Conversion and Purity: Saint Anthony guides sinners

"His garments became white as snow"
(Mt 17:2)
"Such as no launderer on earth could make them"
(Mk 9:2).

The symbolism of the white garments and the snow

The garments of our soul are the limbs of this body of ours: they must be spotless. Solomon says: "Let your garments always be white!" (Eccl 9:8). What kind of whiteness? "Like snow," says the Gospel. The Lord, through the mouth of Isaiah, promises sinners who convert: "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow"
(Is 1:18).

Observe here two things: scarlet and snow. Scarlet is a fabric that has the color of fire and blood. Snow is cold and white. In the fire is figured the burning of sin, in the blood its filth; in the coldness of snow is symbolized the grace of the Holy Spirit, in its whiteness the purity of mind. The Lord therefore says: "If your sins are like scarlet," etc. It is as if He said: If you return to me, I will pour into you the grace of the Holy Spirit which will extinguish the burning of sin and wash away its filth. He Himself says again through Ezekiel: "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be cleansed from all your uncleannesses"
(Ez 36:25).

Therefore the garments, that is, the limbs of our body, should be white as snow, so that the coldness of the snow, that is, the compunction of the mind, may extinguish the burning of sin, and the purity of a holy life may cleanse all filth. The garments also represent the virtues of our soul, which, clothed in them, appears glorious before the Lord. Of these garments, in the biblical account, it is said that Rebecca clothed Jacob with very beautiful garments, which she kept with her
(cf. Gn 27:15).

Rebecca, that is, the wisdom of God the Father, clothed Jacob, that is, the righteous man, with virtues, very beautiful garments because woven with the hand and art of her Wisdom: garments that she keeps with her, stored in the treasury of her glory; and she truly has them, because she is Lady and mistress of all and gives them to whomever she wishes, when she wishes, and as she wishes. These garments are called white for the effect they produce, because they make the man spotless, not I say only like snow, but much more than it. And such garments no launderer, that is, no preacher on earth, can make so white with the washing of his preaching.

Saint Anthony's warnings against the capital vices

You, O proud one, recall to the eyes of your mind the corruption of your body, the rot and the stench it will give off. Where will that pride of your heart be then, that ostentation of your riches? Then there will be no more words full of wind, because the bladder deflates at the slightest prick of a needle. These truths, meditated in the depths, anoint the pustulous head, that is, they humble the proud mind.

The warning against avarice

And you, O avaricious one, remember the last examination, where there will be the angered Judge, there will be the executioner ready to torment, there will be demons accusing and the conscience biting. Then your silver will be cast away, your gold will become filth; your gold and your silver will not be able to deliver you on the day of the Lord's wrath
(cf. Ez 7:19).

These truths, meditated with attention, consume and remove the warts of superfluity, and divide them among those who lack even the necessities. Therefore, when you fast, anoint - I beseech you - your head with this ointment, so that what you take from yourself may be given to the poor.

The warning against lust

You then, O lustful one, think of Gehenna with its unquenchable fire, where there will be death without death, an end without end; where death is sought but not found; where the damned will eat their tongues and curse their Creator. The wood of that fire will be the souls of sinners and the breath of God's wrath will set them ablaze. Isaiah says: "From yesterday," that is, from eternity, "Topheth is prepared," the fiery Gehenna, "deep and wide. Fire and wood will abound; the breath of the Lord will kindle it like a stream of sulfur"
(Is 30:33).

Here is the ointment that pricks, that penetrates, capable of healing the most obstinate lust. As one nail drives out another, so these truths, assiduously meditated, are able to repress the urges of lust. You therefore, when you fast, anoint your head with this ointment.

Christ's ladder: humility, poverty, and obedience

Observe that the ladder has two "arms" (side rails) and six steps, by means of which the ascent is easy. This ladder represents Jesus Christ; the two arms are the divine and human natures; the six steps are His humility and poverty, His wisdom and mercy, His patience and obedience. He was humble in assuming our nature, when He "looked upon the humility of His handmaid"
(Lk 1:48).

He was poor in His nativity, in which the poor Virgin, giving birth to the very Son of God, had nowhere to lay Him, wrapped in swaddling clothes, but a sheep's manger (cf. Lk 2:7). He was wise in His preaching, because He "began to do and to teach" (Acts 1:1). He was merciful in kindly welcoming sinners: "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mt 9:13) to penance. He was patient under the scourges, the slaps, the spitting; He said indeed through the mouth of Isaiah: "I have set my face like flint" (Is 50:7). Flint, if struck, does not react or complain against the one who strikes it. So Christ: "When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten"
(1 Pt 2:23).

He was then "obedient unto death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2:8). This ladder was leaning on the earth when Christ was devoted to preaching and working miracles; it touched heaven when, as Luke tells us, He spent the nights in prayer (cf. Lk 6:12), in conversation with the Father.

The invitation to ascend: following the way of the Lord

Behold, the ladder is set up. Why then do you not ascend? Why do you continue to crawl on the earth with your hands and feet? Ascend, because Jacob saw the angels ascending and descending by the ladder. Ascend therefore, O angels, O prelates of the Church, O faithful of Jesus Christ! Ascend, I tell you, to contemplate how sweet the Lord is (cf. Ps 33:9); descend to help and advise your neighbor, because of this the neighbor has need.

Why do you try to ascend by another way, instead of by the ladder? From whatever other side you wish to ascend, a precipice looms over you. "O foolish and slow of heart," I do not say "to believe" (Lk 24:25), because you believe, and even the demons believe (cf. Jas 2:19); but you are hard and stony in your actions. Do you presume to be able to ascend by another way to Mount Tabor, to the rest of light, to the glory of heavenly beatitude, instead of by the ladder of the humility, poverty, and passion of the Lord? Convince yourselves that it is not possible! Here is the word of the Lord: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me" (Mt 16:24). And in Jeremiah we read: "You will call me Father, and will not cease to walk behind me"
(Jer 3:19).

Augustine says: "The physician drinks the bitter medicine first, so that the sick person will not refuse to drink it." And Gregory: "By drinking the bitter chalice one arrives at the joy of healing." "To save your life, you must face iron and fire" (Ovid). Ascend therefore, do not fear, because the Lord is at the top of the ladder, ready to welcome those who ascend. "Jesus, in fact, took with Him Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain."