De Bethphage
The Mouth of the Heart
Bethphage, the 'House of the Mouth,' teaches that God's word must dwell both in the heart and on the lips, so that saving contrition and faithful confession work together.
What should I say about Bethphage, the little village of priests, which I had almost passed by—where both the Sacrament of confession and the mystery of priestly ministry are contained? Bethphage, you see, is interpreted as 'House of the Mouth.'1 Now it is written: The word is near, in your mouth and in your heart (Deut.✦ 30:14).✦ Remember that you must have the word not in one only, but at the same time in both. And indeed, the word in the sinner's heart works saving contrition; but the word in the mouth takes away harmful shame, so that it won't hinder necessary confession. For Scripture says: There is a shame that brings sin, and there is a shame that brings glory (Ecclus. 4:25).
Holy Shame and Unholy Silence
True shame before God drives sinners to confession and glory, while misplaced shame silences the mouth, blocks repentance, and withers the soul.
Good shame is that by which you're ashamed to have sinned, or at least to be sinning; and even if every human judge may perhaps be absent, still you reverence the divine gaze more reverently than the human — the more truly you consider God purer than man, and the more gravely he is offended by a sinner, the further every sin is known to be from him. Shame of this kind, beyond doubt, drives away disgrace and prepares glory — either by not admitting sin at all, or at least by punishing what has been admitted through repentance and expelling it through confession — if, however, this too is our glory: the testimony of our conscience. But if someone is ashamed to confess the very thing by which he is pierced with compunction, such shame leads to sin and loses glory from conscience — since the evil that compunction from the heart's depth is trying to expel, misplaced shame, with the door of the lips bolted shut, does not allow to come out; when by David's example he ought rather to say: "And my lips will not restrain me, Lord, you have known" (Psal.✦ XXXIX, 10). David himself, reproaching himself, I think, over this foolish and irrational shame, says: "Because I kept silent, my bones grew old" (Psal.✦ XXXI, 3). Hence he also asks that a door be set before his lips as a guard (Psal.✦ CXL, 3), so that he may know to open the door of his mouth for confession and to close it for self-justification.
The Twofold Confession
Confession of sin and praise of God are a twofold work of grace, requiring priests to open hearts without closing mouths and to require confession before absolution.
And so, in prayer, he openly asks the Lord for this very thing, knowing full well that confession and praise are his work (Ps.✦ CX, 3). And because we by no means keep silent about our own wickedness, and because we equally refuse to hide the magnificence of God's goodness and power, this is indeed a great good of a twofold confession, but it is God's gift. He says, therefore: Let not my heart decline to words of wickedness, to make excuses for sins (Ps.✦ CXL, 4). Therefore, it is necessary that the priests, ministers of the word, be carefully watchful in both respects: namely, that they bring the word of fear and contrition upon the hearts of sinners with such measured restraint that they by no means terrify them away from the word of confession; that they so open hearts that they do not shut mouths; but also that they not absolve even the contrite unless they have seen that they have confessed: since belief in the heart leads to righteousness, but confession with the mouth brings salvation.✦ Otherwise, confession perishes from the dead, as from one who is not (Sir. XVII, 26).
Word in Heart and on Lips
To have God's word on the lips without the heart is deceit or emptiness; to have it in the heart without the lips is pride or timidity.
So whoever has the word on their lips but not in their heart is either deceitful or empty, and whoever has it in their heart but not on their lips is either proud or timid.
Read the original Latin
Quid de Bethphage dicam, viculo sacerdotum, quem pene praeterieram, ubi et confessionis sacramentum, et sacerdotalis ministerii mysterium continetur? Bethphage quippe Domus buccae interpretatur. Scriptum est autem: Prope est verbum in ore tuo, et in corde tuo (Deut. XXX, 14). Non in altero tantum, sed simul in utroque verbum habere memineris. Et quidem verbum in corde peccatoris operatur salutiferam contritionem: verbum vero in ore noxiam tollit confusionem, ne impediat necessariam confessionem. Ait enim Scriptura: Est pudor adducens peccatum, et est pudor adducens gloriam (Eccli. IV, 25).
Bonus pudor est, quo peccasse, aut certe peccare confunderis: et omnis licet humanus arbiter forte absit, divinum tamen quam humanum tanto verecundius revereris aspectum, quanto et verius Deum quam hominem cogitas puriorem: tantoque eum gravius offendi a peccante, quanto constat longius ab illo esse omne peccatum. Hujuscemodi procul dubio pudor fugat opprobrium, parat gloriam, dum aut peccatum omnino non admittit, aut certe admissum et poenitendo punit, et confitendo expellit: si tamen gloria etiam nostra haec est, testimonium conscientiae nostrae. Quod si quispiam confiteri confunditur id quoque, unde compungitur, talis pudor peccatum adducit, et gloriam de conscientia perdit, quando malum quod ex profundo cordis compunctio conatur expellere, pudor ineptus obstruso labiorum ostio non permittit exire; cum eum exemplo David dicere potius oporteret: Et labia mea non prohibebo, Domine, tu scisti (Psal. XXXIX, 10). Qui et seipsum redarguens, puto super hujuscemodi stulto et irrationabili pudore, Quoniam tacui, inquit, inveteraveverunt ossa mea (Psal. XXXI, 3). Unde et optat ostium poni circumstantiae labiis suis (Psal. CXL, 3), ut oris januam et aperire confessioni, et defensioni claudere norit.
Denique et aperte hoc ipsum orans petit a Domino, sciens nimirum, quia confessio et magnificentia opus ejus (Psal. CX, 3). Et quod videlicet nostram malitiam, et quod aeque divinae bonitatis et virtutis magnificentiam minime tacemus, magnum quidem geminae confessionis bonum, sed Dei est donum. Ait itaque: Non declines cor meum in verba malitiae ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis (Psal. CXL, 4). Quamobrem ministros verbi sacerdotes caute necesse est ad utrumque vigilare sollicitos, quo videlicet delinquentium cordibus tanto moderamine verbum timoris et contritionis infligant, quatenus eos nequaquam a verbo confessionis exterreant; sic corda aperiant, ut ora non obstruant; sed nec absolvant etiam compunctum, nisi viderint et confessum: quandoquidem corde creditur ad justitiam, ore autem confessio fit ad salutem. Alioquin a mortuo, tanquam 557 qui non est, perit confessio (Eccli. XVII, 26).
Quisquis igitur verbum in ore habet, et in corde non habet, aut dolosus est, aut vanus: quisquis vero in corde, et non in ore, aut superbus est, aut timidus.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Deut.30.14 — But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may do it.
- ↩Deut.30.14 — But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may do it.
- ↩Ps.39.10 — I am silent; I will not open my mouth, for you have done this.
- ↩Ps.32.3 — When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
- ↩Ps.141.3 — Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.
- ↩Ps.111.3 — Splendor and majesty are his work, and his righteousness stands forever.
- ↩Ps.141.4 — Do not bend my heart toward any evil thing, to practice wicked deeds with people who do wrong; and let me not eat their delicacies.
- ↩Rom.10.10 — For with the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin 'Domus buccae' reflects a medieval etymological gloss on the Aramaic place name, linking it to the concept of the mouth to set up the subsequent contrast between the heart and the mouth.
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