Nevertheless, both can be understood: in this way there is a middle ground, namely that the person who is guided by the Lord will desire the Lord's way; because with Him as the guide, all labor is lightened, all obstacles are removed, incentives are provided: and the Lord Himself does not reject, but willingly accepts the path of the man whom He Himself has directed to virtue. Indeed, the steps of the man are beautifully said to be directed by the Lord; because it is not of one who is unwilling or running, but of one who is merciful, to keep the path without stumbling. For the one who plants and waters is nothing, but God who gives the increase. To Him alone belongs the glory of virtues.
Finally, even the righteous person sometimes falls; but if they are truly righteous, when they fall, they will not be disturbed. Whatever pertains to condition falls; what pertains to righteousness rises again: because God does not forsake the righteous, but strengthens their hand. Why did he say hand and not foot? Unless perhaps because someone who falls does not slip more with their foot, but rather a weak person is often deceived on a slippery surface or stumbles upon a rock; but understand here the fall of the righteous person, that is, of the stronger one. Finally, concerning the people who struggle, if they bend a knee or stumble with a foot, they are considered defeated; but an athlete who has skill in wrestling, and wrestles for a crown, even willingly plants a knee in order to win; and if they stumble, they are not excluded; and if someone superior to them presses upon them, while still supporting themselves with their hands, they have the right to fight; and their prize is not taken away, unless they are thrown on their belly or stretched out by a bond of the arms. Hence frequent contests arise; because there are many types of falls that are both numerous and unknown to most. For their conditions are properly called ruins, for they are called πτώματα in Greek. Therefore, when it is squeezed and pressed, it often turns over and becomes above what it was below, and while the higher one rises, it knocks down the higher one: which the Scripture seems to signify when it says: You have turned all his bed in his sickness (Psalm 40:4). Therefore, it is said of him: When a good athlete falls, he will not be disturbed; for many want to be held back, so that they may conquer earlier, who presume about art. But even if someone, as I will use the very word, has been assigned both the first and second, he is not excluded; although it is sometimes possible for him to repair the struggle, and it often happens that he who has overcome in the second contest yields. Therefore, even if a just person has stumbled and fallen into an offense, let him not abandon the pursuit of devotion and faith, let him hold onto sobriety, let him practice repentance, let him often repair himself. Therefore, Peter asks: 'If my brother sins against me, how many times shall I forgive him? Up to seven times?' (Matthew 18:21-22). And the Lord replied: Not just seven times, but seventy-seven times. But so that you may know that we are athletes and are propelled, and others rush forward, and many are thrown down, listen to the one who says: The Lord upholds all who fall, and lifts up all who are cast down (Psalm 145:14). Therefore, David himself, or the one who spoke in the Prophet, says about himself: I was pushed hard, so that I was falling; but the Lord helped me (Psalm 118:13); for Jesus did not fall, but was pushed. For when he Himself raised the dead, how could He Himself be hindered? And indeed, when the just man falls, Scripture testifies that he can rise again, saying: Does not the one who falls, add that he may rise again; or the one who turns away, will he not return? Woe to those who turn away with shameless turning, says the Lord (Jeremiah VIII, 4 and 5).
Indeed, may the champion of Christ be inescapable and unbeatable, and glorious in every age, in every kind of virtue, as he himself says: But in all things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us (Rom. VIII, 37). What does 'in all things' mean? There are athletes who are called boys, youths, men; that is, παῖδες, ἐφήβοι, πύκται. Scripture also recognizes these ages in wrestlers, as David says: Do not turn your face away from your servant (Psal. LXVIII, 18); and I was young, and now I am old (Later in verse 25). And John also says: I write to you, children; because you have known the Father: I write to you, young men; because you have overcome the evil one: I write to you, fathers; because you have known him who is from the beginning. (1 John 2:12 et seq.) And writing to the fathers, he designates those who are mature in the process of faith and devotion. Therefore, these are virtues, not ages of weakness; for even a child is not without virtue, who has known the Father God of virtues. From that boy, these are the boys who, before knowing how to call their father or mother, received the virtue of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria. He himself is the boy who was born to us, the son who was given to us, whose authority is upon his shoulders. He taught us that childhood is a virtue, saying: Allow the children and do not hinder them from coming to me (Luke XVIII, 16). And elsewhere: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like this boy, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew XVIII, 3). Moreover, it is often the case that boys surpass men in physical strength. And especially if we consider the age of boyhood, a boy cannot either know all the uses or withstand the force of resistance. Nevertheless, we know that frequently boys, whom they were not able to carry, they have conquered. Such is the strength of the soul that it excludes the weakness of age.
However, as the boys are, so are the adolescents, that is, spiritual. The Scripture knows the young man Paul, now near to conversion (Acts VII, 57); it also knows Eutychus, a young man who, while listening attentively to Paul's speeches, fell asleep, fell from the third floor, and rose again (Acts XX, 9); it also knows John, the young man who reclined on Christ's chest (John XIII, 23), who was so brave that he did not fear persecution and overcame evil. Here is the boy who left his earthly father (Matthew 4:20), following the Father whom he knew to be eternal; as a young man, clothed in a linen garment, he followed the Lord during his Passion, having left behind everything that was his own (Mark 14:51); as he grew older, he came to know that the Word of God was always and forever in the beginning (John 1:1-2), and he proved it by remaining in Him.
Scripture also teaches us about spiritual men, as the prophet Agabus says: 'This man, whose belt this is, the Jews will bind in Jerusalem' (Acts 21:11). And Festus says: 'There is a certain man left by Felix in custody' (Acts 25:14). Before his passion, Paul is said to be a young man, but in his passion he is referred to as a man who has finished the race and is now close to the crown.
We have known the ages striving for faith and devotion, let us also understand the various types of individual contests. Let this also be taught to us by the content of Scripture.In this secular struggle, there are some who engage in a simple and legitimate kind of wrestling and contend only with the restraints of the body, not knowing how to strike, and are called wrestlers; others who mix the throwing of punches with the entanglement of limbs, with every right to strike themselves: these are called pammacharians, because they have power over every dispute and fight against them; others who contend against each other with gloves and whose heads are torn apart, are tormented: these are called boxers.
Paul the Apostle underwent all these struggles, as he himself demonstrates. Therefore, he says: Because our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers and authorities, and (to use a summary) against spiritual wickedness (Ephesians VI, 12). In most Latin texts, the word used is 'colluctatio', while in all Greek texts it is written as 'πάλη', which in Greek means 'wrestling' and in Latin means 'struggle'. And truly it is a struggle; because flesh and blood, and spiritual wickedness, are overcome through patient endurance and bodily self-control, and through the moderation of the mind. Anger, rage, slaughter, weapons are the devils. Also, elsewhere it signifies that when he says: In more than enough afflictions, frequently in deaths (2 Corinthians 11:23). But in Jerusalem he was struck with fists; where when the soldiers intervened, the Jews sometimes stopped striking Paul, the high priest Ananias ordered those standing by to strike him on the mouth, to which the Apostle replied: God will begin to strike you, you whitewashed wall. And do you, sitting in judgment, judge me according to the law, and order me to be struck outside the law? Surely he knew how to answer, who struck the high priest with a heavier blow; for he himself was physically struck: he reported that he was struck in the soul by Christ. Also, writing in his first letter to the Corinthians, he says: Therefore I so run, not as uncertainly: so I fight, not as one beating the air. What he said in Latin, 'I fight,' he says in Greek, πυκτεύω. And truly, like a good athlete, he beat not the air but the aerial powers and the leaders of the Jews, because they did not have Jesus the Lord as their leader. In every struggle, therefore, the Apostle is proven, who also received the crown of completing the race. Hence, he himself says: I can do all things in him who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13).
And Christ also has those who, in their youth, conquer those who are older; just as Daniel, a young boy filled with spirit, rebuked the elders of the Jews and threw them down to death. And he also has others who, before they were born, struggled in their mother's womb. Finally, Jacob supplanted his brother Esau and overcame evil; and thus he came out of the womb of his mother, showing the emblem of victory and turning the foot of the defeated elder brother. Jeremiah was sanctified and approved in the womb of his mother. John the Baptist knew that the Prince of human struggle and the rewarder of those who wrestled had not yet come, and leaping forth from the womb of his mother, he deserved the prize of devout confession. He was rightly designated for the crown even then, who before all others had offered his name to the struggle of faith in Christ and had proclaimed the virtue of his name. A good proclaimer, who stirred others to the contest. And truly a good proclaimer; who shouted with such a loud voice that the secrets of heaven echoed in response to his sound. What more can be said? He moved the earth, filled the heavens. And for this reason, He received the name of Voice, because the Sacred Word of God preceded, just as He Himself taught us, saying: I am the voice of one crying in the desert (John 1:23). Isaiah the prophet said this about Himself: He strengthened this proclamation (Isaiah 40:3). We have heard what the herald said: Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight (John 1:23). This is a unique and singular voice, so resounding that it is heard by all; so sweet that it soothes the hearts of all. Therefore, the Lord strengthened these athletes to win; for He never abandons His own and leaves them behind.
(Verse 25.) And therefore the Prophet added: I was young, and I grew old: so the Latins have it; but some according to the Greeks have it: I was young, and indeed I grew old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread. Clearly, for those who want to understand, the meaning is evident, that during his lifetime David did not see the righteous forsaken. But this is both a short time and incredible; for we see many righteous people in the world being abandoned by others, when they are persecuted by some of the powerful; and no one dares to approach them, when they see them in fear or in injury. Where Job says: My brothers have gone far from me; they have ignored me more than strangers. My friends have become merciless; those who knew me have forgotten my name (Job 19:13). David also not only laments being abandoned, but also being attacked by his friends and neighbors: My friends and neighbors draw near against me, he says (Psalm 38:12). Therefore, if the righteous are found forsaken in this world, how can David say the opposite? Unless you understand that even though the righteous may be abandoned in the world, they are not abandoned by the Lord. For Job, even when he was in the dirt (Job 2:3), was not abandoned by the Lord, whom the Lord himself praised with his own voice in the council of angels, whom he allowed to be tested, so that he might be crowned; but the temptation was given to his body, and denied to his soul. Nor was David, to whom the kingdom was given to rule over the chosen people, abandoned: whom, driven away from the boundaries of his kingdom by murderous battles, he restored to the rights of victory. Likewise, Jacob, Elijah and Elisha, and John the Baptist, and others who wandered around in goat skins in deserts, and mountains, and caves, and holes in the earth, even though they seem to have endured many jeers and bitter tortures; nevertheless, they were not abandoned. Indeed, when Jacob fled with his brother and wandered alone through the desert, he fell asleep and upon waking saw a multitude of heavenly hosts. It is said: 'This place is called the camp of angels' (Genesis 32:2). It was not enough to call it a camp; but camps that would be fitting for such a multitude. Therefore, you see that he thought he was alone, and the camps of the heavenly army followed him; just as in the time of our fathers and Moses, so that they would not thirst in the desert, a rock (as it is written) followed them. For when we read in Exodus (Exod. XVII, 6) that when the people were thirsty, Moses struck the rock with his staff, and water flowed out, and the people of God drank; again we read in Leviticus, or in Numbers, that Moses again touched the rock with his staff (Num. XX, 11), and water gushed out for the fathers to drink; the Apostle has interpreted this brilliantly, saying: They drank from the rock that followed them; and the rock was Christ (I Cor. X, 4). Therefore, the Lord did not abandon those who were complaining, murmuring, and transgressing, but He followed them. What should I say about Elijah and Elisha, to whom horses and fiery chariots came from heaven as they were journeying through the desert? How was Elijah abandoned, who was invited by Christ (Matt. 17:3)? How was he abandoned on earth, but taken up to heaven? How was he needy, naked, and empty, but left the disciple with a double portion of the spirit; so that with one melody he gifted a river, made the Jordan flow backwards, fed the army of kings in the desert, and ministered to those who were thirsty? According to his will, cups flowed from the sky, and the dead rose again on earth. How was Elisha abandoned, who, surrounded by the Syrian army, was about to be taken captive to the king? But when his servant Gehazi said, 'Oh, my master, what shall we do?' Elisha replied, 'Don't be afraid, for there are more with us than with them.' And he said, 'Lord, open his eyes so that he may see.' And his eyes were opened, and he saw the mountain, full of countless horses and chariots of fire, surrounding them (2 Kings 6:16-17). Paul also, who said that he was tossed about by dangers at sea and dangers in the wilderness (2 Cor. XI, 26), nevertheless he himself testified, saying: If God is for us, who can be against us (Rom. VIII, 31)? Therefore, if he was abandoned and forsaken by men, he abounds and flourishes before God. For even Elijah was forsaken, so that he said: Lord, take my life (3 Kings XIX, 4); and yet he thrived before God, so that he was formidable in strength to those very kings.
How could a young man like David come to understand this? For young men are more concerned with temporal things than with eternal things, because youth tends towards vice. But there are some who are old in their youth, and others who are young in their old age. Indeed, there are men whose minds are esteemed for the wisdom of the elderly, in whom old age is an untainted life, in whom gray wisdom flourishes: such was Jeremiah, who, when he mentioned his youthful age and excused himself for appearing unfit for the duty of preaching, the Lord said to him: Do not say: 'I am young'; for you shall go to all to whom I shall send you, and you shall speak (Jerem. 1, 7). So he did not consider him a young man whom he judged suitable for the grace of prophecy. Such was the young man David, who was renewed and blossomed again, as he himself said (Ps. 102:5), like the youth of an eagle. Therefore, it must be understood in this way: I was young; but sanctified, but placed as a prophet among the nations, so that I could already know the mysteries of the heavenly kingdom and consider the true rewards of justice: but I have not seen the righteous forsaken. Moreover, strengthened by experience and duty, I acquired the fruits of wisdom. The same grace seemed to stay with me in regards to justice.
We have explained, as best we can, how he said: I was young; but how he added: Indeed, I have grown old, let us consider. Youth is good, but old age is better; for whoever perseveres until the end, he will be saved. Hence, it was not said lightly of the patriarch Abraham (Gen. XXV, 8) that he was nourished in good old age. And the old John began to write the Gospel, or the Epistles, who, when he refused to write as an apostle, wrote as an elder (Epist. II and III); nor is he esteemed any less, to whom a certain swan-like grace of old age is abundant. Writing to Philemon, he says: Since you are such a person as Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus, I beseech you for my son whom I have begotten in my chains, Onesimus (Philem. 9-10). Therefore, willing to do the utmost for him, he compared him to the old man Paul, not to the young man; and there he gloried in being an old man, where he is now held in chains. And see the difference; the young man is spoken of in the sufferings of another, the old man in his own (Acts VII, 57). There, like a young man, he kept the Jewish garments; here, as an old man, he took off the garments of his body. In the end, Peter is said to be an old man there, where the struggle of his passion is: 'When you were younger,' he said, 'you used to dress yourself and go wherever you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.' He said this, indicating by what kind of death he would glorify God (John 21:18). Before the contest, a young man is called a young man, but in the contest an old man, who has fulfilled every contest. Therefore, David, that warrior in his youth, says this, peaceful in his old age: 'I was young, but I do not want you to still consider me young. For indeed, I have grown old and have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.'
What is the seed of the just? The promises were made to Abraham and his seed; not to seeds, as in many; but as in one: And to thy seed, which is Christ (Galatians III, 16). Hear the seed of the just. My little children, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you (Galatians IV, 19). And now, if any one coming from the Gentiles hears our word and the Lord should vouchsafe to help him, so that Christ be formed in his soul, where the birth of faith may be carried on, Christ shall be his seed. There, in both. Therefore Abraham was both the father of a generation according to the flesh, and he who first poured forth the word of the Lord in the hearts of the just. And therefore this seed of Abraham does not require these loaves which provide bodily nourishment, because it has the bread of justice, which descends from heaven (John 8:39). For just as those who do not do the works of Abraham are denied to be his children, so are they the seed of Abraham and are received among his children who perform his work. Indeed, the seed of Abraham was Elijah, to whom an angel provided nourishment, and he walked in the power of that food for forty days. He did not require the nourishment of this body, but the seed of Abraham, to whom bread was brought down from heaven. Finally, ravens provided him with daily feasts. Thus, he was in need of everything, having nothing of his own, and he was sent to give food to others. Indeed, the seed of Daniel, who, placed among lions, had bronze dishes filled with the meals of harvesters carried to him by the prophet Habakkuk. Therefore, this is the bread of angels, which humans have eaten; for it is written: 'Man ate the bread of angels' (Psalm 78:25). This is the bread about which David said: 'The Lord feeds me, and I lack nothing; he has placed me in a green pasture. He has led me to the water of refreshment' (Psalm 22:2). Good David taught me the bread of angels, and he himself taught me the water of refreshment. This spiritual refreshment is rest for the internal mind. Good water, which washes away sin, cleanses the inner being. Let us hear what this water is. If anyone is thirsty, let them come to me, and let them drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from within them. But he was speaking about the Spirit, whom those who were going to believe in him were about to receive. Therefore, the righteous person does not need this bread, nor water for refreshment, for the Holy Spirit is their rest and refreshment.
(Verse 26.) But how can he be in need who has mercy and lends all day? What is it that the righteous person lends? Not bronze, not iron, not lead, but silver purified by fire. He brings this to the table of the Lord, and distributes it to those who seek it: to one person, to two, to five minas daily he distributes, and it never runs out. But we have heard that lending at interest is condemned in the Law, with Moses saying: You shall not lend at interest (Deuteronomy 23:19). There is a twofold division: one of money, the other of grace. Divide both; for it is written: If you offer rightly, but do not divide rightly, you have sinned: be still (Genesis IV, 7). And you divide rightly, so as not to sin. Let Moses himself teach you to divide, who admonished to divide rightly; that you may follow what Abel did, who divided rightly: and flee from what Cain the murderer did, who did not know how to divide rightly. Therefore the Holy Spirit divides divisions, who, dividing all things, gives to each according to his will: He as He wills, you as you are able, as you are capable with your talent. Divide when the Law speaks about money, and when it speaks about grace. For it is said to you: You shall lend to nations, whose Lord demands interest: but you shall not borrow (Deuteronomy XV, 6). There is both money of interest, and grace, whose Lord demands interest; money of interest has material wealth, grace bestows faith. Lend therefore faith to nations, so that grace may abound to you: but you, do not borrow as if needy, but as if rich and wealthy, lend with interest. Peter lent, Paul lent, John the Evangelist lent, both lent, and they did not need; that is, they lent Christ's money, they did not lend money for interest. So lend, and do not cease to lend. Do you hear what Scripture says: All day long he is gracious and lends. The righteous man lends during the day, the greedy person at night; for grace is of the light, but greed is of the darkness. And therefore, the seed of the lender's faith will be in blessing, surely having the reward of blessings.
(Verses 27, 28, 29.) Turn away from evil and do good; and dwell forever. For the Lord loves justice, and will not forsake his saints: they will be preserved forever. But the wicked will be punished, and the seed of the wicked will perish. The righteous will inherit the land, and dwell forever upon it. These verses demonstrate that we belong to the Lord, and that he is the judge of our thoughts and actions, considering the merits of each individual. He does not act without judgment, but discerns between good and evil deeds. Therefore, it must be avoided and good must be done. Do not confuse good and evil; first, you must be free from sin; then, you must bear the fruits of innocence, so that you can be eternal. Do not think that your sins go unnoticed by God; for many fall in this way. He himself sees and condemns all things, and exterminates the seed of the wicked; indeed, the seed is not of physical generation, but of internal mind and succession of impiety (Job 1:1). For certainly Job, born of the seed of Esau, is testified in the Scripture. How then did the seed of Esau perish in Job, when he was such a great man, foreseeing the coming of the Lord to the earth, who would subdue the prince of this world, the devil? Therefore, this is questioned, lest evil be transferred to future generations. Christ works this through the sacrament of baptism, so that each person may put off what they were born with and put on what they are reborn with: so that they may become heirs not of their family, but of grace; so that they may acquire for themselves an eternal dwelling place. But whoever deserves to dwell in the world of ages, he himself shall honor God in the ages of ages.
(Verse 30 and following) When he established the just moral disciplines, to teach you what kind you ought to be, and what would be the perfect form of justice; he wants his mind to rise to wisdom and theorems; and arouse his intention, so that he may look at heavenly things with an attentive heart, and revolve the divine oracles within himself, and direct his affection towards those things which please God: let him meditate on the Law, and let no commandments of the Lord escape him; let him recognize the movement of the divine Sacrament. Finally, I saw in the teachings that the holy Prophet arose: The mouth of the just man will meditate wisdom, and his tongue will speak judgment. The law of God is in his heart; the Lord will not condemn him when he is judged. Wait for the Lord and keep his way; and he will exalt you to possess the land: when sinners are destroyed, you will see. I saw the wicked man exalted and lifted up above the cedars of Lebanon; and I passed by, and behold, he was no more; and I sought him, but his place was not found. Superior moral things, these are intelligible. For what is the just mouth that will contemplate wisdom, if not the inner man? For there are two men in each person: one inner, the other outer; the inner one thinks about things of the mind, speaks about things of the mind; the outer one about things of the body. However, the coming Lord united both; and he established two in one person; so that they would not oppose each other with conflicting movements, but rather be united to each other by the unity of their wills. Therefore, the mouth of the righteous will meditate wisdom. For now even the outer man of the righteous is transformed into the discipline of the inner man, and is conformed to its nature, and performs its duties, so that the flesh may meditate on what is of the inner mind. But lest this seem incredible to you, listen to the Apostle saying (Philippians 3:21) that the Lord Jesus transfigured the body of our lowliness, so that it would be conformed to the body of his glory. Who would dare to say that the flesh, assumed from the Virgin, generated by the Spirit of God coming upon Mary, was without sin, which in no way differed from the teachings of wisdom, and was devoid of the virtues of the inner man, and could not pass into his uses; since it was above man that the sick were healed by touching it, the blind had their sight restored, and the dead were raised? Therefore, it is fittingly written: the mouth of the righteous will meditate on wisdom; because the whole man is spiritual, not earthly: for as earthly, so also are earthly; and as heavenly, so also are heavenly. Therefore, let the earthly be absent, let the heavenly remain. And so, referring to the times of the Redeemer, the Prophet meditates, saying: although one out of many, he meditates and writes. And it does not deviate from sense; for the spirits of the prophets are close to the future as well as the present. Others think that the mouth speaks instead of the mind. But Solomon has beautifully explained this to us, saying: The account of the righteous is always wisdom; but the fool is like the moon that changes (Sirach 27:12); that is, he often varies and does not persist in his opinion, and seems to shed light in darkness but cannot hold it.
Therefore, let the meditation of wisdom always be in your heart and on your lips, and let your tongue speak judgment, may the law of your God be in your heart. Therefore, Scripture says to you: Speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you rise up (Deut. VI, 7). Let us therefore speak of the Lord Jesus; for He is Wisdom, He is the Word and the Word of God. For it is also written: Open your mouth with the word of God. He breathes it out, who resonates His words, and meditates on them. Let us always speak. When we speak of wisdom, He is: when we speak of virtue, He is: when we speak of justice, He is: when we speak of peace, He is: when we speak of truth, and life, and redemption, He is. Open your mouth to the word of God, it is written: you open, He will speak. Therefore David said: I will hear what the Lord will speak in me (Ps. LXXXIV, 9). And the Son of God Himself says: Open your mouth, and I will fill it (Ps. LXXX, 11). But not all can perceive the perfection of wisdom like Solomon; not all like Daniel. However, the spirit of wisdom is poured out on all according to their capacity, but on all who are faithful. If you believe, you have the spirit of wisdom; therefore, the Wise One says: 'I believed, therefore I spoke' (Ps. 116:10). When you believe, you will receive the grace of speaking. And the one who believes is redeemed; and the one who prays is redeemed: if they devoutly apply themselves to prayers, and are constant in prayer, let them precede the day, frequent the night, be the first to meet the morning sun, so that they may be enlightened by Christ himself before the earth by the rising of the sun; and the one who sings is redeemed; and the one who is contrite is redeemed.
Therefore, always meditate, always speak of the things of God, sitting in the house. We can take the Church as our home, we can receive an interior home within ourselves, so that we may speak within ourselves. The judges sit in Jerusalem; the seats have been set in judgment; the council of judges also sat, and the books were opened. The prophecy says: And you, with counsel, do everything (Sirach 32:24). Judge with counsel about your actions, drink wine with counsel, speak with counsel; so that you may avoid sin, lest you fall through speaking too much. Speak while you are sitting, as if you were a judge: speak on the way, so that you may never be vacant. On the way, speak if you speak in Christ, for Christ is the way. Speak to yourself on the way, speak to Christ. Listen to how you speak to them. I want, he says, men to pray in every place, lifting up pure hands without anger and argument (I Tim. II, 8). Speak, O man, while you are sleeping, so that the sleep of death does not creep upon you. Listen to how you speak while sleeping: If I give sleep to my eyes and slumber to my eyelids; until I find a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob (Ps. CXXXI, 4 and 5). Conquer nature by diligence, exclude bodily sleep. We cannot shape nature, but we can shape diligence. David was a man who indulged in some sleep during the night, but he excluded sleep by washing his bed every night and watering his couch with tears. Therefore, he was always mindful of his Lord on his bed, and he meditated on Him. He would rise early in the morning, and Christ would shine upon him in the darkness, saying: Rise, you who are sleeping (Ephesians 5:14). Not in all things is this grace, but it can be in many things with diligence. Therefore, do not expect Christ to awaken you; but rather awaken Christ. He awakens himself who thinks about him while sleeping. If you awaken him, he will also awaken you from sleep, resurrect you from death, saying to you: Rise from the dead (Ibid.). Therefore, when you rise or when you resurrect, speak to him, so that you fulfill what you are commanded. Hear how Christ awakens you. Your soul says: The voice of my brother knocks at the door (Song of Songs, 5:2); and Christ says: Open to me, my sister, my bride. Listen to how you awaken Christ. The soul says: I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, if you awaken and revive charity (Song of Songs, 3:5). Charity is Christ. Also listen to how you speak while sleeping: I sleep, but my heart keeps watch (Song of Songs, 5:2). These things collectively: raise your mind a little higher now.
Speak while sitting in the house, in this earthly house of this habitation, which is dissolved, in which we are pilgrims from the Lord. For in this body we are placed, while we desire to put on more rather than to strip off, we are exiled from Christ, and we groan heavily. Therefore, sitting in this, confess your sins; because you sat, and did not stand, and did not say: Our feet were standing in your courts, O Jerusalem (Psalm 122:2). Speak more, and do not hide your sins; speak while sitting, so that you may hear the one speaking: 'Arise after you have sat, you who eat the bread of sorrow' (Psalm 126:2). Speak while walking on the way, that is, following the course of this life. Speak here, lest you remain silent there, as he remained silent who did not believe the angel of Christ at first; afterwards, however, when he believed, he regained his voice. Speak while sleeping and be at rest, buried in Christ; so that you may rise again with him in the newness of life. Speak even when buried in a tomb; as the souls of the saints spoke, seeking vengeance from the author of death. How long, O Lord, holy and true, will you not judge and avenge our blood (Rev. 6:10)? Speak finally when you rise; as he taught who said: I have slept and have rested and have risen; for the Lord will receive me (Psalm 3:6). And there, therefore: The mouth of the righteous will meditate on wisdom, until he reaches the higher secrets of the heavenly tabernacle, full of sacred joy and gladness; just as Scripture has taught us, with David saying: I have remembered these things, and I have poured out my soul upon myself; for I will enter into the place of the admirable tabernacle, even to the house of God. In the voice of exultation and confession the sound of feasting (Psalm 41:5). Therefore, both while sitting in this earthly house and when we go out and walk along the way, if we are worthy, we shall meet Christ when we are caught up and even speak while asleep.
Take the third lifting up, by which the soul elevates itself to justice. For there is a certain spiritual sleep to be understood, about which Solomon says: 'If you sit down, you will sit without fear; if you sleep, you will rest sweetly, and you will not fear the terror that will come upon you, nor the attacks of the wicked that will come upon you' (Prov. III, 24 et seq.). You will rest sweetly and not fear the terror or the attacks of the wicked; if your tongue speaks the judgment of God, and you always keep that before your eyes; so that you leave no place for sin, and know that the price of sin is paid by the retribution of punishment. For he himself interpreted this in the ninetieth Psalm, saying: “You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow flying by day, nor the business wandering in darkness, nor the encounter and the midday demon. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not approach you. Only with your eyes shall you consider, and you shall see the retribution of sinners” (Psalm 90, 5 and following). For when the just person speaks of the judgment of God, or when he speaks of what is just, and is full of true judgment, he does not speak with anger, nor with the affliction of a grieving soul, nor with sorrow, nor with any passion; but he speaks with truth, he speaks with equity, so that he does not lean towards affection, but rather weighs with a true examination what he speaks: for he judges what should be said, or not proclaimed. To what is that similar: The lips of the wise are bound by understanding (Prov. 15:7); because everything they say seems to correspond to true understanding, and by the prudence of their own understanding, they know what they ought to speak or be silent about: so that what should be kept silent is restrained by a certain confinement and binding of the lips; but in those things which ought to be spoken, the bonds of the lips are loosened. Therefore, he appropriately adds: The mouth of the righteous meditates wisdom; for through prolonged meditation, it will be able to have full judgment, which the righteous person will speak at the appropriate time; since he has seen face to face those things which are perfect. For now we cannot speak of those things which we do not comprehend. Nor did Paul presume to speak, who, caught up into paradise, heard secret things of heaven: but willing not to err in what he would say, he said: How incomprehensible are the judgments of God, and unsearchable his ways! (Rom. 11:33) But now, being freed from the body, perhaps he comprehends the kinds of unsearchable ways, and the judgments of God which are as deep as an abyss.
(Vers. 31.) Justice is still described and increased in form, as the Scripture says: The law of God is in his heart, and his steps will not be supplanted. In the heart of the righteous is the law of God. What law? Not written, but natural; for the law is not imposed on the just, but on the unjust. In his heart is the law, not superficially, as in the lips of the Jews; for it is believed in the heart for righteousness. He who believes, speaks; but he who speaks does not always believe. Finally, the people did not believe, of whom it is said: This people honors me with their lips; their heart, however, is far from me (Isaiah 29:13). Therefore, if the nations do what the law requires, they themselves are the law, knowing what they should follow or avoid. How much more faithful and just is the person who lives in the image and likeness of God, knowing how to discern the beautiful and the honorable, and using a legitimate guide of natural wisdom, so that its traces are not supplanted; just like Esau, whom his brother supplanted and made him fall due to his greed, and his traces were spilled unto death.
(Vers. 32, 33.) The more righteous someone is, the more their enemy plots against them; and therefore Scripture says: The sinner considers the just person and seeks to destroy them. But the Lord will not abandon them into their hands, nor will He condemn them when He judges. Therefore, when the sinner sees that the just person speaks in their mouth and meditates on wisdom in their heart, because they speak judgment on their tongue, because they keep the law of the Lord in their heart; the sinner tries to bring death of sin upon them, but the Lord protects them. And therefore we do not fear the snares of the sinner, for God is for us. If God is for us, who is against us? Therefore, God will not abandon his just one, nor will he condemn him when he is judged. For he is a true judge, and therefore justice cannot be in jeopardy. Hence, Aquila said: He will not condemn him when he is judged. Symmachus: He will not condemn when the just one is being judged.
But because the Seventy men have thus set forth: When he shall be judged; we think that he refers to something else, because it is written: For the Lord himself shall come to judgment (Isaiah 3:14). But to what judgment? Hear him saying: Against you, you alone have I sinned, and done evil in your sight; that you may be justified in your words, and overcome when you are judged (Psalm 50:6). Therefore the Lord offers himself to be heard, that he may be judged by himself, so that he may overcome even more. How have I treated you? Hear, my people, what have I done to you? Or how have I made you weary? Answer me! For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery (Micah 6:3-4). And elsewhere: I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins; but you, remember me, and let us argue our case together (Isaiah 43:25-26).
It is a serious judgement when the Lord demands to be judged by man. For what can you answer to Him, who has given you everything, who has placed you in charge of everything; who subjected the Egyptians to you, to whom you came as a guest, and afterwards drowned them in the sea. He destroyed your enemies and overthrew them, He created and established you, He redeemed you with His own blood; and yet you betray yourself to serve His enemy! He has forgiven you all your sins, and yet you commit even worse ones! He calls you, you will come to judgment, what will you answer to him, who unless he gives to you again, you are lost? And so, seeing this, the holy David, with this certain moral teaching, avoids judgment, and pleads for mercy, saying: And do not enter into judgment with your servant; for no one who lives will be justified in your sight (Ps. CXLII, 2). He confesses that he is placed in darkness like one dead of the world. Carefully, he said like one dead of the world, not dead; for those who die in Christ are not dead of the world; but those are dead of the world, who place their entire life that they lived in the world in destruction and death. And so, as if desperate for a remedy, he turns to saying: 'Hear me quickly, Lord; for my spirit has failed' (Ibid., 7). For such a judgment has failed in the offering presented to it, in which the truth should be examined rather than mercy conferred.
However, the Lord is so merciful that even though no one is justified in His sight while living (for even the most righteous person is not free from sin; or whose life is such that it is deemed worthy of God's likeness?), nevertheless, one must be made in the image and likeness of God, just as God, who is without sin, is so too the one who is in His image, must be without sin. Therefore, what punishment is worthy for someone who has lost such great grace of the Lord's work and the likeness of divine beauty? But because he is merciful, even if he subjects himself to judgment; he does not judge the just, but the unjust. He spares the just, as if they were sinning due to the fragility of their condition: he punishes the unjust, as if he detests the ungrateful. Furthermore, even if you have many works of justice, do not be impatient and arrogant, so that you do not consider the rewards of justice in this age to be demanded, or lament that any adversity has befallen you undeservedly. For as long as you live, the struggle is owed to you, not the reward.
(Verse 34.) Therefore, wait either for a helper or for the Lord as a reward: And keep His ways; that is, to wait and to keep the commandments of the one whom you think you need to wait for. Even if you are worn out, even if you are troubled, even if you lose strength due to sickness, still wait for the Lord, and your hope will not be in vain.