10. (Vers. 7.). Secondly, with respect to the raising up of human confidence, he adds: And will not God avenge his elect, out of the strictness of his judgment: Romans chapter twelve: "Vengeance is mine, and I will repay"; and Deuteronomy chapter thirty-two: "Vengeance is mine, and I will repay them in due time, when their foot shall slip."
Of those crying out to him day and night, namely from the affliction of the soul; Revelation 6: "I saw under the altar of God the souls of those slain for the Word of God, and they cried out with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?" etc.; indeed, even when they themselves are silent with their mouths, their tribulations cry out; Genesis 4: "The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the earth."
And will he have patience with them? through a relaxation of zeal; as if to say: no; because Ecclesiasticus 35: "The Lord will judge the just and will execute judgment, and the Almighty will not have patience with them, so as to crush their backs." This, however, is said not because the Lord does not wait for sinners, but because, with judgment imminent, he no longer wills to wait; Romans 2: "Do you despise the riches of his goodness and patience and long-suffering?" "But according to your hardness and impenitent heart, you treasure up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his works: to those who according to patience in good work, glory and honor and incorruption; but to those who are contentious, who do not acquiesce to the truth but believe iniquity, wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of one who works evil." 11. (Verse 8). I say to you that he will quickly execute vengeance for them; and this through the avenging of sin; Deuteronomy 32: "He will avenge the blood of his servants," "and he will repay vengeance upon their enemies, and he will be merciful to the land of his people"; and Ecclesiasticus 35: "He will repay vengeance to the nations, until he takes away the fullness of the proud; and he will crush the scepters of the unjust, until he renders to men according to their deeds and according to the works of Adam and according to their presumption, until he judges the judgment of his people." — But is it proper for the Saints to cry out to God for vengeance, since it is said in Ecclesiasticus 28: "He who wishes to be avenged will find vengeance from the Lord, and the Lord will surely preserve his sins"? — I respond: There is the vengeance of affliction that makes one return to God, or that makes one cease from foolishness. They can desire the first absolutely, and the second, if it pleases God. But the vengeance of affliction upon the person they ought to abhor, and against the vengeance of eternal damnation they ought to intercede.
12. Third, as regards the rebuke of distrust, he adds: But yet the Son of man, when he comes, do you think he will find faith on the earth ? He says this indeed because, although the faith of belief may seem to be in many, the faith of faithfulness and of confidence is found in few; Proverbs 20: "Many men are called merciful, but a faithful man who shall find?"; and Jeremiah 7: "Faith has perished and has been taken away from their mouth." And this will be especially so as the coming of the Son of God draws near; Matthew 24: "Because iniquity will abound, the charity of many will grow cold"; and Isaiah 24: "These things shall be in the midst of the earth, in the midst of the peoples, as if a few olives that have remained should be shaken from the olive tree, and grape-clusters when the vintage is finished."
And note that the Lord says do you think, not because he doubts, but because he reproves and condemns doubt. Whence the Gloss: " Do you think ? In the word of doubt, unfaithfulness is rebuked; the Divinity does not hold an opinion, for he through whom all things were made knows all things; but by doubting he rebukes the hearts of the unfaithful." Whence that seeming inquiry of the Lord designates the doubt and wavering that will be in that tribulation finally impending, on account of which there will be no one who rises up and takes hold of him, lest he rise up to destroy the earth, according to that passage of Isaiah 64: "There is no one who calls upon your name, who rises up and takes hold of you: you have hidden your face from us and have dashed us to pieces in the hand of our iniquity."
13. But he spoke to certain ones who trusted in themselves etc. After he has urged the persistence of prayer, in this part he intends to urge reverence in prayer. But since reverence cannot be had in prayer unless humility is also had in one's manner of life, therefore in this part he first introduces a parabolic example to commend humility in prayer; and second, an explicit example to commend humility in one's manner of life, at the passage: And they were bringing infants to him.
In unfolding the parable, he proceeds in this manner. For first he touches upon the conditions of the persons; second, the conditions of the prayers, at the passage: But the Pharisee, standing, prayed within himself; third, the conditions of the hearings, at the passage: Amen I say to you, this man went down etc.
Concerning the conditions of the persons, he proceeds in this order. For he touches upon the conditions of the persons to whom he speaks and about whom he speaks.
14. (Vers. 9.). First, therefore, as regards the conditions of the persons to whom he speaks, he says: He spoke also to certain ones who trusted in themselves as just, through the magnification of their own virtue: and this is to be proud against God, according to that passage in Romans 10: "Being ignorant of the justice of God and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to the justice of God." Now someone trusts in himself as just when he considers himself just from his own works, as the Jews did; Romans 2: "You approve the more profitable things, being instructed by the Law: you are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light of those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, having the form of knowledge and of truth in the Law." But this confidence is rather the enemy of true justice: Proverbs 11: "He who trusts in his riches shall fall"; on account of which, Jeremiah 48: "Because you had confidence in your fortifications and in your treasures, you also shall be taken." And all this is on account of the defect of humility,
which is the foundation of all justice. Whence Gregory: "Indeed, truth flees the mind which it does not find humble"; and again the same: "He who gathers virtues without humility carries, as it were, dust into the wind."
And because presumption of oneself leads to contempt of one's neighbor, therefore he adds: And they despised the rest, that is, as regards contempt of another's merit, like those of whom Isaiah 65 says: "Who say: Depart from me, do not come near me. These shall be smoke in my fury, a fire burning all day long." And therefore Romans 14: "Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let him who does not eat not judge him who eats"; and Sirach 11: "Do not despise a man in his appearance. The bee is small among flying things, and her fruit has the beginning of sweetness."
To these therefore he spoke this parable in detestation of pride and in praise of humility: whence the Gloss: "In this parable he shows that not the words of faith alone, but works are to be examined: among which humility especially reigns, which because the proud, presuming upon their own justice and despising the weak, do not have, as if devoid of faith, when they pray, they are despised."
15. (Verse 10.) Second, as to the conditions of the persons about whom he speaks, he adds: Two men went up to the temple to pray, with a conformable and indeed laudable intention. For we ought to ascend to the temple for this purpose, that we may pray, according to that passage in Matthew twenty-one: "My house shall be called the house of prayer." Whence Augustine says: "Let no one do anything in a place of prayer except that for which it was made, from which it also received its name." Whence also the Lord cast out those who were not praying in the temple but trading, not without harshness of words: John two: "Jesus found in the temple those selling sheep and oxen and doves, and the money-changers sitting. And when he had made a whip of cords, he cast them all out of the temple. And he said to them: Take these things away from here, and do not make my Father's house a house of commerce"; and this, because that house was a house of prayer. And for this reason, so that it might befit the purpose for which it existed, it was therefore built on high, and it was necessary to ascend by steps, to intimate that whoever wishes to pray must raise himself upward. Whence also in the Preface it is said: "Lift up your hearts"; and Bernard says that "although God is everywhere, nevertheless in prayer he must be thought of as above, so that our heart may be lifted upward." As a figure of this, in Exodus twenty-four, "the Lord said to Moses: Come up to me on the mountain." Although, however, they were tending toward one and the same place, they nevertheless had a great difference of conduct; and therefore he adds: One a Pharisee, and the other a publican, by their dissimilar manner of life. Whence the Pharisee was apparently just, because the Pharisees were so called as being distinguished from others by habit, gesture, and observances, as if they were the chief observers of the Law itself, according to that passage in Acts twenty-six: "My manner of life from my youth all the Jews know, knowing me from the beginning, if they are willing to bear witness, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee." On the contrary, the publican was openly evil, because publicans were called the collectors of public taxes, as has often been explained, whence above in chapter fifteen: "The publicans and sinners were drawing near to Jesus to hear him. And the scribes and Pharisees were murmuring," etc. Therefore there is a great difference between the Pharisee and the publican as to appearance, and great also as to reality, because the Pharisee was undermining his own justice through arrogance, and the publican was purging his injustice through repentance. Therefore in Matthew twenty-one it is said to the Pharisees: "The publicans and harlots shall go before you into the kingdom of God." This, however, is said to the Pharisees not because they appeared good, but because they were proud in mind; on account of which it is said above in chapter sixteen: "You are they who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts, because what is exalted among men is an abomination before God."
16. But the Pharisee standing etc. After he described the conditions of the persons praying, here secondly he describes the conditions of the prayers . And here is described first the condition of the prayer on the part of the proud Pharisee; secondly, on the part of the publican humbling himself, at the words: And the publican standing afar off.
Now three things are intimated in the manner of praying of the Pharisee himself, in which the arrogance of his mind is manifested with respect both to God and to neighbor and also to himself. For here are introduced the Pharisee's own haughty thanksgiving, presumptuous reproach of others, and vainglorious commendation of himself.
17. (Vers. 11.). First therefore, as regards the haughty thanksgiving, he says: But the Pharisee standing prayed within himself: God, I give you thanks; in which the Pharisee is reproved, not because he gives thanks to God, but because he does this in a proud manner. Hence Gregory: "If he who proudly gives thanks is reproved, what then of him who attacks grace?" Now his haughtiness is apparent from the fact that he did not pray with body bowed down, but with head held high, since it is said in Isaiah sixty: "The sons of those who humbled you shall come bowed down to you, and they shall worship the steps of your feet." His haughtiness also appears because he prayed within himself, as one pleased with himself, contrary to what is said in Romans fifteen: "We who are stronger ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. For indeed Christ did not please himself." And therefore Proverbs three: "Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil," etc. His haughtiness appears no less because he began from the magnification of the goods which he had received, when he ought rather to have begun from the accusation of himself: Proverbs eighteen: "The just man is the first accuser of himself"; he began from lofty things, when he ought to have begun from the lowest, so as to arrive at the highest. Hence Jerome: "Humility is the first virtue of Christians," and therefore, when it is omitted, one labors in vain. Hence Bede: "Behold, the Pharisee has an eye for rendering thanks, but not for the keeping of humility. And what does it profit if the whole city is guarded, yet one opening through which enemies may enter is left unguarded?"
18. Second, as regards the presumptuous reproof of one's neighbor, he adds: Because I am not like the rest of men, as if to say: the rest are sinners, but I am righteous; whence the Interlinear Gloss: "What does the rest of men mean, except all besides himself? As if to say: I alone am righteous, the rest are sinners." And in this he spoke falsely in two ways: both because he said he was not a sinner, whereas it is said in First John 1: "If we say that we have no sin, we are liars, and the truth is not in us." He also spoke falsely because he said he alone was righteous, whereas the Lord says to Elijah, who said "I alone am left," in Third Kings 19: "I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bent their knees before Baal." But this man, though he is infinitely inferior, not only calls himself alone righteous, but also asserts that the rest are sinners, marking them with a multitude of vices.
And therefore he adds: Robbers, unjust, adulterers: so that robbers refers to the concupiscence of the eyes, unjust to the pride of life, and adulterers to the concupiscence of the flesh; by which he indicates that others besides himself are commonly infected with this threefold vice, from which flows the universal transgression and perpetration of sins, according to that passage in First John 2: "All that is in the world is either the concupiscence of the flesh, or the concupiscence of the eyes, or the pride of life."
And lest he seem to speak as one uncertain, he also brings forward the publican as an example, when he adds: Even as this publican: which he says not out of compassion for the publican, but rather out of contempt and mockery; against which, Ecclesiasticus 7: "Do not mock a man in the bitterness of his soul. For God, who watches over all things, is he who humbles and who exalts."
And note that the Pharisee, from his consideration of the publican, rose up to rashness of judgment, because, when he saw that the publican was a sinner, he condemned not only him but also all the rest. He also rose up to haughtiness of spirit; whence Bernard says: "The incentive to pride is the consideration of one who is worse, just as the incentive to humility is the consideration of one who is better."
19. (Vers. 12.). Third, as to the vainglorious commendation of himself, he adds: I fast twice on the Sabbath, I give tithes of all that I possess, as if to say: I keep perfect justice, both toward myself and toward God, because I mortify the flesh by fasting twice on the Sabbath, that is, in the week; and I keep piety toward God by rendering tithes and alms. And these two are what most please God: whence the Angel also said in Tobit 12: "Prayer with fasting and almsgiving is better than storing up treasures of gold." Whence here also he greatly commends himself, but in this he defiles his justice through vainglory: Proverbs 27: "Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips"; because, as it is said in Second Corinthians 10, "not he who commends himself is approved," but is rather certainly reprobated. Whence Sirach 7: "Do not justify yourself before God, for He Himself is the knower of hearts"; and Jeremiah 2: "Behold, I will contend with you in judgment, because you have said: I have not sinned"; and Job 9: "If I wish to justify myself, my own mouth will condemn me; if I show myself innocent, it will prove me perverse." And all this on account of the vice of pride, which most displeases God; Ephesians 2: "By grace you have been saved through faith. For it is the gift of God, not from works, lest anyone should boast."
20. But since this Pharisee acknowledges that the good things he has are from the Lord, he does not seem to glory vainly; because he glories vainly who "glories as though he had not received"; but this man gives thanks to God. — To which Bernard responds that he did not rightly acknowledge the good things he received: for he speaks thus: "He gives thanks not because he is good, but because he is alone; not so much for the good things he has, as for the evil things he sees in others." Such indeed is the manner of pride: whence Gregory says: "There are four kinds by which every swelling of the arrogant is shown: when someone thinks that the good he has, he has from himself; or, if he believes it was given by God, thinks it was given for his merits; or when he boasts of having what he does not have; or when, despising others, he desires to appear uniquely to have what he has." The Pharisee suffered from this plague, who by extolling his own merits preferred himself to all others.
21. (Vers. 13.). And the publican, standing afar off, etc. After he has expressed the conditions in the prayer of the proud Pharisee, here secondly he expresses the conditions of the prayer of the humble publican, in which is described the manifestation of perfect humility as to gesture, as to movement, and as to word.
First, as regards the indication of humility through gesture, he says: And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes toward heaven. Bede: "As a humble man, he does not dare to approach, so that God may approach him; he does not look up, so that he may be looked upon." For nothing pleases God so much in a penitent, as Bernard says, as humble shame; and in such a manner He wishes to be prayed to. Hence this publican was among those of whom Isaiah forty-nine says: "With their face bowed down to the earth, they shall worship you and lick the dust of your feet." He did not dare to lift up his eyes toward heaven, because he recognized that he had offended the God of heaven, so that he would say as the penitent prodigal son, above in the fifteenth chapter: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you"; and that of the last chapter of Second Chronicles: "I have sinned beyond the number of the sands of the sea, and my sins are multiplied, and I am not worthy to behold the height of heaven because of the multitude of my iniquity." Therefore he did not dare to lift up his face on account of shame for sin, so that within himself he would say that of First Ezra, chapter nine: "O Lord my God, I am confounded and ashamed to lift up my face to you, for our iniquities are multiplied above our head, and our offenses have grown up even to heaven."
22. Second, as regards the indication of humility with respect to bodily movement, he adds: But he struck his breast, by which he rendered himself guilty and showed himself to be grieving. For in this, that the breast is struck, the heart within is shown to be worthy of punishment; as a sign of which, in the last chapter of Second Kings, "David's heart struck him after the people had been numbered, and David said to the Lord: I have sinned greatly in this deed; but I pray, O Lord, that you would take away the iniquity of your servant." So this man struck his breast, as if indignant against himself. Hence the Gloss: "He strikes his breast and exacts punishment from himself, so that God may spare him." Hence it is also our custom in confession and in saying the fault to strike our breasts in reproach and penitence of our hearts and in attestation of our consciences. Hence below in the twenty-third chapter it is said that "the multitude of those who had come together to that spectacle and saw the things that were happening struck their breasts." On account of which the striking of the breast, as Augustine says, avails for the remission of venial sins; hence it is one of the eight things by which venial sins are remitted. For venial sins are said to be remitted by confession, striking of the breast, sprinkling of holy water, contrition of heart, signing with the cross, prayer, holy communion, and forgiveness of injuries; hence the verse: