Moralia in Job 1461

At that time, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought sweet spices, that coming they might anoint Jesus. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came to the sepulchre, the sun being now risen. And they said one to another: Who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And looking, they saw the stone rolled back. For it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a white robe, and they were astonished. Who said to them: Be not affrighted. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified; he is risen, he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples, and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee; there you shall see him, as he told you.

For many lessons, dearest brethren, I have been accustomed to speak to you by dictation; but because, my stomach being weakened, I cannot myself read what I have dictated, I perceive some of you listening with less pleasure. Wherefore now, contrary to custom, I wish to demand of myself that amid the sacred solemnities of the Mass I expound the lesson of the holy Gospel not by dictating, but by conversing. And let it be received as we speak, because the voice of conversation stirs up torpid hearts more than the discourse of a reading, and knocks upon them with a certain hand of solicitude that they may awake. Yet I do not see that I can be sufficient for this task; but nevertheless, the strength which unskillfulness denies, charity supplies. For I know Him who said: Open thy mouth, and I will fill it (Psalm 80).

(Psalm 80:11.) Let the good work therefore be in our will, for from divine help it will be in its accomplishment. The great solemnity of the Lord's own resurrection itself gives boldness to speak; for it is exceedingly unfitting that on that day the tongue of the flesh should keep silent from the praises that are due — on that very day, namely, on which the flesh of its Author rose again. You have heard, dearest brethren, that the holy women who had followed the Lord came to the sepulchre with spices, and pay honour, out of zeal of humanity, even to him dead, whom they had loved living. But the deed done signifies something to be done in the holy Church. For thus it is necessary that we hear what has been done, in order that we may also consider what ought to be done by us in imitation of them.

We too, then, believing in him who died, if, filled with the fragrance of virtues, we seek the Lord with the repute of good works, come indeed to his sepulchre with spices. And those women who came with spices see the angels; for those minds behold the citizens on high who set out toward the Lord through holy desires with the fragrances of virtues. But we must note what it is that the angel is seen to sit on the right side. For what is signified by the left but the present life, and what by the right but life everlasting? Whence it is written in the Song of Songs: His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me (Cant. 2:6).

Since therefore our Redeemer had already passed beyond the corruption of the present life, rightly did the angel who had come to announce his everlasting life sit on the right side. He appeared covered with a white robe, because he announced the joys of our festivity. For the whiteness of the garment proclaims the splendour of our solemnity. Shall we call it ours, or his? But that we may confess more truly, let us call it both his and ours. For that resurrection of our Redeemer was both our festivity, because it led us back to immortality, and it became the festivity of the angels, because by recalling us to heavenly things it filled up their number.

In his festivity, therefore, and in ours, the angel appeared in white garments; for while we are led back to things on high through the Lord's resurrection, the losses of the heavenly homeland are made good. But let us hear what he says to the women who come: Be not affrighted. As if he plainly said: Let those be afraid who love not the coming of the citizens on high; let those greatly dread who, pressed by carnal desires, despair of being able to attain to their fellowship. But you, why are you afraid, who behold your fellow-citizens? Whence also Matthew, describing the angel's appearing, says: His countenance was as lightning, and his raiment as snow (Matt. 28:3). For in the lightning there is the terror of fear, but in the snow the pleasing brightness of whiteness.

But because almighty God is both terrible to sinners and gentle to the just, rightly is the angel, the witness of his resurrection, shown both with a countenance of lightning and in a habit of whiteness, so that by his very appearance he might both terrify the reprobate and soothe the pious. Whence rightly too a pillar of fire went before the people passing through the desert by night, and a pillar of cloud by day (Exod. 13:21,22). For in the fire there is terror, but in the cloud the mild soothing of the sight; and the day is taken for the life of the just, and the night for the life of the sinner. Whence also Paul says to sinners who have been converted: You were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord (Eph. 5:8).

By day, therefore, the pillar was shown through the cloud, and by night through the fire; because almighty God will appear both gentle to the just and terrible to the unjust. These, coming in judgment, he soothes through the mildness of his clemency; those he terrifies through the strictness of his justice. But let us now hear what the angel subjoins: You seek Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus in the Latin tongue is interpreted 'salutaris,' that is, Saviour. But in truth many then were called Jesus, yet not substantially but only by name. Therefore the place too is added, that it may be made clear of which Jesus it was said: Of Nazareth. And straightway he added the cause: Crucified. And he added: He is risen, he is not here.

He is not here, it is said, through the presence of the flesh, who yet is nowhere absent through the presence of his majesty. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee. We must ask why, when the disciples are named, Peter is designated by name. But if the angel had not named him expressly, Peter, who had denied his Master, would not have dared to come among the disciples. He is called therefore by name, lest he despair on account of his denial. Wherein we must consider why almighty God permitted him, whom he had disposed to set before the whole Church, to dread the voice of a maidservant and to deny himself.

This we recognize to have been done, without doubt, by a dispensation of great mercy, that he who was to be the Shepherd of the Church might learn in his own fault how he ought to have mercy on others. First, therefore, he showed him to himself, and then set him before the rest, that from his own weakness he might learn how mercifully he should bear with the weakness of others. Well too is it said of our Redeemer: He goeth before you into Galilee; there you shall see him, as he told you. For Galilee is interpreted 'a passing over accomplished.' Already indeed had our Redeemer passed over from passion to resurrection, from death to life, from punishment to glory, from corruption to incorruption.

And first after his resurrection he is seen by the disciples in Galilee, because we shall afterward behold with joy the glory of his resurrection, if only we now pass over from vices to the loftiness of virtues. He therefore who is announced in the tomb is shown in the passing over; because he who is recognized in the mortification of the flesh is seen in the passing over of the mind. These things, dearest brethren, we have run through concerning the exposition of the Gospel lesson, for so great a solemnity of the day; but it pleases us to speak somewhat more subtly concerning this same solemnity. For there were two lives, of which we knew the one, but were ignorant of the other. The one is mortal, the other immortal; the one of corruption, the other of incorruption; the one of death, the other of resurrection.

But there came the Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus; he took up the one, and showed the other. The one he endured by dying, and the other he showed by rising again. If, therefore, to us who knew mortal life he had promised the resurrection of the flesh, and yet had not visibly exhibited it, who would have believed his promises? So then, having been made man, he appeared in the flesh, deigned to die of his own will, rose again by his own power, and showed by example what he promised us as reward. But perhaps someone may say: Rightly did he rise who, being God, could not be held by death. Therefore, to instruct our ignorance, to strengthen our weakness, he was unwilling that the example of his own resurrection should suffice for us.

He alone at that time died, and yet he did not alone rise again. For it is written: Many bodies of the saints that had slept arose (Matt. 27:52). Therefore all arguments of faithlessness are taken away. For lest anyone say: A man ought not to hope for himself what God made man exhibited in his own flesh — behold, we know that men rose together with God, whom we do not doubt to have been mere men. If therefore we are members of our Redeemer, let us presume in ourselves what is established to have been done in the Head. If we cast ourselves down greatly, we ought to hope in ourselves, the lowest members, what we have heard concerning his higher members. Behold, there comes to memory what the Jews, insulting the crucified Son of God, said:

If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him (Matt. 27:42). Had he then come down from the cross, yielding forsooth to those who insulted him, he would not have demonstrated to us the power of patience. But he waited a little, endured the reproaches, sustained the mockeries, kept his patience, deferred admiration; and he who would not come down from the cross rose from the sepulchre. It was therefore a greater thing to rise from the sepulchre than to come down from the cross. It was a greater thing to destroy death by rising than to preserve life by coming down. But when the Jews did not see him come down from the cross to their insults, when they saw him dying, they believed they had conquered him, and rejoiced that they had, as it were, extinguished his name.

But behold, from death his name grew throughout the world, out of which this unbelieving crowd believed they had extinguished it; and the one whom they rejoiced to have slain, they grieve to have died, because they recognize that he has come to his glory through his punishment. This the deeds of Samson well signify in the Book of Judges (Judg. 16), who, when he had entered Gaza, a city of the Philistines, the Philistines, straightway learning of his entrance, suddenly surrounded the city with a siege, appointed guards, and rejoiced that they had now captured the most valiant Samson. But we have learned what Samson did. In the middle of the night he carried off the gates of the city and ascended the summit of the mountain.

Whom, dearest brethren, in this deed does that Samson signify but our Redeemer? What does the city Gaza signify but hell? What is demonstrated by the Philistines but the faithlessness of the Jews? Who, when they saw the Lord dead and his body now laid in the sepulchre, at once appointed guards, and rejoiced that they had caught, held fast in the prisons of hell, the one who had shone forth as the Author of life — as though they had caught Samson in Gaza. But Samson at midnight not only went out, but also carried off the gates; because indeed our Redeemer, rising before the light, not only went out free from hell, but even destroyed the very prisons of hell.

He carried off the gates and climbed the summit of the mountain, because by rising he took away the prisons of hell, and by ascending he penetrated the kingdoms of heaven. This glory of his resurrection, therefore, dearest brethren, which was both formerly demonstrated by sign and afterward made plain by fact, let us love with our whole mind; for love of him let us die. Behold, in the resurrection of our Author we have recognized his ministers the angels to be our fellow-citizens. Let us therefore hasten to that thronged solemnity of these citizens. Since we cannot yet be joined to them by vision, let us be joined to them by desire and mind. Let us pass over from vices to virtues, that in Galilee we may be worthy to see our Redeemer. May he help —

— may almighty God help our desire toward life, who for us gave to death his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with him, God, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen. At that time, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early, when it was yet dark, to the sepulchre, and she saw the stone taken away from the sepulchre. She ran therefore and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them: They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went out, and that other disciple, and they came to the sepulchre. And they both ran together;

and that other disciple outran Peter more swiftly, and came first to the sepulchre. And when he had stooped down, he saw the linen cloths lying, yet he went not in. Simon Peter therefore came, following him, and went into the sepulchre. And he saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin that had been about his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but wrapped up apart into one place. Then that disciple also went in, who had come first to the sepulchre, and he saw and believed. For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. My stomach, broken by long distress, has for a while prevented me from speaking to your charity concerning the exposition of the Gospel lesson. For the voice itself sinks beneath the effort of crying out;

and because I cannot be heard by many, I am ashamed, I confess, to speak among many. But this bashfulness in myself I also reprove. For what then? If I cannot profit many, shall I not take care for a few? And if from the harvest I cannot carry many sheaves, ought I therefore to return empty to the threshing-floor? For although I am unable to carry as many as I ought, at least let me carry a few, at least two, at least one. For the very intention of weakness has the certainty of its own reward, because our supernal Judge, though he considers the weight in the recompense, yet weighs the strength in the weight.

The lesson of the holy Gospel which you have just now heard, brethren, is very open on the historical surface, but its mysteries must be sought out by us under its brevity. Mary Magdalene, when it was yet dark, came to the sepulchre. According to the history, the hour is noted; but according to the mystical understanding, the understanding of her who sought is signified. For Mary was seeking in the sepulchre the Author of all things, whom she had seen dead in the flesh; and because she did not find him there, she believed him to have been stolen away. Therefore it was still dark when she came to the sepulchre. She ran swiftly and announced it to the disciples. But those ran before the rest who loved before the rest, namely Peter and John.

They both ran together, but John outran Peter more swiftly, and came first to the sepulchre, yet he did not presume to enter. Peter, coming later, entered. What, brethren, what does this running signify? Is this so subtle a description by the evangelist to be believed to be void of mysteries? By no means. For John would not say both that he had gone before and had not entered, if in his very hesitation he had believed a mystery to be lacking. What then is designated by John but the Synagogue, what by Peter but the Church?

Nor let it seem strange that the Synagogue is represented by the younger, but the Church by the elder; for although the Synagogue is prior to the Church of the Gentiles in the worship of God, yet in the use of the world the multitude of the Gentiles is prior to the Synagogue, as Paul attests, who says: Not that which is spiritual was first, but that which is animal (1 Cor. 15:46). By the elder, therefore, is signified the Church of the Gentiles; but by the younger, John, the Synagogue of the Jews. They both ran together, because from the time of its rising even to its setting, by an equal and common way, though not by an equal and common understanding, the Gentile world ran with the Synagogue.

The Synagogue came first to the sepulchre, but did not enter, because it indeed received the commandments of the Law, heard the prophecies concerning the Lord's incarnation and passion, but would not believe in him dead. For John saw the linen cloths lying, yet he entered not; because the Synagogue indeed knew the sacraments of Sacred Scripture, and yet deferred to enter by believing in the faith of the Lord's passion. Whom it had long and far prophesied, it saw present, and refused; it despised him to be man, it would not believe God to have been made mortal in the flesh. What is it, then, but that it both ran more swiftly, and yet stood empty before the sepulchre?

But Simon Peter came, following him, and entered into the sepulchre; because the Church of the Gentiles, following later, both recognized the Mediator of God and men, the man Jesus Christ, as dead in the flesh, and believed him to be the living God. He saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin that had been about his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but wrapped up apart into one place. What, brethren, do we believe this to be, that the napkin of the Lord's head is not found in the sepulchre with the linen cloths, but that, as Paul attests (1 Cor. 11:3), the head of Christ is God, and the incomprehensible sacraments of the Godhead are set apart from the knowledge of our weakness, and his power transcends the nature of the creature?

And it is to be noted that it is said to be found not only apart, but also wrapped up into one place. For of a linen cloth that is wrapped up, neither the beginning nor the end is seen. Rightly, then, was the napkin of the head found wrapped up, because the loftiness of the Godhead neither began to be nor ceases; neither is it born by a beginning, nor is it constricted by an end. Well too is it added: Into one place, because in the rending of minds God is not. For God is in unity, and they merit to have his grace who do not divide themselves from one another through the scandals of sects.

But because the sweat of those who labour is wont to be wiped away by a napkin, by the name of napkin may also be expressed the labour of God, who indeed in himself remains ever at rest and unchangeable, yet nevertheless declares that he labours when he bears the hard perversities of men. Whence also through the prophet he says: I have laboured, sustaining (Jer. 6:11). But God appeared in the flesh; he laboured out of our weakness. And while the unbelieving saw this labour of his passion, they would not venerate him. For him whom they saw mortal in the flesh, they disdained to believe immortal in his Godhead. Whence also Jeremiah says: Thou wilt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands; thou wilt give them a shield of heart, thy labour (Lam. 3:64,65).

For lest the darts of preaching should pierce their hearts, while they disdained the labour of his passion, they held that same labour of his as though for a shield, so that they would not permit his words to pass over to them, by that whereby they saw him labour even unto death. But what are we but members of our Head, that is, of God? By the linen cloths of the body, therefore, are signified the bonds of labours, which now constrain all the elect, that is, his members. The napkin, then, which had been over his head is found separately, because the passion of our Redeemer is far separated from our passion; for he endured without fault what we endure with fault; he willed of his own accord to succumb to death, to which we come unwilling.

There follows: Then that disciple also went in, who had come first to the sepulchre. After Peter entered, John also went in. He who had come first entered later. It is to be noted, brethren, that at the end of the world Judaea also shall be gathered to the faith of the Redeemer, as Paul attests, who says: Until the fulness of the Gentiles should come in, and so all Israel should be saved (Rom. 11:25,26). And he saw and believed. What, brethren, what is he to be reckoned to have believed? Was it that the Lord, whom he sought, had risen again? Not at all, because it was still dark at the sepulchre, and the words subjoined also contradict it, when it is said: For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.

What then did he see, and what did he believe? He saw the linen cloths lying, and believed what the woman had said, that the Lord had been taken away from the sepulchre. Wherein the greatness of the divine dispensation is to be weighed: that the hearts of the disciples are both kindled to seek, and are held back lest they find; so that the weakness of the soul, tormented by its very sorrow, may become both purer for finding, and may hold the more strongly when it has found, by however much the later it has found what it sought. These things, dearest brethren, we have run through in brief concerning the Gospel lesson; now it remains that we speak somewhat concerning the very nobility of so great a solemnity. For I shall rightly call this the nobility of a solemnity, because it precedes the other solemnities.

For just as in the sacred eloquence, on account of its greatness, the 'holy of holies' or the 'Song of Songs' are so called, so this festivity may rightly be called the solemnity of solemnities. For from this solemnity the example of the resurrection has been given to us, the hope of the heavenly homeland opened, and the glory of the kingdom on high made already something to be presumed upon. Through this, the elect, who, although in the bosom of tranquillity, were nevertheless held near the prisons of hell, have been led back to the delights of paradise. What he said before his passion, the Lord fulfilled in his resurrection: If I be lifted up, he says, from the earth, I will draw all things to myself (John 12:32). For he drew all things, who of his elect left none in hell. He took away all things — the elect, to be sure.

For by rising again the Lord did not restore to pardon the unbelieving and those given over to eternal torments for their crimes; rather, He snatched from the prison of hell those whom He recognized as His own in faith and in deeds. Whence He rightly says also through Hosea: 'O death, I will be thy death; O hell, I will be thy bite' (Hosea 13:14). For what we slay, we so act upon that it wholly ceases to be. But from what we bite, we draw away a part and leave a part behind. Therefore, because in His elect He utterly slew death, He became the death of death. But because from hell He took away a part and left a part, He did not slay it utterly, but bit hell. He says therefore: 'O death, I will be thy death.' As if He plainly said:

Because in My elect I utterly destroy thee, I will be thy death; O hell, I will be thy bite, because when they are taken from thee, I pierce thee in part. What then is this solemnity that has destroyed the barriers of hell and opened to us the gates of the heavenly kingdom? Let His name be more subtly inquired into. Let the excellent preacher be sought out. Let us see what he declares concerning the estimation of Him. For he says: 'For Christ our Passover is sacrificed' (1 Corinthians 5:7). If, then, Christ is our Passover, we must weigh what the Law says of the Passover, that we may more subtly investigate whether these things seem to be said of Christ. For Moses says: 'They shall take of the blood of the lamb, and put it upon both doorposts, and upon the lintels of the houses in which they shall eat it;'

'and they shall eat the flesh that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread with wild lettuces. You shall not eat of it anything raw, nor boiled with water, but only roasted with fire. You shall devour the head with its feet and entrails, nor shall anything of it remain until morning. If anything is left over, you shall burn it with fire' (Exodus 12:8ff.). Where it is also added: 'And thus you shall eat it: You shall gird your loins, and you shall have shoes on your feet, holding staves in your hands, and you shall eat in haste' (ibid., 11). All these things surely bring us great edification, if they are examined by a mystical interpretation. For what the blood of the lamb is, you have learned not now by hearing, but by drinking.

This blood is put upon both doorposts when it is drawn not only with the mouth of the body, but also with the mouth of the heart. For the blood of the lamb is placed upon both doorposts when the sacrament of His passion is taken with the mouth unto redemption, and is also pondered with an intent mind unto imitation. For he who receives the blood of his Redeemer in such a way that he is not yet willing to imitate His passion has placed the blood upon one doorpost—the blood which ought moreover to be placed upon the lintels of the houses. For what do we understand spiritually by houses, if not our minds, in which we dwell through thought? The lintel of that house is the very intention, which stands above the action.

He, therefore, who directs the intention of his thought toward the imitation of the Lord's passion places the blood of the lamb upon the lintel of the house. Or certainly our houses are our very bodies, in which we dwell as long as we live. And we place the blood of the lamb upon the lintel of the house when we bear the cross of His passion upon our forehead. Concerning this same lamb it is further added: 'And they shall eat the flesh that night, roasted with fire' (Exodus 12:8). We eat the lamb by night indeed, because we now receive the Lord's body in the sacrament while we do not yet see one another's consciences. Yet this flesh is to be roasted with fire, because fire assuredly dissolves the flesh which water has boiled, but strengthens that which fire cooks through without water.

Thus the fire cooked through the flesh of our Lamb, because the very power of His passion rendered Him more mighty unto resurrection and strengthened Him unto incorruption. For He who grew strong out of death—His flesh, that is, was hardened by the fire. Whence He also says through the Psalmist: 'My strength is dried up like a potsherd' (Psalm 22:15). For what is a potsherd before the fire, but soft clay? Yet by the fire it is brought about that it be made solid. The strength of His humanity therefore dried up like a potsherd, because from the fire of His passion it grew unto the strength of incorruption. But the sacraments of our Redeemer, once received, do not suffice for the true solemnity of the mind, unless good works also are joined to them.

For what does it profit to receive His body and blood with the mouth, and to go against Him by perverse morals? Whence it is well further added, concerning the eating: 'And unleavened bread with wild lettuces' (Exodus 12:8). For he eats bread without leaven who exercises upright works without the corruption of vainglory, who performs the commandments of mercy without any admixture of sin, lest he perversely plunder what he seems to dispense rightly. This leaven of sin also had those men mingled with their good action, to whom the Lord said through the voice of the prophet in rebuke: 'Come to Bethel, and act impiously' (Amos 4:4). And a little after: 'And sacrifice praise from what is leavened' (ibid., 5). For he offers praise from what is leavened who prepares for God a sacrifice from plunder.

But wild lettuces are exceedingly bitter. Therefore the flesh of the Lamb is to be eaten with wild lettuces, so that when we receive the body of the Redeemer, we may afflict ourselves in weeping for our sins, that the very bitterness of penitence may wipe away from the stomach of the mind the moisture of a perverse life. Where it is also added: 'You shall not eat of it anything raw, nor boiled with water' (Exodus 12:9). Behold, the very words of the history now repel us from the historical understanding. Was it, dearest brethren, that the Israelite people established in Egypt were accustomed to eat the lamb raw, so that the Law should say to them: 'You shall not eat of it anything raw'? Where it is also added: 'Nor boiled with water.'

But what does water designate, if not human knowledge, according to that which is said through Solomon under the voice of heretics: 'Stolen waters are sweeter' (Proverbs 9:17)? What does the raw flesh of the Lamb signify, if not His humanity left inconsiderately and without reverence of thought? For everything that we probe subtly we cook, as it were, in the mind. But the flesh of the lamb is neither to be eaten raw nor boiled with water, because our Redeemer is neither to be esteemed as a mere man, nor to be reasoned about, by human wisdom, as to how God could be incarnate. For everyone who believes our Redeemer to be a mere man—what else does such a one do than eat the raw flesh of the lamb, which flesh he refused to cook through understanding of His divinity?

But everyone who tries to examine the mysteries of His incarnation according to human wisdom wishes to boil the flesh of the lamb with water—that is, he wishes to penetrate the mystery of His dispensation through a dissolute knowledge. He, therefore, who desires to celebrate the solemnity of the Paschal joy, let him neither boil the lamb with water nor eat it raw, so that he may neither seek by human wisdom to penetrate the depth of that incarnation, nor believe in Him as in a mere man; but let him eat the flesh roasted with fire, so that he may know that all things are dispensed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Concerning which it is further rightly subjoined: 'You shall devour the head with the feet and entrails' (Exodus 12:9), because our Redeemer is both God, that is, before the ages, and man in the end of the ages.

And as we have already said before, brethren, we have learned by Paul's testimony that 'the head of Christ is God' (1 Corinthians 11:3). To devour the head of the lamb, therefore, is to receive His divinity by faith. But to devour the feet of the lamb is to seek out the footsteps of His humanity by loving and imitating them. And what are the entrails, if not the hidden and mystical commandments of His words? These we then devour when we take up the words of life with eagerness. In this word 'devouring,' what else is reproved but the torpor of our sloth? For we neither seek out His words and mysteries through our own effort, and we hear reluctantly the things spoken by others. 'Nor shall anything of it remain until morning' (Exodus

12:10), because His sayings are to be examined with great diligence, so that before the day of resurrection appears, all His commandments may be penetrated by understanding and doing in this night of the present life. But because it is very difficult that every sacred utterance can be understood, and every mystery of it be penetrated, it is rightly subjoined: 'But if anything is left over, you shall burn it with fire' (ibid.). We burn with fire what remains of the lamb when we humbly reserve to the power of the Holy Spirit that which we cannot understand and penetrate concerning the mystery of His incarnation, so that no one may proudly dare either to despise or to declare what he does not understand, but rather delivers it to the fire when he reserves it to the Holy Spirit.

Since, therefore, we have learned in what manner the Passover is to be eaten, let us now recognize by what sort of persons it ought to be eaten. There follows: 'And thus you shall eat it: You shall gird your loins' (ibid., 11). What is understood by the loins if not the delight of the flesh? Whence also the Psalmist entreats, saying: 'Burn my loins' (Psalm 26:2). For if he did not know that the pleasure of lust was in the loins, he would by no means have asked that they be burned. Whence, because the power of the devil prevailed most of all in the human race through luxury, it is said of him by the Lord's voice: 'His power is in his loins' (Job 40:16).

He, therefore, who eats the Passover ought to have his loins girded, so that he who keeps the solemnity of resurrection and incorruption may now no longer lie subject to corruption through vices, may subdue his pleasures, and restrain his flesh from luxury. For he has not known what the solemnity of incorruption is who still lies subject to corruption through incontinence. These things are hard to some, but 'narrow is the gate that leads to life' (Matthew 7:13-14). And we already have many examples of the continent. Whence it is also well subjoined: 'You shall have shoes on your feet' (Exodus 12:11). For what are our feet, if not our works? And what are the shoes, if not the skins of dead animals? Now shoes protect the feet.

But what are the dead animals from whose skins our feet are protected, if not the ancient fathers, who have gone before us to the eternal fatherland? While we behold their examples, we protect the feet of our own work. To have shoes on the feet, therefore, is to behold the life of the dead, and to guard our own footsteps from the wound of sin. 'Holding staves in your hands' (ibid.). What does the Law designate by the staff, if not pastoral watchfulness? And it is to be noted that first we are commanded to gird our loins, afterward to hold the staves, because they ought to undertake pastoral care who already know how to subdue in their own body the fluid tides of luxury, so that while they preach strong things to others, they themselves may not weakly succumb to soft desires. And it is well subjoined:

'And you shall eat in haste' (ibid.). Note, dearest brethren, note what is said: 'in haste.' Learn the commandments of God, the mysteries of the Redeemer, the joys of the heavenly fatherland, with haste, and take care to fulfill the precepts of life with haste. For although we know that we may do well today, whether it will be permitted tomorrow we do not know. Eat the Passover in haste, therefore—that is, pant after the solemnity of the heavenly fatherland. Let no one be sluggish on the journey of this life, lest he lose his place in the fatherland. Let no one weave delays into the pursuit of good endeavors, but let him complete what he has begun, lest it be by no means permitted to accomplish what he starts.

If we are not slothful toward the love of God, He whom we love helps us, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, throughout all ages of ages. Amen. At that time, two of the disciples of Jesus were going that same day to a village which was at a distance of sixty stadia from Jerusalem, named Emmaus, and they were talking with one another about all these things that had happened. And it came to pass that, while they conversed and questioned together, Jesus Himself, drawing near, went with them. But their eyes were held, that they should not recognize Him. And He said to them: 'What are these words that you exchange with one another as you walk, and are sad?' And one, whose name was Cleophas, answering, said to Him:

'Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem, and do you not know the things that have been done there in these days?' He said to them: 'What things?' And they said: 'Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in work and word before God and all the people; and how our chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to the condemnation of death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who would redeem Israel. And now, besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done. But also certain women from among us terrified us, who were at the tomb before light, and not finding His body, came saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who say that He lives.'

'And some of us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said, but Him they did not find.' And He said to them: 'O foolish and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things, and enter into His glory?' And beginning from Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things that were about Himself. And they drew near to the village to which they were going. And He made as though He would go farther. And they constrained Him, saying: 'Stay with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is now far spent.' And He went in with them. And it came to pass, while He reclined with them, He took bread, and blessed and broke it, and held it out to them.

And their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him, and He vanished from their eyes. And they said to one another: 'Was not our heart burning within us while He spoke on the way and opened to us the Scriptures?' And rising up that same hour, they returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them, saying: 'The Lord is truly risen, and has appeared to Simon.' And they themselves recounted the things that had been done on the way, and how they had recognized Him in the breaking of bread. To you who labor in daily solemnity, few things are to be spoken; and perhaps these will profit more usefully, because often the foods which suffice less are taken more avidly.

I have therefore determined to discuss the sense of the Gospel reading summarily, not word by word, lest a more prolix sermon of exposition should be able to burden your love. Behold, you have heard, dearest brethren, that as the two disciples walked on the way—not indeed believing, but yet speaking of Him—the Lord appeared, but did not show them the appearance which they would recognize. This, therefore, the Lord did outwardly in the eyes of the body which was being done among them inwardly in the eyes of the heart. For they themselves within their own selves both loved and doubted, while the Lord was outwardly present with them, and did not show who He was. To them, therefore, speaking of Him, He exhibited His presence, but from them, doubting of Him, He hid the appearance of His recognition.

He indeed exchanged words, rebuked the hardness of their understanding, opened the mysteries of Sacred Scripture that were about Himself, and yet, because He was still as a stranger to faith in their hearts, He made as though He would go farther. For 'to feign' we call 'to compose'; whence we also call composers of clay 'potters.' Therefore Truth, which is wholly simple, did nothing by duplicity, but showed Himself to them in body such as He was among them in mind. And they were to be tested, whether those who loved Him—even if not yet as God—could at least love Him as a stranger. But because they could not be estranged from charity, these with whom Truth was walking, they call Him as a stranger to their lodging.

But why do we say 'they call,' when it is written there: 'And they constrained Him'? From which example it is surely gathered that strangers are not only to be invited to lodging, but even to be drawn in. They set the table, offer food, and God, whom they had not recognized in the exposition of Sacred Scripture, they recognize in the breaking of bread. By hearing the precepts of God, therefore, they were not enlightened; by doing them they were enlightened, because it is written: 'Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified' (Romans 2:13). Whoever, therefore, wishes to understand what he has heard, let him hasten to fulfill in deed what he has already been able to understand. Behold, the Lord was not recognized while He spoke, and He deigned to be recognized while He was fed.

Love hospitality, therefore, dearest brethren; love the works of charity. For hence it is said through Paul: 'Let brotherly love remain in you, and do not forget hospitality; for by this some have pleased God, having received angels to their hospitality' (Hebrews 13:1-2). Hence Peter says: 'Be hospitable to one another without murmuring' (1 Peter 4:9). Hence Truth itself says: 'I was a guest, and you received Me' (Matthew 25:35). It is a much-renowned matter, handed down to us by the account of our elders. A certain householder with his whole house served with great zeal of hospitality; and while daily he received strangers at his table, on a certain day a certain stranger came among the others, and was led to the table.

And while the householder, according to his custom of humility, wished to pour water over his hands, having turned to take the pitcher, he suddenly did not find the one over whose hands he had wished to pour water. And while he wondered to himself at this happening, that same night the Lord said to him through a vision: 'On the other days you received Me in My members, but yesterday you received Me in My own self.' Behold, coming in judgment, He will say: 'What you did to one of the least of Mine, you did to Me' (Matthew 25:40). Behold, before the judgment, when He is received through His members, He also seeks out His receivers through His own self; and yet we are slothful toward the grace of hospitality. Consider, brethren, how great is the virtue of hospitality.

Receive Christ at your tables, that you may be worthy to be received by Him at the eternal banquets. Now offer hospitality to Christ the stranger, that in judgment He may not ignore you as strangers, but may receive you as His own into the kingdom—He Himself helping, who lives and reigns God unto ages of ages. Amen. At that time, Jesus manifested Himself again to His disciples at the sea of Tiberias. And He manifested Himself thus. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas who is called Didymus, and Nathanael, who was from Cana of Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples. Simon Peter says to them: 'I am going to fish.' They say to him: 'We also are coming with you.' And they went out, and got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.

But when morning had come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not recognize that it was Jesus. Jesus therefore says to them: 'Children, have you anything to eat?' They answered Him: 'No.' And He said to them: 'Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find.' They cast it therefore, and now they were not able to draw it in for the multitude of fish. That disciple, therefore, whom Jesus loved says to Peter: 'It is the Lord.' Simon Peter, therefore, when he heard that it was the Lord, girded his tunic about him (for he was naked), and cast himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits away), dragging the net of fish. When they had come to land, therefore, they saw coals laid, and a fish laid upon them, and bread.

Jesus says to them: 'Bring some of the fish that you have now caught.' Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land, full of great fishes, one hundred and fifty-three. And though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus says to them: 'Come, dine.' And no one of those reclining dared to ask Him: 'Who are You?'—knowing that it was the Lord. And Jesus came, and took bread, and gave it to them, and the fish likewise. This was now the third time that Jesus manifested Himself to His disciples, after He had risen from the dead. The reading of the holy Gospel which has just been read in your ears, my brethren, strikes the mind with a question, but by its striking it indicates a force of discernment.

For it may be asked why Peter, who was a fisherman before his conversion, returned after his conversion to fishing; and, when Truth says: 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God' (Luke 9:62), why did he take up again what he had abandoned? But if the virtue of discernment is examined, it is more readily seen that assuredly the occupation which existed before conversion without sin—to take this up again even after conversion was no fault. For we know that Peter was a fisherman, but Matthew a tax-collector; and after his conversion Peter returned to fishing, but Matthew did not settle back into the business of the tax-office (On Penance, dist. 5, chap.

7), because it is one thing to seek a livelihood through fishing, another to increase money by the gains of the tax-office. For there are very many occupations which either scarcely or not at all can be carried on without sins. Those, therefore, which entangle a man in sin—to these it is necessary that the soul should not run back after conversion. It may also be asked why, while the disciples labored on the sea, the Lord stood on the shore after His resurrection, who before His resurrection walked on the waves of the sea in the presence of the disciples (Matthew 14:25). The reason for this matter is quickly recognized, if the very cause which was then present is weighed. For what does the sea signify but the present world, which dashes itself against the tumults of causes and the waves of a corruptible life?

What is figured by the solidity of the shore, if not that perpetuity of eternal rest? Because, therefore, the disciples were still amid the waves of mortal life, they labored on the sea. But because our Redeemer had already passed beyond the corruption of the flesh, after His resurrection He stood on the shore. As if, by the very mystery of His resurrection, He were speaking to the disciples about these matters, saying: 'I no longer appear to you on the sea, because I am not with you in the waves of disturbance.' Hence it is that in another place, after His resurrection, He says to those same disciples: 'These are the words which I spoke to you while I was yet with you' (Luke 24:44).

For it was not that He was not with those to whom He appeared present in bodily form; but yet He now affirms that He is with them, from whose mortal body He was distant by the immortality of His flesh. What He there, placed with them, confesses—that He is not with them—this He also here indicates by the position of His body, when, while they are still sailing, He shows that He is already on the shore. But a great difficulty of the catch was made for the disciples, so that, when the Master came, a great sublimity of wonder might come to pass. He straightway said: 'Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find.' Twice in the holy Gospel it is read that the Lord commanded that the nets be cast for fishing—before the passion, namely, and after the resurrection.

But before our Redeemer suffered and rose again, He indeed commands the net to be cast for fishing, but whether it should be cast on the right or on the left, He does not command; whereas after the resurrection, appearing to the disciples, He commands the net to be cast on the right. In that catch so many were taken that the nets were torn; but in this one both many were taken, and the nets were not torn. But who does not know that the good are figured by the right, and the wicked by the left? That catch, therefore, in which it is not specially commanded on which side the net should be cast, designates the present Church, which gathers both good and wicked together, and does not choose whom it draws, because it is ignorant even of those whom it might choose.

But this catch, made after the Lord's resurrection, was cast on the right side only, because only the Church of the elect attains to seeing the glory of His brightness, which will have nothing of the work of the left. In that catch, on account of the multitude of fish, the net is torn, because now even the reprobate together with the elect enter in such numbers to the confession of the faith that they rend the very Church with heresies. But in this catch both many and great fish are taken, and the net is not torn, because the holy Church of the elect, resting in the continual peace of its Author, is now torn apart by no dissensions. But when such great fish had been taken, 'Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land.'

Now I believe that your love perceives what it is that Peter draws the net to land. To him, indeed, the holy Church is committed; to him it is specially said: 'Simon, son of John, do you love Me? Feed My sheep' (John 21:15-16). What, therefore, is afterward disclosed in word, this is now signified in deed. Because, therefore, the preacher of the Church separates us from the waves of this world, it is surely necessary that Peter should lead the net full of fish to land. For he draws the fish to the solidity of the shore, because by the voice of holy preaching he shows to the faithful the stability of the eternal fatherland. This he did by words, this by Epistles, this he does daily by the signs of miracles.