Sermon III. On the Third Sunday of Advent

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p. 12

Sermo III.

In Dominica III Adventus.

Tu es, qui venturus es, an alium exspectamus? Matth. xi, 3.

Notandum est, quod Dominus venit, venit, et veniet. Secundum praeteritum tempus venit, per carnis nostrae assumptionem. Secundum praesens tempus venit, per gratiae infusionem. Secundum futurum tempus veniet, per judicii districtionem. Sed primo et tertio adventu ad praesens omisso, adventum illum breviter tangemus, qui est per gratiae infusionem, qui etiam in praesenti Dominica repraesentatur. Unde etiam in Collecta petimus, "Ut mentis nostrae tenebras gratiae suae visitationis illustret." Evangelium etiam est de sancto Joanne, qui interpretatur gratia, sive in quo est gratia.

Duo igitur principaliter sunt hic notanda:

I. Quod Dominus in homine per gratiam veniens operetur. II. Per quod hominem gratiam recepisse probetur?

De primo nota, quod Dominus, veniens per gratiam, sex operatur in homine peccatore: et ista sex tanguntur in praesenti Evangelio, ubi Dominus dicit: Euntes renuntiate Joanni, quae audistis et vidistis. Caeci vident, claudi ambulant, leprosi mundantur, surdi audiunt, mortui resurgunt, pauperes evangelizantur ¹.

1. Primum ergo quod Dominus per gratiam

Sermon III.

On the Third Sunday of Advent.

Are you the one who is to come, or are we awaiting another? Matthew 11:3.

It must be noted that the Lord came, comes, and will come. According to past time he came through the assumption of our flesh. According to present time he comes through the infusion of grace. According to future time he will come through the severity of judgment. But with the first and third coming omitted for the present, we will briefly touch upon that coming that is through the infusion of grace, which is also represented on the present Sunday. Hence also in the Collect we ask, "That he may illumine the darkness of our mind by the visitation of his grace." The Gospel also is about blessed John, who is interpreted as grace, or in whom there is grace.

Therefore two things are principally to be noted here:

I. What the Lord, coming in a human being through grace, works. II. Through what a human being is proved to have received grace.

Concerning the first, note that the Lord, coming through grace, works six things in the sinful human being; and these six are touched upon in the present Gospel, where the Lord says: Going, report to John the things that you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor are evangelized ¹.

1. Therefore the first thing that the Lord through grace

Notes

Matthew 11:4 and 5. (Matth. xi, 4 et 5.) ↩