That they might know, that wherewithal a man sinneth, by the same also shall he be punished.
Read Chapter 11
John Cassian
AD 435
If it happens that the yoke of Christ seems to us neither light nor sweet, this must be attributed to our obstinacy. Affected as we are by diffidence and by lack of faith regarding his precept, indeed his counsel, which says, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell (that is, abandon) all of your belongings, then come and follow me," we rebel with a futile perverseness, turning again to the pursuit of earthly goods. And then, once the devil has our soul bound by these chains, what else does he need to do, when he wants to remove our spiritual joy, than to sadden us by the decrease or the total loss of earthly goods? He seeks a very precise goal with his clever deceptions. Indeed, once the sweetness of the Savior"s yoke and the lightness of his burden become heavy (through the perversity of our vicious longing), once we are trapped by the snares of those riches we have acquired in view of our rest and tranquility, will he not continuously torment us with the lash of worldly cares, drawing f...
Silence was imposed on Zechariah, symbolizing the silence of the Mosaic law. Having appeared to us in the flesh, Christ, like a great legislator, rendered the law mute, wanting to himself be the model of the law. Zechariah, in fact, put his faith in the angel who purified his silence: "I am Gabriel, who stands before the face of God, and I have been sent to speak with you and to bring you this joyful news. And see, you will be mute and unable to talk until the day on which these things take place, because you have not believed my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time." Very fittingly was he punished by the loss of his voice, since the Creator of voices was to be born. Not only did he have to endure being the symbol of those who do not believe in the law, but he also did not believe that the voice that was commanded to announce these things had come by the work of the Creator, and, not believing the angel"s words, rightly was he deprived of his voice. In fact, as the wise ...
