Tuesday of the 26th week after Pentecost

Here they proved that they were true sons of Abraham, because by a similar pattern they followed the Savior on hearing God's voice. For they immediately gave up hope of material advantage that they might seek eternal rewards. They left behind their earthly father that they might have a heavenly Father, and hence not undeservedly were they chosen. So the Lord chose fishermen who in a better way of plying their fishing trade were converted from earthly to heavenly fishing, that they might catch the human race for salvation like fish from the deep waters of error, according to what the Lord himself said to them: "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." It was the very same thing he had promised through Jeremiah the prophet: "Behold, I am sending for many fishers, says the Lord, and they shall catch them; and afterward I will send for many hunters and they shall hunt them." So we see that the apostles are called not only fishermen but also hunters: fishermen, for in the nets of gospel preaching they catch all believers like fish in the world; hunters, for they catch for salvation by heavenly hunting those people who are roving in this world as though in the woods of error and who are living like wild animals.

It is quite false, in my experience, to say that Jesuits, or any other Roman priests, pester and persecute people in order to proselytise. Nobody has any notion of what the whole story is about, who does not know that, through those long and dark and indecisive days, it is the man who persecutes himself. The apparent inaction of the priest may be something like the statuesque stillness of the angler; and such an attitude is not unnatural in the functions of a fisher of men. But it is very seldom impatient or premature and the person acted upon is quite lonely enough to realise that it is nothing merely external that is tugging at his liberty.

(interlin.) Follow me, not so much with your feet as in your hearts and your life.

(Ver. 19, 20.) Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and followed him. These first ones were called to follow the Lord: fishermen and unlettered men are sent to preach, lest the faith of believers be thought to come about not by the power of God, but by eloquence and teaching.

The operations of their secular craft were a prophecy of their future dignity. As he who casts his net into the water knows not what fishes he shall take, so the teacher casts the net of the divine word upon the people, not knowing who among them will come to God. Those whom God shall stir abide in his doctrine.

Fishers of men, that is, teachers, that with the net of God's word you may catch men out of this world of storm and danger, in which men do not walk but are rather borne along, the Devil by pleasure drawing them into sin where men devour one another as the stronger fishes do the weaker, withdrawn from hence they may live upon the land, being made members of Christ's body.

Come follow Me and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed Him. Behold obedient men, who followed Him immediately. From this it is clear that this is the second time that He called them. For they had been taught by Christ on a previous occasion (Jn. 1:35-42), then left Him, and when they saw Him again followed Him readily.

And he said to them. Here is described their call, concerning which three things must be considered: first, he invites them; secondly, he promises them a new position; thirdly, a reward.

He says, therefore: Come. This is entirely from God's generosity that he draws them to himself: "Come to me, you who desire me, and eat your full of my produce" (Sir 24:19); "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Mt 11:28). After me. As if to say: I go, and you come after me, because I will be your leader: "I will teach you the way of wisdom; I will lead you into the paths of righteousness. When you walk, your step will not be hampered; and if you run, you will not stumble" (Pr 4:11).

I will make, i.e., I will change your occupation into something higher: "I am sending for many fishers, says the Lord, and they shall catch them" (Jer 16:16). He says, I will make, because the preacher labors in vain outwardly, unless the grace of the Redeemer is present inwardly; for it is not by his power that he draws men but by the action of Christ.

Therefore, he says I will make. This, indeed, is the greatest dignity; hence, Denis: "Nothing is more dignified among men's occupations than to be made a cooperator with God." For the dignity consists in its splendor. But those so enlightened as to enlighten others draw more closely to that dignity. But although men who follow Christ enlighten and do great things regarding righteousness, yet they assert the dignity of Christ in regard to one thing only; but the life of preachers in regard to two things: "Those who turn many to righteousness shall shine like the stars forever and ever" (Dan 12:3).

For if for thy sake the Lord renounces His own mother, saying, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? (Matt. 12:48, Mark 3:33.) why dost thou deserve to be preferred to thy Lord? But the Lord will have us neither be ignorant of nature, nor be her slaves, but so to submit to nature, that we reverence the Author of nature, and depart not from God out of love to our parents.

On another occasion, the Lord says, "Whoever comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own soul, cannot be my disciple." As a rule, this is more upsetting to the mind of new Christians who are eager to begin at once to live in accordance with the precepts of Christ. To those who do not fully grasp its meaning, it would seem contradictory.… He has condescended to call his disciples to the eternal kingdom. He also called them brothers. In the kingdom these relationships are transcended, because "there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither male nor female, neither slave nor freeman, but Christ is all things and in all." The Lord says, "For in the resurrection they will neither be married nor marry, but will be as the angels of God in heaven." Whoever wishes to prepare himself now for the life of that kingdom must not hate people but those earthly relationships through which the present life is sustained, the temporary life that begins at birth and ends with death. Whoever does not hate this necessity does not yet love that other life in which there will be no condition of birth and death, the condition that makes marriages natural on earth.

The Lord gives the signal for us to stand guard in camp and to build the tower from which we may recognize and ward off the enemy of our eternal life. The heavenly trumpet of Christ urges the soldier to battle, and his mother holds him back.…What does she say or what argument does she give? Perhaps is it those ten months when you lay in her womb and the pangs of birth and the burden of rearing you? You must kill this with the sword of salvation. You must destroy this in your mother that you may find her in life eternal. Remember, you must hate this in her if you love her, if you are a recruit of Christ and have laid the foundations of the tower. Passers by may not say, "This man began to build and was not able to finish." That is earthly affection. It still has the ring of the "old man." Christian warfare invites us to destroy this earthly affection both in ourselves and in our relatives. Of course, no one should be ungrateful to his parents or mock the list of their services to him, since by them he was brought into this life, cherished and fed. A man should always pay his family duty, but let these things keep their place where higher duties do not call. Mother church is also the mother of your mother. She conceived you both in Christ.… Know that her Spouse took human flesh that you might not be attached to fleshly things. Know that all the things for which your mother scolds you were undertaken by the eternal Word that you might not be subject to the weakness of flesh. Ponder his humiliations, scourging and death, even the death of the cross.

The Father did not send the only-begotten Son, the living God, to judge the world but to save the world. True to himself and faithful to the will of the good God his Father, he points to a doctrine whereby we may be made worthy of becoming his disciples with his severe decree. He says, "If any man comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, and his wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." This hatred teaches the virtue of piety by withdrawing us from distractions and does not lead us to devise hurtful schemes against one another. "Whoever," says the Lord, "does not carry his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple." Receiving the baptism of water, we make this same agreement when we promise to be crucified and to die and to be buried with him.

Now great crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and said to them: If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple; and whoever does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. I want to inquire how we are instructed to hate parents and close relatives according to the flesh, who are even commanded to love our enemies. And certainly, regarding the wife, the Truth says: "What God has joined together, let no man separate" (Mark 10). And Paul says: "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church" (Ephesians 5). Behold, the disciple instructs that a wife should be loved, while the Master says: "Anyone who does not hate his wife cannot be my disciple." Does the judge announce one thing, and the herald proclaim another? Or can we both hate and love at the same time? But if we weigh the force of the command, we may do both by discernment, so that those who are linked to us by fleshly kinship, we love as relatives and avoid as adversaries in the way of God. And so that the Lord might show that this hatred towards neighbors does not stem from unfeelingness but from charity, he immediately added, saying: "Yes, even his own life." For we then properly hate our own life when we do not yield to its carnal desires, when we break its appetite, and when we oppose its pleasures. Therefore, what is despised leads to a better outcome, being loved through what seems like hatred. Thus, we should exhibit the discretion of this hatred towards our neighbors, so that we love them for what they are, but hate that which hinders us in the way of God. How this same hatred towards our own souls should be demonstrated, the Truth reveals by adding, saying:

We are obliged to obey our parents as long as we make use of their goods; and we ought to comply with them in the exercise of virtuous or salutary acts, in the dispensation of temporal goods, and in the rendering of services: because we ought to live according to their counsel and spend according to their command and, when they require it, render service. If, however, parents should wish, say, or command something that is against the advancement of our salvation, piety is not to be shown to them in such matters. And this is what the Lord says in the Gospel: He who does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers, and even his own soul, cannot be my disciple. The Lord wills that on account of paternal affection a man should not cease to do what pertains to his salvation.

Secondly, regarding the principle of spiritual accompaniment, he adds: And turning, he said to them: turning, I say, through benignity: Psalm: "O God, you will turn and give us life"; he said, through the truth of doctrine: If anyone comes to me, through the supererogation of justice: Matthew 11: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened." And does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and even his own soul, through the mortification of carnal affection, according to that word of the Psalm: "Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear" etc.: he cannot be my disciple, through the assumption of evangelical perfection, concerning which Luke 6: "Everyone will be perfect if he is like his master."

And the reason for this is that the principle of the spiritual life is to put off carnal affection, because, as First Corinthians 2 says, "the natural man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God: for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand" etc.; and Isaiah 28: "Whom shall he teach knowledge, and whom shall he make to understand the message? Those weaned from milk" etc., that is, those separated from carnal affection.

Hence it should be noted here that he does not here command hatred of parents with respect to nature, for this would be impiety, since it is said in First John 3: "He who hates his brother is a murderer"; but with respect to fault, as Augustine says: "Men are to be loved in such a way that their errors are not loved." Concerning this hatred, in the Psalm: "Did I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and waste away over your enemies?" and after: "With perfect hatred I hated them," etc. Hence Gregory: "We can at once both hate and love, so that we love those joined to us by kinship from the divine precept, and those whom we suffer as adversaries in the way of God we disregard by hating and fleeing them." Hence that hatred does not come from cruelty but from charity, just as also the hatred of one's own soul, which we ought to hate, not with respect to salvation, but with respect to carnality. Hence Gregory: "Then we hate our soul when we resist its carnal affections." Concerning this hatred, John 12: "He who hates his soul in this world keeps it unto eternal life." Augustine: "If you have loved badly, then you have hated; if you have hated well, then you have loved. Happy are those who have so hated by guarding, lest they lose by loving." This is what is more expressly said in Ecclesiasticus 18: "Son, do not go after your lusts, and turn away from your own will. If you grant your soul its lusts, it will make you a joy to your enemies." Therefore, just as the beginning of spiritual life is not to covet, where all evil is forbidden, and to turn away from evil: so the foundation of spiritual companionship is to turn away from all carnality, whether toward oneself or toward parents. On account of which, Ephesians 4: "Put off, according to your former manner of life, the old man, who is corrupted according to the desires of error."

Self-renunciation is thought to be, and indeed is, very near the core of Christian ethics. When Aristotle writes in praise of a certain kind of self-love, we may feel, despite the careful distinctions which he draws between the legitimate and the illegitimate Philautia, that here we strike something essentially sub-Christian... Even the New Testament bids me love my neighbor "as myself," which would be a horrible command if the self were simply to be hated. Yet our Lord also says that a true disciple must "hate his own life."

We must not explain this apparent contradiction by saying that self-love is right up to a certain point and wrong beyond that point. The question is not one of degree. There are two kinds of self-hatred which look rather alike in their earlier stages, but of which one is wrong from the beginning and the other right to the end. When Shelley speaks of self-contempt as the source of cruelty, or when a later poet says that he has no stomach for the man "who loathes his neighbor as himself," they are referring to a very real and very un-Christian hatred of the self which may make diabolical a man whom common selfishness would have left (at least, for a while) merely animal...

Now, the self can be regarded in two ways. On the one hand, it is God's creature, an occasion of love and rejoicing; now, indeed, hateful in condition, but to be pitied and healed. On the other hand, it is that one self of all others which is called I and me, and which on that ground puts forward an irrational claim to preference. This claim is to be not only hated, but simply killed; "never," as George MacDonald says, "to be allowed a moment's respite from eternal death." The Christian must wage endless war against the clamor of the ego as ego: but he loves and approves selves as such, though not their sins. The very self-love which he has to reject is to him a specimen of how he ought to feel to all selves; and he may hope that when he has truly learned (which will hardly be in this life) to love his neighbor as himself, he may then be able to love himself as his neighbor: that is, with charity instead of partiality. The other kind of self-hatred, on the contrary, hates selves as such. It begins by accepting the special value of the particular self called me; then, wounded in its pride to find that such a darling object should be so disappointing, it seeks revenge, first upon that self, then on all. Deeply egoistic, but now with an inverted egoism, it uses the revealing argument, "I don't spare myself"—with the implication "then a fortiori I need not spare others"—and becomes like the centurion in Tacitus, "immitior quia toleraverat." The wrong asceticism torments the self: the right kind kills the selfness. We must die daily: but it is better to love the self than to love nothing, and to pity the self than to pity no one.

Is it not, then, the duty of the church to preach national repentance? I think it is. But the office—like many others—can be profitably discharged only by those who discharge it with reluctance. We know that a man may have to "hate" his mother for the Lord's sake. The sight of a Christian rebuking his mother, though tragic, may be edifying; but only if we are quite sure that he has been a good son and that, in his rebuke, spiritual zeal is triumphing, not without agony, over strong natural affection. The moment there is reason to suspect that he enjoys rebuking her—that he believes himself to be rising above the natural level while he is still, in reality, groveling below it in the unnatural—the spectacle becomes merely disgusting. The hard sayings of our Lord are wholesome to those only who find them hard.

As the real meaning of the Christian claim becomes apparent, its demand for total surrender, the sheer chasm between Nature and Supernature, men are increasingly "offended." Dislike, terror, and finally hatred succeed: none who will not give it what it asks (and it asks all) can endure it. That is why we must cherish no picture of the present intellectual movement simply growing and spreading and finally reclaiming millions by sweet reasonableness. Long before it became as important as that the real opposition would have begun, and to be on the Christian side would be costing a man (at the least) his career.

I do not mean simply that those novelists sometimes wrote as if they had never heard the text about "hating" wife and mother and one's own life also. That of course is true. The rivalry between all natural loves and the love of God is something a Christian dare not forget. God is the great Rival, the ultimate object of human jealousy; that beauty, terrible as the Gorgon's, which may at any moment steal from me—or it seems like stealing to me—my wife's or husband's or daughter's heart. The bitterness of some unbelief, though disguised even from those who feel it as anti-clericalism or hatred of superstition, is really due to this.

As so often, Our Lord's own words are both far fiercer and far more tolerable than those of the theologians. He says nothing about guarding against earthly loves for fear we might be hurt; He says something that cracks like a whip about trampling them all under foot the moment they hold us back from following Him. "If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife ... and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple."

But how are we to understand the word _hate_? That Love Himself should be commanding what we ordinarily mean by hatred—commanding us to cherish resentment, to gloat over another's misery, to delight in injuring him—is almost a contradiction in terms. I think Our Lord, in the sense here intended, "hated" St. Peter when he said, "Get thee behind me." To hate is to reject, to set one's face against, to make no concession to, the Beloved when the Beloved utters, however sweetly and however pitiably, the suggestions of the Devil. A man, said Jesus, who tries to serve two masters, will "hate" the one and "love" the other. It is not, surely, mere feelings of aversion and liking that are here in question. He will adhere to, consent to, work for, the one and not for the other.

[...]

So, in the last resort, we must turn down or disqualify our nearest and dearest when they come between us and our obedience to God. Heaven knows, it will seem to them sufficiently like hatred. We must not act on the pity we feel; we must be blind to tears and deaf to pleadings.

I will not say that this duty is hard; some find it too easy; some, hard almost beyond endurance. What is hard for all is to know when the occasion for such "hating" has arisen. Our temperaments deceive us. The meek and tender—uxorious husbands, submissive wives, doting parents, dutiful children—will not easily believe that it has ever arrived. Self-assertive people, with a dash of the bully in them, will believe it too soon.

"But whosoever shall not hate father or mother or wife or children," they quote, "cannot be my disciple." This is not a command to hate one's family. For he says: "Honour thy father and thy mother that it may be well with thee." But what he means is this: Do not let yourself be led astray by irrational impulses and have nothing to do with the city customs. For a household consists of a family, and cities of households, as Paul also says of those who are absorbed in marriage that they aim to "please the world."

He says, "He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." By adding "more than me," it is plain that he permits us to love, but not more than we love him. He demands our highest affection for himself and that very correctly. The love of God in those who are perfect in mind has something in it superior both to the honor due to parents and to the natural affection felt for children.

But life must not be renounced, which both in the body and the soul the blessed Paul also preserved, that yet living in the body he might preach Christ. But when it was necessary to despise life so that he might finish his course, he counts not his life dear unto him. (Acts 20:24.)

If we consider, dearest brothers, what and how great are the things promised to us in heaven, everything that is possessed on earth becomes worthless to the soul. For earthly substance, compared to heavenly happiness, is a burden, not a help. Temporal life, compared to eternal life, should be called death rather than life. For what is this daily failing of corruption itself other than a kind of prolongation of death? But what tongue can tell, or what understanding can grasp how great are the joys of that heavenly city: to be present among the choirs of angels, to stand with the most blessed spirits in the glory of the Creator, to behold the face of God present before us, to see the uncircumscribed light, to be affected by no fear of death, to rejoice in the gift of perpetual incorruption? But at hearing these things the soul is set ablaze, and already desires to stand there where it hopes to rejoice without end. But one cannot arrive at great rewards except through great labors. Hence Paul, that excellent preacher, says: "No one will be crowned unless he has competed lawfully." Therefore let the greatness of the rewards delight the mind, but let not the struggle of labors deter it. Hence Truth says to those coming to him: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own soul as well, he cannot be my disciple."

But it is fitting to inquire how we are commanded to hate our parents and blood relatives, when we are ordered to love even our enemies? And certainly the Truth says concerning a wife: "What God has joined together, let not man separate." And Paul says: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church." Behold, the disciple preaches that a wife should be loved, while the Master says: "He who does not hate his wife cannot be my disciple." Does the judge announce one thing while the herald proclaims another? Or can we both hate and love at the same time? But if we weigh the force of the precept, we are able to do both through discernment, so that those who are joined to us by kinship of the flesh, and whom we recognize as our neighbors, we may love, and those whom we suffer as adversaries in the way of God we may disregard by hating and fleeing from them. For one who thinks carnally is loved, as it were, through hatred, when he brings wicked things upon us and is not heard. Moreover, so that the Lord might demonstrate that this hatred toward our neighbors does not proceed from lack of affection but from charity, He added immediately, saying: "And his own soul as well." Therefore we are commanded to hate our neighbors, and to hate our own soul. It is clear, then, that one ought to hate his neighbor by loving him, he who hates his neighbor just as he hates himself. For we truly hate our own soul well when we do not yield to its carnal desires, when we break its appetite, when we resist its pleasures. Therefore what is led to better things by being despised is loved, as it were, through hatred. Thus, thus indeed we ought to show the discernment of hatred toward our neighbors, so that we may both love in them what they are, and hold in hatred that by which they obstruct us on our journey to God.

Certainly, when Paul was going to Jerusalem, the prophet Agabus took hold of his belt and bound his own feet, saying: "The man whose belt this is, they will bind thus in Jerusalem." But what did he who perfectly hated his own soul say? "I am prepared not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, nor do I consider my soul more precious than myself." Behold how he hated his soul by loving it, or rather, by hating it he loved it, since he desired to hand it over to death for Jesus, so that he might raise it to life from the death of sin. Therefore, from this discernment of our hatred let us draw a pattern for hatred of our neighbor. Let anyone in this world be loved, even an adversary, but let not even a relative be loved who is opposed in the way of God. For whoever now desires eternal things, in the cause of God which he undertakes, must become estranged from father, from mother, from wife, from children, from relatives, from his very self, so that he may know God more truly the more he recognizes no one in God's cause. For the carnal affections greatly buffet the intention of the mind and obscure its vision; yet we do not suffer them as harmful if we hold them in check by suppressing them. Therefore, neighbors are to be loved, charity is to be extended to all, both relatives and strangers, yet for the sake of that same charity we must not be turned aside from love of God.

Now we know that when the ark of the Lord was returning from the land of the Philistines to the land of the Israelites, it was placed upon a cart, and cows were yoked to the cart, which are recorded to have been nursing mothers, whose calves they shut up at home. And it is written: "The cows went straight along the way that leads to Beth-shemesh, and they kept to one path, going and lowing, and they turned aside neither to the right nor to the left." What then do the cows signify but all the faithful in the Church, who while they consider the precepts of sacred Scripture, carry as it were the ark of the Lord placed upon them? Concerning these it should also be noted that they are recorded to have been nursing mothers, because there are many who, while inwardly set upon the way of God, are outwardly bound by carnal affections; yet they do not turn aside from the straight path, who carry the ark of God in their mind. For behold the cows proceed to Beth-shemesh. Beth-shemesh means "house of the sun"; and the Prophet says: "But unto you who fear the Lord shall the sun of righteousness arise." If therefore we are heading toward the dwelling of the eternal sun, it is surely fitting that we not turn aside from the way of God on account of carnal affections. For it must be considered with all our strength that the cows placed under God's cart proceed and groan: they give forth lowing from deep within, and yet they do not turn their steps from the path. Thus indeed ought the preachers of God, thus ought all the faithful within holy Church to be, that they may have compassion on their neighbors through charity, and yet not stray from the way of God through that compassion.

(in Hom. ut sup.) But it may be asked, how are we bid to hate our parents and our relations in the flesh, who are commanded to love even our enemies? But if we weigh the force of the command we are able to do both, by rightly distinguishing them so as both to love those who are united to us by the bond of the flesh, and whom we acknowledge our relations, and by hating and avoiding not to know those whom we find our enemies in the way of God. For he is as it were loved by hatred, who in his carnal wisdom, pouring into our ears his evil sayings, is not heard.

(in Hom. ut sup.) Now to show that this hatred towards relations proceeds not from inclination or passion, but from love, our Lord adds, yea, and his own life also. It is plain therefore that a man ought to hate his neighbour, by loving as himself him who hated him. For then we rightly hate our own soul when we indulge not its carnal desires, when we subdue its appetites, and wrestle against its pleasures. That which by being despised is brought to a better condition, is as it were loved by hatred.

"Unless a man deny his father, and his mother, and his brothers, and his sisters, and the whole world, and also himself, he cannot be My disciple;" hear this voice, O disciple, and go forth from the world, and this Gospel which promiseth spiritual blessings alone can lead thee away from the life and conduct and habits of this world. Thou hast heard this voice, believe it then, and of it be a disciple and of nothing else, and let nothing else be the cause of thy going forth from the world, otherwise thy going forth will not prosper. For as is the first cause, so also happeneth it with the rest of the matters which follow after it.

And again in the case of the holy Apostles, He renewed that call of Abraham; and observe their faith also, that it was like unto the faith of Abraham; for as Abraham heard immediately he was called, so also immediately He called the Apostles, they heard and went forth after Him. "He saw them casting nets into the sea, and He called them, and straightway they forsook their nets and their father, and went after Him;" and before they had heard from Him the words, "If a man forsake not his father and mother, and everything that he hath, and cometh after me, he cannot be My disciple," they forsook everything and went after Jesus. For He did not propound for the disciples lengthy doctrine, but only the hearing of the word of faith; and because the faith which was in them was living, immediately it received the living word it became obedient unto life, and they ran thereafter straightway, and delayed not.

Accept thou as a proof the life of this righteous man, and learn also therefrom that a man cannot become a perfect disciple of Christ unless he make himself a stranger to the whole world after the manner of this righteous man, even as the word of Christ also hath taught us openly, "Except a man renounce the whole world, and his brethren, and his kinsfolk, and his family, and his father, and his mother, and everything that he hath, and that which is greater than them all, even his own life, he cannot be My disciple."

I heard his holy voice speaking to all without distinction. "He who does not leave father and mother and brothers and all that he possesses and take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." I learned from Scripture and from experience itself that the cross comes at the end for no other reason than that we must endure trials and tribulations and finally voluntary death itself. In times past, when heresies prevailed, many chose death through martyrdom and various tortures. Now, when we through the grace of Christ live in a time of profound and perfect peace, we learn for sure that cross and death consist in nothing else than the complete putting to death of self-will. He who pursues his own will, however slightly, will never be able to observe the law of Christ the Savior.

If you wish to be the Lord's disciple, it is necessary you "take your cross, and follow the Lord: " your cross; that is, your own straits and tortures, or your body only, which is after the manner of a cross. Parents, wives, children, will have to be left behind, for God's sake. Do you hesitate about arts, and trades, and about professions likewise, for the sake of children and parents? Even there was it demonstrated to us, that both "dear pledges," and handicrafts, and trades, are to be quite left behind for the Lord's sake; while James and John, called by the Lord, do leave quite behind both father and ship; while Matthew is roused up from the toll-booth; while even burying a father was too tardy a business for faith.

In the same manner, therefore, we maintain that the other announcements too refer to the condition of martyrdom. "He," says Jesus, "who will value his own life also more than me, is not worthy of me," -that is, he who will rather live by denying, than die by confessing, me; and "he who findeth his life shall lose it; but he who loseth it for my sake shall find it.

Since many of those who followed Jesus did not follow with complete zeal and self-denial, but had a very cold disposition, He, teaching what His disciple should be like, expresses His thoughts on this matter, as if portraying and painting him, affirming that he must hate not only those close to him outwardly, but also "his own soul." But look, in your simplicity and inexperience, do not be scandalized by this saying. For the Lover of mankind does not teach inhumanity, does not suggest suicide, but wants His sincere disciple to hate his relatives only when they hinder him in the matter of worshipping God and when in his relations with them he finds difficulties in the accomplishment of good. On the contrary, when they do not hinder this, He teaches to honor them even to one's last breath. And how does He teach? By the best teaching, that is, by His own deeds. For He obeyed Joseph (Lk. 2:51), despite the fact that he was not His father in the proper sense, but only His supposed father. And He always had great care for His Mother, so that even while hanging on the cross, He did not forget Her, but entrusted Her to His beloved disciple (Jn. 19:26–27). How then would He, teaching one thing by deed, suggest something different in words? No, as I said, He commands us to hate our parents only when they threaten danger to the worship of God. For then they are no longer parents, no longer relatives, when they oppose us in such a beneficial matter. What we affirm is also evident from the fact that we are commanded to hate "our own soul." For by this commandment, without doubt, we are not ordered to kill ourselves, but to abandon the desires of the soul that separate us from God, and not to care about the soul (life) if torment is to come, so long as eternal gain lies ahead. And that the Lord teaches this, and not suicide, He Himself shows, first, by the fact that when the devil, tempting Him, suggested that He throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, He rejected the temptation (Mt. 4:5–7), and second, by the fact that He did not deliver Himself to the Jews (each time), but withdrew and, passing through their midst, hid from the murderers (Lk. 4:30). Therefore, whoever has relatives that harm him in the matter of worshipping God, and yet gladly continues his attachment to them, placing it above pleasing God, and sometimes out of love for life, in the face of threatened torment, inclines toward renouncing the faith — that one cannot be a disciple of Christ.

By bearing the cross also he announced the death of his Lord, saying, The world is crucified to me, and I to the world, (Gal. 6:14.) which we also anticipate at our very baptism, in which our old man is crucified, that the body of sin may be destroyed.

And he who does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For the cross is called so from torment. And we bear the cross of the Lord in two ways: either when we afflict the flesh through abstinence, or when we consider the need of our neighbor as our own through compassion. For he who shows sorrow for another's necessity bears the cross in his mind. But it must be known that there are some who practice abstinence of the flesh not for God, but for empty glory; and there are many who render compassion to their neighbor not spiritually, but carnally, so that they indulge them not for virtue, but, as it were, by pitying them, foster their faults. These, indeed, seem to bear the cross but do not follow the Lord. Therefore, rightly does the same Truth say: He who does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For to bear the cross and follow the Lord is either to show abstinence of the flesh or compassion to the neighbor with the intention of eternal study. For whoever does this for a temporal intention may indeed bear the cross but refuses to follow the Lord. Because sublime commandments have been given, the comparison of building a height is immediately added, when it is said:

Third, with respect to the completion of the spiritual companionship, he adds: And he who does not carry his cross, through perfect mortification of the flesh; and comes after me, through right intention; cannot be my disciple, through true imitation. And note that here is the consummation of Christ's discipleship and companionship, namely in carrying the cross, because there Christ brought all things to completion, as is said in John 19: "And bearing his cross, he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull." In this cross of Christ there is the highest humility: Philippians 2: "He humbled himself, being made obedient unto death, even the death of the cross"; the highest poverty, so that Christ could truly say that word of Job 1: "Naked I came forth from the womb of my mother, and naked shall I return thither." Hence in John 19 it is said that "the soldiers, when they had crucified him, took his garments and made four parts." There is also there the highest austerity, according to that word of the Psalm: "They pierced my hands and my feet; they numbered all my bones."

To bear the cross, therefore, is to take up humility in the heart, austerity in the flesh, and poverty in suffering, against those three radical vices and against the threefold excuse of those who refused to come to the supper. This cross was Christ's, because Christ willingly took it up: similarly, whoever wishes to follow Christ must bear it willingly, so that he bears it as his own cross from his own will, not under compulsion as another's, and thus be not an imitator of Christ but rather of Simon, of whom Mark fifteen says: "They compelled a certain Simon of Cyrene to carry his cross." To this cross Christ especially invites us, who first bore it as a standard and royal sign: whence Hebrews, the last chapter: "Christ suffered outside the gate. Let us therefore go forth to him," etc. He therefore who does not wish to follow thus is not a disciple of Christ, because he does not wish to imitate him in that wherein he offered himself as an example and master to us; whence Galatians five: "Those who are Christ's have crucified their flesh with its vices and concupiscences." On account of which, Second Corinthians four: "Always bearing about the mortification of the cross in our body, that the life of Jesus also may be made manifest in our bodies." Whence Chrysostom: "Let no one be ashamed of the cross; let us bear it about as a crown; for indeed all things that pertain to us are accomplished through the cross: regeneration, consecration. On account of this we inscribe it in our homes, on our doors, on our roads, on our foreheads, and in our minds." This therefore must be borne as the sign of the living God, of which Apocalypse seven says: "I saw another Angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the sign of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four Angels to whom it was given to harm the earth and the sea, saying: Do not harm the earth nor the sea nor the trees, until we sign the servants of God on their foreheads," so that it may be known manifestly who is a disciple of Christ.

But how this very hatred of one's soul ought to be shown, Truth makes clear by adding: "He who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." For the cross is so called from torture. And we carry the Lord's cross in two ways: either when we afflict the flesh through abstinence, or when through compassion for our neighbor we consider his necessity as our own. For he who shows pain at another's necessity carries the cross in his mind. But it should be known that there are some who practice abstinence of the flesh not for God, but for vainglory. And there are many who bestow compassion on their neighbor not spiritually, but carnally, so that they favor him not toward virtue, but as if by pitying him toward sins. These therefore seem to carry a cross, but they do not follow the Lord. Hence this same Truth rightly says: "He who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." For to carry the cross and go after the Lord is to practice either abstinence of the flesh or compassion for one's neighbor out of zeal for eternal purpose. For whoever practices these things for a temporal purpose indeed carries the cross, but refuses to go after the Lord.

(in Hom. ut sup.) How the hatred of life ought to be shown He declares as follows; Whosoever bears not his cross, &c.

(in Hom. 37. in Ev.) Or because the cross is so called from torturing. In two ways we bear our Lord's cross, either when by abstinence we afflict our bodies, or when through compassion of our neighbour we think all his necessities our own. But because some exercise abstinence of the flesh not for God's sake but for vain-glory, and show compassion, not spiritually but carnally, it is rightly added, And, cometh after me. For to bear His cross and come after the Lord, is to use abstinence of the flesh, or compassion to our neighbour, from the desire of an eternal gain.

They show, further, that that Horos of theirs, whom they call by a variety of names, has two faculties,-the one of supporting, and the other of separating; and in so far as he supports and sustains, he is Stauros, while in so far as he divides and separates, he is Horos. They then represent the Saviour as having indicated this twofold faculty: first, the sustaining power, when He said, "Whosoever doth not bear his cross (Stauros), and follow after me, cannot be my disciple;" and again, "Taking up the cross follow me;" but the separating power when He said, "I came not to send peace, but a word." They also maintain that John indicated the same thing when he said, "The fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge the floor, and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with fire unquenchable." By this declaration He set forth the faculty of Horos. For that fan they explain to be the cross (Stauros), which consumes, no doubt, all material objects, as fire does chaff, but it purifies all them that are saved, as a fan does wheat. Moreover, they affirm that the Apostle Paul himself made mention of this cross in the following words: "The doctrine of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us who are saved it is the power of God." And again: "God forbid that I should glory in anything save in the cross of Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world."

He means not that we should place a beam of wood on our shoulders, but that we should ever have death before our eyes. As also Paul died daily and despised death. (1 Cor. 15:31.)

" If you wish to be the Lord's disciple, it is necessary you "take your cross, and follow the Lord: " your cross; that is, your own straits and tortures, or your body only, which is after the manner of a cross.

For God had commanded even Abraham to make a sacrifice of his son, for the sake not of tempting, but proving, his faith; in order through him to make an example for that precept of His, whereby He was, by and by, to enjoin that he should hold no pledges of affection dearer than God. He Himself, when tempted by the devil, demonstrated who it is that presides over and is the originator of temptation.

(ut sup.) But as with respect to the unfinished tower, he alarms us by the reproaches of those who say, The man began to build, and was not able to finish, so with regard to the king with whom the battle was to be, he reproved even peace, adding, Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace; signifying that those also who forsake all they possess cannot endure from the devil the threats of even coming temptations, and make peace with him by consenting unto him to commit sin.

(in Esai. 2.) Or the tower is a lofty watch-tower fitted for the guardianship of the city and the discovery of the enemy's approach. In like manner was our understanding given us to preserve the good, to guard against the evil. For the building up whereof the Lord bids us sit down and count our means if we have sufficient to finish.

But our Lord's intention in the above-mentioned example is not indeed to afford occasion or give liberty to any one to become His disciple or not, as indeed it is lawful not to begin a foundation, or not to treat of peace, but to show the impossibility of pleasing God, amidst those things which distract the soul, and in which it is in danger of becoming an easy prey to the snares and wiles of the devil.

For which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost necessary to complete it? For in all things, the end must be considered. Everything we do should be preceded by the effort of consideration. Behold, according to the voice of Truth, he who builds a tower prepares the cost of the building. Therefore, if we wish to construct the tower of humility, we must first prepare ourselves for the adversities of this world. For the distinction between earthly and heavenly building is this: that the earthly building is constructed by collecting expenses, while the heavenly building is constructed by dispersing expenses. We make expenses for the former by collecting what we do not have; we make expenses for the latter by even relinquishing what we have. It must indeed be considered what is said:

For which of you, wishing to build, etc. After he instructed those accompanying him, and this through express words, here secondly he instructs the same through parabolic examples. And since we ought to imitate Christ in actions and sufferings, in the first we are like those building, in the second like those waging war:

therefore first in this part he introduces the parable of the man building. Second, he adds the parable and example of the king waging war, at the place: Or what king going forth. In the third, he subjoins the application of both, at the place: So therefore every one of you who does not renounce.

Concerning the parable of the man building, three things are introduced, namely the conception of the plan to build, the provision of sufficient funds, and the avoidance of impending reproach.

First, therefore, as regards the conception of the purpose of building, he says: For which of you, wishing to build a tower. By the tower, which is the loftiest building, we can understand the accumulation of the perfection of merits, which ascends step by step from the lowest to the highest, beginning from the foundation of fear and reaching up to the pinnacle of deiform wisdom. And first the tower of the gift of fear is to be built, of which can be understood that passage of Micah 4: "You, O cloudy tower of the flock, unto you shall it come," because fear makes one small through the consideration of judgment.

The second tower is that of piety, of which Isaiah 5: "He built a tower in the midst of the vineyard and set up a winepress in it," because piety arises from the consideration of the Passion.

The third is the tower of knowledge: Song of Songs 4: "Your neck is like the tower of David, which is built with bulwarks. A thousand shields hang from it, all the armor of the mighty," etc.: which is understood of the knowledge of Sacred Scripture.

The fourth is the tower of fortitude; Proverbs 18: "The name of the Lord is a most strong tower: the just man runs to it and shall be exalted"; and in the Psalm: "You have led me forth, because you have become my hope, a tower of fortitude," etc. The fifth is the tower of counsel, of which Song of Songs 7: "Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, which looks toward Damascus"; because counsel is against the snares of the enemy.

The sixth tower is that of understanding, of which Song of Songs 7: "Your neck is like a tower of ivory: your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon"; where is given to be understood the purity of heart and the clarity of spiritual intelligence. The seventh is the tower of wisdom, of which Song of Songs 8: "I am a wall, and my breasts are like a tower"; which is said on account of the consolation that is in the tasting of the milk of the breasts of divine wisdom.

But before the height of this building is raised, the construction of the building of the seven virtues is necessary, of which Proverbs 9: "Wisdom has built herself a house, she has hewn out seven pillars." Moreover, of this building Christ is the founder and the foundation and also the completion. Nevertheless, the spiritual man is compared to this building: whence 1 Corinthians 3: "We are God's co-workers, you are God's husbandry, you are God's building." Therefore everyone who purposes to ascend to the pinnacle of virtue, this one wishes to build a tower.

Second, with regard to the provision of sufficient resources, he adds: Does he not first sit down and calculate the expenses that are necessary, whether he has enough to complete it? To sit is to consider within oneself the secrets of one's conscience: Lamentations 3: "He will sit alone and be silent." To calculate is to foresee through careful consideration: hence the Gloss: "Everything that we do, we ought to anticipate through the effort of consideration." And this is what is said in Proverbs 4: "Let your eyes see what is right, and let your eyelids precede your steps." The expenses, however, that are necessary are the sufficient efforts of the mind, by which one cooperates with the grace of Christ courageously, according to that Psalm: "Act courageously, and let your heart be strengthened, all you who hope in the Lord"; profitably, hence 1 Corinthians 3: "But if anyone builds upon this foundation gold, silver, and precious stones," etc.; efficaciously: Hebrews 12: "See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God," etc.; perseveringly: 3 Kings 7: "He completed all the work that Solomon was doing in the house of the Lord."

When this building is completed, the Lord appears to dwell therein: hence 3 Kings 9: "It came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord and the building of the king and all that he had desired, the Lord appeared to him." These expenses sufficient for completing therefore consist in the resolve of the will acting courageously, profitably, efficaciously, and perseveringly. But if anything is lacking, the Lord supplies it: hence Philippians 2: "It is God who works in us both to will and to accomplish according to his good will." Whoever wishes, therefore, to begin a lofty work ought to foresee whether he is willing to persevere: because, as is said above in chapter nine, "No one putting his hand to the plow," etc.

That is why He warned people to 'count the cost' before becoming Christians. 'Make no mistake,' He says, 'if you let me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for. Nothing less, or other, than that. You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away. But if you do not push Me away, understand that I am going to see this job through. Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, whatever inconceivable purification it may cost you after death, whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, nor let you rest, until you are literally perfect—until my Father can say without reservation that He is well pleased with you, as He said He was well pleased with me. This I can do and will do. But I will not do anything less.'

Next he uses two examples to encourage his friends to an unconquerable strength and to establish those who want to attain to honors by patience and endurance in an unwavering zeal. If anyone wants to build a tower, he first counts if he has sufficient means to finish it. Otherwise when he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, people will laugh at him. Those who choose to lead a glorious and blameless life should store up beforehand in their mind a sufficient zeal. They should remember him who says, "My son, if you come close to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for every temptation. Make your heart straight and endure." How will those who do not have this zeal be able to reach the goal that is set before them?

The Gospel somewhere says that a person who begins to build a tower but stops with the foundations and never completes it is ridiculous. What do we learn from this parable? We learn that we should work to bring every aspiration to a conclusion, completing the work of God by an elaborate building up of his commandments. One stone does not make a complete tower, nor does one commandment bring the perfection of the soul to its desired measure. It is necessary to both erect the foundation and, as the apostle says, "to lay upon it a foundation of gold and precious stones." That is what the products of the commandments are called by the prophet when he says, "I have loved your commandment more than gold and much precious stone."

(lib. de Virg. 17.) For we must be ever pressing onward that we may reach the end of each difficult undertaking by successive increases of the commandments of God, and so to the completion of the divine work. For neither is one stone the whole fabric of the tower, nor does a single command lead to the perfection of the soul. But we must lay the foundation, and according to the Apostle, thereupon must be placed store of gold, silver, and precious stones. (1 Cor. 3:12.) Whence it is added, Lest haply after he hath laid the foundation, &c.

Because lofty precepts have been given, a comparison of building something lofty is immediately added, when it is said: "For which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the costs that are necessary, whether he has enough to complete it?" Everything we do, we ought to anticipate through careful consideration. For behold, according to the voice of Truth, he who builds a tower first prepares the costs of the building. If therefore we desire to construct a tower of humility, we must first prepare ourselves against the adversities of this world. For this is the difference between an earthly and a heavenly building: an earthly building is constructed by gathering expenses, but a heavenly building is constructed by dispersing expenses. For the former we make expenditures if we gather things not possessed; for the latter we make expenditures if we relinquish even what we possess. That rich man could not have these expenditures, who, possessing many properties, sought out the Master, saying: "Good Master, what shall I do to possess eternal life?" When he had heard the command to leave all things, he went away sad, and was made anxious in his mind from the very source by which he was outwardly richer in possessions. For because he loved in this life the expenditures of exaltation, in striving toward the eternal homeland he refused to have the expenditures of humility.

(37. in Ev.) Because He had been giving high and lofty precepts, immediately follows the comparison of building a tower, when it is said, For which of you intending to build a tower does not first count &c. For every thing that we do should be preceded by anxious consideration. If then we desire to build a tower of humility, we ought first to brace ourselves against the ills of this world.

The disciple of God, then, should seek to have the remembrance of his Master Jesus Christ fixed in his soul and to meditate upon it day and night. And it is right for him to know where he should begin, and how and where he must raise the structure of his building, and how he should begin and finish it, that he be not laughed at by all those who pass along the road, even as our Lord spake concerning that man who began to build a tower and was not able to finish it, that he became a laughing-stock and a mockery to all who saw him. And who is this man who began the building of the tower of whom our Redeemer spake, if it be not the man who setteth out on the path of the Gospel of Christ? Now the beginning of the building of this disciple who hath agreed to go forth from the world and to keep the commandments is his promise and his covenant with God; and he should begin, and run his course, and finish it, collecting and bringing together from all places fine stones of a noble life and character for the building of the tower which reacheth up to heaven.

And He hath exposed of old this deceitful thought in His word, and by the hand of that one hath rebuked all the disciples of falsehood, and prevented them from being His disciples. And those who were slack, and slothful, and feeble, either through the love of pleasure, or through the labour of the building, He kept back by saying, "If thou hast money sufficient for building the tower, build it, but if not, it is better that thou shouldst not begin, than that thou shouldst begin and not finish." And behold, by these things He Who called thee to be His disciple hath taught thee that thou shouldst not begin in this path unless thou art determined to finish in it, and that thou shouldst not lay the foundations to build a tower, if thou hast it not in thy mind to finish it, and that thou shouldst not go forth to war against Satan, unless the hosts of mighty thoughts be gathered together about thee, lest having gone forth to war the Enemy overcome thee, and thy discipleship be blasphemed.

It is advanced too late. For after the similitude of that most prudent builder, who first computes the costs of the work, together with his own means, lest, when he has begun, he afterwards blush to find himself spent, deliberation should have been made before.

By the parable of the tower, the Lord teaches us that, having once resolved to follow Him, we should preserve this very intention and not merely lay "a foundation" alone — that is, begin to follow but not follow through to the end, as those who lack sufficient preparation and zeal. Such were those of whom the evangelist John says: "many of His disciples went back from Him" (John 6:66). And every person who has resolved to practice virtue but has not attained to Divine knowledge, since he began virtue imperfectly and unwisely, builds imperfectly, for he cannot reach the tower of lofty knowledge. Therefore he becomes a laughingstock to the people and demons who look upon him. And in another sense: by the foundation you may understand the word of teaching. For the word of a teacher discoursing, for example, on temperance, cast upon the soul of a disciple, is like a foundation. Upon this word, as upon a foundation, there must also be "building" — that is, the accomplishment of deeds — so that the "tower," that is, the virtue which we have intended to practice, may be completed by us, and moreover may be strong before the face of the enemy. And that the word is the foundation, while the deed is the building, the apostle teaches us sufficiently when he says: "I have laid the foundation," Jesus Christ, "and another builds upon it" (1 Cor. 3:10), and further enumerates various buildings (1 Cor. 3:12–15), that is, the accomplishment of deeds either good or evil. Therefore, let us fear lest the demons begin to mock us, of whom the prophet says: "children shall rule over them" (Isa. 3:4) — that is, over those rejected by God.

For we ought not to lay a foundation, i. e. begin to follow Christ, and not bring the work to an end, as those of whom St. John writes, That many of his disciples went backward. (John 6:66.) Or by the foundation understand the word of teaching, as for instance concerning abstinence. There is need therefore of the above-mentioned foundation, that the building up of our works be established, a tower of strength from the face of the enemy. (Ps. 61:3.) Otherwise, man is laughed at by those who see him, men as well as devils.

Lest after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' For, according to Paul's words, we have been made a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. And in all that we do, we must consider our hidden adversaries, who always pay attention to our works, always rejoice in our shortcomings. Observing whom the Prophet says: "My God, in you I trust, I will not be ashamed, nor let my enemies mock me" (Psalm 25). For if we do not vigilantly watch against evil spirits when intent on good works, we suffer the mockers whom we have as persuaders to evil. But since a comparison was given about constructing a building, now a likeness from lesser to greater is added, so that greater things may be weighed from the smallest matters. For it follows:

Third, with regard to the avoidance of impending reproach, he adds: Lest, after he has laid the foundation, namely by undertaking a higher state in imitating Christ — and this is to lay the foundation: First Corinthians 3: "For no one can lay another foundation besides that which has been laid, which is Christ Jesus." One begins to lay this foundation through faith and good works, according to Matthew 7: "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a man who built his house upon the rock." Upon this rock he places the foundation of his dwelling who wishes to imitate Christ perfectly, according to Jeremiah 48: "Leave the cities and dwell in the rock, O inhabitants of Moab," etc. And is not able to finish it, namely through perseverance, as are those of whom it is said above in chapter eight: "They believe for a time and in the time of temptation they fall away." Such are those who destroy by relapsing whatever they had built up by beginning well; Ecclesiasticus 34: "One building and another destroying, what profit have they but labor?" Such are the lax and remiss: Proverbs 18: "He who is soft and lax in his work is the brother of him who squanders his own works."

All who see it, by observing the perfection that was begun; First Corinthians 4: "We have been made a spectacle to the world, and to angels and to men." For what is placed on high is shown to all: Matthew 5: "A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but upon a lampstand, that it may give light to all who are in the house."

But we must consider what is said: "All who see it begin to mock him," because, according to the voice of Paul, "We have been made a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men." And in everything we do, we ought to consider our hidden adversaries, who always press upon our works, who always rejoice at our failure. Beholding these, the Prophet says: "My God, in you I trust; I shall not be ashamed, nor let my enemies mock me." For when we are intent upon good works, unless we vigilantly watch against malign spirits, we suffer as mockers the very ones we have as persuaders to evil.

(ubi sup.) For when occupied in good works, unless we watch carefully against the evil spirits, we find those our mockers who are persuading us to evil. But another comparison is added proceeding from the less to the greater, in order that from the least things the greatest may be estimated. For it follows, Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consultelh whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?

The disciple of God, then, should seek to have the remembrance of his Master Jesus Christ fixed in his soul and to meditate upon it day and night. And it is right for him to know where he should begin, and how and where he must raise the structure of his building, and how he should begin and finish it, that he be not laughed at by all those who pass along the road, even as our Lord spake concerning that man who began to build a tower and was not able to finish it, that he became a laughing-stock and a mockery to all who saw him. And who is this man who began the building of the tower of whom our Redeemer spake, if it be not the man who setteth out on the path of the Gospel of Christ? Now the beginning of the building of this disciple who hath agreed to go forth from the world and to keep the commandments is his promise and his covenant with God; and he should begin, and run his course, and finish it, collecting and bringing together from all places fine stones of a noble life and character for the building of the tower which reacheth up to heaven.

And behold, by these things He Who called thee to be His disciple hath taught thee that thou shouldst not begin in this path unless thou art determined to finish in it, and that thou shouldst not lay the foundations to build a tower, if thou hast it not in thy mind to finish it, and that thou shouldst not go forth to war against Satan, unless the hosts of mighty thoughts be gathered together about thee, lest having gone forth to war the Enemy overcome thee, and thy discipleship be blasphemed.

They begin to mock him, saying: Because this man began to build and was not able to finish: and this by inflicting insults and deriding, because it is greatly shameful for those who turn back and apostatize. For they are mocked by demons; Lamentations 1: "The enemies saw her and mocked at her sabbaths." The spiritual man abhors this mockery: the Psalm: "Neither let my enemies mock me," etc. These enemies mock the incompleteness, according to Nehemiah 4: "Tobias the Ammonite said: Let the Jews build; if a fox goes up, he will leap over their stone wall." Whence Ambrose says: "In everything we do, we ought to consider the hidden adversaries who lie in wait for our works, and unless we keep watch against them, we suffer as mockers those whom we have as persuaders to evil." But he who turns back from what he has begun is mocked for rashness in presuming, for inconstancy in pursuing, for faintheartedness in desisting — and this not only by the devil, but also by the world: Ecclesiasticus 20: "The fool shall have no friend, and there shall be no thanks for his good deeds"; and further: "How often and how many shall mock him," etc.

But we must consider what is said: "All who see it begin to mock him," because, according to the voice of Paul, "We have been made a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men." And in everything we do, we ought to consider our hidden adversaries, who always press upon our works, who always rejoice at our failure. Beholding these, the Prophet says: "My God, in you I trust; I shall not be ashamed, nor let my enemies mock me." For when we are intent upon good works, unless we vigilantly watch against malign spirits, we suffer as mockers the very ones we have as persuaders to evil. But because a comparison has been given concerning the construction of a building, now a similitude is added from lesser to greater, so that greater things may be weighed from the smallest matters.

The disciple of God, then, should seek to have the remembrance of his Master Jesus Christ fixed in his soul and to meditate upon it day and night. And it is right for him to know where he should begin, and how and where he must raise the structure of his building, and how he should begin and finish it, that he be not laughed at by all those who pass along the road, even as our Lord spake concerning that man who began to build a tower and was not able to finish it, that he became a laughing-stock and a mockery to all who saw him. And who is this man who began the building of the tower of whom our Redeemer spake, if it be not the man who setteth out on the path of the Gospel of Christ? Now the beginning of the building of this disciple who hath agreed to go forth from the world and to keep the commandments is his promise and his covenant with God; and he should begin, and run his course, and finish it, collecting and bringing together from all places fine stones of a noble life and character for the building of the tower which reacheth up to heaven.

And behold, by these things He Who called thee to be His disciple hath taught thee that thou shouldst not begin in this path unless thou art determined to finish in it, and that thou shouldst not lay the foundations to build a tower, if thou hast it not in thy mind to finish it, and that thou shouldst not go forth to war against Satan, unless the hosts of mighty thoughts be gathered together about thee, lest having gone forth to war the Enemy overcome thee, and thy discipleship be blasphemed.

Or the ten thousand of him who is going to fight with the king who has twenty, signify the simplicity of the Christian about to contend with the subtlety of the devil.

Or what king, going to engage in war against another king, will not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? Otherwise, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. A king comes against a king in equal battle, and yet, if he perceives that he cannot be sufficient, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. With what tears, therefore, must we hope for pardon, who in that dreadful trial do not come to judgment equally with our king, whom undeniably our condition, weakness, and cause present as inferior? But perhaps we have already severed the faults of evil work, already we have outwardly declined all depravities; do we suffice to give an account of our thoughts? Therefore, when a double army comes against a single one, it examines us, scarcely prepared in our deeds alone, simultaneously concerning our deed and thought. And therefore, while it is still far away, let us send a delegation, let us ask for the things of peace. It is said to be far away, because it is not yet seen presently through judgment. Let us send our delegation, our tears, let us send works of mercy, let us sacrifice on His altar the offerings of placation. This is our delegation, which appeases the coming king.

Or what king going to engage etc. Above he proposed the parable of the man building, here he proposes the parable of the king waging war; in which part indeed three things are introduced, namely the proposal of war, the foresight of danger, and the provision of remedy.

First therefore, as to the proposal of war, he says: Or what king going to engage in war against another king. This king is anyone who governs himself according to the law of God: Proverbs 20: "The king who sits on the throne of judgment" etc.; and Apocalypse 5: "You have made us a kingdom for our God, and we shall reign upon the earth." It belongs to this one to engage in war: because, Job 7, "the life of man upon earth is a warfare." This, however, is to be understood in three ways: either that one engages in war with the king of pride, of whom Job 41: "He is king over all the children of pride"; or with the king of justice, of whom in the Psalm: "You shall rule them with a rod" etc.; or with the king of heavenly providence, of whom Ecclesiastes 5: "Moreover, the king of the whole earth commands" etc.

He engages in war with the king of pride when he dissents from him: Ephesians 6: "Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the world of this darkness." He also engages in war with the king of justice when he wishes to justify himself in the sight of God, because it is said in Jeremiah 2: "Behold, I will contend with you in judgment, because you have said: I have not sinned." So also Job wished to engage, who said in chapter 13: "I will speak to the Almighty, and I desire to dispute with God"; and Jeremiah 12: "Indeed you are just, O Lord, if I dispute with you; yet I will speak what is just to you." He also engages in war with the king of heavenly providence when he prepares himself for the struggle of patience, as it is said in Job 6: "Who will grant that my petition may come, and that God may give me what I await; and that he who has begun may himself crush me"? Thus in three ways war is waged with a king spoken of in three ways.

The first is waged by penance for sins, the second by confidence in merits, and the third by patience under scourges.

Second, as to the foresight of danger, he adds: Does he not first sit down and consider, in order to take forethought, according to that word of Deuteronomy 32: "O that they would be wise and understand, and would foresee their last end"! On account of which, Ephesians 5: "See how you walk carefully, not as unwise, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not become imprudent" etc.

Whether he can with ten thousand meet — namely, to resist — him who comes against him with twenty thousand, to attack. And this admits of a threefold exposition, just as the preceding. For if it is expounded of the king of pride, we meet him through the works of the virtues, which consist in the mean, and which are therefore called ten thousand on account of the observance of the ten commandments; and the adversary comes with a doubled number, because to any virtue there corresponds a twofold vice from the opposite side, according to excess and defect. Whence, because there are more ways to go astray than to go straight, those in the army of the king opposed to us are said to be more numerous; whence Judith 1: "He gloried as one mighty in the power of his army and in the glory of his chariots." But one must neither flee nor fear, because, as is said in 1 Maccabees 3, "it is easy for many to be shut up in the hands of few; and there is no difference in the sight of the God of heaven to deliver by few or by many, for not in the multitude of an army is the victory of war, but from heaven is strength."

But if it is understood of the king of justice, we meet with ten thousand, that is, with confidence in merits from the observance of the ten commandments; and He with twenty thousand, that is, with the severity of judgments, in which there is an examination of works and thoughts. Whence Bede: "He meets with ten thousand who offers the works of the ten commandments, but God comes against him as if with a doubled number, when He examines one scarcely prepared in work alone concerning both work and thought together." From which it is given to understand that just as it is not safe with ten thousand to assail twenty thousand, so it is not safe to contend with that Judge. On account of which, Job 9: "Truly I know that a man is not justified when compared with God. But if he should wish to contend with Him, he could not answer Him one thing out of a thousand." Whence Malachi 3: "Behold, He comes, says the Lord of hosts; and who shall be able to think upon the day of His coming? For He is like a refining fire," etc.; and in the Psalm: "Thou art terrible, and who shall resist Thee?"

But if it is understood of the king of heavenly providence, he goes with ten thousand who wishes to endure great and many things for Christ, but He with twenty thousand, because He endured incomparably more for us, since He Himself is "the giant of twofold substance"; on account of which, in the Psalm: "What shall I render to the Lord for all the things that He has rendered to me?" And Micah 6: "What worthy thing shall I offer to the Lord?" etc.

"Or what king, He says, wishing to make war with another king, does not consider with himself, whether with his ten thousand he can prevail over one who is more mighty than himself?" And what does this mean? "Our wrestle is not against blood and flesh, but against governments; against empires; against the worldholders of this darkness; against wicked spirits in the heavenly regions." We have too a crowd, as it were, of other enemies, the carnal mind, the law that rages in our members, passions of many kinds, the lust of pleasure, the lust of the flesh, the lust of wealth, and others: with these we must wrestle; this is our savage troop of enemies. How therefore shall we conquer? By believing that "in God we shall do valiantly, as Scripture says, and He shall bring to naught those that oppress us:" In this confidence one of the holy prophets said, "Behold the Lord helps me: who shall make me ashamed?" And the divine David also sings, "The Lord is my light, and my Saviour: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the helper of my life, at whom shall I tremble?" For He is our strength, and by Him we shall gain victory: for He has given unto us to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy.

For we fight against spiritual wickedness in high places; (Eph. 6:12.) but there presses upon us a multitude also of other enemies, fleshly lust, the law of sin raging in our members, and various passions, that is, a dreadful multitude of enemies.

But because a comparison has been given concerning the construction of a building, now a similitude is added from lesser to greater, so that greater things may be weighed from the smallest matters. For it follows: "Or what king, going to wage war against another king, does not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Otherwise, while the other is still far away, he sends an embassy and asks for terms of peace." A king comes to battle against another king on equal terms, and yet if he perceives that he cannot be sufficient, he sends an embassy and seeks terms of peace. With what tears, then, ought we to hope for pardon, we who in that dreadful judgment do not come to trial on equal terms with our King, whom our condition, weakness, and cause show to be inferior?

But perhaps we have already cut off the faults of evil works, we already outwardly avoid all wicked things; yet are we sufficient to render an account of our thoughts? For he is said to come with twenty thousand against whom he who comes with ten thousand is by no means sufficient. Ten thousand to twenty thousand is indeed as one to two. But if we make much progress, we barely keep our outward works in righteousness. For even if the lust of the flesh has been cut off, nevertheless it has not yet been cut off completely from the heart. But he who comes to judge examines both outward and inward things together, weighs deeds and thoughts equally. Therefore he comes with a double army against a single one, who examines us, scarcely prepared in works alone, concerning both our works and our thoughts at once.

(in Hom. ut sup.) Or else, in that awful trial we come not to the judgment a match for our king, for ten thousand are against twenty thousand, two against one. He comes with a double army against a single. For while we are scarcely prepared in deeds only, he sifts us at once both in thought and deed. While then he is yet afar off, who though still present in judgment, is not seen, let us send him an embassy, our tears, our works of mercy, the propitiatory victim. This is our message which appeases the coming king.

And this parable teaches us not to be double-minded, not to be nailed to the flesh while cleaving to God, but, if we intend to wage war against the evil powers, to advance against them as against enemies and to oppose them by deed itself. Sin also becomes a king, reigning in our mortal body (Rom. 6:12), when we allow it. But our mind too was created as a king. Therefore, if it intends to rise up against sin, it must wage war against it with all its soul, for its soldiers are strong and terrible, and appear greater and more numerous than us; since the soldiers of sin are demons, who against our ten thousand direct, it seems, a force of twenty thousand. And they, being bodiless and contending with us who live in the body, appear to have greater strength. Nevertheless, we can fight against them, even though they seem stronger than us. For it is said: "Through God we shall do valiantly" (Ps. 60:12) and "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?... Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear" (Ps. 27:1, 3). Moreover, God, who became incarnate for our sake, gave us "authority to tread... over all the power of the enemy" (Luke 10:19). Therefore we, though in the flesh, yet have weapons that are not carnal (2 Cor. 10:3–4). Although by reason of our bodily nature we constitute, it seems, ten thousand against their twenty thousand, by reason of their bodiless nature, nevertheless we must say: "The Lord God is my strength" (Hab. 3:19)!

The king is sin reigning in our mortal body; (Rom. 6:12.) but our understanding also was created king. If then he wishes to fight against sin, let him consider with his whole mind. For the devils are the satellites of sin, which being twenty thousand, seem to surpass in number our ten thousand, because that being spiritual compared to us who are corporeal, they are come to have much greater strength.

Third, as to the provision of a remedy, he adds: Otherwise, while the other is still far off, he sends an embassy and asks for terms of peace, namely, if he recognizes his own weakness with respect to this threefold battle, he labors to avoid that fight. The sending of this embassy is nothing other than the sending of prayer, which the Angels carry on our behalf before the sight of God as our ambassadors: Tobit 12: "When you prayed and gave alms and buried the dead, I offered your prayer before the Lord." This embassy must be sent for repelling the battle of temptations, which come from the king of pride: as Paul prayed, of whom 2 Corinthians 12: "There was given me a thorn in my flesh, an angel of Satan to buffet me: for which reason I three times besought the Lord," etc. — Likewise, this embassy must be sent for repelling the battle of divine contentions, which comes from the king of justice, as the Prophet prayed in the Psalm: "Enter not into judgment with your servant, O Lord, for in your sight no living person shall be justified," etc. The embassy must also be sent for repelling the battle of tribulations, which comes from the king of providence, as Jonah prayed in Jonah 2: "Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish and said: I cried to the Lord from my tribulation, and he heard me."

From which it is gathered that the consideration of danger stirs one to the procurement of a remedy: whence the Gloss: "We, attending to the insufficiency of our frailty, ought to send ahead an embassy of tears, good works, and pure affections to obtain peace from the severe judge." Therefore it is said in Sirach 18: "Before sickness apply the medicine, and before judgment examine yourself, and in the sight of God you will find propitiation. Before sickness humble yourself, and in the time of infirmity show your manner of life," so that thus through the embassy of priests you may find the King appeased.

What then must be done, brothers, except that while we see that we with a single army cannot prevail against his double one, we send an embassy while he is still far off, and ask for terms of peace? For he is said to be far off because he is not yet seen as present through judgment. Let us send to him as our embassy our tears, let us send works of mercy, let us sacrifice upon his altar victims of propitiation, let us recognize that we cannot contend with him in judgment; let us weigh the power of his might, let us ask for terms of peace. This is our embassy, which appeases the coming king. Consider, brothers, how kind it is that he who has the power to crush us by his coming delays to come. Let us send to him, as we said, our embassy, by weeping, by giving, by offering sacred victims. For the victim of the sacred altar, offered with tears and kindness of mind, singularly avails for our absolution, because he who rising again from the dead dies no more, still through this mystery suffers again for us. For as often as we offer to him the victim of his passion, so often do we renew his passion for our absolution.

Many of you, most beloved brethren, as I believe, happened to know what I wish to recall to your memory by narrating it. It is reported to have happened not long before our times that a certain man was captured by enemies and carried off far away; and when he was held in chains for a long time, since his wife did not receive him back from that captivity, she thought him dead. On his behalf, as though he were already deceased, she took care to offer sacrifices every week. His chains were loosened in captivity as many times as sacrifices had been offered by his wife for the release of his soul. For returning after a long time, he told his wife with great wonder that on certain days, every week, his chains were loosened. When his wife examined those days and hours, she recognized that he had been released whenever she remembered that the sacrifice had been offered for him. From this, therefore, most beloved brethren, from this gather by certain consideration how much the sacred sacrifice offered by us is able to loose the bond of the heart in us, if offered by one person it was able to loose the chains of the body in another.

Now to what these comparisons refer, He on the same occasion sufficiently explained, when he said, So likewise whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. The cost therefore of building the tower, and the strength of the ten thousand against the king who has twenty thousand, mean nothing else than that each one should forsake all that he hath. The foregoing introduction tallies then with the final conclusion. For in the saying that a man forsakes all that he hath, is contained also that he hates his father and mother, his wife and children, brothers and sisters, yea and his own wife also. For all these things are a man's own, which entangle him, and hinder him from obtaining not those particular possessions which will pass away with time, but those common blessings which will abide for ever.

Whoever would truly be a follower of God must break the bonds of attachment to this life. This is done through complete separation from and forgetfulness of old habits. It is impossible for us to achieve our goal of pleasing God unless we snatch ourselves away from fleshly ties and worldly society. We are then transported to another world in our manner of living. The apostle said, "But our citizenship is in heaven." The Lord specifically said, "Likewise every one of you that does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be my disciple."

Thus therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be my disciple. The Lord very clearly teaches with this conclusion what it means to build a tower or to make peace with a stronger king: namely, to be his disciple; and to prepare the costs to complete the tower, and to send a delegation to obtain peace, is nothing else but to renounce all that we possess. Among such possessions, even the love of our neighbors, as mentioned earlier, and our own soul, which some think is referred to for this temporal life, must be understood in such a way that we possess it temporarily so that it does not hinder us from the eternal, if anyone should threaten to take it away. There is certainly a difference between renouncing all things and leaving all things; it is for the few and the perfect to leave all things, to set aside the cares of the world, and to aspire solely to eternal desires. But it is for all the faithful to renounce all that they possess, that is, to hold onto worldly things in such a way that they are not held by them in the world; to have temporal things in use, eternal things in desire; to manage earthly things in such a way that yet with the whole mind they strive for heavenly things.

But there is a difference between renouncing all things and leaving all things. For it is the way of few perfect men to leave all things, that is, to cast behind them the cares of the world, but it is the part of all the faithful to renounce all things, that is, so to hold the things of the world as by them not to be held in the world.

So therefore every one of you, etc. After he set forth the parabolic example of the one building and the example of the one waging war, here thirdly he sets down the application of both. And since these examples were introduced to stir us to providence regarding what is opportune and to caution regarding what is harmful and to give spiritual understanding of both: therefore in this part the application of the aforementioned examples is introduced with regard to providence regarding what is opportune, with regard to caution regarding what is harmful, and with regard to the spiritual understanding of both.

First, therefore, as to providence regarding what is opportune, he says: So therefore every one of you who does not renounce all that he possesses, through contempt of temporal things, cannot be my disciple, through the perfection of spiritual things: as if to say: just as the builder cannot finish without resources, nor the one waging war safely undertake battle without soldiers, so no one can perfectly follow Christ unless he renounces all things.

And note that the discipleship of Christ is twofold: one of necessity, as is said in the ninth and sixth chapters of Acts, that those who are now called Christians were accustomed to be called disciples, concerning which discipline, Isaiah 1: "Cease to do perversely, learn to do well." The other is the discipleship of supererogation, by which one follows Christ in the evangelical counsels, concerning which, Matthew 5: "Jesus, seeing the crowds, went up onto the mountain; and when he had sat down, his disciples came to him." For the first discipleship it is necessary to renounce all things, as regards the contempt of earthly things; but for the second it is necessary to leave all things behind, not only as regards affection, but also as regards the thing itself. Whence the Gloss: "This is the difference between renouncing all things and leaving all things behind, because to renounce befits all who so licitly use the worldly things they possess that they nevertheless tend in mind toward eternal things. To leave behind belongs only to the perfect, who set aside all temporal things and long for eternal things alone," and this is necessary for the perfect disciples of Christ, so that they may be conformed to the poverty of the Master. Whence, on that passage of Matthew 19: "Behold, we have left all things and followed you," Bernard says: "Well said, Peter, and not to your folly, because you could not follow one who runs while burdened. He rejoiced as a giant to run his course." For since the first among the teachings of Christ is: "Blessed are the poor in spirit," whoever is ignorant of this consequently does not know "what are the elements of the beginning of the words" of Christ; and through this he is not a disciple of Christ nor does he understand him. And therefore Antiochus, who is interpreted as the silence of poverty, overthrew the foundations of Jerusalem, because he who despises the counsel of poverty cannot be a disciple of the poor Crucified One.

Again, Luke 14 it is said: Unless one renounces all that he possesses, he cannot etc.; The Gloss: "This is the difference between renouncing all things and leaving all things: because renouncing belongs to all who use worldly things that they possess licitly, yet in mind tend toward eternal things; but leaving belongs only to the perfect, who set aside all temporal things and long for eternal things alone." But he who utterly renounces all things both in common and in private most fully sets all things aside: therefore etc.

The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says 'Give me All. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked—the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.'

But there must be a real giving up of the self. You must throw it away 'blindly' so to speak. Christ will indeed give you a real personality: but you must not go to Him for the sake of that. As long as your own personality is what you are bothering about you are not going to Him at all. The very first step is to try to forget about the self altogether... Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours.

But it may also be thus understood, that we who have renounced the world, and have cast away its riches and pomps in the faith of spiritual grace, should only ask for ourselves food and support, since the Lord instructs us, and says, "Whosoever forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple." But he who has begun to be Christ's disciple, renouncing all things according to the word of his Master, ought to ask for his daily food, and not to extend the desires of his petition to a long period, as the Lord again prescribes, and says, "Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow itself shall take thought for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." With reason, then, does Christ's disciple ask food for himself for the day, since he is prohibited from thinking of the morrow; because it becomes a contradiction and a repugnant thing for us to seek to live long in this world, since we ask that the kingdom of God should come quickly. Thus also the blessed apostle admonishes us, giving substance and strength to the stedfastness of our hope and faith: "We brought nothing," says he, "into this world, nor indeed can we carry anything out. Having therefore food and raiment, let us be herewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many and hurtful lusts, which drown men in perdition and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have made shipwreck from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

That those who are snatched from the jaws of the devil, and delivered from the snares of this world, ought not again to return to the world, lest they should lose the advantage of their withdrawal therefrom. In Exodus the Jewish people, prefigured as a shadow and image of us, when, with God for their guardian and avenger, they had escaped the most severe slavery of Pharaoh and of Egypt-that is, of the devil and the world-faithless and ungrateful in respect of God, murmur against Moses, looking back to the discomforts of the desert and of their labour; and, not understanding the divine benefits of liberty and salvation, they seek to return to the slavery of Egypt-that is, of the world whence they had been drawn forth-when they ought rather to have trusted and believed on God, since He who delivers His people from the devil and the world, protects them also when delivered. "Wherefore hast thou thus done with us," say they, "in casting us forth out of Egypt? It is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in this wilderness. And Moses said unto the people, Trust, and stand fast, and see the salvation which is from the Lord, which He shall do to you to-day. The Lord Himself shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace." The Lord, admonishing us of this in His Gospel, and teaching that we should not return again to the devil and to the world, which we have renounced, and whence we have escaped, says: "No man looking back, land putting his hand to the plough, is fit for the kingdom of God." And again: "And let him that is in the field not return back. Remember Lot's wife." And lest any one should be retarded by any covetousness of wealth or attraction of his own people from following Christ, He adds, and says: "He that forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple."

Certainly when he set forth new commandments to those following him, he said: "Unless someone renounces all that he possesses, he cannot be my disciple." As if he were saying openly: You who through your old life covet what belongs to others, through the pursuit of a new way of life give away even your own things. But let us hear what he says in this reading: "Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself." There it is said that we should deny our possessions; here it is said that we should deny ourselves. And perhaps it is not difficult for a person to leave behind his possessions, but it is very difficult to leave behind himself. For it is a lesser thing to deny what one has, but it is a very great thing to deny what one is.

To those coming to him, the Lord commanded that we renounce our possessions, because all of us who come to the contest of faith take up a struggle against evil spirits. But evil spirits possess nothing of their own in this world. Therefore we must wrestle naked against those who are naked. For if someone clothed wrestles with someone naked, he is thrown to the ground more quickly because he has something by which he can be seized. For what are all earthly things except certain garments of the body? Therefore, whoever hastens to the contest against the devil should cast off his garments lest he be overcome. Let him possess nothing in this world by loving it; let him seek no pleasures of passing things, lest where he is covered according to his wish, he be seized for his fall from that very thing.

Many of you, dearest brothers, knew Cassius, bishop of the city of Narni, whose custom it was to offer daily sacrifices to God, so that scarcely any day of his life passed without his immolating a victim of propitiation to almighty God. His life also greatly accorded with his sacrifice. For giving all that he had in alms, when the hour for offering the sacrifice came, as if flowing entirely in tears, he would slay himself with great contrition of heart. I learned of both his life and his death from a certain deacon of venerable life who had been raised by him. For he said that on a certain night the Lord appeared in a vision to his priest, saying: "Go and tell the bishop: Do what you are doing, work what you are working, let not your foot cease, let not your hand cease; on the birthday of the apostles you will come to me, and I will give you your reward." The priest arose, but because the birthday of the apostles was near at hand, he was afraid to announce to the bishop the day of his death being so close. On another night the Lord returned, vehemently rebuked his disobedience, and repeated the same words of his command. Then the priest arose to go, but again weakness of heart became an obstacle to revealing the vision; and he became hardened against going even after the repeated admonition of the command, and neglected to make known what he had seen. But because great kindness, when despised, is usually followed by greater wrath of vengeance, the Lord appearing in a third vision now added blows to words, and he was beaten with such severe stripes that the wounds of his body softened the hardness of his heart. Therefore, instructed by the beating, he arose and went to the bishop, and found him already standing according to custom near the tomb of the blessed martyr Juvenal to offer the sacrifice. He asked for privacy from those standing around, and prostrated himself at his feet. When the bishop could scarcely raise him up as he wept profusely, he endeavored to learn the causes of his tears. But he, about to relate the order of the vision, first let his garment slip from his shoulders and revealed the wounds of his body, witnesses, so to speak, of truth and of fault, showing with what severity of punishment the blows received had furrowed his limbs with inflicted bruises. As soon as the bishop saw these, he was horrified, and with voices of great astonishment inquired who had presumed to do such things to him. But he replied that he had suffered these things on his behalf. Amazement grew with terror; but now the priest, adding no more delays to his inquiry, opened the secret of the revelation, and narrated to him the words of the Lord's command as he had heard them, saying: "Do what you are doing, work what you are working, let not your hand cease, let not your foot cease; on the birthday of the apostles you will come to me, and I will give you your reward." When he heard these things, the bishop prostrated himself in prayer with great contrition of heart, and he who had come at the third hour to offer the sacrifice prolonged it until the ninth hour because of the greatness of his extended prayer. And from that day the gains of his piety increased more and more; and he became as strong in work as he was certain of the reward, since he had already begun, from that promise, to have as his debtor the one to whom he himself had been indebted. Now it had been his custom to come to Rome each year on the birthday of the apostles; but now, suspicious because of this revelation, he was unwilling to come according to custom. Therefore at that time he was anxious, and in the second and third years as well he was held in suspense in expectation of his death; similarly in the fourth, fifth, and sixth years. He might have despaired of the truth of the revelation, if the blows had not given credence to the words. But behold, in the seventh year he arrived unharmed at the sacred vigils of the awaited birthday; but a mild fever touched him during the vigils, and on the very birthday itself he declined to perform the solemnities of Mass for his children who awaited him. But they, because they were equally suspicious about his departure, all came to him together, binding themselves unanimously that they would by no means consent to the solemnities of Mass being celebrated on that day unless their same bishop approached the Lord as intercessor for them. Then he, compelled, celebrated Mass in the oratory of the episcopal residence, and with his own hand gave the Lord's body and peace to all. When the entire ministry of the offered sacrifice was completed, he returned to his bed, and lying there, when he saw his priests and ministers standing around him, as if saying a last farewell, he admonished them about preserving the bond of charity, and proclaimed with what great concord they ought to be united among themselves. When suddenly, in the midst of those very words of holy exhortation, he cried out in a terrible voice, saying: "The hour has come." And immediately he gave to those assisting him with his own hands the linen cloth, which according to the custom for the dying was to be stretched over his face. When it was stretched out, he gave up his spirit, and thus that holy soul, arriving at eternal joys, was released from the corruption of the flesh. Whom, dearest brothers, whom did this man imitate in his death, if not him whom he had contemplated in his life? For saying "The hour has come," he departed from the body, because Jesus also, when all things were accomplished, when he had said "It is finished," bowing his head, gave up his spirit. What therefore the Lord did by his power, the servant did by his calling.

Behold how that embassy sent with daily sacrifices, almsgiving, and tears made so great a peace of grace with the coming King. Therefore let him who can abandon all things. But he who cannot abandon all things, while the King is still far off, let him send an embassy, let him offer the gifts of tears, alms, and sacrifices. For He who knows that He cannot be endured when angry wishes to be appeased by prayers. The reason He still delays His coming is that He awaits an embassy of peace. For He would have come already if He wished, and would have slain all His adversaries. But He both indicates how terrible He will be when He comes, and yet delays His coming, because He does not wish to find any whom He must punish. He announces to us the guilt of our contempt, saying: "So therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be my disciple"; and yet He bestows the remedy of hoped-for salvation, because He who cannot be endured in His wrath wishes to be appeased through an embassy seeking peace. Wash therefore, dearest brothers, the stains of your sins with tears, wipe them away with alms, cleanse them with holy sacrifices. Do not possess through desire what you have not yet abandoned in practice. Fix your hope in the Redeemer alone, pass over in mind to the eternal homeland. For if you no longer possess anything in this world through love, you have abandoned all things even while possessing them.

Do thou then, O disciple, hearken unto the divine voices which exhort thee to go forth after Jesus, and to become absolutely destitute, and then thou wilt become a perfect disciple: "Whosoever denieth not everything that he hath cannot be My disciple." After this what hast thou to say or to answer? For behold with one word all thy doubts and all thy obscure ideas are destroyed; and the word of truth is a sublime path for thee in which to tread. And again in another place He said, "Whosoever doth not forsake everything that he hath, and doth not take up his cross and follow Me, cannot be My disciple." And again, teaching us that we should not only forsake our possessions for the sake of His glory, and deny the world for the sake of confessing Him, but also our transitory life, He said, "Except a man deny himself he cannot be My disciple."

And they must never be reconciled with sin, that is, be enslaved to the passions, but with special force resist them and must conceive an irreconcilable hatred toward them, desiring nothing passionate in the world, but leaving everything. For he cannot be a disciple of Christ who does not leave everything, but has an attachment to something in the world that is harmful to the soul.

Salt is good: But if the salt has also lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? He refers to the preceding, where he commanded not only the beginning but also the completion of the tower of virtues. Indeed, it is good to hear the word of God, to more frequently season the hidden things of the heart with the salt of spiritual wisdom, even to become salt of the earth with the apostles, that is, to suffice for saturating the minds of those who still think of earthly things. But if anyone once enlightened by the seasoning of truth returns to apostasy, by what other teacher will he be corrected, who has rejected the sweetness of wisdom which he himself has tasted, whether terrified by worldly adversities or enticed by allurements? According to what some wise man said: Who will heal the enchanter bitten by the serpent? (Eccl. XII) By which sentence it is not undeservedly believed that Judas Iscariot and his companions themselves are designated, who, overcome by avarice, did not hesitate to betray his rank of apostleship and to hand over the Lord.

He had said above that the tower of virtue was not only to be begun, but also to be completed, and to this belongs the following, Salt is good. It is a good thing to season the secrets of the heart with the salt of spiritual wisdom, nay with the Apostles to become the salt of the earth. (Matt. 5:14.) For salt in substance consists of water and air, having a slight mixture of earth, but it dries up the fluent nature of corrupt bodies so as to preserve them from decay. Fitly then He compares His disciples to salt, inasmuch as they are regenerated by water and the Spirit; and as living altogether spiritually and not according to the flesh, they after the manner of salt change the corrupt life of men who live on the earth, and by their own virtuous lives delight and season their followers.

As if He says, "If a man who has once been enlightened by the seasoning of truth, falls back into apostacy, by what other teacher shall he be corrected, seeing that the sweetness of wisdom which he tasted he has cast away, alarmed by the troubles or allured by the attractions of the world; hence it follows, It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill, &c. For salt when it has ceased to be fit for seasoning food and drying flesh, will be good for nothing. For neither is it useful to the land, which when it is east thereon is hindered from bearing, nor for the dunghill to benefit the dressing of the land. So he who after knowledge of the truth falls back, is neither able to bring forth the fruit of good works himself, nor to instruct others; but he must be cast out of doors, that is, must be separated from the unity of the Church.

Let him hear also not by despising, but by doing what he has learnt.

Second, as regards caution against a harmful thing, he adds: Salt is good, but if the salt loses its savor. By salt is understood every perfect disciple, who ought to season the hearts of others by example and word; whence Matthew 5: "You are the salt of the earth"; which is said because he ought to have the highest discretion in conduct, according to that passage of Colossians 4: "Let your speech always be seasoned with salt in grace"; because, just as food cannot be eaten unless it is seasoned with salt, so neither does the stomach of the heart receive an indiscreet word: Job 6: "Can that which is unsavory be eaten, which is not seasoned with salt?" He ought also to have wisdom in contemplation: whence in Leviticus 2 it is commanded that salt be offered in every sacrifice. And such a one, who is prudent and wise, is rightly the seasoning of the Church by word and example: whence the Gloss: "Salt seasons food, kills worms, dries flesh; so preaching preserves human nature unharmed from the worms of vices and corruption for its Creator."

But then the salt loses its savor when a disciple of Christ becomes undevout in contemplation and indiscreet in action and in preaching, as is said of such ones in Romans 1: "They became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened," etc.; and this is the greatest danger.

Therefore he adds: With what shall it be seasoned? As if to say: with nothing; whence Sirach 12: "Who will have pity on a charmer struck by a serpent?" As if to say that such a one is utterly contemptible and useless, both before God and before men, both in spiritual acts and in temporal ones.

"Salt is good, but if the salt becomes tasteless, with what can it be seasoned? It is cast out," he says. He continues, "Let there be salt in you," that is, the divine words that bring salvation. If we despise these, we become tasteless, foolish and utterly useless. The congregation of the saints must throw out these things, by the gift of mercy and love to them from Christ, the Savior of us all.

For we must continually weigh what is said to the holy apostles, and through the apostles to us: You are the salt of the earth. If therefore we are salt, we ought to season the minds of the faithful. You then, who are shepherds, consider that you are feeding God's animals. Concerning these animals indeed it is said to God through the Psalmist: Your animals shall dwell in it. And we often see that a block of salt is set before brute animals, so that they may lick that same block of salt and be improved. Therefore, like a block of salt among brute animals, so should the priest be among the people. For the priest must take care what he says to each person, how he admonishes each one, so that whoever is joined to the priest may be seasoned with the taste of eternal life, as if from the touch of salt. For we are not the salt of the earth if we do not season the hearts of our hearers. Indeed, he truly bestows this seasoning upon his neighbor who does not withhold the word of preaching.

If therefore the people are the food of God, the priests ought to have been the seasoning of the food. But because while we cease from the practice of prayer and holy instruction, the salt has become tasteless; it cannot season the food of God, and therefore it is not taken up by the Creator, because through our prevailing foolishness it is not seasoned at all.

People of God are truly the salt of the earth. They preserve the order of the world. Society is held together as long as the salt is uncorrupted. If the salt lost its savor, it is neither suitable for the land or the manure pile. It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot. "He that has ears, let him hear" the meaning of these words. When God gives to the tempter permission to persecute us, then we suffer persecution. When God wishes us to be free from suffering even in the middle of a world that hates us, we enjoy a wonderful peace. We trust in the protection of him who said, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

A disciple of Christ must be "salt," that is, he must not only be good in himself and free from evil, but must also communicate goodness to others. For such is salt. It, itself remaining unharmed and free from corruption, preserves from corruption other things to which it imparts this property. But if salt loses its natural power, it is of no use for anything, "it is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill." These words have the following meaning: I desire that every Christian be useful and able to edify, not only the one entrusted with the gift of teaching, such as the apostles, teachers, and pastors, but I require that the laypeople themselves also be fruitful and useful to their neighbors. But if the one who is supposed to serve for the benefit of others is himself worthless and falls from the condition befitting a Christian, then he will be able neither to give benefit nor to receive benefit. "It is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill," it says. The word "land" hints at receiving benefit, and the word "dunghill" at giving benefit. Therefore, as one who neither serves for benefit nor receives benefit, he must be rejected and cast out. Since the speech was obscure and parabolic, the Lord, rousing the listeners so that they would not take what He said simply about salt, said: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear," that is, he who has a mind, let him understand. For by "ears" here one must understand the perceptive faculty of the soul and the capacity for understanding. Thus, every one of us believers is salt, having received this property from the Divine words and from grace above. And that grace is salt, listen to the Apostle Paul: "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt" (Col. 4:6), so that speech, when it is without grace, may be called unsalted. Therefore, if we neglect this property of the Divine words and do not receive it into ourselves and do not make it our own, then we shall be foolish and senseless, and our salt has truly lost its strength, as not possessing the property of heavenly grace.

But not only those who are gifted with the grace of teachers, but private individuals also He requires to become like salt, useful to those around them. But if he who is to be useful to others becomes reprobate, he cannot be profited, as it follows, But if the salt has lost his savour, where-with shall it be seasoned?

But because His discourse was in parables and dark sayings, our Lord, in order to rouse His hearers that they might not receive indifferently what was said of the salt, adds, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear, that is, as he has wisdom let him understand. For we must take the ears here as the perceptive power of the mind and capacity of understanding.

Neither is it fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but it shall be cast outside. Just as salt which has lost its savor, when no longer useful for seasoning food or preserving meat, is good for nothing (for it is not fit for the land, as its application hinders growth, nor for the dunghill, as it harms fertile soil mixed with it, preventing the seeds of crops from sprouting, and rather extinguishes them), so anyone who, after knowing the truth, turns back, neither brings forth the fruit of good works nor cultivates others, but is to be cast outside, that is, to be separated from the unity of the Church, so that, according to the preceding parable, the mocking enemies may say, "This man began to build and was not able to finish." And therefore, the exhortation is very useful when it is said:

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. That is, he who has ears of understanding, with which he can perceive the word of God, let him not despise but hear, obeying and doing what he has learned. For not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work will be blessed in his deed. Amen.

Therefore he adds: It is useful neither for the land nor for the dunghill, but it will be cast out. The Gloss: "Because he who goes backward is able neither to bear fruit himself nor to cultivate others"; indeed, what is more, he renders the land barren, because a perfect man who falls renders others useless for doing good by his bad example. And therefore the man who turns back is compared to the wife of Lot, of whom it is said in Genesis 19 that "looking back, she was turned into a pillar of salt"; and therefore Proverbs 6: "An apostate man, a worthless man, walks with a perverse mouth," etc. Just as therefore a building begun and not completed is useful for nothing, and a man who began and did not finish is derided by all; and similarly he who is overcome in battle: so also the apostate disciple is despised as salt that has lost its savor: whence Matthew 5: "It is good for nothing any longer, except to be cast out and trampled underfoot by men."

Third, as regards the spiritual understanding of both, he adds: He who has ears to hear, let him hear: in which he invites to perfect understanding, so that the aforesaid words may be heard not only as regards their vocal sound, of which it is said in Matthew 13: "The heart of this people has grown dull, and with their ears they have been hard of hearing"; but also as regards spiritual understanding, according to that passage in Job, the last chapter: "With the hearing of the ear I have heard you, but now my eye sees you"; the Psalm: "I will hear what the Lord God speaks within me," etc.; and also as regards practical effect; James 1: "Be doers of the word, and not hearers only." He therefore means to say that the foregoing words are parabolic: and therefore they are to be heard and examined spiritually and not carnally, according to that passage in Proverbs 1: "A wise man hearing shall be wiser, and a man of understanding shall possess counsels: he shall perceive a parable and its interpretation, the words of the wise and their enigmas." Those who hear in this manner receive the word of God most efficaciously, according to that passage in Sirach 24: "Those who hear me shall not be confounded, and those who work in me shall not sin. Those who bring me to light shall have eternal life."

The disciples followed behind His back, in order to see Him, and did not see His face. So He turns round, and, as it were, lowers His majesty, that they might be enabled to behold His face.

They do not wish to be under His teaching for a time only, but enquire where He abides; wishing an immediate initiation in the secrets of His word, and afterwards meaning often to visit Him, and obtain fuller instruction. And, in a mystical sense too, they wish to know in whom Christ dwells, that profiting by their example they may themselves become fit to be His dwelling. Or, their seeing Jesus walking, and straightway enquiring where He resides, is an intimation to us, that we should, remembering His Incarnation, earnestly entreat Him to show us our eternal habitation. The request being so good a one, Christ promises a free and full disclosure. He saith unto them, Come and see: that is to say, My dwelling is not to be understood by words, but by works; come, therefore, by believing and working, and then see by understanding.

"What seek ye?" They said unto Him, "Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Master), where dwellest Thou? He says to them, Come and see. And they came and saw where He dwelt, and abode with Him that day: and it was about the tenth hour." Do we think that it did in no wise pertain to the evangelist to tell us what hour it was? Is it possible that he wished us to give heed to nothing in that, to inquire after nothing? It was the tenth hour. That number signifies the law, because the law was given in ten commandments. But the time had come for the law to be fulfilled by love, because it could not be fulfilled by the Jews by fear. Hence the Lord says, "I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill." Suitably, then, at the tenth hour did these two follow Him, at the testimony of the friend of the Bridegroom, and that He at the tenth hour heard "Rabbi (which is interpreted, Master)." If at the tenth hour the Lord heard Rabbi, and the tenth number pertains to the law, the master of the law is no other than the giver of the law. Let no one say that one gave the law, and that another teaches the law: for the same teaches it who gave it; He is the Master of His own law, and teaches it. And mercy is in His tongue therefore mercifully teacheth He the law, as it is said regarding wisdom, "The law and mercy doth she carry in her tongue." Do not fear that thou art not able to fulfill the law, flee to mercy. If thou canst not fulfill the law, make use of that covenant, make use of the bond, make use of the prayers which the heavenly One, skilled in the law, has ordained and composed for you.

"But Jesus, turning and seeing them following him." Here the reception of the converted disciples is touched upon: whence the Lord turns toward them and addresses them. Therefore he says: "But Jesus, turning and seeing them following him." He turned toward those who turned, according to that passage in Zechariah 1: "Turn to me and I will turn to you." Thus having turned, "he says to them: What do you seek?" He does not say this out of doubt, but to manifest their right intention through their response.

"They said to him: Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where do you dwell?" As if they were saying: we seek you, your teaching, your dwelling. This question is asked by the soul that directly seeks God; Song of Songs 1: "Show me, O you whom my soul loves, where you feed, where you lie down at midday." And because they follow with right intention, therefore they are admitted.

There is a question about what they say: "Rabbi, where do you dwell?" And the Lord showed them his lodging. Against: Matthew 8: "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." There it is said that he had no lodging. It must be said that to have a dwelling place is in two ways: either by right of possession, as wealthy men have; or by the rest of inhabitation, as all have who turn aside to some house to stay. In the first way he did not have one, as a poor man; in the second way he did have one, as one at rest: for he was not a wanderer.

They said unto Him, Rabbi, where dwellest Thou?

Like people well instructed do they that are asked reply. For already do they call Him, Master, thereby clearly signifying their readiness to learn. Then they beg to know His home, as about therein to tell Him at a fit season of their need. For probably they did not think it right to make talk on needful subjects the companion of a journey. Be what is said again to us for a useful pattern.

Those who are asked reply like people who are well instructed. Notice already how they call him "Rabbi," thereby clearly signifying their readiness to learn. Then they beg to know where he lives, since they are looking for an appropriate time to tell him their concerns. They probably did not think it was right to talk about such vital topics as companions on a journey.

"Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye?"

Hence we are taught, that God does not prevent our wills by His gifts, but that when we begin, when we provide the being willing, then He gives us many opportunities of salvation. "What seek ye?" How is this? He who knoweth the hearts of men, who dwelleth in our thoughts, doth He ask? He doth; not that He may be informed; how could that be? but that by the question He may make them more familiar, and impart to them greater boldness, and show them that they are worthy to hear Him; for it was probable that they would blush and be afraid, as being unknown to him, and as having heard such accounts of Him from the testimony of their teacher. Therefore to remove all this, their shame and their fear, he questions them, and would not let them come all the way to the house in silence. Yet the event would have been the same had He not questioned them; they would have remained by following Him, and walking in His steps would have reached His dwelling. Why then did He ask? To effect that which I said, to calm their minds, yet disturbed with shame and anxiety, and to give them confidence.

Nor was it by their following only that they showed their earnest desire, but by their question also: for when they had not as yet learned or even heard anything from Him, they call Him, "Master"; thrusting themselves as it were among His disciples, and declaring what was the cause of their following, that they might hear somewhat profitable. Observe their wisdom also. They did not say, "Teach us of Thy doctrines, or some other thing that we need to know"; but what? "Where dwellest Thou?" Because, as I before said, they wished in quiet to say somewhat to Him, and to hear somewhat from Him, and to learn. Therefore they did not defer the matter, nor say, "We will come to-morrow by all means, and hear thee speak in public"; but showed the great eagerness they had to hear Him, by not being turned back even by the hour, for the sun was already near its setting.

(tom. ii. c. 29) Perhaps it is not without a reason, that after six testimonies John ceases to bear witness, and Jesus asks seventhly, What seek ye?

An avowal, befitting persons who came from hearing John's testimony. They put themselves under Christ's teaching, and express their desire to see the dwelling of the Son of God.

At once his disciples, who were present, after hearing his words, left John and hurried to go to Jesus about whom John testified. "When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, 'What are you looking for?' " He did not say this out of ignorance but rather in order to give them an occasion to trust him. They immediately called him "Rabbi" and showed their profound intention, that is, that they had been led to Jesus for no other reason but the desire to obey him as a teacher. And at the same time they asked him where he lived, as if they wanted to come to him often. He did not point out a house but told them to come along with him and see, by giving them the space for greater familiarity and trust toward him.

The Evangelist Matthew, having recounted the baptism of the Lord, immediately leads Him up to the mountain for the temptation, while the present evangelist, omitting what Matthew related, narrates the events that took place after the Lord's descent from the mountain. Thus, John's disciples follow Christ and go to Him after He came down from the mountain and endured the temptation. In my opinion, this combination of events shows that no one should assume the office of teacher before he has ascended to the height of virtue (for this is what is signified by the mountain), conquered every temptation, and obtained the sign of triumph over the tempter. These disciples first follow Jesus, and only then ask Him where He lives. For they needed to converse with Him not openly, in the presence of many, but privately, as about a matter of necessity. They do not even ask first themselves, but Christ Himself leads them to the question. "What do you seek?" He says to them. He asks not because He did not know (He who knows the hearts of men), but so that by His question He might draw them to express their desire. Probably they were ashamed and afraid of Jesus after John's testimony that He is above man. And you, I ask you, marvel at their good sense. They not only followed after Jesus, but also call Him "Rabbi," which means "Teacher," and this when they had not yet heard anything from Him. However, wishing to learn something from Him in private, they ask Him: where do You live? For in quietness it is easier both to speak and to hear.

The consummation of this fruit is now set forth (v 38), for what John began is completed by Christ, since "the law brought nothing to perfection" (Heb 7:19). And Christ does two things. First, he questions the disciples who were following him. Secondly, he teaches them (v 39). As to the first we have: first, the question of Christ is given; secondly, the answer of the disciples.

He says, Jesus turned around, and seeing them following him said. According to the literal sense we should understand that Christ was walking in front of them, and these two disciples, following him, did not see his face at all; and so Christ turns to them to bolster their confidence. This lets us know that Christ gives confidence and hope to all who begin to follow him with a pure heart: "She goes to meet those who desire her" (Wis 6:14). Now Jesus turns to us in order that we may see him; this will happen in that blessed vision when he will show us his face, as is said: "Show us your face, and we will be saved" (Ps 79:4). For as long as we are in this world we see his back, because it is through his effects that we acquire a knowledge of him; so it is said, "You will see my back" (Ex 33:23). Again, he turns to give us the riches of his mercy. This is requested in Psalm 89 (13): "Turn to us, O Lord." For as long as Christ withholds the help of his mercy he seems to be turned away from us. And so Jesus turned to the disciples of John who were following him in order to show them his face and to pour his grace upon them.

Christ examines them specifically about their intention. For all who follow Christ do not have the same intention: some follow him for the sake of temporal goods, and others for spiritual goods. And so the Lord asks their intention, saying, What are you looking for?; not in order to learn their intention, but so that, after they showed a proper intention, he might make them more intimate friends and show that they are worthy to hear him.

It may be remarked that these are the first words which Christ speaks in this Gospel. And this is appropriate, because the first thing that God asks of a man is a proper intention. And, according to Origen, after the six words that John had spoken, Christ spoke the seventh. The first words spoken by John were when, bearing witness to Christ, he cried out, saying, "This is the one of whom I said." The second is when he said, "I am not worthy to unfasten the strap of his sandal." The third is, "I baptize with water. But there is one standing in your midst whom you do not recognize." The fourth is, "Look! There is the Lamb of God." The fifth, "I saw the Spirit coming down on him from heaven like a dove." The sixth, when he says here, "Look! There is the Lamb of God." But it is Christ who speaks the seventh words so that we may understand, in a mystical sense, that rest, which is signified by the seventh day, will come to us through Christ, and that in him is found the fulness of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The disciples answer; and although there was one question, they gave two answers. First, why they are following Christ, namely, to learn; thus they call him Teacher, Rabbi (which means Teacher). As if to say: We ask you to teach us. For they already knew what is stated in Matthew (23:10): "You have one Teacher, the Christ." The second answer is what they want in following him, that is, Where do you live? And literally, it can be said that in truth they were looking for the home of Christ. For because of the great and wonderful things they had heard about him from John, they were not satisfied with questioning him only once and in a superficial way, but wanted to do so frequently and seriously. And so they wanted to know where his home was so that they might visit him often, according to the advice of the wise man: "If you see a man of understanding, go to him early" (Sir 6:36), and "Happy is the man who hears me, who watches daily at my gates" (Prv 8:34).

In the allegorical sense, God's home is in heaven, according to the Psalm (122:1): "I have lifted up my eyes to you, who live in heaven." So they asked where Christ was living because our purpose in following him should be that Christ leads us to heaven, i.e., to heavenly glory.

Finally, in the moral sense, they ask, Where do you live? as though desiring to learn what qualities men should possess in order to be worthy to have Christ dwell in them. Concerning this dwelling Ephesians (2:22) says: "You are being built into a dwelling place for God." And the Song (1:6) says: "Show me, you whom my soul loves, where you graze your flock, where you rest at midday."

(Tr. vii. c. 9) What a blessed day and night was that! Let us too build up in our hearts within, and make Him an house, whither He may come and teach us.

(Tr. vii. c. 10) The number here signifies the law, which was composed of ten commandments. The time had come when the law was to be fulfilled by love, the Jews, who acted from fear, having been unable to fulfil it, and therefore was it at the tenth hour that our Lord heard Himself called, Rabbi; none but the giver of the law is the teacher of the law.

"He says to them: Come and see. They came and saw where he was staying." Conversely, the one who sought with an improper intention was rebuffed: in Matthew chapter eight, a scribe said to him: "Master, I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus said to him: Foxes have dens, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." And because one who does not persevere converts in vain, therefore he says: And "they stayed there that day." And the reason is given: "It was about the tenth hour." In this is signified the day of grace, which is the last, in which one must persevere: 1 John chapter two: "Now we know, beloved, that it is the last hour." In this last hour one must remain with the Lord Jesus; Luke chapter twenty-two: "You are those who have persevered with me."

He saith unto them, Come and see.

He doth not point out the house, though asked to do it, but rather bids them come forthwith to it: teaching first, as by example, that it is not well to cast delays in the way of search after what is good (for delay in things profitable is altogether hurtful): and this too besides, that to those who are still ignorant of the holy house of our Saviour Christ, that is, the Church, it will not suffice to salvation that they should learn where it is, but that they should enter into it by faith, and see the things mystically wrought therein.

They came and saw where He dwelt, and abode with Him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.

Assiduously did the disciples apply themselves to the attainment of the knowledge of the Divine Mysteries. For I do not think that a fickle mind beseems those who desire to learn, but rather one most painstaking, and superior to feeble mindedness in good toils, so as during their whole life time to excel in perfect zeal. For this I think the words, they abode with Him that day, darkly signify. But when he says, it was about the tenth hour, we adapting our own discourse to each man's profit, say that in this very thing, the compiler of Divinity through this so subtle handling again teacheth us, that not in the beginning of the present world was the mighty mystery of our Saviour made known, but when time now draws towards its close. For in the last days, as it is written, we shall be all taught of God. Take again I pray as an image of what has been said about the tenth hour, the disciples cleaving to the Saviour, of whom the holy Evangelist says that having once become His guests they abode with Him: that they who through faith have entered into the holy house, and have run to Christ, may learn that it needs to abide with Him, and not to desire to be again estranged, either turning aside into sin, or again returning to unbelief.

And therefore Christ does not tell them the marks of His abode, nor its situation, but rather induces them to follow Him by showing them that He had accepted them. For this reason He did not say anything of this kind to them, "It is an unseasonable time now for you to enter into the house, to-morrow you shall hear if you have any wish, return home now"; but converses with them as with friends, and those who had long been with Him.

How then saith He in another place, "But the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head," while here He saith, "Come and see" where I abide? Because the expression "hath not where to lay His head," signifies that He had no dwelling place of His own, not that He did not abide in a house. And this too is the meaning of the comparison. The Evangelist has mentioned that "they abode with Him that day," but has not added wherefore, because the reason was plain; for from no other motive did they follow Christ, and He draw them to Him, but only that they might have instruction; and this they enjoyed so abundantly and eagerly even in a single night, that they both proceeded straightway to the capture of others.

(tom. ii. c. 29) Or perhaps come, is an invitation to action; see, to contemplation.

The Lord does not tell them the signs of the house, but says: "Come and see." He does this in order to draw them even more to follow Him, and at the same time to reveal the strength of their desire in the event that they are not deterred by the journey. For if they had followed Jesus with cold feeling, they would not have resolved to go all the way to the house. How can one reconcile the fact that Christ is here presented as having a house, while in another place it is said that the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head (Luke 9:58)? One does not contradict the other. For when He says that He has nowhere to lay His head, He does not mean that He had absolutely no shelter at all, but that He had none of His own. So even if He did live in a house, He lived not in His own house, but in someone else's. The Evangelist notes the time, that "it was about the tenth hour," not without purpose, but in order to teach both teachers and students not to postpone their work to another time; the teacher must not put it off and say: today is late, you will learn tomorrow; and the student must recognize every time as suitable for learning, and not postpone listening until tomorrow. And we also learn that the disciples were so temperate and sober that they devoted to listening a time which others spend in bodily rest, being weighed down with food and having become incapable of engaging in important matters. True disciples of John the faster! Note, if you will, that Jesus turns to those who follow Him and shows them His face. For if you do not follow after Jesus through your own good works, you will not attain the contemplation of the Lord's face, that is, you will not attain enlightenment by divine knowledge. For light is the dwelling of Christ, as it is said: "dwelling in unapproachable light" (1 Tim. 6:16). And how shall one who has not cleansed himself and does not walk the path of purification be enlightened by knowledge?

And it was about the tenth hour. The Evangelist mentions the time of day purposely, as a hint both to teachers and learners, not to let time interfere with their work.

Then when he says, Come and see, Christ's instruction of the disciples is given. First we have the instruction of the disciples by Christ; secondly, their obedience is cited; and thirdly, the time is given.

First he says, Come and see, that is, where I live. There is a difficulty here: for since the Lord says, "The Son of Man does not have any place to lay his head" (Mt 8:20), why does he tell them to Come and see where he lives? I answer, according to Chrysostom, that when the Lord says, "The Son of Man does not have any place to lay his head," he showed that he had no home of his own, but not that he did not remain in someone else's home. And such was the home he invited them to see, saying, Come and see.

In the mystical sense, he says, Come and see, because the dwelling of God, whether of glory or grace, cannot be known except by experience: for it cannot be explained in words: "I will give him a white stone upon which is written a new name, which no one knows but he who receives it" (Rv 2:17). And so he says, Come and see: Come, by believing and working; and see, by experiencing and understanding.

It should be noted that we can attain to this knowledge in four ways. First, by doing good works; so he says, Come: "When shall I come and appear before the face of God" (Ps 41:3). Secondly, by the rest or stillness of the mind: "Be still and see" (Ps 45:10). Thirdly, by tasting the divine sweetness: "Taste and see that the Lord is sweet" (Ps 33:9). Fourthly, by acts of devotion: "Let us lift up our hearts and hands in prayer" (Lam 3:41). And so the Lord says: "It is I myself. Feel and see" (Lk 24:39).

Next the obedience of the disciples is mentioned; for immediately they went and saw, because by coming they saw him, and seeing they did not leave him. Thus it says, and they stayed with him the rest of that day, for as stated below (6:45): "Every one who hears the Father, and has learned, comes to me." For those who leave Christ have not yet seen him as they should. But those who have seen him by perfectly believing stayed with him the rest of that day; hearing and seeing that blessed day, they spent a blessed night: "Happy are your men, and happy are your servants, who always stand before you" (1 Kgs 8:10). And as Augustine says: "Let us also build a dwelling in our heart and fashion a home where he may come and teach us."

And he says, that day, because there can be no night where the light of Christ is present, where there is the Sun of justice.

The time is given when he says, It was about the tenth hour. The Evangelist mentions this in order that, considering the literal sense, he might give credit to Christ and the disciples. For the tenth hour is near the end of the day. And this praises Christ who was so eager to teach that not even the lateness of the hour induced him to postpone teaching them; but he taught them at the tenth hour. "In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not let your hands be idle" (Ecc 11:6).

The moderation of the disciples is also praised, because even at the tenth hour, when men usually have eaten and are less self-possessed for receiving wisdom, they were both self-possessed and prepared to hear wisdom and were not hindered because of food or wine. But this is not unexpected, for they had been disciples of John, whose drink was water and whose food was the locust and wild honey.

According to Augustine, however, the tenth hour signifies the law, which was given in ten precepts. And so the disciples came to Christ at the tenth hour and remained with him to be taught so that the law might be fulfilled by Christ, since it could not be fulfilled by the Jews. And so at that hour he is called Rabbi, that is, Teacher.

Or perhaps He does not actually give him the name now, but only fixes beforehand what He afterwards gave him when He said, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build My Church. And while about to change his name, Christ wishes to show that even that which his parents had given him, was not without a meaning. For Simon signifies obedience, Joanna grace, Jona a dove: as if the meaning was; Thou art an obedient son of grace, or of the dove, i. e. the Holy Spirit; for thou hast received of the Holy Spirit the humility, to desire, at Andrew's call, to see Me. The elder disdained not to follow the younger; for where there is meritorious faith, there is no order of seniority.

The Evangelist John, again, tells us that before Jesus went into Galilee, Peter and Andrew were with him one day. He also tells us that on that occasion the former had this name, Peter, given to him, while before that he was called Simon. Likewise, John tells us that on the day following, when Jesus now wanted to go up to Galilee, he found Philip and told him to follow him. In this way, too, the Evangelist comes to give the narrative about Nathanael. Further, he informs us that on the third day, when he was yet in Galilee, Jesus brought about the miracle of the turning of the water into wine at Cana. All these incidents are left unrecorded by the other Evangelists, who continue their narratives at once with the statement of the return of Jesus into Galilee. From this, we are to understand that there was an interval here of several days during which those incidents took place in the history of the disciples that are inserted at this point by John. Neither is there anything contradictory here to that other passage where Matthew tells us how the Lord said to Peter, "You are Peter, and on this rock will I build my church." But we are not to understand that that was the time when he first received this name. We are rather to suppose that this took place on the occasion when it was said to him, as John mentions, "You shall be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, 'a rock.' " Thus the Lord could address him at that later period by this very name when he said, "You are Peter." For he does not say then, "You shall be called Peter" but "You are Peter," because on a previous occasion it had already been said, "You shall be called."

"And he brought him to Jesus; and when Jesus beheld him, He said, Thou art Simon the son of Joannes: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, Peter." It is not a great thing that the Lord said whose son Peter was. What is great to the Lord? He knew all the names of His own saints, whom He predestinated before the foundation of the world; and dost thou wonder that He said to one man, Thou art the son of this man, and thou shalt be called this or that? Is it a great matter that He changed his name, and converted it from Simon to Peter? Peter is from petra, a rock, but the petra [rock] is the Church; in the name of Peter, then, was the Church figured. And who is safe, unless he who builds upon the rock? And what saith the Lord Himself? "He that heareth these my words, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man building his house upon a rock" (he doth not yield to temptation). "The rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth my words, and doeth them not" (now let each one of us fear and beware), "I will liken him to a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand: the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." What profit is it to enter the Church for him who builds upon the sand? For, by hearing and not doing, he builds indeed, but on the sand. For if he hears nothing, he builds nothing; but if he hears, he builds. But we ask, Where? For if he hears and does, he builds upon the rock; if he hears and does not, he builds upon the sand. There are two kinds of builders, those building upon the rock, and those building upon the sand. What, then, are those who do not hear? Are they safe? Does He say that they are safe because they do not build? They are naked beneath the rains, before the winds, before the floods; when these come, they carry away: those persons before they overthrow the houses. It is then the only security, both to build, and to build upon the rock. If thou wilt hear and do not, thou buildest; but thou buildest a ruin: and when temptation comes it overthrows the house, and carries away thee with the ruin. But if thou dost not hear, thou art naked; thou thyself art dragged away by those temptations. Hear, then, and do; it is the only remedy. How many, perchance, on this day, by hearing and not doing, are hurried away on the stream of this festival! For, through hearing and not doing, the flood cometh, this annual festival; the torrent is filled, it will pass away and become dry, but woe to him whom it shall carry away! Know this, then, beloved, that unless a man hears and does, he builds not upon the rock, and he does not belong to that great name which the Lord so commended. For He has called thy attention. For if Simon had been called Peter before, thou wouldest not have so clearly seen the mystery of the rock, and thou wouldest have thought that he was called so by chance, not by the providence of God; therefore God willed that he should be called first something else, that by the very change of name the reality of the sacrament might be commended to our notice.

(Tr. vii. c. 14) There was nothing very great in our Lord saying whose son he was, for our Lord knew the names of all His saints, having predestinated them before the foundation of the world. But it was a great thing for our Lord to change his name from Simon to Peter. Peter is from petra, rock, which rock is the Church: so that the name of Peter represents the Church. And who is safe, unless he build upon a rock? Our Lord here rouses our attention: for had he been called Peter before, we should not have seen the mystery of the Rock, and should have thought that he was called so by chance, and not providentially. God therefore made him to be called by another name before, that the change of that name might give vividness to the mystery.

(de Con. Evang. l. ii. c. 17) The account here of the two disciples on the Jordan, who follow Christ (before he had gone into Galilee) in obedience to John's testimony; viz. of Andrew bringing his brother Simon to Jesus, who gave him, on this occasion, the name of Peter; disagrees considerably with the account of the other Evangelists, viz. that our Lord found these two, Simon and Andrew, fishing in Galilee, and then bid them follow Him: unless we understand that they did not regularly join our Lord when they saw Him on the Jordan; but only discovered who He was, and full of wonder, then returned to their occupations. Nor must we think that Peter first received his name on the occasion mentioned in Matthew, when our Lord says, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build My Church; (Mat. 16:18) but rather when our Lord says, Thou shall be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

(Hom. i. Temp. Hier. in Vig. S. Andr.) He beheld him not with His natural eye only, but by the insight of His Godhead discerned from eternity the simplicity and greatness of his soul, for which he was to be elevated above the whole Church. In the word Peter, we must not look for any additional meaning, as though it were of Hebrew or Syriac derivation; for the Greek and Latin word Peter, has the same meaning as Cephas; being in both languages derived from petra. He is called Peter on account of the firmness of his faith, in cleaving to that Rock, of which the Apostle speaks, And that Rock was Christ; (1 Cor. 10:4) which secures those who trust in it from the snares of the enemy, and dispenses streams of spiritual gifts.

"And he brought him to Jesus"; Revelation, last chapter: "Let him who hears say: Come; and let him who thirsts come." "But Jesus, looking upon him." Here the acceptance of the disciples' preaching is touched upon, because the Lord accepts both the calling and the preaching of Andrew, by receiving Peter: on account of which he imposes a name upon him as his own disciple. Therefore he says: "But looking upon him," namely Peter, "Jesus," with eyes of benevolence: concerning which gaze, Genesis chapter forty-four: "Bring your brother to me, and I will set my eyes upon him"; "he said: You are Simon, son of Joannas." He speaks his name in order to impose another: "You shall be called Cephas, which is interpreted Peter"; Bede: "It should be known that in the Syriac language Cephas, in Greek and Latin Peter, and in both languages it is derived from rock." Therefore the Lord says to him in Matthew chapter sixteen: "You are Peter, and upon this rock," from which, namely, you received your name, that is, upon me, "I will build my Church"; 1 Corinthians chapter ten: "And the rock was Christ." "You shall be called Peter," that is, from the firm rock Christ, whom you will ardently love, you will receive your name.

It is asked: "You shall be called Cephas," whether he imposed this name upon him at that time? The Interlinear Gloss says: "He does not yet impose the name upon him, but prefigures it." Likewise in Mark 3 it is said that the Lord called the twelve; and then "he imposed upon Simon the name Peter." Likewise in Matthew 16 it is said that he imposed it then, when he made his confession. It is commonly answered that this name Peter was here prefigured, in Mark 3 imposed, and in Matthew 16 confirmed. But Augustine contradicts this solution, saying that this name was imposed upon Peter when he was led by Andrew to Christ; and Bede likewise says on Mark 3 that it was not then imposed, but before. On this account it must be said that it was at this time imposed upon him, but nevertheless was not made public; because he was not yet from that time called Peter by others, but by his other, former name; but afterward, in Mark 3, he willed that he be called by this name; and in Matthew 16 this naming is rendered celebrated through the dignity befitting the name.

Likewise it is asked: why did the Lord impose a name upon Peter at his calling rather than upon the others? It seems that he was a respecter of persons, because he conferred the dignity of a name without merit. To this Pelagius responds that he did this on account of the greater natural vigor which he saw in Peter: whence it is said: "Jesus, looking upon him"; and Pelagius says that through natural endowments it is possible to merit. To this it must be responded that God sees not only exterior things, but also interior things: not only those things which are, but also those things which are to come: therefore as a sign that he was to be the future pastor of the Church, a name is imposed upon him. But as for what Pelagius says: "He looked upon his natural vigor"; Victor rejects this: whence he says: "He does not add a greater edifice of virtue on account of the foundation of natural endowments, as Pelagius falsely claimed, drawing from this the kindling of error: but he looked upon him with the eye of mercy and benignity."

There is also a question: why are names not now changed for those who enter religious life, or even for those who are converted to Christ? To this Chrysostom responds that the change of name was made as an incitement to virtues. Since therefore we now have one name which is most inciting to virtue, we ought to be content with that name: and this name is that of Christianity, because we are all called Christians. Nevertheless the Roman Church still preserves the change of name in the Supreme Pontiff.

He after a Divine sort looketh upon him, Who seeth the hearts and reins; and seeth to how great piety the disciple will attain, of how great virtue he will be possessed, and at what consummation he will leave off. For He Who knoweth all things before they be is not ignorant of ought. And herein does He specially instruct him that is called, that being Very God, He hath knowledge untaught. For not having needed a single word, nor even sought to learn who or whence the man came to Him; He says of what father he was born, and what was his own name, and permits him to be no more called Simon, already exercising lordship and power over him, as being His: but changes it to Peter from Petra: for upon him was He about to found His Church.

And behold, I beg of you, the mind of Peter obedient and tractable from the very beginning; he ran to Him without any delay; "He brought him," saith St. John, "to Jesus." Yet let no one blame his easy temper if he received the word without much questioning, because it is probable that his brother had told him these things more exactly and at length; but the Evangelists from their care for conciseness constantly cut many things short. Besides, it is not said absolutely that "he believed," but that "he brought him to Jesus," to give him up for the future to Him, so that from Him he might learn all; for the other disciple also was with him, and contributed to this. And if John the Baptist, when he had said that He was "the Lamb," and that He "baptized with the Spirit," gave them over to learn the clearer doctrine concerning this thing from Him, much more would Andrew have done this, not deeming himself sufficient to declare the whole, but drawing him to the very fount of light with so much zeal and joy, that the other neither deferred nor delayed at all.

"And when Jesus beheld him," saith the Evangelist, "He said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonas; thou shalt be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, a stone."

He begins from this time forth to reveal the things belonging to His Divinity, and to open It out little by little by predictions. So He did in the case of Nathaniel and the Samaritan woman. For prophecies bring men over not less than miracles; and are free from the appearance of boasting. Miracles may possibly be slandered among foolish men, ("He casteth out devils," said they, "by Beelzebub"), but nothing of the kind has ever been said of prophecy. Now in the case of Nathaniel and Simon He used this method of teaching, but with Andrew and Philip He did not so. Why was this? Because those (two) had the testimony of John, no small preparation, and Philip received a credible evidence of faith, when he saw those who had been present.

"Thou art Simon, the son of Jonas." By the present, the future is guaranteed; for it is clear that He who named Peter's father foreknew the future also. And the prediction is attended with praise; but the object was not to flatter, but to foretell something future.

But Peter makes no reply to these words; as yet he knew nothing clearly, but still was learning. And observe, that not even the prediction is fully set forth; for Jesus did not say, "I will change thy name to Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church," but, "Thou shalt be called Cephas." The former speech would have expressed too great authority and power; for Christ does not immediately nor at first declare all His power, but speaks for a while in a humbler tone; and so, when He had given the proof of His Divinity, He puts it more authoritatively, saying, "Blessed art thou, Simon, because My Father hath revealed it to thee"; and again, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church." Him therefore He so named, and James and his brother He called "sons of thunder." Why then doth He this? To show that it was He who gave the old covenant, that it was He who altered names, who called Abram "Abraham," and Sarai "Sarah," and Jacob "Israel." To many he assigned names even from their birth, as to Isaac, and Samson, and to those in Isaiah and Hosea; but to others He gave them after they had been named by their parents, as to those we have mentioned, and to Joshua the son of Nun. It was also a custom of the Ancients to give names from things, which in fact Leah also has done; and this takes place not without cause, but in order that men may have the appellation to remind them of the goodness of God, that a perpetual memory of the prophecy conveyed by the names may sound in the ears of those who receive it. Thus too He named John early, because they whose virtue was to shine forth from their early youth, from that time received their names; while to those who were to become great at a later period, the title also was given later.

Andrew brought Simon to Jesus not because Simon was frivolous and carried away by every word, but because he was very quick and ardent, and readily accepted the words that his brother conveyed to him about Christ. For Andrew probably expressed a great deal to Simon and proclaimed Christ thoroughly, since he had spent considerable time with Christ and learned something most mysterious. But if anyone continues to accuse Peter of frivolity, let such a person also know that it is not written that he immediately believed Andrew, but that Andrew brought him to Jesus; and this is the act of a mind more firm than impressionable. For Simon did not simply accept Andrew's words, but wished to see Christ as well, so that if he found in Him something worthy of the reports, he would follow Him, but if he did not, he would turn back — so that the bringing of Simon to Jesus is a sign not of his frivolity, but of his thoroughness. What then does the Lord do? He begins to reveal Himself to him through a prophecy about him. Since prophecies convince people no less than miracles, if not more, the Lord prophesies about Peter. "You," He says, "are Simon, the son of Jonah." Then He also reveals the future: "You shall be called Cephas." Having declared the present, through this He also gives assurance concerning the future. However, He did not say "I will rename you Peter," but rather "you shall be called"; for at first He did not wish to display His full authority, since they did not yet have firm faith in Him. Why then does the Lord call Simon "Peter," and the sons of Zebedee "sons of thunder"? In order to show that it was the same One who gave the Old Testament who now also changes names, just as He then called Abram "Abraham" and Sarai "Sarah" (Gen. 17:5, 15). Know also that "Simon" means obedience, and "Jonah" means dove. Thus, obedience is born from meekness, which is signified by the dove. And whoever has obedience also becomes a Peter, through obedience attaining firmness in good.

Thirdly, he mentions the fruit he produced, because he brought him, that is, Peter, to Jesus. This gives recognition to Peter's obedience, for he came at once, without delay. And consider the devotion of Andrew: for he brought him to Jesus and not to himself (for he knew that he himself was weak); and so he leads him to Christ to be instructed by him. This shows us that the efforts and the aim of preachers should not be to win for themselves the fruits of their preaching, i.e., to turn them to their own private benefit and honor, but to bring them to Jesus, i.e., to refer them to his glory and honor: "What we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ," as is said in 2 Corinthians (4:5).

The consummation of this fruit is given when he says, Looking at him intently Jesus said. Here Christ, wishing to raise him up to faith in his divinity, begins to perform works of divinity, making known things that are hidden. First of all, things which are hidden in the present: so looking at him, i.e., as soon as Jesus saw him, he considered him by the power of his divinity and called him by name, saying, You are Simon. This is not surprising, for as it is said: "Man sees the appearances, but the Lord sees the heart" (1 Sm 16:7). This name is appropriate for the mystery. For "Simon" means "obedient," to indicate that obedience is necessary for one who has been converted to Christ through faith: "He gives the Holy Spirit to all who obey him" (Acts 5:32).

Secondly, he reveals things hidden in the past. Hence he says, son of John, because that was the name of Simon's father; or he says, "son of Jonah," as we find in Matthew (16:17), "Simon Bar-Jonah." And each name is appropriate to this mystery. For "John" means "grace," to indicate that it is through grace that men come to the faith of Christ: "You are saved by his grace" (Eph 2:5). And "Jonah" means "dove," to indicate that it is by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us, that we are made strong in our love for God: "The love of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit" (Rom 5:5).

Thirdly, he reveals things hidden in the future. So he says, you are to be called Cephas (which is translated Peter), and in Greek, "head." And this is appropriate to this mystery, which is that he who was to be the head of the others and the vicar of Christ should remain firm. As Matthew (16:18) says: "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church."

There is a question here about the literal meaning. First, why did Christ give Simon a name at the beginning of his conversion, rather than will that he have this name from the time of his birth? Two different answers have been given for this. The first, according to Chrysostom, is that divinely given names indicate a certain eminence in spiritual grace. Now when God confers a special grace upon anyone, the name indicating that grace is given at one's birth: as in the case of John the Baptist, who was named before he was born, because he had been sanctified in his mother's womb. But sometimes a special grace is given during the course of one's life: then such names are divinely given at that time and not at birth: as in the case of Abraham and Sarah, whose names were changed when they received the promise that their posterity would multiply. Likewise, Peter is named in a divine way when he is called to the faith of Christ and to the grace of apostleship, and particularly because he was appointed Prince of the apostles of the entire Church—which was not done with the other apostles.

But, according to Augustine, if he had been called Cephas from birth, this mystery would not have been apparent. And so the Lord willed that he should have one name at birth, so that by changing his name the mystery of the Church, which was built on his confession of faith, would be apparent. Now "Peter" (Petrus) is derived from "rock" (petra). But the rock was Christ. Thus, the name "Peter" signifies the Church, which was built upon that solid and immovable rock which is Christ.

The second question is whether this name was given to Peter at this time, or at the time mentioned by Matthew (16:18). Augustine answers that this name was given to Simon at this time; and at the event reported by Matthew the Lord is not giving this name but reminding him of the name that was given, so that Christ is using this name as already given. But others think that this name was given when the Lord said, "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church" (Mt 16:18); and in this passage in the Gospel of John, Christ is not giving this name, but foretelling what will be given later.

The third question is about the calling of Peter and Andrew: for here it says that they were called near the Jordan, because they were John's disciples; but in Matthew (4:18) it says that Christ called them by the Sea of Galilee. The answer to this is that there was a triple calling of the apostles. The first was a call to knowledge or friendship and faith; and this is the one recorded here. The second consisted in the prediction of their office: "From now on you will be catching men" (Lk 5:10). The third call was to their apostleship, which is mentioned by Matthew (4:18). This was the perfect call because after this they were not to return to their own pursuits.

Leaving, that is, Judaea, where John was baptizing, out of respect to the Baptist, and not to appear to lower his office, so long as it continued. He was going too to call a disciple, and wished to go forth into Galilee, i. e. to a place of "transition" or "revelation," that is to say, that as He Himself increased in wisdom or stature, and in favour with God and man, and as He suffered and rose again, and entered into His glory: so He would teach His followers to go forth, and increase in virtue, and pass through suffering to joy. He findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow Me. Every one follows Jesus who imitates His humility and suffering, in order to be partaker of His resurrection and ascension.

"On the next day," namely after the conversion of Andrew and Peter, "he wanted to go out into Galilee and found Philip," not by chance, but by design is that which was lost found. Thus the Lord found his disciples who were previously lost, because he snatched them from perdition: Luke 15: "The woman who lost one drachma searches diligently until she finds it." "And he says to him: Follow me," as a servant follows his lord, as a disciple follows his master, so that you may attain; Philippians 3: "But I follow on, if by any means I may apprehend, wherein I also am apprehended."

But it is asked here concerning the coming of the Lord into Galilee: why is it said here that "on the next day," after the testimony of John, he came into Galilee? Against: The other Evangelists say that immediately "he was led into the desert by the Spirit," Matthew chapter four and Mark chapter one. Likewise it is said there that "Jesus came into Galilee after John was handed over": but it is established that he had not yet been handed over.

To this Augustine responds in book two of On the Harmony of the Evangelists, that there was a twofold coming of the Lord into Galilee. The first was after the testimony of John, before he was sent into prison: and about this all the other Evangelists are silent. The second, however, was after John was sent into prison. In the first coming he performed the miracle of the changing of water into wine at the wedding; in the second coming, the miracle concerning the official's son. Therefore, what is said, that he was led into the desert: it should be understood that that testimony was given after the return of the Lord from the desert.

Likewise it is asked concerning the calling of the disciples. For it is said here that they were called before John was handed over. But Matthew says that they were called after the handing over of John. Likewise Matthew says that he called Peter and Andrew from the boat. It must be said, as Augustine says, that John preserves the historical order regarding the time of the calling, but Matthew states that by way of recapitulation. As to the manner of the calling, it must be said that the disciples of the Lord were called in two ways: in one way to faith, in another way to perfection. In the first way, Peter and Andrew were called so that they might know the Lord and believe in him through the testimony of John. In the second way, they were called from their boats, so that they might leave all things and follow Christ. John speaks here of the first, while Matthew speaks of the second.

Likeminded with those preceding was Philip, and very ready to follow Christ. For Christ knew that he would be good. Therefore also He says Follow Me, making the word a token of the grace that was upon him, and wherein he bid him follow, testifying to him that most excellent was his conversation. For He would not have chosen him, if he had not been altogether good.

"To every careful thinker there is a gain" (Prov. xiv. 23, LXX.), saith the proverb; and Christ implied more than this, when He said, "He that seeketh findeth." (Matt. vii. 8.) Wherefore it does not occur to me any more to wonder how Philip followed Christ. Andrew was persuaded when he had heard from John, and Peter the same from Andrew, but Philip not having learned anything from any but Christ who said to him only this, "Follow Me," straightway obeyed, and went not back, but even became a preacher to others. For he ran to Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write." Seest thou what a thoughtful mind he had, how assiduously he meditated on the writings of Moses, and expected the Advent? for the expression, "we have found," belongs always to those who are in some way seeking. "The day following Jesus went forth into Galilee." Before any had joined Him, He called no one; and He acted thus not without cause, but according to his own wisdom and intelligence. For if, when no one came to Him spontaneously, He had Himself drawn them, they might perhaps have started away; but now, having chosen this of themselves, they afterwards remained firm. He calls Philip, one who was better acquainted with Him; for he, as having been born and bred in Galilee, knew Him more than others. Having then taken the disciples, He next goes to the capture of the others, and draws to Him Philip and Nathanael.

Now in the case of Nathanael this was not so wonderful, because the fame of Jesus had gone forth into all Syria. (Matt. iv. 24.) But the wonderful thing was respecting Peter and James and Philip, that they believed, not only before the miracles, but that they did so being of Galilee, out of which "ariseth no prophet," nor "can any good thing come"; for the Galilaeans were somehow of a more boorish and dull disposition than others; but even in this Christ displayed forth His power, by selecting from a land which bore no fruit His choicest disciples. It is then probable that Philip having seen Peter and Andrew, and having heard what John had said, followed; and it is probable also that the voice of Christ wrought in him somewhat; for He knew those who would be serviceable. But all these points the Evangelist cuts short. That Christ should come, he knew; that this was Christ, he knew not, and this I say that he heard either from Peter or John. But John mentions his village also, that you may learn that "God hath chosen the weak things of the world." (1 Cor. i. 27.)

And concerning Philip also it is written that He said, "Come after Me," and straightway he went after Him. In this sincerity and simplicity then the Apostles went after the word of Christ, and the world was not able to impede them, nor human customs to hold them back, nor was any of those things which are esteemed of any value in this world able to impede those souls which had perceived God. Now there is nothing stronger in the world to the man who hath in him the life of faith than the word of God.

Andrew, having heard from the Forerunner, and Peter, having heard from Andrew, followed Jesus; but Philip, it seems, heard nothing and yet followed the Lord as soon as He said to him: "Follow Me." How then was Philip so quickly convinced? It seems, first, that the voice of the Lord produced in his soul a certain wound of love. For the speech of the Lord was not simply spoken, but immediately inflamed the hearts of the worthy with love for Him, as Cleopas and his companion say: "Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us on the road?" (Luke 24:32). Second, since Philip had a preoccupied heart, constantly occupied himself with the writings of Moses, and always awaited Christ, as soon as he saw Him, he was immediately convinced and says: "We have 'found' Jesus," and this shows that he had been seeking Him.

For the voice of Christ sounded not like a common voice to some, that is, the faithful, but kindled in their inmost soul the love of Him. Philip having been continually meditating on Christ, and reading the books of Moses, so confidently expected Him, that the instant he saw, he believed. Perhaps too he had heard of Him from Andrew and Peter, coming from the same district; an explanation which the Evangelist seems to hint at, when he adds, Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.

After having shown the fruit produced by John's preaching and that of his disciples, the Evangelist now shows the fruit obtained from the preaching of Christ. First, he deals with the conversion of one disciple as the result of Christ's preaching. Secondly, the conversion of others due to the preaching of the disciple just converted to Christ (v 45). As to the first he does three things: first, the occasion when the disciple is called is given; secondly, his calling is described; thirdly, his situation.

The occasion of his calling was the departure of Jesus from Judea. So he says, On the following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and coming upon Philip. There are three reasons why Jesus left for Galilee, two of which are literal. One of these is that after being baptized by John and desiring to shed honor on the Baptist, he left Judea for Galilee so that his presence would not obscure and lessen John's teaching authority (while he still retained that state); and this teaches us to show honor to one another, as is said in Romans (12:10).

The second reason is that there are no distinguished persons in Galilee: "No prophet is to rise from Galilee" (below 7:52). And so, to show the greatness of his power, Christ wished to go there and choose there the princes of the earth, who are greater than the prophets: "He has turned the desert into pools of water," as we read in Psalm 106 (v 35).

The third reason is mystical: for "Galilee" means "passage." So Christ desired to go from Judea into Galilee in order to indicate that on "on the following day," i.e., on the day of grace, that is, the day of the Good News, he would pass from Judea into Galilee, i.e., to save the Gentiles: "Is he going to go to those who are dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?" (below 7:35).

A disciple's vocation is to follow: hence he says that after Christ found Philip he said, Follow me. Note that sometimes man finds God, but without knowing it, as it were: "He who finds me will find life, and will have salvation from the Lord" (Prv 8:35). And at other times God finds the man, in order to bestow honor and greatness upon him: "I have found David, my servant" (Ps 88:21). Christ found Philip in this way, that is, to call him to the faith and to grace. And so he says at once, Follow me.

There is a question here: Why did not Jesus call his disciples at the very beginning? Chrysostom answers that he did not wish to call anyone before someone clung to him spontaneously because of John's preaching, for men are drawn by example more than by words.

One might also ask why Philip followed Christ immediately after only a word, while Andrew followed Christ after hearing about him from John, and Peter after hearing from Andrew.

Three answers can be given. One is that Philip had already been instructed by John: for according to one of the explanations given above, Philip was that other disciple who followed Christ along with Andrew. Another is that Christ's voice had power not only to act on one's hearing from without, but also on the heart from within: "My words are like fire" (Jer 23:29). For the voice of Christ was spoken not only to the exterior, but it enkindled the interior of the faithful to love him. The third answer is that Philip had perhaps already been instructed about Christ by Andrew and Peter, since they were from the same town. In fact, this is what the Evangelist seems to imply by adding, Now Philip came from Bethsaida, the same town as Andrew and Peter.

Let us now see the rest concerning this man. "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." What is "in whom is no guile"? Perhaps he had no sin? Perhaps he was not sick? Perhaps he did not need a physician? God forbid. No one is born here in such fashion as not to need that Physician. What, then, is the meaning of the words, "in whom is no guile"? Let us search a little more intently--it will appear presently--in the name of the Lord. The Lord says dolus [guile]; and every one who understands Latin knows that dolus is when one thing is done and another feigned. Give heed, beloved. Dolus (guile) is not dolor (pain). I say this because many brethren, not well skilled in Latin, so speak as to say, Dolus torments him, using it for dolor. Dolus is fraud, it is deceit. When a man conceals one thing in his heart, and speaks another, it is guile, and he has, as it were, two hearts; he has, as it were, one recess of his heart where he sees the truth, and another recess where he conceives falsehood. And that you may know that this is guile, it is said in the Psalms, "Lips of guile." What are "lips of guile"? It follows, "In a heart and in a heart have they spoken evil." What is "in a heart and in a heart," unless in a double heart? If, then, guile was not in Nathanael, the Physician judged him to be curable, not whole. A whole man is one thing, a curable another, an incurable a third: he who is sick, but not hopelessly sick, is called curable; he who is sick hopelessly, incurable; but he who is already whole does not need a physician. The Physician, then, who had come to cure, saw that he was curable, because there was no guile in him. How was guile not in him, if he is a sinner? He confesses that he is a sinner. For if he is a sinner, and says that he is a just man, there is guile in his mouth. Therefore in Nathanael He praised the confession of sin, He did not judge that he was not a sinner.

Wherefore, when the Pharisees, who seemed righteous to themselves, blamed the Lord, because, as physician, he mixed with the sick, and when they said, "Behold with whom he eats, with publicans and sinners," the Physician replied to the madmen, "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." That is to say, because you call yourselves righteous when you are sinners, because you judge yourselves to be whole when you are languishing, you put away from you the medicine, and do not hold fast health. Hence that Pharisee who had asked the Lord to dinner, was whole in his own eyes; but that sick woman rushed into the house to which she had not been invited, and, made impudent by the desire of health, approached not the head of the Lord, nor the hands, but the feet; washed them with tears, wiped them with her hair, kissed them, anointed them with ointment,--made peace, sinner as she was, with the footprints of the Lord. The Pharisee who sat at meat there, as though whole himself, blamed the Physician, and said within himself, "This man, if he were a prophet, would have known what woman touched his feet." He suspected that He knew not, because He did not repulse her to prevent His being touched with unclean hands; but He did know, He permitted Himself to be touched, that the touch itself might heal. The Lord, seeing the heart of the Pharisee, put forth a parable: "There was a certain creditor, which had two debtors; the one owed five hundred denars, and the other fifty; and when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Which of them loved him most?" He answered, "I suppose, Lord, he to whom he forgave most." And turning to the woman, He said unto Simon, "Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head: thou gavest me no kiss; she hath not ceased to kiss my feet: thou gavest me no oil; she hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore, I say unto thee, to her are forgiven many sins, for she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." That is to say, thou art more sick, but thou thinkest thyself whole; thou thinkest that little is forgiven thee when thou owest more. Well did she, because guile was not in her, deserve medicine. What means, guile was not in her? She confessed her sins. This He also praises in Nathanael, that guile was not in him; for many Pharisees who abounded in sins said that they were righteous, and brought guile with them, which made it impossible for them to be healed.

(Tr. vii. c. 19) What meaneth this, In whom is no guile? Had he no sin? Was no physician necessary for him? Far from it. No one was ever born, of a temper not to need the Physician. It is guile, when we say one thing, and think another. How then was there no guile in him? Because, if he was a sinner, he confessed his sin; whereas if a man, being a sinner, pretends to be righteous, there is guile in his mouth. Our Lord then commended the confession of sin in Nathanael; He did not pronounce him not a sinner.

"Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him." Here the attraction of the one called is touched upon. He attracts through commendation and through revelation of secrets. Through commendation: whence he says: "Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him," namely through the admonition of the simple Philip: "and he says of him: Behold, truly an Israelite, in whom there is no guile." Therefore there is no guile, because, although he is wise, he was not ashamed to follow a simple man; because what he believed in his heart, this he brought forth with his mouth; because he came not with the will of testing, but with the zeal of making progress; against which Proverbs 12: "Guile is in the heart of those who devise evil." But Nathanael does not believe his commendation unless he hears certainty about this, because a man ought not be inclined to believe good things about himself.

Such, according to David, "rest in the holy hill of God," in the Church far on high, in which are gathered the philosophers of God, "who are Israelites indeed, who are pure in heart, in whom there is no guile;" who do not remain in the seventh seat, the place of rest, but are promoted, through the active beneficence of the divine likeness, to the heritage of beneficence which is the eighth grade; devoting themselves to the pure vision of insatiable contemplation.

Not having yet used proof by means of signs, Christ endeavoured in another way to persuade both His own disciples, and the wiser of those that came to Him, that He was by Nature Son and God, but for the salvation of all was come in human Form. What then was the mode that led to faith? God-befitting knowledge. For knowledge of all things befitteth God Alone. He receiveth therefore Nathanael, not hurrying him by flatteries to this state, but by those things whereof he was conscious, giving him a pledge, that he knoweth the hearts, as God.

Because the prophet had said that a ruler and governor would arise from Bethlehem, but Nathanael heard that he [our Lord] was from Nazareth, he thus asked, "Can a good leader come forth who is from Nazareth?" For this was not what was written. Thus, when our Lord saw him [Nathanael], he gave excellent testimony about him, that he was not like the scribes who were being deceitful about the readings [from Scripture], striving to establish their interpretations according to their own will. He said, "This is a scribe of Israel in whom no deceit is seen," because before he knew [our Lord], he asked if Nazareth could bring forth a leader as Bethlehem [was able].

For "no man," he says, "hath seen God at any time," unless "the only-begotten Son of God, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared [Him]." For He, the Son who is in His bosom, declares to all the Father who is invisible. Wherefore they know Him to whom the Son reveals Him; and again, the Father, by means of the Son, gives knowledge of His Son to those who love Him. By whom also Nathanael, being taught, recognised [Him], he to whom also the Lord bare witness, that he was "an Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile." The Israelite recognised his King, therefore did he cry out to Him, "Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel."

"Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile."

He praises and approves the man, because he had said, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" and yet he ought to have been blamed. Surely not; for the words are not those of an unbeliever, nor deserving blame, but praise. "How so, and in what way?" Because Nathanael had considered the writings of the Prophets more than Philip. For he had heard from the Scriptures, that Christ must come from Bethlehem, and from the village in which David was. This belief at least prevailed among the Jews, and the Prophet had proclaimed it of old, saying, "And thou, Bethlehem, art by no means the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall feed My people Israel." (Matt. ii. 6; Mic. v. 2.) And so when he heard that He was "from Nazareth," he was confounded, and doubted, not finding the announcement of Philip to agree with the prediction of the Prophet.

Wherefore also Christ saith, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." So that there is such a person as a false Israelite; but this is not such an one; for his judgment, Christ saith, is impartial, he speaks nothing from favor, or from ill-feeling. Yet the Jews, when they were asked where Christ should be born, replied, "In Bethlehem" (Matt. ii. 5), and produced the evidence, saying, "And thou, Bethlehem, art by no means the least among the princes of Judah." (Mic. v. 2.) Before they had seen Him they bore this witness, but when they saw Him in their malice they concealed the testimony, saying, "But as for this fellow, we know not whence He is." (c. ix. 29.) Nathanael did not so, but continued to retain the opinion which he had from the beginning, that He was not "of Nazareth."

How then do the prophets call Him a Nazarene? From His being brought up and abiding there. And He omits to say, "I am not 'of Nazareth,' as Philip hath told thee, but of Bethlehem," that He may not at once make the account seem questionable; and besides this, because, even if He had gained belief, He would not have given sufficient proof that He was the Christ. For what hindered Him without being Christ, from being of Bethlehem, like the others who were born there? This then He omits; but He does that which has most power to bring him over, for He shows that He was present when they were conversing.

Christ praises Nathanael as a true Israelite, because he said nothing either for or against Him; for his words proceeded not from unbelief, but from prudence and from a mind that knew from the law that Christ would come not from Nazareth, but from Bethlehem.

Then when he says, When Jesus saw Nathanael, the consummation of this fruit by Christ is described. We should note that there are two ways in which men are converted to Christ: some by miracles they have seen and things experienced in themselves or in others; others are converted through internal insights, through prophecy and the foreknowledge of what is hidden in the future. The second way is more efficacious than the first: for devils and certain men who receive their help can simulate marvels; but to predict the future can only be done by divine power. "Tell us what is to come, and we will say that you are gods" (Is 41:23); "Prophecies are for those who believe." And so our Lord draws Nathanael to the faith not by miracles but by making known things which are hidden. And so he says of him, Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile.

Christ mentions three hidden matters: things hidden in the present, in the heart; past facts; and future heavenly matters. To know these three things is not a human but a divine achievement.

He mentions things hidden in the present when he says, Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile. Here we have, first, the prior revelation of Christ; secondly, Nathanael's question, How do you know me?

First he says, When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him. As if to say: Before Nathanael reached him, Jesus said, Here is a true Israelite. He said this about him before he came to him, because had he said it after he came, Nathanael might have believed that Jesus had heard it from Philip.

Christ said, Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile. Now "Israel" has two meanings. One of these, as the Gloss says, is "most righteous"—"Do not fear, my most righteous servant, whom I have chosen" (Is 44:2). Its second meaning is "the man who sees God." And according to each meaning Nathanael is a true Israelite. For since one in whom there is no guile is called righteous, Nathanael is said to be a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile. As if to say: You truly represent your race because you are righteous and without guile. Further, because man sees God through cleanness of heart and simplicity, Christ said, a true Israelite, i.e., you are a man who truly sees God because you are simple and without guile.

Further, he said, in whom there is no guile, so that we do not think that it was with malice that Nathanael asked: What good can come from that place?

Augustine has a different explanation of this passage. It is clear that all are born under sin. Now those who have sin in their hearts but outwardly pretend to be just are called guileful. But a sinner who admits that he is a sinner is not guileful. So Christ said, Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile, not because Nathanael was without sin, or because he had no need of a physician, for no one is born in such a way as not to need a physician; but he was praised by Christ because he admitted his sins.

Would that Jesus would cast a glance on me still lying under that barren fig tree, and that my fig tree might also after three years bear fruit. But how can sinners have that kind of hope? If only that gospel dresser of the vineyard, perhaps already bidden to cut down my fig tree, would at least let it alone this year also, until he digs around it and fertilizes it so that he may by some chance lift the helpless out of the dust and lift the poor out of the mire. … The fig tree, that is, the tempting attraction of the pleasures of the world, still overshadows me, low in height, brittle for working, soft for use and barren of fruit.

But this Jacob was called in Scripture a man without deceit. This same Jacob, you know, was called Israel. Therefore, the Lord in the Gospel when he saw Nathanael said: Behold, a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit. And that Israelite, not yet knowing who was speaking with him, replied: How do you know me? And the Lord said to him: When you were under the fig tree, I saw you: as if to say: When you were in the shadow of sin; I predestined you. And he, because he remembered being under the fig tree, where the Lord was not, recognized the divinity in him, and responded: You are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel. He under the fig tree was not made a barren fig tree: he recognized Christ. And the Lord to him: Because I said to you: When you were under the fig tree, I saw you, therefore you believe; you will see greater things than these. What are these greater things? Amen, I say to you. Because that Israelite, in whom there is no deceit; look to Jacob in whom there is no deceit; and recall from where he speaks, a stone at his head, vision in a dream, ladders from earth to heaven, descending and ascending; and see what the Lord says to the Israelite without deceit: you will see heaven opened: Hear, Nathanael without deceit, what Jacob without deceit saw: you will see heaven opened, and angels ascending and descending; to whom? to the Son of Man.

And the Lord saw Zacchaeus himself. He was seen, and he saw; but unless he had been seen, he would not see. For those whom He predestined, He also called. He is the one who said to Nathanael, already helping the Gospel with his testimony, and saying: Can anything good come out of Nazareth? The Lord said to him: Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. You know from where the first sinners, Adam and Eve, made themselves loincloths. When they sinned, they made themselves loincloths from fig leaves and covered their shameful parts: because they did what made them ashamed by sinning. Therefore, if the first sinners made themselves loincloths from the fig leaves from which we originate, in which we were lost, so that He would come to seek and save what was lost, what else is meant by: When you were under the fig tree, I saw you; except, you would not come to the cleanser of sin, unless He had first seen you in the shadow of sin? That we might see, we were seen; that we might love, we were loved. My God, His mercy will go before me.

Jesus then saw this man in whom was no guile, and said, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." Nathanael saith unto Him, "Whence knowest Thou me?" Jesus answered and said, "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig (that is, under the fig-tree), I saw thee." Nathanael answered and said unto Him, "Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel." Some great thing Nathanael may have understood in the saying, "When thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee, before that Philip called thee;" for his words, "Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel," were not dissimilar to those of Peter so long afterwards, when the Lord said unto him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." And there He named the rock, and praised the strength of the Church's support in this faith. Here already Nathanael says, "Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel." Wherefore? Because it was said to him, "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee."

We must inquire whether this fig-tree signifies anything. Listen, my brethren. We find the fig-tree cursed because it had leaves only, and not fruit. In the beginning of the human race, when Adam and Eve had sinned, they made themselves girdles of fig leaves. Fig leaves then signify sins. Nathanael then was under the fig-tree, as it were under the shadow of death. The Lord saw him, he concerning whom it was said, "They that sat under the shadow of death, unto them hath light arisen." What then was said to Nathanael? Thou sayest to me, O Nathanael, "Whence knowest thou me?" Even now thou speakest to me, because Philip called thee. He whom an apostle had already called, He perceived to belong to His Church. O thou Church, O thou Israel, in whom is no guile! if thou art the people, Israel, in whom is no guile, thou hast even now known Christ by His apostles, as Nathanael knew Christ by Philip. But His compassion beheld thee before thou knewest Him, when thou wert lying under sin. For did we first seek Christ, and not He seek us? Did we come sick to the Physician, and not the Physician to the sick? Was not that sheep lost, and did not the shepherd, leaving the ninety and nine in the wilderness, seek and find it, and joyfully carry it back on his shoulders? Was not that piece of money lost, and the woman lighted the lamp, and searched in the whole house until she found it? And when she had found it, "Rejoice with me," she said to her neighbors, "for I have found the piece of money which I lost." In like manner were we lost as the sheep, lost as the piece of money; and our Shepherd found the sheep, but sought the sheep; the woman found the piece of money, but sought the piece of money. What is the woman? The flesh of Christ. What is the lamp? "I have prepared a lamp for my Christ." Therefore were we sought that we might be found; having been found, we speak. Let us not be proud, for before we were found we were lost, if we had not been sought. Let them then not say to us whom we love, and whom we desire to gain to the peace of the Catholic Church, "What do you wish with us? Why seek you us if we are sinners?" We seek you for this reason that you perish not: we seek you because we were sought; we wish to find you because we have been found.

(Tr. vii. c. 21) Has this fig tree any meaning? We read of one fig tree which was cursed, because it had only leaves, and no fruit. Again, at the creation, Adam and Eve, after sinning, made themselves aprons of fig leaves. Fig leaves then signify sins; and Nathanael, when he was under the fig tree, was under the shadow of death: so that our Lord seemeth to say, O Israel, whoever of you is without guile, O people of the Jewish faith, before that I called thee by My Apostles, when thou wert as yet under the shadow of death, and sawest Me not, I saw thee.

(Serm. 40. [122.]) Nathanael remembered that he had been under the fig tree, where Christ was not present corporeally, but only by His spiritual knowledge. Hence, knowing that he had been alone, he recognised our Lord's Divinity.

"Nathanael said to him: Whence do you know me?" Why do you commend me thus? And the Lord attracts through revelation of secrets: therefore there follows: "Jesus answered and said to him: Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." Literally: he was in a secret place, as in a garden, whence Philip called him. Or: the fig tree is said to be the habit of sinning, as the first parents covered themselves under fig leaves, Genesis 3; where he was first seen by the Lord and sought before he himself would seek the Lord. By this revelation Nathanael was attracted: whence there follows his faithful confession.

Whence knowest thou me?

Nathanael begins to wonder, and is called to a now firm faith: but desires yet to learn, whence He has the knowledge concerning him. For very accurate are learning-seeking and pious souls. But perhaps he supposed that somewhat of him had been shewn to the Lord by Philip.

Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee.

The Saviour undid his surmise, saying that even before his meeting and conversing with Philip, He had seen him under the fig-tree, though not present in Body. Very profitably are both the fig-tree and the place named, pledging to him the truth of his having been seen. For he that has already accurate knowledge of what was with him, will readily be admitted.

When thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee; i. e. when thou wast yet under the shade of the law, I chose thee.

"Whence knowest Thou me?" He replies, "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee."

Observe a man firm and steady. When Christ had said, "Behold an Israelite indeed," he was not made vain by this approbation, he ran not after this open praise, but continues seeking and searching more exactly, and desires to learn something certain. He still enquired as of a man, but Jesus answered as God. For He said, "I have known thee from the first," (him and the candor of his character, this He knew not as a man, from having closely followed him, but as God from the first,) "and but now I saw thee by the fig-tree"; when there was no one present there but only Philip and Nathanael who said all these things in private. It is mentioned, that having seen him afar off, He said, "Behold an Israelite indeed"; to show, that before Philip came near, Christ spoke these words, that the testimony might not be suspected. For this reason also He named the time, the place, and the tree; because if He had only said, "Before Philip came to thee, I saw thee," He might have been suspected of having sent him, and of saying nothing wonderful; but now, by mentioning both the place where he was when addressed by Philip, and the name of the tree, and the time of the conversation, He showed that His foreknowledge was unquestionable.

And He did not merely show to him His foreknowledge, but instructed him also in another way. For He brought him to a recollection of what they then had said; as, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" And it was most especially on this account that Nathanael received Him, because when he had uttered these words, He did not condemn, but praised and approved him. Therefore he was assured that this was indeed the Christ, both from His foreknowledge, and from His having exactly searched out his sentiments, which was the act of One who would show that He knew what was in his mind; and besides, from His not having blamed, but rather praised him when he had seemed to speak against Himself. He said then, that Philip had "called" him; but what Philip had said to him or he to Philip, He omitted, leaving it to his own conscience, and not desiring farther to rebuke him.

Was it then only "before Philip called him" that He "saw" him? did He not see him before this with His sleepless eye? He saw him, and none could gainsay it; but this is what it was needful to say at the time. And what did Nathanael? When he had received an unquestionable proof of His foreknowledge, he hastened to confess Him, showing by his previous delay his caution, and his fairness by his assent afterwards. For, said the Evangelist,

"He answered and saith unto Him, Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel."

Seest thou how his soul is filled at once with exceeding joy, and embraces Jesus with words? "Thou art," saith he, "that expected, that sought-for One." Seest thou how he is amazed, how he marvels? how he leaps and dances with delight?

What about Nathanael? Was he carried away by the praise? No, he desires to learn something more clearly and precisely, and therefore asks: "How do You know me?" The Lord tells him that which no one knew except himself and Philip, that which was spoken and done in private, and thus reveals His Divinity. Philip conversed with Nathanael in private, when no one was under the fig tree, yet Christ, without even being there, knew everything, which is why He says: "I saw you when you were under the fig tree." The Lord spoke about Nathanael before Philip approached, so that no one would think that Philip had told Him about the fig tree and the other things He had discussed with Nathanael. From this Nathanael recognized the Lord and confessed Him as the Son of God. For hear what he says next.

Nathanael however, notwithstanding this praise, does not acquiesce immediately, but waits for further evidence, and asks, Whence knowest Thou me?

Then when he says, How do you know me?, we have Nathanael's question. For Nathanael, in wonder at the divine power in this revelation of what is hidden, because this can only be from God—"The heart is depraved and inscrutable, and who is able to know it? I the Lord search the heart and probe the loins" (Jer 17:9); "Man sees the appearances, but the Lord sees the heart" (1 Sam 16:7)—asks, How do you know me? Here we can recognize Nathanael's humility, because, although he had been praised, he did not become elated, but held this praise of himself suspect. "My people, who call you blessed, they are deceiving you" (Is 3:12).

Then he touches on matters in the past, saying, Before Philip called you, I saw you when you were sitting under the fig tree. First we have the statement of Christ; secondly, the confession of Nathanael.

As to the first, we should note that Nathanael might have had two misgivings about Christ. One, that Christ said this in order to win his friendship by flattery; the other, that Christ had learned what he knew from others. So, to remove Nathanael's suspicions and raise him to higher things, Christ reveals certain hidden matters that no one could know except in a divine way, that is, things that related only to Nathanael. He refers to these when he says, Before Philip called you, I saw you when you were sitting under the fig tree. In the literal sense, this means that Nathanael was under a fig tree when he was called by Philip—which Christ knew by divine power, for "The eyes of the Lord are far brighter than the sun" (Sir 23:28).

In the mystical sense, the fig tree signifies sin: both because we find a fig tree, bearing only leaves but no fruit, being cursed, as a symbol of sin (Mt 21:19); and because Adam and Eve, after they had sinned, made clothes from fig leaves. So he says here, when you were sitting under the fig tree, i.e., under the shadow of sin, before you were called to grace, I saw you, with the eye of mercy; for God's predestination looks upon the predestined, who are living under sin, with an eye of pity, for as Ephesians (1:4) says, "He chose us before the foundation of the world." And he speaks of this eye here: I saw you, by predestining you from eternity.

Or, the meaning is, according to Gregory: I saw you when you were sitting under the fig tree, i.e., under the shadow of the law. "The law has only a shadow of the good things to come" (Heb 10:1).

And Jacob went on, and slept, which is a sign of a peaceful soul: and he saw the angels of God ascending and descending, that is, he foresaw Christ on earth, to whom a host of angels descended and ascended, offering service to their own pious Lord.

Sometimes our Savior said "amen" once, at other times twice, when he wished to confirm what he was saying. This is a Hebrew manner of speaking, revealing that which was taking place, such as that "you have been found trustworthy" so as to see "the heavens opened," and so on. He says that it is possible to see the heavens opened not in a manner open to the senses but only by a mind observing the angels coming to serve Jesus. The word amen is used instead of "really and truthfully" and is more fitting here.

When, then, Nathanael had said "Whence knowest Thou me?" the Lord said to him, "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee." O thou Israel without guile, whosoever thou art! O people living by faith, before I called thee by my apostles, when thou wast under the shadow of death, and thou sawest not me, I saw thee. The Lord then says to him, "Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig-tree, thou believest: thou shalt see a greater thing than these." What is this, thou shalt see a greater thing than these? And He saith unto him, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye shall see heaven open, and angels ascending and descending upon the Son of man." Brethren, this is something greater than "under the fig-tree I saw thee." For it is more that the Lord justified us when called than that He saw us lying under the shadow of death. For what profit would it have been to us if we had remained where He saw us? Should we not be lying there? What is this greater thing? When have we seen angels ascending and descending upon the Son of man?

"Jesus answered and said to him: Because I said to you: I saw you under the fig tree, you believe": and thus for a small thing you have been drawn to faith. "You will see greater things than these": below in chapter five: "He will show him greater works, that you may marvel." And he specifies that greater thing.

Thou shalt be firmer unto faith, saith He, when thou seest greater things than these. For he that believed one sign, how shall he not by means of many be altogether bettered, especially since they shall be more wonderful than those now wondered at?

For one and the same Lord, who is greater than the temple, greater than Solomon, and greater than Jonah, confers gifts upon men, that is, His own presence, and the resurrection from the dead; but He does not change God, nor proclaim another Father, but that very same one, who always has more to measure out to those of His household. And as their love towards God increases, He bestows more and greater [gifts]; as also the Lord said to His disciples: "Ye shall see greater things than these." And Paul declares: "Not that I have already attained, or that I am justified, or already have been made perfect. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect has come, the things which are in part shall be done away." As, therefore, when that which is perfect is come, we shall not see another Father, but Him whom we now desire to see (for "blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God"); neither shall we look for another Christ and Son of God, but Him who [was born] of the Virgin Mary, who also suffered, in whom too we trust, and whom we love; as Esaias says: "And they shall say in that day, Behold our Lord God, in whom we have trusted, and we have rejoiced in our salvation;" and Peter says in his Epistle: "Whom, not seeing, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, ye have believed, ye shall rejoice with joy unspeakable;" neither do we receive another Holy Spirit, besides Him who is with us, and who cries, "Abba, Father;" and we shall make increase in the very same things [as now], and shall make progress, so that no longer through a glass, or by means of enigmas, but face to face, we shall enjoy the gifts of God;-so also now, receiving more than the temple, and more than Solomon, that is, the advent of the Son of God, we have not been taught another God besides the Framer and the Maker of all, who has been pointed out to us from the beginning; nor another Christ, the Son of God, besides Him who was foretold by the prophets.

Seest thou how He leads him up by little and little from the earth, and causes him no longer to imagine Him a man merely? for One to whom Angels minister, and on whom Angels ascend and descend, how could He be man? For this reason He said, "Thou shalt see greater things than these." And in proof of this, He introduces the ministry of Angels. And what He means is something of this kind: "Doth this, O Nathanael, seem to thee a great matter, and hast thou for this confessed me to be King of Israel? What then wilt thou say, when thou seest the Angels ascending and descending upon Me?" Persuading him by these words to own Him Lord also of the Angels. For on Him as on the King's own Son, the royal ministers ascended and descended, once at the season of the Crucifixion, again at the time of the Resurrection and the Ascension, and before this also, when they "came and ministered unto Him" (Matt. iv. 11), when they proclaimed the glad tidings of His birth, and cried, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace" (Luke ii. 14), when they came to Mary, when they came to Joseph.

And He does now what He has done in many instances; He utters two predictions, gives present proof of the one, and confirms that which has to be accomplished by that which is so already. For of His sayings some had been proved, such as, "Before Philip called thee, under the fig-tree I saw thee"; others had yet to come to pass, and had partly done so, namely, the descending and ascending of the Angels, at the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the Ascension; and this He renders credible by His words even before the event. For one who had known His power by what had gone before, and heard from Him of things to come, would more readily receive this prediction too.

What then does Nathanael? To this he makes no reply. And therefore at this point Christ stopped His discourse with him, allowing him to consider in private what had been said; and not choosing to pour forth all at once, having cast seed into fertile ground, He then leaves it to shoot at leisure.

And He affirmed Himself that they were quite right in their convictions; for He answered Nathanµl: "Because I said, I saw thee under the fig-tree, therefore dose thou believe?" And in the same manner He pronounced Peter to be "blessed," inasmuch as "flesh and blood had not revealed it to him"-that he had perceived the Father-"but the Father which is in heaven.

The Lord shows that nothing he had said was so great or sufficient enough to demonstrate all of what he really was. So then he declares what the greater things are that Nathanael would have seen.… He spoke of angels ascending and descending on him, because they assist him in dealing with the whole of creation.

Prophecy has the greatest power to draw some to faith, and its power is greater than the power of miracles. For miracles can be presented as illusions by demons, but no one has exact foreknowledge and prediction of the future—neither angels, nor still less demons. This is why the Lord also drew Nathanael, telling him both the place and that Philip had called him, and that he was truly an Israelite. Nathanael, hearing this, felt the greatness of the Lord as much as was possible, and confessed Him as the Son of God. However, although he confesses Him as the Son of God, it is not in the same sense as Peter. Peter confessed Him as the Son of God as true God, and for this the Lord blessed him and entrusted the Church to him (Matt. 16:16–19). But Nathanael confessed Him as a mere man, adopted by God through grace on account of his virtue. And this is evident from the addition: You are the King of Israel. Do you see? He has not yet attained to the perfect knowledge of the true Divinity of the Only-Begotten. He only believes that Jesus is a man beloved of God and the King of Israel. If he had confessed Him as true God, he would not have called Him King of Israel, but King of the whole world. For this reason he is not blessed, as Peter was.

And so he said, You will see greater things than this. Here we have, thirdly, an allusion to the future. As if to say: Because I have revealed the past to you, you believe that I am the Son of God only by adoption, and the King of Israel; but I will bring you to greater knowledge, so that you may believe that I am the natural Son of God, and the King of all ages.

Already on a former occasion I have spoken of these ascending and descending angels; but lest you should have forgotten, I shall speak of the latter briefly by way of recalling it to your recollection. I should use more words if I were introducing, not recalling the subject. Jacob saw a ladder in a dream; and on a ladder he saw angels ascending and descending: and he anointed the stone which he had placed at his head. You have heard that the Messias is Christ; you have heard that Christ is the Anointed. For Jacob did not place the stone, the anointed stone, that he might come and adore it: otherwise that would have been idolatry, not a pointing out of Christ. What was done was a pointing out of Christ, so far as it behoved such a pointing out to be made, and it was Christ that was pointed out. A stone was anointed, but not for an idol. A stone anointed; why a stone? "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded." Why anointed? Because Christus comes from chrisma. But what saw he then on the ladder? Ascending and descending angels. So it is the Church, brethren: the angels of God are good preachers, preaching Christ; this is the meaning of, "they ascend and descend upon the Son of man." How do they ascend, and how do they descend? In one case we have an example; listen to the Apostle Paul. What we find in him, let us believe regarding the other preachers of the truth. Behold Paul ascending: "I know a man in Christ fourteen years ago was caught up into the third heaven (whether in the body, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth), and that he heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." You have heard him ascending, hear him descending: "I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal; as babes in Christ I have fed you with milk, not with meat." Behold he descended who had ascended. Ask whether he ascended to the third heaven. Ask whether he descended to give milk to babes. Hear that he descended: "I became a babe in the midst of you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children." For we see both nurses and mothers descend to babes, and although they be able to speak Latin, they shorten the words, shake their tongues in a certain manner, in order to frame childish endearments from a methodical language; because if they speak according to rule, the infant does not understand nor profit. And if there be a father well skilled in speaking, and such an orator that the forum resounds with his eloquence, and the judgment-seats shake, if he have a little son, on his return home he puts aside the forensic eloquence to which he had ascended, and in child's language descends to his little one. Hear in one place the apostle himself ascending and descending in the same sentence: "For whether," says he, "we be beside ourselves, it is to God; or whether we be sober, it is for your cause." What is "we are beside ourselves"? That we see those things which it is not lawful for a man to speak. What is "we are sober for your cause?" "Have I judged myself to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified?" If the Lord Himself ascended and descended, it is evident that His preachers ascend by imitation, descend by preaching.

(in Verb. Dom.) Let us recollect the Old Testament account. Jacob saw in a dream a ladder reaching from earth to heaven; the Lord resting upon it, and the angels ascending and descending upon it. Lastly, Jacob himself understanding what the vision meant, set up a stone, and poured oil upon it. (Gen. 28:12.) When he anointed the stone, did he make an idol? No: he only set up a symbol, not an object of worship. Thou seest here the anointing; see the Anointed also. He is the stone which the builders refused. If Jacob, who was named Israel, saw the ladder, and Nathanael was an Israelite indeed, there was a fitness in our Lord telling him Jacob's dream; as if he said, Whose name thou art called by, his dream hath appeared unto thee: for thou shalt see the heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. If they descend upon Him, and ascend to Him, then He is both up above and here below at the same time; above in Himself, below in His members.

(Tr. vii. in Joan. c. 23) Good preachers, however, who preach Christ, are as angels of God; i. e. they ascend and descend upon the Son of man; as Paul, who ascended to the third heaven, and descended so far even as to give milk to babes. He saith, We shall see greater things than these: (2 Cor. 12:2. 1 Cor. 3:2) because it is a greater thing that our Lord has justified us, whom He hath called, than that He saw us lying under the shadow of death. For had we remained where He saw us, what profit would it have been? (c. 17.). It is asked why Nathanael, to whom our Lord bears such testimony, is not found among the twelve Apostles. We may believe, however, that it was because he was so learned, and versed in the law, that our Lord had not put him among the disciples. He chose the foolish, to confound the world. Intending to break the neck of the proud, He sought not to gain the fisherman through the orator, but by the fisherman the emperor. The great Cyprian was an orator; but Peter was a fisherman before him; and through him not only the orator, but the emperor, believed.

"And he says to him: Amen, amen I say to you, that you will see heaven opened," according to what is said in Matthew chapter three, that John saw that the heavens were opened over him. "And the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." Literally, Angels descended to him, according to what is said in Matthew chapter four: "Angels came and ministered to him"; spiritually however, as Augustine says, what was said to Nathanael is now fulfilled in Christians, because after God-made-man ascended, the entrance to heaven is opened to those believing in him, and they see Angels, that is, preachers, ascending, while they contemplate the secrets of the Divinity; and descending, while they preach human things about him. This vision was prefigured in Genesis chapter twenty-eight, where it is said that Jacob saw the Lord leaning upon the ladder and Angels ascending and descending.

Likewise Bede asks: since Nathanael calls Christ the "Son of God," whence is it that he himself calls himself the "Son of Man"? Bede responds that "by a just governance of dispensation this was done, so that, when both natures are commemorated, he himself would confess his own lowliness, while the other would confess his exaltedness"; so that through this both natures in Christ might become known, and an example of humility might be given, whence man might always recognize and declare lowly things in himself. This is especially against those who, having certain noble relatives, when asked about their origin, do not answer with the name of their father, but of an uncle or some famous kinsman. Our Lord Jesus Christ, although he is noble on the part of the Father but lowliest on the part of the Mother, calls himself the Son of Man often, rarely the Son of God, unless compelled by necessity. And note, as distinct from others, that others are called sons of men, who are begotten from the mingling of seeds; but Christ had only a single parent, and therefore rightly calls himself the Son of Man.

Common now to all is the word which seals the faith of Nathanael. But in saying that angels shall be seen speeding up and down upon the Son of Man, that is, ministering and serving His commands, for the salvation of such as shall believe, He says that then especially shall He be revealed as being by Nature Son of God. For it is not one another that the rational powers serve but surely God. And this does not take away subjection among the angels (for this will not be reasonably called bondage). But we have heard of the Holy Evangelists, that angels came to our Saviour Christ, and ministered unto Him.

Therefore the Lord also, correcting him and leading him to an understanding worthy of His Divinity, says: you will see the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. "Accept Me," He says, "not as a mere man, but as the Master of angels." For He whom the angels serve cannot be a mere man, but is true God. This was fulfilled at the crucifixion and at the ascension. For, as Luke relates, both before the sufferings an angel from heaven strengthened Him, and at the tomb an angel appeared, and at the ascension (Luke 22:43; Luke 24:4, 23; Acts 1:10). Some understood the "fig tree" to mean the law, since it had fruit that was sweet for a time, but by the strictness of the legal prescriptions and the difficulty of fulfilling the commandments was covered as if by leaves. The Lord "saw" Nathanael. Regarding this they say that He mercifully looked upon and understood his comprehension, even though he was still under the law. I ask you, if you take delight in such things, to also pay attention to the fact that the Lord saw Nathanael under the fig tree, or under the law, that is, within the law, searching its depths. If he had not searched the depth of the law, the Lord would not have seen him. Know also that "Galilee" means cast down. So, the Lord came to the fallen land of the whole world, or to human nature, and, as the Lover of mankind, looked upon us who were under the fig tree, that is, under sin — pleasant for a time, but with which is joined no small sharpness on account of repentance and the future punishments there — and chose for Himself those who acknowledge Him as the Son of God and King of Israel, who sees God. If we continue our diligence, then He will deem us worthy of even greater contemplations, and we shall see angels "ascending to the height of divine knowledge of Him" and again "descending," because they do not attain full knowledge of the incomprehensible Essence. And in another sense: one "ascends" when he engages in contemplation of the Divinity of the Only-begotten; he "descends" when he willingly engages in contemplations of the incarnation and the descent into hell.

And accordingly he says, Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. By this, according to Chrysostom, the Lord wishes to prove that he is the true Son of God, and God. For the peculiar task of angels is to minister and be subject: "Bless the Lord, all of you, his angels, his ministers, who do his will" (Ps 102:20). So when you see angels minister to me, you will be certain that I am the true Son of God. "When he leads his First-Begotten into the world, he says: 'Let all the angels of God adore him'" (Heb 1:6).

When did the apostles see this? They saw it, I say, during the passion, when an angel stood by to comfort Christ (Lk 22:43); again, at the resurrection, when the apostles found two angels who were standing over the tomb. Again, at the ascension, when the angels said to the apostles: "Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking up to heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven" (Acts 1:11).

Because Christ spoke the truth about the past, it was easier for Nathanael to believe what he foretells about the future, saying, you will see. For one who has revealed the truth about things hidden in the past, has an evident argument that what he is saying about the future is true. He says, the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man, because, in his mortal flesh, he was a little less than the angels; and from this point of view, angels ascend and descend upon him. But insofar as he is the Son of God, he is above the angels, as was said.

According to Augustine, Christ is here revealing his divinity in a beautiful way. For it is recorded that Jacob dreamed of a ladder, standing on the ground, with "the angels of God ascending and descending on it" (Gn 28:16). Then Jacob arose and poured oil on a stone and said, "Truly, the Lord is in this place" (Gn 28:16). Now that stone is Christ, whom the builders rejected; and the invisible oil of the Holy Spirit was poured on him. He is set up as a pillar, because he was to be the foundation of the Church: "No one can lay another foundation except that which has been laid" (1 Cor 3:11). The angels are ascending and descending inasmuch as they are ministering and serving before him. So he said, Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened, and so forth, as if to say: Because you are truly an Israelite, give heed to what Israel saw, so that you may believe that I am the one signified by the stone anointed by Jacob, for you also will see angels ascending and descending upon him [viz. Jesus].

Or, the angels are, according to Augustine, the preachers of Christ: "Go, swift angels, to a nation rent and torn to pieces," as it says in Isaiah (18:2). They ascend through contemplation, just as Paul had ascended even to the third heaven (2 Cor 12:2); and they descend by instructing their neighbor. On the Son of Man, i.e., for the honor of Christ, because "what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ" (2 Cor 4:5). In order that they might ascend and descend, the heavens were opened, because heavenly graces must be given to preachers if they are to ascend and descend. "The heavens broke at the presence of God" (Ps 67:9); "I saw the heavens open" (Rv 4:1).

Now the reason why Nathanael was not chosen to be an apostle after such a profession of faith is that Christ did not want the conversion of the world to the faith to be attributed to human wisdom, but solely to the power of God. And so he did not choose Nathanael as an apostle, since he was very learned in the law; he rather chose simple and uneducated men. "Not many of you are learned," and "God chose the simple of the world" (1 Cor 1:26).