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Chapter 43OdoC.3.43

Caput XLII

Two Mothers, Two Destinies

Scripture marks the diversity of good and evil under the figures of Jerusalem and Babylon, showing how the obedient soul is chastised in mercy while the incorrigible soul labors in vain to cleanse its ingrained rust.

The distinction between good things and evil things is truly marked out by the words of sacred Scripture, since it confesses both under the names of their own mothers — namely, Babylon and Jerusalem. Concerning the latter, indeed, it is said: Instruct Jerusalem, lest perhaps my soul depart from you (Jer.✦ VI, 8). And on the other hand, concerning the former: We have cared for Babylon, and she is not healed (Jer.✦ LI, 9). Concerning the former: I will chastise you in judgment, lest you appear to yourself innocent (Jer.✦ XLVI, 28). Concerning the latter: With great labor it has been sweated over, and its rust has not come out of it (Ezek.✦

Scripture's Divided Testimony

A rapid catalogue of scriptural passages distinguishes those who can be purified from those who cannot, showing that divine smelting refines some into whiteness while others remain as fixed as the Ethiopian's skin.

XXIV, 12). Of these: I will smelt your dross until it is pure (Isa. I, 25). Of those: They have been turned into dross and lead for me (Jer. XXII, 18). Of these: They will be made whiter than snow (Ps. L, 9). Of those: The Ethiopian will not change his skin (Jer.

Hedge of Thorns and Wayward Hearts

Further scriptural contrasts show that God hedges the good with thorns to keep them from their lovers, while the wicked are sent away according to the desires of their own hearts.

(Song of Songs 13, 23). Of these: I will hedge in your way with thorns, and you will not seize your lovers (Hosea 2:6).✦ Of those: And I sent them away according to the desires of their heart (Ps.✦ 80, 13).✦ Of these: You will fear me, and you will receive instruction (Ps.✦ 2, 11, 12).✦ Of those: You have turned away with a contentious aversion (3 Kings 9, 6).

The Father's Rod and the Mother's Womb

God promises to punish adopted sons with the rod yet never withdraw His mercy, and when the forsaken soul cries that God has forgotten her, He answers with the image of a mother who cannot forget her own infant.

About those who, through adoption, have been made true sons of David, the Father's voice promises a great gift for a great grace: If his sons abandon my law, and do not walk in my judgments, and profane my righteous decrees, and do not keep my commandments, I will punish their iniquities with a rod. But my mercy I will not scatter from him (Psalm 88, 31–34). About those others: I will not punish your daughters when they turn to prostitution, nor your brides when they commit adultery (Hosea 4:14).✦ She is compelled to respond to these tribulations, and to cry out together: The Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me (Isaiah✦ 49. 14). But God comforts her, saying: Can a woman forget her own infant, so as to have no mercy on the child of her own womb?✦

The Queen Who Must Come Down

The proud soul that sits as a queen is summoned by the divine voice to descend into the dust, yet all such tribulations are common to saints and sinners alike, and it is in enduring them that the righteous show their outstanding virtue.

And even if she has forgotten, I will not forget you (ibid.✦1 , 15). She says: I sit as a queen, and I am no widow (Apoc.✦2 XVIII, 7), but to her the divine voice says: The more beautiful you are, come down (Ezech.✦3 XXXII, 19). And likewise: Sit in the dust — the daughter of the Chaldeans has no throne (Isa.✦4 XLVII, 1). There are also very many other passages of this kind, in all of which it is plainly evident that these things — just as it is read in the life of blessed Martin — are common to all the saints and to all others for their receiving; but in enduring these things, the righteous have always had outstanding virtue.56

Tribulation Itself as Consolation

The afflicted are consoled not only by God's sweet and upright character but by tribulation itself, since to suffer under God's just ordering is itself a comfort, as Paul gloried in his weaknesses.

We had said that we were going to relate something for the consolation of the afflicted. But perhaps someone will say: What consolation is there in these words? But if, in the manner of the saints and not according to the worldly and dull opinion of carnal people, we seek to be consoled — wonderful things indeed, yet we confess with truthful assertion — because not only are these words consolations, by which we strive to show that the Lord is sweet and upright, and that He mercifully and justly afflicts His own, but even tribulation itself ought to be regarded as a consolation. Is it not a consolation to know that you suffer by God's ordering, who strikes us only justly? Did not even tribulation itself console Paul, when he said: Not only that, but we also glory in tribulations?✦ (Rom. V, 3.) And likewise concerning himself, since he by no means wished to exult on account of that ineffable tribulation of his: But as for me, I will glory in nothing except in my weaknesses (2 Cor.✦

The Medicine of Affliction

Like a physician who draws fever to the skin, God uses outward pains to heal inward corruption, so that whether we are punished for past sins or prevented from future ones, we should embrace tribulation joyfully and give thanks to our Judge and Healer.

XII, 5). And Job speaks even more openly here: "Let this be my consolation: that he who afflicts me with pain does not spare me" (Job 6:10).✦ It is indeed a common medical practice to draw the fever of the internal organs out to an irritation of the skin, and generally to cure the deeper wound from the very place where the surface is injured. In the same way, it sometimes happens by the medicine of divine providence that outward pains remove an inward wound, and the lashings of affliction drive away the inner corruption of vices that could have taken hold of the mind. For our flesh, before it is strengthened by the incorruption of the resurrection, if it is touched by no grief at all, runs wild in temptation. Whether, then, we are chastised in the present for sins already committed, so that we may not be punished in the future; or whether we are afflicted so that we may not go on to commit crimes deserving of torment in the time that remains — either way, there is good reason both to embrace our tribulations joyfully and to give thanks to our Judge and Healer in all things. For it is no small thing that the Apostle commands us not only to rejoice in tribulation, but to count it all joy when we fall into various trials.✦ And yet who does not know that it is far better to be subjected to the hard servitude of human masters than to be thrown before the flattering spirits of demons?

The Yoke That Frees

We complain under God's yoke only because we fail to see from how great an enemy the scourge frees us; God's lofty dispensation attacks even the well-deserving with burdens so that, kept from dangerous rest, they may prove strong against the adversary's temptations.

And yet when we're worn down by God's high judgment under the yoke of our human condition, we leap into complaint — surely because we pay too little attention. But if no condition of servitude pressed down on us, perhaps our mind, free as it is, would serve far worse ends through many iniquities. Therefore the things we endure, we believe to be heavy for this reason: because we fail to consider from how great an enemy we are freed through the scourge. Hence God says to blessed Job: "Remember," He says, "the war — do not add further speech" (Job 40:27).✦ And if by this consideration He admonishes him, and restrains him from murmuring, saying: "If you consider the sword of the adversary, by so much offer yourself silent to the discipline of the Father — who frees you from internal passion by external torments — by how much you have foreseen yourself weak against the wars of that same enemy."7 Lofty indeed is the dispensation of God's judgments; with wondrous foresight He provides, since if His servants remained at rest and free, they would not prove strong enough to bear the adversary's temptations, and, cast down by wounds of the mind, they would lie prostrate. For this reason, therefore, He often attacks even those who are well deserving — whether by threats, or by scourges He presses them, or by certain burdens He imposes heavy loads, or by laborious occupations He entangles them.

Read the original Latin

Bonorum sane vel malorum diversitas sacrae Scripturae verbis notatur, cum utrisque sub nominibus matrum suarum, Babylonis videlicet, et Hierusalem fatetur. De istis namque dicitur: Erudire Hierusalem, ne forte recedat anima mea a te (Jer. VI, 8). Et contra de illis: Curavimus Babylonem, et non est sanata (Jer. LI, 9). De istis: Castigabo te in judicio, ne tibi videaris innoxia (Jer. XLVI, 28). De illis: Multo labore sudatum est, et non exivit rubigo ejus ex ea (Ezech.

XXIV, 12). De istis: Excoquam ad purum scoriam tuam (Isa. I, 25). De illis: Versi sunt mihi in scoriam, et in plumbum (Jer. XXII, 18). De istis: Super nivem dealbabuntur (Psal. L, 9). De illis: Non mutabit Aethiops pellem suam (Jer.

XIII, 23). De istis: Saepiam viam tuam spinis, et non apprehendes amatores tuos (Osee II, 6). De illis: Et dimisi eos secundum desideria cordis eorum (Psal. LXXX, 13). De istis: Timebis me, et accipies disciplinam (Psal. II, 11, 12). De illis: Aversi estis aversione contentiosa (III Reg. IX, 6).

De istis qui veri David filii per adoptionem facti sunt, pro magno munere voce patris promittitur: Si dereliquerint filii ejus legem meam, et in judiciis meis non ambulaverint, et justitias meas profanaverint, et mandata mea non custodierint, visitabo in virga iniquitates eorum. Misericordiam autem meam non dispergam ab eo (Psal. LXXXVIII, 31-34). De illis: Non visitabo super filias vestras cum fuerint fornicatae, et super sponsas vestras cum adulteraverint (Osee IV, 14). Ista respondere tribulationibus, et conclamare cogitur: Dereliquit me Dominus, et Dominus oblitus est mei (Isa. XLIX. 14). Sed Deus consolatur eam dicens: Nunquid potest mulier oblivisci infantem suum, ut non misereatur filio uteri sui?

et si illa oblita fuerit, ego tamen non obliviscar tui (Ibid. , 15). Illa dicit: Sedeo regina, et vidua non sum (Apoc. XVIII, 7), sed ei vox divina dicit: Quo pulchrior es descende (Ezech. XXXII, 19). Et item: Sede in pulvere, non est solium filiae Chaldaeorum (Isa. XLVII, 1). Sunt et alia quamplurima hujusmodi, in quibus omnibus liquido patet, quod haec, sicut in vita beati Martini legitur, sanctis omnibus, atque omnibus aliis ad percipiendum sint communia; sed his tolerandis praecipuam semper justorum fuisse virtutem.

Dixeramus aliquid nos ad afflictorum consolationem relaturos. Sed forte quis dicet: In his verbis quae consolatio est? Sed si more sanctorum, et non secundum forensem et hebetem carnalium opinionem consolari quaerimus, mira quidem, sed veraci assertione fatemur, quia non solum haec verba, quibus ostendere nitimur, ut dulcis et rectus Dominus, misericorditer et juste suos affligit, sed ipsa quoque tribulatio debeat pro consolatione haberi. An non est consolatio nosse, quod Deo disponente pateris, qui nos non nisi juste percutit? An non et ipsa tribulatio consolabatur Paulum, cum diceret: Non solum autem, sed et gloriamur in tribulationibus? (Rom. V, 3.) Et item de se, cum nequaquam pro illa sua ineffabili tribulatione nollet exsultare: Pro me autem nihil gloriabor, nisi in infirmitatibus (II Cor.

XII, 5). Et Job hinc apertius: Haec mihi sit consolatione affligens me dolore non parcat (Job VI, 10). Mos namque medicinalis est, ut saepe fervorem viscerum in pruriginem cutis trahat, et plerumque inde curat interius unde exterius sauciat. Ita nonnunquam divinae dispensationis medicamine agitur, ut exterioribus doloribus internum vulnus adimatur, et flagellorum sectionibus repellatur ea, quae occupare mentem poterat, interior putredo viciorum. Caro enim nostra priusquam resurrectionis incorruptione solidetur, si nullo moerore afficitur, in tentationibus effrenatur. Sive igitur pro peccatis jam patratis ad hoc in praesenti plectimur ne in futuro puniamur; sive ad hoc affligimur ne in futurum scelera suppliciis digna in reliquum perpetremus, satis est unde ipsas tribulationes gaudenter amplectamur, vel judici nostro et medico in omnibus gratias agamus. Non enim parvi momenti est quod Apostolus non solum nos in tribulatione gaudere jubet, sed omne gaudium existimare, cum in tribulationes varias inciderimus. Quis autem nescit, quod multo sit melius duris servitio hominibus subjici, quam blandientibus daemonum spiritibus objici?

et tamen cum alto Dei judicio jugo humanae conditionis atterimur, in querelam prosilimus nimirum quia minus attendimus. Quod si nos nulla conditio servitutis opprimeret, fortasse mens nostra multis iniquitatibus pejus libera desserviret. Haec igitur quae toleramus, ideo gravia credimus, quia considerare negligimus a quanto hoste per flagellum liberamur. Hinc Deus ad beatum Job: Memento, inquit, belli, ultra addas loqui (Job XL, 27). Ac si hunc rei consideratione moneat, et a murmuratione compescat dicens: Si gladium adversarii consideras, tanto te ad disciplinam patris, qui te externis cruciatibus ab interna passione liberat, exhibe tacitum, quanto te ad ejusdem hostis bella prospexeris infirmum. Alta quippe dispensatio judiciorum Dei mira potentia praevidet, quoniam si quieti ac liberi famuli ejus persisterent, tentationes adversarii ferre non valentes, mentis vulneribus prostrati jacerent. Ob id igitur licet bene merentes saepe vel minis impetit, vel flagellis premit, vel quibusdam impositis oneribus gravas, vel laboriosis occupationibus implicat.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Jer.6.8 — Be disciplined, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be torn from you, lest I make you a desolation, a land uninhabited.
  2. ↩Jer.51.9 — We would heal Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let each one go to his own land, for her judgment reaches to the heavens and rises up to the skies.
  3. ↩Jer.46.28 — But you, do not fear, my servant Jacob, declares the LORD, for I am with you. For I will make a complete end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but of you I will not make a complete end. I will discipline you with justice, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.
  4. ↩Ezek.24.6-Ezek.24.12 — Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Woe, city of bloods — a pot whose filth is in it, whose filth has not gone out of it. Piece by piece bring it out; no lot has fallen upon it. Ezek.24.7 — For her blood is in the middle of her; she set it on the smooth surface of a rock; she did not pour it out on the ground to cover it with dust. Ezek.24.8 — To stir up wrath, to take vengeance, I have set her blood on the bare rock, that it might not be covered. Ezek.24.9 — Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the city of bloodshed! I also will make the pile great. Ezek.24.10 — Heap up the wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice the mixture well; and let the bones be burned. Ezek.24.11 — Then set it empty upon its coals, so that it may become hot and its copper may melt, and its filth may be consumed and its rust destroyed. Ezek.24.12 — She toiled greatly, but it did not come out of her — her great filthiness. In the fire her filthiness!
  5. ↩Hos.2.6 — And I will not have mercy on her children, for they are children of whoredom.
  6. ↩Ps.80.13 — Why have you broken down its wall, so that all who pass along the way pluck it?
  7. ↩Ps.80.13 — Why have you broken down its wall, so that all who pass along the way pluck it?
  8. ↩Ps.2.11-Ps.2.12 — Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Ps.2.12 — Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is kindled quickly. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
  9. ↩Ps.2.11-Ps.2.12 — Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Ps.2.12 — Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is kindled quickly. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
  10. ↩Hos.4.14 — I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot, nor your brides when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes and sacrifice with cult prostitutes, and a people without understanding comes to ruin.
  11. ↩Isa.49.14 — But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me."
  12. ↩Isa.49.15 — Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
  13. ↩Isa.49.15 — Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
  14. ↩Rev.18.7 — As much as she glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her that much torment and grief. For in her heart she says, 'I sit as a queen, and I am not a widow, and I will never see grief.'
  15. ↩Ezek.32.19 — Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down and lie with the uncircumcised.
  16. ↩Isa.47.1 — Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.
  17. ↩Rom.5.3 — And not only that, but we also boast in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces endurance.
  18. ↩2Cor.12.5 — On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in my weaknesses.
  19. ↩Job.6.10 — Yet this would be my comfort, and I would leap for joy in unrelenting anguish, for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
  20. ↩Jas.1.2 — Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials,
  21. ↩Job.40.27 — Will he multiply his supplications to you, or speak soft words to you?

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Candidate allusion to Isaiah 49:15 (Vulgate). The 'she' is the personified mother / Zion figure; 'I' is God. Final resolution deferred to Moses stage.
  2. 2 ↩Candidate allusion to Revelation 18:7. 'She' is the personified city (Babylon / the proud soul). Final resolution deferred to Moses stage.
  3. 3 ↩Candidate allusion to Ezekiel 32:19 (Vulgate). The divine voice addresses the proud, calling them down from their height. Final resolution deferred to Moses stage.
  4. 4 ↩Candidate allusion to Isaiah 47:1 (Vulgate). The passage addresses fallen Babylon. Final resolution deferred to Moses stage.
  5. 5 ↩The phrase 'ad percipiendum sint communia' is rendered 'are common to all…for their receiving,' meaning these consolations and trials are shared goods available to all the faithful. The gerundive 'tolerandis' is rendered as 'in enduring' to capture the ablative gerundive force.
  6. 6 ↩The reference to 'blessed Martin' is to St. Martin of Tours; the specific passage in his life is not identified here.
  7. 7 ↩The tanto...quanto correlative construction expresses a proportional logic: the greater your awareness of your weakness before the enemy, the more silently you should submit to the Father's discipline.

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