Christus dicit sponse, quod prelati et litterati, qui de sciencia gloriantur et ditantur et male viuunt, comparantur meretricibus et potatoribus vini. Qui se ipsos et alios in peccatis precipitant, cum tamen deberent esse magis virtuosi quam alii. Occurret tamen cum misericordia omni se conuertenti sicut pater exultans adepto filio.
The Corruption of the Learned
Christ rebukes the worldly prelates and teachers who treat the Church's law as a means for personal gain and vanity.
"That prelate for whom you are praying has already turned his eyes away from me and has turned himself toward the world, along with the finery of his position." If he truly wanted to be mine, he would look to me daily, read my book more attentively, and not be so anxiously preoccupied with the law that is called the Church's. She replied to Him, "My Lord, isn't Your law the law of the Church?" And the Lord answered, "It was My law as long as My people read it and read it for My sake." But now it isn't mine, because it's read in the house of gamblers who throw three points on a single die; for they acquire a great sum of money from the little bit of justice they find in the law of the Church. It's no longer read for my honor, but for a different purpose: how to make money. In the house of those who gamble with dice, there are harlots and there are drunkards. These people read my law now and are called learned, but in truth, they are fools. After all, what is a prostitute accustomed to doing? She is certainly accustomed to being bold in her speech, flighty in her behavior, beautiful in face, and adorned in her dress. These are the people who read and study my law. Their words are full of vulgarity; they never open their mouths to speak of my preaching or to offer me praise. Their conduct is so fickle that even worldly people are embarrassed by their behavior. They don't just ruin themselves; by their example, they actually drag others down with them. They care about nothing but being seen by the world, being praised as honest and honorable, walking around in fine clothes, and acquiring wealth and status. My words and my commands are bitter to them; my life and my way are an abomination to them. Truly, their conduct and their life stink in my sight like a prostitute. For just as a prostitute is seen as more vile and contemptible than other women, so they are more hateful to me than others. They talk about the law and pride themselves on knowing it, but they do so only to deceive others and to serve their own will. Even in my house, where the law is read, there are those who are drunkards and incontinent, whose glory it is to outdo others and to stir up their nature toward excess. These are the teachers of the law today: they take pleasure in excess, feel little shame for their own faults, and aren't in the least saddened by the sins of others. Yet if they truly read my law, they would find that they're obligated to be more self-controlled than others, more humble than others, and more committed than others to living a good life.
The Father's Joyful Mercy
Despite the failures of the leaders, God remains a loving Father who eagerly awaits the return of any soul that turns back to Him.
I, however, am like a powerful lord who loves the sheep of many cities. Even though he is powerful, he doesn't accept sheep from any other city, except for those he is bound by justice to have. In the same way, I—the all-powerful Creator of all things—don't accept just anyone, but only those whom I am bound by justice to have, and who recognize in love that they are mine. Still, anyone who has wandered away from me but wants to return and listen to my voice can be saved. Doesn't a sheep that has wandered from its flock and mixed with another run quickly to its mother when it hears her bleating? In the same way, when a mother hears the voice of her child, she runs to meet it with all her might, so that if she is free to do so, neither labor nor pain will stop her from running. In this way I, the Creator of all, gladly receive the one who hears my voice, and I run to meet them with joy, like a father rejoicing over a lost son who has been found, or like a mother happy at the return of her lamb.
The Stewardship of God's Portion
A specific warning regarding the misuse of ecclesiastical wealth and the importance of detachment from material possessions.
He was the provost of the Church of Saint Peter and later a cardinal. The Son of God speaks of him like this: "Many who are God's portion and God's almoners are hoarding the gifts of God for others, because a cleric, who is God's portion, does not own whatever he has beyond food, clothing, and necessities; it belongs to the poor."1 Therefore, he is happy who gathers in the summer what he can live on in the winter. Look, for as you see, how greedily his relatives scatter what he gathered, not caring at all about his soul! Still, because he had a good will to distribute his possessions, he arrived at what he desired. Yet he would have been much happier if he’d given them away while he was still alive.
Read the original Latin
"Ille prelatus, pro quo tu oras, iam auertit oculos suos a me et vertit se ad mundum cum ornatu dignitatis sue. Si vellet enim esse meus, respiceret me cottidie, legeret librum meum attencius et non sic sollicite cogitaret in lege, que dicitur Ecclesie."
Cui illa respondit: "Numquid non, Domine mi, est lex tua lex Ecclesie?" Et Dominus respondit: "Lex mea erat, quamdiu mei legerunt eam et propter me legebatur.
Nunc autem non est mea, quia legitur iam in domo taxillatorum, qui tres punctos super vnum taxillum iaciunt; quia pro modica iusticia, quam in lege Ecclesie inueniunt, magnam summam pecunie acquirunt.
Nec legitur iam pro honore meo sed ad finem illum, quomodo pecunia acquiratur. In domo autem ludencium ad taxillos sunt meretrices, sunt potatores vini.
Tales nunc legunt legem meam, tales nunc nominantur scientes, sed vere sunt insipientes. Quid enim facere solet meretrix? Vtique solet esse procax in verbis, leuis in moribus, pulchra facie, ornata vestibus.
Tales sunt iam, qui legunt et addiscunt legem meam. Scurrilitas est in verbis eorum, numquam aperitur os eorum ad predicacionem meam, numquam ad laudem meam.
Leues sunt in moribus, ita eciam quod seculares erubescunt de moribus eorum. Nec solum se ipsos precipitant, ymmo eciam alios secum exemplo suo trahunt.
Ipsi nichil affectant nisi videri a mundo et laudari honesti et honorati incedere vestibus suis, diuicias et honores acquirere. Verba mea et precepta sunt eis amara, vita et via mea est eis abhominabilis.
Vere conuersacio eorum et vita sic fetet in conspectu meo quasi meretrix. Quia sicut pre aliis mulieribus vilior et abieccior videtur meretrix, sic ipsi pre aliis sunt michi odiosi.
Dicunt enim et gloriantur se scire legem sed ad aliorum decepcionem et suam voluntatem. In domo eciam mea, vbi lex legitur, sunt potatores vini et incontinentes, quorum gloria est pre aliis excedere et naturam ad superflua irritare.
Tales nunc sunt magistri legis, qui gaudent ad superflua, de excessibus suis modicum verecundantur, de aliorum peccatis minime contristantur.
Verumptamen, si bene legerent legem meam, inuenirent se pre aliis debere esse continenciores, pre aliis humiliores, pre aliis ad bene viuendum obligaciores.
Ego autem sum quasi potens dominus amans multarum ciuitatum oues. Qui quamuis potens est, non tamen recipit alicuius alterius ciuitatis oues, nisi quas tenetur ex iusticia habere.
Sic ego, qui omnium creator sum et potentissimus, non tamen recipio aliquos, nisi quos ex iusticia teneor habere et qui ex caritate se cognoscunt esse meos.
Verumptamen, quicumque a me errauerit et ad me redire voluerit et vocem meam audire, saluari potest. Numquid non ouis vagabunda a proprio grege et alteri mixta, si audit balatum matris, festinanter currit ad matrem?
Et similiter, cum mater audit vocem partus sui, toto conatu currit in occursum eius, ita quod, si in potestate libera est, non obstat labor, non pena, quin currat.
Sic ego, omnium creator, libenter suscipio eum, qui vocem meam audit, et gaudenter occurro ei tamquam pater exultans de adepto filio perdito et quasi mater gaudens de redicione agni sui."
Hic fuit prepositus ecclesie Sancti Petri et postea cardinalis. De quo filius Dei loquitur:
"Multi, qui sunt sors Dei et elemosinarii Dei, thesaurizant alienis dona Dei, quia clericus, qui sors Dei est, quidquid habet vltra victum et vestitum et necessaria, non suum est sed pauperum.
Ideo felix est, qui colligit in estate, vnde viuat in hyeme. Ecce enim, sicut vides, quam auide parentes dispergunt, que congregauit iste, non curantes animam eius!
Verumptamen, quia ipse habuit bonam voluntatem distribuendi sua, peruenit ad id, quod desiderabat. Tamen multo felicior fuisset, si sua viuens erogasset."
Notes
- 1 ↩The term 'sors Dei' (God's portion/lot) refers to the clerical state as being set apart for God's service, echoing the Levites in the Old Testament.
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