Judith And The Watchmen

Et dixit Judith a longe custodibus murorum: Aperite portas, quoniam nobiscum est Deus, qui fecit virtutem in Israel. Custodes murorum, hoc est, tutores castrorum Ecclesiae, sunt doctores sancti qui verbo et exemplo, atque etiam oratione assidua muniunt vitam credentium, et ad aeternam beatitudinem illis praeparant introitum; de quibus per prophetam dicitur: Super muros tuos, Jerusalem, constitui custodes, tota die, et tota nocte non tacebunt laudare nomen Domini. Possunt angelicae virtutes custodes murorum intelligi spiritualium, quae nobis deputatae sunt, ut nos suis solatiis contra malignos spiritus defendant. Clamat ergo Judith a longe custodibus, postulans sibi aperiri portas, eo quod secum sit Deus. Sic et Ecclesia in peregrinatione istius mundi, et via praesentis vitae constituta totis medullis cordis clamans postulat, ut per suffragia sanctorum sibi supernae patriae pandatur introitus, ut ibi nominis sui expleat officium, dicens cum propheta: Aperite portas justitiae, et ingressus in eas confitebor Domino, haec porta Domini, justi intrabunt per eam. Et unde hoc deposcat addit dicens: quia nobiscum est, qui fecit virtutem in Israel. Valde enim justum est ut qui se unitum cum capite suo agnoscit, de quo scriptum est, Dominus virtutem populo suo dabit, et benedicet populum suum in pace, cum eo ad coelestis regni apicem ascendat, quia sine eo nullo modo illuc pervenire potest. Unde ipsa Veritas in Evangelio ait: Nemo ascendit in coelum, nisi qui descendit de coelo filius hominis, qui est in coelo. Potest et hoc quod dicit Judith custodibus murorum, Aperite portas, devotio cordis auditorum suorum ab ea postulata intelligi, hoc est, ut praeparet intentionem cordis ad accipienda ea quae sibi dicuntur; sicut Salvator in Evangelio per parabolas docens dixit: Qui habet aures audiendi audiat. Et Joannes apostolus in Apocalypsi sua eamdem sententiam saepius repetit dicens: Qui habet aures audiendi audiat quid spiritus dicat ecclesiis. Merito ergo illa, quae virtutes Domini, quas fecit, expromere vult, auditores devotos quaerit, quia scriptum est: Beatus qui causam suam loquitur in aurem audientis. Rabanus Maurus, Expositio in Librum Judith, Caput XIII Source: Migne PL 109.574a-d

And from afar Judith said to the watchman on the walls: 'Open your gates, because God is with us, He who has power in Israel.' 1 The watchman on the walls, that is, the teachers of the fortresses of the Church, who with their words and example, and even with their prayers, diligently fortify the lives of the faithful, and prepare entry into eternal blessedness, concerning which it is said by the prophet: 'Upon your walls, Jerusalem, I have set watchmen, all day and all night, and they shall not cease to praise the name of the Lord.' 2 It is also possible to understand the angelic powers to be the guards of the spiritual walls, who are given to us so that with their support we might defend ourselves against malignant spirits. Therefore Judith cries out from afar to the guards, asking them to open the gates, because God is with them. So even the Church in its journey in this world, set in the way of this present life, with all the strength of its heart cries out and asks that by the assistance of the saints entry be opened to the heavenly fatherland, so that there may be fulfilled the office of the name, saying with the prophet, 'Open the gates of righteousness, and entering in, I shall confess to the Lord. These are the gates of the Lord, the righteous shall enter through them.' 3 And whence earnestly entreating this, she adds to it, saying: 'Because He is with us, He who has power in Israel.' Certainly it is right that he who knows himself united to the head, concerning whom it is written: 'The Lord shall give strength to his people, and He shall bless His people with peace,' 4 ascends with Him to the height of the heavenly kingdom, because without Him there is no way he can come there. Whence the truth says in the Gospel: 'No one has ascended to heaven, unless He who has descended from heaven, the son of man, who is in heaven.' 5 It is possible that this which Judith says to the the watchmen on the wall, 'Open the gates' is to be understood as touching on the attention of the hearts of her hearers to her requests, that is, she is preparing the intention of the heart for the reception of the things that are said, as the Saviour in the Gospel says, 'He who has ears, let him hear.' And John the Apostle in his Apocalypse often repeats the same meaning, saying, 'He who has ears to hear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.' Rightly, then, this woman, who is the virtue of the Lord, wishing to show what she has done, seeks devout hearers, because it is written: 'Blessed he who speaks his cause in the ear of one who will hear.' 6 Rabanus Maurus, Commentary On Judith, Chap 13 1 Judith 13.13 2 Isaiah 62.6 3 Ps 117.19-20 4 Ps 28.11 5 Jn 3.13 6 Sirach 25.12