St. Bruno of Cologne: Commentary on the Psalms, Prologue

 Introduction

St. Bruno (1030-1101) was from one of the leading families of Cologne; after being ordained as a priest in 1055, he was called to the college at Reims, which he led for eighteen years (1057-1075).  After being chancellor of the Archdiocese of Reims for a few years, he began to feel a monastic vocation.  After a brief time considering the solitary life with St. Robert of Molesme (1028-1111), later founder of the Cistercians, he instead turned to the coenobitic life and lived in an oratory in Chartreuse with a few companions: the first Carthusians.  His life of retirement was shattered when his former pupil, now Pope Urban II (1035-1099, r. 1088-1099), dragged him to Rome to act as his advisor.  He was able to refuse the pope's push to make him an archbishop, but he was not allowed to leave Italy, so he and his companions started a new oratory in Calabria, which is where he lived until his death.  

Alongside his teaching work, his founding of an order, and his role as a papal advisor, Bruno also wrote a few Scriptural commentaries.  Below is the prologue to his Commentary on the Psalms.

 

Commentary on the Psalms

Prologue

The psaltery is a kind of musical instrument that resounds from its upper hole.  And, since the melody of the psalms was played on such an instrument, this whole work rightly receives its name from its instrument.  For as the psaltery resounds from the upper [hole], so, too, this whole work resounds from the upper, that is, from the praise of God.  But the intention of this work is shown to be manifold, through the diversity of the individual titles.  For now it intends to prophesy the Incarnation, Birth, Passion, Resurrection, and other acts of Christ, now the salvation of the good and the damnation of the evil, in all of which God’s praises are aimed for.  For in His passion and other works, and in the salvation of the just by His humility and mercy, in the damnation of the impious through [His] justice, praises are found to be there.  Therefore, for good reason, this book is called by the Jews “Book of Hymns,” that is, the praise of God.  For “hymns” were, properly speaking, praises of God set in verse, but “psalms” were composed in lyric verse; so Arator¹ says, The Psalter is composed of lyric feet.

So three things are to be considered, in divine as well as secular books.  For, just as secular [books] tend partly to the physical, partly to the ethical, and partly to the logical, so, too, divine [books tend] towards the physical in some spots, so that physical figures are noted in it, such as the origin of the world in Genesis, and, in Ecclesiastes, many natural things are treated mystically.  And, in some places, logical things tend toward the ethical, like the Book of Job, and Blessed the spotless (Ps 119), and some other psalms.  And in some places, logical and ethical things tend towards the theorical,² that is, towards contemplation, namely, those which contain God’s mysteries, sublime in themselves, and far from common thought, as in the Song of Songs.  In which God is introduced as speaking to the Church, like a groom to a bride, by a miraculous mystery.  So even if, in some places, this book seems to tend towards the ethical, yet it principally tends towards the theorical, especially when it tends toward the mysteries of the Incarnation, Nativity, and other acts of Christ.

Indeed, it should be understood that there are many kinds of prophecies.  For some prophecies are through deeds, like the exodus of the sons of Israel, and their other deeds, “all” of which (so says the Apostle) “occurred to them in figure” (1 Cor 10:11).  Others, through speech: as it is said that God spoke to Moses and many other prophets, through angels, of things to come.  Others, through revelation, as many things were said to have been revealed to Ezekiel and Daniel in portents of dreams.  Others, too, through the hidden inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as David [and] the prophets were intimate with the mysteries of the Lord’s Passion and other acts, not through deeds or acts or some other revelation, but through the hidden inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

It should be noted, too, that, through the excessive agility of the Holy Spirit, the prophets spoke of future things as well as present and past things.  For every future thing is present to the Holy Spirit, and is known as if it were past.  It should also be noted that, when, in the psalms, Christ is sometimes introduced as praying and acting humbly, it is to be accepted in accord with His humanity, and, when [acting] sublimely, in accord with His divinity.  It should also be noted why the first psalm lacks a title, when the others are seen to have titles, namely, because it is to be considered as the title of all the other psalms.  For when, in this psalm, there is the intention of praising Christ, it intimates that, in all the others, He is to be treated of in various ways.  For the intention of this psalm is how Christ removed those three deaths by which the first man came to death, and, on the other hand, to praise Him because of His threefold obedience, which the first man lacked.  And it is the voice considering the prophet’s damnation of the human race, because of Adam’s disobedience, and foreseeing his future reparation through Christ.  And so it says this:

[Therein follows the commentary on Psalm 1]

---

1 Arator was a 6th-century Latin poet from Liguria, best-known for a versified history of the Apostles. Remigius of Auxerre (841-908) also quotes this line of Arator's in his Explanations of the Psalms (PL 131:148A).^↩
2 St. Bruno is using is a neologism based on the Greek θεωρια (theōria), commonly used by the Greek Fathers to mean “contemplation.” Since logical and ethical originally derive from Greek roots, it seems St. Bruno wanted to continue the Grecian trend.^↩

^{Source: PL 152:637B-639C.}

Translation ©2024 Brandon P. Otto.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the translator.

 

Bérulle on the Samaritan Woman (Works of Piety XII, CIII)

 As a spur to check out my recent publication of a translated book by Bérulle (the Elevation Regarding Mary Magdalene), I decided to post a few more translated snippets of Bérulle.

Bérulle's Works of Piety (in its full title, Diverse Little Works of Piety) is an enormous hodgepodge of various writings, some sermons, some letters, some spiritual exercises, some little scribbles on assorted topics.  Two of them are included as appendices in my recent book, and I've translated a few others in the past (#6, #21, and #38).  Portions of two more are published here, as both relate to today's reading, the Samaritan woman at the well, St. Photini (Jn 4).  

The first excerpt comes from Works of Piety XII, which appears to originally be a letter to a Carmelite monastery in Salims.  The first section deals with the Samaritan woman; the later sections tackle a different topic, that of the dwellings of Jesus, since the Carmelites asked Bérulle for advice about deciding where to live.  The second excerpt is the complete Works of Piety CIII: however, since the piece was left unfinished, it can still be fittingly called an "excerpt," in my view.

The word "blest" in the below excerpts is a translation of heureux.  The word can mean "happy" or "fortunate"; when compounded to bienheureux, it becomes "blessed," as in "the blessed in heaven" (a blessed object is usually béni instead).  Heureux often recalls the more colloquial sense of "blessed" in English, like "have a blessed day," "I feel blessed to have such a husband," "that was a blessed time in my life," etc.  To keep it distinct from the more specifically-religious bienheureux, I translate the latter as "blessed" and heureux as "blest."

 

Works of Piety XII

On the Samaritan, and on the Three Dwellings of Jesus: in God His Father, in Our Humanity, on the Cross

 To the Carmelite nuns of Salims

I. The grace of Jesus Christ our Lord be with you forever. The lowest things of earth have their relation to God, and we ought to contemplate the adorable excellences and perfections of His divine being, in view of and in the experience of the lowness and littleness of our miserable condition; we ought to resemble those who, in lowering their gaze to the Ocean, see there the sky and the stars that shine in that polished crystal, as in a beautiful mirror in which the lightful stars imprint their beauty, their movement, and their light. So on earth we ought to see heaven, God in us, and the Creator in the creatures; for so they have been made as so many mirrors which represent to us His admirable grandeurs, and as so many means to guide us to Him. In this thought, I take pleasure in seeing the Son of God sitting beside the well of Jacob, and contemplating, in this dead water, the living water of the Holy Spirit; I also see that He renders a poor Samaritan woman capable of the highness of His thoughts, she whom He instructs and raises from earth to heaven, from sin to grace, and from this low exercise, that of drawing water from a well, to the highest mysteries of salvation. Mysteries then hidden from the great and from the knowing ones of that very age, and reserved for this humble and vile sinner, truly humble in her condition, since she herself goes to draw water, and so far, due to her need, but even more humble in her disposition, since she bears the manifestation of her sin so sweetly, so usefully, and so patiently; truly humble and blest in the election God has made of her, notwithstanding the lowness of her condition and the vileness of her sin; humble and happy, too, in this prompt and grand use that she makes of the grace that she has blestly met without thinking of it, at that well of Jacob. Everything seems fortuitous, but everything is blest and ordained by God in this story; a blest voyage, a blest tiredness, and a blest repose of Jesus on that field of Samaria, since it gives a new repose to Jesus in this soul; blest moment for this woman lacking a bit of water, since this moment and this need makes her find the King of time and of eternity, and the living source of the water which waters heaven and earth. God chooses and waits for this poor soul without her thinking of it, without her contributing to it, and chooses her to declare the secrets of heaven, the salvation of the earth to her, and to make her an apostle to her village, which learned from her what Jerusalem could not learn from the mouth of the Son of God Himself; and, what is remarkable, this village of Samaria has learned from this woman what the twelve apostles sent into that same village had not learned, as if the Son of God had suspended the use of their apostolate in order to confer it upon this vile sinner and most-blest penitent.

 II. But this discourse would take us too far from our subject; for the moment, I only want to note the art, the care, the goodness, the industry, and the abasement of the incarnate wisdom in dealing with the Samaritan woman, and in guiding this simple and poor woman from this dead and earthly water to the living and heavenly water of the Holy Spirit...

 

Works of Piety CIII

Catechesis of the Son of God to the Samaritan Woman, and Explanation of These Words: Si scires donum Dei (Jn 4:4)

One of the excellent catecheses of the Son of God is that which He made in the countryside of Samaria at full noon, and under a burning sun, which received in heaven received its light from that sun which was on earth. This catechesis occurs between Jesus, on the one hand, and a single female, on the other, in the absence of His apostles, where the Son of God Most High and the humble Son of Mary, the Son of God Most High lowers His grandeur, He speaks to this poor woman who seeks only for water from the earth, and He speaks to her about the water of heaven, and He prepares her to find a living spring and fountain of the heavenly water itself, who, at that time, is beside that well of Jacob, the very Father and the God of Jacob, the Messiah of the Jews, the Savior of the world. This catechesis is admirable in its circumstances, in its words, in its effects, for it contains, in a few words, the highest mysteries of salvation, announced through the very salvation of a simple little woman, who thinks only of earth and seeks only the water which is at the base of that well of Jacob, which can quench her bodily thirst. And, in a moment, He draws her from error to truth, from sin to grace, from fall to salvation, and from ignorance of herself to God, and to the knowledge and adoration of the Son of God on earth, the highest and most necessary point there was on earth at that time, the mystery of the Incarnation. Mystery adored by the angels, unknown to the devil, ignored in Judea, and revealed to this poor woman, who becomes, at that very hour, the apostle of Samaria. Blest woman, to have met Jesus and to have met the spring of living water, which bedews both heaven and earth, in seeking only to fill her jar with a little water from the earth! Now, in this high and admirable catechesis, which has only the angels as witnesses, and this single woman as catechist, and only Saint John, the beloved disciple, as secretary and evangelist; all is high, all is heavenly, all is grand, all is worthy of the art and of the wisdom incarnate and hidden on earth. But there is, among others, a little words which merits to be considered, to be adored, to be penetrated by our spirits, which is when Jesus says to this woman: Si scires donum Dei [If you knew the gift of God] (Jn 4:4). For this word marks for us a sigh and a languor of the Son of God, ravished in the excellence of this truth and in sorrow over the ignorance of it in the world, so high is this truth, and so important for the salvation of the earth! And it is for us to adore the thought, the sorrow, the languor, and the sentiments of the Son of God, and to penetrate this truth which is told us in the person of this poor Samaritan woman. What low and little things we know on earth, what vanities and curiosities we seek there, and there is no higher and more useful truth than that which is proposed here—Si scires donum Dei—and because of which the Son of God has more ardor and desire for the salvation of the world! If we think, we ought to have no other drive in our spirit to peel apart this truth: Si scires donum Dei. If we speak, we ought to hae no other sentence in our mouth, in order to tell our neighbor: Si scires donum Dei. If we proclaim, we ought to proffer no other apophthegm. If we write, our pen ought to note no other truth than these words: Si scires donum Dei. Words proferred by eternal wisdom for eternal salvation, and proferred with very sorrow and languor.

In this word, the Son of God invites us to enter into knowledge, si scires [if you knew]. But to enter into the knowledge of the gift of God, and, in these two words, He invites us to know both God and the gift of God. O God! O gift of God! O knowledge! O God Most High! O most excellent gift! O most perfect knowledge, and the only one sufficient for heaven and earth! From birth, we are all professors of ignorance, for we are born without knowing God, or the world, or ourselves, or God Who has created us, or the world which bears us, or ourselves, so present and so near an object, and the most beautiful spirits make profession of not knowing these things. And if we have some knowledge of them, it is weak, it is mixed with errors and darkness, even in the most living and the grandest lights of the saints! Now, the Son of God draws us from ignorance to the knowledge of God, and of the gift of God given to His creature.

 

Source: Jean-Paul Migne, ed. Œuvres complètes de de Bérulle (Paris: J.-P. Migne, 1856), 926-927, 1119-1121.

Translation ©2024 Brandon P. Otto.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the translator.

 

Book Release: "Elevation to Jesus Christ Regarding Saint Mary Magdalene" by Pierre de Bérulle

 

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I am excited to announce the release of my first book of translations: Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle's Elevation to Jesus Christ Regarding Saint Mary Magdalene.  

Bérulle (1575-1629) was a French priest, cardinal, and royal advisor.  After helping his cousin, Bl. Marie of the Incarnation (1566-1618), bring St. Teresa of Ávila's reform of the Carmelites to France, he went on to form a society for priests, the Oratory of Jesus, inspired by St. Philip Neri's Oratory.  Bérulle was a friend of St. Francis de Sales and St. Vincent de Paul, and he is considered the founder of the French School of Spirituality, whose members include, beside de Paul, St. John Eudes, Jean-Jacques Olier (founder of the Sulpicians), and St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort.  

Bérulle's magnum opus was the Discourses on the State and on the Grandeur of Jesus, recently published in English translation by Catholic University of America Press.  Besides this recent translation, Bérulle has had little presence in English, outside of excerpts in a volume by Paulist Press, Bérulle and the French School: Selected Writings.  I have already published a few translations of him: three of his short Works of Piety (#6, #21, and #38), and selections of the presently-translated work, the Elevation on Magdalene, in my Homiletic & Pastoral Review article "Magdalene in the Desert."  I am happy to finally have the full translation in print.

This translation includes the full Elevation on Mary Magdalene, with its dedicatory letter to Queen Henrietta Maria of England, sister of King Louis XIII of France; the Observations on the Text of Saint Luke in Favor of Magdalene, appended to most editions of the Elevation; and two of Bérulle's short Works of Piety (#100 and #101), which touch upon St. Mary Magdalene.

Both paperback ($9.99) and Kindle ($4.99) versions are available.  For a limited time, the Kindle version will be available for Kindle Unlimited subscribers to read for no extra charge.

I hope that this is just the first of many translations I will publish, of Bérulle and of other authors. 

To close, a passage from one of Bérulle's letters—which I recently came across—where he summarizes the glories of Mary Magdalene:

"Honor the saint whom the Church honors at this time, who spent thirty years without knowledge of and communication with anyone, so perfectly honoring, in this privation, the humble and voyaging life of the Son of God upon earth.  Do not let this holy time roll by without rendering some particular honor to this saint, to her love towards Jesus, to her faithfulness in following Him unto the Cross, unto the tomb, to her retreat and solitude.  For, no longer finding Jesus Christ in the world, she wills to no longer live in the world, and she retires into that desert, in order to converse with no one but Him, and to think of nothing but Him.  Oh!  What excess!  Oh!  What life!  Oh!  What a conference!  Oh!  What love of Magdalene towards Jesus in that desert!  Heaven will make you see it one day, and earth is not worthy of knowing it."

Source: Pierre de Bérulle, Letter LII, in Jean-Paul Migne, ed. Œuvres complètes de de Bérulle (Paris: J.-P. Migne, 1856),1403.

Translation of Letter Excerpt ©2024 Brandon P. Otto.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the translator.  (This applies, of course, only to this letter excerpt, not to the published book referenced above.)

 

St. Maximus of Turin: On the Forty-Day Fast II (Homily 38)

 For an introduction to St. Maximus (or what little is known of him), see my translation of Homily 37, the first homily on the Forty-Day Fast.  Other translations of St. Maximus include Sermon on the Nativity II (Sermon 4) and Sermon on the Epiphany (Sermon 7).  As in my previous Lenten translation from St. Maximus, paragraph divisions below are my own.

Homily XXXVIII

On the Forty-Day Fast II

Yesterday, preaching the devotion of the Holy Forty Days, we offered the examples of the holy letters, by which we proved that this number of forty is not constituted by men, but divinely consecrated, not found by earthly thought, but a precept of heavenly majesty. And, therefore, he who breaks the constituted number by eating on one day is not accused as a violator of one day, but is charged as the transgressor of the whole Forty Days. Wherefore is it good for man to fast for the aforesaid number, without labor, and to pursue the sanctity of the whole Forty Days equally. But these are not the precepts of priests, but of God. And, therefore, he who spurns [them] spurns, not a priest, but Christ, Who speaks in His priest. Therefore, let us see at what time the Lord appointed us to this observance, since He willed all the elements to profit through this devotion.

For, behold, in the appointed Forty Days, the earth, bound up by wintry ice, is loosened, and the currents of the waters receive their paths, the ice being melted; so, too, in our bodies, at this time, the sins bound up in rigidities are unloosed, and our lives, in a purer course, the rigor of the devil being melted, recall their original path. The earth, I say, in the appointed Forty Days, sets aside the bitterness of winter; I, in the appointed Forty Days, relinquish the bitterness of transgressions. That earth is split by plows, so that it be fitting for worldly crops; my earth is plowed by fasts, so that it be apt for heavenly seeds. For just as he who more frequently, toiling, works the field, gains a richer return, so he who more often, fasting, works the field of his body, receives greater grace. For, behold, through a time of abstinence, the grass restrengthens in the harvested field, the shoot of the tree strives in the trunk, the sprigs of the vine ripen to gems, and everything lifts itself up from the lesser to the higher; so, at this same time, the deadened hope of men revives unto posterity, lost faith is repaired unto glory, temporal life advances unto eternity, and all the human race, lifting itself up to heavenly things, rises from the lower to the higher. Now the farmer, bearing iron, prunes the shoots of the vines. So, too, now the bishop, treating of the Gospel, cuts off the filth of the peoples, and, in that same forty-day course, all creatures do this, so that, having put aside superfluous things, they might advance to Pascha adorned or arranged.

Now, everything is in labor, and, then, it will be found in fruit. For, then, in contrast to nature’s kind, the thorn offers a rose, the reed smells of lily, the withered sticks give off sweetness; so, too, everything is adorned with flowers, so that that creature is believed to celebrate the festivity of the great day by its own striving. Therefore, let us, too, in this same time of fasts, produce roses from our thorns, that is, justice from sins, mercy from severity, largess from greed. For those are the thorns of our body, which choke off the soul, of which Scripture says, Thorns and thistles the earth will germinate unto you (Gen 3:18). For my earth germinates thorns unto me, if bodily lust pricks me with tribulation.¹ It generates thistles for me, when it tortures me through the desire for worldly riches. For the thorn, for the Christian, is the root of his greed; the thorn, for the good man, is the ambition for honor; for, in appearance, they seem to be pleasing in themselves, but they harm. Therefore, except by keeping vigil and fasting, we cannot be without these; however, through abstinence, these thorns turn into a rose. For, by fasting, lust produces chastity, pride, humility, sobriety, moderation. For these are the flowers of our life, which smell sweet to Christ, which breathe forth a good scent to God. Wherefore the Apostle says, Since we are the good scent of Christ to God (2 Cor 2:15).

Therefore, the Lord lavished this Forty Days upon us, so that, through the space of this time, in the custom of every creature, we might now conceive the sprouts of virtues, so that, on the day of Pascha, we might proffer the fruit of justice. But, for this number of forty days, the Lord Himself exercised Himself, not so that He might gain advancement, but so that He might show us the advancement of salvation. For there was no thorn of sin in Him, which would turn into a flower; for He Himself was the flower born, not of a thorn, but of a rod, as the prophet says: A rod will go out from the root of Jesse and a flower from his root will ascend (Is 11:1); for the rod was Mary, shining, slender, and virgin,² who germinated Christ like a flower through the integrity of her body.

Therefore, continuing through forty days, the Lord kept this fasting without hunger, but that Evangelist says that He was hungry afterwards (Mt 4:2). How, then, could this be, that He Who did not feel hunger and thirst for such a number of days, hungered afterwards? Clearly, He had hungered, nor can we deny that He hungered; for He hungered, not for the food of men, but for salvation; nor did He desire feasts of worldly dishes, but He desired the heavenly holiness for souls. For Christ’s food is the redemption of peoples; Christ’s food is the effecting of the Father’s will; for He Himself says, My food is that I might do the will of the Father, Who sent Me (Jn 4:34). Wherefore, let us also hunger for food, not that which is arranged in earthly feasts, but that which is gathered in the reading of the divine Scriptures. For that [food] nourishes the body for a time, this one refreshes the soul unto eternity. The end.

1There is a pun here with the Latin word for thistles (tribulos), used in the verse just quoted.

2The Latin word for rod is virga, while virgin is virgo. This wordplay is ubiquitous among Latin writers in discussing this verse of Isaiah.

 

 

Source: PL 57:308C-310C.

Translation ©2024 Brandon P. Otto.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the translator.

 

Repack: "Sermons on the Transfiguration of the Lord" by Peter of Celle

Included in this repack are Peter of Celle's two sermons (Sermons 65 and 66) on the Transfiguration of the Lord.  See the links above for the original posts.

As I have been having trouble with my Scribd documents being inexplicably unavailable for download for anyone but me (though, oddly, they are still readable when embedded in a blog-post), I am switching to the Internet Archive for document sharing.  If issues with Scribd continue, I will switch my previous documents to Internet Archive as well.

Link to Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/peter-of-celle-sermons-on-the-transfiguration-of-the-lord_202402

Scribd mirror: https://www.scribd.com/document/706718672/Peter-of-Celle-Sermons-on-the-Transfiguration-of-the-Lord

Translation ©2024.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the translator.

Repack Release: Charles de Foucauld -- Meditations on Genesis

I am going to begin to repackage my longer translations and groups of translations as handsome PDFs, released on Scribd.  These will provide for easy downloading and reading.  The first such release is a repack of my two-part translation of St. Charles de Foucauld's Meditations on Genesis.  The original posts can be found here: Part I, Part II.

Charles de Foucauld -- Meditations on Genesis by Brandon P. Otto on Scribd

Scribd link: https://www.scribd.com/document/703670637/Charles-de-Foucauld-Meditations-on-Genesis

Internet Archive mirror: https://archive.org/details/charles-de-foucauld-meditations-on-genesis

 

Translation ©2024.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the translator.

O Heart of Jesus, Save the World: Hymn of the Society of the Sacred Heart

 Introduction

As an alumnus of a Sacred Heart school, I have fond memories of the anonymous French hymn, "Coeur de Jésus, sauvez le monde," one of the anthems of Sacred Heart schools.  When the song popped into my head recently--particularly the bit in the chorus where "vous soit soumis" is repeated--I decided to look up the text and provide my own translation.  

The melody in the version below is based on the four-part transcription by Laura Becker (found at https://aash.org/files/resource/attachment/coeur_de_jesus.pdf).  However, my memory--which, being decades old at this point, might be faulty--included a dotted eighth note rhythm in the antepenultimate bar of the verse, where Becker's transcription has strict eighth notes (as in the final two bars of the verse).  Thus I've adjusted my rendition to match my memory.

For purposes of sonic pleasure, I translated that "vous soit soumis" repetition as "is bowed to Thee" rather than "is bowed to You."  I just couldn't get myself to remove that "-ee" sound from the chorus.  That meant, though, that, for consistency's sake, the rest of the hymn had to be translated with Thee-Thy-Thou pronouns rather than You-Yours-You.  I have also given myself a little leeway in translation and in matching the text to music: specifically, there are many bars in the verses where a pair of notes might cover either two syllables or one, depending on the verse.  I think I will claim the looseness of folk music as my sanction for this.  A few times, as well, I added an additional word or two because a strict word-for-word translation left far too few syllables for a line.

 

O Heart of Jesus, Save the ... by Brandon P. Otto

Scribd link: https://www.scribd.com/document/703583688/O-Heart-of-Jesus-Save-the-World

Internet Archive mirror: https://archive.org/details/o-heart-of-jesus-save-the-world

Translation

O Heart of Jesus, save the world,
may th'universe be bowed to Thee, be bowed to Thee.
In Thee alone our hope is founded!
O Lord, O Lord, this promise we've from Thee.

1. This Thou hast said: Thy faithful promise
Shall be our hope, our joyful part:
"Thus I shall bless in my tenderness
All the children of My Sacred Heart!"

2. This Thou hast said: O faithful Savior,
Thus has Thy Love to us revealed:
"My burning Heart shall console
The heart hat burns for Me with zeal!"

3. This Thou hast said: our mortal weakness
Shall find in Thee its Protector
And in Thy Love be ever ceaseless,
O Jesus our only Redeemer!

4. This Thou hast said: the living blazings
Of grace and love conquering the dark
Shall give their aid in soul saving
To the apostles of Thy Sacred Heart! 

5. This Thou hast said: source of all graces,
Thy Love shall open widely,
Heaping with Your gifts efficacious
The fervent Heart which honors Thee!

6. This Thou hast said: when Your image
Brims o'er with honor, glory, lauds,
This, this alone shall be our gauge
Of the blessings of Thy Sacred Heart!

7. This Thou hast said: the heart that loves Me
May lay to rest upon Mine
All-peacefully until the ending
Of a day that lacks a midnight!

Final refrain:

What does it matter if a storm rage?
For our hearts are firm in Thee, are firm in Thee.
Jesus the world's King to the ages,
Reign, reign despite all of our enemies!

 

 French Original

Coeur de Jésus sauvez le monde,
Que l’univers vous soit soumis
En Vous seul notre espoir se fonde
Seigneur, Seigneur, Vous nous l’avez promis. 

1. Vous l’avez dit: Votre promesse
Fait notr’espoir, notre bonheur:
« Je bénirai dans ma tendresse
Les enfants de mon Sacré Coeur. 

2. Vous l’avez dit: Sauveur fidèle,
Votr’ amour nous l’a révélé:
« Le coeur brulant pour Moi de zèle
Par le Mien sera consolé ! » 

3. Vous l’avez dit: notre faiblesse
En Vous trouve son Protecteur,
Dans votr’amour soyez sans cesse
Jésus  notre Réparateur!

4. Vous l'avez dit: les vies flammes
De grace et de l'maour vain-queur
Aideront au salut des âmes,
Les apôtres de votre Coeur.

5. Vous l'avez dit: Source de grâces,
Votr'Amour se delatera,
Comblant de ses dons efficaces
Le Coeur qui vous honorera.

6. Vous l'avez dit: quand votr'image
Meuvra la gloire et l'honneur
Parmi nous ce sera le gage
Des bien-faits de votre grand Coeur.

7. Vous l'avez dit: le coeur qui M'aime
Sur le Mien pourra s'endormir
Dans la paiz, à l'instant suprème
D'un jour qui ne doit plus finir.

Final refrain:

Qu'importe si l'orage grande
Ça Vous nos coeurs sont affermis
Jésus, Vous êtes Roi du monde,
Régnez, malgré nos ennemis! 

 

Source: AASH (Associated Alumnae & Alumni of the Sacred Heart), "Coeur de Jésus," at https://aash.org/about-aash/sacred-heart-traditions/coeur-de-jesus (accessed February 4, 2024).

Translation ©2024 Brandon P. Otto.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the translator.

St. John of Ávila: Sermon 65.1 on the Annunciation / Treatise 1 on Mary: Part I

 Introduction

St. Juan de Ávila (1499-1569) was an Andalusian priest and preacher, brought to new prominence upon being named a Doctor of the Church by the late Pope Benedict XVI on October 7, 2012.  Though he tried to arrange a fraternal community of priests, little came of it outside his immediate circle, and, towards the end of his life, he started sending his interested disciples to the Jesuits.  The majority of his work was focused on being a preacher, for which he was nicknamed the "Apostle of Andalusia."  He was also the first rector of the University of Baeza, which became a model for Jesuit seminaries.  His process of veneration was slow: declared Venerable in 1759 (during the investigation for which the Vatican misplaced manuscripts for dozens of his works), he was not beatified until 1894 and not canonized until 1970.

Being primarily a preacher, it is fitting that a large portion of his writings consists of sermons.  Oddly, when many of these were originally published, shortly after his death, they were instead labelled "Treatises" (tratados).  The most well-known of these is the set of "Treatises on the Most Holy Sacrament," consisting of many, many sermons given around the Feast of Corpus Christi.  There were also groups of "treatises" related to Mary and the Coming of the Holy Spirit.  The sermon begun below was originally published as the first treatise of a set of 10 on the feasts of Mary; in the critical edition of St. John's works, it is labelled Sermon 65.1.  (There is another partial draft of this sermon, which is given the number 65.2.)  I originally translated this sermon from an early edition, where it was labelled a "treatise": there are many textual differences between this and the critical edition of the text, which is taken from a manuscript.  The version I have given below is the text of the original "treatise" edition, though I have broken it up with subheadings borrowed from the critical edition.  Sources for both versions are given at the end.

First Treatise: On the Incarnation of the Son of God

Sermon 65.1: "This Business Is Full of Love"

 

Ecce ancilla Domini, fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum. (Lk 1:38)

[Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to your word.]

Exordium: A Day of Good News

Today is the day of good news: if we are silent, a great fault will be ours. Today God became man for men; if He became a stone, what would the stones do today? What thanks they would give Him for such a great mercy and compassion!

The good news that such a day as today brought into the world was first made known to the most sacred Virgin Our Lady, and the true Mother of God. And because, each day that we preach, we say the salutation, asking grace for the Virgin, it is good that we should say it today, since, on such a day as today, it was said.

Gospel of the Annunciation

The holy Gospel recounts today this holy salutation and happy news. Missus est Angelus Gabriel a Deo [The Angel Gabriel was sent by God] (Lk 1:26). When God willed to perform mercy for the world, when He willed to show how far His love reached, I wandered, looking for what day it was, how to name it, and I could not find or know how to give a name to the day which is today. A day of such news, let us call it the day of the mercies of God. Bless the Lord, all His works (Dan 3:57). If we call it the day of the mercies of the world, it is so: if the day of the redemption of captives, it is so; if we call it the day of dispensation, it is so: if the day of giving great alms, it is so too. He Who knew and performed mercy, He knows what will make us understand the day which is today, and He makes us understand how great is the grace which the world received today, and He places it in our hearts, so that we would recognize it and give thanks.

When the time came for God to unfold His mercies in the world, the time to teach men how far it reached, when His mercy was extended—how far?—St. Ambrose says: “You who read this, see the letter and note the most holy mystery; married and pregnant, married with a man, and pregnant with God: married, and pregnant by the Holy Spirit: note so high a mystery.”¹ Each one of our Christian Churches is married with one, and pregnant with other: married with the Prelate, with the Pastor, and pregnant with the other, Who is God eternal: married with man, and pregnant with God, Who is the Prelate, and the Preacher. Souls are married with Him, but there, within, Jesus Christ enters into his innards, and makes them fecund with His virtue and with His word, so that they produce salutary fruits. I do not know how to speak this holy mystery.

“I will hide” (says God) “this from your eyes, this which I do, this great secret no one will know how to speak, no understanding of flesh will reach it (cf. Is 6:10). I know it well, that, on that day, I will remove the ill of the earth, I will remove the sins of the world, I will wash all your stains (cf. Zac 3:9).” Glory be to You, Lord, forever.

The Prophet Daniel said the same thing about today: Consummetur prævaricatio, & finem accipiat peccatum, et deleatur iniquitas, & adducatur justitia sempiterna, & impleatur visio, & prophetia, & ungatur Sanctus Sanctorum (Dan 9:24): he said, that, at this time, the prevarication would be finished, sin would be removed, sempiternal justice would be brought, visions would be completed, when the Holy of Holies were anointed. Today, sin is removed and will be removed, and justice is given. Thus if, in every sermon, we say the salutation to the Virgin, today there is much more reason for it to be there than at any other time.

Since the time came in which God willed to give His mercy, and to teach how far the love which He has for men reached, God sent His messenger, an Archangel, with the embassy, so that he would go bring it to the Virgin. Thus Abraham did when he sent for a spouse for his son Isaac (Gen 24). God calls a Great One of His house, an Archangel, gives Him an embassy, which he goes to bring to a maiden betrothed with a man, whose name was Joseph, and her name was Mary. Oh, blessed be God, that there is a Nazareth, a province very low according to the world’s honor; there God sets His eyes, there the Archangel came, and knew well the house! He takes the figure of a man, enters into the house, finds the Virgin alone and in prayer, falls before her on his knees, there, very close to her, where there are signs unto today: a little marble where the Virgin was, and another were the Archangel was.² He speaks to the Virgin, proposes his embassy to her, and says: Ave gratia plena, Dominus tecum (Lk 1:28): “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you, the Lord be with you (since all is good).” He greeted her as it was usual to greet at that time: “Peace be with you.” The Lord commanded him thus: “When you enter into another house, say: ‘Peace be in this house’” (cf. Lk 10:5). The Gloss says afterwards: “Whoever says peace, let him desire peace, and say all the goods together.”³ Peace be to you, Lady. Saint Luke says, “delight”: all is good. Delight be with you, peace be with you, since He Who will pacify, rejoice, and give delight to the world is coming to you. It is the reason that you should delight, it is the reason, Lady, that you should taste of the fruit that you will give to the world. May God maintain you, God hail you, full of grace, the Lord be with you. A great salutation was that, good news was it.

The blessed maiden was not fickle in belief, like Eve: she raised her eyes and her heart to God, and did not respond. She who is later troubled has virginal modesty. The Virgin saw a man before her, he said to her that she was full of grace, and that she was gracious, and he, praising, troubled her. There is nothing that so troubles the humble, and sounds more ill to her eyes, than to see herself praised. “What will this be? Is it of God, or is it not of God?” Good counsel. What fresh deceit will it be to think that the Holy Spirit comes to one, and for the evil spirit to come instead? And, for this reason, when you see yourself in doubt, ask for light from Our Lord so that you can recognize if that which comes to you is a good spirit, or an evil spirit; and so the Virgin responds nothing.

And as the Archangel saw her so troubled, he provided for her trouble, and said to her: “Ne timeas Maria, invenisti enim graciam apud Deum [Do not fear, Mary, for you have found grace with God] (Lk 1:30). This grace which I tell you is not here, in the eyes of men; I do not bring an embassy of men, I do not come on an ill behalf; the grace which I bring you is not of men, but of God.” Then God assured her. The Angel proposes his embassy: the greatest embassy, the greatest and highest which was ever given. Blessed the woman who thus heard, and the womb which thus received!

“Be attentive, maiden”—the Lord commands you to say—“Ecce concipies, & paries [Behold, you will conceive, & you will give birth] (Lk 1:31). Hear, Lady, these greatnesses: you will conceive and you will bear a Son, and He will be called Jesus, which is to say, ‘Savior.’ He will be great, and will be called Son of the Most High, and He will reign, and His kingdom will not have an end, forever.” Oh, blessed be she who gave us such a Son! He will be Great, and He will have, not that small kingdom of Judea, of a hundred leagues: see what a great kingdom, see what a kingdom of a hundred leagues will be given Him, the seat of David His Father, not that kingdom, but the one figured by it; for that kingdom of David was very small, this one [is] very large: that [kingdom] of David [was] temporal, this one [is] spiritual: that [kingdom] of David was ended, the other will never be ended. “The kingdom of David will be given Him, and He will reign in the house of Jacob forever.”

Why did he say “in the house of Jacob,” instead of in that of Abraham or of Isaac? Because, of those who descended from Abraham, Isaac was faithful, Ishmael unfaithful. Among those from Isaac, Jacob was faithful and a great friend of God, and Esau was evil: in the house and family of Jacob, all were faithful and believing. He will reign in the house of Jacob, to wit, among those who know God, among the good, and His kingdom will not be ended. What a gentle Messiah we were to have, who would reign a hundred years, and his kingdom would be ended, and then another would come! Our King and our Messiah will reign forever, and His kingdom will not be ended; just like there, where He is in heaven, here, He reigns and rules; here He maintains you, and defends you, and sustains, and raises grace and pardon of sins, and frees you from demons, consoles you in your labors, and, finally, gives you all goods.

The embassy of the Archangel continues, and says: “This One, your Son, will be called Son of the Most High.” “He will be called”: frasis Hebrea es [it is a Hebrew phrase], which intends to say the same as “He will be.”

What woman would not receive such a Son gladly, without asking nor doubting? Such is the contentment which the most holy Virgin has with regards to her virginity and purity that she responds to the Archangel: “How will this be? This frightens me.” O purity, how loved are you by the Virgin! O purest innards, how sealed in your heart is the love of virginity! Not without cause do you ask: “Angel, how will this be, since I do not know man?” It is not a word of incredulity. See that the Virgin has such love for her purity, that she does not truncate her virginity to become Mother of the Son of God. She does not say if she will or not, since she does not doubt it, but she says: “Teach me how it will be, since I have proposed and determined to not know man.” I have already said this other times, that this is worth as much as when we say here, “I do not eat meat,” I mean to say, “I have the intention to not eat meat for all my life.” “How am I to conceive? Has is this to be? Since I would not want to lose my purity, nor would I want to disobey God. Declare to me what I ask you, if my purity will be guarded, since I well know that for God all will be possible.” What an example for maidens! In all, she wants to do God’s pleasure. O blessed maiden, who does not dare to truncate her virginity to become Mother of the Son of God! How will this be?

The Angel responds that he does not know, that he is not the one who has to understand in this affair, that he comes as a messenger to negotiate, he comes on the part of God, since He Who will do it is the Holy Spirit, since He alone is Holy; “but the power and force of the Most High will overshadow you, will strain you, will teach you, will sustain you: since this matter is not so low that your forces would be enough for it; but the power and forces of the Most High will overshadow you.” (This is a Hebrew phrase.) “And, for this reason, that which will be born of you will be called Holy.” Not masculine, but neuter, so that you will know that He did not take on a person, but our nature. He will be the Son, not of Joseph, not of man, [but] the Son of the Most High, conceived by the Holy Spirit. As He is Holy, He cannot do anything which is not holy: He will be called Son of God. See, maiden, so that you would praise God, so that you would give Him many thanks and see His mercies,” says the Angel, “your relative Elizabeth, since she is old and wise (because you do not fear what I have told you), in her old age has conceived a son, so that you would know that there is nothing impossible with God, and, for this reason I reveal it to you: since that is possible, this too [is possible]. This is the Embassy; I hope for your response, and the Most Holy Trinity hopes for your consent: what do you respond?”

When the sacred Virgin hears the great mercies which the Angel promises her on behalf of God, assured by God that what He promises her will be done, on His part: knees bent, her eyes and heart fixed on heaven, she says humbly and with reverence: Ecce ancilla Domini, fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum [Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to Your word] (Lk 1:38). Here is the slave of the Lord, be it done in me according to Your word. In that moment, the divine Word entered into her innards, and the greatest work which was done, and will ever be done, was done. Then, why does she call herself a slave and abase herself? Thus God wills it, and this is the reason why men and angels, and archangels, exalt and confess her, who received such a Son and so abased herself, as Lady, and honor her, and hold her as such, and reverence her in the heavens and on earth: she who knew so well how to abase herself, and to receive the embassy on behalf of God.

The greatest delight did the Virgin receive today with this embassy, and so, now, each time that we say it to her, she is delighted: and, so that we would know how to greet her and recount these mysteries, we ask her that the spirit with which she heard it might raise us, so that we can know how to please her. 

 

1The first publication of this sermon had no quotation marks; the critical edition ends the quote here. St. John seems to be very loosely paraphrasing St. Ambrose, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke II.1: “Indeed, divine mysteries lie hidden, nor is it easy, in accord with the Prophetic saying, for any man to be able to know the counsel of God, and yet, from certain facts and precepts of the Lord of Salvation, we can understand and be closer to this counsel, that she who was betrothed to a man was most powerfully chosen, so that she would give birth to God” (PL 15:1551D-1552D).

2 St. John never visited the Holy Land, as far as we know; he is probably reporting what he has heard about it.

3 The Glossa Ordinaria says, “Having described the various hospitalities of the house, He also teaches the pious what they should do in the cities: share in everything, separate from all society with the impious.” See Blblia sacra cum glossis interlineari et ordinaria et Nicolai Lyrani Postilla… (Venice, 1588), V:152.

Sources: Tercera parte de las obras del padre maestro Juan de Ávila... (Madrid: Pedro Madrigal, 1596), II:161-185.
Obras completas del B. Mtro. Juan de Ávila, ed. Luis Sala Balust (Madrid: La Editorial Católica, S.A., 1953), II:1004-1019.

 

Translation and Notes ©2024 Brandon P. Otto.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the translator.

Lope de Vega: Mary's Solitude

Introduction: Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (1562-1635) was one of literature's most prolific writers, a monument of the Spanish Golden Age; among his many works are hundreds of plays and poems, including multiple epics, as well as some novels.  Though he had a variety of lovers and mistresses, he was ordained a priest in 1614, and many of his poems are religious.  Among them is the collection Romancero Espiritual (Spiritual Romance-Book, a romance being a type of Spanish folk ballad).  Below are the opening lines of one of these romances, "On the Solitude of Our Lady."  I find the sharp contrasts of these opening lines quite effective as their own poem, separated from the full romance.  They are also fitting lines for Great and Holy Friday.  The source is Lope Félix de Vega Carpio, Obras Escogidas, ed. Federico Carlos Sainz de Robles (Madrid: Aguilar, 1953), II:124.

From Romancero Espiritual XVIII

"On the Solitude of Our Lady"

Lope de Vega

(1562-1635)

Without a Father, because He’s hid;

without a Son, because He’s dead;

without a light, because sun cries;

without a voice, because Word dies;

without a soul, absent her own;

without a body, her body enterred;

without the earth, for all is blood;

without the air, for all is flame;

without the flame, for all is water;

without the water, for all is ice.

 

Translation ©2023 Brandon P. Otto.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the translator.

Origen of Alexandria: Commentary on Proverbs (Part Two)

Fragments from the Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon

Origen of Alexandria

(185-283)

Part Two

For Part One, see here.  For selections from the Septuagint version of Proverbs, see here.  The source for this selection is PG 13:25D-33D.

Crown of graces (Prv 1:9): the enclosure[1] of the virtues, through which they are bound to each other.

Golden collar around your neck (Prv 1:9): he calls the surrounding splendor and circular blaze of the divine words “golden collar.”   And he calls the mind “neck.”

We will remove his memory from the earth (Prv 1:12): for those who say these things are also those saying: This is the heir; come, let us slay him, so that the inheritance will become ours (Mt 21:38).

And cast your lot among yourselves[2] (Prv 1:14): leaving that society, be among yourselves, make the Sabbath among yourselves, prepare the unleavened bread among yourselves, and may you keep the other parts of the law.

For they are partakers of slaughter (Prv 1:18): for God is the giver of goods, but we are the causes of evils, that is, of harmful things.  And you can also say these things about those partaking in the blood of the Jews, of the prophets, and of Christ Himself.

Wisdom hymns in the exit-ways (Prv 1:20): being made silent by a wise man, she does not hymn; but, having an exit, she hymns.

For it shall be, when you call upon me (Prv 1:28): for thus we call upon the Lord, Christ being wisdom.  Thus the one calling upon Christ, if he knows who He is, calls upon wisdom, understanding, holiness, righteousness, and every virtue, and if not with lips, then with deeds.  But let us not become such a kind of person that He will not listen when we call upon Him.

If, having received the saying of my commandment, you hide it with yourself (Prv 2:1): for someone hides it, not doing this for empty glory, but being eager to be overlooked.

Then you will understand fear of the Lord (Prv 2:5): see, then, after how much we will understand fear of the Lord; for it is also obscure, as is made clear by the simpler ones; for some are to be seen fearing the Lord among those who ought not, and some not fearing, among those who ought.

And give your voice to understanding (Prv 2:3): for each gives his own voice to something, be it to wrath, when he speaks of it, or to sorrow, or to sexual immorality.  But the blessed dedicates all his voice to the Lord, so that what he speaks is wisdom.  And as another seeks silver, so should you seek wisdom, being, as it were, silver-loving[3] in this.

Let evil council not seize you (Prv 2:17): those outside the Church have proclaimed one thing at the beginning, another at the end; for, at the beginning, they desert idolatry and approach the Maker, then, being changed, they reject the Old Scripture, opposing it to elementary newness.[4]  But for ecclesiastical teachers, the ends are in symphony with the elements in the beginning.

And let your heart guard my sayings (Prv 3:1): after the precepts and prohibitions of the law of God, the sayings of the wisdom of God announce the unfalse knowledge of the things that are.  Such is the Out of Sion the law will go forth, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem (Is 2:3).  For the one keeping the laws will acquire wisdom.  For sow, it says, righteousness among yourselves; you will gather at the season of life (Hos 10:12).  Then, after the action, it adds: Light in yourselves the light of knowledge (Hos 10:12).[5]

Provide for good things before the Lord and men (Prv 3:4): if you do what is done in wisdom, you will be a son of God, as is said: You have done all in wisdom (Ps 104:24).

Honor the Lord from your righteous labors (Prv 3:9): the godly Scripture usually uses the name “honor” for “gift”; for it says, Honor widows, those who are truly widows (1 Tim 5:3), instead of “Give,” not saying “almsgiving,” lest it humiliate the widow.  And the Savior, too, says: It is written in the law: “Honor your father and your mother” (Mt 19:9), and the rest.  For it says from righteous labors, lest it be from robbery and greed.  And let no one shrink from giving: for he has no defense after the widow in the holy Gospel tossed in all of her life, and was justified, not above those tossing in the proceeds of robbery, but above those tossing in the proceeds of excess (Lk 21:1-14).  For all giving to God is a work of sober-mindedness and the other virtues.  For it is necessary, too, to give first-fruits from all produce to the Church and to the poor, and, too, from the appointed sleep, to give first-fruits of prayer to God, and it is fitting to give the first-fruits of words: psalms.  For thus it has been said to you, And blessed your storehouses and your remnants (Dt 28:5)—and he speaks of the things of the soul.

God founded the earth by wisdom (Prv 3:19): but the faithful soul is also earth, bearing fruit a hundred-fold.  For she becomes wise from fatness, which is wisdom, founding herself upon that wisdom of God.  For she establishes the entrance of teaching upon it, forming the fastness with wisdom, and she ever completes the prepared heaven, purest creation, dwelling-place of angels and holy minds.  Receiving the sense of what is, and understanding the exactness of things, she begins to divide and dissect them.

Make your way far from her (Prv 5:8): he calls “way” the mind making its way to virtue, and he commands that virtue separate from evil.

For woman catches the precious souls of men (Prv 6:26): and the soul caught by woman is precious by nature; for it is not earthy by nature.  Or, since the mind and the soul of the manly[6] are precious, she likewise catches these.

I was that in which He rejoiced (Prv 8:30): the “I was” does not indicate “time” in regards to God; for it is timely when it indicates something subject to time, like “I was in the agora.”  For if she was harmonizing (Prv 8:30) with the beginning-less God, she, too, is eternal.

It enriches (Prv 10:22): if everyone blessed by the Lord is rich, and those walking in the law of the Lord are blessed by the Lord, and the prophets walked in the law of the Lord, therefore, they were rich.

In laughter the senseless does evil things (Prv 10:23): doing evil things, he takes pleasure and rejoices.  But wisdom in a man gives birth to sense (Prv 10:23), practical virtue.

The one not conversing with his own house will inherit winds[7] (Prv 11:29): our house is God, in Whom we move and are (Acts 17:28).  Therefore, the one not walking in the commandments of God will be a co-heir with the opposing powers.

From the fruit of righteousness grows the tree of life (Prv 11:30): the fruit of righteousness is the end of virtue.  One has as many trees of life as he has fruits of righteousness.  This tree of life is the one that grew in the midst of paradise, which Adam was forbidden to touch after sin, tossing away the seeds of righteousness, from which grows the tree of life. 

The wrath of the king is the angel[8] of death; but the wise man will calm him (Prv 16:14): since the holy one is passionless, or the wrath allegorical.

But in the places of the impious, men are captured (Prv 28:12): for their places are also the gatherings of heretics.

And three things are impossible for me to understand (Prv 30:18): impossible is it for the beginner to bring this proposition to knowledgeable thought,[9] and impossible is it for man to contemplate and understand the things beyond man, due to care for the fleshy, even if angels stand before him; impossible is it for someone to understand, too, what has never happened, nor could happen, such as, that three would be four.  Therefore, this seems said about things which are not.  For not losing track of the eagle’s trail in flying around the air, analogous to those losing track of the trails, in the sandy earth, of those who walked upon it, is impossible to understand; so, also, with a serpent: in soft earth, it is possible to see the paths, but not on the rock (Prv 30:19).

And the paths of the seafaring ship (Prv 30:19): and perhaps “ship,” in these words, is said of Jesus and His disciples, and perhaps of them alone; not seafaring: for Immediately the ship was on the land, to which they were going (Jn 6:21), by godly power.  For the ship not bearing Jesus is searfaring, and this is always shaken about by opposing spirits.  And since the things of life are vanity, always seafaring, and no one among men is approaching eternal life, their paths cannot be understood.  Therefore, no foreign work of piety is left by the glorious kings or princes of the earth after death.  For quenched was their glory.  For also unknown, it says, are the ways of man in youth (Prv 30:19), burning with desires due to unstable manners, and those of the adulterous woman (Prv 30:20), likewise, due to shamelessness.  For this is the Church of the nations,[10] which, after being washed through Baptism, says that it has done nothing untoward.  But the righteous one is not in youth, since having been perfected in a few, he fulfilled long times (Wis 4:13).  Such, also, is every adulterous woman, who is estranging herself from the bridegroom, and a soul abandoning her man, and going after lovers.

And it marched out,[11] in good order, at the first command (Prv 30:27): and the locust is praised as “good-ordered,” having trusted in the command of God’s words.  Such a one is the Church: through looking down upon men, she is compared to the locust, how it looks down at living upon earth; and through going along after Jesus and not being scattered, but putting on the armor of God, so that she would resist the methods of the devil (Eph 6:11), the Church is marching forth in good order at the first command; and she is unruled[12] by Pharaoh, but not by God, and the labors of the Egyptians are handed over to her.[13]  Similarly, then, to our not being ruled in opposition to Christ’s rule, unruled is the locust.  For it has no leader, like the bees, but each leads.  These are the resolutions lifting us up from earthly things, leading to ordered life.  And the locusts, whosoever want to fly by their own minds, being unable, run a little along the ground.  But if they share in the act, they are brought together into one active order.

And the he-goat leading the herd (Prv 30:31): in three ways[14] the he-goat is interpreted, according only to the phrase leading the herd: growing and fulfilling it and leading it to the pastures in the heights.  For no herd of animals thus comes up to the heights.  Such is the one leading Christ’s flock, bringing them, in a herd, to the height.  In another way, the he-goat is a type of Christ, being offered for sins.  The whole throng of the pious follow Him, being in the height.  

---

[1] Περιοχη means generally refers to the boundaries separating off a portion of something; it can mean “circumference,” “compass” or “extent,” “inclusion,” as well as a “fence” or “fortification.”  It can even refer to a section of a book.

[2] The common Septuagint text instead reads “us” (ημιν) instead of Origen’s “you” or “yourselves” (υμιν); in Greek, these two words are only one letter different, and, in some pronunciations, they sound identical.

[3] This is the literal meaning of the word (φιλαργυρος), typically translated as “greedy.”

[4] Probably a reference to the Marcionites, who rejected the Old Testament as depicting an evil creator god, and instead proclaimed the God of the New Testament alone (though their New Testament only include a shorter version of Luke and ten of St. Paul’s epistles).  They called the god of the Old Testament “the Maker” (Δημιουργος), the same word Origen uses earlier in this sentence. 

[5] This is the Septuagint’s phrase; most modern translations, based on the Masoretic Text, are different: “break up your fallow ground” (RSV-CE).

[6] This is the literal meaning of ανδρειων; the concept of ανδρεια, “manliness,” looms large in the Fathers, connoting courage, fortitude, resistance to temptation, strength in asceticism.  It was not solely the domain of men, either: St. Gregory of Nyssa praises his sister Macrina for becoming “manly” in virtue, so much so that “I do not know if it is proper to call her ‘woman’ after her nature, she who became above her nature” (Life of Saint Macrina, PG 46:960B).

[7] In the main Septuagint text, this is the singular “wind,” not plural “winds.”

[8] Or, “messenger.”

[9] This phrase (αδυνατον εις νοησιν επιστημονικην εισαγομενω θεωρημα) is unclear in meaning.  Θεωρημα means a “sight,” or an “object of contemplation,” or a “speculative proposition”; επιστημονικος means “capable of knowledge” or “scientific.”  The Latin translation included in the Patrologia Graeca renders it this way: “for the one who is first introduced, it is impossible to so understand this proposition that he would have knowledge [scientiam] of it.” 

[10] That is, the Gentiles.

[11] The main Septuagint text has “it wages war” (στρατευει) instead of “it marched out” (εκστρατευει).

[12] This is from the first part of cited verse: “Unruled is the locust, and it marches out, in good order, at the first command” (Prv 30:27).

[13] Probably a reference to the despoiling of the Egyptians’ jewelry by the departing Israelites (Ex 12:35-36).  In his Letter to Gregory Thaumaturgos §2, Origen famously used this passage as an allegory of how Christians can use the riches of pagan philosophy and literature, thus “despoiling them.”  See the English translation here.

[14] The three interpretations appear to be 1) the he-goat actively leads the herd to the heights, to which they wouldn’t go on their own; 2) the he-goat is sacrificed (on the height?), like Christ; 3) the he-goat is on the height, and the herd spontaneously goes up to him.

Translation ©2023 Brandon P. Otto.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the translator.