35. Certainly we are to
contemplate in Christ Himself, the chief instruction and pattern of
virginal purity. What further precept then concerning humility
shall I give to the continent, than what He saith to all, “Learn
of Me, in that I am meek and lowly of heart?”2120
when He had made mention above of
His greatness, and, wishing to show this very thing, how great He
was, and how little He had been made for our
sakes, saith, “I confess to Thee, O
Father,
Lord of
heaven and
earth, in that Thou hast hidden these things from the
wise and
prudent, and hast
revealed them unto little
children. Even so, O
Father, in that so it hath been pleasing before Thee. All things
have been
delivered unto Me of My
Father: and no one knoweth the
Son,
save the
Father; and no one knoweth the
Father,
save the Son,
and he to whom the Son shall have willed to
reveal Him. Come unto
Me, all ye who
labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take
My yoke upon you, and
learn of Me, in that I am
meek and lowly of
heart.”
2121
He, He,
unto Whom the
Father hath
delivered all things, and Whom no one
knoweth but the
Father, and Who alone, (and he, unto whom He shall
have willed to
reveal Him), knoweth the
Father, saith not, “
Learn
of Me” to make the
world, or to raise the dead, but, “in that I
am
meek and lowly of
heart.” O
saving teaching? O
Teacher and
Lord of
mortals, unto whom
death was pledged and passed on in the
cup of
pride, He would not
teach what Himself was not, He would not
bid what Himself did not. I see Thee, O good Jesu, with the
eyes of
faith, which Thou hast opened for me, as in an
assembly of the
human race, crying out and saying, “Come unto Me, and
learn of
Me.” What, I beseech Thee, through Whom all things were made, O
Son of
God, and the Same Who was made among all things, O Son of
Man: to
learn what of Thee, come we to Thee? “For that I am
meek,” saith He, “and lowly of
heart.” Is it to this that all
the
treasures of
wisdom and
knowledge hidden in Thee
2122
are
brought, that we
learn this of Thee as a great thing, that Thou art
“
meek and lowly of
heart?” Is it so great a thing to be little,
that it could not at all be
learned unless it were brought to pass
by Thee, Who art so great? So indeed it is. For by no other way is
there found out rest for the soul, save when the unquiet swelling
hath been dispersed, whereby it was great unto itself, when it was
not sound unto Thee.
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