Homilies on the Gospels, Book I
Homilies on the Gospels, Book I
continued
Homily 21: In Lent
John 6; Luke 9; Mark 6; Matthew 19
At that time Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased, etc. Those who read or hear the signs and miracles of the Lord and Savior correctly do not pay attention so much to what externally amazes them but rather look at what they should do internally by the example of these things, and what they should perceive as mystical in them. Behold, as Passover was approaching, the feast day of the Jews, the Lord was uplifting the multitude following Him with the word of salvation and likewise with the help of healing. For as another evangelist writes, He was speaking to them about the kingdom of God, and He was healing those who were in need of care, and having completed this teaching and healing, He abundantly fed them from a small amount of food. And so, dearest brothers, following this example as Passover, the feast day of our redemption approaches, let us follow the Lord with our whole heart along with the gathered crowd of brothers, and let us carefully observe the path of His actions so that we may deserve to follow His footsteps. For he who says he abides in Christ ought to walk as He walked. Whatever harmful ignorance we find in ourselves, let us wash away with frequent hearing of His word, and whatever vices of the tempting disease, namely spiritual, we feel to be internally ravaging us, let us ask to be cleansed by the usual gift of His mercy.
But even if we behold ourselves united to Him by the sweetness of heavenly life, let us request His grace that He may deign to satisfy us with the gifts of necessary contrition and other spiritual virtues so that at the time of His most holy resurrection, adorned appropriately inside and out, we may partake of the sacraments of our salvation with pure body and heart together. But since we have briefly touched upon these matters, let us more diligently look at the entire sequence of the holy reading and let us uncover whatever mystical insight we can investigate in it for your charity. Jesus crossed over the Sea of Galilee, which is Tiberias. First, it must be said, according to history, that the Sea of Galilee, which is distinguished by many names due to the diversity of the surrounding regions, is called Tiberias only in those places where it displays the city of Tiberias to the west, as they say, inhabited with beneficial hot waters. Indeed, with the Jordan flowing through it, it extends eighteen thousand paces in length and five in width. Mystically, however, the sea signifies the turbulent and swelling waves of this age, in which any wicked, unjustly delighted, like fish immersed in deep waters, do not uplift the mind to heavenly joys. Hence, this same Sea of Galilee is aptly named, that is, the wheel; because surely the allure [or labor] of the passing age sends hearts into a whirl, which prevents them from being uplifted to the desires of eternal life. Concerning these matters, the Psalmist says: "In the round, the wicked walk" (Psalm XI). But a great multitude was following Jesus as He crossed the Sea of Galilee, because they were receiving the supreme gifts of heavenly teaching, healing, and nourishment from Him. For before the Lord appeared in the flesh, only the Jewish nation followed Him by believing; but after He came by the dispensation of His incarnation, He approached, trampled, and crossed over the waves of mortal life, and immediately a great multitude of nations followed Him, desiring to be spiritually instructed, healed, and satisfied, praying with the Psalmist: "Lord, I have fled to You;
teach me to do Your will"; and "Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak; heal me, Lord, for my bones are troubled" (Psalm I, II). And again, confident of receiving from Him the nourishment of eternal life, “The Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want; He makes me lie down in green pastures" (Psalm XXIII). But when Jesus went up the mountain, there He sat with His disciples, and when the multitude came to Him, He descended and refreshed those in the lower places whom He had shortly before healed in the higher places. Let us by no means believe this happened in vain, but to signify mystically that the Lord distributes His teachings and gifts according to the capacity of the recipients. To the spiritually weak and immature, indeed, He gives simpler sacraments; to the more advanced, He reveals more profound mysteries and secrets of higher wisdom. Promising higher rewards of heavenly gifts. Finally, to a certain person asking what he should do to gain eternal life, as if to someone still on a lower level, he bestowed common gifts of his generosity, saying: "You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and mother.
To the same person, when later seeking greater things, and as if wishing to ascend to the mountain of virtues, he said, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow me. The Lord not only taught this in the flesh through his own moderation, but even now continues to display it through the ministers of his word. Hence, concerning these things under the persona of a good servant, it is testified that there should be given to fellow-servants the appropriate measure of wheat in due time, that is, to wisely and timely dispense the food of the word according to the capacity of the listeners. The fact that the Lord teaches, heals, and feeds the crowds as Passover approaches can be mystically interpreted this way: Passover signifies "passage," and whoever the Lord recovers with the internal sweetness of his gifts, he indeed prepares for a healthy passage, so that they transcend the lusts of the flesh with the sublime nature of the mind, and trample the vain desires of the world, both favorable and adverse, with heavenly hope and love.
Even though the soul and flesh might not yet fully reach the heights above, since this is clearly promised in the future, whatever those bound by the flesh appear to grasp as lofty things, they regard them as almost nothing in comparison to the eternal, emulating the one who, seeing the dominion elevated and exalted above the cedars of Lebanon, overlooked temporal things by contemplation and saw them as not existing, foreseeing their quick removal. That Jesus lifted up his eyes and saw the multitude coming to him is a sign of divine compassion, because for all those seeking to come to him, he is accustomed to grant the grace of heavenly mercy if they seek it truthfully. And to prevent them from erring in their search, he habitually illuminates those seeking with the light of his Spirit, the seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth (Revelation 5). When the Lord tested Philip, saying, "Where shall we buy bread so these may eat? he did this with provident dispensation, not to learn what he did not already know, but to make Philip recognize his own lack of faith by being tested, and be corrected by the miracle performed.
For surely he should not have doubted, in the presence of the creator of all things, who brings forth bread from the earth and wine that gladdens the heart of man, that the bread of a few denarii could suffice for the thousands in the crowd, so that each could take adequately and go away satisfied. The five loaves with which he fed the multitude are the five books of Moses, opened with spiritual understanding, and with an increasingly abundant sense and multiplied, daily refresh the faithful hearts of the listeners. Those who are deemed to have been good barley, evidently because of the harsher edicts of the law and the coarse coverings of the letter, which concealed the inner spiritual sense as if it were marrow [hidden]. The two fish he added, without difficulty, signify the writings of the psalmists and the prophets, one of which sang and the other spoke to their listeners about the future sacraments of Christ and the Church. And rightly are the preachers of that age represented by aquatic animals, in which the faithful people could not live at all without the waters of baptism. The boy who had five loaves and two fish, but did not distribute them to the hungry crowds, but offered them to the Lord to distribute, represents the Jewish people with a childish literal sense, who kept the sayings of the Scriptures closed among themselves.
These, however, the Lord appearing in the flesh took, and showed what utility and sweetness they had inside, revealed how they overflowed with the multiple grace of the Spirit, which appeared few and despicable, and handed these over to all nations through his apostles and the successors of the apostles, by ministering them. Hence, well do some evangelists report that the Lord gave the loaves and fish to the disciples, and the disciples ministered to the crowds. For when the mystery [or ministry] of human salvation began to be narrated by the Lord from those who heard it, it was confirmed in us by them. The disciples set before the crowds, when they went forth and preached everywhere, with the Lord working with them and confirming the word through accompanying signs. The grass on which the crowd is reclining and is refreshed represents the desire of the flesh, which should be trodden down and pressed by anyone who desires to be satisfied with spiritual nourishment. For all flesh is grass, and all its glory is like the flower of grass. Therefore, let everyone who desires to be refreshed by the sweetness of the living bread and to be renewed by the heavenly banquet, lest they perish in the lowest state of old, strive to crush the flower of the grass, that is, to subdue their body and bring it into service, subdue the pleasures of the flesh, and restrain the wantonness of luxury.
The five thousand men who ate signify the perfection of those who are refreshed by the word of life. For by the name of men those in the Scriptures are typically represented who are more perfect, and whom no effeminacy corrupts, such as the Apostle desires them to be when he says: Watch, stand firm in the faith, act manfully and be strong (1 Cor. 16:13). Moreover, the number of a thousand, beyond which no further calculation of ours extends, is usually used to indicate the fullness of the matters discussed; and the number five expresses our five well-known bodily senses, namely, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. In each of these, those who strive to act manfully and be strengthened, living soberly, righteously, and piously, that they might be worthy to be refreshed by the sweetness of heavenly wisdom, are typified as the five thousand men whom the Lord satisfied with mystical feasts. Nor should it be overlooked that he gave thanks before feeding the multitude. For he gave thanks to teach us always to give thanks for the heavenly [or divinely] received gifts, and to intimate how much he rejoices in our advancements, and rejoices in our spiritual refreshment. Do you wish to know, brothers, how much he rejoices in our salvation?
The Evangelist Luke recounts that he gave the disciples the authority to tread on all the power of the enemy and indicated that their names are written in the heavens, and immediately adds, "In that very hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.'" It is therefore clear that he rejoices in the salvation and life of the faithful, for he praises the Father, giving thanks, because he has revealed the secrets hidden from the proud to the humble in spirit. And when he ordered the disciples to gather the leftover fragments after the multitude was satisfied, lest they perish, it clearly signifies that many things in the divine words are hidden from the senses of the common people, some of which the less learned cannot reach by themselves, but can understand when explained by the more learned. Therefore, it is necessary that those who are able to diligently gather these things by careful examination should bring them to the education of their lesser brothers through speech or writing, lest the nourishment of the word perish through their neglect and be taken away from the people. They gathered them, he says, and filled twelve baskets with fragments.
Because the number twelve is usually used to signify any sum of perfection, it is rightly expressed by the twelve baskets full of fragments, representing the whole chorus of spiritual doctors, who are commanded to gather the obscure things of Scriptures, which the crowd cannot reach by themselves, and to keep what they have gathered by meditation and written word for their own use and the use of the crowd. The apostles and evangelists did this, inserting many mystical sayings of the law and prophets into their writings with explanations added by their interpreters. The Church teachers in the whole world, who followed them, also discussed some entire books of both Testaments with more diligent explanation—even if they are despised by men, they are fruitful with the bread of heavenly grace. For servile works are usually done with baskets. Hence, about the people who once served in clay and bricks in Egypt, the Psalmist says, "His hands served in the basket" (Psalm 80). Therefore, those people, when they saw what sign he had done, said, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world. They rightly said that the Lord was a great prophet, the herald of great salvation about to come to the world. For he himself deigned to call himself a prophet, where he says, "For it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem. But they were not yet advancing in full faith, for they did not know to call him Lord.
Therefore, those seeing the sign that Jesus had done, said, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world. We, with more certain knowledge of the truth and faith, seeing the world that Jesus made and the signs with which he filled it, let us say, "This is indeed the mediator of God and men, who fills the world with divinity, and the world was made through him, who came to his own to seek and save the human race that perished, and to renew the world that he made, who is with his faithful in the world through the presence of divinity all days until the end of the age, who at the end of the age will come through humanity into the world to render to each according to their works: casting the impious and sinners into eternal fire, and bringing the just into eternal life, in which he lives with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through all ages of ages. Amen.
Homily 22: On the Second Monday of Lent
John 2
At that time Jesus went down to Capernaum, He, and His mother, and His brethren, and His disciples, and they continued there not many days. It is often a cause of perplexity to some that in the beginning of this reading from the Gospel it is said that when the Lord went down to Capernaum, not only His mother and disciples followed Him, but also His brethren. Nor have heretics been lacking who believed that Joseph, the husband of the ever-blessed Virgin Mary, had begotten those who the Scripture calls the brethren of the Lord by another wife. Others, in even greater perfidy, thought that these were begotten by Mary herself after the Lord was born. But we, most beloved brethren, must know and confess without any scruple of doubt that not only the blessed Mother of God, but also Joseph, the most blessed witness and keeper of her chastity, always remained wholly free from any conjugal act; and that those called the brothers and sisters of the Savior, in the customary manner of the Scriptures, are actually called relatives. Finally, Abraham speaks to Lot in this way: 'I pray that there be no strife between me and thee, and between my shepherds and thine; for we are brethren.' And Laban to Jacob: 'Because thou art my brother, shouldst thou serve me for nothing?' (Gen. XXIX.) And indeed it is certain that Lot was the son of Aran, Abraham's brother, and Jacob was the son of Rebecca, Laban's sister, but because of kinship they were called brothers. Therefore, by this rule, common in the holy Scriptures, as I said, it must be understood that the relatives of Mary or Joseph are called the brothers of the Lord.
And he found, it says, in the temple those selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money-changers sitting. And when he had made a kind of whip out of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, including the oxen and the sheep, and he poured out the money of the money-changers and overturned their tables. Oxen, sheep, and doves were bought for the purpose of being offered in the temple. The money-changers sat at the tables so that there might be a ready exchange of money between buyers and sellers of the offerings. Therefore, it seemed lawful to sell in the temple what was bought for the purpose of being offered in the same temple to the Lord; but the Lord himself, unwilling that any earthly business, not even that which might be considered honest, should be conducted in his house, drove out the unjust traders and expelled them all along with the things they traded. What then, my brothers, what do you think the Lord would do if he found dissenters in disputes, those indulging in idle talk, those dissolving in laughter, or entangled in any other crime, who saw buyers in the temple purchasing sacrifices to be offered to him, and hastened to eliminate them? We say this because of those who, having entered the church, not only neglect to be intent on prayer but even increase the matters for which they ought to pray, and moreover follow those who argue with foolishness, insults, and hatreds, or even slanders:
thus adding sin to sin, weaving as it were a very long cord by their reckless augmentation, not fearing to be condemned by the judgment of the strict judge. For twice indeed in the holy Gospel we read that the Lord, coming into the temple, drove out such traders, now, that is, in the third year before his passion, as we recognize from the subsequent writings of the Gospel, and in the very year he suffered, when five days before Passover, sitting on a donkey, he entered Jerusalem. But whoever is wise understands that he performs the same action in the temple of the holy Church through daily examination: hence these things are very dreadful, dearest ones, and must be feared with due reverence, and must be carefully avoided with diligent effort, lest, coming unexpectedly, he find any perverse thing in us for which we should rightly be scourged and expelled from the church: and especially in that which is particularly called the house of prayer, we must observe that we do not perform anything inappropriate, lest we hear with the Corinthians from the Apostle, "Do you not have houses to eat and drink in, or do you despise the church of God? And from the prophet with the Jews: "My beloved has committed many crimes in my house" (Jeremiah 11). And indeed it is to be rejoiced that we ourselves have become the temple of God through baptism, as the Apostle testifies who says: "For the temple of God is holy, which you are" (1 Corinthians 3).
We are the city of the great king, of which it is sung: "Its foundations are in the holy mountains" (Psalm 87), that is, the foundations of the Church in the solidity of the faith of the apostles and prophets; but it is very dreadful, because the Apostle has said beforehand: "If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him" (1 Corinthians 3). And the just Judge himself says, "I will destroy from the city of the Lord those who work iniquity" (Psalm 100). It is to be rejoiced, because in us the solemnity of Passover is celebrated, when we strive to pass from vices to virtues. Easter indeed is called the Passover. We must rejoice because the Lord is visiting our hearts, that is, His own city; because it is fitting that He illuminates the presence of our good deeds with His piety. But we must fear sufficiently lest He finds us in His city doing something other than what He loves, and He shows Himself to us as a stern judge, rendering us what we do not love, lest He finds in His temple money changers or sellers of oxen, sheep, or doves and condemns us. For oxen signify the doctrine of the heavenly life, sheep signify works of purity and piety, and doves signify the gifts of the Holy Spirit. For surely, with the help of oxen, the field is accustomed to being plowed.
The field, however, is the heart of the Lord cultivated with heavenly doctrine and duly prepared for the seeds of God’s word. Innocent sheep provide their wool for clothing men. The Spirit descended upon the Lord in the form of a dove. But they sell oxen, who dispense the word of the Gospel to listeners not out of divine love, but for the purpose of earthly gain, the kind of people whom the Apostle reproached because they preached Christ insincerely. They sell sheep, who perform acts of piety for the sake of human praise, about whom the Lord said: because they have received their reward (Mt. 6). They sell doves, who give the received grace of the Spirit not freely, as commanded, but for a price, who grant the laying on of hands by which the Spirit is received, if not for financial gain, yet for public favor, who conferring sacred orders not for the merit of life, but for the granting of favors. They give money in exchange in the temple, who serve not heavenly matters, but openly serve earthly matters in the Church, seeking their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But the Lord shows what reward awaits these deceitful workers when He drove them all out of the temple, having made a whip of cords. For they are cast out from the lot of the saints, who act either deceitfully or openly do evil works. He also drove out the sheep and oxen, showing that the life and doctrine of such people are alike reprobate.
The cords with which He drove out the impious from the temple are the small pieces of their wicked actions, from which the material for the severe condemnation of reprobates is given to the strict judge. Hence Isaiah also says: Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity (Isa. 5). And in Proverbs Solomon says: His own iniquities capture the wicked, and he is bound with the cords of his sins (Prov. 5). For he who accumulates sins upon sins for which he will be severely condemned, extends as it were the cords by which he is bound and scourged, increasing them little by little. He also poured out the money of the money lenders and overturned the tables, because in the end, He will also take away from the reprobate the very essence of the things they loved, according to what is written: and the world passed away and its lust.
And to those who sold doves, he said: Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade. He commanded the selling of doves to be removed from the temple, because the grace of the Spirit, which is received without payment, should be given freely: hence Simon Magus, who wanted to buy this with money, so that he could sell it for a higher price, heard: May your money perish with you, you have no part or share in this matter. However, it should be noted that not only those who sell doves and turn the house of God into a house of trade are condemned, but also those who seek the sacred orders by giving money or inquiring about the price in terms of praise or even honor. Moreover, those who exercise the spiritual grade or grace in the Church, which they have received through the generosity of the Lord, not with simplicity but for any human reward, go against the word of the apostle Peter: Whoever speaks, as one who utters oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 4). Therefore, whoever such people may be, if they do not want to be driven out of the Church by the coming Lord, they should cast these things out of their actions, so that they do not make the house of God a house of trade.
And it should not be overlooked that Scripture diligently commends to us both natures of our Savior, both human and divine. To understand that he is truly the Son of God, let us hear what he says: Do not make my Father's house a house of trade. Clearly, he shows himself to be the Son of God the Father, who calls the temple of God his Father's house. And again, to recognize that he is truly the Son of Man, let us recall that at the beginning of this reading, descending to Capernaum, he is said to have a mother. His disciples remembered that it was written: "Zeal for your house will consume me." With zeal for the house of the Father, the Savior drove the impious out of the temple. Let us also, dearest brothers, be zealous for the house of God, and as much as we can, strive that nothing corrupt happens in it. If we see a brother who belongs to the house of God swollen with pride, habituated to detraction, serving drunkenness, weakened by luxury, troubled by anger, or subjected to any other vice, let us strive as much as our ability allows to correct, to rectify the corrupt and perverse, and if we cannot amend anything of such, endure it not without the sharpest pain of mind, and especially in the very house of prayer, where the body of the Lord is consecrated, where the presence of angels is always undoubtedly present, let us ensure with all our might that nothing improper is done, nothing that would impede our or our brother's prayer.
The Jews then answered and said to him: "What sign do you show us, seeing that you do these things?" Jesus answered and said to them: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Evangelist revealed of what temple he spoke, evidently of the temple of his body, which was destroyed by them through his passion but which he raised up from death after three days. Therefore, because they sought a sign from the Lord as to why he ought to cast out the usual trade from the temple, he responded that he rightly expelled the impious from the temple because that temple symbolized the temple of his body, in which there would be no stain of sin at all. Nor did he undeservedly cleanse the typical temple from crimes, who could by divine power raise the true temple of God, dissolved by men through death, from the dead.
The Jews therefore said: This temple has been built in forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days? As they understood, so they responded: but lest we also should understand the Lord's spiritual word carnally, the Evangelist explained the temple he was speaking of: What they say, the temple was built in forty-six years, signifies not the first, but the second building of it. Solomon first perfected the temple in seven years of work in the great peace of his kingdom, which, having been destroyed by the Chaldeans, began to be rebuilt after seventy years at the command of Cyrus the Persian, the captivity having been relaxed: but the sons of the captivity, the work they were doing under the leaders Zerubbabel and Joshua, could not complete in forty-six years because of the attack of neighboring nations. This number of years appropriately matches the formation of the Lord’s body. For natural writers say that the form of the human body is completed in the same number of days, because in the first six days from conception it has the semblance of milk; in the following nine days it converts to blood, then in twelve days it solidifies; in the remaining eighteen days it forms until all the features of the members are perfected; and then in the remaining time up to the moment of birth it increases in size.
Six, nine, twelve, and eighteen make up forty-five, to which if we add one, that is, the day on which the body begins to take shape through the separated members, there are just as many days in the construction of the Lord’s body as years were found in the building of the temple. And because that temple built by hands prefigured the Lord's most holy flesh which he took from the Virgin, as we learn from this place; because equally his body, which is the Church, signifies the body and soul of each of the faithful, as we find in many places of the Scriptures, it is fitting to recall something of the building of that temple, by which your fraternity may recognize how all things written about it pertain to Christ and the Church. It was oriented towards the east, having a door facing the sunrise, which immediately upon rising bathed all its interior with its light. And the holy Church directs the whole intention of its mind to his grace, of whom Zechariah says: The sunrise from on high has visited us to shine on those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death (Luke 1). And always mindful of his promise when he says, Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it (Psalm 80); gladly responds: I opened my mouth and panted, for I longed for your commandments (Psalm 119); which means:
I opened the devotion of my heart, and I deserved to draw in the light of your spirit, because I learned to observe nothing else in the world than the observance of your commandments. Outside, it appeared built of white stone; inside, the ceilings, walls, floor, beams, doors, and whatever vessels there were, were covered with overlaid gold. And the Church indeed outwardly shows to all the strength of perfect action; but it teaches only those who have learned to consider it piously to understand how much it excels inwardly in the virtues of each soul, how greatly each of these is adorned with the light of charity. The gold plates themselves are attached to cedar boards or fir, or certainly prepared from olive wood: all of which are clearly considered excellent woods. And the splendor of the Lord's love, through the memory of His most holy passion which was completed on the precious wood of the cross, is imprinted in the hearts of the faithful, lest it be forgotten. The temple itself is divided by a veil of the middle wall, and it is called the sanctuary on the outside, but on the inside where the ark of the covenant was placed, it was called the holy of holies. And the Church partly journeys on Earth away from the Lord, partly reigns with the Lord in the heavens.
For the middle wall itself is understood to be heaven, the ark of the covenant is the Lord, who alone, conscious of the secret things of the fathers, has penetrated the innermost parts of heaven. The ascent that led to the upper and third room was made through the recesses of the southern wall as if by an invisible step, so that only the beginning of the same ascent from the eastern corner of the mentioned wall was seen, but the progress of the ascent itself was known only to the one who ascended it, of which Scripture thus remembers: "The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third" (1 Kings 6). With the Lord suffering on the cross, one of the soldiers opened His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. This is the water of Baptism by which we are washed, and this is the blood of the Lord's chalice by which we are sanctified. Through these sacred mysteries of the side, by the merit of invisible faith, we ascend from the present life of the Church, which sojourns on Earth, into the life of heavenly blessedness, in which the souls of the just enjoy, freed from bodies. But also from that life, with bodies received back in the resurrection, up to the supreme glory of eternal happiness, we pass by the guiding faith of the same Lord's passion;
of which glory indeed Isaiah speaks: "In their own land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs" (Isaiah 61), that is, in the land of the living, which alone is the land of the saints, with the eternal joys of both flesh and soul enjoying happiness. Therefore, the lower house signifies the present conversation of the saints, the upper the rest of souls which is received after this life, and the highest glory of the resurrection which will never ever be changed; the door of the middle side, situated on the right side of the house and opening the way to the upper parts, is the faith in the passion of Christ, whose right side pierced on the cross emanated the sacraments for us, by which imbued we may ascend to the joys of heavenly life. In seven years and as many months the first structure of the temple was completed, but in the eighth year, and in the eighth month from when it began to be built, the dedication ceremony followed; and the Church throughout the entire present age, which revolves in seven days, continues to take spiritual increases of its members until the times of the future eternal resurrection, when with the peaceful King it will enter the feast of its dedication. For since the Lord rose on the eighth day, that is, after the seventh of the Sabbath, from death, rightly does this number also designate the future joys of our resurrection.
It is sufficient to have mentioned these few things out of many regarding the creation, so that it may appear more clearly how all things shine with spiritual understanding. But as we conclude the discourse, let us return to the Lord's statement, where he says to the Jews seeking a sign: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John II), and let us give thanks to his mercy, who has revealed the mystery of his passion and resurrection from the dead, which he expressed in veiled terms to the unbelievers who tested him, now in clear light to us who already believe in him. And because the time is near when we desire to celebrate with an annual solemnity both the destruction of this venerable temple by the faithless and the resurrection, which he miraculously exhibited on the third day as he promised, let us cleanse the temples of our bodies and hearts, so that the Spirit of God may deign to dwell in us, and according to the Apostle's admonition, let us cast aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, walking honestly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envy, but clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. XIII), who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God before all ages. Amen.
Homily 23: On Palm Sunday
Matthew 21; Mark 11; Luke 19; John 12
At that time, when Jesus came near to Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, he then sent two of his disciples, saying to them: Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me, etc. Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who came down from heaven to earth to suffer for the salvation of the human race, as the hour of his passion approached, desired to approach the place of his passion, so that it would be clear that he suffered not unwillingly but willingly. He desired to come on a donkey and to be called and praised by the crowds as king, so that anyone who was taught this would recognize him as the Christ, whom the prophecy had long foretold would come in this way. He wished to come five days before Passover, as we learn from the Gospel of John, to show that he is the spotless Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. Indeed, the paschal lamb, whose sacrifice freed the people of Israel from Egyptian servitude, was commanded to be sacrificed five days before Passover, on the fourteenth day of the moon, in the evening. This signified Him who, redeeming us with his blood, five days before Passover, that is, on this very day, came into the temple of God with great joy and praise from the crowds preceding and following. Daily he was teaching in the temple. On the fifth day, having completed the observance of the old Passover, he gave to his disciples the new sacraments to be observed thereafter.
Having gone out to the Mount of Olives, he was seized by the Jews, and crucified in the morning, redeeming us on that very day from the dominion of the devil, the same day the ancient Hebrew people were freed from Egyptian servitude by the sacrifice of the lamb. Therefore, like the paschal lamb, the Lord went to the place of his passion five days before he began to suffer, to show that he is the one of whom Isaiah prophesied: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth" (Is. 53). And a little above: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, and by his stripes we are healed. Yet, the envious hearts of the leaders preferred to persecute him in all the things he justly did, rather than to believe in him, and they were more miserable in giving the author of life to death than in seeking life through him. However, leaving aside the blindness of the faithless, let us rather follow the examples of those who faithfully praised the Lord, and, as is fitting, let us mystically examine his mystical journey. The donkey and its colt on which he rode to Jerusalem signify the simple hearts of both peoples, the Jew and the Gentile, over whom he presides, leading them from harmful situations to the vision of heavenly peace by his command. For Jerusalem is interpreted as the vision of peace.
And it is fitting that when the Lord came to the Mount of Olives, he sent disciples to bring these animals, because we reach him not by our own merits but by his grace alone, as John testifies, saying: "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us first" (1 John 4). The Mount of Olives suggests the height of the Lord's love, by which he mercifully deigned to enlighten and save us; not only because in its nature it is a minister of light and solace in labors and pains, but also because, whatever it is mixed with, it excels all other liquids. And the Apostle, when speaking about love, says: "And yet I will show you a more excellent way" (1 Cor. 12). So the Lord, coming to the Mount of Olives, commanded that donkeys be brought for him on which he might go to Jerusalem, figuratively indicating what he says elsewhere openly: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3). He sent two disciples to bring the animals to signify that preachers would be sent to both peoples, the circumcised and the uncircumcised. Or certainly he sent two to warn that the same preachers must be perfect in both doctrine and action: so that neither would ignorant words mix error with truth, nor would they negate what they rightly taught by living perversely.
You will find, he said, a donkey tied and a colt with her, untie and bring them to me. Other evangelists also attest that the colt was tied. For both peoples were encompassed by the ropes of sins and needed divine release; one by misusing the law he received, the other by never receiving it had sinned. Hence the Apostle rightly says: Because there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, justified freely by his grace. And fittingly, the other three evangelists, who wrote to the Gentiles, mention only the colt brought to the Lord. But Matthew the evangelist, who wrote the Gospel from the Hebrews and in Hebrew language, adds mention of the donkey, with provident dispensation for both, so that by writing they may seek the salvation of those, and mystically teach that they are foreshadowed to be saved by the Lord.
And if anyone says anything to you, he said, say that the Lord needs them, and immediately he will send them. And it is instructed to the teachers that if any adversity opposes them, if anyone prohibits sinners from being released from the snares of the devil and brought to the Lord through the confession of faith, they should not desist from preaching, but steadily indicate that the Lord needs such people for building the Church. For though the persecutor is cruel and brutal, he cannot prevent the salvation of those whom the Lord knows as his own, for he has preordained them to eternal life. The testimony of the prophet is also applied to this fact, to show that the Lord indeed fulfilled all that was written about him, but the scribes and Pharisees, blinded by envy, were unable to understand what they were reading. Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king comes to you, meek, and sitting upon a donkey, and a colt the foal of a donkey. The daughter of Zion is the Church of the faithful, pertaining to the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all, of which a not insignificant portion was among the people of Israel, having a meek king: for he does not customarily give earthly things to the cruel, but heavenly kingdoms to the meek, saying: Learn from me, for I am meek and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Mt. XI). Of whom the Psalmist says: The meek, he says, shall possess the land, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace (Psalm XXXVI). The meek king indeed grants the land of peace to the meek, that is, to those humble in heart, whom once a cruel king, that is, the devil, laid low with the wound of pride in the land of war and tribulations. Sitting, he says (Isaiah LXVI), upon a donkey and a colt the foal of a donkey, because he rests in the hearts of the humble and quiet and those who tremble at his words, whether they who in the synagogue know how to bear the yoke of the law: or those who, long lawless in pagan freedom, are turned by the urgency of the same synagogue to the grace of faith and truth.
However, the disciples, bringing the donkey and the colt, placed their garments on them, and made the Lord sit above them. The garments of the disciples are works of justice, with the Psalmist as witness, who says: Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness (Psalm CXXXI). The disciples pave the donkeys, which they find naked, with their own garments, and thus place the Lord above, when the holy preachers find anyone empty of the habit of holiness, and with examples of their virtues, they instruct them to receive the faith and love of their creator. For the Lord did not wish to ascend a naked donkey, nor a naked colt, because whether Jew or Gentile, unless adorned by the words and deeds of the saints, cannot have the Lord as guide, but rather sin reigns in his mortal body to obey its desires. A very large crowd spread their garments on the road. This large crowd designates the innumerable army of martyrs, who gave their bodies, the coverings of their souls, for the Lord, so that they might make smoother the path of righteous living for the elect who follow: so that those indeed might not hesitate to place the foot of good action in peace, where they saw many have already gone before in the battle of martyrdom.
Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The branches of the trees are said to be the examples of the preceding Fathers. And whoever discloses what the prophets, apostles, or other saints said or did, as an example of right believing or working, truly cuts branches from the trees, with which he smooths the path of the Lord bearing the donkey, because he extracts sentences from the books of the saints, through which he builds up the hearts of Christ's simple ones in the way of truth so that they may not wander. The crowds that went ahead and those that followed shouted, saying: Hosanna to the Son of David! With one and the same voice of confession and praise, they exalt the Lord, both those who go before and those who follow: because there is indeed one faith of those who were proven before the Lord's incarnation and those afterward, although they had different sacraments according to the times, as Peter attests, who says: But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus we shall be saved, even as they (Acts 15). And what they say, Hosanna to the Son of David, this is what is read in the psalm: The salvation of the Lord is, and upon your people is your blessing (Psalm 3), this is, what in great devotion of praise the chorus of saints resonates in the Revelation: Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb (Rev. 7).
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. In the name of the Lord signifies in the name of God the Father, which He elsewhere says to the unbelieving Jews: I have come in the name of My Father, and you did not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive (John V). For Christ came in the name of God the Father, because in all that He did and said He took care to glorify the Father and proclaim Him as to be glorified by men. The Antichrist will come in his own name, who, although the most wicked of all men and full of the devil as his companion, will not disdain to call himself the Son of God: for he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped. But the crowds take up a verse of praise from the one hundred and seventeenth psalm, which no one doubts is sung about the Lord. Whence it is beautifully stated about Him in the same psalm: The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; because indeed Christ, whom the Jewish builders rejected with their decrees of traditions, has become the foundation of the believing people, namely the Jews and the Gentiles. For what is called the cornerstone in the psalm is Christ, who is praised in the Gospel by the voices of the preceding and following crowds.
And what is furthermore added in the prosecution of the same praise, Hosanna, that is, salvation or save, in the highest, clearly teaches that the advent of the Lord in the flesh is the salvation not only of the human race on earth but also of the angels in heaven: because while we, being redeemed, are led to the heights, their number, which was diminished by the fall of Satan, is surely filled. For this Paul says that all things in heaven and on earth are restored in Christ (Eph. I). Therefore, rightly is Hosanna in the highest sung in His praise, whose whole dispensation of incarnation was present for the fulfillment of the glory of the heavenly fatherland. Hence it is necessary, my brothers, that with full devotion of mind we strive toward the promised fatherland, always remembering that, although the way by which we enter is difficult, the dwelling place to which we hasten is blessed. For it is more fortunate to be led through a rough path to the kingdom than through a pleasant and smooth one to punishment. It is happier to earn everlasting joy through the restraint of the flesh than to achieve eternal punishment for a brief period of lasciviousness. Behold, with the Lord's help, we have already mostly completed the Lenten fast, as each one's conscience bears witness; for as much as one remembers having more strictly dedicated themselves to the Lord during these holy days, so much more joyfully does one expect the holy time of the Lord's resurrection.
But if perhaps someone feels that their conscience accuses them of being less perfectly chastised, there is no doubt that they await the arrival of such a great solemnity in fear and trembling. Yet, let such a one not despair of salvation, nor be confounded by the multitude or enormity of their sins, lest they fall into the abyss of despair, according to that word of Solomon: "When the wicked man comes into the depth of evil, he despises" (Prov. XVIII); but let them consider carefully that if the time of the annual festival of the resurrection of our Creator affects the chaste with joy and the impure with fear and confusion, much more so will the time of the strict judgment, when the general resurrection of all is celebrated, and the sentence of the judge is already heard, bring joy to those with a clear conscience and condemn forever those whose guilty conscience accuses them. Therefore, dearest brothers, whoever, armed with the weapons of the restraint of the flesh, began to struggle against the proud tempter at the beginning of Lent, let them watch carefully not to abandon what they have begun, until, having overthrown the enemy, they are rewarded with the ministries of angels. But those who have not yet donned the armor of virtues, let them begin today;
today let them join with those faithful crowds in taking up the works of faith, implore the mercy of Him who brought blessing to the world in the name of the Father, proclaiming "Hosanna in the highest," and beg to be saved in the heavenly homeland. Let them spread their garments on the way, that is, humble the members of their body in the present, that God may exalt them in the future, remembering that Davidic word: "The bones that have been humbled will rejoice. Let them cut branches from the trees and spread them on the way, that is, earnestly recall to memory the writings of the saints, which encourage those standing to not fall, exhort the fallen to not lie prostrate any longer, instruct those rising to be exercised in virtues, and uplift those exercised in virtues to hope for heavenly rewards. Thus, let them protect their actions so that they do not strike against the stone of offense and the rock of scandal, and thus follow the footsteps of their Redeemer with the other faithful, and with a pure mind worthy of honoring the mysteries of His passion and resurrection, He who granted to all His chosen members a remedy for their wounds and also a pledge of heavenly joys, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for all ages of ages. Amen.
Homily 24: On Monday After Palm Sunday
John 12
At that time, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus had been dead, whom Jesus had raised, etc. It is the custom of the wise not only to learn the virtue of prudence from those things which they have rightly and prudently understood but also to learn it from those things they have known to be done or said otherwise, so that they may imitate these by following and avoid those by shunning. Which indeed, beloved brothers, reason compels us to do in today’s reading of the holy Gospel, not only to learn by example the devotion of those who love Christ but also to consider the faithlessness of the persecutors and avoid it more quickly by considering it. For it is necessary for us to follow the prudence of those women whom we have known to have adhered to the Lord with such faith and love; let us flee the foolishness of the chief priests and Pharisees, who sought to circumvent and kill the wisdom of God with treachery; let us beware of the madness of those who went up to Jerusalem to be sanctified for the Passover, but, forgetful of sanctification, were plotting the death of the Savior in the very house of prayer. The Passover was approaching, at which it was necessary for everyone who had been sanctified and purified to come to the eating of the lamb: and those who had gone up to the temple to be sanctified came down more defiled by the conspiracy to shed blood. Let us carefully attend, for the time of our Passover is approaching.
When it comes, let us, being sanctified, approach the Lord’s altar, not to eat the flesh of the lamb, but to partake of the holy mysteries of our Redeemer. Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Let no one turn the house of prayer into a den of thieves, let no one lay snares of death for the members of Christ, let no one who still remains in death presume to approach to receive the mysteries of life: for he who does not love remains in death. Let us love Christ in himself, and let us love him in his members, let us seek the Lord, and our soul shall live, but let us seek him, not as the wicked do to kill, but as the faithful do to enjoy forever. For it is said, they sought Jesus and spoke among themselves standing in the temple. What do you think, that he will not come to the feast day? For the Jews sought Jesus, but wrongly: they sought him to kill him coming to the feast day. But let us seek him standing in the temple of God, and persisting unanimously in prayer, and let us speak among ourselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, asking in grace for him to come to our feast day, and deign to illuminate us with his presence, and sanctify us with his own gifts.
But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, they should inform them, so that they might arrest him. Let us also, brothers, give each other orders, that if any one of us knows in whose heart more abundant are the bowels of mercy, greater humility, kindness, modesty, power, and a more abundant supply of other virtues — the evident signs of Christ present — let him immediately inform where such a person is, so that by faithfully imitating we may hold to the footsteps of Christ found in him. But knowing that the Jews had conspired to kill him, the Lord did not flee the hands of the plotters, but certain of the glory of the resurrection, he first came to Bethany, a town near Jerusalem, where he had raised Lazarus from the dead, and then to Jerusalem where he would suffer and die: that he himself might die there. But he came to Bethany so that the memory of the resurrection of Lazarus might be more closely impressed upon everyone's memory, and so that the impious rulers, who did not fear to kill him who could raise from the dead, would be more and more confounded and proven inexcusable, since, neither provoked by the benefits of the resurrection nor terrified by the divine power of the one raising, they did not draw back their minds from unjust murder.
And lest the plotters of slanders say that Lazarus had been fantastically raised, a dinner was made there for the Lord, and he himself was one of those reclining at the table with him, so that while they saw or heard him living, speaking, feasting, and conversing familiarly with his own, they might either recognize the power of the one raising and receive grace, or, refusing to assent to the truth with an obdurate heart, incur punishment. Mystically, however, this dinner of the Lord, where Martha served and Lazarus reclined with others, is the faith of the Church which operates through love: whence elsewhere the Lord says to the disciples of the people who would believe in him: I have food to eat which you do not know about (John IV). And explaining this, he added: My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to finish his work. In this dinner Martha serves when each faithful soul offers the labor of their devotion to the Lord; Lazarus, however, becomes one of those reclining with the Lord, when even those who have been raised to righteousness after the death of sins, along with those who have remained in their righteousness, exult in the presence of the truth, penitents together with the innocent are nourished by the gifts of heavenly grace. And this dinner is well celebrated in Bethany, which is a city on the side of the Mount of Olives, and means house of obedience.
The house of obedience indeed is the Church, which faithfully obeys the commands of the Lord: and it is the city, which situated on the mount of mercy, can never be hidden, and also constructed from the side of the Redeemer, that is, imbued with the water of washing and the blood of sanctification, which flowed from the side of the one dying for it: where also the other sister of Lazarus, Mary, as a sign of great love, as the following passages of the evangelical reading show, took a pound of costly pure nard ointment, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. By this action, she not only gives an indication of her own devotion but also marks the piety and service of other faithful souls to God. But it should be noted first that, as we have learned from the narrations of Matthew and Mark, Mary anointed not only the feet of the Lord but also His head with nard. Nor should it be doubted that she is the same woman who, as the Evangelist Luke reports (Luke 7), came to the Lord with an alabaster flask of ointment, once a sinner, and standing behind Him at His feet, began to wet His feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, kissing His feet, and anointing them with the ointment.
Thus, she is the same woman, but there she only anointed the feet of the Lord, bowing in repentance and amidst sorrowful tears, whereas here she does not hesitate to anoint His feet and even to raise herself to anoint His head amidst the joys of righteous action. Therefore, there it signifies the beginnings of repentance, here it designates the justice of perfected souls, from which it is rightly said the amount of ointment is not mentioned then, but now it is said to be a pound. For what is expressed by a pound of ointment if not the perfection of justice? Then, the type of ointment was kept silent; now it is indicated as being of pure nard, that is, faithful and not adulterated with foreign substances but precious, so that the chastity of perfect faith and action may be intimated. Through the head of the Lord which Mary anointed, the sublimity of His divinity is expressed; through the feet, the humility of His incarnation. We anoint His feet when we rightly proclaim with due praise the mystery of the received incarnation; we anoint His head when we reverently venerate the excellence of His divinity with a worthy expression of word. For what is signified by ointment if not the good fragrance of opinion? As Paul attests, who says: "Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ Jesus and manifests the aroma of His knowledge through us in every place" (2 Corinthians 2).
The head of the Lord, who is the mediator between God and humans and who is the head of the Church, may also be rightly signified; the feet can be understood, without inconsistency, as any of His least members, about whom He will say at the end: "As long as you did it to one of these least brothers of mine, you did it to me" (Matthew 25). We anoint the head of the Lord when we embrace the glory of His divinity and humanity with the sweetness of worthy faith, hope, and charity, when we expand the praise of His name by living well. We anoint the feet of the Lord when we console His poor with the word of consolation so that they may not despair in tribulations. We wipe the same with our hair when we share what is surplus to us with the needy: and it happens to us as follows.
And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Because in our measure the world is filled with the reputation of devotion, in which we are proven to worship and affectionately love God and our neighbor with a simple and pure heart: and so it happens what the bride in the Song of Love boasts, while the king was at his table, my nard gave its fragrance. Where it is clearly shown what Mary did once, typically however what the whole Church, what every perfect soul always does. Therefore one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was to betray him, said: Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor? Woe to the wicked traitor, woe to the accomplices of his wickedness, even now persecuting the members of Christ, who do not cease to envy their neighbors for the reputation of virtue which they do not deserve to have! And indeed we might think that Judas spoke out of concern for the poor, but a truthful witness unmasked his mind, saying:
He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the money box, he carried what was put in it. Therefore Judas did not perish only when he betrayed the Lord for money, but already lost he was following the Lord, having the Lord’s money bag, not only carrying what was put in it for ministry, but also accustomed to stealing from it. For seeing the Lord that Judas’s heart was polluted with the foul stain of greed, foreseeing it would be further stained with the fouler stain of betrayal, entrusted to his care whatever was in the bags, and allowed him to do what he wished with it, that either the honor given or the memory of the money held might recall his mind from selling him. But because a greedy person is always in want, and never remembers benefits, the wicked person advanced from stealing the money that he carried to betraying the Lord who entrusted him.
Jesus therefore said: Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. To Judas, who was questioning innocently, the Lord explained simply and meekly where Mary's service belonged: because he was to die and be anointed with spices for burial. Therefore, it was granted to Mary, who although she greatly desired it, could not arrive to anoint his dead body, to offer the service to him while he was still alive, which she could not do after his death, as she was prevented by his quick resurrection. Hence Mark rightly testifies that the Lord said about her: She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial (Mark 14). Which is openly to say: Because she could not touch my body when it was already deceased, she did what she could now, she anticipated giving the office of burial to me while still alive.
For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me. And here, with great moderation and patience, the Lord did not accuse Judas of avarice, nor of speaking about money for the sake of the poor, but reasonably showed that those who ministered to him from their resources when he was living among men should not be blamed, since he would remain corporally in the Church for such a short time, but the poor, to whom alms could be given, would always be there. A great crowd of Jews knew therefore that he was there, and they came not only for Jesus, but so that they might see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. Curiosity brought them to Jesus, not love. But we, brethren most beloved, if we know where Jesus is, where he dwells, where Bethany is, that is, the house of the obedient soul in which he resides, let us come there through contemplation, not only for the man whom he has raised from the death of the soul and granted to live spiritually, but so that by imitating the good life of the man we may through this merit to reach the vision of Jesus: because we have certainly known where Jesus is. For he has risen after death and ascended into heaven, there he has a perpetual dwelling. This is the true Bethany, the heavenly city, which no one can enter except the obedient. Let us strive therefore to come there with the inward affections of the heart, let us yearn there for the same founder of that house, let us all ask, each of us ask, that we may dwell in his house all the days of our life, not so that we might see Lazarus whom he has raised from the dead there, but so that we, raised from the dead with Lazarus and the other saints, may see the will of the Lord, and be protected in his holy temple.
Moreover, the chief priests thought to kill Lazarus also; because many went away on account of him from the Jews, and believed in Jesus. O wretched craftiness of the blind, to wish to kill the one who was raised, as if he who could raise the dead could not raise the slain! And indeed he proved that he could do both, who raised both Lazarus who was dead and himself who was slain. But we, brethren, leaving behind the malice of the faithless, let us follow the devotion of the faithful, let us depart from the company of the impious, let us not sit in the council of vanity, and let us not enter with those who do wicked deeds; let us believe in him who not only saves the body but also the soul from death, and let us hold to what we believe by our works, so that believing we may have eternal life in his name, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.
Homily 25: On the Lord's Supper
John 13
Before the feast day of the Passover, Jesus knowing that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, etc. The evangelist John, about to write about that memorable mystery of the Lord, wherein he deigned to wash the feet of his disciples during the Passover before he went to his passion, first took care to explain what the very name Passover mystically signified, thus beginning: Before the feast day of the Passover, Jesus knowing that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. For Passover indeed means passage, having an old name from this, that the Lord passed through Egypt, striking the firstborn of Egypt and liberating the children of Israel, and because the children of Israel themselves passed that night from Egyptian servitude to come to the land of the promised inheritance and peace. Mystically, however, it signifies that in it the Lord would pass from this world to the Father, and that by his example the faithful ought to pass with continuous efforts of virtues, having cast away temporal desires and the servitude of vices, to the promise of the heavenly country. And how Jesus passed from this world to the Father, the evangelist John beautifully shows, when he says: Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end, that is, he loved them so much that by that very love he would temporarily end his corporeal life, immediately to pass from death to life, from this world to the Father. For no one has greater love than this:
to lay down one's life for one's friends. Wherefore rightly both the legal and the evangelical passage were consecrated by blood. The former by the blood of the paschal lamb, the latter by the blood of him of whom the Apostle says: For even Christ our passover is sacrificed (I Cor. V). The latter being shed on the cross, the former sprinkled on the doorposts and lintel in the manner of a cross. And, during the supper, he says, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, Simon Iscariot, to betray him, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come forth from God and was going to God, he rises from supper, and lays aside his garments. Speaking about the greatest humility assumed by humanity, he first recalls the eternity of divine power, so that he may show that he is both true God and man, and remind us of this precept, that the greater we are, the more humble we should be in all things. For he was truly man, who could touch and wash the feet of men, be betrayed by a man, and be crucified by men: he was truly God, to whom the Father had given all things into his hands, because he had come forth from God and was returning to God. The Lord therefore knew that the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas to betray him; he knew that the Father had given all things into his hands: among all these things, both the betrayer himself and those to whom he was to be betrayed, and the death he was to suffer, so that of all these things he might do what he wished, and by his power turn their evil into good.
He knew that through the humility of the incarnation he had come forth from God, and through the victory of the resurrection he was about to return to God, not leaving God when he came forth, nor deserting us when he returned. He indeed knew all these things, and yet, as an indication of his great piety and as an example of our great humility, he rises from supper, lays aside his garments, and washes the disciples' feet, fulfilling the office not of a Lord God, but of a servant man, so that he might also wash humbly the feet of the one whose hands he knew would be brazenly polluted in betraying him. But if it delights to explore this very humble mystery of our Savior with a higher investigation, this sacred supper, at which the Lord reclined with the disciples, signifies the whole time during which, corporally abiding in the Church, he fed all far and wide with the feast of the saving word and the sweetness of his miracles, and he himself was fed by the faith and love of the listeners: for as many as he converted to the grace of truth, he indeed made increase of his own body, which is the Church, as in the manner of those eating. He, however, rose from supper and laid aside his garments when, ceasing to converse temporally with men, he laid down the members of the assumed body on the cross.
He girded himself with a towel when, having taken the command from the Father to suffer, he surrounded his members in the exercise of that suffering for us. For a towel, which is made through various labors of torment, represents suffering through affliction. And the Lord, laying aside his garments, girds himself with a towel, to signify that the habit of the body he had put on, he would lay down not without the pressure of pains, but with the prolonged tribulation of the cross. He poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded, when, dead on the cross, he poured water together with blood from his side onto the earth, by which he would cleanse the works of believers, and he deigned to sanctify those works not only by the sacraments of his passion but also to confirm them by its examples. But as for the saying, when the washing of feet had begun, he then came to Simon Peter, it is not to be understood as if he came to him after others, but because he began with him who was first among the apostles, and he did not want to frustrate such a ministry with horror, because he did not know the mystery. Indeed, it is not doubted that any one of them would have acted in this way if they had not been terrified by that sentence which was spoken to Peter:
If I do not wash you, you will have no part with me. Here it is openly shown that this washing of the feet signifies a spiritual purification of the body and soul, without which one cannot reach communion with Christ. Therefore, Peter, hearing this, immediately seized with his customary fervor of divine love, responded, Lord, not only my feet but also my hands and my head. As if to say openly: Because, now I understand, as you teach, that by washing my feet you signify cleansing my sins, I offer you not only my feet but also my hands and head to be washed; for I do not doubt that I commit many things by walking, acting, seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching, that ought to be forgiven by you. But let us hear what the Lord replies to the fervent lover, and how He gradually brings him to an understanding of the mystical washing.
He who is bathed, he says, does not need to wash except for his feet, but is entirely clean. He clearly announces that the washing of feet signifies indeed the remission of sins, but not the kind given once in baptism, rather the kind by which the daily guilt of the faithful, without which one does not live in this life, is cleansed by his daily grace. For the feet, with which we walk and touch the earth, and for which we cannot keep them free from the contamination of dust unlike the rest of the body, signify the very necessity of earthly habitation, by which daily sloth and negligence affect us, just as even the greatest men of the highest conduct are diverted from the heavenly contemplation they cherish most, so that if we say, "We have no sin," we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1). He who is bathed, therefore, does not need to wash except for his feet, but is entirely clean; for he who is washed by the font of baptism for the remission of all sins does not need to be washed again in the same way, but only the daily contaminations of worldly conduct need to be cleansed by the daily indulgence of his Redeemer.
For he is clean in the whole of his actions, except for those which cling to the mind out of the necessity of temporal care, on account of whose daily defilement and simultaneous cleansing we daily say in prayer, "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" (Matt. 6, Luke 11). Indeed, this was said of the apostles and their like: "Blessed and immaculate are they who walk in the way of the Lord, fearing God" (Ps. 119). But for us, who often forget divine fear and walk in the crooked path, we cannot be freed from the filth of our errors by the mere daily formality of prayers, but a greater stain must be cleansed by a greater practice of prayers, vigils, fasting, tears, and alms; namely, by Him who internally cleanses the vestiges of our heart, who sits at the right hand of God and daily intercedes for us in the habit of assumed humanity. After the Lord washed the disciples' feet, he took his garments and, having reclined again, further explained by word the ministry of washing, which he had just shown to them in deed without their yet understanding. For after he consecrated for us the washing of remission by suffering on the cross, he took up again the immortal members which he had laid down as mortal;
and having appeared to the disciples after the resurrection, and having conversed familiarly with them in companionship for forty days, he explained to them the utility of his passion, the mystical power of which they did not know but whose outcome they greatly feared (Acts 1). If therefore, he says, I, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you ought also to wash one another's feet. This statement indeed is correctly understood and should be devoutly fulfilled both in the literal and mystical sense: literally, that through charity we serve one another, not only in washing the feet of our brothers but also in helping them in any of their needs; mystically, that just as the Lord used to forgive our sins when we repented, so too we should hasten to forgive the sins of our brothers against us (Mt. VI, Mark XI). Just as He washed us from our sins by interceding with the Father for us, so too, if we know that our brother sins a sin not leading to death, let us ask that life may be given to him who sins not unto death (1 John. V). And as the Apostle James admonishes us, Let us confess our sins to one another, and pray for one another, that we may be saved (James V): just as He laid down His life for us, so too we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers when the moment demands it (1 John. III). It follows, Amen, I say to you, the servant is not greater than his master, nor is the apostle greater than the one who sent him. He said this because the Lord had washed the feet of His servants, and He who sent was the same as the one who sent those whom He sent.
Apostle in Greek, in Latin means sent, to show that what the exalted one did in humility, the humble and weak ought much more to do in humility. But as in this place He warned of the spiritual understanding, because if He who did no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth (1 Pet. II, Isa. LIII), intercedes for our transgressions, much more ought we to pray for one another. But even if He forgives us, He to whom we have nothing to forgive, much more ought we to forgive one another our debts. This the Apostle also commands, saying, Be kind to one another, merciful, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you (Eph. IV). If you know these things, he said, you will be blessed if you do them. This saying of our Savior is very salutary and ought to be thought about diligently, because we will be blessed by knowing heavenly precepts, if, however, we follow by doing what we have come to know. For he who neglects to keep His known commandments cannot be blessed; he who even scorns to recognize these things is much further shut out from the lot of the blessed. It agrees with its Psalmist who, weighing the hearts of mortals, perceiving equally that all love beatitude, but seeing few seek it where it is, has himself clearly declared what the greatest beatitude of man is in this life, saying, Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord (Ps. 119). And lest it be thought that this way of the undefiled and blessed could be comprehended haphazardly by the unskilled and unlearned, he has added and said, Blessed are those who search out His testimonies; who seek Him with all their heart. Therefore, dearest ones, let us ask His clemency, who commanded His commandments to be kept exceedingly, that He may direct our ways to keep His justifications, and after keeping His commandments, Jesus Christ our Lord may lead us to the blessedness of His perpetual vision, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.