Caput 33. Quod tenebrae a nobis, a Deo lux nostra. Gratiarum actio ob fugatas tenebras et impertitam lucem.
Who Is Like You?
The soul praises God's incomparable majesty, holiness, and wonder-working power.
Who is like you among the gods, Lord?✦ Who is like you — majestic in holiness, awe-inspiring and worthy of praise, and working wonders?✦
Called Out of Darkness
The soul confesses its former blindness and darkness, recounts God's gracious initiative in calling and enlightening it, and responds with awe and dread at the darkness left behind.
Late have I known you, true Light; late have I known you. But a great, dark cloud stood before the eyes of my vanity, so that I could not see the Sun of righteousness and the light of truth.✦ I was wrapped in darkness, a son of darkness; I loved my darkness because I did not know the light. I was blind; I loved blindness, and I walked toward the darkness through the dark.✦ Who led me out from there, where I was a blind man in darkness and the shadow of death?✦ Who took my hand to lead me out from there? Who is my Illuminator? I wasn't looking for him; he sought me. I wasn't calling on him, and he called me. Who is he? You, Lord my God, merciful and compassionate, Father of mercies and God of all consolation; you, my holy God, whom I confess with my whole heart, giving thanks to your name.✦✦ I wasn't seeking you—you sought me; I wasn't calling on you—you called me. You called me by your name; from above you thundered with a great voice into the inner ear of my heart, "Let there be light"; and there was light (Gen.✦1 1:3). And a great light came down, and the dark cloud that had covered my eyes melted away.✦2 And I lifted my eyes, and I saw your light, and I recognized your voice; and I said, "Truly, Lord, you are my God, and you have brought me out of darkness and the shadow of death, and you have called me into your wonderful light"; and look—I see.✦✦ Thanks be to you, my God—look, I see; thanks be to you, my Illuminator. And I turned, and I saw my darkness in which I had been, and the dark abyss in which I had lain; and I trembled, and I was struck with dread; and I said, "Woe!"✦
Late Have I Known You
The soul laments its former ignorance and darkness while thanking God for illumination and confessing that without God there is no light.
Woe to my darknesses, in which I lay—woe! Woe to that blindness in which I could not see the light of heaven!✦ Woe to that past ignorance, when I did not know you, Lord. Thank you, my Illuminator and Liberator, because you enlightened me and I came to know you. I have come to know you late, ancient Truth; I have come to know you late, eternal Truth.3 And you were in the light, while I was in darkness, and I did not know you; because I could not be enlightened without you, and there is no light apart from you.
Read the original Latin
Quis similis tibi in diis, Domine? quis similis tibi, magnificus in sanctitate, terribilis atque laudabilis et faciens mirabilia? Sero te cognovi, lumen verum; sero te cognovi: erat autem nubes magna et tenebrosa ante oculos vanitatis meae, ita ut videre non possem solem justitiae et lumen veritatis. Involvebar in tenebris filius tenebrarum, tenebras meas amabam, quia lumen non cognoscebam; caecus eram, caecitatem amabam, et ad tenebras per tenebras ambulabam. Quis inde me eduxit, ubi eram homo caecus in tenebris et umbra mortis? quis accepit manum meam, ut inde me educeret? quis est illuminator meus? Non quaerebam eum, ipse quaesivit me; non invocabam eum, et ipse vocavit me.
Quis est ille? Tu, Domine Deus meus, misericors et miserator, pater misericordiarum et Deus totius consolationis; tu, sancte Deus meus, quem confiteor toto corde meo, gratias agens nomini tuo. Non te quaerebam, tu me quaesivisti; non te invocabam, tu me vocasti. Vocasti me nomine tuo, intonasti desuper voce grandi in interiorem aurem cordis mei, Fiat lux; et facta est lux (Gen. I, 3), et descendit lux magna, et liquefacta est nubes tenebrosa, quae operuerat oculos meos. Et levavi oculos meos; et vidi lucem tuam, et cognovi vocem tuam: et dixi, Vere, Domine, tu es Deus meus, et eduxisti me de tenebris et umbra mortis, et vocasti me in admirabile lumen tuum; et ecce video. Gratias tibi, Deus meus, ecce video; gratias tibi, illuminator meus. Et conversus sum, et vidi tenebras meas in quibus fueram, et abyssum tenebrosam in qua jacueram; et contremui, et expavi: et dixi, Vae!
vae tenebris meis in quibus jacui; vae! vae caecitati illi in qua videre non poteram lumen coeli! vae praeteritae ignorantiae, quando non cognoscebam te, Domine. Gratias tibi, illuminator et liberator meus, quoniam illuminasti me et cognovi te. Sero cognovi te, veritas antiqua; sero te cognovi, veritas aeterna. Et tu eras in lumine, et ego in tenebris, et non cognoscebam te; quia illuminari non poteram sine te, et non est lux extra te.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Exod.15.11;Ps.86.8 — Who is like you among the gods, O LORD? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, doing wonders? Ps.86.8 — There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, and there are no works like yours.
- ↩Exod.15.11 — Who is like you among the gods, O LORD? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, doing wonders?
- ↩John.1.9 — The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
- ↩Eph.5.8;John.12.35-John.12.36 — For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light. John.12.35 — Jesus said to them, "The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, so that darkness does not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going." John.12.36 — While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light. Jesus said these things, and after departing, he hid himself from them.
- ↩Luke.1.79;Isa.9.2 — to shine on those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Isa.9.2 — The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in a land of deep shadow, light has shone.
- ↩2Cor.1.3 — Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
- ↩Ps.112.4 — Light dawns in the darkness for the upright, for the one who is gracious and merciful and righteous.
- ↩Gen.1.3 — And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
- ↩Gen.1.3 — And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
- ↩Luke.1.79 — to shine on those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
- ↩1Pet.2.9 — But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
- ↩Isa.6.5 — And I said, 'Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.'
- ↩John.1.9 — The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
Notes
- 1 ↩Printed citation of Gen 1:3 is split across s4 and s5; translation preserves the break.
- 2 ↩Closes the Gen. I, 3 citation begun in s4; Arabic 1:3 used for modern readability while preserving the trailing parenthesis.
- 3 ↩Parallel vocatives address God as Truth itself (veritas antiqua / veritas aeterna); the solemn repeated 'sero... cognovi' cadence is retained without archaic diction.
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