Tractates on the Gospel of John (continued)
TRACTATE 7
On John 1.^4— ^ I
E ARE DELIGHTED by the large number of you present today, especially since you have come with an eagerness far beyond what we could have hoped for. This is what brings us joy and consoles us in all the labors and dangers of this life — your love for God, your devout zeal, your firm hope, your fervor of spirit.'
(2) You heard when the Psalm was read that a poor and needy man cries out to God in this world. ^ For it is the voice, as you have often heard and as you ought to remember, not of one man and yet of one man. Not of one man because the faithful are many, many grains, groaning amid the chaff, scattered through the whole world; and, yet, of one man, because all are members of Christ and for this reason one body. Therefore that needy and poor people does not know how to rejoice in the world; and its grief is within, and its joy is within, where only he sees who listens to the one who moans and crowns the one who hopes.
(3) The joy of the world [is] vanity. Its coming is very eagerly awaited; and yet when it has come, it cannot be held on to. For this day which is today in this city a joyful day for the profligate, tomorrow will not even be; nor will these same men be tomorrow this which they are today. And all things pass away, and all things fly away, and like smoke they vanish.
1. Berrouard, Homelies I-XVI, 48-53, discusses at length this group of characteristics by which, he maintains, Augustine defines the genuine Christian.
2. Cf. Ps 73.21. This verse is cited as the reference in the editions and translations; but Berrouard, Homelies I-XVI, 405, convincingly argues that Ps
101 is meant, the words here referring to the title of that Psalm. The reference to Ps 101 in section 6 provides firm support for this position.