« There was a voice from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; in you I find my joy. Luke
3:15-22
Sermons of 25 March 1622 and 17 Oct. 1620 (X 368 and VII 258)
God the Father spoke to bear witness to this when Our Lord received baptism in the Jordan, for then this voice was heard: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have taken all my delight, listen to Him.” As if he wanted to say, “O poor people, you had so angered me with your sins, that I had resolved to destroy you all, but behold, I am sending you my Son, to reconcile you to me, for all my pleasure is to look at him and to consider him, and in this look I find so much pleasure that I forget all the displeasures I receive from your sins: Listen to Him… By this word he shows that he has sent him to save us.
Do not doubt his teaching, for he is the truth itself, and for this reason, listen to him well, his teaching is all divine, and if you practice and follow it, it will lead you to eternal life…
What glory for the Father to have such a Son, and what glory for the Son to have such a Father! The Son has the same substance as the Father; the Father communicates to him all his perfections.
Think what a glory a very good father has in having a son who resembles him perfectly! It is this glory that deserves to be celebrated forever: Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto...
But, moreover, the Father seeing his Son, and the Son seeing his Father, what exuberance of joy! The Father and the Son see that they are both worthy of infinite love; they love each other as much as they deserve, they love each other infinitely and divinely. And this supreme love that binds them to each other is a third divine Person, equal to them, infinite, eternal, and independent like them, who is the Holy Spirit, the love and unity of the Father and the Son.
Let us therefore sing: Gloria Patri and Filio and Spiritui Sancto... I know very well that you do not hear this mystery, nor do I, but it is enough for me that we believe it.