Homily 31

Pronounced before the people

in the basilica of St. Lawrence, martyr

June 9, 591 (Saturday of the Four-Time Summer)

The sterile fig tree and the curved woman

Today's Homily is about the parable of the barren fig tree and the episode of the bowed woman healed by Jesus. These two facts, note first St. Gregory, emphasize the same goodness of God bent over our miseries. After this preliminary remark, he comments in detail on the two parts of the Gospel.

I- (1-5) About the barren fig tree, the pope explains why the master comes three years in a row to look for fruit on his tree. Then he exposes the two effects of sin: he makes the soul both sterile in itself and sterilizing for those around him. The only remedy is that manure that is poured on his foot: let us mean that he is reminded of his sins to excite him to repentance.

II- (6-8) Through the bowed woman, the preacher makes us see the vicious soul, bound by its repeated faults, whose curvature towards the earth means that it thinks only of things from below, thus delivering passage to the demons. Gregory extends himself on this curvature, and by means of extremely varied and original images, he endeavors to shame his listeners, showing them the way of salvation in contrition. The old monk inserts here very precious indications on the nature of contemplation: reserved for Christians who are equipped with the wings of virtue and raised by the desire of Heaven, it can not last here below, because of the gravity of our nature.

With a very simple structure, this Homily brings us back to each of its two parts at the same resolution: to wash our faults in the bath of tears. However, if the speaker lets us understand that the fig tree does not take advantage of the good manure of the contrition and ends up being cut, the curved woman, she, stands up. These two very different issues highlight the place of human freedom: whoever will not want to cry will be condemned, who will consent to it will see his tears wiped by Christ. For these short-lived tears, the pope emphasizes, will lead us to an eternal joy. And it is on this consoling prospect that he leaves his flock.

Lk 13, 6-13

At that time, Jesus told the crowd this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; he came to fetch the fruit, and found none. And he said to him who was growing his vineyard, 'I have come three years to fetch the fruit of this fig tree, and I can not find any; cut him off then: why does he occupy the ground?> But the winegrower answered him, 'Lord, let him go again this year, until I have dug all around and put a hood on him.' manure. Perhaps he will bear fruit; otherwise, you will cut it then.> »

Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on a Sabbath. There was a woman who had been possessed for eighteen years by a spirit that made her crippled: she was bent, and could absolutely not look up. When Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, "Woman, you are delivered from your infirmity." And he laid his hands on him; she immediately straightened up, and she glorified God.

In his Gospel, the Lord, our Redeemer, speaks to us sometimes by words, and sometimes by actions; and it is sometimes different things that he tells us by his words and his actions, sometimes the same thing. You have heard, my brothers, two facts in this gospel: the barren fig tree and the bowed woman. Now these two facts brought into play the merciful goodness [of God]. The first expressed it by a comparison, the second made it sensible by an action. But the barren fig tree means the same thing as the curved woman, the fig tree spared the same thing as the woman straightened up. The master of the vineyard came three times to see the fig tree and found no fruit there; the straightened woman had been bent for eighteen years. These eighteen years are the same as the three times we are told that the master of the vineyard came to see the barren fig tree.

After having quickly given the general idea of ​​this text, let us now explain each point in the order of reading.

2. "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; he came to seek the fruit, and found none. "What does the fig tree mean, if not human nature? And what does the curved woman symbolize, if not that same nature? She was planted like the fig tree, well created as the woman, but fallen into sin by her own will, she knew how to keep neither the fruit of the work [of her Master] nor the state of rectitude [ of its nature], since by throwing itself into sin, it has lost the state of rectitude, for not having wished to bear the fruit of obedience. Created in the likeness of God, but not persistent in its dignity, it did not do anything to preserve itself as it had been planted or created.

It is three times that the master of the vineyard came to the fig tree, for he solicited the human race before the Law, under the Law and under grace: by waiting for it, warning it, and visiting it.

3. "Then he said to him who was growing his vineyard, 'It has been three years since I came to seek the fruit of this fig tree, and I can not find any.'" God came before the law, because he did to know to each one, by the light of his natural reason, that he must treat others as another self. He came under the law, because he taught us by his commandments. He came after the Law by his grace, since he showed us his goodness by making himself present. However, he complains that he has not found fruit in these three years, because there are depraved men whose souls can not be corrected by the law instilled in our nature, nor instructed by the commandments, nor converted by the miracles of his Incarnation.

What is the vine-grower, if not the order of the prelates, who are responsible for the conduct of the Church to take care of this vine of the Lord, of which the Apostle Peter was the first worker? We ourselves are his unworthy successors in that we work to instruct you by teaching you, beseeching you, and taking you back.

4. We must now listen with great fear to what the master says to the vine-grower about this barren tree: "Cut him off then: why does he occupy the land?" Each in his own way, because of the place which he holds in the present life, occupies the ground like a barren tree if he does not bear the fruit of good works, since he prevents others from working in the place which he himself occupies. But a powerful man in this world, if he does not bear the fruit of good works, is also an obstacle for others, because all who are subjected to him are darkened by the example of his bad behavior as by a shadow of corruption. While above it stands the tree without fruit, the earth beneath is barren. Above, the shadow of the fruitless tree is thick, and it does not allow the rays of the sun to reach the earth; thus, seeing the perverse examples of their perverse superior, the inferiors also remain fruitless, private as they are in the light of truth. Stifled by the shadows, they do not receive the heat of the sun: placed in this world under the protection of a bad master, they remain frozen away from God.

But God hardly ever inquires of this perverse and powerful man. Because once this one is lost, one has only to wonder why it stifles the others. So the master of the vineyard, he says aptly: "Why does he occupy the ground?" To occupy the ground is to weigh on the souls of others; to occupy the ground is not to make good use of the load we hold.

5. Yet it is our duty to pray for such superiors. Let us listen to what the winemaker asks: "Lord, leave it again this year, until I have dug all around." What to dig around the fig tree, if not to reproach the souls who do not bear fruit? In a hole that is dug, the ground is lowered. And it is obvious that a reprimand humbles, since it reveals to the soul what it is. Every time we take back someone's fault, it's like we're digging around a fruitless tree to cultivate it according to the rules.

Let's hear what the wine grower adds after digging: "And that I put a manure hood on him." What is the manure hood, if not the memory of sins? Because manure is the sins of the flesh. Hence the word of the prophet: "The beasts of burden have rotten in their dung" (Jl 1, 17). That beasts of burden rot in their manure means that carnal men end their lives in the stench of lust. Also, whenever we reproach our sins to a carnal soul, each time we remind him of his past vices, it is as if we are editing a hood of manure to a tree without fruit, so that she remembers evil actions that she has committed, and that she finds again, to reach the grace of compunction, a fertility extracted, so to speak, from the stench. So we put a manure hood at the root of the tree when we put the memory and meditation [of the sinner] in contact with the memory of his depravity. And when, through penitence, the mind is excited by tears and reformed to act well, it is in a way the contact of the roots of the heart with manure that makes it fruitful to perform good works and makes him deplore that he remembers having committed: he grieves at the memory of what he has been, he directs his efforts against him and ignites the desire to become better. The tree thus resumes life by passing from the stench to the fruits, since it is by the consideration of its sins that the soul is revived for the good works. Yet there are many who hear the reproaches, but neglect to return to penance: they remain green in this world, but they are without fruit for God.

Let us hear what the man who grew the fig tree adds: "Perhaps he will bear fruit; otherwise, you will cut it then. "For if we do not want to take advantage of the reproaches in this world to get back to bear fruit, we condemn ourselves to fall into the other world in a place where we can will not be able to rise again by penance; and in the future we will be cut off, even if, without bearing fruit, we seem to remain green here below.

6. "Jesus taught in a synagogue on a Sabbath. There was a woman who had been possessed for eighteen years by a spirit that rendered her infirm. "We said earlier that the triple coming of the master had the same meaning for his fruitless fig tree as the number of ten Eight years for the curved woman. It is indeed the sixth day that man was created (see Gen 1: 27-31), and on this sixth day all the work of the Lord was completed. Now the number six multiplied by three gives eighteen. Thus, since man, created on the sixth day, did not want to render his works perfect, but remained crippled before the Law, under the Law, and at the beginning of the reign of grace, it is for ten Eight years since the woman was bent.

"She was bent, and could absolutely not look upward." The sinner, preoccupied with the things of the earth and not looking for those of Heaven, is unable to look upward: as he follows desires that carry him towards down, his soul, losing his straightness, curving, and he sees only what he constantly thinks.

Return to your hearts, dear brothers, and continually examine the thoughts that you keep rolling in your mind. One thinks of honors, another of money, another of increasing his properties. All these things are low, and when the mind is invested in it, it bends itself, losing its rectitude. And because he does not get up to desire the heavenly goods, he is like the bowed woman, who can not look up at all.

7. The text continues: "When Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, 'Woman, you are delivered from your infirmity.' And he laid his hands on him; she immediately straightened up. "If he called her and straightened up, it was because he enlightened her and helped her. He calls without straightening, when his grace illuminates us without being able to help us, because of our mistakes. Often, we see what we should do, but we do not do it. We make efforts, then we weaken. The judgment of the mind sees the right way, but strength is lacking to make it follow works. This is part of the punishment due to sin: the gift of grace makes us able to see the good, but in retribution we find ourselves diverted from what we have seen. A repeated fault binds the soul so well that it can not resume its upright position. She makes efforts, then she relapses: the fault where she has persisted for a long time by her will, she falls back by constraint even when she does not want it anymore.

The psalmist described our curvature very well when he said of himself as representing the whole human race: "I was bowed and humbled to a great extent" (Ps 38: 7). He considered that man, though created to contemplate the light from on high, was cast out of heaven because of his sins, and as a result, darkness reigns in his soul, causing him to lose the appetite of things from above, and all his attention to those from below, so that he does not desire the goods of Heaven, and only converses in his spirit with those of the earth. And the psalmist, suffering to see the human race, to which he belongs, reduced to such a state, cried out in speaking of himself: "I was bent and humiliated to excess." If the man Losing sight of the things of Heaven, thinking only of the necessities of the flesh, he would no doubt be bowed and humbled, but not to an excess. Now, as not only does necessity render his thoughts fall from the consideration of things above, but besides the pleasure forbidden on the terrace, he is not only bent, but bent to excess.

On this subject, another prophet says about unclean spirits: "They said to your soul, Curl, let us pass" (Is 51, 23). When the soul desires the goods from above, it remains upright, without bending downward. And the evil spirits, seeing her abide in her righteousness, can not go through her. Indeed, to pass is for them to sow in her impure desires. So they say to him, "Curl, let us pass," for if she does not lower herself to desire things from below, their evil has no strength against her, and they can not pass. by her: the inflexibility which she shows towards them, by applying herself to things above, makes them formidable.

8. It is we, dear brothers, it is we who give passage in us to the evil spirits when we covet the things of the earth, and we bow to seek the goods that pass. So blush to covet the things of the earth. Blush to offer the back of our mind to the opponents who want to go up there.

The one who is bowed always looks at the earth; and whoever seeks things from below forgets for what reward he has been redeemed. Hence the prescription of Moses absolutely forbidding hunchbacks to be promoted to the priesthood (see Lv 21, 17-21). Now, all of us who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, we have become the members of this High Priest. This is why Peter declares to us: "You are an elected race, a royal priesthood" (1 Pet 2: 9). But the hunchback looks only at the things below; he is thus removed from the priesthood, since he who cares only for the things of the earth testifies himself that he is not a member of the High Priest.

On this subject again, the faithful people are forbidden to eat fish that have no fins [small wings]. Fish with flippers and scales usually jump out of the water. What do these winged fish represent, if not the souls of the elect? There is assuredly only the souls now supported by the fins of their virtues that pass into the body of the Church of Heaven: they know the art of jumping [out of the water] by the desire of Heaven, by avidly going to things from above through contemplation, even if they then fall back upon themselves by the weight of their mortal nature.

So, dear brothers, if we have now recognized the goods of the heavenly homeland, let us abhor our curvature. Let's keep before our eyes the bent woman and the fruitless tree. Let us remember the evil that we have committed, and put a manure hood at the root of our heart, so that even that which was repugnant to us here below in penance makes us bear one day, by its fertilizing action, the fruit of the reward. And if we can not practice the perfection of virtues, God Himself rejoices to see us deplore it. We will be pleasing to him from the very beginning of our righteousness, who punish us for the unjust actions we have committed. And our weeping will be short-lived, since eternal joys will soon wipe away our passing tears, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who, being God, lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, in all ages of ages. Amen.

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1 This thought is taken from an epistle of Saint Cyprian (10, 5, 2). This is the only unscriptural quote from Homilies.

2 "Murmuring" is a very strong Biblical term, which expresses a violent revolt against God or his representatives.