Verba Christi ad sponsam, qualiter boni mores et bona opera clericorum per claras aquas et mali mores et mala opera per turpes et brutas aquas designantur.
The Three Signs of Unclean Waters
Christ identifies three physical characteristics of stagnant or polluted water that serve as metaphors for spiritual decay.
The Son speaks: "You can tell if a spring's water isn't good by three things. First, if it lacks the right color; second, if it's muddy; third, if the water is stagnant and doesn't flow, collecting all the filth that comes its way without washing it out."
Humility as the Cleric's True Color
The metaphor is applied to the clergy, defining humility as the essential clarity of heart that guards against the stain of pride.
By these waters, I mean the character and hearts of the clergy, who are meant to be like fountains—sweet to drink from through the gentleness of their ways, and sealed off against all the filth of vice. Therefore, the true color of a cleric is humility; the more he realizes how much he is obligated to labor for God, the more he humbles himself in thought and deed. Wherever there is pride, there is the devil's mark; and just as a leper's hand drawing water from a spring makes that water seem repulsive to those who see it, so pride itself makes a cleric's works appear stained.
The Stagnation of Greed and Impurity
Christ explains how greed and the failure to purge sinful thoughts through compunction render a cleric's life stagnant and unclean.
The water is muddy when a cleric is greedy and isn't content with what's necessary; just as he's useless and anxious himself, he's harmful to others through the example of his own greed. Third, water is unclean when it takes in filth and doesn't cast it out; this happens because the flow is blocked and it has no movement. A cleric is unclean when he loves the pleasures of the flesh in his heart and body, and does not cast out whatever unclean thing occurs to him through true compunction. Just as a blemish on the body is unsightly anywhere, but especially on the face, so uncleanness should be hateful to everyone, but especially to those called to higher things.
The Call to Purity and Service
The chapter concludes with a call for clergy to prioritize humility and purity over mere intellectual knowledge in their service to God.
Therefore, those clergy are to be chosen for my work who don't overflow with wordy knowledge, but with humility and purity; who live for themselves and instruct others by both word and example, because even a leprous hand is useful for my work, provided the mind is good and the spiritual hand is not lacking.
Read the original Latin
Filius loquitur: "Ex tribus perpendi potest, si aqua fontis non est bona. Primo, si non habet debitum colorem, secundo, si est lutosa, tercio, si aqua est continue stans et non in motu, recipiens sed non eiciens omnes sordes aduenientes.
Per istas aquas intelligo mores et corda clericorum, qui tanquam fontes tenentur esse dulces ad potandum per suauitatem morum, clausi contra omnes sordes viciorum. Ergo proprius color clerici vera est humilitas, ut tanto plus se humiliet cogitacione et opere, quanto obligaciorem se conspicit pro Deo debere laborare.
Vbi enim superbia est, ibi color est Dyaboli; que sicut manus leprosi hauriens aquam de fonte quasi abhominabilem reddit aquam intuentibus, sic ipsa superbia opera clerici monstrat maculosa.
Tunc vero est aqua lutosa, quando clericus cupidus est nec contentatur de necesariis; qui sicut sibi ipsi inutilis est et anxius, sic aliis per exemplum cupiditatis sue est nociuus. Tercio aqua immunda est, que recipit sordes et non eicit, et hoc prouenit ex incluso meatu et quia non habet motum.
Sic clericus immundus est, qui voluptatem carnis amat in corde et corpore et non per veram contricionem eicit a se quidquid immundum occurrerit. Nam sicut macula in corpore ubique deformis est sed maxime in facie, sic immundicia omnibus odiosa debet esse sed maxime hiis, qui ad excellenciora sunt vocati.
Ergo hii clerici ad opus meum eligendi sunt, qui non habundant verbosa sciencia sed humilitate et puritate; qui et sibi ipsis viuunt et alios erudiunt verbo et exemplo, quia eciam manus leprosa ad opus meum est utilis, dummodo mens bona sit et manus non desit spiritualis."
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