Sermon 4

SERMO 4

Of Esau and Jacob

A reading that sounds carnal must be received spiritually.

We remember that we owe the discourse of yesterday's reading. But just as we owe the discourse, so you owe the attentiveness. And indeed that reading sounds in a carnal manner. However, he who has received the Spirit of God comprehends spiritually. For the Apostle said: "To set the mind on the flesh is death." And for this, the Lord promised the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth. Therefore, just as He promised and sent, so that everyone who has now received that Spirit may not be a slave to temporal pleasures but become the master of the body and a servant of the Creator, let him direct himself in the way of God's commandments. Let neither his footsteps waver, nor his eyes flinch, but let him advance with the intent of faith, so that he may come to that which now neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man. That which is believed before it is seen, so that when it comes, the one who believed is not put to shame. Therefore, let him walk in hope, hoping for what he does not yet hold, believing what he does not yet see, loving to whom he has not yet adhered. The exercise of the soul in faith, hope, and charity makes it fit to grasp what is to come.

All the martyrs filled with the confidence of the Spirit.

While Peter was still thinking carnally, disturbed by the maid's question, he denied the Lord three times. For the physician had foretold to the sick man what was going to happen to him. The sick man, unaware of his own sickness, had presumed too much about himself, but the true physician saw. For he had said he would die with the Lord and for the Lord. But he could not yet, because he was weak. However, when the Holy Spirit was later sent from heaven and strengthened those upon whom He came, he was filled with spiritual confidence and then was truly prepared to die for Him whom he had previously denied. Filled with this confidence, all the martyrs, holding the true faith, did not die nor suffer for a false faith, for an empty phantom, for vain hope, for something uncertain, but for the promise of truth, having certain knowledge that He who promised is powerful to deliver, they despised all present things and burned with desire for future things, which, when present, will not be past.

"Those who live according to the flesh pertain to Esau."

Remember therefore, those who were present yesterday, the two sons of Isaac, Esau and Jacob; how the younger is preferred over the elder, that you may belong to Jacob and not love Esau. Now Esau is one who wishes to live carnally or to hope for carnal things in the future age. Whether therefore living carnally and rejoicing in such things at this time, and hoping from God for such things as the wicked have, and placing all his happiness in the very thing that the wicked rejoice in, or certainly despising the present life and hoping for such in the future, is carnal, having a carnal faith, a carnal hope, a carnal love. But spiritual faith is: to believe that your Lord is your protector temporally, so that you may come to that which will not be temporal, and to hope to have the life of the angels, not in the corruptions of the flesh, not in pleasures and allurements, not in fornications and drunkenness and the joy of carnal feasts, not in the pride of the possession of earthly dominion, but only in the way the angels live.

The joy of the angels is the vision of the Creator.

But the angels live in joy, not of the creature, but of the Creator. For the joy of the creature is whatever is seen. The joy of the Creator is what is not seen by the eyes of the body, but by the purified gaze of the mind. Blessed are the pure in heart. To what vision are they blessed? Because they shall see God. Do not think, brothers, that the angels rejoice because they see the earth or the heaven or whatever is in them. They do not rejoice because they see the heaven and the earth but because they see Him who made the heaven and the earth.

God inhabits unapproachable light.

But He who made heaven and earth is neither heaven nor earth, nor can anything earthly be imagined, nor anything heavenly, nor can you imagine anything corporeal or spiritual. This is not God. Do not make for yourself a grand and beautiful man. God is not circumscribed by human form. He is not contained in a place, nor held in space. Do not make for yourself a golden God. This is not God. For the gold from which you wish to make a god, God Himself made, and it is weak because it is in the earth. Do not propose to yourself that God is something like what you see in the heavens, neither the moon nor the sun nor the stars nor anything that shines and glitters in the sky. This is not God. But neither should God seem to you to be like the sun, for the sun is like a certain wheel, not an immense space of light; and you may say to yourself, "Therefore God is of infinite and immense light," so that, as it were, you extend the sun itself and make it not have an end, neither here nor there, neither upward nor downward, and yet set before yourself an immense light as God. This is not God either. For God indeed inhabits in inaccessible light. But such a light is not a wheel, nor can it be known to the eyes of the flesh.

True light is God.

But if you can see what truth is, what wisdom is, what justice is, how it is said: Approach him and be enlightened, how it is that true light of which John says: There was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this world, how John the Baptist himself was not the true light. For John the Evangelist says: He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. Not only was John the Baptist not the true light, but neither was Paul the true light, nor Peter the true light, nor any of the Apostles the true light. For indeed the true light is what enlightens every man coming into this world. They, however, were lights, because they were enlightened. For even the eyes of our flesh are called lights, and everyone swears: "By my lights." What are these lights? If the sun is absent, if the moon or lamp is absent, surely they remain in darkness. Where are the lights? Let them see before themselves, let them give guidance to the feet, if they are lights. And yet they are lights. Why are they lights? Because they can receive the light. For indeed, when the light has been brought in, the light itself is not felt by your forehead, nor by your ear, nor by your sense of smell, nor by your hand, nor by your foot. Only the members in you which are called eyes alone feel the brought-in light. In the absence of light, they are darkened, but with the light brought in, they alone are enlightened, that is, because they alone feel the light. Indeed all your other members are enlightened, but so that they can be seen, not so that they can see. For the light which rises or is brought in suffuses all your members: the eyes to see, the others to be seen. Thus all the saints are enlightened so that they may see, and that what they see they may proclaim. Therefore it was said to them: You are the light of the world. But light, not true light. Why? Because the true light was what enlightens every man. He said every man. If he were speaking of this sun, he would not say: Every man, because this sun is not only seen by men. Cattle and the smallest animals see this sun. And flies see this sun. But that light which is God no one sees, except those of whom it is said: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

The light of virtues is present to all.

Try to think, brothers, of the light of truth, the light of wisdom, how it is present everywhere to all. Try to think of the light of justice: for it is present in every thinking person. For what is it that thinks? He who wishes to live unjustly sins, abandons justice. Is it diminished? He turns to justice. What? Is it increased? He abandons it, leaves it intact. He turns to it, finds it intact. What then is the light of justice? Does it rise from the East and go to the West? Or is there another place from where it rises or to which it goes? Is it not present everywhere? Indeed, a man who is in the West, if he wishes to live justly, that is, according to justice, is he lacking what he should look at and see according to justice itself? Again, if he is in the East and wants to live justly, that is, according to the same justice, is it lacking for him? For justice is there; it is present to one living justly. According to its rule, they see how they should live justly as well. Just as the righteous see it by living well, so the unrighteous do not see it by living badly. For the one lives justly when he sees it, and he sees it to direct his actions according to it, because unless he directs his actions according to the rule of justice, he is thrust into the error of iniquity. Because therefore it could be present to him standing there, it is in no place and is everywhere. Thus justice, thus wisdom, thus truth, thus chastity. Therefore try to see such a light. But you cannot. The eye of the mind falters, let it be purified to see. But in order to be purified and see, let it believe so that it may deserve to be purified. Therefore, what you cannot see, defer it, so that you may be healed and can see it.

The spiritual rest of the future age.

Do not, however, imagine anything in the future age like what you see now. Because if you imagine and love such a thing, you want to go beyond the world with the world itself, you want to take the world with you. Those things will not be there. There will be a certain light from which something now drips, which we now understand and rejoice in. But if we have a blessing from the dew of heaven, we have abundance from the fertility of the earth: for thus Jacob is blessed. Let us belong to him and not live carnally. For anyone who begins to live carnally is therefore called Esau the greater. Two Testaments are mentioned in the Law, one Old, the other New. The Old had temporal promises, but spiritual significations. Let your Charity attend. If the "land of promise" is promised to the Jews, it spiritually signifies something by the land of promise. If the city of peace, Jerusalem, is promised to the Jews, the name of the city Jerusalem spiritually signifies something. If circumcision of the flesh is given to the Jews, it signifies a certain spiritual circumcision. If the Jews are commanded to observe one Sabbath day out of seven days, it signifies a spiritual rest, which has no evening. For in those seven days, in Genesis it is said in all the days: There was evening; on the seventh day it does not say: "There was evening." The seventh day, which does not have an evening, signifies for us eternal rest, where there is no setting. If carnal sacrifices are given to the Jews, through the victims of animals all signify spiritual sacrifices. Therefore, those who have understood in this way as if something present was given to them for greatness and sought nothing for the future, nor were able to understand spiritually the things that were done carnally, belong to the elder son, belong to the Old Testament.

The Old Testament is a figure of the New.

For the Old Testament is a figurative promise. The New Testament is a promise understood spiritually. For while the Jerusalem which was on the earth pertains to the Old Testament, it has an image toward the Jerusalem which is in heaven, and pertains to the New Testament. Bodily circumcision pertains to the Old Testament; heart circumcision pertains to the New Testament. The people are liberated from Egypt according to the Old Testament; the people are liberated from the devil according to the New Testament. The Egyptian persecutors and Pharaoh pursue the Jews leaving Egypt; their sins and the devil, the prince of sins, pursue the Christian people. But just as the Egyptians pursue the Jews up to the sea, so sins pursue Christians up to baptism. Pay attention, brothers, and see, the Jews are liberated through the sea, the Egyptians are submerged in the sea; Christians are liberated in the forgiveness of sins, their sins are erased through baptism. They exit after the Red Sea and walk through the desert; likewise, Christians after baptism are not yet in the land of promise, but are in hope. However, this age is a desert, and truly for a Christian it is a desert after baptism, if he understands what he has received. If not only bodily signs happen in him, but also a spiritual effect in the heart, he understands that this world is a desert for him, he understands that he lives in pilgrimage, desires his homeland. As long as he desires, he is in hope. For we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. For what one sees, why does he hope for? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. This patience in the desert makes one hope. If he already thinks he is in his homeland, he does not reach the homeland. If he already thinks he is in his homeland, he remains on the way. But so he does not remain on the way, let him hope for the homeland, desire the homeland lest he should stray. For temptations occur. And just as in the desert temptations occur, so after baptism they occur. For just as the Egyptians were not the only enemies of the Jews who pursued them from Egypt (they were past enemies, just as each one's past life and past sins with their prince the devil pursue him), but there arose also in the desert those who wanted to impede the way, and they fought with them, and were defeated. So after baptism, when the Christian begins to walk the path of his heart in hope of God's promises, let him not stray. For temptations occur suggesting something else (the delights of this world, another kind of life) to twist each one from the way and lead him away from his purpose. But if you overcome these desires, these suggestions, the enemies on the way are defeated, and the people are brought to the homeland.

Hear the Apostle, for these things were our examples: For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that all our fathers were under the cloud. If they were under the cloud, they were under gloom. What does it mean, they were under gloom? It means they did not understand spiritually the things that were happening to them physically. And all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses, and all ate the same spiritual food. For manna was given to them in the desert, as the sweetness of the Scriptures is given to us so that we endure in this wilderness of human life. And Christians know what kind of manna they receive, to whom the psalm itself says: Taste and see how sweet the Lord is. And all, he says, ate the same spiritual food. What does same mean? Signifying the same. And all drank the same spiritual drink. And notice how he explained one thing and kept silence about the others: For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them; the rock, however, was Christ. These things were our examples. They were shown to them, but they were our examples, because they were shown to them physically, but they were signified to us spiritually. Therefore, those who physically held them belonged to the Old Testament.

In Isaac two peoples are in his sons.

Now see that Isaac had grown old. Whose role did Isaac represent when he wished to bless his elder son? He had already grown old. Where there is old age, there is antiquity. For by old age, I understand antiquity, and by antiquity, I understand the Old Testament. Therefore, this Old Testament, because they did not understand it who were under the cloud, is said to have caused the eyes of Isaac to be dim. The dimness of Isaac's bodily eyes signifies the obscurity of the minds of the Jews. The old age of Isaac signifies the antiquity of the Old Testament. What then, brothers? He still wished to bless his elder son Esau. The mother loved the younger, and the father loved the elder as if he were the firstborn. For justice is equal towards both, but there was greater affection towards the firstborn. He wished to bless the elder because the Old Testament promised first to the people. It speaks the promises only to the Jews. It seems to promise to them, it seems to promise everything to them. They are called out of Egypt, delivered from enemies, led through the sea, fed with manna, receive the Testament, receive the Law, receive the promises, receive the very land of promise. It is no wonder that he wished to bless the first son. But under the figure of the elder, the younger is blessed. For the mother bears the type of the Church. Understand the Church, brothers, not only in those who began to be saints after the advent and birth of the Lord, but all the saints who were before pertain to the same Church. For it is not that Father Abraham does not pertain to us, because he was before Christ was born of the Virgin, and we, so much later, that is, after the passion of Christ, became Christians; when the Apostle says that we are sons of Abraham by imitating the faith of Abraham. Therefore, we are admitted to the Church by imitating him, and shall we exclude him from the Church? This Church is signified in Rebecca, the wife of Isaac. This Church was also in the saints, even the Prophets, who understood the Old Testament because those carnal promises signified something spiritual. If spiritual, then spiritual to the younger son, because the carnal is first, and afterward the spiritual.

The Jewish people and the Christian people.

Yesterday, we already mentioned to your Holiness that Esau is called the elder son because no one becomes spiritual unless they first are carnal. But if one persists in the wisdom of the flesh, he will always be an Esau. However, if he becomes spiritual, he will be the younger son. Yet the younger will be greater: for he precedes in time, this one in virtue. For when Jacob had cooked pottage, Esau desired to take it before coming to this blessing. And he said to him: Give me your birthright and I will give you the pottage that I cooked. He sold his birthright to the younger. The one took away temporary pleasure, the other took away eternal dignity. Therefore, those who serve temporary pleasures in the Church are eating pottage. Indeed, Jacob cooked the pottage, but Jacob did not eat it. For idols had more power in Egypt. Pottage is the food of Egypt. By pottage, all the errors of the nations are signified. Because therefore the Church, more eminent and manifest, was signified as coming in the younger son from the nations, it is said that Jacob cooked the pottage and Esau ate it. Indeed the nations have abandoned the idols they once worshiped. But the Jews were serving idols. For being turned in heart to Egypt, they were led through the wilderness. And when their enemies were slayed in the sea, and their foes were drowned in the waves, they desired to make idols since they could not see Moses. And they did not understand that God was present with them, but having hope in a man's presence, when they did not see a man with their eyes, they began to think that God was not there, although He alone through Moses did so many great things. They sought a man with the eyes of the flesh because they did not have the eyes of the heart wherewith to see God in Moses. Therefore, they lost their primacy because, turned in heart to Egypt, they ate the pottage. Receive it. The Christian people are. But in the Christian people, those hold the primacy who belong to Jacob. But those who live carnally, believe carnally, hope carnally, love carnally, still belong to the Old Testament, not yet to the New. They are still in the lot of Esau, not yet in the blessing of Jacob.

The blessing reaches the lesser.

Let your Holiness attend. Therefore, the old Isaac, with dimmed eyes, wanted to bless the elder son because the Old Testament was directed to the Jews. But the Old Testament was not understood by them; hence it is said that his eyes were dim. As I said, brothers, he speaks to the elder one, but the blessing reaches the younger. Indeed, this mother, understood in all the saints, that is, the Church, which understood the prophecy, gives advice to the younger son and says to him: I myself heard your father saying to your brother: Go, and bring me venison, so that I may eat and bless you before I die. Now therefore, my son, listen to me. And she gave him advice to go and bring two kids from the nearby flock, and his mother would prepare them as his father liked, so that he could eat and bless his younger son while the elder one was absent. But he was afraid and said: My brother is hairy, and I am smooth; lest my father feel me and know that I am Jacob, and instead of a blessing, I draw upon myself a curse. But she said: Go, my son, and listen to me; let your curse be upon me. He went and brought two kids. They were prepared, and presented to his father. And as foretold, because he did not recognize him by his voice, he touched him, and found the hair, for his mother had covered his arms with the skins of the kids. He believed him to be the elder, and blessed him. In the blessing, he intended the elder, and the blessing reached the younger. What then is it that the younger is blessed under the guise of the elder, except that under the figures of the Old Testament promised to the Jewish people, the spiritual blessing reaches the Christian people? Attend, brothers. They hear of the Promised Land, and we also hear. Scripture seems to speak to the Jews about the Promised Land, and the understanding of the Promised Land reaches us, who say to God: You are my hope, my portion in the land of the living. But so that we might say this, the mother taught us, that is, the Church itself teaches us through the saints and prophets how to understand the very carnal promises spiritually.

Two kinds of Christians are born in the womb of the Church.

But the blessing could not reach us unless, already cleansed from sins through the birth of regeneration, we bear the sins of others through tolerance. For the mother bore both sons. Pay attention, brothers. She bore one hairy, the other smooth. Hair signifies sins, while smoothness signifies meekness, that is, cleanliness from sins. The two sons are blessed because the Church blesses two kinds. Just as Rebecca bore two, two are generated in the womb of the Church: one hairy, the other smooth, whose differences we have explained. For there are people who, even after baptism, do not want to abandon their sins and wish to do the things they did before. For example: if they committed frauds, they want to defraud again; if they swore false oaths, they want to perjure again; if they deceived the innocent with tricks, they still want to deceive; if they contemplated homicides, they contemplate the same; if they fornicated, if they got drunk, they do these things no less. Behold, Esau was born hairy. What does Jacob do? He is told by his mother: "Go, your father will bless you." And he says: "I fear, I will not approach." For there are people in the Church who fear to mingle with sinners, lest by associating with sinners they be defiled in unity and perish through heresies and schisms.

Jacob came with deceit.

What then is said of hairy Esau, who did not behave well in the house? For this too is said of them. He was a rustic hunter, but Jacob lived without deceit in the house. And therefore his mother loved him, feeling his sweet conversation. He is Jacob, who was later called Israel, after wrestling with the angel: and this in a great mystery. Blessed, he was called Israel, and because he was without deceit. Listen carefully, my brothers, and see how he was without deceit. When the Lord saw Nathanael, because He knew what kind of man he was, He said, "Behold, truly an Israelite, in whom there is no deceit." If therefore this one is an Israelite because there is no deceit in him, certainly there was no deceit in Israel himself. Then what does it mean when it is said: "Your brother came with deceit; and took your blessing." Scripture commends him living without deceit in the house. The Lord also bears witness, because he was without deceit, when He speaks of Nathanael: "Behold, truly an Israelite, in whom there is no deceit." Then what does it mean when it is said: "He approached with deceit, and took the blessing?"

The deceit of Jacob, what it is.

In the meantime, let us consider what "deceit" signifies, and let us see what Jacob must do. He carries the sins of others, and he carries them with patience even though they are not his own. For this is to have the skins of goats, that is, he patiently bears the sins of others, not adhering to his own. Thus, all who for the unity of the Church endure the sins of others imitate Jacob. For Jacob himself is in Christ, since Christ is in the seed of Abraham. For it has been said: In your seed all nations will be blessed. Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did no sin, carried the sins of others. And does one disdain to carry the sins of others, to whom his own sins have been forgiven? If, therefore, Jacob transitions to Christ, he carries the sins of others, that is, the skins of goats. And what is deceit?

Those two men were two peoples.

For he comes late and brings what the father commanded, and he finds his brother blessed instead of him, and he is not blessed with another blessing. Because those two men represent two peoples. One blessing signifies the unity of the Church. However, those same two peoples are represented by Jacob. But in another way, two peoples are figured as belonging to Jacob. For indeed, our Lord Jesus Christ, who had come to the Jews and the Gentiles, was rejected by the Jews, who belonged to the elder son. Yet he chose some who belonged to the younger son, who had begun to desire and understand the promises of the Lord spiritually, not carnally desiring to receive another land, but spiritually desiring that city, where no one is born carnally; because there no one dies carnally, nor spiritually.

In many places of the Scriptures, two peoples are understood.

Therefore, when they began to desire this, they began to belong to Jacob, who believed in Christ, and the flock of the Lord was made in Judah itself. But what does the Lord say about this flock? I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I go to bring them, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. What other sheep does the Lord Jesus Christ have, if not from the gentiles? The sheep from the gentiles were joined to the Jewish sheep. For from the Jews were the Apostles. There were also five hundred brethren who saw the Lord after the resurrection. From there was Nathaniel himself, of whom the Lord testified that there was no deceit in him. There were one hundred and twenty who, when they were in the house, the Holy Spirit came to fill them, whom He had promised to the disciples. There were so many thousands of people we read about in the Acts of the Apostles baptized in the name of Christ, even those who crucified Christ. Therefore, there were sheep from there, and many sheep. But not only those. The Lord had others from the gentiles. These two peoples, coming as if from different paths, are also signified by the two walls. Indeed, the Church of the Jews came from circumcision. The Church of the gentiles came from the uncircumcision. Coming from different paths, they were united in the Lord. Therefore, the Lord was called the corner stone. For the psalm says: The stone which the builders rejected, this became the head of the corner. And the Apostle says: Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner stone. Where there is a corner, two walls are joined; two walls do not meet at the corner unless they come from different directions; for if they come from one direction, they do not form a corner. Therefore, the two kids, these are the two peoples, these are the two folds, these are the two walls, these are the two blind men who were sitting by the road, these are the two boats in which the fish were hauled up. In many places of the Scriptures, the two peoples are understood, but they are one in Jacob.

Kids and lambs.

Why kids, someone might say? You know that kids are sinners, for kids will be to the left, and lambs to the right. But those who persist as kids will be to the left. For if they were not first kids, the Lord would not say: I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. For when the Lord was associating with sinners and eating with tax collectors, the Jews, as if they were lambs, that is, as if they were righteous, and more so, goats due to pride, reproached the Lord as if it were a crime, and indeed said to his disciples: Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners? The Lord, responding, how did he defend himself? It is not the healthy who need a physician, he said, but the sick: I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Therefore, he calls the kids, but so they do not persist as kids. For Jacob killed them and prepared a feast for his father from them, that is, for the spiritual understanding, which was to be understood in that blessing, although it was depicted in the elder son. The kids were killed for this, and they were eaten, and transferred into one body. Thus sins are killed in sinners, and transferred, slain, into the one body of the Church, the Church whose figure Peter bore when it was said to him: Kill and eat. Therefore, that one wild, this one tame in the home; that one older, this one younger; the blessings seemed to regard that one, but reached this one. They regarded that one, because carnal promises were being promised to the Jews; but they reached this one, because they were to be understood spiritually, and received by Christians. The blessing would not come to this one, unless he carried the sins, which he no longer committed.

Love the sinner not insofar as he is a sinner but insofar as he is a human being.

Therefore, let your Holiness understand how sins should be borne. For there are those who seem to bear sins for themselves and remain silent to sinners. Now, this hypocrisy is detestable. Bear the sinner, not so that you love the sin in him, but so that you may persecute the sin because of him. Love the sinner, not in so far as he is a sinner, but in so far as he is a human being. Just as if you love the sick person, you pursue the fever; for if you spare the fever, you do not love the sick person. Therefore, say what is true to your brother, do not remain silent. For what else do we do but tell you what is true? Do not lie: say what is true with open truth, but until he is corrected, he should be borne. Killing of goats and bearing of skins could be done at different times; yet they signify something that can happen at one time. For at the same time, the righteous both rebukes sinners, which is to kill goats, and mercifully tolerates their sins, which is to bear skins. As much as it was in him, he killed the goats, he killed the sinners. But he bore the sins of others and bore them with tolerance. He deserved to be blessed because charity bears all things. Charity itself was in the mother, and the mother carried the figure of charity itself. The figure of all saints was that she carried the figure of charity, because the saints are only those who have had charity. For what good will it do, if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but do not have charity? I have become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have charity, I am nothing. And if I know all mysteries and all prophecies and give my body to be burned, but do not have charity, it profits me nothing. What kind of charity, then, is it that alone profits greatly, without which the rest profit nothing! Therefore, charity itself gives advice, and the son of charity obeys.

Isaac was acting figuratively.

What counsel does he give? That he should take the goatskins and approach the father. The father seeks the elder and blesses the younger. The Old Testament regards the Jews through the letter and through its spiritual understanding the Christians are blessed in it. Let Your Holiness attend to the great mystery, a great sacrament. Isaac says, “Your brother has come with deceit,” about the man without deceit. Without a doubt, that Isaac, as he was in the prophetic spirit, knew what was happening, and he himself acted figuratively. He places everything in the great height of the mysteries. For if he did not know what he was doing, he would be angry at the son deceiving him. The elder comes and says, “Behold, father, eat; as you commanded me, I have done.” He says, “Who are you?” He responds, “I am your elder son Esau.” And he says, “Who then is he, from whom I have already eaten and blessed him, and he will be blessed?” He seemed to be angry. He expected some curse from the mouth of Esau upon his brother. While he expects a curse, he confirms the blessing. Oh, to be angry, oh, to be indignant! But he knew the mystery. And the darkness of his bodily eyes signified the darkness of the mind of the Jews. However, the eyes of his heart saw the height of the mysteries.

Some figures of Christ.

And he said, "Your brother came with deceit and took away your blessing." We were saying to see what it means with deceit. Deceit here is not deceit. How is deceit not deceit? How is a rock not a rock? Just as the sea is said and it is not the sea because it signifies something else. Thus, the land is said and it is not the land because it signifies something else. Thus, a rock is said and it is not a rock because it signifies something else. Thus, a mountain is said and it is not a mountain. Thus, the lion from the tribe of Judah is said to be the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord Jesus Christ is not a lion. Thus, a lamb is said and it is not a lamb. Thus, cattle are said and it is not cattle. Thus, a calf is said and it is something else. Thus, deceit is said and it is not deceit. Why, then, is it called deceit, let us inquire. Why all those things are so called, let us inquire. Why was he called a lion? Because of strength. Why was he called a rock? Because of firmness. Why was he called a lamb? Because of innocence. Why was he called a calf? Because of the sacrifice. Why was it called a mountain? Because of greatness. Why was it called manna? Because of sweetness. Why, then, deceit? Now let us see what deceit is, and we will find why it was called deceit. For we know what a rock is; and yet it is said of a foolish and hard person that he is a rock, and of a strong and immovable person, it is said he is a rock. And you led firmness to praise, and hardness to blame. We know firmness in a rock, and we accepted Christ as the rock: But the rock was Christ. In a lion, we know strength, and yet the devil is also called a lion. What do we know in deceit, that we may accept deceit in a figure, just as we accept a mountain, just as we accept a lion, just as we accept a lamb, just as we accept a rock, and others?

There was not true deceit in Jacob.

What then is deceit? Deceit is when one thing is done and another feigned. Therefore, when something else is in intention, something else in deeds, it is called deceit. Deceit, then, in its own right, is reprehensible, just as a stone in its own right. Whoever says that the stone in its own right was Christ blasphemes, just as he blasphemes who says that the calf in its own right was Christ. The calf in its own right is cattle, in figure it is a victim. The stone in its own right is hardened earth, in figure it is firmness. Deceit in its own right is fraud, in figure it is the figure itself. For every figurative and allegorical reading or speech appears to sound one way carnally, another way spiritually. Therefore, he called this figure by the name of deceit. What then does it mean: He came with deceit and took away your blessing? Because what was done was figured, therefore it is said: He came with deceit. For he would not confirm the blessing to the deceitful man, to whom justly a curse was due. Therefore, that was not true deceit, especially since he did not lie by saying: I am your elder son Esau. For he had already agreed this with his brother and had sold his birthright. He said this to his father, having what he had bought from his brother; what the other had lost had passed to him. For the honor of the first-born was not excluded from the house of Isaac. The honor of the first-born was there. It was not in him who had sold it. Where was it, if not in the younger? Therefore, knowing this in mystery, Isaac confirmed the blessing and says to his son: What shall I do for you? And he said: Bless me also, father, for you have not only one blessing. Isaac, however, knew there was only one.

What sort of blessing did Jacob receive?

Why only one? The Spirit will be present in order for me to explain and for you to understand. Let us see the blessings themselves, what kind of blessing Jacob received, and what kind of blessing Esau received. Isaac himself to Jacob: Are you my son Esau? He replied: I am. And he said: Bring it to me, and I will eat of your game, my son, so that my soul may bless you before I die; but bring me a kiss. He did not kiss him. The blessing began with peace. Why did he confirm peace with a kiss? Because he too carried others' sins for the sake of peace. And he approached, and kissed him. And he smelled the scent of his clothing. For he was wearing his brother's robe. That is, the dignity of the firstborn which he had lost, this one had. In him it already smelled good, what that one had lost disgracefully. He smelled the scent of his clothing, and blessed him, and said: Behold, the scent of my son is like the scent of a field which the Lord has blessed. He received the scent of the garment, and he spoke of the scent of the field. Understand Christ in the inner mystery, and understand the garment of Christ as the Church.

The Church is signified in many ways.

May Your Holiness understand. For one thing is signified in many ways. That is, the Church which those two kids signify, the same is signified by this garment, because one thing is signified in many ways, which is none of these things by evidence, all by figure. A lamb cannot be a lion; a lion cannot be a lamb. However, our Lord Jesus Christ could be both lion and lamb. But because he is neither lion nor lamb by evidence, but both lion and lamb by figure. Thus the kids cannot be a garment, and the garment cannot be kids. The Church, however, because it is neither kids nor garment by evidence, is both kids and garment by figure. And whatever else can be said.

The field is the Church, whose farmer is God.

He smelled his garments and said: Behold, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed. This field is the Church. Let us prove that the field is the Church. Hear the Apostle speaking to the faithful: You are God’s field, God’s building. Not only is the Church a field, but also God is the farmer. Hear the Lord Himself: I am the vine, you are the branches, and My Father is the farmer. Therefore, the Apostle, working in this field and hoping for an eternal reward, arrogates nothing to himself, except what befits a worker. I, he says, planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. Therefore, neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. How he retained humility, so that it might belong to Jacob, so that he might not lose the robe, the smell of which was like the smell of a full field, to the Church, and transfer to the pride of Esau, understanding carnally and full of vanity! Therefore, the field smells of the son's garment. But that field is nothing of itself. Therefore, he added: which the Lord blessed. And may the Lord give you of the dew of heaven above, and of the fatness of the earth, and an abundance of grain and wine. And nations shall serve you, and you shall be lord over your brothers, and your father's sons shall bow down to you. Cursed be he who curses you, and blessed be he who blesses you. This is the blessing of Jacob. If Esau were not also blessed, there would be no question. He too is blessed, but not with the same blessing, nor entirely alien to this one.

What kind of blessing did Esau receive?

Let us hear, then, how Esau is blessed, and let us see what difference there is between the spiritual children of the Church and the carnal ones; between those who bear others' sins and those who bear their own; between those who always live spiritually and those who always delight in carnal joys. But Isaac, answering, said to Esau: "Who then hunted game for me and brought it to me? Blessed be he." And it happened when Esau heard the words of his father Isaac, he cried out with a great voice and said: "Bless me also, father." And he said to him: "Your brother came deceitfully and took away your blessing."

Jacob supplanted Esau.

And Esau said: Justly is his name called Jacob. For Jacob is called Supplantation. And this supplantation is not meaningless, because it is taken in a figurative manner, as deceit. For there was not so much malice in the brother, that he would want to supplant his brother. For he was called supplanter when he held the heel of his brother being born by the hand: then he was called supplanter. But the supplantation of the carnal is the life of the spiritual. For all the carnal, when they envy the spiritual in the Church, are supplanted and become worse. Listen to the Apostle saying the same thing, especially because there he mentioned the scent, which Isaac expressed here, saying: Behold, the scent of my son is like the scent of a full field, which the Lord has blessed. Therefore, the Apostle says: We are the good odor of Christ in every place, and he says: To some indeed the odor of life, unto life; to others the odor of death, unto death. And who is sufficient for these things? That is, to understand how we are the odor of death unto death for men, through no fault of ours. For they walk their spiritual paths, knowing nothing other than to live well. And those who envy the innocent living, commit serious sins, by which God punishes them. And that scent becomes unto death for them, which is unto life for others. For the Lord Himself was first made a good odor unto life for the believers, and a bad odor unto death for the persecutors. For because many believed in Him, the Jews envied, and committed such a great crime by killing the innocent, the Holy of holies. For if they had not done this, the good odor of Christ would not avail them unto death. Therefore, Esau was supplanted in the blessing of the father.

Isaac answered and said to him: "I have made him your lord. For Esau could receive nothing else of what has been said: 'And all his brothers will serve him.' But what can I do for you, my son?" And Esau said to his father: "Still, bless me too." When Isaac was constrained; that is, when he was forced. A great thing, a great mystery: may we grasp it! He blesses under compulsion, and yet he blesses. And what he blesses is true, but still he blesses under compulsion. Consider what this means. Let us see the blessing itself and understand what it means to bless under compulsion.

Proper in the blessing of Jacob and in the blessing of Esau.

Isaac replied - indeed the father did not kiss Esau - and said to him: Behold, your dwelling will be from the fertility of the earth, and from the dew of heaven above. He said this also to him: From the abundance of the earth, and from the dew of heaven: this therefore is common to Jacob and Esau. What is proper to Jacob? Nations will serve you. What is proper to Jacob? All your brothers will serve you, and he who blesses you will be blessed, and he who curses you will be cursed. He also has something of his own, which was not said to Jacob: And by your sword you will live, and you will serve your brother. But lest he took away free will - as we said already here and yesterday - he added: But it will be, when you break free and remove the yoke from your neck. What is: But it will be, when you break free and remove the yoke from your neck? It is free for you, if you wish, to convert; not as if you will be two, but one Jacob. For all who convert from Esau, belong to Jacob. Likeness makes one, unlikeness makes diversity. What then? From the dew of heaven, and from the fertility of the earth, both have. Nations and your brothers and the sons of your father will serve you, only Jacob has. But by your sword you will live, only Esau. They have something in common, some things individually.

The Word of God waters both the wicked and the good in the Church.

There are evil ones in the Church belonging to Esau, for they too are sons of Rebecca, sons of the mother Church, born from her womb, and persevering in fleshly sins like those who are hairy, yet still born from that womb. Therefore, they have from the dew of heaven and from the fertility of the earth: from the dew of heaven all Scriptures, all divine preaching; and from the fertility of the earth, all visible sacraments: for a visible sacrament pertains to the earth. All these things are common in the Church to both the good and the evil. For they too have and participate in the sacraments, and - as the faithful know - from the wheat and wine. They have from the dew of heaven, for the word of God descends upon all from heaven. The word of God comes and waters. But observe who waters, and what is watered. For it waters both the evil and the good. Yet those evil ones convert the good rain to the root of thorns; while the good draw the rain to good fruit. For the Lord rains upon both the crop and the thorns: but he rains on the crop for the granary, on the thorns for the fire; and yet the rain is the same. Thus the word of God waters all. Let each one see what kind of root he has; let each one see to where he draws the good rain. If he draws it to produce thorns, should the rain of God be blamed for this? Before it comes to the root, that rain is sweet. The word of God is sweet, until it reaches an evil heart, and that heart converts the rain of God to its own deceit, converts it to hypocrisy, converts it to the roots of evil desires, to its own perversities and depravations. It indeed begins to produce thorns, but from good rain: for it has from the dew of heaven. And because not all evil ones are excluded from the sacraments of God, it has from the fertility of the earth, as known to those who have already become willing participants in the mysteries of the faithful.

Among all nations, sinners are mixed with the spiritual ones.

These matters pertain to both, but not to all nations, only to the spiritual ones, because they pertain to the Church which has filled the entire world. Pay attention, brothers, and discern as much as you can, or as much as the Lord gives you. Every spiritual person sees that the Church throughout the whole world is one, true, catholic. And it arrogates nothing to itself, and bears the sins of men whom it cannot cleanse from the Lord's threshing floor until that last winnower comes, who cannot be deceived, to cleanse his floor, and gather the wheat into his barn, but give the chaff to be burned. For he will exclude the chaff and separate it from the wheat, and prepare the barn for the grain, and the fire for the chaff. So, since he knows, he bears the sinners to be separated at the end. Throughout all nations, sinners and all carnal ones are mixed with the spiritual ones and serve them. But the spiritual ones do not serve, because they profit from them, while they themselves fail. Pay attention, my brothers. I will say if I can, and I will not be afraid. I will not be silent. For I am urged to speak. And if some perhaps become angry with me, let them forgive. For I am afraid, as I said. Let them forgive my fear. Christ feared no one. But we, fearing Christ, spare not, lest, while we do not wish to sadden such, he does not spare us. Be willing to hear what I want to say, and heed attentively. Jacob and Esau both received from the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth. Both have what we already mentioned, what we know, what you know. But that nations might serve him, only Jacob received, because in the Church throughout the whole world, the carnal do not serve except the spiritual. Why? Because the spiritual profit from them. For this reason, carnal men are called slaves. And even if they do what they do not want, the evil conversation of the carnal benefits the spiritual, because they profit from that conversation, and are crowned through endurance.

All the carnal ones in the Church belong to Esau.

Your Holiness, pay attention to what we say. But the nations were not given to Esau, because all the carnal ones who are in the Church are either divided or easily prone to division. Behold, the part of Donatus was made from there, from those carnal ones thinking carnally. They were carnal, but because they sought their own honor, or they lost patience, they found an entryway, and were divided. They loved their own honor, they valued it greatly, they were swollen with the pride of arrogance, they did not have tolerance, that is, they did not have charity. For it is written: Charity endures all things, sustains all things. It does not envy, it is not inflated, it does not act improperly. Thus, whatever else they might have had, because they did not have that through which it benefits whatever is possessed, they divided themselves. And as many heresies or divisions and schisms were made, they were made through these carnal ones. For either they thought carnally, and made images of their own fantasies, and erred, and the Catholic faith reproved them; and when they were argued with, they were cast outside by their own weight. Or, finding disputes and hatreds with men, they divided themselves. Therefore, who divided themselves, but those to whom belongs that sword of which it is said: By your sword you shall live? Not that the sword is not understood in a good sense. For just as those higher things are said, that is, how that stone is received both for firmness because of Christ and for offense because of the fool; how the lion is called Christ for one thing and the lion is called the devil for another: so the sword is sometimes understood in a good sense, sometimes in a bad sense. But here the sword was not given to Jacob without reason, but was given to Esau, unless something mysterious is signified in the bad sense. Just as servitude itself is not alien to the mystery; that is, what was said: You shall serve your brother, for this too was said in a great mystery.

Part of Donatus is chaff.

Therefore, brothers, those who divide themselves have the sword of division, and in their sword they die, and in their sword they live. But because the Lord had truly said: "He who strikes with the sword will die by the sword," see them, my brothers, who have cut themselves off from unity, in which they are cut off in vain. You know how many parts the party of Donatus made, and I do not think it escapes your Holiness that he who strikes with the sword dies by the sword. It was said to him: "You will live by your sword." So also those who have not departed from the Church, and are like this, as if they were outside. For those who love their honors in the Church are entirely like those who love their secular comforts in the Church. And they themselves are chaff. But the wind is absent, therefore they do not fly from the threshing floor. This is what I say briefly, the trial is absent, for they would fly from the threshing floor. Finally, when the Church does something against them, how easily they cut themselves off! How easily they gather outside, and yet do not want to relinquish their rule! How they want to die for that rule! How they want to hold the people under themselves, and not let the people unite with Christ! How they want to make their own sheep, which they did not buy with their own blood, and thus they hold them as worthless, because they did not buy them! What need is there to argue about this further? Look at them throughout the entire Church, see such men, both those who are within, and those who, finding an occasion, have flown from the threshing floor and want to draw the grains with them. But the true and full grains tolerate the chaff and remain on the threshing floor until the end, until the final winnower comes: just as he tolerated the sins of others with the skins of goats, and deserved to receive the paternal blessing.

The wicked should be tolerated out of necessity for the peace of the Church.

Why then did Isaac bless him who was despised? For already in necessity, already compelled, his father said to him: Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven. And do not therefore think yourself good: By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother. But do not despair for yourself, because you can correct yourself: But it shall be when you release and break the yoke from your neck. Behold, he shall receive of the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven. But Isaac, being despised, throws him the blessing, does not give it. Is it not now in the Church for wicked men who want to disturb the Church to be tolerated for the necessity of its peace, to be admitted, to have the common sacraments? And sometimes it is known that they are wicked, and perhaps they cannot be convicted. So that they may be corrected and degraded, so that they may be excluded, so that they may be excommunicated, they cannot be convicted. If someone insists, sometimes it leads to the disruptions of the Church. The governor of the Church is compelled to say, as it were: "Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven; use the sacraments; you eat judgment for yourself, you drink judgment for yourself: For he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself. You know that you are admitted out of the necessity of the Church's peace, you have nothing in your heart but disturbances and divisions. Therefore by your sword you shall live. For in that which you receive of the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, you shall not live there. For this does not please you, nor is the Lord sweet to you." For if this pleased you, and the Lord were sweet to you, you would imitate the humility of the Lord, not the pride of the devil. Therefore, though he receives the mystery of the Lord's humility from the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, yet he does not renounce the pride of the devil, who does nothing for him who always delights in seditions and dissensions. Although you have this communion from the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, yet by your sword you live, and you either delight in or are terrified by seditions and dissensions. Therefore change yourself, and remove the yoke from your neck.

The hidden persecutor urges the soldier of Christ with the allurements of the flesh.

These things, brothers, have been said to you, few perhaps due to the magnitude of the mysteries, but many considering the time, our strength, and yours. And if by chance this question has not been discussed in detail, nonetheless some great mysteries, which if later examined, will be found. Pardon the constraints of time, our strength, and your capacity. If you wish to grasp more, grow; if you wish to grow, live well. For he who does not wish to live well does not wish to grow. The holy Lord our God has provided these feasts for you through the natal celebrations of His martyr Vincent. The name signifies victory. Love, however, in order to conquer. For persecution does not lack. The devil is the persecutor, the occasion for the crown never ceases. Only let the soldier of Christ understand the fight and know whom to conquer. Is it because a manifest enemy of the body does not press upon you, that a hidden persecutor does not press upon you with the allurements of the flesh? How many evils he suggests, how many through desire, how many through fear! By such allurements he persuades to go to sorcerers, to astrologers, when one has a headache. Those who forsake God and go to the devil's bindings are conquered by the devil. On the other hand, if someone has been suggested, perhaps in terms of the body to procure remedies from the devil through which another is said to have been healed, because having received that from him, he then ceases to pursue the body since he has won the heart; therefore to anyone for whom these wicked remedies have been suggested and who said, "I would rather die than use such remedies; if God wills, He chastises and liberates me; if He knows it is necessary, let Him free me; but if He knows I should depart from this life, whether I am sad or rejoice, I follow the will of the Lord; behold, for in a little while with what face shall I go out to the Lord; for these remedies of the devil do not provide me with what God provides, eternal life, thus why should I lose my soul, to purchase a few days for my body?" Whoever says this and does not go nor sets his heart to employ evil remedies, surely conquers. One thing I have mentioned as a sample. Certainly, you see already how many things the devil suggests. But where is he? You see him certainly languishing, you see him panting on the bed, you see him scarcely moving his limbs, scarcely moving his tongue: this tired one conquers the devil. Many have been crowned in the amphitheater fighting beasts. Many on their beds conquering the devil are crowned. They seem unable to move, yet within their hearts they have such strength, they engage in such a fight! But where there is a hidden fight, there is a hidden victory.

Know that you have an emperor who has already gone ahead into heaven.

Why have we said these things, brothers? So that when you celebrate the birthdays of the martyrs, you may imitate the martyrs, and not think that opportunities for a crown can be lacking to you, because such persecutions are now lacking. For neither are there daily persecutions lacking now from the devil, whether through suggestion, or through some bodily annoyances. You only need to know that you have an emperor, who has already preceded you into heaven. He has given you the way to follow, hold onto him. Do not, when you have conquered, attribute it to yourself out of pride, as if you had wrestled with your own strength. But presume upon him who gave you the strength to conquer, because he conquered the world. And you will always be crowned and go out from here a martyr, if you overcome all the temptations of the devil.