OT § 156

(Chapter 58—Verse 1.) Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and declare unto my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins. (LXX: Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and declare unto the people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins.) After finishing the previous chapter, in which peace is proclaimed to the righteous and no rest is given to the wicked, God commands the prophet Isaiah to cry aloud in strength, and to exalt his voice like a trumpet, and not to fear to declare the sins and transgressions of the people of Israel, neither fearing death nor the insults and threats of the wicked, but rather considering the Lord who rules over all. And because they have deaf ears and can barely hear, according to Symmachus and Aquila, they should turn their throat into a trumpet, which is called a shofar in Hebrew, and which they have interpreted as 'horn made of horn'. And indeed, when it was said to the Apostles, 'Ascend to the high mountain, you who evangelize Zion: lift up your voice with strength, you who evangelize Jerusalem: lift it up, do not be afraid' (Isaiah 40:9), neither a trumpet nor a horn is mentioned, but they are commanded to ascend the mountain. But because they were sinners whom he had to announce, and they dwelt below, the prophet is not commanded to ascend the mountain, but only to raise his voice like a trumpet and announce to them the coming wars. Otherwise, on the day of judgment, when it is said that the dead will rise in the resurrection and at the last trumpet, it is written, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise incorruptible, so that just as they will be judged at the sound of the trumpet, so may Israel, dead in sin, hear its own crimes; at the same time, it is referred to as the people of God, so that they may learn what kind of father they have lost, who even calls his people sinners.

We are commanded then to cry out and to cry forcefully and not to spare our voice, lest we lose our salvation. "And do not be sparing," he says. That is, do not pass over the sinner's wickedness by keeping silent and by being considerate of his shame but inconsiderate of his well-being, for by keeping silent you have made worse the wounds that you ought to have healed by crying out.… We know that a trumpet is usually not so much heard as dreaded; it is not so much accustomed to bring pleasure as to inspire fear. A trumpet is necessary for sinners; it not only penetrates their ears but should strike their heart as well; it should not delight with its melody but chastise when it has been heard; it should encourage the bravehearted to righteousness, while it should turn the cowardly from their crimes.

For also when God saw the dying condition of the Jews who of their own will stopped their ears, and blinded their eyes, and made thick their hearts against the remembrance of the knowledge of God, He stirred up Isaiah to rouse them up, and cried to him to cry into their ears, saying, "Cry with thy throat, and spare not, and lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew My people their iniquity, and the house of Jacob their sins".

1022. Cry, cease not. Here he excludes a useless remedy, by which they wished to prepare themselves for salvation.

And first, he enjoins the duty of announcing, setting out the manner of announcing, that it be loud without fear suppressing it: cry, above: lift up your voice with strength, you that bring good tidings to Zion (Isa 40:9); that it be continuous: cease not, below: upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen all the day, and all the night, they shall never hold their peace (Isa 62:6); that it be clear and open: like a trumpet: let there be a trumpet in your throat (Hos 8:1). And the message of the announcement: show my people their wicked doings, as to greater sins, sins, as to common sins, above: to them that rejoice upon the brick walls, tell their stripes (Isa 16:7).

1034. Note on the words, lift up your voice like a trumpet (Isa 58:1), that preaching is a trumpet: first, because it rouses to life: for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall rise again incorruptible (1 Cor 15:52); second, because it exhorts to battle: if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? (1 Cor 14:8); third, because it announces the approach of a man, above: a noise shall be made with great trumpets (Isa 27:13); fourth, because it calls to counsel: let there be a trumpet in your throat (Hos 8:1); fifth, because it invites to a feast: blow up the trumpet on the new moon (Ps 80:4[81:3]).

These words about the calling of those from Israel can be transferred and come to be understood in another good and highly useful way.… For I think the scope of the prophecy is to be unveiled to those who are prayerful, as will become clear from what follows. … There were those among them who received a reputation for piety and behaved shamefully without being noticed, decorating themselves on the outside and gaining a reputation of gentleness. They undertook fasts and made prayers, thinking that through this they could turn aside God's anger.… Here they learn what their sins are and that they must turn from these if they want to be rewarded by God and become worthy of his sparing them.

Here, however, because they were sinners to whom it was to be proclaimed and because they dwelled in the lowlands, the prophet is not commanded to ascend the mountain. Instead, he is asked only to raise his voice like a trumpet and announce to them that wars are coming.… For the Lord draws near to those who draw near to him and to those who rightly follow what is just and thus are able to say, "It is good for me to cling to God." For if Almighty God is the Father of truth and justice, then whoever is deceptive and unjust is unable to draw near to God, of whom it is written: "Evil people may not live in your presence, nor will the unjust endure before your eyes."

(Verse 2) They search for me day after day and desire to know my ways, like a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the judgment of their God. LXX likewise. This specifically applies to the Jews, who run to the synagogues every day and meditate on the law of God, desiring to know what Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the other saints have done, and diligently studying the books of the Prophets and Moses, reciting the divine commands. To them, the following is most fittingly applied: The wicked seek me out but will not find me. For thus it is written: Everyone who seeks, finds (Matt. VII): whoever does not find, is convicted of seeking badly; for the Lord is found by those who seek Him in goodness, and is revealed to those who are not incredulous towards Him. Therefore, for those who have forsaken the justice and judgment of God, by what names is Christ revealed, as the Psalmist says: O God, give your judgment to the king, and your justice to the king's son (Ps. LXXI, 1): for Christ has become for us redemption, holiness, and righteousness (I Cor. I): in vain do they boast of knowledge of the law, when the holy one boasts not in knowledge of the Scriptures, but in works, saying: I have run the way of your commandments, when you have enlarged my heart (Ps. CXVIII, 31).

1023. The prophet, in the person of the Lord, excludes the useless remedy: for they seek me from day to day. And concerning this, he does two things: first, he excludes the remedy in which they trusted; second, he exhorts them to those things in which they were lacking: is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? (Isa 58:6).

1024. Concerning the first, he does two things. First, he shows the presumption of their confidence as to three things in which they trusted, namely, in the inquiry of sacred knowledge: for they seek me, in the Scriptures, and desire to know my ways, my precepts and desires, as a nation that has done justice, that is, as if they were prepared to do them: they speak one to another (Ezek 33:30). Again, in prayer: they ask of me the judgments, that is, that I might judge for them against their adversaries; they are willing to approach to God, with their mouth, above: this people draw near me with their mouth (Isa 29:13).

The Word blamed the children of Israel on account of such a fast as this, exhorting them by Isaiah the prophet and saying, "This is not the fast or the day that I have chosen, that a person should humble his soul." That we may be able to show what kind of persons we should be when we fast, and of what character the fast should be, listen again to God commanding Moses.… In the tenth day of this seventh month, there shall be a day of atonement; a convocation, and a holy day shall it be to you; and you shall humble your souls, and offer whole burnt offerings to the Lord. And afterwards, that the law might be defined on this point, he proceeds to say, "Every soul that shall not humble itself shall be cut off from the people."

What if your flesh obeys you, and you do not obey God? Aren't you condemned by your own flesh, when it submits to you? Doesn't it bear witness against you, precisely by submitting to you?

Now fasting is a very worthwhile and excellent thing, and prayer is most useful. And humbling oneself in God's eyes has much to commend it. … The God of the universe says, return to me with fasting, wailing, mourning. For he readily has mercy on those doing penance through travail. But it is unusual that those wishing to receive mercy in another way should annoy the legislator and provoke him to wrath by not liking to do the things commanded. For it is necessary that all saints who wish to draw near to God not only do the good works to be done but also that they be free from all reproach.

"Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose a day for a person to humble himself?" Do not fast as if with the aim to fulfill your evil intentions, as if you had made a certain vow in order to obtain one thing or another and so that misfortunes might befall your enemies. Through this kind of fasting and prayers, he says, you seek to delight your will and not mine, and, since you despise me, you say on high, "Why have we fasted, and you do not see it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you do not notice?"

Ye offer [your own wills] as whole burnt offerings unto idols; and unto the wretched thoughts, that ye reckon in yourselves as gods, ye daily sacrifice your free will, a thing more precious than all incense, which ye ought rather to consecrate unto Me by your good works and your purity of conscience.

The unjust accuse the Lord of not respecting good works, and then they offer to God only hunger pangs of the stomach but not the work of virtue. Nor do they eat the foods that God created for believers and those who know the truth, to be received with thanksgiving. …This is what follows in the Septuagint: "And you wound all those who are subject to you," [Is 58:3] or "afflict," as in the better translation of Theodotion and Symmachus, which we follow with "and you are demanding of your debtors." From this he shows that it is not without danger to demand repayment of a poor person who is insolvent or to refuse to return to a freezing debtor the garment that you took as collateral, lest his cry reach God. For one who has mercy on the poor lends to God. In contrast, whoever demands repayment from those who have nothing violates God.… The servant of the Lord … must not be litigious but be kind and imitate him who said, "Learn from me, for I am kind and humble of heart," such that his humility would not be pretentious but of the heart, a humility that seeks the soul's conscience rather than human glory.… And we say this not to reprove the practice of fasting, through which Daniel, a man of passions, came to know the future and the Ninevites placated the wrath of God, and Elijah and Moses, after fasting for forty days, were filled with God's friendship. The Lord, moreover, fasted for all those days of solitude in the desert in order to bequeath solemn days of fasting to us. But it profits nothing to endure an empty stomach and then to do other things that are displeasing to God.… Nor should they disfigure their faces but wash them with water and anoint their heads with oil, about which John the Evangelist wrote, "You also have been anointed by the holy One," through which the anointed were themselves made holy.

(Verse 3) They ask me for judgments of justice, and for the nearness of God. Why did we fast, and you did not look upon us? We humbled our souls, and you did not know? Behold, in the day of your fast your will is found, and you exact all your debtors. Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and you strike with the fist wickedly. LXX: They now seek a just judgment from me, and they desire to draw near to God, saying: Why did we fast, and you did not see? We have humiliated our souls, and you have not acknowledged? For on the days of your fasts, your desires are found, and you afflict all those subject to you, fasting for judgments and arguments, and you strike the humble with your fists. There is another rashness of the Jews, as if with the confidence of a good conscience, they demand a just judgment, and they imitate the words of the saints saying: Judge me, O Lord, for I have entered in my innocence (Ps. XXV, 1, 2). And again: Test me, O Lord, and try me: burn my reins and my heart. And in another place: Judge my cause, and redeem me (Psalm 118:154). And they desire to draw near to God: but this does not occur in a physical place, but in affection, nor in idle thoughts, but in laborious deeds. Finally, Scripture instructs us on what it means to draw near to God, saying: Seek the Lord. And when the wicked draws near to you, let him forsake his ways, and the unjust his thoughts. For the Lord is near to those who approach Him, and to those who pursue what is just. And they can say: But for me it is good to cling to God (Ps. LXXII, 28). For if Almighty God is the Father of truth and justice, whoever is deceitful and unjust cannot draw near to God, of whom it is written: The wicked shall not dwell with you, nor shall the unjust remain before your eyes (Ps. V, 6). Why did we fast, they say, and you did not look? We humbled our souls, and you did not know? They accuse the Lord of injustice, because he does not regard good works, and they offer to God only the hunger of the belly, without the work of virtues: not eating the foods that God created for the faithful and those who know the truth, so that they may take them with thanksgiving. But those of whom it is written in Proverbs: For they are nourished with the foods of impiety and are intoxicated with the wine of iniquity (Prov. 4:17). The Pharisee, satisfied with these kinds of banquets, among other words of pride, boasted on the Sabbath that he was fasting. (Luke XVIII): he did not drink wine from the vineyard of Sorec, but from the vineyard of the Sodomites, whose wine is the madness of dragons, and the madness of asps is incurable, and their grapes are grapes of gall: whom God reproves through the Prophet: They eat the sins of my people (Hos. IV, 8). And again: Why have you remained silent about their wickedness, and gathered and eaten the harvest of falsehood? (Hos. X, 13). Therefore, because they had posed the question to God, desiring to know why they had fasted and humbled their souls, and God did not respond, forgetting the old story of why He did not regard Cain's offering, who offered correctly but did not divide rightly with his brother (Gen. IV), not seeing the love of God, as the Scripture says: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself (Matt. XXII, 39): therefore, God answered that He does not reject fasting, but the works that are done in fasting, saying: In the days of your fasting, your own wills are found, that you do not do God's will, but your own wills, which Paul, writing to the Ephesians, rejects: According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of unbelief, among whom we all once conversed in the desires of our flesh, doing the will of the flesh and thoughts. And we were by nature children of wrath, like the others (Eph. 2:2-3). And what follows according to the Septuagint: 'And you oppress, or afflict, all your subjects,' which Theodotion and Symmachus translated better, whom we have followed in this place, 'and you demand payment from all your debtors.' From this it is evident that it is not without danger to demand repayment from a poor person who is unable to pay, and to not return a cloak taken as a pledge to a debtor who is shivering, lest his cry come before God. For he who has pity on the poor lends to God (Proverbs XIX). And on the contrary, he who withholds from the poor, harms God. And so that we may know that this is the meaning in the present passage, we will also read in the following verses in this same chapter: Break the bonds of wickedness, untie the bundles of oppression. It is undoubtedly clear that the bonds refer to: For what profit is it if you make your face pale with fasting, and fast for quarrels and arguments, as the Scripture says, He who loves sin rejoices in arguments (Proverbs XVII, 11)? But a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle (2 Tim. 2), and imitate Him who says: Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart (Matt. 11, 29): so that humility is not affected, but of the heart, not seeking the glory of men, but the conscience of the soul. You fast and strike with fists the humble, and with slaps you beat (1 Tim. 3). Therefore, a bishop must not be a striker. For how can he restrain lust, who is unable to restrain his own hand or tongue? The Lord reproves such fasting and in the beginning of this prophet he says: My soul hates your fasting and rest, your new moons and Sabbaths, and your other solemnities (Isaiah 1:13). Therefore, Joel commands: Sanctify a fast, proclaim a healing (Joel 2:15); so that we may fast from vices and become holy through good works and the healing of sins. Finally, it follows: Let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride from her bridal chamber; so that during the time of fasting we may give ourselves to prayer: lest our inner self be nourished by the dragon's flesh, which has been given as food to the peoples of Ethiopia. And we say this, not because we disapprove of fasting, through which both Daniel, a man of desires, knew the future (Daniel IX), and the Ninevites appeased the anger of God (Jonah III), and Elijah (III Kings XIX) and Moses (Exodus XXXIV), satisfied with the familiarity of God through a forty-day fast, and the Lord Himself (Matthew IV) fasted for the same number of days in the wilderness, in order to leave us the solemn days of fasting. But fasting alone should not be empty, and one should not do other things that displease God. And, leaving aside other things, you will make their faces disfigured so that they appear to be fasting ((or fasting)), those who, by obtaining glory in the present, will be excluded from the kingdom of God, because they have received their reward (Matt. VI). Therefore, even if the Apostle were to offer his body to martyrdom, as it were, to be burned or to boast (both are mentioned in the copies), without the love of God (which is in the conscience of the heart), he says in vain that he pours out his blood (I Cor. XIII).

They think that abstaining from food is the height of virtue, and they accuse me of not automatically deeming them worthy of all providence. As for the phrase "they desire to be near to God," Symmachus translates, "they wish the nearness of God" and Aquila, "they will19 the drawing near of God." The text shows that they have no desire to draw near to God, but want him to come near to them through his protection and care, even while choosing a life unworthy of him.

Again, they trust in the observation of fasts: why have we fasted, and you have not regarded, as if you were grateful; have we humbled our souls, as to the circumstances of their fasts, in outward humiliation, and you have not taken notice, with the knowledge of approval: he labors in vain that serves God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances? (Mal 3:14).

1025. Second, he shows rejection of these goods. And first, the cause of rejection, which is the fault of the will: behold in the day of your fast your own will is found, in things which please the flesh: go not after your lusts (Sir 18:30). Also, the fault of cruelty: and you exact of all your debtors, literally, so that they could persist for a long time in litigating, or to its consecutive.

(Vers. 4, 5.) Do not fast as you do to this day, to make your voice heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? LXX: Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' And when you have bowed your neck like a circle, and have put sackcloth and ashes under you: do not call this an acceptable fast. He teaches not to reprove fasting itself which he had commanded, but how one should fast: moreover, before he teaches what they should follow, he instructs what they should avoid: That it may be heard, he says, in high places. Do not bring your clamor to prayer, praying in synagogues and corners of the streets, so that you may be seen by men (Matthew 6), and raise your voice on high, and with the Pharisee, who is condemned by the judgment of the Lord, proclaim your fasts and works (Luke 18). Because of these things, the Lord, reproving the prayer of the Pharisees, teaches the disciples how they should pray (Matthew 6). They should enter into the hidden chamber of their hearts, to speak to God alone, who can hear the silence of the heart; so that they may cry out in their hearts, 'Abba, Father' (Romans 8:15); and not make their faces disfigured, but wash with water and anoint their heads with oil. John the Evangelist also writes about this: 'And you have an anointing from the Holy One' (1 John 2:20): that by being anointed, they themselves may become holy. For God does not seek only affliction and humiliation of the soul through injury to the body, as if to twist the body in the manner of a circle and bow the neck, and to walk in sadness. According to what is said in the Psalms: I am afflicted and bowed down to the end; I was mournful all day long (Psalm 37:9). Nor does He seek for one to be clothed in sackcloth and sleep in ashes, as we read of David and Ahab (2 Samuel 3; 1 Kings 21); but that one should do these things along with those that follow. Moreover, the Apostle frequently says that he fasts (2 Corinthians 6 and 11), and the Lord, when he is taken away as a bridegroom from his disciples, teaches them to fast (Matthew 6). And in the Psalms, speaking of repentance, he says: I ate ashes like bread and mixed my drink with tears (Psalm 102:10). And when they were troublesome to me, I put on sackcloth (Psalm 34:13). From this, we learn that these are the things that the Lord wants to be done first, and not to overlook them for anything else.

Also, the fault of vanity, do not fast as you have done until this day, to make your cry to be heard, for the sake of the praise of men: but you when you shall pray, enter into your chamber, and having shut the door, pray to your Father (Matt 6:6). Or to make your cry to be heard, that is, if you wish that your prayer would be heard by God: hear, O Lord, my prayer: and let my cry come to you (Ps 101[102]:2).

If you have fasted two or three days, do not think yourself better than others who do not fast. You fast and are angry; the other eats and wears a smiling face. You work off your irritation and hunger in quarrels. He uses food in moderation and gives God thanks.

You see then that fasting is certainly not considered by the Lord as a thing that is good in its own nature, because it becomes good and pleasing to God not by itself but by in conjunction with other works. Again, in light of surrounding circumstances it may be regarded as not merely vain but actually hateful, as the Lord says: "When they fast, I will not hear their prayers."

1026. Second, he shows the insufficiency of these goods: is this such a fast as I have chosen, for God does not choose your punishment per se, neither as to the affliction of the flesh, which he touches on when he says: for a man to afflict his soul for the entire day; nor as to the abjection of exterior humiliation, which he touches on where he says: to wind his head about like a circle, namely, to bend the head all the way to the feet, or in a circle as monks do, not in as much as it is ordained to the virtue of the mind: and when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad (Matt 6:16); rend your hearts, and not your garments (Joel 2:13).

(Verses 6, 7.) Isn't this the fast that I have chosen? To loosen the chains of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Isn't it to share your bread with the hungry, and to bring the poor who are cast out into your house? When you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Isn't it to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him, and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh? Isn't this the fast that I have chosen?' says the Lord: 'to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?' Dissolve the bonds of violent obligations. Release the broken ones in remission, and cut off all unjust writings. Break your bread to the hungry, and bring the homeless into your house. If you see someone naked, cover them, and do not despise the members of your own household. After he taught what kind of fasting he disapproves of, he showed what kind he gladly accepts. Dissolve, he says, the bindings of impiety: untie the bundles that weigh down: or as the Septuagint translated more clearly, the bonds of violent obligations, which our people, deceived by the ambiguity of the word, that is, exchanges in certificates, interpreted as transfers. However, it signifies the bundles of documents in which the deceit of lenders is contained, and the poor are oppressed by debt, which is the main cause of revolt in all cities. Therefore, the Roman people occupy neighboring mountains, and there are new records, which the Greeks call 'χρέων ἀποκοπάς'. Therefore, the Prophet does not command that each person should not demand what is owed, especially when it was justly given and justly sought after; otherwise, he would be a supporter of sedition. But where there is unfair surety, where the poor are oppressed by slander: there the bundles of sureties and all the chains of injustice must be broken. Or indeed, this must be said, because it is about fasting, and fasting has affliction and humiliation of the soul: but the affliction of sinners' bodies begs for indulgence. Divine Scripture teaches us to forgive our debtors, so that the Heavenly Father may also forgive us our debts (Mark 11). The ancient history tells that in the year of the Jubilee, which is the true Jubilee, all possessions return to their owners and slaves regain their freedom, and all obligations, commonly known as cautions, become void (Leviticus 25 and 27). If this is commanded in the old Law (Exodus 21), how much more in the Gospel, where everything that is good is multiplied: and not an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth is commanded, but to offer the other cheek to the one who strikes! And so that we know what we have said above: Collect all your debtors, have the creditors written down, and join them with the debtors more clearly: Forgive those who are broken, that is, those who are broken by poverty, whom affliction has afflicted, so that you do not allow them to beg. And break all burdens by which they are oppressed. For which the Seventy translated it more clearly, and cut off all unjust writing: which Symmachus translated: And break all false caution. But it could happen that someone would say, 'I have no debtors, what should I do to observe my fast?' It follows: Break your bread to the hungry. Not many loaves, nor cause poverty, but one loaf. Not the whole loaf itself, but a portion of bread: which if you did not fast, you would eat; so that your fast is not a profit for your purse, but a satisfaction for your soul. And beautifully he added 'your', so that you do not make your alms from robbery: For the redemption of a man's soul is his own treasure (Proverbs 13, 6). And in another place: Honor the Lord with your just labor (Proverbs 3, 9). Certainly if you do not have bread, and there is a great multitude of hungry people, give from what you suffer no harm. In which there are no expenses, bring the homeless, the poor without shelter, into your home. Or as it is said in Hebrew, into the house, so that if you do not have your own, you bring them into a small guesthouse, which you either rent or possess as a favor. If you see someone naked, cover him. And what the Lord said in the Gospel: Whoever has two tunics, let him give one to him who has none (Luke 3, 11). For he did not command that one be torn and divided, as many do for the sake of popular applause, but that the other not be preserved, increasing the precepts of justice, so that he also may say that having handed a cup of cold water has its rewards. And he says 'your' flesh, do not despise it. For every man is our flesh. And according to the Gospel parable, he is called the neighbor who does good to the one who came down from Jerusalem to Jericho and was wounded by robbers (Luke 10). Or certainly according to the Seventy who said: And do not despise the servants of your own seed, let us understand those servants of your own seed, about whom the Apostle also teaches, saying that alms should be done to all, but especially to the servants of faith (Galatians 6). For they are our flesh and our seed, being generated with us by the same parent. To whom the Savior also extended his hand, saying: These are my mother and my brothers, who do the will of my Father (Mark 3, 34, 35). And so that we know that there is one Lord, both of the new and the old Testament, the Lord speaks the same in the Gospel about those who will stand on the right on the day of judgment, saying: Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was sick and in prison, and you visited me. I was a stranger and you brought me into your home. And I was naked and you clothed me (Matthew 25, 34-36). And to those who humbly say that they have done nothing for the Lord and Savior, he responds: As long as you have done it to one of the least of my brothers, you have done it to me. According to tropology, we can say: Whoever fasts from all evil and wishes his fast to be respected, not only must turn away from evil, but also do good, so as to break every bond of iniquity by which simple believers are bound by the deceit of heretics. And the Prophet also speaks about the bonds of violent contracts, which he demonstrates in the psalm, saying: But those who go astray in their obligations, the Lord will bring with those who work iniquity (Psalm 125, 5). For all those who are bound by the bonds of heretics, turn away from the Lord; they are like a bull led to the slaughter; and they choose and exchange falsehood for truth. Therefore, let the Ecclesiastical man dismiss and dissolve these kinds of men, who are broken in judgment; and break and tear apart all the writings of heretics, about whom the same Prophet says: Woe to those who write iniquity: for they write malice, stealing the judgment of the poor people of mine (Isaiah 10, 1, 2), so that they do not hold every simple person ensnared by their traps. And when he does this, let him break his bread to the hungry of the Ecclesiastical doctrine, which the Lord also did, giving broken bread to the Apostles, which he left for them in seven baskets and twelve small baskets, not whole as they were in the Law, but crushed and broken in the Gospel, so that they would have something to give to the poor (Matthew 15). When you see those who do not have the warmth of faith, but who freeze outside the Church in the coldness of unbelief, bring them into the house of the Church, and cover them with the robe of incorruption; so that, clothed in Christ's tunic, they do not remain in the graves, as we read of the one who was possessed by a legion of demons, who lived naked among the memorials of the dead. And when you have done this, let your generosity be shown to all, especially to the faithful servants.

Do you see, dearly beloved, what true fasting really is? Let us perform this kind and not entertain the facile notion held by many that the essence of fasting lies in going without food till evening. This is not the end in view, but that we should demonstrate, along with abstinence from food, abstinence also from whatever is harmful, and should give close attention to spiritual duties. The person fasting ought to be reserved, peaceful, meek, humble, indifferent to the esteem of this world.

1027. Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? Here he brings in useful counsel. And first, as to the zeal of piety towards one's neighbor; second, as to the worship of religious duty toward God: if you turn away (Isa 58:13).

Concerning the first, he does two things. First, he sets out the counsel of piety, that calumnies should cease: loose the bands of wickedness, the false lawsuits, by which, like usurers, they cunningly bound the poor, undo the bundles, referring to the same thing, that oppress, as to the punishments to which they bound them; them that are broken, by long servitude; break asunder every burden, of servitude: they bind heavy and insupportable burdens, but with a finger of their own they will not move them (Matt 23:4).

He is finding fault, you see, with the fasts of the quarrelsome; he is looking for the fasts of the kindhearted. He is finding fault with those who oppress others; he is looking for those who give relief. He is finding fault with those who stir up strife; he is looking for those who set free. That is why, you see, during these days you restrain your desires for lawful things; it is in order not to commit unlawful things. If you refrain from your marriage rights during these days, then surely you should not drown yourself in wine or adultery on any day.In this way, in humility and charity, by fasting and giving, by restraining ourselves and forgiving, by paying out good deeds and not paying back bad ones, by turning away from evil and doing good, our prayer seeks peace and obtains it.

If we carefully heed the fact that Christ hungers in the person of the poor, beloved, it will be profitable for us.… Listen and see, a coin and a kingdom. What comparison is there, beloved? You give the poor a coin and receive a kingdom from Christ; you bestow a mouthful and are given eternal life; you offer clothes, and Christ grants the forgiveness of your sins.

And we shall find many examples also in other places,-as, for instance, respecting prayer: "Good works are an acceptable prayer to the Lord," says the Scripture. And the manner of prayer is described. "If thou seest," it is said, "the naked, cover him; and thou shalt not overlook those who belong to thy seed. Then shall thy light spring forth early, and thy healing shall spring up quickly; and thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of God shall encompass thee." What, then, is the fruit of such prayer? "Then shall thou call, and God will hear thee; whilst thou art yet speaking, He will say, I am here."

When you refrain from doing these things, then the things you lack will be yours. For the bearing of fruit toward the neighbor refers to the noble things of love. Love is the fulfillment of the law, as it stands written. For the fulfilling of love toward brothers and compassion are the marks of a reward with God. Seeing how to abstain from evil and doing good are not the same thing. For it does not suffice for glory with God to flee evil but to try in all ways to meet needs and do good works and hold fast to diligence in godliness … thus the old law being a schoolmaster to Christ did not introduce the fulfillment of the good for those at that time but rather taught them to restrain from evil. Thus, "do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not swear" have this force. But the perfect fulfillment of all goodness in the oracles is kept through Christ, through which we learn to fulfill those works of love toward God and our fellows.

But the affliction of the body entreats for the indulgence of sinners. Divine Scripture teaches us to forgive our debtors so that the heavenly Father would also forgive our debts. The old history instructs in the seventh year of remission, or in the fiftieth, which is the true jubilee, to return all possessions to the Lord and to restore to one's servants their original freedom and to render void every name that was used as a warranty. But if this was commanded in the law, how much more in the gospel, where all goods are doubled and where we are ordered by no means to take an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth but instead to offer our cheek to the assailant!…When you see people freezing outside the church in the frigidity of unbelief, without the warmth of faith, impoverished and homeless, lead them home into the church and clothe them with the work of incorruption, so that, wrapped in the mantle of Christ, they will not remain in the grave.

And that they extend mercies, exhorting them to mercy as to the hungry: break your bread for the hungry, that is, if you have little; as to the homeless: and bring the needy and the harborless into your house; as to the naked, when you shall see one naked, cover him: if I have denied to the poor what they desired (Job 31:16). And he sets out the cause of his exhortation: and despise not your own flesh, namely, because he is of the same species as you: visiting your species (Job 5:24).

This oracle has great force. For it does not simply say, "Light will be given to you by God," but it will be like lightning whose course and progress is sent by God, through which is clearly shown the desire of those who pray. By saying "first light," it instructs us that it will appear before time. For God, the guardian of all things, knew, as the giver of spiritual gifts, the time suited to each person for his blessings. But if anyone is fair and good and also caring and benevolent—to that person a reward will be given as a "first thing," so that in him there will arise just like an ear of corn his health (that is, the departing of all infirmities and the returning of good health). For the one who is free of diseases is fruitful in all ways, with an easy and cheerful production of good things. So the light of the divine understanding and our healthiness both arise within us, as God removes the burden of all sickness and also sets in us in its place the will to do good works and to abound in righteousness.

"And your healing," it says, "will arise quickly." Aquila translates this word for word: "And the scar of your wound will be formed quickly," so that the wounds of our sins may be closed by the quickly formed scar at the rising of the sun of justice.

(Vers. 8, 9.) Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am. LXX: Then your light shall break forth like the morning; your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of God shall surround you. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say: Here I am. While you are still speaking, he will say: Here I am. When you have not done those things that the previous conversation narrated, and you have done those things that we are now speaking about, then your fasting will be acceptable, and your morning light will break forth; the sun of righteousness, about which Malachi the prophet speaks in the person of God the Father, saying: For you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise, with healing in its wings (Malachi 4:2). That sun is called the light here. For just as the morning light dispels darkness, so the light of knowledge and truth dispels all errors. And your healings, it is said, will quickly arise. For this reason, Aquila, expressing word for word, put: And the scar of your wound will quickly be covered; so that, namely, the wounds of our sins may be closed with a quickly covered scar at the rising of the sun of righteousness. Because of this, the Seventy translated τὰ ἰάματά σου, that is, your healings, with the similarity of the word ἱμάτια, that is, garments. Therefore, deceived by the falseness of many translations, they use this testimony to prove the resurrection of the body, namely that the garment of the soul will receive a body, which will arise on the day of resurrection. And it says, 'Your righteousness will go before you.' (Genesis 30:33, according to the Septuagint). According to what Jacob says: 'Tomorrow my righteousness will answer me,' and what is written will be fulfilled: 'Behold, the man and his works.' And the glory of the Lord will surround you, like a beautiful garment, so that you may be glorified before God and before men. Then you will call upon Him, and the Lord will answer; you will cry out, and He will say: 'Here I am,' not in words, but in works; not in response, but in acts of kindness. This is confirmed in the letter and in the Gospel, when the leper said to the Lord, 'If you will, you can make me clean,' and the Lord answered, saying: 'I will, be clean.'

The light is desirable, but more desirable still is the dawn that appears after the night. This he has called "the morning light." … Aquila has, "Then your light will break through like the dawn." For just as the dawn tears away the curtain of the night, so, he says, the night of your misfortunes, your life lived under the law, will disperse, and the light of my providence will be supplied to you.… "Your righteousness will go out before you, and the glory of the Lord will surround you." He makes it clear that the divine works follow our works. For with our righteousness in the vanguard, the glory of the Lord of the universe is given access, shining on us as we look for it.

1028. Second, he shows the fruit of this counsel: then shall your light break forth. And first, as to the efficacy of their merits, then as to the works of their virtues: then shall your light break forth as the morning, namely, your merits will appear clearly in the rewards, about which you now complain to the Lord because they are not yet seen; the glory of the Lord shall gather you up, from captivity, or in the protection of his mercy: he will bring forth your justice as the light, and your judgment as the noonday (Ps 36[37]:6).

God is always one and the same; but people have come to be afterwards through the Word, when the Father himself willed it; and God is invisible and inaccessible to originated things, especially to people on earth. When then people in infirmity invoke him, when in persecution they ask help, when they pray as they endure injuries, then the Invisible, being a lover of people, shines forth on them with his beneficence, which he exercises through and in his proper Word. And forthwith the divine manifestation is made to every one according to his need, and is made to the sick, and to the persecuted a "refuge" and "house of defense."

Whenever you keep the ways of the Lord and do His will, then put your hope in the Lord and call on Him.…When temptation overtakes the iniquitous person, he has no confidence wherewith to call upon God, nor to expect salvation from Him, since in the days of his ease he stood aloof from God's will.

[Daniel 9:21] "While I was still speaking in my prayer, behold the man Gabriel, whom I had seen at the beginning of the vision." He calls the previous vision preceding this one the beginning. The effect of his prayer was considerable, and the promise of God was fulfilled which says, "While thou art yet speaking, lo, I am at hand" (Isaiah 58:9). And Gabriel appears not as an angel or archangel, but as a man (vir), a term used to indicate the quality of virtue rather than specifying his sex.

"...he quickly flew to me and touched me at the time of the evening sacrifice." It is stated that he flew, because he had made his appearance as a man. It is said that it was at the time of the evening sacrifice, in order to show that the prophet's prayer had persisted from the morning sacrifice even unto the evening sacrifice, and that God for that reason directed His mercy towards him.

One who is not bound by such chains of sin is found only with difficulty. And a soul is rarely discovered who does not have this extremely heavy collar around its neck, oppressing it with such terrestrial work that it cannot gaze at heaven at all, but only the earth. This also recalls the woman in the Gospel whom Satan conquered for eighteen years, keeping her bent over and unable to look toward heaven. …Similarly, if we refrain from doing the things just mentioned and if we accomplish the deeds that are to be outlined, so that we would give food to the hungry … with our very soul, helping them in whichever way we are able to help, and this "not begrudgingly or under compulsion," but giving from the soul, thus we receive more benefits than we give, for "God loves a cheerful giver." This means that we should saturate the hungry or afflicted soul, instead of restoring it just partially, and if we suffer with the suffering and mourn with those who mourn, then our light will arise in the darkness, that light that said, "I am the light that came into the world so that all who believe in me would not remain in the darkness" but "have the light of life." For "the lamp of our body is the eye; if it is good, our entire body will be illuminated." … We can identify this fountain with none other than that to whom it was said, "With you is the fountain of life," which irrigates his church unceasingly, along with the heart of every believer.

Were he distant from us in place, you might well doubt, but if [God] is present everywhere, to him that strives and is in earnest he is near.… What father would ever be thus obedient to his offspring? What mother is there, so ready and continually standing, in case her children call her? There is not one, no father, no mother, but God stands continually waiting … and never, when we have called as we ought, has he refused to hear.

Then as to intercessions of prayer: then shall you call, above: at the voice of your cry, as soon as he shall hear, he will answer you (Isa 30:19).

1029. Second, as to the attainment of goods. And first, he returns to the meritorious work: if you will take away the chain, by which you oppress the poor, and cease to stretch out the finger, disparaging and threatening.

1035. Note also on the words, if you will take away the chain out of the midst of you (Isa 58:9), that there is a chain: first, of piety: for which I am an ambassador in a chain (Eph 6:20); second, of iniquity: for they were all bound together with one chain of darkness (Wis 17:17); third, of poverty: if they be conquered (Job 36:8); fourth, of servitude: you have broken chains of wood (Jer 28:13); fifth, of prison: out of prison and chains sometimes a man comes forth to a kingdom (Eccl 4:14).

[My father] actually treated his own property as if it were another's, of which he was but the steward, relieving poverty as far as he could and expending not only his superfluities but his necessities—a manifest proof of love for the poor, giving a portion not only to seven, according to the injunction of Solomon, but if an eighth came forward, not even in his case being stingy but more pleased to dispose of his wealth than we know others are to acquire it.… This is what most people do: they give indeed, but without that readiness that is a greater and more perfect thing than the mere offering. For he thought it much better to be generous even to the undeserving for the sake of the deserving than from fear of the undeserving to deprive those who were deserving. And this seems to be the duty of casting our bread on the waters, since it will not be swept away or perish in the eyes of the just Investigator but will arrive yonder where all that is ours is laid up and will meet with us in due time, even though we think it not. But what is best and greatest of all, [my father's] magnanimity was accompanied by freedom from ambition.

(Verse 10.) If you remove the chain from your midst, and you cease to extend your finger, and to speak what is not helpful. When you pour out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. LXX: If you remove from yourself the yoke, and the pointing of the finger, and the speaking of murmuring, and you give your bread to the hungry from your soul, and satisfy the humble soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Hebrew word Mota (), which is interpreted as an iron torque in Jeremiah (Jer. XVIII), is read twice in the present chapter. In that place where we have said above according to the Septuagint: Dissolve the obligations of violent exchanges, by one word Mota we may know that they have put violent bonds, for which Aquila translated error, Symmachus translated declination, and Theodotion κλοιὸν, that is, torque. Again, in the present place where we translate: If you remove the chain from your midst, and for chain Septuagint translated συνδεσμὸν, that is, binding or bond; Aquila, as above, interpreted error; Symmachus, agreeing with Theodotion's ideas ((Al. conceding)), put torque. This is said about the variety of interpretation. Otherwise, the meaning is connected as follows: The morning light will arise for you, and your health will quickly arise; and your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will crown you. And when you pray, he will immediately hear you, and he will show himself to be present. This is true, only if you add these things to the previous works, in order to remove from yourself the obligation and the chain with which your soul is bound. About which Peter spoke to Simon: 'For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity' (Acts 8:23). And Paul was grieved, as he observed the city of the Athenians bound by the obligation of idolatry. For each person is bound by the ropes of their own sins (Proverbs 5). And concerning these bonds of the soul, David prayed in the psalm: 'Cleanse me from my hidden faults, O Lord, and spare your servant from the deeds of others' (Psalm 19:13). It is difficult to find someone who is not bound by these chains. It is rarely found a soul that does not have this heavy burden encircling its neck, weighing it down with earthly pursuits, so that it does not look to the heavens but only to the earth. This is also reflected in the Gospel story of the woman whom Satan had bound for eighteen years, so that she was bent over and could not see the heavenly things (Luke 13). Therefore, it is said, if you remove this chain from the midst of your heart and break these kinds of bonds, and if you also extend your hand, as three other interpreters render this phrase, and refrain not only from thinking or doing evil, but also from speaking ill of your neighbor and pointing out each person's faults as if with a finger, and if you avoid speaking what does not benefit your soul, considering not your own faults but the errors of others, then you will receive what the following passage adds. Most of our people understand the ordination of clergy, which is fulfilled not only by the invocation of the voice, but also by the laying on of hands (so that, as we have laughed at in some cases, the clandestine invocation of the voice may ordain unknowing clerics), in this way: they take as evidence the writing of Paul to Timothy: Do not lay hands on anyone too hastily and thereby share in the sins of others (1 Tim. 5:22). For it is not a light matter to cast pearls before swine and to give what is holy to dogs (Matt. 7); and to attribute the ordination of the clergy, not to the holy and most learned in the law of God, but to their followers and ministers of lowly duties; and what is more shameful for them, to the prayers of little women. In considering the wisdom of Christ's Apostles, who, to demonstrate the danger of ordination, connected the torments of sinners: You shall not partake in others' sins. Therefore, just as in the ordinations of evil men, the one who appoints them is a participant in their sins, so in the ordination of the saints, the one who chooses them is a participant in their righteousness. It follows: And the word of murmuring is understood to mean, 'from the common,' if you remove it from yourself. But the word of murmuring is when God speaks against us: Let the murmuring of this people cease from me, and they shall not die; and we refer our sins to God, in order to excuse ourselves for our sins, and we say: The heat of the body overcame me, the incentives of youth overcame me, God created me this way: poverty forced me to steal. Therefore, if we do not do those things which are said, and if we do those things which are to be said, let us not give our bread to the hungry as before, but our soul, so that we may help him however we can, and let us not do it with sadness and necessity, but willingly, receiving more than giving charity. For God loves a cheerful giver, so that we may not refresh the hungry or the afflicted partially, but fully satisfy them; and let us grieve with those who grieve and mourn with those who mourn, then our light shall rise in the darkness, he who says: I am the light that came into the world, so that everyone who believes in me does not remain in darkness, but has the light of life. For the eye is the light of our body: if it is simple, our whole body will be full of light. But if it is evil, our whole body will be full of darkness. And it will be said to us: If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! Let us consider with what virtues we may come to the light of God, so that darkness may be turned into noonday, and let us say with the bride: Where do you pasture, where do you rest at noon?

When you shall pour out your soul to the hungry, through compassion, and shall satisfy the afflicted soul, through assistance in necessities.

1030. Second, he promises the reward: then shall your light rise up. And first, as to the multiplication of goods, setting out liberation from evils: then shall your light rise up in darkness, that is, adversity will be turned into the light of prosperity, ignorance into the light of knowledge, or sin into the light of knowledge, as to spiritual evils.

Those who were of Israel by blood are written as a type when God sent down manna from heaven. For this figure can be thought of as the bread of angels and as heavenly bread. For there are those in whose minds the divine light shines brightly and who work hard and irreproachably to know the holy Scriptures—we say that these people are filled and brimming with the heavenly nourishment of God.… Now whoever receives knowledge and is filled by his divine mysteries, that person's bones have flesh put on them. For the oracle here is constructed in fleshly terms. Their soul became like a lush garden, that is, luxuriant and tree-filled and with many types of flowers abounding and providing all sorts of fruit. For gardens that lack water are exceedingly ugly, being dry and barren of all fruit.… For just the hardiest among trees has the most beautiful fruit, so also fairest and finest virtues exist in God's sight among the souls of the saints.

(Verse 11) And the Lord will always give you rest, and will fill your soul with splendor, and will free your bones. And you will be like a well-watered garden, and like a fountain of water, whose waters will not fail. LXX: And your God will be with you always: and you will be filled as your soul desires, and your bones will become fat. And they will be like a drunken garden, and like a fountain, whose water will not fail. What is added at the beginning of this chapter in the Alexandrian manuscripts: And still praise will be in you always; and in the end your bones will rise like grass, and become fat, and they will possess the inheritance for generations upon generations. This is not found in Hebrew, nor even in the corrected and true copies of the Seventy: hence, it should be marked with an obelus. When the darkness, says he, of thine heart shall be dissolved in the rising light, and midday shall have arisen from palpable night, then wilt thou always have God as thy inhabitant, who shall fill thy soul with brightness. Of whom it is said in the Psalms: With thee is the principality of thy power, in brightnesses of the saints, from the womb before the morning star I begot thee (Ps. 109:4) . Whether thou shalt be satisfied with all things which thy soul desireth, because thou also hast satisfied the hungry soul, and shalt be able to say: Bless the Lord, O my soul, who filleth thy desire with good things (Ps. 102:5) ; and thy bones shall be delivered from death and perpetual fire. Or, they will cause them to become thick again, which had been made thin by the hunger of speech of the Lord. And indeed, we can understand this both in a literal sense concerning the resurrection of bodies that are going to fall, and concerning the virtues of the soul, which the holy one speaks of in the psalm, 'All my bones will say, Lord, who is like you?' (Ps. 34:10). Regarding these matters, it is also written in Proverbs, 'Good fame fattens the bones' (Prov. 15:30). And to those who are promised rewards, Health will be to your body, and healing to your bones (Prov. XVI, 24). Concerning them it is written again, The Lord keeps all their bones, not one of them shall be broken (Ps. XXXIII, 21). On the contrary, the sinner, who has lost strength and virtue of the soul, laments and speaks: Our bones are scattered nearby the underworld (Ps. CXL, 7). For we cannot believe that the bones of sinners are not in hell, but near hell. And good fame fattens the bones (Prov. XV, 30), which does not pertain to the nourishment of the body. It follows: And you will be, or it will be, that is, either you or your soul, like a well-watered garden: of which it is written: A spring went out and watered the whole face of the garden (Genes. II, 6), which is read as 'garden' in Hebrew. We can say that this spring is none other than the one to whom it is said, With you is the fountain of life (Ps. XXXV, 10): which continually waters His Church and the hearts of all believers.

As for "Here I am," this does not mean a voice but the operation through actions. For you are taught by events that the God whom you called on is with you.You will have God present, who will offer you a share of his goodness. We think by "bones" is meant the thoughts; for these receive joy. For if anyone takes God's promise to his "bones," he will not miss the intention of the prophecy. For the body is enriched by joy in the soul. "For a joyful heart cheers the face."

And the Lord will give you rest, as to temporal evils: God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness (2 Cor 4:6); multiplication of interior, spiritual goods: he will fill your soul with brightness, namely, virtues or consolations, and deliver your bones, as to bodily goods: a cheerful and good heart (Sir 30:27); and multiplication of exterior goods: and you shall be like a watered garden, because of your prosperity, or an unfailing supply of all goods: how beautiful are your tabernacles, O Jacob (Num 24:5).