Introduction
The envy is the «mother of discord, stepmother of peace, enemy of all goodness and correct living»; reference to the envy of the ten apostles towards James and John (Mark 10, 45).
Division (see above)
1) First part: quaestio: what is envy? Invidia est tristicia de bono alterius (reference to John of DamascusapudThomas Aquinas [Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 36 a. 1]); four types of envy:
1. Envy of someone else's good which is harmful to other virtuous men (not a sin, but rather a virtue);
2. Envy of someone else's good, that is, the desire to possess the same good (not exactly envy, but rather “zeal”, i.e. emulation; reference to Aristotle);
3. Do not consider someone worthy of a good (sin);
4. Envying someone else's good because it is superior to ours ("this is that poisonous serpent properly called envy - and it is a mortal sin - from which […] five terrible daughters are born, full of pain: hatred, whispering, detraction, joy in the misfortunes of others and sadness in their fortunes”, reference to Gregory the Great's Moralia in Iob).
2) Second part: the only condition free from envy is poverty, because summa petit livor, proflant altissima venti, / summa petunt dextra fulmina missa Iovis (quote from Ovid, Remedia amoris, vv. 369s.).
3) Third part: the condition of the poor is the better, because they are not envied and, consequently, they are free from the worries of the heart. The best condition is that of the friars because "they have nothing, yet they have everything".
Conclusion
Through poverty we obtain earthly grace and heavenly glory.
... _Invidia est tristicia de bono alterius_ (reference to
John of Damascus
_apud_ Thomas Aquinas [_Summa Theologiae_, II-II, q....
20/1/20
T21/2 Monday after Oculi
Roberto Caracciolo
Introduction
While God prefers to use mercy rather than punishment with human beings, human beings often become angry for trivial reasons.
Divisio (see above)
1) First part: physiology of wrath: ira est accensio sanguinis circa cor ex vaporatione collere, vel felis (quote from John of Damascus). Three types of wrath:
1. “Natural” wrath (i.e. wrath due to personal temperament; not a sin, because it is like other natural defects such as hunger, thirst, sleep);
2. Wrath in judgment (i.e. «zeal for justice», not a sin);
3. «Ira… fundata ne l’appetitto sensitivo»; not a sin if regulated by reason and good judgment (exemplum: Jesus get angry with the merchants and the money changers in the Temple; «getting angry for truth and justice is an act of magnificence», reference to Aristotle); a mortal sin if not regulated by reason.
2) Second part: six causes of wrath (reference to Seneca's De ira):
1. Human nature (i.e. personal temperament; the disposition to anger depends on the amount of bile in the body);
2. Wine (because it slightly warms the blood; legend of Noah who waters the vine with the blood of a lion, a pig and a monkey;
3. Excessive delicacy in education (like «mules and horses: when they have been in the stable for two or three months, fed with fodder and spelt, they kick at their owner, bite and don’t let themselves be tamed»);
4. Desire for power (exemplum from Valerius Maximus);
5. Excessive commitments;
6. Infirmity.
3) Third part: wrath causes three serious harms to human beings:
1. Deprivation of reason and good judgment («The law sees the wrathful, but the wrathful doesn’t see the law» = Lex videt iratum, iratus legem non videt, quote from Publilius Syrus [not mentioned]; Ira impedit animum ne possit cernere verum, quote from Cato?); exemplum: Theodosius and Ambrose (Saint) in Milan;
2. Hatred of self, others and God;
3. Desperation and shorter life.
Conclusion
Mention of the death of Hercules who, desperate and enraged due to his illness, threw himself into the fire (reference to Jerome’s Chronicon). Exhortation to avoid wrath, because beati mites, quia ipsi possidebunt terram… beati pacifici, quoniam filii Dei vocabantur (quote from Matthew 5, 4; 5, 9).
... cor ex vaporatione collere, vel felis_ (quote from
John of Damascus
). Three types of wrath: 1. “Natural” wrath (i.e. wrath...
20/1/24
T21/6 Friday after Oculi
Roberto Caracciolo
Introduction
Interpretation of the thema: the Samaritan woman is the reasonable soul who, being in sin, asks to haurire aquam, that is, to receive grace.
Divisio (see above)
1) First part: three definitions of “sin”:
1. “sin is deprivation of human goodness” (reference to Bonaventure, Commentaria in quattuor libros sententiarum Magistri Petri Lombardi, II); cf. Peccatum est carentia boni ubi debet esse (quote from Augustine’s De civitate Dei); according to Bonaventure, God has given human beings three supremely necessary goods: 1) “mesure” (i.e. desire nothing against the divine will; «sin has perverted this order, because now the human heart always desires and thinks evil, i.e. carnality and sensuality»); 2) “beauty” (the true beauty and nobility of the human being is the virtue; reference to Seneca [probably to Epistulae ad Lucilium, LXXVI]); 3) order (i.e. directing thoughts, actions and words to God; sin diverts our operations from God). So, “sin is deprivation of beauty, order and measure” (reference to Augustine).
2. “Sin is separation from what is according to nature and conversion to what is against nature” (reference to John of Damascus); as the sick person, whose nature is vitiated by illness, desires harmful things more than healthy things, so the sinner despises virtue and loves vices.
3. “Peccatum est, bono incommutabili [i.e. God] spreto, adherere bono commutabili [i.e. the human being]” (quote from Augustine's De libero arbitrio).
2) Second part: two operations of sin:
1. “Peccatum est prevaricatio divine legis et celestium inobedentia mandatorum” (quote from Ambrose (Saint), De Paradiso); three main laws: 1) “natural law”; 2) “law of Scripture” (i.e. the law given by God to Moses); 3) “law of grace” (i.e. the gospel of Christ, perfection of all laws). Sin is prevarication of all these laws (several biblical exempla for each law).
2. “expolation of virtue”, because sin is against human nature (“Everything that does not please God is against nature” [reference to Bernard of Clairvaux]), while virtue is according to it.
Conclusion
Invitation to avoid sin, even at the cost of losing one's home, relatives and everything else (direct appeal to the preacher to rebuke «friars, priests, monks, merchants, gentlemen, widows and maidens who offend God for a penny»).
... conversion to what is against nature” (reference to
John of Damascus
); as the sick person, whose nature is vitiated by...