1) First part: Ferrer identifies, on the basis of the Gospel text, four human exaltations of Jesus Christ:
1. Exaltatio dolorosa: concerning the pain of Christ on the cross; Christ experienced all human suffering (reference to Thomas Aquinas) in three ways (ex parte hominum; ex parte eorum in quibus homo potest pati; quantum ad corporis membra);
2. Exaltatio gloriosa: concerning the exaltation of Christ in the resurrection;
3. Exaltatio celestialis: concerning the exaltation of Christ in the ascension;
4. Exaltatio spiritualis: concerning the soul of Christ; Ferrer then introduces a discussion on free will.
2) Second part: concerning the cecitas Iudeorum, i.e. the fact that the Jews are unable to understand the words of Christ (reference to John 7, 35-36) in the same way as the learned, unlike the humble and ignorant, don’t immediately understand the words of the preacher. However, the Jews were not wrong in assuming that Jesus would go and instruct the peoples (according to Ferrer, the figura of that is in the Gideon’s episode [Judges 6-8]). Then Ferrer explains moraliter the sentence “Quaeretis me et non invenietis” (John 7, 34) saying that three factors must be taken into account to find Christ: time (tempus), place (locus) and manner (modus); for the laity, the appropriate time to find Christ is Lent; the proper place to find Christ is this world (because finding Christ in this world per gratiam is necessary to find him “in the other world” - i.e. after the death - per gloriam); the proper manner to find Christ, finally, is by the renunciation of sins.
3) Third part: “In die magno festivitatis […]” (John 37-39), i.e. the “Festival of Tabernacles”, celebrated for eight days, the last of which is celeberrimus atque sanctissimus. Ferrer's moral (moraliter) explanation: as the theological virtues are superior to the moral ones, so the theological intellects (i.e. the spiritual senses: allegorical, tropological and anagogical) are superior to the moral ones. Then Ferrer interprets the gospel text on the basis of the three spiritual senses: the eight days (7+1) of the Festival of Tabernacles correspond to the seven weeks of Lent plus Easter Day (allegorical sense); the Festival can be interpreted as the life, the seven days as the seven moral and theological virtues, the eighth and last feast day as the last day of life (tropological sense); the Festival can be interpretated as the world duration, the seven days as the seven ages of the world, the eighth and last feast day as the judgement day.
... (according to Ferrer, the _figura_ of that is in the
Gideon
’s episode [Judges 6-8]). Then Ferrer explains _moraliter_...
21/1/25
T20 Sunday Reminiscere
Anonymous
Introduction
As the woman of Canaan, by crying out much, moved many people to intercede, so shall we also cry out much by praying.
Divisio
Reasons to cry out [for help]:
1) To lay down that which hinders us: Qui preibant increpabant eum ut taceret (Luke 18), i.e. the “thoughts and fantasies that hinder the prayer”; the clamor orationis is hindered most by the remoteness of the one who cries out (elongatio clamantis), and the more human beings are immersed in vices, the more distant they are from God. Each of us must ask himself from what depths he addresses his prayer to the Lord (reference to Augustine) and, in any case, it’s better to cry out for help from the depths of sin in order to obtain salvation (exemplum: Jonah in the belly of the whale) than to cry out for help, uselessly, from the depths of hell.
2) To confund our enemies: one must cry out for help because of the rush and fear of temptation and because of the multitude of tempters, since non enim habes tot capillos in capite quanto anima inimicos; the clamor orationis puts enemies to flight (reference to Judges 7, where it’s told that Gideon and the people of Israel put the Midianites to flight by blowing trumpets (per tubas sonantes) and breaking jugs (per fractas lagenas); according to the interpretation proposed by the preacher, the breaking of the jugs symbolises the mortification of the body, while the blowing of the trumpets symbolises prayer: just as the trumpet receives the breath at one end and lets out the sound at the other, so the prayer receives its flatus in the world, but its sound is heard in heaven).
3) To move those who intercede: just as the woman of Canaan cried out so long that she had the apostles as intercessors, so our souls must cry out so long by preaching that angels, virgins, martyrs and apostles can intercede between us and God.
4) To obtain that which we need: we must cry out for help like a beggar asking for alms (references to Psalms 38 and 9), like a sick person asking for healing (reference to Psalms 29), like a blind asking for sight (reference to Luke 18), like a possessed person asking to be freed from the devil (reference to the woman of Canaan), like a tormented person asking for consolation (reference to Psalms 106) and like a dying man asking for escape [from the body] (reference to Daniel 13). Moreover, just as the serpent's tongue can hiss but can’t cry out, so the lingua venenate orationis non est clamor orantis sed sibulus serpentis apud Deum (“the tongue of a poisoned prayer is not the cry of a praying person, but the hissing of a serpent before God”).
... flight (reference to Judges 7, where it’s told that
Gideon
and the people of Israel put the Midianites to flight...