Concerning Virginity

5. Jephthah's Vow and the Sacrifice of His Daughter

Jephthah was a judge of the Jews. He, troubled by the uncertain outcome of the war and fearing the uncertainties of battle, made a vow of this sort, that if he should drive back the enemy, whatever should first meet him within the threshold of his house, he would sacrifice as a victim to God, the presider over his triumphs (Judges XI, 30, 31). And so, having gained the war, and the enemy routed, he returned home; and, in the very entrance, his daughter, mindful of devotion, ignorant of the offering, met him. But the father at once remembered, and being reminded of his own pledge, groaned over the fulfillment of the pledged offering: Alas, my daughter, he said, you have destroyed me; for I have opened my mouth concerning you to the Lord. Then she said: O father, if you have opened your mouth concerning me to the Lord, do to me according to that which has proceeded out of your mouth.

Yet she asked only for a truce of two months, that she might go up into the mountain and weep over her virginity. Then, after two months had passed, she returned to her father. He fulfilled the vow: for these words must be used, since the divine Scripture did not disclose the outcome of the matter, but avoided mention of the parricide.

6. The Fear of Breaking a Vow, and Abraham's Ram

What then? Do we approve this? By no means. But nevertheless, even though I do not approve the parricide, I take note of the fear and dread of breaking a pledge. Finally, it was said to Abraham: Now I know that thou fearest the Lord thy God, since thou hast not spared thy only son. You have, therefore, an indication by which it is taught that a promise once made should not be broken rashly. Yet it is asserted in the same reading that parricide is not approved by God: since a ram is substituted in place of the son, so that it rather than the son might be struck.

7. Questioning Why the Daughter's Death Went Unchallenged

Jephthah, then, had an example to follow, since the Lord would not be delighted by human blood. For in one oracle to Abraham he promptly taught that the safety of children should be held of less account than compliance with religion: that children ought to be offered by parents to God, but ought not to be slaughtered. Surely, since the daughter here was so anxious about her father's vow, why did the father not have doubts about the parricide of his daughter: and since she took care to avoid her father's falsehood, why did he not take care to avoid his daughter's death?

8. God Judges by Merit, Not by Persons

Someone will say: For what reason did God not permit parricide to be done there, and yet allow it to be fulfilled here? Is God then a respecter of persons? No, but of merits and virtues. Certainly, while the counsel was still uncertain, it had to be signified by an oracle what example should suit both the present deed and the remainder. But where an example had already preceded, he did not judge an oracle necessary: since the form of the ancient deed showed what ought to be done.

9. Isaac's Readiness Compared to Jephthah's Daughter

Or perhaps because there is not one form of merits, therefore there is not one form of deeds. The father grieved, the daughter wept: both doubted concerning God's mercy. Abraham did not grieve, nor did he consult a parent's affection. When he heard the oracle of the Divinity, he did not delay the sacrifice, but hastened his compliance. Isaac did not hesitate, though he followed his father with unequal steps; he did not weep when he was bound: he did not ask for delay when he was offered. And therefore mercy is more abundant, where faith is more ready. And rightly he did not weep at his father's deed: because he was the laughter of his mother. For which exultation of devotion a ram was commanded to be sacrificed in his place, because he himself had not delayed to be sacrificed: neither in doubt about God's mercy, nor anxious about his own devotion. No one, therefore, was found to call back the father's so bloody resolve: because every part of the promised offering was fitting.

10. Blood Sacrifice Accepted, the Sacrifice of Chastity Refused

A sacrifice of blood, then, is offered, and there is none who resists: a sacrifice of chastity is offered, and one is found to forbid it. A father promised parricide, and it is fulfilled: a father vowed the integrity of his daughter, and the devotion of so pious an offering is begrudged. There, the grieving daughter offered her blood on behalf of her father's pledge: here, so pious a promise is fulfilled neither by hereditary duty, nor by one's own will.

11. John the Baptist's Example in Defense of Virginity

In this matter we too are summoned into blame. For what, pray? Because we have forbidden unlawful marriages? Then let them summon John the Baptist too into the same blame. And even if perhaps we have nothing else that is approved in us, let this alone be condemned in us, which was approved in the prophet. Have we brought forward an author to be ashamed of? But recall to mind what other cause he had for martyrdom. Certainly this was the cause of his passion: It is not lawful, he said, for you to have her as wife. If this was said concerning a man's wife, how much more concerning a consecrated virgin! If this was said to a king, how much more should it be said to private persons! Thanks, then, to the Divinity, that here there is no Herod, and would that there were no Herodias! Was it, then, not permitted to speak on behalf of virginity? And why is it written: Judge the fatherless, and justify the widow?

And why is it written: The father of orphans and judge of widows? Shall we, then, abandon those devoted to chastity and integrity, or even condemn them?

13. Virginity Honored Among the Gentiles, Yet Resisted in the Church

But surely even among the gentiles themselves, among their altars and hearths, virginity is wont to be venerable: and among those in whom there is no devotion of merits, no integrity of mind, yet among them the virginity of the flesh is proclaimed. Will no one, then, forbid virgins from profane ceremonies, while virginity will be barred from the Church of God? There they are compelled to that in which they are not instructed; here is it forbidden that it not be lawful to be instructed in it? There they are called back from marriage by rewards, here will they be constrained toward marriage by injuries? There violence is done that they may be seized: here will violence be done that they may not make profession? And can it be the patience of priests, that not even when death is offered, is the sacrifice of integrity, as it must be, vindicated?

14. Virgins as the First Witnesses of the Resurrection

Consider that virgins deserved to see the Lord's resurrection before the apostles. Surely this was taught by today's reading which has been read through; for although the body of our Lord Jesus Christ was laid in a new tomb, as John said: while, according to the Gospel book of Matthew, Joseph laid the Lord's body in his own tomb, the virgins kept watch. Matthew rightly called the tomb new; lest anyone believe that another had risen from an old tomb. Rightly too, according to the spirit, he was laid in the tomb of a just man; because Christ rises from the dead in the new affection of the just. Rightly, too, according to the letter, it was another's tomb; because the Lord did not seek his own tomb. Let those who are under the law of death have a tomb: the victor over death did not have his own tomb: for he did not desire a sepulcher of death, who was bringing back the trophies of death.

Mary, then, saw the Lord's resurrection: and she saw it first, and believed. Mary Magdalene also saw it, though she was still wavering.

Note in this place, virgins, no small question, lest you should doubt concerning the Lord's resurrection. See that not virginity of the flesh alone confers merit, but integrity of mind also. For, finally, Mary Magdalene is forbidden to touch the Lord, because she was wavering in faith concerning the resurrection. That woman, then, touches Christ, who touches him by faith.

16. But Magdalene stood at the tomb outside, weeping. She who is outside weeps; for she who is within does not know how to weep. She weeps, because she does not see the body of Christ: and thinks it has perished; because she herself does not perceive it. So Mary is outside: but not Peter, not John outside. Finally, they, running, entered in: and therefore did not weep, and departed rejoicing. She, who did not enter in, wept, did not believe, thought it had been taken away by fraud, and even when she saw the angels, did not think it should be believed. And so the angels say to her: Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?

These words the angels speak, and afterward the Lord repeated the same words; that you may know that the words of angels are the commands of the Lord.

17. Finally, the same words, as I have said, the Lord too repeated, saying: Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She who did not believe is called woman; for he who believes rises into a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ. Woman, he says: this is a reproach not of sex, but of hesitation. And rightly, woman, since she was wavering; for already as a virgin she had believed. Why weepest thou? That is: You yourself are the cause of your weeping, you yourself are the author of your grief, who are unbelieving of Christ. You weep, because you do not see Christ: believe, and you shall see. Christ is present, nor is he ever absent from those by whom he is sought. Why weepest thou? That is, there is no need of tears, but of ready faith, worthy of God.

Do not think of mortal things, and you will not weep: do not think of perishable things, and you will not be able to have a cause for weeping. Why do you weep at that from which others rejoice?

18. Whom seekest thou? That is: Do you not see that Christ is present? Do you not see that Christ is the power of God, that Christ is the wisdom of God, that Christ is holiness, that Christ is chastity, that Christ is integrity, that Christ was born of a Virgin, that Christ is of the Father, and with the Father, and in the Father always, begotten not made, nor degenerate, but always beloved, true God of true God?

19. No One Can Take Away Christ or Chastity

They have taken away, she says, the Lord out of the tomb, and I know not where they have laid him. You err, woman, who think that Christ has been taken away from the tomb by others, and not raised again by his own power. But no one has taken away the power of God, no one has taken away the wisdom of God, no one has taken away venerable chastity. Christ is not taken away from the tomb of the just, nor from the secret of his own virgin, and the hidden recess of a devout mind: and even if any wish to take him away, they cannot carry him off.

20. From Woman to Mary: A Name of Recognition

Then the Lord said to her: Mary, look at me. When she does not believe, she is called woman: when she begins to be converted, she is called Mary, that is, she receives the name of her who brings forth Christ; for it is the soul which spiritually gives birth to Christ. Look, he says, at me. He who looks at Christ is set right: but he errs who does not see Christ.

21. Mary Turns and Calls Him Master

And therefore she turned and looked back, and said: Rabbi, which is interpreted Master. She who looks back, is converted: she who is converted, gazes more fully: she who sees, makes progress. And therefore she calls him Master whom she believed to be dead: she addresses him whom she thought lost.

22. Touch Me Not: A Lesson in Integrity

Touch me not, He says, that is, although there are attempts at correction, yet the affection of a wavering mind does not touch Christ. Touch me not, He says, that is, do not touch the power of God, the wisdom of God, reverend integrity, honorable chastity.

23. My Father and Your God: Christ's Distinction Explained

But go to my brethren What else is this to say, but: Now weep no more outside. Go to the elect and to the most observant priests; and say to them: I ascend to my Father, and your Father: my God, and your God. What else is this to say, but: Woman, do not raise a question from this? Ask certainly of those more perfect, they will tell you what distinction there is between my Father and your Father. For He who is my Father according to divine generation, is your Father according to adoption. By saying My Father, the Son of God separated Himself from creatures: by saying your Father, He designated the grace of spiritual adoption. So too, by saying My God, He showed the mystery of His Incarnation; so that Him whom He has naturally as Father, He calls God on account of the sacrament of the assumed body: and when He says also your God, He shows the progress of His working in us.

You teach virginity, he says, and you persuade very many. Would that I could be convicted, would that the effect of so great a crime were proved! I would not fear the envy, if I recognized the efficacy. And would that you rather refuted me with examples, than struck me with words! But I fear lest I should seem to have set up prevaricators for myself, who commend me with borrowed praises. 26. He says: You forbid girls who have been initiated into the sacred mysteries and consecrated to integrity, to marry. Would that I could recall those about to marry! Would that I could exchange the nuptial veil for the pious veil of integrity! Or does it seem unworthy, that consecrated virgins should not be led away from the most holy altars to marriage? And that those to whom it is permitted to choose a bridegroom, should not be permitted to prefer God?

In my case, then, the condition of the deed is changed, so that what always pertained to the grace of priests—to sow the seeds of integrity and to call forth the pursuits of virginity—should be turned into a reproach against me.

But grant that it is not shameful; is it then something new? For we rightly condemn all things new which Christ did not teach: because Christ is the way for the faithful. If therefore Christ did not teach what we teach, we too judge it detestable. Let us therefore examine whether Christ taught integrity, or thought it should be rejected: And there are, he says, eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. There is, then, an illustrious warfare, which wages war for the kingdom of heaven. And so even then the Lord taught that there ought to be untainted pursuits of chastity.

29. Not All Receive This Saying: Christ on Integrity

Whence also the apostles, perceiving that this excelled other things, say: If the case of a man with his wife be so, it is not expedient to marry. By which saying they both judged the burdens of the marriage bond to be heavier, and truly preferred the grace of integrity. But the Lord, who knew that integrity should be preached to all, but imitated by few, says: Not all receive this saying, but they to whom it is given, that is, integrity is not common and ordinary for the many: nor is it permitted on account of weakness, but granted on account of virtue. Finally, when He had said: And there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven; to show that this is not a virtue of ordinary measure, He says: He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

30. Children Blessed as a Model of Innocence

And therefore after this saying children are brought forward to be blessed, who, having no experience of corruption, might keep the gift of integrity in an unstained age. For of such is the kingdom of heaven, of those who have returned, as it were by the ignorance of corruption, to a childlike chastity as to the nature of infants. Virginity, then, is also approved by a heavenly voice, and is to be sought after by the Lord's precepts.

31. Marriage Approved, Yet Integrity Preferred

At this point let us follow the teaching of the divine voice. For whereas above He recalled that marriage is not to be dissolved except for the cause of fornication, in what follows He joined together the grace and gift of integrity; so as to teach that marriages are not to be condemned, but approved; yet that the pursuits of integrity are to be preferred to marriage itself. For who is so averse from the truth as to condemn marriage? But who is so estranged from reason as not to feel the burdens of wedlock? For the unmarried woman and the virgin thinks of the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and in spirit. But she that is married thinks of the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

32. The Burdens and Bonds of Marriage

And besides these troubles, although she does not sin by marrying, she will nevertheless have tribulation of the flesh of this kind: for grievous are the labors of childbirth, grievous the trouble of bearing and raising children. Against which He had already forewarned, lest anyone should be turned away by such injuries; for many, set in the pains of childbirth, say that they renounce marriage: many also, unable to bear the burdens of matrimony, are turned away in affection from their wives to another. And therefore the Apostle premised: Are you bound to a wife? Seek not to be loosed. And he says well, "bound"; for by a certain bond of love husband and wife are joined to each other, and are bound to one another by certain reins of love.

33. The Wounds of Love: Peter's Rebuke and Judas's Kiss

Good, then, are the bonds of marriage, but bonds nonetheless: good is wedlock, but yet drawn from a yoke, and the yoke of the world; so that she desires rather to please her husband, than God. Good also are the wounds of love, and to be preferred to kisses: For the wounds of a friend are more profitable than the willing kisses of an enemy. Finally, Peter wounds, Judas kisses; kisses condemn the one, a wound amends the other; by the kisses of the one the poisons of betrayal are poured out, by the tears of the other guilt is washed away. And so, to show that the wounds of love are good, the prophetic word makes the Church say in the Song of Songs: Because I am wounded with love.

34. The Church's Field: Virgins, Widows, and Marriage Together

Let no one, therefore, whether he has chosen marriage, reprove integrity: or whether he follows integrity, condemn marriage. For the Church long ago condemned the interpreters who oppose this teaching, namely those who dare to dissolve the marriage bond. For hear what the most holy Church says: Come, my brother, let us go forth into the field, let us abide in the villages, let us get up early to the vineyards, let us see if the vine has flourished. Many a field has fruits, but that one is better which abounds both in fruits and in flowers. The field of the Church, then, is fertile with diverse abundance. Here you may see the buds of virginity blossoming with flower, there as in the woodland fields widowhood flourishing with gravity, elsewhere as with the rich produce of marriage the harvest of the Church filling the barns of the world, and as it were the wine-presses of the Lord Jesus overflowing with the produce of the married vine, in which the fruit of faithful wedlock abounds.

35. Consecrated Virgins Are Never Condemned

The pursuit of integrity, then, is neither shameful nor new. Let us see whether perhaps it may be judged useless; for I have heard some say that the world has perished, the human race has failed, marriages have collapsed. I ask, who ever sought a wife and did not find one? When have there been wars for a virgin's sake? Who was ever slain for a virgin? But from marriages these things arise: that an adulterer of a wife is slain, that a ravisher is assailed in battles. These things have always been to the loss of the commonwealth. For a consecrated virgin no one has ever been condemned; because chastity is not restrained by punishment, but is increased by religion, and preserved by faith.

36. Consecrated Virgins Do Not Diminish the Human Race

If anyone, then, thinks that the human race is diminished by the consecration of virgins, let him consider that where there are few virgins, there also are fewer men; where the pursuits of virginity are more frequent, there also the number of men is greater. Learn how many the Alexandrian Church, and that of the whole East, and the African Church, are accustomed to consecrate every year. Fewer men come forth here, than virgins are consecrated there. From the very practice of the world, then, virginity is not judged useless, especially since salvation came through a virgin, destined to make the Roman world fruitful.

37. An Argument That Would Also Condemn Marital Fidelity

But if anyone forbids this, let him then forbid chaste wives to live so, since incontinent women can bear children more frequently. Let no woman keep faith to a husband traveling abroad; lest she cause loss of future offspring, and lose the age for more frequent childbearing.

38. Addressing Fears That Consecrated Virgins Limit Marriage

But the way becomes more difficult for young men to obtain marriages. What if it is perhaps more advantageous? For I wish to have some discussion with those who hold the opinion of restraining virginity. And so we must examine who these are: whether those who have wives, or those who do not? If those who have wives, they ought not to fear; for their wives can no longer be virgins. If those who have none, let them not do themselves an injury, in that they hoped only for the marriage of her who was not going to marry. Or perhaps fathers, anxious for the marriage of their daughters, are troubled that virgins are being consecrated? Nor do these have anything to fear, if they follow good counsel. Among the few, their own will be chosen the sooner.

39. Priestly Discernment in Veiling Young Virgins

Many also say that virgins of more mature age should be veiled. Nor do I deny that there ought to be priestly caution, so that a girl not be veiled rashly. Let the priest indeed look, let him look at age, but the age of faith or of modesty. Let him look at the maturity of shamefastness, let him examine the ripeness of gravity, the age of character, the years of chastity, the spirit of purity; then finally, if the mother's guardianship is secure, if the sober diligence of companions is present. If these things are at hand, the virgin does not lack a long-lived maturity; if these are lacking, let the girl who is more youthful in character than in years be deferred.

40. Virtue Rather Than Age Commends a Virgin

It is not, then, the more flourishing age that is rejected, but the spirit that is examined. But certainly it was not old age, but virtue, that approved Thecla. And why should I weave together more on this, since every age is fit for God, and perfect in Christ? Finally, we do not call virtue an appendage of age, but age an appendage of virtue. Nor should you marvel at profession in the young, since you have read of passion in little children; for it is written: Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings you have perfected praise. Do we doubt whether adolescence may follow him unto continence, whom infancy confesses even unto death? And do we think it incredible, if marriageable girls follow Christ to the kingdom, whom even boys followed into the desert; as we read that four thousand men, besides, he says, children and women, were satisfied from five loaves.

41. Children and Young Maidens Belong to Christ

Do not, then, keep children away from Christ; for they too have undergone martyrdom for the name of Christ: For of such is the kingdom of heaven. The Lord calls them, and do you forbid? For of them the Lord says: Suffer them to come unto me. Do not keep away young maidens, of whom it is written: Therefore have the young maidens loved you. And they have brought you into your mother's house. Do not, finally, separate even little ones from the love of Christ, whom even while still placed within the mother's womb they confessed with prophetic exultation.

42. Christ Heals in Every Place and at Every Hour

Already at the very beginnings of the Church the crowds sought him. For what reason? Because, he says, laying his hands upon them he healed them. Neither time nor place is sought for healing. For in all places and at all times medicine is not to be neglected. Within a house Mary is blessed by the angel: within a house David is anointed as prophet. Everywhere Jesus heals, everywhere he cures: on the road, in the house, in the desert. On the road she is healed who touched the hem; in the house of the ruler of the synagogue the daughter is raised up; in the desert the crowd is healed. Finally, you have it thus: Now when the sun had set, all who had sick with various illnesses brought them to him. And he, laying his hands on each of them, healed them. He healed, then, even in the desert, and with the sun now setting, and he healed by laying on hands: that he might show himself to be both God and man.

Not without reason, then, when day had come, the crowds sought him.

43. The Crowd's Faith Follows Christ by Day

I see the order. With the sun setting, the sick are brought to Christ: but when day had come, the crowds sought him. For when, if not through the day, is Christ sought? For he who walks in the light does not withdraw from Christ. And so the night still held the groanings of the sick, but the day now held the faith of the people, now the joy of the healed: that what is written might be fulfilled: In the evening weeping shall tarry, and in the morning gladness. For what greater grace was there for the crowd, than that it should follow Christ even into the desert place?

44. Fleeing Luxury to Follow Christ Without Boasting

In this he teaches that boastfulness ought to be absent from the perfect man; for he was avoiding not the abundance of those to be healed, but the boastfulness of works. And so we too, if we desire to be saved, or if we already deserve health, far from luxury, far from wantonness; as it were in the dry and fasting soil of this life, with a certain thirst of the body, let us follow Christ who flees from delights.

45. Following Christ by Day, Not by Night

Let us follow through the days. There is present to the Church a day, which Abraham saw and rejoiced. Let us therefore follow Christ through the days; for he is not found in the nights. In my bed, she says, in the nights I sought whom my soul loved: I sought him, and I did not find him: I called him, and he did not answer me.

46. Christ Is Not Found in the Marketplace

Christ is not found in the marketplace or in the streets. And indeed, that woman was not able to find him in the marketplace and in the streets, who said: I will rise up, I will go, and I will go about the city, in the marketplace and in the streets, and I will seek whom my soul loved. I sought him, and I did not find him: I called him, and he did not answer me. Let us therefore by no means seek Christ where we cannot find him. Christ does not frequent the marketplace. For Christ is peace, in the marketplace are strifes; Christ is justice, in the marketplace is iniquity; Christ is a worker, in the marketplace is empty idleness; Christ is charity, in the marketplace is detraction; Christ is faith, in the marketplace is fraud and perfidy; Christ is in the Church, in the marketplace are idols. And that widow whom we touched upon in another book (On Widows, ch.

9 and following) may know that I have not spoken from a desire to detract from her, but to admonish her; and that I am not harsh, but concerned; let her receive it in a spirit of reconciliation: in the Church a widow is justified, in the marketplace she is deceived. Let us flee therefore the marketplace, let us flee the streets.

47. Guarding Against the Strange Woman at the Window

Take to yourself known prudence, that it may guard you from the strange and evil woman. For through the window she looks out from her house into the streets. Let us flee the streets. For it is not only injurious not to have found what you seek; but often it is a wound to have sought where one ought not: to have sought in the houses of men who falsely assume to themselves the name of teachers; to have sought more boldly than modestly.

48. The Watchmen Take Away the Bride's Veil

Let us therefore be on guard, by the example of that Church, lest the watchmen who go about the city find us: They found me, she says, the watchmen who go about the city: they struck me and wounded me, and the watchmen of the walls took away my veil. Not in herself, daughters; not, I say, in herself, daughters, but in us is the Church wounded. Let us take care therefore lest our fall become a wound to the Church; lest anyone take from us our veil, that is, the mantle of prudence, the badge of patience, by which the ambition of softer clothing is stripped away: For those who are clothed in soft garments are in the houses of kings. But to us Christ gave a mantle, with which he clothed his apostles and his own body.

And this is why he bids you, if anyone asks of you your tunic, to let him have your cloak also, that is, to hand over the badge of your philosophy, and, as it were with the mantle of your prudence, to clothe round about him who before was naked.

49. Fleeing the Marketplace for the Mountains of Spices

There therefore, daughters, let us seek Christ, where the Church seeks him, on the mountains of good odor, which by the sublimity of their lofty deeds breathe forth the sweet odor of life in place of the summits of merits. For he flees the streets, he flees the assemblies, and the noise of the marketplace, according to what is written: Flee, my brother, and be made like a stag or a fawn of a stag upon the mountains of spices. For, hateful to the serpentine snakes and fleeing from dogs, and hostile to serpents crawling upon the ground, he knows not how to dwell except in the sublimity of virtues, he knows not how to abide except among such daughters of the Church, who can say: For we are the good odor of Christ unto God; but to some the odor of death unto death, in those who perish: to some the odor of life unto life, in those, that is, who breathe forth the odor of the Lord's resurrection with living faith.

50. Christ Sought in the Heart of the Faithful

These are the mountains of spices, who received the body of the Lord Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths with spices: for whoever have believed that Jesus died, and was buried, and rose again, these have lifted up the lofty summit of true faith by the heights of virtues. Where then is Christ sought? In the breast, namely, of the prudent priest.

51. The Flower of the Field and Lily of the Valleys

And since this discourse is taken up concerning the desert, he himself also shows where he is to be sought, saying: I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys. As a lily among thorns. Behold another place, in which the Lord is wont to dwell, indeed not in one, but in several. I am, he says, the flower of the field; because he frequents the open simplicity of a pure mind. And the lily of the valleys; for Christ is the flower of humility, not of luxury, not of pleasures, not of wantonness, but the flower of simplicity, the flower of humility. As a lily among thorns. Does not the flower of good odor rise up amid the roughness of labors and the contritions of souls; because God is appeased by a contrite heart?

52. The Desert Blossoms Like a Fruitful Tree

This is the desert, daughters, which leads to the kingdom; this too is the desert which blooms as the lily: according to what is written: Rejoice, thou barren one, and exult, thou desert, and let it bloom as the lily. In this desert, daughters, that good, fruit-bearing tree, which makes good fruits, begins to spread abroad the arms of its deeds, to lift up the summit of its divinity. Beside which the trees of our forest grow: because as the apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my brother among the sons. And seeing this, may the Church rejoice and be glad, saying: In his shadow I desired and I sat, and his fruit is sweet to my throat.

53. Hope, Faith, and Charity Join the Church in Marriage

Seeing this, I say, the Church, and now rejoicing in the success of our faith, let her say: Bring me into the house of wine, and set charity in order in me. Charity cannot be without faith; for there are, as it were, three sureties of the Church: hope, faith, charity. When hope has gone before, when faith has been founded, charity is set in order, the Church is joined in marriage.

54. Rousing the Spirit to Open the Soul's Garden

You have learned, then, where you should seek Christ: learn also how you may be able to deserve that he should seek you. Rouse the Holy Spirit, saying: Arise, North wind, and come, South wind; blow upon my garden, and let my spices flow forth. Let my brother come down into his garden, and eat the fruits of his fruit-bearing trees. The garden of the Word is the flourishing affection of the soul, and in the fruit-bearing trees is the fruit of virtue.

55. Putting Off the Garment of Bodily Life

He comes, then; and whether you eat or drink, if you call upon Christ, he is present, saying: Come, eat my bread, and drink my wine; or even if you sleep, he knocks at the door. He comes, I say, frequently, and puts his hand through the opening; but not always, nor to all: but to that soul which can say: In the night I put off my tunic. For indeed in this night of the world you must first put off the garment of bodily life, for the Lord put off the flesh from himself, that he might triumph for you over the dominations and powers of this world.

56. The Soul Cannot Return to Its Former Life

How shall I put it on? See, soul devoted to God, what she says. The soul so puts off the acts of the body and earthly ways, that it does not know how, even if it wished, it could again put them on. How shall I put it on? That is, with what modesty, with what shame, with what memory at last? For the habit of good has lost the use of the old depravity.

57. The Mystery and Humility of Washing the Feet

I have washed my feet, how shall I soil them? You have learned in the Gospel that the washing of feet is the mystery of faith, the badge of humility: according to what is written: If I, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, how much more ought you to wash one another's feet? But this pertains to humility. But as far as the mystery is concerned, he must wash his own feet who wishes to have part with Christ: For if I wash not, he says, your feet, you shall have no part with me. If this is said to Peter, what is to be thought concerning us?

58. Guarding the Feet Once Washed from Soiling

He therefore who has washed his feet has no need to wash them again; and therefore let him take care not to soil them. And well does the holy Church say: I have washed my feet. She does not say: How shall I wash them again; but, how shall I soil them again? As though forgetful of the old stain, forgetful of the contagion. She admonishes us, therefore, in this bodily ministry, how we ought to wash away the spiritual footprint of our deeds. Thus, when you have once washed your feet with the irrigation of the eternal fountain, and have been cleansed by the sacrament of the mystery, take care lest they again be soiled, by the filth of bodily desire and by muddy deeds, with earthly stains.

59. The Soul's Feet Standing in the Courts of Heaven

These are the feet which David washed in the spirit, who teaches you how you cannot soil them, saying: Our feet were standing in your courts, O Jerusalem. Certainly here understand feet not of the body, but of the soul. For how could an earthly man have bodily feet in heaven? For Jerusalem, as Paul has taught you, is in heaven. And the same has taught you how you may be able to stand in heaven, when he says: But our conversation is in the heavens (Philipp. Iii, 20): a conversation of morals, a conversation of deeds, a conversation of faith.

60. Christ Knocks and Enters with the Father

Whoever lives thus can say: My brother put his hand through the opening, and my belly was troubled at him; I rose up to open to my brother. It is good that at the coming of the Lord the inward parts be troubled. If Mary was troubled at the coming of the angel, how much more are we troubled at the coming of Christ! For with the influx of divine things, the bodily affection becomes a stranger, and that use of the outer man grows faint. And do you be troubled, and do you make haste. They were commanded to eat the lamb in haste. Rise up, open; at the door is Christ, he knocks at the porch of your house: if you open, he will enter, and he will enter with the Father.

61. The Myrrh of Nicodemus and the Odor of Faith

Nor does he leave a reward only when he has entered; but even before he enters, he sends the reward ahead. Still the soul is troubled, still she gropes the walls of her house, still she seeks the door where Christ is, still she loosens the bond of the flesh, and the enclosures of the body, still Christ knocks outside: But my hands, she says, dripped with myrrh, and my fingers were full upon the handles of the bolt. What myrrh do the hands of the soul drip, but that which that just man Nicodemus offered, a teacher in Israel, he who deserved to hear first the mystery of the laver, who brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds, and put it upon the body of Jesus: did he not bring a perfect odor of faith?

62. The Fragrance of Christ's Incorruptible Body

This odor the soul breathes which begins to open to Christ, so that she may receive first the odor of the Lord's burial, and believe that his flesh did not see corruption, nor did it wither with any odor of death: but rose again, embalmed with the odor of that eternal and ever-flourishing flower. For how could it wither, even in the flesh, whose name is ointment poured out? He poured himself out, that he might breathe upon you.

63. The Ointment Eternal with the Father

This ointment always was, but it was with the Father, it was in the Father. It gave forth its odor only to angels and archangels, as it were within the vessel of heaven. The Father opened his mouth, saying: Behold, I have set you as a covenant of my race, for a light to the nations; that you may be for salvation even to the end of the earth. The Son descended, all things were filled with the new odor of the Word. The heart of the Father belched forth a good Word, the Son gave forth fragrance, the Holy Spirit breathed forth, and diffused himself through the hearts of all: For the charity of God is diffused in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

64. The Ointment Poured Out in Due Time

The Son of God himself, in the body as in a vessel, at first restrained the odor, awaiting his own time, as he says: The Lord gives me a tongue of instruction, that I may know when it is fitting to speak the word. The hour came, and he opened his mouth, he poured out the ointment, when virtue went forth from him.

65. The Ointment Poured Out Upon Jews and Gentiles

This ointment was poured out over the Jews, and was gathered by the Gentiles: poured out in Judea, and it gave forth its fragrance in all lands. With this ointment Mary was anointed, and a virgin conceived, a virgin bore a good odor, the Son of God. This ointment was poured out upon the waters, and it sanctified the waters. With this ointment were the three boys anointed, and the flame bedewed the moisture upon them. With this Daniel was anointed, and it softened the mouths of the lions, and soothed their ferocity.

66. Filling the Virgin's Vessel with Ointment

This ointment flows daily, and never fails. Take your vessel, virgin, and draw near, that you may be able to be filled with this ointment. Take the ointment valued at three hundred denarii, but given freely, not sold; that all might have it freely. Virgin, anoint: do not grieve like Judas, because this ointment is poured out, but bury Christ together with yourself. Close indeed your vessel, lest the ointment flow away. Close it with the key of integrity, with modesty of speech, with abstinence from boasting.

67. Opening the Door to the Beloved

She who has this ointment receives Christ; and therefore she who possessed it says: I opened, she says, to my brother, my brother had passed by. How did he pass by? That is, he penetrated the inner parts of the mind, as it was said to Mary: And a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also. For the living Word of God, like a sharp sword, piercing, searches out both the barriers of bodily thoughts and the inward parts of the heart.

68. No Worldly Rank Distinguishes the Virgin's Soul

And so you also, O soul, one of the people, one of the common folk (for Christ marvels at no distinctions of worldly rank, nor does he admire gilded garments or a precious necklace, or noble strands of flashing gems, on whose costly account strife is often stirred up in the Church, and peace is driven away), you at least, one of the virgins, who illumine the grace of your body with the splendor of your mind (for you are nearer, being compared to the Church), you, I say, set in your chamber and in the time of night, meditate always upon Christ, and hope for his coming at every moment.

69. Called from Lebanon to Fight and Triumph

If he seems to you to delay, arise. He seems to delay when you sleep long: he seems to delay when you are free from prayer: he seems to delay when you do not raise your voice in psalms. Dedicate the first-fruits of your vigils to Christ, offer the first-fruits of your acts to Christ. You have heard above that he called you, saying: Come from Lebanon, my spouse, come from Lebanon: thou shalt pass over and pass through from the beginning of faith; you shall pass over into the world to fight, you shall pass through to Christ triumphing over the world. You have heard that he separated you from the incursions of lions and leopards, that is, from spiritual wickedness: you have heard that the beauty of your virtues pleases him: you have heard that he preferred the aromas of your garments, that is, the good odor of integrity, above all perfumes; you have heard that you are an enclosed garden, filled with the fruits of sweet fruit-bearing trees.

Ask therefore that the Holy Spirit breathe upon you, breathe upon your bed, and heap up the fragrance of a pious mind and spiritual grace. He will answer you: I sleep, and my heart watches.

70. The Bridegroom's Head Filled with Dew

You hear the voice of one knocking at the door, and saying: Open to me, my sister: arise, my neighbor, my dove, my perfect one: neighbor by charity, dove by simplicity, perfect by virtue; for my head is filled with dew. For just as the dew of heaven removes the dryness of the night, so the dew of our Lord Jesus Christ has distilled the moisture of eternal life amid the darkness of night and of the world. This is the head that did not know how to wither in the heat of the world: whence he says: For if in the green wood they do these things, what shall be done in the dry? This head therefore drips dew upon others, and abounds for itself. And well does the head of Christ abound; for your head is Christ, who is always full, and is never exhausted by his liberalities, nor fails through the long duration of his bounty. On this head iron has not gone up, iron which is the instrument of war, the mark of discord.

71. The Nazirite's Uncut Locks of Virtue

Now look, and see what kind that dew is, namely no common moisture: for there are in it locks of the drops of the night. Do not, my neighbor, take these to mean the ringlets of bodily hair. Those are not ornaments, but faults: enticements of appearance, not precepts of virtue. The Nazirite has other locks, on which iron has not gone up, which no one has cut off: which, not arranged with curling-irons and set in order by art, but curling in manifold fashion, shone with the grace of gleaming virtues. Learn from the history what kind of locks the Nazirite has, which, as long as Samson kept them untouched, he could never be conquered. He lost his locks, and lost the merit of his strength.

72. Rising in Prayer to Meet the Word

Having heard, therefore, the voice of the Word, do not ask how you may put on again the tunic which you had taken off by night; for it is offended, and is often offered up through spiritual wickedness. How, I say, you might put it on, you should forget and not know: and, as though the Lord were already standing by, rise up disturbed, free of bodily bonds; prepare your inner mind with prayers as you rise: that you may hasten from lowly things to the things above, and strive to open the doors of your heart: while you stretch out your hands to Christ, your faithful deeds will breathe forth fragrance.

73. The Sweet Fragrance of the Virgin's Deeds

Bring, therefore, your hands to your nostrils, and with untiring and ever-watchful alertness of mind examine the fragrance of your deeds. The odor of your right hand will soothe you, and your members will breathe forth the fragrance of resurrection, your fingers will sweat myrrh, that is, spiritual deeds will exhale the grace of true faith. You catch, therefore, O virgin, pleasure from your own inward body, and you yourself are sweet to yourself, you yourself are pleasant to yourself, and you do not begin to displease yourself (as often happens to sinners); for naked simplicity, stripped of the coverings of bodily deceit, will please you the more.

74. Embracing Christ Who Enters the Door

Such a one Christ has desired, such a one Christ has chosen. So the door being opened, he enters; for he cannot deceive, who promised that he would enter. Embrace, then, him whom you have sought: approach him, and you will be enlightened; hold him, beg that he not depart quickly, entreat that he not withdraw; for the Word of God runs, is not caught by disdain, is not held by negligence. Let your soul go forth in his word, and press upon the footsteps of the heavenly speech; for it passes by quickly.

75. Seeking Christ Who Withdraws to Test Us

What, then, does she say? I sought him, and I did not find him: I called him, and he did not hearken to me. Do not think that you displease, you who called, who begged, who opened, because he departed so quickly: he often allows us to be tested. Indeed, when the crowds begged him not to withdraw, what does he say in the Gospel? I must preach the word of God to other cities also; for therefore was I sent. But even if he seems to you to have gone away, go out, search again.

76. Fearlessness Before the City's Guardians

Do not now, as one devoted to God, fear those redoubtable intelligible guardians round about; do not fear those who go about the city; do not dread wounds, which cannot harm those who follow Christ. Even if they take away your body, that is, the life of your body, Christ is near: whom, when you have found him, recognize where you ought to abide with him, lest by chance he depart from you; for he quickly forsakes the negligent.

77. The Church Teaches How to Hold Christ Fast

Who, therefore, but holy Church ought to teach you how you should hold Christ? Or rather she has already taught you, if you understand what you read: It was but a little, she says, when I had passed by them, until I found him whom my soul loves: I held him, and I will not let him go. By what, then, is Christ held? Not by the bonds of injury, not by knots of rope: but he is bound by the chains of charity, restrained by the reins of the mind, and held by the affection of the soul. If you too wish to hold Christ, seek continually, and do not fear punishment; for amid the very tortures of the body, amid the very hands of persecutors, Christ is more readily found. It was but a little, she says, when I had passed by them.

For after a small space, and a brief moment, when you have escaped the hands of persecutors, and have not yielded to the powers of the world, Christ will meet you, nor will he allow you to be tempted long.

78. Guarding the Inner House of the Soul

She who thus seeks Christ, who thus finds Christ, can say: I held him, and I will not let him go, until I bring him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. What is the house of your mother and her chamber, but the inner and secret part of your nature? Guard this house, cleanse the inner chambers of this house; that when the house shall be immaculate, and stained by the filth of no adulterous conscience, the spiritual house may rise up, joined together as a holy priesthood upon the cornerstone, and the Holy Spirit may dwell in it. She who thus seeks Christ, who thus entreats Christ, is not abandoned by him, but rather is often revisited, for he is with us even to the consummation of the world.

79. The Soul's Window and Door Kept Pure

So Christ is found, and is held: and he is found who put his hand through your window. What is our window, but that through which we see the works of Christ, namely the eye of the soul, and the gaze of the mind? And therefore, O virgin, let Christ enter through your window, let Christ put forth his hand through the window; let the love of the Word come to you, not the love of the body. If, then, the Word of God puts forth his hand through your window, see how you should prepare your windows, see how you ought to wipe them clean of all the dust of sins. Let the window of the virgin have nothing foul, nothing adulterous. Far be antimony and other trifles of affected beauty, far the enticements of adulterous love. There is a like closing of the ears, on which no burdens are to be hung, no wounds to be fastened: but there is one adornment, to hear what is profitable.

80. Learn also to keep your door at the times of night, so that not just anyone may easily find it open. The Bridegroom himself wishes it to be closed, when he knocks. Our door is our mouth, which ought to be opened almost to Christ alone; nor should it be opened, unless the Word of God has first knocked. Whence it is written: A garden enclosed, my sister, my spouse, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up, let her not easily open her mouth, nor mark it out with common speech. For it is not fitting that you answer concerning divine things, unless interpellated by the Word of God. What have you to do with others? Speak to Christ alone, converse with Christ alone. For if it is written that women should keep silence in the Church, how much more is it unbecoming that the door of a virgin stand open, unbecoming that the doors of a widow stand open!

Quickly does the ambusher of modesty creep in, quickly does a word slip out which you would wish to recall.

81. Eve's Open Door and the Entrance of Death

If the door had been closed to Eve, neither would Adam have been deceived, nor would she have answered the serpent when questioned. Death entered through the window, that is, through Eve's door. Death enters through your door, if you speak falsely, if shamefully, if impudently, or finally if you speak where you ought not. Let, then, the doors of your lips be closed, and let the vestibule of your voice remain bolted: to be opened perhaps then only, when you hear the voice of God, when you hear the word of God.

82. Dying and Rising with Christ in Baptism

Then myrrh will sweat for you, then the grace of baptism will breathe upon you, so that you may die together with Christ from the elements of the world, and rise again with Christ. Why, it says, do you still decree as though living in this world? Touch not, taste not, handle not, things which are all to perish with using; for corruption ought to be absent from the chaste: therefore bury the care of flesh and world. You who have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is. When you seek Christ, you see God the Father; for Christ sits at the right hand of God.

83. Minding the Things Above, Not of Earth

But she who seeks Christ ought not to be common, ought not to be in the marketplace, not in the streets, with a plaintive voice, an unsteady gait, easy to hear, cheap to look upon. The Apostle denies you earthly fellowship, and teaches that you must fly to heaven on spiritual wings almost beyond the bounds of nature. Mind, he says, the things that are above, not the things upon the earth. But because this was impossible for those shut up as it were in this cloister of the body; and because, when bodies have died, the soul is borne to fly back to higher things, being bound while we live by a certain law of our nature, therefore he added: For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. If it is hidden with Christ in God, let it not appear to the world, for Christ died to the world, and lives to God.

84. Christ Who Loves to Be Sought

See now how Christ loves to be desired, and does not love idle conversations. That virgin therefore opened her door to the Word of God: but he passed by, she says, and my soul went forth in his word. It went forth from the world, it went forth from the age, it remained in Christ. I sought him, she says, and I did not find him; for Christ loves to be sought long.

85. The Gates of the Heavenly Jerusalem

The keepers of the walls found her. Perhaps there are other keepers whom we ought rather to understand. For there is a city which does not have the gates of its walls closed, of which it is said: And its gates shall not be shut by day; for there shall be no night there any more, and the nations shall bring their glory and honor into it. That, then, is the city of Jerusalem which is in heaven, within which you are already kept as one perfect and immaculate; for nothing common enters into it. Common chastity does not exist, common purity does not exist, that which is written in the book of life.

86. Ascending in Spirit to the City from Heaven

If therefore we have found the city, let us enter into it, let us see its light, let us see the walls, let us see the tribes, let us see the wall's foundations, let us also see the guardians of the walls. But how shall we enter into it? In this city is life, and there is one way that leads to life: but the way is Christ, therefore let us follow Christ. But this city itself is in heaven. How therefore we may ascend to heaven, the evangelist teaches, who says: And the Spirit carried me to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem descending from heaven. Let us ascend, then, in spirit, since the flesh cannot ascend to it. Let us in the meantime ascend to heaven, so that afterward that city may descend to us from heaven, in which there is a light like a most precious stone, as it has a great and high wall of jasper stone and crystal.

87. The Gates and Foundations of the Holy City

You have learned the light, you have learned the wall: learn the gates, learn the guardians. It has, he says, twelve gates; and at the gates twelve angels, on which are written the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. In the gates are contained the names of the patriarchs; in the wall, those of the apostles; for the foundations of the city are the apostles: and the cornerstone is Christ, in whom the whole structure rises together. God without, God within, God everywhere is present; for the city has, he says, the majesty of God. Therefore you also, holy virgins, and whoever are righteous, and bear the unspotted chastity of the soul, are citizens of the saints and members of the household of God. But then you will possess this nobility of your homeland, if you seek Christ within the enclosure of this city, having entered through faith and precious deeds, made bright with the light of the patriarchs, founded upon the apostles, dwelling among the angels.

88. The Angels Who Guard the Soul's Mantle

How then are these guardians angels, who take away the mantle of the chaste soul? One mantle is that of virgins, another of wayward youth. She who seeks Christ in the marketplace has lost even the mantle she had; for prudence is not possessed in the marketplace, not in the streets, but in the Church. And perhaps (that we may come into favor even with these, and show that God is merciful to all: since they too sometimes find Christ, if only they seek continually) this mantle is the covering of the body.

89. Seeking Christ in Every Place and Hour

Therefore whoever sought Christ in her bedchamber (if indeed she sought as did he who said: So I have remembered thee upon my bed; if she sought him in the nights, according to what is written: In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy places; if she sought him in the city, in the marketplace and in the streets: in the city of our God: in the marketplace, perhaps, where that judge of divine law sits, in the streets whence those are gathered who assembled for the Lord's Supper)—she can, while the angels guard the city of God, though seeking long, meet with him.

90. The Heavenly City and the Angels Who Guide to Christ

Indeed, from the heavenly nature of the guardians we can understand a heavenly city, a heavenly marketplace of everlasting justice: not vile streets, but perhaps those in which that fountain is wont to overflow, of which it is written: Let thy waters overflow from thy own fountain, and let thy waters be spread abroad in thy streets. Whoever thus seeks Christ, then, comes to the angels.

91. The Good Wounds of Charity

But if one arrives at the angels through good merits, why is she who arrives wounded? There is also a good sword, whose wound is good. The word of God wounds, but does not fester. There is a wound of good love, there are wounds of charity; and so she said: I am wounded with charity. She who is perfect is wounded with charity. Good, therefore, are the wounds of the Word, good are the wounds of the lover: For the wounds of a friend are more profitable than the willing kisses of an enemy. Rebecca was wounded with charity, who, having left her parents, went away to her spouse: Rachel was wounded with charity, who envied her sister, loved her husband. For she still being barren envied her sister, who abounded in children; because she bore the type of the Church, to whom it is said: Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not: break forth and cry, thou that travailest not.

92. Stripped of Worldly Wisdom to See God

The guardians therefore found her, and wounded her, and took away her mantle, that is, they took away the covering of bodily action, so that the naked simplicity of the mind might seek Christ; because no one clothed in the mantle of philosophy, that is, in the garb of worldly wisdom, can see Christ. And rightly is the mantle of philosophy taken from her; lest anyone plunder her through philosophy. Rightly is the mantle taken from her who draws near to Christ; that, about to see God, she may enter with a clean heart: For blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. Finally, when she cleansed her heart, she found the Word, she saw God.

93. The Soul Has No Sex

Seek him, then, O virgin, nay let us all seek him; for the soul has no sex: but perhaps it received a feminine name for this reason, that a more violent heat of the body drives it; while it, through love of itself, soothes the impulse of the flesh with a certain gentle and coaxing reason.

94. The Chariot of Aminadab and the Word's Breath

We ought therefore by prayers and supplications to invite God, that like a good south wind he may deign to breathe upon us. And may he breathe upon us the breeze of the heavenly Word: which is accustomed to stir fruit-bearing trees not with a heavy wind, but with a gentle breath and soft blowing. Whence it is written: He set me the chariot of Aminadab; because our soul, when joined to the body, seeks, like some chariot of neighing horses, its own charioteer as ruler; for Aminadab was the father of Naasson, as we read in Numbers, who was prince of the people of Judah: whose figure is referred to Christ, who, the true prince of the people, mounting the soul of the just man like a chariot, as its driver, governs it with the reins of the Word; lest it be swept into precipices by the fury of violent horses.

95. The Four Horses of the Soul's Affections

For it has, as it were, four horses, four affections: anger, desire, pleasure, fear. When these rage and it begins to be driven by them, it knows itself not at all: for the corruptible body weighs down the soul, and, like a chariot of irrational animals, drags it along unwilling, rushing along by revolving cares as if by some onrush, until the aforesaid passions of the body grow gentle through the power of the Word. This is the providence of the Word, as of a good charioteer, lest for that soul, which is in itself not liable to death, the mortal body joined to it should make its own movement difficult.

96. Taming the Soul's Passions Like Unruly Horses

First, then, let it tame these swift motions of the body, and bridle them with the bond of reason: then let it beware lest it entangle itself, as it were, in unequal motion of horses, so that either a wicked one discolors the good, or a slow one hinders, or a turbulent one disquiets; for the horse of malice frets, and by its tossing injures the chariot, burdens its yoke-fellow. This the good charioteer soothes, and sends into the field of truth, turning aside from the winding path of deceit. Safe is the course upward, dangerous the descent downward. Thence, as veterans who have well borne the yoke of the Word, they are led even to the manger of the Lord, in which the food is not hay, but the bread that descends from heaven.

97. The Wheels of the Soul's Chariot

The wheels of this chariot are those of which the prophet spoke: And the spirit of life was in the wheels; because the chariot of the soul, smooth and round, rolls along without any obstruction.

98. The Garden of Nuts and the Church's Honey

But lest we drift too far, the Word of God is invited into the garden of nuts, in which is the fruit of prophetic reading, and the grace of the priesthood, which is bitter in temptations, hard in labors, fruitful in inward virtues. Whence also the rod of Aaron flourished with nuts, no longer by its own nature, but by hidden virtue. Let him then descend into his garden, that he may gather the vintage of faith, take in its odors, find heavenly food, feast on the sweetness of our honey, saying: I have gathered my myrrh with my spices, I have eaten my bread with my honey. Which, compounded of the flowers of diverse virtues, gathered by the harmonious work of those bees which proclaim wisdom, holy Church stores in her honeycombs, that it may be the food of Christ.

99. The Woman's Faith and the Confession of Sin

We have therefore all things in Christ. Let every soul come to him, whether sick with bodily sins, or pierced with certain nails of worldly desire, or still imperfect, indeed, but nevertheless advancing by intent meditation, or already perfect in many virtues: all is in the power of the Lord, and Christ is all things to us. If you desire to heal a wound, he is a physician: if you burn with fevers, he is a fountain: if you are weighed down by iniquity, he is justice: if you need help, he is strength: if you fear death, he is life: if you desire heaven, he is the way: if you flee darkness, he is light: if you seek food, he is nourishment. Taste, then, and see that the Lord is sweet: blessed is the man who hopes in him.

100. She who labored with the flow of blood hoped in him, and was immediately healed: but because she approached with faith And you, daughter, touch even the hem of his garment with faith.

Now the flow of worldly pleasures, overflowing like a torrent, will be dried up by the warmth of the saving Word; if only you approach with faith, if with equal devotion you grasp at least the outer hem of the divine word, if trembling you fall down before the Lord's feet. Where are the feet of the Word, if not where the body of Christ is? O faith, richer than all treasures! O faith, stronger than all the virtues of the body! O faith, more health-giving than all physicians! As soon as the woman drew near, she felt the power, she obtained healing; just as if you bring the eye near to light, it is illumined before it perceives, and the working of the light outstrips the preparation. The inveterate malady, the incurable malady, which had overcome every device of art, and the outpouring of money, is cured by the mere touch of the hem. Of that woman's example, then, O virgin, you must keep the modesty in approaching, and imitate the devotion in believing.

101. How great, indeed, was that grace, that she who was ashamed to be seen was not ashamed nevertheless to confess her fault! Do not, then, hide your failings, confess what he already knows: do not blush at what the prophets did not blush at. Hear Jeremiah saying: Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. So too she said, when she touched the hem: Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. Save me, O Lord, and I shall be saved; for thou art my glory; for she alone is sound, whom thou hast healed.

102. If, however, someone should say to you (since the faithful are often tempted in this way): Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come; for it was said also to the Lord: Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe him; he trusts in the Lord, let him deliver him now, if he will.

If, then, anyone should say this to you in mockery, and should wish to draw you into idle disputes, do not answer him; for Christ was unwilling to answer such men. Question only Christ; for if you speak to them, they will not believe; if you question them, they will not answer you. Say to the Word alone: I have not labored following after thee, and I have not desired the day of man.

103. This that woman said, and the flow of blood stopped. Although wearied, although sick, she who had long sought Christ said nevertheless: I have not labored following after thee; for she does not labor who follows Christ, since he calls those who labor to himself that they may rest. Let us, then, follow him. As long as we follow him, we do not labor; for there is no labor in Jacob. And in Isaiah: They that wait upon the Lord shall run, and not labor.

104. Then, when Christ asked who had touched him, does it not seem to you that she said: Why do you ask, Lord? Thou knowest; the words that go forth from my lips are before thy face; and therefore I am not confounded to confess my own sins. Let them be confounded that persecute me, and let me not be confounded.

105. Peter was not ashamed to say: Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man; for being a wise and grave man, in whom was the firmness of the Church, and the mastery of discipline, he perceived nothing more useful for himself than that he should not be puffed up by the outcome of a successful deed. And therefore he said: Depart, Lord, from me. He does not ask to be abandoned, but not to be inflated.

106. Paul also glories in the thorn of the flesh, which was provided lest he should be exalted. Alluring is boasting, which even Paul feared: slippery is that which even in Paul was guarded against.

But he was not one easily moved to a slip, who feared to be exalted by revelations; and therefore, like a strong athlete, he rejoices that by the wound of the body he had learned to purchase the health of the soul.

For the soul has its own flights. And therefore it is said: Who are these, who fly like clouds, and like doves with their young? The soul, then, has spiritual flights, which in a brief moment runs through the whole world; for free are the thoughts of the prudent; the more they raise themselves to higher and more divine things, the more they are borne without any hindrance of earthly mass. And so, cleaving to God, and bearing back in itself the likeness of the heavenly image, when it has calmed its courses from the disturbance of the horses, borne up by the applause of spiritual wings into that ethereal and pure place, it looks down upon all things that are in this world: and intent upon eternal virtues, it glides above the world. For above the world is justice, above the world is charity, above the world is chastity, above the world is goodness, above the world is wisdom: and though it be in this world, yet it is above the world.

108. Justice was above the world, when the devil offered all the kingdoms of the world and all its glory. He was above the world, who touched nothing of the world. Finally he says: The prince of this world comes, and he shall find, he says, nothing in me. Learn, then, to be above the world while in this world: and though you bear a body, let the inner bird take flight within you. He is above the world who bears God in his own body.

109. But we cannot imitate God. Let us imitate the apostles, whom the world hated; because they were not of this world. Imitate these, follow these. But you think it arduous to ascend above the world by human virtue. You say well; for the apostles too, not as companions but as disciples following the Lord, merited to be above the world. Be you too a disciple of Christ, an emulator of Christ: and he who prayed for them prays for you.

For not for the apostles only, he says, do I pray; but for those also who shall believe through their word in me; that they all may be one. The Lord therefore wills us to be one, that we may all be above the world; that there may be one chastity, one will, one goodness, one grace. For by these the flight of the soul is nourished and increased.

110. Let us not, then, grow sluggish, but rise up from earthly things; for such is the nature of wings, that by exercising themselves they gain strength. By this the flight is helped; by this the soul is delighted, which, if it always follows God, and desires to dwell in the house of the Lord, and is fed by his delight, and nourished by the miracles of the heavenly virtues, will leave outside envy, which is outside the choir of angels, outside the desires of the body, which ought not to defile the temple of God.

And therefore, since we are the temple of God, let us cast off from ourselves material anxieties.

And lest by chance we should seem to have appropriated something philosophical or poetic, in speaking of chariots, horses, and the wings of the soul—things which they rather took from ours—the series of prophetic reading shows that we have used domestic resources, which was written in this manner by holy Ezechiel: And there the hand of the Lord came upon me, and I saw, and behold a spirit arose coming from the North, and a great cloud was in it, and a fire flashing, and a light round about it as the light of amber in the midst of the fire, and light in it, and in the midst as the likeness of four living creatures.

112. You see, then, four living creatures already described.

We must consider of what sort these living creatures are: The likeness, he says, of their faces was the face of a man, the face of a lion on the right side of the four, and the face of a calf on the left side of the four, and the face of an eagle above the four, and their wings were stretched out.

113. Here too we understand the soul to be described, whose four living creatures are four affections: but not in the same way as those we described above; for those souls are still being instructed, and receiving progress; here already a perfect soul is described. Finally, those are invited to heaven, this one is in heaven with the Word of God. It has, moreover, four affections, that is, to be compared to the likeness of man, lion, calf, and eagle. These forms we have received as figured according to the propriety of the gospel books.

And therefore here too, in the man the rational, in the lion the impetuous, in the calf the concupiscible, in the eagle the visionary—through the figures of the living creatures the species of affection is expressed.

114. For in every wise man the prudent men of Greece have recorded there to be λογιστικὸν, θυμητικὸν, ἐπιθυμητικὸν, διορατικὸν: but the Latins call them prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice. For prudence belongs to human reason: fortitude has a certain force of fierce virtue, and contempt of death: temperance, bound by the tie of sacred charity, and by contemplation of the heavenly mysteries, disregards the pleasures of the body: justice, placed as it were on a lofty platform, sees and examines all things; born rather for others than for herself, she seeks not so much her own advantages as the public benefits. And rightly does the soul that has wrought justice receive the form of the eagle, because, fleeing earthly things, and wholly raised up and intent upon the heavenly mystery, it obtains the glory of the resurrection by the price of equity.

Wherefore it is said to her: Your youth shall be renewed like the eagle's.

115. There is, then, also according to David, a soul upborne on spiritual wings, which he wished to show us to be so much a bird that he says elsewhere too: Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers. And elsewhere: In the Lord I put my trust, how then do you say to my soul: Flee to the mountain like a sparrow. The soul, then, has its own wings, by which it can freely raise itself from the earth. But the oarage of the wings is not a material structure of feathers, but the continuous order of good deeds; such was that of the Lord, to whom it is well said: And in the shadow of your wings will I hope.

For not only were those hands of the Lord, fixed to the cross, stretched out after the manner of one flying, but also his heavenly deeds, like a refreshing shadow of eternal salvation, tempered the burning fires of the world.

116. Therefore, since the power of flying has been given to us, let each one stir up in himself the grace of God, and, forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those that are before, press toward the mark. Far from the honors of military service, far from the heats of the world; lest, as the fables tell, with the wax melted by the heat of the sun, the failing feather of the Icarian flight should leave him destitute.

For although the gravity of things said be absent, yet by a poetic wit they wished to declare that the flights of the mature and prudent are safe throughout the age, but that youthful levity, subject to the desires of the world, with wings flowing back, and through forgetfulness of the truth, the structure of merits being dissolved, slips back to the earth with greater ruin.

117. Not easy is flight for all: difficult too is the course of human life for those whose inner living creatures are at discord. But if the order of our acts should agree with itself, the prophet will see in us too that one wheel upon the earth joined to the four living creatures. Ezechiel, then, will see again; for he still sees, and is vigorous, and shall be vigorous. He will see, I say, a wheel in the midst of a wheel upon the earth gliding without offense.

For the wheel upon the earth is the life of the body fitted to the virtue of the soul, and formed by a coherent course to the evangelical precept; but the wheel in the midst of the wheel is, as it were, a life within a life; that the life of the saints may not be discordant with itself, but that such as it was in the earlier age, such it may be in the following one: or that in this life of the body the use of eternal life may be revolved.

118. When these things have come together, then the divine voice will resound, then above the likeness of the throne the likeness as the appearance of a man will appear. This man is the Word, because the Word was made flesh.

This man is the driver of our living creatures, the ruler of our morals, who according to the measure of our merits ascends now the chariot, now the mountain, or the ship: but the ship in which either the apostles sail, or Peter fishes; for the ship is not a mean one, which is led out into the deep. This is separated from the unbelievers. For why is the ship chosen in which Christ sits, and the crowd is taught, unless because the ship is the Church, which with the full sail of the Lord's cross, by the breath of the Holy Spirit, sails well in this world?

119. In this ship Peter fishes: and now with nets, now with a hook, he is bidden to fish. A great mystery!

For it seems to be a spiritual fishing, by which he is bidden to cast the hook of doctrine into the world; that he might raise up from the sea first that martyr Stephen, who held within himself the tribute of Christ; for the martyr of Christ is the treasure of the Church. That martyr, then, who first ascended from the sea to heaven, caught by Peter, minister of the altar, is raised not by net but by hook; that by the shedding of his own blood he might be raised to heaven. In whose mouth was the treasure, when he spoke Christ in confession. For what treasure is there in us, except the Word of God? The more perfect one, then, fishes both with nets and with a hook for God; that with the net he may enclose, with the hook he may sear: but the crowd is enclosed by the net, the singular one is chosen by the hook.

Oh, if only it were permitted me to swallow that hook, which would sear my mouth, and give salvation by a light wound!

Enter, then, daughters, into the nets of the apostles, which are let down not by human authority, but by the voice of God; for the net of spiritual wisdom and doctrine is the kingdom of heaven, because it is written: The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net cast into the sea.

121. You heard today the Lord Jesus saying to Simon: Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch. Before, Peter did not launch out into the deep, when he was fishing in the pool. Although it was the sea, it was not the deep; Scripture knows no deep sea. What, then, the deep may be, receive: Deep water is counsel in the heart of a man. The deep is the heart of a man, where nothing is shallow. Launch, then, the oarage of your disputation and faith into the deep, launch into the heart of man.

By this parable he here calls Peter to the Church, whom according to Matthew he called with a simple word, saying: Come, and I will make you fishers of men.

122. There is also another mystery: Launch out into the deep; because before he was in the sand, when he was in the Synagogue. There was no other water in Judea. Finally, the Samaritan woman thought even the well to be deep, saying: And the well is deep, whence then have you living water to give me? He could not, then, launch into the deep, when he believed with the Jews, who could not even draw water from the well. Therefore it is said to Peter: Launch out into the deep, that is, launch out unto Christ; for Christ is deep, of whom it is said to John by the Father: And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Highest. Launch out, then, unto Christ. And rightly deep, in whom is the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

Launch out into the deep; he who is deep, above the deep, keeps watch, and exalts.

123. There, then, are deep waters, where Christ is, that is, faith. Deep waters, which fear the Lord, such as these: The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee, and they feared. With the deep waters there was not, because it was not in the heart. Therefore the Lord says: This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Christ loves to be in the heart: As Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. Finally, that you may know that he speaks of faith: Launch out into the deep, said Peter: Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing, but at thy word I will let down the net. Peter had night, before he saw Christ.

For day had not yet come to him; he had not yet seen the light. The synagogue is night, the church is day. Whence Paul also says: The night is past, and the day is at hand. The light, which shook off the darkness of unbelief, made faith. Peter became day, Paul became day, today at their birth the Holy Spirit crying out: Day to day uttereth speech; that is, from the inmost treasury of the heart he sends forth the faith of Christ. And each is a good day, which has poured forth light for us. These things we read in the Gospel. And perhaps today this discourse concerns us and Peter and Christ. Daily Peter fishes, daily the Lord says to him: Launch out into the deep. I seem to hear Peter saying: Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing. It was night, fewer gathered for the vigils. Peter labors in us, when our labor is not fruitless: Paul also labors. Finally you have heard today: Who is weak, and I am not weak?

Do not act so that the apostles labor in vain for you. So they say to him: We have toiled all the night and taken nothing. Certainly none of you has fasted. To whom he has today answered well. Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as gold or silver, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled, of Christ Jesus. Therefore it was not gold and silver that freed you, but the trial of faith much more precious than gold, which perishes. A good servant is eager to repay to his Lord the price which was paid for him. Do not seek gold, daughter, do not seek silver. Christ did not redeem you with these riches. Have the price ready. You are not always required to pay, but you are always in debt. He paid blood, you owe blood. He paid for you, you repay for yourself.

We were pledged to a wicked creditor by our sins; we had drawn up a bond of guilt, we owed the penalty of blood: the Lord Jesus came, he offered his own blood for us; but you cannot repay blood. 127. Indeed a good servant ought to repay his own price to his Lord: if he cannot repay the price, let him at least do this, that he not seem unworthy of the price. Therefore you too conduct yourself worthy of such a price; lest Christ, who cleansed you, who redeemed you, come, and if he finds you in sins, say to you: What profit is there in my blood? What has it profited you, while I go down into corruption? 128. But do not wonder how he went down into corruption, whose flesh, as is written elsewhere, did not see corruption. He indeed went down into the place of corruption, he who penetrated the depths below; but being incorrupt he excluded corruption.

Yet we use not our own nets, but the apostolic ones. Into those bosoms, and into certain retreats of apostolic discourse, let the throng of you, O daughters, be gathered. May Peter give you life, O daughters: he who also came to the aid of the widow, how much more to the virgin! He who, no longer able to bear the long weeping of the widows, moved by their tears, raised up the nurse to life. May Paul give you life, who commanded that you be honored, who says: It is good for them if they so continue, even as I. By honor he provokes, by teaching he instructs, by example he invites. May he give you life, who, leaving all his own, followed the Lord: Peter followed, John followed.

131. See what progress even this fisherman made. While seeking his gain on the sea, he found the life of all.

He left the skiff, and found God: he left the oar, and found the Word: he loosed the nets, and bound faith; he folded the nets, and raised up men: he despised the sea, and gained heaven. This fisherman, then, while himself tossed by the troubled sea, established on the rock minds wavering upon an unstable footing.

132. Let us therefore build up further upon the fisherman's craft, that we may believe more fully concerning his virtue. He was an obscure servant, that the evangelist might be the more noble: needy in poverty, that he might be the richer in virtue: seeming lowly in honor, but precious in faith. The less he is believed as a fisherman, the more he is believed; because what he spoke is not his own, but divine. His plebeian condition serves him; it removes the expectation attached to worldly wisdom, and increases the reputation of spiritual wisdom.

He who did not learn the law, and yet is wise in the things of the law, is a law to himself; he who did not learn the law, and speaks beyond the law, received it from him from whom the law itself came.

133. What sudden dignity is this? Two fishermen on the mount of the Lord are compared, one to the giver of the law, the other to its executor.

See what kind of fisherman this is. Moses indeed, having surpassed all earthly things and the heights of worldly wisdom, ascended by the prudence of his mind even to heaven and the stars: the mind of this fisherman is not darkened by clouds, is not bound by times, is not shut out from the mysteries of the heavenly nature, but having surpassed all corporeal matter, saw the Word with God, and beheld that the Word itself was God, nor, weakened by the sight of the flesh in Peter, did he tremble, but discerned the Son of God even in the man: so that the assumption of the body, taken up into the right of the divinity of him who assumed it, passed into the name of its author.

134. And Moses indeed, when he says: And God said, and God made, signified the Father and the Son: but he did not know it, while I as yet did not know it either. Finally, after the law the people erred, after the Gospel they believed.

Great is the grace of God in diverse virtues. In the one, because he described the world: in the other, because he did not know the world.