And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.
Read Chapter 24
Caesarius of Arles
AD 542
The prophet speaks thus concerning the people of Israel and ours: “The Lord showed me two baskets of figs. One had very good ones, the other had very bad ones.” This fact, as has often been said, presents an image of the two people, for those two baskets prefigured the synagogue and the church. The basket of very bad fruit mystically designated the people of the synagogue, while the one with very good fruit pointed out the church of the Christians. - "Sermon 106.4"
The fig tree can be taken as a type of the delights of paradise due to the sweetness and excellence of its fruit. The devil beguiled the man by imitating it and then led him captive, persuading him to conceal the nakedness of his body by fig leaves.… The enemy, by his power, always imitates the forms of virtue and righteousness, not for the purpose of truly promoting its exercise but for deception and hypocrisy. He camouflages himself with the colors of immortality in order to entice those who are fleeing from death to embrace death. And so he desires to look like a fig tree or vine and to produce sweetness and joy, and he is “transformed into an angel of light,” ensnaring many by the appearance of piety.
For we find in the sacred Writings that there are two kinds of fig trees and vines, “the good figs, which are very good, and the evil, which are very evil”; and “wine that makes glad the heart of people” and wine that is the poison of dragons and the incurable venom of asps. But from ...
“In the first mandate,” he said, “I bade you keep the faith, fear the Lord, and be self-restrained.” “Yes, sir,” I said. “But now I wish to explain their nature, that you may know their individual power and effect. Well! Their effects are twofold. For they relate both to the just and to the unjust. Trust righteousness, but distrust unrighteousness. For the path of righteousness is straight, but wickedness is a crooked path. So, walk in the straight path, and leave the crooked path. Instead, there is nothing but wastelands and numerous obstacles. It is rough and full of thorns. So it is injurious to those who walk in it. Those who take the straight path walk smoothly without stumbling, because it is neither rough nor thorny. Hence, you see that it is more advantageous for you to walk in this road.” “Sir,” I said, “it is on this road that I like to walk.” “Walk in it, then,” he said, “and anyone who turns to the Lord wholeheartedly will also walk there.” - "Shepherd, Mandate 6.1.1–5"
He said to me, “Cast off indecision and doubt not in the least, when asking anything from God. Do not say, ‘How can I ask and receive anything from the Lord after having committed so many sins?’ Do not entertain such thoughts, but with your whole heart turn to the Lord and ask him without wavering. You will learn his superabundant mercy. He will not leave you in the lurch. No! He will fulfill the request of your soul. God is not like human beings who bear a grudge. He is without malice and has mercy on what he has made.” - "Shepherd, Mandate 9.1–3"
“I, the angel of repentance, am telling you: Do not fear the devil. For I have been sent,” he said, “to be on the side of you, who repent with your whole heart, and to steady you in the faith. Put your faith in God, you who despair of your life because of your sins, you who add to your sins and make your life burdensome. Trust that, if you turn to the Lord with your whole heart and do righteousness for the rest of your life, serving him uprightly in accordance with his will, he will provide a remedy for your previous failings, and you will obtain the power of mastering the devil’s snares. Do not be in the least afraid of the devil’s threats, for they are as powerless as a dead person’s sinews.” - "Shepherd, Mandate 6.1–2"
