Chapter V.
Concerning the hospitality of Abraham, the arrival of the guests, and his hastening to meet them. The same virtue is praised, and the empty excuses of some are dismissed. It is explained how diligently the same saint showed himself in this matter, and how he admitted his wife to a share in the merit. What the things offered by both mystically signify is also discussed. Finally, the promise made to Abraham by the ministering angels is explained, just as Sarah's laughter is interpreted.
32. We have spoken about the devotion, faith, prudence, justice, charity, and frugality of Abraham; now let us also speak about hospitality. For it is a virtuous trait of no small importance. Hence the Apostle taught with the authority of a twofold command that it should be present in a bishop: to be ready to receive guests, to go out to meet them, to explore their paths, to be present to those who do not seek, and to snatch up those who pass by. Abraham was sitting before the door, sitting at midday. When others were resting, he would watch for the arrival of guests. It is for good reason that God appeared to him at the oak tree of Mamre, because he greatly valued the fruits of hospitality.
33. And looking up, he saw with his eyes, and behold, three men were standing beside him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them (Gen. XVIII, 2). See first the mystery of faith. God appeared to him, and he saw three. He who sees God, sees the Trinity, he receives the Father with the Son, and confesses the Son with the Holy Spirit. This is explained more fully elsewhere (In lib. de Resurrectione carnis). Now the moral purpose of the place is to be pursued. He who looks from afar does not sit idly, nor is content with having looked, but runs to meet it. He hurried to meet it, because it is not enough to do right, unless you also hasten to do what you do. For the law commands to eat the paschal lamb in haste (Exod. XII, 11). For accelerated devotion has more abundant fruits. Therefore, learn how eager you should be, so that you can surpass the guest; lest someone surpass you and deprive you of the abundance of a good gift.
Hospitality is good, it has its reward, first the gratitude of man, and then, what is greater, the reward of God. We are all guests in this abode; for a time we have a place to stay: we are emigrating soon. Let us beware that if we have been harsh or negligent in receiving guests, even the holy hostels may be denied to us after the course of this life. Hence in the Gospel the Savior says: Make friends for yourselves with unjust wealth, so that they may receive you into eternal dwellings (Luke 16:9). Then also in this body often arises the necessity of wandering. What therefore you have denied to others, you decide for yourself: and what you have granted to others, you will make yourself worthy to seem. If everyone were to follow this opinion of not accepting strangers, where would there be rest for wanderers? Therefore, leaving behind human dwellings, we will seek the retreats of wild animals, the lairs of beasts.
35. But you falsely pretend poverty. The guest does not seek wealth from you, but gratitude; not an adorned feast, but ordinary food. It is better, he says, to offer hospitality with vegetables for friendship and gratitude than to slaughter calves at the mangers with enmity (Prov. XV, 17). These things are pleasing to men and acceptable to God. Hence the Lord Jesus in the Gospel (Matth. X, 42). Whoever gives a drink of cold water to a guest, he asserts, will not be deprived of heavenly rewards. Finally, Jacob watered Rachel's sheep, found favor, and acquired a wife. Then, do you know whether you receive God when you think of a stranger? Abraham, while offering hospitality to travelers, received God and his angels as guests: even though when you receive a stranger, you receive God, as it is written in the Gospel of the law, with the Lord Jesus saying: 'I was a stranger, and you took me in' ... 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me' (Matthew 25:35 and 40). For the hospitality of one hour, that widow who received Elijah and fed him with a small bit of food, found perpetual sustenance for the whole time of famine, and received a remarkable reward, so that never would the jar of flour run out. Elisha, also, with the restoration of the deceased child, paid the rent for the lodging.
36. However, not only the willingness to receive, but also the diligence of the receiver and the affection are sought. Both are taught to you by Abraham. He ran to meet them, and asked beforehand saying: Lord, if I have found favor before you, do not pass by your servant: let water be taken, and wash your feet, and rest under the tree: and let me fetch bread, and you will eat, and after that you may pass on: because you have turned aside to your servant (Gen. XVIII, 3 et seq.). He saw three, and called one Lord, acknowledging himself as his only servant. Then, turning to the other two whom he considered as his ministers, he also desired to show them respect just as he was obligated to do, not by the rightful duty of servitude, but with the gentle name of diligence, and he served them willingly.
37. And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said to her: Hasten and sprinkle three measures of meal, and make cakes baked under the ashes. A good husband does not allow his wife to be without religious offerings, nor does he greedily take the entire gift for himself. Therefore, it is rightly preserved for the sake of both piety and modesty. That which is of piety, he wants to be shared; that which is of modesty, remains intact for Sarah. Before the tent, the man watches for the arrival of the guests; within the tent, Sarah protects the modesty of the woman and safely performs her feminine duties with modesty. Outside the husband invites, inside Sara prepares the feast. Not only does Abraham himself hurry, but he also said to his wife that they must hurry, showing her a partner in devotion, and not lacking in faith.
38. He says, sprinkle three measures of flour, and make it ash-colored. In Greek, they are called ἐγκρύφια, that is, hidden; because every mystery should be hidden and covered with faithful silence, lest it be rashly divulged to profane ears. The divine majesty is nourished by this, and it feasts on this affection, which is sparing in speech and does not bring sacred things into the open. But briefly, the mystery of faith is taught by Sarah, making three measures of one likeness, which has the typology of the Church to which it is said: Rejoice, barren one who does not bear; burst forth and cry out, you who are not in labor (Isaiah 54:1). For it is this which nourishes faith with its innermost spirit, asserting the Trinity of the same divinity, with equal measure and reverence for the Father and the Son, adoring the Holy Spirit, and celebrating the unity of majesty and the distinctiveness of the persons, sprinkle your devotion with this affirmation of faith.
39. Let a woman offer a likeness, that is, the inner spiritual substance of wheat or grain, of which it is said that unless it falls into the ground, it brings forth no fruit. Hence, Mary was the first to see the mystery of the Lord's resurrection, and she hastened not to announce the message of sacred salvation to everyone, but only to Peter and John. Let the man run to the oxen, take the calf, and with eager diligence receive the sacrament of the Lord's passion, not with sluggish laziness. Let him entrust it to the boy who will preserve innocence in his tender age, who knows not deceit, who knows not how to report, who will guard the chastity of an incorrupt body. About which the Lord Jesus says: Unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3). To this child and others like him, even the holy David assigns the duty of divine praise, saying: Praise the Lord, you children (Psalm 112:1).
40. Nor was it useless, when he ran to the cattle, he took a tender and good calf, and placed it with milk. Finally, in Exodus, when Moses was declaring the Passover of the Lord, he said: The lamb without blemish, clean, complete, a yearling, male, shall be taken for you from sheep and goats. You shall take and kill him, said he, the whole assembly of the synagogue at evening (Exod. XII, 5). Hence, this is also described as midday, when Abraham offers hospitality to the Lord. But at the supper a calf is sacrificed, and is eaten with milk; that is, not in blood, but with the purity of faith. A good calf, capable of washing away sins. Tender, because it recognized the gentle yoke of the law, not with a stiff neck, and did not refuse the cross's gibbet. And deservedly tender, from whose head and feet and internal organs nothing was left, and its bones were not broken, but it yielded completely to the food of those feasting. Such a calf was figuratively portrayed for us by the shadow of the Law, such did the truth of the Gospel demonstrate (John 19:36).
They ate, he said, those people: Abraham, however, was standing under a tree (Gen. XVIII, 8). We observe the duty of humility praising humility. Abraham was standing, and you occupy the first place at the table? Finally, that humility found favor, so that a son was promised to him.
He said to him: Where is your wife Sarah? He responded and said: Behold, she is in the tent. Did the Lord not know that she would be there, who announced the coming destruction of Sodom? He knew, but he wanted to teach us how great the modesty of women should be, that they should not attract the gaze of impudent guests upon themselves, but should carry out their ministry with dignity. Abraham also tells you that Sarah dwells in the tent, so that you may learn what you should expect from your wife. By advanced age, Sarah now guards her youthful modesty, therefore the Lord promised her a son. 'She has ceased to have the ability' he says 'to bear children', so that you may not mistakenly think she still had the capability to give birth.
Sara laughed (Gen., 18:10). This is a sign of the future more than of disbelief, I believe. She laughed, even though she still did not know why she was laughing, because she foretold the joy she would bring forth in Isaac. That is why she denied laughing, because she was ignorant; that is why she laughed, because she prophesied.