Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 43

How could anyone who lifts his eyes to the sun not admire the way in which it is regulated? When it first appears, it could in fact seem to be something of little account, whereas in reality it has a truly great power. It gives us light from its rising in the east until it sets in the west. When the psalmist says that it rises in the morning “like a bridegroom from his chamber,” he gives an image of its temperate rays that do not bother the eyes at its rising, because at its appearance “like a bridegroom,” we find it pleasant. Only when it directs its horses toward midday do we for the most part shelter ourselves from its burning rays. Note above all how it regulates itself, although it is not the sun itself that appoints the rule but him who gave it its course to follow. In the summer, rising, it lengthens the days so as to give people more time for work. In the winter, it shortens its course, not so as to lengthen the time of cold but so that, the nights being longer, it would cooperate with human beings, promoting their rest, and with the earth to make it fruitful. Note also the harmony with which the days balance each other. In the winter they are shorter and in the summer longer, in spring and autumn they accord with one other, seeking a similar length. The night is regulated in the same way. As the psalmist says, “One day to the next hands on the message, and night to night transmits the news.” Day and night, with their orderly procession, cry out in unison to heretics that there is no other God than the Creator of all things, who has given them rule and order.

Catechetical Lecture 9:6

After having discussed the sun, he rightly speaks also of the moon, because the church follows Christ, and as the moon is illuminated by the sun, in the same way the church is illuminated by Christ and established by his glory. Scripture recalls this in the psalm in which the prophet speaks in a mysterious way of the king and of the king’s son, saying, “He will endure as the sun, like the moon through all ages.” The sun, in fact, is the Word of the Father, the Son of God, the Christ who remains as God and man, one from two natures and in two natures distinct and perfect. Moreover, Christ remains before the moon, that is, before the church, which gazes on him always with the light of the heart. It is right to compare the moon with the church, since it does not have a splendor of its own but receives light from the sun in certain ways that astronomers accurately explain, along with other things. In the same way, the church is apportioned light from the true Creator. In time of persecution, the light diminishes. Then, with the return of peace, it becomes full again with the joy of the clearest light.

On Ecclesiasticus 9:7

The beauty of the saints adorns the church. Those whom the most high Lord has ordained to enlighten the whole world with the preaching of the gospel and with the marks of the virtues await the judgment of God in holy words, that is, they attend with constancy to the doctrine of the true faith and are not broken by the adversities of this world. Nor do they let themselves be overcome by anger but endure all things with patience, continually caring for the flock entrusted to them, always diligently remembering in their hearts those words of the Lord, “Be ready, with your loins girded and your lamps lit. Be like those who await the master’s return from the wedding.” “Be ready, because in an hour you do not expect, the Son of man will come.” “By your perseverance you will save your souls.”

On Ecclesiasticus 9:7

God almighty set the rainbow as a sign between himself and humanity, indicating that he would never again destroy the world with a flood. And this is why the rainbow has the color of both water and fire—in part light blue and in part red—so that it might testify to both judgments, to the one that is to come and to the one that has already taken place, since the world will be burned by fire and was once destroyed by the waters of the flood. For this reason we liken the rainbow to the Scripture of the New and the Old Testaments, since, in a certain way, it encircles the necks of the faithful with two curved parts. On this we read, “He has strung and aimed his bow,” and thus he gives a sweet yoke to to the faithful, but for rebels he proclaims himself to be a fearsome weapon. The rainbow is very beautiful in its brilliance, because the sense and intelligence of sacred Scripture are magnificent. “It encircles the heavens with a ring of glory,” because it speaks abundantly of the highest things and of the lowest.

On Ecclesiasticus 9:7

We have been commanded to be fervent in spirit, and this shows that the Word of God is a blazing fire. And Jeremiah hears from the one who gave him oracles, “Look, I have put my words in your mouth, a fire.” Therefore, since God is fire, the angels are flames of fire, and the saints should be fervent in the spirit of God. They have without a doubt cooled in their love for him and have become cold. Indeed, the Lord says that “increasing iniquity, the love of many will grow cold.” And all those beings that symbolize the contrary power in sacred Scripture are always cold. The devil, in fact, is called a serpent and a dragon: what is colder than these? It is said that the dragon rules in the waters, and this is also said of one of the evil spirits that the prophet says dwells in the sea. And elsewhere the prophet says, “He will strike with the holy sword the serpent dragon that flees—the dragon, the perverse serpent—and he will kill him.” And in another passage, “Even if they depart from before my eyes and flee into the depths of the sea, I will command the dragon, and he will bite them.” And in Job this creature is called king of all the beings that are in the water. The prophet announces that evils come from the north, and especially those that inhabit the earth. And the north wind is indicated as cold in the Scriptures, as is written in Wisdom, “icy north wind.” Without question, we must refer this to the devil.

On First Principles 2:8.3

You expect to be glorified with Christ (“If we suffer with him, we will also be glorified with him”). You would not, however, glorify the Spirit of holiness along with Christ, as though he were not worthy to have the same honors that you have. You hope to reign with Christ, but you insult the Spirit of grace, relegating him to the rank of a slave and a servant. And I say these things not to show all that is due to the Spirit in glorification but to confound the bad faith of those who do not concede it to him, fleeing as impious the communion of the glory of the Spirit with the Son and with the Father. Who could allow these things to happen without weeping? Is it not obvious, to the point where even a child could understand it, that the present state presages the abandonment of the faith that threatens us? Incontestable things become doubtful. We believe in the Spirit and oppose him precisely in our professions of faith. We are baptized and still fight. We invoke him as the author of life, yet we despise him as a companion in slavery. We received him with the Father and the Son, and we dishonor him as if he were part of the creation. Those who do not know what to ask for in prayer, if they are moved to express something sacred regarding the Spirit, limit the flow of their words to maintain measure, as though they had already given him enough honor. One should mourn their weakness; we, however, do not have words to express thanks for all the gifts of which we experience the effects. The Spirit in fact surpasses all knowledge and thwarts the possibility of any speech that fails to conform to at least a minimum of his dignity, according to the words of the book called Wisdom: “Exalt him as you can, because he is higher still. In exalting him, you will increase your strength. Do not grow weary; otherwise you will not reach him.”

On the Holy Spirit 28:70

Indeed, with what understanding can a person apprehend God when he does not even apprehend that very intellect of his own by which he wants to know God? And if he does already understand this, let him diligently consider then that there is nothing better in his nature than his intellect. Let him see, then, if he discovers in it any features of form, brilliance of colors, spatial broadness, distance of parts, extension of mass, spatial dislocation, or anything else of this kind. Certainly we find nothing of this sort in that which is best in us, that is, in our intellect, with which we attain wisdom to the extent we are able. So then, what we do not find in what is best in us, we must not look for in him who is much better than what is best in us. We conceive, therefore—if we can and to the extent we can—of good without quality, greatness without quantity, creator without necessity, in the first place without location, containing all things but without exteriority, entirely present everywhere without place, eternal without time, author of changeable things while remaining absolutely unchanged and foreign to all passivity. Whoever conceives of God in this way, though he still cannot discover perfectly what he is, at least avoids, with pious diligence and to the extent possible, attributing to him what he is not.

On the Trinity 5:1.2