The Ark And The End

Sicut erant in diebus Noe ante diluvium, comedentes et bibentes... Scilicet gulae dediti, nubentes et nuptui tradentes, id est persistentes, et hoc usque ad eum diem quo intravit Noe in arcam, et contemnentes Dei judicium, non cognoverunt, id est cognoscere noluerunt, Noe etiam praedicante, donec venit diluvium, et tulit omnes, ita erit et adventus Filii hominis. Sed nota, quia ubi dicit: Comedentes et bibentes, et nubentes, et nuptui tradentes, non alimenta et nuptias, sed immoderatum illorum arguit usum. Mystice arcam Noe aedificat, cum Dominus Ecclesiam de veris fidelibus, quasi lignis levigatis adunando construit, quam perfecte consummatam ingreditur, cum hanc in die judicii praesentia suae visionis aeternus habitator illustrat, sed cum arca aedificatur, iniqui luxuriantur. Cui modo non creditur, quia qui sanctis hic certantibus insultant, eis illic coronatis aeterna damnatione plectentur. Anselmus Laudunensis, Enarrationes In Matthaeum, Caput XXIV Source: Migne PL 162.1455c-d

As they were in the days of Noah before the flood, eating and drinking... 1 Obviously devoted to gluttony, marrying and giving in marriage, that is, persisting in them, even to that day when Noah entered into the ark, scorning the judgement of God, and they were ignorant, that is, they had no wish to know, even though Noah preached, until the flood came, and swept them all away, and even so shall be the coming of the Son of Man. But note that when He says, 'Eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage,' He does not condemn food and marriage but the immoderate use of such things. Noah builds the ark in a spiritual sense when the Lord builds from the truly faithful ones, as from smoothed wood, the one Church, which perfectly enters into consummation, when on the day of judgement the eternal occupant illuminates with the presence of His vision, but while the ark is being built, the wicked luxuriate. Concerning which it must not be believed that they who vex the holy with strife here, shall have crowns there, who are punished with eternal damnation. Anselm of Laon, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 24 1 Mt 24.37