De paupere et infirmo Lazaro
The Wisdom of Holy Suffering
The reader is encouraged to embrace earthly suffering as a means of avoiding eternal punishment and imitating the life of Lazarus.
I am poor and in pain; God, help me. This is the cry of the poor and the sick, sighing to God for the kingdom of God. O poor and sick one, endure the pains of the body and the lack of food and clothing patiently for a little while, because you won't be here or in pain for long. Give thanks to God, because it's easier to be whipped now with the poor and the weak than to be tortured later in hell with the strong and the rich. Remember your past sins by which you often offended God and your neighbor, and endure the rod of the Lord for the forgiveness of your sins, for which you haven't fully repented or made amends. Remember also, for your comfort, all the heavy sorrows and the holy wounds of Christ, because He Himself endured many more and heavier lashes for you. Remember also, for your relief, how the poor and ulcerous Lazarus was joyfully received into Abraham's bosom after death, and tremble at the end of the pampered rich man who, after his feasts, was buried in hell, from where he can never be freed. See now what you should rather choose: to suffer a little and be in need with the sick Lazarus, and rejoice forever with Christ; or to live in luxury for a short time in excess with the healthy rich man, and suddenly die and be buried in hell and burn forever with the devil?
The Comfort of the Abandoned
Reflecting on the solitude of Lazarus, the reader is urged to accept human abandonment and physical pain as signs of divine mercy.
A few words are enough for someone who understands. Blessed is the person who understands and corrects himself in time for all his faults, so that he isn't condemned with the wicked to be tortured by harsh lashes. For if sacred words don't pierce and correct a person now, later on, savage lashes will tear him apart to no purpose, and they will never stop tormenting him. Lazarus, poor and infirm, is free from these evils, having been carried most joyfully by holy angels into Abraham's bosom. Listen further to the many benefits of God that were mercifully shown to this poor Lazarus. He didn't have, as I reckon, rich friends visiting him, nor any servants or companions serving him; but as Jesus says, the dogs came to him and licked his sores. They alone were left to him for comfort in such great misery. And what is more miserable than a man being deprived of human comfort; and...1 Should he be left to be comforted by wild beasts? Yet no sound of impatience or grumbling escaped the poor man's lips; instead, there was only thanksgiving and praise. But the comfort that human cruelty denied him, the wildness of beasts gently provided. So you, weak one, don't grumble if you are left alone for a time or are stirred by the stings of infirmity; instead, consider that this happens by the dispensation of divine mercy, so that by being cut and burned here, you might not perish hereafter. He himself! Perhaps you have offended in the smallest matters, while you have offended more frequently in the gravest ones. Endure the pains of your infirmities patiently, and rejoice when you are sometimes abandoned by people, so that with Lazarus you may deserve to enter the gate of the heavenly kingdom.
Read the original Latin
Ego sum pauper et dolens: Deus adiuva me. Haec vox pauperis et infirmi: ad Deum suspirantis pro regno Dei. O pauper et infirme, sustine patienter per modicum tempus dolores corporis, et penuriam in cibis et vestibus: quia non diu hic eris et dolebis. Gratias age Deo; quia levius est modo flagellari cum pauperibus et debilibus: quam postea cruciari in inferno cum fortibus et divitibus. Recordare malorum tuorum praeteritorum quibus Deum et proximum saepe offendisti; et sustine virgam Domini in remissionem peccatorum tuorum: de quibus non plene paenituisti nec satisfecisti. Memento etiam pro consolatione tuaomnium gravium dolorum et sanctorum vulnerum Christi: quia multa et graviora ipse flagella pro te sustinuit. Memento quoque pro alleviatione tua pauperis et ulcerosi Lazari post mortem in sinum Abrahae laete recepti; et pavesce finem delicati divitis post convivia sua in infernum sepulti: unde numquam poterit sliberari. Vide nunc quid potius eligendum sit tibi, an pati modicum et egere cum Lazaro infirmo, et gaudere semper cum Christo; an deliciari breviter superflue cum divite sano et subito mori et sepeliri in inferno et ardere iugiter cum diabolo?
Intellegenti satis dictum est paucis verbis. Beatus qui intellegit et emendat se tempestive de omnibus malis suis ne damnetur cum impiis: duris verisberibus cruciandus. Quem enim modo sacra verba non compungunt nec corrigunt; postea saeva verbera sine fructu lacerabunt: nec umquam torquere cessabunt. Ab his malis liber est Lazarus pauper et infirmus: ab angelis sanctis in sinum Abrahae laetissime portatus. Audi adhuc multa beneficia Dei huic pauperi Lazaro misericorditer ostensa. Non habuit ut aestimo amicos divites se visitantes; nec aliquos servos aut socios sibi servientes: sed sicut dicit Iesus, canes ad eum veniebant, et lingebant ulcera eius. Ipsi soli in tanta miseria pro solacio sunt relicti. Et quid miserabilius quam hominem humano solacio destitui; et.
bestiis consolandum relinqui? Nec tamen ex ore pauperis impatientiae sonuit aut vox murmuris: sed potius gratiarum actio et vox laudis. Sed cui negabat humana impietas solacium: brutorum feritas mansuete exhibuit obsequium. Tu ergo infirme ne murmuraveris si ad horam insolatus relinquaris et infirmitatum stimulis agiteris: sed cogita tibi ex divina misericordia dispensante id evenire: ut hic sectus hic ustus non pereas. Ipse! forte in minutissimis peccatis: tu autem in gravissimis crebrius offendisti. Patienter ergo dolores infirmitatum sustine; et te derelictum interdum ab hominibus gaude: ut cum Lazaro merearis caelestis regni ianuam introire.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin source text ends abruptly with 'et'.
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