SERMO 52
ON THE TRINITY
The triune God is commended in the baptism of Christ.
The Gospel reading proposed to us what to speak about to your Charity, as a command of the Lord, and truly the command of the Lord. For my heart awaited from Him as a command the declaration of the discourse, so that I might understand that He was speaking through me, because He willed it to be recited. Let your zeal and devotion then heed this, and may they help my labor with the same Lord our God. For we see and, as if by divine plan, observe before the river Jordan that our God is commended to us in the Trinity. For when Jesus came and was baptized by John, the Lord by the servant (which He did as an example of humility; indeed in that humility He showed that righteousness is fulfilled, when John said to him: I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? He replied: Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness): when therefore He was baptized, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove; then a voice followed from above: This is my beloved Son, in whom I have been well pleased. Therefore, we have the Trinity distinct in some way: in the voice the Father, in the man the Son, in the dove the Holy Spirit. Indeed, it was necessary to recall this; for it is very easy to see. For evidently, and without any doubt, this Trinity is commended when the Lord Christ Himself coming in the form of a servant to John is indeed the Son: for it cannot be said that He is the Father, nor can it be said that He is the Holy Spirit. It says, Jesus came: indeed the Son of God. Who can doubt about the dove; or who can say, What is the dove when the Gospel itself most clearly testifies: The Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove? Likewise, there is no doubt about that voice being of the Father when it says: You are my Son. Therefore, we have the Trinity distinct.
How difficult it is to speak of the inseparable Trinity.
And if we consider the places, I dare to say (although I say it timidly, yet I dare) a seemingly separable Trinity. When Jesus came to the river, from one place to another place; the dove descended from heaven to earth, from one place to another place; the very voice of the Father, sounded neither from the earth nor from the water, but from heaven: these three are seemingly separated by places, separated by roles, separated by works. Let someone say to me: Show the inseparable Trinity. Remember you speak as a Catholic, to Catholics. For our faith, that is, the true faith, the right faith, the Catholic faith, gathered not by presumptive opinion but by the testimony of reading, not uncertain through heretical rashness, but founded on apostolic truth, suggests this; we know this, we believe this. Even if we do not see this with our eyes, nor yet with our heart as long as we are purified by faith; nevertheless with this faith very rightly and very strongly we hold that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is the inseparable Trinity, one God, not three gods. However, thus one God, that the Son is not the Father, that the Father is not the Son, that the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but the Spirit of the Father and the Son. This ineffable divinity, remaining in itself, renewing all things, creating, recreating, sending, recalling, judging, liberating; therefore this ineffable and inseparable Trinity we both know and believe.
The necessity of help to solve the difficulty.
What then shall we do? Behold, separately the Son comes in man, separately the Holy Spirit descends from heaven in the form of a dove, separately the voice of the Father resounds from heaven: This is my Son. Where is the inseparable Trinity? Through me, God has made you attentive. Pray for us, and as if opening your bosom: may He Himself grant that which may fill what you have opened. Collaborate with us. For you see what we have undertaken; not only what, but also who; whence we wish to speak, where positioned, how positioned in the body which is corrupted and weighs down the soul, and the earthly dwelling oppresses the mind thinking many things. Therefore, when I extract this mind from many things and collect it to the one inseparable Trinity, in order to see something to say; do you think, in this body that weighs down the soul, that I will be able to say something worthy to you: Since I have lifted up my soul to you, Lord? Help me, lift it up with me. For I am weak for it, and it is heavy for me.
The works of the Father and the Son are inseparable.
This question is often proposed by the most diligent brothers, often discussed in the conversation of lovers of the word of God, often much prayed for to God, with people asking: "Does the Father do something that the Son does not do; or does the Son do something that the Father does not do?" Meanwhile, let us speak of the Father and the Son. When our effort has accomplished this, to whom we say: Be my helper, do not abandon me; it is also understood that the Holy Spirit does not separate from the operation of the Father and the Son. Therefore, regarding the Father and the Son, brothers, listen. Does the Father do anything without the Son? We answer, No. Do you doubt it? For what does He do without Him, through whom all things were made? All things, he says, were made through Him. And to impress it upon the slow, the obstinate, the quarrelsome, he added: And without Him was made nothing.
The Father through the Son both made and rules all things.
What then, brothers? All things were made through him; we understand that the entire creation was made through the Son, that the Father made it through his Word, God through his Power and Wisdom: shall we then say, "Indeed all things were made through him when they were created, but now the Father does not govern all things through him"? By no means. Let this thought depart from the hearts of the faithful, be driven away from the understanding of the devout, from the intellect of the pious. It cannot be that he created through him, and does not govern through him. Let it not be that what exists is governed without him, when through him it was made to exist. But let us also prove this with the testimony of Scripture, not only that all things were made and created through him, as we have reminded you from the Gospel: All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made: but that also what was made is governed and arranged through him. Therefore, recognize Christ as the Power of God and the Wisdom of God: recognize what is said of Wisdom: She reaches mightily from one end to the other and arranges all things sweetly. Therefore, let us not doubt that all things are governed through him, through whom all things were made. Therefore, the Father does nothing without the Son, the Son does nothing without the Father.
Whether the birth and passion of the Son were also of the Father.
A question arises, which in the name of the Lord and His will we have undertaken to solve. If the Father does nothing without the Son, and the Son does nothing without the Father; would it not follow that we should say that the Father was born of the Virgin Mary, the Father suffered under Pontius Pilate, the Father rose again and ascended into heaven? By no means. We do not say this, because we do not believe this. I have believed, therefore have I spoken: and we also believe, therefore we speak. What is in the faith? That the Son was born of the Virgin, not the Father. What is in the faith? That the Son suffered under Pontius Pilate, and died, not the Father. It has come to our attention that some are wrongly called Patripassians, who say that the Father Himself was born of a woman, the Father Himself suffered, the Father Himself is the Son, two names but not two realities. And the Catholic Church has removed these from the communion of saints, so that they would not deceive anyone, and that they would argue separately.
The knot of difficulty.
Let us then bring back the difficulty of the question to your senses. Let someone say to me: You have said, the Father does nothing without the Son, nor the Son without the Father; and you have brought forth testimonies from the Scriptures, that the Father does nothing without the Son, because all things were made through Him; nor that the kingdom is ruled without the Son, because He is the Wisdom of the Father, reaching mightily from end to end and disposing all things sweetly. Now you are saying to me, as if speaking against yourself: The Son was born of a virgin, not the Father; the Son suffered, not the Father; the Son rose again, not the Father. Behold, I hold that the Son does something which the Father does not. Therefore either confess that the Son does something without the Father, or confess also that the Father was born, suffered, died, and rose again. Say either one or the other: choose one of the two. I choose neither, nor do I say this or that. Nor do I say that the Son does anything without the Father, because I lie if I say this; nor do I say that the Father was born, suffered, died, and rose again, because I likewise lie if I say this. How, he says, will you extricate yourself from these difficulties?
The birth of the Sole Son from the Virgin is indeed from the Father and also from the Son.
It pleases you, the question proposed: May God assist, so that it may please and be resolved. Behold what I say, so that it may free both me and you. For in one faith we stand in the name of Christ, and in one house we live under one Lord, and in one body we are members under one head, and we are invigorated by one spirit. Therefore, that the Lord may deliver us from the difficulties of this most troublesome question, both me who speak and you who listen, this I say: Indeed, the Son, not the Father, was born of the Virgin Mary; but the birth of the Son, not of the Father, from the Virgin Mary, was worked by both the Father and the Son. Indeed, the Father did not suffer, but the Son; yet the suffering of the Son was worked by both the Father and the Son. The Father did not rise again, but the Son; yet the resurrection of the Son was worked by both the Father and the Son. From this question we now seem relieved; but perhaps by my words, let us see also whether by divine words. It pertains to me, therefore, with the testimonies of the holy Scriptures to demonstrate that the birth of the Son was worked by both the Father and the Son; likewise the passion; likewise the resurrection: so that although both the birth and the passion and the resurrection are of the Son alone; these three things which pertain solely to the Son were not done by the Father alone, nor by the Son alone, but by both the Father and the Son. Let us prove each one, judges listen, the case is proposed, let the witnesses come forward. Let your judgment tell me what is usually said to those conducting cases: Prove what you promise. I will indeed prove it with the Lord’s help, and I will recite a reading of heavenly law. You have listened intently to the one proposing, now listen more intently to the one proving.
The son's birth made by the Father, Paul, legal expert of the divine.
First, I must teach concerning the nativity of Christ, how both the Father and the Son did it, although it pertains solely to the Son what the Father and the Son did. I quote Paul, a fitting expert of divine law. For even the legal advocates today have Paul dictating the laws of litigants, not of Christians. I quote, I say, Paul dictating the laws of peace, not of strife. Let the holy Apostle show us how the Father worked the nativity of the Son. For when the fullness of time came, he says, God sent His own Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law. You have heard, and because it is clear and open, you have understood. Behold, the Father made the Son born of a virgin. For when the fullness of time came, God sent His own Son, indeed the Father sent Christ. How did he send Him? Made of a woman, made under the Law. Therefore, the Father made Him from a woman under the Law.
Christ was born of a woman and a virgin.
Or perhaps this troubles you because I said "from a virgin," and Paul says "from a woman"? Do not be disturbed, do not dwell on it: for I am not speaking to the unlearned. Both expressions are used in Scripture, "from a virgin" and "from a woman." How "from a virgin"? Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son. But "from a woman," as you have heard: it is not contradictory. For the Hebrew idiom calls "women" those who are not defiled in their virginity but simply refers to females. You have clear Scripture from Genesis, when Eve herself was first created: He formed her into a woman. Scripture also says in another place that God commanded the separation of women who have not known the bed of a man. Therefore, this should now be understood; nor let it hold us back, so that with the Lord's help, we may be able to explain other things, which should rightly be understood.
From the Son also the birth of the Son was made.
We have proven therefore the birth of the Son made by the Father; let us also prove it made by the Son. What is the birth of the Son from the Virgin Mary? Surely the assumption of the form of a servant. Is it not taking the form of a servant in the womb of the Virgin to be born to the Son? Hear that this too was done by the Son: Who, though he was in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal to God; but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. When the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, made of a woman; who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh: therefore, we see the birth of the Son made by the Father; but because the Son himself emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, we see the birth of the Son made also by the Son himself. This has been proven; let us pass from here: attentively receive something else, which follows in order.
The Passion is also of the Son and of the Father and of the Son.