Cornelius a Lapide
"The fountain of wisdom is the word of God on high, and its pathways are the eternal commandments." So live, that you may live forever. O Eternity, how long you are, how rarely you dwell in the minds of men! What is eternity? It is a circle recurring upon itself, whose center is "always," whose circumference is "nowhere," that is, "never to end." What is eternity? It is a sphere everywhere round and like itself, in which there is no beginning nor end, in which there is no starting, no ceasing. What is eternity? It is a wheel that always turns, and shall turn through every rolling age. What is eternity? It is a year perpetually revolving, which where it sets and dies, there also it is reborn, and rises again. What is eternity? It is a fountain in which the waters through their meanderings always flow back to their source, so that they may flow again; it is a perennial fountain giving endless waters, and these either the sweetest waters of blessing, or the most bitter waters of curse. What is eternity? It is a labyrinth twisting with innumerable turns, which leads those who enter perpetually around, drives them in circles, and destroys them. What is eternity? It is an abyss of spirals, a spiral always turning and circling into the immense. What is eternity? It is a serpent curved orbicularly upon itself, clasping its tail in its mouth, which in its own end always begins again, and shall never cease to begin. It is a beginning without beginning, without middle, without end. It is a perpetual, boundless, and ever-commencing beginning, in which the Blessed continually inaugurate their blessed life, and perpetually abound in ever-new delights: the damned always die, and after every death and agony of death, they continually begin to die and agonize again; so that as it was in the beginning, so it is now, and always, and shall be forever and ever. As long as the earth shall be earth, as long as the heaven shall be heaven, as long as God shall be God, so long shall the Blessed be blessed, so long shall they reign and triumph; so long shall the damned be damned, so long shall they burn in pitch and sulphur, and the smoke of their torments shall ascend forever and ever.
O eternal truth, O true charity, O dear eternity! God of my heart, grant that we may know You, that we may yearn for You with mind and heart, grant that no vanity may capture us, so brief a vanity, and one to be mourned for all eternity: grant that we may draw many along with us to blessed eternity: grant that we may undertake heroic works of virtue in this moment, which before God and the angels may shine as trophies, and endure for all eternity. Amen.
Bring to the Lord, O sons of God: bring to the Lord the offspring of rams. Bring to the Lord glory and honor: worship the Lord in His holy court. Offer holocausts, grain offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings: let your victims and holocausts be made fat. Offer rich holocausts with the incense of rams: offer oxen with he-goats. But now holocausts and sin offerings You have not desired, O Lord: when Christ appeared, the true victim for sin, and said: Behold, I come. In the head of the book it is written of Me, that I should do Your will, O God: My God, I have willed it, and Your law is in the midst of My heart. Offer to God the sacrifice of praise: and pay your vows to the Most High. The sacrifice of praise shall honor Him: and there is the way by which He will show you His salvation. A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, You will not despise. Let our prayer, O Lord, be directed as incense in Your sight: the lifting up of our hands as the evening sacrifice. As in the holocaust of rams and bulls: and as in thousands of fat lambs. So let our sacrifice be made in Your sight, that it may please You: for there is no confusion to those who trust in You. And now we follow You with our whole heart: and we fear You, and we seek Your face. The divine fire on the altar of our heart, O Lord Jesus, ever enkindle: which You came to cast upon the earth, and willed to be vehemently kindled.
The Lord chose and exalted Aaron; He established for him an eternal covenant: that he might teach Jacob His testimonies, and give light to Israel in His law. He gave him the priesthood of the nation: He consumed his sacrifices daily with fire. Moses filled his hands: and anointed him with holy oil. He clothed him with the robe of glory: he crowned him with a tiara, with the vessels of power. Like the morning star in the midst of a cloud, and like the shining sun: so he shone forth in the temple of God. The offering of the most high King was in his hand: he poured out at the base of the altar from the blood of the grape. Then the sons of Aaron cried out, they sounded the wrought trumpets: they gave a loud voice, singing psalms to the Lord. All the people fell upon their faces, worshipping the Lord: and offered prayers to Almighty God Most High. Then descending, he stretched out his hands over the whole congregation of Israel: he blessed them in the name of the Lord. He repeated his prayer, asking that joy of heart be given to the people, and that peace be made in Israel, for everlasting days.
Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire: fire went forth from the Lord and devoured them. The Lord separated clean animals from unclean: He forbade them to contaminate their souls with unclean things. He established purification in childbirth, in leprosy, in the flux of seed and blood, saying: Be holy, for I am holy. He established that on the day of expiation the lot of the goats be cast, and that the high priest make expiation for the Holy of Holies. All blood and fat He claimed for Himself: for in His hand is our death and our life. He established the laws of marriage: that no one approach a near relation of blood. He established that both priests and victims be without blemish: for He Himself is holy, and sanctifies them. He established the celebration of Passover, Pentecost, Sabbaths, and Tabernacles: holy feasts to the Lord. To sound the trumpet at the new moon: on the solemn day of the feast of Israel. He established the sabbath of the land, He established the joyful jubilee: and in it remission for all the inhabitants of the land. He established the laws of vows, firstborn, and tithes: and the cherem, most holy to the Lord. Make vows, and pay them to the Lord your God: all you who bring gifts round about Him. He has not done thus to every nation: His ceremonies and judgments He has not made manifest to them. Your testimonies are wonderful, O Lord: therefore my soul has searched them out. Give me understanding, and I will search Your commandments: I will consider the wonders of Your law. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.