3 Holy Week Meditations with the Painter Giotto

Giotto di Bondone was one of the most important painters in history. He was at the forefront of what would be called the Renaissance in painting, bringing a far greater degree of realism to religious art. This realism allowed people to "see" the events of Christ's life in a whole new way, a way which imprinted the reality of these events to a greater degree than before possible. You can think of these paintings as to the Thirteenth Century what The Passion of the Christ is to us today - a jolting visual reminder of the events that opened the doors for our salvation. In fact, Giotto's masterpieces maintain their power to inspire meditation even for us today.

What better way, then, to enter into Holy Week than to take some time, reflect on the Biblical Word and enter into these events with the great Giotto?

Feel free to share these images on social media.

1. Betrayal

2. Crucifixion

3. Lamentation

A Couple Favorite Giotto Stories

These are from Giorgio Vasari's The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects:

(W)hen Giotto was still a young man with Cimabue (his teacher), he once painted upon the nose of a figure that Cimabue had completed a fly which looked so natural that when his master returned to continue the work, he tried more than once to drive the fly away with his hand, convinced that it was real. (p. 35)

As Giotto's fame grew he received commissions from great patrons, including Pope Benedict IX, who was looking to have several paintings done for St. Peter's. When the Pope's courtiers traveled to Florence to get a sample from Giotto of his work...

Giotto... took a sheet of paper and a brush dipped in red, pressed his arm to his side to make a compass of it, and with a turn of his hand made a circle so even in shape and outline that it was a marvel to behold. (p. 22)

Not only did this get Giotto the job, it also gave rise to a proverb in Tuscany that was still current two centuries later when Vasari was writing,

'You are rounder than Giotto's O.' This proverb may be considered delightful, not only for the incident which gave rise to it but even more so because of its meaning, which involves the ambiguity the word 'tondo' takes on it Tuscany, where it refers not only to a perfect circular figure but also to dullness and crudeness of wit. (p. 23)

And to showcase Giotto's legendary wit, let this story from his time in the Kingdom of Naples suffice,

On another occasion, the king said to him: 'Giotto, now that it is so hot, I would put aside my painting for a while if I were you.' And Giotto answered, 'I certainly would too, if I were you.' (p. 27)

If all that isn't enough to make you love Giotto, he was also responsible for this, the campanile (bell tower) of Florence's Cathedral, which I've had the immense pleasure of climbing...

Have a blessed Holy Week and remember to always keep this in mind...

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Do Catholics Worship Statues? 5 Step Refutation

Catholics worship statues. 

Raise your hand if you’ve encountered that statement. 

That’s a lot of hands. 

I’ve ran into this “argument” against Catholicism quite a few times over the years (one of the side-effects of being a Catholic blogger, I suppose) and, wouldn’t you know it, I met it again yesterday.
What brought it on this time? A simple posting of a detail from Raphael’s Transfiguration, showing Christ rising in dazzling white robes into the air from the top of Mount Tabor with the words “This is my Son; listen to Him” from Luke 9:35, words which were ringing in my ears from that week’s Gospel reading. 

1. The Charge: You Catholics Clearly Break God’s Law

While most people enjoyed the meme, one fellow disapprovingly left “Ex. 20:4” in comments....

Read the rest over at Catholic365.com

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Encountering Jesus in Beauty. A Reflection on the Sistine Chapel.

We've discussed the argument for the existence of God from beauty a couple times here on the blog:

• Bach's Music Exists, ergo Atheism is False
• What to Make of Atheists who Reject the Argument from Beauty

It should, then, come as little surprise to long time readers that my own conversion to Catholicism was influenced by beauty. Truth may have been the primary factor in my conversion, but the other two transcendentals (beauty and goodness) each had their own, significant, role to play.

I go into a bit of detail on how beauty shaped my journey towards truth over at Catholic365, in my latest:

Michelangelo and Metanoia. A Personal Reflection on the Sistine Chapel.

That's an odd moment when I'm feeling more like St. Augustine than St. Thomas Aquinas at my desk, but Rome (and beauty) can do that to a blogger!

Here I'd like to elaborate a bit more on why I think my experience in the Sistine Chapel, my experience with beauty, was so profound.

If I had to sum it up in a single word it would be "encounter."

Reading the Scriptures, one can't help but notice the power of the first encounter with Christ. When St. Peter first meets Jesus he receives the command, "put out into the deep (Lk 5:4)." Peter cooperates and is forever altered. The disciples on the road to Emmaus, depressed over the death of Jesus, encounter the Risen One and cry out to one another "where not our hearts burning within us (Lk 24:32)." Saul, on the road to Damascus, meets Jesus and goes from being the most fervent anti-Christian persecutor to become the Apostle to the Gentiles. Encounter. Transformation. It is always the same story. Archbishop Fulton Sheen once noted, when reflecting on the Christmas narrative, that of course the Wise Men returned home "by another way (Matt 2:12)" for "no one who ever meets Christ with a good will returns the same way as he came. (Magi and the Slaughter of the Innocents)"

That encounter is what our great Catholic Faith is all about. It isn't about rules. It is about a relationship - a relationship with the God who becomes a man so that we might encounter Him. So that we, so that you and I, might meet Him. That is what everything in our Holy Catholic Faith is all about. Nothing in our religion, the prescriptions, the rituals, the morality - none of it makes sense apart from meeting the man Christ Jesus. That is why the original proclamation wasn't morality, wasn't even (despite what some liberal Christians might wish to think) "be kind" but rather was "He is Risen" (i.e. you can meet this man!).

Dr. Peter Kreeft has said he personally has known several people who were converted by beauty, who were converted by listening to Bach's St. Matthew Passion. Such beauty, they realized, simply wasn't compatible with a meaningless, atheistic, materialistic worldview. Dr. Kreeft, in his Letters to an Atheist explains that these moments are

"signals of transcendence," fingers pointing beyond themselves towards exits from the cave (i.e. this world).... It's not just sentimentalism; it's an intellectual intuition: the music we have in our soul just has to match the music outside our soul. There has to be more. Not that it's not a great cave. But there has to be more. We see this with most conviction not when we are poor and in pain, when the cave is the smallest and darkest and most uncomfortable. It's precisely at those moments when we feel the cave's greatness the most, when we are most open to the charms and beauties of our physical and emotional universe, that we feel this "divine discontent," this "lover's  quarrel with the world."

My Sistine experience was quite a bit subtler. I wasn't converted (I'm too much a philosopher for that I suppose. I needed arguments to finish the job), but my soul had been enriched by Michelangelo's masterpiece. No longer was I one type or another of "bad soil" described by Christ in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20 and Luke 8:4-15). I would, slowly, be prepared to receive the Gospel years later by this first encounter.

C.S. Lewis, himself a covert to Christianity, in his book Miracles masterfully captures the feeling - and the resistance - to this encounter and why we often prefer something less "personal" than the "living God,"

"Men are reluctant to pass over from the notion of an abstract and negative deity to the living God. I do not wonder. Here lies the deepest taproot of Pantheism and of the objection to traditional imagery. It was hated not, at bottom, because it pictured Him as a man but because it pictured Him as a king, or even as a warrior. The Pantheist’s God does nothing, demands nothing. He is there if you wish for Him, like a book on a shelf. He will not pursue you. There is no danger that at anytime Heaven and Earth should flee away at His glance. If He were the truth, then we could really say that all the Christian images of kingship were a historical accident of which our religion ought to be purged. It is with a shock that we discover them to be indispensable. You have had a shock like that before, in connection with smaller matters – when the line pulls at your hand, when something breathes beside you in the darkness. So here; the shock comes at the precise moment when the thrill of life is communicated to us along the clue we have been following. It is always shocking to meet life where we thought we were alone. “Look out!” we cry, “it’s alive!” And therefore this is the very point at which so many draw back – I would have done so myself if I could – and proceed no further with Christianity. An “impersonal God” – well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads – better still. A formless life force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap – best of all. But God Himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at an infinite speed, the hunter, king, husband – that is quite another matter. There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall? There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion (“Man’s search for God”!) suddenly draw back. Supposing we found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us? So it is a sort of Rubicon. One goes across; or not. But if one does, there is no manner of security against miracles. One may be in for anything.

That is what happened to me in Rome, in the Sistine.

For more check out my latest at Catholic365: Michelangelo and Metanoia. A Personal Reflection on the Sistine Chapel. 

And, if you want to learn more about the Pope's Chapel, I suggest you take a few moments to watch a fantastic TED talk which has been making the rounds on the Catholic blogosphere:



If you really enjoyed Ms. Lev's talk, you can head to Rome with Catholic apologist Steve Ray and have a tour of the Sistine from Ms. Lev.

You will go with my seething envy, but don't let that stop you! Mr. Ray is a top-notch apologist and, from what I've read, an excellent pilgrimage guide.

If you can, head to Roma. Allow yourself, like the pilgrims of old, to deepen your love for the One, Holy Faith at tombs of Peter and Paul and in the Sistine. You won't regret it.

Pax et bonum.

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4 Reasons Every Christian Should Pray to the Saints

November, for the Catholic Church, is a time to especially reflect upon our relationship with those who have "run the race" (cf. 2 Tim 4:7) before us. Whether that be the Church Suffering, those being prepared for Heavenly glory by being purified after their deaths of all desire for sin, or the Church Triumphant, those already experiencing the ultimate joy of human existence - the beatific vision, we are called to turn our minds toward those who's time has come and gone. In that spirit, I wanted to address some common concerns I've heard Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christian express over the Catholic practice of asking the saints for their prayers. Here are four good reason to start praying to the saints.

Reason 1 - The Saints Are Alive Not Dead.

Do We Look Dead?

One common concern raised by non-Catholic (potential Catholic!) Christians, that in praying to those Christians that have gone before us we are breaking God's command to not commune with the dead (cf. Deut. 18:11). Which leads us to ask, are the saved dead?

Our non-Catholic friends might be surprised to hear the Bible tell them, 

"you are wrong, because you know neither scriptures nor the power of God... have you not read what was said to you by God, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God  of Jacob?' He is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Matt 22:29-32)

Asking for their prayers, then, is not communing with the dead. Allow me to repeat that - the saved are not dead - they are more alive than we are. 

To further make this point, when Jesus appears in His glory on the Mount of the Transfiguration He is speaking to two "dead" people, Moses and Elijah (cf. Matt 17:3). This clearly demonstrates the true heavenly reality, one in which the saved are interacting with God on behalf of the Church.


But it is not just of the Old Testament patriarchs and prophets who are not "dead." Jesus, as always, shows a greater reality is present under the New Covenant than was ever dreamed of under the Old. In fact, Jesus refutes the non-Catholic's position in one of their favorite Bible verses to quote, John 3:16.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Claiming that the saved are dead, thus fall under the prohibition in Deuteronomy, is calling Jesus a liar - it's saying no, those who believe in you will perish. As Jesus doesn't just tell the truth, but is the truth, I think I'll side with Him over his evangelical and Protestant followers on this one.

That the saints are alive and praying for those of us on Earth is witnessed by St. John in the Apocalypse.

the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints (5:8)

And

When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, voices, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. (Rev 8:1-5) 

Thus the prayers of the saints have (quite dramatic) effects upon the Earth, upon those Christians still living.

Reason 2 - We are Meant to Pray for Each Other
But, someone will object citing 1 Timothy 2:5, Jesus is the only mediator between God and man. Even if the saints are alive, we still shouldn't ask them to pray for us. When this verse is brought up, I can only say, you’re 100% right that Jesus is a unique mediator between God and man, but He allows us to pray for each other through His mediation. Don’t you ever ask your pastor or your mother or a friend to pray for you? It is no different with the saints. They pray for us just as our friends on Earth do. You quote 1 Timothy 2:5, if you would read the first five verses of the same chapter you’d see that we are not only able to pray for each other, but the Bible commands us to! 

“1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. 3 This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:1-6).

St. Paul isn't contradicting himself here. He isn't saying, in verses 1-4, to pray for others and then saying all such prayers are pointless because only Jesus can mediate between God and man. Rather Ouhe is showing us how our prayers can be effective. Out puny prayers work, not in opposition to, but because of the unique mediation of Jesus Christ. My prayer for you (or Our Lady's prayer for me) works because it participates in Jesus' mediation.

The Bible, then, tells us not to only pray to Jesus, but to pray for each other - which includes asking each other for prayers. As the saved are still alive, we can ask not only our pastor or our best friend to pray for us, but also St. Paul himself! Praying to those saved in Jesus, then, is a powerful way to extend our "church prayer list" to Heaven itself!

Prayer is a Work of Mercy

Reason 3 - The Prayers of the Saints are More Powerful than Ours
Still some might object that asking for the prayers to those in Eternal Life is pointless, why not just ask those we know in this life to pray for us? The answer is simple, their prayers are more powerful than ours.

We learn in James 5:16 that

The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.

And, in Revelation 21:27, we learn

nothing unclean shall enter it (Heaven), nor any one who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Thus those who have entered Heaven are righteous, which means their prayers have "great power." Those of us here on Earth on the other hand

have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23)

making our prayers less powerful. I don't know about you, but I'll take the more powerful prayers of the saved please. If that wasn't enough, the saints can pray for us non-stop (they don't have to go to work or go to sleep) making them the ultimate resource for prayer. Do we have to take advantage of these powerful prayers? Do we have to be friends with the saved? No, but why wouldn't we want to be?

He Wants to Help You!

Reason 4 - The Saints Want to Pray for Us
But would the saints even want to pray for us, some might ask. Would they care about people they never met, who live centuries (even millennia) after they've passed into the next life? The Bible tells us they absolutely would. As we saw above, nothing unclean can enter Heaven - the saints have been purified of the self-love and pride that brings sin into our world. They thus can, and do, follow God's commandments perfectly (there is no sin in Heaven). Following God's commands includes following the greatest commandments,

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?”  Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mk 12:28-31)

The saints love us. They will our good, including our greatest good - salvation. They are able to pray for us, their prayers are powerful, and they want to pray for us, the only thing lacking is our willingness to want them to pray for us.

A Question for Non-Catholic Christians

Which leaves me asking a question to our "separated brothers,"

1. The Bible says we are to pray for each other (1 Tim 2: 1-6)

2. The Bible says the saved are still alive (Jn 3:16)

3. The Bible shows the saved before the throne of God offering prayers for those still on Earth (Rev 8-1:5)

4 The Bible shows the saved speak to Jesus (see the Transfiguration, Matt 17 where Moses and Elijah speak to Jesus)

5 The Bible says the union of those who believe is so strong that we are one body (1 Cor 10:17)

All of which shows that there is no division in Christ - that those who are in Christ on Earth are still connected with (in communion with) those who have already gone on to meet their reward. 

My question then - where does the Bible say that those who are in Eternal Life can’t pray for us? 

Or think of it like this. If you were to die in Christ tonight, would you stop wanting to ask Jesus to help your loved ones? I wouldn’t. Seeing Jesus face to face would only make me want to pray more for those I love - especially those who don’t believe. Why would the saints be any different? Why not make use of their powerful prayers - it might just change your life. And remember, asking a saint for their prayers is not something we do "instead of praying to Jesus" anymore than asking your mom to pray for you is. We ought to seek the prayers of others, pray for others ourselves, and pray to Jesus for our own intentions and needs. It's "both/and" not "either/or."

A Saint of Joy Amidst Suffering. A Book Review

What’s the first image that pops into your mind when someone mentions “the saints?”

Perhaps you think of the Twelve Apostles traveling the back roads of first century Judea with Our Lord. Or do you conjure up images of the early martyrs being eaten by lions for refusing to offer a pinch of incense before a statue of Caesar? Or perhaps you think of the Church Fathers like St. Augustine of Hippo or St. Athanasius standing firm for orthodoxy even as the world around them seems bent on embracing error and heresy. Or do the great Medieval theologians, like Thomas Aquinas or Francis of Assisi shaping Christendom with their intellect and love for poverty come first to mind?

All these, of course, are great examples of the holiness God calls all men to, but what about a saint who lived and breathed in our own twenty-first century?

That might be just what we witnessed in the life of the young Italian woman Chiara Corbella Petrillo, whose brief life has been an inspiration to many, especially as told by her close friends in Chiara Corbella Petrillo.

Chiara’s heart wrenching story, taking us through her marriage to Enrico (who authors a moving preface to the book), through her pregnancies which saw her children born with life threatening defects to such a degree that abortion was seen as the normal course of action to be taken. Chiara, however, strengthen by her Catholic Faith, embraced these troubles - risking even her own life when she decided to delay chemotherapy when she learned that she had cancer during her second pregnancy - and found at the bottom of them all - joy.

Her story is stunning. The amount of physical and emotional pain Chiara suffered in her brief 28 years is more than most will be forced to deal with in a lifetime and yet her experience of these sorrows is best summed up by her response to her husband’s question as to whether the yoke of Christ is sweet after all,  “Yes, Enrico, it is very sweet.” Thus answers a saint. 

If you need a good Christmas read to motivate you to take stock of your own relationship with Christ, especially in the rough patches we all face in this vale of tears, you ought to check out this inspiring story.

The Three Advents of Christ in Dante

This Advent we've been looking at the traditional Three Advents, or comings, of Christ. First, in a general way, then sitting at the feet of the great Bernard of Clairvaux. Today, let's see what the greatest Christian poet, Dante Alighieri, can tell us about these comings by looking at his greatest work, The Divine Comedy, in which all three Advents are symbolically present.

First Advent of Christ - The Incarnation
In Canto IX of the Inferno (wherein Dante travels through Hell) we read how he and Virgil (Dante's guide) are barred from passing into the Infernal City of Dis (the deepest part of the Netherworld). Dante's trip has been ordained by Divine Providence and his passage cannot be stopped by Satan. To open the doors to the doleful city an angel suddenly appears amidst the terrors of Hell (just like Christ appeared amongst a sinful world). This mirrors the culmination of the First Advent of Christ - The Harrowing of Hell, when Christ "preached to those spirits that were in prison" (1 Peter 3:19)

and then, above the filthy swell, approaching,

a blast of sound, shot through with fear, exploded,

making both shores of Hell begin to tremble;

it sounded like one of those violent winds,

born from the clash of counter-temperatures,

that tear through forests; raging on unchecked...

As frogs before their enemy, the snake,

all scatter through the pond and then dive down

until each one is squatting on the bottom,

so I saw more than a thousand fear-shocked souls

in flight, clearing the path of one who came

walking on the Styx, his feet dry on the water.

From time to time with his left hand he fanned

his face too push the putrid air away,

and this was all that seemed to weary him.

I was certain now that he was sent from Heaven.

I turned to my guide, but he made me a sign

to keep my silence and bow low to this one.

Ah the scorn that filled his holy presence!

He reached the gate and touched it with a wand;

it opened without resistance from inside.

"O Heaven's outcasts, despicable souls,"

he started, standing on the dreadful threshold,

"what insolence is this that breeds in you?"

Second Advent of Christ - Conversion
In Canto VIII of the Purgatorio we see the Second Advent of Christ. Here Dante is traveling through the valley of the Princes in the anti-purgatory (the area just outside of Purgatory proper) when, just as night is about to fall, Dante learns that a serpent (symbol of the devil) comes into the valley each night to tempt the departed. Of course, the souls in purgatory are beyond the reach of Satan, so two angels appear to protect the holy souls from his reach. This mirrors the daily coming of Christ into the hearts of believers, giving them the grace to stay away from sin and the grasp of the prince of this world.

and then I saw descending from on high
two angels with two flaming swords, and these
were broken short and blunted at the end.

Their garments, green as tender new-born leaves
unfurling, billowed out behind each one,
fanned by the greenness of their streaming wings...

"From Mary's bosom both of them descend
to guard us from the serpent in the vale,"
Sordello said. "He'll soon be here, you'll see."...

"But then Sordello clutched his arm and said:
"Behold our adversary over there!" -
he pointed to the place where we should look...

I did not see, so I cannot describe,
how the two holy falcons took to flight,
but I saw clearly both of them fly down.

Hearing those green wings cutting through the air,
the serpent fled, the angels wheeled around,
flying in perfect time back to their posts. 

 

Third Advent of Christ - Final Judgement 
In Canto XXX of the Purgatorio, Dante is met by his beloved Beatrice who sternly judges him for his past sins before allowing him to move forward with her into Paradiso, into Heaven. Here we see the final of the Triplex Adventus, the Triple Advent of Christ, where Christ comes in glory to judge the living and the dead.

then, one of them, as sent from Heaven, sang
Veni, sponsa, de Libano, three times,
and all the other voices followed his.

As at the Final Summons all the blest
will rise out of their graves, ready to raise
new-bodied voices singing 'Hallelujah!'

just so rose up above the heavenly cart
a hundred spirits ad vocem tanti senis,
eternal heralds, ministers of God,

all shouting: Benedictus qui venis! then,
tossing a rain of flowers in the air,
Manibus, O date lilia plenis!...

I sensed the regal sternness of her face,
as she continued in the tone of one
who saves the sharpest words until the end:

"Yes look at me! Yes, I am Beatrice!
So, you at last have deigned to climb the mount?
You learned at last that here lies human bliss?"

I lowered my head and looked down at the stream,
but, filled with shame at my reflection there,
I quickly fixed my eyes upon the grass.

I was the guilty child facing his mother,
abject before her harshness: harsh, indeed,
is unripe pity not yet merciful. 

What do you think? How does reflecting on this sublime poetry from the height of Christendom help deeper your devotion to the Advents of Christ?

The Three Advents of Christ in Saint Bernard

Last Week, we looked at the Three Advents of a Christ, today let's take a moment to listen to what a great saint and Doctor of the Church has to say on the subject - here is St. Bernard of Clairvaux from a sermon he gave on this topic (with my emphases)

 We know that there are three comings of the Lord. The third lies between the other two. It is invisible, while the other two are visible. In the first coming he was seen on earth, dwelling among men; he himself testifies that they saw him and hated him. In the final coming all flesh will see the salvation of our God, and they will look on him whom they pierced. The intermediate coming is a hidden one; in it only the elect see the Lord within their own selves, and they are saved. In his first coming our Lord came in our flesh and in our weakness; in this middle coming he comes in spirit and in power; in the final coming he will be seen in glory and majesty.

 In case someone should think that what we say about this middle coming is sheer invention, listen to what our Lord himself says: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him. There is another passage of Scripture which reads: He who fears God will do good, but something further has been said about the one who loves, that is, that he will keep God’s word. Where is God’s word to be kept? Obviously in the heart, as the prophet says: I have hidden your words in my heart, so that I may not sin against you.

 Keep God’s word in this way. Let it enter into your very being, let it take possession of your desires and your whole way of life. Feed on goodness, and your soul will delight in its richness. Remember to eat your bread, or your heart will wither away. Fill your soul with richness and strength.
  
Because this coming lies between the other two, it is like a road on which we travel from the first coming to the last. In the first, Christ was our redemption; in the last, he will appear as our life; in this middle coming, he is our rest and consolation.

 If you keep the word of God in this way, it will also keep you. The Son with the Father will come to you. The great Prophet who will build the new Jerusalem will come, the one who makes all things new. This coming will fulfill what is written: As we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, we shall also bear the likeness of the heavenly man. Just as Adam’s sin spread through all mankind and took hold of all, so Christ, who created and redeemed all, will glorify all, once he takes possession of all.

Sermo 5, In Adventu Domini, 1-3: Opera Omnia, Edit. Cisterc. 4 {1966}