Translation of the Epistle for the 12th Sunday After Pentecost
Brethren, Such confidence we have through Christ towards God. Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves, as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is from God. Who also hath made us fit ministers of the new testament, not in the letter, but in the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit quickens. Now if the ministration of death, engraven with letters upon stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance which is made void: how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather in glory? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more the ministration of justice abounds in glory.
Continuation of the Holy Gospel According to St. Luke
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: Blessed are the eyes that see the things which you see. For I say to you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see the things that you see, and have not seen them; and to hear the things that you hear, and have not heard them. And behold a certain lawyer stood up, tempting Him, and saying: Master, what must I do to possess eternal life? But He said to him: What is written in the law? how do you read it? He answering, said: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself, And He said to him: Thou hast answered rightly: this do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus: And who is my neighbor? And Jesus answering, said: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him, went away, leaving him half dead. And it chanced that a certain priest went down the same way, and seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. But a certain Samaritan being on his journey, came near him, and seeing him, was moved with compassion, and going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two pence and gave to the host, and said. Take care of him, and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee. Which of these three, in thine opinion, was neighbor to him that fell among robbers? But he said: He that showed mercy to him. And Jesus said to him: Go and do thou in like manner.
The Saving Words of the Gospel
In the Name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Transcription of Homily
This lawyer stands up and attempts to be a wise guy, thinking that he’s going to corner Our Lord with a trick question, and Our Lord uses this opportunity to give us this beautiful teaching. And notice, too, that what Our Lord does is He asks him to quote the Law. And so, this is how Our Lord deals with us. His pedagogy is masterful. He speaks to him about what He already knows. And He asks him, “Well… you know the Law. You tell me what the Law says.” And often when we go to Him with what we think are problems, it’s often going to be within the core of the thing that we say, perhaps something that we don’t see because of whatever complication we may have. We’re not seeing it, and nonetheless, it’s there.
This is why you see when the great spiritual writers talk about what it means to love God… how is this expressed? They don’t all give the same answer. They’re speaking from a different context. They’re speaking to different people. They’re talking about different aspects. And none of them are in conflict with each other, it’s just that they’re not giving complete responses. And nonetheless, we have to start somewhere.
Matthias Stom, btwn. 1630-2
Well, these two precepts of love of God and neighbor are laid out clear enough, I suppose. We understand what it means to love others because it’s demanded from us, our patience, our charity, our forgiveness, trying to watch out for somebody else. But how do we apply those things to God, after all? We don’t have to watch out for His needs, certainly, He’s doing quite fine, thank you. He doesn’t need our forgiveness, and He doesn’t need our patience, on the contrary. And so, how do we live this love for God?
And, you know, different writers would say different things. John of the Cross says the greatest act of love for God is contemplation. Why? Because there’s an exchange of hearts there. We allow Him access to our heart, our mind, affections, our passions, our entire being. Others say through purity and through this gift of self, and that it’s only in the gift of self that we are really capable of receiving the other. Our Lord tells us that if you love me, you’ll keep my commandments. And so, we see that those are two sides of one coin. Love without obedience is sentimentalism. Obedience without love is some sort of mechanical fulfillment that really doesn’t do anything for anyone. Certainly, there’s an exteriorization, but nothing interior is going on. So those have to go together.
When Our Lord asks the lawyer to cite the Law, He mentions these four ways, so to say, of loving God: All of our mind, all of our heart, all of our strength, all of our soul. These are not really four ways of loving God; they are aspects of our single human nature that are obligated in the gift of self to participate in the act. So, there’s nothing left out of this act of love to Our Lord. The heart is the center of the person, the core – cor actually in Latin means heart – it’s the center, it’s where the will is. The mind is our intellective life. The soul has to do with our interior, our passions, our appetites and strength regards corporality. And so, our entire being is involved in this act of love to God; our body, our heart, our mind, our soul. But Our Lord is also a jealous lover. He says, “All of that, all of that.”
You know, the theological virtues do not permit parsing. 98% faith is 2% atheism; it doesn’t work. Try telling your spouse I love you 99%. If there is anything held back, it doesn’t work. The theological virtues – they are theological because God is the source, He is also the object. They demand totality. Totality. The moral virtues, they require prudence in order to moderate them. Too much courage is foolhardiness, too little courage is faintheartedness.
And so, Our Lord wants everything. Everything. And in this exchange, He is certainly the first one to give His all. We see His all on the Cross. We see His all in His Sacrifice. We see His all in the Eucharist. We see His all in every interaction, even here with this lawyer. Well, when we are busy about loving Him with all of our mind, our heart, our strength, our soul, it makes love of neighbor real and possible.
And these are two things that have to go together: Love of God, and love of neighbor. We can’t parse that. Why do we have a temptation to break things apart, to parse them, to look at just aspects of maybe just the mind, or just the strength, or just the soul? It is rooted in original sin.
There is a wonderful fifth-century bishop, perhaps a martyr, but he was certainly a monastic before he was a bishop, Diadochus of Photike. And he says that before the fall, Adam and Eve only had one sense, only one faculty, the αισθεσις (aisthesis). They just had this one unified sense, just as our senses are orienting, our eyes are oriented towards light, our touch to physical objects, our taste to food. It wasn’t all of that. There was just one, one αισθεσις, one sense ordered towards God. In the original sin, Eve breaks apart the fruit and sees, well, it’s attractive, it’ll taste good, and it’ll give me knowledge. So, now she’s starting to parse and she’s starting to break it down into ends that are outside of the original context of the obedience that’s demanded of us. This is the nature of every sin where we take an aspect, and we choose it as an absolute: I want that.
This is why Thomas in his treatise on happiness says that every choice is for a good. So, even our sinful choices are for a good, but it’s a subjective good. And if it’s objective, it’s outside of the original context, and therefore it’s skewed; therefore, an evil choice. And nonetheless, there’s a good that’s appreciated there. This is the fragmentation that is the fruit then of original sin.
And we’ve all experienced this in our sinful choices, and nonetheless, it doesn’t have to have the last word because Our Lord comes as the Samaritan to rescue us from that, to reintegrate our senses, our faculties, so that we can make a true, all-encompassing act of love in our giving to Our Lord and others.
When Augustine in his Questions on the Gospels speaks about this parable, he gives us an allegorical interpretation, and he says the certain man who goes down from Jerusalem to Jericho, the certain man is Adam, and therefore humanity, goes from Jerusalem, the City of Peace to Jericho. Jericho means moon. So, from the heavenly city, from the City of God, to this place of mortality; because the moon is born, it waxes, it wanes, it dies every month. And so, he’s going from the City of God to mortality; falls among the robbers who are demons, who strip him and leave him wounded, he is being stripped and this woundedness is the fruit of one’s actual sins, and he’s left half dead.
Now comes a Levite, and then a priest of the old covenant, and they’re helpless. They can’t help them. There’s no salvation in the Old Covenant, and they have nothing to do. And so, it’s inconvenient for them. They can’t help. They pass him by. And then, the Samaritan comes, and Samaritan, says Augustine, is the divinity of Christ who applies His balm of wine and oil; the sacraments and infused virtues. And then He doesn’t say He hoisted him up on His beast of burden, but rather on His Sacred Humanity.
And there’s a 14th-century mural in Sinai. The next time you are there on vacation, check it out in the convent of St. Catherine. You’ll see this beautiful mural of this parable. You will see every moment of this parable and you will see what looks like twins. You will see what looks like Christ taking care of the wounded man, and then Christ, who’s got him on His back, carrying him to the inn. So, this is Christ’s divinity, Christ’s humanity, the Sacred Humanity at work.
What does he do? He brings him to the inn, which is the Church, and entrusts him to His representative, the Apostle, the priest. And He leaves him two pence. What are these two denarii? Those are the two precepts that He has just recognized: love of God, love of neighbor. And whatever is left over, this is what in Jerome’s translation, supererogation is the word he uses, so whatever is left over, right, this, says Augustine, is one’s private vow of chastity, or one’s priesthood, or one’s mission of preaching the Gospel. It’s what’s beyond the minimum of salvation. This is what’s left over.
And I will come and repay you on my return. The return is the Eschaton. The return is the coming of Christ in glory in which He will repay those faithful servants who served Him so well and what we all hope for to be received by Him. We’ve been brought by Him to the Church. And we trust that He will take us from this Jericho of ours to the heavenly Jerusalem.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
— Fr. Ermatinger