Quod primum genus compunctionis, sicut aliae quaedam gratiae, et reprobis ad judicium, et electis proveniat ad profectum.
Gifts Common to Reprobate and Elect
The grace of compunction, like other charisms, is given to both the reprobate and the elect, as shown by Saul among the prophets, Judas among the apostles, and Balaam's longing for a righteous death.
And it shouldn't surprise us that this grace is common to the reprobate and the elect alike, since we know that even the more outstanding charisms — the word of knowledge, prophecy, varieties of tongues, the grace of miracles — were also given to the reprobate.1 For Saul was numbered among the prophets, and Judas among the apostles.✦✦ And many, he says, will say to me on that day, 'Did we not cast out demons in your name, and in your name perform many signs?'✦ and then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you' (Matt.✦ vii). So that we may see the same thing about the grace of compunction, consider Balaam: struck with compunction he says, 'Let my soul die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like theirs' (Num.✦2 xxiii). He too, lamenting his own perversity, says: 'The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of the man who hears the words of God, who falls down with eyes laid open' (ibid.).✦
Compunction Without Amendment
Balaam, the Israelites in the wilderness, and Judas all experienced compunction but returned to their sins, showing that tears without true conversion profit nothing.
. Yet all this compunction profited nothing the one who taught Balaac to place a stumbling block before the sons of Israel — to fornicate, to drink, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.✦ How often the sons of Israel, rebuked by Moses in the wilderness, wept before the Lord — yet that compunction profited them nothing, once their former desires were again set loose (Num. xi et alibi). But even after they were brought into the land of promise, when the angel spoke to them at the place of weeping, they raised their voice and wept — and yet after all this they went on to do evil before the Lord (Judg.✦ ii). What of Judas?✦ Was it not in compunction that he said, 'I have sinned, betraying innocent blood'?✦
The Elect Stirred to Greater Fervor
For the elect, compunction does not lead to judgment but to spiritual progress, as divine love stirs them more ardently to the practice of virtue.
(Matt. xxvii.) Indeed, how utterly useless this kind of compunction is for those who repeat their own perversity, the Wise One bears witness, saying: He who is washed after touching a dead body, and touches it again — what good is his washing? (Eccli. xxxiv.) He is washed after touching a dead body who, pricked by compunction, laments his life — devoid of all warmth and fervor, or certainly foul with vices and buried in them. But such washing will profit nothing unless correction follows it. Furthermore, the elect — for whom all things work together for good — are stirred up by this kind of compunction not to judgment but to progress. Struck by this heavenly visitation, they by no means grow sluggish in a more careless and lax life; but the greater the sweetness of divine love they enjoy, the more ardently they gird themselves for the stronger exercises of the virtues.✦
Read the original Latin
Nec mirandum, hanc gratiam reprobis et electis plerumque esse communem, cum excellentiora illa charismata, sermo videlicet scientiae, prophetia, genera linguarum, gratia miraculorum, etiam reprobis noverimus impertita. Nam et Saul inter prophetas, et inter apostolos Judas. Et multi, inquit, dicent mihi in illa die, nonne in nomine tuo daemonia ejecimus, et in nomine tuo signa multa fecimus? et tunc confitebor illis, quia non novi vos (Matth. vii). Quod ut similiter de gratia compunctionis videamus, compunctus Balaam, Moriatur, inquit, anima mea morte justorum, et fiant novissima mea horum similia (Num. xxiii). Qui propriam quoque perversitatem deplorans, ait: Dixit Balaam filius Beor: dixit auditor sermonum Dei, qui cadens apertos habet oculos (ibid.)
. Nihil tamen hac compunctione profecit, qui docuit Balaac ponere scandalum coram filiis Israel, fornicari et bibere, et comedere de idolothytis. Quam saepe filii Israel in eremo correpti a Moyse fleverunt coram Domino: quibus nihil illa compunctio profuit, pristinis concupiscentiis denuo resolutis (Num. xi et alibi). Sed et introducti in terram repromissionis cum loqueretur illis angelus in loco flentium, levaverunt vocem et fleverunt: et nihilominus post haec addiderunt facere malum coram Domino (Judic. ii). Quid Judas? Nonne compunctus ait: Peccavi tradens sanguinem justum?
(Matth. xxvii.) Verum quam nihil prosit suam perversitatem iterantibus hujusmodi compunctio, testis est Sapiens ille qui ait: Qui baptizatur a mortuo, et iterum tangit mortuum, quid proficit lavatio ejus? (Eccli. xxxiv.) Baptizatur a mortuo, qui vitam suam omni calore fervoris expertem, vel certe vitiis foetidam ac sepultam, compunctus deplorat. Sed nihil proderit talis lavatio, nisi fuerit secuta correctio. Porro electi, quibus omnia cooperantur in bonum, hujusmodi compunctione excitantur, non ad judicium, sed ad profectum, qui hac coelesti visitatione perciti, nequaquam securius in remissiore vita torpescunt, sed quo majore divinae dilectionis dulcedine perfruuntur, eo ardentius ad fortiora virtutum exercitia accinguntur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩1Sam.10.12 — A man from there answered and said, "But who is their father?" Therefore it became a proverb: "Is Saul also among the prophets?"
- ↩Matt.10.1-Matt.10.4 — And having called his twelve disciples, he gave them authority over unclean spirits, so as to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every sickness. Matt.10.2 — Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Matt.10.3 — Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus. Matt.10.4 — Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, the one who also betrayed him.
- ↩Matt.7.22 — Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many mighty works?'
- ↩Matt.7.23 — And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'
- ↩Num.23.10 — Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!
- ↩Num.24.3-Num.24.4 — He took up his oracle and said: The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, and the oracle of the man whose eye is opened; Num.24.4 — The oracle of one who hears the words of El, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, yet with eyes unveiled.
- ↩Num.31.16;Rev.2.14 — Look, these women, following Balaam's counsel, caused the Israelites to act unfaithfully against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and so the plague struck the assembly of the LORD. Rev.2.14 — But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.
- ↩Judg.2.1-Judg.2.5 — The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, 'I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to your fathers. And I said, I will never break my covenant with you forever.' Judg.2.2 — And you must not make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed my voice. Why have you done this? Judg.2.3 — And I also said, 'I will not drive them out from before you; and they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.' Judg.2.4 — And when the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. Judg.2.5 — And they called the name of that place Bochim, and they sacrificed there to the LORD.
- ↩Matt.27.3-Matt.27.4 — Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that Jesus had been condemned, was filled with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Matt.27.4 — "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? You will see to it yourselves."
- ↩Matt.27.4 — "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? You will see to it yourselves."
- ↩Rom.8.28 — And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good — for those who are called according to his purpose.
Notes
Speculum caritatis (The Mirror of Charity) companion
Reorder one love at a time, daily
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