Part 28

Sidenote: S. Matt. xviii. 23. et seq.

Sidenote: Ib. 35.

9. Beware lest you begin to incur heavier blame as a creditor than you did as a debtor; as that servant in the Gospel to whom his Lord forgave all his debt began to exact from his fellow servant what he himself had not paid; wherefore his Lord was wroth, and exacted from him with the greatest severity what he had before remitted to him. Let us beware therefore lest the same evil befal us, lest by not remitting our debts we also be called on to pay what had been forgiven us, for so it is written in the words of the Lord Jesus, _So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses _. Let us then forgive small things to whom great have been forgiven, and understand that the more we forgive the more acceptable we shall be to God, for we are so much the more acceptable to God the more we have been forgiven.

Sidenote: S. Luke vii. 42.

Sidenote: Ib. 43.

Sidenote: Gen. iv. 7.

10. Further, when the Pharisee was asked by our Lord, _Which of them loved him most_, he answered, _I suppose that he to whom he forgave most_. Whereupon the Lord said, _Thou hast rightly judged_. The Pharisees judgment is praised, but his affection is blamed. Of others he judges correctly, but what he believes of others, he does not believe in his own case. Thus you hear the Jew praising the discipline of the Church, praising its true graces, honouring its priests; but when you exhort him to believe he refuses to do so, and thus follows not himself what he praises in us. His eulogy then is not complete, though Christ has said to him, _Thou hast rightly judged_, for Cain also offered rightly, but did not divide rightly, wherefore God said unto him, _If thou offer rightly, but divide not rightly, thou hast sinned; be still_. And so this man offered rightly, because he judges that Christ, having forgiven Christians many sins, ought to be more earnestly loved by them; but he has not divided rightly, because he believes that He Who remitted the sins of men could possibly be ignorant of them.

Sidenote: S. Luke vii. 44.

Sidenote: Gen. xlix. 12.

11. And therefore He says to Simon, _Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest Me no water for My feet, but she hath washed My feet with tears._ We are all one body of Christ, the Head is God, and we are the members: some perhaps as the Prophets, may be the eyes; others the teeth, as the Apostles, who have filled our hearts with the food of the Evangelical preaching, and of whom it is written, _His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk_. They are His hands who perform good works: His belly are they who bestow the strength of nourishment on the poor: Some too are His feet also, and would that I might be counted worthy to be even His heel. He then who pardons the very lowest their sins, pours water on the feet of Christ, and while he frees only the mean, yet washes the feet of Christ Himself.

12. He also pours water on the feet of Christ who cleanses his conscience from the pollution of sin; for Christ walks in the breast of each of us. Beware then lest your conscience be defiled, or you thus begin to stain the feet of Christ. Beware lest He encounter the thorn of wickedness within you, whereby His heel as He walks in you may be wounded. The reason why the Pharisee did not pour water on the feet of Christ was because his soul was not clean from the stain of wickedness. How could he cleanse his conscience, who had not received that water which Christ gives? But the Church has that water, and the Church has tears, the waters of Baptism and the tears of penitence. For faith, which mourns for former sins, is also wont to avoid fresh ones, wherefore Simon the Pharisee as he had no water so neither had he tears. For how could he have them, who did no penance? but as he believed not in Christ so neither had he tears. Had he had them, he would have washed his eyes that he might see Christ, Whom as yet, when he first sat down, he saw not. For had he seen Him, he would not have doubted of His power.

13. Nor had the Pharisee hair, in that he knew not the Nazarite; but the Church had hair, and she sought for the Nazarite. Hairs are considered a superfluous part of the body, but if they are anointed they send forth a good smell, and are an ornament to the head, but if not anointed with oil they grow heavy. So likewise riches are a burthen, if you know not how to use them, if you sprinkle them not with the odours of Christ. But if you feed the poor, if you wash and cleanse their filth, their wounds, you have truly wiped the feet of Christ.

Sidenote: S. Luke vii. 45.

Sidenote: S. John xiv. 27.

Sidenote: Cant. i. 2.

Sidenote: Ps. li. 17.

Sidenote: Ib. cxvi. 10.

Sidenote: Ib. lxxi. 8.

14. _Thou gavest Me no kiss, but this woman, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss My feet._ A kiss is the sign of love. But how could the Jew possess this, who knew not peace, who received not peace from Christ when He said, _Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you_? This kiss belongs then not to the Synagogue but to the Church, to her who looked for Him, who loved Him, who said, _Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth_. For the ardour of that lingering desire, which had grown with waiting for the Lord’s coming, she sought slowly to quench by His kiss, and to satisfy her thirst by this gift. Wherefore the holy Prophet says, _Thou shalt open my lips, and my mouth shall shew Thy praise_. He then who praises the Lord Jesus kisses Him; and he who praises surely believes in Him. Thus David Himself says, _I believed, and therefore have I spoken_; and before, _Let my mouth be filled with Thy praise, and let me sing of Thy glory_.

Sidenote: Ib. cxix. 131.

Sidenote: Rom. x. 10.

Sidenote: S. Matt. xxiv. 15.

15. Concerning the gift of special grace the same Scripture also teaches thee that he who receives the Spirit kisses Christ, for the holy Prophet says, _I opened my mouth, and drew in the spirit_[206]. He then kisses Christ, who confesses Him; _For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation_. He kisses the feet of Christ, who, reading the Gospel, recognizes the acts of the Lord Jesus, and admires them with pious affection; thus religiously kissing, as it were, the Lord’s steps as He walks. We kiss Christ then with the kiss of Communion; _Whoso readeth let him understand_.

Sidenote: S. Luke xxii. 48.

16. But how can the Jew have this kiss? For as he believed not in His Advent, so neither did he believe in His Passion, for how can that man believe that He suffered, who believes not that He came? Hence the Pharisee had no kiss save haply that of the traitor Judas. But neither had Judas this kiss, and therefore when he would have shewn to the Jews that kiss which was the concerted sign of his betrayal, the Lord says to him: _Judas, betrayest |thou| the Son of man with a kiss?_ that is, ‘Thou offerest a kiss, though thou hast not the love that the kiss should express, thou offerest a kiss who art ignorant of the mystical meaning[207] of the kiss.’ What is required is not the kiss of the lips, but of the heart and mind.

Sidenote: S. Matt. xv. 8.

17. But you will say that he kissed the Lord. True it is he kissed Him with his lips, and this kiss the Jewish people has, wherefore it is said, _This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me_. Wherefore he has not the kiss who has not faith and charity; for by a kiss is conveyed the force of love. Where love is not, nor faith, nor charity, how can there be any sweetness in kisses?

Sidenote: Cant. i. 1.

Sidenote: S. Luke ii. 51.

♦18. Now the Church ceases not to kiss the feet of Christ, and therefore in the Song of songs she asks not for one but many kisses; like holy Mary she is attentive to all His discourses, she receives all His words, when the Gospel is read, or the Prophets; she _keeps all His sayings in her heart_. The Church, alone, then, as being the spouse, has kisses, for a kiss is, as it were, the pledge of marriage and the privilege of wedlock. How can the Jew have kisses who believes not in the Spouse, who knows not that He is already come?

Sidenote: Exod. xxxiv. 9.

Sidenote: S. Luke x. 31, 32.

Sidenote: Is. i. 6.

19. Nor is it kisses alone that he lacks, but oil also, wherewith to anoint the feet of Christ, for if he had had oil he would before now have bowed down his neck. For Moses says, _It is a stiff-necked people_; and the Lord says that the priest and levite passed by on the other side, nor did either of these pour oil and wine into the wounds of him who had been wounded by robbers; had they possessed this oil they would have poured it into their own wounds. But Isaiah says, _They cannot apply ointment nor oil nor bandage_.

Sidenote: Deut. xxxiii. 24.

20. But the Church has oil wherewith she dresses the wounds of her children, that the hardness of the wound may not sink inwards; she has oil, which she has received secretly. With this oil Asher has washed his feet, as it is written, _A blessed son is Asher; and he shall be acceptable to his brethren, dip his foot in oil_. With this oil therefore the Church anoints the necks of her children, that they may receive the yoke of Christ; with this oil she has anointed the martyrs to purify them from the dust of this world; with this oil she has anointed confessors, that so they might not yield to labour, or sink down through weariness, or be overwhelmed by the waves of this world; it is for the purpose of refreshing them with spiritual oil that she has thus anointed them.

Sidenote: Gen. viii. 11.

Sidenote: S. John i. 32.

21. The Synagogue possesses not this oil, for she hath not the olive, she did not recognize that dove which brought back the olive branch after the deluge. This same dove afterwards descended, when Christ was being baptized, and abode upon Him, as John testifies in the Gospel, saying, _I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him_. But how could he see the dove, who saw Him not upon whom the Spirit descended as a dove?

22. So then the Church both washes the feet of Christ, and wipes them with her hair, and anoints them with oil, and pours ointment upon them, in that she not only tends the wounded and comforts the weary, but also sprinkles over them the sweet odours of grace. Nor is it upon the rich and powerful only that she sheds this grace, but on men of low birth also, she weighs all in an equal balance, she receives all in the same bosom, and cherishes them in the same lap.

Sidenote: S. Matt. xxv. 40.

23. Christ died once, and was buried once, nevertheless He daily desires that ointment should be poured upon His feet. Now what are these feet of Christ whereon we pour ointment? The feet of Christ are they of whom He saith Himself, _Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me_. These feet that woman in the Gospel tends[208], and washes with her tears, when the lowest have their sins remitted, their faults washed away, their pardon granted. These feet he kisses who loves even the lowest of the holy congregation. These feet he anoints with ointment, who imparts even to the weaker brethren the graces of His meekness. In these the martyrs, in these the Apostles, in these the Lord Jesus Himself declares that He is honoured.

Sidenote: Micah vi. 3, 4.

Sidenote: Ib. 5. and Num. xxiii. 2.

Sidenote: Exod. xiv. 29.

Sidenote: Ib. xvi. 4.

Sidenote: Num. xiii. 24.

Sidenote: Ib. xxi. 24.

Sidenote: Joshua viii. 23.

Sidenote: Ib. 29.

Sidenote: Josh. x. 26.

Sidenote: Micah vi. 8.

24. Thou seest what instruction the Lord imparts, how by His example He stimulates thee to devotion; for He instructs by His censure. And He thus accuses the Jews, _O My people, what have I done unto thee, and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against Me. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants_; adding, _and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Remember what Balak_ devised against thee, he, that is, who sought the aid of enchantments, but I suffered him not to hurt thee. Truly thou wert oppressed while sojourning in foreign lands, thou wert laden with heavy burthens: I sent Moses Aaron and Miriam before thy face, and he who had spoiled the strangers was himself despoiled. Thou, who hadst lost thine own goods gainedst others, thou wert delivered from the enemies that surrounded thee, and in the midst of the waters thou sawest in safety the death of thine enemies, for the same wave which had separated and carried thee forward flowed back again and drowned the Egyptians. When thou wert in want of food while journeying through the wilderness, did I not _rain bread from heaven_ for thee, and scatter food around thee, whereon thou wentest? Did I not subdue all thy enemies and bring thee into the region of the cluster of grapes? Did I not deliver up to thee Sihon (which means ‘proud’) king of the Amorites (that is, chief of them that provoked thee); did I not also deliver to thee alive the king of Ai, whom, subject to the sentence of the ancient curse, thou nailedst to the wood and hangedst upon a tree? What shall I say of the slaughter of the hosts of the five kings, who strove to exclude thee from the promised land? _And what doth the Lord require of thee, o man_, for all these things, _but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?_

Sidenote: 2 Sam. xii. 7.

25. And to king David himself, that meek and holy man, what was His expostulation by the prophet Nathan? I chose thee, He says, the youngest among thy brethren; I filled thee with the spirit of meekness; by the hand of Samuel, in whom was My Spirit and My Name, I anointed thee king. And from an exile I made thee a conqueror, taking out of the way that former king whom an evil spirit instigated to persecute the priests of the Lord. Upon thy throne I set one of thy seed not so much as an heir as a colleague. I made even strangers subject to thee, that they who resisted might serve thee, and wilt thou deliver My servants into the hands of My enemies, wilt thou take away that which was My servant’s, whereby both thou wilt be branded with sin, and My adversaries will have whereof to glory?

Sidenote: Deut. ix. 4.

Sidenote: S. John xii. 5.

Sidenote: S. Luke xv. 10.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. xii. 21.

26. Seeing therefore, O Emperor, (for I will now not only discourse of you but address myself to you) how severe the Lord’s censures are wont to be, you must take care, in proportion as you become more illustrious, to submit so much the more humbly to your Maker. For it is written: When the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into a foreign land, and thou shalt eat the fruits of others, say not, ‘By my own strength and righteousness I obtained these things,’ but, ‘The Lord God gave them to me, Christ in His mercy conferred them on me,’ and therefore by loving His body, that is, the Church, pour water on His feet and kiss His feet; thus shalt thou not only absolve those who have been taken in sin, but in giving to them peace you will bring them into concord and restore to them rest. Pour ointment on His feet, that the whole house wherein Christ sits at meat may be filled with the odour of thy ointment, and let all who sit at meat with Him rejoice in thy fragrance; that is to say, pay such regard even to the lowest, that in their absolution the Angels may rejoice, as they do over one sinner that repenteth, the Apostles may be glad, the Prophets may exult. For _the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor the head to the feet, I have no need of you_. Since therefore each member is necessary, do thou protect the whole body of the Lord Jesus, that He also of His divine mercy may protect thy kingdom.

27. On my coming down he says to me, ‘You have been preaching at me to-day.’ I replied that in my discourse I had his benefit in view. He then said, ‘It is true, I did make too harsh a decree concerning the reparation of the synagogue by the Bishop, but this has been rectified. As for the monks, they commit many crimes.’ Then Timasius, one of the Generals-in-chief[209], began to be very vehement against the monks. I replied to him, ‘With the Emperor I deal as is fitting, because I know that he fears God, but with you, who speak so rudely, I shall deal differently.’

28. After standing for some time, I said to the Emperor, ‘Enable me to offer for you with a safe conscience, set my mind at rest.’ The Emperor sat still, and nodded, but did not promise in plain words; then, seeing that I still remained standing, he said that he would amend the order. I said at once that he must quash the whole enquiry, for fear the Count[210] should make it an opportunity for inflicting wrong on the Christians. He promised that it should be done. I said to him, ‘I act on your promise,’ and repeated the words again. ‘Do so’ said he. Then I went to the altar; but I would not have gone, if he had not given me his distinct promise. And indeed so great was the grace attending the oblation, that I myself was sensible that this favour he had granted was very acceptable to our God, and that the divine Presence had not been withheld. Then all was done as I wished.

THE LETTER OF POPE SIRICIUS TO THE CHURCH OF MILAN. A.D. 389.

THE Letter of Siricius was addressed to the Church of Milan to inform them of the sentence of excommunication passed against Jovinian and his followers. Jovinian had been a monk, but had abandoned the ascetic life and rushed into extremes of self-indulgence: there is a good description of him in Tillemont, (Vie de S. Ambr. 63, 64,) who calls him ‘cet Epicure des Chrétiens.’ The false doctrines with which he ‘barked at the true doctrines of the Church’ are stated in this Letter and in the reply of the Synod of the Church of Milan which follows. Jovinian was answered by S. Jerome, who writes against him with much vehemence.

SIRICIUS TO THE CHURCH OF MILAN.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. xv. 32.

1. I WOULD fain always, beloved brethren, send you tidings of joys, sincere as you are in love and peace, so that by means of the mutual interchange of letters we might be pleased by the tidings of your welfare[211]. Our ancient Adversary however[212] does not suffer us to be free from his attacks, he who is a liar from the beginning, the enemy of truth, envious of man, in order to deceive whom he first deceived himself, the adversary of chastity, the teacher of sensuality, who is fed by cruelty, punished by abstinence, who hates fasts, asserting, as his followers also give out, that they are superfluous, having no hope of things to come, obnoxious to the censure of the Apostle, _Let us eat and drink for to-morrow we die_.

2. O miserable boldness, O craft of a desperate mind! Already was this unknown language of heresy spreading through the Church like a cancer, seeking to fill the breast, and plunge the whole man in destruction: and unless the Lord of Sabaoth had broken through the snare which they had laid, the public exhibition of so much evil and hypocrisy would have led to ruin the hearts of many simple ones, for the human mind is easily drawn aside towards evil, choosing rather to fly through open space, than to travel with pain along the narrow way.

Sidenote: S. Matt. vii. 15, 16.

3. Wherefore it was very necessary, most dearly beloved, to commend what has been done here to your notice and consideration, lest through the ignorance of any priest, the Church might be infected by the contagion of these most wicked men who are breaking in upon it under a religious pretext, as it is written and the Lord has said, _Many come to you in sheeps’ clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves; ye shall know them by their fruits_.

Sidenote: Ps. xi. 2.

These are they who under a mean garb boast themselves as Christians, that walking under the semblance of piety they may enter the house of prayer and utter the words of wily disputation, _that they may privily shoot at them which are true of heart_, and, seducing them from Catholic truth, may draw them over, after the example of Satan, to the madness of their own doctrines, beguiling the simplicity of the flock.

Sidenote: S. Matt. xxii. 12.

4. And indeed from the times of the Apostles up to now we have heard and known by experience of many malignant heresies, but the sacred truth of the Church has never been assailed by the barking of such dogs as those who have now suddenly broken in upon us, with the doctrines of unbelief fully sprouted, enemies of the faith; who by the fruit of their works have betrayed whose disciples they are. For while other heretics misunderstanding single points have proposed to bear away and abstract from the Divine system of teaching, these men, _not having on a wedding garment_, wound the Catholics, perverting, as I have said, the continuity of the New and Old Testament, and interpreting it in a diabolical spirit, have by their alluring and false arguments already begun to ruin some Christians, and to make them associates of their madness, not keeping within themselves the poison of their iniquity: but some of their chosen ones have betrayed their blasphemies by writing rash discourse, which the rage of a desperate mind has led them openly to publish, favouring, as it does, the cause of the Heathens.