Hear, O forsaken daughter, thou who hast lost the solace of love, from whose neck the yoke has been lifted. Behold, thou shalt be the more blessed, if thou remain thus. Let no vain thought seduce thee, saying: 'Who will provide me food in due season, or who will guard my orphans?' Thou oughtest rather to rejoice now than when thou wast bound by that vile bond. Behold, thou art loosed from the law of the husband, in which thou wast held, that thou mightest be in thine own power. Have no sighing that thou hast lost the hope of this world: remember, O daughter, that the Lord is the hope of all the ends of the earth. Be not anxious that thou art left alone; call to mind the Lord, who receives the orphan and the widow. Pray to the Lord, as the Apostle says:
'She that is a widow indeed and desolate is instant in prayers and supplications day and night; for she that liveth in pleasures is dead while living. But if any widow have parents or grandchildren, let her learn first to govern her own house well, and to requite the like return to her parents; for this is grateful and acceptable before the Lord' (1 Tim. 5:4-6). Be humble, and modest, and sober in all things, lest perchance thou seem abominable; for thus it is written: 'Reject the younger widows, for when they have grown wanton, they wish to marry in Christ, having damnation, because they have made void their first faith; and being not only idle, but also full of words and busybodies, they learn to go about from house to house, speaking things which they ought not' (cf. 1 Tim. 5:11-13).
Be diligent in thy house, praying with tears, that He may grant thee chastity of body and continence. How unhappy and wretched art thou, what an evil reproach dost thou bear, if thou dost not contain thyself! What a downfall it is to thee, if thou hast no bridle upon thy flesh! Labour ever in the work of God. Behold the good widow, who is the wife of one husband, if she has brought up children, if she has received strangers to hospitality, if she has washed the feet of the saints, if she has ministered to those suffering tribulation. Blessed shalt thou be if thou do all these things; for there are many widows who have had two or three husbands, but they have not the precept to be honoured by all, as she who has had but one. Many widows there were in the days of Elijah, and to none of them was he sent, save into Sarepta of Sidon.
See that none of them had merit, save that one alone who received him into hospitality in the day of necessity, when famine was severe, and, upon the coming of holy Elijah, prepared for him a table; even as that widow also had in her substance but two mites, and, hoping from a pure heart that she would receive a hundredfold, offered these very ones to the Lord; even as that widow named Judith, who departed not from the upper part of her house, serving the Lord with fastings and prayers day and night, whom the Lord guarded from the hand of Holofernes, lest she should be defiled in the work of sin. O how blessed a widow, who granted such joy to her fellow-citizens, and merited to acquire for herself a good hope, that she might deliver her people from the mouth of the sword!
Behold what the chastity of a widow accomplished, that she was renowned in all the land, and praiseworthy before the Lord, and illustrious among all. O how blessed art thou, widow, whom the Lord remembers! Like her whose only son had died — how she obtained mercy from the Lord, that he might be raised up again; like that widow in the Acts of the Apostles (chapter 9, verse 36) named Dorcas, who did many alms; upon the coming of Peter, all the widows showed the garments which Dorcas had made for them while she lived. And Peter, having seen the works of the widow woman, prayed, and raised her up. Like also that widow who daily cast herself at the feet of a certain rich man, that she might be avenged of her adversary; when the rich man had seen her weeping, he said:
'Though I fear not the Lord, nor reverence man, yet because this widow is troublesome, I will avenge her.' Behold how the widow is avenged, if she maintain chastity and humility; and to me myself the precept is given, that from me she should receive visitation, as the Apostle says: 'Visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation' (James 1:27). O how blessed art thou, widow, who art in all things thus commended by the Lord! But whoever has no mercy on him is judged by the Lord Himself, who says: 'Not judging the causes of widows, and not having mercy on the fatherless — I will judge you, saith the Lord.' Blessed art thou, widow, for thou hast the Lord Himself as judge and defender. Now weep for no one, daughter, for thou art made better than thou wast before. Formerly thou didst hope in man;
but now in the Lord Jesus Christ; formerly thou didst think according to man, but now according to God; formerly thou wast delighted by the lust of the flesh and by the peril of raiment, but now thou thinkest upon the sweetness of the law and chastity above all things; formerly thou wast the handmaid of a man, but now thou art free, of Christ. How good it is for thee to be secure, rather than to suffer the servitude of a husband! It is good to lie alone in bed, and to rise clean, rather than to lie conscious of lust and of the uncleanness of the flesh. Formerly thou wast bowed down, and wast under the heavy yoke of a husband; but now thou art raised up by the sweet yoke of Christ. Rejoice, daughter, for thou hadst been sold, that thou mightest be the handmaid of a man, but now thou hast merited freedom from the Lord.
Be mindful, daughter, of the Canaanite woman, who by her importunity merited to obtain the benefit of our Saviour; and also of that woman who watered the feet of the Lord with tears, and wiped them with her hairs; or of that woman who brought precious ointment, and poured it out upon the Lord as He reclined; or of that woman who touched the garments of the Lord, and immediately the flowing of her blood stood still; or of that woman who sat at the feet of the Lord, to hear how she might flee from the wrath to come. Consider, daughter, by what way of humility these very women
walked, and from this they had good merit. Be thou also like them in obedience, in humility, in almsgiving, in the receiving of pilgrims, in vigils, in fastings, in all sobriety. These are the things that have pleased Christ. Labour, daughter, day and night in the work of the Lord, that thou who hast been dismissed by man mayest be gathered by the Lord; that thou who wast to receive the thirtyfold fruit mayest merit to attain the sixtyfold, through Him who lives unto the ages of ages. Amen. Here ends St. Augustine On the Consolation of the Dead.