Gregory the Great, on 1Sam 2:2

“There is none holy as the Lord is: for there is no other beside thee, and there is none strong like our God.”

“6. For by these words of Anna, every chosen soul cries out this in praise to the Redeemer, which it believes to be a gift from him. But from this order of pious confession, the order is indicated by which we may attain those same goods of the gift which she set forth in sequence. Therefore the Lord is declared holy and strong, by whom we are sanctified, led to rest, and glorified. We receive sanctification from the Lord in the power of regeneration; but being—that is, rest from the changeableness of this corruption—in the ending of exile; and strength in the triumph of the resurrection. Therefore we attain the first of these gifts in this life, when the soul of each chosen one is in the flesh, but both are still placed in the struggle of labor; the next, however, in the soul alone apart from the flesh, after the life of the flesh, and now taken up from the labors of this life; but the last, in flesh and soul, but both now renewed through the glory of eternity. Therefore he is first called holy, because for those regenerated through the washing of salvation, the love of God is poured into our hearts, through whose grace we are prepared for the goods of the eternal homeland, so that while this life slips away through the time of its course, that life may receive us, whose joy the departing souls of the elect from here may possess without fear of death. Then being is ascribed to him, because, secure, we await the day of our consummation, namely the glory of the final resurrection, while in that gift of received rest we learn not to fear the scrutiny of the final judgment, but to await the joy of the promised glory. But in the last place he is declared strong, because in the joy of the future resurrection our weaknesses are strengthened, when the flesh rises from the dust; but that same dust of our flesh, transferred into the glory of perpetual incorruption, returns no more to the misery of its frailty. But it should also be noted that in these three we are led from one to another; but when one begins to have what was not had, he who receives what he did not have does not lose what he had before. For when we are led from sanctification to rest, and from the rest of the soul we are led to the strength of eternal incorruption, both the sanctification of love is increased for us in that rest, and rest and love grow greatly in the resurrection. For let each soul, joined to its Creator through love, beholding such great gifts, say in the words of Anna how well the gift of perfect regeneration and the power of love tastes to it. Let it say: There is none holy as the Lord is. Let it say how much better a gift is the promise of rest in the hour of its passing: Neither is there any other besides you. Let it say how the most excellent and pleasing reward is its final renewal, in the joy of its perfected spirit and glorified flesh. Let it say: And there is none strong like our God. And it should be noted that Anna speaks this in a canticle of prayer. For to the chosen mind, to ask these things in a canticle is to desire such great gifts with joy. Indeed, for it to ask is to desire, and to rejoice is to sing. But she who so joyfully beholds the gifts of her dignity, how strongly she reproaches hidden enemies becomes known.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.

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