Forty Homilies on the Gospels
Forty Homilies on the Gospels
continued
Homily 29
Delivered to the people in the basilica of the blessed apostle Peter, on the Ascension of the Lord.
A Reading from the Holy Gospel According to Mark
At that time, as the eleven disciples were reclining at table, Jesus appeared to them and reproached their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen him risen. And he said to them: Go into all the world, preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe. In my name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues, they will take up serpents, and if they drink anything deadly, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. And the Lord Jesus indeed, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs that followed. The fact that the disciples were slow to believe in the Lord's resurrection was not so much their weakness as, so to speak, our future strength. For the resurrection itself was demonstrated to them through many proofs while they doubted: and when we recognize these things as we read them, what else happens but that we are strengthened by their doubt? For Mary Magdalene, who believed more quickly, did less for me than Thomas, who doubted for a long time.
For by doubting he touched the scars of the wounds, and cut away the wound of doubt from our hearts. To establish the truth of the Lord's resurrection, we should also note what Luke reports, saying: "Eating together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem. And a little later: "While they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud received him from their sight. Note the words, mark the mysteries. Eating together he was lifted up. He ate, and he ascended, so that through the act of eating the truth of his flesh might be made evident. Mark, however, recalls that before the Lord ascended to heaven, he rebuked the disciples for their hardness of heart and unbelief. In this matter, what should be considered except that the Lord rebuked the disciples at that time when he was leaving them bodily, so that the words he spoke as he departed might remain more deeply impressed upon the hearts of his hearers? Having rebuked their hardness, then, let us hear what he says in admonishing them: "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. My brothers, was the holy Gospel to be preached to insensible things or to brute animals, that it is said to the disciples concerning it: "Preach to every creature"? But by the name of every creature, man is signified. For there are stones, but they neither live nor feel. There are plants and trees; they live indeed, but they do not feel.
They live, I say, not through a soul, but through their verdure, because Paul also says: "Foolish one, what you sow is not brought to life unless it first dies. Therefore that lives which dies, so that it may be brought to life. Stones therefore exist, but they do not live. Trees exist and live, but they do not feel. Brute animals exist, live, and feel, but they do not discern. Angels exist, live, feel, and discern. But man has something of every creature. For he has existence in common with stones, life with trees, sensation with animals, understanding with angels. If therefore man has something in common with every creature, in a certain sense every creature is man. Therefore the Gospel is preached to every creature when it is preached to man alone, because he is taught for whose sake all things were created on earth, and from whom all things are not alien through a certain likeness. By the name of every creature, every nation of the Gentiles can also be designated. For before it had been said: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles. But now it is said, "Preach to every creature," so that the preaching of the apostles, first rejected by Judea, might then become a help to us, when that proud people had rejected it as a testimony to their own condemnation. But when Truth sends the disciples to preach, what else does He do in the world but scatter grains of seed?
And He sends a few grains in the sowing, so that He may receive the fruits of many harvests from our faith. For so great a harvest of the faithful would never have arisen in the whole world, if those chosen grains of preachers had not come from the Lord's hand upon the rational earth. There follows: 3. "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned. Perhaps each one may say within himself: "I have already believed; I shall be saved. He speaks truly, if he holds faith by works. For true faith is that which does not contradict in conduct what it says in words. Hence it is that Paul says of certain false believers: "They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their deeds. Hence John says: "He who says he knows God and does not keep His commandments is a liar. Since this is so, we ought to recognize the truth of our faith in the consideration of our life. For then we are truly faithful, if we fulfill in works what we promise in words. On the day of baptism indeed, we promised to renounce all the works of the ancient enemy and all his pomps. Therefore let each of you bring back the eyes of his mind to consideration of himself; and if he keeps after baptism what he pledged before baptism, let him rejoice, now certain that he is faithful.
But behold, if he has by no means kept what he promised, if he has slipped into practicing wicked works, into desiring the pomps of the world; let us see if he now knows how to lament that he has erred. For before the merciful Judge, not even he will be held a deceiver who returns to the truth, even after he has lied, because almighty God, when He willingly receives our repentance, Himself hides by His own judgment that in which we have erred. There follows: And these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents; and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. What then, my brethren, because you do not these signs, do you not believe? But these things were necessary in the beginning of the Church. For that faith might grow, it needed to be nourished by miracles, because we also, when we plant shrubs, pour water on them only until we see that they have taken root in the ground; and once they have fixed their roots, we cease watering. Hence it is that Paul says: Tongues are for a sign, not to believers, but to unbelievers. We have concerning these signs and powers things that we ought yet more carefully to consider. For holy Church daily does spiritually what then she did corporally through the apostles.
For when her priests lay hands upon believers through the grace of exorcism, and forbid evil spirits to dwell in their minds, what else do they do but cast out devils? And believers who now abandon the worldly words of their former life, and utter forth holy mysteries, and declare the praises and power of their Creator as much as they are able, what else do they do but speak with new tongues? They who by their good exhortations take away malice from the hearts of others, take up serpents. And when they hear pestilent persuasions, yet are not drawn thereby to evil works, they drink indeed what is deadly, but it shall not hurt them. They who, as often as they see their neighbors grow weak in good works, run to help them with all their strength, and by the example of their own deeds strengthen the lives of those who waver in their own actions; what else do they do but lay hands on the sick that they may recover? Which miracles are so much the greater as they are spiritual; so much the greater as by them not bodies but souls are raised to life. These signs therefore, dearest brethren, you can do by God's help if you will. For by those outward signs, life cannot be obtained by those who work them. For those bodily miracles sometimes show holiness, but do not make it; but these spiritual ones, which are wrought in the mind, do not show but make the virtue of life.
The evil can have those, but only the good can enjoy these. Whence the Truth says of certain ones: Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, and in your name cast out devils, and in your name done many mighty works? And then I will confess to them: I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of iniquity. Do not therefore, dearest brethren, love signs which may be had in common with the reprobate; but love these miracles of charity and piety which we have spoken of, which are so much the safer as they are hidden, and for which the recompense with the Lord is so much the greater as the glory among men is less. There follows: And indeed the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God. In the Old Testament we learned that Elijah was caught up into heaven. But the aerial heaven is one thing, the ethereal heaven another. For the aerial heaven is nearest to the earth; whence we also speak of the birds of heaven, because we see them flying in the air. Elijah therefore was lifted up into the aerial heaven, so that he might suddenly be led to a certain secret region of the earth, where he might live in great rest of flesh and spirit, until he returns at the end of the world and pays the debt of death.
For he postponed death, he did not escape it. But our Redeemer, because he did not postpone it, overcame it, and by rising again consumed it, and by ascending declared the glory of his resurrection. It should also be noted that Elijah is recorded to have ascended in a chariot, so that it might be openly demonstrated that a mere man needed the help of another. For those aids were made and shown through angels, because he could not ascend even into the aerial heaven by himself, whom the weakness of his own nature weighed down. But our Redeemer is not recorded to have been lifted up by a chariot or by angels, because he who had made all things was certainly borne above all things by his own power. For he was returning to where he was, and he was going back from where he remained, because when he ascended into heaven through his humanity, through his divinity he equally contained both earth and heaven. Just as Joseph, sold by his brothers, prefigured the selling of our Redeemer, so Enoch, translated, and Elijah, raised up to the aerial heaven, designated the Lord's Ascension. Therefore the Lord had forerunners and witnesses of His Ascension, one before the law, the other under the law, so that He Himself might come in due time who could truly penetrate the heavens. Hence the very order in the elevation of both of them is also distinguished by certain gradations.
For Enoch is recorded as having been translated, but Elijah as having been carried up to heaven, so that He might come afterward who, neither translated nor carried up, would penetrate the ethereal heaven by His own power. Because He would bestow purity of the flesh upon those believing in Him, and under Him the virtue of chastity would increase through the progression of ages, the Lord showed this both in the translation of those who, as servants, designated the Lord's Ascension, and in Himself who ascended to heaven. For Enoch indeed had a wife and children; but Elijah is not recorded as having had either wife or children. Consider therefore how the purity of holiness grew by gradations, which is plainly shown both through the translated servants and through the person of the ascending Lord. For Enoch was translated, both begotten through intercourse and begetting through intercourse. Elijah was caught up, begotten through intercourse, but no longer begetting through intercourse. But the Lord was taken up, neither begetting through intercourse nor begotten through intercourse. We must consider what it means that Mark says: He sits at the right hand of God; while Stephen says: I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God. What does it mean that Mark testifies he is sitting, while Stephen testifies that he saw him standing? But you know, brothers, that sitting belongs to one who judges, while standing belongs to one who fights or helps.
Therefore, because our Redeemer, having been taken up into heaven, both now judges all things and at the end comes as judge of all, Mark describes him as sitting after his assumption, because after the glory of his Ascension he will be seen as judge at the end. But Stephen, placed in the labor of struggle, saw him standing whom he had as helper, because in order that Stephen might overcome on earth the unbelief of his persecutors, his grace fought for him from heaven. The following continues: "And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. What is to be considered in these things, what is to be committed to memory, except that obedience followed the command, and signs indeed followed obedience? But because, with God as our author, we have briefly run through the exposition of the Gospel reading, it remains for us to say something about the consideration of so great a solemnity itself. But first we must inquire what it means that when the Lord was born, angels appeared, yet they are not recorded as having appeared in white garments, whereas when the Lord ascended, angels who were sent are recorded as having appeared in white garments. For it is written thus: "While they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud received him from their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood beside them in white garments.
In white garments, joy and festivity of mind are shown. What does it mean, then, that when the Lord was born, angels appear not in white garments, but when the Lord ascended, angels appear in white garments, unless that then a great festivity was made for the angels, when God as man entered heaven? For when the Lord was being born, divinity seemed to be humbled; but when the Lord ascended, humanity was exalted. For white garments are more fitting for exaltation than for humiliation. Therefore at his assumption, angels ought to have been seen in white garments, because he who at his nativity appeared as humble God, at his Ascension was shown as exalted man. But this, dearest brothers, we must greatly consider on this solemnity: that on this day the handwriting of our condemnation has been blotted out, the sentence of our corruption has been changed. For that nature to which it was said, "You are earth, and to earth you will go," today went to heaven. For on account of this very lifting up of our flesh, blessed Job figuratively calls the Lord a bird. For since he saw that Judea would not understand the mystery of His Ascension, he pronounced sentence on their unbelief, saying, "The bird knew not the path. For the Lord was rightly called a bird, because He raised His fleshly body to the heavens. Whoever did not believe that He ascended to heaven did not know the path of this bird.
Concerning this solemnity it is said through the Psalmist, "Your magnificence is exalted above the heavens. Concerning this again he says, "God ascended with jubilation, and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet. Concerning this again he says, "Ascending on high, He led captivity captive, He gave gifts to men. For ascending on high, He led captivity captive, because He absorbed our corruption by the power of His incorruption. And He gave gifts to men, because, sending the Spirit from above, to one He granted the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge, to another the grace of powers, to another the grace of healings, to another kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of speeches. Therefore He gave gifts to men. Concerning this glory of His Ascension, Habakkuk also says, "The sun was lifted up, and the moon stood in its order. For who is designated by the name of sun except the Lord, and who by the name of moon except the Church? For until the Lord ascended to heaven, His holy Church utterly feared the adversities of the world; but after it was strengthened by His Ascension, it openly preached what it secretly believed. Therefore the sun was lifted up, and the moon stood in its order, because when the Lord sought heaven, His holy Church grew in the authority of preaching. Hence in the voice of this same Church it is said through Solomon, "Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains and bounding over the hills.
For she considered the heights of such great works and said, "Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains. For in coming for our redemption, He made certain leaps, so to speak. Do you wish, dearest brothers, to recognize His very leaps? From heaven He came into the womb, from the womb He came into the manger, from the manger He came to the cross, from the cross He came into the tomb, from the tomb He returned to heaven. Behold, so that He might make us run after Him, the Truth made manifest through the flesh made certain leaps for us, because "He rejoiced as a giant to run His course," so that we might say to Him from the heart, "Draw us after You; we will run in the fragrance of Your ointments. Therefore, dearest brothers, we must follow with our heart to where we believe he ascended in body. Let us flee earthly desires; let nothing below delight us any longer, we who have our Father in heaven. And we must carefully consider this: that he who ascended gently will return terribly; and whatever he commanded us with gentleness, he will demand from us with severity. Let no one therefore make light of the time granted for repentance; let no one neglect to care for himself while he is able, because our Redeemer will come in judgment all the more severely then, the greater the patience he has extended to us before the judgment. Therefore, brothers, do these things among yourselves;
turn these things over in your mind with diligent thought. Although your spirit may still be tossed about by the disturbances of worldly affairs, nevertheless fix the anchor of your hope in the eternal homeland; establish the intention of your mind in the true light. Behold, we have heard that the Lord ascended into heaven. Let us therefore keep in meditation what we believe. And though we are still held here by the weakness of the body, let us nevertheless follow him with the steps of love. Nor does he who gave it abandon our desire: Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through all ages of ages. Amen.
Homily 30
Delivered to the people in the basilica of Saint Peter the Apostle, on the holy day of Pentecost.
Reading of the Holy Gospel According to John
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and we will make our dwelling with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word which you have heard is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. These things I have spoken to you while remaining with you. But the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and will bring to your remembrance all things whatsoever I shall have said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. You have heard that I said to you: I go away and I come to you. If you loved me, you would indeed rejoice, because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. I will no longer speak much with you. For the prince of this world comes, and in me he has nothing. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father has given me commandment, so I do.
Beloved brothers, it is fitting to pass through the words of the Gospel reading briefly, so that afterward we may be permitted to linger longer in the contemplation of so great a solemnity. For today the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples with a sudden sound, and changed the minds of carnal men into love of Him, and while tongues of fire appeared outwardly, their hearts were made flaming within, because as they received God in the vision of fire, they burned sweetly through love. For the Holy Spirit Himself is love. Hence John also says: "God is love. Therefore whoever desires God with a whole heart already has Him whom he loves. For no one could love God if he did not have Him whom he loves. But behold, if any one of you were asked whether he loves God, he would respond with full confidence and a secure mind: "I love. Yet in the very beginning of the reading you heard what the Truth says: "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. The proof of love, therefore, is the showing forth of works. Hence the same John says in his epistle: "He who says, 'I love God,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar. For we truly love God if we restrain ourselves from our own pleasures for the sake of His commandments. For he who still flows away through illicit desires certainly does not love God, because he contradicts Him by his own will.
"And my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him. Consider, dearly beloved brothers, how great a solemnity this is: to have the coming of God as a guest in the lodging of the heart. Certainly if some wealthy and very powerful friend were to enter your house, the whole house would be cleaned with all haste, lest perhaps there be anything that might offend the eyes of the entering friend. Let him therefore wipe away the filth of wicked deeds who prepares the house of his mind for God. But see what the Truth says: "We will come, and we will make our abode with him. For He comes into the hearts of some and does not make His abode, because through compunction they indeed receive God's regard, but in the time of temptation they forget that very thing for which they had been moved to compunction; and so they return to committing sins as if they had never lamented them at all. Therefore he who truly loves God, who keeps His commandments, in his heart the Lord both comes and makes His abode, because the love of divinity so penetrates him that he does not depart from this love in the time of temptation. He therefore truly loves whose mind wicked delight does not overcome through consent. For each person is separated from heavenly love to the extent that he delights in lower things. Hence it is still added: "He who does not love me does not keep my words.
Return therefore inwardly to yourselves, dearly beloved brothers; examine whether you truly love God; yet let no one believe himself, whatever his mind has answered him without the testimony of works. Concerning love of the Creator, let tongue, mind, and life be examined. The love of God is never idle. For it works great things, if it exists; but if it refuses to work, it is not love. "And the word which you have heard is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. You know, dearly beloved brothers, that He who speaks, the only-begotten Son, is the Word of the Father, and therefore the word which the Son speaks is not the Son's but the Father's, because the Son Himself is the Word of the Father. "These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. When would He not abide with them, who, about to ascend to heaven, promises, saying: "Behold, I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world"? But the incarnate Word both abides and departs: He departs in body, He abides in divinity. He declares therefore that He then abided with them, because He who was always present by invisible power was already departing from corporeal sight. But the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things whatsoever I have said to you. Most of you know, my brothers, that in Greek speech "paraclete" is called in Latin "advocate" or "consoler.
He is called advocate because he intercedes with the justice of the Father for the error of sinners. He who is of one substance with the Father and the Son is said to entreat for sinners, because those whom he has filled, he makes into those who entreat. Hence Paul also says: For the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. But he who entreats is less than he who is entreated; how then is the Spirit said to entreat, who is not less? But the Spirit himself entreats because he inflames those whom he has filled to entreat. Moreover, the same Spirit is called Consoler because for those who grieve over the commission of sin, while he prepares the hope of pardon, he lifts the mind from the affliction of sorrow. Of him it is rightly promised: He himself will teach you all things. Because unless the same Spirit is present in the heart of the hearer, the word of the teacher is useless. Therefore let no one attribute to the human teacher what he understands from the mouth of the teacher, because unless there is one within who teaches, the tongue of the teacher labors outwardly in vain. Behold, you all equally hear the one voice of the speaker, yet you do not equally perceive the meaning of the voice heard.
Since therefore the voice is not different, why is the understanding of the voice different in your hearts, unless because through that which the voice of the speaker commonly admonishes, there is an interior master who specially teaches certain ones about the understanding of the voice? Concerning this anointing of the Spirit, it is again said through John: As his anointing teaches you concerning all things. Therefore one is not instructed by voice when the mind is not anointed by the Spirit. But why do we speak these things about human teaching, when even the Creator himself does not speak for the instruction of man, if he does not speak to that same man through the anointing of the Spirit? Certainly Cain, before he perpetrated fratricide in deed, heard: You have sinned; be still. But because, his sins demanding it, he was admonished by voice, not by the anointing of the Spirit, he was able to hear the words of God but scorned to keep them. But we must inquire why it is said of the same Spirit: He will bring all things to your remembrance, since to suggest is usually characteristic of an inferior. But because we sometimes say "to suggest" means "to supply," the invisible Spirit is said to suggest, not because he brings knowledge to us from below, but from what is hidden. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Here "I leave," there "I give. I leave to those who follow, I give to those who arrive.
Behold, dearest brothers, we have briefly discussed the words of the sacred reading; now let us turn our mind to contemplation of so great a feast. But since the reading from the Acts of the Apostles was also recited to you along with the Gospel reading, let us therefore draw something from it for the use of our contemplation. For you have heard that the Holy Spirit appeared upon the disciples in tongues of fire and gave them knowledge of all languages. What indeed was signified by this miracle, except that the holy Church, filled with the same Spirit, would speak with the voice of all nations? Those who attempted to build a tower against God lost the communion of one language, but in these who humbly feared God all languages were united. Here therefore humility merited virtue; there pride earned confusion. But we must ask why the Holy Spirit, coeternal with the Father and the Son, appeared in fire; why in fire and tongues together; why He is shown sometimes in a dove, sometimes in fire; why He appeared over the only-begotten Son in the form of a dove, and over the disciples in fire—so that He neither came upon the Lord in fire nor was shown over the disciples in a dove. Let us therefore return by solving these four questions we have proposed. For the Spirit, coeternal with the Father and Son, is shown in fire because God is incorporeal, ineffable, and invisible fire, as Paul attests: "Our God is a consuming fire.
God is indeed called fire because through Him the rust of sins is consumed. Of this fire the Truth says: "I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I desire except that it burn? For earthly hearts are called earth, which, while they always heap up base thoughts within themselves, are trampled by malignant spirits. But the Lord casts fire upon the earth when He kindles the hearts of carnal people with the breath of the Holy Spirit. And the earth burns when the carnal heart, cold in its wicked pleasures, abandons the desires of the present age and is set ablaze with love of God. Rightly therefore the Spirit appeared in fire, because from every heart He fills He shakes off the torpor of coldness and kindles it with desire for His eternity. Moreover He was shown in tongues of fire because the same Spirit is coeternal with the Son, and tongue has the greatest kinship with word. For the Son is the Word of the Father. And because the Spirit and the Word are of one substance, the same Spirit had to be shown in a tongue. Or certainly, because word proceeds through the tongue, the Spirit appeared in tongues because whoever is touched by the Holy Spirit confesses God's Word, that is, the only-begotten Son, and cannot deny God's Word because he now has the tongue of the Holy Spirit. Or certainly the Spirit appeared in tongues of fire because all whom He fills He makes both burning and speaking at once.
Teachers have tongues of fire because, when they preach that God is to be loved, they set the hearts of their hearers aflame. For the speech of a teacher is idle if it cannot provide the fire of love. Those who said had conceived this fire of teaching from the very mouth of Truth: "Was not our heart burning within us while He spoke on the way and opened the Scriptures to us? For from the word heard the soul is set ablaze, the cold of torpor recedes, the mind becomes anxious with heavenly desire, estranged from earthly concupiscences. True love, when it has filled the soul, torments it with tears; but while it is tormented by such burning, it is fed by its very torments. It delights to hear heavenly precepts, and by as many commandments as it is instructed, it is inflamed as if by so many torches; and the soul that was formerly torpid through desires afterward burns through words. Hence it is well said through Moses: "In His right hand was a fiery law. For the reprobate, who are also to be placed on the left, are indeed the left hand; but the elect are called the right hand of God. Therefore in God's right hand is the fiery law, because the elect by no means hear heavenly commandments with a cold heart, but are set ablaze toward them with the torches of inward love. The word is brought to the ear, and their mind, angry at itself, is consumed by the flame of inward sweetness.
Now the Holy Spirit was shown both in a dove and in fire because all whom He fills He makes both simple and ardent: simple in purity, ardent in zeal. For neither can simplicity without zeal please God, nor zeal without simplicity. Hence the Truth Himself says: "Be wise as serpents and simple as doves. In this matter it should be noted that the Lord wished to admonish His disciples neither about the dove without the serpent nor about the serpent without the dove, so that both the cunning of the serpent might sharpen the simplicity of the dove and the simplicity of the dove might temper the cunning of the serpent. Hence Paul says: "Do not become children in understanding. Behold, we have heard of the prudence of the serpent; now let us be admonished about the simplicity of the dove: "But in malice be infants. Hence it is said of blessed Job: "He was a simple and upright man. But what is uprightness without simplicity, or what is simplicity without uprightness? Therefore, because this Spirit teaches both uprightness and simplicity, He had to be shown both in fire and in a dove, so that every heart touched by His grace may become both tranquil with the gentleness of meekness and inflamed with zeal for justice. Finally, it must be asked why in our Redeemer Himself, the Mediator between God and men, the Spirit appeared through a dove, but in the disciples through fire? Certainly the only-begotten Son of God is the judge of the human race.
But who could endure His justice if, before gathering us through gentleness, He had wished to examine our faults through zeal for righteousness? Therefore, made man for men, He showed Himself gentle to men. He did not wish to strike sinners, but to gather them. First He wished to correct gently, so that He might have those whom He would afterward save in judgment. Therefore the Spirit ought to have appeared over Him in a dove, since He was not coming to strike sins now through zeal, but still to tolerate them through gentleness. But on the contrary, the Holy Spirit ought to have been shown over the disciples in fire, so that those who were simply men, and therefore sinners, He might kindle as spiritual servants against themselves, and the sins which God would spare through gentleness, they themselves might punish in themselves through repentance. For neither could they themselves be without sin who were clinging to the heavenly teaching, as John attests, who says: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Therefore He came in fire upon men, but appeared in a dove upon the Lord, because the sins which the Lord piously tolerates through gentleness, we ought to carefully observe through zeal for righteousness, and always burn away with the fire of repentance.
Therefore the Spirit was shown through a dove in the Redeemer, but through fire in men, because the more the severity of our Judge has been tempered toward us, the more our weakness ought to become enkindled toward ourselves. Therefore, having completed the explanation of the four propositions, let us pass on to contemplate the gifts of the same Spirit. Concerning this Spirit it is written: "His Spirit has adorned the heavens. For the ornaments of the heavens are the virtues of those who preach. Paul enumerates these ornaments, saying: "To one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith in the same Spirit, to another the grace of healing in one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of speeches. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. Therefore, as many as are the gifts of those who preach, so many are the ornaments of the heavens. Hence it is written again: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were established. For the Word of the Lord is the Son of the Father. But concerning these same heavens, namely the holy apostles, so that the entire holy Trinity might be shown to have worked together, it is suddenly added concerning the divinity of the Holy Spirit:
"And by the breath of His mouth is all their power. Therefore the power of the heavens was received from the Spirit, because they would not have presumed to oppose the powers of this world unless the strength of the Holy Spirit had made them firm. For we know what kind of teachers of the holy Church they were before the coming of this Spirit, and we observe how great in strength they became after His coming. Certainly, this very pastor of the Church, at whose most sacred body we are seated, let the servant girl who was the doorkeeper, when questioned, tell how great was his weakness and how great his fear before the coming of the Spirit. For struck by the voice of one woman, while he feared to die, he denied the Life. And then Peter denied on earth, while the thief confessed on the cross. But let us hear what kind of man this person of such great fear became after the coming of the Spirit. A meeting of magistrates and elders takes place, and after being beaten the apostles are ordered not to speak in the name of Jesus: Peter responded with great authority: "We must obey God rather than men. And again: "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.
And they went rejoicing from the presence of the council, because they were counted worthy to suffer insults for the name of Jesus. Behold, Peter rejoices in beatings, who before was afraid at mere words. And he who previously feared when questioned by the voice of a servant girl, after the coming of the Holy Spirit, though beaten, tramples down the powers of rulers. It is fitting to raise the eyes of faith to the power of this craftsman, and to consider here and there the Fathers of the new and old testament. Behold, with these same eyes of faith opened, I gaze upon David, Amos, Daniel, Peter, Paul, Matthew, and I wish to consider what kind of craftsman this Holy Spirit is, but in my very consideration I fall short. For he fills a boy who plays the harp, and makes him a psalmist. He fills a herdsman shepherd picking sycamore figs, and makes him a prophet. He fills an abstinent boy, and makes him a judge of elders. He fills a fisherman, and makes him a preacher. He fills a persecutor, and makes him a teacher of the Gentiles. He fills a tax collector, and makes him an evangelist. O what a craftsman this Spirit is! There is no delay in learning whatever he wills. As soon as he touches the mind, he teaches, and merely to have touched is to have taught. For as soon as he illuminates the human soul, he transforms it;
he suddenly takes away what it was, and suddenly produces what it was not. Let us consider what kind of men our holy preachers were when this day found them, and what kind it made them. Certainly those who were sitting in one room out of fear of the Jews knew each one the language of their birth, and yet they did not presume to speak openly of Christ even in that language which they knew. The Spirit came, and in their mouths taught them through the diversity of tongues, while in their minds he strengthened them with authority. They began to speak of Christ in foreign tongues, who before were afraid to speak of him even in their own language. For the inflamed heart despised the torments of the body which it had feared before; it conquered the force of carnal dread through love of the Creator. And those who before had succumbed to their adversaries through fear now surpassed them in authority. He who raised them to the height of such eminence, what else should I say, except that he made the minds of earthly men into heavens? Consider, dearest brothers, after the incarnation of the only-begotten Son of God, what manner of solemnity this day is concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit. For just as that feast is honorable, so also is this one. In that feast, indeed, God remaining in himself took on man; in this one, men received God coming from above. In that feast, God was naturally made man;
in this one, men were made gods through adoption. If therefore we do not wish to remain carnal in death, let us love this life-giving Spirit, dearest brothers. But because the flesh does not know the spirit, perhaps someone may say to himself with carnal thinking: How am I able to love one whom I do not know? This we also concede, because the mind, intent upon visible things, does not know how to see the invisible. For it thinks of nothing except visible things, and even when it is not acting upon them, it draws their images inward; and while it lies among corporeal images, it cannot rise to incorporeal things. Hence it happens that the more familiarly it carries corporeal creation in its thought, the worse it fails to know the Creator. But since we cannot see God, we have something we can do, whereby a path may be made by which the eye of our understanding may come to him. Certainly, he whom we are in no way able to see in himself, we can now see in his servants. While we behold them doing wondrous things, it becomes certain to us that God dwells in their minds. In an incorporeal matter, let us draw a practice from corporeal things. For none of us is able to gaze upon the rising sun clearly by looking into its sphere, because our eyes, strained by its rays, are beaten back; but we look upon mountains illuminated by the sun, and we see that the sun has now risen.
Therefore, since we cannot see the Sun of Justice in himself, let us see the mountains illuminated by his brightness, namely the holy apostles, who shine forth with virtues and flash with miracles, whom the brightness of the risen Sun has flooded, and though he is invisible in himself, through them, as through illuminated mountains, he has shown himself visible to us. For the power of divinity in itself is like the sun in heaven; the power of divinity in human beings is the sun on earth. Therefore let us gaze upon the Sun of Justice on earth, whom we cannot see in heaven, so that while we walk by him on earth with unoffending foot of work, we may sometime lift our eyes to heaven to behold him. But our journey on earth is made with unoffending foot if God and neighbor are loved with an undivided mind. For neither is God truly loved without neighbor, nor is neighbor truly loved without God. Hence it is that, as we have already said in another sermon, the same Spirit is read to have been given to the disciples twice: first by the Lord while dwelling on earth, afterward by the Lord presiding from heaven. On earth, indeed, he is given that neighbor may be loved; from heaven, truly, that God may be loved.
But why first on earth, afterward from heaven, unless it is plainly given to understand that, according to John's voice, "He who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see? Therefore let us love our neighbor, brothers; let us love him who is near us, that we may be able to arrive at the love of him who is above us. Let the mind meditate on what it may offer to God in its neighbor, so that it may perfectly deserve to rejoice in God with its neighbor. Then we shall arrive at that joy of the heavenly company, of which we have now received the pledge of the Holy Spirit. Let us strive with all love toward that end, in which we shall rejoice without end. There is the holy fellowship of the citizens above; there is certain festivity; there is secure rest; there is true peace, which is no longer left to us but is given through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through all ages of ages. Amen.
Homily 31
Delivered to the people in the basilica of Saint Lawrence the martyr, on the Saturday of the Four Seasons of September.
Reading from the Holy Gospel According to Luke
At that time, Jesus was telling the crowds this parable: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the keeper of the vineyard: Behold, it is three years since I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down therefore, why does it even occupy the ground? But he answering, said to him: Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it, and put a basket of manure. And if indeed it bears fruit; but if not, in the future you shall cut it down. And he was teaching in their synagogue on the Sabbaths. And behold a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years, and she was bent over, and could not at all look upward. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to himself, and said to her: Woman, you are released from your infirmity. And he laid his hands upon her; and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God, etc. Our Lord and Redeemer speaks through His Gospel sometimes in words, sometimes in deeds; sometimes one thing in words and another in deeds; but sometimes the same thing in words as in deeds. For you have heard two things from the Gospel, brothers: the unfruitful fig tree and the bent woman, and compassion was bestowed upon both.
The one He told through a parable, the other He performed through an actual deed. But the unfruitful fig tree signifies the same thing as the bent woman, and the fig tree that was spared signifies the same as the woman made upright. The lord of the vineyard came to the fig tree three times and found no fruit at all, and the woman who was made upright had been bent for eighteen years. What is signified by this number of eighteen years is the same as what is conveyed by the lord of the vineyard coming to the unfruitful fig tree three times. Since, therefore, by setting forth these things in advance we have touched upon the whole summary, let us now discuss each point in order through the reading. Someone had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. What does the fig tree designate, if not human nature? What does the bent woman signify and declare, if not the same nature? Which was both well planted like the fig tree, and well made like the woman; but having fallen into fault by its own will, it preserves neither the fruit of good work nor the state of uprightness. For falling into sin by its own will, because it refused to bear the fruit of obedience, it lost the state of uprightness. Created in the likeness of God, while it did not persist in its dignity, it scorned to preserve what it had been when planted or created.
The lord of the vineyard came to the fig tree a third time, because he sought out the nature of the human race before the law, under the law, and under grace, by waiting, admonishing, and visiting. And he said to the keeper of the vineyard: Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. He came before the law, because through natural understanding he made known what each person should do toward his neighbor by his own example. He came in the law, because he taught by commanding. He came after the law through grace, because he showed the presence of his mercy by displaying it. But nevertheless he complains that in three years he found no fruit, because the minds of certain wicked people are neither corrected by the inspired natural law, nor instructed by precepts, nor converted by the miracles of his incarnation. What indeed is expressed by the keeper of the vineyard, except the order of those placed in authority? Who, while they preside over the Church, certainly bear the care of the Lord's vineyard. For Peter the apostle was the first keeper of this vineyard. We unworthy ones follow him, inasmuch as we labor for your instruction by teaching, entreating, and rebuking. But now we must hear with great fear what is said to the cultivator of the vineyard concerning the unfruitful tree: Cut it down; why does it even occupy the ground?
Each person according to his own measure, insofar as he holds a place in this present life, if he does not produce the fruit of good works, like an unfruitful tree occupies the ground, because in that place where he himself is, he also denies others the opportunity to work. But in this world any powerful person, if he does not have the fruit of good works, also presents an obstacle to others, because whoever is under him is oppressed by the example of his wickedness, as if by the shadow of his perversity. The unfruitful tree stands above, and below the barren ground lies. The shadow of the unfruitful tree thickens above, and the ray of the sun is by no means permitted to descend to the earth, because when any subjects observe the perverse examples of a perverse patron, they themselves also, remaining unfruitful, are deprived of the light of truth. And, pressed down by the shadow, they do not receive the warmth of the sun, because they remain cold toward God on account of that by which they are badly protected in this world. But concerning any such perverse and powerful person, God scarcely makes any further inquiry. For after he has lost himself, the only question to be asked is why he also oppresses others. Hence the lord of that same vineyard rightly says: Why does it even occupy the ground? For he occupies the ground who burdens the minds of others;
he occupies the ground who does not employ in good works the place that he holds. But nevertheless it is our duty to pray for such people. For let us hear what the vinedresser says: "Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it. What does it mean to dig around the fig tree, except to rebuke unfruitful minds? For every ditch is in the low ground. And certainly rebuke humbles the mind by showing it to itself. Therefore, as often as we correct someone for their sin, we dig around the unfruitful tree as if from the duty of cultivation. But after the digging, let us hear what is said: "And I will put a basket of dung. What is a basket of dung, except the memory of sins? For the sins of the flesh are called dung. Hence it is also said through the prophet: "The beasts have rotted in their dung. For the beasts to rot in their dung is for carnal people to end their lives in the stench of luxury. Therefore, as often as we rebuke a carnal mind for its sins, as often as we bring back to its memory the vices of the past, we pour out a basket of dung, as it were, to the unfruitful tree, so that it may recall the memory of the evils it has done and grow fat, as it were, from the stench toward the grace of compunction.
Therefore a basket of dung is placed at the root of the tree when the conscience of its depravity is touched by the memory of thought. And when the mind rouses itself through penitence to lamentation and reforms itself to the grace of good works, the root of the heart returns to fruitfulness of works as if by the touch of dung: it laments what it remembers having done, it is displeased with itself for what it recalls having been; it directs its intention against itself and kindles its spirit toward better things. Therefore from the stench the tree revives to fruitfulness, because from consideration of sin the soul raises itself to good works. And there are many who hear rebukes and yet scorn to return to penitence, and, unfruitful to God, stand green in this world. But let us hear what the vinedresser adds: "If indeed it bears fruit; but if not, you shall cut it down in the future. Because indeed one who does not wish to grow fat here toward fruitfulness through rebuke will fall there from where he can no longer rise through penitence; and he will be cut down in the future, although here he may seem to stand green without fruit. He was teaching in their synagogue on the Sabbaths. And behold, a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years.
A little earlier we have already said that the threefold coming of the Lord to the unfruitful fig tree is what the number of eighteen years signifies in relation to the bent woman. For on the sixth day man was made, and on that same sixth day all the works of the Lord were completed. Moreover, the number six multiplied in a triangle makes eighteen. Therefore, because man, who was made on the sixth day, did not wish to have perfect works, but stood weak before the law, under the law, and at the beginning of dawning grace, the bent woman was eighteen years. And she was bowed down, nor could she look upward at all. Every sinner thinking earthly thoughts, not seeking heavenly things, is unable to look upward, because while he follows lower desires, he is bent from the uprightness of his mind, and he always sees these things which he thinks about without ceasing. Return to your hearts, dearest brothers, always examine what you turn over in your thoughts at every hour. One thinks about honors, another about money, another about the extent of estates. All these things are below, and when the mind is entangled in such things, it is bent from the uprightness of its state. And because it does not rise up to heavenly desire, like the bent woman it can in no way look upward. It follows: When Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said to her: Woman, you are released from your infirmity.
And he laid his hand upon her, and immediately she was made straight. He called and raised her up, because he illuminated and aided her. He calls but does not raise up when indeed we are illuminated by his grace, but, our merits requiring it, we cannot be aided. For often we see what things ought to be done, but we do not fulfill this in deed. We strive and grow weak. The judgment of the mind perceives righteousness, but the strength of action succumbs to it, because indeed it is already part of the punishment of sin that good can be perceived through a gift, yet it happens that one is repelled by merit from that which is seen. For habitual fault binds the mind so that it can by no means rise to righteousness. It strives and falls, because where it willingly persisted for a long time, there also, though unwilling, it falls compelled. Well is it said of this our crookedness, as a type of the human race, through the Psalmist: I am bowed down and humiliated utterly. For having contemplated that man was created for gazing upon the heavenly light, but having been cast out on account of his sins, he carries the darkness of his own mind, does not seek heavenly things, attends to the lowest things, by no means desires celestial things, always turns earthly things over in his mind, and what he grieved concerning his race, he cried out in himself, saying: I am bowed down and humiliated utterly.
For losing the contemplation of heavenly things, if man thought only of the necessities of the flesh, he would be bowed down and humiliated, but nevertheless not utterly. Therefore he whom not only necessity casts down from higher thoughts, but also illicit pleasure prostrates, is not only bowed down but utterly bowed down. Hence another prophet says concerning unclean spirits: Who said to your soul, Bow down that we may pass over. For the soul stands upright when it desires heavenly things, and is by no means bent toward the lowest things. But when malign spirits see it standing in its uprightness, they cannot pass through it. For their passing through is to scatter unclean desires upon it. Therefore they say, Bow down that we may pass over, because if the soul does not cast itself down to desiring the lowest things, their perversity by no means prevails against it; and they cannot pass through her whom they fear standing rigid against them in heavenly intention. Therefore, brothers most dear, we do not give way to malign spirits within us when we desire earthly things, when we bend down toward temporal appetites. Let it shame us, then, to desire earthly things and to offer the backs of our minds to ascending adversaries. He who is bent always gazes upon the earth, and he who seeks the lowest things does not remember by what price he was redeemed. Hence also it is said through Moses that whoever is burdened with a hump should by no means be advanced to the priesthood.
And all of us who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ are made members of that same high priest. Whence also it is said to us through Peter: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood. But he who bears a hump always gazes at the lowest things. Therefore he is driven from the priesthood, because whoever is intent only on earthly things is himself a witness to himself that he is not a member of the high priest. Hence again, fish that do not have fins are forbidden from being eaten by the faithful people. For fish that have scale-fins are also accustomed to leap above the waters. What therefore is figured by finned fish except elect souls? These alone indeed pass into the body of the heavenly Church, who, supported by the fins of virtues, know how to leap through heavenly desire, so that they may reach toward things above through contemplation, although they fall back again into themselves from mortal flesh. If therefore we have now recognized the goods of the heavenly homeland, let it displease us, brothers most dear, that we are bent. Let the bent woman be placed before our eyes, and the unfruitful tree. Let us remember the evils we have done, let us send to the root of the heart a basket of dung, so that what was foul to us here through penance may then grow rich in the fruit of retribution. And if we cannot perform the highest works of virtue, God himself rejoices in our lamentation.
For from the very beginning of justice we will please him, we who punish the unjust things we have done. Nor will there be delay in weeping, because enduring joys will quickly wipe away passing tears. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through all ages of ages. Amen.
Homily 32
Delivered to the people in the basilica of Saints Processus and Martinianus, on the day of their feast.
Reading of the Holy Gospel According to Luke
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses himself and brings about his own destruction? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his majesty, and that of the Father, and of the holy angels. But I say to you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. Because our Lord and Redeemer came into the world as a new man, he gave new precepts to the world. For he set the newness of himself in opposition to our old life nourished in vices. For what did the old, what did the carnal man know except to hold onto his own things, to seize what belongs to others if he could, or to covet them if he could not? But the heavenly physician applies remedies that counteract each and every vice.
For just as in the art of medicine hot things are cured by cold and cold things by hot, so our Lord set forth teachings contrary to sins, so that he might command continence to the unchaste, generosity to the greedy, gentleness to the wrathful, and humility to the proud. Certainly when he set forth new commandments to those following him, he said: "Unless someone renounces all that he possesses, he cannot be my disciple. As if he were saying openly: You who through your old life covet what belongs to others, through the pursuit of a new way of life give away even your own things. But let us hear what he says in this reading: "Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself. There it is said that we should deny our possessions; here it is said that we should deny ourselves. And perhaps it is not difficult for a person to leave behind his possessions, but it is very difficult to leave behind himself. For it is a lesser thing to deny what one has, but it is a very great thing to deny what one is. To those coming to him, the Lord commanded that we renounce our possessions, because all of us who come to the contest of faith take up a struggle against evil spirits. But evil spirits possess nothing of their own in this world. Therefore we must wrestle naked against those who are naked.
For if someone clothed wrestles with someone naked, he is thrown to the ground more quickly because he has something by which he can be seized. For what are all earthly things except certain garments of the body? Therefore, whoever hastens to the contest against the devil should cast off his garments lest he be overcome. Let him possess nothing in this world by loving it; let him seek no pleasures of passing things, lest where he is covered according to his wish, he be seized for his fall from that very thing. Yet it is not enough to leave behind our possessions unless we also leave behind ourselves. What is it that we are saying: "Let us also leave behind ourselves"? For if we leave ourselves behind, where shall we go outside of ourselves? Or who is it that goes if he has abandoned himself? But we are one thing having fallen through sin, another thing as created by nature; one thing is what we have made ourselves, another is what we were made. Let us leave behind ourselves as we made ourselves by sinning, and let us remain ourselves as we were made through grace. For behold, if someone who was proud, having been converted to Christ, has become humble, he has left himself behind. If any lustful person has changed his life to continence, he has certainly denied what he was.
If any greedy person has now ceased to grasp at things and has learned to give away his own possessions who previously seized what belonged to others, without doubt he has left himself behind. He himself indeed remains by nature, but he is not himself by malice. For thus it is written: "Turn the wicked, and they shall not be. For the wicked when converted shall not be—not because they shall not exist at all in essence, but surely they shall not be in the guilt of wickedness. Therefore we leave ourselves behind, we deny ourselves, when we avoid what we were through oldness and strive toward that to which we are called through newness. Let us consider how Paul had denied himself, who said: "Yet I live, now not I. For that savage persecutor had been extinguished, and the devout preacher had begun to live. For if he himself were still that same person, he would certainly not be devout. But let him who denies that he lives say from where it is that he proclaims holy words through the teaching of truth. He immediately adds: "But Christ lives in me. As if he were saying openly: I indeed have been extinguished from myself because I do not live carnally; yet I have not died essentially because I live spiritually in Christ. Therefore let the Truth speak, let him say: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself. Because unless someone falls away from himself, he does not draw near to him who is above himself;
nor is he able to grasp what is beyond himself if he does not know how to sacrifice what he is. So seedlings of vegetables are transplanted so that they may flourish, and, if I may say so, they are uprooted so that they may grow. So seeds of things perish when mixed with the earth, so that in the renewal of their kind they may rise up more abundantly. For from where they seem to have lost what they were, from there they receive the ability to appear as what they were not. But he who now denies himself from vices must seek out the virtues in which he may grow. For when it was said: "Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself," it is immediately added: "And let him take up his cross daily, and follow me. For the cross is taken up in two ways: either when the body is afflicted through abstinence, or when the mind is troubled through compassion for one's neighbor. Let us consider how Paul had borne his cross in both ways, who said: "I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps while preaching to others I myself should become a castaway. Behold, in the affliction of the body we have heard of the cross of the flesh; let us now hear of the cross of the mind in compassion for one's neighbor. For he says: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?
Indeed the perfect preacher, in order to give an example of abstinence, carried the cross in his body. And because he drew upon himself the losses of another's weakness, he carried the cross in his heart. But because certain vices lie close to these very virtues, we must explain which vice besieges abstinence of the flesh and which besieges compassion of the mind. For vainglory often besieges abstinence of the flesh from nearby, because when thinness in the body and pallor in the face are observed, the revealed virtue is praised; and it pours itself outward all the more quickly, the more it appears to human eyes through the display of pallor. And it often happens that what is believed to be done for God's sake is done solely for human approval. This is well signified by that Simon who, found on the road, carries the Lord's cross under compulsion. For burdens belonging to another are carried under compulsion when something is done through the pursuit of vanity. Who then are designated by Simon, if not the abstinent and arrogant? They indeed afflict the flesh through abstinence, but they do not seek the fruit of abstinence within. Therefore Simon carries the Lord's cross under compulsion, because when he is not led to a good work by good will, a sinner performs the deed of a just man without fruit.
Hence the same Simon carries the cross but does not die, because the abstinent and arrogant indeed afflict the body through abstinence, but through the desire for glory they live to the world. False piety, however, often secretly besieges compassion of the soul, so that it sometimes drags it down even to condoning vices, whereas one ought not to exercise compassion toward faults, but zeal. For compassion is owed to the person, and rectitude to the vices, so that in one and the same person we both love the good that he was made and pursue the evils that he has done, lest while we carelessly remit faults, we seem not to have shown compassion through charity, but to have fallen through negligence. For he that will save his life shall lose it; and he that shall lose his life for my sake shall save it. Thus it is said to the faithful: He that will save his life shall lose it; and he that shall lose his life for my sake shall save it. As if it were said to the farmer: If you keep your grain, you lose it; if you sow it, you renew it. For who does not know that when grain is cast as seed, it perishes from sight, it fails in the earth? But from where it rots in the dust, from there it springs up green in renewal. Because indeed the holy Church has one time of persecution and another of peace, our Redeemer distinguishes these very times in his precepts.
For in time of persecution life must be laid down, but in time of peace those earthly desires that can more readily dominate must be broken. Hence it is now said: For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses himself and brings about his own ruin? When persecution from adversaries is absent, the heart must be guarded all the more vigilantly. For in time of peace, because it is permitted to live, it is also pleasing to pursue ambition. This greed is indeed well restrained if the very condition of the one pursuing is carefully considered. For why should he press on to gather, when the one who gathers cannot himself remain? Let each one therefore consider his course, and he will recognize that the little he has can suffice for him. But perhaps he fears that provisions will fail on this journey of life. The short way rebukes our long desires; much is carried in vain when the destination is near. Often moreover we overcome greed, but there still remains this obstacle: that we hold to the ways of righteousness with too little guardianship of perfection. For often we despise all things that are passing away, yet we are still hindered by the custom of human respect, so that we are not yet able to express in voice the righteousness we preserve in mind; and we neglect the face of God in defense of justice as much as we fear human faces against justice.
But to this wound also an appropriate remedy is added when the Lord says: He who shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he shall come in his majesty, and that of the Father, and of the holy angels. But behold, now people say to themselves: We no longer are ashamed of the Lord and His words, because we profess Him with open voice. To these I respond that in this Christian people there are some who confess Christ for the reason that they see everyone else is Christian. For if the name of Christ were not in such great glory today, the holy Church would not have so many who profess Christ. Therefore the voice of profession is not sufficient as proof of faith, when the profession of the generality defends it from shame. Yet there is a way for each person to examine himself, to prove himself truly in the confession of Christ: whether he is no longer ashamed of His name, whether with full strength of mind he has subdued human shame. Certainly in a time of persecution the faithful could be ashamed of being stripped of their possessions, cast down from positions of dignity, afflicted with beatings. But in a time of peace, because these things are absent from our persecutions, there is another way in which we are shown to ourselves. We often fear being despised by our neighbors, we disdain to tolerate verbal injuries;
if perhaps a quarrel arises with a neighbor, we are ashamed to make satisfaction first. For the carnal heart, while it seeks the glory of this life, rejects humility. And very often the very person who is angry desires to be reconciled with the one who disagrees with him, but is ashamed to go first to make satisfaction. Let us consider the deeds of the Truth, that we may see where the actions of our depravity lie. For if we are members of the supreme Head, we ought to imitate Him to whom we are joined. For what does Paul, that outstanding preacher, say as an example for our instruction? We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were exhorting through us; we beseech you for Christ's sake, be reconciled to God. Behold, by sinning we have created discord between ourselves and God, and yet God first sent His ambassadors to us, so that we ourselves who sinned might come to peace with God when asked. Therefore let human pride be ashamed, let anyone be confounded who does not first make satisfaction to his neighbor, when after our fault, so that we might be reconciled to Him, God Himself who was offended beseeches us through intervening ambassadors. He continues: "But I say to you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God, dearest brothers, is not always called the coming kingdom in sacred Scripture, but sometimes the present Church is so called. Hence it is written:
"The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of scandal. In that kingdom, indeed, there will be no scandals, where certainly the reprobate are not admitted. By this example it is understood that in this passage the kingdom of God refers to the present Church. And because some of the disciples were going to live in the body long enough to see the Church of God built and raised up against the glory of this world, it is now said as a consoling promise: "There are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. But when the Lord was giving such great precepts about the death that must be undergone, what need was there to come suddenly to this promise? If we consider carefully, we recognize with what great dispensation of love this is done. For to the inexperienced disciples something had to be promised even about the present life, so that they could be strengthened more firmly for the future. Thus to the Israelite people, about to be freed from the land of Egypt, the promised land was promised, and when they were to be called to heavenly gifts, they were persuaded by earthly promises. Why was this? So that while there was something they could receive nearby, they might then more faithfully believe what they could hear about from afar. For a carnal people, if they did not receive small things, would not believe in great things.
Therefore Almighty God, by granting earthly things, persuades toward heavenly things, so that by receiving what they could see, they might learn to hope for what they could not see at all; and they would become all the more firm regarding invisible things, inasmuch as visible promises supported them toward certainty of hope. Hence rightly also it is said through the Psalmist: "He gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the labors of the peoples, that they might keep his statutes and observe his law. So therefore in this passage, Truth speaking to the inexperienced disciples promises that the kingdom of God will be seen on earth, so that it might be more faithfully hoped for by them in heaven. From that very kingdom which we now see exalted in the world, let us hope for the kingdom which we believe is to be received in heaven. For there are some who are counted by the name of Christianity, but do not have the faith of Christianity. They judge that only visible things exist, they do not desire invisible things, because they do not even suspect that they exist. We stand at the bodies of the holy martyrs, my brothers. Would they have given their flesh over to death unless they were most certainly convinced that there was a life for which they ought to die? And behold, those who so believed shine forth with miracles.
For to their dead bodies the living sick come and are healed, perjurers come and are tormented by a demon, the demon-possessed come and are set free. How then do they live there where they live, if in so many miracles they live here where they are dead? I will tell you, brothers, a story brief in words but not small in merit, which I learned from certain devout elders who narrated it. In the time of the Goths there was a certain very religious matron who frequently came to the church of these martyrs. One day when she had come to pray as was her custom, upon leaving she found two monks standing there in pilgrim's garb. She believed them to be pilgrims and ordered that something be given to them as alms. But before her almoner could approach them to distribute the alms, they came closer to her and said: "You visit us now; we will seek you out on the day of judgment, and whatever we can, we will provide for you. Having said this, they vanished from her sight. Terrified, she returned to pray and poured herself out at great length in tears. And after this she became all the more persistent in prayer, the more certain she was of the promise.
But if, according to the words of Paul, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, we can no longer tell you to believe in the life to come, because behold, those who live in that life are visibly presented to human eyes. For what can be seen is better said to be known than believed. Therefore the Lord wished us to know the life to come rather than merely believe in it, since he visibly shows us that those whom he invisibly receives live with him. Therefore, dearest brothers, in the case of your judgment which you have before the strict Judge, make these your advocates; employ these as your defenders on the day of such great terror. Surely if some case of yours were to be heard tomorrow before a certain great judge, this entire day would be spent in thought, your brotherhood would seek an advocate, and would act with great prayers that a defender might come to you before so great a judge. Behold, the strict Judge Jesus is about to come; the terror of that great council of angels and archangels is brought forth. In that assembly our case is examined, and yet we do not now seek advocates whom we might have as defenders then. Our defenders the holy martyrs are present; they wish to be asked, and, so to speak, they seek to be sought. Therefore seek these as helpers of your prayer;
find these as protectors against your guilt, because He who judges wishes to be asked not to punish sinners. Hence He threatens wrath for so long a time, and yet mercifully waits. But may His mercy so restore us that it in no way render us negligent. May our sins so disturb us that our mind does not rush headlong into despair, because if we who presume also fear, and fearing also hope, we shall more quickly attain the eternal kingdom, through Him who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through all ages of ages. Amen.