Verba Virginis ad sponsam, qualiter episcopus diligens mundum flabello pleno vento et testudini iacenti in putredine comparatur,et quomodo talis Ambrosio episcopo oppositus iudicatur.
The Empty Fan of Worldly Desire
The bishop who loves worldly pleasure is compared to a fan blowing wind over dead coals, signifying a life devoid of spiritual fruit.
Scripture says, "Whoever loves their soul in this world will lose it." But this bishop loves his soul according to all his own pleasures, and there is no spiritual delight in his heart. That is why he can be well compared to a fan full of wind beside a furnace. Just as the air remains in the bellows even when the coals have burned out and the molten metal has flowed away, so he—even though he gives his nature everything it craves and wastes his time uselessly—still keeps that same delight, just like the air in the bellows. His will is set on the pride and greed of the world, and through this hardened heart, he provides both the occasion and the example for sinning to those who, consumed by their sins, drift down into hell.
The Example of Ambrose
Saint Ambrose is presented as the antithesis of the worldly bishop, serving as a true 'fan of virtues' who heals souls through divine love.
Bishop Ambrose didn't have that kind of disposition. His heart, in short, was full of the divine will; his food and sleep were reasonable, blowing away the pleasure of sin.1 He spent his time usefully and honestly. He can indeed be well called a fan of virtues. For he healed the wounds of sin with words of truth. He set the cold on fire with divine love and the example of his good works, and those burning with the pleasure of sin cooled down because of his pure life. And so he helped many, preventing them from falling into the death of hell, because divine delight remained in him as long as he lived.
The Tortoise in the Rot
The worldly bishop is likened to a tortoise hiding in rot, prompting a final reflection on the state of his priesthood and his coldness toward God.
This kind of bishop is like a tortoise that, lying in its natural rot, pulls its head into the earth. In this way, he lies there and takes pleasure in the abomination of sin, dragging his soul toward earthly things rather than eternal ones. I keep three things in mind: first, how he has carried out the duties of the priesthood. Second, what that word of the Gospel means: 'They are sheep in their clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves!' Third, why it is that only worldly things burn in his heart. Yet the Creator of all things is cold in his heart."
Read the original Latin
Scriptura dicit: "Qui diligit animam suam in hoc mundo, perdet eam. Iste vero episcopus diligit animam suam iuxta omnem voluptatem suam et spiritualis delectatio non est in corde eius.
Ideo bene comparari potest flabello pleno vento iuxta conflatorium. Nam sicut carbonibus consumptis et ere ignito fluente adhuc remanet ventus in flabello, sic ipse quamuis nature sue tribuit omne, quod appetit, consumens tempus suum inutiliter, tamen remanet sibi eadem delectatio sicut ventus in flabello.
Nam voluntas eius est ad superbiam et cupiditatem mundi, ex quibus induratis corde dat occasionem et exemplum peccandi, qui consumpti in peccatis defluunt in infernum.
Non sic dispositus fuit ille bonus Ambrosius episcopus. Eius denique cor plenum fuit diuina voluntate, eius cibus et somnus rationabilis, qui exsufflans peccati voluptatem. Tempus suum consumpsit utiliter et honeste.
Ipse quippe bene vocari potest flabellum virtutum. Sanauit enim vulnera peccati verbis veritatis. Incendit frigidos diuina caritate et bonorum operum suorum exemplo, feruentes quoque voluptate peccati refriguerunt ex eius munda vita. Et sic ipse multos iuuit, ne intrarent mortem inferni, quia diuina delectatio in eo permansit quamdiu vixit.
Iste vero episcopus similis est testudini, que iacens in innata putredine trahit caput in terram. Sic iste iacet et delectatur in peccati abhominationem trahens animum ad terrena non ad sempiterna.
Tria reduco sibi ad memoriam: Primo, quomodo tenuerit officium sacerdotij. Secundo, quid significat illud verbum euangelij: 'Vestimenta sunt ouium, intrinsecus autem sunt lupi rapaces!' Tercio, cur ea, que temporalia sunt, tantummodo feruent in corde. Creator vero omnium frigidus est in corde eius."
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin 'qui exsufflans' is grammatically elliptical; the translation interprets it as describing the effect of his reasonable life on the temptation of sin.
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