Sunday, February 15, 2009

Heb 1, 1-2 In these days God spoke to us through a son

Letter to Hebrews
Hebrews 1
(Heb 1, 1-2) In these days God spoke to us through a son
[1] In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; [2] in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe,
(CCC 65) "In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son" (Heb 1:1-2). Christ, the Son of God made man, is the Father's one, perfect and unsurpassable Word. In him he has said everything; there will be no other word than this one. St. John of the Cross, among others, commented strikingly on Hebrews 1:1-2: In giving us his Son, his only Word (for he possesses no other), he spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word - and he has no more to say… because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All Who is His Son. Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behavior but also of offending him, by not fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some other novelty [St. John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel 2, 22, 3-5 in The Collected Works, tr. K. Kavanaugh, OCD and O. Rodriguez, OCD (Washington DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1979), 179-180: LH, OR Advent, wk 2, Mon.]. (CCC 102) Through all the words of Sacred Scripture, God speaks only one single Word, his one Utterance in whom he expresses himself completely (Cf. Heb 1:1-3): You recall that one and the same Word of God extends throughout Scripture, that it is one and the same Utterance that resounds in the mouths of all the sacred writers, since he who was in the beginning God with God has no need of separate syllables; for he is not subject to time (St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 103, 4, 1: PL 37, 1378; cf. Ps 104; Jn 1:1).

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