Moralia in Job 996

9. The tiniest thoughts and the slightest words, which we count of little worth, shall not be overlooked in the judgment of God. Through the degrees of fault the order of the condemnatory sentence increases. — What does He denote by the name of 'ways' but our actions? For hence it is said through Jeremiah: 'Make your ways and your endeavours good' (Jer. 7:5). And what do we understand by the term 'steps,' but either the motions of the mind or the advances of merits? By which very steps Truth calls us to Himself, saying: 'Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden' (Matt. 11:28). For the Lord commands us to come to Him, not indeed by steps of the body, but by advances of the heart. For He Himself says:

'The hour shall come when you shall worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem' (John 4:21). And a little after: 'The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father also seeks such to worship Him' (John 4:23). He therefore intimates that steps are in the heart, when He both calls us to come and yet declares that we in no way pass over to other places by motion of the body. Thus the Lord considers the ways of each one, thus He numbers the steps, so that not even the tiniest thoughts nor the slightest words — which among us have become cheap through habitual use — remain unexamined by His judgment. For hence He says: 'Whoever is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment. Whoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be liable to the council. Whoever shall say:

Thou fool, shall be liable to the fire of Gehenna' (Matt. 5:22). 'Raca,' indeed, in the Hebrew tongue is a word of interjection, which shows the mind of one who is angry, yet does not express a full word of wrath. First, therefore, anger without voice is rebuked; then afterwards anger with voice, but not yet formed into a full word; and lastly also, when it is said 'Thou fool,' that anger is reproved which is accomplished with an outburst of voice and even with the perfection of speech. And it is to be noted that in anger He declares one liable to judgment; in the voice of anger, which is 'Raca,' liable to the council; in the word of the voice, which is 'Thou fool,' liable to the fire of Gehenna.

For through the degrees of fault the order of the sentence increased, because in judgment the cause is still being examined, but in the council the sentence of the cause is now determined, while in the fire of Gehenna the sentence that goes forth from the council is carried out. Because, therefore, the Lord numbers the steps of human acts by a subtle examination, anger without voice is consigned to judgment; anger in voice, to the council; but anger in voice and speech, to the fires of Gehenna. This subtlety of His consideration the prophet had beheld, when he said: 'Most mighty, great, and powerful is the Lord of hosts; great is Thy name, mighty in counsel, incomprehensible in thought, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of Adam, to render to every one according to his way,

and according to the fruit of his devices, to give to him' (Jer. 32:18-19). 10. No good is without reward, no evil without punishment. — Thus the Lord considers those same ways with subtle examination, so that in each one of us He neither passes over the good things He would reward, nor leaves without rebuke the evils that displease Him. Hence it is that He both praises the angel of the Church of Pergamum in certain respects and reproves him in others, saying: 'I know where thou dwellest, where the seat of Satan is, and thou holdest my name, and hast not denied my faith' (Rev. 2:13). And a little after: 'But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam.' Hence it is said to the angel of the Church of Thyatira:

'I know thy works, and thy charity, and faith, and ministry, and thy patience, and thy last works to be more than the first; but I have a few things against thee, because thou permittest the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols' (Rev. 2:19-20). Behold, He mentions the good things, yet does not remit without penance the evils that must be cut off, because indeed He so considers the ways of each, so weighs and numbers the steps, that with subtle examination He assesses both how much each one advances toward the good, and how much, deviating toward evil, he contradicts his own advances. For the increase of merits, which is augmented by the pursuits of a good life, is very often drawn back by an admixture of evil;

and the good which the soul builds up by acting, this it perverts by perpetrating other things. Hence holy men constrain themselves in thought so much the more subtly, in proportion as they behold themselves considered more strictly by the Judge above. For they scrutinize the mind, they seek to find whether they have neglected anything, that they may become the more irreproachable before the Judge, the more they reproach themselves daily and without ceasing. Nor yet do they take joys of security from this, because they consider that they are beheld by Him who sees in them even those things which they themselves cannot see in themselves. And indeed blessed Job held the life of perfection among the ancients;

but because his intention, by a prophetic spirit, breaks forth to the coming of the Redeemer, in His precepts he weighs how much he himself falls short of perfection. Whence he also adds: