HOMILY XVI. ON LENT.
GIOVANNA. V. There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
The reading of the holy Gospel today gives us two miracles of human healing together; one invisibly through angelic administration, the other through the visible exhibition of the Lord's presence: but we must briefly explain the mysteries of both, lest a lengthy explanation of a lengthy reading may perhaps be burdensome to anyone. The pool called Bethesda, which was surrounded by five porches, represents the Jewish people, fortified on all sides by the custody of the law, lest they should sin. For the law described in the five books of Moses is aptly represented by the number five: and the people who in some respects preserved the purity of life, but in others were accustomed to be agitated by the temptations of unclean spirits, are appropriately signified by the water of the pool, which sometimes was calm and still, and at other times used to be stirred up by the winds. And it is fitting that the same pool is called Bethesda. For in Greek probaton means sheep: because in that people who knew how to say to the Lord: We, however, thy people and the sheep of thy flock, will give thanks to thee for ages (Ps. 79). Commonsensically, however, the pool is called Bethesda, i.e., the sheep’s pool, because in it the priests used to wash the sacrifices. The multitude of the sick lying in the mentioned porches signifies the crowds of those who, hearing the words of the law, lamented that they could not accomplish it by their own strength, and therefore implored the help of the Lord’s grace with all the affections of their soul. They were blind who did not yet have the perfect light of faith; lame who could not fulfill the good that they knew by their steps of action; withered who, although having the eye of knowledge, were nevertheless lacking in the nourishment of hope and love. Such lay in the five porches, but none were healed except in the pool when an angel descended, because through the law comes the knowledge of sin, but the grace of remission is made not otherwise than through Jesus Christ. For the angel clothed in flesh, that is, the messenger of the Father’s will, came down among the Jewish people and moved the sinners by his deeds and doctrine, so that he himself, by his own bodily death, could not only heal the spiritually sick but also revive the dead. The stirring of the water signifies the Lord's passion, which was accomplished when the people of the Jews were stirred and agitated. And because believers were redeemed from the curse of the law through that same passion, they were, as it were, healed by descending into the stirred water of the pool, who had lain sick in the porches. Indeed, the letter of the law, which taught those ignorant of what was to be done and avoided, but still did not help the instructed to accomplish its decrees, kept them, as if brought out of the seats of former ignorance, within its porches, and did not heal the sick. However, the grace of the Gospel, which through faith and the mystery of the Lord’s passion heals all the ailments of our iniquities, from which we could not be justified in the law of Moses, casts the sick thrown out of the porches of the law into the stirred water of the pool, so that they could be healed: because from the sins which the law showed through the water of Baptism, it washes, as the Apostle testifies, because as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into his death. For we are buried with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life (Rom. 6). It is well said that whoever first descended after the stirring of the water was made whole from whatever sickness he was held by, because one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God is present: and whoever is imbued with the mysteries of Christ in Catholic unity is made whole from whatever sickness of sins he is held by: whoever, however, disagrees with this unity cannot attain the salvation which is from one.
Having spoken of the first miracle of the Gospel reading which the Lord gave, let us now speak of the second which he gave to your fraternity: in which also a person healed is commended, not because the omnipotent goodness of the Savior could not heal all those found sick there, but to teach that outside the unity of the Catholic faith, no place of salvation is open to anyone.
There was a certain man there, it is said, who had been in his infirmity for thirty-eight years. This man, detained by infirmity for many years, represents any sinner oppressed by the enormity or multitude of sins, whose guilt the duration of the time he was ill fittingly signifies. For he had been in his infirmity for thirty-eight years. The number forty, however, which is accomplished by multiplying ten by four, is commonly received in the Scriptures for perfect right conduct; because whoever has performed the works of perfect conduct certainly fulfills the decalogue of the law through the four books of the Holy Gospel: two of which perfection he lacks, who, void of the love of God and neighbor which the writings of the law and the Gospel alike commend, walks. This the Lord also mystically taught by healing the infirm man, when he said: Arise, take up your bed, and walk. When it is said, Arise, shake off the lethargy of sins in which you have long lain, and rise to the exercise of virtues, by which you may be saved perpetually. Take up your bed: carry your neighbor diligently, patiently tolerating his weaknesses, as he, still oppressed by the burden of temptations, long and patiently bore you. For one another's burdens bear, and thus you will fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. VI). And as it says elsewhere: Bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. IV). But walk: love God with all your heart, soul, and strength; and that you may be worthy to attain to his vision, progress daily in good works, from virtue to virtue, not abandoning your brother whom you lead by enduring, out of love for Him to whom you are going, nor letting the love of your brother cause you to deviate in your pursuit of Him with whom you desire to dwell; but that you may be perfectly saved, Arise, take up your bed and walk, that is, leave your former sins, assist the needs of your brothers, and in all that you do, take care not to fix your mind on this world, but hasten to see the face of your Redeemer. Arise by doing good deeds, carry the bed by loving your neighbor, and walk by expecting the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of the great God. But the madness of the faithless is astonishing, who, at such an unexpected healing of one who had long languished, should have believed and been spiritually healed, yet instead were scandalized, and contrived slanders against both the healed and the Healer: against the healed, because he carried his bed on the Sabbath; against the Healer, because he commanded healing and carrying the bed on the Sabbath, as if they knew better concerning the Sabbath than such great power of divinity.
Therefore, the Jews said to the one who had been healed: "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed." They foolishly defended the letter of the law, ignoring the dispensation of Him who, once decreeing the edicts of the law through His servant, now coming Himself, intended to change the same law by grace, so that what carnally-minded people observed carnally according to the letter, spiritual-minded people might henceforth recognize should be observed spiritually. Indeed, under the carnal Sabbath, which was kept according to the letter, the people were commanded to rest from all servile work on the seventh day; the spiritual Sabbath, however, is in the light of spiritual grace, which is considered septiform (sevenfold), not on one but on every day, we are commanded to rest from all disturbance of vices. For if according to the word of the Lord, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin, it is clear that sins are rightly understood as servile works, from which, as on the seventh day in the perception of spiritual grace, we are commanded to walk immune: not only refraining from evil but also persisting in good works. This the Lord also typologically showed in this reading, when He commanded him who had languished for thirty-eight years to rise on the Sabbath day, not only to rise but also to carry his bed and walk: evidently insinuating that those who wither away long with the languor of vices, and void of the love of God and neighbor, as if they lack two from the perfect sum of virtues, can through the gift of the Holy Spirit rise up from vices, and having cast off their sluggishness, should with the burden of fraternal love draw close to the vision of their Creator. Moreover, the fact that he who was healed recognizes Jesus, not while still among the crowd, but later in the temple, mystically instructs us that if we truly wish to recognize the grace of our Creator, if we wish to be strengthened by His love, if we wish to reach His vision, we must diligently flee the crowd not only of disturbing thoughts and depraved affections but also of wicked people who can hinder our sincere intention, either by showing their evil example or by ridiculing or even preventing our good works. We should assiduously seek refuge in the house of prayer, where, invoking the Lord in secret liberty, we both give thanks for the benefits received from Him and humbly pray for those yet to be received: indeed, let us also take care to exist as a holy temple of God, in which He may deign to come and make His abode, hearing from the Apostle that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you (1 Cor. 6). Among these, my brothers, we should most diligently consider that when the Lord found the healed man in the temple, He said to him: "Behold, you have been made well, sin no more, lest something worse happens to you." By these words, it is openly shown that he languished because of sins, and could not be healed unless they were forgiven: but He who healed from the infirmity outside also saved within from wickedness: whence He cautiously admonished that by sinning no more, he should not bring upon himself a sentence of more severe condemnation. This is not to be understood as if everyone who is infirmed is infirmed because of sins, for indeed, in five ways in Scripture, bodily infirmity is found to be given: to sinners, that they may either be corrected through penance, or if they don’t merit correction, it may also appear in this life how they are to be condemned to eternal death; to the righteous, that they may either receive a greater palm of patience or instructed by infirmities they may guard more humbly the merit of justice. To many, however, bodily infirmity is given at times so that in their healing either the glory of the Lord Savior or of His saints or of both may be more widely manifested. For that sinners are punished with bodily infirmity to seek the health of the mind, today's reading bears witness, where the healed man who was languishing heard: "Behold, you have been made well, sin no more, lest something worse happens to you." This also bears witness when the Lord, healing the paralytic, said: "Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven you." That those ensnared in more serious crimes, deserving not to attain pardon, sometimes also in the present receive the beginning of eternal condemnation, is indicated by the punishment of King Herod, who for the sin of blasphemy, consumed by worms before the eyes of the living, expired, evidently appropriating afterward where his worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. That the righteous are afflicted with bodily pains to amplify the palm of their patience is indicated by the blessed Job's story, whom, with none like him on the earth, endured the severest bodily pains the cruel adversary could devise, not for discharging sins but for augmenting merits, overcoming with wondrous constancy of virtue. That the righteous are also struck with illness as a discipline to guard humility is shown by the Apostle who said: "And lest I be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me" (2 Cor. 12). Wherefore, again he says: "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." (ibid. 9). That some often languish to show forth the glory of the Creator and His saints, Christ Himself manifests when, concerning the man born blind, to the disciples asking, He said: "Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him" (John 9). And concerning Lazarus's sickness to the sisters, He said: "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby" (John 11). However, because it is uncertain to us whether we are punished to augment our good merits or to diminish our evils, it must be most carefully regarded that whenever we are struck by bodily distress, we immediately return to examine the internal matters of our mind, and whatever we find we have done against the will of our Creator, let us cleanse with a fitting penance; nor should we seek healing for the body before we know we have reached the purity of the inner man, lest perhaps external healing of the flesh should be hindered by the latent internal faults of the mind. Let us learn to humbly submit to the scourges of the pious Creator, considering that we suffer less than we deserve, always remembering the sentence: "Blessed is the man whom the Lord corrects" (Job 5). And He said in Revelation: "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten" (Rev 3).
However, after the old man, sick inwardly and outwardly, was healed, being saved both from the whips of open punishment and from the sins that deserved these, the Jews, contrarily, now began to fall into a worse sickness in their opposition, persecuting Jesus because He did these things on the Sabbath. They were persecuting Him, as if following both the authority of the law and the examples of divine operation: for both the Lord completed the creation of the world in six days and rested on the seventh day from all His works, and commanded the people to work for six days and to rest on the seventh, not understanding that the carnal decrees of the law were gradually to be changed by a spiritual interpreter, with Him appearing who is not only the lawgiver but also the end of the law, Christ, for righteousness to everyone who believes: nor considering that the Creator on the seventh day ceased not from the work of worldly governance and annual, rather everyday, maintenance of created things, but from a new creation of beings; nor understanding that great mystery of the Sabbath, in which, either the Lord Himself, having been crucified on the sixth day and having worked our salvation in the midst of the earth, that is, the flesh He had assumed, was to rest in the tomb on the seventh, until He rose on the eighth, or in which the saints, after the six ages of this world in which they labor by doing good works, perceive the seventh of the rest of souls in another life, until they are endowed with the incorruptible reception of bodies also in the eighth of the resurrection. But let us hear what the Author of grace and the law Himself responds to these unlearned defenders of the law, by which He may break their stubbornness with the strength of His reason.
My Father, he said, works until now, and I also work. Which is not to say, as though with the Father working, he would then begin to work after the Father; but rather that from the beginning of creation, with the Father always working, he himself likewise always works the same deeds together with him. For to know that God the Father works not only in the first six days, but until now, read that which is written to the prophet: Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you (Jerem. I). And in the Psalm: He who fashions their hearts individually (Psalm XXXIII). And elsewhere: Who covers the heavens with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, makes grass grow on the mountains (Psalm CXLVII), and similar others. Indeed, note that he did not use past tense verbs by saying: Who covered, prepared, produced, but present, covers, prepares, produces, to show that the Father works daily, no less on the Sabbath than on other days. So that you do not doubt that the Son works all things together, recall that of the Psalmist: He spoke, and gnats and flies came. He spoke, and locusts and caterpillars came. He spoke, and the stormy wind stood (Psalm CV). For if he spoke and they were made, he indeed made them through the word. The word of the Father is the Son, of whom John says: All things were made through him (John. I). Likewise, the Psalmist, when attributing not only the original creation of the world but also the daily governance of creation to the praise of the Creator, said among other things: You made all things in wisdom (Psalm CIV). But if we confess Christ as the power of God and the wisdom of God rightly, and God made and rules all things in wisdom, it is certainly evident that the Father works until now, and so does the Son. Therefore, my Father, he said, not only worked previously during six days as you suppose, but he works until now (John V), not by instituting a new kind of creation, but by propagating what he created in the beginning so that they may not fail. And I too work, it is understood until now, governing, guiding, increasing all those things, as if plainly saying: Why do you envy me? Why do you criticize me, blind legislators, for having performed the salvation of one man on the Sabbath in human form, when in the nature of divinity, together with God the Father, I always quietly work the entire human race, indeed the whole machinery of the world, and all visible and invisible things? But they themselves were less capable of understanding such a great mystery, therefore they sought all the more to kill him, because not only did he break the Sabbath, but also called God his Father, making himself equal to God. They were especially upset because, to those who recognized him truly as a man in the weakness of the flesh; he wished to be believed as truly the Son of God, that is, not adopted by grace like the other saints, to whom the Prophet says: I said, you are gods, and sons of the Most High all of you (Psalm LXXXII); but by nature equal in all things to the Father, namely the one about whom the Father himself speaks in the presence of his children, that is, the prophets, adopted into sons by grace. He called upon me: You are my Father, my God, and the support of my salvation. And I will make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth (Psalm LXXXIX). For the Jewish slayers of Christ understood what the confessors of the name of Christ, the Arians, cannot understand when Christ said: My Father works until now, and I work (John V), that he declared himself equal to God the Father, because those whose work is the same, their majesty is also equal. Truly, the impiety of both tends to one end, of those who, understanding what the Lord said, denied he spoke the truth: the others indeed admit that the Lord testified truly about himself, but refuse to follow and understand the sense of the truth in these words. To avoid their dreadful end, it is necessary for us, most beloved brothers, to both believe the words of our Savior as full of truth, and strive to understand them rightly, moreover to place all our hope of salvation in them. Truly let us believe he proclaimed himself equal to the Father in power, glory, eternity, and kingdom; and by living well, let us strive to come to the one vision of both: about which, when Philip asked and said: Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us (John XIV), the Lord himself answered, saying: He who sees me, sees my Father also. Certainly, it should be noted that the phrase making himself equal to God is said from the perspective of the Jews, who thought the Lord Jesus was proclaiming himself to be what he was not, and not truly intimating what he was. But we, brothers, who are imbued with the teachings and sacraments of the Catholic faith, let us believe and confess our Lord Jesus Christ, made in humanity equal to us by nature, and in divinity always equal to the Father. Neither in either nature did he pretend to be what he was not; but in both, he truly proclaimed what he was, who may deign to lead us to see perpetually the glory of his majesty, in which he lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.
OMILIA XVII. POST TEOFANIAM
GIOVANNA. I. At that time Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and he found Philip, and Jesus said to him, Follow me.
We have heard from the reading of the Gospel, dearest brothers, the kind grace of our Redeemer, for he not only mercifully calls us to follow him, but also graciously receives those who come and piously guides them to the knowledge of the brightness of his divinity. We have heard the devoted faith, charity, and actions of the disciples, in which indeed the entire perfection of the present Church consists, for without faith it is impossible to please God, and faith without works is idle; and whatever virtues one may possess, however much he may advance in faith, if he has not charity, it profits him nothing. For Philip not only followed Jesus who called him, but also preached to Nathanael to follow him. This is surely faith working through love: it is faith, because he did not delay to believe in Jesus, whom he recognized as Christ; it is the work of love, because he immediately showed by following how much he loved him whom he recognized; he also taught how much he burned with love for his neighbor by evangelizing to him. Likewise, his neighbor Nathanael showed how much care and love he had towards the master of truth. Immediately called, he did not delay to come; he intimated how much his faith comprehended the perfection of greatness: he confessed with an open voice that he was the Son of God and king of Israel, that is, Christ.
Jesus wanted, he said, to go into Galilee, and he found Philip, and said to him, Follow me. It is already evident from the preceding passages why Jesus wanted to go into Galilee, namely from Judea, where John was baptizing and bearing witness to him as the Lamb of God. He encouraged two of his disciples to follow him, one of whom, Andrew, also brought his brother Peter to him. It is clear in a spiritual sense, and your fraternity's frequent exposition has already recognized what it means to follow the Lord. For one who imitates follows the Lord; one who, as much as human frailty allows, does not abandon the examples of humility shown by the Son of God in his humanity, follows the Lord. One who, by becoming a companion in suffering, diligently desires to attain fellowship in his resurrection and ascension follows the Lord. But it is not without a certain reason for the mystery that it is said Jesus wanted to go into Galilee, saying to Philip, Follow me. For Galilee is called a place of migration, signifying the progress of the faithful, either migrating from vices to the height of virtues or gradually making progress in virtues themselves, and striving day by day from lesser to greater things until they reach the summit of heavenly joy from this valley of tears with the Lord's help. In that it signifies revelation, it suggests the very blessedness of eternal life, for which they labor at present, both of which interpretations the Psalmist encompasses in one verse, where he says: They shall walk from strength to strength, the God of gods shall be seen in Zion (Psalm 84). This vision is also referred to by the Apostle: But we, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord, the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3). Therefore, it is fitting that when he was about to call a disciple to follow him, he wanted to go into Galilee, that is, into a place of migration or revelation, so that just as he, as the Gospel testifies, advanced in age and wisdom and grace before God and men, just as he suffered and rose again and thus entered into his glory, so also he might show his followers that they should advance in virtues and, through transitory sufferings, migrate to the gifts of eternal joys.
Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. The evangelist is not to be thought to have mentioned the name of the city from which Philip came without reason or mysteriously, and to have shown that it was the same for Andrew and Peter as well; but through the name of the city, he typified what kind of soul Philip would have then, what kind of duty he was going to undertake, and what kind of persons Peter and Andrew also would be. Bethsaida indeed is called the house of fishermen, and they were surely fishermen who heard from the Lord: "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men" (Mt. IV). He who was so intent on catching souls for life even before he was appointed to the office of preaching by the Lord, soon showed his intent by preaching voluntarily. For he found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth." Let us see how much the net of faith, woven with the meshes of devoted preaching, encircles his found brother, whom he eagerly desires to capture for eternal salvation. He says they have found him whom Moses and the prophets marked as to come in their writings, so that it is understood by all following him that he is the one to whose coming all the writings of the ancients served in proclaiming. Therefore he names him, because the oracles of the prophets foretold the name of Christ to come. Habakkuk, wishing to be saved by his grace, says, "But I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Habak. III). And Zechariah, making mention of the trial in which he overcame the devil, also showed, "And he showed me Jesus the great priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right to oppose him" (Zach. III). Also Jacob the patriarch, greeting the mystery of his incarnation from afar and expecting it, says, "I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord" (Gen. XLVIII). For in Hebrew, "Jesus" means "Savior" or "Salvation" in Latin. Likewise, the Psalmist, promising his eternal vision to the faithful people, says in the person of God the Father, "With length of days I will satisfy him, and show him my salvation" (Ps. XC). Also, Simeon, that venerable old man and prophet of the New Testament, when he took him in his arms as a small child, but with his mind recognized him great in divinity, instructed by the same spirit, gave thanks thus: "Now let thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for my eyes have seen thy salvation" (Luke II). He calls him the son of Joseph, not to assert that he was born from the union of a man and a woman, whom he had learned from the prophets would be born of a virgin; but he teaches that he came from the house and family of David where he knew Joseph was born according to the prophecies of the prophets. Nor is it surprising if Philip calls him the son of Joseph whom he knew was the husband of his immaculate mother, since even the immaculate mother herself, always a virgin following popular custom, is recorded to have spoken thus: "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you sorrowing" (Luke II). He also adds the homeland of Nazareth to indicate that he is the one about whom they had read in the prophets that he would be called a Nazarene. Therefore, it is no wonder that Philip quickly captivated Nathanael to believe and come to Christ, surrounded by so many nets of truth, "We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets wrote, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth" (John I). Nor is it undeservedly asserted that he was from Bethsaida, that is, the house of fishermen, who is shown to have received such care and grace of the dearly loved hunting by God.
And Nathanael said to him: Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Nazareth means cleanliness, or its flower, or separated. Therefore, agreeing with the words of the evangelist Philip to him, Nathanael said, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? As if he were openly saying: Can it be that something of great grace is arising for us from a city of such a name? Or it is indeed the Savior of the world, the Lord who is singularly holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and who speaks in the Song of Songs, I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys; and of whom the prophet said, a rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1), and the Nazarene, that is, a flower from its root, shall spring forth, or certainly some exceptional teacher, who was sent to proclaim to us the flower of virtues and purity of holiness. We can also rightly understand this passage in such a way that, with Philip saying, whom Moses wrote about in the law and the prophets we have found Jesus, son of Joseph from Nazareth, Nathanael properly understood, but wondered how he could say that Christ had come from Nazareth, whom the prophets had proclaimed would come from the house of David and from Bethlehem, the city where David was; and therefore he answered with amazement from Nazareth; but immediately recalling how even the name Nazareth corresponded with the mysteries of Christ, he cautiously agreed with the preacher, saying, Can something good be from there? What follows may fit both meanings:
Philip said to him: Come and see. For he was urging him to come and see for himself, so that if any ambiguity remained in his heart regarding the words of the preacher, this would be entirely dispelled by the sight and conversation of the one whom he was preaching. And the pious listener did not delay in diligently seeking the preached light of truth and earnestly knocking, so that he might deserve to receive it by perseverance: whereupon the Lord, hastening to satisfy his desire for blessings, rewarded his wholesome beginnings with provident praise, so that he would gradually raise him to seek and grasp higher things.
He saw him coming to him and said of him: Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit. It should be noted here that God, who knows the hearts, praises not the man as sinless but as without deceit. For there is no just man upon earth that does good and sins not: many, however, are read to have walked without deceit, that is, to have lived with a simple and pure heart: indeed, all the faithful are taught to live in such a manner, as the Scripture says, "Think of the Lord in goodness, and seek him in simplicity of heart" (Wis. I). And the Lord himself says, "Be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves" (Mt. X). Such was the example of patience Job, of whom it is written: "That man was simple and upright" (Job I). Such was the patriarch Jacob, of whom it is said: "Jacob was a simple man, dwelling in tents" (Gen. XXV); because he deserved by the purity of a simple conscience to see God, he was also called Israel, that is, a man seeing God. Behold one who truly draws his lineage from the God-seeing patriarch, in whom, as in the patriarch himself, no duplicity of deceit is found. O how beautiful an omen for one coming to God and desiring to see Him! Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Mt. V). And this one, desiring to see God, is praised as pure in heart and an Israelite, that is, declared to be descended from a man seeing God, not by another but by God himself, who examines the reins and hearts. O how great a hope of salvation is opened to us too in this saying of our Redeemer, we who come to the faith from the Gentiles! For if he is truly an Israelite who walks without deceit, then the Jews have already lost the name of Israelites, however much they may be carnally born of Israel, insofar as they have degenerated from the simplicity of their patriarch with deceitful hearts, and we ourselves have been adopted into the seed of Israelites who, although having the fleshly lineage from other nations, yet follow in the faith of truth and the purity of mind and body the footsteps of Israel, according to the Apostle: "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called" (Rom. IX), that is, not those who are children of the flesh are children of God; but those who are children of promise are counted as seed.
Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." Nathanael answered him and said, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel." Because Nathanael recognized that the Lord saw and knew what was happening elsewhere, that is, how and where he was called by Philip when he himself was not physically there, considering here the insight of divine majesty, he immediately confessed him not only as Rabbi, that is, teacher, but also as the Son of God and the King of Israel, that is, Christ. And it is pleasing to observe how prudent a confession responds to the Lord's praise of the servant. He, having truly affirmed this Israelite, that is, a man capable of seeing God, because he was without deceit; this one acknowledges him not only as a teacher who commands useful things, but also as the Son of God who grants heavenly gifts, and the King of Israel, that is, of the people seeing God, with religious devotion, so that by this confession he also signifies this as his king and himself as a soldier of his kingdom. However, this saying of the Lord, where he said he saw Nathanael under the fig tree before he was called by Philip, can be mystically understood concerning the chosen of spiritual Israel, that is, the Christian people, whom the Lord, not yet seeing him, not yet called to the grace of faith through his apostles, but still hidden under the covering of pressing sin, condescended to see mercifully, as Paul attests, who said: "Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love" (Eph. I). And indeed, the fig tree sometimes in Scriptures insinuates the sweetness of heavenly love, whence it is written: "He who keeps the fig tree eats its fruit; and he who guards his master will be honored" (Prov. XXVII); but because our first parents, confused by the guilt of transgression, made for themselves coverings of fig leaves, the fig tree can not incongruously signify the sweetened habit of sinning in humanity, under which his chosen ones are still placed, but not yet recognizing the grace of their election, almost as if placed under the fig tree, the Lord saw Nathanael who did not yet see himself. For the Lord knows those who are his; to whose salvation also the name of Nathanael fittingly applies. For Nathanael means "gift of God," and unless someone is called by the gift of God, he can never escape the guilt of the first transgression, never the deceitful shades of daily sins enticing him, never deserves to come to Christ for salvation. Whence the Apostle says: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast" (Eph. II).
Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these." What is greater, of which he speaks, he himself later reveals by promising the opening of the heavenly kingdom to those who believe and foretelling to the world both natures of his one person, which indeed is a much greater mystery than that which he foresaw, that we, still placed in the shadow of sin, would be enlightened by him. For it is greater that he filled us with the grace of his knowledge, that he opens to us the joys of heaven, that he spread preachers of his faith throughout the world, than that he foresaw us to be saved by the power of his majesty before the ages.
Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Filled with the fulfillment of this promise of marmalade, we have seen heaven opened, for after heaven, God made man penetrated, even we, believing in His name, acknowledge that the way to the heavenly homeland is opened to us. We see the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man, because we know that holy preachers proclaim both the sublimity of Christ's divinity and the weaknesses of his humanity. Angels ascend upon the Son of Man when teachers teach that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John I). Angels descend upon the Son of Man when they proclaim that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. It is not without reason that holy preachers are typified as angels, who are usually given the name of evangelists derived from angels, so that just as these are messengers, so are those who are called good messengers because of the supreme duty of preaching. And it should be noted that the Lord calls Himself the Son of Man, while Nathanael proclaims Him the Son of God. This is similar to what is recorded in other evangelists, when the Lord asks His disciples whom men say the Son of Man is; and Peter answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt. XVI). And indeed it was done by the proper administration of dispensation, that while both substances of the same mediator, God and our Lord, ought to be mentioned either by the Lord Himself or by a pure man, God, man would declare the frailty of the humanity He assumed, and the pure man would assert the strength of the eternal divinity in Him; He declared His humility, and the man declared His exaltation. It is also to be noted that the Lord, who calls the blessed Nathanael a true Israelite, in this word which He says, "You will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man" (John I), recalls the vision of the patriarch Jacob who was called Israel by blessing. For when he wished to rest in a certain place and had put a stone under his head, he saw in his dreams a ladder standing upon the earth, and its top reaching to heaven; and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it, and the Lord leaning upon the ladder, saying to him, I am the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac; and rising in the morning, and with due reverence giving praise to the Lord, he took the stone and set it up as a pillar, pouring oil over it. The Lord therefore makes mention of this place, and manifestly testifies that it prefigured Himself and His faithful ones. The ladder seen is the Church, born from the earth, yet having its conversation in heaven, by which angels ascend and descend as the evangelists sometimes announce to perfect listeners the secrets of His divinity's superiority, and sometimes to the still unlearned the frailties of His humanity. Or indeed they ascend when they pass in mind to contemplate heavenly things. They descend indeed when they instruct their listeners on how they ought to live on earth. The stone under Jacob's head is the Lord, on whom we ought to lean all the more intently, as it is clear to us that without Him we can do nothing. Jacob anointed the stone and set it up as a pillar, for the true Israelite understands that our Redeemer was anointed by the Father with the oil of gladness above His companions; from which anointing, that is, the chrism, Christ derives His name, whose mystery of incarnation is indeed the title of our redemption. And it is rightly stated that when the stone is anointed on earth and set up as a pillar, the Lord is revealed in heaven, because certainly He appeared in time among men as a man, who remains eternal with the Father as God; who, having conquered death, ascended above the heavens to the East, He remains as the symbol of our salvation with us all the days until the consummation of the world, transferring from the earth to heaven the body he assumed, but encompassing both earth and heaven with the presence of His divinity. Therefore, the Lord, expounding to us the ancient history of Israel, shows that the simplicity of the faithful people represented by Nathanael was prefigured; He reveals that in the stone upon which the angels ascended and descended, He Himself was signified, whose dual nature is in turn proclaimed by spiritual teachers. For Israel as if anoints the stone with oil when Nathanael confesses how God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power, saying, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel (John I). It is now clear, after the reading of the holy Gospel has been explained, my brothers, that it was not without reason the great mystery was foretold at the beginning of it that Jesus wanted to go out to Galilee, and then it was added how he called Philip and how Nathanael, called by him, accepted and was instructed by the light of truth. For indeed, as we said, Galilee is interpreted as Transfiguration or Revelation. And it is rightly said that He wanted to go out to Galilee when He deigned to reveal the sacraments of His majesty to the faithful: to whose perfect knowledge, which is the only blessed life of man, we will then ascend all the more sublimely, since we now diligently strive to migrate from earthly things to heavenly things, and to advance by the steps of virtues, with the aid of Him who is accustomed to ascend, promote, and crown the desires of the good, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.
HOMILY XVIII. ON THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT. MATT. XVII, MARK IX, LUKE IX. At that time, Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain alone, and He was transfigured before them.
Since our Lord and Redeemer has intended to lead His chosen ones through the labors of this life to that life of future blessedness which knows no labor, He sometimes describes in His Gospel the efforts of temporal struggles, and sometimes the reward of eternal victories: so that, having heard the necessity of struggles, they may remember not to seek rest in this life; and having heard again the sweetness of the future recompense, they may more lightly bear the passing evils, which they hope to be rewarded by eternal good. For when He had just mentioned His and His followers' sufferings a little earlier, He immediately added what we have now heard as it was being read, saying:
For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Where most aptly [some manuscripts: most openly] He designates the day of the final judgment, when He will come in great power and majesty to judge the world, who once came in humility and lowliness to be judged by the world. When with judicial scrutiny He will seek the perfection of works from those to whom, by the generosity of His mercy, He has granted the grace of His gifts. When He will reward each according to his works, He will lead the chosen into the kingdom of His Father and will cast the reprobates with the devil into eternal fire. And it is beautifully said that the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father. For the Son of Man will come in the glory of God the Father, because He who is lesser than the Father in human nature is in divinity of one and the same glory with the Father, true man in every respect and true God. Rightly, therefore, He delights the pious and rightly terrifies the obstinate with what follows. And then He will reward each according to his works: because those who now doing good are afflicted by the injustices of the wicked, eagerly await that time when through a just judge they will not only be freed from the injuries of the unjust but also receive the reward of their righteousness and patience. But those who live wickedly and consider the patience of the judge as negligence, rightly [some manuscripts: righteous] when they repent too late, are struck by the sentence of eternal damnation. This evangelical sentiment is in harmony with what the Psalmist says: I will sing of mercy and judgment to you, O Lord (Psalm 101). First, he declares that he will sing of mercy, and then of judgment: because indeed the Lord, who in His first coming generously bestowed mercy upon us, will strictly exact it in His second coming. But any perverse person who despises the mercy of the generous One justly fears the judgment of the scrutinizing Lord. But he who gratefully remembers to have received the grace of mercy, joyfully awaits the trial of judgment, and thus with free modulation sings of mercy and judgment to his judge. However, since the time of universal judgment is uncertain to all, and the hour of each one's departure is uncertain, and the present affliction might seem long to those not knowing when the promised rest will come, the merciful teacher wished to premonstrate the joys of the eternal promise to some of His disciples still living on earth: so that those who had seen it and all who could hear might more readily endure present adversities by often recalling to mind the promised reward they await. Following this:
Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. For the disciples saw him coming in his kingdom, because they saw him shining on the mountain in that brightness, in which he will be seen by all the saints in his kingdom after the judgment has been carried out. But what the mortal and bodily eyes of the disciples could not yet bear, then through the resurrection made incorruptible, the whole Church of the saints will be able to powerfully behold, of which it is written: "Their eyes will see the king in his beauty" (Isaiah 33).
And after six days Jesus took Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain. To show His glory to the disciples, He leads them up a high mountain, to teach all who desire to see this, not to lie in low pleasures, not to serve carnal allurements, not to cling to earthly desires, but always to be raised to the heights by the love of eternal things: angelic purity, piety, peace, love, and the life of justice, as far as is possible for mortals, should always be imitated according to Him who said: But our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil. III). To show the glory of His majesty, He leads the disciples to the mountain, so that they might learn themselves, and that all who thirst to see this might learn, not to seek it in the depth of this world, but in the kingdom of heavenly blessedness. And well He said, because He leads them up a high mountain, He added separately: because the just, although now oppressed by the proximity of the wicked, are in soul and with full intent of faith separated from them, and in the future are completely separated from them, when He will hide them in the secret of His face from the disturbance of men, He will protect them in His tabernacle from the strife of tongues. But the six days after which He promised the disciples the revelation of His vision of glory, signifies that the saints in the day of judgment will receive the kingdom that was promised to them by Him who does not lie, before the secular ages. Indeed, the secular ages consist of six periods, which being completed, they will hear Him saying: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Mt. XXV). The six days of the promised vision of the Lord and the glory of good works can signify [other: denote] the perfection [other: perfectionment] of good works, without which no one can attain to the contemplation of the majesty of his Maker. For as the Lord created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day from His works, rightly through six days good works are expressed, through which we must reach rest. And because he who desires to see God, who longs to reach the glory of the blessed resurrection, ought to do good which he knows, rightly after six days He shows the glory of His kingdom, which He promised to the disciples.
And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun: and his garments became white as snow. The Lord was transfigured before the disciples and signified the glory of his body which was to be illuminated by the resurrection, and he manifested how great the brightness of the bodies of all the elect will be after the resurrection. For elsewhere, he also says of these: Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Mt. XIII), and here in example of the future glorification, his face shone like the sun. Not because the brightness and glory of the Lord and his saints can be equal, as the Apostle says of these same saints: One star differs from another star in brightness, so also is the resurrection of the dead (I Cor. XV): but because we know nothing brighter than the sun, the glory of the Lord’s resurrection, and that of the saints, is compared to the appearance of the sun, since something brighter than the sun from which an example could be given to men could not be found. However, no one in the judgment of the reprobate is thought to see this glorious majesty of the Lord's body, this brightness of the bodies of the saints. They will only see the one whom they pierced, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. But when judgment is completed, the wicked being removed so that they do not see the glory of God, then the righteous, transfigured in the light of incorruption to the extent of their capacity, will enter to the perpetual contemplation of the glory of his kingdom: whence the Apostle says: He will transform our humble body to be like his glorious body (Philip. III). But if anyone inquires what the garments of the Lord, which became white as snow, typically signify, it is reasonable to understand that his saints' Church is shown through these, about which Isaiah says: You will put them all on as an ornament (Isa. XLIX): and the Apostle: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Galat. III). In the time of the resurrection, they are purified from all stains of iniquity and from all obscurity of mortality. Hence the evangelist Mark fittingly says about the garments of the Lord: That they became radiant, extraordinarily white as snow, such as no fuller on earth can make white (Marc. IX); because it is evident to all, no one can live without corruption and pain on earth. It is clear to all wise men, though heretics contradict. No one can live without the touch of any sin on earth. But what no fuller, that is, teacher of souls or someone of exceptional bodily purity can effect on earth, the Lord will accomplish in heaven, cleansing the Church, namely his garment, from all defilements of flesh and spirit, and refashioning it with eternal beatitude and light of flesh and spirit.
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, speaking with him. What they appeared like, and what they spoke with him, Luke writes more clearly, saying: But Moses and Elijah appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). Therefore, Moses and Elijah, who spoke with the Lord on the mountain and discussed his passion and resurrection, represent the prophecies of the law and prophets which are fulfilled in the Lord and now are evident to the learned, and will be more manifest to all the elect in the future. They are rightly said to be seen in glory, because at that time the full dignity of all the divine utterances will be openly seen, not only in meaning but also in word: although in Moses and Elijah all who will reign with the Lord can be rightly understood. In Moses who died and was buried, those who will be resurrected from death at the judgment; in Elijah, who has not yet paid the debt of death, those who will be found alive in the flesh at the coming of the judge. Both groups will together be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air at the same moment, and, once judgment is completed, they will be led into eternal life. It is fitting that Moses and Elijah are said to have been seen in glory; for through the excellence of the glory, the honor of the reward by which they are to be crowned is shown. It is also fitting that they are remembered to have spoken of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem: because the passion of the Redeemer universally serves as a matter of praise for his faithful; the more they have deserved to be redeemed by his grace, the more they continually remember their restoration with devoted minds and testify with devout confession. Truly, as anyone tastes more of the sweetness of heavenly life, they become more disdainful of all things that delighted them in the lower world, and therefore Peter, having seen the glory of the Lord and his saints, suddenly forgets all the earthly things he knew and desires to adhere perpetually to what he has seen, saying:
Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, let us make here three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. And indeed blessed Peter, as another evangelist testifies (Luke 9), did not know what he was saying, in that he thought tabernacles should be made for the heavenly conversation. For in that glory of heavenly life, a house will not be necessary, where, with the light of divine contemplation making all things peaceful, no aura of any adversity will remain to be feared, as the Apostle John testifies, who describing the clarity of that same heavenly city, among other things says: "And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple" (Rev. 21). But he well knew what he was saying when he said: "Lord, it is good for us to be here," because truly the only good for man is to enter into the joy of his Lord, and to stand by contemplating Him forever. Hence deservedly we must think that he never had any true good, who by his demanding guilt happens never to see the face of his Creator. If then blessed Peter, having contemplated the glorified humanity of Christ, is so affected with joy that he never wants to be separated from His sight, what do we think, dearest brothers, of the blessedness of those who have merited to see the height of His divinity? And if he judged it the greatest good to see the transfigured form of Christ on the mountain with only two holy men, Moses and Elijah, what words can explain, what mind can comprehend, how great the joys of the just must be when they draw near to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, Jerusalem, and the company of many thousands of angels, and behold the very Maker and Founder of that same city, not through a glass in enigmas as now, but face to face? About this vision, Peter himself says, speaking to the faithful of the Lord: "In whom, though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Peter 1).
While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice from the cloud said: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to him." Because they sought to build tabernacles, they were reminded by the overshadowing bright cloud that in that heavenly abode of life, houses are not necessary, where the Lord protects all things eternally with the shadowing of his light. For He who spread a cloud for forty years to protect the people walking through the desert, so that neither the sun by day nor the moon by night would strike them, how much more will He protect those dwelling in the tabernacle of the heavenly kingdom through the ages under the covering of His holy wings? For we know, as the Apostle teaches: "For if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Cor. 5). Because they desired to see the resplendent face of the Son of Man, the Father was present in the voice, teaching that the same is His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased: so that from the glory of His humanity, which they saw, they might learn to yearn for the contemplation of the presence of His divinity, equal to that of the Father. And the Father's voice said about the Son, "In whom I am well pleased," signifying what the Son elsewhere testifies: "And He who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases Him" (John 8). And when He added, "Listen to him," it reminded them that He is the one about whom Moses, giving the law to the same people, had forewarned: "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers; you shall listen to him in everything he tells you" (Deut. 18). He does not forbid listening to Moses and Elijah, that is, the law and the prophets, but He suggests that the listening to the Son, who came to fulfill the law and the prophets, should be preferred, implying that the light of the evangelical truth should be set above all the figures and enigmas of the Old Testament. And indeed by a pious dispensation, the faith of the disciples, so that they might not stumble when the Lord is crucified, is strengthened, while at the very moment of the impending cross His humanity is shown to be lifted up by heavenly light through the resurrection: and because the Son is coeternal in divinity with the Father, it is proved by the heavenly voice of the same Father, so that when the hour of passion arrives they might grieve less for Him dying, remembering that after death He would be immediately glorified in humanity, and that in divinity He is always glorified by God the Father. However, the disciples, still as if carnal and of fragile substance, being frightened by the voice of God, fell on their faces. But the Lord, as the compassionate teacher in all things, consoled and lifted them up with both word and touch.
And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying: Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead. He commanded the vision of His revealed majesty to be kept silent for a time, lest, if it were openly spread among the people, they might either oppose His passion's dispensation by resisting, which would delay the effect of human salvation that was to come through His blood, or those who believed the vision after hearing it might be scandalized at the reproach of the cross. After His passion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven were accomplished, and the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit, it was preached so that all who wished to be initiated into His sacraments might not only believe in the effect of the resurrection but also learn the manner of the same resurrection from those who had seen [or, had seen it], and also that they might unanimously preach and love the eternity of the divine nativity which they had heard from the Father, as something to be believed and loved by all. Therefore, having expounded the reading on the Lord’s transfiguration, let us return, most beloved brothers, to our own conscience, and if it pleases us to see the glory of the Lord, let us, transcending carnal desires, ascend the mountain of virtues. If we wish to be counted among the white-clad of the Lord’s raiment, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. If we desire to hear the voice of God the Father, if we wish to behold the majesty of His consubstantial Son, let us strive diligently to avoid perverse and useless words of mortals; let us strive to turn our eyes away from the superfluous spectacles of the world, so that in the shining glory of our resurrection, we may also be fit to see and speak of the marvels of our Creator, who grants this, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.