Homilies on Exodus, Homilia III
Slow of speech before the true Word§1
1While Moses was still trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, he was neither slow of speech nor slow of tongue. Once he heard God’s voice, he felt his speech thin and his tongue hindered; before the Word that was in the beginning with God he names himself mute. A rational man looks eloquent beside mute beasts, mute beside the learned, and — before divine Wisdom — a beast, as David said: I became as a beast before you. Beside the divine Word every human tongue is dumb.
Latin · §1
Donec Moyses in Aegypto omni sapientia Aegyptiorum erudiretur, non erat gracili voce nec tardus lingua. Ubi vocem Dei audivit, sensit exilem vocem et impeditam linguam; se mutum profitetur coram Verbo quod in principio apud Deum erat. Homo mutis animalibus eloquens, eruditis mutus, apud divinam sapientiam iumentum — ut David: ut iumentum factus sum apud te. Omnes ad comparationem verbi divini muti sunt.
God opens the mouth; the devil opens another§2
2Because he advanced to self-knowledge — the greater part of wisdom — God rewards him: I will open your mouth and teach you what to say. Blessed are they whose mouth God opens. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it; Paul asks utterance in the opening of my mouth. The contrary is fearful: the devil opens mouths for lies, scurrility, idle words, and blasphemy — as Satan entered Judas. Discernment of spirits is itself a gift; test the spirits. God likewise opens ears and eyes — Isaiah’s ear, Hagar’s well, the eyes of Elisha’s servant to the mountain full of horses and chariots.
Latin · §2
Agnoscens semet ipsum remuneratur: Ego aperiam os tuum et instruam te. Beati quorum Deus os aperit. Dilata os tuum et replebo illud; Paulo sermo in adapertione oris. Contrario diabolus os aperit mendacibus, scurribus, otiosis, blasphemis; in Iudam introivit Satanas. Discretio spirituum gratia est. Deus et aures et oculos aperit — Isaiae, Agar, Elisaei puero.
Aaron meets Moses on God’s mountain — Homilia III CLOSEOUT§3
3Aaron met Moses on the mountain of God — the mouth God opens belongs to whoever can meet there. Unless you climb the spiritual sense of the Law, you have not met Moses on that mountain, and God has not opened your mouth. When Moses and Aaron enter to Pharaoh they say: Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness — not serve while still in Egypt’s dark business, for no one can serve two masters. Leave the world in mind, not merely in place; do not love the world. The three days’ journey marks the way. Amen.
Latin · §3
Aaron occurrit Moysi in monte Dei — os aperitur ei qui in monte occurrit. Nisi montem legis spiritalis adscenderis, os non aperit Dominus. Ingressi ad Pharaonem: Dimitte populum meum ut serviat mihi in eremo. Non in Aegypto servire, sed via trium dierum in eremo. Exeundum de mundo animo non loco; nolite diligere mundum. Amen.