82. The Lord taught me in the Gospel what
leaven is when He said: “Do ye not understand that I said
not concerning bread, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and
Sadducees?” S. Matt. xvi. 11. Then, it
is said, they understood that He spake not of bread, but that they
should beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
This leaven, then—that is, the doctrine of the Pharisees and the
contentiousness of the Sadducees—the Church hides in her meal,
when she softened the hard letter of the Law by a spiritual
interpretation, and ground it as it were in the mill of her
explanations, bringing out as it were from the husks of the letter the
inner secrets of the mysteries, and setting forth the belief in the
Resurrection, wherein the mercy of God is proclaimed, and wherein it is
believed that the life of
those who are dead is restored.