On the Lenten Fast I

Of the Holy One, Mar Jacob Memra 23, On the Holy Fast of Forty Days To your glory my word runs, Son of God: For you alone are all discourses fit for praise. To you my tongue raises its voice in its hymns, And for you the river will sing with a voice because of you. From you I take, and upon you I expend speech, That in all things you may be praised by hearers. Yours are voices, words, and tongues, Mouths, intellects, thoughts, and minds. Give me from what you have, that you may give to those who praise you, And take glory from your gift richly. Your glory is in you, and those who praise you do not add to you, Since you are not in need; accept my words, Son of God. My mouth I opened for you, and you filled it, as is fitting, That it might speak your great story in a loud voice. An open mouth, an empty vessel that is mine, I gave to you, And you filled it with goodness, glory, because of your love. From your fullness all the needy take, In you the empty is filled and proclaims your gift. If to the sign you give the word with praise, That which speaks, or the giver of difficulties. The calf spoke with the goad that was to be, To him the example, and to you the praise in all things.

A new word from the Father in a great light: And all glory to you is fitting, and it is not a possession. Not like her am I, hidden from abundance: Your image, O Lord, I increase, which is yours from your labor. Neither Father nor Son is for your word: But the earth that gives choice fruits in water. A sweet song from the Son, to him it is not superfluous: Grant me fragrance with those who are skilled in your hymns. Even the Father was a word without distinction: Grant me to spread out and to fill with love for speaking. Grant me, O Lord, even hearers who are held by you: And as for bread, for the word of life, they hunger with love. Bread and water, a gift of life for the body: And the word of the Lord, life for the soul, spiritual wings. From the consumption of bread, heaviness and satiety: And the word of life grows wings for the soul to fly. Eat with measure, and without measure hear the word: It will delight the tasters and extend divine thoughts. From foods, the soul is darkened when they are many: And in teaching, it will become rich, if it is restrained. In these days when the body is deprived of food: Teaching will increase for the soul, that it may be perfected by it. On the day when the great fast is completed with sanctifications: I have raised my voice righteously, that he who hears me.

The days of Belin and Sakhir, the mouth of the daughter of the sound of the lyre: The knowledge of the door will open to the voice of teaching. On this day of the empty belly and the vigilant soul: Speak, speak, O mouth, and add to the hearing for you. In this month, from the thicket, authority is taken: It rules over the word to adorn it richly. Not at every feast do you have sweet fruits to eat: For there is a feast that even from the leaves of the tree is hidden. Nor in your vineyard every day can you find clusters in it: The feast is distinct as to when you will gather all your causes. Nor in the field, which is tilled, is there a palm in it every day: The month of the year is what produces in the field, which is barren. And if the causes of the body run with their feasts: The cause of the soul runs with its feast vigorously. In this feast of healing, the soul is strengthened: Every sick person is awakened, and all good things fill his vessels. In this feast, the sick soul is healed: Come, O fasters, to the door of the physician; gather your supplications. In these days, a feast is prepared for the Lord: Arise, O merchants of the spirit, and enrich yourselves from the merchandise. In these days, the market has made a place for righteousness: And without anything, it is sold to those who are worthy of it. The Son of God has set up his kingdom at your doors: Give him morsels of bread, and offer what he receives.

They cast down the alms upon the poor and took the kingdom: For the one who seeks and the cause is the one who seeks the treasure of the feast. With the chosen threads and the unsearchable Babylonians: The garment of glory will change with you if you give to him. The supplications that came forth from the rocks of your martyrs: Give to him and he will give, the stole of glory full of light. The embroideries of the sisters and the righteous who departed from your consolation: Give to him and take for yourself a bed of sorrows that will not enter her. Cast the poor from the thresholds of your shame: And go, be comforted with Lazarus beside Abraham. Mix for the thirsty a cup of water and take for yourself a reward: The entire treasure that is filled with wealth that is not exhausted. Open the guest-house, the door of your house lovingly: And all the doors of the royal house will be opened to you. Honor the fast, for righteousness runs in it: Give to him what is his, do not be estranged from his mixture. Give to hunger that which is lacking from your food: So that you may have no deficiency and no faster. Withhold from yourself, give it to the one whose belly is hungry: So that by one fast two distinctions may be found for you. For the fast is heavy in two mouths if the faster is a sign: With your own that is bound and with that of the one who eats from your provision. Fast for God and give to the poor and also to the orphans: For thus righteousness desires that we serve her.

You shine forth your soul when you fast, you from foods: And with alms you buy the kingdom of the house of God. All the expenses that the fast spares from your table: In it are given to the poor who lack foods. Do not keep for yourself what the fast spares from you: But place it in the belly of the hungry while you fast. If you do not eat them, and it is kept for you, it is yours: And your fast dwells with its expenses that are kept for you. If then something that the fast spares is given to the hungry: It is your fast that has a crown of righteousness. The sower sows seed, the reaper does not fear, for he knows that his seed's harvest will come. Sow alms and do not fear, O faster: For you have that you may reap a handful of glory in the new world. The earth, if it is good, cast your seeds in it, the poor: For the heavens are never filled from its revenues. There is an earth that buries the seeds that are sown in it: And sometimes it gives and sometimes it robs, and they do not know it. There are fields that rob seeds from their farmers: And the field of the wicked never robs the one who sows in it. All the seeds that are sown in it in every manner: It receives and keeps and gives fruits abundantly.

And if a man sows a cup of water, even that yields fruit: And it toils, the rock, and comes to the granary that is full of blessings. Everything that you sow, you have that which you may reap abundantly: The seed is preserved, do not be divided among the expenses. There is an expense for all farmers, facing every day: Hail, frost, locust, cold, and all kinds of pests. Even if you enter and reach the granary, a loss from it: For it has blemishes and evil defects that are countless. All thieves, all seekers, all plunderers: All takers, in whom the expense is small, it ceases. But for alms, when the loss is sown, there is none: And to their expenses, neither pest nor blight. Above in heaven is placed the expense of righteousness: Where hail, frost, and locust do not prevail. In a high place where there are no thieves, nor seekers: Nor plunderers can afflict it with any kind of damage. In the hand of the Lord is preserved the expense of all fasters: And in it are preserved all alms for those who perform them. In that sea which sinks mountains and capsizes heights: Is preserved the expense of all who sow righteousness. That almsgiver who gives to the poor at the door: Go, seek them in the hand of the Lord, for they are there. Sow among the needy, and behold, you reap from God: Scatter here, and there you gather all good things.

Take your deposits from within the earth that is full of dust, and place them in heaven, in a place that is hidden from thieves. Behold, at your door stand workers who toil with you: with a small wage they do a great work in your hands. With only their mouth, hire the poor, and they will prepare for you a high place in the world of light, and place your treasure there. They seek a great inheritance full of blessings, that you may enter, dwell, and there find all your deposits. They subdue the steps to the height from your alms, and without labor you ascend to the side of God. They prepare the way of life before your journeys, that you may go and proceed to the world of light without hindrances. They become a help to you on the way of strength, and through them a great passage is opened that suits your need. They stand at the crossing of the world full of fire, and sprinkle the dew of its image, that of the fourth one. They make a ship of water on the sea of fire, so that when you cross, the flame will not touch you. They open the door of the sinner until you knock, and they receive you and delight you in the house of the feast. They call even Lazarus, his brother, and with their help he comes to you if you call him. They bear witness to your alms among the angels, and through their cause you are loved among the high ones.

Be wakeful and show yourself as with a finger: that this one has built up your poverty and it has not been diminished. Be a friend to those who receive you in their shadows: that you may be the whole beauty of righteousness. Everything you have, send with them toward God, and go find him at the gate of the king with his abundance. Set provisions for the road toward them until you depart: for when you go from the world to the world, your provision will not be lacking. Their good company you will enjoy, and in the regions of the strong you will tread; and if your possessions go with them, they will not be lost. Everything you leave behind from your possessions is lost to you; strip yourself of it and give to the poor, and keep it. So that you do not give what is in your hands to one who is not your own; and what you have found for the poor becomes yours. So that what you have remains yours, not its master's; and if the poor takes it from you, keep it for yourself. If you are wise, everything you have will be yours: send it ahead with the poor to God. If your possessions are dear to you, that you might establish them in truth, do not leave them here with you and become poor. Give all your deposit to the poor for the wilderness, so that you may go and find in the place of light everything you have stored. If you wish to be truly rich, be not of one sacrifice but of all sacrifices rich.

Load your wealth upon the shoulders of all who are poor: and in the land of the living, behold, you may find your entire treasure. Give and trust that all you give is indeed yours: send forth and sleep, and trust that you are not to be deprived. Upon the circles cast the path, and let your wealth travel: and let the magi bear with you all the way to the house of the kingdom. As in your treasury, place your pledge; it is a deposit for you: and if at its end, behold, under its seal it is guarded by God. As in your house you have gold under the bushel, you— from tax-collectors and from oppressors and from extortioners, and from plunderers and from wasters and from hunters, and from evils without cause, they will trade with you. But what you have given, and they have been dispersed in it, all who are poor: pass over the bushel and look for you in the house of the kingdom. Do not fear that a thief there will take from you or strike you: for he who deposited it keeps it for you securely. Not a great profit alone from what you have given to him: with a hundred interests it is acknowledged to you that it will profit you. Here with a hundred and unto life without end: repay the debts to him who performs the beautiful things. O fast, call the poor man and give him bread: it is not that he should come, you go after him and fill his belly. Not the lands come after their farmers: but they go, sow seed, and go after the lands.

Load your seed and go to the fields, the speaking fields: go out and turn them over, and without end look to the harvest. If a needy one comes to your house and asks of you: the wages of his feet you owe him, for he served your road. Your own store of provisions was indeed for you to go to meet him: and that gift of yours came to him, and he departed, released. If he who walks the field comes to meet the farmer: how he rejoices in it and casts the seed that will sustain it! The poor man comes and stands at your door, not delayed: give the field its seed, and release it while you rejoice. Do not say to the poor man, "Our Lord sows": the word is empty and without profit for him who says it. For he who takes does not seek to learn what he sows: he knows indeed better than you what he sows. Give, give to him, and the Lord sows; do not say to him: by your gift, then, the Lord sows if you give to him. If in truth the Lord sows, trust him: give the gift and speak the word, and it is not difficult for you. If, however, you say while not giving, you are a liar: for in your hands that sower does not sow for him whom you have trusted. Bread is heavy, and the word is equal for him who speaks it: give bread and hear the word; it does not ask of you.

Fill his belly and come, for you have filled it from your table. And he who hears the word from you gains more, for he takes. The teacher does not seek from you, O poor one; be silent, do not babble. Give your gift, that the witness may be silent concerning the debtor. If the farmer says to the field, "I have seed for you," and again returns to it, saying, "I have, I have a myriad of seeds," if the seed is not cast into it, it is without profit. For it is not from words that the harvest or the storehouses are filled. Thus again to the poor one: a myriad of gifts. If you say to him, "The Lord provides, the Lord provides," if you do not give him a gift and fill his belly, your seed is wind; the storehouses, however, do not give to you. Be silent, O giver, and stretch out your hand toward the poor one. And when you are silent, you speak with him through your gift. Do not interpret for him that he is hungry and needy, and fill his limbs with bread, lest he fall when he hears you. If you have a gift, give it while silent; and your gift is a teacher concerning the debtor. And if you are poor, needy, and lacking from the giver, say to the poor one, "The Lord provides, both for me and for you." If you are lacking in gift, give him the word. If, however, you have, give while silent, and let the passerby depart.

O Fasting, sow your alms with both your hands: what you have, you reap with your right and your left. The earth receives many seeds today from you; sow in her and increase, so that all may know and rejoice for you. Hungry mouths, behold, are gathered at your doors: go out, fasts, support the needy, and take the leftovers. Crown him, the fast, with alms, a great crown, so that he may be splendid in the kingdom with all good things. The needy one is lowly in form, and the fast is lowly in many alms. Like a skilled painter of the spirit, Isaiah paints an image of the fast, so that the whole creation may see his beauty. For he saw that there are fasts that are not beautiful; he paints this one with all his spiritual beauties. He was amazed at the horn of pride, for there is a fast that even angers God by its fasting. There is a fast puffed up with vainglory and taking pride, and there is one who, while fasting, is disturbed, troubled, and filled with wrath. There is one who shuts his mouth from food in fasting, and sees the needy but does not relieve him from his distress. There is one who humbles himself in fasting and bows his neck, but does not care for the poor who lack bread. There is one who eats sackcloth and ashes on his table, and turns away from the needy in distress and does not pity him.

In this fast, Isaiah cried out and tore his garment, and he cried, "Let it go," and he forgot, he cast it down before the fasters. And he formed an image for the fast, the chosen one of righteousness, that it might be known by the virtues of all fasters. The great one of the mountain showed the world the fast, how everyone learned about its divine distinctions. This fast loosens the knots of iniquity from you, and the bonds of envy it severs from your mind. The knot of iniquity is a knot that is tied from your mind, and in wickedness it is bound, a tight knot that does not loosen. Also the bond of envy is itself the evil of the heart, which sets snares and devours and overcomes all who approach it. You have a lawsuit that stands tied and bound, O Fast: loose it with your brother when he overcomes you, if you are fasting. Sever the deeds that hinder iniquity and deceit, and stretch out on the path of righteousness, this fast. May the mercy of the Lord enter and loosen the tied lawsuit, for this deed in the fast is good for your journey. Every deed of wickedness has tied a bond of enmity; go, go, O knots of iniquity, the faster has loosed you. Every thought that seeks to harm her neighbor in secret, to that bond of envy, call out, "Sever, O divider!" From Isaiah came a command to the fasters: that they should loosen knots and bonds of envy and sever them.

All are bound, all are covered, all are strong. He loosed and dissolved, and he fasted for God with a pure heart. This is the servant of the furnace of divinity. He came forth to show you the way of the fast and its practices. He teaches you to conceal in the fast the hunger of your bread. So that this practice may be pleasing to the fasters before God. From the thought of the Lord he learns what is pleasing. And he revealed to man that everyone learned his practices. That a guest who came from the Akhsnaya may enter your house. The one who is pleasing to the Lord and the servant revealed to him who hears him. He covers the shame of the naked, the beloved of God. And like a confidant, Isaiah revealed before many. The worshiper desires that no man be harmed by his fellow. And that desire of divinity Isaiah sang. Your fellow is the one who is needy, who is cast upon your threshold. Know from yourself and fill his belly, and your fast is great. It is the body, his body, not a stone that he cast and threw away. And nakedness and heat afflict him, and a woman does not spare him. From that clay from which you were formed, compassion formed him also. He is one nature and how much you should love your fellow man. You do not fast for a woman, but have mercy on your neighbor. So that this fast which the Lord chose may have mercy on man. See that you do not close the door of compassion before the poor. Lest your fast be a curse and his fast be a cry.

See that you do not despise in your heart your brother when he fasts, you: For from your fast a foul odor goes up to the king of the world. See that you do not curse him who serves you when you fast, you: Lest by your curses your fast be broken and not be accepted. Let your mouth fast from foods, and let it fast: From curses and from insults and from mockeries. And from boasting and from insolence and from slanders: And from oaths and from lies, and let it be true. See that you do not speak a word in the fast that dissolves your fast: And makes you sit with the dissolute while you fast. The word is able to defile the one who speaks it: Therefore guard your tongue, O faster. It is Isaiah who placed among the precepts of the fast: And commanded the faster that he not speak a word. Not all words that a man speaks are fitting: And not from all of them does the speaker profit himself. Even praise and thanksgiving are words: And hymns of the spirit and movements of piety. And these words are living and fill their speakers: And no man ceases from them entirely if he is a faster. And that he not speak a word in the fast, Isaiah said: And it became known what word must be abolished. Let not a word of iniquity or of envy be spoken: Or of error and calumny and of slanders.

Restrain your mouth from curses and from quarreling, and from every word that walks in darkness to the side. It is fitting that the word should take the door before the faster, and it should cause him to be removed from the divine table. It is fitting that the word, when it is spoken, should bring shame upon its lord, and by its burning, it casts into the world the sign of the one who uttered it. By the word of his mouth, Moses struck the treasury of priesthood, provoking the Lord, although his deeds were good. Miriam, the sister of Aaron the great priest, was struck with leprosy because of the word that her mouth spoke. And what shall I say about the boastful one from the sea, who spoke a word and became an heir (in the garden of blessings)? When every word that the mouth speaks enters the ear, why does it not fear to speak superfluous things? When from his words a person is either justified or condemned, why does he not weigh his word with trembling before he speaks it? When from his words a person is held guilty, even when he fasts, why does he not fear to speak a word that is not good? Moses was provoked, and Miriam was leprous, and concerning the boastful one, blemishes and marks without actions, only in words. Therefore now, fear from the word, O faster, so that you do not deliver your mouth to sin when you fast. Do not be enslaved to speaking vain tales, nor should you engage in deeds of a person that are not good.

Restrain your mouth from curses and from quarreling, and from every word that walks in darkness to the side. It is fitting that the word should take the door before the faster, and it should cause him to be removed from Restrain your mouth from a blow that is not yours. Restrain your tongue from your neighbor when he is far away. Learn, your brother, restrain your mouth that you may be healed of his wounds. The Lord has power over the work that is not yours. Great beauty David considered this which he said: That no evil deeds of man should ever pass over my mouth. Speak well the crown of righteousness. That man may not be healed of evil deeds, his companions. Let not your mouth be a passage for empty words. Restrain your mouth more than the fasts of your entrails. If while fasting a man sins with a word from bread, restrain your mouth, for profit and loss and he destroys his reward. He fasts and is justified and speaks, he ruins his righteousness. His belly is empty and he breaks his fast and is not accepted. His fast is good and his words are bitter. He places spices and filth on his table and it is not received. O faster, flee from the word of speech, for that also is a killing and it is evil, great for the one who pursues it. The mouth is master, either to praise or to sing, or to glorify or to choose for itself pure silence. Every petition, every supplication, every profit, every narrative that exceeds their hearers. Give to the poor, do for the needy, support the orphans, clothe the body of the naked.

Call the widow and fill her hunger from your table. Take the orphan and comfort his loneliness from your banquets. Be silent from the word that fills the corners of your mouth with mockery. And guard your tongue from that which overturns the ordinances. The fast has come upon you; prepare your soul for the good things. And like a diligent one, follow the precepts that are written for you. It is the sacrifice that opens the great door for all who fast. Arise, repentant one, pay your debts from your alms. Let every sinner adorn himself with righteousness. Blessed is He who gave us the fast that strengthens our fellowship. The first discourse on the fast is completed.