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“He has made the deaf hear and the dumb speak.”
Just as the divine law says that
when God created the world “he saw all that he had made and
it was very good,” so the Gospel,
speaking of our redemption and re-creation,
affirms: “He has done all things
well. A good tree bears good fruit;
no good tree can bear bad fruit.”
As
fire can give out nothing but heat
and is incapable of giving out
cold; and as the sun gives out nothing
but light and is incapable of giving
out darkness, so God is incapable
of doing anything but good, for he
is infinite goodness and light. He
is a sun giving out endless light,
a fire producing endless warmth. “He
has done all things well.”
And so today we must wholeheartedly unite with that holy throng in saying: “He
has done all things well. He has made the deaf hear and the dumb speak.”
Like
Balaam’s ass, this crowd certainly spoke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Clearly it was the Holy Spirit who said through its mouth: “He has done all
things well;” in other words he is truly God, because making the deaf hear
and the dumb speak are things that only God can do.
 There is a transition here
from the particular to the general. This man has worked a miracle that only God
could work; therefore he is God, who has done all things well.
“He has done all things well.” The law says that all God
did was good; the gospel says he has done all things well.
Doing a good deed is not quite the same as doing it well. Many
do good deeds but fail to do them well. The deeds of hypocrites,
for example, are good, but they are done in the wrong spirit,
with a perverse and defective intention.
Everything God does,
however, is not only good but is also done well. “The Lord
is just in all his ways and holy in all his deeds.” With wisdom
you have done them all: that is to say, most wisely and
well. So “he has done all things well,” they say.
Now if God has done all his good works and done them well for our sake, knowing
that we take pleasure in goodness, why I ask do we not endeavor to make all our
works good and to do them well, knowing that such works are pleasing to God?
If you ask what we should do in order to enjoy the divine blessings for ever,
I will tell you in a word. Since the Church is called the bride of Christ and
of God, we must do what a good wife does for her husband. Then God will treat
us as a good husband treats a dearly loved wife. This is what the Lord says through
Hosea: “I will betroth you to myself with justice and integrity, with tenderness
and compassion; I will betroth you to myself with faithfulness, and you shall
know that I am the Lord.”
So even in this present life we shall be happy,
this world will be an earthly paradise for us; with the Hebrews we shall feast
on heavenly manna in the desert of this life, if only we follow Christ’s example
by striving to do everything well, so that “he has done all things well” may
be said of each one of us.
(Eleventh
Sunday after Pentecost 1, 1.9.11.12:
Opera omnia, 8,124.134.136-38).
Lawrence
of Brindisi (1559-1619)
was born at Brindisi and educated at Venice. In 1575 he
entered with the Capuchins and was sent to Padua to study
philosophy and theology. He had a prodigious memory and
was said to know the Scriptures by heart in the original.
This enabled him to convert many Jews. Raised to a high
degree of contemplation himself, he evangelized much of
Europe, speaking to the hearts of those who heard him.
From 1602 he served a term as minister general of the Capuchins.
As chaplain to the imperial troops he led them into battle
and to victory against the Turks on two occasions, armed
only with a crucifix. He died at Lisbon while on an embassy.
His writings include eight volumes of sermons, commentaries
on Genesis and Ezekiel, and other didactic or controversial
works. Pope John XXIII added his name to the list of doctors
of the Church. |
