Moralia in Job 932

18. — Then shall many of the weak fall, while the strong grieve over their downfall. For then she sees, from her own body, under the compulsion of persecution, many of the weak fall—those whom now, like a mother, she cherishes as little ones within the bosom of peace, and holds within the tranquil cradle of faith, because, mingled with the strong, they are nourished by her very tranquility. But then many such shall fall, and through the bowels of charity, the spirit of the perfect grieves as though it were suffering itself whatever it endures in the loss of the little ones. For the losses of the weak pass over into the hearts of the strong through compassion. Hence it is said through Paul: 'Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?' (2 Cor. 11:29). For each one is perfect in proportion as he perfectly feels the griefs of others.

Hence the holy Church, straitened when the weak then fall, when she remembers these times, shall rightly say: 'According to the days in which God kept me,' because she then reckons herself to fall in those days, whom she now sees kept in these. And it is well said: 'When his lamp shone above my head, and by his light I walked in darkness.' For by the name of lamp is signified the light of sacred Scripture, of which the very pastor of the Church says: 'We have the more sure word of the prophets, to which you do well to attend, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts' (2 Pet. 1:19). And the Psalmist says: 'Thy word is a lamp to my feet, O Lord' (Ps.

119:105). But because our chief part is the mind, by the name of head the mind is called. Hence it is said through the Psalmist: 'Thou hast anointed my head with oil' (Ps. 22:5). As if he plainly said: 'Thou hast filled my mind with the fatness of charity.' Now, then, the lamp shines above the head of the Church, because the sacred words illumine the darkness of our mind, so that in this dark place of the present life, while we perceive the light of the words of God, we may see what things are to be done. Now she walks by his light in darkness, because the holy universal Church, although she penetrates not the hidden things of another's thought—since, as it were, she knows not the face in the night—yet sets the steps of good work, directed by the light of heavenly speech. It follows: