Chapter I. — The recent sermon, dearly beloved, whose promised portion we desire to render back to you, had advanced in the course of its discussion to the point of speaking of that voice of the crucified Lord crying out to the Father: lest the simple and careless hearer should so take the words of Him who says, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' (Ps. 21) as though, when Jesus was fastened to the wood of the cross, the omnipotence of the paternal Godhead had withdrawn from Him; whereas so great a unity of the nature of God and man came together that it could neither be broken apart by suffering nor severed by death. For while each substance remained in its own property, neither did God forsake the suffering of His own body, nor did the flesh make God passible, because the Divinity which was in the one who grieved was not in the grief.
Hence, according to the person of the Word and of the man, He is the same who was made among all things, and through whom all things were made. He is the same who is seized by the hands of the impious, and who is bounded by no limit. He is the same who is pierced by nails, and who is wounded by no wound. He is, in short, the same who underwent death, and yet did not cease to be everlasting, so that by each sign it may be manifested beyond doubt that in Christ there is both true humility and true majesty: because for this reason the divine power joined itself to human weakness, that while God makes His own the things that are ours, He might make ours the things that are His.
Therefore the Son was not absent from the Father, nor the Father from the Son: and that unchangeable Godhead and inseparable Trinity could have nothing of itself divided from itself. For although the dispensation of the incarnation undertaken pertained properly to the only-begotten Son of God, yet the Father was as little disjoined from the Son as the flesh was divided from the Word. Chapter II. — Therefore Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Why hast thou forsaken me?' in order to make known to all how it behooved Him not to be rescued, not to be defended, but to be abandoned to the hands of the raging, that is, to become the Savior of the world and the Redeemer of all men; not through misery, but through mercy; not by the loss of aid, but by the resolve to die.
But what interruption of life is to be perceived there, where the soul was both sent forth by His own power and by His own power recalled? For the blessed Apostle says that the Father did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all (Rom. 8:32); and again he says: Because Christ loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for it, that He might sanctify it (Eph. 5:2, 25, 26). Hence, for the Lord to be delivered up to the Passion was as much the Father's will as His own: so that not only did the Father forsake Him, but also He in a certain manner deserted Himself, not by a fearful departure, but by a voluntary yielding. For the power of the Crucified restrained itself from the impious, and, in order to make use of a hidden dispensation, He willed not to use His manifest power.
For He who had come by His Passion to destroy death and the author of death — how would He save sinners, if He resisted His persecutors? Therefore this belonged to the Jews, dearly beloved, that they believed Jesus to be forsaken by God, against whom they were able to rage with so great a crime: because, not knowing the sacrament of His wondrous patience, they said with sacrilegious mockery: 'He saved others, He cannot save Himself. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him' (Matt. 27:42). Not by the judgment of your blindness, O foolish scribes and impious priests, was the power of the Savior to be displayed, nor according to the depraved tongues of the blasphemers ought the redemption of the human race to be interrupted:
whereas, if you had been willing to acknowledge the Deity of the Son of God, you would have seen His innumerable works, which ought to have confirmed you unto that faith which you deceitfully promise. But if, as you yourselves profess, it is true that He saved others, why did those so many and so great miracles, which were done in public sight, in no way soften the hardness of your heart, except because you have ever so resisted the Holy Spirit that you turned all God's benefits to your own destruction? For even if Christ had come down from the cross, you nevertheless would have remained in your crime. Chapter III. — Therefore the reproaches of vain insult were despised, and no affronts, no revilings, removed from the way of His purpose the mercy of the Lord that was repairing what had been lost and had fallen.
For a singular victim was being offered to God for the salvation of the world, and the slaying of Christ, the true Lamb foretold through so many ages, was transferring the sons of the promise into the liberty of faith. The New Testament also was being confirmed, and the heirs of the eternal kingdom were being enrolled in the blood of Christ. The high priest was entering the Holy of Holies, and, to entreat God, the spotless priest was passing in through the veil of His flesh (Heb. 9:16 ff.). In short, so evident then was the translation from the Law to the Gospel, from the Synagogue to the Church, from many sacrifices to one victim, that, as the Lord gave up His Spirit, that mystic veil which shut off the inner sanctuary and the holy secret of the temple by its screen
was, by a sudden force, rent from top to bottom: because the truth was taking away the figures, and the heralds were superfluous in the presence of Him who had been heralded. To these was added a fearful commotion of all the elements (Matt. 27:51), and the very services of nature withdrew themselves from the authors of the Cross of Christ. And when the Centurion, guardian of the punishment, terrified by the things he had seen, said: 'Truly this man was the Son of God' (ibid. 54): yet no compunction is recorded to have softened the Jewish impiety, harder than all the monuments and rocks: so that it appears the Roman soldiers were then more ready to understand the Son of God than the Israelite priests. Chapter IV.
— Therefore, because the Jews, deprived of the sanctification of all the sacraments, turned their light into darkness and their festivals into mourning for themselves, let us, dearly beloved, with prostrate bodies and souls adore the grace of God poured out upon all the nations; beseeching the merciful Father and the rich Redeemer, that from day to day, aided by His help, we may be able to escape all the perils of this life. For the crafty tempter is present everywhere, and leaves nothing empty of his snares. He must ever be resisted with faithful constancy, with the aid of the mercy of God, which is held forth to us amid all adversities: so that he whom he ceases not to assail may nevertheless find no one whom he overcomes.
May the fasts devoutly celebrated profit all, dearly beloved, and the usefulness of that continence which we have proved suited to both souls and bodies, be corrupted by no excesses. For the things that pertain to sobriety and frugality have therefore been more diligently observed on these days, in order that from a brief exercise they might pass into a lasting habit; and whether in works of mercy or in the pursuit of frugality, no time should be held empty by the faithful, since surely, in the passing of the days and the course of the seasons, we ought to make gains of works, not losses of merits. But to pious pursuits and religious souls the mercy of God will be present, that what He has made to be desired, He may cause to be obtained: