TEMPUS QUADRAGESIMÆ: notanda;corrected

Ad Vesperas: in Officio dominicali: Gregorius Magnus?

Generally appointed for Vespers, sometimes Lauds, even in one case for Terce (Walpole).

Audi, benígne Cónditor,

nostras preces cum flétibus, (1)

sacráta in abstinéntia

fusas quadragenária.

Scrutátor alme córdium, (2)

infírma tu scis vírium;  (3)

ad te revérsis éxhibe

remissiónis grátiam.

Multum quidem peccávimus,

sed parce confiténtibus,

tuíque laude nóminis (4)

confer medélam lánguidis.

Sic corpus extra cónteri (5)

dona per abstinéntiam,

ieiúnet ut mens sóbria

a labe prorsus críminum.

Præsta, beáta Trínitas,

concéde, simplex Unitas,

ut fructuósa sint tuis

hæc parcitátis múnera. Amen.

1.       Cf. Ambrose, Aeterne rerum conditor: fletuque culpa solvitor; Prudentius, Nox et tenebrae et nublia: flendo et canendo quaesumus; Rex aeterne Domine: hymnum deflentes canimus; Christe, precamur adnue: mixtaque voces fletibus; Summae Deus clementiae: fletus, benigne, suscipe; Lucis creator optime: audi preces cum fletibus; Telluris ingens conditor: ut facta fletu diluat; Vox clara ecce intonate: vocem demus cum lacrimis (Walpole).

2.      Scutator cordium: Rom. 8:27: “[God] that searches hearts” (scrutatur corda) (Walsh and Husch); Ambrose, Hex. VI.44: scrutator cordis occulta (Walpole); Ps. 7:10: scrutans corda.

3.      Oxymoron: infirma cordium: ‘weakness of our strength’ (Walpole).

4.      Altered from: ad laudem tui nominis.

5.      “By afflicting our bodies with fasting we starve our minds from committing sin” (Walsh and Husch).

O Kind Creator, hear our prayers mixed with tears poured out in this holy forty-day fast.  O sustaining Searcher of hearts, you know the weakness of our strength; show to us who have turned back to you the remission of our sins. Indeed we have sinned much but spare those who confess their sins; to the praise of your name grant healing to the sick. Grant that our bodies may be outwardly broken through abstinence that a temperate mind may fast from falling headlong into sin. Grant, O Blessed Trinity, give, O simple Unity, to those who are yours the fruitful rewards of fasting. Amen.

In Officio feriali: saec. X

Iesu, quadragenáriæ

dicátor abstinéntiæ, (1)

qui ob salútem méntium (2)

præcéperas ieiúnium,

Adésto nunc Ecclésiæ, (3)

adésto pæniténtiæ,

qua supplicámus cérnui (4)

peccáta nostra dílui.

Tu retroácta crímina

tua remítte grátia

et a futúris ádhibe

custódiam mitíssime,

Ut, expiáti ánnuis

compunctiónis áctibus,

tendámus ad paschália

digne colénda gáudia.

Te rerum univérsitas,

clemens, adóret, Trínitas,

et nos novi per véniam

novum canámus cánticum. Amen.

1.       Dicator = ‘magistrate, one who dictates’;

2.      ‘who with a view to the health of the soul didst in the days of old hallow this fast’ (Walpole)

3.      The second stanza of the original has been dropped: quo paradiso redderes/servata parsimonia/ quos inde gastrimargiae/ huc inlecebra depulit.

4.      The final two lines of this stanza are altered from the original: quae pro suis excessibus/ orat profusis feltibus.

O Jesus, who established these forty days of abstinence, who decreed this fast for the salvation of souls: Be present with thy Church, assist our penitence, by which, we humbly pray, that our sins may be washed away. By your grace forgive us our past sins and gently guard us against future sins.: that cleansed by these yearly acts of contrition we may be prepared to celebrate Easter with worthy joy.  All things worship you, O merciful Trinity, and made new by your pardon we sing a new song. Amen.

 Ad Officium lectionis: in Officio dominicali: Gregorius Magnus?

Generally appointed for Nocturns, sometimes Vespers (Walpole).

Ex more docti mýstico (1)

servémus abstinéntiam, (2)

deno diérum círculo

ducto quater notíssimo.

Lex et prophétæ prímitus (3)

hanc prætulérunt, póstmodum

Christus sacrávit, ómnium

rex atque factor témporum.

Utámur ergo párcius (4)

verbis, cibis et pótibus,

somno, iocis et árctius

perstémus in custódia.

Vitémus autem péssima

quæ súbruunt mentes vagas,

nullúmque demus cállido  (5)

hosti locum tyránnidis.

Præsta, beáta Trínitas, (6)

concéde, simplex Unitas,

ut fructuósa sint tuis

hæc parcitátis múnera. Amen.

1.       Ex more = ‘by the custom’ (Walpole); mystico because the forty days of Lent are associated

 with cleansing and purifying: the forty days of the flood, Moses fasting forty days before

 meeting God, Elijah’s fast and that of Jesus ((Walsh and Husch).

2.      Original: servemus en ieiunium: denum for deno.

3.      Lex et prophetae … Christus sacravit: Gen. 7:12; Ex. 34:28; 3 Kings 19:8; Mk. 1:13.

4.      Rule of St. Benedict 49: abstention from food, drink, sleep, conversation, joking

5.      Cf. Eph. 4:27: nolite locum dare diabolo.

6.      Four stanzas are omitted from the original:

Instructed by the spiritual life we persevere in abstinence in the familiar cycle of four times ten days. The Law and the Prophets first taught this; afterwards Christ himself sanctified it, he who is the ruler and creator of all things. Therefore let us use sparingly words, food and drink, sleep and jokes and be more careful in keeping guard. Let us shun wicked things, which sabotage our wandering minds and not give place to our crafty enemy in his tyranny. Grant, O Blessed Trinity, give, O simple Unity, to those who are yours the fruitful rewards of fasting. Amen.

Ad Laudes matutinas: in Officio dominicali: Gregorius Magnus?

This hymn consists of the second part of Ex more docti mýstico. (Milfull)

PRECEMUR omnes cernui, (1)

clamemus atque singuli,

ploremus ante iudicem,

flectamus iram vindicem

Nostris malis offendimus

tuam, Deus, clementiam;

effunde nobis desuper,

remissor, indulgentiam.

Memento quod sumus tui,

licet caduci, plasmatis; (2)

ne des honorem nominis (3)

tui, precamur, alteri.

Laxa malum quod fecimus,

auge bonum quod poscimus,

placere quo tandem tibi

possimus hic et perpetim.

1.       precemur originally dicamus.

2.      plasmatis from the Greek with the meaning of ‘fashioning anything, e.g. a statue but in Christian Latin the divine creation of the human body (Walsh and Husch).

3.      Isaiah 48:11: “I shall not give my glory to another”.

Let us all pray on bended knee and each of us cry out, imploring and weeping before the angry and avenging judge. With our evil ways e have offended your mercy, O God; O Redeemer pour out on us your pardon from above.  Remember that we belong to you, although we are weak, you made us; we pray do not give the honor of your name to another.  Forgive the evil we have done, increase the good we seek and by which we are able to please you here and always.  Grant, O Blessed Trinity, give, O simple Unity, to those who are yours the fruitful rewards of fasting. Amen.

In Officio feriali: saec. VI

Iam, Christe, sol iustítiæ, (1)

mentis dehíscant ténebræ, (2)

virtútum ut lux rédeat,

terris diem cum réparas.

Dans tempus acceptábile (3)

et pænitens cor tríbue,

convértat ut benígnitas (4)

quos longa suffert píetas;

Quiddámque pæniténtiæ

da ferre, quo fit démptio,

maióre tuo múnere,

culpárum quamvis grándium.

Dies venit, dies tua,  (5)

per quam reflórent ómnia;

lætémur in hac ut tuæ (6)

per hanc redúcti grátiæ.

Te rerum univérsitas,

clemens, adóret, Trínitas,

et nos novi per véniam

novum canámus cánticum. Amen. (7)

1.       Mal. 4:2: orietur vobis timentibus nomen meum sol iustitiae

2.      Dehíscant = ‘part, sunder’ (Walpole)

3.      2 Cor. 6.2

4.      Rom. 2:4: the goodness of God leads you to penance.

5.      Dies = Easter

6.      Ps. 117:24: haec est dies quam fecit Dominus, exultemus et laetemur in ea.

7.      Apoc. 14:3: cantabunt quasi canticum ante sedem.

Now, O Christ, Sun of righteousness,  let the darkness of the mind be rent,  that the light of the virtues may return, when you restore day to the world. You grant the acceptable time; give us  a penitent heart, that your kindness may convert those whom your love has long endured. Grant us to bear some penitential severity that our sin, however great, be removed by your greater gift. The day comes, your day, through which all things flourish; we rejoice in that day through which we are returned to your grace.  All things worship you, O merciful Trinity, and made new by your pardon we sing a new song. Amen.

Ad Tertiam: saec. VIII

Dei fide, qua vívimus, (1)

qua spe perénni crédimus,

per caritátis grátiam

Christi canámus glóriam,

Qui ductus hora tértia (2)

ad passiónis hóstiam,

crucis ferens suspéndia

ovem redúxit pérditam. (3)

Precémur ergo súbditi,

redemptióne líberi,

ut éruat a sæculo

quos solvit a chirógrapho.

Christum rogámus et Patrem,

Christi Patrísque Spíritum;

unum potens per ómnia,

fove precántes, Trínitas. Amen.

1.       Three theological virtues: 1 Cor. 13:13:  Nunc autem manent fides, spes, caritas, tria hæc: major autem horum est caritas. Cf. Aeterna Christi munera:

devote sanctorum fides,

invicta spes credentium,

perfecta Christi caritas

mundi triumphat principem.

Fulgentis auctor aetheris:

Sed sol diem dum conficit,

fides profunda ferveat,

spes ad promissa provocet,

Christo conjungat caritas.

2.      Mk 15:25: erat autem hora tertia et crucifixerunt eum.

3.      Reference to the penitent thief: Lk. 23:43.

4.      a chirógrapho: Col. 2:14: delens quod adversum nos erat chirografum decretis quod erat contrarium nobis

Faith in God, by which we live, in eternal hope by which we believe, through the grace of love we sing the glory of Christ.  Who was lead at the third hour to the sacrifice of the passion,  bearing the gibbet of the cross he returned the lost sheep.  We humbly pray therefore that delivered by his redemption he would rescue from the world those he freed from the charge. We ask Christ and the Father and the Spirit of Christ and the Father, one power through all things, O Trinity, cherish those who pray to you. Amen.

Ad Sextam: saec. VIII

Qua Christus hora sítiit (1)

crucem vel in qua súbiit,

quos præstat in hac psállere

ditet siti iustítiæ.

Simul sit his esúries,

quam ipse de se sátiet,

crimen sit ut fastídium (2)

virtúsque desidérium.

Charísma Sancti Spíritus

sic ínfluat psalléntibus,

ut carnis æstus frígeat

et mentis algor férveat.

Christum rogámus et Patrem,

Christi Patrísque Spíritum;

unum potens per ómnia,

fove precántes, Trínitas. Amen.

1.       Walpole says that the ‘thirst’ may refer to Joh. 4:6: erat autem ibi fons Iacob Iesus ergo fatigatus ex itinere sedebat sic super fontem hora erat quasi sexta or to Joh. 19.28: postea sciens Iesus quia iam omnia consummata sunt ut consummaretur scriptura dicit sitio. In any case the hymn prays that ‘he may enrich us with a thirst for righteousness”.

2.      fastidium = ‘a loathsome thing’ (Walpole)

The hour when Christ thirsted or submitted himself to the cross, when he grants those who sing this hour to be enriched with a thirst for righteousness.  At the same time may they hunger that Christ might fill them with himself that wearied by sin they may desire virtue.  May the gifts of the Holy Spirit so pour down upon those who praise you that the heat of flesh may grow cold and cold souls might become fervent.  We ask Christ and the Father and the Spirit of Christ and the Father, one power through all things, O Trinity, cherish those who pray to you. Amen.

Ad Nonam: saec. VIII

Ternis ter horis númerus

nobis sacrátus pánditur, (1)

sanctóque Iesu nómine

munus precémur véniæ.

Latrónis, en, conféssio (2)

Christi merétur grátiam;

laus nostra vel devótio

mercétur indulgéntiam. (3)

Mors per crucem nunc ínterit

et post tenébras lux redit;

horror dehíscat críminum,

splendor nitéscat méntium.

Christum rogámus et Patrem,

Christi Patrísque Spíritum;

unum potens per ómnia,

fove precántes, Trínitas. Amen.

1.       The number ‘three’ is holy because it refers to the Trinity.

2.      Walpole: “the robber’s acknowledgement wins Christ’s grace, may our praise and devotion procure us pardon”.

3.      Mercétur = ‘procure’ not ‘purchase’ (Walpole)

The holy number of the third of the three hours is reached and by the holy name of Jesus we beg the gift of pardon. Behold the confession of the thief merited the grace of Christ; may our praise and devotion purchase forgiveness. Now death perishes through the cross and after darkness light returns;  the fear of sin is purged, the splendor of souls shines.  We ask Christ and the Father and the Spirit of Christ and the Father, one power through all things, O Trinity, cherish those who pray to you. Amen

Hymn Card for Lent

In years past some have found this Hymn card to be useful for the Liturgica Horarum. 

Vespers ferial

O Jesus, who established these forty days of abstinence, who decreed this fast for the salvation of souls: Be present with thy Church, assist our penitence, by which, we humbly pray, that our sins may be washed away. By your grace forgive us our past sins and gently guard us against future sins.: that cleansed by these yearly acts of contrition we may be prepared to celebrate Easter with worthy joy.  All things worship you, O merciful Trinity, and made new by your pardon we sing a new song. Amen.

Vespers dominicali

O Kind Creator, hear our prayers mixed with tears poured out in this holy forty-day fast.  O sustaining Searcher of hearts, you know the weakness of our strength; show to us who have turned back to you the remission of our sins. Indeed we have sinned much but spare those who confess their sins; to the praise of your name grant healing to the sick. Grant that our bodies may be outwardly broken through abstinence that a temperate mind may fast from falling headlong into sin. Grant, O Blessed Trinity, give, O simple Unity, to those who are yours the fruitful rewards of fasting. Amen.

Lauds ferial

Now, O Christ, Sun of righteousness, let the darkness of the mind be rent,  that the light of the virtues may return, when you restore day to the world. You grant the acceptable time; give us  a penitent heart, that your kindness may convert those whom your love has long endured. Grant us to bear some penitential severity that our sin, however great, be removed by your greater gift. The day comes, your day, through which all things flourish; we rejoice in that day through which we are returned to your grace.  All things worship you, O merciful Trinity, and made new by your pardon we sing a new song. Amen.

Lauds dominicali

Let us all pray on bended knee and each of us cry out, imploring and weeping before the angry and avenging judge. With our evil ways e have offended your mercy, O God; O Redeemer pour out on us your pardon from above.  Remember that we belong to you, although we are weak, you made us; we pray do not give the honor of your name to another.  Forgive the evil we have done, increase the good we seek and by which we are able to please you here and always.  Grant, O Blessed Trinity, give, O simple Unity, to those who are yours the fruitful rewards of fasting. Amen.

Terce

Faith in God, by which we live, in eternal hope by which we believe, through the grace of love we sing the glory of Christ.  Who was lead at the third hour to the sacrifice of the passion,  bearing the gibbet of the cross he returned the lost sheep.  We humbly pray therefore that delivered by his redemption he would rescue from the world those he freed from the charge. We ask Christ and the Father and the Spirit of Christ and the Father, one power through all things, O Trinity, cherish those who pray to you. Amen.

Sext

The hour when Christ thirsted or submitted himself to the cross, when he grants those who sing this hour to be enriched with a thirst for righteousness.  At the same time may they hunger that Christ might fill them with himself that wearied by sin they may desire virtue.  May the gifts of the Holy Spirit so pour down upon those who praise you that the heat of flesh may grow cold and cold souls might  become fervent.  We ask Christ and the Father and the Spirit of Christ and the Father, one power through all things, O Trinity, cherish those who pray to you. Amen.

None

The holy number of the third of the three hours is reached and by the holy name of Jesus we beg the gift of pardon. Behold the confession of the thief merited the grace of Christ; may our praise and devotion purchase forgiveness. Now death perishes through the cross and after darkness light returns;  the fear of sin is purged, the splendor of souls shines.  We ask Christ and the Father and the Spirit of Christ and the Father, one power through all things, O Trinity, cherish those who pray to you. Amen

HISTORY OF HISPANIC OFFICE FÉLIX MARÍA AROCENA SCRIPTA THEOLOGICA / VOL. 44/2012 / pp. 9-44

HISTORY OF HISPANIC OFFICE FÉLIX MARÍA AROCENA SCRIPTA THEOLOGICA / VOL. 44/2012 / pp. 9-44

Beauty has a close relationship with truth, a relationship that should be studied, emphasized and recovered to understand something more of the magnitude of art. Truth is at the origin of aesthetic liking and it could almost be said that art is primarily a profound, especially profound, understanding that uses other languages ​​to express intimate aspects of reality and our understanding of reality. The Christian poet, while singing the truth of faith, speaks of God and man with words, melodies and rhythms. On the other hand, the celebration of the liturgy requires, with a need that we could call structural, beauty. In fact, the unfathomable beauty of God's love takes "form" in the Mystery of the Incarnate Word. And it finds its sacramental manifestation in the liturgy of the Church. In this way, the celebration expresses the ultimate truth of everything that happens in it: the presence of the glory of God sacramentally given in communion to men. A trope of the first Byzantine Vespers of the Transfiguration sings Christ, sacrament of the beauty of the Father, with these words: Christ Jesus, visibility of the beauty of God, has seen the splendor of divinity in the sensitive experience of humanity.

HISTORY OF HISPANIC OFFICE FÉLIX MARÍA AROCENA

THE HYMNIC GENRE IN THE CHRISTIAN LITURGY

If the Mystery of Christ, as object of reflection, generates rigorous theological discourse, as object of affection, it provokes prayer, song, image, poetry. Faith is love and creates poetry; Faith is joy and generates beauty. Faith is intimately lyrical and musical. It is in Ephrem, in Romanos the Melodist, in Ambrose ... and in so many other thinkers of the East and the West Christian who expressed theology in poetry. The lyric of faith – Ambrose’s' song vox - and the music of faith - Augustine's pious music - are epiphany of a Church that, while celebrating the divine Mysteries, wishes to conform its life to the perennial song of the celestial liturgy. No wonder, then, that many Christian generations have already sang the hymns of the holy liturgy. These hymns have served as a vehicle for expressing the love of the Trinity on the lips of the Saints. They thought, weighed, loved their verses, and from that came a thousand experiences of contemplation that marked the path of the spirituality of the Church of Christ.

1.1. The "lyrical form" of faith

The hymns of the Divine Office translate in notes and melodies the spirit of the liturgy oriented to the worship of the celebrated Mystery. When the high-medieval authors composed and sang hymns, they were conscious of being personified angelic voices. That is why they could only participate in what they emulated and, thus, this trip in the name of another ends up designating the traveler himself. The prayers did not conceal their inadequate and babbling voice with shame; they were not replaced by the angelic voices in the manner of a ventriloquist, but simply stated that they celebrated in conspectu Dei. Sensitive to the value of the great tradition of the Church, the restoration of the liturgy, which emerged from the Second Vatican Council, placed the hymn at the beginning of the Office in all of its Hours. Previously, the anthem occupied a position almost at the end of the office. It was after the psalms and the reading of the capitula , opening the eucological section (hymn, prayers, concluding prayer). For some, this was the best situation; Now is not the time to explain the reasons. However, the decision to place it at the beginning of the celebration prevailed, as a song that would give the tone to the praying assembly. If Israel was the people who knew how to pray, now the Church, the new Israel of God, is also a teacher of prayer, and from that condition, her behavior translates into beginning the prayer with a lyric text.

Placing a lyrical piece at the beginning of the liturgical prayer is a way of expressing the Church's awareness of singing with the Angels and with the depth of the waiting universe, thus redeeming history and the cosmos. Therefore, in the celebration of the liturgy of the Hours, poetry and music, assumed a structurally constituent element of the symbolic code, became a mediation on the presence of the Mystery. The hymns of the Office, made of music and poetry, live in the bosom of the Church, a sanctuary of true faith and doxology. Both dimensions are closely related, because the Church is the place where the Holy Trinity is glorified through authentic doxology.

With the arrival of St. Ambrose († 397) to the episcopal chair of Milan, the newly composed hymns of the Ambrosian Church make it possible to pray liturgically with lyric texts.  Until then, the faithful of the Christian West knew only prose texts. Hymns are, to a certain extent, a particular case of a general law: the nobility embedded in the Christian spirit is revealed in the fact that it cannot be separated from the desire to give beautiful form to what is believed, celebrated and lived in the Church.

Hymns are not psalms. Both are poetry and poetry to sing, but the difference between them lies, above all, in that hymns are not inspired texts, but products of human ingenuity. The hymn is a poetic expression of praise. The hymns lyrically translate admiration for Christ's redemptive work, confess faith in him, adhere to him, and narrate with poetic images the history or values ​​of a martyr or a particular cycle of the liturgical year.

Not all poetry is a hymn, but every hymn is poetry: it is characterized by its rhythm, by its figures, by the meter of its verses, by the lyrical language. The hymn makes us sing Christmas, the Cross, the Ascension ... with poetic images and not with didactic prose. There are ways and ways to say that Jesus has risen, or that Mary is the mother of the Lord, or that in Lent we are moving towards the novelty of Easter ... A hymn is made of admiration, poetry, music, intensity of feelings, Images, rhythm. The hymnological has the advantage over the other eucological elements of the special communicative force of poetic language. This force is closely related to two factors: first, that the lyric is not restricted by the meshes of logical rigor; Second, its markedly synthetic quality.

The medieval hymnographers introduced in the cult, with exquisite taste, of all the imagery of the Song of Songs, so to sing the joys of the Church, with Mary and every Christian soul. In the Middle Ages of the West it was possible to maintain in the cult the biblical spirit, and all the variety of oriental colors. That the hymnody is essentially poetic in character, it responds in large part to the fact that it is composed of spirits modeled on Scripture and the Fathers. Its modes of expression are figurative. Their words are valued not so much by what they say as by what they suggest, by what they refer to. Its power of evocation surpasses its precision. Every word in a stanza is like a note that stirs up harmonics. All the delicacy of liturgical poetry comes from the free and harmonious use it makes of sacred words. The courage to relate two texts of which one enlightens the other can sometimes form a contrast that brightens the light proper to each one; The continuous passage is from a fact to an allegory, from an event to an idea; The succession of stanzas, each of which evokes a different reality, and which are completed in a rich whole, like the facets of a diamond, that allow us to admire its varied reflections ... all this art is that of The great liturgical tradition.

The Christian lives in the midst of the paradoxes of faith: the Immense becomes limited; A Virgin gives birth; He who is life defeats death forever with his death; A human body is seated at the right hand of the Father ... In the face of the impossibility of understanding these and other apparent paradoxes, the hymn sings and wounds the imagination to facilitate enthusiasm in praise. Its lyrical tone facilitates the symbolic transposition and, by stamping that imprint on our minds, "colors" the Hour of the Office in us. Then the evocative poetic force, of which the hymn is always charged, strongly enhances the expressive valence of prayer. Herein lies its merit; This is his original contribution.

Jerome Commentary on Ecclesiastes

Translated by Robin McGregor

CHAPTER 2

2:1. Solomon says about this "Don't give me riches and poverty" and immediately writes underneath "lest I be full and a liar”, and lest I should ask, "who is looking at me”, for the devil strikes down in abundance righteous men.  In the apostles it is also written, "lest enraptured by his pride, he should fall into the judgement of the devil" that is 'into such a judgement, as the Devil himself falls ".  But having said this, spiritual joy, just as the other kinds, is claimed to be vanity, because we see it through a mirror and in mystery.  But when it has been seen for what it is, then it is called vanity for no reason, but rather truth. 

2:2.  Those men therefore, who are carried around on the 'breeze' of all doctrines, are unstable and fluctuate between interpretations.  Thus, those who guffaw with that laugh, which the Lord says must be muted in holy weeping, are seized by the delusion of time and its whirlwind, not understanding the disaster that their sins will cause, nor bewailing their former faults, but thinking that brief joys are going to be perpetual.  Then they exult in these, which are more worthy of lamentation than joy.  Heretics also believe this, who agree with false doctrines and promise themselves happiness and prosperity.

2:3.  I wanted to stimulate my life with enjoyment, and to lull my body, as if freed from all worries by wine, in the same way with desire; but my deep consideration and inborn reasoning, which God the creator mingled even into my sins, drew me away from the idea and led me back to seek wisdom and to spurn foolishness, so that I was able to see what was good, that men can do in the span of their lives.  But he has compared desire eloquently with intoxication.  Since he intoxicates and destroys the vitality of his spirit, which he was able to change into wisdom and obtains spiritual happiness, (as it is written in certain manuscripts), he is able to discern which things ought to be sought out in this life, and which avoided.

2:13   He says he had returned to seeking wisdom after pleasures and those desires he had condemned, in which he found more foolishness and stupidity than true and recognized knowledge.  For man, he said, is not able to know so clearly and truly the wisdom of his creator and of his king, as his creator knows it himself.  And so he says that those things that we know, we only think we have grasped and value more than know what is true.

2:14 Whoever attains complete wisdom and has deserved Christ to be his aim always raises his eyes to the heavens and will therefore never think about terrestrial matters.  When these things are considered in this way and there is such a distinction between a wise man and a fool, one being compared with day and the other with darkness, the former raises his eyes to heaven, the latter looks on the ground.  Suddenly this thought occurred to me, why both the wise man and the fool are constrained by a common mortality - why the same wounds, the same fate, the same death and equal troubles confine each one.

2:15/16 I have stated that the wise man and the fool, the righteous and wicked are destined to die by the same fate and all wicked things in this world will suffer a similar fate; what profit is there for me then, that I have sought wisdom and worked more than others?  On reconsidering the matter and applying myself to it diligently I saw that my opinion was unfounded.  For the wise and foolish will not have similar remembrance in the future when the end of the world comes; and they will be confined for no reason by equal death because the wise man will continue to the joys of heaven and the fool to his punishment.  The Septuagint translates the meaning of the Hebrew here more clearly, for it doesn't necessarily follow the Hebrew word order: "and to what purpose have I become wise?"  Then I said to myself copiously, (for the fool is he, who speaks too much), 'for this is also vanity, because there is no remembrance of the wise with the fool for ever, and so on.'  Since he tried to convince us that his prior thoughts were foolish, he bore witness that he had spoken foolishly, and that he had erred, and it was by doing this that he realized his folly.    

Hugh of St. Victor: Of the difference between the love of God and the love of the world, illustrated by the figure of water changed to wine

Noah's Ark III

The difference between the love of God and the love of the world is this: the love of this world seems at the outset sweet, but has a bitter end; the love of God, by contrast, is bitter to begin with, but is full of sweetness in its end. This, in a most beautiful allegorical sense for it was uttered of our Bridegroom's wedding is shown by the Gospel when it says: 'Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and only after men have drunk well that which is inferior; but thou hast kept the good wine until now.' Every man, that is, carnal man, does indeed set forth good wine at the beginning, for he finds a certain spurious sweetness in his pleasure. But once the rage of his evil longing has saturated his mind, then he provides inferior wine to drink, because a sudden pricking of conscience assails his thought, which till now had enjoyed a spurious delight, and grievously torments him. Our Bridegroom, on the other hand, offers the good wine last when He allows the heart, which He intends to fill with the sweetness of His love, first to pass beneath the bitter harrow of afflictions; so that, having tasted bitterness, it may quaff with greater eagerness the most sweet cup of charity. And this is 'the first sign'  which Jesus made in His disciples  presence and they believed on Him; for the repentant sinner first begins to trust God's mercy when he feels his heart cheered by the consolation of the Holy Spirit after long weariness of grief.

Let us then see what we can do to attain the love of God, for He will integrate and stabilize our hearts, He will restore our peace and give us ceaseless joy. But nobody can love that which he does not know; and so, if we desire to love God, we must first make it our business to know Him, and this especially since He cannot be known without being loved. For so great is the beauty of His loveliness that no one who sees Him can fail to love Him. A man who wants to make himself acquainted with another person's character and inmost thoughts gets on to friendly terms with him, and is often at his house and in the company of those who are his intimates. And if he perceives this man's affairs to be well and wisely ordered, he at once becomes the more certain of his excellence, and immediately considers him worthy of his love because he knows that he has found such patent proofs of his worth.

Let us likewise, therefore, inquire where God dwells, where His abode may be; let us interrogate His friends concerning Him. If He is wise, if He is faithful, then He merits praise. If He is kind, if He is merciful, if He is humble, then He merits love. He is wise, if He governs His house well. He is faithful, if it is not in Him to deceive those who serve Him. If He freely pardons those who sin, then He is kind. If He is pitiful to persons in affliction, then He is merciful. And He is lowly, if He rules His subjects not by oppressing but by helping them.