743 the seventh word We, unhappy exiles from Paradise, 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 food that God — Creator of all — assigned to that ancient serpent, which ensnared our first Parents: “Dust you shall eat all the days of your life” (Gen 3:14). What sort of dust? In his commentary on Psalm 4, the Holy Father Gregory — 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.”139 Rabanus 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.”140 In this sense also [we] must understand the second punishment 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. “Upon your belly you shall go” (Gen 3:14). Thus God struck him like lightning. The erudite Cajetan eloquently explains the reason for which God did this: “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, that is 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.”141 Such is the nourishment of the ancient serpent, the devil: the souls of sinners! 139 Gregorius Magnus, Commentarium in Psalmos Poenitentiales, in: Lippomano Luigi, Catena in Genesim, Parisiis 1546, f. 92r (Genesis, cap. III). 140 Cf. Rabanus, Commentaria in Genesim, Lib. I, in: LCG, f.92v. Also in: PL 107, 495. 141 Cf. Caietanus, Commentarium In Genesim, cap. III: Reverndissimi Domini D. Thomae de Vio Caietani, Cardinalis Xysti: In PentateuchumMosis…commenta-
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