Ezek 40:43

“Upon which they place the vessels in which the holocaust and victim are immolated. Whence it openly follows: Upon which they place the vessels in which the holocaust and victim are immolated. For what are the souls of the faithful, if not holy vessels that receive words of piety, so that from their minds a holocaust of life and prayer may be offered? Hence it is that Paul, when he was still unlearned in the calling of faith, because he had already received the words of the Lord and was full of heavenly grace, is called a vessel, when it is said: He is a vessel of election to me. Hence the prophet admonishes pastors and teachers, saying: Be cleansed, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. For they carry the vessels of the Lord as if upon a table, who by instructing support the life of the faithful, so that at some time they may lead them to the Lord for holocaust and sacrifice. But neither should this be regarded carelessly, that in these same vessels holocaust and victim are said to be offered. For a holocaust, as we also said above, is a victim, yet a victim is not always a holocaust, because when something is offered in part and retained in part, it is indeed a sacrifice, but it is not a holocaust. But truly in the great multitude of the faithful there are some who leave all things that are of the world, bestow all that they possess, reserve nothing for themselves, yearn from their inmost being for the eternal homeland, and slay themselves wholly in tears. These evidently are vessels upon the table, in which a holocaust is offered. And there are others who bear care for their own household, think of their children, and preserve an inheritance for them, who nevertheless, mindful of the eternal judgment, bestow mercy upon the poor, and give them food and clothing from whatever portion they have determined. These indeed are vessels upon the table, in which a victim is offered, not a holocaust. Because indeed the patience and teaching of the saints, by admonishing and sustaining, by persuading and frightening, instruct the hearts of some to such a degree that they abandon all things and kindle themselves wholly in the love of the Lord, while they instruct others to this degree, that because they are not able to leave all things, they may at least become merciful in whatever part they are able, and divide the care of the flesh with the care of the soul, the tables of the Lord constructed of squared stones bear vessels in which holocaust and victim are offered, because both the perfect, as has been said, when they abandon all things, kindle their whole heart in the love of the Lord, and the imperfect offer a sacrifice, which they have devoted in part.”

“And their edges were of one palm, turned inward all around. There follows: And their edges were of one palm, turned inward all around. What does it mean that the borders of the tables are measured by a palm-span, except that in a palm-span the hand is stretched out, and the holy fathers and teachers preach those things in which the works of their hearers are stretched forth? For we stretch out the hand, as it were, when we extend our works. Therefore let every teacher speak, let him exercise the heart of his hearer, let him shake off the torpor of the idle. When he has stretched them toward good works, let him show that he has a palm-span on his lips. It must also be considered that in a palm-span the greatest and smallest fingers are stretched out. What is signified by the greater and smaller finger, except the greatest and smallest action? Therefore let the tables have a palm-span on their borders, so that in the preaching of their teachers one may do great works, yet not omit to do even the smallest things. Let one be so attentive to the smallest things that one is not sluggish in doing the greater. Hence Truth says through the Gospel: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: judgment, mercy, and faith; these things you ought to have done, and not to have omitted those." For through judgment, mercy, and faith, the greater finger of action is shown. But through mint, dill, and cumin, without doubt the smallest finger is represented. Therefore these things ought to have been done, and those not omitted, because if we wish to measure our work by a palm-span, it is necessary that the smallest finger be stretched out in such a way that the greater finger is not drawn back.”

“And their edges were of one palm. But well, when the edges of the tables are measured, and the measure is said to be a palm, "one" is added, so that from the preaching of the teachers, just as unity is held in faith, so also unity of minds may be preserved in work, lest through the good work which one does, another break forth into the evil of discord. For we ought to do good works in such a way that through these also we preserve unanimity with those with whom we live, insofar as we rightly can—that is, not abandoning what we do, but forestalling with good persuasions the evil of discord that we fear. Thus Paul, preserving the unity of the palm in his works, was forbidding discord from being generated, when he saw that the Corinthians now wanted to receive back a certain one who had fallen and been cast out from the Church, saying: "If you have forgiven anyone anything, so have I. For what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, was for your sake in the person of Christ, lest we be outwitted by Satan." Who indeed is accustomed to generate evils from goods, and to drag what is done in charity toward discord. Whence he also immediately added concerning him, saying: "For we are not ignorant of his designs." But a teacher who through the good things he preaches forms right action in his hearers, if he does not bind the minds of those working to unanimity, has a palm in the edges, but does not have that unity of the palm which has been spoken of.”

“Turned inward all around. It must be carefully considered what is said, that the lips of these same tables are turned inward. For the lips of the tables are turned inward when teachers recall to their conscience by silent thought what they say, when they subtly examine themselves whether they do what they speak. Rightly, moreover, when the lips of the tables are said to be turned inward, it is also added "all around," so that they do not consider themselves in just one part and neglect to weigh themselves in another, but inspect themselves everywhere, and, insofar as they are able, strive to fulfill in deed each thing they teach, lest if those who preach pretend not to do good, they become destroyers of themselves while cultivating others. O teacher, behold you are now a table, you now carry vessels, you now sustain in faithful vessels the weight of holocaust and sacrifice, but turn the lip inward, that is, recall your speech to your heart. Hear what you say, do what you preach. For if you neglect to fulfill what you preach, you sow a harvest for others, and you yourself fast from participation in the grain. Hence it is written: "Whose harvest the hungry shall eat." For the hungry eats the harvest of the teacher who speaks good things but does not do them, because he who hungers for the bread of justice performs the commands he hears, and he himself who labored in sowing has no fruit. Hence Solomon says: "The sluggard hides his hand under his armpit and does not bring it to his mouth." No one is so lazy as to think it labor to bring his hand back to his mouth even for eating. But the sluggard does not bring his hand to his mouth, who does not want to do what he says. Hence again it is said of those who teach well and act badly: "The sons of Ephraim, bending the bow and shooting arrows, were turned back on the day of battle." They bend the bow and shoot arrows, who set forth the sentences of Sacred Scripture and strike the vices of their hearers with right words; but they are turned back on the day of battle, because they retreat after themselves in the temptation of vices, and do not want to oppose their breast, because they do not resist in the struggle of temptations. Hence again it is said: "You have turned back the help of his sword, and you have not assisted him in war." For the sword of the teacher is the word of God. Hence it is said through Paul: "And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Therefore Almighty God, when He sees that a teacher does not want to do what he says, turns back the sword of his help on the day of battle, because in the struggle of temptations He does not permit the words of doctrine that He gave to be a help to him. He has therefore a sword, but it does not help him in war, because when the adversity of temptation has broken forth, he forgets the word he was teaching. For behold, perhaps the teacher has a sermon about patience; by the mastery of his teaching he is compelled to say how patience should be maintained against losses inflicted, against insults heard. But when he himself has been provoked by either loss or insult, forgetting what he had taught, he exceeds measure either in injuring his neighbor or in returning insult more heavily. In these matters, therefore, let him consider that he is a table of God, let him turn his lip inward, let him keep what he preaches. For it is written: "In your patience you shall possess your souls." And again it is written: "The learning of a man is known through patience." If therefore patience is the indicator of learning, each one is shown to be learned to the degree that he has been patient. Hence it is that that good disciple who saw his master taken up into the air, through the affection of great charity cried out, saying: "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its driver." What is it, dearest brothers, that Elijah is called the chariot of Israel and its driver, unless because the driver urges on, the chariot carries? Therefore the teacher who both sustains the morals of the people through patience and teaches with the words of sacred eloquence is called both chariot and driver. Chariot, because by tolerating he carries; driver, because by exhorting he urges on. Chariot, because he endures evils; driver, because he exercises the people with good admonitions.”

“Turned inward all around. But perhaps the teacher's discourse is against vainglory, and while wonderfully insinuating how it ought to be avoided, he seeks vainglory by those very words with which he argues against that same vainglory. If therefore he desires to obtain what he forbids, the table does not turn its lip inward. But the table of the Lord, constructed from squared stones, will have its lip turned inward if one strives to hear what he says. For it is written: "Do nothing through contention, nor through vainglory." And again the excellent preacher says the same: "Nor seeking glory from men, neither from you, nor from others." For to seek passing praise from the labor of preaching, what else is it than to sell a great thing for a cheap price? But there is grave danger in the words of teaching, because often the favors of hearers follow the speech of teachers, and when teachers, from that good reputation they have gained, are unwilling to appear lesser in their sayings, the word of teaching which they began out of love for almighty God for the purpose of gaining the souls of hearers, they afterward labor at for the purpose of gaining praises. And those who first sought spiritual profits in the words of God afterward pursue temporal favors. Whence it happens that whether any right works or holy words of teaching perish in the judgment of almighty God, when through these anyone pants after passing favors. Hence indeed through the prophet it is said to Judea what the incautious mind discovers in itself, if at least after fault it carefully examines its thoughts: "The Lord called your name a fruitful olive, beautiful, fruit-bearing, splendid. At the sound of great speech a fire blazed in it, and its branches were burned." For the Lord calls a fruitful and beautiful, fruit-bearing and splendid olive one whose either efficacy in work or holy endeavors in words of knowledge He approves. But at the sound of great speech a fire blazed in it, because when someone begins to be praised, he perhaps blushes to appear lesser than he is called, and strives to be what may be said of him. For the sound of great speech is the favor of the flatterer. Whence it is written: "He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising in the night, is like one who curses." At the sound of great speech therefore a fire blazed in it, because in the greatness of favor a flame is kindled in the heart from love of praise. But all the branches of the olive are burned, because before the eyes of almighty God, both the things well done and the things knowingly spoken perish, when they are no longer done from love of the Lord, but from the intention of passing praise. For thus often a sinister thought is joined to a good thought, so that scarcely does the mind itself that generates those thoughts recognize it. Whence the excellent preacher, when speaking subtly he said: "The word of God is living and effective, and more piercing than any two-edged sword, and reaching even to the division of soul and spirit," immediately added: "of joints also and marrows, and a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart." For the word of God distinguishes joints and marrow, because it discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart. By joints, indeed, bones are joined to bones. And often while we do something with right thinking, we suddenly turn aside to the love of praise, and we do for praise what we had first begun to do for truth, because thoughts are joined to thoughts, as if certain joints are made in the spirit. But the bones that are joined in the joint also have marrow. The holy preacher brought this out more clearly when he added: "The discerner of thoughts and intentions of the heart." For our joints are our thoughts, but the marrow is our intentions. And often we think one thing, yet what we intend through our thinking is another. For if someone, with a reward of money proposed, defends the case of an orphan or widow, and perhaps entering the Church says to God in his prayers: "You see that I defend the case of the orphan and widow," this person without doubt knows what he thinks, but is ignorant of where his thought is directed. For he thinks one thing and intends another. For he seeks not the defense of the orphan or widow, but the reward of money. For take away the temporal reward, and he does not defend the orphan and widow. Therefore the word of God is the discerner of thoughts and intentions of the heart, because it does not look at what you think within yourself, but through the marrow of the joint, that is, through the intention of the thought, it sees what you seek to receive. It remains therefore that when a teacher speaks, as if at God's table he should always turn his lip inward, lest he either begin to speak with evil intention, or when he has begun well, seduced by favors, he turn aside to another desire.”

“Turned inward all around. Perhaps, however, the discourse concerns the teacher's guardianship of discipline. And it often happens that one who knows how to speak the rule of discipline does not know how to maintain it, because either, moved by excessive zeal, he moderates himself too little through gentleness; or, calm with excessive gentleness, he inflames himself too little against vices with the spur of zeal. For with great consideration we must weigh what is written, that on the vessels of the temple, among the crowns and interwoven bands, oxen and lions and cherubim were carved, and beneath the oxen and lions hung straps. Indeed, crowns signify the mark of victory, while interwoven bands signify the unanimity of concord; but the cherubim are called the fullness of knowledge. For priests and teachers, among the crowns and interwoven bands, that is, among the strength of good work by which they run toward victory, and the concord of charity, by which they do not differ from one another, are designated by oxen and lions and cherubim, because in the fullness of knowledge which they have, it is necessary that they hold both the gentleness of oxen and the fervor of lions, so that in the discipline which they preach, they may be both kindled by holy zeal and tranquil from paternal sweetness. Let straps hang down beneath them, so that the reins of their discipline by which they themselves are bound they may also carefully extend to their subjects. For straps to hang down beneath them is to hold the bonds of guardianship over subjects. These are rightly maintained when neither the gentleness of oxen is lost in the fervor of zeal, nor the terror of lions is diminished in gentleness. Indeed, there ought to be such discretion that discipline is neither excessive nor mercy lax, lest if fault is forgiven in a disorderly manner, he who is culpable be bound more gravely in guilt; and again, lest if fault is retained immoderately, he who is being corrected become so much the worse, inasmuch as he considers that nothing is being done toward him from the grace of kindness. Therefore, harshness must be shown to the wicked in outward display, charity in the mind; so that both the harsh display may restrain the offender, and the keeping of charity may not lose the reward of gentleness. Behold, while I speak, Joseph stirs the mind to come forth himself as a witness to demonstrate what I am saying. Certainly, when he narrated to his brothers the dream he had seen about his advancement, through what he innocently related, he aroused the stings of malice against himself. By those same brothers he was sold to the Ishmaelites, led into Egypt, and by the wondrous dispensation of the almighty Lord was set over that same Egypt. And when famine arose in the land of Canaan, the brothers came to Egypt, found Joseph set over Egypt, and worshipped him with their necks bowed to the ground. And because they could not change God's counsel, they worshipped because they sold him whom they had sold lest they should worship. Then that man of God himself, full of the spirit of discernment, recognized his brothers without being recognized. But mindful of their fault and forgiving of the injury, he neither strove to repay the evils of his brothers nor to release them without purification. For with suspicious voice he immediately said: "You are spies; you have come to see the weaker parts of the land. Now I shall take trial of you. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go out from here." O what a lance in the heart! They had come as strangers, they were fleeing the danger of famine, they had not received the grain they sought, and they saw themselves besides being struck by the hurling of accusation. Amid these things they are led to prison, and, brought out after three days, they are still terrified in the same harshness. Now they return to their heart, now the memory of fault strikes the mind, and they speak among themselves: "Rightly do we suffer these things, because we sinned against our brother, seeing the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we did not listen; therefore this tribulation has come upon us." In these things, however, Joseph's heart is conquered by love; he seeks a private place, he releases in weeping what he owed to piety. He returns severe to his brothers, so that their tormented soul might be freed from fault. After this, one is bound in chains, the others are dismissed with grain, so that one brother might come, whom they had said they had as the youngest. Afterward the brother came. Piety conquered his mind when the innocent brother was seen; but harshness remained in outward show, so that the guilty brothers might be purged. Grain is given, a cup is hidden in the sack of the younger brother, an accusation of theft is raised against them. A messenger is sent to bring them back; it is decreed that he with whom the cup was found be consigned to slavery. It is found in the sack of the youngest brother. Then Benjamin is brought back, all the afflicted brothers follow. O torments of mercy! He tortures, and he loves. Therefore having returned, prostrate on the ground with tears, they beg pardon. For remembering what they had promised the father concerning him, they were wasting away with unbearable grief. Then piety, enclosed and no longer able to restrain itself, burst forth into the open, and shook out the tears of charity from the countenance of severity. The anger that appeared and was not was wiped away; the mercy that was and did not appear was shown. Thus the holy man both forgave and avenged the crime of his brothers. Thus he held clemency in vigor, so that to his offending brothers he was neither merciful without punishment, nor strict without compassion. Behold, this is the teaching of discipline: to know how to pardon faults with discernment, and to cut them away with compassion. But those who do not have the spirit of discernment either dismiss sins in such a way that they do not correct them, or strike as if correcting in such a way that they do not forgive. Therefore, the teacher who must speak about the moderation of discipline should know himself to be a table of God, and should bend back the basin within, so that what he speaks in teaching, he vigilantly performs under the spirit of discernment. Nor, if he considers that certain things are lacking in himself, ought he to fall silent from preaching about them. For his position demands that he speak. Therefore, let him challenge himself with his own words; and if he does not speak because he does not practice, let him practice because he is compelled to speak. Therefore, where he sees himself fulfilling in deed what he says, there let him admonish his hearers, and kindle their minds to the pursuit of good work. But where he does not yet see himself having fulfilled what he speaks, let him likewise inflame himself to the good things about which he admonishes his hearers, so that he himself may also learn at the same time in practice what truth speaks through him in preaching. For often what we do not know by living, when compelled by the duty of teaching, we learn by speaking; and while the guilt of our laziness is born in the mind through reflection, a compunction suddenly arising pierces that same mind, and aroused by its own voice, it awakens in action, which previously lay torpid in idleness without a voice.”

“But upon the tables, the flesh of the offering. Behold, moreover, when the rim of the table is extended by a palm's breadth—that is, when through the teacher's mouth there is disputation against vices, and the heart of the hearers is kindled to good works—many who hear his words recognize how great and what kind of evils they have committed; and they come to him confessing, and with tears they ask him to become an intercessor for their sins, so that he himself by praying may wipe away the faults which he has made manifest by preaching. Whence it is also added: "But upon the tables, the flesh of the offering." For when the holy teachers pour out prayers to the Almighty Lord on behalf of penitent and confessing sinners, by the very fact that they seek pardon for their carnal life, they carry the flesh of the offering to the Lord's table. Therefore, in order that there may be converted and weeping souls for whom they may intercede, it is necessary that they first preach to those same persons while they are still in sin; and when they have already begun to abandon their sins and hasten toward innocence, the growth of preaching must increase in the mouth of the teacher toward them, and he must press upon certain ones with the word of his teaching all the more vehemently as he considers them to have fallen more grievously, knowing indeed that he himself will receive the reward of great recompense in proportion to how much he raises others from deeper sins through his words.”

“But upon the tables, the flesh of the offering. Let it be permitted amid these things to bring forward the words of the holy Gospel to our midst, whose sacred history through the miracle it narrates announces the wondrous things that are done daily. For when the weary and fasting crowds had come together to the Lord, the Lord said to His disciples: I have compassion on the multitude, because behold they have now persevered with me three days and have nothing to eat; and if I send them away fasting to their homes, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from far away. The crowd perseveres with the Lord for three days when the multitude of the faithful, turning away through penance from the sins they have committed, converts itself to God in work, in speech, and in thought. The Lord does not wish to send them away fasting to their home, lest they faint on the way, because indeed converted sinners faint on the way of the present life if they are dismissed into their own conscience without the nourishment of holy teaching. Therefore, lest they grow weary on the journey of this pilgrimage, they must be fed with holy admonition. But the pious sentiment which proceeded from the mouth of Truth must be carefully considered, in which it is said: For some of them have come from far away. There is one who, having experienced nothing of fraud and nothing of carnal corruption, hastened to the service of almighty God. This one did not come from far away, because through incorruption and innocence he was near. Another, stained by no immodesty, defiled by no shameful acts, but having experienced only marriage, was converted to spiritual ministry. Neither did this one come from far away, because having used the permitted union, he did not stray through unlawful things. But others after carnal shameful acts, others after false testimonies, others after committed thefts, others after inflicted violence, others after perpetrated homicides return to penance and are converted to the service of almighty God: these indeed come to the Lord from far away. For the more anyone has strayed in wicked deeds, the farther he has departed from the almighty Lord. For also the prodigal son, who abandoned his father, went away into a far country, in which he fed swine, because he nourished vices. Let nourishment therefore be given even to those who come from far away, because to converted sinners the foods of holy doctrine must be offered, so that they may restore in God the strength they lost in shameful acts. These often need to be satisfied by teachers with more abundant foods of doctrine, the more they came exhausted by greater vices. And when they have now begun to confess the evils they committed, and by confessing to abandon them and punish them with weeping, it is necessary that holy teachers earnestly pray for their sins, so that they may bring the flesh of offering to the Lord's table. As often as they do this, in that they intercede for the sins of others, they wipe away their own more fully before the eyes of God, because by that very charity they justify themselves, by which with wondrous piety they sacrifice themselves in lamentations for the iniquities of others. Nor should it be burdensome for teachers to pour out tears for converted sinners, when even He Himself who created all things, having become man, poured out His blood on the cross for our iniquities, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.”