Luke, XXI, 5-36. Announcement of the last times.

"There will be no stone on stone that is destroyed. "

Then there was a question of a widow: having already praised the book we have written about widows, we now leave it out. As to the words of the present text, they were true of the temple built by Solomon, as also of his destruction by the enemy before the time of judgment; for it is no work of our hands that dilapidation wears out, that violence does not overthrow, or that fire consumes. There is yet another temple, built of beautiful stones and adorned with offerings, of which the Lord seems to indicate the destruction: the Synagogue of the Jews, whose aged building falls into ruins when the Church arises. There is also a temple in each, which collapses if faith is lacking, and especially if one misleads the name of Christ forward to seize the inner feelings. It may be that this interpretation is still the most useful for me: what, indeed, is it to me to know the day of judgment? What good is it to me, being conscious of so many sins, that the Lord come, if he does not come into my soul, return to my spirit; if Christ lives in me, if Christ does not speak in me? It is therefore to me that Christ must come, it is for me that his advent must take place. But the second advent of the Lord takes place in the decline of the world, when we can say: "For me the world is crucified, and I for the world" (Gal., VI, 14). But if this decline of the world finds such a man at the top of his house (Matt. Xxiv. 17), living in heaven (Phil. III, 20), then the destruction of the material and visible temple, the Material Law, Material Passover and Visible Passover, material unleavened matter and visible unleavened matter; I will dare even to say of the temporal Christ, as it was for Paul before he had faith (Gal. vi. 14); for to whom the world dies, Christ is eternal; the temple is for him spiritual, the spiritual Law, the Passover even spiritual, since Christ dies only once (Rom., VII, 14); feasting with unleavened bread (I Cor., V, 8) is not the fruit of the earth, but the fruit of justice. For him therefore the presence of wisdom, the presence of virtue and righteousness, the presence of redemption is realized; for Christ is dead once for the sins of the people, but in order to redeem the sins of the people every day.

"And when you hear about wars and the sounds of wars ..."

The Lord has been asked when the destruction of the Temple will take place, and what will be the sign of his coming: He gives information on the signs, He does not judge it appropriate to fix the time. But Matthew adds a third question (XXIV, 1-3), so that the disciples question the moment of the destruction of the Temple, the sign of his coming, and the end of the world; Luke judged that enough would be known about the end of the world, if one were informed of the coming of the Lord. But no one can testify to heavenly words more than us, on whom comes the end of the world. What wars and noises of wars we have learned! The Huns stood against the Alans, the Alans against the Goths, the Taifales55 and the Sarmatians. We ourselves in Illyria were exiled from our homeland by the exiled Goths. And it's not the end yet. What a famine everywhere, the plague of oxen as well as men and all the cattle! So that, having not suffered the war, the plague has made us like a conquered country. So, since we are in the decline of the world, it begins with the diseases of the world: sickness of the world famine, sickness of the world plague, sickness of the world persecution. But there are still other wars supported by the Christian, the struggles of various lusts, the conflicts of desires; and domestic enemies are much more painful than those outside. Sometimes lust excites, sometimes passion ignites; now fear frightens, now anger shakes, sometimes ambition sets in motion; sometimes the spirits of evil that are in heaven (Ephesians 6: 12) try to terrify. They are like fights that strike and shake, like earthquakes, the moving impressions of the shattered soul. But the brave man says, "If a camp arises against me, my heart will not fear; if the struggle arises against me, even then I will hope "(Psalm 26: 3). He is standing at his rank, presenting the chest to the enemy; even if some Goliath stands, fierce and gigantic, among the terror of others he stands up, like the humble David, rejecting the weapons of the king of the earth (I Sam., XVII), taking the lighter features of the faith; and, brandishing in a triple braid the projectile of a pure confession of faith, he wounds the impudence of the persecutor, despising his threats, careless of his power, even deserving that Christ speak in him. Sometimes it is Christ, now the Father, sometimes the Spirit of the Father who speaks; there is no dissonance here, but agree: what the one says, the three say, because the Trinity has only one voice. In front of this conqueror, who struck Goliath with his sword in welcoming death for Christ and put the Philistines to flight, here come the young girls, those who are like eagles: "Saul, they say, has killed thou, David ten thousand "(I Sam. xviii. 7): proof that the conquerors of the world pass before his princes. As kings die, martyrs inherit for ever the honors of the kingdom of heavenly grace; and the first become the supplicants, the second their patrons. There is yet another sword of Goliath, another arrow of the devil: the word of the heretics. The man who knows how to sing takes it to conquer the adversary; he hears about wars without suffering them; no wind of doctrine stirs him, does not worry him (Ephesians IV, 14); he is ignorant of the hunger of the word, satisfied that it is the riches of divine Scripture; he is not afraid of harassing the one who sounds the vain words of the heretics. So he who is weak must wait, not to harm others in an unequal commitment. Vienna David, to whom Christ will open his mouth to speak of mysteries; come this Nazarene whose hair must not fall: either because he has no superfluity that can fall, or because he will lose nothing of his highest virtues; chaste in his sobriety, courageous in peace, master to the end of all his thoughts and words. May the Gospel be announced, so that the century may be destroyed! The preaching of the gospel to the world has already come; already the Goths and the Armenians have believed in it: so we see the world at its end. In the same way, the spiritual man announces the Gospel when he realizes all the progress of wisdom and all the virtues, the soul and the spirit singing (I Cor., XIV, 15), ultimately destroying death. For "the end will take place when in him Christ has handed over the kingship to God the Father, and will be subject to Him who has subjected all things to Him, so that God is all in all" (Ib, XV, 24-28). And the gospel shall be spoken in all cities, that is to say, the cities of Judea; for "God is known in Judea" (Ps 75: 1).

Indeed "the cities of Judea are built" (Ps 68, 36) when the foundations of virtues are laid.

"When you see Jerusalem besieged by an army ..."

In fact, Jerusalem was besieged and besieged by a Roman army: on which the Jews believed that the abomination of desolation had been fulfilled (Matt., Xxiv, 15, Dan., IX, 27), because the Romans threw a pig's head into the Temple to make fun of the ritual observances of the Jews. That's what I would not say even in delirium. The abomination of desolation is the advent of the execrable Antichrist, in the sense that, by his disgraceful sacrilege, he defiles the sanctuary of souls, sitting, according to the narrative, in the temple, to attribute himself the throne of divine power. In the spiritual sense, it is fitting that it be shown to be established, because it desires to place in one's heart the steps of one's bad faith, claiming to be the help of the Scriptures. Then will approach the desolation, because many, falling into the error, will desert the true religion. Then it will be the day of the Lord; the Apostle explained it with evidentness when he says that we must beware "as if the day of the Lord was imminent, to let ourselves be seduced by no one in any way. For before there will come apostasy and will manifest the man of sin, the son of perdition, who opposes and rises against all that is called God or object of worship, to the point of sitting in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God "(II Thess., II, 2-4), and the rest. So he will enthron in the temple, and in the inner temple of the Jews who will deny Christ: in this temple not inviolable, but subject to decay, to be enveloped in the collapse of false faith, or overthrown by the violence of anger, or burned by the fire of lusts. And it is well said that then will come the day of the Lord, and that the days will be shortened for the sake of the elect (Matt., Xxiv. 22): for if the first advent of the Lord occurred for the redemption of sins the second will be for the repression of faults, so that more will not slip into the misguidance of false faith. Then there will be false prophets, then famines. Refer to the time of Elijah (I Kings, XVIII), and you will see that then there were prophets of confusion, then Jezebel, then famine, then the drought of the earth. Why ? Because the iniquity had overflowed, that the charity had cooled (Matth., XXIV, 12). Just as the righteous was in the desert, the unjust ruled.

There is yet another Antichrist, father of the first: the devil, who strives to invest my Jerusalem, my soul - soul of God certainly, peaceful soul57 - with the army of his Legion (cf Lc, VIII, 30). For "we do not have to fight against flesh and blood, but against princes and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness" (Ephes 6: 12). There is apostasy when the soul abandons itself; then, thinking of the Lord, she resumes trembling and is troubled. So, as long as this Antichrist "prevails, until he disappears" (II Thess., II, 7), justice is in exile, iniquity reigns. Then faith is rare; so that the Lord says, with the accent of doubt, "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on earth" (Luke xviii. 8)? either on our land, or in the universe. Likewise, "The Lord has looked upon the children of men, if there be any who understand or seek God" (Ps 13: 2). It's not that God doubts; but faith was so rare among men that, humanly speaking, there was reason to doubt. When therefore the devil is in the midst of the temple, it is the abomination of desolation, according to the prophet Daniel; but when shines on those who toil the spiritual presence of Christ, the wicked is cast out, and righteousness begins to reign, expelling all tyranny from faithful souls.

 There is even a third Antichrist: Arius or Sabellius. Better still, are Antichrists all those who seduce us by false interpretations. Thus "let him that read, understand": he who understands is not deceived to the point of believing in falsity instead of truth, as surely the Jews, who denied the true Christ, and therefore hold true the one who is wrong. In the same way also the Arians will not refuse to the Antichrist what they refuse to Christ.

"Woe to those who will be pregnant and give breast in such days! "

So to conceive would be criminal? But children are the fruit of the wedding. And how is it that the Lord blessed Sarah, and bore (Gen. xviii. 10)? that Anne prayed and begotten (I Sam. I, 10 ssq.)? that Rachel having been blessed had sons (Gen., XXX, 22ff)? Have the Prophets been wrong? For the Lord could not be mistaken. But in the Prophets it is still the Lord who spoke, and consequently they could not wander. How can the disagreement of texts be adjusted? But since there is conflict, let us turn to the spirit of peace; for Peace said, "When the woman gives birth, she is in affliction because her hour has come; but when she has given birth, she no longer remembers her sadness "; and He added: "You too, at this moment are in sorrow, but I will see you again and your heart will be joyful" (Jn, XVI, 21-22). He thus shows that it belongs to the perfect to rejoice, the infirm to waver, as still dreading the uncertain. But right here He just said, "They ate and drank, were married, and took a wife" (Lk, XVII, 27), attaching themselves to this life and chaining themselves to the worries of the world. Such are the pregnant women to whom misfortune is predicted; they accumulate the fatness of their bodies, and their gait is weighed down in the intimacy of their souls; weary of virtues and fat of vices. But there are other speakers who are not exempt from condemnation: those who remain to conceive good deeds, and have not yet produced any results of the work undertaken. There are indeed those who conceive by the fear of God, who say, "In your fear have we conceived and borne" (Is., XXVI, 18). But not all do not; not all are perfect, all can not say, "We have given birth to the spirit of salvation on earth" (Ib.); all are not Mary, to conceive the Christ of the Holy Spirit, to give birth to the Word. There are some who expel before birth an aborted verb; There are some who bear Christ in their bosom, but have not yet formed him; they are told, "My little children, let me again, until Christ be formed in you" (Gal. iv. 19). Those who are still in the womb are in formation, being imperfect; these are already more perfect, to whom it is said: "I have begotten you by the Gospel" (I Cor., IV, 15). There are many fathers in the gospel, and many mothers who give birth to Christ. Who will show me the parents of Christ? He showed them Himself, saying, "Who is my mother, or who are my brothers? He who did the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and my sister, and my mother "(Matt. Xii. 48, 50). Do the will of the Father, to be a mother of Christ. Many have conceived of Christ, and have not brought it to light. She who gives birth to righteousness, gives birth to Christ; the one who gives birth to wisdom brings forth Christ; the one who speaks the word brings Christ. There is also the one who "brought unrighteousness and brought oniquity" (Ps. 7:15). Woe to enclosures of this kind, whose heavy body is too lazy to escape danger! Woe to those whose pains, still to be suffered, of a future childishness which shakes the whole body, are for others the sign of the coming judgment, the "beginning of sorrows" (Matt. Xxiv, 8).

 Moses told us again about a pregnant woman, who, trampled by two men in quarrels, would suffer an abortion (Ex., XXI, 22). Therefore the good woman must flee the quarrels, attach to peace, to carry out her childbirth. And that it does not wait for the term of nine months: the birth of the verb depends on the fullness of time, but zeal: "The just, consumed in a short time, has achieved a long duration" (Sag. , IV, 13); on the contrary, the imperfect soul is quickly trampled, and lets slip the verb that it had conceived. But woe to him who scandalizes one of these little ones (Lk, XVII, 2), or who trampled a pregnant woman! for if she gives birth to a product which is still formless, he will pay with his money; if he were formed, he will give life for life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand (Ex., XXI, 23 ff.). But why the eye or the hand? The runt has a hand and has an eye, if it has been produced already formed. This means that everyone will be sentenced for the damage caused. For if a heretic or schismatic causes a catechumen to come out of the breast, so to speak, either from the soul or from the Church which gives birth to it, its punishment will be lighter; more serious, if it is a faithful. So take care, in discussing with these people, to trample on the Church; for "avoid foolish and irrelevant questions, knowing that they cause quarrels" (II Tim., II, 23), which wound the Church, like a pregnant woman, trampling her whole body. So hurry to fill your breast, to be able to more quickly give birth. Listen to the manner of filling it, and of what: "It is from the fruits of his mouth, it is said, that man fills his entrails, the fruits of his lips that he is satiated" (Prov., XVIII , 20). Concerning those who nourish, I still have the teaching of the sublime judgment of Solomon and the dispute of these two women (I Kings, III, 16 ssq.). Although already delivered pains of the birth, they are still agitated of fear concerning the attribution of the children. The sleep of drunkenness fell on the one who fed, the mother stifled her child; she denies it, she wants that of the other. But she who has not killed her son is afraid for him, panting at the uncertainty of judgment. So we too, not to find ourselves authors of imperfect works in the day of judgment or death, hasten to wean our children. Once weaned, Isaac was no longer afraid of his mother's sleep; so Abraham made a great feast when he weaned his son (Gen., XXI, 8). Once weaned, David hopes the reward for his soul (Ps. 130, 2). The Corinthian is no longer at the beginning of his faith when, still incapable of solid food, he drank the milk; but, fortified now by a solid loaf, he has grown to the fullness of the perfect age (I Cor., III, 2, Hebrews, V, 12, Ephes, IV, 13). It is not enough therefore to have taken care to engender; you have to have the means to feed.

 For you then, as for Mary, let the Word of God grow, let it progress in wisdom and in age: this is what happens, if you keep in your heart all the words of justice, if you do not wait. the hour of old age, but if, united from the first age to the righteous man, you hasten to conceive wisdom without altering your body, to give birth to it, to nourish it. Consider Paul yesterday persecutor, today believer, tomorrow preacher.

"Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. "

Since in the day of judgment the Lord will come, before whom fire will burn (Ps 49: 3), and fire always has the same energy, or (even) burn faster in summer, how does He say to pray that our escape does not take place in winter? Perhaps because one who takes refuge in the mountains should not have to fear the cold and the ice, the storms and the hail of sins, but rather wish for the serenity of a radiant summer, so that the slippery ground does not not stumble the weak feet of his body. And so this soul, now assured in its progress, now resting on solid roots, rejoices and says: "Winter has gone, the time has come to cut" (Cant., II, 11 ). For in winter the wind strips the trees of their adornment, and the rigor of the cold is for the tender foliage like a death that kills them; but in spring the seeds grow back, and in a summer revival nature becomes green and flourishes. In the spring is Easter, where I was saved; in summer, the fifty days when we celebrate the glory of the resurrection in the image of the time to come.

 It is also necessary to pray that at his coming the Lord will not surprise you in Sabbath, that is to say, idle and idle. So work, according to the law, day after day; have the fervor of the mind and the laborious vigilance; and it is not without reason that it is written: "On Saturday you will humble your soul" (Lev. XVI, 31). And as the people have remained in captivity for seventy years, as then religion has been profaned, oppressed liberty, outraged modesty, you must emigrate from this life when the virtues are vigorous, the vices captive, and not when the soul is captive, its strength and strength nonexistent, when the body is dominated by sins.

"And there will be signs in the sun, the moon and the stars. "

The prophecy takes place in reality and the mystery is completely fulfilled: the Jews will be taken a second time captive to Babylon and Assyria; they will be captives all over the world for denying Christ; Visible Jerusalem will be trampled by the enemy's army, and the Jews will be swept by the sword. and all Judea will be subjugated by the nations who will believe, with the help of the spiritual sword, which is the double-edged word (Hebrews IV, 12). And various signs will occur in the sun, moon and stars. These signs are expressed more clearly in Matthew (XXIV, 29). "Then," said he, "the sun will fade, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall. As indeed many will abandon religion, the clarity of faith will be veiled by the cloud of unbelief: for the heavenly sun abates or grows for me according to my faith. This is so when many people consider the radiation of the sun of this world: according to the receptivity of the spectator the sun seems paler or more brilliant; in the same way, according to the devotion of each believer, the spiritual light spreads over him. And just as in its monthly phases the moon disappears when the earth interposes itself between it and the sun, so the holy Church, when the vices of the flesh intercept the celestial light, can not borrow from the radiance of Christ the radiance of the divine light. Because often in persecutions it is only the love of this life that stops the clarity of God. "The stars will fall": that is to say those men already glittering with the glory of the resurrection, these men "stars of the world, possessing the word of life" (Phil., II, 15 ssq.), These men about whom it was told Abraham that his offspring would shine like the sky and the stars (Gen. XV, 5). So the Patriarchs will fall in the eyes of men, the Prophets will fall, if the cruelty of the persecution asserts itself. This must be accomplished until the Church has completed in all and in everyone the fullness of virtues; for it is thus that the good are recognized, that the weak are betrayed. So the various passions of souls will be so strong, that having conscience laden with a multitude of faults, the fear of the judgment that will dry up in us the freshness of the sacred fountain: for false faith dries up, faith refreshes.

"For the powers of heaven shall be shaken; and then we will see the Son of man come on the clouds. We wait for the coming of the Lord, so that his presence, which is fulfilled of course in everyone when we receive Christ with all our heart, is realized in the whole universe, human or material. Perhaps in their turn the virtues of heaven, at the advent and return of the Lord Savior - for "He is the Lord of virtues (Ps 23, 10) - will necessarily obtain an increase of grace and will be shaken when the fullness of the divinity will be communicated more closely. There are also virtues of the heavens which proclaim the glory of God (Psalm 18: 2), and which are shaken by a more abundant communication of Christ: the spiritual virtues, which see Christ. David taught us how these virtues are set in motion, when he says, "Come near me, and you will be enlightened" (Ps. 33, 6). Paul, in turn, taught how to see Christ: for "when you are converted to the Lord, the veil will be removed" (I Cor. III, 16), and you will see Christ. You will see it in the clouds: I really do not think that Christ will come in a dark fog and icy rain; for we see the clouds, they veil the sky with an obscure mist; and how will he "put his tent in the sun", if it rains at his coming (Ps. 18,6)? But there are clouds which veil, because it is necessary, the brightness of the celestial mystery; there are wet clouds of the dew of spiritual grace. Look at the cloud in the Old Testament: "He spoke to them, it is said, in a pillar of cloud" (Ps 98, 7). Yes, He spoke through Moses, through Joshua, son of Nave, who stopped the sun to receive the radiance of a more abundant light (Josh. X. 12). So Moses and Joshua, son of Nave, are clouds. See how the saints are clouds: "They fly like clouds, like doves with their little ones" (Is, LX, 8). I have on my head the clouds of Isaiah, of Ezekiel, who by the cherubim and the seraphim show me the holiness of the divine Trinity (Is., XXXVII, 16, Ez., X, 1); all are clouded. It is in these clouds that Christ comes. He comes on the cloud in the Song of Songs (III, 6, 11), on a serene cloud, radiant with the joy of a husband. He comes again on "a light cloud" (Is., XIX, 1), when He takes flesh from a Virgin: for the Prophet saw as a cloud coming from the East; and he said well: a light cloud, which the vices of the earth did not weigh down. See the cloud on which the Holy Spirit rested, and which the power of the Most High has covered with its shadow (Lk I, 35). So when Christ will appear on the clouds, "the tribes of the earth will collapse" (Rev. I, 7): because there exists as an ordinance of the crimes and a building of the sins, that the advent of the Christ destroys .

"See the fig tree and all the trees: when they produce their fruit, you know that summer is near. The texts of the Evangelists seem, by various processes, it is true, to reduce themselves, however, to unity. Matthew speaks only of the fig tree "when its antlers are tender" (XXIV, 32); here, we talk about all the trees. But we must, either when the fruit becomes green on all the trees and the fig tree is already fertile and in bloom (when every tongue praises God, Phil., II, 11, and that the Jewish people also praises it), hope the coming of the Lord, to whom, as in the summer season, the fruits of resurrection will be reaped; Or else, when the man of iniquity has taken the garment of his slight and frail vanity, as the branches of the Synagogue their leaves, conjecture that judgment is approaching. For the Lord hastens to reward faith and put an end to sin. Thus the fig tree here is doubly figurative, or the softening of hardness, or the superabundance of sins; for by the faith of the believers what was hitherto withered will flourish, and from the adornment of their sins the sinners will be vain; this is the fruit of faith, here the mad thrust of false belief. The care of the evangelical gardener promises me the fruit of the fig tree (Lc, XIII, 9). We must not despair if sinners have covered themselves with the leaves of the fig tree as a deceptive garment, to throw a veil over their conscience. The leaves are therefore a sterile appearance. Such are the clothes possessed by the exiles of paradise (Gen., III, 7).