My beloved people, the elements
will not perish so that they are no more, nor shall we die so that we will not
rise better than before. Moreover, on this very day we see the promise of the
Lord fulfilled as we observe the souls and bodies of the neophytes restored
after the manner of the heavens and the earth. We see now the moon also, that
is, the Church, to shine as the sun throughout the whole world. It increases in
time of peace and is diminished in persecution. The diminishing, however, is
that of its round fullness, not that of its intensity. Furthermore, Christ, the
Sun of Justice, gives light today on the earth, but seven times more than
formerly. His rays, which illuminate every man coming into this world,
are witnesses to this. For now that fiery sevenfold Spirit shines forth from Him,
that Spirit who as fire rested upon the apostles and who burns today in each of
the believers. Before Christ suffered and arose, God was known only in
Judea. Now the splendor of the Lord’s brightness has gone forth to all
nations. For, its going forth is from the end of heaven, and its circuit is
to the other end, and there is no one who can hide himself from its heat.
Therefore, because the world has
been repaired today, let us rejoice on this birthday of the world’s
restoration. This is the day which the Lord has made; let us be glad and
rejoice in it. When I say the birthday of the world, I mean our birthday,
those of us who are reborn in Christ. We were indeed living in sin before, dead
to justice. Now, however, dead to the iniquities of former vices we begin to
live to God, first being made conformed to Christ’s death, then to His resurrection.
For we have been buried with Him through baptism into death so that as Christ
has risen from the dead so also we may walk in newness of life. And we rejoice
on this festive day and glory in the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who was
taken on the tenth day, and on the fourteenth day of the first month was
sacrificed by the Jews at the evening of the world. (Gaudentius of Brescia, “Tract
Number Three: Third Sermon on the Exodus,” in Gaudentius of Brescia: Sermons
and Letters [trans. Stephen L. Boehrer; The Catholic University of America
Studies in Sacred Theology (Second Series) 165; PhD Dissertation, 1965], 68-69)
You are able to observe that you
have been regenerated and reborn through baptism and from those terms you are
called infants. If some of you who are bound in marriage desire to keep your
virgins rather than give them in marriage, let them so have partners as if not
having and there will be for them a great reward with the Lord, our God’ let
them have regard for the quality of the flesh which has been reborn in the sacrament
of baptism. Now I say this for your benefit, not to hold you in check,
for even if you live in legitimate marriage after baptism you have not sinned. (Gaudentius
of Brescia, “Tract Number Eight: First Sermon on the Gospel Lesson,” in Gaudentius
of Brescia: Sermons and Letters [trans. Stephen L. Boehrer; The Catholic University
of America Studies in Sacred Theology (Second Series) 165; PhD Dissertation,
1965], 110)
Next in order, the narration of
the evangelist continues: And they were without wine because the marriage
wine had been all consumed, (that is, the wine of the marriage was all
gone). He clearly expressed that the gentiles did not have the wine of the Holy
Spirit. When he says, however: because the marriage wine had been all consumed,
(that is, the wine of the marriage was all gone), he did not speak precisely so
perhaps you might believe that it was lacking to them, to whom it had not yet
been given. Nor does he say that the wine of the marriage was gone “for them”; rather,
he says only that the wine of the marriage was gone, as if he would say that
all nuptial wine was gone. For this reason, it is understood that the wine was
lacking not of those marriages, but of preceeding marriages. For the nuptial
wine of the Holy Spirit was already lacking at the ceasing of the prophets who
had ministered to the people of the Jews. For all the prophets of the Law
have prophesied until John. Nor was there anyone who could furnish the
thirsting Gentiles with spiritual wine to drink. The Lord Jesus was looked for,
however, He who would fill new wine skins with new wine through baptism. For it
says: the former things have passed away; and behold, all things have been
made new. All things have been made new in such a way, however, that their
origin from the old might remain, for wine is not from nothing but is produced
from the ancient element of water. (Gaudentius of Brescia, “Tract Number Eight:
First Sermon on the Gospel Lesson,” in Gaudentius of Brescia: Sermons and
Letters [trans. Stephen L. Boehrer; The Catholic University of America
Studies in Sacred Theology (Second Series) 165; PhD Dissertation, 1965], 112)
Neophytes! Flee from the example
of uncleanness lest you become sharers in the punishment. The apostles have
handed down to us one baptism in accord with the divine intention; for He says:
whoever shall drink from this water, shall not thirst forever. You have
been washed once by this saving baptism. Coming from the font, do not wish to
go back into the mire. Preserve the uncleanliness given you. What is given once
is not able to be repeated. (Gaudentius of Brescia, “Tract Number Nine: Second
Sermon on the Gospel Lesson,” in Gaudentius of Brescia: Sermons and Letters
[trans. Stephen L. Boehrer; The Catholic University of America Studies in
Sacred Theology (Second Series) 165; PhD Dissertation, 1965], 123)
