Lamps and Good Works

Sint lumbi vestri praecincti, et lucernae ardentes in manibus vestris, et vos similes hominibus exspectantibus dominum suum, quando veniat a nuptiis.   Sint lumbi vestri praecincti: ibi praecingenda est virtus, ubi voluptas est comprimenda. Nescit vincere vitia corporis, virtutis cingulum qui deponit. Cincti ergo castitatis baltheo, quod est insigne militiae Christianae, fluxam carnis detruncemus ignaviam, et regis nostri expspectantione pervigiles insomnem somnum saeculi nescimus. Non dormiunt, inquit, nisi cum male fecerint. Et lucernae ardentes in manibus vestris, in quorum manibus bonorum operum lucent lucernae. Sic enim: Luceat lux vestra coram hominibus, ut videant bona vestra opera et magnificent Patrem vestrum qui est in caelis.  Et ut lucerna ante oculos, opus bonum in mentibus sic refulget. Non portanti tantum lucerna lucet, sed multis, et opus bonum dum facto, in uno lucet, multos illustrat exemplo. Lucerna repellit noctium obscura, opus bonum malitiae fugat tenebras. Accendamus lucernam bonis operibus in manibus nostris, si volumus coram Domino et hominibus nos lucere. Sanctus Petrus Chrysologus, Sermo XXII

Let your lions be girt and your lamps burning in your hands, and be like men awaiting their Lord, when he shall come from the wedding. 1 Let your loins be girt; virtue should be girt about where passion should be suppressed. He cannot conquer the vices of the body who lets fall the belt of virtue. Bound, then, with the belt of chastity which is the sign of the Christian soldier, let us cut away the loose indolence of the flesh, and being alert in expectation of our king let us not know the restless sleep of the world. 'They sleep not,' it says, unless they have done evil.' 2 And let your lamps be burning in your hands, in which hands shine the lamps of good works. For so it is: Let your light shine among men that they see your good works and magnify your Father who is in heaven. 3 And like lamps before the eyes good works blaze in the minds of men. Not only for the bearer does the lamp shine, but for many, and one shining enlightens many by his example. The lamp dispels the shadows of the night, a good work routs the darkness of wickedness. Let us light the lamp in our hands by good works, if we wish to shine before the Lord and men. Saint Peter Chrysologus, from Sermon 22 1 Lk 12. 35- 36 2 Prov 4.16 3 Mt 5.16