Moralia in Job 1463 part 3/3

But when they could not bear the force of that brightness, the same Romula began with a gentle voice to console Redempta, the mistress of her ways, who was standing by her and trembling, saying: 'Fear not, mother; I do not die yet.' And when she said this repeatedly, little by little the light which had been sent in was withdrawn, but the odour which followed it remained. And thus the second and third day passed, so that the fragrance of the sprinkled odour remained. On the fourth night, therefore, she again called her mistress. When she came, she asked for the viaticum, and received it.

But the same Redempta and another disciple of hers had not yet withdrawn from the bed of her who lay there, when behold, suddenly in the open space before the door of that same cell two choirs of singers took their stand; and, as they themselves said that they distinguished from the voices, the men said the chants of the psalmody, and the women responded. And while the celestial exequies were being exhibited before the doors of the cell, that holy soul was loosed from the flesh. When she was led to heaven, the higher the choirs of singers ascended, the more gently the psalmody began to be heard, until both the sound of that same psalmody and the sweetness of the odour, being drawn far off, came to an end. As long, therefore, as this woman lived in the body, who would hold her in honour? She seemed unworthy to all, despised by all.

Who would deign to approach her, who would deign to look upon her? But the pearl of God lay hidden in the dunghill. By 'dunghill,' brethren, I here call this very corruptibility of the body; by 'dunghill' I name the abjection of poverty. The pearl, therefore, which lay in the dunghill has been taken up, and placed in the ornament of the heavenly King; now she shines forth among the citizens above, now she glitters among those fiery stones of the eternal diadem. O you who in this world either believe yourselves to be rich, or are rich, compare, if you can, your false riches with the true riches of Romula. You possess all things in the way of this world, being about to lose them all; she sought nothing on the journey, and found all things at the arrival. You lead a joyful life, and fear a sorrowful death;

she bore a sorrowful life, and arrived at a joyful death. You seek for a time the attendance of men; she, despised by men, found for companions the choirs of angels. Learn, therefore, brethren, to despise all temporal things; learn to contemn passing honour, and to love eternal glory. Honour those whom you see poor, and those whom you behold outwardly despised by the world, esteem inwardly to be the friends of God. Share with them what you have, that they may one day deign to share with you what they have. Weigh what is said by the mouth of the teacher of the nations: 'At this time let your abundance supply their want, that their abundance also may be a supplement to your want' (2 Cor. 8:14). Weigh what the Truth itself says through itself:

'As long as you did it to one of these the least of My brethren, you did it to Me' (Matt. 25:45). Why are you slow to give, when what you hold out to one lying on the ground is given to One seated in heaven? But may almighty God, who speaks these things through me in your ears, speak them through Himself in your minds; He who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, unto all ages of ages. Amen. It behooves us, most beloved brethren, that the scourges of God which we ought to have feared while they were still to come, we should at least dread now that they are present and experienced. Let sorrow open for us a way to conversion, and let the very punishment we now suffer dissolve the hardness of our heart. For, as the prophet testifies it was foretold: 'The sword has reached even to the soul' (Jer. 4:10).

For behold, the whole people is struck through with the sword of heavenly wrath, and each one is laid waste by sudden slaughter. Nor does sickness come before death, but, as you see, death itself outruns even the delays of sickness. Each one who is struck is snatched away before he can turn to the laments of penance. Consider, therefore, in what condition he comes before the sight of the strict Judge, who has no leisure to weep for what he has done. For the inhabitants are not withdrawn in part, but fall together as one. Houses are left empty, parents look upon the funerals of their children, and their heirs go before them unto destruction. Let each one of us, therefore, flee to the laments of penance, while there is yet leisure to weep before the blow.

Let us call back before the eyes of the mind whatever we have committed by straying, and let us punish by weeping what we have done wickedly. Let us come before His face in confession (Ps. 94:2), and, as the prophet admonishes: 'Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God' (Lam. 3:41). To lift up our hearts with our hands to God is to raise the zeal of our prayer together with the merit of good works. Assuredly He gives, He gives confidence to our trembling, who cries out through the prophet: 'I do not desire the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live' (Ezek. 33:11). Let no one, then, despair on account of the enormity of his iniquities. For a three days' penance wiped away the inveterate sins of the Ninevites (Jonah 3),

and the converted thief earned the rewards of life even in the very sentence of his death (Luke 23). Let us therefore change our hearts, and let us presume that we have already received what we ask for. The Judge is more swiftly bent to entreaty if the petitioner corrects himself from his own depravity. Since, then, the sword of so great a chastisement hangs over us, let us press on with importunate prayers. For that importunity which is wont to be displeasing to men is pleasing to the judgment of truth, because the gracious and merciful God wills that pardon be sought from Him by prayers; He who, as much as we deserve, is unwilling to be angry. Hence indeed it is said through the Psalmist: 'Call upon Me in the day of your tribulation, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me' (Ps. 49:15).

He Himself, then, is witness to Himself that He desires to have mercy on those who call upon Him, since He admonishes that He be called upon. Therefore, most beloved brethren, with a contrite heart and amended works, let us come tomorrow, from the very dawn of the fourth day of the week, with devout mind and with tears, to the sevenfold litany, according to the distribution designated below. Let none of you go out to earthly labors in the fields, let none presume to transact any business whatever, so that, gathering at the church of the holy Mother of the Lord, we who have all sinned together may together bewail all the evils we have done, that the strict Judge, while He considers that we ourselves punish our own faults, may Himself spare us from the sentence of the destined condemnation.

Let the litany of the clergy go forth from the church of blessed John the Baptist; the litany of the men from the church of the blessed martyr Marcellus; the litany of the monks from the church of the martyrs John and Paul; the litany of the handmaids of God from the church of the blessed martyrs Cosmas and Damian; the litany of the married women from the church of the blessed first martyr Stephen; the litany of the widows from the church of the blessed martyr Vitalis; the litany of the poor and of the infants from the church of the blessed martyr Cecilia.