Lex de Sabbatorum distinctione proponitur
The Three Sabbath Resting-Places
The three sabbath cycles of the Law—the seventh day, the seventh year, and the jubilee—are presented as a threefold pattern of rest, culminating in the sabbath of sabbaths.
We read in the Old Testament of certain distinctions among the sabbaths (Levit. chapter 25), whose consideration we dedicate as the beginning of this book. You have, then, in the law three seasons of sabbath rest consecrated: the seventh day, the seventh year, and after seven times seven, the fiftieth year. The first sabbath, then, is that of days; the second, of years; and the third is not unjustly called the sabbath of sabbaths. For it is made up of seven yearly sabbaths, with one added, so that the sevenfold number may be completed in unity, which both proceeds from unity and is perfected in unity.
From Unity to Everlasting Rest
The threefold sabbath pattern is interiorized: all good work begins in faith, advances through the sevenfold Spirit, and is perfected in undivided unity with God—an everlasting sabbath already tasted in the present life.
For every good work is begun from the faith of the one God, and is advanced by the sevenfold gift of the Holy Spirit, so that we may come to him who truly is one, where all that we are may be made one with him. And because in unity there is no division, let there be no division there through any scattering of mind, but let it be one in one, with one, through one, around one: sensing one thing, knowing one thing; and because it is always one, always at rest: and so keeping an everlasting sabbath. In the meantime, you have the sabbath of days, the sabbath of years, and in a certain foretaste, the sabbath of sabbaths.
The Spirit's Inner Illumination
The author asks who is so illumined by God's Spirit that they know the sabbath distinctions not merely from memory but from inner experience, then turns to Christ in prayer for aid.
Who is so illumined by the Spirit of God that they don't borrow these distinctions of the Sabbaths from other people's words, with memory as a mediator, but instead, experiencing it at work within themselves, speak not only from memory but also from their own understanding?12 Come to my aid, good Jesus — come to your protection, your poor little one, up to this point—3
Crumbs from the Master's Table
In deep humility the author identifies with the Canaanite woman's dog, begging Christ to break bread so that even crumbs from the table of Moses and the sons of God may nourish the least of servants.
Let them say — not the crumbs of some wealthy man robed in purple, but the crumbs that fall, like a little puppy's, from the table of my lords, the sons of yours.✦ For great indeed is that son of yours — and because he is your son, he is my Lord — holy Moses, to be sure. Having been welcomed to your table, he feasted on your bread from Solomon's platter. And I know, my sweet Lord — for you yourself have said: 'It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs' (Matt.✦ xv). But because puppies eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table — you, break that bread for your little dog, so it can gather the crumbs, since it isn't enough for even a small crust.✦
Read the original Latin
Legimus in Veteri Testamento quasdam sabbatorum distinctiones (Levit. xxv) : quorum considerationi libri hujus dedicamus exordium. Habes nempe in lege tria tempora sabbati requiei consecrata : septimum videlicet diem, septimum annum, et post septies septem quinquagesimum annum. Primum ergo sabbatum dierum, secundum annorum, tertium non immerito dicitur sabbatum sabbatorum. Constat namque ex septem annorum sabbatis, addito uno, ut septenarius numerus in unitate concludatur : qui et ab unitate progreditur, et in unitate perficitur. Nam et omne opus bonum ab unius Dei fide inchoatur, quod septenario Spiritus sancti munere promovetur, ut ad ipsum, qui vere unus est, veniatur, ubi totum quod sumus unum cum ipso efficiatur. Et quia in unitate nulla est divisio, nulla sit ibi per diversa mentis effusio : sed sit unum in uno, cum uno, per unum, circa unum : unum sentiens, unum sapiens; et quia semper unum, semper requiescens : et sic perenne sabbatum sabbatizans. Interim habes sabbatum dierum, sabbatum annorum, et in quodam praegustu sabbatum sabbatorum.
Quis ita illuminatus est Dei spiritu, ut has sabbatorum distinctiones, non ex aliorum verbis mutuet, memoria mediante; sed in se ipso agi sentiens, loquatur non solum ex memoria, sed etiam ex sententia? Adesto, tu bone Jesu, adesto tuit, pauperculo tuo, ten-
dicanti non micas divitis purpurati, sed instar catuli, micas, quae cadunt de mensa dominorum meorum filiorum tuorum. Magnus enim ille filius tuus, et quia filius tuus, Dominus meus, sanctus scilicet Moyses ; admissus nimirum ad mensam tuam, epulatus est in ferculo Salomonis panem tuum. Et scio, mi dulcis Domine, dixisti enim : Non est bonum sumere panem filiorum, et mittere canibus (Matth. xv). Sed quia catelli edunt de micis quae cadunt de mensa dominorum suorum, tu frange catulo tuo panem istum, ut micas colligat, qui non sufficit ad crustulam.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Mark.7.28;Matt.15.27 — But she answered him, 'Yes, Lord; and even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.' Matt.15.27 — She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.
- ↩Matt.15.26 — But he answered, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
- ↩Matt.15.27;Mark.7.28 — She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table. Mark.7.28 — But she answered him, 'Yes, Lord; and even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.'
Notes
- 1 ↩The participial phrase 'se ipso agi' is rendered 'experiencing it at work within themselves' to capture the sense of being moved or acted upon by the Spirit in one's own lived experience, but the exact nuance of the Latin is uncertain.
- 2 ↩'Sententia' could mean 'judgment,' 'meaning,' or 'inner conviction.' The rendering 'understanding' aims at the Spirit-led grasp of the matter, but the precise nuance is context-dependent.
- 3 ↩'Tuit' is an uncertain form, possibly a variant of 'tuitio' (protection/guardianship); rendered as 'your protection' based on context. The form 'ten' is also uncertain and may be truncated; rendered as 'up to this point' tentatively.
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