Luke, VII, 11-17. Resurrection at Naim.

Now, as He was approaching the gate of a city, behold, they took away a dead man, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and many of the people of the city were with her. The Lord was moved with pity, and said to him, Weep not, and He came near and touched the coffin.

This passage also has a double profit: we believe that divine mercy is quickly bowed by the lamentations of a widowed mother, especially since she is shattered by the suffering and the death of an only widowed son. to whom, however, the crowd in mourning restores the advantages of motherhood; on the other hand, this widow, surrounded by a crowd of people, seems to us more than a woman; she has deserved to obtain by her tears the resurrection of the adolescent, her only son; it is because the holy Church reminds life, the funeral cortege, and the extremities of the tomb, of the younger people, with regard to their tears; and it is forbidden for him to cry to whom the resurrection is reserved.

 Now this death was carried to the tomb, in a coffin, by the four elements of matter; but he had the hope of the resurrection, since he was carried on the wood (the latter, it is true, did not serve us at first, but once Jesus had touched it, he began to give us life): it was a sign that salvation would spread over the people by the gallows of the Cross. Having therefore heard the word of God, the mournful bearers of this mourning ceased: they dragged the human body into the mortal current of its material nature. Is it not this, and are we not stretched out without life, as in a coffin, the instrument of the last duties, when the fire of an unquenchable covetousness consumes us, or when cold humor invades us, or when a certain habitual indolence of the body dulls the vigor of the soul, or that our mind, empty of pure light, feeds our intelligence with thick fogs? These are the bearers for our funeral. But even though the last symptoms of death have made all hope of life disappear and the bodies of the dead are lying near the tomb, yet, at the word of God, the corpses ready to perish come up, the word comes back, the son is returned to his mother, recalled from the tomb, torn from the sepulcher. What is this tomb, yours, if not bad morals? Your tomb is the lack of faith; your sepulcher is this throat - for "their throat is a gaping sepulcher" (Ps. 5, 11) - who utters words of death. This is the sepulcher from which Christ delivers you; from this tomb you will be resurrected if you listen to the word of God. Even if there is serious sin, that you can wash yourself by the tears of your repentance, only for you cry this mother, the Church, who intervenes for each of her sons as a widowed mother for single sons ; for she sympathizes, by a spiritual suffering which is natural to her, when she sees her children driven to death by fatal vices. We are the entrails of his bowels; because there are also spiritual entrails: Paul had them, he who said: "Yes, brother, give me this joy in the Lord, satisfy my entrails in Christ" (Philém., 20). We are therefore the entrails of the Church, because we are members of her body, made of her flesh and bones. May she weep, the tender mother, and may the crowd assist her; that not only a crowd, but a large crowd sympathize with the good mother. Then you will rise from death, then you will be delivered from the tomb; the ministers of your death will stop, you will begin to speak words of life; all will fear, for by the example of a single many will be straightened; and, moreover, they will praise God for granting us such remedies to avoid death.

Luke, VII, 18-35. Message from John.

"And John sent for two of his disciples, and he sent them to say to Jesus," Are you the One to come, or are we waiting for another? "

 It is not easy to understand these simple words, or this passage is contradicted by the preceding ones. How, indeed, can John ignore the One above whom he knew on the testimony of God the Father? How then did he recognize the one he did not know before and ignore the one he knew before? "I did not know him," said he; but He Himself who sent me to baptize, said to me, "The One on whom you will see the Holy Spirit come down from heaven ..." (Jn, I, 33). He believed this word, he recognized it when He was shown, He worshiped it after baptism; he prophesied his coming: "I saw him," he says, "and I have testified that he is the chosen of God" (Jn, I, 34). But then ? Could it be that such a great prophet was so mistaken as the One of whom he had said, "Behold, he who taketh away the sins of the world" (Jn, I, 29), he did not yet believe him Son of God ? Or it is imprudent to attribute divinity to a stranger; or to doubt the Son of God is lack of faith; therefore such a great prophet can not incur the suspicion of such a mistake. Then, that the interpretation in the simple sense is contradictory, let us look for the spiritual figure. And as John, as we have already said above, represents the Law which announced Christ, it is true that the Law, held materially captive in hearts without faith, as in prisons deprived of the eternal light, enclosed in entrails full of torture, behind the doors of unintelligence, could not push to the end the full testimony of the divine design without the guarantee of the Gospel. The Law prophesied in the Exodus the grace of Baptism by the cloud and the sea (I Cor., X, 2); announced by the lamb the spiritual food; shown in the rock the eternal source; revealed in Leviticus the forgiveness of sins (Lev., XXV, 10); proclaimed in the Psalms the kingdom of heaven; clearly indicated the promised Land in Jesus son of Navé. All this is also consistent with John's testimony. Yet the tyrannical powers of this world hold her captive and prevent her from spreading the light of the resurrection of the Lord. John therefore sends His disciples to Christ for extra knowledge, for Christ is the fulness of the Law. Often the words are badly assured without the facts, and a more complete faith is added to the testimony of the acts than to the promises of the words; so that faith, which wavered in the hearts of the Jews when the law was a prisoner, was to flourish in the very spectacle of the Lord's cross and the full testimony of his resurrection.

And perhaps these disciples are the two peoples: one, descended from the Jews, believed; the other, Gentiles, believed because he heard. They therefore wanted to see by virtue of this text: "Blessed are your eyes, who see, and your ears, who hear" (Matt., XIII, 16). But we too saw Jean; we have contemplated our eyes by the Apostles, and we have probed with our hands by the fingers of Thomas "what was in the beginning, what we heard and saw, behold with our eyes, what our hands have touched by the Word of life, and life has appeared "(I Jn, I, 1-2). When did she appear? When we saw. She did not appear so before being seen. Thank you to the Lord, who was crucified for our faith, crucified for our lusts! My soul was crucified in Him. So, now again, those who go back to the Old Testament, until they know the gospel and gather the traces of the Lord's body, so to speak, believe that He will come and ask if Christ is this Son. of God who is coming. And when they read the passage where He conversed with Abraham (Gen., XVIII, 20, etc.), or where He showed Himself as leader of the heavenly militia (Jos., V, 14), Then are they saying, Are you the One to come, or are we waiting for another? But when they come to the gospel and recognize that the blind have light, that the lame walk, that the deaf have heard, that the lepers have been cleansed, that the dead have risen, then they say, "We have it. seen and contemplated with our eyes "and, in the footsteps of his nails, we pressed our fingers. It seems to us indeed to have seen Him whom we read, to have contemplated him crucified and to have felt his wounds when the Spirit of the Church probes them: for if by the finger of God the demons are driven out (Lk, XI, 20 ), faith is also discovered by the finger of the Church. Or again, in this acting member of our body, it seems that all of us have explored the whole of the Passion of the Lord: for faith has reached some by the many. The Law therefore announces that Christ is coming; the text of the Gospel says he has come.

Many still think as follows of John himself: he was a great prophet enough to recognize Christ, to announce that the remission of sins was going to take place; but nevertheless, not out of doubt, but out of affection, the prophet, having believed in his accession, did not believe that he ought to die. It is not therefore his faith but his affection which has doubted; Peter, too, doubted when he said: "By grace, Lord, it will not be done" (Matt. XVI, 22); This prince of faith, to whom Christ had not yet said that he was the Son of God, and yet who believed it, on the subject of the death of Christ, did not believe Christ Himself. It is pious feeling, not impious failure. He does not want others to wash his feet (Jn, XIII, 18): not recognizing the mystery, he is shocked by the condescension of the Lord. Thus even the saints did not believe that Christ had to die; for "what the eye has not seen, neither the hearing of the ear, nor that which is not in the heart of man, has God prepared for them that love him" (I Cor. II, 9). For those who are religious, an error of love does not hinder faith.

Besides, the Lord, knowing that no one can have a plenary faith without the Gospel - for if faith begins with the Old Testament, it ends in the New - with the question about his person answered by revealing himself not by any word, but by his actions. "Go," said He, "tell John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised, the poor receive the good news. Complete testimony for sure, to which the Prophet could recognize the Lord; for it was from Him, not from another, that He had been prophesied: "The Lord gives food to the hungry, the Lord raises up those who are broken, the Lord delivers the captives, the Lord enlightens the blind, the Lord loves the righteous, the Lord protects strangers, takes care of the fatherless and the widow, and forbids the way of sinners "(Ps 144, 8-9). He, he says, who does these things, "the Lord, shall reign for ever" (Ib 10). They are therefore the marks of a power not human but divine that dissipate before the blind the darkness of an endless night and heal, by pouring the light, the wounds of their gaping eyes, to penetrate the hearing in the ears of the deaf, rebuild the loose joints of paralyzed limbs, even recall the deceased to light by making them vital energy. All this was before the rare or nonexistent gospel. That Tobias has recovered his eyes is a unique example; and again is it an angel who accomplishes this healing, not a man. Elijah raised a dead person (I Kings, XVII, 20)? But he prayed and cried; This one ordered. Elisha procured the cleansing of a leper (II Kings, V, 14)? In this case, however, it is not the authority of an order that operates it, but the figure of the mystery. The flour did not fail to feed the hungry widow, having multiplied on the order of the Prophet (I Kings, XVII, 16)? But this flour has only maintained one widow; or rather it was also the figure and the image of a sacrament.

Yet these are still the least points of the Lord's testimony: the fullness of faith is the Lord's cross, his death, his burial. Also, having said the above, He adds: "Happy that will not be scandalized about me. ". For the cross could give scandal even to the elect; but there is no greater witness of a divine person, there is nothing that appears more superhuman than the offering of one for the whole world; if only by this, the Lord is fully revealed. Moreover, it is thus that John has designated him: "Behold the Lamb of God; here is He who takes away the sins of the world "(Jn, I, 29). However, the present answer is not addressed to these two men, disciples of John, but to all of us, so that we believe in Christ if there is corresponding fulfillment. In fact, someone will come to claim that name (see Matt, XXIV, 5, II Thess., II, 4); if you can not recognize him in the name he bears, you will distinguish him, however, by examining his acts.

"What did you go to see in the desert? a reed balanced in the wind? "

Having warned the disciples of John that we must believe in the cross of the Lord, while they go away, He turns to the crowds and begins to exhort the poor to virtue: that by exaltation of the heart, instability of spirit weak judgment they do not prefer the brilliant to the useful, the perishable to the eternal, but that in humility of spirit they carry the cross rather than display the rattles of this world; and, as blessed poor who have nothing to lose of the century, let them willingly exchange the life of the body for immortal glory. So it is not in vain that the person of St. John is praised here, who, disdaining the love of life, did not alter the rule of justice even for fear of death.

"What have you gone to see," he said, "in the desert? The world seems here compared to the desert: still uncultivated, still barren, still fruitless. The Lord says that we must not go in order to offer ourselves as an example and a model to imitate men who are swollen with a carnal mind and have no inner virtue, boasting of the fragile elevation of their glory according to the age; exposed to the storms of this world, the mobility of life agitates them, and it is just to compare them to the reed; they bear no fruit of solid justice; cluttered with mundane ornaments, studded with knots, resounding their noisy emptiness, rendering no service, often even harmful, they look for vanity inside, outside appearances. We are reeds without the root of strong species to fix us; and as soon as the light breeze of a happy success blows, we strike our neighbors with our agitated movements, unable to sustain, quick to harm. Reeds like rivers, and we, the flow and fragility of the world charms us. Yet if we tear this reed from the plantations of the earth, if we get rid of the superfluous? by stripping off the old man and his actions (Col., III, 9)? If he is led by the hand of the scribe to the quick writing, behold, it is no longer a reed, but a feather, which will engrave in the depths of the soul the precepts of the divine Scriptures, will inscribe them on the tablets of the heart ( II Cor., III, 2). From this pen you know that it is said, "My tongue is the pen of a quick-writing scribe" (Ps. 44, 2). Others want to hear that of Christ; therefore in the same passage we read that He is word, pen and scribe: word, because He proceeds from the mysterious bosom of the Father: "My heart uttered the good word" (Ib., 2); pen, because the flesh of Christ has translated the result of the paternal wills and fulfilled the orders of the divine tongue by shedding his sacred blood; scribe, for by his pen, by a sort of cleft without separation from the New and the Old Testament, or from his divinity and his flesh, he has revealed to us the mysteries of his father's design. Imitate this reed by controlling your flesh. And dip your reed, that is, your flesh, not in ink but in the Spirit of the living God, so that what you write is eternal. It is from such a reed that Paul wrote the letter of which he says: "Our letter is you ... it is written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God" (II Cor., III, 2-3). Bath your flesh in the blood of Christ (as it is written, "That your foot may be bathed in blood" (Ps 67, 24), so you too, bathe the footsteps of your soul and the steps of your mind in the Assured Confession of the Cross of the Lord You bathe your flesh in the blood of Christ if you erase your defects, if you wash away your sins, if you carry the death of Christ in your flesh, as the Apostle says: " Carrying with us in our flesh the death of Jesus Christ "(II Cor., IV, 10) So do not lean toward the earth, for fear of breaking your reed, which is why it was prophesied of Christ, because he would not bow to the earth: "He shall not break the crushed reed" (Is., xii, 3): for that flesh which sins had crushed, II strengthened it by the effect of his resurrection, a good reed that the flesh of Christ, nailed to the gallows of the cross the head of the serpent, the devil, and the attractions of the covetous ise of the world.

"But what did you go to see in the desert? a reed balanced in the wind? What did you go to see? a man covered in fluffy clothes? "

The Lord does not discuss clothes here - although many are effeminate in their search for fluffy clothes: as if they can not bear the weight of the wool, they sweep the ground with silk clothing that covers their feet, and make of the garment a use as it is a load; yet it seems here to designate other clothes and, if I am not mistaken, the human bodies of which our soul is clothed. Joseph's tunic was also bloodied (Gen., XXXVII, 31), in the image of the body of the Lord, and the Apostle says: "Stripping off His flesh, He has played the principalities and all the powers" (Col., II, 15): does not it show that his body was a garment from which the Lord stripped himself in his Passion, so that his divinity remained free and out of reach? Thus all this passage, by the example of the Prophet, exhorts us courageously to bear the suffering.

 Then He adds, "See, those who have rich clothes are in the palaces of kings. Silky clothes are still acts and habits of pleasure; that is why the Apostle exhorts us to strip the old man with his actions to put on the new (Col., III, 9), in which there will be no pleasant seduction, no licentious frolics, but the practical work and its fruit; Whereas the heavenly court does not in any way welcome those who are softened by the delicate care of their bodies, debauchery and the search for pleasures; we rise up there by the austere degrees of a laborious virtue. Those whose members get angry and dissolve in delights, banished from the kingdom of heaven, grow old in the dwellings of this world; and the masters of this world and darkness? those are kings, because they dominate by a sort of temporal power? welcome in their person imitators of their works.

"But what did you go to see? a prophet ? yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. "

How, then, did they wish to see John, who was imprisoned in the wilderness? The Lord proposes it to us as a model: he has prepared the way for the Lord not only by the mode of his birth according to the flesh and the proclamation of faith, but also by preceding him, so to speak, in his glorious passion. Yes, the greatest prophet, to whom the prophets come to finish; the greatest prophet, because many wished to see (Matt., xiii. 17) He prophesied, whom he contemplated, whom he baptized. But yet would he be greater than the very one of whom Moses said: "The Lord our God ... you will raise up a prophet" (Deut., XVIII, 15), which he said: "This is what will happen: Whoever will not listen to this Prophet be cut off from the people "(Ib., 19)? If Christ is a prophet, how is he greater than all? Do we deny that Christ is a prophet? On the contrary, I proclaim all together that the Lord is a prophet, and as for John, I affirm that he is a prophet, and I say it greater than all, but among the sons of the woman, not of the Virgin (Lk, VII, 28) He was greater than those of whom he could be equal by birth. Other is this nature, and without comparison with human childbirth. There is no possible comparison between man and God: it is on his own that each one prevails. So well could there be so little comparison of John with the Son of God that he is judged inferior even to angels: for, is it said, "He who is the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he? . ". Indeed, since he had called his angel (Matt. Iii. 1), it was right to place him before men; and, because he had declared him eminent among the sons of women, He added: "For whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he," to let him know that we must yield to the angels.

 But it is rightly that John is placed before his fellows, since from his time "the kingdom of heaven is forced" (Matt., XI, 12). This expression seems a little obscure, and that's why we thought it best to bring it here from another book of the Gospel. For, in the literal sense, it is the inferior who is forced by the strongest: but the kingdom of heaven prevails over humans. But since there are objects which, they say, condense when pressed, it is not unreasonable that the Kingdom should be forced when it is pressed in greater numbers. "And those who force it take it. If we refer to what is written by the Lord, that the Son of God said, "The Kingdom of God is within you" (Lk. XVII, 21), we note that the Kingdom of Heaven is strengthens in us when Christ, having overthrown the royalty of the prince of this world and put to flight the pleasures of the age, reigns in the heart of our hearts. It is thus done violence to the human soul which, captivated by various baits, flees the work, seeks the jouissance, when, constrained by the fear of the torture, is stimulated by the reward, it strives to overcome itself and, by dint of work, the task of removing the palm that disputed many opponents. We remove from this world the palm of salvation, and by a vigilant effort we gather the fruits surrounded and guarded by serpents, so that, however, there is not a furtive removal, but a triumphant conquest. It is yet another kind of conquest, when we conquer what was offered to others. Who then are the captors, we have no difficulty in understanding, since we know to be descendants of the race of Benjamin, the ravening wolf (Gen., XLIX, 27). John was the first to make just the people of the Jews; the Lord Himself had come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt., XV, 24); He had sent his Apostles to establish the faith of the people of the Jews by speech or by signs and miracles; but while they were shirking the benefits thus offered, publicans and sinners began to believe in God, to come to faith. It is therefore in them, through the preaching of the Apostles, that the kingdom of heaven is pressed and strengthened by the desire of the faithful people. She took possession of the Kingdom, the one that was suffering from a loss of blood: for while the Lord was going to the daughter of the head of the synagogue, she took, by a stealth touch, the healing remedy (Lc, VII, 44). She seized the Kingdom, that Chananean who, coming out of her country, said and shouted: "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David: my daughter is cruelly tormented by the devil" (Matt., XV, 22) . She really forced the Kingdom, persevering in her prayers, wise in her answers, believing in her words. She recalls the one who went beyond her, prays when he is silent, adores him when he recuses himself, and bows his refusal. Do not you seem to be delighted, when she snatches what one refused, to seize what one reserved for others? The Lord had said that dogs should not be given the bread of children: she admits it and, while admitting it, seizes it: "Yes, Lord; but also the dogs eat crumbs that fall from the table of their masters "(ib., 27).

You have just learned how to take hold of the celestial kingdom. So let us also force him, let us remove it: no one eats the Passover except by hastening (Ex., XII, 11). But who is the one who seizes the Kingdom? neither dishonesty, nor debauchery, nor pleasure, but that which is said, "Your faith is great; let it be done to you as you wish "(Matt. XV, 28). See, she took what she wanted, she got it; what she asked for, she extorted it. This widow has also taken away: by redoubling her prayers, she has, if not by her innocence, at least by her importunity, obtained to be answered (Lk, XVIII, 5). The Church, therefore, seized the kingdom of the synagogue: my Kingdom is Christ, I seize it; He was sent to the Jews under the Law, was born in the Law, was raised according to the Law, to save me, who was without law. Christ is stolen, since he is promised to some, predestined to others; Christ is stolen, since he is born for some, is helpful to others; Christ is stolen, since he is killed by some, buried by us. He is stolen from those who spy on him, stolen from those who sleep. You know when they confessed themselves that we stole it, saying that they were sleeping: "Say, his disciples came at night and stole him while we slept" (Matt., XXVIII, 13) . Stand up, then, who are sleeping, lest you too, while sleeping, lose Christ:

"Stand up, you who sleep, and rise up from the dead" (Ephesians 14:14): you see, they have died those who sleep. So we are not doing wrong to others, but we are making provision: for these dead could not keep this Living. Let them rise, at least late, those who have slept, even those who have lost Christ. One does not lose Christ to the point that he does not come back, provided however that one seeks it; but He returns for those who watch, He is there for those who are up; much better, He is present to all, He who is everywhere and always because He fills all things. There is no lack of anyone, it is we who miss; to no one, I say, there is no need, it is over-abundant for all: for sin has been overflowing so that grace may be overabundant (Rom., V, 20). Grace is Christ, life is Christ, Christ is resurrection; whoever stands up finds that he is present. So the Kingdom of Heaven is delighted when Christ is denied by his own, worshiped by the Gentiles; delighted, when He is rejected by them, honored by us; delighted, when he is misunderstood by the heirs, acquired by the adopted sons.

Luke, VII, 29-35.

"And all the people who heard it, and the publicans, justified God by receiving the baptism of John, but the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law despised God's purpose upon them by not receiving baptism."

S. Luke clarified, by the details he adds, what Matthew, speaking more generally, had left somewhat obscure: for he said, "And wisdom has been justified by his children" (Matt ., XI, 19). First, what is this wisdom, we see it here expressed; for he says, "They have justified God. God is wisdom, for the wisdom of God is his Son: wisdom of nature, not acquired. Another is the wisdom virtue of God the Father, another the wisdom virtue of the soul: one is innate, the other is created. Other is the wisdom that does the works, other the work: for it is the work of the spirit to appreciate with prudence, to think with vivacity; these are gifts of nature: as to their author, He is not a creature, but a Creator, that is, not a gift of nature, but a donor of nature. Thus God himself is justified by baptism, when men justify themselves by confessing their own sins, as it is written: "Tell yourselves your iniquities to be justified" (Is., XLIII, 26). It is justified in the sense that instead of being repulsed by obstinacy, God's goodness is recognized by justice; for "the Lord is righteous and loves righteousness" (Ps 10, 8). Here is what the justification of God consists of: it appears that he has spread his benefits not on unworthy and guilty, but on those whom baptism has rendered innocent and just. Let us therefore justify the Lord, to be justified by the Lord.

What is the justification of God? Let's look again. The Apostle says, "God be truthful, and every man a liar, as it is written, That you may be justified in your speeches, and conquered when you are judged" (Rom., III, 4, PS 115, 11; 50, 6). David also says, "I have sinned before you alone and do evil in your presence, so that you may be justified in your speeches and victor when you are judged" (Ps 50, 6). So whoever sins and confesses his sin to God, justifies God by admitting his victory and hoping for His grace. God is therefore justified in baptism, which includes confession and forgiveness of sins. Let us not despise, as the Pharisees do, the plan of God. The purpose of God is in the baptism of John: who, then, could doubt that the purpose of God is in the ablution of Christ? It is the design that the Angel of the great design (Is., IX, 6) discovered, that no one knew: "Who indeed knew the thought of God" (Rom., XI, 34)? No one despises the design of man; who could oppose the plan of God? So, as sons, justify our Mother, follow our Mother. We know that the mother offers herself danger to her sons. Let us obey the plan of our Mother wisdom, at the orders of our Mother.

"We sang for you, and you did not dance; sang laments, and you did not cry. This is not unrelated to the character of the children, who, not yet having the wise gravity of middle age, move and move their bodies lightly. Without a doubt ; I think, however, that it can be understood in a deeper sense: it is because the Jews did not believe in the psalms at first, or later in the lamentations of the prophets: the psalms invited them to the reward, the lamentations distracted them from their distractions. David sang for us to hang our willow harps (Ps 136: 2). He sang, and he danced before the ark of the Lord, not for sporting but for religion. So what is indicated is not the leaps of a body inflected by contortions of acrobats, but the agility of an awakened mind, of a consecrated body. But neither triumphs nor disasters brought the correction of the Jews: put to rest by the blessings of divine favor, they should have raised their soul, lift their bodies, leave the earth, seek the sky and, broken by the sufferings of captivity, crying their sin, since their fault was the cause of their suffering.

So "wisdom has been justified by all his children": truly by all, because with respect to all justice is kept, so that believers are welcomed, unbelievers rejected. So many Greek texts bear: "Wisdom has been justified by all his works"; because it is the work of justice to take into account the merit of each. So he says, "We sang for you, and you did not dance. For Moses sang, when in the Red Sea, when the Jews passed, the waves froze, the water formed a rampart, and this same water, overthrowing, engulfed the horses of the Egyptians and their horsemen. Isaiah sang a song to his beloved vine (Is., V, 1), to announce that the people would be embroiled with vices, once fertile in its fruitful virtues. The Hebrews chanted, when their feet were refreshed by the contact of the flame becoming dew, and all being blazed in and out, they alone were caressed, not burned, by a harmless flame (Dan. 24). Habakkuk too, warned to soften the public sorrow with a song, prophesied that the Passion of the Lord would be sweet to the believers (Hab., III). The prophets thus sang, sounding in spiritual melodies the announcement of common salvation; the prophets wept, to soften by their plaintive lamentations the rough ones? of the Jews. Scripture taught us to sing with gravity, to modulate with wisdom (Ps 46, 8). She even taught us how to dance with wisdom, when the Lord said to Ezekiel, "Strike with the hand, and fight with the foot" (Ezra. VI, 11): for God, the censor of the mores, will not claim the jesting movements of a restless body, commanding men of slaps without dignity, the applause of women, and belittling such a great prophet to entertaining actors, to an effeminate softness. There is no connection between revealing the mysteries of the Resurrection and imposing the derision of dance. It is certainly a kind of applause proper to good works and actions, such as the noise spreads in the world and that resounds the glory of good deeds. It is an honorable dance, where the soul leaps, where the body rises by the good works, when we suspend our harps at the willows. The Prophet therefore receives the order to clap and to kick. He receives the order to sing, because he already saw the wedding of the Bridegroom, where the Church is the bride, Christ the beloved. Happy marriage, where the soul unites with the Word, the flesh with the Spirit. It was at this wedding that the prophet David wanted us to play, to whom he invited us because he married his descendants. Also, happier than the others, as present at the very celebration of the wedding, he exhorts us to rush to the joyous spectacle: "Jump for joy," said he, "for God our help, sing joyfully for the God of Jacob. Sing the psalm and play the tambourine, the harmonious harp and the zither "(Ps 80: 2-3). Do not you see the Prophet as dancing? And elsewhere: "I will sing you on the zither, Saint of Israel. My lips will rejoice to sing you, and my soul that you have redeemed "(Ps 70, 22-23). Do you hear the voices of the zither players, do you hear the trampling of the dancers? These are weddings, believe it good. Take, too, the zither, so that, touched by the plectrum of the Spirit, the rope of your inner fibers makes the sound of the work good. Take the harp so that there is harmonious harmony of your words and deeds. Take the tambourine, so that the spirit may sing the instrument of your body internally, and the exercise of your activity will translate the gentle sweetness of your hearts. Thus sang the Prophet when he said: "Come here from Lebanon, wife, come here from Lebanon" (Cant., IV, 8). This hymn, the children sang it, and we did not listen to them. Which children? Those who are said, "Here I am, with the children you have given me" (Is., VIII, 18). But this song was not sung in the square, not at the crossroads, but in Jerusalem: for it is the forum of the Lord, where the law of the heavenly commandments is fixed.

Luke, VII, 36-50. The sinner and her anointing. (See Mt., XXVI, 6).

"And here is a woman who indulged in sin in the city ....."

This passage seems to embarrass many, and they raise questions: do two evangelists (Luke & Matthew) disagree in their testimony? Or did they want, by the diversity of expressions, to mark a different mystery? You read, indeed, in the gospel according to Matthew, that "when Jesus came to Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him; she had an alabaster vase containing a perfume of price, and as he was at table, she poured it on his head "(Matt. XXVI, 6-7). And then, here, the Pharisee says to himself: "If he were a prophet, he would know that she is a sinner, and he should avoid his perfume", while there the widespread perfume makes the disciples protest. We must therefore explain one and the other; but first what comes first in the series of writers must also have first place in the interpretation.

 The Lord Jesus comes to the house of Simon the leper. We see his design: He does not escape the leper, He does not avoid the impure, in order to erase the spots of the human body. As for the house of the leper, she was in Bethany, who interprets and means house of obedience. So the whole town was Bethany, and Simon's house a portion of the whole town. Do not you think that Bethany is the world in which we are required to provide a service of obedience, and that the house of Simon the leper is the earth, which is part of the world? And the Prince of this world is in his way a Simon the leper. So the Lord Jesus Christ came from the higher regions in this world and descended on earth; He was not in this world, but in a loving obedience He was sent into this world; He says it himself: "As you sent me into this world" (Jn, VI, 58). This woman, therefore, learned that Christ had arrived; she entered Simon's house, for this woman could not have been healed if Christ had not come to earth. And if she entered the house of Simon, perhaps she is the figure of a higher soul, or the Church, who came down to earth to attract the people around her by her good smell.

 So Matthew brings in this woman who pours a perfume on the head of Christ; and perhaps that is why he did not want to call him a sinner; for, according to Luke, the sinner spread the perfume on the feet of Christ. So it may not be the same: thus the evangelists will not seem to contradict each other. The question can also be solved by a difference of merit and time, so that one is still sinful, the other already more perfect: for if the Church, or the soul, does not change its personality, it change in progress. Suppose, then, a soul who approaches God with faith, who, instead of sinful and impure sins, piously serves the Word of God, who has the assurance of unblemished chastity, you will see that it rises towards the the very head of Christ - "and the head of Christ is God" (I Cor., XI, 3) - and spreads the perfume of his merits: for "we are the good odor of Christ for God" (II Cor ., II, 15). For God is honored by the life of the righteous who exhale a good odor. If you hear it this way, you will see that this truly happy woman is quoted "wherever this gospel will be preached" (Matt. Xxvi. 13), and that her memory will never fade, because she poured out on the head of Christ the aroma of good morals, the perfumes of righteous deeds. He who approaches the head can not be exalted as one who is "truly inflated in his carnal mind and does not cling to the head" (Col., II, 18). But whoever does not attach himself to the head of Christ must at least attach himself to his feet, since "the body articulated and organized in its unity grows to grow in God" (Col., II, 19).

The other ? other about the person or about progress? is next to us For we have not yet given up our sins: where are our tears, where are our groans, where are our tears? "Come and adore, let us worship before God, and weep before our Lord who made us" (Ps 94, 6), so that we may at least reach Jesus' feet; for we can not yet come to the head: the sinner on the feet, the just on the head. Yet even the one who has sinned has a fragrance. Bring me, too, after sins penance. Wherever you learn that the righteous has come, the house of an unworthy man, or the house of a Pharisee, hurry up; take away the privilege of the host, remove the kingdom from heaven, for "since the days of John the Baptist, the kingdom of heaven is forced, and by strong force it is taken away" (Matt. x. 12) . Wherever you hear the name of Christ, come: whatever may be in the inner dwelling of which you will know that the Lord Jesus has entered, you too will hurry. When you have found wisdom, found justice resting within someone, run to his feet, that is to say seek at least the lower part of wisdom. Do not disdain your feet: such touched the bangs, and was healed (Lk 8:44). Admit your sins by your tears; that heavenly justice says of you also: "From his tears he watered my feet, and from his hair he wiped them. And perhaps Christ did not wash his feet so that we could wash them with our tears. Good tears, able not only to wash our fault but to water the footsteps of the heavenly Word, so that his efforts in us prosper! Good tears, where is not only the redemption of sinners, but the food of the righteous! For it is a righteous man who says, "My tears have served me bread" (Ps 41: 4). And if you can not come near the head of Christ, Christ's feet touch your head with his feet. Even his bang heals, and his feet heal. Deploy your hair: prostrate before Him all the benefits of your body. It is not only that hair that can wipe the feet of Christ, witness who, as long as he had hair, could not be defeated. Similarly, it is not appropriate for a woman to pry her hair cut off (I Cor., XI, 5). Yes, that she has hair to wrap the feet of Christ, to wipe its curls? his beauty and his adornment? the feet of wisdom, so that at least they are moistened by the last dew of divine virtue. May she apply her kisses on the feet of justice. It is not of vulgar merit, the one whose wisdom can say: "Since my entry, she has never stopped kissing my feet," knowing only speak wisdom, not knowing love only justice, finding only taste for chastity, not knowing how to embrace only purity. Because the kiss is a mark of mutual love; the kiss is a pledge of charity. Happy who can anoint the feet of Christ with oil? Simon had not done it yet? but happier is the one that has perfumed them: for, having concentrated the charm of many flowers, it diffuses sweet and varied odors. And perhaps no one can offer this perfume that the Church alone, which possesses innumerable flowers with various scents; it takes the appearance of a sinner, since Christ too has taken the form of a sinner. And that is why no one can love as much as she, who loves in the multitude. Not even Peter, who said, "Lord, you know that I love you" (Jn, XXI, 17); not even Peter, who grieved when he was asked:

" Do you love me ? Since it was obvious, he did not like being inquired into as something unknown. So not even Peter, for it is the Church that loved in stone; not even Paul, because Paul is also part of it. You, too, love so much that you too may be forgiven. Paul has sinned greatly; he has even been a persecutor; but he loved very much, since he persevered to the point of martyrdom; his many sins were given to him because he too loved, too, who did not spare his own blood for God's sake. See the good order: in the house of the Pharisee it is the sinner who is glorified; in the house of the Law and the Prophet it is not the Pharisee, but the Church, which is justified: for the Pharisee did not believe, she believed. So he said, "If he were a Prophet, he would know for sure who and what woman is touching him. Now the house of the Law is Judea: it is written not on stones, but on the tablets of the heart (II Cor. III, 3); it is there that the Church is justified, henceforth superior to the Law: for the Law ignores the remission of sins; the law does not possess the mystery in which secret faults are purified; thus what was missing from the Law is completed in the Gospel.

"A lender," said II, "had two debtors: one owed five hundred, and the other fifty. "

What are these two debtors? Are not these two peoples, one constituted by the Jews, the other by the Gentiles, indebted to the lender of the heavenly treasures? "One," said he, "owed five hundred, the other fifty. It is not a small thing that this denier, on which is stamped the image of the king, which bears engraved the trophy of the emperor. The money we owe to this lender is not material; it is the weight of merits, the currency of virtues, the value of which is measured by the weight of gravity, the brilliance of justice, and the sound of praise. Woe to me if I do not have what I received! or rather, how difficult it is for anyone to be able to repay the lender all his due, woe to me if I do not ask:

"Give me back my debt! For the Lord would not have taught us to ask in prayer that our debts should be handed over to us, if he scarcely knew that there would be solvent debtors. But who is this people who owes more, if not us, to whom it has been entrusted more? To others have been entrusted the oracles of God (Rom., III, 2), entrusted to us the Child of the Virgin. You have a talent, the Child of the Virgin; you have the hundredfold fruit of faith. Emmanuel, God with us, has been entrusted to us; entrusted, the cross of the Lord, his death, his resurrection. Although Christ suffered for all, it is for us, however, that he suffered especially because he suffered for the Church.

 So there is no doubt that this one owes more who received more. And among men perhaps we are more displeased when we owe more; but the mercy of God has changed the situation, and he loves more who owes more, if he finds grace. For he who renders is in favor; and he who possesses it, by the very fact that he possesses it, acquits himself; for it is possessed by rendering it, and in possessing it, it is returned. Therefore, since there is nothing we can worthily give to God - what will we give him for the lowering of the Incarnation? for the shots? for the cross, death, burial? - woe to me if I do not like! I do not hesitate to say it: Pierre did not return, and he did not like it any more. Did not Paul return? yes, he died for dead, but he did not do everything else: he had heavy debts. Listen to him himself say that he did not return: "Who gave Him first, to be returned" (Rom., XI, 35)? Even if we would make crosses for the cross, death for death, is this to render what we have of Him, through Him, and in Him: all things (Rom., XI, 36)? So let us make love for our debt, charity for the benefit, gratitude for the price of blood: for "he loves more to whom he is given more".

But let us return to the first, the one of which the apostles themselves do not yet understand the design, which has always been hidden in God (Ephesians 3: 9); because "who knew the thought of God" (Rom., XI, 34)? The disciples protested because this woman had poured the perfume on her head, and they complained, "Why," said they, "this waste? it could have been sold at a good price, and given to the poor "(Matt. XXVI, 8-9). What has displeased (Christ) in their words, you will not be able to discover unless you recognize the mystery: for it is of a voluptuous man, or rather it is not of a man, to breathe the perfume; in any case, even those who breathe it are accustomed to rub them, not to spread them. What, then, has displeased this saying: "We could have sold this at a good price, and given to the poor? It was He who said above, "All that you did to one of these little ones, you did it to me" (Matt. Xxv. 40), but He offered Himself. even his death for the poor. It is not therefore mere appearances. So the Word of God answered them: "Why do you want this woman? ... you always have poor people with you, but me not always" (Matth., XXVI, 10-11). So you always have the poor with you: so be kind. Do you then have to keep the poor waiting because he is always with you, while the Prophet tells you: "Do not say to the poor man: Tomorrow I will give" (Prov., III, 28)? But this one spoke only of mercy; He passes faith before mercy, which has merit only if its exercise is preceded by faith: "By spreading this perfume on my body, it worked for my burial" (Matt., XXVI, 12). So it is not the perfume that the Lord loved, but the love; He accepted the faith, He approved humility. And you too, if you desire grace, increase your love; spread on the body of Jesus faith in the Resurrection, the odor of the Church, the perfume of love for the community; and by means of such progress you will give to the poor. This money will be more useful to you, if instead of giving of your abundance you lavish in the name of Christ what would have served you, if you give it to the poor as an offering to Christ. Do not understand, therefore, literally only that perfume poured on one's head - for the letter kills (II Cor., III, 6) - but according to the spirit, for the spirit is life. What is the perfume of this woman? who can hear it? who has ears so made that if Jesus utters the word he has received from the Father, much better the Word than he is himself, he can grasp the great depth of the mystery? Even the disciples understand in part, although they do not understand everything. Also, in the opinion of some, the disciples said that at the price of perfume it was necessary to buy the faith of the Gentiles, which was to be at the price of the blood of the Lord. And this seems likely: the Evangelist John also tells us that Judas Iscariot's judgment was estimated at three hundred deniers; this is what you read: "One could have sold him three hundred deniers, and given to the poor" (Jn, XII, 15); but the figure of three hundred means the emblem of the cross. But the Lord does not ask for a superficial knowledge of the mystery; He prefers the faith of believers to be buried with Him in Him. Yet we hear this from the words of the other apostles; as for Judas, he is condemned as a miser, for having passed the money before the embalming of the Lord, and, even if he thought of the Passion, for having erred in such a high evaluation: for Christ He wants to be put at a low price, so that everyone can buy it, so that no poor man can be discarded: "You have received gratuitously," said he; give freely "(Matt., X, 8). The "inexhaustible treasure" (Rom., XI, 33) does not require money, but recognition. He himself, by his precious blood, redeemed us, not sold. From this we would talk more, if he did not remember treating us elsewhere. Therefore according to the words of the Lord, in which are hidden the treasures of wisdom (Col., II, 3) and science that no one could foresee, I must work for his burial, so that we believe that his flesh rested, but did not see corruption (Ps 15, 10), and that his bodily death filled our dwelling with his perfume, leading us to believe that he put his spirit in the hands of his Father and that his divinity, kept alien to death, did not suffer association with the sufferings of the body. Understand how the body of the Son exudes perfume: it is this body that has been left, not lost. His body is the teachings of the scriptures; his body is the Church. The perfume of his body is us; It is also fitting for us to honor her bodily death: if she does not need our attention, the poor need it.

I will honor his body by preaching his speeches, discovering to the Gentiles the mystery of the Cross. He honored Him who said, "We preach the crucified Christ, on the one hand scandal for the Jews, on the other foolishness for the Gentiles, but for the called ones, Jews and Greeks, Christ the strength of God. and wisdom of God "(I Cor., I, 23-24). The Cross is honored, when what foolish ignorant judging is deemed wiser by the Gospel: so can we teach how the strength of the enemy is destroyed by the cross of the Lord. I applied the perfume on the body of the Lord: what we thought was dead begins to embalm.

Let everyone, therefore, endeavor to buy, from his work and by virtue of his virtues, a vase of perfume, not cheap and common, but a precious perfume in an alabaster vase, a pure perfume. For if we collect the flowers of faith, and preach Jesus Christ crucified, we spread the perfume of His faith on the whole Church, which is the body of Christ, dead for the world, resting in God ; the whole abode begins to embalm the Passion of the Lord; she begins to embalm her death; she begins to embalm her resurrection. So whoever is of the number of this holy people may say, "God forbid that I should boast except from the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. Vi. 14). The smell spreads, the perfume exhales on the body, if one can - and please God that I can, me! - to say with assurance: "The world is crucified for me" (Ib.). For who does not like wealth, does not like the honors of the century, does not like what is his, but what affects Jesus Christ, does not like what is seen but what is not seen no, for those who do not hold to life, but are in a hurry to dissolve themselves and be with Christ (Phil., I, 23), the world is crucified. It is there to take the cross and follow Christ, so that we, too, may die and be buried with Him; in order to be able to exhale the scent that this woman used for her burial. This fragrance is not the least: through him the name of Christ is poured out on all sides. Hence again this prophetic word: "It is a spilled balm that your name" (Cant. I, 2): poured out, so that faith may exhale this perfume.

 Thanks to this woman, we understand this word of the Apostle: "sin has abounded, so that grace overflows" (Rom., V, 20). For if in this woman sin had not been overabundant, grace would not have been abundant: she acknowledged her sin and attracted grace. And this is why the Law is necessary: ​​it is by the Law that I acknowledge my sin; if there was no law, sin would remain hidden; recognizing my sin, I ask forgiveness. By the law, therefore, I recognize the species of sin, the grievance of my prevarication; I run to penance, I get grace. The Law therefore provides good, since it sends to grace.