Crucified Orator new file

We, unhappy exiles fromParadise, dwell in this world as in a vast wilderness full of hellish beasts that encircle us, closing in on us with their gaping mouths in order to consume us. Small wonder, since the food of hellish beasts is nothing other than the souls of men stained as they are by original sin and thus destined for beasts. Each of us can recall the dish, the feed that God – Creator of all — assigned to that ancient serpent, which ensnared our first Parents: “dirt you shall eat all the days of your life” (Gen 3:14). What sort of dirt? In his commentary on Psalm 4, the Holy Father Gregory 15 – the Sun of the Benedictine family and of the entire Church – gives this very wise response: “The eternal enemy eats dirt because he throws all sinners inside his iniquity.” rabanus 16 states: “He ate… dirt, because he feeds on and enjoys the errors of sinners, and he brings them down to destruction by deluding them. As the saints are often called heaven, so those who relish earthly things are called earth.” In this sense also [we] must understand the second punish- ment imposed upon the serpent. In the opinion of some people, he walked erect at first, but then he was punished and had to crawl upon his belly, henceforth. “On your belly you shall crawl” (Gen 3:14). Thus God struck him like lightning. The erudite Ca- jetan eloquently explains the reason for which God did this in this argument: “The belly is the workshop for digesting food. Thus, crawling upon the belly squashes the food by pressure, [...]. Therefore, the devil’s task– as the above-mentioned exegete concludes – is to oppress his food or the souls of sinners. We could say it more clearly: Not only will you, but also those close to you will be cursed, because they will be oppressed through you.” Such is the nourishment of the ancient serpent, the devil: the souls of sinners! Ah, flee, flee, o man! Flee, to your Savior, sinners. Imploring His almighty omnipotence against this indefatigable hunter of 15 St. Gregory the Great. 16 Bl. rabanus Maurus (780-856) was the bishop of Mainz and a renown Ger- man teacher. He was abbot and one of the organizers of the Benedictine monastery in Fulda, Germany. He wrote homilies and a martyrology. S TANISLAUS P APCzyńSKI e Crucified Orator 74