Moralitates
The Fall of Lucifer and the Counsel of Heaven
The Creator's grief over Lucifer's fall prompts the divine decision to make humanity, prefiguring the second Adam through the Word's incarnation.
O wondrous thing! The Creator lost his beloved first creature, exalted above all his other creatures, the most radiant Lucifer, created out of his own wondrous goodness, cast by divine judgment into hell with his accomplices because of Lucifer's own arrogant ingratitude. Who grieved with the Creator? Good creature Michael and the others who remained with him in grace, truth, and love — yet their counsel alone could offer no remedy. Therefore the power of the Creator rouses the Word of his wisdom, in the goodness of the kindly Spirit, to restore the heavenly court arrayed in order though thrown into disorder, so that the citizens on high would not grow weary at having lost a part of their Creator's creatures. Therefore the Creator said: 'Let us make man in our image and likeness.'✦ Although he created the first Adam there, he spoke nonetheless of the second Adam in part, when he said 'in our image and likeness.'✦ For to the Son was given authority in heaven and on earth by the Father, and he was the Word of the Father, who was incarnate of the Holy Spirit, who is the love proceeding from both.✦
Clay and Deception: Adam's Humiliation and the Devil's Stratagem
God forms Adam from lowly clay to teach humility, but the envious devil deceives the woman and casts humanity out of paradise.
But because the first Lucifer, created in the purest natural gifts, grew proud, God created the first Adam from the potter's clay, which is the lowliest of the elements, so that he would not set himself against his Creator, remembering that he had the power to condemn that most pure creature.✦ But that most envious loser of his kingdom's portion, spiteful and savage, deceived the woman with a false suggestion, and through her deceived him as well, to such an extent that by the true judgment of God he was cast down from paradise.✦
The Divine Countermove: Incarnation as Victory Through Humility
God sends the angel to a virgin, and the Word conquers the devil's pride by hidden humility, shattering the earthen vessel to liberate the captive soul.
But God, remembering the counsel he held in the hidden depths of his divinity, when he saw that the man had fallen through frailty and his own foolishness, believing the devil's words—and not from malice, as the devil had set himself against God—remembered where he had made him from, and brought power against frailty, wisdom against foolishness, and the goodness of the Holy Spirit against the devil's malice. And he sent his secret bridegroom's messenger to outwit the proud devil by his own malice: to a virgin born of Adam's frail line, and he hid her in the potter's clay vessel, when the angel had carried out the embassy and won the virgin's consent.✦ And because the devil had put pride before himself and in his pride had contended against God, he thought in his arrogance that the Almighty would be subject to him; but because Wisdom, which is the Word of the Father, conquers malice, which is the word of lies, and they are opposed to each other, he willed that the Word, which is the Son, should in the contest overcome the devil's pride by humility, and so he took our humanity from our flesh in the potter's clay and in the potter's jar he hid his light.✦ And the devil himself, out of ignorance, despising the jar, became the maker and shaper of the earthen jar and vessel, until it was shattered and the light streaming forth blinded him, and gleaming lightning and the voice of his own thunder on the wheel shattered the depths of hell, so that no power remained to him over those who were born not from blood nor from the will of the flesh, but from God.✦
Ascension and the Restoration of the Heavenly Seats
Christ ascends in glory, hurls the defeated serpent into the deep, and seats the humble in the eternal places once held by the fallen angels.
And after forty days he took our remade humanity—captivity now destroyed—into heaven, where it is glorified and sits at the right hand of God the Father: the very humanity for which, while still living on earth, he had prayed to the Father, "Glorify your Son," and elsewhere, "Glorify also those who are going to believe in me."✦ But he himself ascended as conqueror, threw the ancient enemy—the serpent now defeated—into the deep, called the humble to himself, and placed them in the eternal seats from which the proud, rebellious demons had fallen through their own malice.✦✦
Read the original Latin
O mira res! Creator perdidit dilectum primum creatum exaltatum pre omnibus creaturis suis, clarissimum Luciferum, ex mira bonitate sua creatum, per ipsius Luciferi ingratitudinem superbam divini iudicii missum in infernum cum suis complicibus. Quis condoluit Creatori? Bone creature, Michael et alii secum in gracia, veritate et caritate permanentes, sed eorum consilium solum non poterat prebere reparamentum. Incitat ergo Creatoris potestas Verbum sue sapiencie in bonitate Pneumatis almi ad reparacionem curie celestis ordinate aciei per inordinacionem turbate, ut non tedeat supernos cives amisisse partem creaturarum Creatoris sui. Dixit ergo Creator: Faciamus hominem ad ymaginem et similitudinem nostram. Licet ibi crearet primum Adam, dixit tamen de secundo Adam in parte, cum dixit “ad ymaginem et similitudinem nostram”. Nam Filio data fuit potestas in celo et in terra a Patre, et erat Verbum Patris, quod incarnatum fuit de Spiritu sancto, qui est amor procedens ab utroque.
Sed quia primus Lucifer, creatus in purissimis naturalibus, superbivit, creavit primum Adam ex terra figuli, quod est vilius inter elementa, ut non opponeret se Creatori recordans, quod illam purissimam creaturam habuit potestatem condempnandi. Sed ille invidissimus amissor parte regni sui, invidus et sevus, suggestione falsa mulierem decepit et eum per consequens in tantum, ut deiceretur Dei vero iudicio de paradiso. Recordatus autem consilii sui, quod habuit in archano sue deitatis, cum vidisset hominem lapsum fragilitate et insipiencia sua credentem demoniacis verbis, et non malicia, sicut dyabolus se opposuerat, recordatus est, unde eum fecerat, et adhibuit potenciam contra infirmitatem, sapiencaim contra insipienciam, bonitatem Spiritus sancti contra dyaboli maliciam Et misit secretum suum paranimphum, ut superbum dyabolum infatuaret contra maliciam suam ad virginem, ex genere Ade fragili natam et in veste testea figuli obumbravit, cum angelo peregisset legacionem et virginis habuisset consensum. Et quia dyabolus superbiam preposuerat sibi et cum Deo ipse superbiendo contenderat, putabat Omnipotentem sibi dominari superbe; sed quia Sapiencia, quod est Verbum Patris, vincit maliciam, quod est mendacii verbum, et sibi contrariantur, voluit illud Verbum, quod est Filius, in controversia superbiam dyaboli humilitate superare, et ideo sumpsit de carne nostra humanitatem in testa figuli et in olla figuli obumbravit lucem suam. Et ipse dyabolus ex ignorancia ollam contempnens cooperator et inductor fuit facture olle et vasis testeis, quousque confractum fuit et lux emanans excecavit eum, et fulgur choruscans et vox tonitrui sui in rota confregit tarthara, ita ut non remaneret sibi potestas in illis, qui non ex sanguinibus nec ex voluntate carnis, sed ex Deo nati sunt.
Et post quadraginta dies reformatam nostram humanitatem destructa captivitate duxit in celum, ubi glorificata sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris, pro qua oraverat in terris adhuc existens dicens Patri: Clarifica Filium tuum, et alibi “clarifica et eos, qui in me credituri sunt”. Ipse autem victor ascendit, inimicum antiquum serpentem debellatum proiecit in profundum vocans humiles et eos collocans in eternis sedibus, a quibus superbi rebellantes demones ex malicia ceciderunt.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Gen.1.26 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
- ↩Gen.1.26 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
- ↩Matt.28.18 — And Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.'
- ↩Gen.2.7 — Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
- ↩Gen.3.1-Gen.3.6 — Now the serpent was more crafty than any other animal that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" Gen.3.2 — And the woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, Gen.3.3 — but of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, God said, 'You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.' Gen.3.4 — But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not certainly die.' Gen.3.5 — for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Gen.3.6 — And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make one wise. She took of its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
- ↩Luke.1.26-Luke.1.38 — In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee whose name was Nazareth, Luke.1.27 — to a virgin pledged in marriage to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. Luke.1.28 — And coming to her, he said, 'Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.' Luke.1.29 — But she was troubled at his message, and she kept pondering what sort of greeting this might be. Luke.1.30 — And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Luke.1.31 — And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. Luke.1.32 — He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. Luke.1.33 — And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. Luke.1.34 — But Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I have not known a man?" Luke.1.35 — And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the one to be born will be called Son of God." Luke.1.36 — And behold, Elizabeth your kinswoman—she too has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren. Luke.1.37 — For nothing will be impossible with God. Luke.1.38 — And Mary said, 'Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.' And the angel departed from her.
- ↩John.1.1-John.1.14 — In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John.1.2 — He was in the beginning with God. John.1.3 — All things came into being through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. John.1.4 — In him was life, and the life was the light of men. John.1.5 — And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. John.1.6 — There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. John.1.7 — He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. John.1.8 — He himself was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. John.1.9 — The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. John.1.10 — He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. John.1.11 — He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. John.1.12 — But to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God—to those who believed in his name. John.1.13 — who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John.1.14 — And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- ↩John.1.13 — who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
- ↩John.17.1 — Jesus spoke these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, so that the Son may glorify you."
- ↩Rev.12.9 — And the great dragon was thrown down—the ancient serpent, the one called the Devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
- ↩Isa.14.12-Isa.14.15;Luke.10.18 — How you have fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who laid low the nations! Isa.14.13 — And you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to the heavens; above the stars of God I will raise my throne, and I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north." Keep the quotation open into v.14 for continuity. Isa.14.14 — I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'" Close the quotation here so the transition to v.15 lands clearly. Isa.14.15 — But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit. Luke.10.18 — He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning."
Moralitates of Charles IV companion
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