Sermon 11. Caph.
The eleventh letter is Caph, which in Latin interpretation means 'They are bent.' The sound of the interpretation itself teaches us what it means to be bent; for whoever is inclined towards the ground seems to be bent. Hence the Prophet says under this letter: 'They have bent me a little less on earth' (Inf. v. 87). But one who repents is bent; because he bends his neck while humbling himself before the Lord, and even more the inner neck, that is, the neck of the mind and heart. For regarding this neck it is said: Even if you bend your neck like a circle (Isaiah 58:5); for he who does not bend his heart, in vain does he bend his neck.
Jeremiah the prophet also teaches that humility is signified by this interpretation. For he says under this letter in Lamentations: 'For the Lord will not reject forever; for after he has caused grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men' (Lam. 3:31-33). Therefore, it is good to humble ourselves before the Lord, so that the Lord may have mercy. Furthermore, in the preceding verses under this letter, the same prophet Jeremiah, showing the lamentations and humility of the people, says: 'All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength' (Lam. 1:11). See, Lord, and behold, for she has become dishonored. Therefore, let anyone who seeks refreshment for his soul humble himself, so that he may more quickly obtain the mercy of the Lord.
3. (Vers. 81.) And therefore, like a bent soul and mind much more than body, did David begin, saying: My soul has failed in your salvation, and in your word I have hoped. Let an unusual speech not capture us, so that we judge the failure of bodily fatigue in this way. For he did not say only this: My soul has failed; but: My soul has failed in your salvation. Therefore, let us take an example of its use, if for example, we say: He has failed in her, it seems that with this word is expressed that he has completely passed into desire for the woman. And whatever it is that we strongly desire, unless we have a more mature effect of it, it seems to weary us with a long stretch. Love, impatient, knocking on the doors of prostitutes day and night, if the desires of drinking are delayed for a long time, it itself fails in expectation, while hoping: in which case it is not the end of love, but an increase. And whatever is desirable, if it does not happen to the one desiring, it fails into that, and as if departs from the soul itself who desires. However, if hope arises closer, it gives strength to the nearby hope: but if there is the absence of the beloved, precisely because one desires the absent, he suffers from the defection of his soul. Therefore, the further that which is desired is, the more the one who desires fails. That is why he fails; each person migrates with all their endeavors to what they love. He thinks about it, clings to it, repeats it, what he has received to be loved is poured into it with a certain defection of the soul; just as a mother awaits the presence of her son, just as Tobit's wife was awaiting her son who was on a journey, failing from desire, and placed in distress, and as if weakened (Tobit 10:3 and following). For what else do words signify than a certain defect? But the more the desire grows weary, the more love increases; and the longer the one who is longed for is absent, the more the desires of the one waiting burn with a greater force of love. The flesh weakens, but desire is nourished and grows.
Therefore, we can conclude from here what it is: My soul longs for your salvation. For indeed, the soul adheres to the Spirit and the soul is united with it, and they become one spirit. For whoever is united with the Lord is one spirit (I Corinthians 6:17). Therefore, the holy and God-fearing person desires nothing else but the salvation of God, which is Jesus Christ. They long for Him, they desire Him, they devote all their strength to Him, they cherish Him in the depths of their mind, they open themselves up to Him and pour themselves out to Him. And the only thing they fear is losing Him. Therefore, the more the soul exercises itself with a greater desire to cling to its healing source, the more it weakens. So, this weakness indeed brings a decrease in frailty, but also brings an increase in virtue. Finally, he himself says elsewhere: My soul longs for you (Psalm 62:2); and he adds below: My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me (ibid., 9). For whoever is thirsty, always desires to cling to the source, and seems to desire and touch nothing else but water, so that he may be nourished by that very affection. Therefore, receiving my soul with His right hand, and imparting His power, He makes it to be what it was not, so that it may say: Yet now I live not I, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20). But learn also from the example that this is an excessive desire. My soul, he says, desires and fails in the courts of the Lord (Psalm 83:3). Before desiring, he says, and as if pouring itself entirely into desire, it is dissolved by a long rope suspended defection. Therefore, Jeremiah teaches how the soul faints in the salvation of God. And it happened, he says, in my heart as a burning fire, flaming in my bones, and I am dissolved on all sides, and I cannot bear it. Therefore, inflamed with desire, David says: My soul has fainted in your salvation, and I have hoped in your word (Jer. XX, 9).
5. He rightly hoped, he said in the Word; for hope precedes fulfillment, and therefore there follows disappointment. But he hoped in the Word that was said to come, which can be understood as the Word of God. Or certainly he hoped in the Word, who believed in the heavenly Word, by whom the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is announced, or by whom his glory is declared. Therefore the Prophet, considering what he had read and perceiving that while he was present in the body, bound by the shackles of this life, he was far from the salvation of God, he longed for it, desired it, grew weak, and was completely dissolved in affection; so that he might become entirely what he desired. As he himself also says later: I pour out my prayer in his presence, I announce my trouble before him, in my weakness my spirit fails within me (Psalm 141:3-4). Indeed, his spirit fails, rather his own spirit fails from him, who denies himself in order to adhere to Christ. Thus his paths are known by the Lord; for they are not of the flesh, but of Christ's paths.
For the way to God for those who seek Him is through Christ. And therefore let us desire that eternal thing, that salvation of God: let us not desire money, which the most greedy desire; let us not desire the beauty of another man's wife; let us not be driven by the desire for ambition; let us not aim for worldly glory; let us not be occupied with the pursuits of deceitful scheming; let us not desire to deceive our neighbor with injustice; let us not, in short, be like foxes immersed in the inner depths of earthly pleasure, as if exiles from eternal things, and being cast down from the presumption of that heavenly hope. Therefore, let our failing soul raise itself up with all its strength, so that it may cling to the saving God, who is Christ the Lord Jesus, which in interpretation is called the salvation of the Lord. For He Himself is salvation, truth, power, and wisdom. Therefore, whoever fails himself in order to adhere to virtue, loses what is his own and receives what is eternal.
7. (Vers. 82.) It follows: My eyes have failed for your word, saying: When will you comfort me? Above, it is practical, here it is theoretical: there the soul fails in salvation, because it desires Him whose Passion is preserved; here the eyes fail in the word of the Lord of the prophets. And let us see whether, just as there the soul adheres to Christ and fails into one spirit, and becomes one spirit, so here the eyes may fail, so that the mind may become one. For these are the eyes of the mind, namely the eyes of the inner man, not the eyes that function by ministry of sight. For there is an eye and a mind of the flesh: but that eye is blind, which does not see things that are divine, and which is vainly puffed up by the mind of the flesh. And there is another eye, the sense of Christ, by which the Church sees Christ; as He Himself says to His Bride: Thou hast wounded our hearts with one of thine eyes. Christ is rightly seen with one eye; because He is not seen with the fleshly eye: or because the Church, having two eyes, the moral and the mystical, sees more of Christ with the eye of faith. For the mystic eye is sharper, the moral sweeter.
And perhaps these are the eyes with which Paul saw the eternal, where he began to not see earthly things. Finally, he who did not see Christ before he lost his sight, saw him after he lost the sight of his eyes. For he saw the one he said: Who are you, Lord? (Acts 9:5). Surely he saw Christ, whom he also acknowledged as Lord. And below: Lord, he said, what do you want me to do? (Ibid., 6) Did he not see him whose command he awaited? Therefore, with what eyes did Paul begin to see more, except those which he himself showed us, saying: I will pray with the spirit, I will pray also with the mind (I Cor. XIV, 15)? Finally, so that you may know that he saw while praying: It happened, he said, when I returned to Jerusalem, while I was praying in the temple, I had a trance, and I saw him saying to me: Hurry, and leave Jerusalem quickly; for they will not receive your testimony about me (Act. XXII, 17 and 18). Therefore, these eyes fail in the word of God, and say: When will you comfort me? These individuals were called prophets with these eyes; because through revelation they could mentally perceive things that were hidden.
9. What is it to lose sight? Let us speak about physical ones, so that we may understand the spiritual ones. When we desire someone and hope that they will come, do we not direct our eyes to where we hope they will come from? Therefore, being content with long daily expectation, we lose sight. Thus, Anna, looking around on the road, anxiously searched for the arrival of her son with her guards (Tob. X, 7). Thus, the prophet David, while running from battle, eagerly desired to inquire about his son's well-being after placing lookout guards in the tower (II Reg. XVIII, 24). So the wife of tender age from the shore lookout, with unwearied expectation, awaits the arrival of her husband; so that whenever she sees any ship, she may think that her husband is sailing there, and she fears that another may anticipate the pleasure of seeing her beloved, and she may not be able to be the first to say: I see you, my husband; just as Anna said to her son: I see you, my son, from now on I will happily die. Therefore, just as a woman who desires to present herself to an approaching man, sets aside all domestic tasks, and reads the footprints of the traveler or the paths that he takes: so the Prophet, stripped of secular cares, directed the gaze of his inner eyes to the word of God, remaining vigilant until he lost himself. He subjected his body to service, and instructed his soul in the patience of humility, like a spider's decaying web. For he longed for the fountains of water like a deer, and he thirsted for his Lord God, desiring to see His presence and to appear before the face of God. And with excessive longing and fierce desire, he presumed himself more suitable for obtaining the grace of prophecy for those things that he sought from the Lord. And so let us turn our hearts, that we may understand the sequence of the Scriptures, and let us ask the word to come to us from the Lord, and let understanding be given. If anyone from afar perceives the Word of God with the gaze of the mind, not yet clear and distinct, he sees the ship of the Word approaching the soul as it were with certain inner eyes. But the more clearly he begins to see, the more he hastens to approach like a port of truth, so that he may be nearest to embarking.
10. Therefore, the eyes of the prophets failed in the word of God, saying: When will you console me? If these eyes are symbolic, with which we see and perceive, they should have said: When will you console us; that is, not singularly, but plurally? But because the eye of the mind and the eye of the flesh become one eye, and then a man is supported by consolation when the flesh and the mind do not desire different things, but desire one thing, they are therefore attentive to him who says: I and the Father are one (John 10:30), these also confess that their eyes are one; because they perform one and the same desire and function.
Therefore, the Prophet was lacking in words. However, we consider ourselves idle if we seem to only study with words, and we value more those who work than those who exercise the study of understanding divinity. For many people say: Behold the man and his works. As if someone who studies with words does not work; when this work is greater than the others. For if justice is a work, if temperance is a work, if courage is a work, certainly wisdom is also a work; for these four principal virtues are considered. For if Christ works according to what is just, he certainly works according to what is the Word. And he worked when he was in the beginning with the Father. Finally, through him all things were made (John 1:3), so that you may know that he is the operator of all things, and our work is Christ Jesus. Indeed, as he is the Word, the word is a great work for those who seek it. Therefore, while Martha hurried about her ministry, but Mary listened to the word of the Lord; she deserved to be preferred to what she was serving because of what she heard. For Martha said to Him: Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Speak therefore to her, that she may help me. And the Lord answering, said to her: Martha, Martha . . . Mary has chosen the better part, which shall not be taken away from her (Luke 10:40-42). Thus, it is determined by divine authority that knowing the word is a greater work than serving.
12. But perhaps someone may say that it is said by the Apostle: For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power (I Cor. IV, 20). I do not deny that it is written, but in what word, you may understand; namely, the word which the Spirit has poured forth, which the sermon cannot benefit those who hear, which is a spirit and virtue without display, this word Paul does not regard as worthy of recognition; for he wishes rather to recognize the virtue of the word. Finally, the Apostle did not want his word to be such that it came in weakness, to make others stronger: in fear and trembling; that those who fear would fear nothing except the Lord Jesus; trembling they would keep His peace and tranquility. Listen, therefore, to what kind of discourse the Apostle had. And he said, 'My discourse and preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power' (1 Corinthians 2:4); because faith is not established in the eloquence of worldly wisdom, but in the power of God. Therefore, there is power in the discourse of the saints, but in that worldly and philosophical discourse, there is vanity. Moreover, let that Prophet teach you that there is power in the discourse of the saints, who says, 'The Lord will give His word to those who preach the Gospel with great power' (Psalm 68:11); that is, so that they may preach the Gospel with great power. Therefore it is proven that there is power in the preaching of the Gospel: and the preaching of the Gospel is the speech of the saints: so there is no doubt that there is power in holy speech.
13. (Vers. 83.) The third verse follows: Since I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, I have not forgotten your justifications. This voice, the voice of the just, is the one who mortifies his body; for rightly is that person called just, who is found stripped, not naked: for the wineskin is made from the remains of a dead animal. Therefore, let us die to sin, so that we may live to God. Having been filled with the joy of the spirit, and the sweetness of gladness, we shall be spiritual remains, free from bodily weakness, and reserving for ourselves the grace of divine mysteries poured into the whole of our mind. Regarding these wineskins, it is said that new wine is put into new wineskins (Matt. IX, 17), those who want to preserve both the body and grace. Therefore, let not your wineskin leak, let it not be cracked, let it not grow old with earthly decay; lest new wine break the old wineskins, by which the wineskins are torn, grace is poured out. Let not again, by the heat of injustice and excessive force, they dry up like the sun, but let the desires of the burning hearts be tempered by a certain snowy coldness. The heat of desire is cooled, and restrained by the frost of self-control and fasting, and is elevated by morning prayer; for just as dew descends upon our earth, so God's words descend, like rain upon grass, and like snow upon hay. This snow does not harm our vessel of goodness, this snow that shines with the divine splendor of eloquence. This snow cools, it does not burn; it nourishes the seeds, it does not destroy them. This snow is the commandment of self-control, which causes bodily heat to cool, and extinguishes all inner ardor of the flesh. And perhaps for this reason, when he demonstrated the glory of his resurrection, his clothing was as white as snow: so that not only he himself could be considered free from the contamination of sin, but also whoever is resurrected, with their desires for marriage frozen, would appear to rise cold. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but will be like the angels of God in heaven. Therefore, the good vessels are cold, that is, bound by the chill of frost, and not dissolved by the heat of desire.
14. Moreover, though this body is called a vessel in many places, you can also understand from this that when Adam and Eve laid aside the heavenly image that they had previously borne, and put on the image of the earthly man, they were clothed with tunics made of skin, because they had turned their spiritual bodies into physical ones by committing sin (Gen. 3:21). Nor is it absurd to understand it when David says that he was made like a vessel in an icy storm, because even though he was placed in the harshness of the frost, he still mortified his body so that he would not feel the severity of that winter, which the Savior says will be burdensome for those fleeing from it (Matt. 24:20). For just as skin does not feel cold like ice, because it is the skin of a dead animal; so the dead prophet, dead to sin, could not feel the cold of sin: or certainly that it be not broken by necessities, nor should the flesh resist the mind; but with a gentle motion, it should bend itself to the commands of the soul, and in this icy world it should not wither away: or because we are the body of affliction, and we should always bear the death of the Lord Jesus in our body. This is the skin that disciplines its own body, not like that fat and obese people who sat to eat and drink, and then rose up to play (Exod. XXXII, 6). Here is the vessel that inebriates not with wine, but with spirit: in which there is no bitterness of grapes, no rage of dragons, no fury of asps, but a cup inebriating how splendid it is! Therefore David glories in this, because he has become like a vessel in freezing, not sensing the operation of sin.
15. And a sin is rightly compared to a gelicidium. For just as a gelicidium is useless for any purpose, for any operation; so guilt is of no benefit to anyone, to no operation: and therefore just as a gelicidium must be avoided, so that it does not harm and burn. Therefore, it is necessary for this vessel to be filled, not empty, filled with the Spirit, filled with justifications; so that I may confess my sins myself, so that I may restrain the lust of my flesh; for we must die to the world, in order to live for God. But if we live according to the flesh, death is certainly the wisdom of the flesh: we cannot live for God; because this fleshly wisdom is hostile to God, and secular life.
16. (Verse 84.) The fourth verse follows: How many are the days of your servant? When will you provide judgement for me against those who pursue me? It can be understood as follows: How many are the days of your servant, as if to say: How long is human life, how much time, how much space? Why is envy directed at such a short life; so that we may enjoy the peaceful course of this age? Why are so many snares set against us in such a short span of time by those who pursue us? Let judgement now be at hand, in which the punishment of the treacherous takes place, in which the persecutors are rewarded with worthy recompense for their impiety. And so, how long will they be able to insult us, how long will they be able to disturb us, those who seek to afflict us in various ways? There will be no late end; for the Prophet, estimating not years but days, subtracts the swiftness of this life, saying: How many are the days of your servant? And he spoke well of the days, so that he would not only pass the annual delays in prophetic vision, but also reveal the shining course of this life with the light of virtues. And rightfully secure, he says: When will you make judgment for me against those who persecute me? You, he says, will make judgment against those who persecute me, not give judgment against me as the one being persecuted; for indeed the wicked do not rise up in judgment. But give judgment for me, he says; so that when you reward innocence, you promote faith, you crown mercy, the impious persecutors may be judged by the rewards of prophetic merits.
17. It is not absurd either that, because the days are short and few of this life, the Lord does not delay His grace around His Prophet any longer, but He Himself executes judgement upon the persecutors. For here also is judgement upon the persecutors, since whoever does not believe in Christ is already judged. And this is the judgement that the Lord Jesus gave to His servants, saying: 'You shall have power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy' (Luke 10:19). And a true judgment, in which the enemy is tormented, as he himself confessed saying: Why ... have you come before the time to torment us? (Matthew VIII, 29) ?
Therefore, the Prophet founded on the stability of virtues demands this, that not a man, but he himself who claimed a place for himself in man, be subject to him. And so the Apostle thought that he deserved condemnation for the sin of man, to be subjected, of whom he says: God will crush Satan under your feet shortly (Rom. XVI, 20). Therefore, the persecutor seeks judgment to be passed on him, so that the adversary may be crushed by the footsteps of the prophetic faith, and the Prophet may crush him like dust: and being established in the warfare of his body, although the days of life are short; he may still obtain triumph over the adversary, so that the man, reformed to his former grace, whom he previously held bound by the chains of his sins, and was wearied by the heat of burning desire, may groan for freedom and feel his power. Therefore, the adversary is subject according to the Lord's judgment. For indeed, the Lord Jesus, coming into this world through the birth of the Virgin, subjected all contrary powers to our souls, so that they may be crushed by your faith, your word, your conduct, and your works. Therefore, if you do not crush the adversary, it is your fault, for you do not use the power that has been given to you. It is up to us, therefore, to either subject the adversary or conquer it. For if our actions displease, the adversary begins to be proud, but if we adhere to good works, let us pursue the virtues of chastity, justice, and self-control, trampling upon the serpent and the scorpion. For we trample him under the feet of chastity; we crush the scorpion, so that it cannot escape: we tread in the footsteps of continence, modesty, and justice. Therefore, we can have a perpetual triumph over our adversaries even in this short life.
19. (Verse 85.) Here follows the fifth verse: The unjust ones have told me of their exercises, but not according to your law, O Lord. It is well for judgment to be made against those who persecute, who have not only hindered the works of the just, but also attempted to overthrow faith with unnecessary narration. Indeed, he says that they have told him naenias, which means, unnecessary talk. These unnecessary narrators, like swallows, corrupt the sweetness of discussion with the continuation of their natural loquacity, as Aristotle's opinion is.
Therefore, the heretic speaks unnecessarily, who does not speak the truth, who does not speak according to the law. But he who is founded in the law, knows how to discern falsehood from truth; with spiritual erudition of doctrine, to separate heretical teachings from the dogmas of the Gospel. Therefore, in order that many may not be deceived, the sinner is commanded by the Lord to be silent: For God said to the sinner: Why do you recount my justices (Ps. XLIX, 17)? Therefore, let perfidy be silent, which does not know how to hold the path of truth, which does not keep the commandments of God. For why do sinners take the Gospel of truth into their mouths, in whose mouths there is no truth? But all the precepts of God are truth, and Christ is the truth. Therefore, Christ is not in the disputes of the deceitful, who says to the deceitful: Your mouth has abounded with wickedness, and your tongue has woven deceit ; for the tongue that desires to build a lie surely weaves deceit with what is asserted. But this is of such a kind, and it goes together with theft. There are indeed many thieves who do not steal and rob the word of God for their own benefit, but for deception; and they twist a certain inheritance of heavenly Scriptures in their thefts, collecting adulterated gains for themselves, seeking deceit more than truth. But these are the ones who mix water with wine, like the worst innkeepers, corrupting the word of God and uttering whatever they have expressed with a treacherous and as if drunken mouth; and therefore they speak contrary to the law. Where he well seeks refuge and reproaches them, knowing what he has received from the prescription of the law.
21. (Vers. 86.) Therefore, he rightly says in the following verse: All your precepts are truth; unjustly they persecuted me, help me. Just as a good soldier does not shun wars, nor does a fighter accustomed to serious battles fear the conflict; but faithfully and wisely he prays for divine assistance, and earnestly seeks faithful supports for his pious devotion. Therefore, he does not ask for persecutions to cease; but in persecutions he asks to be aided. For he knew that all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. So he prefers to endure persecutions so that he can live a godly life in Christ. And he mentioned not only one persecution, but many persecutions, and did not specify the names of the persecutors; for there are many persecutors, not only those we can see, but also those we cannot see. Spiritual wickedness persecutes, heretics persecute, Jews persecute, Gentiles persecute. Therefore, all those who want to live a pious life are under persecutors, because where there are many persecutors, there is no time for someone striving to live piously. And perhaps when we do not suffer persecutions, we are regarded as condemned, because we do not want to live piously in Christ. For certainly, since it is a definite statement that all those who want to live a pious life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecutions (II Tim. III, 12), it seems that the one who does not suffer persecutions is forsaken, because they do not have a pious intention in Christ; for persecutions indeed follow a devoted and faithful purpose. If there are no contests, I fear that one who desires to compete may be seen as lacking. All your precepts are truth, he said (John 15:20). What precepts other than these: If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you? David heard these precepts, even though he lived before the mystery of the Incarnation, in his spirit: and as a disciple of Christ, he did not withdraw himself from sufferings, but offered himself in contests. He knew that this was fruitful for his glory, safe for the protection of his salvation, so that the righteousness of the righteous could be confirmed through frequent exercises. For faith, when unpracticed, quickly weakens, and idleness is tried by frequent inconveniences. Crafty, the lurking enemy breaks through relaxed watchfulness: but external deceit, inured to war, prepares the man, and leads him to the glorious prize of victory. Therefore, peace is the fuel for the corruption of faith.
How beautifully the times of persecution advanced for us. His mind was fixed like a beggar on intimate feelings towards God: he clung to Him, and his praying soul felt no distracting thoughts; his prayer poured forth from the depths of his being, and his conversation with the Lord became intertwined; his daily meditation had already acquired contempt for danger, and he had embraced the practice of facing death. Those peaceful times, which had not been disturbed by war, test the exercises we have lost. Therefore, dangers and the leisure of peace. In peace, more persecutions began to occur. There was no flatterer at the time of persecution, who would attempt to deceive with cunning flattery. The mind was not free to be dissolved by the pleasure of the body, and to admit the passions that are accustomed to be aroused by favorable circumstances. Therefore, when the Apostles were beaten, imprisoned, they rejoiced because by those injuries they were gaining the reward of eternal glory, who were worthy to endure injuries for the sake of Christ (Acts 5:41). They did not care about wealth, they were not interested in power and honors, nor in achieving superiority, which often unsettles even the righteous; but rather, they believed that one should be considered superior if they were beaten with more lashes.
23. Therefore, David rightly sought opportunities to triumph, and did not fear the opportunity to compete for the education of devotion, as he knew that the persecutions of the wicked lead to the growth of virtue. For he did not say, 'Because I suffer persecutions, help me,' but rather, 'They have unjustly persecuted me, help me.' For one can indeed suffer persecutions, but not unjustly; for there is also a just persecution, if we hate the obscene, if we are hostile to the unjust, if we want to oppress the wicked in order to prevent them from harming many, if we strip the greedy of the gains of their deceit, if we despise the insolence of the proud. But whoever suffers persecution for faith, for justice, for chastity, he says well: 'They have persecuted me unjustly, help me.'
24. (Verse 87.) The seventh verse follows: The wicked have consumed me on earth: but I have not forsaken your commandments. He did not seek in vain divine assistance, who knew that he had a strong battle to fight, many battles were prepared for him, sometimes against spiritual wickedness in high places, sometimes against the heat of his blood, and the countless allurements of this body, by the varied bonds of which, and by long and weary struggles, he would have fallen in shameful defeat, had he not held fast to the root of faith. Let us learn how to guard against the enemy we carry within ourselves, a formidable enemy that is the misuse of our own bodies. It is inflamed by wine, ignited by desire, kindled by the beauty of a passing woman, nourished by hope, consumed by despair, consumed by allurements, not evaporated by their effect, troubled by fear, broken by dread, weakened by luxury, dissolved by sensuality, afflicted by toil, fatigued by anxiety, worn out by passion. Are you surprised if, among so many opposing forces of passions, even a just person can hardly hold their ground, when we are unequal even in the individual battles? Who is not conquered by lust alone, who is not subdued by greed, who is not shaken by fear, who is not weakened by indulgence, who is not softened by debauchery, who is not undermined by drunkenness?