The Time Of Sowing

Ergo, dum tempus habemus, operemur bonum ad omnes, maxime autem ad domesticos fidei. Tempus sementis, ut diximus, tempus est praesens, et quam currimus. In hac licet nobis quod volumus seminare; cum ista vita transierit operandi tempus aufertur. Unde et Salvator ait: Operamini dum dies est: veniet nox, quando jam nullus poterit operari. Ortus est nobis Dei sermo, sol verus, et congregatae sunt bestiae recedentes in cubilia sua: procedamus ut homines ad opus nostrum, et usque ad vesperam laboremus, sicut mystice cantatur in psalmo: Posuisti tenebras, et facta est nox. In ipsa pertransibunt bestiae silvae, catuli leonum rugientes, ut rapiant, et quaerant a Deo escam sibi. Ortus est sol, et congregatae sunt, et in cubilibus suis dormierunt. Egredietur homo ad opus suum, et ad operationem suam usque ad vesperam. Sive aegrotamus, sive sani sumus, humiles, vel potentes, pauperes, divites, ignobiles, honorati, esurientes, sive vescentes, omnia in nomine Domini cum patientia et aequanimitate faciamus, et implebitur in nobis illud quod scriptum est: Diligentibus autem Dominum, omnia cooperantur in bonum. Ira ipsa et libido, et injuria quae desiderat ultionem, si me refrenem: si propter Deum taceam: si per singulos commotionis aculeos, et incentiva vitiorum, Dei desuper me videntis recorder, fiunt mihi occasio triumphorum. Ne dicamus in largiendo: Ille est amicus, hunc nescio: hic debet accipere, iste contemni. Imitemur Patrem nostrum, qui solem suum oriri facit super bonos et malos, et pluit super justos et injustos. Fons bonitatis omnibus patet. Servus et liber, plebeius et rex, dives et pauper, ex eo similiter bibunt. Lucerna cum accensa fuerit in domo, omnibus lucet aequaliter. Quod si in cunctos indifferenter liberalitatis frena laxantur, quanto magis in domesticos fidei, et in Christianos, qui eumdem habent Patrem, ejusque magistri appellatione censentur! Videtur autem mihi locus iste posse et superioribus cohaerere, ut domesticos fidei, magistros nominet, quibus supra omnia quae putantur bona, ab auditoribus suis jusserat ministrari. Breve est vitae istius curriculum. Hoc ipsum quod loquor, quod dicto, quod scribo, quod emendo, quod relego, de tempore meo mihi aut crescit, aut deperit. Titus, filius Vespasiani, qui in ultionem Dominici sanguinis, subversis Jerosolymis, Romam victor ingressus est, tantae dicitur fuisse bonitatis, ut cum quadam nocte sero recordaretur, in coena, quod nihil boni die illa fecisset, dixerit amicis: Hodie diem perdidi. Nos putamus non perire nobis horam, diem, momenta, tempus, aetates, cum otiosum verbum loquimur, pro quo reddituri sumus rationem in die judicii? Quod si hoc ille sine Lege, sine Evangelio, sine Salvatoris, et apostolorum doctrina, naturaliter et dixit, et fecit: quid nos oportet facere, in quorum condemnationem habet et Juno univiras, et Vesta virgines, et alia idola continentes? Beatus Joannes evangelista cum Ephesi moraretur usque ad ultimam senectutem, et vix inter discipulorum manus ad ecclesiam deferretur, nec posset in plura vocem verba contexere, nihil aliud per singulas solebat proferre collectas, nisi hoc: Filioli, diligite alterutrum. Tandem discipuli et fratres qui aderant, taedio affecti, quod eadem semper audirent, dixerunt: Magister, quare semper hoc loqueris? Qui respondit dignam Joanne sententiam: Quia praeceptum Domini est, et si solum fiat, sufficit. Hoc propter praesens Apostoli mandatum: Operemur bonum ad omnes: maxime autem ad domesticos fidei. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum in Epistolam ad Galatas, Liber III, Cap VI Source: Migne PL 26.432b-433c

Therefore while we have time, let us do good to everyone, especially to the servants of the faith. 1 The time of sowing, as we have said, is the present time, in which we run. In this we are permitted to sow what we will, and when this life shall have passed by the time of such labouring is finished. Whence the Saviour says: 'Work while it is still day. The night shall come when no one will be able to work.' 2 The sun of the word of God has risen on us, the true sun, and the beasts have been gathered up and withdrawn into their lairs, and so let us as men go to our work, and even to the evening let us labour, as is spiritually sung in the Psalm: 'You set down darkness and it was night. In it pass all the beasts of the wood, the roaring of lion whelps, that they might seize, and they seek from God food for themselves. The sun has risen, and they have been gathered up and in their lairs they sleep. Man goes out to his work, and to his labour until the evening.' 3 Whether we are sick or healthy, humble or powerful, poor or rich, obscure or honoured, hungry or full, let us do everything in the name of the Lord in patience and contentment, and we shall fulfill in ourselves what has been written: 'But for the lovers of the Lord everything works together for goodness.' 4 If I restrain myself from anger and lust and the injury that seeks vengeance, if for the sake of God I am silent, if through every sharp disturbance and incentive for vice I remind myself that God watches from above, there shall be for me an occasion of triumph. Let us not say in plenty, 'That fellow is a friend, this one I do not know. This one should be received, that one scorned.' Let us imitate our Father who makes the sun rise over the good and the wicked, and makes it rain upon the righteous and the unrighteous. 5 He opens the fount of kindness to all and from that slave and free, commoner and king, rich and poor, all likewise drink. A lamp that has been lit in a house shines equally on everyone, 6 whence if the reign of generosity is loosed impartially for everyone, how much more for those who are servants of the faith and Christians, who have the same Father, and those who are reckoned to be His teachers? It seems to me that it is possible to join this passage with those before, so that from hearers he exhorts service of those he names servants of the faith and teachers, whom are thought as goods above all. Brief is the time of this life. This which I say, and dictate, and write, and correct, and review, grows or perishes in my time. Titus, the son of Vespasian, who in revenge for the blood of the Lord, overthrew Jerusalem, entered Rome as victor, and it is said that such was his benevolence, that when late one night at a feast he remembered that he had done no good that day, he said to his friends, 'Today I have wasted a day.' Shall we not think that we have wasted an hour, a day, a moment, a year, an age, when we speak worthless words, for which we shall have to give a reason on the day of judgement? 7 If this fellow without the Law, without the Gospel, without the Saviour and the teaching of the Apostles, naturally said this and acted so, what is needful for us to do, for the condemnation of whom he had Juno of one husband, and the Vestal Virgins, and a collection of other idols? Blessed John the Evangelist, while he remained in Ephesus until final old age, had to be carried to the church by the hands of his followers, and unable to compose his voice for many words, he was accustomed to offer nothing else to the congregation but this: 'Little children, love one another.' 8Then when his pupils and brothers drew near, and being troubled with the repetition of what they always heard, said, 'Master, why do you always say this?' John replied with a worthy statement: 'Because it is the teaching of the Lord, and if this alone is done, it is enough.' Hence the command of this Apostle: 'Let us do good to everyone, especially to the servants of the faith.' Saint Jerome, Commentary on the Letter to the Galatians, Book 3, Chapter 6 1 Galat 6.10 2 Jn 9.4 3 Ps 103.20-23 4 Rom 8.28 5 Mt 5.45 6 Mt 5.15 7 Mt 12.36 8 cf 1 Jn 3.18