[LATIN COLUMN] A you shall not kill the innocent and righteous (Exod. 23:7; Dan. 13:53)? Is not the ancient blood of the prophets already shed sufficient for you? For even until this time it cries out to God and expects vengeance from Him. But that you might add to that blood even now, you condemn innocent and righteous blood, and say, "What are we doing?" O demented mind and ill-advised counsel! The man four days dead among them has risen, the bonds of sins have been broken: and they arm themselves for an insidious slaughter against him. They ought rather, with changed words, to have said: "What are we doing? Because we have heaped insults upon the Holy One? Because we have not believed in the Son of God? B What are we doing? He has wiped away the tubercula of lepers like dust with a word, and we have not believed him. What are we doing? We know those born blind who were given sight by him, and we have not believed him. What are we doing? We know that from five loaves five thousand were fed to satisfaction by him in the desert, and we have not believed him. What are we doing? He has dried up the sources of blood with the fringe of his garments, and we have not believed him. What are we doing? He has raised up the paralytic lying on a bed, who for thirty-eight years had been feeding the sickness of his life, with a word, and we have not even then believed him. What are we doing? We have watched him walking on the sea as if on dry land, and we know that he restrained the impulses and untamable whirlwinds of the surging waves with a mere gesture of his hand, yet we did not believe him. But they said, "What are we doing?"—not that they might repent, but that they might gratify their malice. Their own region was producing dead men living like white and ripe harvests, with no labor of their own, and they were groaning. Have you not reaped, O Jews, what you sowed? Was any one of you harmed having received the Lord? In what matter were you affected and burdened by some loss? In what were you injured by God? Why, moved by envy, do you bar the dead from life? Why do you wish to break the channels of the perennial honey-flowing fount, from which those who drink will not thirst any more? Why do you kill your own fields while you wish to remove their physician from the midst? But the cause of all these things is most pernicious envy. C O envy, mother of death, invention of the devil, author of mortality! O envy, which neither wishes those whom you envy to live, and torments those who foster you even more vehemently! O envy, devil's companion! O envy, enemy of friendship, foe of peace, adversary of charity, offspring of the devil, a flower of dark color, those who possess you devise the death of Christ! You envied Adam even from the beginning in paradise, and having tasted the sweet pleasure, you delivered him to most bitter death: for there would not be death in the world, had not you, O envy, brought it forth. The authority of the divine books testifies to this in these words: God did not make death, nor does He exult in the destruction of men. But by the envy of the devil death entered into the world (Wisd. 1:13; 2:24). You also stripped Cain of the shining garment of fraternal love, and armed him with the sword of insidious slaughter: you taught him to kill, and immediately to tremble, the wretch. You, sitting in the mind of Pharaoh, withered the newborn infants of the Hebrews like grass. You, O envy, having been benefited, are moved more vehemently against those who benefited you; just as Saul, helped by David and then corrupted by you, was carried off more ardently to slaughter. Driven by you, the sons of Jacob sent the handsome and splendid Joseph into dark Egypt, and sold the free man as a slave; and not even dreams frightened them: for a divine vision indicated that he was a figure of Christ; for he was adored by eleven stars in a vision; after which also the traitor Judas, moved by envy, ended his life with a noose. But let us, fleeing from envy, the parent of death, rising up, celebrate with praises God, whom we adore in the Trinity, since to Him pertains power, honor, glory, and magnificence, now and always, and for ages of ages. Amen.
ON THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS, AND ON ALMSGIVING (Matt. 25:1). On the Holy and Great Tuesday.
D When I consider the end of life, and the circling, vacillating wheel of the passing year, and the life of men exposed to many troubles, and human accidents, the fleeting age, the shadow of affairs, the flux of glory, the fragility of power, the image of prosperity, and the dream of riches; when I subsequently consider that extreme day, and the inevitability of that speed of consummation, the time for rendering an account, and the Judge unyielding to any blandishments, and the horrendous constitution of the judgment; how the Judge arrives flashing from the heavens, how the moved celestial virtues precede [him], in what manner the formidable throne is prepared, the heaven is rolled up like a book, the elements are dissolved and inflamed by fear, the ground shakes receiving the Judge's approach, what a horrendous clamor the trumpets give forth, the monuments are opened, the tombs are shaken out, the dead leap up awakened from sleep, the dust in the twinkling of an eye returns to its own disposition, how souls return to their own bodies, the righteous proceed to the encounter; how the bridegroom stands at midnight, and the righteous are deemed worthy of entry, how the doors of the bridal chamber are shut against the negligent: when I have revolved all these things in my mind, I reckon as blessed those prudent virgins whom the book of the Gospels proposed to us a little while ago; because both they fought against the infirmity of sleep, and having observed the mutable condition of the passing time, reflecting on divine and immortal life and the fleeting age, they watched for the hour of the arrival, and stirred up their spirit with fear of the encounter with the incorruptible bridegroom, and because when they had explored the nocturnal darkness, they took accurate care of the lamps. But nothing prevents us from going through the very words divine. *It is made like*, he says, *the kingdom of heaven to ten virgins, who having taken their lamps, went forth to meet the bridegroom* (Matt. 25:1). But when, I ask, did they go forth? Perhaps when the set day of life grasped them? When the command arrived, when the sentence of death was brought, when the urgent angels were sent, then they went forth to meet the bridegroom? By no means. But when finally did they go forth? When they sent word to secular distractions, when they decided to walk through the narrow and strait path, when they fell in love with voluntary harsh education, when they did not bind themselves to the laws of marriage, when they neglected the pleasures of life, when they chose the better part of incorruption, when they became enamored of the ways of true joy, when they detested the filth of sin, when they entered into the covenant of temperance, when they burned with the love of the holy Bridegroom, when they desired the beauty of the kingdom, when they cast off all care of the secular life: then they went forth to meet the bridegroom. *There were, however*, he says, *five prudent, and five foolish* (Ibid. v. 2). From whence are the prudent distinguished? From this namely, that they coupled almsgiving with continence, they adorned virginity with beneficence, they understood that faith without works is dead, they judged one praiseworthy thing not to be sufficient for salvation; for an eagle does not lift itself to the heights with one wing. They remembered the voice of that Bridegroom saying, *I desire mercy, and not sacrifice* (Hos. 6:6); and again, *Mercy exults over judgment* (Jas. 2:13). These things correctly pondering with themselves they had filled their vessels with oil. What vessels, however? Namely, those of the hunger-stricken...
the bridegroom rejoiced; alms were sown, and the expected reward was prepared. And the wise ones cried out the words of David: "We were prepared, and we were not troubled" (Ps. CXI, 8), while the foolish ones, holding their lamps without oil, were seen far from the bridegroom. How did they cleave to one duty? How did they acquire chastity, but cast away philanthropy? How did they procure passionlessness for their body, but showed no sympathy toward those in need? How did they love temperance, but turn away from hospitality? What, then, was the end? "While the bridegroom tarried," it says, "they all slumbered and slept" (Matt. 25:5). But those who had laid up the oil beforehand had security, in that their lamps would not be extinguished; whereas the foolish ones were awaiting the moment of necessity. What then—shall I not tell it briefly? The hour stood present, the time arrived, the claps started, the trumpets sounded, the elements were shaken, the earth was disturbed, the heaven was inclined, the firmament trembled, the stars were dissolved, the powers were troubled, angels ran before, lightnings preceded, the creation had a great tumult. For not in the day, but at midnight, the Judge arrives. What then? There is a cry calling to the encounter: "Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go out to meet him" (Matt. 25:6). What, then, happened? All the virgins arose, shook off their sleep, took hold of their lamps; but some were burning, and others were not shining. Those of the wise were watered with the oil of well-doing, but those of the foolish were being extinguished. Truly, the situation was pitiable. An inescapable necessity encompassed the women; the failure had no room for entreaty. Then, therefore, approaching the wise, they sought what they could not obtain. "Give us of your oil," they said, "for our lamps are going out" (Matt. 25:8). It was necessary, then, to have imitated them long ago, and not to beg now; for it was necessary to buy the oil from those who sell. "Give you," they say, "oil to us." In vain do you entreat the wise, O sluggish ones; the festival of life has ended, the theater of existence has passed; now is not the time for exchange; now the demonstration of works is sought. It was necessary to foresee the danger of the present age; it was necessary to care for this encounter; it was necessary to reflect that lamps without oil cannot shine. You say, "Give us of your oil." No one is adorned by another’s works; each reaps what he has sown. "Give you oil to us." What, then, do the wise say to them? "Lest there be not enough for us and you; but go you rather to them that sell, and buy" (Matt. 25:9). Even if a small amount of time still remains, run, exert yourselves; the bridegroom has not yet arrived; hasten before the doors are closed, go away to those who sell. And who, O wise ones, are those who sell? Tell us; for these do not know, not having experienced the custom of such an exchange. Who are those who sell? The poor who sit at the doors of the churches, the rational swallows, the heralds of the rational spring of souls, the venerable mediators to the Master, the unconquered orators on the day of judgment. And as they were going to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived, and the doors were shut (Matt. 25:10). O the injury of harmful sloth! O the incurable pain! O the inconsolable loss! O the mourning without relief! "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came." The expected joy came, the boast of the righteous came, the light came at midnight. The wise entered, they entered in with the bridegroom, and the doors were shut.
B 2. I shudder, contemplating what happened; I tremble, narrating the blunder that befell the women. They desired to see the fearful bridal chamber; for its sake they bade farewell to the delights of the world, they scorned luxury, they despised glory, they observed difficult paths, they mastered passions, they conquered pleasures; and since they had no oil, they found the locks of the kingdom unopened. For arriving, they knocked, saying: "Lord, Lord, open to us"; the Judge from within crying out fearfully: "Amen, amen, I say to you, I know you not" (Matt. 25:11, 12). O the final judgment! Even though He gave the painful reply, not through an angel, but through Himself, in order that, having heard the voice, and not being able to see the face, they might endure a greater torment. "Amen, I say to you, I know you not." Do You not know us, Master? From the womb we longed for You, we followed after You from our youth, we guarded our chastity, the body which You fashioned for us we kept incorrupt, we did not surrender our members to passions, we expected to receive crowns from Your right hand; and now You have shut the doors and say, "I know you not"? Yes, truly I do not know you. Why, Master? C Master: Why? "Because I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not take me in; naked, and you did not clothe me; sick and in prison, and you did not come unto me" (Ibid. v. 42-43). By writing I specified to you, saying: "As long as you did not do it to one of these my brethren, the least and smallest, you did not do it to me" (Ibid. v. 45). But they said: "In vain, then, Master, did we endure the toil and the misery of the flesh? In vain did we waste ourselves with watchings and fastings? In vain, having longed for the heavenly bridegroom until the end, did we guard our virginity unwounded?" Yes, He says, you are virgins, but you do not have dowries; virgins, but you do not wear bridal attire; you practiced the chastity of the flesh, but by inhumanity you wounded the chastity; your body is undefiled, but your character is unmerciful, not of nature, but of inhumanity. My bridal chamber is for those who have acquired the oil of well-doing. D It is necessary, therefore, that those who are wedded to me should wear a character suitable to the world. I cannot take a bride who fights against my chambers; I do not introduce war into peaceful bridal chambers. Henceforth go away from me, do not bother my doors in vain; my kingdom is the dwelling-place of the merciful. He enters easily into it with me who has imitated my compassion toward the poor, he who has been poor in spirit, he who has inclined his ear to those in need, he who has made the sufferings of his neighbor his own, he who has wept over others' misfortunes, he who has filled the soul of the hungry with good things, he who has warmed the shoulders of the naked, he who has not disregarded the voice of the sick, he who has lent a word of comfort to the faint-hearted, he who has received the stranger under his roof, he who has wiped away the tear of widows with the sponge of sympathy, he who has lightened the weight of widowhood with the protection of orphanhood. Knowing these things, brethren, do not admire with the tongue, but imitate with works. For the hand is the seal of the tongue, and the gift of the right hand interprets this, zealously following the words. Let us hold love-of-the-poor in great esteem, let us not hesitate to scatter coins to the poor, I beseech you; let us heed the Master’s voices, let us learn to shun the experience of fear; let us care for ourselves through the poor. For the virgins who have not honored philanthropy are cast out of the bridal chamber. What hope, then, remains for sinners, who have insulted [God] by inhumanity? Saying these things to the multitude, I secure the conscience of the more sluggish, harming not at all the well-disposed, but rather working to make them warmer toward piety. Therefore, scatter, brother, while the festival of life still remains. Arrange the matters of your defense; before the thrones are set, show lamentation; anticipate the presence of the bridegroom; run, forestall the appointed judgment more swiftly than your sin...
...soothes the judge; do not let him condemn you before the tribunal. Now scatter your sins, that you may not then be condemned. Take the poor as a mediator for His favor; through him, make the Judge well-disposed to you by gifts; entrust such a mystery to him alone; through him, make justice your own. The beggar receives, and the Judge writes the remission; He receives without a document, yet brings forward handwritten notes. For whoever is compassionate to the poor, lends to the Lord (Prov. 19:17). That which you now cast into the hand of the poor, you will recognize in the right hand of the Judge. If, therefore, we plan to contend with the judgment, let us even now implore the Judge through the poor. And when you are about to die, arranging your affairs at home with your relatives and friends, have the soul that is departing from the living written down; give to him even a small viaticum for his need; let the name of the Judge be written on the pages of the testament; let not the paper be devoid of the mention of the poor man. Make death a bringer of joy, not one worthy of mourning; do not let yourself stand before the fearful tribunal without patrons; feed the bellies of those whose tongues ought to intercede for you before the Lord. Through them, let us make the Creator our debtor, lest on that day we pay the penalty; let us buy with money future advocates for ourselves to attain such a thing: for you possess the poor as a witness of my love; you know that I deem what belongs to beggars as my own. I command grass to spring up for cattle, and provide food for all, and yet, while you are doing alms, I stretch out my hand with the poor, and receive the obol. I am clad with light as with a garment (Ps. 103:2); and, if you cover the poor man alone, I feel the heat. You know that I sit in heaven with the Father; and, if you go to visit those only who are in prison, you will find me residing among the bonds; but if you hasten to the sick, I am not absent from the bed. For I am everywhere, and I succor those who are pressed by need. What you have given to the poor, you will see multiplied with me. If you bring into your house him who lacks a roof, and through him take me into your home, these three things I will provide to you: I will increase your profit, I will guard your house, and I will prepare a habitation for you in the heavens, from whence all pain and sorrow and sighing flee away, in God the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, to whom be glory and power, now and always, and for ages of ages. Amen.
On the Harlot and on the Pharisee
A My beloved, God is good and a lover of mankind, He grants time for repentance to sinners; but a man, through his own sloth, ruins his soul. For while he is addicted to vain and fleeting things, he is deprived of heavenly goods; and he who was appointed by his Creator and God as lord and master of all things, has become, because of worldly desires, a slave to sin. For this reason, regarding those who do these things, David says: "They have not known, nor have they understood; they walk in darkness" (Ps. 81:5). And Christ, contradicting sinners, says: "They do not come to the light, that their works may not be reproved; for everyone who does evil hates the light" (John 3:20). And again He says: "While you have the light, walk in the light, that darkness may not overtake you" (John 12:35); and again, "I have come into the world, that they may not perish, but may have life"; and again, "I did not come to judge the world, but to save it" (John 12:47; 10:10; 12:47); and again, "I lay down my life for the sheep" (John 10:15). When the harlot heard these words, like aromatic fragrance spread everywhere and pouring forth the odors of life to all who were worthy, when her evil works came to her mind, she condemned them, lamenting their infamy, as she reflected within herself on how many evils were impending over her because of these wicked deeds; for much sadness and much sorrow comes upon those who live in harlotry there. B Struck by the fear of these, the harlot was changed, and was no longer a harlot, but immediately became more virtuous than a virgin. For sitting, she exercised judgment against herself, and condemning herself, she said: "Woe to me, a sinner, woe to me, who am lost! How long shall I not separate myself from evils? Why do I not consider how great is the mercy of God, since the Lord goes around all the ways for my sake, as if for an erring sheep? For my sake He inclined the heavens and descended; He eats with a sinful Pharisee, He who gives food to all flesh. He approaches the sinner, He who is devoid of all sin; He becomes a partaker of the table, He who nourishes all; and He lies on the ground, He who is borne above the Cherubim, and He freely grants to all sinners the written notes of their sins. What do you still expect? Take courage, O my soul, approach: He did not come to save the just, but sinners" (Luke 5:32). Having said these things, immediately a good odor of forgiveness reached the harlot from the table of Christ, she once incontinent, now chaste; once a wild beast, now a sheep; once a slave of sin, now free through repentance; once a harlot, now chaste. And standing with readiness of apprehension, she came in her mind to Him, and perceiving the Lord at the table, she did not seek crumbs, as the Cananæan woman, but embraced the Life-giver, the whole Bread. For the Cananæan (Matt. 15:22) indeed prayed for a daughter vexed by a demon, and when she heard "dog," she sought to receive crumbs; but this one did not have a daughter obsessed by a demon, but her whole body obsessed by lewdness. C And the Cananæan indeed cried out before all: "Have mercy on me, O Son of David"; but the harlot did not even utter a voice, but being well aware that God knows all things, silent in mouth, she spoke in her heart to Him who knows hearts, and weeping, she kissed His feet, and thus inclined the Lord to commiseration. D Indeed, brothers, we must investigate, if you please, the mind of that wise woman, that we may learn how Christ so accepted her, and how He shone upon the soul obsessed by darkness. For truly, as David foretold, "The Lord is beautiful in form beyond the sons of men" (Ps. 44:3); and not only beautiful, but also a lover of the beautiful. For He knew her, prior to her entry to Him, already prepared with an excellent mind and purpose. But let us hear, if you wish, the very words of the Gospel. "When Jesus reclined in the house of the Pharisee, a certain woman who was a sinner in the city heard. And having taken precious ointment, she entered, and began to wash His feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head" (Luke 7:37-38). Great the woman’s zeal, great the path to salvation, great the struggle of the soul that desires to free itself from danger: she heard and hastened, she turned her mind to repentance, reasoning with herself: "O sinner soul and thrice miserable, what do you expect? Why do you delay with a wavering mind? Behold, now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2). Behold, the time which you sought has arrived; behold, He is present who looses and cleanses and wipes out sins; the ointment is present: how long will you remain in the mud and the stench? Go to Him; for it is for your sake that He came. Cast away those old vain things, and love those things which are now timely; those were detestable, these are desirable and eternal; prosecute your former mind with hatred, anoint the Creator of the ointment, coax Him who wishes to save you. You have found a lover better than all the lovers you have ever had. Having kissed those, you heaped up many sins for yourself: if you kiss Him, He Himself will forgive even your previous sins, which you contracted from them. Having so reasoned with herself, she crept into the house, and says: "I recede from old evils, and I find new goods, and to them I consent; I bid farewell, and I renounce evil, and I will be joined to the good; for I heard David saying, 'Approach Him and be enlightened' (Ps. 33:6); and the Lord saying: 'Come to me, all you who are sinners, and I...'"