[Sermon] 1. The bond of his tongue was loosened, and
THE SUNDAY SERMONS OF ST. BONAVENTURE
SERMON 38: ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
[Sermon] 1. The bond of his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak correctly. Mark 7:35. Since according to the Saints, what was once done by our Lord in the body is continually done in a similar manner by him in the spirit;® we can say, therefore, that in these words, understood spiritually by means of any sinner without distinction, three things are noted for our instruction. And the first is the slippery coil of wickedness; second, the painful contrition of the heart; third, the perfect confession of the mouth. And these three things have their own order: for one does not have a perfect confession of the mouth unless a perfect contrition of heart comes first; nor is it fitting for the heart to be expunged and to repent, unless the perpetration.of sin presents a way for contrition. And because of this the proposed verse proceeds in the correct order, because first the perilous coil of wickedness is noted, when it says: The bond of his tongue. For just as the material tongue is tied by a severe contraction of the sinew or another impediment, such that it is unable to form the voice, so the tongue of intellectual scrutiny is entwined and weakened by the enjoyment of sin, such that it is unable to examine one's sins. Second, the painful contrition of the heart is noted, when it adds: was loosened. The painful contrition of the heart is the best way to loosen the binding enjoyment of sin, because opposites
665 See Augustine, Sermon 98, c. 3 n. 3 in PL 38:592.
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are cured with opposites,° the offenses of enjoyment by the pains and bitterness of penance. Third, the perfect contrition of the mouth is noted, when it includes: and he began to speak correctly, which takes place, when a person does not incline one's heart to evil words to make excuses for sins,' but humbly and openly confesses all one's sins.
2. It says, therefore: The bond of his tongue, where first the slippery coil of wickedness is noted. Just as in fact the material tongue is entangled and bound, such that it does not discharge its proper action first, due to swelling caused by illness; second, due to the cooling of the humors; third, due to the weakening of the sinew; so the spiritual tongue, that is, the superior part of the soul, is entangled and bound in these three modes, such that it is unable to be moved in the proper manner in relationship to God, neighbor and itself. For the mental tongue, that is, the superior part of the soul, is bound first by the swelling of mental pride, such that it is unable to be moved to honor God. Second, it is bound by the cooling of heartfelt jealousy, such that it is unable to be moved to love the neighbor. Third it is bound by the weakening of carnal licentiousness, such that it is unable to be moved to regulate itself.
666 The immediate source for this commonly held dictum in the Middle Ages is the Glossa Ordinaria on Lev 25:51. See PL 113:371D:
"According to the nature of the sin, one must repay the price. Thus, the person who has sinned by gluttony must correct this by fasting.
The bad reputation that gossip has engendered should be destroyed by silence. And similarly, for opposites are cured with opposites." On p. 391 the critical edition provides a footnote rich with other parallels to this adage.
667 See Ps 140:4: "Do not incline my heart to evil words to make excuses for sins."
THE SUNDAY SERMONS OF ST. BONAVENTURE
3. First, the proud person is tied by the bond of mental pride, such that one is unable to be moved to honor God.
Whence Wisdom 17:2 says: The wicked are convinced that they are able to dominate the holy nation, they are fettered by the bonds of darkness and the long night. The wicked, that is, the puffed up and proud, resemble their father, the devil, who reigns over all children of the proud;®* they are convinced by him, that they are able to dominate, that is, to be in charge of all people, even the holy nation; they are fettered by the bonds of darkness and the long night, they are fettered and coiled by blinding pride, and thus unable to lower themselves to the humility through which the height of divine majesty is honored. For the great power of the only God is only honored by the humble.*®? Whence those who are puffed up, as if they were extremely important, and do not wish to humble and subject themselves to others for God's sake, are those who will be choked in the flood of the final judgment; however, the arc of humility will preserve the little ones of Christ. These people are represented by Zedekiah, who was so puffed up and arrogant that he did not wish to lower the neck to the yoke of the divine precept, of which Jeremiah 39:7 says the king of Babylon, that is, the devil, ripped out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with shackles so he might be led to Babylon.
4. Second, the jealous are tied by the bond of heartfelt jealousy, such that they are unable to be moved to love the neighbor. Whence Psalm 2:2 states: The princes met together against the Lord and against his Christ. Let us break their bonds and throw away from us their yoke.
The princes of the priests met together against the Lord 668 See Job 41:25.
°° See Sir 3:21: "For great is the power of God alone, and God is honored by the humble."
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ala: and against his Christ, when, fastened with the bonds of heartfelt jealousy, they began to plan against Christ, in order to hand him over to death. And bound, they led him and handed him over to Pilate, according to what
Matthew 27 says. Lest we be entwined by these bonds of heartfelt jealousy by hating neighbors, who are members of Christ, it adds then: Let us break their bonds and throw away from us that infernal and diabolical yoke of theirs, under which the wicked Jews subjected themselves, when they said: His blood be upon us and upon our children."
Dearly beloved, let us not hate the neighbor who is a member of Christ, because the one who hates the neighbor is a murderer,®" and the neighbor's blood is upon him and calls out to God®" for the person's vindication.
5. Third, the dissolute are bound by the bond of corporal licentiousness, such that they are unable to be moved to regulate or love themselves. Whence Ecclesiastes 7:27 says: I have found a woman bitterer than death, who is a snare of hunters, her heart is a net, and her hands are bonds. It is well said: J have found a woman bitterer than death; for death kills the body in time, but the depraved woman the body and the soul for eternity, she who is a snare for hunters, that is, demons.*"* In fact, with this feminine noose the demons hunted the human race in the person of the primogenitors, for sin began from a woman.®™ Her dissolute heart is an infernal net for seizing the dissolute in the waters of carnality; and her hands, that 870 See Matt 27:25.
671 See 1 John 3:15: "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer...."
672 See Gen 4:10: "And God said to Cain: What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the earth."
673 On women and sexual temptation in medieval sermons, see Gregg, Devils, Women, and Jews, 85-110.
674 See Sir 25:33: "From a woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die."
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is, works, are bonds, to drag to the slime of sin. Whence the person who does not wish to be snared by demons in the noose of carnal licentiousness, but wishes to keep himself pure through the purity of chastity, must avoid vain spectacles and flee the company of women as much as possible, because just as a rose or lily, when frequently touched, begins to fade and lose color and smell, so it is with the chaste person, when one exposes himself to these vain spectacles and women. The heart is eventually touched and pierced, and:so it immediately begins to fade due to impure thoughts, and loses the color and smell of interior chastity through consent to those thoughts.
6. Second, the painful contrition of the heart is noted in the proposed verse, when it adds: was loosened. In fact, through true contrition, the threefold previously mentioned sins are loosened, namely pride, jealousy, and voluptuousness, by the threefold gift that God pours into the contrite soul, namely, by the gift of humility, charity, and chastity, such that the opposite offenses are cured by the opposites of grace.*"° For instance, first the bond of mental pride is loosened by the fear of filial reverence that honors God; second, the bond of heartfelt jealousy is loosened by the love of universal benevolence that loves the neighbor; third, the bond of carnal licentiousness is loosened by the adornment of celestial modesty that regulates and adorns the particular subject.
7. First, the bond of mental pride is loosened by the fear of filial reverence that honors God. Whence Isaiah
52:2 states: Loosen the bonds of your neck, captive daughter of Zion. Zion, which is interpreted as watchtower,®"* is the Christian soul that is born ready to see God within 65 See the Glossa Ordinaria on Lev 25:51 in PL 113:371D.
876 See CCSL I xxii, 122: "Zion means mirror."
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itself because it is the mirror and image of the divine essence. Loosen, with mildness, fear, and humility; the bonds of your neck, that is, of the obstinate arrogance and rebellious pride by which so far you were captured and subjected to the most harsh rule of the devil, so that you are unable to fight under the leadership of Christ, because no one is able to serve two masters, God and the devil, who command opposite things.
8. Second, the bond of heartfelt jealousy is loosened by the love of universal benevolence that loves the neighbor.
Whence Isaiah 58:6 says: Dissolve the ties of impiety, loosen the bundles that oppress. The ties of impiety, that is, the movement of anger and rancor, by which the intellect is impeded, and thus unable to discern the truth, and the affections are provoked to harm the neighbor; loosen, with the bond of peace and concord; similarly loosen with befitting satisfaction the bundles, that is, the vicious works that oppress others. For one must be reconciled first and remit the neighbor from the heart and then, if one has injured the person, with works of satisfaction, because the reconciliation of the heart is of little value without the satisfaction of works, if the possibility presents itself.
9. Third, the bond of carnal licentiousness is loosened by the adornment of celestial modesty that beautifies the particular subject. And in this regard one can propose
Luke 13:16: And this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, should she not be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath? As if to say: yes. This woman, who has an unclean spirit, who was bent over toward the ground and unable to look up, signifies every dissolute person who has an unclean spirit of voluptuousness. Because of this a person has such a propensity for evil that one is always bent over toward the ground, tasting only carnal things, and has such difficulty with the good that the person is
THE SUNDAY SERMONS OF ST. BONAVENTURE
unable to look up to seek spiritual things. In fact Satan bound her with this twofold bond, namely the propensity for evil and difficulty with the good, which belong to us due to the corruption of the flesh and the aggravation of the spirit. She is released from this through Christ on the day of the fullness of grace, in the time of the Gospel, in which chastity of mind is commended more than chastity in the flesh; for chastity is not in the flesh, but in the mind, and it overflows from the heart into the body; whence chastity of the mind is better than that of the body. For if the heart is chaste, the body will be as well; but if the body is chaste, the heart will not necessarily be so; although in the time of the law the Jews believed, what was said by the ancient authorities: you shall not commit adultery,®" only regarded chastity of the flesh; but to complete the law the Lord added that not only must chastity be preserved in the flesh, but even in thought, affection, and sight, when he added in Matthew 5:28: But I say to you, anyone who looks at a women to desire her, already has committed adultery with her in one's heart.
10. Third, the perfect contrition of the mouth is noted in the proposed verse, when it introduces: and he began to speak correctly. That person speaks correctly with a perfect confession, who first speaks humbly with reproach by accusing oneself; second, usefully with a proposal for amending the defect; third, tearfully with the desire to please God. To confess and manifest sin is of no value without a proposal to amend the offense; otherwise the sinner is unable to please God.
11. First, that person speaks correctly in confession, who first speaks humbly with reproach by accusing one6"7 See Matt 5:27: "You have heard tht it was said to the ancients:
You shall not commit adultery."
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self. And in this regard one can propose Job 10:1: My soul is weary of my life; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God: Do not condemn me, show me why you judge me so. This verse is perfect for the penitent to whom the perpetrated sin is so displeasing that the person would choose to incur the death of one's body rather than to have committed a mortal sin and lose God, who is the life of the soul.®* And this one says: My soul is weary of my life, and as if corporal eloquence has been dismissed due to the great pain of contrition, the person speaks in the bitterness of one's soul, recalling the memory of all the abominations and perpetrated crimes with which one had provoked God to anger; and thus contrite, the person can say with an authentic confession: Do not condemn me, because on account of my sins "I am afraid and ashamed before you."°"?
12. Second, that person speaks correctly in confession, who speaks usefully with a proposal for correcting the sin. Whence Psalm 38:5 says: I spoke with my tongue: O
Lord, make known to me my end, and what is the number of my days, so I may know what I am lacking. I spoke with my tongue, by manifesting my sins in confession, not with a sign or in writing, but with my tongue, with my own mouth; but that I may amend my defects, O Lord, make known to me the end of my death and what is the number of my days, because they are as brief as a shadow,;*™ so I may know what I am lacking, in order to correct and 678 See Augustine, Sermon 273 c. 1 n. 1 in PL 38:1247: "The death of the soul must be feared, and not that of the body. God is the life of the soul."
679 This is taken from the First Nocturn, 3" responsory, at Matins of the Office for the Dead.
680 See Job 14:2: "Human beings come forth like a flower and are destroyed and flee like a shadow and never continue in the same state."
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make satisfaction for sin. For nothing moves a sinner to amend one's defects and correct one's sins as much as the knowledge and memory of death, "for it is easy for one to amend one's crimes when one knows that death is always near."®*1 13. Third, that person speaks correctly in confession, who speaks tearfully with a proposal for placating
God. And in this way one can interpret what is said in today's Gospel: Taking him aside from the crowd, he put his fingers into the man's ears, and spitting, he touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him: Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And his ears were at once opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak correctly. The Gloss interprets this as follows: "The Lord leads the sick from the crowd, when he illumines, through a visitation, the mind grown weak from sin and calls it back from the morals of accustomed conduct and challenges it to follow his precepts; put his fingers into the ears, when he opens them to understand and accept the words of salvation through the gifts of the Holy Spirit; spit, which descends from the head of the Lord, signifies divine wisdom whose penetration loosens human ignorance; looking up to heaven he sighed, so that through this he might teach us to place the treasure of our heart in heaven, which is purged from the frivolous happiness of the flesh through compunction and tears; because then immediately the ears are opened to hear the voice of divine threat, the fear of which loosens the bond of sin through contrition; and he speaks, correctly without duplicity by means of a perfect confession, whose utterance in a marvelous manner is pleasing to the merciful
*8! Bonaventure cites the gist of Jerome, Letter 140 n. 16. See PL ra
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God."°*? And this exposition is taken almost completely from the Gloss. Let us ask, etc.
682 The critical edition states that this is taken from the Glossa Ordinaria.