Section CLXIII

By these things we are taught that, besides each universality of persons and times, a third endowment of efficacy and fecundity also belongs to the order of reparation. Certainly nearly all the things which we have hitherto described conduce to establishing and confirming this endowment. The very name of reparation also conduces to it, which cannot even be conceived in the mind when separated from efficacy. Then other altogether clear things conduce to it which the Roman bishops jointly testify.

Among these Clement, speaking of the things which Christ accomplished and continues to accomplish¹ for our benefit, says:

This is the way, dearly beloved, in which we find our salvation, Jesus Christ, τὸν ἀρχιερέα τῶν προσφορῶν ἡμῶν, τὸν προστάτην καὶ βοηθὸν τῆς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν, the pontiff² of our oblations, the patron and helper of our infirmity. Διὰ τούτου ἀτενίσωμεν³ εἰς τὰ ὕψη τῶν οὐρανῶν, διὰ τούτου ἐνοπτρισώμεθα τὴν ἄμωμον καὶ ὑπερτάτην ὄψιν αὐτοῦ, διὰ τούτου ἠνεῴχθησαν ἡμῶν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ τῆς καρδίας, διὰ τούτου ἡ ἀσύνετος καὶ ἐσκοτωμένη διάνοια ἡμῶν ἀναθάλλει εἰς τὸ θαυμαστὸν αὐτοῦ φῶς, διὰ τούτου ἠθέλησεν ὁ δεσπότης τῆς ἀθανάτου γνώσεως ἡμᾶς γεύσασθαι· ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς μεγαλωσύνης αὐτοῦ, τοσούτῳ μείζων ἐστὶν ἀγγέλων, ὅσῳ διαφορώτερον ὄνομα κεκληρονόμηκεν. Through him let us fix our eyes upon the heights of heaven; through him let us behold his spotless and supreme countenance; through him⁴ the eyes of our heart were opened—

“—through him⁵ our foolish and darkened mind rises unto his admirable light; through him the Lord willed that we should taste immortal knowledge—he who⁶, since he is the splendor of his majesty, is as much greater than the angels as the name he inherited is more excellent. For thus⁷ it is written: ‘Who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire.’ But concerning his Son the Lord spoke thus⁸: ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I shall give you the gentiles as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your possession.’ And again⁹ he says to him: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet.’ Τίνες οἱ (ἐχθροὶ αὐτοῦ); οἱ φαῦλοι καὶ ἀντιτασσόμενοι¹⁰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ θελήματι τὸ θέλημα ἴδιον. Who are his enemies? Those who are depraved and who oppose their own will to the divine will.”

Therefore we contracted no disease for which God did not apply medicine through Christ; and we lost no ornament which God did not restore to us through Christ. For he restored to us knowledge against ignorance, virtue against infirmity, and conjunction and fellowship with the supreme truth and supreme good against the separation by which we departed from him through transgression.

Hence Clement, provoking us to consider¹¹ τῆς ἁγίας κλήσεως ἡμῶν κανόνα, the canon of our holy vocation, says:

Let us see what is good, what grateful and acceptable before him who made us. Ἀτενίσωμεν εἰς τὸ αἷμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἴδωμεν, ὡς ἐστὶν τίμιον τῷ Θεῷ αἷμα αὐτοῦ, ὅτι διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν ἐκχυθὲν παντὶ τῷ κόσμῳ μετανοίας χάριν ὑπήνεγκεν. Ἀνέλθωμεν εἰς τὰς γενεὰς πάσας, καὶ καταμάθωμεν, ὅτι ἐν γενεᾷ καὶ γενεᾷ μετανοίας τόπον ἔδωκεν ὁ δεσπότης τοῖς βουλομένοις ἐπιστραφῆναι ἐπ’ αὐτόν. Let us gaze intently upon the blood of Christ, and—

“—let us consider how precious his blood is to God, which, poured out for our salvation, offered the grace of penance to the whole world. Let us recur to all the ages of the world, and let us learn that in generation after generation the Lord granted a place of penance to those willing to be converted to him. Noah¹² was a preacher of penance, and those who obeyed him were saved. Jonah¹³ preached destruction to the Ninevites; but they, doing penance for their sins, placated God by prayers and attained salvation, although they were alien to God.

Οἱ¹⁴ λειτουργοὶ τῆς χάριτος τοῦ Θεοῦ διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου περὶ μετανοίας ἐλάλησαν, καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ δεσπότης τῶν ἁπάντων περὶ μετανοίας ἐλάλησεν μεθ’ ὅρκου· ζῶ γὰρ ἐγώ, λέγει κύριος, οὐ βούλομαι τὸν θάνατον τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ, ὡς τὴν μετάνοιαν. The ministers of divine grace spoke concerning penance through the Holy Spirit; and the Lord of all himself spoke concerning penance not without an oath¹⁵: “As I live, says the Lord, I do not will the death of the sinner, but penance.” … Πάντας οὖν τοὺς ἀγαπητοὺς αὐτοῦ βουλόμενος μετανοίας μετασχεῖν, ἐστήριξε τῷ παντοκρατορικῷ βουλήματι αὐτοῦ. Therefore he confirmed by his omnipotent will his intention that all his beloved should become participants in penance. Διὸ ὑπακούσωμεν τῇ μεγαλοπρεπεῖ καὶ ἐνδόξῳ βουλήσει αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἱκέται γενόμενοι τοῦ ἐλέους καὶ τῆς χρηστότητος αὐτοῦ, προσπέσωμεν καὶ ἐπιστρέψωμεν ἐπὶ τοὺς οἰκτιρμοὺς αὐτοῦ, ἀπολιπόντες τὴν¹⁶ ματαιοπονίαν, τήν τε ἔριν, καὶ τὸ εἰς θάνατον ἄγον ζῆλος. Therefore¹⁷ let us obey his magnificent and glorious will and, as suppliants imploring his mercy and benignity, let us, after abandoning vain works, contention, and the rivalry which leads to death, cast ourselves upon and turn to his compassions.”

Therefore, by his first and antecedent will, which is referred to and is occupied with that which is in itself καλὸν καὶ—

—τερπνὸν καὶ προσδεκτὸν ἐνώπιον τοῦ ποιήσαντος ἡμᾶς, beautiful and pleasant and acceptable before our maker, God never failed to look to this: that παντὶ τῷ κόσμῳ, for the whole world and for the universal posterity of Adam, the grace of penance should be present. By the same will and the same counsel, διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν, for our salvation, Christ poured out his blood. Nor with another mind did God send throughout absolutely all ages those who would announce penance. Indeed, with this very mind, and in order to add hope to men, he testified not without an oath: “As I live, I do not will the death of the sinner, but penance.”

God perseveres in this will toward men, no less benevolent than full of efficacy, for as long as men themselves pass their time in this present mortality. Clement hands this down in a remarkable and eloquent discourse¹⁸, saying:

Therefore, for as long as we live upon the earth, let us do penance; for we are clay in the hand of the artisan. For just as the potter, if he makes a vessel and it is distorted or crushed in his hands, fashions it again, but if he has determined to put it into the furnace of fire, he will no longer come to its aid; οὕτως καὶ ἡμεῖς, ἕως ἐσμὲν ἐν τούτῳ τῷ κόσμῳ, ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ ὃ ἐπράξαμεν πονηρά, μετανοήσωμεν ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας, ἵνα σωθῶμεν ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου, ἕως ἔχομεν καιρὸν μετανοίας. μετὰ γὰρ τὸ ἐξελθεῖν ἡμᾶς ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου, οὐκέτι δυνάμεθα ἐκεῖ ἐξομολογήσασθαι ἢ μετανοεῖν ἔτι· so also let us, for as long as we are in this world, do penance with our whole heart for the sins which we committed in the flesh, that we may be saved by the Lord while we have time for penance. For after we have departed from the world, we can no longer¹⁹ confess there or do penance.