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← Collationes (Conferences / Collations)/Book 3 · Collationes — Liber III
Chapter 54OdoC.3.54

Caput LIII

Loving God's Judgment in Humility

The reader is exhorted to love God's judgment, to rejoice in spirit amid affliction, and to pray for those who cause suffering.

Stirred up, then, by so many voices of instruction, strengthened by so many examples and comparisons, let us love the judgment of God — certain that in the humble, the bitterness of present distress extinguishes the punishments of everlasting wrath.12 So even though we are hemmed in by scourges, even though in our fleshly part we are weighed down with sorrow, let us nevertheless rejoice in spirit, keeping our eyes on the benefit that affliction brings.34 And indeed we must pray for those who afflict us.5

The Oppressor's Doom and God's Comfort from Isaiah

Drawing on Isaiah, the text warns that unrepentant oppressors will face divine judgment while the afflicted are promised that God's compassion will remove their cup of suffering.

Yet if they do not repent, when, according to Isaiah, they have carried out their plundering, they will become the prey of demons.67 And just as it is read in the Septuagint, the divine voice also comforts the afflicted concerning the destruction of their oppressors, saying: 'Woe to those who make you miserable, for they will be rejected.'89 Likewise in the same prophet: 'For a moment, and in a little while, I forsook you — poor one, shaken by the storm, without any consolation — but with great compassion I have had pity on you' (Isaiah).✦1011 (Isaiah 54:7, 8, 11), 'and I took from your hand the cup of stupor and of my indignation, and I will place it in the hand of those who have humiliated you.'✦12 'But you — you will not drink it again' (Isaiah).✦1314

Further Prophecies of Vindication

The thread of Isaiah 51:22 is completed and Malachi 4:3 is introduced, promising that the righteous will trample their oppressors.

LI, 22).✦ And likewise: You will go out, and you will leap, and you will trample the impious, when they have become ashes under the soles of your feet (Mal. IV, 3).

Christ the Lover of Humanity and the Noahic Oath

Through the parable of a father avenging his son, Christ's mercy toward the afflicted and judgment on tormentors are portrayed, followed by God's oath of enduring compassion from Isaiah 54:9 and a warning from Psalm 49:21 to those who sin against their own.

For just as a most devout father whose beloved son has been killed — if by chance he finds both the murderer and the sword, he slays the murderer with that very sword, but the sword itself, with which his son had perished, he shatters piece by piece — so Christ, the lover of humanity, will wipe away every tear from his own, but the tormentor he will cast into that place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth; and the hammer of the afflicted he will crush so completely as to snatch it away from his own entirely and turn its full weight back upon them.✦✦15 And so, coaxing the afflicted family through the prophet, he says: Just as I swore to Noah that I would never again bring the waters of a flood, so I swear to you as well, that I will not rebuke you any longer (Isa.✦ LIV, 9).✦ But the one who places a stumbling block against the son of his own mother — he threatens, saying: I will accuse you and I will set, you understand, the things you have done before your own face (Psal.✦16 XLIX, 21).✦

Joy After Tears and the Smoke That Vanishes

The afflicted soul rejoices in God's abundant consolations, Babylon's pride is condemned, and the enemies' boast is shown to be as fleeting as rising smoke.

When this woman has seen the God of gods in Zion, carrying in exultation the sheaves she sowed in tears, she will cry out with joy: "As great as the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, so great have your consolations gladdened my soul" (Ps.17 93, 19). As for the afflictors, however, under the guise of Babylon their mother, it is said: "As much as she has exalted herself and lived in luxury, so much give her torment and grief" (Apoc.✦18 18, 7). Therefore let not the smoke boast if it is raised up — that is, let not the enemies of the Lord boast if they prevail — because smoke, by rising, brings it about that it ceases to be.19 And in the voice of those same ones it is said: "Lifting yourself up, you have struck me down" (Psal.2021 101, 11).

Do Not Faint Under Discipline

The Holy Spirit and the Apostle urge the little flock not to faint under God's discipline, citing Proverbs 3:11 and Hebrews 12:7–9 to show that paternal correction is a sign of sonship and life.

To the little flock, however, the Holy Spirit says: "Child, do not faint under the discipline of the Lord" (Prov.✦22 Proverbs 3:11, etc.✦ And likewise through the Apostle: 'For who is there whom a father does not correct?'✦ Hebrews 12:7.) And in the same place: 'We had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of spirits and live?'✦ Hebrews 12:9.)

Suffering with Christ, Reigning with Christ

Paternal scourges torment gently, for if we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with him.

For this reason, paternal scourges — delightfully, so to speak — do not bite harshly; they torment gently, they sadden cheerfully, since if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him.✦

The Blessedness of God's Beloved Sons

Afflicted believers are not mere servants but beloved sons whom God scourges; though pain and blessedness seem opposed, outward affliction produces inward life, and Gregory's hope assures that present servitude gives way to future glory.

I would say the scourges are indeed paternal, because although it is a great thing for anyone to be called a servant of God, yet those who are afflicted are not called servants — nor even friends, which is a greater thing — but, which is the most excellent thing of all, they are called sons, and even beloved ones: "He scourges," he says, "every son whom he receives" (Hebr.✦ 12). 6); and what follows, as is testified in Job: "Blessed is the man who is corrected by the Lord" (Job 5:17).✦ For although blessedness and pain cannot come together at the same time, yet because it is evidence of salvation, one who is corrected by the force of pain is rightly called blessed, because through being afflicted outwardly, he lives inwardly. So then, as blessed Gregory establishes in the eighth book of his Moralia, let this hope remain with you: that just as in the necessities of the present time nothing appears regarding freedom in the sons of God, so in the future glory of freedom nothing will appear regarding servitude in those same servants of God.

Read the original Latin

Excitati ergo tot vocibus praeceptorum, adjuti tot comparationibus exemplorum, amemus Dei judicium: certi quod in humilibus amaritudo praesentis angustiae exstinguit supplicia permanentis irae. Nos ergo quamvis flagellis cincti, quamvis pro parte carnis contristemur, tamen in spiritu laetemur, utilitatem afflictionis contemplantes. Et orandum quidem pro afflictoribus est. Attamen si non resipuerint, cum, juxta Isaiam, depraedationem consummaverint, praeda daemonum erunt. Et sicut in Septuaginta legitur, afflictos etiam de illorum interitu vox divina consolatur dicens: Vae qui vos miseros faciunt, quia reprobabuntur. Item in eodem propheta: Ad punctum et in modico dereliqui te, paupercula, tempestate convulsa, absque ulla consolatione sed in miserationibus multis misertus sum tui (Isa. LIV, 7, 8, 11), et tuli de manu tua calicem soporis et indignationis meae, et ponam illum in manu eorum qui te humiliaverint. Tu autem non adjicies, ut bibas illum ultra (Isa.

LI, 22). Et item: Egrediemini, et salietis, et calcabitis impios, cum fuerint cinis, sub planta pedum vestrorum (Malac. IV, 3). Nam ut quidam piissimus Pater, cui dilectus filius occisus sit, si forte occisorem et gladium repererit, occisorem cum eodem gladio trucidat, ipsum vero gladium, cum quo filus perierat, particulatim comminuit: ita amator hominum Christus a suis quidem absterget omnem lacrymam, tortorem autem illuc projiciet, ubi sit fletus et stridor dentium; afflictorum vero malleum ita conteret, ut hunc a suis penitus auferat et tantum pondus ejus in illos retorqueat. Unde et afflictae familiae blandiens per prophetam dicit: Sicut juravi Noe, ut ultra non inducerem aquas diluvii, sic et tibi, ut non increpem te amplius (Isa. LIV, 9). At vero qui adversum filium matris suae ponit scandalum, comminatur dicens: Arguam te et statuam, subaudis, ea quae fecisti ante faciem tuam (Psal. XLIX, 21).

Ista cum viderit Deum deorum in Sion, portans in exsultatione manipulos quos in lacrymis seminavit, laetabunda clamabit: Secundum multitudinem dolorum meorum in corde meo, consolationes tuae laetificaverunt animam meam (Psal. XCIII, 19). De afflictoribus vero sub specie Babylonis matris eorum dicitur: Quantum exaltavit se, et in deliciis fuit, tantum date ei tormentum et luctum (Apoc. XVIII, 7). Non itaque glorietur fumus si exaltatur, id est, inimici Domini si praevalent quia fumus ascendendo facit ut non sit. Et istorum voce dicitur: Elevans allisisti me (Psal. CI, 11). Pusillo autem gregi suo dicit Spiritus sanctus: Fili, noli deficere a disciplina Domini (Prov.

III, 11), etc. Et item per Apostolum: Quis enim est, quem non corripit pater? (Hebr. XII, 7.) Et in eodem: Patres carnales habuimus, et reverebamur eruditores eos, non multo magis obtemperabimus Patri spirituum, et vivemus? (Hebr. XII, 9.) Quapropter paterna flagella delectabiliter, ut ita dicam, non mordeant, suaviter excrucient, hilariter contristent, quoniam si compatimur et conregnabimus.

Paterna vero flagella dixerim, quia licet magnum sit cuiquam vocari servum Dei, tamen afflicti, ut ait Hieronymus, non vocantur servi, nec amici quidem, quod majus est, sed, quod praestantissimum est, filii vocantur, et etiam dilecti: Flagellat, inquit, omnem filium quem recipit (Hebr. XII. 6); et quod sequitur, ut in Job perhibetur, Beatus vir qui corripitur a Domino (Job V, 17). Licet enim convenire simul non queant beatitudo et dolor, tamen quia salutis argumentum est, vi doloris correptus recte dicitur beatus, quoniam per hoc quod exterius affligitur interius vivit. Ut igitur in octavo Moralium libro beatus Gregorius astruit, spes ista vos maneat, quoniam quantum in necessitatibus praesentis temporis de libertate in Dei filiis nihil apparet, tantum in futura libertatis gloria nihil in eisdem Dei famulis de servitute parebit.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Isa.54.7-Isa.54.8 — For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will gather you. Isa.54.8 — In a flood of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you, says the LORD, your Redeemer.
  2. ↩Isa.51.17;Isa.54.7 — Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath; the chalice of staggering you have drunk, you have drained. Isa.54.7 — For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will gather you.
  3. ↩Isa.51.22 — Thus says your Lord, the LORD, your God who pleads the cause of his people: Look, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering, the bowl of my wrath; you shall never drink it again.
  4. ↩Isa.51.22 — Thus says your Lord, the LORD, your God who pleads the cause of his people: Look, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering, the bowl of my wrath; you shall never drink it again.
  5. ↩Rev.21.4;Isa.25.8 — And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more; neither mourning, nor crying, nor pain will be any more, for the former things have passed away. Isa.25.8 — He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; the reproach of his people he will remove from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.
  6. ↩Matt.8.12;Matt.13.42 — But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matt.13.42 — and they will throw them into the furnace of fire; there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
  7. ↩Isa.54.9 — For this is like the days of Noah to me, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again pass over the earth; so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you.
  8. ↩Isa.54.9 — For this is like the days of Noah to me, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again pass over the earth; so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you.
  9. ↩Ps.49.21 — Man in his splendor does not understand; he is compared to the beasts that perish.
  10. ↩Ps.49.21 — Man in his splendor does not understand; he is compared to the beasts that perish.
  11. ↩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.'
  12. ↩Prov.3.11 — My son, do not despise the discipline of the LORD, and do not resent his rebuke.
  13. ↩Prov.3.11 — My son, do not despise the discipline of the LORD, and do not resent his rebuke.
  14. ↩Heb.12.7 — Endure for discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
  15. ↩Heb.12.9 — Furthermore, we had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
  16. ↩Rom.8.17 — And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
  17. ↩Heb.12.6 — For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he scourges every son whom he receives.
  18. ↩Job.5.17 — Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩ergo rendered as 'then' to capture the inferential force naturally in contemporary English.
  2. 2 ↩amaritudo praesentis angustiae exstinguit supplicia permanentis irae — the idea that present suffering, borne in humility, consumes or cancels out future punishment is a key ascetical theme; 'extinguishes' preserves the fire/penalty metaphor.
  3. 3 ↩ergo rendered as 'so' for natural flow; tamen rendered as 'nevertheless' to mark the adversative turn.
  4. 4 ↩pro parte carnis — 'in our fleshly part' captures the Pauline flesh/spirit distinction without over-translating.
  5. 5 ↩Et rendered as 'And'; quidem rendered as 'indeed' to capture the emphatic force.
  6. 6 ↩Attamen rendered as 'Yet' for the adversative; cum here is temporal ('when'), though a causal reading is also possible.
  7. 7 ↩juxta Isaiam — the reference is to Isaiah, but the exact verse is not a direct quotation; the allusion is to the prophetic theme of divine judgment on oppressors.
  8. 8 ↩Vae qui vos miseros faciunt, quia reprobabuntur — this echoes the prophetic 'woe' oracles found in Isaiah (e.g., Isa 5:8, 10:1–2, 29:1) and similar passages. The Septuagint reference suggests the Latin translator is working from the Greek text. Final verse identification deferred to Moses resolution.
  9. 9 ↩quia rendered as 'for' to capture the causal force.
  10. 10 ↩Ad punctum et in modico dereliqui te — this closely echoes Isaiah 54:7–8 (Vulgate: 'Ad momentum… dereliqui te… in miserationibus magnis misertus sum tui'). The quotation is adapted and expanded with the vocative paupercula and the description tempestate convulsa, absque ulla consolatione, which may be the author's own gloss or a variant reading.
  11. 11 ↩sed rendered as 'but' to mark the adversative turn from abandonment to compassion.
  12. 12 ↩calicem soporis et indignationis meae — echoes Isaiah 51:17, 22 (Vulgate) where Jerusalem is told to drink the cup of God's wrath, and then the cup is taken from her and given to her tormentors. The verse numbering here (LIV, 7, 8, 11) follows the author's citation practice and may not correspond exactly to standard chapter divisions.
  13. 13 ↩Tu autem non adjicies, ut bibas illum ultra — continues the cup-of-wrath motif from the preceding sentence, echoing the promise that the afflicted one will no longer have to drink from the cup of God's indignation. Likely drawn from the same Isaianic context (cf. Isa 51:22).
  14. 14 ↩autem rendered as 'But' to mark the turn toward the consolation of the afflicted; ut rendered as the infinitive complement 'drink' (purpose/result).
  15. 15 ↩The parable of the father, the sword, and the murderer is an extended analogy for divine justice: God uses the instruments of affliction against the afflictors, then destroys those very instruments to spare his children.
  16. 16 ↩Subaudis ('you understand' / 'supply in thought') is a rhetorical marker indicating that the reader is to mentally supply the implied object of statuam ('I will set [them]').
  17. 17 ↩Quotation from Psalm 125:6 (Vulgate 124:6): 'Euntes ibant et flebant, semina mittentes. Venientes autem venient cum exsultatione, portantes manipulos suos.' The Latin here is a paraphrase blending that psalm with Psalm 93:19 (Vulgate 92:19): 'Secundum multitudinem dolorum meorum in corde meo, consolationes tuae laetificaverunt animam meam.'
  18. 18 ↩Quotation from Revelation 18:7: 'Quantum glorificavit se et in deliciis fuit, tantum date illi tormentum et luctum.'
  19. 19 ↩The metaphor equates the enemies of the Lord with smoke: their apparent rise is self-consuming. The causal chain (quia…facit ut non sit) is rendered to preserve the logical force.
  20. 20 ↩Quotation from Psalm 101:11 (Vulgate 100:11): 'Quia eleuasti me et allisisti me.' The form allisisti is an unusual/elided spelling of elisisti or allisisti.
  21. 21 ↩allisisti is an unusual form; likely a variant of elisisti ('you have struck/crushed me'). Translated according to the normalized reading.
  22. 22 ↩Quotation from Proverbs 3:11 (Vulg.): 'Fili, noli negligere disciplinam Domini, neque fatigeris ab eo argueris.' The Latin here uses deficere rather than negligere/fatigeris, but the sense and source are the same.

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