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← Liber Divinorum Operum (Book of Divine Works)/Book 3 · Liber Divinorum Operum — Pars 3
Chapter 20LDO.3.20

VISIO SEPTIMA, cap. XIV

The Son of God Fulfills All Ages in His Flesh

Christ recapitulates every era of salvation history in his own body, from the infancy narratives through the flood and the patriarchs, restoring what was lost in Adam.

This same Son of God, having become flesh, fulfilled in his own person all the wonders that had gone before him, as was said above. For in his infancy, when he was mocked by Herod — when the Magi sought to destroy him — he showed the downfall of the ancient serpent, who set out to disturb heavenly things.1 In his boyhood, however, he showed forth the time that was from Adam to Noah: against Adam's ignorance he held great wisdom within himself, so that no stain of sin touched him — even where the devil's estimate, who believed humanity was utterly ruined, was deceived by this, because he did not know that God had clothed himself in human form.2 For all who saw and heard him at that time marveled, saying, 'We have never seen or heard such things as are in this boy' — namely, that in a simple and untaught boyhood, wisdom of great depth appears.✦ Saying these things, they did not know that he was the root of the knowledge of angels and of humans, nor that he was the one from whom angels and humans are rooted.✦3 He too, in his humanity, raised up what had fallen through Adam — that is, the revelation of righteousness — for he ascribed all his work to his Father; and just as a tree brings forth its thick branches from the greenness of its root, so he, in the divinity from which he was rooted in humanity, brought all his works to completion, because he came from it and is with it without any division.✦45 And in his flesh he restored to what is better the sordid works of humans, and by his teaching, with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he clothed them with holiness, and in such a way — as if by a certain flood — called back those who were submerged and dead in sin to the life of righteousness, just as it had been prefigured under Noah.6 The same Son of God, appearing as a young man in the flesh, declared in himself the time from Noah to Abraham, was enjoined: for by plunging himself into the water and sanctifying it in his own body, and by working great powers, he showed that humans after the flood — living more holily than before the flood, and rejecting the incestuous acts they had once loved — ceased from the injustice of forgetting God, so that the nakedness of incestuous conduct was brought to shame.78

Chastity, the Law, and the Cross

Christ's chastity defeats lust, his obedience to the Mosaic law and sacrificial death on the cross reveal Babylon's power broken in him.

Chastity, then, in the same Son of God trampled down lust and bound it with the rope of his teaching; through abstinence he forced it to serve him, since the Son of God himself, displaying and teaching all justice, brought it to completion in his humanity by cutting sin away — just as circumcision, which was made in one place to put the serpent to shame, also made this clear. But when he next fulfilled in himself the fleshly precepts given through Moses, enduring the bondage of their restraints and every abuse, and becoming a living sacrifice on the cross for his sheep, he turned away from the world, as day is parted from night — because after he had done many signs and shown many hidden wonders of himself, he was taken up from the earth. In his passion and in his death he also made Babylon's power manifest, when the children of Israel were led into captivity — just as he himself was handed over to the nations to be crucified.

Resurrection, Ascension, and the Birth of Spiritual Life

The disciples' grief at the crucifixion gives way to the joy of the resurrection, the Great Commission, Pentecostal strengthening, and Christ's ascension into heavenly glory.

And then his disciples were struck with grief, just as the captives mentioned earlier laid down their joy and turned their instruments to mournful sounds. Yet he, rising from the dead and appearing to his disciples with many convincing proofs, by this marked the return of the captives spoken of before. And when he commanded those same disciples to go into the whole world so that they might baptize believers, and after his ascension strengthened them with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit — so they would not give way, conquered by the various tribulations of their adversaries, but rather overcome them with glorious miracles — he showed that the old law, ended in its fleshly sense, had been turned into a spiritual way of life. He also taught them, as much as they were able to grasp, because they could not yet see him as he is in his divinity — just as a person who looks at another's outward form cannot truly penetrate to the soul within. For when the Father drew him back into his heart from which he had come, and where he had never been absent — as a person draws his breath back into himself — all the hosts of angels and every heavenly mystery plainly saw him as God and man.

Tongues of Fire and the Apostles' Transformation

The Holy Spirit descends as tongues of fire upon the apostles, transforming them into a new life of fearless courage and empowering them for their teaching mission.

And so he himself touched his disciples with that same fire in which he had been conceived in his mother's womb — a force more powerful than the lion's strength, which fears no wild beasts but seizes them — and he poured it upon them as tongues of fire, so that people would not be afraid but would be drawn to them. For the Holy Spirit changed them into a different life, one they had not known before, and with his breath he so stirred them up that they were no longer aware of themselves as merely human. And he visited them with a greater and more powerful outpouring than he ever had before or would afterward, for the prophets spoke many things through the Holy Spirit, and many people performed many wonders after those disciples; yet none of them saw the tongues of fire. Through this, the fact that they could see the tongues of fire with their outward eyes, they were so strengthened within that every fearful stirring of danger was so removed from their veins that in no danger did they feel dread or fear — the kind of courage the divine power had fixed within them through the tongues of fire. For it was fitting that the Almighty Father should preserve this company of twelve whom he had joined to his Son, so that these same disciples might teach others what they had heard from him.

Cosmic Fire and the Fulfillment of All Things

The apostles' Spirit-fired teaching spreads across the earth like the winds and the sun, fulfilling the firmament's order and restoring humanity as the lost drachma to heavenly life.

And so God also established the firmament and set its firmness with the blasts of the twelve winds and with the twelve signs of the months as they run their course, and just as that same firmament fulfills all its functions with fire, so these too were confirmed by the fire of the Holy Spirit in all wonders, since their teaching went out like the breath of the winds over all the earth, and shone like the sun, and their witness burned like the south wind. For the months complete their course with all the things that sustain the firmament, and God has fulfilled all his signs with these truthful people in the Catholic faith, and the tenth number, which is the human being, signified by that drachma which wisdom found, he has through his Son restored to heavenly things. In this way the Only-Begotten of God, the Son of the Virgin, whose name is Star of the Sea, from whom all rivers flow out and to which they return again — just as from that same Only-Begotten of God all the saving graces that come to souls abide in him — he has brought to completion through himself all the things that were foretold, all that existed before him in the law or before the law.

Christ Above All and the Father's Gift of Authority

Christ, excelling all creatures and receiving every inheritance from the Father, speaks to his disciples of the authority handed over to him, as recorded in the Gospel.

He turns everything to a better state, walking on the wings of the winds — that is, excelling in the wonderful deeds of the patriarchs and the words of the prophets, and in the teachings and writings of all the teachers — and in his humanity flying above every creature that is human, and receiving every creature from his Father as an inheritance, so that he was also speaking to:✦910 Christ's words in the Gospel about the power handed over to him by the Father — and how they are to be understood.

Read the original Latin

Iste Filius Dei incarnatus omnia praeterita miracula, quae eum praecesserant, in semetipso complevit, ut supra dictum est. Nam in infantia sua cum Herodes illusus est a Magis, quaerens eum perdere, casum antiqui serpentis ostendit, qui coelestia studebat perturbare. In pueritia autem sua tempus quod ab Adam usque ad Noe erat demonstravit, cum contra ignorantiam Adae magnam sapientiam in se habuit, ita ut eum nulla macula peccati tangeret, ubi etiam aestimatio diaboli, qui hominem ex toto perditum esse putabat, per hoc decepta est, cum nesciret quod Deus humana forma indutus fuisset. Omnes enim qui eum tunc videbant et audiebant admirabantur dicentes: « Talia nunquam vidimus nec audivimus qualia in hoc puero sunt, » scilicet quod in simplici et in indocta pueritia, magnae profunditatis sapientia apparet. Haec dicentes nesciebant eum radicem esse scientiae angelorum et hominum, nec illum de quo angeli et homines radicati sunt. Ipse quoque in humanitate sua erexit illud quod per Adam defecerat, videlicet revelationem justitiae, quoniam omne opus suum patri suo ascripsit, et sicut arbor de viriditate radicis grossos suos profert, ita et ipse in divinitate de qua in humanitate radicavit, universa opera sua perfecit, quia ab illa venit, et cum illa absque omni divisione est. Sed et in carne sua in melius sordida opera hominum reparavit, et doctrina sua cum inspiratione Spiritus sancti, sanctitatem eos induit, atque tali modo velut quodam diluvio dimersos et peccatis mortuos, ad vitam justitiae revocavit, quemadmodum et sub Noe praesignatum fuerat. Idem autem Filius Dei in carne juvenis apparens, tempus a Noe usque ad Abraham cui circumcisio injuncta est in se declaravit, quoniam ipse in aquam se mittens, illamque in corpore suo sanctificans, magnas quoque virtutes faciens, ostendit, quod homines post diluvium sanctius quam ante diluvium viventes, atque incesta quae prius dilexerant repudiantes, ab injustitia oblivionis Dei cessabant, ita ut nuditas incesti operis, in confusionem duceretur.

Castitas quippe in eodem Filio Dei luxuriam conculcavit, atque fune magisterii eam ligavit; ipsamque per abstinentiam peccatorum sibi servire coegit, quia ipse Filius Dei omnem justitiam per se ostendens et docens, eam per abscisionem peccatorum in humanitate sua perfecit, quemadmodum etiam circumcisio, quae in uno loco ad confusionem serpentis facta est, manifestavit. Sed cum deinde carnalia praecepta, quae per Moysen data sunt, in semetipso complesset, ligaturam vinculorum caeteraque opprobria passus, vivaque hostia in cruce pro ovibus suis factus, a saeculo declinavit, velut dies a nocte separatur, quia postquam plurima signa fecerat, et per semetipsum multa occulta miracula ostenderat, de terra ablatus est. In passione et in morte quoque sua manifestavit Babylonicam potestatem, cum filii Israel in captivitatem ducti sunt, sicut et ipse gentibus ad crucifigendum traditus est. Et tunc discipuli ejus tristes effecti sunt, sicut et praefati captivi laetitiam deponentes, organa sua in lugubres voces mutaverunt. Qui tamen a morte resurgens, discipulisque in quamplurimis argumentis apparens, reversionem praefatorum captivorum per hoc notavit. Atque ubi eosdem discipulos ire in orbem universum jussit, quatenus credentes baptizarent, et eos post ascensionem suam infusione Spiritu sancti confortavit, ne diversis tribulationibus adversariorum victi succumberent, sed ut illos gloriosis miraculis superarent, veterem legem carnaliter finitam ipsamque in spiritualem vitam esse conversam demonstravit. Eos quoque, quantum capere potuerunt, docebat, quia eum nondum ut in divinitate sua est videre valebant, quemadmodum homo qui formam alterius inspicit, sed tamen animam ejus intueri non praevalet. Nam cum Pater eum in cor suum unde exierat, et ubi nunquam deerat retraxit, sicut homo anhelitum suum in se reducit, omnes exercitus angelorum, omniaque coelestia arcana eum Deum et hominem palam videbant.

Unde et ipse discipulos suos illo igne tangebat, de quo in ventre matris suae conceptus est, fortissimamque vim super vim leonis, qui bestias non timet, sed capit, in igneis linguis illis infudit, ne homines vererentur, sed ut eos caperent. In aliam enim vitam quam prius non cognoscebant Spiritus sanctus eos mutavit, spiramineque suo eos ita suscitavit, quod se homines esse nesciebant. Atque in majore et fortiore parte ipsos visitavit, quam ullum antea seu postea visitaret, quoniam prophetae plurima per Spiritum sanctum loquebantur, multique plurima miracula post eosdem discipulos faciebant; nullus tamen eorum igneas linguas videbat. Per hoc etiam quod exterioribus oculis igneas linguas videbant, interius sic confortabantur, ut omnis timida motio periculorum eis ita in venis auferretur, quatenus in nullo periculo terrorem aut timorem haberent; quam fortitudinem divina vis ipsis in igneis linguis infixerat. Omnipotentem enim Patrem decebat, ut hunc duodenum numerum quem Filio suo conjunxerat conservaret, quatenus iidem discipuli alios docerent, quae ab eo audierant. Et sic etiam Deus firmamentum constituit, et firmitatem ipsius cum flatibus duodecim ventorum, et duodecim signis currentium mensium composuit, et ut idem firmamentum omnia officia sua cum igne perficit, ita et isti in omnibus miraculis igne Spiritus sancti firmati sunt, quoniam doctrina eorum ut flatus ventorum in omnem terram exivit, et ut sol illuxit, atque martyria ipsorum velut cum austro ardebant. Menses enim cursum suum cum omnibus illis quae firmamentum sustentant perficiunt, et Deus cum veridicis hominibus istis omnia signa sua in catholica fide complevit, ac decimum numerum, qui homo est, quem dragma illa significat, quam sapientia invenit, per Filium suum ad coelestia reduxit. Sic Unigenitus Dei et Filius Virginis, cujus nomen est Stella maris, de quo omnia flumina exeunt, et ad quod iterum redeunt, quemadmodum et de eodem Unigenito Dei omnes salvationes animarum venientes, iterum in ipso manent, omnia quae praedicta sunt, quae ante eum in lege, seu ante legem fuerunt, per semetipsum perfecit.

Omnia quoque in meliorem statum convertit, ita ambulans super pennas ventorum, id est in praefatis mirabilibus excellens facta patriarcharum et verba prophetarum, ad documenta scriptaque omnium doctorum, atque in humanitate sua super omnem creaturam quae homo est volans; omnemque creaturam a Patre suo in haereditatem accipiens, ut etiam discipulis suis loquebatur dicens:

Verba Christi in Evangelio de potestate a Patre sibi tradita loquentis et quomodo intelligenda sint.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Luke.2.46-Luke.2.47 — After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Luke.2.47 — And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and his answers.
  2. ↩Col.1.16-Col.1.17 — For in him all things were created, in the heavens and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through him and for him. Col.1.17 — And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
  3. ↩Rom.5.12-Rom.5.19 — Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and through sin death, and so death spread to all people, because all sinned— Rom.5.13 — For sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Rom.5.14 — Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam's transgression, who is a type of the one who was to come. Rom.5.15 — But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the trespass of the one man, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many. Rom.5.16 — And the gift is not like what came through the one who sinned. For the judgment following one trespass led to condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses led to justification. Rom.5.17 — For if by the trespass of the one man death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Rom.5.18 — So then, just as through one trespass there was condemnation for all people, so also through one act of righteousness there was justification leading to life for all people. Rom.5.19 — For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
  4. ↩Ps.104.3 — You lay the beams of your upper chambers in the waters; you make the clouds your chariot; you walk on the wings of the wind.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The Latin illusus est a Magis is unusual (the Magi are usually the ones deceived); the sense is that Herod ridiculed or tricked the Magi, and through their search the old serpent's downfall was revealed.
  2. 2 ↩aestimatio diaboli ... decepta est: literally 'the devil's reckoning/thinking was deceived' — the devil's assumption that humanity was beyond rescue was overturned by the incarnation, which he did not foresee.
  3. 3 ↩radicem esse scientiae angelorum et hominum: 'the root of the knowledge of angels and humans' — Christ is presented as the source and foundation from which both angelic and human knowledge derive their being.
  4. 4 ↩revelationem justitiae: 'the revelation of righteousness' — the sense is that what Adam lost (righteousness and its disclosure) was restored through the incarnate Son.
  5. 5 ↩in divinitate de qua in humanitate radicavit: 'in the divinity from which he was rooted in humanity' — the image is of the Son's divine nature as the root from which his human life grows; the unity of natures 'without any.
  6. 6 ↩velut quodam diluvio dimersos et peccatis mortuos: 'as if by a certain flood, those submerged and dead in sin' — the image of a spiritual flood that both drowns the old sinful life and prefigures baptismal renewal echoes 1 Peter 3:20-21.
  7. 7 ↩in aquam se mittens, illamque in corpore suo sanctificans: 'plungging himself into the water and sanctifying it in his own body' — this is a typological reading of Christ's baptism as the sanctification of water, prefiguring baptismal grace.
  8. 8 ↩incesta quae prius dilexerant repudiantes: 'rejecting the incestuous acts they had once loved' — the text interprets the post-flood period as one where humanity turned away from the sexual sins that had provoked the flood.
  9. 9 ↩The subject of the sentence is not explicitly stated in the Latin; context from the surrounding sections (LDO.3.20.3) suggests the Holy Spirit is the one acting, though the masculine participles (ambulans, excellens, volans, accipiens, loquebatur, dicens) could also be read as referring to Christ. The translation preserves this ambiguity by using the pronoun 'he' without specifying the subject.
  10. 10 ↩'super pennas ventorum' (on the wings of the winds) echoes Psalm 104:3 (Vulgate); the image conveys swift, sovereign movement over all creation.

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