Homilies on Leviticus, Homilia I
Leviticus veiled like the Word in flesh§1
1Just as in the last days the Word of God came forth from Mary clothed in flesh — one thing seen, another understood — so when the Word speaks through the prophets or the lawgiver it wears the veil of the letter. Leviticus’s rites and victims are letter like flesh; the spiritual sense is divinity within. Blessed are the eyes that see the Spirit under that veil. Those who cling to bare history are driven to offer calves and lambs; the church answers with Susanna: better to fall into your hands than to sin against the Lord. When one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away; where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Open my eyes, and I will behold wonders from your law.
Latin · §1
Sicut in novissimis diebus Verbum Dei ex Maria carne vestitum processit — aliud quod videbatur, aliud quod intelligebatur — ita cum per prophetas vel legislatorem Verbum profertur, litterae velamine tegitur. Levitici ritus et hostiae littera tamquam caro sunt; spiritalis sensus tamquam divinitas. Beati oculi qui velamine litterae obtectum Spiritum vident. Sequentes solam historiam ad vitulos et agnos offerendos coguntur; ecclesia Susannae vocibus utitur: melius est in manus vestras incidere quam peccare in Domino. Conversis ad Dominum aufertur velamen; ubi Spiritus Domini, ibi libertas. Revela oculos meos, et considerabo mirabilia de lege tua.
The Lord called Moses — beginning of Leviticus§2
2Leviticus opens: the Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting. God’s call leads into secrets. He is not summoned to sacrifice still in Egypt, but in the wilderness, at the tent of testimony. Whoever remains in Egypt’s vices cannot yet offer spiritual victims. Called Moses receives the law of offerings — not so the church may immolate Christ with bloody cattle, but so she may understand the rational burnt offering.
Latin · §2
Principium Levitici: vocavit Dominus Moysen et locutus est ei de tabernaculo. Vocatio Dei ad secreta ducit. Non in Aegypto vocatur ad sacrificia, sed in deserto, in tabernaculo testimonii. Qui adhuc in Aegypto vitiorum est, hostias spiritales offerre non potest. Vocatus Moyses legem sacrificiorum accipit — non ut cruentis victimis Christum ecclesia immolet, sed ut intelligat holocaustum rationabile.
Hand upon the head of the victim§3
3He shall lay his hand on the head of the offering, and it shall be acceptable. The laid-on hand means communion: what we offer becomes ours in figure. Christ is the head; we the members. To lay the hand is to consent and to confess the sins that pass onto the victim. Blood is dashed at the altar, for without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Our high priest, Christ, offered himself once.
Latin · §3
Imponet manum suam super caput hostiae, et acceptabilis erit. Manus imposita communionem significat: quae offeruntur, nostra fiunt. Christus caput; nos membra. Imponere manum — consentire et confiteri peccata quae in hostiam transeunt. Sanguis adspersus ad altare: sine sanguinis effusione non fit remissio. Pontifex noster Christus semel obtulit seipsum.
The calf flayed and divided limb by limb§4
4They shall flay the burnt offering and cut it limb from limb; Aaron’s sons put fire, wood, and the divided pieces on the altar. The calf is Christ; stripping the hide of the letter opens the spiritual sense. To divide limb by limb is to order progress — fitting teaching to beginners, to those advancing, and to the perfect. Altar wood reaches to the wood of the passion; the fire from above is divinity. Inwards and feet washed with water announce the sacrament of baptism — who is clean needs only to wash the feet.
Latin · §4
Excoriant holocaustum et divident illud membratim; filii Aaron ignem et ligna et membra divisa imponunt. Vitulus — Christus; corium litterae detractum spiritalem sensum aperit. Membratim dividere — ordinare profectus: incipientibus, proficientibus, perfectis aptare doctrinam. Ligna altaris — usque ad lignum passio carnis; ignis desursum divinitatis. Interanea et pedes aqua lavantur — baptismi sacramentum.
Offer your own proud flesh — Homilia I CLOSEOUT§5
5Turn the figure to morals: you too have a calf — proud flesh. If you would offer it to the Lord, bring it to the door of the tent — to the hearing of the divine books. Let the gift be male; lay on your hand and slaughter it before the Lord — the bridle of continence, as Paul: I pommel my body and subdue it. Aaron’s sons in you — mind and sense — present the blood. Offer a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God; your rational worship. Homilia I CLOSEOUT. Amen.
Latin · §5
Ad moralem locum: habes et tu vitulum — carnem superbum. Si munus Domino offerre vis, adduc ad ostium tabernaculi — auditum divinorum librorum. Masculinum sit munus; impone manum et iugula contra Dominum — continentiae frenum, macero corpus meum. Filii Aaron in te — mens et sensus — offerant sanguinem. Hostiam vivam, sanctam, placentem Deo. Completur Homilia I. Amen.