Expositio cantici Magnificat
1137Ut novum in carnem Filii Dei adventum praedicaret, qui ingressus novo salutationis obsequio Virginem Gabriel veneratur dicens, Ave gratia plena, etc.; Ecce ancilla Domini (Luc. I, 28 et 38), statim adveniente Spiritu sancto in Virginem, et omnium gratia virtutum sacrosanctum habitaculum in adventu Dei implente, dubium non est coelestium gaudiorum et aeternae dulcedinis quam miram atque inenarrabilem suavitatem Virgo ipsa concepit, quando illud aeternum lumen cum toto majestatis suae fulgore in eam descendit, et quem non capit mundus, totum se intra viscera virginis collocavit. Audacter pronuntio, quod nec ipsa plene explicare potuit, quod capere potuit. Sed Spiritu sancto docente didicerat sic sua per humilitatem tegere. Surgit mox, et conscendit in montana Judaeae. Unde Elizabeth Spiritu sancto repleta, qualis et quanta esset quae ad se venerat agnovit, et quam se indignam ejus visitatione judicaret, aperuit dicens: Unde hoc mihi, ut veniat mater Domini mei ad me? Ecce (Ibid., 43) etc. Tunc ait Maria, Magnificat anima mea Dominum (Ibid., 46). Vidisti majestatem; gustasti suavitatem: ideo quod intus hauseras, foras propinasti, et in justitia ejus exsultasti: Quia exsultavit spiritus meus. Anima magnificat, spiritus exsultat. Et iterum, in Deo salutari meo (Ibid., 47). Deus potentiam, salutaris misericordiam notat. Duo quippe sunt quae Angelorum et hominum beati spiritus in illo fonte boni aeterna contemplatione hauriunt; incomprehensibilis scilicet majestas Dei, et ineffabilis bonitas: quorum alterum castum timorem generat, alterum dilectionem parit. Pro majestate venerantur Deum, et pro bonitate amant: ne vel dilectio sine reverentia dissoluta sit, vel reverentia sine dilectione poenalis. Admirantes enim diligunt, et diligentes admirantur: ut inexstinguibiliter per admirationem ardeat dilectio, et suaviter in dilectione ferveat admiratio. Nam quia eum quem vident, perfecte comprehendere nunquam sufficiunt, in eo quasi per admirationem evigilant. Quanto autem perspicacius intuentur, tanto ardentius amant, quod vera dulcedo 1138est; vera autem dulcedo quanto perfectius sentitur, tanto desiderabilius appetitur. Ad hanc contemplationis lucem Mariae mens elevata fuerat, quae coelestis patriae dulcedinem in verbis, expressit quam ineffabiliter comprehendit. Nam cum se magnificare Dominum perhibuit, venerandam universis aeterni numinis majestatem interna visione contueri se manifeste declaravit; cum vero se in suo exsultare salutari asseruit, gustum se internae dulcedinis percepisse ostendit. Unde utrumque professa est, et Dominum et Salvatorem: ut pro potestate qua omni suae creaturae dominatur, jure metuendum ostenderet; pro bonitate vero, quia misericorditer quosdam salvat, dignum dilectione demonstraret. Veritas in Domino, et in Salvatore misericordia. Veritas enim ad Dominum pertinet, misericordia autem ad Salvatorem; in veritate servat tenorem justitiae. Quia autem et quaedam errantia gratuito ad vitam colligit, et reparat ad salvationem; propterea magnificamus Dominum, et exsultamus in salutari: quia quibus est reverenda judicis justitia, dulcis est misericordia Salvatoris, propterea inquit Maria, Magnificat anima mea Dominum, et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo. Unus et idem spiritus et ad se ipsum spiritus dicitur, et ad corpus anima. Spiritus naturalem spiritualem habuit admirationem, anima corporalem: quare anima dicitur spiritus, et e converso. Ideo anima humana, quia et esse in corpore habet et extra corpus, anima vocatur et spiritus. Anima dicitur in quantum est vita corporis; spiritus autem, in quantum est substantia spiritualis. In qua vita anima perditur, ut spiritus salvus fiat, cum haec vita despicitur, ut postmodum a Deo vita aeterna tribuatur. Sed suo nominavit, quia in salutari suo. Omnipotens enim 1139Deus potestate qua universae creaturae suae dominatur, Dominus omnium est; sed pietate qua quosdam tantum, et non omnes, ad vitam reparat, Salvator omnium non est. Nam dominatio ejus ad omnes aequaliter respicit; bonitas vero ad quosdam tantum. Ergo beata Virgo qu a singulariter se electam videbat, quia singulariter gratiam acceperat, quasi privilegio quodam electionis divinae confirmata, fiducialiter ipsum quem pro salute mundi filium conceperat, suum etiam cum laetitia et exsultatione Salvatorem vocat.
Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae (Luc. I, 48). Haec est causa exsultationis suae, quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae: ac si dicat, Quia de ejus gratia exsulto, ideo ab ipso est quod exsulto: et quia ejus dona propter ipsum diligo, ideo in ipso exsulto. Respectus Dei tribus modis accipi solet; videlicet secundum cognitionem, secundum gratiam, secundum judicium. De primo Apostolus, Omnia nuda et aperta sunt oculis ejus (Hebr. IV, 13). Sed per gratiam Deus non omnes respicit: quia, Oculi Domini super justos (Psal. XXXIII, 16), etc. De tertio in fine dicetur, Nescio vos (Matth. VII, 23). Oculi Domini bonos et malos contemplantur. Videre Deo per cognitionem, est nihil eorum quae sunt ignorare: videre per gratiam, dona misericordiae impendere: videre per judicium, unum quemque secundum opera sua vel ad gloriam vel ad poenam destinare. Respicere plus est quam videre. Respicere per gratiam, est prius abjectos et derelictos visitare. Cum bona placatus per misericordiam subtracta restituit, rursum per respectum gratiae ad eum se convertit. Bene ergo Maria solam in humilitatem Dominum respexisse testatur, quia divinitatis propitiationem, quam humana natura in primis parentibus per superbiam perdidit, in Maria per humilitatem recuperavit. Nam quia in ea Verbum Patris corporis substantiam quam sibi uniret assumpsit, quasi ad eam quam prius abjecerat naturam sublimandam per misericordiam respexit. Quia se humilitatis quod erat ancillam cogitavit, ideo quod non erat, sublimitatis mater esse meruit: quia humilitatem ostendit servitutis. Servitus quatuor modis variatur. Secundum conditionem servitus, qua omnia divinae servituti debent esse obnoxia: quia opus factori suo hoc ex conditione sua debet, quod ejus dispositioni obtemperet, et instituta sequatur; ut sicut ab ipso factum est, ita non nisi ab ipso et secundum ipsum incedat. Secundum necessitatem Deo servire dicuntur pravae voluntates, quae cum ejus jussionibus contraire nitantur, per ineffabilem tamen ejus dispositionem arctantur, ut nil sine ejus nutu ad effectum perducere queant: serviunt nolentes ejus dispositioni, qui volentes subjecti non sunt ipsius praecepto. Servitus cum timore, est quando divina praecepta non ex dilectione implemus, sed ex formidine. Quarta servitus est, quando voluntarie ejus jussionibus obtemperamus, quia ipsum qui jubet diligimus, nec aliud in nostra servitute, extra ipsum, commodum quaerimus, quam ut secundum ipsum ambulantes, ad ipsum pervenire valeamus. Servitutem secundum conditionem parentes nostri in paradiso Conditori exhibere noluerunt, quando in superbiam elati despexerunt esse sub illo, ad quod fuerant conditi; et voluerunt perversi esse in majestate consimiles, qui non erant in natura aequales. Eva per superbiam 1140creaturam Dei se esse et opus Dei non considerans, Deo parificari voluit; Maria autem suo factori humiliter se subdens ancillam se nominavit: et idcirco illa abjecta, et haec electa est. Superbam despexit, et humilem respexit: id quod superba perdidit, humilis recepit. Ideo ait, Respexit humilitatem ancillae suae. Sed servi Dei aliquando cum etiam humilitatem habent, humiliationem non habent; nunquam vero humiliationem sine humilitate. Humilitatem sine humiliatione habent, qui licet coram hominibus foris despicabiles non appareant, intus tamen humilitatis meritum coram Deo inviolatum conservant. Ergo Maria quae apud Deum humilis erat, et apud homines propter Deum abjecta, in utroque se esse respectam testatur: quia et ejus humilitas apud Deum acceptabilis fuit, et ejus humiliatio apud homines in gloriam commutata. Unde sequitur: Ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes. Usque ad illud apud homines opprobrium sterilitatis portaverat: quia integritatem virginitatis thoro maritali praeponebat. Sed unde in priori generatione carnali quasi maledictionis sententiam sustinuit, inde nunc ab omni generatione mortali benedictionem collaudabiliter recepit: quia ab omni generatione pro fructu fecunditatis meae beata vocor.
Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est, et sanctum nomen ejus (Luc. I, 49). Magnum fuit, ut virgo sine virili semine filium conciperet. Magnum fuit, ut Dei Patris Verbum carne sua indutum utero gestaret. Magnum fuit, ut dum se ancillam confessa esset, mater fieret sui plasmatoris. Qui potens est. Quia credi potest ejus potentia, potentem confessa est: sed quanta aut qualis comprehendi non potest. Confessa est potentiam, discutere non praesumpsit; quia sciri non convenit quanta est, quia infinita est. Omne quod praevidit se facturum, facit; nec aliquid quod non praevidit fieri non dubium, sed fieri necesse est. Maria non ait, in se; aut, in me; aut, per me fecit magna: sed inquit, mihi. Quod enim in ea ad omnium salutem factum est, hoc privilegio dilectionis ad ejus gloriam singulariter est ordinatum. Et ideo dixit, magna: quia mysterium incarnationis Verbi super omnia constat esse ineffabile. Nihil enim unquam magis mirum factum est, quam ut Deus fieret homo, et natura incomprehensibilis corporis substantiam sibi sic uniret, ut nec minus in ea esset, quia in se erat immensa; nec minor in se existeret, quia in illa fuit creata. Haec ergo sunt magna. Et ideo sanctum nomen ejus. Quid est nomen ejus? Fama ejus. Nomen ejus, cognitio ejus: fides, nomen ejus. Hoc nomen sanctum est cum sanctis; cum sanctis gloriatur, a sanctis benedicitur, a perversis blasphematur: quia dum Verbum in carne nascitur, gloria Dei per Verbum in hominibus declaratur.
Et misericordia ejus a progenie in progenies timentibus eum (Ibid., 50). Mariae, inquam, fecit, non tamen singulariter, sed uni excellenter: verumtamen omnibus timentibus. Nemo a gratia excluditur. Potentiam fecit in brachio suo, dispersit superbos mente cordis sui. (Ibid., 51). Haec illa misericordia, quam timentibus se exhibuit Deus: quia Verbum suum per assumptam carnem in hunc mundum misit, ut per ipsum aereas potestates potenti virtute debellaret, et genus humanum ab earum potestate redimeret. Ipsi enim superbi sunt, quos dispersit Deus, ejiciens eos foras a cordibus 1141hominum, atque spolia eorum diripiens, per illam quae prius in hominibus principabatur, virtutem dissipavit: et hoc in brachio suo; id est, per humilitatem Filii diabolum vicit. Brachium ejus, Filius ejus est. Ipsa infirmitas, potentia fuit: quia per illam diabolus est victus: et hoc mente cordis sui; id est, profundo consilio suo dispersit eos. Profundum consilium fuit, ut pro homine Deus fieret homo, et innocens pateretur; ut redimeretur nocens: et in his erat consilium, nec poterat illud diabolus praevidere; sed captus est hamo Leviathan. Vel per superbos, Judaeos intelligere possumus, qui humilem adventum Christi superbe contempserunt, quos abjecit. Unde subditur:
Deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles (Luc. I, 52). Potentes, quia filii regni qui videbantur abjecit, et gentes per humilem confessionem in consortium regni atque in filiorum adoptionem assumpsit, ac malignos spiritus ex cordibus hominum abjecit: et humiles, id est, homines humiliatos, exaltavit. Mens etiam cordis Dei est vivax et permanens dispositio aeternae occultaeque praedestinationis. Ipse est liber vitae. Idem est ergo mens, quod liber. Tribus modis aliquis in libro scribitur: secundum praescientiam, secundum causam, et secundum operationem. Quantum ad primum praedestinati sunt scripti: non delentur unquam, licet ad tempus quasi periturus quis a via veritatis errare permittatur. Secundum causam scripti sunt, qui a via veritatis coepta ad errores declinando recedunt. Tales autem sunt aliquando, qui digna salvatione existerent, si tales usque ad finem permanerent. Secundum operationem, quorum opera secundum humanum judicium talia apparent, propter quae digni videantur scribi in libro vitae: qui tamen ea quae videbantur agere bona deserunt. Hi secundum praescientiam nunquam fuerunt in libro vitae. Deposuit, etc. Prius angelum de coelo, et hominem de paradiso superbientem projecit: et postea hominem per poenitentiam humiliatum ad gloriam reparavit. Sed et quotidie superbos quosque, subtrahendo gratiam suam, deponit et humiliat: et postea eosdem humiliatos, gratiam priorem restaurans, exaltat. De quo 1142autem illud est quod sequitur, Esurientes implevit bonis, et divites dimisit inanes (Luc. I, 53)? Esurientes vocat eos qui se vero bono indigere cognoscunt: divites intelligere vult qui superbi sunt, et se prae aliis in donis gratiarum abundare existimant. Ergo sicut humiles modica de se sentiendo majorem gratiam merentur accipere: ita superbi de se praesumendo etiam ea quae accepere amittunt.
Suscepit Israel puerum suum, recordatus misericordiae suae (Ibid., 54). Suscepit, sicut medicus aegrotum, Israel puerum suum: id est, humilem et innocentem suscepit, ut sanaret infirmum, et redimeret captivum; ut justificaret impium, et salvaret justum. Suscepit Israel, non quem invenit Israel, sed ut faceret Israel: recordatus misericordiae suae, quam olim promisit, sed diu distulerat: Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros (vel, patribus nostris), Abraham et semini ejus in saecula (Ibid., 55). Misericors in promittendo; verax in exhibendo: quia sine debito promisit, et sine dolo exhibuit. Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros, Abraham et semini ejus in saecula.
Nota super illud, Exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo: quidam neque a Deo exsultant, neque in Deo. Nam qui in carnis voluptate exsultant, aut qui exsultant cum male fecerint (Prov. II, 14), isti nec in Deo, nec a Deo exsultant, et malum est unde exsultant. Et quia de malo ad malum exsultant, et suum gaudium in malignitate constituunt; ideo minime in Deo exsultant. Sunt alii qui acceptis gratiae donis abutuntur, et ea quae propter salutem animae data sunt, ad carnis usum et gaudia saeculi convertunt: acceptis enim donis gaudent, quia neque in Deo neque propter Deum diligunt quod a Deo acceperunt. Qui autem gratia accepta ad amorem Dei idipsum convertunt quod ab ipso acceperunt, isti profecto et a Deo et in Deo exsultare probantur. E contra ergo ut suum gaudium solidum esse monstraret, illud neque a vanitate exortum, neque ad vanitatem conversum esse, se Dei dona diligere, in Deo, et pro respectu gratiae qua praeventa erat in Salvatore exsultare perhibuit, dicens: Exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo.
Exposition of the Canticle Magnificat
1137In order to proclaim the new coming of the Son of God into the flesh, Gabriel, entering, venerates the Virgin with a new homage of salutation, saying, Hail, full of grace, etc.; Behold the handmaid of the Lord (Luc. I, 28 et 38): the Holy Spirit at once coming upon the Virgin, and the grace of all virtues filling that most holy dwelling-place at the coming of God, there is no doubt what a wondrous and unspeakable sweetness of heavenly joys and of eternal delight the Virgin herself conceived, when that eternal light, with all the splendor of its majesty, descended into her, and he whom the world does not contain placed himself wholly within the womb of the Virgin. I boldly declare that she could not fully explain even what she was able to receive. But by the teaching of the Holy Spirit she had learned thus to cover her own gifts through humility. Soon she arises, and goes up into the hill country of Judaea. Whence Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, recognized of what sort and how great was she who had come to her, and disclosed how unworthy she judged herself of her visitation, saying: Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Behold (Ibid., 43), etc. Then Mary says, My soul magnifies the Lord (Ibid., 46). You have seen majesty; you have tasted sweetness: therefore what you had drawn in within, you have poured out without, and you have exulted in his righteousness: For my spirit has exulted. The soul magnifies, the spirit exults. And again, in God my salvation (Ibid., 47). "God" marks power, "salvation" mercy. For there are two things which the blessed spirits of angels and of men draw from that fountain of good by eternal contemplation: namely the incomprehensible majesty of God, and his unspeakable goodness; of which the one begets chaste fear, the other brings forth love. For his majesty they venerate God, and for his goodness they love him: lest either love without reverence be dissolute, or reverence without love be full of dread. For in admiring they love, and in loving they admire: so that love may burn inextinguishably through admiration, and admiration may glow sweetly in love. For because they are never able perfectly to comprehend him whom they see, they keep watch upon him, as it were, through admiration. But the more keenly they gaze, the more ardently they love, which is true sweetness 1138; and true sweetness, the more perfectly it is felt, the more desirably it is sought. To this light of contemplation the mind of Mary had been raised, who expressed in words the sweetness of the heavenly homeland which she comprehended unspeakably. For when she affirmed that she magnified the Lord, she plainly declared that she beheld by inward vision the majesty of the eternal Godhead, to be venerated by all; but when she asserted that she exulted in her own salvation, she showed that she had received a taste of inward sweetness. Whence she professed both, both Lord and Savior: that for the power by which he rules over all his creation she might show him rightly to be feared; but for his goodness, because he mercifully saves some, she might demonstrate him worthy of love. Truth in the Lord, and in the Savior mercy. For truth pertains to the Lord, but mercy to the Savior; in truth he keeps the course of justice. But because he also gathers certain straying things freely to life, and restores them to salvation; therefore we magnify the Lord, and exult in salvation: because to those for whom the justice of the judge is to be revered, the mercy of the Savior is sweet, therefore Mary says, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has exulted in God my salvation. One and the same spirit is called both "spirit" in relation to itself, and "soul" in relation to the body. The spirit had a natural, spiritual admiration, the soul a bodily one: wherefore the soul is called spirit, and conversely. Therefore the human soul, because it has being both in the body and outside the body, is called both soul and spirit. It is called soul insofar as it is the life of the body; but spirit, insofar as it is a spiritual substance. In which the life of the soul is lost, that the spirit may be made safe, when this life is despised, so that afterward eternal life may be granted by God. But she named it her own, because "in her own salvation." For almighty 1139God, by the power with which he rules over all his creation, is Lord of all; but by the mercy with which he restores to life only some, and not all, he is not the Savior of all. For his dominion regards all equally; but his goodness only some. Therefore the blessed Virgin, who saw herself singularly chosen, because she had singularly received grace, as though confirmed by a certain privilege of divine election, confidently calls him whom she had conceived as a son for the salvation of the world her own Savior also, with joy and exultation.
Because he has regarded the humility of his handmaid (Luc. I, 48). This is the cause of her exultation, because he has regarded the humility of his handmaid: as if she should say, Because I exult over his grace, therefore it is from him that I exult; and because I love his gifts for his own sake, therefore I exult in him. The regard of God is wont to be understood in three ways: namely, according to knowledge, according to grace, according to judgment. Of the first the Apostle says, All things are naked and open to his eyes (Hebr. IV, 13). But through grace God does not regard all: because, The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous (Psal. XXXIII, 16), etc. Of the third it will be said at the end, I know you not (Matth. VII, 23). The eyes of the Lord behold the good and the evil. For God, to see through knowledge is to be ignorant of none of the things that are; to see through grace is to bestow the gifts of mercy; to see through judgment is to appoint each one, according to his works, either to glory or to punishment. To regard is more than to see. To regard through grace is to visit those formerly cast off and forsaken. When, being appeased, he restores through mercy the good things that had been withdrawn, he again turns himself toward him through the regard of grace. Rightly then Mary testifies that the Lord regarded humility alone, because the propitiation of the Godhead, which human nature lost in the first parents through pride, it recovered in Mary through humility. For because in her the Word of the Father assumed the substance of the body which he would unite to himself, he regarded through mercy, as it were, the nature which he had before cast off, in order to exalt it. Because she thought of herself as the handmaid of humility, which she was, therefore she merited to be what she was not, the mother of sublimity: because she showed the humility of servitude. Servitude is varied in four ways. Servitude according to condition, by which all things must be subject to divine service: because a work owes this to its maker from its own condition, that it obey his disposition and follow his ordinances; so that, as it was made by him, so it may proceed only from him and according to him. According to necessity, depraved wills are said to serve God, which, although they strive to go against his commands, are nevertheless constrained by his unspeakable disposition, so that they can bring nothing to effect without his nod: unwilling, they serve his disposition, who willing are not subject to his precept. Servitude with fear is when we fulfill the divine precepts not out of love, but out of dread. The fourth servitude is when we voluntarily obey his commands, because we love him who commands, and seek in our service no other advantage, apart from himself, than that, walking according to him, we may be able to come to him. Our first parents in paradise refused to render to the Creator the servitude according to condition, when, lifted up into pride, they disdained to be under him — for which they had been created; and, perverse, they wished to be alike in majesty, who were not equal in nature. Eve, through pride, 1140not considering that she was a creature of God and the work of God, wished to be made equal to God; but Mary, humbly submitting herself to her maker, named herself a handmaid: and therefore the one was cast off, and the other chosen. He disdained the proud woman, and regarded the humble one: what the proud woman lost, the humble one received. Therefore she says, He has regarded the humility of his handmaid. But the servants of God sometimes, even when they have humility, do not have humiliation; yet never humiliation without humility. They have humility without humiliation who, although they do not appear outwardly despicable before men, nevertheless inwardly preserve the merit of humility before God inviolate. Therefore Mary, who was humble before God, and before men cast off for God's sake, testifies that she was regarded in both: because both her humility was acceptable before God, and her humiliation before men was changed into glory. Whence follows: From this, all generations shall call me blessed. Until that time she had borne among men the reproach of barrenness: because she preferred the integrity of virginity to the marriage bed. But from where, in the former carnal generation, she bore as it were a sentence of malediction, from there now she receives from every mortal generation a blessing worthy of praise: because "by every generation, for the fruit of my fecundity, I am called blessed."
Because he that is mighty has done great things to me, and holy is his name (Luc. I, 49). It was a great thing that a virgin should conceive a son without male seed. It was a great thing that she should carry in her womb the Word of God the Father, clothed with her flesh. It was a great thing that, while she had confessed herself a handmaid, she should become the mother of her own fashioner. He that is mighty. Because his power can be believed, she confessed him mighty: but how great or of what kind it is cannot be comprehended. She confessed the power, she did not presume to examine it; because it is not fitting to be known how great it is, since it is infinite. Everything which he foresaw that he would do, he does; nor is there anything which he did not foresee to come about — it is not doubtful, but it is necessary that it come about. Mary does not say, "in herself"; or, "in me"; or, "through me he has done great things": but she says, to me. For what was done in her for the salvation of all, this by the privilege of love was singularly ordained to her glory. And therefore she said, great things: because the mystery of the incarnation of the Word is agreed to be unspeakable above all things. For nothing more wondrous was ever done than that God should become man, and that the incomprehensible nature should so unite to itself the substance of a body, that it was not less in it, because in itself it was immeasurable; nor did it exist as lesser in itself, because in her it was created. These, then, are great things. And therefore holy is his name. What is his name? His renown. His name is the knowledge of him: faith is his name. This name is holy with the saints; with the saints it is glorified, by the saints it is blessed, by the perverse it is blasphemed: because while the Word is born in the flesh, the glory of God is declared among men through the Word.
And his mercy is from generation to generations, to them that fear him (Ibid., 50). To Mary, I say, he did it, yet not singularly, but to one excellently: nevertheless to all that fear him. No one is excluded from grace. He has shown might in his arm, he has scattered the proud in the thought of his heart. (Ibid., 51). This is that mercy which God showed to them that fear him: because he sent his Word into this world through assumed flesh, that through him he might war down the powers of the air with mighty strength, and redeem the human race from their power. For they are the proud whom God scattered, casting them out from the hearts 1141of men, and, plundering their spoils, he broke up that power which formerly held rule in men: and this in his arm; that is, through the humility of the Son he conquered the devil. His arm is his Son. That very weakness was power: because through it the devil was conquered: and this in the thought of his heart; that is, by his deep counsel he scattered them. It was a deep counsel that for man God should become man, and the innocent should suffer, that the guilty might be redeemed: and in these things was counsel, nor could the devil foresee it; but Leviathan was caught on the hook. Or by the proud we can understand the Jews, who proudly despised the humble coming of Christ, whom he cast off. Whence it is added:
He has put down the mighty from their seat, and exalted the humble (Luc. I, 52). The mighty, because he cast off the sons of the kingdom who seemed to be such, and took up the nations through humble confession into the fellowship of the kingdom and into the adoption of sons, and cast the malignant spirits out of the hearts of men: and the humble, that is, humiliated men, he exalted. The thought of the heart of God, too, is the living and abiding disposition of eternal and hidden predestination. He himself is the book of life. Therefore the thought is the same as the book. In three ways someone is written in the book: according to foreknowledge, according to cause, and according to operation. As to the first, the predestined are written: they are never blotted out, although for a time one may be permitted to stray from the way of truth as though about to perish. According to cause are written those who, having begun the way of truth, fall away by turning aside to errors. But such are sometimes those who would be worthy of salvation, if they remained such until the end. According to operation are those whose works, according to human judgment, appear such that for them they seem worthy to be written in the book of life: who nevertheless forsake the good things they seemed to do. These, according to foreknowledge, were never in the book of life. He has put down, etc. First he cast down the angel from heaven, and man, growing proud, from paradise: and afterward he restored to glory man humbled through penance. But also daily he puts down and humbles all the proud, by withdrawing his grace: and afterward the same, once humbled, he exalts, restoring their former grace. But of whom 1142is that which follows, He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away (Luc. I, 53)? The hungry he calls those who know that they lack the true good: by the rich he wishes to be understood those who are proud, and think themselves to abound before others in the gifts of graces. Therefore, just as the humble, by thinking little of themselves, deserve to receive greater grace: so the proud, by presuming upon themselves, lose even those things which they had received.
He has received Israel his servant, being mindful of his mercy (Ibid., 54). He has received, as a physician the sick man, Israel his servant: that is, he received the humble and innocent, that he might heal the sick, and redeem the captive; that he might justify the ungodly, and save the righteous. He has received Israel, not whom he found as Israel, but that he might make him Israel: being mindful of his mercy, which he once promised, but had long deferred: As he spoke to our fathers (or, patribus nostris), Abraham and his seed for ever (Ibid., 55). Merciful in promising; truthful in fulfilling: because he promised without owing, and fulfilled without deceit. As he spoke to our fathers, Abraham and his seed for ever.
Note, upon that phrase, My spirit has exulted in God my salvation: some exult neither from God, nor in God. For those who exult in the pleasure of the flesh, or who exult when they have done evil (Prov. II, 14), these exult neither in God nor from God, and evil is that from which they exult. And because they exult from evil to evil, and set their joy in malignity, therefore they by no means exult in God. There are others who abuse the gifts of grace received, and turn those things which were given for the salvation of the soul to the use of the flesh and the joys of the world: for they rejoice in the gifts received, because they love neither in God nor for God's sake what they have received from God. But those who, having received grace, turn that very thing which they received from him to the love of God, these truly are shown to exult both from God and in God. On the contrary, therefore, that she might show her joy to be solid — that it had neither sprung from vanity, nor been turned to vanity — she affirmed that she loved the gifts of God, and exulted in God, and, for the regard of grace by which she had been prevented, in the Savior, saying: My spirit has exulted in God my salvation.