Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, which the LORD has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
All Commentaries on Lamentations 1:12 Go To Lamentations 1
Glossa Ordinaria
AD 1480
O ALL YOU : the twelfth topic of indignation; for he seems to be displeased,
because it has happened to him first.
Historical interpretation. O ALL YOU THAT PASS BY : it is characteristic of the unfortunate to estimate by so much more their own suffering, as they so much less care to comprehend a foreign one, and the more they perceive their own pain, they do not agree to comparing a foreign one with their own. But more truly a remnant that is saved laments such things with contrition of heart, when the sanctification is destroyed, the temple is desecrated, the altars are overturned, the light of the chandeliers is extinguished, the books are burned, the priests and Levites are captured, the virgins and wifes are defiled by hostile lust, all things holy are contaminated. For these things and things of this kind the remnant that have been saved lament not without cause when they see their people lose earthly goods no less than heavenly. So has the Lord indeed MADE A VINTAGE of her according to his just judgement, just as he has spoken in the law and the prophets.
Allegorical interpretation O ALL YE: our Zion, whose conversation is in heaven, sees from heaven her limbs placed on earth, and beholds from the highest what they undergo every day, whence she, worthy of pity, cries out: O ALL YE THAT PASS BY THE WAY, the saints, to wit, of whom David says: Going they went and wept. They walk on THE WAY, that is Christ, following his steps, neither declining to the right nor to the left, for, summoned to the Paschal feast and celebrating the Paschal offerings, they consume the Lamb according to the law in haste. The Church looks at them, walking on the king’s highway that leads to the fatherland, she mourns, impeded by the many troubles of her children, and exclaims: O ALL YOU THAT PASS BY THE WAY, not to withdraw them from the way, but to incite them to pity: ATTEND with the mind, SEE with the intuition of charity, IF THERE BE ANY SORROW LIKE TO MY SORROW. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow, whence the apostle: My little children, of whom I am in labor again. Indeed, the Church, who labors and begets, nourishes and gives suck, is sorrowful for everyone, whence: Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire? So the Church gives suck to the tender, recalls the alienated, awaits the lazy, chastises the inconsiderate, for them to discern beforehand that the enemy will not find anyone outside the camp, when she, with her army well ordered, hurries to the heavenly fatherland. Hence: Who is she that goes up by the desert as the morning rising.
Therefore, to the ones advancing or passing by, by the more noble limbs it is said: ‘O ALL YOU THAT PASS BY. Because there are different things, that I grieve for on their account. Different still, that I tolerate from those, that are without or within. I am forced abroad; in exile I linger. ATTEND, therefore, although unwearied devotion carries you to the prize. SEE my affliction. I wanted to rear children and bring them out of the misery of the exile and lead them to the joys of heaven, but many wander astray, many are obdurate, many are weary, there are few who care to come. I became all things to all men, so that I may gain every one. For every one I lament, for every one I am on fire. SEE, therefore, IF THERE BE ANY SORROW LIKE TO MY SORROW. Pitch your mind’s eye to the time of the final judgement and see, FOR the Lord HAS MADE A VINTAGE, that is he will make a vintage, OF ME IN THE DAY OF HIS FIERCE ANGER, of which it is said: O Lord, rebuke me not in thy indignation , AS he SPOKE, for he will render to every man according to his works.’
Moral interpretation O ALL YE: the soul, burdened by vices, yet not fully blinded, sees others with desire hurrying to the heavenly fatherland and pacing the way of virtue, and with tremendous sorrow she cries out: O ALL YOu THAT PASS BY THE WAY. As if: ‘see, with which vices I am wounded, with which dangers I am alarmed, with which tribulations I am dejected to which passions I am subject, FOR the Lord HAS MADE A VINTAGE OF ME. That is to say, he has, by his just judgement, taken away the goods of virtue, with which he adorned me like a bride, IN THE DAY OF HIS ANGER, provoked by my evils. YOU, therefore, THAT PASS BY THE WAY, you, that is, who disdain the present life, aiming towards the true way, that is Christ, SEE IF THERE BE ANY SORROW LIKE TO MY SORROW. I have lost the heavens, I have gathered up wrath for myself on Judgement Day and, burdened by my evils, I cannot hurry together with you to the joys of heaven.’
