Correction And Mercy

Corripiet me justus in misericodia, et increpabit me; oleum autem peccatoris non impinguet caput meum. Postulate lignuae custodia, et ciminum excusatione damnata, venit ad secundam sectionem, in qua vir sanctus increpationes eligit justorum, quam blandimenta peccantium. Sed quae sit correctio justi braviter intimavit, dicendo, in misericordia: quonaim vir sanctus non in ira corripit, sed per dilectionem increpator accedit. Nam etsi vultum irati ostendit, cor tamen placati semper assumit; sicut monet Apostolus: Fratres, si praeoccupatus fuerit homo in aliquo delicto, vos qui spirituales estis, instruite hujusmodi in spiritu lenitatis, considerans teipsum, ne et tu tenteris. Quapropter haec consuetudo bonorum est, ut malint se a bonis corripi, quam sceleratorum adulatione praedicari; sicut scriptum est: meliora sunt vulnera amici quam voluntaria oscula inimici. Sequitur, oleum autem peccatoris non impinguet caput meum. Oleum et in bono et in malo plerumque ponitur. In bono, ut est illud Evangelii: Tu autem cum jejunas, unge caput tuum oleo, et faciem tuam lava: et in quadragesimo quarto psalmo: Propterea unxit Deus Deus tuus oleo laetitiae prae consortibus tuis. Est enim oleum in bonam partem causa splendoris, pabulum luminis, praestans nitorem pariter et salutem. In malam vero partem, sicut hic ponitur: oleum peccatoris est dilectio simulata verborum, quae adulationibus et blandimentis nostris mentes velut olei pinguedo leniter ingrediens, rigorem veritatis emollit, et ad noxias cogitationes amoris ficti potius ostentatione perducit; sicut in alio pslamo dictum est: Mollierunt sermones suous super oleum, et ipsi sunt jacula. Et Salomon ait: Verba adulatorum mollia, novissima autem eorum perveniunt in intima ventris. Quapropter illa monita semper eligenda sunt, quae non ad dilectionem saeculi trahunt, sed ad praecepta nos Divinitatis invitant. Potest autem et illud evangelicum de decem virginibus hic decenter aptari, quod quinque virges, quae actus suos probatissimos Domino dedicaverunt, et conscientias lucidas conservantes charitatis oleo refertae, semetipsas tanquam lampades ardentissimas Domini conspectibus obtulerunt. Istae, sicut hic dicit, merito credendae sunt a justis hominibus fuisse correctae, et misericordiae studio nihilominus esse reprehensae. Reliquae vero alie quinque virgines, quae adulantium vocibus infelici sorte crediderunt, caput earum factum est in sua deceptione pinguissimum et ideo exstinctis lampadibus non sunt receptae; quoniam tetram vitam ante Dominum veri luminis non decebat offerri. Cassiodorus, Expositio In Psalterium, Psalmus CXL Source: Migne PG 70.1001c-1002b

Let the righteous man shall correct me in mercy and chastise me, but let not the oil of the sinner swell my head. 1 Having requested custody of the tongue, and condemning excuse for wickedness, he comes to the second part, in which the holy man chooses the chastisement of the righteous over the blandishments of sinners. And what might be the correction of the righteous he briefly intimates, saying, 'in mercy', because the holy man does not correct in anger but he is a chastiser on account of love. For even if his face displays anger, he always adopts a heart that is conciliatory. As the Apostle warns: 'Brothers, if you come upon a man in some sin, you who are spiritual instruct him in a like spirit of clemency, considering yourself, lest even you be tempted.' 2 Whence this is the custom of good men, that they prefer to be corrected by the good than to hear the praise of evildoers. As it is written: 'Better the wounds of a friend than the eager kisses of an enemy.' 3 It then follows: 'But let not the oil of the sinner touch my head.' Oil is often used in a good and bad sense. In a good way, as in the Gospel: 'You, however, when you fast, anoint your head with oil, and wash your face.' 4 And in the forty fourth Psalm: 'Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness before your fellows.' 5 For oil in a good sense is a cause of splendor and a fuel of light, giving brightness along with health. However in a bad sense, so it is used here: 'the oil of the sinner,' which is the false love of words that with adulation and blandishment enter our minds gently like an anointing of oil, softening the rigour of truth and leading to wicked thoughts of counterfeit love rather its showing. As it says in another Psalm: 'Their words were softer than oil and they were blades.' 6 And Solomon says: 'Soft are the words of adulators and they reach into the very depths of the body.' 7 Whence the warning always to choose things which draw not to the love of the world but call us to the commands of the Divinity. And it is possible to fittingly apply the Gospel parable of the ten virgins here, 8 because five virgins, who were dedicated with their most admirable deeds to the Lord, having brought bright consciences guarding the oil of love, offered themselves as shining lamps in the sight of the Lord. These, as it says here, rightly entrusted themselves to correction by the righteous, and with the application of mercy were in no way reprehensible. However the other five virgins, who had unhappily trusted the voices of adulators, their heads were made most swollen in their own deception, and therefore with their unlit lamps they were not received, because it is not right to offer a darkened life before the Lord of true light. Cassiodorus, Commentary On The Psalms, Psalm 140 1 Ps 140.6 2 Galat 6.1 3 Prov 27.6 4 Mt 6.17 5 Ps 44.8 6 Ps 54.22 7 Prov 18.8 8 Mt 25.1-12