God rejects the hypocritical fasts of the Jews: recommends works of mercy, and sincere godliness.
God commandeth the Prophet, to crie vnto the sinful people vehemently, and incessantly to kepe the law, not only in shew and pretence, but sincerely, leauing their owne wils, and seeking Gods wil: 9. so they shal receiue their good desires, and reward of wel doing.
1Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their wicked doings, and the house of Jacob their sins.Grida, non darti posa; alza la tua voce come una tromba, e annunzia al popol mio le sue scelleratezze, e alla casa di Giacobbe i suoi peccati;CRIE, cease not, as a trumpet exalt thy voice, and tel my people their wicked doinges, and the house of Iacob their sinnes.Clama, ne cesses, / quasi tuba exalta vocem tuam, / et annuntia populo meo scelera eorum, / et domui Jacob peccata eorum. 2For they seek me from day to day, and desire to know my ways, as a nation that hath done justice, and hath not forsaken the judgment of their God: they ask of me the judgments of justice: they are willing to approach to God.Perocché ogni giorno m'interrogano, e voglion saper i miei consigli: come gente, che abbia esercitata la giustizia, e non abbia abbandonata la legge del suo Dio, mi domandan ragione dei giudizj di (mia) giustizia: voglion essere vicini a Dio.For me in deede they seeke from day to day, and they wil know my waies, as a nation that hath done iustice, and hath not sorsaken the iudgement of their God: they aske of me the iudgements of iustice: they wil approch to God.Me etenim de die in diem quærunt, / et scire vias meas volunt, / quasi gens quæ justitiam fecerit, / et judicium Dei sui non dereliquerit. / Rogant me judicia justitiæ; / appropinquare Deo volunt. 3Why have we fasted, and thou hast not regarded: have we humbled our souls, and thou hast not taken notice? Behold in the day of your fast your own will is found, and you exact of all your debtors.Perchè abbiam noi digiunato, e tu non ne hai fatto conto? abbiamo umiliato le anime nostre, ed hai fatto vista di non saperlo? Ecco, che nel dì del vostro digiuno la volontà vostra si soddisfa, e voi stringete tutti i vostri debitori.Why haue we fasted, and thou hast not regarded: haue we humbled our soules, and thou hast not knowen? Behold in the day of your fast your owne wil is found, and you exact of al your detters.Quare jejunavimus, et non aspexisti; / humiliavimus animas nostras, et nescisti ? / Ecce in die jejunii vestri invenitur voluntas vestra, / et omnes debitores vestros repetitis. 4Behold you fast for debates and strife, and strike with the fist wickedly. Do not fast as you have done until this day, to make your cry to be heard on high.Ecco che voi digiunate per litigare, e quistionare, e percuotete altrui co' pugni empiamente. Non digiunate come avete fatto fino a questo dì per e far sentire nell'alto i vostri clamori.Behold you fast to debates and contentions, and strike with the fist impiously. Doe not fast as vntil this day, that your crie may be heard on high.Ecce ad lites et contentiones jejunatis, / et percutitis pugno impie. / Nolite jejunare sicut usque ad hanc diem, / ut audiatur in excelso clamor vester.
5Is this such a fast as I have chosen: for a man to afflict his soul for a day? is this it, to wind his head about like a circle, and to spread sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?Il digiuno, che io amo, sta egli in questo, che l'uomo affligga per giorno l'anima sua? ovver ch'ei della sua testa incurvata ne faccia quasi un cerchio, e si getti addosso il sacco, e la cenere? Questo forse chiamerai tu digiuno, e giorno accetto al Signore?Is this such a fast, as I haue chosen: for a man by the day to afflict his soule? Is this it, to winde his head about like a circle, and to spread sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou cal this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?Numquid tale est jejunium quod elegi, / per diem affligere hominem animam suam ? / numquid contorquere quasi circulum caput suum, / et saccum et cinerem sternere ? / numquid istud vocabis jejunium, / et diem acceptabilem Domino ? 6Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress, let them that are broken go free, and break asunder every burden.Non è egli questo piuttosto il digiuno, che io amo? sciogli i vincoli dell'empietà; sciogli le obbligazioni, che opprimono: metti in libertà i mal condotti, e rompi ogni gravame.Is not this rather the fast that I haue chosen? Dissolue the bands of impietie, loose the bundels that ouerlode, dismisse them free that are broken, and breake in sunder euerie burden.Nonne hoc est magis jejunium quod elegi ? / Dissolve colligationes impietatis, / solve fasciculos deprimentes, / dimitte eos qui confracti sunt liberos, / et omne opus dirumpe; 7Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into thy house: when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy own flesh.Spezza all'affamato il tuo pane, e i poveri, e i raminghi menati a tua casa: se vedi uno ignudo, rivestilo, e non ispregiare la tua propria carne.Breake thy bread to the hungrie, and the needie, and herberles bring in into thy house: when thou shalt see the naked, couer him, and despise not thy flesh.frange esurienti panem tuum, / et egenos vagosque induc in domum tuam; / cum videris nudum, operi eum, / et carnem tuam ne despexeris. 8Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall speedily arise, and thy justice shall go before thy face, and the glory of the Lord shall gather thee up.Allora come di dell'aurora spunterà la tua luce, e presto verrà la tua guarigione, e la tua giustizia anderà innanzi a te, e la gloria del Signore ti accoglierà.Then shal thy light breake forth as the morning, and thy health shal sooner arise, & thy iustice shal goe before thy face, and the glorie of our Lord shal embrace thee.Tunc erumpet quasi mane lumen tuum; / et sanitas tua citius orietur, / et anteibit faciem tuam justitia tua, / et gloria Domini colliget te.
9Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall hear: thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou wilt take away the chain out of the midst of thee, and cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which profiteth not.Allora tu invocherai il Signore, ed egli ti esaudirà: alzerai la tua voce, ed ei dirà: Eccomi a te. Se torrai di mezzo a te la catena, e cesserai di stendere il dito, e di parlare come non si conviene.Then shalt thou inuocate, and our Lord wil heare: thou shalt crie, and he wil say: Loe here I am. If thou wilt take away the cheine out of the middes of thee, and cease to stretch out the finger, and to speake that which profiteth not.Tunc invocabis, et Dominus exaudiet; / clamabis, et dicet: Ecce adsum. / Si abstuleris de medio tui catenam, / et desieris extendere digitum et loqui quod non prodest; 10When thou shalt pour out thy soul to the hungry, and shalt satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noonday.Quando tu aprirai le tue viscere all'affamato, e consolerai l'anima afflitta, nascerà nelle tenebre a te la luce, e le tue tenebre si cangeranno in un mezzodì.When thou shalt powre out thy soule to the hungrie, and shalt fil the afflicted soule, thy light shal arise vp in darkenes, and thy darkenes shal be as the noone day.cum effuderis esurienti animam tuam, / et animam afflictam repleveris, / orietur in tenebris lux tua, / et tenebræ tuæ erunt sicut meridies. 11And the Lord will give thee rest continually, and will fill thy soul with brightness, and deliver thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of water whose waters shall not fail.E il Signore darà a te sempre riposo, e l'anima tua empierà di splendori, e conforterà le tue ossa: e tu sarai come un giardino innaffiato, e come fontana, cui non mancano acque giammai.And our Lord wil geue thee rest alwayes, and wil fil thy soule with brightnes, and deliuer thy bones, and thou shalt be as a watered garden, and as a fountaine of waters, whose waters shal not fayle.Et requiem tibi dabit Dominus semper, / et implebit splendoribus animam tuam, / et ossa tua liberabit; / et eris quasi hortus irriguus, / et sicut fons aquarum / cujus non deficient aquæ. 12And the places that have been desolate for ages shall be built in thee: thou shalt raise up the foundations of generation and generation: and thou shalt be called the repairer of the fences, turning the paths into rest.E saran da te ristorati i luoghi ab antico deserti, alzerai de' fondamenti per generazioni, e generazioni: e ti sarà dato il nome di ristoratore delle mura d'uom, che rende sicure le strade.And the deserts of the worlds shal be builded in thee: thou shalt rayse vp the fundations of generation and generation: and thou shalt be called the builder of the hedges, turning the pathes into rest.Et ædificabuntur in te deserta sæculorum, / fundamenta generationis et generationis suscitabis; / et vocaberis ædificator sepium, / avertens semitas in quietem.
13If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy own will in my holy day, and call the sabbath delightful, and the holy of the Lord glorious, and glorify him, while thou dost not thy own ways, and thy own will is not found, to speak a word:Se conterrai il tuo piede nel sabato, e non farai la tua volontà nel santo mio giorno, e se tu il sabato chiamerai giorno delizioso, e santo, glorioso del Signore, e lui glorificherai col non fare quel, che solevi, e col non soddisfare la tua volontà co' tuoi cicalecci;If thou turne away thy foote from the Sabbath, from doing thy wil in my holie day, and cal the Sabbath delicate, and the holie of our Lord glorious, and glorifie him, whiles thou doest not thine owne wayes, and thy wil be not found, to speake a word:Si averteris a sabbato pedem tuum / facere voluntatem tuam in die sancto meo, / et vocaveris sabbatum delicatum, / et sanctum Domini gloriosum, / et glorificaveris eum dum non facis vias tuas, / et non invenitur voluntas tua, ut loquaris sermonem: 14Then shalt thou be delighted in the Lord, and I will lift thee up above the high places of the earth, and will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.Allora la dilettazione tua avrai nel Signore, ed io t'innalzerò sopra ogni elevazion della terra, e per tuo nutrimento darotti l'eredità di Giacobbe tuo padre: imperocché il Signore di sua bocca ha parlato.Then shalt thou be delighted vpon the Lord, & I wil lift thee vp aboue the heightes of the earth, & wil feede thee with the inheritance of Iacob thy father. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.tunc delectaberis super Domino, / et sustollam te super altitudines terræ, / et cibabo te hæreditate Jacob patris tui: / os enim Domini locutum est.
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St. Thomas Aquinas
Sins. During the captivity, ver. 11. (St. Thomas Aquinas)
Worthington
Some will not hear, and those must be rebuked with all patience, till they follow virtue. (Worthington)
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Approach, and contend with God, scrutinizing his conduct, (Proverbs 25:27.) and doing good for the sake of applause and self-interest.
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Calmet
Will. This alone suggested their fasts, and they did not shew compassion, Ezechiel 7:2. (Calmet)
Debtors, who are not able to pay. (St. Jerome) (Deuteronomy 24:12.)
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Fist. Matthew 18:28.
Wickedly. Septuagint, "the humble."
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Calmet
Circle. They affected extreme debility, Matthew 6:16. (Calmet)
Haydock
Ashes. These external marks of penance are not condemned, but the want of corresponding sentiments. (Haydock)
Worthington
Protestants would hence infer that fasting from flesh is not requisite, or a religious worship. But St. Jerome shews the contrary, provided it be joined with the observance of other commandments, as the saints and Christ himself have shewn us. (Worthington)
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Calmet
Bands. Contracts of usury, etc. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Deal. Literally, "break." (Haydock)
Thin cakes are still used in the East.
Flesh, or relation, Genesis 37:27.
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Haydock
Light. Prosperity, (Calmet) or Saviour. (Haydock)
Calmet
Matthew 4:2., and John 1:8. (Calmet)
St. Jerome
Health. Aquila, "the scar of thy wound shall soon be covered." (St. Jerome)
Calmet
Up. He shall close the rear, like the angel in the cloud, Exodus 13:21., and 14:19. He will grant thee rest from bondage in the grave and in heaven. (Calmet)
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St. Jerome
Finger, contemptuously, or threatening. (St. Jerome)
Some explain it of the ordaining sacred ministers, or taking another's property.
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Calmet
Soul, effectually, and with love relieving the distressed. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Fail. Alexandrian Septuagint adds, "and thy bones as a flower shall spring and grow fat, and shall inherit ages of ages." St. Jerome says this is not in the best copies. (Haydock)
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Generation. As the Jews did not comply with the condition, the Church falls heir to these promises.
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Sabbath, doing no work, or refraining from the violation of festivals.
Calmet
Delightful. We must not think the sabbath of the Lord a loss: (Amos 8:5.) but rejoice in praising him, Psalm 45:11. (Calmet)
Grotius
A word, or to apply to God's word. (Grotius)
Haydock
Pious reading on holidays is the duty of all who have an opportunity. (Haydock)
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Calmet
Earth. Judea. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "upon the good things of the land." (Haydock)
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Many sinners are so fast a sleepe in their wickednes, that they can not, or rather wil not heare ordinarie admonitions: to such therfore Gods preachers must crie, and not cease to crie, as with a loude trumpette exalt their voice, opportunely, importunely, with al patience, and longamitie, til they make the dease to heare, to beleue the truth, and the dūme to speake, that is, to prosesse vertue in word & dede. Mar. 7.
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5. Is this such a fast, as I haue chosen?] Fasting is so often & clerly commended in holie Scriptures, that Protestantes (though not greatly affected therto) confesse Protestants de tract from the praise & profite of fasting. it to be a good thing of it self, but in diuers respectes detract much from it: denying it to be an act of religion, but only of bodily mortification: neither do Cultus. Des. Luc. 2. v. 37. al generally allow of prescript times, nor of abstinence from flesh those dayes, vvhich they thinke good to fast: and those vvhich do abstaine from flesh, say they do it not for religion, but for the ordinance of ciuil policie. For vvhich opinion they allege out of this, and other places (Iere. 14. v. 12. Zacha. 7. v 5.) that such affliction is not the fast, which God hath chosen. But if they vvould consider the coherence of the text, they should finde the contrarie. For albeit fasting alone vvithout amendment of euil maners, and vvithout other good vvorkes, doth not appeaze Gods vvrath, no• is agreable to Gods vvil, yet being ioyned vvith contrition of hart, and sincere pietie, doth then greatly please him. And therfore our Lord God here (sayth S. Ierom) lest he might seme to reproue fasting, vvhich himself had commanded, teacheth hovv it behoueth to Leuit 16. 33. fast: Non enim querit Deus afflictionem solam, & humiliationem animae per iniuriam This seripture reproueth not fasting, but admonisheth to fast especially from sinne. corporis, vt inslar circulitorqueat corpus, & colla submi•tat, ac tristis incedat: &c. Sed Num. 29. vt cum istis haec saciat quae sequuntar. For God seeketh not onlie affliction, and humiliation of the soule by iniurie of the bodie; that one should vvrith his bodie about like a circle, hold dovvne his neck, and goe pensiue, &c. But that vvith these thinges, he do those vvhich folovv. to witte, Dissolue the bandes of impietie, and v. 6. & 7. the rest, as in the text. VVherupon this Doctor discourseth at large, shevving that it profiteth not to carie an emptie bellie, and do those thinges that displease God. But fasting from meate, so that fasting from sinne (by declining from euil, and doing good deedes) be ioyned vvithal: then (saith he) thy fasting vvil be acceptable: For then shal thy light breake forth as the morning, and thy health shal sooner v. 8 arise, and thy iustice shal goe before thy face, and the glorie of our Lord shal embrace thee. Further declaring the great profite therof by examples: that by fasting Daniel, Christs fast an example of the 40. dayes fast in Lent. Dan 9. Ione. 3. 3 Reg. 19. Exo. 24. & 34. the man of desires knew thinges to come: the Niniuites pacified the vvrath of God Elias and Moyses by fourtie dayes hunger were filled with the familiaritie of God: And our Lord him self fasted so manie dayes in the vvildernes, vt nobis sollennes ieiuniorum dies relinqueret, to leaue vnto vs the solemne dayes of fastes.
Concordance Zach. 7.
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Ezec. 18. •at. 25.
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Concordance Isa •1.
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St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 15
… then shall thy light arise in the darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noon-day: and thy God shall be with thee continually, and thou shalt be satisfied according as thy soul desireth, and thy bones shall become fat, and shall be as a watered garden, and as a fountain of water, or as a land where water fails not.’
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 9
… as, through Isaiah: “Cry out,” he says, “in vigour, and spare not; lift up, as with a trumpet, thy voice, and announce to my commonalty their crimes, and to the house of Jacob their sins. Me from day to day they seek, and to learn my ways they covet, as a people which hath done righteousness, and hath not forsaken the judgment of God,” and so forth:
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On Works and Alms 4
… and in the strain and exhortation of the Holy Spirit, every one who is instructed into the hope of the heavenly kingdom is com manded to give alms. God commands and prescribes to Isaiah: “Cry,” says He, “with strength, and spare not. Lift up thy voice as a trumpet, and declare to my people their transgressions, and to the house of Jacob their sins.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.2
… If thou seest the naked, clothe him; and despise not them of thy own seed in thy house. Then shall thy seasonable light break forth, and thy garments shall quickly arise; and righteousness shall go before thee: and the glory of God shall surround thee. Then thou shalt cry out, and God shall hear thee; while thou art yet speaking, He shall say, Here I am.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist 1.19
… Therefore, when they read how the Lord says to the prophet, "Cry aloud, spare not, and write their sins with my pen,"
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 81.6
6. “Sound the trumpet” ( ver. 3 ). This is, Loudly and boldly preach, be not affrighted! as the Prophet says in a certain place, “Cry out, and lift up as with a trumpet thy voice.”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus 123
… For the divine Apostle charges us to take quite the opposite course. “Be instant in season and out of season.” And the Lord says to this very spokesman, “Be not afraid, but speak” and to Isaiah, “Cry aloud, spare not”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 2.4
… Hence Paul says, That he may be able by sound doctrine even to convince the gainsayers ( Tit. i. 9 ). Hence through Malachi it is said, The priest’s lips keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth ( Malac. ii. 7 ). Hence through Isaiah the Lord admonishes, saying, Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet (
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 Register of the Epistles of St. Gregory the Great 1.34
Many foolish men have supposed that, if I were advanced to the rank of the episcopate, I should decline to address thee, or to keep up communication with thee by letter. But this is not so; since I am compelled by the very necessity of my position not to hold my peace. For it is written, Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet (
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St Justin Martyr † AD 165 The First Apology 35
… And again the same prophet Isaiah, being inspired by the prophetic Spirit, said, “I have spread out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people, to those who walk in a way that is not good. They now ask of me judgment, and dare to draw near to God.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Fasting 2
… they affirm that we share with the Galatians the piercing rebuke (of the apostle), as “observers of days, and of months, and of years.” Meantime they huff in our teeth the fact that Isaiah withal has authoritatively declared, “Not such a fast hath the Lord elected,” that is, not abstinence from food, but the works of righteousness, which he there appends:
Tertullian † AD 220 On Fasting 15
… “for in the days,” he says, “of your fasts your own wills are found (indulged), and all who are subject to you ye stealthily sting; or else ye fast with a view to abuse and strifes, and ye smite with the fists. Not such a fast have I elected;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 3.8
… The Publican fasted not; and yet he was accepted in preference to him who had fasted; in order that thou mayest learn that fasting is unprofitable, except all other duties follow with it. The Ninevites fasted, and won the favour of God. The Jews, fasted too, and profited nothing, nay, they departed with blame.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 30
… for to those at least that are willing to practise self-command, the observance is exceedingly pleasant and desirable. For as when the body is in health, the spirits are high, so when the soul is well conditioned, the pleasure is greater. But according to their previous impression He saith this. So also Isaiah,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.37
… He uses food in moderation and gives God thanks. Daily Isaiah cries: “Is it such a fast that I have chosen, saith the Lord?” and again: “In the day of your fast ye find your own pleasure, and oppress all your laborers. Behold ye fast for strife and contention, and to smite with the fist of wickedness. How fast ye unto me?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 143.3
3. “And enter not into judgment with Thy servant” ( ver. 2 ). Who are willing to enter into judgment with Him, save they who, “being ignorant of the righteousness of God, go about to establish their own?” “Wherefore have we fasted, and Thou hast not seen; wherefore have we afflicted our souls, and Thou takest no knowledge?”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 21.14
… and when thou shalt see one naked cover him, and despise not thine own flesh. Then shalt thy light break forth as the morning and thy health shall speedily arise, and thy righteousness shall go before thy face and the glory of the Lord shall gather thee up. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall hear: thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here am I.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 24.26
… “Then,” he says, “shalt thou be delighted in the Lord, and I will lift thee up above the high places of the earth, and will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.19
… Sometimes, moreover, while the mind of the abstinent keeps anger down, it is corrupted, as it were, by a foreign joy coming in, and loses all the good of abstinence in that it fails to guard itself from spiritual vices. Hence it is rightly said through the prophet, In the days of your fasts are found your wills (
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St Barnabas † AD 61 The Epistle of Barnabas 3
He says then to them again concerning these things, “Why do ye fast to Me as on this day, saith the Lord, that your voice should be heard with a cry? I have not chosen this fast, saith the Lord, that a man should humble his soul. Nor, though ye bend your neck like a ring, and put upon you sackcloth and ashes, will ye call it an acceptable fast.”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 256
News has reached me of the severe persecution carried on against you, and how directly after Easter the men who fast for strife and debate
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 11.14
… For I will not desist from the exhortation until ye are amended: seeing that what we aim at is not that we may address you seldom or frequently, but that we may continue speaking till we have persuaded you. To the Jews when God said by the prophet, “If ye fast for strife and debate, to what purpose do ye fast for me?”
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 1
… not even if thou shouldest bow down thy neck like a hook, and shouldest strew sackcloth and ashes under thee; neither thus shall ye call the fast acceptable
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.59
… so far is he from allowing us to revel in the misfortunes of others: and, after sanctifying a fast, calling a solemn assembly, and gathering the old men, the children, and those of tender age, we ourselves must further haunt the temple in sackcloth and ashes,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.37
… You fast and are angry; another eats and wears a smiling face. You work off your irritation and hunger in quarrels. He uses food in moderation and gives God thanks. Daily Isaiah cries: “Is it such a fast that I have chosen, saith the Lord?”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 2.10
… But if he did dine the day pre vious, and was hungry next day before luncheon, I do not think that a man who was so soon hungry ate until he was satisfied. Again, God by the mouth of Isaiah says what fast He did not choose:
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.19
… lest, if it be perchance supposed to be of great merit, the heart be lifted up to haughtiness. For hence it is said through the prophet, Is it such a fast that I have chosen? But break thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the wanderers into thine house (
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St Barnabas † AD 61 The Epistle of Barnabas 3
… and then thou shalt call, and God shall hear thee; whilst thou art yet speaking, He shall say, Behold, I am with thee; if thou take away from thee the chain [binding others], and the stretching forth of the hands [to swear falsely], and words of murmuring, and give cheerfully thy bread to the hungry, and show compassion to the soul that has been humbled.”
St Ignatius of Antioch † AD 108 Epistle to the Philadelphians: Shorter and Longer Versions 8
… adding this also, that where there is diversity of judgment, and wrath, and hatred, God does not dwell. To all them that repent, God grants forgiveness, if they with one consent return to the unity of Christ, and communion with the bishop. I trust to the grace of Jesus Christ, that He will free you from every bond of wickedness.
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 The First Apology 37
… your hands are full of blood; and if ye bring fine flour, incense, it is abomination unto Me: the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls I do not desire. For who hath required this at your hands? But loose every bond of wickedness, tear asunder the tight knots of violent contracts, cover the houseless and naked, deal thy bread to the hungry.”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.17.3
… Then shall thy morning light break forth, and thy health shall spring forth more speedily; and righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of the Lord shall surround thee: and whilst thou art yet speaking, I will say, Behold, here I am.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 2.19
… To help forward this beneficent, not onerous, purpose of the law, the prophets were also ordained by the self-same goodness of God, teaching precepts worthy of God, how that men should “cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment, judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow:” be fond of the divine expostulations: avoid contact with the wicked:
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Lord's Prayer 33
… and despise not those of the same family and race as thyself. Then shall thy light break forth in season, and thy raiment shall spring forth speedily; and righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of God shall surround thee. Then shalt thou call, and God shall hear thee; and while thou shalt yet speak, He shall say, Here I am.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 52
… Then shall thy light break forth in the morning, and thine healings shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of the Lord shall cover thee. Then thou shalt call upon me, and I will give ear unto thee; whilst thou art yet speaking, I will say, Lo! here I am.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 54
… or what is there not easy? Hear, for instance, the prophet speaking, and then thou shalt know the easiness thereof. “Neither though thou bow as a collar thy neck, and strew beneath thee sackcloth and ashes, not even so shalt thou call a fast acceptable; but loose every bond of iniquity, unloose the twisted knots of oppressive bargains.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 9.34
… “Loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress;” and after a few words in which the barrenness of an unfruitful fast is rebuked, “then,” he says, “thou shalt call and the Lord shall hear thee; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here am I.”
58:7
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 2.19
… avoid contact with the wicked: “let the oppressed go free:” dismiss the unjust sentence, “deal their bread to the hungry; bring the outcast into their house; cover the naked, when they see him; nor hide themselves from their own flesh and kin:”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.16
… This, however, was not the case with my God, for He always and everywhere enjoined that the poor, and the orphan, and the widow should be protected, assisted, refreshed; thus by Isaiah He says: “Deal thy bread to the hungry, and them that are houseless bring into thine house; when thou seest the naked, cover him.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.17
… Compassion also does He teach: “Be ye merciful,” says He, “as your Father also that had mercy upon you.” This injunction will be of a piece with, “Deal thy bread to the hungry; and if he be houseless, bring him into thine house; and if thou seest the naked, cover him;”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.31
What kind of persons does He bid should be invited to a dinner or a supper? Precisely such as he had pointed out by Isaiah: “Deal thy bread to the hungry man; and the beggars—even such as have no home—bring in to thine house,”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.76
The apostle in his first Epistle to Timothy: “But if any take not care of his own, and especially of those of his own household, he denies the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” Of this same thing in Isaiah: “If thou shalt see the naked, clothe him; and despise not those who are of the household of thine own seed.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.20
… Herewith instruct thy people. Teach them to break their bread to the hungry, to gather together the poor that have no shelter, to cover their nakedness and not neglect those of the same blood,
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 43.35
… since signs are for unbelievers not for those who believe. But he did devise and execute with the same faith things which correspond to them, and tend in the same direction. For by his word and advice he opened the stores of those who possessed them, and so, according to the Scripture dealt food to the hungry,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 45
… Share thy goods with Christ. Art thou unwilling to yield Him up all? Give Him but the half, but the third part. He is thy brother, and joint-heir, make Him joint-heir with thee here too. Whatsoever thou givest Him, thou wilt give to thyself. Hearest thou not what saith the prophet? “Them that pertain to thy seed thou shalt not overlook.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 52
But what is there at all even hard in these sayings? For neither did He say, “Pass over the mountain, go across the sea, dig through so many acres of land, abide without food, wrap thyself in sackcloth;” but, “Impart to the poor,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 54
“Bring in the poor that are cast out to thy house; if thou seest one naked, clothe him, and them that belong to thy seed thou shalt not overlook.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Philippians 6
… Christ says, “Whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple” ( Luke xiv. 33 .); Mammon says, “Take the bread from the hungry.” Christ says, “Cover the naked” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 1 Timothy 14
“If any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house,” that is, those who are nearly related to him, “he is worse than an infidel.” And so says Isaiah, the chief of the Prophets, “Thou shalt not overlook thy kinsmen of thy own seed.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 13.18
22. Thus, O Lord, thus, I beseech Thee, let there arise, as Thou makest, as Thou givest joy and ability,—let “truth spring out of the earth, and righteousness look down from heaven,” and let there be “lights in the firmament.” Let us break our bread to the hungry, and let us bring the houseless poor to our house.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Christian Doctrine 2.12
17. And this circumstance would assist rather than hinder the understanding of Scripture, if only readers were not careless. For the examination of a number of texts has often thrown light upon some of the more obscure passages; for example, in that passage of the prophet Isaiah,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 6.11
… Now we are at work with our voices, when we say, “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.” And we are at work with our hands when we do this, “Break thy bread to the hungry, and bring the houseless poor into thine house.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 12.18
… so has it pleased God by the hands of princes His subjects to alarm their childish, foolish hearts, that they may throw away the dirt from their hands, and set about something useful. And what is this something useful with the hands, but, “Break thy bread to the hungry, and bring the houseless poor into thy house”?
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 17.8
… Begin, then, to love thy neighbor. “Break thy bread to the hungry, and bring into thy house him that is needy without shelter; if thou seest the naked, clothe him; and despise not those of the household of thy seed.” And in doing this, what wilt thou get in consequence? “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning light.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 37.3.2
… and when those limbs within him, those limbs of the inner man, shall have been paralyzed (which is the more fearful paralysis), he should henceforth leave off from good works, and say to himself, “Wherefore do I do good works? Wherefore do I break my bread to the hungry, and clothe the naked, and take home to mine house him who hath no shelter,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 43.7
7. These expressions, brethren, are safe ones: but yet be watchful in good works. Touch “the psaltery,” by obeying the Commandments; touch the harp, by patiently enduring your sufferings. You have heard from Isaiah, “Break thy bread to the hungry;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 50.13
… “A kingdom.” In return for what thing? “I was an hungred, and ye gave Me to eat.” What so valueless, what so earthly, as to break bread to the hungry? At so much is valued the kingdom of heaven. “Break thy bread to the hungry, and the needy without covering bring into thy house; if thou seest one naked, clothe him.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 52.5
… yet because without feeling they are cut off, they that cleave to the Lord with their heart, so have these earthly things as they have hair. But sometimes even something of good with “hair” is wrought, when thou breakest bread to the hungry, the poor without roof thou bringest into thy house; if thou shalt have seen one naked, thou coverest him:
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 84.7
… with the flesh we do good works. For ye see how many good works are done by the flesh of the saints; for by this we work the things we are commanded to work, by which we are helped in this life. “Break thy bread to the hungry, and bring the poor and roofless into thy house; and if thou see one naked, clothe him:”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 84.8
… To plough, to sow, to clear fallow ground, to sail; what is it which produces all these works, but necessity and want? Take away hunger, thirst, nakedness; who has need of all these things?…For instance, the injunction, “Break thy bread to the hungry.” For whom could you break bread, if there were nobody hungry? “Take in the roofless poor into thy house.”
58:8
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 27
… In the gospel even, “the wedding garment” may be regarded as the sanctity of the flesh. And so, when Isaiah tells us what sort of “fast the Lord hath chosen,” and subjoins a statement about the reward of good works, he says: “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy garments, shall speedily arise;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Philippians 4
There is nothing better than oil. It is the cause of light, and there also it is the cause of light. “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 13.18
… Let us clothe the naked, and despise not those of our own flesh. The which fruits having sprung forth from the earth, behold, because it is good; and let our temporary light burst forth;
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Pope St Clement I † AD 99 The Second Epistle of Clement 15
… For this recompense we are able to render to the God who created us, if he who speaks and hears both speak and hear with faith and love. Let us, therefore, continue in that course in which we, righteous and holy, believed, that with confidence we may ask God who saith, “Whilst thou art still speaking, I will say, Here I am.”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 On Daniel 6
24. “And Susannah cried with a loud voice.” And to whom did Susannah cry but to God? as Isaiah says: “Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer thee; whilst thou art yet speaking, He shall say, Lo, here I am.”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 1.13
… And forthwith the divine manifestation is made to every one according to his need, and is made to the weak health, and to the persecuted a ‘refuge’ and ‘house of defence;’ and to the injured He says, ‘While thou speakest I will say, Here I am
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 18.20
… taking away the yoke and election (which means, as I think, all meanness in testing as to whether the recipient is worthy or not) and word of murmuring
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 52
… Wherefore also the prophet said, “I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; ” and God Himself again, “I am a God nigh at hand, and not a God afar off.” Then as our sins separate us from Him, so do our righteousnesses draw us nigh unto Him. “For while thou art yet speaking,” it is said, “I will say, Here I am.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 43.7
… How many poor may be filled by the breakfast we have this day given up? Fast in such a way that thou mayest rejoice, that thou hast breakfasted, while another has been eating; fast on account of thy prayers, that thou mayest be heard in them. For He says in that passage, “Whilst thou art yet speaking I will say, Here I am,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 102.3
… “Right soon:” for I now ask that which Thou art willing to grant. I ask not earthly things, as an earthly man; but redeemed at last from my former captivity, I long for the kingdom of heaven; “Hear me right soon:” for it is only to such a longing that Thou hast said, “Even while Thou art speaking, I will say, Here I am.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 138.5
5. “In what day soever I call upon Thee, do Thou quickly hear me” ( ver. 3 ). Wherefore, “quickly”? Because Thou hast said, “While yet thou art speaking I will say, Lo, here I am.”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 1.10
… who studies so to live that he may be able to water even dry hearts with the streams of doctrine; who has already learnt by the use and trial of prayer that he can obtain what he has requested from the Lord , having had already said to him, as it were, through the voice of experience, While thou art yet speaking, I will say, Here am I (
58:10
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 10.5
… I would therefore confess what I know concerning myself; I will confess also what I know not concerning myself. And because what I do know of myself, I know by Thee enlightening me; and what I know not of myself, so long I know not until the time when my “darkness be as the noonday”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 7.19
… and God called the light day, and the darkness He called night.” This is the distinction, He made the one and ordered it: but the other He made not, but yet He ordered this too. But now that sins are signified by darkness, so is it seen in the Prophet, who says, “And thy darkness shall be as the noon day:”
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 1.6
… What a load of extravagance! for God promises that those who do His will shall be as a fountain which the water fails not, saying by Isaiah the prophet, ‘And the Lord shall satisfy thy soul in drought, and make thy bones fat; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose 63.24
31. But how should that not be profitable by which our sins are purged? And if you offer this with humility and with mercy, your bones, as Isaiah said, shall be fat, and you shall be like a well-watered garden.
St Jerome † AD 420 Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus 2.34
… The Hebrew Scriptures are used by apostolic men; they are used, as is evident, by the apostles and evangelists. Our Lord and Saviour himself whenever he refers to the Scriptures, takes his quotations from the Hebrew; as in the instance of the words
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 14.13
… “Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of water whose waters shall not fail. And the places that have been desolate for ages shall be built in thee; thou shalt raise up the foundations of generation and generation; and thou shalt be called the repairer of the fences, turning the paths into rest.”
58:13
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 27
… if thou shalt not lift thy foot to work, and shalt not speak a word from thine own mouth; then thou shalt trust in the Lord, and He shall cause thee to go up to the good things of the land; and He shall feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.’ ”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.12
… for by the same prophet, in a later passage,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 38.8
… Whence is this, but from our “calling the Sabbath to remembrance”? For it is a different thing that we mourn over in this life, from that which we anticipate in the other. That which we mourn over is stench, that which we reckon upon is fragrance. Were there not therefore such a perfume as that to invite us, we should never call the Sabbath to remembrance.
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 19.8
… then shalt thou be delighted in the Lord, and I will lift thee up above the high places of the earth, and will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 5.34.2
… which [stroke] the Lord will heal when He raises us from the dead, and restores the inheritance of the fathers, as Isaiah again says: “And thou shall be confident in the Lord , and He will cause thee to pass over the whole earth, and feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father.”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 2
Eran. —But he shall be told again how the divine Scripture, when speaking of God, mentions even parts of the body as “Incline thine ear and hear” and “Open thine eyes and see” and “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 Register of the Epistles of St. Gregory the Great 1.5
… xxvi. 8 ). Moreover desiring nothing, fearing nothing, in this world, I seemed to myself to stand on a certain summit of things, so that I almost believed to be fulfilled in me what I had learnt of the Lord’s promise through the prophet, I will lift thee up upon the high places of the earth (
58:1
1. CLAMA. — Hebraice est: Clama in gutture. Hoc est, ut Septuaginta: Clama in fortitudine, ne parcas gutturi et voci tuæ.
58:2
AND THE JUDGMENT OF THEIR GOD THEY HAVE NOT FORSAKEN. — "Judgment" he calls the just and equitable judgment which God prescribed and established by his law. Such are today those who, although they live impurely and impiously, yet speak so piously and inquire concerning the union of the soul with God, concerning perfect love, concerning the sublimity of the contemplative life, concerning the apex of perfection, that they scarcely seem anything but angels. THEY DESIRE TO DRAW NEAR TO GOD. — Not that they might approach him through sanctity and purity; but that they might dispute with him, examine his judgments, and as it were contend in a tribunal, and hurl him from heaven, and remove him from the governance of the world.
58:3
3. WE HAVE HUMBLED OUR SOULS. — That is, we have fasted, as was mentioned before. For the Hebrews call fasting a humbling, or affliction of the soul. First, because the end and fruit of fasting is that the flesh, humbled, may be subject to the spirit. Second, because fasting humbles, punishes and tames the wantonness of the flesh. Thus David says, Psalm XXXIV, 13: "I humbled my soul with fasting;" Leviticus XVI, 29: "In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls," that is, you shall fast. Third, because to fasting they added sackcloth, which afflicts; and they sprinkled themselves with ashes, which humbles, as we do at the beginning of Lent, on Ash Wednesday. Indeed Judith did this, chapter VIII, verse 6. Whence also Isaiah adds, verse 5: "And to spread sackcloth and ashes? Is this what you will call a fast?" AND YOU KNEW IT NOT. — As if to say: You seem not to regard them, not to care, indeed to ignore them, because you do not reward them as is fitting. You see here that the Jews placed their holiness in external fasting. Hence Christ also rebukes the Scribes, Matthew XXIII, who preferred external piety in fasting and sacrifices, but neglected interior charity and mercy. Such exist also today among Christians. Morally, note here is described what the fasting of Christians ought to be in Lent and at other times. Namely, first, that the mind fast from vices as much as from food, as St. Jerome, Cyril and Procopius say. For the end of fasting is that the body be humbled and subjected to the soul, the soul to reason, reason to virtue and spirit, spirit to God; which end if you do not attain, you apply the means of fasting in vain, just as a sick man takes medicine in vain if he does not abstain from harmful things, as St. Chrysostom says in Genesis I, homily 8, and St. Leo, sermon 4 on Lent: "Not in abstinence from food alone, he says, does the sum of our fasting consist, nor is food profitably withdrawn from the body unless the mind is recalled from iniquity and the tongue is restrained from detraction." And St. Bernard, sermon 3 On the Fasting of Lent: "If gluttony alone has sinned, let it alone fast, and that suffices; but if the other members have also sinned, why should not they also fast? Let the eye fast from curious looks and all wantonness, etc. Let the ear fast from wickedly itching after tales and rumors. Let the tongue fast from detraction and murmuring, etc. Let the hand fast from idle gestures, etc. But much more let the soul itself fast from vices and from its own will. For without this fasting, the others are rejected by the Lord, as it is written: For in the days of your fasting your own wills are found." The fasting of the body therefore must be seasoned with the fasting of the soul, and abstinence from sins. This is what the Lord says in Joel, I, 14: "Sanctify a fast." For, as St. Gregory says in homily 16 on the Gospel: "To sanctify a fast is to show abstinence of the flesh worthy of God joined with other goods. Let anger cease, let quarrels be ended. For in vain is the flesh worn away if the mind is not restrained from its wicked pleasures, since through the Prophet the Lord says: Behold in the day of your fast your own will is found." And St. Jerome, to Celantia: "What, he says, does it profit to weaken the body by abstinence if the mind swells with pride? What praise will you merit from the pallor of fasting if we are livid with envy? What virtue is there in not drinking wine and being intoxicated with anger and hatred?" num and vices, and think themselves blessed if they can follow their affections, if they can do what pleases them, if they can attain what they desire, indulging their desires and satisfying them like beasts. Wherefore Plato rightly condemns in the Crito that prayer of the common people: "God give you what you wish: Rather never give it, he says, but make you wish what he himself wishes. For this is pure religion, if thus you bind yourself to God." Wherefore St. Bernard rightly exclaims here, sermon 74 In the Song of Songs: "A great evil is one's own will, which makes your goods (fastings) not good for you. It is necessary therefore that those who are such be outside the lilies, because he who feeds among the lilies will taste nothing at all that is stained by one's own will."
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THAT YOUR CRY MAY BE HEARD ON HIGH. — Which is raised on high by those fasting and at the same time lamenting, says St. Jerome; because they raised it not from the sorrow and contrition of the heart, but from ostentation and vain glory. Second, "that your cry may be heard," that is your prayers, as if to say: So that God in heaven may hear your cries and prayers. So St. Thomas, Hugo and Sanchez.
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Arias contends that for circulum we should read cirpum or scirpum (of which there are various kinds: one called asphodelus, which the Spanish call gamon, which by metathesis appears to be the same as the Hebrew agmon), namely a rush: for this is what the Hebrew agmon signifies. But all codices read circulum, and thus the Septuagint translates it, and Arias himself also, thus they translate Job XL, 21. For although agmon properly signifies a rush, it nevertheless also signifies a circle: for a rush is easily bent into a circle, and circles are made from it. Finally, if you wish, take circulum here as a rush circle. Whence the Syrian translates it, that he bend his neck like something twisted; the Arabic, like that which is bent. AND SACKCLOTH (that is, haircloth), AND ASHES TO SPREAD? — With these, as symbols of penance, they adorned their fasting, as I said at verse 3.
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6. IS NOT THIS RATHER THE FAST THAT I HAVE CHOSEN? (Here He assigns the conditions of the fasting pleasing to Him. The first condition is): LOOSE THE BANDS OF WICKEDNESS (that is, loose the obligations and agreements of usury, and other unjust and impious contracts, by which you have violently oppressed and exhausted others, especially the poor): UNDO THE BUNDLES THAT OPPRESS. — That is, relax, forgive, tear up, or burn the bundles of written agreements, violent bonds; namely the handwritings of obligations concerning the payment of usuries and other unjust contracts, by which you oppress and burden your neighbor and brother, as if with a yoke. Thus the Septuagint, which translates: Loose the obligations of violent bonds, release those bound in remission, and tear up every unjust writing. And St. Cyprian, to Quirin. cap. 1, who translates thus: Loose every knot of injustice, resolve the suffocations of powerless commerce. For oppressing, in Hebrew it is mota, that is, of change, that is, bundles and burdens imposed on brothers, so heavy that they force them to totter and waver as they go. Thus Vatablus. Secondly, Forerius says "bundles" metaphorically calls usuries, which while debtors are not able to pay, increase daily, and grow into bundles which they cannot bear; or certainly services and labors which they imposed on them meanwhile while they did not pay. Tropologically St. Clement, lib. II Const. Apost. cap. LIII, rightly refers these to the remission of injuries: "If," he says, "you wish to be a Christian, follow the law of the Lord, loose every bond of iniquity: for the Lord has placed in you the power of remitting sins committed against you, etc. But you are mindful of injury, and retain enmity, and come to judgment, and observe anger, and resist your own prayers." LET THEM GO WHO ARE BROKEN. — That is, as Forerius translates, who are shattered; Vatablus, who are oppressed both by poverty and by debt, so that they are forced to yield to the forum, whom the Spanish call broken in terms of hardship: both by hardness and servitude, or by the prison of creditors: these indeed he wishes to be set free, and so if they are not able to pay, the debt is to be forgiven them. Thus Plato teaches that the most evident "sign of the best man is, if anyone is gentle to his own, and to those over whom he has power." For if you are gentle to strangers, who can repay you, it is not to be wondered at. Mystically St. Ambrose, Chrysostom, Justin, Basil, Hilarion, and from these Leo Castrius, as if to say, Loose the handwritings (that is, any sins whatever), by which you have bound yourself to the demon. Hear St. Hilarion in Ps. CXVIII: "Loose every bond, and every knot of iniquity. For if you turn away from the precepts of God, and bind yourself with these obligations of sins, you will be led away into eternal punishments with those who work iniquity." And St. Basil in the Ascetics, cap. IV: "Loose," he says, "the infirmities of the soul, and the insoluble bonds of sins, which you have made with the father of sin the devil."
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7. BREAK THY BREAD TO THE HUNGRY. — This is the second condition which God requires in fasting, that it may please Him; namely, that it be seasoned with piety and almsgiving, as St. Gregory says in hom. 16 in Evangel., and that what is taken from the belly be given to the poor; that is, bread be given to the hungry, hospitality to the stranger, clothing to the naked. Therefore, says St. Gregory, "what thou takest from thyself, bestow upon another, so that from whence thy flesh is afflicted, thence the flesh of thy needy neighbour may be restored. For each one fasts for himself, if those things which he withdraws from himself for a time, he does not give to the poor, but keeps them to be offered to his belly afterwards." St. Augustine urges, serm. 62 de Tempore, that thou break, and from this he proves that no one, however poor, can excuse himself from almsgiving: "He did not say, he says, that thou shouldest give a whole loaf, since perhaps that poor man had no other; but: Break, he says, that is to say: Even if thou art in such poverty that thou hast but one loaf, yet break even from that, and give to the poor." See the same, serm. 50 and serm. 172, where he says: "Fulfil the duties of mercy, and thou hast sanctified thy fastings. Nourish the bowels of the poor, and thy soul shall grow fat with the gifts of holiness. Clothe the naked, and thy sins are covered. Strive to receive the stranger in thy hospitality, that God also may receive thee into the kingdom of heaven." See also the examples which I have cited Ezech. XVIII, 7. AND DESPISE NOT THY OWN FLESH. — That is, as the Septuagint translates it, and despise not those of thy own kindred. Note the Hebraism: for flesh is called a kinsman, a blood relation, both properly, one who is akin; and commonly, one who is a man; especially of the same nation and faith, for example an Israelite. To all these, if they be in need, he commands almsgiving to be given. And all these are akin and related to us in Adam.
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8. THEN SHALL THY LIGHT BREAK FORTH AS THE MORNING (in Hebrew cassachar, that is, as the dawn) — God here assigns the rewards of mercy and almsgiving. The first is light, by which Forerius and Sanchez rightly understand prosperity and happiness. For light is the symbol of this; just as night and darkness symbolize adversity and calamity, as if to say: Then thou shalt begin to emerge from the midst of the darkness of calamities, for example from the captivity of Babylon into the light of freedom, joy and happiness. For just as cruelty and inhumanity take away the day from the earth, stir up tempests, and disturb the whole machinery of the world, and brought upon you, O Jews, the darkness of captivity and imprisonment; so on the other hand, mercy brings day, light and peace to the world, and shall restore to you your return from exile, gladness, and all good things. Sanchez adds that almsgiving in the hour of death, which is dark, sad and anxious, brings hope of salvation, and is as it were a "morning star," Apocalypse II, 28, that is, the light-bringer, which precedes and announces the coming of the sun: thus also almsgiving stirs up the dying man, and shows him the light of impending beatific glory, and offers him a foretaste of it. Note: For "break forth" the Hebrew is iibbaqa, that is, it shall be cleft or split: as the sun in the dawn, splitting the clouds with its rays, breaks forth into light as if cleft and scattered. St. Chrysostom urges this, homily 55 on chapter XVI of Matthew, and from this teaches that mercy is most ready with the merciful God. "He did not say," he says, "the light shall appear to thee, but it shall be cleft, so as to express the swiftness and abundance of the giver; that we may understand how very desirous He is of our salvation, and that being full of gifts, He bursts forth as it were from the haste of giving, since there is nothing that can hinder the inestimable desire of God. By all which things He shows that an infinite abundance of goods is prepared for us. The morning light signifies something sudden and unexpected, before thou thinkest thyself blessed, so that in the morning time, before thou expectest it, good things overtake thee." AND THY HEALTH SHALL SPRING UP SPEEDILY. — First, Forerius translates for health, healing, as if to say: In Babylon thou art captive, O Israel, and there thou art wasted away by want, squalor, sorrow, and other afflictions, thou art sick and consumed. Receive the remedy and most excellent medicine, mercy: this shall heal thee and all thy pains and infirmities. For thy mercy, God's mercy toward thee, which shall heal thee, shall provoke. Whence the Septuagint for health translate ἰάματα, that is, medicines or plasters. St. Jerome translates the Hebrew arucha in his Commentary here and elsewhere as scar; Vatablus, as long duration. Almsgiving therefore is a most efficacious plaster, which brings scar and health to all wounds and diseases, both of body and mind, and brings to the merciful long life, so that it be of long duration. Thus of wisdom it is said, Wisdom VI, 26: "The multitude of the wise is the welfare of the world." And of sobriety, Ecclesiasticus XXXI, 37: "Health of soul and body is a sober drink." Secondly, "light" and "health" can be understood here spiritually, as if to say: "Then shall break forth," that is, then shall grace be poured upon thee from heaven, by which thou shalt be justified and enlightened in thy intellect, so that thou mayest know what is good, what is evil; which way leads to salvation; "and health shall spring up" in thy will, for thou shalt be healed of wicked affections and desires. By a similar trope it is said of the fear of God, Proverbs III, 8, that this fear "shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones." That is, if thou fear God, thy whole body shall be healthy. For the health of the body depends chiefly on the health, both of the more tender parts, namely the vital ones, such as the heart, liver, spleen, which are near the navel, and of the navel itself, which connects the upper members with the lower, and through which the foetus in the womb draws nourishment from the mother and is nourished; and also of the harder parts, namely the bones, which are as it were the bases and columns of our house and microcosm. But the health of the bones is fostered and irrigated by the fatness of the marrow; and when this fails the bones dry up; whence follows the wasting and corruption of man. It is a metaphor, signifying that the whole soul, and all its noble and ignoble parts, weak and strong, for example the appetite which is as it were the navel, and reason which is as it were the bones, shall be made healthy by the fear of God. Thus Jansenius and Cajetan, ibid. Anagogically St. Chrysostom, homily 4 on the epistle to the Philippians: "This oil," he says, "of almsgiving shall grant thee great light and brightness in the future;" and consequently eternal health and immortality. Finally, Chrysostom, homily 53 on Matthew XVI; St. Augustine, sermon 172 On the Seasons; St. Cyprian, sermon On Almsgiving; Tertullian, book On the Resurrection of the Flesh, chapter XXVII, read for iamata, that is healings, or medicines, imatia, that is garments, by which they understand bodies. For these are as it were garments of the soul, as if to say: Bodies here worn down and exhausted by fasting, God will reform and renew in the resurrection; just as to an old worn garment, a new one is substituted and put on. Hear Tertullian: "Wishing flesh to be understood, not subsericam, nor a cloak, but flesh, he proclaimed the origin of the resurrection of flesh from the setting of death." This sense appropriately responds to what preceded: "When you see the naked, clothe him, and despise not your own flesh." In this sense, as if to say: If you clothe the naked, God also will clothe your naked flesh in the resurrection with a robe of glory. But from the Hebrew and Latin it is clear in the Septuagint, that iamata should be read, not imatia, although the Hebrew arucha, which properly signifies length, could be taken for a long garment. AND YOUR JUSTICE SHALL GO BEFORE YOUR FACE. — First, "justice," that is mercy. For thus "justice" is understood, Daniel IV, 24, in the Hebrew, Psalm CXI, 9, Acts X, 35, and elsewhere, as if to say: If you are in the darkness of sin or captivity, or calamity, especially death, almsgiving, like a torch, will go before you on the way, and from there will lead you out; but in death before the judge Christ it will protect you, and will lead you to heaven, removing all obstacles, and making all things plain. This is what Tobias says in chapter IV, verse 11: "Almsgiving delivers from all sin and from death, and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness." Whence follows: AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD SHALL GATHER YOU UP. — "Glory," that is glorious deliverance from danger, or captivity, for example Babylonian. Again, the Lord Himself with His glorious heavenly glory will gather you, protect you, receive you, and as the Septuagint says, will surround you and make you blessed, saying: "Enter into the joy of your Lord." Thus Vatablus, Sanchez and others. He alludes to Moses, who, when the rebellious Jews wished to stone him, fled to the tabernacle, and there was protected by the glory of the Lord appearing in a cloud. Hear St. Chrysostom, homily 32 on the epistle to the Hebrews: "Almsgiving," he says, "dissolves the bonds of sins, puts to flight darkness, extinguishes fire, mortifies the worm, expels the gnashing of teeth. To this, with great confidence, the gates of heaven are opened, and as if a queen entering, no one of the doorkeepers, no one of the guards who stand at the gates, dares to say: Who are you? or whence? but all receive her with respect: so also mercy; for she is a queen, truly a queen making men like unto God." Just as therefore the unmerciful and cruel are exposed to all injuries, so that at every step they ought to fear ruin, because their iniquity goes before them and hatred, with which God pursues them; so on the contrary the merciful fear no injury or violence, because their almsgiving goes before them, and the grace of God. See what I have said concerning almsgiving, Deuteronomy XIV and XV.
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IF YOU TAKE AWAY FROM THE MIDST OF YOU THE CHAIN. — This chain is a burden, and bundles pressing down (namely usury, and unjust contracts, servitudes and burdens of the rich, by which they themselves bound and oppressed the poor like with chains), concerning which verse 6. For in all these places in the Hebrew there is the same word. Thus St. Cyril, Vatablus, Forerius and others. See Jeremiah chapters XXVII and XXVIII. Mystically, St. Jerome understands by chain sins. For these are as it were iron bonds, which bind the soul, and bind it and deliver it to the demon. Thirdly, St. Jerome, Haymo and St. Thomas in the extension of the finger, think it signifies mockery and derision. Therefore it is forbidden here to detract from your neighbor, and to mark each one as it were with a finger. Whence the Chaldean translates: If you cease to nod with a finger. Thus even now common people mock their own by extending two fingers at someone, as if affixing horns to him, signifying that he is horned, or that his wife has other lovers. Thus also Diogenes the Cynic, as Laertius testifies, extending the middle finger at Demosthenes, insinuated turpitude against him. For formerly the middle finger was infamous, and to show it was a grave insult: for by it they signified a man to be soft and effeminate: hence this finger was called impudent, concerning which Martial, book II: "He shows the finger, but the impudent one," namely the middle. On the other hand to show the second finger, which is called the index, was praiseworthy and honorific. Thus Delrio, adage 801, from Cicero, Persius and others. Thus of a bold and wanton woman it is said: "She speaks with a finger." But Democritus in Juvenal, Satire 10, indicated with a finger the rope and the gallows: When he himself would command a noose to threatening Fortune, and show the middle nail. AND TO SPEAK THAT WHICH IS NOT PROFITABLE. — In Hebrew aven, that is iniquity, namely quarrels, brawls, oppressions of the poor, mockeries and insults. Whence the Septuagint translates, murmurings.
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10. WHEN YOU HAVE POURED OUT YOUR SOUL TO THE HUNGRY. — That is, the bowels of mercy, namely the inmost affections of compassion, by sympathizing, pitying, and abundantly and generously relieving his misery. For this is what "you have poured out" signifies. The Septuagint translates it: If you have given bread to the hungry from your soul, that is, from the sincere and whole affection of your soul: for God regards the mind of the giver more than the gift itself. "God," says St. Gregory, XXII Moral. XII, "does not weigh the gift, but the affection." AND YOU HAVE FILLED THE AFFLICTED SOUL (with hunger, nakedness, sorrow) — with food, clothing, consolation and joy.
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Note: For "splendors" in Hebrew it is betsach sachot, that is, brightness of brightnesses, or splendor of splendors, or serenity of serenities, or dryness of drynesses, or ardor of ardors, that is, supreme ardor, dryness and splendor. For with these the Trinity fills the mind of the merciful and the holy Saints, when it comes to dwell in them. For it is itself a fire consuming concupiscence, and whatever in us is watery, earthly and mortal. Finally the Chaldean, Pagninus, Vatablus and Sanchez translate it, will fill in dryness of dryness, that is, in the utmost sterility and famine, "your soul." For when the crops of others wither, the fields of the merciful are made fertile by God. For He promised this, Proverbs III, 9: "Give to the poor from the firstfruits of all your fruits, and your barns shall be filled with plenty, and your wine presses shall overflow." And cap. XXVIII, verse 27: "He that gives to the poor shall not lack: he that despises the prayer of the poor shall suffer want." AND HE SHALL DELIVER YOUR BONES. — Vatablus translates it, shall make your bones fat, that is, shall fill them with marrow. For thus your bones, before dry and withered with hunger, are watered, quickened, fattened, grow and are strengthened. Whence the Septuagint translates, your bones shall grow fat. By bones, by synecdoche, he understands all members: for bones are their support and sustenance. Hence "bones" symbolically signify strength and fortitude, as if to say: Your bones, your members, your strength, in calamity, for example the Babylonian captivity, broken and wasted, God shall deliver, strengthen and fatten. Mystically, He will do the same to your bones, that is, to the solidity and powers of the soul: for He shall deliver these from all stain of sin and vices, and shall fatten them with His grace and consolation. Thus Procopius, Cyril and Castrius. For these understand by bones the powers of the soul. Symbolically, the "bones" of the mind are virtues: for these strengthen and support the mind, as bones do the body. These become as it were captive, when through sin, with the loss of God's grace and charity, they lose their as it were spirit and life, and their supernatural state, so that they now serve not God, but the demon: God delivers these, when, having shaken off through the remission of sin and grace the demon's yoke, He restores charity to them, by which they again begin to live for God, and to serve Him in holiness and joy. Thus Sanchez. Anagogically, from the Septuagint which translates: Your bones shall spring up like grass and shall flourish again, and shall inherit generation unto generation; St. Cyril and Procopius understand these things of the glorious resurrection of the bodies of the merciful and the blessed, unto blessed immortality. Wherefore consider, first, the greenness; second, the height; third, the fertility; fourth, the variety; fifth, the abundance of waters; sixth, the universal pleasantness and beauty of the watered garden, for example the earthly paradise; and transfer these to the body, wealth and mind of the merciful man, and you will see how happy his lot is. To this pertains the fable of a field most fruitful, which, not fenced nor enclosed, abundantly fed and satisfied both its master and any others: but after it came into the hands of a stingy master who often excluded others from the surrounding area, it produced only fruits sufficient for the master. The master marveled, and consulting the oracle, heard: "The field now serves you alone, why do you seek so much?" Similarly, if anyone encloses the waters of a spring with a wall, the waters do not flow out, but secretly rush elsewhere; thus also it will happen to you and your goods, if you guard them avariciously and shut them up in a chest. The riches of the avaricious are therefore false and deceptive, but those of the merciful are faithful and constant. Thus Forerius.
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12. AND THE DESERTS OF AGES SHALL BE BUILT IN THEE (or by thee). — Namely, thy houses, or cities and provinces, deserted for many ages, both in buildings and inhabitants, and thus as if dead: for inhabitants and houses are as it were the blood and life of cities and regions. Now first, the Hebrews, with the testimony of St. Jerome, St. Thomas, Vatablus and Forerius, refer this to the restoration of Judaea and Jerusalem, desolate for 70 years, by Zerubbabel. Sanchez adds that "the foundations of generation and generation" are called Jerusalem, because she herself was founded many generations before, in the age of Melchizedek. This sense is rather cold; yet the Prophet alludes to it, and presupposes it as it were historically. But under it, as under a type, secondly, he looks to something deeper concerning the Church of Christ; for to that it flies, according to Canon IV, especially because from chapter XL to the end of the book, he speaks almost entirely of Christ and the Church, as if to say: O faithful, O Church, if thou givest thyself to works of mercy, the piety, faith and holiness of the ancient fathers, long since collapsed, shall be restored in thee, as it were "the foundations of generation and generation;" that is, as the Septuagint says, to last very long, indeed eternally in the heavens: O Christ, O Apostles, O Christians, if ye shall be men of mercy (as I know ye shall be), ye shall restore the ancient Church, that is the Synagogue, collapsed, and shall make it so that in her there return and flourish again the faith of Abraham, the hope of Isaac, the charity of Jacob, the innocence of Abel, the chastity of Joseph, the meekness of Moses, the fortitude of David, the patience of Job, etc., which virtues, long since abolished and taken from the world, seemed to have vanished. Thus St. Jerome, Hugo and others. To this pertains the exposition of Procopius and St. Augustine in Psalm CX and CXI, who by the deserts of ages understand the ruin of men in the first parent Adam, by whose sin all our good things became ruinous and fell. Whence Procopius: "Thy soul," he says, "ruined in Adam shall be restored, and shall be repaired by heavenly discipline; thou shalt build thyself with heavenly doctrines; thou shalt surround thyself with Christ as a wall," so that namely thou mayest become a temple of God. For Isaiah speaks both of the soul and of the Church, as it were of a city or temple once laid waste, now restored and fortified. And so although he speaks properly of the restoration of the Synagogue and Church, yet consequently he speaks also of the repair of each soul: for through this that is accomplished. Much more does he speak of the institution or reformation of states and Orders, both Ecclesiastical and Religious: for these are the supports and bases of the Church. Such therefore were the builders of the Church and Religion: St. Basil, St. Benedict, St. Bernard, St. Antony, St. Dominic, St. Francis; concerning whom St. Bonaventure relates that when he had sought the confirmation of his Order from Pope Innocent III, the latter at first rejected him; yet finally he received him kindly and confirmed the Order, because in a dream he seemed to him to be sustaining the collapsing Lateran basilica, whom he had rejected. Thus St. Francis of Paola, founder of the Order of Minims, when about to build a small church, was commanded in a dream to build it much larger, because he was to propagate his Order widely, and through it restore the Church. Such were in almost every age, either founders or reformers of Religious Orders, whom God in His provident mercy raised up both for the Church and for the Religious Orders themselves, that they might restore them to their former brightness and fervor. Note here that God raised up for this such men as were of great mercy and charity. For such are required for this work, who are namely touched with deep compassion for the falling discipline, the declining Religion, and the perishing souls. For this compassion begets in them a great zeal for reformation, which as a leader goes before this work, and constantly overcomes all contradictions, obstacles and difficulties. Hence St. Peter, before he heard from Christ: "Feed my sheep," was asked by him three times: "Simon son of John, lovest thou me more than these?" John, chapter XXI, 15. Thomas Bozius extends this further, vol. II On the Marks of the Church, section 88, to cities and churches built by Christians in places formerly desert. For he teaches there that lands formerly uninhabitable have been made habitable and populous through Christianity. Thus he shows from Tacitus, Strabo, Seneca and Herodian that Germany, which now as a Christian nation has so many and such great cities, was before Christ uncultivated and in many places desert. He teaches the same of Britain, namely that it did not have even a hundredth part of the cities and fields and their fruits which it now has in paganism. He teaches the same of Poland, Prussia, Livonia, Lithuania, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Gothia, Hibernia, the Terceira, Canary Islands, and the Indies both Western and Oriental. See the same author, section 73, at the end, book XV, where among other things at the end he adds this: "Indeed it has been granted to the very broad regions of the Indies that they be freed from the greatest tempests and earthquakes through the Eucharist, preserved in their temples with the worship of Christ established there: which Gonzalus of Oviedo, chapter X of the General History, and Lopesius, book III, chapter VI, testify." The cause of this change is twofold: The first is God's favor and blessing; the second is that Christian faith polishes not only the spirit but also reason, civil order and human nature, and makes men prudent, industrious, laborious, and equally social, civil and humane, so that they establish cities and republics, cultivate fields, practice mechanical arts, etc. Just as therefore in Paradise, on account of Adam's faith and innocence, God blessed him and the whole earth; so also He blessed it on account of the second Adam, namely Christ and the sanctity of Christians. The Sibyl herself predicted this very thing in Lactantius, book VII, singing thus: And then indeed God will give great joy to men: For the earth and trees and innumerable beasts of the earth shall give true fruit to men, of wine and most sweet honey, and white milk, and grain, which is the best of all things for men. And in Virgil, eclogue IV: The field will gradually turn golden with soft grain, and the grape will hang red on the uncultivated brambles, and the hard oaks will sweat dewy honey. Anagogically, "the foundations of ages" are the heavenly house and seat, from which the angels once fell and became demons. These ruins of theirs, deserted and empty for so many ages, the almsgivers and holy men will fill and repair. Thus Sanchez. AND THOU SHALT BE CALLED THE BUILDER OF HEDGES, TURNING THY PATHS INTO REST. — "Thou shalt be called," that is, thou shalt be, so that thou mayest justly be called thus. Historically it alludes to and signifies the walls of Jerusalem (for this is often called a vineyard, whose walls are hedges) broken by the Chaldeans, so that paths through them lay open to the city for all beasts and men alike, restored by Nehemiah and others; so that with the paths closed off, the city would now be safe from the enemy and dwell in rest. Whence Forerius and Vatablus translate: Thou shalt be called the blocker of the breach, or the one who hedges the fracture, or the restorer of ruin, restoring the paths (which led to the breach of the wall) to rest. For he who repairs ruins turns aside the paths which led to ruins and breaches; and thus he restores both the paths and the citizens and inhabitants to rest: for he makes it so that no one, especially the enemy, treads those paths and invades the citizens. Again, by this rest, he signifies that these blockages will always endure, and will not be like those which vinedressers make in vineyards and farmers in fields. For these travelers again destroy, and through those same paths complete their journey. Thus Forerius: "Turning" therefore "thy paths into rest," is the same as the blocker and destroyer of paths through which beasts and enemies devastating vineyards and houses entered, and therefore the author of rest. These could also with Sanchez be taken properly of the vineyards of Judea, whose hedges scattered by the Chaldeans were restored by the Jews returning from Babylon. But parabolically, under the vineyards of Judea and Jerusalem, he understands vineyards, that is, the Churches of Christ, as if to say: Thou shalt be and shalt be called the builder of hedges, that is, hedging and fortifying the Church, and blocking the entrances through which the demon and vices broke in; and thus making it so that the unity or discipline of the Church is not relaxed, and restoring the ancient simplicity and integrity of faith as if a wall. Thus from St. Ambrose Castrius and Procopius, who understand by these hedges the heavenly doctrine and the fear of God. For with restless pride, gluttony, envy and all concupiscence compressed and shut off, He restores the Church and its faithful to rest. Wherefore the builder of hedges ought to be a Prelate and preacher, who must hedge about the consciences of the people with the thorns of threats of death, judgment and hell, as Haymo says. For the sinner is as it were a common road, through which anger, lust, gluttony, and all vices as beasts pass and rage with impunity, as St. Cyril says, because he lacks this hedge. Such builders of hedges were and are restorers of Religious discipline, and namely of enclosure. For this, as the Council of Trent teaches and experience itself shows, is the hedge and wall of Religion, so much so that if anyone wishes to restore collapsed discipline in some monastery or college, above all things he ought to restore enclosure and silence. For with these restored, the rest will easily be restored. Such a builder of hedges was St. Romuald, who in the twentieth year of his age embraced the Order of St. Benedict, and thence became a hermit, and instituted the Order of Camaldoli, in which he spent nearly a hundred years: for he died in the 120th year of his age, in the year 1027 from the birth of Christ. In these years by his wonderful austerity, solitude, prayer and sanctity and zeal, he appeared not so much an earthly man as a heavenly angel; he reformed the monasteries of St. Benedict in Italy and Gaul, built many new ones, founded many of his Order, filled hermitages with hermits; so much so that Peter Urseolus, Duke of Venice, and many other most noble men, hastened to him in rivalry, and embraced the monastic or hermitic life: so that the whole world seemed to be illuminated and renewed by the rays of his virtues, and to experience a golden age, as Blessed Peter Damian, Cardinal, his follower and intimate friend, relates in his Life. Moreover, how acceptable these are to God, and how much He loves and protects them, He has often declared by miracles. One most illustrious one is related by St. Peter the Venerable, who flourished in the year of Christ 1100, in book I of Miracles, chapter XXII: The nuns, he says, of Marcigny, enclosed in a safer cloister, and (so to speak) buried in a vital sepulcher, expect for their present confinement eternal breadth: for a sepulcher, a blessed resurrection. Whence they chose rather to die than to go out, to fall before they would cross the threshold of the appointed door. Which then appeared, when by some chance fire broke out in the houses of the villages round about. For when Hugh, Archbishop of Lyons, urged them, nay commanded them by obedience, that they should go out, and not allow themselves to be burned up; one of them of the greatest nobility and conversation, named Guisla, whom I myself have seen many times, inflamed in spirit and faith, answered: "We, Father, fear of God and the command of our Abbess have shut us within these bounds which you see, that we might escape eternal fire, even unto death. Whence it can in no way come to pass that any necessity should cause us to transgress the limits of penance fixed for us, even by a step of the foot; unless we be loosed by him who in the name of the Lord shut us up in this place. Do not therefore, lord, if it please you, enjoin this which it is not lawful for us to do; but as you command us to flee fire, so rather command the fire, armed with the virtue of Christ our Lord, to flee from us." At which faith of the woman the Archbishop, astonished, and suddenly himself filled with faith, went forth, and beholding the flames, and his face bathed in tears, said: "In the name of the Lord, and through the merit of the faith of this woman who has now spoken, depart, pestilent fire, from the dwellings of the handmaids of God, nor presume to bring any further damage." These words being uttered by the Pontiff (as those who saw it have testified to me), suddenly the immensity of the flames, repressed by an invisible power, as if by an iron wall standing in the way, could not proceed further. St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, as Severus Sulpitius has it, Dialog. II On His Life, chapter XIII, when he once passed by the little field of a certain virgin, in which for already many years she had lived chastely, and removed from the eyes of all men, hearing of her faith and virtue, turned aside that he might honor so illustrious a maiden with religious respect. But she did not relax the strongest bonds of her purpose even at the contemplation of Martin. Thus the blessed man, having received through some woman a praiseworthy excuse, departed joyfully from her doors, she who had not given herself to be seen and greeted. O glorious virgin, who did not suffer herself to be seen even by so great a man! But the Bishop took that rejection not as an insult to himself, but magnifying her virtue with her excuse, praised an unusual example in these regions only. Thus far Sulpitius. Violante, Queen of Aragon, as Peter Rauzanus relates in the Life of St. Vincent, book II, chapter IX, the wife of King John, moved by a certain womanly desire, wished to enter the cell of the man of God, so that she might see what sort of place it was in which he prayed, what sort of bed where he rested. And when she could not obtain this from the blessed man (for it seemed wicked to him that women should enter the cells of God's servants), she, indignant, ordered the door of the cell to be opened by force. And immediately entering the places which she desired to see, she indeed saw them, but the man of God who was within, neither she herself nor those who accompanied her were able to see. She therefore inquired of the Brothers whom she found in the cell, where blessed Vincent might be. They answered that he was before her eyes: and they said they greatly marveled that she did not see him, since he himself was in an open place, from which he could be seen by all. After they had said these things to the queen, turning to the man of God Vincent: "What is the reason, Father most good," they said, "that you do not rise to the queen coming to you, nor speak to her?" But he said: "Do you not know, my sons, that it has never been permitted among us that women should be brought into our cells? And although this woman is a queen, nevertheless I did not permit her to enter, lest I become a respecter of persons. And because she committed this violence, daring to enter against my will, therefore as long as she shall remain in this place, by divine miracle it shall come to pass that her eyes shall be darkened, so that although she has me before her, she may never be able to see me." Hearing this, the queen immediately departed: but Vincent followed her. When she saw him, she was in a wonderful manner humbled before him, and asked pardon for what she had committed. To whom blessed Vincent said: "Unless you had sinned through womanly ignorance, you would certainly not have done such violence to me with impunity; for God is the avenger of injuries inflicted upon his servants. From now on therefore beware lest you commit anything of this sort against the servants of God." After many conversations between them, the queen departed. St. Fiacrius the Hibernian, as his Life on the 24th of August has it, living in a monastery built by himself, on account of a famous miracle performed by him, accused of magic by a woman visiting the monastery, prayed: "Let no woman henceforth enter the threshold of this place with impunity." Wherefore from that time, a certain divine force prohibited the female sex from the entrance of the monastery, which was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and no woman entered it with impunity. For a certain rich matron, who had forced her maidservant by her own hand into the monastery to test what she had heard, was deprived of one eye, the maidservant remaining unharmed, who could not repel the force of another and the impulse of her mistress. A similar punishment pursued a woman boldly entering the monastery of St. Carilepius, as is related in his Life. These therefore are the builders of hedges and those who turn aside the path into rest; these are they who turn away the wrath of God and conciliate his favor. Whence for "builder of hedges," Aquila translates: παραφράκτισμα χολής, that is, one who opposes the raging wrath of God; Symmachus, a wall opposing the falling; "such was Moses, and Aaron, and Samuel, who resisted the wrath of the Lord, and as if by a built wall, set a limit to his indignation. He shall turn the paths into rest, so that God's wrath may not rage at all; but the Lord may be appeased to them, and all the paths of indignation may be quieted," says St. Jerome.
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13. IF YOU TURN AWAY YOUR FOOT FROM THE SABBATH. — "From the Sabbath," that is, from the transgression of the Sabbath. See Canon XVII. "Foot," because on the Sabbath a long journey, and every servile work, which is done with feet or hands, was prohibited. Mystically, by foot is signified affection and concupiscence; for by these the soul is moved, as the body by feet. AND YOU SHALL CALL THE SABBATH DELIGHTFUL (that is, to be observed delicately and tenderly, or "delightful," that is, delights, both yours and the Lord's; namely, that God will take great pleasure (for this is what the Hebrew meg signifies) from the religious worship of Him on the Sabbath), AND THE HOLY OF THE LORD GLORIOUS (as if to say: If you shall call, esteem and honor the Sabbath as a holy day, and dedicated to the glory and glorification of the Lord. Let us learn from this that on the Sabbath, that is, the Lord's day, we should not seek our own glory, walking pompously and dressing splendidly; but God's: and let this be glorious to us, that the glory of God is celebrated through us and others, and that we strive to promote it. This, however, O faithful one, O Christian, you will accomplish), WHEN YOU DO NOT YOUR OWN WAYS (that is, acts, customs and habitual vices) AND YOUR OWN WILL IS NOT FOUND, — to satisfy your gluttony and concupiscence; but that you may be wholly devoted to God and to knowing, loving and fulfilling God's will. For this reason God forbade the Jews to cook food on the Sabbath, both that they might not be distracted from divine matters by cooking them; and that food cooked the day before would be less savory and more insipid, and thus would not excite the appetite, but the mind, thought and whole soul would be directed to God and His worship; for then we renounce the pleasures of the flesh, and render ourselves fit to taste the heavenly and divine pleasures. Thus Forerius. Again St. Cyril: "Submissive, tractable and obedient manners," he says, "provide tender leisure on the Sabbath, and spiritual sabbatism." He calls the Sabbath tender, or delightful, therefore, because it is honored by a tender mind, that is, flexible and obedient. Hence in the Canticle I, 9, it is said to the bride: "Your neck (flexible and obsequious) is like ornaments," which are made from ductile gold, and follow in all things the course and bending of the goldsmith. Thus Theodoret, and from him Sanchez. St. Cyril adds: "Whoever therefore wishes to be approved by God must vigorously and youthfully oppose his own will, so that he may follow and fulfill the divine will."
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14. THEN SHALT THOU BE DELIGHTED IN THE LORD. — Here He promises three rewards to those who keep the Sabbath and worship God: first, that they shall have great delight of spirit, and, as the Septuagint has it, confidence in God. In the Hebrew, for "shalt thou be delighted" is the same word oneg, which was in verse 13, as if to say: If on the Sabbath thou withdrawest thyself from the delights of the flesh, God will give thee His delights far greater, namely, in place of carnal He will give spiritual, in place of temporal eternal, in place of human divine. For our soul cannot lack delight; but if it have not one, it seeks another: wherefore God, indulging this natural affection of it, offers His own to it, if it reject the earthly. This David, having experienced, sang: "My soul refused to be comforted; I remembered God, and was delighted;" and: "My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God. For when the spirit hath tasted, all flesh becometh insipid." Just as a king's son, reared rustically among rustics, if returning to the court he taste its delights, disdains all rustic delights. AND I WILL LIFT THEE UP (Vatablus: will make thee ride, or will carry thee) ABOVE THE HIGH PLACES OF THE EARTH. — This is the second reward. By high places Sanchez understands the fertility of the earth, promised to the Jews; for the earth, if it be elevated, abounds in vineyards and fruits. Whence the Septuagint translates: He shall lift thee up above the good things of the earth. Yet these narrow words and promises of God look to something higher and more august: namely, the high places of the heavens, which are the land and seat, not of the dying, but of the living. I confess, however, that there is an allusion to that which Moses said to the Jews: "He set him on high ground, that he might eat the fruits of the fields, that he might suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the hardest stone, butter," etc., Deuteronomy XXXII, 13. "High places" of "the earth," therefore, are the highest and heavenly earth, of which St. Jerome says: "The earth of the meek, and the earth of the living is not below, but above." Hear St. Gregory, XXXI Morals, chapter XIX: "It is," he says, "a mark of the elect, that through the certainty of hope they know themselves to have already reached the heights, so that they see all things that pass away to be beneath them, and thus all that is eminent in the world they trample down for love of eternity. Hence it is that the Lord says to such a soul through the Prophet: I will lift thee up above the high places of the earth. For certain things are, as it were, the low places of the earth, losses, insults, poverty, abjection, which even lovers of the world, while they walk along the broad way's flatness, do not cease to avoid treading upon. But the high places of the earth are gains of things, the blandishments of subjects, the abundance of riches, honor and the sublimity of dignities; which, whosoever still walks in low desires, esteems as high by that very fact by which he thinks them great. But if once the heart be fixed on heavenly things, soon it is seen how abject are those things which appeared high." Then he compares such persons to eagles, which nest in the heights, such as St. Paul was, saying: "Our conversation is in heaven." See what is said there. For just as pearls, although they originate in the sea, have yet more kinship with heaven, whose color, whiteness, light and beauty they represent in their own way, so that they appear to be heavenly; so righteous men, who with exalted souls on earth cultivate divine studies and works, depend more on heaven than on earth, and are more heavenly than earthly: because they are citizens of heaven, and guests and pilgrims of the earth. Hence, constituted in heaven as on a high mountain, they despise all things that are here below on earth as exiles, and, enjoying divine things with blessed minds and God, they disdain to look upon earthly things, or to think of them: just as a rustic maiden, chosen by the king for his bride because of her beauty, and enjoying his table and company, disdains to think of her former countryside and rustics. How great a good this height of mind is, and how great a virtue its reward, even the Gentiles perceived, but from afar and through a shadow. Seneca, epistle 27: "Seek, he says, some good that will endure; but there is none except what the mind finds for itself; virtue alone bestows perpetual and secure joy: even if something hinders, it intervenes like clouds, which are borne below and never overcome the day." For, as the same author says, epistle 58: "The mind of the wise man is such as the state of the world above the moon," namely, as another says: Perpetual serenity troubled by no cloud. "For that upper and more orderly part of the world is neither driven into cloud, nor impelled into storm, nor turned into whirlwind, and lacks all tumult. In the same way the sublime mind, always quiet and placed in a tranquil station, is modest, venerable and composed." Hence, as the same author says, epistle 120: "Never did he groan under evils, never did he complain of his fate;" and epistle 92: "What is the blessed life? Security and perpetual tranquility." This is what St. Ambrose teaches, book I of the Duties, chapter II: "Divine Scripture, he says, has placed the blessed life in the knowledge of divinity and the fruit of good works;" and chapter III: "Innocence and knowledge make one blessed;" and in chapter IV throughout, he teaches that blessedness is acquired through sufferings and necessities, by the example of Moses, Daniel, Paul, and other Saints. The same author elsewhere: "Tranquility of conscience and security of innocence effect the blessed life." See the same, book I On the Blessed Life, chapter VII and following. On this sublimity of mind, conqueror of passions and all things, and mother of the blessed life, Cicero discusses at length in five books of the Tusculan Disputations, and in paradoxes II, V and VI, and at the end of Tusculan II. Thus he says: "If we do all things for the sake of avoiding baseness and acquiring honor, we shall be permitted to despise not only the goads of pain, but also the thunderbolts of fortune." The same author elsewhere: "Then that inestimable good will arise (from virtue), the peace of mind placed in safety and sublimity, and with terrors expelled, from the knowledge of truth great and unmoved joy, and gentleness and expansion of mind, in which one will delight not as in goods, but as born from good." Hence the Stoics gathered their paradox: "The wise man is blessed even amid tortures; because unconquered from on high he looks upon his pains;" and, as Cicero says: "He despises the entire realm of fortune. Thus Epicurus," says Seneca, epistle 92, "when about to die, said: I spend this most blessed and final day, when difficulty of urination torments me on one side, and on the other the insatiable pain of an ulcerated belly." Wherefore, as the same author says elsewhere: "Though the body itself drips with good conscience, fire will please him, through which good faith will shine forth." St. Ambrose agrees, book On Jacob, chapter VII: "The wise man is not broken, he says, by bodily pains, nor vexed by discomforts; but even in afflictions he remains blessed; because the blessedness of life is not in bodily pleasure, but in a conscience pure from every stain of sin." Hence that apathy of the wise man is not of nature, but of virtue and an exalted mind. For although he may feel the pains of nature, yet the mind and virtue, overcoming them and bearing them invincibly, as it were does not feel them. Thus St. Tiburtius the Martyr, walking on glowing coals, exulted as if walking on roses. Thus St. Lawrence, roasted on the gridiron, exulted in spirit, so as even to insult the tyrant Decius. Thus St. Vincent, amid continuous torments, always rising higher in spirit, drove Dacian to amazement and almost to madness. Thus Anthony, when he had received most humble letters from the Emperor Constantine, as a father from a son, said to his followers who made much of this: "Nothing should seem great that the kings of this world send letters to the servants of God; for although they may seem to have somewhat more in power, yet all have the same nature, the same condition of living and dying. But that is truly great, that God sent His letters to us, that is, the law which is the index of His will, and spoke to us through His Son." St. Columban, coming to the court of Theodoric, king of the Franks; when the king ordered dinner to be brought to him with royal ceremony and a long line of servants, he himself turned away in countenance and voice, saying: "The Most High rejects the gifts of the impious, and it is unworthy that the mouths of God's servants be polluted with foods, when he wages unjust war with them." Thus his Life has it. St. Gregory, book I of the Register, epistle 5, speaking of himself, when he was a Religious, not yet Pontiff: "Desiring nothing in this world, fearing nothing, I seemed to myself to stand on a certain summit of things, so that I believed in myself fully fulfilled what I had learned from the Lord promising through the Prophet: I will lift thee up above the heights of the earth," etc. Such was the loftiness of soul, and from this came the freedom of rebuking Moses to Pharaoh, Nathan to David, Elijah to Ahab, Elisha to Joram, Isaiah to Manasseh, Jeremiah to Zedekiah. Give us, O Lord, these souls, lift us above the heights of the earth, "that amid worldly vanities and varieties, there our hearts may be fixed where true joys are." For, as St. Cyprian says, book II, epistle 2 to Donatus: "One peaceful and faithful tranquility, one solid, firm, and perpetual security, if anyone extracted from the whirlwinds of this troubling world, founded in the station of a saving harbor, lifts his eyes to heaven from the earth; and admitted to the service of the Lord, and now in mind near to his God, whatever appears sublime and great among others in human affairs, he glories to see lying within his own conscience. He can now desire nothing, can long for nothing from the world, who is greater than the world;" and soon after: "After his soul, beholding its author and heaven, has known him, it is higher than the sun and more sublime than all earthly power; it begins to be what it believes itself to be." AND I WILL FEED THEE WITH THE INHERITANCE OF JACOB THY FATHER. — This is the third reward of the sabbath and the worship of God, as if to say: I will give thee those excellent goods which I promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, namely the delights and riches of heavenly grace and virtues; and then of glory and eternal happiness in heaven. For the Church, which begins as militant, tends toward the triumphant. He alludes to the land promised to the Jews: to this indeed from Babylon those hoping and worshipping him, God brought them back, as if to say: Not this Jewish land, but a far higher one, namely the land of the living, will I give to thee, and there will I feed thee with those feasts which "neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man." Thus St. Jerome, Cyril and Procopius. Now that he may confirm this and impress it more upon the mind of each, he adds the customary seal of the Prophets, saying: "For the mouth of the Lord (which cannot be deceived nor deceive) hath spoken it." Most excellently St. Bernard, sermon 21 in the Canticles: "Thou shalt be," he says, "amid the adversities and prosperities of changeable times holding a certain image of eternity, namely this inviolable and unshaken equanimity of a constant soul, blessing the Lord at all times, while thou shalt begin to be renewed and reformed into that distinguished ancient likeness of the eternal God, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration. For just as he is, so shalt thou be in this world, neither timid in adversities nor dissolute in prosperities." The same St. Bernard then adds that man is renewed to this primeval image of God, "when he deems it unworthy for himself to be conformed to this failing world, striving rather (according to the doctrine of Paul) to be reformed in the newness of his mind into that likeness in which he knows himself to have been created; and through this also compelling, as is fitting, this world itself, which was made for his sake, in a wonderful way to be conformed to him in turn: while all things begin to work together for his good, as in their own and natural form, having cast off a degenerate appearance, recognizing their master, to whom they were created to serve. Whence I believe that saying which the Only-begotten spoke of himself (John XII), namely, if he were lifted up from the earth, he would draw all things to himself; can also be common to all his brothers: those certainly whom the Father foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth (I say boldly), will draw all things to myself. For I do not rashly usurp for myself a voice, whose likeness I put on in myself." Thus therefore God exalts his own, so that each one also rules over all created things like a little god: if indeed he shall have been exalted from the earth; that is, having despised the earth and all earthly things, shall have transcended them. Dost thou see here, O Christian, how great rewards God hath appointed for mercy and piety! If the world has things to compare with these, let it be loved; if not, why do we hesitate? Certainly, when I examine these words, and at the same time cast my eyes around, and see how few there are who delight in the Lord, and lifted above the clouds dwell in heaven; then truly I understand that very few are those who are truly merciful and worshippers of the true God; for I know that the mouth of the Lord through the Prophet speaks truth and makes promises. This therefore is to be mourned and lamented, says Forerius. Symbolically, Christ feeds us with Himself in the Eucharist. For this is His inheritance, left to the Church by testament, which, as St. Bernard says, in his sermon On the Lord's Supper, is "Jesus sweet, Jesus delightful, endowed with all virtue, redeemed with all beauty; sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, fairer in form than the sons of men; by whose sweetness the Angels are made drunk, whose beauty the sun and moon marvel at. This one so great and so mighty said to His disciples, and through them to all His faithful: Abide in me, and I will abide in you." Wherefore he exclaims: "O how great is this sublimity, O authority of great sublimity, that man should dwell with Angels, that earth and dust should be lifted up to the heavens, that man should be taken from the dunghill of beasts, and joined to the assemblies of Angels, nay that a creature should remain in the Creator, the made in the Maker, the redeemed in the Redeemer, the servant in the Lord, the sinner in the Just One, made from clay in Him who made all things from nothing, the transitory in the eternal, the wretched in the supremely blessed; nay in Him who makes all things blessed and sanctifies all things holy, who is truth and life, and eternal glory, the joy of the world, the gladness of heaven, the sweetness of paradise, blessed eternity, and eternal blessedness, namely Christ the Lord Jesus!"
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
58:2
Hic excludit inutile remedium, quo se praeparare ad salutem volebant: et primo indicit denuntiationis officium, ponens denuntiandi modum, ut alte et sine timore depremente: Clama. Supra 40: « Exalta in fortitudine vocem tuam qui evangelizas Sion. » Ut continue, Ne cesses. Infra 62: « Super muros tuos, Jerusalem, constitui custodes; « tota die et nocte non taccebunt. » Ut clare et aperte, Quasi tuba. Oseae 8: « In gutture tuo sit « tuba. » Et denuntiationis verbum, Anuntia scelerera, quantum ad majora; peccata, quantum ad communia. Supra 16: « His qui lactantur super « muros cocti lateris, loquimini plagas suas. » Secundo propheta excludit in persona Domini inutile remedium: Me etenim de die in diem quaerunt: et circa hoc duobus facit. Primo excludit remedium in quo confidebant; secundo hortatur ad ea in quibus deficiebant, ibi, Nonne hoc est magis jejunium quod elegi? Circa primum duo. Primo ostendit confidentiae eorum praesumptionem quantum ad tria in quibus confidebant: scilicet in sacrae scientiae inquisitione: Me etenim quaerunt, in Scripturiis, vias, praecepta et voluntates meas, quasi geus, idest ac si essent parati ad faciendum. Iterum in oratione: Rogant me judicia, idest ut judicem pro eis contra adversarios, appropinquare, ore. Supra 29: « Appropinquat populus iste ore suo, et labiis suis « glorificat me. » Iterum confidebant in jejuniorum observatione: Quare jejunavimus, et non aspexisti, quasi gratum; humiliavimus, quantum ad circumstantia jejunium, exteriori humiliatione, et nescisti, scientia approbationis?
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Malach. 5: « Vanus « est qui servit Deo: et quod emolumentum, quia « custodivimus praecepta ejus? » Secundo ostendit bonorum dictorum reprobationem: et primo reprobationis causam, quae est culpa voluptatis: Ecce in die jejunii vestri invenitur voluntas vestra, in his quae carni placent. Eccl. 18: « Post concupiscen- « tias tuas non eas. » Item culpa crudelitatis: Et omnes debitores vestros repetitis: ad litteram, ut diu possent insistere causis agendis, vel ad ejus consecutivum. Item culpa vanitatis: Nolite jeju-
nare ut audialur, propter laudem hominum. Matth. 6: « Tu autem cum oraveris, intra in cubiculum « tuum, et claudo ostio ora patrem tuum. » Vel ut audialur; idest si vultis quod oratio vestra a Deo exaudiarur.
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Ps. 101: « Domine, exaudi ora- « tionem meam, et clamor meus ad te veniat. » Secundo ostendit bonorum insufficientiam: Numquid tale est jejunium quod elegi? quia Deus non eligit per se poenam vestram, neque ad afflictionem carnis: quod tangit in hoc quod dicit: Per diem, totam, affligere. Neque quantum ad abjectionem exterioris humilitatis; quod tangit in hoc quod dicit, Quasi circumlat; scilicet, caput ad pedes inclinare, vel circumducere sicut monachi faciunt, non in quantum ordinatur ad virtutem mentis.
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Matth. 6: « Cum jejunatis nolite fieri sicut hypocritae tristes. » Joel. 2: « Scindite corda vestra, et non vestimenta « vestra. » Nonne hoc est magis jejunium quod elegi? Hic adhibet utile consilium: et primo quantum ad studium pietatis in proximum; secundo quantum ad cultum religionis in Deum, ibi, Si avverteris a sabbato pedem tuum. Circa primum duo facit. Primo ponit pietatis consilium, ut cedant calamniae: Collegationes, falsas causas, quibus astute pauperes obligabant sicut usurarii, fasciculos, idem, deprementes, quantum ad poenas ad quas obligabant. Qui contracti, longa servitute, onus, servitutis.
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Matth. 25: « Alligant onera gravia et importabilia; digito autem suo nolunt ea movere. » Et ut intendant misericordiae, exhortans ad misericordiam quantum ad famelicos, Frange; idest si modicum habeas; quantum ad vagos, Et egenos; quantum ad nudos, Cum videris nudum. Et ponit exhortationis causam, Et carnem, quia scilicet est ejusdem speciei tecum. Job 5: « Visitans speciem « tuam non peccabis. » Secundo ostendit consilii fructum, Et erumpet. Et primo quantum ad efficaciam meritorum.
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Tum quantum ad opera virtutum: Quasi mane lumen tuum; scilicet, merita tua clare patebunt in primis, quae modo a Domino non aspecta conquereris. Collicet, de captivitate, vel in misericordiae protectione. Psal. 56: « Eductet quasi « lumen justitiam tuam, et judicium tuum tam- « quam meridiem. » Tum quantum ad suffragia, Tunc invocabis. Supra 50: « Ad vocem clamoris « tui statim ut audierit, respondebit tibi. » Secundo quantum ad consecutionem bonorum: et primo resumit meritum: Si abstuleris ca/enam, qua pauperes opprimis, digitum extendere, detrahendo et comminando: cum effuderis, per compassionem, repleveris, per necessariorum subventionem.
58:10
Secundo promittit praemium: Orietur in tenebris lux tua; idest adversitas in lucem prosperitatis, ignorantia in lucem scientiae mutabitur, quantum ad spiritualia. Et requiem, quantum ad mala temporalia. Multiplicationem vero bonorum interiorum spiritualium: Implebit splendoribus, scilicet virtutibus vel consolationibus, et ossa tua, quantum ad corporalia.
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Et bonorum exteriorum: Et eris quasi hortus, propter prosperitatem, vel omnium bonorum indeficientiam. Num. 24: « Quam pulchra tabernacula « tua, Jacob! » Secundo quantum ad patriae reaedificationem: Et aedificabuntur, post reditum de captivitate, deserta saeculorum, idest civitates, scilicet deserta in pristinis saeculis, suscitabis, superaedificando antiquis fundamentis.
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Supra 44: « Qui « dico Jerusalem, Habitaberis; et civitatibus Judae, « Aedificabimini. » Tertio quantum ad famae resitutionem: Et vocaberis aedificator scopium, idest impedimentorum peccati, in quietem, vel in gentem, semitas, scilicet peccati, in quietem convertens.
58:13
Oseae 2: « Sepiam vias tuas spinis. » Si averteris a sabbato pedem tuum. Hic ponit consilium quantum ad cultum religionis in observatione sabbati: et primo ponit consilium, Pedem, ne opera prohibita facias. Vocaberis sabbatum, idest celebrans hujusmodi sabbatum, quantum ad exercitium bonorum operum. Exod. 20: « Memento ut diem sabbati sanctifices. » Alia littera habet, Vocaveris; et est sensus idem. Secundo ponit fructum: Tunc delectaberis, quantum ad bona spiritualia; sustollam, reducendo in terram tuam, quae montuosa est; cibabo, quantum ad fruitionem bonorum terrae. Job 22: « Tunc super Omnipotentem deliciis afflues. »
Nota super illo verbo. Quasi tuba exalta, quia praedicatio est tuba, primo quia excitat ad vitae statum. 1 Corinth. 15: « Canet enim tuba, et mortui resurgent incorrupti. » Secundo quia hortatur ad bellum. 1 Corinth. 14: « Si incertam vocem det tuba, quis parabit se ad bellum? » Tertio quia nuntiat viri incessum. Supra 27: « Clangetur in tubis. » Quarto quia vocat ad consilium. Oseae 8: « In gutture tuo sit tuba. » Quinto quia invitavit ad festum. Psal. 80: « Buccinate in neo-menia tuba in insigni die solemnitatis vestrae. » Item nota super illo, Si abstuleris de medio tui catenam, quia est multiplex catena. Primo pietatis. Eph. ult.: « Pro quo legatione fungor in catena ista. » Secundo iniquitatis. Sap. 17: « Una enim tenebrarum catena omnes erant colligati. » Tertio paupertatis. Job 36: « Simulatores et callidi provocant iram Dei, neque clamabunt cum vincti fuerint. Morietur in tempestate anima eorum, et vita eorum inter effeminatos. » Quarto servitutis. Jer. 18: « Catenas lignneas contrivisti, et facies pro eis catenas ferreas. » Quinto carceris. Eccl. 4: « De carcere catenisque interdum quis egrediatur ad regnum. »
58:1
Anc. — Iubetur propheta populo graviter denuntiare scelera et simulatae ac fucatae pietati larvam detrahere; frustra eos ieiunia obire, quia simul cum ieiunio malitiae et iniustitiae operam dent, tale ieiunium a Deo postulari quo impietatem ac iniustitiam a se removeant et misericordiam oppressis exhibeant (58, 1-7). Quodsi praestiterint, tunc abundantia salutis ac benedictionis divinae fruentur, tunc ruinae instaurabuntur et stabili pace et quiete potientur; si fideliter sabbatum custodierint, bonis foederis copiose donabuntur (58, 8-14). Ita oratio praecipue apta est qua ostendatur prophetam a populo in-. ternam quandam mentium animorumque mutationem exigere eamque proponere tamquam conditionem necessariam ad bona promissa consequenda. Ut est populus pronus ad ritus externos nimium aestimandos, vates illos nihil valere inculcatsine vera pietate et observatione iustitiae. In hac sola omnem reponi spem bona promissa adipiscendi, cum emphasi iterum iterumque repetit (cf. v. 8. 9. 10. 13), unde emphaticum illud tunc v. 8. 9. 14. Oppugnat igitur falsam quandam fiduciam qua sibi ut filiis Abraham et tot promissionum heredibus securitatem pollicebantur ; talem autem spiritum pharisaicum (« filii Abraham sumus ») iam Isaiae tempore multorum animos occupasse, tum ex aliis, tum praecipue ex - aequali eius. Michaea discimus ; principes enim et sacerdotes et pseudoprophetae licet sceleribus impliciti essent quam maxime, tamen « super Dominum requiescebant dicentes : numquid non Dominus in medio nostrum ? non venient super nos mala » (Mich. 3, 11); similia habes Ier. 7, 4. Ez. 11, 15; 33, 24. Hanc autem tertiam seriem orationum merito inscribi : suscepit (Ierusalem) duplicia de manu Domini, inde facile colliges, quia vates ipse iterum iterumque effert quam praeclara dona acceptura sit Ierusalem (cf. 58, 11. 14; 60, 2. 18 seq. 61, 1; 63, 9; 64, 4; 65, 9 seq. 18 etc.), immo duplicia illi donatum iri asserit (61, 7). Verum quidem est iam in praecedente sectione (a cap. 54 et deinceps praesertim) bona haec et gloriam Ierusalem esse celebrata; neque id mirum videri potest, nam in hisce merces et gloria consistit servi Domini, in hisce operis eius et expiationis praestitae magnificentia cernitur; nihilominus in hac serie dona illa et munera etiam magis directe et immediate magisque explicite ad Ierusalem, ad novam theocratiam referuntur. Praeterea ea est huius sectionis conformatio, ut quae sint dona illa clarius proponatur et qua ratione animos oporteat ad illa suscipienda praeparare; esse scil. dona prorsus gratuito a Deo concessa, spiritualia, interna animorum ad veram pietatem mutatione facta acquirenda et possidenda.
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V. 4 « ecce ad lites et contentiones ieiunatis et percutitis pugno impie; nolite ieiunare sicut usque ad. hanc diem, ut audiatur in excelso clamor vester ,» ! — dum ieiunatis, minime desistitis a litibus et iurgiis ; immo usque adeo ira et impatientia abripiuntur, ut pugno improbitatis (hebr.) percutiant alios. Tantum igitur abest, ut id exhibeant quod ieiunium profiteri debet animi submissionem, humilitatem, dolorem de peccatis, ut inedia et esuries bilem iis commoveat magisque reddantur iracundi et contentiosi (cf. For. Osor.) ; cf. 3, 18 : facies pauperum commolitis. Unde pergit dicere : uti nunc, non ieiunatis ita, ut vocem vestram in excelso audiri faciatis hebr. i. e. praesens vestrum ieiunium non ita est comparatum, ut preces vestrae et postulationes a Deo benigne possint suscipi. In eundem sensum etiam verba vulg. accipienda sunt : si vultis ut vestrae preces in coelo audiantur, nolite eo modo ieiunare quo hucusque ieiunastis (ita v. g. S. Thom. Osor. Pint. Sanct. Schegg, Loch). Qui vero dicit : nunc non ieiunatis ita, ut preces vestrae ad Deum perveniant, eo ipso asserit esse ieiunium tale quod Deo sit acceptum, dummodo recto animo peragatur, et ita dicensetiam admonet ieiunantes, ut ieiunium peragant modo Deo accepto. Sensum eundem etiam ex versione graeca refert Procop.: « quod ut hodie audiatur in clamore voz vestra sequitur, tamquam de vero ieiunio, cuius clamor ad Deum usque penetret intelligendum est » et S. Cyr. : « veri ieiunii virtus eximiam habet vocem apud dominatorem omnium Deum ; libenter enim suscipit preces eorum qui ipsum colunt; ... ieiunium dicimus sanctum quod ex pura fit conscientia, quod ille faciat qui mores improbos ex animo eiiciat » etc. S. Hier. indicat scribens : « ne videatur reprobare ieiunium quod ipse praeceperat, docet quomodo ieiunandum sit ». Quam longe absint ab ea ieiunii ratione quae Domino placeat, ulterius declaratur :
Cum Deus superbis resistat, humilibus autem det gratiam suam, primus ad gratiam Dei accipiendam gressus is est quo ad humilitatem adducimur. Ad eam autem sui ipsius cognitione unusquisque efficaciter pervenit. Unde haec cognitio quasi fundamenti loco primo ponitur. Atque sicut praedicatio regni messianici a praedicatione poenitentiae initium cepit, ita praeparatio ad salutem messianicam iuremerito ab eadem adhortatione orditur. Quare propheta iubetur vocem extollere et peccatorum somno sepultis clamore scelera denuntiare; pastores populi sunt canes muti non valentes latrare, dormientes (56, 10) ; unde iam opus erit magna quadam contentione; v. 4 « Clama, ne cesses, quasi tuba exalta vocem tuam et annuntia populo meo scelera eorum et domui Iacob peccata eorum » ! — hebr. clama in gutture, ne parcas; « vocare vel loqui in gutture non est utcumque vocare et loqui, sed eniti quantum quis potest, spiritu voceque contendere, sicut advocare solemus eos qui longe sunt etad quos figurata et articulata vox pervenire non potest » (Sanct.). Quam fortiter et quanta cum constantia verus propheta debeat munere suo fungi et id quod populo ingratum sit ei denuntiare, in quinque illis sententiae partibus declaratur. Voce alta et quasi tuba opus est, quia quae ingrata sunt, audire nolunt eta loquente quasi diffugiunt ; ergo ita clamandum erit, ut, velint nolint, audire debeant. Strepitu et clamore simul quam enormis sit iniquitas designatur. Pseudoprophetae populo vitiisque eius blandiuntur; « verumtamen ego repletus sum fortitudine spiritus Domini, iudicio et virtute, ut annuntiem Iacob scelus suum et Israel peccatum suum » (Mich. 3, 8). Monet For. : « facilius per alios admoniti in peccatorum nostrorum cognitionem devenimus quam si nullus commonefaciat ; alienis itaque oculis opus habemus, immo et clamoribus quasi dormientes. Praecipitur autem, ut clamet neve a clamore desistat propheta aut vocem contrahat, contineat seu cohibeat, aut ne voci parcat; nonnullis enim frequentes clamores necessarii sunt et perpetua peccatorum commemoratio ; illis enim qui se peccatis carere existimant, ut ex hoc loco apparet et ex versu sequenti comprobatur ». Quare tanta contentione opus sit, ex mira illa declaratur praesumptione, qua se iustos coram Deo iactent et bona sibi debita negari audacter affirment, v. 9 « me etenim de die in diem quaerunt et scire vias meas volunt; quasi gens quae iustitiam. fecerit et iudicium Dei sui non dereliquerit, rogant me iudicia iustitiae; appropinquare Deo volunt »! — i. e. « a me enim quotidie suboffensi quaerunt et quid in me animi et consilii sit, scire desiderant, cum parum constanter obligatam fidem liberare videar » (Sanct.). Nam 1, 19 his qui sancte vitam instituissent, omnia secunda atque tranquilla pollicitus erat Dominus ; item 3, 10 etc; cui promissioni si quando deesset obligata fides, argui se infidelitatis Deus ipse voluit 1, 18. Quare cum premi se viderent variis incommodis, Deum quasi in ius vocabant et denegatae iustitiae eum fere insimulabant vel saltem de dilatis promissis acerbe conquerebantur (cf. Sanct.). Tales igitur hoc loco nobis exhibentur, quales vates etiam 1, 11 seq. descripserat, qui ritus caerimoniasque externe ac sedulo observant et ita Deo satisfactum esse putant; quare secum mirantur et conqueruntur, quod Deus populum suum varie affligi permittat; quaerunt, quaenam sint Dei consilia et qua ratione demum quae promiserit opere velit complere, per quas vias populum suum ducat. Porro ac si omnem normam iuris et iustitiae divinitus sibi propositam exacte observarent, a Deo postulant ut tandem Zudicia iustitiae exerceat, talia scil. iudicia quibus et sibi et hostibus debita fiant, ergo ut causam suam ab hostibus vindicet, hostes oppressores deiiciat, ne scil. impius hostis opprimat iustum populum. Tacita quaedam accusatio et expostulatio in eo cernitur quod adeo fidenter, ne dicam arroganter iudicia iustitiae postulent, quasi Deus tardet, quasi non aequa lance sortes distribuat; « abesse a me putant iudicia aequa » (Sanct.) Unde exoptant, ut Deus appropinquet (hebr.) scil. ad faciendum iudicium cum hostibus, ad bona suis tribuenda; diem ergo Domini desiderant et minas in hostes tamdiu differri aegre ferunt (cf. Am. 5, 18); desiderant, ut Deus veniat et salvet se (35, 4). Appropinquare Deo explicant interpretés latini frequenter disceptare, expostulare cum Deo quasi de iustitia denegata ; iudicio cum eo contendere volunt cur ipsos hostibus praedam obiici permittat (cf. Osor. Sanct. Mald. For. Men. Tir); cf. 44, 91. Quare se existiment gentem quae iustitiam fecerit e& normam iuris a Deo praefixam non dereliquerit, uno exemplo demonstrat propheta simul exhibens qua in re potissimum deficiant v. 3 « quare ieiunavimus et non aspexisti ? humiliavimus animas nostras et. nescisti ? ecce 1n. die ieiunii vestri invenitur voluntas vestra et omnes debitores vesiros repetitis » ! — suis ipsorum verbis querelam refert; ita gravius evadet responsum ; animam humiliare vel afíligere idem est ac se ieiunio castigare ; Deus dicitur nescire i. e. non rationem habere eorum ieiunii, non afferre opem vel periculum avertere; ergo ignorat eorum ieiunium, agit ac si non adesset. In lege mosaica unus solum praescribitur dies ieiunii scil. dies expiationis mense septimo die decima mensis (Lev. 16, 29; 23, 2). Sed ieiunia celebrabantur ad Dei iram placandam tempore calamitatis grandis (cf. Ioel 1, 14) vel tempore luctus (Iud. 20, 26) vel ad impetrandum favorem divinum, ad prosperum rei successum habendum, ad pericula avertenda (cf. 1 Reg. "1, 6. 2 Reg. 4, 12 ; 12, 16. 3 Reg. 21, 12. Ier. 36, 9. Ps. 108, 24) ; immo Iosaphat rex « timore perterritus totum se contulit ad rogandum Dominum et praedicavit ieiunium Iuda » (2 Par. 20, 3). Cum igitur ieiunare vel animam affligere i. e. desideria carnis et cupiditates reprimere et castigare, carnem macerare, etiam extra diem expiationis in usu esset, perperam aliqui ex ieiunio tempus arguere volunt exsilii (cf. Kn. Sein.). Utique ex Zach. 1, 2 et 8, 19 discimus tempore exsilii dies nefastos quosdam ieiunio esse celebratos; at inde non sequitur omne ieiunium esse ad exsilii tempus referendum. Uti losaphat rex, ita Ezechias quoque ieiunium publicum indicere potuit. Dein uti ex 1, 11 seq. discimus, erant proni ad caerimonias obeundas et ad ritus externos proclives. Eiusmodi autem homines quam maxime periculis ingruentibus ad omnia genera confugiunt quibus iram numinis se placare posse arbitrantur neque a superstitione adeo sunt alieni ; quare mirum esset, si inter alia non etiam ieiunium adhibuissent. Unde, cum habeamus 1, 11, minime opus est ad ieiunium explicandum usque ad exsilium descendere. Cur autem Deus eorum ieiunium non admiserit, ratio repetitur ex eo quia die ieiunii inveniunt i. e. assequuntur, sibi comparant vel possident desiderium vel beneplacitum suum malum ; ieiunant, at retinent. mentem suam malam et perversam ; mala sua desideria non reprimunt, sed in die quoque ieiunii non voluntatem Dei sed suam exsequuntur vel retinent. Huius autem beneplaciti quo potiuntur exemplum subdit : et omnes labores vestros urgetis (hebr.) i.e. operarios omnes et, subditos (LXX ixoxeipleoc) ad labores duros propellitis et duris exactionibus vexatis et affligitis. Avaritia ergo agitantur ; alios duris laboribus onerant et hos magna severitate exigunt, nullo miserationis sensu tanguntur. Non multum distat, quod S. Hier. vertit Symmachum et Theodotionem secutus : omnes debitores vestros repetitis, dure. debita exigunt etiam a pauperibus ; « ex quo ostendit non esse absque periculo repetere pauperem qui solvendo non sit; qui enim miseretur pauperis, Deo fenerat (Prov. 19), et e contrario qui repetit non habentem, Deo facit violentiam » (S. Hier.). Advertit. S. Cyr. : « qui ergo pure et sancte ieiunare volunt; eos oportet suis renuntiare voluntatibus et quod Deo videtur amplecti et pro eius voluntate cervicem frenare : sed haec Israelitae neutiquam praestiterunt, sed voluntates suas secuti sunt ». "Quam simul cum ieiunio retineant voluntatem, ulterius declaratur
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v. 5 « numquid (ale est ieiunium quod elegi? per diem afftigere hominem animam suam? numquid contorquere quasi circulum caput suum. et saccum et cinerem sternere? nunquid. istud. vocabis ieiunium et diem acceptabilem Domino »? — hebr. num sicut istud (quod vos facitis v. 3. 4) est ieiunium quod eligo, dies quo homo afftigat. animam suam? dies ieiunii vocatur in lege dies ad animam affligendam. (Lev. 16, 31; 23, 21. 32. Num. 29, 7j etc.), quo igitur anima 92) i. e. cupiditas, libido, caro est afflimenda, quo malae animi commotiones quam maxime sunt reprimendae. Quare Deus non sine indignatione ab iis quaerit, num eorum ieiunium possit dici abnegatio passionum et afflictio carnis, cum e contra in die ieiunii malis cupiditatibus indulgeant? Dein iterum indicatur quale ieiunium placeat Deo ; illud scil. quod revera nominari potest eo nomine quo in s. literis designatur, scil. afflictio vel humiliatio animae. Sensus igitur interrogationis est : quod vos agitis, non est tale ieiunium quale ego volo, non est dies afflictionis vel humiliationis animae. Deinde aliis interrogationibus merum opus externum non esse tale ieiunium quale, Deus postulet ostenditur : num incurvare sicut iuncum caput suum et saccum et cinerem sternere (scil. ut quis iaceat in cilicio et cinere), num hoc vocas ieiunium et diem acceptum Domino? i. e. ad verum ieiunium et ad Domini beneplacitum habendum minime sufficit incedere curvum, externam prae se ferre speciem afflictionis et humilitatis et externa signa poenitentiae exhibere. « Non enim quaerit Deus afflictionem solam et humiliationem animae per iniuriam corporis, ut instar circuli torqueat corpus et colla submittat et tristis incedat, nec ut sacco quis vestiatur et in cinere dormiat, sed ut cum istis haec faciat quae sequuntur » (S. Hier). Quae igitur ad opus externum iungi oporteat subduntur
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v. 6 « nonne hoc est magis ieiunium. quod elegi : dissolve colligationes impietatis, solve fasciculos deprimentes, dimitte eos qui confracti sunt liberos et omne onus dirumpe »! — quod igitur Deo acceptum reputatur est aperire vel solvere nezus vel constrictiones 4mprobitatis (hebr.), nexus illos quibus improbus alium capit, vexat vel varias machinationes quas impius excogitavit et molitus est; dein solvere fasciculos vel nodos iugi (hebr.), ergo oppressionem aliorum et duram auferre servitutem vel tyrannidem ; dein eos qui oppressi sunt et confracti liberos dimittere et demum omne iugum rumpere (hebr). Primo igitur postulatur, ut a malo declinent, ad quod quattuor proponuntur, quae tyrannidem et iniustitiam redolent. Ubique enim Deus pauperum et oppressorum curam gerit teneram. Inter iniustitias etiam refertur quod servos et ancillas noluerint suo tempore ex legis praescripto (Ex. 91, 9 seq. Lev. 25, 39. Deut. 15, 12) manumittere, de qua re lege Ier. 34, 10-20; quare nodos iugi, omne iugum, ad similem rem referre inter alia poteris. Membrum secundum LXX vertunt : 3$dAve expx iM [iato covaXA«[wé:o», dissolve obligationes violentarum cautionum; « significat autem chartarum fasciculos in quibus feneratorum calumniae continentur et opprimuntur pauperes aere alieno » (S. Hier.). Lege praecipitur : non fenerabis fratri tuo ad usuram (Deut. 23, 19); unde in ea acceptione novum legis violatae genus indicatur. Sjrus explicat de vinculis fraudis quae rumpi debeant; Chald. de nodis scripturarum iudicii depravati, ergo de iniustis sententiis iudicum. Secundo additur quaenam bona opera potissimum exerceant; sunt opera misericordiae quibus avaritiam et iniustitiam expient
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v. 7 « frange esurienti panem tuum et egenos vagosque induc in. domum tuam; cum videris nudum, operi eum et carnem tuam ne despezeris » ! — hebr. conformiter ad sententiam antecedentem : nonne frangere. panem esurienti etc.; forma interrogationis oratorie efficacior est, cum ad ipsorum ad quos fit sermo iudicium provocetur. « Non plures panes, . ne de paupertate causeris, sed unum. panem; nec ipsum totum, sed partem panis, quam si non ieiunares comesurus eras, ut ieiunium tuum non sit lucrum marsupii, sed saturitas animae; pulchreque addidit tuum, ne de rapina facias eleemosynam » (S. IHier.). Post cibum, domicilium, vestem quae indigentibus tribuenda sunt, generali et amplissima cohortatione concluditur : a carne tua te mon abscondes, opem tuam non denegabis carni tuae i. e. nemini qui eiusdem tecum est carnis et sanguinis; « omnis homo caro nostra est » (S. Hier.). Dicitur caro de cognatis et propinquis (Gen. 29, 14; 31, 271. Lev. 18, 1'1; 20, 19), sed etiam de contribuli vel de eo qui ad eandem nationem pertinet ; ita universae tribus Israel dicunt ad David : ecce nos, os tuum et caro tua sumus (2 Reg. 5, 1). Uti hic opera misericordiae. commendantur, quibus salus a Domino acquiratur (cf. v.,8. 10), ita aliquando in ultimo iudicio ex horum operum norma Dominus vel praemia distribuet misericordibus vel tormentis addicet avaros et immites (cf. Matth. 25, 34). mihi » ? Deinde monet iam prophetas priores explicite docuisse, quale ieiunium Deo sit acceptum, idque ab iis monitum esse, « cum adhue lerusalem habitaretur et esset opulenta, ipsa et urbes in circuitu eius et ad austrum et in campestribus habitaretur ». Verba autem quibus priores prophetae illud ieiunium Deo placitum docuerint haec affert : « iudicium verum iudicate et misericordiam et miserationes facite, unusquisque cum fratre suo, et viduam et pupillum et advenam et pauperem nolite calumniari et malum vir fratri suo non cogitet in corde suo ». lgitur similitudo in eoest, quod uterque propheta ieiunium propria voluntate susceptum propterea vituperat quia non esttale quale Deus voluit; quale autem Deus velit, etiam uterque exponit ita, ut observatio iustitiae et opera misericordiae commendentur. Quare etsi Zacharias non verbotenus verba Isaiae allegat, tamen hunc locum eum ob oculos habuisse certum esse omnino videtur. Nam nullus alius locus exstat apud prophetas priores, in quo haec tria pariter inveniantur : agi tantum de ieiunio, reprehendi ieiunium mere externum, ei opponi ieiunium verum cum observatione iustitiae et exsecutione operum misericordiae. Neque potest Ioel 9, 49. 13 in. comparationem adduci, quamvis ibi quoque verus cultus Dei ab externo et ficto distinguatur ; ibi enim nil aliud dicitur, nisi ut se convertant ad Dominum in ieiunio et in fletu et in planctu et ut scindant corda, non vestimenta — quae omnia ad Zachariae locum similitudine non accedunt. Neque sufficit Ez. 18, 5 seq. ; ibi quidem opera iustitiae et misericordiae commendantur, at simul cum multis aliis neque ulla mentio fit de ieiunio vel quale discrimen sit inter ieiunium fictum et verum. Cum igitur locus noster apud Isaiam isque solus adeo bene concordet cum Zach. 7, 5 seq., iuremerito dicimus eum a Zacharia esse ob oculos habitum. Sed tum etiam necessario sequitur Zachariam asserere, hunc nostrum locum pertinere ad prophetas priores qui vaticinati sunt, « cum adhuc lerusalem habitaretur et esset opulenta, ipsa et urbes in circuitu eius et ad austrum' et in campestribus habitaretur»; ergo aliud habemus testimonium, tempore Zachariae hunc nostrum locum adscribi non alicui prophetae versus finem exsilii, sed prophetae qui ante exsilium florente republica iudaica oracula fuderit. — Insuper Zach. 7, 12 phrasis abhibetur quae solum apud Isaiam invenitur: aggravare aures ls. 6, 10 et 59, 4 et Zach. 7, 13 : sicut locutus est (clamavit x7) et non audierunt, sic clamabunt et non audiam, sententia est omnino conformata ad Is. 50, 9 et 65, 12 ; quare Zachariam hanc Isaiae partem ob oculos habuisse et ad prophetas priores retulisse vix poterit in dubium vocari ; de qua re vide quoque Kueper, das Prophetenthum des A. B. p. 994.
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v. 8 « Tunc erumpet quasi mane lumen tuum et sanitas tua. citius orietur et anlteibit faciem tuam. iustitia tua et gloria Domini colliget te »; — tribus comparationibus auxilium Dei et salus describitur : pro nocte calamitatis aurora et lumen prosperitatis; pro morbo et vulneribus sanatio ; demum populus per vitam migrabit eo modo quo olim per desertum : iustitia viam tutam demonstrat agmen ducens et gloria Domini agmen claudit. Breviter, sed valde efficaciter beatissimam vitae et peregrinationis terrestris rationem delineavit vates. Primo quasi aurora (hebr.) erumpet lumen tuum ; impiis nox ingruit perpetua (cf. 8, 20 seq.) ; piis vero felicitas malorum victrix discussis nubibus illucescet (cf. 9, 2). Nunc populus vulneribus est afflictus et tota conditio reipublicae misere prostrata iacet (cf. 1, 5 seq.), tunc vero cito, statim germinabit sanatio ' tua. (hebr.), novo vigore perfundentur, plurima illa reipublicae damna sarcientur, cicatrices obducentur, apponetur medicina, ad integritatem et florem redibit rerum status. Demum agmen populi pulcherrime compositum exhibetur : vera iustitia et sanctitas agmen ducit, viam per quam incedere oporteat demonstrat; gloria Domini claudit agmen, LXX «zeg:- cxeAet ce , cireumdat illud protegens; ergo hanc protectionem Deus tamquam suam gloriam considerat, unde eam amplissime praestabit et eam maximo studio quo suam gloriam tuetur promovebit (de modo loquendi: vide Ex. 13, 21; 44, 19 et Is. 52, 12; 40, 10. 11). Hac luce gloriae Domini cunctae tenebrae arcebuntur et ipse populus gloria et aplendore circeumfundetur. Et cum in hoc itinere Deus tanta gloria populum suum protegat et circumdet, etiam petenti statim omnia largietur
Quodsi ad iustitiam et misericordiam animos inflexerint, bonis abundanter a Domino cumulabuntur. En, quantopere internam animi mutationem vates urgeat et hanc unam conditionem necessariam esse asserat ad salutem consequendam ; simul benignitatem Dei perpende qui ea tantum postulat quae ut necessaria sunt, ita facile ab omnibus praestantur et libentissime qui non omnem humanitatis sensum exuerunt. Unde
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v. 9 « tunc invocabis et Dominus exaudiet ; clamabis et dicet : ecce adsum »! — nunc populus conqueritur quod Dominus non aspiciat, non noverit (v. 2. 3). Docet propheta, quam promptus sit Dominus ad audiendum et petitiones praestandas, si ipsi prius abstulerint mala. Simul ac clamant, dicet ecce ego (hebr.), quae est vox obedientis, ad opem praestandam paratissimi et libentissime obsequentis (cf. Gen. 22, 1. 11; 27, 1; 31, 11; 46, 2. Is. 6, 8. Iob 38, 35 etc.); « ecce adsum, non voce sed opere, non responsione sed beneficiis » (S. Hier.); « maturam munificentiam et promptitudinem dantis Dei declarat illud : ecce adsum » (S. Cyr. et allegat Prov. 15, 29. Ps. 33, 16; 17, 71). Opus esse ad consequenda promissa animorum emendatione, proinde illa non fieri Iudaeis qua talibus, qua nationi sine ulla conditione electae, vates iterum monet, antequam in descriptione salutis pergat ! : « si abstuleris de medio tui catenam. et desieris extendere digitum et loqui quod non prodest,
58:10
v. 40 cum effuderis esurienti animam tuam et animam afflictam. repleveris, orietur in tenebris lux tua et. tenebrae tuae erunt sicut meridies »; — hebr. si abstuleris iugum i..e. oppressionem; digitum extendere dicit illusorem et irrisorem ; fortasse notantur ii qui supra 31, 4 vel ii qui pauperibus spoliatis adhuc addunt irrisiones et opprobria; vel « ne singulos quasi digito notes, ne detrahas proximo tuo » (S. Hier.); dein si abstuleris loqui iniquitatem (hebr.) mala scil. et iniqua. Iterum prius explicavit vates illud : declina a malo. Subdit a v. 10 alteram partem : fac bonum. Prius membrum veteres plerumque explicant de magna animi benevolentia, qua quis pauperem fovet; « ut esurienti non sicut supra demus panem nostrum, sed animam nostram, ut eum in quibuscumque possumus adiuvemus et non quasi ex tristitia et necessitate sed ex animo tribuamus » (S. Hier. et sim. Haimo, S. Thom. Malv. For. Osor. Sanct. Sasb. Pint. Mar. Lap. Calm.), neque ab hac acceptione multum abest versio graeca : si dedcris esurienti panem tuum ex animo tuo ix duyzg cov 1. e. &g05voc (Euseb.). Recentiores autem animam expromere vel suppeditare explicant victum quo anima vel vita tua sustentatur porrigere vel id in quod magno desiderio fertur anima tua vel appetitus tuus, cupedias, alteri largiri (cf. Mald. Schegg, Net. Rohl. Kn. Hahn, Sein. Del. Naeg. Or.) et ita iam Syrus : si dederis esurienti panem tuum. Sed nescio an recte; id enim in altero membro statim dicitur; dein durum est animam pro re accipere quam anima expetit vel qua vita sustentatur et statim eandem vocem in anima affüicta iterum alia notione accipere. Neque par est ratio Deut. 24, 6, quo in loco anima dicitur id quod pauperi ad vitam sustinendam necessarium est; sensus enim hoc loco non est ea esse alii tribuenda quibus tu ipse ad vitam sustentandam omnino opus habes ; nam hoc certe non requiritur neque in ista admonitionum serie tanta perfectio proponitur, ut te ipsum ad alium in vita servandum morti obiicias vel rebus ad vitam necessariis a quibus anima pendeat te prives. Quare explicatio veterum adhuc sustineri posse videtur, praesertim cum vol sicut 25 etiam ad affectus amoris et. misericordiae designandos adhibeatur (cf. 42, 4. Gen. 34, 3. Deut. 4, 99; 96, 16; 30, 10. Cant. 1, 1; 3,4 eic.). Quodsi pietatem coluerint, in nocte miseriae et calamitatis Deus lumen felicitatis faciet oriri; immo miserias mutabit in summum felicitatis gradum ac si. noctem subsequeretur splendor solis in meridie. Lux metaphora est felicitatis et gaudii; lux meridiana uti maximo splendore excellit, ita fastigium prosperitatis denotat; quare impiis qui subito deiiciuntur sol dicitur occidere in meridie (cf. Am. 8, 9. Ier. 45, 8). Lucem hane meridianam quae piis promittitur iisque solis, vates ulterius describit
58:11
v. 14 « et requiem tibi dabit Dominus semper et implebit splendoribus animam tuam et ossa, tua liberabit et eris quasi hortus irvigwus et sicut fons aquarum cutus non. deficient aquae » ; — hebr. et ducet te Dominus continuo et saturabit in. siccitatibus animam tuam (cf. Mald. Malv. Mar. Lap. Calm. et recentiores) i. e. semper Dominus gratia sua et suis favoribus te comitabitur et ducet et si quando pericula exsurgunt vel tribulationes, animam tuam roborabit et bonis suis satiabit. Unde in hac acceptione innuitur, instare quidem ardores et ariditates, etiam pios minime excipi a laboribus et molestiis et variis tentationibus, àt Deum etiam adesse copiosis suis auxiliis quibus et anima plenitudine divinae consolationis satiatur et ipsum etiam corpus confortatur : et ossa tua, roborabit (hebr.); animi vigor in corpus quoque redundabit. Id pro indole veteris foederis eo magis effertur, quia aegritudines, morbi, mors immatura saepe tamquam poenae pro culpis admissis infliguntur (cf. Lev. 26, 25. Deut. 28, 21. 22. 271. 35 etc.). Talibus igitur beneficiis et in animo et in corpore a Domino praeventus populus erit quasi hortus irriguus, continuo florens ac virens, afferens fructus domino et a domino cultus cura maxima, et sicut scaturigo aquarum, fons perenniter manans, uberrimus, qui nullo anni tempore spem et exspectationem fallit, sed semper aquas praestat in omnium utilitatem et recreationem et in. terrae fecunditatem. Abundabit ergo populus benedictione divina hancque largiter cum aliis communicabit; erit igitur status plane contrarius priori : « cum fueritis velut quercus defluentibus foliis et. velut hortus absque aqua » 1, 30. Quod S. Hier. vertit requiem tibi dabit, explicatur ex r5; verbum nr quod h. A4, T) et yav iungitur cum 2 satiare aliqua re ; cf. Ps. 103, 5. Intelliguntur ergo splendores de gaudiis et deliciis animae; sim. habet Syrus : satiabit animam tuam pinguedine, vel delieiis (de voce N3iTI7 cf. Is. 55, 2. Ter. 31, 14 in versione syriaca ; vide Payne Smith, Thesaur. syr. p. 827). Similiter Ag. &v »xuzxóóvw; Sym. et Theod. £v »xpxpózqu. Huic acceptioni ex recentioribus accedit Hahn : claritate animam tuam satiabit. Sensus sane praeclarus est; in numero plurali plenitudo et continua quaedam duratio exprimitur. Sed cum sermo sit de Domino ductore, potius in memoriam revocantur loci 43, 20 et 48, 21 et 49, 10 et sim. — LXX hoc membrum periphrastice reddunt : et impleberis sicut desiderat anima tua ; alterum membrum vertunt : €L ossa tua pinguescent. Hebr. vm explicant vel ut denominativum a vn erpediius vel a verbo von quod pro substantivo m*x5n lumbi supponi debeat notione validum esse; in hiphil non occurrit nisi hoc loco ; in piel vero saepe notione liberandi, unde versio S. Hier. facile explicatur. Syrus vertit : roborabit ; Ag. &&oXetzat ; Sym. Eósvm; Theod. mspv«xüapt (ef. Field, Hexapl. ad h. 1.). Chald. praebet : et corpus tuum vivificabit in vita aeterna. Unde ex versione LXX, Syri et Chald. ille sensus fere colligitur quem verbo hebraico h. 1l. tribuunt. Ita porro damna pristina reparabuntur, nova rerum conditio et instauratio firmitate ac stabilitate perenni consistet et longe lateque bona divina diffundet
58:12
v. 12 « et aedificabuntur in te deserta saeculorum, fundamenta generalionis et. generationis suscitabis et vocaberis aedificator sepium, avertens semitas in quietem » ; — hebr. et aedificabunt ex te deserta saeculorum, vel tui, ex te oriundi, vel ex te egressi aedificabunt ; quae olim delictis populi destructa et « longo tempore deserta fuerant » (S. Hier.), haec restituentur ; vestigia igitur peccatorum et punitionum regioni impressa delebuntur ;:tota terra ad conditionem prosperam redibit et quidem stabili modo felicitas illa constituetur ; id in altero membro edicitur : « et in multis generationibus mansura aedium tuarum fundamenta iacies » (S. Iier.). Cum enim populus sanctitate emineat, in pace et securitate imperturbata vivet. Unde vocabunt eum sepientem fracturam scil. qui diruta restituit et reparantem semitas ad. habitandum (cf. Mald. Mar. Malv. et recentiores) qui viis restitutis commercium hominum inter se facile reddit et ita urbibus exstructis et munitis et viis stratis regionem ad habitationem aptam reddit et commodam. Destructa urbe viae Sion lugere dicuntur (Lament. 1, 4). Quibus dentur fausta haec promissa, propheta iterum (cf. v. 8. 9. 10) in memoriam revocat clare docens quantopere amplitudo promissionis dependeat ab hominum cooperatione
58:13
v. 13 « s averteris a sabbato pedem tuum facere voluntatem tuam in die sancto meo et vocaveris sabbatum delicatum et. sanctum Domini gloriosum et glorificaveris eun, dum non facis vias tuas et non invenitur voluntas tua, ut loquaris sermonem,
58:14
v. 14 tunc delectaberis super Domino et. sustollam te super altitudines terrae et. cibabo te hereditate lacob patris tui ; os enim Domini locutum est » ; — officiis iustitiae et misericordiae erga alios iam additur id ex quo cetera dignitatem suam et normam accipiunt, praeceptum cultus divini, quod in lege sabbati illustratur convenientissime, quia observatio huius legis publica est professio fidei et obsequii in Deum. Primo prohibetur ne sabbatum profanetur, ne quasi terra sancta sabbati profano pede teratur, id est, ut explicationis gratia subditur, ne quis pro suo lubitu et cupiditate die Deo sacro abutatur ad suum beneplacitum prosequendum ; ceterum cf. 56, 2. 4. 6 et 58, 3 pro notione yan. Sed non sufficit sabbatum non profanare ; sacro modo debet peragi ; debet primo magni aestimari : s? vocaveris sabbatum delicias (liebr.), si ergo eius observatio tibi non molesta evadit, uti illis de quibus Am. 8, 5, sed e contra tibi gaudium affert et delectationem in Domino; dein si sanctum Domino appellaveris et aestimaveris et habueris honoratum (hebr.); sabbati enim diem Dominus sanctificavit (Gen. 2, 3), quare optime sanctus Domini, quasi sanctitate Domini insignitus et ita speciali ratione Domino consecratus appellatur. Haec autem aestimatio operi est mandanda ; quare pergitur : si eum glorificaveris ita ut non facias vias tuas, i. e. opera tua solita et occupationes, neque tuo indulgeas bene- : placito i. e. facias quod tibi libuerit (cf. 58, 3) neque loquaris verbum, perversum scil. et noxium (cf. 58, 4) sicut fieri solet in litibus et iurgiis. Haec admonitio eo magis est opportuna, quia cum sabbato ab opere servili et labore vacetur, maior adest occasio delinquendi verbis et lingua (cf. 58, 9). Iam quali benedictione sacra sabbati observantia a Domino donanda sit, subditur v. 14: potientur et perfruentur suavitatibus et consolationibus Domini eiusque dulci familiaritate et alloquio recreabuntur et delectabuntur; pro eo enim quod suam reliquerint voluntatem, maiores a Domino accipient delectationes. Dein, quia opera et negotia sua intermiserunt, non modo non experientur quidquam detrimenti, verum £e faciam vehi super altitudines terrae (hebr.) i. e. in tutissimis te collocabo locis (cf. Deut. 32, 13. Ps. 1], 34. Hab. 3, 19), te firma ac stabili possessione terrae donabo et bona cuncta quae patriarchis promissa sunt tibi luculenter suppeditabo. En, quomodo bona foederis amsigillo Domini confirmatur, sicut 1, 20; 21, 17; 29,93; 24, 3; 95, 8; 40, 5. — Praeclara h. 1. continentur documenta et argumenta, quibus et modus celebrandi diem Domini commendatur et egregia eius celebrationis emolumenta recensentur.
58:1
… The practices of mortification aimed at greater interior purity, as attested by their relation to the holiness of God (Deut. 14:1; Joel 2:12-13) and by the appeals of the prophets (Is. 58:1-9).
58:5
… 14:21; 22:9); it affirms that almsgiving obtains all graces, not excluding the remission of sins (cf., for example, Tob. 4:7-9; 12:9; Sir. 3:33; 7:36; Dan. 4:24); it is preferable to fasts and even to sacrifices themselves (cf., for example, Is. 1:11-17; 58:5-7). Indeed the Old Testament also establishes certain concrete forms of aid to the poor (cf., for example, Lev. 19:9 ff.; 23:22; Deut. 14:28; 24:20).
58:7
Agape (Ἀγάπη "love, charity" in the New Testament)
meals with which they concluded the "peace" sacrifices: the remains of the victims or oblations were consumed in the rooms of the temple (Deut. 14:23, 26) and it was recommended to give such banquets a charitable purpose (Ps. 21 [22]:27; Is. 58:7).
Breaking of Bread (Ἐλᾶσις τοῦ δρῦσου)
Similar expressions are found in the Old Testament (Is. 58, 7; Jer. 16, 6-7; Lam. 4, 4; Ez. 18, 7, 16) and in part reflect the thought of the Jews, among whom the rite of breaking bread, performed by the father of the family at the beginning …
58:9
… Ex., n. 15), in a word, Grace, considered as God's personal communication (Is. 58:9). The soul devoted to prayer wishes to render to God presence for presence, grace for grace (Ps. 118:148), to sketch out the face-to-face of the eternal converse (II Cor. 5:1-9).
58:12
The obligation has an individual and a social value; it concerns not only individuals and families, but also the community, all Israel as a nation (cf. Ex. 21, 12-17). Observance of the law ensures the return of Israel's political and social prosperity (Is. 58, 12 ff.), and its violation, which brings hardship, famine and misery (Jer. 17, 21-27; cf. Ex. 20, 12-32; 22, 8), is punished with the death penalty (Num. 15, 32-36). On the Sabbath …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.