just as in another place seven baskets full, taken up, sevenfold, showed the image of the Church. For there are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, by which the Church is fortified and restored. They are enumerated by the Apostle (1 Corinthians 12). This gift, this inheritance Christ gave to his people, that always he who follows him may be satisfied from his abundance with heavenly goods. Amen. When a certain ruler came and adored the Lord, saying: Lord, my daughter is just now dead; but come, lay your hand upon her, and she shall live. And rising up, the Lord followed him, and so on... of the ruler, brethren. For he said within himself: God has sent his Son and has given all things into his hand; and therefore he said:
Come, lay your hand upon her, and she shall live. Christ the Life makes the dead alive, heals the sick, cleanses lepers, puts demons to flight, strengthens paralytics, gives a step to the lame, gives light to the blind, and works many wonders. The girl had died, and was even now migrating to the infernal seats. But the devoted father of the girl, seeing her bloodless limbs, was begging the defense of the Lord Christ against the destruction and rapine of death. And indeed the most merciful Lord gladly heard the suggestion of the petitioner. And rising up, he followed him. Rising up, it says; therefore a little before he was sitting, waiting to see if anyone would come to ask benefits. Rising up, he followed him. The father hastened for one daughter;
the Lord too hastened for one handmaid, bearing more care for all than each one for his own. But behold, in the crowd a certain woman whom a troublesome infirmity frequently vexed, and an issue of blood most vehemently wore down, so that she no longer had even firmness of body; faith alone, all human resource being exhausted, she retained in her heart, which the coming of the Lord had suddenly intimated to her senses. She approached, saying within herself: If I touch the fringe of his garment, I shall be saved (Matthew 9). She said this within herself, that within herself she might the more quickly be healed. Christ was present to her as she thought, and immediately at the very touch of the fringe she is healed.
She touched the fringe and obtained the cure, and by the solace of a slight garment found great health. Thus the Lord Christ, the rewarder of the faithful, grants great things from small. He came therefore also to the house of the ruler, and said to those mourning: The girl is not dead, but sleeps. O Lord Jesus, how is the girl not dead but sleeping, in whom there is no spirit of life? To me, says the Lord, she sleeps, for I shall raise her up; and taking hold of her hand, he lifted her up, and restoring her to life by the light of his splendor, commended her, living, to her devoted parents in the sight of all. He it is who will likewise bring about the resurrection of all: to him be glory unto the ages. Amen.
The Lord and our Savior Christ, whose wonderful works we have today heard in the holy Gospel, says: I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me (John 14). Let us therefore draw near to him, brethren, that through him, walking on so blessed a journey, we may be able to come to the Father. Let us draw near to him, just as that woman today drew near faithfully, and by faith let us touch him. And although the Lord Jesus is ever set amid crowds, and all around him stand not only the apostles and prophets, but also the martyrs, and all the just, and the throng too of the angels and of all the heavenly powers; nevertheless, if we touch the fringe of his garment, and through that very clothing, that is, through the veil of the body... is the propitiatory...
let us invoke the help of his majesty, and, aided by his heavenly gifts, let us work; immediately also we shall be saved even out of our infirmity, nor shall the wave of blood, that is, the perilous tempest of carnal vices, slay us any longer. This faithful woman did this, of whom a little before the holy Gospel related: and let us consider what the person of this woman signifies. This woman, as it seems to me, showed in herself the figure of the whole frailty of humanity, which, before set in the vexation of the flesh, that is, established in the vices of sins, could not be cured otherwise than if it had received remedies from Christ.
Or again she showed in herself the image of the Synagogue, which for a long time labored in the blood of its members, that is, in the circumcision of its sons. It had indeed spent much as it were upon physicians, that is, upon scribes and Pharisees, whose false and empty utterances of doctrine it sought after, and thence became all the more infirm. After she saw that Christ the Savior had come to the nations, she chose the better part, and passed over to faith, and began to think within herself, saying: If I touch the fringe of his garment, I shall be saved. And immediately, believing that God had come in the body, she ran to Christ with the strength of faith, and touching the fringe of his garment, she received a most full remedy of salvation from the divine fountains. And therefore the Lord said to her:
Be of good courage, daughter, your faith has made you whole: go in peace; that is, walk secure in peace; spurn the wars of vices which were tearing your soul apart, and ever keep the peace of faith and of the fear of God, and be healed of your plague. Every man had in himself the plague of sins, not only of the Jews but also of the nations; coming to Christ he is saved by him; through faith and by the help of his blessing he is fortified: to him be glory and dominion unto the ages. Amen. When the Lord was speaking to the crowds, and was sowing words of piety and of salvation in the hearts of all, a certain woman from the crowd cried out to him and said: Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked. To whom the Lord said: Blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.
Blessed, she says, is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked. This woman, brethren, moved by a devout feeling, praised the womb of the mother, praised the breasts of the parent; truly filled with the Holy Spirit, she rightly conferred the Lord's praise upon the mother, who had brought forth such an offspring and had given suck to such a child. Upon which mother the Lord himself had conferred a preeminent blessedness in this indeed, that he had chosen her womb for his majesty as a certain royal house, into which he, the heavenly King, might descend. Sufficiently blessed and greatly, and blessed, she deserved to be the mother of the Lord, and taken up from a handmaid she received the name of mother. Therefore blessed, she says, is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked.
Blessed is the womb that bore the Craftsman of the world, blessed the breasts that gave suck to the Lord of the world. And the Lord: Blessed, he says, are they who hear the word of God and keep it. Those who hear the word of God, that is, Christ the Word of God; and keep it, that is, they keep his precept. The Word of God is Christ the Lord, who in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1). Therefore blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it, that is, the precept of God, and with careful observance keep it. The highest and perfect blessedness is placed chiefly in this, if what is said be fulfilled. Blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it;
because, hearing with attentive ears, they preserve the divine words with their whole heart, and by the works of their deeds they make manifest that they have fulfilled what the divine preaching had often commanded. Blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it: where it is said: You shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not commit adultery, and you shall not covet, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not swear falsely; honor your father and mother; and what you do not wish for yourself, do not do to another; and what you wish that men should do to you, do the same good things to them also. Blessed, he says, are they who hear the word of God and keep it, so that by keeping and doing they may obtain the reward. After this it is related, the Lord saying:
This wicked generation seeks a sign, and a sign shall not be given it, except the sign of Jonah the prophet (Luke 11). This most holy prophet Jonah bore in himself the figure of the passion and resurrection of the Lord. When the sailors once cast him headlong into the sea, he was received by the whale, and, snatched into its slimy jaws, entered the gate of the beast's belly, and, occupied for three days and as many nights in the dark prison of blindness, and at length restored to the light, he showed, as we have said, the future mysteries of the Lord's sacrament. Commemorating this very thing, the Lord signified concerning his own passion and resurrection. And concerning the queen of the South, who came to hear the wisdom of Solomon (ibid.), let the Jews blush and be confounded;
a woman seeks the wisdom of a man, and the scribes and Pharisees despise the wisdom of God. She travels abroad that she may learn from Solomon the son of David; these despise, present before them, both the Lord of Solomon and of David himself, David himself saying: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand (Psalm 109). Then also concerning the Ninevites who did penance at the preaching of Jonah: And behold, a greater than Jonah is here: the Ninevites did penance when the servant preached, and the Jews, when the Lord preaches, despise it, nor do they wish to do penance, because they do not even deserve to be saved. Truly they are deaf asps, stopping their ears (Psalm 57), who do not hearken to the voice of the charmers, and of the medicine which is administered by the wise one;
whom the Lord Christ, the very Wisdom of the Father, teaching them very frequently, both through Moses and the other prophets, in no way recalled to the right path of life; because he was unwilling again to break off the free will which he gave to man, lest he should infringe upon the liberty of the soul which, as we have said, he had lately granted. Therefore he left it to the judgment of each one, for which he reserved to himself a future examination, so that he who has been guilty may be punished, and he may be saved who was unwilling to admit a crime lest he be punished. And therefore, brethren, in keeping with the precept of the divine word, let us scrutinize the sayings with all attention of mind: and let us ever render praises and thanks to God the Father Almighty through Christ our Lord, to whom is glory unto the ages. Amen.
It has been read concerning the Pharisee and the publican, whose merits, prayers, and persons of the two, while I consider, I sufficiently marvel at the goodness of God and the just judgment of Christ. Pride being confounded, humility deserved to be justified; tears found mercy, boasting is reproved. The Pharisee, who rejoiced, blushed; the publican, who was mourning, rejoiced, and hears of justice; because everyone, says the Lord, who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted (Luke 18); and they who sow in tears shall reap in joy (Psalm 125); the Lord is ever near to those who are of a troubled heart, and he will save the humble of spirit (Psalm 33). Let us consider, brethren, the text of this reading.
There went up, it says, into the temple to pray a Pharisee and a publican. Well is it said 'there went up'... and yet... he who lifts up his mind to God shall be justified only in humility. Therefore let us consider: those men went up into the temple to pray. The Pharisee prayed by himself, saying: God, I give you thanks that I am not as other men, robbers, unjust, adulterers, even as this publican, and so on. But the publican stood afar off, and would not even lift up his eyes to heaven; but he smote his breast, saying: God, be merciful to me a sinner. And this publican went down to his house justified rather than that Pharisee; because everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled.
First, in these two I understand to be designated the person of two peoples, of the Jews and of the nations. Therefore the Pharisee said: God, I give thanks to you that I am not as other men, robbers, unjust, adulterers, as this publican. You would give thanks well... you accuse least... you would do well if you had not lifted up yourself with proud words; for when you accuse others, you reprove yourself; because from the faults of others you ascribe praise to yourself; do not be high-minded, but fear; God, I give thanks to you that I am not as other men, robbers, unjust, adulterers, as this publican. Who are you that judge another's servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. God is able to make him stand (Romans 14). You still say:
I fast twice on the sabbath, I give tithes of all that I possess; in one's own praise a hateful vaunting. I fast twice on the sabbath: Let him who fasts not judge him who eats, and let him who eats not despise him who fasts; because both he who eats, eats to the Lord and gives thanks to God, and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God (ibid.); and yet, to whom do you say these things? Do you not understand that you speak to him to whom all things are known, even before they come to pass? I give tithes of all that I possess. You give tithes: but you receive more than you give: you possess exceedingly much; abundant crops accrue to you by the divine rains, and to whom you give little out of much, you still reproach him. But the publican stood afar off;
bearing, as we said, the person of the nations, because the nations were held farther off from God by their sins. Therefore he stood afar off, and would not even lift his eyes to heaven. You see, now conscience becomes a judge to itself as it petitions; it punishes sins within itself, dares not approach nearer, dares not lift its eyes to heaven, nor wishes with polluted eyes to behold the pure light, because the serene light strains and strikes eyes set in grief; and therefore, bowed toward the earth, he smote his breast, saying: God, be merciful to me a sinner. And the Lord said: Amen I say to you, this man went down justified into his house rather than that Pharisee; because everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself shall be exalted.
Therefore let us also, brethren, pursue humility, and with a meek heart and humble prayer beseech the Lord, that we may obtain the help of His mercy, to whom is glory unto the ages. Amen. The Lord Jesus sent His disciples to bring to Him the colt of a donkey, upon which He might sit; and those disciples went away. When they found the colt tied, they loosed it and led it to the Saviour, and He sat upon it. Hear, brethren: the holy prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ; for thus Isaiah the prophet, full of the Holy Spirit, spoke of the Saviour, saying: 'Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion: behold, thy King cometh to thee, meek and gentle, sitting upon the colt of a donkey' (Isa. 62; Zech. 9). What do we say, brethren?
First, the Lord's great humility is to be admired. Knowing the ambition of the world to be superfluous, He took no delight in horses that champ with proud necks and pace with lofty steps, but chose to be carried on the back of a lowly colt, showing that He loves not the haughty and the puffed-up, but the meek and, as it were, the lowly, who are reckoned like the dung of the world; for, as the Apostle says: 'The ignoble things of this world God has chosen, that He might confound the strong, and the things that are despised God has chosen, and the things that are not, that He might destroy the things that are' (1 Cor. 1). Therefore the disciples bring the colt of the donkey, loosing it. Herein, dearly beloved, is a great mystery. This colt of the donkey is understood to be the people of the Gentiles, who were reckoned lowly and abject, and were held bound with the chains of sins;
it is loosed by the disciples, who by the command of the Lord were appointed for the salvation and liberty of the Gentiles, and it is led into the service of the Saviour, that is, into the mystery of faith, that it may bear the Lord upon itself, and that in it He may rest and dwell; He who by His own dignity would make of a most lowly commonalty a most precious people, a royal and priestly race, so that He might compose by a watchful precept the souls that before were sluggish, and submit them to the honourable yoke of devotion, that they might serve Him; and those in whom the Lord sits are honoured by the rest, just as today we see men of religion honoured above other peoples in honour of the Lord, bearing Christ within themselves and holding His discipline in their conduct. Thanks be to God.
The lesson has been read wherein the Saviour with five loaves fed five thousand men, and with two fishes; and twelve baskets full were gathered. Then again, that from seven loaves He fed four thousand men, and seven hampers full of fragments were gathered. And the man who was mute and deaf is healed: the Lord spat, and touched his tongue, and put His fingers into his ears; and looking up to heaven He groaned, and said: 'Ephphatha,' which is, 'Be opened'; and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and his ears were opened, and he spoke rightly (Mark 7). He heals also the blind man by laying on of hands, and works the other mighty works of healings.
Everywhere, brethren, Christ the Lord is health to all; He feeds all, heals all, gives life to all, succours all, has mercy on all, being God of all creation, who, sent by the Father, deigned to heal the sufferings of His own image, removing the varied affliction of diseases. He blesses the loaves together with the fishes, that He might show Himself to be the Maker of land and sea, who grants all things both on the earth and in the waters by His divine bounty. Twelve baskets and seven full hampers are gathered, that both the number of the apostles and of the Churches might be known to overflow by the bounty of Christ. Then the man mute and deaf is healed; two weak members receive medicine.
The Lord spat, and touched his tongue, and put His fingers into his ears, and said: 'Ephphatha,' which is, 'Be opened'; and immediately the gates of his mouth and his ears were opened. The voice found a way by which to burst forth, and the ears found a way by which to hear sound. The impediments of the tongue were put to flight, and the coverings of the ears fell away. The Saviour's man deserved to be pierced through, so that with his mouth he might give thanks to the Lord, and with his ears hear the Word of God from the preacher; he received faith from hearing, believed in his heart unto righteousness, and confessed with his mouth unto salvation. And what of the blind man? The blind man too is healed; he receives the brightness of sight through the hands of the Saviour: the darkness yields to the light, and by the mighty works of Christ all blindness is put to flight; light is restored to him who longs for it.
And having perceived so bright a splendour, the blind man rejoices, and lifts up his opened eyes to heaven, and receiving the sweet sight, he renders thanks for all things to God: in the hands of Christ all benefits abide. First, having laid on His hands, He asked the blind man whether he saw anything. He said: 'I see men as trees walking' (Mark 8). Still his sight wavered, still his gaze was clouded. Then again, His hands being laid on, with all the error of darkness removed, he received clear light with sweet splendour. To this our Lord Jesus Christ let us ever render thanks, to whom is dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen. It has been read today, that when the Lord had sat in the temple over against the treasury, He saw the crowds casting into the treasury;
and He saw the rich cast in much, and one poor widow casting in two small copper coins. And calling His disciples together, He said to them: 'Amen I say to you, that this poor widow has cast in more than all. For all of them cast in of that which abounded to them; but she of her own scanty means cast in all the living that she had' (Mark 12). O lover of mercy, who praises not the abundance of the rich but the straits of the poor! He especially commended the deed of the poor widow above the rest, and reckoned the small measure to be worth more amid the abundance of the wealthy: for by Him it is not the multitude of money that is approved, but the devotion of the mind. O blessed and just widow, who deserved to be praised before the day of judgment!
She cast into the treasury two small copper coins, and by the gift of so tiny an alms she acquired a great reward of recompense; and, as it seems to me, being lifted up and borne aloft by those two, as by two wings, she reached the higher regions. She found a place in heaven, who endured straits in the world. In the sight of the disciples the Lord too gave testimony, to prove that even a small alms has a great reward with the Lord; as the blessed Apostle also says, that 'he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully; and he who sows in blessing, in blessing shall also reap' (2 Cor. 9). For God loves a cheerful giver; for he who shows mercy shall obtain mercy, and he who shares with the needy is heaped up with heavenly rewards.
'I have been young,' says David, 'and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread. All the day long he shows mercy and lends, and his seed shall be in blessing' (Ps. 36). Wherefore the blessed prophet Isaiah admonishes all, and exhorts them to works of mercy, saying: 'Break thy bread to the hungry, and bring the poor without shelter into thy house. If thou seest the naked, clothe him, and thou shalt not despise the members of thine own kindred. Then shall thy timely light break forth, and thy garments shall quickly spring up, and righteousness shall go before thee; the brightness of God shall encompass thee' (Isa. 58), and so forth.
Therefore, brethren, of that which the Lord deigns to bestow, let us give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, lodging to the stranger; to the sick let us render service, to the afflicted consolation; let us often, as we are able, work at the treasury; for the eyes of the Lord ever behold us and are ever present, and in every place they watch the good and the evil, about to render to each one according to his works: to Him be glory unto the ages. Amen. It has been read to us today in the Holy Gospel that Lazarus, four days dead, was raised by the Lord, the Saviour Himself praying to the Father and saying: 'Father, I give thee thanks that thou hast heard me; and I knew that thou hearest me always; but because of the people who stand around I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me' (John 11);
and afterward He wept: 'Lazarus, come forth'; and immediately he who had been dead came out, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin; and He commanded that he be loosed and go (John 11). Hear, brethren: the body of Lazarus lay dead and lifeless in the tomb, and the failing members, in which there had been no life for four days, were little by little dissolving in the grave. Christ prays to the Father, and the dead man receives strength; He beseeches the Begetter, and the man is made firm. Then He cries: 'Lazarus, come forth,' and death is terrified, hell trembles, and immediately at the voice of the Saviour the body, made living, is shaken out, and the members wrapped in linen cloths grow warm with vital motion.
The Lord commands him to be loosed and to depart, lest he be thought a phantom. He commands him to be loosed, that they might recognize both the now-damp bindings and the body, and might see the newly-revived members with a fresh pallor. The Lord showed in Lazarus a token of the resurrection to come, as also in the son of the widow, and in the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue. For indeed, dearly beloved, at one word of the Saviour all the dead alike could have risen together, had He not called them each by name; therefore He said to each singly: 'Lazarus, come forth'; 'Young man, I say to thee, arise.' 'To thee,' He says, 'I say' — only for the present time — 'thou, arise': 'Talitha cumi,' which is, 'Damsel, arise.' Therefore each one singly, as I have said, by name.
And He willed that what is seen in individuals should be understood as to come to pass generally in all: He Himself is our Lord, who shall come to judge the living and the dead, whose voice all shall hear; and those who have done good things shall rise again unto the resurrection of life, but those who have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment (John 5). To Him be glory and dominion unto the ages. Amen. It was said that, while the Lord reclined at a banquet, there came a certain woman, a sinner, carrying an alabaster box of ointment, and standing at the feet of the Lord, she bathed His feet with tears, and wiped them with her hair, and kissed them, and anointed them with ointment. She dared not impudently thrust herself upon His most holy gaze;
nor, being set in the darkness of her sins, could she bear even that little of these rays, but stood at His feet, adoring the lowest part of His body, and as it were under the shelter of His feet she sought refreshment for the burnings of her sins; believing that He had taken a body for the remission of sins, she kissed His feet, and bathed them with tears, and wiped them with her hair, with which she had roamed through diverse places, and offered to all the saving light. Therefore this woman, a sinner, with her eyes, and her hair, and her lips, by which she had chiefly contracted the vices of her sins, with these very things she repented, and sought pardon. But the Lord, who ever wills to heal the sicknesses of the penitent, said to her:
'Thy sins shall be forgiven thee'; and again: 'Her many sins shall be forgiven her, because she loved much' (cf. Luke 7). O inestimable goodness! He gave back joy in place of weeping, and this heavenly physician heals her who was sick in her own evils: so that where there had been despair of transgressions, there might arise the security of joys. He says further: 'Thy faith has made thee whole; go in peace, flee the wars of vices, walk in the peace of chastity, of humility, of sobriety,' and so forth. The Lord says: 'You are the light of this world. A city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden, nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but upon a lampstand, that it may give light to all who are in the house,' and so forth. 'Therefore you,' He says to the disciples, 'are the light of this world:'
a city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden. It is certain that a city set upon a mountain gives light to all, and is clear to all, and cannot be hidden. This the Lord spoke in a figure of the disciples through parables. For a city set upon a mountain is understood to be the soul joined to Christ, which stands firm in Him, and, raised up by faith in Him, is eminent far off. The soul is called a city, because in it are written the laws and the divine ordinances: 'who show,' He says, 'the work of the law written in their hearts' (Rom. 2). Therefore a city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden. Christ is called a mountain by the holy prophet Daniel: 'He came,' he says, 'upon the earth, and became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth' (Dan. 2),