Sermo 64
The Promise of Temptation
The speaker introduces the Song of Songs image of little foxes ravaging the vineyard, identifies them as temptations, and exhorts believers to prepare their souls for the persecution and struggle that faithful devotion to Christ inevitably brings.
I am here, faithful to my promise. Catch the little foxes that are destroying the vineyards for us — for our vineyard has blossomed.✦ Foxes are temptations. Temptations must come. After all, who will be crowned unless the one who has competed according to the rules? Or how will they compete if there's no one to fight against? So then, as you come to the service of God, stand in fear and prepare your soul for temptation — confident that all who want to live devoutly in Christ are going to suffer persecution.✦ Furthermore, temptations vary according to the diversity of the times.
How Subtle Temptations Strike the Advancing Soul
The preacher contrasts the open assaults faced by beginners with the secret, deceptive attacks that lie in wait for those advancing in holiness, mourning how even sincere travelers have been tripped up by these hidden snares.
And in our early stages, like the tender shoots of young plants, the full force of the cold bears down openly — the cold we spoke of in the last sermon — and it makes those who are just beginning cautious against this plague (see above, Sermon 63, n. 6). 63, n. 6). But when it comes to those who are advancing in holier pursuits, the opposing virtues certainly don't dare to confront them openly; instead, they are accustomed to lie in wait in secret, like crafty little foxes — appearing to be virtues in outward show, but in reality they are vices.✦ How many, for instance, have entered the paths of life, made progress toward what is better, and advanced safely and well along the tracks of justice — and yet, shameful to say, have been tripped up by the deceit of these foxes! I have had personal experience of those who were shamefully tripped up by these foxes, and I mourn how, in the very midst of virtue, the fruits of virtue were choked off — and I took too long to see it.
The Deceptive Hope of Mission
Using a dramatic voice, the preacher explores how even a desire to do good by going elsewhere can become a subtle snare, yet also insists that doing good is fruitful wherever one may be.
I saw a man running well — and yet, look, a thought: why couldn't it have been a little fox? With how many good people, he says, who alone enjoy the good I enjoy, if I were in my homeland, could I certainly share it — with brothers, relatives, acquaintances, and friends?1 They love me, and they would easily go along with whoever urged them. Why this destruction? I go there, and I save many of them, and myself as well. Nor is there anything to fear in a change of place. For when I do good, what difference does it make where? Except that there, beyond doubt, it's more fruitful — where I'll spend my days more fruitfully.2
A Fox Unmasked: The Vanity of Returning Home
The preacher narrates the downfall of a soul who returned to the world under the guise of going home, showing how deceptive hope in acquiring possessions can destroy spiritual fruit.
What more? He goes off, and the wretch perishes — an exile returning home, yes, but no more than a man of the flesh returning to his vomit. And he has destroyed himself, the unhappy man, and gained no one among his own. Look at one little fox — that deceptive hope he placed in acquiring his possessions. You too, through yourself, in yourself, can at one time or another find or notice others like this one, if you don't neglect the search.
The Stealthy Fox of Untimely Preaching
The preacher warns that a sudden desire to preach, even when it seems like a rich outpouring of grace, can be a destructive fox if it leads someone to act against monastic calling and the order of the Gospel.
Do you want me to show you one more? I'll also point out a third, and even a fourth, if I find you alert enough to grasp the ones you may have already noticed from these in your own vineyard. Sometimes, when someone who is making progress senses a richer outpouring of heavenly grace washing over them, a desire to preach seizes their soul — not, to be sure, toward parents and relatives, in line with the saying, 'I did not immediately consult flesh and blood,' but as if more purely, more fruitfully, and more boldly, far and wide, to strangers and to everyone. Be completely on your guard. Truly, one fears incurring a prophetic curse if, having received the wheat in secret, they hide it among the peoples and act against the Gospel, unless what they have heard in the ear they proclaim from the housetops. It's a fox, and it's all the more harmful the more stealthily it comes. But I'll catch it for you. Moses says first: You shall not plow with a firstborn ox.✦
The Net That Catches the Fox
Drawing on Timothy and other scriptures, the preacher weaves together warnings against novices assuming the office of teacher and teaches that the monk's task is not to preach but to mourn, thereby catching the fox before it ruins the vineyard.
Paul interprets this: 'Not a new convert,' he says, 'lest, puffed up with pride, he fall into the judgment of the devil'; and again, 'Not anyone.'✦ He says, 'He takes the honor to himself, but the one who is called by God, as Aaron was'; likewise the same one says, 'How will they preach, he says, unless they are sent?'✦✦ And we know it is the monk's duty not to teach, but to mourn. From these and similar things gathered together, I weave a net for myself and catch the fox, so that it doesn't demolish the vineyard. From these things, surely, it is clear and certain that to preach publicly is neither fitting for a monk, nor expedient for a novice, nor permitted to one who has not been sent. Indeed, to go against these three things — what a great demolition of conscience it is! Therefore, whatever of this kind is suggested to the mind — whether it is your own thought or an injection through a crafty evil angel — recognize the little fox, that is, evil under the appearance of good.
The Fox of False Solitude and Superstition
The preacher shows how the desire to live alone or to embrace extreme abstinence can itself be a fox, deceiving a person into thinking he will bear greater fruit while actually destroying his vocation.
But look at another case. How many men a burning spirit received from the monasteries of the desert — and then spewed out once they'd grown lukewarm, or kept in defiance of the desert's rule, not merely slack but completely dissolved. And so it became clear that the little fox had been at work — the place where such great devastation was done to the vineyard, that is, the ruin of a person's life and conscience. He was thinking that if he lived alone he would bear far richer fruits of the spirit — after all, in community life he had only tasted a limited measure of spiritual grace. And his own thinking seemed good to him — but the outcome showed that this very thought of his had really been a fox tearing everything down.
Scandal in the Community
The preacher laments the discord caused by superstitious behavior and stubbornness within the community, warning that scandal against the holy community incurs severe judgment.
Why is it that this thing so often disturbs us too, in this house, and so grievously — I'm speaking of the notable, superstitious abstinence of some who are among us, through which they make themselves troublesome to everyone and to everyone a burden to themselves? Isn't this very discord itself so widespread, and the dissipation of one's own conscience, and — what is in itself a great tearing down of this vineyard, which the right hand of the Lord planted, namely, the unanimity of you all? Woe to the person through whom scandal comes!✦ Whoever causes scandal to one of these little ones, it says — hard is what follows. How much harsher a punishment does the one deserve who causes scandal to so great and so holy a community? Whoever that person is, they will bear the harshest judgment of all. But these matters are for another time.
Recognizing the Little Foxes
Returning to the Bridegroom's words, the preacher explains why the foxes are called 'little': their subtle, disguised malice, and the need to capture them by detecting their deceit rather than by force.
Now indeed, let's turn our attention to the things the Bridegroom says about the little, cunning creatures that tear down the vineyards.✦ I would call them little not because of malice, but because of their subtlety. For the cunning is by nature this kind of creature, extremely ready to do harm in secret; and it seems to me to designate most fittingly the most subtle vices cloaked in the appearance of virtues—the kind whose form I have already sketched out for a while now in the examples given earlier to help you recognize them, even if only briefly. And they can't do harm any other way, except by falsely passing themselves off as virtues through a certain likeness to the virtues. Now, these thoughts are either the vain thoughts of men, or they are injections brought about by the evil angels—the angels of Satan, who transform themselves into angels of light, preparing their arrows in the quiver, that is, in secret, so that they may shoot in the dark at those who are upright in heart.✦✦ That's why I think they're called little for this reason: because while other vices make themselves obvious by a certain, as it were, bulkiness of their own, this kind is not easily recognized because of its subtlety, and therefore it cannot be guarded against—except only by the perfect and the practiced, and by those who have the eyes of their heart enlightened for the discernment of good and evil, and especially for the discernment of spirits, who with the Apostle can say that we are not ignorant of Satan's cunning, nor of his thoughts.✦✦✦ And see to it that perhaps for this very reason the Bridegroom orders them—not indeed to be exterminated, or driven away, or killed, but captured: namely, because spiritual, deceitful little beasts of this kind must be watched with all vigilance and caution, and examined, and thus captured—that is, caught in their own cunning. Therefore, when deceit is betrayed, when fraud is uncovered, when falsehood is convicted—then it is most rightly said: the little fox is caught, the one that was tearing down the vineyard.✦
Caught in Their Own Craftiness
The preacher recalls how the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus in his speech, linking this Gospel scene to the idea of capturing the foxes.
Finally, we say that a person is caught in speech, just as you have in the Gospel, because the Pharisees gathered together in order to catch Jesus in his speech.✦
The Power of Exposure
The preacher teaches that this kind of malice is unique in that once it is recognized it loses its power, so simply bringing it into the light is enough to overcome it.
So the Bridegroom orders the little foxes to be caught — the ones that tear down the vineyards — that is, to be detected, convicted, and betrayed.✦ This kind of malice alone has the peculiar trait that, once it's been recognized, it does little harm — so little, in fact, that to be recognized is, for it, to be overcome. After all, who but a fool, once a trap has been discovered, knowingly and deliberately steps into it? It's enough, then, if those of this sort are caught — that is, if you expose them and bring them into the open; for to appear in public is, for them, to perish. Other vices aren't like this. They come out in the open, they do their harm in the open; they knowingly take captives, they overpower those who resist — acting by force, not by deceit. So against beasts of this kind, openly raging, there's no need for investigation — only for restraint. Just disregard the greatest tricks of these little foxes, because once they're exposed they do no harm; it's enough to bring them into the light and catch them in their own craftiness.
Seize Them While They Are Small
The preacher urges the listener to catch the foxes while they are still small, nipping vices in the bud before they grow too large to handle.
They have their hiding places. And so for this reason those foxes are both ordered to be captured and described as small. Or rather, they are called small so that you may immediately seize vices while they are still being born and growing in their very origin, as long as they are indeed small — watching carefully — lest, as they grow larger, they cause more harm and become harder to capture.
Capturing Heretics for the Church
Moving to an allegorical reading, the preacher interprets the vineyards as churches and the foxes as heresies or heretics, teaching that they should be refuted with arguments and, if possible, converted rather than left free to destroy.
And if, following the allegory, we take the churches as vineyards and the foxes as heresies — or rather, the heretics themselves — the plain sense is this: heretics should be captured rather than allowed to escape. Let them be captured, I say, not with weapons but with arguments, by which their errors are refuted; and they themselves, if it can be done, should be reconciled to the Catholic faith and called back to the true faith. For this is the will of the one who wills all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.✦ This, then, is what he declares his will to be when he says not simply 'Capture the foxes,' but, he says, 'Capture them for us.'✦ Therefore he commands these foxes to be secured for himself and for his bride — that is, for the Catholic Church — when he says, 'Capture them for us.'✦ Therefore, a person trained and learned from the Church who undertakes to dispute with a heretical person ought to direct his aim so as to convince the one who is in error in such a way that he also converts him, keeping in mind the word of the apostle James: 'Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover over a multitude of sins.'✦ But if he refuses to return, even after being convicted — after a first and now a second warning — since he is completely subverted, then according to the Apostle he is to be avoided.✦ From this, it is now better — as I at least judge — that such a one be either apprehended or even bound, rather than be left free to demolish the vineyards.
Strengthened by the Bridegroom's Joy
The preacher reflects that even when a heretic is not converted, the Church is strengthened in faith by the refutation of error, and the Bridegroom rejoices in the bride's progress.
And yet, because of this, let no one think he has done nothing for himself when he conquered and convicted a heretic, refuted his heresies, and clearly and openly distinguished what merely seems likely from what is true; when he showed that corrupt doctrines are plainly and irrefutably corrupt by reason; and finally brought into captivity a mind that was corrupt, exalting itself against the knowledge of God. To be sure, the one who has done such things has nonetheless captured a fox — though not for that one's salvation — and has captured it for the bridegroom and the bride, even if in a different way. For even though the heretic hasn't risen from the dregs, the Church is nonetheless strengthened in faith, and indeed the bridegroom without a doubt rejoices over the progress of the bride. For the joy of the Lord is our strength.✦ In the end, the one who so graciously associates himself with us when he commands us to capture the foxes doesn't consider our gains as something alien to himself — not for himself, but for us, together with himself. Capture them for us, he says.✦ It's worth noting what he means by saying 'for us.' What could be more communal than this voice?
The Bridegroom Speaks as One of Us
The preacher marvels that God speaks not as God but as the Bridegroom, using the intimate language 'for us.'
Doesn't this seem to you like saying some head of a household who owns nothing of his own, but holds everything in common with his wife and children and household? And the one speaking is God — yet he doesn't say this as God, but as the bridegroom.
The Sweetness of Divine Fellowship
The preacher exults in the tenderness of the Bridegroom's words, 'Catch foxes for us,' seeing in them the sweetness of divine companionship and the wonder of the One who is over all becoming one among all.
Catch foxes for us.✦ See how companionably he speaks, one who has no companion! He could have said 'My people,' but he preferred 'for us,' delighted by our fellowship. O what sweetness! O what grace! O the power of love! Is it then so: the one who is over all has become one among all? Who has done this?
Love's Violent Tenderness
The preacher meditates on the paradox of love as both violent and gentle, triumphing over God yet utterly self-emptying, and marvels at the Bridegroom's intimate sharing of himself.
Love pays no attention to status, yet it's rich in condescension, powerful in affection, and effective in persuasion. What is more violent? Love triumphs over God. And yet what is so utterly not violent? Love is. What is this power, I ask — so violent in victory, yet so conquered in its violence? In the end he emptied himself, so that you might know that what belonged to love was this: that fullness was poured out, that depth was brought low, that what was singular was joined to another. With what intimate fellowship, O wondrous Bridegroom, have you shared yourself with me?
The Bridegroom and the Church
The preacher asks to whom the Bridegroom speaks and answers that it is the Church gathered from the nations, while confessing the surpassing beauty and divinity of the Bridegroom himself.
You say 'to us' — with your head. To whom? With whom? Is it the Church gathered from the nations? It is gathered from mortals and sinners. We know who she is. But what are you, so devoted, so ambitious a lover of this Ethiopian woman? Truly, not another Moses, but more than Moses. Surely you're not the one beautiful in form above the sons of men?
Doxology
The preacher confesses the Bridegroom as the brightness of eternal life, the splendor and likeness of God's substance, and God blessed forever.
I've said too little: you are the brightness of eternal life, the splendor and likeness of God's own substance — and above all, God, blessed forever. Amen.
Read the original Latin
Adsum promissioni meae. Capite nobis vulpes parvulas, quae demoliuntur vineas: nam vinea nostra floruit. Vulpes, tentationes sunt. Necesse est ut veniant tentationes. Quis enim coronabitur, nisi qui legitime certaverit? aut quomodo certabunt, si desit qui impugnet? Tu ergo accedens ad servitutem Dei, sta in timore, et praepara animam tuam ad tentationem, certus omnes qui pie volunt vivere in Christo, persecutionem passuros. Porro tentationes diversae sunt, pro temporum diversitate.
Et initiis quidem nostris, tanquam novellarum teneris floribus plantationum, in evidenti vis algoris incumbit, cuius meminimus in sermone altero, et incipientes ab hac peste cautos reddidimus (Supra, serm. 63, n. 6). Iam vero proficientium sanctioribus studiis minime quidem sese opponere contrariae virtutes aperte audent, sed solent in occulto insidiari, quasi quaedam fraudulentae vulpeculae; specie quidem virtutes, re autem vitia. Quantos, verbi gratia, ingressos vias vitae, progressos ad meliora, super semitas iustitiae bene secureque proficiscentes et proficientes, fraude, proh pudor! vulpium harum turpiter supplantatos expertus sum, et sero in se virtutum suffocatos plangere fructus!
Vidi ego hominem currentem bene; et ecce cogitatio: quidni vulpecula fuit? Quantis, inquit, bonum, quo solus fruor, si essem in patria, possem utique impertiri fratribus et cognatis, notis et amicis? Amant me, et facile acquiescerent suadenti. Utquid perditio haec? Vado illuc, et salvo multos ex illis, et me pariter. Nec verendum in loci mutatione. Etenim, dum benefaciam, quid interest ubi? nisi quod illic procul dubio satius, ubi fructuosius degam.
Quid plura? It, et perit miser, non tam exsul ad patriam, quam carnis reversus ad vomitum. Et se perdidit infelix, et suorum acquisivit neminem. En una vulpecula, ista videlicet frustratoria spes, quam habuit in acquisitione suorum. Potes tu quoque per te ipsum in te ipso alias atque alias similes huic invenire seu advertere, si non negligas.
Vis tamen ut unam adhuc ego ostendam tibi? Facio etiam et tertiam, et quartam quoque demonstrabo, si te ad capiendas eas, quas forte ex his in tua adverteris vinea, invenero vigilantem. Interdum bene proficientis cuiuspiam, cum sibi profusius aliquid supernae gratiae senserit irrorari, subit animum desiderium praedicandi, non quidem ad parentes et propinquos, iuxta illud: Continuo non acquievi, carni et sanguini; sed quasi purius, fructuosius, fortiusque, passim ad extraneos et ad omnes. Caute omnino. Sane timet propheticum incurrere maledictum, si quae in abscondito accepit frumenta, abscondat in populis : et contra Evangelium facere, nisi quae in aure audivit, praedicaverit super tecta. Vulpes est, atque illa priore eo nocivior, quo occultior veniens. Sed capio tibi eam. Primus Moyses dicit: Non arabis in primogenito bovis.
Hoc Paulus interpretans: Non neophytum, inquit, ne in superbiam elatus, incidat in iudicium diaboli : et rursum, Nec quisquam. inquit, sumit sibi honorem, sed qui vocatur a Deo tanquam Aaron; item ipse: Quomodo praedicabunt, ait, nisi mittantur? Et scimus monachi officium esse non docere, sed lugere. Ex his similibusque collectis mihi texo rete, et capio vulpem, ne demoliatur vineam. Ex his nempe claret et certum est, quod publice praedicare nec monacho convenit, nec novitio expedit, nec non misso licet. Porro contra haec tria venire, quanta conscientiae demolitio est? Ergo quidquid tale animo suggeratur, sive sit illud tua cogitatio, sive immissio per angelum malum, dolosam agnosce vulpeculam, id est malum sub specie boni.
Sed aspice aliam. Quantos ex monasteriis spiritu ferventes eremi solitudo suscepit, et aut tepefactos evomuit, aut tenuit contra eremi legem, non modo remissos, sed etiam dissolutos? Sicque apparuit vulpeculam adfuisse, ubi tanta facta est vastatio vineae, id est vitae et conscientiae hominis detrimentum. Cogitabat, si solus degeret, multo se copiosiores fructus spiritus percepturum, quippe qui in communi vita tantum spiritualis gratiae fuisset expertus. Et bona visa est sua cogitatio sibi; sed rei exitus indicavit, magis eamdem illi cogitationem vulpem demolientem fuisse.
Quid illud quod nos quoque toties in domo ista, et tam graviter inquietat, notabilem loquor quorumdam, qui inter nos sunt, superstitiosamque abstinentiam ex qua se omnibus, sibique omnes molestos reddunt? Quomodo non haec ipsa discordia tam generalis, et suae ipsius conscientiae dissipatio est, et, quod in ipso est, et grandis vineae huius, quam plantavit dextera Domini, vestrae scilicet omnium unanimitatis, demolitio? Vae homini per quem scandalum venit? Qui scandalizaverit, inquit, unum de his pusillis : durum est quod sequitur. Quanto duriora meretur, qui tantam, et tam sanctam multitudinem scandalizat? Iudicium prorsus durissimum portabit quicunque est ille. Sed haec alias.
Nunc vero intendamus his, quae a Sponso dicuntur super pusillis et astutis his animalibus demolientibus vineas. Pusillis dixerim, non malitia, sed subtilitate. Astutum siquidem natura hoc genus est animantis, promptumque admodum ad nocendum in occulto: et videtur mihi congruentissime designare subtilissima quaedam vitia specie palliata virtutum, qualium utique formam praemissis ad notitiam exemplis, paucis licet, iam aliquantisper expressi. Nec enim aliter nocere queunt, nisi quod se virtutes virtutum quadam similitudine mentiuntur. Sunt autem aut cogitationes hominum vanae, aut factae immissiones per angelos malos, angelos Satanae, qui se transfigurant in angelos lucis, parantes sagittas suas in pharetra, hoc est in occulto, ut sagittent in obscuro rectos corde. Unde et pusillas eas propter hoc reor dici, quod cum caetera vitia quadam quasi corpulentia sui manifesta se praebeant, hoc genus pro sui subtilitate haud facile agnosci, et ideo nec caveri possit, nisi duntaxat a perfectis et exercitatis, et qui habeant illuminatos oculos cordis ad discretionem boni et mali, maximeque ad discretionem spiritum, qui cum Apostolo possint dicere, quia non ignoramus astutias Satanae, neque cogitationes eius. Et vide ne forte ob hoc a sponso iubeantur, non quidem exterminari, vel abigi, vel occidi, sed capi: quod videlicet huiusmodi spirituales, dolosasque bestiolas omni vigilantia et cautela observari oporteat et examinari, et sic capi, id est comprehendi, in astutia sua. Ergo, cum proditur dolus, cum fraus aperitur, cum convincitur falsitas; rectissime tunc dicitur capta vulpes pusilla, quae demoliebatur vineam.
Denique, dicimus hominem in sermone capi, sicut habes in Evangelio, quia convenerunt Pharisaei in unum, ut caperent Iesum in sermone.
Ita ergo sponsus capi iubet vulpes pusillas, quae demoliuntur vineas, id est deprehendi, convinci, prodi. Solum hoc malignitatis genus id proprium habet, ut agnitum iam minime noceat, ita ut agnosci, sit illi expugnari. Quis enim, nisi demens, comperta decipula sciens et prudens pedem mittit in illam? Sufficit proinde si capiantur quae eiusmodi sunt, hoc est, si prodas et deducas ad medium; quippe quibus apparere, perire est. Non sic caetera vitia. Nempe manifeste veniunt, manifeste nocent; scientes captivant, superant reluctantes, utpote vi, non dolo agentia. Ergo contra huiusmodi aperte saevientes bestias non investigatione opus est, sed refrenatione. Solas has vulpes parvulas, dissimula trices maximas, quia proditae iam non nocent, sufficit educi in lucem, et capi in calliditate sua.
Nam foveas habent. Tali itaque ex causa vulpes istae et capi iubentur, et parvulae describuntur. Vel ideo parvulae, ut nascentia vitia in ipso ortu, donec utique parvula sunt, vigilanter observans illico comprehendas, ne crescentia plus noceant et difficilius capiantur.
Et si iuxta allegoriam Ecclesias vineas, vulpes haereses, vel potius haereticos ipsos intelligamus: simplex est sensus, ut haeretici capiantur potius, quam effugentur. Capiantur, dico, non armis, sed argumentis, quibus refellantur errores eorum; ipsi vero, si fieri potest, reconcilientur catholicae, revocentur ad veram fidem. Haec est enim voluntas eius qui vult omnes homines salvos fieri, et ad agnitionem veritatis venire. Hoc denique velle se perhibet, qui non simpliciter, capite vulpes, sed, capite, inquit, nobis vulpes. Sibi ergo et sponsae suae, id est catholicae, iubet acquiri has vulpes, cum ait, Capite eas nobis. Itaque homo de Ecclesia exercitatus et doctus, si cum haeretico homine disputare aggreditur, illo intentionem suam dirigere debet, quatenus ita errantem convincat, ut et convertat, cogitans illud apostoli Iacobi: Quia qui converti fecerit peccatorem ab errore viae suae, salvabit animam eius a morte, et operit multitudinem peccatorum. Quod si reverti noluerit, nec convictus post primam iam et secundam admonitionem, utpote qui omnino subversus est; erit secundum Apostolum devitandus. Ex hoc iam melius, ut quidem ego arbitror, effugatur, aut etiam religatur, quam sinitur vineas demoliri.
Nec propterea sane nihil se egisse putet qui haereticum vicit et convicit, haereses confutavit, verisimilia a vero clare aperteque distinxit; prava dogmata, plana et irrefragabili ratione prava esse monstravit; pravum denique intellectum, extollentem se adversus scientiam Dei, in captivitatem redegit. Nempe cepit nihilominus, qui talia operatus est, vulpem, etsi non ad salutem illi; et cepit eam sponso et sponsae, quamvis aliter. Nam, etsi haereticus non surrexit de faece, Ecclesia tamen confirmatur in fide: et quidem de profectibus sponsae sponsus sine dubio gratulatur. Gaudium etenim Domini est fortitudo nostra (I. Denique non putat a se aliena lucra nostra, qui se nobis tam dignanter associat, dum iubet capi vulpes, non sibi, sed nobis secum. Capite, inquiens, nobis. Advertere est enim quod ait, nobis. Quid hac voce socialius?
An non tibi videtur hoc dicere, quasi quidam paterfamilias, qui per se nihil habeat, sed omnia communia cum uxore et filiis atque domesticis? Et qui loquitur Deus est - minime tamen ut Deus id loquitur, sed ut sponsus.
Capite nobis vulpes. Vides quam socialiter loquitur, qui socium non habet? Poterat dicere: Mi hi, sed maluit, nobis, consortio delectatus. O suavitatem! o gratiam! o amoris vim! Itane summus omnium unus factus est omnium? Quis hoc fecit?
Amor, dignitatis nescius, dignatione dives, affectu potens, suasu efficax. Quid violentius? Triumphat de Deo amor. Quid tamen tam non violentum? Amor est. Quae est ista vis, quaeso, tam violenta ad victoriam, tam victa ad violentiam? Denique semetipsum exinanivit, ut scias amoris fuisse, quod plenitudo effusa est, quod altitudo adaequata est, quod singularitas associata est. Cum quonam tibi, o admirande sponse, tam familiare consortium?
Nobis, inquis, capite. Cui tecum? an Ecclesiae de gentibus? De mortalibus et peccatoribus collecta est. Illam scimus quae sit. Sed tu quises, Aethiopissae huius tam devotus, tam ambitiosus amator? Sane non alter Moyses, sed plus quam Moyses. Num tu ille es speciosus forma prae filiis hominum?
Parum dixi; candor es vitae aeternae, splendor et figura substantiae Dei; postremo super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula. Amen.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
- ↩2Tim.3.12 — Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
- ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
- ↩Deut.22.10 — You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.
- ↩1Tim.3.6 — not a new convert, so that he may not become conceited and fall into the judgment of the devil.
- ↩Heb.5.4 — And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
- ↩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!'
- ↩Matt.18.7;Luke.17.1 — Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! For it is necessary that stumbling blocks come, but woe to the person through whom the stumbling block comes. Luke.17.1 — And he said to his disciples, 'It is impossible that stumbling blocks should not come, but woe to the one through whom they come.'
- ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
- ↩2Cor.11.14 — And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
- ↩Ps.11.2 — For look, the wicked bend the bow; they set their arrow on the string, to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.
- ↩Eph.1.18 — having the eyes of your heart enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
- ↩Heb.5.14 — But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
- ↩2Cor.2.11 — so that we are not taken advantage of by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
- ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
- ↩Matt.22.15 — Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his speech.
- ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
- ↩1Tim.2.4 — who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
- ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
- ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
- ↩Jas.5.20 — Let the one who turns a sinner from the error of his way know that he will save a soul from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
- ↩Titus.3.10-Titus.3.11 — A divisive person, after a first and second warning, refuse. Titus.3.11 — knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.
- ↩Neh.8.10 — Then he said to them, "Go, eat rich food and drink sweet drinks, and send portions to those for whom nothing has been prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
- ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
- ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
Notes
- 1 ↩The 'good' (bonum) that only the speaker enjoys is likely a spiritual good or grace; 'enjoy' renders fruor in its sense of experiencing or delighting in a good.
- 2 ↩satius and fructuosius are comparative forms; satius rendered as 'more fruitful' (from satius as comparative of satis in the sense of 'better/more fully') and fructuosius as 'more fruitfully'. The doubling of 'fruitful/fruitfully' reflects the Latin wordplay but may feel redundant in English.
Sermones super Cantica Canticorum (Sermons on the Song of Songs) companion
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