At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to the Pharisees: A certain man made a great supper, and invited many. And he sent his servant at the hour of the supper to say to those who were invited that they should come, for now all things were ready. And they all with one accord began to make excuse. The first said to him: I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it; I pray thee, hold me excused. And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee, hold me excused. And another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. And the servant returning, told these things to his lord. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant: Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor and the feeble, and the blind and the lame. And the servant said:
Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said to the servant: Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none of those men who were invited shall taste of my supper. There is this difference, dearest brethren, that is wont to lie between the delights of the body and those of the heart: that bodily delights, when they are not possessed, kindle a keen desire in us, but when possessed and consumed, at once turn the eater into disgust through satiety. On the contrary, spiritual delights, when not possessed, are held in disgust, but when possessed are held in desire; and they are the more hungered for by the one who eats them, the more they are consumed by the one who hungers. In the former the appetite pleases, but the experience displeases;
in the latter the appetite is held cheap, but the experience pleases the more. In the former the appetite begets satiety, and satiety begets disgust; but in the latter the appetite begets satiety, and satiety begets appetite. For spiritual delights increase desire in the mind even as they satisfy it, since the more their savour is perceived, the more it is known that they are to be loved with greater eagerness. And therefore, when they are not possessed, they cannot be loved, because their savour is unknown. For who can love what he does not know? Wherefore the Psalmist admonishes us, saying: Taste, and see that the Lord is sweet (Ps. XXXIII, 9). As if he plainly said: You do not know His sweetness, if you do not at all taste it.
But touch the food of life with the palate of your heart, that tasting its sweetness you may be able to love it. Now man lost these delights when he sinned in paradise (Gen. III, 6); he went forth, when he shut his mouth from the food of eternal sweetness. Whence we too, born into the hardship of this pilgrimage, come hither already loathing, and know not what we ought to desire; and the sickness of our loathing grows the greater, the more the soul is estranged from tasting that sweetness; and it now no longer craves inward delights, in that it has for a long and distant while lost the habit of eating them. Therefore we waste away in our loathing, and are worn out by the long plague of famine. And because we are unwilling to taste within the sweetness that is prepared, we wretched ones love our hunger outside.
But the mercy from on high does not forsake us even when we forsake it. For it recalls to the eyes of our memory those delights we have despised, and sets them before us; in the promise it shakes off our sluggishness, and invites us that we should thrust away our loathing. For it says: A certain man made a great supper, and invited many. Who is this man, but He of whom it is said through the Prophet: And He is a man, and who has known Him? (Jer. XVII, 9.) Who made a great supper, in that He prepared for us the satiety of inward sweetness. Who invited many, but few come, since sometimes those very persons who are subject to Him by faith withdraw themselves from His eternal banquet by living evilly. There follows:
And he sent his servant at the hour of the supper to say to those invited that they should come. What is the hour of the supper, but the end of the world? In which we assuredly are, as Paul long since testifies, saying: We are those upon whom the ends of the ages are come (1 Cor. X, 11). If, then, it is already the hour of the supper when we are called, we ought so much the less to excuse ourselves from the banquet of God, the nearer we perceive the end of the world to have drawn. For inasmuch as we reckon that nothing remains, the more ought we to dread lest that time of grace which is at hand should perish. And therefore this banquet of God is not called a dinner but a supper, because after dinner there remains a supper, but after the supper there truly remains no banquet at all.
And because the eternal banquet of God will be prepared for us at the last, it was fitting that this should be called not a dinner but a supper. But who is signified by this servant, who is sent by the master of the house to invite, but the order of preachers? Of which order, although we are still unworthy, although we are weighed down by the burden of our sins, we too are nevertheless in these days; and when I speak something to you concerning your edification, this is what I am doing, for I am the servant of the supreme master of the house. When I admonish you to contempt of the world, I come to invite you to the supper of God. Let no one despise me in this place on my own account. And if I appear in no way worthy to invite, yet great are the delights that I promise.
Often, my brethren, it is wont to happen, as I say, that a powerful person has a servant who is despised; and when through him he sends some reply to his own household or to strangers, the person of the speaking servant is not despised, because the reverence due to the sending master is preserved in the heart. Nor do those who hear consider through whom, but what or from whom they hear. So then, brethren, so conduct yourselves; and if perhaps you rightly despise us, yet in your mind preserve the reverence of the Lord who calls. As guests of the supreme master of the house, obey gladly. Examine your hearts, and drive out from them deadly loathing. For to repel your loathing all things are now ready. But if you are still carnal, perhaps you seek carnal feasts.
Behold, even those carnal feasts have been turned into spiritual nourishment for you. For to wipe away the loathing of your mind, at the Lord's supper that singular Lamb has been slain for you. But what are we doing, we who still see that which follows being done by many? And they all with one accord began to make excuse. God offers what ought to have been begged for; unbidden He wishes to give what could scarcely have been hoped for; because He deigns to bestow it when asked, He is despised; He announces the prepared delights of the eternal refreshment, and yet all alike make excuse. Let us set before the eyes of the mind the smallest things, that we may be able worthily to weigh the greater. If some powerful man sent to invite any poor person, what, brethren, I ask,
what would that poor man do, but rejoice at his own invitation, return a humble answer, change his garment, and hasten to go as quickly as possible, lest another arrive before him at the powerful man's banquet? A rich man, therefore, invites, and the poor man hastens to run; we are invited to the banquet of God, and we make excuse. But behold, amid these things I can guess what your hearts answer to themselves. For perhaps they say to themselves in hidden thoughts: We do not wish to make excuse, for we rejoice both to be called and to come to that banquet of the heavenly refreshment. Your minds, in saying such things to you, speak the truth, if they love not earthly things more than heavenly, if they are not occupied more with bodily than with spiritual things.
Whence here too the very cause of those making excuse is subjoined, when it is at once further added: The first said: I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it; I pray thee, hold me excused. What is designated by a farm, but earthly substance? He, therefore, goes to see the farm who thinks only on outward things for the sake of substance. Another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee, hold me excused. What do we take by the five yoke of oxen, but the five senses of the body? Which are rightly also called yokes, because they are doubled in each sex.
For the bodily senses, since they know not how to grasp inward things, but know only outward things, and forsaking things within, touch the things that are without — by them curiosity is rightly designated. Which, while it seeks to scrutinize another's life, always ignorant of its own inward self, is eager to think on outward matters. For grievous is the vice of curiosity, which, while it leads anyone's mind outward to investigate a neighbour's life, always hides from it its own inward self, so that knowing others' affairs, it knows not itself; and the curious soul, the more expert it becomes in another's merit, so much the more ignorant does it become of itself. For this reason too it is said concerning those same five yoke of oxen: I go to prove them; I pray thee, hold me excused.
For the very words of the one making excuse do not diverge from the signification of his vice, when he says: I go to prove them, since indeed proving sometimes belongs to curiosity. But it must be noted that both he who excuses himself from the supper of his inviter on account of the farm, and he who does so on account of the oxen to be proved, mingle in words of humility, saying: I pray thee, hold me excused. For while he says, I pray thee, and yet has despised to come, humility sounds in the voice, pride in the deed. And behold, every depraved person passes judgment on this when he hears it, and yet does not cease to do the very things he judges. For while we say to anyone acting perversely, 'Be converted, follow God, forsake the world' — what do we do to this man but call him to the Lord's supper? But when he answers:
'Pray for me, for I am a sinner, I cannot do this' — what does he do but both pray and excuse himself? For in saying, I am a sinner, he insinuates humility; but in adding, I cannot be converted, he displays pride. Praying, therefore, he makes excuse, who both brings in humility with his voice, and exercises pride in his deed. But another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. What is understood by a wife, but the pleasure of the flesh? For although marriage is good, and appointed by divine providence for the propagation of offspring, yet some seek through it not the fruitfulness of progeny, but the desires of pleasure; and therefore an unjust thing can not unfittingly be signified by a just thing.
To the supper, therefore, of the eternal banquet the supreme master of the house invites; but while one is given over to avarice, another to curiosity, another to the pleasure of the flesh, assuredly the reprobate all alike make excuse. While earthly care occupies this one, and the shrewd thought of another's deed lays waste that one, and carnal pleasure defiles the mind of yet another, each loathing person does not hasten to the feast of eternal life. There follows: The servant returning told these things to his lord. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant: Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor and the feeble, and the blind and the lame. Behold, he who broods more than is just over earthly substance refuses to come to the Lord's supper;
he who sweats at the labour of curiosity loathes the prepared food of life; he who is a slave to carnal desires spurns the feasts of the spiritual banquet. Because, therefore, the proud refuse to come, the poor are chosen. Why is this? Because, according to Paul's word, God has chosen the weak things of the world, that He may confound the strong (1 Cor. I, 27). But it must be noted how those who are called to the supper and come are described: the poor and the feeble. They are called poor and feeble who in their own judgment are weak in their own eyes. For there are those who are as it were poor and yet strong, who even though set in poverty are proud. And the blind are those who have no light of understanding. The lame, too, are those who have not upright steps in their working.
But while the vices of character are signified by the weakness of members, it is surely plain that just as those were sinners who, being called, would not come, so these too are sinners who are invited and come. But the proud sinners are spurned, that the humble sinners may be chosen. These, therefore, God has chosen whom the world despises, because very often that very contempt recalls a man to himself. For he who left his father, and prodigally spent the portion of substance he had received, after he began to hunger, coming to himself, said: How many hired servants in my father's house abound with bread? (Luke XV, 17.) Far indeed had he departed from himself when he was sinning.
And had he not hungered, he would in no wise have returned to himself, because after he was in want of earthly things, then he began to consider what he had lost of spiritual things. The poor, therefore, and the feeble, the blind and the lame, are called, and they come, because the weak, and those despised in this world, very often hear the voice of God so much the more quickly, the more they have nowhere in this world to take delight. This is well signified by that Egyptian boy of the Amalekites (1 Kings XXX, 11, ff.), who, when the Amalekites were plundering and hurrying on, remained sick in the way, and was parched with hunger and thirst. Yet David found him, and gave him food and drink; and he, at once recovering, was made David's guide.
He found the Amalekites feasting, and with great strength laid low those who had abandoned him in his weakness. The Amalekite people, indeed, is interpreted 'the people that licks.' And what is designated by 'the licking people,' but the minds of worldly men? Which, by coveting all earthly things, as it were lick them, while they are delighted with temporal things alone. For as a licking people makes its prey, so those who love earthly things heap up their gains from others' losses. But the Egyptian boy is left sick in the way, because when any sinner begins to grow weak in the state of this world, he soon comes to be despised by worldly minds.
Yet David finds him, and gives him food and drink, because the Lord, mighty in hand, does not despise the outcasts of the world, and very often converts those who, being unable to follow the world, remain as it were in the way, to the grace of His love, and holds out to them the food and drink of His word; and He chooses them as guides for Himself in the way, in that He even makes them His own preachers. For when they have brought Christ into the hearts of sinners, they lead them as David over his enemies. And these, feasting like the Amalekites, they lay low as with David's sword, because by the Lord's power they overthrow all the proud who had despised them in the world.
The Egyptian boy, therefore, who had remained in the way, slays the Amalekites, because very often those very persons, by preaching, overcome the minds of worldly men — those who before were unable to run with worldly men in this world. But, the poor having been led to the supper, let us hear what the boy adds: Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. Great multitudes were gathered to the Lord's supper out of Judaea, but the multitude which believed out of the people of Israel did not fill the place of the heavenly banquet. The throng of the Jews has now entered, but there is still room vacant in the kingdom, where the multitude of the Gentiles ought to be received. Whence too it is said to the same servant: Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
When the Lord invites some to the supper from the lanes and streets, He designates that people, namely, which had known how to hold the law under a civic manner of life; but when He indeed commands His guests to be gathered from the highways and hedges, He assuredly seeks to gather the rustic, that is, the Gentile people, of whose signification it is said through the Psalmist: Then shall all the trees of the woods exult before the face of the Lord, for He cometh (Ps. XCV, 13). For the trees of the wood were called the Gentiles, because in their unbelief they were ever twisted and unfruitful. Those, therefore, who were converted from that rustic manner, came to the Lord's supper as it were from the hedges. But it must be noted that in this third invitation it is not said, Invite, but, Compel to come in.
For some are called, and disdain to come; some are called and come; but of others it is by no means said that they are called, but they are compelled to enter. They are called and disdain to come, who indeed receive the gift of understanding, but do not follow that same understanding with works; they are called and come, who perfect by working the grace of understanding they have received; but some are so called that they are even compelled. For there are some who understand the good that ought to be done, but cease to do these things; they see what they ought to do, but do not follow these things out of desire. To these, as we said above, it very often happens that the adversity of this world strikes them in their carnal desires; they strive to grasp temporal glory, and cannot;
and while they propose to sail as it were through the deeps of the sea to the greater cares of this age, they are ever driven back by contrary winds to the shores of their own dejection. And when they perceive themselves broken in their desires, the world opposing them, they are reminded what they owe to their own Author concerning themselves, so that they return blushing to Him whom, swelling with pride, they had forsaken for love of the world. For often some who wish to advance to temporal glory either waste away with long sickness, or, afflicted with injuries, fall down, or, struck with grievous losses, are worn out, and in the sorrow of the world they see that they ought to have trusted nothing of its pleasure, and, reproaching themselves in their own desires, they convert their hearts to God.
Concerning these the Lord says through the prophet: Behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will hedge it with a wall, and she shall not find her paths; and she shall follow after her lovers, and shall not overtake them; she shall seek them, and shall not find them; and she shall say: I will go and return to my former husband, for it was better with me then than now (Hosea II, 6, 7). The husband of each faithful soul is God, because it is joined to Him by faith. But that soul which had been joined to God follows after her lovers, when the mind which has now believed by faith yet again prostrates itself to unclean spirits, seeks the glory of the world by its working, is fed by carnal delight, and is nourished by sought-out pleasures.
But very often almighty God mercifully looks upon such a soul, and mingles bitterness with its pleasures. Whence He says: Behold, I will hedge up thy ways with thorns. For our ways are hedged with thorns, when in that which we wickedly desire we find the prickings of sorrows. And I will hedge them with a wall, and she shall not find her paths. Our ways are hedged with a wall when hard obstacles in this world resist our desires. And we cannot find our paths, because we are prevented from attaining what we wickedly seek. And she shall follow after her lovers, and shall not overtake them; she shall seek them, and shall not find them; because the soul which has subjected itself in its desires to the malign spirits by no means attains them to the accomplishment of its desires.
But how great a benefit is born from this wholesome adversity He adds, when it is subjoined: And she shall say: I will go and return to my former husband, for it was better with me then than now. After, therefore, she finds her ways hedged with thorns, after she cannot overtake her lovers, she returns to the love of her former husband; because very often, after we cannot obtain in this world what we wish, after we are wearied in earthly desires by their impossibility, then we bring God back to our mind, then He begins to please who displeased; and He whose precepts had been bitter to us suddenly grows sweet in memory; and the sinful soul which had tried to be an adulteress, yet could not by an open deed, resolves to be a faithful spouse.
Those, therefore, who, broken by the adversities of this world, return to the love of God, and are corrected from the desires of the present life — what are these, my brethren, but compelled to enter? But very fearful is the sentence which is at once subjoined. Receive it with the intent ear of the heart, my brethren and my lords: inasmuch as you are sinners, my brethren; inasmuch as you are just, my lords. Receive it with the intent ear, that you may feel it so much the less in the examination, the more fearfully you now hear it in the preaching. For He says: But I say unto you, that none of those men who were invited shall taste of my supper. Behold, He calls through Himself, He calls through angels, He calls through the fathers, He calls through the prophets, He calls through the apostles.
He calls through pastors, He calls even through us, He calls very often through miracles, He calls very often through scourges, He calls sometimes through the prosperities of this world, He calls sometimes through adversities. Let no one despise it, lest, when called he makes excuse, when he wishes to enter he be not able. Hear what Wisdom says through Solomon: Then shall they call upon me, and I will not hear; they shall rise early, and shall not find me (Prov. I, 28). Hence it is that the foolish virgins, coming late, cry out, saying: Lord, Lord, open to us (Matt. XXV, 11). But then it is said to them seeking entrance: Amen, amen, I say to you, I know you not (Ibid.). Amid these things, dearest brethren, what ought we to do but forsake all, set aside the cares of the world, and pant after eternal desires alone?
1462:30
Sedhaecpaucisdatasunt, ii. Admonerevosvoloutrelinquatisomnia, sednonpraesumo. Siergocunctamucidirelinquerenoapotestis, sictenetequaehujusmundisunt, uttamenpereanonteneaminiinmundo; utterrermrespoasideatur, nonpossideat; ut. submentisvestræsitdominioquodhabetis, Desimensvestraterrenarumrerumamorevincitur, arebussuisipsamagispossideatur. Sitergorestemporalisinusu, aeternaindesiderio; sitrestemporalisinitinere, desidereturaeternainperventione. Quasiexlatererespiciaturquidquidtinhocmundoagitur. Antenosautemtendantmentisoculi, dumtotaintentioneillaconspiciuntadquaepervenimus.
But these things are granted to few. I wish to admonish you to leave all things, but I do not presume. If, then, you cannot leave all the things of the world, so hold what belongs to this world that you may nevertheless not be held by them in the world; so that the earthly thing be possessed, not possess; that what you have be under the dominion of your mind. But if your mind is conquered by love of earthly things, it is itself rather possessed by its possessions. Let the temporal thing therefore be in use, the eternal in desire; let the temporal thing be for the journey, let the eternal be desired at the arrival. Let whatever is done in this world be looked upon as it were from the side. But let the eyes of the mind stretch before us, while with the whole intention they behold those things to which we come.
Let vices be rooted out utterly, torn away not only from the act of the deed, but also from the thought of the heart. Let not the pleasure of the flesh, not the solicitude of curiosity, not the heat of ambition, hinder us from the Lord's supper; but even those things which we do honourably in the world, let us touch as it were from a certain side of the mind, so that earthly things that please may so serve our body as in no wise to withstand the heart. Not, therefore, brethren, do we dare to tell you to leave all things; but yet, if you will, you may leave all things even while retaining them, if you so conduct temporal affairs that you nevertheless stretch with your whole mind toward the eternal. For hence the Apostle Paul says: The time is short:
it remaineth that they who have wives be as though they had none, and they that weep as though they wept not, and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not, and they that buy as though they possessed not, and they that use this world as if they used it not; for the figure of this world passeth away (1 Cor. VII, 29, ff.). For he has a wife, but as though not having one, who so knows how to render the debts of the flesh that he is nevertheless not compelled through her to cling with his whole mind to the world. For since that same excellent preacher again says: He that hath a wife is solicitous for the things of this world, how he may please his wife (Ibid., 33) — that man has a wife as though he had one not, who so studies to please his spouse that he nevertheless does not displease his Creator.
He also weeps, but as though he wept not, who is so afflicted by temporal losses that he nevertheless ever consoles his mind with eternal gains. He rejoices indeed, but as though he rejoiced not, who so grows cheerful over temporal goods that he nevertheless ever considers the perpetual torments; and in that he lifts up his mind with joy, he presses it continually with the weight of provident fear. He buys, but as though not possessing, who both prepares earthly things for use, and yet foresees with careful thought that he will soon leave these behind.
He also uses the world, but as though he used it not, who both reduces all things necessary outwardly for the service of his life, and yet does not allow these same things to lord it over his mind, so that, being subject, they serve outwardly, and never break the intention of the soul as it stretches toward the heights. Whoever, therefore, are such, to them assuredly all earthly things are present not for desire, but for use, because they indeed use necessary things, but wish to have nothing with sin. From those very things possessed too they daily acquire rewards, and rejoice more in the good deed than in the good possession.
And lest these things should seem difficult to any, I report a matter concerning a person whom many of you have known — a matter which I myself learned three years ago in the city of Centumcellae from faithful persons. For recently in that same city there was Theophanius, a count (Dialogues, Book IV, ch. 27), a man given to acts of mercy, intent on good works, especially devoted to hospitality. Occupied with the business of the countship, he transacted earthly and temporal affairs; but, as afterwards became clear from his end, more from obligation than from intention. For when, as the time of his death drew near, a most grievous storm of weather stood in the way, so that he could not be carried out for burial, and when his wife, weeping most vehemently, kept asking, saying:
What shall I do? How shall I put thee forth for burial, I who cannot go out of the door of this house because of the excessive storm? Then he replied: Weep not, woman, for as soon as I am dead, the serenity of the weather will return. And death at once followed his voice, and serenity followed his death. His hands and feet, swollen with the humour of gout, had turned into wounds, and lay open with flowing matter. But when his body, according to custom, had been uncovered for washing, his hands and feet were found so sound as if they had never had anything of a wound at all. And so he was carried out and buried, and it seemed good to his wife that on the fourth day the marble which had been placed over his tomb should be changed.
When indeed that marble which had been placed over his body was removed, so great a fragrance of odour flowed forth from his body, as if aromatic spices had steamed forth in place of worms from his decaying flesh. These things, therefore, I have said, that by a near example I might be able to show that some both wear a secular habit and do not have a secular mind. Those, therefore, whom in the world necessity so binds that they cannot on every side be stripped from the world, ought so to hold the things of the world that they nevertheless know not how to succumb to them through a breaking of the mind. This, therefore, consider, and when you cannot leave all the things of the world, do the outward things well outwardly, but ardently within hasten toward the eternal.