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is infinite goodness,
says St. Leo, has no
other desire than to bless us, and to see us happy. When he punishes, he is
obliged to do so in
order to satisfy his justice, not to gratify his inclination. Isaias says, that
punishment is a
work contrary to the heart of God. The Lord shall be angry.... that He may
do His work, His strange
work; . .. .His work is strange to Him. - Is. 28:21. And therefore does
the Lord say, that he
sometimes almost feigns the intention of punishing us. But why does he do so?
For this reason: Let
every man of you return from his evil way. -Jer. 18:11. He does so in
order to our reformation,
and consequently our exemption from the chastisement deserved by us. The apostle
writes, that God
Hath mercy on whom He will, and whom He will He hardeneth. Rom. 9:18.
With regard to which
passage, St. Bernard says, that God of himself wishes to love us, but that we
force him to condemn
us. He calls himself the Father of mercies, not of vengeance. Whence it comes
that his tenderness
all springs from himself, and his severity from us.
And who has ever been able to comprehend the greatness of the divine mercies?
David says, that God,
even while yet angry, feels compassion for us: Thou hast been angry, and
hast had mercy on us. -Ps.
59:3. "O merciful wrath, which art enkindled but to succor, and
threatenest but to pardon,"
exclaims the abbot Beroncosius. "Thou hast shown," continues David, "thou
hast shown Thy people
hard things, Thou hast made us drunk with the wine of sorrow:" God
discovers himself to us
armed with a scourge, but he does so in order to see us penitent and contrite
for the offences
which we are committing against him: Thou hast given a warning to them
that fear Thee: that they
may flee before the bow: that Thy beloved may be delivered. He appears
with the bow already bent,
upon the point of sending off the arrow, but he does not send it off, because he
wishes that our
terror
should bring about amendment, and that
thus we should escape the chastisement. That Thy beloved may be delivered.
I wish to terrify
them, says God, in order that struck by fear they may rise from the bed of sin
and return to me.
In their affliction they will rise early to Me. Osee 6:1.
Yes, the Lord,
although he sees us so ungrateful and worthy of punishment, is eager to free us
from it, because
how ungrateful soever we be, he loves us and wishes us well. Give us help
from trouble. Thus, in
fine, prayed David; and thus we ought to pray Grant, O Lord, that this scourge
which now
afflicts us, may open our eyes, so that we depart from sin; because if we do not
here have done
with it, sin will lead us to eternal damnation, which is a scourge enduring
forever.
What shall we then do,
my brethren? Do you not see that God is angered? He can no longer bear with
us. The Lord is angry. Do you not behold the scourges of God
increasing every day? Our sins
increase, says St. John Chrysostom, and our scourges increase likewise. God, my
brethren, is wroth
but with all his anger he has commanded me to say, what he formerly commanded to
be said by the
prophet Zachary: And thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts:
Turn ye to Me saith
the Lord of Hosts, and I will turn to you saith the Lord of Hosts Zach.
1:3.
Sinners, saith the Lord, you have turned your
backs upon me, and therefore have constrained me to deprive you of my grace. Do
not oblige me to
drive you forever from my face, and punish you in hell without hope of pardon.
Have done with it:
abandon sin, be converted to me, and I promise to pardon you all your offences,
and once more to
embrace you as my children. Turn ye to Me, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I
will turn to you. Why do
you wish to perish? (mark how tenderly the Lord speaks.) And why
will you die, O house of Israel.
Why will you fling yourselves into that burning furnace? Return ye and
live.
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