Since, therefore, by the favor of Christ, we are Catholic (continued)
1. Letter 11
Here, then, is what I think about the mystery of the Incarnation, which the religion in which we are both steeped proposes to us as an object of knowledge and belief; that it was accomplished for our salvation. I have selected this question, not as the easiest of all, or the one I was best able to answer, but as the one that seemed to me more worthy than others of thought and attention. For, those questions which arise on matters of this world seem to me to have no bearing on the achievement of happiness; even if it gives us pleasure to search into them, it is to be feared that time is spent on them which ought to be devoted to better things. '
Therefore, in regard to this present question, of God becoming man: in the first place, I am surprised at your finding it hard to understand why the Son is said to have become man, and not the Father or even the Holy Spirit.
For, according to the Catholic faith, the Trinity is proposed to our belief and believed — and even understood by a few saints and holy persons — as so inseparable that whatever action is performed by It must be thought to be performed at the same time by the Father and by the Son and by the Holy Spirit. Consequently, the Father does not do anything which the Son and the Holy Spirit do not also do; the Son does not do anything which the Father and the Holy Spirit do not also do; nor does the Holy Spirit do anything which the Father and the Son do not also do. From this it seems to follow that the whole Trinity became man, for, if the Son took on human nature and the Father and the Holy Spirit did not, They no longer act jointly. Why, then, in our mysteries and our sacred rites is the Incarnation celebrated as if attributed to the Son? This is a very deep question, and so difficult and of such great import that it cannot be solved in a sentence, nor can its proof be wholly satisfying. Nevertheless, when I write anything to you, I venture rather to outline than to develop what is in my mind, leaving you to work it out for yourself, according to your own gifts of mind, as well as what you know of me through our long friendship.
There is no nature, my dear Nebridius, and certainly no substance, which does not possess and show forth these three characteristics: first, that it should be; second, that it should be this or that; third, that it should continue to be what it is, as far as it is able. The first shows us the very cause of nature from which all things come; the second shows us the appearance (species) in which all things are fashioned and in a certain manner formed; the third shows a certain continuance, so to speak, in which all things are maintained. But, if it could happen that something should be, and should not be this or that, and that it should be, and should be what it is as long as it remains in its own genus, or that it should be this or that, but should not be nor remain in its own genus as far as it is able, or that it should remain in its own genus according to the powers of its genus, but nevertheless should not be, or should not be this or that, then, indeed, it could happen that in that Trinity one of the Persons would do something without the other Persons. But, if you perceive that it inevitably follows that whatever is must forthwith be this or that, and must remain in its own genus, as far as it is able, then the Three perform no act except jointly. I see that I have thus far treated the part of this question of which the solution is difficult, but I wanted to make known to you briefly — if I have done what I wanted — what Christ — Word of God and Lord of Man 227 subtlety of understanding is needed in dealing with the inseparability of the Trinity according to Catholic truth.
Now learn how it is possible for that which moves not to move the mind. That distinguishing characteristic which is properly attributed to the Son refers to a system of life and to a sort of art, if we can rightly use this word in such matters, and also to the understanding by which the mind is formed in its thought about things. Therefore, since it has been brought about by the Incarnation that a certain method of living and example of precept has been conveyed to us under the majesty and clarity of His teachings, it is not without reason that this whole operation is attributed to the Son. For, in many things, which I leave to your prudent consideration, although many truths are implied, there is something which stands out and which rightly demands for itself special notice. Just as, in those three sorts of questions, if one were to ask whether a thing exists, there is implied also the question of what it is, for it certainly cannot exist unless it is something; and, likewise, there is implied whether it is to be approved or disapproved, for, whatever it is, it is worthy of some esteem; so, too, when one asks what it is, there is necessarily implied both that it exists and that it deserves some consideration; the same consequence follows if one asks what sort of thing it is, for it is certainly something. Thus, all these arguments are inseparably joined together, but the question does not take its name from all of them, but according to the intention of the questioner. Therefore, a way of life was necessary for men that they might be thoroughly versed in it and formed according to it. Now, as to what is accomplished in men by that rule of life, are we to say that it does not exist or is not to be desired? First we propose to know on what we may construct an argument, and on what ground we may stand. That is why a certain rule and standard of reasoning had first to be proved. This has been accomplished by that dispensation of the Incarnation, which is properly to be attributed to the Son, so that there proceeds from the Father Himself, as from the single principle from whom are all things, both un-