Chapter V.
Jacob returns to his homeland by divine command because of the envy of Laban and his sons. If this were to arise, how should it be avoided: and by what means can a wise man never be empty. After this, the mystery is explained to Laban, who investigates the good fortune of his daughter's husband Jacob and his wives.
20. And so, as Scripture says, he became rich, nourishing a very good flock for Christ, whom he adorned with the title of faith and the glory of his virtuous variety. Thus, he did not consider himself to be limited, as he was wealthy in faith, and he was called the most opulent of Laban's sons to provoke envy, as he had augmented his own flock with the addition of another flock. And God said to him: Return to the land of your father and to your people; and I will be with you (Gen. XXXI, 3), showing that nothing was lacking to him in whom there was the fullness of all things: this alone to abound perfectly, to consist in all things, and to refer all things back to Him. Nothing is superfluous that is necessary, to whom faithful peace supplies, by which it reconciles what was first contradictory. It is not surprising if he has peace, who has established the pillar and anointed to God, which is the Church (Gen. XXXV, 20). For the pillar has been called the firmament of truth (I Tim. III, 15). It is anointed by those who pour the ointment of faith in Christ and mercy in the poor.
21. Now let us consider what kind of man a just person should be if envy arises. First, he should avoid it; for it is better to leave without a quarrel than to stay with discord. Secondly, he should possess those things that he can take with him; so that he cannot be held captive by an adversary, but rather say: 'See if anything of yours is with me' (Gen. XXXI, 32 et seq.). And Laban searched, but found nothing of his own with Jacob. A great and truly blessed man is he who could not lose anything of his own, who has nothing belonging to others, that is, he has nothing less, nothing superfluous. So he is perfect, to whom nothing is lacking: just, to whom nothing is excessive. For this is the essence of justice, to maintain a balance. How great is the virtue of whose association brings profit, not loss? This is to be perfect, to give the greatest benefit to those attached to oneself, and to bring no harm.
22. Finally, the one who desired to harm him could not dismiss him empty. For a wise man is never empty, always having the garb of prudence, who can say: I clothed myself with justice and put on judgement, as Job said. For these are the internal coverings of the mind, which no one else can take away, unless they strip someone of their own fault. Finally, Adam, thus stripped, was found naked: but Joseph, even with his outer garment discarded, was not naked, for he had preserved the garments of virtue. Therefore, never empty is the wise person. For how can one be empty, who receives from the fullness of Christ, and preserves what has been received? How can one be empty, whose soul is filled, who keeps the garments of received grace? It is to be feared that anyone may lose the covering of innocence, lest the impious and sacrilegious persecution, having gone beyond the bounds of justice under the impression of wickedness, snatch away the garment of the soul and mind. And this does not easily happen, unless one first puts off the voice of their own iniquity. Wherefore David also saith: If there be iniquity in my hands… let me deservedly fall out of the reach of my enemies: let the enemy persecute my soul, and take hold of it (Psalm 7:4-5).
23. Therefore, no enemy can capture your soul unless it has first become empty. Therefore, do not fear those who can accumulate treasures of gold and silver. They take nothing from you. They take away what you did not have: they take away what you could not possess: they take away what did not adorn your soul, but weighed it down: they take away what did not enrich your heart, but rather oppressed it. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21), as you heard in today's reading. Many people include their gold in their series of doors, but they do not trust their ships and locks: they employ many guards, but they themselves are often more afraid of the guards than anyone else: many people lie with buried gold; their gold is underground, and their heart is underground. Therefore, be careful not to bury your heart in the earth while you are still alive. Therefore, thieves are not to be feared for this gold. The pawnbroker is the one you must beware of, who searches the substance of your soul, if you have contracted any weighty debts of sin, who encloses your heart in the ground, who buries your soul in that mound of earth where you have hidden your gold, who bends your mind under heavy interest charges, and buries it in a grave from which no one rises. Follow the holy Jacob, who had neither any vices of others, nor was he empty and void of his own virtues, who was filled with the fruit of righteousness. But these are moral lessons.
24. That mystical thing, which came to him as Laban, that is, whitened, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, and he began to demand his [Jacob's] own [goods] from him. Jacob answered him: Recognize if there is anything of yours with me (Gen. 31:32), that is, I have nothing of yours. Search if you recognize anything of your vices and sins. I have taken nothing from you, I have no association with your deceitful tricks, I reject everything of yours like a contagion. And Laban searched, and found nothing of his own. Blessed is the man, in whom the enemy finds nothing that he can claim as his own: in whom the devil offends nothing that he can recognize as his own! This seemed impossible in a man, but it was a type of him who says in the Gospel: The prince of this world comes, and finds nothing in me (John 14:30). For whatever is of the devil is nothing, and cannot have any perpetuity or substance.
However, He is the one who was prefigured in Jacob, the Lord Jesus, of the two married men, that is, a certain companion of Law and grace, who loved the virgin Rachel before, and loved her as a predestined spouse with pious affection. But since Leah, like the Law, entered secretly and crept in as the Synagogue, which, due to the blindness of the mind, could not see Christ, the grace of the holy Rachel abounded above her, who before anything else sought after this marriage, which already then with the interpretation of her name indicated the future primacy of the Church. (Gen. XXIX et seq.) Blessed Rachel, who removed the reproach from her childbirth: blessed Rachel, who concealed the worship and errors of the pagans, who declared that their idols were full of uncleanness. Let no one believe that reverence for the father's piety was violated because she sat while her father stood; for it is written: 'He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me' (Mt. 10:37). Where the cause of religion was at stake, faith should have the seat of judgment, and perfidy should stand as the defendant.