A Woman Adorns Herself

Quid est quod Judith post peractam orationem exuit se vestibus lugubribus, et induit se vestimentis jucunditatis, nisi quod sancta Eccleisa, licet aliquando pro peccatis suis poenitentiae gerat affectum, tamen spe remissionis et futuri praemii anxium satis exhilarat animum. Lavat corpus suum, cum actus corporis sui poenitentiae lacrymis mundat. Unxit se myrrho optimo, cum in propriae mortificatione carnis, charitatis ac caeterarum virtutum se replet odore. Discriminat crinem capitis sui, cum solerti discretione singulas cogitationes distinguit cordis. Imponit mitram capiti, cum galeam salutis circumdat menti. Induit pedes suos sandaliis, cum gressus operum suorum evangelicis munit doctrinis. Assumit dextraliola et lilia, et inaures et annulos. In dextraliolis spes futurorum bonorum exprimitur, quae in dextra Dei sanctis in futuro dantur. In liliis castitas, in inauribus obedinetiae devotio, et in annulo signaculum fidei designatur. His ergo omnibus ornamentis se sancta Ecclesia ornat, quia omnium virtutum decore se illustrare certat. Cui etiam Dominus contulit splendorem gratiae suae, quoniam omnis ista composito non ex libidine praesentis vitae, sed ex virtute pendebat futura. Et ideo Dominus hanc in illa pulchritudinem ampliavit, ut incomparabili decore omnium oculis appareret. Quia valde justum est, ut qui dilectionis perfectae Dei fevet amore, omnium dignus habeatur honore. Rabanus Maurus, Expositio in Librum Judith, Caput X Source: Migne PL 109.565a-d

Why is it that after prayer Judith takes off her garments of mourning and puts on her joyful garments, 1 unless because the holy Church permits that when for sins the grief of penance has been borne for a time the hope of forgiveness and future reward shall lift up the anxious soul. She washes her body when she cleans with the tears of penance the deeds of the body. She anoints herself with myrrh when in her mortification of the flesh she is redolent of charity and the other virtues. She combs the hair of her head, when with acute discrimination she distinguishes every thought of the heart. She places a covering on her head, when she binds the helm of salvation around the mind. She places shoes on her feet when the step of her good works beautify the evangelical doctrine. She puts on bracelets and lilies and earrings and rings. In the bracelets is the hope of future goods expressed, which in the right hand of God is given to the saints in the future, and by the ring is signified the seal of faith. By these ornaments, then, the holy Church adorns herself, because she strives to adorn herself with the beauty of every virtue. And the Lord brings to it the splendour of His grace because all this adornment is not on account of lust for this present life, but for future virtue. And therefore the Lord increases her beauty, that it appears as an incomparable fairness to every eye. Because most certainly it is just that the one who burns with the perfect love of God shall be worthy of every honour. Rabanus Maurus, from the Commentary On Judith, Chap 10 1 Judith 10.1-4