Homilies on Genesis, Homilia I
In the Beginning — Christ the Firstborn§1
1In the beginning God made heaven and earth. What is the beginning of all things if not our Lord and Savior of all, Jesus Christ, the firstborn of all creation? In this beginning, that is in his Word, God made heaven and earth, as the evangelist John says: In the beginning was the Word. He does not mean some temporal beginning, but says that heaven and earth were made in the Beginning — that is, in the Savior. The earth was invisible and unordered, and darkness was over the abyss, and the Spirit of God was borne over the waters.
Latin · §1
In principio fecit Deus coelum et terram. Quod est omnium principium nisi Dominus noster et Salvator omnium Iesus Christus, primogenitus omnis creaturae? In hoc ergo principio, hoc est in Verbo suo, Deus coelum et terram fecit, sicut Evangelista Iohannes ait: In principio erat Verbum. Non temporale aliquod principium dicit, sed in principio, id est in Salvatore, factum esse dicit coelum et terram. Terra autem erat invisibilis et incomposita, et tenebrae erant super abyssum, et spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas.
Darkness over the abyss; Day One, not First§2
2The earth was invisible and unordered before God said Let there be light and before he divided light from darkness. Darkness was over the abyss — that abyss in which the devil and his angels will be. So God dissolves the darkness: Let there be light, and light was made. He called the light Day and the darkness Night. There was evening and there was morning, day one — he did not say “first day,” because time was not yet before the world.
Latin · §2
Invisibilis et incomposita terra erat, antequam Deus diceret: Fiat lux, et antequam divideret inter lucem et tenebras. Tenebrae erant super abyssum — illam nimirum in qua erit diabolus et angeli eius. Propterea Deus solvit tenebras: Fiat lux, et facta est lux. Et vocavit Deus lucem diem et tenebras noctem. Et factum est vespere et factum est mane, dies una — non dixit dies prima, quia tempus nondum erat ante mundum.
Firmament — spiritual heaven and bodily heaven§3
3God said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water. Though God had already made heaven, he now makes the firmament — that is, the bodily heaven. For every body is firm and solid. The first heaven, spiritual substance, is our mind, the spiritual human who sees God. The firmament, the bodily heaven, is our outer human. If one can divide the upper waters from the lower, that one too will be called a heavenly human: Our citizenship is in heaven.
Latin · §3
Et dixit Deus: Fiat firmamentum in medio aquae. Cum iam antea Deus fecisset coelum, nunc firmamentum facit, id est corporeum coelum. Omne enim corpus firmum est et solidum. Primum coelum, spiritalis substantia, est mens nostra, spiritalis homo qui videt Deum. Firmamentum, corporale coelum, exterior homo est. Si dividere potuerit aquas superiores et inferiores, etiam ipse caelestis homo appellabitur: Nostra autem conversatio in caelis est.
Divide the waters — living water vs the abyss§4
4Let each of you strive to become a divider of the water above and the water beneath, so that, taking a share of spiritual water, you may bring rivers of living water from your belly, cut off from the water of the abyss where darkness and the prince of this world dwell. By sharing that upper water the believer is made heavenly, thinking nothing of earth but all of the things above.
Latin · §4
Studeat unusquisque divisor effici aquae quae supra et quae subtus est, ut spiritalis aquae participium capiens flumina de ventre suo educat aquae vivae, segregatus ab aqua abyssi in qua tenebrae et princeps huius mundi habitant. Illius aquae supernae participio fidelis caelestis efficitur, nihil de terra sed totum de caelestibus cogitans.
Gather the waters; let dry land appear§5
5God said: Let the water under heaven be gathered into one gathering, and let the dry land appear. Let us labor to gather the water under heaven and cast away our evil deeds, so that dry land may appear. If we do not separate those waters — the sins and vices of the body — our dry land cannot appear, nor have confidence to come to the light: Everyone who does evil hates the light.
Latin · §5
Et dixit Deus: Congregetur aqua quae est sub caelo in congregationem unam, et appareat arida. Laboremus congregare aquam sub caelo et abicere gesta opera nostra mala, quo appareat arida. Si aquas — peccata et vitia corporis — non separaverimus, arida nostra non poterit apparere nec habere fiduciam accedendi ad lucem: Omnis qui male agit odit lucem.
Dry land named Earth — fruit-bearing bodies§6
6The water was gathered, and the dry land appeared. God called the dry land Earth. As dry land, once separated from water, is already named earth, so our bodies, if vices are separated, will no longer be called dry land but earth, able to bear for God. Whoever remains dry and brings forth thorns becomes food for fire; whoever shows himself fruitful earth may hope for a land flowing with milk and honey.
Latin · §6
Et congregata est aqua, et apparuit arida. Et vocavit Deus aridam terram. Sicut arida segregata aqua iam terra nominatur, ita corpora nostra, si vitia segregentur, iam non arida sed terra appellabuntur, Deo ferre potentes. Qui aridus manet et spinas profert, esca ignis efficitur; qui se terram fructiferam exhibet, speret terram fluentem lac et mel.
Let the earth put forth herb and fruit tree§7
7God said: Let the earth put forth the herb of grass, seeding seed according to its kind, and the fruit tree making fruit whose seed is in itself. By the letter the fruits are plain. If we have already been made earth, not dry land, let us bring rich fruits to God, that we may be blessed: See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a full field. For earth that often drinks the rain and yields timely herb will receive blessing; that which brings forth thorns ends in burning.
Latin · §7
Et dixit Deus: Producat terra herbam foeni semen seminantis secundum genus, et lignum fructiferum faciens fructum, cuius semen in ipso est. Secundum litteram manifesti sunt fructus. Si iam facti sumus terra, non arida, afferamus fructus uberes Deo, ut benedicamur: Ecce odor filii mei sicut odor agri pleni. Terra enim saepe bibens imbrem et generans herbam opportunam percipiet benedictionem; quae spinas profert, adustionis finis est.
Seeds of the virtues kept in the heart§8
8He not only orders the earth to put forth grass, but also seed, so that it may always be able to bear fruit; not only a fruit tree, but one making fruit whose seed is in itself — that we keep the seeds of all the virtues in our heart, and from them carry out acts according to justice. Let this herb come to maturity with deeper roots in the heart, so that they bear fruit and hold seeds of what is to come.
Latin · §8
Non solum iubet terrae proferre herbam foeni, sed et semen, ut semper fructum afferre possit; non solum lignum fructiferum, sed faciens fructum cuius semen in ipso est — omnium virtutum semina in corde nostro continere, ut ex ipsis actus secundum iustitiam geramus. Haec herba ad maturitatem veniat, altioribus in corde radicibus, ut fructum afferant et semina futurorum habeant.
Lights in the firmament of the heart§9
9After this the firmament deserves to be adorned with lights. God said: Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven, to shine upon the earth and to divide day from night. Sun and moon and stars are set in the firmament — in the church and in the heavenly human — so that those still in the body may be ruled by the illumination of the Word and of the law and the prophets.
Latin · §9
Post haec firmamentum meretur luminaribus adornari. Et dixit Deus: Fiant luminaria in firmamento caeli, ut luceant super terram, et dividant inter diem et noctem. Sol et luna et stellae in firmamento — in ecclesia et in homine caelesti — posita sunt, ut qui in corpore sunt illuminatione Verbi et legis et prophetarum regantur.
For signs and seasons — first series closes§10
10And let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years. The lights not only shine; they give signs: seasons of the virtues, days of knowledge, years of progress. Let us strive to have the Word’s lights in the firmament of our heart, that we may not walk in darkness but as children of light. This is Homily I’s first series, from the beginning of creation as far as the lights set for signs.
Latin · §10
Et sint in signa et in tempora et in dies et in annos. Luminaria non solum lucent, sed signa dant: tempora virtutum, dies scientiae, anni profectus. Studeamus, ut in firmamento nostri cordis luminaria Verbi habeamus, ne in tenebris ambulemus, sed sicut filii lucis. Haec Homiliae I prima series a principio creationis usque ad luminaria in signa.
Let the earth bring forth living soul — fleshly motions§11
11God said: Let the earth bring forth the living soul according to its kind, four-footed creatures and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kind. And it was so. By the letter there is no puzzle. By spiritual understanding: what came from the waters are the mind’s motions and thoughts from the heart’s depth; what comes from the earth are the outer human’s — the fleshly and earthly — motions. Nothing winged is named here; only four-footed and creeping things and beasts. Put to death your members that are upon the earth.
Latin · §11
Et dixit Deus: producat terra animam vivam secundum genus, quadrupedia et repentia et bestias terrae secundum genus. Et factum est sic. Secundum litteram nulla quaestio. Secundum spiritalem intellectum: quae de aquis producta sunt, motus et cogitationes mentis de profundo cordis intelliguntur; quae de terra — exterioris hominis, carnalis et terreni, motus. Nihil volatile hic; tantum quadrupedia et repentia et bestiae. Mortificate membra vestra quae sunt super terram.
Let us make humankind — dominion and God’s own making§12
12God said: Let us make humankind in our image and likeness, and let them rule the fish of the sea and the birds of heaven and the beasts of the whole earth. God wants such a human to hold rule over those beasts already named. Let the waters — the mind — bring forth spiritual sense; let the earth — the flesh — put forth fleshly sense; and let the mind rule, not those over it. Mark the greatness: other things are made by command — Let there be a firmament, Let the water be gathered — but of the human: Let us make. Only heaven and earth, the lights, and the human are ascribed as God’s own making.
Latin · §12
Et dixit Deus: faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram, et principetur piscibus maris et volatilibus caeli et bestiis universae terrae. Talem hominem vult Deus principatum gerere praedictarum bestiarum. Aquae — mens — sensum spiritalem producat; terra — caro — sensum carnis; dominetur nus, non illa ei. Considera magnitudinem: cetera iussione fiunt — fiat firmamentum, congregetur aqua — at de homine: faciamus. Solum caelum et terra, luminaria, et homo factura ipsius Dei ascribuntur.
Image of God is the interior human§13
13More exalted still: God made humankind; in the image of God he made them — said neither of heaven nor of earth nor of the sun. We do not take this “in the image” as bodily. The body was molded from the mud of the earth; the one made in the image is our interior human — invisible, bodiless, incorrupt, immortal. To think the bodily is in the image is to invent a bodily God — impious. Heaven is my throne does not mean stretched feet, but God’s rest in the citizenship of those whose commonwealth is in heaven.
Latin · §13
Illud eminentius: fecit Deus hominem, ad imaginem Dei fecit eum — quod neque de caelo neque de terra neque de sole dictum. Hunc ad imaginem non corporalem intelligimus. Corpus plasmatus est de limo; qui ad imaginem factus est, interior homo est, invisibilis, incorporalis, incorruptus, immortalis. Qui corporeum putat ad imaginem, Deum corporeum inducit — impium. Coelum mihi sedes non pedum extensionem, sed in caelestium conversatione requiem Dei significat.
Male and female; increase and multiply§14
14Male and female he made them, and God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply and fill the earth. The blessing of fruitfulness is given to those made in the image, so that God’s image may grow on the earth through generation and through the multiplying of the virtues in the soul.
Latin · §14
Masculum et feminam fecit eos, et benedixit eos Deus, dicens: crescite et multiplicamini et replete terram. Benedictio fecunditatis ad imaginem factis datur, ut imago Dei crescat in terris per generationem et per virtutum multiplicationem in anima.
Subdue the earth — the lesser world within§15
15And subdue it and rule. They are ordered not only to fill the earth but to subdue it — that is, to subject flesh and earthly affections to reason and to God’s Word, so that the human made in the image may truly rule in the lesser world of the self.
Latin · §15
Et subiicite eam et dominamini. Non solum implere terram iubentur, sed et subiicere eam — id est carnem et affectus terrenos subiicere rationi et Verbo Dei, ut homo qui ad imaginem factus est vere principetur in minore mundo sui.
Rule fish, birds, and beasts — passions under mind§16
16And rule the fish of the sea and the birds of heaven and the cattle and the whole earth. That dominion, spiritually: over thoughts from the deep (fish), over winged senses, over cattle and beasts of the passions. If the mind holds first place, God’s image reigns; if the flesh does, beasts rule in us.
Latin · §16
Et dominamini piscium maris et volatilium caeli et iumentorum et universae terrae. Dominium istud spiritaliter: cogitationibus quae de profundo (pisces), volatilibus sensibus, iumentis et bestiis passionum. Si mens principatur, imago Dei regnat; si caro, bestiae dominantur in nobis.
Food given — Homilia I CLOSEOUT§17
17God said: Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant that sows seed upon the whole earth, and every tree that has in itself the fruit of its own seed, to be food for you. Food for the body and food for the soul: God’s Word and the virtues. This is Homily I’s close — from the beginning as far as the creature’s food. Amen.
Latin · §17
Et dixit Deus: ecce dedi vobis omne foenum seminale quod seminat semen super omnem terram, et omne lignum quod habet in semetipso fructum seminis sui, ut sit vobis in escam. Esca corporis et esca animae: Verbum Dei et virtutes. Haec Homiliae I clausula — a principio usque ad escam creaturae. Amen.