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Chapter 29SermC.1.29

Sermo 29

The Bride's Complaint Against Her Own

Bernard unpacks the bride's lament that the sons of her mother have fought against her, identifying them as those who persecuted Christ and the Church from within their own household, yet distinguishing even Paul as one who obtained mercy.

The sons of my mother have fought against me.✦ Annas and Caiaphas and Judas Iscariot were sons of the Synagogue, and these men fought against the Church — the daughter of the Synagogue just as they were — most bitterly at the very moment of her rising, hanging Jesus, their gatherer, on the cross.1 Even then, God fulfilled through them what he had long before foreshadowed through the prophet when he said: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.✦ And perhaps that voice in Hezekiah's Song is his: My life was cut off as if by a weaver, while I was still beginning my work, he cut me down.✦2 So it is about these and others from that nation who are known to have spoken against the Christian name that the bride says, for instance: The sons of my mother have fought against me.3 And fittingly she calls them sons of their mother, but not also sons of their father — those who did not have God as father but were instead of their father the devil; murderers indeed, just as that murderer was from the beginning.✦ That is why she does not say 'my brothers' or 'sons of my father,' but 'the sons of my mother,' she says, 'have fought against me.' Otherwise, if she did not distinguish in this way, the apostle Paul too would seem to be included among those she complains about — since he too at one time persecuted the Church of God — but he obtained mercy, because he did this in ignorance while he remained in unbelief; and he proved that he had God as father and was a brother of the Church as much by his father as by his mother.✦4

At the Table of Solomon

The bride is urged to consider carefully what is set before her at Solomon's rich table, recognizing that persecution from within one's own household is a grievous evil foretold by Christ himself.

But notice how she names by name the sons of her own mother, and accuses them alone, as if they alone were to blame.✦ And how much has she suffered from outsiders? As it says in the prophet: 'They have often attacked me since my youth,' and: 'Sinners have bent over my back.'✦ Why, then, do you single out the sons of your mother, when you are well aware that you have also been attacked again and again by other and still other nations? Called to a rich man's table, carefully, she says, consider what is set before you. Brothers, we sit at Solomon's table. Who is richer than Solomon? I'm not talking about earthly riches, though Solomon abounded in those too; but look at the present table, how it is filled with heavenly delights. What's set before us is spiritual and divine. So, he says, carefully consider what's being placed before you, knowing that you need to prepare for things like this. In my own case, so far as I'm able, I pay close attention to what's being set before me in these words of the Bride, and I look to the teaching and warning that are entirely mine: that persecution from one's own household is expressed in her name alone, and that so many grievous things are passed over in silence — things which, nevertheless, from every nation under heaven, at the hands of unbelievers, heretics, and schismatics, she is known to have endured everywhere on earth. I know the Bride's prudence; you wouldn't think she said these things by chance, or as if she'd forgotten. But she plainly laments this all the more, because she feels it differently and judges that we must be all the more on our guard against it. What is this? Truly, an evil that is internal and from one's own household. This is expressed to you plainly in the Gospel from the mouth of the Savior himself, when he says: And a man's enemies will be those of his own household.

The Wound of a Close Betrayer

The pain of betrayal is felt most keenly when it comes from someone of one soul, a table companion and fellow soldier, echoing the lament of the psalmist and the Savior's own experience.

And this is found in the prophet too: 'The man of my peace, who ate my loaves, has magnified his supplanting over me'; likewise: 'If my enemy had cursed me, I would certainly have endured it; and if the one who hated me had spoken great things against me, I would perhaps have hidden myself from him.'✦ But you — a person of one soul with me, my leader, and my acquaintance, who once took sweet food together with me — that is, the fact that I suffer this from you, my table companion and my fellow soldier, is what I feel more keenly and bear more heavily. You know these complaints — whose they are, and about whom.

The Evil of Discord Among Brothers

Bernard warns the community against internal discord, urging them to preserve brotherly unity and not become the sons of their mother who fight against one another, making the bride's lament their own cry.

Recognize, then, that the bride too, with the same affection, complains about her mother's sons, since it is in the same spirit that she says: 'The sons of my mother fought against me.'✦ And so elsewhere she speaks: 'My friends and my neighbors have drawn near against me and stood against me.'✦ Keep far from you, I beg, this always abominable and detestable evil, you who have experienced it and experience daily how good and how pleasant it is to dwell as brothers in one—provided it is in one, and not in scandal.✦ Otherwise it is clearly neither pleasant nor good, but the worst and most troublesome thing of all. But woe to that person through whom the pleasant bond of unity is disturbed! Whoever that person is, he will surely bear judgment. Let me die before I hear any one of you justly crying out among you: 'The sons of my mother fought against me.'✦ Are not all of you sons of the present congregation, as of one mother, each of you brothers to one another?

The Gift of Love as Safeguard

If all is well within and brotherly peace reigns, no outward threat can truly harm; therefore the community should strive after the greatest spiritual gift, which is love, the more excellent way that surpasses even martyrdom.

So what from outside could possibly disturb you or make you sad, if all is well within you and you're rejoicing in brotherly peace? In the end, who will be able to harm you, he says, if you prove yourselves good imitators?5 Strive after the greater spiritual gifts, so that you prove yourselves good imitators.✦6 The most excellent gift is love — clearly beyond all comparison — which the heavenly Bridegroom took care to impress upon the new bride so often, now saying: 'Everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another'; and now: 'A new commandment I give you, that you love each other'; and: 'This is my commandment, that you love each other'; and likewise praying that they would be one, just as he and the Father are one.7 And see if Paul himself, who invites you to the greater spiritual gifts, doesn't place love above all the rest — whether he speaks of it with faith and hope as greater and more surpassing than knowledge, or whether, after listing many wonderful gifts of heavenly grace, he at last points us toward a more excellent way, no other, surely, than the way he defines as love.✦✦89 In the end, what do we think can be compared to this — to love, which is preferred even to martyrdom and to faith that moves mountains?✦10 This then is what I say: peace that comes from you be with you; and whatever threat seems to loom from outside does not terrify, because it does no real harm.11 For on the contrary, whatever outward flattery may appear, there is certainly no real consolation if — God forbid! — it is lacking within.12

A Seed-Bed of Discord

A terse transitional sentence announcing that a seed-bed of discord has sprouted, setting up the urgent warning that follows.

A seedbed of discord has sprouted.

Guarding Every Word and Gesture

The community is urged to keep peace by guarding not only against grave offenses but also secret whispers and small angers, since even hidden resentment mortally wounds the soul and renders prayer impossible.

So then, dear ones, keep peace among yourselves, and do not harm one another — not by action, not by word, not by any kind of sign — and let no one, provoked perhaps and overwhelmed by a storm of small-hearted bitterness, be driven to call on God against those who have harmed or grieved him, and break out into some grave accusation: 'The sons of my mother have fought against me.'✦ For in this way, by sinning against a brother, you sin against Christ, who says: 'Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me.'✦ And you must guard not only against graver offenses — for example, an open insult or a curse — but also against any kind of secret and poisonous whisper. No, it's not enough, I say, to guard your mouth against these things and others like them; even small offenses must be watched for — if 'small' is really the word for anything you dare to do to a brother with the will to harm him; for by that alone, if you grow angry with him, you become liable to God's judgment. And rightly so: for what you consider small, and therefore treat more lightly, another often receives quite differently — as a person who looks at the face and judges by outward appearance, ready to suspect a beam where there is only a straw, and to think a spark is a furnace.✦ For not everyone has that love which believes all things.✦ Human feelings and thoughts, however, are more inclined to suspect evil than to believe good — especially where the discipline of silence doesn't allow you, who are in the wrong, to excuse yourself, nor allow the other to open the wound of suspicion he suffers, so that it may be healed. And so that person burns and dies, struck by a wound that is hidden and mortal, groaning within himself, while, wholly consumed by anger and argument, he can silently turn over in his mind nothing but the wrong he has received.

Christ Cries Out Through the Wounded Brother

When one saddens a brother, Christ himself cries out from that brother's heart, and all prayer and devotion become bitter because charity has been violated.

Someone can't pray, can't read, can't meditate on anything holy or spiritual — and so, with the life-giving spirit cut off, the soul for which Christ died goes to death, starved of its own nourishment; what, I ask you, is on your mind in the meantime? What does your prayer — or your work, whatever you manage to do in the meantime — taste like to you, against whom Christ is surely crying out anxiously from the heart of your brother whom you saddened: 'Son of my mother, he fights against me, and the one who once shared sweet meals with me has filled me with bitterness'?

A Dreadful Thing to Fall Into God's Hands

No offense against a brother is slight when Christ is offended in it, for it brings one under God's judgment; therefore angry words and gestures must be suppressed at their rising, following the prophet who was troubled and did not speak.

But if you say that he shouldn't have been so deeply disturbed over so small a matter, I answer: the slighter it is, the more easily it could have been left alone by you. Though I don't know how you call it slight — as I've already said — when anything goes beyond anger, since you yourself will have received the judgment from his own mouth, from which you are answerable.13 What then? Would you call it slight, when Christ is offended in it — something for which you are answerable at God's judgment, since it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God?✦14 So when you've received some injury — and it's not unlikely to happen in these gatherings — you shouldn't immediately, in the worldly way, rush to answer a brother back with a cutting reply, nor, under the guise of offering a sharp reproach, dare to pierce through any soul at all with a harsh and burning word — the soul for which Christ deigned to be fastened to the cross. Don't snarl as if rebuking, don't mutter with your lips as if grumbling, don't flare your nostril or sneer as if mocking, don't furrow your brow as if attacking or threatening.1516 Rather, let your turmoil die right where it rises, and don't let what carries death be allowed to break out — so that it doesn't destroy — and then you too can say with the Prophet: I am troubled, and I have not spoken.✦17

The Sons of the Heavenly Jerusalem

A more contemplative reading explores how even spiritual adversaries may serve salvation, and reflects on the pain of fraternal correction that bears fruit in those who are rebuked and restored.

I've come to understand that some take this more deeply — as if it were said about the devil and his angels who, when they too have become sons of that Jerusalem above which is our mother, from which they have fallen, do not stop attacking their sister, the Church. But I don't insist on this — in case anyone should press it even into a good meaning, according to which those who are spiritual in the Church fight against their carnal brothers with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, wounding them for their salvation and advancing them by spiritual attacks of this kind. Would that the righteous one rebuke me in mercy, and reprove me — striking and healing, killing and making alive — so that I too may dare to say: It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Be agreeable to your adversary while you are with him on the way, so he doesn't hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the torturer. A good adversary: if I agree with him, there will be no way for either the judge to bring false charges against me, or the torturer. If I've ever saddened any of you for the sake of things like this, I certainly don't regret it — for they were saddened for their salvation. And indeed I don't know that I've ever done it without great sadness on my part too, according to the saying: 'When a woman gives birth, she has sorrow.' But far be it from me now to remember the tribulation, holding the fruit of my pain, while in the same way I see Christ being formed in the offspring.

Discolored by the Sun, Pierced by Arrows

The Church rightly says she is discolored by the sun, for the sons of her mother have fought against her to bring her to salvation; the weakness of the flesh strengthens the spirit, and holy fear is the finest arrow that kills fleshly desire so the spirit may be safe.

But I don't know why it is that those who were rebuked and, through rebuke, eventually recovered from their weakness are somehow more tenderly bound to me than those who stood firm from the start and had no need for that kind of remedy. In this sense, then, the Church, or a soul that loves God, will be able to say that the sun has discolored her — namely, by sending and arming the sons of her mother who would conquer her for her salvation and lead her captive to faith and love for him, pierced as she is by many of those arrows of which it is written: The arrows of the one who is mighty are sharp; and likewise: Your arrows are fixed in me.✦ And so the next verse follows and says, "Since there is no health in my flesh," so that, made stronger and healthier in soul, the spirit might say, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak," and with the Apostle, "When I am weak, then I am powerful and strong."✦ Do you see how the weakness of the flesh increases strength for the spirit and supplies it with power? So conversely you should know that the strength of the flesh works weakness in the spirit. And what wonder is it, if the enemy is weakened, you become stronger? Unless perhaps you foolishly consider her a friend—she who never stops lusting against the spirit. See, then, whether the saint does not wisely ask to be pierced by arrows and attacked for his salvation, when he says in prayer, "Pierce my flesh with your fear." That fear is the finest arrow: it pierces and kills the desires of the flesh, so that the spirit may be safe.

The Sword of the Word and the Wound of Love

God's word is a piercing sword, and the love of Christ is the chosen arrow that pierced Mary's soul entirely; the soul that receives even a small wound of love can say it is wounded with longs to be completely overcome.

But when someone disciplines their own body and brings it under control, doesn't it seem to you that he's even helping the hand of the one fighting against him? God's word is also an arrow — living, effective, and more piercing than any two-edged sword — about which the Savior says: I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.✦ The love of Christ is also a chosen arrow, which pierced Mary's soul — and not only pierced it, but passed clean through it, so that it left no part of her virgin heart empty of love, but she loved with her whole heart, her whole soul, and her whole strength, and was full of grace. Or at the very least, it passed through her so as to reach us, and that from that fullness we might all receive, and that she might become the mother of charity, whose father is charity itself — God — bringing forth and pitching his tent in the sun, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: I have given you as a light for the nations, so that you may be my salvation to the ends of the earth.✦✦ For this was fulfilled through Mary, who gave birth in the flesh to the One she had received — invisible, not from the flesh, and not with the flesh. And she, for her part, received in the whole of herself a great and sweet wound of love. But I would count myself blessed if I perceived myself pierced even by the very tip, as it were, of this sword — so that, having received even a small wound of love, my soul too might say: I am wounded with love.✦ Who would grant me this — not only to be wounded in this way, but to be completely overcome, even to the utter destruction of the color and warmth of that which wages war against the soul?

Placed as Keeper in the Vineyards

The discolored soul rejoices that through the godly zeal of those who corrected her she has been placed as keeper in the vineyards, attributing all not to her own effort but to grace and mercy, and recognizing in this no complaint but favor.

If the daughters of this world reproach a soul that is like this, saying she is pale and colorless, won't it seem fitting for you to be able to answer: Don't think it strange that I'm dark, because the sun has discolored me?✦ And if she remembers that she has arrived at this point through the exhortations or rebukes of some servants of God who were emulating her with a godly zeal, won't she then be able to truly and rightly conclude: The sons of my mother have fought against me?✦18 So the sense will be, according to what was said, that the Church — or any devout soul — should speak of this not as if groaning or complaining, but as if rejoicing and giving thanks, and even glorying, because for the name and love of Christ she is counted worthy to be dark or discolored: and let her ascribe this not to her own effort, but to the grace and mercy that goes before her and reaches out to her.19 For how would she believe without someone to preach?✦ And how would they preach unless they are sent?✦ She recalls that the sons of her mother have fought against her — not in anger, but so as not to be ungrateful. And so it follows: They have placed me as a keeper in the vineyards.✦ This saying, if it is examined spiritually, I think, will seem to have nothing of complaint or rancor in it, but rather to breathe something favorable.

A Prayer and a Doxology

Before venturing into holy things, the Spirit who searches the deep things of God must be sought in prayer; the sermon closes with a Christological doxology to the Only-begotten, Bridegroom of the Church, God blessed forever.

But before we dare to lay a hand on this — certainly before we attempt it (for the place is holy) — the Spirit who searches the deep things of God must first be won over for us with our customary prayers, and only then should we consult him; or at least, this is how we ought to proceed.✦ The Only-begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father, the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is over all, God blessed forever.✦✦ Amen.

Read the original Latin

Filii matris meae pugnaverunt contra me. Annas et Caiphas, et Iudas Iscarioth, filii Synagogae fuerunt: et hi contra Ecclesiam, aeque Synagogae filiam, in ipso exortu ipsius acerbissime pugnaverunt, suspendentes in ligno collectorem ipsius Iesum. Iam tunc siquidem Deus implevit per eos, quod olim praesignaverat per prophetam, dicens: Percutiam pastorem, et dispergentur oves. Et fortassis illius vox illa est in cantico Ezechiae: Praecisa est velut a texente vita mea, dum adhuc ordirer, succidit me. De his ergo atque aliis, qui de illa gente Christiano nomini contradixisse sciuntur, puta dictum a sponsa: Filii matris meae pugnaverunt contra me. Et pulchre filios matris suae, non autem et patris sui illos vocat, qui non habebant patrem Deum, sed ex patre diabolo erant; homicidae utique, sicut et ille homicida erat ab initio. Propterea non dicit: Fratres mei; aut: Filii patris mei; sed Filii, inquit, matris meae pugnaverunt contra me. Alioquin si non ita distingueret, videretur etiam apostolus Paulus comprehensus in his, de quibus conqueritur, quod et ipse aliquando persecutus sit Ecclesiam Dei, sed misericordiam consecutus est, quia ignorans hoc fecit manens in incredulitate; et probavit Deum se habere patrem, fratrem Ecclesiae tam ex patre, quam ex matre esse.

Sed attende quomodo nominatim filios matris suae, et solos incusat, quasi soli in culpa sint. Quanta et ab exteris passa est? iuxta illud apud prophetam: Saepe expugnaverunt me a iuventute mea; et: Supra dorsum meum fabricaverunt peccatores. Quid ergo singulariter filios matris tuae causaris, quae te minime ignoras et ex aliis at que aliis nationibus saepissime impugnatam? Ad mensam divitis vocatus, diligenter, inquit, considera quae tibi apponuntur. Fratres, ad mensam Salomonis sedemus. Quis ditior Salomone? Non de terrenis dico divitiis, quanquam et ipsis Salomon abundaret; sed intuemini praesentem mensam, quomodo supernis est referta deliciis.

Spiritualia sunt et divina, quae nobis in ea apponuntur. Diligenter ergo, inquit, considera quae tibi apponuntur, sciens quia talia te oportet praeparare. Ego utique, quod in me est, diligenter attendo id mihi apponi in his verbis sponsae, et ad meam prorsus doctrinam cautelamque respicere, quod ita ex nomine ac sola exprimitur persecutio a domesticis; et tacentur tot et tam gravia quae ubique terrarum nihilominus ex omni natione quae sub coelo est, ab infidelibus, ab haereticis et schismaticis pertulisse cognoscitur. Novi sponsae prudentiam; nec putavetim casu haec illam, aut quasi immemorem praeteriisse. Sed profecto id expressius plangit, quod et sentit differentius, quodque vigilantius nobis cavendum existimat. Quidnam hoc? Malum utique intestinum atque domesticum. Hoc tibi manifeste in Evangelio ore ipsius Salvatoris exprimitur, cum dicit: Et inimici hominis domestici eius.

Hoc et in propheta: Homo, inquit, pacis meae, qui edebat panes meos, magnificavit super me supplantationem; item: Quoniam, si inimicus meus maledixisset mihi, sustinuissem utique; et si is qui oderat me, super me magna locutus fuisset, abscondissem me forsitan ab eo. Tu vero homo unanimis, dux meus, et notus meus, qui simul mecum dulces capiebas cibos, hoc est: Quod a te patior convivo et contubernali meo, id molestius sentio, fero aegrius. Scitis haec quaerimonia cuius, et de quo sit.

Agnoscite ergo et sponsam eodem de filiis matris suae conquerentem affectu, quoniam in eodem spiritu, cum ait: Filii matris meae pugnaverunt contra me. Unde et alibi loquitur: Amici mei et proximi mei adversum me appropinquaverunt, et steterunt. Longe, quaeso, a vobis facite semper hoc tam abominabile et detestabile malum, vos qui experti estis, et quotidie experimini, quam bonum sit et quam iucundum habitare fratres in unum, si tamen in unum, et non in scandalum. Alioquin nec iucundum plane, nec bonum, sed pessimum ac molestissimum. Vae autem homini illi, per quem unitatis vinculum iucundum turbatur! Iudicium profecto portabit quicunque est ille. Ante mihi contingat mori, quam audire in vobis quempiam iuste clamitantem: Filii matris meae pugnaverunt contra me. Nonne praesentis congregationis tanquam unius matris filii omnes vos estis, singuli alterutrum fratres?

Quid ergo a foris vos conturbare, aut contristare possit, si intus bene estis, et fraterna pace gaudetis? Denique quis vobis nocere poterit, inquit, si boni aemulatores feuritis? Quamobrem aemulamini charismata meliora, ut bonos vos probetis aemulatores. Charisma peroptimum charitas est; plane incomparabile, quod novae sponsae coelestis sponsus toties inculcare curabat, nunc quidem dicens: In hoc cognoscent omnes quia mei estis discipuli, si dilectionem habueritis ad invicem; nunc vero: Mandatum novum do vobis, ut diligatis invicem; et: Hoc est praeceptum meum ut diligatis invicem; itemque orans unum eos fore, sicut ipse et Pater unum sunt. Et vide si non ipse Paulus, qui te ad charismata meliora invitat, inter caetera charitatem in summo ponit, sive cum fide et spe dicit eam esse maiorem et supereminentem scientiae; sive cum enumeratis pluribus ae mirabilibus supernae gratiae donis, tandem ad superexcellentiorem viam nos mittit; haud aliam profecto illam, quam charitatem definiens. Denique quidnam huic comparandum putemus, quae ipsi praefertur martyrio ac fidei transferenti montes. Hoc igitur est quod dico: Pax vobis a vobis sit; et omne quod extrinsecus minari videtur, non terret, quia non nocet. Nam econtrario quidquid foris blandiri appareat, nulla est profecto consolatio, si intus, quod absit!

seminarium discordiae germinaverit.

Proinde, dilectissimi, pacem habete ad vos, et nolite laedere invicem, non facto, non verbo, non signo qualicunque: et ne quis forte exacerbatus et praeoccupatus a pusillanimitate spiritus et tempestate, Deum interpellare cogatur adversus eos qui se laeserint aut contristaverint, et prorumpere in verbum grave contingat: Filii matris meae pugnaverunt contra me. Sic enim peccantes in fratrem, in Christum peccatis, qui ait: Quod uni ex minimis meis fecistis, mihi fecistis. Nec cavendum a gravioribus tantum offensis, verbi gratia, ab aperto convicio seu maledicto, sed a clandestino quoquo et venenato susurrio. Non, inquam, sufficit os custodire ab his et his similibus; cavenda sunt et levia: si tamen leve debeat dici quodcunque in fratrem praesumpseris voluntate laedendi; cum hoc solo, si irasceris illi, divini reus iudicii tenearis. Merito quidem: nam quod tu leve putas, et ob hoc levius praecipias, plerumque alius aliter accipit, tanquam homo videns in facie, et secundum faciem iudicans, paratus festucam trabem suspicari, et scintillam putare fornacem. Non enim est omnium charitas illa, quae omnia credit. Proni sunt autem sensus hominis et cogitationes ad malum potius suspicandum, quam ad bonum credendum: praesertim ubi disciplina silentii nec te, qui in causa es, excusare permittit, nec illum vulnus suspicionis aperire quod patitur, ut curetur. Ita uritur ille, et moritur clauso et lethali vulnere, intra semetipsum gemens, dum totus in ira et disceptatione positus, nil aliud silens versare in mente possit, nisi iniuriam quam accepit.

Non potest orare, non potest legere, non sanctum aut spirituale aliquid meditari: et ita intercepto vitali spiritu, dum suis destituta alimentis vadit ad mortem anima pro qua Christus mortuus est, quid tu interim, quaeso, animi habes? Quid oratio tua, aut opus, quodcunque interim feceris, sapit tibi, contra quem nimirum Christus anxie clamat de pectore fratris tui quem contristasti: Filius, inquiens, matris meae pugnat contra me, et qui simul mecum dulces capiebat cibos, replevit me amaritudine?

Quod si dixeris illum non tam graviter pro tam levi causa debuisse turbari, respondeo: Quanto levior est, tanto a te levius potuit non committi. Quanquam nescio quomodo leve dicas, ut iam dixi, quidquid amplius est quam irasci, cum vel hoc ipsum obnoxium esse iudicio ex ore ipsius acceperis iudicis. Quid enim? Tune leve dixeris, in quo offenditur Christus, unde ad Dei iudicium pertrahi habes, cum horrendum sit incidere in manus Dei viventis? Tu ergo accepta forte iniuria (quod quidem interdum non accidere in his conventibus difficile est), non continuo more saecularis, obliqua referire fratrem responsione festines, sed neque, sub specie quasi corripiendi, verbo acuto et urenti transfigere audeas ullatenus animam, pro qua Christus affigi cruci dignatus est, non grunnire quasi increpando, non labiis mussitare quasi murmurando, non narem contrahere aut cachinare quasi subsannando, non frontem rugare quasi invehendo aut comminando. Sane commotio tua ibi moriatur ubi oritur, nec permittatur exire quae mortem portat, ne perimat; ut dicere possis et tu cum Propheta: Turbatus sum, et non sum locutus.

Quosdam altius intellexi sentire istud, quasi de diabolo et angelis eius dictum, qui, cum fuerint et ipsi filii Ierusalem illius quae sursum est mater nostra, ex quo lapsi sunt, non cessant sororem suam Ecclesiam impugnare. Sed neque contendo, si quis usurpet hoc etiam in bonam significationem, secundum quod spirituales, qui sunt in Ecclesia, adversus carnales fratres suos dimicant in gladio spiritus, quod est verbum Dei, vulnerantes eos ad salutem, atque ad spiritualia istiusmodi impugnationibus provehentes? Utinam corripiat me iustus in misericordia, et increpet me, percutiens et sanans, occidens et vivificans, quo audeam et ego dicere: Vivo autem, iam non ego, vivit vero in me Christus. Esto, inquit, consentiens adversario tuo, dum es cum eo in via, ne tradat te iudici, et iudex tortori. Bonus adversarius, cui si consentiens ero, non erit unde aut iudex me calumnietur, aut tortor. Ego profecto, si quos vestrum aliquando pro huiusmodi contristavi, non me poenitet; contristati enim sunt ad salutem. Et quidem nescio id me fecisse unquam absque mea quoque magna tristitia, secundum illud: Mulier cum parit, tristitiam habet. Sed absit ut iam meminerim pressurae, tenens fructum doloris mei, dum perinde videam Christum formatum in sobole.

Nescio autem quomodo etiam tenerius mihi astricti sunt, qui post increpatoria et per increpatoria tandem convaluerunt de infirmitate, quam qui fortes ab initio permanerunt, non indigentes istius modi medicamento.

Ergo in hunc sensum poterit Ecclesia, seu anima diligens Deum, dicere quod decoloravit eam sol, mittendo scilicet et armando de filiis matris eius qui eam salubriter expugnarent, et captivam ducerent ad fidem amoremque ipsius, multis utique confixam sagittis illis, de quibus scriptum est: Sagittae potentis acutae; et item: Sagittae tuae infixae sunt mihi. Ideoque sequitur et ait: Quoniam non est sanitas in carne mea; ut secundum animam sanior proinde fortiorque factus dicat: Spiritus quidem promptus est, caro autem infirma; et cum Apostolo: Quando enim infirmor, tunc potens sum et fortis. Vides quia carnis infirmitas robur spiritui augeat, et subministret vires? Ita econtrario noveris carnis fortitudinem debilitatem spiritus operari. Et quid mirum, si hoste debilitato, tu fortior efficeris? Nisi forte illam tibi insanissime ducas amicam, quae non cessat concupiscere adversus spiritum. Vide ergo, si non prudenter sagittari et impugnari salubriter postulat sanctus, cum dicit in oratione: Confige timore tuo carnes meas. Optima timor iste sagitta, qui configit et interficit carnis desideria, ut spiritus salvus sit.

Sed et qui castigat corpus suum, et in servitutem redigit, nonne is tibi videtur etiam manum contra se pugnantis ipse iuvare?

Est et sagitta sermo Dei vivus et efficax, et penetrabilior omni gladio ancipiti, de quo Salvator: Non veni, inquit, pacem mittere, sed gladium. Est etiam sagitta electa amor Christi, quae Mariae animam non modo confixit, sed etiam pertransivit, ut nullam in pectore virginali particulam vacuam amore relinqueret, sed toto corde, tota anima, tota virtute diligeret, et esset gratia plena. Aut certe pertransivit eam, ut veniret usque ad nos, et de plenitudine illa omnes acciperemus, et fieret mater charitatis, cuius pater est charitas Deus, parturiens et in sole ponens tabernaculum eius, ut Scriptura impleretur, quae dicit: Dedi te in lucem gentium, ut sis salus mea usque ad extremum terrae. Hoc enim impletum est per Mariam, quae in carne visibilem edidit, quem invisibilem nec de carne, nec cum carne suscepit. Et illa quidem in tota se grande et suave amoris vulnus accepit: ego vero me felicem putaverim, si summa saltem quasi cuspide huius gladii pungi inter me sensero, ut vel modico accepto amoris vulnere, dicat etiam anima mea: Vulnerata charitate ego sum. Quis mihi tribuat in hunc modum non modo vulnerari, sed et expugnari omnino usque ad exterminationem coloris et caloris illius, qui militat adversus animam?

Si exprobraverint filiae huius saeculi illi animae quae huiusmodi est, dicentes pallidam et sine colore esse; nonne tibi congrue posse respondere videbitur: Nolite me considerare quod fusca sim, quia decoloravit me sol? Et si se ad hoc meminerit pervenisse adhortationibus seu increpationibus aliquorum servorum Dei, aemulantium eam Dei aemulatione; nonne consequenter veraciterque inferre poterit, quia filii matris meae pugnaverunt contra me? Erit ergo sensus, iuxta quod dictum est, ut Ecclesia seu studiosa quaevis anima id loquatur, non quasi gemens aut conquerens, sed quasi gaudens et gratias agens, insuper et glorians, quod pro nomine et amore Christi digna sit fusca seu decolor esse et dici: atque hoc ipsum ascribat non suae industriae, sed gratiae et misericordiae praevenientis se, et mittentis ad se. Nam quomodo crederet sine praedicante? quomodo autem praedicarent nisi mitterentur? Filios matris suae contra se pugnasse memorat, non ut irata, sed ut non ingrata. Unde et sequitur: Posuerunt me custodem in vineis. Quod verbum utique si spiritualiter examinetur, puto, nil in se quaerimoniae aut rancoris habere videbitur, sed magis favorabile aliquid redolere.

Verum ad id contingendum, prius sane quam manum apponere audeamus (locus enim sanctus est), conciliandus est nobis solitis precibus, et sic consultandus ille Spiritus qui scrutatur alta Dei; aut certe. Unigenitus qui est in sinu Patris, sponsus Ecclesiae Iesus Christus Dominus noster, qui est super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula. Amen.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Song.1.6 — Do not stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards—but my own vineyard I have not kept.
  2. ↩Zech.13.7 — Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me — declares the LORD of Hosts. Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
  3. ↩Isa.38.12 — My dwelling is removed and folded up from me, like a shepherd's tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; he cuts me off from the loom. From day to night you bring me to an end.
  4. ↩John.8.44 — You are of your father the devil, and you desire to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks from his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.
  5. ↩1Tim.1.13 — though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I received mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief.
  6. ↩Song.1.6 — Do not stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards—but my own vineyard I have not kept.
  7. ↩Ps.128.1-Ps.128.2 — Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways. Ps.128.2 — When you eat the fruit of your own labor, you are blessed, and it will go well with you.
  8. ↩Ps.40.10;Ps.42.9 — I have proclaimed righteousness in the great assembly; behold, I have not restrained my lips, LORD, you know. Ps.42.9 — By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me — a prayer to the God of my life.
  9. ↩Song.1.5 — I am dark and lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
  10. ↩Ps.37.12;Ps.88.8 — The wicked plots against the righteous, and gnashes his teeth at him. Ps.88.8 — Your wrath has pressed down upon me, and with all your breakers you have afflicted me. Selah
  11. ↩Ps.132.1 — A Song of Ascents. Remember, O LORD, for David all his afflictions
  12. ↩Song.1.5 — I am dark and lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
  13. ↩1Cor.12.31-1Cor.13.13 — But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you a still more excellent way. 1Cor.13.1 — If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 1Cor.13.2 — And if I have prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 1Cor.13.3 — And if I give away all I possess, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 1Cor.13.4 — Love is patient; love is kind. Love does not envy; it does not boast; it is not puffed up. 1Cor.13.5 — It does not dishonor others, it does not seek its own, it is not easily provoked, it does not keep a record of wrongs. 1Cor.13.6 — It does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. 1Cor.13.7 — Love bears all things, and believes all things, and hopes all things, and endures all things. 1Cor.13.8 — Love never fails. But as for prophecies, they will be done away with; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will be done away with. 1Cor.13.9 — For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 1Cor.13.10 — But when the complete comes, the partial will be done away. 1Cor.13.11 — When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned as a child; but when I became an adult, I put away childish things. 1Cor.13.12 — For now we see in a mirror, dimly; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1Cor.13.13 — And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
  14. ↩1Cor.13.13 — And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
  15. ↩1Cor.12.31 — But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you a still more excellent way.
  16. ↩1Cor.13.2 — And if I have prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
  17. ↩Song.1.6 — Do not stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards—but my own vineyard I have not kept.
  18. ↩Matt.25.40 — And the King will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
  19. ↩Matt.7.3 — Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
  20. ↩1Cor.13.7 — Love bears all things, and believes all things, and hopes all things, and endures all things.
  21. ↩Heb.10.31 — It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
  22. ↩Ps.76.5 — You are resplendent, majestic, from the mountains of prey.
  23. ↩Song.1.5-Song.1.6 — I am dark and lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Song.1.6 — Do not stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards—but my own vineyard I have not kept.
  24. ↩2Cor.12.10 — Therefore I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions and distresses, for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
  25. ↩Matt.10.34 — Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
  26. ↩Isa.49.6 — And he said, "It is too light a thing for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
  27. ↩Ps.18.6 — The cords of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me.
  28. ↩Song.2.5 — Sustain me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.
  29. ↩Song.1.5-Song.1.6 — I am dark and lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Song.1.6 — Do not stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards—but my own vineyard I have not kept.
  30. ↩Song.1.6 — Do not stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards—but my own vineyard I have not kept.
  31. ↩Rom.10.14 — How then will they call on the one in whom they have not believed? And how will they believe in the one they have not heard? And how will they hear without someone proclaiming?
  32. ↩Rom.10.15 — And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'
  33. ↩Song.1.6 — Do not stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards—but my own vineyard I have not kept.
  34. ↩1Cor.2.10 — But to us God has revealed it through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
  35. ↩John.1.18 — No one has ever seen God; the only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, that one has made him known.
  36. ↩Rom.9.5 — whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩collectorem (gatherer): rare word applied to Christ; the sense is that Christ gathered the faithful, and those of the Synagogue 'gathered' him instead to the cross. The ambiguity is intentional in the source.
  2. 2 ↩The Latin cantico Ezechiae points to the Song of Hezekiah (Isaiah 38), but the exact wording 'Praecisa est velut a texente vita mea' does not match the standard Vulgate of Isa 38:12 precisely; the allusion is preserved as a candidate pending Moses resolution.
  3. 3 ↩contradixisse: the form is a rare compound (contradixisse for contradixisse); translated as 'spoken against' following the sense of contradicere, not emended in the normalized text.
  4. 4 ↩alioquin: discourse function sits between conditional ('otherwise') and inferential ('or else'); rendered as 'Otherwise' to preserve the conditional-inferential force.
  5. 5 ↩The form feuritis is uncertain in the manuscript; it is read here as a future perfect of fio ('you will have become'), yielding 'if you prove/turn out to be good imitators.' Other readings are possible.
  6. 6 ↩Charismata meliora ('greater spiritual gifts') echoes 1 Corinthians 12–13; the call to 'strive after' them frames love as the highest gift.
  7. 7 ↩Embedded quotations are drawn from John 13:35, John 13:34, John 15:12, and John 17:21. Final scripture resolution belongs to a later stage.
  8. 8 ↩The passage alludes to 1 Corinthians 13:13 ('these three remain: faith, hope, and love — but the greatest of these is love') and 1 Corinthians 12:31–13:1 ('I will show you the most excellent way'). Final resolution belongs to a later stage.
  9. 9 ↩The manuscript reading ae is uncertain; it is taken here as part of an enumeration ('with many other wonderful gifts') rather than as a standalone noun.
  10. 10 ↩Allusion to 1 Corinthians 13:2 ('if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains') and the supremacy of love over even the greatest spiritual gifts and sacrifices.
  11. 11 ↩Pax vobis a vobis sit is rendered as peace that the community generates among itself ('from you'), following the fraternal context of the sermon.
  12. 12 ↩The manuscript reading econtrario is unusual (likely e contrario). The closing quod absit is an optative clause ('God forbid!'), expressing horror at the thought of inner emptiness.
  13. 13 ↩The clause is compressed: the sense is that the offended brother's own testimony (as judge) brings judgment on the one who caused the anger. 'iudicis' is taken as objective/appositional with 'ore ipsius'.
  14. 14 ↩'unde ad Dei iudicium pertrahi habes' is rendered 'for which you are answerable at God's judgment'; the Latin is compressed and the precise syntax is uncertain.
  15. 15 ↩'sub specie quasi corripiendi' — 'under the guise of offering a sharp reproach' — captures the idea of cloaking aggression in the appearance of fraternal correction.
  16. 16 ↩'transfigere' is rendered 'pierce through'; the lemma is uncertain (possibly transverbero), but the sense of wounding is clear.
  17. 17 ↩'Turbatus sum, et non sum locutus' echoes Psalm 76:5 (Vulgate 75:5) 'Turbatus sum, et non sum locutus' or a similar penitential psalm; final resolution deferred to scripture-allusion stage.
  18. 18 ↩aemulantium ... aemulatione: the phrase plays on zeal/emulation directed toward the soul and the soul's own emulation of God; the double sense is compressed in Latin and hard to reproduce cleanly in English.
  19. 19 ↩gratiae et misericordiae praevenientis se et mittentis ad se: the participial phrases are compressed; 'preceding her' captures the initiative of grace, and 'reaching out to her' captures the movement of mercy toward the soul.

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