Wednesday of the 16th week after Pentecost

(Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) The Jews regard and murmur about only the bodily purification of the law; our Lord wishes to bring in the contrary. Wherefore it is said, And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one, and understand; there is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him, but the things which come out of a man, those are they which defile a man; that is, which make him unclean. The things of Christ have relation to the inner man, but those which are of the law are visible and external, to which, as being bodily, the cross of Christ was shortly to put an end.

Teaching people to understand the dietary prescriptions of the Law not in a carnal manner, the Lord begins here to gradually reveal the meaning of the Law and says that nothing entering from outside defiles anyone, but what comes from the heart defiles.

But the intention of the Lord in saying this was to teach men, that the observing of meats, which the law commands, should not be taken in a carnal sense, and from this He began to unfold to them the intent of the law.

And calling the crowd again, he said to them: Listen to me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a man that entering into him can defile him. But the things that come out of a man, those are what defile a man. The word "defile" properly belongs to the Scriptures, and is used in ordinary speech. The people of the Jews, boasting that they are part of God, call common the foods which all men use. For example: pork, oysters, hares, and such animals that do not split the hoof, nor chew the cud, nor are scaly among fishes. Hence it is written in the Acts of the Apostles: What God has sanctified, do not call common (Acts X). Therefore, that which is common, that is open to all men, and as if it is not a part of God, is called unclean. Nothing (he says) outside a man entering into him can defile him. But the things that come out of a man, those are what defile a man. A prudent reader may object and say: If what enters into the mouth does not defile a man, why do we not eat meat sacrificed to idols? And the Apostle writes: You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons (I Cor. X). It must therefore be known that the foods themselves, as creatures of God, are by themselves clean, but the invocation of idols and demons make them unclean.

(ubi sup.) For the Jews, boasting themselves to be the portion of God, call common those meats which all men use, as shellfish, hares, and animals of that sort. Not even however what is offered to idols is unclean, in as far as it is food and God's creature; it is the invocation of devils which makes it unclean; and He adds the cause of it, saying, Because it entereth not into his heart. The principal seat of the soul according to Plato is the brain, but according to Christ, it is in the heart.

Another savage trait of our time is the disposition to talk about material substances instead of about ideas. The old civilisation talked about the sin of gluttony or excess. We talk about the Problem of Drink—as if drink could be a problem. When people have come to call the problem of human intemperance the Problem of Drink, and to talk about curing it by attacking the drink traffic, they have reached quite a dim stage of barbarism. The thing is an inverted form of fetish worship; it is no sillier to say that a bottle is a god than to say that a bottle is a devil. The people who talk about the curse of drink will probably progress down that dark hill. In a little while we shall have them calling the practice of wife-beating the Problem of Pokers; the habit of housebreaking will be called the Problem of the Skeleton-Key Trade; and for all I know they may try to prevent forgery by shutting up all the stationers' shops by Act of Parliament.

Let us, then, his servants, follow our Lord and patiently submit to denunciations that we may be blessed! If, with slight forbearance, I hear some bitter or evil remark directed against me, I may return it, and then I shall inevitably become bitter myself. Either that, or I shall be tormented by unexpressed resentment. If I retaliate when cursed, how shall I be found to have followed the teaching of our Lord? For his saying has been handed down that one is defiled not by unclean dishes but by the words which proceed from his mouth.

When, then, on being cursed, I smite (with my tongue, ) how shall I be found to have followed the doctrine of the Lord, in which it has been delivered that "a man is defiled, not by the defilements of vessels, but of the things which are sent forth out of his mouth.

Meantime they huff in our teeth the fact that Isaiah withal has authoritatively declared, "Not such a fast hath the Lord elected," that is, not abstinence from food, but the works of righteousness, which he there appends: and that the Lord Himself in the Gospel has given a compendious answer to every kind of scrupulousness in regard to food; "that not by such things as are introduced into the mouth is a man defiled, but by such as are produced out of the mouth; " while Himself withal was wont to eat and drink till He made Himself noted thus; "Behold, a gormandizer and a drinker: " (finally), that so, too, does the apostle teach that "food commendeth us not to God; since we neither abound if we eat, nor lack if we eat not.

(Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) Again He subjoins, If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. For He had not clearly shown them, what those things are which proceed out of a man, and defile a man; and on account of this saying, the Apostles thought that the foregoing discourse of the Lord implied some other deep thing; wherefore there follows: And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable; they called it parable, because it was not clear.

To the crowd the Lord spoke in this manner not quite clearly, which is why He also remarked: "he who has ears to hear, let him hear," that is: let him who understands, understand.

(Lib. oct. Quaes. 73) For some things are joined to others in such a way as both to change and be changed, just as food, losing its former appearance, is both itself turned into our body, and we too are changed, and our strength is refreshed by it.b Further, a most subtle liquid, after the food has been prepared and digested in our veins, and other arteries, by some hidden channels, called from a Greek word, pores, passes through us, and goes into the draught.

Do you not understand that everything entering from outside into a man cannot defile him because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is expelled into the latrine, purging all foods? All the passages of the Gospels among heretics and the perverse are full of scandals. And from this little statement, some accuse that the Lord, ignorant of physical disputation, thinks that all foods go into the stomach and are digested in the latrine, whereas the infused foods are immediately spread through the limbs, veins, and marrow of the nerves. Hence, we also see many who, due to a stomach defect, continually vomit, immediately expelling what they ingested after meals, and yet are corpulent because the more liquid food and drink spread through the limbs at first touch. But such men, in their desire to criticize another's lack of skill, show their own. Although the thinnest humor and liquid food, when it has been concocted and digested in the veins and limbs, descends to the lower parts through hidden pathways of the body, which the Greeks call πόρους, and goes into the latrine. He was saying, however, that what comes out of a man defiles the man. For from within, from the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, and others. "From the heart," he says, "come evil thoughts." Therefore, the principal part of the soul, not according to Plato in the brain, but according to Christ in the heart, is. And those are to be refuted from this assertion who think that thoughts are instilled by the devil and not born from one's own will. The devil can be an assistant and inciter of evil thoughts, but he cannot be an author. If, however, he, always lying in wait, inflames the light spark of our thoughts with his kindlings, we should not believe that he also scrutinizes the secrets of the heart, but judges from the body's condition and gestures what we are pondering inwardly. For example, if he sees us looking frequently at a beautiful woman, he understands that the heart is wounded by the dart of love.

GLOSS.a It says therefore into his heart, that is, into his mind, which is the principal part of his soul, on which his whole life depends; wherefore it is necessary, that according to the state of his heart a man should be called clean or unclean, and thus whatsoever does not reach the soul, cannot bring pollution to the man. Meats therefore, since they do not reach the soul, cannot in their own nature defile a man; but an inordinate use of meats, which proceeds from a want of order in the mind, makes men unclean. But that meats cannot reach the mind, He shows by that which He adds, saying, But into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats. This however He says, without referring to what remains from the food in the body, for that which is necessary for the nourishment and growth of the body remains. But that which is superfluous goes out, and thus as it were purges the nourishment, which remains.

When we read in Leviticus and Deuteronomy of the laws about food as clean and unclean (for the transgression of which we are censured by the legalists and by the Ebionites, who differ from them very little), we are not to think that the scope of the Scripture is found in any superficial understanding of them. For "whatever goes into a person from the outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and so passes on." According to Mark, the Savior "declared all food clean," so we are not defiled when we eat those things declared to be unclean by those who still desire to be in bondage to the letter of the law. But we are then defiled when our lips, which ought to be bound with good judgment as we search for correct balance and weight, speak recklessly and discuss matters we ought not.

Thus then it is not meat that makes men unclean, but wickedness, which works in us the passions which come from within; wherefore it goes on: And he said, That which cometh out of a man, that defileth a man.

(ubi sup.) From this passage are condemned those men who suppose that thoughts are put into them by the devil, and do not arise from their own evil will. The devil may excite and help on evil thoughts, he cannot be their author.

(non occ.) The meaning of which He points out, when He subjoins, for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts. And thus it appears that evil thoughts belong to the mind, which is here called the heart, and according to which a man is called good or bad, clean or unclean.

(non in Gloss. sed v. de Lyra in loc.) From evil thoughts, however, evil actions proceed to greater lengths, concerning which it is added, adulteries, that is, acts which consist in the violation of another man's bed; fornications, which are unlawful connections between persons, not bound by marriage; murders, by which hurt is inflicted on the person of one's neighbour; thefts, by which his goods are taken from him; covetousness, by which things are unjustly kept; wickedness, which consists in calumniating others; deceit, in overreaching them; lasciviousness, to which belongs any corruption of mind or body.

By "envious eye" He means either envy or licentiousness: for the envious person typically casts a malicious and venomous glance at the one envied, and the debauched person, gazing with his eyes, strives toward an evil deed. By "blasphemy" He means an insult against God: if, for example, someone begins to say that there is no Providence of God, this would be blasphemy; which is why the Lord also joins "pride" with it. Pride is, as it were, a disregard of God, when someone, having done a good deed, attributes it not to God but to his own strength. By "foolishness" He means offense against one's neighbors. All these passions defile the soul, and arise and proceed from it.

An evil eye, that is, hatred and flattery, for he who hates turns an evil and envious eye on him whom he hates, and a flatterer, looking askance at his neighbour's goods, leads him into evil; blasphemies, that is, faults committed against God; pride, that is, contempt of God, when a man ascribes the good, which he does, not to God, but to his own virtue; foolishness, that is, an injury against one's neighbour.

I mean blasphemies, evil-speaking, and if there be any other thing of the like nature.

(non occ. sed v. Summa 2, 2. Qu. 46. 1. et 1, 2. Qu. 1, 1) Or, foolishness consists in wrong thoughts concerning God; for it is opposed to wisdom, which is the knowledge of divine things. It goes on, All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. For whatsoever is in the power of a man, is imputed to him as a fault, because all such things proceed from the interior will, by which man is master of his own actions.