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II Lent Friday – Proverbs 6:20 – 7:1
20 My son, keep the laws of thy father, and reject not the ordinances of thy mother: 21 but bind them upon thy soul continually, and hang them as a chain about thy neck. 22 Whensoever thou walkest, lead this along and let it be with thee; that it may talk with thee when thou wakest. 23 For the commandment of the law is a lamp and a light; a way of life; reproof also and correction: 24 to keep thee continually from a married woman, and from the calumny of a strange tongue. 25 Let not the desire of beauty overcome thee, neither be thou caught by thine eyes, neither be captivated with her eyelids. 26 For the value of a harlot is as much as of one loaf; and a woman hunts for the precious souls of men. 27 Shall any one bind fire in his bosom, and not burn his garments? 28 or will any one walk on coals of fire, and not burn his feet? 29 So is he that goes in to a married woman; he shall not be held guiltless, neither any one that touches her. 30 It is not to be wondered at if one should be taken stealing, for he steals that when hungry he may satisfy his soul: 31 but if he should be taken, he shall repay sevenfold, and shall deliver himself by giving all his goods. 32 But the adulterer through want of sense procures destruction to his soul. 33 He endures both pain and disgrace, and his reproach shall never be wiped off. 34 For the soul of her husband is full of jealousy: he will not spare in the day of vengeance. 35 He will not forego his enmity for any ransom: neither will he be reconciled for many gifts. 7:1 My son, keep my words, and hide with thee my commandments.
Most of this passage – twelve out of seventeen verses – repeats an oft-repeated warning to the author’s son: Do not commit adultery! We know that in the early Church, adultery, along with murder and apostasy, was one of the three sins concerning which there was a long and involved debate over the question of whether they could ever be forgiven, and though eventually the answer was “Yes,” many sincere and learned churchmen did offer plausible arguments for the contrary. And even when the Church decided that an adulterer could be re-admitted to Holy Communion, the penances She gave were severe. St. John the Faster, in his thirteenth canon, says that a repentant adulterer may receive Holy Communion after three years, but only if he does 250 prostrations daily and eats only fasting food without oil once a day after the ninth hour for that entire period. Otherwise, he says, “…let him wait for the end of the term appointed by the Fathers,” e.g., by St. Basil the Great, who excludes the adulterer from Holy Communion for fifteen years, or by St. Gregory of Nyssa – eighteen years. This sin almost incurs the finality of spiritual suicide: it leaves such a wound on the psychosomatic organism that only very aggressive spiritual surgery can heal it.
We know that today, of course, spiritual fathers give much lighter penances than prescribed by the ancients, because of our weakness and negligence. But we must constantly recur to the study of the actual prescriptions of the Fathers, lest we forget the Church’s pristine and lofty standards for Christian behavior, so that we can humble ourselves and in our acknowledged spiritual poverty cry to God for His undeserved mercy day and night, for ourselves and for the sinful race of man.
We should not, however, dwell on this sin or any sin. We should exert ourselves first of all on avoiding them! St. John Chrysostom, commenting on verses 20 through 23, exhorts us to meditate on God’s law day and night as the best preventive medicine. He says this about verses 20 through the first half of 22:
“My son, keep the laws of thy father, and reject not the ordinances of thy mother: 21 but bind them upon thy soul continually, and hang them as a chain about thy neck. Whensoever thou walkest, lead this along and let it be with thee…” [The sacred author] is a good companion…recommending constant meditation on God’s sayings, especially when we walk about in public; that is the time we have particular need of these weapons, when the eye inflicts wounds as a result of all that is to be seen and…anger is catching and there is lust for possessions, then need for them is greater.
When the Fathers speak of “meditation,” they do not mean extended thought about a spiritual topic, but rather simple reading, memorization, and repetition of sacred texts. So here St. John Chrysostom is saying something very plain: Memorize Scripture verses – especially verses from the Psalms – that help you, and say them throughout the day as you go about your business. We also use the Jesus Prayer in the same way. There are countless temptations to various sins throughout the day, and we cannot analyze them all or even recognize them all as they assault our senses and thoughts. Instead we shield our thoughts and feelings with the sure protection of God’s name and God’s word, by simply and literally saying them over and over again, out loud when possible, or, as is more often the case during the working day, within ourselves.
In commenting on the second half of verse 22, “…that it may talk with thee when thou wakest,” Chrysostom remarks, “…may it speak on rising, and may it guard you in your sleep. …Let it not be far from you even at the moment of waking; instead, on awaking, so let it welcome and accompany you in person.” So just as we should repeat prayer and sacred texts through the day, so should we be doing as we go to sleep and immediately upon rising. Temptations to impurity, especially, attack us at night, and this practice will be a mighty help against them.
In commenting on verse 23, the saint reminds us that, outside of the Christian revelation, all is darkness and delusion, and that we need God’s commandments as a lamp to light our way in the midst of this darkness:
“For the commandment of the law is a lamp and a light; a way of life…” What are you saying – “ a lamp?” Yes, he says: impenetrable darkness covers the world. This is what Paul also says, “The night is far advanced (Romans 13:12),” we now need a lamp; in the present life we are all seated in the depth of night, as it were, whispering, imagining, dreaming. Since imaginary things are not real, we light the lamp and have oil with us…”.
Of course, St. Chrysostom does not mean that the created world is not real, but rather that our perception of reality, damaged as we are by sin, is inherently a state of delusion, apart from revealed truth accepted by faith and explained to us by holy men and the inner enlightenment of grace. Today, when the graceless mass of men around us has gone fatally mad with countless demonic delusions about what is happening right in front of their eyes, it is a matter of spiritual life and death that we mortify our deadly fascination with the insane chatter swirling about our us, keep our heads down, and our minds and hearts centered on God’s holy wisdom, which cannot lie, and which cannot fail.