Works › The Mariale: Questions on “Missus est”
Volume 37 · pp. 317–319
Question 227 and Response to Questions 226 and 227
QUAESTIO CCXXVII. An congrue dicatur: Virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi?
Post haec quaeritur de hoc quod dicit: Virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi 1. Christus enim Dei virtus et sapientia non habet obumbrare, sed illuminare: quia est lux vera quae illuminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum 2. Ergo illuminat in summo beatissimam Virginem.
2. Item, Ezechiel. XLIII, 2: Et ecce gloria Dei Israel ingrediebatur, scilicet in templum, ... et terra splendebat a majestate ejus. Ergo beata Virgo non est obumbrata, sed illuminata.
3. Item, Purgatio ordinatur ad illuminationem, illuminatio ad perfectionem: sed in conceptione perficiebatur in summo: ergo illuminabatur in summo 3.
Responsio ad Quaestiones CCXXVI et CCXXVII.
Ad haec solvendo dicimus, quod Spiritus timores, pietatis, scientiae, fortitudinis, consilii, intellectus, sapientiae, spiritus veritatis purgans, illuminans, inflammans, perficiens, stabiliens, consecrans, foecundans, superveniet, id est, subito veniet, super illud quod modo est, veniet de superno, veniet plus omnibus, veniet praeter solitum, veniet supra merita, et quod veniet plus quam quod venit, quia veniet super naturam venientis, quia numquam recedet, in summo veniet, ad summum actum veniet, super omnes est qui secum veniet Filius Dei: et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi, fomitem extinguendo, contra tribulationem protegendo, de carne tua obumbraculum faciendo, illum modum tibi soli notificando, lucem suam in te abscondendo, lucem tuam in mundo pandendo, viatorum refrigerium te faciendo, contra aestum concupiscentiae te opponendo, lucem corporalis prosperitatis tibi subtrahendo, vitam tuam cum Christo in Deo abscondendo.
Unde Bernardus: "Non dubitat de facto, sed modum requirit et ordinem. Nec enim quaerit, an fiet istud, sed quomodo. Quasi dicat: Cum sciat Dominus meus testis conscientiae meae, votum esse ancillae suae non cognoscere virum, qua lege, quo ordine placebit ei, ut fiat istud? Si oportuerit me frangere votum ut pariam talem filium, et gaudeo de filio, et doleo de proposito. Fiat tamen voluntas ejus. Sin vero virgo concipiam, pariam et virgo, quod utique si placuerit ei, impossibile non erit, tunc scio vere, quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae. Quomodo ergo fiet istud, quoniam virum non cognosco? Et respondens Angelus dixit ei: Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te, et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi. Numquid potuit repelli gratia, et necdum habere Spiritum sanctum, cum ipse sit dator gratiarum? Si autem Spiritus sanctus in ea erat, quomodo adhuc tamquam noviter superventurus repromittitur? An forte ideo non dixit simpliciter, veniet in te, sed addit super, quia et prius quidem in ea fuit per multam gratiam, sed nunc supervenire nuntiatur, propter abundantioris gratiae plenitudinem quam effusurus est super illam? At vero cum plena jam sit, illud amplius quomodo capere poterit? Si autem plus aliquid capere potest, quomodo et ante plena fuisse intelligenda est? An prior quidem gratia ejus tantum repleverat mentem, sequens vero etiam ventrem perfundere debeat, quatenus scilicet plenitudo divinitatis, quae ante in illa, sicut et in multis sanctorum spiritualiter habitabat, etiam sicut in nullo sanctorum corporaliter in ipsa habitare incipiat? Ait itaque: Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te, et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi? Quid est, et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi? Qui potest capere, capiat. Quis enim excepta fortassis illa quae hoc sola in se felicissime meruit experiri, intellectu capere, ratione discernere possit, qualiter splendor ille inaccessibilis virgineis sese visceribus infuderit, et ut illa inaccessibilem accedere ad se ferre potuisset, de portiuncula ejusdem corporis cui se animate contemperavit, reliquae massae umbraculum fecerit? Et fortasse propter hoc maxime dictum est: Obumbrabit tibi, quia res nimirum in sacramento erat, et quod sola per se trinitas in sola et cum sola Virgine voluit operari, soli datum est nosse, cui soli datum est experiri. Dicitur ergo: Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te, qui utique sua potentia foecundabit te. Et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi, hoc est, illum modum quo de Spiritu sancto concipies, Dei virtus et Dei sapientia Christus, sic in suo secretissimo consilio obumbrando conteget et occultabit, quatenus sibi tantum notus habeatur et tibi. Ac si Angelus respondeat ad Virginem: Quid a me requiris, quod in te mox experieris? Sciens scies, et feliciter scies, sed illo doctore, quo et auctore. Ego autem missus sum nuntiare virginalem conceptum, non creare. Nec potest doceri nisi a donante: nec potest addisci nisi a suscipiente. Ideoque et quod nascetur ex te sanctum, vocabitur Filius Dei. Quod est dicere: Quoniam non est de homine, sed de Spiritu sancto quod concipies, concipies autem Altissimi virtutem, id est, Filium Dei: ideoque et quod nascetur ex te sanctum, vocabitur Filius Dei, id est, non solum qui de sinu Patris in uterum tuum veniens obumbrabit tibi, sed etiam id quod de tua substantia sociabit sibi, ex hoc jam vocabitur Filius Dei, quemadmodum et is qui a Patre est ante saecula genitus, tuus quoque amodo reputabitur filius. Sic autem et quod natum est ex Patre, et quod nascetur ex te, erit ejus: ut tamen non sint duo filii, sed unus. Et licet aliud quidem ex te, aliud ex illo sit, jam non tamen cujusque suus, sed unus utriusque erit filius. Ideoque et quod nascetur ex te sanctum, vocabitur Filius Dei 4."
QUESTION 227. Whether it is fittingly said: The power of the Most High will overshadow you?
After these things inquiry is made concerning this which he says: The power of the Most High will overshadow you 1. For Christ, the power and wisdom of God, does not have to overshadow, but to illuminate, because he is the true light that illuminates every human being coming into this world 2. Therefore he illuminates the most blessed Virgin in the highest degree.
2. Likewise, Ezekiel 43:2: And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was entering, namely into the temple, ... and the earth shone from his majesty. Therefore the blessed Virgin was not overshadowed but illuminated.
3. Likewise, purgation is ordered to illumination, illumination to perfection; but in the conception she was perfected in the highest degree; therefore she was illuminated in the highest degree 3.
Response to Questions 226 and 227.
In solving these things, we say that the Spirit of fears, of piety, of knowledge, of fortitude, of counsel, of understanding, of wisdom, the Spirit of truth purging, illuminating, inflaming, perfecting, stabilizing, consecrating, fecundating, will come upon, that is, will come suddenly, upon that which now is; he will come from above; he will come more than all; he will come beyond the customary; he will come above merits; and what will come is more than what came, because he will come above the nature of the one coming, because he will never withdraw; he will come in the highest degree; he will come for the highest act; he who will come with him, the Son of God, is above all. And the power of the Most High will overshadow you by extinguishing the tinder, protecting against tribulation, making from your flesh a shade, making known to you alone that mode, hiding his light in you, spreading your light in the world, making you the refreshment of travelers, setting you against the heat of concupiscence, taking away from you the light of bodily prosperity, hiding your life with Christ in God.
Whence Bernard says: "She does not doubt concerning the fact, but seeks the mode and order. For she does not ask whether this shall be done, but how. As if she were saying: Since my Lord, witness of my conscience, knows that it is the vow of his handmaid not to know man, by what law, by what order will it please him that this be done? If it is necessary for me to break my vow in order that I may bear such a son, I both rejoice concerning the son and grieve concerning the purpose. Nevertheless let his will be done. But if I as a virgin shall conceive, and bear as a virgin, which surely, if it please him, will not be impossible, then I truly know that he has looked upon the humility of his handmaid. How therefore shall this be done, since I do not know man? And the Angel answering said to her: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Could grace have been rejected, and could she not yet have the Holy Spirit, since he himself is the giver of graces? But if the Holy Spirit was in her, how is he still promised as about to come upon her newly? Or perhaps he therefore did not say simply, he will come into you, but adds upon, because indeed before he was in her through much grace, but now he is announced as coming upon her because of a fullness of more abundant grace which he is going to pour forth upon her? But truly, since she is already full, how will she be able to receive that further thing? But if she can receive something more, how is she to be understood to have been full also before? Or did her prior grace indeed fill only her mind, but the following grace ought also to pour over her womb, so that the fullness of divinity, which before dwelt in her spiritually as also in many of the saints, should also begin to dwell bodily in her as in none of the saints? And so he says: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. What is, And the power of the Most High will overshadow you? Let him who can receive it receive it. For who, except perhaps that one alone who most happily merited to experience this in herself, could grasp by intellect or discern by reason how that inaccessible splendor poured itself into virginal innards, and so that she could bear the inaccessible one to approach herself, made a shade for the remaining mass from the little portion of the same body to which he animatedly adapted himself? And perhaps for this reason most of all it was said: He will overshadow you, because the thing was indeed in mystery, and what the Trinity alone by itself wished to work in the Virgin alone and with the Virgin alone was given to that one alone to know, to whom alone it was given to experience. Therefore it is said: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, who surely by his power will make you fruitful. And the power of the Most High will overshadow you, that is, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God will so cover and hide by overshadowing in his most secret counsel that mode by which you will conceive from the Holy Spirit, so that it may be held known only to himself and to you. And as if the Angel were answering the Virgin: Why do you ask from me what you will soon experience in yourself? Knowing, you will know, and happily you will know, but with that one as teacher by whom also as author. But I was sent to announce the virginal conception, not to create it. Nor can it be taught except by the one giving; nor can it be learned except by the one receiving. And therefore also what will be born from you holy will be called Son of God. Which is to say: since what you will conceive is not from man but from the Holy Spirit, and you will conceive the power of the Most High, that is, the Son of God, therefore also what will be born from you holy will be called Son of God; that is, not only he who, coming from the bosom of the Father into your womb, will overshadow you, but also that which from your substance he will associate to himself, from this already will be called Son of God, just as he who was begotten from the Father before the ages will also henceforth be reckoned your son. Thus both what was born from the Father and what will be born from you will be his, yet so that they are not two sons but one. And although indeed one thing is from you, another from him, nevertheless now he will not be each one's own son, but the one son of both. And therefore also what will be born from you holy will be called Son of God 4."
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