|
A gentleman desired a famous painter to paint him a
horse running, and the painter having presented the
horse to him on its back, and as it were rolling in
the mire, the gentleman began to storm; whereupon the
painter turning the picture upside down: Be not
angry, sir, said he; to change the position of a
horse running into that of a horse rolling on its
back, it is only necessary to reverse the picture.
Theotimus, he who would clearly see what zeal or what
jealousy we must have for God, has only to, express
properly the jealousy we have in human things, and
then to turn it upside down, for such will that be
which God requires from us for himself.
Imagine, Theotimus, what comparison there is
between those who enjoy the brightness of the sun,
and those who have only the paltry light of a lamp;
the former are not jealous of one another, for they
know well that that great light is abundantly
sufficiently for all, that the one's enjoyment does
not hinder the other's, and that, although all
possess it in general, each one possesses it none the
less than if he alone possessed it in particular.
But as to the light of a lamp, since it is little,
limited, and insufficient for many, each one desires
to have it in his chamber, and he that has it is
envied by the rest. The good of human things is so
trifling and beggarly, that when one has it, another
must be deprived of it; and human friendship is so
limited and weak, that in proportion as it
communicates itself to the one, it is weakened for
the others: this is why we are jealous and angry when
we have rivals and companions in it.
The heart of God is so abounding in love, his good
is so absolutely infinite, that all men may possess
him without lessening each one's possession; this
infinity of goodness can never be drained, though it
fill all the hearts of the universe; for when
everything has been filled with it to the brim, his
infinity ever remains to him quite entire, without
any diminution whatever. The sun shines no less upon
a rose together with a thousand millions of other
flowers, than though it shone but upon that alone.
And God pours his love no less over one soul, though
he loves with it an infinity of others, than if he
loved that one only: the force of his love not
decreasing by the multitude of rays which it spreads,
but remaining ever quite full of his immensity.
But wherein consists the zeal or the jealousy which
we ought to have for the divine goodness? Theotimus,
its office is, first, to hate, fly, hinder, detest,
reject, combat and overthrow, if one can, all that is
opposed to God; that is, to his will, to his glory,
and the sanctification of his name. I have hated and
abhorred iniquity,(1) said David, and: Have I not
hated them, O Lord, that hated thee: and pined away
because of thy enemies.(2) My zeal hath made me pine
away because my enemies forgot thy words.(3) In the
morning I put to death all the wicked of the land;
that I might cut off all the workers of iniquity from
the city of the Lord.(4)
See, I pray you, Theotimus, with what zeal this
great king is animated, and how he employs the
passions of his soul in the service of holy jealousy!
He does not simply hate iniquity but abhors it; upon
the sight of it he pines away, he falls into a swoon
and a failing of heart, he persecutes it, overthrows
it, and exterminates it. So Phinees transported with
a holy zeal ran his sword through that shameless
Israelite and vile Madianite; so the zeal which
consumed our Saviour's heart, made him cast out and
instantly take vengeance on the irreverence and
profanation which those buyers and sellers committed
in the temple.
Secondly, zeal makes us ardently jealous of the
purity of souls, which are the spouses of Jesus
Christ, according to the word of the holy Apostle to
the Corinthians: I am jealous of you with the
jealousy of God, for I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to
Christ.(5) Eliezer would have been stung with
jealousy, if he had perceived the chaste and fair
Rebecca, whom he was conducting to be espoused to his
master's son, in any danger of being dishonoured; and
doubtless he might have said to this holy maiden: I
am jealous of you with the jealousy I have for my
master, for I have espoused you to one man, that I
may present you a chaste virgin to the son of my lord
Abraham.
So would the great S. Paul say to his Corinthians:
I was sent from God to your souls to arrange the
marriage of an eternal union between his Son our
Saviour, and you, and I have promised you to him to
present you as a chaste virgin to this divine lover;
behold why I am jealous, not with my own jealousy,
but with the jealousy of God, in whose behalf I have
treated with you.
It was this jealousy, Theotimus, that caused this
holy Apostle daily to die and swoon away; I die
daily, said he, I protest by your glory.(6) Who is
weak and I am not weak? Who is scandalized and I am
not on fire.(7) Mark, say the ancients, mark what
love, what care, and what jealousy a mother-hen has
for her chickens (for our Saviour esteemed not this
comparison unworthy of his Gospel).
The hen is a very hen, that is, a creature without
any courage or nobility, while she is not yet a
mother, but with her mothership she puts on a lion's
heart: ever the head up, the eyes on guard, and
darting glances on every side, to espy the smallest
appearance of danger to her little ones. There is no
enemy at whose eyes she will not fly in defence of
her dear brood, for which she has a continual
solicitude, making her ever run about clucking and
plaining. And if any of her chickens come to die, -
what grief, what anger! This is the jealousy of
parents for their children, of pastors for their
flocks, of brothers for their brethren.
What was the zeal of the children of Jacob when
they knew that Dina had been insulted? What was the
zeal of Job from the apprehension and fear he had
that his children might have offended God? What was
the zeal of a S. Paul for his brethren according to
the flesh, and for his children according to God, for
whose sake he desired to be cast out as worthy of
anathema and excommunication? What the zeal of Moses
for his people, for whom he is willing, in a certain
manner to be struck out of the book of life?
Thirdly, in human jealousy we are afraid lest the
thing beloved be possessed by some other, but our
zeal for God makes us on the contrary fear lest we
should not be entirely enough possessed by him. Human
jealousy makes us fear not to be loved enough,
Christian jealousy troubles us with the fear of not
loving enough; whence the sacred Sulamitess cried
out: Show me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou
feedest, where thou liest in the midday, lest I begin
to wander after the flocks of thy companions.(8)
Her fear is that she is not her sacred shepherd's
own entirely, or that she may be led away, be it
never so little, by those who wished to make
themselves his rivals. For she will by no means
permit that worldly pleasures, honours, or exterior
goods shall take up a single particle of her love,
which she has wholly dedicated to her dear Saviour.
|