Despising The Name

Ad vos, o sacerdotes, qui despicitis nomen meum, et dixistis: In quo despeximus nomen tuum? Offertis super altare meum panem pollutum, et dicitis : In quo polluimus te? in eo quod dicitis : Mensa Domini despecta est. LLX: Vos, o sacerdotes, qui despicitis nomen meum, et dixistis: In quo despeximus nomen tuum? Offerentes ad altare meum panes pollutos et dixistis: In quo polluimus ipsos? In eo quod dicitis, mensa Domini despecta est, et quae superpoista sunt despexistis Quod autem sequitur: et qua superposita sunt despexistis, obelo praenotavimus, quia in Hebraico non habetur, et de sequentibus additum est. Ad vos, igitur, o sacerdotes, qui despicitis nomen meum, iste sermo dirigitur: qui reversi de Babylone, metu praeteritae servitutis, debueratis ad Dominum plena mente converti: et non solum hoc non facitis, sed imitantes Cain, superbis contra Deum vocibus respondentes, sciscitamini ab eo quem occulta non fallunt, et dicitur: In quo despeximus nomen tuum? ut dissimulationis impudentia, vulnus conscientiae protegatis. Vultis ergo scire in quo despexeritis nomen meum? Offertis super altare meum panem pollutum: panes videlicet propositionis, quos juxta traditiones Hebraicas, ipsi serere, ipsi demetere, ipsi molere, ipsi coquere debebatis: et nunc sumitis quoscumque de medio, et voce temeraria respondetis, et dicitis, in quo polluimus eos, sive te? Dum enim sacramenta violantur, ipse cujus sunt sacramenta violatur. Hoc autem quod sequitur: In eo quod dicitis, mensa Domini despecta est, possumus ita interpretari: Quod reversi de Babylone, necdum templo aedificato, manentes in casulis, et in ruinis urbis antiquae, altare tantum exstruxerant, non ejusdem gloriae, cujus pristinum fuerat, et putabant deesse religionis sanctimoniam, quia deerat aedificationis ambitio. Tenues lineas duximus, quibus imprimenda est explanatio spiritualis. Corripit sermo divinus episcopos, atque presbyteros et diaconos negligentes, sive quoniam genus sacerdotale et regale sumus, omnes qui baptizati in Christo, Christi censentur nomine, cur despiciant nomen Dei: et interrogantibus, in quo despexerint nomen ejus, causas monstrat offensae: Offertis, inquit, super altare meum panem pollutum. Polluimus panem, id est, corpus Christi, quando indigni accedimus ad altare, et sordidi mundum sanguinem bibimus, et dicimus, mensa Domini despecta est; non quod hoc aliquis audeat dicere, et quod impie cogitat scelerata voce, proferre; sed opera peccatorum despiciunt mensam Dei. Possumus et aliter dicere: Doctor Ecclesiae qui spiritualem conficit panem, et eum populis dividit, si vel propter humanam gloriam, vel lucra saeculi quae gloriam consequuntur, loquatur in populis et divitibus blandiatur, et honoret peccatores, et juxta Jacobum suscipiat eos, qui cum annulis aureis ad se veniunt, et pauperes sanctos repellat, nomen Dei despicit, et panem polluit doctrinarum, et in ipsum Deum jacit contumelias, mensam Scripturarum ejus mensis idolorum saecularisque doctrinae putans esse communem. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentarium In Malachiam Prophetam, Caput I Source: Migne PL 25.1548a-1549a

To you, O priests, who despise my name, and have said, 'How have we despised your name?' You offer polluted bread on my altar and you say, 'How have we polluted you?' By what you say the table of the Lord has been made contemptible.' The Septuagint has, 'You, O priests, who despise my name and have said, 'How have we despised your name?' You are offering polluted bread at my altar and you say 'How have we polluted it?' By what you say the table of the Lord is made contemptible and you have despised what has been set on it.' 1 We warn in advance that we have omitted what comes last here, 'and you have despised what you have set on it,' because it it not found in the Hebrew and has been added to comment on what precedes. To you, therefore, O priests, who despise my name, this speech means that having returned from Babylon you neglected reverence in service, you who should have fully turned your minds to the Lord, and it is not only that which you do, but imitating Cain, you reply to the Lord with proud voices, 2 and you enquire of Him who is not deceived by hidden things with, as it is said, 'How have we despised your name?' So you dissimulate with insolence, covering up the wound of your conscience. You wish to know how you have despised my name? You offer polluted bread on my altar, that is, the bread of showing, which according to the traditions of the Jews you should sow and reap, and grind and bake, but now you take up whatever you have and with a bold voice answer and say, 'In what way have we polluted it or you?' While what is holy is violated, He who hold these things as holy is insulted. In that which follows: 'By what you say the table of the Lord has been made contemptible,' we are able to understand this, that returning from Babylon, with the temple yet unbuilt, you dwelt in huts in the ruins of the old city, and the altar alone you set up, but not in its glory as it was of old, for you thought to be careless in the sacred things of religion because you were negligent in your eagerness to rebuild. We have thus considered these few lines, from which we must now take up the spiritual understanding. Here the Divine word cries out against negligent bishops and priests and deacons, or indeed, because we are a priestly and royal race, 3 all who have been baptised in Christ and are reckoned by the name of Christ, asking why they scorn the name of God, and to those addressed, regarding how they have despised his name, He shows the cause of the offense, 'You offer polluted bread on my altar.' We pollute the bread, that is, the body of Christ, when we come unworthily to the altar and in uncleanliness drink the pure blood. Thus we say, 'The table of the Lord has been made contemptible.' Not that someone would dare to say this and give voice to impious thoughts, but the works of sin despise the table of the Lord. We can also speak of this in another manner. A teacher of the Church who fashions spiritual bread and distributes it among the people, if he seeks human glory or worldly advantage in it, he then speaks among the people to flatter the rich and to honour sinners, and according to James, he receives those who come to him with golden rings, and he turns away those who are poor and holy, 3  and thus he despises the name of God and pollutes the bread of teachings, and he boasts insolently before God, thinking that the table of the Scriptures is much like the table of idols and the world's teaching. Saint Jerome, from the Commentary on The Prophet Malachi , Chapter 1 1 Malac 1.7 2 Gen 4.9 3 1 Per 2.9 4 James 2.2-3