Luke, XXII, 66-XXIII, 25. The judgment of the Lord.

Then comes an admirable passage, which infuses the hearts of men with a disposition of patience to bear the affront with equality of soul. The Lord is accused, and He is silent. And He is right to be quiet, not needing to defend himself; wanting to defend oneself is good for those who fear being defeated. He does not confirm the accusation by his silence, but disdains it by not refuting it. What would He fear, since he does not wish to flee? Greetings of all, He sacrifices his to acquire that of all. But why talk about God? Susanna was silent, and she triumphed (Dan. XIII, 35); the best cause is that which is justified without defending itself. Here also Pilate absolves; but he absolves by his judgment, he crucified by reason of mystery. But this is peculiar to Christ; what is human is, in the face of unfair judges, to have shown that one did not wish to defend oneself, not that one could not. Why did the Lord kill himself? He had said beforehand: "If I speak to you, you do not believe me; if I ask you, you will not answer me. The most remarkable, however, is that he has preferred to show his kingship than to affirm it, so as to deprive them of any motive for condemning him, since their very complaint is an admission. While Herod wanted to see some wonders from Him, He was silent and did not do it, because the character's cruelty did not deserve to see divine things, and also because the Lord avoided self-esteem. . Perhaps Herod is the figure and emblem of all the ungodly: if they have not believed the Law and the Prophets, they can not see the admirable works of Christ in the Gospel. He is sent to Herod, sent back to Pilate. Although neither of them convicts him, they serve the purposes of the cruelty of others. Pilate washed his hands well, but he did not erase his actions; for, being a judge, he should not have yielded before hatred and fear to the point of delivering innocent blood. His wife warned him, grace illuminated him in the night, divinity was imposed; even so, he did not abstain from a sacrilegious sentence.

 We have in him, in my opinion, the anticipated image and the model of all the judges who would condemn those whom they judge innocent. On the other hand, this person united to Pilate shows that the Gentiles are more forgivable than the Jews, and can more easily be brought to the faith by the divine works. But those who crucified the Lord of majesty! ... And it is quite right that they demand the acquittal of a homicide, claiming the loss of the innocent. Such are the laws of iniquity: hating innocence, cherishing crime. This - while the translation of the name draws here a figure: because Barabbas means in Latin "son of the father". Those to whom it was said, "You are the father of the devil" (Jn, VIII, 44), are denounced as having to prefer to the true Son of God the son of their father, the Antichrist.

"And having put on a white robe, he sent him away. "

It is not without reason that he is dressed in a white robe by Herod, to signify that his Passion is unblemished; for the Lamb of God without blemish has gloriously taken upon Him the sins of the world. Likewise, in the likeness of Herod and Pilate, who from enemies became friends with Jesus Christ, the figure of the people of Israel and the crowd of Gentiles is lining up; for the Passion of the Lord will one day grant their agreement, so that Gentility, however, first receives the word of God, and sends it back to the Jewish people by the devotion of its faith, so that these in turn will take on with majestic splendor the body of Christ, whom they had first despised. As for the scarlet cloak worn by the soldiers, and the purple tunic, one represents the victories of the martyrs, the other marks the royal power; for his flesh was to gather for us the blood poured out into the whole universe, and his passion to procure his reign in us. Similarly, the crown of thorns braided around her head, what does she mean? Is it not the spectacle of the divine work, the glory of the triumph procured for God by the sinners of this world, thorns of the age? The whips are not meaningless either: He has been scourged, that we may not be flogged; for "that wounded man and his song to bear infirmities suffers for us" (Is., LIII, 3ffq); He turns the whips away from us, who hitherto fled before God; the Lord is patient until he offers his hands to the chains of the fugitives, his body to the whips of the fugitives69. Thus the Jews, no matter how detestable their minds may be, no less presage the glorious denouement, for by wounding they crown, by mocking, they adore. Their hearts do not believe, and yet they pay homage to Him whom they sacrifice.

He missed them the desire to do well, that is; but God did not fail to be honored: he is saluted as a king, crowned as a conqueror, worshiped as God and Lord. Moreover, according to Matthew, a reed is placed in his hand, so that human weakness is no longer agitated by the wind like a reed (Lk, VII, 24), but strengthened and based on the works70 of Christ, and also for that, the act which was contrary to us once nailed to the Cross (Col., II, 14), the old sentence is out of date. Or, according to Mark, one strikes one's head so that our nature, strengthened by the touch of divinity, 71 can no longer oscillate.

But it's time for the winner to erect his trophy. The Cross is placed on his shoulders like a trophy. Whether it be Simon or Him who wears it, Christ carried it into man, and man carried it into Christ; there is no disagreement between the evangelists, since the mystery makes the agreement. Then it is the order of our progress: He first erected Himself the trophy of His Cross, then He gave it to the martyrs to erect it. It is not a Jew who carries the Cross, but a stranger of passage. He does not precede, but follows, as it is written, "Take up your cross and follow me" (Lk. IX, 23); because Christ did not go up on his Cross, but on ours. And He died not in his divinity, but as a man; therefore He says, "God, my God, look at me! Why did you leave me? It is good that before going up on the Cross He has left the royal garments: you will thus know that he has suffered as a man, not as a God and a king, and that if Christ is one and the yet it is as man, not as God, that he was nailed to the Cross. But it is the soldiers, not the Jews, who know when such clothes are suitable for Christ; he appeared to judgment as a conqueror, he came to execution like a humiliated criminal.

Luke, XXIII, 33-49. Crucifixion

We saw the trophy; that now the triumphant rider climbs on his chariot, and suspends not the trunks of trees or quadriges the booty conquered from a mortal enemy, but from the triumphal gall the remains removed in the century. We do not see here nations with arms tied behind their backs, nor images of destroyed cities or statues of conquered places. We do not admire captive kings, with their heads lowered, according to the customary apparatus of human triumphs, nor the extent of victory pushed to the limits of a country; but peoples and nations in joy, summoned not for punishment, but for reward, kings worshiping by free inclination, cities devoted to a voluntary worship, and the raised images of cities, not represented by colors, but drawn by a devoted faith; the arms and the right of the conqueror traveling the whole world; the prince of the world prisoner, and the spirits of evil who are in heaven (Ephesians 6: 12) obeying the commands of a human word; the submissive powers, and the various kinds of virtues in the brilliance of the silk, but of the manners: chastity shines, faith shines, and, adorned with the spoils of death, brave devotion at last arises. The only triumph of the Lord, the Cross of Christ, has already triumphed almost all men. It is important, therefore, to consider in what state He ascends. I see him stripped: it is thus that one must rise when one is preparing to conquer the century, without seeking the help of the century. Adam was conquered, he who sought a garment (Gen., III, 7); the winner is the one who has left his clothes. Then He ascended as nature had formed us under the action of God: this is how the first man had lived in paradise, as the second man entered paradise. And in order to be a conqueror not for Him alone, but for all, He extended His hands to draw everything to Him (Jn, XII, 32), in order to free the bonds of death, to attach to the yoke of faith to unite in heaven what was once of the earth.

 We also write an inscription. Usually a procession precedes the victors; but the triumphal chariot of the Lord was preceded by the beautiful procession of the risen dead. Usually also a sign indicates the number of subjugated nations. Such triumphs show, arranged in a certain order, the pitiable captives of conquered nations, ashamed when they are destroyed: here flourishes the beauty of redeemed peoples. The carriage is worthy of such a triumph: the sky, the earth, the sea, the underworld pass from corruption to grace. Now the inscription is traced, and placed above the Cross; not below the cross, for "the principality is on his shoulders" (Is., IX, 6). What is this principality, if not its eternal power and divinity? Also, when asked, "Who are you? He answers, "The principle that speaks to you" (Jn, VIII, 25). Let us read this inscription: "Jesus of Nazareth, it is said, King of the Jews. It is right that the inscription be above the Cross, because the kingship possessed by Christ does not belong to his human body, but to his divine power. It is right that the inscription be above the Cross, because if the Lord Jesus was on the Cross, He shone above the Cross by His royal majesty. He was worm on the Cross (Ps. 21: 7), beetle on the Cross: in good worm he held to the Cross, in good beetle He cried on the wood (Hab., II, 11) 72! What did He shout? "Lord, do not count them this sin"; He shouted to the thief: "Today you will be with me in paradise"; He cried out like the scarab: "God, my God, look at me; why did you leave me? As a real beetle, He stirred through the traces of his virtues the mud of our body, previously shapeless and heavy. As a good beetle, He raises the poor man dung (Ps. 112, 7): He raised Paul, who considered himself as garbage (Phil., III, 8); He lifted up Job, who was sitting on the manure (Job, II, 8). The inscription is therefore not arbitrary. As for the Place de la Croix, it is in the middle, to be seen by all, or, as the Hebrews claim, on the tomb of Adam74: for it was appropriate to attribute to the first fruits of our life the place that had occupied the beginning of death.

 We share the clothes, which fate attributes to everyone: for the Spirit of God is not a prisoner of human thought, but arises as if by chance. Perhaps also the four soldiers are the figure of the four evangelists, writers of an inscription that we all can read. I read the inscription of the King of the Jews, when I read: "My kingdom is not of this world" (Jn, XVIII, 36); I read the trial of Christ written above his head, when I read: "And the Word was God" (Jn, 1,1); because "the head of Christ is God" (I Cor., XI, 3). So they kept Jesus. Even today they keep him, so that he does not come to escape anyone, so that he does not descend for anyone from his Passion, as the Jewish people demanded (Matt., XXVII, 40). Yes, may Christ die for me in his Passion, to resurrect after his Passion. He did not want to come down for Him, to resurrect for me. It is therefore for us that now Christ is kept, for our intention that his clothes are divided. Everyone can not have everything; and if the tunic is drawn by lot, it is because the Holy Spirit is not distributed according to the man; for "there is a sharing of graces, but it is the Spirit who accomplishes it, distributing to each one as He sees fit" (I Cor., XII, 6, 11). Now contemplate the shared garments of Christ. Where to look for them? Seek in Matthew: you will find only in him the scarlet cloak (XXVII, 28), in John the purple robe (XIX, 2), in Mark the purple only (XV, 17), in Luc the white robe ( XXIII, 11): for he was content with herself alone for his part. How many people has Christ clothed in his garment? I think he did not wear only four soldiers, but all, and all of them abundantly. But let's go back to the evangelists. So these four parts are, it seems to me, not portions of clothing, but kinds of talents; for as one has written of the Kingdom in sublime terms, another has extended to human formation; Luke chose for him the brilliance of priestly clothing, Mark did not search for the fabric of expressions75; finally, Jean has, so to speak, woven speeches to put on our faith. Do you not find that this is a chain: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was in God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning in God. All things were done by him "(Jn, I, 1-3)? But Mark, contenting himself with the brilliancy of the purple, said, without enchaining the words: "Beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (I, 1). The shared garments are therefore the actions of Christ, or his grace: for the tunic could not be shared: I mean faith, because it does not belong to everyone, but belongs to everyone. law ; for what is not shared with individuals remains intact. . And it is true that it was "woven from above" (Jn, XIX, 23): because the faith of Christ is woven in such a way that it descends from the divine to the human, since, born of God before the centuries, He later took and married the flesh. It is thus shown to us that faith must not be torn apart, but remain whole.

"Really, truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise. "

Magnificent testimony that one must work to be converted, since forgiveness is so quickly lavished on the thief, and grace more abundant than prayer. The Lord always gives more than we ask. He asked that the Lord should remember him when He came to His Kingdom; the Lord says, "Truly, truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. For life consists in being with Christ: where is Christ, there is the Kingdom. The Lord therefore forgives promptly, because the other quickly converts. This seems to explain how the other evangelists show the two throats saying insults, and one of them the insulting, the other praying. Perhaps the latter began by insulting, then suddenly converted; and it is not surprising that the fault is forgiven to the convert by the One who lavishes pardon on his insulters. One could still speak in the plural of one, as in the text "The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes gathered together" (Ps 2: 2): for Herod is the only king, and Pilate the only magistrate, who agreed with Christ, as the words of Peter show, in the Acts of the Apostles (IV, 27). You read likewise, to the Hebrews: "They went in goats' skins, they were sawed, and shut up their mouths to the lions" (Hebrews, xi, 33, 37): we are only told from Elijah that he wore a goat's skin (II Kings, I, 8), from Isaiah he was sawed 1, from Daniel that he remained unharmed among the lions (Dan., VI, 23).

 How execrable is the iniquity of the Jews, who makes them crucify as a thief the Redeemer of all! It is, however, in the mystical sense, a real thief: He played the demon, to take away his instruments (see Matt., XII, 29). In addition, the two thieves symbolize mysteriously the two sinful peoples, who by baptism will be crucified with Christ. Their disagreement also marks the variety of believers: one was on the left, the other on the right. Their reproaches also reveal that the scandal of the Cross (Gal., V, 11) will exist even among believers.

And the Jews had vinegar. It came to light that, to complete all things, He even took this corruption of the truth, in order to nail to the Cross all that had been spoiled. So He drinks the vinegar; He does not drink the wine mixed with gall, not because of the gall, but to ward off the bitterness mixed with the wine. For he has certainly taken the bitterness of our life into his incarnate condition; as well He says, "They gave me food for gall, and for drink to my thirst vinegar" (Ps 68, 22). But bitterness should not be mixed with the truth, to show that the immortality of the resuscitated would be without bitterness; as this immortality had soured in the human vessel, it is restored in Christ. So He drinks the vinegar: in other words the vice of immortality spoiled by Adam is removed from the reed76, to be eliminated from the human body. We, too, pass in Christ our vices accumulated by the negligence of the soul and the body; let them be passed through baptism, to be crucified in Christ; let them pass through penance, that he may give us in exchange the incorruptible reality of wine, of heavenly blood.

 Finally, having drunk vinegar, "all is consummated," says He; for all the mystery of the mortal flesh he had united was accomplished, and, all vices eliminated, only the joy of immortality remained. This is why He says, "Lord, in your hands I put my spirit back. And he is right to restore his spirit, since he is preserved; because entrusted thing is not lost. The mind is therefore a good pledge, a good deposit; so he said, "O Timothy, keep the good deposit" (II Tim. I, 14). He gives the Father his spirit; He also says, "You will not leave my soul in hell" (Ps 15, 10). Now see the great mystery: now He puts his spirit back into the hands of the Father, now He rests in the bosom of the Father, because no other can contain the whole Christ; as well, "I am," says He, "in the Father, and the Father in me" (Jn., xiv. He therefore gives the Father his spirit; but if he is in the heights, He lights the hells themselves, that all things may be redeemed; for "Christ is everything, and everything is in Christ" (Col. III, 11), although Christ acts in every part. The flesh dies to resurrect; the spirit is given to the Father, that the heavens themselves may be delivered from the bonds of iniquity, and there may be peace in heaven that the earth could imitate. "And with these words, He gave up the ghost. It is very true that he gave it back, for he did not lose it against his will; as well Matthew says, "He put his spirit back": to surrender is voluntary, to lose is constraint.

That's why we added: "In a loud cry"; there is the great testimony that he has lowered himself to the death for our sins - I will not blush to recognize, too, what Christ did not blush to affirm in a great cry - an obvious manifestation of God, testifying to the bond of divinity and flesh. For you read: "Jesus cried out," God, "said he," my God, look at me! Why did you abandon me? He shouted like a man that his separation from the deity was going to kill; for divinity being free from death, death could only happen if life were withdrawn; and life is divinity.

 What follows now shows that the end of the world will take place because of the impiety of men. Thus the Passion of the Lord provides the signs that the present will crumble for the rising of the future. Darkness then spread over the eyes of unbelievers, so that the light of faith might reappear; the sun has gone down or stolen from sacrilege, to conceal the spectacle of criminal murder; the rocks were split, so that the breach of the rocks made it appear that in the future the force of the word would penetrate the hardness of hearts, to make it easier for the hunters prophesied by Jeremiah (XVI, 16) to hunt for the Lord in the hollows of the rocks. As for the open tombs, do not they announce the rupture of the prisons of death, and the resurrection of the dead, whose sight was authentic, whose appearance was figurative? For when they went out into the holy city, they announced, under the appearances of the present, that the heavenly Jerusalem will be the eternal rendezvous of the risen ones. In the same way the veil is torn, which proclaims either the separation of the two peoples, or the profanation of the mysteries of the Synagogue. The ancient veil is thus torn, for the new Church to hang its hangings; the veil of the Synagogue is removed, to allow the gaze of our soul to contemplate (II Cor., III, 14) the secret mysteries of religion. Finally, the centurion himself proclaims Son of God Him whom he crucified. Hearts of Jews harder than rocks! The stones split, but their hearts harden. The judge accuses them, the executor believes, the traitor condemns his crime to the death penalty, the elements are concealed, the earth is shaken, the tombs open; yet the hardness of the Jews remains immutable among the jolts of the universe.

 The women stood there, seeing this show. His mother was there too, making the zeal of his tenderness pass before his own peril. The Lord, on his side, suspended on the Cross, despising his peril, recommended his Mother in an impulse of piety. It is not without reason that Jean told it in detail. Others have described the shaking of the world, the darkness covering the sky, the eclipse of the sun. Matthew and Mark, who became more attached to the human and moral side, added: "God, my God, look at me! Why did you leave me? To make us believe that it is the human nature taken by Christ that ascended the Cross. As for Luke, he showed clearly how the thief had been forgiven, procured by sacerdotal intercession, 79 and the persecuting Jews their favor solicited by such a blessing. John, who has penetrated more deeply the divine mysteries, took care with reason to show that the one who had begotten God had remained virgin. He is therefore alone in teaching me what others have not taught: how, put in the Cross, He addressed his Mother. That the conqueror of torments and torments, the conqueror of the devil, has distributed the duties of piety, seemed to him greater than to give the kingdom of heaven; for if it is sacred that the Lord forgive the thief, it is much more sacred that the Mother be honored by the Son. And let no one think that I have interfered by mentioning the pardon of the thief before the words to his Mother; for having come to save sinners (I Tim. I, 15), it is not unreasonable for my writings to make Him first fulfill the mission He has undertaken, by redeeming and saving a sinner. Besides, He said, "Who are my mother, and who are my brothers? Because he did not come to call the righteous, but the sinners (Matt., XII, 48, IX, 13). But that was the place. Here, not forgetting his Mother even on the Cross, He addresses these words to her: "Behold your son," and to John, "Behold your mother." Christ on the Cross made his will, and John subscribed the will, worthy witness of such a testator. Good testament, which bequeaths not money, but life, written not in ink, but by the Spirit of the living God (see II Cor., III, 3). "My tongue is the name of a scribe who writes quickly" (Psalm 44: 3).

But Mary, for her part, was not inferior to what befits the Mother of Christ: the Apostles had fled, she stood before the Cross, and contemplated with a tender look the wounds of her Son, waiting for the death of his Child, but the salvation of the world. Perhaps, too, knowing that the death of her Son was the redemption of the world, she, "the king's court," thought that her own death might add something to the grace given to all. But Jesus did not need help for the redemption of all, who said, "I found myself as a helpless man, free among the dead" (Ps 87: 6). He certainly approved the intention of his Mother, but He did not want human help. Thus we have a master in piety: this text teaches us which model must take maternal affection, on which to regulate the respect of children; some must offer themselves when their children are in danger, they are more in trouble of the abandonment of their mothers than the pain of their own death. This passage provides a superabundant testimony of Mary's virginity: for it is not a matter of taking away a wife from her husband, since it is written, "What God has united, that man does not separate him" (Matt., XIX, 6); but the one for whom marriage was the veil of mystery had nothing to do with marriage once the mysteries had been accomplished. Or, to keep to the moral sense, chastity is the rule in mourning. There is, however, a mystery because it is entrusted to John, the youngest of all; and we must not welcome him with a distracted ear. Because it is a danger for women that the connection with a teenager, and the beauty of youth. Such, perhaps, in search of a precedent, having no cure for the mystery, wanting to live at ease with Christ, could affect the appearances of Mary without imitating her dispositions (as wrongly understood by these women common, who abandon an old husband to attach themselves to a young person); Let her learn, then, that this is the mystery of the Church: previously united to the ancient people, apparently, not indeed, after having borne the Word and planted it in the bodies and souls of men, by faith in the Cross and the burial of the Lord's body, she has, at the command of God, chosen the society of the younger people. I also seek why, not finding that he was pierced before his death, we find him after his death. Perhaps to teach us that his departure was voluntary, unconstrained, and to make known to us the order of mysteries: the sacraments of the altar do not precede baptism; but baptism comes first, then drink. Finally, it makes us remark that, if the nature of his body was mortal, if his condition was similar (to ours), his grace was different; for it is certain that after death the blood congeals in our bodies; but of this body certainly without corruption, and yet dead, the life of all flowed: for it came out of water and blood, one to wash, the other to redeem. Let us drink our ransom, to be redeemed by this drink.

Luke XXIII, 50-56. The burial.

What does it mean again that Christ is buried not by the Apostles, but by Joseph and Nicodemus? One was fair and constant; in the other there was no fraud82. Such is the burial of Christ: she knows neither fraud nor iniquity. It is there to cut short all the false evasions, and to triumph over the Jews by a testimony of theirs; for if it were the Apostles who had buried him, they would surely say that he was not buried, since they said that he had been taken away. But the righteous covers the body of Christ with a shroud, the innocent smeared it with perfume; it is not without reason that we meet this distinction, because justice is the garment of the Church, innocence gives it its beauty. Put on also the body of the Lord of his glory, that ye may be righteous; even believing in his death, yet cover him with the fullness of his divinity. Anoint him with myrrh and aloe, to be the good odor of Christ (II Cor., II, 15). It is a good shroud that Joseph put this just: perhaps the one that Peter saw coming down from heaven to him, where were various quadrupeds, beasts and birds, likeness and figure of Gentility (Act, X , 11 ssq.). The Church is thus buried with this mysterious and precious perfume, having associated diverse peoples in the community of her faith. About Joseph, I find in John only that he came secretly to find Pilate, for fear of the Jews. How did a righteous seek secrecy for fear of danger? For me, I believe he asked secretly to get the body, not to avoid danger. Yet what is surprising if the righteous hid, when were also hidden the Apostles, masters of the righteous? Come, too, whether you come late, or at night, or at any time, you will find Jesus willing to welcome you, and not paying the late-comers a lower wage: for the very one who came to the sixth hour was not deprived of wages, and that of the eleventh was paid full wages (Matt., XX, 5 sec.). Moreover, Nicodemus came at night (Jn, III, 2): it was dark, because it was not yet the resurrection; as well, once the risen Jesus, the righteous says, "The night has come first, the day is coming" (Rom., XIII, 12). Luke calls this Joseph righteous, Matthew rich; and this is the case of calling him rich, at this moment when he received the body of Christ: for, receiving the rich, he did not know the indigence of the faith. So we are rich when we are right. Thus he wraps it in a shroud; but the Israelite mixes the varied perfumes of the virtues, and puts in them about a hundred pounds of aloe: that is to say, the perfect measure of faith. And they bound the body of Jesus, according to the custom of the Jews - spiritual: not by the knots of unbelief, but by the stripes of faith. And they deposited him in a garden: to him the Church is often compared, as having the fruits of various merits and the flowers of virtues. It is not without reason that such speaks of a new tomb, another of the tomb of Joseph. Thus Christ had no tomb to Him; it is to prepare a tomb for those who are subject to the laws of death; the conqueror of death has no tomb to him: for what is there in common between a tomb and God? Ecclesiastes also says of him who meditates good: "And there is no burial for him" (VI, 3). The death of Christ, then, has its own character, different from the death common to all; so He is not buried with the others, but alone shut up in the tomb. For the Incarnation of the Lord had all the similarities with humanity; but the resemblance is not without difference: there is a resemblance in his birth of a virgin, dissimilarity in his conception; He healed the sick, but by commanding; John baptized in water, Him by the Spirit (Lk, III, 16). In the same way, therefore, the death of Christ is common as to his bodily nature, special as to his power. But who is this Joseph in whose tomb he is laid? Obviously, that's right. It is therefore well that Christ is entrusted to the grave of a righteous man, so that the Son of man may have his head (Lk. IX, 58), and rests in a stay of righteousness. It is also good that the tomb is nine: in the literal sense, so that the unbelievers do not say that another is resurrected; in the mystical sense, what can we hear? Perhaps what we have read is, "Their throat is a gaping sepulcher" (Ps. 5, 11). It is, then, a gaping sepulcher, the throat of man, in which is buried the unbelieving who kills and the dead words; it cracks and falls into ruin of dilapidation, visited, so to speak, by the animals. On the other hand, there is a tomb, in the intimacy of man, that the righteous widened by the penetration of the word into the hardened hearts of Gentility; he is polished by the work of faith and doctrine, so that the power of Christ may unfold before the nations. And it is perfectly fine that they put a stone there, so that it was not gaping; for when Christ has been well buried at home, he must be carefully guarded, not to lose him, and not to let false faith enter. You see that Pierre and Jean deserve to enter first; and besides, John himself did not enter before having believed (Jn, XX, 6, 8). And it is said that he was cut in the rock, that is to say, in the firmness of faith, from which the true Israelites have sucked the sweet honey and the oil of the Spirit (Deut XXXII, 13). But Christ is buried by the righteous and by him who has seen God; for one can bury Christ only if he is believed to be God. Not everyone can bury Christ: women, however pious, remain at a distance; but their piety makes them watch the site carefully, to bring in perfumes and to spread them. In their solicitude, however, they are the last to leave the tomb, the first to return to the tomb. If constancy is wanting, eagerness is not lacking; their sex is weak, their devotion fervent.