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Chapter 11SermC.1.11

Sermo 11

The Sacred Anointing of Praise

Bernard invites his hearers to share in the sacred anointing of eucharistic devotion, where joyful thanksgiving to God relives divine benefits and anticipates the eternal praise of heaven.

I said at the end of the sermon — and I don't mind repeating it — that I'd like all of you to become partakers of the sacred anointing, that anointing in which holy devotion recalls God's benefits with joy and thanksgiving. This is good, then, both for relieving the labors of the present life — which certainly become more bearable for us when we exult in the praise of God — and because nothing so fittingly represents to those on earth the state of the heavenly dwelling as the eagerness of those who praise God, as Scripture says: Blessed are those who dwell in your house, Lord; they will praise you forever and ever.✦ Concerning this anointing especially, I think the Prophet spoke when he said: Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in one, like ointment on the head.✦ For it does not seem able to correspond to the former. For that, although it may be good, is not pleasant, because the remembrance of sins produces bitterness, not pleasantness. But those who do that do not dwell in one, since each one mourns and deplores his own sins. Those who are engaged in thanksgiving look upon and think about God alone; and through this they truly dwell in one. What they do is good, because they serve him most justly the glory that belongs to him; and it is no less pleasant, because it delights.

Turning from Sorrow to Delight in God

Bernard urges the monks to lift their gaze from anxious self-examination to the joyful remembrance of God's blessings, mixing grief for sin with hope in divine mercy.

So I urge you, my friends, to turn your attention from time to time away from the troubling, anxious memory of your own ways, and break out onto the smoother, calmer paths of a more peaceful recollection of God's blessings, so that those of you who are overwhelmed may, by looking to him, breathe again. I want you to experience what the holy Prophet counsels when he says: Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.✦ Grief for sins is indeed necessary, but it shouldn't be unending. Truly, let a more joyful remembrance of divine kindness be interposed, lest the heart become hardened by sorrow and perish all the more through despair. Let us mix wormwood with honey, so that a healing bitterness can then bring salvation, once it has been tempered with sweetness and can be drunk down. Listen, finally, to God himself: how he tempers the bitterness for a broken heart, how he calls back the fainthearted from the abyss of despair, how he comforts the mourning with the honey of his gentle and faithful promise, and lifts up the one who has lost trust.1 He says through the Prophet: I will bridle your mouth with my praise, so that you won't perish.✦2 That is: don't plunge into excessive sadness at the sight of your own deeds, and like a desperate, unbridled horse rush headlong over the edge and perish. I will restrain you, he says; I will hold back the reins of my own indulgence, and with my praises I will lift you up. You will breathe again in my blessings, you who are confounded by your own evils — and you will find me kinder than you are culpable.3

The Just Person's Ordered Confession

Drawing on the examples of Cain and the just person, Bernard teaches that confession should begin with humble acknowledgment of sin but end in the praise of God's goodness.

If Cain had been held back by this bridle, he would never have said in despair, "My iniquity is greater than I can be forgiven for."✦ God forbid, God forbid. For his mercy is greater than any iniquity whatsoever. So the just person doesn't accuse themselves continuously, but only at the start of the conversation; then, as the talk goes on, they're accustomed to close with the praises of God. Notice, then, how the just person moves forward in this order. "I thought over my ways," he says, "and turned my feet to your testimonies" — so that the one who had clearly endured contrition and unhappiness in his own paths might find delight in the way of God's testimonies, as in all riches. So you too, following the example of the just person: if you feel humbly about yourselves, then feel hopefully about the Lord — about his goodness. For this is what you read in the book of Sirach: "Think of the Lord in goodness, and seek him with simplicity of heart."

The Impossibility of Full Gratitude

Continuous remembrance of God's generosity is necessary if the apostolic call to give thanks in all circumstances is to be fulfilled, lest we share the reproach of the ungrateful Jews.

And this is what easily persuades the mind: frequent — indeed, continuous — remembrance of God's generosity. Otherwise, how will that apostolic word be fulfilled — 'Give thanks in all circumstances' — if the things for which thanks are owed have slipped from the heart?✦4 I don't want you marked with the reproach of the Jews, about whom Scripture testifies that they were unmindful of his benefits and of the wonders he showed them.5

The Manner and Fruit of Redemption

Bernard proposes to treat briefly the two great works of redemption: God's self-emptying as the manner and our being filled from him as the fruit, which together inspire hope and love.

But since the merciful and compassionate Lord never stops bestowing good things on mortals, it's impossible for any person to recall and gather them all together — for who will declare the Lord's powers, or make all his praises heard? At least the work that is chief and greatest of all — namely, our redemption — should never, in any measure, slip from the memory of the redeemed. In this work I will take care to make known to your zeal, above all, two things that now present themselves. And I'll do this as briefly as I can, keeping that saying in mind: Give an opportunity to the wise, and they'll become wiser still. So the two things are these: the manner and the fruit. The manner, on God's side, is his self-emptying; the fruit, on our side, is our being filled from that. To meditate on this is the seedbed of holy hope; it is the goad of the highest love. Both are necessary for our progress: so that hope doesn't become mercenary if love doesn't accompany it, and so that love doesn't grow lukewarm if it's thought to bear no fruit.

The Immeasurable Fullness Promised to Love

The full measure God promises to those who love him surpasses all earthly goods and human comprehension, for what God has prepared is beyond what eye has seen or heart conceived.

And so the fruit we await from our love is the kind that the one we love himself has promised: "A full measure," he says, "pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing, they will pour into your lap."✦ As I understand it, that measure will be beyond all measure. But I'd like to know what this measure refers to—or rather, what this immeasurable fullness is that is promised. No eye has seen, God, apart from you, what you have prepared for those who love you.✦ Tell us, you who are making these preparations—what are you preparing? We believe, we trust, truly as you promise: we will be filled with the good things of your house.✦ But with what good things, I ask—or of what kind? With grain, wine, and oil, perhaps, or with gold and silver, or with precious stones?

God Himself as the Fullness We Await

The promised fullness is not any created good but God himself, who will be all in all and will teach all, satisfying every desire of the soul.

But we have known and seen these things, and we still see them, and we disdain them. We seek what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered the human heart.✦6 Whatever that reality is, it is this that satisfies, that tastes good, that delights us to pursue.7 They will all be taught by God, he says, and he himself will be all in all.✦✦8 As I hear, the fullness we await from God will be nothing other than God himself.9

The Soul's Trinity Exiled and Fulfilled

The soul's three powers—reason, will, and memory—now experience deception, disturbance, and confusion because God is not yet all in all, but in him they will find light, peace, and eternity.

Then who can grasp how great an abundance of sweetness is packed into this brief discourse: God will be all in all?✦ So that I may pass over the body, I see three things in the soul: reason, will, and memory — and these three are the soul itself. How much each of these lacks in this present age, in its own wholeness and perfection, everyone who walks in the spirit feels.✦ Why is this so, unless because God is not yet all in all?✦ This is why reason is very often deceived in its judgments, why the will is tossed about by a fourfold disturbance, and why memory is confused by manifold forgetfulness. To this threefold vanity the noble creature is subjected against its will — yet in hope.✦ For the one who fills the soul's desire with good things will himself be for reason the fullness of light, for the will an abundance of peace, and for memory the unending continuance of eternity. O truth, love, eternity!

The Soul's Wretched Exchange

Lamenting its exile from the blessed Trinity, the soul's own trinity of reason, will, and memory has become a source of error, pain, and fear.

O blessed and beatifying Trinity! My wretched Trinity sighs miserably for you, since it lives unhappily as an exile from you. Departing from you, how many errors, sorrows, and fears it has entangled itself in! Alas for me! What a Trinity we have exchanged for you! My heart is troubled, and from that comes pain; my strength has abandoned me, and from that comes fear; and the light of my eyes is not with me, and from that comes error. See what a different Trinity you have shown my soul's Trinity, while exiled.

Hope for God's Restoring Work

Hope in God replaces despair, for the Trinity—truth, love, and highest power—will restore the soul's powers to their eternal fullness, while the world's fleeting pleasures are exposed as vanity.

But why are you sad, my soul, and why do you trouble me?✦ Hope in God, for I will still confess to him, when error — that is, grief born of reason, and fear born of the will, and every sorrow born of memory — has withdrawn, and there has come in its place that wondrous serenity we hope for, full of sweetness and eternal peace.10 God who is truth will bring this about first; God who is love, second; God who is highest power, third—so that God may be all in all: reason receiving an inextinguishable light, the will pursuing an unshakable peace, and memory clinging eternally to the unfailing source.✦11 You will see for yourselves whether you rightly assign the first place to the Son, the next to the Holy Spirit who follows him, and the last to the Father—but in such a way that you would subtract none of these from the Father, or from the Son, or from the Holy Spirit, lest perhaps the distinction of persons should diminish the fullness of any, or perfection should take away their distinct property.12 At the same time, notice this too: what experience the sons of this age have in return—concerning the allurements of the flesh, concerning the spectacles of the world, and concerning the pomp of Satan—although all of this is precisely what the present life uses to mock its own wretched lovers, as John says: 'Whatever is in the world is the desire of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes, and the ambition of the age.'✦13 These things concerning the fruit of redemption.

The Cost of God's Self-Emptying

God's self-emptying extended to flesh, death, and the cross, undertaken not from necessity but to overcome human ingratitude and inspire greater love.

In the same way, if you recall how we defined God's self-emptying, I especially commend three things to your attention. That self-emptying was no simple or small thing; he emptied himself all the way to flesh, to death, to the cross.✦ Who can worthily weigh how great was the humility, the gentleness, the condescension — that the Lord of majesty should clothe himself in flesh, be fined by death, be disgraced by the cross? But someone objects: Couldn't the Creator have restored his work without this hardship? He could have, but he chose to do it at cost to himself, so that the worst and most hateful vice — ingratitude — would find no further foothold in human beings. Assuredly, he took on great weariness so as to hold humankind in debt to a greater love; and the hardship of redemption was meant to stir up gratitude, since the ease of our created condition had made us less devoted. For what was a created — and ungrateful — human being saying? I was created freely, it's true, but without any burden or labor on the part of my Maker: he spoke, and I came to be, just like everything else.✦

From Creation Without Cost to Redemption at Great Price

Creation came easily by God's word, but redemption required thirty years of suffering, the shame of the cross, and the horror of death, revealing the immense love poured out for humanity.

What great thing is it, however great the gifts you gave with the ease of a word? In this way, human godlessness, diminishing the gift of creation, drew from it the material for ingratitude, where it should have found a reason for love, and that to furnish excuses for excuses in sin. But the mouths of those who speak unjustly have been stopped. It's clearer than light, the loss he willingly accepted for you, O man: from Lord to servant, from rich to poor, flesh from the Word, and from God's Son he did not refuse to become the son of man. Remember this: you were made from nothing, but you were not redeemed from nothing. In six days he made all things, and you among them all. Yet for a full thirty years he worked out your salvation in the middle of the earth — O how much he suffered in what he endured! The needs of the flesh, the enemy's temptations — didn't the shame of the cross add to his burden, and the horror of death pile on still more?

Meditation on God's Multiplying Mercy

Bernard calls his hearers to meditate on God's mercy, which saves humans and beasts alike and multiplies compassion beyond all measure.

Of necessity. So, Lord, you have saved humans and beasts of burden alike; how greatly you have multiplied your mercy, O God.✦

Restoration of the Inner Self

The sermon closes by urging the monks to restore their inner selves with the fragrant ointments of virtue, to press forward toward greater gifts, and to support the preacher with their prayers.

Meditate on these things; immerse yourself in them. With such fragrant ornaments restore your inward parts — the parts that the more troublesome stench of sins has tormented for so long — so that you may abound in these ointments, which are no less sweet than they are wholesome. And yet don't think you already possess the finest things — the ones commended on the bride's breasts. I would begin to speak about these things now, but the narrowing that comes with bringing the sermon to a close already prevents me. Hold in memory what has been said about other matters, test them by how you live, and help me with your prayers on these matters too, so that I may be able to speak worthily — worthily, that is, of the bride's great delights — and so build up your souls toward the love of the bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Read the original Latin

Dixi in fine sermonis, nec me iterare piget, quod cupiam vos omnes fieri sacrae unctionis participes, illius videlicet, in qua Dei beneficia cum laetitia et gratiarum actione recolit sancta devotio. Hoc enim bonum est, tum propter relevandos vitae praesentis labores, qui utique tolerabiliores nobis fiunt exsultantibus in laude Dei; tum quia nihil ita proprie quemdam terris repraesentat coelestis habitationis statum, sicut alacritas laudantium Deum, Scriptura dicente: Beati qui habitant in domo tua, Domine; in saecula saeculorum laudabunt te. De hoc praecipue unguento puto dixisse Prophetam: Ecce quam bonum et quam iucundum habitare fratres in unum; sicut unguentum in capite. Neque enim priori videtur posse congruere. Illud enim etsi bonum sit, non est tamen iucundum; quia recordatio peccatorum amaritudinem facit, non iucunditatem. Sed nec qui illud faciunt, in unum habitant, cum quisque peccata propria lugeat atque deploret. Qui vero in gratiarum actione versantur, Deum solum intuentur et cogitant; ac per hoc ipsi vere habitant in unum. Bonum est autem quod faciunt, quia servant ei iustissime gloriam cuius est, et nihilominus iucundum, quia delectat.

Quamobrem suadeo vobis amicis meis reflectere interdum pedem a molesta et anxia recordatione viarum vestrarum, et evadere in itinera planiora serenioris memoriae beneficiorum Dei; ut qui in vobis confundimini, ipsius intuitu respiretis. Volo vos experiri illud quod sanctus Propheta consulit, dicens: Delectare in Domino, et dabit tibi petitiones cordis tui. Et quidem necessarius dolor pro peccatis, sed si non sit continuus. Sane interpoletur laetiori recordatione divinae benignitatis, ne forte prae tristitia induretur cor, et desperatione plus pereat. Misceamus absinthio mel, ut salubris amaritudo salutem dare tunc possit, cum immisto temperata dulcore bibi poterit. Audi denique Deum, quomodo ipse contriti cordis temperat amaritudinem, quomodo pusillanimem a desperationis bacathro revocat, quomodo blandae et fidelis promissionis melle moerentem consolatur, erigit diffidentem. Ait per prophetam: Ego infrenabo os tuum laude mea, ne intereas. Hoc est: Ne intuitu facinorum tuorum nimiam incurras tristitiam, atque instar effrenis equi desperatus in praeceps ruas, et pereas; freno te, inquit, inhibebo indulgentiae meae, et meis laudibus erigam, respirabisque in bonis meis, qui de tuis confunderis malis, dum me sane benigniorem, quam te culpabiliorem invenies.

Hoc freno si infrenatus fuisset Cain, nequaquam desperando dixisset: Maior est iniquitas mea, quam ut reniam merear. Absit, absit. Maior enim est eius pietas, quam quaevis iniquitas. Ideo iustus non continue, sed tantum in principio sermonis accusator est sui : porro autem in Dei laudes extrema sermonis claudere consuevit. Videte denique iustum hoc ordine procedentem. Cogitavi, ait, vias meas, et converti pedes meos in testimonia tua : ut qui videlicet contritionem et infelicitatem in viis propriis perpessus fuerat, in via testimoniorum Dei delectaretur, sicut in omnibus divitiis. Et vos igitur exemplo iusti, si de vobis in humilitate sentitis, sentite et de Domino in bonitate. Sic enim legitis apud Sapientem: Sentite de Domino in bonitate, et in simplicitate cordis quaerite illum.

Hoc autem facile menti persuadet divinae munificentiae frequens, imo continua recordatio. Alioquin quomodo implebitur apostolicum illud: In omnibus gratias agentes, si ea pro quibus gratiae debentur, a corde recesserint? Nolo vos Iudaico notari opprobrio, de quibus Scriptura testatur quod non fuerint memores benefactorum eius, et mirabilium eius quae ostendit eis.

Verum quoniam bona, quae largiri mortalibus non cessat misericors et miserator Dominus, recolere et recolligere omnia, omni homini impossibile est; (quis enim loquetur potentias Domini, auditas faciet omnes laudes eius? id saltem, quod praecipuum est et maximum, opus videlicet nostrae redemptionis, a memoria redemptorum aliquatenus non recedat. In quo opere duo potissimum, quae nunc occurrunt, vestris studiis intimare curabo. Et hoc quam paucis ad compendium potero, memor illius sententiae: Da occasionem sapienti, et sapientior erit. Duo ergo illa sunt, modus et fructus. Et modus quidem Dei exinanitio est; fructus vero, nostri de illo repletio. Hoc meditari, sanctae spei seminarium est; illud summi amoris incentivum. Utrumque profectibus nostris necessarium, ne aut spes mercenaria sit, si amore non comitetur; aut amor tepescat, si infructuosus putetur.

Porro fructum talem exspectamus nostri amoris, qualem ipse quem amamus, promisit: Mensutam, inquiens, plenam, et confertam, et coagitatam, et supereffluentem dabunt in sinum vestrum. Mensura ista, ut audio, erit sine mensura. Sed velim scire, cuius rei futura sit illa mensura, vel potius illa immensitas quae repromittitur. Oculus non vidit, Deus, absque te, quae praeparasti diligentibus te. Dic nobis tu qui praeparas, quid praeparas? Credimus, confidimus, revera sicut promittis: Replebimur in bonis domus tuae. Sed quibus, quaeso, bonis, vel qualibus? Forte frumento, vino et oleo, auro atque argento, lapidibusve pretiosis?

Sed haec novimus et vidimus; et videmus, et fastidimus. Id quaerimus, quod oculus non vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit. Hoc placet, hoc sapit, hoc delectat inquirere, quodcunque est illud. Erunt, inquit, omnes docibiles Dei, et ipse erit omnia in omnibus. Ut audio, plenitudo quam exspectamus a Deo, non erit nisi de Deo.

Quis vero comprehendat, quam magna multitudo dulcedinis in brevi isto sermone sit comprehensa: Erit Deus omnia in omnibus? Ut de corpore taceam, in anima tria intueor: rationem, voluntatem, memoriam; et haec tria ipsam animam esse. Quantum cuique horum in praesenti saeculo desit de integritate sua et perfectione, sentit omnis qui ambulat in spiritu. Quare hoc, nisi quia Deus nondum est omnia in omnibus? Hinc est quod et ratio saepissime in iudiciis fallitur, et voluntas quadruplici perturbatione iactatur, et memoria multiplici oblivione confunditur. Triplici huic vanitati nobilis creatura subiecta est non volens, in spe tamen. Nam qui repelet in bonis desiderium animae, ipse rationi futurus est plenitudo lucis, ipse voluntati multitudo pacis, ipse memoriae continuatio aeternitatis. O veritas, charitas, aeternitas!

O beata et beatificans Trinitas! ad te mea misera trinitas miseserabiliter suspirat, quoniam a te infeliciter exsulat. Discedens a te quantis se intricavit erroribus, doloribus, timoribus! Heu me! qualem pro te commutavimus trinitatem! Cor meum conturbatum est, et inde dolor; dereliquit me virtus mea, et inde pavor, et lumen oculorum meorum non est mecum, et inde error. En quam dissimilem trinitatem, o animae meae trinitas, exsulans ostendisti.

Verumtamen quare tristis es, anima mea, et quare conturbas me? Spera in Deo quoniam adhuc confitebor illi; cum error videlicet a ratione, a voluntate dolor, atque a memoria timor omnis recesserit, et successerit illa quam speramus mira serenitas, plena suavitas, aeterna securitas. Primum illud faciet veritas Deus; secundum, charitas Deus; tertium, summa potestas Deus, ut sit Deus omnia in omnibus, ratione recipiente lucem inexstinguibilem, voluntate pacem imperturbabilem consequente, memoria fonti indeficienti aeternaliter inhaerente. Videritis vos, rectene primum illud Filio, Spiritui sancto sequens, Patri ultimum assignetis, sic tamen ut nihil horum vel Patri, vel Filio, vel Spiritui sancto subtrahatis; ne cui forte personarum aut plenitudinem minuat distinctio, aut proprietatem tollat perfectio. Simul et hoc advertite, quid simile filii huius saeculi experiantur de carnis illecebris, de mundi spectaculis, et de pompis Satanae: cum tamen hoc totum sit, unde vita praesens eludit miseros amatores suos, dicente Ioanne: Quidquid in mundo est, concupiscentia carnis est, et concupiscientia oculorum, et ambitio saeculi. Haec de redemptionis fructu.

In modo quoque, quem, si recolitis, Dei esse exinanitionem definivimus, tria item praecipue vobis intuenda commendo. Non enim simplex aut modica illa exinanitio fuit; sed semetipsum exinanivit usque ad carnem, ad mortem, ad crucem. Quis digne penset, quantae fuerit humilitatis, mansuetudinis, dignationis, Dominum maiestatis carne indui, multari morte, turpari cruce? Sed dicit aliquis: Non valuit opus suum reparare Creator absque ista difficultate? Valuit, sed maluit cum iniuria sui, ne pessimum atque odiosissimum vitium ingratitudinis occasionem ultra reperiret in homine. Sane multum fatigationis assumpsit, quo multae dilectionis hominem debitorem teneret; commoneretque gratiarum actionis difficultas redemptionis, quem minus esse devotum fecerat conditionis facilitas. Quid enim dicebat homo creatus et ingratus? Gratis quidem conditus sum, sed nullo auctoris gravamine vel labore: siquidem dixit, et factus sum, quemadmodum et universa.

Quid magnum est, quamlibet magna in verbi facilitate donaveris? Sic beneficium creationis attenuans humana impietas, ingratitudinis materiam inde sumebat, unde amoris causam habere debuerat, idque ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis. Sed obstructum est os loquentium iniqua. Luce clarius patet, quantum modo pro te, o homo, dispendium fecit; de Domino servus, de divite pauper, caro de Verbo, et de Dei Filio hominis filius fieri non despexit. Memento iam te, etsi de nihilo factum, non tamen de nihilo redemptum. Sex diebus condidit omnia, et te inter omnia. At vero per totos triginta annos operatus est salutem tuam in medio terrae, O quantum laboravit sustinens! Carnis necessitates, hostis tentationes, nonne sibi crucis aggravavit ignominia, mortis cumulavit horrore?

Necessarie quidem. Sic, sic homines et iumenta salvasti, Domine; quemadmodum multiplicasti misericordiam tuam, Deus.

Haec meditamini, in his versamini. Talibus od oramentis refovete viscera vestra, quae diu torsit odor molestior peccatorum, ut abundetis et his unguentis, non minus suavibus, quam salutaribus. Nec tamen adhuc vos putetis habere illa optima, quae in sponsae uberibus commendantur. De quibus incipere modo, finiendi iam sermonis augustia prohibet. Quae dicta sunt de aliis, tenete memoria, probate vita; et de his iuvate me precibus vestris, ut digne loqui possim quod et dignum sit tantis sponsae deliciis; et vestras animas ad amorem aedificat sponsi Domini nostri Iesu Christi. Amen.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.84.5 — Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Selah.
  2. ↩Ps.133.1 — A Song of Ascents. Of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity.
  3. ↩Ps.36.4 — The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely, to do good.
  4. ↩Ps.141.3 — Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.
  5. ↩Gen.4.13 — And Cain said to the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
  6. ↩1Thess.5.18 — Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
  7. ↩Luke.6.38 — Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing, they will put into your lap. For with the measure you measure, it will be measured back to you.
  8. ↩1Cor.2.9 — But as it is written: What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived—all that God has prepared for those who love him.
  9. ↩Ps.65.4 — When the words of our iniquities overwhelm us, you atone for our transgressions.
  10. ↩1Cor.2.9 — But as it is written: What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived—all that God has prepared for those who love him.
  11. ↩John.6.45 — It is written in the prophets, "They will all be taught by God." Everyone who has heard from the Father and has learned comes to me.
  12. ↩1Cor.15.28 — When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all.
  13. ↩1Cor.15.28 — When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all.
  14. ↩Gal.5.16 — But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desire of the flesh.
  15. ↩1Cor.15.28 — When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all.
  16. ↩Rom.8.20 — end with a comma, not a full stop: "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of the one who subjected it, in hope," so v.21 completes the thought.
  17. ↩Ps.41.6 — When my enemies speak evil against me, they say, "When will he die and his name perish?"
  18. ↩1Cor.15.28 — When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all.
  19. ↩1John.2.16 — For all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father, but is from the world.
  20. ↩Phil.2.7-Phil.2.8 — but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, and appearing as a human being. Phil.2.8 — And he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
  21. ↩Ps.33.9 — For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
  22. ↩Ps.36.6 — O LORD, your steadfast love reaches to the heavens; your faithfulness stretches to the skies.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩bacathro (bacathrum): a rare word, glossed as 'abyss' on the basis of context (depth of despair); the lemma is uncertain.
  2. 2 ↩infrenabo: literally 'I will put a bridle on'; here used figuratively for restraining or guiding through praise.
  3. 3 ↩inhibebo indulgentiae meae: 'I will hold back the reins of my indulgence' — the metaphor shifts from bridling the person to God restraining his own merciful impulse, so that praise and measured grief work together.
  4. 4 ↩The embedded quotation 'In omnibus gratias agentes' echoes 1 Thessalonians 5:18; final resolution of the anchor belongs to a later stage.
  5. 5 ↩The charge of forgetting God's benefits and wonders echoes Psalm 105 (106):7, 13, 21 and related Old Testament passages; final resolution belongs to a later stage.
  6. 6 ↩The triad 'oculus non vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit' closely echoes 1 Corinthians 2:9; final resolution belongs to a later stage.
  7. 7 ↩The inquirere after delectat is rendered 'to pursue' to capture the sense of eager seeking; the triple anaphora hoc placet, hoc sapit, hoc delectat is preserved.
  8. 8 ↩'Omnes docibiles Dei' echoes John 6:45 (from Isaiah 54:13); 'omnia in omnibus' echoes 1 Corinthians 15:28. Final resolution belongs to a later stage.
  9. 9 ↩Ut audio with audio as subjunctive is rendered 'As I hear' as a complementizer clause; the theological point is that the promised plenitude is not something alongside God but God himself.
  10. 10 ↩The Latin ablatives a ratione, a voluntate, atque a memoria are taken as sources from which error, dolor, and timor proceed; the participial/ablative-absolute construction is rendered as a temporal clause ('when... has withdrawn') to keep the sentence readable.
  11. 11 ↩The three ablative absolutes (ratione recipiente... voluntate... consequente, memoria... inhaerente) are rendered as parallel participial phrases to preserve the Trinitarian structure of the sentence.
  12. 12 ↩The Latin plays on distinctio and perfectio as subjects of minuat and tollat; the theological point is that distinguishing the persons does not divide the divine essence.
  13. 13 ↩The quotation from John is a candidate allusion to 1 John 2:16; final resolution belongs to a later stage.

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