messenger of the queen of arts 96 are not the words amen and fiat, which are like the fire of the most burning desires. What feathers are for arrows, the word fiat or amen is for prayer. Arrows with feathers fly higher; without feathers, they creep, as it were, on the ground and in no way do they attain their goal. Take away the feathers joined to prayer, the words amen, fiat, and certainly, the prayer will not arise to Heaven, it will not arrive at the Heart of God and it will not attain its goal, from which you stray. The weight of this word, by which it enjoys such recognition and has such value, the eternal Creator of all things Himself most clearly showed when — as is known —He created the entire universe precisely through this word. God spoke: “Let there be (fiat) a dome in the middle of the waters, to separate one body of water from the other” (Gen 1:6). “And so it happened” (Gen 1:7). And next, who took from Heaven to earth the Son of God and brought Him to the womb of the inviolate Virgin? Certainly, nothing other than precisely this word fiat. I confirm this with the testimony of that doctor,11 who states: “Just as after the words ‘this is my Body,’ Christ is immediately made present under the sacramental species, so also after the words, ‘behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done (fiat) to me according to your word,’ Christ was made present and was formed in the womb [of the Blessed Mother].” I can also, if it pleases, give a more recent example. [When] a temple was erected outside the city walls by Valens, the Roman emperor,12 the members of the Arian sect threatened it both by petition and by force. Basil, called the Great,13 opposed their wicked plotting and obtained an imperial decree deciding that the temple ought to fall to the members of that religion whose prayers bring it about that the temple itself open before them. 11 This is Cornelius à Lapide, Commentaria in Lucam 138. 12 Ruling in the Eastern provinces from the seat in Constantinople in the years 364-378. 13 St. Basil the Great (ca. 330-379), Bishop of Caesarea Cappadocia and Doctor of the Church.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mw==