Prima Secundae
Lecture 269: Purifications of the Old Law: Spiritual and Bodily Uncleanness

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people, a man there in Paris, consulted with Franklin, you know, who would be a good bishop? And this was because in those days, you know, government had more to do with who could be a bishop or not, you know, it was kind of a mixture of church and state there. And so I guess what happened is that Lincoln or Franklin went to something with Carol, right? And Carol's son was a Jesuit priest, right? And there's a bad road, and the Jesuit priest was very attentive to Franklin, you know, and he couldn't forget that. So he suggested this is the man who should make the bishop. That's how the first bishop was, you know, Carol, right? You know, and he was for 32 years old, like he was a bishop, I guess. And so that's where you get the part of the Baltimore Catechism, you know, from those, I don't know when that actually was first, but really not the Baltimore Catechism. It was kind of the oldest place for the first time for the bishop. The bishop, yeah, yeah, yeah, that should be. It's an interesting little thing. I didn't know that. Yeah, I didn't know either, no. Rosie said, well, it's a song called my attention to it, and I said, cut it out, maybe we'll give it to the grandchildren or something. It's kind of an interesting anecdote, though, you know, or an interesting item from history there, but he's supposed to have something to do with the founding of, of, what's the Jesuit college there? Georgetown? Georgetown, yeah, yeah. I didn't know that. Oh, Carol, right? Carol, I think, yeah. His son, his son, I mean, was the Jesuit priest, yeah, but the bishop, again, you know. Yeah, it's kind of interesting. Not too Catholic nowadays, but I don't know. But just, you know, you could give a whole, you know, lecture on this, on Tertium, you know, huh? Trying to explain this. It's amazing how rich the text of Thomas is. Is it Basil, I think, you sent me? Privet is a soul wit, you know, I mean, all these things. Yeah. Okay, to the fourth, huh? It should be said, this has been said, that the purifications of the old law were ordered to removing the impediments of the divine worship, huh? Which is twofold, huh? The spiritual, which consists in the devotion of the mind to God, huh? And bodily, which consists in, what, sacrifices and offerings and other things of this sort. From the spiritual worship, men are impeded through sins, huh? Which men are said to be, what, polluted, I guess, okay? As through idolatry and homicide and through adultery and incest, I guess, huh? And from these pollutions, men are purified through some sacrifices, either offered in common for the whole multitude or also for the sins of individuals. Not that those carnal sacrifices had from themselves the power of expiating sin, but because they signified the future expiation of sins through Christ, who's what? They were also partakers in some way, the ancients, right? Those who protested or professed faithly redemptor in the figures of the sacrifices. So how many of them knew what these were? But some didn't, some didn't know. Now, from the exterior cult or worship, men are impeded through certain bodily impurities, yeah, which are first considered in men and consequently in other, what, animals and in clothing, vestments, yeah. In men, huh? Unclean, this is right. Purities. Are regarded as being in part from the men themselves, but partly also from the contact of unclean things. This is a long one. It goes on for a whole page. Wow. I get a, this is, it's, we should be doing this at Lent, you know. Now, see, if I was editing the text, I'd have a thing here, breaking down, we'll skip a line, make a little thing there. Okay. Now, from the men themselves, everything is regarded as, what, unclean, from which, what, some corruption, something, what, has. Or that it was exposed to some corruption. And because, and therefore, because death is a certain, what, corruption. The body of a man is regarded as something, what? Yeah, unclean. So what does great Heraclitus say, you know, that the body's more fit to be cast out than dung, you know, or something? Isn't that, it's still custom, the Jews, that they bury you right away, or something? Yeah, and I've even seen it, um, sometimes when they have one of these, um, suicide bombers or something, and the Jews, some of the kind of Jews they are, various observances, they'll have these people come in, because they have to get up all the parts of the body, and so they get blown up. Yeah. But they can't touch it. Yeah. So they wear all, it's not only for sanitary reasons, for additional or health reasons, but for their ritual reasons. Yeah. They collect all these body parts, whatever, and they have special things they can wear, so that they don't touch the body. Yeah. So they're being pure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And likewise, because the leprosy, I guess, happens from the corruption of the fluids, right? Right, which also, what, erupt exteriorly, and infect others, right, huh? The lepers are regarded as, what, clean. Okay, they did in some way, too, that symbol of sin, but anyway. Likewise, women undergoing the flux of the blood, right, huh? Menstrual cycle, I guess, I don't know. Whether through infirmity, or also through nature, or in menstrual times, and also the time of conception, huh? They want the temple, right, to be cleansed, weren't they? But they didn't marry, huh? And the same way men are regarded as unclean, undergoing the flux of the seed, right? Either through infirmity, or through nocturnal pollution, or even through, what, intercourse, huh? For all humidity and the foregoing ways going forth from a man have a certain unclean infection. There's also, in men, an uncleannessness from the context of some unclean things, huh? Okay, now he's going to come to the reasons for these, both literal and figurative, huh? As of the late 80s, there was still a tradition in the Catholic parts of, after giving birth, that four days where a woman would bathe, that time of purification, yeah, it was interesting. I know, I'm pretty sure the Marylands have a special blessing for the child. And it used to be the Roman ritual, too. But after the birth of the child, whether firstborn or anything else, she would come for a special blessing. She would come to the church, you see. That's why, you know, that's why the Halliby's family, we know, they brought, one of the families, they brought their firstborn son in it, because they said we wanted him to be blessed. But they've got to the parish, but they want to come to the monastery. Because they have the desire to bring their child for a blessing. But they use these things in curses sometimes, too, don't they, even in the literature, you know? They use these, you know, these references, these unclean things, they use them in curses or that sort, yeah. I'm telling you where you've seen them, but anyway. So he says the reason of these uncleannesses and so on is both literal. The letter, and figurative, right? The letter, on account of the reverence of those things which pertain to the divine worship. For men are not accustomed, right, to touch precious things when they are what? Yeah. So I don't pick up my good books and I get my hands in there for eating, you know? Yeah, I got to. It makes my hands are very dry, too. Yeah, so he picks up a nice book, you know, of mine with soiled hands. I don't like it too much, you know? So I remember when we had a three-volume set of the, you know, the history of the church, you know? Why'd you come in? Did you spill something out of it? I was like, I'm shocked. I was shocked by that to myself. Poor little kid. It sends the letter. Remember the old pastor, you know? When they give communion, you know, across the mouth all the time, and the priest would get, you know, the damn lipstick, you know? And so I remember him saying, and he goes, now, you get older, don't wear that awful red stuff, you say, the old priest, you know? I can say it would be very annoying, you know, to get out of communion, and you got that junk on there, you know? Well, that's what drives me. I mean, fortunately, we don't have all the lipstick on. Oh, yeah. And then they wipe, and then you get all of the linens, you get lipstick. Yeah. Well, they don't wear lipstick when they go to church like that, you know? Yeah, why? Why? Then also, from a rare accession, right, to the sacred things, they venerate them, what? More, huh? Since, however, all of these uncleanednesses, rarely is someone able to, what? Right? It happens, huh? That, and rarely do men, what? Exceed to attain those things which pertains to the divine cult. And thus, when they exceed to them with more reverence and humility of mind, they exceed, you know, because part of the, like Father Belay used to say, you know, for things like the, you know, for Thomas or for Shakespeare, you know, you should have three editions, right? One is the pocketbook that you take on the train or on the airplane, and then your desk copy, you know, which is a little bigger one, and then the venerable copy, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I remember, you know, of course, the Leal Man edition was the venerable edition of Thomas, you know? Oh, yeah. And, and, uh, for Shakespeare, he had that big, uh, the Anne of Ferry, see the big edition. I have a copy of myself now, you know, so. That was his, you know, venerable edition for Shakespeare, you know? It's nice to hear him, hear him quote Shakespeare to his French accent, you know? Good man. There was also in some of these a, what? A reason in the letter, right? A reason of the letter, maybe she said that, a reason of the letter, maybe that'd be a way of translating it, huh? That men, what? Would not, yeah, to exceed to the divine worship as we were refusing the, what? A consortium, huh? The coming together with lepers and other such infirm peoples whose sickness was abominable and what? Yeah. Well, it's a woman that Christ cures, you know, for the blood flow, right? She'd be guarded and be on the clean when she, yeah. He'd be on the clean, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I can't remember now, was he criticized, you know, for doing that or not? No, because she approached him and touched him. Yeah, yeah. It took some bravery and hurt, yeah, courage and hurt, right? It hurts very well, because he was approaching him, I don't know, but just because she knew that she was touching him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Someone touched me, did he say that? Yeah. Yeah. But you can imagine that you're in the midst of a crowd. I know, I know. What are you saying? Yeah. Crazy thing to say, yeah. In the midst of a crowd. In sum, the reason was to avoiding the worship of, what, ideology, right, huh? Because Gentiles, in the rite of their sacrifices, huh, use sometimes human blood and, what, seed, you know, bulgur, huh? Yeah. Now, all of these cleanlinesses of this sort, bodily ones, are purified, either through, what, just the sprinkling of water, or the things that were, what, greater, through which some sacrifice for expiating sin, from which such infirmities happened. Okay. What's the name, you know, Spurgeon is? Yeah, Spurgeon is the name of Sofa. Yeah, what's the singing of that, isn't it, kind of a pullback to this, kind of cleansing the congregation there, with the sprinkling, huh? Kind of a, now it's more kind of musical, you know, kind of wakes them up, you know, has the effect of waking them up. The phrase, casting aspersions? Maybe so. It had to do with sprinkling, it had to do with sprinkling. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that hasn't made a connotation, I remember correctly, you don't have aspersions or something like that? It's like a bell, I'm shaking, you know, when you get up to the pond, and it's freaking aspersions. Do you have experience that way too long? I used to know my brother Marcus, you know, my, we never had a washing machine, you know, my mother would wash the dishes, and I had a wipe, or my brother and Mark had a wipe, and you get something, you know, and I go, aspersions, Marcus! Oh yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. So the ratio figuralis now, huh, the figurative reason of these uncleannesses was that through these exterior uncleannesses, huh? How do they translate it? How do they translate it? Not impurities? Because it means unclean, right? Yeah, that's what I say, it's got a big word, though, for me to say. Yeah, impurities. Yeah. Our figured, diverse, what? Sins, huh? So this is a figurative, huh? Reason, huh? For the uncleanness of the cadaver, of any sort, signifies the uncleanness of sin, which is the death of the, what? Soul, huh? Now, the uncleanness of leprosy, I guess, huh, signifies the uncleanness of heretical doctrine, huh? That's okay. I didn't, you didn't call it a, you're a leper. I'll say that to the next day I take I eat, huh? Yeah. Oh, your teaching is leprosy, huh? I suppose the idea, it's catching, too, huh? Leprosy, right? It's actually, I think, one of the least contagious. It is? Oh, okay. But still it's, but it is, because obviously I'm the same now, St. David and all that kind. But it was there many, many years. Yeah, yeah. It's bacteria that most people are resistant to. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So he says both because heretical doctrine is contagious. It's just a leprosy, right, huh? also because no false doctrine is which what does not false things just as in the body of the in the surface of the body of the leper appears a certain distinction of staying parts from others where the flesh is still what yeah that's kind of interesting huh it's a leprosy person's got leprosy their whole body is not uh no it's just parts yeah yeah that's what heresy is sounds a mixture of the true and the false there's an element of truth in that yeah okay now through the uncleanliness of the woman in her blood flow is designated the uncleanness of idolatry on account of the what the what oh that's right that's right yeah the uncleanness of the what the male seed i guess huh is designated the uncleanness of the speech yeah in that seed is the word of what god huh it's very interesting in this figurative reason huh the uncleanness of uh coition and of the what yeah it's designating the uncleanness of original sin huh because i was supposed to be transmitted isn't it okay to the uncleanness of the woman menstruating is designated the uncleanness of the mind to yeah yeah don't try to explain this from from the from the pulpit he'll be reported to the bishop or somebody and universally through the uncleanness of the contact of a what yeah is detonating the uncleanness of consent of consent of consent in the sin of another right according to that of the second epistle to the corinthians chapter 6 go forth from the middle of them and be what separated and do not touches it unclean now the uncleanness of these sorts uh contract of the sort of these unclean things is derived also to what inanimate things huh for whatever in any way touches something unclean becomes unclean i guess huh what were they saying there the dominicans sent me something there from the i guess they have a um a part of the two cross right and they send you a little cloth that's that's touched to the two cloths it becomes like a a second third class yeah yeah yeah yeah well here it's the reverse i heard he's touching an unclean thing you know it's being passed on right you know frank in which the law right weakens is it the tenure of it the superstition of gentiles who not only through contact of the unclean said that one contracted uncleanness but also through what speech or aspect as rabbi moses says huh about the woman instruating this is mystically signified that which is said in the book of wisdom chapter 14 likewise in hate to god of the impious man and his impiety yeah she doesn't always love the sinner then i guess james said something there was also cleanliness of the things themselves of what inanimate things in themselves huh just as it was the uncleanliness of the leper in his house and in his what clothing yeah for just as the what sicknesses of the leper to see happens to men from the of corrupt fluid uh putrefracting making putrid the flesh and corrupting it so also on account of some corruption and excessive humidity or dryness there comes sometimes some corrosion in the my goodness or also in the clothing and therefore this corruption the law calls what from which the house or the unclean vestiment is judged and because all corruption pertains to uncleanliness as has been said and also because against the corruption of these sorts the gentiles what worshiped one kind of gods i guess and therefore the law commanded that what houses of this sort in which there was such a corruption persevering to be destroyed the investments burn to taking away the occasional idolatry i don't know about you thomas are you really gone okay there's also a certain uncleanliness of what vessels about which it is said huh fast quad nun harbor it and they return to super it's not heavy what covering i guess is it unclean put the cover on the milk and put the cork back in the bottom who's on yeah yeah cause of whose uncleanliness is because in such faces easily something unclean can fall right once they can be made unclean right there is also this precept to decline away from idolatry right for the idolatrous believed that if the what mice yeah or the what the certain yeah or something this sort which they offered to idols would suddenly fall into vases or on the waters which would be most but yeah or were there also some but yeah some women are down uncovered vessels in honor of the nocturnal deities which they call jan it's obscure things here that uh it's interesting in italy even today uh anthropological studies show there's all sorts of old time superstition superstition still in various um communities that uh have their i guess the regions have their own dialects and traditions and so uh with medicine they have all this um uh traditional healing and also superstitious stuff including the cool stuff so you It's true, even when Lebanese it's not a damn lot of superstition. I was told after my little wife, you have to see the Lebanese wearing a blue stone topaz, that's a superstitious thing to avoid, to repel the evil eye. If you see a Christian, remember, you should, because a lot of them don't know it's superstitious. Yeah, yeah. They like that, or something that's popular, but it's actually superstitious. Is it turquoise? Turquoise, that's the one thing, yeah. Turquoise, so. That's one thing. Now, these uncleannesses, the reason that it's figurative, is that through the leprosy of the house it signified the uncleanness of the congregation of heretics. Through leprosy in the, what, linen vestments? Signifies the perversity of mores from the mind. I guess I have a work on the morals of the Manichees. Well, you have a lot of morals of the Catholic Church. But to leprosy of the, not linen, what is it, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, l lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, lany, and then it'll break after that. okay to the fifth it should be said that this has been said twofold is the uncleanliness in the law doesn't mean in the law it means okay in one through some corruption of the mind or the body and this was the greater what uncleanliness the other was the uncleanliness from only the contact of the unclean thing and this was the minor one or lesser one and was expiated by a easier right now the first uncleanliness is expiated by a sacrifice for the sin because every corruption from sin proceeds i mean every corruption proceeds from sin and signifies sin right but the second uncleanliness is expiated through only the aspersion of what water huh about which water expiation there's an account in numbers 19. now it was commanded there by god that they take the what red heifer in memory of the sin that they committed in the adoration of the at the golden wonderland yeah and the um and is called a what more than yeah so it's it's a finger right right because thus the lord was accustomed to call the what synagogue according to that of you oc4 sikud vaca sikud vaca lascivians israel declined huh it's lascivious and this perhaps therefore because they worshipped what in the custom of egypts yeah according to that of oc to chapter 10 50 was a bethaven worshipped and in this detesting of the sin of idolatry they immolated them outside the camp and wherever the sacrifice came about for the expert expiation of multiple sins they burned them outside the whole what camp and that it might signify to this sacrifice that the people were what cleansed them from the the universal sins um and they uh the priest touched the finger in his blood and uh sprinkled i guess seven walls right there set the walls seven times he did seven times yeah because seven signifies the university seven days in the week i guess and this aspersion or sprinkling of the blood pertained to the detesting of idolatry in which the blood uh immolated uh immolated uh immolated was not what yeah it was congregated right and about this men ate and on the idols that was burned however in fire because either the god appeared to moses in fire and in the fire there is given what the law so she said the mill right i told you i saw that one one time and and they had such a long movie i guess so that they had kind of a break there and went down the men's room and it's kind of a you know working man type man he says it really makes you think you know and i said so because i was kind of amused with it but i i said yeah it does i wasn't gonna disturb his faith you know but kind of interesting you know um okay so he appeared to moses right in the the fire i guess of the of the plant right or because through this it signified that idolatry was holy what extra yeah and everything that pertained to idolatry just as the cows were burned right both skin and flesh and what i'm done done okay yeah it was handed over to the flame and they added in the combustion the cedar wood huh mm-hmm the hyssop the cocus coae this tinctus the twice dipped what's the twice scarred to signifying that just as the cedar wood does not easily corrupt and the does not lose its color and the hyssop retains its odor after it was dried out so also the sacrifices in the conservation of the people and of their honesty and their what devotion once it was said of the ashes of the cow that they might be to the multitude of the sons of israel in their custody right or according to what josephus his antiquities the four elements they signify the four elements right for to fire is appointed cedar right signifying the what the earth on account of its workiness yeah they're quite worthy of latin isn't it yeah terrestre titatum hyssop signifying what air on account of its odor cocus signifying water for the same reason yeah on account of the tinctures which are taken from water that this might be expressed that that sacrifice was offered to the creator of the four what elements huh i don't have to do it you don't have to do it 98 elements or something yeah symbolism and because the sacrifice was offered for the sin of idolatry and who's detesting and burning and collecting the ashes right and the one who who sprinkles the water in which the ashes are placed are regarded as what clean and to this is shown that whatever in whatever way pertains to idolatry as it were something unclean should be what i wonder they had a hard time serving all these laws to from this uncleanness are purified to the only through the absolution or the washing investments nor did the water need to be what sprinkled on account of this uncleanness because thus there would be a process in infinito for the one who sprinkled the water became unclean right and thus if someone sprinkled himself he would remain unclean if however another one they sprinkled him he would be unclean and some are the one who sprinkled him and so on in infinito oh my god did it break the cycle yeah we're almost halfway through this objection goodness by this now we come to the figurative reason now the figurative reason of the sacrifice is because through the um red cow it signified what christ taken according to what his is infirmity which designates the feminine sex. The color of the cow signifies the blood of his passion, right? The redness, he said. And the red cow is of an integral, what, age? Because every operation of Christ is perfect, in which there is no stain, nor does it bear the yoke, because it does not bear the yoke of sin. It be commanded that it be brought to Moses, because it was imputed in violation of the Sabbath. It was commanded to be handed to Elisir, the priest, because Christ would be killed in the hands of the, what, priest that he was handed over to. He would be offered up outside the camp, because outside the gate, Christ suffers. The priest dips his finger in his blood, because through discretion, which the finger signifies, right, the mystery of the passion of Christ should be considered and imitated. That's interesting. The Ethiopian says, the priest actually dips his finger in the chalice, and he dips his finger in the chalice, and he quotes John the Baptist, behold the Lamb of God, and then he takes the precious blood that's on his finger, and he signs the host. Interesting. It is, what, sprinkled against the tent, to which the synagogue is designated, or for the condemnation of the Jews not believing, or for the purification of those, what, believing. And this in seven, what, places, is it? Seven times. Oh, seven times, okay. Either an account of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, or an account of the seven days in which all time is understood. All things which pertain to the incarnation of Christ should be, what, burnt, I guess, by fire. That is to be understood spiritually. For through the skin and the flesh, the exterior operation of Christ is signified. Through the blood, the subtle inward power, signifying the outside. Through the, what, anything. Haziness, hunger, and all things pertaining to infirmity. There's added, however, three things. The, yeah, which signifies the height of hope or contemplation. The hyssop, which signifies, what, humility or faith. The cocus twice tinctus, which signifies, what, charity. Through this, that we ought to adhere to Christ's suffering. This ash of combustion is collected by, what, a clean man, because the remains of the passion come to the Gentiles, who are not culpable in the, what, death of Christ. They were added the ashes to the water to expiate, because, in the passion of Christ, baptism gets the power of cleansing sins. The priest who offers it up and burns the cow, and the one who is, yeah, and who collects the ashes was unclean, and also the one who sprinkled the water, because the Jews were made unclean from the killing of Christ, through which our sins are expiated, huh? The Jews like to hear all these figurative sentences. And this, all the way to, what, vespers, huh? Very accused of being anti-Semitic. That is, all the way to the end of the world, right, huh? To vespers, huh? To the end of the world, when the remainders of Israel will be converted, like St. Paul says, right? Or because those who treat of the sacred things, intending them for the cleansing of others, right, they also contract certain uncleanliness, as Gregory says in the, what, here. And this, usque vespers, that is, until the end of the present life, huh? Sharp here. It's only half a page, the next objection. Next objection is just half a page. The leonine edition. To six, it should be said, that this has been said, the uncleanliness, which comes from the corruption, whether it be of the mind or the body, is expiated by the sacrifices for, what, sin. They were offered special sacrifices for the sins of individuals, right? But because some, being negligent, huh, about the expiation of these sins and uncleannesses, or an account of their, what? Yeah, from expiation of this sort, they desisted. It was instituted that once in a year, on the, what, tenth day of the seventh month, they would come about a sacrifice of expiation for the whole people. And because, as the apostle says in the epistle to the Hebrews, the law constituted men, priests, having, what? Weakness. Yeah. It was necessary, therefore, that the priest before offers for himself the calf, right, for sin, in commemoration of the sin that Aaron made in the, what? Yeah. So Aaron's involved in the making of the golden thing. Yeah, he's the one who collected all their earrings to imagine. And he was the brother of Moses. That's about the people by making the... They wanted their pagan gods just like they had in Egypt. Yeah, yeah. So the pacifier was a brother that didn't come back down. Yeah. So they said, we don't know what's happened to Moses God. Make us a God. He said, okay, give me all your gold. Yeah. Make the calf. The character in Shakespeare there that is Aaron, right? Wow. Yeah. Pretty nasty character. Commemoration of sin that Aaron made in the making of the gold. Yeah. Yeah, there it is. Vitulia Aria. And the, I mean, the ram writes it in the Holocaust, which has signified that the prophecy of the priest, which the ram designates who is the leader of the flock was ordered, should be ordered to the honor of what? God. Then he offered for the people to what? Goats. Goats, huh? Of which one was emulated to expiating the sin of the multitude, right? For the, what? Goat is the animal that is, yeah. And other skins. Yeah. I was reading the story there in the 15th chapter of Luke there today. Goat. Goat. Goat. Goat. Goat. Goat. Goat.