Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He foretells that Christ will be the fountain of grace, justice, and salvation, and therefore that idols and false prophets must be abolished, to the point that parents will severely punish their own children if they teach what is false and impious. This fountain, at verse 6, he teaches will be opened by wounds on the cross, at the command of the Father who says: O sword, arise against My shepherd, and against the man who cleaves to Me: strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. Hence, at verse 8, he teaches that by Christ's passion a third part of the people will be saved, and that this part will be tested through fire.
Vulgate Text: Zechariah 13:1-9
1. In that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for the washing of the sinner and of the unclean woman. 2. And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts: I will destroy the names of the idols out of the earth, and they shall be remembered no more: and I will take away the false prophets, and the unclean spirit out of the earth. 3. And it shall come to pass, that when any man shall prophesy any more, his father and his mother that begot him shall say to him: You shall not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord. And his father and his mother, his parents, shall thrust him through when he shall prophesy. 4. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be confounded, every one by his own vision when he shall prophesy: neither shall they be clad with a garment of sackcloth, to deceive. 5. But he shall say: I am no prophet, I am a husbandman: for Adam was my example from my youth. 6. And they shall say to him: What are these wounds in the midst of your hands? And he shall say: With these I was wounded in the house of those that loved me. 7. Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that cleaves to Me, says the Lord of hosts: strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn My hand to the little ones. 8. And there shall be in all the earth, says the Lord: two parts therein shall be scattered, and shall perish: but the third part shall be left therein. 9. And I will bring the third part through fire, and I will refine them as silver is refined: and I will try them as gold is tried. He shall call on My name, and I will hear him. I will say: You are My people: and he shall say: The Lord is my God.
Verse 1: In That Day
1. IN THAT DAY — namely, when they shall see Christ nailed to the cross, and therefore shall mourn, as he said in the preceding chapter, verse 10; for then Christ became a fountain of blood, rather than of water, for washing away the sins of the Jews and of all men.
THERE SHALL BE A FOUNTAIN OPEN TO THE HOUSE OF DAVID. — The Syriac and Arabic: A fountain which shall be opened to the house of David. He alludes to the fountain of Siloam, which was a type of Christ, John 9:7. For Siloam in Hebrew means the same as 'sent': and Christ was, as it were, sent by the Father to us as an envoy, in order to reconcile us to Him. The fountain of Siloam, says Adrichomius in his Description of the Holy Land, to which the pool or swimming-place of Siloam is connected, on the western side of the valley of Jehoshaphat, springs from the foot of the mount
of Zion. Its water is clear, sweet, and most abundant, flowing with silence, as Isaiah says in chapter 8:22, and peacefully into the brook Cedron. The illustrious king Hezekiah restored this fountain, and in its pool the man born blind, having washed his eyes anointed with Christ's spittle and clay, received his sight (to which there is an allusion here), John 9. Concerning the virtue of this water, Saligniacus, a most diligent investigator of this place, writes roughly as follows: The water of this fountain even today is held in esteem even by the Saracens themselves. For since they naturally stink in body like he-goats, they wash themselves and their children in this fountain, and by that washing mitigate their stench. Indeed the Turks also value it highly, because they find by experience that its use benefits the eyesight. Nicephorus writes, book VIII, chapter 30, that the Empress St. Helena constructed wonderful works at this fountain. So says Adrichomius. Siloam therefore, both by its name and its virtue, represents Christ, of whom Isaiah says in chapter 12:3: 'You shall draw waters with joy out of the fountains of the Savior.' See what was said there.
You will ask, what is this fountain? Some, thinking that the passage refers to the time of the Maccabees, who purified the temple and restored the Jewish rites, judge that this fountain was that of the temple, with which the unclean and menstruous women were washed: for the Jews teach that these were washed with living water. But this is cold and Judaizing. Add that all orthodox interpreters judge that the passage refers to Christ.
They respond, therefore: first, St. Jerome, Rupert, Hugh, and Lyranus say that this fountain is baptism. This is true, but partial: for many sins are committed after baptism, which are washed by this fountain, yet cannot be washed away by baptism. Second, Remigius judges this fountain to be doctrine, which flowed from the mouth of Christ and the Apostles as from a fountain, according to Proverbs 10:11: 'The mouth of the just is a vein of life, and the mouth of the just shall bring forth wisdom.' Hence the Chaldean translates: In that time the teaching of the law will be revealed, like a spring of waters to the house of David. Third, Haymo judges this to be the fountain of God's mercy. Fourth, Vatablus judges this fountain to be the side of Christ, when, pierced by the lance, it poured forth water and blood, as symbols of the sacraments and of grace. These are true, but partial.
I say therefore, fully and adequately: This fountain is God incarnate, namely Jesus Christ, who is the fountain, in Hebrew מקור macor, that is, the vein, the spring, perennially pouring forth upon men in every age the waters of all grace and doctrine. Again, Christ is the fountain and origin of the Holy Spirit, whom He pours out upon us, to cleanse sins and quench the thirst of the soul, according to John 7:37: 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water shall flow from his belly. But this He said of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive.' Moreover, this fountain was physically opened when, on the cross, the side and body of Christ being opened by wounds, He became, as it were, a fountain open for baptism and all the sacraments. So Theodoret and the Hebrews in Galatinus, book IV, last chapter. Likewise St. Gregory, homily 20 on Ezekiel, whom hear: 'The hidden fountain is the Only-begotten of the Father, the invisible God. But the open fountain is the same God incarnate: which open fountain is rightly called the house of David, because from David's line our Redeemer came forth to us. But those who inhabit Jerusalem are those who fix their mind on the vision of interior peace. The sinner and the unclean woman is either the one who sins in deed, or the mind that slips into evil thought. For this uncleanness is a pollution, because one is not touched by another's flesh, yet is defiled by one's own flesh. So then, so is every soul which, even though it does no evil work, yet is soiled by polluted thought.'
Moreover, that the Prophet here looks to the cross and wounds of Christ is clear both from chapter 12:10, where he said: 'They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced;' and because, explaining this fountain at verse 6, he says: 'What are these wounds in the midst of your hands?' Therefore the five wounds of Christ were like five fountains, of both grace and blood. But he looks especially to the wound of Christ's side, both because from it came forth blood and water, which were like symbols of Baptism, the Eucharist, and the other Sacraments, by which we are washed from sins — hence St. Jerome, epistle 83: 'When at evening,' he says, 'the side of Christ is struck by the lance, the sacraments of baptism and martyrdom are poured forth;' and St. Ambrose, book V On the Sacraments, chapter 1: 'Why,' he says, 'water? Why blood? Water to cleanse, blood to redeem;' — and because this wound was greater than the others, and so large that St. Thomas could place his hand in it, John 20:27. Indeed, this wound seems to have penetrated the entire side of Christ, so that the lance driven through the right side of Christ passed through His heart and pericardium, and its point exited through the left side near the nipple.
For that both sides of Christ were pierced, Prudentius teaches in three places. First, in the poem On the Passion of Christ, singing thus:
'Pierced through both sides, Christ pours forth water and blood: the blood is victory, the water is a washing.'
Second, Peristephanon, hymn 8:
'He Himself is the Lord of the place, from whose wound on both sides, hence flowed forth blood, and thence water.'
Third, Cathemerinon, hymn 8:
'O new miracle of the wound in the astounding slaughter! Hence flows a wave of blood, water from the other side.'
St. Cyprian suggests the same in his treatise On the Passion of Christ, when he says: 'From Your side, O Christ, with the boundaries divided, water and blood pour forth.' Hence also Theophylact calls this wound of the side τύπους [blows/marks] in the plural. The same is confirmed from the fact that St. Thomas was able to place his hand on Christ's side: therefore the lance was driven deeply through it; and conse-
quently its point penetrated and pierced through the left side. See here, O Christian, the breadth of the wound, and consequently of the love of Christ. This is the open fountain, the open heart, I say, into which you may enter: therefore enter it, for it will contain you entirely. 'Longinus opened the side of Christ for me with a lance, and I entered, and there I rest securely,' says St. Augustine in his Manual, chapter 23. The same, chapter 21: 'Safe,' he says, 'and firm is the rest for the weak and for sinners in the wounds of the Savior. I dwell there securely: the bowels lie open to me through the wounds; whatever is lacking in me from myself, I take for myself from the bowels of my Lord, because they overflow with mercy, nor are there lacking openings through which it may flow out. Through the openings of the body, the secrets of the heart lie open to me, the great mystery of piety lies open, the bowels of the mercy of our God lie open, in which the rising sun from on high has visited us. The wounds of Jesus Christ are full of mercy, full of piety, full of sweetness and charity. They dug His hands, His feet, and they pierced His side with a lance. Through these openings I am permitted to taste how sweet the Lord my God is, because He is truly sweet and gentle, and of great mercy to all who call upon Him in truth; to all who seek, and especially to those who love. A copious redemption has been given us in the wounds of Jesus Christ our Savior. A great multitude of sweetness, a fullness of grace, and a perfection of virtues. When some shameful thought assails me, I have recourse to the wounds of Christ. When my flesh oppresses me, I rise again by the remembrance of the wounds of my Lord. When the devil prepares snares for me, I flee to the bowels of the mercy of my Lord, and he retreats from me. If the fire of lust moves my members, it is extinguished by the remembrance of the wounds of our Lord the Son of God. In all adversities I have found no remedy so effective as the wounds of Christ: in them I sleep securely and rest without fear. Christ died for us. Nothing is so bitter unto death that it cannot be healed by the death of Christ. My entire hope is in the death of my Lord.'
As a symbol of this fountain, at the birth of Christ in Rome, in an inn across the Tiber, a certain fountain flowed with oil for an entire day. For this represented the fountain of mercy and beneficence which Christ brought to the world at His birth, and He not only brought it, but also communicated it to His own, making them fountains like Himself, according to what He Himself says to the Samaritan woman: 'The water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life,' John 4:14. St. Ambrose says beautifully, book VI of the Hexaemeron, chapter 4: 'We have all things in Christ,' he says, 'and Christ is all things to us. If you desire to heal a wound, He is a physician; if you burn with fevers, He is a fountain; if you are weighed down by iniquity, He is justice; if you need help, He is strength; if you fear death, He is life; if you desire heaven, He is the way; if you flee darkness, He is light; if you seek food, He is nourishment.' Christ therefore is the fountain of wisdom, of charity, of grace, of virtue, and of every good: He is the πηγή σοφίας καὶ σωτηρίας [fountain of wisdom and salvation].
TO THE HOUSE OF DAVID — that is, as St. Jerome and St. Gregory, homily 20 on Ezekiel, say, from the house of David, that is, springing from the temple, says Mariana. Hence Ezekiel, chapter 47:1, saw a fountain bursting from the temple and growing into a river. But because it is added, 'and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,' it is better to understand by the house of David the nobles, and by the inhabitants of Jerusalem the common people, as if to say: This fountain lies open to all, both commoners and nobles. He mentions David because Christ was promised to David and was descended from him: therefore He was to be presented first to his posterity, and then to the rest of the people of Jerusalem and the Jews. Hence Christ said He was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; and at last through the Apostles this fountain of grace was offered to all nations, that they might draw salvation from it. So Theodoret.
Mystically, St. Jerome: The house of David is the Church, especially the primitive Church of the Apostles, in which, as inhabitants and citizens of Jerusalem, are all the faithful, both from the Gentiles and the Jews.
FOR THE WASHING OF THE SINNER. — At Cyzicus there is a fountain, which is called the fountain of Cupid, from which those who drink are believed to lose love, according to Mutianus, says Pliny, book 31, chapter 11, and Isidore, book 13 of the Origins, chapter 13. At Cyzicus, he says, a fountain removes the love of Venus. Be that as it may, certainly there is no fountain that washes away sins and cleanses sinners from them, except Christ, who wipes them away by the font of baptism, and by His grace not only abolishes them, but also puts to sleep and extinguishes their springs, namely earthly desires and the tinder of lust, gluttony, etc., and inflames the mind with sacred fire and heavenly love. In Hebrew it reads: For sin and menstrual uncleanness, namely to be washed and expiated, that is, from the sinner and the unclean woman, which our Vulgate clearly translates: 'For the washing of the sinner and of the unclean woman.' For he alludes to the waters of expiation, prepared from the ashes of the red heifer, by which uncleanness contracted from menstruation, a corpse, or any other pollution (which was a legal sin of the Old Testament) was washed away, Numbers 19:11. Hence the Chaldean translates: I will remit their sins as they are cleansed by the water of sprinkling and by the ashes of the heifer which was offered for sin.
Moreover, this legal uncleanness, especially of menstruation, was a type of sin, which is the menstrual discharge, that is, the poison and supreme pollution of the soul, as I said at Leviticus 15:19 and 25; and consequently the waters of expiation for it were a type of the blood of Christ, by which every sin is washed away.
Moreover, literally, by the sinner he understands men, by the unclean woman he understands women soiled by sin: for the sins of both women and men are washed away by this fountain of Christ.
Symbolically, Albert, Lyranus, and Clarius understand by sin the actual, and by menstruation the original: for the latter is transmitted by generation, whose dregs and remnants in the woman who has given birth are menstrual discharges, or a flow of blood, and filth like that of menstruation.
Tropologically, St. Gregory, homily 20 on Ezekiel: The sinner, he says, is the one who sins in deed: the unclean woman is the mind that slips into evil thought.
Morally, St. Bernard, sermon 62 on the Canticle: 'What,' he says, 'is so effective for healing the wounds of conscience, and also for purifying the sight of the mind, as the assiduous meditation on the wounds of Christ?' And St. Bonaventure, Collation 7: 'He who intently and devoutly exercises himself in the most holy life and passion of the Lord finds there abundantly everything useful and necessary for himself; nor does he need to seek anything outside of Jesus.'
Verse 2: I Will Destroy the Names of the Idols
2. I WILL DESTROY THE NAMES OF THE IDOLS OUT OF THE EARTH. — From all histories it is clear that through Christ and the Apostles idols and the oracles of idols were everywhere abolished, along with the priests and prophets, about whom he adds: 'And the false prophets, and the unclean spirit,' namely the demon who attended the idol, as its soul, and spoke through it, and gave responses. So St. Cyril, Remigius, and Albert. For 'false prophets' the Hebrew has נביאם nebiim, which commonly signifies Prophets, from the root naba, that is, he prophesied; yet sometimes, says Arias, it signifies foolish chatterers and babblers, who are artisans of vain speech which has no basis of truth or virtue, and who capture the people by the tricks of speech and words, from the root nob, which signifies to sprout, and to burst forth and bubble up like a sprout. Hence ניב nib is the word for fruit, and for speech, which is the fruit and, as it were, the sprout of the tongue.
Verse 3: When Anyone Shall Prophesy (namely What is False
3. When anyone shall prophesy (namely what is false and impious, from the instigation of the unclean spirit and of idols, as preceded), his father and his mother shall say to him, etc.: YOU SHALL NOT LIVE, BECAUSE YOU HAVE SPOKEN A LIE IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. — 'A lie,' namely in faith and religion, teaching idolatry or heresy. It signifies that in the new law Christians will be such zealots for Christ and the faith that they will not spare even their children who apostatize from Him. He alludes to Deuteronomy 13:6: 'If your brother, or your son, or your daughter, etc., shall seek to persuade you secretly, saying: Let us go and serve strange gods, etc., let not your eye spare him, to pity and conceal him, but you shall immediately put him to death.' From which passage let heretics learn that it is not only lawful and holy, but also commanded by God, that heretics be punished with death, to the point that not even parents should spare their children. This is what Christ says, Matthew 5:29: 'If your right eye scandalizes you, pluck it out and cast it from you, etc. And if your right hand scandalizes you, cut it off and cast it from you.' And chapter 10:34: 'Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword: for I came to set a man against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and the enemies of a man shall be those of his own household.'
AND THEY SHALL THRUST HIM THROUGH. — In Hebrew דקרוהו dekaruhu, that is, they shall pierce, transfix him, whether with a sword, or a lance, or a javelin, or with nails on the cross. The Zurich Bible: They shall stab him. Vatablus: They shall transfix him, that is, they will arrange for him to be driven to the cross. Sanchez rightly notes that in Scripture, to pierce, to burn, and to cut are used by catachresis to signify any grievous pain and punishment. Hence the Septuagint translate: They shall bind him with fetters. So says Nahum, chapter 3:10: 'All her nobles were bound in fetters.'
Verse 4: Neither Shall They Be Clad with a Garment
4. NEITHER SHALL THEY BE CLAD WITH A GARMENT OF SACKCLOTH. — The Septuagint: with a skin of haircloth; Pagninus: with a hairy mantle; the Zurich Bible: with a shaggy cloak. For the outward garment of the Prophets was sackcloth, namely a mantle woven from the hair and bristles of camels, horses, or other animals, and therefore a hairshirt; so that by their very dress they might stir the people to mourning and repentance, as the Capuchins do. So St. Jerome. Wherefore the false prophets assumed a similar mantle, so that by the very garment they might appear to be true Prophets. The meaning, therefore, is: Because the false prophets will see that they are refuted for their falsehood even by their own people, indeed by their parents, and beaten and killed; hence they will not dare henceforth to lie that they are Prophets of God, and to prophesy falsely. Hence consequently they will not dare to put on the prophetic garment, namely sackcloth, pretending as true Prophets to practice penance and austerity of life. Whence it follows:
Verse 5: He Shall Say: I Am no Prophet, I
5. HE SHALL SAY: I AM NO PROPHET, I AM A HUSBANDMAN. — Just as Amos said to Amaziah, chapter 7:14: 'I am not a prophet, and I am not the son of a prophet: but I am a herdsman plucking wild figs.'
BECAUSE ADAM WAS MY EXAMPLE. — He proves that he is not a prophet, but a farmer, as if to say: From boyhood I imitated Adam and the first fathers, who by their example taught me to cultivate the fields. For Adam prepared his food by the sweat of his brow, according to the sentence of the Lord: 'In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread,' Genesis 3:19. Looking therefore to him, I rather resolved to live by the sweat of my brow from the field, than to act insolently as a Prophet. For the Hebrew קנה kana means to possess, and hence הקנני hicnani in the Hiphil conjugation, which signifies a double action, means the same as 'he caused me to possess,' or 'he taught me to cultivate possessions.' Hence the Zurich Bible translates: Adam from my adolescence instructed me to cultivate possessions. Vatablus says: a man, that is, someone (for Adam can be taken either as the proper name of the first parent, or as the common noun for any man), taught me the pastoral art from my youth. For the Hebrew hicnani, if derived from the root קנה kana through he, means 'he caused to possess'; but if from קנא kana through aleph, it means 'he created, he begot': for the letters aleph and he are often interchanged. Hence, for what our Vulgate translates, Proverbs 8:22: 'The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways,' the Hebrew has the same hicnani, which the Septuagint translate: The Lord created me.
6. AND THEY SHALL SAY TO HIM: WHAT ARE THESE WOUNDS IN THE MIDST
OF YOUR HANDS? — First, Cyril, Theodoret, Lyranus, Albert, and Vatablus judge that the discourse here is addressed to the false prophet, about whom the speech has been until now, who, having been beaten by his own people and being bruised, when asked by others where he had gotten those bruises and wounds, responds: I was chastised at my parents' house lest I prophesy, and these wounds are witnesses of that chastisement. Or, as St. Jerome, who takes this as referring to the false prophet crucified for his false doctrine, as if to say: Why have you been nailed to a cross? Why have nails been driven into your hands on the gibbet? What crime did you commit to deserve these wounds? Arias, however, judges that the false prophet inflicted these wounds upon himself, in order to make himself venerable and holy in the eyes of the people. For so the prophets of Baal used to inflict wounds and marks upon themselves, as is clear from 3 Kings 18:28.
But I say that the discourse here is about Christ and His wounds on the cross. For after the long digression which he inserted about the false prophet, whom he said would be removed by Christians, the Prophet returns to Christ, whom at verse 1 he said would be the fountain open to the house of David. For he explains this here through the wounds by which His hands will be opened and laid bare, as well as His feet and side. That this is so is clear: first, from the very words, which plainly signify the wounds of the hands in Christ crucified. Second, because the Church so explains and applies them to Christ in the Mass of the Passion of Christ. Third, because what follows, 'Strike the shepherd,' etc., Christ entirely refers to Himself in Matthew 26. Fourth, because the Septuagint translate: What are these wounds in the midst of your hands? And he shall say: With which I was struck in the house of my beloved one, namely by my beloved people. Fifth, because the Prophet returns here to Christ, about whom all his discourse here is, whom he has so far taught will destroy idols and false prophets. So Rupert, St. Thomas on Psalm 21, Rabbi Samuel in On the Coming of the Messiah, chapter 7, Galatinus book 18, chapter 17, Ribera, and others.
Moreover, rightly does the Prophet, marveling and astonished at the novelty of the thing and at a prodigy unheard of through the ages, ask: 'What are these wounds in the midst of your hands?' For what is more wonderful in all the ages, what more astounding in heaven or on earth, than God on the cross, than God wounded, nailed, crowned with thorns, crucified? Beholding Him, the sun was astonished, the moon, and all the stars, and therefore they withdrew their rays from so unworthy a spectacle. The tombs and rocks were astonished, when in His passion they split apart and cracked. The entire world was astonished, when, shuddering at His death, it was shaken by an earthquake, and as though convulsed from its center, fell apart. Shall man alone here not be astonished? The angels were astonished and continue to be astonished: on one hand at God suffering, on the other at the stupor of men, who watch so great a spectacle unmoved and as though insensible, and therefore they cry out: 'Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and let your gates be utterly desolate.' The King of heaven, my God and Creator, hangs on the cross for me, disembowels Himself for me, empties Himself for me, is torn apart by the most horrible death for me — and shall I, a little worm of the earth, not be astonished? Shall I not be struck with sacred horror? Shall I not melt entirely with love? Shall I not repay wounds with wounds, hardship with hardship, death with death, love with love?
St. Lawrence, St. Vincent, St. Sebastian, and the other athletes and martyrs repaid Him, who most ardently desired crosses, stakes, fires, and wild beasts for Christ, in order to render to Him whatever gratitude and love they could. The holy anchorites, virgins, and confessors repaid Him, mortifying themselves with eager spirit by so many and such great penances, taming the flesh with so many vigils and labors, so that they might constantly bear the dying of Jesus in their body for the love and honor of Him. Monks, religious, and men devoted to contemplation repay Him, who constantly with the eyes of the mind contemplate with amazement God, and their Christ nailed to the cross for them, and are wholly absorbed with St. Francis in this conflagration and abyss of divine love; nor do they say or think anything other than that saying of St. Thomas upon seeing the wounds of Christ: 'My Lord and my God; my God, my love, my Jesus, and my all.'
Moreover, more pathetic is the version of the Syriac and the Arabic of Antioch; for it reads thus: What are these wounds that are in your hands? And he shall say: These are the wounds with which I was wounded among my friends (in the house of my friends). And the Arabic of Alexandria: What are these wounds that are in the midst of his hands? And he shall say: They came to me from the house of my beloved.
IN THE MIDST OF YOUR HANDS. — In Hebrew, between your hands, which are namely in the arms, neck, breast, and the entire body interposed between the hands. Hence Theodoret reads: In the midst of your shoulder-blades. But St. Jerome, the Septuagint, and others commonly translate: In the midst of your hands; the Zurich Bible: Between your hands. For the passage concerns the wounds and nails with which the hands of Christ were transfixed on the cross, under which understand equally the wounds of the feet and side.
AND HE SHALL SAY: WITH THESE I WAS WOUNDED IN THE HOUSE OF THOSE THAT LOVED ME — namely in Judea and Jerusalem; for this was the house of those who worshipped and loved God, who professed to love God, and were bound to this by a particular obligation, as if to say: My citizens, my kinsmen, my relatives, namely the Jews to whom I was promised and to whom I was sent as Messiah, king, and redeemer, who were bound to love and revere Me supremely by a thousand benefits and titles — my own, I say, brothers, citizens, and subjects wounded Me and crucified Me, as though to say: I allowed Myself to be wounded and crucified by My own, because I loved them, though undeserving, and loved them exceedingly, in order to rescue them from their wounds.
Note: The phrase 'those who loved me' stings greatly and sharpens the wound. For the wound and pain that is inflicted by friends is usually the most grievous. Hence the bride in Canticle 1:6: 'The sons of my mother,' she says, 'fought
against me.' Therefore love is called by St. Gregory Nazianzen, oration 28, a sweet tyrant, and by Euripides in the Hippolytus, bitter, and most fertile with both honey and gall. For love, as it has a remarkable power of doing good, so also of doing harm. As a symbol of this, the pagans painted Apollo (that is, the sun, which is the hieroglyphic of love and beneficence) holding in one hand a lyre and the graces, and in the other bearing arrows and a quiver. Hence also the saying: 'Where there is love, there is pain: for without pain one does not live in love.' Hence that complaint and pathos of Christ about Judas the traitor, Psalm 54:13: 'For if my enemy had cursed me, I would indeed have borne it, etc. But you, a man of one mind, my guide and my familiar friend: who together with me took sweet food, in the house of God we walked with consent,' as if to say: This torments Me, that you, Judas, who were My table companion, betrayed Me, whom you ought in every way to have protected. Hence, again, the angers of lovers are most bitter, and the hatreds of brothers most harsh: just as from the sweetest wine, if it becomes corrupted, the sourest vinegar is made.
Tropologically, let the penitent soul feel that this is said to it tearfully by Christ crucified: Behold, by these five wounds I was wounded by you, whom I loved, and whom I made to love Me in return: I paid your debts, I took upon Myself your wounds, your pleasures and lusts transfixed Me with nails: your pride pierced My head with thorns: your gluttony gave Me gall and vinegar to drink: I suffered to free you from the torments of hell; I died to rescue you from eternal death. See how much I suffered for you. See how much I loved you. See how little you love Me in return, how unequal and ungrateful you are to My love.
Pathetically, St. Augustine in his Meditations, chapter 6: 'The naked breast shines white,' he says, 'the bloody side is red, the stretched entrails are parched, the beautiful eyes grow faint, the royal countenance grows pale, the tall arms stiffen, the legs hang like marble, the stream of blessed blood waters the pierced feet. Behold, glorious Father, the torn limbs of Your most weighty offspring. See the punishment of the Redeemer, and forgive the sin of the redeemed.' And a little later: 'What have You committed, most sweet child, that You should be so judged? What was Your crime? What was Your offense? What was the cause of death? What was the occasion of Your condemnation? For I am the wound of Your pain, the guilt of Your slaying. I am the merit of Your death, the outrage of Your punishment. I am the bruise of Your passion, the labor of Your torture. O wondrous condition of judgment, and ineffable disposition of mystery! The wicked man sins, and the just one is punished: the guilty party offends, and the innocent one is beaten: the impious man transgresses, and the pious one is condemned: what the bad man deserves, the good one suffers: what the servant perpetrates, the Lord pays for: what man commits, God endures. Where, O Son of God, where did Your humility descend? Where did Your charity blaze? Where did piety advance? Where did kindness increase? Where did Your love reach? Where did compassion arrive? For I acted wickedly, and You are punished with penalty: I committed the crime, and You are struck with vengeance: I produced the offense, and You are subjected to torture: I was proud, and You are humbled: I swelled up, and You are diminished: I stood disobedient, and You, obedient, expiate the crime of disobedience: I obeyed gluttony, and You are afflicted with hunger: the tree swept me to illicit desire, perfect charity led You to the cross: I presumed the forbidden, and You endured the rack: I delight in food, and You labor on the gibbet: I enjoy pleasures, and You are torn by nails: I taste the sweetness of the fruit, and You taste the bitterness of gall: Eve laughing rejoices with me, Mary weeping suffers with You. Behold the King of glory, behold my impiety, and Your piety shines forth. Behold my injustice, and Your justice is clear.'
Bursting forth from these words into an affection of gratitude, he adds: 'What, my King and my God, what shall I repay You for all that You have repaid to me? For there cannot be found in the heart of man anything that could be worthily rendered for such rewards. Can human ingenuity devise anything that could be compared to divine mercy! Nor is it for a creature to contrive a service by which it could justly compensate the protection of the Creator. But there is, O Son of God, in this Your admirable dispensation, there is something in which my frailty can be of some service: if, stricken by Your visitation, the mind crucifies its flesh with its vices and concupiscences — and when this is granted by You, it begins, as it were, to suffer with You, because You also deigned to die for my sin.'
Therefore, mortifying our desires with thanksgiving and jubilation, let us say to Christ what Zipporah said to Moses her husband, Exodus chapter 4:25-26: 'You are a bridegroom of blood to me because of the circumcision' — indeed because of the crucifixion and cutting of all Your members; so that, just as You, my Bridegroom, allowed Yourself to be cut to pieces for my sake, so I may circumcise and mortify my own desires for love of You.
Finally, Christ wounded on the cross for us, silently and lovingly cries out to each one: 'Behold, in My hands I have inscribed you,' Isaiah 49:16 — indeed, not with a pen, but with a nail; not with ink, but with My blood:
'You see how love is sculpted in the whole body,'
and in turn:
'You see how pain is sculpted, nay, burned in the whole body by love, Look upon me, hide me in your heart, keep me in your breast, I am he who, pitying the bitter misfortunes of men, Came hither.'
Lactantius in his poem On the Passion of the Lord, sings of it thus:
'Behold the hands fixed with nails, and the arms stretched out, And the immense wound of the side; behold thence the flow Of blood, and the pierced feet, and the bloody limbs.'
'Recognize, O man, how grievous are the wounds, for which it was necessary for the Lord Christ to be wounded,' says St. Bernard, sermon 3 On the Nativity, and indeed to be wounded with so many and such great blows. St. Magdalene recognized this, who, as Sylvester Prieras relates in her Life (in Surius), doing penance at La Baume for
thirty years, constantly gazing upon and mentally contemplating the cross fixed there for her by St. Michael, she poured forth perpetual showers of tears. 'Christ therefore, our love, was crucified for us:' and He is a man of sorrows because He is a man of loves. For where there is pain, there is love; nor does one live in love without pain: because the measure of pain is love, and of love, pain. O love, love, love, how much You loved us, how few love You! and these, how little they love You, and grieve for You! because they do not know You. Grant, Lord Jesus, that henceforth I may feel Your loves, not my own; Your pains, not my own: because Your love is my love, Your pain is my pain. For with exceeding pain, and far greater love, You brought me to birth. Rightly did St. Bonaventure say: 'Lord, I do not wish to live without a wound, because I see You wounded.' And St. Augustine: 'Hence I am suckled from the breast, hence I am fed from the wound.' And St. Paul: 'I am nailed to the cross with Christ: and I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me. I bear the marks of my Lord in my body.' And: 'In all these things we overcome because of Him who loved us.' And St. Ignatius the Martyr: 'My love is crucified.' Again St. Paul: 'But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.' And St. Bernard: 'It is not fitting for a member to be delicate under a head crowned with thorns.' And St. Elzear, count of Ariano, to his wife Delphina: 'If you seek me,' he said, 'you will find me nowhere but in the wounds of Christ.' Finally: 'For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.'
'For my crucified love has crucified my love, And my crucified hope has fixed my hope to the cross.'
This is what the bride knew and felt in Canticle 2:13, singing to her bridegroom: 'A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, he shall abide between my breasts.'
Moreover, these wounds are so dear and precious to Christ, and so worthy to be admired, loved, and adored by us, that Christ rising again wished to resume them, and to preserve and display them in heaven for all eternity, and this for twenty reasons and titles: namely, that they may be: first, most certain proofs that He assumed true flesh, not phantasmal, as the Manichaeans wished; second, witnesses of His most atrocious passion; third, the sting of vanquished death, and undoubted arguments for the resurrection, namely that the same body of Christ that was crucified rose again, not another; fourth, characters of most ardent love, by which, as Isaiah says, He inscribed us in His hands, not with pens, but with nails; fifth, trophies of His most illustrious victory over sin, the devil, death, and hell; sixth, the splendid ornaments and triumphs of His glorious body; seventh, the token of our redemption; eighth, the marks of obedience even unto death; ninth, the sacred relics of Christ's labors and sufferings; tenth, the ransom for all sins, which Christ represents by continually interceding with the Father for them;
eleventh, the consolation of the afflicted; twelfth, the example of the patient; thirteenth, the refuge of the distressed; fourteenth, the incentive of penitents; fifteenth, the asylum of the tempted, according to Canticle 2:13: 'Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come: my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow of the wall;' sixteenth, the spur of laborers; seventeenth, the model of martyrs; eighteenth, a joy to the elect; nineteenth, a reproach to the reprobate on the day of judgment; twentieth, and finally, an object of wonder and astonishment to the angels.
Verse 7: Awake, O Sword
7. Awake, O sword. — To the one asking: 'What are these wounds in the midst of Your hands?' Christ responded that He was wounded by His own, whom He loved supremely as His citizens and kinsmen. Now God the Father responds to the same questioner that this was His decree, that Christ be struck, and thus that the fountain be opened which would pour forth upon us the waters of salvation, about which verse 1 speaks, and who is the same Good Shepherd, healing and satisfying by this fountain of His the weak, wandering, and scattered sheep, to procure eternal life for them. For that this passage is understood of Christ transfixed on the cross, Christ Himself teaches in Matthew 26:51, when He says to the Apostles: 'All of you shall be scandalized in Me this night; for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.'
God the Father therefore says: 'Awake, O sword;' the Zurich Bible: Arise, O sword! The Chaldean: Unsheathe, O sword! The Septuagint: Rise up, O sword! As if to say: Draw yourself, O sword! Unsheathe yourself, to strike and kill Christ. Note here: these imperatives are taken for the future tense; for they signify God's decree concerning the future death of Christ, based on the malice of the Jews foreseen and permitted by Him, as if to say: God, foreseeing that the malice of the Jews would be so great that if He presented Christ to them, they would kill Him, decreed to present Him to them and to permit them to kill Him, to this end: that by His passion and death He might save the human race. Therefore, by God's decree it shall come to pass that the sword is unsheathed which shall slay Christ. Hence Vatablus translates: I rouse you, O sword! But St. Matthew translates with the future active, saying: 'I will strike the shepherd.' And so Pagninus translates here, as though the Hebrew קה hach, that is, 'strike,' is put for אך ach, that is, 'I will strike,' namely with the sword through the Jews, by presenting Christ to them, whom I know to be thirsting for His death, and by commanding Christ to receive and endure their blows steadfastly. Hence to the word 'I will strike' corresponds the word 'I will turn My hand,' which follows. This is what St. Peter says, Acts 2:23: 'Him (Christ), delivered up by the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.' For without this permission, foreknowledge, and decree of God, the Jews with all their strength and counsels could not have killed Christ, nor even taken a hair from Him.
Just as Moses, therefore, striking the rock with his rod, Exodus 17:6, drew forth from it a fountain from which the whole people drank: so God the Father, striking Christ with the cross, drew forth from Him a fountain of grace, from which
all the faithful drink and are saved. For the rock was Christ, 1 Corinthians 10:4.
Note: The framea [javelin] is called by Gellius and Tacitus a lance, or an oblong weapon. The framea is thought by some to derive from the Greek ῥομφαία by transposition of letters, so that the o precedes, which is changed into f. Hence for framea the Septuagint here translate ῥομφαία; thus framea was extended to signify a sword. Wherefore for framea, Aquila and Symmachus translate machaera, that is, as others also commonly translate, a sword. For the Hebrew חרב chereb signifies this. Now by framea and sword, synecdochically and catachrestically are signified nails, a lance, and all instruments by which death is inflicted on someone, as death was inflicted on Christ by nails, scourges, and thorns. Isidore, book 1 of the Differences, letter F, distinguishes these words as follows: the framea is a sword sharp on both sides, the machaera a sword sharp on one side.
In a similar manner Jeremiah says, chapter 46:7: 'O sword of the Lord! how long will you not be quiet? etc. How shall it be quiet, when the Lord has given it a charge against Ashkelon,' etc. And Ezekiel, chapter 21:28: 'O sword, O sword, draw yourself to slay; polish yourself, to kill and to flash.'
MY SHEPHERD. — Whom I, God the Father, gave to men as their shepherd, John 10.
AND AGAINST THE MAN THAT CLEAVES TO ME. — In Hebrew עמיתי amithi, that is, as Pagninus translates, my companion, my associate; Symmachus: the man of my people; Aquila and Theodotion: my fellow tribesman, that is, consubstantial with Me the Father according to His humanity, inasmuch as He is My Son intimately cohering through the hypostatic union. Hence the Chaldean translates: Against his companion, who is like him; Vatablus: Against the man co-equal with me; the Syriac: Against the man my friend; the Arabic of Antioch: Against the illustrious man, endowed with majesty; the Arabic of Alexandria: Against the man from those who are of his city; the Septuagint translate: Against the man my fellow-citizen. Theodoret for 'my' reads 'his,' and explains it of the Apostles and disciples of Christ, as though to say: By God's decree the Jews will strike Christ, and His disciples and Apostles.
Note: Although only the Person of the Son, not of the Father nor of the Holy Spirit, hypostatically assumed and terminated the humanity assumed by the Word, and therefore the Son alone is said to be incarnate and made man, not the Father nor the Holy Spirit, nevertheless through this assumption to the Person of the Son, the assumed humanity contracted an intimate coherence and affinity with the Father and the Spirit. For just as a woman, marrying a man, becomes related to his brothers, so that she is called their sister-in-law, and is their fratria [kinswoman], says Festus; so much more did humanity, united to the Word, become related to the Father and the Holy Spirit, especially because the Father and the Holy Spirit share in the same divine essence with the Son, just as individual brothers each have their own and distinct human essence.
STRIKE (O sword) THE SHEPHERD (Christ), AND THE SHEEP SHALL BE SCATTERED — that is, the Apostles and other faithful. The Septuagint in the Vatican edition have: And pluck away the sheep.
AND I WILL TURN MY HAND TO THE LITTLE ONES. — First, some judge that the little ones are the same as the sheep, namely the Apostles. Hence the Septuagint translate: I will turn my hand to the shepherds. They seem to have read רועים roim, that is, shepherds, instead of צערים tsoarim, that is, little ones, as if to say: I will soon call back from flight the Apostles, who, faint-hearted like little children, fled from Christ suffering, and lead them back to Christ. I will therefore turn My hand in them from affliction to healing, from scattering to gathering. So St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert, Hugh, and others. Second, others distinguish the little ones of the flock from the sheep, and refer 'I will turn my hand' to 'strike the shepherd,' as if to say: The hand with which I struck the shepherd and scattered his sheep, I will likewise turn toward his little lambs, that is, toward the common and ordinary faithful, to similarly strike, chastise, and afflict them; so that they may be like their shepherd, and so that I may exercise them in virtue and strengthen them, and in their weakness show the strength of My grace. So Theodoret and Lyranus.
This was accomplished after Christ's ascension into heaven, when first by the Jews at Jerusalem, then shortly afterward at Rome and throughout the whole world, a fierce persecution was set in motion against Christians, which lasted for three hundred years up to Constantine.
Verse 8: And There Shall Be in All the Earth:
8. AND THERE SHALL BE IN ALL THE EARTH: TWO PARTS THEREIN SHALL BE SCATTERED — as if to say: In the entire world two parts of men shall be scattered and perish, namely the Jews and the Gentiles; for whoever remained in Judaism and paganism shall be condemned; only the third part, which shall be that of Christians, shall be preserved and saved. For only those who from the Jews and Gentiles are converted to Christianity are saved. So St. Remigius, Albert, and Lyranus.
Second, Theodoret, Arias, and a Castro take 'earth' to mean Judea, about which the discourse has been here, as if to say: In the whole land of Judea, of three parts of Jews, two remaining in their error shall be cut off and perish, and the third, the remnant of the elect faithful, shall grow and be preserved. But this must be taken loosely; for precisely a third part of the Jews was not converted to Christ: for very few believed in Christ and the Apostles. Hence the Apostles soon, leaving them, went forth to the Gentiles. Less probably, Vatablus and others explain this of the destruction of the Jews by Titus, as if to say: Of the Jews who shall be after the passion of Christ, two parts shall be cut down by Titus, the third shall be preserved, but tested and afflicted by many tribulations. For this third part was not of the faithful, because the faithful and Christians, warned by God before the destruction, departed from Jerusalem, and thus escaped it. So Theodoret and others.
Note: For 'shall be scattered' the Louvain scholars read 'shall be destroyed': for in Hebrew it is יכרתו iiccaretu, that is, they shall be cut off; the Septuagint: they shall perish; the Chaldean: they shall be consumed. Again for 'shall fail,' the He-
brew has יגועו iiguau, that is, they shall die, they shall expire.
Anagogically, Emmanuel Sa explains it thus, as if to say: In the whole world two parts of men shall be of the reprobate who shall be damned; the third shall be of the elect who shall be saved. Understand this morally, not mathematically, as if to say: Two parts, that is, far more are damned than are saved. For that arithmetically a third part of mankind is not saved, is clear from the fact that a third part of the world is not faithful: for paganism and Islam occupy Asia, Africa, and India; almost Europe alone is Christian. Now in Europe nearly half are heretics, schismatics, worldly politicians, and atheists. Among the orthodox, many are fornicators, many harbor hatreds, many are possessors of unjust goods, many are drunkards, etc. Consider therefore how small a part consists of the upright, who alone have hope of salvation. Hence Christ says: 'Many are called, but few are chosen.' And: 'Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who enter by it. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leads to life, and few there are who find it!' Matthew 7:13.
Verse 9: And I Will Bring the Third Part Through
9. AND I WILL BRING THE THIRD PART THROUGH FIRE (as if to say: I will test and purify the faithful with the fire of persecutions and tribulations, so that they may be purified like silver; but the more perfect I will refine with the same fire, so that they may be solidified, perfected, and shine like gold. For in this fire the Lord will be present to them, whom they shall call upon (whence he says): HE (namely my faithful people, whom I said to be the third part of mankind) SHALL CALL (that is, shall invoke) MY NAME, AND I WILL HEAR HIM. I WILL SAY: You are My people (as if to say: I hold you, I love you, I care for you, I protect you as My people); AND HE SHALL SAY: THE LORD IS MY GOD — as if to say: He in turn will worship, love, and invoke Me as his Lord and God. For tested and refined by fire, he is worthy to be stored in the treasures of God, according to Wisdom 3:5: 'God tested them, and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace He proved them.' And Proverbs 17:3: 'As silver is tried by fire, and gold in the furnace, so the Lord tries hearts.' Hence St. Jerome rightly says of them: 'This third part of the saints, lest it should be delicate and secure, is led and proved through fire like silver and gold.' So Job asserts that he was tested, chapter 23:10: 'He,' he says, 'knows my way, and He has tested me like gold that passes through fire.' Wherefore Ecclesiasticus wisely admonishes, chapter 2:4, saying: 'Take all that shall be brought upon you, and in your pain endure, and in your humility have patience: because gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men (δεκτοί, that is, acceptable, accepted, pleasing to God) in the furnace of humiliation.' Therefore what fire is to gold, the file to iron, the winnowing-fan to wheat, lye to cloth, salt to meat — this is what tribulation is to the just man. See what was said at Genesis 33, at the end.