaps to a love of art, or to love of country as in the case
of an oppressed people.
In such cases we can easily find a natural préfiguration of the
23 By this fall, man is born a sinner, “aversus a Deo, directe aversus a fine ultimo super­
natural! et indirecte aversus a Deo fine ultimo naturali,” for all sin, which is directly
against supernatural law, is directly against natural law, which requires us to obey God
in everything that He commands.
24 Cf. the commentators of St. Thomas’ treatise on grace, la Ilae, q. 109, a. 3. Most of
them state the question thus: “Whether by his own natural powers and without grace
man can love God above all things?” and “Whether man without grace and by his own
natural powers can fulfill the commandments of the law?” We have dealt elsewhere at
length with this natural and inefficacious love of God. Cf. The Love of God and the Cron
of Jesus, I, 85 ff.

370

OUR SAVIOR

mystical life that may mislead us if we forget the words of Jesus: “Not
every one that saith to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father.” 28 Nor let us for­
get that in the actual plan of Providence every man is either in the
state of grace or in the state of mortal sin; he is turned either toward
God or away from Him. There is no middle ground. Absolute in­
difference is not possible with regard to God.
Consequently, on the matter of natural analogies to true mysticism
we must note what Father Lemonnyer says: “What difference is it to
us and what principles can we be expected to present in opposition to
the fact that there have been actually observed outside the Church
such phenomena as catalepsy, levitation, or luminous radiation mate­
rially resembling mystical ecstasy, as well as psychic states more or
less analogous to mystical sufferings? Whether these phenomena are
normal or pathological, natural or diabolical, they do not necessarily
require a divine cause.
“We do not even claim that their appearance is impossible in con­
nection with natural contemplation of a religious object, as Neo­
Platonic contemplation could have been, and as can also be Buddhist
or theosophical contemplation or any other contemplation that has
Christian affinities. This natural contemplation, prepared and sus­
tained by appropriate asceticism, developed through the use of a
method and through well-conceived exercises to an exceptional de­
gree of intensity, can have psychic consequences. When temperamen­
tal factors are favorable, especially when the imagination and the
emotions come into play, there can even be corporeal consequences
materially resembling various accessory mystical phenomena, with
the exception of levitation. Hallucinations, susceptible of evoking the
idea of prophetic visions, can easily be an additional factor.” 28 Much
could be said on this subject as it concerns the temperament of certain
racial groups predisposed to passiveness and fatalism.
Can the natural love of God, which we have just mentioned, at­
tain to what has been called an “immediate seizure of God” which
would allow us to speak not merely of a natural pre-mysticism but of
a genuine natural mysticism?
” Matt. 7:1t.

*’ Art. cit., p. 7S.

MYSTICS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

371

Pantheism, particularly that of Plotinus and Spinoza, gives an
affirmative answer. We have explained elsewhere why Catholic
theology must answer in the negative.27 This would be the confusion
of nature and grace.
There is a difference in formal object between the dim natural in­
tuition of God known from the outside in the mirror of sensible things
without the grace of faith and, on the other hand, the supernatural
and quasi-experimental knowledge of God founded on divine revela­
tion and infused faith united to charity and enlightened by the gifts
of the Holy Ghost. Only supernatural knowledge can ultimately at­
tain “the deep things of God,” as St. Paul says.28 In other words, it
alone attains the intimate life of God, the Deity. First it succeeds in
doing this dimly through faith and then it does so clearly through
the beatific vision.29
Maritain rightly insists on this point:
,T The Love of God and the Cross of Jesus, I, 119 ff.
28 I Cor. 2:10.
28 It is precisely because the Deity or the divine essence as such constitutes a formal
object that infinitely surpasses the proper object of every created intelligence whether
angelic or human, that St. Thomas was able to write {Contra Gentes, Bk. I, chap. 3) :
“Quod sint aliqua intelligibilium divinorum, quae humanae rationis penitus excedant
ingenium, evidentissime apparet.” The proper object of our intelligence is the intelligible
being of sensible things. From this it can naturally rise to the knowledge of the existence
of God and of the perfections analogically common to God and to creatures, but it can­
not rise to the quiddative knowledge of what the Deity is in itself, the formal object of
divine intelligence, nor to the knowledge of what essentially and immediately belongs to
this formal object per se primo. As St. Thomas says, ibid.: “Sensibilia ad hoc ducere in­
tellectum nostrum non possunt, ut in eis divina substantia videatur quid sit, quum sint
effectus causae virtutem non aequantes.” Nor can the angels know naturally the proper
object of divine intelligence: “Non autem naturali cognitione angelus de Deo cognoscit
quid est, quia et ipsa substantia angeli, per quam in Dei cognitionem ducitur, est effectus
causae virtutem non adaequans.” St. Thomas, ibid., no. 2.
Ibid., Ia, q. 1, a. 6 : “Sacred doctrine essentially treats of God viewed as the highest cause
—not only so far as He can be known through creatures just as philosophers knew Him—
that which is known of God is manifest in them (Rom. 1:19)—but also so far as He is
known to Himself alone and revealed to others.” It is because of this difference in formal
object that we maintain in opposition to a recent objection that it can be demonstrated
that there is in God an order of supernatural mysteries, that is, mysteries inaccessible to
the natural powers of every created intelligence.
That is why St. Thomas says in the passage of Contra Gentes that we have just cited:
“Evidentissime apparet. . . .” If there is a formal object that can constitute a new order,
It is the formal object of divine intelligence. We have dealt with this question at greater
length in the January, 1933, issue of La revue Thomiste, pp. 71—84, and De revelatione,
Vol. I, chap. it.

37»

OUR SAVIOR

To admit in any degree, even in the simplest imaginable form, an authentic
experience of the depths of God upon the natural plane would necessarily imply:
1. Either confounding our natural intellectuality, which is made specific by being
in general, with our intellectuality in grace, which is made specific by the divine
essence itself;
2. Or confounding the presence of immensity, whereby God is present in all His
creatures by the power of His creative might, with the special and holy indwelling
of God, that special presence in the soul in a state of grace;
3. Or again muddling up in the same hybrid concept the wisdom of the natural
order (metaphysical wisdom) and the infused gift of wisdom;
4. Or finally attributing to the natural love of God what exclusively belongs to
supernatural charity.
In one way or another this would be to confound what is absolutely proper to
grace with what is natural and of the order of nature.80

If vegetative life, the life of the senses, and the life of reason con­
stitute three distinct orders, how much more must we recognize as
existing above them the order of truly divine life, superior to the
rational life of man and to angelic life!
Thus only can we safeguard the meaning of St. Paul’s words:
“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.
But to us God hath revealed them by His Spirit. For the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man
knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit of a man that is in him?
So the things also that are of God [His intimate life] no man
knoweth, but the Spirit of God.” 31 What a vast difference there is
between knowing the Vicar of Jesus Christ from the outside by what
everybody says of him and knowing his intimate life! How much
vaster, then, is the difference between knowing God from the outside
through the reflections of His perfections in the created order and
knowing His intimate life at least dimly through divine revelation!
That is why it has always been necessary for salvation to have ex­
plicit infused faith in at least two primary truths of the supernatural
order: God, the author of salvation, exists and He is a rewarder.83
Without this explicit faith we cannot have implicit faith in the other
supernatural mysteries.
•° Of>. cit., p. 332.

811 Cor. 2:9-12.

81 Heb. 11:6.

MYSTICS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

373

Natural love of God might be efficacious even without grace, if
man had not fallen but had remained in a state of pure nature, pref­
erably integral nature. Yet man would not in such a state attain to the
“immediate seizure of God.” Even the angels would not attain to it
by this natural love of God, for, like us, they had to be raised to the
supernatural order of grace in order to know dimly at first and then
clearly the intimate life of God or the mystery of the Deity.83 There
is an immeasurable distance between knowing God as God, in His
intimate life, even in an obscure manner, and knowing God from the
outside as the First Being and First Intelligence through the reflec­
tion of His perfections in creatures. It is because our natural love of
God cannot arrive at this experience of the intimate life of God that
we do not speak of a “natural mysticism,” but only of a “natural pre­
mysticism.”

Superior Inspiration and Its Various Forms

But if natural love of God cannot arrive at the intimate experience
that is to be found only in the mystical life by reason of the gift of
wisdom, it is none the less often difficult in concrete reality to distin­
guish this natural love from a love born of superior inspiration. This
difficulty is greatest in the case of philosophers or vigorous souls in
whom the natural love of God is united to another powerful love
which is not without grandeur, and when these are accompanied by
a certain purifying asceticism such as the catharsis of Plotinus.
It is in such cases especially that a natural pre-mysticism can exist.
This pre-mysticism is all the more difficult to distinguish concretely
from true mysticism inasmuch as the superior inspiration which we
have just mentioned is not always of the same nature.
We shall find, if we read the works of St. Thomas attentively, that
he distinguishes at least four kinds of superior inspirations, two of
the natural order and two of the supernatural order of grace. They
can be reduced to the following table, reading from the bottom
up.
·· Cf. St. Thomas, la, q.6a, a. a.

374

X

o
H

<!

0«
cn

Z

OUR SAVIOR

mystical inspiration properly so-called,
leading, for instance, to passive recollection
and other degrees of infused prayer.
mystical inspiration improperly so-called,
given especially because of the indigence of
the subject or of the environment.

proceeding from God, the author of nature,
for example, for the temporal welfare of
a people.
proceeding from created spirits, whether good
or evil, such as poetic inspiration.

We know there can be inspirations that come not directly and im­
mediately from God but from created spirits, whether good or evil.
And sometimes mystics outside the Church have sought contact with
spirits.
As Maritain remarks: “The care which St. Thomas took to refute
the theories of Avempace, Averroes, and others on the possibility for
man of an immediate achievement of the world of pure spirits by in­
tellectual intuition,84 shows to what point this temptation may prove
seductive to philosophers.” 88
It is often forgotten that there can be divine inspiration of the
natural order, such as that received by a great philosopher, a great
poet, an artist of genius, a lawmaker, or a strategist. St. Thomas
speaks of this several times, particularly in la Ilae, q. 68, a. I, where
he cites chapter fourteen, “On Good Fortune,” from Ethic. Eudem.
7, 8, written by a Platonist disciple of Aristotle who wrote of the
exceptional men who, moved by a divine instinct, do not need to
deliberate before doing great things.88 The end of Plato’s Banquet
and a part of Gorgias seem to have been written under the influence
84 Contra Gentes, Bk. Ill, chaps. 41-45.
85 Maritain, of. cit., p. 340.
80 Sec also Nicomachean Ethics, Bk. VII, chap. 1, nos. 1-33 St. Thomas commentary,
lect. i.

MYSTICS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

375

of an inspiration of this kind. Whence the expression: divine Plato.
We need only call to mind certain leitmotivs of Wagnerian works
or certain symphonies of Beethoven to realize that natural poetic or
musical inspiration, united to the natural and inefficacious love of
God which is possible without grace, can sometimes give the illusion
of true mysticism. This illusion will be even more pronounced when
the inspiration is received by a soul in the state of grace.
Divine inspirations of the order of grace also occur often enough,
but only rarely do they belong to the truly mystical order. First,
we must note in souls seeking religious truth the inspiration that leads
them to believe supernaturally in the truths that are necessary means
of salvation, especially the first two truths: that God (the author of
salvation and not only of nature) “is and is a rewarder to them that
seek Him.” 37 Explicit faith in these two primary supernatural truths
contains implicit faith in the others.
St. Thomas even tells us 88 that when a child, even one who has
not been baptized, fully reaches the age of reason he must order his
life to a good end, and if he does this he receives through grace the
remission of original sin. That is to say, he is justified by baptism of
desire. In other words, even a non-baptized child who has fully
reached the age of reason must choose not only to suit his fancy but
efficaciously the path of goodness and he must deliberately turn away
from evil. Now, to choose the right path in this way is already to
love efficaciously the good more than self, and therefore it amounts
to loving efficaciously and above all else the Sovereign Good, God,
the author of our nature, known at least in a confused manner.
We have seen that fallen man cannot do this without grace.39 That
the accomplishment of this precept be hic et nunc really possible, the
child then receives a sufficient grace, and if he does not resist it he
receives greater assistance. According to St. Thomas, he is actually
justified and his original sin is remitted. The text of la Ilae, q. 89,
a. 6, should be compared with the well-known passage De veritate,
17 Hcb. 11:6.
·» la Ilae, q. 89, a. 6: “When he begins to have the use of reason, . . . the first thing
that occurs to a man to think about then, is to deliberate about himself. And if he then
direct himself to the due end, he will, by means of grace, receive the remission of original
sin.”
110 Cf. St, Thomas, la Ilae, q. 109, a. 3.

376

OUR SAVIOR

q. 14, a. II ad 1, which the Jansenists forgot.40 Pope Pius IX speaks
in similar terms in the text quoted at the beginning of this chapter
(cf. Denzinger, no. 1677). God never commands the impossible and
He makes it possible for all adults to fulfill His precepts.
Supernatural love of God is more easily distinguishable in this
case by its efficacy and by the good behavior that it inspires from the
inefficacious natural love that in some respects resembles it. If the
child we have spoken of perseveres in the path of goodness in spite
of all the obstacles that surround him, he will be saved.
Finally, as Father Lemonnyer has remarked,41 it is important to
remember a distinction that theologians, notably the Thomists, often
make concerning the gifts of the Holy Ghost, which because they
are related to charity are present in every soul in the state of grace.
Among the special inspirations of the Holy Ghost which the gifts
dispose us to receive, some are given us especially because of our
weakness or because of the indigence of our environment, in order
that we may accomplish certain salutary and meritorious acts that
stronger souls or souls in less unfavorable environments might ac­
complish by the simple exercise of the infused virtues aided by com­
mon actual grace. These special inspirations of the Holy Ghost have
been called minor or improperly so-called mystical graces. It is not
unusual for converts to receive them at the moment of their conver­
sion and afterward for a more or less prolonged period of time, to
make up for their lack of preparation.42
Other special inspirations of the Holy Ghost that the gifts dispose
us to receive are given to us especially because of the perfection of the
act to be performed. If we do not resist these inspirations, they dispose
us soon to enter the initial mystical stage described by St. Theresa in
the fourth mansion and even in the ones above it. These inspirations
40 “Hoc ad divinam Providentiam pertinet, ut cuilibet provideat de necessariis ad
salutem, dummodo ex parte ejus non impediatur. Si enim aliquis taliter (in silvis) nutritus,
ductum naturalis rationis sequeretur in appetitu boni et fuga mali, certissime est tenendum,
quod ei Deus vel per internam inspirationem revelaret quae sunt ad credendum necessaria,
vel aliquem fidei praedicatorem ad eum dirigeret, sicut misit Petrum ad Cornelium.”
41 Art. cit., p. 7.
42 Converts also sometimes receive, at the moment of their conversion, genuine mystical
graces and even truly extraordinary graces. Such was the case of Father A. Ratisbonne’s
conversion, which calls to mind that of St. Paul.

MYSTICS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

377

can be called major mystical graces properly so called. John of
St. Thomas, among the Thomists, has made this distinction quite
clearly.48
The superior inspiration which we have been speaking of occurs in
a number of different forms. It can belong to the natural order and
proceed from either good or evil created spirits, or from God the
author of our nature, as several Greek philosophers have noted,
especially the author of Ethic. Eudem.^
Superior inspiration can also belong to the supernatural order of
grace. Apart from prophetic inspiration or other extraordinary graces,
it can be mystical in the broad sense or mystical properly so called.
Mystical inspiration improperly so called generally follows justifica­
tion and then becomes the principle of acts that are both salutary and
meritorious. But it can precede justification and dispose one toward
justification by acts that are salutary but not yet meritorious, inasmuch
as the principle of merit is the state of grace and charity.
Above natural acts that may contain a certain préfiguration of
mysticism, there is a great diversity of supernatural acts, starting
with the first salutary acts and going on to acts that are highly meri­
torious but still do not properly belong to the mystical order. We be­
lieve these are the principal elements of the solution.

The Order of Possibility and the Order of Existence
It is easier to reach conclusions in the order of possibility.
I. True mysticism, which implies or at the very least provides
proximate preparation for the quasi-experimental knowledge of God
present within us, is possible only for souls in the state of grace. Out­
side the state of grace there can be a natural pre-mysticism and also
diabolic influences. This natural pre-mysticism can exist simultane­
ously with actual graces that dispose toward salutary but not yet
meritorious acts. It can even exist in souls in the state of grace who
4> Cf. John of St. Thomas, Cursus theol., De donis, In lam Ilae, q. 68, diss. 18, a. aj
solv. obj. no. 6: How the Holy Ghost conies to succor our weakness in the midst of dif­
ficulties. Cf. St. Thomas, Ia Hae, q.68, a. a, ad i and 3. We have elsewhere discussed the
influence of the gifts of the Holy Ghost in the ascetic life, an influence that is frequently
latent and only rarely manifest, whereas in the mystical life it becomes both frequent and
quite manifest. Cf. Christian Perfection and Contemplation.
44 Bk. VII, chap. 14.

378

OUR SAVIOR

perform meritorious acts, as we have seen in particular among Chris­
tian philosophers with a Platonist turn of mind.
2. In the actual plan of Providence in which the state of pure
nature does not exist, every man is either in the state of grace or in
the state of mortal sin. There is no middle ground. Every man is
either turned toward God or turned away from Him. In the state of
pure nature man would be born with a will not yet converted to God
nor turned away from Him, but capable of being converted or of
turning away from Him. In the actual state of things, man is born a
sinner, turned from his last supernatural end and indirectly from his
final natural end,45 for every sin against supernatural law trans­
gresses natural law at least indirectly. Therefore it is man’s duty to
obey God in whatever He may command. This means that every man
is either turned toward God or turned away from Him. More pre­
cisely: every man either loves God efficaciously above all things with
a love of esteem (an appreciative love), which presupposes sanctify­
ing grace and charity, or else he does not attain to this efficacious love
of God either because of original sin if he does not have the full use
of reason, or because of a personal mortal sin.40 That is why our Lord
has said: “He that is not with Me is against Me,” 47 and also to the
apostles these consoling words: “He that is not against you is for
you.” 48 Indifference properly so called or absolute neutrality is not
possible with regard to the ultimate end. Therefore in the actual
economy of salvation every man is either in the state of grace or in the
state of mortal sin.
3. The state of grace is possible outside of the visible Church. It
is realized by men who, with the help of actual grace, do what is in
their power and thus come to love God efficaciously more than them­
selves with a love of esteem if not a love of sentiment. “To anyone
doing what in him lies (with the help of actual grace), God does not
refuse (habitual) grace.” 49
48 Cf. St. Thomas, la Ilae, 9.109, a. 3, and his commentators of the beginning of his
treatise on grace, for the explanation of the thesis: “Utrum homo in statu naturae lapsae
nondum reparatae minores vires habeat ad bonum morale (naturale) quam habuisset in
statu naturae purae?”
48 Cf. St. Thomas, Ia Hae, q. 89, a. 6.
4T Matt. 12:30.
48 Mark 9:391 Luke 9:30.
40 Cf. ibid., q. 109, a. 6 j q. 112, a. j.

MYSTICS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

379

4. Mystical graces improperly so called or minor mystical graces
not only are possible outside the visible Church, but they can occur
rather frequently in the holiest souls in the state of grace, as a means
of making up for the indigence of the environments where God’s
children find so little help.80 In this way souls really endowed with
good faith and good will in the theological sense can attain a true
spirit of prayer, as missioners have often noticed. In consequence these
souls may make more or less permanent attempts at attaining God’s
intimacy, especially if there remain traces of the Gospel in their
religious teachings, as in the doctrine of Islam and in some of its tra­
ditions.51 These graces are to be found all the more in environments
where, in spite of the errors of the Protestant heresy and of schism,
the Gospel is preached and where Christ is loved by souls of good
faith.82
5. As for mystical graces properly so called or major mystical
graces, by which the soul reaches mystical states properly so called
as described by St. Theresa of Avila from the fourth mansion on
(passive recollection and quietude), they are possible outside the
visible Church. For the “grace of the virtues and the gifts” can
develop outside the Church, even though this is much more difficult.
Yet everything leads us to believe a 'priori that these mystical graces60
*
61
60 As Father Lemonnyer remarks (art. cit., pp. 73 ff.) : “The minor mystical graces
are properly supplementary graces. When God grants them, He takes into consideration
need rather than merit. He holds them in reserve as help mercifully granted to weakness
rather than as direct means of accelerating progress in perfection. If there are borncandidates for the minor mystical graces, they are these unknown Catholics, members of
the one spiritual Church. . . . They lack so many things.”
61 Cf. Rev. Allo (art cit., pp. 108 ff.) : “The Mohammedan contemplatives have
deepened and vivified the monotheism of the Koran, which has always been their dog­
matic authority. Although they greatly esteemed Christian monks, Christianity’s influence
on them was much less than the influence of Neo-Platonism. The Indian Vedanta also had
its dogmatic authorities. . . . They do not admit the Incarnation, which is a Christian
dogma. They deeply venerate Jesus, . . . who was to them the perfect example of trans­
forming union. . . . Although on the whole they were orthodox, they were exposed to
the calumnies and persecutions of the literalist theologians, to the point of having their
own martyrs, such as the famous Al Hallâj.” We can see that in such an environment
and in the face of such trials there may well have existed among the best of these souls
a certain intimacy with God and genuine inspirations of the Holy Ghost.
“a These graces must occur even more frequently since the consecration of the human
race to the Sacred Heart by Pope Leo ΧΠΙ at the beginning of the twentieth century. And
Mary, the Mother of all men, must obtain the salvation of many sinners.

38ο

OUR SAVIOR

properly so called, already rare in the visible Church, are exceedingly
rare in these less favorable environments. Here and there we may
find a few instances of what St. Theresa of Avila calls the fourth
mansion, but it is doubtful that there is anything more elevated than
that.53
When we pass from the order of possibility to the order of actual­
ity, it is much more difficult to reach final conclusions.
1. We almost always lack the elements of appreciation necessary
to judge the essentially supernatural character of the experiences of
the mystics outside the Church. Only the Church could speak with
authority on these cases.
2. In order to have even a serious probability, we would be obliged
to include among the texts of these mystics outside the Church not
only those that have the ring of Christian mysticism but also those
that are clearly pantheistic in character, or quietistic, or even erotic,
as is the case of many such mystics.
If we were that exacting, the seriously probable cases of true mysti­
cism in these environments would in all likelihood be far fewer and
would perhaps be reduced for the most part to short-lived attempts.
Let us not forget what St. John of the Cross says even of the most
restricted Catholic circles. “God does not raise up to contemplation
properly so-called all who desire to attain it by following the way
of the spirit. He does not take even half of them.” 54 “Why do they
not reach this lofty state? . . . [Many souls], as soon as God tests
them, flee suffering and refuse to bear the slightest dryness and mor­
tification.” 55 If this is true within the visible Church, how much
truer must it be on the outside!
3. We should exercise the greatest restraint in judging the numer58 Cf.'Lemonnyer, loc. cit.: “Major mystical graces or phenomena presuppose charity
in the way of perfection, a charity called to be effectively perfect. Even in the bosom of
the Church, where the grace of Jesus Christ flows with greater abundance, few are the
souls whom God favors with these graces after He has disposed them to receive them.
We are led to believe that they are even fewer in the vast area where the spiritual atmos­
phere is less pure and the external means of sanctification are so meager. . . . The existence
of the major phenomena of the mystical life remains perfectly conceivable in this portion
of the spiritual Church that is outside the visible Church, although there are strong rea­
sons for believing a -priori that they are very rare.”
64 Cf. Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. I, chap. 9.
“ Living Flame of Love, st. 1, verse 5.

MYSTICS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

381

ous supposed mystics who are at least tainted by pantheistic monism.se
No doubt, for the good of souls “of good will” in the scriptural sense,
God can make use of natural pre-mysticism, just as He can make use
of poetry. St. Paul did this in his discourse before the Areopagus:
“In Him we live, and move, and are; as some also of your own poets
said: For we are also His offspring.” 67 But we do not know to what
extent God makes use of these natural flowers for the good of souls.
4. Among the supposed mystics to be excluded would be particu­
larly those who, like the theosophists, wish to possess final beatitude
through their natural powers only. For this calls to mind the sin of
the angel as described by St. Thomas 68 far more than true mysti­
cism.
5. All things considered, it seems very probable that the natural
contemplation so dear to Plotinus and Proclus occurred rather fre­
quently.
Plotinus 69 speaks several times of ecstasy, and says that in order
to be united to the first principle we must come to absolute simplicity,
and go beyond all reasoning and all multiplicity: “We must wait in
silence for the divine light to appear to us, just as the eye turned
toward the horizon awaits the rising of the sun over the ocean. . . .
Thought can only raise us little by little to the height from which it
is possible to discover God. It is like the wave that carries us and lifts
us up as it swells, so that suddenly from its crest we are able to see.”
Lofty as this contemplation may be, Plotinus considers it natural, for
our nature proceeds from the One through emanation. It is in the
ee Yet, as has just been noted, “if the heart is humble and faithful without knowing how
to express itself, supernatural grace will be able to take full possession of it, and such a
deficiency in doctrinal formulation will become the mute and involuntary homage of
the full transcendence of Christian revelation.” The prevenient graces and graces of con­
solation granted to the more conscientious souls in these pagan environments in general do
not tend so much to rectify abstract formulas that inadequately express the true aspirations
of the mind and heart. They tend rather to compensate for these false notions in the soul’s
concrete movement toward God, by removing their venom through the void of negative
theology, th rough the spirit of renunciation and abandonment. Thus Eckhart and Rosmini
possessed true charity in spite of their erroneous speculative formulas.
07 Acts 17:18.
la, q.63, a. 3 : “It was in this way that the devil desired to be as God ... by desiring,
as his last end of beatitude, something which he could attain by virtue of his own nature,
turning his appetite away from supernatural beatitude, which is attained by God’s grace.”
I‘“ Enneadi, 5, 5, ioj 4, 3, 31.

38»

OUR SAVIOR

One that we exist and subsist. In this form of pantheism as in the
others, we can truthfully say of our nature what Christian doctrine
says of grace: it is already a participation in divine nature.
Proclus also says: “The soul that makes an act of intelligence
knows itself as well as all contingent beings. But when it rises above
intelligence, it is ignorant of itself and also of the contingents. Unit­
ing itself with the One, it finds joy in rest, closed to all knowledge,
wordless and intrinsically silent.” 00
We should remember what Ruysbroeck and Tauler say concerning
this natural contemplation. The latter says: “If one were to look
upon this way [of high contemplation] with abusive liberty and false
light, this would be . . . most regrettable. . . . The way that leads
to this end must pass by the adorable life and passion of our Lord
Jesus Christ. . . . We must pass through this beautiful door by
doing violence to nature, by practicing virtue with humility, gentle­
ness, and patience. Know this in truth: he who does not follow this
path will lose his way.” 61 Of course these words were addressed to
Christians, but they show the immense difference between supernatu­
ral contemplation and that of Plotinus and Proclus.
In conclusion, let us call to mind the reasons why true mysticism,
although it is the normal blossoming of the life of grace, is, like
perfect docility to the Holy Ghost, rare even in the visible Church. It
is rare even in the religious orders, in spite of the assistance of the
sacraments and in particular of daily Holy Communion. The mystical
life is a normal development of the life of grace ; but it is a lofty
summit. Rarely do souls go beyond the fourth mansion, or prayer
of quietude. The reason for this is that the mystical life ordinarily
requires purity of heart, simplicity of mind, true humility, love of
recollection, perseverance in prayer, fervent charity, all of which are
attainable when one makes the best use possible of the great means
the Church provides; the sacraments, Holy Communion, and when
one allows oneself to be molded by the liturgy and the supernatural
study of sacred doctrine. This combination of conditions is not often
•° Prodi opera inedita (Paris, 1864), col. 171.
41 Cf. Sermone de Tauler (translated by Rev. Hugueny, Rev. Théry, O.P., and Rev.
A. L. Corin. Theological introduction by Rev. Hugueny, I, 91 f.).

MYSTICS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

383

realized even among Catholics, and therefore it is even less frequent
among those who do not belong visibly to the Church.
We do not deny in the least that a pagan can receive sufficient
graces that permit him, if he does not resist them, to arrive at an
infused faith in the truths absolutely necessary for salvation and for
charity.62 Yet it may be that the “experience of the divine” which we
may think we notice in several mystics outside the Church is more
often than not a sort of natural pre-mysticism that is profoundly dif­
ferent from the true, essentially supernatural mysticism. If there
are certain attempts to attain the latter, these seem to be of short dura­
tion or fail to go beyond the lower degrees of quasi-experimental
knowledge of God.
This truth can be more clearly understood when these attempts
at reaching God are compared with the spirit and the life of the saints,
for instance, with what St. Paul says of the life of the apostles: “In
all things let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God, ... as
deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet known; as dying, and
behold we live; ... as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as needy,
yet enriching many; as having nothing, and possessing all things.” 68
This is true mysticism and the signs that accompany it.
We believe this solution is at once sound enough to fulfill the
requirements of the principles and yet flexible enough to respect the
different modes by which divine grace acts on men’s souls. It avoids
the two errors we pointed out at the beginning of this chapter: natu­
ralism and narrow pseudo-supernaturalism like that of the Jansenists.
On the one hand it maintains that it is a great grace to be born into
the Catholic Church. On the other, it strongly affirms that God never
commands the impossible and that He makes it possible for all
adults to accomplish the precepts they are called on to obey.
82 St. Thomas even says that it is not impossible that God should work a miracle to
confirm a natural truth of religion or the value of a virtue such as chastity. Cf. De ■potentia,
q.6, a. 5, ad 5.
Referring to the vestal who was said by St. Augustine to have carried water to the Tiber
in a perforated vessel (De civitate Dei, Bk. X, chap. 26), St. Thomas says: “Non est re­
motum quin sit in commendationem castitatis quod Deus verus suos angelos bonos hujusmodi
miraculum per retentionem aquae fecisset, quia si aliqua bona in gentibus fuerunt, a Deo
fuerunt.” It is true that this extraordinary fact is not a miracle properly so called, for it
does not exceed the natural power of the good or evil angels.
03 II Cor. 6:4-10.

384

OUR SAVIOR

An understanding of the deficiencies of the mystics outside the
Church should help those who, according to the expression of St.
Paul,64 are groping for God to find the true life and who can through
the grace of Christ, but only through His grace, persevere in it until
death.
Let us not forget that at the outset of the twentieth century Leo
XIII consecrated the entire human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The effects of this grace should continue to increase with each
passing year.
84 Acts 17:27.

* XXXII
*
Epilogue

The Three Births of the Word
HE synthesis of the revelation relating to the Word made flesh
is to be found in the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel. It is con­
cerned with the three births of the Word which are celebrated each
year by the three Masses on Christmas day: His eternal birth, His
temporal birth according to the flesh at Bethlehem, and His spiritual
birth in the souls of men.
The eternal birth of the Word is clearly expressed in the first and
last verses of the Prologue of the Fourth Gospel:

T

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. . . . No man hath seen God at any time: The only-begotten Son who is in the
bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.

These words unequivocally affirm the distinction between the
Word (the Son of God) and the Father, and also the divinity of
the Word, consubstantial with the Father.
The distinction between these two divine persons is unmistakable
from the declaration that “the Word was with God.” No one is with
himself or in himself. And if there were any doubt whether the
expression “the Word” designates a person, this doubt would be re­
moved by verse 18 at the end of the Prologue: “No man hath seen
God at any time: the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the
Father, He hath declared Him.” The entire Prologue makes it clear
that the only-begotten Son is the Word of God made flesh. The ex­
pression “who is in the bosom of the Father” explains the words of
the first verse, “the Word was with God.”
It is evident also that the only-begotten Son is not the name of a
divine attribute but the name of a person, as is the name “Father.”
385

386

OUR SAVIOR

Finally, these two persons are really distinct: The Father is not the
Son, for he who begets is not he who is begotten. No one begets him­
self.
On the other hand, we cannot say: God is not His intelligence, His
wisdom, His love. For He is indeed His intelligence, He is wisdom
itself, love itself. These essential attributes are absolutely identified
with His essence. Yet the Father is not the Son. There is between
them a polarity of relationship that does not exist between each of
them and the divine essence.
However, the Prologue makes it perfectly clear that the Word is
consubstantial with the Father, since it says: “The Word was God.”
In the Greek “the Word” is clearly the subject of this proposition,
as well as of the preceding and following ones. And it is certain that
the word “God” is used there in the same full sense as in the preced­
ing proposition, “the Word was with God,” and as in the following
one, “the same was in the beginning with God.”
Moreover, the following verses show that the Word, together
with the Father, is the Creator, the author of natural and supernatu­
ral life: “All things were made by Him: and without Him was made
nothing that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light
of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not
comprehend it.”
These last words refer especially to the supernatural light needed
for believing the truths of faith essential to salvation.
The first and last verses of this Prologue thus show us the pro­
found meaning of the words of psalm 2:7: “The Lord hath said to
Me: Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee,” and of
psalm 109:1-3: “The Lord said to my Lord: Sit thou at My right
hand: ... in the brightness of the saints: from the womb before
the day star I begot Thee.” We can also grasp a little better what the
Holy Ghost wished to express when He inspired the author of the
Book of Wisdom: “[Wisdom] is a vapor of the power of God, and
a certain pure emanation of the glory of the almighty God: . . . for
she is the brightness of eternal light: and the unspotted mirror of
God’s majesty, and the image of His goodness.” 1
1 Wild. 7:»5 f.

EPILOGUE

387

This prologue, in verse 14, speaks with equal clearness of the
temporal birth of the Word: “And the Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us (and we saw His glory, the glory as it were of the
only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.”
This temporal birth according to the flesh was announced by the
prophet Micheas: “And thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one
among the thousands of Juda: out of thee shall He come forth unto
me that is to be the ruler in Israel: and His going forth is from the
beginning, from the days of eternity ... for now shall He be
magnified even to the ends of the earth.” 2
It is the fulfillment of Isaias’ prophecy: “For a child is born to us,
and a Son is given to us, and the government is upon His shoulder:
and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God the
Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace. . . .
And there shall be no end of peace.” 8
Finally, this prologue speaks to us of the spiritual birth of the
Word, living in the Church which is His mystical body, in souls of
good will: “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.
But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the
sons of God, to them that believe in His name. Who are born, not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God.” 4
He gave them power to be sons of God by adoption, as He is the
Son of God by nature. Our sonship is an image of His, as verse 16
makes clear: “And of His fullness we all have received, and grace
for grace. For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by
Jesus Christ.”
Jesus Himself has said: “If anyone love Me, he will keep My
word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and
will make Our abode with him.” 8 He also said: “If you love Me,
keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He shall
give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you forever.” 8
The Word, the Son of God, together with the Father and the
Holy Ghost, dwells in every soul in the state of grace on earth, in
’Mich. 5:1-4.
• Ibid,, 14:13.

’Isa. 9:6/.
·Ibid., 14:15 f.

’John 1:11 fl.

388

OUR SAVIOR

purgatory, and in heaven. That is, He dwells in the souls of all the
just. However, His sacred humanity does not dwell within the souls
of the just, but it exerts a continual influence on them, for it is the
instrument always united to Divinity that communicates to us all the
sacramental and extra-sacramental graces that Jesus merited for us
during His life on earth and particularly on the cross.7 Therefore
we can speak of a spiritual birth of the Word in men’s souls, or of a
silent coming of the Word into souls, as He came into the souls of
the shepherds at Bethlehem. It is this silent coming that is honored
by one of the three Christmas Masses. In this sense also St. Paul
writes: “For in Christ Jesus, by the gospel, I have begotten you,” 8
in order to incorporate you into Him, so that you may be in Him and
He in you.
We can never thank God enough for the realization of the mystery
of the redemptive Incarnation. Often, when we enter a church, we
ask for a spiritual or temporal grace for ourselves or for those we
love, and sometimes we thank God for this or that particular blessing.
Let us not fail to thank Him for the gift of gifts, the blessing which
since the fall of man is the source of all other blessings, namely, the
coming of the Savior. As St. Paul says to the Colossians: “All what­
ever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him” 8 for all the
blessings that have come to us and that continue to come to us daily
through His Son. “To Him in glory forever and ever.”
The purpose of these pages is to invite souls to the contemplation
of the mystery of Christ, who has deigned to become our spiritual
food in the Eucharist. It would be difficult to express this contempla­
tion more beautifully than in the words of the great doxology, the
Gloria, which is sometimes recited mechanically at Mass, but which
delights the souls of contemplatives by the fullness of its meaning.
The Liber Pontificalis 10 says that Pope Telesphorus at the beginning
of the second century (a.d. 128-139) commanded that this Gloria in
excelsis be recited on the day of Christ’s Nativity. When God inspired
T Cf. St. Thomas, Illa, 9.43, a.2; q.48, a.6; q.6z, a.4.
* I Cor. 4:13.
8 Col. 3:17.

10 Ed. Duchesne, I, 129.

EPILOGUE

389

its author He knew that this song of praise would be sung at Mass
through the centuries and would be the joy of the greatest believers.
Glory to God
Glory to God in the highest. And on earth peace to men of good
will.

The Father

We praise Thee. We bless Thee. We adore Thee. We glorify Thee.
We give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory. O Lord God, heavenly
King, God the Father almighty.
The Son

O Lord, the only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. O Lord God, Lamb
of God, Son of the Father. Thou who takest away the sins of the
world, have mercy upon us. Thou who takest away the sins of the
world, receive our prayer. Thou who sittest at the right hand of the
Father, have mercy upon us. For Thou only art holy. Thou only art
the Lord. Thou only, O Jesus Christ, art most high,

The Holy Ghost
With the Holy Ghost, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
Let us often contemplate in this Gloria the immense love that God
has for us. God speaks. We must answer Him. Let us bear in mind,
as St. John of the Cross recommends, that in the evening of our lives
we shall be judged by love.

INDEX

Acceleration of spiritual progress, 7 : Mary’s,
326
Adoro Te, the, 266
Agnoetes, heresy of the, 161
“Amor meus, -pondus meum,” 270
Angels, Christ the head of the, 122 note
Anima Christi, thanksgiving prayer, 132
Announcement of the Savior, 56-77
Apostles, the: Christ according to, 28-365
conversion of, 155 note
Approach to God, acceleration in, 7
Aquinas 5 see Thomas
Assumption of Mary, 329
Author of life, Christ the, 28-36

Baptism of desire, 6, 375
Baptismal formula, authenticity of, 26
Beatific vision, possessed by Christ, 162,
224
Bernard, St.: hymn by, 34.0 note
Births of the Word, the three, 385-89
Blessed Virgins see Mary
Body of Christ in the sepulcher, 90 note
Bossuet on Christ’s priesthood, 246
Caiphas, Christ’s affirmation before, 25
Calvin, view of Christ’s dereliction, 280
Catechism of Council of Trent on Re­
demption, 200
Caussade, Father de: Abandonment to
Divine Providence by, 353
“Caverns,” mysteries of Christ as, 11
Charity: inflamed by the Incarnation, 108;
power of, ioj superior to hope, 108
Child’s obligation to choose God, 6, 375
Christ
according to the apostles, 28-36
the Author of life, 28-36
the beatific vision possessed by, 162, 224
contemplation of, 143-71
controlled emotions of, 180

Christ {continued)
daily gift of Himself in the Eucharist,
265
the dead body of, 90 note
divine rights claimed by, 15 fl.
divine sonship of, 20 fl.
doctrine of sublimity of, 146
Eucharistic heart of, 260-68
fortitude of, 282
free obedience of, 179
free will of, 178 note
fullness of grace in, 137, 269 ff.
fullness of virtues in, 139
gift of His cross of John, 336
gift of His heart to John, 332
God’s love for, 117
grace of: plenitude of, 1385 splendor of,
138
head of the angels, 122 note
His capacity for suffering, 140
His cry of dereliction, 273
His friendship for apostle John, 331 ff.
His love no longer meritorious, 308
His love of God, free or necessary?, 180
note
His obedience free and meritorious, 173
His peace during the Passion, 269-77
His peace in suffering, 272
His prayer in heaven, 234, 236 note,
304: St. Thomas on, 305
His redemptive love, 213-20
His reserve in manifesting His divinity,
14
His testimony on the Redemption, 18394
His victory over death, 288-97
humility of, 221-29: principle of, 222
human intelligence of, 143-71
human will of, 172-81
impeccable liberty of, 176
impeccability of, 129, 172: and freedom,
«74
39«

39»

INDEX

Christ {continued)
“impressionable” soul of, 144 note
incarnation of; see Incarnation
infused knowledge in, 170 and note
intensity of His sufferings, 271
interior oblation of, 304
intimacy of, 331-40
the intimate life of, 111-19
the King, encyclical on, 302
magnanimity of, 221-29
manifestation of His mission, 49 ff.
manner of His prayer, 230
manner of His teaching, 151 ff.
moral sufferings of, 271
moral teaching of, 149
mystery of; see Mystery of Christ
mystics outside the Church and grace of,
355-8+
no human personality in, 88
no ignorance in, 161
no imperfections in, 129
no longer subject of merits, 304
one oblation by, 307
our participation in mysteries of, 341-54
personality of, 78-100: rationalists on, 82
prayer of, 230-37
preaching of: Grou on, 157
predestination of, 120-24: the cause of
ours, 121; exceptional nature of, 120;
and motive of the Incarnation, 120
note
prediction of His passion, 188
as priest of the Mass, 298-310
priest on the cross, 278-87
rationalists on divinity of, 13
redemptive suffering of, 269 ff.
Renan on divinity of, 13
according to St. Peter, 28-36
sanctity of, 125-42: innate, 133; its con­
sequences for us, 141 ; substantial, 134;
uncreated, 135
seven last words of, 273 ff.
sinlessness of, 126
the Son of God, 12-27
spiritual physiognomy of, 116 δ.
strength of His love for God, 215
strength of His love for us, 218
suffering and peace in soul of, 275 note
superior to David, 24
according to Synoptics, 12-27

Christ {continued')
as teacher, 143 ff.
Teacher of humanity, 167
tenderness of His love for God, 213
tenderness of His love for us, 216
unction in His teaching, 155
union of humility and magnanimity in,
225
viator and comfrehensor, 163
as victim, 280 ff.
as victim on the cross, 278-87
victory over death and sin, 292
virtues of: harmony of, 140
what He merited, 256
what He must be to us, 8 ff.
will of: freedom of, 172 ff.
Christ, divinity of
His reserve in manifesting, 14
Loisy on, 21
manifested by Christ, 49 ff.
manifested in the Passion, 52
and Messiahship, 25 f.
Peter’s profession of, 21
proclaimed by Himself, 78
Protestant authors on, 13
rationalists on, 28
according to St. Paul, 39 ff.
testimony of the Baptist, 49 f.
Christ, merits of, 248-59
the Adoro Te, 250
basis of, 253
Clement VI on, 250
and impeccability, 174
objects of, 136 note
our trust in, 258
and ours, 258
St. Paul’s testimony, 248
whether for Himself and for us, 256
Christ, priesthood of, 238-47
Bossuet on, 245
Council of Trent on, 239
the hypostatic union and, 245
perfection of, 240
St. Paul on, 238
what constitutes the, 244
Christology of St. Paul, 37 ff.
Church, triumphs of the, 296
Clerissac, Father: on need of deep interior
life, 356 note
Communion, Christ’s gift in, 264

INDEX
Comfrehensor, Christ viator and, 163, 168
Condamin on prophecy of Isaias, 68
Contemplation: Christ’s, 143-715 St. Paul’s
habitual, 37 ff. 5 sanctity by way of,
342, 3465 Tauler on natural, 38a
Continuum, divisibility of a, 99
Conversation with oneself, 3
Converse with God, interior, 6
Conversion of St. Paul, 34 ftCornelius, Peter and, 32
Council of Jerusalem, Peter’s words at, 3 a
Council of Trent: on priesthood of Christ,
a39; on Sacrifice of the Mass, 298
Cross: Christ as priest on the, 278-87
Christ as victim on the, 278-87
Cross, sacrifice of the : the Last Supper and,
286 note
Crucifixion scene, painting of, 211
Crux fidelis (hymn), 208

Daily duty, sanctity by fidelity to, 342, 347
Daniel, prophecies of, 70, 74
David, Christ superior to, 24
Death, Christ’s victory over, 288-97
Dereliction, Christ’s cry of, 273
Dermenghem, L'Eloge du Vin by: criti­
cism of, 364 note
Dermenghem on Moslem mystics, 335
Desire, baptism of, 6
Divine inspiration of the natural order, 374
Divine personality of Jesus, 78-100
Divinity of Christ
His reserve in manifesting, 14
Loisy on, 21
manifested by Christ, 49 ff.
manifested in the Passion, 52
and Messiahship, 25 f.
Peter’s profession of, 21
proclaimed by Himself, 78
Protestant authors on, 13
rationalists on, 13, 28
Renan on, 13
according to St. Paul, 39 ff.
testimony of the Baptist, 49 f.
Divisibility of a continuum, 99
Docetae, heresy of, 279
Doctrine of Christ, sublimity of, 146 ff.

Ebionites, heresy of the, 36
Ecstasy, Plotinus on, 381

393

Eliseus of the Nativity, Father: on need of
belief in the Redemption, 363
Emotions of Christ, 180
Epistles of St. Paul, dates of, 37
Essence and existence, 94
Eucharist: the Real Presence, 2635 as a
sacrifice, 263
“Eucharistic heart,” 263 note
Eucharistic heart of Jesus, 260-68
Eucharistic priesthood, institution of, 264
Evil, God’s permission of, 114
Evolution of religion, modernism on, 357
Existence, essence and, 94
Faith : the Incarnation and certainty of, 103 5
virtue of, 103
Father, communication of self to the Son,
261
Fittingness of the Incarnation, 101-10
Fortitude of Christ, 282
Foucauld, Charles de: prayer for Islam, 266
Freedom of Christ’s obedience, 173
Free will: of Christ, 178 notes of God,
177 notej idea of, 1745 St. Thomas
on, 174 note
Friendship of Christ for John, 331 ff.
Fruits of Redemption in Mary, 321-30
Gamaliel, advice to Sanhedrin, 32
Gift of self, an expression of love, 260
Gloria in excelsis, the, 389
God
acceleration in approach to, 7
communication of Himself, 261
free will of, 177 note
His love for Christ, 117, 204-12
impeccable liberty of, 175
justice and mercy in, 211 note
Good, the: communication of itself, 80
Good acts, possibility of naturally, 358
Gospel of St. John : authorship of, 46 j pro­
logue, 475 Redemption in, 191
Gospels, “Son of God” in the, 13
Grace: Christ’s fullness of, 137, 269 ff.5
Mary’s fullness of, 3265 through the
sacraments, 258
Grace of Christ: and mystics outside the
Church, 355-845 plenitude of, 1385
splendor of, 138
Grou, Father: on Christ as teacher, 157

39+

INDEX

Heroism, human, 206
Holiness; see Sanctity
Holy Ghost, special inspirations of, 376
Hope: aroused by the Incarnation, 105;
charity superior to, 108; motive of,
1075 virtue of, 105
Human intelligence of Christ, 143-71
Human will of Christ, 172-81
Humility, nature of, 222
Humility of Christ, 221-29: principle of,
222; union of magnanimity and, 225
Hypostatic union, 89 ff.: and Christ’s
priesthood, 245

Imitation of Christ in self-oblation at
Mass, 319
Immaculate Conception: consequences of
the, 327; doctrine of, 322; St. Thomas
and doctrine of, 321 note, 324
Immolation at the Mass, 299 note
Impeccability of Christ, 129, 172: and His
free will, 174
Impeccable liberty of God, 175
Incarnation, the
in absence of original sin, 112
and certainty of faith, 103
charity inflamed by, 108
fittingness of, 80, 101-10: St. Thomas on,
261 note
hope aroused by, 105
motive of, 111-19, 116 note: a motive
of mercy, 111 ; and predestination of
Christ, 120 note
not merited by Mary, 325 note
according to St. John, 46-55
according to St. Paul, 37-45
thanksgiving for, 91
Individuality, personality and, 87 note
Infused knowledge in Christ, 170 and note
Inspiration of the natural order, 374
Inspirations: of the Holy Ghost, 376; su­
perior, 373
Intelligence, Christ’s human, 143-71
Interior life
absence of, 5
importance of, 8
the Incarnation and our, 101-10
meaning of the, 3
and the mystery of Christ, 3-11
need for deep, 356 note

Intimacy of Christ, 331-40
Irenaeus on authorship of Fourth Gospel,
46 note
Isaias: Messianic prophecies, 63; obscure
life of, 69 note; poetic genius of, 69;
prediction of the Passion, 282
Islam, Father de Foucauld’s prayer for, 266

Jansenius on merit, 252 note
Jeremias, prophecies of, 69
Jerusalem, Council of: Peter’s words at, 32
Jesus; see Christ
John, St. (apostle)
Christ’s friendship for, 331 ff.
Christ’s gift of His cross to, 336
Christ’s gift of His Mother to, 334
gift of Christ’s heart to, 332
his desire for salvation of souls, 339
the incarnation according to, 46-55
martyrdom of, 338
pained by heresies, 339
Redemption in Gospel of, 191
John of the Cross, St. : on making inquiries
of God, 169
John the Baptist, testimony to Christ, 49
Justice, God’s mercy and His, 211 note
Knowledge in Christ, infused, 170 and note
Knowledge of God, natural, 3 69

Last Supper, the, 260-68: and sacrifice of
the Cross, 286 note
Leo XIII, dedication of mankind to Sacred
Heart by, 257
Liberty: duty of obedience, 177; God’s
impeccable, 175; idea of moral, 174
Life, the interior; see Interior life
Life of Jesus by Renan, 127 note
Loisy on divinity of Christ, 21
Love: Christ’s redemptive, 213-20; gift of
self an expression of, 260; spontaneous
but not free, 173 note
Love of God: Christ’s, free or necessary?,
180 note; natural, 369
Love of self, 4, 10
Lutheran, conversion of a, 202 note
Magnanimity: Christ’s, 221-29; Christ’s
union of humility and, 225; nature
of, 226

INDEX
Maritain on need of inpernatural knowl­
edge, 37a
Martyrdom of St. Stephen, 33 ff.
Mary
assumption of, 319
Christ’s gift to John, 334.
fruits of Redemption in, 311-30
fullness of grace in, 316
her acceleration of spiritual progress,
316
merits of, 325 note
predestination of, 113
subject to suffering and death, 328
Mass
applied to several persons, 314
Christ, priest of the, 298
Council of Trent on, 298
effect of each, how limited, 31 j
effects in us, 314
ends of the, 313
the Imitation on self-oblation at, 319
immolation at the, 299 note
permissible intentions, 317
perpetually celebrated, 263
principal priest of, 298-310
proper internal disposition at, 319
the remission of punishment due to sin,
318
a sacrifice, 299
sacrifice of the Cross and that of, 298
note
for several intentions, 316
sins remitted by, 317
superior to the old sacrifices, 300
value of each, 311-20
words of consecration, 301
Material goods and spiritual goods com­
pared, 8
Mercy: God’s justice and His, 211 note; the
Incarnation prompted by, 111 ; nature
of, 113
Merit: of Christ and His impeccability, 174;
in general, 251 ; Jansenius on, 232
note; and satisfaction compared, 248;
supernatural conditions of, 251
Merits: ours not superfluous, 258; of the
Passion, 257
Merits of Christ, 248-39
the ddoro Te, 250
basis of, 133

395

Merits of Christ (continued')
Clement VI on, 250
objects of, 136 note
our trust in, 238
and ours, 258
St. Paul’s testimony, 248
whether for Himself or for us, 256
Messiahship and divinity of Christ, 25 f.
Modernism on evolution of religion, 357
Modernists: on Christ of the Gospels, is;
explanation of doctrine of Redemption,
185
Moslem mystics, 360 note: Dennenghem
on, 355
Motive of the Incarnation, 111-19
Mystery of Christ, interior life and the,
3-ti
Mystery of the Incarnation; see Incarna­
tion
Mystery of the Redemption; see Redemp­
tion
Mystical graces outside the visible Church,
379 fMystics, Moslem, 360 note: Dennenghem
on, 353
Mystics outside the Church, 355-84: the
difficulties of the problem, 363 ff. ;
importance of the problem, 359 ff.;
solution of problem, 368; statement
of the problem, 357
Natural contemplation, Tauler on, 382
Natural knowledge of God, 369
Natural love of God, 369
Natural pre-mysticism, 355
Naturalism, supernatural order denied by,
357

Obedience, liberty and obligation of, 177
Obedience of Christ, free and meritorious,
173
Oblation, Christ’s interior, 304
Oral tradition, Scripture preceded by, 12
Original sin: consequences of, 293; God’s
permission of, 114; the Incarnation in
absence of, 112; transmission of, 322
Painting of crucifixion scene, 211
Parable of the wicked husbandmen, 23
Participation in Christ’s mysteries, 341-54

396

INDEX

Pascal: on escape from oneself, 55 on the
prophecies, 73 f.
Passion : Christ’s divinity manifested in the,
52; Christ’s peace during the, 269-77;
Christ’s prediction of the, 188; Isaias’
prediction of the, 282; merits of the,
*57
“Passion according to Isaias,” 67
Patriarchal period, prophecies of, 56 5.
Paul, St.
Christology of, 37 ff.
conversion of, 34 ff.
dates of epistles of, 37
divinity of Christ according to, 39 ff.
habitual contemplation of, 3 7 ff.
the Incarnation according to, 37-45
on priesthood of Christ, 238
rapture of, 159
the Redemption according to, 195-203
Peace in suffering, Christ’s, 272
Peace of Christ during Passion, 269-77
Permission of evil, God’s, 114
Personality
definition of, 97
essence of, 92
false, 85
individuality and, 87 note
notion of, 82, 84 note
not something negative, 93
St. Thomas on, 87 note, 88 note
of the saints, 86
Personality, human: development of, 81,
84; not in Christ, 88
Personality of Jesus, 78-100: rationalists
on, 82
Peter, St.
Christ according to, 28-36
Christ’s divinity declared by, 21
and Cornelius the centurion, 32
first discourse of, 28 ff.
before the Sanhedrin, 30
words at Council of Jerusalem, 32
Philo, use of “Logos” by, 49 note
Pius IX on salvation outside the Church,
35»
Pius XI, encyclical on Christ the King,
302
Plotinus on ecstasy, 381
Prayer, defects of our, 230
Prayer of Christ, manner of, 230

Prayer of Christ in heaven, 234, 236 note,
304: St. Thomas on, 305
Preaching, Christ’s: manner of, 151 ff.;
unction in, 155
Precious blood, the, 266
Predestination, our: Christ’s predestination
cause of, 121
Predestination of Christ, 120-24: the cause
of ours, 121; exceptional nature of,
120; and motive of the Incarnation,
x2o note
Predestination of Mary, 123
Pre-mysticism, natural, 355
Priest, Christ as: on the cross, 278-87
Priest of the Mass, Christ, 298-310
Priesthood, Eucharistic: institution of, 264
Priesthood of Christ, 238-47
Bossuet on, 245
Council of Trent on, 239
hypostatic union and, 245
perfection of, 240
St. Paul on, 238
what constitutes the, 244
Prophecies
of Daniel, 74
of Isaias, 63
Pascal on the, 73 f.
of patriarchal period, 5 6 ff.
power of the, 72 ff.
in the prophetical books, 63 ff.
in the psalms, 60
of the royal period, 56 ff.
Prophetic announcement of the Savior, 5677
Prophets, books of the: prophecies in, 63 ff.
Protestant authors on divinity of Christ, 13
Psalm 21, 273
Psalms, Messianic prophecies in, 60
Pseudo-supernaturalism, 358
Rationalists: on divinity of Christ, 13, 28;
on personality of Christ, 82
Real Presence, the, 263
Redemption
Catechism of Trent on mystery of, 200
Christ’s testimony on the, 183-94
definition of, 198
depth of the mystery, 200
doctrine of, 197 ff.
errors about doctrine of, 201 ff.

INDEX
Redemption {continued')
finite means of, 102
its fruits in Mary, 321-30
justice and mercy in mystery of, 322
modernists’ explanation of doctrine of,
185
need of belief in the, 363
in St. John’s Gospel, 191
according to St. Paul, 195-203
St. Thomas on the, 199
in the Synoptics, 187
theological explanation of the, 197 ff.
vicarious nature of, 195 ff.
Redemptive suffering, Christ’s, 269 ff.
Religion, modernism on evolution of, 357
Renan : on divinity of Christ, 13 5 Life of
Jesus by, 127 note
Reparation: need of infinite, 199; perfect,
102 j sanctity by way of, 342, 344
Resurrection, the, 288-97: sign of Christ’s
divine mission, 2895 what we must
believe about, 290
Royal period, prophecies of, 59 ff.
Sacraments, grace through the, 258
Sacred Heart, dedication of mankind to,
»57
Sacrifice; the Mass a, 299; not in heaven,
304 note; union of priest and people
in the, 241
Sacrifice, Christ’s: one, 307 note
Sacrifice of the Cross: the Last Supper and,
286 note; and that of the Mass, 298
note
Saints: personality of the, 86; self-efface­
ment of the, 87 note
Salvation of those outside the Church, 358
Sanctity: characteristics of, 125; different
forms of, 342; fidelity to daily duty,
342, 347; by way of contemplation,
342, 346; by way of reparation, 342,
344
Sanctity of Christ, 125-42: innate, 133; its
consequences for us, 141; substantial,
134; uncreated, 135
Sanhedrin: Gamaliel’s advice to the, 32;
St. Peter before the, 30
Satisfaction and merit compared, 248
Savior, prophetic announcement of the, 5677

397

Scotists on Christ’s merits, 254
Scripture, preceded by oral tradition, 12
Self-communication of God, 261
Self-love, 4, to
“Servant of God,” meaning of, 66
Seven last words, Christ’s, 273 ff.
Sin: God’s permission of, 114; remitted by
Mass, 317
Sin, original : the Incarnation in absence of,
112
Sin, venial: avoidance of all, 134 note
Sinlessness of Christ, 126
Son, Father’s communication of Himself to
the, 261
“Son” in Scripture, 13
Son of God, Christ the, 12-27
“Son of God” in the Gospels, 12 f.
Sonship of Christ, divine, 20 ff.
Souls that are tested by suffering, 350
Spiritual goods and material goods com­
pared, 8
Spiritual physiognomy of Christ, 116 ff.
State of grace: every man in state of sin or
in, 378; possible outside the visible
Church, 378
Strength in weakness, Christ’s, 278
Stephen, St.: martyrdom of, 33 ff.
Suffering: fruitfulness of, 285; Christ’s
peace in, 272; Christ’s redemptive,
269 ff. ; souls that are tested by,
350
Sufferings, Christ’s moral, 271
Sufferings of Christ, intensity of, 271
Superior inspirations, 373
Supernatural knowledge, Maritain on need
of, 372
Supernatural merit, conditions of, 251
Supernatural order denied by naturalism,
357
Synoptics: Christ according to the, 12-27;
Redemption in the, 187

Tauler on natural contemplation, 382
Teaching, Christ’s manner of, 151 ff.
Testimony of Christ on the Redemption,
183-94
Thanksgiving for the Incarnation, 91
Theodore of Mopsuestia, heresy of, 138
note
Theological virtues, 101

I
398

INDEX

Thomas, St.
on Christ’s prayer in heaven, 305
contemplation in last days of, 11
and doctrine of Immaculate Conception,
321 note, 324
on fittingness of Incarnation, 261 note
on free will, 174 note
on personality, 87 note, 88 note
on the Redemption, 199
Tradition, Scripture preceded by oral, 12
Trent, Catechism of Council of: on Re­
demption, 200
Trent, Council of: on priesthood of Christ,
*39
Triumphs of the Church, 296
Trust in merits of Christ, 258
Unbelievers, salvation of, 358
Unction in Christ’s preaching, 155
Union, hypostatic, 89 ff.
Value of the Mass, 311-20

Venial sin, avoidance of all, 134 note
Viator, Christ comfrehensor and, 163, 168
Vicarious redemption, 195 g.
Victim, Christ as: on the cross, 278-87
Victimae faschalt laudes, 295
Victory over death and over sin, 292
Victory over death, Christ’s, 288-97
Virtues, the theological, 101
Virtues of Christ: fullness of, 1393 harmony
of, 140

Wayfarer, Christ a, 163, 168
Weakness, Christ’s strength in, 278
Will : basic tendencies of the, 3 g. ; Christ’s
human, 172-81
Will, free: of Christ, 178 note; of God, 177
note; idea of, 174; St. Thomas on,
174 note
Will of Christ, freedom of, 172 g.
Word, the: the eternal birth of, 385; the
spiritual birth of, 387 > tlle temporal
birth of, 3875 three births of, 385-89