of God through which all things were made, how could he be enclosed in the
248 SAINT AUGUSTINE - SERMONS it was made by God? Certainly not. Listen to what the holy gospel says: All things were made through it (Jn 1:1-3). What's "all things"? Whatever was made by God, was made through it. And how could he have been made if he made all things? He didn't make himself, did he? In any case, if he made himself, he was already there, to make himself. So if he was already there to make himself, he never was not.3
The Holy Spirit brought about the flesh of Christ
2. How came the Word, being such as that, to be in the virgin? All things were made through him. What's all things? Whatever was made by God was made through him. And don't, brother, separate the Holy Spirit from such a great work as that. From which great work? No small work, indeed a great work, are the angels; the angels worship the flesh of Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father. So such a work as that was supremely the achievement of the Holy Spirit.4 He was named in that work, when the angel brought the holy virgin the message of her son to be.
She had decided upon virginity, which her husband was to preserve, not to take away (or rather, not to preserve it, because God was going to do that; but her husband was the witness of her virginal chastity, in case she should be thought to be pregnant in consequence of adultery); so when the angel brought her the message, she said, How will this happen, since I do not know a man? If she had had it in mind to know one, she would not have been astonished. That astonishment of hers testifies to her purpose: How will this happen, since I do not know a man ? How will it happen?5 And the angel answered: The Holy Spirit will come upon you. There you have the answer to your question: and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And that is why the Holy One who is to be born of you shall be called the Son of God (Lk 1:34-35). And he made a nice choice of words: "will overshadow you] to preserve your virginity from feeling the heat of lust. " And when she was pregnant, it was said of her, Mary was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit (Mt 1:18). So the Holy Spirit brought about the flesh of Christ. The only-begotten Soh of God himself also brought about his own flesh. How do we prove that? Because scripture says about it, Wisdom has built herself a house (Prv 9:1).
Just as my word assumed sound, in order to be heard, so the Word of God assumed flesh, in order to be seen
3. So now pay close attention. Such a great God, God with God, the Word of God through which all things were made, how could he be enclosed in the womb? First of all, in order to be there, did the Word abandon heaven? In order to be in the virgin's womb, did the Word abandon heaven? But it was in order that human beings might eat the bread of angels, that the Lord of angels became a human being. Let human thought still go on wandering through its cloudy spheres, let it falter, seek, speak, in order to find out how the Word of God in