At that time, when Jesus drew near to Jerusalem, seeing the city He wept over it, saying: If only you also had known, even you, in this your day, the things that are for your peace; but now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days shall come upon you when your enemies shall encompass you with a rampart, and shall surround you, and hem you in on every side, and dash you to the ground, and your children who are within you; and they shall not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation. And having entered the temple, He began to cast out those who sold and bought in it, saying to them: It is written that My house is a house of prayer. But you have made it a den of thieves. And He was teaching daily in the temple.
I wish, if I can, to run through this short lesson of the holy Gospel in a short discourse, so that a lengthier attention may be given to those matters by those who know how to ponder much from few words. That the destruction of Jerusalem which was wrought by Vespasian and Titus, the Roman rulers, is here described while the Lord weeps, no one is ignorant who has read the history of that same overthrow. For the Roman rulers are foretold when it is said: For the days shall come upon you, when your enemies shall encompass you with a rampart, and shall surround you, and hem you in on every side, and dash you to the ground, and your children who are within you. And this too which is added: They shall not leave in you one stone upon another—the very removal of that same city bears witness to it as well.
It bears witness by its removal, since it is now built up in that place where the Lord was crucified outside the gate, while, as is said, the former Jerusalem was utterly overthrown to its foundations. And from what fault the punishment of its overthrow came upon it is added: Because you did not know the time of your visitation. For the Creator of all things deigned through the mystery of His Incarnation to visit her, but she herself did not keep in mind the fear and love of Him. Whence also through prophecy, in rebuke of the human heart, the birds of the sky are brought forward as witnesses, when it is said: The kite in the sky knows its time; the turtledove and the swallow and the stork have kept the time of their coming; but My people has not known the judgment of the Lord (Jer. VIII, 7).
But it must first be asked what is meant by what is said: Seeing the city, He wept over it, saying: If only you also had known, even you. For the Redeemer first wept over the ruin of the faithless city, which ruin the impious city did not know was to come upon it. To it, while the Lord weeps, it is rightly said: If only you also had known—understand: you would weep, you who, because you do not know what threatens, exult. Whence it is also added: And indeed in this your day, the things that are for your peace. For while she was giving herself over to the pleasures of the flesh, and did not foresee the evils to come, she was having, in that her day, the things that could have been for her peace. But why she had good things that were to be provided for her peace is made clear when it is said: But now they are hidden from your eyes.
For if the evils that threatened had not been hidden from the eyes of her heart, she would not have been glad in the present prosperity. And to her was soon joined also the punishment which, as I said before, threatened from the Roman rulers. When this had been described, what the Lord did is added: that, having entered the temple, He began to cast out those who sold in it and those who bought, saying to them: It is written that My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves (Isa. LVI, 7). For He who narrated the evils to come, and immediately entered the temple to cast out from it those selling and buying, plainly made known that the ruin of the people came chiefly from the fault of the priests.
For in describing the overthrow, yet in striking those selling and buying in the temple, He showed in the very execution of His act whence the root of perdition proceeded. But, as we have learned from another evangelist bearing witness, in the temple doves were being sold (Mark XI, 15). And what is received by the doves but the gift of the Holy Spirit? But He drives out from the temple those selling and buying, because He condemns either those who bestow the laying on of hands for a payment, or those who strive to buy the gift of the Spirit. Concerning which temple it is soon added: My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. For those who sat in the temple to receive payments, without doubt sought out injury for certain persons who did not give.
The house of prayer, therefore, had become a den of thieves, because they had learned to stand in the temple for this purpose: either to strive to persecute bodily those not giving payments, or to slay spiritually those who did give. But because our Redeemer withdraws the words of preaching from the unworthy and ungrateful, after He had, by casting out, held the perverse man with the rigor of discipline, He soon showed the gift of grace. For it is added: And He was teaching daily in the temple. These things, treating them briefly according to the history, we have run through.
But since we know that Jerusalem is now overthrown, and by its overthrow changed for the better, since we know that the thieves have been driven from the temple, and that the temple itself is now demolished, we ought to draw from outward things some inner likeness, and from the overthrown buildings of walls to fear the ruin of our morals. For seeing the city, He wept over it, saying: If only you also had known, even you. This He did once, when He announced that the city was to perish. This our Redeemer never ceases to do daily through His elect, when He considers that certain persons have passed from a good life to reprobate morals. For He laments those who do not know why they should be lamented, because, according to the words of Solomon: They rejoice when they have done evil, and exult in the worst things (Prov.
II, 14). If they had recognized the damnation which threatens them, they would lament themselves with the tears of the elect. And the sentence which is added fits well the soul that is to perish: And indeed in this your day, the things that are for your peace; but now they are hidden from your eyes. The perverse soul, which rejoices in transitory time, has its own day. To it the things that are present are for peace, because while it is glad because of temporal things, while it is exalted by honors, while it is dissolved in the pleasure of the flesh, while it is terrified by no dread of punishment to come, it has peace in its own day, which will have the grievous scandal of its damnation in another's day. For there it must be fastened, where the just shall rejoice;
and all the things which now are for its peace shall then be turned into the bitterness of strife, because it will begin to quarrel with itself as to why it did not dread the damnation which it suffers, why it closed the eyes of its mind to foreseeing the evils that would follow. Whence it is said to it: But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the perverse soul, given over to present things, dissolved in earthly pleasures, hides from itself the evils that follow, because it shrinks from foreseeing future things, which disturb its present joy; and while it deserts itself in the delights of the present life, what else does it do but go with closed eyes to the fire? Whence it is well written: In the day of good things, be not unmindful of evils (Sir. XI, 27). And thence it is said through Paul:
Those who rejoice, as though not rejoicing (1 Cor. VII, 30), because even if there is any joy of the present time, it is to be so exercised that the bitterness of the judgment to follow may never depart from the memory; so that, while the fearful mind is transfixed with dread of the final vengeance, the wrath that follows afterward may be tempered as much as the present joy is now. For hence it is written: Blessed is the man who is always fearful; but he who is of a hard mind shall fall into evil (Prov. XXVIII, 14). For the wrath of the judgment that follows shall then be borne the more strictly, the less it is now feared even amid faults. It follows: For the days shall come upon you, and your enemies shall encompass you with a rampart.
Who are ever greater enemies of the human soul than the malignant spirits, who besiege it as it goes forth from the body—the soul which, set in the love of the flesh, they cherish with deceptive delights? With a rampart they encompass it, because, having brought back before the eyes of its mind the iniquities which it committed, they hem it in, dragging it into the fellowship of their damnation, so that, caught now in the very extremity of life, it may both see by what enemies it is shut in, and yet not be able to find any way of escape, because it is no longer permitted to do good—which, when it was permitted to do, it despised. Concerning whom what follows can also aptly be understood: They shall surround you, and hem you in on every side.
For the malignant spirits hem in the soul on every side, when they rehearse to it the iniquities not only of deed, but also of speech, and moreover of thought; so that the soul which formerly spread itself far and wide in wickedness may at the last be straitened concerning all things in retribution. It follows: And they shall dash you to the ground, and your children who are within you. Then is the soul cast down to the ground through the knowledge of its guilt, when the flesh, which it believed to be its life, is forced to return to dust. Then do its children fall in death, when the illicit thoughts which now proceed from it are scattered in the final vengeance of life, as it is written: In that day all their thoughts shall perish (Ps. CXLV, 4).
These hard thoughts can also be understood by the signification of the stones. For it follows: And they shall not leave in you one stone upon another. For when the perverse mind adds to a perverse thought a still more perverse one, what else does it do but place stone upon stone? But in the destroyed city stone is not left upon stone, because when the soul is led to its vengeance, the whole construction of its thoughts is scattered from it. And why it suffers this is added: Because you did not know the time of your visitation. Almighty God is accustomed to visit every depraved soul in many ways.
For He constantly visits it by precept, sometimes by scourging, and sometimes indeed by miracle, so that it may both hear the truths it did not know, and yet, still being proud and contemptuous, may either return pricked by grief, or, overcome by benefits, may blush at the evil it has done. But because it in no way knows the time of its visitation, it is handed over at the end of life to those enemies, with whom it is bound in the eternal judgment in the fellowship of perpetual damnation, as it is written: When you go with your adversary to the ruler on the way, give diligence that you may be delivered from him, lest perhaps he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the exactor, and the exactor cast you into prison (Luke XII, 58).
For our adversary is the word of God, contrary to our carnal desires in the present life. From whom that man is freed who humbly submits himself to His precepts. Otherwise the adversary will hand him over to the judge, and the judge to the exactor, because from the word of the Lord despised he will be held guilty of sin in the examination of the judge. Whom the judge hands over to the exactor, because He permits him to be dragged to vengeance by the malignant spirit, so that the spirit itself may exact from the body, unto punishment, the soul which of its own accord consented to it unto guilt. The exactor casts him into prison, because through the malignant spirit he is thrust down into hell, until the day of judgment comes, from which he too shall then be tortured together in the fires of hell.
1463:17
Expletaergoperditionecivitatis, quamnosadpereuntisanimæsimilitudinemtraxilnus, protinussubditur: Etingressustemplumcæpitejicerevendentesetemellle, deillo. SicuttemptumDeiincivitaeest, it. etinplebefidelivitareligiosorum. Etsæpenonnullireligionishabitumsummunt, etdumsacrorumordinumlucumpercipiunt, sanctæreHgionisofficiumincommerciumterrenænegotiationistrabunt. Vendentesquippeintemplosuut (I, q. 3, e. 10), quihocquodquibusdamjurecompetitadpræmiumlargiuntur. Justitiamenimvendereesthancpropræmiiacceptioneiervare. Ementesverointemplosuntquidumhocpersolvereproximoquodjustumestnolunt.
Therefore, the destruction of the city being completed—which we have drawn to the likeness of the perishing soul—immediately it is added: And having entered the temple, He began to cast out those selling and buying in it. Just as the temple of God is in the city, so also the life of the religious is in the faithful people. And often some take up the habit of religion, and while they receive the honors of sacred orders, they drag the office of holy religion into the traffic of earthly business. For those selling in the temple are they who dispense for a reward that which by right belongs to certain persons. For to sell justice is to keep it back for the receiving of a reward. But those buying in the temple are they who, while they are unwilling to render to their neighbor that which is just,
and while they scorn to do the thing due by right, having given a reward to patrons, buy iniquity. To whom it is rightly said: My house is a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves, because while sometimes perverse men hold the place of religion, there they slay with the swords of their malice, where they ought to have given life to their neighbors by the intercession of their prayer. The temple also, and the house of God, is the very mind and conscience of the faithful. Which, if ever in the injury of a neighbor it brings forth perverse thoughts, thieves reside there as in a den, and slay those who walk in simplicity, when they thrust the swords of injury into those who are guilty of nothing.
For the mind of the faithful is now no longer a house of prayer, but a den of thieves, when, innocence and the simplicity of holiness abandoned, it attempts to do that whereby it may be able to harm its neighbors. But because against all these perverse things we are unceasingly instructed by the words of our Redeemer through the sacred pages, up to now that is being done which is reported to have been done, when it is said: And He was teaching daily in the temple. For when Truth subtly trains the mind of the faithful to beware of evils, daily does Truth teach in the temple. But we must know that we are truly trained by the words of truth if we gaze fearfully and unceasingly upon our final evils, according to what is said through a certain wise man:
In all your works remember your last things, and you shall never sin (Sir. VII, 40). For we ought daily to ponder what we have heard from the voice of the same our Redeemer: And indeed in this your day, the things that are for your peace; but now they are hidden from your eyes. For while the strict Judge forbears, and does not yet stretch out His hand to strike, while from the retribution of the last vengeance there seems to be some security of time, we ought to ponder the evil that follows; pondering, to groan; groaning, to avoid it; and unceasingly to gaze upon the sins we have committed; gazing, to weep; and weeping, to wipe them away.
Let no gladness of transitory prosperity dissolve us, nor let transitory things block up the eyes of our mind, nor lead us blind to the fire. For if it be strictly weighed, of what weight the reproach is, it is recognized from the mouth of Truth, when to the negligent one who does not foresee the future it is said: And indeed in this your day, the things that are for your peace; but now they are hidden from your eyes. For it must be very much considered how terrible will be for us the hour of our dissolution—what dread of the mind, how great then the memory of all evils, what forgetfulness of past felicity, what fear and consideration of the Judge.
What, then, ought to be for us a delight in present things, when, all things passing away together, that which threatens cannot pass away? When both that which is loved is utterly ended, and that is begun where grief is never ended? Then the malignant spirits seek out their own works in the soul going forth; then they rehearse the evils which they suggested, that they may drag it as a companion to torments. But why do we say this only of the perverse soul, when they come also to the elect as they go forth, and seek something of their own in them, if they can prevail? But one there was among men, who before His passion says with free voice: I will no longer speak much with you; for the prince of this world is coming, and in Me he has nothing (John XIV, 30).
For because the prince of this world saw this mortal man, he believed that he could find something of his own in Him. But He went forth from the corruption of the world without any sin, who came into the world without sin. This concerning himself against the prince of the world not even Peter presumed to say, who merited to hear: Whatsoever you shall bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven (Matt. XVI, 19). This neither did Paul presume to say, who before he paid the debt of death attained to the secrets of the third heaven (2 Cor. XII, 2). This neither did John dare to say, who for his special love reclined upon the breast of his Redeemer at the supper (John XXI, 20). For when the Prophet says:
Behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother bear me (Ps. L, 7), he who came into the world with guilt could not be in the world without fault. Hence also the same Prophet says: In Your sight shall no living man be justified (Ps. CXLII, 2). Hence Solomon says: There is no just man on earth who does good, and does not sin (Eccl. VII, 21). Hence John says: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John I, 8). Hence James says: For in many things we all offend (James III, 2).
For it is evident that of all who were conceived from the delight of the flesh, the prince of this world had, without doubt, something of his own in them either in deed, or in speech, or in thought. But therefore he could neither seize them afterward nor hold them beforehand, because He snatched them from their debts who for us paid the debt of death without any debt of His own, so that our debts might not, under the right of our enemy, hold us bound, because for us the Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, freely rendered what He did not owe. For He who for us rendered the undeserved death of the flesh, freed us from the deserved death of the soul. He says, then: For the prince of this world is coming, and in Me he has nothing (John XIV, 30).
Whence we must take care, and with great weeping ponder daily, how rabid, how terrible the prince of this world comes on the day of our departure, seeking his own works in us—if he came even to God dying in the flesh, and sought something in Him in whom he could find nothing. What, then, shall we wretched ones say, what shall we do, who have committed innumerable evils? What shall we say to the adversary who seeks and finds much of his own in us, except only that which is our certain refuge and solid hope: that we have been made one with Him in whom the prince of this world both sought something of his own, and could in no way find it? Since He alone is free among the dead (Ps. LXXXVII, 5).
And now we are loosed from the servitude of sin by true liberty, because we are united to Him who is truly free. For it is evident, nor can we deny it, but truly confess it, that the prince of this world has much in us; yet nevertheless at the time of our death he is not able to seize us, because we have been made members of Him in whom he has nothing. But what does it profit that we are joined by faith to this our Redeemer, if we are disjoined from Him in morals? For He Himself says: Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt. VII, 21). Right works, therefore, must be joined to right faith.
Let us wash away by daily lamentations the evils we have done; let right works rising from the love of God and neighbor overcome our past wickednesses; let us refuse no good things which we can bestow upon the brethren. For not otherwise are we made members of our Redeemer, except by cleaving to God and by having compassion on our neighbor. But because for the most part examples more than words stir up the hearts of hearers to the love of God and neighbor, I take pains to make known to your charity a miracle which my son Epiphanius the deacon, who is here present, sprung from the province of Isauria, is wont to relate as having happened in the neighboring land of Lycaonia.
For he says that in that place there was a certain monk named Martyrius, of a very venerable life, who was going from his own monastery to another monastery, for the sake of a visit, over which a spiritual father presided. Journeying, therefore, he found in the way a certain leper, whom the elephantine disease had disfigured throughout his limbs with dense sores, wishing to return to his lodging, but not able to for weariness. And on that very road he declared that he had a lodging, to which that same monk Martyrius was hastening to go.
But the man of God, pitying the weariness of that same leper, at once threw down on the ground the cloak with which he was clothed and spread it out, and placed the leper upon it, and, having bound the leper about on every side with his cloak, lifted him upon his shoulder, and, turning back, carried him along with him. And when he was now drawing near to the doors of the monastery, the spiritual father of that same monastery began to cry out with a great voice: Run, open the gates of the monastery quickly, for brother Martyrius is coming, carrying the Lord.
But as soon as Martyrius reached the entrance of the monastery, he who was thought to be a leper, springing down from his neck, and appearing in that form in which the Redeemer of the human race, God and man Christ Jesus, is wont to be recognized by men, returned to heaven while Martyrius looked on, and as He ascended He said to him: Martyrius, you were not ashamed of Me on earth; I will not be ashamed of you above the heavens. And that holy man, as soon as he entered the monastery, the father of the monastery said to him: Brother Martyrius, where is he whom you were carrying? To whom he answered, saying: If I had known who it was, I would have held his feet. Then that same Martyrius related that when he had carried him, he had by no means felt his weight.
And no wonder; for how could he feel the weight, who was carrying the one who carried him? In which matter we must weigh how much fraternal compassion avails, how much it joins us to Almighty God with the bowels of mercy. For thence we draw near to Him who is above all things, whence through compassion for our neighbor we set ourselves down even beneath ourselves. In bodily things no one touches another, except one who is stretched out; but in spiritual things it is certain that the more we are drawn upward by compassion, the more truly we draw near to the heights. But behold, it does not suffice for the Redeemer of the human race, unto our edification, that He declared He would say at the last judgment: Insofar as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me (Matt.
XXV, 40), unless He also, before the judgment, showed Himself to be that which He had said; so that He might demonstrate that whoever now exhibits good works to the needy, bestows them especially on Him for whose love he has exhibited them. And each one receives so much the greater reward, the more he does not despise even one who seems more to be despised. For what in human flesh is more sublime than the flesh of Christ, which is exalted above the angels? And what in human flesh is more abject than the flesh of the leper, which is torn with swelling sores, and filled with exhaling stenches? But behold, He appeared in the form of a leper; and He who is to be reverenced above all things, did not disdain to be seen despised beneath all things.
Why this, except that He might admonish us who are slower in understanding, that whoever hastens to stand beside Him who is in heaven should not refuse to be humbled on earth and to have compassion even on abject and despicable brethren? I had resolved to speak to your charity with brevity; but because the way of man is not in himself (Jer. X, 23), the running discourse cannot be held back, which He Himself, of whom we speak, ordains—who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, throughout all the ages of ages. Amen. At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and feasted sumptuously every day.
And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores, desiring to be filled with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table, and no one gave to him. But even the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. But the rich man also died, and was buried in hell. And lifting up his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And crying out, he said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. And Abraham said to him:
Son, remember that you received good things in your lifetime, and Lazarus likewise evil things. But now he is comforted here, and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm is fixed, so that those who wish to pass from here to you cannot, neither can they cross from there to us. And he said: I beg you then, father, that you would send him to my father's house; for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come into this place of torments. And Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. But he said: No, father Abraham; but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will do penance. And he said to him: If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if someone shall rise again from the dead.
In the words of sacred eloquence, most beloved brethren, the truth of the history is first to be kept, and afterward the spiritual understanding of the allegory is to be sought. For then is the fruit of the allegory sweetly plucked, when it is first made solid through the history in the root of truth. But because sometimes the allegory builds up faith, and the history builds up morality, we who, God being the author, now speak to the faithful, do not believe it out of place if we postpone the very order of speaking, so that you who now hold a firm faith may first hear something briefly of the allegory; and what is very necessary for you concerning the morality of the history, this may be kept last in the order of our exposition, because for the most part those things are wont to be better recollected which happen to be heard afterward.
Therefore we run through the allegorical senses in brief, so that we may more quickly be able to come to the breadth of morality. There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and feasted sumptuously every day. Whom, most beloved brethren, whom does this rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day, signify but the Jewish people, who had the cultivation of life outwardly, who used the delights of the received Law for splendor, not for usefulness? But whom does Lazarus, full of sores, figuratively express but the Gentile people? Who, when converted to God, was not ashamed to confess his sins, and this man had the wound in his skin. For in the wound of the skin the poison is drawn from the inner parts, and bursts forth outwardly.
What, then, is the confession of sins, but a certain bursting of wounds? Because the poison of sin, which lay hidden perniciously in the mind, is opened up wholesomely in confession. For the wounds of the skin draw the humor of putrefaction to the surface. And in confessing sins, what else do we do but open up the evil which lay hidden within us? But Lazarus, wounded, desired to be filled with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table, and no one gave to him, because that proud people scorned to admit any Gentile to the knowledge of the Law. Who, since he had the teaching of the Law not for charity, but for exaltation, as though he swelled from the riches he had received. And because the words flowed away from him from knowledge, as it were the crumbs fell from the table.
But, on the contrary, the dogs licked the wounds of the poor man as he lay. Sometimes in the sacred word preachers are understood by dogs. For a dog's tongue, while it licks a wound, heals it, because the holy teachers also, while they instruct us in the confession of our sin, as it were touch the wound of the mind with the tongue; and because by speaking they rescue us from our sins, they as it were, by touching the wounds, lead us back to health. For since by the name of dogs the tongue of preachers is signified, it is said to the Lord by the Psalmist: 'That the tongue of thy dogs may be red with the blood of the enemies, from him' (Ps. 67:24). For out of the unbelieving Jews holy preachers were chosen, who, in maintaining the truth against thieves and robbers who came, gave, so to speak, great barkings for the Lord.
On the other hand, concerning the reprobation of certain persons it is said: 'Dumb dogs, not able to bark' (Isa. 56:10). Since therefore the holy preachers condemn sins, but approve the confession of sinners, saying: 'Confess your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be saved' (James 5:16), the dogs lick the sores of Lazarus. For the holy teachers, while they receive the confessions of the Gentiles, restore the wounds of minds to health. Whence also Lazarus is fittingly interpreted 'one who is helped,' because they themselves help him toward deliverance, because they cure his wounds through the correction of the tongue. It can also be that by the licking of dogs the broad tongue of flatterers is signified.
For to lick our wounds, as flatterers do, is what they are wont to do when with wicked favour they praise even those very evils which we reprove in ourselves. And it came to pass that both died. The rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, was buried in hell; but Lazarus was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. What does Abraham's bosom signify but the hidden rest of the fathers? Of which the Truth says: 'Many,' he says, 'shall come from the East and the West, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast into the outer darkness' (Matt. 8:11). For he who is said to be clothed in purple and fine linen is rightly called a child of the kingdom.
He lifts up his eyes from afar to behold Lazarus, because while by the torments of his damnation the unbelievers are in the depths, they see before the day of the last judgment certain of the faithful in rest above them, after whose joys they can in no way contemplate them. What they behold is indeed far off, because they do not reach thither by merit. But he is shown to burn more in the tongue, when he says: 'Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame' (Luke 16:24). The unbelieving people held the words of the law in the mouth, which they scorned to keep in deed. There therefore he will burn the more, where he shows that he knew what he was unwilling to do.
Wherefore it is well said of the learned but negligent by Solomon: 'All the labour of man is in his mouth, but his soul shall not be filled' (Eccles. 6:7), because whoever labours only for this, that he may know what he ought to speak, fasts with an empty mind from the very refreshment of his own knowledge. He desires to be touched by the tip of the finger, because, given over to eternal torments, he longs to share even in the last measure in the working of the just. To whom it is answered that in this life he received good things, because he counted all his joy as transitory happiness.
For here the just also can have good things, yet not receive these as a recompense, because since they seek better things, that is, eternal things, whatever good things may be present are, in their judgment, when they burn with holy desires, regarded as no goods at all. Whence David the prophet, who was supported by the riches of a kingdom and by many attendances, though he saw that these too were good for necessity, yet burned with longing for one good in a singular way, saying: 'But it is good for me to cleave to God' (Ps. 72:28). Among these things, however, it is to be noted what is said to him: 'Remember, son.'
For behold, he calls him son, yet does not free him from torment, because the preceding believing fathers of this unbelieving people, seeing that many have turned aside from their faith, rescue with no compassion from torments those whom nevertheless they acknowledge as sons according to the flesh. But the rich man, set in torments, professes that he has five brothers, because that proud Jewish people, which is now for the most part damned, knew that it had left its followers upon the earth given over to the five senses of the body. Therefore by the number five he expresses the brothers whom he had left behind, because those whom, set in hell, he grieved not to rise to spiritual understanding, he asks that Lazarus be sent to them. To whom it is said that they have Moses and the prophets.
But he says: 'They will not believe, unless one rise again from the dead.' To him it is straightway answered: 'If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if one rise again from the dead.' Certainly concerning Moses the Truth says: 'If you did believe Moses, you would perhaps believe me also; for he wrote of me' (John 5:46). Therefore what is said through Abraham's answer is fulfilled. For the Lord rose from the dead, but that Jewish people, because it would not believe Moses, scorned to believe also him who rose from the dead. And since it scorned to understand the words of Moses spiritually, it did not attain to him of whom Moses had spoken. Let it suffice, dearest brethren, that we have run briefly through these things in searching out the mysteries of the allegory.
Now let our mind return to consider more broadly the moral meaning of the event: 'There was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, and feasted sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at the gate of the rich man, full of sores.' Some think that the precepts of the Old Testament are stricter than those of the New; but these are surely deceived by unwary consideration. For in the former not stinginess but robbery is punished (2 Sam. 3:6). There a thing unjustly taken away is punished by a fourfold restitution (Exod. 22:1). But here this rich man is not reproved for having taken away another's goods, but for not having given his own. Nor is it said that he oppressed anyone by force, but that he exalted himself in the goods he received.
From this, therefore, it is above all to be gathered with what punishment he must be requited who plunders another's goods, if he is smitten with the damnation of hell who does not bestow his own. Let no one, then, esteem himself secure, saying: 'Behold, I do not seize another's goods, but lawfully enjoy the things granted me,' because this rich man was not punished for that reason, that he took away another's goods, but because he wickedly abandoned himself in the goods he received. This too is what handed him over to hell, that he was not fearful in his prosperity, that he bent the gifts he received to the use of arrogance, that he was ignorant of the bowels of pity, that he was unwilling to redeem his sins by a ransom even when it abounded to him. And there are some who do not think that the wearing of fine and costly garments is a sin.
But if indeed this were not a fault, the word of God would by no means have so watchfully expressed that the rich man who is tormented in hell had been clothed in fine linen and purple. For no one seeks out choice garments except for vain glory, namely, that he may seem more honourable than the rest. For that a more precious garment is sought for vainglory alone the thing itself testifies, that no one wishes to be clad there in precious garments where he cannot be seen by others. This fault we can better gather even from the opposite, because if the casting away of mean clothing were not a virtue, the evangelist would not watchfully say of John: 'He was clothed in camel's hair' (Matt. 3:4).
But it is greatly to be noted by us, in the mouth of the Truth, how great is the order of the narration concerning the proud rich man and the humble poor man. For behold, it is said: 'There was a certain man rich'; and immediately it is subjoined: 'And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus.' Surely among the people the names of the rich are wont to be known more than those of the poor. What is it then that the Lord, in speaking a word about the poor man and the rich man, tells the name of the poor man, and does not tell the name of the rich man, save that God knows and approves the humble, and does not know the proud? Whence also to certain who are proud of the power of miracles he will at the last say: 'I know not whence you are; depart from me, all you workers of iniquity' (Matt. 7:23). But on the contrary it is said to Moses: 'I know thee by name' (Exod. 33:12).
He says therefore of the rich man: 'A certain man.' He says of the poor man: 'A needy one, named Lazarus.' As if he plainly said: 'The humble poor man I know, the proud rich man I know not.' The former I hold as known through approval, the latter I know not through the judgment of reprobation. It is also to be weighed by us with how great a consideration our Creator dispenses all things. For behold, one thing is not transacted for one purpose only. For behold, Lazarus the beggar, full of sores, lies before the gate of the rich man. From this one thing the Lord accomplished two judgments. For the rich man would perhaps have had some excuse, if the poor and ulcerous Lazarus had not lain before his gate, if he had been removed, if his want had not been importunate to his eyes. And again, if the rich man had been far from the eyes of the ulcerous poor man,
the poor man would have endured a lesser temptation in his soul. But when he placed the needy and ulcerous man before the gate of the rich man who was abounding in delights, in one and the same thing he both, from the sight of the poor man, brought a heap of damnation upon the rich man who did not show mercy, and again, from the sight of the rich man, proved daily the poor man who was tempted. For how great temptations do you believe this needy man, beset with wounds, endured in his thought, when he himself lacked bread, and had not even health, and before him saw the rich man having health and delights with pleasure; when he saw himself afflicted with grief and cold, and beheld the other rejoicing, clothed in fine linen and purple; himself pressed down with wounds, the other flowing with the goods he received; himself in want, the other unwilling to bestow?
How great a tumult of temptation, my brethren, do we suppose was then in the poor man's heart, for whom surely poverty could have sufficed for punishment, even if he had been in health; and again, sickness would have sufficed, even if help had been at hand? But that the poor man might be tested the more, both poverty and sickness together wasted him. And moreover he saw the rich man going forth surrounded on every side by attending throngs, while he himself, in weakness and want, was visited by no one. For that no one was present to visit him, the dogs bear witness, who freely licked his wounds.
From one thing, therefore, almighty God displayed two judgments, when he permitted Lazarus the poor man to lie before the gate of the rich man, so that the impious rich man might heap up for himself the vengeance of damnation, and the tempted poor man might grow toward reward. The one daily beheld him on whom he would not have mercy; the other was seen by whom he might be proved. Two hearts below, but one Beholder above, who both exercised the one by tempting unto glory, and awaited the other by enduring unto punishment. For it follows: 'And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died, and was buried in hell.' This rich man, now set in his own punishment, seeks a patron in him on whom he would not have mercy in this life. For behold he is upbraided.
'And lifting up his eyes, when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he crying out said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.' O how great is the subtlety of the judgments of God! O how strictly is the retribution of good and evil deeds transacted! Certainly it was said above that in this life Lazarus sought the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, and no one gave them to him; now concerning the rich man's punishment it is said that he longs for water to be dripped into his mouth from the tip of Lazarus's finger. Hence therefore, hence, brethren, gather how great is the strictness of God's severity.
For this rich man, who would not give even the least from his table to the wounded poor man, being set in hell, came to seek even the least. For he begged a drop of water who had denied crumbs of bread. But it is greatly to be noted why it is that the rich man, set in the fire, begs that his tongue be cooled. For it is the custom of the sacred word sometimes to say one thing, but from that same saying to intimate another. Now above the Lord had said that this proud rich man was not given over to loquacity, but was feasting superfluously. Nor did he narrate that he sinned from loquacity, but that he sinned from gluttony through elation and stinginess. But because loquacity is wont to abound in feasts, he who is said to have feasted wickedly here is declared to burn more grievously in the tongue in hell.
For upon those who feast wickedly there attends first the fault of loquacity, and after loquacity there follows also the levity of jesting. For that jesting follows gluttony, the sacred Scripture testifies, which says: 'The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play' (Exod. 32:6). But before the body is moved to play, the tongue is moved to jests and empty words. What is it, then, that is intimated by the fact that the rich man, set in torments, asks that his tongue be cooled, save that he who by feasting had sinned greatly through loquacity was, by the justice of retribution, burning more atrociously in the tongue? But it is to be weighed with very grave fear what is said to him through Abraham's answer:
'Son, remember that thou didst receive good things in thy life, and Lazarus likewise evil things. But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.' This sentence, my brethren, needs fear rather than exposition. For if there are any of you who have received something of exterior good in this world, you ought, so to speak, to fear that very exterior gift, lest it be given you as a recompense for certain of your deeds, lest the Judge who here restores exterior goods should repel you from the retribution of the inmost good, lest honour here or riches be not a help to virtue, but the remuneration of labour. For behold, while it is said: 'Thou didst receive good things in thy life,' it is indicated that this rich man too had had something of good, from which in this life he received good things.
And again, while it is said of Lazarus that he received evil things, it is surely shown that Lazarus too had had some evil which was to be purged. But the fire of want purged the evils of Lazarus, and the felicity of passing life recompensed the goods of the rich man. Poverty afflicted and cleansed the one; abundance recompensed and repelled the other. Whoever, therefore, you are who fare well in this world, when you recall that you have done good, fear greatly concerning these very things, lest the prosperity granted to you be the remuneration of those good deeds. And when you behold certain poor people committing some things worthy of reproof, do not despise them, do not despair, because perhaps that which the excess of the slightest depravity defiles, the furnace of poverty purges.
Fear greatly concerning yourselves in every way, because some prosperous life has followed even upon those deeds. But concerning them think carefully, because poverty, a mistress, torments even their life, until it leads it to rectitude. It follows: 'And besides all this, between us and you a great chaos is firmly fixed, so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot, nor from thence come hither.' In this matter it is greatly to be inquired how it is said, 'They who would pass from hence to you cannot.' For that those who are in hell desire to pass to the lot of the blessed there is no doubt. But those who are already received into the lot of blessedness, in what manner is it said that they wish to pass to those who are tormented in hell?
But just as the reprobate desire to pass to the elect, that is, to migrate from the affliction of their torments, so to pass to the afflicted and to those set in torments is, for the just, to go in mind through mercy, and to wish to free them. But those who wish to pass from the seat of the blessed to the afflicted and to those set in torments cannot, because the souls of the just, although in the goodness of their own nature they have mercy, being now joined to the justice of their Author, are bound by so great a rectitude that they are moved by no compassion toward the reprobate.
For they themselves are in concord with the Judge to whom they cleave, and toward those whom they cannot rescue they do not condescend out of mercy, because they will then see them withdrawn from favour to the same degree that they behold them repelled by their Author whom they love. Therefore neither do the unjust pass over to the lot of the blessed, because they are bound by perpetual damnation; nor can the just pass over to the reprobate, because, being now raised up through the justice of judgment, they in no way have mercy on them out of any compassion. But after hope concerning himself is taken away from the burning rich man, his mind recurs to the kinsmen whom he had left behind, because punishment sometimes profitably instructs the mind of the reprobate,
instructing it toward clearness, so that even then they may spiritually love their own, who here, while they loved their sins, did not even love themselves. Hence now it is subjoined: 'I beseech thee therefore, father, that thou wouldst send him to my father's house; for I have five brothers, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torments.' In this matter it is to be noted how the things which are heaped upon the burning rich man are for punishment. For unto his punishment both cognition and memory are preserved for him. For he knows Lazarus whom he despised, and also remembers his brothers whom he left behind. For his vengeance concerning the poor man would not be complete, if he did not recognize him in the retribution. And his punishment in the fire would not be complete, if he did not fear also in his own kin this very thing which he himself suffers.
Therefore, that sinners in their punishment may be the more punished, they both see the glory of those whom they despised, and are tormented also by the punishment of those whom they uselessly loved. But it is to be believed that before the retribution of the last judgment the unjust behold certain of the just in glory, so that, seeing them in joy, they may be tormented not only by their own punishment, but also by the good of those others. But the just in torments always behold the unjust, so that from this their joy may grow, because they behold the evil which they mercifully escaped; and they render so much the greater thanks to their Deliverer, the more they see in others what they themselves, if they had been left behind, could have suffered. Nor does the beheld punishment of the reprobate darken that brightness of so great a blessedness in the mind of the just,
because where there is no longer compassion for misery, it will without doubt not be able to diminish the joy of the blessed. And what wonder is it if, while the just behold the torments of the unjust, this comes to them for the increase of joys, when even in a painting a black colour is laid underneath, so that the white or red may appear brighter? For, as has been said, their joys are so much the more sharpened for the good, the more the evils of the damned, which they have escaped, lie beneath their eyes. And although their joys suffice fully for their full enjoyment, yet without doubt they always look upon the evils of the reprobate, because they who see the brightness of their Creator, nothing is done in the creature which they cannot see.
But to the rich man begging that Lazarus be sent, it is straightway answered by Abraham: 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' But he who had despised the words of God supposed that his followers could not hear these. Whence the rich man also answered: 'No, my father; but if one go to them from the dead, they will believe.' To whom presently by a truthful sentence it is said: 'If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if one rise again from the dead,' because surely those who despise the words of the law will so much the more difficultly fulfill the precepts of the Redeemer, who rose from the dead, the more subtle these are. For whatever is said through the law is less than that which is commanded through the Lord.
For the law commands that tithes be given, but our Redeemer bids those who follow perfection to give up all things. The law cuts off the sins of the flesh, but our Redeemer condemns even unlawful thoughts (Luke 14). If, therefore, they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if one rise again from the dead, because those who neglect to fulfill the lower precepts of the law, when will they grow strong to obey the higher commandments of our Saviour? And it surely stands firm that they who refuse to fulfill his words without doubt refuse to believe him. Let it suffice that we have said these things from the consideration of the event itself.
But you, brethren, knowing both the rest of Lazarus and the punishment of the rich man, act skilfully; seek out intercessors for your faults, and procure for yourselves the poor as advocates in the day of judgment. For you now have many Lazaruses; they lie before your gates, and are in need of those things which daily fall from your table when you are already sated. The words of the sacred lesson ought to instruct us to fulfill the commands of piety. Daily, if we seek, we find a Lazarus; daily, even if we seek not, we behold a Lazarus. Behold, importunately the poor offer themselves; they ask of us, who then will come as intercessors for us. Certainly we ought altogether to ask, and yet we are asked. See whether we ought to deny what we are asked, when those who ask are our patrons.
Do not, therefore, lose the times of mercy; do not neglect the remedies you have received. Before punishment, think about punishment. When you behold any who are cast down in this world, even if some of their doings seem worthy of reproof, do not despise them, because perhaps those whom weakness of morals wounds, the medicine of poverty cures. And if there are among them any such things as ought justly to be reproved, these, if you will, turn to the use of your reward; that from those very vices of theirs increases of piety may be heaped up for you, so that you may give bread and word alike, the bread of refreshment with the word of correction; and that those who sought one nourishment may receive two from you, while they are satisfied both outwardly with food and inwardly with speech.
The poor man, therefore, when he is seen to be reprovable, ought to be admonished, but not to be despised. But if he has nothing worthy of reproof, he ought most greatly to be venerated as an intercessor. But behold, we discern many, of whom we know not what merit each has. All, therefore, are to be venerated; and it is necessary that you humble yourself to all so much the more, the more you are ignorant which of them is Christ. I relate a matter, brethren, which he who is present, my brother and fellow-presbyter Speciosus, well knows. At the same time that I sought the monastery, a certain aged woman, Redempta by name, established in the habit of a nun, was dwelling in this city near the church of blessed Mary ever-virgin (Book IV of the Dialogues, chapter 15).
She had been a disciple of that Herundo who, flourishing in great virtues, was said to have led an eremitical life upon the Praenestine mountains. To her two disciples in the same habit adhered: one by name Romula, and the other, who still even now survives, whom indeed I know by face, but know not by name. These three, therefore, dwelling together in one little dwelling, led a life rich indeed in the riches of morals, but poor in things. But this Romula, whom I have mentioned, surpassed by the great merits of her life the other, her fellow-disciple, whom I have named before. For she was of wonderful patience, of the highest obedience, a guardian of her mouth unto silence, very zealous for the practice of continual prayer.
But because for the most part those whom men already esteem as perfect still have in the eyes of the supreme Artificer something of imperfection—just as we often, unskilled men, behold statues not yet perfectly sculptured, and already praise them as if perfect, which the artificer still considers and files, and hears already praised, yet does not cease to strike them in improving them—this Romula, whom we have named, was smitten with that bodily affliction which physicians call by the Greek word 'paralysis,' and lay for many years upon her little bed. She lay deprived of the office of almost all her members, yet these same scourges had not led her mind to impatience.
For those very losses of her members had become to her increases of virtues, because she had grown up so much the more solicitously to the practice of prayer, the more she was in no way able to do anything else. One night, therefore, she called that same Redempta whom I mentioned before, who nourished both her disciples in the place of daughters, saying: 'Mother, come; mother, come.' She presently arose with the other disciple of hers, and, as the matter was made clear by both of them relating it and by many, so I too at the same time learned of it. And when in the middle of the night they stood by the bed of her who lay there, suddenly a light sent from heaven filled all the space of that little cell;
and a splendour of such great brightness flashed forth that it struck the hearts of those standing by with inestimable dread, and, as they themselves afterward related, their whole body grew stiff, and they remained in sudden stupor. For there began to be heard, as it were, the sound of some great multitude entering, and the door of the cell to be shaken, as if it were pressed by a throng of those entering. And, as they said, they perceived the multitude of those entering, but by the excess of fear and of light could see nothing, because both terror had weighed down their eyes, and that very brightness of so great a light struck them back. This light was straightway followed by a fragrance of wondrous odour, so that, since the light sent forth had terrified their mind, the sweetness of the odour might refresh it.
But when they could not bear the force of that brightness, the same Romula began with a gentle voice to console Redempta, the mistress of her ways, who was standing by her and trembling, saying: 'Fear not, mother; I do not die yet.' And when she said this repeatedly, little by little the light which had been sent in was withdrawn, but the odour which followed it remained. And thus the second and third day passed, so that the fragrance of the sprinkled odour remained. On the fourth night, therefore, she again called her mistress. When she came, she asked for the viaticum, and received it.
But the same Redempta and another disciple of hers had not yet withdrawn from the bed of her who lay there, when behold, suddenly in the open space before the door of that same cell two choirs of singers took their stand; and, as they themselves said that they distinguished from the voices, the men said the chants of the psalmody, and the women responded. And while the celestial exequies were being exhibited before the doors of the cell, that holy soul was loosed from the flesh. When she was led to heaven, the higher the choirs of singers ascended, the more gently the psalmody began to be heard, until both the sound of that same psalmody and the sweetness of the odour, being drawn far off, came to an end. As long, therefore, as this woman lived in the body, who would hold her in honour? She seemed unworthy to all, despised by all.
Who would deign to approach her, who would deign to look upon her? But the pearl of God lay hidden in the dunghill. By 'dunghill,' brethren, I here call this very corruptibility of the body; by 'dunghill' I name the abjection of poverty. The pearl, therefore, which lay in the dunghill has been taken up, and placed in the ornament of the heavenly King; now she shines forth among the citizens above, now she glitters among those fiery stones of the eternal diadem. O you who in this world either believe yourselves to be rich, or are rich, compare, if you can, your false riches with the true riches of Romula. You possess all things in the way of this world, being about to lose them all; she sought nothing on the journey, and found all things at the arrival. You lead a joyful life, and fear a sorrowful death;
she bore a sorrowful life, and arrived at a joyful death. You seek for a time the attendance of men; she, despised by men, found for companions the choirs of angels. Learn, therefore, brethren, to despise all temporal things; learn to contemn passing honour, and to love eternal glory. Honour those whom you see poor, and those whom you behold outwardly despised by the world, esteem inwardly to be the friends of God. Share with them what you have, that they may one day deign to share with you what they have. Weigh what is said by the mouth of the teacher of the nations: 'At this time let your abundance supply their want, that their abundance also may be a supplement to your want' (2 Cor. 8:14). Weigh what the Truth itself says through itself:
'As long as you did it to one of these the least of My brethren, you did it to Me' (Matt. 25:45). Why are you slow to give, when what you hold out to one lying on the ground is given to One seated in heaven? But may almighty God, who speaks these things through me in your ears, speak them through Himself in your minds; He who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, unto all ages of ages. Amen. It behooves us, most beloved brethren, that the scourges of God which we ought to have feared while they were still to come, we should at least dread now that they are present and experienced. Let sorrow open for us a way to conversion, and let the very punishment we now suffer dissolve the hardness of our heart. For, as the prophet testifies it was foretold: 'The sword has reached even to the soul' (Jer. 4:10).
For behold, the whole people is struck through with the sword of heavenly wrath, and each one is laid waste by sudden slaughter. Nor does sickness come before death, but, as you see, death itself outruns even the delays of sickness. Each one who is struck is snatched away before he can turn to the laments of penance. Consider, therefore, in what condition he comes before the sight of the strict Judge, who has no leisure to weep for what he has done. For the inhabitants are not withdrawn in part, but fall together as one. Houses are left empty, parents look upon the funerals of their children, and their heirs go before them unto destruction. Let each one of us, therefore, flee to the laments of penance, while there is yet leisure to weep before the blow.
Let us call back before the eyes of the mind whatever we have committed by straying, and let us punish by weeping what we have done wickedly. Let us come before His face in confession (Ps. 94:2), and, as the prophet admonishes: 'Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God' (Lam. 3:41). To lift up our hearts with our hands to God is to raise the zeal of our prayer together with the merit of good works. Assuredly He gives, He gives confidence to our trembling, who cries out through the prophet: 'I do not desire the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live' (Ezek. 33:11). Let no one, then, despair on account of the enormity of his iniquities. For a three days' penance wiped away the inveterate sins of the Ninevites (Jonah 3),
and the converted thief earned the rewards of life even in the very sentence of his death (Luke 23). Let us therefore change our hearts, and let us presume that we have already received what we ask for. The Judge is more swiftly bent to entreaty if the petitioner corrects himself from his own depravity. Since, then, the sword of so great a chastisement hangs over us, let us press on with importunate prayers. For that importunity which is wont to be displeasing to men is pleasing to the judgment of truth, because the gracious and merciful God wills that pardon be sought from Him by prayers; He who, as much as we deserve, is unwilling to be angry. Hence indeed it is said through the Psalmist: 'Call upon Me in the day of your tribulation, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me' (Ps. 49:15).
He Himself, then, is witness to Himself that He desires to have mercy on those who call upon Him, since He admonishes that He be called upon. Therefore, most beloved brethren, with a contrite heart and amended works, let us come tomorrow, from the very dawn of the fourth day of the week, with devout mind and with tears, to the sevenfold litany, according to the distribution designated below. Let none of you go out to earthly labors in the fields, let none presume to transact any business whatever, so that, gathering at the church of the holy Mother of the Lord, we who have all sinned together may together bewail all the evils we have done, that the strict Judge, while He considers that we ourselves punish our own faults, may Himself spare us from the sentence of the destined condemnation.
Let the litany of the clergy go forth from the church of blessed John the Baptist; the litany of the men from the church of the blessed martyr Marcellus; the litany of the monks from the church of the martyrs John and Paul; the litany of the handmaids of God from the church of the blessed martyrs Cosmas and Damian; the litany of the married women from the church of the blessed first martyr Stephen; the litany of the widows from the church of the blessed martyr Vitalis; the litany of the poor and of the infants from the church of the blessed martyr Cecilia.