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Chapter 66Ansl.1.66

ORATIO LXVIII [ol. LXVI]. AD EUMDEM APOSTOLUM. Pro gemina Dei dilectione et proximi impetranda.

A Poor Soul Approaches the Beloved Apostle

The speaker addresses Saint John as a wealthy friend of God and, confessing his own spiritual poverty in both dimensions of divine love, begs him for alms from his abundance.

Holy John, you are that John — one of God's great apostles, one of the great princes of his kingdom. I say you are one of those richest in the love by which God both loves and is loved, and the very richest in the love of those whom God loves. Look — you who are wealthy with such blessed riches, rich with such blessed abundance — look: a wretched yet Christian soul, poor and destitute of the riches in which you so lavishly abound, hungry, approaches the door of your mercy. It humbly begs alms from your abundance, so that from what could suffice for you and for many without any loss, you might at least share enough with this soul to sustain itself, or even simply to live. Reach out, then, rich friend of God — reach out to the soul of your poor servant, a lover of your God. From that abundant storehouse of your mind, extend this alms: small to you, great to me; easy to you, life-giving to me. So that my Lord, who was pleased to enrich you for the sake of enriching many, may deign to refresh and restore this soul for your sake, or to preserve it for life. My soul is certainly poor, my Lord, beloved of our Lord — my soul is poor, and I am compelled and ashamed to confess it, in both dimensions of love for God: because it loves God far less than it should, and is loved by God far less than it needs. In the one respect I confess myself deeply unjust; in the other, I confess God to be just. In both I feel myself utterly wretched, by the just judgment of God. I have not forgotten this as I speak, O just and merciful God; nor am I ungrateful for the many acts of your love toward me from the beginning of my creation. But until my soul is satisfied with both your loves, it always cries out that it is poor and needy — my hungry soul.✦

The Sweet Taste That Stirred Desire

The speaker reflects on how God's sweet taste has awakened an insatiable longing, and since his own prayer is insufficient, he calls upon the merits of the beloved disciple to obtain the fullness he craves.

This, to be sure, is among the greatest and most welcome of your kindnesses to me: through the sweet taste of you, you have stirred up such eagerness in me that my soul refuses to be consoled except through its fullness. Since the prayer of your less-loved sinner is not enough to obtain this, I call upon the merits of your greatly beloved and deeply cherished one to obtain it. Therefore, you who are good and sweet, and sweet and good — from whom all good comes — make him well-disposed toward me and yourself well-disposed toward him; indeed, make yourself and him well-disposed toward me, so that through him I may attain this desired good of fullness. I know, Lord, I know and confess that I am not worthy of your love; but certainly you are not unworthy of mine. Grant me therefore, Lord, through his merits, the worthiness from which you are worthy, and I will become worthy out of the unworthiness in which I now stand. But let him pray for me instead, because he, your beloved, is able to do so more effectively, Lord Jesus. Let him pray — he whose heart is a loving, sweet resting-place for you — on my behalf; and you, hear my desire through him, for your sake.

The Economy of Mutual Love

The speaker asks John to obtain for him God's mutual love, arguing that if God loves us through John, mercy flows to us, and if we love God through John, grace is repaid to him—a transaction in which no one loses and all gain.

Holy John, beloved of Jesus Christ my Lord, a servant of your friend asks you that, for the name of his Lord who loves you, you obtain for him the mutual love of God — so obtain for me, therefore, that I may be loved by him in such a way that I too may worthily love him. Surely, beloved of God, if he loves us for your sake, you bestow mercy on us; and if we love him through you, you repay grace to him. Surely, Lord, if you turn him toward us to be loved, you make us debtors to you for so great a good; and if you kindle us toward him to be loved, you make yourself a repayer to him of what is owed. Truly, blessed one, however many you cause to love, you diminish nothing from yourself; and the more you cause many to love him, the more you repay to him. Grant, therefore, Lord, this mercy to your suppliant, by which you may make both me a debtor to you for so great a good, and yourself a repayer to God on behalf of one soul. Grant, I beg you, Lord, grant — do not refuse — from which no harm will come to anyone, but salvation to your servant, grace to you, and glory to God. Most beloved disciple of piety, why will you, abounding and powerful, deny the one who asks what is harmful to no one and beneficial to so many good people? For if his own sins stand in the way of the one who desires, why do not your own merits rather stand alongside the one who prays?

Merits Greater Than Sins

The speaker challenges the idea that his sins could overpower John's merits, insisting that God's grace, sought through the beloved disciple, is more powerful than any offense once forgiven.

Are my sins powerful enough to cause harm, and are your merits powerless to help? Far be it, Lord — I must not be forced to think what I shudder to say. After all, why should the one who asks be refused on account of his sins, when he confesses those sins and seeks nothing through his own merits, but only through yours? Why then — I say this because the merits set before him are greater than the offenses brought against him. For I am certain, Lord, that if you so will it, your grace with God your beloved is more powerful than that — once my sins are forgiven — by loving me, it would make me his lover in return.1

Set Ablaze with Love

The speaker urges John to extend his boundless love so that all who love John may also love the speaker, and to enkindle the lukewarm soul with fervor, helping the one who strives and hearing the one who prays.

So then, blessed John, see to it that anyone who loves you also loves me — through that breadth of love you have taught and that you possess, the love you begrudge to no one, the good you want everyone to share in, the joy you delight in. In return, repay the love you owe to him — and with it, pay him my love as well. For you owe him not only your own love for his sake alone, but many loves besides. After all, blessed John, you have learned from your own blessedness that just as no one can give to God before he ought, so no one can repay God beyond what he owes. If, then, all who love God through your intercession cannot be repaid — I pray, Lord, do not cast away the one who asks to be counted among them. Set ablaze with love of him the one who's grown lukewarm, and make that one burn with fervor.✦ Help the one who strives; hear the one who prays.

Compelled by the Love of God

The speaker addresses both Jesus and John, confessing that the love of God compels his bold speech, and challenges each to prove their mutual love by granting the speaker the chance to be loved and to love in return.

Jesus, Lord, whom I long to hear me; John, whom I ask as my intercessor — my desire compels me so strongly that my heart compels you too to desire: not unwillingly, but willingly; not reluctantly, but eagerly. So bear with me and spare me; and if my heart is plotting anything, bend it back toward love. Bear with me — I say — because the love of God's love compels me. Lord and Lord — I believe, I know that you love each other. But how can I experience this myself, if you don't grant what I ask of each other? Jesus? How can you prove to me — or I to anyone — that you love him, if you don't give the one who longs for it the chance both to be loved by you and to love you, for his sake? John, how am I to perceive that he loves you, if you don't win him to love me as well — or how can you love him, if you don't help me, so that I too may love him?

Do Not Shut Up This Good Within Yourselves

The speaker apologizes for his boldness, then pleads with God and John not to enjoy their blessed mutual love alone but to let it flow over the wretched, enriching and gladdening needy souls.

Forgive my outburst; the love of God that is yours compels me to speak this way. And so, O God, and you his beloved, do not love only for yourselves who are blessed, but also for us who are wretched. We rejoice with you; suffer with us.✦ Do not, by enjoying it together among yourselves alone, shut up so great a good within yourselves; but let something of it flow over to us, which, poured out within us, may enrich and gladden our souls.✦

Open Your Heart to One in Need

The speaker presses John with the scriptural command not to close one's heart to a brother in need, arguing a fortiori that one who possesses eternal love should not withhold it from a soul in greater need, and dramatizes the mutual gaze of the one who commands and the one who begs.

Beloved lover of God, John, you feel secure in yourself and boast in that blessed fullness of your mutual love — so be all the more generous to a poor person begging from you for the mutual love of God, in proportion as you perceive yourself to be in greater abundance of it, and see me to be in greater need. You know, of course — you, Lord, you know — the one who decreed in his letter that no one who has worldly wealth, and sees a brother in need, should close his heart against him.✦ What then, Lord, if someone who possesses the substance of eternal life should see a neighbor's soul in need — will he close his heart against that person? Merciful Teacher, if you willed that the heart of one who has worldly wealth should not be closed against a person suffering need, will you not much rather will that the heart of one who has a better possession should not be closed against a person suffering greater need! Look — I hear you commanding that hearts be opened wide, and I see that you have the substance of loving God and of being loved by God; and you see that my soul is in need. Here are the one who commands and has, and the one who stands before him in need — the two look at each other. If, then, Lord, your seeing is more merciful than my devoted prayer, let your seeing become my prayer. For you did not write: if anyone sees a brother praying, let him close his heart; but rather: if anyone sees a brother in need.✦

You See Me—Let Your Seeing Be My Prayer

The speaker calls upon John to see his need, urging his soul to throw itself into John's gaze and cry out persistently, so that God's merciful seeing may become his prayer and he may move from head knowledge to felt experience of being seen.

Come then, Lord—see my need; indeed, you already see it. Soul, my soul, gather up all your affection and throw yourself into his gaze; cry out, groan from the deepest place of your heart in his presence: You see me.2 Repeat it there, and persistently: You see me; and: See me; John, surely you see—you see me. Therefore see me, Lord; you see me by knowing me—see me by showing me mercy.3 You see and you know—see, so that I may know. You see and you know my need—see, so that I may know your tender mercy.4 See me, see me—because you see me. Once I knew it in my head; now, at last, let me feel that you see me.5

The Fountain of Mercy and the Living Water

The speaker acknowledges the command to show mercy but defers to God's discernment, then turns to Jesus as the fountain of mercy, begging that living water flow through John so the thirsty soul may drink.

I know it — let me feel it. O what does my understanding hear — that I am to be cast down before me! I grant it, Lord, because you commanded that mercy be extended to a brother. But whether I am a brother or a neighbor, I do not dare to claim what I long for, nor do I wish to grant myself what is not good for me. Jesus, his master, look upon us, Lord. Before the stream my soul is restless with thirst, yet there is nothing for it to drink unless it flows from the fountain.✦✦ Fountain of mercy, flow from yourself into him, so that I may drink from you in him. Good one, answer for me. To the fountain I run back — beyond it I cannot go.

The Good Samaritan and the Beloved Disciple

The speaker prays that the soul perish not of thirst on the way to the living fountain, then invokes the parable of the Good Samaritan, asking John to identify the one who showed mercy and to imitate him.

Don't let the soul perish of thirst on its way to the living fountain; don't let the draught be stopped up for the one who is parched.✦✦ Let your full one hear your counsel, and let your thirsty one draw mercy from that parched one. Say to him: John, who do you think proved to be the neighbor to the one who fell among robbers? Answer, blessed John: the human race answers on behalf of its own Samaritan, giving thanks to him — answer: the one who showed mercy to him.✦ Come now, good Jesus — you've begun to answer my prayer; now I place it into your hands. You, because you are perfectly good, bring it to completion. Tell your beloved John, I beg you, and present me to him as your servant.✦ Go, and you do likewise.✦

Hope, Rejoice, and Love

The speaker exhorts his soul to hope and rejoice, recognizing that Christ himself has prepared an intercessor, and urges it to press on in love and blessing, commending the prayer to God's completion.

Hope and rejoice, rejoice and love, my soul. He himself, the one you desired as you hesitated in doubt, he himself prepares an intercessor for you.6 You were pleading through another, begging, because you didn't trust yourself to reach him; and look—that one ran up and pleaded where you were falling short.7 O goodness, O piety, O lover! See how much he has shown you that he loves you, and how much he has set you ablaze, so that you may love him in return.8 Press on, then, and hope—not in yourself, but in him; because he will hear your desire, he who thus brings your prayer to completion. My heart and my flesh—rejoice in him, and love him, and all that is within me—bless him.9 Amen.

Read the original Latin

Sancte Joannes, tu ille Joannes unus de magnis apostolis Dei, de magnis principibus regni Dei; unus, inquam, ditissimorum dilectione qua diligit et diligitur Deus, et ditissimus eorum dilectione quos diligit Deus. Ecce, o opulente tam beatis divitiis, et dives tam beata opulentia, ecce aerumnosa sed Christiana anima, pauper et inops harum divitiarum quibus sic opulenter abundas, esuriens accedit ad ostium clementiae tuae, suppliciter mendicans eleemosynam opulentiae tuae, quatenus ex eo quod tibi et multis sine diminutione sufficere potest, saltem illi tantum impertiaris unde ipsa vel vivere possit. Porrige igitur, dives amice Dei, porrige animae pauperis servi dilectoris tui Dei, de illa opulenta cella mentis tuae hanc tibi parvam, mihi magnam; tibi facilem, mihi vitalem eleemosynam, ut Dominus meus, cui placuit ad multos ditandos te ditare, dignetur eam propter te vel ad vitam tuendam refocillare. Pauper certe est, Domine mi, dilecte Domini nostri, pauper est anima mea, quod cogor et erubescor confiteri, utriusque dilectionis Dei; quia valde infra quam debet, diligit Deum, et multo minus quam eget, diligitur a Deo. Equidem in uno fateor me valde injustum, in altero justum Deum; in utroque sentio me nimis miserum, justo judicio Dei. Non sum oblitus hoc dicens, o tu juste et misericors Deus: nec sum ingratus multimodis beneficiis tuae erga me dilectionis ab initio creationis meae; sed donec satietur utraque tua dilectione, semper se pauperem et egenam clamat esuriens anima mea.

Quippe hoc ipsum est de maximis, de gratissimis mihi tuis beneficiis, quia per suavem gustum tui hanc in me excitasti aviditatem, ut renuat consolari anima mea, nisi per ejus satietatem. Ad quam impetrandam quoniam non sufficit supplicatio minus dilecti peccatoris tui; ad eam impetrandam, invoco merita multum dilecti dilectoris tui. Ergo, tu bone dulcis, et dulcis bone, a quo est omne bonum, fac illum mihi et te illi, imo et te illum mihi exorabilem, ut per illum assequar hujus satietatis desideratum bonum. Scio, Domine, scio et fateor quia ego non sum dignus quem tu diligas; sed certe tu non es indignus quem ego diligam. Da ergo mihi, Domine, per ejus merita, unde tu es dignus, et ero dignus, unde sum indignus. Sed oret pro me potius, quia ipse potest efficacius ille dilectus tuus, Domine Jesu. Oret ille pium pectus tuum, dulce reclinatorium suum pro me; et exaudi tu desiderium meum per illum propter te.

Sancte Joannes, dilecte Jesu Christi Domini mei, rogat te servus amici tui, ut propter nomen Domini sui dilectoris tui impetres illi mutuam dilectionem Dei, impetra ergo mihi quatenus sic diligar ab illo, ut et ego digne diligam illum. Certe namque, dilecte Dei, si ipse diligit nos propter te, misericordiam nobis impendis; et si nos diligamus illum per te, gratiam illi rependis. Certe, Domine, si illum convertis ad nos amandum, facis nos tibi tanti boni debitores; et si nos accendis ad illum amandum, facis te illi debiti redditorem. Certe beate, quantumcunque facias ut plures amet, nihil tibi minuis; et quanto facis ut plures illum ament, tanto plus illi retribuis. Fac ergo, Domine, hanc supplici tuo misericordiam, unde et me tibi tanti boni debitorem, et te Deo unius animae facias redditorem. Fac, precor, Domine, fac ne renuas, unde nulli damnum eveniet, sed servo tuo salus, tibi gratia, et Deo gloria proveniet. Dilectissime discipule pietatis, cur negabis abundans egenti, potens poscenti quod nulli est noxium et tot bonis obnoxium? Si enim obsistunt optanti peccata sua; cur non potius assistunt oranti merita tua?

An peccata mea potentia sunt ad nocendum, et merita tua impotentia sunt ad subveniendum? Absit, Domine, ne cogar sentire quod horreo dicere. Cur denique petenti negetur propter peccata sua, qui ea confitendo, nihil per sua merita quaerit sed per tua? Cur, inquam, cum potiora sint merita quae ab eo obtenduntur, quam delicta quae illi objiciuntur? Certus enim sum, Domine, quia si vis plus valet gratia tua apud Deum dilectorem tuum, quam ut, dimissis peccatis meis, me amando faciat amatorem suum.

Ergo, o beate Joannes, fac ut qui te diligit, me quoque diligat per illam charitatis latitudinem quam docuisti et habes; et qua nulli invides, sed commune vis esse bonum quo gaudes. Fac per vicem dilectionis quam illi debes, ut meam quoque dilectionem cum tua illi solvas, cui pro sola sua non solam tuam, sed multas debes. Quippe, beate Joannes, ipsa tua beatudine es expertus quia sicut nullus Deo prius quam debeat potest tribuere; sic nec plusquam debet, valet retribuere. Si ergo quotquot Deum amatorem tuum per te diligunt, non possunt compensari; precor, Domine, ne abjicias illum qui in illis poscit connumerari. Accende amore ejus tepentem, et redde ferventem. Adjuva nitentem, exaudi orantem.

Jesu Domine, quem opto exauditorem; Joannes, quem postulo intercessorem, sic me cogit desiderium meum, ut cogere vos desideret cor meum; verum non invitos, sed spontaneos; non nolentes, sed volentes. Patimini igitur et parcite; et si quid excogitat cor meum, torquete ad amorem. Sustinete, inquam, me, quia amor amoris Dei cogit me. Domine et Domine, credo, scio quia invicem vos diligitis. Sed unde hoc ipse experiar; si quod peto propter invicem, non conceditis? Jesu? unde tu mihi, aut ego cuiquam probo quia amas illum, si nec amari a te, nec vel amare te, das optanti mihi propter illum? Joannes, unde ego sentiam quia diligit te, si non mihi impetres ut diligat et me; aut quia tu illum, si non me adjuvas, ut et ego.

Excusa excessum meum; amor Dei tuus compellit me sic loqui. Ergo, o tu Deus, et tu dilecte ejus, nolite vos diligere solis vobis beatis, sed et nobis miseris. Congaudemus vobis, compatimini nobis. Nolite vos soli confruendo claudere tantum bonum intra vos; sed et fluat aliquid super nos, quod diffusum intra nos impinguet et laetificet animas nostras.

Dilecte dilector Dei, Joannes, qui de te securus in illa mutuae vestrae dilectionis beata plenitudine gloriaris, esto pauperi a te mutuam Dei dilectionem mendicanti tanto largior, quanto te sentis in majori ejus abundantia, et me vides in majori indigentia. Nosti quippe tu, Domine, nosti tu illum qui in epistola sua decrevit ne quis habens substantiam mundi, et videns fratrem necessitatem habere, claudat viscera sua ab eo. Quid ergo, Domine, si quis habens substantiam aeternae vitae, viderit animam proximi necessitatem habere, claudet viscera sua ab eo? Misericors praeceptor, si voluisti viscera substantiam mundi habentis non claudi necessitatem patienti, nonne multo magis meliorem substantiam habentis majorem necessitatem patienti! Ecce audio te de laxandis visceribus praecipere, et video te substantiam diligendi, Deum et diligendi a Deo habere: et tu vides animam meam necessitatem habere. Ecce jubens et habens, et coram illo indigens, invicem sese aspiciunt. Si igitur, Domine, visio tua plus est pia, quam oratio mea devota; visio tua sit oratio mea. Non enim scripsisti: si quis videns fratrem orare clauserit viscera sua; sed, si videns fratrem necessitatem habere.

Age ergo, Domine, vide necessitatem meam, imo ecce vides eam. Anima, anima mea, collige totum affectum tuum, et ingere te in aspectum ejus; inclama, ingemina intimo affectu in conspectu ejus: Vides me. Alterna ibidem, et importune repete: Vides me; et: Vide me; Joannes certe vides, vides me. Ergo vide me, Domine; vides me noscendo, vide me miserando. Vides et scis, vide ut sciam. Vides et scis necessitatem meam, vide ut sciam pietatem tuam. Vide, vide me, quia vides me. Olim scio; jam nunc sentiam quia vides me.

Scio, sentiam. O quid audit intellectus meus objici mihi! Concedo, Domine, quia fratri jussisti laxanda viscera. Sed utrum ego sim frater aut proximus, nec audeo asserere quod opto, nec volo concedere quod mihi non expedit. Jesu magister ejus, aspice nos, Domine, ante rivum anxiatur siti anima mea; sed non est quod bibat, nisi fluat de fonte. Fons misericordiae, fluat a te in illum ut bibam de te in illo. Bone, responde pro me. Ad fontem recurro; ultra nequeo.

Ne pereat ad fontem vivum anima siccitate; ne obturetur haustus arenti. Audiat satiatus tuus sententiam tuam, et hauriat de illo sitiens tuus clementiam tuam. Dic illi: Joannes, quis tibi videtur proximus illi fuisse, qui incidit in latrones: Responde, beate Joannes, quod genus humanum respondet de Samaritano suo, gratias illi agens: Responde, qui fecit misericordiam in illum. Age, bone Jesu; incepisti adjuvare orationem meam, jam in manus tuas commendo eam; tu, sicut perfecte bonus es, perfice eam. Dic, precor, Joanni dilecto tuo, et propone me illi servum tuum. Vade et tu fac similiter.

Spera et gaude, gaude et dilige, anima mea. Ipse quem tu dubitando desiderabas exauditorem, ipse tibi parat intercessorem. Mendicando obsecrabas per alium, quia per te ad ipsum non confidebas; et ecce accurrit ille, et peroravit ubi tu deficiebas. O bonitas, o pietas, o amator! Ecce quantum tibi ostendit quia te diligit; et quantum te accendit, ut illum diligas. Insta ergo, et spera, non de te, sed de illo; quia exaudiet desiderium tuum, qui sic consummat orationem tuam. Cor meum, et caro mea, exsultate in illum, et diligite illum, et omnia quae intra me sunt, benedicite illum. Amen.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.42.2 — As a deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, God.
  2. ↩Rev.3.15-Rev.3.16 — I know your works—that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot! Rev.3.16 — So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
  3. ↩Rom.12.15 — Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
  4. ↩Ps.85.6 — Will you be angry with us forever? Will you draw out your anger to all generations?
  5. ↩1John.3.17 — But if anyone has this world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how can the love of God remain in him?
  6. ↩1John.3.17 — But if anyone has this world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how can the love of God remain in him?
  7. ↩John.4.13-John.4.14 — Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again." John.4.14 — but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst forever; rather, the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life
  8. ↩John.7.37-John.7.38 — On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.' John.7.38 — The one who believes in me, just as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within him.
  9. ↩John.4.10-John.4.14 — Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." John.4.11 — The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water?" John.4.12 — Surely you are not greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his livestock? John.4.13 — Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again." John.4.14 — but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst forever; rather, the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life
  10. ↩Jer.2.13 — For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold the water.
  11. ↩Luke.10.25-Luke.10.37 — And behold, a certain lawyer stood up, testing him, saying, 'Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' Luke.10.26 — But he said to him, 'What is written in the law? How do you read it?' Luke.10.27 — And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." Luke.10.28 — And he said to him, "You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live." Luke.10.29 — But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?' Luke.10.30 — Jesus replied, "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and went away, leaving him half dead." Luke.10.31 — Now by coincidence a certain priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Luke.10.32 — In the same way also a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. Luke.10.33 — But a certain Samaritan, traveling that way, came upon him, and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. Luke.10.34 — and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. Luke.10.35 — And on the next day, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.' Luke.10.36 — Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the one who fell among the robbers? Luke.10.37 — He said, 'The one who showed him mercy.' And Jesus said to him, 'Go and do likewise.'
  12. ↩John.13.23;John.21.20 — One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining at Jesus' side. John.21.20 — Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them — the one who had leaned back against his chest at the supper and said, "Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?"
  13. ↩Luke.10.37 — He said, 'The one who showed him mercy.' And Jesus said to him, 'Go and do likewise.'

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The comparative construction plus valet... quam ut is rendered dynamically: 'more powerful than that... it would make me his lover' to preserve the sense that grace's efficacy exceeds the obstacle of sin. The ut clause introduces a result that grace surpasses.
  2. 2 ↩affectus rendered as 'affection' in the sense of deep interior feeling/devotion, not mere sentiment
  3. 3 ↩noscendo and miserando are ablatives of means; the prayer asks God to see through the twin acts of knowledge and mercy
  4. 4 ↩pietas rendered as 'tender mercy' to capture the covenantal, affectionate quality of the Latin (not mere pity)
  5. 5 ↩sentiam with quia introduces an experiential result clause—the shift from intellectual knowledge (scio) to felt experience (sentiam) is the theological heart of the sentence
  6. 6 ↩dubitando rendered as 'hesitated in doubt' to capture the ablative gerund's attendant circumstance; could also be 'while doubting.'
  7. 7 ↩mendicando rendered as 'begging' to capture the gerund's force alongside obsecrabas ('pleading').
  8. 8 ↩accendit rendered as 'set you ablaze' to capture the force of inflaming with love; could also be 'kindled' or 'enflamed.'
  9. 9 ↩The opening 'Cor meum, et caro mea, exsultate in illum' closely echoes Psalm 83:3 (Vulgate) / Psalm 84:2 (Hebrew). Candidate allusion flagged for Moses resolution.

Orationes sive Meditationes — Collection for Princess Adeliza of Normandy companion

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