Openings Of The Heart

Adaperiat Dominus cor vestrum in lege sua, et in praeceptis suis, et faciat pacem... Triplex est apertio cordis. Prima ad poenitentiam, secunda ad justitiam, tertia ad perfectionem. Haec autem apertio per legem Domini fit meditanti die ac nocte, unde subdit: in lege sua, quae in sex consistit, in prohibitionibus, comminationibus, praeceptionibus, promissionibus, consiliis, exhortationibus. Prima apertio in prohibitionibus, et comminationibus fit, dum quis attendens suas transgressiones et poenas quae ex eis subsequuntur, ad poenitentiam Dei timore compungitur. Haec est enim lex Domini converens animas. Secunda est in praeceptionibus et promissionibus, dum poenitens divinam voluntatem in sua lege considerans et remunerationem, ad justificiam proficit bonorum operum, quia testimonium Domini fidele dans promissa. Tertia in consiliis et exhortationibus, dum justus in bonis delectatur in Deum fervens, Deo quem solum diligere cupit sibi dicente: Si vis perfectus esse, vade et vende omnia quae habes, etc. Arripit sic perfectionem ut praeter Deum, qui dat sapientiam parvulis, nil quaerat. Quia cero sola dilectio indicativa est religionis, Deo dicente: In hoc cognoscent; quia mei estis discipuli, si dilectionem habueritis ad invicem, subditur: Et in praeceptis suis, quae sunt dilectio Dei et proximi inter caetera legis Dei magis teneda cum ex his pendeant lex et prophetae. Et faciat pacem. Triplex est nobis bellum: A conscientia quae peccatorem acussare non cessat; a carne et daemone, quae etiam justum insequuntur; a fatre et proximo, qui etiam perfectum conturbare conantur. Deus autem qui corda aperit in lege sua, et in praeceptis suis, triplicem facit in homine: Primam pacem per poenitentiam, cum deleto peccato, ipsum conscientia accusare non potest, secundam per justitiam, cum justus exercitio bonorum operum carnem domuerit, juxta Apostolum: Casitgo corpus meum et in servitutem redigo, et cum sic omnia inimici tela exstinxerit; tertiam quoque cum solum Deum tenens nullis prosperis extollitur, nullis adversis movetur; aeque acceptans prospera ut adversa, ut vere dicatur: Pax multa diligentibus legem tuam; et non est illis scandalum. Conscientia cessante a primo bello, carne et daemonibus a secundo homine ita perfecto ut aliquo sandalizante scandalum non recipiat, sed quantum in ipso est et cum scandalizaverit pacem habeat, in patientia possidens animam suam. Hugo De Sancte Victore, Miscellanea, Liber III, Tit XLI, De Triplici apertione cordis, sextuplici mandato, et triplici bello ac pace Source: Migne PL 177.661a-d

May the Lord open your hearts with His law and with His teachings, and bring peace...1 The opening of the heart is threefold. Firstly to penance, secondly to righteousness, thirdly to perfection. For this opening by the law of the Lord is done with meditation day and night, 2 whence it adds, 'with His law', which is made up of six parts: prohibitions, warnings, teachings, promises, counsels, exhortations. The first opening is made by prohibitions and warnings, by which a man may consider his own transgressions and the punishments which follow from them, and so he is pricked by the fear of God to do penance. For this is 'the Law of the Lord converting the soul.' 3 The second opening is made by teachings and promises when the penitent, considering the Divine will in His law and the rewards, advances to the righteousness of good works, because 'the testimony of the Lord is faithful,' 3 in the giving of promises. The third opening is made by counsel and exhortation, when the righteous man who delights in good things is fervent for God, desiring to love God alone, and saying to himself, 'If you wish to be perfect, go and sell all you have, etc...' 4 So he takes hold of perfection, that no one can seek apart from God, who gives wisdom to little ones. 3 As only love is indicative of religion, for so God says, 'In this they will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another,' 5 the above passage continues: 'And with His teachings,' which are the love of God and neighbour, and among all the other things of the Lord they must be held to most closely, from which hang the law and the prophets. 'And bring peace,' Our battle is threefold: with the conscience which does not cease to accuse the sinner, with the flesh and the demon which pursues the righteous man, and with the brother and neighbour who try to disturb perfection. For God who opens the heart with His law and with His teachings performs a threefold work in man: firstly peace through penance, when sin is cleansed, whence the conscience cannot accuse; secondly peace through righteousness, when the righteous man lulls to sleep the flesh by exertion in goods works, as the Apostle says: 'I chastise the flesh and I reduce it to service,' 6 and so every shaft of the enemy is extinguished; 7 thirdly peace comes when holding to God alone no prosperity exalts a man and no adversity moves him, but he receives prosperity and adversity in the same manner, that truly it might be said, 'Much peace to the lovers of your law, there is no scandal to them.' 8 With the conscience silenced in the first war, and the flesh and demon in the second, so the perfect man is not scandalised by scandal, but as much as he is perfect, so he has peace when faced with it, 'in suffering possessing his soul.' 9 Hugh Of Saint Victor, Miscellanea, Book 3, Chapter 41, On The Threefold Opening of the Heart, the Sixfold Commandment, and the Threefold War and Peace 1 2 Macch 1.4 2 Ps 1.2 3 Ps 18.8 4 Mt. 19.21 5 Jn 13.35 6 1 Cor 9.27 7 Ephes 6.16 8 Ps 118.165 9 Lk 21.19