ALL WHO HUNGER AND THIRST
From a homily by Ogier of Locedio7
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How sweet and delightful it is, ever to call to mind our heavenly mother,
that fragrant spikenard, about whom roses waft the scent of Paradise!… For
thus sang Mary, Queen of the world and Mother of Humility: He cast down the
mighty from their thrones and raised up the lowly… Therefore be meek of
heart, you who wear the habit of humility: let what your habit professes
outwardly preserve you inwardly in virtue… Thus you will be pleasing to God,
who emptied himself and, accepting the form of a servant, gave himself up to
suffer, dying on the rood, lest humankind die and for ever live in the abyss of
savage cruelty…
Whatever your past, take no pleasure in what is displeasing to your
Creator, but in him alone, whom you have vowed yourself to please in all your
actions. If you have lived chastely, if you have not strafed the citadel of humility
with bolts of pride, then you will be comely and beautiful in the sight of the Most
High. He himself — who filled the hungry with good things and sent away the
wealthy empty-handed –– will find it good to be your spouse.
How blessed the hungry whom the Lord fills with his lasting goodness…
All who hunger and thirst for justice will be fed by the Bread of Angels that came
down from heaven to give life to the world. These hungry ones Jesus does not
turn away empty-handed; he satisfies their desires with his goodness, by
enriching them with the good of everlasting life. They are indeed rich when they
share in the wealth of joy in the glory of heaven. There true wealth lies, where
no one is wretched or poor; for there dwell glory and life, utter joy, and total
bliss. With such good things the author of goodness will fill those who in this
life have rid themselves of sin, who suffer torment in order to possess Him, and
who find no pleasure except in the true joy of God, and the supreme bliss of
Christ.
He enriches holy paupers with his ineffable goodness, but he
impoverishes the wicked wealthy, and sends them away empty. Death separates
the rich from their passing wealth, but when the poor of Christ pass on, they
gain eternity… The true pauper has nothing of mortal sin. Even if he has earthly
riches, he reckons them as worthless, because he does not yet possess the true
wealth of the Lord Jesus. To see him, to hold him: this is the desire towards
which he labors with all his heart.
The rich…are those whose lives are doubly mortal: they covet passing
gains, and neglect to live for God. O what an evil wealth is the enormity of sin
and vice, which plunders the soul of divine riches! The greater the accumulation
of such wealth, the more its possessors will be cast down and despised by Christ,
who will dismiss them empty-handed, saying: Depart from me, workers of
iniquity; in truth I tell you, I do not know you!… Let us rid ourselves of worldly
wealth and sin. Let the rich whose true wealth is Christ bestow their goods on
the poor and needy, so that they—and we—may join the company of the angels
in the Kingdom of his Father, and he says those wondrous words of welcome:
Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you before the
beginning of the world… This promise of eternal inheritance knows no end, for
believers will want for nothing at the end of time, but will enjoy beatific glory
for ever and beyond. May the Mother of glory deign through her merits to bring
us to that bliss.
7 Ogier of Locedio. In Praise of God’s Holy Mother. CF 70. Trans. D. Martin Jenni. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian
Publications, 2006. 111, 120-122, 128.15