19th Sunday after Pentecost

Jesus says to her: Woman, why do you weep? Thus he manifested himself through appearance; he also manifests himself through conversation: whence: Jesus says to her: Woman, why do you weep? as if to say: do not weep. Whom do you seek? She was seeking him whom the bride also sought in Song of Songs 3: "On my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves"; as if to say: you ought not to seek him among the dead, because "rising from the dead, he dies no more; death shall no longer have dominion over him," Romans 6. But not yet does she recognize him through conversation: whence he says: She, supposing that he was the gardener, because she had come into the garden so early in the morning: says to him: Lord, if you have carried him away, that is, Jesus. She had made no mention of Jesus to him with whom she was speaking, and only said him; because, as Gregory says, "the force of love is accustomed to do this in the soul: that it believes no one else is ignorant of him whom it always thinks about." Tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. It was not enough for her to see him, unless she should take him away, according to that verse of Song of Songs 3: "I held him and would not let him go, until I brought him into the house of my mother and into the chamber of her who bore me": therefore she wished to take him away.

Question. There is a question about the fact that the Lord did not immediately manifest himself to the woman in his own appearance, but appeared as if he were a gardener. Gregory responds that the reason for this was Mary's manner of seeking. "For because Mary loved and doubted, she saw and did not recognize." Bernard, however, gives the reason that this was to inflame her more ardently: whence he says: "O delightful spectacle of loving-kindness! He himself who is sought and desired hides himself and manifests himself; he hides himself so that he may be sought more ardently, and once sought may be found with joy, and once found may be held with solicitude, and once held may not be released."

As it was still dark, and the night had not yet wholly passed away, she sees Jesus, Who stood near her, but dimly, and knows not Who He is, being unable to distinguish the Form of His Body or His Features, but hears Him say, Woman, why weepest thou? The Saviour's words are indeed words of courtesy, still such as to arouse in her the suspicion that they were most like the words of one of the gardeners. It follows, too, that the Lord, when He thus spake, was not in point of fact asking her the reason for her weeping, nor desirous to learn of whom she was in search; but was rather anxious to stop her lamentations, just as, indeed, were the two blessed angels, for it was in their company that He spake. Why, then, weepest thou, O woman? He says; Whom seekest thou? That is to say, wipe away thy tears, as thou hast the object of thy search. I, He says, am He Who is the occasion of thy mourning, as having been dead, and as having suffered a dreadful fate, and as having also been taken away out of the tomb. But, as I am alive and am here, give up thy lamentations, and contrariwise be of good cheer. He asked the question, then, wishing to end her sorrow. For it was meet that the Lord should be our restorer in this way also. For by Adam's transgression, as in the firstfruits of the race, the sentence went forth to the whole world: Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return; and to the woman in special: In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children. To be rich in sorrow, then, as by way of a penalty, was the fate of woman. It was, therefore, necessary that by the mouth of Him That had passed sentence of condemnation, the burden of that ancient curse should be removed, our Saviour Christ now wiping away the tears from the eyes of the woman, or rather of all womankind, as in Mary the firstfruits. For she, first of women, being offended at the death of the Saviour, and grieving thereat, was thought worthy to hear the voice that cut short her weeping; the power of the word, in fact, extending also to the whole race of women, if indeed they be pained by the outrages against Christ, and honour faith in Him, and almost fall to quoting that saying in the Psalms: Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? And am I not grieved with those that rise up against Thee? I hate therm with a perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

While, however, our Lord Jesus Christ says this to put a stop to her weeping, she, supposing the speaker to be one of the gardeners, undertook very readily to transfer the remains to another place, if only it were shown her where he had laid Him. For, not yet apprehending the great mystery of the Resurrection, she was disturbed by suspicions of this kind. For the feminine mind is slow-witted and ill-prepared to readily comprehend even what is not very difficult, far less miracles which baffle description.

On the third day the friends of Christ coming at daybreak to the place found the grave empty and the stone rolled away. In varying ways they realised the new wonder; but even they hardly realised that the world had died in the night. What they were looking at was the first day of a new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth; and in a semblance of the gardener God walked again in the garden, in the cool not of the evening but the dawn.

Be the first to see the stone taken away, and perhaps you will see the angels and Jesus himself. Say something. Hear his voice. If he says to you, "Do not touch me," stand far away. Reverence the Word, but do not grieve because he knows those to whom he appears first.

He said to her: "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?" The cause of her grief is asked so that her desire might be increased, so that when she named the one she sought, she might burn more ardently in love for him.

She, supposing that he was the gardener, said to him: "Lord, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Perhaps this woman did not err even in erring, who believed Jesus to be the gardener. For was he not spiritually a gardener to her, who was planting the flourishing seeds of virtues in her heart through his love?

But what is it that, seeing him whom she believed to be the gardener, to whom she had not yet said whom she was seeking, she says: "Lord, if you have taken him away"? For as if she had already said from whose desire she was weeping, she speaks of him whom she had not mentioned. But the force of love is accustomed to do this in the soul: that it believes no one else is ignorant of him whom it always thinks about. Rightly this woman does not say whom she seeks, and yet says: "If you have taken him away," because she does not think him unknown to another, whom she thus continuously mourns with desire.

(Hom. xxv.) Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? He asks the cause of her grief, to set her longing still more. For the mere mentioning His name whom she sought would inflame her love for Him.

(Hom. xxv.) Perhaps, however, the woman was right in believing Jesus to be the gardener. Was not He the spiritual Gardener, who by the power of His love had sown strong seeds of virtue in her breast? But how is it that, as soon as she sees the gardener, as she supposes Him to be, she says, without having told Him who it was she was seeking, Sir, if Thou hast borne Him hence? It arises from her love; when one loves a person, one never thinks that any one else can be ignorant of him.

When Mary Magdalene had seen the Lord and thought that he was the gardener … she was mistaken, indeed, in her vision, but the very error had its prototype. Truly, indeed, Jesus was the gardener of his paradise, of his trees of paradise. "She thought that he was the gardener" and wanted to fall at his feet. What does the Lord say to her? "Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father." Do not touch me. You do not deserve to touch the one you looked for in a grave. Do not touch me whom you only suppose, but do not believe, has arisen. Do not touch me, for to you I have not yet ascended to my Father. When you believe that I have ascended to my Father, then, it will be your privilege to touch me.

And our Lord acted this way so that when she suddenly sees the one who she thought was beyond hope of ever seeing again because she still thought he was dead, she might not be overcome with emotion and think that he was some demonic apparition. He also wanted her first to speak to him gradually, as to a man, and after she had realized that she was speaking to a real man, she might finally understand who he was and at the same time might believe and admire the greatness of the event.

Perhaps He appeared to the Angels in a wondrous form, but to Mary not in such a form, but in a humble and ordinary one, which is why she supposed Him to be the gardener, namely of the garden in which the tomb was. For this reason she also says, "Sir, if you have carried Him away," that is, if you have stolen Him. And she does not say "Jesus," but "Him," speaking as if to one who knows what the matter is about. So then, if you have carried Him away, that is, taken and stolen Him from here, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him and move Him to another place, where He will be buried magnificently. Perhaps she was afraid that the Jews would also abuse His dead body, and therefore she wished that it be moved to another place, unknown to them.

She was afraid that the Jews might vent their rage even on the lifeless body, and therefore wished to remove it to some secret place.

2507 The words of Christ are now given: Woman, why are you weeping? First we see Christ's question; then Mary's answer.

2508 Concerning the first, note that Mary was advancing step by step: for the angels asked her why she was weeping, but Christ asked her whom she was looking for, for her weeping was caused by the desire which led her to look. Christ asked her whom she was looking for in order to increase this desire, for when she spoke of the one she was seeking, her love burned more intensely, and so she would continue to seek him: "Seek his presence continually" (Ps 105:4); "But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day" (Prv 4:18).

2509 When the Evangelist says, Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, we see Mary's answer: first, whom she thought was questioning her; then her response.

2510 Mary thought the gardener was speaking to her, because she knew that the guards had already fled, frightened by the earthquake and the sight of the angels, and that the only one who would be there would be the one taking care of it, the gardener. As Gregory says: "This woman, in erring did not err, when she thought that Christ was a gardener, for he planted the seeds of virtue in her heart by the strength of his love." "I will water my orchard and drench my garden plot" (Sir 24:31).

2511 Mary said to Jesus, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me. She calls him Sir in order to gain his good‑will. But since this "gardener" had just arrived, and Mary had not told him whom she was looking for, why does she say, if you have carried him away? Who was him? We should say that the force of love usually causes the lover to think that no one would be ignorant of the one who is always in his thoughts. For example, we read in Luke that our Lord asked [on the road to Emmaus] "What is this conversation which your are holding with each other as your walk?" And one of the disciples answered, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days" (Lk 24:17).

2512 When Mary says, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away, she shows a wonderful courage which would not be driven off by the sight of a dead person, and she would have tried to carry the body away even though it was beyond her strength. But this is what 1 Corinthians (13:7) says, "Love hopes all things." She wanted to take him so the Jews would not violate the dead body and to carry it to another secret grave.

Jesus says to her: Mary. He manifested himself to the exterior sense; here he manifests himself to the interior sense by calling her by name: whence: Jesus says to her: Mary. Gregory: "After he called her by the common designation of her sex and was not recognized, he calls her by name, so that she might recognize him by whom she is recognized." She, having turned, namely through the captivation of the intellect: Apocalypse 1: "I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me"; says to him: Rabboni, which is interpreted master. Having turned, not in body, because she had already turned in body before, but in heart: whence Augustine: "Then," he says, "turned in body, she supposed what was not; now turned in heart, she recognized what was." Moreover, recognizing him, she calls him master, because she was accustomed to call him thus: above in the eleventh chapter, Martha said to Mary: "The Master is here and calls for you."

He invites the recognition of the woman, whose mind had already been enlightened, and, allowing her to gaze upon Him without let or hindrance (for indeed she loved Him ardently), He almost rebukes her for having been so slow to perceive that He was Christ, for there is some such implied meaning in His calling her by name. She understood at once, and at the sight of Him casts aside the suspicions she felt at first, and offers Him the usual tribute of respect, calling Him Rabboni, that is to say, Master; and, with her mind full of a heavenly joy, ran eagerly to touch the holy Body, and to gain blessing therefrom.

Jesus says to her: "Mary." After he called her by the common word for her sex, and was not recognized, he calls her by name. As if he openly said to her: Recognize him by whom you are recognized. To the perfect man also it is said: "I know you by name," because "man" is the common word for all of us, but "Moses" is proper, to whom it is rightly said that he is known by name, as if the Lord openly said to him: I do not know you generally as the rest, but specially.

Therefore Mary, because she is called by name, recognizes her author, and immediately calls him rabbi, that is, teacher, because he himself was the one who was being sought outwardly, and he himself was the one who was teaching her inwardly to seek.

(Hom. xxv.) Our Lord, after calling her by the common name of her sex, and not being recognised, calls her by her own name: Jesus saith unto her, Mary; as if to say, Recognise Him, who recognises thee. Mary, being called by name, recognises Him; that it was He whom she sought externally, and He who taught her internally to seek: She turned herself, and saith unto Him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

But how was it that, "She turned herself, and saith," if so be that He was speaking to her? It seems to me, that after having said, "Where have ye laid him?" she turned to the Angels to ask why they were astonished, and that then Christ, by calling her by name, turned her to Himself from them, and revealed Himself by His Voice; for when He called her "Mary," then she knew Him; so that the recognition was not by His appearance, but by His Voice. And if any say, "Whence is it clear that the Angels were awestruck, and that on this account the woman turned herself," they will in this place say, "whence is it clear that she would have touched Him, and fallen at His feet?" Now as this is clear from His saying, "Touch Me not," so is the other clear from its saying, that she turned herself.

He who searches the hearts And grabs them by the reins, Knowing that Mary would recognize his voice, Like a shepherd, called his crying lamb, Saying, "Mary." She at once recognized him and spoke: "Surely my good shepherd calls me In order that from this time forward he may number me among the ninety nine lambs; For I see behind the one who is calling me The bodies of the saints, the ranks of the just, Therefore, then, I do not say, 'Who are you who calls me?' For I clearly know who it is who is calling me; It is he, as he said ahead of time, My Lord, he Who offers resurrection to the fallen."

Some indeed say that because this woman approached him and touched him just as she had done before, without thinking anything of it, that she did not believe that this act of resurrection was worthy of the glorious and sublime divinity. Rather [they say] she still thought the same as she did earlier, that he would be characterized by his humility and humanity as when he was with his disciples. And so when our Savior asks why she is acting this way, as if he was still earthbound, because he had not yet ascended to his Father, it is as if he said, Do not touch me with too much curiosity.… Perhaps indeed he also knew that every fiber of her being wanted to hold on to these divine feet with joy and emotion as a friend of God because Matthew also records others, besides Mary, who seized his feet and adored him. But others say that he was raising her to a higher and more sublime way of thinking. Because [they say] when Mary approached him with more fervent desire and to ask something concerning the divine, she did so because she wanted the reason for his resurrection revealed to her and so she returned to touch him.… And so Jesus, as one who knows the hidden things of the heart, says to her, "Do not touch me, because I have not yet ascended to my Father." [He says this] because he had promised to his disciples, once he had ascended into heaven, that the Holy Spirit would come who would lead them to perfection by teaching and revealing to them what was hidden.… Then [i.e., at that time] he had said, "I still have many things to teach you but you cannot bear them now, but when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all truth." This is why [now] he says, "Do not touch me," that is, do not probe, do not seek the reason for what you came to ask. Do not touch me. The time has not yet come because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But I will ascend, and when I do, the Spirit will come and teach you as he also promised to me. It is obvious that Mary, [once she recognized him], wanted to learn, because she addressed him not as "Lord" [as she had done earlier] but as "Rabboni," that is, teacher.… She was anxious to learn. But, as one who directs his words with understanding to teach, Jesus deflects her [question] as being inappropriate.… [The Gospel] testifies to this desire of Mary, the sister of Martha, to know when, instead of listening to Martha's instruction, she should remain close to Jesus, who said concerning her, "Mary has chosen the better share, which will not be taken away from her."

The intention of the woman is full of love; but she cannot conceive of anything lofty. And since she herself could not think of anything lofty, the Lord by His voice makes Himself known to her. For He uttered only her name and thereby imparted knowledge, just as He sometimes made the Jews recognize Him, and at other times was present among them, and they did not recognize Him. So also in speech, when He willed, then He made Himself known. In like manner now too, when He willed, He made Mary recognize Him by His voice. Without doubt, He had also spoken aloud to her before: "Woman, why are you weeping?" But Mary did not recognize Him, for it was not the will of Jesus. But when He willed it, she recognized Him by His voice. "She turned and said to Him." How is this? She was speaking with Him and saying, "Tell me where you have laid Him"; and now the Evangelist says that she "turned"? It seems to me that after she said "where you have laid Him," she turned toward the Angels, perhaps intending to ask them what they were marveling at. Then Christ, calling her by name, astonished her with His voice and turned her from them to Himself, and she, recognizing Him now, said, "Teacher!"

2513 Next the Evangelist shows Mary recognizing Christ. The Evangelist uses the name Mary, while before he had used the general word "woman," (v 13;15). He calls her by her own name to show that she was well known to the saints ‑ "He determines the number of the stars, he gives to them their names" (Ps 147:4); "I know you by name" (Ex 33:12) ‑ and to indicate that although all things are moved by God with a general motion, yet a special grace is needed for a person's justification.

The effect of her being called by Christ was that she turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabboni! (which means Teacher).

2514 Wasn't Mary always looking at Christ when he was speaking to her? According to Augustine, this present turning refers to her interior state of mind: before, although she was facing Christ, she thought he was someone else, the gardener; but now her heart was turned and she recognized him for what he was.

Or, one could say that, as was said, she thought he was someone else, and so while she was talking to him she did not look at him but was concerned with the Christ she carried in her heart, and was looking about for some trace of him.

Christ called her by her own name, Mary: This was like saying: Where are you looking? Recognize him who has recognized you. As soon as she heard her name she recognized him, and said, Rabboni, which means Teacher, for this was what she used to call him. We can understand from this that the cause of our justification and of our profession of faith is to have been called by Christ.

For Christ's purpose in the incarnation was to pave for us the road to heaven. Mark how he says, "I go up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."

What does this mean, "Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father"? If she could not touch him as he was standing on earth, would she be able to touch him seated in heaven? As though he was saying, "Do not touch me now; touch me then, when I have ascended to the Father." Your graces will recall yesterday's reading, when the Lord appeared to the disciples and they thought they were seeing a spirit. But wishing to relieve them of this mistaken idea, he offered himself to their touch. What did he say? It was yesterday. There was a sermon about it. "Why are you troubled, and why are thoughts coming up into your hearts? See my hands and my feet; feel and see." He had not already ascended to the Father, had he, when he said feel and see, offering himself to his disciples to be touched, not just touched but felt, to produce faith in the real flesh of his real body, to present the solid reality of truth even to the human touch? So he offers himself to the hands of the disciples to be felt, but he says to the woman, "Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father." What can it mean? Could men only touch him on earth, while women had to touch him in heaven, "for I have not yet ascended to my Father"? So what can touching be, but believing? We touch Christ, you see, by faith, and it is better not to touch him with the hand and to touch him with faith than to feel him with the hand and not touch him with faith. It was not a great matter to touch Christ; the Jews touched him when they seized him, they touched him when they bound him, touched him when they hung him up; they touched him, and by touching him in a bad way, they lost what they touched. Just you touch by faith, O Catholic church; see that you touch by faith. If you have thought of Christ only as a man, you have touched him on earth. If you have believed Christ is Lord, equal to the Father, then you have touched him when he has ascended to the Father.

What is "Touch me as I ascended to the Father"? Touch me as equal to the Father. What is "Touch me as equal to the Father"? Touch me as God, that is believe in me as God.

"Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; to my God, and your God." There are points in these words which we must examine with brevity indeed, but with somewhat more than ordinary attention. For Jesus was giving a lesson in faith to the woman, who had recognized Him as her Master, and called Him so in her reply; and this gardener was sowing in her heart, as in His own garden, the grain of mustard seed. What then is meant by "Touch me not"? And just as if the reason of such a prohibition would be sought, He added, "for I am not yet ascended to my Father." What does this mean? If, while standing on earth, He is not to be touched, how could He be touched by men when sitting in heaven? For certainly, before He ascended, He presented Himself to the touch of the disciples, when He said, as testified by the evangelist Luke, "Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have;" or when He said to Thomas the disciple, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and put forth thy hand, and thrust it into my side." And who could be so absurd as to affirm that He was willing indeed to be touched by the disciples before He ascended to the Father, but refused it in the case of women till after His ascension? But no one, even had any the will, was to be allowed to run into such folly. For we read that women also, after His resurrection and before His ascension to the Father, touched Jesus, among whom was Mary Magdalene herself; for it is related by Matthew that Jesus met them, and said, "All hail. And they approached, and held Him by the feet, and worshipped Him." It remains, therefore, that some sacred mystery must lie concealed in these words; and whether we discover it or utterly fail to do so, yet we ought to be in no doubt as to its actual existence. Accordingly, either the words, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father," had this meaning, that by this woman the Church of the Gentiles was symbolized, which did not believe on Christ till He had actually ascended to the Father, or that in this way Christ wished Himself to be believed on; in other words, to be touched spiritually, that He and the Father are one. For He has in a manner ascended to the Father, to the inward perception of him who has made such progress in the knowledge of Christ that he acknowledges Him as equal with the Father: in any other way He is not rightly touched, that is to say, in any other way He is not rightly believed on. But Mary might have still so believed as to account Him unequal with the Father, and this certainly is forbidden her by the words, "Touch me not;" that is, Believe not thus on me according to thy present notions; let not your thoughts stretch outwards to what I have been made in thy behalf, without passing beyond to that whereby thou hast thyself been made. For how could it be otherwise than carnally that she still believed on Him whom she was weeping over as a man? "For I am not yet ascended," He says, "to my Father:" there shalt thou touch me, when thou believest me to be God, in no wise unequal with the Father. "But go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father." He saith not, Our Father: in one sense, therefore, is He mine, in another sense, yours; by nature mine, by grace yours. "And my God, and your God." Nor did He say here, Our God: here, therefore, also is He in one sense mine, in another sense yours: my God; under whom I also am as man; your God, between whom and you I am mediator.

(Tr. cxxi. 3) But if standing upon the earth, He is not touched, how shall He be touched sitting in heaven? And did He not before His ascension offer Himself to the touch of the disciples: Handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones? (Luke 24:39) Who can be so absurd as to suppose that He was willing that disciples should touch Him before He ascended to His Father, and unwilling that women should till after? Nay, we read of women after the resurrection, and before He ascended to His Father, touching Him, one of whom was Mary Magdalene herself, according to Matthew. Either then Mary here is a type of the Gentile Church, which did not believe in Christ till after His ascension: or the meaning is that Jesus is to be believed in, i. e. spiritually touched, in no other way, but as being one with the Father. He ascends to the Father mystically, as it were, in the mind of him who hath so far advanced as to acknowledge that He is equal to the Father. But how could Mary believe in Him otherwise than carnally, when she wept for Him as a man?

(i. de Trin) Touch is as it were the end of knowledge; and He was unwilling that a soul intent upon Him should have its end, in thinking Him only what He seemed to be.

(Tr. cxxi) He does not say, Our Father, but, My Father and your Father: Mine therefore and yours in a different sense; Mine by nature, yours by grace. Nor does He say, Our God, but, My God—under Him I am man—and your God; between you and Him I am Mediator.

Jesus says to her. Here upon Mary, now knowing him, is enjoined the publication of the manifestation: and first he corrects her; second, he sends her to announce. He corrects her in this that he says: Do not touch me: and he gives the reason: For I have not yet ascended to my Father.

But this text seems to contain falsity and doubtfulness: first, because the other Evangelists say that "the women approached and held his feet." Likewise, what kind of reason is this: For I have not yet ascended to my Father? On the contrary, this is a reason why she ought to have touched him, because if he had ascended, she could not touch him. On this account, this text is expounded in multiple ways. Augustine expounds it concerning the touch of the heart or of faith: whence he says: "Do not touch me, that is, do not believe in me in the way you still understand. For how did she not still believe in him carnally, she who wept for him as a man? And the following text says this: For I have not yet ascended to my Father, that is, to equality with the Father in your heart." According to Gregory, it is understood concerning bodily touch: but the Lord does not prohibit this, as he says, "because he shrank from the touch of women, since it is written: The women approached and held his feet;" but in this he wished to show her unworthy to touch him as one not rightly believing, or not fully: and he proves this through the following text: "For I have not yet ascended to the Father. In our heart, Jesus ascends to the Father when he is believed to be equal to the Father." According to Chrysostom, it is understood concerning bodily touch: and the Lord does not prohibit touching, but intimates that he is to be touched with greater reverence than when he was passible: and the following reason indicates this, in which the Lord says: I have not yet ascended, but nevertheless I am preparing myself for the ascension, and therefore I am not with you as before. This can also be explained in another way: because Mary was burning to see the Lord, whence she had also searched most diligently, she wished to fall upon his feet with kisses and not let him go; but the Lord rebuked her, showing that this is not the place of enjoyment and of touching Christ, but with the Father, whence he says: Do not touch me, that is, do not wish to enjoy me by touching me here: for I have not yet ascended, where is the place of enjoyment, where you will never be frustrated; but now it is necessary to be separated bodily. Whence he sends her to announce what she had seen.

But go to my brothers, namely the Apostles, of whom it is said in the Psalm: "I will declare your name to my brothers: in the midst of the Church I will praise you"; and tell them, announce the truth of the rising Christ, which consists in the dignity of glorification, by which he was now fit to go into heaven; therefore he says: Tell them: I ascend: Ephesians 4: "He who descended, he himself is the one who ascended above all the heavens." The truth of Christ's resurrection also consists in the excellence of the Divinity: whence he says: To my Father and your Father, not in the same way mine as yours: whence Gregory says: "Mine by nature, yours by grace." The truth of Christ's resurrection also consists in the excellence of the humanity, and he touches upon this when he says: My God and your God: Augustine says: "My God, under whom I too am man, your God, between whom and himself I am Mediator."

Question. Whether Mary believed Christ to be God? And that she did, it seems, because above in chapter 11 Martha said: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And also, how would her sins have been forgiven without right faith? But Gregory and Augustine seem to say the contrary, on the text: For I have not yet ascended to my Father, as was explained above. The response is that Mary before the passion believed Christ to be God, yet she loved him most vehemently in the flesh: and therefore in the passion she conceived so great a sorrow that, now overwhelmed, she thought of nothing except his humanity and death, and therefore did not recall the works of his Majesty, but only the sufferings of his humanity.

Question. What does it mean when he says: I ascend to the Father, since the Father is everywhere? The response is that this is understood causally, because he was making or was about to make himself believed to be equal to the Father in all things: therefore he is said to ascend, etc. Or to the place where the Father is more manifestly revealed in his works: whence he is said to sit at the right hand, that is, among the greater goods.

as often as He wished, He at once vanished from them, how by way of instructing her He said to Mary: Touch me not, teaching her by these words that intercourse between immortals and mortals is not fitting, but rather intercourse with immortals must be in heaven. Wherefore also He directed her to go away and tell the disciples: I ascend into heaven into which ye also are to ascend.

But go unto My brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.

CHAPTER I. That the Son is by Nature God, even though we find Him calling the Father His God.

For reasons which we have given, Christ suffers not Mary to touch Him, though, in her love of God, she greatly yearned for this boon; but still rewards her for her watchful care, and doubly requites her for her passionate faith and love for Him, showing that those who are diligent in His service meet with a recompence. And, what was even yet more glorious, she achieved the deliverance of woman from the frailties of old; for in her first----I mean in Mary----all womankind, so to speak, are crowned with a double honour. For though at first she thus lamented, and made Christ an occasion for weeping, she turned her mourning into joy when she was told to forbear from tears by Him, Who, by His own sentence of old, had made woman easy to be overcome by the attacks of sorrow. For God had said to the woman: In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children; but just as He once made her subject unto sorrow in Paradise, when she hearkened to the voice of the serpent, and ministered to the devil's wiles, so now again in a garden He bids her refrain from weeping. Releasing her from that curse which bound her unto sorrow, He bids her be the first messenger of tidings of great joy, and proclaim |662 to the disciples His journey heavenward; that as the first woman, the mother of all mankind, was condemned for listening to the devil's voice, and through her the whole race of women, so also this woman, in that she had hearkened to our Saviour's words, and announced tidings fraught with life eternal, might deliver the entire race of women from the charge of old. The Lord, therefore, grants unto Mary that, besides being delivered from tears, and from a heart ever prone to sorrow, her feet also should be beautiful. For, as the Prophet exclaims: How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things! while the feet of that woman of old time were not beautiful, for no good tidings did she bring when she enticed our forefather to transgress the Divine command. That Mary is worthy our admiration we may infer, from the fact that she was deemed worthy of mention in prophecy. For what said the Prophet concerning her, and the women with her, who announced unto the holy disciples the Resurrection of the Saviour? Ye women, who come from the sight, come hither; for it is a people that hath not understanding. For this Divine prophecy bids these women, true lovers of Christ, come, as it were, with quickened steps, that they may tell what they themselves have seen, and condemns the insensibility of the Jews in that they laughed to scorn the words of our Saviour Christ Himself concerning the Resurrection.

And though there were also other women there (for this the other Evangelists are pleased to record), and the wise John made mention only of Mary, we shall yet find no discrepancy in the accounts of these holy men. For it is probable that John made mention only of Mary Magdalene, because her love for Christ was more impassioned, and she outran the others, so that she first saw the tomb, and was in the garden, and visited every place that was nigh unto the sepulchre, to search for the Body; for she thought, in fact, that the Lord had been taken away. For results are always ascribed to those who take the lead in counsel and action, though there may be others who co-operate in both.

Therefore, to her honour and glory and perpetual renown, the Saviour vouchsafed unto Mary the duty of proclaiming to the brethren the tidings contained in His words: I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and My God and your God; and do thou for thy part accept this great and profound mystery, not suffering thine heart to vault over the measure of the truth of the Divine doctrines. Observe how the Only-begotten Word of God came among us, that we also might be even as He is, so far as is possible for our nature to attain thereto, and so far as relates unto our new creation by grace. For He humbled Himself that He might exalt that which was by nature lowly to His own high station; and wore the form of a servant, though He was by Nature Lord and Son of God, that He might uplift that which was by nature enslaved to the dignity of Sonship, in conformity with His own Likeness, and in His Image. How, and in what sense, then, He, becoming one of us as Man, in order that we also might be like Him, that is, Gods and Sons, receives our attributes into Himself, and gives back unto us His own, you may well be anxious to inquire. I will explain, then, as far as I am able: In the first place, then, though we are servants by rank and nature (for creatures are subject to their Creator), He calls us His brethren, and designates God the common Father of Himself and us; and, making humanity His own, by taking our likeness upon Him, He calls our God His God, though He is His Son by Nature; that, as we mount up to His exceeding great dignity of station by likeness to Him (for it is not because we are by nature sons of God that we are so called, for He cries in our hearts by His own Spirit, Abba, Father), so also He, since He took our form----for He became Man, according to the Scriptures----might have God for His God, though He was truly God by Nature, and proceeded from Him. Be not, therefore, offended, though you hear Him calling God His God, but rather contemplate His words in a teachable spirit, and attentively consider their true meaning. For He says that God is both His Father and our God; and both sayings are true. For, in very truth, the God of the universe is Christ's Father, but not ours by nature; but rather our God as our Creator and Sovereign Lord. But the Son, as it were, blending Himself with us, vouchsafes to our nature the dignity that is in a special and peculiar sense His own, calling Him That begat Him the common Father of us all; while, on the other hand, He receives into Himself, by taking upon Him our likeness, that which belonged to our nature. For He calls His Father His God, being unwilling, through His inherent love and mercy toward mankind, to dishonour our likeness that He had taken upon Himself. If, then, you choose in ignorance to cavil at this saying, and it seem intolerable to you that the Lord should say that God the Father was His God, you will then, in your perversity, be bringing a charge against the scheme for your own redemption; and when you ought to be offering up thanksgiving you will be dishonouring your Benefactor, and be foolishly objecting to the manner in which He manifested His love towards you. For if He humbled Himself, despising shame, and became a Man for your sake, on your head is the charge of humiliation, and to Him Who chose to undergo this for your sake, exceeding great is the honour due. And I am amazed that you have ears merely for the eclipse of glory (for He humbled Himself for our sake), and consider not its restoration, and, regarding only the degradation, reflect not upon the exaltation. For how was He humiliated, if you do not regard Him as perfect, as being God? And in what sense was He degraded, if you do not take into account the lofty attributes of His ineffable Nature? Therefore, when He was perfect and all-sufficient as God, He humbled Himself for your sake, transforming Himself to your likeness; and though He was high exalted as the Son of God, and of the very Essence of the Father, He degraded Himself, being mulcted of the attributes of Divine glory, so far as His Nature admitted. As therefore, now, He is at the same time God and Man, being high exalted because of His parentage (for He is God of God and truly Begotten of His Father), and also made lowly for our sake (for He became Man for us); be of a tranquil mind when you hear Him saying: I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and My God and your God. For it was very meet and right that, as being by Nature God and Son of God, He should call Him That begat Him His Father; and that, as being Man, even as we are men. He should call God His God.

Jesus saith to her, Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended unto My Father.

The meaning of this saying is not easily understood by the vulgar, for a mystery underlies it; but we must probe it for our advantage. For the Lord will vouchsafe unto us the knowledge of His own Words. For He repulses the woman as she was running up to Him, and though she longed to embrace His Feet, He suffered her not; and, in explanation of His reason for so doing, said: For I am not yet ascended unto My Father. We must inquire into the meaning of this saying. For what if He were not yet ascended to His Father? How could this reason suffice to render it improper for those that loved Him to touch His holy Body? Would it not be blameworthy for any one to imagine that the Lord shrank from the pollution of the touch, and thus spake that He might be pure when He ascended to the Father in heaven? Would not such a man stand convicted of great folly and madness? For the Nature of God can never be polluted. For just as the light of the sun's ray, when it strikes upon a dunghill or any other earthly impurities, suffers no stain----for it remains as it is, that is, undefiled, and partakes in no degree of the ill odour of the objects that it encounters----even so the all-holy Nature of God can never admit of the blemish of defilement. What, then, is the reason why Mary was prevented from touching Him, when she drew near and yearned so to do? What can the Lord mean when He says: For I am not yet ascended unto My Father? We must investigate this according to the best of our ability. We say, therefore, that the reasons for our Saviour's sojourn amongst us were manifold and diverse, but this one the principal of all, which is indicated in His own words: For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Therefore, before the saving Cross and the Resurrection from the dead, while as yet His providential scheme had not received its appropriate fulfilment, He mingled both with the just and the unjust, and ate with publicans and sinners, and allowed any that so willed to come to Him and touch His holy Body, that He might sanctify all men and call them to a knowledge of the truth, and might bring back to health those who were diseased and enfeebled by the constant practice of sin. Therefore also, in another place, He said unto them: They that are whole have no need of a physician; but they that are sick. Therefore, before His Resurrection from the dead, He had intercourse indiscriminately with the righteous and with sinners, and never frightened away any that came unto Him. Moreover, when He was once reclining at the house of a Pharisee, a woman came in unto Him weeping, who was a sinner in the city, as is written, and let down her wanton locks, scarcely released from the service of her past sins, and wiped His Feet therewith; and we see that He did not stop her. Again, when He was on His way to bring back to life the daughter of the leader of the Synagogue, once more a woman came near unto Him, who had an issue of blood, and touched the border of His garment; and we find that He was in nowise offended, but rather vouchsafed unto her the comforting assurance: Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace. But at that time, by His Providence, men who were still unclean, and who were polluted both in mind and body, were suffered without let or hindrance to touch the holy Flesh Itself of our Saviour Christ, and to gain every blessing thereby; but when, after having completed the scheme of our redemption, He had both suffered the Cross itself, and death thereon, and had risen again to life, and shown that His Nature was superior to death, henceforward, instead of granting them a ready permission, He hinders those who come to Him from touching the very Flesh of His holy Body; thereby giving us a type of the holy Churches, and the mystery concerning Himself, just as also the Law given by the all-wise Moses itself did, when it represented the slaughter of the lamb as a figure of Christ; for no uncircumcised person, said the Law, shall eat thereof, meaning by uncircumcised impure----and humanity may justly be deemed impure in its own nature. For what is the nature of man, as compared with God's inherent purity? We may not, therefore, while we remain uncircumcised, that is, impure, touch the holy Body, but only when we have been made pure by the true circumcision of the Spirit. For circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, as Paul saith. And we cannot be spiritually circumcised if the Holy Spirit hath not taken up His abode in us by faith and Holy Baptism. Surely, therefore, it was meet that Mary should for a while be restrained from touching His sacred Body, as she had not yet received the Spirit. For even though Christ was risen from the dead, still the Spirit had not yet been given to humanity by the Father through Him. For when He ascended to God the Father, He sent the Spirit down to us; wherefore also He said: It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter cannot come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. As, therefore, the Holy Spirit had not yet been sent down unto us, for He had not yet ascended to the Father, He repulses Mary as not yet having received the Spirit, saying: Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended unto the Father; that is to say, I have not yet sent down unto you the Holy Spirit. Hence the type is applicable to the Churches. Therefore, also, we drive away from the Holy Table those who are indeed convinced of the Godhead of Christ, and have already made profession of faith, that is, those who are already catechumens, when they have not as yet been enriched with the Holy Spirit. For He does not dwell in those who have not received Baptism. But when they have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, then indeed there is nothing to hinder them from touching Our Saviour Christ. Therefore, also, to those who wish to partake of the blessed Eucharist, the ministers of Divine mysteries say, "Holy things to the holy," teaching that participation in holy things is the due reward of those who are sanctified in the Spirit.

What is the difference if he was not yet ascended to his Father? How could this reason suffice to render it improper for those that loved him to touch his holy body? Would it not be blameworthy for anyone to imagine that the Lord shrank from the pollution of the touch and said this so that he might be pure when he ascended to the Father in heaven? Would not such a person stand convicted of great foolishness and madness? For the nature of God can never be polluted. For just as the light of the sun's ray, when it strikes on a manure pile or any other earthly impurities, suffers no stain, for it remains as it is, that is, undefiled, and it partakes in no degree of the ill odor of the objects that it encounters, even so the all-holy nature of God can never admit of the blemish of defilement. Why then was Mary prevented from touching him when she drew near and yearned to do so?…We say that the reasons for our Savior dwelling among us were many and diverse, but there is one overriding principle, indicated in his own words: "For I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." Therefore, before the saving cross and the resurrection from the dead, while as yet his providential scheme had not received its appropriate fulfillment, he mingled both with the just and the unjust, and ate with publicans and sinners and allowed any that wanted to come to him and touch his holy body so that he might sanctify all who came and call them to a knowledge of the truth and might bring back to health those who were diseased and enfeebled by the constant practice of sin. … At that time, by his providence, people who were still unclean and who were polluted both in mind and body were allowed without hindrance to touch the holy flesh itself of our Savior Christ and to gain every blessing from it. But after he completed the plan of our redemption, having suffered death on the cross and rising to life again, he showed that his nature was superior to death. And so, from then on, instead of granting them access, he hinders those who come to him from touching the very flesh of his holy body. In this way he gives us a type of the holy churches and the mystery concerning himself, just as also the law given by the all-wise Moses itself did when it represented the slaughter of the lamb as a figure of Christ. For "no uncircumcised person," said the Law, "shall eat thereof," meaning by uncircumcised someone who is "impure." And humanity may justly be deemed impure in its own nature. For what is the nature of a human being, as compared with God's inherent purity? We may not, therefore, while we remain uncircumcised, that is, impure, touch the holy body, but only when we have been made pure by the true circumcision of the Spirit.… As, therefore, the Holy Spirit had not yet been sent down to us, for he had not yet ascended to the Father, he repulses Mary as not yet having received the Spirit, saying, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to the Father"; that is to say, I have not yet sent down to you the Holy Spirit. And so, the type is applicable to the churches.… Therefore, also, to those who wish to partake of the blessed Eucharist, the ministers of divine mysteries say, "Holy things to the holy," teaching that participation in holy things is the due reward of those who are sanctified in the Spirit.

But in case anyone, from simplicity or perverse ingenuity, should suppose that Christ is but equal in honor to righteous people … it is well to make this distinction beforehand, that the name of the Father is one, but the power of his operation is many. And Christ himself, knowing this, has spoken unerringly, "I am ascending to my Father and your Father." He does not say, "to our Father," but distinguishing and saying first what was proper to himself, "to My Father," which was by nature. Then he adds, "and your Father," which was by adoption. For however high the privilege we have received of saying in our prayers, "Our Father," who art in heaven, yet this gift is one of loving-kindness. For we call him Father, not as having been by nature begotten of our Father who is in heaven but having been transferred from servitude to sonship by the grace of the Father, through the Son and Holy Spirit. We are permitted to speak this way because of the ineffable loving-kindness [of our Father].

The Father, having begotten the Son, remained the Father and is not changed. He begat Wisdom yet did not lose wisdom himself. He begat power yet did not become weak. He begat God but did not lose his own Godhead. Neither did he lose anything himself by diminution or change. He who was begotten does not lack anything either. Perfect is he who begat, perfect is that which was begotten: God was he who begat, God is he who was begotten; God of all himself, yet giving the Father the title as his own God. For he is not ashamed to say, "I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." But in case you might think that he is a Father of the Son in the same way that he is Father of creation, Christ drew a distinction in what follows. For he did not say, "I ascend to our Father," lest the creatures should be made fellows of the Only Begotten. Instead, he said, "My Father and your Father." He is in one way mine, by nature. He is, in another way, yours, by adoption. And again, "to my God and your God," in one way mine, as his true and only-begotten Son, and in another way yours, as his workmanship. The Son of God then is very God, ineffably begotten before all ages.

He said, "Do not touch me," first of all, because this body was [like] a first-flowering fruit from Sheol that our Lord, as priest, was preserving carefully from contact with any [human] hand, so as to offer it to the [only] hand capable of receiving such a gift and capable of paying the price for an offering such as this. Second, [he did not want anyone to touch him] in order to show that this body was [already] glorified and magnified. Thus he showed them that, while he had been a servant, everyone had power over him, since even tax collectors and sinners used to come and touch him. But when he was made Lord, fear of him was over everyone like [the fear of] God. Even kings and nobles convince us [of this], for those who see [them] are afraid to touch them.

To give you the explanation in one sentence: You are to apply the loftier expressions to the Godhead and to that nature in him that is superior to sufferings and bodily experiences. But all that is lowly should be applied to the composite condition of him who for your sakes made himself of no reputation and was incarnate.

Now that the words addressed to Mary are not applicable to the Godhead of the Only Begotten, one may learn from the intention with which they were uttered. For he who humbled himself to a level with human littleness is the one who spoke these words. … He from whom we were formerly alienated by our revolt has become our Father and our God. Accordingly in the passage cited above the Lord brings the good news of this benefit. And the words are not a proof of the degradation of the Son but the good news of our reconciliation to God. For that which has taken place in Christ's humanity is a common boon bestowed on humankind generally. For as when we see in him the weight of the body that naturally gravitates to earth ascending through the air into the heavens, we believe according to the words of the apostle that we also "shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." Even so, when we hear that the true God and Father has become the God and Father of our Firstfruits, we no longer doubt that the same God has become our God and Father too, inasmuch as we have learned that we shall come to the same place where Christ has entered for us as our forerunner.

He becomes the firstborn of the new creation of men and women in Christ by the twofold regeneration, reborn by holy baptism and by that birth that is the consequence of the resurrection from the dead. In both alike he becomes for us the Prince of life, the firstfruits and the firstborn. This firstborn, then, also has brothers. This is who he is referring to when he says to Mary, "Go and tell my brothers, I go to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." In these words he sums up the whole aim of his dispensation as man. For humanity rebelled against God and "served those that by nature were no gods." And even though they were the children of God, they became attached to an evil father falsely so called. Therefore, the mediator between God and man, having assumed the firstfruits of all human nature, sends to his brothers the announcement of himself not in his divine character but in that which he shares with us. He says, "I am departing in order to make that true Father, from whom you were separated, to be your Father; and to make that true God from whom you had rebelled to be your God. And I am doing this in my own person. For by those firstfruits that I have assumed, I am in myself presenting all humanity to its God and Father."Since, then, the firstfruits made the true God to be its God and the good Father to be its Father, the blessing is secured for human nature as a whole, and by means of the firstfruits the true God and Father becomes Father and God of all men and women. Now "if the firstfruits are holy, the lump also is holy." But where the firstfruits, Christ, is—and the firstfruits is none other than Christ—there also are those who are Christ's, as the apostle says.

Now indeed what the woman did is not added by the evangelist, but it is indicated by what she heard. To whom it is said: "Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father." For in these words it is shown that Mary wished to embrace the feet of him whom she recognized. But the teacher says to her: "Do not touch me." Not because the Lord after the resurrection refused the touch of women, since of the two coming to his tomb it is written: "They approached, and held his feet."

But the reason why she should not touch him is also added when he continues: "For I have not yet ascended to my Father." For in our heart Jesus ascends to the Father when he is believed to be equal to the Father. For whoever does not believe him equal to the Father, in his breast the Lord has not yet ascended to the Father. Therefore that person truly touches Jesus who believes the Son to be coeternal with the Father. For in the heart of Paul, Jesus had already ascended to the Father when the same Paul was saying: "Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal to God." Hence John also touched our Redeemer with the hand of faith, who says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him." Therefore that person touches the Lord who believes him equal to the Father in eternity of substance.

But perhaps someone is troubled by the silent question of how the Son can be equal to the Father. In this matter, what human nature cannot grasp by wondering, it remains that it should know this to be credible from another wonder. For it has something by which it may briefly answer itself on these matters. For it is established that he himself created the mother in whose virgin womb he was to be created from humanity. What wonder then if he is equal to the Father, who is prior to his mother? With Paul also attesting, we have learned that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Therefore whoever thinks the Son is lesser detracts particularly from the Father, whose wisdom he confesses to be unequal to him. For what powerful man would calmly bear it if someone said to him: "You are indeed great, but nevertheless your wisdom is less than you"? The Lord himself also says: "I and the Father are one." And again he says: "The Father is greater than I." Of whom it is also written that he was subject to his parents. What wonder then if from his humanity he asserts himself less than the Father in heaven, from which he was also subject to his parents on earth?

From which humanity it is now said to Mary: "Go to my brothers and tell them: I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God." Since he says "my" and "your," why does he not say "our" in common? But speaking distinctly he indicates that he has the same Father and God differently than we do. "I ascend to my Father," namely by nature; "and your Father," by grace. "To my God," because I descended; "to your God," because you will ascend. For because I too am man, God is mine; because you are freed from error, God is yours. Therefore distinctly is he my Father and God, because he whom he begot as God before the ages, he created as man with me at the end of the ages.

(Hom. xxv.) The Evangelist does not add what she did upon recognising Him, but we know from what our Lord said to her: Jesus saith unto her, Touch Me not. Mary then had tried to embrace His feet, but was not allowed. Why not? The reason follows: For I am not yet ascended to My Father.

(de Trin.) Heretics, among their other impieties, misinterpret these words of our Lord's, and say, that if His Father is their Father, His God their God, He cannot be God Himself. But though He remained in the form of God, He took upon Him the form of a servant; and Christ says this in the form of a servant to men. And we cannot doubt that in so far as He is man, the Father is His Father in the same sense in which He is of other men, and God His God in like manner. Indeed He begins with saying, Go to My brethren. But God can only have brethren according to the flesh; the Only-Begotten God, being Only-Begotten, is without brethren.

And that He Himself is not God over all, and the Father, but His Son, He [shows when He] says, "I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." And again, "When all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall He also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all." Wherefore it is one [Person] who put all things under, and who is all in all, and another [Person] to whom they were subdued, who also Himself, along with all other things, becomes subject [to the former].

Since, again, some who are reckoned among the orthodox go beyond the pre-arranged plan for the exaltation of the just, and are ignorant of the methods by which they are disciplined beforehand for incorruption, they thus entertain heretical opinions. For the heretics, despising the handiwork of God, and not admitting the salvation of their flesh, while they also treat the promise of God contemptuously, and pass beyond God altogether in the sentiments they form, affirm that immediately upon their death they shall pass above the heavens and the Demiurge, and go to the Mother (Achamoth) or to that Father whom they have feigned. Those persons, therefore, who disallow a resurrection affecting the whole man, and as far as in them lies remove it from the midst [of the Christian scheme], how can they be wondered at, if again they know nothing as to the plan of the resurrection? For they do not choose to understand, that if these things are as they say, the Lord Himself, in whom they profess to believe, did not rise again upon the third day; but immediately upon His expiring on the cross, undoubtedly departed on high, leaving His body to the earth. But the case was, that for three days He dwelt in the place where the dead were, as the prophet says concerning Him: "And the Lord remembered His dead saints who slept formerly in the land of sepulture; and He descended to them, to rescue and save them." And the Lord Himself says, "As Jonas remained three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth." Then also the apostle says, "But when He ascended, what is it but that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth?" This, too, David says when prophesying of Him, "And thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell;" and on His rising again the third day, He said to Mary, who was the first to see and to worship Him, "Touch Me not, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to the disciples, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and unto your Father."

If, then, the Lord observed the law of the dead, that He might become the first-begotten from the dead, and tarried until the third day "in the lower parts of the earth;" then afterwards rising in the flesh, so that He even showed the print of the nails to His disciples, He thus ascended to the Father;-[if all these things occurred, I say], how must these men not be put to confusion, who allege that "the lower parts" refer to this world of ours, but that their inner man, leaving the body here, ascends into the super-celestial place? For as the Lord "went away in the midst of the shadow of death," where the souls of the dead were, yet afterwards arose in the body, and after the resurrection was taken up [into heaven], it is manifest that the souls of His disciples also, upon whose account the Lord underwent these things, shall go away into the invisible place allotted to them by God, and there remain until the resurrection, awaiting that event; then receiving their bodies, and rising in their entirety, that is bodily, just as the Lord arose, they shall come thus into the presence of God. "For no disciple is above the Master, but every one that is perfect shall be as his Master." As our Master, therefore, did not at once depart, taking flight [to heaven], but awaited the time of His resurrection prescribed by the Father, which had been also shown forth through Jonas, and rising again after three days was taken up [to heaven]; so ought we also to await the time of our resurrection prescribed by God and foretold by the prophets, and so, rising, be taken up, as many as the Lord shall account worthy of this [privilege].

Some assert, that she asked for spiritual grace, because she had heard Him when with the disciples say, "If I go to the Father, I will ask Him, and He shall give you another Comforter." But how could she who was not present with the disciples have heard this? Besides, such an imagination is far from the meaning here. And how should she ask, when He had not yet gone to the Father? What then is the sense? Methinks that she wished still to converse with Him as before, and that in her joy she perceived nothing great in Him, although He had become far more excellent in the Flesh. To lead her therefore from this idea, and that she might speak to Him with much awe, (for neither with the disciples doth He henceforth appear so familiar as before,) He raiseth her thoughts, that she should give more reverent heed to Him. To have said, "Approach Me not as ye did before, for matters are not in the same state, nor shall I henceforth be with you in the same way," would have been harsh and high-sounding; but the saying, "I am not yet ascended to the Father," though not painful to hear, was the saying of One declaring the same thing. For by saying, "I am not yet ascended," He showeth that He hasteth and presseth thither; and that it was not meet that One about to depart thither, and no longer to converse with men, should be looked on with the same feelings as before.

"Go and say unto the brethren, that I go unto My Father, and your Father, unto My God and your God." Yet He was not about to do so immediately, but after forty days. How then saith He this? With a desire to raise their minds, and to persuade them that He departeth into the heavens. But the, "To My Father and your Father, to My God, and your God," belongs to the Dispensation, since the "ascending" also belongs to His Flesh. For He speaketh these words to one who had no high thoughts. "Is then the Father His in one way, and ours in another?" Assuredly then He is. For if He is God of the righteous in a manner different from that in which He is God of other men, much more in the case of the Son and us. For because He had said, "Say to the brethren," in order that they might not imagine any equality from this, He showed the difference. He was about to sit on His Father's throne, but they to stand by. So that albeit in His Subsistence according to the Flesh He became our Brother, yet in Honor He greatly differed from us, it cannot even be told how much.

Of those passages which refer to the period after the resurrection, there are several which pertain to his human nature.… Other passages speak of Christ's dual nature, such as, "I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God." "My God and your God," is to be understood more in an abstract way, as though he were ranking himself with us. Those passages, in general, that are sublime must be assigned to the divine nature, which is superior to passion and body. And those passages that are humble must be ascribed to the human nature. And those passages that are common must be attributed to the compound being, that is, the one Christ, who is God and man. And it should be understood that both [the human and divine] belong to one and the same Jesus Christ, our Lord. For if we know what is proper to each, and perceive that both are performed by one and the same, we shall have the true faith and shall not go astray.

The Son of man and Son of God, therefore, dearly beloved, then attained a more excellent and holier fame when he returned to the glory of the Father's majesty. In an incomprehensible way, he began to be nearer to the Father in respect of his Godhead after having become distanced in respect of his manhood. A better instructed faith then began to draw closer to a conception of the Son's equality with the Father without the necessity of handling the corporeal substance in Christ. As a result of this [substance], he is less than the Father, since, while the nature of the glorified body still remained, the faith of believers was called on to touch not with the hand of flesh but with the spiritual understanding the Only Begotten, who was equal with the Father. And this is why the Lord said to Mary Magdalene (who represents the church), when she hurriedly approached and touched him, "Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father," that is, I would not have you come to me as to a human body or recognize me by fleshly perceptions. I want you to wait for higher things. I prepare greater things for you. When I have ascended to my Father, then you shall handle me more perfectly and truly, for you shall grasp what you cannot touch and believe what you cannot see.

But after he had destroyed his enemies through his passion, the Lord, who is mighty in battle and strong, required a purification that could be given to him by his Father alone. And this is why he forbids Mary to touch him.

It belongs to the resurrection that one should be on the first day in the paradise of God, and it belongs to the resurrection when Jesus appears and says, "Do not touch me. For I am not yet ascended to my Father," but the perfection of the resurrection was when he came to the Father.

Also, when our Lord Jesus Christ Himself was talking with the woman of Samaria by the well alone, "His disciples came" and found Him talking with her, "and wondered that Jesus was standing and talking with a woman." [John 4:27] Is He not a rule, such as may not be set aside, an example, and a pattern to all the tribes of men? And not only so; but also, when our Lord was risen from the place of the dead, and Mary came to the place of sepulture, she ran and fell at the feet of our Lord and worshipped Him, and would have taken hold of Him. But He said to her: "Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended to My Father." [John 20:17] Is it not, then, matter for astonishment, that, while our Lord did not allow Mary, the blessed woman, to touch His feet, yet you live with them, and are waited on by women and maidens, and sleep where they sleep, and women wash your feet for you, and anoint you!

Carried away by the warmth of her affection and by her fervent love, The maiden hurried, wanting to take hold of him, Who is not containable, who fills all creation. But the Creator did not fault her eagerness; Instead, he elevated her to the divine, saying, "Do not touch me; or do you consider me merely mortal? I am God, do not touch me. O holy woman, lift up your eyes and consider the heavens; Seek me there, For I am ascending to my Father, Whom I have not left. For I exist simultaneously with him And share the same throne and honor with him, I Who offer resurrection to the fallen."

Now, does this mean I ascend as the Father to the Father, and as God to God? Or does it mean I ascend as the Son to the Father and as the Word to God? This is also why this Gospel, at the very end, intimates that these things were ever written … "that you might believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Wherever, therefore, you take any of the statements of this Gospel and apply them to demonstrate the identity of the Father and the Son, supposing that they serve your views at that point, you are contending against the definite purpose of the Gospel. For these things certainly are not written that you may believe that Jesus Christ is the Father but the Son.

But not so; Jesus saith unto her, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren" (and even in this He proves Himself to be the Son; for if He had been the Father, He would have called them His children, (instead of His brethren), "and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." Now, does this mean, I ascend as the Father to the Father, and as God to God? Or as the Son to the Father, and as the Word to God? Wherefore also does this Gospel, at its very termination, intimate that these things were ever written, if it be not, to use its own words, "that ye might believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? " Whenever, therefore, you take any of the statements of this Gospel, and apply them to demonstrate the identity of the Father and the Son, supposing that they serve your views therein, you are contending against the definite purpose of the Gospel.

How blind, to be sure, is the man who fails to perceive that by the name of Christ some other God is implied, if he ascribes to the Father this name of Christ! For if Christ is God the Father, when He says, "I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God," He of course shows plainly enough that there is above Himself another Father and another God.

It is the custom of our Lord that, while his providence is preparing something, he seems to do something else according to the sense of his words. For instance, this is how he acted with the woman who suffered from hemorrhages. He asked, "Who touched me?" He certainly knew the answer. However he seemed to ask as if he did not know, so that the woman who had touched him might be afraid and manifest the miracle and show her faith though which, since it was adequate, she had received her healing.… And it is the same here as well. He first showed himself to the woman after his resurrection and was about to ascend into heaven, and by now he wanted to teach the disciples that they did not only have to believe in resurrection, because their sight testified to the reality of the facts, but also so that they might know he was not going to remain on earth after his resurrection but would also ascend into heaven to receive greater glory with his Father. Since this is so, it seems he says these things to the woman and forbids her to touch him as if she was not supposed to come into contact with his body in the same way anymore, since he was now provided with a different and much more powerful body. But this is the real meaning: Through what he said he wanted both to teach his disciples about his resurrection and his ascension. And this is evident from the fact that he showed himself again to the disciples who were in doubt, and he ordered them to touch the wounds on his body in the spots of the nails. So this is not the reason he kept the woman from coming into contact with him. And we cannot say that she was prevented because she was a woman; indeed, he allowed her to touch his feet many times. If she could not touch him because she was a woman, he would have forbidden her to do so even before. If he had forbidden the woman because his body had been transformed into a better state, he would have not allowed the disciples to confirm with their touch their faith in his resurrection. And then, if she also, by any chance, had doubted, like them, wouldn't he have allowed her to confirm her faith through the contact with him? If someone says that he did not care about the faith of this woman or her unbelief, this is quite foolish. But since he had allowed her to come to him then, is it possible that the reward that he gave her for her faith was the privation of contact with him? And does this not look hateful, especially to educated people? Therefore, with his words he revealed two things: first, that his body after the resurrection was in a stronger and more excellent condition than before and therefore was not to be exposed to any human contact; second, that he would be assumed into heaven, to be connected forever with the Father in honor.

For the human being who died rises up on the third day. But when Mary strives with longing to touch his holy limbs, he objected and says to her, "Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.' " God the Word, who comes from heaven and lives in the bosom of the Father, did not utter the phrase "I have not yet ascended to my Father." The Wisdom that embraces all things that exists did not say it either. This was spoken by the very human being who was formed out of all kinds of limbs, who had been raised from the dead and who after death had not yet ascended to his Father but reserved for himself the firstfruit of his passage.

She desires to approach Him, to interact with Him as before, and perhaps to embrace Him as a beloved one. But He elevates her thought, so that she might think something higher and attend to Him with greater reverence. "Do not touch Me," that is, circumstances are no longer in their former state, and I shall no longer interact with you as before. Although He did not say this in words, such is the meaning of the words "I ascend to My Father." I hasten there. And since I hasten there and no longer have such a body as to interact with people, one must be more reverent toward Me, beyond ordinary conversation and touching, that is, interaction. See then how many thoughts the Evangelist expressed briefly. The Lord said: "Do not touch Me." Then, as if someone asked: "Why?" "Because," He answers, "My body is no longer such as is proper to earthly life, but such as befits heaven and the dwellings on high." Then the questioner, as it were, continues: "Why then do You walk on earth, when You have such a body?" "Because," He answers, "I have not yet ascended to My Father, but I shall ascend." For He expresses this in the further words: "Go to My brethren and tell them: I ascend to My Father and your Father," although He would ascend not immediately, but after forty days. Why then does He speak thus? In order to raise up her mind and to persuade her that He is ascending to the heavens, and thereby to comfort her. Having called the disciples brothers, He adds "and your Father." God is Father to us as well, but by grace, whereas to the Lord He is Father by nature. Conversely, He is God to us by nature, but God to the Lord by His humanity. For He became His God when He took upon Himself human nature.

2515 Next, the Evangelist shows Mary receiving instructions from Christ: one of them is negative, the other positive, go to my brethren.

2516 He does two things about the first: he states the prohibition, and then gives the reason for it. Christ warns Mary not to touch him, saying, Do not hold me. Even though we do not read here that Mary wanted to touch Christ, Gregory says we can see from this that Mary fell at the feet of Christ and wanted to grasp the one she had recognized. He adds the reason, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. It seems from this that after his resurrection, Christ did not want to be touched before he ascended. But the opposite is found in Luke (24:39): "Handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones." It is no answer to say that Christ wanted to be touched by his disciples, but not by the women, for we see in Matthew (28:9), that Mary Magdalene and other women came to him and did grasp him by his feet. Therefore, we should understand, according to the letter of the text, that Mary saw angels at two times: the first time was with the other women, when she saw one angel sitting on the stone, as Matthew (28:2) says, and Mark (16:5); the second time was when she returned and saw two angels inside the tomb, as John (20:12) says. Similarly, she also saw Christ two times: first in the garden, when she thought he was the gardener, as we just saw; secondly, she saw him when she was running with the other women to tell the disciples what they had seen (in order to strengthen them in their faith in the resurrection). It was this second time that they approached and held Christ's feet, as Matthew (28:9) and Mark (16:9) say.

2517 There are two mystical reasons why Christ did not want to be touched. First, because this particular woman signified the Church of the Gentiles, which was not to touch Christ by faith until he had ascended to the Father: "A congregation of people will surround you; for their sakes return on high" [Ps 7:8]. The other reason is given by Augustine in his work on The Trinity. It is that touch is the last stage of knowledge: when we see something, we know it to a certain extent, but when we touch it our knowledge is complete. Now this particular woman had some faith in Christ, which was that he was a holy man; and this was why she called him Teacher. But she had not yet reached the point of believing that he was equal to the Father and one with God. Thus Christ says, Do not hold me, that is, do not allow what you now believe of me to be the limit of your faith, for I have not yet ascended to my Father, that is, in your heart, because you do not believe that I am one with him - yet she did believe this later. In a way Christ did ascend to the Father within her when she had advanced in the faith to the point of believing that he was equal to the Father.

2518 Or, we could say, with Chrysostom, that after this woman saw that Christ had arisen, she thought he was in the same state as he was before, having a life subject to death. She wanted to be with him as she was before his passion, and in her joy thought there was nothing extraordinary about him, although Christ's flesh had become much better by arising. To correct this impression Christ said, Do not hold me. It was like saying: Do not think that I have a mortal life, and can associate with you as before: "Even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard him thus no longer" (2 Cor 5:16). This is what he adds when he says, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. Accordingly, this statement does not give the reason for his prohibition, but an answer to an implicit question. It was like saying: Although you see me remaining here, it is not because my flesh is not glorified but because I have not yet ascended to my Father. For before he ascended he wanted to strengthen in the hearts of the apostles their faith in his resurrection and in his divinity.

2519 After this he gives his positive directions, go to my brethren, that is the apostles, because they are his brethren by his having the same nature: "He had to be made like his brethren in every respect" (Heb 2:17); and they are his brethren by being adopted through grace, because they are the adopted children of his Father, of whom he is the natural Son.

Notice the three privileges given to Mary Magdalene. First, she had the privilege of being a prophet because she was worthy enough to see the angels, for a prophet is an intermediary between angels and the people. Secondly, she had the dignity or rank of an angel insofar as she looked upon Christ, on whom the angels desire to look. Thirdly, she had the office of an apostle; indeed, she was an apostle to the apostles insofar as it was her task to announce our Lord's resurrection to the disciples. Thus, just as it was a woman who was the fist to announce the words of death, so it was a woman who would be the first to announce the words of life.

2520 And say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father. "I go to the Father" (14:12); "He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens" (Eph 4:10). Arius based his error on these words, my Father and your Father. He took it to mean that God is the Father of the Son in the same way that he is our Father, and that he is the God of the Son in the same way that he is our God. The answer to this is that the meaning of these words must be gathered from the circumstances in which they were spoken. Christ said before, go to my brethren. But Christ had these brethren insofar he had a human nature, and in his human nature he is subject to the Father as a creature to the Creator, for the body of Christ is something created.

2521 Or, according to Augustine, Christ is speaking of himself and referring to each of his natures. I am ascending to my Father and your Father refers to his divine nature, and from this point of view he has as Father God, to whom he is equal and like in nature. Thus, the meaning is my Father by nature, and your Father by grace. It is saying in effect: the fact that you are adopted children by grace is due to me: "God sent forth his Son... so that we might receive adoption as sons" (Gal 4:4); "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first‑born among many brethren" (Rom 8:29). When he adds, to my God and your God, he is referring to his human nature. From this point of view God rules him; thus he says, my God, under whom I am a man. And your God, and between him and you I am the mediator: for God is our God because through Christ we are pleasing to him: "Having then been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained access by faith to this grace in which we stand; and we exult in the hope of the glory of the children of God" [Rom 5:1]; "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself" (2 Cor 5:19).

There are two ways, one of life and one of death; but a great difference between the two ways. The way of life, then, is this: First, thou shalt love God who made thee; second, thy neighbour as thyself; and all things whatsoever thou wouldst should not occur to thee, thou also to another do not do. And of these sayings the teaching is this: Bless them that curse you, and pray for your enemies, and fast for them that persecute you. For what thank is there, if ye love them that love you? Do not also the Gentiles do the same? But do ye love them that hate you; and ye shall not have an enemy. Abstain thou from fleshly and worldly lusts. If one give thee a blow upon thy right cheek, turn to him the other also; and thou shalt be perfect. If one impress thee for one mile, go with him two. If one take away thy cloak, give him also thy coat. If one take from thee thine own, ask it not back for indeed thou art not able. Give to every one that asketh thee, and ask it not back; for the Father willeth that to all should be given of our own blessings (free gifts).

And as you would that men should do to you, do also to them likewise. Because charity is patient, kind, it not only bravely endures the injuries of an enemy but also most graciously anticipates the kindness of a friend. For reciprocating the love of a lover, nature taught all. But to compel someone who does not love to love through benefits, only the perfect doctrine of Christ has taught. When He commanded us first to do to others as we would have done to us, He immediately confirmed the same notion more broadly, saying:

For the perfection of benevolence it is also required that a person do good in all things: whence it is added: And as you wish that people would do to you, do also to them likewise. And note that he does not say: as they do, but: as you wish, because everyone wishes, when he is in need, to have good done to him and to be relieved in every necessity: Proverbs twenty-four: "Do not say: As he has done to me, so will I do to him, and I will render to each one according to his work." In this commandment is the fulfillment of the natural law, whose one negative part is set forth in Tobit four and is implied here: "What you would hate to have done to you by another, see that you never do to another." He wills therefore that we always do good, when we can, to everyone, just as we are ready to wish to receive, according to that passage in Galatians, the last chapter: "Let us not grow weary in doing good," etc. And note that he does not say: do as people wish, but: as you wish; both because our own will is better known to us; and also because consideration of ourselves moves us more; and also because he speaks to those who have a rightly ordered will, and according to that will one must act. In summary, it must be held concerning the precept of beneficence in general that it binds only insofar as it is made explicit through the specific obligations of precepts; and therefore above the law of nature the written law was added, so that through it a person might know to what he was bound by justice.

Here is then a comprehensive precept, and an exhortation of life, all-embracing: "As ye would that men should do unto you, do ye likewise to, them." We may comprehend the commandments in two, as the Lord says, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength; and thy neighbour as thyself." Then from these He infers, "on this hang the law and the prophets."

Some of the hermits used to say, 'Whatever you hate for yourself, do not do it to someone else. If you hate being spoken evil of, do not speak evil of another. If you hate being slandered, do not slander another. If you hate him who tries to make you despised, or wrongs you, or takes away what is yours, or anything like that, do not do such things to others. To keep this is enough for salvation.'

(Hom. 13. ad Pop. Ant.) Now we have a natural law implanted in us, by which we distinguish between what is virtue, and what is vice. Hence it follows, And as ye would that men should do unto you, do ye also to them. He does not say, Whatever ye would not that men should do unto you, do not ye. For since there are two ways which lead to virtue, namely, abstaining from evil, and doing good, he names one, signifying by it the other also. And if indeed He had said, That ye may be men, love the beasts, the command would be a difficult one. But if they are commanded to love men, which is a natural admonition, wherein lies the difficulty, since even the wolves and lions observe it, whom a natural relation compels to love one another. It is manifest then that Christ has ordained nothing surpassing our nature, but what He had long before implanted in our conscience, so that thy own will is the law to thee. And if thou wilt have good done unto thee, thou must do good to others; if thou wilt that another should show mercy to thee, thou must show mercy to thy neighbour.

So that, whatever was the ampler scope of His teaching, He received it all in His heritage of the nations. "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." In this command is no doubt implied its counterpart: "And as ye would not that men should do to you, so should ye also not do to them likewise.

Rather is the nature preserved, though the life blushes; nor does Christ know other men than those with reference to whom He says, "Whom do men say that I am? " And, "As ye would that men should do to you, do ye likewise so to, them." Consider whether He may not have I preserved a race such that He is looking for a testimony to Himself from them, as well as l consisting of those on whom He enjoins the interchange of righteous dealing.

"Love your enemies; for what thanks is it if ye love those that love you? for even the Gentiles do the same." "But do ye love those that hate you, and ye shall have no enemy." For says He, "Thou shalt not hate any man; no, not an Egyptian, nor an Edomite;" for they are all the workmanship of God. Avoid not the persons, but the sentiments, of the wicked.

And if you love those who love you, what grace is it to you? For even sinners love those who love them, etc. If even sinners, publicans, and pagans know how to be kind to their lovers, led by nature, how much more must you (he says) who, as your profession is nobler, so is the necessity that your virtue be more abundant, embrace with broader affection even those who do not love? Whence it seems worthy of inquiry how, when the Lord testifies that those who love only those who love them, do good only to those who do good to them, lend only to friends, not only do not have perfect charity but are equated with sinners, that beloved disciple who leaned on Jesus' chest, concluding his Epistle on the love of God and neighbor, nowhere admonishes to love enemies, but absolutely says: Because if we love one another, God abides in us, and God's love is perfected in us (1 John 4). And if this troubles anyone, let them know that he did not omit the love of enemies, but also included them under the name of brothers and instructed that they should be loved with the perspective of brotherly love and that prayers should be offered for them. Certainly, that they may not always remain enemies but may come to their senses from the snares of the devil and be united to us in a genuine covenant. Nor should it seem harsh that we say those who do not yet believe can be called brothers because of the hope that they will believe. For the same John is recorded to call them children of God. Because Jesus (he says) was about to die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but that He might gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad (John 11). For as long as they are scattered, they are not yet children of God, but by coming together in one, they are made children.

It is difficult for anyone to love his enemy except through grace. A stone cannot give heat of itself: but if it is placed next to a burning furnace, it can afterward give heat. "If you love those who love you," what grace is that? To love only a friend is not the virtue of grace.

After he promulgated the evangelical laws under fitting perfection, here secondly he proves from a deficient condition, where he shows that he had to command according to the aforementioned manner: otherwise there is no merit before God. Whence he shows here three things, namely that it does not suffice for merit to be benevolent toward those who love us, nor beneficent only toward those who repay, nor generous toward those who recompense. And in this he shows that perfect benevolence and beneficence ought to extend not only to friends, but also to adversaries according to the form promulgated above. He shows therefore first that it does not suffice to be benevolent only toward those who love us, because this is characteristic of sinners: on account of which he says: And if you love those who love you, that is, because they love you, what credit is there for you? that is, what merit worthy of recompense? As if to say: none. And he gives the reason: For sinners also love those who love them, who have no merit before God; for this is natural, according to that passage in Ecclesiasticus thirteen: "Every animal loves its like, so also every man his neighbor" etc.; or even carnal, as in Ecclesiasticus thirty-seven: "A companion sympathizes with a friend for the sake of his belly, and against the enemy he will take up the shield." Such love has no merit before God, because it is not bestowed on account of God. For if it were bestowed on account of God, a person would certainly love those who love him, according to that passage in Proverbs eight: "I love those who love me"; even to those less loving him he would repay with greater love, according to that passage in Second Corinthians twelve: "But I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls, even though, loving you more, I am loved less"; likewise, those in no way even loving him he would also love, according to that passage in First John four: "In this the charity of God appeared, not that we loved God, but that he first loved us"; and Romans five: "But God commends his charity toward us, because while we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly." Whence when it extends only to those who love us, it is not divine nor gratuitous love, but mercenary and human, and therefore not worthy of recompense.

That even our enemies must be loved. In the Gospel according to Luke: "If ye love those who love you, what thank have ye? For even sinners love those who love them." Also according to Matthew: "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh His sun to rise upon the good and the evil, and giveth rain upon the righteous and the unrighteous."

(Hom. i. in Col.) The Lord had said that we must love our enemies, but that you might not think this an exaggerated expression, regarding it solely as spoken to alarm them, he adds the reason, saying, For if you love them which love you, what thank have ye? There are indeed several causes which produce love; but spiritual love exceeds them all. For nothing earthly engenders it, neither gain, nor kindness, nor nature, nor time, but it descends from heaven. But why wonder that it needs not kindness to excite it, when it is not even overcome of malice? A father indeed suffering wrong bursts the bands of love. A wife after a quarrel leaves her husband. A son, if he sees his father come to a great age, is troubled. But Paul went to those who stoned him to do them good. (Acts 14:17) Moses is stoned by the Jews, and prays for them. (Exod. 17:4) Let us then reverence spiritual love, for it is indissoluble. Reproving therefore those who were inclined to wax cold, he adds, For sinners even love those which love them. As if he said, Because I wish you to possess more than these, I do not advise you only to love your friends, but also your enemies. It is common to all to do good to those who do good to them. But he shows that he seeks something more than is the custom of sinners, who do good to their friends. Hence it follows, And if you do good to those who do good to you, what thank have ye?

"Sometimes, however, we must exercise bounty in giving: nor is this kind of liberality altogether to be rejected; and we must give from our property to suitable persons when they are in need of assistance." What is the meaning of "suitable"? Assuredly those who are able to restore and give back the favour. If Cicero were now alive, I should certainly exclaim: Here, here, Marcus Tullius, you have erred from true justice; and you have taken it away by one word, since you measured the offices of piety and humanity by utility. For we must not bestow our bounty on suitable objects, but as much as possible on unsuitable objects. For that will be done with justice, piety, and humanity, which you shall do without the hope of any return!

For, whenever they hear from us that God says, "No thank have ye, if you love them which love you, but you have thank, if you love your enemies and them which hate you" — whenever they hear these words, they marvel at the surpassing measure of their goodness; but when they see, that not only do we not love those who hate, but that we love not even those who love, they laugh us to scorn, and the name is blasphemed.

It is also not sufficient to be beneficent toward those who repay, because this is also characteristic of worldly people themselves: on account of which he adds: And if you do good to those who do good to you: the Gloss says: "That is, for the reason that they do good"; what thanks is there to you? that is, what merit? as if to say: none. And the reason is given: Since even sinners do this; for a benefit done in exchange for recompense is not gratuitous but mercenary, and therefore neither is it acceptable. Whence Ecclesiasticus 20: "The gift of a fool shall be unprofitable to you: for his eyes are sevenfold: he will give little and upbraid much." But that which is given freely and cheerfully, that is acceptable, according to 2 Corinthians 9: "Everyone as he has determined in his heart, not out of sadness or out of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver." If therefore to do good to those who do good is merely a debt, to do good to those who do not do good appears gratuitous, then to do evil to those who do good is inhuman and most cruel: which indeed the sinner does when he offends God; according to what is said in 2 Paralipomenon 32 concerning Hezekiah, that "he did not render according to the benefits which he had received from God, because his heart was lifted up." Whence Christ can say that word of the Psalm: "They repaid me evil for good," and the sinner can say to Christ that word of 1 Kings 24: "You have rendered good to me, and I have rendered evil to you." And by that very fact, if he wishes to be reconciled to the Lord, it is necessary that he himself do good not only to one who does good, but also to an adversary: and such is the benefit of charity, according to 1 Corinthians 13: "Charity is patient, is kind."

But he not only condemns as unprofitable the love and kindness of sinners, but also the lending. As it follows, And if ye lend to those from whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

Nor is it sufficient to be generous toward those who repay, because this is the way of usurers themselves; whence he also adds: And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, namely repayment: what thanks is it to you? As if to say: none. And he shows this: For sinners also lend to sinners, that is, they lend at interest; whence he adds: That they may receive the equivalent, namely for the service, not only for the debt. And because they receive their reward, they have no merit before God: whence in the Psalm: "Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord?" and it is added: "He who has not given his money at usury nor accepted bribes against the innocent." Otherwise he does not ascend the mountain of the Lord: whence in Ezekiel eighteen, he is justified of whom it is said: "He who has not lent at usury nor taken increase"; and conversely, he who takes increase is condemned in the same place. Whence to such people can be said that word of Haggai one: "You looked for more, and behold, it became less," because in the Psalm it is said: "The men of riches found nothing in their hands." Such usurers are counted among sinners, because they are oppressors of others; whence Proverbs twenty-two: "He who borrows is the servant of the lender." And therefore it is forbidden in Exodus twenty-two: "If you lend money to a poor man, you shall not press him as an exactor nor oppress him with usury."

But the contrary of this seems to be said in Deuteronomy twenty-three: "You shall not lend at interest to your brother, but to a stranger." But it should be understood that this is evil in itself: but the Law permitted this to them, just as the bill of divorce, for the avoidance of a greater evil. Moreover, the reason for this prohibition is manifold: both because money is not diminished by being lent; and because it does not of itself bear fruit, but the entire basis of profit is on the part of the user; and because it continually consumes and devastates, and thus the advantage of the loan is converted into the disadvantage of loss; and because in a loan of money, ownership of the thing lent passes over, since one is not bound to return the same coins in number; and because all risk is transferred to him who had borrowed; and also because in such a manner of lending, money is loved more than one's neighbor, since one lends money to one's neighbor not out of love for the neighbor but out of love for the money.

And now, on the subject of a loan, when He asks, "And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? " compare with this the following words of Ezekiel, in which He says of the before-mentioned just man, "He hath not given his money upon usury, nor will he take any increase" -meaning the redundance of interest, which is usury.

Now philosophy seems to divide justice into three parts; one towards God, which is called piety; another towards our parents, or the rest of mankind; a third to the dead, that the proper rites may be performed. But the Lord Jesus passing beyond the oracle of the law, and the heights of prophecy, extended the duties of piety to those also who have injured us, adding, But love your enemies.

How great the reward of mercy which is received into the privilege of divine adoption! For it follows, And ye shall be the sons of the Highest (Ps. 82:6.). Follow then mercy, that ye may obtain grace. Widely spread is the mercy of God; He pours His rain upon the unthankful, the fruitful earth refuses not its increase to the evil. Hence it follows, For he is kind to the unthankful, and to the evil.

(Orat. 3. cont. Arian.) That is to say, that we beholding His mercies, what good things we do should do them not with regard to men, but to Him, that we may obtain our rewards from God, not from men.

"Lend to those from whom you do not hope to receive in return." "And what sort of a loan is this," he says, "to which there is no hope of a return attached?" Consider the force of the statement, and you will admire the kindness of the Lawmaker. When you have the intention of providing for a poor person for the Lord's sake, it is at the same time both a gift and a loan. It is a gift because of the expectation of no repayment, but a loan because of the great gift of the Master who pays in his place and who, receiving trifling things through a poor person, will give great things in return for them.

(Hom. in Ps. 14.) Now this mode of avarice is rightly called in the Greek τόκος, from producing, because of the fruitfulness of the evil. Animals in course of time grow up and produce, but interest as soon as it is born begins to bring forth. Animals which bring forth most rapidly cease soonest from breeding, but the money of the avaricious goes on increasing with time. Animals when they transfer their bringing forth to their own young, themselves cease to breed, but the money of the covetous both produces an increase, and renews the capital. Touch not then the destructive monster. For what advantage that the poverty of to-day is escaped, if it falls upon us repeatedly, and is increased? Reflect then how canst thou restore thyself? Whence shall thy money be so multiplied as that it will partly relieve thy want, partly refresh thy capital, and besides bring forth interest? But thou sayest, How shall I get my living? I answer, work, serve, last of all, beg; any thing is more tolerable than borrowing upon interest. But thou sayest, what is that lending to which the hope of repayment is not attached? Consider the excellence of the words, and thou wilt admire the mercifulness of the author. When thou art about to give to a poor man from regard to divine charity, it is both a lending and a gift; a gift indeed, because no return is hoped for; lending, because of the beneficence of God, who restores it in its turn. Hence it follows, And great shall be your reward. Dost thou not wish the Almighty to be bound to restore to thee? Or, should He make some rich citizen thy security, dost thou accept him, but reject God standing as security for the poor?

Nonetheless, love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. For the love and benefit of mutual sinners, which is fruitless, now shows how these should be fruitfully done by the faithful. Indeed, anyone who receives borrows, even if he himself is not to repay. For when God restores more to the merciful, everyone who offers a benefit lends. Or if it is not pleasing to accept the borrower, except him who is to repay, it is to be understood that the Lord has embraced these two kinds of giving. For we either give as a gift what we give benevolently or we lend to someone who will repay. Because many (as it is written) have considered interest a gain and have made a nuisance of themselves to those who help them, many have not lent out of wickedness but feared to be defrauded without charge. The divine authority also remedies this weakness, saying: And lend, expecting nothing in return (Luke VI). That is, not fixing the hope of reward on man. For whether he repays what you have lent, or God repays what you did at His command, your inheritance will be eternal. For the sinner borrows and does not repay, but the righteous is merciful and lends (Psalm CXI). For those who bless him shall possess the land (Psalm XXXVI). And elsewhere when he said: The man who is gracious and lends, he shall be remembered forever (Psalm CXI).

And your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. No greater reward can there be than for the sons of men, born of the earth, to become the sons of the Most High, who is in the heavens. Therefore, what he says: And you will be sons of the Most High, is to be understood from that rule by which John also says: He gave them power to become children of God. For there is one who is naturally the Son, who does not know sin at all. But we, having received the power, are made sons, to the extent that we fulfill those things commanded by him. Hence the apostolic discipline calls it adoption, by which we are called into eternal inheritance, so that we might be co-heirs. Therefore, he does not say: Do these things because you are sons, but do these things, and you will be sons. When, however, he calls us to this through the Only Begotten, he calls us to his likeness.

Because he himself is kind (he says) to the ungrateful and the wicked, etc. God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked, either by his manifold mercy, by which he even saves animals, granting temporal goods, or by the singular grace of heavenly gifts, by which he glorifies only the elect, inspiring them. But whether you understand this, or that, or both, it is done by the great goodness of God, which is commanded to us to imitate, if we wish to be sons of God.

Either by giving them temporal gifts, or by inspiring His heavenly gifts with a wonderful grace.

Here, after the promulgation and proof, he resumes the approved commands with the motivating reason. Now there are three things that ought to move us to do the aforesaid, namely the authority of the precept, the immensity of the reward, and the sublimity of the example. The first moves the irascible, the second the concupiscible, and the third the rational. He therefore takes up the aforesaid teachings by way of precept, when he says: But love your enemies and do good, namely so that you may not "love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth," 1 John 3. And he says this by way of command, because, as is said in John 15, "this is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you." But he himself loved not only in affection, but also in effect, without any hope of recompense. Therefore it is added: And lend, hoping for nothing thereby, namely of recompense: Deuteronomy 23: "You shall lend to your brother without usury what he needs, that the Lord may bless you," that is, do not seek recompense for this from man, as usurers do, who on account of the hope of usury lose the hope of eternal life: against whom the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 15 says: "If we are hoping only in this life, we are the most miserable of all men." Such are the rich who hope in riches: "the hope of such is empty and their labors without fruit," Wisdom 3. And therefore Sirach 31: "Blessed is the rich man who is found without blemish, and who has not gone after gold nor hoped in money and treasures. Who is this, and we shall praise him? For he has done wondrous things in his life."

Note that hope in lending can be for a similar service, or for profit. In the first way it is permitted; in the second way it can be twofold: either expressed through a pact, and this is simply prohibited, because it makes one a usurer; or tacit in the heart, and in this way twofold: either principally moving one to lend, and this is likewise prohibited, because it is against the divine commandment; or not principally moving, but as it were annexed, because, although one does not act principally for advantage or profit, he nevertheless believes that the recipient will not be ungrateful to him, and therefore he acts more willingly. But here such a hope of advantage is not against the divine commandment.

Second, he adds a motivating reason on the part of the reward, when he adds: And your reward shall be great: Sirach 12: "Do good to the just, and you shall find great recompense, and if not from him, certainly from the Lord." And the recompense is called abundant and great, because the eternal reward contains all goods in excellence, according to that verse of the Psalm: "How great is the multitude of your sweetness, O Lord, which you have hidden for those who fear you!" And truly great and abundant and hidden, but promised, because, 1 Corinthians 2 and Isaiah 64, "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love him."

Third, he adds a motivating reason from the side of example, when he adds: And you shall be sons of the Most High, namely through imitation, according to that passage in Ephesians 5: "Be imitators of God, as most beloved children." As sons we ought to imitate God, because we have received the grace of faith, concerning which John 1 says: "He gave them power to become sons of God, to those who believe in his name." We have also received from him the spirit of adoption of sons, according to that passage in Romans 8: "You have not received the spirit of servitude in fear, but the spirit of adoption of sons." And therefore we ought to imitate God, as a son imitates his father, according to that passage in John 8: "If you are sons of Abraham, do the works of Abraham." And for this reason we ought to live according to his example: which he adds when he says: For he is kind toward the ungrateful and the wicked, according to that passage in Joel 2: "He is kind and merciful, patient and of great mercy and relenting over wickedness." And this kindness extends itself to the ungrateful and the wicked: Romans 2: "Do you not know that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But you, according to your hardness and impenitent heart, treasure up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his works." And therefore it is said in 2 Timothy 3: "Evil men and seducers will advance to worse things"; Ecclesiastes 8: "For because sentence is not quickly pronounced against the wicked, the sons of men commit evils without any fear." From all these evils divine kindness frees and saves, surpassing our wickedness: Titus 3: "The kindness and humanity of God our Savior has appeared."

He loves the people in spite of their faults. He goes on loving. He does not let go. Don't say, "It's all very well for Him; He hasn't got to live with them." He has. He is inside them as well as outside them. He is with them far more intimately and closely and incessantly than we can ever be. Every vile thought within their minds (and ours), every moment of spite, envy, arrogance, greed, and self-conceit comes right up against His patient and longing love, and grieves His spirit more than it grieves ours.

The more we can imitate God in both these respects, the more progress we shall make. We must love "X" more; and we must learn to see ourselves as a person of exactly the same kind.

Now, that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus is good, the Word Himself will again avouch: "For He is kind to the unthankful and the evil; "and further, when He says," Be merciful, as your Father is merciful." Still further also He plainly says, "None is good, but My Father, who is in heaven." In addition to these, again He says, "My Father makes His sun to shine on all." Here it is to be noted that He proclaims His Father to be good, and to be the Creator. And that the Creator is just, is not disputed: And again he says," My Father sends rain on the just, and on the unjust." In respect of His sending rain, He is the Creator of the waters, and of the clouds. And in respect of His doing so on all, He holds an even balance justly and rightly. And as being good, He does so on just and unjust alike.

(Orat. cont. usurar.) But man ought to shun that baneful anxiety with which he seeks from the poor man increase of his money and gold, exacting a profit of barren metals. Hence he adds, And lend, hoping for nothing again, &c. If a man should call the harsh calculation of interest, theft, or homicide, he will not err. For what is the difference, whether a man by digging under a wall become possessed of property, or possess it unlawfully by the compulsory rate of interest?

This, he says, is ocean, "generation of gods and generation of men" ever whirled round by the eddies of water, at one time upwards, at another time downwards. But he says there ensues a generation of men when the ocean flows downwards; but when upwards to the wall and fortress and the cliff of Luecas, a generation of gods takes place. This, he asserts, is that which has been written: "I said, Ye are gods, and all children of the highest; " "If ye hasten to fly out of Egypt, and repair beyond the Red Sea into the wilderness," that is, from earthly intercourse to the Jerusalem above, which is the mother of the living; "If, moreover, again you return into Egypt," that is, into earthly intercourse, "ye shall die as men." For mortal, he says, is every generation below, but immortal that which is begotten above, for it is born of water only, and of spirit, being spiritual, not carnal. But what (is born) below is carnal, that is, he says, what is written. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." This, according to them, is the spiritual generation. This, he says, is the great Jordan which, flowing on (here) below, and preventing the children of Israel from departing out of Egypt-I mean from terrestrial intercourse, for Egypt is with them the body,-Jesus drove back, and made it flow upwards.

(Hom. 58. in Gen.) Whereby thou wilt confer more upon thyself than him. For he is beloved by a fellow servant, but thou art made like unto God. But it is a mark of the greatest virtue when we embrace with kindness those who wish to do us harm. Hence it follows, And do good. For as water, when cast upon a lighted furnace, extinguishes it, so also reason joined with gentleness. But what water is to fire, such is lowliness and meekness to wrath; and as fire is not extinguished by fire, so neither is anger soothed by anger.

(Hom. 3. in. Gen.) Observe the wonderful nature of lending, one receives and another binds himself for his debts, giving a hundred fold at the present time, and in the future eternal life.

For He taught us to pray for our enemies also, saying, 'Love your enemies; be kind and merciful, as your heavenly Father is.'

And in addition to all this we pray for you, that Christ may have mercy upon you. For He taught us to pray for our enemies also, saying, 'Love your enemies; be kind and merciful, as your heavenly Father is.' For we see that the Almighty God is kind and merciful, causing His sun to rise on the unthankful and on the righteous, and sending rain on the holy and on the wicked; all of whom He has taught us He will judge.

" Now, when He commands that a debt be remitted to a man who shall be unable to pay it (for it is a still stronger argument when He forbids its being asked for from a man who is even able to repay it), what else does He teach than that we should lend to those of whom we cannot receive again, inasmuch as He has imposed so great a loss on lending? "And ye shall be the children of God." What can be more shameless, than for him to be making us his children, who has not permitted us to make children for ourselves by forbidding marriage? How does he propose to invest his followers with a name which he has already erased? I cannot be the son of a eunuch Especially when I have for my Father the same great Being whom the universe claims for its! For is not the Founder of the universe as much a Father, even of all men, as (Marcion's) castrated deity, who is the maker of no existing thing? Even if the Creator had not united male and female, and if He had not allowed any living creature whatever to have children, I yet had this relation to Him before Paradise, before the fall, before the expulsion, before the two became one.

"Because," says He, "He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." Well done, Marcion! how cleverly have you withdrawn from Him the showers and the sunshine, that He might not seem to be a Creator! But who is this kind being which hitherto has not been even known? How can he be kind who had previously shown no evidences of such a kindness as this, which consists of the loan to us of sunshine and rain?-who is not destined to receive from the human race (the homage due to that) Creator,-who, up to this very moment, in return for His vast liberality in the gift of the elements, bears with men while they offer to idols, more readily than Himself, the due returns of His graciousness.

For he will merit its fruit who has not yet used more than he who has already withal abused it; and remedies will be more effective on their first application than when outworn. No doubt the Lord is "kind" to "the unthankful," rather than to the ignorant! and "merciful" to the "reprobates" sooner than to such as have yet had no probation! so that in-suits offered to His clemency do not rather incur His anger than His caresses! and He does not more willingly impart to strangers that (clemency) which, in the case of His own sons, He has lost, seeing that He has thus adopted the Gentiles while the Jews make sport of His patience! But what the Psychics mean is this-that God, the Judge of righteousness, prefers the repentance to the death of that sinner who has preferred death to repentance! If this is so, it is by sinning that we merit favour.

He commands imitation of himself: Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Now there are six works of mercy, namely: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, gathering in strangers, visiting the sick, and ransoming captives. Moreover, the work of perfect virtue cannot exist unless the creature is conformed to Christ in these things.

After he has promulgated and proved the evangelical laws and also resumed them with a motivating reason, here at last he concludes with the consequent retribution, which he shows follows our works in the judicial sentence, in heavenly glory, and in infernal punishment: in judgment indeed with respect to all, in reward with respect to the good, and in punishment with respect to sinners. He concludes therefore first that we ought to fulfill the aforementioned commandments according to the prescribed form, by proclaiming the judicial sentence, when he says: Be therefore merciful, namely in showing yourselves benevolent, peaceable, and beneficent toward your neighbors; in which he touches upon the substance of the aforementioned commandments. As your Father also is merciful, in which he touches upon the form or circumstance, because He condescends not only to friends, but to adversaries. This indeed is necessary, according to that passage of Matthew 18: "You should have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I also had mercy on you." Whence He requires that mercy which He bestows; and according to that which we bestow, He repays in judgment, according to that passage of Sirach 4: "In judging, be merciful to orphans as a father, and as a husband to their mother; and you shall be as a son of the Most High, and He shall have mercy on you more than a mother"; James 2: "Judgment without mercy to him who has not shown mercy." And therefore he adds the retribution of judgment corresponding to works of merit according to a fourfold difference of act, namely judging, condemning, forgiving, and giving: of which the first pertains to equity, the second to severity, the third to piety, and the fourth to liberality.

Now Plato the philosopher, defining the end of happiness, says that it is likeness to God as far as possible; whether concurring with the precept of the law (for great natures that are free of passions somehow hit the mark respecting the truth, as the Pythagorean Philo says in relating the history of Moses), or whether instructed by certain oracles of the time, thirsting as he always was for instruction. For the law says, "Walk after the Lord your God, and keep my commandments." For the law calls assimilation following; and such a following to the utmost of its power assimilates. "Be," says the Lord, "merciful and pitiful, as your heavenly Father is pitiful." Thence also the Stoics have laid down the doctrine, that living agreeably to nature is the end, fitly altering the name of God into nature; since also nature extends to plants, to seeds, to trees, and to stones. It is therefore plainly said, "Bad men do not understand the law; but they who love the law fortify themselves with a wall." "For the wisdom of the clever knows its ways; but the folly of the foolish is in error." "For on whom will I look, but on him who is mild and gentle, and trembleth at my words?" says the prophecy.

Let us therefore, brethren, be of humble mind, laying aside all haughtiness, and pride, and foolishness, and angry feelings; and let us act according to that which is written (for the Holy Spirit saith, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, neither let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in the Lord, in diligently seeking Him, and doing judgment and righteousness"), being especially mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus which He spake, teaching us meekness and long-suffering. For thus He spoke: "Be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven to you; as ye do, so shall it be done unto you; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; as ye are kind, so shall kindness be shown to you; with what measure ye mete, with the same it shall be measured to you." By this precept and by these rules let us establish ourselves, that we walk with all humility in obedience to His holy words. For the holy word saith, "On whom shall I look, but on him that is meek and peaceable, and that trembleth at My words?"

A human being is a great thing, and a man, if merciful, is to be honoured. Behold, how great a thing is mercy—the merciful man God likens to Himself; for He saith: Be ye merciful, even as your Father which is in heaven is merciful. Should death come, there your riches abide.

The principle of the philosophers and stoics is different, dearest brother, who say that all sins are equal, and that a grave man ought not easily to be moved. But there is a wide difference between Christians and philosophers. And when the apostle says, "Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit," we are to avoid those things which do not come from God's clemency, but are begotten of the presumption of a too rigid philosophy. Concerning Moses, moreover, we find it said in the Scriptures, "Now the man Moses was very meek; " and the Lord in His Gospel says, "Be ye merciful, as your Father also had mercy upon you; " and again, "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." What medical skill can he exercise who says, "I cure the sound only, who have no need of a physician? "We ought to give our assistance, our healing art, to those who are wounded; neither let us think them dead, but rather let us regard them as lying half alive, whom we see to have been wounded in the fatal persecution, and who, if they had been altogether dead, would never from the same men become afterwards both confessors and martyrs.

Closely neighbouring, so to speak, upon the virtues which we have just mentioned is compassion, of which He next makes mention. For it is a most excelling thing, and very pleasing to God, and in the highest degree becoming to pious souls: and concerning which it may suffice for us to imprint upon our mind that it is an attribute of the divine nature. "For be ye, He says, merciful, as also your heavenly Father is merciful." But that we shall be recompensed with bountiful hand by God, Who giveth all things abundantly to them that love Him, He has given us full assurance by saying, that "good measure, and squeezed down, and running over shall they give into your bosom:" adding this too, "for with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you."

Great then is the praise of mercy. For this virtue makes us like unto God, and imprints upon our souls certain signs as it were of a heavenly nature. Hence it follows, Be ye then merciful, as your heavenly Father also is merciful.

And as of artisans every one hath his peculiar skill, even so the rich man, as he knows not how to work in brass, nor to frame ships, nor to weave, nor to build houses, nor any such thing;-let him learn then to use his wealth aright, and to pity the poor; so shall he know a better art than all those.

For indeed this is above all those arts. Its workshop is builded in Heaven. It hath its tools not of iron and brass, but of goodness and of a right will. Of this art Christ is the Teacher, and His Father. For "be ye merciful," saith He, "as your Father which is in Heaven."

And what is indeed marvellous, being so much superior to the rest, it needs no labor, no time for its perfection; it is enough to have willed, and the whole is accomplished.

But let us see also the end thereof, what it is. What then is the end of it? Heaven, the good things in the heavens, that unspeakable glory, the spiritual bride-chambers, the bright lamps, the abiding with the Bridegroom; the other things, which no speech, nor even understanding, is able to set forth.

So that herein likewise great is its difference from all others. For most of the arts profit us for the present life, but this for the life to come also.

And, "Be ye kind and merciful, as your Father also is kind and merciful, and maketh His sun to rise on sinners, and the righteous, and the wicked. Take no thought what ye shall eat, or what ye shall put on: are ye not better than the birds and the beasts? And God feedeth them. Take no thought, therefore, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall put on; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But seek ye the kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall be added unto you. For where his treasure is, there also is the mind of a man."

[Scripture] says that man was made in the image of God; and in him are manifestly to be discovered traces of the divine image, not by any appearance of the bodily frame, which is corruptible, but by mental wisdom, by justice, moderation, virtue, wisdom, discipline; in fine, by the whole band of virtues, which are innate in the essence of God, and which may enter into man by diligence and imitation of God; as the Lord also intimates in the Gospel, when He says, "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful; " and, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father also is perfect." From which it is clearly shown that all these virtues are perpetually in God, and that they can never approach to or depart from Him, whereas by men they are acquired only slowly, and one by one.

"Wherefore, girding up your loins," "serve the Lord in fear" and truth, as those who have forsaken the vain, empty talk and error of the multitude, and "believed in Him who raised up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, and gave Him glory," and a throne at His right hand. To Him all things in heaven and on earth are subject. Him every spirit serves. He comes as the Judge of the living and the dead. His blood will God require of those who do not believe in Him. But He who raised Him up from the dead will raise up us also, if we do His will, and walk in His commandments, and love what He loved, keeping ourselves from all unrighteousness, covetousness, love of money, evil speaking, false witness; "not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing," or blow for blow, or cursing for cursing, but being mindful of what the Lord said in His teaching: "Judge not, that ye be not judged; forgive, and it shall be forgiven unto you; be merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again;" and once more, "Blessed are the poor, and those that are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God."

Wherefore awake, and take to yourselves our Lord and God, even that Lord who is Lord both of heaven and earth, and conform yourselves to His image and likeness, as the true Prophet Himself teaches, saying, 'Be merciful, as also your heavenly Father is merciful, who makes His sun to rise upon the good and the evil, and rains upon the just and the unjust.'

Compassion also does He teach: "Be ye merciful," says He, "as your Father also that had mercy upon you." This injunction will be of a piece with, "Deal thy bread to the hungry; and if he be houseless, bring him into thine house; and if thou seest the naked, cover him; " also with, "Judge the fatherless, plead with the widow." I recognise here that ancient doctrine of Him who "prefers mercy to sacrifice."

"But," say they, "God is `good, 'and `most good, ' and `pitiful-hearted, 'and `a pitier, 'and `abundant in pitiful-heartedness, ' which He holds `dearer than all sacrifice, ' `not thinking the sinner's death of so much worth as his repentance', `a Saviour of all men, most of all of believers.' And so it will be becoming for `the sons of God' too to be `pitiful-hearted' and `peacemakers; ' `giving in their turn just as Christ withal hath given to us; ' `not judging, that we be not judged.' For `to his own lord a man standeth or falleth; who art thou, to judge another's servant? ' `Remit, and remission shall be made to thee.'"

Do not fear, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom. He calls the small flock the chosen ones, either in comparison to the larger number of the reprobate, or rather for the devotion of humility. Although He has already extended His Church to some size, He still wants it to grow until the end of the world and to reach the promised kingdom through humility. Therefore, He consoles its labors gently, commanding it to seek only the kingdom of God, and with a delighted kindness, promises that the kingdom will be given to them by the Father.

As if He says, Fear not lest they who warfare for the kingdom of God, should be in want of the necessaries of this life.

Second, he dissuades the solicitude of avarice by promising the superexcellence of the reward, when he adds: Fear not, little flock: little flock is said in respect to the multitude of the reprobate: Matthew 20: "Many are called, but few are chosen." Or little by reason of its own smallness: First Corinthians 1: "See your vocation, brethren, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many are powerful," etc. Or little by reason of voluntary humility: Ezekiel 34: "But you are my flocks, you are men, and I am your God." For God is the God of the humble; Sirach 3: "The power of God alone is great, and he is honored by the humble." And to such God promises the kingdom, Matthew 19: "Let the little ones come to me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Therefore he adds: Because it has pleased your Father to give you a kingdom: Proverbs 29: "The humble in spirit shall be upheld by glory"; and Job 22: "He who has been humbled shall be in glory." Now this superexcellence of the promised kingdom induces hope, and by inducing hope it induces security, and through this it removes the faintheartedness of fear and the ardor of cupidity: Second Corinthians 6: "As needy, yet enriching many; as having nothing, yet possessing all things." For that kingdom alone is the true possession of the heart, which fills the heart and cannot be taken away, because it is within: below, chapter 17: "Behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

And note that it pleased the Father to give to the little ones, that is, to the poor in spirit, the kingdom of glory: whence Matthew 5: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"; because such desire eternal things: Proverbs 10: "The desire of the just shall be granted to them"; and the Psalm: "The Lord has heard the desire of the poor"; because they despise temporal things; Matthew 19: "He who has left father or mother shall receive a hundredfold," etc.; and they embrace spiritual things: Galatians 5: "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit; let us not be made desirous of vainglory." Likewise it pleased him to give them pardon; Judith 9: "The prayer of the humble and the meek has always pleased you," namely, unto the giving of pardon: Exodus 33: "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy." It pleased him to give grace: Isaiah 42: "Behold my servant, I will uphold him, my chosen one," etc. It pleased him to give wisdom: Matthew 11: "You have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and have revealed them to little ones." It pleased him to give eternal glory, as here: Fear not, little flock, etc. The Psalm: "The Lord is well pleased with those who fear him, and with those who hope in his mercy."

Such He names children, and sons, and little children, and friends, and little ones here, in reference to their future greatness above. "Despise not," He says, "one of these little ones; for their angels always behold the face of My Father in heaven." And in another place, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom of heaven." Similarly also He says that "the least in the kingdom of heaven" that is His own disciple "is greater than John, the greatest among those born of women." And again, "He that receiveth a righteous man or a prophet in the name of a righteous man or a prophet, shall receive their reward; and he that giveth to a disciple in the name of a disciple a cup of cold water to drink, shall not lose his reward." Wherefore this is the only reward that is not lost.

He announced as a general law, useful and necessary for salvation, not only to the holy apostles but to all living on the earth, that people must seek his kingdom. He announced this, being sure that what he gives will be sufficient for them to be in need of nothing else. What, then, does he say? Fear not, little flock. And by "do not fear," he means that they must believe that certainly and without doubt their heavenly Father will give the means of life to those who love him. He will not neglect his own. Rather he will open his hand to them—the hand which ever fills the universe with goodness.

Give away these earthly things, and win that which is in heaven. Give that which you must leave, even against your will, that you may not lose things later. Lend your wealth to God, that you may be really rich.Concerning the way in which to lend it, Jesus next teaches us saying, "Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail." The blessed David teaches us exactly the same in the psalms, where by inspiration he says of every merciful and good man, "He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." Worldly wealth has many foes. There are numerous thieves, and this world of ours is full of oppressors. Some plunder by secret means, while others use violence and tear it away even from those who resist. But no one can do damage to the wealth that is laid up above in heaven. God is its keeper, and he does not sleep.

But why they ought not to fear, He shows, adding, for it is your Father's good pleasure; as if He says, How shall He who gives such precious things be wearied in showing mercy towards you? For although His flock is little both in nature and number and renown, yet the goodness of the Father has granted even to this little flock the lot of heavenly spirits, that is, the kingdom of heaven. Therefore that you may possess the kingdom of heaven, despise this world's wealth. Hence it is added, Sell that ye have, &c.

Now perhaps this command is irksome to the rich, yet to those who are of a sound mind, it is not unprofitable, for their treasure is the kingdom of heaven. Hence it follows, Provide for yourselves bags which wax not old, &c.

(non occ.) Our Lord having removed the care of temporal things from the hearts of His disciples, now banishes fear from them, from which superfluous cares proceed, saying, Fear not, &c.

For it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom, and that you should tread upon the necks of your enemies.

The flock is little in the eyes of the world, but great in the eyes of God. It is little—because he calls glorious those whom he has trained to the innocence of sheep and to Christian meekness. The flock is little, not as the remnant of a big one, but as one which has grown from small beginnings. This little flock denotes the infancy of his newborn church, and immediately he promises that through the blessings of heaven this church will soon have the dignity of his kingdom.

The Lord calls those who desire to be His disciples a "little flock," either because in this world there are very few saints on account of the required voluntary poverty and non-possessiveness, or because they are fewer than the Angels, whose hosts are without number and incomparably exceed our number. And that the Angels are far more numerous is evident from the parable in which the Lord said that the shepherd rejoices over one lost and found again more than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray (Luke 15:7). For from this it is evident that as one relates to ninety-nine, so does the human race relate to the angelic world. "Fear not, little flock," He says, that is, do not doubt that God will provide for you, even if you yourself do not care for yourself. Why? Because "the Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom." If He gives the Kingdom, then all the more will He grant earthly things.

By the little flock, our Lord signifies those who are willing to become His disciples, or because in this world the Saints seem little because of their voluntary poverty, or because they are outnumbered by the multitude of Angels, who incomparably exceed all that we can boast of. The name little our Lord gives to the company of the elect, either from comparison with the greater number of the reprobate, or rather because of their devout humility.

(reg. brev. ad int. 92.) But some one will ask, upon what grounds ought we to sell that which we have? Is it that these things are by nature hurtful, or because of the temptation to our souls? To this we must answer, first, that every thing existing in the world if it were in itself evil, would be no creation of God, for every creation of God is good. (1 Tim. 4:4.) And next, that our Lord's command teaches us not to cast away as evil what we possess, but to distribute, saying, and give alms.

Sell what you possess, and give alms. He says, do not fear that those who fight for the kingdom of God may lack the necessities of this life; indeed, sell what you possess for almsgiving. This is done worthily when, after having forsaken all things for the Lord, one nonetheless works with one's hands to earn a living and to give alms. Hence the Apostle boasts, saying: "I coveted no one's silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak" (Acts 20).

Make for yourselves purses that do not grow old. Namely, by performing almsgiving, the reward of which remains forever. It should not be understood from this command that the saints reserve nothing of their money, whether for themselves or for the use of the poor: since the Lord Himself, though ministered to by angels, is read to have kept purses to instruct His Church. He conserved what was offered by the faithful and provided for the needs of His own and others who were in need: but it should not be that service to God is done for these things or that justice is abandoned out of fear of poverty.

A treasure unfailing in the heavens, where a thief does not approach, nor moth corrupts. Either simply taken that money kept fails, or namely, snatched by a thief from treasures, or in treasures itself spoiled by its own fragility, but given for Christ it bestows an everlasting fruit of mercy in the heavens; or certainly it should be understood that the treasure of good work, if it is stored for the sake of earthly gain, easily corrupted perishes, but if gathered solely with a heavenly intention, it is neither corrupted by external human favor nor ruined by the stain of empty glory within. For a thief steals from outside, a moth destroys from within. The thief has taken away the riches of those about whom the Lord says, They have received their reward (Matt. VI). The moth corrupts their clothes, of whom the Psalmist reproving says: For God scatters the bones of men who please themselves (Psalm LII). For bones he calls the strength of virtues.

But sell that ye have for alms' sake, which then is done worthily, when a man having once for his Lord's sake forsaken all that he hath, nevertheless afterwards labours with his hands that he may be able both to gain his living, and give alms.

That is, by doing alms, the reward of which abideth for ever; which must not be taken as a command that no money be kept by the saints either for their own, or the use of the poor, since we read that our Lord Himself, to whom the angels ministered, (Matt. 4:11) had a bag in which he kept the offerings of the faithful; (John 12:6.) but that God should not be obeyed for the sake of such things, and righteousness be not forsaken from fear of poverty.

Whether then should it be simply understood, that money kept faileth, but given away to our neighbour bears everlasting fruit in heaven; or, that the treasure of good works, if it be stored up for the sake of earthly advantage, is soon corrupted and perishes; but if it be laid up solely from heavenly motives, neither outwardly by the favour of men, as by the thief which steals from without, nor inwardly by vainglory, as by the moth which devours within, can it be defiled.

Third, he dissuades the anxiety of avarice by promising a superabundance of treasure in exchange for the renunciation of the world, when he says: Sell what you possess and give alms, that is, distribute your goods to the poor, according to that passage in Matthew 19: "Go and sell all that you have, and give to the poor."

And because it is hard to sell and give without recompense, he therefore adds: Make for yourselves purses that do not grow old: Sirach 17: "The alms of a man is like a purse with him, and it will preserve the grace of a man as the apple of his eye; and afterward he will rise up and render them their recompense, to each one upon their head."

And because this recompense, which is in these purses, is most abundant, he therefore adds: A treasure unfailing in heaven: the word make is understood, and this is accomplished through almsgiving. Whence Tobit 12: "Prayer with fasting and almsgiving is good, more than to store up treasures of gold; for almsgiving delivers from death and causes one to find eternal life." And he shows that this heavenly treasure is unfailing: because it cannot be lost through thieves, nor can it be corrupted in itself; therefore he adds: Where no thief draws near, nor does moth corrupt. Chrysostom: "A threefold destruction takes away all the goods of the world: for either they grow old of themselves, or they are consumed by the extravagance of their owners, or they are seized by outsiders through deceit, force, or false accusation." And therefore an unfailing treasure cannot be possessed on earth. He who wishes therefore to have an unfailing one, let him scatter on earth, so that he may abound in heaven; the Psalm: "He has distributed, he has given to the poor; his justice endures forever and ever." Whence Augustine: "The Lord did not command that we should lose our treasure, but he showed us the place where we should store it."

To the objection from the Gloss on Luke 12, that those who have despised all things for God ought to work with the labor of their hands: it must be said that this is a counsel with respect to the first part, which says: Sell what you possess; but with respect to the second part, it pertains only to the well-being of the counsel, which does not bind even perfect men, especially those who can be occupied with greater goods. And that this is true appears from the same Gloss, when it adds: "Whence you may live, or give alms." For it is certain that those who have given all things at once for God are in no way bound to give further alms; and therefore that Gloss does not express what pertains to the essence and substance of the counsel, but rather according to the well-being, according to the state and condition of certain persons who are more suited to working manually than to doing something more arduous. For if it were said otherwise, that this pertained to the essence of the perfection of the counsel, then none would have fulfilled that counsel except those who worked manually; and consequently we would not judge the other Apostles besides Paul and Barnabas, and very many other most perfect Saints whom we do not read to have worked manually, to have been perfect. It is indeed true that manual labor accords with evangelical perfection, provided however that it does not impede greater goods.

To that which is objected from the Gloss on Luke twelve, Sell what you possess and give alms, it must be said that the whole of that is a counsel, just as that text upon which the Gloss is founded. Nor does anyone bind himself to the whole of it nor to a part, except insofar as he promises from his profession. Hence just as to give alms is not a precept for him who has given all things, nor is it simply commanded that all things be given; so neither does that intermediate thing, namely to work, hold there the character of a necessary obligation, but only of monitory persuasion, or even of counsel.

"Lay not up for yourselves, therefore, treasures on the earth, where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break through and steal," says the Lord, in reproach perchance of the covetous, and perchance also of those who are simply anxious and full of cares, and those too who indulge their bodies. For amours, and diseases, and evil thoughts "break through" the mind and the whole man. But our true "treasure" is where what is allied to our mind is, since it bestows the communicative power of righteousness, showing that we must assign to the habit of our old conversation what we have acquired by it, and have recourse to God, beseeching mercy. He is, in truth, "the bag that waxeth not old," the provisions of eternal life, "the treasure that faileth not in heaven."

Therefore in the Gospel, the Lord, the Teacher of our life and Master of eternal salvation, quickening the assembly of believers, and providing for them for ever when quickened, among His divine commands and precepts of heaven, commands and prescribes nothing more frequently than that we should devote ourselves to almsgiving, and not depend on earthly possessions, but rather lay up heavenly treasures. "Sell," says He, "your goods, and give alms." And again: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust do corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also." And when He wished to set forth a man perfect and complete by the observation of the law, He said, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me." Moreover, in another place He says that a merchant of the heavenly grace, and a gainer of eternal salvation, ought to purchase the precious pearl-that is, eternal life-at the price of the blood of Christ, from the amount of his patrimony, parting with all his wealth for it. He says: "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls. And when he found a precious pearl, he went away and sold all that he had, and bought it."

Of the benefit of good works and mercy. In Isaiah: "Cry aloud," saith He, "and spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet; tell my people their sins, and the house of Jacob their wickednesses. They seek me from day to day, and desire to know my ways, as a people which did righteousness, and did not forsake the judgment of God. They ask of me now a righteous judgment, and desire to approach to God, saying, What! because we have fasted, and Thou hast not seen: we have humiliated our souls, and Thou hast not known. For in the days of fasting are found your own wills; for either ye torment those who are subjected to you, or ye fast for strifes and judgments, or ye strike your neighbours with fists. For what do you fast unto me, that to-day your voice should be heard in clamour? This fast I have not chosen, save that a man should humble his soul. And if thou shalt bend thy neck like a ring, and spread under thee sackcloth and ashes, neither thus shall it be called an acceptable fast. Not such a fast have I chosen, saith the Lord; but loose every knot of unrighteousness, let go the chokings of impotent engagements. Send away the harassed into rest, and scatter every unrighteous contract. Break thy bread to the hungry, and bring the houseless poor into thy dwelling. If thou seest the naked, clothe him; and despise not them of thy own seed in thy house. Then shall thy seasonable light break forth, and thy garments shall quickly arise; and righteousness shall go before thee: and the glory of God shall surround thee. Then thou shalt cry out, and God shall hear thee; while thou art yet speaking, He shall say, Here I am." Concerning this same thing in Job: "I have preserved the needy from the hand of the mighty; and I have helped the orphan, to whom there was no helper. The mouth of the widow blessed me, since I was the eye of the blind; I was also the foot of the lame, and the father of the weak." Of this same matter in Tobit: "And I said to Tobias, My son, go and bring whatever poor man thou shalt find out of our brethren, who still has God in mind with his whole heart. Bring him hither, and he shall eat my dinner together with me. Behold, I attend thee, my son, until thou come." Also in the same place: "All the days of thy life, my son, keep God in mind, and transgress not His precepts. Do justice all the days of thy life, and do not walk in the way of unrighteousness; because if thou act truly, there will be respect of thy works. Give alms of thy substance, and turn not thy face from any poor man. So shall it come to pass that the face of God shall not be turned away from thee. Even as thou hast, my son, so do: if thou hast abundant substance, give the more alms therefrom; if thou hast little, communicate even of that little. And do not fear when thou givest alms: thou layest up for thyself a good reward against the day of need; because alms delivereth from death, and does not suffer to go into darkness. Alms is a good office for all who do it in the sight of the most high God." On this same subject in Solomon in Proverbs: "He that hath pity on the poor lendeth unto the Lord." Also in the same place: "He that giveth to the poor shall never want; but he who turns away his eye shall be in much penury." Also in the same place: "Sins are purged away by alms-giving and faith." Again, in the same place: "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; and if he thirst, give him to drink: for by doing this thou shalt scatter live coals upon his head." Again, in the same place: "As water extinguishes fire, so alms-giving extinguishes sin." In the same in Proverbs: "Say not, Go away, and return, to-morrow I will give; when you can do good immediately. For thou knowest not what may happen on the coming day." Also in the same place: "He who stoppeth his ears that he may not hear the weak, shall himself call upon God, and there shall be none to hear him." Also in the same place: "He who has his conversation without reproach in righteousness, leaves blessed children." In the same in Ecclesiasticus: "My son, if thou hast, do good by thyself, and present worthy offerings to God; remember that death delayeth not." Also in the same place: "Shut up alms in the heart of the poor, and this will entreat for thee from all evil." Concerning this thing in the thirty-sixth Psalm, that mercy is beneficial also to one's posterity: "I have been young, and I have also grown old; and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread. The whole day he is merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is in blessing." Of this same thing in the fortieth Psalm: "Blessed is he who considereth over the poor and needy: in the evil day God will deliver him." Also in the cxith Psalm: "He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness shall remain from generation to generation." Of this same thing in Hosea: "I desire mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than whole burnt-offerings." Of this same thing also in the Gospel according to Matthew: "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be satisfied." Also in the same place: "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." Also in the same place: "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not dig through and steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Also in the same place: "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls: and when he hath found a precious pearl, he went away and sold all that he had, and bought it." That even a small work is of advantage, also in the same place: "And whoever shall give to drink to one of the least of these a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, His reward shall not perish." That alms are to be denied to none, also in the same place: "Give to every one that asketh thee; and from him who would wish to borrow, be not turned away." Also in the same place: "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith, Which? Jesus saith unto him, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith unto Him, All these things have I observed: what lack I yet? Jesus saith unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." Also in the same place: "When the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then He shall sit on the throne of His glory: and all nations shall be gathered together before Him; and He shall separate them one from another, even as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats: and He shall place the sheep on the right hand, but the goats on the left hand. Then shall the King say unto them that are on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me to drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer Him, and say, Lord, when saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in: naked, and clothed Thee? And when saw we Thee sick, and in prison, and came to Thee? And the King, answering, shall say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me. Then shall He say unto them who are on His left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which my Father hath prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry, and ye gave me not to eat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me not to drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: I was naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer, and say, Lord, when saw we Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee? And He shall answer them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me. And these shall go away into everlasting burning: but the righteous into life eternal." Concerning this same matter in the Gospel according to Luke: "Sell your possessions, and give alms." Also in the same place: "He who made that which is within, made that which is without also. But give alms, and, behold, all things are pure unto you." Also in the same place: "Behold, the half of my substance I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, that salvation has this day been wrought for this house, since he also is a son of Abraham." Of this same thing also in the second Epistle to the Corinthians: "Let your abundance supply their want, that their abundance also may be the supplement of your want, that there may be equality: as it is written, He who had much had not excess; and he who had little had no lack." Also in the same place: "He who soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he who soweth in blessing shall reap also of blessing. But let every one do as he has proposed in his heart: not as if sorrowfully, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver." Also in the same place: "As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever." Likewise in the same place: "Now he who ministereth seed to the sower, shall both supply bread to be eaten, and shall multiply your seed, and shall increase the growth of the fruits of your righteousness: that in all things ye may be made rich." Also in the same place: "The administration of this service has not only supplied that which is lacking to the saints, but has abounded by much giving of thanks unto God." Of this same matter in the Epistle of John: "Whoso hath this world's substance, and seeth his brother desiring, and shutteth up his bowels from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? " Of this same thing in the Gospel according to Luke: "When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor brethren, nor neighbours, nor the rich; lest haply they also invite thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a banquet, call the poor, the weak, the blind, and lame: and thou shalt be blessed; because they have not the means of rewarding thee: but thou I shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the I just."

Or, the thieves are heretics and evil spirits, who are bent upon depriving us of spiritual things. The moth which secretly frets the garments is envy, which mars good desires, and bursts the bonds of charity.

(Orat. 14.) Now I fear lest you should think deeds of mercy to be not necessary to you, but voluntary. I also thought so, but was alarmed at the goats placed on the left hand, not because they robbed, but did not minister unto Christ among the poor.

But He bids us lay up our visible and earthly treasures where the power of corruption does not reach, and hence He adds, a treasure that faileth not, &c.

(Hom. 25. in Act.) For there is no sin which almsgiving does not avail to blot out. It is a salve adapted to ever wound. But almsgiving has to do not only with money, but with all matters also wherein man succours man, as when the physician heals, and the wise man gives counsel.

(ubi sup.) For without alms it is impossible to see the kingdom. For as a fountain if it keeps its waters within itself grows foul, so also rich men when they retain every thing in their possession.

So then, do not think that if you do not embrace poverty, there will be no Provider for you, but sell your possessions, give alms, and make your treasure inexhaustible. Then He persuades us with irrefutable reasoning as well. Here, He says, the moth consumes, but in heaven it does not. Therefore, is it not madness to store up treasure in a place where it is damaged? Then, since the moth does not consume gold, He added: "where no thief approaches." For if the moth does not consume gold, the thief steals it.

As if He said, "Here the moth corrupts, but there is no corruption in heaven." Then because there are some things which the moth does not corrupt, He goes on to speak of the thief. For gold the moth corrupts not, but the thief takes away.

If you lack earthly riches, do not seek them in the world by evil deeds. If they fall to your lot, let them be stored up in heaven by good works. A manly Christian soul should neither be overjoyed at acquiring them nor cast down when they are gone. Let us instead reflect on what the Lord says: "Where thy treasure is, there your heart will be also." Surely when we hear that we should lift up our hearts, the familiar answer that we make should not be a lie.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. This is to be understood not only about money, but about all passions. The glutton's god is the belly. Therefore, there he has his heart where his treasure is. The luxurious man's treasures are feasts, the wanton's amusements, the lover's lust, hence each one serves from whom he is conquered.

Now this must not only be felt concerning love of money, but all the passions. Luxurious feasts are treasures; also the sports of the gay and the desires of the lover...

Now great effort must be made regarding where the treasure is placed, because the mind is also placed in the same place; therefore he adds: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Treasure is that which the mind principally loves, according to that passage in Matthew 13: "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden" etc. But where the principal object of love is, there the mind will dwell; whence Bernard says: "The soul is more truly where it loves than where it gives life." And therefore where your treasure is, there also is your heart. Bede says: "If it is on earth, the heart is below; if in heavenly things, it is fixed in Christ; for it is necessary that where the treasure of love has preceded, there the affection of thought follows." And because the wise man has his treasure in heaven, and the fool on earth, therefore Ecclesiastes 10: "The heart of the wise man is at his right hand, and the heart of the fool at his left" etc.; Second Corinthians 4: "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." For this visible and earthly treasure consists in money; but the invisible treasure consists in wisdom; Wisdom 7: "All good things came to me together with her"; and afterward: "For she is an infinite treasure to men, which they that use are made partakers of the friendship of God."

And note that this treasure, which consists in wisdom, begins from the fear of reverence: Isaiah 33: "The riches of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is his treasure." It advances, moreover, in the pursuit of learning: Matthew 13: "Every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven" etc. It is preserved in holiness of conscience: Luke 6: "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart" etc. It is consummated, moreover, in the sublimity of glory: Matthew 19: "If you wish to be perfect, go and sell all that you have, and you shall have treasure in heaven."

And he speaks here of such things; whence he promises to the poor the provision of refreshment, the kingdom of excellence, and the treasure of abundance, because the poor are accustomed to being afflicted and despised and needy for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For every man naturally dwells upon that which is the object of his desire, and thither he directs all his thoughts, where he supposes his whole interest to rest. If any one then has his whole mind and affections, which he calls the heart, set on things of this present life, he lives in earthly things. But if he has given his mind to heavenly things, there will his mind be; so that he seems with his body only to live with men, but with his mind to have already reached the heavenly mansion.

All this is what that treasure brings about. Either through almsgiving it raises the heart of a man into heaven, or through greed it buries it in the earth. That is why he said, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." O man, send your treasure on, send it ahead into heaven, or else your God-given soul will be buried in the earth. Gold comes from the depth of the earth—the soul, from the highest heaven. Clearly it is better to carry the gold to where the soul resides than to bury the soul in the mine of the gold. That is why God orders those who will serve in his army here below to fight as men stripped of concern for riches and unencumbered by anything. To these he has granted the privilege of reigning in heaven.

Then, since not everyone is robbed, He adds an even greater and completely irrefutable reason. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Let it be so, He says, that neither moth devours nor thief approaches, but what punishment does the very enslavement of the heart to treasure buried in the earth and the casting down to earth of the godlike substance of the soul deserve? Is not the punishment all the greater for the one who possesses a mind? Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. If your treasure is in the earth, then your heart is in it too; if your treasure is in heaven, then your heart is on high. Who would not choose rather to be on high than under the earth, to be an Angel rather than a mole living in underground burrows?

Moreover, because all things are not taken away by theft, He adds a more excellent reason, and one which admits of no objection whatever, saying, For where your treasure is, there will your hearts be also; as if He says, "Suppose that neither moth corrupts nor thief takes away, yet this very thing, namely, to have the heart fixed in a buried treasure, and to sink to the earth a divine work, that is, the soul, how great a punishment it deserves."

(de Qu. Ev. lib. ii. q. 25.) Or, He teaches us also to gird our loins for the sake of keeping ourselves from the love of the things of this world, and to have our lamps burning, that this thing may be done with a true end and right intention.

Let your loins be girded, and lamps burning in your hands: and you be like unto men waiting for their lord. For he had shown many, either those subject to the world in all things, or those serving the Lord with a view to worldly benefit, beautifully and briefly he instructs his own, both to gird their loins for the sake of abstaining from the love of worldly things, and to have burning lamps, so that they may do this with true purpose and right intention. Otherwise, we gird our loins when we restrain the luxury of the flesh through abstinence. And we hold burning lamps in our hands, when through good works we show examples of light to our neighbors. For to our Redeemer, one without the other can by no means be pleasing, if either the one who does good yet has not abandoned the impurities of luxury, or the one who excels in chastity has not yet exercised himself in good works. But if both are done, it remains for any such person to strive with hope toward the heavenly homeland, by no means restraining himself from vices for the sake of this world's honor, but placing all his hope in the coming of his Redeemer. Hence it immediately follows:

There is an order of levels intended for enlightenment, that of acolytes, subdeacons, and deacons. And these orders are for the sake of enlightenment. Now, enlightenment is at times through external example, at others, through writings of secondary importance, at others again, through writings of primary importance. The first carry candles, that is, the acolytes of whom it is said: "Let your loins be girt about and your lamps burning." According to Gregory, the lamps are luminous works.

Let your loins be girded, etc. After he has recalled from the solicitude of avarice, here secondly he invites to the solicitude of providence, lest anyone believe that he wished to remove all solicitude from the heart. He invites, moreover, to this kind of solicitude from the consideration of the twofold advent: first, namely, from consideration of the second advent, which will be terrible; second, from consideration of the first advent, which was lovable, at the passage: I have come to cast fire upon the earth.

First, therefore, as regards promptness of readiness in the body, he says: Let your loins be girded, etc. Just as he is ready who is girded for setting out on a journey, so he is ready who restrains in himself carnal desires. Whence Gregory: "By the name of the loins, from the principal seat of desire, lust is designated"; Job 40: "His strength is in his loins," etc. "We gird our loins, therefore, when we restrain the lust of the flesh through continence. But because it does not suffice not to do evil unless one also strives to labor in good works, there is immediately added: And lamps burning in your hands. We indeed have burning lamps in our hands when through good works we show examples of light to our neighbors." For a lamp rightly signifies the divine commandment: Proverbs 6: "The commandment is a lamp, and the law is light," etc. This lamp is in the hand when the commandment is in practice: Proverbs, the last chapter: "Her lamp shall not be extinguished in the night. And she put her hand to strong things," etc.; and Matthew 5: "So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works," etc.

And note that just as a lamp shields its light from the wind but not from sight, so good works are compared to a lamp: because "the work ought to be in public in such a way that the intention remains hidden"; thus should a person wish to give others an example of virtue, yet not seek the reward of transitory favor.

Moreover, in order that evil may perfectly cease in us, our loins must be girded in a threefold manner, namely the loins of carnal contact, concerning which the Psalm says: "My loins are filled with illusions, and there is no health in my flesh"; and these are to be girded with the belt of chastity: Isaiah 32: "Gird your loins, beat upon the breasts," etc. Likewise, the loins of carnal affection with the belt of virtue: Job 40: "Gird your loins like a man"; and Jeremiah 1: "Gird your loins, arise and speak to them." Likewise, the loins of carnal thought with the belt of truth: 1 Peter 1: "Having girded the loins of your mind, be sober," etc.

Moreover, in order that the good may perfectly shine forth in us, the lamp of right intention must be carried: above, chapter 11: "The lamp of your body is your eye." Likewise, the lamp of true preaching must be carried: Psalm: "Your word is a lamp to my feet"; Ecclesiasticus forty-eight: "Elijah arose like fire, and his word burned like a torch." Likewise, the lamp of honorable conduct must be carried: John five: "He was a burning and shining lamp"; and in the Psalm: "There I will make the horn of David spring forth; I have prepared a lamp for my Christ."

We must therefore sleep so as to be easily awaked. For it is said, "Let your loins be girt about, and your lamps burning; and ye yourselves like to men that watch for their lord, that when he returns from the marriage, and comes and knocks, they may straightway open to him. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching." For there is no use of a sleeping man, as there is not of a dead man. Wherefore we ought often to rise by night and bless God. For blessed are they who watch for Him, and so make themselves like the angels, whom we call "watchers." But a man asleep is worth nothing, any more than if he were not alive.

Let us, beloved brethren, arouse ourselves as much as we can; and breaking the slumber of our ancient listlessness, let us be watchful to observe and to do the Lord's precepts. Let us be such as He Himself has bidden us to be, saying, "Let your loins be girt, and your lamps burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when He shall come from the wedding, that when He cometh and knocketh, they may open to Him. Blessed are those servants whom their Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching." We ought to be girt about, lest, when the day of setting forth comes, it should find us burdened and entangled. Let our light shine in good works, and glow in such wise as to lead us from the night of this world to the daylight of eternal brightness. Let us always with solicitude and caution wait for the sudden coming of the Lord, that when He shall knock, our faith may be on the watch, and receive from the Lord the reward of our vigilance. If these commands be observed, if these warnings and precepts be kept, we cannot be overtaken in slumber by the deceit of the devil; but we shall reign with Christ in His kingdom as servants that watch.

That we must press on and persevere in faith and virtue, and in completion of heavenly and spiritual grace, that we may attain to the palm and the crown. In the book of Chronicles: "The Lord is with you so long as ye also are with Him; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you." In Ezekiel also: "The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in what day soever he may transgress." Moreover, in the Gospel the Lord speaks, and says: "He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved." And again: "If ye shall abide in my word, ye shall be my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Moreover, forewarning us that we ought always to be ready, and to stand firmly equipped and armed, He adds, and says: "Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord when he shall return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him. Blessed are those servants whom their lord, when he cometh, shall find watching." Also the blessed Apostle Paul, that our faith may advance and grow, and attain to the highest point, exhorts us, saying: "Know ye not, that they which run in a race run all indeed, yet one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And they, indeed, that they may receive a corruptible crown; but ye an incorruptible." And again: "No man that warreth for God binds himself to anxieties of this world, that he may be able to please Him to whom he hath approved himself. Moreover, also, if a man should contend, he will not be crowned unless he have fought lawfully." And again: "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the mercy of God, that ye constitute your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God; and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed in the renewing of your spirit, that ye may prove what is the will of God, good, and acceptable, and perfect." And again: "We are children of God: but if children, then heirs; heirs indeed of God, but joint-heirs with Christ, if we suffer together, that we may also be glorified together." And in the Apocalypse the same exhortation of divine preaching speaks, saying, "Hold fast that which thou hast, lest another take thy crown; " which example of perseverance and persistence is pointed out in Exodus, when Moses, for the overthrow of Ama-lek, who bore the type of the devil, raised up his open hands in the sign and sacrament of the cross, and could not conquer his adversary unless when he had stedfastly persevered in the sign with hands continually lifted up. "And it came to pass," says he, "when Moses raised up his hands, Israel prevailed; but when he let down his hands, Amalek grew mighty. And they took a stone and placed it under him, and he sate thereon. And Aaron and Hur held up his hands on the one side and on the other side, and Moses' hands were made steady even to the going down of the sun. Anti Jesus routed Amalek and all his people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this, and let it be a memorial in a book, and tell it in the ears of Jesus; because in destroying I will destroy the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven."

That Christ is the Bridegroom, having the Church as His bride, from which spiritual children were to be born. In Joel: "Blow with the trumpet in Sion; sanctify a fast, and call a healing; assemble the people, sanctify the Church, gather the elders, collect the little ones that suck the breast; let the Bridegroom go forth of His chamber, and the bride out of her closet." Also in Jeremiah: "And I will take away from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of the joyous, and the voice of the glad; the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride." Also in the eighteenth Psalm: "And he is as a bridegroom going forth from his chamber; he exulted as a giant to run his course. From the height of heaven is his going forth, and his circuit even to the end of it; and there is nothing which is hid from his heat." Also in the Apocalypse: "Come, I will show thee the new bride, the Lamb's wife. And he took me in the Spirit to a great mountain, and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God." Also in the Gospel according to John: "Ye are my witnesses, that I said to them who were sent from Jerusalem to me, that I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before Him. For he who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom is he who standeth and heareth him with joy, and rejoiceth because of the voice of the bridegroom." The mystery of this matter was shown in Jesus the son of Nave, when he was bidden to put his shoes from off him, doubt less because he himself was not the bridegroom. For it was in the law, that whoever should refuse marriage should put off his shoe, but that he should be shod who was to be the bridegroom: "And it happened, when Jesus was in Jericho, he looked around with his eyes, and saw a man standing before his face, and holding a javelin in his hand, and said, Art thou for us or for our enemies? And he said, I am the leader of the host of the Lord; now draw near. And Jesus fell on his rice to the earth, and said to him, Lord, what dost Thou command unto Thy servant. And the leader of the Lord's host said, Loose thy shoe from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." Also, in Exodus, Moses is bidden to put off his shoe, because he, too, was not the bridegroom: "And there appeared unto him the angel of the Lord in a flame of fire out of a bush; and he saw that the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will pass over and see this great sight, why the bush is not consumed. But when He saw that he drew near to see, the Lord God called him from the bush, saying, Moses, Moses. And he said, What is it? And He said, Draw not nigh hither, unless thou hast loosed thy shoe from off thy feet; for the place on which thou standest is holy ground. And He said unto him, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." This was also made plain in the Gospel according to John: "And John answered them, I indeed baptize with water, but there standeth One in the midst of you whom ye know not: He it is of whom I said, The man that cometh after me is made before me, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose." Also according to Luke: "Let your loins be girt, and your lamps burning, and ye like to men that wait for their master when he shall come from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him. Blessed are those servants whom their Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching." Also in the Apocalypse: "The Lord God omnipotent reigneth: let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give to Him the honour of glory; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready."

That he who has attained to trust, having put off the former man, ought to regard only celestial and spiritual things, and to give no heed to the world which he has already renounced. In Isaiah: "Seek ye the Lord; and when ye have found Him, call upon Him. But when He hath come near unto you, let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him be turned unto the Lord, and he shall obtain mercy, because He will plentifully pardon your sins." Of this same thing in Solomon: "I have seen all the works which are done under the sun; and, lo, all are vanity." Of this same thing in Exodus: "But thus shall ye eat it; your loins girt, and your shoes on your feet, and your staves in your hands: and ye shall eat it in haste, for it is the Lord's passover." Of this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew: "Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewith shall we be clothed? for these things the nations seek after. But your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Likewise in the same place: "Think not for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for itself. Sufficient unto the day is its own evil." Likewise in the same place: "No one looking back, and putting his hands to the plough, is fit for the kingdom of God." Also in the same place: "Behold the fowls of the heaven: for they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of more value than they? " Concerning this same thing, according to Luke: "Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning; and ye like unto men that wait for their lord, when he cometh from the wedding; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him. Blessed are those servants, whom their lord, when he cometh, shall find watching." Of this same thing in Matthew: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where He may lay His head." Also in the same place: "Whoso forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple." Of this same thing in the first to the Corinthians: "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body." Also in the same place: "The time is limited. It remaineth, therefore, that both they who have wives be as though they have them not, and they who lament as they that lament not, and they that rejoice as they that rejoice not, and they who buy as they that buy not, and they who possess as they who possess not, and they who use this world as they that use it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away." Also in the same place: "The first man is of the clay of the earth, the second man from heaven. As he is of the clay, such also are they who are of the clay; and as is the heavenly, such also are the heavenly. Even as we have borne the image of him who is of the clay, let us bear His image also who is from heaven." Of this same matter to the Philippians: "All seek their own, and not those things which are Christ's; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and their glory is to their confusion, who mind earthly things. For our conversation is in heaven, whence also we expect the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall transform the body of our humiliation conformed to the body of His glory." Of this very matter to Galatians: "But be it far from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Concerning this same thing to Timothy: "No man that warreth for God bindeth himself with worldly annoyances, that he may please Him to whom he hath approved himself. But and if a man should contend, he will not be crowned unless he fight lawfully." Of this same thing to the Colossians: "If ye be dead with Christ from I the elements of the world, why still, as if living in the world, do ye follow vain things? " Also concerning this same thing: "If ye have risen together with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God. Give heed to the things that are above, not to those things which are on the earth; for ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ your life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." Of this same thing to the Ephesians: Put off the old man of the former conversation, who is corrupted, according to the lusts of deceit. But be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, him who according to God is ordained in righteousness, and holiness, and truth." Of this same thing in the Epistle of Peter: "As strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; but having a good conversation among the Gentiles, that while they detract from you as if from evildoers, yet, beholding your good works, they may magnify God." Of this same thing in the Epistle of John: "He who saith he abideth in Christ, ought himself also to walk even as He walked." Also in the same place: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loveth the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Because everything which is in the world is lust of the flesh, and lust of the eyes, and the ambition of this world, which is not of the Father, but of the lust of this world. And the world shall pass away with its lust. But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever, even as God abideth for ever." Also in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new dough, as ye are unleavened. For also Christ our passover is sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not in the old leaven, nor in the leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

The girding of our loins signifies the readiness of the mind to work hard in every thing praiseworthy. Those who apply themselves to bodily labors and are engaged in strenuous toil have their loins girded. The lamp apparently represents the wakefulness of the mind and intellectual cheerfulness. We say that the human mind is awake when it repels any tendency to slumber off into that carelessness that often is the means of bringing it into subjection to every kind of wickedness. When sunk in stupor, the heavenly light within the mind is liable to be endangered, or even already is in danger from a violent and impetuous blast of wind. Christ commands us to be awake. To this, his disciple also arouses us by saying, "Be awake. Be watchful." Further on, the very wise Paul also says, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead: and Christ shall give you light."

Or, to be girded, signifies activity and readiness to undergo evils from regard to Divine love. But the burning of the lamp signifies that we should not suffer any to live in the darkness of ignorance.

Watch for your life's sake. Let not your lamps be quenched, nor your loins unloosed; but be ye ready, for ye know not the hour in which our Lord cometh.

(ubi sup.) For the sake then of keeping watch, our Lord advised above that our loins should be girded, and our lamps burning, for light when placed before the eyes drives away sleep. The loins also when tied with a girdle, make the body incapable of sleep. For he who is girt about with chastity, and illuminated by a pure conscience, continues wakeful.

That lust resides in the loins in men and in the navel in women, the Lord testifies when speaking of the devil to blessed Job, saying: "His strength is in his loins, and his power is in the navel of his belly." Therefore, by the principal sex, lust is designated by the name of loins, when the Lord says: "Let your loins be girded." For we gird our loins when we restrain the lust of the flesh through continence. But because it is not enough to refrain from evil unless one also strives to labor in good works, it is immediately added: "And have burning lamps in your hands." For we hold burning lamps in our hands when through good works we show examples of light to our neighbors. Concerning these works the Lord indeed says: "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Now two things are commanded: both to restrain the loins and to hold lamps, so that there may be both the purity of chastity in the body and the light of truth in action. For one without the other can in no way please our Redeemer, whether he who does good has not yet abandoned the defilements of lust, or he who excels in chastity does not yet exercise himself in good works. Neither is chastity great without good work, nor is any work good without chastity.

(Hom. 13. in Evang.) Or else, we gird our loins when by continence we control the lusts of the flesh. For the lust of men is in their loins, and of women in their womb; by the name of loins, therefore, from the principal sex, lust is signified. But because it is a small thing not to do evil, unless also men strive to labour in good works, it is added, And your lamps burning in your hands; for we hold burning lamps in our hands, when by good works we show forth bright examples to our neighbours.

And therefore did the Lord say to His disciples, to make us become good workmen: "Take heed to yourselves, and watch continually upon every occasion, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day shall come upon you unawares; for as a snare shall it come upon all dwelling upon the face of the earth." "Let your loins, therefore, be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding." "For as it was in the days of Noe, they did eat and drink, they bought and sold, they married and were given in marriage, and they knew not, until Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all; as also it was in the days of Lot, they did eat and drink, they bought and sold, they planted and builded, until the time that Lot went out of Sodom; it rained fire from heaven, and destroyed them all: so shall it also be at the coming of the Son of man." "Watch ye therefore, for ye know not in what day your Lord shall come." [In these passages] He declares one and the same Lord, who in the times of Noah brought the deluge because of man's disobedience, and who also in the days of Lot rained fire from heaven because of the multitude of sinners among the Sodomites, and who, on account of this same disobedience and similar sins, will bring on the day of judgment at the end of time; on which day He declares that it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for that city and house which shall not receive the word of His apostles.

For this reason the Lord also said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." And, "Take heed to yourselves, lest perchance your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and worldly cares." And, "Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning, and ye like unto men that wait for their Lord, when He returns from the wedding, that when He cometh and knocketh, they may open to Him. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall find so doing." And again, "The servant who knows his Lord's will, and does it not, shall be beaten with many stripes." And, "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" And again, "But if the servant say in his heart, The Lord delayeth, and begin to beat his fellow-servants, and to eat, and drink, and to be drunken, his Lord will come in a day on which he does not expect Him, and shall cut him in sunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites." All such passages demonstrate the independent will of man, and at the same time the counsel which God conveys to him, by which He exhorts us to submit ourselves to Him, and seeks to turn us away from [the sin of] unbelief against Him, without, however, in any way coercing us.

Or, he teaches us to keep our lamps burning, by prayer and contemplation and spiritual love.

Just as our Lord Jesus Christ commands in the Gospels, thus directing: "Let not your lights be extinguished, and let not your loins be loosed. Therefore also be ye like men who wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are ye, when he shall make you sit down, and shall come and serve you. And if he come in the second, or in the third watch, ye are blessed." For consider, O virgins, when He mentions three watches of the night, and His three comings, He shadows forth in symbol our three periods of life, that of the boy, of the full-grown man, and of the old man; so that if He should come and remove us from the world while spending our first period, that is, while we are boys, He may receive us ready and pure, having nothing amiss; and the second and the third in like manner.

For He will be girded about His loins with righteousness.

Therefore, let us not be constantly with women, nor with maidens. For this is not profitable for those who truly wish to "gird up their loins." [Luke 12:35] For it is required that we love the sisters in all purity and chasteness, and with all curbing of thought, in the fear of God, not associating constantly with them, nor finding access to them at every hour.

We are servants because we have a Lord in our God. We ought "to have our loins girded: " in other words, we are to be free from the embarrassments of a perplexed and much occupied life; "to have our lights burning," that is, our minds kindled by faith, and resplendent with the works of truth.

We ought "to have our loins girded: " in other words, we are to be free from the embarrassments of a perplexed and much occupied life; "to have our lights burning," that is, our minds kindled by faith, and resplendent with the works of truth.

The Lord, having made His disciple free from excess, having released him from every worldly care and pride, and having thus made him light, now makes him also a servant. For whoever desires to serve must be light and nimble. Therefore He says: "Let your loins be girded," that is, always show yourselves ready for the works of your master, and "your lamps burning," that is, do not live in darkness and without discernment, but let the light of reason show you all that ought and ought not to be done. Thus, this world is night. Those girded at the loins are those leading the active life. For such is the garb of workers. They also need burning lamps. For in the active life the gift of discernment is also needed, that is, so that the worker may distinguish not only what ought to be done, but also how it ought to be done. For many did what was good, but did not do it well. Such people, although they were girded at the loins, since they were active, did not have burning lamps, that is, they did not have rational discernment, but fell either into pride or into another abyss of folly. Note also that first our loins are girded, then the lamps are lit. For first comes activity, then contemplation, which is the illumination of our mind. For the lamp, our mind, is then called burning when the light of God shines in it. Therefore, let us diligently exercise ourselves in virtue, so that we may have both our lamps burning, that is, the inner word and the spoken word — the inner one illuminating everything in the soul, and the spoken one shining on the tongue. For the inner lamp enlightens us, while the teaching and spoken word gives light to others.

Our Lord having taught His disciples moderation, taking from them all care and conceit of this life, now leads them on to serve and obey, saying, Let your loins be girded, that is, always ready to do the work of your Lord, and your lamps burning, that is, do not lead a life in darkness, but have with you the light of reason, showing you what to do and what to avoid. For this world is the night, but they have their loins girded, who follow a practical or active life. For such is the condition of servants who must have with them also lamps burning; that is, the gift of discernment, that the active man may be able to distinguish not only what he ought to do, but in what way; otherwise men rush down the precipice of pride. But we must observe, that He first orders our loins to be girded, secondly, our lamps to be burning. For first indeed comes action, then reflection, which is an enlightening of the mind. Let us then strive to exercise the virtues, that we may have two lamps burning, that is, the conception of the mind ever shining forth in the soul, by which we are ourselves enlightened, and learning, whereby we enlighten others.

And you be like men waiting for their lord, when he returns from the weddings. For the Lord went to the weddings, because rising from the dead and ascending into heaven, the new man united to himself the supreme multitude of angels. He then returns when he is now manifested to us through judgment. And well is it added concerning the waiting servants:

That when he comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately. For he comes when he approaches for judgment; indeed, he knocks when he indicates that death is near through the afflictions of illness. To whom we open immediately, if we receive him with love. For he does not want to open to the knocking judge who trembles to leave the body; and he fears to see the judge whom he remembers having scorned. But he who is secure in his hope and action opens to the knocking judge immediately, because he joyfully waits for the judge; when he recognizes the time of imminent death, he rejoices at the glory of the reward. Hence it immediately follows:

Second, with regard to the solicitude of expectation in the heart, he adds: And you yourselves like men waiting for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding, that is, when he shall come to judgment, descending from heaven. Whence Gregory: "The Lord went to the wedding when, after his resurrection, the new man joined to himself the multitude of Angels: he shall then return when through judgment he is manifested to us." Whence he ought always to be awaited by the good; Philippians 3: "We look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ," etc. And this expectation is not vain: Proverbs 17: "The expectation of him who waits is a most pleasing gem"; nor is it drowsy: Psalm: "Wait for the Lord and act manfully."

And therefore he adds: That when he comes, "hastening to judgment," and knocks, through the scourge of infirmity, they may open to him at once, through intimate desire: Apocalypse 3: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone shall open to me, I will enter in to him," etc. Bede: "He does not wish to open to the judge who knocks who, fearing to see him angered whom he despised, dreads to depart from the body. He opens who awaits the judge gladly and securely and rejoices at approaching death." Song of Songs 5: "The voice of my beloved knocking," and after: "I arose to open," etc.

And it should be noted here that this Gospel is read on the feasts of Confessors, because they are commended in a threefold manner, namely with regard to the avoidance of evil in the girding of the loins, and with regard to the doing of good in the carrying of lamps, and with regard to the expectation of the best in the likeness of men waiting for their lord; according to those three things which are said in Micah 6: "I will show you, O man, what is good: to do judgment," with respect to yourself, "and to love mercy," with respect to your neighbor, "and to walk solicitously with your God," with respect to God.

Finally, for this purpose, that desire may be perfectly enkindled, Christ must be awaited confidently: Habakkuk two: "If he should delay, wait for him, for he who is coming will come," etc. Likewise, he must be awaited joyfully: Proverbs ten: "The expectation of the just is joy," etc. Likewise, he must be awaited watchfully: Job fourteen: "All the days in which I now serve, I wait, until my change shall come." And in this way the servants await "their lord, when he returns from the wedding." Thus the blessed Confessors are perfectly praised, according to that passage in Titus two: "Let us live soberly and justly and piously in this age, awaiting the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of the great God," etc.

We should look for Christ's coming again from heaven. He will come in the glory of the Father with the holy angels. He has taught us saying that we must be like those who wait for their lord to return from the banqueting house, so that when he comes and knocks, they may open the door to him immediately. For Christ will return as from a feast. This plainly shows that God always dwells in festivals that are fitting for him. In heaven above, there is no sadness whatsoever since nothing can occasion grief. That heavenly nature is incapable of passion and of being affected by anything whatsoever of this kind.

Now consider that He comes from the wedding as from a festival, which God is ever keeping; for nothing can cause sadness to the Incorruptible Nature.

(Hom. 11. in Cant..) Or else, when the wedding was celebrated and the Church received into the secret bridal chamber, the angels were expecting the return of the King to His own natural blessedness. And after their example we order our life, that as they living together without evil, are prepared to welcome their Lord's return, so we also, keeping watch at the door, should make ourselves ready to obey Him when He comes knocking; for it follows, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately.

But even if both are practiced, it remains that whoever he is should reach toward the heavenly homeland by hope, and should not restrain himself from vices merely for the sake of this world's respectability. For even if he sometimes begins certain good things for the sake of respectability, he ought not to remain in that intention, nor seek the glory of the present world through good works, but should place all his hope in the coming of his Redeemer. Hence it is immediately added: "And be like men waiting for their lord, when he returns from the wedding." For the Lord went to the wedding because, rising from the dead and ascending into heaven, the new man joined to himself the heavenly multitude of angels. He returns when he is manifested to us through judgment.

(ubi sup.) But if a man has both of these, whosoever he be, nothing remains for him but that he should place his whole expectation on the coming of the Redeemer. Therefore it is added, And be ye like to men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding, &c. For our Lord went to the wedding, when ascending up into heaven as the Bridegroom He joined to Himself the heavenly multitude of angels.

(ubi sup.) For He comes when He hastens to judgment, but He knocks, when already by the pain of sickness He denotes that death is at hand; to whom we immediately open if we receive Him with love. For he who trembles to depart from the body, has no wish to open to the Judge knocking, and dreads to see that Judge whom he remembers to have despised. But he who rests secure concerning his hope and works, immediately opens to Him that knocks; for when he is aware of the time of death drawing near, he grows joyful, because of the glory of his reward.

We ought "to have our loins girded: " in other words, we are to be free from the embarrassments of a perplexed and much occupied life; "to have our lights burning," that is, our minds kindled by faith, and resplendent with the works of truth. And thus "to wait for our Lord," that is, Christ.

And we must be "like men waiting for the return of their... master... from the wedding." Who else is this Master but Christ Jesus? He, having assumed human nature as a bride and united it with Himself, made a wedding, cleaving to it in one flesh. And He does not make just one wedding, but many, for in heaven He daily betroths to Himself the souls of the saints, whom Paul or one like Paul presents to Him as pure virgins (2 Cor. 11:2). He returns from the heavenly wedding, perhaps openly before all, at the end of the world, when He comes from heaven in the glory of the Father, or perhaps invisibly and unexpectedly appearing at every season, at the end of each person's life in particular. Therefore, blessed is the one whom He finds girded about the loins, that is, ready to serve God through the active part of Christian wisdom, and having a burning lamp of word and discernment, not only doing good, but doing it well, and beyond that having received contemplation as a kind of lamp. For through the girding of the loins, the lamp of contemplation also becomes burning within us, and even two lamps, one inward and one brought outward.

Daily also in the heavens He betroths the souls of the Saints, whom Paul or another offers to Him, as a chaste virgin. (2 Cor 11:2.) But He returns from the celebration of the heavenly marriage, perhaps to all at the end of the whole world, when He shall come from heaven in the glory of the Father; perhaps also every hour standing suddenly present at the death of each individual.

Blessed are those servants whom the Lord will find watching when He comes. One watches who keeps the eyes of the mind open to the sight of the true light. One watches who fulfills by action what he has believed. One watches who drives the darkness of sluggishness and negligence away from himself. Hence Paul says: Awake to righteousness, and sin not (I Cor. XV). Hence he also says again: It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep (Rom. XIII). But let us hear what the Lord, upon His coming, will offer to those vigilant servants.

Amen, I say to you that He will gird Himself and have them sit at table, and He will come and serve them. He girds Himself, which means He prepares their reward; He has them sit at table, which means they are refreshed in eternal rest. Our sitting at table surely means resting in the kingdom. Wherefore the Lord again says: They will come and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matt. VIII). The Lord, passing by, ministers because He satisfies us with the illumination of His light. Truly, passing by, it is said, He returns from judgment to the kingdom. Or certainly, the Lord passes to us after judgment because He elevates us from the form of His humanity to the contemplation of His divinity. And His passing by is to lead us into the vision of His brightness, for when we see Him in humanity at judgment, we also see Him in divinity after judgment.

Blessed are those servants, etc. Here secondly he introduces the motive for vigilant watching, and this is twofold, namely the beatification of the watchful without failing and without any exception.

First, therefore, as regards the beatification of the watchful without failing, he says: Blessed are those servants whom, when the lord comes, he finds watching: Proverbs eight: "Blessed is the man who hears me and who watches at my gates daily"; and therefore Ecclesiasticus thirty-nine: "The just man will give his heart to watching at dawn," etc. Such ones the Lord declares blessed: Job eight: "If you rise at dawn and beseech the Almighty, he will immediately awake to you and will restore the dwelling of your justice in peace."

Therefore he adds: Amen I say to you, that he will gird himself, "preparing himself for recompense"; Psalm: "The Lord has reigned, he has clothed himself with beauty," etc. And he will make them recline, namely at the eternal banquet: Ezekiel thirty-four: "I will feed my sheep, and I will make them lie down."

And passing by, he will minister to them, through the most generous sharing. Passing by, that is, causing them to pass over: Sirach twenty-four: "Come over to me, all you who desire me," etc.; because from Christ and through Christ we pass over to Christ, namely from the glory of the body to the glory of the soul, and from this to the glory of the Godhead. On account of which he says in John ten: "I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he shall be saved"; and in the fourteenth chapter: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." But Christ is said to minister, because he will always give the substance of joy, of actual unfailing refreshment: Revelation seven: "They shall hunger no more, nor thirst anymore"; "for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall rule them and lead them to the fountains of the waters of life." "Blessed therefore are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb," Revelation nineteen: in which the spotless Lamb will be the bridegroom, the food, the lord, and the minister; the Psalm: "They shall be inebriated with the plenty of your house, and you shall give them to drink of the torrent of your pleasure." He himself will minister and invite, according to that passage of the Song of Songs five: "Eat, O friends, and drink and be inebriated, dearest ones."

When he comes and finds us girded, awake and our hearts enlightened, then he immediately will make us blessed. "He will gird his loins and serve them." By this, we learn that he will reward us proportionately. Since we are weary with toil, he will comfort us, setting before us spiritual banquets and spreading the abundant table of his gifts.

When then our Lord coming shall find us awake and girded, having our hearts enlightened, He will then pronounce us blessed, for it follows, Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself; from which we perceive that He will recompense us in like manner, seeing that He will gird Himself with those that are girded. (Isa. 11:5.)

He will then make them to sit down as a refreshment to the weary, setting before them spiritual enjoyments, and ordering a sumptuous table of His gifts.

And well is it added concerning the waiting servants: "That when he comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately." For the Lord comes when he hastens to judgment; he knocks when through the troubles of illness he indicates that death is near. We open to him immediately if we receive him with love. For he who trembles to depart from the body does not wish to open to the judge who knocks, and fears to see as judge him whom he remembers having despised. But he who is confident in his hope and work opens immediately to the one who knocks, because he awaits the judge joyfully; and when he recognizes that the time of approaching death has come, he rejoices in the glory of recompense. Hence it is immediately added: "Blessed are those servants whom the lord, when he comes, shall find watching." He watches who keeps the eyes of his mind open to behold the true light; he watches who preserves in action what he believes; he watches who repels from himself the darkness of torpor and negligence. Hence Paul says: "Awake, you righteous, and do not sin." Hence again he says: "It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep."

But let us hear what the coming Lord shows to his watchful servants: "Amen I say to you, that he will gird himself, and make them recline, and passing by will minister to them." He will gird himself, that is, he will prepare himself for recompense; and he will make them recline, that is, to be refreshed in eternal rest. For our reclining in the kingdom is to rest. Whence again the Lord says: "They will come and recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." But the Lord passing by ministers, because he satisfies us with the illumination of his light. And it is said "passing," when he returns from judgment to the kingdom. Or certainly the Lord passes by for us after the judgment, because he raises us from the form of humanity to the contemplation of his divinity. And his passing is to lead us into the vision of his glory, when him whom we perceive in humanity at the judgment, we also see in divinity after the judgment. For coming to judgment, he appears to all in the form of a servant, because it is written: "They will look upon him whom they pierced." But when the reprobate fall into punishment, the just are drawn to the glory of his brightness, as it is written: "Let the impious one be taken away, lest he see the glory of God."

(ubi sup.) For He comes when He hastens to judgment, but He knocks, when already by the pain of sickness He denotes that death is at hand; to whom we immediately open if we receive Him with love. For he who trembles to depart from the body, has no wish to open to the Judge knocking, and dreads to see that Judge whom he remembers to have despised. But he who rests secure concerning his hope and works, immediately opens to Him that knocks; for when he is aware of the time of death drawing near, he grows joyful, because of the glory of his reward; and hence it is added, Blessed are the servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching. He watches who keeps the eyes of his mind open to behold the true light; who by his works maintains that which he beholds, who drives from himself the darkness of sloth and carelessness.

(Hom. 13. in Ev.) By which He girds Himself, that is, prepares for judgment.

(Hom. 13. in Ev.) But He is said to be passing over, when He returns from the judgment to His kingdom. Or the Lord passes to us after the judgment, and raises us from the form of His humanity to a contemplation of His divinity.

"The pain of the stroke" means that inflicted at the beginning upon disobedient man in Adam, that is, death; which [stroke] the Lord will heal when He raises us from the dead, and restores the inheritance of the fathers, as Isaiah again says: "And thou shall be confident in the Lord, and He will cause thee to pass over the whole earth, and feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father." This is what the Lord declared: "Happy are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down [to meat], and will come forth and serve them. And if He shall come in the evening watch, and find them so, blessed are they, because He shall make them sit down, and minister to them; or if this be in the second, or it be in the third, blessed are they." Again John also says the very same in the Apocalypse: "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection." Then, too, Isaiah has declared the time when these events shall occur; he says: "And I said, Lord, how long? Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses be without men, and the earth be left a desert. And after these things the Lord shall remove us men far away, and those who shall remain shall multiply upon the earth." Then Daniel also says this very thing: "And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of those under the heaven, is given to the saints of the Most High God, whose kingdom is everlasting, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him." And lest the promise named should be understood as referring to this time, it was declared to the prophet: "And come thou, and stand in thy lot at the consummation of the days."

"Verily I say unto you that He shall make His chosen ones sit down, and He shall gird up His loins and shall go in and minister unto them." Be thou then at all times mindful of this table, that from the remembrance thereof thou mayest receive strength, and mayest be able to despise the natural table; for there is no man who would exchange the dainty table of the kingdom for the coarse and common table of the bread of wheat, and more than this the table of meats of the body is smaller and inferior in comparison to that spiritual table.

(Dion. in Ep. ad Tit.) The "sitting down" is taken to be the repose from many labours, a life without annoyance, the divine conversation of those that dwell in the region of light enriched with all holy affections, and an abundant pouring forth of all gifts, whereby they are filled with joy. For the reason why Jesus makes them to sit down, is that He might give them perpetual rest, and distribute to them blessings without number. Therefore it follows, And will pass over (transiens) and serve them.

For such a servant, the Lord Himself becomes a servant. For it is said: "and will seat them, and coming near, will serve them." God girds Himself because He does not pour out upon us the full abundance of His blessings, but restrains it. For who can contain God as He is? This is seen also in the Seraphim, who cover themselves from the surpassing nature of the Divine light (Isa. 6:2). The good servants He reclines upon a couch, that is, He gives them rest in all things. For just as one lying on a couch rests the entire body, so also in the age to come all the saints will be given rest in every respect. Here they find no rest for the body, but there, together with their souls, their bodies too, having become spiritual and divine and having inherited incorruption, will enjoy perfect repose, and God will be all in all of them (1 Cor. 15:28). The Lord "will serve" the worthy servants, rendering to them in equal measure. As they served Him, so He too will serve them, setting before them an abundant feast and bestowing the enjoyment of spiritual gifts.

Or, He will gird Himself, in that He imparts not the whole fulness of blessings, but confines it within a certain measure. For who can comprehend God how great He is? Therefore are the Seraphims said to veil their countenance, because of the excellence of the Divine brightness. It follows, and will make them to sit down; for as a man sitting down causes his whole body to rest, so in the future coming the Saints will have complete rest; for here they have not rest for the body, but there together with their souls their spiritual bodies partaking of immortality will rejoice in perfect rest.

That is, Give back to them, as it were, an equal return, that as they served Him, so also He will serve them.

(Severus.) Or, to the first watch belong those who live more carefully, as having gained the first step, but to the second, those who keep the measure of a moderate conversation, but to the third, those who are below these. And the same must be supposed of the fourth, and if it should so happen also of the fifth. For there are different measures of life, and a good rewarder metes out to every man according to his deserts.

And if he comes in the second watch, or if he comes in the third watch, and finds them so, blessed are those servants. The first watch is the time of youth, that is, childhood. The second is adolescence or youth. As the sacred word says in one authority: Rejoice, young man, in your youth (Eccl. XI). But the third is understood as old age. Therefore, he who did not wish to be watchful in the first watch, let him at least guard the second, so that he who neglected to turn away from his wickedness in childhood may awaken to the paths of life at least in his youth. And he who did not wish to be watchful in the second watch, let him not lose the remedies of the third watch, so that he who did not awaken to the paths of life in his youth may at least come to his senses in old age. But to shake off the sloth of our mind, external losses are also deduced through analogy, so that by these the mind may be roused to self-guarding; for it is said:

Then, as regards beatitude without exception, he adds: And if he comes in the second watch, and if he comes in the third watch, and finds them so, blessed are those servants. And note here that by the three watches are understood three states of the present life, namely of childhood, youth, and old age. Whence the Gloss of Bede: "He calls them watches after the likeness of those keeping guard in the night. The first watch is the guardianship of childhood, the second is of youth, and the third of old age. If anyone has neglected to keep watch in childhood, let him not despair; if he has neglected in youth, let him at least come to his senses at last in old age, because the merciful Lord patiently awaits our repentance"; Isaiah thirty: "Therefore the Lord waits, that he may have mercy on you; and therefore he shall be exalted, sparing you, because the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all who wait for him."

And note that in Mark 13 four watches are indicated according to the manner of distinguishing hours among those keeping watch: "Watch," he says, "for you know not when the Lord will come: at evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning." And by these watches are understood four states in which man exercises freedom of choice: the first and the last, and two intermediate ones; one is in advancement, and the other in decline. In this it is indicated that the Lord accepts our watchfulness at every hour without exception, but especially that which begins from childhood: Lamentations 3: "It is good for a man when he has borne the yoke from his youth"; and yet he does not refuse even the last stage of old age: whence it is said in Matthew 14 that "in the fourth watch of the night he came to the disciples walking upon the sea." At any hour, therefore, it is not useless but most useful to watch; below in chapter 21: "Watch, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son of Man," etc.

We typically divide the night into three or four watches. The sentinels on the city walls, who watch the motions of the enemy, after being on guard three or four hours, deliver the watch and guard over to others. With us, there are three ages. The first is childhood. The second is youth. The third is old age. Now the first of these, in which we are still children, is not called to account by God but is deemed worthy of pardon, because of the innocence as yet of the mind and the weakness of the understanding. The second and the third—the periods of adulthood and old age—owe obedience and piety of life to God, according to his good pleasure. Whoever is found watching and well belted, whether by chance he is still young or has arrived at old age, shall be blessed. For he will be counted worthy of attaining to Christ's promises.

Our Lord knew the proneness of human infirmity to sin, but because He is merciful, He docs not allow us to despair, but rather has compassion, and gives us repentance as a saving remedy. And therefore He adds, And if he shall come in the second watch, &c. For they who keep watch on the walls of cities, or observe the attacks of the enemy, divide the night into three or four watches.

Of the first watch, however, he makes no mention, for childhood is not punished by God, but obtains pardon; but the second and third age owe obedience to God, and the leading of an honest life according to His will.

But what if servants are negligent in the first watch? For the first watch is the guarding of the first age. But even so, one should not despair or cease from good work. For the Lord, suggesting the patience of his long-suffering, adds: "And if he comes in the second watch, and if he comes in the third watch, and finds them so, blessed are those servants." For the first watch is the earliest time, that is, childhood. The second is adolescence or youth, which according to the authority of sacred Scripture are one, as Solomon says: "Rejoice, young man, in your adolescence." The third, however, is understood as old age. Therefore, he who was unwilling to keep watch in the first watch should guard at least the second, so that he who neglected to turn from his wickedness in childhood may awaken to the ways of life at least in the time of youth. And he who was unwilling to watch in the second watch should not lose the remedies of the third watch, so that he who did not awaken to the ways of life in youth may at least come to his senses in old age. Consider, dearest brothers, that the mercy of God has enclosed our hardness. There is nothing left for a person to find as an excuse. God is despised, and he waits; he sees himself scorned, and he calls back; he receives injury from contempt of himself, and yet he still promises rewards to those who eventually return. But let no one neglect this long-suffering of his, because he will demand justice at the judgment all the more strictly, the longer the patience he extended before the judgment. For Paul says about this: "Do you not know that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God." About this the Psalmist says: "God is a just judge, strong and long-suffering." For about to call him long-suffering, he first said just, so that you may know that he whom you see patiently bearing the sins of transgressors for a long time will also at some point judge strictly. About this it is said through a certain wise man: "For the Most High is a patient rewarder." He is called a patient rewarder because he both endures and repays the sins of men. For those whom he tolerates for a long time so that they may convert, if they do not convert, he condemns more harshly.

(ubi sup.) The first watch then is the earliest time of our life, that is, childhood, the second youth and manhood, but the third represents old age. He then who is unwilling to watch in the first, let him keep even the second. And he who is unwilling in the second, let him not lose the remedies of the third watch, that he who has neglected conversion in childhood, may at least in the time of youth or old age recover himself.

By "the second and third watch" you may understand different times of our life. I will explain with an example. Just as he who does not sleep "in the second and... third watch" is considered the most vigilant, for these hours of the night especially bring sleep upon people, and the deepest sleep at that: so understand, if you will, that in the various conditions of our life there are times which, if we are found watchful during them, make us blessed. Has someone seized your property? Have your children died? Has someone slandered you? If in such circumstances you were found watchful before God and Master and did not allow yourself to do anything contrary to His commandments, then He has truly found you watchful "in the second and... third watch," that is, in a difficult time, in which careless souls fall and fall asleep with the sleep of death.

Or since the watches are the hours of the night which lull men to sleep, you must understand that there are also in our life certain hours which make us happy if we are found awake. Does any one seize your goods? Are your children dead? Are you accused? But if at these times you have done nothing against the commandments of God, He will find you watching in the second and third watch, that is, at the evil time, which brings destructive sleep to idle souls.

But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. From this preceding analogy, an exhortation is also implied when it is said:

But know this, etc. Here thirdly he subjoins an incitement to watchfulness, which he introduces in this manner, namely by proposing a parabolic example and by concluding with the principal intent.

As to the first, therefore, he sets forth the parabolic example when he says: But know this, that if the householder knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, namely for the guarding of the house, lest the thief stealthily carry something away.

Therefore he says: And he would not suffer his house to be broken into. And if he always held the hour suspect, he would never leave his house without a guard; otherwise he would manage the care of the household not wisely but foolishly. An example concerning Ishbosheth, of whom it is read in 2 Kings 4 that "Ishbosheth was sleeping upon his bed at midday. And the doorkeeper, cleaning wheat, fell asleep. But Rechab and Baana his brother entered the house secretly and struck him in the groin and fled." So also spiritually it happens to him who neglects to guard his house watchfully; whence Gregory says: "While the doorkeeper sleeps, Ishbosheth is slain, because when the solicitude of discernment has ceased, it opens a path for evil spirits to slay the soul." And therefore the spiritual man on the contrary says that word of Isaiah 21: "Upon the watchtower of the Lord I stand, standing continually by day, and upon my watch I stand throughout the nights"; and therefore 1 Peter, last chapter: "Be sober and watch, because your adversary," etc.

But to shake off the sloth of our mind, even external losses are brought forward through a comparison, so that through these the soul may be roused to guard itself. For it is said: "Know this, that if the master of the house knew at what hour the thief was coming, he would certainly watch and would not allow his house to be broken into." For while the master of the house is unaware, the thief breaks into the house, because while the spirit sleeps from guarding itself, unforeseen death coming bursts into the dwelling of our flesh, and slays as if sleeping the one it found as master of the house, because when the spirit fails to foresee the coming losses, death snatches him unknowing to punishment. But he would resist the thief if he were watching, because being on his guard against the coming of the judge who secretly seizes the soul, he would meet him by repenting, lest he perish impenitent.

(ubi sup.) But to shake off the sloth of our minds, even our external losses are by a similitude set before us. For it is added, And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come.

(Hom. 13. in Ev.) Or else; unknown to the master the thief breaks into the house, because while the spirit sleeps instead of guarding itself, death comes unexpectedly, and breaks into the dwelling place of our flesh. But he would resist the thief if he were watching, because being on his guard against the coming of the Judge, who secretly seizes his soul, he would by repentance go to meet Him, lest he should perish impenitent.

In the next parable also he makes a flagrant mistake, when he assigns to the person of the Creator that "thief, whose hour, if the father of the family had only known, he would not have suffered his house to be broken through." How can the Creator wear in any way the aspect of a thief, Lord as He is of all mankind? No one pilfers or plunders his own property, but he rather acts the part of one who swoops down on the things of another, and alienates man from his Lord.

So then, it is necessary to be watchful. For we are like the master of a house. If he does not sleep, the thief cannot steal anything from his possessions; but if he is drowsy, the thief will take everything and leave. Some understand here by the thief the devil, by the house the soul, and by the master of the house man. However, such an understanding does not seem to fit the connection of the discourse. Here the coming of the Lord is likened to a thief, on account of its unexpectedness, as one of the apostles also says: "the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night" (2 Pet. 3:10).

Some understand this thief to be the devil, the house, the soul, the goodman of the house, man. This interpretation, however, does not seem to agree with what follows. For the Lord's coming is compared to the thief as suddenly at hand, according to the word of the Apostle, The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. (1 Thess. 5:2.) And hence also it is here added, Be ye also ready, for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

What is the mark of a Christian? It is to watch daily and hourly and to stand prepared in that state of total responsiveness pleasing to God, knowing that the Lord will come at an hour that he does not expect.

Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. For while the master of the house is unaware, the thief breaks into the house: because while the spirit sleeps, neglecting self-guarding, an unexpected death comes, breaks into the dwelling of our flesh, and if it finds the master of the house sleeping, it kills. For when the spirit does not foresee future harms, death snatches it unaware to punishment. The master would resist the thief if he kept watch, because by anticipating the coming of the judge who secretly takes the soul, he would confront him by repenting, lest he perish impenitent. Our Lord wanted the final hour to be unknown to us so that it always might be suspected, and since we cannot foresee it, we may always be prepared for it.

Then he concludes the principal intention. And you also be ready, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of man will come. The Gloss: "The Lord always wished the last hour to be unknown, so that it might always be suspected, and we might always prepare ourselves for it." Hence Matthew twenty-four: "Of that day and hour no one knows" etc.; and First Thessalonians five: "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night"; and after: "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief"; and Ecclesiastes nine: "Man does not know his end, but as fish are caught with a hook, so are men seized in an evil time." So also those who do not prepare themselves: therefore it is said in Sirach five: "Do not delay to turn to the Lord, and do not defer from day to day: for his wrath will come suddenly, and in the time of vengeance he will destroy you." Hence Alcuin: "It is a dissolute thought to think of tomorrow's conversion and to neglect today's." And Seneca: "Every day of our life ought to be ordered as the last." On this account, therefore, so that we might always be ready, the Lord willed that we be ignorant of the hour of death and the day of judgment. "For nothing is more certain than death, and nothing is more uncertain than the hour of death"; therefore Sirach thirty-eight: "Remember my judgment; for so also shall yours be: yesterday for me, and today for you"; and concerning the hour of judgment it is said in Matthew twenty-five: "At midnight a cry was made: Behold, the bridegroom comes"; and after: "Those who were ready entered with him to the wedding, and the door was shut." Gregory: "O if one could taste with the palate of the heart, what wonder the bridegroom comes! holds, what sweetness they entered with him to the wedding! what bitterness, the door was shut!"

Our Lord willed that the final hour be unknown to us so that it might always be regarded with suspicion, so that since we cannot foresee it, we might prepare ourselves for it without ceasing. Therefore, my brothers, fix the eyes of your mind upon the condition of your mortality; prepare yourselves for the coming Judge through daily weeping and lamentation. And since certain death awaits all, do not think about the uncertain provision of temporal life. Let not the care of earthly things weigh you down. For however great the masses of gold and silver that surround the flesh, however precious the garments in which it is clothed, what is it other than flesh? Therefore do not consider what you have, but what you are. Do you wish to hear what you are? The prophet declares, saying: "Truly the people are grass." For if the people are not grass, where are those who celebrated with us the feast of blessed Felix's birthday a year ago, which we celebrate today? O how many and how great were the thoughts they had about provision for the present life, but when the moment of death crept upon them, they were suddenly found in those circumstances they had been unwilling to foresee, and they lost all the temporal things at once which, having been gathered together, they seemed to hold securely. If therefore the multitude of the human race that has passed flourished in the flesh through birth and withered to dust through death, it was evidently grass. Since therefore the hours flee with their moments, act, dearest brothers, so that they may be retained in the reward of good work. Hear what the wise Solomon says: "Whatever your hand is able to do, work at it earnestly, for there will be neither work, nor knowledge, nor reason, nor wisdom in the underworld, to which you are hastening." Since therefore we do not know the time of coming death, and after death we cannot work, it remains that before death we seize the time that has been granted. For thus, yes thus, death itself when it comes will be conquered, if before it comes it is always feared.

(Hom. 13. in Ev.) But the last hour our Lord wishes to be unknown to us, in order as we cannot foresee it, we may be unceasingly preparing for it.

And here too, look how the Lord explains who the thief is. "Therefore be ready, you also," He says, "for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." Some say that by those watching in the first watch are understood those who are more attentive than the rest, by those watching in the second watch — those who are inferior to them, and by those watching in the third watch — those who stand lower even than these. And others explained the watches as referring to different ages of life: the first to youth, the second to manhood, and the third to old age. Thus, blessed is he who at whatever age he may be found is watching, and not negligent with regard to virtue.