CAPUT XXXIV. Quod perfectam patientiam semper comitatur misericordia
Mercy Born of Suffering
The one who rejoices in bodily suffering finds it easy to forgive enemies, fulfilling Christ's command and the beatitude of mercy.
Who has ever been able to fulfill so magnificently the Lord's command: Forgive, and you will be forgiven?✦ Who has been able to forgive wrongs done to him so easily, so wholeheartedly, as the one who has learned to rejoice over the torments of his own body more than to grieve over them? For why shouldn't he love his enemies? Why shouldn't he gladly pardon them, when they inflict on him the very thing he longs for?✦ So he has more mercy on his persecutors than on his own body, so that he may be blessed again and again: Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy.✦
The Blessedness of Asher
Asher is declared blessed for his hunger for righteousness, voluntary suffering, meekness, and mercy, and his refined taste for the bread of righteousness mixed with the oil of mercy.
O glorious man, O thrice and four times blessed!1 Blessed for his hunger for righteousness; blessed for voluntary suffering; blessed for gentleness; blessed for merciful compassion.✦ For just as those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed, and just as those who suffer persecution for its sake are blessed, so no less are the meek blessed, and the merciful.✦✦✦ And this Asher of ours, so that he may be truly and many times over blessed, thirsts ardently for righteousness, willingly suffers for its sake, does not know how to grow angry, and is quick to show mercy. For though he hungers deeply for the bread of righteousness, he still scorns to eat it unless it is mixed with the oil of mercy. Because of the great abundance of riches overflowing for him—the spoils taken from enemies after frequent victory—he has become very refined in taste; no bread tastes good to him anymore, however fine it is, unless it is mixed with oil, so much so that Scripture clearly declares about him, saying: Asher, his bread is rich.2 Who do you think overflows with delights as he does, so that he can truly sing: In the way of your testimonies I have delighted, as in all riches? .3
Read the original Latin
Quis illud Dominicum praeceptum: Dimittite, et dimittetur vobis, tam magnifice implere potuit? Quis tam facile, quis tam ex corde sibi illatas injurias ignoscere, valuit, quam qui de corporis sui cruciatibus exsultare magis quam contristari didicit? Utquid enim inimicos non diligat, cur eis libenter non indulgeat, qui hoc ei inferunt quod desiderat? Magis itaque quam suo corpori, suis miseretur persecutoribus, ut sit iterum atque iterum beatus: Beati enim misericordes, quoniam ipsi misericordiam consequentur. O virum gloriosum, o terque quaterque beatum! Beatus, propter justitiae esuriem; beatus, propter voluntariam passionem; beatus, propter mansuetudinem; beatus, propter misericordiae compassionem. Sicut enim beati, qui esuriunt et sitiunt justitiam; sicut beati, qui persecutionem patiuntur propter ipsam; sic nihilominus beati mites, beati misericordes. Et hic noster Aser, ut sit veraciter multipliciterque beatus, justitiam ardenter sitiens, propter ipsam libenter patitur, nesciens irasci, facile miseretur.
Quamvis enim multum esuriat panem justitiae, dedignatur tamen eum comedere, nisi sit conspersus oleo misericordiae. Ex multa divitiarum etenim affluentia quae sibi superabundant, ex spoliis hostium pro frequenti victoria, multum est delicatus effectus; nec ei jam sapit panis ullus, quantumlibet nitidus, nisi sit oleo conspersus, in tantum ut de eo Scriptura manifeste denuntiet, dicens quia Aser, pinguis panis ejus. Quis putas sic deliciis affluit ut ipse, ut veraciter possit psallere: In via testimoniorum tuorum delectatus sum, sicut in omnibus divitiis? .
Scripture echoes
- ↩Luke.6.37 — Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
- ↩Matt.5.44;Luke.6.27 — But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Luke.6.27 — But I say to you who are listening: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.
- ↩Matt.5.7 — Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
- ↩Matt.5.5-Matt.5.7;Matt.5.10 — Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Matt.5.6 — Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matt.5.7 — Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Matt.5.10 — Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- ↩Matt.5.6 — Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
- ↩Matt.5.10 — Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- ↩Matt.5.5 — Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Notes
- 1 ↩terque quaterque is a classical intensifying idiom ("again and again / thoroughly"); retained in recognizable English form rather than flattened to "utterly."
- 2 ↩delicatus here means refined/delicate of appetite after spiritual abundance, not morally soft; rendered as 'refined in taste' to keep the food metaphor.
- 3 ↩Source sentence is only a bare period; no translatable Latin content is present.
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