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

Peter's Achievements

Tu es, inquit, Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam. Petra siquidem erat Christus, summque nomen communicat Petro, ut Petrus petra sit: nam sicut a petra sitienti populo quae in deserto profluxit, ita et a Petro aliis in fide arescentibus salutiferae fidei confessio emanavit. Christi ascensurus in coelum Petro suas oves pascendas agnosque commisit; atque post parvae naviculae regimen, eidem gubernaculum magnae navis, id est, totius Ecclesiae magisterium mancipavit. Petro tanquam optimo dispensatori claves domus suae tradidit. Justitia Petri tantam judicandi obtinuit potestatem, ut de ejus arbitrio coeleste judicium pendeat; nec a Petri sententia etiam angelus appellare praesumat. Interrogatus a Domino Petrus quem eum dicerent homines: brevi confessionis compendio divinae majestatis arcanum declarat in Christo. Non revelavit tibi hic, Petre, caro et sanguis: caro enim et sanguis non possidebunt regnum Dei, sed Spiritus Dei Patris, qui in coelis est. Mirabilis piscator, qui olim profunda aequoris scrutabatur, inscrutabile sacramentum deitatis in Christo fideliter confitetur. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XXVIII, De SS. Petro et Paulo Source: Migne PL 207.643b-c

'You are Peter,' He said, 'and on this rock I shall build my Church,' and certainly Christ was the rock 1 and He gave His title to Peter so that Peter might be a rock, for as a rock flowed for a parched people in the desert, so the confession of salutary faith would flow from Peter's faith to a thirsty people. Christ, when He was about to ascend to heaven, committed the feeding of His flocks of sheep to Peter, 2 and after his work on a little boat He gave to the same man the captaincy of a greater ship, that is, He bestowed on him the leadership of the whole Church, giving the keys of His own house to Peter as the best dispenser. 3 The righteousness of Peter obtained such great power of judgement, that from his will hangs the judgement of heaven, and not even an angel may presume to appeal the sentence of Peter. When Peter was questioned by the Lord about who men said He was, with a brief confession He proclaimed the secret of the Divine majesty in Christ, 'Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, Peter,' 'for flesh and blood shall not possess the kingdom of God,' 'but the Spirit of my Father who is in heaven.' 4 A wondrous fisherman, who once gazed down into the depths of the waters, faithfully confessed the mystery of the Divinity in Christ. Peter of Blois, from Sermon 28, On The Feast of the Saints Peter and Paul 1 Mt 16.18, 1 Cor 10.4 2 Jn 21.17 3 Mt 16.19 4 Mt 16.17, 1 Cor 15.50

Rising Up

Si apud Christum thesaurus noster est, sicut Apostolus dicit: Scio cui credidi et certus sum, quia potens est depositum meum servare in illum diem: sit ibi cor nostrum, ubi est thesaurus noster. Disponamus ascensiones in corde nostro, et si non possumus corporaliter ascendere, saltem recordatione et desiderio coelestium spiritualiter ascendamus, sicut ille qui dicit: Haec recordatus sum et effudi in me animam meam, quonaim transibo in locum tabernaculi usque in domum Dei. Et: Memor fui Dei et delectatus sum, exercitatus sum, et defecit spiritus meus. Quid est quod dicit, concupiscit anima mea? Et iterum: Memor fui Dei et delectatus sum, et defecit spiritus meus? Quia in hac vita mortali aut potius in hac morte vitali comprendere, aut cogitate non sufficimus gloriam illam, quam nec oculus vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit quae, Deus, praeparasti diligentibus te. Porro cum reformaverit Deus corpus humilitatis nostae configuratum corpori claritatis suae, tunc omnia implebit in nobis, qui omnia fecit pro nobis. Et hoc est quod Apostolus ait: Christus qui descendit, ipse est qui ascendit, ut adimpletet omnia quae adimplere voluit: nativitatem scilicet, resurrectionem, ascensionem, ut renascentes a peccato, resurgentes a morte animae resurgamus de virtue ad virtutem, donec videatur Deus deorum in Sion. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XXIII, In Ascensione Domini Source: Migne PL 207.629b-d

If our treasure is with Christ, as the Apostle says, 'I know in whom I have believed and I am certain that He is able to guard what I have committed to Him against that day,' let our hearts be where our treasure us. Let us dispose ascents in our hearts, 1 and if we are not capable of ascending in the body, yet with remembrance and desire let us make a spiritual ascent to heaven, as he who says, 'These things I remembered and I poured out my soul in myself, because I shall pass into the place of the tabernacle, even to the house of God.' And again, 'I was mindful of God and I delighted, and I exerted myself, and my spirit fainted.' 2 What is this that the soul desires? And what is to remember God and to be delighted and to have the spirit faint? Because in this mortal life, or rather in this living death, we are not able to grasp or understand that glory 'which neither the eye has seen, nor the ear has heard, nor has it risen up in the heart of a man, what God has prepared for those who love Him.' 3 However when God refashions this body of our humility to a likeness of His own glorious body, 4 then He shall fulfill everything in us, He who has done everything for us. And this is what the Apostle says, 'Christ who descended is He who ascends, so that he might fulfill everything which He wishes to fulfill,' 5 that is, the Nativity, and the Resurrection, and the Ascension, so that being reborn from sin, and rising from the death of the soul, we may rise up 'from virtue to virtue, until the God of gods is seen in Sion.' 6 Peter of Blois, from Sermon 23, On The Ascension of the Lord 1 2 Tim 1.12, Mt 6.21, Ps 83.6 2 Ps 41.5, Ps 76.4 3 1 Cor 2.9 4 Phil 3.21 5 Ephes 4.10 6 Ps 83.8

The Resurrection And The Seals

Flebat Joannes in Apocalypsi quia non inveniebat qui solveret septem signacula signati libri. Cum enim Joannes Baptista, qui major erat inter natos mulierum, iam se publice judicasset indignum solvere corrigiam calceamenti: perinde erat ac si diceret: Non sum dignus solvere signaculum libri. Nihil est aliud signaculum libri quam ligatura calceamenti. Unus autem de senioribus dixit ei: Ne fleveris. Dignus est Agnus, qui occisus est, accipere librum, et solvere septem signacula ejus. Hic est liber involutus, sicut in propheta legitur, scriptus digito Dei, in pergameno uteri virginalis. Liber iste in quo legunt angeli delectationes aeternas. Septem fuerunt hujus libri signacula. Deus enim gloriam suae majestis in carne abscondens, pretium nostrae redemptionis quasi in sacculo consignavit. Nonne saccus fuit carnis mortalis assumptio? Posuitisti, inquit vestimentum meum cilicium. Et iterum: Conscidisti saccum meum et circumdedisti me laetitia. In hoc sacculo attulit species pretiosas, veniam peccatorum, profectum virtutum, praemium meritorum. Haec saccum texuit divina sapientia novem mensibus: nam de illa legitur: Manum suam misit ad fortia et dirigit ejus apprehenderunt fusum. Hunc saccum in Jordane lavit, in passione torsit, in cruce siccavit. Humanitas Christi vocatur liber, quia in eo est scientia vitae et disciplinae. Fuit ergo vivum signaculum, ut non posset ejus divinitas comprehendi, dispensatio Virginis, corporis infirmitas, circumcisio, fuga in Aegyptum, fames in deserto, humilitas crucis, sepultura. Quae licet ultimum signaculum, multum tamen clausit et abscondit de gloria divinae majestatis. Haec omnia Christus hodie solvit, non rupit; nam omnibus quae ad dispensationem carnis assumptae pertinebant, obedienter impletis, hodie de miseri humanitatis resurgit in gloriam deitatis. Opportebat siquidem Christum pati, et resurgere et sic intrare in gloriam suam. Suam dico, imo et nostram. Non enim per aliud ostium intrabit caput, et per aliud membra. Volo, inquit, ut ubi ego sum, illic sit et minister meus. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XXI, In Resurrectione Source: Migne PL 207.621a-d

In the Apocalypse John wept because he was not able to find anyone to undo the seven seals of the sealed book. 1 For when John the Baptist, compared to whom no one greater was born among woman, openly proclaimed that he was not worthy to undo a strap of His sandal, it was as if he had said, 'I am not worthy to undo a seal of the book.' 2 There is no difference between the seal of the book and the strap of the sandal. Then one of the elders said to John, 'Do not weep. The lamb who was slain is worthy to receive the book and undo the seven seals.' This is the book that is bound up, as is read in the prophet, 3 and was written by the finger of God on the parchment of the Virgin's womb. This is the book in which the angels read all the eternal joys. There were seven seals on this book. For leaving the glory of His majesty for the flesh, God consigned the reward of our redemption as if in a sack. Was this sack not the taking up of mortal flesh? 'And I made haircloth my garment.' And again, 'You have cut off my sackcloth and surrounded me with joy.' 4 In this sack He brought precious wealth, the forgiveness of sins, the perfection of virtue, the reward of merit. The Divine wisdom fashioned this sack in nine months, for concerning it we read, 'She has put her hand to strong things and her fingers have taken hold of the spindle.' 5 He washed this sack in the Jordan, He wrung it in the Passion, He dried it on the Cross. The book he speaks of is the humanity of Christ, because in it is the knowledge of life and discipline. It then had a living seal, so that it was not possible to understand His Divinity, the dispensation to the Virgin, the infirmity of the body, the circumcision, the flight into Egypt, the hunger in the desert, the humility of the cross, or the tomb. This last seal hid and obscured much of the glory of the Divine majesty. Today Christ undoes all these, and does not break them, for He obediently fulfilled everything of the dispensation of the taking up of the flesh, and today He rises from the wretchedness of humanity to the glory of Godhood. It was necessary that Christ suffer and rise and so enter into His glory. 6 His own, I say, and even ours. For it is not that the head enters through one gate and the members through another. 'I wish,' He says, 'that where I am, that there is my servant.' 7 Peter of Blois, from Sermon 21, On The Resurrection 1 Apoc 5.4 2 Lk 7.28, Lk 3.16 3 Ezek 2.9 4 Ps 68.12, Ps 29.12 5 Prov 31.19 6 Lk 24.26 7 Jn 12.26

Hunger And Thirst

Christus hodie in schola eruditionis evangelcae per filium prodigum nobis competentissime proponit poenitentiae et humilitatis exemplum. Qui cum afficeretur gravissima fame, cogitavit redire ad patem, et inter mercenarios unus esse. Quis est qui dilapidat omnia bona vivendo luxuriose, nisi peccator quiliet, qui bona gratuita et naturalia peccando corrumpit et perdit? Sed reversus ad cor, et justitiam incipiens esurire, humiliat se in oculis suis, de de filiali dignitate ad mercenarii sortem devota humilitate descendit. Beati quidem sunt qui esuriunt justitiam, quoniam ipsi saturabuntur. Esurientes, inquit implevit bonis. Qui enim divitias temporales appetunt,non satiabuntur eis. Haec est aqua d puteo Samariae, de qua qui biberit, sitiet iterum. Haec aqua non reficit, quia non sufficit. Divites egereunt et esurient: inquirentes autem Dominum non minuentur omni bono. Cibus autem justitiae dum plus appetitur, plus dulcescit. Unde et ille qui factus est nobis a Deo sapienta et justitia dicit: Qui edunt me, adhunc esurient, et qui bibunt me, adhuc sitient. Non est tamen ita insatiabilis appetitus justitiae, sicut amor pecuniae; nam in istis est appetitus sine satietate, in illa est satietas sine attaediatione. Unde Propheta: Ego in justitia apparebo in conspecto tuo: sataibor cum apparuerit gloria tua. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XV, In Quadragesima, De Facienda Poenitentia Source: Migne PL 207.603a-c

Today in the school of evangelical instruction Christ expertly puts forth an example of penitence and humility in the prodigal son, he who when he was afflicted with severe hunger thought to return to his father, and to be one of his hirelings. 1 Who is he who ruins every good in luxurious living but the sinner, he who corrupts both gratuitous and natural goods in sin and destroys them. But turning back to his heart, he begins to thirst for righteousness, he humbles himself in his own eyes, and in devout humility he lowers himself from the dignity of a son to the rank of a hireling. Certainly they are blessed 'who thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.' 'He filled those who thirsted with good things.' 2 But those who desire temporal riches, they shall not be satisfied with them. That is the water from the well of the Samaritan woman, from which he who drinks shall thirst again. 3 This water does not refresh because it is does not suffice. 'The rich hunger and thirst, those who seek the Lord do not lack any good.' 4 The more the bread of righteousness is desired the sweeter it is. Whence even He who was made wisdom and righteousness from God for us says, 'They eat of me and shall yet hunger, and they drink of me and shall yet thirst.' 5 Not that there is an insatiable appetite with righteousness as with the love of money, for in the latter the appetite is never satisfied, but in righteousness there is satiety without weariness, and so the Prophet says: 'In righteousness I shall appear in your sight, and I shall be satisfied when your glory appears.' 6 Peter of Blois, from Sermon 15, In Lent, On Making Penance 1 Lk 15.16-18 2 Mt 5.6, Lk 1.53 3 Jn 4.13 4 Ps 33.11 5 1 Cor 1.30, Sirach 24.29 6 Ps 16.15

Hope And Confidence

Exspectemus itaque cum fiducia, fratres, Salvatoris adventum. Certus sum, inquit, quia apparebit in fine,et non mentietur. Si moram fecerit: exspectabo eum. Sed et ille qui mandat salutes Jacob, salutat per Oseam propheam amicam suam Ecclesiam, quam sibi desponsavit in fide, et consolatur eam: et ut confidat in ea cor viri sui, docet qualiter eum debeat exspectare: Dies multos, inquit, exspectabis me, non fornicaberis: et non eris cum amatore alieno. Ab antiquis diebus dicta sunt haec, fratres. Unde et Isaias dicit: Nonne Dominus venit de longinquo? Nos autem sumus, in quos fins saeculi devenerunt. Ideoque in proximo est ut veniat: Sponsus, ut veniat rex noster, legifer noster. Cito enim veniet, et non tardabit. Et nos ergo similes hominibus expectantibus dominum suum, faciamus quod praecipit, ut non fornicemur, ut non sequamur alios amatores. Fallax amator est mundus; animabus proditoria deceptione illudit. Hic est Sichem filius Hemor, qui Dinam filiam Jacob raptam et corruptam balnditiis lenit. Misera enim anima abstracta et illecta a concupiscentiis suis, dum mundo et diabolo consentiens fornicatur a Domino, primam fidem irritam facit, atque in passione desideriorum et peremptoria voluptate seipsam Deo abnegat. Dolosos amatores, quia praesentialiter se offerunt, sequitur; et Dominum gloriae Christum Jesum sponsum et salvatorem suum juste, pie et sobrie non exspectat. Nos itaque juxta consilium Apostoli, sobrie, et juste, et pie vivamus in hoc s aeculo, exspectantes beatem spem, et advetum gloriae magni Dei. Est pietas hominis ad Dominum, justitia ad proximum, sobrietas ad seipsum. Perniciosus est nobis Adventus Domini, nisi ipsum cum pietate et sobrietate et justitia exspectemus. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo III, De Advento Domini Source: Migne PL 207.568d-569b

Let us hope with confidence in the Lord's advent, brothers.'I am certain,' he says, 'that He shall appear in the end, and He does not lie. If He delays, I shall expect Him.' 1 But even He who commands greetings to Jacob, gives greetings in Hosea the prophet to his friend the Church which is espoused to Him in faith, and consoles her, even that she should have confidence in the heart of her man, thus also teaching that she should expect Him. 'Many days,' he says, you shall expect me, and you shall not fornicate, and you shall not go with another lover.' 2 These things were said in the days of old, brothers. Whence even Isaiah says, 'Shall not the Lord come from afar?' 3 And we are those, brothers, on whom the final days have come. 4 Therefore He comes as to a neighbour, as the Bridegroom, and as our king He comes, and as our legislator. For quickly He shall come, and He shall not delay. And we, therefore, like men who await their master, should do what He commands, and thus not fornicate or go off with other lovers. The world is a false lover. It deceives with the traitorous deceptions, and is as Sichem the son of Hemor, who with blandishments seized and corrupted Dinah. 5 Wretched it is to have the soul carried off in the snares of such desires, and to consent while apart from the Lord to fornicate with the world and with the devil, making one's first faith a burden, and in the passions of desire and the demands of pleasure forsaking God. Woeful are the lovers who follow those who presently offer themselves, and do not expect the Lord of glory, Jesus Christ the bridegroom, and their Saviour, in justice, piety and sobriety. For thus according to the counsel of the Apostle, 'in sobriety, and justice, and piety let us live in this world, hoping with a blessed hope, even for the coming of the Lord of great glory.' 6 The piety of a man is for the Lord, justice is for his neighbour, and sobriety is for himself. The advent of the Lord is wicked for us unless we expect Him in piety and sobriety and justice. Peter of Blois, from Sermon 3, On The Advent of the Lord 1 Hab 2.3 2 Hosea 3.3 3 Isaiah 30.27 4 1 Cor 10.11 5 Genes 34 6 Tit 2.12-13

Preparing The Way

Parate viam Domini, rectas facite semitas ejus. Et quid est, fratres? Nonne a saeculo quod Joannes nos admonet parare vias Domini, et rectas facere semitas Dei nostri? Nonne a saeculo et usque in saeculum rectae sunt viae ejus? De viarum suarum rectitudine cum impius in corde suo Non est recta Domini via: sed eum Dominus constantissime redarguit et confutat: Nunquid non viae meae rectae sunt: et non magis viae vestra pravae sunt, dicit Dominus? Scimus equidem, nec possumus diffiteri, quia viae Domini, pulchrae et omnes semitae ejus pacificae. Hoc nobiscum fatebatur qui dicit: Via Domini immaculata Deus meus, impolluta via ejus. Via Domini adeo directa est, sicut propheta testatur, ut stulti non erant per eam. Sane multos sapientes vidi in hac vita errantes. Nam cum sapientia hujus mundi sit terrena, animalis et diabolica; non est mirum si illi qui ita sapiunt, errant; et viam aeternae civitatis ignorant. Illa vero stultitia per quam placuit Deo salvos facere credentes, illa est quae non errat; illa est quae viam novit, quam Deus abscondit a sapientibus et prudentibus hujus saeculi, stultisqie et parvulis revelavit. O Domine, tu parasti directiones viam justificationum tuarum, dirige in conspectu tuo viam meam. Et quid est dirigere Domini semitam, nisi corigere suam vitam? Viam vero Domino parat, qui cor suum coram Deo humiliat, et peccata in quibus offendit per poenitentiam purgat. Cum omni ergo diligentia considerandum est, ne quid pravum inveniatur in voluntatibus nostris, ne quid asperum in moribus, vel tenebrosum, vel lubricum, aut distortum: pravum per malitiam, asperum per impatientiam, tenebrosum per ingorantiam, lubricam per inconstatiam, distorum per discordiam et vitae inaequalitatem Petrus Blenensis, Sermo I, De Adventu Domini Source: Migne PL 207.503b-504a

Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. 1 And what is this, brothers? Is it from the world that John admonishes us to prepare the ways of the Lord and to make straight the paths of our God? Is it from the world and in the world that His ways are straight? Concerning the rightness of His ways when the impious man in his heart says, 'There is no right way of the Lord,'  the Lord consistently disputes and refutes him, saying, 'Are my ways not right, and your ways are not rather depraved, says the Lord?' 2 Certainly we know it, we cannot doubt it, because the ways of the Lord are fair and all His paths peaceful. 3 This was confessed for us by him who said, 'The way of my God is immaculate, His way is unsullied.' 4 And the way of the Lord is straight, as the prophet bears witness, so that fools shall not wander on it. 5 Truly I have seen many who are wise wandering in this life. For when the wisdom of this world is earthly and animal and demonic, 6 it is not to be wondered if they who are wise in this manner wander, they who are ignorant of the way of the eternal city. But that foolishness through which it was pleasing to God to save those who believe, 7 that is what does not wander, that is what knows the way, which God hides from the wise and the clever of this world, and reveals to the simple and little ones. 8 O Lord, you have made straight the way of your justifications, direct my way into your sight. 9 And what is it to make the path of the Lord straight, unless to correct one's own life? He prepares a way for the Lord who humbles His own heart before God, and who purges through penance those sins by which he has offended. When, then, everything must be considered diligently, let not any depravity be found in our wills, nor bitterness in our conduct, nor darkness, nor slipperiness, nor deceit. Depravity is through evil, bitterness through impatience, darkness through ignorance, slipperiness through inconstancy, deceit through discord and injustice in life. Peter of Blois, from Sermon 1, On The Advent of The Lord 1 Mk 1.3 2 Ezek 18.25 3 Prov 3.17 4 Ps 17.31 5 Isaiah 35.8 6 James 3.15 7 1 Cor 1.21 8 Mt 11.25 9 Ps 5.9

In And Out Of Hell

Anima siquiem hominis eo temporis articulo, quo de carcere corpori hujus egreditur, et est quasi in porta qua exitur ab hac vita, justa eorum suorum exigentiam transit ad gaudia vel dolores, juxta illud: Opera eorum sequuntur illos. Justus autem non confundetur, cum loquetur inimicis suis in porta. De illo enim dicetur: Date ei de fructu manuum suarum, et laudent eum in portis opera ejus. Nam, etsi fuerunt in laboribus, sed, Amodo dicet eis Spiritus ut requiescant a laboribus suis. Olim siquidem omnes ad inferos descendebant. Unde et beatus Job dicit: Quis mihi tribuat ut in inferno protegas me, et abscondas me, donec pertranseat furor tuus, et constiuas mihi tempus in quo recorderis mei? Erat tamen magnum chaos firmatum inter justos et impios; nam justi erant in sinu Abrahae sedentes, id est quiescentes in tenebris, exspectantes beatam spem et adventum gloriae magni Dei. Impii vero erant in doloribus et tormentis: quod ex evangelica historia in divite et Lazaro patet. Christus autem peccatorum purgatoionem faciens, abolito chirographo nostrae damnationis in sanguine suo, desendit ad inferos et contrivit portas aereas, ac vectes ferreos confregit, educens vinctos de domo carceris, sedentes in tenebris et umbra mortis. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XLI In Festo Omnium Sanctorum Source: Migne PL 207.685c-686a

The soul of a man at the time of its separation, when it goes out from the prison of the body, is as a going out through a gate from this life, and according to their going out they pass over to joy or sorrow, according to which, 'Their works follow them.' But 'The righteous man shall not be dismayed when he speaks to his enemies in the gate.' For concerning him it shall be said, 'Give to him from the fruits of his hands and his works shall praise him in the gates.' For even if they were amid tribulations, yet 'henceforth the Spirit shall say that they may rest from their labours.' 1 Certainly all went down to hell once, and therefore the blessed Job says, 'Who will give me this, that you will protect me in hell, and hide me until your wrath passes, and appoint for me a time when you will remember me?' 2 But there was a great gulf fixed between the righteous and the wicked, since the righteous were sitting in the lap of Abraham, that is, resting in the darkness and hoping with blessed hope for the coming of the great glory of God. But the wicked were in grief and torment, which the Gospel narrative about Lazarus and the rich man reveals. 3 But Christ making a purgation of sins and abolishing the sign of our damnation with his own blood, descended to hell and 'broke the bronze gates and shattered the iron bonds,' and led out the conquered from the prison house, and from 'sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.' 4 Peter of Blois, from Sermon 41, On The Feast Of All Saints 1 Apoc 14.13, Ps 126.5, Prov 31.31, Apoc 14.13 2 Job 14.13 3 Lk 16.19-31 4 Ps 106.16, 10

Expanding The Heart

Sepimta utilitas triublationis est quod dilatat cor hominis ad receptione gloriae et gratiae Dei. Quia sicut malleus aurifabri dilatat aurum vel argentum frequenti percussione a faciendum vas pretiosum; sic Deus fabricator totius creaturae ordinavit tribulationem ad cordis dilationem, ad deponenda dona gratiae. De hac tribulatione dicit Psalmista: In tribulatione dilatasti cor meum. Sustine ergo tribulationis ictus, quia quanto dilatatur cor tuum in plus sustinendo, tanto plura spiritualia dona in te reponet Deus. Considera quod quanto metalium est pretiosius, tanto est ductilius est majis obediens ictibus mallei; sic cor pretiosum et mite majorem habet in tribulatione patientiam. Et licet ictus mallei, tribulationis scilicet, te dure affligant, in hoc tamen consolare, quod Deus aurifabar tenet in manu sua malleum tribulationis, qui bene novit ictum suum secundum possibilitatem recipientis materiae moderari. Noli ergo esse sicut metallum in massa, sine extensione, sicut sunt cords dura et indiscuplinata, in quibus locum non invenit tribulatio vel disciplina. Similiter noli esse sicut sartago vetus, quae prae vetustate sub ictu frangitur, et pro una fractura veteri multas recipit novas; sic durum cor et impatiens in tribulatione auget damnum suum. Sustine ergo hilariter tribulationem cor tuum dilatantem. Ad hoc te invitat Sapiens dicens, Sustine sustentationes Dei, conjungendo te Deo; et sustine ut crescat in novissimo vita tua. Quasi diceret: Sustine patienter et libenter tribulationes hujus mundi pro Deo, qui pro te multa sustinuit; et redde ei vicem hujus servitii. Conjungere Deo et sustine; ac si diceret: Sociare Deo, et quidquid tibi imposuerit sustine, et scito quia non ultra possibilitatem te onerabit. Unde Apostolus: Fidelis est Deus, qui non permittit vos tentari ultra id quod ferre potestis. Sustine ergo libenter modis praedictis, ut crescat in novissimis vita tua, quia per hoc vives in aeternuum in gloria. Petrus Blenensis, De XII Utilitatibus Tribulationis Source: Migne PL 207.1000d-1001c

The seventh usefulness of tribulation is that it expands the heart of man for the reception of the glory and the grace of God. Because as the hammer of a goldsmith stretches out the gold or silver with frequent blows to make a precious vase, so God, the maker of all things, has ordained tribulation for the expansion of the heart, even to dispose it for the gift of grace. About this tribulation the Psalmist says, 'In tribulation you expanded my heart.' 1 Endure, therefore, the blows of tribulation, because the more your heart expands with greater endurance so the more spiritual gifts He will bestow on you. Consider how the more precious a metal is, so it is more ductile and more obedient to the blows of the hammer. So it is that a heart that is precious and meek has greater patience in tribulation. And when the blows of the hammer, that is, the blows of tribulation, severely afflict you, you may yet be consoled in this, that God the goldsmith holds the hammer of tribulation in His hand, He who well knows how to moderate His blows according to the possibility of the material receiving them. Do not, then, be like a dull lump of metal, without any ductility, as hard and undisciplined hearts are, in which there is found no place for tribulation and discipline. Similarly do not be like an old pan that because of its age cracks beneath blows, and for one old crack receives many new ones. So even the hard and impatient heart gains its ruin in tribulation. Therefore joyfully delight in tribulation with your heart expanded. To this Wisdom invites you, saying, 'Endure the trials of God, being bound to God; endure so that you might increase your life in the end.' 2 As if it said, 'Patiently and joyfully endure the tribulations of this world for God, who suffered so much for you, and return to him His service.' 'Be joined to God and endure.' As if he said, 'Cleave to God and endure whatever He imposes on you, and know that He shall not burden you beyond your capability.' So the Apostle says, 'God is faithful, He does not permit you to be tested beyond your ability.' 3 Endure joyfully, therefore, in the ways we have said, 'that you increase your life in the end,' because by this you shall live in glory forever. Peter of Blois, On The Usefulness of Tribulations 1 Ps 4.2 2 Sirach 2.3 3 1 Cor 10.13

The Ways Of Peter And Paul

Christus Saulum in Paulm, Cepham convertit in Petru: nam de ipsis quondoque propheta praedixerat: Et vocabit servos suos nomine alio. Tu es, inquit, Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam. Petra siquidem erat Christus, suumque nomen communicat Petro, ut Petrus petra sit: nam sicut petra sitienti populo aqua in deserto profluxit, ita et a Petro aliis in fide arescentibus salutiferae fidei confessio emanavit. Chrisit ascensurus in coelum Petro suas oves pascendas agnosque commisit; atque post parvae naviculae regimen, eidem gubernaculum magnae navis, id est, totius Ecclesiae magisterium mancipavit. Petro tanquam optimo dispensatori claves domus suae tradidit. Justitia Petri tantam judicandi judicium potestatem, ut de ejus arbitrio coeleste judicium pendeat; nec a Petri sententia etiam angelus appellare praesumat Interrogatus a Domino Petrus quem eum dicerent homines: brevi confessionis compendio divinae majestatis arcanum declarat in Christo. Non revelabit tibi hoc, Petre, caro et sanguis: care enim et sanguis non possidebunt regnum Dei, sed Spiritus Dei Patris, qui in coelis est. Mirabilis piscator, qui olim profunda aequoris scrutabatur, inscrutabile sacramentum deitatis in Christo fideleter confitetur. Interrogante Domino: Petre, amas me? Petrus trinam negationem negotionis confessione delevit. Cum Christus de sacramento suae carnis et sanguinis loqueretur, quidam abierunt retro: multi enim cum Christo ambulant, donec ad edendum carnem ejus et sanguinem veniatur. Quaerente Domino nunquid reliqui vellent abire, Petrus tanquam petra fidei, et publicae veritatis assertor respondens pro omnibus: Domine, inquit, ad quem ibimus? verba vitae aeternae habes. Ac si diceret: Non in solo pane vivit homo, sed in omni verbo quod procedit ex ore Dei. Quam dulcia faucibus meis eloquia tua super mel ori meo. Quid mihi est in coelo, Domine, et a te volui super terram? Coelum et terrae, aer et mare obediunt Petro: Simonem enim Magum, ab aere praecipitat, Tabitham de terra suscitat, super aquas ambulat, Anaiam et Saphiram tanquam Dominus vitae et mortis viventes mortificat: coleum vero potestative claudit et reserat. Audivimus de Petro, vultis audire de Paulo. Audivimus de viro hoc quanta mala fecerit in Jerusalem,qui non solum per Jerosolymam, sed per totam Judeam insania ferebatur ,ut Christi membra laniert in terris. Verumtamen spirans minarum et caedis in discipulos Domini, a Domino in discipulum adoptatur, toto pectore virus exhalans, et blasphemando nomen Domini, de vase blasphemiae factus est vas electionis ut nomen Domini portaret coram regibus. Ubi ergo abundavit delictum, superabundavit et gratia: ideoque mutatus in alterum virum dicebat. Fidelis sermo, et omni acceptione dignus, quoniam venit Dominus Jesus salvos facere peccatores, quorum primus ego sum. Paulus dum adhuc conversaretur in trra, rptus in tetriu caelum, in schola sanctae Trinitatis didicit quod ei aliis communicae non licuit. Si ergo nobis aperuit quae mens humana non potest comprehendere, quanta sunt ea quae nobis prohibitus est aperire? Quia Paulum schola coelestis instuxerat, ei tanquam idoneo doctori Dominus magisterium ecclesiasticae instructionis injunxit. Quod Elymam percussit, quod Eutychum morti abstulit, quod fame, quod nuditatem, quod sitim, quod omnia fere humane conditionis pericula pro Christo sustinuit, et caetera quae in Actis apostolorum leguntur Paulo cedunt ad cumulum gloriae et honoris. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XXVIII, De SS. Petro et Paulo Source: Migne PL 207.644b-645c

Christ changed Saul to Paul, and Cephas to Peter, as a prophet once foretold, 'And He shall call His servants by another name.' 1 'You are Peter,' He says, 'and on this rock I shall build my Church.' 2 Certainly, 'the stone was Christ,' 3 and His name He communicated to Peter, so that Peter might be a rock, for as water flowed for a thirsty people in a desert, so from Peter there shoots forth to others a salutary confession of faith. Christ, who was about to rise into heaven, committed the feeding of His sheep and lambs to Peter, 4 and after the steering of little boats, gave to him the piloting of a great ship, that is the headship of the whole Church. He gave the keys of His house to Peter as the best of stewards. The righteousness of Peter has such great power of discernment for judging that on his will the heavenly judgement depends, nor would an angel presume to appeal against the sentence of Peter. Asked by the Lord whom men said He was, Peter with a brief confession of the secret of the Divine majesty declared Him to be Christ. Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, Peter, for flesh and blood shall not possess the kingdom of God, 5 but it was the Spirit of God the Father who is in heaven. Wondrous fisherman, who once scrutinised the depths of the sea, now faithfully confesses the inscrutable mystery of the Godhead in Christ. Asked by the Lord, 'Do you love me?' Peter wiped away the three denials with three confessions. When Christ spoke of the mystery of His flesh and blood, some turned back, for many had walked with Christ until it came to the eating of His flesh and blood, and when the Lord asked if the rest of them wished to go away, Peter as the rock of faith and the witness of open truth answered for everybody, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.' As if he said, 'Not on bread alone does a man live but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' 6 'How sweet in my throat your words, surpassing honey in my mouth.' 'What is there for me in heaven, O Lord, and what have I wished for from you on the earth?' 7 Heaven and earth, air and sea obeyed Peter, for he cast down Simon Magus from the air, and he lifted up Tabitha from the earth, and he walked on water, and he slew Ananias and Sapphira, as the lord of life and death, who has the power to close heaven and to open it. 8 We have heard of Peter, now hear of Paul. We have heard that this man did much evil in Jerusalem, and not only in Jerusalem, but that through all Judea he was borne about by a madness, so that he might wound the members of Christ on earth. However, breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, he was taken up as a disciple by the Lord. 9 Retching forth venom from his breast and blaspheming the name of the Lord, from a vessel of blasphemy he was made into a vase of election of the Lord, so that he might bear the name of the Lord before kings. 'Thus where wickedness abounded so grace abounded more,' 10 and changed into another man he said, 'The word is faithful and worthy of all reception, because the Lord Jesus came to save sinners, of whom I am the first.' 11 Paul while yet living on earth was caught up to the third heaven 12 and in the school of the Holy Trinity learned what he was not permitted to speak of to others. If therefore he revealed to us what the human mind is not able to grasp, how greater are those things which were prohibited to be revealed to us? Because the Lord instructed Paul in the heavenly school, to him alone did He enjoin the teaching office of a capable doctor of the Church. He struck Elymas, he brought back Eutychus from the dead, hunger, nakedness, thirst, and everything that is perilous to the human condition he endured for Christ, 13 and the rest of the things which are told in the Acts of the Apostle which befell Paul for sake of the height of glory and honour. Peter of Blois, from Sermon 28, On The Feast of the Saints Peter and Paul 1 Isaiah 65.16 2 Mt 16.16 3 1 Cor 10.4 4 Jn 21.15-17 5 1 Cor 15.50 6 Jn 6.68, Mt 4.4 7 Ps 118.103, Ps 72.25 8 Acts 8.9-24, Acts 9.36-41, Acts 5.1-11 9 Acts 8.1-20 10 Rom 5.20 11 1 Tim 1.15 12 2 Cor 12.2-5| 13 Acts 13.6-12, Acts 20.9-11, 1 Cor 4.11

Praise And John The Baptist

Verbum Salomonis est: Laudent te labia proximi tui, et non tua. Si laus expetenda est, non expetenda a se ipso, sed ab ore proximi. Gloriosior tamen est laus procedens de ore Altissimi: Non enim qui se commendat, ille probatus est, sed quem Deus commendat. Si linguis loquamur hominum et angelorum, non poterimus explicare ad plenum Joannis merita, atque in Joanne Christi praeconia. Laus Joannis celebris est in Evangelio, quia, ubicunque occurit mentio de Joanne, commendatur a Christo. Non ergo mendicat laudis humanae suffragia, qui laudatur a Deo, qui dicere potest, In Domino laudabitur anima mea. Commendat Noe Dominus dicens: Vidi te justum coram me. Commendat Abraham faciens ei promissionis benedictionis in futuris generationis. De beato etiam Job loquens ad Satan, magnificat eum quod non sit similis in terra: Vir simplex et rectus et timens Dominum. De Moyse etiam dicit: Si quis fuerit inter vos propheta, loquar ei in visione vel per sominum. At non talis servus meus Moyses, qui in omni domo mea fidelissimus est. Ore ad os loquar ei. David quoque cum ipse dicit: Deus laudem meam ne tacueris; laudatur a Domino dicente: Inveni virum secundum cor meum. Testimonio Dei magni fuerunt isti, et multi alii. Sed ejusdem testimonio: Inter natos mulierum non surrexit major Joanne Baptista. Illi laudem et praeconiorum congragaverunt divitias, iste supergressus est universos; cujus nativitas per Gabrielem archangelum annuntiata est, sicut et nativitas Christi, cujus nomen vocatum est ab angelo, priusquam in utero conciperetur; intra Sancta sanctorum praenuntiatur, in utero sanctifiatur, ut dicere possit: Ab infantia crevit mecum sanctitas, et ab utero matris meae egressa est mecum. Fuit itaque factus antequam natus, et ideo processu temporis plus quam sanctus. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XXVII, In Festo Sancti Joannis Baptistae Source: Migne PL 207.641a-b

The word of Solomon is 'Let your neighbour's lips praise you and not your own.' 1 If praise must be sought, let it not be sought from oneself but from the mouth of a neighbour. Yet more glorious is the praise if it comes forth from the mouth of the Most High. 'It is not he who commends himself who has been approved, but him whom God commends.' 2 If we were to speak with the tongues of men and angels we would not be able to explain the full merit of John but in John being a forerunner of Christ. The praise of John is celebrated in the Gospel, because everywhere there is mention of John he is commended by Christ. Therefore he does not beg for the judgements of human praise who is able to say, 'My soul shall have its praise in the Lord.' 3 The Lord commended Noah saying, 'I have seen you righteous before me.' He commended Abraham with the promise of his blessing in future generations. Speaking of the blessed Job to Satan, He magnifies him with, 'There is no one like him on the earth. A man simple and upright and fearing the Lord.' Concerning Moses He says, 'If there is a prophet among you, I shall speak to him in visions and through dreams, but I do not do so with my servant Moses, who of all my house is the most faithful. I speak to him face to face.' Also David when he says, 'O God, be not silent in my praise,' is praised by the Lord when He says, 'I have found a man according to my heart.' 4 Such was the testimony of God for these great ones, and for many others. But John's testimony is, 'Among those born of women there has not risen up one greater than John the Baptist.' 5 His praise gathers up the wealth of the forerunners and surpasses them all, whose birth was announced by the archangel Gabriel, as was the birth of Christ, and whose name was declared by an angel before he had been conceived in the womb. 6 Within the holy of holies he was foretold, in the womb he was sanctified, so that it is possible to say, 'From my infancy holiness was created with me, and from my going forth from my mother's womb is it with me.' 7 Thus he was before birth, and thus with the advance of time he is more holy. Peter of Blois, from Sermon 27, On The Feast of John The Baptist 1 Prov 27.2 2 2 Cor 10.18 3 Ps 33.3 4 Gen 7.1, Gen 22.18, Job 2.3, Num 12.6, Ps 108.2, Acts 13.22 5 Mt 11.1 6 Lk 1.9-17 7 Job 31.18

Receiving The Spirit

Numquid poteris conjungere septem micantes Pleiades? Verba sunt Domini loquentis ad beatum Job, et quaerentis utrum possit sibi jungere et counire dona Spiritus septiformis, quae et septem pleiades designantur. Hunc spiritu Christus ab aeterno habuit, et homo factus eumdem sine mensura recepit, ipsumque aliis secundum mensuram donationis suae distribuit. Quod spiritum septiformem acceperit, ostenditur verbo Isaiae qui dicit: Apprehendent septem mulieres virum unum in die illa, etc. et ut nos declaratio sermonum ejus illuminet plenius et instruat apertius, de Christo loquens: Requiescet, inquit, super eum spiritus sapientiae et intellectus, spiritus consilii et fortitudinis, spiritus scientiae et pietatis; et replebit eum spiritus timoris Domini. Isti sunt septem oculi super lapidem unum; septemque lucernae in candelabro aureo, sicut Zacharias commemorat. Cum Filius sit a Patre, et Spiritus sanctus ab utroque procedat, postquam Filius officium suae legationis impleverat, decebat ut et Spiritus sanctus mitteretur. Prius siquidem dederat Christus apostolis Spiritum sanctum: quod patenter indicabat perfectio sanitatum. Sed hodie datus est ei Spiritus sanctus ad usum, ad auxilium, ad solatium, ad miraculum, ad acquisitionem gentium, ad salutem omnium populorum. Datur Spiritus sanctus, ad emundationem, ad innovationem, ad justiitiam, ad exsultationem. Cor mundum crea in me, Deus: ecce cordis mundatio. Spiritus rectum innova in visceribus meis: ecce animae sanctificatio. Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui: et spiritu principali confirma me: ecce cordis mundatio. Spiritus rectum innova in visceribus meis: ecce innovans rectitudo. Spiritum sanctum tuum ne aufera a me: ecce animae sanctificatio, quia templum Dei et templum daemoniorum simul esse non possumus. Mundatus et lotus postulat ut ambulet vias rectas, ne ad actus extraordinarios iterum revertatur. Innovatur corde per rectitudinem, operatur laetitia salutaris, confirmanda spiritu principali. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XXV, In Die Pentecostes Source: Migne PL 207.634c-635b

Are you able to join together the seven shining Pleiades? 1 The words of the Lord spoken to Job ask him whether he is able to join and unite the gifts of the sevenfold spirit, which are designated by the seven Pleiades. Christ had this spirit from eternity and being made man received the same without measure, and gave it to others according to the measure of His own gift. That He shall receive the sevenfold spirit is shown in the speech of Isaiah which says 'Seven women will seize one man on that day,' and so that the declaration of his speech might enlighten us more fully and instruct us more openly, speaking of Christ he says, 'There shall rest on him the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the spirit of the awe of the Lord shall fill him.' 2 These are the seven eyes on the one stone, and the seven lamps on the golden candlestick, as Zachariah recalls. 3 When the Son is from the Father and the Holy Spirit proceeds from both, after the Son fulfilled his office of herald, it was befitting that the Holy Spirit should be sent. First Christ gave the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, which perfection evidently indicates soundness. But today the Holy Spirit is given for use, for aid and comfort and miracles and the conversion of nations and the salvation of all peoples. The Holy Spirit is given for cleansing and renewal and righteousness and exaltation. 'Fashion a clean heart in me, O God.' Behold the cleansing of the heart. 'Renew a right spirit within me.' Behold the sanctification of the soul. 'Return to me the joy of your salvation and strengthen me with a perfect spirit.' Behold the cleansing of the heart. 'Renew a right spirit within me.' Behold the renewal of rectitude. 'Do not take your Holy Spirit from me.' 4 Behold the sanctification of the soul, because we cannot be the temple of God and the temple of demons at the same time. Washed and cleansed he asks that he might walk on the ways that are right, lest he fall back again into erroneous deeds. With the heart renewed through rectitude, the joy of salvation is effective, strengthened by the perfect spirit. Peter of Blois, from Sermon 25, On The Day Of Pentecost 1 Job 38.31 2 Isaiah 4.1, 11.2 3 Zach 3.9 4 Ps 50.12,14

The Twofold Resurrection

Sicut enim propter justifictionem nostram mortuus est, ita resurrexit propter nostram glorificationem. Christus semel mortuus, semel resurrexit. Nos autem qui mortui sumus, anima et corpore duplici indigemus resurrectione. Et beatus qui habebit partem in resurrectione prima. Prima resurrectio est partim in copore, partim in anima: secunda perfecta est in utroque. Cum autem venerit quod perfectum est, tunc evacuabitur quod ex parte est. Tunc enim reformabitur corpus humilitatis nostrae, quod modo deformatum est; tunc, inquam, reformabitur corpus claritatis suae. Prima specialier est animae, secunda corporis. Propheta utramque desiderans, sed plus resurrectionem carnis quam animae, nam in illa est perfectio gloriae, dicit: Sitivit in te anima mea, quoniam, multipliciter tibi, quod multum placuit tibi, caro mea. Prima resurrectio significatur ibi: Veniet hora, et nunc est, quando veniet audient Filii Dei, et qui audierint vivent. Quasi diceret: Qui modo mortui sunt Christo, et vivunt mundo, audient verbum Evangelii, et credendo et bene operando, suscitabuntur a morte peccati. De secunda habes: Venit hora, qunado mortui qui in monumentis sunt, audient vocem Filii Dei. Quod siquidem erit in voce archangeli in novissima tuba, quando Christus ad judicium veniet, dabitque voci suae vocem virtutis. Mali tunc resurgent in resurrectionem judicii. Boni vero qui per primam resurrectioem, judicaverunt et justificaverunt se, resurgent in resurrectionem vitae. Justi nunc judicant se: et sic resurgunt a morte animae per justificationem. Impii non timentes terribl judicium, adhuc in immunditiis suis jacent. Sicut scriptum est, quia non resurgent impii in judicio, neque peccatores in consilio justorum. Et quod consilium justorum? Verbum Prophetae est: Consilium meum justificationes tuae. Si nosmetipsos dijudicaremus, non utique judicaremur. Cum autem judicamur, a Domino corripimur. Ita non absque ejus cura in hoc mundo damnemur. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XXI, In Dei Resurrectione Source: Migne PL 207.622a-c

As it was on account of our justification that He died, so He rose for our glorification. Christ died once and rose once. But we who are dead have need of a twofold resurrection, of the soul and of the body. 'And blessed is he who has a part of the first resurrection.' 1 The first resurrection is partly in the body and partly in the soul, the second resurrection is the perfection of both. 'When that which is perfect comes, then what is from a part passes away.' 2 Then the body of our humility shall be refashioned, that which now is deformed. Then, I say, the body shall be reformed according to His glory. 3 The first resurrection is of the soul, the second of the body. The prophet desiring both, but more the resurrection of the body than the soul, for in that is the perfection of glory, says, 'My soul thirsts for you,' since, 'and in so many ways,' 4 that is, it has often pleased you, 'my flesh.' The first resurrection is signified here: 'The hour will come, and now it is, when they shall hear the Son of God, and they who hear shall live.' 5 As if he said, 'Those who are now dead in Christ, and live in the world, they shall hear the word of the Gospel, and believing and doing good works, they shall be taken up from the death of sin.' Concerning the second resurrection we have: 'The hour will come when the dead who are in their tombs shall hear the voice of the son of God.' 6 Which shall be the voice of the archangel blowing the last trumpet, when Christ shall come in judgement, and he shall give to his own voice the voice of power. Then the wicked shall rise into the resurrection of judgement, but those who are good through the first resurrection, having judged and justified themselves, shall rise into the resurrection of life. The righteous now judge themselves and so through justification they rise from the death of the soul. The wicked, who do not fear the terrible judgement, yet exult in their own filth. As it is written, 'The wicked will not rise in judgement, nor sinners in the counsel of the righteous.' 7 What is the counsel of the righteous? The word of the prophet is: 'Your justifications are my counsel.' 8 'If we shall judge ourselves, we are not thus judged. But when we are judged, we are corrected by the Lord.' 9 Thus let us not, lacking His care, be damned in this world. Peter of Blois, from Sermon 47, On The Feast of All Saints 1 Apoc 20.6 2 1 Cor 13.10 3 Phil 3.21 4 Ps 62.2 5 Jn 5.25 6 Jn 5.29 7 Ps 1.5 8 Ps 118.24 9 1 Cor 11.31-32

Trials And Victory

Dixitque Dominus ad eum: Numquid considerasti servum meum Job, quod non sit ei similis in terra, homo simplex et rectus, ac timens Deum, et recedens a malo? A commendatione justi incipit: Non enim qui se ipsum commendat, ille probatus est, sed quem Deus commendat; illasque virtutes ei proponit, quas amplius habebat exosas, ut inimicum vehementius torqueat et provocet ad tentandum. Vult enim Dominus servos suos fortiter tentari, ut faciat etiam cum tentatione proventum. Gaudet princeps militiae, si militem suum cum forti adversario strenue pugnantem aspexerit. Exsultat Christus cum martyrem suum videt nunc flagellari, nunc extendi in eculeo, nunc ferreis laniari unguibus, nunc sagittis exponi, nunc membris truncari, nunc ignibus superponi. Stat martyr afflictus quidem, sed invictus, vidensque sanguinem suum ex diversis partibus corporis ebullire, non sua, sed Redemptoris vulnera attendit. Inter anxietates ergo acerrimas tripudians et triumphans, dolores corporis lacerati non sentit, quia peregrinatur a corpore. Non facit hoc stupor, sed amor; non deest dolor, sed pro Christo contemnitur. Sic Dominus et possessiones, et personam servi sui Job malitiae tentarois exponit, ita per interiora et exteriora afflictus, munitus tamen a Domino a dextris et a sinistris, et cresceat in gratiam, et proficiat ad coronam Petrus Blenensis, Compendium In Job: Ad Henericum II Illustrissimum Anglorum Regem, Caput I Source: Migne PL 207.805d-806a

And the Lord said to Satan: 'Have you not considered my servant Job, that there is no one like him on the earth, a simple and upright man, who fears God and avoids evil?' 1 He begins with a commendation of the righteous man, 'For it is not he who commends himself who is approved, but him whom God commends.' 2 And He proposes those virtues to him, which the more he has, so the more vehemently he provokes the tempter to put him to the test. And indeed the Lord wishes that His servants be put to strong trials so that 'even in trial there is advance.' 3 A leader of soldiers rejoices if one of his own men fights bravely against the enemy, and Christ exults when He sees His martyr now whipped, now stretched on the rack, now with his sides pierced with iron nails, now having fire put upon him. Certainly the martyr is afflicted, but he is unconquered, he sees his own blood flow out of various parts of his body, but he does not think of his own wounds but of Christ's. Therefore exultant and triumphant amid bitter pains, he does not feel the sufferings of his torn body, but he wanders far from the body. And the cause of this is not some doltish insensitivity, but love. He is not free of pain, but he scorns it for Christ. So the Lord exposed the possessions and person of Job to the evils of the tempter, so that afflicted within and without, yet walled by the Lord to the right and to the left, he might grow in grace and advance to the crown. Peter of Blois, Compendium On Job, To Henry II Most Illustrious King Of The English, Chapter 1 1 Job 1.8 2 2 Cor 10.18 3 1 Cor 10.13

In Praise Of Friendship

In rebus humanis nihil dulcius amicitia invenitur, nihil sanctius appetitur, nihil fructuosius custoditur: habet enim fructum vitae quae nunc est et futurae. Ipsa propria suavitate virtutes alias condit, adversa temperat, prospera componit, tristiaque jucundat. Homo sine amico non habet, cui vitam et affectus suos communicet, cui conscientiae suae sinum aperiat, cui ad solatium suum aliquid de molestiis terrentibus evaporet. Solus est, qui sine amico est. Vere dicitur solus, quia si ceciderit, non habet sublevantem. E diverso quanta est jucunditas, quanta securitas, habere cum quo loquaris, ut tecum, cui cordis tui secreta committere audeas, quem in secretioribus tuis habeas ut teipsum, cui plena securitate reveles, quantum in studiis spiritualibus a teipso defeceris, aut profeceris apud Deum. Quid denique desiderabilius, aut dulcius, quam ut duorum tanta sit unio animorum, quod quum alter corripiatur ab altero, vel laudetur, nulla interveniat ira, nulla seditio, nulla inter eos formido criminis, adulationisve suspicio. Amicus, ait Sapiens, est medicamentum vitae. Optima enim medicina est homini homo, qui ejus remediatur adversis, qui ejus condescendit incommodis, qui gravia levigat, qui amici onera quasi juncto humero simul portat. Nec enim verus amicus impatientius propriam injuriam sustinet, quam amici. Verbum Philosophi est: Non aqua, non igne, non aere pluries utimur, quam amico. In omni actu, in omni studio, in rebus certis, in dubiis, in omni eventu, in secreto, in publico, in omni consultatione, domi et foris : et ut multa paucis includam, in omnibus, quae ad divina pertinent et humana, gratia se diligentium mutuo utilis invenitur. Audi Tullium: Tanta est, inquit, amicitiae virtus, quod ejus beneficio absentes amici sibi praesentes assistunt, egentes abundant, valent imbecilles, et quod mirabilius est, mortui vivunt. Demum amicitia est divitibus pro gloria, pro censu pauperibus; exulibus pro patria, imbecillibus pro virtute, pro medicina aegroto, mortuis pro vita. Et sicut idem Tullius aiebat, Solem videntur de mundo tollere, qui de vita hominum amicitiam tollunt. Amicitia, inquit idem, quaedam est vita hominum, sine qua nullum est humanae vitae solatium. Amicitia quidam gradus est hominibus ad Deum. Dilectione enim mediante homo Deo approximat, dum ex hominis amico Dei amicus efficitur. Audi Deum ad homines loquentem, quos in proximi dilectione firmaverat et dicentem : Jam non dicam vos servos, quia servus nescit, quid faciat Dominus ejus. Vos autem dixi amicos, quia omnia quaecunque audivi a Patre meo, nota feci vobis. Quas omnia, sicut plerique Sancti asserunt,in Dei proximique dilectione consistunt. Petrus Blenensis, De Amicitia Christiana, Cap. III, Quam dulcis, et quam fructuosa sit amicitia. Source: Migne PL 207.874c-875c

In human affairs nothing is found sweeter than friendship, nothing more holy is sought, nothing is more fruitfully guarded, for it is has reward for life both now and in the future. With its own sweetness it establishes other virtues, tempers adversity, moderates prosperity, gives cheer to sorrow. A man without a friend does not have one to whom he may communicate life and feelings, to whom he may open the lap of his conscience, in whom he might have comfort for dispelling his burdensome troubles. He is alone who lacks a friend. Truly it is said 'alone' because 'if he falls he has no one to lift him up.' 1 In contrast how much joy there is, how much security, to have someone to whom you may speak and with whom you may dare to commit the secrets of your heart, and with whom you may share your secrets as much as you do with yourself, and to whom you may speak in full confidence, as much of the spiritual desires which you lack as of your advance to God. What, then, is more desirable, or more sweet, or more durable than a union of souls, so that when the one is corrected by the other, or praised, no anger intervenes, nor discord, nor is there fear of any offence between them, nor is there any suspicion of flattery. 'A friend,' says Wisdom 'is the medicine of life.' 2 The best medicine for a man is a man, one who supplies remedies in adversity, who sympathises in difficulties, who eases burdens, who at the same time bears the troubles of a friend as if their shoulders were joined. For he is not a true friend who is more impatient in enduring his own injury than a friend's. The word of the Philosopher is: 'Neither water, nor fire, nor air, are so useful as friendship.' 3 In every act, every passion, in things doubtful and in things certain, in every event, in secret and in public, in every consultation, in the house and outside, and I include many things of little weight, in everything which pertains to Divine and human affairs, the grace of mutual love is found useful. Hear Cicero: 'So great is the virtue of friendship that with its help absent friends stand near and present. In poverty they are rich and in weakness strong, and what is more wonderful, they revive the dead. Finally friendship is glory for the rich, wealth for the poor, a homeland for exiles, strength for the powerless, medicine for the sick, life for the dead.' And likewise the same Cicero says: 'They seem to take the sun from the world, who take friendship from the life of men.' 'There is a certain friendship,' the same man says, 'which is the life of men, without which there is no comfort in life.' 4 Certainly friendship is a stairway from men to God. By the mediation of love a man draws near to God, when from being a friend of men he is made a friend of God. Hear God saying to men, those whom He fortified in the love of their neighbour: 'Now I shall not call you servants but friends, because a servant does not know what his Lord does. I call you friends, because everything which I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.' 5 Which everything, as most of the saints assert, consists in the love of God and neighbour. Peter of Blois, On Christian Friendship, Chapter 3, How sweet and fruitful friendship may be. 1 Eccl 4.10 2 Sirach 6.16 3 Cicero De Amicitia 22 4 Cicero De Amicitia 23, 47, 102 5 Jn 15.15

Blessings And Heaven

Beati mundo corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt. Sex sunt opera misericordia, sicut diximus, quae hominem purificant et emundant. Nonne haec opera sex hydriae in Galilaea positae ad purificationem Judaeorum? Aquae mundat, eleemosyna mundat. Fide, inquit, mundanus corda eorum. Beati autem mundo corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt. Nonne vita aeterna est videre te Deum, et quem misisti Jesum Christum? Beati, Domine, qui te viderunt et in te credidetunt, spe non re. Nam et mundi corde hodie te vident, nec tamen beati sunt, vident sed per speculum, et in aenigmate, et quasi sub nube. Erit tempus quando videbunt te facie ad faciem in splendoribus sanctorum, gloria et honore coronatum, non in diademate majestatis tuae, sed quasi unigentium a Patre plenum gratiae et majestatis. Tunc exsultabimus et gaudebit cor nostrum; tunc erit Sabbatum de Sabbato; tunc erit in ore hominum canticum novum, et vox quasi laetentium omnium. Ibi sicut Christus splendor et figura substantiae Dei, sic apparebit in figura Dei et gloria majestatis. O custos hominum et redemptor noster, ad te levavi oculos meos, oculos scilicet cordis mei. Sicut enim oculi servorum in manibus dominorum suorum, ita oculi nostri ad te, Domine, donec miserearis nostri. Verutamen turbatus est a furore oculis meis; dereliquit me virtus mea, et lumen oculorum meorum, et ipsum non est mecum. Non possum videre faciem tuam nisi oculo mundi cordis. In immunditiis concepit me mater mea; et: Quis potest facere mundum de immundo conceptum semine? Nonne tu qui solus es? Cor mundum crea in me, Deus, Deus cordis mei, et pars mea Deus in aeternum. Tibi dixit cor meum; exquisivit te facies mea, faciem tuam, Domine, requiram. Quid enim mihi est in caelo, et a te quid volui super terram? Dominus illuminatio mea, et salus mea, quem timebo? Illumina oculos meas ne unquam obdormiam in morte: nequando dicat inimicus meus: Praevalui adversus eum. Tu es funiculus haerditatis meae, portio mea in terra viventium. In terra, quae promittitur mitibus; in terra consolationis, quae lugentibus offertur, in regno coelorum, quid patientibus et pauperibus datur; in haereditate sanctorum, et pace filiorum Dei; in pace Dei, quae exsuperat omnem sensum, quae filios Dei consortes beatiudinis facit. Beati, enim pacifici quoniam filii Dei vocabuntur. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XLVII, In Festo Omnium Sanctorum Source: Migne PL 207.700d-701c

Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. 1 There are six works of mercy, as we have said, which purify and cleanse a man. Were there not six jugs placed in Galilee for the purification of the Jews? 2 Water cleanses, alms cleanse. With faith, it is said, their hearts were clean. 3 And blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Is it not that eternal life is the seeing of you, God, and Him whom you sent, Jesus Christ? Blessed, O Lord, are those who have seen you and believed in you, not the mere hope of it. For even the pure of heart see you today, yet they are not blessed, but they see through a mirror, in a mystery, 4 and as beneath a cloud. There shall come a time when they shall see you face to face in the splendour of your holy ones, crowned with glory and honour, 5 though your majesty is not in a diadem, but as the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and majesty. Then our hearts shall exult and rejoice, 6 then shall be the Sabbath of Sabbaths, then there shall be a new song in the mouths of men, 7 and the sound shall be as a multitude rejoicing. There as Christ is the splendour and figure of the substance of God, so He shall appear in the figure of God and the glory of majesty. O guardian of men and our Redeemer, to you I lift up my eyes, certainly the eyes of my heart. For as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters, so are our eyes turned to you, O Lord, until you are merciful to us. Truly my eyes were troubled with fury, my strength deserted me, and the light of my eyes was not with me. 8 I am not able to see your face, unless I have a pure heart. In uncleanliness my mother conceived me, and who is able to make me clean from the uncleanliness of the seed of my conception? Is it not you alone? Create a pure heart in me, O God, God of my heart, and my portion in eternity, O God. My heart has said to you, 'My face seeks you, your face, O Lord, I need. What is there for me in heaven, and what from you shall I wish on the earth? O Lord, my illumination and my salvation, whom shall I fear? Illuminate my eyes lest I ever sleep in death, lest my enemy ever say: 'I have prevailed over him.' 9 You are the portion of my inheritance, my gateway into the land of the living. 10 Into that land which is promised to the meek, into the land of consolation which is offered to those who weep, into the kingdom of heaven that is given to the patient and the poor, into the inheritance of the saints, and into the peace of the sons of God, into the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, which makes the sons of God associates of the blessing. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 11 Peter of Blois, from Sermon 47, On The Feast of All Saints 1 Mt 5.8 2 Jn 2.6 3 Acts 15.9 4 1 Cor 13.12 5 Ps 109.3, Ps 8.6 6 Prov 23.16 7 Ps 39.4 8 Ps 122.1,2 -3, Ps 6.8, Ps 37.11 9 Ps 50.7, Job 14.4, Ps 50.12, Ps 72.26, Ps 26.8, Ps 72.25, Ps 26.1, Ps 12.4-5 10 Ps 104.11, Ps 141.6 11 Mt 5.3-9, Phil 4.7

The Poor In Spirit

Nescio, fratres, si plane intelligitis quid sit pauperem esse spiritu. Apud multos hoc verbum quandoque scrupulum dubitionis induxit. Quidam abundant et in sensu et in spiritu, sicut filii hujus saeculi qui prudentiores sunt filiis lucis in generatione sua. Istos siquidem nec pauperes, nec divites spiritu censere praesumo. Quis ergo erit pauper spiritu? Nunquid ille qui turbatur et concutitur a pusillanimitate spiritus et tempestate? Certe nec istum pauperem spiritu dignum est profiteri. Curramus ad Apostolum. Vir enim circumspectus et multorum expertus est. Non accepimus, dicit Apostolus, spiritum hujus mundi, sed spiritum qui ex Deo est. Est autem spiritus hujus mundi, spiritus qui inflat, spiritus superbiae, de quo idem Apostolus dicit: Ambulastis, inquit, secundum principem potestatis aeris hujus, spiritum qui nunc operatur in filiis diffidentiae. Credo si quis deficeret ab hoc spiritu, pauper esset spiritu. Sed non sufficeret hoc, nisi Spiritus Dei redderet testimonium spiritui ejus. Procedamus ergo ulterius si forte possimus intelligere quid sit esse pauperem spiritu. Credo quia pauper spiritu est, qui deficiens a se ipso, et se totum pro Christo abnegns, nihil habet in cogitatione aut memoria, nihil in delectatione, aut desiderio nisi Christum. Iste potest dicere: Memore fui Dei et delectaus sum, et deficit spiritus meus. Hanc sui abdicationem, hanc paupertatem, et hunc defectum spiritus videbatur habere qui dicebat: Velociter exaudi me, Domine, quia defecit spiritus meus. Et illud: In deficiendo ex me spiritum meum, et tu cognovisti semitas meas. Qui ergo mundo renuntians et se ipsum abdicans sub potenti manu Dei, et sub observantia ordinis se humiliat: hic est pauper et humilis spiritu. De talibus dictum est: Juxta est Dominus his qui tribulato sunt corde, et humiles spiritu salvabit. Isti Spiritu Dei aguntur non alta sapientes, sed humilibus consentientes. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XLII, In Festo Omnium Sanctorum Source: Migne PL 207.690a-c

I do not know, brothers, if you fully understand what it means to be poor in spirit. 1 Among many this phrase has introduced a scruple of doubt. But indeed they abound in sense and spirit, as 'the sons of this age are more prudent than the sons of light in their generation.' 2 I do not presume to reckon the former poor, nor rich in spirit. Who, then, shall be the one who is poor in spirit? Is it the one who amid a storm is troubled and shaken by a weakness of spirit? Certainly it does not befit that this one is worthy of being poor of spirit. Let us hurry to the Apostle, for he is a wise man and experienced in many things. 'We have not received,' the Apostle says, 'the spirit of this world, but the spirit which is from God.' 3 There is indeed a spirit of the world, a spirit which puffs up, a spirit of pride, concerning which the same Apostle says, 'You have walked according to the the prince of power of this air, a spirit which now works in the sons of rebellion.' 4 I think that if someone is lacking in this spirit that he is poor in spirit. But this will not be enough unless the Spirit of God produces evidence of its own spirit. Let us go further, then, if perhaps it is possible that we might understand what it is to be poor in spirit. I think that the one who is poor in spirit is he who is lacking in himself, and denies himself utterly for Christ, having nothing in his thoughts or memory, nothing in pleasure or desire, but Christ. He can say: 'I was mindful of God and I delighted, and my spirit failed.' 5 This is one who seems to have renounced himself, and been poor, and to lack in spirit, he who said, 'Be swift to hear me, O Lord, because my spirit goes from me.' 6 And again: 'In the going forth of my spirit from me, and you knew my ways.' 7 He, then, who renounces the world and himself under the powerful hand of God, and beneath the observance of His commandments humbles himself, this is the one who is poor and humble in spirit. Concerning such things it is said, 'The Lord is beside those who are troubled in heart, and He saves the humble of spirit.' 8 They who live with the spirit of God do not think of high things, but give their minds to humble things. 9 Peter of Blois, from Sermon 42, On The Feast of All Saints 1 Mt 5.8 2 Lk 16.8 3 1 Cor 2.12 4 Ephes 2.2 5 Ps 76.4 6 Ps 142.7 7 Ps 141.4 8 Ps 33.9 9 Rom 12.16