Tractates on the Gospel of John (continued)
144 ST. AUGUSTINE (3) Come, then, come, and do not say, "I already have, already my need is sufficiently met." Come, the dove calls you, she calls you with her moaning. My brothers, I say to you, call with moaning, not with brawling; call with prayer, call with invitation, call with fasting.^^ By your love let them understand that you grieve for them. I doubt not, my brothers, that, if they see your grief, they will be confounded and will be restored to life. Come then, come, fear not; fear if you do not come; rather do not fear, but lament. Come, you will rejoice if you come; indeed you will moan in the afflictions of exile, but you will rejoice in hope.^' Come where the dove is, to whom it has been said, "One is my dove, the only one her mother has."^^ (4) Do you see the one dove upon the head of Christ? Do you not see the tongues in the whole world? The same Spirit through the dove and the same one through the tongues. If there is the same Spirit through the dove and the same Spirit through the tongues, the Holy Spirit was given to the world, from whom you have cut yourself off so that you may cry out with the raven and not moan with the dove. Come, therefore.
16. But perhaps you are troubled and you say, "Baptized outside [the Catholic church], I fear that I am guilty because I received outside." Already you have begun to realize what must be moaned for. You speak the truth that you are guilty, not because you have received but because you have received was meant especially to deter desertion since the tatoo was extremely difficult to remove. See A. H. M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire 284-602 (Oxford, 1964) 2.616 and 649. The normal Roman terms for the military mark were stigma and puncta. See Vegetius, Epitome Rei Militaris 1.8 and 2.5; Codex Theodosianus 10.22.4; ^"^1 Aetius, Libri Medicinales 8.12.24-26. Character i?, apparendy a later synonym. See Vulgate, Apoc [Rv] 13.16-17; and Cassius Felix, De Medicina 13. This character is readily applicable metaphorically to the "indelible" nature of the sacraments. Cf. Augustine, Contra Epistulam Parmeniani 2.13 (PL 43.69-73; and CSEL 51.77-83). For a thorough treatment of Augustine's use of this term, especially as applied to sacramental theology, cf. N. Haring, "St. Augustine's Use of the Word Character Medieval Studies 14 (1951), 79-97; see also Berrouard, Homelies I-XVI, 880-881, and Poque, 1.41-46.
46. Several codices omit the phrase "call with fasting." 47. Cf. section 2. 48Cf. Song 6.8 (NAB 6.9).