Feasts And Charity

Ad hanc invitabat, qui stans clamabat, Si quis sitit, veniat ad me et bibat, et flumina de ventre ejus fluent aquae vivae. Hoc, inquit Evangelista, dixit de spiritu, quem accepturi erant credentes in eum. Ecce, quia non bibunt hoc vinum, sive hanc aquam, nisi credentes in eum, sicut non comedunt illum panem, nisi qui triduo sustinent eum: sustineamus et comedamus; credamus et bibamus et comedamus, ut amici efficiamur; bibamus, ut charitate charissimi facti inebriemur. Charitas etenim sicut vinum miscetur, maxime ubi sapientia mensam ponit, vinum miscet, et ad convivium parvulos vocat. Sola namque invitatur humilitas ad convivium sapientiae, ubi panis est veritas, vinum charitas; charitas quoque velut aqua effunditur, ubi ad ablutionem conceditur. Hic ordo nimirum congruus est, ut accessurus ad mensam, prius manus lavet. Lavamini, inquit, mundi estote. Et alibi: Si laverit Dominus sordem filiarum Sion, in spiritu judicii et spiritu ardoris. Hoc desiderans Propheta, orat: Amplius lava me, Domine, ab iniquitate mea, et a peccato meo munda me. Et alibi: Lavabo inter innocentes manus meas, et circumdabo altare tuum, Domine. Altare Domini mensa est, unde manducamus et bibimus carnem Christi, qui vere est cibus, et sanguinem euis, qui vere est potus. Baptismus abluit, altare pascit; sed sine charitate, quae fructus est, neutrum proficit. Charitas ergo totum efficit, sine qua non valet quidquid fit. Charitas ergo est aqua, quae levat; vinum, quod inebriat. Lavat a vitiis, inebriat virtutibus. Lavat inquinatos amore hujus mundi, inebriat mundatos amore Dei. Lavat sordidato amore sui, inebriat purgatos amore proximi. Charitas autem Spiritus est, quia Spiritus est charitas. Itaque veritas cibat, charitas potat, virtus corroborat. Veritas Filius, charitas Spiritus, Pater virtus. Per veritatem et charitatem, quae ad nos propter nos missae sunt, perveniemus ad virtutem, quando ad Patrem. Pater autem omnimodam collaturus est satietatem, sicut scriptum est, Satiabor, cum apparuerit gloria tua Isaac, Cisterciensis Abbas, Sermo XLIV In Die Pentecotes II Source: Migne PL 194. 1840

To this He invited, He who standing cried out, 'If someone thirst, let him come to me and drink' and 'the waters of life shall flow from his stomach.' 1 Here the evangelist speaks of the Spirit, which they receive who believe in Him. And, behold, they do not drink this wine, or this water, unless they believe in Him, as they do not eat the bread unless for three days they have endured with Him; let us endure and let us eat. Let us believe and let us drink and let us eat that we be friends; let us drink that we are intoxicated with the love that makes beloved. Love indeed is mixed like wine, especially when wisdom sets the table, there wine is mixed and the little ones are called to the feast. For only the humble are invited to the feast of wisdom, where is the true bread and the wine of love, wine that is poured out like water, when the washing has been done. And this order that one come to table with washed hands is indeed fitting. 'Be washed and be clean,' it says. 2 And elsewhere, 'If the Lord shall have washed the filth from the daughters of Sion, in a spirit of judgement and in a spirit of love.' 3 Desiring this the Prophet prays, 'Lord, wash me completely from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.' 4 And again: 'I shall wash my hands among the innocent and I shall circle around your altar, O Lord.' 5 The altar is the table of Christ where we shall eat and drink, the flesh of Christ, who is the true food, and His blood, which is truly the drink. Baptism has cleansed, the altar feeds, but without charity, which is the fruit, there is no benefit. Charity, therefore, does all, without which we are able to do nothing. Charity, then, is the water which cleanses, and the wine which intoxicates. It washes from vice, it intoxicates to virtue. It washes the iniquitous from the love of this world, it intoxicates the clean with the love of God. It washes those who are dirty from self love, it inebriates the pure with the love of neighbour. Charity is the Spirit, because the Spirit is charity. Therefore truth feeds, charity gives the drink, virtue strengthens. The truth is the Son, charity is the Spirit, the Father is virtue. By truth and charity, which to us and for us have been sent, we shall come to virtue, to the Father. And being gathered to the Father is the satiety of all things, as it is written, 'I shall be satisfied when your glory appears.' 6 Isaac of Stella, from Sermon 44, For Pentecost II 1 Jn 7. 37-38 2 Isai 1.16   3 Isai 4. 4 4 Ps 50.4 5 Ps 25.6 6 Ps 16.15