Page:Ninety-nine homilies of S. Thomas Aquinas upon the epistles and gospels for forty-nine Sundays of the Christian year (IA ninetyninehomili00thom).pdf/70

 be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance ..... that thou appear not unto men to fast.” The third He taught in this, that He fasted forty days and forty nights: S. Austin, “ Subdue your flesh with abstinence from meat and drink as far as your health will permit.” The fourth He taught in this, that He did not give way to the temptation of the Devil: “Man shall not live by bread alone. . .. ... Get thee hence, Satan;” Ecclus. ii. 1, “Son, when thou comest to the service of God ..... prepare thy soul for temptation.”

III. On the third head it is to be noted, that four evils come upon those who are unwilling to fast when they ought —(1) The evil of iniquity: Ezek. xvi. 49, “ Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread.” (2) The evil of loss, for he who is not willing to fast will have to fast for ever from the fruit of eternal life; and this is indicated in Gen. iii. 17, where it is recorded that Adam would not abstain from the forbidden fruit; wherefore the Lord said, “ Now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life ..... the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden.” (3) The evil of present punishment: Ecclus. xxxvii. 34, “ By surfeiting many have perished.” (4) The evil of the punishment of perpetual hunger and thirst in the lower world: Isa. lxv. 13, “Behold, My servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, My servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty”—which relates to the “heavenly feast,” from which they who do not fast now, but “ fare sumptuously every day, shall not have a drop of water even” (see S. Luke xvi. 19-24).

IV. On the fourth head it is to be noted, that a fourfold profit flows from fasting—(1) The mortification of vices. (2) An elevation of the mind towards God. (3) The acquisition of virtue. (4) The reward of eternal blessedness. Of these four S. Gregory says: “ If thou represseth vices by bodily fasting,” behold the first; “ thou elevatest the mind,” behold the second; “thou increaseth virtue,” behold the third; “ thou grantest rewards,” behold the fourth.