783 discourse iii: the scourging of the sinner in Christ […] I fed you with milk, not solid food” (1 Cor 3:1-2), like those to whom milk is beneficial, not solid food. The third fount signifies the water of the salvific wisdom, which the Teacher of the Gentiles gives to all: “Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification” (1 Cor 2:6-7). Therefore, as Paul’s mysterious founts — which have the color of water — [yet] are reminiscent in taste of blood, milk, and pure water, so also the rivers that gushed forth most abundantly from the scourged body of Christ, our Lord and Savior, have the power and efficacy of honey and oil, although they are perceived to be red in color. (This is) the honey of gentle kindness for all sinners whose salvation and conversion the Redeemer of all longs for the most. But recall to mind the different tastes of blood, milk, and water. (This is) the oil of mercy, by which He forgives our sins, and He most graciously removes our punishments, both temporal and eternal, on account of His Blood that flowed out at the pillar, so even the most hardened criminal may “suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock” (Dt 32:13). 5. This is probably what the penitent King [David] had in mind, when he sang: “Many are the pangs of the wicked; but steadfast love surrounds him who trusts in the LORD” (Ps 32:10). How many scourges do they merit through their crimes, that is, the proud, the greedy, the lustful, the furious, the murderers, the adulterers, the robbers, the drunkards, the hostile, the spiteful, the liars, the blasphemers, the impious, the sacrilegious, and other criminals deserving of that name? All these things, the most innocent Son of God bore alone in His most sacred Body up to the end for all men, bound to the column not so much by chains of iron, as much as with the ropes of charity: In order that we may acquire mercy, placing all our confidence without presumption in this His most dreadful flagellation that He accepted out of utmost love.
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