124. Consider the birds of the sky, he says (Matth. VI, 26). Truly a great and fitting example for us to follow in faith. For even though the birds of the sky do not engage in the cultivation of crops, nor do they have any yield from the abundance of harvests, yet the unfailing divine providence provides them with sustenance. It is indeed true that our greed may appear as the cause of our poverty. For while these birds enjoy an abundance of unlabored food, because they do not know how to claim exclusive dominion over the common fruits as their own nourishment, we have lost the common provisions by asserting our own exclusive claims. For there is nothing that is truly our own where there is nothing everlasting, and there is no certain abundance where there is uncertain outcome. For why should you value your riches, when God wanted you to share even your food with other creatures? The birds of the sky do not claim anything special for themselves, and therefore they do not know how to be in need of food; because they do not know how to envy others.
(Vers. 27, 28.)
(Verse 27, 28.) Consider how the lilies grow. And below: If God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!
125. Indeed, it is a bonus and moral discourse, which contributes to the faith of divine mercy, either literally, because it relates to the stature of our body (verse 25), or spiritually, because without God's favor, we can add nothing beyond the measure of our stature. The discourse of the Lord, using the comparison of flowers and grass, is especially persuasive. For what could be more moral for persuasion than to see that even irrational things are adorned by God's providence, so that they have no need for usefulness or ornamentation? Much more so, you should believe that a rational person, if he puts all his use in God and never desires to change his faith, will never be in need; precisely because he presumes on divine favor.
126. However, let us consider these things more deeply; for it does not seem idle that a flower is given to a man, or certainly that it is preferred to men in Solomon, who deserved so much that he both built the temple for God in its appearance and represented the Church of Christ in its mystery; it does not seem foreign that we think the glory of the heavenly angels is expressed through the brightness of color, who are truly the flowers of this world; for the world is adorned by their brightness and they exhale the good fragrance of sanctification. Supported by the protection of which we can say: we are the sweet fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved (2 Cor. 2:15); who, hindered by no anxiety, exercised by no use of labor, are adorned with the grace of divine generosity in themselves and bestowed upon by the heavenly gift. From whence Solomon is rightly adorned with his own glory here, and elsewhere is shown covered (Matt. 6:29), because he clothed the weakness of his bodily nature, as it were, with the virtue of the mind and the glory of his works. But angels, whose nature is more divine and devoid of physical injury, rightly, though they are superior to even the greatest of men, are surpassed in consideration of our injuries. Therefore, since through resurrection humans will be like angels in heaven, we also, by the example of the glory of the angels, hope for an increase in heavenly glory which the Lord has also granted to them, until this mortal being is swallowed up by life. For it is necessary for this corruptible to put on incorruption, and for this mortal to put on immortality (I Cor. XV, 53).
127. Most people also consider this comparison, based on the nature and use of the proposed seed, more suitable; because lilies do not require the cultivation of any annual use, nor does the labor of farmers return solicitous towards the generation of this flower, as it does towards the yield of other fruits. For in any droughts, all that which nourishes into a flower, by a certain generative power from itself and in itself, is always animated; so when you see the stems of the young leaves withered, the nature of the flower still flourishes; for its greenness is hidden, not lost. But when spring has been enticed by its charms, the attire of the blossoming plant, the hair of the flower, resumes its adornment of lilies. As for the place now, since we recall that it has been sufficiently discussed elsewhere, it is enough to have briefly touched upon it; lest we repeat ourselves.
It must also be noted that lilies are not generated in the roughness of mountains and in the untamedness of forests, but in the pleasantness of gardens. For there are certain gardens of various fruitful virtues, according to what is written: A closed garden, my sister, my bride, a closed garden, a sealed fountain (Song of Solomon 4:12); because where there is integrity, where there is chastity, where there is piety, where there is faithful secrecy of secrets, where there is the brightness of angels, there the violets of confessors, the lilies of virgins, the roses of martyrs are. And it is not incongruous for anyone to compare angels to lilies, since Christ himself has mentioned the lily, saying: 'I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valley' (Song of Songs 2:1). And it is fitting that Christ is compared to a lily; for where there is the blood of martyrs, there is Christ, who is a sublime, immaculate, harmless flower; in him, the roughness of thorns does not offend, but the surrounding grace shines forth. For the thorns are like the roses, because they are the torments of the martyrs. Unoffended divinity has no thorns, which it has not felt the torments.
129. Therefore, if lilies or angels are clothed with glory surpassing that of humans, we must not despair of God's mercy in us, to whom the Lord promises a similar appearance of angels through the grace of resurrection (Matt. 22:30). In this passage, it also seems to address that question, which even the Apostle did not overlook; for the peoples of this world inquire how the dead rise again and with what kind of body they come (1 Cor. 15:35).
130. (Verse 31.) For when he says, Seek the kingdom of God: and all these things shall be added unto you; he shows that grace will not be lacking to the faithful, neither in the present nor in the future, if only those who desire divine things do not seek after earthly things. For it is inappropriate for men to be concerned with food, who are soldiers for the kingdom. The king knows how to provide for, nourish, and clothe his household; and therefore he said: Cast your care upon God, and he himself will nourish you (Psalm 54:23).
(Vers. 49, 50.)
(Verse 49, 50.) I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and what do I desire, if not that it be already kindled? I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished?
In the past, he wanted us to stay awake, expecting at all times the coming of the Lord and Savior; lest while someone relaxes and neglects, delaying their works from day to day, on the day of final judgment, or prevented by their own death, they lose the merit of their commendation. And indeed, this general form of commandment applies to all; but the following series of examples seems to be proposed to stewards, that is, to priests; so that they may know that they will have to bear a heavy punishment in the future if, focused on worldly delights, they neglect to govern the household of the Lord and the people entrusted to them.
But because there is little progress and little merit, and the fear of punishment is not enough to turn us away from error, and because the prerogative of charity and love is greater, the Lord sharpens our desire to earn his grace, and inflames us with the desire to acquire divinity, saying: I have come to cast fire upon the earth. Not an all-consuming fire, but the author of goodwill, who improves the golden vessels of the Lord's house and consumes the hay and straw, and burns away all the worldly pleasures that have been gathered, and burns away the perishable work of the flesh. That divine fire, which burned within the bones of the prophets, as the holy Jeremiah says: For he has become like a burning fire, blazing within my bones (Jeremiah 2:9). For indeed the fire of the Lord, of which it is said: The fire shall burn before him (Psalm 96:3). And the Lord himself is the same fire, as he himself said: I am a burning fire, and I do not consume (Exodus 3). For the fire of the Lord is eternal light. By this fire those lamps are lit, of which it was said above: Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning. And therefore because the night is the day of this life, a lamp is necessary. Amazon and Cleophas also testify that this fire was sent by the Lord, saying: Was not our heart burning within us as he opened to us the Scriptures? (Luke 24:32) Clearly, therefore, they have taught what the operation of this fire is, which illuminates the secrets of the heart. Perhaps, for this reason, the Lord is coming in fire, so that at the time of the resurrection he may consume all vices, fulfill the desires of each person in his sight, and ignite the light of merits and mysteries.
So great, therefore, is the Lord's desire to inspire devotion in us, to perfect us, and to demonstrate His passion for us, that even though He had nothing in Himself to grieve over, He was nonetheless afflicted by our sorrows and displayed sorrow at the time of His death, which He did not take on out of fear of His own death, but out of the delay of our redemption, as it is written: 'How long will I be anguished until it is accomplished?' Certainly, whoever is striving for perfection, is secure in perfection. And elsewhere he says: My soul is sorrowful, even unto death (Matth. XXVI, 38). Not because of death, but unto death the Lord is sorrowful; because the condition of bodily feelings affects him, not the fear of death. For he who took on a body, had to undergo all things that are of the body; to hunger, to thirst, to be angry, to be saddened: but divinity does not know how to be changed by these feelings. At the same time it shows that in the struggle of suffering, the death of the body is the release from anxiety, not an accumulation of pain.
(Vers. 51-53.)
(Verse 51-53). Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division. For from now on, there will be five divided in one household, three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.
134. Although in nearly all Evangelical places the spiritual intellect operates; nevertheless, for the present time, the series of senses must be moderated so as not to offend anyone with the harshness of naked exposition, especially since the sacred religion invites even the exiles of faith to reverence with moral disciplines and gentle examples of piety, kindly dissolving the hard superstitions with the meekness of its preceding discipline of faith, and compelling minds that are subject to errors to believe in faith, which it could soothe with piety. For indeed, since the lofty things of faith are not comprehended by weak minds, they are esteemed through the precepts, and the venerable things are considered; so that the just may testify about the just, and the holy about the holy, by the authority of their own goods.
135. Therefore, we will think now that the Lord, who embraced both reverence for divinity and the grace of piety, said: You shall love the Lord your God... and you shall love your neighbor (Luke 10:27); has it been changed so that we believe it commands the abolition of the names of relationships, the collision of feelings of piety, and the dissension of beloved family members? And how is He our peace who made both one (Ephesians 2:14)? How can he say, 'My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you' (John 14:27), if he comes to separate parents from children, and children from parents, to destroy the bond of family? How cursed is the one who does not honor their father (Deuteronomy 27:16), the one who abandons their religious devotion?
136. But if we consider that the first cause of religion is piety, we must also evaluate this question in the same way; for it is necessary to prioritize divine matters over human matters. For if duty must be shown to parents, how much more to the author of parents, to whom you also owe gratitude for your parents! Or if they do not acknowledge a parent at all, how can you acknowledge one? Therefore, it does not say that debts must be renounced, but that God must be preferred above all. Finally, you have in another book: Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me (Matt. X, 37). You are not forbidden to love your parents, but you are instructed to prefer them to God; for they are the pledges of the Lord's blessings: and no one should love the gift he has received more than God from whom the gift was received. Therefore, even according to the literal meaning, the religious explanation is not lacking for those who understand it piously; however, there is a deeper meaning which we should consider because He added:
(Ibid.) There will be five divided into one group in the house, three into two, and two into three.
137. For who are the five, when it appears that there is subjection of six persons, of father and son, mother and daughter, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law? Although the same mother that can be called mother-in-law, since she is the mother of the son, is the mother-in-law of his wife; so that according to the letter of the number, the reason may not be absurd, and it may clearly be shown that the bond of faith is not connected to nature, in which they are obligated by the duty of piety, yet they are free by faith.
138. It does not seem inappropriate either if we give the same meaning through a mystical interpretation. One house, one man. For each house is either of God or of the devil. Therefore, a spiritual house is a spiritual man, as we have in the Epistle of Peter: 'And you are being built up as living stones, a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood' (I Peter 2:5). In this house, two are divided into three, and three into two. We often read of two, the soul and the body (Matthew 18:19). If two come together on earth, both accomplish one. And elsewhere: I punish my body and subject it to servitude (I Cor. IX, 27). One thing is what serves, another is what it is subjected to.
139. If we have known two, we may know three also: which is easy to understand from those two. For there are three souls in the body: one rational, another concupiscible, a third irascible, that is, the reasoning, desiring, and angry. Therefore, not two into two: but two into three, and three into two are divided; for by the coming of Christ, man who was irrational became rational. Before, we were like beasts that do not have reason, we were carnal, we were earthly according to that saying: You are dust, and to dust you shall return (Gen. III, 19). The Son of God came, he sent his Spirit into our hearts; we have become spiritual children.
140. We can say that in this house there are five others, that is, smell, touch, taste, sight, hearing. Therefore, if we separate sight and hearing from the bodily pleasures that are generated by taste, touch, and smell, according to what we hear or read, we divide two into three, because the mind's disposition to vices is not captured by allurements, but is led away from the pleasures by the emulation of virtue. And so that there is not one consent of all, which would precipitate into error, but desires of the heart and obligations of virtue separate themselves by dividing. But if we receive five bodily senses, the defects of the body and sins are already separate. And perhaps there are five whom that wealthy and luxurious brother in the Gospel calls his brothers (Luke 16:28), who is described as tormented in hell, to whom he begs to be sent to know in this world the pleasures that must be renounced, so that they can have rest after the age, through the pursuit of virtue.
141. They may also be understood as the flesh and soul, separated from the odor, touch, and taste of indulgence, while residing in one house, dividing themselves against opposing vices, subjecting the flesh and soul to the Law of God, and removing them from the law of sin. Although their disagreement, due to the transgression of the first man, has converted into their nature so that they would not in any way agree with equal efforts towards virtue, yet through the cross of the Lord and Savior, they agreed in harmony after the enmities, as well as the law of commandments, were set aside. After Christ, our peace, descended from heaven, He made both one and broke down the middle wall of the barrier, abolishing enmities in His flesh by the law of commandments in doctrines, so that He might create peace, making both into one new man and reconciling both in one body to God (Ephesians 2:14-16). Who is each, if not one inside, the other outside? One looks at the strength of the soul, the other refers to the sensation of the body; although, by the agreement of separable affections, they harmonize, since the flesh is subject to the better, it obeys salutary commands: not because the soul descends into matter by the subtlety of its nature, but because, having cast aside pleasures, cleansed of every stain of vices, it walks the celestial path of obedience with an affection: no longer struggling against the law of the mind as before, but liberated by the law of the mind and the spirit of life from the law of sin; so that the flesh becomes an appendix to the soul, no longer the temptress of vices, but a certain rival and as though attendant to virtue.