Gregory the Dialogist

(Hom. in Ev. xxxviii. 2.) Here, by the wedding-feast is denoted the present Church; there, by the supper, the last and eternal feast. For into this enter some who shall perish; into that whosoever has once entered in shall never be put forth. But if any should maintain that these are the same lessons, we may perhaps explain that that part concerning the guest who had come in without a wedding garment, which Luke has not mentioned, Matthew has related. That the one calls it supper, the other dinner, makes no difference; for with the ancients the dinner was at the ninth hour, and was therefore often called supper.

(ubi sup.) G marriage feast for God the Son, when He joined Him to human nature in the womb of the Virgin. But far be it from us to conclude, that because marriage takes place between two separate persons, that therefore the person of our Redeemer was made up of two separate persons. We say indeed that He exists of two natures, and in two natures, but we hold it unlawful to believe that He was compounded of two persons. It is safer therefore to say, that the marriage feast was made by the King the Father for the King the Son when He joined to Him the Holy Church in the mystery of His incarnation. The womb of the Virgin Mother was the bride-chamber of this Bridegroom.

(ubi sup.) But because these who were first invited would not come to the feast, the second summons says, Behold, I have prepared my dinner.

(ubi sup.) By the oxen are signified the Fathers of the Old Testament; who by sufferance of the Law gored their enemies with the horn of bodily strength. By fatlings are meant fatted animals, for from 'alere', comes 'altilia,' as it were 'alitilia' or 'alita.' By the fatlings are intended the Fathers of the New Testament; who while they receive sweet grace of inward fattening, are raised by the wing of contemplation from earthly desires to things above. He says therefore, My oxen and my fallings are killed; as much as to say, Look to the deaths of the Fathers who have been before you, and desire some amendment of your lives.

(ubi sup.) It is to be observed, that in the first invitation nothing was said of the oxen or fatlings, but in the second it is announced that they are already killed, because Almighty God when we will not hear His words gives examples, that what we suppose impossible may become easy to us to surmount, when we hear that others have passed through it before us.

Whosoever then intent upon earthly business, or devoted to the actions of this world, feigns to be meditating upon the mystery of the Lord's Passion, and to be living accordingly, is he that refuses to come to the King's wedding on pretext of going to his farm or his merchandize. Nay often, which is worse, some who are called not only reject the grace, but become persecutors, And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them despitefully, and slew them.

(ubi sup.) Or, The armies of our King are the legions of His Angels. He is said therefore to have sent His armies, and to have destroyed those murderers, because all judgment is executed upon men by the Angels. He destroys those murderers, when He cuts off persecutors; and burns up their city, because not only their souls, but the body of flesh they had tenanted, is tormented in the everlasting fire of hell.

(ubi sup.) But when He sees that His invitation is spurned at, He will not have His Son's marriage-feast empty; the word of God will find where it may stay itself.

(ubi sup.) Or otherwise; In holy Scripture, way is taken to mean actions; so that the crossings of the ways we understand as failure in action, for they usually come to God readily, who have had little prosperity in worldly actions.

(ubi sup.) Or; He means that in this present Church there cannot be bad without good, nor good without bad. He is not good who refuses to endure the bad.

(ubi sup.) What ought we to understand by the wedding garment, but charity? For this the Lord had upon Him, when He came to espouse the Church to Himself. He then enters in to the wedding feast, but without the wedding garment, who has faith in the Church, but not charity.

(ubi sup.) The hands and feet are then bound by a severe sentence of judgment, which before refused to be bound from wicked actions by amendment of life. Or punishment binds them, whom sin had before bound from good works.

(ubi sup.) By inward darkness we express blindness, of heart; outer darkness signifies the everlasting night of damnation.

(ubi sup.) There shall gnash those teeth which here delighted in gluttony; there shall weep those eyes which here roamed in illicit desire; every member shall there have its peculiar punishment, which here was a slave to its peculiar vice.

(ubi sup.) For some never begin a good course, and some never continue in that good course which they have begun. Let each one's care about himself be in proportion to his ignorance of what is yet to come.

I remember that I have often said that frequently in the holy Gospel the present Church is called the kingdom of heaven. For the congregation of the righteous is called the kingdom of heaven. Because the Lord says through the prophet: "Heaven is my throne"; and Solomon says: "The soul of the righteous is the seat of wisdom"; Paul also says: "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God"; we ought clearly to conclude that if God is wisdom, and the soul of the righteous is the seat of wisdom, since heaven is called the throne of God, therefore the soul of the righteous is heaven. Hence it is said through the Psalmist concerning the holy preachers: "The heavens declare the glory of God." Therefore the kingdom of heaven is the Church of the righteous, because while their hearts seek nothing on earth, through the fact that they sigh for things above, the Lord already reigns in them as if in heavenly places. Let it therefore be said: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who was a king, who made a wedding feast for his son."

Now your charity understands who this king is, the father of the king's son: namely he to whom the Psalmist says: "O God, give your judgment to the king, and your justice to the king's son." He made a wedding for his son. For God the Father made a wedding for God his Son when he joined him to human nature in the womb of the Virgin, when he willed that God before all ages should become man at the end of the ages. But since this union is usually made from two persons, far be it from our understanding that we should believe the person of God and man, our Redeemer Jesus Christ, to be united from two persons. Indeed we say that he exists from two and in two natures; but we avoid as impious the belief that he is composed of two persons. Therefore it can be said more openly and safely that in this the Father made a wedding for his Son the king, by which through the mystery of the incarnation he joined the holy Church to him. Moreover, the womb of the Virgin mother was the bridal chamber of this bridegroom. Hence the Psalmist also says: "He has set his tabernacle in the sun, and he himself comes forth like a bridegroom from his chamber." For like a bridegroom he came forth from his chamber, because God incarnate went out from the uncorrupted womb of the Virgin to join the Church to himself.

What do we understand by the bulls and fattened birds, dearest brothers, if not the fathers of the Old and New Testament? Because I speak to common people, I must also explain the very words of the Gospel reading. For we call "altilia" fattened birds; from the word "alere" (to nourish), we call them "altilia," as if "alitilia." Since it was written in the law: "You shall love your friend, and hate your enemy," the just had then received permission to suppress God's adversaries and their own with whatever strength they could, and to strike them by right of the sword. This is without doubt restrained in the New Testament, when Truth Himself preaches, saying: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you." Who then are signified by the bulls if not the fathers of the Old Testament? For since they had received from the permission of the law the right to strike their adversaries with the repayment of hatred, so to speak, what else were they but bulls, who struck their enemies with the horn of bodily strength? And what is figured by the fattened birds if not the fathers of the New Testament, who, receiving the grace of inner richness, striving upward from earthly desires, are lifted to the heights of their contemplation on wings? Indeed, to place one's thought on lowly things—what else is this but a certain dryness of mind? But those who through understanding of heavenly things are already fed through holy desires with the food of inner delight from above grow fat, as it were, with more abundant nourishment. The Prophet had longed to be fattened with this richness when he said: "Let my soul be filled as with fat and richness."

Therefore, because the preachers of the Lord's incarnation who were sent endured persecution from unbelievers—first the prophets and afterward the holy apostles—it is said to those invited who refused to come: "My bulls and fattened birds have been slain, and all things are ready." As if it were said more openly: Look upon the deaths of the fathers who went before, and consider the remedies for your life. It should be noted that in the first invitation nothing is said about bulls and fattened birds, but in the second it is now mentioned that the bulls and fattened birds have been slaughtered, because almighty God, when we refuse to hear His words, adds examples, so that everything we believe impossible becomes easier for us to hope for, the more we hear that others have already passed through it.

"But when the king learned of this, he sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city." He destroys the murderers because he slays the persecutors. He burns their city with fire because not only their souls but also the flesh in which they had dwelt is tormented by the eternal flame of hell. It is said that he destroyed the murderers by sending armies because all judgment among humans is carried out through angels. For what are those hosts of angels if not the armies of our King? Hence the same king is called "Lord Sabaoth." For Sabaoth is translated as "of armies." Therefore he sends an army to destroy his adversaries because the Lord indeed executes vengeance through angels. The power of this vengeance our fathers once only heard about, but we now see it. For where are those proud persecutors of the martyrs? Where are those who raised the neck of their heart against their Creator and swelled with deadly pride over the glory of this world? Behold, the death of the martyrs now flourishes in the faith of the living, and those who gloried in their cruelty against them do not come into our memory even among the number of the dead. Thus we recognize in actual events what we hear in parables.

It follows: "And his servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good, and the wedding was filled with guests."

Behold, now by the very quality of those dining together it is openly shown that through these royal nuptials the present Church is designated, in which both good and evil come together. For it is mixed with a diversity of children, because although it begets all unto faith, yet it does not lead all through a change of life to the liberty of spiritual grace, their faults preventing it. For as long as we live here, it is necessary that we proceed on the way of the present age in a mixed state. But then we are separated when we arrive. For the good alone are nowhere except in heaven; and the evil alone are nowhere except in hell. But this life which is situated between heaven and hell, just as it subsists in the middle, so it receives the citizens of both parts in common; whom nevertheless holy Church both now receives without distinction and afterward separates at their departure.

If therefore you are good, as long as you subsist in this life, bear with the evil patiently. For whoever does not tolerate the evil, he himself is a witness to himself through his intolerance that he is not good. For he refuses to be Abel whom the malice of Cain does not exercise. Thus on the threshing floor the grains are pressed under the chaff; thus flowers arise among thorns, and the rose which gives fragrance grows with the thorn which pricks. Indeed the first man had two sons; but one of them was chosen, the other was reprobate. The ark of Noah contained three sons; but two of them were chosen, and one was reprobate. Abraham had two sons; but one was chosen, the other was reprobate. Isaac had two sons; but one was chosen, the other was rejected. Jacob had twelve sons; but of these one was sold through innocence, while the others through malice were sellers of their brother. Twelve apostles were chosen; but one was mixed among them who would test, eleven who would be tested. Seven deacons were ordained by the apostles; but while six remained in the right faith, one became the author of error.

In this Church therefore neither can the evil be without the good, nor the good without the evil. Therefore, dearest brothers, bring back to mind the times past, and strengthen yourselves for the toleration of the evil. For if we are children of the elect, it necessarily remains that we walk by their examples. For he was not good who refused to tolerate the evil. For hence it is that blessed Job asserts of himself, saying: "I was a brother of dragons, and a companion of ostriches." Hence through Solomon it is said in the voice of the bridegroom to holy Church: "As a lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters." Hence the Lord says to Ezekiel: "Son of man, unbelievers and subverters are with you, and you dwell among scorpions." Hence Peter glorifies the life of blessed Lot, saying: "And he rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the injury of the wicked in their conduct; for in sight and hearing he was righteous, dwelling among those who from day to day tormented his righteous soul with their lawless deeds." Hence Paul both praises and strengthens the life of his disciples, saying: "In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life." Hence John testifies to the Church of Pergamos, saying: "I know where you dwell, where the throne of Satan is, and you hold my name, and you have not denied my faith." Behold, dearest brothers, running through almost all things we recognize that he was not good whom the depravity of the evil did not test. For if I may speak thus, the iron of our soul is by no means brought to the sharpness of a fine edge unless the file of another's depravity has worn it down.

But it should not frighten you that in the Church there are both many who are evil and few who are good, because the ark amid the waters of the flood, which bore the type of this Church, was both wide in its lower parts and narrow in its upper parts, and at its very summit it grew to the measure of a single cubit. In its lower part it is to be believed it contained quadrupeds and reptiles, but in its upper part birds and human beings. It was wide where it held beasts; it was narrow where it preserved human beings, because indeed the holy Church is spacious in carnal matters but narrow in spiritual ones. For where it tolerates the bestial behavior of people, there it relaxes its fold more widely. But where it has those who are supported by spiritual reason, there indeed it is led to the summit, yet because they are few, it is narrowed. For "wide is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who go by it; and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it." Moreover, the ark is narrowed at the top to such an extent that it is brought to the measure of a single cubit, because in the holy Church the holier any persons are, the fewer they are. At its summit it is brought to him who alone among human beings was born holy, without comparison to any other. Who, according to the voice of the Psalmist, was made "like a solitary sparrow on a rooftop." Therefore the evil are to be tolerated all the more, the more abundantly they abound, because even on the threshing floor there are few grains that are stored in granaries, and great heaps of chaff that are burned with fire.

But since you have now entered the house of the wedding, that is, the holy Church, by the Lord's generosity, carefully observe, brothers, lest the king upon entering find fault with something in the attire of your mind. For with great fear of heart we must consider what is immediately added: "The king entered to see those reclining at table, and he saw there a man not clothed in a wedding garment." What, dearest brothers, do we think is expressed by the wedding garment? For if we say the wedding garment is baptism or faith, who entered this wedding without baptism and faith? For by that very fact he is outside, because he has not yet believed. What then should we understand the wedding garment to be, except charity? For he enters the wedding, but does not enter with a wedding garment, who standing in the holy Church has faith but does not have charity. For rightly is charity called the wedding garment, because our Creator had this in himself when he came to the wedding of uniting the Church to himself. For it was accomplished solely by the love of God that his only-begotten Son united the minds of chosen people to himself. Hence John also says: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son for us." He therefore who came to humanity through charity made known that same charity to be the wedding garment. Therefore everyone among you who, being placed in the Church, has believed in God has already entered the wedding; but he does not come with a wedding garment if he does not preserve the grace of charity. And certainly, brothers, if anyone were invited to a carnal wedding, he would change his garment, he would show by the very beauty of his attire that he rejoices with the bridegroom and bride, and he would be ashamed to appear in despised garments among those rejoicing and celebrating the feast. We come to the wedding of God, and we neglect to change the garment of our heart. The angels rejoice together when the elect are taken up to heaven. With what mind, then, do we behold these spiritual festivities, we who do not have the wedding garment, that is, charity, which alone presents us as beautiful?

It should be known that just as a garment is woven on two beams, namely the upper and the lower, so charity is held in two commandments, that is, in the love of God and of neighbor. For it is written: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength; and your neighbor as yourself." In this matter it should be noted that in the love of neighbor a measure of love is established, when it is said: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself"; but the love of God is constrained by no measure, when it is said: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength." For one is not commanded how much to love, but from how much, when it is said: "With all," because he truly loves God who leaves nothing of himself for himself.

Therefore whoever takes care to have a wedding garment at the wedding must keep these two commandments of charity. For this is why, in the prophet Ezekiel, the vestibule of the gate of that city situated on the mountain is measured at two cubits, because surely the entrance to the heavenly city is not opened to us if in this Church, which is called a vestibule because it is still outside, the love of God and neighbor is not maintained. This is why scarlet twice-dyed is commanded to be woven into the curtains of the tabernacle. You are, brothers, you are the curtains of the tabernacle, who veil heavenly secrets in your hearts through faith. But twice-dyed scarlet must be in the curtains of the tabernacle. For scarlet has the appearance of fire. And what is charity, if not fire? But this charity must be twice-dyed, so that it may be dyed through the love of God, and dyed through the love of neighbor. For he who so loves God that through contemplation of Him he neglects his neighbor, is indeed scarlet, but not twice-dyed. Again, he who so loves his neighbor that nevertheless he abandons the contemplation of God through love of him, is scarlet, but not twice-dyed. Therefore, that your charity may be able to be twice-dyed scarlet, let it kindle itself both to the love of God and to the love of neighbor, so that it neither abandons the contemplation of God out of compassion for neighbor, nor, clinging to the contemplation of God more than it ought, casts aside compassion for neighbor. And so let every person living among people so yearn for Him whom he desires, that nevertheless he does not abandon the one with whom he was running; and let him so bring help to this one, that he in no way grows sluggish toward Him to whom he was hastening.

It must also be known that this love of neighbor is subdivided into two precepts, as a certain wise man says: "See that you do not do to another what you hate to have done to you." And Truth Himself preaches through Himself, saying: "What you wish men to do to you, do the same to them." For if we both give to others what we rightly wish to be rendered to us, and we ourselves avoid doing to others what we do not wish done to us, we preserve the laws of charity unharmed.

But let no one, when he loves someone, think that he immediately has charity, unless he first examines the very strength of his love. For if anyone loves someone, but does not love him for the sake of God, he does not have charity, but thinks he has it. True charity, however, is when a friend is loved in God, and an enemy is loved for the sake of God. For he loves those whom he loves for the sake of God, who already knows how to love even those by whom he is not loved. For charity is usually proven only through the adversity of hatred. Hence the Lord Himself says: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you." Therefore, he loves securely who loves for the sake of God the one by whom he understands he is not loved. These things are great, these things are lofty, and difficult for many to practice, but nevertheless this is the wedding garment.

Whoever does not have this garment while reclining at the wedding feast, let him now anxiously fear when the king enters, lest he be cast outside. For behold it is said: "The king entered the wedding feast to see those reclining at table, and he saw there a man not clothed with a wedding garment." We are the ones, dearest brothers, who recline at the wedding feast of the Word, who already have faith in the Church, who are fed by the banquets of Sacred Scripture, who rejoice that the Church is joined to God. Consider, I ask, whether you have come to this wedding feast with a wedding garment; examine your thoughts with anxious inquiry. Weigh your hearts concerning each matter: whether you now hold hatred against no one, whether you are not inflamed by any torch of envy against another's good fortune, whether you do not hasten to harm anyone through hidden malice.

But since we have said these few things for the consolation of one who has it but is weak, let us now turn our words to him who does not have it at all. It follows: "Then the king said to the servants: Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Then the feet and hands are bound by the strictness of the sentence, which now refused to be bound from wicked works through amendment of life. Or certainly, punishment then binds those whom guilt now bound from good works. For the feet that neglect to visit the sick, the hands that give nothing to the needy, are already bound from good work by their own will. Therefore, those who now are willingly bound in vice will then be unwillingly bound in punishment.

Moreover, it is well said that he is cast into the outer darkness. For we call the inner darkness the blindness of the heart, but the outer darkness the eternal night of damnation. Therefore, every condemned person is sent not into the inner but into the outer darkness, because he who here willingly fell into blindness of heart is there unwillingly cast into the night of damnation. Where there is said to be weeping and gnashing of teeth, so that there the teeth may gnash which here rejoiced in gluttony; there the eyes may weep which here were occupied with unlawful desires; so that each and every member may be subjected to punishment which here served in subjection to each and every vice.

But when one has been rejected, in whom clearly the whole body of the wicked is represented, a general judgment is immediately added, in which it is said: "For many are called, but few are chosen." What we have heard is greatly to be feared, dearest brothers. Behold, we who have all now been called through faith come to the wedding feast of the heavenly king, we both believe and confess the mystery of his incarnation, we receive the banquet of the divine Word, but on the future day of judgment the king will enter. That we are called, we know; whether we are chosen, we do not know. Therefore it is necessary that each one of us humble himself in humility all the more because he does not know whether he is chosen. For some do not even begin good works, while others do not persist at all in the good works they have begun. One person is seen to lead nearly his whole life in wickedness, but near the end of his life he is called back from his wickedness through the lamentations of severe penance; another seems to lead a chosen life, and yet it happens that near the end of his life he turns aside to the wickedness of error. One begins good well and finishes better; another casts himself down in evil deeds from his earliest age, and in the same works is always finished worse than himself. Therefore let each one anxiously fear for himself all the more because he does not know what remains, for, what must often be said and retained without forgetfulness: "Many are called, but few are chosen."

But because sometimes the examples of the faithful convert the minds of hearers more than the words of teachers, I wish to tell you something from nearby, which your hearts may hear with all the more fear, since it sounds to them from close at hand. For we are not speaking of things done long ago, but we recall those of which witnesses exist, and who report that they were present. My father had three sisters, who were all three sacred virgins: one was called Tharsilla, another Gordiana, another Aemiliana. All were converted with one ardor, consecrated at one and the same time, living under regular discipline, they led a common life in their own home. And when they had been for a long time in the same manner of life, Tharsilla and Aemiliana began to grow daily with increasing love for their Creator, and though they were here only in body, daily they passed in spirit to eternal things. But on the contrary, Gordiana's spirit began to grow lukewarm from the warmth of inner love through daily losses, and little by little to return to the love of this world. Often Tharsilla used to say to her sister Aemiliana with great sighing: "I see that our sister Gordiana is not of our lot; for I perceive that she flows outward, and does not keep her heart to what she has professed." They took care to correct her with gentle daily reproof, and to reform her from levity of manners to the gravity of her state. She would indeed suddenly assume an expression of gravity amid the words of correction, but when the hour of that correction had passed, the assumed gravity of respectability immediately passed as well, and she soon returned to frivolous words. She rejoiced in the company of lay girls, and any person who was not devoted to this world was very burdensome to her.

But one night to this Tharsilla, my aunt, who among her sisters had excelled in the honor and height of sanctity by virtue of continuous prayer, zealous mortification, singular abstinence, and gravity of life, as she herself related, my great-great-grandfather Felix, bishop of this Roman Church, appeared in a vision, and showed her a mansion of perpetual brightness, saying: "Come, for I receive you into this mansion of light." She was immediately seized by a fever the following day and came to her final day. And just as when noble women and men are dying many gather to console their relatives, at the very hour of her departure many men and women stood around her bed, among whom my mother also was present; when suddenly she looked upward and saw Jesus coming, and with great earnestness began to cry out to those standing around, saying: "Depart, depart, Jesus comes." And as she gazed upon him whom she saw, that holy soul was released from the flesh; and suddenly such a fragrance of wondrous odor was spread about that the sweetness itself showed to all that the author of sweetness had come there. And when her body was stripped to be washed as is the custom for the dead, it was found that hardened skin had grown on her elbows and knees, in the manner of camels, from long practice of prayer, and her dead flesh testified to what her living spirit had always done.

These things occurred before the day of the Lord's Nativity. When that had passed, she soon appeared to her sister Aemiliana in a vision of the night, saying: "Come, so that since I spent the Lord's Nativity without you, I may now spend the holy day of Theophany with you." She, immediately anxious about the salvation of their sister Gordiana, replied: "And if I come alone, to whom do I leave our sister Gordiana?" To her, as she reported, Tharsilla said again with sad countenance: "Come, for our sister Gordiana has been reckoned among the laywomen." This vision was soon followed by bodily illness, and just as had been said, before the day of the Lord's appearing, with that illness growing worse, she died. But Gordiana, as soon as she found herself left alone, her wickedness increased, and what had previously lain hidden in the desire of thought, she afterward carried out in the effect of wicked action. For forgetful of the fear of the Lord, forgetful of modesty and reverence, forgetful of her consecration, she afterward took the steward of her fields as a husband. Behold, all three were first converted with one ardor, but they did not remain in one and the same devotion, because according to the Lord's voice, "Many are called, but few are chosen."

I have said these things therefore, lest anyone already established in good work attribute to himself the strength of good work, lest anyone trust in his own action, because even if he knows today what he is like, he still does not know what he will be tomorrow. Let no one therefore rejoice securely in his own works, since while still in the uncertainty of this life he does not know what end will follow.

But because I have related a matter which terrified you from divine severity, I also relate another thing from nearby which may console your terrified hearts from divine mercy; which however I remember that I already said in another sermon, but you were by no means present. Two years ago, a certain brother came to my monastery, which is situated near the Church of the blessed martyrs John and Paul, for the purpose of conversion. After being tested according to the rule for a long time, he was eventually admitted. His brother followed him to the monastery not out of zeal for conversion but out of carnal affection. Now the one who had come for conversion was very pleasing to the brothers; but his brother, on the contrary, was far different from his life and character. He lived in the monastery more from necessity than from choice. And though he was perverse in all his actions, he was patiently tolerated by everyone for the sake of his brother. For he was frivolous in speech, wicked in action, refined in clothing, unrefined in character; and he could not bear it if anyone spoke to him about adopting the religious life. Indeed, his way of life had become burdensome for all the brothers to witness, yet, as was said, he was tolerable to all for the sake of his brother. He greatly despised it if anyone spoke to him about correcting his depravity. He could not only not do good things, but could not even hear about them. He kept declaring, with oaths, anger, and mockery, that he would never embrace the religious life.

But in that plague which recently consumed a great part of the population of this city, he was struck in the groin and brought to the point of death. When he was breathing his last, the brothers gathered to protect his departure with their prayers. His body was already dead from the extremities, and vital warmth still lingered only in his chest. All the brothers began to pray more earnestly for him as they saw him departing so quickly. Suddenly, with the brothers standing by, he began to cry out with whatever effort he could and to interrupt their prayers, saying: "Withdraw, withdraw! Behold, I have been given to a dragon to be devoured, and because of your presence he cannot devour me. He has already swallowed my head in his mouth; give him room so that he may torment me no longer but do what he is going to do. If I have been given to him to be devoured, why do I suffer this delay because of you?" Then the brothers began to say to him: "What are you saying, brother? Make the sign of the holy cross upon yourself." He answered as best he could, saying: "I want to sign myself, but I cannot, because I am pressed down by the dragon." When the brothers heard this, they prostrated themselves on the ground and with tears began to pray more intensely for his deliverance. And behold, suddenly the sick man began to improve and to rejoice with whatever voice he had, saying: "Thanks be to God! Behold, the dragon who had taken me to devour me has fled; driven out by your prayers, he could not remain. Now intercede for my sins, because I am ready to be converted and to abandon the worldly life entirely." Therefore this man, who, as was already said, had been dead from the extremities of his body, was preserved for life and was converted to God with his whole heart. He was disciplined by long and continuous afflictions in that same conversion, and died a few days ago when his bodily illness increased. As he was dying, he did not see the dragon, because he had conquered it through the transformation of his heart.

Behold, my brothers, Gordiana, whom I mentioned above, fell from the height of the religious habit to punishment, and this brother, about whom I have told these things, returned from the very moment of death to eternal life. Therefore no one knows what is being done concerning himself in the hidden judgments of God; for "many are called, but few are chosen." Since, therefore, no one is certain about himself that he is chosen, it remains that all should tremble, all should fear concerning their conduct, all should rejoice only in divine mercy, and no one should presume upon his own strength.