From above has he sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them: he has spread a net for my feet, he has turned me back: he has made me desolate and faint all the day.
All Commentaries on Lamentations 1:13 Go To Lamentations 1
Glossa Ordinaria
AD 1480
FROM ABOVE: the fifth topic of complaint.
Historical interpretation FROM ABOVE HE HAS SENT FIRE, of heavenly revenge, of which it is said in the Book of Job: The fire of God fell from heaven &c. FIRE, namely the aerial powers, who until this day have the power of tormenting the Jews. INTO MY BONES, so that the forces, namely, afflict and chastise them within and without, who would not hear God soothing, whence he adds: AND HE HAS CHASTISED ME. HE HAS SPREAD A NET FOR MY FEET, so that they should not go after pleasures and vain desires all the way to the end. HE HAS TURNED ME BACK through anguish and tribulations. HE HAS MADE ME DESOLATE: the Jews are desolate until the end of the world, and WASTED WITH SORROW.
Allegorical interpretation FROM ABOVE HE HAS SENT FIRE &c: those of the Jews, or of the gentiles, who believed and became one Church, rightly say: FROM ABOVE HE HAS SENT FIRE, that is the Holy Ghost from heaven, through whom every force of virtue is invigorated, and the Church is chastised from above, for it not any more to serve idols and look for the pleasures of the world, which the letter MEN signifies, that is interpreted ‘from them’, namely the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Congratulating herself for which the Church calls herself chastised, to love chastely and to fear chastely, and she feels ashamed on account of those vices, to which she had zealously been devoted: ‘HE HAS SPREAD A NET, of preaching, that is, so that I should not go after errors of vanity and pleasures. HE HAS TURNED ME BACK, for me to go after him, and not before.’ This NET is entrusted to the apostles, for them to draw out fishes from the sea of this world. ‘FOR MY FEET, whence: I have restrained my feet from every evil way. HE HAS MADE ME DESOLATE of present goods, that previously were of comfort to me. WASTED WITH SORROW ALL THE DAY LONG: of pain, namely, for present tribulations and of love for the goods to come.’
Moral interpretation FROM ABOVE HE HAS SENT FIRE &c: while the soul is blamed by God for her sins, but coming to herself she is salubriously goaded by the stings of conscience and testifies that fire has come from the Lord INTO her BONES, that is into the marrow of her thoughts. Hence she is corrected from above and chastised and, as she senses the nets of God’s doctrines spread before her feet, she is TURNED BACK. She abstains from things unlawful, she turns concupiscence and debauchery of pleasure into tears and, WASTED WITH SORROW, the stronger she laments and receives no comfort from the present life, the more earnestly she considers herself to have erred through various desires.
