Father Noel Alexandre's Literal and Moral Commentary on Romans 9

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 At present this post contains only the literal Commentary. Translated by Qwen. Rom 9:1-2: Paul's Sincere Testimony "I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart." I speak a true, sincere matter from the heart in Christ; I do not lie. My conscience bears witness to me in the Holy Spirit. For since Paul had often been mistreated by the Jews, while on the other hand he was held in the highest honor among the Christians called from the Gentiles, it might be supposed that he was either hostile toward the former or more favorably inclined toward the latter. He removes this suspicion far from himself and confirms his wonderful love toward the Jews by an oath, calling three witnesses to his grief over their unbelief and rejection: namely, Christ, his conscience, and the Holy Spirit. "I speak the truth in Christ" : I speak a true, sincere thing from my heart, not ...
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Father Noel Alexandre's Literal and Moral Commentary on Romans Chapter 8

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Translated by Qwen. 

 LITERAL COMMENTARY

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh. Given that these things are so, those who are grafted and united to Christ through faith and charity as living members, and regenerated by baptism, are subject to no condemnation on account of remaining concupiscence and its involuntary movements against the law of the mind, provided they do not obey the law of the flesh and do not consent to evil desires. The common Greek Text adds ἀλλὰ κατὰ πνεῦμα ("but according to the spirit"). Thus read Theodore, Theophylactus, and Oecumenius, but not Chrysostom. The Greek Manuscripts of venerable antiquity and approved faith—such as the Claromontanus (or that of the College of Paris of the Society of Jesus), the Sangermanensis, and the Alexandrinus—do not have these words, nor does the Syriac or Arabic Version have them.

Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For the New Law, which the Holy and life-giving Spirit writes in our hearts, has freed me and all who are united to Christ as members to a head, through Christ Himself and His Spirit, from the law of sin and death. It has freed me from the dominion and guilt of concupiscence, which incites to sin and leads to death; me, I say, it has freed according to the mind, although I still serve that law in the flesh, unwillingly and groaning.

Rom 8:3-4 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. What the Mosaic Law could not accomplish due to the weakness of human powers and the corruption of the repugnant flesh—namely, to justify man—God accomplished through His grace by sending His Son, clothed in the likeness of sinful flesh, assuming a flesh that resembled sinful flesh, true flesh indeed and holy, but passible and mortal, such as is the flesh of sin. And on account of sin [He condemned sin in the flesh], that is, He condemned sin itself or the injustice of sin, because it had delivered Christ's immaculate and unpolluted body to death. And through the flesh of Christ suspended and dead on the cross, He destroyed the empire of sin and death, not by power alone but by just judgment. Using prosopopoeia (personification), the Apostle speaks of sin as a certain tyrant who is ejected from the possession of the kingdom he had invaded and is justly deprived of his own [power] because he laid a hand on what was alien. Others also explain this passage differently: "He condemned sin in the flesh," that is, for the abolishing of sin, He delivered His Son, whom He made sin for us (that is, a victim for sin), to the condemnation of death according to the flesh. That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. That we might fulfill the righteousness which the law commands through the grace of Christ. This happens when, resisting the desires of the flesh and mortifying them, we follow the instinct of the Holy Spirit so that we may order our life according to the Gospel.

Rom 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For carnal men, who obey the law of the flesh in mind and affection, love and savor temporal goods which the world offers, to which the carnal appetite inclines; they are wholly in the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19). But spiritual men, who do not give themselves to be ruled by the law of the flesh but by the Holy Spirit, embrace with utmost zeal those things which the Holy Spirit suggests; they are wholly in works consistent with Him, which are called the fruit of the Spirit.

Rom 8:6-7 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. For to think, love, and savor carnal things brings death to the soul; but on the contrary, to think, love, and savor spiritual things produces life and interior peace, and the tranquil and perpetual possession of all goods. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. For this love of earthly things is an enemy to God, or, as the force of the Greek Text is, "hostility toward God"; it constitutes us enemies of God (compare James 4:4). For it does not obey the law of God, but rather resists it, nor indeed can it be subject to it since its desires tend toward contrary ends.

Rom 8:8-9 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Therefore, those who serve the affections of the flesh cannot please God as long as they live thus, just as rebellious subjects cannot please the King. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. You, reborn in Christ through baptism, are not subject to the flesh but to the Spirit; you do not live according to the law and desires of the flesh but according to the Gospel and the law of the Holy Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. If indeed you have imbibed faith and are purified in mind, or if you have so persevered in the grace of baptism that the Spirit of God dwells and remains in you as in His temples. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. He who does not have the Spirit of Christ inhabiting him through sanctifying grace and charity does not truly belong to Christ as a living member. The Apostle calls it the "Spirit of God" and the "Spirit of Christ" by a manner of speaking which confirms both that Christ is true God and that the Holy Spirit proceeds equally from the Father and the Son, as being of the same substance as both. St. Chrysostom interprets these words "if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you" not as words of doubt, but of belief and confidence, signifying the same as "Since the Spirit of God dwells in you." In this sense, the Apostle uses the words "if indeed" in 2 Thessalonians 1:6 ("if indeed it is a righteous thing with God...") and Galatians 3:4 ("Have you suffered so many things in vain? if indeed it was in vain").

Rom 8:10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if Christ is in you through His Spirit, from whom He is indivisible on account of the mutual indwelling or inexistence of the three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity, the body indeed is liable to death on account of sin, but the soul lives the life of grace on account of the righteousness with which Christ has clothed it, who was made for us by God righteousness, sanctification, that is, the author of justice and holiness.

Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. But if the Spirit of God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead, dwells in you through justifying grace and charity, and this perseveringly, the Eternal Father Himself, who raised Christ your head and the exemplar of the resurrection, the firstborn of the dead, from the dead, will also recall your mortal bodies from death to immortal, blessed, and glorious life, because His Spirit, whom He gave as a pledge and earnest of blessed resurrection, dwells in you, not only in your souls but also in your bodies as in His temples. Some interpreters translate Per inhabitantem Spiritum ejus in vobis ("Through His Spirit dwelling in you") according to the Complutensian Edition and some Greek Codices; but the reading of our Vulgate, Propter inhabitantem Spiritum ejus in vobis ("On account of His Spirit dwelling in you" or "Because of..."), agrees with Greek MSS of better note, with the Greek Edition of Robert Stephanus, and the Syriac Version, to which St. Irenaeus (Book 5, ch. 10), Tertullian (Book on the Resurrection of the Flesh), St. Chrysostom (Homily 13), Theodoretus, etc., give suffrage. St. Augustine, in the Exposition of Propositions from the Epistle to the Romans (Prop. 51), reads Per inhabitantem; but also in Sermon 36.2 (alias De Diversis 121) and Book 4 On the Trinity ch. 3.

Rom 8L12-13 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. Therefore, we owe servitude to Christ the Lord, from whom we have received redemption and the Spirit of life, not to the flesh to obey its desires. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. If by the Spirit dwelling in you, ruling in you and working through you, you mortify evil desires and the works of the flesh, fighting continually against them and not consenting to them, you will live eternal life not only according to the soul but also according to the body.

Rom 8:14-15 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. Whosoever are efficaciously moved by the Holy Spirit operating and assisting in them to do good, these are sons of God by adoption and grace. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear. For you who are reborn in Christ through baptism did not receive the spirit of servants so that you might now fulfill the law of God only by fear, as servants abstaining from sins out of fear of punishment alone, not out of love for the Lord; which fear accompanied the legislation made on Mount Sinai and shook the hearts of your fathers. But you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." But you received the Holy Spirit who, by grace and charity diffused in your hearts, makes you adoptive sons of God, in whom we cry out "Abba, Father." By which Spirit, with filial affection and confidence proper to the just of the New Testament, we pray, saying Abba, that is, My Father.

Rom 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. For the Holy Spirit Himself, whom we have received, bears witness to our spirit by that cry or fervent prayer proceeding from love toward God and filial confidence, with which we invoke God as our Father, and by the conscience of good will and tranquility of mind born from it (concerning which 1 John 3:21: "If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God"). By these things, I say, which the Holy Spirit works in us, He bears witness to our spirit that we are sons of God; a testimony indeed most certain in itself, but not certainly known to individual just persons, rather known only by signs and probable conjectures which they cannot distinguish from fallacious conjectures in the darkness of this life. Whence this passage of the Apostle is brought forward in vain to prove the Special Faith of the Protestants, by which the just are certain and ought to believe firmly that they are just and sons of God, since Paul himself did not certainly know this of himself through the testimony of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 4:3-4: "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you... For I know nothing against myself, but I am not justified by this").

Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If we are sons, we have a right to the inheritance which is due to sons; for to this end is one adopted as a son, that he may be an heir. Heirs indeed of God as Father, in whose place the kingdom of heaven, eternal felicity, and the very enjoyment of God Himself stands as patrimony. But joint heirs with Christ as the firstborn among many brethren and heir of all things, under whom, through whom, and for whom we shall reign eternally. If indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. We shall obtain the celestial inheritance on this condition, however: if we bear all adversities with constant patience, following the example of Christ, certain of future glory which God will recompense to the merits of a crucified life.

Rom 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For I judge, and wish it to be so persuaded to you as it is persuaded to me, that our sufferings, which are defined by a brief interval of this time, are not equal to the eternal glory which God will one day reveal in us according to His promises. For what proportion is there between light and transitory endurance and eternal glory? If they are weighed in a balance, on one side our tribulations, on the other the greatness of the reward, there is no doubt but that the side of the balance in which the reward is placed will wholly preponderate. Compare with 2 Cor 4:17: "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." However, this place of the Apostle is urged in vain against the merit of good works: "They are not worthy," etc. For although our good works and sufferings of their own nature and by divine promise, excluding grace, have no proportion to eternal glory nor are worthy of it, yet insofar as they rely on the merits of Christ and proceed from His grace and from the charity which the Holy Spirit works in us, they are worthy of eternal life, which the Apostle therefore says is worked in us. Tertullian renders this place thus: "For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy of the glory which is to be revealed in us."

Rom 8:19-21 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. Here the Apostle uses prosopopoeia, attributing desire, will, and groaning even to inanimate creatures, namely the heavens and elements and the whole world. Created things, with vehement and anxious desire, as those who stretch out their necks waiting for someone coming from afar to their aid, await that time when the sons of God will be revealed, that is, made manifest, and their dignity and glory will be plainly known. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope. Every creature, serving human uses, is subject not only to mutability and destruction but also to the malice of men who abuse it for sinning. It was subjected not voluntarily or from an inclination of its nature, but by God ordaining it, who willed it to be subject to the vicissitudes of human ministries, to the curse, and to future dissolution, not perpetually but for a time, hope of liberation and renovation being made to it. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For it will come to pass that creation itself will be vindicated from the servitude of mutability and corruption, and also from the servile ministry which it is forced to exhibit to men, even sinful ones, abusing it against God's law. And this will happen when the children of God obtain perfect and glorious liberty. For then the renovation of the whole creation will be; then new heavens and a new earth are promised. Or: It will be delivered from the bondage of corruption for the liberty of the children of God, that it may be a partaker of the liberty and glory of the children of God. Tertullian speaks splendidly of the servitude of creatures (Book On the Crown, ch. 6): "The rival of God corrupted the whole condition, enslaved to certain uses of man, together with man himself; whence the Apostle also says it was subjected to vanity unwillingly, having succumbed to vain uses, then to shameful, unjust, impious ones being overthrown." And concerning the liberation of creation (Book Against Hermogenes, ch. 11): "Then will be the end of evil when its president the devil goes into the fire which God prepared for him and his angels, first relegated to the pit of the abyss, when the revelation of the sons of God shall have redeemed the condition from evil, undoubtedly subjected to vanity, when restored in the power and integrity of its condition the Father shall have put enemies under the feet of the Son," etc.

Rom 8:22-23 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. We know that all creatures made for the uses of men groan together like women in labor and anxiously await that time when they will be liberated together with us. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves. But not only those creatures serving human uses, but even we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, and we ourselves groan within us, waiting for the adoption of sons, namely the redemption of our body. But even we ourselves who are regenerated and have received the Holy Spirit and His gifts as pledges making certain hope that God will perfect what He began in us, we groan deep in the bottom of our hearts, waiting for the full and consummate effect of the adoption of sons of God, namely the redemption of our body from the miseries of this life, from mortality, from sin or indwelling concupiscence. The Apostle seems to allude to the legal firstfruits which, offered to God, gave hope of the full harvest. By "firstfruits," therefore, Theodoret interpreting, he signified that in the future age we will receive the multiplied grace of the Spirit. For if that which is now given is called firstfruits and earnest, it is clear that it will be many parts greater in the future. St. John Chrysostom preceded Theodore and explains this passage concerning all the regenerate, in whose person the Apostle speaks. St. Augustine also understands it thus (Book 11 On the Merits and Remission of Sins, ch. 7-8).

Rom 8:24 For we were saved in this hope. Full adoption of sons will be in the redemption even of our body. Therefore, we now have the firstfruits of the Spirit, whence we are already made sons of God in reality in certain respects, but in other respects [we are sons] in hope; as we are saved, as we are renewed, so also [we are] sons of God in reality because not yet fully saved, therefore not yet fully renewed, not yet fully sons of God but sons of the age. Therefore, what we are sons of the flesh and of the age will be consumed, and what we are sons of God and renewed by the spirit will be perfected. But it will be perfected in the second regeneration in which the elect will be renewed to glory, concerning which the Lord said: "In the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory."

Rom 8:25 But hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? Not yet in reality, but by hope alone, and therefore we still groan waiting for the redemption of our bodies and the state of perfect beatitude. Whence St. John says: "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be." What is this "we are" and "we shall be" unless that "we are" in hope, "we shall be" in reality? For it follows: "We know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." Already, therefore, we have begun to be like Him, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, and yet we are unlike through the remains of the old man. Therefore, insofar as we are like, to that extent we are sons of God by the regenerating Spirit; but insofar as we are unlike, to that extent we are sons of the flesh and of the age. From there [heaven] we cannot sin; from here, "if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves" until the whole passes into adoption and there is no sinner, and "you will seek his place and find it not." But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Hope is of a future thing, not a present one and one already possessed. For what a man sees, why does he yet hope for it? For what reason remains for hoping for a good which you already have and enjoy? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Since hope is of things not yet had, with patience we ought to bear the tedious delay of the perfect adoption of sons, the redemption of our body, and our beatitude.

Rom 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Not only does the Holy Spirit bear witness to our spirit that we are sons of God, but He also aids us, who on account of the imbecility and corruption of nature, the defect of ignorance, the wound of concupiscence, and overwhelming mortality, are weak and powerless of ourselves for all supernatural good, by the gifts of His grace. For so great is our infirmity that we not only need the help of the Holy Spirit for those things we know we must do or endure for God, not only do we need that He inspire good will in us and supply strength for doing well, grant patience in adversity, and as it were lift the burden from the other side lest we faint under it, but since all our defense and solace is in prayer, by which we can obtain from divine mercy and goodness what is necessary and useful for salvation, we do not even know what is expedient for us, what and how we ought to ask of God. But the Holy Spirit Himself, by His efficacious operation in us, teaches and makes us pray with groanings that cannot be expressed in words, both because they proceed from the desire of an ineffable thing, namely celestial glory, and because the very affections of the heart, insofar as they proceed from the Holy Spirit, whose power and efficacy in men is ineffable, cannot be conveniently or worthily explained. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. But God, to whom the secrets of hearts and intimate affections are manifest, knows and approves what His Spirit makes the saints desire, because He teaches and makes them ask for what is agreeable to the divine good pleasure. St. Augustine treats this place excellently in Epistle 194 (alias 105) to Sixtus: "What is 'interpellates' (makes intercession) unless He makes us intercede? For to intercede with groanings is a most certain sign of one in need. But it is not lawful to believe the Holy Spirit to be in need of anything. But 'interpellates' is said because He makes us intercede and inspires in us the affection of interceding and groaning, just as that in the Gospel: 'For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.' Nor is it done by us as if we were doing nothing. The help of the Holy Spirit is so expressed that He Himself is said to do what He makes us do." That it is not to be understood of our spirit, concerning which it was said "interpellates with groanings," but of the Holy Spirit by whom our infirmity is helped, the Apostle demonstrates sufficiently. For he began there, saying "He helps our infirmity," then he subjoined "For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought," etc. Concerning which Spirit he speaks more openly elsewhere: "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father." Yet in another place he says: "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father." He did not say here "in whom we cry out," but preferred to say the Spirit Himself crying out, by which it is brought about that we cry out.

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. We certainly know that all things, prosperous and adverse, turn out for the good and salvation of those who love God, who are called to grace, holiness, salvation, and celestial glory according to the purpose or eternal and altogether gratuitous decree of the divine will. The word Sancti (Saints) or corresponding name is absent from the Greek and Syriac, nor does St. Augustine read it, but the Latin Interpreter supplied it to render the sense clearer. Moreover, Proposito (purpose) here is to be understood not of man but of God, according to St. Augustine (Book 11 Against Two Letters of the Pelagians, ch. 10), who [the Pelagians] wanted "purpose" to be understood of man, as if that purpose, as a good merit, were followed by the mercy of God calling, ignoring that it was said "called according to purpose" so that the purpose of God, not man, might be understood, by which He chose those whom He foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son before the foundation of the world. For not all who are called are called according to purpose, because "Many are called, but few are chosen." Therefore, those alone are called according to purpose who were elected before the foundation of the world. Concerning this purpose of God, that also was said concerning the twins Jacob and Esau: "That the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls, it was said to her, 'The older shall serve the younger.'" This purpose of God is also commemorated in that place where writing to Timothy he says: "Share in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ." This, therefore, is the purpose of God from which it is said: "All things work together for good to those who are called according to purpose." But the good purpose of man is indeed helped by subsequent grace, but that purpose itself would not exist unless preceding grace came first.

Rom 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. For those whom He foreknew from eternity with the foreknowledge of approbation and predilection, or foreknowledge joined with the will of good pleasure (for in this sense the word knowing [scire] is used in Scriptures), He decreed with a certain and firm decree from eternity that they be made so conformable to His Son that they may be a certain living image of Him, both in the sufferings of adverse things and the endurance of the cross, and in glory, so that He may hold the primacy by His right as the natural Son of God and excel all the predestined as their head, whom God adopted through His grace and His merits and gave as brethren and co-heirs. Whom He foreknew, He also predestined. Without doubt He foreknew if He predestined; but to have predestined is to have foreknown what He Himself was going to do, says St. Augustine (Book On the Gift of Perseverance, ch. 18). Predestination cannot exist without foreknowledge, but foreknowledge can exist without predestination. For by predestination God foreknew those things which He Himself was going to do, whence it was said: "He has made the things that are to be." But He is able to foreknow even those things which He does not make, such as any sins whatever. Therefore, the predestination of God, which is in good, is the preparation of grace, but grace is the effect of predestination itself.

Rom 8:30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. Those whom He predestined from eternity to be conformed to the image of His Son, these He called in time to the end of justice and holiness, to salvation, by a vocation according to purpose, an efficacious vocation never failing, not that by which many are called who do not come, concerning which Christ says: "Many are called, but few are chosen." This is the first effect of predestination. And whom He called, these He also justified, granting them faith, repentance, remission of sins, interior renewal through grace and charity diffused by the Holy Spirit, and perseverance unto the end. For all these things the series of justification, which is the second effect of predestination, embraces in the elect. And whom He justified, these He also glorified, that is, He decreed to endow them with celestial glory, eternal and immortal life. This is the ultimate effect of predestination. This is the end to which God predestined us and leads us through vocation and justification. Moreover, the Apostle uses verbs of the past tense both to signify certainty in the manner of the Prophets, and because in the Saints who lived from the beginning of the world to these times, these things had been fulfilled.

Rom 8:31-32 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Since there is such great care of God for His elect that all things turn out for their good and that He leads them certainly to eternal glory, what shall we say amidst the adversities of this age, amidst temptations and persecutions by which we are afflicted? Shall we lose heart? By no means. For if God is for us, who can be against us? The Apostle says this in the person of all the elect. Since God stands for us, willing efficaciously to fulfill in us His eternal purpose of our justification and salvation, who can prevail against us and impede our salvation? Certainly no one. For the sheep given to Christ by the Father will not perish, nor can anyone snatch them out of His hand, just as no one can snatch them out of the hand of the Father. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? He who did not spare His own natural, only-begotten Son, as we are accustomed to spare things most dear, but delivered Him up to death for us all, the elect loving God, called according to purpose, and expended Him for our salvation, how shall He not also give us salvation itself and whatever things are necessary for it with Him? How shall He not give grace and glory?

Rom 8:33-34 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who will dare to accuse as guilty of crimes those whom God has chosen for eternal life? God is He who justifies; who is he that condemns? God is He who made them just out of the impious. But with God absolving and justifying, who will bear a sentence of damnation against them? That certainly would be attempted in vain. It is Christ Jesus who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. There is various punctuation of this place among the ancients. St. Augustine (Book 3 On Christian Doctrine, ch. 3) reads it thus: "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? God who justifies." So that it is tacitly answered: "No one." "Who is he who condemns? Christ Jesus who died, indeed who is also risen, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us." So that everywhere it is tacitly answered: "No one." We adhere to the Version of the Vulgate, which is in perfect agreement with the Greek Text and fortified by the authority of St. Chrysostom and Theodoretus. The sense, therefore, is: Christ Jesus is He who, the Father delivering Him up, died on account of our offenses, and not only died but also rose again on account of our justification, leaving us a sure hope of rising, who also for our cause sits at the right hand of God the Father, a sharer of the same glory and power, and does not cease in the kingdom of His glory to care for us. But showing the firstfruits which He has received from us and demonstrating them to the Father alien from all stain, through those He asks salvation for us, our advocate with the Father as man and perpetual patron. Who also makes intercession for us. Compare with Hebrews 4:14-16; 7:25; and 9:24.

Rom 8:35-37 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Since Christ has done so many and such great things for us, who can bring it about that He ceases to love us? What can bring it about that we are ever torn away from His charity? Tribulation or affliction in body and external things? Or anguish in mind, or certainly in doubtful and perplexed affairs where human counsel fails and where evils so surround and press a man that they seem to snatch away the place of escaping? Or famine? Or nakedness? Or danger? Or persecution? Or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." As it is written that the elect suffer and will suffer (Psalm 44): "For Your sake, on account of the confession of Your name and Your worship, we are exposed daily to death, vexations, and all kinds of dangers; we are treated by our persecutors as sheep destined for slaughter." Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. In all these enumerated evils, we conquer or, as the force of the Greek word ὑπερνικῶμεν is, we "super-conquer"; we are far and easily superior to them all on account of God who loved us, not by our own powers and merits but through the help of Christ who loved us.

Rom 8:38-39 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I am certain, I have it persuaded and I trust that neither death, that is the fear of death, nor life, that is the hope of life, nor Angels, nor principalities, nor powers—Angels of Satan, adverse powers whose operation is the overthrow of the faithful—nor things present nor future. Neither present nor future goods or evils, nor strength—no force of the princes of this age. These words "nor strength" are absent from the Greek Text and Syriac Version. Nor height nor depth, that is, nothing of those things which are in heaven and in the air or in the sea, nor any prosperity, no height of honor from which a precipice might be feared, no adversity and misery from which shipwreck and certain ruin might threaten, nor any other creature, nor anything else of those things which are most terrible among created things to mortals, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So powerful and efficacious, so certain and immutable is God's love toward His beloved that nothing can tear us from it, making Him cease to love us or certainly making His love frustrate its effect, that is, our salvation. But that singular and exalted love of God toward the elect is conciliated for them through Christ our Lord, Mediator and Propitiator. Or: Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love with which God loved us from eternity in Christ Jesus, as His members; for the head and the members are one Christ, as St. Augustine repeats often.

MORAL COMMENTARY

Rom 8:1-2 Therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh. We should devoutly meditate on the manifold and truly wonderful effects of Christ's grace in the baptized, recounted here by the Apostle for the consolation of the faithful; we should give thanks for such great benefits, and use them for the end for which they were conferred upon us, though unworthy, by God—namely, for His glory and our salvation. The grace of God rescinds the sentence of damnation pronounced by God against the children of Adam, and applying to us the merits of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the power of His passion and resurrection, makes us children of God, grafts us into Christ as branches into the true vine, and joins us to Him as members to the head, making us incorporate with Christ so that we subsist and live in Him. Therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

The grace of Christ brings it about that we depart from the ways of the flesh and lead a holy life worthy of the Christian name. Who do not walk according to the flesh. It is not enough to be in Christ unless we abide in Him and order our life according to His Gospel. He glories in the name of Christian who in no way imitates Christ. The grace of Christ is not idle; it brings it about that in the ways of God, which are contrary to the ways of the flesh—that is, in His commandments—we not only walk but run. "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord." "I have run the way of Your commandments." Sinners who walk according to the flesh, you perish and you know it not. You do not go that way which you desire to reach. For undoubtedly you desire to be blessed, but the paths you run are miserable and lead to greater misery. Do not seek so great a good through evils, if you wish to attain it; come here, go this way. Leave the perverse ways, you who cannot leave the will for beatitude; you are fatigued by tending toward it, you are defiled by attaining it. But those are not defiled in error who walk in the perversity of the age, but "Blessed are the undefiled in the way," who do not walk according to the flesh, but "who walk in the law of the Lord, who search His testimonies," loving them for themselves, and not seeking through them other things, and seeking Him with their whole heart, not negligently.

Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. The grace of Christ, which is the spirit of life, mortifies concupiscence in us, even if it does not yet entirely extinguish it, and frees us from its dominion as well as from the eternal death of soul and body. For it is the fruit of the life-giving Spirit and the germ of eternal life. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. The law is not that given on Mount Sinai, the oldness of the letter, but the law of grace written in hearts by the Holy Spirit, which frees us from the law of sin and death. For how would you delight in the law of God according to the inner man, unless the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus came to your aid? Therefore, let the human mind not attribute this to itself, nor be proud that it does not consent to the desires of the flesh, that the law of sin does not depose it from the citadel. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death. Not the law of fear, but the law of love. For this is the most evident and briefest difference between the two Testaments: fear and love. That pertains to the old man, this to the new man, such as is the true and good Christian. How ungrateful and insipid is the man who expels the Spirit of life from his soul by sinning and restores the kingdom of concupiscence and death within himself.

Rom 8:3-4 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. The grace of Christ, through His incarnation, passion, and death, supplies the infirmity and impotence of the law and frees us from its malediction, providing most efficacious powers to the will by which the law may be fulfilled. The law of sin or concupiscence made the weak law in the flesh weak. The empire of Medicinal and Victorious Grace, which Christ the Savior merited for us, exerts power over the will so that the law may be fulfilled. For the law commanded but did not fulfill; the flesh, where there was no grace, resisted most invincibly. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh—that is, through carnal desires (for the law was not fulfilled because the charity of its justice did not yet hold the mind by interior delectation, lest it be drawn to sin by the delectation of temporal things)—what the law could not do, God did. The Son of God, sent by the Father into the world to redeem men, condemned sin in the flesh on account of sin; that is, by assuming the flesh of a sinful man and teaching us how to live, He condemned sin in the very flesh, so that the spirit, burning with the charity of eternal things, might not be led captive into the consent of lust. That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Thus the precepts of the law, which could not be fulfilled through fear, are fulfilled through charity.

Rom 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. The grace of Christ draws us away from the corruption of the flesh and makes us spiritual, so that we no longer savor the things of the flesh but the things of the Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. The taste of the heart is love. Such as the love, such are the works; such the heart, such the life. Hence we can discern whether we are celestial or terrestrial, spiritual or carnal, sons of God or sons of this age. "My weight is my love; I am carried wherever I am carried." "By Your gift, O Lord, we are kindled and carried upward; we burn and go to the peace of Jerusalem." "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go into the house of the Lord.'" There good will has placed us so that we wish for nothing else than to remain there forever. Men are such as their loves are. If you love the earth, you are earth; if you love heaven, you are heaven; if you love the flesh, you are flesh; if you love God, you are God. Good loves do not make good morals unless...

Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. To love the things of the flesh, namely the pleasures, riches, and honors of the world, and to wish to enjoy them, is the state of a mortal man. This truth of faith is handed down and preached by the Holy Spirit through the Apostle. It is the height of perversity to use what should be enjoyed and to enjoy what should be used. God alone is to be enjoyed; creatures are to be used, "as not using them." To enjoy is to cling to a thing with love for its own sake, to place the end of one's joy in it. Therefore, whoever loves creatures for their own sake loves them perversely. Whoever seeks the end of his joy in them is ruled by the prudence of the flesh, which is the death of the soul. But whoever uses creatures solely out of necessity, carefully watching that he does not transgress their limits, and who refers their necessary use to God, is ruled by the prudence of the Spirit, which is life and peace. Disturbance and death are the fruits of noxious love; life and peace are the fruits of good and holy love. Eternal peace belongs to him who perseveringly loves God and His law. Therefore, O my soul, do not be vain, and do not become deaf in the ear of your heart to the tumult of your vanity. Hear, and you too, the Word Himself cries out that you may return. "And there is the place of undisturbed quiet, where love is not deserted if it does not desert." Why do you perversely follow your flesh? Let it follow you, converted. If bodies please you, praise God from them and turn your love back to their Maker, lest in those things which please you, you displease Him. If souls please you, let them be loved in God, because they too are mutable and are stabilized when fixed in Him; otherwise they would go and perish. Therefore, let them be loved in Him, and snatch up to Him with you as many as you can, and say: "Let us love Him, let us love Him; He made these and is not far off. For He did not make them and go away; in Him they are." Behold where He is, where truth tastes sweet. He is intimate to the heart, but the heart has strayed from Him. "Return, O transgressors, to the heart, and adhere to Him who made you. Stand with Him and you shall stand; rest in Him and you shall be at rest." This is the prudence of the Spirit, which is life and peace.

Rom 8:7-9 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Does he love God who fosters God's enemy in his heart? Self-love, by which we cling to things that flatter the senses of the flesh or the innate pride of the old man, is the enemy of God. Love of the world is the enemy of God. "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Love of the age is adultery, by which the faith given to Christ, the spouse of our souls, in baptism is violated and our soul is polluted. "Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." The prudence of the flesh is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be, since it is an inordinate love of earthly and temporal things. For the prudence of the flesh, says St. Augustine, is when the soul covets temporal goods as great goods. But as long as such an appetite is in the soul, it cannot be subject to the law of God—that is, it cannot fulfill what the law commands. But when it begins to desire spiritual goods and despise temporal ones, it ceases to be the prudence of the flesh and will not resist the Spirit. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whatever formulas of prayer you recite, whatever alms you give, whatever confraternities of the Scapular, Rosary, etc., you join, even if you profess a Religious Order, even if you are a priest and celebrate Mass daily, you do not please God if you obey the affections and desires of corrupt nature and do not follow the spirit and precepts of the Gospel. This is life according to the flesh, which cannot please God, because God is Spirit, and no one is a true worshiper of Him unless he is spiritual—that is, unless he masters the desires of the flesh and evil affections. The sum of religion is to imitate whom you worship. The character of a true Christian, by which he is distinguished from Gentiles and carnal Jews, is to live according to the Spirit—that is, not to rest in the pleasures of the flesh, but in faith, hope, and charity regarding spiritual things. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But he who does not have the Spirit of Christ is delivered to the spirit of error and darkness. He who is not Christ's, whose is he? Unless the prince of this world? But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. How is each one proved to have the Spirit of Christ in himself? Christ is Wisdom; if he is wise according to Christ and savors the things of Christ, he has the Spirit of Christ in himself through wisdom. Christ is Justice; if anyone has justice in himself, through the justice of Christ he has the Spirit of Christ in himself. Christ is Peace; if anyone has the peace of Christ in himself, through the Spirit of peace he has the Spirit of Christ in himself. So too regarding charity and sanctification and each thing that Christ is said to be; he who has the Spirit of Christ in himself is to be believed to have these, and to hope that his mortal body will be vivified on account of the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him. But he who does not take up his cross and follow Christ, who does not destroy the kingdom of sin in himself and in others as much as in him lies, who is not prepared to devote his life for the defense of truth and justice, this man does not have the Spirit of Christ. He is indeed God's creature, like the beasts of the forest and the cattle on the hills, but he is not His disciple. The Christian ought to leave nothing undone to preserve the Spirit of Christ. He departs from carnal men. "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he is flesh." By any mortal sin the Spirit is expelled and extinguished in us; by penance He is recalled. By innocence of life He is preserved; to each one He is increased in grace according to the progress of faith, and the purer the soul is made, the more copiously the Spirit is infused. The Spirit of Christ does not vivify except the members of Christ; but the living members of Christ are not those separated from His body by mortal sin. Let us therefore love unity, let us fear separation. Nothing should be so feared by a Christian as to be separated from the body of Christ. For if he is separated from the body of Christ, he is not a member of it; if he is not a member of it, he is not animated by its Spirit. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

Rom 8:10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Who can think without horror of the cruelty of that tyrant who joined dead bodies to the living? Far greater horror should the sin inflict upon us, by which it came to pass that the soul, resurrected and renewed by the grace of Christ, is joined to a body dead because of sin—that is, because of the concupiscence dwelling in it. This carries on a continuous war, the more dangerous because it is domestic, against the spirit or soul of the just, and attempts to inflict death upon it. We must fight in turn against it and never yield, never consent to its desires. For if we consent even once, it is all over with the life of our soul; we perish. If we have ever emerged victorious, let us not be secure on that account. The battle must be renewed; the enemy does not rest. The flesh always lusts against the spirit; the spirit must always resist and fight and weaken the enemy as long as he lives. But he lives only until this mortal body puts on immortality and death is swallowed up in victory, and indwelling sin is entirely extinguished. But when our mortal bodies are vivified, not only will there be no consent to sinning, but even the concupiscence of the flesh, to which one does not consent, will remain. Only that Man could have the resisting flesh in a mortal body who did not come to men through it. Let us rejoice and give glory to God, who has granted us the life of the spirit through grace and charity. Let us fear, because in our body we carry about the death of sin—that is, the cursed propensity to sin, by which we are always urged as by a stimulus to the death of the soul, which is separation from God, the fountain of all justice.

Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. The resurrection of the body to immortal life, which is the second regeneration, is the fruit of the first regeneration which takes place in baptism; it is the right of our adoption, the effect of the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ in us as in members of this celestial head and in temples of that adorable Spirit. For our bodies received unity in Christ through that laver which is unto incorruption; the souls through the Spirit. Whence both are necessary, since both profit unto the life of God, our Lord Jesus Christ having mercy. To say, therefore, that a temple of God in which the Spirit dwells, the Father and members of Christ, will not share in salvation but will be reduced to perdition—how is this not the height of blasphemy? Now, however, we take some part of His Spirit for perfection and preparation for incorruption, gradually accustoming ourselves to bear and contain God, which the Apostle also called a pledge—that is, a part of that honor promised to us by God. Few grasp the amplitude and power of baptismal grace. It is the germ of eternal life and of all graces leading to it. Woe to those who have suffocated that divine germ and do not care to raise it through Penance.

Rom 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. We ought to refresh, cherish, clothe, and care for the flesh when it labors, but far be it from us to live according to the flesh and to surrender the dominion of our life to it. For it is necessary that it follow the command of right reason, not precede it. Yet carnal men live as if they owe everything to it; to it they consecrate their watches, wealth, cares, studies, and their whole life, which they owe to the one God. And lest they deceive themselves and glory that they do not live according to the flesh, they are perhaps free from intemperance, drunkenness, fornication, uncleanness, and all vices of the body. For if they live according to the guidance of corrupt reason and the impulse of their own will, if they serve avarice, ambition, envy, and other vices which the Apostle enumerates among the works of the flesh, they are convicted of living according to the flesh. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. To these enemies, to be mortified by continence, the Apostle excites the soldiers of Christ with a celestial and spiritual trumpet. For continence itself avails much in that war in which the spirit lusts against the flesh, because it in a certain way crucifies the very concupiscences of the flesh. Whence, when the Apostle had said these things, he immediately subjoined: And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. This is the action of continence; thus the works of the flesh are mortified in this.

Rom 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. If anyone hears this, if he has any Christian sense, let him tremble. Life according to the flesh, the fulfillment of the desires of the flesh, leads to eternal death. This is a truth of faith, an oracle of the Holy Spirit, and the Christian man will hear the world thinking and saying the contrary. The mortification of the flesh and its desires and carnal works leads to eternal, blessed, glorious life, not of the soul only but of the body. Therefore, they do not truly love their flesh but hate it, who do not procure so great a good through continence and Christian mortification. Therefore, do not permit the body to live now, so that it may live then; cause it to die, so that it may not die. For if it remains alive, it will by no means live; if it has been made dead, then at length it will live. This very thing happens in the general resurrection; for first it must die and be buried, and then at length it will become immortal. The same thing happens in the laver; first it is crucified and buried, and then at length raised. This also happened in the body of the Lord; for it was affixed to the cross, dead, and buried, and then at length rose. Therefore, let us also strive in His works; let us continually mortify it, not destroying the substance, but restraining the impulses and motions which carry one to evil actions. This alone is life: not to serve pleasures, to which whoever has subjected himself is by no means to be considered as living here, on account of the stains and disgraces inflicted by them, on account of the terrors and dangers they bring, on account of the crowd of vain disturbances. For if death, awaited by the voluptuous man, comes, he surely dies of fear even before death itself; if disease, if injuries, if poverty, or any other sudden adversity befalls him, the wretched man is already lost and consumed. But what life is more miserable than this? But he who lives by the Spirit is not such; indeed, he is superior to terror, pain, danger, and every change.

Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. Do not say, "My will can do this, my free will can." Unless He guides, you fall; unless He raises, you lie prostrate. How then by your own spirit, when you hear the Apostle saying: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God? Do you wish to be led by yourself to mortify the actions of the flesh? What does it matter to you if you are not an Epicurean but a Stoic? Whether you are an Epicurean or a Stoic, you will not be among the sons of God. Not those who live according to their own flesh, not those who live according to their own spirit, not those who are led by the flesh, not those who are led by their own spirit, but as many as are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Someone says to me: "Therefore we are led, we do not act." I answer: On the contrary, you both act and are led, and then you act well if you are led by the Good. For the Spirit of God is He who leads you; He is the helper to the one acting. The very name of "helper" prescribes to you that you also do something yourself. Recognize what you ask, recognize what you confess when you say, "Be my helper, do not forsake me." You invoke God as helper. No one is helped if nothing is done by him. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God—not by the letter but by the Spirit, not by the law commanding, threatening, promising, but by the Spirit exhorting, illuminating, helping. We know, says the same Apostle, that all things work together for good to those who love God. If you were not an operator, He would not be a co-operator. When you hear, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God, do not cast yourselves down. For God does not build His temple of you as of stones which have no motion of their own, which are lifted by the builder and placed. Living stones are not like that. And you, as living stones, are built together into a temple of God. You are led, but run; you are led, but follow. When you have followed, it will be true that without Him you can do nothing. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. As many as act as Adam, as carnal Jews, as servants of sin and the law, whoever act by the false light of corruption, whoever by the impulse and motion of cupidity, whoever by fear of punishments alone, those alone act as sons of God who act by His Spirit and are led by Him. The Apostle did not say, "As many as live by the Spirit of God," but As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God, by which he wishes the Spirit of God to be the lord of our life as a pilot of a ship, and not only the body but the very soul must be subjected to Him. For He does not wish it to dominate and live by its own institution, but has subjected its authority to the power of the Spirit. For lest, confident in the gift of the laver, they neglect the subsequent life, he says: "Although you have received baptism, unless you are led by the Spirit afterward, you have lost the dignity given and the prerogative of adoption." Therefore, he did not say, "As many as have received the Spirit of God," but As many as are led by the Spirit of God—that is, as many as live their whole life thus, these are sons of God. Who choose a state of life or some condition, who give their name to the Clerical or Military life and desire to be promoted to the Priesthood, who seek or undertake Ecclesiastical offices, who embrace the Monastic Life, who wish to marry, who undertake magistracies, who profess negotiation, who follow the camp—whether they are led by the Spirit of God, they will know, and whether they are truly sons of God. We consult the fathers of our flesh and are led by their will when a state or condition of great importance is to be deliberated, and we do not consult the Father of our souls, we do not seek His will, we are not led by His Spirit. Therefore, we glory in vain in the name of Christians and sons of God.

Rom 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The difference between the Old and New Testament, Jews and Christians, servants and sons, Law and Gospel, Synagogue and Church, is fear and love. Someone will say: "Another is the spirit of bondage, another the Spirit of liberty." If it were another, the Apostle would not say "again." Therefore, it is the same Spirit, but on tablets of stone in fear, on tablets of the heart in love. Now therefore not in fear but in love, that we may be not servants but sons. For he who does good only because he fears punishment does not love God; he is not yet among the sons. Would that he at least feared punishment! Fear is a servant; charity is free. And so to speak, fear is the servant of charity. Let not the devil possess your heart; let the servant precede in your heart and keep a place, O Lord, for the coming Lady. Do, do even out of fear of punishment, if you cannot yet out of love for justice. The Lady will come and the servant will depart, "for perfect love casts out fear." How many Jews lie hidden under the Christian name! We cry to God "Our Father" in vain unless we cry out with the Spirit of charity. But you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father.' The Lord is feared; the Father is loved. Let the heart cry out, "Our Father who art in heaven." This cry is of the heart, not of the throat, not of the lips; it sounds inwardly in the ears of God. With closed mouth and unmoved lips, Susanna cried out with this voice. In whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father.' The Holy Spirit Himself makes us ask what we desire to receive; He Himself makes us seek whom we wish to find; He Himself makes us knock at Him at whom we strive to arrive. He also acts, once received, that He may be more largely received by asking, seeking, knocking. Whether it is that a good life be asked for, or that one may live well, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Rom 8:16-17 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Not our spirit bears witness to our spirit that we are sons of God, but the Spirit of God bears witness as a pledge for the thing promised to us. Therefore, let each one attend to his heart. In every action of his let him consider by what spirit he acts and for what end—whether by the Spirit of God or the spirit of the age, whether on account of God and eternal goods or on account of the world and temporal goods—and he will know what sort he is, whether a son or a servant, whether for that work he ought to expect punishment as a wicked and unfaithful servant, or inheritance as a son. And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Our Physician not only grants us health but also deigns to bestow a reward upon us. What is that reward? Inheritance. But not as the inheritance of a human father. For he leaves it to his sons; he does not possess it with his sons. The heirs of God are such that God Himself is our inheritance. "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance," says the Prophet. Heirs indeed of God, says the Apostle. If that is too little for you, hear that you may rejoice more abundantly: and joint heirs with Christ. Let us remember that we are heirs of God living in heaven, that we may despise earthly things. Let us remember that we are joint heirs with Christ who died on the cross, lest we refuse to die with Him on our cross. We cannot be companions of His inheritance unless we are companions of His sufferings. This is the indispensable condition of the new covenant: if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

Rom 8:18-19 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. If we always think of future goods, we will make little of present evils. For these are momentary; future goods are eternal. The endurance of present evils is rewarded with glory, with a certain immensity of dignity by which we shall be like God, whom we shall see as He is. The saints shall exult in glory. Now indeed the just have glory, but hidden in their conscience. "Our glory is this: the testimony of our conscience." But then that glory will be revealed in the sight of all, both good and evil, concerning which it is written: "In the suddenness of unexpected salvation." That glory alone is true, which shall be revealed in us. For the glory of this world is vain, because it is in things outside of man—for example, in the apparatus of riches, in the splendor of worldly dignities, in the luxury of garments, in the elegance of form, the magnificence of buildings and various furnishings, in the excellence of genius and doctrine, in the opinion of men—but future glory will be of that which is within man. "The Kingdom of God is within you." Therefore, the sufferings of this present time are unequal to the magnitude of future glory. In a little moment, says the Lord, and with great mercies I will gather you. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy. He Himself says this who suffered, and knew for what name He suffered and with what fruit He suffered. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Let the world rage, let the world fret, let it brandish tongues, let it flash arms, let it do whatever it can; what will it do compared to that which we are about to receive? I weigh what I suffer against what I hope. This I feel, that I believe. And yet what I believe avails more than what I feel. Whatever it is that rages for the name of Christ, if it can be lived, it is tolerable; if it cannot be lived, it makes one migrate hence. It does not extinguish but accelerates. What does it accelerate? The reward, the very sweetness which, when it comes, will be without end. Work without end, reward without end. Why do you count days and years for yourself in uncertainty? The hour passes, the punishment passes; they do not approach each other but rather yield, they succeed. Not so glory, not so remuneration, not so the reward of labor; it knows no vicissitude, it knows no end; it remains all together and remains forever. When He gives sleep to His beloved, behold, the heritage of the Lord. For now to each day its own evil, nor can it reserve its labor for the following, but the reward of all labors is rendered on that one day, to which no other succeeds. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, says the Apostle, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day. For one day in Your courts is better than a thousand. Punishment is drunk drop by drop, it is taken in drops, it passes by minutes; but in remuneration there is a torrent of pleasure, and the impetus of a river, a torrent flooding with joy, a river of glory, and a river of peace. A river indeed it is called, not because it flows away or passes through, but because it abounds. Therefore, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. Corruption of man, who abuses them against the Creator's intention, overflows onto sensible creatures enslaved to the uses of men. Therefore, they wait for the revealing of the sons of God, that they may be vindicated and purged from that corruption by the fire with which the world will be consumed, and that heaven and earth may attain a certain novelty and beauty of glory. We also ought to wait and vehemently desire the universal restoration of order, the renovation of the world, and the consummation of Christian grace, if we are truly Christians. All the days that I now serve I wait, until my change comes. The time of the present life is not the time of the manifestation of the elect. Yet a little while and the glory of the sons of God will be revealed. Now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. Let us groan in the meantime on account of our captivity, until God converts it; let us lament our sins, let us sigh for the day of our liberation. Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body.

Rom 8:20-23 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, etc. Sensible creatures were created by God to elevate man to the knowledge and love of supreme Truth, but man, abusing them, subjects them to his own vanity. O perversity! He wishes to enjoy them as if they were his God and supreme good; he uses them arbitrarily and refers them to himself as if he were their god. In this he does violence to their natural inclination, for by their own instinct they love to be referred to God, who is their first principle and ultimate end. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly. From the vanity of this world, from the pomp of the age to which we renounced in baptism, from the snares the devil hides under sensible creatures, from the poison with which he has infected them, that we may be freed, let us invoke the grace of Christ, let us pray and keep watch assiduously, saying with David: "Turn away my eyes, lest they behold vanity; in Your way give me life." On the contrary, vanity and truth differ from each other. The desire of this world is vanity, but Christ who frees from this world is Truth. He is the Way in which this creature wishes to be vivified, because He Himself is also Life. He who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." But what is: "Turn away my eyes, lest they behold vanity"? Can we, as long as we are in this world, avoid seeing vanity? For every creature is subject to vanity, which is understood to be in man, and "All is vanity." What abundance has man in all his labor with which he labors under the sun? Does he perhaps pray that his life not be under the sun where all is vanity, but in Him in whom he asks to be vivified? For He ascended not only above the sun but above all heavens, that He might fill all things. And those live more in Him than under the sun who do not hear in vain what the Apostle said: "Seek the things that are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God; set your minds on things above, not on things on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." And thus, if our life is there where truth is, it is not under the sun where vanity is. But we have this so great a good more in hope than in possession. And according to our hope the blessed Apostle spoke these words: For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope. Therefore, in the hope by which we hope that we shall adhere to the contemplation of truth, we are subjected to vanity in the meantime. For this creature, spiritual, animal, and corporeal, is all in man, indeed man himself. He sinned willingly and became an enemy of truth, but that he might be justly punished, he was subjected to vanity not willingly. Finally, a little later the Apostle adds: Not only that, but we ourselves also, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, that is, who are not yet wholly what we are, but in part by which we are better than beasts, are not subject to vanity but to God, that is, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. For what does a man see and yet hope for? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience. As long, therefore, we are here according to the flesh, whose adoption and redemption we still await with patient hope, so long according to that by which we are under the sun, we are subjected to vanity. As long, therefore, we are thus, how can we not see vanity, to which we are also subjected in hope? What then does he mean by: "Turn away my eyes, lest they behold vanity"? Does he ask that what we bear in hope in this life not be fulfilled, but that it may perhaps be in that life which can sometime be fulfilled when it is delivered from the bondage of corruption, and spirit, soul, and body enter into the liberty of the glory of the children of God, where it will no longer see vanity? Not only that, but we ourselves also, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, etc. If it is proper for the elect to groan, sigh, and with fervent desires long for liberation from this body of death and sin, what must be thought of those for whom nothing is dearer than the love of present life, and who spend it entirely in joy and delights? If the Holy Spirit makes us sigh for our heavenly homeland, he ought to fear who does not sigh for it, lest he not have the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit, whose full, perfect, and consummated outpouring will flood the whole mystical body of Christ and each and every glorified member. He ought to fear lest he not belong to Christ's body. Through groans and tears of a penitent life one arrives at the joy of the Lord. Let us at least groan over this very thing: that we do not groan. Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. This body is a slave, it is captive, it is miserable, which you love too much, which you adorn more carefully, which you foster more lavishly, whose desires you obey, and by this very thing you increase its slavery and captivity, and procure for it eternal misery, when you could labor for its redemption as long as life remains, by doing penance and exercising good works, and persevering in them even unto death. The redemption of our body.

Rom 8:24-25 For we were saved in this hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. For what does a man see and yet hope for? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience. Christian hope is a great treasure. It keeps the fruit and merits of past labors, renders future goods present, mitigates temporal evils, inspires contempt and disdain for the delights of this age, and infuses an anticipated taste of eternal goods, just as the righteous taste and see how sweet the Lord is. The Christian life is a life of expectation and salvation for those who have faith and live according to faith. For we were saved in this hope. Just as we were saved in hope, so also we were made blessed in hope, and just as we do not yet hold salvation present but await it future, so also beatitude, and this with patience, because we are in evils which we ought to bear patiently until we come to those goods where there will be everything by which we may be unspeakably delighted, but nothing which we ought any longer to endure. Such salvation, which will be in the future age, will itself also be final beatitude. Which beatitude, because philosophers, not seeing it, are unwilling to believe, they attempt to preach here to themselves with a virtue as proud as it is false. But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience. Hence our Lord, to whom it is said in the Psalm: "You are my hope, my portion in the land of the living," commands us, I say, who are our hope in the land of the living, to address you in this land of the dying, so that you look not at what is seen but at what is not seen. For what is seen is temporal, but what is not seen is eternal. Because therefore we hope for what we do not see and wait for it with patience, it is rightly said to us in the Psalm: "Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!" For the world's promises always deceive, but God's promises never deceive. But because the world seems about to give what it promises here, that is, in this land of the dying in which we now are, but God will give what He promises in the land of the living, many grow weary waiting for the truthful One and do not blush to love the deceiver. But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience. Jesus Christ taught us by the example of His passion with what patience we ought to walk in Him, and strengthened us by the example of His resurrection as to what we ought patiently to hope from Him. What we do not indeed see, we hope for, but we are the body of that Head in whom what we hope for is already perfect. Since He who rose is our Head, He keeps our hope. And because before He rose, our Head was scourged, He strengthened our patience. For it is written: "Whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives." Therefore, let us not faint under the scourge, that we may rejoice in the resurrection.

Rom 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Our weakness is from the oldness of Adam and indwelling concupiscence; our strength is from the charity which the Holy Spirit diffuses in our hearts. What greater weakness and misery than to need all things and not be able to ask for what we need, not to know what is expedient for us, and therefore to ignore what we ought to ask of God, and how we ought to ask for those very things which are otherwise useful for salvation? Nor is it only the common faithful who are in this ignorance and weakness, but even the Masters of the Church, the Apostles themselves. We do not know what we should pray for as we ought. The Apostle does not say this merely out of modesty. For he prayed long and fervently that he might visit the Romans, yet he did not obtain it when he earnestly desired it. He prayed that the thorn in the flesh might be removed from him, and that he might be delivered from various dangers, yet he did not become master of his vow. Similarly, Moses begging to enter the Promised Land, Jeremiah supplicating for the Jews, Abraham for the Sodomites, were not heard by God. Therefore, they did not know what to pray, what was according to God's will, what was more conducive to His glory, unless the Holy Spirit helped their weakness and dictated within prayers worthy of being heard, and made them ask for what God had decreed to grant and do. We often ask for temporal goods and ask for them absolutely, which hinder our salvation and bring damnation upon us by perverse use. We do not know what we should pray for as we ought. Temporal molestations and tribulations often profit either for healing the tumor of pride, or for testing and exercising patience, to which, tested and exercised, a clearer and more abundant reward is kept, or for scourging and abolishing any sins whatever. Yet we, not knowing how these things profit, desire to be freed from all tribulation. In these tribulations, therefore, which can both profit and harm, we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, and yet because they are hard, because they are troublesome, because they are against the sense of our weakness, by universal human will we pray that they be taken away from us. But we ought to owe this devotion to the Lord our God, that if He does not take them away, we should not therefore think ourselves neglected by Him, but rather hope for greater goods with pious patience for evils. For thus is power made perfect in weakness. To some impatient ones, indeed, the Lord God granted what they asked in anger, just as He denied it propitiously to the Apostle. For we read how the Israelites asked and received, but their concupiscence being fulfilled, their impatience was severely chastised. He also gave a king to those asking according to their own heart, as it is written, not according to His own heart. He also gave what the devil asked, that his servant might be tried by being tempted. He heard the unclean spirits asking that the legion of demons might be sent into many swine. But these things are written lest anyone magnify himself if he is heard when he asks something impatiently, which it would be more profitable not to obtain, or cast himself down and despair of divine mercy toward him if he is not heard, when perhaps he asks something by receiving which he would be more grievously afflicted, or utterly overthrown, corrupted by prosperity. In such things, therefore, we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. Whence, if something happens contrary to what we pray, by bearing it patiently and giving thanks in all things, we ought to doubt not at all that it was more fitting that God's will, not ours, should prevail. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. How often when we desire to do some work of virtue, and pray that we may be able to fulfill it, we seem to pray as we ought, but yet sometimes the matter is not so. For whatever work of virtue is not suitable for each individual man. Thus, rest in contemplation does not expedite for him who could profitably advance in action, and conversely. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death," says the Wise Man. St. Gregory often says that those who could contemplate God in quiet, pressed by occupations, have fallen, and often those who would have lived well in human uses if occupied, have been extinguished by the sword of their own quiet. Hence it is that some restless spirits, while they seek more in contemplating than they can take in, burst forth even into perverse dogmas, and while they humbly neglect to be disciples of the truth, become masters of errors. Thus the contemplative life assumed beyond their strength forces those to fall from the truth whom the active life alone could have kept humbly in the state of their uprightness. Again, unless the contemplative life suited some minds rather than the active, the Lord would never say through the Psalmist: BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD. We do not know what we should pray for as we ought. For we cannot altogether discern the motions and affections of our heart. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Not even itself, but the Lord alone. Often it escapes us whether we ask something from anger or from zeal for justice. Whence the request of the sons of Zebedee was rejected, because although they seemed to ask for a share in divine glory and the enjoyment of God, yet their request proceeded from vainglory and elevation of mind.

Rom 8:27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. God hears only His Spirit, only His own. When, therefore, He gives us His Spirit that we may pray effectively, He gives us what we ask. But the Holy Spirit makes intercession, or makes the elect pray, first for the destruction of sin and all evil affections, and for perseverance in charity amid the more grievous temptations by which they are assaulted and the evils by which they are afflicted. But He makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered. For prayer is the groaning of the heart feeling its own misery, need, and impotence. This business is transacted more by groanings than by voices. Prayer is the interpreter of desire, or rather holy desire itself. Your desire is your prayer. Desire, moreover, is the first fruit of love. Therefore, love alone forms good desires and consequently pours forth good prayers. But the Holy Spirit is love. Therefore, without the Holy Spirit helping our weakness, we cannot pray, nor can we even say "Lord Jesus" except in the Holy Spirit, nor are we sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but all our sufficiency is from God, as our Apostle says elsewhere. Since, therefore, the beginning of prayer is a pious thought, we have no sufficiency from ourselves for praying, but it is wholly from the Holy Spirit. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Cupidity abuses the best things; charity uses evil things well. The Jews abused Christ's doctrine, miracles, and examples; so many and so great benefits turned to their blindness, hardening, and destruction. Afflictions, persecutions, temptations turn to the good of those who love God, adhering with constant love to God whether correcting or consoling, testing or crowning, in adverse things no less than in prosperous. All things work together for good to those who love God. Therefore, not only those things which are desired as sweet, but even those which are avoided as troublesome, turn to good, when we so take other things that we are not captured, so bear other things that we are not broken, and according to divine precepts give thanks in all things to Him of whom we say: "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth," and "It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes." For if the tranquility of deceptive prosperity always smiled here, the human soul would not seek that port of true and certain security. All things work together for good to those who love God, etc. Even to such a degree that absolutely all things, even if any of them stray and go off course, even this itself He makes to profit them for good, because they return humbler and wiser. For they learn on the very just way that they ought to rejoice with trembling, not arrogating to themselves confidence of remaining as if from their own virtue, nor saying in their abundance, "I shall never be moved." For which reason it is said to them: "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling, lest the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way." He does not say "and you will not come to the just way," but "lest you perish from the just way." What does this show except that those are admonished who already walk in the just way that they should serve God in fear, that is, not be haughty in mind but fear, not be proud but humble? Whence also elsewhere he says: "Do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly." Let them rejoice in God but with trembling, glorying in nothing, since nothing is our own, that "he who glories, let him glory in the Lord," lest they perish from the just way in which they have already begun to walk, while they assign this very thing to themselves, that they are in it.

Rom 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. The surest indication of predestination to glory is conformity to the humiliations and passions of Christ Jesus. Christ had to suffer thus and thus enter into His glory; He had to be humbled even to the death of the cross that He might be exalted and be Firstborn among many brethren, He who was the natural and only-begotten Son of God; He had to do not His own will but the will of Him who sent Him, the eternal Father. Therefore, they hope in vain for a share in His inheritance and glory, His adopted children, who do not imitate His humility, patience, poverty, obedience, charity, meekness. What else is it to refuse to imitate Him than to renounce divine adoption? "He who keeps His word, truly in him the love of God is perfected, and by this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." Conformity to the image of the Son of God is now begun in the inner man through grace and charity and the other virtues, will be perfected and consummated in heaven. According to this image of the Son to which we are conformed, we also work in the body what the same Apostle says: "As we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly," that is, we hold by true faith and firm, certain hope that we who were mortal according to Adam shall be immortal according to Christ. Thus we can now bear the same image not yet in vision but in faith, not yet in reality but in hope.

Rom 8:30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. That admirable connection of God's gratuitous, efficacious, immutable decrees, on which our eternity depends, we ought to humbly adore, not pry into with proud curiosity—the abyss of the wisdom and judgments of God. Those who are called to the Catholic Christian faith, who are regenerated and justified by baptism, to whom it is given to recover lost justice through penance, ought to hope and trust in God's mercy that they will one day be endowed with eternal glory. But this confidence should make them humbler, more watchful, and more faithful in the observance of divine commandments, without which there is no access to life, Christ saying: "If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." Let them strive to make their calling and election sure by good works. Let them pursue holiness, without which no one will see God, and persevere in it to the end of the present life. For "he who endures to the end will be saved." Let us give unspeakable thanks to the mercy of God who willed to save, whose justice leaving and damning all in the mass of perdition we could by no means argue against. According to the purpose of His most hidden justice and goodness, God called those whom He predestined, and justified those whom He called, and glorified those whom He justified. Our predestination was made not in us but in secret with Him, in His foreknowledge. But the other three are made in us: vocation, justification, glorification. We are called by the preaching of penance, for thus the Lord began to preach: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." We are justified by the invocation of mercy and the fear of judgment. Hence it is said: "God, save me by Your name, and judge me by Your strength." He who has obtained salvation beforehand does not fear being judged. Called, we renounce the devil through penance, lest we remain under his yoke; justified, we are healed through mercy, lest we fear judgment; glorified, we pass into eternal life where we praise God without end.

Rom 8:31-32 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? God for us, that He might predestine us; God for us, that He might call us; God for us, that He might justify us; God for us, that He might glorify us. He predestined before we were; He called when we were turned away; He justified when we were sinners; He glorified when we were mortal. If God is for us, who can be against us? Who will dare to oppose those predestined, called, justified, glorified by God? Who can make war against God? For where have we heard: "If God is for us, who is against us?" Unless he who conquers God does not harm us. And who is it that conquers the Almighty? Whoever wishes to resist harms himself. But in these four things which the Apostle commends, which pertain to those for whom God is, that is, predestination, vocation, justification, glorification, we ought to consider what we already have and what we still await. In these things which we already have, let us praise God as the giver; in these which we do not yet have, let us hold Him as debtor. For He became a debtor not by receiving something from us, but by promising what pleased Him. We cannot say to Him, "Give back to me, because I gave to You." For who first gave to Him, and it shall be repaid to him? But, "Give what You promised, because we did what You commanded, and You did this because You helped us labor." He will undoubtedly fulfill His promises, who is faithful in His words, who also gave a pledge of infinite price of His goodness toward us, His only-begotten Son. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. For us, when we were still sinners, He delivered Him to the death of the cross, as the price of our redemption, as the victim of our expiation, as the mediator of our reconciliation. How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? What should one fear from the world? What not hope from God? He who knows, esteems, cherishes, loves that unspeakable gift, and lives a life worthy of the giver and the gift, carefully guards lest it be made useless to him for salvation.

Rom 8:33-34 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Since Christ died for us and satisfied for His members, they owe nothing more to God's justice as long as they remain in Him through baptismal grace. And if the elect have fallen from that grace by some sin worthy of death, they rise from it through penance and depart justified. No accusation, therefore, can harm those whom God chose to be holy. Whence St. John writes in the divine Apocalypse: "The accuser of our brethren is cast down." No one can condemn whom God absolves, declares, and pronounces just. With Him granting peace, who is he that condemns? Certainly the Father will not condemn them, who gave His own Son for them; nor the Son, who expiated their sins by His death as a victim of propitiation, brought forth justice for them by His resurrection, poured out the Holy Spirit upon them by His ascension to the right hand of God, and effectively applies His merit to them as Mediator and Advocate. Christ Jesus, who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

Rom 8:35-37 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, etc.? O admirable ways of the Lord, that He separates the reprobate from Christ, but joins the elect more intimately to Him! Neither fear of evils nor love of perishable goods can separate them from the love of Christ, in whom we find both a safe refuge against all evils and the fullness of all goods. He who conquered death and hell could save us from all evils of this life, but it is more glorious to us and far more useful to conquer them by suffering through His grace. Not only do the elect conquer all temporal evils, but among these they triumph over sin and over themselves, persevering in the love of Christ to the end. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Greater freedom is certainly necessary, says St. Augustine, against so many and so great temptations which were not in paradise, armed and strengthened by the gift of perseverance, so that with all its loves, terrors, and errors, this world may be conquered. The martyrdoms of the saints have taught this. Adam, with no one terrifying him, and moreover using free will even against God's terrifying command, did not stand in happiness with such ease of not sinning. But the saints, predestined to the kingdom through His grace, stood not with the world terrifying them, but lest they fall, they stood in faith, when he saw the present goods which he was about to leave, and they did not see the future goods which they were about to receive. Whence, except by the gift of Him from whom they obtained mercy to be faithful, by which they received the Spirit not of fear, by which they would yield to persecutors, but of power, love, and self-control, by which they overcame all threatening, all tormenting things?

Rom 8:38-39 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, etc. The more we are separated from the love of creatures and adhere to Christ Jesus by divine charity, proving we love Him in heart and deed, the more we can trust that we are among the number of the elect whom God loved from eternity in Christ Jesus, that they might be His members and obtain eternal life through Him. If any of these perish, God is deceived, but none of them perish; God is not deceived. If any of these perish, God is conquered by human fault, but none of them perish, because God is conquered by nothing. We are certain that all the predestined will persevere in good. I am certain, he says, speaking in their person. Therefore, you also ought to hope for the very perseverance of obeying from the Father of lights, from whom every good gift and every perfect gift descends, and ask by daily prayers, and doing this, trust that you are not alienated from the predestination of His people, who Himself grants that you do this. Far be it from you to despair of yourselves because you are commanded to have hope in Him, not in yourselves. For "cursed is the man who trusts in man," and "It is good to trust in the Lord rather than to trust in man." "Blessed are all who trust in Him." Holding this hope, serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling, for concerning eternal life, which He promised to the children of promise, no one can be secure before this life which is a temptation on earth is finished. But He will make us persevere in Him to the end of that life, to whom we daily say: LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION. I am certain that neither death nor life, etc., nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God. God is not to be loved for the sake of promised goods, but those goods are to be desired for His sake. For he who is sincerely affected toward a rich man does not love him for his wealth and possessions, but for his own affection toward him, loves also the things that pertain to him. So also the divine Apostle: "I would not wish," he says, "to have the kingdom of heaven and all things seen and perceived by the intelligence, without love for Christ. But if anyone should propose to me present and future molesties and hardships, and temporal and eternal death, and the longest torment in hell, together with the love of Christ, I would more willingly and cheerfully accept these than be frustrated from that great and excellent love of God which cannot be expressed in words." Therefore, let us strive suppliantly from God to have this, and apply every effort that, following the footsteps of the Apostle, we may be deemed worthy of apostolic tabernacles.

CONTINUE

 

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