Moralia in Job 490

— Prepared for the appointed time. 52. The just here despised shall shine in the day of judgment. — For the appointed time of the despised lamp is the predestined day of the last judgment, wherein every just man, who now is despised, is shown with how great a power he shines. For then they come to judge together with God, who now are unjustly judged for God's sake. Then their light shines forth all the more widely, the more harshly the hand of the persecutors now straitens them. Then it shall be laid open to the eyes of the reprobate that they were upheld by heavenly power who of their own accord forsook all earthly things. Wherefore to His elect the Truth says:

You who have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His majesty, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. xix, 28). For that court of the inner assembly will not have more than twelve judges; but assuredly by the number twelve the whole extent of the universality is expressed, because whoever, stirred by the goad of divine love, shall here have forsaken his possessions, will there without doubt obtain the summit of judiciary power, so that he may then come as a judge together with the Judge, who now by the consideration of judgment chastens himself with voluntary poverty. For hence it is that of the Bridegroom of holy Church it is said through Solomon:

Her husband is noble in the gates, when he shall sit with the senators of the land (Prov. xxxi, 23). Hence Isaiah says: The Lord will come to judgment with the elders of His people (Isa. iii, 14). Hence the Truth proclaims those same elders no longer servants but friends, saying: I will no longer call you servants, but My friends (John xv, 15). Beholding whom, the Psalmist says: But to me Thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable (Ps. cxxxviii, 17). And while he gazed upon the loftiness of their heart, he straightway added the glory of the world which they trampled beneath their heel: Their principality is exceedingly strengthened. And lest we should believe them to be few, whom we recognize as advancing to the height of so great a perfection, he at once subjoined:

I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand. As many, therefore, as now for the love of the truth willingly humble themselves, so many then in the judgment shall glitter as lamps. Rightly therefore is it said: A lamp despised among the thoughts of the rich, prepared for the appointed time; because the soul of every just man is despised as though cast off, while dwelling here below it has no glory, but is beheld as admirable when from above it shines. 53. Christ a lamp here despised. — Amid these things it is fitting to lift up the eyes of the mind to the ways of the Redeemer, and gradually to come from the members to the Head. For He truly stood forth to us as a lamp, who, dying on the cross for our redemption, poured light through the wood upon our darkened minds.

By this lamp John had beheld us illumined, when he said: There was the true light, which enlightens every man that comes into this world (John i, 9). Yet he saw it despised among the thoughts of the rich, when a little after he subjoined: He came unto His own, and His own received Him not (ibid., 11). The flames of this lamp Herod wished to explore, when he desired to see His miracles, as it is written: For he was for a long time desirous to see Him, because he had heard many things of Him, and hoped to see some sign wrought by Him (Luke xxiii, 8). But this lamp shone forth before his eyes with no ray of light, because to him who had sought Him not devoutly but out of curiosity it showed nothing wondrous of itself.

For when questioned the Redeemer was silent; when awaited, He disdained to display miracles, and keeping Himself within Himself in secret, He left those whom He found seeking outward things ungratified without: choosing rather to be openly despised by the proud than to be praised with empty voice by the unbelieving. Whence also straightway this lamp was despised, as there it is subjoined: But Herod with his army set Him at nought, and mocked Him, putting on Him a white garment (ibid. 11). 54. In the last day it shall flash forth. — But the despised lamp, which on earth endures mockeries, from heaven flashes forth judgment. Whence here it is aptly subjoined: Prepared for the appointed time. Concerning which time, indeed, He says through the Psalmist:

When I shall take the time, I will judge with equity (Ps. lxxiv, 3). Hence in the Gospel the Truth Himself declares, saying: My time is not yet come (John vii, 6). Hence Peter says: Whom heaven must receive, until the times of the restitution (Acts iii, 21). The lamp, then, which now is despised, is prepared to come at the appointed time, because He Himself judges sins in the last day, who now bears the derisions of sinners. And so much the more harshly does He then put forth His severity, as He now more gently spreads out His patience for the calling of sinners. For He who long awaits those to be converted, torments the unconverted without reconsideration. Which He briefly intimates through the prophet, saying:

I have held My peace, I have always been silent, I have been patient; I will speak like a woman in travail (Isa. xlii, 14). For as we have already said before, she who travails casts forth with pain that which she has borne within for a long time. He, then, who has always been silent, speaks like a woman in travail, because the Judge who is to come, who long endured the deeds of men without vengeance, at length with the fervour of examination, as with a pain of mind, shows what a sentence of retribution He has kept within. Let no one therefore despise this lamp while it lies hidden, lest, when it shall have flashed from heaven, it consume its despisers. For to whom it now burns not unto pardon, then without doubt it shall burn unto punishment.

Since therefore through supernal grace we receive the time of calling, while there yet remains opportunity, let us flee His wrath, who is everywhere, by changing our ways for the better. For that vengeance alone finds not the man whom correction has hidden. 55. Let it suffice that we have now, by the Lord's bounty, run through these things in two divisions. For since we cannot briefly set forth by exposition the ensuing series of mysteries, extended by so many virtues, it is necessary that we reserve them for other volumes, so that the reader may return the more fervently to the zeal of reading, the more he takes breath from the interruption of the reading.