De probatica piscina; item, ne sis fratris judex temerarius
The Pool and the Paralytic
The chapter opens by describing the pool at Jerusalem where sheep were washed and where, at the angel's stirring of the water, the sick were healed, introducing the long‑suffering paralytic who lay there thirty‑eight years.
In Jerusalem there was a pool where waters were gathered, and sheep were washed there—the sheep from which sacrifices were made.✦ The wood of the cross is said to have been placed there. But in whatever year it was, when the water was stirred once by an angel, a sick person was healed—namely, whoever descended into the water after its stirring by the angel. For this reason, many sick people stayed near it continually.✦ —Augustine , on the Word. —the Apostle. Now there was a certain sick man there.✦
Jesus Heals and Teaches
Jesus heals the paralytic on the Sabbath, and from this deed the text draws three lessons: the need for human consent with grace, the danger of falling back into sin after healing, and the contrast between the good who find profit in everything and the wicked who seize only what they can fault.
He lay on his mat, a paralytic, for thirty-eight years. This man, then, Jesus healed on a certain Sabbath day.✦ Notice him going humbly to the sick man, and speaking in the usual way. In this deed, then, there is a threefold lesson. First, because just as the Lord here did not ask the sick man whether he wished to be healed, so he will not give us salvation without our consent; and lest sinners who do not consent to the will of the Lord and to their own salvation be without excuse — because according to Augustine, 'He who created you without you will not justify you without you.'✦ Second, we must be careful not to fall back from the Lord, because if, having been healed by the Lord, we relapse, our ingratitude will deservedly be punished all the more severely — just as the Lord said to this man, 'Go and sin no more, lest something worse happen to you.'✦ Third, because the wicked lose the good in everything, just as the good gain something from everything. For when this man, now set free, carried his mat and was told by the Jews that this was not permitted on the Sabbath, he answered, 'The one who made me well — he told me, "Take up your mat."'✦ They did not say, 'Who is the one who made you well?'✦
Do Not Judge Rashly
Worldly people judge by partial appearances, but those who live spiritually refer everything to God's praise and, following blessed Bernard, refuse to be curious explorers or rash judges of another's life, instead excusing their neighbor's faults as far as possible.
And so they seized on whatever they could find fault with, not on what they could praise. This is how worldly people often judge the part they see as though it were the whole, losing sight of everything else. But those who live spiritually refer everything to the praise of God — whether prosperity or adversity — and they never doubt that all things happen rightly, with God either working all things rightly or justly permitting them. They interpret everything in the best light, following the teaching of blessed Bernard, who says this: Beware of being either a curious explorer or a rash judge of another person's way of life.12 Even if you detect something that was done wrongly, don't judge your neighbor on that basis — rather, make excuses for them. Excuse the intention when you can't excuse the actions: think it was ignorance, think it was a slip, think it was chance. But if the plain facts rule out every evasion, then persuade yourself of this, and say to yourself: The temptation was simply too strong. What would that person have done to me if they had found the same power in me? Thus far Bernard.
All Things Turn to Good for the Spiritual
Spiritual people profit even from sins, harmful things, and the devil's works, because they use the world as though they do not use it and turn every creature and trial to eternal good, while God works good even through wicked dispensers.
Spiritual people, on the other hand, profit from everything — even from their own sins and those of others, from harmful things, and even from the devil's works. Bernard teaches it this way: …such things do not reach unto them, yet they are known to help them, in their bodily and temporal service, toward those things that must be seized for their own bodily and temporal obedience — those who transfer every use of temporal things to eternal fruit, using this world as though they did not use it.✦ And after many words: 'If any creatures, as far as their usefulness to us is concerned, are found to be harmful — even damaging, even destructive to the temporal well-being of human beings — still there is no lack in their bodies by which they may be turned to good for those who are called according to God's purpose as saints; and if not by yielding themselves as food or by rendering service, then certainly by exercising the mind toward him who is surely present with every reasoning person, for the common discipline's advancement, through which the invisible things of God are clearly seen, being understood through the things that are made.'✦ For the devil and his attendants — since their intention is always malicious — always desire to do harm. But if you prove to be good imitators, far be it that they should hurt you; rather, they help you more, and they cooperate for good against their own will. And further below: 'For there is one who does good against his will, whether a bad man or a bad angel; and it is established that this does not happen on his account, since no good can benefit the unwilling one.' So to that one, the dispensing of it is entrusted only; but somehow we perceive the good more gratefully and more joyfully when it is ministered through an evil dispenser. This, then, is the reason why God does good to the good even through the wicked — not, however, because he needs their works in doing good. The same author: 'Why do you boast, O dust and ashes?'✦
Warning from the Fallen Angels
The Lord passed over the proud angels, and their rejection should correct us; the devil's curse against the proud becomes a lesson in humility, contrasting the devil's heavenly pride with our own wretchedness.
And the Lord passes over the angels, abhorring their pride. So let the angels' rejection serve as a correction for us. For it is written as a rebuke to them: Let even the devil's evil be turned to my good, and I will wash my hands in the blood of the sinner. How so? you ask. Listen. Upon the proud one, surely, a dreadful and terrifying curse is hurled by the devil. And further on: 'If this is how it was dealt with him, what will become of me, earth and ashes?' He swelled with pride in heaven; I wallow in the dung-heap.
Humility Before Our Own Wretchedness
Reflecting on the punishment of the mighty fallen angel leads to a cry of compunction for one's own insignificance and pride, while Bernard shows how the Church turns even the reproach of many sins into loving advantage.
Who would consider pride more intolerable in a rich man than in a poor one? Woe is me! If such harsh punishment has fallen on that powerful one, what will become of me — so insignificant, so wretched, and so proud? Bernard also, speaking of the bride of the Church, who after many sins … [Citation marker: in noni.] [Citation: book 7, chapter 28.] That is. … gathered to the Lord from the nations, who once worshipped idols — the very reproach leveled at her from the Synagogue — she twists to her own advantage, saying: 'She is the one who was forgiven much, and who loves much.'
Be Spiritual, and All Will Be Well
The spiritual person turns every rival reproach to growth in patience, love, humility, and obedience, and through continuous practice arrives at such peace of mind that scarcely anything can sadden them.
What a rival hurls as an insult at someone else, she herself turns to her own advantage. From there, gentler toward correction; from there, more patient with labor; from there, more ardent in love; from there, more shrewd in caution; from there, more humble before conscience; from there, more acceptable in modesty; from there, more ready to obey; from there, more devout and more earnest in giving thanks. "Thus far Bernard." See how those who live spiritually interpret everything for the best and make gain out of all things. Be spiritual, then, and everything will turn to your good. And this kind of desire is powerful—even for enduring tribulations and temptations, and for the quiet of the mind. For through such continuous practice, anyone could arrive at such great peace of mind that they would scarcely and rarely be troubled by anything, or have room for what the Wise One says: "Nothing that happens to the just person will sadden them."
Read the original Latin
Erat in Hierusalem quaedam congregatio aquarum ^, in qua lavabantur oves de quibus fiebanl sacrificia. In ea dicitur fuisse lignum crucis. Quohbet autem anno, cum semel commovebatur ab Angelo, sanabatur aliquis infirmus, sciUcet qui descendebat in aquam post ejus ab Angelo motionem. Unde multi propterea infirmi juxta eam continue morabantur. > August. , de verh. Apost. , Erat autem ibi quidam infirmus.
jacens in grubato paralylicus per triginta et octo annos. Hunc igitur Jesus quadam die sabbati sanavit. Conspice eum humihter euntem ad infirmum, et loquentem more sohto. In hoc igitur facto trianola. Primum, quia sicut hic Dominus rc- xria noquisivit infirmum, si vellet sanari; ita nobis '"°'^''* curatiosine nostro consensu salutem non dabit: et ne parainexcusabiles sunt peccatores non consentientes 'yi'°'voluntaU Domini, et suae salufi, quia secundum Augusfinum '*: " Qui creavit te sine te, non justificabit te sine te. " Secundum, cavere debemus ne relabamur a Domino, quia si sanati a Domino recidivamus, digne nostra ingratitudo acrius punietur, sicut huic dixit Dominus ^: Vade, noK amplius peccare, ne deterius aliquid tibi contingat. Tertio, quia maligni de omnibus perdunt, sicut boni de omnibus lucrantur, Nam cum hic liberatus portaret grabatum, et diceretur ei a Judaeis, quod hoc non licebat in die sabbati, ipse respondit ^: Qui me salvum fecit, ille mihi dixit; lolle grabatum tuum. Non dicebant: Quis est ille, qui te salvum fecit?
Et sic accipiebant, quod possent reprehendere, non quod poterantlaudare. Sic et carnales homines saepe in malam judicant partem quae vident, et quasi de omnibus perdunt. Spiritualiter autem viventes omnia referunt ad laudem Dei, sive sit prosperitas, sive sit adversitas, et non dubitant, quin recte omnia fiant, Deo cuncta vel recte operante, vel juste permittente; et omnia in bonam partem interpretantur, juxta doctrinara beati Bernardi, qui sic ait "^: " Cave alienae conversationis esse aut curiosus explorator, aut temerarius judex. Etiamsi perperam actum quid deprehendas, nec sic judices proximum, magis autem excusa. Excusa intentionem, si opera non potes: puta ignorantiam, puta subreptionem, puta casum. Quod si omnem dissimulationem rei certitudo recusat, suade nihilominus ipse tibi, et dicito apud temeipsum: Vehemens fuit nimis tentatio. Quid de me illa fecisset, si in me accepisset similiter potestatem? " Hucusque Bernardus.
Quod autem de omnibus lucrantur spirituales, etiam de suis et alienis peccatis, et de rebus nocivis, et eUam de diaboli operibus, sic docet Bernardus*: <(Irrationalis et brutaUs spiritus, etsi ad spiri"^ opus. tualia non perlingat, ad ea tamen capessenda pro suo corporali temporalique obsequio noscitur juvare illos, qui omnem usum rerumtemporalium ad fruclum transferunt eeternum, utentes hoc mundc tanquam non utenles. ■" Et post multa ': " Si qua animantia, quantum ad usumsui, reperiantur incommoda, etsi nociva, etsi etiam perniciosa temporali homiuum constet esse saluti, non tamen deest eorum corporibus unde ^ cooperentur in bonum his, qui secundum propositum vocati sunt sancti; et si non cedendo in cibum, aut exhibendo ministerium, certe ingenium exercendo juxta eum, qui utique omni utenti ratione praesto est, communis disciplinae profectum quo ^ invisibilia Dei per ea quoe facta sunt, intellecta conspiciuntur. Nam et diabolus ejusque satellites, cum sit eorum semper maligna intentio, nocere quidem semper cupiunt; sed si boni semulatores fueritis, absit ut obsint, magis autem prosunt, et nolentes cooperantur in bonum bonis. " Et infra *: " Est enim qui bonum operatur non volens, sive homo malus, sive angelus malus; et constat non fieri propter eum, cum prodesse nullum bonum possit invito. Igitur ei quidem dispensatio tantum creditaest; sed nescio quomodo gratius jucundiusque sentimus bonum, quod per malum dispensatorem ministratur. Ipsa est ergo causa cur et per malos Deus faciat bona bonis, non autem quod opera eorum indigeat in benefaciendo. " Idem ^: " Quid superbis, terra et cinis ^?
et de angelis transilit Dominus, execrans eorum superbiam. Ergo repudiatio angelorum fiat emendatio hominum. Scriptum est enim ad eorum correptionem: Cooperetur mihi in bonum etiam diaboli malum, et ■^ lavem manus meas in sanguine peccatoris. QuaUter, inquis? Audi. Superbo certe diabolo horrenda et formidolosa maledictio intorquetur. " Et infra *: " Si sic est actum cum eo, quid de me fiet terra et cinere? Ille in coelo intumuit ego in sterquilinio.
Quis nontolerabiliorem in divite superbiam, quam in paupere ducat? V£e mihi! si tam dure in polente illo animadversum est, quid de me exiguo, et misero, et superbo? " Bei^nardus etiam ® loquens de sponsa Ecclesia, quee post multa peccata ve^ Bera. , in ^ noni. , vin, 28. " Id. , in nit ad Dominum de gentibus collecta, quae idola colebat, quod eidem de Synagoga improperabatur), sic in suam utilitatem torquet, dicens ^": Ipsa est cui plus dimissum est, et quae plus diligit.
Quod aemula improperat ei ad convitium, hoc sibi ipsa inflectit ad commodum. Inde mansuetior ad correptionem; inde patientior ad laborem; inde ardenlior ad amorem; inde sagacior ad cautelam; inde humilior pro conscientia; inde acceptior pro verecundia; inde ad obediendum paratior; inde ad gratiarum actionem devotior ac sollicitior. " Hucusque Bernardus. Yide quomodo spiritualiter viventes omnia interpretantur in bonam partem, et de omnibus lucrum faciunt. Sis ergo spiritualis, et omnia tibi in bonum. Et valet hujusmodi desideratio, etiam ad tolerantiam tribulationum et tentationum, et animi quietem. Nam per hujusmodi continuum exercitium, ad tantam tranquillitatem animi quis posset pervenire, quod vix et raro de aliqua re turbaretur, vel haberet locum in eo quod ait Sapiens ": Non contristabit justum, quidquid ei acciderit
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.5.2 — Now there is in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, a pool called Bethesda in Hebrew, which has five covered colonnades.
- ↩John.5.3 — In these lay a great multitude of the sick—blind, lame, withered.
- ↩John.5.5 — Now a man was there who had been suffering from his illness for thirty-eight years.
- ↩John.5.6-John.5.9 — When Jesus saw this man lying there, and knowing that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, 'Do you want to be made well?' John.5.7 — The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me." John.5.8 — Jesus said to him, 'Get up, take up your mat, and walk.' John.5.9 — And at once the man became well, and he took up his mat and was walking. Now it was the Sabbath on that day.
- ↩John.5.6 — When Jesus saw this man lying there, and knowing that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, 'Do you want to be made well?'
- ↩John.5.14 — After these things, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you have become well. Sin no longer, so that nothing worse happens to you."
- ↩John.5.8-John.5.11 — Jesus said to him, 'Get up, take up your mat, and walk.' John.5.9 — And at once the man became well, and he took up his mat and was walking. Now it was the Sabbath on that day. John.5.10 — So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, 'It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.' John.5.11 — The one who made me well said to me, "Take up your mat and walk."
- ↩John.5.12 — They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your mat and walk'?"
- ↩1Cor.7.31 — and those who use this world as if not making full use of it, for the present form of this world is passing away.
- ↩Rom.1.20 — For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes have been clearly perceived, being understood through the things that have been made: both his eternal power and divine nature. So they are without excuse.
- ↩Gen.3.19 — By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Notes
Meditationes Vitae Christi (Pseudo-Bonaventure), Castilian court context companion
A scene a day, for life
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