Breviloquium

After the incarnate Word has become known to us with respect to the union of the natures, we must consider him with respect to the fullness of spiritual charisms. Concerning these, first we must consider the fullness of grace in the affections, then¹ the fullness of wisdom in the intellect, and finally the fullness of merit in work or effect².

Concerning the fullness of grace in the affections in Christ, therefore, these things are to be held: from his conception Christ possessed the fullness of every grace, with respect to the grace of the singular person, the grace of the head, and the grace of union; so that through the grace of the singular person he had immunity from every fault, both with respect to act and to ability, because he neither sinned nor could have sin. — Through the grace of union, however, he is worthy not only of the happiness of glory, but also of the adoration of latria, which is the worship of reverence due to God alone. — Through the grace of the head, moreover, he infuses motion and sensation into all who approach him, either through right faith or through the Sacraments of faith, whether they preceded his advent or followed it. For both those who went before and those who followed cried out: Hosanna to the Son of David³.

The reason for understanding the aforesaid is this: reparation is the operation of the first principle, so that it flows from him according to liberality and leads back to him according to conformity; therefore it must be effected through grace and deiformity. For grace both flows liberally from God and makes man godlike. Since, therefore, the reparative principle repairs through grace, and every thing is more fully and perfectly in its source and origin⁴ than elsewhere, it was necessary that in our reparative principle, namely Christ the Lord, there be the fullness of every grace. And since the reparative principle, in repairing, possesses not only the character of principle but also of middle and end—the end in making satisfaction, the middle in reconciling, and the principle in overflowing into others—it was therefore necessary that in Christ there be the fullness of grace by reason of the satisfying end, the reconciling middle, and the overflowing principle. Since, therefore, the end suited to making satisfaction must be pleasing to God and thus perfectly immune from every sin, and this cannot be found in any man except through the gift of divine grace, it was necessary to posit in Christ grace that sanctifies and confirms him, which we call the grace of the singular person⁵.

Again, since a middle suited to reconciling is not suitable unless it possesses in itself both natures, namely the higher and the lower, the adored and the adoring, and this can in no way come about except through a supremely dignifying and gratuitous union, it is therefore necessary to posit in Christ a grace above every grace and worthy of veneration with every reverence, which we call the grace of union. By reason of this grace, Christ as man is the blessed God above all⁶, and therefore is to be venerated with the worship of latria. Finally, since a principle effective for infusing is not effective unless it possesses in itself a fontal and original fullness, which is not only a fullness of sufficiency but also of superabundance, it is therefore necessary that the incarnate Word be full of grace and truth⁷, so that from his fullness all the just may receive, just as all the members receive from the head the infusion of motion and sensation. For this reason this grace is called the grace of the head: just as the head possesses in itself the fullness of sensation, is conformed to the other members, presides over them, and bestows on the members connected to it the benefit of its influence, so Christ, possessing in himself the superabundance of grace⁸ and being like us in nature, holy and just above the others, bestows on the others who approach him the benefit of grace and spirit, through which sensation and motion are produced in spiritual things.

And since approaching him occurs through faith or through the Sacrament of faith, and the faith of Christ is the same in the past, present, and future, the basis of influence in Christ is therefore posited with respect to all—past, present, and future—who believe in Christ and are reborn in Christ. Through faith they are joined to Christ, and through the grace that flows from him they are made members of Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit⁹, and thereby sons of God the Father, joined to one another by the indivisible bond of charity. Just as this bond is not divided by distance of place, so neither is it separated by the duration of time. Thus all the just, wherever they may be and whenever they have lived, form one mystical body of Christ, receiving sensation and motion from one head that infuses them, according to the fontal, radical, and original fullness of every grace dwelling in Christ¹⁰ as in its source.