45. (Verse 96.) The eighth verse follows: I have seen the end of all perfection; your command is exceeding broad. We cannot express the full force of the Greek language in all things; the power and pomp of language is usually greater in Greek. Τέλος is said in Greek, which we translate as both 'end' and 'consummation'; but τέλος itself is the end of that consummation, just as Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Rom. X, IV). You have written: Behold, I am with you . . . . . even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). The end of the age, therefore, is the end of the world; and Christ is the end of all things. There are many consummations. There is a consummation when there is a resurrection unto salvation. The completed work is also called a perfect work. Complete wickedness is called consummated, that is, full, to which nothing is lacking for the pursuit and art of harming. There is a consummation of man, and many consummations, until he reaches perfection.
46. Therefore, we read both of the consummation of the age and of the end. Concerning the consummation of the age, we have set forth an example above, which is followed by the resurrection: For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive (I Cor. XV, 22). After the resurrection comes the consummation: Each in his own order; Christ the firstfruits, then those who are Christ's, who have believed in his coming; then the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he has abolished every principality and power (Ibid., 23 and 24). Therefore, the end follows the consummation of the age according to the Apostle. Hence, it is inferred that the end follows every consummation.
47. The world is placed in the evil, as John said (1 John 5:19): therefore the world is in evil, a world full of sin. The world had perfected its malice, just as Saul had perfected his, whose son Jonathan, seeing his malice perfected in the prophet David, told him to avoid and flee (1 Samuel 20:38). Therefore, this is the consummation of evil, the consummation of sins. The Lamb of God has come, who has taken away the sin of the world, who is Christ Jesus, the end of the Law, the beginning and the end, and the remission of sins. The Prophet saw the end of this consummation in the spirit, which would abolish the error of the age: he saw that by his blood, the sins of all would be cleansed. Therefore, he rightly said: I have seen the end of all consummation; that is to say, I have seen the one who forgives consummated adultery, I have seen the one who forgives consummated luxury and debauchery, the one who forgives consummated cruelty and savagery, and ultimately, the one who forgives all wickedness and grants forgiveness through his cross.
48. There is also consummate virtue, consummate wisdom, consummate justice, but it has an end. The end of all virtues is Christ, who is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Rom. X, 4). Do you see that faith is the end? Well then, he says: I have seen the end of every perfection.
49. Now that we have recognized the end of consummation, let us acknowledge what it is: Your command is broad and expansive (Matthew VII, 14). We read that the gate through which those who attain the fruit of eternal life enter is narrow. True virtue and the enduring of trials are rare. There are many who pursue the spacious path of this world, who say: The way that leads to the Lord is narrow and constricting for us, we are wearied by it, let us abandon it. How, therefore, does the Prophet say that the commandment of God is broad and very broad? Because in narrow paths a broad commandment is necessary. Finally, the Prophet himself says: In my distress, you have enlarged me (Psalm 4:2). And again: In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard me in a broad place (Psalm 118:5).
50. This breadth of heavenly commands enlarged the heart of the Prophet and the Apostles. Finally, he himself said: Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged (2 Cor. 6:11). By dispensing heavenly commands, he had enlarged his heart, and what the treachery of persecution had previously constricted, the grace of Christ had expanded. And by what reason was the command broad? So that we may not be constrained by the narrowness of the commands. Hence he says: Do not be constricted in us (ibid., 12). If this is the case for Paul, how much more so for Christ, who opened what was closed? Therefore, He says: I do not want my people to be restricted in me. In the narrow path of virtues, the breadth of my commandment must be a source of comfort for those who walk it; so that no one may fail or be worn down.
51. Therefore, let us walk in the commandment of God, for it is wide enough. For the commandment of wisdom is wide, which is sung at the end, but acts confidently in the streets; for πλατεῖα is the Greek word, which in Latin is called latitudo. Let us therefore widen our heart, so that we may receive the power of the Apostolic sentence, which says: Accept us (II Cor. VII, 2). Let us therefore receive his words into our heart: let us put on the bowels of mercy, kindness, humility, patience. O man, how broad you are, if you expand the bosom of your mind to the greatness of celestial precepts! How broad is the commandment of charity! Love, he says, your enemies (Matt. V, 44). He certainly includes everyone in the affection of charity, who does not exclude enemies. For who seems to be excluded, when an enemy is received? Hence the Apostle says, If possible . . . having peace with all men (Rom. I, 18). This cannot be said to the Jews, not to the Gentiles, that they may have peace with everyone. They hardly love their own people: it is not permitted to not love even the enemies of a Christian. When I say Christian, I mean perfect; for in Christ is the fullness of divinity, whose name you usurp. Why do you reject the interpretation and perfection of the word when you bear the name? Hear the broad commandment: Bless those who persecute you . . . . . and do not curse (Ibid., 14). The same one who says that it is a broad commandment, proved it before saying: They indeed reviled, but I was praying (Psalm 108:4). What were you praying, David, tell us yourself. But you said; for I read saying: They will curse, and you will bless (Ibid., 28).
Sermon 13. Mem.
1. The thirteenth letter signifies in one interpreter the internal organs, and in another the same organs themselves: and both interpretations do not disagree with the text. Indeed, immediately the first line expresses the love of the internal organs, which certainly originates from the innermost parts, and is intertwined with the warmth of the bones.
2. Finally, in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, the text of this letter contains the following: 'He sent fire from on high in my bones' (Lam. I, 12). Therefore, God is good who sends us something with which we, being diligent, may find merit in His sight. Let Him teach us whom He sends the fire: 'I came to send fire upon the earth; and what will I but that it be kindled?' (Luke XII, 49). The good fire that the Savior desires to ignite in all is especially Himself, God, as we read: 'For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire' (Deut. IV, 24), who consumes our sins and pours the desire for divine knowledge into the depths of our hearts, and inflames our souls when we read the divine series of Scriptures; if perchance we grasp some hidden meaning of the prophetic reading with spiritual understanding. Cleophas said that his heart was burning with this fire when he and his companion, Christ, opened the Scriptures. The Lord spoke about this fire in the book of Ezekiel: Behold, I will go to Jerusalem and blow my wrathful fire upon you, so that you may melt away like lead, iron, and other material things. In these commonly used words, we see profound mysteries. All of this is spiritual. Let us pray that the word of God may come, enter the Church, and become a consuming fire, to burn up the hay and straw, and everything that is worldly: the heavy lead of iniquity, which is found in many, may melt in the divine fire, and the iron hardness of sin may be softened by the heavenly flame; let the vessels of gold and silver be refined, so that every sense of the wise, every word of the prudent, having been cooked by the heat of burning passions, may begin to be more precious. The good fire of charity, by which the entire body of the Church grows in mutual grace. The good fire of love, by which each saint is ignited with reverence for their author. But the one who loves God, loves not casually: but loves His law, keeps His commandments, justifies his heart, not with the sounding proclamation of words, but with the diligent imitation of actions. May God therefore teach us how His saints are loved.
3. (Verse 97.) Thus, the Prophet adds: How I have loved your commandment, O Lord; my whole day is spent in meditation. This is the voice of someone diligent in studying the Law, which instructs the perfection of man, as this whole psalm teaches. And since he knows that the greatest commandment in the Law is to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul, he also wants those whom he seeks to instruct to be perfect by imitating him, saying: How I have loved your commandment, O Lord. By this very affection, charity grows, because it calls upon the witness itself to whom the duty of love is entrusted; it testifies not only to the appearance but to the fullness of charity in such an agreement. Peter used this: You know, he says, Lord, that I love you (John 21:15). But whoever loves the Lord, loves his law, just as Mary, loving her Son, treasured all his words in her heart with a motherly affection (Luke 2:51). I have loved you, I have done your will, it is written (Isaiah 48:14). Therefore, Christ entrusted Peter to feed his flock (John 21:18) and to do the will of the Lord, because he recognized his love. For one who loves, does what is commanded out of will, while one who fears does so out of necessity. Thus, the Lord approves the voluntary actions of his servants rather than coerced ones. Therefore, he makes free beings out of servants, so that we may offer gifts of our wills rather than obedience out of necessity.
4. A Marcionite cannot say, 'How I have loved your law,' who does not accept the law. A Jew cannot say, who is ignorant of the spiritual law: and meditates on the letter of the law without understanding its meaning. Only a Christian says, who has advanced in the knowledge of the law, who does not fear the punishment of the law with a timid heart: but with fearless affection, he investigates the divine mysteries of the true Hebrew, the true Sabbath, the true remission. Therefore, truly does he love, who, without sadness, without fear, willingly preserves precepts rather than being compelled.
5. (Verse 98.) Another verse: You have made me understand your commandments, because you are. It quickly proved the effect of prolonged meditation when he understood the Lord's command over his enemies. But who are the enemies of the Prophet, who should either embrace the men of his own people with lawful love, or invite foreigners to the grace of God through evangelization? Wild animals love their fellow beings of the same nature: how could the Prophet reject love that is in accordance with his own nature? Therefore, it is necessary to have some just cause, by which those whom it signifies may appear to be enemies by law. We can investigate this matter, if we remember that the same person said elsewhere: 'I was being consumed with anger against your enemies, and I hated them with a just hatred' (Psalm 138:21-22). Therefore, by the authority of the Gospel, he says that these are his enemies, who are enemies of God. For if someone who does not forsake their parents for the sake of God's name is not worthy of God, how much more will someone who loves his enemies not be acceptable to God? So who are his enemies? If they are gentiles, how does he predict by the prophetic spirit who would believe? Finally, he exhorts them to bless the Lord themselves, as the Psalm says, 'Let the peoples praise you, O God' (Psalm 66:4). And what great praise is it to understand those who, in venerating metals and stones, have drawn a similar rigidity of stupor?
Therefore, who are the enemies, if not heretics? For they are the attackers of faith, enemies of truth. Who, if not the Jews? For they are even more serious enemies, who have become enemies from friends. He understands about them, who understands that the Law is spiritual. So what good is the Law if you ignore the end of the Law, if you do not know the mystery, if you do not know the sacraments? For the Jews, a lamb is slaughtered from the flock for the Passover feast: for us, the only begotten Son of God, born of the Virgin, is sacrificed for the redemption of the world. What do the Jews gain by smearing the blood of the lamb on their homes and doorposts? Nothing, of course, because wood or stone cannot be of any help to them. To us, every mystery is beneficial, since we believe in detesting spiritual grace; we may stain our dwellings with the blood of a sacrificial animal and tinge our mouths with its blood, but we consecrate our bodies with the sacrament of the Lord's Cross and sanctify our speech with the confession of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom. X, 10). What profit is it to the Hebrews that they pierce the ear of their slave with an awl, and circumcise the foreskin of their own body? They do not understand thoroughly what the divine Law discerns. These are signs, not truth. But he understands, who purifies his heart through spiritual circumcision; in order to cleanse all the filth of bodily impurity. He understands, who surpasses the awl and the ear with the vigor of the mind, and raises that soul which he has pierced with the sword to reveal the hidden depths of the heart, to the reward of eternal freedom: or, by diligently serving in examining words, he sanctifies with spiritual mystery whatever word of virtue he has received with his ear. The Jew used to make unleavened bread for himself every year and does not know that he himself is the leaven of malice. But he who understands what it is to purge the old leaven so that it does not corrupt the whole mass; he purges the old man with his actions, so that a new sprinkling of truth may occur. These things were said to the Jew, and the Christian heard them; because while he pierced his ear with an awl, he could not hear: carrying a wounded ear, he stained not the ear of the Law, but the awl of his own foolishness with blood. By listening to the things that are revealed spiritually, he pierced his ear with iron; for he preferred to believe in iron rather than in the Word. Therefore, he serves, therefore he does not deserve to be free, therefore the grace of the completed time does not support him; because he did not receive the fullness of time, in which the Son of God was sent for salvation, and came for redemption, born under the Law, born of a Virgin, conqueror of death, giver of resurrection. Therefore, the wound remains in him for whom Christ did not rise. The wound that cannot be healed, unless by chance it leaves the splinter, and a sword is taken up which, for the name of Christ, does not reject, or by which it distinguishes the earthly from the spiritual, shadow from truth: let it take up the word of God, a doubly sharp sword, and from that divine mouth let it be taught to recognize the commandment of the Lord, the prescription of the Law, which does not have the observance of a temporal celebration, but infuses salutary and everlasting remedies with the juice of spiritual grace.
Therefore, throughout the entire day, meditate on the Law: your study should not be superficial. If you wish to buy land, if you want to purchase a house, act with prudence, carefully consider the laws, and do not trust yourself to be infallible. But now, you yourself need to be corrected: your price is being discussed, so consider what you are, what name you have, what you acquire for yourself, not land, not money, not jewelry: but Christ Jesus, to whom no prices, no ornaments can be compared. Consult Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul, John, and Jesus, the great counselor and Son of God; in order to acquire the Father. You must engage with them, confer with them throughout the day; just as David meditated, and this was his sole meditation. His mind was not drawn to worldly pleasures, nor did he burn with the desire to amass wealth: he did not eagerly pursue expanding boundaries or exclude neighboring anxieties in the pursuit of mastering meditation; whatever time the day could offer, he claimed all of it for himself in the sole meditation on the Law.
8. But even this is not enough for the diligent person who wishes to attain the grace of blessedness. For the blessed person meditates day and night on the Law. The day becomes narrower through the meditation on doctrine. It is not a long day in time, but it is as long as the meditator in the Law. Therefore, be careful not to interpret it as meaning that for the one who meditates on the Law, every day is always present, and the light is without defect, with no darkness of night intervening. Otherwise, how would it demonstrate a more negligent person in the process of his work, whom the Prophet wished to be more diligent in the very beginnings of his work? Therefore, be a meditator of the Law and a preacher of the Gospel.
9. And perhaps those who do not receive the New Testament, read at night, and therefore did not know nor understand. Hence the Savior, so that we would not read in darkness, warns saying one must walk in the day, because he who walks in the day does not stumble (John XI, 9 and 10); for he sees the grace of the light. But whoever walks in darkness, encounters the stumbling block.
10. (Verse 99.) It follows: Above all those who teach me I understood, because your testimonies are my meditation. The scribes of the Jews profess doctrine; because they deserved to have the Law and the prophets before them. But they profess to teach, but do not teach. However, it is fitting for the people who believed from the Gentiles to say: Above all those who teach me I understood, because they did not understand. The Jew responds: Where did you get understanding? It is written: Ask your father and he will tell you: the elders, and they will declare to you (Deut. 32:7). I am your Father, ask me. But even if I ask, you will not answer me, said Jesus (Luke 22:68): and from him they cannot answer, and from him I understand above them who I did not understand; because I have learned testimonies that he does not know. I have learned: Whoever follows me... let him take up his cross (Matthew 16:24). I have learned: Love your enemies (Matt. 5:44). And for this reason, Paul wishes to be cursed for the sake of his kinsmen, enemies in terms of their faith (Rom. 9:3).
11. It seemed inappropriate for the prophet to use such humility; because he presumed to say that he understood more than all the teachers, when he received the Law of Moses from the Lord and handed down its institutions to his people (Exodus 19:7), Aaron, after completing all the rituals of sacrifices, taught the priestly discipline (Exodus 28:1, 2 et seq.), Joshua showed how circumcision could be observed (Joshua 5:2, 3 et seq.), and Samuel revealed the sacraments of prophetic anointing as well as kingship (1 Samuel 16:13). It would seem, I say, an incongruous presumption, unless he had stated the previous points, by which he rightly proved that he understood more than the teachers. He who was being taught ought to have assumed this confidence from the Lord: and the commandment that he was being taught was the Lord's, and it was the Lord himself who was teaching.
Therefore, he shows that humans cannot teach what is divine: and so those who dare to teach do not know; but the disciple who is taught recognizes. In addition to the gift of knowledge that he had received from the Holy Spirit, there is also a pleasant moral lesson, that there are many teachers who claim to teach what they do not understand, and there are many disciples who achieve through their own effort what they have not learned from their teachers. Finally, someone before us said that there is a difference between teachers and scholars; perhaps thinking this because scholars are chosen for this role by the judgment of others, while teachers take on this role by their own claim. But it is necessary for those scholars to also yield to the one who has been imbued with the heavenly doctrine of God's teaching through the meditation on testimonies.
13. (Verse 100.) It follows: I understood above the elders, because I sought out your commandments. And this is not difficult, that one whom the Lord has taught understands above the elders; indeed, by the grace of God, one progress in learning and maturity of age makes one surpass the age of old age. For when the age of old age is a blameless life, certainly the doctrine of a blameless life brings forth old age. Finally, excusing Jeremiah for being young, it was answered: Do not say: I am young; because he who would have wisdom was not considered young by divine definition, but rather he had wisdom, which shone forth by the grace of heavenly sanctification.
14. Moreover, it does not seem to me that the Prophet praises himself and places himself above the elders when he reads: 'Do not disregard the tradition of the elders, for they too learned from their fathers' (Ecclesiasticus 8:11). For elsewhere, Sirach the Wise also said: 'In the presence of the elderly, do not talk at length' (Ecclesiasticus 32:13). But he knows whom he places himself above, namely those who are rooted in sin, steeped in impiety, and deluded by the folly of age and the madness of unfaithfulness. These are the elders of the people about whom it was said that they handed over the Lord Jesus to Pilate as governor. For the priests, scribes, and elders gathered together, as Mark says (Mark 14:53). And again: the priests held a council with the elders to hand him over (Mark 15:1). And concerning the apostles in theirActs, Peter the holy one and Luke the Evangelist testify that the elders of Israel gathered together (Acts 4:1ff). Therefore, he did not derogate from old age, but he prophesied that the ancient people of God would be unteachable by the voice of the elderly, a people of Judah in the old days, who could not acquire in their youth what they could not find in their old age. For from the beginning, they provoked the Lord with frequent offenses. Therefore, as a young man, he could not earn his favor, and as an old man, he did not deserve to recognize his coming or hold onto the gift. However, wisdom in gray hair is a sign of old age in understanding, and the knowledge of experienced counsel is preferred over the longevity of life.
15. Therefore let us seek the commandments of God; that we may understand concerning the elders. Let us avoid the slippery path of sinners; that we may be able to keep the heavenly precepts. For this is declared by the following: Concerning the elders, the younger brother Jacob understood that when the older brother Esau demanded the privilege of the blessing, he left the milder meals while he sought the wild ones (Gen. XXV, 32). Indeed, when he went on a hunting trip, the younger brother took his brother's clothes and handed them over to me, to be used by the people of the nations, in accordance with the advice of our mother (Gen. XXVII, 15 et seq.). So I, Rebecca, put on the robe of wisdom that the people of Judah had before. This robe is the good Law and the prophets. With this robe, that people were stripped, and we have been clothed. That mother Jerusalem, who is in heaven, clothed us. Therefore, we approach the Father, offering him gentler feasts, patience as food, the soothing of mercy, the sweetness of understanding. I receive blessings, I foretell spiritual grace to my older brother. He comes, he is angry: he does not find what he can receive. The mother appears, and she informs with a pious admonition. That stole, woven with good commands, remains with me.
16. (Verse 101.) 'I have kept my feet from every evil path in order to obey your word.' Truly worthy is he who understands more than the elders, since he has been honored with the divine Spirit to teach not only the understanding of truth, but also the avoidance of sin and the caution against fault. Therefore, since human weakness is prone to incline towards vice by the force of passion and by the rapid pace of temptation, he teaches how the slippery path of this way and the winding turns of this journey cannot entangle the traveler. I have forbidden, he says, my feet from the wicked path, that is, from the vanity of this world; because the world is set in wickedness. Whatever is doubtful, and has uncertain effects, is wicked; just as a doubtful light is called wicked: so whatever mixes the darkness of malice with the truth is wicked. Therefore, withdraw your feet of the soul, and the step of the mind, from the slippery things of this world, and settle down. Forbid, I say, resist desires, withstand motions that seem to rush in, like beasts and animals; so that they may devour the tender fruits, and the newly cultivated fields of our land.
17. 'I restrained my feet,' he says. Indeed, it is not the feet of the body that are restrained, which often obey the will of a pious mind. For they should not be restrained when they go to the temple of God, hurrying to help widows, to anticipate the impious, to overthrow any fraudulent person. Therefore, there is another foot that is restrained by law. The Prophet himself teaches us who that is: 'Let not the foot of pride come to me' (Psalm 36:12). There is also the foot of iniquity, which quickly slips and cannot stand, just as the foot of the deceitful is, of whom it is written: 'There they have fallen, all who work iniquity; they are thrust down, unable to rise' (Ibid., 13). Therefore, be cautious, lest you fall; for your feet are not only the cause of sin but also of weakness. And be careful not to fall. And it may seem to you that you are standing well; but Paul says to you: And you, who stand, beware of falling (1 Corinthians 10:12). Pay close attention to your path, so that you may hear: But you, stand here with me. For if you stand with God, you will not fear falling. If you stand with God, you will be able to say: He rescued... my feet from falling (Deuteronomy 5:31). But the Lord will rescue your feet from all falling, if He knows that you keep your feet from falling. Therefore David deserved this, that God would rescue his feet from stumbling; because he himself prevented his feet from slipping, so that they would not be entangled in the precipitous and treacherous path of sinners: thus he was able to keep the divine words. For no one can keep them unless they can first stand. However, when he keeps them, he himself begins to carry the Word of God as a guard. He speaks well who knows that Christ is the way, and who prevents his feet from the evil path.