Hab 3:2

“With Him is nothing incomplete or out of due season, just as with the Father there is nothing incongruous. For all these things were foreknown by the Father; but the Son works them out at the proper time in perfect order and sequence. This was the reason why, when Mary was urging [Him] on to [perform] the wonderful miracle of the wine, and was desirous before the time to partake of the cup of emblematic significance, the Lord, checking her untimely haste, said, "Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come" -waiting for that hour which was foreknown by the Father. This is also the reason why, when men were often desirous to take Him, it is said, "No man laid hands upon Him, for the hour of His being taken was not yet come;" nor the time of His passion, which had been foreknown by the Father; as also says the prophet Habakkuk, "By this Thou shalt be known when the years have drawn nigh; Thou shalt be set forth when the time comes; because my soul is disturbed by anger, Thou shalt remember Thy mercy." Paul also says: "But when the fulness of time came, God sent forth His Son." By which is made manifest, that all things which had been foreknown of the Father, our Lord did accomplish in their order, season, and hour, foreknown and fitting, being indeed one and the same, but rich and great. For He fulfils the bountiful and comprehensive will of His Father, inasmuch as He is Himself the Saviour of those who are saved, and the Lord of those who are under authority, and the God of all those things which have been formed, the only-begotten of the Father, Christ who was announced, and the Word of God, who became incarnate when the fulness of time had come, at which the Son of God had to become the Son of man.”

“The Father gave to the Son new disciples after Moses and Elijah had been exhibited along with him in the honor of his glory and had then been dismissed as having fully discharged their duty and office.… But we have the entire structure of this same vision in Habakkuk also, where the spirit in the person of some of the apostles says, "O Lord, I have heard your speech and was afraid." What speech was this, other than the words of the voice from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, hear him"? "I considered your works and was astonished." When could this have better happened than when Peter, on seeing his glory, knew not what he was saying? "In the midst of the two you shall be known"—even Moses and Elijah.”

“And we think that the expression also which occurs in the hymn of Habakkuk, "In the midst either of the two living things, or of the two lives, you will be known," ought to be understood of Christ and the Holy Spirit. For all knowledge of the Father is obtained by revelation of the Son through the Holy Spirit, so that both of these beings which, according to the prophet, are called either "living things" or "lives" exist as the grounds of the knowledge of God the Father. For it is said of the Son that "no one knows the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." The same also is said by the apostle of the Holy Spirit, when he declares, "God has revealed them to us by his Holy Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God." And again in the Gospel, when the Savior speaks of the divine and profounder parts of his teaching, which his disciples were not yet able to receive, he thus addresses them: "I cannot bear them now; but when the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, is come, he will teach you all things, and will bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you." We must understand, therefore, that as the Son, who alone knows the Father, reveals him to whom he will, so the Holy Spirit, who alone searches the deep things of God, reveals God to whom he will: "For the Spirit blows where he lists." We are not, however, to suppose that the Spirit derives his knowledge through revelation from the Son.”

“When the sacred lesson was read just now, we heard that at the time when the twelve spies were sent to view the land of promise, two of them brought back on a lever to the children of Israel a bunch of grapes of wonderful size. Those two men can be understood in many ways, dearly beloved, for they are not unfittingly believed to have signified both the two Testaments and the two precepts whereby God and the neighbor are loved. They can, likewise, be understood both historically and allegorically. That they were a type of the two Testaments we know definitely from the fact that the grapes are read to have been brought between those two men, just as Christ our Lord is clearly recognized in the middle of the two Testaments. According to what is written, "In the middle of the two animals you will be known," that is, between the Old and New Testaments. When we read "in the middle," we are not to understand that Christ was between the New and Old Testaments in such a way that he was contained in neither one. This is not true, beloved brothers, but when it says, "In the middle of the two animals you will be known," we must realize that he is in the midst of the Old and New Testaments, that is, within in an interior and spiritual sense. This is not according to the letter, … but according to the spirit that vivifies all Christians who have spiritual understanding. Therefore "in the middle of the two animals you will be known" means in the inner sense of the New or Old Testaments.”

“"For mildness will come upon us, and we shall be corrected. Who knows the power of your anger, or can number your wrath for fear?" He now elaborates on his earlier statement: "the greatest number of them are labor and sorrow." He says that we must not go beyond the precepts of the law, for Jesus Christ, who is mildness perfected, comes upon us and corrects and improves us if we wantonly ignore his Testaments. Since he used the word corrected, he prefaced it with "mildness," so that we may realize that all the changes wrought by God in the faithful result from the application of devoted love. Next comes "Who knows the power of your anger or can number your wrath for fear?" Moses, who had experienced the severity of the Lord's response to his errant people when they roused him with incessant grumbling, rightly exclaims that no one's reckoning can measure his vengeance and that the potentialities of angry action open to him cannot be numbered. Observe in both instances that his boundless power is proclaimed, for just as the Lord's rewards cannot be understood in their fullness, likewise the measure of his vengeance cannot be grasped. He did well to add "for fear;" as another prophet remarks: "I have pondered your works and was afraid."”

“Lord, I heard Your report and feared. The report of the Lord the Savior is what He heard from the Father, that He would come in the flesh, be born into the world, dwell among the weak as the Almighty, among sinners as the Just, among men as God, perform heavenly works, teach heavenly precepts, promise heavenly gifts, be tempted, scourged, mocked, killed, and by His death destroy our death; rising from the dead, ascend into the heavens, and having sent the Spirit from above, illuminate the world with the grace of truth. Of this report He Himself frequently made mention in the Gospel, saying: "But He that sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of Him" (John 8:26). And again: "But I have called you friends, because all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you" (John 15:15). Concerning this, John the Baptist also says: "He that comes from heaven is above all, and what He has seen and heard, that He testifies" (John 3:31). Therefore, the prophet heard this report of the Lord in spirit, and feared because he complained of the oppressions of the righteous in the world, while even the Lord Himself, who makes the prosperous journey for us to salvation and life, met with death's end in the world. He feared because he lamented over the tribulations of the saints, who are not only to be delivered from tribulations by the Lord but also to be crowned eternally with the Lord.”

“I considered Your works and was afraid: surely those works by which He redeemed the world, becoming obedient to the Father unto death, even the death of the cross: that, as the Apostle again says, through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14). Indeed, the more one diligently considers these works, the more one trembles at the works of one's own frailty.”

“In the midst of two animals you will be known. It can be understood as in the midst of two animals, in the midst of Moses and Elijah. For there he was known to the three disciples on the holy mountain because he was to die, telling them that he would suffer in Jerusalem. There, he was known because he would rise again and would become immortal, with his countenance made bright like the sun, and his garments shining like snow. There, he was known because he was the Son of God, with a voice from the Father in heaven saying to him: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to him (Matthew 17:5). It can also, not unreasonably, be taken as in the midst of two thieves, among whom he was crucified and by dying was known to be a man. However, with the sun darkened, the earth shaken, and the other miracles narrated in the Gospel happening around the cross, he was known to be God. By interceding himself to the Father for his murderers, he was known to be most pious. By this same example, the prophet, who foresaw this in the spirit, was admonished not only to patiently bear the oppressions of the wicked but also to extend the grace of his kindness to those persecuting him.”

“When the years draw near, you will be known, when the time arrives, you will be revealed. The Apostles refer to this when they say: After the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law (Gal. IV, 4). The prophets foresaw these times and years from afar and greeted them from a distance, saying that when the years drew near and the time arrived, the Lord would be revealed and recognized. For it was also heard above, as the Lord said to him: Though the vision is yet for an appointed time; it will speak at the end and will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not delay (Habak. II, 3). Hearing this, and considering the works of the passion, he feared and was in awe, because he was moved by the transitory happiness of the wicked and the temporal affliction of the good. However, for having made a penance worthy of his unaware wrongdoings, he soon trusted that he could obtain forgiveness for his error. Hence he consequently adds:”

“In that time when my soul is troubled, in the wrath of mercy you will remember. When my soul is troubled, he said, struck with worthy sorrow of satisfaction and repentance because of the fear of your wrath and judgment, which I dread to have incurred carelessly, I believe that I will more quickly obtain the mercy of the pardon desired from you: where the marvelous swiftness of divine pity should be considered. He said that he was troubled in soul only because of the wrath of God, and immediately added that he was turned to mercy from wrath. To which the Psalmist's saying is similar: I said: I will confess my injustices against myself to the Lord, and you forgave the impiety of my heart (Ps. 31:3). But such indulgence can be for the smallest faults. Otherwise, our offenses, the graver they are, the greater and longer repentance, weeping, and alms they require. Up to this point, the prophet briefly encompasses with what fear of mind he was struck, having heard and more carefully considered the event of the Lord's incarnation and passion. Then, more fully, he immediately describes what that hearing, what those works of the Lord were that he was so moved by. It follows:”

“The third origin of the fear of the Lord is from the consideration of the severity of divine vengeance. Whence in Habakkuk: "Lord, I have heard your report and was afraid." He says: "I have heard your report and was afraid," namely, that report when it shall be said: "Depart, you cursed, into eternal fire." Not only in the day of tribulation or severity of the last judgment, but of any other judgment whatsoever, because the judgments of God are many.”

“And so Christ is the center of the two animating spirits, as is the heart. Hence Habakkuk: "In the midst of the two animals Thou shalt make it known." And according to a different translation, "in the midst of the years," as is the Sun: for the sum total of time runs on according to the ten steps in the dial of Achaz. According to the Septuagint, Christ was in between the animated beings that preceded Him and those that followed Him.”