Homilies on Exodus, Homilia VII
After the song comes Marah§1
1After the sea and the victory songs comes Marah. The people thirst; the waters are bitter. There God set statutes and judgments. Training does not arrive without trial.
Latin · §1
Post transitum maris et cantica venitur ad Merram. Sitivit populus; aquae amarae. Ibi posuit Deus iustitias et iudicia. Non sine tentatione disciplina.
The wood that sweetens§2
2The Lord showed a wood; cast into the waters it made them sweet. The wood is Christ’s cross. Without it the letter is bitter; with the cross the gospel’s savor is sweet.
Latin · §2
Ostendit Dominus lignum; missum in aquas dulces fecit. Lignum — crux Christi. Littera amara sine ligno; cum cruce dulcis evangelii sapor.
Twelve springs and seventy palms§3
3They came to Elim: twelve springs and seventy palm trees. The springs figure the apostles; the palms the seventy. After bitterness, the church’s refreshment.
Latin · §3
Venerunt in Elim: duodecim fontes, septuaginta palmae. Apostoli fontes; septuaginta discipuli. Post amaritudinem refrigerium ecclesiae.
Manna in the second month§4
4In the second month rises the murmur of hunger; the Lord rains manna. Bread from heaven is the Word — gathered day by day.
Latin · §4
In mense secundo murmur de fame. Dominus pluit manna. Panis de caelo — Verbum; singulis diebus colligendum.
Morning by morning§5
5They gathered morning by morning. Latecomers find nothing. The sun of righteousness rises; laziness stays barren.
Latin · §5
Colligebant mane mane. Qui tarde venit nihil invenit. Sol iustitiae oritur; pigritia sterilis manet.
No manna on the seventh day§6
6On the sixth day a double portion; on the seventh none. Sabbath is Christ’s rest. Who will not work in the six days hungers on the seventh.
Latin · §6
Die sexto duplum; die septimo nihil. Sabbatum — requies Christi. Qui in sex diebus non laboravit, in septimo esurit.
What is it? — the name of the gift§7
7Manhu — “What is this?”. Ignorance named the gift. Even now many see the bread of life and still ask.
Latin · §7
Manhu — quid est hoc? Ignorantia nomen fecit. Etiam nunc multi panem vitae vident et interrogant.
Taste that the Lord is sweet — Homilia VII CLOSEOUT§8
8To the faithful the manna stays sweet. Taste and see that the Lord is sweet — Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
Latin · §8
Fidelibus manna dulce permanet. Gustate et videte quoniam suavis est Dominus — Iesus Christus. Amen.