Seeking The Risen

Descendisti quidem Filius hominis, nec Patri, cum descenderes, abfuisti: sed descendisti nobis; ut te oculis ac mentibus videremus, ut in te crederemus. Ergo et ascendisti nobis; ut et te sequeremur mentibus, quem oculis videre non possumus. Ascendisti apostolis, quibus dixisti: Qui me videt et Patrem. Denique Joannes ubi te quaereret, scivit. Apud Patrem quaesivit, et reperit, et ideo ait: Et Verbum erat apud Deum. Ascendisti et Paulo, qui non contentus solus te sequi, nos quoque docuit quemadmodum te sequamur, et ubi te reperire possimus, dicens: Si ergo consurrexistis cum Christo, quae sursum sunt, quaerite ubi Christus est ad dexteram Dei sedens. Et ne oculorum magis hoc quam animorum putaremus officium, addidit: Quae sursum sunt sapite, non quae super terram. Ergo non supra terram, nec in terram, nec secundum carnem te quaerere debemus, si volumus invenire; nunc enim secundum carnem jam non novimus Christum. Denique Stephanus non supra terra, quaesivit, qui stantem te ad dexteram Dei vidit: Maria autem quia quaerabat in terra, tangere non potuit. Stephanus tetigit, quia quaesivit in coelo; Stephanus inter Judaeos vidit absentem: Maria inter angelos non vidit praesentem. Sed quare non potuerit illa tangere, evangelista ipse nos docuit dicens, quia cum te videret, nesciebat quia tu es; sic enim habes: Conversa est retrorsum, et vidit Jesum stantem, et non sciebat quia Jesus est. Merito tangere non potuit, quae videre non potuerat; nam qui videt tangit. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Expositio Evangelii secundum Lucam, Liber X, Cap XXIV Source: Migne PL 15.1843d-1844b

You descended the Son of Man, not being separated from the Father when you descended, but you descended for us, that we see you with our eyes and minds, that we might believe in you. Thus you ascended for us, that we follow you with our minds, whom with eyes we are not able to see. You ascended for the Apostles to whom you said, 'He who sees me, sees the Father.' 1 John knew where he should seek you. With the Father he sought you, and he found you and so he said: 'And the Word was with God.' 2 You ascended for Paul, who was not content to follow you alone, but also taught us how we should follow and where we would be able to find you, saying, 'If therefore you have risen with Christ, seek things above, where Christ is at the right hand of the Father.' 3 And lest we think this is to be done more with eyes than with the soul, he adds: 'Know the things that are above, not the things that are below.' 4 Therefore not upon the earth, nor in the earth, nor according to the flesh should we seek you, if we wish to find you. For now we do not know Christ according to the flesh. Stephen did not seek upon the earth and he saw Him who stands at the right hand of the Father; 5 Mary Magdalen, however, because she sought on the earth, was not able to touch Him. 6 Stephen touched him, because he sought Him in heaven; Stephen among the Jews saw Him absent; Mary among the angels did not see Him present. And why was she not able to touch Him, the Evangelist has taught us, saying that when she saw you she did not know that it was you, for he writes: 'She turned behind her and saw Jesus standing, and she did not know that is was Jesus.' 7 With reason she was not able to touch what she was not able to see, for he who sees, he touches. Saint Ambrose, from the Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Luke, Book 10, Chap 24 1 Jn 14.9 2 Jn 1.1 3 Col 3.1 4 Col 3.2 5 Acts 7.55 6 Jn 29.17 7 Jn 29.1

Ascension And Judgment

Tunc igitur, dilectissimi, filius hominis, Dei filius, excellentius sacratiusque innotuit, eum in paternae majestatis gloriam se recepit et ineffabili modo coepit esse Divinitate praesentior, qui factus est humanitate longinquior. Tunc ad aequalem Patri Filium eruditior fides gressu mentis coepit accedere, et contrectatione corporeae in Christo substantiae, qua Patre minor est, non egere: quoniam glorificati corporis manente natura, eo fides credentium vocabatur, ubi non carnali manu, sed spiritali intellectu, par Genitori Unigenitus tangeretur. Hinc illud est quod post resurrectionem suam Dominus cum Maria Magdalene personam Ecclesiae gerens, ad contactum ipsius properaret accedere, dicit ei: Noli me tangere, nondum enim ascendi ad Patrem meum: hoc est, nolo ut ad me corporaliter venias, nec ut me sensu carnis agnoscas; ad sublimiora te differo, majora tibi praeparo. Cum ad Patrem meum ascendero, tunc me perfectius veriusque palpabis, apprehensura quod non tangis, et creditura quod non cernis. Cum autem ascendentem ad coelos Dominum sequaces discipulorum oculi intenta admiratione suspicerent, astiterunt coram ipsis angeli duo mirabili vestium candore fulgentes, qui et dixerunt: Viri Galilaei, quid statis aspicientes in coelum? Hic Jesus qui assumptus est a vobis in coelum, sic veniet, quemadmodum vidistis eum euntem in coelum. Quibus verbis omnes Ecclesiae filii docebantur ut Jesus Christus in eadem qua ascenderat carne venturus visibilis crederetur; nec posset ambigi omnia illi esse subjecta, cui ab ipso corporeae nativitatis exordio famulatus servisset angelicus. Sicut enim concipiendum Christum de Spiritu Sancto beatae Virgini angelus nuntiavit, sic et editum de Virgine vox coelestium pastoribus cecinit: sicut resurrexisse a mortuis, supernorum nuntiorum prima testimonia docuerunt, sic ad judicandum mundum in ipsa carne venturum, angelorum officia praedicarunt: ut intelligeremus quantae potestates sint adfuturae cum judicaturo, cui tantae ministraverunt etiam judicando. Sanctus Leo Magnus, Sermo LXXIV Source: Migne PL 54.398-99

Therefore, dearly beloved, the Son of Man and Son of God, gained a more excellent and holier fame, when He took Himself back to the glory of the paternal majesty, and in an ineffable manner began to be more present in his Divinity, after having been made more distant in His humanity. Then a better instructed faith began to draw nearer with the advance of the mind to the equality of the Son with the Father, without the handling of the corporeal substance in Christ, by which He is less than the Father, 1 since, while the nature of the glorified Body remained the faith of believers was called to touch, not with carnal hand, but with spiritual understanding the Only-begotten, equal with the Father. Hence it was that after His resurrection, when Mary Magdalene, representing the Church, hastened to approach and touch, the Lord said: 'Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father' 2 that is, I would not have you come to me in corporeal way, nor recognise Me in carnal fashion, for I put you off for higher things, I prepare you for greater things. When I have ascended to My Father, then you shall grasp me more perfectly and truly, understanding what you do not touch and believing what you do not see. And when the eyes of the disciples followed the ascending Lord to heaven with intent wonder, two angels stood by them in vestments shining with wondrous brightness, and said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come as you saw Him going into heaven.' 3 By which words all the sons of the Church were taught to believe that Jesus Christ will come visibly in the same Flesh with which He ascended, and not to doubt that all things are subjected to Him on Whom from the first beginning of His birth the service of the angels had attended. For as an angel announced to the blessed Virgin that Christ should be conceived by the Holy Spirit, so the voice of celestial beings sang of His birth from the Virgin to the shepherds. As supernal heralds gave first witness to His resurrection from the dead, so it was for the angels to speak of His coming in same flesh for the judgement of the world, that we might understand what great powers will be with Him in the future judgement, when such ones ministered to Him even in His being judged. Pope Leo the Great, from Sermon 74 1 Jn 14.28 2 Jn 20.17  3 Act 1.11

The Woman And The Ointment

Accessit ad eum mulier, et reliqua. Mulier ista Maria Magdalena fuit, quae alias adhuc peccatrix pedes rigavit, nunc vero justificata, caput illius oleo santo perfudit. Alabastrum est genus candissimi marmoris, variis coloribus intertincti, in quo unguenta optime incorrupta servare perhibent: et nascitur circa Thebes Aegyptias and Damascum Syria caeteris candidius, probatissimum vero in India. Porro unguentum illud Mariae juxta alios Evangelistas ex nardo principali arbore in unguentis esse perhibetur, et pusticum, id est fidele, eo quod solent aliqui medicorum similibus herbis unguenta adulterare; πίστις enim Graece fides dicitur, unde pisticum derivatur; et a Marco spicatum asseritur, id est, non solum a radice nardi, sed etiam quo prestiosius esset, spicarum quoque et foliorum adjectione odoris ac virtutis illius erat accumulata gratia. Mystice haec devotio Mariae fidem sanctae designat Ecclesiae, quae caput Salvatoris unguento sancto perfundit, cum potentiam divinae virtutis ejus digna reverentia confitetur et praedicat. Cum vero assumptae humanitatis ejus mysteria indigna suscipit reverentia in pedes utique Domini unguenti nardi pisticum, id est, fidele ac verum profunditur. Sanctus Beda, In Matthaei Evangelium Expositio, Caput XXVI Source: Migne PL 92 111

'There came to Him a woman,' etc  1  This woman was Mary Magdalene, she who while a sinner wet His feet, 2 she who now justified, poured sacred ointment on His head. Alabaster is a type of very white marble, interwoven with various colours, in which the best of ointments is kept to preserve them from corruption, and it is found around Thebes in Egypt and Damascus in Syria, and in other places it is more white, most so in India. Further Mary's ointment according to the other Evangelists is principally nard, 3 the ointment being named from the plant, and it is also named pisticum, that is pure, because some are accustomed to mix the ointment with other herbs for the use of physicians, and 'pistis' in Greek means faith, from which pisticum is derived; and Mark calls it spikenard, that is, it is derived not only from the root of the nard, but even from what is more precious, the seeds and the leaves, which added increases the scent and potency of the ointment. In spiritual terms the devotion of Mary is the faith of the holy Church, and the holy ointment which she pours over the head of the Saviour, is when with worthy reverence the power of His Divine virtue is confessed and preached. However when she receives the mystery of the assumption of His humanity with humble reverence, as onto the feet of that Lord the 'pisticum' of the ointment, that is, the true faith, is poured. 4 Saint Bede, from the Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint Matthew, Chap 26 1 Mt 26.7 2 Lk 7.36-38 3 Mk 14.3 4 Jn 12.3

In Defence of Women

Scio me, Principia,in Christo filia, a plerisque reprehendi, quod interdum scribam ad mulieres, et fragiliorem sexum maribus praeferam. Et idcirco debeo primum obtrectatoribus meis respondere, et sic venire ad disputatiunculam, quam rogasti. Si viri de Scripturis quaererent, mulieribus non loquerer. Si Barae ire ad praelium voluisset, Debbora de victis nostibus non triumphasset. Jeremias carcere clauditur, et qui periturus Israel virum non receperat prophetantem, Olda eis mulier suscitatur. Sacerdotes et Pharisaei crucifigunt Filium Dei et Maria Magdalene plorat ad crucem, unguenta parat, quaerit in tumulo, hortulanum interrogat, Dominum recognoscit, pergit ad Apostolos, repertum nuntiat. Illi dubitant, ista confidit. Vere πυργίτης, vere turris candoris et Libani, quae prospicit faciem Damasci, sanguinem videlicit Salvatoris ad sacci poenitentiam provocantem. Defecerant Sarae muliebria, et ideo Abraham ei subjicitur, et dicitur ad eum: Omnia quae dicit tibi Sara, audi vocem ejus. Illi defecerant muliebria, tu numquam habuisti muliebria. Sexus devoratur a virgine, Christum portat in corpore. Jam possidet quod futura est. Rebecca pergit ad interrogandum Deum: et sua responsione condigna audit oracula: 'Duae gentes in utero tuo, et duo populi de vente tuo dividentur.' Illa duos generat dissidentes: tu unum quotidie concipis, paturis, generas, unione fecundum, majestate multiplicem, trinitate concordem. Maria soror Moysi, victorias Domini canit, et Rachel Bethleem nostram atque Ephratham stirpe nominis sui signat in posteros  Filiae Salphaad haereditatem inter fratres merentur accipere. Ruth et Esther et Judith tantae gloriae sunt, ut sacris voluminibus nomina indiderint. Anna prophetissa generat filium Levitam, Prophetam, Judicem, sacro crine venerabilem, et offert cum in tabernaculo Dei. Thecuites mulier, regem David interrogatione concludit, aenigmate docet, exemplo Dei mitigat. Legimus et aliam sapientem feminam, quae cum obsideretur civitas, et propter unum perduellem, dux exercitus Joab muros ariete quateret, locuta est ad populum in sapientia sua, et tantae multitudinis periculum, muliebri auctoritate sedavit. Quid loquar de regina Saba quae venit a finibus terrae audire sapientiam Salomonis, et testimonio Domini condemnatura est omnes viros Jerusalem? Elisabeth utero propheta et voce. Anna filia Phanuelis in templo, templum efficitur Dei, et quotidiano jejunio, coelestem invenit panem. Sequuntur mulieres Salvatorem, et ministrant ei de substania sua. Ille qui de quinque panibus, quinque millia hominum, exceptis mulieribus et parvulis, aluit, escas sanctarum mulierum non recusat accipere. Cum Samaritana loquitur ad puteum, et saturatus conversione credentis, cibos qui coempti fuerunt negligit. Apollo virum Apostilicum et in lege doctissimum, Aquila et Priscilla erudiunt, et instruunt eum de via Domini. Si doceri a femina non fuit turpe Apostolo, mihi quare turpe sit post viros docere et feminas? Sanctus Hieronymus, Epistula LXV, Ad Principiam Virginem

I know I am, Principia, daughter in Christ, reproved by many because I sometimes write to women and choose the weaker sex to husbands. I therefore should first respond to my detractors and then come to the matter about which you asked. If men had studied the Scriptures I would not talk to their wives. If Barac had wished to go to battle, Deborah would not have triumphed over the conquered. Jeremiah was shut up in prison and no man would receive the prophecy of Israel's coming destruction, but the woman Hulda took it to them. The Priests and Pharisees crucified the Son of God and Mary Magdalene wept at the cross, she prepared ointment, she sought the tomb, she questioned the gardener, she recognised the Lord, she went to the Apostles, she announced the discovery. They doubted, she was confident. Truly she was a tower of brightness and of Lebanon which looks down on the face of Damascus, the blood of the Saviour provoking penance in sackcloth. To the womanhood of Sarah they fell, and so Abraham was subject to her and it was said to him, 'Everything which Sarah says to you, listen to her voice.' They failed by womanhood, you never had it. Sex devoured by virginity you carry Christ in your body. Already it possesses what will be. Rebecca went to question God and by way of response she heard a worthy oracle: 'Two nations from your womb, and two peoples from your belly.' She bore two dissentiant, you conceive one every day, you carry, you give birth, fruitful in union,  increase in majesty, in harmony with the Trinity. Mariam sister of Moses sang the victory of God and Rachel our Bethlehem and Ephrata by naming of child signified to posterity. The daughter of Salphaad were worthy to receive the inheritance among brothers. Ruth and Esther and Judith had such glory that sacred volumes were named after them. Hannah the prophetess gave birth to a son, a priest, prophet, and venerable judge with sacred hair and offered when in the tabernacle of God. The woman from Thecua caught king David with a question and taught a mystery and softened him with an example of God. We read of another wise woman who when a city was besieged and on account of one enemy, Joab the leader of the army shook with a ram, she spoke to the people in their wisdom and such a multitude a danger calmed with womanly authority. Why should I speak of the Queen of Sheba who came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and by the testimony of the Lord condemned all the men of Jerusalem. Elizabeth had a prophetic voice in her womb. Anna the daughter of Phanuel dwelling in the temple, going about God's work, fasting daily, discovered the bread of heaven. Women followed the Saviour and ministered to him from their own substance. He who five thousand loaves, five thousand men, excepting woman and children,  fed, the food of the holy woman did not refuse. When he spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well she saturated with his words believed, food which they bought neglected. Apollo was an apostolic man and most learned in the law, Aquila and Priscilla educated and instructed him in the way of the Lord. If to be taught by a woman was not disgraceful for an Apostle, why should it disgrace me that after men I teach women? St Jerome, from Letter 65, To Principia

Praising And Judging Women

Rideat forsan infidelis lector, me in muliercularum laudibus immorari, qui, si recordetur sanctas feminas, comites Domini Salvatoris, quae ministrabant ei de sua substantia, et tres Marias stantes ante crucem, Mariamque proprie Magdalenen, quae ob sedulitatem et ardorem fidei, turritae nomen accepit, et prima ante Apostolos, Christum videre meruit resurgentem, se potius superbiae, quam nos condemnabit ineptiarum: qui virtutes non sexu, sed animo judicamus, contemptaeque nobilitatis ac divitiarum majorem gloriam ducimus. Sanctus Hieronymus, Epistula CXXVII, Ad Principiam Virginem Migne PL 22 1090

Perhaps the unbelieving reader laughs at me for dwelling on the praises of mere women, he who, if he will but remember holy women, the companions of the Lord and Saviour, who ministered to Him of their substance, and the three Marys standing before the cross, especially Mary Magdalen, who on account of her diligence and the fire of her faith received the name 'the tower' and who first before the Apostles was worthy to see the risen Christ, he will condemn himself for pride rather than me for folly. We judge virtue not by sex but by the soul, and contempt of status and wealth we account the greater glory. St Jerome, from Letter 127, To The Nun Principia

The Endurance of Women

' Erat autem ibi Maria Magdalene et altera Maria, sedentes contra sepulcrum. Altera autem die quae est post parasceven, convenerunt principes sacerdotum et Pharisaei ad Pilatum, dicentes: Domine, recordati sumus, quia seductor ille dixit adhuc vivens: Post tres dies resurgam.' Caeteris relinquetibus Dominum, mulieres in officio perseverant, expectantes quod promiserat Jesus, et ideo meruerunt primae videre resurgentem, quia qui perseveraverit usque in finem, hic salus erit.  Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Evangelium Matthaei, Lib IV, Cap XXVII

' Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. Next day, the day after the day of preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees came before Pilate and said, 'Lord, we have remembered that the seducer said while he lived: After three days I will rise again.'  Though the others abandoned the Lord, the women persevered in their office, waiting for what Jesus had promised, and so they merited to be the first to see the risen one, for 'He who perseveres to the end, he shall be saved.' Saint Jerome, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Book 4, Chapter 27

Monasticism Comes To Rome

Nulla eo tempore nobilium feminarum noverat Romae propositum Monachorum, nec audebat propter rei novitatem, ignominiosum, ut tunc putabatur, et vile in populis nomen assumere. Haec ab Alexandrinis Sacerdotibus, Papaque Athanasio, et postea Petro, qui persecutionem Arianae haereseos declinantes, quasi ad tutissimum communionis suae portum Romam confugerant, vitam beati Antonii adhuc tunc viventis, monasteriorumque in Thebaide, Pachomii, et virginum ac viduarum didicit disciplinam. Nec erubuit profiteri, quod Christo placere cognoverat. Hanc multos post annos imitata est Sophronia, et alia: quibus rectissime illud Ennianum aptari potest: Utinam ne in nemore Pelio. Huius amicitiis fruita est Paula venerabilis. In huius cubiculo nutrita Eustochium, virginitatis decus: ut facilis aestimatio sit, qualis magistra, ubi tales disciulae. Rideat forsan infidelis lector, me in muliercularum laudibus immorari, qui, si recordetur sanctas feminas, comites Domini Salvatoris, quae ministrabant ei de sua substantia, et tres Marias stantes ante crucem, Mariamque proprie Magdalenen, quae ob sedulitatem et ardorem fidei, turritae nomen accepit, et prima ante Apostolos, Christum videre meruit resurgentem, se potius superbiae, quam nos condemnabit ineptiarum: qui virtutes non sexo, sed animo iudicamus; contemptaeque nobilitas ac divitiarum maiorem gloriam ducimus.  Sanctus Hieronymus, Epistula CXXVII, Ad Principiam Source: Migne PL 22 1089-1090

No noble lady at Rome in that time had made profession of the monastic life, or had dared on account of how peculiar and disgraceful it then seemed, even vile, to take up such a name among the people. From some priests of Alexandria, and from the bishop Athanasius, and then from Peter, who was fleeing the persecution of the Arian heretics, all seeking for refuge in Rome as the safest haven in which they could find communion, from these Marcella learned of the life of the blessed Antony, then still alive, and of the monasteries of Pachomius in the Thebaid, and of the discipline laid down for virgins and for widows. Nor did she blush to profess a life which she had learned pleased Christ. Many years after her example there was Sophronia and others, of whom it may be well said by Ennius: 'Would that never in Pelion's woods came the axes...' 1 Paula was the fruit of her venerable friendship, and it was in Marcella's cell that Eustochium, glory of virgins, was nourished. Thus it is easy to judge the quality of the mistress by such pupils. The faithless reader may perhaps laugh for my lingering on the praises of women, but let him remember the holy women who were companions of our Lord and Saviour and ministered to Him of their substance, and how the three Marys stood before the cross and especially how Magdalen, because of the ardor of her faith receiving the name of the tower, was the first, before all the Apostles, to merit seeing the risen Christ, and thus he will convict himself of pride rather than condemn me for ineptitude. By soul and not by sex we judge virtue, and by contempt of nobility and riches we rate glory. St Jerome, from Letter 127, To Principia 1 Ennius, Medea, fragment