Patristic Reading,
Wednesday of the Fourth Week in Lent Year II
Reading
from the Homilies on Leviticus byOrigen
The omnipotent God, who lays down
for men the contest of observing his Law in this world, lists what ought to be
done and not done, announces suitably at the end of the book of Leviticus where
each individual observance is established, what reward he who fulfils them
bears and what punishment he who does not observe them undergoes.
But if the Law, according
to what the Jews maintain, is not spiritual but carnal, there is no doubt that
he grants carnally observed blessings also to those who observe them carnally.
But if, as it seems to the Apostle Paul, the
Law is spiritual then it must be observed spiritually and there is a
spiritual reward of the blessings for which they hope. For it is by a perfect
logic that the spiritual Law gives spiritual blessings and by a no less perfect
logic that the curses and condemnations of the spiritual Law are not physical.
So that what we say may not be doubted, let us hear the voice of the Apostle
Paul himself writing about spiritual blessings to the Ephesians: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ who blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in heaven.
And you
will eat your bread in abundance. I do not take that to be a physical
blessing, as if he who keeps the Law of God obtains this ordinary bread in
abundance. Why? Do not the impious and wicked eat bread not only in abundance
but even in delight? Therefore, if we turn our attention more to him who said, I am the living bread which descended from
heaven, and whoever eats this bread will live forever, and if we consider that he who said this was the
Word by which souls are nourished, then we will understand about which bread it
was said, And you will eat your
bread in abundance. In Proverbs,
Solomon also proclaims similar things about the just man when he says, When the
just man eats, he will fill his soul; but the souls of the impious will be in
extreme poverty. If you take it
according to the literal sense, it appears false. For the souls of the impious
take food with eagerness and strive after satiety; but the just meanwhile are
hungry. Paul was just and he said, Up to
this hour we are hungry, and thirsty, and naked, and we are beaten with fists.
But if you consider how the just man
always and without interruption eats
from the living bread and fills his
soul with the heavenly food which is the Word of God and his Wisdom, you will
find how the just man eats his bread in abundance from the
blessing of God.
And
you will dwell secure upon your land. The unjust man is never secure but is
always moved and wavers and is carried
about by every wind of doctrine. But the just man who keeps the Law of God dwells secure upon his land. For his
understanding is made firm by saying to God, Confirm me, O Lord, in your words. Therefore, he lives upon his land grounded in the faith because his building is not placed upon sand,
and his root is not ‘upon a rock’, but indeed his house was founded upon the earth, but his plant took root in the depth of the earth, that is, in
the interior of his soul. Therefore, it is rightly said to a soul of this kind
in the blessings, You will dwell secure
upon your land; and I will give peace upon your land.
Origen, In Lev. 16:1-3, 4-5; Fathers
of the Church 83 (1990) tr. G.W. Buckley
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