The Way Of The Reed

...calamum a vento moveri? Calamus est vacuus, et nullam habet virtutem: et ideo qualisvis ventus flaverit super eum, huc et illuc flectit illum. Sic et homo carnalis et saecularis in quo fidei nulla est medulla, et virtus veritatis non invenitur in eo, qualiscumque tentatio venerit super eum, curvat eum. Nam Deus volens ostendere Job, in quibus hominibus diabolus requiescit, introducit draconem in figura diaboli, et cum multa dixisset de eo, inter caetera ait: Secus calamum et papyrum requiescit. Calamus enim est vacuus, papyrus autem nimium levis, et mollis. Sic omnis homo carnalis, vacuus in fide, et levis in sensu, et mollis in passionibus, calamus est et papyrus. Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum, Homilia XXVII Source: Migne PG 56.773

...a reed shaken by the wind?' 1 A reed is hollow and has no strength, and therefore whatever wind blows upon it bends it this way and that. So it is with a carnal and worldly man in whom there is no core of faith and in whom the power of truth is not found, so that whatever temptation comes upon him it bends him down. For God wishing to show Job in which men the devil dwelt, introduced the dragon as a figure for the devil, and having said much about him, among other things He said, 'He dwells amid the reeds and the papyri.' 2 A reed is hollow and papyrus is extremely light and soft. So every carnal man is empty of faith, and he is light in his mind, and he is soft amid passions, and so he is a reed and papyrus. Opus Imperfectum on Matthew, from Homily 27 1 Mt 11.7 2 Job 40.16 Vulgate, Job 40.21 LXX

Joseph The Slave

Madianitae vendiderunt Joseph in Aegypto Putiphari eunucho Pharaonis, magistro militum. Caeterum quod ad moralem pertinet locum, quia omnes vult salvos fieri Dominus Deus noster, dedit per Joseph etiam iis qui sunt in servitute solatium: attribuit magisterium; ut discerent etiam in ultima conditione posse mores esse superiores, nec ullum statum immunem esse virtutis, si animus se uniuscujusque cognoscat; carnem servituti subditam esse, non mentem; multosque servulos esse dominis liberiores, si in servitute positi a servilibus putent operibus abstinendum. Servile est omne peccatum, libera est innocentia. Unde et Dominus ait: Omnis qui facit peccatum, servus est peccati. Quomodo enim non servus omnis avarus, qui pro exigno pecuniae lucello se ipsum auctionatur? Timet omnia, ne congesta amittat, qui non utenda congessit, majore periculo servaturus quo majora quaesivit. Quomodo non mendicus, cui sunt parva quae possidet? Nam etsi mihi dives videatur, sibi eget: nec testimoniis sua vota solatur, qui quod optat nescit credere. Quomodo autem non et ille servus, qui subditus est libidini? Primum suis ardet incendiis, et pectoris sui facibus exuritur. Quibus recte dicit propheta: Ambulate in lumine ignis vestri, et in flamma quam accendistis. Suscipit omnes metus, insidiatur somno singulorum: ut unius cupiditate potiatur, fit servus omnium. Servit igitur hanc miseram quidem servitutem, qui ipse sibi dominos facit, ipse vult habere quos timeat. Nihil enim tam speciale servitutis est, quam semper timere. Ille vero in quavis conditione servitii semper liber, qui mundi amore non capitur, avaritiae vinculis non tenetur, metu criminis non alligatur, qui securus spectat praesentia, quem futura non terrent. Nonne videtur tibi iste in servitute dominari: ille autem in libertate servire? Serviebat Joseph, regnabat Pharao: beatior hujus servitus, quam regnum illius. Denique tota Aegyptus collapsa esset fame, nisi regnum suum consilio servuli subdidisset. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Jospeph Patriarca, Caput IV Source: Migne PL 14.649b-650b

The Madianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Putiphar, an eunuch of Pharaoh, captain of the soldiers. 1 Now let us look to the moral of the passage. Because the Lord wishes to save everyone He gives comfort through Joseph to those who are slaves, and adds a teaching, so that they might learn that even in the lowest state it is possible to have better ways and that no state is shut off from virtue, if the soul of a man knows itself, and that it is the flesh that is subject to servitude and not the mind. Many slaves are more free than their masters if set in slavery they think to abstain from servile works. Every sin is slavish and innocence is freedom. Hence the Lord says, 'Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.' 2 For how is every avaricious man not a slave, who for even a tiny profit will put himself up for sale? He fears everything, lest he lose what he has gathered, he who cannot use what he has gathered, and with greater peril he becomes more slavish the more he has sought. How is he not a beggar for whom what he does possess is little? For even if he seems to be rich he is needy in himself. Nor does he soothe his desires with proofs, he who does not know how to believe what he hopes for. And how is he not a slave who is subdued to lust? First he burns with his own flames and then he burns up with the deeds of his heart. To such men the prophet rightly says, 'Walk in the light of your own fire, and in the flame you have kindled.' 3 Fear takes hold of everyone of them, it stalks the sleep of each one of them, the desire of one man makes him a slave of all. He serves in a wretched servitude who makes masters for himself, he who wishes to have what will make him fearful. There is no more certain a slavery than to be always afraid. But he who is a state of slavery is free if he is not seized by the love of the world, and if he is not held by the chains of avarice, and if not bound by the fear of evil, if he can look securely on present things and not be terrified by the future. Does it not seem to you that he rules in slavery and another man with his freedom is a slave? Joseph was a slave, Pharaoh reigned, but more blessed was the servitude of the former than the rule of the latter. Then all Egypt would have been ruined by famine if its ruler had not bowed to the counsel of a slave. Saint Ambrose, On The Patriarch Joseph, Chapter 4 1 Gen 37.36 2 Jn 8.34 3 Isaiah 50.11

Receiving Sinners

Dominus noster hodie spem peccatorum promovit ad veniam, et superborum murmur piissimo compressit exemplo. Erant, inquit, appropinquantes Domino publicani et peccatores, ut auditent illum: et murmurabant Pharisaei et Scribae dicentes, quia hic peccatores recipit et manducat cum illis. Non minus invidi quam superbi malitiam de Dominica bonitate capiebant: de pietate Dei impii reddebantur, fiebant de Christi miseratione crudeles, sumebant de coelesti curatione languorem, et poenitentium veniam vertebant judicis in reatum. Peccatores recipit, et manducat cum illis. Sic videt invidus, sic superbus sentit: avarus sic sapit, intelligit sic malignus. Peccatores recipit. Non dicunt suscepit. Quid amiserat, qui recipit? Donat culpas, iram vertit in gaudium, dolorem mutat in gratiam, quicumque invenit quod amisit. Peccatores recipit. Recipit peccatores Deus, sed Deus peccatores esse non sinit, quos recipit; peccator Deum non violat appropinquans, Deus peccatorem sanctificat cum proquinquat. Sanctus Petrus Chrysologus, Sermo CLXVIII, De Parabola centum ovium Source: Migne PL 52.639b-640a

Today our Lord inspired sinners to hope for forgiveness, and He silenced the murmuring of the proud with a most pious example. 'Tax collectors and sinners,' it says, 'drew near to the Lord to listen to Him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured 'This man receives sinners and eats with them.' 1 They were no less envious than they were proud in that they bore malice because of the Lord's kindness, and they were shown to be without pity because of the pity of God. They became cruel because of the mercy of Christ, they became sick because of heavenly healing, and they turned the forgiveness of sinners into an accusation against the Judge. 'He receives sinners and eats with them.' This is how the envious man sees, this is how the proud man perceives, this is how the covetous man understands, this is how the wicked man thinks. 'He receives sinners,' They do not say He takes them up. Who shall receive what was lost? Whoever finds what he has lost dismisses fault, turns anger into joy, and transforms grief to thanks. 'He receives sinners.' God receives sinners, but God does not allow those whom He receives to remain sinners. The approach of a sinner does no harm to God. God sanctifies the sinful man when he draws near. Saint Peter Chrysologus, from Sermon 168, On The Parable of the Hundred Sheep 1 Mt 8.14

Remembering Goods Done

Εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα οὐ μὴ ἐπιλάθωμαι τῶν δικαιώμάτων σου, ὅτι ἐν αὐτοῖς ἔζησάς με. ᾿Αλλὰ μεμνήσομαι τῶν μαθημάτων σου, ὧν ἔμαθον ἐν τῷ βίῳ· δι' ἐκεῖνα γὰρ ἀπὸ γῆς εἰς οὐρανὸν μετελθὼν οἰκῶ μετ'ἀγγέλων. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ ἐκ μεγάλης νόσου διά τινων ἰατρικῶν βοηθημάτων παγίαν καὶ βεβαίαν ἀναλαβὼν ὑγίειαν δι ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὑγιαίνειν καὶ εὐεκτεῖν οὐκ ἐπιλανθάνεται τῶν ἰατρικῶν ἐκείνων οἷς ἠκολούθησε τὸ οὕτως αὐτὸν μετ᾿ εὐεξίας ὑγιαίνειν· οὗτως ὁ ἅγιος οὗτος, ὑπὸ Θεοῦ ζωοποιηθεὶς ἐν οἷς ἔσχε παρ' αὐτοῦ δικαιώμασι λέγει παρ' ὅλον τὸν αἰῶνα μὴ ἐπιλανθάνεσθαι αὐτῶν, ἀποδιδοὺς τὴν αἰτίαν, τὸ ἐν αὐτοῖς τὸν Θεὸν αὐτὸν ἐζηκέναι. Εὐσέβιος ὁ Καισάρειος, Ὑπομνηματα Ἐις Τους Ψαλμους, Ψαλμὸς ΡΙH' Source: Migne PG 23.1380c-d

I shall never forget your justifications, because with them you have given me life. 1 But I will remember your teachings which I learnt in life, because through them I pass from earth to heaven and dwell with angels. For as a man who was gravely sick regains firm and stable health by the administration of medicines, and when he is fit and well he does not forget the treatment which brought him health, so this holy one who was revived by the justifications of God says he will never let that be forgotten, and he gives the reason why, because God has given him life with them. Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 118 1 Ps 118.93

Chastity And Cleanliness

Gloriosum et insignem inter caeteras virtutes locum castitas et munditia tenet, fratres charissimi, quia ipsa sola est quae mundas mentes hominum praestat videre Deum. Unde ipsa Veritas ait: Beati mundo corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt; ac si e contrario diceret: Illi vero miseri sunt quorum corda carnali concupiscentia sunt polluta, quia aeternas merguntur in tenebras. Castitas enim angelica est vita; castitas cum humilitate, Spiritus sancti merebitur habitationem, quem expellit immunditia libidinum, dicente Scriptura: Corpus peccatis subditum Spiritus sanctus effugiet. Membra nostra debent Deo esse dicata, non fornicationi: opponat homo desiderio carnis suae aeternorum flammas tormentorum; assuescat juvenis castitatem, ut sit dignus sapientiae Dei. Ubi immunditia est corporis, ibi habitatio diabolici spiritus, qui maxime gaudet in inquinatione carnis nostrae. Omnes immunditiae Deo displicent, et maxime quae non sunt naturales. Admonet itaque nos Scriptura sancta dicens: Post concupiscentias tuas non eas, et a voluntate tua avertere. Si praestes animae tuae concupiscentias ejus, faciet te in gaudium inimicis tuis venire. Ejus quoque modi Salomon sapientissimus proferebat sententias de cavenda immunditia carnis, dicens: Favus enim distillans labia meretricis, et nitidius oleo guttur ejus. Novissima autem illius amara quasi absinthium, et acuta quasi gladius biceps. Pedes ejus descendunt ad mortem, et ad inferos gressus illius penetrant. Per semitam vitae non ambulant, vagi sunt gressus ejus et investigabiles. Nunc ergo, fili, audi me, et ne recedas a verbis oris mei. Longe fac ab ea viam tuam, et ne appropinques foribus domus ejus. Hoc siquidem non solum de meretricum immunditia dixit, sed etiam de omni carnis concupiscentia, quae sollicitat animam suam consentire desideriis suis: sed ratio mentis prohibere debet impetus carnis et refrenare voluptates ejus iniquas. Item ille qui supra, prohibens cohabitationem feminarum juvenibus, dicit: Nunquid abscondere potest homo ignem in sinu suo, ut vestimenta illius non ardeant; aut ambulare super prunas et non comburantur plantae ejus: sic qui ingreditur ad mulierem proximi sui, non erit mundus cum tetigerit eam. Similiter et beatus Paulus admonet nos: Bonum est, inquiens, mulierem non tangere, quasi statim in tactu periculum esset: pulchra est enim casta juvenum pudicitia, et Deo amabilis, et ad omne bonum utilis. Qui filios habet spiritales, vel carnales, nutriat illos in castitate, Deo, non in fornicatione, diabolo. Quid prodest homini filium habere, nutrire, amare, si aeternis eum nutriat tormentis. Qui in castitate vivunt, angelicam habent in terris conversationem. Castitas hominem coelo conjungit, angelis facit civem. Rabanus Maurus, Homilia XLVII, De Castitate et Munditia Source: Migne PL 110.87a-88a

Chastity and cleanliness hold a glorious and wondrous place among the other virtues, dearest brothers, because it is only those with pure minds who are given the sight of God. Hence the Truth Himself says, 'Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God,' 1 as if on the contrary He had said, 'They are wretched whose hearts are defiled with carnal lusts, because they shall sink into eternal darkness.' Chastity is the angelic life, chastity with humility merits the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, whom the uncleanliness of lust expels, with Scripture saying, 'The Holy Spirit flees a body ruled by sin.' 2 Our members should be dedicated to God not to a whore. A man sets himself in the flames of eternal torment with his carnal desires. Accustom a youth to chastity so that he might be worthy of the wisdom of God. When the body is unclean a diabolical spirit dwells there, one who loudly rejoices in the defilement of our flesh. All uncleanliness is displeasing to God, especially those which are not natural. Holy Scripture warns us, saying, 'Do not go after your desires, and turn away from your will. If you give your soul to its desires you shall come to be the joy of your enemy.' 3 The most wise Solomon also sets forth passages to warn against the uncleanliness of the flesh, saying, 'Honey drips for the lips of a whore and her neck shines with oil, but soon enough she shall be as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two edged sword. He feet lead down to death, and her steps walk into hell. They do not walk on the path of life, those steps wander and are unaccountable. Now then, my son, hear me, and do not turn from the words of my mouth. Keep her far from your way, and do not approach the doors of her house.' 4 Certainly he was not speaking only of the uncleanliness of a whore, but even of every lust of the flesh, which invites the soul to agree to its desires. But the rational mind should forbid the urging of the flesh and bind back its wicked pleasures. A little later the same author, prohibiting the cohabitation of women with young men, says, 'It is never possible for a man to hide a fire in his lap so that his clothing is not burnt, or to walk upon coals and not burn the soles of his feet, so he who goes to see the wife of his neighbour shall not be clean when he touches her.' 5 Likewise Paul warns us, 'It is good for one not to touch a woman,' 6 as if a touch were instant peril. Fair is the chastity of young men, loveable to God, and useful in everything. He who has spiritual sons and not carnal ones, shall nourish them on chastity for God, and not on fornication for the devil. What does it profit a man to have a son and to feed hm and to love hm, if he raises him for eternal torment? Those who live chastely, they have the way of angels on earth. A man of chastity is bound to heaven, a fellow citizen with angels. Rabanus Maurus, from Homily 47, On Chastity and Uncleanliness 1 Mt 5.8 2 Wisd 1.5 3 Sirach 18.30-31 4 Prov 5.3-8 5 Prov 6.27-29 6 1 Cor 7.1

Evil And Darkness

Si autem oculus tuus nequem fuerit, totum corpus tuum tenebrosum erit. Quae sunt in nobis tenebrae? Sensus carnales, malevoli et iniqui, qui semper desiderant quae sunt tenebrarum, et non lucis. In quo enim alio delectatur carnis natura, nisi in avaritia, in libidine, in superbia, in deliciis, caeterisque malis, quae ad tenebrosam mortem deducunt? Et qui intelligit quid est, quod Caro concupiscit adversus spiritum, ille intelligit quia tenebrae sunt carnis natura. Qui ergo oculum habet mundum, id est, mentem spiritualem, caelestia semper aspicientem, corpus suum servat lucidum, id est, sine peccato. Si enim caro desiderat ea quae diximus mala, secundum suam naturam homo habens mentem lucidam, et spem ad Deum, justitiae consideratione dijudicat eam, et divini timoris virtute repercutit eam: et sic quamvis nolentem, tamen servat eam lucidam, id est, sine peccato. Intellexisti ergo, quomodo qui oculum habet simplicem, corpus suum lucidum habet: qui autem oculum, id est mentem habet aut malignitate aliqua tenebrosam, aut divitiarum concupiscentia turbulentam, tenebrosum possidet corpus? Nam quae res faciunt mentem hominis spiritualem esse mundum, ipsae res ex diverso faciunt carnalem et sordidam. Quomodo fit munda mens illius, qui facit eleemosynas, et spem habet in caelo, spes autem in Deum facit mentem spiritualem et mundam: sic qui divitias congregat cum peccato, spem suam ponit in terra: qui autem spem habet in terra, illius mens carnalis est et immunda. Illius ergo tota caro in tenebris est, id est, in peccatis. Quomodo? Quando enim caro secundum suam naturam, sicut diximus, concupiscit perversa, homo spem habens in terra, et mentem concupiscentiis turbulentam, non ei contradicit, nec justitiae consideratione dijudicat, nec judicii futuri virtute repercutit: quia nec videt cum sit caecus, nec intelligit esse malum quod malum est, et si vult, non potest, quia spem non habet nisi in saeculo. Scimus autem quia spes nobis praestat virtutem, ut carnalibus concupiscentiis resistamus: qui autem spem non habet in caelo, virtutem non habet resistere concupiscentiis suis, et ideo fit caro illius tota tenebrosa. Et ut brevius et manifestius exponamus: anima priusquam peccet, divino auxilio confortata, regina et domina est corporis sui, et quasi libera et regina sedet in throno cordis sui, et gubernat corpus suum quasi palatium suum, nec potest illam vincere caro. Si autem gravibus se peccatis obligaverit, tunc divino auxilio destituta, et in potestate spirituum immundorum redacta, fit debilis et infirma, ut non jam sit domina corporis sui, sed ancilla magis: et jam non caro animae subjecta est, sed anima carni, nec quod vult anima, caro facit, sed quod caro coegerit, hoc anima facit. Intellexisti ergo, quomodo qui oculum mentis sordidum habet, totum corpus illius tenebrosum est? Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum, Homilia XV Source: Migne PG 56.721

If your eye is wicked, your whole body will be full of darkness. 1 What is the darkness in us? The carnal senses, malevolent and wicked, which always desire the things of darkness and not the light. In what else does the carnal nature delight but in avarice and lust and pride and pleasures, and other evils, which lead to the darkness of death? And he understood what this is, he who said, 'The flesh desires against the spirit.' 2 He understood that the carnal nature is a darkness. Therefore he who has a clean eye, that is, a spiritual mind, he always looks to heavenly things, and he makes his body full of light, that is, without sin. For if the flesh desires the things which we have said are evil, according to its nature the man who has a mind of light, and hope in God, he judges the flesh with the consideration of righteousness, and he strikes it with the power of Divine fear, and so although it is unwilling, he makes it serve the light, that is, without sin. Have you understood, then, that he who has an innocent eye has a body full of light, but he whose eye, that is, the mind, is dark with any wickedness, even the troubling desire for wealth, he possesses a body of darkness? For there are things which make the mind of a man clean and spiritual, and there are different things which make it carnal and foul. He makes the mind clean who gives alms, and he who has hope in heaven and hope in God makes the mind spiritual and clean, but he who gathers wealth with sin, he puts his hope in the world, and he who has his hope in he world has a mind that is carnal and unclean. Therefore all the flesh is in darkness, that is, in sin. How? When flesh, as we have said, according to its nature desires perverse things, a man has hope in the world and the mind is troubled with desires, and he does not dispute with it, nor give thought to the consideration of righteousness, nor is he shaken by the power of future judgement, because he is blind and does not see such things, nor does he understand something to be evil which is evil, and if he wishes to he is not able, because he has no hope unless in the world. And we know that hope bestows strength on us, so that we can resist carnal desires, but he who has no hope in heaven, he has no strength to resist his own desires, and therefore his flesh is full of darkness. And that we might expound this briefly and more manifestly, before a soul sins, it is strengthened with Divine help, and it is a queen and mistress of its own body, and as a free woman and queen it sits on the throne of its heart and rules its body as its palace, and the flesh is unable to overthrow it, but if it binds itself with weighty sins, then destitute of the divine help, it is dragged off into the power of unclean spirits and made weak and infirm, so that it is no longer the mistress of its own body but rather a slave woman, for now the flesh is not subject to the soul but the soul to the flesh, and it is not what the soul wishes that will direct the flesh, but the soul will do what the flesh desires. Do you understand, then, how it is that he who has the eye of his mind soiled is the one who has his whole body full of darkness? Opus Imperfectum on Matthew, from Homily 15 1 Mt 6.23 2 Galat 5.7

The World's Hate

Me autem odit mundus Mundus, inquit, me odit. Odivit eum sicut invidus, quia Christus magnus erat in mundo; odivit eum sciut adversarius, quia Christus erat contrarius mundo; odivit eum sicut mali conscius, quia Christus erat alienus a mundo. Christus ergo magnus reputabatur, et ideo odivit eum mundus ; loannis decimo quinto: Si opera non fecissem in eis, quae nemo alius fecit , peccatum non haberent. Nunc autem viderunt et oderunt me et Patrem meum. Item, Christus fuit mundo contrarius, et ideo odivit eum mundus; unde hic: Me autem odit mundus. Item, Christus fuit a mundo alienus, et ideo suspectus habebatur a mundo; propter quod odiebat eum mundus; loannis decimo quinto: Si de mundo fuissetis, mundus quod suum erat diligeret; nunc autem, quia vero non estis de mundo, propterea odit vos mundus; et de se ipso dicit: Si mundus vos odit, scitote, quia me priorem vobis odio habuit. Sanctus Bonaventura, Collationes In Evangelium Ioannem, Caput VII, Collatio XXX Source: Here, p567

The world hates me. 1 The world, He says, hates me. It hated Him as a matter of envy, because Christ was great in the world, and it hated Him as an adversary, because Christ was opposed to the world, and it hated Him because of consciousness of evil, because Christ did not belong to the world. Therefore Christ was reputed to be great and so the world hated him, in the fifteenth chapter of John, 'If I had not performed these works among them, which no other has done, they would not have sin. But now they see and they hate me and my father.' 2 Likewise Christ was opposed to the world and therefore the world hated him, for which reason He says here, 'The world hates me.' Likewise, Christ did not belong to the world, and therefore the world was suspicious of of Him, because of which the world hated Him. In the fifteenth chapter of John, 'If you were from the world, the world would love you as its own.' but now, 'as you are not from the world, because of this the world hates you.' And concerning Himself He says, 'If the world hates you, know that it hated me before you.' 3 Saint Bonaventura, Observations On The Gospel Of Saint John, Chapter 7 1 Jn 7.7 2 Jn 15.24 3 Jn 15.18

The Narrow Gate

Intrate per angustam portam... Quasi dicat: Dura videntur vobis quae praecipio et angusta sed per hanc duritiam et angustiam intrandum es vobis ad vitam, et vere per angustam portam, quia non per latam viam, per latam enim viam intratur ad mortem, et hoc est quod dicit. Porta vero quae ducit ad vitam, non solum est angusta, sed etiam arcta quia per labores et jejunia panditur. Considerandum est quod competenter de utraque via locutus est. Per latam multi ambulant, angustam pauci inveniunt, latam non quaeramus, nec investigatione opus est, sponte se offert erranti in via; angustam vero nec omnes inveniunt, nec qui inveniunt, statim ingrediuntur per eam. Multi enim, inventa veritatis via, capti saeculi voluptatibus, de medio itinere revertuntur. Anselmus Laudunensis, Enarrationes In Matthaeum, Caput VII Source: Migne PL 162.1316a-b

Enter through the narrow gate... 1 As if He said, 'It seems to you that what I command is hard but through this difficulty and narrowness you must go to enter into life, and truly through the narrow gate, because it is not through the wide way, for going along the wide way one enters into death,' which is what He says. But the gate that leads to life is not only narrow but even difficult because it is opened by toil and fasting. One must consider what has been said of both ways. Many walk on the wide way, and few find the narrow way. We do not seek the wide way, there is no toil to discover it, because it is immediately offered to those who wander on the way, but not all find the narrow gate, nor do those who find it immediately enter through it. For many who have found the true way are seized by the pleasures of the world and in the middle of going along it they turn back. Anselm of Laon, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 7 1 Mt 7.13

The Seed And Stony Ground

Aliud vero cecidit super petrosa: ubi non habuit terram multam, et statim exortum est: quoniam non habebat altitudinem terrae: et quando exortus est sol, exaestuavit: et eo quòd non habebat radicem, exaruit Secunda diversitas seminis fructum non facientis. Sunt autem petrosa corda dura,quae nec timore,ad poenitentiam conuertuntur:nec amore, molliuntur: nec pluvia doctriae, interius humectantur. De quibus dicitur, Cor durum male habebit in novissimo. Cor eius indurabitur quasi lapis: et strigetur quasi malleaporis incus. Quanto enim plus verberibus atteritur, tanto plus per obdurationem ſtringitur ad malum. Sicut incus quæ ftringitur ictibus malleorum. Haec igitur est terra petrosa ubi non habuit terram multam. Ex litera ista videtur quod petrosa terra dicatur, cuius fundus eſt petra solida; et parvam et tenuem desuper habet terrae corticem. Et talis ad literam terra male fructificat, quia calor qui pro tempore est ex radio solis, in petra confortatur , et incenfiuus, et combuftivus efficitur: et comburit illud modicum terrae, quod est desuper et incinerat: ita quod amarum ad modum salis efficitur: et ideo infructuosum. Terram fructiferam in salsuginem a malitia inhabitantium in ea. Adhuc autem algor hyemis etiam confortatur in lapide: et terram paucam prius incineratam et amaricatam calore, convertit in frigiditatem mortificatiuam, et hoc iterum mortificat radices plantarum: ita quod talis terra efficitur sterilis. Ante faciem frigoris eius, quis sustinebit? Hoc est igitur quod dicit: Ubi non habuit, semen proiectum, terram multam, hoc est, profundam, quae defendi posset à qualitatibus lapidis incensiuis, et congelatiuis. Hoc autem est cor, quod quasi nihil habet humanae et terrenae compassionis, et contemperationis ad virtutem: sed sua ignita libidine ad turpia incenditur: et algore ab omni charitate , timore mundano, et humano congelatur. Incensa igni et suffossa ab increpatione vultus tui peribunt. Incensa quidem, igne libidinis:et soffossa, timoris algore quia omnis timor frigidus est. Ad literam. Et ideo pallor occupat timentes. Sequitur et statim paucula et parvula radice exortum est ad modicum viroris apparentis coram hominibus. Habentes quidem speciem pietatis: virtutem autem penitus abnegantes, et quoniam non habebat altitudinem terrae, hoc est, profunditatem in qua dulcedo laetaminis incombusta, et non congelata, iuxta radicem conferuaretur et ideo quando exortas est sol tribulationis in persecutione , vel laboribus paenitentiae exaestuavit combustiones aestu extrahente ad exterius virtutem seminis. Iacob.1 . Exortus est sol cum ardore et exsiccauit faenum, et flos eius decidit: et decor vultus eius deperiit, eo quod non habebat radicem, profunde fixam, quae dulcedinem succi fibi continue imbibitam herbae exorta subministraret, exaruit, et ariditate illa periit, combustum et exsiccatum ab omni humore pietatis. Arefactum est faenum et cecidit flos: quia et spiritus Domini exsufflavit in eo. Sanctus Albertus Magnus, Commentarium In Evangelium Divi Marci, Caput IV Source: Here p40

But some seed fell on stony ground where there was not much earth, and instantly they shot up, but they gained no height over the earth, for when the sun had risen, it scorched them and because they had no root they withered. 1 The second type of seed yields no fruit. The stony soil are hard hearts which are neither turned to penitence by fear nor softened by love, nor are they watered within by the rains of teaching. Concerning which it is said in the third chapter of Ecclesiasticus, 'A hard heart shall have evil in the end.' In the forty fourth chapter of Job, 'His heart shall be hardened like a stone and be made as firm as the anvil of a blacksmith.' 2 For the more it is stuck with blows so the more it is made firm in its obstinacy to do evil, like an anvil which is strengthened by the blows of hammers. This, then, is the stony earth where there is not much earth. And according to the letter it seems that what is called stony earth which is solid below and has a little thin film of earth upon it. And according to the letter the earth is poor of fruit because the heat which comes from the rays of the sun is further strengthened by the stones, and made may fierce and fiery, and it burns that which lacks much earth, which is above and scorched, so that it is made like bitter salt, and therefore it does not yield fruit. In the hundred and sixth Psalm, 'A fruitful land made barren because of the wickedness of the inhabitants in it.' 3 Then the cold of winter is also intensified by the stones and the earth that had been a little before scorched and made bitter with heat is then filled with a mortal coldness and this again kills the roots of the plants, and thus such earth is sterile. In the hundred and forty seventh Psalm, 'Before the face of his cold, who shall stand?' 4 This, then, is what he says, that the seed is thrown where there is not much earth, which when it has depth is able to protect from the searing or frozen stones. And this is the heart which has no human and worldly compassion and is contemptuous of virtue, but by the fire of its own lust it blazes up for vile things, and it is frozen out of all charity, being chilled with the fear of the world and men. 'Things set on fire and dug down shall perish at the rebuke of your face.' 5 Things on fire, which is the fire of lust, and dug down with the chill of fear, because all fear is a sort of freezing, and therefore those who fear acquire a pallor. It follows that the seeds immediately shot up with little and slender roots and before men they appeared to have some vigor. In the third chapter of the second letter to Timothy, 'Having a certain appearance of holiness.' 6 For losing all strength because there is no depth of earth, that is, deepness in which there is a sweetness of joy that cannot be touched by heat or cold, which supports the root, therefore when the sun of tribulation has arisen in persecution, or in the toils of penitence, the scorching of heat draws out all the strength of the seed. In the first chapter of the letter of James, 'For the sun rose with a burning heat, and parched the grass, and the its flower fell and its beauty perished.' 7 Because it had no deeply fixed root, from which sweet sap rose from below to continually water itself, it was scorched and it perished because of aridity, being burnt and dried up of all the moisture of piety. In the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, 'The grass is burnt up and the flower fallen, because the spirit of the Lord has blown upon it.' 8 Saint Albert The Great, Commentary On The Gospel of St Mark, Chapter 4 1 Mk 4.5-6 2 Sirach 3.27 , Job 41.15 3 Ps 106.34 4 Ps 147.17 5 Ps 79.17 6 2 Tim 3.5 7 James 1.11 8 Isaiah 40.7

Hearing The Word

Qui ex Deo est, verba Dei audit Verba accipienda sunt cum effectu. Non enim sufficit audire, et non facere. Nam qui audit et non facit, surdus auditor est. Qui audit me, dicit Sapientia, non confundetur. Et Jacobus: Estote inquit factores verbi, et non auditores tantum. Audire enim et non intelligere; vel intelligere et non facere, negligere est. Intellectus enim bonus omnibus facientibus ea. Nec enim aut intellectus, aut memoria quidquam prodest, nisi sit ad faciendum. Et memores, inquit, fuerunt mandatorum ejus ad faciendum ea. Melior est operis auditio quam auris. Verbum quidem audiri oportet, ut fides vel aliud opus virtutis veniat ex auditu. Fides autem ex audtiu, auditus autem et verbum Dei. Quidam autem habent aures et non audiunt; non enim habent aures audiendi, sed negligendi. Ideo frequenter Dominus in Evangelio dicit: Qui habet aures audiendi, audiat. Qui ex Deo est, etc. Consulat unusquisque vestum conscientiam suam, si ex Deo est; nam si ex Deo non est, verba Dei audire non potest. Quidam sunt ex Deo, quidam ex mundo, quidam ex diabolo. Ego ex Deo exivi, et veni in mundum, dicit Dominus. Et ad discipulos: Si de mundo fuissetis, mundus utique quod suum est diligeret. Et ad Judaeos: Vos ex patre diabolo estis. Ex Deo est qui Deo adhaeret. Qui adhaeret, inquit, Deo, unus spiritus est cum illo. Quia vero mundus et diabolus societatem iniverunt, quicunque est de mundo, ipse est ex patre diabolo. Isti duo aures animae aggravant, ita ut audire non possit. Unde et Propheta ad animam loquens, quae jam aliquantulum obsurduerat: Audi, inquit, filia, et vide, et inclina aurem tuam, et obliviscere populum tuum et domum patris tui. Nam qui terrana sapiunt, aures aggravatas habent, et verbum Dei audire non possunt. Vos ergo qui jam non estis de mundo, qui jam renuntiastis diabolo, et pompis ejus, et quia ex Deo estis, verba ejus auditis; si tamen verba Dei operibus adimpletis. Videte tamen quia Deus non irridetur, recolite quid in vestra conversatione promiserits Deo. Cavere ne aedificetis excelsa Topheth et Jerusalem in sanguinibus. Qui semel egessus est de Aegypto, si appetit allia et pepones Aegypti; si ad mundum quem evomuit, revertitur; readificat suam Jericho, et moritur suus primogenitus, quia meritum suae primae conversionis exstinguitur. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo LV, Ad Sacerdotes Source: Migne PL 207.721c-722b

He who is from God hears the word of God. 1 The words must be received with their effect. It is not enough to hear and not do, for he who hears and does not do, is a deaf hearer. 'He who hears me,' Wisdom says, 'shall not be confounded.' And James says, 'Be doers of the word and not only hearers.' 2 For to hear and not understand, or to understand and not do is to be negligent. For 'a good understanding is for all who do these things.' It is of no profit to the mind or memory unless it is done. 'And they were mindful,' it says, 'to perform His commandments.' 3 The work is better than the hearing of the ear. One must hear the word, for faith, or a work of virtue, comes for hearing. 'Faith is from hearing and hearing through the word of God.' 'But some have ears and they do not hear,' 4 since they have ears for the hearing but they are negligent. Therefore, 'He who has ears let him hear,' the Lord often says in the Gospel. 'He who is from God hears the word of God.' Let each one consult his conscience, whether he is from God, because if he is not from God, he is not able to hear the word of God. Some are from God and some are from the world and some are from the devil. 'I have come from God and I have come into the world,' says the Lord. And to His disciples, 'If you were from the world, so the world would love its own.' And to the Jews, 'You are from your father the devil.' He who is from God adheres to God and he who adheres to God, it is said, is one spirit with Him. 5 Because, however, the world and the devil have entered into fellowship, whoever is from the world, he is from his father the devil. These two are ears that weigh down the soul so that it is not able to hear. Hence the prophet says to his soul, which had become a little deaf, 'Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and the house of your father.' 6 For he who thinks on the things of the world, he has ears that are heavy, and they are not able to hear the word of God. You, therefore, who are not from the world, who have renounced the devil and his pomp, since you are from God you hear His word, if, that is, you fulfill the word of God with deeds. But understand that God will not be mocked. 7 Remember what you promised God in your vows. Beware lest you build up the high places of Topheth and Jerusalem in blood. 8 He who once went out from Egypt, if he turns back to the desires of the comforts and meats of Egypt, if to the world he left, he rebuilds Jericho, and his first born dies, because he snuffs out the merit of his first vow. Peter of Blois, from Sermon 55, To Priests 1 Jn 8.47 2 Sirach 24. 30, James 1.22 3 Ps 110.10, Ps 102.18 4 Rom 10.17, Ps 134.17 5 Jn 16.28, Jn 15.19, Jn 8.44, 1 Cor 6.17 6 Ps 41.11 7 Galat 6.7 8 Jerem 7.31

Reasons For Rejoicing

Μὴ χαίρε ὅταν εὖ ποιήσῃς τινὶ, ἀλλ' ὅταν ἀμνησικάκως ὑπομείνῃς τὴν παρεπομένην ἐναντιότητα. Ὂν γὰρ τρόπον αἰ νύκτες τὰς ἡμέρας, οὕτω αἱ κακίαι τὰς ἀρετὰς διαδέχονται. Ἅγιος Μάρκος ὁ Ἐρημίτης, Περὶ Τῶν Οἰομένων Ἐξ Ἔργων Δικαιοῦσθαι Source: Migne PG 65.949a

Do not rejoice when you do good to someone, but rather when you endure the assaults of adversity and are unmindful of injury. For in this way, night and day, vices are supplanted by virtues. Saint Mark The Ascetic, On Those Who Think Themselves Justified By Works

Our Own Faults

Manifestissime comprobatur, non semper nobis aliorum vitio commotionum stimulos excitari; sed potius nostro, qui reconditas in nobismetipsis habemus offensionum causas ac seminaria vitiorum; quae, cum mentem nostram tentationum imber alluerit, in germina confestim fructusque prorumpunt. Numquam enim quis alterius vitio lacessitus peccare compellitur, si repositam materiem delictorum in suo corde non habeat. Nec tunc subito quispiam deceptus esse credendus est, cum conspecta mulieris forma in barathrum concupiscentiae turpis inciderit, sed potius occultos ac latentes medullitus morbos occasione visus in superficiem tunc fuisse productos. Ideoque creator omnium Deus opificii sui curationem prae omnibus noscens, et quia non in aliis, sed in nobismetipsis offensionum radices causaeque consisterent, non deserenda praecepit fratrum consortia, nec vitari eos quos laesos a nobis, vel a quibus nos arbitramur offensos, sed deliniri jubet, sciens perfectionem cordis non tam separatione hominum quam patientiae virtute conquiri. Quae firme possessa, sicut potest nos etiam cum his qui oderunt pacem, pacificos conservare; ita si parata non fuerit, ab his quoque qui perfecti ac meliores nobis sunt, facit jugiter dissidere; occasiones enim commotionum, ob quas eos quibus jungimur deserere festinamus, in conversatione humana deesse non poterunt, et idcirco tristitiae causas. Sanctus Ioannes Cassianus, De Coenobiorum Institutis, Liber IX, De Spiritu Tristitiae Source: Migne PL 49.355c-356c

It is quite clearly proved that the pains of disturbances are not always caused in us by the faults of other people, but rather by our own fault, as much as in ourselves we have stored up the causes of offense and the seeds of vices, which at once burst forth into shoots and fruits when a shower of temptation waters our soul. For no one is ever driven to sin by being provoked through another's fault unless he has the fuel of wickedness heaped up in his own heart. Nor should we believe that a man has been suddenly struck when he has looked on a woman and fallen into the abyss of vile lust, but rather that because of the opportunity of looking at her the hidden and lurking sickness has been brought to the surface. And so God, the creator of all things, having care above everything for His own, and because the roots and causes of our falls are found in ourselves and not in others, commands us not to forsake association with our brethren, nor avoid those who we think have been hurt by us, or by whom we have been offended, but He exhorts us to placate them, knowing that perfection of heart is not so much gained by separation from men as by the virtue of patience. With this firmly possessed it can keep us at peace even with those who hate peace, so that if it has not been acquired, it makes us quite different from those who are perfect and better than we are, and brings forth occasions for disturbance, because of which we hurry away from those with whom we are connected, which is not always possible in human life and therefore shall be a cause of dejection. Saint John Cassian, The Institutes of the Coenobia, Book 9, Chapters 5-7, On the Spirit of Dejection

Patience And Cure

Ἔλεγον περὶ τοῦ ἀββᾶ Ἰσιδώρου τοῦ πρεσβυτέρου τῆς Σκήτεως, ὅτι εἴ τις εἶχεν ἀδελφὸν ἀσθενῆς , ἡ ὀλίγωρον, ἢ ὑβριστὴν , καὶ ἤθελε βαλεῖν αὐτὸν ἔξω, ἔλεγε· Φέρε μoι αὐτὸν ὧδε . Καὶ ἐλάμβανεν αὐτὸν, καὶ διὰ τῆς μακροθυμίας αὐτοῦ ἔσωσεν αὐτον Ἀποφθέγματα Των Ἁγίων Γερόντων, Παλλάδιος Γαλατίας Source: Migne PG 65.220c

It was said of Father Isidore, a priest of Scetis, that when anyone had a brother who was sick, or careless, or irritable, and they wanted to drive him away, he would say, 'Bring him here to me.' Then he received him and cured him by his patience. Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia

The Beginning Of Perfection

Εἰ καὶ τελείους ἡμᾶς εἶναι ὁ θεῖος βούλεται νόμος, ὁμώνυμε, ἀλλὰ κατὰ ἀνάβασιν καὶ προκοπὴν πρὸςτὴν τελείωσιν φθάσαντας, πρότερον γάλακτι ποτιζομένους, ὡς ἀρτιγένητα βρέφη, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ εἰς σωτηρίαν αὐξάνοντας. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΥΜA' Ἰσιδωρῳ Διακονῳ Source: Migne 78.425a

Even if the Divine law wishes us to be perfect, my namesake, it is necessary that we come to it by ascent and advance, as little infants who are nourished by the drinking of milk and by it grow to salvation. 1 Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 441, To Isidore The Deacon 1 1 Pet 2.2

Judgement And Salvation

Οὔτε ἡ ἀρετὴ, οὔτε ἡ κακία μένει αμετάπτωτος, καὶ ἀκίνητος, ἐπειδὴ ἐθελότρεπτόν ἐστι ἀνθρώπινον γένος. Ὂνπερ τοίνυν ὑπολαμβάνεις τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἀμελέστατον εἶναι, ὅνπερ νομίζεις ἁμαρτωλὸν ὑπο ἄρχειν, οὐκ οἶδας, μήποτε καθ' ἑαυτὸν στενάξας, καὶ μεταβαλλόμενος ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον, παρὰ Θεῷ σώζεται. Σὺ δὲ ἀγονῶν εὐτελίζεις πολλάκις τὸν τοιοῦτον, καὶ λοιδορεῖς , καὶ πικρῶς κατακρίνεις τὸν ὑπὲρ σὲ σωζόμενον ἄνθρωπον. Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Δεύτερον, ΡΚΔ' Εὑλυσιῳ Μοναχῳ Source: Migne PG 79.253b

Since the human race is changeable neither virtue nor wickedness remain constant and unchanging. He, then, whom you reckon to be the most negligent brother and whom you judge to be a sinner, you do not know that  sometimes he groans over himself and is changing into something better, being saved by God. And being ignorant you often think such a man is worthless and you abuse and bitterly scorn him who is being saved over you. Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 2, Letter 124 to Eulysios the Monk

Ways Of Denial

Solent quaedam, cum futuram virginem spoponderint, pulla tunica eam induere, et furvo operire pallio, auferre linteamina: nihil in collo, nihil in capite auri sinere: revera bono consilio, ne habere discat in tenero, quod postea ponere compellatur. Aliis vero e contra videtur. Quid enim, aiunt, si ipsa non habuerit, habentes alias non videbit? φιλόκοσμον genus femineum est; multasque etiam insignis pudicitiae, quamvis nulli virorum, tamen sibi scimus libenter ornari. Quin potius habendo satietur; et cernat laudari alias, quae ista non habeant. Meliusque est, ut satiata contemnat, quam non habendo, habere desideret. Tale vero quid et Israelitico fecisse populo Dominum, ut cupientibus aegyptias carnes, usque ad nauseam, et vomitum praeberet examina coturnicum: multosque saeculi prius homines, facilius carere experta corporis voluptate, quam eos qui a pueritia libidinem nesciant. Ab alii enim nota calcari, ab aliis ignota appeti. Illos vitare poenitendo suavitatis insidias, quas fugerunt: hos carnis illecebras, dulci titillatione corporis blandientes dum mella putant, venena noxia reperire. Sanctus Hieronymus, Epistola CXXVIII, Ad Gaudentium Source: Migne PL 22.1096

Some mothers when they have vowed a daughter to virginity clothe her in sombre garments and cover her in a dark cloak, and do not allow her to have linen or golden ornaments for her neck or head. With wise understanding they will not have her learn in tender years what she will afterwards be compelled to set aside. To others the opposite is true. 'Why may she not have these things', they say, 'when she will see them on other women? It is of the nature of women to be 'philokosmos,' that is, lovers of finery, and we know of many of excellent chastity who adorn themselves for themselves and not for men. Let her have what she will, but let her see that they who do not need such things are praiseworthy. It is better that she scorns what she has enjoyed than having lacked such things she should have a desire for them. This is what the Lord did to the people of Israel, for when they longed for the feasts of Egypt he gave them the quails even to satiation and sickness. 1 Many men who have lived worldly lives more easily cast off the pleasures of the flesh than those who have known nothing of pleasure from their boyhood. For the former trample on what they know but the latter are drawn to what they do not know. In penitence the former shun the subtle allures which they have fled, the latter dally with the attractions of the flesh and think the alluring delights of the body to be sweet as honey, only to find them a fatal poison. Saint Jerome, from Letter 128, To Gaudentius 1 Exod 16, Numb 11

Reasons For Refusal

Omnis enim qui petit, accipit: et qui quaerit, invenit: et pulsanti aperietur. Unde cuicunque non datur quod petit, absque dubio non recte petit, neque quaerit, neque recte pulsat ante januam pietatis. Omnia enim quaecunque petimus aut quaerimus, et ad quod pulsamus, sicut dixi, non nisi unum, et propter unum esse debet, quia non nisi unum est necessarium. Hinc quoque David ait: Unam petii a Domino, hanc requiram, ut inhabitem in domo Domini omnibus diebus vitae meae. Alioquin quomodo negabit petentibus se, qui primum se non petentibus sponte obtulit? Aut quomodo quaerentes eum non invenient, qui etiam non quaerentibus se ut invenirent praestitit? Vel quomodo pulsantibus non aperiet ad se, qui quotidie clamat nobis: Ecce sto ad ostium et pulso; utique de ostio nostri pectoris dicens: Si quis aperuerit , introibo ad eum, et caenobo cum illo? Patet igitur quoties non accipimus quod non recete petimus, et cum non invenimus quod non bene quaesivimus, et dum pulsantibus non aperitur: quia non recte pulsamus Sanctus Paschasius Radbertus Corbeiensis, Expositio In Evangelium Matthaei, Liber IV, Caput VII Source: Migne PL 120.319c-d

Everyone who asks shall receive, and he who seeks shall find, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. 1 So to whom what is asked is not given, then without doubt he does not ask correctly, nor does he seek or knock before the door of piety rightly. For whatever we ask for, or seek, and for what we knock, as said, should be nothing but one thing and on account of one thing, because only one thing is necessary. 2 Hence David also says in the Psalm, 'I asked for one thing from the Lord, this I will seek, that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.' 3 Besides, how shall He refuse Himself to those who ask, He who first of His own will gave Himself for those who did not seek Him? Or how shall those who seek Him not find Him who even to those who do not seek Him set himself forth so that they might find Him? Or how shall He not open Himself to those who knock, who cries out every day, 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock,' so that standing at the door of our hearts, He says, 'If someone shall open, I shall enter into him, and I shall feast with him?' 4 It it obvious, then, that we do not receive because do not ask rightly, and when we do not find it is because we have not sought rightly, and while we knock and it is not opened, it is because we do not knock correctly. Saint Paschasius Radbertus, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Book 4, Chapter 7 1 Mt 7.8 2 Lk 10.42 3 Ps 26.4 4 Rev 3.20

The Mustard Seed

῎Αλλην παραβολὴν παρέθηκεν αὐτοῖς λέγων· Ὁμοία ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν κόκκῳ σινάπεως, ὃν λαβὼν ἄνθρωπος ἔσπειρεν ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ, αὐτοῦ· ὁ μικρότερον μὲν ἐστιν πάντων τῶν σπερμάτων. Ὅταν δὲ αὐξηθῇ , μεῖζον πάντων τῶν λαχάνων ἐστὶ, καὶ γίνεται δένδρον, ὥστε ἐλθεῖν τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ κατασκηνοῦν ἐν τοῖς κλάδοις αὐτοῦ. Κόκκος σινάπεως, τὸ κήρυγμα καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοι· ὀλίγοι γὰρ δοκοῦντες οὗτοι, τὴν οἰκουμένην ὅλην περιέλαβον· ὥστε τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ εὐρανοῦ, τουτέστι, τοὺς κούφην καὶ πτερωτὴν πρὸς τὰ ἄνω ἔχοντας γνώμην, ἀναπαύεσθαι ἐν αὐτοῖς. Καὶ σὺ τοίνυν ἔσο κόκκος σινάπεως, μικρὸς μὲν τὸ φαινόμενον, οὐ γὰρ δεῖ θεατρίζειν τὴν ἀρετὴν, θερμὸς δὲ καὶ ζηλωτὴς καὶ δριμὺς καὶ ἐλεγκτικός· οὕτω γὰρ γενήσῃ μείζων τῶν λαχάνων, τουτέστι, τῶν ἀσθενῶν καὶ οὐ τελείων, τέλειος αὐτὸς ὡν , ὥστε καὶ τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, τουτέστι, τοὺς ἀγγέλους, ἐν σοὶ ἀναπαύεσθαι ἀγγελικὴν ζῶντι ζωήν. Χαίρουσι γὰρ καὶ οὗτοι ἐπὶ τοῖς δικαίοις. Θεοφύλακτος Αχρίδος, Ἑρμηνεία Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Ματθαιον, Κεφαλὴ IΓ' Source: Migne PG 123.235c

He told them another parable, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is life a mustard seed, which when a man takes it and sows it in his field, is certainly the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown, it is the largest among the herbs, and it becomes a tree, so that the birds of heaven come and nest in its branches.' 1 The mustard seed is preaching and the Apostles, for these seem to be small things, and yet they have come to occupy the whole world, and thus as the birds of heaven, the light and winged ones who have their minds in the heavens, find their rest in them. And you should also be a mustard seed, which certainly seems small, for it is not necessary to boast about virtue, or to be fervid and zealous and bitter in reproof. So you will be great among the other herbs, that is, perfect among the weak and the flawed, so that the birds of heaven, that is, the angels, shall dwell in you who live an angelic life, for they rejoice in those who are righteous. Theophylact of Ochrid, Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint Matthew, Chapter 13 1 Mt 13.31-32

Testimonies

Testimonium Domini fidele, sapientiam praestans parvulis Hic de Patre dicit: quoniam omnia testimonia quae dedit populo Israelitico, fidelia iitique fucruni, quia plenissima veritate recognita sunt : et sapientiam parvulis praestiterunt, non utique superbis, nec tumida se elatione jactantibus, sed purvulis. Parvuli autem sunl humiles et innocentes, sicut Aposlolus monet: Nolite pueri effici sensibus, sed malitia parvuli estote. Testimonium quoque dat Filius, sicut ad Timotheum ait Apostolus: Praecipio tibi coram Deo , qui vivificat omnia, et Christo Jesu, qui testimonium reddidit syb Pontio Pilato. Idem de Spiritu Sancto dicit Apostolus: Nam et ipse Spiritus testimonum perhibet spiritui nostro. Vides in illa sancta Trinitate, quam nihil Scriptura divina velit minus majusvc sentiri, ut nec ipsa nomina patiatur esse divisa. Cassiodorus, Expositio In Psalterium, Psalmus XVIII Source: Migne PL 70.140c-d

The testimony of the Lord is faithful, giving wisdom to little ones. 1 Here he speaks of the Father, because every testimony which He gave to the people of Israel was faithful, since they were understood as being full with truth, and they gave wisdom to little ones, but not to the proud and the puffed up and those elated with boasting, but to little ones. And these little ones are the humble and the innocent, as the Apostle admonishes, 'Do not be childish in your understanding, but be little ones in wickedness.' 2 The Son also gives testimony, as the Apostle says to Timothy, 'I command you before God, who gives life to all things, and before Jesus Christ, who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate.' 3 The Apostle says the same about the Holy Spirit, 'For even the Spirit Himself gives testimony to our spirit.' 4 See the Holy Trinity in these things which nothing more or less Sacred Scripture wishes to be understood, so that it does not suffer it to be divided with these names. Cassiodorus, Commentary On The Psalms, from Psalm 18 1 Ps 18.8 2 1 Cor 14.20 3 1 Tim 6.13 4 Rom 8.16

Good And Bad Glory

Quid gloriatur in malitia, potens iniquitate tota die? Querela prophetae est, gloriari eum in iniquitate tota die, qui in malitia potens est. Et haec quidem gloria inquitatis arguitur. Caeterum est gloria et expetenda et confitenda, et affectu quodam exsultantis gaudii eloquenda: quod utrumque sub iisdem dictis alius propheta demonstrat, dicens: Non glorietur sapiens in sapientia sua, neque fortis in fortitudine sua, neque dives in divitiis suis: sed qui gloriatur, in Domino glorietur. Vetitis enim primum improbabilis gloriae causis, causam rursum gloriae competentis ostendit. Quo exemplo beatus Apostolus scit, in nullo sibi, nisi in uno tantum esse gloriandum, cum ait: Mihi autem absit gloriari, nisi in cruce Domini nostri Jesu Christi, per quem mihi mundus crucifixus est, et ego mundo. Non ergo gloria istiusmodi, sed gloria iniquitatis offendit; et ejus iniquitatis, quae die tota sit. Diem pro aetate vel tempore hominis nuncupari solere meminimus, cum dicitur: Diem hominis non concupivi: vel rursum cum Abraham diem Domini desideravit: vel cum Apostolus Satanae tradit in interitum carnis, ut spiritus salvus sit in die Domini , non hunc diem ortu solis occasuque finitum, sed diem constituti temporis vel aetatis ostendens. Potens ergo in malitia, gloriatur in iniquitate tota die. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis, Tractatus super Psalmos, Tractatus in Psalmum LI Source: Migne PL 9.311b-312a

Why glory in wickedness, you who are powerful in iniquity the whole day? 1 The prophet complains against the one who glories in wickedness the whole day, he who is powerful in evil, and he disputes this glory of wickedness. There is a glory that should be sought and that should be delighted in and which should be proclaimed with a certain exultant joy, which both things another prophet shows with his words when he says, 'Let the wise man not glory in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches, but he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.' 2 Having prohibited the shameful causes of glorying, he then revels the fitting cause of glory, which example the blessed Apostle knows, that is, that one should not glory in oneself but in one alone, hence he says, 'Let it not be me for to glory, unless in the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord, through which the world has have been crucified to the me, and I to the world.' 3 It is not glorying in this way that offends, but glorying in iniquity, and his iniquity which is for the whole day, which day we should be aware is given for an age, or for the time of a man, as when it is said, 'I have not desired the day of man,' or again when Abraham desired the day of the Lord, or when the Apostle handed over to Satan for the ruin of the flesh, so that the spirit might be saved on the day of the Lord. 4 It is not this finite day of the sun's rising and setting, but the day that indicates a time or age. Therefore the one powerful in wickedness glories in iniquity the whole day Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 51 1 Ps 51.3 2 Jerem 9.23-24 3 Galat 6.14 4 Jerem 17.16, Jn 8.56, 1 Cor 5.5

Words And Works

Ὅπως ἂν μὴ λαλήσῃ τὸ στόμα μου τὰ ἔργα τῶν ἀνθρώπων διὰ τοὺς λόγους τῶν χειλέων σου ἐγὼ ἐφύλαξα ὁδοὺς σκληράς. Τὸ ἀπαγγέλλειν τὰ ἔργα τῶν ἀνθρώπων πράξει καὶ διαθέσει, ἔτι μὴν καὶ λόγῳ, φαύλων. Τίνα δὲ τὰ ἔργα τούτων , ἢ ἐκεῖνα περὶ ὧν ὁ ᾿Απόστολος γράφει, Ὅπου γὰρ ἔρις καὶ ζῆλος ἐν ὑμῖν, οὐχὶ ἄνθρωποί ἐστε , καὶ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον περιπατεῖτε; Κωλυτικὸν τοῦ λαλεῖν τὰ ἔργα τῶν ἀνθρώπων τυγχάνει καὶ τὸ μὴ εὐρέσθαι ἐν αὐτῷ ἀδικίαν, ὑπὸ Θεοῦ πυρωθέντι διὰ πειρασμῶν καὶ τῶν παραπλησίων. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμος ΙϚ' Source: Migne PG 39.1237a

That my mouth may not speak the works of men: for the sake of the words of thy lips, I have kept hard ways. 1 To proclaim the works and deeds and lives of men, even with fair reason, is for wretched men. What are those works unless concerning which the Apostle writes, 'How is there strife and contention among you, but because you are men and you walk according to men?' 2 Let a man beware, then, of speaking of the works of men, lest wickedness is found in him, and he is proved by God through trials with neighbours. Didymus the Blind, Commentary on The Psalms, from Psalm 16 1 Ps 16.4 2 1 Cor 3.3

Servants And Dispensers

Ita nos existimet homo, ut ministros Christi, et dispensatores mysteriorum Dei. Hoc signifiacit, quia minus de illo sentiebant aliqui Corinthiorum, sed ut homo hoc de illo sentiret, quod et Deus, qui illum elegerat; ideo ministros Christi ait, et dispensatores mysteriorum Dei. Quando enim non verborum strepitu, neque humana sapientia nitebatur intelligi; debuit sacramentum Christi dispensare, in quo non verba, sed virtus fulgebat: non per quod homo, sed Deus gloriosus videretur; collega enim piscatorum, non aliter quam illi, Christum praedicabat. Cum ergo ministrum se Christi et sacramentorum Dei probat, pseudoapostolos notat, et abnegat Christi esse quod tradunt, per id quod discordarent a traditione apostolica. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam Beati Pauli Ad Corinthios Primam, Caput IV Source: Migne PL 17.202b-c

Let a man think of us as servants of Christ, and dispensers of the mysteries of God. 1 This signifies that some among the Corinthians thought little of him, but a man should think this of him, that God chose him. Therefore he says, 'ministers of Christ, and dispensers of the mysteries of God.' For it was not with the cry of words nor with human wisdom that he was striving to be understood, for the mystery of Christ should be dispensed where power blazes forth and not words, and where the glory of God and not man appears, since as a colleague of fishermen and nothing else he preached Christ. Therefore when he asserts himself to be a servant of Christ and the mysteries of God, he refers to false apostles, and denies they can give the things of Christ, because they are in disagreement with the Apostolic tradition Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The First Letter of Saint Paul To The Corinthians, Chapter 4 1 1 Cor 4.1

Inheriting The Kingdom

Ὅτι σάρξ καὶ αἷμα βασιλείαν Θεοῦ κληρονομή και οὐ δύνανται. Συνίστησι τὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως και διὰ τούτου μυστήριον. Ἕως μὲν γὰρ ἐστι ἡ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον σάρξ καὶ αἷμα, τουτέστι θνητὸν καὶ φθαρτὸν, Θεοῦ βασιλείαν, τουτέστι τὸ εἶναι δηνεκῶς, οὐκ ἂν δύναιτο κληρονομεῖν. Πᾶσα δὴ οὖν ἀνάγκη καταπίνεσθαι τὴν φθορὰν καὶ ἀφανίζεσθαι τὸ εὐμάραντον, μεταπλάττεσθαι δὲ πρὸς ἀφθαρσίαν αὐτὸ, καὶ θείᾳ τινὶ καὶ ἀποῤῥήτῳ δόξῃ καταφαιδρύνεσθαι κληρονομήσει γὰρ τότε τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ βασιλείαν. Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας, Εἰς Τὴν Πρωτάν Ἐπιστολήν Παύλου Πρὸς Κορινθίους, Ἐκλογαι Source: Migne PG 74.912b

For flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. 1 With this he understands the mystery of the resurrection. While the human body is flesh and blood, that is, mortal and corruptible, it cannot inherit the kingdom of God, which is immortal. Therefore it is necessary for corruption to be absorbed and for whatever is fallen to be taken away. Thus being turned into what is incorruptible it is illuminated with a certain Divine and ineffable glory, for then it shall possess the kingdom of God. Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the First Letter to the Corinthians, Fragment 1 1 Cor 15.50

Trials And Prayers

Ὁ συνιὼν τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου Παύλου μυστικῶς εἰρημένον, τὴν πάλην ἡμῶν πρὸς τὰ μνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας φήσαντος, γνώσεται καὶ τὴν παραβολὴν τοῦ Κυρίου, πρὸς τὸ δεῖν πάντοτε προσεύχεσθαι καὶ μὴ ἐκκακεῖν. Ἅγιος Μάρκος ὁ Ἐρημίτης, Περὶ Τῶν Οἰομένων Ἐξ Ἔργων Δικαιοῦσθαι Source: Migne PG 65.949d

He who understands what is said by Saint Paul when he openly speaks of our wrestling with spirits of wickedness, 1 he also grasps the parable of the Lord which would have us praying always and not growing weary. 2 Saint Mark The Ascetic, On Those Who Think Themselves Justified By Works 1 Ephes 6.12 2 Lk 18.1

Inside And Outside

Et exiit, inquit, Moyses ad populum, et locutus et ad eum verba Domini. Donec verba Domini audit Moyses et ab ipso docetur, intus est, et in interioribus consistit atque in intimis secretis habetur. Ubi vero turbis loquitur et populis, ministrat ei qui intus non potest stare, exire dicitur foras. Quid ergo formae talis continet sermo? Quod omnis doctor, et magister Ecclesiae si de profundioribus mysteriis aliquid moveat, is arcanum quid et reconditum de Dei sapientia proferat inter perfectos, donec in profundis sensibus versatur, intus esse, et in interioribus consistere dicendus est. Cum vero loquitur ad turbas, et ea profet quae sufficiant iis qui foris sunt, quae potest vulgus audire, foras dicitur exisse, et loqui ad populum verba Domini. Hoc video et Paulum fecisse, et intus quidem fuisse, cum diceret: Sapientiam autem loquimur inter perfectos, sapientiam autem non hujus mundi, neque principum hujus mundi, qui destruentur. Sed loquimur Dei sapientiam in mysterio absconditam quam nemo principum hujus mundi cognovit. Vides quomodo intus est, et interna atque arcana divinae sapientiae penetrat Paulus, cum haec loquitur. Cum autem procedit ad populum, audi quid loquitur: Omni sermo malus de ore vestro non procedat; et: Qui furabatur, jam non furetur; et: Unusquisque vir uxorem suam habeat; et: Unusquisque proximum suum sicut seipsum diligat; et: Unaquaeque mulier virum suum habeat. Haec et si qua hujusmodi sunt, Paulus secundum Moysis formam foras exiens, ad populum loquitur. Origen, In Numeros, Homilia VI, Interprete Rufino Aquileiense Source: Migne PG 12.607b-c

And Moses went out to the people and he spoke the words of the Lord to them. 1 While Moses hears the words of the Lord and is taught by Him he is inside, and he is firmly fixed in things most profound and he takes hold of the deepest and innermost secrets, but when he speaks to the crowd and ministers to those who were not able to be inside he is said to go outside. What, then, is to be found in such words? That every teacher and instructor of the Church, if he is imbued with the profound mysteries, should be within setting forth the secret and hidden mysteries of God to the perfect, until the deepest understanding is achieved, which is said to be established in the deepest things. When however he speaks to the crowd he should offer to them what is fitting for those who are outside, that which it is possible for the multitude to hear, and then he is said to be outside. I see Paul did this, he who certainly was inside when he said, 'But we speak wisdom among the perfect, not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of the world who shall be ruined, but we speak a hidden wisdom of God in mystery which none of the princes of the world have known.' 2 See how he is inside, and that he grasps the inmost secrets of Divine wisdom when he says these things. But when he goes out to the people, hear what he says: 'Let no evil speech come out of your mouth,' and 'He who has stolen let him stop stealing.' and 'Let each man have his own wife,' and 'Let everyone love his neighbour as himself,' and 'Let every woman have her own husband.' 3 Paul speaks these things and things like them in the manner of Moses going outside. Origen, On Numbers, from the Sixth Homily, Translated by Rufinus of Aquileia. 1 Numb 11.24 2 1 Cor 2.6 3 Ephes 4.29, 4.28, 1 Cor 7.2, Ephes 5.33, 1 Cor 7.2

Sickness And Cure

Infelix homo! quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus? Hic quatuor consideranda: infirmus, causa morbi, medicus et remedium. Medicus Deus, infirmus homo, causa morbi amor mundi, remedium amor Dei. Horum differentia haec est: Amor mundi in principio dulcis, in fine amarus nimis; amor Dei ab amaritudine incipit, finitur in dulcedinem magnam. Unde architrictinus sponso; Omnis homo primum bonum vinum ponit; sed inebriati fuerint, tunc id quod deterius est, etc. Hugo De Sancte Victore, Miscellanea, Liber VI, Tit V, De infirmo, causa morbi, medico, et remedio morbi Source: Migne PL 177.813c

Wretched man, who shall free me from this body of death? 1 Four things must be considered here, the infirmity, the cause of sickness, the physician and the remedy. The physician is God, the infirmity is man, the cause of sickness is love of the world, and the remedy is the love of God. Among these last two things this is the difference, in the beginning the love of the world is sweet, but in the end it is most bitter, while the love of God begins in bitterness and ends in great sweetness. Hence the chief steward says to the bridegroom, 'Every man serves the best wine first, and then when the guests are drunk he pours out the worst.' 2 Hugh Of Saint Victor, Miscellanea, Book 6, Chapter 5, On Infirmity, the Cause of the Sickness, the Physician, and the Remedy for Sickness 1 Rom 7.24 2 Jn 2.9-10

The Law And The Gospel

Αὐτὸς ὁ μέγας Ἀπόστολος, ὁ πλεῖον πάντων κoπιάσας, ὁ τὸν νόμον ἀκριβῶς μετελθὼν, παιδευσάτω σε, νηπίαν εἶναι ἐν αὐτῷ γνῶσιν τῆς θείας παιδεύσεως , ὡς ἐν σκιᾷ κεκαλυμμένην, καὶ ἀμυδρώς δια ερωμένην . Σκιὰν εἶχεν ὁ νόμος τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν, ἀποφαινόμενος, οὐκ αὐτὴν τὴν εἰκόνα τῶν πραγμάτων , ἣν ἐπιστεύθη τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον , πρὸς ἣν οἱ τύποι ἐπέβλεπον. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΥΜΔ' Ἰσιδωρῳ Διακονῳ Source: Migne 78.425d

Let the great Apostle himself, who toiled more than anyone, 1 and diligently attended to the law, teach you that there was slight knowledge of Divine teaching there, as if it were covered with a veil, and hardly gave itself to be seen. For the law, he proclaims, is a shadow law of future things, 2 not an image of the things themselves, for which the Gospel was given, and to which it points as a figure. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 444, To Isidore The Deacon 1 1 Cor 15.10 2 Heb 10.1