PARS TERTIA, cap. VI
The Floods Lift Their Voice
The psalm's image of roaring rivers and mighty waters is introduced as the symbolic key to the chapter's vision of angelic praise.
The rivers have lifted up, Lord; the rivers have lifted up their voice. The rivers have lifted up their waves from the voices of many waters.
Angelic Waters and the War Against the Dragon
The floods are interpreted as angelic spirits rising like waves in battle against the ancient serpent, whose pride brought a punishment greater than that of his followers.
This sentence's meaning is to be understood in this way: in your zeal the angelic spirits were raised up, O Lord of all creatures, and like waves they lifted up their strength against the drowning of your enemies, and again the armies of those same spirits stretched outward into the deep, offering to God the voices of countless resounding praises with their strength, because the angelic hosts are like floods of living water, which the wind of the Spirit of God moves to the glory of his praise, when those same voices are arrayed in battle against the black dragon. For Michael struck that same serpent with the blast of trumpets of God's hidden judgment, because he wanted to know the brightness of the Godhead, and by God's power he cast him into the pit of hell, a bottomless abyss where his followers, who had agreed with him and held him as their master, fell with him. Yet he received more punishment than all the others, because he wanted to look at no one but himself, while they looked toward him.
Heaven's Joy and Confirmation After the Fall
With the enemy cast down, the heavenly choirs praise God, recognize that no further fall will occur in heaven, and perceive that the number of the fallen is being filled up in earthen vessels.
But after the ruin of this ancient enemy, the heavenly choirs praised God, because their accuser had fallen, and because his place in heaven was no longer to be found. And then also with a greater radiance they recognized the wonders of God more than they had seen before, understanding also that in heaven such a battle would never happen again, and that no one would any longer fall from heaven. But in the pure Godhead they also recognized that the number of fallen spirits was being fulfilled in earthen vessels.
Forgetfulness Turned to Joy
Because the angels know the fallen number will be restored, they treat the ancient fall as though it had never been.
And so, for this joy — because they knew that the number of those who had fallen in this way was to be restored — they treated that same fall as a kind of forgetfulness, as though it had never been.
The Ranks of Heaven and Unending Praise
God orders the heavenly host into distinct ranks, each a contemplative mirror of divine mysteries to another, so that the angels ever ascend from glory to glory, never failing in praise as they gaze on the fiery brightness of God.
For almighty God arranged the heavenly host into different ranks, as was fitting, so that each order would carry out its own duties, and each order would be a contemplative seal for another, and in each mirror there are divine mysteries that the same orders can neither fully see, nor know, nor perceive, nor bring to completion.1 Therefore, marveling from praise to praise and from glory to glory they ascend, and so they are always made new, because all these things cannot be brought to their end. They themselves too are spirit and life from God. And so they never fail in the divine praises; they always gaze on the fiery brightness of God, and from the clarity of the Godhead they gleam like a flame.
A Word for the Faithful
The reader is exhorted to receive these revelations with devoted affection, since they come from the First and the Last for the profit of believers.
But let these words be received by the faithful with a devoted heart's affection, since they were issued through him who is the first and the last, for the profit of believers.
Read the original Latin
« Elevaverunt flumina, Domine, elevaverunt flumina vocem suam. Elevaverunt flumina fluctus suos a vocibus aquarum multarum . » Hujus sententiae intellectus hoc modo accipiendus est: In zelo tuo erecti sunt angelici Spiritus, o Domine omnium creaturarum, extuleruntque quasi fluctus vires suas in submersione hostium tuorum, ac iterum in altum tetenderunt exercitus eorumdem spirituum fortitudinem suam voces sonorum quamplurimarum laudum Deo offerentes, quia angelica agmina quasi humina aquae vivae sunt, quae ventus Spiritus Dei, ad gloriam laudis suae movet, cum eaedem voces contra nigrum draconem praeliarentur. Nam Michael in vocibus tubarum occulti judicii Dei eumdem serpentem percussit, quoniam claritatem Divinitatis cognoscere voluit, eumque per virtutem Dei in puteum inferni projecit, qui absque obstaculo fundi est, ubi et sequaces ejus qui ipsi consenserunt eum velut magistrum habentes, cum ipso ceciderunt. Sed tamen idem omnibus illis plus poenarum recepit, quia in ullum alium quam in seipsum aspicere voluit, cum isti in illum respicerent. Post ruinam autem hujus antiqui hostis, coelestes chori Deum laudabant, quod accusator eorum cecidisset, et quod locus ejus in coelo amplius non esset inventus. Et tunc etiam majori fulgore mirabilia Dei cognoscebant, quam ea prius vidissent, intelligentes quoque quod in coelo tale praelium amodo non fieret, et quod nullus de coelo ulterius caderet. Sed et in pura divinitate cognoscebant numerum cadentium spirituum fictilibus vasis impleri.
Unde et pro gaudio isto quod numerum illorum qui ceciderant hoc modo restaurari sciebant, eumdem casum in hujusmodi oblivionem ducebant, quasi non fuisset. Omnipotens quippe Deus coelestem militiam in diversos ordines constituit, sicut eum decuit, ita ut singuli ordines officia sua teneant, et quisque ordo speculativum sigillum alii ordini sit, et in unoquoque speculo divina mysteria sunt quae idem ordines nec pleniter videre, nec scire, nec sapere, nec finire possunt. Quapropter admirantes de laude in laudem, de gloria in gloriam ascendunt, et sic novi semper sunt, quoniam omnia haec ad finem perducere non valent. Ipsi quoque a Deo spiritus et vita sunt. Unde etiam in divinis laudibus nunquam deficiunt, igneamque claritatem Dei semper inspiciunt, atque ex claritate divinitatis velut flamma coruscat. Verba autem haec fideles devoto cordis affectu percipiant, quoniam per illum qui primus et novissimus est, ad utilitatem credentium edita sunt.
Notes
- 1 ↩speculativum sigillum: the metaphor is dense — 'speculativum' blends contemplative/speculative sight with the speculum (mirror) imagery that follows; 'sigillum' (seal) suggests each order transmits a distinct impression of the divine to the next. Rendered 'contemplative seal' to hold both the cognitive and sacramental resonance.
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