HOMILY 33. Delivered to the people in the basilica of Saint Clement, on Friday of the Ember Days of September.
READING OF THE HOLY GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE. At that time, a certain Pharisee asked Jesus to eat with him. And entering the house of the Pharisee, he reclined at table. And behold, a woman who was a sinner in the city, when she learned that Jesus was reclining at table in the house of the Pharisee, brought an alabaster jar of ointment, and standing behind at his feet, she began to wet his feet with tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said within himself: This man, if he were a prophet, would surely know who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering, said to him: Simon, I have something to say to you. And he said: Master, speak. A certain creditor had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they had nothing to pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore loves him more? Simon answering, said: I suppose the one to whom he forgave more. And he said to him: You have judged rightly. And turning to the woman, he said to Simon: Do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet; but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she from the time she entered has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I say to you: Her many sins are forgiven, because she has loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loves less. And he said to her: Your sins are forgiven. And those who were reclining at table with him began to say within themselves: Who is this who even forgives sins? And he said to the woman: Your faith has saved you, go in peace.
As I think about Mary's repentance, I would rather weep than say anything. For whose heart, even if made of stone, would those tears of this sinful woman not soften toward the example of repentance? For she considered what she had done, and she refused to restrain what she would do. She entered upon those dining, she came unbidden, amid the feast she offered tears. Learn with what sorrow she burns, who is not ashamed to weep even amid a feast. This woman whom Luke calls a sinful woman, John names Mary, and we believe her to be that Mary from whom Mark testifies seven demons were cast out. And what is signified by seven demons, except all vices? For since all time is comprised in seven days, rightly by the number seven is universality represented. Therefore Mary had seven demons, because she was full of all vices. But behold, because she perceived the stains of her own shame, she ran to the fountain of mercy to be washed, she was not ashamed before those dining. For because she was gravely ashamed of herself within, she believed there was nothing to be ashamed of outwardly. What then do we marvel at, brothers, Mary coming, or the Lord receiving her? Shall I say receiving, or drawing? I shall say better, drawing and receiving, because surely he himself drew her inwardly through mercy, who received her outwardly through gentleness. But now, running through the text of the holy Gospel, let us see also the very order in which she came to be healed.
She brought an alabaster jar of ointment, and standing behind at Jesus's feet, she began to wet his feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment. It is clear, brothers, that this woman, previously devoted to illicit acts, had applied ointment to herself for the fragrance of her flesh. What she had shamefully used for herself, she was now offering to God in a praiseworthy manner. With her eyes she had lusted after earthly things, but now crushing them through penitence, she wept. She had used her hair for adorning her face, but now with her hair she wiped away tears. With her mouth she had spoken proud words, but kissing the Lord's feet, she pressed this same mouth to the footprints of her Redeemer. Therefore, as many pleasures as she had in herself, so many burnt offerings did she find from herself. She converted the number of her sins into virtues, so that everything which had despised God through her fault might serve God entirely in penitence.
But the Pharisee, observing this, despises her, and reproves not only the sinful woman who came but also the Lord who received her, saying within himself: "This man, if he were a prophet, would surely know who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, for she is a sinner." Behold, the Pharisee, truly proud within himself and falsely righteous, reproves the sick woman for her sickness and the physician for his assistance—he who was himself also sick from the wound of pride and did not know it. Between two sick persons the physician was present; but one sick person retained sound judgment in her fever, while the other had lost both the sense of the flesh and of the mind in his fever. For she wept over what she had done; but the Pharisee, puffed up with false righteousness, was aggravating the force of his own illness. In his sickness, therefore, he had also lost his judgment, who did not even know this very thing: that he was far from salvation. But amid these things, a groaning compels us to look at certain men of our own order who, endowed with the priestly office, if perhaps they have done anything outwardly righteous, even slightly, immediately despise those subject to them, and disdain any sinners placed among the people, and refuse to have compassion on those confessing their fault, and, as if in the manner of the Pharisee, disdain to be touched by a sinful woman. If indeed this woman had come to the feet of the Pharisee, she would certainly have departed, driven back by his kicks. For he would have believed himself defiled by another's sin. But because true righteousness did not fill him, he was sick from another's wound. Hence it is always necessary that when we observe any sinners, we first bewail ourselves in their calamity, because perhaps we have either fallen into similar sins or, if we have not fallen, we can fall. And if the censure of the teacher's office ought always to pursue vices with the force of discipline, it is nevertheless fitting that we carefully distinguish, because we owe severity to vices but compassion to nature. For if the sinner must be struck, the neighbor must be nourished. But when through repentance he himself now strikes what he has done, the sinner is now no longer our neighbor in that sense, because when he directs God's justice against himself, he punishes in himself what divine justice reproves.
But let us now hear by what judgment this proud and arrogant man is convicted. For a parable is set before him concerning two debtors, of whom one owes less and the other more; when the debt of both is forgiven, he is asked which one loves the forgiver of the debt more. To these words he immediately replied: He loves more to whom more is forgiven. In this matter it should be noted that while the Pharisee is convicted by his own judgment, like a madman he carries the rope by which he will be bound. The good deeds of the sinful woman are enumerated to him, the evil deeds of the false righteous man are enumerated, when it is said: I entered your house, you gave no water for my feet; but she has washed my feet with tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss; but she, from the time she entered, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil; but she has anointed my feet with ointment. After this enumeration, the judgment is added: Therefore I say to you: Her many sins are forgiven, because she loved much. What, my brothers, do we believe love to be, if not fire? And what is sin, if not rust? Hence it is now said: Her many sins are forgiven, because she loved much. As if it were openly said: She has fully burned away the rust of sin, because she burns intensely with the fire of love. For the rust of sin is consumed all the more, the more the sinner's heart is set ablaze with the great fire of charity. Behold, she who had come sick to the physician has been healed, but others are still sick concerning her salvation. For those reclining at table together complained, saying among themselves: Who is this who even forgives sins? But the heavenly physician does not despise the sick, even those whom he sees becoming worse from the medicine. And he confirms her whom he had healed by the sentence of his mercy, saying: Your faith has saved you, go in peace. For faith indeed saved her, because she did not doubt that she could receive what she sought. But she had already received that very certainty of hope from him from whom she also sought salvation through hope. And she is commanded to go in peace, so that she may no longer be turned aside from the way of truth into the path of scandal. Hence it is also said through Zechariah: To direct our feet into the way of peace. For we direct our steps into the way of peace when we proceed along that path of actions in which we are not at discord with the grace of our Creator. These things, dearest brothers, we have run through in historical exposition; now, if you please, let us discuss what has been said with mystical understanding. For whom does the Pharisee, presuming upon false righteousness, represent except the Jewish people? And whom does the sinful woman, but coming to the Lord's feet and weeping, designate except the converted Gentile world? She came with an alabaster jar, poured out ointment, stood behind at the Lord's feet, washed his feet with tears, wiped them with her hair, and did not cease to kiss those same feet which she was bathing and wiping. Therefore that woman represented us, us, if we return to the Lord with our whole heart after our sins, if we imitate her mourning of penitence. For what is expressed by the ointment except the fragrance of good reputation? Hence Paul also says: We are the good fragrance of Christ to God in every place. If therefore we do right works by which we spread the fragrance of good reputation upon the Church, what do we pour upon the Lord's body but ointment? But the woman stood beside Jesus' feet. For we stood against the Lord's feet when, placed in sins, we were held back from his ways. But if we turn to true penitence after sins, we now stand behind beside his feet, because we follow the footsteps of him whom we opposed. The woman washes his feet with tears. This we also truly do if we bend down with the feeling of compassion to any of the least members of the Lord, if we suffer with his saints in tribulation, if we consider their sorrow our own. The woman wiped with her hair the feet she had washed. For hair is superfluous to the body. And what does abundant earthly substance represent except the appearance of hair? Which, when it is superfluous to necessary use, does not even feel it when cut off. Therefore we wipe the Lord's feet with our hair when we show mercy to his saints, with whom we suffer out of charity, even from those things which are superfluous to us, so that the mind may grieve through compassion, and the generous hand may also show the feeling of grief. For one washes the Redeemer's feet with tears but does not wipe them with hair, who somehow suffers with a neighbor's pain but nevertheless does not show mercy to them from what is superfluous to himself. One weeps and does not wipe who indeed offers words of sorrow but does not in the least cut off the force of pain by ministering what is lacking. The woman kisses the feet she wipes. This we also fully do if we lovingly cherish those whom we support with generosity, lest the need of our neighbor be burdensome to us, lest his very poverty which is sustained become onerous to us, and while the hand gives what is necessary, the soul grows cold in love.
The feet can also be understood as the mystery of his incarnation, by which his divinity touched the earth, because he took on flesh. For the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Therefore we kiss the Redeemer's feet when we love the mystery of his incarnation with our whole heart. We anoint the feet with ointment when we proclaim the very power of his humanity with good report of sacred eloquence. But the Pharisee sees this and envies it, because when the Jewish people observe the Gentiles preaching God, they waste away in their own malice. But our Redeemer enumerates the deeds of this woman as if they were the good deeds of the Gentiles, so that the Jewish people might recognize in what evil they lie. For thus the Pharisee is rebuked, so that through him, as we have said, that faithless people might be shown. "I entered your house, you gave no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with tears." Water indeed is outside us, but the moisture of tears is within us, because that faithless people never gave even those things that were outside themselves for the Lord; but the converted Gentiles poured out not only the substance of their possessions but even their blood for him. "You gave me no kiss; but she, from the time she entered, has not ceased to kiss my feet." A kiss is indeed a sign of love. And that faithless people did not give God a kiss, because they did not wish to love him out of charity, whom they served out of fear. But the Gentiles, once called, do not cease to kiss the footsteps of their Redeemer, because they continually sigh in love for him. Hence also in the voice of the bride concerning this same Redeemer it is said in the Song of Songs: "Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth." Rightly does she desire the kiss of her Creator, who prepares herself to serve him through love. "You did not anoint my head with oil." If we understand the feet of the Lord as the mystery of his incarnation, fittingly his divinity is designated by his head. Hence also through Paul it is said: "The head of Christ is God." For the Jewish people professed to believe in God, and not in him as if in a man. But it is said to the Pharisee, "You did not anoint my head with oil," because he neglected to proclaim with worthy praise even that very power of his divinity, in which the Jewish people pledged to believe. "But she has anointed my feet with ointment," because when the Gentiles believed the mystery of his incarnation, they proclaimed even his lowliness with the highest praise. But now our Redeemer concludes the good deeds he has enumerated, when he adds through his verdict: "Therefore I say to you: Her many sins are forgiven, because she has loved much." As if he were saying openly: Even if what is being refined is very hard, nevertheless the fire of love abounds, by which even hard things are consumed.
It is fitting meanwhile to consider this contemplation of such great mercy. The deeds of a sinful woman, but one repenting—with what esteem does Truth preserve them in His presence, which He enumerates to her adversary with such detailed distribution. The Lord was reclining at the Pharisee's dinner, but He was delighting in the feasts of the mind at the penitent woman's. At the Pharisee's house, Truth was fed outwardly; at the sinful woman's, yet one who had converted, He was fed inwardly. Hence the holy Church says to Him in the Song of Songs, whom she seeks under the likeness of a young deer: "Show me, O you whom my soul loves, where you feed, where you rest at midday." For the Lord is called a young deer, according to His assumed flesh the son of the ancient fathers. Indeed, a more fervent heat burns at midday, and the young deer seeks a shady place where the fire of heat does not affect it. Therefore, the Lord rests in those hearts which the love of the present age does not inflame, which the desires of the flesh do not burn up, which, set ablaze by their anxieties, do not wither in the lusts of this world. Hence it is also said to Mary: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." Therefore, the young deer seeks shady places at midday for feeding, because the Lord is fed by such minds as are not burned by bodily desires through the regard of tempering grace. Therefore, the penitent woman fed the Lord more within than the Pharisee fed Him outwardly, because our Redeemer had fled like a young deer from the heat of carnal things to her mind, which the shade of repentance tempered after the fire of vices.
Let us consider what great tenderness it was not only to admit the sinful woman to himself, but even to offer her his feet to touch. Let us consider the grace of merciful God, and let us condemn the multitude of our own guilt. Behold, he sees sinners and endures them, tolerates those who resist, and yet daily calls them mercifully through the Gospel. He desires our confession from a pure heart, and has forgiven all that we have done wrong. The mercy of the Redeemer has tempered for us the severity of the law. For in it was written: If anyone does this or that, let him surely die. If anyone does these or those things, let him be overwhelmed with stones. Our Creator and Redeemer appeared in the flesh, promising not punishment but life to the confession of sinners; he receives the woman confessing her wounds, and sends her away healed. He bent the hardness of the law toward mercy, because those whom the law justly condemns, he himself mercifully frees. Hence it is also well written in the law that the hands of Moses were heavy; therefore taking a stone, they placed it underneath, upon which he sat; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands. Moses indeed sat upon a stone, when the law rested upon the Church. But this same law had heavy hands, because it did not mercifully bear with sinners, but struck them with severe punishment. Aaron means mountain of strength, and Hur means fire. Whom therefore does this mountain of strength signify, if not our Redeemer, of whom it is said through the prophet: In the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of the mountains? Or who is figured by fire, if not the Holy Spirit, of whom the same Redeemer says: I came to cast fire upon the earth? Therefore Aaron and Hur support the heavy hands of Moses, and by supporting them render them lighter, because the Mediator of God and men, coming with the fire of the Holy Spirit, showed us through spiritual understanding that the heavy commandments of the law, which could not be borne while held carnally, are tolerable for us. For he rendered the hands of Moses light, as it were, because he turned the weight of the law's commandments to the power of confession. He indicated this promise of mercy for us who follow, when he says through the prophet: I do not desire the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live. Hence again under the figure of Judea it is said to every sinful soul: If a man puts away his wife, and she departs and marries another man, will he return to her again? Will not that woman be polluted and contaminated? But you have fornicated with many lovers; nevertheless return to me, says the Lord. Behold, he gave the example of a shameful woman. He showed that after such shame she cannot be received back. But he overcomes by mercy this very example that he set forth, when he says that a fornicating woman can by no means be received back, and yet he himself waits to receive the fornicating soul. Consider, brothers, the weight of such great tenderness. He says what cannot be done, and demonstrates that he himself can do this even against custom. Behold, he calls, and those whom he declares to be defiled, he also seeks to embrace, those by whom he complains he has been abandoned. Let no one therefore waste the time of such great mercy, let no one cast away the offered remedies of divine tenderness. Behold, heavenly kindness calls us back when we have turned away, and prepares for us returning the bosom of his clemency. Let each one therefore consider by what debt he is bound, when God waits for him and is not provoked though despised. Let him who was unwilling to remain return, let him who disdained to stand at least rise after his fall. How much love our Creator has as he waits for us, he indicates when he says through the prophet: I attended and listened, no one speaks what is good; there is no one who reflects in his heart and says, What have I done? Certainly we should never have thought evil things. But because we were unwilling to think right things, behold, he still endures, that we may reflect. See the bosom of such great tenderness, consider the open lap of mercy before you; those whom thinking evil destroyed, thinking well upon it he seeks. To you therefore, dearest brothers, to you bring back the eyes of your mind, and set before you the penitent sinful woman as an example for imitation; whatever sins you remember committing in adolescence, whatever in youth, weep over them; wipe away the stains of your character and works with tears. Let us now love the footsteps of our Redeemer, which we despised by sinning. Behold, as we have said, the bosom of heavenly tenderness is opened to receive us, nor is our stained life despised. Through the fact that we abhor our defilement, we already accord with interior purity. The Lord mercifully embraces us when we return, because the life of sinners can no longer be unworthy to him when it is washed with tears in Christ Jesus our Lord, who lives and reigns as God with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, through all ages of ages. Amen.