Doubt And Temptation

Qui enim haesitat, similis est fluctui maris qui a vento movetur et circumfertur Qui mordente se conscientia peccati haesitat de perceptione praemiorum coelestium, facile ad impulsum tentationum statum fidei deserit, qua in tranquillitate Deo servire videbatur, et ad libitum hostis invisibilis, quasi ad flatum venti, per diversos vitiorum raptatur errores. Sanctus Beda, Super Divi Jacobi Epistolam, Caput I Source: Migne PL 93.12b

He who doubts is like a wave of the sea which is driven and tossed around by the wind... 1 He who is bitten by consciousness of sin so that he doubts that he shall obtain heavenly rewards, he easily forsakes the state of faith by any blow of temptation, which state in peace he seemed to guard for God, and then at the pleasure of the invisible enemy, as a wave by the wind, he is driven through the various errors of the vices. Saint Bede, Commentary on the Letter of Saint James, Chapter 1 1 James 1.6

Little Faith

Nolite ergo solliciti esse, dicentes: Quid manducabimus, aut quid bibemus, aut quo operiemur? Haec omina, inquit, gentes inquirunt... Ac per hoc quid amplius habet a gentili, cujus adhuc infidelitas dum sollicitat animum, hujus vitae curis fatigat. Qui ergo de istis tantum confisus est a Domino, saltem modicam habet fidem: qui autem adhuc de his sollicitus est, infidelis censetur. Unde rara et paucorum est perfecta fides. Et ideo dubitanti adhuc Petro, post Domini jussionem, recte dicitur: Modicae fidei quare dubitasti? Quicunque ergo dubitat in aliquo praeceptorum Dei, vel minus ex eo confidit, quam promisit potens Deus, modicus est fide. Hinc quoque Jacobus: Qui indiget sapientia, postulet eam ex fide, nihil haesitans; quia qui haesitat similis est fluctui maris, qui a vento movetur. Quod si in divinis haesitare Christiano non convenit, in humanis et caducis post promissa quomodo fidelis dubitare poterit? Quid igitur fugis, Christiane? Quanto magis in promissis Dei haesitaveris, tanto minus invenies pro quibus sollicitus desudas. Et si, bonitate Dei etiam dubius acceperis quod sollicite quaesisti, non tua sollicitudo id fecit inefficax, sed Dei largitas, qui solem suum oriri facit super bonos et malos. Sanctus Paschasius Radbertus Corbeiensis, Expositio In Evangelium Matthaei, Lib IV Cap VI Source: Migne PL 120.311d-312b

Do not therefore be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat, or drink, or wear?' All these things, He said, the Gentiles seek... 1 And because of this the more a man is as the Gentiles, while unfaithfulness yet troubles the soul, he shall be wearied with the cares of life. Therefore he who has confidence in the Lord concerning these things alone, he has little faith, and he who yet is anxious for these things, he is reckoned faithless. Whence perfect faith is rare and of few. And therefore to the yet doubtful Peter, after the exhortation of the Lord, rightly it was said, 'Man of little faith, why did you doubt?' 2 Whoever, then, doubts some commandment of God, or lacks confidence in Him, what Almighty God promises, he is of little faith. Whence James also says: 'He who lacks wisdom, let him ask from faith, doubting in nothing, because he who hesitates is like a wave of the sea tossed about by the wind.' 3 If it is not fitting for a Christian to doubt in Divine things, how after the promises shall it be possible for the faithful man to doubt in human and fallen things? Why, then, do you flee, O Christian? The more you doubt the promises of God, the more you shall find yourself trembling over what you fret over. And if from the goodness of God, you, who are a doubter, receive what you have anxiously sought, it was not your worry that did this, but it was from the largess of God, who makes the sun rise over the good and the wicked. 4 Saint Paschasius Radbertus, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Book 4, Chap 6 1 Mt 6.32 2 Mt 14.31 3 James 1.5 4 Mt 5.45

Faith And Sin

Magna ista quaestio: Omnis qui peccat, non vidit eum, neque cognovit eum. Non est mirum. Non eum vidimus, sed visuri sumus; non eum cognovimus, sed cognituri sumus: credimus in eum quem non cognovimus. An forte ex fide cognovimus, et specie nondum cognovimus? Sed in fide et vidimus et cognovimus. Si enim nondum videt fides, quare dicimur illuminati? Est illuminatio per fidem, est illuminatio per speciem. Modo cum peregrinamur, per fidem ambulamus, non per speciem. Ergo et iustitia nostra per fidem est, non per speciem. Erit perfecta nostra iustitia, cum videbimus per speciem. Modo non relinquamus eam iustitiam quae est ex fide, quoniam iustus ex fide vivit, sicut ait Apostolus. Omnis qui manet in ipso, non peccat. Nam omnis qui peccat, non vidit eum, neque cognovit eum. Non credit iste qui peccat: si autem credit, quantum ad fidem eius pertinet, non peccat. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, In Epistolam Ioannis ad Parthos Tractatus Decem, Tractatus IV Source: Migne PL 35.2010

This is a great question: 'All who sin have not seen Him, nor known Him.' 1 Which is no marvel. We have not seen Him, but we are to see; we have not known Him, but are to know; we believe in Him whom we have not known. Or perhaps it is that by faith we have known, and by sight we have not yet known? But in faith we have both seen and known, for if faith does not yet see, why are we said to have been enlightened? There is an enlightening by faith, and an enlightening by sight. While we are on pilgrimage, 'we walk by faith, not by sight.' 2 Therefore also our righteousness is by faith and not by sight. Our righteousness shall be perfect, when we shall see by sight. Meanwhile, let us not relinquish that righteousness which is of faith, since the righeous man lives by faith, 3 as the Apostle says. 'Whoever abides in Him, does not sin.' 1 For, 'whoever sins, has not seen Him, nor known Him.' He who does not believe, he sins; but if a man believes, so far as pertains to his faith, he does not sin. Saint Augustine of Hippo, from the Fourth Tractate on the First Letter of John 1 1 Jn 2.18 2 2 Cor 5.7 3 Rom 1.17

Knowledge And Faith

Ὁ μὴ γινώσκων τὴν ἀλήθειαν, οὔτε ἀληθῶς πιστεύειν δύναται. Ἡ γὰρ γνῶσις κατὰ φύσιν προηγεῖται τῆς πίστεως. Ἅγιος Μάρκος ὁ Ἐρημίτης, Περὶ Νόμου Πνευματικοῦ Source: Migne PG 65.920a

He who does not know the truth cannot truly have faith, for according to nature knowledge precedes faith. Saint Mark The Ascetic, On The Spiritual Law.

The Gates

Ἀνοίξατε μοι πύλας διακαιοσύνης εἰσελθών ἐν αὐταῖς ἐξομολογήσομαι τῷ Κυρίῳ· αὕτη ἡ πύλη τοῦ Κυρίου, δίκαιοι εἰσελεύσονατι ἐν αὐτῇ. Ἐξομολογήσομαι σοι, ὅτι ἐπήκουσάς μου, καὶ ἐγένου μοι εἰς σωτηρίαν. Τὸ μὲν οὖν γενικὸν ὀνομα πασῶν τῶν ἀρετῶν τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ προγράγεται, κατ' εἶδιος δὲ λοιπὸν διαιρῶν, τις εἴποι ἀναλόγως τὸ Ἀνοίξατε μοι πύλας διακαιοσύνης, καὶ πύλας φρονὴσεως, καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν τῶν κατὰ Θεὸν πράξων. Ἐπειδὰν διὰ πασῶν παρέλθῃ τῶν πυλῶν, λοιπὸν ἐπὶ τὸ τέλος τῶν, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, ἐνδοτάτω ἁγίων ἐλθὼν, οὐκέτι πολλὰς, ἀλλὰ μίαν ὄψεται πύλαην τὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου, δι' ἧς πάντες εἰσελεύσονται οἱ δίκαιοι. Εἴποι δ' ἂν τις ταύτην τὴν ὑστάτην καὶ τελευταίαν, ἧς ἐπέκεινα οὐκέτι οἶόν τε εἶναι προσελθεῖν. Ὑστάτη δὲ πύλη τοῦ Κυρίου ἡ θεωρία ἂν εἴη αὐτοῦ, κατὰ τὸ Μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν Θεὸν ὄψονται. Εὐσέβιος ὁ Καισάρειος, Ὑπομνηματα Ἐις Τους Ψαλμους, Ψαλμος ΡΙΖ´ Source: Migne PG 23.1362d-1363a

Open to me the gates of righteousness, going through them I shall confess to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord, the righteous shall go in through it. I shall confess to you, that you heard me, and are made my salvation. 1 In general, then, the name of righteousness is written for all the virtues, so that when they are separated into their parts, someone may rightly say that 'Open to me the gates of righteousness,' is the gates of prudence and the rest of the other works according to God. After he has passed through all these gates, coming into the innermost place of the holy, someone may say, 'I see now not many, but the one gate of the Lord, through which all the righteous shall enter.' But someone might say, 'This is the last and final gate beyond which one might not go. The last gate of the Lord is the contemplation of Him,' according to which, 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' 2 Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 117 1 Ps 117.19-21 2 Mt 5.8

Entering Through The Door

Qui non intrat per ostium. Quia sicut per ostium intratur in domum, ita per principia cujuslibet veritatis intratur in scientiam veritatis illius, et per principia fidei intratur in scientiam fidei, quae est de credibilibus : sicut sunt articuli fidei. Si ostium est, compingamus illud tabulis cedrinis, hoc est, principiis imputribilis veritatis, quae numquam excidunt: quia cedrus est imputribilis. Ideo praecepit Dominus, Sument de sanguine ejus, scilicet agni, et ponent super utrumque postem, et in superliminaribus domorum in quibus comedent illum. Quia principia fidei sunt de passione, et superliminaria sunt de deitate: quia fere omnia principia fidei sunt, per quae vere intratur in Christianam religionem, vel de passione, vel de deitate Christi. Scribes ea, scilicet mandata, in limine et ostiis domus tuae. Quia observatio mandatorum nulla est quae non principiis fidei confirmatur.. Sanctus Albertus Magnus, Commentarium in Joannem, Caput X Source: Here, p185

He who does not enter through the door... 1 Because as a house is entered through the door, so through the principles of the truth one enters into the knowledge of the truth, and through the principles of faith one enters into the knowledge of the faith, which concerns things to be believed, which are the articles of the faith. 'If a door, let us fashion there boards of cedar', 2 that is, the principles of incorruptible truth, which never decay, because cedar is incorruptible. Therefore the Lord commands: 'Let them take up the blood,' that is of the lamb, 'and place it on both doorposts and on the lintels of the house in which they eat.' 3 Because the principles of the faith concern the Passion, and the lintels Godhood, since almost all the principles of the faith, though which one enters into the Christian religion, are either of the Passion or of the Deity of Christ. 'Write these things,' that is the commandments, 'on the threshold and the doors of your house.' 4 There is no keeping of the commandments which the principles of the faith do not confirm. Saint Albert The Great, Commentary On The Gospel of St John, Chapter 10 1 Jn 10.10 2 Song 8.9 3 Exod 12.7 4 Deut 6.9

Bartholomew's Saying

Οὕτω γοῦν ὁ θεῖος Βαρθολομαῖός φησι, καὶ πολλὴν τὴν θεολογίαν εἶναι καὶ ἐλαχίστην· καὶ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον πλατὺ καὶ μέγα, και αὖθις συντετμημένον. Διονύσιος ὁ Ἀρεοπαγίτης, Περὶ Μυστικῆς Θεολογίας, Κεφάλαιον Α' Source: Migne PG 3.999b

The blessed Bartholomew says that theology is both vast and small, and that the Gospel is great and broad, and again concise. Dionysius The Aeropagite, Mystical Theology, Chapter 1

Casting Off The Skin

Inter prudentias ejus illa nos spiritualiter erudit et informat; quia, cum sibi videt imminere tempora senectutis, inter angustissimos lapides ingrediens ibi deponit vetestae pellis exuvias. Sed et nos si volumus veterem hominem deponere cum actibus suis, oportet nos ingredi angustias poenitentiae, angustias viae illius quae ducit ad vitam, et sic induere novum hominem, qui secundum Deum creatus est. Sane illic benedictus apostolus, cujus hodie memoria in benedictione est, pellem vetustatis, pellem mortis deposuit; ut pellem gloriae et jucunditatis indueret. Pellem, inquit, pro pelle, et omnia quae habet homo, dabit pro anima sua. Dat homo pellem mortificationis pro pelle glorificationis. Pellem hanc deponemus, cum corruptibile hoc induet incorruptionem, et mortale hoc immortalitatem. Aliamque pellem sumemus, cum Christus reformabit corpus humilitatis nostrae configuratum corpori claritatis suae, et superinduar ego pelle nova, et in pelle mea videbo Deum Salvatorem meum. Juxta verbum Jeremiae, hodie deponit Aethiops pellem suam, et pardus varietates suas. Erat pellis quam hodie deponit Apostlous pellis mortalitatis, et ideo Aethiopis; hodie, apostole Dei, renovatur ut aquila juventas tua. De hac pelle dicit Job: Numquid implebis sagenas pelle ejus, et gurgustium piscium capite illius? Haec est pellis caprina, quae ponitur in lectulo David, ut innocens manus persecutoris evadat. Hodie, Domine, conscidisti saccum apostoli, et circumdedisti eum laetitia. Vetus Adam incidit in latrones, qui spoliaverunt eum tunica innocentiae et gloriae; hanc hodie fortiter recuperat miles et athleta Christi fortissimus. O malitia daemonum! O crudelitas hominum! O virtus Dei! O constantia martyrum, ubi erat cor apostoli, quando has angustias tolerabat? Certe in Christo, in cruce Christi et in doloribus ejus. Memoriam passionis Christi ipsum propriae passionis immemorem faciebat. Si quaereretur ab eo utrum pellem suam, utrum carnem suam diligeret, responderet: Diligo; nemo carnem suam odio habuit, sed magis diligo Christum quam me ipsum. Si modo spolior, Christus me superinduet; pondusque hoc tribulationis meae immensum gloriae pondus operabitur in me. Scio cui credidi, et certus sum, non mentietur quia Veritas est. Sed pro Christo patior, et conregnabo, et pro brevi, et transitoria tribulatione coronam immarcescibilem, et interminabilem jucunditatem, et exsultationem securus exspecto. Quam nobis praestare dignetur, per meritabeati Bartholomaei, Jesus Christus, cui est honor et gloria in saecula saeculorum. Amen. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XXXVII,De Sancto Bartholomaeo Source: Migne PL 207.671c-672c

The prudence of the snake spiritually teaches and informs us, because when he sees himself nearing the time of old age, he goes among close set stones and there casts off the strips of his old skin. And we, if we wish to put off the old man with his acts, 1 we should enter into the narrows of penitence, those narrow ways which lead to life, and so endow ourselves with the new man, who is created according to God. Certainly the holy Apostle whom we hold in blessed memory today, cast off the old skin, the skin of death, that he might put on the skin of glory and of happiness. 'Skin for skin,' it says, 'and everything which the man has, he shall give for his soul.' 2 A man gives the skin of mortification for the skin of glorification. We put this skin off when this corruption is endowed with incorruptibility, and this mortality for immortality. 3 We shall take up another skin when Christ refashions the body of our humility into conformance with the body of His brightness, and I shall be superendowed with a new skin, and in my new skin I shall see God my Saviour. According to the word of Jeremiah, today the Ethiopian puts off his skin, and the leopard his spots. 4 The skin which the Apostle put off this day was the skin of mortality, and therefore the Ethiopian. Today the Apostle of God is renewed as the eagle's youth. 5 Concerning this skin Job says: 'Will you fill nets with his skin and the cabins of fishes with his head?' 6 This is the skin of the goat which is placed on the bed of David, that an innocent man might escape the hands of his persecutors. 7 Today, Lord, you tore off the covering of the Apostle, and you surrounded him with joy. The old Adam fell among thieves, who despoiled him of the tunic of innocence and glory, today a stronger solider recovers, a most sturdy athlete of Christ. O wickedness of demons! O cruelty of men! O power of God! O constancy of martyrdom, where was the heart of the Apostle when he suffered these torments? Certainly in Christ, on the cross of Christ and with His sorrows. Mindful of the passion of Christ he made his own passion unforgettable. If it should be asked of him whether he loved his own skin or his own flesh, he would answer: 'I love. No man hates his own flesh, 8 but I love Christ more than what is mine. If I am stripped, Christ endows me, and the burden of my tribulation shall work for me an immense weight of glory. I know Him whom I have believed in, and I am certain, because He does not lie who is the truth. I suffer for Christ and I shall reign with Him, and for a little while, with a temporary trial, I am secure in the hope of an incorruptible crown, and endless joy and exaltation.' Which may we be worthy to be given, through the merits of the blessed Bartholomew. Peter of Blois, from Sermon 37, On Saint Bartholomew 1 Ephes 4.22 2 Job 2.4 3 1 Cor 15.53 4 Jerem 13.23 5 Ps 102.5 6 Job 40.26 7 1 Kings 19.9-16 8 Ephes 5.29

Directing Ways

Κύριε ὁδήγησόν με ἐν τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ σου, ἕνεκα τῶν ἐχθρῶν μου κατεύθυνον ἐνώπιόν σου τὴν ὁδόν μου. Ἔνια τῶν ἀντιγράφων, ἐνώπιόν >μου τὴν ὁδόν σου, ἔχει· ἐκάτερα δὲ τῆς εὐσενοῦς ἔχεται διανοίας. Εἴτε γὰρ ἡ ἡμετέρα ὁδὸς κατεθυνθείη ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, πλάνης οὐ ληψόμεθα πεῖραν· εἴτε ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁδὸς ἐνώπιον ἡμῶν κατευθυνθείη, αὐτὴν ὁδεύσομεν, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὴν προθύμως δραμούμεθα. Αἰτεῖ τοίνυν ἡ κληρονομοῦσα ὁδηγηθῆναι μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δικαιοσύνης, κατευθυνθῆναι δὲ αὐτῇ τὴν ὁδὸν, καὶ ἐξευμαρισθῆναι, ἵνα ῥᾳδίως ὁδεύῃ. Ταύτην ὁ Συμμαχος τὴν διάνοιαν τέθεικεν· ἀντὶ γὰρ τοῦ, κατεύθυνον, ὁμάλισον εἴρηκεν. Ἀκούμεν δὲ καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ διὰ Ἠσαῗου·Ἕσται τὰ σκολιὰ εἰς εὐθεῖαν, καὶ ἡ τραχεῖα εἰς ὁδοὺς λείας. Καὶ ἐν ἑτέρῳ δὲ ψαλμῷ ὁ μακάριος ἔφη Δαβίδ· Παρὰ Κυρίου τὰ διαβήματα ἁνθρώπου κατευθύνεται, καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ θελήσει σφόδρα. Ταπεινοφροσύνης δὲ μεστὰ τῆς κληρονομούσης τὰ ῥήματα. Οὐ γὰρ αἰτεῖ διὰ τὴν ἑαυτῆς δικαιοσύνην κατευθυνθῆναι αὐτῇ τὴν ὁδὸν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τούς ἐχθροὺς τοὺς δυσεβείᾳ συζῶντας, τοὺς ἀδίκως αὐτῇ πολεμοῦντας. Θεοδώρητος Ἐπίσκοπος Κύρρος, Ἑρμηνεία εἰς Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός Ε´ Source: Migne PG 80.897c-900a

'Lord, lead me in your righteousness. Because of my enemies direct my way into your sight.' 1 Certain translations have 'direct your way into my sight.' But both retain a pious meaning. For either our way is directed into the sight of God, and we do not wander away, or the way of the Lord is directed before us, and we walk in it, and to it we swiftly run. Thus the inheritor 2 seeks that he be led by the righteousness of God and that his way be directed to Him, and that it be made smooth, that he might walk on it easily. Symmachus translates it with this sense, since for 'direct' he has 'make level'. We hear Christ through the prophet Isaiah saying, 'The crooked shall be made right and the rough ways smooth.' 3 The blessed David says in another Psalm: 'The steps of a man shall be directed by the Lord and his way shall delight exceedingly.' 4 However the words of the inheritor are full of humility, for he does not ask that his way be directed because of his own righteousness, but in truth because of the impiety of his accustomed enemies, who are warring against him unjustly. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 5 1 Ps 5.1 2 Ps 5.1 3 Isaiah 40.4 4 Ps 36.23

Crowns And Garlands

Qui tamen et viri caput est et feminae facies, vir ecclesiae Christus Iesus, quale, oro te, sertum pro utroque sexu subiit? Ex spinis, opinor, et tribulis, in figuram delictorum quae nobis protulit terra carnis, abstulit autem virtus crucis, omnem aculeum mortis in dominici capitis tolerantia obtundens, certe praeter figuram: contumelia in promptu est, et dedecoratio et turpitudo et his implexa saevitia. Quae tunc Domini tempora et foedaverunt et lancinaverunt, uti tu nunc laurea et myrto et olea et inlustriore quaque fronde et, quod magis usui est, centenariis quoque rosis de horto Midae lectis et utrisque liliis et omnibus violis coroneris, etiam gemmis forsitan et auro, ut et illam Christi coronam aemuleris, quae postea ei obvenit? Atquin et favos post fella gustauit, nec ante rex gloriae a caelestibus salutatus est quam rex Iudaeorum proscriptus in cruce, minoratus primo a patre modico quid citra angelos, et ita gloria et honore coronatus. Si ob haec caput ei tuum debes, tale, si forte, ei repende, quale suum pro tuo obtulit, aut nec floribus coroneris si spinis non potes, quia floribus non potes. Serva Deo rem suam intaminatam. Ille eam, si volet, coronabit. Immo et vult, denique invitat : Qui vicerit, inquit, dabo ei coronam vitae. Esto et tu fidelis ad mortem, decerta et tu bonum agonem, cuius coronam et apostolus repositam sibi merito confidit. Accipit et angelus victoriae coronam, procedens in candido equo ut uinceret; at alius iridis ambitu ornatur caelesti prasio. Sedent et presbyteri coronati, eodemque auro et ipse filius hominis super nubem micat. Si tales imagines in visione, quales veritates in repraesentatione? Illas aspice, illas adora. Quid caput strophiolo aut dracontario damnas, diademati destinatum? Nam reges nos Deo et Patri suo fecit Christus Iesus. Quid tibi cum flore morituro? Habes florem ex virga Iesse, super quem tota divini Spiritus gratia requievit, florem incorruptum, immarcescibilem, sempiternum. Tertullianus, De Corona Militis, Caput XIV-XV Source: Migne PL 2.97b-102a

But what sort of garland,I ask, did He who is the head of the man and the glory of the woman, 1 Jesus Christ, the husband of the Church, submit to for both sexes? Of thorns, I think, and thistles, a figure of the sins which the earth of the flesh brought forth for us, but which the power of the cross removed, every sting of death blunted by its endurance by the head of our Lord. Certainly besides the figure there is eager insolence, and dishonour, and infamy, and with these the ferocity involved in the cruel things which then disfigured and lacerated the temples of the Lord, and is that so that you may now be crowned with laurel and myrtle and olive, and any celebrated branch, and, of much more use, with a hundred roses too, culled from the garden of Midas, and with both kinds of lily and every sort of violet, perhaps also with gems and gold, so as even to rival that crown of Christ which afterwards He obtained? But He tasted the honey after the gall, and He was not greeted as the King of Glory by the heavens until He had been condemned to the cross as the King of the Jews, having first been made by the Father a little less than the angels for a time, and so crowned with glory and honour. If for these things you owe your own head to Him, repay it if you can, such as He presented His for yours, or do not be crowned with flowers at all, if you cannot be with thorns, because you will not be with flowers. Keep for God His own property untainted, for He will crown it if He chooses. And indeed He does choose and He calls us to it. To him who conquers He says, 'I will give him a crown of life.' You also be faithful to death, 2 you also fight the good fight, whose crown the Apostle was rightly confident had been laid up for him. 3 The angel receives a crown of victory, who goes forth on a white horse, conquering and to conquer, and another is adorned with an encircling rainbow, a celestial meadow. The elders sit crowned with the same gold, and the Son of Man Himself flashes out above the clouds. 4 If such are the appearances in the vision, of what sort will be the realities represented? Look at those crowns, inhale those odours. Why condemn the head destined for a diadem to a little chaplet or a twisted headband? For Jesus Christ has made us kings to God and His Father. What to you is the flower which is to die? You have a flower from the shoot of Jesse, upon which the grace of the Divine Spirit in all its fullness rested, a flower undefiled, unfading, everlasting. Tertullian, On The Crown, Chap 14-15 1 2 Tim 4.8 2 Apoc 2.10 3 2 Tim 4.7-8 4 Apoc 6.2, 10.1, 4.4, 14.14

The Staff Of Power

Ῥάβδον δυνάμεως ἐξαποστελεῖ Κύριος ἐκ Σιὼν, καὶ κατακυρίευε ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἐχθρῶν σου. Ῥάβδον δυνάμεως ἐν τούτοις ἡγοῦμαι τὸν εὐαγελλικὸν λόγον εἰρῆσθαι. Ἐπιστησον δὲ μήποτε καθ' ἕτερον τρόπον ῥάβδος δυνάμεως εἴρηται ἐνταῦθα ἡ ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ ψαλμῳ κεκλημένη ῥάβδος σιδηρᾶ. Ὁ μὲν οὖν εὐαγγελικὸς λόγος, ὁ τῆη τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν δυνάμεως, καὶ τῆς κατ' αὐτὸν οἰκονομίας ἀπαγγελτικὸς, ἡ παιδευτικὴ καὶ σωτήριος εἴη ἂν ῥάβδος· ἡ δὲ κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ πολεμίων τῆς αὐτοῦ Ἐκκλησίας καθαιρετικὴ λεγομένη σιδηρᾶ, δι' ἧς ὡς σκεύη κεραμέως συντρίψειν λέγεται τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτου. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ὁ Χριστὸς τὰς Ἐκκλησίας αὐτοῦ ἐν μέσαις ταῖς πόλεσι καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς μέσοις ἔθνεσι μεταξὺ τῶν ἐχθρῶν καὶ πολεμίων συνεστήσατο, ἀναγκαίως λέλεκται ὅτι Ῥάβδον δυνάμεως ἐξαποστελεῖ Κύριος ἐκ Σιὼν, καὶ κατακυριεύσῃς ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἐχθρῶν σου. Εὐσέβιος ὁ Καισάρειος, Ὑπομνηματα Ἐις Τους Ψαλμους, Ψαλμος ΡΘ' Source: Migne PG 23.1341c

The Lord sends forth a staff of power from Zion. Rule in the midst of your enemies! 1 I judge this staff of power is spoken of the evangelical word. But let it be considered that perhaps according to another understanding this staff of power is spoken of as what was called a rod of iron in the second Psalm. 1 Thus the evangelical word, which declares the virtue and dispensation of our Saviour, is the staff of teaching and salvation, but that which casts down and destroys His enemies and the foes of the Church, that is the rod of iron, of which it is said that it shall shatter his enemies like an earthen pot. Because, then, Christ has established His Churches in the midst of cities and nations among enemies and foes, so it was necessary to say. 'The Lord sends forth a staff of power from Sion, that you rule in the midst of your enemies.' Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 109 1 Ps 109.3 2 Ps 2.9

Conquest In War

Dominus conterens bella, Dominus nomen est illi qui posuit castra sua in medio populi sui ut eriperet nos de manu omnium inimicorum nostrorum. Redempter noster, de quo in Psalmo scriptum est: Dominus fortis, Dominus potens in praelio, ipse per sanguinem crucis suae contrivit saevitiam diaboli, et mundum subjecit suae ditioni, qui resurgens a mortuis ad discipulos suos ait: Data est mihi omnis potestas in coelo et in terra. Euntes docete omnes gentes, baptizantes eos in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus sancti, docentes eos observare omnia, quaecunque mandavi vobis. Et ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus, usque ad consummationem saeculo. Castra ergo sua in medio populi sui posuit, cum Ecclesiam suam in medio nationum constituit, in qua semper manens quotidie electos suos de manibus inimicorum liberat, sed in fine mundi perfectam liberationem eis praestabit, quando absorbetur id quod mortale est a vita, et ipsa novissima destruetur mors; quando sancti fulgebunt, sicut sol in regno Patris eorum, et interitum omnium hostium suorum, cum capite suo ipsi videntes ridebunt et dicent: Ecce homo, qui non posuit Deum adjutorem sibi, sed speravit in multitudine divitiarum suarum, et praevaluit in vanitate sua. Ego autem sicut oliva fructifera in domo Dei speravi in misericordia ejus in aeternum, et in saeculum saeculi confitebor illi. Rabanus Maurus, Expositio in Librum Judith, Caput XVI Source: Migne PL 109.582c-583a

The Lord conquers in war, the Lord is His name, He who has placed His camp in the midst of His people, that He might seize us from the hand of all our enemies. 1 Our Redeemer, concerning whom it is written in the Psalm: 'The Lord is strong, the Lord is powerful in war,' 2 crushed down the savagery of the devil by the power of the cross and subjected the world to his Deity, He who rising from the dead said to His disciples, 'All power is given to me in heaven and on earth. Go out and teach all the peoples, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything which I have commanded you. And behold I am with you every day, even to the consummation of the world.' 3 Therefore He placed His camp in the midst of His people when He established His Church in the midst of the nations, in which He is always, every day, freeing his chosen ones from the hands of enemies, but at the end of the world He will give them a perfect liberation, when that which is mortal is stripped from life, and the final death is destroyed, 4 when the saints shine as the sun in the kingdom of the father, and all their enemies are ruined, when with their own heads they look and laugh and say: 'Behold the man, who did not have God as a helper, but hoped in his own riches, and prevailed in is vanity. But I am like a fruitful olive in the house of the Lord, I hoped in His mercy forever, and I shall confess Him to eternity.' 5 Rabanus Maurus, Commentary On Judith, Chap 16 1 Judith 16.3-4 2 Ps 23.8 3 Mt 28.18-20 4 1 Cor 15.53-54 5 Ps 51.8-11

Encircled And Besieged

Περιεκύκλωσάν με μόσχοι πολλοί, ταῦροι πίονες περιέσχον με... ̓Μόσχοι δ' ἄν εἴεν καὶ αἱ περὶ τὰ γήϊνα καὶ σωματικὰ ἐνεργοῦσαι πονηραὶ δυνάμεις γεωπόνον γὰρ τοῦτο τὸ ζῷον, αἱ δὲ ψευδοδοξίας προϊστάμεναι δι' ἀπατηλῶν λόγων καὶ σοφισμάτων κερατίζουσαι ταῦροι τυγχάνουσιν πίονες ὄντες διὰ τὸ δῆθεν πολυμαθὲς καὶ κεκομψευμένον τῆς φράσεως. Δυνατὸν δὲ καὶ τοὺς ̓Ιουδαίους κατὰ νόμον βουθυτοῦντας ἐξ ὤν ἐπιτηδεύουσιν μόσχους ὠνομασμένους περικυκλοῦν ἐχθρικῶς τὸν Kύριον· Πόντιος δὲ Πιλᾶτος καὶ εἰ τινες ἄλλοι ἐν ὑπεροχῇ ταῦροι κερατισταὶ ὑπάρχοντες, περιέχειν σπουδάζουσιν αὐτόν. Λέγοι δ' ἄν ταῦτα ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ περὶ τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ τῆς ἐκκλησίας, ἰδὼν ἀνθρώπους χαμαιπεταῖς καὶ γῆν ἐργαζομένους πολεμικῶς περικυκλοῦντας αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα, τὸ ̓Εκύκλωσάν με μόσχοι πολλοί. Tοὺς δὲ αρχοντας, τούτου τοῦ αἰῶνος σοφίαν ἐπαγγελλομένους, ἑωρακὼς περιθέοντας αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα ἐρεῖ· Ταῦροι πίονες περιέσχον με. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμος KA´ Source: Migne PG 39.1280b-c

Many young bulls encircled me, mighty bulls besieged me... 1 The young bulls seem to be wicked powers that drive to worldly and corporeal cares, for this animal is a labourer on the earth, but those who glory in lies through deceitful words and sophisms, which are their tossing horns, they are the bulls who are mighty because of learning and eloquent words. Also it is possible to say that the Jews according to the law are sacrificial bulls, and among these they appear to be named the young bulls who are aggressively surrounding the Lord, but Pontius Pilate, and not a few others, greater in the rank of dignity, are therefore the horn bearing bulls, who are keen to beleaguer Him. And then the Savior may say these things about the body of His Church, when He sees base men and the earth becoming hostile and encircling His body: 'Many young bulls encircled me,' and when He sees those professed as leaders in the world's wisdom surrounding His body, He says, 'Mighty bulls besieged me.' Didymus the Blind, Commentary on The Psalms, from Psalm 21 1 Ps 21.12

Patience And Reward

Ὁ ἡμέτερος διδάσκαλος Παῠλος παραγγέλλει, παραστῆσαι τὰ σώματα ὑμῶν θυσίαν ζῶσαν, εὐάρεστον τῷ Θεῷ. Κοινὸν μὲν τὸ παράγγελμα, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐπαγγέλλει τοῖς ἁγιωσύνην ἀσκοῦσιν. Ἡ παρθένος τὴν μὲν φύσιν ἐστὶν ὁμοία ταῖς ἄλλαις γυναιξὶ, τῇ δὲ προθέσει τὴν φὺσιν ὑπερβᾶσα. Καὶ τῷ ἁγίῷ ἀγίως προσελθεῖν θελήσασα, εἰ μὲν κατορθῖ ἐνταῦθα, θαῦμα μέγα ἀπηνέγκατο· εἰ δὲ προθεμένη οὐκ ἐτελείωσιν, ἐξαίσιον τὸ τοιοῦτον πτῶμα γεγένηται· καὶ γὰρ χαλεπώτερον ἐστιν ἀπὸ ὑψηλοτέρων πεσεῖν, ἤ ἀπὸ τῶν χαμαὶ καταπίπτειν. Καὶ ὅσῳ μεγάλα ἐστὶν ἡ ἐπαγγελία, τοσούτῳ χείρων ἡ πτῶσις. Ἡ γὰρ ἐπαγγελία ὑπερβαίνει τὴν φήσιν, καὶ εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν αὐτὴν ἀναφέρει, καὶ μετὰ ἀγγέλων χοερεύειν αὐτὴν κατασκευάζει. Ἐντεῦθεν ἥδη τῇ πολιτείᾳ, ὥς φησι καὶ ὁ Σωτὴρ τῷ ἀξιώματι τούτῳ μαρτυρων, ὅτι μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν τῶν νεκρῶν ὁ βίος ἐστὶ, φησὶν, ἡ προσδοκία τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Καὶ πάλιν λέγει, ὅτι Οἱ καταξιωθέντες τῆς ἀναστάσεως τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν οὔτε γαμοῦσιν οὔτε γαμισκονται. Ὅ τοίνυν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν ταῖς ἐπαγγελίαις ἀπόκειται, τοῦτο προλαβοῦσα ἥ τινων προαίρεσις, ἔχει καὶ κέκτηται. Οἱ γὰρ ἅγιοι, οἵτινες τὸν λογισμὸν ἔχουσιν ἀνατεταμένον πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ἐσθίοντες ἐκ τῆς οὐρανίου τροφῆς, ἠγήσαντο ὡς φυλακὴν τὸν κόσμον τοῦτον, καὶ τὰ σώματα αὐτῶν εἰς μαρτυρίαν παραδεδώκασι, καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ψυχὴν τετηρήκασιν ἁγνὴν, ἵνα ὁ Θεὸς οἰκήσῃ ἐν αὐτοῖς. Ὑπέμενον δὲ, ὥσπερ ὁ Κύριος ἡμων λέγει, ὅτι Ὁ ὑπομείνας εἰς τέλος, οὕτος σωθησεται· καὶ καθάπερ ὁ Ψαλμῳδός φησιν· Ἐκοπίασεν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, καὶ ζήσεται εἰς τέλος· ὅσοι γὰρ δίκαιοι τὴν ἐλπιδα αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ Θεῷ ἔχουσιν, ἀνάπαυσιν σαρκικὴν οὐκ ἐσχήκασι, χωρίζουσαν αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ· ἀλλ' ἔμενον ἐν κόποις, μὴ δειλιῶντες, οὔτε μὴν διστάζοντες περὶ τῶν θείθν ἐπαγγελιῶν· ἀλλ' ὑποδεχόμενοι τὰς θλίψεις ἐλαφρῶς, μηνμονεύουσι τοῦ διὰ τοῦ Ἀποστόλου λέγοντος· Καὶ τὴν ἁρπαγην τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ὑμῶν μετὰ χαρᾶς προσεδέξασθε. καὶ μαρτυρεῖ καὶ περὶ τῶν μὴ προσδεξαμένων τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν, ὅτι οὐκ ἤθελον ἀναστρέψαντες πάλιν εἶναι ἐν τοῖς οὐρανίοις· ἡμᾶς δὲ οὐ δεῖ εἶναι ἐν τοῖς κοσμικοῖς, ἀλλὰ μεταβῆναι εἰς τὸ συνεῖναι τῷ Θεῷ. Ἅγιος Ἀθανάσιος, Περὶ Ὑπομονης Source: Migne PG 26.1297a-c

Our teacher Paul exhorts the preparation of our bodies as a living sacrifice pleasing to God. 1 Certainly it is a general command, but more is promised to those exert themselves in holiness. A virgin has a similar nature to other women but with her vow she transcends that nature. And wishing to come to the holy of holies, if she is well presented, a great wonder has been brought, but if she has not perfected what she has proposed, woeful is the calamity, because as the greater the promise, so much the worse the fall. For the promise exceeds nature and lifts it into the heavens and makes it dwell among the angelic choirs. And from there with that way of life, as the Saviour says, it gives witness of its great dignity, for life after the resurrection of the dead is the hope of men. And again He says that those who are worthy of the resurrection amid future goods, neither marry nor are given in marriage. 2 Then with the promise being reserved in the kingdom of heaven, yet some by their own choice run ahead and here have and possess it. For the holy, having fixed their minds on God, even feasting on the heavenly bread, having treated this world as a prison, have handed over their own bodies to martyrdom, they who had guarded their own souls in chastity, so that God might dwell with them. They had patience, and as the Lord said, 'He who has patience to the end, he shall be saved.' 3 and likewise the Psalmist says, 'He laboured for eternity, and he shall live at the end.' 4 For as much as men place their hope in God, and do not cling to carnal contentment, which separates them from God, but endure in their labours, fearing nothing, and not doubting the Divine promises, but readily accepting hardship, they recall that which was said by the Apostle: 'And you accepted the seizure of your goods with joy.' 5 And this also bears witness to those who do not receive redemption, who are unwilling to have their way of life in the heavens. But we should not be in the world, but passing on, that we may be with God. Saint Athanasius, From a Sermon On Patience 1 Rom 12.1 2 Mt 22.30 3 Mk 13.13 4 Ps 48.9-10 5 Heb 10.34

Becoming A Mother

Extendens manum in discipulos ait: Ecce mater et fratres. Quicumque enim fecerit voluntatem Patris mei, qui in cælis est, ipse meus frater, et soror, et mater est. Cum is qui voluntatem Dei fecerit, soror et frater Domini dicitur, propter utrumque sexum, qui ad fidem colligitur, mirum non est. Mirandum enim valde est, quomodo et mater dicatur. Fideles etenim discipulos fratres vocare dignatus est, dicens: Ite, nuntiate fratribus meis. Qui ergo frater Domini veniendo ad fidem fieri potuerit, quaerendum est quomodo et mater potest esse? Sed sciendum nobis est, quia qui est frater et soror Jesu credendo, mater efficitur praedicando, quasi enim parit Dominum, qui eum cordi audientis infuderit, et mater ejus efficitur, si per ejus vocem amor Dei in mente proximi generatur. Anselmus Laudunensis, Enarrationes In Matthaeum, Cap XII Source: Migne PL 162.1368c-d

Stretching out a hand to His disciples He said: 'Behold my mother and my brothers. Whoever shall make the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.' 1 When it is said that he who shall make the will of God is a sister and a brother of the Lord, it is not a wonder, since both sexes are gathered to the faith, but what certainly is to be wondered at is how it might be said that one is a mother. The faithful disciples were worthy to be called brothers, when it was said, 'Go, announce it to my brothers...' 2 Therefore when a man shall become a brother of the Lord by coming to the faith, it must be asked: how is he able to be a mother? But let it be known to us that he who is a brother and sister by believing in Jesus, is made a mother by preaching, as if he brings forth the Lord who pours Him into the heart of the hearer, and is made his mother if by his voice the love of God is generated in the mind of a neighbour. Anselm of Laon, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 12 1 Mt 12.49-50 2 Mt 28.10

Mary And The Angels

Gaudeamus omnes in Domino, diem festum celebrantes... Gaudent angeli, quia Christi Mater hodie in coelum assumpta est. Cum homines gaudant, qui semper sunt in tristitia et moerore, quomodo non gauderent angli, quorum natura est gaudere, quorum conditio trsititiam non admittit/ Qui gaudent super uno peccatore poenitentiam agente, quomodo non guaderent super Matre Dei coelos ascendente? Quare non gaudeant anglei, cum gaudeat Dominus angelorum? Gaudet Christus, et Matri suae hodie festinus occurrit: nec dedignatur suae legi satisfacere: per quam parentes honorari praecipit. David qui Christi figurativam gerebat imaginem, gaudebat et psallebat coram arca veteris testamenti. Putatis quod non gaudeat Christus coram novi testamenti, coram cella aromatum, coram propitiatorio exauditionis, coram sacrario Spiritus sancti? Gaudeant angeli, et occurrant dominae suae, reginae angelorum, mediatrici Dei et hominum. Attendant quid olim fecerit Joannes, dum adhuc esset in utero matris suae. Quamvis esset clausus et nondum productus in lucem, gaudens tamen gestiebat in occursum Mariae. Anima pueri liquefacta est, ut Maria locuta est. Liquefiant angeli, et vocem Mariae audituri, et Mariae praesentia fruituri. Gaudeant pro se, gaudeant pro nobis: pro se, quia suam in coelo recipiunt advocatam. Neminem, quaeso, moveat, fratres mei, quid Mariam voco reginam angelorum et dominam. Gloriantur angeli se illam habere dominam, quam Dominus angelorum sibi elegit in matrem: Ipsa quanto gloriosius et ineffabilius peperit filium et haeredem Dei, tanto differentius, et prae cunctis gloriosius nomen haereditavit. Magnum et gloriosum est in angelo quod factus est Dei minister. Procul dubio majus et gloriosius est in Maria, quod facta est Dei Mater. Sicut Apostolis dicit: Nec oculus vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit, quanta sunt, quae praeparavit Deus diligentibus se. Si Deus praeparat tam pretiosa diligenti se, quanta putatis praeparat gignenti se? Cui angelorum dictum est: Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te? Adhuc eminentiorem vobis demonstro praerogativam. Veni, electa mea, et ponam in te thronum meum. Cui angelorum dictum est unquam tam venerabile, tam amabile, tam familiare verbum: Veni, inquit, electa mea, veni. Vocatio est ad supereminentem gloriae mansionem. Multi, quidem sunt vocati, pauci vero electi. Ista est vocata et electa, non solum electa, sed et praelecta. Elegit eam Deus, et praeelegit eam. Beata, Domine, quam elegisti, habitabit in atriis tuis, imo si verba Domini attendamus, habitabit in ea, et ponet in ea thronum suum, quoniam elegit eam in habitionem sibi. Haec requies mea in saeculum saeculi: hic habitabo, quoniam elegi eam. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XXXIII, In Assumptione Beatae Mariae Source: Migne PL 207.660b-661b

Let all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating the feast day... The angels rejoice because today the Mother of Christ is taken up to heaven. When men rejoice, who are always amid tears and mourning, how shall the angels not rejoice, whose nature it is to rejoice, whose nature does not admit grief? They who rejoice over the repentance of one sinner, 1 shall they not rejoice over the ascension of the Mother of God to heaven? Why shall the angels not rejoice when the Lord of the angels rejoices? Christ rejoices, and today He hastens to His mother, He does not refuse to honour His law through which He commands that parents be honoured. 2 David, who was a figure and image of Christ, rejoiced and sang before the ark of the Old Testament. 3 Do you think that Christ shall not rejoice before the ark of the New Testament, before the storehouse of perfumes, before the one eager to hear prayers of atonement, before the shrine of the Holy Spirit? Let the angels rejoice and run to their Lady, the queen of the angels, the mediatrix of God and men. Let them consider what once happened with John, while he was yet in the womb of his mother. Although he was enclosed and not yet brought into the light, yet he rejoiced and leapt at the coming of Mary. 4 The soul of the child melted as Mary spoke. The angels shall melt at hearing the voice of Mary, and in the enjoyment of her presence. Let them rejoice for themselves, let them rejoice for us; for themselves, because they have received an advocatess in heaven. Let no one be troubled, I beg, my brothers, because I call Mary the queen and lady of the angels. Let the angels glory for themselves that they have her as their lady, whom the Lord chose for His own mother. As she who bore the son and heir of God is more glorious and ineffable, so before all she inherited a more distinguished and glorious name. Great and glorious it is for an angel to have been made a minister of God. Without doubt it is greater and more glorious for Mary that she was made the mother of God. So the Apostle says: 'What the eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, nor has arisen in the heart of man, how much more are the things which God has prepared for those who love him.' 5 If God prepares such precious things for those who love him, how much more do you think for her who bore him? To which of the angels was it said: 'The Holy Spirit shall come upon you?' 6 Yet I shall show you a yet more eminent prerogative: Come, my chosen one, and I shall place my throne in you. To whom of the angels was anything said which was so honourable, so loving, so dear? 'Come, ' He says, ' my chosen one, come.' 7 It is a summoning to the most eminent of the seats of glory. 'Many are called, but few are chosen.' 8 She is called and she is chosen, and not only chosen but even chosen before all others. God chose her, and He chose her before all others. Blessed is she whom you have chosen, Lord, who shall dwell in your halls, and truly, if we attend to the word of the Lord, He shall dwell in her and place His throne in her, 'Because He chose her for His dwelling place. This is my rest forever, here I shall dwell, because I have chosen her.' 9 Peter of Blois, from Sermon 33, On The Assumption of The Blessed Mary 1 Lk 15.10 2 Exod 20.12 3 2 Kings 6.14-15 4 Lk 1.41 5 1 Cor 2.9 6 Lk 1.35 7 Song 2.10 8 Mt 22.14 9 Ps 131.13.14

Mary And The Cedar

De celsitudine Mariae. Ratione suae magnitudinis, vel altitudinis, seu celsitudinis, vel sublimitatis, aut eminentiae, comparatur Maria cedro, quae est arbor procera et eminentissima super omnes arbores. Unde et a quibusdam appellatur rex arborum, quae videlicet Maria in hoc quod facta est mater Dei, nec primam similem visa est, nec habere sequentem. Unde beatus Bernardus: Haec est virginis nostrae gloria singularis, etc, ut supra. Propter hoc dicit de se: Quasi cedrus exaltata sum in Libano. Sanctus Albertus Magnus, De Laudibus Beatae Mariae Virginis, Liber Quartus, De Virtutibus Mariae, Caput VIII Source: Here, p112

On the Exaltedness of Mary. By reason of her greatness, or her highness, or her exaltedness, or her sublimity, or her eminence, Mary is compared to the cedar, which is a tree most high and eminent over all other trees. Whence by some it is called the king of the trees, and certainly Mary, in that she was made the Mother of God, is seen not to have one like her in primacy, nor to have a successor. Whence the blessed Bernard says, 'This is the unique glory of our virgin.' 1 Because of this it is said concerning her: 'I am like a cedar raised high in Lebanon.' 2 Saint Albert The Great, On the Praises of The Blessed Virgin Mary, Book 4, On The Virtues of Mary, Chapter 8 1 Bernard In annuntiatione B. V. Mariae Sermo II De Septiforma Spiritu in Christo Migne PL 183.391a 2 Sirach 24.13

Prayer And Life

Pater noster qui es in coelis... Homo, quid commune cum terris tibi, qui confiteris tibi genus esse de coelis? Ergo coelestem vitam monstra in habitione terrena: quia si quid in te gesserit terrena cogitatio, coleo maculem, coelesti generi injuriam intulisti. Sanctus Petrus Chrysologus, Sermo LXXI, In Orationem Dominicam Source: Migne PL 52.401d-402a

Our Father who art in heaven... 1 O man, what have you in common with earth, who here proclaim to yourself that your lineage comes from heaven? Therefore, while dwelling on earth, exhibit the heavenly life, because if you carry about an earthly mind in you, you have brought a blemish upon heaven, and an injury upon your heavenly lineage. Saint Peter Chrysologus, from Sermon 71, On The Lord's Prayer 1 Mt 6.9

Sensible Prayers

Προσευχόμενοι δὲ μὴ βαττολογήσητε ὥσπερ οἱ ἐθνικοί, δοκοῦσιν γὰρ ὅτι ἐν τῇ πολυλογίᾳ αὐτῶν εἰσακουσθήσονται. Mὴ οὖν ὁμοιωθῆτε αὐτοῖς, οἶδεν γὰρ ὁ Πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὧν χρείαν ἔχετε πρὸ τοῦ ὑμᾶς αἰτῆσαι αὐτόν. Διὰ τοῦτο ὁ Χριστὸς παρα κελεύεται διὰ συντόμου τὰς προσευχὰς ποιεῖσθαι, ἐπειδήπερ οἶδε τὸν νοῦν εὐπαράφορον ὄντα καὶ δι' ἐννοιῶν καὶ φροντίδων ματαιῶν ἀποπλανώμενον, μάλιστα ἐν τῷ τῆς προσευχῆς καιρῷ. Kαὶ παραγγέλλει νηφαλέως καὶ ταχέως αἰτεῖν τὸν θεὸν ἃ ζητεῖ μὴ πάντα ὅσα θέλει ἀναγγέλλοντα· τοῦτο γὰρ τῆς ἄκρας ἐστὶ φρενοβλαβείας· οἶδε γὰρ ὁ θεὸς καὶ πρὸ τοῦ ἡμᾶς αἰτῆσαι τίνων χρῄζομεν. βαττολογία δὲ λέγεται ἡ πολυλογία ἀπὸ Βάττου τινὸς Ἕλληνος μακροὺς καὶ πολυστίχους ὕμνους ποιήσαντος εἰς τὰ εἴδωλα καὶ ταυτολογίαν ἔχοντας. βαττολογία ἐστὶ τὸ ἔξω τοῦ καλοῦ. Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας, Ἐξὴγησις Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Ματθαιον Εὐάγγελιον Source: Migne PG 72.381c-d

When you pray, do not heap up words, like the Gentiles, for they think their many words will make them heard. Do not be like them, for your heavenly Father knows what you need before you ask Him. 1 By this Christ calls on us to keep our prayers short, since He knows that our minds are easily prone to wandering, and to veering away with different thoughts and cares, especially in the time of prayer. Therefore He commands that a man should sensibly and swiftly ask from God what he seeks, not mentioning everything that he needs, for this is the height of a crazed mind, if God knows what we need before we ask. The 'Battologia' spoken of here, which is a heaping up of words, or 'polylogia,' is derived from a certain Greek Battos who made long hymns of many verses for idols, with much repetition of words. 2 And this certainly is a defect of speech. Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint Matthew, Fragment 1 Mt 6.7-8 2 Much more likely from Gk 'Battos' meaning stammerer, repeater of words

Bad Prayers

Ἀμαθεῖς τινες καὶ φιλόκοσμοι ἄνδρες προσεοικότες τῇ σῇ ἀθλιότητι ἐμπαθῶς φερόμενοι, ὑγίειαν, καὶ πλοῦτον, καὶ σπατάλην, καὶ ἐχθρῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπώλειαν δι' εὐχῆς τὸν Κύριον αἰτοῦσιν· εἶτα τῆς τοιαύτης βλαβερᾶς ἀποτυχόντες αἰτήσεως εἰς ἀπιστίαν χωροῦσιν, ἢ μέμφονται τὸν Θεὸν. Ἄλλοι πάλιν ἄλλο τι ἐξαιτοῦντες, καὶ μὴ κομιζόμενοι συμφερόντως, οὐ γὰρ πάντες ἄπερ φιλοῦμεν καὶ ὠφελεῖ· τὸ γὰρ τί προσευξόμεθα, φησὶ, καθ' ὃ δεῖ, οἴδαμεν, γογγύζουσιν εὐθὺς χαλεπαίνοντες, καὶ δυσανασχετοῦντες ἐπὶ τῇ ἀποτεύξει, καίτοι πολλάκις κατεγνωσμένοι τὸν βίον ὑπάρχοντες, ἐτοίμως βούλονται ἐπακούεσθα· ἀρα γὰρ οὐκ ὀφείλεις εὐχαριστεῖν, ὅτι κατηξιώθης, καὶ μόνον ὀρθρίσαι πρὸς τὸν Κτίσαντα πάντα, καὶ συνομιλῆσαι αὐτῷ διὰ τῆς εὐχῆς; ἀλλὰ καὶ μηδ' εὐχαριστῆσαι θέλων, ὀνειδίζεις σὺ, ὁ πηλὸς, τὸν Πλάστην σου; Ἄλλὰ νῦν γοῦν σαυτὸν δοκιμάσας, ἄνθρωπε, γνώριζέ σου τὰ μέτρα. Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ Ν´, Θεοδοριανῳ Source: Migne PG 79.104d-105a

Some uneducated folk and lovers of the world, bearing a resemblence to you in your troubles, ask in prayer from the Lord for health and wealth and luxury and the ruin of enemies, and since these petitions are vain, they lead them to faithlessness, or reproof of God. Others again asking for something and not being able to receive it profitably, for not everything which we love is useful, and we know it is said we should pour out prayers for what is needful, instantly grumble, bearing it ill, and become disillusioned because they are refused, even though it is often things which will ruin the life they lead that they so eagerly wish to be heard for. Should it not be that you should pray only that with the dawn you come to the Creator of all things, and speak as one with Him in prayer? 1 Is it possible that, unwilling to give thanks, you, the clay, reprove your Creator? Now, my man, look to yourself, and know your measure. 2 Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 50, to Theodorian 1 cf Ps 5.4-5 2 cf Isaiah 45.9, Rom 9.21

Testing Pleasure

Dixi ego in corde meo: Vadam, et affluam deliciis, et fruar bonis; et vidi quod hoc quoque esset vanitas. Risum reputavi errorem, et gaudio dixi: Quid frustra deciperis? Tangitur hic tertium, scilicet propter considerationis taedium conversio ad delectationem. Quia enim in considerando erat labor et afflictio, ideo cogitavit hoc relinquere et convertere se ad delicias, in quibus est delectatio. Propter quod dicit: Dixi ego in corde meo, id est, in hanc considerationem deveni propter spiritualem in considerando afflictionem. Unde verbum est et consideratio non sapientiae, sed accidiae, quae, non inveniens quietem interius, quaerit exterius. Dixi igitur: Vadam et affluam deliciis et fruar bonis. Vadam, a bono vero recedendo; Psalmus: Homo factus est. spiritus vadens et non rediens. Affluam deliciis, quantum ad mullitudinem deliciarum, scilicet carnalibus contra spirituales; Cantici septimo: Quam pulcra es, carissima, in deliciis. Ab his recessit ad carnales; Isaiae vigesimo secundo: Vocavit Dominus ad fletum et planctum etc, et post: Ecce gaudium et laetitia iugulare arietes, etc. Et fruar bonis, quantum ad quietem; eo enim fruitur quis, in quo quiescit appetitus; Sapientiae secundo: Venite , fruamur bonis, quae sunt, et utamur creatura tanquam in iuveritute celeriter; et Proverbiorum septimo: Veni fruamur cupitis amplexibus. Sed quia haec consideratio erat culpabilis et reprehensibilis, ideo semetipsum redarguit, quia delectatio praesens non est vera delectatio, sed deceptio; ideo subdit: Et vidi, quod hoc quoque esset vanitas; eo quod non permanet neque reficit, sed deficit et decipit. Propter quod dicit: Risum reputavi errorem, eo quod hominem seducat; et gaudio dixi: quid frustra deciperis? quia scilicet eo gaudens decipitur. Risus est exterius, et gaudium interius. Risus decipit, quia offert bonum et in fine malum; Proverbiorum decimo quarto: Risus dolore miscebitur,et extrema gaudii luctus occupat; et lacobi quarto: Risus vester in luctum convertatur, quia Lucae sexto: Vae vobis, qui ridetis, quia flebitis. Iste risus est risus phreneticorum, quia erroneus et momentaneus. Similiter etiam gaudium interius decipit; lob vigesimo primo: Gaudent ad vocem organi; ducunt in bonis dies suos et in puncto ad inferna descendunt ; et lob vigesimo: Gaudium hypocritae ad instar puncti. Sanctus Bonaventura, Commentarius In Ecclesiasten, Cap II Source: Here, p 20

I said in my heart, 'I shall go off and I shall abound in pleasures and enjoy good things.' And I saw this was also a vanity. I reckoned laughter an error, and I said to joy: 'Why are you vainly deceived?' 1 This touches on the third thing, that is, because of the weariness of thought the turning to pleasure. Because there is labour and affliction in contemplation, here he thinks to abandon it and turn to pleasures, in which there is delight. On account of which he says: 'I said in my heart,' that is, I have come to this thought because of spiritual affliction in contemplation. Hence this thought is not a matter of wisdom but of acedia, which because it does not find interior rest seeks it outside. Therefore he said: 'I shall go off and I shall abound in pleasures and enjoy good things.' 'I shall go off' by withdrawing from the true good. The Psalm: He made man, 'A spirit going and not returning.' 2 'I shall abound in pleasures,' a great multitude of them, that is, carnal ones opposed to spiritual ones. The seventh chapter of the Song of Songs: 'How beautiful you are, most dearest, in pleasures.' 3 From these he withdraws to the flesh. Isaiah chapter twenty two: 'The Lord called to tears and groaning.' and after, 'And behold there is joy and delight in the slaughter of rams.' 4 'And enjoy good things,' as much as they tend to rest, for in that which someone has enjoyment the appetite finds rest. The second chapter of Wisdom: 'Come, let us enjoy the good things which are, and let us use the things of the world as in swift passing youth.' 5 And in the seventh chapter of Proverbs; 'Come let us enjoy longed for embraces.' 6 But because this thought was faulty and reprehensible, therefore he refutes himself, because present delight is not true delight, but deception. Therefore he adds: 'And I saw that this was also vanity.' Because it is transient and it does not restore one, but it wearies and deceives. On account of which he adds: 'I reckoned laughter an error' because it seduces man, 'and I said to joy: 'Why are you vainly deceived?' Because he who rejoices in it is deceived. Laughter is exterior and joy is interior. Laughter deceives, because it promises good and in the end it is evil. In the fourteenth book of Proverbs: 'Laughter is mixed with sorrow, and the end of joy is occupied by grief.' 7 And in the fourth chapter of James: 'Turn your laughter into sadness.' 8 because in the sixth chapter of Luke: 'Woe to you who laugh because you shall weep.' 9 This laughter is the laughter of madmen because it is erroneous and passes away in a moment. Similarly even interior joy may deceive. In the twenty first chapter of Job: 'They rejoice at the voice of the organ, they spend their days amid good things and in a moment they fall into hell.' And in the twentieth chapter of Job. 'The joy of the hypocrite is only for a moment.' 10 Saint Bonaventura, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 2 1 Eccles 2.1-2 2 Ps 77.39 3 Song 6.6 4 Isaiah 22.12-13 5 Wisd 2.6 6 Prov 7.18 7 Prov 14.13 8 James 4.9 9 Lk 6.25 10 Job 21.12-13, 20.5

Good Deeds And Suffering

Melius est enim benefacientes, si velit voluntas Dei, pati, quam malefacientes. Haec sententia illorum stultitiam eleganter arguit, qui cum pro culpis arguuntur a fratribus, vel etiam poenis coercentur, patienter omnino tolerant; at cum absque culpa, vel verborum contumelias, vel damna rerum, vel adversa quaeque patiuntur a proximis, mox ad iracundiam prorumpunt, et qui hactenus videbantur innoxi, per impatientiam se et murmurationem noxios reddunt. Ut autem flagellorum distania in disparibus meritis longe dispar appareat, videmaus una eademque caecetatis molestia Tobiam, Saulum, Elymam fuisse percussos. Sed Tobiam ob hoc, ut virtus patientiae ejus latius in exemplum cunctis claresceret; Saulum ob hoc, ut de Saulo persecutore in Paulum mutaretur apostolum; Elymam vero, ut, dignas suae perfidiae poenas luens, ab eorum quoque qui credituri erant dementatione cessaret. Et mihi si detur optio, malim cum tanto Patre sive divinis seu humanis subjacere justis verberibus, quam ob injustitam verberum vi ad justitia studia trahi. Rursumque malim a culpis flagello retrahi, quam pro insanabili pondere peccatorum aeternae ultioni subjici. Sancta Beda, In Primam Epistolam Sancti Petri, Caput III Source: Migne PL 93.57c-d

For it is better to do good and suffer, if God wills it, than to do evil.1 This sentence elegantly refutes the stupidity of those who patiently suffer when they are corrected by brothers, or even undergo punishment, but when they lack fault and suffer insolent speech, or the loss of things, or anything adverse from their neighbours, they are swift to burst out in anger, and who as far as this goes appear innocent, but by their impatience and muttering they make themselves guilty. That it might be clear that there is a difference in blows for differing merits, let us look at the one and same affliction of blindness that struck Tobit 2 and Saul 3 and Elymas. 4 Now Tobit because of this, by the virtue of his patience, shone most brightly as an example to all, and Saul because of this was changed from Saul the persecutor to Paul the Apostle. But Elymas paid the price worthy of his treachery, so that he would no longer madly obstruct those who would believe. And if the choice were given to me, I would greatly prefer to suffer righteous blows, whether from the Father or any of the Divine, or from men, so that because of my wickedness the violence of blows brought me to a zeal for righteousness. And again I would prefer to be driven out from errors by the whip, rather than by the weight of my sins to incur the eternal punishment that cures not at all. Saint Bede, Commentary on the First Letter of Peter, Chapter 3 1 1 Pet 3.17 2 Tob 2.9-3.17 3 Acts 9.1-9 4 Acts 13.6-12

Thrown Down

Et vidi, et cecidi in faciem meam. Quid ergo de hoc viro fieret, si ita ut est ejus gloriam vidisset, qui similitudinem gloriae illius videns, sed ferre non valens, cecidit? Qua in re cum magno moerore pensare et considerare cum lacrymis debemus in quantam miseriam et infirmitatem cecidimus, qui et ipsum bonum ferre non possumus ad quod videndum creati sumus. Est tamen et aliud quod de prophetae facto consideremus in nobis. Propheta enim mox ut gloriae Domini similitudinem vidit, in faciem suam cecidit. Cujus similitudinem gloriae quia nos per spiritum prophetiae videre non possumus, hanc assidue cognoscere et sollicite contemplari in sacro eloquio, in coelestibus monitis, in praeceptis spiritualibus debemus. Qui cum aliquid de Deo conspicimus, in faciem nostram cadimus, quia ex malis erubescimus, quae nos meminimus perpetrasse. Ibi enim cadit homo, ubi confunditur. Unde et Paulus quasi quibusdam in facie jacentibus dicebat: Quem ergo fructum habuistis tunc in illis, in quibus nunc erubescitis? Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, In Ezechielem Prophetam, Liber Primus, Homilia VIII Source: Migne PL 76.869b-c

And I saw and I fell on my face... 1 Why, then, did it happen to this man, that, as if had looked on His glory in the seeing of the likeness of His glory, not being able to bear it, he fell? We should think on this matter with great grief and consider it with tears, for into great misery and weakness we have fallen who are not able to bear that same good for which we were created. However, there is something in this act of the prophet that we should consider for ourselves. For as soon as the prophet saw the likeness of the glory of the Lord, he fell on his face. Which likeness of His glory, because we are not able to see it through the inspiration of prophecy, we should carefully know and anxiously contemplate in holy words, in heavenly warnings, and in spiritual teachings. We who see something concerning God, we fall on our faces, because we are ashamed of the wickedness which we remember we have done. And there where a man falls, there he is confounded. Whence even Paul, as if to certain folk thrown down on their faces, said, 'So what reward did you have in these things, over which now you blush?' 1 Saint Gregory the Great, On the Prophet Ezekiel, Book 1, from Homily 8 1 Ezek 1.28 2 Rom 6.21

Removing The Veil

Μετὰ ταῦτα λέγουσιν οὗτοι οἱ ἐξομολογούμενοι τό Ἐκοιμήθημεν ἐν τῇ αἰσχύνῃ ἡμῶν· καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο φασι· Καὶ ἐπεκάλυψεν ἡμᾶς ἡ ἀτιμία ἡμῶν. Περὶ τοῦ καλύμματος πολλάκις ἡμῖν εῖρηται, τοῦ ἐπικειμένου τῷ προσώπῳ τῶν μὴ ἐπιστρεφόντων πρὸς Κύριον. Δι' ὃ κάλυμμα ἐὰν ἀναγινώσκηται Μωῦσης, ὁ ἀμαρτωλὸς οὐ νοεῖ αὐτόν. Κάλυμμα γὰρ εἰς τὴν καρδὶαν αὐτοῦ κεῖται. Δι' ὃ κάλυμμα ἐὰν ἀναγινωσκησαι ἡ Παλαιὰ Διαθήκη, οὐ συνήσει ἀκούων. Δι' ὃ κάλυμμα καὶ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις ἐστὶ κεκαλυμμένον. Ἐλέγομεν τοίνυν περὶ τοῦ καλύμματος, ὅτι ἡ αἰσχύνη ἐστὶ τὸ κάλψμμα. Ὅσον γὰρ ἔχομεν τὰ ἔργα τῆς αἰσχύνης, δῆλον ὅτι ἔχομεν τὸ καλύμμα, κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον που ἐν μ' καὶ γ' ψαλμῷ· Καὶ ἡ αἰσχύνη τοῦ προσώπου μου ἐκάλυψε με. Παρεθέμην, ὅτι ὁ μὴ ἔχων αἰσχύνης ἔργα, οὐκ ἔχει καλύμμα· ὁποῖος ἧν ὁ Παῦλος λέγων· Ἡμεῖς δὲ πάντες ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ τὴν δόξαν Κυρίου καταπτρίζόμενα. Παῦλος οὗν ἀνακεκαλυμμένον ἔχει τὸ πρόσωπον· οὐ γὰρ ἔχει αἰσχύνης ἔργα. Ὡς οὖν ἐκει· Ἡ αἰσχύνη τοῦ προσώπου μου ἐκάλυψε με, εἴρηται ἐνθάδε· Ἐκάλύψεν ἡμᾶς ἡ ἀτιμία ἠμῶν. Ὄσον ἀτιμίας ἔργα ἐργαζόμεθα, κάλυμμα ἔχομεν ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν ἡμῶν κείμενον. Εἰ θέλομεν τὸ καλύμμα τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀτιμίας ἀποθέσθαι, ἐπὶ τὰ τῆς τιμῆς ἔργα καταντήσθωμεν, καὶ νοήσωμεν ἐκεῖνο τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος εἰρημένον· Ἵνα πάντες τιμῶσι τὸν υἱον, καθὼς τιμῶσι τὸν πατέρα· νοήσωμεν καὶ τὸ παρὰ τῷ Ἀποστόλῳ εἰρημένον· Διὰ τῆς παραθάσεως τοῦ νόμου τὸν Θεὸν ἀτιμάζεις. Ὁ δίκαιος ὡς τιμᾷ τὸν πατέρα, τιμᾷ τὸν υἱον. Ἡ ἀτιμία, ὅταν ἀτιμάζω τὸν υἱον, αὐτὴ καθ' ἤν ἁτιμάζω τὸν πατέρα ἐπικάλυμμα γίνεται τοῦ προσώπου μου, καὶ λέγω· Ἐπεκάλυψεν ἡμᾶς ἡ ἀτιμία. Διὰ τοῦτο νοήσαντες τὸ κάλυμμα, τὸ ἐπικείμενον ἀπὸ τῶν τῆς αἰσχύνης ἔργων, ἀπὸ τῶν τῆς ἀτιμίας πράξεων περιελώμεθα τὸ κάλυμμα. Ἐφ' ἡμῶν ἐστι περιαιρεθῆναι τὸ κάλυμμα, οὐδενὸς ἄλλου ἐστίν. Ἡνίκα γὰρ ἐπέσρεψε πρὸς Κύριον Μωϋσης, περιῃρεῖτο τὸ κάλυμμα. Ὀρᾷς ὡς Μωϋσης ποτε λαμβάνεται καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ λαοῦ. Ὅσον οὐκ ἐπέστρεθε πρὸς Κύριον, σύμβολον ὤν τοῦ λαοῦ τοῦ μὴ ἐπιστρέφοντος πρὸς Κύριον, κάλυμμα εἶχεν ἐπικείμενον αὐτοῦ τῷ προσώπῳ· ὅτε δὲ ἐπέστρεφε πρὸς Κύριον, σύμβολον γενόμενος τῶν ἐπιστρεφόντων πρὸς Κύριον, τότε περιῃρεῖτο τὸ κάλυμμα, καὶ οὐχ οἷον ὁ Θεὸς αὐτῷ ἐκέλευε. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπε ὁ Κύριος πρὸς Μωϋσην· Περίθου τὸ κάλυμμα· ἀλλ' ἰδὼν Μωϋσης, ὅτι οὑ δύναται ὁ λαὸς ἰδεῖν τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, τότε ἐπετίθει τὸ κάλυμμα ἐπὶ τὸ πρόσωπον· καὶ οὐ περιέμεινε Θεὸν λέγοντα, Περιελοῦ τὸ κάλυμμα, ἡνίκα ἂν ἐπέστεψε πρὸς Κύριον. Ὠριγένης Ἰερεμίας, Ὁμολία Ε´ Source: Migne PG 13.305b-308a

After these things they confess 'We lay down in our shame,' to which is added, 'and disgrace covered us.' 1 We have often been told of the veil which lies over the face of those who do not turn back to the Lord. Because of which veil, if Moses is read, the sinner does not understand him. For the veil has been placed on his heart. And because of the veil, if the Old Testament is read, he hears it and does not understand. And because of the veil the Gospel also is hidden to those who are perishing. 2 We have said that this veil is shame. For while we have shameful works it is obvious that we must have the veil upon us, according to which it is said in the forty third Psalm: 'And the shame of my face covered me.' 3 And let it be added that he who does not have the works of shame does not have the veil, just as Paul said: 'We shall all look on the glory of the Lord with uncovered face.' 4 Thus Paul has an uncovered face, for he does not have the works of shame. As then it says in the forty third Psalm: 'The shame of my face covered me,' so indeed it is said here 'and disgrace covered us.' While we take to shameful deeds we have placed a veil on our hearts. If we wish for this veil made by shame to be withdrawn let us strive to do honourable things, and let us understand the words of our Saviour: 'That all should honour the Son as they honour the Father.' 5 And as the Apostle said: 'By sinning you have dishonoured the God of the Law.' 6 As the righteous man honours the Father, he honours the Son. Disgrace when it dishonours the Son, dishonours the Father, making a covering for the face, and I say, 'Disgrace covered us.' Whence knowing of the veil that shameful deeds impose, let us take off the veil of dishonourable works. It is in our power to remove the veil, it is not in the power of another. 'Moses returned to the Lord, and he removed the veil.' 7 See that Moses put it on when he went to the people. and while they did not return to the Lord, with the veil placed on his face he bore the sign of those who do not return, but when they returned to the Lord, then bearing the type of those who return to the Lord, he took off the veil, which was no commandment of God. For He did not say to Moses, 'Take off the veil' but when Moses saw that the people were unable to look on his glory, he placed the veil on his face, nor did he wait for the Lord to say, 'Remove the veil' when they returned to the Lord. Origen, On Jeremiah, from the Fifth Homily 1 Jerem 3.25 2 2 Cor 4.3 3 Ps 43.16 4 2 Cor 3.18 5 Jn 5.23 6 Rom 2.23 7 Exod 34.34

Lamp And Light

Lucerna pedibus meis verbum tuum Domine et lumen semitis meis ... Lucerna lumen in testa; lumen in vase, divinitas in humanitate. Vas humanitas, lumen divinitas. Vita via, tenebrae ignorantia. Praecessit Christus fereus lucernam; sequitur Christianus tenens exempli semitam. Proposuit humanitatem lucentem; ex divinitate extulit lucernam, ut videamus fide, ambulemus operatione, dirigamur imitatione praecedentem unum multi sequentes. Hugo De Sancte Victore, Miscellanea, Liber II, Caput LXIX Source: Migne PL 177.632c

Your word is a lamp for my feet, O Lord, a light for my paths...1 A lamp is light in an earthen pot, Divinity in humanity is a light in a vessel. The vessel is humanity, the light Divinity. The way is life, the darkness ignorance. Christ goes ahead bearing the lamp, the Christian follows, holding to the path of example. He has determined that humanity shine, from Divinity He has brought forth the lamp, that we might see in faith, walk in works, and be directed in imitation, so that many follow the one who goes ahead. Hugh Of Saint Victor, Miscellanea, Book 2, Chapter 79 1 Ps 118.105

Transfiguration And Glory

Primum ergo constitue montem illum, in quem ascendit cum Petro et Jacobo et Joanne, ubi et transfiguratus est ante eos. Refulsit facies ejus ut sol, et vestimenta ejus facta sunt alba sicut nix. Resurrectionis gloria ista est, quam in monte spei contemplamur. Utquid enim ascendit ut transfiguraretur, nisi ut doceret nos cogitatione ascendere ad futuram illam gloriam, quae revelabitur in nobis? Felix cujus meditatio in conspectu Domini est semper, qui in corde suo delectationes dexterae Domini usque in finem sedula cogitatione revolvit! Quid enim grave illi poterit videri, qui semper mente tractat quod non sint condignae passiones hujus temporis ad futuram gloriam? Quid concupiscere poterit in saeculo nequam, cujus oculus semper videt bona Domini in terra viventium, semper videt aeterna praemia? Tibi dixit cor meum, Propheta loquitur Domino; tibi dixit cor meum: Exquisivit te facies mea: faciem tuam, Domine, requiram. Quis mihi tribuat, ut omnes surgentes stetis in excelso, et videatis exsultationem, quae ventura est vobis a Domino. Non sit molestum vobis, obsecro, quod in monte hoc aliquando diutius immoramur: poterimus enim caeteros festinantius pertransire. Verumtamen in isto quem non detineat sententia illa sancti Petri, quam in eo protulit, et de eo: Domine, inquiens, bonum est nos hic esse? Quid enim tam bonum est, imo quid aliud videtur bonum, quam in bonis animam demorari, quandoquidem adhuc corpus non potest? Puto quod ejus qui ingrediebatur in locum tabernaculi admirabilis usque ad domum Dei, in voce exsultationis et confessionis, sonus epulantis fuerit: Bonum est nos hic esse. Quis enim ex vobis secum cogitans futuram illam vitam, sed laetitiam, sed jucunditatem, sed beatitudinem, sed gloriam filiorum Dei: quis, inquam, talia tranquilla secum conscientia volvens, non continuo de plenitudine intimae suavitatis eructat, Domine, bonum nos est hic esse? Non sane in hac aerumnosa peregrinatione, ubi corpore detinetur, sed in suavi ac salubri illa cogitatione, in qua corde versatur: Quis mihi dabit pennas sicut columbae, et volabo, et requiescam? Vos autem, filii hominum, filii hominis qui descendit de Jerusalem in Jericho, filii hominum, usquequo gravi corde? Ascendite ad cor altum, et exaltabitur Deus. Hic est enim mens, in quo transfiguratur Christus. Ascendite, et scietis quoniam Dominus Sanctum suum mirificavit. Sanctus Bernardus Clarae Vallensis, In Ascensione Domini, Sermo IV Source: Migne PL 183.312d-313d

First set before you that mount which He went up onto with Peter and James and John, where He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun and His vestments were made as white as snow. 1 This is the glory of the resurrection, which is contemplated on the mount of hope. For why does He ascend to be transfigured, unless to teach us to ascend in thought to that future glory which shall be revealed in us? Happy the one whose meditation is in the sight of the Lord always, he who in his own heart diligently thinks on the delights of the right hand of the Lord. For then how burdened can one seem, who in his heart is always thinking on that future glory to which the sufferings of this time are not worthy? 2 How is it possible to desire anything in this wicked world, if one's eyes are always looking at the good things of God in the land of the living, always gazing at the eternal reward? 'My heart said to you,' the prophet says to the Lord, 'my heart said to you: my face has sought you, your face, Lord, I need.' 3 That it were given to me that with you all rising you stand on the height and see the exaltation which is coming to you from the Lord. May it not trouble you, I beg, that on this mount we tarry for some time, though we are able to pass onto others more swiftly. However, on this one, who is not detained by the speech of Saint Peter, which he offered to Him and concerned Him. 'Lord,' he said, 'it is good that we are here.' 4 For why is it so good, when there seems to be another good beyond the soul lingering in good things while the body is not yet able to do so? I think of him who entered into the place of the tabernacle, even to the house of God, in a voice of exaltation and confession, with the sound of feasting. 5 'It is good that we are here.' Who of us thinking of the future life thinks but of joy, of happiness, of blessedness, of the glory of the sons of God? Who, I say, turning over such things of peace in his mind, does not burst forth with the fullness of deepest sweetness: 'O Lord, it is good that we are here?' It is certainly not found in this troublesome pilgrimage where the body detains one, but in the sweet and wholesome thought in which the heart contemplates: 'Who shall give me the wings of the dove, that I might fly away and rest.' 6 But you sons of men, sons of men who come down from Jerusalem to Jericho, 'Sons of men, how long shall you have heavy hearts?' 'Rise up to a high heart, and God shall be exalted.' For this is the mind in which Christ is transfigured. Go up and you shall know that 'The Lord magnifies His holy one.' 7 Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, from Sermon 4, On The Ascension Of The Lord 1 Mt 17.1-2 2 Rom 8.18 3 Ps 26.8,13 4 Mt 17.4 5 Ps 41.5 6 Ps 54.7 7 Ps 4.3, Ps 63.7-8, Ps 4.4