Woe unto you that are full! for you shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for you shall mourn and weep.
All Commentaries on Luke 6:25 Go To Luke 6
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Woe unto you which are full, &c.—ye who live only for eating and drinking, for ye shall hunger in eternity.
Actual evil-doers will indeed endure heavier punishment, but those who are gluttonous will suffer torment from the absence of those things wherein they delighted. Hence Dives prayed for but one drop of water to cool the tongue which he had accustomed to the richest food and the choicest wine. S. Euthymius.
For, as S. Basil writes, to live for pleasure alone is but to make a god of one"s belly ( Philippians 3:19). From the one vice of gluttony spring innumerable others which war against the soul. Subdue then this one vice, and you will at the same time subdue many others, for innumerable are the promptings of lust, which following in the train of gluttony, hold out promise of enjoyment, but lead to everlasting misery. S. Gregory in lib. regum, lib. v. cap1.
The mind which is always accustomed to pleasure, and never weeded of evil by discipline, contracts much moral defilement (S Bernard, Epist152); and again (Serm48 , in Song),"A life spent in pleasure is both death and the shadow of death,, for as a shadow follows close on that by which it is cast, a life of pleasure, beyond dispute, borders on destruction."
On the contrary, fasting and abstinence give rise to chaste thoughts, reasonable desires and healthful counsels, for by voluntary self-denial the flesh is mortified and spiritual virtues are strengthened and renewed. S. Leo, (serm11 , de jejunio).
Hence Christ gave S. Catherine this rule of life, "Choose that which is bitter as sweet, avoid that which is sweet as bitter." See also Ecclesiastes 2:1.
Woe unto you which laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep—in this life, and much more in the life to come. S. Basil seems in his rules to forbid all laughter, because this is a life of penitence and sorrow, but the future one of joy and gladness. Certain it Isaiah , as S. Augustine points out, that Christ is never said to have laughed, although He often wept.
Mirth in moderation, however, is not forbidden to the followers of Christ. "A fool lifteth up his voice with laughter, but a wise man doth scarce smile a little" ( Sirach 21:20; and Ecclesiastes 2:2), "I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?" Commenting on which passages, I have shown that it is immoderate laughter which is condemned, and not that moderate mirth which is the mark of a kindly disposition and well-regulated mind.
Woe to you that laugh, i.e. to you who laugh with the drunken, and make merry over sinful enjoyment, for you will weep and lament for ever in hell.
