Cross and Crown Series of Spirituality

LITERARY EDITOR

Reverend Jordan Aumann, OR., S.TD.
NUMBER 18

Spirituality of
the Old Testament
Paul-Marie of the Cross, o.C.D.
Translated by ELIZABETH McCABE

VOLUME I

B. HERDER BOOK CO.
15 & 17 South Broadway, St. Louis 2, Mo.
and 2/3 Doughty Mews, London, IV.C.l

This is a translation of L'Ancien Testament, source
de vie spirituelle, fourth edition, by Paul-Marie de
la Croix, O.C.D., published by Desclée de Brouwer
& Cie, Paris.

nihil obstat:

J. S. Considine, O.P.
Censor Deputatus
imprimatur:

ψ Albert Cardinal Meyer
Archbishop of Chicago

March 15, 1961

© B. HERDER BOOK CO., 1961
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 61-12115

To Mary, Queen and Beauty of Carmel.

May she make fruitful in our souls
the words which she kept in her heart.

K Introduction
The inestimable theological and spiritual treasures of the
Old Testament have been neglected for too long a time, but
our age is rediscovering them. No one denies that there are,
and will continue to be, a multitude of historical, critical
and exegetical problems; but these difficulties no longer, as
formerly, cause people to forget the essential message of
the Old Testament which is a “wellspring of spiritual life.” 1
1 This is exactly the viewpoint recommended by Pius XII in the
Encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu: “The commentators of the Sacred
Letters . . . should set forth in particular the theological doctrine
in faith and morals of the individual books or texts. ... By mak­
ing such an exposition, which is above all theological, they will
efficaciously reduce to silence those who affirm that they scarcely
ever find anything in biblical commentaries to raise their hearts to
God, to nourish their souls or promote their interior life. . . . The
professors of Sacred Scripture in the seminaries . . . (in) their
exegetical explanation should aim especially at the theological doc­
trine, avoiding useless disputations and omitting all that is calcu­
lated rather to gratify curiosity than to promote true learning and
solid piety. The literal sense and especially the theological sense let
them propose with such definiteness, explain with such skill and
vii

viii

INTRODUCTION

It is this essential message which is the subject of our book.
The inspired books speak of God and, in a certain sense,
speak only of Him. Or rather, in the inspired books God
Himself expresses Himself. His voice should be heard in
preference to all others, for “God rightly speaks of God.” *
2
The messages of the Old Testament and of the New Testa­
ment are inseparable and show continuity and harmony.
The Old Testament announces the New Testament and
prepares for it, but it does more than prepare the road; it
manifests in advance Him to whom the road leads, upon
whom all its perspectives converge. Christ reminded His
apostles of this: “Search the Scriptures, for you think in
them to have life everlasting; and the same are they that give
testimony of Me.” 3 Even the Samaritan woman was aware
of this truth: “The woman saith to Him: I know that the
Messias cometh (who is called Christ); therefore, when He
is come, He will tell us all things.” 4
Tradition asserts that each Testament sheds light on the
other and that their viewpoints complete each other. This
is especially evident on the plane of essential values; these,
therefore are brought into focus in Part I of our book,
inculcate with such ardor that in their students may be in a sense
verified what happened to the disciples on the way to Emmaus,
when, having heard the words of the Master, they exclaimed: ‘Was
not our heart burning within us, whilst He opened to us the Scrip­
tures?’ Thus the Divine Letters will become ... a pure and neverfailing source of spiritual life.” (Rome and the Study of Scripture:
A Collection of Papal Enactments on the Study of Holy Scripture
together with the Decision of the Biblical Commission, fourth edi­
tion, St. Meinrad, Indiana, 1946, pp. 92, 93, 104.)
2 Blaise Pascal, Pensées.
8 John 5:39.
4 John 4:25.

INTRODUCTION

ix

When God spoke to the first patriarchs, what He told them
about His nature gave an early glimpse of immutable and
eternal truth. “For I am the Lord, and I change not.” 5
Some truths were revealed to man before the coming of
Christ, right from the beginning of time. Later God strove
to make these truths penetrate more deeply into the mind,
the heart and the soul of humanity. Other truths, and by no
means the least important, were revealed only by the Son
of God. But even in this case the Old Testament provided
the ground on which the edifice of faith would be erected,
showing man a God who is one and transcendent, spiritual
and living, omnipotent and infinitely holy. Thereby it laid
the indestructible foundations of subsequent revelations and
also of all spiritual life.
The Bible speaks to us first of God, then of man con­
fronting God. Again the essential values are elucidated: the
depth of man’s nature, his inherent misery, his basic aspira­
tions, his irrepressible impulses. Then the Old Testament
tells us of the bonds between man and God, recalling that
we were made by Him and for Him, that He is always with
us and truly ours. We learn the nature of the bond which
unites us to God—a bond of charity, having two require­
ments stated in the two great commandments: love of God
(“the greatest and the first commandment”) ® and love of
neighbor (the “royal law”).7
Not only does the Old Testament present theological and
inoral doctrine, but it also teaches man how he is loved by
God; and here we are undoubtedly at the very heart of
5 Mai. 3:6.
« Matt. 22:38.
7 Jas. 2:8.

X

INTRODUCTION

its message. To convey this message to us, the Old Testa­
ment used not only words but also acts, gestures and the
divine lessons of things whereby God revealed the features
of His face. Gradually man discovered in Him the Creator,
the Master, the Father, the Savior and (most wonderful of
all!) the Lover. This is the theme of Part II in which union
with God is shown as man’s ultimate goal. Indeed a wonder­
fully rich spiritual and mystical theology can be derived
from the inspired books of the Old Testament, especially
the prophetical books. This theology, however, depends en­
tirely upon the person of the one who is constantly pre­
dicted, the Messias, the Savior. Only He will bring this
mystical doctrine to the plane of actual experience. Thus
the theology of the Old Testament postulates Christ. Man’s
union with God, the goal of the spiritual life, likewise de­
pends entirely upon Christ. Without the Savior this union
between God and His sinful creature would be impossible.
But in Him and by Him the nuptials are prepared, for He
redeems and espouses humanity. Henceforth this God, who
is Father and Savior, may be seen also as the Lover for
whom man is destined, the wooer of souls.
God’s plan, however, is not confined to the dimensions
of only one man, but of all humanity; or rather, it finds its
full meaning and efficacy, its complete development, only
in the perfect man, Christ, the epitome of all men. The
divine plan will be fully accomplished at the end of time,
but it is already revealed in the Old Testament, where we
see all humanity called to form the Church, of which Jeru­
salem is the figure, called to be a bride united with her
Lover.
After revealing God to man and probing the depths of

INTRODUCTION

xi

divine love, the Old Testament has the further mission of
turning man to God and of teaching him to open himself
to this love. In Part III we retrace Israel’s long march
toward the Promised Land and we view the sad picture of
Jewish history. This gives us a glimpse of the nation’s spirit­
ual journeying and of its striving for union with God. God’s
love of man calls for a response. We find this expressed in
the Old Testament under the form of a hesitating advance
interrupted by many pauses. How could it be otherwise?
We see that God always comes more than halfway to meet
man and to support him in the slow climb toward the light.
Part III deals with the progressive manifestation of the
paths along which God and man advance to meet each
other and to unite their strivings. These paths are so per­
fectly suited to our nature, our aspirations and our divine
vocation that if we want to reach God, we should always
follow them, for that is how He comes to us. In the Old
Testament we note that the souls who followed these paths
experienced unity and transformation. They acquired peace,
knew joy, praised God from an overflowing heart. The most
favored among them advanced so far in this direction that
they are admirable models for us. In the Old Testament the
paths by which God came to men and by which men went
to God were: the dark but luminous path of faith, followed
by our fathers, the patriarchs; the humble, bold and loving
search for wisdom undertaken by the inspired scribes; the
painful trials and purifications generously accepted by God’s
great servants, especially the prophets. This third section,
like the other two, reveals that God destines man for love.
Thus the soul is led toward the goal of all the spiritual life,
which is divine union.

xii

INTRODUCTION

Such a method of investigating the sacred text is faithful
to the spirit of the Church and of the Fathers. It is the most
fruitful approach, though it may have been neglected tem­
porarily. All Christians encounter this viewpoint in prayer,
particularly in the liturgy; its value is fully evident in the
mystics and the saints. It presents the advantage of keeping
our gaze fixed constantly upon the complete plan of revela­
tion, so that we may plumb the depths of spiritual reality
and perceive the role of Christ in the whole of the Bible.
The literal sense of Scripture retains its privileged place, but
an effort is made to examine the meaning of the words and
the texture of events in order to glimpse the divine thought
in process of activity. To quote again the words of Pius XII
in the Encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu, we seek to dis­
cover how “what was said and done in the Old Testament
was ordained and disposed by God with such consummate
wisdom that things past prefigured in a spiritual way those
that were to come under the new dispensation of grace.” 8
Relying constantly on the internal coherence of the in­
spired text and on the analogy of faith, we strive, above all,
to explain the Bible by itself, and the one Testament by the
other. In this way the whole Bible becomes spiritual food for
the soul: words, gestures, events, the record of history,
man’s impulse toward God as well as God’s tokens of love
for man. From this point of view the Old Testament ac­
quires incomparable value as a text book for teaching and
for spiritual formation. As a manual of prayer, it offers in­
exhaustible material for contemplation. God Himself is
present there, speaks to us and mysteriously reveals Himself.
The Old Testament is Jacob’s well, to which sinful humanity
8 Op. cit. p. 93.

INTRODUCTION

xiii

comes for water. Christ is found there in anticipation, wait­
ing to draw up the living water for which we thirst, which
will become within us “a fountain of water springing up into
life everlasting.” 9
May this book smooth the road to that spring, allow souls
to catch the echo of the divine voice and give them the de­
sire to return constantly to the inspired text. We hope that
these meditations will nourish the spiritual life authentically
by guiding it back to its wellspring. The book has ripened
slowly by contact with the word of God, read and pondered
time and time again, until the plan gradually emerged, as it
were, from the Bible itself. In writing it, we have placed our­
selves under the guidance of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the
spouse of the Canticle of Canticles, who was predicted at
the very beginning of Genesis 10 and was glorified in the
Apocalypse,11 the Virgin who united the Old Testament to
the New Testament.
May she herself be the reward of those whose help has
been invaluable and without whom this work would doubtless
never have been undertaken. May she make fruitful in our
souls the words which she kept in her heart, the words
which rose from the divine source that she imparts to us in
her Son.
9 John 4:14.
10 Gen. 3:15.
11 Apoc., chap. 12.

æ CONTENTS
Introduction

Part I God and the Soul
1

The Course of Revelation................................................. 3
Revelation to Adam.................................................................. 3
Revelation to Fallen Humanity............................................ 10
Words and Wonders................................................................ 15

2

Revelation of God............................................................ 23
The One True God............................................................... 23
The Divine Name...................................................................... 32
Life in God................................................................................... 36
The Attributes of God............................................................... 54

3

The Soul............................................................................ 108
Yearning for God.................................................................... 108
Self-Abasement...........................................................................117
Surrender and Trust.............................................................. 122
xv

xvi
4

CONTENTS
Charity.............................................................................. 131
Union with God................................................................... 132
The First and Greatest Commandment............................. 136
The Royal Law................................................................... 180

5

God Among Men.........................................................202
God’s Favorites: the Poor, Humble and Just .... 222
God Dwells among Men...................................................... 237

PART I

God and the Soul

Chanter i

æ THE COURSE

OF REVELATION
For the earth shall be filled, that men may know the glory of
the Lord, as waters covering the sea.1
Singing the canticle of Moses, the servant of God, and the
canticle of the Lamb, saying: Great and wonderful are Thy
works, O Lord God almighty, just and true are Thy ways, O
King of ages. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and magnify Thy
name? For Thou only art holy.2

REVELATION TO ADAM
[He] hath made of one, all mankind, to dwell upon the whole
face of the earth, determining appointed times and the limits of
their habitation, that they should seek God, if happily they may
feel after Him or find Him, although He be not far from every
one of us; for in Him we live, and move, and are. . . . For
we are also His offspring.3
1 Hab. 2:14.

2 Apoc. 15:3, 4.
3

3 Acts 17:26-28.

4

THE OLD TESTAMENT

With Christ, revelation is fulfilled, but God did not speak
by His Son until after He “at sundry times and in divers
manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the proph­
ets.” 4 There is a progressive revelation of God throughout
the whole of the Old Testament, but this arrangement is
not what God, in His loving generosity and bounty, had
originally intended for man, “created ... to His own im­
age,” 5 into whose face He had “breathed . . . the breath
of life.” e There had been a previous plan.
The first man had received from God a knowledge
superior to ours.7 God was more intimately present to him
before the fall than He is now to us.8 Adam was moving to­
ward a vision which was to be his ultimate beatitude, but
in the meantime he enjoyed full physical and spiritual de­
velopment, as well as a life of happiness.9
We must, then, turn our thoughts to the earthly paradise,
that place of enjoyment where the first human couple lived.
We must consider the man whom God “made right,” 10
established “in justice and holiness of truth,” 11 and to whom
He communicated Himself. Thus we can glimpse how the
Creator would have liked to give Himself to all humanity
and we understand man’s original vocation. More impor­
tant still is the way the light of this admirable plan enables
us to contemplate God’s infinite perfections.
Adam sprang directly from the divine hands and re­
mained in close and continuous contact with his Creator, as
Michelangelo magnificently suggested in the Sistine fresco.
<Heb. 1:1.
®Gen. 1:27.
eGen2:7.
7 Summa theol. la, q. 94, a. 1.
8 Ibid., Ila Ilae, q. 5, a. 1.
9 “And above every soul Adam in the beginning” (Ecclus. 49:19).
10 Eccles. 7:30.
11 Eph. 4:24.

THE COURSE OF REVELATION

5

Man was truly bathed in light, nourished on divine knowl­
edge and understanding. The first pages of Genesis, teeming
with life, show us Adam kneaded from clay, formed by crea­
tive thought and suddenly living by the breath transmitted
to him: “And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the
earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and the
man became a living soul.” 12
In the fullness of his God-given perfections, Adam awak­
ened to fife, opened his eyes, and perceived Him whom
Judith was to call “God of the heavens, Creator of the waters
and Lord of the whole creation.” 13 In the midst of the su­
perabundant forms brought forth from the same hands
which fashioned him, the first man contemplated the pro­
digious horizons on which the Sacred Book opened, his
gaze penetrating to their very depths. He saw the divine
handiwork in all its magnificence and integrity. Like the
Creator, Adam saw that all things made were very good.14
Adam, moreover, contemplated the unique cause, the
ultimate source of this created order, where he himself oc­
cupied the peak. Though last to appear, he was nonetheless
destined in the divine plan to dominate the earth. “Subdue
it,” he was told.15 But how could this authority over nature
fail to remind Adam of his own dependence upon a superior
authority? He knew the divine sovereignty and he knew
that he was placed under its direct control. This enabled
him to perceive all the better how totally and happily all
12 Not only did Adam receive life, but he was touched by a ray
of divine splendor and he bore a reflection of the Creator: “And
God created man to His own image: to the image of God He
created him” (Gen. 1:27).
13 Jud. 9:17.
14 Gen. 1:31.
15 Gen. 1:28.

6

THE OLD TESTAMENT

things were submitted to their first cause. Thus did God
appear in those first days of the world: as the sovereign and
first cause.
In the unique clarity of those first days of time, Adam
became conscious of the fact that within himself the divine
reality was reflected as in a perfect mirror or in clear water.
Had not God said: “Let Us make man to Our image and
likeness”? 18 Hence something of the inner splendor of the
Blessed Trinity lived in the soul of the first man. God had
made it a true mirror of the triune life, the scene of the
relations binding the divine Persons to each other. Adam’s
strong and intact will as well as his undimmed intellect were
directed toward God, his ultimate beatitude. His soul was
perfectly attuned to the divine touch and it provided a place
where the three Persons could “renew their mystery.” 10
*17 Why
was this mirror to be broken so soon? Throughout the ages,
would man seek to restore it. But at least the fragments,
however dirty and tiny they might be, had received the
original light and would continue to reflect at least a few of
its rays.18
The same mystery which St. Paul shows us in Christ,
10 Gen. 1:26.
17 Cf. prayer of Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity, Philipon, O.P.,
The Spiritual Doctrine of Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity, translated
by a Benedictine of Stanbrook Abbey (Cork: the Mercier Press,
1947) pp. 53-54.
18 With regard to the continuance of the image of God in man,
it is helpful to refer to The Mirror of Eternal Salvation by Ruysbroeck, who declared that the image of God is His Son, His own
eternal wisdom, existing before all creation, and that man was
created in relationship to this eternal image.

THE COURSE OF REVELATION

7

which he invites us to contemplate in its depth, length, width
and height—in short, the divine immensity—Adam knew,
by the resemblance etched on his own soul. He perceived
also how gratuitous the gift was, this being all the more
evident because there was no intermediary, no secondary
cause. By His word God brought forth from nothing a new
being which He filled with happiness by bestowing.on it a
share of His own abundance. “God saw all the things that
He had made, and they were very good.” 19 All that sur­
rounded Adam was stamped with the sign of excellence and
truly reflected the substantial goodness of the Creator. The
first man beheld the great spectacle of creation and he was
appointed its priest and ruler: “Rule over the fishes of the
sea and the fowls of the air and all living creatures that
move upon the earth.” 20 “And the Lord God having formed
out of the ground all the beasts of the earth and all the
fowls of the air, brought them to Adam to see what he
would call them; for whatsoever Adam called any living
creature the same is its name.” 21
Adam, moreover, saw that everything had been ordained
for his joy and satisfaction. “And the Lord God had planted
a paradise of pleasure from the beginning wherein He
placed man whom He had formed. And the Lord God
brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to be­
hold and pleasant to eat of.” 22
Adam’s soul and his human faculties were fully gratified.
In a still more touching way he was to experience the
totally gratuitous kindness and courtesy of divine goodness,
18Gen. 1:31.
22 Gen. 2:8, 9.

2»Gen. 1:28.

“Gen. 2:19.

8

THE OLD TESTAMENT

when God, noting man’s solitude, declared: “It is not good
for man to be alone: let Us make him a help like unto him­
self.” 23
On receiving Eve, his companion, from the divine hands,
Adam felt that he was deeply understood and that his
strongest desire was satisfied. With a glad greeting he wel­
comed the one who was to help him fulfill himself: “This
now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall
be called woman, because she was taken out of man.” 24
The human state appeared to be mere weakness and utter
dependence upon God. In reality it was a wonderful inven­
tion of divine goodness eager to communicate itself. God
provided for all the needs of His creature. Between Himself
and man He established a personal relationship which was
characterized by ineffable intimacy, rendered possible by
the divine resemblance formed in the depths of the human
soul. God revealed Himself not only as the first cause but
also as man’s last end and ultimate beatitude.25 True child
of God, king of the earth, spouse and companion of woman:
in each of these titles the first man found reason to give
thanks to the source of such benefits and to adore the in­
23 Gen. 2:18.
24 Gen. 2:23.
25 Cf. the Sermon by St. Leo, Pope, read in the Divine Office
on the fourth Sunday of Advent: “If with faith and intelligence we
understand the beginnings of our creation, we shall find that man
was made to the image of God, that he might imitate the Author
of his being. In us, as in a mirror, the figure of the divine goodness
shines resplendent. Herein lies the natural dignity of our race. To
this end the grace of our Savior is renewed in us daily, that by
its use, man, though he be fallen through the first Adam, may be
raised up again through the second {Roman Breviary in English,
New York: Benziger Brothers, 1950).

THE COURSE OF REVELATION

9

finite, immutable, eternal Good who so generously endowed
him.
This being so, how could it be supposed that man, of his
own accord, would deliberately cut off the transmission of
such benefits, and with his own hands demolish the in­
describable happiness of his state? But that is what hap­
pened and that is the result of sin. Adam and Eve disobeyed
God and turned away from the one who had given them
everything. As soon as “the eyes of them both were
opened” 2e to evil, they fled from the face of Yahweh to
hide, thus shutting out the divine gifts.
But the unstinting generosity shown toward man was an
expression of a love which could not cease its activity. This
is apparent in the account of the fall and the divine inter­
vention. Man’s will had broken the pact, but divine goodness
persisted in showing itself. Of course Adam and Eve had to
undergo a just punishment: they heard the words of the
terrible curse and they were driven out of paradise. But this
occurred only after God’s promise had shed a ray of light on
the hearts of the man and woman as they were about to
wander out into the black shadows: “I will put enmities
between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she
shall crush thy head.” 27
This was love’s answer to man’s offenses. God spared
man’s life and also gave him a hope of victory over evil.
Even when driven from paradise, man bore a sign upon him
and remained the object of divine concern. Even though he
had been wounded, racked by the conflict between his utter
poverty and his glorious destiny, yet he still was made by
2« Gen. 3:7.

27 Gen. 3:15.

10

THE OLD TESTAMENT

God and for God.28 Man’s fate was at stake, but the die was
cast by the hand of infinite love, which was sure to win.
God’s plan encountered an obstacle in man’s free will, but
God used this obstacle to bring forth from it a greater
good.2” The divine plan was restored and love was victorious.
At this point began the history of how the divine leaven
raised fallen humanity—a history which can be explained
only by love, an infinite force, a yearning flame. It is true
that the fall made revelation more difficult and also more
necessary, but what matter? Through the patriarchs and the
prophets and, finally, by his own Son, God continued to
proclaim and to offer to all men nothing less than Himself,
and in Himself, eternal beatitude.

REVELATION TO FALLEN HUMANITY
God ... at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in
times past to the fathers.30
To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to
you they ministered those things which are now declared to you
by them that have preached the gospel to you, the Holy Ghost
being sent down from heaven, on whom the angels desire to
look.31
28 St. Paul puts special emphasis on this vocation to the divine
life for which we were intended from the beginning: “He chose
us . . . before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and unspotted in His sight in charity, who hath predestinated us
unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto Himself,
according to the purpose of His will” (Eph. 1:4-5). Cf. Eph. Lil­
li; II Tim. 1:9; Rom. 6:22.
29 “O God, who in creating man didst exalt his nature very won­
derfully and yet more wonderfully didst establish it anew” (Ordinary
of the Mass).
30 Heb. 1:1.
311 Pet. 1:12.

THE COURSE OF REVELATION

11

Because Adam belonged to God and was His child, the
divine gifts were lavished upon him to the fullest extent.
Through the first man, the whole human race was called to
a happiness like his. But by Adam’s sin all humanity was
likewise deprived of this privilege and all had to suffer the
consequences of the original fault.
We learn in the Bible that fallen humanity became still
worse by plunging into evil and by sinking, all too fre­
quently, to appalling depths of degradation. “And the earth
was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity. . . .
All flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth.” 32
This sad spectacle pained man’s Creator and aroused His
just anger: “And God, seeing that the wickedness of men
was great on the earth and that all the thought of their heart
was bent upon evil at all times, it repented Him that He had
made man on the earth.” 33
As men were utterly corrupt and totally untrue to their
vocation, God decided to destroy them: “He said to Noe.
The end of all flesh is come before Me, the earth is filled
with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with
the earth.” 34
Since the world no longer had any hearts that heeded the
divine voice, why should God allow the increase of a race
which became more evil from day to day? And yet, if there
were even one man, a single one, whose soul was true, con­
siderate and faithful, would he not cause God to relent in
I lis anger? At the time of the deluge the dove at first was
unable to alight, as the earth was still covered with water.
Only when Noe sent it to reconnoitre a second time did it
return carrying an olive branch in its beak. Similarly it
32 Gen. 6:11-12.

33 Gen. 5:5-6.

34 Gen. 6:13.

12

THE OLD TESTAMENT

seemed that at first glance God saw humanity entirely sub­
merged in sin. But He looked again, then perceived the one
just man on earth. To alight and to bring back a symbol of
hope and of peace, the dove needed but a single olive
sapling. Likewise, to pardon humanity and to ratify His
covenant with men, God was satisfied with one just man.
That just man, who had remained pure in the midst of gen­
eral corruption, was Noe, “a perfect man in his genera­
tion.” 35 Moreover he was, doubtless, the only man who kept
intact the worship of the true God: “And Noe built an altar
unto the Lord; and taking of all cattle and fowl that were
clean, offered holocausts upon the altar.” 36
He pleaded the case of sinful men, and while he could
not avert their punishment, he at least obtained the promise
that they would not be annihilated in the future: “I will no
more curse the earth for the sake of man. ... I will no
more destroy every living soul as I have done . . . neither
shall there be from henceforth a flood to waste the earth.” 37
Noe was granted even more. His prayer for humanity dis­
posed God to be merciful and kind. The survivors of the
deluge received God’s promise of a permanent covenant:
“Behold I will establish my covenant with you, and with
your seed after you ... for perpetual generations.” 38 As
testimony of the ratified covenant and of renewed peace, a
sign appeared in heaven: “I will set My bow in the clouds
and it shall be the sign of a covenant between Me, and be­
tween the earth. . . . And I shall see it and shall remember
the everlasting covenant that was made between God and
every living soul of all flesh which is upon the earth.” 39
35 Gen. 6:9.
38 Gen. 8:20.
37 Gen. 8:21; 9:11.
33 Gen. 9:9, 12.
39 Gen. 9:13, 16.

THE COURSE OF REVELATION

13

One man of good life, a single true and faithful soul,
sufficed to cause God to reverse His decision, to spare the
earth which was already marked with the sign of destruc­
tion, to decide to communicate His light and love once again
to the human race. But this dreadful corruption added to
original sin made men’s hearts rebellious and their spirits
almost impervious to spiritual truth. To reach them, there­
fore, God had to use new methods. Thenceforth He revealed
Himself progressively, often in a concealed way, ever taking
into account what men could bear. Another result of man’s
vice was that, at least for a time, revelation ceased to be uni­
versal. For many centuries it reached only a handful of men;
for many centuries, also, it was to be confined within narrow
limits. But at least it was faithfully preserved and jealously
defended, as a family possession, by the obscure nation to
which it was entrusted. Thus the Creator of heaven and
earth, the one, infinite, eternal Supreme Being became, for
a long time, the God of merely one tribe, the God of Abra­
ham, of Isaac and of Jacob.
Nevertheless, while God, in His love, consented to
these delays and limitations, He could not cease to be the
one true God. It was still true that “He hath called the
earth.” 40
From the outset He could not fail to establish a final and
universal covenant with all humanity. Though the biblical
story abandons the cosmic horizons of the first days (“In
the beginning God created heaven and earth”) to record
the history of a few members of a nomadic tribe, yet God’s
words ever retained their permanent and universal relevance.
God promised Noe “the everlasting covenant . . . between
40 Ps. 49:1.

14

THE OLD TESTAMENT

God and every living soul of all flesh which is upon the
earth.” 41
It is true that with Abraham the covenant and subsequent
revelation seemed to become restricted: “And I will make of
thee a great nation,” 42 but God immediately added that this
special choice and apparent limitation was a preparation for
the final covenant and universal blessing: “In thee shall all
the kindred of the earth be blessed.” 43
Abraham was aware of the fact that God judged all the
earth and extended salvation, not only to those who were His
specially chosen people, but to all the righteous who walked
in His paths. Abraham knew this, since he did not hesitate
to plead their cause before God: “Wilt Thou not spare that
place for the sake of fifty just ... for thirty ... for
twenty ... for ten?” 44 And what was the Lord’s answer?
“I will spare the whole place for their sake.” 48
The biblical account informs us that, unfortunately,
Sodom did not contain that many just men, but we see that
it enters into God’s plan to grant the prayer of the just man
and by it to save all men. In this way something of the
mystery of the covenant is revealed to us. The covenant was
to become effective by faith in the one who was to come to
save all humanity. Thenceforth Abraham bore within him,
as it were, the one in whom the new, universal and eternal
covenant would be fulfilled: the Lord Jesus, the one Medi­
ator.
“And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed, because thou hast obeyed My voice.” 40 In semine
tuo, that is to say, “in Christ” (so all the Fathers of the
41 Gen. 9:16.
42Gen. 12:2.
43 Gen. 12:3.
44 Gen., chap. 18.
45 Gen. 18:26.
46 Gen. 22:18.

THE COURSE OF REVELATION

15

Church maintain and the Church teaches) “all nations will be
blessed.” Thus were the patriarchs permitted to see the uni­
versal scope of their particular vocation and of the promises
reiterated to Isaac, Jacob and their descendants. Through
them God’s glory would shine forth on all humanity and His
name would be hallowed. Truly a flood of grace was to
follow the other flood: “For the earth shall be filled, that
men may know the glory of the Lord, as waters covering the
sea.” 47 That is why “the God of gods, the Lord hath spoken;
and He hath called the earth. From the rising of the sun, to
the going down thereof, out of Sion the loveliness of His
beauty, God shall come manifestly.” 48 Now we must ex­
amine lovingly and reverently that revelation, the divine
words bequeathed to us in the sacred books.
WORDS AND WONDERS

Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should
not covet evil things, as they also coveted. Neither become ye
idolaters, as some of them.49

The Old Testament has transmitted to us the words by
which God expressed Himself; these constitute the first
element of revelation. The men entrusted with God’s mes­
sage were irresistibly impelled by Him to become its heralds.
"For the Lord God doth nothing without revealing His secret
to His servants the prophets.” 50 Though its inner meaning
often was hidden from them, yet they kept repeating it, as
did the apostles later, “in season, out of season.” 51 Thus,
not only do they provide all men with the content and object
47 Hab. 2:14.
w Amos 3:7.

48 Ps. 49:1-3.
B1II Tim. 4:2.

4» I Cor. 10:6-7.

16

THE OLD TESTAMENT

of faith, but they also show that the motive of faith is divine
authority itself.52 The Psalmist recalled the same fact: “At­
tend, O my people, to my law, incline your ears to the
words of my mouth. 1 will open my mouth in parables; I will
utter propositions from the beginning. How great things
have we heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
They have not been hidden from their children, in another
generation. Declaring the praises of the Lord and His powers
and His wonders which He hath done. And He set up a
testimony in Jacob, and made a law in Israel.” 63
From generation to generation the divine message was
kept and transmitted faithfully; even the wording of it was
inviolable: 54 “This is My covenant with them, saith the
Lord: My spirit that is in thee and My words that I have
put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth nor
out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy
seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever.” 55
The function of words is to translate thought and to ex­
press spiritual truths; that is why God used words to reveal
Himself. Words constitute the link between God, who is a
spirit, and the creatures made in His image. But in His na­
ture God is invisible and His word reaches us only through
agents. Unconditional acceptance of God’s word (i.e.,
faith) 50 must be founded on the absolute certainty that the
62 “No prophecy of Scripture is made by private interpretation.
For prophecy came not by the will of man at any time, but the holy
men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost” (II Pet. 1:21-22).
83 Ps. 77:1-5.
84 Christ Himself said: “The Scripture cannot be broken” (John
10:35).
88 Isa. 59:21.
88 “Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of
Christ” (Rom. 10:17).

THE COURSE OF REVELATION

17

message conveyed by men comes from God. Hence proof is
required. Who but God could furnish this proof, either di­
rectly or by delegating power to men who acknowledged
that they received it from on high? What else but signs and
wonders could provide this proof? It is evident, then, that
to ask God for signs may not indicate a lack of faith but a
necessary way of ascertaining that a message truly proceeds
from Him. Some men of the Old Testament, before enlisting
in God’s service, asked Him for signs. God did not refuse
them. Indeed, many times He spontaneously gave proof that
a message was authentically His. The more universal the
message and the more exacting its demands, the more mar­
vellous were the wonders that accompanied it. Thus majestic
theophanies preceded the promulgation of the Decalogue,
and the whole Law was inserted in the series of miracles and
the wonders which was the Exodus. Not only Moses but all
the people testified to this: “You are My witnesses, saith the
Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen that you may
know and believe Me and understand that I Myself am.” 57
Consequently, no one doubted that the message conveyed
by Moses was a divine message. The signs of credibility were
present and formed the foundation of faith for the people of
Israel.58 But wonders had another function too. The marvels
and great events recorded in the Bible were signs only for
the spectators. As the witnesses disappeared, the signs lost
67 Isa. 43:10.
68 The necessity of miracles was not abolished in the New Testa­
ment. Christ used them to prove that His testimony was authentic:
“Believe you not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me?
Otherwise believe for the very works’ sake” (John 14:11-12). For
the same reason the apostles received the power to perform miracles
(cf. Matt. 10:8).

18

THE OLD TESTAMENT

their worth as visible evidence and became an object of be­
lief for those who had not seen them. Why then, does the
Bible record them so minutely and complacently? It is, of
course, largely because Israel was proud of these repeated
marks of God’s favor,50 but it is also because God intended
these signs to be always valid and to retain their power to
enlighten and educate humanity.
Signs, symbols and images have, indeed, an undeniable
power to express and to impress not only primitive minds
but all men of all times. Our knowledge of God consists es­
sentially in abstract ideas and concepts, but its means of
expression are particularly dynamic and pregnant with
meaning: images, signs and symbols. They make an impres­
sion on the sense faculties and reach into the regions where
the fusion of body and soul takes place. Therefore they
awake mellow overtones and lasting resonances, leaving a
deep and indelible impression. It is easily understood that
God wanted to reveal Himself through all the faculties of
man and that is why He inspired the sacred authors, partic­
ularly the prophets, to use this method of education which
is remarkably effective.60 It is also noteworthy that the signs
and symbols found in the Bible were chosen so judiciously
that they are as appropriate as ever to reveal God deeply
and truly.
In the pages which follow, reference will be made to the
words of revelation in order to glimpse what God has per­
mitted us to know about Himself, His nature, His attributes
and His relations with humanity. Signs will be studied in
Cf. Ps. 77:4-6.
60 Regarding the value of the parables as signs, cf. Matt. 13:11—
15, 34-35.

THE COURSE OF REVELATION

19

connection with the problem of faith. But so important is the
relation between words and signs, so valuable is the help
given to words by the signs which surround them with a
favorable atmosphere, that at the very outset we must under­
stand in a general way the import of signs.
The most typical example is the “glory” of Yahweh. In
many religions signs are a stumbling block, so far as man
runs the risk of stopping at them, taking them for the one
whom they are intended to reveal or whose presence they
should indicate. In this respect individual differences un­
doubtedly occurred in Israel, but always the divine teaching
was absolutely clear and exacting. However dazzling and
amazing Yahweh’s glory may have been, it never was con­
fused with God Himself. It merely indicated and manifested
His presence.

And the glory of the Lord dwelt upon Sinai, covering it with
a cloud six days; and the seventh day He called [Moses] out of
the midst of the cloud. . . . And the sight of the glory of the
Lord was like a burning fire upon the top of the Mount, in the
eyes of the children of Israel. . . . The cloud covered the taber­
nacle of the testimony, and the glory of the Lord filled it.81

God showed His glory when He wished to utter words of
primary importance, thus guaranteeing their authenticity, or
the glory appeared in places where God wished to receive
worship:
The Lord said to him: Lo, now will I come to thee, in the
darkness of a cloud, that the people may hear Me speaking to
thee and may believe thee forever.02
And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the
01 Exod. 24:16, 17; 40:32.

02 Exod. 19:9.

20

THE OLD TESTAMENT

sanctuary, that a cloud filled the house of the Lord. And the
priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for
the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.63

The general upheaval of surrounding nature provided a
proper background for the presence of the Creator and, in a
way, was only intended as a way of drawing attention to
Him. This is emphasized in the seventeenth psalm, a mag­
nificent account of the events on Mount Sinai:
The earth shook and trembled; the foundations of the moun­
tains were troubled and were moved. . . . He bowed the
heavens and came down; and darkness was under His feet.
And He ascended upon the cherubim, and He flew; He flew
upon the wings of the winds. And He made darkness His covert,
His pavilion round about Him: dark waters in the clouds of the
air. At the brightness that was before Him the clouds passed,
hail and coals of fire. And the Lord thundered from heaven,
and the Highest gave His voice.64

But a truly thrilling impression is made by the Book of
Exodus; its tale is sublime, powerful, calm:

And now the third day was come, and the morning appeared;
and behold thunders began to be heard, and lightning to flash,
and a very thick cloud to cover the Mount, and the noise of the
trumpet sounded exceeding loud, and the people that was in
the camp, feared. And when Moses had brought them forth to
meet God from the place of the camp, they stood at the bottom
of the Mount. And all Mount Sinai was on a smoke, because the
Lord was come down upon it in fire, and the smoke arose from
it as out of a furnace; and all the Mount was terrible. And the
sound of the trumpet grew by degrees louder and louder and was
63 III Kings 8:10-11.

64 Ps. 17:8, 10-14.

THE COURSE OF REVELATION

21

drawn out to a greater length; Moses spoke, and God answered
him. And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, in the very
top of the Mount, and He called Moses unto the top thereof.®5

The elements familiar to man were transfigured and yet
they were but pale and stuttering analogies of the ineffable,
untranslatable transcendence. “And they saw the God of
Israel; and under His feet as it were a work of sapphire
stone, and as the heaven, when clear.” 86 This transcendence
is emphasized also in the prophet Ezechiel’s awkward at­
tempt to translate what he saw: “This was the vision of the
likeness of the glory of the Lord.” 87
In other instances the forces of nature seemed animated
by completely divine power and efficacy: “And the glory of
the Lord appeared to all the multitude; and behold a fire,
coming forth from the Lord, devoured the holocaust, and
the fat that was upon the altar; which when the multitude
saw, they praised the Lord, falling on their faces.” 88 Psalm
49 affirmed the same occurrence: “A fire shall burn before
Him; and a mighty tempest shall be round about Him.” 89
God’s glory is the divine reality which the elements are
charged with reflecting. The ineffable manifestation is de­
void of specific details and thereby compels adoration all
the more.70 Thus God deigned to reveal His divinity to the
people and more especially to certain men better able to
understand and convey His message. But at the same time,
by the very signs which had attracted their attention, He
withdrew them from sensual apprehensions and purely hu85 Exod. 19:16-20.
88 Exod. 24:10.
87 Ezech. 2:1.
88 Lev. 9:23-24.
89 Ps. 49:3.
70 Cf. the effect on the minds of the apostles of the bright cloud
and the glorious transfiguration of Christ (Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7).

22

THE OLD TESTAMENT

man concepts. In this way He opened from them the gates
of a supernatural kingdom, a realm of both light and dark­
ness, namely, faith.71
The Church teaches us that by faith not only do we re­
ceive revealed truths as transmitted by her authority, but we
also attain Truth itself, in a real though veiled way, the same
Truth which one day we shall have the happiness of con­
templating face to face. By faith we acquire, in the depths of
our being, absolute certainty of the reality of God. The cir­
cumstances in which God revealed Himself, though extraor­
dinarily in magnificence and glory, were yet by no means
proportionate to the certainty inspired in the witnesses. The
events were endowed by God with a power to express His
meaning, and in themselves they reveal something of the
divine transcendence. But by that very fact their dazzling
brilliance blinded human understanding. Consequently the
more they reveal, the more they conceal ; the knowledge they
transmit assumes an ineffable quality. The certainty pro­
duced is absolute but at the same time it surpasses the
sphere of all particular and communicable modes of knowl­
edge. The God who is revealed by these marvels is neces­
sarily a hidden God. “Verily thou art a hidden God.” 72 As
Pascal said, this is not the God of philosophers and scholars,
but the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
71 “Now faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the
evidence of things that appear not. For by this the ancients ob­
tained a testimony” (Heb. 11:1-2). “But without faith it is im­
possible to please God. For he that cometh to God, must believe
that He is, and is a rewarder to them that seek Him” (Heb. 11:6).
72 Isa. 45:15.

Chapter 2

K REVELATION
OF GOD
THE ONE TRUE GOD

Being therefore the offspring of God, we must not suppose
the divinity to be like unto gold, or silver, or stone, the graving
of art, and device of man.1
See ye that I alone am, and there is no other God besides
Me.2

When God asserted in the above text of Deuteronomy
that He was the true God, He proclaimed Himself, con­
sequently, to be the one God. The Bible states and reiterates
and emphasizes the essential, fundamental truth that there
is one true God. All idols had to be overthrown, all the
Baals and Astartes which men kept shaping with their own
hands and then adoring: “Now therefore, said He, put away
strange gods from among you, and incline your hearts to
the Lord the God of Israel.” 3 It was necessary to exorcize
1 Acts 17:29.

2 Deut. 32:39.
23

2 Jos. 24:23.

THE OLD TESTAMENT

24

the passions and the myths which, from the first days of
humanity, kept usurping in men’s minds and hearts the
place which belonged only to the true God. We must remem­
ber, too, that the seductive words murmured to Adam and
Eve, “you shall be as Gods,” 4 were ever repeated to all
men; and they, listening with complacent ears, deified pride,
violence, ambition and power. It is, then, understandable
that for man’s own good and salvation, God should claim
jealously and emphatically the title due to Him alone.
In the vast tapestry of events displayed in the Bible, the
figures of four men stand out in brightest colors: Adam,
Noe, Abraham and Moses. Why? Because with the passage
of time, they alone bore witness to the true God in the midst
of widespread desertion. The essential reality of the one
true God was known to Adam, who walked and lived in
the brightness of divine radiance. This primary truth was
transmitted to humanity, but twice after Adam the whole
world sank into forgetfulness and ignorance. Twice likewise
does the Bible extol the mission of a single man who alone
remained faithful to the one true God.
Noe kept God’s word in the midst of universal corrup­
tion. While mankind was engulfed in the waters, Noe was
saved from the deluge and offered worship to the true God.
Something of the atmosphere of paradise still clings to this
faithful man.
Then time flowed on. However brilliant may have been
the civilizations that flourished in the course of the centuries,
the Bible did not heed them, but presented one man alone:
Abraham. This man renounced the ease and delights of a
pagan world, left his country, his kindred and his father’s
4 Gen. 3:5.

REVELATION OF GOD

25

house5 to travel across the desert with a handful of com­
panions, his only wealth his faith in Yahweh, the one true
God who would be glorified in Abraham’s posterity: “For
1 know that he will command his children, and his household
after him to keep the way of the Lord, and do judgment and
justice; that for Abraham’s sake the Lord may bring to effect
all the things He hath spoken unto him.” 8 Abraham appears
in Genesis as the herald of the one true God; that is why he
became the father of the covenant and of our faith.
Then finally there is Moses. If he stands on the peak of
the Old Testament panorama, is it not because he received
God’s word on Sinai, stamped it on men’s hearts and made it
the Credo of Israel forever? “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one lord. . . . See ye that I alone am, and there is
no other God besides Me.” 7 These conclusive words for­
bade Israel to consider Yahweh as merely the God of one
tribe among others. At the same time there is revealed part
of the priceless treasure entrusted only to the race of Abra­
ham. Later the prophet Amos reminded the people: “You
only have I known of all the families of the earth.” 8 Thence­
forth Israel’s duty was to preserve the divine inheritance:
“The Lord is the portion of my inheritance.” 9 It had to be
defended against enemies from without and from within.
But this privileged destiny was to win a unique place for
Israel. The long history of the chosen people can be sum­
marized as a constant struggle: an external struggle against
pagan nations and an internal struggle against the invasion
of alien cults.
The prophets’ fiery words revived weakened faith and
β Gen. 12:1.
s Amos 3:2.

6 Gen. 18:19.
9 Ps. 15:5.

7 Deut. 6:4; 32:39.

26

THE OLD TESTAMENT

confirmed it where necessary by signs and striking wonders.
Thus Elias assembled the disloyal nation and the prophets of
falsehood on Mount Carmel, where he alone bore witness to
the true God:

Call ye on the names of your gods and I will call on the name
of my Lord; and the god that shall answer by fire, let him be
God. And all the people answering said: A very good proposal.
. . . And they called on the name of Baal from morning even
till noon . . . but there was no voice, nor any that answered.
. . . And when it was now time to offer the holocaust, Elias the
prophet came near and said: O Lord God of Abraham, and
Isaac, and Israel, shew this day that Thou art the God of Israel.
. . . Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust,
and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the
water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw this,
they fell on their faces, and they said: The Lord He is God, the
Lord He is God.10

But the people were not long in relapsing into their in­
fidelity. By the mouth of the prophet Isaias, God once more
asked them this poignant question: “And to whom have ye
likened Me, or made Me equal, saith the Holy One? . . .
Before Me there was no God formed, and after Me there
shall be none. I am, I am the Lord; and there is no savior
besides Me. ... I am the first, and I am the last, and be­
sides Me there is no God.” 11
The sages too added their voices to the chorus of patri­
archs and prophets. The author of the Book of Wisdom de­
nounced the error of those who attributed to the elements
what belonged to God alone, those who “have imagined
i° III Kings 18:24-39.
11 Isa. 40:25; 43:10-11; 44:6; cf. also Isa. 46:5.

REVELATION OF GOD

27

either the fire, or the wind, or the swift air, or the circle of
the stars, or the great water, or the sun and moon, to be the
gods that rule the world, with whose beauty . . . they, be­
ing delighted, took them to be gods.” 12 There is reference
also to the yet greater folly of those who trusted in idols
devoid of life, idols which are not only insulting to God but
unworthy of man himself:
But unhappy are they . . . who have called gods the works
of the hands of men, gold and silver, the inventions of art, and
the resemblances of beasts, or an unprofitable stone the work of
an ancient hand. . . . For no man can make a god like to him­
self. For being mortal himself he formed a dead thing with his
wicked hands. For he is better than they whom he worshipped!,
because he indeed hath lived, though he were mortal, but they
never.13
Ezechiel, wishing to save Israel forever from the mon­
strous aberration perpetrated among the pagans, namely
the deification of a man, emphasized the mad arrogance of
the king of Tyre and warned him of the punishment that
would strike him :

Thus saith the Lord God: . . . Thy heart was lifted up with
thy beauty; thou hast lost thy wisdom in thy beauty. . . .
Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thy in­
iquities and by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore I will bring
forth a fire from the midst of thee. . . . All that shall see thee
among the nations shall be astonished at thee; thou art brought
to nothing, and thou shalt never be any more.14
12 Wisd. 13:2-3. St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans (1:18-32),
traced a long and exact parallel of this text of the Book of Wisdom.
13 Wisd. 13:10; 15:16-17.
14 Ezech. 28:17-18.

28

THE OLD TESTAMENT

But it was all in vain. Jeremias was to weep over the
blindness of his people; countless warnings did not suffice
to keep them faithful to the one true God. “I will be jealous
for My holy name.” 15 “I the Lord, this is My name: I will
not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven
things.” 18
The whole vocation of Israel was to be the champion of
belief in the one true God. Whenever the nation was un­
faithful, it risked the effects of His vengeance and jealousy.
“Thou shalt not have strange gods in My sight . . . For I
am the Lord thy God, a jealous God.” 17 “Adore not any
strange god. The Lord His name is Jealous, He is a jealous
God.” 18
By divine decree this exclusive adoration was a strict
duty and inescapable obligation. It can even be said that the
whole law is contained in that one commandment. Though
it might seem excusable that faith should falter at a time
when it was subjected to so many temptations and counter­
feit enticements, yet considering that the fate of all humanity
was involved in Israel’s attitude toward this primary truth,
it is easy to understand why God was so peremptory in His
demands.19
The strongest possible condemnations of idolatry are
found in the Book of Deuteronomy:
18 Ezech. 39:25.
18 Isa. 42:8.
17 Deut. 5:7, 9.
18 Exod. 34:14.
19 Our Lord was to be just as inflexible regarding entrance into the
kingdom of heaven: “And if thy hand scandalize thee, cut it off.
. . . And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out” (Mark 9:42, 46).
St. Paul also reminds the primitive Church that men are still dealing
with the same God who is revealed as so apparently ruthless in the
Old Testament: “For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29).

REVELATION OF GOD

29

If there rise in the midst of thee a prophet or one that saith
he hath dreamed a dream, and he foretell a sign and a wonder,
and that come to pass which he spoke, and he say to thee: Let
us go and follow strange gods, which thou knowest not, and let
us serve them, thou shalt not hear the words of that prophet or
dreamer; for the Lord your God trieth you, that it may appear
whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul,
or not. Follow the Lord your God, and fear Him, and keep His
commandments, and hear His voice; Him you shall serve, and to
Him you shall cleave. And that prophet or forger of dreams shall
be slain; because he spoke to draw you away from the Lord your
God . . . and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst
of thee. If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or
daughter, or thy wife that is in thy bosom, or thy friend whom
thou lovest as thy own soul, would persuade thee secretly, say­
ing: Let us go, and serve strange gods, which thou knowest not,
nor thy fathers, . . . consent not to him, hear him not, neither
let thy eyes spare him to pity and conceal him. But thou shalt
presently put him to death. Let thy hand be first upon him, and
afterwards the hands of all the people. With stones shall he be
stoned to death: because he would have withdrawn thee from the
Lord thy God . . . that all Israel hearing may fear, and may
do no more any thing like this.20

Finally the ultimate severity is expressed in this com­
mand:
If in one of thy cities which the Lord thy God shall give thee
to dwell in, thou hear some say: Children of Belial are gone out
of the midst of thee and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their
city and have said: Let us go, and serve strange gods which you
know not, inquire carefully and diligently the truth of the thing
by looking well into it, and if thou find that which is said to be

20Deut. 13:1-11.

30

THE OLD TESTAMENT

certain, and that this abomination hath been really committed,
thou shalt forthwith kill the inhabitants of that city with the edge
of the sword, and shalt destroy it and all things that are in it.21
Josue, faithfully observing the law and moved by zeal for
Yahweh, reduced the cities of Hai and Jericho to a mass of
ruins where every last inhabitant perished. But the fact that
at the same time not a scrap of booty was kept by these
grim men proves their extraordinary moral courage and holy
jealousy. Any leader or group of men who took possession
of objects condemned to anathema were punished by imme­
diate death:

And Achan answered Josue: ... I saw among the spoils a
scarlet garment exceeding good, and two hundred sides of
silver, and a golden rule of fifty sides; and I coveted them, and
I took them away, and hid them in the ground in the midst of
my tent. . . . Josue said: Because thou hast troubled us, the
Lord trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him.22

For the same reason it was forbidden to marry alien
women who brought with them idolatrous worship. At the
time of Esdras’ reform each man sent away the wife he had
chosen: “All these had taken strange wives, and there were
among them women that had borne children.” 23
Only the sacred defense of the rights of the one true God
could justify such implacably jealous measures. All com­
promise was necessarily forbidden because the treasure of
revelation was worth the payment of this high price: “Thou
shalt be perfect and without spot before the Lord thy God.
These nations, whose land thou shalt possess, hearken to
21 Dcut. 13:12-15.

22 Jos. 7:20, 21, 25.

231 Esd. 10:44.

REVELATION OF GOD

31

soothsayers and diviners; but thou art otherwise instructed
by the Lord thy God.” 24
Naturally God had no reason to fear any rival, as He
alone was God. But He who is master of all things and all
souls is also master of time and therefore the enforcement
of belief in His omnipotence was to be spread among foreign
nations only by a very slow process.25 Little by little through­
out the centuries the victories and defeats of Israel served
the purpose of proving that Yahweh was the one true God,
since the nation was invincible only so far as she was faithful
to Him. “And there was no one that triumphed over this
people, but when they departed from the worship of the
Lord their God.” 26
But if the fortunes of this poor, apparently weak tribe
bear eloquent witness to the fact that all its strength derived
only from the one, true God, this testimony also had to be
sealed and ratified in its blood. Only at this price would men
be led to pay homage to Yahweh and confess Him as the
only God. The Machabees sacrificed themselves to testify to
His existence. “But I, like my brethren, offer up my life and
my body for the laws of our fathers, calling upon God . . .
that thou mayst confess that He alone is God.” 27 Their
martyrdom was fertile. Even evil-doers attained faith in the
24 Deut. 18:13-14.
25 St. Peter was to say, referring to this slowness in the accom­
plishment of divine decrees: “The Lord delayeth not His promise,
as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing
that any should perish, but that all should return to penance. . . .
One day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years
as one day” (II Pet. 3:9 and 8).
26 Jud. 5:17.
27 Π Mach. 7:37.

32

THE OLD TESTAMENT

true God through the heroic fidelity of His servants. “There­
fore I, Nabuchodonosor, do now praise and magnify and
glorify the King of heaven, because all His works are true
and His ways judgments, and them that walk in pride He is
able to abase.” 28 Thus God’s persistent action, together with
the generosity of a few elite souls, assured the triumph of
the true God in Israel. It was prophesied that finally the
whole world would be rescued from vain idols and from self­
worship and would pay homage to the one true God. “Be­
cause then I will restore to the people a chosen lip, that all
may call upon the name of the Lord, and may serve Him
with one shoulder.” 28
THE DIVINE NAME

Who art thou, Lord? 30
Even the Lord the God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial.31

Nothing is more important in the Bible than the affirma­
tion that there is one true God. This establishes forever the
adoration due to Him and blocks the path to polytheism,
overthrowing all idols both past and future. But this revela­
tion does not of itself suffice to turn man’s heart toward this
God who shows Himself to human beings. God is an im­
penetrable mystery to men. To make men desire Him, He
strives to make them become acquainted with Him. Therein
lies the purpose of the whole of revelation. It is, then, won­
derful that in the very act of informing us of His “name”
God revealed Himself and began to draw us toward the ab­
solute good which He graciously offered to our adoration.
We might have been limited to knowing Him only by His
28 Dan. 4:34.
31 Osce 12:5.

2fl Soph. 3:9.

33 Acts 22:8.

REVELATION OF GOD

33

works, receiving nothing more than His image or vestige
stamped on them. Of course the profusion, variety and value
of these works fill our minds with admiration, but they alone
cannot satisfy us. “The eye is not filled with seeing, neither
is the ear filled with hearing.” 32
As souls rise above these things which speak of God but
cannot satisfy them,33 they surmise “how much the Lord of
them is more beautiful than they; for the first author of
beauty made all those things.” 34 Job told how the sight of
God’s works gave a glimpse of His infinite strength and
limitless power:

Who doth things great and incomprehensible, and wonderful,
of which there is no number. If He come to me, I shall not see
Him: if He depart I shall not understand. ... If strength be
demanded, He is most strong; if equity of judgment, no man
dare bear witness for me.35
But the power and majesty of creation, which should
inspire our total respect, by a surprising contrast lead us to a
growing awareness of the nothingness of all things in the
sight of God:
Behold the Gentiles are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted
as the smallest grain of a balance; behold the islands are as a
little dust. And Libanus shall not be enough to burn, nor the
beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations are be­
32 Eccles. 1:8.
33 St. John of the Cross expressed it thus: “One single thought of
a man is of greater worth than the whole world; wherefore God
alone is worthy of him.” (Complete Works, translated and edited by
E. Allison Peers, London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne, 1947, III,
p. 245.)
34 Wisd. 13:3.
35 Job 9:10, 11, 19.

34

THE OLD TESTAMENT

fore Him as if they had no being at all, and are counted to Him
as nothing, and vanity.38

While man perceives, of course, that all creation derives
life from its Maker and continues to receive existence and
all its benefits from Him, yet he also sees dimly that the
reality of God far surpasses and transcends His creative
works. The works live only by Him and for Him, but He
must exist “in Himself,” in an incomprehensible, immutable
simplicity of nature, of substance and of action. To prove
that our ancestors had a deep awareness of this infinite
transcendence, we need only examine their attitude in God’s
presence. “I will speak to my Lord, whereas I am dust and
ashes,” 87 said Abraham. David and his son Solomon ex­
pressed true humility:

And king David came and sat before the Lord, and said:
Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that Thou
shouldst give such things to me? 38
Is it credible then that God should dwell with men on the
earth? If heaven and the heavens of heavens do not contain
Thee, how much less this house, which I have built? 39
The psalms, inspired by God, thrill with adoration before
the mystery of His presence. The Israelites’ excessive respect
and fear of God reached such a point that eventually they
no longer dared pronounce the “incommunicable name.”
Why? Because the name not only reflected the dazzling light
of the mystery of God but also contained something of His
very self, since the Hebrew “Yahweh” meant “He is.” 40
38 Isa. 40:15-17.
3T Gen. 18:27.
33 I Par. 17:16.
89 II Par. 6:18.
40 “God” in Hebrew is “Elohim.” It is the name usually given
to the divinity. (The root “el” is also found in other ancient lan-

REVELATION OF GOD

35

Just as the name “Jesus” proclaimed the salvation which
Christ would bring to the world, so the name “Yahweh”
induced a sense of the absolute which God wished to com­
municate to us and to provide us our inexhaustible source
of life.
The power and glory of the one true God were frequently
manifested to men’s eyes in the course of Old Testament
times, but His being was disclosed only to the view of faith.
To faith He showed Himself as absolute reality and the
fullness of being. Moses understood this during the mag­
nificent scene recorded in the Book of Exodus and we too
can understand it through him. “Now Moses fed the sheep
of Jethro. ... He drove the flock to the inner parts of
the desert and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. And
the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst
of a bush; and he saw that the bush was on fire and was not
burnt.” 41
Such a marvel was well calculated to attract Moses’ at­
tention and indeed the cardinal importance of the divine
message which followed required this preparation.

And Moses said: I will go and see this great sight, why the
bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he went forward
guages and religions.) This name is used in the Bible by a whole
scriptural school, that of the “Elohists.” The revelation of the divine
name, “Yahweh” (of which the root “Yah” is also found in “Joshua”
or “Jesus”), which constituted a truly distinctive revelation, in­
augurated a new relationship between God and man, as God Him­
self affirmed: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: I am the Lord,
that appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, by the name of
God almighty; and My name Adonai I did not show them” (Exod.
6:2, 3).
«Exod. 3:1-2.

THE OLD TESTAMENT

36

to see, He called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said:
Moses, Moses. And he answered: Here I am. And He said;
Come not nigh hither, put off the shoes from thy feet; for the
place whereon thou standest is holy ground. And He said: I am
the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob. Moses hid his face, for he durst not look
at God.42
Moses was first startled and attentive, then filled with
holy fear, soon to be sloughed off by the wings of adora­
tion. But in bestowing this revelation on humanity, God
willed not only to affirm His absolute transcendence but
also to show it inseparably united to His wonderful mercy.
Thus, before giving His name, He told Moses: “I have seen
the affliction of My people in Egypt . . . and I will send
thee . . . that thou mayst bring forth My people.” 43 Then
and only then, did the divine dialogue begin:

Moses said to God: Lo, I shall go to the children of Israel,
and say to them: The God of your fathers hath sent me to you.
If they should say to me: What is His name? what shall I say to
them? God said to Moses: i am who am. Thus shalt thou say
to the children of Israel: he who is, hath sent me to you.
. . . This is My name forever, and this is My memorial unto
all generations.44

LIFE IN GOD
We also are mortals, men like unto you, preaching to you to
be converted from these vain things, to the living God, who made
the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and all things that are
in them.45
«Exod. 3:3-6.
48 Acts 14:14.

« Exod. 3:7, 10.

44 Exod. 3:13-15.

REVELATION OF GOD

37

The name “Yahweh” which God revealed to Moses
means “He is.” In a sense this name contains all that the
Old Testament revealed regarding the mystery of God’s
absolute and transcendent life. For a brighter and more wel­
come light men had to await the coming of the Incarnate
Word whose words would illuminate the darkness. Yet even
before that advent, God willed that men should learn about
the mystery of divine life and, casting off their unworthy, in­
accurate, anthropomorphic ideas of it, they should draw near
to this life and live by it. To reveal Himself as life and to
communicate that life: such was God’s intention from the
very beginning and for all eternity, an intention fraught
with glory and loving mercy. “I am come that they may
have life.” 48
“I am who am.” As far as God is concerned, this says
everything. But how were men to “grasp” this phrase? By
starting with life around them and life within themselves,
they would be led gradually to its meaning. Though life may
be indefinable and mysterious, it is the first reality of which
men acquire a secret but deep awareness. Around them in­
numerable beings move, grow and multiply. Everywhere in
nature life is evident, asserts itself, springs up energetically,
superabundantly, prodigally. Men know and feel that they
themselves are living. They bear the power within them to
transmit life. At the very beginning Adam proved that life
appeared as the essential reality, for he called his companion
“Eve,” that is, “life,” because he saw that no other char­
acteristic in her was as important as that of imparting life.
The first woman was, in his eyes “the mother of all the
46 John 10:10.

38

THE OLD TESTAMENT

living.” 47 Of course, man is not the author of life in an
absolute sense, but he controls its sources and understands
its irreplaceable worth. “All that a man hath he will give for
his life.” 48 Man can transmit life, but unfortunately he can
also destroy it, and he was not long in using this power:
“Cain rose up against his brother Abel and slew him.” 49 He
can also dissipate it, divert it from its proper course, abuse it
in many ways. The Bible shows this clearly and repeatedly.
God knows all this. He knows what men will do with the
life entrusted to them and yet He leaves it in their hands and
indeed counts on life to lead men to the discovery of higher
realities. Little by little, men would learn that life is in­
trinsically good, sacred and utterly dependent upon God.
The man who seeks to possess life must turn ever more
wholeheartedly toward the Creator. But then arises the
problem of what life man should ask of God. If material
life were exalted, men risked confining their desires and
ambitions to things of earth, all the more so as Israel had
not yet received the revelation of a future life.
How then could man become aware of an infinitely higher
and wholly spiritual life? How could he advance from the
one to the other? How could he enter the life of the spirit?
What gradual stages and numerous purifications would be
necessary? Indeed, Holy Writ bears witness to this long,
slow process. But we can also observe that the river of life
moves in two directions: downward and upward. A mighty
stream descends from the overflowing springs of life in God
to meet the upsurge of man’s yearning for a deeper and
higher sharing of divine life, for a return to the source of his
being. Thus there is a real circulation of life in the Bible:
47 Gen. 3:20.

48 Job 2:4.

49 Gen. 4:8.

REVELATION OF GOD

39

man receives it, then seeks it anew, advancing by progres­
sive steps toward the discovery that its essence is spiritual
and truly divine.
God’s creative power and His communication of natural
life is evident, not only in Genesis, but throughout the whole
Bible. The exuberance and profusion of life might even
have exposed man to a risk, inclining him toward the
temptation to “naturism,” had not the inspired authors taken
great care to show at the same time that life is constantly
dependent upon its Author and is directed toward Him as
its last end. Life is never presented as a dark, blind force.
The universe is well ordered; life appears and develops only
at the divine command. “I beseech thee, my son, look upon
heaven and earth, and all that is in them: and consider that
God made them out of nothing, and mankind also.” 80 Life
is shown in a multiplicity of forms and species, each having
its own power of fecundity: “And He said: Let the earth
bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the
fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have seed
in itself upon the earth.” 81 But as life increases and multi­
plies and fills the earth,82 it does not withdraw on that ac­
count from its creative cause. Quite the contrary, for God
beholds all creation in a loving glance: “And God saw all
the things that He had made, and they were very good.” 83
He supports and sustains life, He alone being the essential
cause, over and above all secondary, intermediate and in­
strumental causes. The mother of the Machabees expressed
this in saying: “I know not how you were formed in my
womb; for I neither gave you breath, nor soul, nor life,
50II Mach. 7:28.
53 Gen. 1:31.

61 Gen. 1:11.

«Gen. 1:28.

40

THE OLD TESTAMENT

neither did I frame the limbs of every one of you.” 54 God’s
hand also bestows subsistence on all creatures and His provi­
dence maintains them in existence:
All expect of Thee that Thou give them food in season. What
Thou givest to them they shall gather up; when Thou openest
Thy hand, they shall all be filled with good. But if Thou turnest
away Thy face, they shall be troubled; Thou shalt take away thenbreath, and they shall fail and shall return to their dust. Thou
shalt send forth Thy spirit, and they shall be created.55
If he turn his heart to Him, he shall draw His spirit and
breath unto himself. All flesh shall perish together, and man
shall return into ashes.58
These passages refer to natural life, the authors wishing
to prove that it too emanates directly from the living God,
however much it may differ from divine life. Moreover, even
if communication of this natural life does not include any
participation in God’s inner life, yet at least it puts the living
creature in direct dependence on the divine will.57 A crea­
ture’s beauty derives less from the pale image of true life
which its life reflects than from the fact that it is a gratuitous
manifestation of the dynamic superabundance of divine life.
Every creature, therefore, sings the praises of God by its
very existence. This idea was so well understood in the Old
Testament that it has been expressed in magnificent poems:
54II Mach. 7:22.
55 Ps. 103:27-30.
58 Job 34:14, 15.
5T St. Paul was to use this truth as the basis of his sermon to the
Athenians: “God, who made the world and all things therein, He
being Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with
hands; neither is He served with men’s hands, as though He needed
any thing; seeing it is He who giveth to all life, and breath, and all
things . . . although He be not far from every one of us; for in
Him we live, and move, and are” (Acts 17:24, 28).

REVELATION OF GOD

41

All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord. ... O ye heavens
. . . O ye sun and moon ... O ye stars of heaven . . . fire
and heat . . . frost and cold . . . nights and days . . .
lightnings and clouds . . . mountains and hills . . . fountains
. . . seas and rivers . . . fowls of the air . . . beasts and
cattle ... O ye sons of men, bless the Lord; praise and exalt
Him above all forever.58
And Tobias said: Lord God of our fathers, may the heavens
and the earth and the sea, and the fountain, and the rivers, and
all Thy creatures that are in them, bless Thee.59
And the stars have given light in their watches, and rejoiced;
they were called, and they said: Here we are: and with cheerful­
ness they have shined forth to Him that made them.60

All creatures testify that God brought them to actuality,
that He and He alone is the source of their life. They rejoice
in their dependence upon Him while their profusion and
beauty give a hint of the full glory of their Creator’s life.
Their existence is like a constant, blissful applause: “Where
wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth . . .
when the morning stars praised Me together, and all the sons
of God made a joyful melody?” 61
As the mystery of life depends closely upon God, its sole
source, even natural life is stamped with a sacred character.
This is one of the most illuminating insights of the Bible,
affirming most admirably both the intrinsic goodness of life
and its complete dependence upon God. When creatures are
considered in themselves, their worth becomes quite rela­
tive, verging on nothingness: “Behold, you are of nothing,
and your work of that which hath no being.” 62
59 Dan. 3:57-82.
51 Job 38:4, 7.

59 Tob. 8:7.
62 Isa. 41:24.

00 Bar. 3:34, 35.

THE OLD TESTAMENT

42

But they are sublime to those who decipher in them the
seal of the divine vestige, trace the touch of wisdom, hear
the canticle to God’s glory as manifested in their existence.
Because of this dependence on God, even physical life ac­
quires an inestimable value. Those who humbly acknowl­
edge this dependence and faithfully obey the divine laws are
rewarded by fecundity: “But if she be not defiled, she shall
not be hurt, and shall bear children.” 83 God’s servants con­
sidered it a glorious thing to live and to transmit life—a
function which Israel regarded as the fulfillment of a sacred
ministry, the delegation of truly divine power. Holy Writ
often showed that the most fervent souls in Israel were
characterized by a strong desire to transmit life. They
begged to receive this power, even miraculously if necessary.
Anna, who was sterile, received it by dint of tears and as
soon as her prayer was granted, she blessed God and con­
secrated the child to the Temple. At the dawn of the New
Testament Elizabeth and her husband, Zachary, were to act
in like manner. This proves how beautiful and pure the
mystery of life appeared to Old Testament men—and even
more to the women, such as Sara and Rachel. And yet when
the latter cried out: “Give me children, otherwise I shall
die,” 64 her keen distress was caused by something more
than the deprival of God’s blessing. The women of the Old
Testament longed to transmit life because they could not
forget that one of their sons would become the hope of
Israel. The fulfillment of the covenant promises was linked
to the life which they gave to the world. Vehement as their
desire was, yet what would it have been had they known in
what a sublime way physical fecundity and natural life
«3 Num. 5:28.

64 Gen. 30:1.

REVELATION OF GOD

43

would one day, by the overshadowing of the Spirit, be
united to divine life itself? The Child bestowed upon the
world by one of their women would come for all men, his
brothers, “that they may have life, and may have it more
abundantly.” 65
Small wonder then how teeming with life is the Old Testa­
ment. Throughout the history of the Hebrew people life
resembled a process of fermentation where seething activity
and mysterious properties prepared a new wine which was
to gush from the Gospel in unadulterated joy. Of course, for
a long time Israel had a murky and confused idea of life.
For example, the people lacked the clear notion that in God
all is life. Yet many texts prove that they acknowledged
that all life comes from God and that life itself is the best
praise that can be offered to the Author of life. Therefore
the feasts in honor of Yahweh glorify Him by varied ex­
pressions of lively activity. “David and all Israel played be­
fore the Lord on all manner of instruments.” 06 When the
priests invited the people to rejoice at a great feast, they
said: “Go, eat fat meats and drink sweet wine . . . because
it is the holy day of the Lord, and be not sad; for the joy
of the Lord is our strength.” 67 Superabundant, exuberant
life is to be associated with the fulfillment of the messianic
promises and the release which Israel awaits:
And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and shall come
into Sion with praise, and everlasting joy shall be upon their
heads.
Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice. . . . And the floors
shall be filled with wheat, and the presses shall overflow with
wine and oil.
es John 10:10.
ββ II Kings 6:5.
8’Neh. 8:10.

44

THE OLD TESTAMENT

Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when the ploughman
shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that
soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweetness, and every
hill shall be tilled.08
In these expressions, in which we detect predictions and
symbols of a new and higher life, the Israelites showed how
much they loved and desired a life of material prosperity
and abundance. Since life is good and God is its source and
has blessed it, was it not natural that Israel should turn to
the Creator to ask for an increase of life and happiness?
Had He not promised it? This craving for life recurs through­
out the whole Bible. It is certainly a matter of prime impor­
tance that man should turn to God because he sees Him as
the source of life. But there remains the problem of what
life man should ask of God. May he not be satisfied to seek
merely an increase of physical and material life from the
one who said, “Increase and multiply,” and grants blessings
even in the natural order? This was a very real danger. Yet
how else could the aspiration to an infinitely higher life be
roused in men except by first planting deep within them the
conviction of the goodness of life? This developed their
thirst for life and then gradually this thirst was to be trans­
ferred from the material to the spiritual level.
We can surmise how difficult such a transference was,
how long a time was required to accomplish it and how
much God had to stoop to human weakness. It is certain
that during most of Israel’s history the thirst for life was con­
fined to the temporal and terrestrial level, since the existence
of a future life was not clearly revealed by God. But the de­
sire for a life continuing beyond death did appear in the
08 Isa. 35:10; Joel 2:21, 24; Amos 9:13.

REVELATION OF GOD

45

sacred books, first beneath the surface of the text, then
more and more clearly. It became increasingly repugnant
for souls to accept death as a final end or even to be satisfied
with the pale and diminished life of Sheol:
Because Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; nor wilt Thou
give Thy holy one to see corruption.
Thou hast brought me to life, and hast brought me back again
from the depths of the earth.68*
But it would avail little were God to give man the assur­
ance of an after-life, if the human idea of life remained
purely material and the earthly ideal was merely projected
into another existence. The difficulty is unavoidable until
everything is transposed to the spiritual level.70 The solution
of the problem would be a long and arduous task, far from
completed at the time of Christ, even among His own
apostles, as was proved by His answer to the Sadducees:
“And Jesus answering, said to them: You err, not knowing
the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection
they shall neither marry nor be married; but shall be as the
angels of God in heaven.” 71
Even now does not our personal experience teach that
each of us must continually strive to achieve this transit
from the material to the spiritual realm? It is a difficult, but
not an insoluble problem. Man was created by God in His
68 Ps. 15:10; 70:20.
70 This thirst for total life, even on the physical plane, was not
entirely wrong, and it finds its satisfaction in the dogma of the
resurrection of the body. St. Paul was to be judged and condemned
by both Jews and pagans because of this same dogma. Cf. Acts
17:18, 32.
71 Matt. 22:29, 30.

THE OLD TESTAMENT

46

image and likeness, made for Him, and therefore has a
capacity for God. The Bible tells us: “To be allied to wis­
dom is immortality.” 72 Thus, even if man is unaware of it,
he possesses a spiritual capacity, a power to receive divine
life. The aptitude need not be created, but its free function­
ing must be assured. This requires two conditions. First,
men must be led gradually to a notion and awareness of
spiritual life by the contact of their souls with a more puri­
fied atmosphere. From this viewpoint we may consider the
entire Old Testament as a divine pedagogy. Secondly, men
must tread the path which leads to true life. The law given
to Moses by God was the path leading to life and at the
same time the means whereby this life could be communi­
cated to the purified soul. This is clearly expressed in a pas­
sage of the Book of Deuteronomy:
Consider that I have set before thee this day life and good,
and on the other hand death and evil; that thou mayst love the
Lord thy God, and walk in His ways, and keep His command­
ments . . . and thou mayst live . . . But if thy heart be
turned away, so that thou wilt not hear . . . thou shalt perish.
. . . Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed may
live, and that thou mayst love the Lord thy God, and obey His
voice, and adhere to Him (for He is thy life).73
Thus, every faithful Jew, every Jew instructed in the law,
could not help but know that the goal which it proposed and
the whole purpose of the commandments was to give life.
To the extent that he submitted to God’s law, he was set free
from all that bound him to the earth and he perceived ever
more clearly that his soul was made for a higher life. By his
very acceptance of this life he became capable of experi72 Wisd. 8:17.

73 Deut. 30:15-20.

REVELATION OF GOD

47

encing it. His initiation into the life of the spirit then con­
ferred an aptitude for divine life: “O taste and see that the
Lord is sweet.” 74 This tasting was such a delight that it
enabled faithful souls to accept willingly the yoke of the
law and the burden of the commandments, perceiving in
them the power to give life.74a Such is the state of mind of
the Psalmist: “Thy justifications I will never forget, for by
them Thou hast given me life.” 75 It is evident that the
transit from material life to spiritual life had taken place in
the soul of this servant of God. He craves the spiritual life
which he has tasted and he knows that God is its source.
Many other verses of the same psalm corroborate this.
As the scribes and the sages meditated on the sacred
texts and especially on the account of the fall of man, they
74 Ps. 33:9.
74a How then could St. Paul in his Epistles turn so violently
against the law, saying: “Now the law entered in, that sin might
abound” (Rom. 5:20)? It was because the Jews did not distinguish
between salvation by means of the Redemption (an absolutely
gratuitous, divine deed accomplished by virtue of the promise made
to Abraham) and external purification obtained by legal prescrip­
tions which were but the shadow of things to come. The law does
not operate on the level of redemption and filial adoption but is
based on the opposition between life and death. It was designed as
a protection against death but could become the cause of death
because of the fundamental weakness of sinful man. Thus, St. Paul
says: “The commandment that was ordained to life, the same was
found to be unto death to me” (Rom. 7:10). The law, like good
works without which faith is dead (Jas. 2:17), could not restore to
the soul eternal life which had been lost by sin, but it did prepare
it for that life and maintain its faith. It increases divine life in the
soul. Thus Christ said: “Do not think that I am come to destroy the
law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill”
(Matt. 5:17).
75 Ps. 118:93.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

did not fail to understand that obedience to the law would
restore to man the life which his disobedience had lost for
him. So in the Old Testament the tree of death in para­
dise appeared in opposition to the law, which became
pre-eminently the tree of life, bearing the fruit of wis­

dom.76

He that shall find Me, shall find life.
She is a tree of life to them that lay hold on her; and he that
shall retain her is blessed.
Knowledge is a fountain of life to him that possessed! it.77
The law was a tree planted in man’s damaged soil, a tree
dear to the Psalmist and rooted deep in his heart: “I have
purchased Thy testimonies for an inheritance forever be­
cause they are the joy of my heart. I have inclined my heart
to do Thy justifications forever, for the reward.” 78 This
tree bears wonderful fruits of knowledge and understanding
which the soul can harvest without danger and can taste
with purely spiritual enjoyment.
Thus it is that to follow the law led to life, to a life of
the spirit. But were the men of the Old Testament conscious
of the fact that this life of the spirit was not only a life
communicated by God but was God’s own life? Though
it was reserved to Christ to bring us the clear revelation of
76 The law given by God to Israel by virtue of the covenant with
Abraham (Deut. 7:6-13) seals the promise of redemption. Ob­
servance of the law, as proof of faith in the promise, insured “justi­
fication” for men of the Old Testament. After the time of the
redemption, “the tree of life” would be the cross of Christ and the
sharing of His cross by means of charity practiced to the point of
the total gift of self.
77 Prov. 8:35; 3:18; 16:32.
re ps. 118:111-12.

REVELATION OF GOD

49

this truth,79 some of the inspired authors, particularly the
prophets, had long ago caught a glimpse of the mysterious
bond joining our living souls to the living God. The Psalmist
clearly stated that only life emanating from God gave life
to the soul: “For with Thee is the fountain of life.” 80 That
living water of divine life touched the lips of men like Moses
and Elias. At times they retired into solitude to taste it
better, as this text from the Book of Kings suggests: “Get
thee hence, and go toward the east and hide thyself by the
torrent of Carith, which is over against the Jordan, and
there thou shalt drink of the torrent.”
Did the Old Testament men who enjoyed God’s intimate
friendship receive more than this? Was there revealed to
them some part of the inner mystery of that divine life so
abundantly bestowed upon them? Had they some hint of the
life of the Trinity? It seems not. God reserved for His Son
the dazzling revelation of this mystery. “No man hath seen
God at any time; the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom
of the Father, He hath declared Him.”81 But does that
mean that men of the Old Testament were deprived of all
knowledge of the nature of God? Did not the world created
by His hands help them to know Him? Some of the Fathers
of the Church, especially St. Augustine, have tried to find
the image of the three Persons in one God imprinted on
the very structure of the human soul. However profound
such considerations may be, they presuppose an attitude of
mind quite foreign to Israel. The Old Testament shows no
trace of such speculations, even in the Wisdom books. On
the other hand, it is clear that from the very beginning God
prepared the way for the revelation of the mystery of the
79 Cf. John 14:6.

80 Ps. 35:10.

81 John 1:18.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

Trinity, but this preparation must be sought within the limi­
tations of Old Testament intellectual background.
It is apparent throughout the whole Bible that a favorite
subject of meditation for wise men was the story of creation.
This story first of all affirmed that God was the source of all
life. Then it stated that for life to appear and to develop
required the union of two living principles. “Male and fe­
male He created them.” 82 Yet this physical union required
for fecundity, “and they shall be two in one flesh,” 83 was
by no means the highest manifestation of the mystery of
life. Man participates in a dialogue on the supernatural
level as well as on the natural level. In him both flesh and
spirit crave life and cannot attain the fullness of life except
with the help of a complement. On the natural level man’s
solitude cannot be relieved nor his desire satisfied except by
the one who not only brings him physical completion but
also becomes his helpmate, a companion like to himself,
drawn from his own being, bone of his bone and flesh of
his flesh.84 With her he can achieve real communion of mind
and mutual exchange of knowledge and love. This fulfill­
ment was secretly desired and eagerly awaited. When Adam
saw Eve he couldn’t help but greet her with a cry of joy;
at last he was sure of finding completion and of developing
to the full his faculties and vital endowments.
On the supernatural level the value of the life promised
to man seemed even more marvellous, for the only being
that can complete him is God Himself. True, the soul was
only a capacity and an appeal, but a capacity for God and
an appeal to infinity. God alone is worthy of the soul.
«2 Gen. 1:27.

83 Gen. 2:24.

84 Cf. Gen. 2:23.

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51

Divine life is the only source of the soul’s life. “Thou hast
made us for Thyself.”
Everything in the story of Genesis, even man’s expecta­
tion and his painful awareness of solitude, constituted a
necessary preparation for the coming of a desired being, an
agent of fulfillment and enrichment of life. On the level of
divine life the Bible was to use a similar pedagogy: the
coming of the Savior bringing life to the world would be
preceded by painful waiting and long preparation. So it
was that in both spheres life appeared to man as a dialogue
with another being, a series of exchanges of knowledge and
love. It mattered little that Old Testament men were un­
aware of it. They were immersed in the mystery and uncon­
sciously they lived by it—all the more so as the law of
mutual exchange controlled life by ruling not only the rela­
tionship of man to woman but also that of man among his
fellow men. When God promulgated the two command­
ments: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. . . . Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” 85 and when He added
“keep the commandments . . . and thou mayst live,” 88
He taught clearly that true life should be founded on a rela­
tionship of friendship between man and God as well as
friendship among men.87
Again it matters little that the men of Old Testament
times were not fully conscious of all this. It sufficed that
es Deut. 6:5 ; Lev. 19:18.
88 Deut. 30:16.
87 Although this commandment and its consequences were stated
on different occasions by God to Moses and by Moses to the people,
yet the close connection of the passage was understood by all the
Israelites. The notion and the formation of an “association” between
Yahweh and Israel dominated the whole history of the nation.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

they received the commandment and lived by it. But for
the greatest among them flashes of light illuminated mo­
mentarily a bit of the unsoundable depths in the vast life
of the living God. Although there is no explicit description,
yet some superb insights have reached us in the amazing
prophecy of Ezechiel, the highest revelation of the mystery
of divine life. There God is hidden in an impenetrable
cloud and yet He manifests the mysterious activity of His
transcendent life. The passage thrills and lives in the over­
powering wind of the spirit. God commands attention by
a dazzling and blinding flash of lightning. The mystery re­
mains intact; yet we see overwhelming evidence that God is
“life.”

On the fifth day of the month . . . the heavens were opened,
and I saw the visions of God. ... I saw, and behold a whirl­
wind came out of the north; and a great cloud, and a fire in­
folding it, and brightness was about it; and out of the midst
thereof, that is, out of the midst of the fire, as it were the
resemblance of amber. And in the midst thereof the likeness of
four living creatures; and this was their appearance: there was
the likeness of a man in them. Every one had four faces, and
every one four wings. Their feet were straight feet, and the sole
of their foot was like the sole of a calf’s foot, and they sparkled
like the appearance of glowing brass. And they had the hands of
a man under their wings on their four sides; and they had faces,
and wings on the four sides. And the wings of one were joined
to the wings of another. They turned not when they went: but
every one went straight forward. And as for the likeness of
their faces: there was the face of a man, and the face of a lion
on the right side of all the four: and the face of an ox, on the
left side of all the four; and the face of an eagle over all the
four. And their faces, and their wings were stretched upward;

REVELATION OF GOD

53

two wings of every one were joined, and two covered their
bodies; and every one of them went straight forward; whither
the impulse of the spirit was to go, thither they went; and they
turned not when they went. And as for the likeness of the living
creatures their appearance was like that of burning coals of fire,
and like the appearance of lamps. This was the vision running
to and fro in the midst of the living creatures, a bright fire, and
lightning going forth from the fire. And the living creatures ran
and returned like flashes of lightning. Now as I beheld the living
creatures, there appeared upon the earth by the living creatures
one wheel with four faces. And the appearance of the wheels,
and the work of them was like the appearance of the sea; and
the four had all one likeness; and their appearance and their
work was as it were a wheel in the midst of a wheel. When they
went, they went by their four parts; and they turned not when
they went. The wheels had also a size, and a height, and a dread­
ful appearance and the whole body was full of eyes round about
all the four. And when the living creatures went, the wheels also
went together by them; and when the living creatures were lifted
up from the earth, the wheels also were lifted up with them.
Whithersoever the spirit went, thither as the spirit went the
wheels also were lifted up withal, and followed it; for the spirit
of life was in the wheels. When those went these went, and when
those stood these stood, and when those were lifted up from the
earth, the wheels also were lifted up together, and followed them;
for the spirit of life was in the wheels. And over the heads of the
living creatures was the likeness of the firmament, as the ap­
pearance of crystal terrible to behold, and stretched out over
their heads above. And under the firmament were their wings
straight, the one toward the other, every one with two wings
covered his body, and the other covered in like manner. And I
heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many waters, as
it were the voice of the most high God, when they walked, it

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

was like the voice of a multitude, like the noise of an army, and
when they stood, their wings were let down. For when a voice
came from above the firmament, that was over their heads, they
stood, and let down their wings. And above the firmament that
was over their heads, was the likeness of a throne, as the ap­
pearance of the sapphire stone, and upon the likeness of the
throne, was a likeness as of the appearance of a man above upon
it. And I saw as it were the resemblance of amber as the
appearance of fire within it round about; from his loins and
upward, and from his loins downward, I saw as it were the
resemblance of fire shining round about. As the appearance of
the rainbow when it is in a cloud on a rainy day; this was the
appearance of the brightness round about. This was the vision
of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.88

THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
Spirituality

God is a spirit; and they that adore Him, must adore Him in
spirit and in truth.89
The Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, . . . will teach you all
things.90
Let Us make man to Our image and likeness.91

We know from St. John that God is a spirit, and St. Peter
tells us that the life which God bestows on men makes them
“partakers of the divine nature.” 92 But the spiritual treas­
ure which God has put in men has been tarnished by the
action of the senses and the flesh. Only a long and painful
process of restoration can enable men to become spiritual
again and to discern God as a pure spirit. Nothing gives
88 Ezech. 1:1-28; 2:1.
89 John 4:24.
91 Gen. 1:26.
92 II Pet. 1:4.

"John 14:26.

REVELATION OF GOD

55

better proof of this than the tremendous effort required of
both God and man to make possible this slow approach to
the true life of the spirit.
“Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the
likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth
beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the
earth. Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them.” 03 “To
whom then have you likened God? or what image will you
make for Him? ... Do you not know? Hath it not been
heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have
you not understood the foundations of the earth?” 94
First of all God taught His people, by express command
and later by the voice of the prophets, that nothing on earth
or in heaven could reproduce Him or represent Him. His
nature had nothing in common with anything that man could
know or imagine; it was of a completely different order of
being. Idols and even all images of God are false and worse
than false, because they confine man to the realm of sense
experience and thus debar him from the realm of the spirit.
“You saw not any similitude in the day that the Lord God
spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the fire. Lest per­
haps being deceived you might make you a graven similitude
or image of male or female, the similitude of any beasts that
are upon the earth, or of birds that fly under heaven, or of
creeping things that move on the earth, or of fishes that
abide in the waters under the earth. Lest perhaps lifting up
thy eyes to heaven, thou see the sun and the moon and all
the stars of heaven, and being deceived by error thou adore
and serve them.” 95
But men, who were living on a sensual plane, were utterly
93 Exod. 20:4-5.

94 Isa. 40:18, 21.

95 Deut. 4:15-19.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

bewildered by these demands of a God whose spiritual
essence was totally beyond their grasp. For many of them
the effort was impossible and they returned to idolatry.
“And this was the occasion of deceiving human life; for men
serving either their affection or their kings, gave the incom­
municable name to stones and wood.” 00 And yet man truly
possessed this spiritual nature with which God sought com­
munion and to which He meant to reveal Himself. If men
were deaf to God’s invitations, sin was the cause: sin which
darkened, weighed down, soiled their souls, dragging them
toward earthly things, rendering them incapable of heavenly
experience.07
How many appeals and warnings there are in the Bible
to put man on his guard against the obstacles he must meet
and overcome on his pathway! Even now the Church, want­
ing to persuade her children to praise God “in spirit and in
truth,” continues to put on their lips every day at the begin­
ning of the Divine Office the words of Psalm 94: “Today if
you shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts as in the
provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wil­
derness.” 98 The prophet Isaias in his turn reminds Israel of
the true reason why man becomes unfit for spiritual experi­
ence: “Our wicked doings are with us, and we have known
our iniquities, in sinning and lying against the Lord; and
we have turned away so that we went not after our God,
9G Wisd. 14:21.
97 “But the sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the
Spirit of God . . . because it is spiritually examined” (I Cor.
2:14). “For the flesh lusteth against the spirit” (Gal. 5:17). “For
the wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the spirit is life
and peace” (Rom. 8:6).
9S Ps. 94:8-9.

REVELATION OF GOD

57

but spoke calumny and transgression; we have conceived
and uttered from the heart, words of falsehood.” 98
Even the miracles performed by God were powerless to
enlighten blinded minds or to show them the true God, far
greater than the idols which seduced their hearts. “Your
fathers tempted Me, they proved Me, and saw My works.
Forty years long was I offended with that generation, and
I said: These always err in heart.” 99
100 God’s deeds impressed
men less than the concupiscence of their senses, the pride
of life, the attraction to material pleasure, the ambition to
set themselves up as gods: “And they have not hearkened
to Me nor inclined their ear, but have hardened their
neck.” 101
If man is to reach the peak of his being by recovering
the spiritual nature originally bestowed upon him, he must
free himself from all that dims his vision and blocks his
path. Only by his spiritual nature may he enter into com­
munion with God who is a spirit. But how can he recover
this spiritual nature, buried as it is beneath concupiscence
and lost in the darkness of sin? The history of Israel illus­
trates the mechanism of divine pedagogy aimed at this goal.
The means to the end were varied, but the general pattern
showed clearly that God intended to remove His people from
the seductions and ease of the world. That is why He led
99 Isa. 59:12-13.
100 Ps. 94:9-10.
101 Jer. 7:26. The same spiritual blindness would prevent the
Pharisees from accepting Christ’s testimony and the crowd from
rising above their physical appetites. “Jesus answered them, and
said: Amen, amen 1 say to you, you seek Me, not because you have
seen miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves, and were filled”
(John 6:26). “For they understood not concerning the loaves; for
their heart was blinded” (Mark 6:52).

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

them into solitude. But solitude alone was not sufficient to
spiritualize creatures who brought with them their material
nature and carnal desires. “And they tempted God in their
hearts, by asking meat for their desires.” 102 The result was
that God “gave them their request and sent fullness into
their souls.” 103 Disgust, trials, and humiliations of the flesh
afflicted them as soon as their sensate desires were satis­
fied. Very few can bear these trials and humiliations and
the majority turn away in rebellion as soon as God sends
them.
To prevent souls from following false paths is not alone
sufficient for their welfare. Even if they realize that God is
a spirit, their whole attitude to sacred things must still be
spiritualized. As long as the soul stresses miracles, wonders
and signs, seeking these phenomena for their own sake, it
remains on the level of sense experience instead of tran­
scending sense to touch the spiritual reality which alone
matters. Thus, although Moses had given the bronze serpent
as a pledge of salvation, Ezechias had to break it when he
saw it adored by the people who no longer perceived the
inner meaning beyond the symbol. Yet the understanding
required was not beyond human capabilities. All that was
needed was a purified heart, as we see in the wise man who
wrote, referring to the same serpent: “For he that turned to
it was not healed by that which he saw, but by Thee the
Savior of all.” 104 “For it was neither herb, nor mollifying
plaster that healed them, but Thy word, O Lord, which
healeth all things.” 106
102 Ps. 77:18.
103 Ps. 105:15. Rather than “fullness,” a more exact rendering of
the Hebrew is “decay” or “desolation.” The new Latin version of the
Psalter uses tabes here [Translator’s note].
104 Wisd. 16:7.
105 Wisd. 16:12.

REVELATION OF GOD

59

The redeeming mystery of the Old Testament was truly
the word of God which was designed to help men to know,
at least to some extent, their own spiritual nature. It is true
that no one has seen God. Yet throughout the Old Testa­
ment God manifested Himself by means of His word which
therefore had to be expressed in a way that would reveal
Him without distortion and would even bear witness to Him
in truth. From the first day of creation His word was shown
as invisible, mysterious and omnipotent. “For He spoke and
they were made.” 106
*108 On Sinai too God revealed Himself
by His word and asked Moses to engrave it on the tablets
of the law in order that this letter, this written word might
keep the Spirit of God present and active in the midst of
His people. By His word also plagues were banished, the
guilty were punished, just men were enraptured, while await­
ing the day when it would finally dwell with men and accom­
plish their salvation. “For while all things were in quiet
silence, and the night was in the midst of her course, Thy
almighty word leapt down from heaven from Thy royal
throne.” 107
But only men of God can grasp the meaning of this
word,108 for to carnal ears it seems nothing more than noise.
The people said to Moses: “Approach thou rather; and
hear all things that the Lord our God shall say to thee, and
thou shalt speak to us, and we will hear and will do
them.” 109 Does this not mean that the word is above all
a spiritual reality? But it is also eminently intelligible and
permits the meeting of two minds. By His word God, a pure
spirit, reveals Himself to the weak mind of man, that mind
106 Ps. 32:9.
107 Wisd. 18:14-15.
108 “He that is of God, heareth the words of God” (John 8:47).
108 Dent. 5:27.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

which needs the veil of the senses in order to grasp the mes­
sage which God has addressed to all humanity. “Day to day
uttereth speech. . . . Their sound hath gone forth into all
the earth.” 110 Though the word strikes the ear, it is ad­
dressed to the spirit. Its message is essentially spiritual.
Throughout the Old Testament the mission of the word is
to purge out gradually the sensual manifestations of divine
omnipotence while enhancing the value and the subject
matter of faith.111 The sage who understood the spiritu­
alizing role of the word called Moses “God’s mouthpiece”:
“With his words he made prodigies to cease.” 112 In the
course of time the extraordinary divine manifestations which
struck the eyes and enthralled the senses gradually became
rarer. Divine action was divested of its exterior impressions,
became more spiritual. A hint of this process is found in the
message which God sent to his people from the burning
bush: “You heard the voice of His words, but you saw not
any form at all.” 1,3 It was more than an instrument for this
work of spiritualization; it served also to transmit a message
which also was increasingly spiritual.114
Despite its high moral value, the law regulated material
attitudes and required external actions. But with the proph­
ets the divine word took on the aspect which is expressed
so well by St. Paul: “For the word of God is living and
effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword; and
110 Ps. 18:1-5.
111 “Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of
Christ” (Rom. 10:17).
112 Ecclus. 45:2.
113 Dent. 4:12.
114 This would be true until Christ, the Word of God, would utter
the holy words which would need no revision. “The words that I
have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:64).

REVELATION OF GOD

61

reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the
joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart.” 116 By the word of God, Israel
gradually realized what a distance separated its God from
other gods. The prophet Isaias and later the author of the
Book of Wisdom did not conceal their scorn for the gods of
clay or wood, created by men’s imagination and formed by
their hands, in contrast to the God that Israel adored—the
one, true God whose immaterial essence was revealed by the
clear mirror of a wholly spiritual word. For indeed the word
was wholly spiritual. A day came when Israel perceived not
only the spiritual character but also the spiritual meaning
of the word which permitted a glimpse of the nature of the
Creator. One of the most impressive events in the history of
Israel was the moment when God’s word revealed the soul
to itself, demanded a more interior attitude, explained just
what God required of man. “The eyes of them that see shall
not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken
diligently. And the heart of fools shall understand knowl­
edge.” 116 Finally, after many trials, the spiritual treasure
hidden in the law cried out its secret to the assembled
people: “And they read in the book of the law of God dis­
tinctly and plainly to be understood; and they understood
when it was read. . . . All the people wept when they
heard the words of the law. . . . They understood the
words that he had taught them.” 117
What had they understood, those men formerly deaf and
blind, but at length awakened by their trials to an under­
standing of the meaning of divine truth to which they turned
freely and lovingly? “With all their will they sought Him,
115 Heb. 4:12.

110 Isa. 32:3-4.

117 II Esd. 8:8, 9, 12.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

and they found Him.” 118 Their hearts burst all bonds and
tasted wonderful joy when the law was read to them. They
had been touched and “released” by the great spiritual prin­
ciple in it. Over and above the details of its many ordinances,
they perceived its spiritual worth and unity. They had an
inkling of the fundamental fact that the spirit is truth and
consequently the divine word is absolutely stable and eter­
nal.119 “The beginning of Thy words is truth: all the judg­
ments of Thy justice are forever.” 120 Thus Old Testament
men were enlisted in the way of love by clinging to spiritual
truth and by living in faithful obedience to the law which
they saw as a tree of life and a word spoken by a spiritual
God. This is not the place to show the close relationship
between the spirit and love. It is noteworthy, however, that
all the texts, especially those of the wisdom books, which
deal with the Holy Spirit, reveal love in God and lead men
by the paths of love. The spirit is said to be “one, manifold,
subtle, active . . . containing all spirits, intelligible, pure,
subtle.” 121
Does not this explain its ease in communicating, in reach­
ing far, in bringing spirits together to unite them in charity?
God’s faithful servants must have understood ever more
clearly that their sharing in knowledge and love was directly
related to their sharing in the spirit of God. Israel did not
reach this certainty by philosophical reasoning or abstract
118II Par. 15:15.
ne “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not pass
away” (Mark 13:31). “If you continue in My word . . . you shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
“Now the Lord is a Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there
is liberty” (II Cor. 3:17).
i20 Ps. 118:160.
»» Wisd. 7:22-23.

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63

ideas, but by direct experience. As men depended upon God
and obeyed His law, they developed the inner life of the
spirit which was the unspotted mirror of divine majesty, the
true image of His goodness.122 The spirit led men by the way
of love. Thus little by little the mysterious commandment
to love the Lord God with the whole heart was illuminated
by the God who was a pure spirit and who required only love
from those to whom He gave a share of His spirit. A truly
boundless horizon opened before the gaze of men’s minds
and hearts. The purpose of Old Testament revelation was to
make known this spiritual God and to communicate His
spirit of love to the minds and hearts of men. David already
foreshadowed the invocation to a Holy Spirit when he ex­
claimed: “Create a clean heart in me, O God; and renew a
right spirit within my bowels. Cast me not away from Thy
face; and take not Thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me
the joy of Thy salvation.” 123
If we recall how the Israelites had bowed to idols shaped
by their own hands and to images of animals, reptiles or
birds,124 we can measure what progress had been made,
under God’s guidance, and we can understand the reason
for the exodus and the desert, the sufferings, trials and
punishments which afflicted that stiff-necked people. As the
spiritual destiny of the world was in their hands, was it not
essential that they awaken to spiritual realities, even at the
cost of suffering? Yet very few in Israel understood the
reason for the discipline imposed upon those guided by God.
Few glimpsed the stakes of the tremendous struggle between
matter and spirit. Nor need such blindness surprise us, since
we ourselves are frequently scandalized when God repeats
122 Cf. Wisd. 7:26.

123 Ps. 50:11-14.

124 Cf. Deut. 4:18.

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in our midst the same drama enacted of old with Israel. Let
us rather heed the joyful songs of the souls who had reached
the goal, who had discovered the life of the spirit and knew
that the spirit of God lived within themselves. Since they no
longer find anything which resembles Him whom they have
glimpsed, they are neither hindered nor attracted by any
obstacle in heaven or on earth: “For what have I in heaven?
and besides Thee what do I desire upon earth?” 125*There is
a twofold proof that among the holiest souls of Israel Yah­
weh had already found “adorers ... in spirit and in
truth”: 120 first, the holy of holies wherein dwelt only the
invisible divine presence; secondly, the Israelites themselves,
real giants of faith who staked their whole lives and the
future of succeeding generations upon a single “word” of
God expressed by their tongues and their hearts.

Majesty
A high and glorious throne from the beginning is the place of
our sanctification, O Lord, the hope of Israel.127
My kingdom is not of this world.128*
O clap your hands, all ye nations; shout unto God with the
voice of joy. For the Lord is high, terrible; a great King over all
the earth.128 He hath subdued the people under us; and the na­
125 Ps. 72:25.
128 John 4:23.
127 Jer. 17:12-13.
188 John 18:36.
128 The Old Testament sheds strong light on God’s transcendence
and His title of universal King. In the New Testament the royal title
is conferred more particularly upon Christ as Incarnate God. The
interrogation and passion of Christ as reported by St. John are the
most significant texts in this regard. But this in no way diminishes
the sovereign authority of God. On the contrary, the Gospel stresses
it even more than the Old Testament, since the Son of man, though
Lord and Master, submits His person and His work to His divine

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65

tions under our feet. . . . For God is the King of all the earth;
sing ye wisely. God shall reign over the nations; God sitteth on
His holy throne. The princes of the people are gathered to­
gether, with the God of Abraham; for the strong gods of the
earth are exceedingly exalted.130

The poetry of the messianic psalm invites us to advance
to the threshold of the eternal kingdom. “The Lord maketh
the flood to dwell; and the Lord shall sit king forever.” 131
“The Lord hath reigned, let the people be angry; He that
sitteth on the cherubims; let the earth be moved. The Lord
is great in Sion, and high above all people. Let them give
praise to Thy great name, for it is terrible and holy.” 132
The true God, Lord of heaven and earth, master of the
universe, received the homage of all that He possessed:
Thine, O Lord, is magnificence, and power, and glory, and
victory; and to Thee is praise, for all that is in heaven, and in
earth, is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art
above all princes. Thine are riches, and Thine is glory; Thou
hast dominion over all, in Thy hand is power and might; in
Thy hand greatness, and the empire of all things.133
This praise burst forth from all the sacred books, and
especially the psalms which raise their alleluias to the glory
of the supreme God. We are shown that a true kingdom and
real sovereignty belong to Him because He is exalted in­
finitely above all else.

The Lord is high above all nations; and His glory above the
heavens.134
Father. Many Gospel texts could be profitably read from this view­
point and compared to the Old Testament texts to be quoted here.
130 Ps. 46:2-4, 8-10.
131 Ps. 28:10.
132 Ps. 98:1-3.
133 I Par. 29:11-12.
434 Ps. 112:4.

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O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast is the
place of His possession! It is great, and hath no end; it is high
and immense.135
But our God is in heaven; He hath done all things whatsoever
He would.136
For at His commandment favor is shown, and there is no
diminishing of His salvation.137

God’s supremacy derives also from His sovereign liberty.
“His judgments are in all the earth.” 138 His law existed be­
fore creation and proceeded from His wisdom which later
would declare:
I came out of the mouth of the Most High. ... I alone have
compassed the circuit of heaven, and have penetrated into the
bottom of the deep, and have walked in the waves of the sea,
and have stood in all the earth: and in every people. . . .
From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and
unto the world to come I shall not cease to be.139
Yahweh rules by the absolute authority of His divine
wishes and by the action of His will.140 Yahweh rules over
all life. He keeps hidden the destiny of creatures and knows
their inmost secrets.
135 Bar. 3:24-25.
136 Ps. 113:11.
137 Ecclus. 39:23.
133 Ps. 104:7.
139 Ecclus. 24:5-14.
140 St. John was to return to this Old Testament doctrine and
would announce the triumph of God’s reign: “And there were great
voices in heaven saying: The kingdom of this world is become our
Lord’s and His Christ’s, and He shall reign forever and ever, Amen.
And the four and twenty ancients . . . adored God, saying: We
give Thee thanks, O Lord God almighty, who art, and who wast, and
who art to come; because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power,
and Thou hast reigned” (Apoc. 11:15-17).

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67

I am God, and there is no God beside, neither is there the like
to Me: who shew from the beginning the things that shall be
at last, and from ancient times the things that as yet are not
done, saying: My counsel shall stand, and all My will shall be
done, who call a bird from the east, and from a far country the
man of My own will, and I have spoken, and will bring it to pass;
I have created, and I will do it.141

Even man is an open book in the hand of God and can­
not escape His sight. “Am I, think ye, a God at hand, saith
the Lord, and not a God afar off? Shall a man be hid in
secret places and I not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I
fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?” 142 The sinner may
declare that none can see him: “Darkness compasseth me
about, and the walls cover me, and no man seeth me; whom
do I fear? The Most High will not remember my sins.” 143
But no one can hide from God.144

Say not: I shall be hidden from God, and who shall remem­
ber me from on high? In such a multitude I shall not be known;
for what is my soul in such an immense creation? Behold the
heaven, and the heavens of heavens, the deep, and all the earth,
and the things that are in them, shall be moved in His sight,
the mountains also, and the hills, and the foundations of the
earth; when God shall look upon them, they shall be shaken
with trembling.145

Isaias told of Lucifer’s efforts to hide from God: “I will
ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of
141 Isa. 46:9-11.
142 Jer. 23:23-24.
145 Ecclus. 23:26.
144 “The Lord . . . will bring to light the hidden things of dark­
ness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then
shall every man have praise from God” (I Cor. 4:5).
145 Ecclus. 16:16—19.

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God, I will sit in the mountain of the covenant, in the sides
of the north; I will ascend above the height of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.” 148 Ecclesiasticus asks, con­
cerning sinners: “Why is earth and ashes proud?” 147 He
then describes some of the terrifying punishments the Lord
sends to sinners. Isaias describes God as judge: “He sitteth
upon the globe of the earth. ... He that bringeth the
searchers of secrets to nothing, that hath made the judges
of the earth as vanity. And surely their stock was neither
planted, nor sown, nor rooted in the earth; suddenly He
hath blown upon them, and they are withered.” 148
But the same divine ruler who punishes the proud also
strives to people His kingdom. The same texts which show
the omnipotence of God likewise indicate who is to receive
divine favor. “God hath overturned the thrones of proud
princes, and hath set up the meek in their stead. God hath
made the roots of proud nations to wither, and hath planted
the humble of these nations.” 140

Do not multiply to speak lofty things, boasting: let old matters
depart from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of all knowledge,
and to Him are thoughts prepared. The bow of the mighty is
overcome, and the weak are girt with strength. ... He raiseth
up the needy from the dust, and lifteth up the poor from the
dunghill; that he may sit with princes, and hold the throne of
glory.150

Some of these words of Anna, mother of Samuel, were
quoted by the Blessed Virgin Mary in her Magnificat. We
may, therefore, see in this passage some of the true features
of the kingdom to be founded by her Son.
140 Isa. 14:13-14.
147 Ecclus. 10:9.
148 Isa. 40:22-24.
149 Ecclus. 10:17-18.
150 I Kings 2:3-4, 8.

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69

Isaias declares, speaking in the name of God:
Heaven is My throne, and the earth My footstool. . . . But
to whom shall I have respect, but to him that is poor and little,
and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My words? 161
For thus saith the High and the Eminent that inhabiteth
eternity; and His name is Holy, who dwelleth in the high and
holy place, and with a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the
spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.151
152

Christ Himself repeated the substance of these words in
describing the kingdom He came to establish. Zacharias had
predicted that God would turn to the little ones.153 The sub­
jects of the kingdom were to be children and the weak, the
humble and the poor.
Authority and rule belong to God alone and extend to
the ends of the earth. To Him also is reserved the secret of
hearts, for the soul and the mind elude human power and
authority. Though God may delegate some of His powers 154
—“Fill the earth and subdue it” 155—yet spiritual matters
151 Isa. 66:1, 2. The first of these verses was quoted by St. Stephen
(Acts 7:49).
152 Isa. 57:15.
153 Zach. 13:7.
154 There is extraordinary continuity between the theology of au­
thority and temporal power as represented in the Old Testament and
that which is outlined in the Epistles of St. Paul. The latter relies
especially upon Christ’s words to Pilate: ‘Thou shouldst not have
any power against Me, unless it were given thee from above” (John
19:11). Whether he speaks of the duties of servants toward their
masters, of subjects toward their rulers, or of wives toward their
husbands, he stresses that what is required is voluntary obedience
offered with total liberty. Moreover, it is proper that man should be
subject to higher authorities as if to God (Cf. Rom. 13; I Cor. 11;
Col. 3).
155 Gen. 1:28.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

remain His own exclusive domain. “Behold all souls are
Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son
is Mine.” 158
When Melchisedech claimed the right to bless Abraham
and to remind him that he owed his victory to God, he
thereby settled right at the beginning of biblical history the
principle of the primacy of the spirit and the absolute power
of God in that order. “Melchisedech . . . priest of the most
high God, blessed him and said: Blessed be Abram by the
most high God, who created heaven and earth. And blessed
be the most high God, by whose protection the enemies are
in thy hands.” 157 Moses emphatically reminded the people
that all authority and power derive their origin from God:
“When the Most High divided the nations ... He ap­
pointed the bounds of people.” 158
The history of the kingship in Israel illustrated and pro­
claimed with remarkable clarity this unique character of
divine authority. Israel was a free people, made up of nomad
tribes with no other bond of unity except a common faith.
Yet this essentially religious unity gradually formed a na­
tional unity. Moses and the judges who succeeded him were
merely representatives of God sent to the people while the
one head, the true and only king of Israel, was Yahweh
Himself. That was why Gedeon refused the powers of king­
ship which the people wished to impose upon him: “I will
not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you, but
the Lord shall rule over you.” 159 But a little later Samuel
could no longer restrain the people who, under pressure of
dangers from without, lost confidence in God’s help and
15(1 Ezech. 18:4.
i^Judg. 8:23.

157 Gen. 14:18-20

158 Deut. 32:8.

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71

demanded the authority and protection of a king. “Give us
a king, to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And
the Lord said to Samuel: Hearken to the voice of the people
in all that they say to thee. For they have not rejected thee,
but Me, that I should not reign over them. According to
all their works, they have done from the day that I brought
them out of Egypt until this day; as they have forsaken Me
and served strange gods, so do they also unto thee. Now
therefore hearken to their voice; but yet testify to them, and
foretell them the right of the king that shall reign over
them.” 160
God in His providence had foreseen Israel’s desire and
had decreed and revealed, in the books of Moses, the rights
and duties of a kingdom which would allow the accomplish­
ment of His plans in spite of man’s infidelities. The kings of
Israel were certainly characterized by human weakness and
influenced by the customs of their time. Yet they showed
some of the features of the Messias-King who would be poor,
humble, chaste and gentle, who would come in total sub­
mission to the will of His Father, not to destroy the law,
but to fulfill it.161
Thou shalt set him whom the Lord thy God shall choose out
of the number of thy brethren. Thou mayst not make a man of
another nation king, that is not thy brother. And when he is
made king, he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor lead
back the people into Egypt, being lifted up with the number
of his horsemen, especially since the Lord hath commanded you
to return no more the same way. He shall not have many wives,
that may allure his mind, nor immense sums of silver and gold.
But after he is raised to the throne of his kingdom, he shall copy
160 I Kings 8:6-9.

161 Cf. Matt. 5:17.

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out to himself the Deuteronomy of this law in a volume. . . .
And he shall have it with him, and shall read it all the days of
his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and keep
His words and ceremonies that are commanded in the law;
and that his heart be not lifted up with pride over his brethren,
nor decline to the right or to the left, that he and his sons may
reign a long time over Israel.162
In accordance with this program, Yahweh chose men of
God as kings of the people.163 The kings were marked with
a divine sign,164 anointed, consecrated and sent by God.
The Holy Spirit rested upon them and guided their steps.165
This was true of Saul and of David at the beginning of their
reigns. God gave Saul a new heart and he prophesied.166
We can learn much from God’s choice of David, for he
was the youngest of his family and his family was the least
important in Juda. He was a humble shepherd, but God had
great plans for him. God knew the very depths of his soul:
“for man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart.” 167 Saul transgressed Yahweh’s law by
an act of arrogance and the kingdom was torn from him.
David sinned too, and his hands shed so much blood that
162 Deut. 17:15-20.
163 Israel was established as a theocracy, that is, a regime directly
controlled by divine law, with the voice of the inspired prophets en­
joying greater authority than that of the kings. This restless and op­
pressed race was constantly seething with the thirst for justice and
equality, finding all human authority intolerable, often rebelling
against the divine yoke, although it alone they acknowledged as
absolutely transcendental. It is significant that even now the Jews
resist assimilation to the nations among which they are dispersed and
they are forced by their vocation to submit to God alone.
1641 Kings 10:1.
™ Ibid., 10:6.
166 Ibid., 10:9-10.
167 I Kings 16:2.

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73

in spite of his piety he was not to have the honor of building
the Lord’s temple. Solomon displeased the Lord by pride
and excessive luxury. Upon his death the kingdom which
he had raised to the height of glory was split by schism and
ruined by decadence. It is evident that the alternating
troubles and prosperity of the kings of Juda were a measure
of the degree of their fidelity to God and their depend­
ence upon Him. In spite of disasters which would normally
have brought annihilation, the kingdom survived in Israel
through God’s forbearance solely in order that it might
prepare the way for another kingdom, that of the King of
kings, who was to claim His royal privileges when He be­
came man. This had been prophesied by Balaam at the time
when Israel was still wandering across the plains of Moab:
“A star shall rise out of Jacob and a sceptre shall spring up
from Israel. . . . Out of Jacob shall He come that shall
rule.” 108 Thus the whole of the Old Testament prepared the
triumph of the divine kingdom proclaimed by Daniel. Even
the portrait of the Messias-King was already sketched by
Scripture: in David, who foreshadowed His meekness and
gentleness, and in Solomon, whose wisdom and glory as­
tounded all nations.
Frequently the kings of Israel were deaf to the vehement
and oft-repeated rebukes of the prophets. They forgot the
law, though they had received full knowledge of it.189 They
rebelled when they were punished by God. But the kings
of other nations were even more blind in their pride and
domineering spirit. The Bible shows us how the rulers of
W8Num. 24:17, 19.
189 [The prince] “is God’s minister to thee, for good” (Rom.
13:4).

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Egypt and Assyria were served and adored like gods. This
state of things, though widespread in antiquity, was not pe­
culiar to that time but occurs throughout history. Thus the
words of the author of the Book of Wisdom retain their full
meaning across the centuries and can still be applied to
princes and rulers of this world: “Hear therefore, ye kings,
and understand; learn, ye that are judges of the ends of
the earth. Give ear, you that rule the people, and that please
yourselves in multitudes of nations; for power is given you by
the Lord, and strength by the Most High, who will examine
your works and search out your thoughts.” 170
The Book of Daniel, which is the book of the world’s
destiny, is also and especially the book of the divine king­
dom, the book of the mighty King. In its account of events
which mark the rebellion of human kingdoms against the
divine kingship it reminds men again and again that “the
Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men; and He will give it
to whomsoever it shall please Him.” 171 At a time of affliction
Daniel prophesied to the Chaldean despot: “Thy kingdom
shall remain to thee after thou shalt have known that power
is from heaven.” 172 Empires will crumble; only the kingdom
of God will subsist.173 “The God of heaven will set up a king­
dom that shall never be destroyed, and His kingdom shall
not be delivered up to another people, and it shall break
in pieces, and shall consume all these kingdoms, and itself
shall stand forever. “According as thou sawest that the stone
6:2-4.
«1 Dan. 4:14.
172 Ibid., 4:23.
“The Blessed and only Mighty, the King of kings and Lord of
lords, who only hath immortality and inhabiteth light inaccessible,
whom no man hath seen nor can see; to whom be honor and empire
everlasting. Amen” (I Tim. 6:15-16).
ito Wisd.
173

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75

was cut out of the mountain without hands, and broke in
pieces, the clay, and the iron, and the brass, and the silver,
and the gold.” 174
The Psalmist chanted: “Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all
ages; and Thy dominion endureth throughout all genera­
tions.” 175*Another psalm describes the benevolence of the
King: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, the sceptre
of Thy kingdom is a sceptre of uprightness. Thou hast loved
justice and hated iniquity.” 170 The prophet’s vision reaches
its climax in the divine reign of the Son of Man, “whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all kings shall serve
Him and shall obey Him.” 177 Indeed, the Old Testament
never ceases to proclaim the kingdom of God.
“The Lord hath prepared His throne in heaven; and His
kingdom shall rule over all. Bless the Lord, all ye His angels;
you that are mighty in strength and execute His word,
hearkening to the voice of His orders. Bless the Lord, all
ye His hosts; you ministers of His that do His will. Bless the
Lord, all His works; in every place of His dominion, O my
soul, bless thou the Lord.” 178 “I am the Lord your Holy
One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”179 Again toward the
end of the Old Testament the same proclamation was uttered
by Zacharias: “And the Lord shall be King over all the
earth; in that day there shall be one Lord, and His name
shall be one.” 180
174 Dan. 2:44-A5.
Ps. 144:13.
178 Ps. 144:7-8.
177 Dan. 7:27.
178 Ps. 102:19-22.
179 Isa. 43:14.
180 Zach. 14:9. “And when all things shall be subdued unto Him,
then the Son also Himself shall be subject unto Him that put all
things under Him, that God may be all in all” (I Cor. 15:28).

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Omnipotence
I am the almighty God.181
That your faith might not stand on the wisdom of men, but
on the power of God.182

At all times men have been deeply impressed by astound­
ing manifestations of divine omnipotence, expressed first of
all in the poem of creation which all religions have extolled.
The originality of the Hebrew account lies in the fact that it
attributed the work to its true author, Yahweh. What a dis­
tance separates the fantastic demiurges of other accounts
from the strong and tranquil majesty of Genesis, where the
birth of worlds is governed by a single divine thought, un­
folding its mighty plan which none can fathom. “In the be­
ginning God created heaven and earth. And the earth was
void and empty . . . and the spirit of God moved over the
waters.” 183 The God of Israel does not reveal His plans to
men, who cannot understand them. He merely exposes to
their gaze the wonderful picture of His works, which de­
clare His power and invite men to adore Him.184
Bless the Lord, O my soul; O Lord my God, Thou art ex­
ceedingly great. Thou hast put on praise and beauty, and art
clothed with light as with a garment. Who stretchest out the
heaven like a pavilion; who coverest the higher rooms thereof
with water. Who makest the clouds Thy chariot; who walkest
181 Gen. 17:1.
182ICor.2:5.
188 Gen. 1:1-2.
184 The New Testament did not undertake another detailed de­
scription of the works of creation, but it frequently alludes to God’s
power and majesty by using an expression commonly found in the
Old Testament: “He who created heaven and earth and all things.”
The evangelists knew that their readers had meditated upon the
great biblical stories, which they used, to some extent, as references.

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upon the wings of the winds. Who makest Thy angels spirits;
and Thy ministers a burning fire.183

God needs neither help nor counsel. His will, His power
and His strength are in Himself alone.
Who hath forwarded the spirit of the Lord? or who hath been
His counsellor, and hath taught Him? With whom hath He con­
sulted, and who hath instructed Him, and taught Him the path
of justice, and taught Him knowledge, and shewed Him the way
of understanding? 188
I am the Lord, that make all things, that alone stretch out
the heavens, that establish the earth, and there is none with
Me.187
By the word of the Lord the heavens were established; and all
the power of them by the spirit of His mouth. . . . For He
spoke and they were made; He commanded and they were
created.188

But the power so brilliantly revealed in His works is noth­
ing compared to the power of His dazzling presence.
Behold the giants groan under the waters, and they that dwell
with them. Hell is naked before Him, and there is no covering
for destruction. He stretched out the north over the empty
space, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. ... By His power
the seas are suddenly gathered together, and His wisdom has
struck the proud one. His spirit hath adorned the heavens, and
His obstetric hand brought forth the winding serpent. Lo, these
things are said in part of His ways; and seeing we have heard
scarce a little drop of His word, who shall be able to behold the
thunder of His greatness? 188185
*
185 Ps. 103:1-4.
188 Ps. 32:6, 9.

188 Isa. 40:13-14.
188 Job 26:5-14.

187 Ibid., 44:24.

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In ancient times He appeared on the holy mountain 190
in shining majesty and power. “The Lord came from Sinai,
and from Seir He rose up to us; He hath appeared from
Mount Pharan. ... In His right hand a fiery law.” 191 So
too He will appear again on the day of judgment when He
will come “with much power and majesty.” 192 “And who
shall be able to think of the day of His coming? and who
shall stand to see Him?” 193
God’s omnipotence is not shown merely at rare intervals
throughout the ages; it is inseparable from His activity and
it functions simultaneously with it.194 As God’s action never
ceases, so His omnipotence is never hidden. What He does
and what He says exceeds all limits and transcends all human
reality. All divine things bear this seal of sublimity and
efficacy, the unique characteristics of irresistible supernat­
ural power. “Behold I am the Lord the God of all flesh; shall
anything be hard for Me?” 195 “For as the heavens are
exalted above the earth, so are My ways exalted above
your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts. . . .
So shall My word be, which shall go forth from My mouth;
it shall not return to Me void, but it shall do whatsoever I
please.” 196
God’s word is sufficiently powerful to be assured of in­
fallible fulfillment. Jacob, whose descendents were to rule
190 In a similar way He was to appear also on Mount Thabor to
Peter, James and John. “And the disciples hearing, fell upon their
face, and were very much afraid” (Matt. 17:6).
191 Deut. 33:2.
192 Matt. 24:30.
193 Mai. 3:2.
194 Christ implied this when the Jews reproached Him for per­
forming a miracle on the sabbath: “My Father worketh until now;
and I work” (John 5:17). His power and His action are inseparable.
195 Jer. 32:27.
198 Isa. 55:9-11.

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79

over the earth, was told by God: “I am God almighty, in­
crease thou and be multiplied.” 197 No one should be sur­
prised if His mysterious wishes surpass human possibilities.
God speaks and acts with irresistible power.
If thou say in thy heart: These nations are more than I, how
shall I be able to destroy them? Fear not, but remember what
the Lord thy God did to Pharao and to all the Egyptians . . .
and the strong hand, and the stretched out arm, with which the
Lord thy God brought thee out; so will He do to all the people,
whom thou fearest. . . . Thou shalt not fear them, because the
Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, a God mighty and
terrible.198

The divine will alone determines the outcome of battle.
Judas Machabeus knew this and did not hesitate to declare:
“It is an easy matter for many to be shut up in the hands of
a few; and there is no difference in the sight of the God of
heaven to deliver with a great multitude or with a small
company; for the success of war is not in the multitude of
the army, but strength cometh from heaven.” 199 “Macha­
beus . . . called upon the Lord, that worketh wonders,
who giveth victory to them that are worthy, not according
to the power of their arms, but according as it seemeth good
to Him.” 200
However overwhelming obstacles may seem, the supreme
divine will can always vanquish them: “If Babylon should
197 Gen. 35:11.
198 Deut. 7:17-21.
199 I Mach. 3:18-19.
200 II Mach. 15:21. The man who was blind from birth and cured
by Christ knew why He was omnipotent: “Now we know that God
doth not hear sinners; but if a man be a server of God, and doth His
will, him He heareth. . . . Unless this man were of God, He could
not do anything” (John 9:31, 33).

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mount up to heaven, and establish her strength on high,
from Me there should come spoilers upon her, saith the
Lord.” 201
The unique power of divine acts testified to the true God.
The Egyptians acknowledged this when God multiplied the
plagues among them while sparing Israel: “And I will make
the land of Gessen wherein My people is, wonderful in that
day, so that flies shall not be there; and thou shalt know
that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. And I will put
a division between My people and thy people; tomorrow
shall this sign be.” 202
All power comes from God. To make sure that no one
should be unaware of this, He often was pleased to confer
it upon the weak. The more extraordinary it appeared in
them, the more certain men could be that its source was
divine. At a time when there were great and civilized na­
tions of ancient lineage, the religion of the one God was en­
trusted to an unknown, unchronicled tribe, a handful of
nomads. Moreover, within this tribe the priesthood and the
kingship were often conferred upon men lacking both no­
bility and prestige, men who were timid and faint-hearted.
To them was given the deposit of revelation and the tremen­
dous honor of transmitting it to men.203
Twice Moses declined the mission entrusted to him and
tried to escape from it. “I beseech thee, Lord, I am not elo­
201 Jer. 51:53 .
202 Exod. 8:22-23.
203 “BUt the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that He
may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God
chosen, that He may confound the strong. And the base things of the
world and the things that are contemptible, hath God chosen, and
things that are not, that He might bring to nought things that are;
that no flesh should glory in His sight” (I Cor. 1:27-29).

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quent. ... I beseech thee, Lord, send whom Thou wilt
send.” 204
Gedeon admitted his poverty and helplessness, saying: “I
beseech Thee, my Lord, wherewith shall I deliver Israel?
Behold my family is the meanest in Manasses, and I am the
least in my father’s house. And the Lord said to him: I will
be with thee; and thou shalt cut off Madian as one man.” 205
David is reminded of his humble birth by God Himself,
doubtless as a way of keeping him humble and grateful: “I
took thee from the pastures, from following the flock, that
thou shouldst be ruler of My people Israel.” 206
Jeremias, like Moses, pleaded his lack of eloquence in
order to escape from the heavy task which God wished to
impose upon him. “And I said: Ah, ah, ah, Lord God; be­
hold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. And the Lord said
to me: Say not: I am a child; for thou shalt go to all that I
shall send thee; and whatsoever I shall command thee, thou
shalt speak. Be not afraid at their presence; for I am with
thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.” 207
Amos expressed the same idea: “I am a herdsman pluck­
ing wild figs. And the Lord took me when I followed the
flock, and the Lord said to me: Go, prophesy to My people
Israel.” 208
God entrusted his power to little ones such as David, a
child whom Goliath scorned but was strengthened by the
Lord and proudly defied his enemy. “And David said to the
Philistine: Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a
spear, and with a shield, but I come to thee in the name of
the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, which
204 Exod. 4:10, 13.
205 Judg. 6:15-16.
207 Jer. 1:6-8.
2°8Amos 7:14-15.

208 I Par. 17:7.

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thou hast defied. This day, and the Lord will deliver thee
into my hand, and I will slay thee. . . . And all the assem­
bly shall know, that the Lord saveth not with sword and
spear; for it is His battle.” 209
Even a woman was sent to the enemy as agent of God’s
power: “For this will be a glorious monument for Thy
name, when he shall fall by the hand of a woman. For Thy
power, O Lord, is not in a multitude, nor is Thy pleasure in
the strength of horses, nor from the beginning have the
proud been acceptable to Thee; but the prayer of the humble
and the meek hath always pleased Thee.” 210
When the people praised Judith, whose strength was de­
rived from chastity and fidelity, they attributed the merit of
victory to God Himself: “Thou art the glory of Jerusalem,
thou art the joy of Israel, thou art the honor of our people.
For thou hast done manfully, and thy heart has been
strengthened, because thou hast loved chastity. . . . The
hand of the Lord hath strengthened thee, and therefore thou
shalt be blessed forever.” 211
All this testimony is aptly expressed by the name “rock”
applied to God to indicate how strong and steadfast was the
help He gave.212 Throughout the ages God’s power is mighty,
sublime and totally efficacious in the accomplishment of His
inscrutable plans. When His omnipotence takes the form of
punishment or makes a gesture of mercy, it is allied to His
divine justice and works constantly for the benefit of hu­
manity. By declaring His requirements and helping in the
work of redemption, God clearly pointed out the path of
virtue, law, salvation—the path that was truly His. The first
209 I Kings 17:45-47.
210 Judith 9:15-16.
211 Judith 15:10-11.
212 In the Hebrew of Psalm 17 God is called “my rock.”

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words of the revelation given to Abraham were: “I am the
almighty God; walk before Me and be perfect.” 213 Soon
afterward, events showing the signs of God’s omnipotence
proved that His ways were right and just and true.214 Om­
nipotence also served the justice and holiness of God: “Thy
power and Thy justice, O God, even to the highest great
things Thou hast done; O God, who is like to Thee?” 218
“Thy arm is with might. Let Thy hand be strengthened and
Thy right hand exalted; justice and judgment are the prep­
aration of Thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before Thy
face.” 216
The Old Testament declares emphatically that the king­
dom of goodness and truth, of order and peace will some
day be re-established by divine omnipotence. In vain will
godless and evil men revolt against it. A just man confronted
with the schemes of sinners can rely with full trust upon
God’s sovereign power. “O God, who shall be like to Thee?
hold not Thy peace, neither be Thou still, O God. For lo,
Thy enemies have made a noise; and they that hate Thee
have lifted up the head. . . . O my God, make them like
a wheel and as stubble before the wind. As fire which burneth the wood and as a flame burning mountains. So shalt
Thou pursue them with Thy tempest and shalt trouble them
in Thy wrath. Fill their faces with shame; and they shall
seek Thy name, O Lord.” 217
213 Gen. 17:1. Omnipotence would be most evident in the work of
sanctification, a task so difficult that the apostles asked: “Who then
can be saved?” And Jesus answered: “With men it is impossible; but
not with God; for all things are possible with God” (Mark
10:26-27).
an Cf. Ps. 118:137-38.
215 Ps. 70:18-19.
218 Ps. 88:14-15.
217 Ps. 82:1-2; 14-17.

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In the work of power and justice the elements of nature
are God’s docile servants: “There are spirits that are created
for vengeance, and in their fury they lay on grievous tor­
ments. In the time of destruction they shall pour out their
force; and they shall appease the wrath of Him that made
them.” 218
Nature points out the right path to men and gives proof
of God’s fidelity and goodness. God in turn adapts His power
to man’s weakness and limited ability.

But executing Thy judgments by degrees, Thou gavest them
place of repentance. . . . For so much then as Thou art just,
Thou orderest all things justly; thinking it not agreeable to Thy
power to condemn him who deserveth not to be punished. For
Thy power is the beginning of justice; and because Thou art
Lord of all, Thou makest Thyself gracious to all. For Thou
showest Thy power, when men will not believe Thee to be
absolute in power, and Thou convincest the boldness of them
that know Thee not. But Thou being master of power, judgest
with tranquillity and with great favor disposest of us; for Thy
power is at hand when Thou wilt. But Thou hast taught Thy
people by such works, that they must be just and humane, and
hast made Thy children to be of a good hope, because in judging
Thou givest place for repentance for sins.219
Yet this graciousness in no way detracts from the divine
quality of God’s action. The signs of mercy and tender love
shown to men leave untouched His sublimity and His mys­
tery. Between Him and men there is no proportion. “For
My thoughts are not your thoughts; nor your ways My
ways, saith the Lord.” 220 On the other hand, His justice it­
self is also kindness. While human justice compares man to
«8 Ecclus. 39:33-34.

219 Wisd. 12:10-19.

220 Isa. 55:8.

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85

his fellow man and often crushes him, divine justice guides
him through unexpected paths, those of charity. God thinks
of saving, not of judging and destroying. “I will not execute
the fierceness of My wrath . . . because I am God, and not
man.” 221 When God punishes, it is for the purpose of con­
version and that is the principal effort of the infinite divine
power. Isaias represented the Redeemer as saying: “I, that
speak justice, and am a defender to save.” 222 Of course,
omnipotence served justice as well as mercy. “For mercy
and wrath are with Him. He is mighty to forgive, and to pour
out indignation.” 223 Indeed, the entire Old Testament bears
witness that omnipotence achieves the triumph of both mercy
and justice. “My salvation shall be forever, and My justice
shall not fail.” 224 But in the accomplishment of His pur­
poses God used means which were so mysterious that men
renounced the attempt to understand and took refuge in
attitudes of reverent fear and adoration. “God hath softened
my heart, and the Almighty hath troubled me.” 225 God’s
omnipotence and goodness are so wonderfully displayed in
His works that only trust and adoration can fittingly voice
His praise. “Thy power and Thy justice, O God, even to the
highest great things Thou hast done; O God, who is like to
Thee?” 228

Holiness
I the Lord your God am holy.22T
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, who was, and who is,
and who is to come.228
In the year that king Ozias died, I saw the Lord sitting upon
221 Osee 11:9.
224 Isa. 51:6.
227 Lev. 19:2.

223 Ecclus. 16:12.
222 Isa. 63:1.
226 Ps. 70:19.
225 Job 23:16.
228 Apoc. 4:8.

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86

a throne high and elevated; and His train filled the temple. Upon
it stood the seraphims; the one had six wings, and the other
had six wings; with two they covered His face, and with two
they covered His feet, and with two they flew. And they cried
one to another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of
hosts, all the earth is full of His glory. And the lintels of the doors
were moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was
filled with smoke.229
“Holy, holy, holy!” This is the acclamation of every crea­
ture in the presence of the divine reality, ineffable in its
transcendence and perfection. This is the primary revelation,
peculiar to the Old Testament, expressed in simple words
often repeated: “Our God is holy.” In our day too the
Church still repeats the same words of the prophet when
inviting us to adore Him who is about to become present
upon the altar: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts!”
The attributes of God described thus far were related by
analogy to human experiences which somewhat elucidated
them. The ordinary ideas of spirit, life, kingship, power
kept their meaning even when transposed to God’s level;
the mind could find its bearings by them. But it is totally
different with divine holiness, which meets neither similarity
nor analogy in human life. Nothing can give even a remote
idea of this matchless sanctity. “Tu solus sanctus.” Nothing
on earth will provide a basis of comparison for this specif­
ically divine reality. Indeed, holiness seems to be a funda­
mental and distinctive attribute of God. It belongs only to
Him; it can come only from Him; it cannot possibly be
ascribed to anything created. God is, therefore, absolutely
transcendent. “Who is like to Thee, among the strong, O
229 Isa. δ: 1-4.

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87

Lord? Who is like to Thee, glorious in holiness?” 230 In the
same way that God had declared: “See ye that I alone am,
and there is no other God besides Me.” 231 He said also: “I
the Lord your God am holy.” 232 “To whom have you likened
Me, and made Me equal, and compared Me, and made Me
like?” 233
For God to swear by His holiness is the same as to swear
by Himself. “The Lord God hath sworn by His holiness.” 234
“The Lord God hath sworn by His own soul.” 235
As holiness is not merely one attribute among others but
is truly God’s distinctive characteristic, it follows that wher­
ever it is found, He can be recognized. It is His own sign
and seal. “Thou shalt make also a plate of the purest gold,
wherein thou shalt grave with engraver’s work: Holy to the
Lord.” 236 Nothing renders Him greater glory than the mani­
festation of His holiness. “I will be sanctified in them that
approach to Me, and I will be glorified in the sight of all
the people.” 237
In the midst of theophanies and miracles God’s holiness
shines forth. “Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle; because He
hath done wonderful things. His right hand hath wrought
for Him salvation, and His arm is holy.” 238
In paying Him homage, men merely follow the example
of the angels whom the prophet showed us adoring the thrice
holy God with ceaseless acclamations. It is truly admirable
that the Hebrew people should have perceived this tran230 Exod. 15:11. In the Apocalypse we also find that first place is
given to this attribute of glorious sanctity, extolled by the whole
company of the elect.
231 Deut. 32:39.
232 Lev. 19:2.
233 Isa. 46:5.
234 Amos 4:2.
235 Amos 6:8.
23eExod. 28:36.
237 Lev. 10:3.
238 Ps. 97:1-2.

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scendent character of divine holiness and should have tried
to express the mystery it implies—a mystery of prime im­
portance since it is the foundation on which rests the prayer
of adoration.230 Adoration is an effort to proclaim holiness
as the supreme divine reality, the peerless glory which is
God’s alone. The more a soul has an awareness of the holi­
ness of God, the more religious that soul is. Because the
men of the Old Testament possessed this awareness to a high
degree, they felt a reverential fear of God, a fear which is
unknown to many Christians of our day. In the presence of
the awesome splendor of divine sanctity the men of the
Bible were conscious of the abyss which separated God from
creatures.
God’s holiness, even more than His majesty and power,
inspires fear in men who enter His presence.240 Job was over­
whelmed by the feeling of his own nothingness.241 When
Yahweh approached, Moses and Elias veiled their faces.
“Moses hid his face; for he durst not look at God.” 242 “And
when Elias heard it, he covered his face with his mantle, and
coming forth stood in the entering in of the cave.” 243 Daniel
fainted and fell prostrate on the ground: “And I being left
alone saw this great vision; and there remained no strength
in me, and the appearance of my countenance was changed
in me, and I fainted away and retained no strength. And
I heard the voice of His words; and when I heard, I lay in
a consternation, upon my face, and my face was close to
239 The Hebrew word, quadosh, which expresses the concept of
holiness, has the meaning, “holiness that is transcendent and set
apart.”
240 Similarly Peter said after the miraculous draught of fishes:
“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8).
241 Job 42:6.
242 Exod. 3 : 6.
243 III Kings 19:13.

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89

the ground.” 244 Even the seraphim hid themselves with their
wings in God’s presence and the men of Bethsames, who
had seen the ark, asked: “Who shall be able to stand before
the Lord, this holy God?” 245
Thus God’s infinite holiness sets Him apart from all else
and everything that is vowed or consecrated to God is like­
wise set apart and consequently is removed from ordinary
use. Removed from secular use was the original meaning of
the word holy as applied to things, places, ministers of wor­
ship. Vestments for religious rites, oil for anointing, offer­
ings and victims were all holy. “Anything that is devoted to
the Lord . . . shall be holy of holies to the Lord.” 246 The
places where God dwelt were holy; the temple where He
was present was called the holy place or the holy of holies.
The tabernacle and the altar of sacrifices, the places where
God appeared, the whole city of Jerusalem, the days con­
secrated to divine worship: all these were holy. “The altar
. . . shall be most holy. Every one that touches it shall
be holy.” 247 “Come not nigh hither, ... for the place
whereon thou standest is holy ground.” 248 “Great is the
Lord ... in the city of our God, in His holy mountain.
With the joy of the whole earth is Mount Sion founded.” 249
“Keep you My sabbath, for it is holy unto you.” 250
Even more holy were the persons who by function or by
dedication had been separated from the world and conse­
crated to divine worship.251 “And let no one come into the
244 Dan. 10:8-9.
245 I Kings 6:20.
240 Lev. 27:28.
247 Exod. 29 : 37.
248 Exod. 3:5.
249 Ps. 47:1-2.
250 Exod. 31:14.
251 Similarly in the primitive Church those among the disciples
who were consecrated to God and vowed to His service were singled
out and called “the saints.” (Acts 9:13).

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house of the Lord, but the priests, and they that minister of
the Levites; let them only come in, because they are sanc­
tified.” 252 “[The priests] . . . shall be holy to their God,
and shall not profane His name; for they offer ... the
bread of their God, and therefore they shall be holy.” 253
Those chosen by God as prophets or vowed to divine service
are also holy: “Before I formed thee in the bowels of thy
mother, I knew thee; and before thou earnest forth out of the
womb, I sanctified thee, and made thee a prophet unto the
nations.” 264 And finally, the whole nation, having been
chosen by God as His nation, His possession, was a nation
separated from others, a holy people.205 “If therefore you
will hear My voice, and keep My covenant, you shall be
My peculiar possession, above all people: for all the earth
is Mine. And you shall be to Me a priestly kingdom and
a holy nation.” 258
The glory of Israel lies in its deep consciousness of the
transcendence of divine holiness, which is so lofty that it
sets apart not only God Himself but everything that is con­
secrated to Him or draws near to Him. “He is a holy God,
and mighty and jealous.” 207 God indeed takes special care
to safeguard His holiness, striving to keep it intact among
men whose essential duty is to keep His name holy. Again
and again He complained that His holiness had been dese­
crated and that men had cast a slur upon it. “They profaned
My holy name.” 258 Men defiled what was vowed and conse­
crated to God, what belonged to Him by reason of His holi­
ness. They committed spiritual prostitution. “And thou
M2 Π Par. 23 : 6.
253 Lev. 21:6.
254 Jer. 1:5.
285 cf. I Cor. 1:2; I Pet. 2:9.
258 Exod. 19:5-6.
287 Jos. 24:19.
288 Ezech. 36:20

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tookest thy beautiful vessels, of My gold, and My silver,
which I gave thee, and thou madest thee images of men, and
hast committed fornication with them. . . . And My bread
which I gave thee, the fine flour and oil and honey, where­
with I fed thee, thou hast set before them for a sweet
odor.” 258
Nothing so pains God as such insults to His holiness. So
inviolable, so sacred, so cherished is His sanctity that He
uses the fullness of His omnipotence to prevent desecration.
“But I spared them for the sake of My name, lest it should
be profaned before the nations. . . . But I turned away My
hand, and wrought not for My name’s sake.” “And I have
regarded My own holy name, which the house of Israel hath
profaned among the nations to which they went in. . . . It
is not for your sake that I will do this, O house of Israel, but
for My holy name’s sake.” 200
Yet such a viewpoint is far from exhausting the notion of
holiness for us, or even for the authors of the Old Testament.
Alongside the texts which exalt God’s greatness and tran­
scendence, the Bible contains references to another theme,
expressed in this quotation from Leviticus: “You shall be
holy, because I am holy.” 261 Here is a totally new and un­
expected view of divine sanctity, seemingly incompatible
with the preceding notion. Does the same God who seemed
so intent on maintaining His separation from the world and
from creatures now speak differently? The authors of the
Old Testament have not hesitated to put such words in the
mouth of the mighty, omnipotent, transcendent God. In
some instances they have even recorded words which prove
258 Ezech. 36:17, 19.
261 Lev. 11:46.

2eoEzech. 20:14, 22; 36:21-22.

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more clearly that the thrice holy God desires to draw near
to His creatures and to bestow upon them the very thing
that is His unique prerogative, His sanctity. He said to His
people: “I am the Lord that sanctify you.” 202 The prophet
Ezechiel records even more amazing words of God: “I will
be sanctified in them.” 268 The fact is that God’s holiness is
shown just as truly by His condescension as by His tran­
scendence. “Who is as the Lord our God, who dwelleth on
high and looketh on the low things in heaven and in
earth.” 264 The Psalmist, therefore, does not hesitate to beg
God for mercy in the name of His holiness: “O my God, I
shall cry by day, and Thou wilt not hear, and by night, and
it shall not be reputed as folly in me. But Thou dwellest in
the holy place.” 2es
But especially in the scene on Mount Horeb the qualities
of divine holiness are magnificently portrayed. The impact
of His transcendence is felt, but the mercy of the thrice holy
one is equally evident. “Come not nigh hither, put off the
shoes from thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is
holy ground. . . . And the Lord said to him: I have seen
the affliction of My people in Egypt, and I have heard their
cry because of the rigor of them that are over the works;
and knowing their sorrow, I am come down to deliver
them.” 208 These two characteristics are narrowly bound to­
gether in the revelation of the divine name which then took
place. “But, come, and I will send thee to Pharao. . . . Lo,
I shall go. . . . If they should say to me: What is His
name? what shall I say to them? God said to Moses: I am
282 Lev. 20:8.
285 Ps. 21:3—4.

283 Ezech. 28:25.
284 Ps. 112:5-6.
288 Exod. 3:5, 7-8.

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who am. He said: Thus shalt thou say to the children of
Israel: He who is, hath sent me to you.” 267
God’s sanctity is an absolute in itself, but the creature
viewing it sees a combination of transcendence and mercy.
Transcendence is seen in the very act of creation; mercy
appears in God’s gracious gesture of revealing Himself and
giving Himself to those whom He has created. Consequently
the creature looking toward God must see with one glance
both transcendence and mercy, that is to say, the mystery
of His holiness. Of course, the Old Testament men did not
draw up abstract definitions in this way but the words and
the episodes of the Bible make it quite obvious that these
ideas were in nowise foreign to them. It is vividly clear that
they had a true and deep sense of the mystery of God’s
holiness.
The sacred authors knew that creatures were infinitely
remote from the all holy God and unworthy to stand in His
presence. They knew too that sin had transformed this sep­
aration into a radical opposition. “Woe is me, because I
have held my peace; because I am a man of unclean lips,
and I dwell in the midst of a people that hath unclean lips,
and I have seen with my eyes the King, the Lord of
hosts.” 268 They know that holy men, and even angels, dare
not appear before God. “What is man that he should be
without spot, and he that is born of a woman that he should
appear just? Behold among His saints none is unchange­
able.” 269 “Shall man be justified in comparison of God, or
shall a man be more pure than his Maker? Behold they that
serve Him are not steadfast, and in His angels He found
wickedness. How much more shall they that dwell in houses
267 Exod. 3:10, 13-14.

268 Isa. 6:5 .

289 Job 15:14-15.

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of clay, who have an earthly foundation, be consumed as
with the moth?” 270
They suggest that no creature is worthy of subsisting in
the presence of the Creator, who drew everything from noth­
ingness. “The heavens are not pure in His sight.” 271 “Can
man be justified compared with God, or he that is born of
a woman appear clean? Behold even the moon doth not
shine, and the stars are not pure in His sight. How much
less man that is rottenness and the son of man who is a
worm?” 272
These words of Scripture show a true concept of divine
transcendence and holiness. Yet the Bible contains an aware­
ness that mercy is likewise a part of God’s holiness. The
prophet Habacuc, conscious of man’s radical impurity,
asked: “Wast Thou not from the beginning, O Lord my
God, my holy one? . . . Thy eyes are too pure to behold
evil.” 273 The Psalmist, on realizing his sin, cried out in the
presence of God: “If Thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities,
Lord, who shall stand it?” 274 Nevertheless he continued by
asserting that “with Thee there is merciful forgiveness.” 275
What could give him such confidence, except the certainty
that infinite mercy is found in the heart of God’s sanctity?
“I have waited for Thee, O Lord. My soul hath relied on
His word; my soul hath hoped in the Lord. Because with
the Lord there is mercy.” 270
By His mercy the infinitely holy God persists in seeking
the sanctification of His sinful creatures. A text from the
prophet Osee depicts this wonderful mercy: “How shall I
270 Job 4:17-19.
273 Hab. 1:12-13.
278 Ps. 129:4-7.

271 Job 15:15 .
27<Ps. 129:3.

272 Job 25:4-6.
275 Ps. 129:5.

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deal with thee, O Ephraim, shall I protect thee, O Israel?
. . . My heart is turned within Me, My repentance is stirred
up. I will not execute the fierceness of My wrath; I will not
return to destroy Ephraim, because I am God, not man, the
holy one in the midst of thee.” 277
This mercy and gentleness would one day be fully visible
in the Child of the manger, the holy one of Israel.278 But
the inspired authors assert that God, because He is holy,
must be kind: “The Lord God, merciful and gracious, pa­
tient and of much compassion, and true.” 279 Who could tell
how fruitful was such a conviction or how vast the horizons
it opened before men’s eyes?
God’s holiness is in Himself and proceeds from Him alone,
as He stated very clearly: “I am the Lord that sanctify
you.” 280 As God alone is holy, it follows that the possibility
and the degree of holiness in creatures depends entirely
upon God’s sanctifying action. Men must, therefore, take
great care not to attribute to themselves what is a wholly
gratuitous gift from above. “Not to us, O Lord, not to us;
but to Thy name give glory.” 281 This sanctifying action of
God takes many different forms. However adaptable and
gracious it may be, men are often overwhelmed by it on
their first experience, because of their great weakness. “My
heart is broken within me, all my bones tremble. I am be­
come as a drunken man and as a man full of wine, at the
presence of the Lord and at the presence of His holy
words.” 282 But the shock once sustained proves rich in con277 Osee 11:8-9.
278 “The goodness and kindness of God our Savior appeared”
(Titus 3:4).
279 Exod. 34:6.
280 Lev. 20:8.
281 Ps. 113:9.
282 Jer. 23:9.

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sequences. “I Daniel was much troubled with my thoughts,
and my countenance was changed in me; but I kept the word
in my heart. . . . And I Daniel languished, and was sick
for some days; and when I was risen up, ... I was aston­
ished at the vision, and there was none that could inter­
pret it.” 283
Generally it is a prelude to more interior experiences.
Thus, in the vision of Isaias, scarcely had he contemplated in
great fear the terrifying and dazzling appearance of divine
holiness than he began to feel this holiness acting within him
to purify him. “And one of the seraphims flew to me, and
in his hand was a live coal, which he had taken with the
tongs off the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said:
Behold this hath touched thy lips, and thy iniquities shall
be taken away, and thy sin shall be cleansed.” 284
Such purification is often accompanied and prolonged by
a process of illumination and of spiritualization.
And I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be
cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all
your idols. And I will give you a new heart, and put a new
spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of
your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put
My spirit in the midst of you; and I will cause you to walk in
My commandments, and to keep My judgments, and do them.
And you shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers,
and you shall be My people, and I will be your God.285

When a man is infused with divine holiness, he receives
not only light but also love, wonderfully sympathetic and
merciful love, which comforts him by its sweet presence.
283 Dan. 7:28; 8:27.

284 Isa. 6:6-7.

285 Ezech. 36:25-28.

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“The Lord is merciful and just, and our God sheweth mercy.
The Lord is the keeper of little ones. I was humbled, and He
delivered me. Turn, O my soul, into thy rest, for the Lord
hath been bountiful to thee.” 280 Some men, on receiving
this revelation of God’s holiness, felt transformed by it,
raised above themselves. “For Thou art my lamp, O Lord;
and Thou, O Lord, wilt enlighten my darkness. . . . God,
His way is immaculate, the word of the Lord is tried by fire;
He is the shield of all that trust in Him. . . . Making my
feet like the feet of harts, and setting me upon my high
places. He teacheth my hands to war and maketh my arms
like a bow of brass. Thou hast given me the shield of my
salvation, and Thy mildness hath multiplied me.” 287
The more this holiness is communicated to men, the better
they realize that it is ineffable and incomprehensible. Then
their eyes open to gaze upon the unfathomable depths of
divine splendor.

He hath made all things good in their time and hath delivered
the world to their consideration, so that man cannot find out
the work which God hath made from the beginning to the end.288
And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth;
and with labor do we find the things that are before us. But
the things that are in heaven, who shall search out? 289
When a man hath done, then shall he begin; and when he
leaveth off, he shall be at a loss.290
Feeling helpless before the divine holiness, man would
doubtless prefer to say nothing, to take refuge in silence,
which, in a way, is the only praise befitting its divine object.
288 Ps. 114:5-7.
289 Wisd. 9:16.

287 II Kings 22:29-36.
290 Ecclus. 18:6.

288 Eccles. 3:11.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

St. Jerome had translated Psalm 64:2 as: “Silence is Thy
praise.” St. Augustine asked: “What can be said in speaking
of You? And yet woe to those who speak not of You, for
in speaking of all else they are mute.” 281 But Ecclesiasticus
urges us, nevertheless, to praise the divine glory and holi­
ness. “Blessing the Lord, exalt Him as much as you can, for
He is above all praise. When you exalt Him put forth all
your strength, and be not weary; for you can never go far
enough. Who shall see Him, and declare Him? and who
shall magnify Him as He is from the beginning?” 282
Such, then, is the Old Testament view of God’s sanctity:
an intimate union of transcendence and mercy which the
inspired writers knew profoundly and praised constantly.
In the sacred texts God appears just as jealous to safeguard
His transcendent sanctity by remaining separated from men
as He is eager to communicate that same sanctity to men. He
insists that His holiness be respected; but He insists no less
that it be diffused. “Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom
come.” Christians repeatedly ask that God’s name be hal­
lowed in them, that His kingdom come to them. They should
realize more clearly that by these words that extol God’s
sanctity, they glorify His transcendence and at the same time
they beg for an outpouring of divine mercy upon themselves
and upon the whole world.
And yet how desirable it is that we should conform to
this process of divine sanctification, this imprinting of love’s
hot seal upon our souls! “In My holy mountain, . . . they
shall please Me, and there will I require your firstfruits, and
the chief of your tithes with all your sanctifications. I will
291 St. Augustine: Confessions, I, chap. 4, 4.
292 Ecclus. 43:33-35.

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99

accept of you for an odor of sweetness . . . and I will be
sanctified in you in the sight of the nations.” 293
By “revealing the outlines and portraying the lineaments
of the Creator,” 294 the Bible has advanced the knowledge of
God. But the supreme light which God has given about His
nature in the Old Testament is unquestionably the revela­
tion of His holiness. For sanctity combines all the divine
perfections in a perfectly woven fabric of ineffable value.
A man who is sanctified by God receives and knows the
living unity and mysterious splendor of the divine Being.
“The voice of His word [was] like the voice of a multi­
tude.” 295 This communication is intimate and profound, be­
cause wholly interior. Only as he experiences the effects of
this holiness upon himself, does man gradually discover its
full worth. Moreover, such notions as omnipotence, kingship and spirituality, when applied to God even by analogy,
provide a purely human mode of knowledge, but holiness
acting within us confers knowledge that is not only superior
but of a totally different order. The notion of sanctity could
not be based on purely human elements for man does not
possess the principle of sanctity in himself. He becomes con­
scious of this reality only to the extent that God communi­
cates it to him. But this holiness is not distinct from God
Himself. Therefore, by making men “partakers of the divine
nature,” 290 by allowing them to discover by experience
what He is, God reveals His sanctity to them. But inevitably
this “experience of God” overflows our capacity for knowl­
298 Ezech. 20:40-41.
294 From Pius XII’s address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences,
November 22, 1951.
285 Dan. 10:6.
298 II Pet. 1:4.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

edge and constantly exceeds the laws of our minds. For in
the living revelation which is sanctity, men perceive God as
the being in whom apparently contradictory attributes co­
exist and function: distance and nearness, transcendence
and mercy, distinction and unity. They also discover that
justice and kindness, power and gentleness reinforce each
other and that these contrasts form the glory of divine holi­
ness.
Moses is famous because he bore witness to the divine
transcendence on Mount Horeb, but even more because he
related his intimate experience of divine holiness. In the
presence of the thrice holy God he was filled with ecstasy.
The account in the Book of Exodus gives the impression of
a truly ineffable experience. “And when the Lord was come
down in a cloud, Moses stood with Him, calling upon the
name of the Lord. And when He passed before him, he said:
O the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, patient
and of much compassion, and true, who keepest mercy unto
thousands; who takest away iniquity, and wickedness, and
sin.” 297
The Bible has recorded other similar experiences, but be­
cause each was strictly personal, each was translated in a
different way. Tobias, who merited interior illumination by
his heroic acceptance of blindness, exclaimed: “Thou art
just, O Lord, and all Thy judgments are just, and all Thy
ways mercy, and truth, and judgment.” 298 Jonathan of the
Machabees witnessed a striking miracle which elicited a
prayer of adoration and thanksgiving from him and from
the whole people assembled in the holy place. “O Lord God,
Creator of all things, dreadful and strong, just and merciful,
297 Exod. 34:5-7.

299 Tob. 3:2.

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101

who alone art the good king, who alone art gracious, who
alone art just, and almighty, and eternal, . . . who didst
choose the fathers and didst sanctify them, receive the sacri­
fice for all Thy people Israel, and preserve Thy own portion,
and sanctify it. . . . Establish Thy people in Thy holy
place, as Moses hath spoken.” 289
In the mystery of His holiness God reveals Himself as He
is.299
300 That is why man receives the revelation from above
only as an illumination and as a fully gratuitous gift. This
illumination reveals that the peak and the source of the
divine perfections is an overflowing fullness, a limitless
power of expansion, an infinite need to give and to share.
God’s holiness resembles both a refuge and a peak: a refuge
where God’s nature and God’s secret can be glimpsed; a
peak from which flow all the streams of perfection contained
in its hidden springs. Man gradually perceives these per­
fections in the divine holiness, just as he perceives in the
prism the colors which make up the light of the sun. To
learn God’s perfections by slow progress is not at all the
same as to have them revealed by the light of His holiness.
A few men of the Old Testament received such a revelation.
Particularly the Psalmist saw truth and mercy, light and love,
glowing in the heart of God’s holiness. “All the ways of the
Lord are mercy and truth.” 301 “Withhold not Thou, O Lord,
Thy tender mercies from me; Thy mercy and Thy truth have
299 II Mach. 1:24-29.
800 “Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God; and it hath not
yet appeared what we shall be. We know, that when He shall appear,
we shall be like to Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And
everyone that hath this hope in Him, sanctifieth himself, as He also
is holy” (I John 3:2-3).
301 Ps. 24:10.

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always upheld me.” 302 “Send forth Thy light and Thy truth;
they have conducted me and brought me unto Thy holy hill
and into Thy tabernacle.” 303
God’s holy words spring from truth. “The beginning of
Thy words is truth.” 304 The word once uttered takes root,
yields sheaves of dazzling light. “The declaration of Thy
words giveth light. . . . Thy word is a lamp to my feet and
a light to my paths.” 305*
The Old Testament contained the seeds of the revelation
of divine holiness; “the holy one of Israel,” who was to come
here below as “light of the world” would manifest that
sanctity in His own person. That light, whose brilliance was
veiled,308 would be revealed to men as a light of love. In
revealing His love to men, God was not revealing a new
perfection. He was merely leading them to the wellspring
from which flowed all His glory.
Thus, divine holiness consists substantially of light and
love. God’s perfection lies in the fact that for Him to be what
He is in the truth and permanence of His being suffices to
illuminate and transform all things. To communicate His
holiness God radiates the light of His glory upon a soul and
marks it with the “figure of his substance.” 307 By divine
action “the image of the invisible God” 308 is then stamped
upon the soul. Doubtless that is why the Old Testament con­
siders the notion of fidelity as eminently characteristic of
God’s action and holiness. Holy God; Faithful God: these
two expressions are closely connected in meaning—prob­
302 Ps. 39:12.
303 Ps. 42:3.
304 Ps. 118:160.
305 Ps. 118:130, 105.
308 -He came unto His own, and His own received Him not”
(John 1:11).
307 Heb. 1:3.
308 Col. 1:15.

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103

ably because the word fidelity includes the ideas of truth, of
unfailing light and of ever active love. Fidelity is the move­
ment by which God constantly gives Himself to His crea­
tures. When the bright rays of His truth and love shine
mercifully upon them, they gradually become clothed in the
raiment of sanctity. God continually affirms this fidelity.
The Psalmist and the prophets keep repeating: “God is
faithful.” They prove it by referring to personal experience
and by interpreting the whole history of Israel. “The Lord is
faithful in all His words and holy in all His works.” 309 “The
mercies of the Lord I will sing forever. I will show forth Thy
truth with my mouth to generation and generation. For
Thou hast said: Mercy shall be built up forever in the
heavens; Thy truth shall be prepared in them. . . . The
heavens shall confess Thy wonders, O Lord; and Thy truth
in the church of the saints. . . . O Lord God of hosts,
who is like to Thee? Thou art mighty, O Lord, and Thy
truth is round about Thee.” 310
Unassailable confidence in God’s fidelity is based upon
the promises and the blood of the covenant.

He hath remembered His covenant forever; the word which
He commanded to a thousand generations.311
The Lord is sweet, His mercy endureth forever, and His truth
to generation and generation.312
It is good to give praise to the Lord and to sing to Thy name,
O most High. To show forth Thy mercy in the morning, and
Thy truth in the night.313
The mercy of the Lord is from eternity and unto eternity
upon them that fear Him; and His justice unto children’s chil­
dren, to such as keep His covenant.314
30» Ps. 144:13.
»io ps. 88:1-3, 6, 9.
311 Ps. 104:8.
3i2ps. 99:5.
313 ps. 9j: 1-2.
314 Ps. 102:17-18.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

It is evident that the light and love of divine sanctity shine
less brightly and clearly in the Old Testament than in the
New Testament, where the fullness of revelation would
come with Christ. But the entire Old Testament displays the
effects of this sanctity infinitely eager to communicate itself
and wonderfully faithful. Should it be asked why fidelity is
the most eloquent feature of divine holiness, it suffices to
answer that although it is shown by the reconciliation and
reunion of the Creator and His creatures in the context of
history, yet it denotes something even greater, transcending
the realm of time: the unchanging and endless reality of
love. Even human fidelity indicated a constant, intense and
active relationship of one person to another. With God,
fidelity is nothing less than the very life of divine love. God
could not be different in His work from what He is in Him­
self. His fidelity to us expresses His loving and constant
effort to enlighten us, to shape us to His resemblance, to
communicate His own sanctity by drawing us to the heart
of His own being. Thus, by His fidelity—touching proof of
His love—God imbues us with something of His ineffable
holiness; He allows us to explore the inner depths of mystery
in Him.316*
318
Although God’s perfection is transcendent, yet He
wills to communicate divine sanctity to men. “Be holy,” He
keeps repeating to them. Does the Bible present any ex­
amples in which this holiness—or even a faint image of it—
is attained by men?
Although the existence of authentic saints in the Old
Testament cannot be doubted,316 their sanctity is not, as a
316 “God is faithful; by whom you are called unto the fellowship
of His Son Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 1:9).
318 The grace of Christ is the source of all sanctification. “For

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105

rule, proposed as an example. The term saint, in the sense
we give it now, is scarcely used there. The reason is that the
Old Testament had to place all possible emphasis upon the
unique fount of all holiness: on the one and only “saint,”
God Himself. However privileged, purified or “sanctified”
a creature may be, he always risks distorting or betraying
divine holiness which is too bright for his gaze and too lofty
for his reach. Creatures are too weak and imperfect to re­
flect God’s sanctity; their brief existence is too puny a
mirror to catch the rays of His light. True, the word holy
is often applied to the people of Israel, (“Thou art a holy
people to the Lord thy God”),317 but it is clear that this
refers to their being set apart from others, to their belonging
to God. It does not indicate holiness possessed by them as
their own privilege.
Is there here below no image or true reflection of divine
holiness? The Bible does not seem to find any here on earth,
but rather leaps across the centuries to bring us to “new
heavens and a new earth,” 318 that is, the new Jerusalem
which Yahweh will create. There at last is perceived the
genuine reflection of divine holiness. Only the holy city, the
city of God, changeless, universal and permanent will re­
flect the splendor of divine holiness in a true and constant
way. It will give glory to God. The prophets yearned for this
new Jerusalem. They were well aware why it would be holy:
because God would dwell there. “For the Lord hath chosen
Sion; He hath chosen it for His dwelling. This is My rest for­
ever and ever; here will I dwell, for I have chosen it.” 319*317
both He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one”
(Heb. 2:11).
317 Deut. 7:6; 14:2, 21.
318 Isa. 65:17.
318 Ps. 131:13-14.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

“And I will dwell in the midst of thee.” 320 “And all . . .
shall call thee the city of the Lord, the Sion of the holy one
of Israel.” 321
The holy temple of Jerusalem on top of the mountain—
“a mountain in which God is well pleased to dwell” 322—
was only an image of the heavenly city. “O Jerusalem: . . .
the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” 323 “Jerusalem is
built as a city, which is compact together.” 321 Throughout
the ages and from all points of the universe God assembles
His chosen ones and in His Church He will build the
heavenly Jerusalem, the holy assembly of Israel, a living and
immortal sanctuary. “The name of the city from that day,
‘The Lord is there.’ ” 325 “Jerusalem shall be called the city
of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the sancti­
fied mountain.” 328
The city will reflect the divine perfections of peace, purity,
and happiness. “They shall not hurt nor kill in all My holy
mountain, saith the Lord.” 327 God Himself ultimately will
give a name to this holy city: “For thy name shall be named
to thee by God forever; the peace of justice and honor of
piety.” 323
The Old Testament keeps repeating the word holy as the
only fitting praise of the infinite perfections of God. The God
of Israel is holy: “They shall lean upon the Lord, the holy
one of Israel, in truth.” 329 He who will come as the light
and the salvation of all nations is also holy: “Thy Redeemer,
the holy one of Israel.” 330 Holy too is the Spirit which will
820 Zach. 2:11
823 Isa. 60:1.
320 Zach. 8:3.
329 Isa. 10:20.

322 Ps. 67:17.
321 Isa. 60:14.
325 Ezech. 48:35.
824 Ps. 121:3.
828 Bar. 5:4.
327 Isa. 65:25.
839 Isa. 41:14.

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107

be poured forth upon the world : “And who shall know Thy
thought, . . . except Thou send Thy Holy Spirit from
above.” 331
God’s sanctity is changeless, infinite, eternal: “Thou art
always the selfsame and Thy years shall not fail.” 332 His
holiness is supremely active and effective. “From eternity
and to eternity thou art God.” 333 Though His holiness in­
finitely transcends all human concepts, God invites men of
good will to share it: “I will be sanctified in those who ap­
proach to Me.” 334 The accumulation of ages and the age­
lessness of eternity will not suffice to acclaim adequately this
sanctity which is the peak of divine revelation in the Old
Testament: “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts.” 335
331 Wisd. 9:17.
334 Lev. 10:3.

332 Ps. 101:28 .
335 Isa. 6:3.

333 Ps.89:2.

Chapter 3

Ü THE SOUL
YEARNING FOR GOD

For we know that every creature groaneth and travaileth in
pain, even till now.1
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in be­
lieving; that you may abound in hope, and in the power of the
Holy Ghost.2
For in this also we groan, desiring to be clothed upon with
our habitation that is from heaven.3
And they cried to the Lord in their tribulation; and He de­
livered them out of their distress.4

In the preceding pages we have seen how Holy Scripture
presented for our belief the great data on the reality of God
in the way He willed to make the revelation. The dazzling
light focused upon His transcendence and His infinite per­
fections might well have overpowered us. Though we are
capable of perceiving this light, as we were designed with a
1 Rom. 8:22.

2 Rom. 15:13.

4 Ps. 106:6.
108

3IICor.5:2.

THE SOUL

109

view to divine knowledge, yet we are extremely limited in
natural capacity, as well as being wounded and enslaved
by the appeal of the senses. Yet this same light reveals also
a divine plan imbued with love and kindness. Far from
abandoning men to their wretched condition, God re­
peatedly reveals to them, in ways adapted to their state,
something of His ineffable mystery. He calls them to the
knowledge and love of Himself, to an awareness of a super­
natural vocation which prevails in spite of all obstacles.
This divine guidance corresponds to an interior aspira­
tion which is deeply rooted in the soul. There is a yearning
within us, a thirst for truth, beauty, justice and love, a thirst
which no human satisfaction can quench. It is an aching
anxiety for those who ignore the wellspring of living water.
The thirst becomes all the more intense in souls that have
once sipped the waters, but are then prevented from satisfy­
ing their increased desires because of various entanglements
and fundamental weakness.
St. Paul tells us that the Spirit Himself cries out and
groans within us. The same Spirit spoke to us hitherto in the
majestic voice of the God of Genesis, the God of Abraham,
the patriarchs and Moses. From the sad captivity of our soul
the Spirit utters an irresistible appeal to Him whose image
we mysteriously reflect. The Spirit seeks us even more
eagerly than we seek Him, calling us by the very pangs of
thirst which are felt by even the most fallen natures. The
Spirit longs to be our God, for He created us to His image
and resemblance, destined us for infinite happiness. “Thou
hast made us for Thyself, O God, and our hearts are restless
until they rest in Thee.” 5
6 St. Augustine states also (De Trinitate I, 8) that the contempla-

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

If the soul trusts this Spirit which throbs within and
breathes forth in prayer, it will return spontaneously to its
divine fountainhead. The inner impulse, which had led it to
seek its last end outside itself, will guide it to the trysting
place. God comes and truly lives within us, more intimately
than our own self within us. As true object of our faculties,
He arouses them so that they can receive Him in an infinitely
simple relationship within the grasp of each of us. This in­
timate and eminently personal impulse is prayer.
Because prayer contains the object of its search, although
only as a promise, this object is already granted. God is
given to us by the hope which raises us toward Him. The
soul discovers traces of Him on every path, is conscious of
being surrounded by Him, longs to surrender to Him in
perfect trust.
If we seek an echo of this inner drama experienced by all
souls, though each is called by its own name, if we seek its
expression in a chant we ourselves may gladly intone, we
can find it in the Psalms, a long, tender lament with over­
tones of absolute, unflagging trust. This chant has resounded
throughout the ages, a music which accompanies each stage
of the slow, brief marching of our mortal lives toward
eternal life. We need only let our own prayer sing in the
Psalmist’s text which give us indomitable hope of the good
to which our soul aspires through God’s loving will.
tion of God is promised as the final end of all our actions and the
eternal perfection of all our joys. But this contemplation will be
perfect only in the future life, when we shall see God face to face
and thus reach perfect happiness. Here below we attain only an im­
perfect contemplation of divine truth, “through a glass in a dark
manner” (I Cor. 13:12). Cf. Summa theol., Ila, Ilae, q. 180, art. 4.

THE SOUL

111

My soul hath desired Thee in the night; yea, and with my
spirit within me in the morning early I will watch to Thee.®
And they cried to the Lord in their tribulation; and He de­
livered them out of their distresses.7
And hope confoundeth not; because the charity of God is
poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to
us.8
The inner thirst for God is nothing less than a proof of the
divine love which tends to give itself while allowing the
soul to take the initiative by receiving love freely. Man, con­
scious of his utter poverty, is invited to turn toward God.
“Thou sayest: I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need
of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”0 The soul
which reaches the point of realizing its own poverty, which
then becomes increasingly conscious of it, which finds no
sufficiency and considers itself without resources is already
tending toward fulfillment, by its very knowledge of its own
worthlessness, by its soft and tender lament. In its conscious­
ness of an absence it finds a promise of help from above
which will answer its expectations by the gifts of freedom
and happiness.
“Blessed are the poor.” To desire much it is necessary to
have nothing and to realize it. “The soul obtains from Him
as much as it hopes for from Him.” 10 “God would never in­
spire me with desires which cannot be realized.” 11 Our
«Isa. 26:9.
7 Ps. 106:6.
8 Rom. 5:5.
9 Apoc. 3:17.
10 St. John of the Cross, op. cit. I, p. 441.
11 St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, The Story of a Soul.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

greatest desire, our deepest desire, is the desire for the reality
of God Himself. This desire is from God, who empties the
soul in order to fill it completely.12 “O God, my God, to
Thee do I watch at break of day. For Thee my soul hath
thirsted; for Thee my flesh, O how many ways! In a desert
land, and where there is no way, and no water; so in the
sanctuary have I come before Thee, to see Thy power and
Thy glory. For Thy mercy is better than lives; Thee my lips
shall praise. ... If I have remembered Thee upon my
bed, I will meditate on Thee in the morning; because Thou
hast been my helper.” 13
But before this cry is uttered, before man turns to God as
the one true wellspring, his desires must be purified. Man,
whose heart was made for the infinite, feels a burning thirst
in the desert of life. “They marched three days through the
wilderness and found no water.” 14*What tremendous dan­
gers are encountered on the journey—dangers of reaching
for the first water that is found, of greedily seeking material
satisfactions, of being deceived by mirages or, worse yet, of
drinking at poisoned wells. Scripture tells us that when the
Israelites reached the water hole of Mara, they rushed
eagerly to the spring, for they were exhausted by the long
march. But alas, “they could not drink the waters of Mara,
because they were bitter; whereupon he gave a name also
agreeable to the place, calling it Mara, that is, bitterness.” 18
They were cruelly disappointed. The water could not
quench their thirst and brought them death rather than re­
12 “If thou didst know the gift of God, and who He is that saith
to thee: Give me to drink, thou perhaps wouldst have asked of Him,
and He would have given thee living water” (John 4:10).
« Ps. 62:1-4, 7-8.
11 Exod. 15:22.
« Exod. 15:23-24.

THE SOUL

113

lief; apt symbol of the unhealthy waters where man often
moistened his lips! God was striving to arouse man’s desire
for living waters but saw him turn away voluntarily. “For
My people have done two evils. They have forsaken Me,
the fountain of living water, and have digged to themselves
cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” 16 If men
would only return to the true wellspring, their thirst for the
infinite would be satisfied. “All you that thirst, come to the
waters; and you that have no money make haste.” 17 When
shall men repeat, from the depths of their own experience,
these inspired words: “For with Thee is the fountain of
life.” 18 When shall they repeat with the Psalmist, realizing
that nothing can take God’s place: “As the hart panteth after
the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after Thee, O
God. My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God;
when shall I come and appear before the face of God?” 19
Indeed nothing can substitute for God. As long as the
soul has not found Him or recovered Him, its earthly food
leaves it incurably empty and hungry. It “refuses to be com­
forted.” 20 Knowing that help can come from God alone, the
soul lets nothing impair its indefectible hope. The dangers
surrounding it and the enemies seeking its destruction con­
stitute the first and most urgent motive of its appeal to God.

I cried to the Lord with my voice; with my voice I made
supplication to the Lord. In His sight I pour out my prayer, and
before Him I declare my trouble. When my spirit failed me,
then Thou knewest my paths. In this way wherein I walked, they
have hidden a snare for me. I looked on my right hand, and
beheld, and there was no one that would know me. Flight hath
18 1er. 2:13.
10 Ps. 41:1-2.

17 Isa. 55:1.
2«Ps. 76:3.

18 Ps. 35:10.

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failed me; and there is no one that hath regard to my soul. I
cried to Thee, O Lord; I said: Thou art my hope, my portion
in the land of the living. Attend to my supplication, for I am
brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are
stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise
Thy name; the just wait for me until Thou reward me.21
But while the soul appeals, God molds it to His desires.
He teaches it gradually to ask less for help from exterior
dangers and enemies, more for inner perfection. He makes
it desire and request the spirit of justice, of truth, of up­
rightness, in a word, conformity to the divine will.

Hear, O Lord, my prayer; give ear to my supplication in Thy
truth; hear me in Thy justice. And enter not into judgment with
Thy servant; for in Thy sight no man living shall be justified.
For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath brought down
my life to the earth. He hath made me to dwell in darkness as
those that have been dead of old; and my spirit is in anguish
within me; my heart within me is troubled. I remembered the
days of old, I meditated on all Thy works; I meditated upon the
works of Thy hands. I stretched forth my hands to Thee; my
soul is as earth without water unto Thee. Hear me speedily, O
Lord; my spirit hath fainted away. Turn not away Thy face
from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
Cause me to hear Thy mercy in the morning, for in Thee have I
hoped. Make the way known to me, wherein I should walk, for
I have lifted up my soul to Thee. Deliver me from my enemies,
O Lord, to Thee have I fled; teach me to do Thy will, for Thou
art my God. Thy good spirit shall lead me into the right land;
for Thy name’s sake, O Lord, Thou wilt quicken me in Thy
justice. Thou wilt bring my soul out of trouble; and in Thy
mercy Thou wilt destroy my enemies.22
21 Ps. 141.

22 Ps. 142.

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Little by little the soul becomes conscious of a danger
more fearful than external threats. Though it is interior,
present within itself, yet at first it was not perceived. This
danger stems from its own faults, its innumerable acts of
rebellion which have kept it separated from God. “Show,
O Lord, Thy ways to me and teach me Thy paths. Direct me
in Thy truth and teach me, for Thou art God my Savior,
and on Thee have I waited all the day long. Remember,
O Lord, Thy bowels of compassion and Thy mercies
that are from the beginning of the world. The sins of my
youth and my ignorances, do not remember. According to
Thy mercy remember Thou me; for Thy goodness’ sake,
O Lord.” 23
Soon, under the inspiration of divine light, the soul
glimpses and discovers that underlying its sins is its state of
sin. God brings it down to the depths of its wretchedness.
Echoing from the abyss, its appeal will reverberate all the
better.

Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord; Lord hear
my voice. Let Thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplica­
tion. If Thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities, Lord, who shall
stand it. For with Thee there is merciful forgiveness; and by
reason of Thy law, I have waited for Thee, O Lord. My soul
hath relied on His word; my soul hath hoped in the Lord. From
the morning watch even until night, let Israel hope in the Lord.
Because with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him plentiful
redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.24

No one has surpassed David in knowledge of the misery
of sinful man and of the mercy of God.
23 Ps. 24:4-7.

24 Ps. 129.

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Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy.
And according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out
my iniquity. Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse
me from my sin. For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always
before me. To Thee only have I sinned, and have done evil
before Thee; that Thou mayest be justified in Thy words, and
mayest overcome when Thou art judged. For behold I was con­
ceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother conceive me.
For behold Thou hast loved truth; the uncertain and hidden
things of Thy wisdom Thou hast made manifest to me. Thou
shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; Thou
shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. To my
hearing Thou shalt give joy and gladness; and the bones that
have been humbled shall rejoice. Turn away Thy face from my
sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create a clean heart in me,
O God, and renew a right spirit within my bowels. Cast me not
away from Thy face; and take not Thy holy spirit from me.25

With a yet keener sense of its destitution and a deeper
humility the soul utters its anguished cry to God. “Be
pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; look down, O Lord, to help
me. ... I am a beggar and poor; the Lord is careful for
me. Thou art my helper and my protector; O my God, be not
slack.” 28 The sinner even dares to tell God that His glory is
at stake in the matter of responding to the appeal addressed
to Him. Even faced with God’s silence, the soul straightway
intones its gratitude for the help that is sure to come. “Con­
sider, and hear me, O Lord my God. Enlighten my eyes that
I never sleep in death; lest at any time my enemy say: I have
prevailed against Him. They that trouble me will rejoice
when I am moved; but I have trusted in Thy mercy. My
25 Ps. 50:1-13.

26 Ps. 39:14, 18.

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117

heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation; I will sing to the Lord,
who giveth me good things; yea I will sing to the name of
the Lord the most high.” 27

SELF-ABASEMENT
But God has not yet answered man’s cry of appeal. He
knows, of course, better than the soul itself, all its distress, its
needs, its destitution. But He wants it to gain a keener con­
sciousness of its poverty and become more and more
humble. “Behold you are of nothing, and your work of that
which hath no being.” 28 “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep.
... Be humbled in the sight of the Lord and He will exalt
you.” 29
“God resists the proud” 30 but reveals Himself to the
hungry and thirsty, the poor and humble. God strives to
form this true humility. Neither surrounding dangers nor
the knowledge of the miserable state in which sin has left
man can suffice to give it to him. The terrible and often
subtle temptation to be self-sufficient and to set himself up as
a god still persists. Man must reach the point of knowing
that he is nothing. “Behold, you are of nothing,” God had
said through the prophet Isaias.31 Others had already ex­
perienced this, especially the Psalmist, whose poems prove
how dreadfully hard and painful the experience was. We
feel also that only when man is dizzy before the yawning
abyss of his own misery and nothingness, only when he
reaches the very threshold of despair, does he acquire the
proper dispositions to turn to God as his only strength and
27 Ps. 12:4-6.
28 Isa. 41:24.
80 Jas. 4:6.
31 Isa. 41:24.

29 Jas. 4:9-10.

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his unique support. “The Lord is nigh unto all them that
call upon Him” 32 “with a contrite and humbled heart.” 33
God then stoops toward them, opens the gates of hope and
guides them on the path.34
Encountering God’s silence and the long delay in its
liberation, the soul is bewildered by the view of surrounding
dangers and even more by the awareness of its faults and
wretchedness. It finally reaches the point of wondering:
“What am I before God?” “Lord, what is man, that Thou
art made known to him? Or the son of man, that Thou
makest account of him? Man is like to vanity; his days pass
away like a shadow.” 36
In vain does he remember the kingship God entrusted to
him at the time of creation; this power only makes him
realize his weakness all the more keenly. “Thou hast made
him a little less than the angels, Thou hast crowned him with
glory and honor and hast set him over the works of Thy
hands. Thou hast subjected all things under his feet, all
sheep and oxen, moreover the beasts also of the fields. The
birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, that pass through
the paths of the sea.”88 But this greatness passes away
rapidly and is constantly threatened. “I have said: You are
32 Ps. 144:18.
33 Ps. 50:19.
34 We see in the Gospel how many trials God sends His servants
in order to cut furrows of humility in their souls. St. Peter is an
outstanding example.
33 Ps. 143:3-4.
36 Ps. 8:6-9. The literal sense of the psalm applies to man in
general and is relevant here. In the Epistle to the Hebrews the
author would interpret it in relation to Christ: “But we see Jesus,
who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of
death, crowned with glory and honor” (Heb. 2:9).

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gods 37 and all of you the sons of the Most High. But you
like men shall die, and shall fall like one of the princes.” 38
Man truly passes away swiftly as a shadow. He sinks into
silence, abashed by the vanity, the vanishing, the collapse of
all things.
I was dumb and was humbled, and kept silence from good
things; and my sorrow was renewed. My heart grew hot within
me, and in my meditation a fire shall flame out. I spoke with
my tongue: O Lord, make me know my end. And what is the
number of my days, that I may know what is wanting to me.
Behold Thou hast made my days measurable, and my substance
is as nothing before thee. And indeed all things are vanity, every
man living. Surely man passeth as an image; yea, and he is
disquieted in vain. He storeth up, and he knoweth not for whom
he shall gather these things. And now, what is my hope? Is it
not the Lord? And my substance is with Thee. ... I was
dumb and I opened not my mouth, because Thou hast done it.
. . . Thou hast corrected man for iniquity. And Thou hast made
his soul to waste away like a spider; surely in vain is any man
disquieted. ... Be not silent, for I am a stranger with Thee,
and a sojourner as all my fathers were. O forgive me, that I
may be refreshed, before I go hence and be no more.38
For an instant man thinks of fleeing, of going into hiding,
hoping thus to escape his sad lot. But that is folly, for none
can escape from God.

Lord, Thou hast proved me and known me; Thou hast known
my sitting down and my rising up. Thou hast understood my
thoughts afar off; my path and my line Thou hast searched
out. And Thou hast foreseen all my ways, for there is no speech
37 Cf. John 10:35.

38 Ps. 81:6-7.

38 Ps. 38:3-14.

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in my tongue. Behold, O Lord, Thou hast known all things, the
last and those of old; Thou hast formed me and hast laid Thy
hand upon me. Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me; it
is high, and I cannot reach to it. Whither shall I go from Thy
spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy face? If I ascend into
heaven, Thou art there; if I descend into hell, Thou art present.
If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the utter­
most parts of the sea, even there also shall Thy hand lead me;
and Thy right hand shall hold me. And I said: Perhaps dark­
ness shall cover me, and night shall be my light in my pleas­
ures. But darkness shall not be dark to Thee, and night shall be
light as the day. . . . For Thou hast possessed my reins; Thou
hast protected me from my mother’s womb. . . . Thy eyes did
see my imperfect being, and in Thy book all shall be written;
days shall be formed, and no one in them. But to me, Thy
friends, O God, are made exceedingly honorable. ... I rose
up and am still with Thee.·*0
Nothing subsists beyond His ken; His servants have felt
the effects of His vigilance.40
41 Nothing is hidden from Him;
man is constantly in His sight.
For the wisdom of God is great, and He is strong in power,
seeing all men without ceasing.42
The Lord hath looked from heaven; He hath beheld all the
sons of men. From His habitation which He hath prepared, He
hath looked upon all that dwell on the earth. He who hath made
40 Ps. 138:1-18.
41 The same divine gaze scrutinized Nathanael (John 1:43, 51),
the Samaritan woman and the woman taken in adultery (John
4; 8), the rich young man and St. Peter himself (Mark 10:21;
John 1:42; Luke 22:61).
42 Ecclus. 15:19.

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121

the hearts of every one of them; who understandeth all their
works.43
Their ways are always before Him, they are not hidden from
His eyes. . . . And all their works are as the sun in the sight
of God; and His eyes are continually upon their ways.44
He knoweth all the work of man.45
The Most High . . . will examine your works and search
out your thoughts.46

The amazement of the soul confronted by this secret
presence which pursues and surrounds it is represented by
Agar, fleeing from Sara in the desert. “And she called the
name of the Lord that spoke unto her: Thou the God who
hast seen me. For she said: Verily have I seen the hinder
parts of Him that seeth me.” 47
God, who sees everything, likewise hears every cry rising
to Him from the earth. Therefore the faithful soul will lift
its voice of prayer to Him—prayer which must persist even
when no answer comes. “My eyes also shall be open, and
My ears attentive to the prayer of him that shall pray in this
place.” 48 “I cried to the Lord with my voice; to God with my
voice, and He gave ear to me.” 49 “O my God, I shall cry by
day, and Thou wilt not hear; and by night, and it shall not
be reputed as folly in me.” 50 Let the soul, then, be sure of
43 Ps. 32:13-15; cf. Heb. 4:12-13: “For the word of God is
living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword;
and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the
joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature invisible in His
sight; but all things are naked and open to His eyes, to whom our
speech is.”
44 Ecclus. 17:13, 16.
45 Ecclus. 15:20.
46 Wisd. 6:4.
47 Gen. 16:13.
48 II Par. 7:15.
49 Ps. 76:1.
50 Ps. 21:3.

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having been heard and try to wait patiently, with sentiments
not only of dependence or resignation, but with trust, for
God does not delay to show Himself to all who hope in Him.
SURRENDER AND TRUST
Thou art my protector and my refuge; my God, in Him will
I trust.51
Whom having not seen, you love; in whom also now, though
you see Him not, you believe; and believing shall rejoice with
joy unspeakable and glorified; receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of your souls.52

God shows His presence and the secrets of His all­
pervading goodness to those who have entrusted themselves
completely to Him. Divine providence extends to every crea­
ture, but those who are deprived of everything can count
on God in a special way. Their trust will not be disap­
pointed.53 Enlightened by this spectacle and emboldened by
the example of others who have trod the same path and
have found life therein, the soul surrenders to its God with
total trust and absolute renunciation. As it seeks out the
source of its desires, the origin of the violent appeal uttered
from the depths of its misery and shadows, a great peace and
certainty grow within it. For the soul comes to know to
whom it has entrusted itself 54 not merely by the witness of
others but by its own inner experience. Hope, like faith,
gives us its object, gives us God. We hope in God, but God
51 Ps. 90:2.
52 I Pet. 1:8-9.
53 From the very beginning of His public life, our Lord de­
manded similar trust from His disciples (cf. Matt. 6:25, 34).
54 “For I know whom I have believed, and I am certain that He
is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him” (II Tim.
1:12).

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is both the object and the goal of our desires. He fills the
absence He has caused. He alone is substantially all that we
are not and toward which we aspire. The realization of our
utter misery is a wonderfully satisfying truth, for by the un­
quenchable thirst for the infinite which arises in our souls,
it brings us the fiery presence of Him who contains all things.
Thus, here below the reality of God is the ineffable treasure
of the soul which realizes its own nothingness and perseveres
in hope. As God was its beginning, He is also its end. He
guides the soul and fills it in proportion as it trusts Him. All
servile fear vanishes thenceforth. Love responds to hope and
the soul pours forth a hymn of thanksgiving which it would
wish to hear re-echoed by the whole world. All around him
man perceives proof of the wisdom of divine rule and
providence.88
How great are Thy works, O Lord? Thou hast made all things
in wisdom; the earth is filled with Thy riches. So is this great sea,
which stretcheth wide its arms; there are creeping things without
number: creatures little and great. There the ships shall go. This
sea dragon which Thou hast formed to play therein. All expect
of Thee that Thou give them food in season. What Thou givest
to them they shall gather up; when Thou openest thy hand, they
shall all be filled with good. But if Thou turnest away Thy face,
they shall be troubled; Thou shalt take away their breath, and
they shall fail, and shall return to their dust. Thou shalt send
forth Thy spirit, and they shall be created; and Thou shalt renew
the face of the earth.55
*58
55 Christ was to use simple images: the birds, the flowers of the
field, the life of nature used in parables designed to inspire souls
to perceive the benefits conferred by divine providence, to practice
filial trust and self-surrender.
58 Ps. 103:24-30.

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Everything testified to divine goodness; not only the ma­
terial world and living creatures, but also the heart and soul
of man.

Praise ye the Lord, because psalm is good; to our God be
joyful and comely praise. . . . Who healeth the broken of heart
and bindeth up their bruises. Who telleth the number of the stars
and calleth them all by their names. . . . The Lord lifteth up
the meek, and bringeth the wicked down even to the ground.
. . . Who covereth the heaven with clouds and prepareth rain
for the earth. Who maketh grass to grow on the mountains, and
herbs for the service of men. Who giveth to beasts their food,
and to the young ravens that call upon Him.57

The same idea is expressed again and developed on a
deeper level in Psalm 64: “Thou hast visited the earth and
hast plentifully watered it; Thou hast in many ways enriched
it. . . . Thou shalt bless the crown of the year of Thy good­
ness.” 08
Elsewhere the sacred texts show that just men who have
invoked God in the hour of trouble have had their prayers
granted. Thus Judith, wearing a hair shirt and with her head
covered with ashes, asked the Lord to crown with success the
plan she had formed to save her country:

Assist, I beseech Thee, O Lord God, me a widow. . . ■ For
Thou hast done the things of old. . . . For all Thy ways are
prepared, and in Thy providence Thou hast placed Thy judg­
ments. Look upon the camp of the Assyrians now. . . ■ They
know not that Thou art our God, who destroyest wars from the
beginning, and the Lord is Thy name. Lift up Thy arm . · · and
crush their power with Thy power. . . . Bring to pass, O Lord,
that his pride may be cut off with his own sword. . . · Give
67 Ps. 146:1-7.

58 Ps. 64:10, 12.

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125

constancy in my mind, that I may despise him; and fortitude that
I may overthrow him. For this will be a glorious monument for
Thy name, when he shall fall by the hand of a woman. For Thy
power, O Lord, is not in a multitude, nor is Thy pleasure in the
strength of horses, nor from the beginning have the proud been
acceptable to Thee; but the prayer of the humble and the meek
hath always pleased Thee. O God of the heavens, creator of the
waters, and Lord of the whole creation, hear me a poor wretch,
making supplication to Thee and presuming of Thy mercy. Re­
member, O Lord, Thy covenant, and put Thou words in my
mouth, and strengthen the resolution in my heart, that Thy house
may continue in Thy holiness. And all nations may acknowledge
that Thou art God, and there is no other besides Thee.59

Esther also obtained mercy for her people by a fervent
and humble prayer to God:

And she prayed to the Lord the God of Israel saying: O my
Lord, who alone art our king, help me a desolate woman, and
who have no other helper but Thee. My danger is in my hands.
I have heard of my father that Thou, O Lord, didst take Israel
from among all nations. . . . We have sinned in Thy sight, and
therefore Thou hast delivered us into the hands of our enemies.
For we have worshipped their gods; Thou art just, O Lord. And
now they are not content to oppress us with most hard bondage,
but attributing the strength of their hands to the power of their
idols, they design to change Thy promises and destroy Thy in­
heritance, and shut the mouths of them that praise Thee, and
extinguish the glory of Thy temple and altar. . . . Remember,
O Lord, and show Thyself to us in the time of our tribulation, and
give me boldness, O Lord, king of gods, and of all power. Give
me a well-ordered speech in my mouth in the presence of the
lion. . . . Deliver us by Thy hand, and help me, who have no
other helper, but Thee, O Lord, who has the knowledge of all
59 Judith 9:3-19.

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things. And Thou knowest that I hate the glory of the wicked.
. . . Thou knowest my necessity, that I abominate the sign of
my pride and glory . . . and that Thy handmaid hath never re­
joiced, since I was brought hither unto this day, but in Thee, O
Lord, the God of Abraham. O God, who art mighty above all,
hear the voice of them, that have no other hope, and deliver us
from the hand of the wicked, and deliver me from my fear.60

God hearkens not only to certain chosen souls whom
Scripture cites as examples, but to all who trust in Him. All
feel the effects of His goodness and mercy.
Give glory to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endureth
forever. Let them say so that have been redeemed by the Lord,
whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. . . .
They wandered in a wilderness, in a place without water; they
found not the way of a city for their habitation. They were hungry
and thirsty; their soul fainted in them. And they cried to the Lord
in their tribulation; and He delivered them out of their distresses.
And He led them into the right way, that they might go to a city of
habitation. ... He broke their bonds in sunder. . . . Because
He hath broken gates of brass and burst iron bars. . . . Their
soul abhorred all manner of meat, and they drew nigh even to the
gates of death. And they cried to the Lord in their affliction, and
He delivered them out of their distresses. . . . And He helped
the poor out of poverty, and made Him families like a flock of
sheep. . . . Who is wise, and will keep these things, and will
understand the mercies of the Lord.61
Though blasphemers, on seeing that they are not pun­
ished for their evil deeds, may declare that “there is no
God,” 62 the just man knows that one day God will strike
such sinners.
60 Esther 14:3-19.

61 Ps. 106.

62 Ps. 52:1.

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127

Why dost thou glory in malice, thou that art mighty in iniquity?
. . . Thou hast loved malice more than goodness, and iniquity
rather than to speak righteousness. Thou hast loved all the words
of ruin, O deceitful tongue. Therefore will God destroy thee for­
ever; He will pluck thee out and remove thee from thy dwelling
place, and thy root out of the land of the living. The just shall see
and fear, and shall laugh at him, and say : Behold the man that
made not God his helper. . . . But I, as a fruitful olive tree in
the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God forever, yea
forever and ever.63

The soul has but one resource: to rely upon God totally
with absolute surrender and trust.
In Thee, O Lord, I have hoped, let me never be put to con­
fusion; deliver me in Thy justice and rescue me. Incline Thy ear
unto me, and save me. Be Thou unto me a God, a protector and
a place of strength; that Thou mayest make me safe. . . . For
Thou art my patience, O Lord; my hope, O Lord, from my youth.
By Thee have I been confirmed from the womb; from my
mother’s womb Thou art my protector. . . . Cast me not off
in the time of old age; when my strength shall fail, do not Thou
forsake me. . . . But I will always hope.64

The soul rests “in the shadow of the omnipotent God.”
He that dwelleth in the aid of the Most High shall abide under
the protection of the God of Jacob. He shall say to the Lord:
Thou art my protector and my refuge; my God, in Him will I
trust. For He hath delivered me from the snare of the hunters and
from the sharp word. He will overshadow thee with His shoul­
ders, and under His wings thou shalt trust. His truth shall com­
pass thee with a shield; thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of
the night. Of the arrow that flieth in the day, of the business that
63 Ps. 51.

64 Ps. 70.

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walketh about in the dark, of invasion, or of the noonday devil.
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right
hand, but it shall not come nigh thee. . . . Thou hast made the
Most High thy refuge. There shall no evil come to thee; nor shall
the scourge come near thy dwelling. For He hath given his
angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. In thenhands they shall bear thee up, lest thou dash thy foot against a
stone. Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk, and thou
shalt trample under foot the lion and the dragon. Because he
hoped in Me I will deliver him; I will protect him because he
hath known My name. He shall cry to Me, and I will hear him;
I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify
him. I will fill him with length of days; and I will show him My
salvation.05

The calm waters bring interior peace while the strength
of an intimate personal experience leads to a state of faith
and trust which are thenceforth unwavering. “When I
called upon Him, the God of my justice heard me; when I
was in distress, Thou hast enlarged me.” 06 “Our God is our
refuge and strength; a helper in troubles, which have found
us exceedingly. Therefore we will not fear, when the earth
shall be troubled and the mountains shall be removed into
the heart of the sea. . . . God is in the midst thereof, it
shall not be moved.” 07
The soul goes a step farther, becoming an apostle and
striving to lead others to entrust themselves to God.
05 Ps. 90. The psalm expresses the soul’s faith in God’s protection.
This faith was so common in Israel that the devil used verses of the
psalm to tempt Christ in the desert (Matt. 4:6). The people also
quoted it when they insulted Him on the Cross (Matt. 27:43). But
Jesus was the most holy example of “hope that could never be con­
founded.”
eeps. 4:2.
07 Ps. 45:2-3, 6.

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THE SOUL

O ye sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart? Why
do you love vanity and seek after lying? Know ye also that the
Lord hath made His holy one wonderful; the Lord will hear me
when 1 shall cry unto Him. Be ye angry, and sin not; the things
you say in your hearts, be sorry for them upon your beds. Offer
up the sacrifice of justice, and trust in the Lord; many say: Who
showeth us good things? The light of Thy countenance O Lord,
is signed upon us; Thou hast given gladness in my heart. By the
fruit of their corn, their wine, and oil, they are multiplied. In
peace in the selfsame I will sleep, and I will rest, for Thou, O
Lord, singularly hast settled me in hope.68

Such was the state of soul of the penitent King David.
“Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and strengthen
me with a perfect spirit. I will teach the unjust Thy ways.” 69
Then the soul’s distress is transformed into joy. “When
the Lord brought back the captivity of Sion, we became like
men comforted. Then shall they say among the Gentiles:
the Lord hath done great things for them. . . . They that
sow in tears shall reap in joy. Going they went and wept,
casting their seeds. But coming they shall come with joy­
fulness, carrying their sheaves.” 70 Thereupon a song of
praise bursts forth; the soul sings of the blessings God has
poured on it and this praise becomes the soul’s habitual state
of mind:
Praise the Lord, ye children : praise ye the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord, from henceforth now and for­
ever. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same,
the name of the Lord is worthy of praise. The Lord is high above
all nations; and His glory above the heavens. Who is as the Lord
our God, who dwelleth on high and looketh down on the low
68 Ps. 4:3-10.

68 Ps. 50:14-15.

70 Ps. 125:1-3; 6-8.

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things in heaven and in earth? Raising up the needy from the
earth, and lifting up the poor out of the dunghill, that He may
place him with princes, with the princes of His people. Who
maketh a barren woman to dwell in a house, the joyful mother
of children.71
Praise the Lord, O my soul, in my life I will praise the Lord;
I will sing to my God as long as I shall be. . . . Blessed is he
who hath the God of Jacob for his helper, whose hope is in the
Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all
things that are in them, who keepeth truth forever; who exe­
cuted! judgment for them that suffer wrong; who giveth food to
the hungry. The Lord looseth them that are fettered; the Lord
enlighteneth the blind. . . . The Lord shall reign forever; thy
God, O Sion, unto generation and generation.72
Blessed art Thou, O Lord the God of Israel, our father from
eternity to eternity. Thine, O Lord, is magnificence, and power,
and glory, and victory, and to Thee is praise, for all that is in
heaven, and in earth, is Thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and
Thou art above all princes. Thine are riches and Thine is glory.
Thou hast dominion over all; in Thy hand is power and might;
in Thy hand greatness and the empire of all things. Now there­
fore our God we give thanks to Thee and we praise Thy glorious
name.73
Tips. 112.

72 Ps. 145:1-7, 10.

731 Par. 29:10-13.

Chapter 4

æ CHARITY
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.1
For both He that sanctificth, and they who are sanctified, are
all of one.2
He that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him.3
God and the soul are the two actors in the great drama
recorded in the Bible. But this book of God and men would
not have fulfilled its role if it merely noted the infinite dis­
tance between God and men. Only by showing to what ex­
tent man was created to be united to God does the Bible
carry out the fullness of its mission.
To lead man to this union, God did not hesitate to dictate
a law of love and fidelity: “Thou shalt love.” The only way
to achieve union is by charity. The commandments and
regulations of the Mosaic law are centered around the first
great commandment and the second precept of love of
neighbor. The first requires that God be loved with a love
of absolute preference, entailing, if necessary, the sacrifice
1 Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:29.

2Heb. 2:11.
131

3 I John 4:16.

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of all that is most dear to man. The second commandment,
far surpassing the maxim: “Do not do unto others what you
would not have them do unto you,” treads the path of posi­
tive charity which molds hearts in the image of God. These
two principal commandments, which Christ later called the
whole of the law and the prophets, both follow the same
path, that of charity. But in setting man upon the path of
charity which leads to union, God Himself also treads the
same path. Long before the coming of Christ, the Old Testa­
ment bears witness that God is totally “ours.” This nearness,
this possession of God is shown in many ways. The God of
the Old Testament is not far away; He is the God of the
Covenant, the God of Israel, the God of our fathers, our
God: Dominus Deus noster, as the chosen people keep re­
peating.
But this intimate relationship depends upon certain con­
ditions. It is granted only to the poor, the humble, the good.
They alone will know by personal experience that God is
theirs. Even here on earth God becomes their reward and
their inheritance. This prepares the way for the “Emmanuel”
who would come one day to dwell among us, to manifest
God’s love for men in its fullness and perfection.

UNION WITH GOD
I will give My law in their bowels, and I will write it in their
heart; and I will be their God.4
And by this we know that we have known Him, if we keep
His commandments.®
It was, of course, conceivable that union could be
achieved between God, a pure spirit, and that which in man
4 Jer. 31:33.

6 I John 2:3.

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133

was a true but infinitely remote resemblance of Him. Other­
wise God would not have commanded it. In order that man
might achieve this union and not wander astray, in order
that he might detect what would lead him to God in the
pattern of his days, in order that this relationship would be
clearly evident to everyone, God, in His overabundant kind­
ness and goodness, had to express Himself in a concrete
way, in a language to which men were accustomed. He had
to express in human terms the spiritual principles which
would give true life to man.
That is why God conformed to earthly customs and
promulgated a law perfectly adapted in its form to the
manners and customs of the people to which it was ad­
dressed. Four books of the Old Testament make up the
compendium of this law: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and
Deuteronomy.®
It is not our task to analyze the law, to clarify its con­
stituent parts, or to retrace its history. Let it suffice to recall
how excellent it was by quoting the words of St. Paul, who
praised it even when he ventured to demand that men ad­
vance beyond it. The law was “ordained by angels in the
hand of a mediator. . . . The law was our pedagogue in
Christ.” 7 Such, indeed, was the true role of the law in the
Old Testament.
Since its function was to lead to Christ, we wish to point
out its close connection with the New Law and to show that
these ancient decrees, apparently obsolete, prepared men to
6 Christ, as well as the people in general, also used the word
“law” in a more general sense, stressing the unity of inspiration in
Scripture by including the psalms and the prophets as well as the
Pentateuch (cf. John 10:34; 12:34; 15:25).
7 Gal. 3:19, 24.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

understand more fully and to assimilate more readily the
spirit of the “new commandment.” It must not be forgotten
that the origin of the law is necessarily found in the Spirit
of God Himself. The law cannot be reduced to a body of
juridical and social precepts; in its essence it is spiritual8*
and its decrees are in line with the same law of charity and
love that would be instituted by Christ. That is why, even in
those far-away days, the sacred authors rightfully declared:
“Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law
of the Lord.” 0 Men of faith, therefore, heed the injunctions
of the law not as mere principles of natural ethics, but as
God’s own words, rich in meaning and sweet in savor. “Thy
word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths. . . . The
declaration of Thy words giveth light.” 10
The law illuminated men’s path and guided them toward
union with God. “He will teach us His ways and we will walk
in His paths; for the law shall come forth from Sion, and the
word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” 11 God’s true servants
understood the divine words in a spiritual sense and, even
in those ancient times, they detected in the heart of God’s
law the great principle of charity which was its foundation
—“Thou shalt love.”
A holy spirit is fully and perfectly expressed only by love.
By its very nature love is a revelation of the spirit, its su­
preme expression and its highest life. Union will take place
between God and man by love or charity. It is a wholly
spiritual reality flowing from a divine wellspring. Charity,
8 “Wherefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy,
and just, and good. . . . For we know that the law is spiritual”
(Rom. 7:12, 14).
®Ps. 118:1.
10 Ps. 118:105, 130.
11 Isa. 2:3.

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135

here on earth as in the life of glory, can bring to union with
God only those who live according to the spirit. Thus we can
see clearly the path by which God led His chosen people,
the same path as for all souls seeking union with Him. The
“promised land” of union is entered only by those who
follow perfectly the law of love. “But this shall be the cove­
nant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those
days, saith the Lord: I will give My law in their bowels,
and I will write it in their hearts, and I will be their God,
and they shall be My people.” 12*“Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and
with thy whole strength.” 18 Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself.” 14 Christ Himself has assured us that “on these
two commandments dependeth the whole law and the
prophets.” 15
The Old Testament stressed the close connection between
the great commandment of love of God and what St. James
calls “the royal law” of love of neighbor.” The pages which
follow aim to reveal what God required by these two com­
mandments and how they were linked together.17
12 Jer. 31:33; cf. Heb. 8:10.
ls Deut. 6:5.
w Lev. 19:18.
16 Matt. 22:40.
Ie Jas. 2:8.
17 The fact that these two commandments were not joined to­
gether in the Old Testament as in the Gospel may give rise to doubts
as to whether they really appeared to Israel as the foundation and
soul of the law. The first is prominent in the Book of Deuteronomy;
the second occurs in the midst of various laws in the Book of
Leviticus. But the Gospel proves the contrary, for Christ’s answer
to a question by a doctor of the law (Matt. 22:37) and a scribe
(Mark 12:29) showed that the men of the Old Law had not failed
to realize the importance of the two great precepts and the con­
nection between them.

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THE FIRST AND GREATEST COMMANDMENT

Duties of the people and the priests

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and
with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength.18
I have seen an end of all perfection; Thy commandment is
exceeding broad.19
Love ... is the fulfilling of the law. . . . For the end of the
law is Christ.20
God’s love for us is an exclusive and jealous love; the
whole of biblical history illustrates this most wonderfully.
God loves us and never ceases to love us. We should return
this love “because He hath first loved us.” 21 But let us not
be mistaken; the love that God expects from us must have
the same exclusive and jealous quality because God alone is
worthy of being loved. As the cause and goal of all love, He
deserves to occupy in our soul, not only the first place, but
the whole of ourselves. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy
whole strength.” 22 He alone is to be adored: “I am the Lord
thy God . . . Thou shalt not have strange gods before
Me. ... I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous.” 23
His name alone is deserving of respect based on love:
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in
vain.” 24 By love we shall dedicate ourselves completely to
Him. “Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve Him
only; to Him thou shalt adhere, and shall swear by His name.
He is thy praise, and thy God.” 25 Certain times are re18 Deut. 6:5.
211 John 4:10.
24 Exod. 20:7.

19 Ps. 118:96.
20 Rom. 13:10; 10:4.
22 Deut. 6:5.
28 Exod. 20:1, 3, 5.
28 Deut. 10:20-21.

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served exclusively to the service of this love: “See that thou
keep My sabbath, because it is a sign between Me and you
in your generations: that you may know that I am the Lord
who sanctify you.” 26 This commandment of love should be
ever in man’s mind, the subject of all his thought, the aim of
all his actions.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. . . . And
these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy
heart, and thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt
meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy
journey, sleeping and rising. And thou shalt bind them as a sign
on thy hand, and they shall be and shall move between thy eyes.
And thou shalt write them in the entry, and on the doors of thy
house.27
This precept, which the Jews repeat every day as a pro­
fession of faith, was not addressed only to the chosen people.
On several occasions God called all nations to observe it:
“There shall be all one law and judgment both for you and
for them who are strangers in the land. . . . The same
law shall be for all.” 28 “Neither with you only do I make this
covenant and confirm these oaths. But with all that are
present and that are absent.” 29
The law is universal, perpetual, absolute. Whoever hears
the divine commandment is held to a response which re­
quires complete self-dedication by a definite choice to love
28 Exod. 31:13. When Christ performed miracles on the sabbath
(Matt. 12:10-17) He did it, not to disparage the sabbath itself, but
to restore the spirit of charity which should animate the law (Matt.
12:1-8).
27 Deut. 6:4, 6-9.
28 Num. 15:15, 29.
29 Deut. 29:14-15.

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with the whole heart, soul, and strength. “You who in time
past were not a people, but are now the people of God.” 30
“Unto whom coming, as to a living stone, rejected indeed
by men, but chosen and made honorable by God. Be you
also as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priest­
hood.” 31
By obeying the divine commandment, by giving his love
to God, man enters a new order, that of charity. Though by
his nature he continues to belong to the “world,” by the
object of his choice, which is God, he is raised to a super­
natural life which separates him from “earthly” men. Jesus
Christ uttered these definite words: “I pray not for the world,
but for them whom Thou hast given Me, because they are
Thine. . . . They are not of the world, as I also am not of
the world. I pray not that Thou should take them out of the
world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from evil.” 32
In the world the little flock of believers always forms a
group set apart, victims of every contradiction, a people
whose essential vocation—sanctity—requires that they be
cut off from “the world.” “You shall be holy unto Me be­
cause I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from
other people, that you should be Mine.” 33
Israel heeded the Lord’s summons by freely promising to
obey the divine commandment.
30 I Pet. 2:10 (a free translation of Osee 2:25).
311 Pet. 2:4-5.
32 John 17:9, 15-16.
33 Lev. 20:26. “But now, being made free from sin and become
servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the
end life everlasting” (Rom. 6:23). “You are not of the world”
(John 15:19). “For this is the will of God, your sanctification”
(I Thess. 4:3). “As He chose us in Him before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight in
charity” (Eph. 1:4).

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139

And Josue said to the people: You will not be able to serve
the Lord, for He is a holy God, and mighty and jealous, and will
not forgive your wickedness and sins. . . . And the people
said to Josue: No, it shall not be so, as thou sayest, but we will
serve the Lord. And Josue said to the people: You are witnesses,
that you yourselves have chosen you the Lord to serve Him.
And they answered: We are witnesses. Now therefore, said he,
put away strange gods from among you, and incline your hearts
to the Lord the God of Israel. And the people said to Josue: We
will serve the Lord our God, and we will be obedient to His
commandments.8*
And he went in to confirm as usual the covenant, that they
should seek the Lord the God of their fathers with all their
heart and with all their soul. And if any one, said he, seek not
the Lord the God of Israel, let him die, whether little or great,
man or woman. And they swore to the Lord with a loud voice,
. . . with all their heart they swore, and with all their will they
sought Him, and they found Him, and the Lord gave them rest
round about.35

The vow which bound Israel to God separated it from all
else and ordained the people to a supernatural life, a life of
sanctity: “You shall be My peculiar possession, above all
people ... a holy nation.” 36
But by what paths might man enter this realm of sanctity?
What consequences are involved in the divine command­
ment? At no time did God ever cease to communicate to
men His own sanctity which, as we have seen, is absolutely
transcendent. But God does not reveal this plan to men as a
fantastic ideal of such towering height as to be impossible
of attainment. It is presented as an accessible goal, a duty
8*Jos. 24:19-24.

35 II Par. 15:12-15.

30 Exod. 19:5-6.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

which cannot be evaded. The two precepts of love and
sanctity are closely connected and therefore it becomes pos­
sible for man to consent joyously to being cut off from his
sensual concupiscences, to being removed from the material
sphere where worldly men carry on their activities. The chil­
dren of the promise, the true Israelites, have a vocation
which is folly in the eyes of the world. God Himself is
Israel’s patrimony and Israel in turn is His chosen portion.37
That is why divine jealousy imposed a severe discipline upon
Israel and separated her from other nations by rigid prac­
tices. For the same reason, too, God accepted Israel as His
chosen people.
A vast number of Mosaic precepts emphasized this qual­
ity of being set apart, reserved for God. The whole nation
bore the mark of it, even on the flesh: “An infant of eight
days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child
in your generations.” 38 The commemoration of the libera­
tion from Egypt was the occasion for a more solemn con­
secration to God of those who were saved: “Sanctify unto
Me every firstborn.” 39 An even better living proof of Israel’s
belonging to God is found in the tribe of Levi, representing
the people and consecrated to the service of the temple: “I
have taken the Levites from the children of Israel, . . .
and the Levites shall be Mine. For every firstborn is
Mine.” 40
37 Christ clearly explained the consequences of this choice: “If
you had been of the world, the world would love its own; but be­
cause you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19).
38 Gen. 17:12. Circumcision was the sign of a wholly moral,
interior severance (cf. Rom. 2:25-29).
39 Exod. 13:2.
■*» Num. 3:12-13.

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141

In the Mosaic prescriptions every precaution was taken
to give the people a particular system of worship which dis­
tinguished them from surrounding nations, to such an ex­
tent that it became virtually impossible for them to mingle
their lives with others. History shows, however, that most of
the time these precautions were in vain. Human weakness,
as well as the contagion and attraction of example, make this
quite understandable. Yet always in the course of the cen­
turies there was found among the people a “small remnant”
which, through love of the Lord, chose to remain faithful to
His commandments.
God was never weary of bestowing His gifts on men. Like­
wise He never ceased hoping for their response to His love.
So many precepts stood guard to keep the chosen people
pure and intact that it seemed plausible to hope that an ap­
propriate response would come from them. Had the little
tribe been wholly faithful, it would have offered to God,
along with its own humble homage, that of all the nations
which it represented. “And you shall be to Me a priestly
kingdom, and a holy nation.” 41
The greatest commandment was a sacred law which made
ever-increasing demands. God’s faithful servants were sepa­
rated from the world and called to lead the world to Hun,
appointed as mediators before the divine throne, chosen as
His witnesses. “You are My witnesses, saith the Lord, and I
am God.” 42
Throughout the Bible there recurs an invariable law:
41 Exod. 19:6. Only Christ Himself, on coming to the world,
would exemplify perfectly this law of separation and of jealous
possession by God (cf. Luke 20:25).
42 Isa. 43:12.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

whenever a relationship of love arises between God and His
creature, it confirms the latter as mediator and intercessor.
To this vocation God called great leaders, the kings and the
prophets, but also humble servants and even the nation as a
whole at times when it was dedicated to love Him alone.43
But unfortunately, there was rarely found the generous
fidelity which aimed to offer God a love completely free of
selfish interest and capable of increasing to the dimensions
of His divine love. But God’s will follows inescapable laws.
As the whole nation could not understand or accomplish His
demands, He gave a special and direct call to certain in­
dividuals whom He consecrated more jealously to His serv­
ice, that is, the priests.
For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall
seek the law at his mouth; because he is the angel of the Lord
of hosts.44
And for these things who is so sufficient? For we are not as
many, adulterating the word of God; but with sincerity, but as
from God, before God, in Christ we speak.46
God requires that priests be truly withdrawn from all else
in order to serve Him. He demands that they abandon all
earthly ambition and all possessive spirit in order that they
may be consecrated to Him alone.

And the Lord said to Aaron: You shall possess nothing in
their land, neither shall you have a portion among them; I am
43 The same requirement is found in the New Testament: “Unto
whom coming, as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but
chosen and made honorable by God. Be you also as living stones
built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood” (I Pet. 2:4).
44 Mai. 2:7.
46 II Cor. 2:17.

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143

thy portion and inheritance in the midst of the children of
Israel.46
The priests and Levites, and all that are of the same tribe,
shall have no part nor inheritance with the rest of Israel, be­
cause they shall eat the sacrifices of the Lord, and His oblations,
and they shall receive nothing else of the possession of their
brethren; for the Lord Himself is their inheritance, as He hath
said to them.47
God chose them and drew them from the midst of their
brethren.48 He alone becomes their sole possession, their
treasure and their glory. “The oil of the holy unction of his
God is upon him. I am the Lord.” 49 God reminds them that
the priestly office requires sanctity.50 “They shall be holy to
their God, and shall not profane His name; for they offer
the burnt offering of the Lord, and the bread of their God,
and therefore they shall be holy.” 51
Sanctity is required of them because of their consecration
which vows them to God and to the rites of expiation.52
And thou shalt consecrate the hand of them all, and shalt
sanctify them, that they may do the office of priesthood unto
Me.53
«Num. 18:20.
47 Deut. 18:1-2.
48 “Neither doth any man take the honor to himself, but he that
is called by God, as Aaron was” (Heb. 5:4). “You have not chosen
Me, but I have chosen you” (John 15:16).
40 Lev. 21:12.
50 A sacred requirement which the present rite of ordination still
emphasizes.
51 Lev. 21:6.
62 “For every highpriest taken from among men is ordained for
men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts
and sacrifices for sins” (Heb. 5:1).
83 Exod. 28:41.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

And Aaron shall bear the iniquities of these things, which
the children of Israel have offered and sanctified, in all their
gifts and offerings.54
And the Lord said to Aaron: Thou and thy sons and thy
father’s house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary.65

God punished with a severity which we may find bewilder­
ing every neglect of the duties of the cult, even every slight
wavering in faith or loyalty.
And Nadab and Abiu, the sons of Aaron, taking their censers,
put fire therein, and incense on it, offering before the Lord
strange fire, which was not commanded them. And fire coming
out from the Lord destroyed them, and they died before the
Lord.50
And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Because you have
not believed Me, to sanctify Me before the children of Israel,
you shall not bring these people into the land, which I will give
them.57
In being so exacting, God shows what He expects of the
priests. Not only does He assign to them the role of medi­
ators, but He confers on them the fearful honor of following
the law of love with the greatest possible perfection and of
expressing it by both interior and exterior worship.58 Thus
Phinees and Esdras were praised for their burning zeal.
64 Exod. 28:38.
65 Num. 18:1.
68 Lev. 10:1-2.
67 Num. 20:12.
58 A fully efficacious mediation requires the holiness of the me­
diator, expressed by perfect charity. The Old Law, “a bringing in
of a better hope” (Heb. 7:19), could not confer such perfection. It
was attained only in Christ, born not of the line of Aaron and the
tribe of Levites, but of the royal lineage of Juda, priest according
to the order of Melchisedech. The institution of this new priesthood
which sealed the ancient promises in the blood of the new covenant
by no means broke away from the levitical priesthood in the spiritual

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And the covenant of the priesthood forever shall be both to
him and his seed, because he hath been zealous for his God,
and hath made atonement for the wickedness of the children
of Israel.59
[Esdras] . . . had prepared his heart to seek the law of the
Lord, and to do and to teach in Israel the commandments and
judgment . . . praying and beseeching and weeping, and lying
before the temple of God.60
Jonathan of the Machabees, whose efforts led to an al­
liance of peace with other nations, declared: “We, though
we needed none of these things, having for our comfort
the holy books that are in our hands, chose rather to send
to you to renew the brotherhood and friendship, lest we
should become strangers to you altogether.” 61
Also Simon Machabeus, without counting the cost, “re­
sisted and fought for his nation, and laid out much of his
money, and armed the valiant men of his nation, and gave
them wages . . . and sought by all means to advance his
people.” 62
Again and again in ancient times holy priests led the
people back to God’s paths, renewed for them the spiritual
meaning of the law of love “to which they listened with
tears,” and inspired them with joy in the cult of adoration
of the true God. “Then all the people together made haste,
and fell down to the earth upon their faces, to adore the
Lord their God, and to pray to the almighty God the Most
High. . . . Then [the highpriest] coming down, lifted up
sense, but portrayed more clearly the essence of the ideal which the
highpriests whom we mention here were striving to attain.
59 Num. 25:13.
60 I Esd. 7:10; 10:1.
611 Mach. 12:9-10.
62 I Mach. 14:32, 35.

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his hands over all the congregation of the children of Israel,
to give glory to God with his lips, and to glory in His
name.” 63
Filled with admiration of the priestly office, the people
join the inspired author in praying to God “that He might
give wisdom into our heart to judge His people in justice,
that the good things might not be abolished, and He made
their glory in their nation everlasting.” 64
Thus the priest’s life publicly testified that men should
love God with all their heart and all their strength and that
they should serve Him alone. This in itself would have
sufficed to make the priesthood a necessary institution and
endow it with a permanent and universal quality, like the
covenant itself, over and above the particular forms proper
to the Old Testament.
For thus saith the Lord: There shall not be cut off from
David a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.
Neither shall there be cut off from the priests and Levites a man
before My face to offer holocausts and to burn sacrifices, and to
kill victims continually. ... If My covenant with the day can
be made void, and My covenant with the night, that there should
not be day and night in their season, also My covenant with
David My servant may be made void, that he should not have
a son to reign upon his throne, and with the Levites and priests
My ministers. As the stars of heaven cannot be numbered nor
the sand of the sea be measured, so will I multiply the seed of
David My servant, and the Levites My ministers.®’

St. Augustine declared that the New Testament began
with Abraham. It can be said likewise that the covenant and
cult entrusted to the Levites originated a priesthood which,
63 Ecclus. 50:19, 22.

64 Ecclus. 45:31.

65 Jer. 33:17-22.

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even in those times, was destined to observe the law as per­
fectly as possible. The law prepared the way for the one,
true Priest. The consummation of the law was love. St.
Augustine said also that the law was pregnant with Christ.66
“I have given you your brethren the Levites and have
delivered them for a gift to the Lord.” 67 “They shall be
priests to Me by a perpetual ordinance.” 68
Thenceforth we may believe that God’s appeal would not
be in vain, but would elicit the proper response. The Lord
was to receive love for love.

Offerings and sacrifices
A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit; a contrite and humbled
heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. . . . Then shalt Thou
accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and whole burnt offer­
ings.69
Unto whom coming, ... to offer up spiritual sacrifices, ac­
ceptable to God by Jesus Christ.70
God’s jealous love demands that we respond by a love
that gives Him absolute preference. The Church has under­
stood this so well that she puts on our lips in the “Act of
Charity” the words: “O my God, I love Thee above all
things, with my whole heart and soul.” The whole of the
Old Testament shows man this divine choice, or rather,
this prime place that God should have in our lives. Clearly
it is not sufficient to give God “His share,” to acknowledge
by mere external cult, that we belong to Him because we
are His creatures. What is called for is an offering of self
which pledges our whole life to Him, just as God plights His
66 Cf. Sermo 20, de sanctis.
87 Num. 18:6.
««Exod. 29:9.
89 Ps. 50:19, 21.
70 I Pet. 2:4-5.

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total love. But in addition to this, our offering must neces­
sarily reflect our status as sinners.
From the very beginning sin changed the nature of the
relationship between God and man. This relationship should
have been a bond of love, but sin is essentially the rejection
of that love—not only the rejection but even the refusal.
Each time we sin we renounce and reject love. Thereupon
whatever offerings we may make in our role as creatures
have lost their primary significance as signs of His owner­
ship of us.71 To offset this refusal, sacrifice must express
more than love, must signify the renunciation of sin and the
preference for God : this constitutes the very essence of sacri­
fice. There must be included also all the sentiments of ex­
piation and humble compunction whereby man begs to be
reinstated in grace and affirms the conversion of his heart.
We must consider from this viewpoint the concepts of offer­
ing and of sacrifice, ideas which play such a preponderant
role in the Old Testament and are a corollary of the divine
commandment to “love the Lord thy God.”
Pagan religions hoped to win divine favor by gifts and
holocausts. Israel was often tempted to adopt a similar atti­
tude. Even in the time of Ecclesiasticus the people had to
be reminded of the transcendent doctrine imparted from the
beginning, which revealed the moral and spiritual basis of
sacrifice. What is wanted is the pure intention of our heart
71 "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in
darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light,
as He also is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. . . .
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth
is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive
us our sins” (I John 1:6-10). “For all have sinned, and do need the
glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).

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turned toward God. “The Lord had respect to Abel, and
to his offerings. But to Cain and his offerings, He had no
respect; and Cain was exceedingly angry, and his counte­
nance fell. And the Lord said to him: Why art thou angry?
and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou do well, shalt
thou not receive? but if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present
at the door? but the lust thereof shall be under thee, and
thou shalt have dominion over it.” 72
The Psalmist asks God to create in him a pure heart,
knowing that God looks favorably upon whatever proceeds
from a cleansed soul. “Then shalt Thou accept the sacrifice
. . . oblations and whole burnt offerings . . . upon Thy
altar.” 73 Sin separated man from God by diverting his heart
from its true direction: “But your iniquities have divided
between you and your God, and your sins have hid His
face from you that He should not hear.” 74 But sin is not a
permanent obstacle. Divine mercy will accept sacrifice as a
sign of interior conversion, if it be sincere: “And My people,
upon whom My name is called, being converted, shall make
supplication to Me, and seek out My face, and do penance
for their most wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.” 76 What
God constantly seeks is the heart of man. Once He receives
it, His mercy will fill the chasm that was excavated by sin;
the spiritual bond will be formed again; gifts will be ac­
cepted. “Until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed; then
shall they pray for their sins. And I will remember My
covenant, that I made with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abra­
ham.” 76 “In the land in which they shall please Me, and
72 Gen. 4:5-7.
75 II Par. 7:14.

73Ps. 50:21.
74 Isa. 59:2.
76 Lev. 26:40-41.

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there will I require your firstfruits, and the chief of your
tithes with all your sanctifications. I will accept of you for
an odor of sweetness.” 77
The prophets especially insist upon interior conversion,
upon worship in spirit and in truth rendered by a loyal heart
permanently amended, a pure and faithful heart in which
flourishes love of neighbor. They denounce as lies and hy­
pocrisy mere external worship from which the heart is ab­
sent.78 “Behold in the day of your fast your own will is
found, and you exact of all your debtors. Behold you fast
for debates and strife, and strike with the fist wickedly. Do
not fast as you have done until this day, to make your cry
to be heard on high. Is this such a fast as I have chosen:
for a man to afflict his soul for a day?” 79
Whenever men reject God’s love-infused law, He rejects
their sacrifices.
To what purpose do you offer Me the multitude of your vic­
tims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams,
and fat of failings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck
goats. . . . Offer sacrifice no more in vain. . . . Wash your­
selves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from My
eyes; cease to do perversely.80
If I should be hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is
Mine, and the fullness thereof. Shall I eat the flesh of bullocks?
or shall I drink the blood of goats? 81
I hate and have rejected your festivities, and I will not re77 Ezech. 20:40.
78 Christ was to speak similarly: “You are they who justify them­
selves before men, but God knoweth your hearts; for that which is
high to men, is an abomination before God” (Luke 16:15).
79Isa. 58:3-5.
80 Isa. 1:11-16.
81 Ps. 49:12-13.

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ceive the odor of your assemblies. And if you offer Me holo­
causts and your gifts, I will not receive them; neither will I
regard the vows of your fat beasts.82
To what purpose do you bring Me frankincense from Saba,
and the sweet smelling cane from a far country? Your holocausts
are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to Me.83

If ritual sacrifice be dissociated from its interior and moral
meaning, it lacks its main ingredient. It brings a bountiful
harvest to a life faithful in the observance of the command­
ments, but it is sterile and incurs condemnation for those
who make their offering while planning evil in their hearts
and committing sins. “Pray not for this people. . . . When
they fast I will not hear their prayers; and if they offer
holocausts and victims, I will not receive them.” 84 “For I
desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God
more than holocausts.” 85
No sacrifice can find favor in God’s sight if the law of
love is neglected.80 When the people ask what sacrifice they
should make, the prophet gives the answer.
What shall I offer to the Lord that is worthy? Wherewith shall
I kneel before the high God? Shall I offer holocausts unto Him,
and calves of a year old? May the Lord be appeased with thou­
sands of rams, or with many thousands of fat he-goats? Shall
I give my firstborn for my wickedness, the fruit of my body for
the sin of my soul? I will show thee, O man, what is good, and
82 Amos 5:21-22.
83 Jer. 6:20.
84 Jer. 14:11-12.
85 Osee 6:6.
88 If the spirit is absent, the observance of the letter of the law
is not only worthless, but displeases God, as, for instance, in the
observance of the sabbath to the detriment of charity. In this con­
nection Christ was to repeat Osee’s words.

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what the Lord requireth of thee: verily, to do judgment, and to
love mercy, and to walk solicitous with thy God.87
When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and the seventh
month for these seventy years, did you keep a fast unto Me?
. . . Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the
hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem as yet was in­
habited. . . . Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: Judge ye
true judgment and show ye mercy and compassion, every man to
his brother. And oppress not the widow, and the fatherless, and
the stranger, and the poor; and let not a man devise evil in his
heart against his brother.88

God’s revelation invited men to complete reintegration
and total conversion of the heart and actions. Only on this
condition could sacrifice acquire its spiritual meaning and
prove truly efficacious, truly accepted by God.
Now therefore saith the Lord: Be converted to Me with all
your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning. And
rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord
your God.89
If you will hearken to Me, saith the Lord, . . . they shall
come from the cities of Juda, and from the places round about
Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plains,
and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing holo­
causts, and victims, and sacrifices, and frankincense, and they
shall bring in an offering into the house of the Lord.80

This law holds good for all time, in every place, among
all races. “The children of the stranger that adhere to the
Lord, to worship Him, and to love His name, to be His
servants, and that holdeth fast My covenant, I will bring
87 Mich. 6:6-8.
80Jer. 17:24-26.

88 Zach. 7:5-10.

88 Joel 2:12.

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them into My holy mount, and will make them joyful in
My house of prayer; their holocausts, and their victims shall
please Me upon My altar, for My house shall be called the
house of prayer, for all nations.” 91
The essential conditions of any truly religious life and
the basis of any sacrifice truly acceptable to God must be
a real conversion of the heart and will to divine love and a
conversion of habits and of all life to infinite good. More­
over there could be no question of reconciling various spirit­
ual and material exigencies, of entertaining the desire for
evil while offering God a hypocritical worship. Ezechiel
was filled with horror when he saw in a dream the temple
desecrated and soiled by impure sacrifices offered there.
Its walls covered with paintings testified how many idols
men continued to adore.92 God does not permit any idols in
our hearts. He wants not only the first place, but the whole
of our homage: “I am the Lord, this is My name; I will not
give My glory to another nor My praise to graven things.” 93
He punishes ruthlessly those who offer Him sacrilegious
worship. But on the other hand, He shows overwhelming
generosity to faithful souls: “I will take you to Myself for
My people; I will be your God.” 94
Indeed, that is the whole question. Will God be “our
God” or not? Will we love Him alone above all things and
love all else in Him? The Bible requires a love of absolute
preference involving our whole self, a love proceeding not
only from the mind but from faith expressed in the actions
of our whole life. The connection between gifts and sacrifice
is so close and so profound, it is so clearly evident that gifts
81 Isa. 56:6-7.
84 Exod. 6:7.

82 Cf. Ezech. 5:5-18.

83 Isa. 42:8.

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and sacrifices are the sacraments of true love, that Holy
Scripture is content to teach it in the great precept of divine
love: “Thou shalt love . . . with all thy heart, with all thy
strength, with all thy mind.” And so we see that on every
page sacrifice appears as the necessary and spontaneous
expression of man’s link with God. It is the means whereby
man cuts himself off from sin and chooses God in his mind
and his heart.
Though wooed by God, the heart of man is still weak,
prone to be satisfied with the least effort, tempted to keep
back something for self by subtle compromise. To protect
man from himself, Moses and his followers multiplied their
regulations, leaving nothing to personal discretion, allowing
no negligence. They constantly recalled the sacred char­
acter of a gift freely offered and the interior sentiments which
should accompany it. They spurred men’s hearts toward
sincerity and perfection in giving.
Of the countless details so fully recorded in the Penta­
teuch, we shall note here only the two requisites of generos­
ity and perfection. Generosity first of all: there must be no
force or pressure, for man is free in making his offering05
and its value depends upon his generosity. “Speak to the
children of Israel, that they bring firstfruits to Me; of every
man that offereth of his own accord, you shall take them.” 96
“But every one shall offer according to what he hath, ac­
cording to the blessing of the Lord his God, which He shall
give him.” 97
95 Cf. Acts 5:2-6. Ananias was free to dispose of his possessions
as he pleased, but by a lie he usurped the honor of a complete
sacrifice. In a scene reminiscent of the Old Testament, he and his
wife were struck dead as a punishment of their fraud.
88 Exod. 25:2.
87 Deut. 16:17.

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God, of course, has no need of our material gifts; what
He loves and esteems is the “humble and contrite heart,”
spontaneous love which wonderfully enhances the least
actions. David understood this well (and the people with
him) when he uttered his admirable prayer on the eve of
building the temple. He emphasized that the readiness to
offer gifts generously and wholeheartedly is the fruit of a
very special grace from God.

I with all my ability have prepared the expenses for the house
of my God. Gold . . . and silver . . . brass . . . iron . . .
wood . . . onyx stones . . . and all manner of precious stones.
. . . Now over and above the things which I have offered into
the house of my God, I give of my own proper goods, gold and
silver for the temple of my God. . . . Now if any man is will­
ing to offer, let him fill his hand today, and offer what he pleaseth to the Lord. Then the heads of families, and the princes
. . . gave for the works of the house of the Lord. . . . And
the people rejoiced when they promised their offerings willingly,
because they offered them to the Lord with all their heart; and
David the king rejoiced also with a great joy. And he blessed the
Lord before all the multitude and he said: Blessed art Thou, O
Lord the God of Israel, our Father from eternity to eternity.
Thine, O Lord, is magnificence, and power, and glory, and
victory; and to Thee is praise; for all that is in heaven and in
earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art
above all princes. Thine are riches, and Thine is glory, Thou
hast dominion over all, in Thy hand is power and might; in Thy
hand greatness and the empire of all things. Now therefore our
God we give thanks to Thee and we praise Thy glorious name.
Who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to
promise Thee all these things? All things are Thine, and we have
given Thee what we received of Thy hand. ... I know my

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God that Thou provest hearts and lovest simplicity, wherefore
I also in the simplicity of my heart, have joyfully offered all
these things; and I have seen with great joy Thy people, which
are here present, offer Thee their offerings. O Lord God of
Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Israel our fathers, keep forever
this will of their hearts, and let this mind remain always for the
worship of Thee.98

The second quality strongly emphasized with regard to
sacrifices is the mark of perfection.99 The gift must be un­
conditional and final. “Seeing Thou blessest it, O Lord, it
shall be blessed forever.” 100 “But a beast that may be sacri­
ficed to the Lord, if any one shall vow, shall be holy, and
cannot be changed, that is to say, neither a better for a
worse, nor a worse for a better.” 101
The oblation must be without blemish, because it is
offered to God. “The man of the house of Israel, and of the
strangers who dwell with you, that offereth his oblation,
either paying his vows or offering of his own accord, what­
soever it be which he presenteth for a holocaust of the
Lord. ... If it have a blemish you shall not offer it, neither
98 I Par. 29:2-18.
" The victim’s perfection, as required by the Mosaic code, was
right and fitting as an expression of two symbolic meanings. First,
as an image of things to come: the victim’s perfection represented
that of the Lamb of God who was to be welcomed by John the
Baptist. Secondly, as a substitute for sinners: the offering of a victim
without blemish was a foretoken expressing the desire for a perfect
gift, worthy of God. Christ, in turn, was to require a total and flaw­
less sacrifice of anyone who wished to follow Him with complete
dedication: “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast . . .
and come follow Me” (Matt. 19:21).
1901 Par. 17:27.
101 Lev. 27:9-10.

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shall it be acceptable. ... If it be blind, or broken, or
have a scar . . . you shall not offer them . . . because
they are all corrupted and defiled; you shall not receive
them.” 102
The minute prescriptions of the Book of Leviticus reg­
ulate the rite of immolation so precisely that the scene seems
to take place before our eyes. This underlines the seriousness
of the act to be performed. Because man makes his sacrifice
to an infinitely holy God who sees and sounds all hearts, he
must offer the best of his possessions, he must first be puri­
fied, and then approach the altar with feelings of fear.
“Every man of your race that approacheth to those things
that are consecrated, and which the children of Israel have
offered to the Lord, in whom there is uncleanness, shall
perish before the Lord. I am the Lord. . . . But when he
hath washed his flesh with water, and the sun is down, then
being purified, he shall eat of the sanctified things, because
it is his meat.” 103
In this way the moral aim behind these external and legal
purifications became evident to men who gradually under­
stood the spirit of sacrifice. Loving allegiance was expressed
by the offering of the best of one’s possessions as a voluntary
homage of the human person to God. The official rite of
sacrifice dictated by God Himself to Moses marked this in
a striking way by living symbols. The victim represents the
soul, which gives itself to a God, whose jealous love is mani­
fest in every gesture of the priest. The object vowed to God
must first be consecrated, so that it becomes irrevocably His
and may no longer serve a profane purpose. The imposition
of hands is the symbolic gesture which sets apart and marks
102 Lev. 22:18-25.

103 Lev. 22:3, 6-7.

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with a permanent seal all that is dedicated to the Lord.104
“And when the Levites are before the Lord, the children of
Israel shall put their hands upon them. . . . The Levites
also shall put their hands upon the heads of the oxen. . . .
And thou shalt separate them from the midst of the children
of Israel, to be Mine.” 105 By extension, the same gesture
signified that the victim offered in expiation, reparation or
thanksgiving became a substitute for man who immolated
himself by the assent of his heart. “And he shall put his
hand upon the head of the victim, and it shall be acceptable,
and help to its expiation.” 106
The blood of the victim, considered as the principle of
life, is poured out on the altar, and in this act the soul, re­
leased from every obstacle, completely liberated, can pour
itself out before God wholly exposed to His eyes. “Only
beware of this, that thou eat not the blood, . . . but thou
shalt pour it upon the earth as water.” 107 “Because the life
of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you, that
you may make atonement with it upon the altar for your
souls, and the blood may be for an expiation of the soul.” 108
The blood is a symbol of a life ready to give itself totally:
it is likewise a testimony of the covenant between the soul
and God: “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord
hath made with you.” 109 So spoke Moses as he sprinkled
104 The imposition of hands is still practiced in the rite of bap­
tism. It occurs at the moment when the priest beseeches God to
break the bonds of sin and to mark the child with the sign of His
wisdom. It acquires its full meaning in the ordination of priests.
105 Num. 8:10-14.
106 Lev. 1:4.
107 Deut. 12:23-24.
108 Lev. 17:11.
109 Exod. 24:8; cf. Heb. 9:16: “For where there is a testament,
the death of the testator must of necessity come in.”

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the assembled people with blood brought from the altar.
Mysteriously, one might even say mystically, new life springs
from the blood that was shed. “And the priest shall take of
the blood with his finger, and shall touch the horns of the
altar of holocaust, and shall pour out the rest at the foot
thereof. . . . And he shall pray for him, and it shall be
forgiven him.” 110
Thenceforth the victim was a holy and sacred thing, so
totally transferred to God that it had to be completely con­
sumed. The priest’s own privileged offering was indeed to­
tally destroyed and sacrifice by fire became an expressive
symbol of the action of a God who had declared that He
was Himself a devouring fire. But, while the best part of
the offering was always completely consumed by fire on the
altar of the temple, the parts considered unclean, as they
were a reminder of sin which has thenceforth been banished,
were burnt at a distance.111 “All the fat shall be the Lord’s.
By a perpetual law for your generations, and in all your hab­
itations; neither blood nor fat shall you eat at all. . . . And
the rest of the body he shall carry forth without the camp
into a clean place where the ashes are wont to be poured out,
and he shall burn them upon a pile of wood, they shall be
burnt in the place where the ashes are poured out.” 112
The victim’s blood poured out is a symbol of the soul;
the fire on the altar is a figure of divine love which purifies
and transforms. These highly significant yet woefully inno Lev. 4:30-31.
111 Cf. Heb. 13:11-16: “Wherefore Jesus also that He might
sanctify the people by His own blood, suffered without the gate.”
Cf. also John 1:29: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who
taketh away the sin of the world.”
112 Lev. 3:17; 4:12.

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adequate images represent the contract of love between God
and the soul.
Sacrifice, the expression of love

O Lord, . . . Thou hast broken my bonds: I will sacrifice to
Thee the sacrifice of praise.113
I beseech you . . . that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your reasonable service.114

Sacrifice because of sin corresponds clearly to the ideas of
expiation and reparation. But in itself sacrifice is also the
necessary expression of a will pledged with all fervor to
serve one who is loved above all else.115116
That being so,
sacrifice is the will’s one way to atone for past faults, to
express eagerness to serve, or to sing the praise rising from
the heart. The will is spontaneously immolated to God’s
good pleasure.11®
The first pages of the Sacred Book show us that the nu­
merous holocausts offered to Yahweh were almost all sacri­
fices of thanksgiving. This is explained by the worthiness of
the patriarchs and their deep awareness of divine transcend­
ence. Yet the greater part of the Bible is haunted by the
113 Ps. 115:7.
114 Rom. 12:1.
115 “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is
not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it” (Matt.
10:38-39).
116 Under the New Testament dispensation only one sacrifice can
be offered, that of Christ, for by His unique oblation He secured
eternal perfection for those who are sanctified. “Now where there
is a remission of sins, there is no more an oblation for sin” (Heb.
10:18). But it is important to note that sharing the life of Christ
means sharing, in every way and voluntarily, the sacrifice of praise
and expiation which He came to offer. “Behold I come . . . that
I should do Thy will, O my God” (Ps. 39:8-9).

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idea of penance and by the offering of sacrifices of expiation,
proving the people’s profound realization of the offense to
God, their will to return to Him, their trust in divine mercy.
They had been given absolute assurance of that mercy. Was
it not affirmed in the precepts God gave to Moses regarding
propitiatory sacrifices? “But the fat he shall burn . . . and
the priest shall pray for him and for his sin, and it shall be
forgiven him.” 117 The sacrifice of expiation was, therefore,
highly esteemed by faithful servants of Yahweh. We see an
admirable example of this in the holy man Job who, fearing
lest his sons might have sinned in the course of a banquet,
“sent to them, and sanctified them, and rising up early offered
holocausts for every one of them. For he said: Lest perhaps
my sons have sinned.” 118
But ritual sacrifice was in vain if not accompanied by the
proper interior sentiments. On the other hand, God always
responds mercifully if these sentiments be present, whatever
form of expression they may take. Prayer, fasting and pen­
ance, besides being signs of a sincere conversion, were also
powerful means of obtaining divine pardon.110 Even the
pagan and impious city of Ninive experienced God’s mercy.

And Jonas began to enter into the city . . . and he cried,
and said: Yet forty days, and Ninive shall be destroyed. And
the men of Ninive believed in God; and they proclaimed a fast,
and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least. And the
word came to the king of Ninive; and he rose up out of his
117 Lev. 4:26; cf. Lev. 4:31, 35; 5:10.
118 Job. 1:5.
119 Christ was to stress the efficacy of these practices, as well as
the interior attitude that should inspire them: “But thou, when thou
fastest, anoint thy head and wash thy face, that thou appear not to
men to fast, but to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father who
seeth in secret, will repay thee” (Matt. 6:17-18).

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throne and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed with
sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed.
. . . Let neither men nor beasts . . . feed, nor drink water.
. . . And let men . . . cry to the Lord with all their strength,
and let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the
iniquity that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn,
and forgive; and will turn away from His fierce anger, and we
shall not perish? And God saw their works, that they were
turned from their evil way; and God had mercy with regard to
the evil which He had said that He would do to them, and He
did it not.120
It is true that often men’s hearts inclined to humility and
repentance only because of imminent punishment. But God
does not disdain these first steps toward Him. “Thus saith
the Lord the God of Israel: Forasmuch as thou hast heard
the words of the book, and thy heart hath been moved to
fear, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, hearing
the words against this place, and the inhabitants thereof,
. . . and thou hast rent thy garments, and wept before Me, I
also have heard thee, saith the Lord.” 121
It often happens also that men repent and beg God’s help
in order to win a victory.122 “So when they had all done this
together, and had craved mercy of the Lord with weeping
and fasting, lying prostrate on the ground for three days
continually, Judas exhorted them to make themselves
ready.” 123
Already on Mount Sinai, on the eve of God’s manifesta­
bo Jonas 3:4-10.
121IV Kings 22:18-19.
122 Christ was to teach His disciples who had been unable to
drive out the demons from a man possessed: “But this kind is not
cast out but by prayer and fasting” (Matt. 17:21).
123II Mach. 13:12.

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tion, the people had been invited to purify themselves by
penance in order to be able to hear Yahweh’s words. “Go
to the people, and sanctify them today, and tomorrow, and
let them wash their garments. And let them be ready, against
the third day.” 124 A real asceticism, based on interior hu­
mility and supported by penitential practices suggested in
the precepts, helped to keep men’s hearts turned toward
God. Times of special austerity were provided as an invita­
tion to lead an interior life and to make their conversion
more complete. “And this shall be to you an everlasting
ordinance: The seventh month, and the tenth day of the
month, you shall afflict your souls,125 and shall do no work.
. . . Upon this day shall be the expiation for you, and the
cleansing from all your sins; you shall be cleansed before
the Lord. For it is a sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict
your souls by a perpetual religion.” 128
The best of the Jews lived a life of sacrifice through love
of the divine commandments. They conformed to the severe
and habitual discipline which comprised countless details
of daily life. The spiritual reward of their service was often
evident. When the four Hebrew youths at the court of Baby­
lon persevered in their austere abstinence without suffering
any injury to their health, “God gave [them] knowledge and
understanding in every book, and wisdom; but to Daniel the
understanding also of all visions and dreams.” 127 Likewise,
the sages of the Old Testament acquired their deep insight
124 Exod. 19:10-11. Christ too gave an example of penance before
beginning His public ministry. He fasted in the desert for forty days
and forty nights. Cf. Matt. 4:2.
125 The word “afflict” means here to mortify both physically and
spiritually.
128 Lev. 16:29-31.
127 Dan. 1:17.

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into divine mysteries by reason of their holy lives rigidly
devoted to penance and prayer.
But especially when God’s great friends experience times
of trouble, then the transformation of hearts becomes most
evident and most wonderfully impressive. We may cite
David’s attitude when he fled from his son Absalom, usurper
of the throne. He admirably combined deep humility with
wonderful prudence, love of neighbor with oblivion of in­
sult.

But David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, going up
and weeping, walking barefoot, and with his head covered, and
all the people that were with them, went up with their heads
covered weeping. . . . And behold there came out ... a man
named Semei and ... he cursed as he went on, and he threw
stones at David, and at all the servants of king David: . . .
And the king said to Abisai and to all his servants: Behold my
son, who came forth from my bowels, seeketh my life; how
much more now a son of Jemini? Let him alone that he may
curse as the Lord hath bidden him. Perhaps the Lord may look
upon my affliction, and the Lord may render me good for the
cursing of this day. And David and his men with him went by
the way. And Semei by the hill’s side went over against him,
cursing, and casting stones at him, and scattering earth.128

Besides humility and repentance, which show the sincerity
of the soul’s relationship to God, there arises also the desire
to prove its love. To do so it must repair as far as possible
the offense to God or the wrong done to neighbor. Again
God, in His power and mercy, graciously provided men
with a ritual sacrifice which rededicated what had been
128 II Kings 15:30; 16:6, 11, 13.

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snatched from Him and restored all things to their original
order.
If any one shall sin through mistake, transgressing the cere­
monies in those things that are sacrificed to the Lord, he shall
offer for his offense a ram without blemish out of the flocks.
. . . And he shall make good the damage itself which he hath
done, and shall add the fifth part besides, delivering it to the
priest, who shall pray for him, offering the ram, and it shall
be forgiven him. . . . Whosoever shall sin and, despising the
Lord, shall deny to his neighbor the thing delivered to his keep­
ing, which was committed to his trust; or shall by force extort
any thing, or commit oppression; or shall find a thing lost, and
denying it, shall also swear falsely, or shall do any other of the
many things wherein men are wont to sin; being convicted of
the offense, he shall restore all that he would have gotten by
fraud, in the principal, and the fifth part besides to the owner,
whom he wronged. Moreover for his sin he shall offer a ram
without blemish out of the flock, and shall give it to the priest,
. . . and he shall pray for him before the Lord, and he shall
have forgiveness for everything in doing of which he hath
sinned. . . . This also is the law of the sacrifice for a trespass,
it is most holy.129

By a wholly gratuitous favor, God grants this total and
merciful restoration, along with the formal promise of par­
don in answer to sincere prayer rising to Him. There is no
taint so black that it cannot be totally obliterated and com­
pensated by a greater love. The Psalmist cried out: “Thou
129 Lev. 5:15-16; 6:2-7; 7:1. In the Gospel we see that Zaccheus,
though he was a sinner, followed this rule. On that account, and
also because of his humility, our Lord spoke words of salvation to
him (Luke 19:8).

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shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; Thou
shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. To
my hearing Thou shalt give joy and gladness; and the bones
that have been humbled shall rejoice. Turn away Thy face
from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. . . . Restore
unto me the joy of Thy salvation, . . . and my tongue shall
extol Thy justice.” 130
Certain pages of the Bible overflow with the joy of this
deep and total renewal. When the temple which had been
desecrated was purified once more and sacrifice was offered
to reconsecrate it to God, Ezechias assembled the priests
and Levites.

And he said to them: Hear me, ye Levites, and be sanctified;
purify the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and
take away all filth out of the sanctuary. . . . And Ezechias
commanded that they should offer holocausts upon the altar; and
when the holocausts were offered, they began to sing praises to
the Lord, and to sound with trumpets and divers instruments
which David the king of Israel had prepared. And all the multi­
tude adored, and the singers and the trumpeters were in their
office till the holocaust was finished. And when the oblation was
ended, the king and all that were with him bowed down and
adored. . . . And Ezechias added, and said: You have filled
your hands to the Lord, come and offer victims, and praises in
the house of the Lord.131
The material injury caused by sin, however great it might
be, could be repaired. But the moral damage of the soul
committing it is in itself irreparable. Even if the soul made
restitution to the limit of its assets, even if a thousand sacri­
fices were offered in atonement of the offense to God, the
130 Ps. 50:9-11, 14, 16.

131II Par. 29:5, 27-31.

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soul could not, on that account, be restored to grace. It
could be fully pardoned only by being redeemed. But at
what price? God Himself fixed the price, but a price so
absurdly low that its symbolic meaning is clearly evident.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: When thou shalt take
the sum of the children of Israel according to their number,
every one of them shall give a price for their souls to the Lord.
. . . And this shall every one give that passeth at the naming,
half a side according to the standard of the temple. . . . The
rich man shall not add to half a side, and the poor man shall
diminish nothing. . . . That it may be a memorial of them
before the Lord, and He may be merciful to their souls.132

This coin is undoubtedly a symbol, for no ransom could
be the equivalent of the infinite value of a soul. “No brother
can redeem, nor shall man redeem; he shall not give to God
his ransom. Nor the price of the redemption of his soul; and
shall labor forever, and shall still live unto the end.” 133
The only adequate ransom would be the treasure of the
redemptive blood of Jesus Christ,134 to which we may add
our own humble efforts to be generous in sacrifice, fervent
in expressing love, merciful in dealing with our neighbor.
And thus the abundance of divine mercy will be opened for
us. “For alms delivereth from death, and the same is that
which purgeth away sins, and maketh to find mercy and
life everlasting.” 135*
132 Exod. 30:11-16.
133 Ps. 48:8-9.
134 “For the Son of man . . . [has come] to give His life a re­
demption for many” (Mark 10:45).
135 Tob. 12:9. To practice mercy draws down upon man God’s
mercy and also gives proof of a restored soul alive with charity.
God is wonderfully pleased with such service. “Present yourselves

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Another special type of sacrifice found in the Old Testa­
ment consisted principally of ardent prayer. Though such
prayer was not, of course, absent from the rites already con­
sidered, yet the place it holds in this case is noteworthy. It
shows that Israel never considered sacrifice as a rite endowed
with magic power, but as an action which was effective only
so far as the one who offered it was humble and trusted God.
One might say that the soul of sacrifice was the prayer
which accompanied it. The one offering it acknowledged
his profound unworthiness of the favor he asks. Yet he im­
plores it fervently. Thus sacrifice is tantamount to the re­
sponse to a tacit promise of divine benevolence. It is a kind
of anticipated thanksgiving for a gift which is expected with
the certainty of a boundless trust. So Jacob’s ardent desire
suggested the idea of the sacrifice which he offered to Yah­
weh:
And Jacob arising in the morning, took the stone which he
had laid under his head, and set it up for a title, pouring oil
upon the top of it. And he called the name of the city Bethel.
. . . And he made a vow, saying: If God shall be with me, and
shall keep me in the way by which I walk, and shall give me
bread to eat, and raiment to put on, and I shall return pros­
perously to my father’s house; the Lord shall be my God; and
this stone, which I have set up for a title, shall be called the
house of God; and of all things that Thou shalt give to me, I
will offer tithes to Thee.13®

Prayer and sacrifice call for each other and complete
each other. The one is the expression of the other. Often we*
138
to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as
instruments of justice unto God” (Rom. 6:13).
138 Gen. 28:18-22.

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see them closely associated, as at times of national disaster
or when an important favor is requested. “And they said to
Samuel: Cease not to cry to the Lord our God for us, that
He may save us out of the hand of the Philistines. And
Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it whole for a holo­
caust to the Lord; and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel,
and the Lord heard him.” 137
Sacrifice united to prayer pleased God even more when
it expressed the sentiments of a multitude or when it was
offered for the salvation of all the people. In the course of
a terrible affliction which fell upon the people as a result of
their sins, David “built there an altar to the Lord; and he
offered holocausts and peace offerings, and he called upon
the Lord, and He heard him by sending fire from heaven
upon the altar of the holocaust. And the Lord commanded
the angel; and he put up his sword again into his sheath.” 138
The ultimate reason for the reprieve granted through
sacrifice is the absolute trust of the plea for help and mercy.
When this trust is expressed in faith’s chant of praise, it is
so dear to God that He grants whatever is hoped for.139 A
striking instance is found when the Bible recounts how the
people were about to perish in a military invasion at the
time of Josaphat:
And Josaphat being seized with fear betook himself wholly to
pray to the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Juda. . . .
137 I Kings 7:8-9.
138 I Par. 21:26.
139 “And this is the confidence which we have toward Him; that
whatsoever we shall ask according to His will, He heareth us. And
we know that He heareth us whatsoever we ask; we know that we
have the petitions which we request of Him” (I John 5:14-15).
“And all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you
shall receive” (Matt. 21:22).

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And all Juda stood before the Lord with their little ones, and
their wives, and their children. And Jahaziel . . . was there,
upon whom the spirit of the Lord came in the midst of the
multitude. And he said: Attend ye, all Juda. . . . Thus saith
the Lord to you : Fear ye not, and be not dismayed at this multi­
tude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow you
shall go down against them. ... It shall not be you that shall
fight, but only stand with confidence, and you shall see the help
of the Lord over you. . . . And as they were marching, Josaphat standing in the midst of them, said: Hear me, ye men of
Juda, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in the Lord
your God, and you shall be secure; believe His prophets, and
all things shall succeed well. And he gave counsel to the people,
and appointed the singing men of the Lord, to praise Him by
their companies, and to go before the army, and with one voice
to say: Give glory to the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever.
And when they began to sing praises, the Lord turned their ambushments upon themselves, that is to say, of the children of
Ammon, . . . and they turned also against one another, and
destroyed one another.140
Absolute trust, penance, and humble prayer produced the
strength and victory of Judith and comprised the only adorn­
ment of Esther when she bowed down before God. “And
when she had laid away her royal apparel, she put on gar­
ments suitable for weeping and mourning; instead of divers
precious ointments, she covered her head with ashes and
dung, and she humbled her body with fasts; and all the
places in which before she was accustomed to rejoice, she
filled with her torn hair. And she prayed to the Lord the
God of Israel, saying: O my Lord, who alone art our king,
140 II Par. 20:3, 13-23.

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help me a desolate woman, and who have no other helper
but Thee.” 141
With what remarkable freedom these souls express their
trust and compunction in gestures adapted to the circum­
stances! Here the law no longer prescribed their actions and
yet who could fail to recognize the element of sacrifice?
This teaches us the sacrificial value implicit in attitudes of
humility, consecration to God and absolute trust in His
mercy. Since the soul of a just man comprises all these
sentiments, he need only utter his prayer to God to have it
granted. God Himself assured Abimelech that Abraham’s
prayer had extraordinary power: “He shall pray for thee,
and thou shalt live.” 142 Moses stretched out his arms over
the people as a sign of intercession and was granted their
salvation.143 What touching signs of love and tokens of deep
faith are found when the chant of praise precedes the plea
for help! However long the delay, trust can never waver.
Anna’s prayer, full of anguish and yet penetrated with the
harsh savor of incense offered in the evening sacrifice, is a
wonderful example of how graciously God grants such re­
quests.

As Anna had her heart full of grief, she prayed to the Lord,
shedding many tears. And she made a vow, saying: O Lord of
hosts, if Thou wilt look down on the affliction of Thy servant.
. . . And it came to pass, as she multiplied prayers before the
Ml Esther 14:2-3.
142 Gen. 20:7.
143 Of. Luke 18:1-8: “And He spoke also a parable to them,
that we ought always to pray, and not to faint. . . . And will not
God revenge His elect who cry to Him day and night; and will He
have patience in their regard? . . . But yet the Son of man, when
He cometh, shall He find, think you, faith on earth?”

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Lord, that Heli observed her mouth. And now Anna spoke in
her heart, and only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard
at all. Heli therefore thought her to be drunk. . . . Anna an­
swering, said: Not so, my lord; for I am an exceedingly un­
happy woman, and have drunk neither wine nor any strong
drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord. . . .
For out of the abundance of my sorrow and grief have I spoken
till now. Then Heli said to her: Go in peace; and the God of
Israel grant thee thy petition, which thou hast asked of Him.
... So the woman went on her way, and ate, and her counte­
nance was no more changed. . . . And it came to pass when
the time was come about, Anna conceived and bore a son, and
called his name Samuel, because she had asked him of the
Lord.144
Doubtless, truly humble souls alone are able to compre­
hend the extent and the depth of God’s mercy. Their sole
attitude, therefore, becomes praise, blessing, and thanks­
giving. “What shall I render to the Lord, for all the things
that He hath rendered to me? I will take the chalice of sal­
vation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord.” 145 From
the beginning to the end of time the faith of such souls makes
them models for us. Not by chance do the great patriarchs
make thanksgiving the principal element, almost the only
motive, in the sacrifices they offered to God. Their zeal
prompted them to build altars to Yahweh for sacrifices of
praise. “And Noe built an altar unto the Lord; and taking
of all cattle and fowls that were clean, offered holocausts
upon the altar.” 149 “And the Lord appeared to Abram . . .
144 I Kings 1:10-20.
146 Ps. 115:3-4. In the Gospel whenever Christ addresses His
Father publicly, it is always with words of blessing and thanksgiving.
“«Gen. 8:20.

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and he built there an altar to the Lord. And passing on from
thence to a mountain, that was on the east side of Bethel,
he there pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and
Hai on the east; he built there also an altar to the Lord, and
called upon His name.” 147
Praise expresses their adoration and the favor they beg
is God’s blessing. To obtain it, Jacob did not hesitate to sup­
plant his brother. The same craving to be blessed appeared
at the time of his wrestling with the angel: “He remained
alone; and behold a man wrestled with him till morning.
. . . And he said to him : Let me go, for it is break of day.
He answered: I will not let thee go except thou bless me.
. . . And he blessed him in the same place.” 148
Such zeal and eagerness startle our lukewarm, insipid
souls. If our hearts were sufficiently burning within us, we
might seize the secret of that harsh jealousy. It is a fact that
as soon as God’s voice was heard these men stood before
Him oblivious of themselves, adoration thrilling in their
hearts, a flood of praise ready to gush forth. “I am here,”
said Abraham. Often in the psalms souls bypass their own
wretchedness to offer God homage for the blessings heaped
upon them, to offer Him also the praise of all creation. “It
is good to give praise to the Lord; and to sing to Thy name,
O Most High. To show forth Thy mercy in the morning, and
Thy truth in the night.” 149 “Praise ye the Lord from the
heavens; praise ye Him in the high places. Praise ye Him,
all His angels; praise ye Him, all His hosts.” 160
The soul forgets itself to become absorbed in the theme of
thanksgiving, saying: “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and let all
Gen. 12:7-8.
150 Ps. 148:1-2.

148 Gen. 32:24-29.

448 Ps. 91:2-3.

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that is within me bless His holy name.” 151 The just man
praises God by thanking Him for His gifts. Often the grati­
tude took the form of sacrifices of thanksgiving, a frequent
occurrence in Israel. These consisted of “unleavened bread,
cakes tempered and mingled with oil, . . . loaves of leav­
ened bread.” 102 All who were clean could eat of it.
An offering was made, likewise, of the best portion of
all the wealth generously bestowed by God.

All tithes of the land, whether of corn, or of the fruits of
trees, are the Lord’s, and are sanctified to Him.153
Every year thou shalt set aside the tithes of all thy fruits that
the earth bringeth forth, and thou shalt eat before the Lord thy
God in the place which He shall choose, that His name may be
called upon therein, the tithe of thy com, and thy wine, and thy
oil, and the firstborn of thy herds and thy sheep; that thou
mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God at all times.154

But the best thank-offering of a just man is the homage
of a heart which gives itself and all it owns completely to
God. King David told God: “I have joyfully offered all these
things.” 1BB Offerings and blessings should be made joyfully,
as befits the spontaneous impulse of a soul paying a tribute
of love:
There shall you feast before the Lord your God, you and
your sons and your daughters, your menservants and maid­
servants, and the Levite that dwelleth in your cities. For He
hath no other part and possession among you.15®
151 Ps. 102:1. Cf. I Thess: “Always rejoice. Pray without ceasing.
In all things give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you all.”
102 Lev. 7:12-13.
153 Lev. 27:30.
154 Deut. 14:22-23.
155 I Par. 29:17.
158 Deut. 12:12.

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Give glory to God with a good heart; and diminish not the
firstfruits of thy hands. In every gift show a cheerful counte­
nance, and sanctify thy tithes with joy. Give to the Most High
according to what He hath given to thee, and with a good eye
do according to the ability of thy hands.187
Offer to God the sacrifice of praise; and pay thy vows to the
Most High.188

The firstfruits were offered to Yahweh three times a year
in the midst of great feasting—at the feasts of unleavened
bread, the reaping and the harvest. This joy in giving was
a wonderful sign of the purity of intention on the part of
the giver, and of a love that was truly free with the freedom
enjoyed by God’s true servants and friends. But the joy
accompanying perfect gifts was, nevertheless, the fruit of
real renunciation and the sign of a man’s victory over him­
self. For man finds liberty and the possibility of loving God
above all things, only by fixing his heart on imperishable
things, on Him who is the master and the giver of gifts.188
Therefore the divine commandment required renunciation
and detachment: detachment from wealth and material ad­
vantages to which man had a lawful right or which he could
easily acquire. The law commanded these sacrifices not only
for God’s sake, but also for the benefit of less favored
brethren.
187 Ecclus. 35:10-12.
158 Ps. 49:14.
189 “Whatsoever you do, do it from the heart, as to the Lord, and
not to men” (Col. 3:23). “Every one as he hath determined in his
heart, not with sadness or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful
giver” (II Cor. 9:7). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth:
. . . But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven. . . . For where
thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matt. 6:19-21).

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Six years thou shalt sow thy field and six years thou shalt
prune thy vineyard, and shalt gather the fruits thereof; but in
the seventh year there shall be a sabbath to the land, of the
resting of the Lord.160
If thy brother constrained by poverty, sell himself to thee,
thou shalt not oppress him with the service of bondservants. . . .
In the year of the jubilee he shall go out with his children. For
the children of Israel are My servants, whom I brought forth
out of the land of Egypt.161

The soul, however, is called to a deeper and more spiritual
detachment for the glory of God. The sacrifice of what is
dearest to man, his honor, could if necessary be asked of
him. Thus, when David’s wife, Michol, scorned him for
dancing before the ark dressed only in his ephod, he showed
his love and humility by answering: “Before the Lord, who
chose me rather than thy father, and than all his house, and
commanded me to be ruler over the people of the Lord in
Israel, I will both play and make myself meaner than I have
done; and I will be little in my own eyes; and with the hand­
maids of whom thou speakest, I shall appear more glori­
ous.” 162
Under the influence of the divine commandment, the be­
liever’s soul itself became the living and true holocaust of
which the ritual sacrifice was but an imperfect, though mag­
nificent symbol. This spiritual worship is urged in certain
texts which offer an apparent, but not real, contradiction of
other commands. “For I spoke not to your fathers, and I
commanded them not, . . . concerning the matter of burnt
offerings and sacrifices. But this thing I commanded them,
160 Lev. 25:3-4.
161 Lev. 25:39, 54-55.
162 II Kings 6:22-23.

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saying: Hearken to My voice, and I will be your God, and
you shall be My people.” 163
In docile silence the generous soul heeds the quiet invita­
tions and all life becomes a sacrifice of praise. Such a soul
loves to repeat these words of Psalm 39, which Christ ful­
filled in perfection: “Sacrifice and oblation Thou didst not
desire; but Thou hast pierced ears for me. Burnt offering
and sin offering Thou didst not require; then said I: Behold
I come . . . that I should do Thy will, O my God.” 104
Christ was to declare that “greater love than this no man
hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” 185 His
words were verified in His passion and death. But even in
the Old Testament this ultimate sacrifice in which the soul
gives itself completely was not unknown, for we find ex­
amples of absolute detachment. Upon a simple word from
God, through pure love of His holy will, Abraham prepared
to sacrifice his only son. This proof of supreme love became
the figure of the redeeming sacrifice.

God tempted Abraham, and said to him: Abraham, Abraham.
And he answered: Here I am. He said to him: Take thy onlybegotten son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of
vision; and there thou shalt offer him for an holocaust upon one
of the mountains which I will show thee. . . . And he took
the wood for the holocaust, and laid it upon Isaac his son . . .
and they two went on together.16®
Throughout their history the children of God joyfully im­
periled their lives for His sake and frequently found their
death in battle. “They resolved to fight, and to set upon
them manfully, that valor might decide the matter, be183 Jer. 7:22-23.
166 Gen. 22:1-2, 6.

161 Ps. 39:7-9.

166 John 15:13.

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cause the holy city and the temple were in danger. Tor their
concern was less for their wives, and children, and for their
brethren, and kinsfolks; but their greatest and principal fear
was for the holiness of the temple.” 167
The book of Machabees describes the voluntary» sacrifice
of seven sons whose mother experienced martyrdom in her
heart before suffering it in her body. The last words of the
old man Eleazar express his joyful acceptance of death:
“But when he was now ready to die with the stripes, he
groaned, and said: O Lord, who hast the holy knowledge,
Thou knowest manifestly that whereas I might be delivered
from death, I suffer grievous pains in body, but in soul am
well content to suffer these things because I fear Thee.” 168
Divine love burned also in the heart of Esther, who risked
death to save her people: “I with my handmaids will fast
. . . and then I will go in to the king, against the law, not
being called, and expose myself to death and to danger.” 189
The lives of Jeremias and of other prophets was a real
martyrdom. The three youths in the furnace, who were wit­
nesses of the truth, poured forth a hymn of praise:: “Blessed
art Thou, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and wo«rthy to be
praised and glorified, and exalted above all forewer.” 170
All these souls seem to repeat constantly: “Thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” 1,1 For
them sacrifice and love of God are so intimately 1: inked that
love impels them without hesitation to whatever deed best
bears witness of Him. Christ was to tell His disciples: “You
shall be brought before governors, and before beings . . .
But when they shall deliver you up, take no thought how
107 II Mach. 15:17-18.
188 II Mach. 6:30.
1β» Esther 4:16.
170 Dan. 3:52.
171 Matt. 6:1 0.

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179

or what to speak.” 172 But even in the Old Testament, simple
souls ignored devious speech, sometimes expressing their
faith in an exultant cry, more often finding an obscure death
in battle or at the close of a long life which left them ex­
hausted in the service of God’s glory. They truly loved their
God more than themselves, “above all things with all their
strength and with all their soul,” and they loved their neigh­
bors with the same love. They prepared the way for the
teaching of Jesus, whose passion and cross were to prove
that the greatest love for God and the brethren is crucified
love.
Penance, reparation, prayer, praise, thanksgiving: under
all these aspects sacrifice was associated with the whole life
of Israel. Always it was an expression of the love of God.
But however important that may appear, there was a more
far-reaching role. If sacrifice had such an important place
in the Bible, if God wished His people to be so familiarized
with it that it became an intimate part of all their collective
and liturgical life, if He created the need for sacrifice from
the very depths of their heart and personal life, the reason is
that sacrifice was destined to attain a unique dignity. Here,
as in so many other instances (but more clearly), the Old
Testament had a mission to prepare men for a higher reality.
All the sacrifices found there not only show progress toward
less imperfect forms, but are an advance symbol of another
sacrifice toward which they dimly grope. A day was to come
when they would be assumed and resumed in the perfect,
unique, final sacrifice which would suppress all others by
completing them. It was but right to stress the variety and
wealth of forms found in Israel’s sacrifices, and to show
172 Matt. 10:18-19.

\

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

what an important place they occupied in the life of the He­
brew people. But to find a focal point toward which all these
vague preparations converged is impossible without the light
of Christ, who offered the perfect sacrifice. Christ was per­
fect priest and perfect victim; in Christ was revealed the
hidden meaning of all symbols; in Christ was fulfilled all
prophecy.
We shall wait for our chapter on the Savior to trace the
outline of His features in the Old Testament and to assemble
the sacrificial figures and signs which found their pattern in
Him. The sacrifice richest in meaning and connotation was
the Passover, which Christ willed to perpetuate by offering it
as priest and victim. In the new and eternal Testament, the
ancient sacrifice of the paschal lamb, the Passover, was to
become the victorious sacrifice of the Lamb of God, immo­
lated on the cross and rising on the morning of the new
Passover, Easter.173
THE ROYAL LAW

Love of neighbor

Together with the great commandment of love of God,
Israel received the second commandment: love of neighbor:
‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” 174 Though ap­
parently hidden beneath a flood of secondary prescriptions,
the precept of love of neighbor, which Christ was to make
His special commandment, occupied an important place
even in the Old Testament. Little by little it became the
178 In Latin and in many of the Romance languages the word for
Passover has been retained, with but slight change, to indicate
Easter [Translator’s note].
174 Lev. 19:18.

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181

charter of the relations of men with their brethren. From
its first appearance this law of charity possessed a special
power due to its divine origin. Later it underwent gradual
development. A long time was to elapse before it would be­
come a part of everyday life. Indeed, life would never be
perfectly permeated by charity, for souls could never cease
discovering new values and new requirements in this love
which God prescribed as the foundation of Israel’s institu­
tions. By charity the people were to become more deeply
aware of their own destitution as well as their divine poten­
tialities.
The dispositions of kindliness and mercy found in the
law side by side with requirements of loyalty and justice all
blend to form an ideal which cannot derive from natural
ethics alone, but requires a supernatural principle. “The
Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation
of the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: Be ye
holy, because I the Lord your God am holy.” 175
So numerous and so intermingled were the obligations of
the law that it acquired inner unity only when animated by
the principle of charity. This also explains the absolute and
wholly spiritual importance attached to the observance of
each prescription. In the order of charity nothing is petty;170
the smallest omission can compromise the whole structure.
An attitude of justice in charity is the general orientation of
the regulations found in the Pentateuch, especially in the
Book of Leviticus.
175 Lev. 19:1-2.
178 “He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in
that which is greater. . . . And it is easier for heaven and earth
to pass, than one tittle of the law to fall” (Luke 16:10, 17).

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

Let every one fear his father and his mother. . . . When
thou reapest the corn of thy land, thou shalt not cut down all
that is on the face of the earth to the very ground; nor shalt
thou gather the ears that remain. Neither shalt thou gather the
bunches and grapes that fall down in thy vineyard, but shalt
leave them to the poor and the strangers to take. I am the Lord
your God. You shall not steal. You shall not lie, neither shall
any man deceive his neighbor. Thou shalt not swear falsely by
My name, nor profane the name of thy God. I am the Lord.
Thou shalt not calumniate thy neighbor, nor oppress him by
violence. The wages of him that hath been hired by thee shall
not abide with thee until the morning. Thou shalt not speak evil
of the deaf, nor put a stumbling-block before the blind; but thou
shalt fear the Lord thy God, because I am the Lord. . . .
Judge thy neighbor according to justice. Thou shalt not be a
detractor nor a whisperer among the people. Thou shalt not
hate thy brother in thy heart, but reprove him openly, lest thou
incur sin through him. Seek not revenge, nor be mindful of the
injury of thy citizens. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
I am the Lord. ... If a stranger dwell in your land, and abide
among you, do not upbraid him; but let him be among you as
one of the same country; and you shall love him as yourselves;
for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your
God. Do not any unjust thing in judgment, in rule, in weight or
in measure. Let the balance be just and the weights equal, the
bushel just and the sextary equal. I am the Lord your God, that
brought you out of the land of Egypt. Keep all My precepts and
all My judgments, and do them. I am the Lord.177

In the above passages the repeated words, “I am the
Lord,” place us in the presence of the very Author of the
law. God makes it clear that all these duties to neighbor,
177 Lev. 19:3, 9-18, 33-37.

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183

though unsystematically imposed, flow from one common
source. Left to his own resources, man can no more reach
this source than he can observe all the regulations. They
are God’s laws and regulations; human strength is not able
to observe them with all the perfection required, that is,
with charity. But the divine commandment asserts that it is
possible to man if he is supported by God’s word and God’s
strength.178 Moreover, these laws all proceeding from the
same Author link all men together in close unity; in God all
are brothers.179
“Have we not all one father? Hath not one God created
us?” 180 In asking this question, Malachias was hinting that
the love of neighbor is not less supernatural in origin than
the love of God, for fraternal charity reaches its perfection
and fullness only if one man sees another as a child of God,
the object of an equal love, promised the same reward, en­
dowed with a share of the same divine bounty. Thus, the
“royal law” is clearly supernatural in origin and end. It also
requires supernatural help in its observance.
From humanity’s first days, God had implanted His law
in the hearts of those who lived in His presence. But to pre­
pare the paths of charity, He had to teach men justice and
impress upon them the necessity of pardon. When the proc178 “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are
possible” (Matt. 19:26). In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ enu­
merated the great precepts of the law of love and did not deny their
severity: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate. . . . How narrow is the
gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life. . . . Not every one
that saith to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doth the will of My Father” (Matt. 7:13, 21).
179 “For one is your master; and all you are brethren” (Matt.
23:8).
180 Mai. 2:10.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

lamation of the law came on Sinai, the process was suffi­
ciently advanced for the love of neighbor to animate many
precepts which were tremendously exacting. Yet long before
the time of Moses, certain souls followed the law of love in
all its niceties. Abraham, for instance, was seized with a su­
pernatural feeling of compassion on learning of the destruc­
tion about to fall upon the impious city of Sodom. The poign­
ant debate between himself and God shows us that although
the man of God never lacks humble respect, yet he and God
are in agreement on the sublime plane of charity.

And the Lord said: The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha is
multiplied, and their sin is become exceedingly grievous. I will
go down and see whether they have done according to the cry
that is come to Me, or whether it be not so, that I may know.
And they turned themselves from thence, and went their way
to Sodom; but Abraham as yet stood before the Lord. And
drawing nigh he said: Wilt Thou destroy the just with the
wicked? If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish
withal? And wilt Thou not spare that place for the sake of the
fifty just, if they be therein? Far be it from Thee to do this thing,
and to slay the just with the wicked. . . . Thou who judgest
all the earth, wilt not make this judgment. And the Lord said to
him: If I find in Sodom fifty just within the city, I will spare the
whole place for their sake. And Abraham answered, and said:
Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord, whereas I
am dust and ashes. What if there be five less than fifty just
persons? Wilt Thou for five and forty destroy the whole city?
And He said: I will not destroy it, if I find five and forty. And
again he said: But if forty be found there, what wilt Thou do?
He said: I will not destroy it for the sake of forty. Lord, saith
he, be not angry, I beseech Thee, if I speak: What if thirty shall
be found there? He answered: 1 will not do it, if I find thirty

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185

there. Seeing, saith he, I have once begun, I will speak to my
Lord. What if twenty be found there? He said: I will not destroy
it for the sake of twenty. I beseech Thee, saith he, be not angry,
Lord, if I speak yet once more: What if ten should be found
there? And He said: I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.181
But alas, the ten were not found in the city and Sodom
was destroyed.
Then too, what great charity was shown by Joseph in
pardoning the treason of his brothers who had once de­
serted and sold him. When they had been tested by hunger
and humiliation, they were able to open their hearts to
charity. Then at last Joseph let his heart speak forth:

Joseph could no longer refrain himself before many that stood
by; whereupon he commanded that all should go out, and no
stranger be present at their knowing one another. . . . And
he said to his brethren: I am Joseph, your brother, whom you
sold into Egypt. Be not afraid, and let it not seem to you a hard
case that you sold me into these countries; for God sent me
before you into Egypt for your preservation. . . . And God
sent me before, that you may be preserved upon the earth, and
may have food to live. . . . And falling upon the neck of his
brother Benjamin, he embraced him and wept. . . . And Joseph
kissed all his brethren, and wept upon every.one of them.182
In later times, charity was to be developed and refined in
chosen souls; Tobias, for example, and also Ruth, who was
to number David among her descendants. Consequently, we
understand better that the stalk of Jesse in which the sap
of love had long been circulating, would blossom forth at
its top with the charity of Jesus Christ.
181 Gen. 18:20-32.

182 Gen. 45:1-7, 14-15.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

Two aspects of brotherly love
Seek ye good, and not evil. . . . Hate evil, and love good.183
Grace is like a paradise in blessings, and mercy remaineth
forever.184
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we
love the brethren.18®

Charity was destined to permeate institutions and societies
by a gradual process and its ultimate source was not re­
vealed to man at the outset. Nevertheless its supernatural
qualities appeared at the dawn of biblical history. Because
it came from God, it could not appear to man as a mere
compromise between light and dark, between supernatural
demands and human instincts; men might think they could
avoid the struggle involved in existence and in the decisive
choices charity required. They might seek to escape duty
by furtive compromises which changed the bright flame of
their lamps into smoky wicks. But charity could not accom­
modate itself to such devices. Supernatural charity could
live in men’s hearts only by fidelity to divine commandments
and by generous struggle against ever-resurgent instincts of
egoism, falsehood and revenge.
Hence charity includes a double series of requirements
and thus takes on two aspects. The negative aspect was
expressed in a series of precepts designed to protect our
neighbor against the evil tendencies which constantly
threaten to become active. The positive aspect is seen in
the obligations of justice, love and mercy. These provide
spiritual vitality for the soul and enable it to grow in charity
and to respond to its ever-expanding requirements.186 The
183 Amos 5:14-15.
184 Ecclus. 40:17.
185 I John 3:14.
186 “Unless a man be bom again, he cannot see the kingdom of

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187

Old Testament teaches and recalls these two aspects simul­
taneously.
The major prohibitions, being precise and solid, are
quickly stamped on the mind. “Thou shalt not kill. Thou
shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not
covet thy neighbor’s house; neither shalt thou desire his
wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his
ass, nor any thing that is his.” *
187 Such prohibitions presup­
pose the daily temptations which harass us, where danger
lurks under an attractive disguise. Even the shadow of evil
hovering over the soul plunges it into darkness.188
The original commandments were supported by other
prescriptions tending to give every man the right to live, to
receive his just deserts, to preserve his honor. “Thou shalt
not go aside in the poor man’s judgment. . . . The inno­
cent and just person thou shalt not put to death. . . .
Neither shalt thou take bribes. . . . Thou shalt not molest
a stranger.” 189 “If a man seduce a virgin ... he shall
endow her, and have her to wife.” 190
At the same time, however, positive rules of kindness, of
tactful charity, are given. These go beyond strict justice
God” (John 3:3). “For in Christ Jesus neither . . . availeth any
thing . . . but a new creature” (Gal. 6:15). “Be not overcome by
evil, but overcome evil by good” (Rom. 12:21).
187 Exod. 20:13-17.
188 “But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to
lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart”
(Matt. 5:28). “If thy eye be single, thy whole body will be light­
some; but if it be evil, thy body also will be darksome. Take heed
therefore, that the light which is in thee, be not darkness” (Luke
11:34-35).
189 Exod. 23:6-8.
199 Exod. 22:16.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

and tend to open the heart to a deep understanding of one’s
neighbor and an intimate awareness of his needs which are
different in each individual case.
If any man hurt a field or a vineyard, ... he shall restore
the best of whatsoever he hath in his own field or in his vineyard,
according to the estimation of the damage. ... If thou lend
money to any of My people that is poor, that dwelleth with thee,
thou shalt not be hard upon them as an extortioner, nor oppress
them with usuries.191
When thou shalt demand of thy neighbor any thing that he
oweth thee, thou shalt not go into his house to take away a
pledge, but thou shalt stand without, and he shall bring out to
thee what he hath. But if he be poor, the pledge shall not lodge
with thee that night, but thou shalt restore it to him presently
before the going down of the sun, that he may sleep in his own
raiment and bless thee. . . . Thou shalt not refuse the hire of
the needy, and the poor, whether he be thy brother, or a stranger
that dwelleth with thee in the land, . . . But thou shalt pay him
the price of his labor the same day . . . because he is poor,
and with it he maintaineth his life.192

The same way of viewing charity under its two comple­
mentary aspects is found also in the words of the sages and
the teaching of the prophets. While the sages have the special
mission of imparting an appreciation of the spiritual beauty
of the law of charity, the prophets shed full light on the
precept of love of neighbor. Vividly depicting the events of
daily life enacted before their eyes, they found therein ample
motives for vehement exhortations to repair the shaky edifice
of charity, as well as violent reproaches against widespread
injustice and hypocrisy. They excoriàted injustice, partic­
191 Exod. 22:5, 25.

192 Deut. 24:10-15.

CHARITY

189

ularly because it violated the most elementary form of
brotherly love: respect for the person and possessions of
others.193
Hear this, you that crush the poor, and make the needy of
the land to fall, saying: When will the month be over,183
184 and we
shall sell our wares; and the sabbath, and we shall open the
corn; that we may lessen the measure, and increase the sicle,
and may convey in deceitful balances, that we may possess the
needy for money, and the poor for a pair of shoes, and may sell
the refuse of the corn? 185
Woe to you . . . that justify the wicked for gifts and take
away the justice of the just from him. . . . Woe to them that
make wicked laws; when they write, write injustice. There is
none that calleth upon justice, neither is there any one that
judgeth truly; but they trust in a mere nothing and speak van­
ities. . . . And judgment is turned away backward, and justice
hath stood far off; because truth hath fallen down in the street,
and equity could not come in. And truth hath been forgotten;
and he that departed from evil, lay open to be a prey.196

The injustice, violence and lack of charity which were
widespread at the time of Isaias seemed even graver and
more common in Jeremias’ day. “Go about through the
streets of Jerusalem, and see, and consider, and seek in the
broad places thereof, if you can find a man that executeth
183 Cf. Christ’s condemnations: “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees
. . . because you have left the weightier things of the law; judg­
ment, and mercy, and faith. . . . Blind guides, who strain out a
gnat, and swallow a camel” (Matt. 23:23—24).
184 The day of the new moon, or the first day of the month, was
a religious feast when it was forbidden to buy or sell (Num. 28:14;
II Esd. 10:32).
185 Amos 8:4-6.
186 Isa. 5:23; 10:1; 59:4, 14.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

judgment and seeketh faith; and I will be merciful unto
it.19T ... As a net is full of birds, so their houses are full
of deceit; therefore are they become great and enriched.
They are grown gross and fat, and have most wickedly trans­
gressed My words. . . . For from the least of them even to
the greatest, all are given to covetousness; and from the
prophet even to the priest, all are guilty of deceit.” 197
198
Jeremias saw injustice, violence and fraud everywhere,
even in the temple of God. “To steal, to murder, to commit
adultery, to swear falsely, to offer to Baalim, and to go after
strange gods, which you know not. And you have come, and
stood before Me in this house, in which My name is called
upon, and have said: We are delivered, because we have
done all these abominations. Is this house, then, in which
My name hath been called upon, in your eyes become a den
of robbers?” 199
When the prophets applied their indomitable energy to
repressing crimes against fellow men, they were ever aware
of leading Israel back to the precept of charity which had
been bestowed in former times. They kept recalling this
precept whenever the people departed from it:
And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias from the Lord,
saying: ... I made a covenant with your fathers in the day
that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage, saying: At the end of seven years, let ye go every man
his brother being a Hebrew, who hath been sold to thee. . . .
And your fathers did not hearken to Me, nor did they incline
197 Cf. in Rom. 3:9-18, St. Paul’s commentary on this text.
198 Jer. 5:1, 28; 6:13.
199 Jer. 7:9-10. Christ was to take up Jeremias’ words when he
drove the merchants from the temple (Matt. 21:12).

CHARITY

191

their ear. And you turned today, and did that which was right
in My eyes, in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother; and
you are fallen back, and have brought back again every man his
manservant, and every man his maidservant, whom you had let
go free and set at liberty. . . . Behold I proclaim a liberty for
you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence and to the
famine; and I will cause you to be removed from all the king­
doms of the earth . . . and I will make the cities of Juda a
desolation without an inhabitant.200
Without hesitation the prophets unmask and attack the
real sinners: the great and powerful men of the world; these
are the chief butt of their reproaches.201
But I said: Perhaps these are poor and foolish, that know not
the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God. I will go there­
fore to the great men, and will speak to them; for they have
known the way of the Lord, the judgment of.their God; and be­
hold these have altogether broken the yoke more, and have burst
the bonds.202
Hear this, ye princes of the house of Jacob, and ye judges of
the house of Israel; you that abhor judgment and pervert all that
is right. You that built up Sion with blood, and Jerusalem with
iniquity. Her princes have judged for bribes, and her priests
have taught for hire, and her prophets divined for money.203
The holy man is perished out of the earth, and there is none
upright among men; they all lie in wait for blood, every one
hunteth his brother to death. The evil of their hands they call
good; the prince requireth, and the judge is forgiving; and the
great man uttereth the desire of his soul. ... He that is best
200 Jer. 34:12-22.
201 Similarly Christ’s reproaches were addressed almost exclu­
sively to the leaders of Israel: the scribes, the Pharisees and the
doctors of the law.
202 Jer. 5:4-5.
203 Mich. 3:9-12.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

among them, is as a brier; and he that is righteous, as the thorn
of the hedge.204

A marvellous text of Ezechiel violently attacks the wicked
shepherds of Israel. The prophet’s just indignation against
the unworthy and covetous leaders alternates with tender
pity for the weak and the poor who had been so shamefully
treated. He is already imbued with the true spirit of the
Gospels. What he condemns most in these bad shepherds is
their desertion of their duties of justice and charity.

Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the shepherds of Israel,
that fed themselves; should not the flocks be fed by the shep­
herds? You ate the milk, and you clothed yourselves with the
wool, and you killed that which was fat; but My flock you did
not feed. The weak you have not strengthened, and that which
was sick you have not healed, that which was broken you have
not bound up, and that which was driven away you have not
brought again, neither have you sought that which was lost; but
you ruled over them with rigor, and with a high hand. And My
sheep were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they
became the prey of all the beasts of the field. . . . Therefore
thus saith the Lord God to you: Behold I myself will judge
between the fat cattle and the lean. Because you thrusted with
sides and shoulders, and struck all the weak cattle with your
horns, till they were scattered abroad; I will save My flock, and
it shall be no more a spoil, and I will judge between cattle and
cattle.205
Often the prophets addressed well-deserved reproaches to
the leaders who woefully neglected their duty. If the occa­
sion demanded it, they even flung the truth in the face of
the king himself. Thus, Nathan faced David, who was guilty
204 Mich. 7:2-4.

205 Ezech. 34:2-5, 20-22.

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CHARITY

of the death of Urias, whose wife, Bethsabee, had been se­
duced by the king.
And the Lord sent Nathan to David; and when he was come
to him, he said to him : There were two men in one city, the one
rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many
sheep and oxen. But the poor man had nothing at all but one
little ewe lamb, which he had brought and nourished up in his
house together with his children, eating of his bread, and drink­
ing of his cup, and sleeping in his bosom; and it was unto him
as a daughter. And when a certain stranger was come unto the
rich man, he spared to take of his own sheep and oxen, to make
a feast for that stranger, who was come to him, but took the
poor man’s ewe, and dressed it for the man that was come to
him. And David’s anger being exceedingly kindled against that
man, he said to Nathan: As the Lord liveth, the man that hath
done this is a child of death. He shall restore the ewe fourfold,
because he did this thing, and had no pity. And Nathan said to
David: Thou art the man.206

The prophets were not content merely to condemn failures
in justice and charity, along with evidence of covetousness
and violence. They always sought the origin of the sin and
revealed its underlying causes: hard hearts, closed by ego­
tism, corrupted by deception and hypocrisy. As the Book of
Proverbs warned: “With all watchfulness keep thy heart,
because life issueth out from it.” 20T The authors of the Old
Testament had understood in early times a truth which
Christ was to define with absolute clarity: “For from within
out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,
fornications, murders.” 208
In the constant appeals and threats of the Bible, one idea
20« II Kings 12:1-7.

287 Prov. 4:23.

208 Mark 7:21.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

is clearly outlined and irrefutably proved: the soul that shuts
out brotherly love shuts out God Himself, who, on that
account, cannot gain entry. A soul once deprived of divine
light is soon invaded by deceit, lying, hypocrisy, hard­
heartedness, egotism: all the vices which Christ was later to
condemn so energetically in the Pharisees. Everything holds
together; everything is connected. Evil is expressed in action,
but always it proceeds from the absence of love, lack of
interior charity. The whole edifice, therefore, must be re­
paired from the foundation. The sages and the prophets in­
dicated the constructive efforts needed in the domain of
charity: “Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of
your devices from My eyes. . . . Learn to do well; seek
judgment.” 2ue
The Wisdom writers have especially developed this teach­
ing, relying on some of the most beautiful pages of the Old
Law which had frequently been forgotten, but which they
keep recalling. This exhortation was found in the Book of
Deuteronomy:
If one of thy brethren . . . come to poverty, thou shalt not
harden thy heart nor close thy hand, but shalt open it to the
poor man; thou shalt lend him that which thou perceivest he
hath need of. . . . But thou shalt give to him, neither shalt
thou do anything craftily in relieving his necessities; that the
Lord thy God may bless thee at all times, and in all things to
which thou shalt put thy hand. There will not be wanting poor
in the land of thy habitation; therefore I command thee to open
thy hand to thy needy and poor brother, that liveth in the land.210
209 Isa. 1:16-17. The same appeal echoes in the Epistles: “But
according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasures! up
to thyself wrath. . . . For not the hearers of the law are just before
God, but the doers of the law shall be justified” (Rom. 2:5, 13).
210Deut. 15:7, 10-11.

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The ideal of charity was expressed in many of the sacred
books:

Deceit is in the heart of them that think evil things; but joy
followeth them that take counsels of peace.211
Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, but reprove him
openly, lest thou incur sin through him. Seek not revenge, nor
be mindful of the injury of thy citizens.212
He that seeketh to revenge himself, shall find vengeance from
the Lord, and He will surely keep his sins in remembrance. For­
give thy neighbor if he hath hurt thee; and then shall thy sins
be forgiven to thee when thou prayest. Man to man reserveth
anger, and doth he seek remedy of God? He hath no mercy on
a man like himself, and doth he entreat for his own sins? He
that is but flesh, nourisheth anger, and doth he ask forgiveness
of God? Who shall obtain pardon for his sins? Remember thy
last things, and let enmity cease. ... Be not angry with thy
neighbor, . . . overlook the ignorance of thy neighbor.213

The practice of charity procures divine pardon, which
strips man of his harsh ways and softens the steel of his
heart. “By mercy and truth iniquity is redeemed.” 214 “Water
quencheth a flaming fire, and alms resisteth sins.” 215 “Char­
ity covereth all sins.” 218
The angel Raphael taught the same lesson to young To­
bias: “Prayer is good with fasting and alms more than to
lay up treasures of gold. For alms delivereth from death,
and the same is that which purgeth away sins, and maketh
to find mercy and life everlasting.” 217
an Prov. 12:20.
212 Lev. i9:17_18.
21.3 Ecclus. 28:1-9.
214 Prov. 16:6.
2i5Ecclus. 3.33.
2i® Prov. 10:12. “But before all things have a constant mutual
charity among yourselves; for charity covereth a multitude of sins”
(I Pet. 4:8).
211 Tob. 12:8-9.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

This charity is depicted with all the delicate nuances of
love; it favors above all the poor, the weak and the suffer­
ing:

Do not withhold him from doing good, who is able; if thou
art able, do good thyself also. Say not to thy friend: Go, and
come again: and tomorrow I will give to thee, when thou canst
give at present.218
Son, defraud not the poor of alms, and turn not away thy eyes
from the poor. Despise not the hungry soul; and provoke not the
poor in his want. Afflict not the heart of the needy, and defer
not to give to him that is in distress. Reject not the petition of
the afflicted; and turn not away thy face from the needy. In
judging, be merciful to the fatherless as a father, and as a hus­
band to their mother. And thou shalt be as the obedient son
of the Most High, and He will have mercy on thee more than
a mother. . . . Stretch out thy hand to the poor. ... A gift
hath grace in the sight of all the living, and restrain not grace
from the dead. Be not wanting in comforting them that weep,
and walk with them that mourn. Be not slow to visit the sick,
for by these things thou shalt be confirmed in love. ... He
that showeth mercy, lendeth to his neighbor, and he that is
stronger in hand, keepeth the commandments. . . . But yet
toward the poor be thou more hearty, and delay not to show
him mercy. Help the poor because of the commandment, and
send him not away empty-handed because of his poverty.219
218 Prov. 3:27-28.
219 Ecclus. 4:1-4, 10-11; 7:36-39; 29:1, 11-12. On all these
points the teaching of the apostles echoes that of the prophets: “But
above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection”
(Col. 3:14). “Religion clean and undefiled before God and the
Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation,
and to keep one’s self unspotted from this world” (Jas. 1:27). “Be
ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, being lovers
of the brotherhood, merciful, modest, humble” (I Pet. 3:8). “In

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197

Charity is mindful that the way of giving has a higher
value than the gift itself. “Laugh no man to scorn in the
bitterness of his soul.” *220 “Shall not the dew assuage the
heat? So also the good word is better than the gift. Lo, is
not a word better than a gift? But both are with a justified
man.” 221
The ultimate flowering of charity is shown in mercy for
enemies. “If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he
thirst, give him water to drink.” 222 “If thou meet thy enemy’s
ox or ass going astray, bring it back to him. If thou see the
ass of him that hateth thee lie underneath his burden, thou
shalt not pass by, but shalt lift him up with him.” 223
One cannot fail to be touched by the spirit of brotherly
love in all these texts dealing with charity toward the poor
and the weak. Even when men are urged to give alms or to
show mercy, these deeds are never considered as a function
of some sort of moral or social superiority, nor as a display
of condescension to the poor. The poor man is an equal and
is referred to as a brother or a neighbor. A still greater dig­
nity belongs to the weak, the poor, the humble, in short, all
who suffer: they are God’s envoys, His representatives, His
friends. “He that hath mercy on the poor, lendeth to the
Lord.” “He that oppresseth the poor, upbraideth his Maker;
but he that hath pity on the poor, honoreth Him.” 224
this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down
His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren”
(I John 3:16).
220 Ecclus. 7:12.
221 Ecclus. 18:16-17.
222 Prov. 25:21. St. Paul quoted these words in his Epistle to the
Romans (13:20). These texts are truly a foreglimpse of the Gospel
teaching. Cf. the Sermon on the Mount (Matt, chaps. 5-7).
223 Exod. 23:4-5.
224 Prov. 19:17; 14:31.

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Tobias’ instructions to his son showed the ideal manner
of almsgiving:
According to thy ability be merciful. If thou have much, give
abundantly; if thou have little, take care even so to bestow
willingly a little. For thus thou storest up to thyself a good
reward for the day of necessity. For alms deliver from all sin,
and from death, and will not suffer the soul to go into dark­
ness. . . . Eat thy bread with the hungry and the needy, and
with thy garments cover the naked. . . . Fear not, my son; we
lead indeed a poor life, but we shall have many good things if
we fear God and depart from all sin, and do that which is
good.225

This ideal does not quite attain the full light of the Gospel
attitude of “as long as you did it to one of these My least
brethren, you did it to Me,” 226 but is it not the first glimmer
of its dawning? 227 Is there not the impression that if anyone
should offer thanks for the benefit conferred, it is princi­
pally the one who has the privilege of practicing charity, for
if charity flows through him, it permits him to find favor
with God? “If thou wilt take away the chain out of the midst
of thee, and cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that
which profiteth not. When thou shalt pour out thy soul to
the hungry, and shalt satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall
thy light rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as
the noonday. And the Lord will give thee rest continually,
225 Tob. 4:8-11, 17, 23.
220 Matt. 25:40.
227 In the Old Testament this attitude of equal kindliness toward
all results from an oft-repeated principle of faith: God does not
show partiality. He helps orphans and widows; He loves strangers
(Deut. 10:17; II Par. 19:7; Wisd. 6:17; Ecclus. 35:15). St. Peter
himself took a long time to understand this lesson and St. Paul was
to repeat it also (Acts 10:34; Rom. 2:11).

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and will fill thy soul with brightness, and deliver thy bones
and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain
of water whose waters shall not fail.” 228
Thus, even in the Old Testament, a soul performing good
works was protected against the subtle tendencies to pride
and self-satisfaction. If Israel had remained faithful to the
spirit of the law, the pharisaic spirit would never have taken
root in men’s hearts. Too many texts depicted the poor man
as the neighbor par excellence; it was said that he should be
treated as your 'own flesh. Brotherly charity appeared as the
foundation-stone of love of God. “Is this not rather the fast
that I have chosen? Loose the bands of wickedness, undo
the bundles that oppress, let them that are broken go free,
and break asunder every burden. Deal thy bread to the hun­
gry, and bring the needy and the harborless into thy house;
when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not
thy own flesh.” 229
The same attitude was required even toward sinners. It
is evident in all the texts that the sinner is still a “neighbor”
whose offense we should not measure nor judge lest we too
be judged and condemned in turn.230 With profound wis­
dom the just man of the Old Testament refrains from com­
paring himself to his fellow man. He stands before God and
from such a vantage point he derives the strength needed
to be charitable and just toward his fellows, in accordance
with the demands of the law.
Only when the soul is imperfect does it believe in its right
228 Isa. 58:9-11.
229 Isa. 58:6-7.
230 “Judge not, that you may not be judged. For with what judg­
ment you judge, you shall be judged; and with what measure you
mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Matt. 7:1—3). “Forgive us
our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

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to choose among justice, equity and mercy. Far from setting
himself up as a yardstick of charity, the just man simply
tries to open his heart ever wider and wider to total charity,
God alone being the standard of measurement. Then he can
perceive the secret bonds uniting charity in all its aspects
with God Himself. This insight fills his soul with overflowing
joy. The just men of the Old Testament truly knew and
lived this commandment of brotherly love, which was the
direct fruit of their love and service of God. The souls of
God’s great servants flourished in the light of that charity.
The Old Testament shows us souls who had been a prey to
their passions, but were restored by love of neighbor. Once
they became docile to the influence of the spirit, these souls
gave free entry to charity which was accompanied by all the
other virtues which it united and perfected.231
A rich and luminous phrase of Ecclesiasticus expresses
the praise of charity. “The alms of a man is as a signet with
him.” 232 Indeed, we may say that like a river with swift
current, charity flows through the Old Testament bringing
life to its shores, life increasingly unified and unifying. A
line from the Book of Proverbs shows the ideal that was
proposed even in those early days: “To do mercy and judg­
ment, pleaseth the Lord.” 233 Even if the underlying reality
was but rarely understood and weakly practiced, yet this
thought seems to be a signpost indicating the path toward
the bright radiance of the Gospel. Along that path Christ,
“who went about doing good,” 234 would advance. When
He came among us and said, “Love one another as I have
231 “But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of
perfection” (Col. 3:14).
232 Ecclus. 17:18 .
233 Prov. 21:3 .
234 Acts 10:38.

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loved you,” 235 He not only gave us the model of that same
charity toward which the Old Testament aspired, but in His
person He disclosed the divine fountainhead of charity.
There He was to bathe us and by the power of His blood
He would make all of us united in the charity of God.
235 John 13:34.

Chapter ζ

Λ GOD AMONG MEN

And God said to him: i am, and My covenant is with thee.1
Hearken to My voice, and I will be your God.2
O Lord! . . . Thou art my God.3
The commandment of love of God and neighbor traced
for Israel the royal road leading to union. But how could
Israel have known of this love of charity if it had not been
revealed? St. John was to say later: “In this we have known
the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for
us.” 4 In the same way, though of course on a lower level,
Israel knew God’s love. Ceaseless manifestations of God’s
love for His people were faithfully narrated by the sacred
authors and enabled Old Testament men to discover that
God was their God, that they could turn trustfully to Him
1 Gen. 17:4.
4 I John 3:16.

3 Ps. 30:15.

2 Jer. 7:23.
202

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203

who was allied with them, that they could call Him “our
God.” Love was revealed to Old Testament men because
God Himself entered the path leading to union and con­
stantly showed His mercy. It is remarkable that the Bible,
while insisting so carefully on God’s transcendence and
showing His omnipotence and sanctity, takes equal pains to
remind us that the same God “who dwelleth on high” also
“lookçth down on the low things in heaven and in earth.” 8
“The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the chil­
dren of men.” ®
Thus He whose transcendence cannot be signified in hu­
man language is at the same time very concerned with men,
watching them, stooping to touch their lives and their souls,
coming so near them, in short, that we must add to His
title of Lord that of “our God.” “Who is as the Lord our
God?” 7 It may be objected that the title “our God” seems
to reserve God for the benefit of Israel, making Him a na­
tional God, lowering His dignity by confronting Him with
other gods. Doubtless Israel, on saying “our God,” meant
first of all God of the covenant and God of our fathers. On
the other hand, we know that beyond the covenant made
with Abraham, there existed a more universal covenant. “I
will establish My covenant between Me and thee, and be­
tween thy seed after thee in their generations, by a perpetual
covenant. . . . And in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed.” 8
The scope and duration of this older covenant had been
revealed to Noe. “This is the sign of the covenant which I
give between Me and you, and to every living soul that is
5 Ps. 112:5, 6.
e Ps. 13:2.
8 Gen. 17:7; 22:18.

7 Ps. 112:5.

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with you, for perpetual generations. I will set My bow in
the clouds, and it shall be the sign of a covenant between Me
and between the earth. . . . This shall be the sign of the
covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh
upon the earth.” 9
This covenant has continued to our own time and was
sealed in the blood of Christ for the salvation of the whole
world. Each soul is called upon to accept the proposal
made; whereupon it can repeat with all the Old Testament:
“O Lord, . . . Thou art my God.” 10
To understand the deep reasons for this covenant and
this resultant intimacy between God and man, we must go
back to creation: “And the Lord God formed man of the
slime of the earth; and breathed into his face the breath of
life.” 11 How far removed is this wonderful tale from the
idea of a distant and inaccessible First Cause! On the con­
trary, full light is shed on the intimate, personal relation­
ship between the Creator and His creature. There is no
need to fear that such a God would ever abandon the work
fashioned by His fatherly hands, or that He could fail to
understand this being, made to his image and likeness. “He
that planted the ear, shall He not hear? Or He that formed
the eye, doth He not consider?” 12
Nor should we fear that He will ever desert us. He has,
indeed, given His own pledge with a love more tender than
a mother’s. “Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to
have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget,
yet will not I forget thee.” 13 The Psalms also emphasize the
wonderfully close bond uniting the Creator to His handi» Gen. 9:12-13, 17.
w Ps. 15:1, 2.
12 Ps. 93:9-10.
13 Isa. 49:15.

11 Gen. 2:7.

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205

work: “Know ye that the Lord He is God; He made us, and
not we ourselves.” 14 “Come let us adore and fall down; and
weep before the Lord that made us.” 18 These words are
from the psalm used as the invitatory in the Divine Office.
The Bible gives us a deep consciousness of the rights of
possession based on the relation of Creator and creature, of
Gdd’s watchful care for His children, and of His providen­
tial help in all their needs. The Old Testament shows how
admirably God looks after humanity and also how He takes
the initiative in teaching men the way to call on Him. He
Himself said: “I will be your God.” 18

God of the patriarchs
The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me to you.17
They are most dear for the sake of the fathers.18

God was to be ours. Promises reiterated throughout the
ages were fulfilled in this prodigious reality which was pre­
pared by His intimate association with the first man and
His constant renewal of friendship among the people of
Israel. In the souls of Adam and of the later patriarchs in
the faith, this intimacy shed a soft light which softened their
harsh character by the hidden delicacy of love. In this friend­
ship God appeared tender, attentive, thoughtful and respect­
ful, while man made bold to be familiar and yet humble in
his response. The liberty and the manifold nuances of love
which increased as intimacy grew deeper, ultimately became
impossible to express in words. Such love was what God had
originally intended for man. Adam met Yahweh not only
14 Ps. 99:3.
15 Ps. 94:6.
16 Exod. 6:7.
17 Exod. 3:15.
18 Rom. 11:28.

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in the pathways of Eden but also in the paths of his own
soul. The divine voice was familiar to his ear, but even more
familiar to his heart. “I heard Thy voice in paradise,” he
said. But alas, there came a day when sin forced him to add:
“And I hid myself.” 19
Though man was expelled from Eden as a result of his
sin, he was not deserted by God; their relationship was not
broken off. God continued to speak to Adam’s descendants
and to protect them. Even the worst criminals felt the pain of
their estrangement from God and they implored His help
and protection.

And Cain said to the Lord: My iniquity is greater than that
I may deserve pardon. Behold Thou dost cast me out this day,
from the face of the earth, and I shall be hidden from Thy face,
and I shall be a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth; every one,
therefore, that findetli me, shall kill me. And the Lord said to
him: No, it shall not be so; but whosoever shall kill Cain, shall
be punished sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain.20
The divine intimacy with man continued, with God fre­
quently taking the initiative in scenes of magnificent sim­
plicity. He gave Noe the plan for the ark and advice for
building it. When it was finished and the animals “two by
two,” with Noe’s family and the patriarch himself, had gone
in, then Yahweh, with a gesture of tender care, closed the
door of the ark upon them.21 Throughout Noe’s life God
spoke to him and protected him. “But Noe found grace be­
fore the Lord. ... He walked with God.” 22
Abraham likewise experienced this tender care of God.
From the day that he heard the call to faith and a nomadic
19 Gen. 3:10.
22 Gen. 6:8-9.

20 Gen. 4:13-15.

21 Cf. Gen. 7:16.

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207

life, God accompanied, sustained and guided him. The cove­
nant, which was to be infinite in its consequences, was con­
cluded in terms of a simplicity both divine and human, like
a man who makes a contract with another man. “My cove­
nant is with thee.” 23 At nightfall, on one of the brilliant
nights characteristic of the Orient, God took Abraham aside
and,' leading him outside, pointed to the sky “and said to
him: Look up to heaven and number the stars, if thou
canst. ... So shall thy seed be.” 24
Isaac, the patriarch’s son, was told by Abimelech: “We
saw that the Lord is with thee, and therefore . . . with
peace [we] have sent thee away increased with the blessing
of the Lord.” 25 God likewise watched over Jacob on whom
He lavished encouragement and advice. When Jacob hesi­
tated to leave for Egypt, Yahweh called to him and told him
in a vision at night: “I will be thy keeper whithersoever thou
goest, and will bring thee back into this land; neither will
I leave thee, till I shall have accomplished all that I have
said.” 20
God’s intimacy with Moses was even greater, for He spoke
to him as to a friend. “For I speak to him mouth to mouth;
and plainly, and not by riddles and figures doth he see the
Lord.” 27
In conversations dealing with very humble subjects, God
frequently showed men new aspects of the spiritual bond
uniting them to Him. Man responded, emboldened by God’s
23 Gen. 17:4.
24 Gen. 15:5.
26 Gen. 28:15. Our Lord used the
disciples at the time of His ascension
faithful servant Paul: “Do not fear, .
(Acts 18:9).
27 Gen. 12:8.

25 Gen. 26:28-29.
same words to comfort His
(Matt. 28:20). He told His
. . because I am with thee”

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

familiarity with him. Young Samuel, with the calm sim­
plicity of a pure and recollected heart, murmured: “Speak,
Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” 2829
Abraham, in addressing
the three mysterious strangers who appeared before his tent,
spoke without the slightest embarrassment, though filled
with the deepest respect: “Lord, if I have found favor in
thy sight, pass not away from thy servant; but I will fetch
a little water, and wash ye your feet, and rest ye under the
tree. And I will set a morsel of bread, and strengthen ye
your heart, afterward you shall pass on; for therefore are
you come aside to your servant. And they said: Do as thou
hast spoken.” 20 The same patriarch persisted, respectfully
but poignantly, in seeking pardon for Sodom. Jacob wrestled
all night against a mysterious opponent who spoke to him in
the morning: “And he said to him: Let me go, for it is break
of day. He answered : I will not let thee go except thou bless
me. And he said: What is thy name? He answered: Jacob.
But he said. Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel;
for if thou hast been strong against God, how much more
shalt thou prevail against men? Jacob asked him: Tell me
by what name art thou called? He answered: Why dost thou
28 I Kings 3:10.
29 Gen. 18:3-8. Another scene was even more beautiful in its
divine simplicity. The God-man with His own hands prepared a meal
for men: “When the morning was come, Jesus stood on the shore,
yet the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. . . . He saith to them:
Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find. They
cast therefore; and now they were not able to draw it, for the multi­
tude of fishes. ... As soon then as they came to land, they saw
hot coals lying, and a fish laid thereon, and bread. . . . Jesus saith
to them: Come, and dine. And none of them who were at meat,
durst ask Him: Who art Thou? knowing that it was the Lord”
(John 21:4-12).

GOD AMONG MEN

209

ask my name? And he blessed him in the same place.” 30
Moses habitually conversed face to face with God with such
familiarity that he even ventured to request of Hun: “Show
me Thy glory.” 31 Finally Job, in a paroxysm of suffering
cried out imploringly, uttering the humble and intimate re­
proach of one who is accustomed to divine tenderness :

Thy hands have made me, and fashioned me wholly round
about, and dost Thou thus cast me down headlong on a sudden?
Remember, I beseech Thee, that Thou hast made me as the clay,
and Thou wilt bring me into dust again. Hast Thou not milked
me as milk, and curdled me like cheese? Thou hast clothed me
with skin and flesh; Thou hast put me together with bones and
sinews; Thou hast granted me life and mercy, and Thy visitation
hath preserved my spirit.32
Job was deeply moved by the remembrance of former days
when he enjoyed divine friendship. “As I was in the days of
my youth, when God was secretly in my tabernacle.” 33
These numerous witnesses of the friendship between God
and faithful souls prove the value of the treasure which our
forefathers have bequeathed to us.

God of Israel
But thou Israel, art My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen,
the seed of Abraham My friend.34
God hath not cast away His people, which He foreknew. . . .
For the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance.35

The deposit of revelation was so precious and was the
pledge of such wonderful love that wherever it was received
it could not fail to bear fruit. Knowledge engenders love
30 Gen. 32:27-30.
31 Exod. 33:18 .
32 Job 10:8-12.
33 Job 29:4.
34 Isa. 41:8.
35 Rom. 11 :2, 25.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

and favors the intimacy to which God tirelessly calls man.
Thus, it was not enough for God to form intimate friend­
ships with certain individuals only, but He revealed to a
whole nation His constant presence, His tender care, and
His desire for an intimate union of love. He told Moses: “I
will take you to Myself for My people, I will be your
God.” 36
Throughout the centuries God continued to show His
predilection for the nation of which He clearly became the
heart and the leader. “I have separated you from other peo­
ple, that you should be Mine. ... I am the Lord who
sanctify you, and who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
that I might be your God; I am the Lord.”37 Nor was it be­
cause this nation offered fertile soil for the cultivation of the
gifts bestowed; this uncouth, stubborn people of harsh and
violent ways required a long, slow process to temper the
religious soul of the community. But for the sake of their
ancestors who were holy, the nation received God’s kindness
and His ardent invitations to friendship. “Thou didst hear
His words . . . because He loved thy fathers, and chose
their seed after them.” 38 God revealed Himself through His
people. “Who declareth His word to Jacob; His justices and
His judgments to Israel.” 39 God truly revealed Himself.
Here on earth children may enjoy a familiar relationship
with their father, but they are not on that account admitted
to intimate association with him. At times the best of the
father’s soul eludes them. But God, from the outset, posited
the foundation of all true intimacy: knowledge engendering
38 Exod. 6:7.
3’Lev. 20:26; 22:32-33.
38 Deut. 4:36-37.
39 Ps. 147:8.

GOD AMONG MEN

211

love. “We are happy, O Israel: because the things that are
pleasing to God are made known to us.” 40
This deposit of revelation is an inestimable treasure, but
it forces everyone who receives it to make a clear-cut de­
cision: either acceptance (the seed of a friendship which is
infinite because it is divine) or refusal. Israel’s response was
doubtless imperfect, yet the nation had allowed entry for
the word of God; thenceforth God had the right to consider
the nation as His child whom He loved. The little Jewish
community was the first where He dwelt and acted, where
He let Himself be known and loved. In the same nation, too,
He was later to become incarnate, suffer and die for all men.
“He came unto His own, and His own received Him
not.” 41 What tragic testimony these words give of the cov­
enant which God had established; which continued unre­
mittingly in spite of all repudiation and infidelity.
From the very beginning, when Israel was but a tiny tribe,
God was pleased to show it the power of His works as well
as the blessing of His presence. This presence of God in the
midst of the chosen people is the primary fact of the Old
Testament, slowly shaping the soul of Israel, permeating it
with the divine, building up the temporal city which one day,
as the promises assure us, will attain the glory of the
heavenly Jerusalem. We can cite but a few of the countless
instances which prove forcefully God’s dwelling among
40 Bar. 4:4. Christ was to emphasize that this relationship of
friendship and intimacy would imply knowledge: “I will not now
call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth.
But I have called you friends; because all things whatsoever I have
heard of My Father, I have made known to you” (John 15:15).
41 John 1:11.

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men and the intimate relationship established between the
whole nation and the God who wished to be their God.
Joseph, at the moment of death, had told his sons that God
would visit them.42 And indeed God’s activity would become
evident to the multitude which would depart for the desert
and whose existence for forty years would depend daily upon
their invisible but ever-present leader, God Himself. He it
was who gave them light at night and guidance by day,
nourished them, quenched their thirst, cured them, gave the
signal to stop and then to depart again. He accompanied
them the whole way.43 These men became so accustomed to
being under divine control and protection that after they
had been unfaithful to God, they were seized with anguish
on hearing Him say to Moses: “Go, get thee from this place,
thou and thy people which thou hast brought out of the land
of Egypt, into the land concerning which I swore to Abra­
ham, Isaac and Jacob, saying: To thy seed I will give it. And
I will send an angel before thee. . . . For I will not go up
with thee.”44 The answer they gave Him through their
leader was: “If Thou Thyself dost not go before, bring us
not out of this place. For how shall we be able to know, I
and Thy people, that we have found grace in Thy sight, un­
less Thou walk with us, that we may be glorified by all
people that dwell upon the earth?” 45
The divine presence so sustained the soul of the people in
time of trial that it even seemed to become Israel’s lawful
right. In the days of affliction Moses based his appeal on it:
“The Egyptians . . . and the inhabitants of this land . . .
have heard that Thou, O Lord, art among this people, and
42 Cf. Gen. 50:24.
44 Exod. 33:1-3.

43 Exod., chaps. 13, 17, 33, 40, passim.
« Exod. 33:15-16.

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213

art seen face to face, and Thy cloud protecteth them, and
Thou goest before them in a pillar of a cloud by day and in
a pillar of fire by night.” 48 And yet at other times the hard
and narrow hearts of the people required amazing miracles
before they would believe in the divine presence.
And they saw ... the mighty hand that the Lord had used
. . . and they believed the Lord, and Moses His servant. Be­
hold I will stand before thee, upon the rock Horeb; and thou
shalt strike the rock, and water shall come out of it. Moses did
so . . . and he called the name of that place Temptation,
because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and for that
they tempted the Lord saying: Is the Lord amongst us or not? 47

Thanks to so many marvels, Israel’s faith in her excep­
tional destiny became unshakeable. “I will make a covenant
in the sight of all. I will do signs such as were never seen
upon the earth, nor in any nations; that this people, in the
midst of whom thou art, may see the terrible work of the
Lord which I will do.” 48
Those heroic early days when Yahweh manifested Him­
self as the special God of His people furnished the sacred,
undeniable testimony to which judges, kings and prophets
constantly referred whenever they encouraged the people to
be true to the covenant. At the time of Esdras the Levites
exhorted the people with striking reminders of that divine
presence and multiform activity:
Arise, bless the Lord your God from eternity to eternity. . . .
Thou Thyself, O Lord alone, Thou hast made heaven, and the
heaven of heavens and all the host thereof; the earth and all
46 Num. 14:14.
48 Exod. 34:10.

47 Exod. 14:31; 17:6-7.

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things that are in it; the seas and all that are therein; and Thou
givest life to all these things, and the host of heaven adoreth
Thee. Thou, O Lord God, art He who chosest Abram and
broughtest him forth out of the fire of the Chaldeans, and gavest
him the name of Abraham. And Thou didst find his heart faith­
ful before Thee; and Thou madest a covenant with him. . . .
And Thou hast fulfilled Thy words, because thou art just. And
Thou sawest the affliction of our fathers in Egypt; and Thou
didst hear their cry by the Red Sea. And Thou showedst signs
and wonders upon Pharao. . . . And Thou didst divide the
sea before them, . . . And in a pillar of a cloud Thou wast
their leader by day, and in a pillar of fire by night, that they
might see the way by which they went. Thou earnest down also
to Mount Sinai. . . . And Thou gavest them bread from heaven
in their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the
rock in their thirst.49

The Psalmist also sang of the divine marvels accomplished
in ancient times, the pledges of a predilection which could
never be retracted:

Give glory to the Lord, and call upon His name; declare His
deeds among the Gentiles. . . . Remember His marvellous
works which He hath done; His wonders, and the judgments of
His mouth. . . . He is the Lord our God. ... He hath re­
membered His covenant forever. . . . When they were but a
small number ... He suffered no man to hurt them; and He
49 II Esd. 9:5-15. This divine presence never fails, even if Israel
is unfaithful. If the people return to God, they will be reinstated
in the divine friendship which they formerly enjoyed. “After all the
things aforesaid shall find thee, in the latter time thou shalt return
to the Lord thy God, and shalt hear His voice. Because the Lord
thy God is a merciful God; He will not leave thee, nor altogether
destroy thee, nor forget the covenant, by which He swore to thy
fathers” (Deut. 4:30-31).

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215

reproved kings for their sakes: Touch ye not My anointed; and
do no evil to My prophets. And He called a famine upon the
land; and He broke in pieces all the support of bread. He sent
a man before them, Joseph, who was sold for a slave, . . .
until the king sent, and He released him. ... He made him
master of J^is house, and ruler of all His possessions. ... He
sent Moses His servant; Aaron the man whom He had chosen.
He gave them power to show His signs, and His wonders in the
land of Cham. . . . And He brought them out. . . . He
spread a cloud for their protection, and fire to give them light
in the night. They asked, and the quail came; and He filled
them with the bread of heaven. He opened the rock, and waters
flowed; rivers ran down in the dry land. Because He remembered
His holy word, which He had spoken to his servant Abraham.
And He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen with
gladness. And He gave them the lands of the Gentiles; and they
possessed the labors of the people; that they might observe His
justifications and seek after His law.50
In recalling these events, first place is given to marvels, it
being evident that they, as well as the divine word, con­
stituted the foundation of faith in God’s presence among
men, the first proof of a friendship which God constantly
strove to deepen. The same law was verified in the course of
the centuries. Throughout the ages it was equally evident
that God’s presence was marked by tender care and provi­
dential interventions. By the touch of His hand on the peo­
ple’s daily life, God taught them to form their desire and
will on the pattern of the divine will, and to live with Him in
order to live by Him.
At the entrance to the Promised Land God told Josue,
whom He gave to Israel as leader: “As I have been with
50 Ps. 104.

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Moses, so will I be with thee; I will not leave thee, nor for­
sake thee.” 61 But humanity would not easily let its dough be
kneaded; the fulfillment of God’s promises was constantly in
abeyance. Hence the long silences interspersed with tremen­
dous and tragic defeats. Yet the continuity of divine help
granted to this stubborn, forgetful nation was never broken; a
continuity increasingly evident in the perspective of passing
time. It was proclaimed magnificently in the Book of Eccle­
siasticus. There the praises of the patriarchs, from Adam to
the highpriest Simeon, formed a series of exultant testimonies
to God’s help bestowed on His beloved people. “And now
pray ye to the God of all, who hath great things in all the
earth, who hath increased our days from our mother’s womb,
and hath done with us according to His mercy.” 62
The men of God formed an unbroken line, acting like
leaven in the heavy mass of the people: Phinees, with whom
God made a covenant of peace; Josue; Caleb; the uncor­
rupted judges whose memory was a benediction; Samuel,
beloved of the Lord; Nathan; the great king David whose
throne became the cradle of messianic hope; Solomon, from
whom God did not withdraw mercy in spite of the faults of
his later years; Elias, who appeased divine wrath, reconcil­
ing and restoring the people.53 Nevertheless God’s tender
care did not attain its goal. After Eliseus, who inherited the
spirit of his master, “there was left but a small people, and
a prince in the house of David. Some of these did that which
pleased God, but others committed many sins.” 64
Then opened a new era: that of the great prophets whom
God placed, not at the head of the nation like the kings or
61 Jos. 1:5.
02Ecclus. 50:24.
84 Ecclus. 48:17-18.

53 Cf. Ecclus., chaps. 45—48.

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217

judges, but in the midst of the people to tell them again of
His appeal for love and to lead them back, even at the price
of painful trials. “I will be their God, and they shall be My
people.”58 This the prophets reiterated tirelessly in the
name of God.
Fçom the day that their fathers came out of the land of Egypt,
even to this day, I have sent to you all My servants the prophets
from day to day . . . and they have not hearkened to Me.86
For protesting I conjured your fathers in the day that I
brought them out of the land of Egypt even to this day; rising
early I conjured them, and said: Hearken ye to My voice. And
they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear; but walked every one in
the perverseness of his own wicked heart; and I brought upon
them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them
to do, but they did them not.87

By the voice of His prophets God ever recalled the cov­
enant made with His people, calling them “Israel My serv­
ant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My
friend.” 88 Such words truly sufficed to show the real in­
timacy between God and His people. Whenever Israel
evaded this friendship, it brought upon itself severe punish­
ment. “You only have I known of all the families of the
earth; therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities.” 89
If Israel’s refusal made it impossible for God to be with
them in tender fidelity, He yet found a way to be still with
them, namely, through punishment. This clearly shows how
jealous is His love, as we see in the poignant image of the
prophet Osee: “And I will be to them as a lioness, as a
leopard in the way of the Assyrians. I will meet them as a
55 Ezech. 37:27.
56 Jer. 7:23-24.
B8 Isa. 41:8.
B9Amos3:2.

57 Jer. 11:7-8.

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bear that is robbed of her whelps, and I will rend the inner
parts of their liver; and I will devour them there as a lion,
the beast of the field shall tear them. Destruction is thy own,
O Israel; thy help is only in Me.” 60
These terrifying lines show wounded, tortured love hunt­
ing its prey. The tears and lamentations of the prophpts are
a still more vivid expression of this love: 81

Depart from me, I will weep bitterly; labor not to comfort me,
for the devastation of the daughter of my people.®2
Thou didst forbear with them for many years, and didst testify
against them by Thy spirit by the hand of Thy prophets; and
they heard not, and Thou didst deliver them into the hand of
the people of the lands. Yet in Thy very many mercies Thou
didst not utterly consume them nor forsake them; because Thou
art a merciful and gracious God.®3
Israel, the beloved vine, planted by God in olden days
on a fertile hill,®4 never ceased to be His heritage. Though
she was pillaged and laid waste, He continued to visit her.
Perhaps in the depths of anguish and bitter defeat she would
finally understand His love for her, so that a bond of truly
faithful union would be formed. God never tires of propos­
ing it to her:
®° Osee 13:7-9.
61 Christ Himself wept over Jerusalem and, in loving but violent
words which evoke those of the Old Testament, reminded the city
of how cherished and yet how disloyal it had been: “Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are
sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy
children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and
thou wouldst not” (Matt. 23:37).
«2 Isa. 22:4.
63 II Esd. 9:30-31.
®4 Cf. Isa. 5:1.

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219

And thou My servant Jacob, fear not and be not thou dis­
mayed, O Israel; for behold I will save thee from afar off. . . .
Fear not, saith the Lord, because I am with thee.*15
And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel . . .
and My people shall not be confounded forever.®*1
Even during the exile He did not abandon her. In fact,
during the captivity He spoke to the hearts of His servants
and some of them then attained knowledge of the living and
personal God who was their God, and they realized what
divine food was offered to their souls. “Therefore thus saith
the Lord God: Because I have removed them far off among
the Gentiles, and because I have scattered them among the
countries, I will be to them a little sanctuary in the countries
whither they are come.” 67 In the desert long before, manna
had been brought to them and they had not been able to ap­
preciate it. After the exile, centuries later, when the temple
was empty, Israel turned expectantly toward the Promised
One, and poring over the sacred books, the people finally
encountered the word of God and felt it living within them.
This word became their support. In the diaspora, as in their
battles for liberty, it was truly the interior and living “com­
fort” 68 of Israel.
Then the heart of the people turned humbly and longingly
toward their God. Magnificent psalms beg for the renewal of
His favor and the grace of His friendship:

O God, Thou hast cast us off and hast destroyed us; Thou
hast been angry, and hast had mercy on us. . . . Thou hast
shown Thy people hard things, Thou hast made us drink the
85 Jer. 46:27-28.
«° Joel 2:27.
«®Cf. II Mach. 12:9.

87 Ezech. 11:16.

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wine of sorrow. Thou hast given a warning to them that fear
Thee, that they may flee from before the bow, that Thy beloved
may be delivered.09
Lord remember David, and all his meekness.70
Thou shalt arise and have mercy on Sion; for it is time to
have mercy on it, for the time is come. For the stones thereof
have pleased Thy servants; and they shall have pity on the earth
thereof.71

We see now that the expression “God of Israel” is neither
exaggerated nor superficial. Does it even express adequately
how imbued with God this nation was? God entered into
its sins as well as its contrition. With all the power of His
grace and fidelity He became Israel’s God. Even exteriorly it
is apparent that God was the soul of the entire national and
private life of the people. From the time of Jacob He was
the judge of all disputes. “The God of Abraham, and the
God of Nachor, the God of their father, judge between
us.” 72 Their oaths were in His name.73 He presided over all
their gatherings to rejoice, to eat and to drink, like children
in their father’s home.74 He guided them in all their actions
as He had promised through Moses: “Thence will I give
orders, and will speak to thee ... all things which I will
command the children of Israel by thee.” 78 He was present
in their wars to grant them victory, in their troubles to rouse
their courage. The nation seemed to have expressed its very
soul in the cry of the prophet Isaias, paying homage to the
God who had become their God: “For the Lord is our judge,
the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save
us.” 70
09 Ps. 59:3, 5-6.
72 Gen. 31:53 .
73 Gen. 25:22.

70 Ps. 131:1.
73 II Esd. 10:30.
70 Isa. 33:22.

71 Ps. 101:14-15.
74 Exod. 18:12.

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221

This active presence of God in the whole of life is un­
doubtedly one of the principal doctrines of the Old Testa­
ment. To meditate upon this is as vital and urgent today
as in the past.
But God’s presence with Israel was not merely like the
visit of a familiar guest. The heart of Israel was nourished
by the divine commandments and the messianic promises.
Israel was the community chosen to be the cradle of Him
who would truly be our God by giving Himself totally to
everyone. In a mysterious way the divine word penetrated to
the very depths of the nation’s soul; then it sprouted with
new life from its soil, to give forth its fruit, in due time, to
the whole world. “I have put My words in Thy mouth, and
have protected Thee in the shadow of My hand, that Thou
mightest plant the heavens and found the earth; and mightest
say to Sion: Thou art My people.” 77
If, in family life, the expectation of a child to be born
binds the members of a household more closely together,
how much more did the anticipation of a Savior bring the
people nearer to its God. The divine secret, after being long
guarded as a communal treasure, a pledge of mutual fidelity,
finally became a vehement, impulsive longing, pulsating in
unison through the heart of Israel and the heart of God. “Be­
hold, your God . . . will come and will save you.” 78 “Thou
art my helper and my protector; O my God, be not slack.” 79
When, at last, the day came that the Savior was born of a
humble virgin of the house of David, the poor shepherds
came to adore Him in Bethlehem; then truly could it be said
that Yahweh, the great and mighty God, became completely
God of Israel, while at the same time He became also God
of the Gentiles. “For a Child is born to us, and a Son is
77 Isa. 51:16.

78 Isa. 35 : 4.

79 Ps. 39:18.

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given to us.” 80 Beside His crib Israel’s history on the wane
met the rising light of the Gentiles through their most thrill­
ing and precious privilege: intimacy with God. The same
moment that this inheritance was bequeathed to us, brought
us also its fulfillment, Jesus Christ.81

GOD’S FAVORITES: THE POOR,
HUMBLE AND JUST
He shall scorn the scomers, and to the meek He will give
grace.82
Because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled;
and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted.83
To a few chosen men, the patriarchs, God first showed
the joy and the depths of divine friendship. He bound them
to Himself. Then the whole nation learned, by means of
signs and wonders, by constant evidence of love and provi­
dential care, that it was the chosen race. The people received
sure proof that they were Yahweh’s people, as Yahweh was
their God. Yet for God and man to meet and be united,
something more was required than the divine initiative. The
ground had to be prepared. Something in man had to be­
come open and responsive to the divine allurements in order
80 Isa. 9:6.
81 St. Paul warns us that the blindness of the Jews concerning
the Gospel is a mystery permitted by God. Their error was that
“by following after the law of justice, . . . they sought it not by
faith, but as it were of works” (Rom. 9:32). But if these branches
were broken off, it was in order that we might be grafted in (Rom.
11:19). “For God hath concluded all in unbelief, that He may have
mercy on all” (Rom. 11:32). The meaning of St. Paul’s teaching
is that Israel is still cherished by God and will be saved when the
mass of the Gentiles has been converted.
82 Prov. 3:34.
83 Luke 14:11.

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223

to assimilate and reciprocate them. Divine friendship was a
plant that could bloom only on a ploughed and fertile soil.
“Let the earth be opened, and bud forth a Savior.” 84
The most favorable conditions for the divine purpose are
found among those whom the Bible calls the just. But God’s
benevolence is likewise exercised in a special way toward
the poor and the humble, that is, all whose situation arouses
pity. If poverty is favored in God’s eyes, it is do doubt be­
cause He finds in it the beginnings of the very foundation of
justice, namely, humility. The poor, the humble and the
just realize their privileged position and constantly utter this
cry of trust in God: “I have put my trust in Thee, O Lord;
I said: Thou art my God.” 85 They show a primitive, vague
resemblance to Him who would one day set foot on a similar
path to give Himself to us. “Learn of Me, because I am
meek, and humble of heart.” 86 He opens the depths of His
love, provided we consent to follow Him on the path of
humility.
I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, be­
cause Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent,
and hast revealed them to little ones.87
Blessed is the rich man that is found without blemish, and
that hath not gone after gold, nor put his trust in money nor in
treasures.88
Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.89

The whole Bible shows God’s touching preference for the
poor and the humble whom He watches, hears and answers
with special care. “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard
Isa. 45:8.
87 Matt. 11:25.

88 Ps. 30:15.
86 Matt. 11:29.
88 Ecclus. 31:8.
88Luke6:20.

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him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” 90 “He hath had
regard to the prayer of the humble; and He hath not despised
their petition.” 91
God’s solicitude and jealous love include all who are in
need:

[The Lord] . . . who executeth judgment for them that suffer
wrong; who giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth them
that are fettered; the Lord enlighteneth the blind. The Lord
lifteth up them that are cast down; the Lord loveth the just. The
Lord keepeth the strangers, he will support the fatherless and
the widow; and the ways of sinners He will destroy.92
The needy and the poor seek for waters, and there are none;
their tongue hath been dry with thirst. I the Lord will hear
them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.93
Those who are disinherited or suffer in body and soul
receive the news of release in the name of Yahweh:
“Strengthen ye the feeble hands, and confirm the weak
knees. Say to the fainthearted: Take courage, and fear not;
behold, your God Himself will come and will save you.” 94
For them “waters are broken in the desert and streams in the
wilderness. . . . And a path and a way shall be there, and
it shall be called the holy way; the unclean shall not pass
over it, . . . so that fools shall not err therein.” 95
Ecclesiasticus reminds the rich man not to reject the poor
“for the prayer of him that curseth thee in the bitterness of
his soul, shall be heard, for He that made him will hear
him.” 90 Thus, like the cry of His favorite child is the appeal
of the unfortunate in the ear of God. What is the motive of
80 Ps. 33:7.
91 Ps. 101:18.
93 Isa. 41:17.
91 Isa. 35:3-4.
96 Ecclus. 4:6.

92 Ps. 145:7-9.
95 Isa. 35:6-8.

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225

such special benevolence? Why has the poor man’s prayer
such prestige in God’s sight? Is wealth evil or condemned
by God? No. The Bible neither condemns nor extols wealth
or poverty in themselves; both are gifts of God. “Riches are
good to him that hath no sin in his conscience; and poverty is
very wicked in the mouth of the ungodly.” 87
Yet all too often “the poor will speak with supplications,
and the rich will speak roughly. . . . The rich ruleth over
the poor.” 98 Therefore the triumph of God’s justice was
involved. Right order being violated, He restores the balance
by supporting the poor man. “Do no violence to the poor,
because he is poor; and do not oppress the needy in the gate.
Because the Lord will judge his cause, and will afflict them
that have afflicted his soul.” 89 God may reserve the time
and the manner of His intervention, but He never fails to
protect the poor. He is particularly eager that those who call
on Him should receive proof of His compassion as Creator
and as Father. “Wilt thou take the prey for the lioness, and
satisfy the appetite of her whelps. . . . Who provideth
food for the raven, when her young ones cry to God, wan­
dering about, because they have no meat?” 100 “For the
sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest for
herself where she may lay her young ones.” 101
If He cares thus for animals and birds, how much more
87 Ecclus. 13:30. Christ was to visit rich men like Simon (Luke
7:36) or Zaccheus (Luke 19:1-10), but He loved to gather the
poor about Him. He said: “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man
shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:23).
That statement was illustrated by the parable of Lazarus and the
rich man (Luke 16:19-31).
Prov. 18:23; 22:7.
88 Prov. 22:22-23.
100 Job 38:39-40.
101 Ps. 83:4.

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readily does He respond to the children of men when they
cry to Him. Whether they are great or small, they are all
children in His eyes and in His fatherly hand. When they are
hungry and thirsty with no one to relieve them, God stoops
to help them. The poor man claims the sacred right to life,
the right which belongs to every creature.
The name given to the wonderful help, humanly unpre­
dictable, which so often rescues the poor from their distress,
is providence. It means far more than the mere assurance
of earthly food and material help. The poor are not deceived
in this; they know that providence is the treasure of God’s
mercy opening for them, giving a glimpse of His paternal
heart. For God it is an opportunity to pour the streams of
His tender love into a human heart. The love, even more
than the material help, melts the poor man’s heart and opens
it to supernatural love. The impulses and effects of divine
mercy are better known to the poor than to those who have
never experienced misery; thus they gradually acquire the
incommunicable knowledge of God which even the wise
envy them. “What doth he know, that hath not been
tried?” 102 The afflicted soul comforted by God truly re­
ceives divine knowledge and divine experience. A privileged
intimacy is then established between the poor man and His
God—between Him whose totally gratuitous generosity has
found a means of expression and the humble, grateful heart
offering the thanks which God’s other children neglect to
utter. “The eyes of God are upon them that love Him.” 103
The friendship between God and the poor is more than a
secret; it is a mystery. But humanity finds in it enlightenment
which the poor are commissioned to communicate.
102 Ecclus. 34:9.

103 Ecclus. 34:15.

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227

Without poverty men would have greater difficulty in
practicing charity in its material form of almsgiving. The
hard lot of so many destitute men living in dependence,
helplessness and virtual slavery provides not only an op­
portunity but a duty for the rich to help them. “I command
thee to open thy hand to thy needy and poor brother, that
liveth in the land.” 104 The same text asserts, moreover, that
whatever relief may be given, poverty will not disappear.
“There will not be wanting poor in the land of thy habita­
tion.” 105
Thus poverty invites others to practice almsgiving. But
this is by no means its only advantage. It constitutes a posi­
tive blessing for the poor man as well as for those who ob­
serve his life. Poverty deprives a man of necessities, puts him
in painful and inauspicious circumstances, hollows him out,
arouses a thirst which the rich man ignores. It leads him to
expect help and salvation from God alone, to send heaven­
ward the cries of distress so frequent in the Bible. “But I
am needy and poor; O God, help me.” 106*108
Thus the poor
man is linked ever more closely to God; he develops greater
104 Deut. 15:11. The Lord’s loving care for the poor who love
Him humbly and generously appears in one of the most tender
scenes of the Gospel: “And looking on, He saw the rich men cast
their gifts into the treasury. And He saw also a certain poor widow
casting in two brass mites. And He said: Verily I say to you, that
this poor widow hath cast in more than they all; for all these have
of their abundance cast into the offerings of God; but she of her
want, hath cast in all the living that she had” (Luke 21:1—4).
105 Deut. 15:11. Christ was to express the same thought: “The
poor you have always with you” (Matt. 26:11). By then, however,
the supernatural foundations of the precept of charity had been
revealed in the light of His teaching.
108 Ps. 69:6.

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trust and renunciation. It is true that many poor men do not
reach this height, but in the divine plan, poverty gives them
the means to do so, means which, if used properly, place
them on the path leading to the greatest and richest realm:
the kingdom of God Himself.107
This is one explanation of the privileged position of the
poor in the Old Testament. Yet their “eminent dignity”
depends upon ever deeper causes: God’s gracious kindness
toward the anawim—the weak and the small, all who are
condemned to poverty and suffering, who endure oppression
—derives from the fact that He sees in them the first outlines
of the features of Christ, who was to come to earth in the
guise of a poor man. Christ, indeed, was not only a poor man
like any other, but He was the poor man par excellence.
More than any others, the poor were to experience His
gentleness and humility. “The bruised reed He shall not
break, and smoking flax He shall not quench. . . . But He
shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with
equity for the meek of the earth.” 108
Christ was to stoop lovingly toward all poor and wretched
men: “The spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because the Lord
hath anointed Me; He hath sent Me to preach to the meek,
to heal the contrite of heart and to preach a release to the
captives, and deliverance to them that are shut up. To pro­
claim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of
vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint
lor We cannot forget that the first to hear Christ’s call and to fol­
low Him were the poor: humble fishermen and artisans. “Hearken,
my dearest brethren: hath not God chosen the poor in this world,
rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised
to them that love Him?” (Jas. 2:5.)
108 Isa. 42:3; 11:4.

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to the mourners of Sion, and to give them a crown for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning, a garment of praise for the spirit
of grief.” 100
He would share their distress. He was to be born, to love
and to die as a poor man. The highest function of the poor
in the Old Testament was to prefigure Christ and to prepare
men to receive His message on poverty;109
110 that is why they
are so dear to God’s heart.
Even before the sweet light of the beatitudes rose over the
mountain, the song of the poor rang out, proclaiming how
God gave Himself to them and would be theirs even more
completely if they would stay unswervingly faithful to Him.
Thus, Tobias reproached his friends who mocked his per­
severing fidelity in the midst of extreme destitution. He
extolled the one necessity of which he already had a fore­
taste in his heart:

Speak not so; for we are the children of saints, and look for
that life which God will give to those that never change their
faith from Him.111
Whosoever is a little one, let him come to Me.112
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child,
he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven.113
Ordinarily we are not asked to choose poverty voluntarily
as a state of life, to live as poor men. Yet God offers to us
and requires of us the interior attitudes of the poor.114 The
109 Isa. 61:1-3.
110 “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven” (Matt. 5:3).
nlTob. 2:18.
112 Prov. 9:4.
113 Matt. 18:4.
114 Thus, the rich Pharisee, Simon, incurred the Lord’s rebuke
because of his hard heart, while the rich publican, Zaccheus, being

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only truly poor man is the humble man. God is pleased with
the humble, the poor in spirit; He shows them His mercy.
Humility converts the heart and turns it toward God. If
pride is essentially a separation from God, humility is a
preparation for union with Him.

The beginning of the pride of man, is to fall off from God;
because his heart is departed from Him that made him. . . .
Pride was not made for men.115
Where pride is, there also shall be reproach; but where humil­
ity is, there also is wisdom. . . . The fear of the Lord is the
lesson of wisdom; and humility goeth before glory. . . . Every
proud man is an abomination to the Lord.11®
Every soul seeking God finds lessons of true humility in
the sacred authors as well as in the whole history of Israel.
“Humble thy spirit very much; for the vengeance on the
flesh of the ungodly is fire and worms. . . . The greater
thou art, the more humble thyself in all things, and thou
shalt find grace before God; for great is the power of God
alone, and He is honored by the humble.” 117
Justice demands humility in God’s presence; souls need
humiliation to abate their pride. “And the loftiness of men
shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be
humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.” 118
A soul should bless the day when, looking up to God, its
supreme good, it becomes conscious of its own nothingness
and wretchedness. Merely to admit this misery evokes God’s
loving help. Like the prodigal son’s words to his father, “I
generous and humble, was told: “This day is salvation come to this
house” (Luke 19:9).
115 Ecclus. 10:14—15,22.
118 Prov. 11:2; 15:33; 16:5.
117 Ecclus. 7:19; 3:20-21.
118 Isa. 2:17.

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231

have sinned against heaven, and before thee,” so Baruch’s
humble prayer sufficed to turn God to him: “We have sinned
before the Lord our God, and have not believed Him, nor
put our trust in Him; and we were not obedient to Him,
and we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God.
. . . And we have not entreated the face of the Lord our
God, that we might return every one of us from our most
wicked ways.” 119
But the mere admission of misery is not enough to rein­
state us in divine friendship and happiness: “They shall be
afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own, . . .
until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed; then shall they
pray for their sins. And I will remember My covenant.” 120
These lines remind us that God cannot be separated from
His justice. Those who seek God in their hearts are assured
of His mercy, but at the price of humble expiation does the
lost path reappear. Suffering brings the meek soul an in­
creased enjoyment of God’s presence. 121 The impious king
Antiochus confessed his sin when his pride had been broken
by the weight of adversity, but in vain did he seek to escape
punishment by tardy good deeds and favors.

The Lord God of Israel, that seeth all things, struck him with
an incurable and an invisible plague. . . . And by this means,
being brought from his great pride, he began to come to the
knowledge of himself, being admonished by the scourge of God.
. . . He spoke thus: It is just to be subject to God, and that
a mortal man should not equal himself to God. . . . But his
119 Bar. 1:17-18; 2:8.
120 Lev. 26:39-42.
121 So teaches St. James: “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw
nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts,
ye double minded. ... Be humbled in the sight of the Lord, and
He will exalt you” (Jas. 4:8, 10).

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pains not ceasing (for the just judgment of God was come upon
him).122
The humble soul, however, does not seek to avoid the just
penalty, but trustfully hastens to God and asks to be
cleansed of sin. “And David said to God: I have sinned ex­
ceedingly in doing this; I beseech Thee take away the iniq­
uity of Thy servant, for I have done foolishly.” 123 The
humble soul, though abashed, remains aware of the presence
of God, who does not cease to be his God. The humble
invite punishment and surrender to God’s merciful hand.
“And David said to God: I am on every side in a great strait;
but it is better for me to fall into the hands of the Lord, for
His mercies are many, than into the hands of men.” 124
God is not content merely to raise up the humble-hearted
man, but He supports him effectively, protects him from ex­
ternal danger and preserves him from evil. “O Lord, deliver
my soul. The Lord is merciful and just, and our God
showeth mercy. The Lord is the keeper of little ones; I was
humbled, and He delivered me.” 125 “Thou hast broken my
bonds.” 128
God’s heart is irresistibly attracted to true humility which
unites modesty and confidence, forming a perfect vessel for
the infusion of grace.127 “The prayer of him that humbleth
himself, shall pierce the clouds; and till it come nigh he will
not be comforted; and he will not depart till the Most High
behold.” 128 “My hand made all these things, . . . saith the
Lord. But to whom shall I have respect but to him that is
122 II Mach. 9:11, 18.
123 I Par. 21:8.
124 I Par. 21:13.
125 Ps. 114:5-6.
126 Ps. 115:7.
127 It would seem that the prayer of the good thief was answered
because of his fear of God and his humility as well as his keen faith
(Luke 23:33, 42).
128 Ecclus. 35:21.

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233

poor and little, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth al
My words?” 129
God answered Daniel’s suppliant prayer by saying: “Fear
not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thy
heart to understand, to afflict thyself in the sight of thy God,
thy words have been heard; and I am come for thy
words.” 130
The humble are granted access to God’s heart and are
charged with carrying out His wishes. The Psalmist sang of
the benefits of humiliation: “He will guide the mild in judg­
ment; He will teach the meek His ways. . . . Before I was
humbled I offended. ... In Thy truth Thou hast humbled
me. O let Thy mercy be for my comfort. ... It is good
for me that Thou hast humbled me.” 131
For the humble servant of Yahweh, to fear God is to love
His commandments, just as to humble oneself means also
to serve God and to love Him. “They that fear the Lord will
not be incredulous to His word. . . . They that fear the
Lord will seek after the things that are well pleasing to Him;
and they that love Him shall be filled with His law. They
that fear the Lord will prepare their hearts, and in His
sight will sanctify their souls.” 132
The humble and the little folk have a greater right than
others to speak of our God. Not only does God dwell in
their hearts, but He cherishes them tenderly and fills them
with “the joy no man can take from them.” “And the meek
shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor men shall
rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” 133
“But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the
129 Isa. 66:2.
130 Dan. 10:12.
i»i Ps. 24:9; 118:67, 75-76, 71.
133 Isa. 29:19.

i32 Ecclus. 2:18-20.

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torment of death shall not touch them. . . . God hath tried
them, and found them worthy of Himself.” 134 “Not he who
commendeth himself, is approved, but he whom God commendeth.” 138
Interior poverty and humility establish the soul in a state
of truth and dependence which is needed before it can sub­
mit to the control of grace and taste the sweetness of God’s
gift. Also, as humility awakens a man to a greater realization
of his true status as God’s servant, his zeal in God’s service
glows more brightly. Hence we may well understand how
dear to God are such souls: the light of His grace finds them
totally transparent; His gifts to them bear fruit according
to His will; He receives the testimony of their trusting and
faithful love. To them would apply the words of the father
in Christ’s parable: “Son, thou art always with me, and all
I have is thine.” 130 These favorite friends of God are called,
in the Old Testament, the just. They dwell in truth and hu­
mility; they prove that the more faithful a soul is, the more
God gives Himself to it.
The Bible frequently portrays the just. The author of the
Book of Proverbs strives to show the advantages of this
privileged state and the benefits that the just man confers
on those around him: “The mouth of the just is a vein of
life. . . . The lips of the just teach many. . . . The ex­
pectation of the just is joy. . . . The desire of the just is
all good. . . . The fruit of the just man is a tree of life.
. . . The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the just run­
neth to it, and shall be exalted. . . . The just that walketh
in His simplicity, shall leave behind him blessed chil­
dren.” 137
184 Wisd. 3:1,5.
188II Cor. 10:18.
i38 Luke 15:31.
137 Prov. 10:11, 21, 28; 11:23, 30; 18:10; 20:7.

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235

But the inspired authors despair of defining the soul of
the just man, though indicating that the soul enjoys God’s
presence, undergoes constant renewal and acquires an ex­
perience of God which we shall describe later. The constant
appeals heard from the lips of the just man prove that for
him, God is everything. “O God, my God, to Thee do 1
watch at break of day. For Thee my soul hath thirsted; for
Thee my flesh, O how many ways!” 138 “Thou art the God
of my heart, and the God that is my portion forever. . . .
It is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in
the Lord God.” 139
In time of need he cries out trustfully to God, sure of
being heard. “O my God, make haste to my help.” 140 But
the chief characteristic of the just man is that he is en­
amored of God and yearns for the triumph of His cause;
he has a keen awareness of God’s majesty which is offended
by evil; he espouses God’s cause and expresses his whole
soul in vehement prayer: “Why, O Lord, hast Thou retired
afar off? Why dost Thou slight us in our wants, in the time of
trouble? Whilst the wicked man is proud, the poor is set on
fire; they are caught in the counsels which they devise. . . .
Arise, O Lord God, let Thy hand be exalted; forget not the
poor . . . that man may no more presume to magnify him­
self upon earth.” 141
God, therefore, heeds this soul burning with zeal. He
gives His help and then hears the prayer of thanksgiving:
“I will be glad and rejoice in Thee; I will sing to Thy name,
O Thou Most High. When my enemy shall be turned back,
they shall be weakened and perish before Thy face. For
Thou hast maintained my judgment and my cause; Thou
138 Ps. 62:1-2.
141 Ps. 9:22-42.

139 Ps. 72: 26-27.

iw Ps. 70:12.

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hast sat on the throne, who judgest justice. Thou hast re­
buked the Gentiles, and the wicked one hath perished;
Thou hast blotted out their name forever and ever.” 142
The entire life of the just man runs on within the sight of
God who guides every action. He even testifies before God to
his own integrity in a manner so bold that it would seem
surprising were it not the proof of the intimacy of his friend­
ship. “Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in my inno­
cence, and I have put my trust in the Lord, and shall not be
weakened. . . . For Thy mercy is before my eyes. ... I
will wash my hands among the innocent; and will compass
Thy altar, O Lord.” 143
Even in the most frightful trials the just man still looks on
God as his God: witness the cry in the messianic psalm
which was uttered by the pre-eminently Just Man. “O God,
my God, look upon Me; why hast Thou forsaken Me?” 144
The most intolerable suffering cannot prevail over the
strength and fidelity of the just man’s love. Such unfailing
trust will not be disappointed. “This may be my comfort,
that afflicting me with sorrow, He spare not, nor I contra­
dict the words of the Holy One.” 145 “Many are the afflic­
tions of the just; but out of them all will the Lord deliver
them. The Lord keepeth all their bones, not one of them
shall be broken.” 148
While we cannot discover the secrets of the just man’s
friendship with God, at least we know the path it has fol­
lowed and the sustenance it has received on the way. The
angel Raphael, on leaving Tobias whom he had guided,
told him a great secret: “I seemed indeed to eat and to drink
1« Ps. 9:2-6.
Msjob6:10.

ms ps. 25:1, 3, 6.
«ops. 33:20-21.

“* Ps. 21:1.

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237

with you, but I use an invisible meat and drink, which can­
not be seen by men.” 147
The just man also is fed on invisible and spiritual food
which strengthens his soul and invigorates his whole life:
the law of God, his obedience to the divine commandments
and the divine will. Christ Himself was to taste no other
food: “In the head of the book it is written of Me that I
should do Thy will; O my God, I have desired it, and Thy
law in the midst of My heart.” 148 God’s law is the food of
the good; it is also “a path and ... a holy way, ... a
straight way, so that fools shall not err therein.” 149 The
path which the Lord “will teach the meek” 150 is the way by
which divine charity reaches the poor. Jesus declared that
“not every one that saith to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven; but he that doth the will of My
Father.” 151 The law of charity enables the upright and just
man to respond to God’s love with his own humble, fervent
love. That is the secret of the contacts between God and man,
all expressed in the cry which the poor, the humble and the
holy raise to heaven as an appeal, a hope and a jubilant
certainty: “O Lord, I said: Thou art my God.” 152
GOD DWELLS AMONG MEN
If you walk in My precepts, ... I will set My tabernacle
in the midst of you.153

The love of God and neighbor is not only “all the law
and the prophets,” but it is also a road which, if followed
steadfastly, leads to God. In addition to promulgating a
147 Tob. 12:19.
143 Ps. 39:8-9.
150 Ps. 24:9.
101 Matt. 7:21.
153 Lev. 26:3, 11.

149 Isa. 35:8.
1S2 Ps. 30:15.

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law, God acted with wholly gratuitous love in turning to
mankind with repeated gestures of mercy. With the nation
He chose and which chose Him, He established a covenant
that nothing could annul. He did even more. He united Him­
self to men whenever He found in their hearts the disposi­
tions of humility, justice and charity, which the Bible ever
describes as the necessary conditions of such friendship. For
God did not intend to be only our God. He wished to belong
to us, to be truly ours, that we might be His. Later He would
not hesitate to become Emmanuel, which means God with
us. In this way would union be achieved. Though the Old
Testament promise, “I will set My tabernacle in the midst of
you,” was applied to the divine presence in the ark and in
the temple as well as to God’s protection of Israel, yet the
promise foretold a much more intimate union: that of God
and the soul.
To attain this, the soul first of all had to remain true to the
double commandment of love of God and neighbor, even at
the cost of repeated effort and painful sacrifices. In addition
it was necessary to understand that this fidelity should not
and could not have any other reward but God Himself. To
reach this point required a long process of spiritual educa­
tion.
In this, as in many other respects, the Old Testament
played the role of pedagogue. God patiently strove to spirit­
ualize the notion of retribution. At first, and for as long as
necessary, He did not hesitate to grant material advantages
to those who were faithful to Him. Is it not true, moreover,
that this education which we observe in the Bible has to be
renewed and continued by God even now in each soul? How

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239

admirable it is to see in the Old Testament how God led
men gradually to discover true values, to desire Him alone
and to expect no recompense but union with Him in love.,M
To persuade Old Testament men to follow the path of
obedience, God gave them tangible evidence of the material
advantages involved: “If then you obey my commandments,
which I command you this day, that you love the Lord your
God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your
soul, He will give to your land the early rain and the latter
rain, that you may gather in your corn, and your wine, and
your oil.” 154
155 Men, however, should beware of attributing to
their own personal worth or to their own work the benefits
they receive; they should refer the credit to God.

Not because you surpass all nations in number, is the Lord
joined unto you, and hath chosen you, for you are the fewest
of any people; but because the Lord hath loved you, and hath
kept His oath, which He swore to your fathers. . . . Take heed,
and beware lest at any time thou forget the Lord thy God, and
neglect His commandments and judgments and ceremonies,
which I command thee this day; lest after thou hast eaten and
art filled, hast built goodly houses, and dwelt in them, and shalt
have herds of oxen and flocks of sheep, and plenty of gold and
of silver, and of all things, thy heart be lifted up, and thou re­
member not the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the
land of Egypt, . . . lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: My
own might, and the strength of my own hand have achieved all
154 We cannot help recalling here that when the Lord asked St.
Thomas Aquinas, at the end of his life, what he wanted as a
recompense for all his work, he answered: “Nothing but Thyself,
Lord.”
155 Deut. 11:13-14.

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these things for me. But remember the Lord thy God, that He
hath given thee strength.15®

On those who hear His voice God bestows innumerable
blessings:

And all these blessings shall come upon thee and overtake
thee; yet so if thou hear His precepts. Blessed shalt thou be in
the city, and blessed in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy
womb, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle,
the droves of thy herds, and the folds of thy sheep. Blessed shall
be thy barns and blessed thy stores. Blessed shalt thou be in
coming in and going out. . . . The Lord will make thee abound
with all goods, . . . with the fruit of thy land, which the Lord
swore to thy fathers that He would give thee. The Lord will open
His excellent treasure, the heaven, that it may give rain in due
season. . . . And thou shalt lend to many nations, and shalt
not borrow of any one. And the Lord shall make thee the head
and not the tail; and thou shalt be always above, and not be­
neath; yet so if thou wilt hear the commandments of the Lord
thy God which I command thee this day, and keep and do
them.157
The abundance of these benefits developed among men of
the Old Testament limitless trust in God’s power and good­
ness. This then formed a solid foundation on which God106
106 Deut. 7:7-8; 8:11-18. “What hast thou that thou hast not
received?” (I Cor. 4:7.) “For it is God who worketh in you, both
to will and to accomplish” (Phil. 2:13). “I have planted, Apollo
watered, but God gave the increase. Therefore, neither he that
planteth is anything, nor he that watereth; but God that giveth the
increase” (I Cor. 3:6-7). “But when the goodness and kindness of
God our Savior appeared; not by the works of justice, which we have
done, but according to His mercy, He saved us” (Tit. 3:4-5).
157 Deut. 28:2-13.

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241

proceeded to erect a spiritual edifice. Some of the psalms
hint that God rewards fidelity in a way not entirely material :
Blessed are all they that fear the Lord; that walk in His ways.
For thou shalt eat the labors of thy hands; blessed art thou, and
it shall be well with thee. Thy wife as a fruitful vine, on the
sides of thy house. Thy children as olive plants, round about
thy table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the
Lord. May the Lord bless thee out of Sion; and mayst thou see
the good things of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. And mayst
thou see thy children’s children, peace upon Israel.158

The spiritual nature of the reward is even more clearly
indicated in Psalm 111 :
Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord; he shall delight
exceedingly in His commandments. His seed shall be mighty
upon earth; the generation of the righteous shall be blessed.
Glory and wealth shall be in his house; and his justice remaineth
forever and ever. To the righteous a light is risen up in dark­
ness; he is merciful, and compassionate and just. . . . His jus­
tice remaineth forever and ever; his horn shall be exalted in
glory.159

Psalm 118 extols and glorifies only spiritual benefits. The
reward par excellence is friendship with God, which the just
man receives for obeying the commandments. Hence he
loves them, observes them with all his heart, finds his delight
in them, is quickened by them.
This friendship, which is God’s reward to the servants
who faithfully obey His law, produces in their souls manifold
fruits which the Old Testament often mentions. In the first
place, the soul that is “with God,” that is, the soul which
158 Ps. 127.

159 Ps. 111:1-4, 9.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT

enjoys His friendship, experiences peace. “Thus shall you
bless the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: The
Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord show His face to
thee and have mercy on thee. The Lord turn His coun­
tenance to thee and give thee peace.” 180
Christ also was to make peace one of the signs of His
presence in men’s hearts: “Peace I leave with you, My peace
I give unto you; not as the world giveth, do I give unto
you.” 181
He who dwells with God not only experiences peace, but
already possesses eternal life: “Seek ye Me, and you shall
live. Seek ye the Lord, and live. . . . Seek ye good, and not
evil, that you may live; and the Lord the God of hosts will
be with you.” 182
He who dwells with God and receives His grace becomes
capable of choosing the good and clinging to it; this brings
him true happiness. “I have set before you life and death.
. . . Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed
may live.” 183 “Observe and hear all the things that I com­
mand thee, that it may be well with thee and thy children
after thee forever.” 184
God so desires this happiness for us that He keeps repeat­
ing His directions in order that we may not deprive our­
selves of it through our own fault. “Hearken to My voice and
I will be your God, and you shall be My people; and walk ye
in all the way that I have commanded you, that it may be
well with you.” 185 He begs us to remain faithful to His com­
mandments, which are for us at once the way to reach God,
to dwell with Him and to taste happiness. “Who shall give
180 Num. 6:23-26.
183 Deut. 30:19.

181 John 14:27.
184 Deut. 12:28.

182 Amos 5:4, 14.
185 Jer. 7:23.

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243

them to have such a mind, to fear Me, and to keep all My
commandments at all times, that it may be well with them
and with their children forever?” 1ββ
What the Old Testament author had merely glimpsed was
later to be fully understood by St. John, who was to tell us
that obedience to the commandments puts us in vital contact
with God by the union of love, and thereby brings us hap­
piness. “I know that His commandment is life everlast­
ing.” 167 “For this is the charity of God, that we keep His
commandments; and His commandments are not heavy. For
whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world; and this
is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith.” 108
St. James spoke in the same way: “But he that hath looked
into the perfect law of liberty, and hath continued therein,
not becoming a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work; this
man shall be blessed in his deed.” 169
Nor should men imagine that this obedience is hard,
arduous, almost impossible. “The commandment, that I
command thee this day is not above thee, nor far off from
thee. . . . But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy
mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayst do it.” 170 To
gather the fruits of a life with God in the union of charity,
all that is required is to accept His guidance and to remain
faithful to Him. “I am the Lord thy God that teach thee
profitable things, that govern thee in the way that thou walkest. O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments; thy
peace had been as a river and thy justice as the waves of the
sea.” 171
The more a man tastes of the fruits of obedience, which
168 Deut. 5:29.
we Jas. 1:25.

187 John 12:50.
170 Deut. 30:11, 14.

188 I John 5:3-4.
171 Isa. 48:17-18.

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are peace, life and spiritual joy, the better he understands
what treasure is contained in God’s law. He discovers that
the blessing above all blessings, the blessing which God
wishes to pour upon souls in torrential abundance, is the
same blessing which the Church continues to propose to all
her children. Dominus vobiscum, the priest keeps repeating;
“The Lord be with you.” Jacob was eager for this blessing
when he tried to detain the angel of Yahweh: “I will not let
thee go except thou bless me.” 172 Bearing the mark of this
blessing like a divine seal, the soul becomes pleasing to God,
as was Jacob to his father Isaac. “Come near me, and give
me a kiss, my son. . . . Behold the smell of my son is
as the smell of a plentiful field, which the Lord hath
blessed.” 173
God’s blessing rests on the soul of the faithful man and
the Lord is with him. Free of all selfish desire, filled only
with pure longing for God, already he experiences deep in­
ward happiness. But realizing that God alone is the source—
the inexhaustible source—of his happiness, he turns ever
more frequently toward Him, remains in His presence, calls
Him, sees Him approach, walks to meet Him. “Then shalt
thou call, and the Lord shall hear; thou shalt cry, and He
shall say: Here I am.” 174 By this phrase, “Here I am,” God
gives Himself completely to man; man answers in the same
words. The union of charity is nothing other than this en­
counter of the soul and God, chanted long ago in the Old
Testament. But only souls united to God by obedience and
love experience the divine visitation and the true gift of God.
Only those whose lives translate into action the words, “Here
I am,” can know the overwhelming joy of hearing within
172 Gen. 32:26.

173 Gen. 27:26-27.

174 Isa. 58:9.

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themselves the same words whispered by the voice of God :
“Here I am.” Souls who wish to dwell with Him, if they
are faithful and generous, may be sure that He will satisfy
them.
Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden from him the will of his lips. For Thou hast prevented
him with blessings of sweetness; Thou hast set on his head a
crown of precious stones. He asked life of Thee, and Thou hast
given him length of days forever and ever. His glory is great in
Thy salvation; glory and great beauty shalt Thou lay upon him.
For Thou shalt give him to be a blessing forever and ever; Thou
shalt make him joyful in gladness with Thy countenance.170

Though trials may be hard on the road of love, the just
man acquires a taste of God’s word and God’s will, which
for him are food, light and charity. “Blessed are they who
hear the word of God, and keep it.” 176 For them the divine
promise is already fulfilled: “For lo, the kingdom of God is
within you.” 177
Let not the book of this law depart from thy mouth; but thou
shalt meditate on it day and night, that thou mayst observe and
do all things that are written in it; then shalt thou direct thy
way, and understand it. Behold I command thee, take courage,
and be strong. Fear not and be not dismayed, because the Lord
thy God is with thee in all things whatsoever thou shalt go to.178

The divine presence granted to the just man who obeys
the commandments—“the Lord thy God is with thee in all
things”—is by no means fortuitous or temporary. God Him­
self declares that it is to be stable and permanent, that
170 Ps. 20:2-7.
178 Jos. 1:8-9.

178 Luke 11:28.

177 Luke 17:21.

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eventually it will be transformed into true union and mutual
indwelling. Yahweh’s presence in Israel entails far more than
material help or even miraculous aid. It is true that He
walked with His people, guided them, led them, accom­
panied them throughout their wanderings in the desert. But
He did even more spiritually. The sacred authors often
boasted of God’s dwelling with His people in the ark and
in the temple. Israel was proud of being the chosen people
and of claiming God’s abode in Jerusalem.
For the Lord hath chosen Sion; He hath chosen it for His
dwelling. This is my rest forever and ever; here will I dwell,
for I have chosen it.179
For I have chosen, and have sanctified this place, that My
name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart may
remain there perpetually.180
But the dwelling which God sought above all was in men’s
souls, as these lines from Exodus demonstrate: “And I will
dwell in the midst of the children of Israel, and will be their
God; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God,
who have brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I
might abide among them, I the Lord their God.” 181 Other
texts affirm even more clearly this nearness of God, as well
as His spiritual presence and intimate union with those who
thirsted for Him and sought Him. “Seek ye the Lord while
He may be found; call upon Him, while He is near.” 182 “The
Lord is with you, because you have been with Him. If you
seek Him, you shall find; but if you forsake Him, He will
forsake you.” 183 God Himself never ceased to seek men even
179 Ps. 131:13-14.
181 Exod. 29:45-46.

180 II Par. 7:16.
182 Isa. 55:6.

188 II Par. 15:2.

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247

more eagerly than they sought Him. “Behold I come, and I
will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.” 184 “I am
God, . . . the Holy One in the midst of thee.” 185 “I dwell
in the midst of the children of Israel forever.” 186
The day would come when, to find them and to achieve
a closer union with them, He would become like them by
taking on their nature. “And their leader shall be of them­
selves; and their prince shall come forth from the midst of
them.” 187 “Therefore My people shall know My name in
that day; for I Myself that spoke, behold I am here.” 188
God’s desire was to be with us, to be Emmanuel, to show
us the fullness of His love. Already in Old Testament days
He began to carry out His desire. The biblical authors were
deeply conscious of this and they have outlined the features
of divine love so that in it men could learn to recognize God
as a Father, a Savior and a Lover. We shall now consider
this essential message of the Old Testament.
184 Zach. 2:10.
187 Jer. 30:21.

185 Osee. 11:9.
188 Isa. 52:6.

186 Ezech. 43:7.