What sort of blessing did Jacob receive?
Why only one? The Spirit will be present in order for me to explain and for you to understand. Let us see the blessings themselves, what kind of blessing Jacob received, and what kind of blessing Esau received. Isaac himself to Jacob: Are you my son Esau? He replied: I am. And he said: Bring it to me, and I will eat of your game, my son, so that my soul may bless you before I die; but bring me a kiss. He did not kiss him. The blessing began with peace. Why did he confirm peace with a kiss? Because he too carried others' sins for the sake of peace. And he approached, and kissed him. And he smelled the scent of his clothing. For he was wearing his brother's robe. That is, the dignity of the firstborn which he had lost, this one had. In him it already smelled good, what that one had lost disgracefully. He smelled the scent of his clothing, and blessed him, and said: Behold, the scent of my son is like the scent of a field which the Lord has blessed. He received the scent of the garment, and he spoke of the scent of the field. Understand Christ in the inner mystery, and understand the garment of Christ as the Church.
The Church is signified in many ways.
May Your Holiness understand. For one thing is signified in many ways. That is, the Church which those two kids signify, the same is signified by this garment, because one thing is signified in many ways, which is none of these things by evidence, all by figure. A lamb cannot be a lion; a lion cannot be a lamb. However, our Lord Jesus Christ could be both lion and lamb. But because he is neither lion nor lamb by evidence, but both lion and lamb by figure. Thus the kids cannot be a garment, and the garment cannot be kids. The Church, however, because it is neither kids nor garment by evidence, is both kids and garment by figure. And whatever else can be said.
The field is the Church, whose farmer is God.
He smelled his garments and said: Behold, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed. This field is the Church. Let us prove that the field is the Church. Hear the Apostle speaking to the faithful: You are God’s field, God’s building. Not only is the Church a field, but also God is the farmer. Hear the Lord Himself: I am the vine, you are the branches, and My Father is the farmer. Therefore, the Apostle, working in this field and hoping for an eternal reward, arrogates nothing to himself, except what befits a worker. I, he says, planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. Therefore, neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. How he retained humility, so that it might belong to Jacob, so that he might not lose the robe, the smell of which was like the smell of a full field, to the Church, and transfer to the pride of Esau, understanding carnally and full of vanity! Therefore, the field smells of the son's garment. But that field is nothing of itself. Therefore, he added: which the Lord blessed. And may the Lord give you of the dew of heaven above, and of the fatness of the earth, and an abundance of grain and wine. And nations shall serve you, and you shall be lord over your brothers, and your father's sons shall bow down to you. Cursed be he who curses you, and blessed be he who blesses you. This is the blessing of Jacob. If Esau were not also blessed, there would be no question. He too is blessed, but not with the same blessing, nor entirely alien to this one.
What kind of blessing did Esau receive?
Let us hear, then, how Esau is blessed, and let us see what difference there is between the spiritual children of the Church and the carnal ones; between those who bear others' sins and those who bear their own; between those who always live spiritually and those who always delight in carnal joys. But Isaac, answering, said to Esau: "Who then hunted game for me and brought it to me? Blessed be he." And it happened when Esau heard the words of his father Isaac, he cried out with a great voice and said: "Bless me also, father." And he said to him: "Your brother came deceitfully and took away your blessing."
Jacob supplanted Esau.
And Esau said: Justly is his name called Jacob. For Jacob is called Supplantation. And this supplantation is not meaningless, because it is taken in a figurative manner, as deceit. For there was not so much malice in the brother, that he would want to supplant his brother. For he was called supplanter when he held the heel of his brother being born by the hand: then he was called supplanter. But the supplantation of the carnal is the life of the spiritual. For all the carnal, when they envy the spiritual in the Church, are supplanted and become worse. Listen to the Apostle saying the same thing, especially because there he mentioned the scent, which Isaac expressed here, saying: Behold, the scent of my son is like the scent of a full field, which the Lord has blessed. Therefore, the Apostle says: We are the good odor of Christ in every place, and he says: To some indeed the odor of life, unto life; to others the odor of death, unto death. And who is sufficient for these things? That is, to understand how we are the odor of death unto death for men, through no fault of ours. For they walk their spiritual paths, knowing nothing other than to live well. And those who envy the innocent living, commit serious sins, by which God punishes them. And that scent becomes unto death for them, which is unto life for others. For the Lord Himself was first made a good odor unto life for the believers, and a bad odor unto death for the persecutors. For because many believed in Him, the Jews envied, and committed such a great crime by killing the innocent, the Holy of holies. For if they had not done this, the good odor of Christ would not avail them unto death. Therefore, Esau was supplanted in the blessing of the father.
Isaac answered and said to him: "I have made him your lord. For Esau could receive nothing else of what has been said: 'And all his brothers will serve him.' But what can I do for you, my son?" And Esau said to his father: "Still, bless me too." When Isaac was constrained; that is, when he was forced. A great thing, a great mystery: may we grasp it! He blesses under compulsion, and yet he blesses. And what he blesses is true, but still he blesses under compulsion. Consider what this means. Let us see the blessing itself and understand what it means to bless under compulsion.
Proper in the blessing of Jacob and in the blessing of Esau.
Isaac replied - indeed the father did not kiss Esau - and said to him: Behold, your dwelling will be from the fertility of the earth, and from the dew of heaven above. He said this also to him: From the abundance of the earth, and from the dew of heaven: this therefore is common to Jacob and Esau. What is proper to Jacob? Nations will serve you. What is proper to Jacob? All your brothers will serve you, and he who blesses you will be blessed, and he who curses you will be cursed. He also has something of his own, which was not said to Jacob: And by your sword you will live, and you will serve your brother. But lest he took away free will - as we said already here and yesterday - he added: But it will be, when you break free and remove the yoke from your neck. What is: But it will be, when you break free and remove the yoke from your neck? It is free for you, if you wish, to convert; not as if you will be two, but one Jacob. For all who convert from Esau, belong to Jacob. Likeness makes one, unlikeness makes diversity. What then? From the dew of heaven, and from the fertility of the earth, both have. Nations and your brothers and the sons of your father will serve you, only Jacob has. But by your sword you will live, only Esau. They have something in common, some things individually.
The Word of God waters both the wicked and the good in the Church.
There are evil ones in the Church belonging to Esau, for they too are sons of Rebecca, sons of the mother Church, born from her womb, and persevering in fleshly sins like those who are hairy, yet still born from that womb. Therefore, they have from the dew of heaven and from the fertility of the earth: from the dew of heaven all Scriptures, all divine preaching; and from the fertility of the earth, all visible sacraments: for a visible sacrament pertains to the earth. All these things are common in the Church to both the good and the evil. For they too have and participate in the sacraments, and - as the faithful know - from the wheat and wine. They have from the dew of heaven, for the word of God descends upon all from heaven. The word of God comes and waters. But observe who waters, and what is watered. For it waters both the evil and the good. Yet those evil ones convert the good rain to the root of thorns; while the good draw the rain to good fruit. For the Lord rains upon both the crop and the thorns: but he rains on the crop for the granary, on the thorns for the fire; and yet the rain is the same. Thus the word of God waters all. Let each one see what kind of root he has; let each one see to where he draws the good rain. If he draws it to produce thorns, should the rain of God be blamed for this? Before it comes to the root, that rain is sweet. The word of God is sweet, until it reaches an evil heart, and that heart converts the rain of God to its own deceit, converts it to hypocrisy, converts it to the roots of evil desires, to its own perversities and depravations. It indeed begins to produce thorns, but from good rain: for it has from the dew of heaven. And because not all evil ones are excluded from the sacraments of God, it has from the fertility of the earth, as known to those who have already become willing participants in the mysteries of the faithful.
Among all nations, sinners are mixed with the spiritual ones.
These matters pertain to both, but not to all nations, only to the spiritual ones, because they pertain to the Church which has filled the entire world. Pay attention, brothers, and discern as much as you can, or as much as the Lord gives you. Every spiritual person sees that the Church throughout the whole world is one, true, catholic. And it arrogates nothing to itself, and bears the sins of men whom it cannot cleanse from the Lord's threshing floor until that last winnower comes, who cannot be deceived, to cleanse his floor, and gather the wheat into his barn, but give the chaff to be burned. For he will exclude the chaff and separate it from the wheat, and prepare the barn for the grain, and the fire for the chaff. So, since he knows, he bears the sinners to be separated at the end. Throughout all nations, sinners and all carnal ones are mixed with the spiritual ones and serve them. But the spiritual ones do not serve, because they profit from them, while they themselves fail. Pay attention, my brothers. I will say if I can, and I will not be afraid. I will not be silent. For I am urged to speak. And if some perhaps become angry with me, let them forgive. For I am afraid, as I said. Let them forgive my fear. Christ feared no one. But we, fearing Christ, spare not, lest, while we do not wish to sadden such, he does not spare us. Be willing to hear what I want to say, and heed attentively. Jacob and Esau both received from the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth. Both have what we already mentioned, what we know, what you know. But that nations might serve him, only Jacob received, because in the Church throughout the whole world, the carnal do not serve except the spiritual. Why? Because the spiritual profit from them. For this reason, carnal men are called slaves. And even if they do what they do not want, the evil conversation of the carnal benefits the spiritual, because they profit from that conversation, and are crowned through endurance.
All the carnal ones in the Church belong to Esau.
Your Holiness, pay attention to what we say. But the nations were not given to Esau, because all the carnal ones who are in the Church are either divided or easily prone to division. Behold, the part of Donatus was made from there, from those carnal ones thinking carnally. They were carnal, but because they sought their own honor, or they lost patience, they found an entryway, and were divided. They loved their own honor, they valued it greatly, they were swollen with the pride of arrogance, they did not have tolerance, that is, they did not have charity. For it is written: Charity endures all things, sustains all things. It does not envy, it is not inflated, it does not act improperly. Thus, whatever else they might have had, because they did not have that through which it benefits whatever is possessed, they divided themselves. And as many heresies or divisions and schisms were made, they were made through these carnal ones. For either they thought carnally, and made images of their own fantasies, and erred, and the Catholic faith reproved them; and when they were argued with, they were cast outside by their own weight. Or, finding disputes and hatreds with men, they divided themselves. Therefore, who divided themselves, but those to whom belongs that sword of which it is said: By your sword you shall live? Not that the sword is not understood in a good sense. For just as those higher things are said, that is, how that stone is received both for firmness because of Christ and for offense because of the fool; how the lion is called Christ for one thing and the lion is called the devil for another: so the sword is sometimes understood in a good sense, sometimes in a bad sense. But here the sword was not given to Jacob without reason, but was given to Esau, unless something mysterious is signified in the bad sense. Just as servitude itself is not alien to the mystery; that is, what was said: You shall serve your brother, for this too was said in a great mystery.
Part of Donatus is chaff.
Therefore, brothers, those who divide themselves have the sword of division, and in their sword they die, and in their sword they live. But because the Lord had truly said: "He who strikes with the sword will die by the sword," see them, my brothers, who have cut themselves off from unity, in which they are cut off in vain. You know how many parts the party of Donatus made, and I do not think it escapes your Holiness that he who strikes with the sword dies by the sword. It was said to him: "You will live by your sword." So also those who have not departed from the Church, and are like this, as if they were outside. For those who love their honors in the Church are entirely like those who love their secular comforts in the Church. And they themselves are chaff. But the wind is absent, therefore they do not fly from the threshing floor. This is what I say briefly, the trial is absent, for they would fly from the threshing floor. Finally, when the Church does something against them, how easily they cut themselves off! How easily they gather outside, and yet do not want to relinquish their rule! How they want to die for that rule! How they want to hold the people under themselves, and not let the people unite with Christ! How they want to make their own sheep, which they did not buy with their own blood, and thus they hold them as worthless, because they did not buy them! What need is there to argue about this further? Look at them throughout the entire Church, see such men, both those who are within, and those who, finding an occasion, have flown from the threshing floor and want to draw the grains with them. But the true and full grains tolerate the chaff and remain on the threshing floor until the end, until the final winnower comes: just as he tolerated the sins of others with the skins of goats, and deserved to receive the paternal blessing.
The wicked should be tolerated out of necessity for the peace of the Church.
Why then did Isaac bless him who was despised? For already in necessity, already compelled, his father said to him: Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven. And do not therefore think yourself good: By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother. But do not despair for yourself, because you can correct yourself: But it shall be when you release and break the yoke from your neck. Behold, he shall receive of the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven. But Isaac, being despised, throws him the blessing, does not give it. Is it not now in the Church for wicked men who want to disturb the Church to be tolerated for the necessity of its peace, to be admitted, to have the common sacraments? And sometimes it is known that they are wicked, and perhaps they cannot be convicted. So that they may be corrected and degraded, so that they may be excluded, so that they may be excommunicated, they cannot be convicted. If someone insists, sometimes it leads to the disruptions of the Church. The governor of the Church is compelled to say, as it were: "Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven; use the sacraments; you eat judgment for yourself, you drink judgment for yourself: For he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself. You know that you are admitted out of the necessity of the Church's peace, you have nothing in your heart but disturbances and divisions. Therefore by your sword you shall live. For in that which you receive of the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, you shall not live there. For this does not please you, nor is the Lord sweet to you." For if this pleased you, and the Lord were sweet to you, you would imitate the humility of the Lord, not the pride of the devil. Therefore, though he receives the mystery of the Lord's humility from the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, yet he does not renounce the pride of the devil, who does nothing for him who always delights in seditions and dissensions. Although you have this communion from the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, yet by your sword you live, and you either delight in or are terrified by seditions and dissensions. Therefore change yourself, and remove the yoke from your neck.
The hidden persecutor urges the soldier of Christ with the allurements of the flesh.
These things, brothers, have been said to you, few perhaps due to the magnitude of the mysteries, but many considering the time, our strength, and yours. And if by chance this question has not been discussed in detail, nonetheless some great mysteries, which if later examined, will be found. Pardon the constraints of time, our strength, and your capacity. If you wish to grasp more, grow; if you wish to grow, live well. For he who does not wish to live well does not wish to grow. The holy Lord our God has provided these feasts for you through the natal celebrations of His martyr Vincent. The name signifies victory. Love, however, in order to conquer. For persecution does not lack. The devil is the persecutor, the occasion for the crown never ceases. Only let the soldier of Christ understand the fight and know whom to conquer. Is it because a manifest enemy of the body does not press upon you, that a hidden persecutor does not press upon you with the allurements of the flesh? How many evils he suggests, how many through desire, how many through fear! By such allurements he persuades to go to sorcerers, to astrologers, when one has a headache. Those who forsake God and go to the devil's bindings are conquered by the devil. On the other hand, if someone has been suggested, perhaps in terms of the body to procure remedies from the devil through which another is said to have been healed, because having received that from him, he then ceases to pursue the body since he has won the heart; therefore to anyone for whom these wicked remedies have been suggested and who said, "I would rather die than use such remedies; if God wills, He chastises and liberates me; if He knows it is necessary, let Him free me; but if He knows I should depart from this life, whether I am sad or rejoice, I follow the will of the Lord; behold, for in a little while with what face shall I go out to the Lord; for these remedies of the devil do not provide me with what God provides, eternal life, thus why should I lose my soul, to purchase a few days for my body?" Whoever says this and does not go nor sets his heart to employ evil remedies, surely conquers. One thing I have mentioned as a sample. Certainly, you see already how many things the devil suggests. But where is he? You see him certainly languishing, you see him panting on the bed, you see him scarcely moving his limbs, scarcely moving his tongue: this tired one conquers the devil. Many have been crowned in the amphitheater fighting beasts. Many on their beds conquering the devil are crowned. They seem unable to move, yet within their hearts they have such strength, they engage in such a fight! But where there is a hidden fight, there is a hidden victory.