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Introduction to 1 Corinthians (Part 8) by Father Charles Callan

Dim Bulb — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:34:14 +0000

This post completes the Introduction to First Corinthians by Father Charles Jerome Callan. I posted it earlier on my other blog, a site which contains all the posts found here and more besides. You can view all the notes on 1 Corinthians which that other site offers by going to my NOTES ON 1 CORINTHIANS Page.

8. Division and Analysis. In this Epistle we distinguish three main parts: an Introduction (1:1-9), a Body (1:10-15:58), and a Conclusion (16).

1. The introduction contains: [a] the salutation of St Paul and his “brother” Sosthenes to the Church at Corinth and to all those who call upon the name of the Jesus Christ (1:1-3); [b] and expression of thanksgiving to God for the gifts of speech and knowledge accorded the Corinthians, and a hope of their final perseverance, founded on the faithfulness of God and their communion with Jesus Christ (1:4-9).

2. The Body of the Epistle falls naturally into two divisions, of which the first (1:10-6:20) reprehends the vices of the Corinthians, and the second, (7:1-15:58) replies to their letter and questions.

A. The First Part of the Body of the letter, also composed of two parts, condemns first the divisions in the Corinthian Church (1:10-4:21), and secondly the moral disorders among the faithful at Corinth.

There ought to be unity in the Church, but it is a fact that there are divisions among the faithful (1:10-12). These factions are most injurious to the Church of which Christ is the center and head (1:13-17a). The fact that the Gospel was preached in simplicity to the Corinthians should not be a cause of dissension or disagreement, because God’s message is not after the manner of human conceptions, but according to divine wisdom (1:17b-3:4). Preachers of the Gospel are simply ministers and instruments of God and must render an account of their stewardship (3:5-17). The faithful, therefore, ought not to glory in this or that preacher, but in God alone: He only is the judge of His ministers (3:18-4:6). Humility is necessary in preachers of the Gospel (4:7-13). St Paul has suffered much for the faithful, and they should imitate him (4:14-16). The Apostle is sending Timothy to visit the Corinthians and he himself will come shortly (4:17-21).

Following upon their lack of unity, moral disorders and relaxation of religious discipline set in among the Corinthians, The faithful should have put out of their number the incestuous man, whom St Paul now excommunicates (5:1-5). That case was a cause of grave scandal; the Corinthians should remember the warning contained in the Apostle’s first letter, to avoid sinners (5:6-13). Disputes among Christians should not be carried to heathen courts; those who are the cause of such lawsuits shall receive a severe judgment (6:1-11). All things lawful are not expedient; the faithful must fly from the sin of fornication.

B. The Second Part of the Body of the letter (7:1-15:58) replies to the questions and the doubts raised by the Corinthians.

Matrimony and its use are perfectly lawful (7:1-9). Marriage is indissoluble (7:10-24). The state of celibacy is more excellent than that of matrimony (7:25-40).

With regard to meats offered to idols it is to be noted that such meats are not bad in themselves, although it may necessary to avoid them on account of scandal (8:1-13). On account of the danger of scandal, the apostle says it is sometimes necessary to forego one’s rights, as he himself did in refusing support from the faithful (9:1-18). He suffered countless privations and made many sacrifices for the salvation of souls (9:19-23). Thus also should the Corinthians be willing to make sacrifices in order to save their souls (9:24-27). Many benefits received from God are no guarantee that we shall be saved (10:1-13). Therefore, all things being considered, the faithful should take no part in sacrifices offered to idols; we cannot be on the side of God and of His enemies at the same time (10:14-22).

At the public services of the Church women should have their heads covered, as is evident from various considerations (11:2-16). All disorders and unseemly conduct are especially out of place at the Eucharistic celebration (11:17-22). The institution of the Lord’s Supper, and the manner in which it should be observed (11:23-34).

The Corinthians have abused their spiritual gifts, allowing them to become an occasion of pride and envy. The extraordinary gifts which the faithful enjoy come from God. They should not be a source of discord, since they all come from the same Holy Spirit (12:1-11). The faithful are all members of the same spiritual body; and hence they who possess lesser gifts should not envy those who are blessed with greater ones; and, on the other hand, those who are more highly favored should not despise their more humble brethren (12:12-30). While each one ought to be content with the gifts he has, it is not forbidden to desire the better ones (12:31). The most excellent of all the gifts and virtues is charity, without which everything else is as nothing (13:1-3). The nature of charity; it endures forever (13:4-13). Of the gifts of tongues and prophecy the latter is more excellent, because more useful to the faithful and to unbelievers as well (14:1-26). Some practical directions are necessary with regard to the use of the various spiritual gifts (14:27-36). St Paul observes that he is speaking with divine authority (14:37-40).

Regarding the resurrection of the dead St Paul affirms its truth and reality, proving it first from the Resurrection of Christ (15:1-28), and then from a practice of some of the faithful and from his own life and sufferings (15:29-34). Next the manner of the resurrection and the qualities of the glorified bodies are explained (15:35-50). The just shall be transformed at the coming of Christ (15:51-53). The victory of Christ over death (15:54-58).

3. The Conclusion of the Epistle (16) treats [a] of the collection to be made for the poor in Jerusalem (16:1-4); [b] of the Apostle’s forthcoming visit (16:5-9); [c] of the welcome that should be extended to Timothy and Apollo (16:10-12); [d] of the necessity of earnestness and love (16:13-14); [e] of the charity and gratitude the Corinthians ought to show towards their delegates Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus (16:15-18). The Epistle closes with a greeting, a warning and a blessing (16:19-24).

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Introduction to 1 Corinthians (part 1) by Father Charles Callan

Dim Bulb — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:33:26 +0000

This was posted recently on my primary blog, which contains everything found on this site and more.

Due to the length of the introduction I have decided to divide it up into a series of posts. This first post looks at the city itself; its history, geographical importance, and social situation. Circumstances relating to St Paul’s ministry in the city and the production of the Letters to Corinth will be presented in future posts.

1. Corinth. The city to which the Corinthian letters were addressed, and which St Paul first visited and evangelized on his second missionary journey, was not the ancient metropolis by the same name. The old city, which Cicero called the “light of all Greece” (PRo Lege Manil. 5), was destroyed by the Romans under the generalship of Lucius Mummius in 146 B.C., and lay in complete ruins for an entire century. In 146 B.C. Julius Caesar laid on the anceint site the foundations of the new metropolis and called it Colonia Julia Corinthus.

In a comparatively short time the new city became nearly as populous and flourishing as the old one had been. This was due to its remarkable location. Lying at the southern extremity of the isthmus, about four miles in breadth, that connects the Peloponnesus or lower portion of the Grecian peninsula with the mainland, and fed by the two famous seaport towns, Lechaeum on the west and Cenchrae on the east of the isthmus, Corinth was bound to be, as it had been in the past, a commercial center of highest importance. Its position was conspicuous on the highway of commerce between the Orient and the Occident, and it was not without reason that the great business thoroughfare of the then-known world passed this way; for all trading between the East and Rome took this route in order to avoid the perilous and more or less continual storms that swept the seas about the southern coast of Greece. Although inferior to Athens as an intellectual center Corinth was very eminent in this respect also. It was proud of its many schools of philosophy and rhetoric, as well as the excellence of its architecture.

As might be expected, Corinth was unrivaled in its wealth, in the variety of its population, and in its profligacy. Being the capital of the Roman Province of Achaia it was the residence of the proconsul, and its political and civil influence was mainly Roman. Asiatics were also there from Ephesus, and Jews in sufficient numbers to have their synagogues. And yet, having been Greek in its origin, the city never lost the spirit and customs of its ancestors; its language, its literature and its laws remained Greek.

St Chrysostom pronounced Corinth “the most licentious city of all that are or ever have been.” During the daytime its streets were packed with peddlers, sodliers and sailors; with foreign and domestic traders, boxers and wrestlers; with idlers, slaves, gamblers and the like. At night the great metropolis was a scene of drunken revelry and of every kind of vice. “To live like a Corinthian” was to lead a dissolute and lawless life. Far from correcting or restraining the shameless immorality of its inhabitants the religion of Corinth only added to it. Aphrodite Pandemos, the goddess of lust and sinful love, was the guardian deity of the city. In her temple, professional prostitutes who gave lascivious dances at public festivals, and carnal intercourse with whom was looked upon as a religious consecration. Little wonder that a city of such gross sensuality should have been filled with defrauders, fornicators, idolators, adulterers, effeminate, liars, thieves, covetous, drunkards, railers and extortioners (1 Cor 6:8-10). St Paul, from his long residence there, had personal knowledge of conditions as they existed, and hence the vividness and force of the letters he addressed to the faithful of that wicked city.

The ancient site of Corinth possesses now only a miserable town of five churches and a few thousand inhabitants. Aside from some Doric dolumns, still defying in their massive grandeur the wastes of time, no relic remains of the glories and powers that once were gathered there. The site of the old city is no so desolate because, not only has it been repeatedly plundered since ancient days, but in the year 1858, after a destructive earthquake, it was largely abandoned, and a new city by the same name was built on the west of the isthmus on the Corinthian gulf.

Commentary on 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 by Cornelius a Lapide

Dim Bulb — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:36:38 +0000

This was originally posted on my primary blog, the exact formatting may not have been reproduced here.

Synopsis of the Chapter:

He endeavors to put an end to the divisions among the Corinthians, by reminding them of their mutual subjection and union in Christ and God.

a. He points out that Paul and Apollos are but ministers of Christ (vers. 1-9).

b. He reminds them that Christ is the foundation of the Church: let each one, therefore, take heed what he builds on that foundation; for if it is only hay and stubble he will be saved indeed, but as by fire (vers. 10-15).

c. He tells them that they are the temple of God, and bids them beware how they break in pieces or violate that temple (vers. 16-20).

d. He forbids party strife.

Text:

3:1 And I, Brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
3:5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; But God gave the increase.
3:7 So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
3:8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
3:9 For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry (i.e., garden, planting), ye are God’s building.

Commentary:

In the preceding chapter the Apostle, to support his own authority, and to remove from the minds of the Corinthians the false opinion that they had about his ignorance and lack of speaking powers, said that he spoke wisdom among them that were perfect: hidden wisdom which the eye had not seen, nor the ear heard, but which God had revealed. Now anticipating an objection, he gives the reason why he had not displayed this wisdom to the Corinthians, and transfers the blame from himself to them. It was because they were like children and carnal, not yet capable of receiving such wisdom, and to be fed, therefore, not with meat but with milk.

Notice that the Apostle designates as milk the easier, pleasanter, and more simple teaching about the Manhood of Christ, His grace and redemption, which befits catechumens recently converted and still carnal. he calls “meat”, or solid food, the more perfect and robust teaching about the deeper mysteries, such as about God, about the Spirit of God and spiritual things, about wisdom, power, and love of the Cross. So says Ambrose, Theophylact, St Thomas. St Anselm moralises thus: “The same Christ is milk to man through the Incarnation; solid food to an angel through His Divinity. This same Christ crucified, the same lection, the same sermon is taken by carnal men as milk, by spiritual as solid food.”

St Paul is here alluding, as his custom is, to Isaiah 28:9, and to Isaiah 55:1. In this connection notice that what Isaiah calls “wine” St Paul calls “meat,” which represents the full spiritual wisdom of the perfect, as milk signifies the discipline of children and of the imperfect. hence, in former times wine and milk were given to the newly baptized, when they had been clad with white robes, and this custom, as St Jerome says in his commentary on Isaiah, is still kept up in the churches of the West. In other places honey and milk were given, as Tertullian testifies (Contra Marcion lib. i. c. 14), to denote (1) their infancy and innocence it Christ, milk being a symbol of both. Hence Homer calls men that are innocent and just “feeders on milk,” as Clemens Alexandrius says (Pædag. lib. c. 6). (2) To denote their likeness to Christ, of whom Isaiah sang (7:15), “Butter and honey shall he eat.” (3) To symbolize the infantine gentleness, humility, and meekness of the Christian life. hence it was that at first the sacrifice of the Mass, which the newly baptized heard at Easter, viz., on Low Sunday, there was read as the Epistle that portion of St Peter’s Epistle in which occur the words, “As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of th word.” Hence St Agnes, on the authority of St Ambrose (Sermon 90), used to say, “Milk and honey have I received from His mouth.” Clement discourses at length about this mild (Pædag. lib. i. c. 6).

3. Whereas there is among you envying and strife…are ye not carnal? (1) The word carnal is here applied to one who not only has in his natural use of sense and reason, but also to one who follows the motions and dictates of the flesh, that is, of his animal nature. And, therefore, as St Thomas rightly remarks, he who follows hte motions of lust, or of his fallen nature, is carnal, natural, walking according to man, and destitute of the Spirit of God. (2) Both here and in Galatians 5:19, the works of the flesh, i.e., of our corrupt nature, include envying, jealousy, strife, which are spiritual sins, as well as gluttony and lust, which are, strictly speaking, fleshly. ( Cf. notes to Romans 7:22, and Galatians 5:17). The meaning is: You, O Corinthians, are carnal, i.e., contentious, because you fight like boys foolishly about the dignity of your teachers, and extol and put up for sale, on Paul, another Apollos.

5. Even as the Lord gave to every man. God gave to each one of His ministers powers of such kind and such extent as befitted his ministry. Therefore they should glory in God alone, not in Paul or Apollos, His ministers. These latter were not the lords or the authors of their faith, but merely the instruments used by God. So Anselm, Ambrose, Tehophylact.

6. I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. I was the first to sow the seeds of faith at Corinth, and then Apollos coming after me helped it forward (acts 18:26). But it was God who gave the inner life and strength of grace for growth and maturity in Christian faith and virtue: this belongs to God alone (Cf. Augustine, in Joan. Tr. 5).

God gives to plants their increase, not, s rustics suppose, by directly adding some special daily power of growth, but by bestowing upon and preserving to the nature itself of the seed or the root a vigorous power of growth. In other words, He is continually bestowing it and preserving it, and co-operating with it: for the Divine work of preservation is nothing but a continuation of the primal creative power. He does this by ordering and tempering according to His counsel the rain, heat, and winds, and other things needed by the fruits of the ground, so that these are tempered, the fruit is larger or smaller. So it is in the sowing of the Word of God, and in its growth, perfecting and harvest in the minds of men.

It appears from this (1) that outward preaching, calling, examples, and miracles are not alone sufficient for conversion and the beginning of the spiritual life, or for its further growth. (2) That, though all alike hear the same word of preaching, yet some profit little, some profit much by it, viz., those whom God works upon by a special inward calling, and whose hearts he touches to change their lives, or to continue to raise to higher things. Hence, both those who preach and those who hear profit most who earnestly beseech God for this inward influence.

7. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. The husbandman who plants and waters does hardly anything when compared with God; for he works from without only, and whatever he does he receives it from God, and works as His instrument. But God works within directly as the chief agent, and supplies the power of vigorous growth. For action is assigned to the chief agent, and especially to the first cause. St St Thomas and Theophylact; St Augustine (in i. Ep. St. John. Tr. 7) says beautifully: “Outward ministries are helps and warnings, but He that teacheth the heart has His throne in heaven. These words, which we address to another from without are to him as the husbandman to the tree. For the husbandman acts upon the tree from without, by diligently watering and tending it, but He does not fashion its fruits.” It is God that co-operates with the tree, and lends it the power to bring forth fruit. In the same way the words of the preacher do but little, for they sound from without only. But it is God who co-operates with them within, and by His grace illuminates and converts the soul

8. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one. They are one, says St Thomas, Anselm, and others, in office and one in their ministry, i.e., they are both alike ministers. Therefore one is not to be despised or extolled in comparison of another, e.g., Paul in comparison to Apollos. Moreover, all ought to be knit together as one by the same bond of charity, and ought not to cause divisions on account of their ministries. For although they may have different gifts, yet they all discharge the self-same duty, and are one in Christ, who hates schisms, loves unity, and carefully watches over His ministers, however feeble they be, and wishes them to be esteemed and honored by all, not as men but as His representatives.

And every man shall receive his own reward according to his labor. This passage show clearly the merits of good works; for where there is reward there is merit, the two terms being correlatives.

He does not say, it should be noticed, that “each one shall receive a reward according to the fruit that he has brought forth,” but simply, “according to his labor,” for the fruit is not in our power, but in the hand of God that giveth the increase. You will receive, therefore, a full reward for all genuine labor, even though no fruit follow-though no heretic or sinner be converted. Nay, the reward will be greater, because it is more dificult and more disheartening to preach when little or no fruit is seen than when many applaud the sermon, or profit by it.

9. For we are laborers together with God. St Dionysius says, “A great, an angelic, nay, a Divine dignity is it to become a fellow-worker with God in the conversion of souls, and to show openly to all the Divine power working in us” (Cælest. Hierarch. c. 3).

Ye are God’s husbandry. Not Paul’s or Apollos’: so you cannot boast yourselves in them. St Paul continues the illustration drawn from agriculture. The chief tiller is God; Paul and Apollos are his servants; the Corinthians are the field; the seed is grace, the fruits good works. God by His Spirit cultivates withing; Paul assists Him by his preaching from without. So Anselm.

Ye are God’s building. He inculcates the same truth by another illustration from building and architecture. The first architect is God; the secondary minister is Paul; the building is the Church and every Christian soul. So Anselm.

We should observe that the Hebrew and Syrians rejoice in metaphors and parables, and run them together, easily passing from one to another.

Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 by Bishop MacEvilly

Dim Bulb — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:33:47 +0000

I posted this a few minutes ago on my other site, which contains everything found on this blog and much more.

Text:

1:4 I give thanks to my God always for your for the grace of God that is given you in Christ Jesus.
1:5 That in all things you are made rich in him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
1:6 as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.
1:7 So that nothing is wanting to you in any grace, waiting for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1:8 Who also will confirm you unto the end without crime, in the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1:9 God is faithful: by whom you are called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paraphrase:

1:4 I always render thanks to God on account of the spiritual gifts abundantly conferred on you by your having become Christians:
1:5 Because you are enriched with the plentitude of all spiritual gifts through Christ, both as regards the abundance of spiritual knowledge, and the power of expressing and communicating the same.
1:6 By the means of which gifts the gospel of Christ has received further confirmation amongst you.
1:7 So that no grace is wanting to you to bring you to your end of consummate glory, which shall be conferred on you, when our Lord Jesus Christ shall appear at his second coming.
1:8 And this same Jesus Christ, the giver of all these good gifts, will, I firmly hope, bring those graces to a happy issue, and confirm you unto the end without any grievous sin, or any sin deserving of reproach on the day of his second and glorious coming.
1:9 My hopes in your perseverance are founded on the veracity of God, who has pledged his unerring word that, provided we comply with the necessary conditions, he will grant us final perseverance and eternal glory, of which he has given us a sure earnest by calling us to partnership with his Son, of whom we are the co-heirs.

Commentary:

1:4 I give thanks to my God always for you. As God is the source of all blessings; to him, therefore, all thanks and gratitude is due. For the grace of God &c., This refers to their Christian vocation, and all the blessings flowing from it, which he enumerates in the next verse.

1:5 In all things you are made rich. This is spoken in allusion to the commercial wealth of the Corinthians, as if he said, that the converts among them enjoyed riches of a higher order than those so much prized by their countrymen. In him, i.e., Christ; in all utterance, the power or faculty of imparting this knowledge of faith to others. Knowledge means the spiritual illumination of the intellect; and utterance the power of giving expression.

1:6 As the testimony of Christ, &c. This verse is to be included in a parenthesis; and verse 7, immediately connected with verse 5. As, i.e., by which gifts of knowledge and eloquence, the testimony of Christ, i.e., his gospel, called testimony-because transmitted by witnesses-was confirmed in you. The abundant effusion of spiritual gifts (v.g.), of miracles, prophecy, tongues, &c., which accompanied the preadhing of the Apostles, and the sacraments of baptism, and confirmation affords an additional proof of the divinity of the Christian religion, in particular individuals, these external gifts might be found without real interior sanctity, as in the case of Balaam (Num 26); still, the same could not be said of a particular society of men. The presence of these gifts would impel others to join in religion with those possessed of them; and hence, God himself would, to a certain extent, be the cause of leading men into error.

1:7 This is connected with verse 5. In this verse he asserts that all the gifts necessary to bring them to a happy resurrection, were to e found in the Church of Corinth.

1:8 Who will also confirm you, &c. All this is conditional. God will bring them to a happy issue; he will preserve them free from all grievous crimes; or, if they fall, resuscitate them, and confer on them the crowning gift of final perseverance, provided they comply with the necessary conditions. This is evidently implied in the following verse: In the day of the coming. In the Greek, coming is wanting: which simply is εν τη ημερα του κυριου ημων ιησου, in the day of our Lord, &c. Some MSS. have the word “coming,” and omit “day.” The Vulgate combines both readings

1:9 From this verse it appears, that the Apostle’s hopes are conditional; for it is only on condition that they perform their part, that the veracity of God is pledged to them.

The Presence of God in All Creatures

Dim Bulb — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:27:20 +0000

I posted this on my other site as well.  Everything found on this site-and more besides!-can be found there.  Some of the
things found there which you wont find here are videos (theological, biblical, musical, humorous, ect), documents in
the iPaper format (my own and others), and certain posts which, due to the format, I am unable to post here.

The Presence of God in All Creatures as Their 
Active Principle or Efficient Cause 

Before broaching the interesting yet difficult question 
of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the souls of 
the just, and of the mysterious union He thus effects 
with them; before going into the proofs of the presence 
both substantial and extraordinary of the three Divine 
persons in the just soul which thus becomes a living 
temple wherein the adorable Trinity finds delight, it 
will be useful, and, to a certain extent, even necessary, 
to grasp a few preliminary notions on the ordinary 
way in which God is present in all things. Nothing, indeed,
could be more unreasonable than to expound the 
doctrine of the extraordinary or special presence of God 
in the souls of the just, before we know quite clearly 
what is His ordinary presence in all creation. 

To be in a fit position to speak in precise terms of 
these two kinds of presence, and to distinguish one
from the other, we must first of all become acquainted 
with their respective characteristics, and see in what 
they agree and in what they differ. This may be 
achieved by carefully examining, defining and comparing
their natures. Were we to follow a different course 
of action, plunging at once into a more or less scientific 
explanation of the indwelling of God in the soul by the 
life of grace, without having, at the outset, firmly established
and clearly explained that such an indwelling is 
to be found nowhere else in nature, we should be in 
danger of imparting very incomplete notions, and of 
leaving the reader in a state of vagueness that could not 
but be regrettable. On the other hand, it will not be 
necessary to dwell at length on the proofs for the divine 
omnipresence, since all Catholics believe in it; we shall, 
however, insist on the way in which it is to be understood
in order to convey an exact idea of God's immensity,
and so to prepare the way for a clear understanding
of the special presence of God in the souls of the just. 

It is a dogma of faith, as well as a truth of reason, 
that God is everywhere — in heaven, on earth, in all 
things and in all places: that He is present in a very 
intimate manner in everything created. This truth is 
known to all, not only to the philosopher and theologian, 
but even to the little child whose intelligence is 
but awakening; it is one of the first lessons it receives 
at its mother's knee — one of the first truths it learns 
from any Christian teacher. 

This doctrine, which the simplest Christian holds at 
the beginning of his moral life, and which he continues 
to hold without always understanding its full bearing, 
nor suspecting what deep truths it expresses, was
preached long ago by the Apostle St. Paul, before the 
most illustrious audience in the world. He was addressing,
not an ignorant populace, but the official representatives
of human wisdom, the members of the Areopagus of Athens,
when, referring to the existence of God in every creature,
the Apostle exclaimed : "That they should seek God, if
haply they may feel after Him or find Him, although
He be not far from every one of us; for in Him we live,
and move, and are."  

Centuries before, the Psalmist had made this same 
divine omnipresence the theme of his song: "Behold, 
Lord, Thou hast known all things, the latest and 
those of old; Thou hast formed me, and hast laid Thy 
hand upon me. Thy knowledge has become wonderful 
to me; it is high, and I cannot reach to it. Whither 
shall I go from Thy spirit? or whither shall I fly from 
Thy face? If I ascend into heaven. Thou art there; if 
I descend into hell, Thou art present. If I take my 
wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost 
parts of the sea, even there also shall Thy hand lead 
me, and Thy right hand shall hold me."  

Finally, in order fully to convince us that we cannot 
escape His ever-vigilant eye, God Himself, using our 
weak human language, with infinite condescension, says 
to us through the mouth of His prophet : "Shall a man 
be hid in secret places, and I not see him, saith the 
Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?"  

It is not necessary to cite other testimonies in proof 
of a point of doctrine admitted by all who believe in the 
existence of an infinite Being, the Author of all things; 
yet, on account of its extreme importance, we should 
like to set down here the philosophical proof of the 
omnipresence of God, given by St. Thomas. God, he 
says, "is present in all things, not as part of their essence,
or as an accidental element, but as the active
principle is present to the thing on which it acts;
for it is essential that the efficient cause be united with 
the object upon which it exercises an immediate activity, 
and that it comes into contact with this object, if 
not bodily, then, at least, by the exercise of its power 
and energies." 

We may compare God's action with that of the sun. 
Although vastly distant from our planet, it still comes 
into contact with it through its rays, else how could it 
give light and heat to the earth? But God works in 
every created thing, not only through the medium of 
secondary causes as the sun acts upon the earth, but also 
in a direct and immediate way, by Himself bringing into 
existence and preserving in things that which is most 
intimate and deep-rooted in them, namely, their very 
being. For, as the characteristic effect of fire is to burn, 
so the characteristic effect of God, Who is Being itself, 
is to cause the being of creatures. "And so God is intimately 
present to all things as their efficient cause — as 
causing the being of all things."  

God, then, is not present to the world like the artisan 
or the artist; he is external to his work, and does not 
often touch it in a direct way, but rather through his 
instruments, or is present to his work when he produces it, 
but later on withdraws from it without endangering its existence. 
God is so intimately united to the works of His hands that if,
after calling a created thing into being. He should withdraw from it and cease 
to sustain it, it would immediately fall into the nothingness out of which it was made. 

And if you question the Angelic Doctor as to how 
God, an immaterial, unextended and indivisible substance,
can be present in all places, and in the inner 
depths of beings occupying material space, he will answer 
you with a comparison borrowed from nature and 
already employed by the Fathers, namely: He is present
in three ways: "By His power, by His presence, and by 
His essence. By His power, because all things are subject to 
His sovereign command: He is present everywhere 
like a king who, while residing in his palace, is 
by a fiction deemed present in all the parts of his kingdom 
where he exercises authority. By His presence, 
that is to say most intimately, because He knows all 
things and sees all things; and nothing, however hidden 
it may be, can escape His attention; all things are present 
to Him as objects are said to be in our presence, although
they may be situated at a slight distance from 
our person. Finally by His essence, for He is as really 
and in His very substance present to all created things 
as a monarch is present in person to the throne on 
which he is seated." 

The reason for this substantial presence of God in 
His creatures is that not one of them could dispense 
with the divine action preserving its existence and actuating
its operations; and since substance and action are 
not really distinct in God, it follows that "He is substantially — in His
actual reality — present wherever He 
works, I. e., in all things and in all places." 

In his commentary on Peter Lombard's first book of 
Sentences, St. Thomas explains this threefold presence 
in slightly different words. Not that it excludes the 
explanation we have just given, nor that it is in contradiction with it, 
but it brings out better the thought of 
the Angelic Doctor relative to the substantial presence 
of God in His capacity of efficient cause. Here are his 
words: "God is in created things by His presence, inasmuch
as He is there in action, for the worker must in 
some manner be present with his work; and, furthermore, 
because the Divine operation cannot be separated 
from the active force from which it flows, it must be 
held that God is present in all things by His power; 
finally, since the force or the power of God is identical 
with His essence, it follows that God is in all things by 
His essence." » These words are highly significant.
There are some theologians who explain the divine 
omnipresence by saying that God is present everywhere 
by His essence, because the divine substance, being 
infinite, fills the heavens and the earth. To them, the 
immensity of God is a property by which the divine 
essence is, so to speak, distributed ad infinitum in all 
existing and possible spaces; that is to say, God's omni- 
presence is the actual diffusion of the divine being, penetrating
all real things and places without blending with 
them. According to this opinion, the divine immensity 
might be compared to a sea without shores, capable of 
containing an infinite number of beings of every nature 
and dimension. Within this sea is a sponge which the 
waters interpenetrate and then flow over on all sides: a 
figure of this world, that God's immensity pervades and 
then flows over on all sides; with this difference, however, 
that God is wholly in the world and wholly in each 
of its parts, whereas each portion of the water of the sea 
occupies a distinct place. 

St. Augustine conceived a similar picture of the divine 
immensity in his early days before his conversion: "So 
also I thought of Thee, O God, O Life of my life," he 
says in his Confessions, "so also I thought of Thee, as 
stretched out through infinite spaces, interpenetrating 
the whole mass of the world, reaching out beyond in all 
directions to immensity without end, so that sea, sky, 
all things are full of Thee, limited in Thee, while Thou 
art not limited at all. As the body of the air above the 
earth does not bar the passage of the light of the sun,
but the light penetrates the air, not bursting or dividing 
it, but filling it — in the same way, I thought, the body of 
heaven, and air, and sea, and even of earth was all 
pervious to Thee, penetrable in all its parts great or 
small, so that it can admit the hidden interjection of 
Thy presence, which from within or from without 
orders all things that Thou hast created. This was my 
fancy, for I could shape no other; yet it was false. For 
in that way a greater part of the earth would contain a 
greater part of Thee, a less part a less. All things would 
be full of Thee in such a sense that there would be more 
of thee in the elephant than in the sparrow, inasmuch 
as one is larger than the other, and fills a wider space. 
And thus Thou wouldst unite Thy limbs piecemeal with 
the limbs of the world, the great with the great, the 
small with the small. This is not Thy nature, but as 
yet Thou hadst not lightened my darkness."  

Further on, speaking on the same subject, he adds: 
"I marshaled before the sight of my spirit all creation, 
all that we see, earth, and sea, and air, and stars, and 
trees, and animals; all that we do not see, the firmament 
of the sky above, and all angels, and all spiritual things; 
for these also, as if they were bodies, did my imagination 
arrange in this place or in that. I pictured to myself 
Thy creation as one vast mass, composed of various 
kinds of bodies, some real bodies, some those which I 
imagined in place of spirits. I pictured this mass as 
vast, not indeed in its true dimensions, for these I could 
not know, but as large as I chose to think, only finite on 
every side. And Thee, O Lord, I conceived as lapping it 
round and interpenetrating it everywhere, but as being 
infinite in every direction; as if there were sea everywhere, 
and everywhere through measureless space nothing 
but illimitable sea, and within this a sponge, huge, 
but yet finite; the sponge would be pervaded through all
its particles by the infinite sea. In this way, I pictured 
Thy finite creation, as filled with Thy infinity." 

After his conversion and accession to the episcopal 
see of Hippo, Augustine's language is entirely different: 
"When we say that God is everywhere we must withdraw 
from our mind every grossness of thought, and 
disengage ourselves from sensible images, lest we should 
imagine God as diffused everywhere, like some greatness 
spreading itself in space, as does the earth, the sea, 
the air or light; for all such things are less in one of 
their parts than in the whole; but we rather should 
conceive God's greatness as we think of great wisdom 
in a man who happens to be of small stature." 

The notion of the diffusion and expansion of God's 
being, was entirely disapproved by St. Augustine, and 
dealt with by him as a carnal conception to be rejected. 
The advocates of such a theory do not, it is true, fall 
into Augustine's error whilst he was a Manichean, of 
supposing that a greater part of the earth can contain 
a greater part of the divine substance; for they know 
and teach that a pure spirit being indivisible and without 
parts does not occupy space like earthly bodies, but 
can be wholly in the whole being and wholly in each and 
every part of that being. They do, however, seem to 
share the ideas of Augustine's pre-conversion days, but 
which he reformed later, in the general trend of their 
argument and in the manner in which they conceive of 
the divine ubiquity. 

Far more spiritual, and therefore much more in accordance
with the divine nature, is the notion of God's 
immensity given by St. Thomas. Instead of admitting, 
with the advocates of the theory we are now refuting, a 
kind of diffusion of the divine substance, so that God 
would still he in His most real substance present to 
created things scattered through space, even though by 
an impossibility His action exercised no influence upon 
them, the Angelic Doctor teaches that the formal reason 
of God's presence in all created things is none other than 
His infinite activity and operation, just as the reason of 
His immensity is His omnipotence. 

The Divine substance occupies no determined space, 
either great or small; it does not need space to display 
itself, and enters into no relation of proximity or remoteness 
with beings that exist in space. If we speak 
of a relation of the Divine substance with these beings, 
we mean only a relation of power and operation; i. e., 
God is intimately present to all things because He produces 
and preserves the being of all things: "God is not 
determined to space great or small by the necessity of 
His essence, as if He need be present in any place, since 
He is from all eternity before all place; but by the im- 
mensity of His power He reaches into all things which 
are in place, because He is the universal cause of being, 
Thus He is wholly wheresoever He is, because by His 
simple power He reaches into all things." If then God 
is present in all places and in all creatures, it is because 
no actual space and no created being can escape His 
direct and immediate influence, for His power, and consequently
His substance, reaches out to them all. 
Theologians, as we have seen, often explain God's omnipresence 
by saying that He is present everywhere because of His immensity. 
St. Thomas uses a different term. According to him, 
God is present everywhere in the capacity of efficient cause,
per modum causae. Such an expression is profound and full of meaning,
for it banishes from the mind any idea of a diffusion or expansion
of the Divine substance, at the same time marking out the Divine operation
as the basis of the relations existing between God and His creatures.
Yet the expression was not a new one, and St. Thomas is not giving 
a purely personal opinion; here as ever he shows himself to be the
faithful echo of tradition. 

And, as we have already noticed, St. Augustine declared 
that God was in the world as the efficient cause 
of the world, "as the presence of the One by Whom the 
world was created; as the artisan is present to the work 
he handles." If, therefore, God fills the heavens and 
the earth, it is by the presence and exercise of His power 
and not by the necessity of His nature," for God's 
greatness is one of power and not of bulk. St. 
Thomas seems manifestly to have taken his inspiration 
from these different passages. 

St. Fulgentius, a disciple of St. Augustine, speaks in 
much the same terms as his master. Likewise, St. 
Gregory of Nyssa. 

That the basis for the presence of God by very substance 
in all created things is the divine activity, can be 
clearly seen from all these passages, and from many 
others we could easily adduce. An earthly body is 
present in the place it occupies neither by its action nor 
even directly by its substance, but by its dimensions, by 
the contact of its parts with the parts of the body surrounding 
and containing it; since, therefore, it is quantity 
that gives parts and dimensions to a body and enables 
it to come into contact with another body and to 
occupy a determined part of space, such or such a body 
is, properly speaking, present in space by its quantity:
per quantitatem dimensivam. 

Far different is the way in which a spirit is present 
in space. As it is a simple, that is to say, an indivisible 
substance and without parts, it cannot of itself occupy 
any space, either great or small, and does not need space 
to display itself. If, however, a spirit wishes to enter 
into relation with a place or with the things present in 
that place, it can do so by the exercise of its activities 
and its energies. Hence the proposition, looked upon as 
an axiom by all Scholastics : spirits are present in space 
by contact of power — per contactum virtutis. 

What, therefore, quantity is to bodies — i. e., a property 
distinct from their substance and extending it 
through space — active power is to spirits, which it 
places in contact with space and the things situated in 
space.2 

This is why St. Thomas, when asking the question 
whether ubiquity is a property becoming God from all 
eternity, utrum esse ubique conveniat Deo ab aeterno, 
instead of answering, like some theologians, that God 
is not, of course, present from all eternity to things 
which did not as yet exist, but that His substance is, 
nevertheless, really and eternally present in the spaces 
which the different created beings are to occupy in time, 
answers "that the Divinity is present only temporarily 
in created things according as by His creative act He is 
present by His power during their temporary existence." 

And if you question the Fathers as to where God was 
before the creation of the world, instead of answering 
that He was in these incommensurable spaces occupied 
by the present universe, spaces which thousands of
other worlds far greater than ours could not fill, they 
will answer you differently, saying through the mouth 
of St. Bernard: "We need not trouble to ask where He 
was, for besides Him nothing existed, and He was then 
in Himself alone."  

Hence, to summarize, in the mind of St. Thomas and 
the Fathers of the Church, the basic reason, the true 
ground, the definitive "why" of the presence of God in 
creatures is the divine operation, formally immanent, 
since it neither issues forth from, nor is even distinct 
from, the principle whence it emanates, yet producing 
outward created effects and, therefore, called "virtually 
transitive," virtualiter transiens.~excerpted from THE INDWELLING
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE SOULS OF THE JUST ACCORDING TO THE TEACHING OF ST THOMAS AQUINAS.

Month of Mary, Day 7: Mary a Foreshadowning of Christ

Dim Bulb — Thu, 07 May 2009 09:16:14 +0000

Art and nature alike produce their works gradually, and God Himself does the same. The pencil precedes the brush; the architect’s design maps out the building to come:-there is no chef d’ oeuvre accomplished in the world but goes through its preliminary stages; whilst nature, in the development of her designs, often tries her ‘prentice hand in ways that seem almost like play.

The work in which our Maker most remarkably follows the same plan is that the Incarnation, for the sake of which He declared that He would “move the heaven and earth” (Haggai 2:7):-this being His One Work above all others. Although its fulfillment was not to be till “the middle of years” Hab 3:2), He nevertheless began it from the beginning of the world. The natural and the written Law-ceremonies and sacrifices-priesthood and prophets-were all, speaking reverently, merely sketches or outlines of the “perfect Man, Christ Jesus”. They are called by an ancient writer Christi rudimenta; and the grand work itself was reached only through a succession of images and figures that served as preparatory designs. But when the time comes close for the Mystery, God plans something yet more excellent than these:-He forms the blessed Mary, that He may represent Jesus Christ to us more naturally than before. He is about to send Him on earth, and so combines all His most beautiful characteristics in the person of her who is to be His mother.

Tertullian, contemplating and discussing the marvelous interest that God displayed in the act of forming man from “the slime of the earth,” seeks for some explanation of the immense pains that He bestowed on the work. He declares himself unable to believe that he put forth so much power, to mould so base a material, without some further great end in view: and this end, he finally concludes, is nothing less than Jesus Christ, Who is to be born of the race of man, and Whom God, therefore, chooses to typify to us by His manner of forming the first members of that race. Quodcumque limus exprimebatur, Christus cogitabatur homo futurus.

If this idea is true:-if God, when He created the first Adam, meant to trace out the second; if He formed our first father so carefully with Jesus our Savior in view, and because His Divine Son was to spring from him after many generations:-surely today, when we see Mary-who was to bear Christ within her womb-come into the world, we may conclude that in creating her God was thinking of our Lord and working for Him alone? Hence there is no cause for surprise either in His having formed her so carefully or in His endowing her with so many graces as he did: for to make her worthy of His Son He models her upon that Son Himself. Intending soon to bestow on us His Word Incarnate, on the day of Mary’s nativity He gives us an outline-I might almost say a beginning-of Jesus Christ, in one who, though a creature, is in some sort a living expression of His own perfections. Thus we may truly apply to such a day the Apostle’s beautiful words: “The night has passed and the day is at hand.”

The Redeemer of mankind, besides being in Himself an inexhaustible Font of Love, must necessarily possess the two qualities of exemption from sin and fullness of Grace. He must be innocent to purify us from our crimes, and full of grace to enrich our poverty; for these qualities are inseparable from the character and office of the Savior. When God formed the Blessed Virgin on the pattern of the Sun of Justice, some of the rays by which He was to dispel our darkness were permitted to shine forth in her, though only in a degree that faintly foreshadowed the brilliant light they were to shed over the world when they should stream in their fullness from Jesus Christ Himself; and hence it came that she was endowed with the very qualities that were to form an intrinsic part of her Divine Son’s human nature, especially with these two of innocence and fullness of grace. We are here to consider shortly both the cause and the manner of Mary’s likeness to her Son in these particular points:-and, first, the special relation of her innocence to His.

Continue at page 42, first full paragraph: “In the whole teaching of the Gospels…“

Month of Mary, Day 6: Dante’s Prayer

Dim Bulb — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:19:44 +0000

Besides this post I had hoped to post a brief history of the doctrine of the Logos prior to the Arian heresy, but this is impossible due to illness. What follows is taken from the Divine Comedy and is a prayer the great Florentine poet put on the lips of St Bernard.

Maiden and Mother, daughter of thine own Son,
Beyond all Creatures lowly and lifted high,
Of the Eternal Design the corner-stone!

Thou art she who did man’s substance glorify
So that its own Maker did not eschew
Even to be made of mortality.

Within thy womb the Love was kindeld new
By generation of whose warmth supreme
This flower to bloom in peace eternal grew.

Here thou to us art the full noonday beam
Of love revealed: below, to mortal sight,
Hope, that forever springs in living stream.

Lady, thou art so great and hast such might
That whoso grave grace, nor to thee repair,
Their longing even without wing seeketh flight.

Thy charity doth not only him up-bear
Who prays, but in thy bounty’s large excess
Thou oftentimes dost even forerun the prayer.

In thee is pity, in thee tenderness,
In thee magnificence, in thee the sum
Of all that in creation most can bless.

Update: I took a few hours sleep and am feeling better (not that anyone amnong my not-so-multitudinous readers had the decency to ask;-!)

May With Mary, Day 4: Witness of A Heretic

Dim Bulb — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:10:37 +0000

“If I have been slanderously reputed of wishing to rob the Virgin Mary of her honor; then I say that all statements that have been imputed to me, such as that Mary had other sons besides Jesus Christ, and other such un-Christian, impious, yes, maliciously contrived staements, have been imputed to me unjustly”~Heinrich Zwingli, Hauptschriften 2, 35 ff.

Month of Mary, Day 3: The Church Fathers on Mary’s Office and Dignity as the Mother of God

Dim Bulb — Sun, 03 May 2009 09:49:20 +0000

THOSE who have only read the Fathers of the Church in the brief extracts from their works, which are so often cited, can have no idea of the amplitude and magnificence with which they extol the praises of the Mother of God. I propose, therefore, in this chapter, to give more satisfactory examples of the mode in which they speak of her. St Proclus was a disciple of St Chrysostom, and is highly commended by St Cyril, as well for his learning and piety as for his accurate observance of the discipline of the Church. In the year 429, on a feast of the blessed Virgin, in the great church of Constantinople, he preached a discourse on the Mother of God, which was received with great applause by the people. Nestorius was present, and unable to endure so much truth, he rose up and burst out with a reply. The discourse was afterwards placed at the beginning of the Acts of the Council of Ephesus. I propose to give the first part of it. St Proclus begins :” The Virgin s festival incites our tongue today to herald her praise. And well may this solemnity be considered fruitful to the assembled faithful. For we celebrate her, who is the argument of chastity and the glory of her sex ; her who is at once Mother and Virgin. Lovely and wonderful is this union. . . . Let nature rejoice, and mankind exult, for women have also received their honour. Let men show their delight, that virgins are held in esteem. For, where sin abounded there grace has superabounded. For now the holy Mary, Virgin, Mother of God, brings us together. That undefiled treasury of virginity ; that spiritual paradise of the second Adam ; that laboratory of the union of natures ; that mart of the commerce of salvation ; that bridal chamber in which the Word espoused flesh unto Himself; that animated bush of nature, which the fire of the divine birth consumed not ; truly the bright cloud, which bore Him bodily who sits upon the Cherubim ; the most clean fleece of the celestial shower, with which the Shepherd put on the condition of the sheep. Mary, I say, handmaid and Mother, Virgin and heaven ; the only bridge of God to men ; the awful loom of the Incarnation, in which, by some unspeakable way, the garment of that union was woven, whereof the weaver is the Holy Ghost ; and the spinner, the overshadowing from on high ; the wool, the ancient fleece of Adam ; the woof, the undefiled flesh from the Virgin ; the weaver s shuttle, the immense grace of Him who brought it about ; the artificer, the Word gliding through the hearing. Who ever saw, who ever heard how God dwelt in the womb, yet suffered no limitation r And now, Him whom the heavens do not contain, the Virgin s womb did nothing straiten. He is born of woman, not God only, nor merely man ; and by His birth He made woman the gate of salvation, who before had been the gate of sin. For where the serpent entered through the way of disobedience, and shed his poison, there the Word, through the way of obedience, entered, and built a living temple for Himself. From whence Cain, the firstborn of sin, came forth, thence, without man s concurrence, came Christ, the Redeemer of our race. It shamed not the loving God to be born of woman, for it was life He was building up. He contracted no stain from His lodging in that womb which He had formed without any dishonour. For except His Mother had remained a virgin, the offspring would be but man, and the mystery of the birth would be lost. And if after bearing she remained a virgin, how shall He not be also God, and a mystery which is unutterable ? He is born of no corruption, who went forth unhindered through the closed doors. And when Thomas saw His conjoined natures, he cried out and said : ” My Lord and my God.” * Think not, O man, that this is a birth to be ashamed of, since it was made the cause of our salvation. For if He had not been born of woman, He had not died ; and if, in the flesh, He had not died, neither would He have destroyed him through death, ” who had the empire of death, that is, the devil.” t By no means was the architect dishonoured, for He dwelt in the house which He Himself had built. Nor did the clay soil the potter in refashioning the vessel He had moulded. Nor did aught from the Virgin s womb defile the most pure God. For as He received no stain in forming it, so He received none in proceeding from it. O womb, in which the general decree of man s freedom was written. O womb, in which the arms against the devil were forged. O field, in which the divine husbandman grew wheat without sowing. O temple, in which God was made a priest, not changing His nature, but, through mercy clothing Himself as the priest according to the order of Melchisedec. ” The Word was made flesh,” though the Jews believed not our Lord when He said it. Truly God took the form of man, though the Gentiles deride the miracle. Wherefore St Paul exclaimed, ” To the Jews a scandal and to the Gentiles foolishness: They know not the force of the mystery, because it passes their reason and comprehension. For ” if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of Glory. But if the Word had not dwelt in the womb, neither would flesh have been seated on the holy throne.” This commencement forms part of one of six discourses delivered by St Proclus on the blessed Virgin.~excerpted from chapter 2 of THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE MOTHER OF GOD, by Bishop William Bernard Ullathorne. The rest of the chapter can be read HERE on page 16, at the paragraph which begins: “Basil, Archbishop of Seleucia…”

Month of Mary, Day 2: On The Immaculate Conception

Dim Bulb — Sat, 02 May 2009 09:34:45 +0000

LETTERS APOSTOLIC OF OUR MOST HOLY FATHER PIUS IX., BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE POPE, CONCERNING THE DOGMATIC DEFINITION OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD.

Pius, Bishop of the servants of God.

for a perpetual remembrance.

God who is ineffable, whose ways are mercy and truth, whose will is omnipotence, and whose wisdom reaches powerfully from end to end, and sweetly disposes all things, when he foresaw from all eternity the most sorrowful ruin of the entire human race to follow from the transgression of Adam, and in a mystery hidden from ages determined to complete, through the Incarnation of the Word, in a more hidden sacrament, the first work of His goodness; so that man, led into sin by the craft of diabolical iniquity, should not perish contrary to His merciful design; and that what was about to befall in the first Adam should be restored more happily in the Second;-from the beginning and before the ages chose and ordained a Mother for His only begotten Son, of whom made flesh, He should be born in the blessed plenitude of time, and He loved Her above all other creatures, that in Her alone He pleased Himself with a most benign complacency. Wherefore, far before all the Angelic Spirits and all the Saints, he so wonderfully endowed Her with the abundance of all the heavenly gifts drawn from the treasure of divinity, that She might be ever free from every stain of sin, and all fair and perfect, and might possess that pleitude of innocence and holiness than which, under God, none is greater, and which, except God, no one can reach even in thought. And indeed it was most becoming that She should be always adorned with the splendor of the most perfect holiness, and free even from the very stain of original sin, should gain a most complete triumph over the ancient serpent,-the Mother so venerable, to whom God the Father gave his only God the Father, and of the Virgin, and whom the Son Himself chose to make substantially His Mother, and from whom the Holy Ghost willed and operated that He should be conceived and born from whom He himself proceeds. Continue reading: “Which original innocence…“