Gaining And Losing Peace

Quisquis autem se per negotiorum saecularium exercitia delectabiliter fundit, holocasti sui medullas cum visceribus subtrahit, et solam victimae pellem Deo, quae offerri prohibetur, adolere contendit; qui vero suave Deo sacrificium offerre desiderat, recessus petat, interiora sectetur, animam suam integram, illibatamque in propria virginitate custodiat; nec discurrendo per lupanaria saeculi immundis corruptoribus, prostibuli more substernat. Ut ergo interni sponsi conspectui placeat, non oculos suos stibio cum Jezabele depingat, id est, non se fucis pompae saecuaris obducat, sed cum Judith myrto optimo sua membra perungat: omnes videlicet mentis suae sensus immortalis unguine castitatis oblineat, ne in mortem per incontinentiam corruens, in fetore luxuriae computrescat. In conclavi igitur sanctae Ecclesiae anima se pudica concludat, sicque in aeterni Regis thalamo jugiter requiescat. Non carnalium propinquorum, non complicium quorumlibet requirat affectus, sed solius veri Sponsi delectetur amplexibus. Neque enim sine causa scriptum est: Audi, filia, et, vide, et inclina aurem tuam, et obliviscere populum tuum, et domum patris tui, quoniam concupivit Rex speciem tuam. In hujus igitur Sponsi cubiculo anima sancta ab omni saecularis strepitus turbine dormitat, super hoc suae virginitatis auctore casti amoris facibus inardescat; cantans nimirum, et dicens: Introduxit me Rex in cellaria sua, exsultabimus, et laetabimur in te. Et iterum: Fasciculus myrrhae dilectus meus mihi, inter ubera mea commorabitur. Si vero cujuslibit occasionis articulus accidat, ut egrediendi necessitas imminere videatur, non mox ad vagadum se leviter proruat, non colloquio consanguinitatis aggliscat, non ad saeculi vanitatem fixus mundo animus incalescat, sed morose ac graviter inter se deliberet, dicens: Exspoliavi me tunica mea, quomodo induar illam? Lavi pedes meos, quomodo inquinabo illos. Si igitur singularis ille Sponsus hoc desiderium animae sanctae inesse perspexerit, quia procul dubio princeps pacis, liberam sibi spiritualis otii requiem tribuit, et omnes emergentium causarum fluctus placida circa illam tranquillitate componit. Hic est enim quod in Canticis canticorum dicit: Adjuro vos, filiae Jerusalem, ne suscitetis, neque evigilare, faciatis dilectam, donec ipsa velit. Quo contra menti reprobae, negotiisque saecularibus inhianti, sub Babylonis specie per prophetam dicitur: Descende, sede in pulvere, virgo filia Babylonis, sede in terra, non est solium filiae Chaldaeorum. Hoc enim loco humana mens, virgo, non incorrupta, ut arbitror, dicitur, sed infecunda. Et quia Babylon filia vocatur, quae in eo quod nequaquam bona opera germinat, dum nullo ordine rectae vitae componitur, quasi confusione matre generatur. Sin autem virgo non infecunda dicitur, sed incorrupta, postquam statum salutis perdidit, ad confusionis suae cumulum appellatur quod fuit. Cui apte per increpationem dicitur divina voce: Descende. In alto quippe humanus animus stat, quando supernis retributionibus inhiat. Sed ab hoc statu descendit, cum turpiter victus sese defluentibus mundi desideriis subjicit. Cui bene mox additur: Sede in pulvere. Descendens enim in pulvere residet, quia coelestia deserens, terrenis cogitationibus asperus in infimis vilescit. Sanctus Peter Damianus, De Contemptu Saeculi,Caput XXII-XXIII Source: Migne PL 145.274d-276a

Whoever, therefore, pours himself happily into the exertions of worldly affairs, takes away the fat of the sacrifice along with the entrails, and he strives to burn the pelt of the victim for God, which it is prohibited to offer. 1 He, however, who wishes to offer a sweet sacrifice, let him seek within, let him pursue interior things, and let him guard the wholeness and integrity of his soul with his own chastity, lest running through the brothels of the world with its foul corrupters, he is prostated by whorish ways. That, therefore, he may be pleasing in the sight of the eternal bridegroom, let him not paint his eyes with the kohl of Jezebel, that is, let him not mark himself with the dyes of worldly pomp, 2 but with the best mytle berries let him anoint himself, 3 and let him smear the understanding of his mind with the oil of immortal chastity, lest he race into death by incontinence and rot in the filth of luxury. Thus in the inner chamber of the holy church let the soul shut itself by modesty, and so it shall rest in the inner room of the eternal king. Let love delight not in seeking a nearness of the flesh, or any other embroilment, but only in the embraces of the true spouse. For not without reason is it written: 'Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and the house of your father, because the king desires your beauty.' 4 In the bed chamber of her bridegroom the holy soul sleeps from all the troubles of worldly disturbances, on account of the author of her virginity she flares up with torches of chaste love, certainly singing and saying: 'The king brought me into his chambers; we shall exalt, we shall delight in you.' 5 And again: 'A pouch of myrhh is my beloved to me, hung between my breasts.' 6 If, however, some occasion befalls, when it seems necessary that she must go out, she will not instantly rush forth to easy wandering, nor will she delight in talk with her kin, nor with mind fixed in the world shall will she be warmed by some worldly vanity, but glumly and heavily she will deliberate, saying: 'I have taken off my garment, how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I soil them?' 7 If therefore, that singular Spouse has seen this desire within the holy soul, since He is the prince of peace, He gives the noble rest of spiritual leisure, and He makes all the waves arising from their causes still in tranquility around the soul. Here indeed is that which is said in the Song of Songs: 'I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, that you stir not, nor awake love until it please.' 8 By which against the reprobate mind, which longs for worldly affairs, he speaks through the prophet under the appearance of Babylon: 'Come down, sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the earth, there is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans.' 9 In this place it calls the human mind a virgin not because it is incorrupt, I judge, but infertile. And because Babylon is understood as confusion, rightly is the mind of the daughter of Babylon called infertile in which no good works are produced, for it is not established in any good order of life, which causes confusion to the mother. But if it does not say virgin for infertility, but she is incorrupted, after the ruin of her state of salvation, on account of the heap of her confusion, she is called what she was. To whom appropriately with a cry the Divine voice says: 'Go down.' For in the height the human soul stands when it desires heavenly rewards. But it goes down from this state when it is viley overwhelmed by the floods of worldly desires. To whom well it continues: 'Sit in the dust.' Going down, then, she sits in the dust, because forsaking the heavens, by worldly thoughts, bitter to the core, she is made vile. Saint Peter Damian, On Contempt For The World, Chapter 22-23 1 Levit 1 2 4 Kings 9.30 3 Judith 10.3 4 Ps 44.10-11 5 Song 1.4 6 Song 1.13 7 Song 5.3 8 Song 2.7 9 Isaiah 47.1