Tuesday of Meatfare

(de Con. Evan. ii. 80) Mark says a pitcher, Luke a two-handled vessel; one points out the kind of vessel, the other the mode of carrying it; both however mean the same truth.

And he sends two of his disciples and says to them: Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. This is indeed a sign of divine foresight, because while speaking with the disciples, he knows what will happen elsewhere. When, however, the disciples are preparing for Passover, a man carrying a jar, or according to another Gospel, a pitcher of water, meets them, to show that the mystery of this Passover is to be celebrated for the perfect cleansing of the whole world. For water signifies the washing of grace, the jar indicates the frailty of those through whom the same grace was to be administered to the world. Hence, they say: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels" (II Cor. IV). Therefore, the disciples prepare the Passover where the jar of water is brought, to signify that the time is here when the typical blood on the doorposts of the true Passover will be removed, and the baptism of the life-giving font will be consecrated to take away the sins of the world.

(ubi sup.) Or else, the water is the laver of grace, the pitcher points out the weakness of those who were to show that grace to the world.

(ubi sup.) Or else, the large upper-room is spiritually the Law, which comes forth from the narrowness of the letter, and in a lofty place, that is, in the lofty chamber of the soul, receives the Saviour. But it is designedly that the names both of the bearer of the water, and of the lord of the house, are omitted, to imply that power is given to all who wish to celebrate the true Passover, that is, to be embued with the sacraments of Christ, and to receive Him in the dwelling-place of their mind.

But the Lord points out with whom He would eat the Passover, and after His custom He sends two disciples, which we have explained above; wherefore it goes on, And he sendelh forth two of his disciples, and he saith unto them, Go ye into the city.

And in a mystical sense the city is the Church, surrounded by the wall of faith, the man who meets them is the primitive people, the pitcher of water is the law of the letter.

Nor will it be incongruous to interpret figuratively the fact that, when the Lord was about to celebrate the last Passover, he told the disciples who were sent to make preparation that they would meet a man bearing water. He thus points out the place for celebrating the Passover by the sign of water.

Nor will it be incongruous to interpret figuratively the fact that, when the Lord was about to celebrate the last Passover, He said to the disciples who were sent to make preparation, "Ye will meet a man bearing water." He points out the place for celebrating the Passover by the sign of water.

He sends two of His disciples, Peter and John — as Luke says — to an unknown man, showing them through this that He could have avoided suffering, had He so willed. For He who disposed an unknown man to receive Him, what could He not have produced in others? Meanwhile He gives the disciples a sign by which to find the house they sought, namely: He commands them to follow a man carrying a pitcher of water. But this can also be explained in a figurative sense. The one who carries a "pitcher of water" is one who has been baptized. He goes "into a house" befitting his rational (spiritual) state. For the one who bears baptism enters into rest, according to the word of life, and reposes in this state as in a house.

He sends two of His disciples, that is, Peter and John, as Luke says, to a man unknown to Him, implying by this that He might, if He had pleased, have avoided His Passion. For what could not He work in other men, who influenced the mind of a person unknown to Him, so that he received them? He also gives them a sign how they were to know the house, when He adds, And there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water.

He who is baptized carries the pitcher of water, and he who bears baptism upon him comes to his rest, if he lives according to his reason; and he obtains rest, as being in the house. Wherefore it is added, Follow him.

Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, that the teacher says: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? By referring to both the water-bearer and the master of the house, the omitted words are suggesting that, to all wishing to celebrate the true Passover, that is, to be imbued with the sacraments of Christ and to receive him in the hospitality of their minds, this opportunity is indicated.

That is, him who leads to the lofty place, where is the refreshment prepared by Christ. (John 21:15) The lord of the house is the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord has entrusted His house, that there may be one faith under one Shepherd. The large upper-room is the wide-spread Church, in which the name of the Lord is spoken of, prepared by a variety of powers and tongues.

The "master of the house" is the mind, which shows a "large upper room" — the loftiness of its thoughts.

Or else, the lord of the house is the intellect, which points out the large upper room, that is, the loftiness of intelligences, and which, though it be high, yet has nothing of vain glory, or of pride, but is prepared and made level by humility. But there, that is, in such a mind Christ's Passover is prepared by Peter and John, that is by action and contemplation.

And he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared there for us, etc. The large upper room is the spiritual law, which leaving the narrowness of the letter, receives the Savior in a high place. For he who still observes the killing letter, who understands nothing in the lamb but a mere animal, certainly does less of the Passover: because he has not yet learned to grasp the majesty of the spirit in the words of God. But he who follows the water bearer, that is, the preacher of grace, into the house of the Church, prepares for Christ a banquet room in the high chamber of the mind by transcending the surface of the letter through the illuminating spirit, because he recognizes that all the mysteries of the Passover, or other decrees of the law, are his mysteries.

[Daniel 6:10] "Now when Daniel learned of it, that is, of the law which had been enacted, he entered his house, and with the windows in his upper room opened up in the direction of Jerusalem, he continued to bow his knees three times a day and worshipped, and made confession before his God just as he was previously accustomed to do." We must quickly draw from our memory and bring together from all of Holy Scripture all the passages where we have read of domata, which mean in Latin either "walled enclosures" (menia) or "beds" or "sun-terraces," and also the references to anogaia, that is, "upper rooms." For after all, our Lord celebrated the passover in an upper room (Mark 14:15, Luke 22:12), and in the Acts of the Apostles the Holy Spirit came upon the one hundred and twenty souls of believers while they were in an upper room (Acts 1:13). And so Daniel in this case, despising the king's commands and reposing his confidence in God, does not offer his prayers in some obscure spot, but in a lofty place, and opens up his windows towards Jerusalem, from whence he looked for the peace . He prays, moreover, according to God's behest, and also according to what Solomon had said when he admonished the people that they should pray in the direction of the Temple. Furthermore, there are three times in the day when we should bow our knees unto God, and the tradition of the Church understands them to be the third hour, the sixth hour, and the ninth hour. Lastly, it was at the third hour that the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles (Acts 2:15) . It was at the sixth hour that Peter, purposing to eat, ascended to the upper room for prayer (Acts 10:9). It was at the ninth hour that Peter and John were on their way to the Temple (Acts 3:1).

But this upper room is "furnished," that is, although it is lofty, it contains nothing harsh or proud; on the contrary, it is furnished and smoothed with humility. It is here, in such a mind, I say, that the Passover is prepared for Christ by the two disciples, Peter and John, that is, by action and contemplation, for Peter was fervent and active, while John, as the Theologian, was contemplative.

Or else, the lord of the house is the intellect, which points out the large upper room, that is, the loftiness of intelligences, and which, though it be high, yet has nothing of vain glory, or of pride, but is prepared and made level by humility. But there, that is, in such a mind Christ's Passover is prepared by Peter and John, that is by action and contemplation.

His wonderful patience is seen in the way he dealt with his disciples. He was even able to tolerate Judas to the end with enduring patience. He could eat calmly with his betrayer. He could patiently be aware of his enemy at his own table and not let on. He did not even refuse the kiss of the traitor.

(ubi sup.) Where it is evident that He did not proclaim him openly to all, lest He should make him the more shameless; at the same time He did not altogether keep it silent, lest thinking that he was not discovered, he should boldly hasten to betray Him.

While he might have at once specially pointed out the betrayer, he did not do so, but said generally, "One of you will betray me," so the character of each might be tested by the witness of his astonished heart. This underscored the goodness of the disciples who believed Christ's words more than their own consciousness, and the wickedness of Judas because he did not believe the One who knew his plans. He embraced the obscurity by lying through his own teeth.

How then were they reclining, when the Law commanded that the Passover be eaten standing? One must think that the Lord first performed the Passover according to the Law, and then reclined in order to impart His own Passover. The disciples began to grieve when the Lord said: "one of you will betray Me." Although they were free from this sin, they were nevertheless troubled, for they believed God, who knows their hearts, more than they believed themselves.

But how could they eat reclining, when the law ordered that standing and upright they should eat the Passover? It is probable that they had first fulfilled the legal Passover, and had reclined, when He began to give them His own Passover.

He said to them, "One of the twelve, who is dipping his hand with me in the dish." Oh marvelous power of the Lord! First he had said, "One of you will betray me," the betrayer persists in evil, he is more clearly accused, and yet his name is not specifically designated. Judas, while the others were saddened and withdrawing their hands and forbidding food to their mouths, with the rashness and impudence by which he was about to betray the master, even puts his hand with the master into the dish, so that his audacity could falsely claim a good conscience.

(ubi sup.) That is, Judas, who when the others were sad and held back their hands, puts forth his hand with his Master into the dish. And because He had before said, One of you shall betray me, and yet the traitor perseveres in his evil, He accuses him more openly, without however pointing out his name.

Seeing that the disciples were disturbed, Jesus called the betrayer to accountability by poignantly recalling the prophetic words of the psalmist: "Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me." This corresponds to the Evangelist's report of him saying: "It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me." Judas the betrayer was thrusting his hand into the very same dish along with Jesus as they were eating the passover meal. This highlighted Judas' shamelessness. The very one who was being generously received to a common table betrayed Jesus who had embraced him with such great affection. He betrayed the bestower of these good gifts for the promise of thirty pieces of silver. Isn't this especially characteristic of extremely malevolent persons—to plot against those with whom they have shared bread and salt, who would in no way injure them?

Again, He says, One out of the twelve, as it were separate from them, for the wolf carries away from the flock the sheep which he has taken, and the sheep which quits the fold lies open to the bite of the wolf.

And indeed, the Son of Man goes as it is written of him. But woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. Neither at first nor second admonished does he withdraw his foot from betrayal, but the patience of the Lord nourishes his impudence, and he treasures up wrath for himself in the day of wrath. He predicts punishment, so that whom shame did not conquer, the announced torments might correct. But today also and forever, woe to that man who malignantly approaches the table of the Lord, who with schemes hidden in mind and some crime polluting his innermost heart, does not fear to partake in the holy sacrifices of the mysteries of Christ. For even he in the example of Judas betrays the Son of Man, not indeed to sinful Jews, but yet to sinners, namely his own members, with which he presumes to desecrate that inestimable and inviolable sacrament of the Lord's body and blood. He sells God, who, neglecting His fear and love, is convicted of valuing and caring for earthly and perishable things, indeed even criminal things, in place of Him.

It would have been good for him if that man had not been born. This should not be thought to mean that he existed before he was born, for it cannot be well for anyone, except for him who has been. But it is simply said, it is much better not to exist than to exist badly.

(ubi sup.) Woe too to that man, to-day and for ever, who comes to the Lord's table with an evil intent. For he, after the example of Judas, betrays the Lord, not indeed to Jewish sinners, but to his own sinning members. It goes on: Good were it for that man if he had never been born.

But Judas having been once for all cast away, never returns into the number of the disciples; otherwise a different person would not have been chosen to fill his place. Besides, the Lord also declared regarding him, "Woe to the man by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed;" and, "It were better for him if he had never been born;" and he was called the "son of perdition" by Him.

Knowledge is of what exists and foreknowledge is of what will surely exist in the future. For simple being comes first and then good or evil being. But if the very existence of those, who through the goodness of God are in the future to exist, were to be prevented by the fact that they were to become evil of their own choice, evil would have prevailed over the goodness of God. In this way God makes all his works good, but each becomes of its own choice good or evil. Although, then, the Lord said, "Good were it for that man that he had never been born," he said it in condemnation not of his own creation but of the evil which his own creature had acquired by his own choice and through his own heedlessness.

There was another by whom he was betrayed, namely, the devil, of whom Judas was the instrument. The "woe" is not only for Judas, but for all who betray Christ.

But Judas does not withdraw his foot from his traitorous design though once and again pointed at, wherefore his punishment is foretold, that the death denounced upon him might correct him, whom shame could not overcome; wherefore it goes on: The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him.

But because many do good, in the way that Judas did, without its profiting them, there follows: Woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.

That is, hidden in his mother's inmost womb, for it is better for a man not to exist than to exist for torments.

As if it has not been necessary also that there should be evil! It was even necessary that the Lord should be betrayed; but woe to the traitor! So that no man may from this defend heresies.

Note also the word "goes," for the death of Christ was only a departure, not a death. "It would have been better for that man not to have been born." This is said in regard to the punishment to which the betrayer will be subjected. For it is better not to be born at all than to be born for torment. Thus, in regard to his final destiny, it would have been better if Judas had not existed at all. For God created him for good works, but since he himself fell into such a terrible crime, it truly would have been better for him not to have been born at all.

The word here used, goeth, shows that the death of Christ was not forced but voluntary.

For as respects the end for which he was designed, it would have been better for him to have been born, if he had not been the betrayer, for God created him for good works; but after he had fallen into such dreadful wickedness, it would have been better for him never to have been born.

Do you want to know why it is consecrated with heavenly words? Receive the words. The priest says: 'Make this offering written, ratified, reasonable, acceptable, which is the figure of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who, on the day before he suffered, took bread into his holy hands, looked up to you, holy Father almighty, eternal God, giving thanks, he blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his apostles and disciples, saying: Take and eat all of you from this; for this is my body which will be broken for many.'

He took bread in his holy hands the day before he suffered. Before it is consecrated, it is bread; but when the words of Christ have been spoken, it becomes the body of Christ.

Being mindful, therefore, of those things that He endured for our sakes, we give You thanks, O God Almighty, not in such a manner as we ought, but as we are able, and fulfil His constitution: "For in the same night that He was betrayed, He took bread" [1 Corinthians 11:23] in His holy and undefiled hands, and, looking up to You His God and Father, "He broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, This is the mystery of the new covenant: take of it, and eat. This is my body, which is broken for many, for the remission of sins." In like manner also "He took the cup," and mixed it of wine and water, and sanctified it, and delivered it to them, saying: "Drink all of this; for this is my blood which is shed for many, for the remission of sins: do this in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show forth my death until I come." Being mindful, therefore, of His passion, and death, and resurrection from the dead, and return into the heavens, and His future second appearing, wherein He is to come with glory and power to judge the quick and the dead, and to recompense to every one according to his works, we offer to You, our King and our God, according to His constitution, this bread and this cup, giving You thanks, through Him, that You have thought us worthy to stand before You, and to sacrifice to You; and we beseech You that You will mercifully look down upon these gifts which are here set before You, O God, who standest in need of none of our offerings. And accept them, to the honour of Your Christ, and send down upon this sacrifice Your Holy Spirit, the Witness of the Lord Jesus' sufferings, that He may show this bread to be the body of Your Christ, and the cup to be the blood of Your Christ, that those who are partakers thereof may be strengthened for piety, may obtain the remission of their sins, may be delivered from the devil and his deceit, may be filled with the Holy Ghost, may be made worthy of Your Christ, and may obtain eternal life upon Your reconciliation to them, O Lord Almighty.

You hold the sacraments in their order. First, after the prayer, you are admonished to lift up your hearts; this befits the members of Christ. For if you have become members of Christ, where is your head? Members have a head. If the head had not gone before, the members would not follow. Where did our head go? What did you recite in the Creed? On the third day, He rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven, He sits at the right hand of the Father. Therefore, our head is in Heaven. Thus when it is said: Lift up your hearts, you answer: We have them with the Lord. And so that you do not attribute the fact that you have your hearts with the Lord to your own strengths, merits, or labors—for it is a gift of God to have your heart lifted up to Him—the bishop or the priest who offers the sacrifice continues and says—when the people respond: We have them with the Lord—: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God, because we have our hearts with the Lord. Let us give thanks because if he did not give it, we would have our hearts on earth. And you attest by saying: It is right and just, that we should give thanks to Him who made us have our hearts lifted up to our head. Then, after the sanctification of God's sacrifice, because he willed that we ourselves should be his sacrifice—this was shown when the first sacrifice of God was laid down and we—meaning the sign of the reality—which we are; behold where the sanctification has been accomplished, we say the Lord's Prayer, which you have received and rendered. After it has been said: Peace be with you, and the Christians give each other a holy kiss. It is a sign of peace: as the lips show, let it be done in conscience, that is, just as your lips approach your brother's lips, let your heart not depart from his heart. Great indeed are the sacraments and very great indeed. Do you wish to know how they are commended? The Apostle says: Whosoever shall eat of the body of Christ or drink of the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. What does it mean to receive unworthily? To receive it contemptuously, to receive it scoffingly. Do not make it seem cheap to you, because you see it. What you see passes away, but what is signified, the invisible, does not pass, but remains. Behold, it is received, eaten, consumed. Does the body of Christ perish? Does the Church of Christ perish? Do the members of Christ perish? By no means. Here they are cleansed, there they are crowned. Therefore, what is signified remains, even though that which signifies might seem to pass away.

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessing it, broke it, and gave it to them, and said: Take, this is my body. When the solemnities of the old Passover, which were celebrated in remembrance of the ancient liberation of God's people from Egypt, were finished, he moved on to the new which he wanted the Church to observe in memory of his own redemption, so that he might substitute, in place of the flesh and blood of the lamb, the sacrament of his body and blood, and show himself to be: To whom the Lord swore and will not repent: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110). He himself breaks the bread which he gives to the disciples, to show that his body's breaking would not come without his own volition and preparation, but as he says elsewhere, he has the power to lay down his life, and he has the power to take it up again. Indeed, he blessed the bread with the grace of a certain sacrament before breaking it, because the human nature he took on, which he was to suffer, he, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, filled with the grace of divine power. He blessed and broke the bread, because he deigned to submit the assumed man to death in such a way that he might truly demonstrate that he had within him the power of divine immortality, and thus teach that he would quickly be raised from death.

(ubi sup.) When the rites of the old Passover were finished, He passed to the new, in order, that is, to substitute the Sacrament of His own Body and Blood, for the flesh and blood of the lamb. Wherefore there follows: And as they did eat, Jesus took bread; that is, in order to show that He Himself is that person to whom the Lord swore, Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec. (Ps. 110:4) There follows: And blessed, and brake it.

(ubi sup.) He Himself also breaks the bread, which He gives to His disciples, to show that the breaking of His Body was to take place, not against His will, nor without His intervention; He also blessed it, because He with the Father and the Holy Spirit filled His human nature, which He took upon Him in order to suffer, with the grace of Divine power. He blessed bread and brake it, because He deigned to subject to death His manhood, which He had taken upon Him, in such a way as to show that there was within it the power of Divine immortality, and to teach them that therefore He would the more quickly raise it from the dead. There follows: And gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.

I have spoken of how He made miraculous bread and wine and of how, when the Virgin conceived, He had shown Himself the true Genius whom men had ignorantly worshiped long before. It goes deeper than that. Bread and wine were to have an even more sacred significance for Christians and the act of generation was to be the chosen symbol among all mystics for the union of the soul with God. These things are no accidents. With Him there are no accidents. When He created the vegetable world He knew already what dreams the annual death and resurrection of the corn would cause one to stir in pious Pagan minds, He knew already that He Himself must so die and live again and in what sense, including and far transcending the old religion of the Corn King. He would say "This is my Body." Common bread, miraculous bread, sacramental bread—these three are distinct, but not to be separated. Divine reality is like a fugue. All His acts are different, but they all rhyme or echo to one another.

However, then, it may be for others, for me the something which holds together and "informs" all the objects, words, and actions of this rite, is unknown and unimaginable. I am not saying to any one in the world: "Your explanation is wrong." I am saying: "Your explanation leaves the mystery for me still a mystery."

Yet I find no difficulty in believing that the veil between the worlds, nowhere else (for me) so opaque to the intellect, is nowhere else so thin and permeable to divine operation. Here a hand from the hidden country touches not only my soul but my body. Here the prig, the don, the modern, in me have no privilege over the savage or the child. Here is big medicine and strong magic. Favete linguis.

I hope I do not offend God by making my communions in the frame of mind I have been describing. The command, after all, was Take, eat: not Take, understand. Particularly, I hope I need not be tormented by the question "What is this?"—this wafer, this sip of wine. That has a dreadful effect on me. It invites me to take "this" out of its holy context and regard it as an object among objects, indeed as part of nature. It is like taking a red coal out of the fire to examine it: it becomes a dead coal. To me, I mean. All this is autobiography, not theology.

Daniel the disciple of Arsenius used to talk also about a hermit in Scetis, saying that he was a great man but simple in the faith, and in his ignorance he thought and said that the bread which we receive is not in very truth the Body of Christ, but a symbol of His Body. Two of the monks heard what he said but because they knew of his sublime works and labours, they imagined that he had said it in innocence and simple-mindedness; and so they came to him and said unto him, 'Abba, someone told us something that we do not believe; he said that this bread that we receive is not in very truth the Body of Christ, but a mere symbol.' He said to them, 'I said that.' They begged him, saying, 'You mustn't say that, abba; according to what the Catholic Church has handed down to us, even so do we believe, that is to say, this bread is the Body of Christ in very truth, and is not a mere symbol. It is the same as when God took dust from the earth, and made man in His image; just as no one can say that he is not the image of God, so also with the bread of which He said, "This is My Body" is not to be regarded as a merely commemorative thing; we believe that it is indeed the Body of Christ.' The hermit said, 'Unless I can be convinced by the thing itself I will not listen to this.' Then the monks said to him, 'Let us pray to God all week about this mystery, and we believe that He will reveal the truth to us.' The hermit agreed to this with great joy, and each went to his cell. Then the hermit prayed, saying, 'O Lord, you know that it is not out of wickedness that I do not believe, so in order that I may not go astray through ignorance, reveal to me, Lord Jesus Christ, the truth of this mystery.' The other two brothers prayed to God and said, 'Lord Jesus Christ, give this hermit understanding about this mystery, and we believe that he will not be lost.' God heard the prayer of the two monks. When the week was over they came to the church, and the three of them sat down by themselves on one seat, the hermit between the other two. The eyes of their understanding were opened, and when the time of the mysteries arrived, and the bread was laid upon the holy table, there appeared to the three of them as it were a child on the table. Then the priest stretched out his hand to break the bread, and behold the angel of the Lord came down from heaven with a knife in his hand, and he killed the child and pressed out his blood into the cup. When the priest broke off from the bread small pieces, the hermit went forward to receive communion and a piece of living flesh smeared and dripping with blood was given to him. Now when he saw this he was afraid and he cried out loudly, saying, 'Lord, I believe that the bread is Your Body, and that the cup is Your Blood.' At once the flesh that was in his hand became bread, and he took it and gave thanks to God. The brothers said to him, 'God knows the nature of men, and that we are unable to eat living flesh, and so He turneth His Body into bread, and His Blood into wine for those who receive Him in faith.' Then they gave thanks to God for the hermit, because He had not let Satan destroy him, and the three of them went back to their cells joyfully.

Now concerning the Thanksgiving (Eucharist), thus give thanks. First, concerning the cup: We thank thee, our Father, for the holy vine of David Thy servant, which Thou madest known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever. And concerning the broken bread: We thank Thee, our Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou modest known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever. Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and was gathered together and became one, so let Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom; for Thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever. But let no one eat or drink of your Thanksgiving (Eucharist), but they who have been baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord hath said, Give not that which is holy to the dogs.

But after ye are filled, thus give thanks: We thank Thee, holy Father, for Thy holy name which Thou didst cause to tabernacle in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality, which Thou modest known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever. Thou, Master almighty, didst create all things for Thy name's sake; Thou gavest food and drink to men for enjoyment, that they might give thanks to Thee; but to us Thou didst freely give spiritual food and drink and life eternal through Thy Servant. Before all things we thank Thee that Thou art mighty; to Thee be the glory for ever. Remember, Lord, Thy Church, to deliver it from all evil and to make it perfect in Thy love, and gather it from the four winds, sanctified for Thy kingdom which Thou hast prepared for it; for Thine is the power and the glory for ever. Let grace come, and let this world pass away. Hosanna to the God (Son) of David! If any one is holy, let him come; if any one is not so, let him repent. Maran atha. Amen. But permit the prophets to make Thanksgiving as much as they desire.

(Mor. ii. 37) When His Passion was approaching, He is said to have taken bread and given thanks. He therefore gave thanks, who took upon Him the stripes of other men's wickedness; He who did nothing worthy of smiting, humbly gives a blessing in His Passion, to show us, what each should do when beaten for his own sins, since He Himself bore calmly the stripes due to the sin of others; furthermore to show us, what we who are the subjects of the Father should do under correction, when He who is His equal gave thanks under the lash.

Giving directions to his disciples to offer to God the first fruits of his creatures—not as if he stood in need of them, but that they might be themselves neither unfruitful nor ungrateful—he took that created thing, bread, and gave thanks, and said, "This is my body." And the cup likewise, which is part of the creation to which we belong, he confessed to be his blood, and taught the new offering of the new covenant. This is what the church has received from the apostles and throughout the whole world offers to God, who affords us nourishment as the first fruits of his gifts in the New Testament.

(ubi sup.) Even now also that Christ is close to us; He who prepared that table, Himself also consecrates it. For it is not man who makes the offerings to be the Body and Blood of Christ, but Christ who was crucified for us. The words are spoken by the mouth of the Priest, and are consecrated by the power and the grace of God. By this word which He spoke, This is my body, the offerings are consecrated; and as that word which says, Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, (Gen. 1:28) was sent forth but once, yet has its effect throughout all time, when nature does the work of generation; so also that voice was spoken once, yet gives confirmation to the sacrifice through all the tables of the Church even to this day, even to His advent.

(ubi sup.) Let there not be therefore a Judas at the table of the Lord; this sacrifice is spiritual food, for as bodily food, working on a belly filled with humours which are opposed to it, is hurtful, so this spiritual food if taken by one polluted with wickedness, rather brings him to perdition, not by its own nature, but through the fault of the recipient. Let therefore our mind be pure in all things, and our thought pure, for that sacrifice is pure. There follows: And he said unto them, This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many.

Human beings have a compound nature: body and spirit. So it is fitting that the new birth should correspond to that compound nature, and also that the food of faith be compound. We were therefore given a birth both by water and by the Spirit, that is, in holy baptism, and with it food that is the very bread of life, even our Lord Jesus Christ, who came down from heaven. For when he was about to take on himself a voluntary death for our sakes, on the night on which he gave himself up, he offered a new covenant to his holy disciples and apostles, and through them to all who believe on him. In an upper chamber, then, on holy and glorious Zion, after he had eaten the ancient Passoverwith his disciples and had fulfilled the ancient covenant, he washed his disciples' feet in token of the holy baptism. Then having broken bread he gave it to them saying, "Take, eat, this is my body broken for you for the remission of sins."

And this food is called among us Εὐχαριστία [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, "This do ye in remembrance of Me, this is My body;" and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, "This is My blood;" and gave it to them alone.

That bread which God the Word confesses to be his own body is the Word that nourishes souls, the Word proceeding from God, the very bread that comes from the living bread which is set out upon our table of which was written: "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies." That drink which God the Word confesses to be his blood is the Word that gives refreshment and exhilarates the heart.… This drink is the fruit of the true vine, the blood of that grape cast in the winepress of the passion. So also the bread is the word of Christ made from that corn which, falling onto the good ground, brought forth much fruit. He was not speaking of the visible bread alone which he was holding in his hands as he called it his body. It is the word in the mystery of which that bread was to be broken. Nor did he call that visible drink as such his blood, but the word in the mystery of which that drink was to be poured out. For to what else could the body and blood of the Lord refer other than the atoning Word that nourishes and gladdens the heart? Why did he not say, "This is my bread of the New Testament" just as he said, "This is my blood of the New Testament?" Because the bread is the word of righteousness, by the eating of which souls are nourished. The drink is the word of knowledge of Christ according to the mystery of his birth and passion.

But in a mystical sense, the Lord transfigures into bread His body, which is the present Church, which is received in faith, is blessed in its number, is broken in its sufferings, is given in its examples, is taken in its doctrines; and He forms His Blood (formans sanguinem suum ap. Pseudo-Hier.) in the chalice of water and wine mingled together, that by one we may be purged from our sins, by the other redeemed from their punishment. For by the blood of the lamb our houses are preserved from the smiting of the Angel, and our enemies perish in the waters of the Red sea, which are the sacraments of the Church of Christ. Wherefore it goes on: And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them. For we are saved by the grace of the Lord, not by our own deserts.

Happy intoxication, saving fulness, which the more we drink gives the greater sobriety of mind!

Judas therefore drinks and is not satisfied, nor can he quench the thirst of the everlasting fire, because he unworthily partakes of the mysteries of Christ. There are some in the Church whom the sacrifice does not cleanse, but their foolish thought draws them on to sin, for they have plunged themselves in the stinking slough of cruelty.

Then having taken the bread and given it to his disciples, he made it his own body by saying "This is my body," that is, the figure of my body. A figure, however, there could not have been, unless there had first been a palpable body. A phantom or mere void is not capable of embodying a figure. But Marcion would claim that Jesus only pretended that the bread was his body because he presumably had no bodily substance, so in the absence of his body he gives us bread. It wouldn't change his theory of a phantom body much if we stretched the point to say that the bread was crucified! But in that case why would we need to call his body bread? Why not rather come up with some more interesting edible thing, like a melon, which maybe Marcion had in place of a heart!

Some say that Judas did not partake of the Holy Mysteries, but went out before the Lord imparted these Mysteries. On the contrary, others maintain that the Lord gave His Holy Things even to this ungrateful one. Having blessed, that is, having given thanks, the Lord broke the bread. We do the same, pronouncing prayers. "This," He says, "which you now receive, is My Body," for the bread is not an image of the Lord's Body, but the very Body of Christ, into which the bread is changed. And the Lord says: "the bread that I shall give is My Flesh" (Jn. 6:51); He did not say: an image of My Flesh, but "My Flesh." And again: "unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man" (Jn. 6:53). But how is this? someone may perhaps say: for no Flesh is visible here? This is because of our weakness, O man! Since bread and wine are ordinary things for us, and to see Flesh and Blood set before us would be unbearable for us, and we would turn away from them, God the Lover of mankind, in His condescension toward us, preserves the appearance of bread and wine, but they are changed into the power of Flesh and Blood.

That is, giving thanks, He brake it, which we also do, with the addition of some prayers.

That, namely, which I now give and which ye take. But the bread is not a mere figure of the Body of Christ, but is changed into the very Body of Christ. For the Lord said, The bread which I give you is my flesh. But the flesh of Christ is veiled from our eyes on account of our weakness, for bread and wine are things to which we are accustomed, if however we saw flesh and blood we could not bear to take them. For this reason the Lord bending Himself to our weakness keeps the forms of bread and wine, but changes the bread and wine into the reality of His Body and Blood.

Some say that Judas did not partake in these mysteries, but that he went out before the Lord gave the Sacrament. Some again say that He gave him also of that Sacrament.

Jesus himself speaks of his blood. Before the consecration it is mentioned as something else; after the consecration it is called blood. And you say "Amen," that is, "It is true." Let the mind within confess what the mouth speaks. Let the heart feel what the words utter.

And he said to them: This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many. Because bread strengthens the body, but wine works blood in the flesh: this is mystically related to the body of Christ, that refers to the blood. But because it is necessary that both we remain in Christ, and Christ in us, water is mixed with the wine of the Lord's cup. For according to John, the waters are the peoples. And neither water alone, nor wine alone, just as neither grain of wheat alone without the mixture and preparation of water, is permitted to be offered to anyone as bread, lest this offering be understood as signifying a separation of the head from the members, and that either Christ could have suffered without love for our redemption, or we could be saved and offered to the Father without his passion. But what he says: This is my blood of the new testament (Matthew 26), relates to the distinction of the old testament, which was dedicated with the blood of goats and calves, the legislator saying while sprinkling: This is the blood of the testament, which God has commanded unto you (Hebrews 9). For it is necessary indeed that the copies of the true are cleansed by these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these; according to what the Apostle through the whole epistle to the Hebrews, distinguishing between the law and the Gospel, declares with a most beautiful explanation and comprehensive reasoning.

(ubi sup.) This refers to the different circumstances of the Old Testament, which was consecrated by the blood of calves and of goats; and the lawgiver said in sprinkling it, This is the blood of the Testament which God hath injoined unto you. (Heb. 9:20. vide Ex. 24:8) It goes on: Which is shed for many.

In what manner do you think the Lord drank when He became man for our sakes? As shamelessly as we? Was it not with decorum and propriety? Was it not deliberately? For rest assured, He Himself also partook of wine; for He, too, was man. And He blessed the wine, saying, "Take, drink: this is my blood"-the blood of the vine. He figuratively calls the Word "shed for many, for the remission of sins"-the holy stream of gladness. And that he who drinks ought to observe moderation, He clearly showed by what He taught at feasts.

(ubi sup.) For Christ offered His blood to him who betrayed Him, that he might have remission of his sins, if he had chosen to cease to be wicked.

For we now affirm: This is lawful to the Lord alone: may the power of His indulgence be operative at the present day! At those times, however, in which He lived on earth we lay this down definitively, that it is no prejudgment against us if pardon used to be conferred on sinners-even Jewish ones. For Christian discipline dates from the renewing of the Testament, and (as we have premised) from the redemption of flesh-that is, the Lord's passion.

He called His Blood the Blood of the "New Testament," in distinction from the Old Testament, for the Old Testament also had blood, with which both the people and the books of the Law were sprinkled.

Amen, I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. The vine or vineyard of the Lord has been called the Synagogue, as all Scripture frequently testifies, and Isaiah more openly in the song sung about it: "The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel" (Isaiah V). From which vineyard, indeed, the Lord was drinking for a long time, although many branches turned into the bitterness of a foreign vine, because even though many in that people deviated from the straight path of faith, there were always many throughout the time of the law, whose pious thoughts and excellent virtues delighted God. But with the Lord suffering in the flesh and rising from the dead, it was time for that legal and figurative observance to cease, and for those things which were carried out according to the letter to be transferred into a spiritual sense and held better in the new testament, with the grace of the Holy Spirit helping. Therefore, going to His passion, the Lord said: I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. As if He said openly: I will no longer delight in the carnal ceremonies of the Synagogue, in which even those sacred rites of the paschal lamb held a special place. For the time of my resurrection will come, that day will come, when I, placed in the kingdom of God, that is, exalted in the glory of immortal life, will be filled with new joy together with you, from the fountain of the grace of the Spirit regenerated in the salvation of that same people.

(ubi sup.) Or else, Isaiah testifies that the synagogue is called the vine or the vineyard of the Lord, saying, The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. (Is. 5:7) The Lord therefore when about to go to His Passion, says, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, as if He had said openly, I will no longer delight in the carnal rites of the synagogue, in which also these rites of the Paschal Lamb have held the chief place. For the time of my resurrection shall come, that day shall come, when in the kingdom of heaven, that is, raised on high with the glory of immortal life, I will be filled with a new joy, together with you, for the salvation of the same people born again of the fountain of spiritual grace.

For it does not cleanse all. It goes on: Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

But we must consider that here the Lord changes the sacrifice without changing the time; so that we never celebrate the Cæna Domini before the fourteenth moon. He who celebrates the resurrection on the fourteenth moon, will celebrate the Cæna Domini on the eleventh moon, which was never done in either Old or New Testament.

"I will not," He says further, "drink of the fruit of the vine" until the Resurrection (He calls the Resurrection the Kingdom here, since having risen from the dead, He reigned over death). After the Resurrection He again ate and drank with His disciples, thus assuring them that He is the very Same One Who suffered. But He already drank new wine, that is, He drank in some new and unusual manner, for He had Flesh that was no longer subject to suffering and in need of food, but incorruptible and immortal. And one can also understand this as follows: the Vine is the Lord Himself, the fruit of the Vine is the mysteries and hidden knowledge which He brings forth, teaching man knowledge. Thus "in the Kingdom of God" Christ will drink with His disciples the mysteries and wisdom, teaching us new truths and revealing what is now hidden.

As if He had said, I will not drink wine until the resurrection; for He calls His resurrection the kingdom, as He then reigned over death. But after His resurrection He ate and drank with His disciples, showing that it was He Himself who had suffered. But He drank it new, that is, in a new and strange manner, for He had not a body subject to suffering, and requiring food, but immortal and incorruptible. We may also understand it in this way. The vine is the Lord Himself, by the offspring of the vine is meant mysteries, and the secret understanding, which He Himself begets, who teaches man knowledge. But in the kingdom of God, that is, in the world to come, He will drink with His disciples mysteries and knowledge, teaching us new things, and revealing what He now hides.

And Jesus said to them: You will all be scandalized in this night. He foretells what they will suffer so that when they suffer, they do not despair of salvation but find release by repenting. And He specifically added, "in this night you will be scandalized," because just as those who get drunk, get drunk at night, so also those who suffer scandal, suffer it in the night and in darkness. But let us say: "The night is far spent, the day is at hand" (Romans 13).

For it is written: "I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered." This is written in other words in the prophet Zechariah; and, if I am not mistaken, it is spoken by the prophet to God: "Smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered" (Zechariah 13). The sixty-eighth psalm, which is entirely sung by the Lord, corresponds to this sense: "For they persecuted him whom you have smitten." The good shepherd is smitten so that he may lay down his life for his sheep and from many wandering flocks there may be made one flock and one shepherd.

(ubi sup.) But the Lord foretells to His disciples what is about to happen to them, that when they have gone through it, they may not despair of salvation, but work out their repentance, and be freed; wherefore there follows: And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night.

(ubi sup.) This is written in different words in Zecharias, and in the person of the Prophet it is said to the Lord; Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. (Zech. 13:7)

All indeed fall, but all do not remain fallen. (Ps. 40:9. Vulg.) For shall not he who sleeps also rise up again? It is a carnal thing to fall, but devilish to remain lying when fallen.

For the Prophet prays for the Passion of the Lord, and the Father answers, I will smite the shepherd according to the prayers of those below. The Son is sent and smitten by the Father, that is, He is made incarnate and suffers.

Christ foretells to the disciples that they too will be scandalized. And lest they consider this an open reproach directed at all of them, He cites the testimony of the prophet Zechariah, that they will be "scattered" (Zech. 13:7). "I will strike the shepherd" — this is spoken by God the Father. Since He permitted the Son to be struck, it is said that He struck the One who was struck by His permission. And He called the apostles "sheep" as people who are guileless.

The Lord allowed them to fall that they might not trust in themselves, and lest He should seem to have prophesied, what He had said, as an open accusation of them, He brings forward the witness of Zechariah the Prophet; wherefore it goes on: For it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.

But the Father says, I will smite the shepherd, because He permitted him to be smitten. He calls the disciples sheep, as being innocent and without guile.

In which the true resurrection is promised, that their hope may not be extinguished.

Finally, He also gives them consolation: "I will go before," He says, that is, I will meet, "you in Galilee."

At last He consoles them, by saying, But after that I am risen I will go before you into Galilee.

God knows in us even what we ourselves do not know in ourselves. For Peter did not know his weakness when he heard from the Lord that he would deny him three times.

(iii. 2. de Con. Evan) Though all the Evangelists say that the Lord foretold that Peter was to deny before the cock crew, Mark alone has related it more minutely, wherefore some from inattention suppose that he does not agree with the others. For the whole of Peter's denial is threefold; if it had begun altogether after the cock crew, the other three Evangelists would seem to have spoken falsely, in saying, that before the cock crew, he would deny him thrice. Again, if he had finished the entire threefold denial before the cock began to crow, Mark would in the person of the Lord seem to have said needlessly, Before the cock crow twice, thou shall deny me thrice. But because that threefold denial began before the first cock-crowing, the other three did not notice when Peter was to finish it, but how great it was to be, that is, threefold, and when it was to begin, that is, before the cock crew, although the whole was conceived in his mind, even before the first cock crew; but Mark has related more plainly the interval between his words themselves.

And Jesus said to him: Truly, I say to you that today, in this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. And Peter, in the fervor of his faith, made a promise, and the Savior, as God, knew the future. And note that Peter denies in the night, and denies three times. But after the rooster crowed, and as the darkness lessened, the approaching light was announced, he turned and wept bitterly, washing away the filth of the threefold denial with his tears. It should certainly not be thought to be contrary that Mark says: Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times, while the other evangelists simply say: Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. For the entirety of Peter's denial is a threefold denial. Because he remained in that same denial, with the intent and purpose of falsehood, until, reminded of what he had been foretold, he was healed with bitter weeping and sorrow of the heart. But this entire, that is, threefold denial, if it had begun after the first crowing of the rooster, the three who said that the Lord had spoken truly that before the rooster crows, Peter would deny him three times would seem to have spoken falsely. Again, if he had completed the whole threefold denial before the rooster began to crow, Marcus would be found to have said in vain from the person of the Lord: Truly I say to you that you, in this night, before the rooster crows twice will deny me three times. But because that threefold denial began before the first crowing of the rooster, those three paid attention not to when Peter would complete it, but to how extensive it would be, and when it would begin, that is, threefold before the rooster crows, although it could be understood entirely in his mind before the first crowing of the rooster. Although indeed the beginning of those words of denial was before the first crowing, and after the second crowing the entire threefold denial was completed, nevertheless by the disposition of his mind and the fear of Peter, it was conceived entirely before the first crowing. Nor does it matter over how many intervals of delay the threefold voice was announced, since his heart, even before the first crowing, possessed it entirely, so deeply was it imbued with such great fear that he could deny the Lord, not only once, but a second and third time when questioned, so that to those considering attentively and diligently how one who has already committed adultery in his heart if he looks at a woman lustfully, so Peter, whenever he expressed in words the fear which he had so vehemently conceived in his mind, that extended up to the third denial of the Lord, the entire threefold denial must be attributed to that moment when such sufficient fear for a threefold denial overtook him.

Who is the cock, the harbinger of day, but the Holy Ghost? by whose voice in prophecy, and in the Apostles, we are roused from our threefold denial, to most bitter tears after our fall, for we have thought evil of God, spoken evil of our neighbours, and done evil to ourselves.

And they come to a place called Gethsemane. The place of Gethsemane is shown to this day, where the Lord prayed, at the foot of the Mount of Olives, now a church built above it. However, Gethsemane is interpreted as the valley of the fat ones or the fatness. Indeed, not only the sayings or deeds of our Savior, but also the places and times in which he works and speaks, are full of mystical figures (as often said), when the Lord prays on the mountain, as if silently admonishing us that only high things should be sought by praying, and that we should supplicate for heavenly goods. But when he prays in the valley, and this in the valley of the fat ones or fatness, he equally insinuates to us humility always in prayers, and the internal fatness of love to be preserved, that none should dare, as it were, to boast his merits before God in prayer in the example of the proud Pharisee, but rather with humble voice and mind proclaim: God, be merciful to me a sinner (Luke XVIII). Nor bearing a heart dry of love for the neighbor, to placate the Creator's grace, should he kneel, like the one who, not willing to forgive a hundred denarii to his brother which he owed him, in vain prayed for ten thousand talents to be forgiven to him by his lord. Nor having a heart fasting from the love of the Creator, should he in prayer seek any temporal things rather than his vision, to be counted among those of whom he said: For they have received their reward (Matthew VI). To place one's thought in the low, what else is it but a certain dryness of mind? But those who intellectually already feed on the food of inner delight by holy desires of heavenly things, as it were, grow fat by more ample nourishment. For this fatness the Psalmist longed to be filled, when he said: My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness (Psalm LXII). As regards the dispensation of the Lord's passion itself, it is fittingly appropriated to death, that the Lord prayed in the valley of fatness, because through the valley of humility and the fatness of charity he underwent death for us. For he humbled himself, being made obedient to the Father unto death (Philippians II). And greater love than this no man has, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John XV).

(ubi sup.) The place Gethsemane, in which the Lord prayed, is shown up to this day at the foot of the Mount of Olives. The meaning of Gethsemane is, the valley of the fat, or of fatness. Now when our Lord prays on a mountain, He teaches us that we should when we pray ask for lofty things; but by praying in the valley of fatness, He implies that in our prayer humility and the fatness of interior love must be kept. He also by the valley of humility and the fatness of charity underwent death for us.

(non occ.) After that the Lord had foretold the offence of His disciples, the Evangelist gives an account of His prayer, in which He is supposed to have prayed for His disciples; and first describing the place of prayer, he says, And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane.

In the valley of fatness also, the fat bulls beset Him. There follows, And he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray; they are separated from Him in prayer, who are separated in His Passion; for He prays, they sleep, overcome by the sloth of their heart.

Christ always had the custom of praying alone, giving us an example so that we too would seek solitude for prayer.

It was also His custom always to pray by Himself, in order to give us an example, to seek for silence and solitude in our prayers.

Endure here, and keep watch. And when he had gone on a little further, he fell to the ground. What he commands, endure here, and keep watch, does not forbid sleep, whose time had not come with impending danger, but the sleep of infidelity and the numbness of the mind. And after giving them the command to endure and keep watch with him, proceeding a little further, he fell on his face and showed the humility of the mind through the habit of the flesh.

He does not mean natural sleep by the sleep which He forbids, for the time of approaching danger did not allow of it, but the sleep of unfaithfulness, and the torpor of the mind.

But who will deliver us from these plagues? Certainly there is one alone who came to deliver us, namely Christ, who made ten condescensions against the ten plagues. The first was down to our flesh. The second was down to our mortality. The third, to our neediness, for he suffered hunger, thirst, and cold. The fourth was to our poverty, for "he was made destitute," having no place to which he might turn. The fifth, to our temptation, when he permitted himself to be tempted; and in this he bore our weakness. The Apostle: "We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one tempted in all things." The sixth, to the weariness of body and our toil. The seventh, to our anxiety; whence: "Jesus began to be fearful and distressed and said: My soul is sorrowful even unto death." The eighth was to the cross, and this was wondrous. The ninth was to death. The tenth was to the prison of hell.

These are the ten condescensions by which God condescended to man. But why did he descend to the prison of hell? Certainly, so that in the blood of the covenant he might lead the captives out of prison, those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. Christ, through the blood of the new covenant, freed us and led us from death to life, and from darkness to light.

What is meant by "sorrowful even unto death?" It cannot mean the same as "to be sorrowful because of death"; for where there is sorrow because of death, it is the death that is the cause of the sadness. But a sadness even unto death implies that death is the completion, not the cause, of the sadness.

He was troubled, as we are told, in the hour of death, as he himself confesses when he says, "My soul is sorrowful even unto death." He was finally led to that death which is considered the most shameful of all. On the third day he rose again. When, therefore, we see in him some things so human that they appear in no way to differ from the common frailty of mortals, and some things so divine that they are appropriate to nothing else but the primal and ineffable nature of deity, the human understanding with its own narrow limits is baffled, and struck with amazement at so mighty a wonder. It does not know which way to turn, what to hold to, or how to establish itself.

The expression "My soul is sorrowful unto death" — some understand it thus: I grieve not because I must die, but because the Israelites — My own kinsmen — are crucifying Me, and for this they will be cast out from the Kingdom of God.

And he saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death.

But some have understood this, as if He had said, I am sorrowful, not because I am to die, but because the Jews, my countrymen, are about to crucify me, and by these means to be shut out from the kingdom of God.

To show sufferers that they need not despair, the true Savior became the good teacher by himself epitomizing the truth in his own person. He participated in our suffering in an empathic way, knowing that through human frailty sorrow might steal in upon our hearts amid afflictions, and knowing that we would overcome it if we yield to God's will above our own, mindful that God knows best those whose well-being he superintends.

And so He says: Not as I will, but as You will (Ibid.). My sorrow is what He took up with my emotion. Therefore He grieved for me, who had nothing to grieve for Himself. And setting apart the delight of eternal divinity, He is affected by the weariness of my weakness. My soul, He says, is sorrowful even unto death. The Lord is not sorrowful because of death, for He is offended by the condition of bodily emotion, not by the fear of death. For He who took on the body had to undergo all that pertains to the body, such as hunger, thirst, anguish, and sorrow. However, divinity is not altered by these emotions.

But not what I will, but what you (will). I did not come (he says) to do my will, but the will of him who sent me (John 5). He spoke of his own will, which he temporarily assumed from the virgin; but the will of him who sent him, he marked that, namely, which eternally and eternally he had in common with the Father. He prays for the cup to pass, to truly show that he was also a man. However, remembering also why he was sent, he completes the mission for which he was sent, and cries out: But not what I will, but what you (will). If death dies without me dying, namely in the flesh, let this cup pass, he says. But because this will not happen otherwise, he says: Not what I will, but what you (will). And that he, invoking the Father with a double name, says Abba Father, shows that he is the God and Savior of both peoples, namely the Jew and the Gentile. For indeed, Abba signifies what Father means. But abba is Hebrew, father is Greek and Latin. Therefore, in order to teach that both people would believe in him and would invoke him, he himself first invokes him in both languages. For he is the good shepherd, who, giving his life for his sheep, makes one fold out of two flocks. Therefore, with the voice of both flocks, he asks for the Father's help, so that we, informed by his example, when we feel adversities coming, invoking God the Father as the Hebrew, Abba, with one devotion of faith and charity, may seek heavenly help. Hence the admirable doctor, taking the form of teaching from the Lord, thus addresses his listeners: You have received the Spirit of adoption of sons, in which we cry out: Abba Father (Romans 8). Truly Abba to those who are from the Israelite people, us Father, who from the Gentiles came to the faith of Christ.

(ubi sup.) But He prays, that the cup may pass away, to show that He is very man, wherefore He adds: Take away this cup from me. But remembering why He was sent, He accomplishes the dispensation for which He was sent, and cries out, But not what I will, but what thou wilt. As if He had said, If death can die, without my dying according to the flesh, let this cup pass away; but since this cannot be otherwise, not what I will, but what thou wilt. Many still are sad at the prospect of death, but let them keep their heart right, and avoid death as much as they can; but if they cannot, then let them say what the Lord said for us.

The most unblushingly petitionary prayers are there recommended to us both by precept and example. Our Lord in Gethsemane made a petitionary prayer (and did not get what He asked for).

You'll remind me that He asked with a reservation—"nevertheless, not my will but thine." This makes an enormous difference. But the difference which it precisely does not make is that of removing the prayer's petitionary character. When poor Bill, on a famous occasion, asked us to advance him £100, he said, "If you are sure you can spare it," and, "I shall quite understand if you'd rather not." This made his request very different from the nagging or even threatening request which a different sort of man might have made. But it was still a request.

The servant is not greater, and must not be more high-minded than the master. Whatever the theoretical difficulties are, we must continue to make requests of God.

It is clear from many of His sayings that Our Lord had long foreseen His death. He knew what conduct such as His, in a world such as we have made of this, must inevitably lead to. But it is clear that this knowledge must somehow have been withdrawn from Him before He prayed in Gethsemane. He could not, with whatever reservation about the Father's will, have prayed that the cup might pass and simultaneously known that it would not. That is both a logical and a psychological impossibility. You see what this involves? Lest any trial incident to humanity should be lacking, the torments of hope—of suspense, anxiety—were at the last moment loosed upon Him—the supposed possibility that, after all, He might, He just conceivably might, be spared the supreme horror. There was precedent. Isaac had been spared: he too at the last moment, he also against all apparent probability. It was not quite impossible... and doubtless He had seen other men crucified... a sight very unlike most of our religious pictures and images.

But for this last (and erroneous) hope against hope, and the consequent tumult of the soul, the sweat of blood, perhaps He would not have been very Man. To live in a fully predictable world is not to be a man.

As the friend is above the servant, the servant is above the suitor, the man praying on his own behalf. It is no sin to be a suitor. Our Lord descends into the humiliation of being a suitor, of praying on His own behalf, in Gethsemane. But when He does so the certitude about His Father's will is apparently withdrawn.

After that it would be no true faith—it would be idle presumption—for us, who are habitually suitors and do not often rise to the level of servants, to imagine that we shall have any assurance which is not an illusion—or correct only by accident—about the event of our prayers. Our struggle is, isn't it?—to achieve and retain faith on a lower level. To believe that, whether He can grant them or not, God will listen to our prayers, will take them into account.

War threatens us with death and pain. No man—and specially no Christian who remembers Gethsemane—need try to attain a stoic indifference about these things.

And surely it is the fact that the Saviour asks neither what is impossible, nor what is impracticable, nor what is contrary to the will of the Father. It is something possible, for Mark makes mention of His saying, "Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee;" and they are possible if He wills them, for Luke tells us that He said, "Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me." The Holy Spirit therefore, apportioned among the evangelists, makes up the full account of our Saviour's whole disposition by the expressions of these several narrators together. He does not then ask of the Father what the Father wills not. For the words, "if Thou be willing," were demonstrative of subjection and docility, not of ignorance or hesitancy. And just as when we make any request that may be accordant with his judgment, at the hand of father or ruler or any one of those whom we respect, we are accustomed to use the address, though not certainly as if we were in doubt about it, "if you please;" so the Saviour also said, "if Thou be willing:" not that He thought that He willed something different, and thereafter learned the fact, but that He understood exactly God's willingness to remove the cup from Him, and as doing so also apprehended justly that what He wills is also possible unto Him. For this reason the other scripture says, "All things are possible unto Thee." And Matthew again admirably describes the submission and the humility, when he says, "if it be possible." For unless we adapt the sense in this way, some will perhaps assign an impious signification to this expression "if it be possible," as if there were anything impossible for God to do, except that only which He does not will to do. Therefore the request which He made was nothing independent, nor one which pleased Himself only, or opposed His Father's will, but one also in conformity with the mind of God.

He knew what he was saying to his Father, and was well aware that this chalice could pass from him. But he had come to drink it for everyone, in order to acquit, through this chalice, the debt of everyone, [a debt] which the prophets and martyrs could not pay with their death.… He assumed flesh. He clothed himself with weakness, eating when hungry, becoming tired after working, being overcome by sleep when weary. It was necessary, when the time for his death arrived, that all things that have to do with the flesh would be fulfilled then. The anguish of death in fact invaded him, to manifest his nature as a son of Adam, over whom death reigns, according to the word of the apostle.… Or alternatively, in this hour of his corporeal death, he gave to the body that which belonged to it, saying that all the sufferings of [his] body would show to the heretics and schismatics that his body was [real]. did not this body of his appear to them, just as it was visible to everyone else? Just as he was hungry and thirsty, tired and had need of sleep, so too, he was afraid. Or, [he said that], so that it would be difficult for people in the world to say that it was without suffering and toil that our debts were remitted by him. Or [it was] to teach his disciples to confide their life and death to God. If he, who is wise on account of the wisdom of God, asked for what was fitting for him, how much more [should] ordinary people surrender their will to the One who knows all things.… If he who is fearless was afraid [of death], and asked to be delivered from it, although he knew that it was impossible, how much more should others persevere in prayer before temptation, so that, in time of temptation, they may be delivered from it.

The Father from whom every nature has derived its laws is not subject to the laws of nature. The Father who transcends every measure of power is not limited in anything, either by deficiency or by changeability in his nature. As the Son said: "Father, all things are possible to thee." So much so that the human mind cannot grasp as much as lies within his power.

Though with God nothing is impossible, yet for human nature it is impossible to ignore the fear of suffering. Only by trial can faith be proved. Thus as a human being he prays in a human manner that the cup may pass away, but as God from God, his will is in unison with the Father's effectual will.

He does not pray that the cup may pass around him. He prays that the cup may pass away from him, but it cannot pass away unless he drinks it. To pass away does not mean to depart from its place, but not to exist at all. And this is indeed the very meaning that the apostles have in mind when they say: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."

Although he was obedient, it was a voluntary obedience. The only begotten Son humbled himself, and obeyed his Father even to the death of the cross. But was it as human or as God that he was subjected to the Father? His subjection is that of one to whom all things have been subjected. This subjection is not a sign merely of a temporal obedience, for his allegiance is eternal. Rather it was an instance in time of the dispensation of the eternal mystery of his humbling. His actual humbling occurred within time. Yet in its very unpretentiousness it displays the eternal mystery of his humiliation.

By which also He ceases not up to the end to teach us to obey our fathers, and to prefer their will to ours.

Thus, when He says, "Take this cup away from Me," He reveals in Himself the human property; but then He added, "yet not what I will, but what You will" — He teaches us, despite the demands of nature, to ask for what is pleasing to God.

And coming, he found them sleeping, and said to Peter: Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? He who had previously said: Even if all are scandalized, I will never be scandalized, now, in the greatness of his sorrow, cannot overcome sleep.

Does not every movement in the Passion write large some common element in the sufferings of our race? First, the prayer of anguish; not granted. Then He turns to His friends. They are asleep—as ours, or we, are so often, or busy, or away, or preoccupied.

There follows: And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping. For as they are asleep in mind, so also in body. 1But after His prayer, the Lord coming, and seeing His disciples sleeping, rebukes Peter alone. Wherefore it goes on: And saith unto Peter, Simon, steepest thou? couldest not thou watch with me one hour? As if He had said, If thou couldest not watch one hour with me, how wilt thou be able to despise death, thou who promisest to die with me?

After the prayer, coming to the disciples, He found those three disciples sleeping; but He rebukes Peter alone, as if saying to him: did you not promise to die with Me, yet could not watch even one hour — and can you despise death?

The Lord has commanded us to watch and pray that we enter not into temptation. Obviously, if we could endow ourselves with this gift merely by willing it, we would not be asking it in prayer. If the will itself sufficed to protect us from temptation, we would not have to pray for it. But if we were not given a will at all, we would be unable to pray. Grant, then, that we may will it freely, praying that we may be made able by grace to do what we have willed, when by mercy we have attained to wise discernment. Letter , To Palatinus.

For, if these things are placed in our power through the capability of nature and the freedom of the will, anyone can see that it would be useless to ask them of the Lord, and even deceitful to pray, if we ask in prayer for what our nature so constituted already possesses by our own strength. Then, the Lord Jesus would not have said: "Watch and pray," but only "Watch, lest you enter into temptation." He would not have said to the blessed chief of the apostles: "I have prayed for you," but simply: "I warn you, or command you, or enjoin you that your faith should not fail."

Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation. It is impossible for the human soul not to be tempted. Hence, in the Lord's Prayer we say: And lead us not into temptation (Matthew VI); which we cannot endure: not rejecting temptation entirely, but imploring the strength to withstand in temptations. Therefore, in the present, he does not say: Watch and pray, lest you be tempted, but, lest you enter into temptation. That is, lest the ultimate temptation overcomes you and ensnares you in its traps. For example, the martyr who shed his blood for the confession of the Lord was indeed tempted, but he was not entangled in the snares of temptation. However, he who denies falls into the snares of temptation.

The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. This is said against the rash, who think they can achieve whatever they believe. Hence, as much as we trust in the ardor of the mind, so much should we fear the frailty of the flesh. But nevertheless, according to the Apostle, let us mortify the deeds of the flesh by the spirit. This passage is also against the Eutychians, who say there was one operation, one will in the mediator of God and men, our Lord and Savior. For when he says: The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak, he shows two wills: namely, the human, which is of the flesh, and the divine, which is of the deity. Where indeed the human, because of the weakness of the flesh, refuses suffering. But the divine will is most willing. For to fear in suffering is of human frailty; but to accept the dispensation of suffering is of divine will and virtue.

(ubi sup.) He does not say, Pray that ye may not be tempted, because it is impossible for the human mind not to be tempted, but that ye enter not into temptation, that is, that temptation may not vanquish you.

(ubi sup.) He here represses the rash, who think that they can compass whatever they are confident about. But in proportion as we are confident from the ardour of our mind, so let us fear from the weakness of our flesh. For this place makes against those, who say that there was but one operation in the Lord and one will. For He shows two wills, one human, which from the weakness of the flesh shrinks from suffering; one divine, which is most ready. It goes on: And again he went away and prayed, and spake the same words.

"You are always dragging me down," said I to my body. "Dragging you down!" replied my body. "Well I like that! Who taught me to like tobacco and alcohol? You, of course, with your idiotic adolescent idea of being 'grown up.' My palate loathed both at first: but you would have your way. Who put an end to all those angry and revengeful thoughts last night? Me, of course, by insisting on going to sleep. Who does his best to keep you from talking too much and eating too much by giving you dry throats and headaches and indigestion? Eh?" "And what about sex?" said I. "Yes, what about it?" retorted the body. "If you and your wretched imagination would leave me alone I'd give you no trouble. That's soul all over; you give me orders and then blame me for carrying them out."

Now power is given against us in two modes: either for punishment when we sin, or for glory when we are proved, as we see was done with respect to Job; as God Himself sets forth, saying, "Behold, all that he hath I give unto thy hands; but be careful not to touch himself." And the Lord in His Gospel says, in the time of His passion, "Thou couldest have no power against me unless it were given thee from above." But when we ask that we may not come into temptation, we are reminded of our infirmity and weakness in that we thus ask, lest any should insolently vaunt himself, lest any should proudly and arrogantly assume anything to himself, lest any should take to himself the glory either of confession or of suffering as his own, when the Lord Himself, teaching humility, said, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak; " so that while a humble and submissive confession comes first, and all is attributed to God, whatever is sought for suppliantly with fear and honour of God, may be granted by His own loving-kindness.

This is the first form of not falling into temptation, when he counsels the weak to pray not to enter into temptation. The temptation to come, for offenses must come, will require that they pray that they enter not into temptation. But the more perfect way of not entering into temptation is what he asks for the second time: "not as I will but as thou." For God cannot be tempted, but wills to give above what we ask or think.

We do not pray that we will never be tempted at all. For that is impossible. We pray rather that we not be encompassed by temptation.

"For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist;" and whosoever does not confess the testimony of the cross, is of the devil; and whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is neither a resurrection nor a judgment, he is the first-born of Satan. Wherefore, forsaking the vanity of many, and their false doctrines, let us return to the word which has been handed down to us from the beginning; "watching unto prayer," and persevering in fasting; beseeching in our supplications the all-seeing God "not to lead us into temptation," as the Lord has said: "The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak."

It goes on: Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation, that is, the temptation of denying me.

But he is said to enter into temptation, who neglects to pray. There follows: The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

He clearly acknowledged that his "soul was sorrowful, even unto death," and his flesh weak. His intention was to show, from his troubled soul and weak flesh, that both his soul and body were fully human. For some have wrongly asserted that either the flesh or soul of Christ might be entirely different from ours. He sought by an extraordinary exhibition of the body-soul interaction, to show that neither body nor soul has any power at all of itself apart from the spirit. This is why he states first that the spirit is willing, so that you may understand that you have within you the spirit's strength and not merely the weakness of the flesh. From this it is hoped that you may learn what to do under challenge, by what means to do it, and how to order priorities. The weak must be brought under the strong—the flesh under the spirit. This will help you avoid making excuses, as you are now prone to do, for the weakness of your flesh while failing to understand the strength of the spirit.

Let us, however, not take premature comfort in the Lord's acknowledgment of the weakness of the flesh. For note that he declared first of all that the spirit is willing. He wanted to show which one ought to be subject to the other: the flesh is called to be submissive to the spirit, the weaker to the stronger, so that the flesh may draw strength from the spirit. Let the spirit converse with the flesh on their common salvation. Do not despair over the hardships of prison. Rather think about the eventual outcome of the contest.

But watch and pray, that you not fall into temptation and deny Me. Let your spirit be willing not to deny, as you also promised Me; but the flesh is weak, and therefore, if God does not give strength to your flesh in answer to your prayer, disaster will befall you.

As if He had said, Your spirit indeed is ready not to deny me, and for this reason ye promise; but your flesh is weak, in that unless God give power to your flesh through prayer, ye shall enter into temptation.

(ubi sup.) Or else; In that it is said, that after He had spoken these words, Sleep on note, and take your rest, He added, It is enough, and then, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed, we must understand that after saying, Sleep on now, and take your rest, our Lord remained silent for a short time, to give space for that to happen, which He had permitted; and then that He added, the hour is come; and therefore He puts in between, it is enough, that is, your rest has been long enough.

And he came the third time, and said to them: Sleep now, and take your rest; it is enough. When he had said: Sleep now, and take your rest, and added: It is enough, and then introduced: The hour is come; behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners, and so on, it is understood that, after He had said to them: Sleep and take your rest, the Lord kept silent for a while so that what He foretold might be fulfilled, and then added: Behold, the hour is at hand, or the hour has come. Therefore, after saying those words, it is placed as 'it is enough,' meaning that the time for resting is now sufficient. But since the mention of the Lord's silence was not included, it constrains the understanding, making it necessary to seek another interpretation in those words.

A third time Christ prays for the reasons we spoke of above. And again He comes to the disciples, but does not reproach them, although they deserved reproach, since even after the rebukes they did not strengthen themselves but gave themselves over to sleep. What then does He say? "Are you still sleeping and resting?" He says this to shame them. Since He saw that the betrayer was coming, He said to them as if to say: now is the time for sleep — sleep on, the enemy is already coming. He said this (repeated it) to shame them for their sleeping.

Therefore He goes away the third time to pray the prayer mentioned above. And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest. He is not vehement against them, though after His rebuke they had done worse, but He tells them ironically, Sleep on now, and take your rest, because He knew that the betrayer was now close at hand. And that He spoke ironically is evident, by what is added: It is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. He speaks this, as deriding their sleep, as if He had said; Now indeed is a time for sleep, when the traitor is approaching.

Rise up, let us go. Behold, he who betrays me is at hand. After praying a third time, and commanding the fear of the apostles, followed by penance, to be corrected, secure in His passion, He proceeds to His persecutors, and voluntarily offers Himself to be killed, saying to the disciples: Rise up, let us go. Behold, he who betrays me is at hand. Let him not find us as fearful and hesitant, but let us go to death willingly, so they may see our confidence and joy in suffering.

And that He said this truly as a reproach, listen to what He says next: "Rise, let us go." He says this not in order to flee, but to go meet the enemies.

Then He says; Arise, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand; he did not say this to bid them fly, but that they might meet their enemies.