Judges 16:10

This having failed, Delilah, as if she had been mocked began with complaints to renew her arts and to require a pledge of his love.

Like the famed Samson, whose power lay in the strength of his hair, whose locks were endowed with sacred might, he must throttle and bring low the lion by means of the strong arms of prayers and pluck the sweet fruit of notable victory from its dead mouth.But this triumph must be a lesson to him not to make alliances with foreigners. That woman of another race I interpret as the law of the flesh, so wily with its alluring nets. If this law proves stronger than the law of the mind, it will drag him into the dominion of sin. The evil counsel of its pleasant words weakens with its deceitful guile the male spirit. It blinds the eyes of the mind and shaves the head; it plunders and disarms faith. I would not have our boy a Samson in this respect, becoming involved in a love encounter immediately followed by captivity, enervation and blindness, even though the strong Samson later recovered his strength when his hair grew again. For he was led by the hand from the mill to be the sport of the vaunting enemy, and though physically blind he used his mind's eye and summoned God to take vengeance. Then, when his hair restored his strength, he brought down that house of the enemy. Once his hands, more powerful than any stone, gripped the pillars of the house in their fierce embrace, the roof collapsed upon him when its props were torn from the earth. Yet even in his death God's powerful hero involved the foe in destruction, and by a glorious death [he] avenged the disgrace of his life as a slave. He had lived a life of subservience under an exultant foe, but even as he fell he conquered the eclipsed enemy, destroying more thousands at his death than he had killed in his life. I pray that our son may imitate Samson's death by his own, that while remaining in the flesh he may conquer that flesh and live for God, subduing the sins of the flesh. I would not have him devoting his heart in enslavement to the flesh's joys as to the wiles of that criminal woman, to become subsequently the property of the foe, stripped of the strength of grace.

What was the meaning of Samson? If I say he signified Christ, it seems to me that I speak the truth. However, the thought immediately occurs to anyone who reflects: Was Christ overcome by the flattery of a woman? How is Christ understood to have gone in to a prostitute? Then, again, when did Christ have his head uncovered or his hair shaved, himself robbed of courage, bound, blinded and mocked? Watch, faithful soul. Notice why it is Christ, not only what Christ did, but also what he suffered. What did he do? He worked as a strong man and suffered as a weak one. In the one person I understand both qualities; I see the strength of the Son of God and the weakness of the Son of man. Moreover, when the Scriptures extol him, Christ is entire, both head and body. Just as Christ is the head of the church, so the church is his body; and in order that it might not be alone, it is the whole Christ with the head. Now the church contains within itself both strong and weak members. It has some who are fed on bread alone, and others who must still be nourished with milk. There is a further fact which must be admitted: in association at the sacraments, the imparting of baptism or participation at the altar, the church has both just and unjust people. At present the body of Christ is a threshing floor, as you know, but afterwards it will be a granary. While it is a threshing floor, it does not refuse to tolerate chaff, but when the time of storage comes it will separate the wheat from the chaff. Thus, some things Samson did as the head and others as the body, but all in the person of Christ. Inasmuch as Samson performed virtues and miracles, he prefigured Christ, the head of the church. When he acted prudently, he was an image of those who live justly in the church, but when he was overtaken and acted carelessly, he represented those who are sinners in the church. The prostitute whom Samson married is the church which committed fornication with idols before knowing one God, but which Christ afterwards united to himself. However, when she was enlightened and received faith from him, she even merited to learn the mysteries of salvation through him, and he further revealed to her the mysteries of heavenly secrets.