The Nourishment of the Inner Man

Is it against the law? Observe: one angel, at the will of God, struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in a single blow (Ps 78:49), and perhaps he was not a pure angel, since he was not acting to punish. Therefore, the perfect man who guards holiness, being God's own eyewitness and servant, is able to save many who fear Him.

If the explanation seems violent to anyone, not so: just as it is said, 'God made man' (Gen 1:26), to be the ruler of irrational animals, and we are not speaking of the individual kind, nor of this specific one, but the whole species. 'I made earth and man upon it' (Gen 1:1); thus he named the whole species. Even so, the angel here may signify the general, that those fearing the Lord have angels intervening and surrounding them, saving them from every tribulation.

You have this in the Gospel: 'See that you do not cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble; for their angels always see the face of our Father in heaven' (Matt 18:10). They stand before God, we see His face, they see the invisible one invisibly. Behold, therefore, of the many little ones, many angels are spoken of, but of those fearing the Lord, one angel is said. It is said singularly, for not even one is excluded.

And this can also be said: the little ones do not fear God, but have a passive fear; for 'perfect love casts out fear' (1 John 4:18). And: 'fear has punishment'. 'Do not fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul' (Matt 10:28); but those who fear God have an excessive fear, about which it is said in Sirach: 'the fear of the Lord surpassed all things' (Sir 1:14), which comes to him who seeks Him with much progress.

Therefore, these who fear the Lord can have one angel intervening and saving them, the Savior himself, about whom it is said: 'His name is called Angel of Great Counsel' (Isa 9:6); for in many writings an angel is mentioned not applying to any single person. Jacob also says of him: 'the angel who saves me from all evils' (Gen 48:16). But no one is able to save from all evils except the Savior who has the authority to forgive all sin. And of the sin...

Once the punishment is assigned, the following afflictions follow, joining together with that evil. It is like a perimeter and a wall surrounding them, keeping them safe from harm. And in Zechariah, namely the eleventh of the twelve prophets, it says: 'Jerusalem shall be inhabited desolately' (Zech 8:10), and it says: 'And I will be around them like a pillar of fire and a wall encircling them' (Zech 2:5). But it is fire for the purpose of harming those approaching more; for immediately in that same region of the prophet it says: 'because he who touches you touches the apple of his eye' (Zech 2:8). To touch there means to harm, like: 'Touch not my anointed ones' (Ps 105:15). Taste and see that the Lord is good (Ps 34:8).

Many times it has been said to us that the sensible and bodily things are like this: each thing is only what it is; for example, a stream is nothing other than a stream, or bread. But the thing that nourishes the inner man is called food according to various thoughts. It is indeed called light, it is called a spring, it is called bread and flesh, true nourishment. It says, therefore, 'taste' by the incorporeal taste of the inner man, 'and see that the Lord is good' (Ps 34:8), because He is good. Just taste, know that He is nourishment, see the spring of goodness, the spring of kindness.

Blessed is the man who hopes in Him (Ps 1:1). The one hoping in the good Lord—for he tastes Him—and he will experience His sweetness, and from this food he will have all things, and being nourished athletically he will be strong, so that in the struggle he no longer has it 'not toward blood and flesh, but toward principalities and powers' (Eph 6:12). 'Taste and see that He is good' (Ps 34:8). If anyone is weary and sick according to the soul, let him taste Him as nourishment, as one preparing health, as one removing harm. And this food not only satisfies, but also removes, casting out the harmful things.

Therefore, 'blessed' is not simply the man, but the 'man' who has done away with 'the things of a child' (1 Cor 13:11), who has not walked 'in the counsel of the ungodly' (Ps 1:1), nor sat 'in the seat of scoffers' (Ps 1:1), nor 'in the way of sinners' (Ps 1:1), nor 'on the seat of scoffers' (Ps 1:1), but having 'his will in the law of the Lord' (Ps 1:2). This one has his will in the law of the Lord; for many observe the law so that they may not be punished or so that they may be honored with praise. But the holy one, the...