title: Homilia de villico iniquitatis

author: Odo of Cambrai

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 160, coll. 1121D–1128B

source_text:
## Homilia de villico iniquitatis

[1121D] *Homo quidam erat dives,* etc. Quis est *homo dives,* nisi Christus; dives in coelo, dives in terra, dives ubique, dives, plenus gratiae et veritatis [n: (Joan. I, 14)]. Et nos omnes de plenitudine ejus accepimus [n: (Joan. I, 16)]. Dives apud quem absconditi sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae [n: (Col. II, 3)], dives in omnibus et in omnes qui invocant illum [n: (Rom. X, 13)]. Villicus autem, est unusquisque Christianus, qui in baptismate villicationem sui accepit et proximi; [1122D] Christianus enim unusquisque non tantum sui causa vivit, sed et proximi. Et non tantum redditurus est rationem pro anima sua, sed et pro ejus cum quo vivit in hac vita, exercens se corpore et animo, et adjuvans proximum documentis et exemplo, nec tantum quaerens quae sua sunt, sed et quae aliorum. Haec est Christianorum cura nobilis et sancta villicatio, hinc est judicium Dei tremendum et futura exactio. *Et hic diffamatus est apud illum, quasi dissipasset [1123A] bona ipsius.* Quotidie diflamamur apud Dominum, quia angeli nostri semper vident faciem Patris [n: (Matth. XVIII, 10)] et nuntiant ei omnia nostra. Quid ergo facimus? Ubi abscondimur? Illi nos diffamant, nos intuentur et Deum, intuentur omnia nostra et Deum, quia nostra intuendo nuntiant Deo. Non est obstaculum, non sunt tenebrae, quibus impediantur videre omnia nostra, quia divinum lumen, quo illuminantur, penetrat omnia, quia *lux in tenebris lucet [n: (Joan. I, 5)]* et *nox sicut dies illuminabitur [n: (Psal. CXXXVIII)]*. *Et hic diffamatus est quasi dissipasset bona ipsius.* Quis omnia sibi tradita bona bene dispensat in omnibus? Quis non aliquando dormitat? *Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus [n: (HORATIUS in Arte poet. 359)]*, et: *In multis offendimus [1123B] omnes [n: (Jacob. III, 2)]*. Et: Si *dixerimus quia peccatum non habemus, nos ipsos seducimus, et veritas in nobis non est [n: (I Joan. I, 3)]*.

*Et vocavit illum, et ait illi: Quid hoc audio de te?* Quotidie nos vocat Dominus: *Venite, filii, audite me [n: (Ps. XXXIII, 12)]*. *Venite ad me omnes, qui laboratis et onerati estis [n: (Matth. XI, 28)]*. Et, o viri, ad vos clamito, et vox mea ad filios hominum. Quotidie loquitur nobis per prophetas; loquitur per apostolos; loquitur per seipsum in Evangelio; loquitur per doctores; loquitur in conscientia: *Quid hoc audio de te?* increpat male cogitantes, increpat male loquentes, increpat male agentes, increpat male viventes. *Quid hoc audio de te? Redde rationem villicationis tuae.* Quia de omni verbo otioso *quod locuti [1123C] fuerint homines, reddent rationem in die judicii. [n: (Matth. XII, 36)]*. *Redde rationem villicationis tuae.* Quid agas apud te? quid apud proximum? quid cogites in corde? quale proferas verbum? Quid auditu delectet, et cui infigas oculum? *Redde rationem villicationis tuae.* Bona mea dissipas, bonis meis male uteris, bona mea das extraneis. Voco et non respondes, porrigo manum, et non respicis. *Redde rationem villicationis tuae. Jam enim non poteris villicare.* Ad finem pervenisti, tempus est judicii, *rationem redde, jam non poteris villicare.* Cito hinc abiturus, cito moriturus es. Jam non poteris villicare. Post hanc vitam non est villicatio. Hic villicando servimus; ibi requiescendo mercedem capimus. Hic [1123D] acquirimus quod ibi possidemus; hic labor, ibi praemium.

*Ait autem villicus intra se: Quid faciam quia dominus meus aufert a me villicationem?* Felix qui de fine cogitat, felix, qui se quotidie moriturum, quia, *melior est finis orationis quam principium [n: (Eccl. XVII, 9)]*. Quid faciam? Quomodo de male dispensata villicatione evadam? *Fodere non valeo* postquam deficit vitae hujus villicatio. Non relinquitur actio post hanc vitam, pro qua mereamur aeternam vitam. Ibi jam non valeo fodere, quia ibi non est pauperes recreare, infirmos visitare, vigiliis sanctis et orationibus insistere. Quid est enim aliud *fodere,* nisi sanctarum exercitiis actionum terram mentis et corporis excolere? *Terram fodimus,* cum a nobis [1124A] exstirpamus vitia, ut virtutes inseramus; quod fieri non potest, post hanc vitam. *Mendicare erubesco.* Ne mihi dicatur quod fatuis virginibus est dictum: *Ne forte non sufficiat nobis et vobis, ite potius ad vendentes, et emite vobis [n: (Matth. XXV, 9)]*. Est *mendicatio* bona, est mendicatio mala. Mendicatio bona hic. Hic bene mendicamus, a doctoribus sapientiam et doctrinam; a sanctis mendicamus in litaniis, ut orent pro nobis. In alia vita mendicatio erubescenda. Quis enim non erubescat dicere: *date nobis de oleo vestro, quia lampades nostrae exstinguuntur [n: (ibid., 8)]*. Ideo mendicare erubesco. Vere mendicatio erubescenda, ubi nihil recuperatur, et egestas omnium bonorum perpetua comitatur. Ideo *mendicare erubesco.* Ibi non prodest alieni boni mendicatio, ubi [1124B] defecit omne bonum suum, nec potest ab alio quisquam exspectare, quod ipse non meruit, cum unicuique vix sua sufficient, et vix justus salvabitur. Ideo mendicare erubesco. *Scio quid faciam, ut cum amotus fuero a villicatione recipiant me in domos suas.* Salubre consilium reperit ad finem, qui male dispensavit villicationem, scilicet ut daret pauca recepturus plura; et reciperetur in domibus aliorum, cui propriae deficiebant.

*Convocatis itaque singulis debitoribus domini sui, dicebat primo: Quantum debes domino meo? At ille dixit: Centum cados olei.* Communem Dominum habemus, qui unum Dominum colimus, cui omnes debemus quidquid boni possumus. Sed quia omnes villici sumus, de jure villicationis nostrae debitorum [1124C] Domini pars ad nos refertur, ut non solum inveniamur debitores Dei, sed et invicem nostri. Non solum enim jubemur diligere Deum, sed et proximum. Debitores ergo sumus Dei, debitores sumus et proximi. Deo tamen totum debemus etiam id quod ad proximum referimus, ut quidquid debemus, Deo debeamus. Habemus autem spiritualia bona, habemus et corporalia. Spiritualia, ut, fidem, justitiam, charitatem, etc., quae Deo debemus, et proximo; corporalia, ut aurum, argentum, triticum, vinum, etc., unde Deo servimus et proximum adjuvamus. Quid melius per oleum possumus intelligere quam spiritualia, quod rarius est et lenius triticea soliditate, et lumen fovet, id est, cujus virtus illuminat [1124D] mentem ad intuendam veritatem, et praestat omnibus liquidis, ut spiritualia corporalibus. Quid per triticum, nisi corporalia? Si quidem per speciem saepe genus subintelligitur. Villicus ergo primum debitori loquitur olei, quia priora sunt spiritualia corporalibus; qui debet centum cados olei, quia debet Deo quidquid spiritualis habet boni. Sic enim sunt olei cadi plures, sicut spiritualis boni multae species. Vas enim olei centenarium species designat omnes spiritualium bonorum. Nam et centenarius plenitudinem saepe significat, et finitus saepe ponitur pro infinito. Debet ergo domino centum cados olei, qui debet Deo perfectionem spiritualis boni. Sed multum pertinet ad proximum, de hoc quod debetur Deo. Multum enim offendimus nisi fidem, [1125A] justitiam et charitatem proximo reddamus. Cum igitur de centum cadis villicus jubet quinquaginta scribi, quod debetur Deo, confirmatur scripto, quia non dimittitur. Quod debetur sibi non jubetur scribi, quia dimittitur. Dimittit quod suum est, relinquit quod Dei est. De hoc quod sibi debetur, venia facit securum; de eo quod Deo debetur scripto facit sollicitum. Unde sequitur:

*Dixitque illi: Accipe cautionem tuam et sede cito et scribe quinquaginta;* ac si diceret: Quod debes mihi, dimitto tibi; quod debes Deo cautelam assume, et qui superbus stabas, sede cito et humiliare, et quod parvipendebas vel oblivione, pro nihilo ducebas, scribe in tabulis cordis et memoria tene, ut frequenter poeniteas et expies, donec et ipsum dimittatur [1125B] tibi. *Sede cito,* id est ne differas de die in diem. *Scribe quinquaginta.* Numerus iste poenitentiae et remissionis est, ut et annus quinquagesimus remissionis, et psalmus quinquagesimus poenitentialis. Quinquaginta scribuntur et quinquaginta dimittuntur. Similis numerus similem significat offensionem in Deum et hominem. Unde Dominus dicit in Evangelio: *Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et ex tota anima tua et ex tota mente tua. Hoc est primum et magnum mandatum. Secundum simile est huic: Diliges proximum tuum sicut teipsum [n: (Matth. XXII, 37-39)]*. Nam quorum similis est dilectio, similis est offensio. Sequitur:

*Deinde alii dixit: tu vero quantum debes? qui ait: [1125C] centum coros tritici.* Cadus liquidorum mensura est et corus seminum. Valde timendum est nobis qui plenitudinem corporalium bonorum debemus, proximis debemus, et tamen non solvimus; debemus totum, et vix solvimus parum. Quid ergo faciemus? Si non possumus solvere totum quod debemus, aliis dimittamus saltem quod debetur nobis. Unde sequitur: *ait illi: Accipe litteras tuas, et scribe octoginta.* Qui enim de centum scribit octoginta, quintam partem dimittit, quia de corporalibus hoc debetur proximo quod quinque corporis sensus exigunt; hoc scripto commendatur quod divinae gratiae per octonarium relinquitur. Rapuisti meum, abstulisti praestitum, negasti commendatum. Si dimitto tibi quod mea refert, *scribe octoginta,* id est commenda memoriae [1125D] quod adhuc eges venia divinae gratiae; si quidem Evangelii gratia significatur per octonarium, sicut austeritas legis, per septenarium. Sed meretur octonarii gratiam qui praecepta custodit, quae significantur per decem, ut per octonarium junctum denario, gratiam illigamus acquisitam praecepto, ut qui scribit octoginta per Decalogi custodiam, perveniat ad octonarii gratiam.

*Et laudavit dominus villicum iniquitatis quia prudenter fecisset.* Mira res; malus est villicus et laudatur; male dispensavit et parcitur; non emendavit quod fecit, et indulgetur. Verum prudenter egit, quia dimisit pauca, ut reciperet plura; dimisit temporalia, ut aeterna percipiat. Audierat enim: *Dimittite et dimittetur vobis [n: (Luc. VI, 37)]*, et *dimitte nobis debita [1126A] nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris [n: (Matth. VI, 12)]*. Verum prudenter egit, qui Deum facere molitur debitorem suum, ut exigat ab eo debitam remissionem, quia remisit. Prudenter egit, quia cui obnoxius erat ipsum sibi facit obnoxium. Et quem habebat durum exactorem, nunc habet pium debitorem, ut fiducialiter dicat: Dimitte, quia dimisi; redde quam debes veniam, quia ego dedi veniam. *Quia filii hujus saeculi prudentiores sunt filiis lucis in generatione sua.* Filii lucis laborant, et vix merentur pretium; currunt et vix ad bravium perveniunt, parturiunt et vix evadunt. Filii saeculi post laudes et illecebras et illicitos amores solummodo dimittunt, et Deum debitorem tenent; parcunt et parcitur eis, condonant et donatur. Ideo [1126B] prudentiores sunt filii saeculi filiis lucis in generatione sua, id est quando regenerantur Deo, et renovantur spirituali vita.

## Homilia de villico iniquitatis (cont.)

*Et ego dico vobis, facite vobis amicos de mammona iniquitatis.* Mammona, id est divitiae, quae iniquitatis dicuntur, quia sine iniquitate non captantur, et quia iniquum est eas revocare in proprios usus, quas creavit communes Dominus. Unde scriptum est: *Oro iniquitate vidi tentoria Aethiopiae [n: (Habac. III, 7)]*, id est pro divitiis captandis vidi homines factos tabernacula nigredinis, id est vitiorum et daemonum, ut qui poterant esse tabernacula sectando paupertatem, facti sunt tentoria vitiorum pro iniquitate congreganda. Quis non videat multos perjurium [1126C] incurrere, homicidia facere, dolos machinari contra proximos, rerum publicarum et dominorum proditores esse propter divitias. Hi fiunt *pro iniquitate tentoria Aethiopiae.* Sed, cum villicus fecerit amicos superius, et de spiritualibus et de corporalibus, cur Dominus concludit finem parabolae suae de solis corporalibus? Citius dimittimus injuriam factam quam praestitas pecunias; facilius damus fidem quam possessionem: proniores sumus dimittere odia quam expendere nostra. Ideo Dominus, parabolice nobis ad misericordiam instructis, in ea parte misericordiae concludit sermonem quam novit apud homines difficiliorem; et ad eam nos enixius hortatur in fine ad quam videt nos difficilius inclinari, quia *melior est finis orationis quam principium [n: (Eccles. VII, 9)]*. [1126D] Faciamus ergo de divitiis iniquitatis amicos, pauperibus eas distribuendo, et debitoribus et his qui eas abstulerunt dimittendo. Sed, quia iniquitatis divitiae aliae possidentur paterna successione, aliae justo conquiruntur labore, aliae usurpantur ex scelere vel impietate, Dei certe amici non fiunt, qui de scelere vel impietate veniunt. Nec putet quisquam ex his adjutores quaerere salutis quas mercimonio corrasit iniquitatis. Scriptum est enim: *Hostiae impiorum abominabiles [n: (Prov. II, 2)]*, quia offeruntur ex scelere; et: *Immolantis ex iniquo, oblatio est maculata [n: (Eccli. XXXIV, 21)]*; et: *Qui offert sacrificium ex substantia pauperis, quasi qui victimat filium in conspectu patris [n: (ibid., 24)]*. Cum ergo praecipitur fieri amicos de mammona iniquitatis, discernendum [1127A] est ut eas intelligamus quae de successione, vel justo labore proveniunt. Quae tamen et ipsae iniquitatis dicuntur, quasi inaequalitatis, quia cum eas in proprietatem tenemus, aequalitatem cum aliis hominibus non servamus. Sunt ergo illae de quibus amicos facere praecipimur divitiae, iniquitatis et justitiae. Iniquitatis quidem quantum ad Deum, qui omnia communibus creat usibus; justitiae vero quantum ad saeculum, quia saeculari justitia possidentur ab hominibus. Divitiae ergo quae juste possidentur in terra, et injustae sunt quantum ad divinam justitiam, et justae sunt quantum ad terrenam. Divina justitia cujuslibet proprietatis possessionem arguit, terrena justitia proprietatis alicujus possessionem defendit. Per terrenam justitiam homines propria [1127B] colligunt, per divinam justitiam sua communia faciunt. Divitiae vero quae sunt ex scelere, omnino sunt injustae. Nec ulla justitia comprobat, quas etiam terrena condemnat. Et istae nullo modo Deo sunt [1128A] offerendae, quia de scelere sunt acquisitae. Et tamen reddendae sunt cito, imo projiciendae, ne malefactor inveniatur in male coepto perseverare. *Ut cum defeceritis recipiant vos in aeterna tabernacula.* Exponit hic quod dixerat *recipiant me in domos suas.* Mansiones enim aeternae domus sunt eorum quibus impenditur misericordia; domus, inquam, eorum non possessione, sed causa; non possessione quod eas possideant, quas forsitan non possidebunt, sed causa, quia scilicet causa sint suis benefactoribus possidendi. In suas ergo domos vos recipiunt, quando in aeternas mansiones nos esse faciunt. Suas enim reputamus, quas nonnisi per eos accipimus; quas nobis quasi retribuunt propter beneficia quae receperunt, et propter misericordias quas acceperunt [1128B] temporalium, aeternorum retributores existunt, per eum qui pro ipsis reddit quod ipsi debuerunt, Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum qui vivit et regnat per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

english:
## Homily on the Steward of Iniquity

[1121D] *There was a certain rich man,* etc. Who is the *rich man,* if not Christ — rich in heaven, rich on earth, rich everywhere, rich, full of grace and truth [n: (Joan. I, 14)]. And of his fullness we have all received [n: (Joan. I, 16)]. Rich, with whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge [n: (Col. II, 3)]; rich in all things and unto all who call upon him [n: (Rom. X, 13)]. And the steward is every Christian, who in baptism received the stewardship both of himself and of his neighbor; [1122D] for every Christian lives not for his own sake only, but for his neighbor's also. And he is to render an account not only for his own soul, but also for the soul of him with whom he lives in this life, exercising himself in body and in mind, and helping his neighbor by teaching and by example, seeking not only the things that are his own, but the things of others also. This is the noble care of Christians and their holy stewardship; hence comes the dread judgment of God and the reckoning to come. *And this man was accused to him, as though he had squandered [1123A] his goods.* Daily we are accused before the Lord, because our angels always behold the face of the Father [n: (Matth. XVIII, 10)] and report to him all our doings. What, then, are we to do? Where do we hide ourselves? They accuse us; they behold us and God; they behold all our doings and God, because in beholding what is ours they report it to God. There is no obstacle, there is no darkness by which they may be hindered from seeing all our doings, because the divine light by which they are illumined penetrates all things, since *the light shines in the darkness [n: (Joan. I, 5)]* and *the night shall be lit up as the day [n: (Psal. CXXXVIII)]*. *And this man was accused as though he had squandered his goods.* Who dispenses well, in all things, all the goods entrusted to him? Who does not sometimes doze? *Sometimes good Homer dozes [n: (HORATIUS in Arte poet. 359)]*; and: *In many things we all [1123B] offend [n: (Jacob. III, 2)]*. And: If *we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us [n: (I Joan. I, 3)]*.

*And he called him and said to him: What is this that I hear of thee?* Daily the Lord calls us: *Come, children, hear me [n: (Ps. XXXIII, 12)]*. *Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened [n: (Matth. XI, 28)]*. And, O men, to you I cry aloud, and my voice is to the sons of men. Daily he speaks to us through the prophets; he speaks through the apostles; he speaks through himself in the Gospel; he speaks through the doctors; he speaks in the conscience: *What is this that I hear of thee?* He rebukes those who think evil, he rebukes those who speak evil, he rebukes those who act evilly, he rebukes those who live evilly. *What is this that I hear of thee? Render an account of thy stewardship.* For of every idle word *that men shall have [1123C] spoken, they shall render an account in the day of judgment [n: (Matth. XII, 36)]*. *Render an account of thy stewardship.* What do you do with yourself? What with your neighbor? What do you think in your heart? What sort of word do you utter? What do you delight to hear, and on what do you fix your eye? *Render an account of thy stewardship.* You squander my goods, you use my goods badly, you give my goods to strangers. I call and you do not answer; I stretch out my hand, and you do not look. *Render an account of thy stewardship. For now thou canst no longer be steward.* You have come to the end; it is the time of judgment: *render an account, thou canst no longer be steward.* Soon you are to go from here, soon you are to die. Now you can no longer be steward. After this life there is no stewardship. Here we serve by stewarding; there we receive our wage by resting. Here [1123D] we acquire what there we possess; here labor, there reward.

*And the steward said within himself: What shall I do, since my lord takes away the stewardship from me?* Happy is he who thinks upon the end; happy he who thinks that he is to die every day, because *the end of prayer is better than the beginning [n: (Eccl. XVII, 9)]*. What shall I do? How shall I escape from a stewardship ill dispensed? *I am not strong enough to dig,* once the stewardship of this life fails. No action is left after this life by which we may earn eternal life. There I am no longer strong enough to dig, because there is no refreshing of the poor there, no visiting of the sick, no persevering in holy vigils and prayers. For what else is it *to dig* than to till the ground of mind and body by the exercises of holy actions? *We dig the ground* when we root out from ourselves [1124A] the vices, that we may plant the virtues — which cannot be done after this life. *To beg I am ashamed.* Lest it be said to me what was said to the foolish virgins: *Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you, go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves [n: (Matth. XXV, 9)]*. There is a good begging, and there is a bad begging. Good begging is here. Here we beg well: from the doctors, wisdom and teaching; from the saints we beg in the litanies, that they may pray for us. In the other life begging is a thing to be ashamed of. For who would not blush to say: *give us of your oil, for our lamps are going out [n: (ibid., 8)]*. Therefore to beg I am ashamed. Truly that begging is shameful where nothing is recovered, and want of all good things attends one everlastingly. Therefore *to beg I am ashamed.* There the begging of another's good profits nothing, where [1124B] every good of one's own has failed; nor can anyone expect from another what he himself has not deserved, since each will scarcely have enough for himself, and the just man will scarcely be saved. Therefore to beg I am ashamed. *I know what I shall do, that when I am removed from the stewardship they may receive me into their houses.* He found a wholesome counsel at the end, who had dispensed his stewardship badly — namely, to give few things and receive many; and to be received into the houses of others, since his own were failing him.

*And so, calling together each of his lord's debtors, he said to the first: How much dost thou owe my lord? And he said: A hundred jars of oil.* We who worship one Lord have a Lord in common, to whom we all owe whatever good we can do. But because we are all stewards, by the right of our stewardship a part of the Lord's debtors [1124C] is referred to us, so that we are found debtors not only of God, but also of one another. For we are commanded to love not only God, but our neighbor also. We are therefore debtors of God; we are debtors of our neighbor also. Yet to God we owe the whole, even that which we refer to our neighbor, so that whatever we owe, we owe to God. Now we have spiritual goods, and we have bodily goods also. Spiritual, such as faith, justice, charity, and the rest, which we owe to God and to our neighbor; bodily, such as gold, silver, wheat, wine, and the rest, by which we serve God and help our neighbor. What better can we understand by oil than the spiritual goods — oil being rarer and smoother than the solidity of wheat, and feeding the light: that is, whose power illumines [1124D] the mind for the beholding of truth, and which surpasses all liquids as spiritual things surpass bodily ones? What by wheat, if not the bodily goods? Since indeed the genus is often understood through the species. The steward therefore speaks first to the debtor of oil, because spiritual things come before bodily; who owes a hundred jars of oil, because he owes God whatever spiritual good he has. For the jars of oil are many, just as the kinds of spiritual good are many. For the hundredfold vessel of oil designates all the kinds of spiritual goods. For a hundred often signifies fullness, and a finite number is often put for an infinite. He therefore owes his lord a hundred jars of oil who owes God the perfection of spiritual good. But much of what is owed to God pertains to the neighbor. For we offend greatly unless we render faith, [1125A] justice, and charity to our neighbor. When therefore the steward bids fifty be written of the hundred jars: what is owed to God is confirmed in writing, because it is not remitted. What is owed to himself he does not bid to be written, because it is remitted. He remits what is his own; he leaves what is God's. Concerning what is owed to himself, he makes him secure by pardon; concerning what is owed to God, he makes him anxious by the writing. Whence there follows:

*And he said to him: Take thy bond, and sit down quickly and write fifty;* as if he said: What thou owest me, I remit to thee; for what thou owest God, take heed; and thou who wast standing in pride, sit down quickly and be humbled; and what thou didst make light of, or through forgetfulness didst count as nothing, write on the tablets of thy heart and hold in memory, that thou mayest often repent and make expiation, until that also be remitted [1125B] to thee. *Sit down quickly,* that is, do not put it off from day to day. *Write fifty.* This number is one of penitence and of remission: as the fiftieth year is one of remission, and the fiftieth psalm is penitential. Fifty are written and fifty are remitted. A like number signifies a like offense against God and against man. Whence the Lord says in the Gospel: *Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the first and great commandment. The second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself [n: (Matth. XXII, 37-39)]*. For where the love is alike, the offense is alike. There follows:

*Then he said to another: And how much dost thou owe? And he said: [1125C] A hundred measures of wheat.* The *cadus* is a measure of liquids, and the *corus* of grain. Greatly is it to be feared by us who owe the fullness of bodily goods — we owe it to our neighbors, and yet we do not pay; we owe the whole, and scarcely pay a little. What then shall we do? If we cannot pay the whole that we owe, let us at least remit to others what is owed to us. Whence there follows: *he said to him: Take thy writings, and write eighty.* For he who writes eighty out of a hundred remits the fifth part, because of bodily goods this is owed to the neighbor which the five senses of the body require; and by this writing there is commended what is left to divine grace through the number eight. Thou hast seized what was mine, thou hast carried off what was lent, thou hast denied what was entrusted. If I remit to thee what concerns me, *write eighty,* that is, commend to memory [1125D] that thou still standest in need of the pardon of divine grace — since indeed the grace of the Gospel is signified by the number eight, as the austerity of the law by the number seven. But he earns the grace of the eight who keeps the precepts, which are signified by ten; so that by the eight joined to the ten we bind together the grace acquired by the precept, that he who writes eighty through the keeping of the Decalogue may come to the grace of the eight.

*And the lord praised the steward of iniquity, because he had acted prudently.* A wonderful thing: the steward is bad, and is praised; he dispensed badly, and is spared; he did not make amends for what he did, and is pardoned. Yet he acted prudently, because he remitted few things that he might receive many; he remitted temporal things that he might obtain eternal. For he had heard: *Forgive, and it shall be forgiven you [n: (Luc. VI, 37)]*, and *forgive us our debts, [1126A] as we also forgive our debtors [n: (Matth. VI, 12)]*. Truly he acted prudently, who contrives to make God his debtor, that he may exact from him the remission owed, because he himself remitted. He acted prudently, because him to whom he was liable he makes liable to himself. And him whom he had as a harsh exactor, he now has as a merciful debtor, so that he may say with confidence: Forgive, because I have forgiven; render the pardon thou owest, because I have given pardon. *For the children of this world are more prudent than the children of light in their generation.* The children of light labor, and scarcely earn the wage; they run, and scarcely reach the prize; they travail, and scarcely escape. The children of the world, after their praises and their enticements and their unlawful loves, need only remit, and they hold God as their debtor; they spare, and are spared; they forgive, and are forgiven. Therefore [1126B] the children of the world are more prudent than the children of light in their generation, that is, when they are regenerated to God and renewed with spiritual life.

## Homily on the Steward of Iniquity (cont.)

*And I say to you, make yourselves friends of the mammon of iniquity.* Mammon, that is, riches, which are called riches of iniquity because they are not caught at without iniquity, and because it is iniquitous to call back to one's own uses those things which the Lord created common. Whence it is written: *I pray, by iniquity I saw the tents of Ethiopia [n: (Habac. III, 7)]*, that is: for the catching at riches I saw men made tabernacles of blackness, that is, of vices and of demons; so that they who could have been tabernacles by pursuing poverty have been made tents of vices for the heaping up of iniquity. Who does not see that many run into perjury, [1126C] commit murders, contrive deceits against their neighbors, and become betrayers of commonwealths and of their lords, for the sake of riches? These become *tents of Ethiopia for iniquity.* But since the steward above made friends both from spiritual and from bodily goods, why does the Lord conclude the end of his parable with the bodily alone? We more quickly remit an injury done to us than moneys lent; we more easily give our trust than our property; we are readier to remit hatreds than to spend what is ours. Therefore the Lord, having instructed us by a parable unto mercy, concludes his discourse with that part of mercy which he knows to be the more difficult among men; and at the end he exhorts us the more strenuously to that toward which he sees us more difficultly inclined, because *the end of prayer is better than the beginning [n: (Eccles. VII, 9)]*. [1126D] Let us therefore make friends of the riches of iniquity, by distributing them to the poor, and by remitting them to our debtors and to those who have carried them off. But since some riches of iniquity are possessed by paternal succession, some are acquired by just labor, and some are usurped out of crime or impiety — assuredly those which come from crime or impiety do not make friends of God. Nor let anyone think to seek helpers of his salvation from those riches which he has scraped together by the traffic of iniquity. For it is written: *The victims of the impious are abominable [n: (Prov. II, 2)]*, because they are offered out of crime; and: *Of him who sacrifices from what is unjust, the offering is defiled [n: (Eccli. XXXIV, 21)]*; and: *He who offers sacrifice from the substance of the poor is like one who slaughters the son in the sight of the father [n: (ibid., 24)]*. When therefore we are commanded to make friends of the mammon of iniquity, a distinction must be made, [1127A] that we understand those riches which come from succession or from just labor. Which nevertheless are themselves also called riches of iniquity — as it were, of inequity — because, while we hold them as property, we do not keep equality with other men. Those riches, then, of which we are commanded to make friends, are riches of iniquity and of justice: of iniquity indeed as regards God, who creates all things for common use; but of justice as regards the world, because they are possessed by men according to worldly justice. Riches, therefore, which are justly possessed on earth are both unjust as regards divine justice and just as regards earthly justice. Divine justice accuses the possession of any property whatever; earthly justice defends the possession of some property. By earthly justice men gather what is their own; [1127B] by divine justice they make what is theirs common. But riches which come from crime are altogether unjust. Nor does any justice approve those which even earthly justice condemns. And these are in no way to be [1128A] offered to God, because they were acquired out of crime. And yet they are to be given back quickly — rather, to be thrown away — lest the evildoer be found persevering in an evil undertaking. *That when you fail they may receive you into eternal tabernacles.* Here he sets forth what he had said: *that they may receive me into their houses.* For the eternal dwellings are the houses of those to whom mercy is shown — their houses, I say, not by possession, but by cause: not by possession, in that they possess them, which perhaps they will not possess, but by cause, namely because they are for their benefactors the cause of possessing them. Into their own houses, then, they receive you, when they bring it about that we are in the eternal dwellings. For we reckon as theirs those which we receive only through them; which they repay to us, as it were, on account of the benefits they have received; and on account of the mercies of temporal things which they received, [1128B] they stand forth as repayers of eternal things, through him who repays on their behalf what they themselves owed — our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns through all ages of ages. Amen.