Zephaniah 1:13

With reference to that day the prophet Amos says, "Woe to them that desire the Day of the Lord. To what end is this Day of the Lord for you? The day itself is darkness and not light." The prophet Zephaniah says the same thing: "The voice of the Day of the Lord is grim and bitter." That is why the penitent now introduced before us earnestly supplicates in the ordered divisions of his prayer that he may not be convicted for his deeds on that day of judgment. What is more beneficial and farsighted for the person who could have no hope in his own deserts because of the sins which he has committed than to decide to pray to God's fatherly love while in this world, where there is opportunity for repentance?

The lust of possessions and money are not to be sought for. In Solomon, in Ecclesiastes: "He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver." Also in Proverbs: "He who holds back the corn is cursed among the people; but blessing is on the head of him that communicates it." Also in Isaiah: "Woe to them who join house to house, and lay field to field, that they may take away something from their neighbor. Will you dwell alone upon the earth?" Also, in Zephaniah: "They shall build houses, and shall not dwell in them; and they shall appoint vineyards, and shall not drink the wine of them, because the Day of the Lord is near." Also in the Gospel according to Luke: "For what does it profit a man to make a gain of the whole world, but that he should lose himself?"

(Verse 13, 14.) And their strength shall be for plunder, and their houses for desolation. And they shall build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine. The great day of the Lord is near, it is near and hastens quickly. LXX: And their strength shall be for robbery, and their houses shall be destroyed. And they shall build houses, but shall not live in them; and they shall plant vineyards, but shall not drink their wine, for the great day of the Lord is near; it is near and hastens quickly. It is evident that, according to both captivities, their entire army has been cut down and their houses have been destroyed, and the fields and vineyards have been laid waste: and no longer will God delay his patience towards them. But when they spoke to the prophets, they said, this will be in the time to come, and for many days, a great and exceedingly swift day of the Lord will come upon them. According to the interpretation, however, when the time of judgment comes, whether for the death of each individual or the departure from the world: then all their strength will be turned to ruin, so that what was once strong and lifted up against the Lord will become weak and broken, turned to something better. Just as if someone were to rob the strength of a bandit, a pirate, and a thief, and render them weak, their weakness benefits them: for their weakened limbs, which they were previously not using well, will cease from evil work. And that which follows: 'And their houses become a desert,' many in the Church are building Zion in blood, and Jerusalem in iniquity, to whom such houses being destroyed benefits. Let us read Leviticus, where it is commanded to destroy a leprous house (Lev. 14). And because leprosy remains and spreads, its stones and wood and all dust are commanded to be thrown outside the city into an unclean place. But also in the beginning of Jeremiah, something such is written, 'Behold, I have given my words in your mouth: behold, I have set you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms: to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to build, and to plant' (Jeremiah 1:9-10). The wicked construction is destroyed so that later a good construction may be built: the unjust plantation is uprooted so that a righteous plantation may be placed nearby. And in Solomon we read: It is better to dwell under the open…