Homilies on the Gospels, Book I
Homilies on the Gospels, Book I
continued
Homily 6: On the Dawn of the Nativity of the Lord
Luke 2
At that time the shepherds spoke to one another: Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made and shown to us, etc. When the Lord and Savior was born in Bethlehem, as the sacred history of the Gospel records, an angel of the Lord appeared with great light to the shepherds who were in the same region, keeping watch and guarding their flocks by night, declaring the rising of the Sun of righteousness upon the world not only by the heavenly voice of speech but also by the brightness of divine light. For nowhere in the entire series of the Old Testament do we find angels who appeared to the fathers with light, but this privilege was rightly reserved for the present time when a light arose in the darkness for the upright in heart, merciful and just is the Lord. To avoid the authority of one angel appearing small, after one taught the mystery of the new birth, immediately a multitude of heavenly hosts appeared, singing glory to God and also proclaiming peace to men, openly showing that through this birth men would be converted to the peace of one faith, hope, and love, and to the glory of divine praise. The shepherds mystically signify the teachers and rulers of the faithful souls. The night, during which they kept watch over their flock, indicates the dangers of temptations, from which all those who vigilantly keep watch do not cease to guard themselves and their subjects. And it is fitting that the Lord was born when shepherds were keeping watch over their flock. For He was born who says: I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (John 10). But the time also approached when this most good shepherd, having sent shepherds into the world, would call back his scattered sheep, which were wandering far and wide, to the ever-green pastures of heavenly life. He entrusted their care to the supreme shepherd: If you love me, feed my sheep (John 21). Explaining this more clearly, he said: Strengthen your brothers (Luke 22).
And it came to pass, as the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another: Let us go to Bethlehem and see this word that has come to pass, which the Lord has made and shown to us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. Those shepherds indeed hurried with joyful happiness to see what they had heard: and because they sought with ardent love, they deserved to find immediately the Savior whom they sought. But also the shepherds of the intellectual flocks, indeed all the faithful ought to show with their words and deeds how with the diligence of the mind they should seek Christ. Let us go, they say, to Bethlehem and see this word which has come to pass. Let us also go, most dear brothers, in our thoughts to Bethlehem, the city of David, and let us with love recall that the Word was made flesh in it, and let us celebrate His incarnation with fitting honors. Let us go, with carnal desires cast aside, with the full desire of the mind to the heavenly Bethlehem, that is, the house of the living bread not made by hands, but eternal in the heavens, and let us with love recall that the Word was made flesh. He ascended there in the flesh, there He sits at the right hand of God the Father. Let us follow Him there with all the diligence of virtues, and let us procure with earnest chastisement of the heart and body, so that whom they saw crying in the manger, we may deserve to see reigning on the throne of the Father.
And let us see, they say, this word that has come to pass. What a right and pure confession of the holy faith, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God! This word born of the Father, was not made, for God is not a creature. In this divine birth, He could not be seen by men; but so that He could be seen, the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Let us therefore see, they say, this Word that has been made, because before it was made, we could not see it. This the Lord has made and shown to us, that the Lord caused to be incarnate, and through this made visible to us. And they came hastening and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. The shepherds came hastening and found God born as man, along with the attendants of His birth. Let us hasten too, my brothers, not by the steps of our feet but by the progress of good works to see that same glorified humanity with His attendants, rewarded with the worthy recompense of their service; let us hasten to see Him shining in the divine majesty of the Father and His own. Let us hasten, I say, for such great blessedness is not to be sought with idleness and sloth, but the footsteps of Christ are to be followed zealously. For He Himself desires to help our course with His hand extended, and delights to hear from us: Draw us after you, we will run in the fragrance of your ointments. Therefore, let us more quickly follow with the steps of virtues, so that we may merit to attain. Let no one delay in turning to the Lord, let no one defer from day to day, praying to Him in all things and before all things, that He may direct our steps according to His word, and that no injustice may have dominion over us.
Seeing this, they recognized concerning the word which had been spoken to them about this child. And we, dearly beloved brothers, let us, for now, earnestly perceive with pious faith and hasten to embrace with full love the things that have been spoken to us about our Savior, the true God and man, so that we may be able to grasp them with the vision of perfect knowledge in the future. For this alone is the true life of the blessed, not only of humans but also of angels, to perpetually behold the face of their Creator, which the Psalmist ardently longed for, who said: "My soul has thirsted for the living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?" (Psalm 42). He indicated that his desire could not be satisfied by any abundance of earthly things, saying: "I will be satisfied when your glory is manifested" (Psalm 17). Truly, because not the idle and sluggish, but those who labor in works of virtue, are worthy of divine contemplation, he carefully prefaced: "But I shall appear before you with justice." Therefore, the shepherds, seeing, recognized concerning the word that had been spoken to them about Christ, because the vision of God is knowledge of Him, and this is the sole blessed life of man, the very man himself saying and testifying, who, commending us to the Father, says among other things: "And this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17).
And all who heard marveled at those things which were spoken by the shepherds to them. The shepherds did not conceal in silence the secrets they had divinely learned, but told them to whomever they could; for indeed the spiritual shepherds of the Church are especially ordained for this, that they may proclaim the mysteries of the Word of God and show to their listeners the wondrous things they have learned in the Scriptures. Furthermore, it is not only the shepherds, bishops, priests, and deacons, or even the heads of monasteries, who should be understood, but also all the faithful who undertake the guardianship of their own little household; they are rightly called shepherds, insofar as they watch over their own household with diligent vigilance. And whoever among you presides over at least one or two brothers with daily governance, should fulfill the duty of shepherd. For as far as it suffices, they are commanded to feed these with the feasts of the word: indeed every one of you, brothers, who even believes themselves to live a private life, holds the office of shepherd and feeds a spiritual flock, and keeps vigil over it by night, if he gathers to himself a multitude of good deeds and pure thoughts, endeavors to govern them with just moderation, nourish them with the heavenly pastures of the Scriptures, and to guard against the snares of unclean spirits with vigilant zeal.
But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart. Mary, preserving the laws of virgin modesty, chose not to reveal to anyone the secrets of Christ that she knew, but reverently waited for Him to divulge them when He wished and how He wished. Meanwhile, she diligently pondered these same secrets with a silent mouth but a vigilant heart. And this is what is meant by "pondering them in her heart. She compared what she saw happening with what she had read was to happen. For she saw herself conceived by the Holy Spirit in Nazareth, from the lineage of David, with the Son of God. She had read in the prophet: "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him. (Isaiah 11) She also read: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. (Micah 5:2) She saw that she had given birth in Bethlehem to the ruler of Israel, who is eternal God born from the Father before the ages; she saw that as a virgin she had conceived and borne a Son, and that she had called his name Jesus. She had read in the prophets: "Behold, a virgin will conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14) She had read:
"The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib. She saw the Lord placed in a manger, where ox and donkey came to be fed. She remembered what the angel had said to her: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35) She had read that the manner of His birth could only be known by angelic revelation, as Isaiah said: "Who can speak of his descendants? (Isaiah 53:8) She had read: "And you, O Tower of the Flock, the fortified stronghold of Daughter Zion, the former dominion will be restored to you; kingship will come to Daughter Jerusalem. (Micah 4:8) She heard that the angelic hosts, which are the daughters of the heavenly city, appeared to the shepherds in a place that from ancient times was called the Tower of the Flock, and is one mile to the east of Bethlehem, where even now the monuments of those shepherds are shown in a church. She knew that the Lord had come in the flesh, to whom belongs one and eternal power with the Father, who would give a kingdom to the Church, that is, the daughter of the heavenly Jerusalem. Therefore, Mary compared what she had read would happen with what she already knew had happened: yet she did not speak of these things with her mouth, but kept them closed in her heart.
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told to them. Let us also, most beloved brothers, learn from the contemplation of the Lord's plan, by which He deigned to mercifully come to our aid, to always turn back giving thanks for His benefits. For if they, having known only His birth, returned glorifying and praising God in all they had heard and seen, how much more ought we, who have come to know the entire series of His incarnation, who have been imbued with His sacraments, glorify and praise Him in all things not only with words but also with deeds; nor ever forget that God was born as man so that by being reborn He could recreate us in the image and likeness of His divinity: for He was baptized in water, that He might fertilize the streams of water for the washing away of all our iniquities; He was tempted in the desert, that by overcoming the tempter He might grant us also the skill and strength to conquer; He died, that He might destroy the dominion of death; He rose again and ascended into heaven, that He might give us the hope and example of rising from the dead and reigning perpetually in the heavens. For each of these things, let us, returning to the contemplation of His most pious plan, glorify and praise God Himself and our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, for all the ages of ages. Amen.
Homily 7: On the Lord's Nativity
John 1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, etc. Because we have recognized the temporal birth of the mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, which took place on this very day, as manifested by the holy words of the evangelists, namely Matthew and Luke, it is also fitting to scrutinize the sayings of the blessed evangelist John about the eternity of the Word, that is, his divinity, in which he remains always equal to the Father. John, through his unique privilege of chastity, deserved to grasp and simultaneously reveal the mystery of his divinity more profoundly than other writers of divine Scripture. For it is not in vain that he is said to have reclined upon the breast of the Lord Jesus at the supper, but this typifies that he drank more excellently than the others from the holiest fountain of the wisdom of that same breast. Hence he is deservedly compared to the flying eagle in the figure of the four animals. Indeed, the eagle is accustomed to fly higher than all birds and to fix its gaze more brilliantly than all living creatures upon the rays of the sun. And the other evangelists, as it were, walk on earth with the Lord, adequately describing his temporal generation and deeds and saying little of his divinity; but this one, as it were, flies to heaven with the Lord.
By recounting very little about his temporal deeds, he more sublimely recognized and more clearly contemplated the eternal power of his divinity, through which all things were made, mentally soaring and observing directly, and handed down to us in writing for our understanding. Therefore, the other evangelists describe Christ born in time, while John testifies that he was already in the beginning, saying: "In the beginning was the Word. The others recall that he suddenly appeared among men, while he declares that he was always with God, saying: "And the Word was with God. The others say that he was a true man, while he confirms that he is truly God, saying: "And the Word was God. The others describe him as living temporally among men, while he shows him as remaining with God from the beginning, saying: "He was in the beginning with God. The others recount the great deeds he performed as a man, while he reveals that God the Father made every visible and invisible creature through him, saying: "All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made. And beautifully, blessed John at the beginning of his Gospel sublimely instructs the faithful about the divinity of the Savior, and powerfully surpasses the perfidiousness of heretics. For there were heretics who said: "If Christ was born, there was a time when he was not. He refutes them with his first words when he says:
In the beginning was the Word. He did not say, In the beginning the Word began to be, but in the beginning was the Word: so that he might show that the Word was not born in time, but was already existing in the origin of times, and thus was born of the Father without any beginning of time, according to what he Himself speaks in Proverbs: The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways, before He did anything from the beginning, from eternity I was established (Prov. VIII). There were also heretics who, denying the three persons of the holy Trinity, said: The same God is the Father when He wills; when He wills, He is the Son; when He wills, He is the Holy Spirit; yet He is one and the same. Refuting their error, he adds: And the Word was with God. For if one was with another, there are certainly two, the Father and the Son, and not one. The same is now the Father, now the Son, now also the Holy Spirit: as if the nature of the divine substance is changeable, whereas the apostle James most clearly says: With whom there is no change, nor shadow of change. (James I). There were also some authors of wicked doctrine, who, confessing that Christ was only a man, did not believe Him to be God at all: whom he strongly expresses (or oppresses), when he says:
And the Word was God. There were others who thought He was God indeed, but made God from the time of the incarnation, not eternal, born of the Father before the ages. Hence, it is remembered that one of such people said: I do not envy Christ made God, because I also, if I wish, can become like Him. And the evangelist refutes their wicked opinion when he says, This was in the beginning with God. That is, this Word, which is God, did not begin in time, but was God with God in the beginning. There were also enemies of the truth who did not deny that Christ existed before His birth from the Virgin, yet did not believe He was born of the Father as God, but made by the Father, and therefore lesser than the Father, because a creature. The Gospel speech also condemns these, which says:
All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made. For if nothing in creation was made without him, it clearly follows that he is not a creature through whom all creatures were made. The evangelist plainly teaches that creation, made indeed in time, was always ordained in the eternal wisdom of the Creator as to when and what kind of creation it would be. And this is what he says: What was made, in him was life. That is, what appeared in time, whether living or lacking life, all existed in the spiritual reason of the maker as if it always lived and lives. Not because what was created is co-eternal with the Creator, but because the reason of his will, in which he has eternally had and has what and when he creates, how he governs the created so that it remains, to what end he leads each created thing, is co-eternal with him. Thus follows:
And life was the light of men. By this word it is clearly taught that this very reason of life, through which all things were ordered and governed, illuminates not every creature, but only the rational one so that it can gain wisdom. For humans, who were made in the image of God, can perceive wisdom, animals cannot. But even any human who is animalistic does not perceive the things of the Spirit of God. Hence, it rightly follows that when he said: And life was the light of men, he added, And of those who, by distancing themselves far from the honor of human condition, are compared to foolish beasts and have become like them, thus they are rightly deprived of the light of truth. And the light, he says, shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not comprehended it. For the light of men is Christ, who illuminates, by his presence of knowledge, all the hearts of men that deserve to be enlightened. The darkness, however, are the foolish and wicked, whose blind hearts the light of eternal wisdom clearly recognizes for what they are, although they cannot at all grasp the rays of the same light through understanding: just as if some blind person were bathed in the sunlight, yet cannot see the sun, whose light bathes him. But divine compassion has not wholly disregarded such people; rather, it has offered them the remedy of salvation, by which they might come to see the light. For the same invisible light, the same wisdom of God, assumed flesh, in which it could be seen, appearing in the form of man and speaking to men, gradually, through purified faith, leading their hearts to the knowledge of its divine vision. Before him was sent a man of great merit, whose testimony would prepare all to hear, as soon as it appeared, the wisdom of God itself, to see the very sun of righteousness, now covered with the cloud of the body; that is, to see and hear the man who was God, full of grace and truth.
There was, he says, a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He did not say, that all might believe in him, for cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm (Jeremiah XVII): but that all might believe through him, that is, that by his testimony they might believe in the light which they had not yet known how to see, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ, who testifies of himself: I am the light of the world: he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John VIII). He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. And indeed holy men are rightly called light, as the Lord says to them: You are the light of the world (Mt. V), and the apostle Paul: You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord (Eph. V). But there is a great difference between the light that is illuminated and the light that illuminates; between those who receive the light by participation in the true light so that they may shine, and the perpetual light itself, which not only shines in itself, but also by its presence is sufficient to enlighten whoever it touches. Compared to the true light, not only are any of the least elect, but even John himself, than whom no greater has risen among those born of women, asserted not to be light, to show that Christ is not what he was thought to be. For it is written: He was a burning and shining lamp (John V). Burning with faith and love, shining with word and action. The grace of light to pour into sinners belongs to him alone of whom it is said:
The true light which enlightens everyone was coming into the world. Everyone, that is, who is illuminated either by natural intellect or by divine wisdom. For just as no one can be from themselves, so no one can be wise from themselves, but by that one who illuminates, of whom it is written: All wisdom is from the Lord God (Ecclus. II). The evangelist describes both his natures, divine, in which he always remains whole everywhere, and human, in which he appeared born in time and included in a place, saying: He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. For he was in the world, and the world was made through him, because he was God, because he was wholly present everywhere, governing by the presence of his majesty without labor, and holding together without burden what he made. And the world did not know him, because the light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. By 'world' in this place he means those men deceived by the love of the world and clinging to the creature, turned away from knowing the majesty of their Creator. He came unto his own, because in the world, which he made through divinity, he appeared born through humanity: he came unto his own, because in the Jewish people he deigned to be incarnate, whom he had united to himself by special grace above other nations. Therefore, he was in the world, and came into the world. He was in the world through divinity, he came into the world through incarnation. To come or to go belongs to humanity, to remain and to be belongs to divinity. But let us see what follows:
He came unto his own, and his own received him not. For those who did not know him creating and governing all things in the power of his deity, did not want to receive him shining with miracles in the weakness of the flesh. And what is graver, his own did not receive him, namely, the men whom he himself created. The Jews, whom he had chosen as his peculiar people, to whom he had revealed the mystery of his knowledge, whom he had glorified by the wondrous acts of their fathers, to whom he had granted the doctrine of his law, from whom he had promised to be incarnated, and in whom he showed himself incarnate as he had promised, they for the most part refused to receive him coming. For not all refused, otherwise none would be saved. But now many have received him through faith from both peoples, of whom the evangelist following insinuates saying:
As many as received Him, He gave them the power to become the sons of God, to those who believe in His name. Let us consider, dearest brothers, how great is the grace of our Redeemer, how great is the multitude of His sweetness. The only one born from the Father did not want to remain alone; He descended to earth where He might acquire brothers for Himself to whom He could give the kingdom of His Father: God was born from God, and He did not want to remain only the Son of God; He also deigned to become the son of man, not losing what He was, but assuming what He was not, so that by this means He could transfer men into sons of God and make them co-heirs of His glory: so that what He always had by nature, they might begin to have by grace. Let us consider how great is the power of faith, by whose merit the power is given to men to become the sons of God. Hence it is well written, Because the just man lives by faith (Hab. II). For the just man lives by faith, not the faith that is only professed by the lips, but that which works through love; otherwise, faith without works is dead in itself. Let no one despise himself; let no one despair of his own salvation: let us all run, each one of us, so that we who were far away may deserve to come near by the blood of Christ.
Let us see what is said, Because as many as received Him, He gave them the power to become the sons of God. As many as, he says, received Him: For God is not a respecter of persons, but in every nation, he who fears God and works righteousness is acceptable to Him (Acts X). And in what order believers might become the sons of God, and how much this generation differs from the carnal one, the evangelist subsequently designates. Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. For our carnal generation of each individual took its origin from blood, that is, from the nature [alternative, seed] of male and female, from the union of marriage: but the spiritual one is administered by the grace of the Holy Spirit, which the Lord distinguishing from the carnal said: Unless one is born of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (John III). What is born of the flesh is flesh; and what is born of the spirit is spirit, so that they may be made partakers of His virtue.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Which is to say: And the Son of God was made man, and dwelt among men. For Scripture is accustomed sometimes to designate the whole man by the term soul, sometimes by the term flesh. By soul indeed, as it is written: For Jacob went down into Egypt with seventy souls (Gen. XLVI); by flesh, as it is again written: And all flesh shall see the salvation of God (Luke III). For neither could souls descend into Egypt without bodies, nor could flesh see anything without the soul; but here by soul the whole man is signified, there by flesh. So therefore in this place where it is said: And the Word was made flesh, nothing else should be understood than if it were said: God was made man, by putting on flesh and soul; so that just as each one of us consists of flesh and soul as one man, so Christ from the time of the incarnation consists of flesh [alternative, flesh of divinity] and soul as one man: God from eternity existing eternally as He was, the man assumed in time into the unity of His person as true, which He had not.
And we saw his glory, the glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. The glory of Christ which men could not see before the incarnation, they saw after the incarnation, beholding the humanity resplendent in miracles, and understanding the divinity lying hidden within, especially those who were deemed worthy to observe his brightness before the passion, transfigured on the holy mountain, with a voice descending to him from such magnificent glory: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Mt. XVII): and after the passion, with the glory of his resurrection and ascension being beheld, they were wonderfully refreshed with the gift of his Spirit; by all of which they clearly understood that such glory was not suitable for any saint, but only for that man who was the only begotten in divinity from the Father. And what follows: Full of grace and truth. Full of grace was the same man Christ Jesus, to whom it was given by a singular gift beyond other mortals, that immediately from the time he was conceived in the womb of the virgin, and began to be man, he was truly God; hence also the same glorious ever-virgin Mary is rightly to be believed and confessed not only as the mother of the man Christ, but also of God. The same was full of truth, manifestly because of the divinity of the Word, which graciously assumed that uniquely chosen man, with whom he was one person in Christ, without changing any part of his divine substance into making the nature of man, as heretics claim; but remaining with the Father, assuming all that he was, taking upon himself the entire nature of true man from the seed of David, which he did not have. Hence, most dear brothers, it is necessary that we who today with annual devotion recite the human birth of our Redeemer, embrace with continuous and always love both his divine and human nature. The divine, through which we were created when we were not; the human, through which we were recreated when we were lost. And indeed the divine power of our Creator was sufficient to recreate us without assuming humanity; but the human weakness of the same our Redeemer could not without assuming it, and having divinity dwelling and working through it, recreate us.
And thus the Word became flesh, that is, God became man, and dwelt among us, so that by living with us in the known form of a man, conversing with us, instructing us by speaking to us, offering us the way of life, he could battle against the enemy for us, and by dying and rising again destroy our death: through the coeternal divine nature with the Father, he might inwardly raise us to divine things by vivifying us, grant us remission of sins together with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and after the perfecting of good works, not only bring us to see the glory of his glorified humanity, but also show us the immutable essence of his divine majesty, in which he lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit through all ages of ages. Amen.
Homily 8: On the Birthday of Saint John the Baptist
John 21
At that time Jesus said to Peter, Follow me. Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His chest at the supper and said: Lord, who is the one who will betray you? etc. The reading of the Holy Gospel which was read to us, my brothers, ought to be considered by us with so much greater attention to each word, as it overflows with the great sweetness of heavenly grace. For the most blessed evangelist and apostle John commends to us the privilege of special love, by which he deserved to be honored more than the others by the Lord: he commends the testimony of the evangelical account, which, supported by divine truth, no believer is allowed to doubt: he commends the peaceful dissolution of his flesh, which he perceived with the Lord visiting him in a special way. But in order that we may be able to consider the beginnings of this perfect reading, it is pleasing to briefly attend to the earlier parts. The Lord appeared after the resurrection to seven disciples, among whom were Peter and John, who had labored in vain fishing all night, and standing on the shore, he filled their nets with a large multitude of fish, and soon invited them, having come to land, to breakfast, and during breakfast, he asked Peter for the third time if he loved him; and to the third confession of love, because he had denied him three times, he entrusted him three times with feeding his sheep: and then, because he would reach martyrdom on the cross for the pastoral care of those same sheep, that is, the faithful souls, he intimated, saying:
Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish. In the stretching out of the hands, he designated that he would be crowned with martyrdom through the death of the cross; in the girding by another, that he would be bound by the persecutor; in the leading where he did not wish, that he would suffer the torments of passion against the will of human frailty. But lest the foretold passion of the cross from the Lord should seem heavy to Peter, he immediately sought to alleviate it by his own example, so that the torment of martyrdom would be the lighter, the more he would remember to receive a sentence of death similar to his Redeemer. For after he indicated to him by what death he would glorify God, he immediately adds what we heard at the beginning of this reading.
And he says to him: Follow me. As if to say openly: Since I did not fear the sudden punishment of the cross for your redemption first, why do you dread to suffer the cross for the confession of my name? You will be glorified with a more illustrious palm of martyrdom because in earning this you follow the path of the master. Now indeed the evangelist does not add what the Lord and the disciples did after these words, but it is nevertheless implied from what he adds, Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following. It is clear that when he said to Peter, Follow me, that is, imitate me by enduring the cross, he rose from the place of the feast and began to depart. Peter followed him even with his steps, desiring to fulfill what he heard, Follow me. The beloved disciple whom Jesus loved also followed. For he did not consider himself to be excluded from following Christ, who knew that he was embraced by Christ with no lesser grace of love. Nor is it unbelievable that both disciples followed the Lord's steps with their physical steps, for they had not yet understood what it meant when he commanded Peter [or, to Peter] to follow him. However, it is known to your fraternity who that disciple whom Jesus loved was, namely John himself, whose birthday feast we celebrate today, who wrote this Gospel, and therefore preferred to indicate his person by the signs of events, rather than by his own name.
However, Jesus loved him not uniquely to the exclusion of the others, but more familiarly above the others whom he loved, made worthy of greater affection by the special prerogative of chastity. For he proves that he loves all indeed, to whom he speaks before his passion: As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love (John XV). But he loves this one above all, who, chosen by him as a virgin, remained a virgin forever. For histories record that he called him from the weddings when he wanted to marry; and therefore, because he turned him away from carnal desire, he gave him the sweeter gift of his own love. Finally, dying on the cross, he commended his mother to this one, so that a virgin might care for a virgin, and after his death and resurrection ascending into heaven, there would not be lacking to his mother a son, whose chaste life would care for her with chaste service. Blessed John also gives another sign of his person, adding: Who also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, who is it that will betray you? How this happened, earlier parts of this Gospel show more fully; because indeed at the supper, which the Savior had with the disciples before his passion, in which he washed their feet, and handed over the mysteries of his body and blood to be celebrated, that disciple whom he loved reclined upon his breast.
And when he had said to them, Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me, that disciple responded, indicating to Peter to ask and say to him, Lord, who is it? The Lord said [Or, At], it is he whom I shall give the dipped bread. But that disciple who reclined upon the master's breast, was not only a sign of present affection, but also of the mystery of the future. For the Gospel that the same disciple was to write was already foreshadowed, which would comprehend more fully and loftily the secrets of divine majesty than the other pages of sacred Scripture. For in the breast of Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, he deservedly reclines upon his breast whom he endowed with the singular gift of greater wisdom and knowledge. For we know the other evangelists spoke more of the miracles of our Savior, fewer of his divinity: but John, writing very little of human acts, rather devoted himself to explaining the divine mysteries, clearly implying how great a flow of heavenly doctrine he had drawn from the breast of Jesus, which he expressed to us.
When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about him?" Because blessed Peter had heard that he was to glorify God by suffering on the cross, he also wished to know about his brother and fellow disciple, by what kind of death he himself would pass into eternal life. Jesus said to him, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me. He said, that he did not wish him to be perfected by the suffering of martyrdom, but to wait for the last day without the violence of a persecutor, when He Himself, coming, would receive him into the abode of eternal happiness. And what is that to you? Just remember that you should follow me by undergoing the suffering of the cross. Indeed, the brethren at that time interpreted the Lord's response as if John would never die. But John himself took care to explain that it should not be understood in this way, who, having remarked that this saying went out among the brothers, that the disciple would not die, carefully added and said: "And Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, 'If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?'" Therefore, it should not be thought that the disciple did not die in the flesh, because neither did the Lord predict this about him. And the Psalmist said: "What man can live and not see death? (Psalm 89). It should rather be understood that, while the other disciples of Christ were perfected by suffering, he awaited in the peace of the Church for the coming of his calling. This is what the Lord said:
"If I want him to remain until I come," not that he did not endure many labors and pressures of evils for the Lord beforehand, but because he completed his old age in peace, having founded the churches of Christ through Asia far and wide. For in the Acts of the Apostles, he is also found to have been whipped along with the other apostles, when they went away rejoicing from the presence of the council, because they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus. And, thrown into a vat of boiling oil by Emperor Domitian, as narrated in ecclesiastical history, he yet emerged as unscathed, protected by divine grace, as he was free from the corruption of carnal desire. Not long afterward, the same prince exiled him to the island of Patmos due to his unstoppable perseverance in preaching the gospel. Though deprived of human comfort there, he was frequently consoled by divine visions and conversations: hence, on the same island, he wrote down the Apocalypse by his own hand, which the Lord revealed to him about the present or future state of the Church. Thus, it is clear that the promise that he would remain until the Lord came does not pertain to him living in the world without the toil of struggle, but rather that he would pass out of the world without the pain of suffering.
For, as we find in the writings of the Fathers, when he knew that the day of his departure was near, exhausted by long old age, having summoned his disciples, giving them final exhortations and celebrating Mass, he bid them farewell: then, descending into the grave he had dug for himself, and having offered a prayer, he was placed with his fathers, found as free from the pain of death as from the corruption of the flesh. And thus, the truthful sentence of the Savior was fulfilled: that he wished him to remain until He Himself came. Moreover, we can mystically understand in the things predicted by the Lord about Peter and John, and what happened in them, the two lives of the Church in which she is exercised at present: namely, the active and the contemplative life, of which the active life is the common way of living for the people of God. However, to the contemplative life, very few ascend, eminent after the resurrection of holy action. For active life is for the diligent servant of Christ to persist in just labors, first keeping himself unspotted from this world, restraining mind, hand, tongue, and other members of the body from every act of wrongful temptation, and perpetually subjecting them to divine services.
Then also addressing the needs of his neighbor according to his abilities, providing food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the cold, receiving the needy and the wandering into the house, visiting the sick, burying the dead, delivering the oppressed from the hand of the stronger, protecting the poor and needy from their robbers; but also showing the way of truth to those in error, and dedicating himself to the services of brotherly love, and even contending for justice unto death. But the contemplative life is when someone, having been taught by long practice of good action, fortified by the sweetness of prolonged prayer, accustomed by the frequent contrition of tears, learns to be free from all the affairs of the world, and to focus the eye of the mind on love alone, and to begin to taste ardently in the present life the joy of everlasting beatitude which he is to experience in the future; and sometimes also, as far as is permitted to mortals, sublimely to soar in the contemplation of the rapture of the mind. This contemplative life of divine speculation most especially embraces those who, after long preliminary training in monastic virtue, know how to live secluded from men, having a mind freer to meditate upon heavenly things as they are separated from earthly disturbances. For indeed, as we have said, the active life proposes to be entered upon not only by monks in the monastery but by the entire people of God in general.
Both apostles, namely Peter and John, while placed among men, were perfect in both lives because of the summit of their excellence in grace, yet one life is designated by Peter and the other by John. For in what the Lord says to Peter, "You will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish to go," the perfection of the active life is expressed, which is usually tested by the fire of temptations. Whence He says elsewhere more clearly: "Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice's sake. Fittingly he adds, saying: "Follow Me," because undoubtedly, according to Peter's own words, Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps. But what He says about John, "So I want him to remain until I come," indicates the state of contemplative virtue, which is not to be ended by death like the active life, but is to be perfectly completed with the Lord coming after death. For indeed, active labor ceases with death, going to receive the eternal reward after death. Who in that life gives bread to the hungry, where no one is hungry? Who gives water to the thirsty, where no one thirsts? Who buries the dead, where the land is of the living? Who performs other works of mercy, where no one is miserable? There is therefore no labor of action there, but only the perpetual fruit of past action remains.
The contemplative happiness, which begins here, is perfected endlessly there, when the presence of the heavenly citizens and of the Lord Himself will be seen not through a glass nor in a riddle, as now, but face to face. Whence aptly about it, under the figure of the disciple whom He loved, and who leaned on His bosom, the Lord says: "So I want him to remain until I come. As if He openly says: I do not want the taste of the sweetness of contemplation, which I especially love in my saints, those hoping in the protection of my wings, those made drunk with the abundance of my house, to end with the condition of death like the laborious use of action, but after death to be more sublimely completed by my appearing and bringing them into the sight of my majesty. This is that disciple who testifies about these things and wrote these things. And we know that his testimony is true. Now clearly blessed John designates himself by office, which he avoids designating by name. However, it should not be passed by what is said: He who testifies about these things and wrote these things. Indeed, he bore testimony by preaching the word of God, he bore testimony by writing, he bore testimony again in teaching the same things he had written: he also testifies now by the Gospel, which he described for the churches to be read, by explaining. From the time of the Lord's passion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven until the last times of the principate of Domitian, over about sixty-five years, he preached the word of God without any written aid. But when he was sent into exile by Domitian, who was the second persecutor of Christians after Nero, heretics burst into the Church, like wolves into the sheepfolds deserted by the shepherd, Marcion, Cerinthus, and Ebion, and other Antichrists, who denied that Christ existed before Mary, tarnished the simplicity of the evangelical faith with perverse doctrine.
But when he, after the death of Domitian, permitted by the pious prince Nerva, returned to Ephesus, he was compelled by almost all the bishops of Asia at that time and the delegations of many churches to speak more deeply about the coeternal divinity of Christ with the Father, because in the writings of the three evangelists, namely Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they seemed to have sufficient testimony about his humanity and the things he performed as a man. To this, he responded that he would not do otherwise unless all in common would fast and pray to the Lord, so that he might be able to write worthily. And having done this, instructed by revelation and inebriated with the grace of the Holy Spirit, he dispelled all the darkness of the heretics with the light of the unveiled truth. "In the beginning," he said, "was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And making his entire speech similar to the beginnings, he taught our Lord Jesus Christ with very clear assertion, both true man, truly made from man temporally, and also true God, truly born from God the Father eternally, truly always existing with the Father and the Holy Spirit, indeed he revealed the secrets of divine truth and true divinity as no other mortal was permitted. And this privilege was rightly reserved for the virgin, so that he himself might reveal the mysteries of the incorruptible Word with an incorrupt heart and body.
He himself also took care to show how no one should doubt the truth of his words, who having said, "This is the disciple who testifies about these things and wrote these things," immediately added, "And we know that his testimony is true. Therefore, because we also know with the other faithful that his testimony is true, let us strive in every way to understand rightly by faith, and to practice rightly by action what he taught, in order to reach the eternal gifts which he promised, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.
Homily 9: On the Feast of the Holy Innocents
Matthew 2
At that time, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, saying: Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, etc. The sacred reading of the Gospel just recited to us, dearest brothers, is about the precious death of Christ's innocent martyrs, in which nevertheless the precious death of all Christ's martyrs is foreshadowed. For the fact that infants were killed signifies that through the merit of humility, one comes to the glory of martyrdom, and because unless a person is converted and becomes like a little child, they cannot give their soul for Christ. That they were killed in Bethlehem and in all its borders shows that not only in Judea, where the origin of the Church began, but also in all the borders of that same Church, wherever it has spread throughout the world, there will be persecutions by the wicked, and the patience of the pious is to be crowned. They who were killed from two years old and under signify those perfected in doctrine and action; they who were killed below that age indicate the simple or unlearned, yet having steadfast constancy in true faith. That they indeed were killed, but Christ, who was sought, escaped alive, implies that although the bodies of martyrs can be killed by the impious, Christ, for whom the whole persecution rages, cannot be taken away from them, either while they live or after they are killed, but they truly attest that whether we live, we live to the Lord, or whether we die, we die to the Lord. For whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.
That, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, a voice was heard in Rama, that is, high up, lamentation and great mourning (Jer. XXXI), plainly announces the grief of the holy Church, which grieves over the unjust death of its members, not as enemies murmur in vain yielding to empty despair, but rising up to the throne of the supreme Judge; and just as the blood of the protomartyr Abel, so too the blood of other martyrs cries from the ground to the Lord, according to the words of the wise man: Do not scorn the prayers of the orphan, nor the widow when she pours out her complaint. Do not the tears of the widow run down her cheek, and her cry against him that causes them to fall? From the cheek they ascend even to heaven, and the Lord the hearer does not rejoice in them (Ecclus. XXXV). That Rachel is said to have wept for her children and would not be comforted because they were not, signifies the Church mourning the removal of the saints from this world, but not wanting to be consoled in such a way as to bring back to the struggles of this world those who have conquered it through death, because they cannot be called back to this world, from whose trials they have once escaped, crowned with Christ. For Rachel, who is said to mean 'sheep' or 'seeing God,' figuratively demonstrates the Church, whose whole intent watches to be worthy to see God.
And she is the hundredth sheep which the good shepherd, leaving the ninety-nine sheep of angelic virtues in heaven, went to seek on earth, and found placed on his shoulders, and so brought it back to the fold. It may be questioned, however, how Rachel is said to have wept for her children, since the tribe of Judah, which held Bethlehem, was not from Rachel but from her sister Leah. Here the answer is easy, for not only in Bethlehem, but in all its borders, all the infants were slaughtered. The tribe of Benjamin, which was from Rachel, was close to the tribe of Judah. Hence it is rightly believed that the blow of the most cruel slaughter involved not a few children of Benjaminitic lineage, whom the offspring of Rachel, raised with a loud cry, wept for. It may also be understood differently because Rachel was buried near Bethlehem, as indicated by the title of her monument remaining to this day, to the west of the city, beyond the road leading to Hebron: hence it is rightly said that she who was present in body and name in that place prophetically cried out for what was happening there. The fact that the Lord Himself was taken by His parents to Egypt to avoid being killed by Herod signifies that the elect must often be taken away from their homes due to the wickedness of evil men or even condemned to exile.
This also serves as an example to the faithful, so that they do not hesitate to evade the rage of persecutors by fleeing when it is opportune, remembering that their God and Lord did this. For He who was to command them, "When they persecute you in this city, flee to another," first did what He commanded by fleeing as a man, like a man on earth, whom shortly before a star from heaven had shown [to be divine]. The fact that Herod died not long after he had killed the children for the sake of the Lord, and that Joseph, warned by an angel, brought the Lord and His mother back to the land of Israel, signifies that all persecutions launched against the Church will be avenged by the death of the persecutors. When these persecutors are dealt with, peace will be restored to the Church, and the saints who had been hiding will return to their own places. Herod also, as a figure of the devil, rages and groans over losing the kingdom of his iniquity when people convert to Christ. Thus, if he kills infants, he seems to himself to be killing Jesus. He continuously tries to accomplish this by seizing the Holy Spirit from the newly reborn and attempting to extinguish the infancy of tender faith.
We can also understand Herod’s hatred in wanting to destroy Jesus as representing the persecutions in Judea during the times of the apostles, especially when the preachers of the word, due to the great power of envy, were nearly all expelled from the province and scattered far and wide to preach among the gentiles. Thus, it happened that the gentiles, symbolized by Egypt, which was once darkened by sins, received the light of the word. This signifies that taking the child Jesus and His mother to Egypt through Joseph means that the faith in the Lord's incarnation and the fellowship of the Church were entrusted to the gentiles through the holy teachers. The fact that they stayed in Egypt until the death of Herod figuratively indicates that the faith of Christ would remain among the gentiles until the fullness of the gentiles comes in, and so all Israel will be saved. Indeed, Herod's death marks the end of the malicious intent that now rages against the Church by the Jews. The slaughter of the infants signifies the death of the lowly in spirit, whom the Jews killed after driving away Christ. But when Herod died, and [the Lord] returned to the land of Israel, it denotes the end of the world when, with Enoch and Elijah preaching, the Jews, the flame of modern envy extinguished, will accept the faith of the truth.
It is fitting that when He departs from Judea, it is said to be at night, but when He returns, no mention of night or flight is made, because those whom He once left due to the darkness of their sins, He now revisits because of the light of their faith, seeking Him. Even though Herod is dead, Joseph, fearing Archelaus, Herod's son, dared not go to Judea, where he had his metropolis. Warned by an angel, he withdrew to Nazareth in Galilee. This signifies the end times of the present Church when, due to the present universal blindness of that nation, which persecutes Christians to the utmost of its power, a fiercer persecution by the Antichrist will arise in some places. And indeed, many, through the preaching of Enoch and Elijah, will turn from perfidy, but others, under the influence of Antichrist, will fight against the faith with all their might. Therefore, the part of Judea where Archelaus ruled represents the followers of Antichrist, while Nazareth in Galilee, where the Lord was taken, represents that part of the nation that will then embrace the faith of Christ. Hence, the transfer to Galilee is well executed, and Nazareth, meaning "flower" or "shoot," symbolizes it. Because as the holy Church migrates with greater ardor from worldly things to achieve heavenly ones, it flourishes more abundantly in the bloom and sprout of spiritual virtues. Therefore, beloved brothers, since we venerate the first martyrs in today's feast, let us diligently think about the eternal feast of martyrs in heaven.
By following their footsteps as much as we can, let us also strive to be participants in that heavenly feast, as the Apostle testifies: "If we are partners in sufferings, we will also be partners in consolation. Let us not mourn their [unjust] death as much as we rejoice in their just reception of the palm [of martyrdom]. Each one of them, when driven by torment from this life, was followed with lament and tears by Rachel, that is, the holy Church that mourns, but departing from here, they were soon received by the heavenly Jerusalem, our mother, with joyful ministers, and were introduced into the eternal joy of their Lord, to be crowned perpetually. Thus says John: "They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands" (Rev. 7). For now, those who once lay tormented before the thrones of earthly judges now stand crowned before the throne of God. They stand before the Lamb, unable to be separated from the sight of His glory, from whose love here they could not be torn away by any punishment. They shine in white robes and have palms in their hands, because they have rewards in their deeds, while the bodies which were torn for the Lord by fire and beasts, consumed by lashes, dissolved by precipices, scraped by claws, suffered by every kind of severe punishment, receive glorified bodies through the resurrection. And they cried out, he says, with a loud voice saying:
Salvation to our God, who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb (Rev. VII). With a loud voice they sing of salvation to God, who with great thanksgiving they recall, not by their own strength but with His help, they overcame the struggles of attacking tribulations. He again describes their past combats and eternal crowns: These are the ones who came out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes, and whitened them in the blood of the Lamb (Ibid). For the martyrs washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, while their bodies, which to the eyes of the unwise seemed to be defiled by the squalor of punishment, rather thus by the blood poured out for Christ, cleansed from all impurities: moreover, they made them worthy of the blessed light of immortality, which is to have washed and also whitened the robes in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are, he says, before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. The service is not laborious, but loving and desirable, to always stand in the praises of God: for day and night do not signify the alternation of time properly, but symbolically signify perpetuity. For night will not be there, but one day in the courts of Christ better than thousands, in which Rachel does not weep for her children, but God wipes every tear from their eyes;
giving the voice of joy and eternal salvation in the dwellings of the righteous to Him who lives and reigns God forever and ever. Amen.
Homily 10: On the Festival Day of the Circumcision of the Lord
Luke 2
At that time, when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the child, he was named Jesus, as was spoken. The evangelist comprehends the holy and venerable memory of the present feast in a few words indeed, but he left it pregnant with the power of heavenly mystery. For having set forth the birth of the Lord, whose joys the angels immediately celebrated with worthy praises, the shepherds celebrated with devout visitation, and all who heard at that time marveled, we also, according to our measure, as much as we could, with Christ the Lord granting, performed with solemn hymns of the masses, he added and said: And after eight days were completed for his circumcision, his name was called Jesus, which was called by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. These are the venerable joys of today's festival, this is the sacred solemnity of the day, these are the most sacred gifts of divine piety, which the Apostle commending to the hearts of the faithful says: Because, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons (Galatians IV). For with great dispensation of piety for the redemption of the human race, God the Father deigned to send not an angel, nor an archangel, but his only-begotten Son. Whom we cannot see in the form of his divinity, he again with great art of love provided that he was made of a woman, that is from the substance of maternal flesh, conceived without male admixture, to be brought forth as true man to human sight: who, remaining in divine power and substance through all things he was, assumed true weakness of mortal nature, which he did not have. And to commend to us the necessary virtue of obedience by the supreme example, God sent his Son into the world, made under the law:
not because he owed anything to the law, who alone is our teacher, alone is legislator and judge, but that he might aid those who were placed under the law who could not bear the burdens of the law, with his compassion, and might lead those who were rescued from the condition of servitude under the law to the adoption of sons, which is through grace, with his own generosity. Therefore, he accepted circumcision ordained by the law in the flesh, who appeared without any stain in the flesh at all, and who came in the likeness of sinful flesh, not in the flesh of sin itself, did not reject the remedy by which the sinful flesh used to be cleansed: just as he also underwent the wave of Baptism, by which he wanted to cleanse the peoples from the filth of sins with the grace of the new law, not out of necessity, but as an example. For your fraternity ought to know that circumcision in the law acted against the wound of original sin in the same way as Baptism now in the time of revealed grace customarily acts, except that they could not yet enter the gate of the heavenly kingdom until he who gave the law would come and give the blessing, so that God of gods might appear in Zion, as they, consoled by blessed rest in Abraham's bosom after death, would await the entry into heavenly peace with happy hope. For the same one who now cries out terribly and salutarily through his Gospel:
Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (John III); he the same one long ago through his law cried out: A male whose foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant (Genesis XVII), that is, because the covenant of life commanded to men in paradise was broken by Adam's transgression, in which all sinned: he will perish from the assembly of the saints, unless he is aided by a saving remedy. Therefore, both purifications, namely of circumcision in the law and of Baptism in the Gospel, were established for the grace of removing the first transgression. Those also who from the beginning of the world until the time of given circumcision or after given circumcision, from other nations were pleasing to God, either by offerings of sacrifices, or certainly by the virtue of faith alone, commending their souls and those of their people to the Creator, took care to loosen them from the bonds of the initial guilt. For without faith it is impossible to please God: and as it is written elsewhere: The just shall live by faith (Habakkuk II). But coming in the flesh, the Son of God, who contracted only the nature of the flesh, but no contagion of sin from Adam, and since conceived and born of the Virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit, stood in need of no renewing grace:
He deigned to accept both types of purification, being circumcised by His parents on the eighth day of His birth, and baptized by John in the thirtieth year of His age. Indeed, He did not refuse the third service of the sacrificial victim, being offered up in the temple by the Lord of the temple Himself. Whose thirty-third day, with the help of the Lord, your charity is about to hear and celebrate the mystery. All, I say, both legal and evangelical purification, which He did not need, the Lord did not despise to undertake, so that He might teach the decrees of the law already to be most beneficial, and show to all the faithful the remedies of the coming Gospel as equally necessary to undergo. And in this, too, that on the same day of His circumcision He received the name of Jesus, He did it in imitation of the ancient observance, which we believe was taken from the fact that the patriarch Abraham, who first received the sacrament of circumcision as a witness to his great faith and the divine promise to him, was also on the same day of his circumcision and that of his people blessed with an enlargement of name along with his wife, so that he who was formerly called Abram, exalted father, was then called Abraham, that is, father of many nations: "because," as it says, "I have made you the father of many nations.
This most faithful promise has now been so widely fulfilled throughout the world that even we ourselves, called from the Gentiles to the devotion of his faith, rejoice to have him as our spiritual father, the Apostle saying to us: "If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3). And Sarai, your wife, you shall not call Sarai, but Sarah, that is, not my princess, but princess: manifestly teaching that she who became a participant and companion of such great faith should not be properly called the princess of her own household, but absolutely the princess, that is, of all rightly believing women, and be recognized as their parent. Therefore, the blessed Apostle Peter, addressing believing women from the Gentiles to the virtue of humility, chastity, and modesty, makes fitting mention of our same mother Sarah with due praise. "As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror" (1 Peter 3). These things, brothers, I have taken care to remind your love, so that each of you may remember that you also, having received the faith of Christ, have merited the fellowship of a noble name with the patriarchs if, having received purification in Christ, you rejoice in having borrowed the surname derived from Christ's saving name and strive to keep it firm and unblemished to the end, rejoicing that in you Isaiah's prophecy has been fulfilled:
"And His servants shall be called by another name" (Isaiah 65), that is, by the name Christian, with which all the servants of Christ now delight to be distinguished. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Wherefore the prophet continues: "In whom he blesseth himself on earth shall bless himself in the God of truth" (Acts 4). He also elsewhere speaks of the same, addressing the Church to be multiplied even from the Gentiles: "The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; and you shall be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord will name" (Isaiah 62). The reason the child who was born to us and the Son who was given to us received the name Jesus, that is, Saviour, is not to be understood by our reasoning but requires careful and vigilant meditation, so that we too may be saved by participation in the same name. For we read, as interpreted by the angel: "For He shall save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1). And we undoubtably believe and hope that He who saves us from sins will also save us from the implications resulting from sins and from death itself, as the Psalmist testifies, who says: "Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases" (Psalm 103). For our complete healing will come with the forgiveness of all our iniquities and the manifestation of resurrection glory, when the last enemy, death, will be destroyed.
And this is our true and complete circumcision when, in the Day of Judgment, being stripped of all the corruptions of soul and body, having completed the judgment, we shall enter to see forever the Creator's face, signifying the typical presentation of circumcised infants to the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem with acceptable offerings of praise. For he who is cleansed by true circumcision enters the temple of the Lord with gifts, and being purged from all stain of mortality by the glory of the resurrection, ascends with the fruits of good works to the everlasting joys of the heavenly city. "You have broken my bonds," he says, "I will offer you the sacrifice of praise. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the courts of the house of the Lord, in the presence of all his people, in the midst of you, Jerusalem" (Psalm 115). The most desired time of celestial entrance is indicated by that eighth day on which circumcision is celebrated. For there are six ages of this world distinguished by the well-known intervals of the times, in which it is necessary to labor for God and to work temporarily for the attainment of eternal rest. But the eighth age is the day of the resurrection, blessed without any end of time, when the true glory of circumcision shines forth in all ways, and the body, which corrupts, no longer burdens the soul;
earthly habitation does not depress the mind thinking of many things, but the already incorruptible body gladdens the soul, and the heavenly habitation lifts up the whole man cleaving to the vision of his Creator. The Prophet expounds the blessedness of this eternal day in that Psalm which we mentioned above, stirring up his soul and all the affections of his inner man to bless the Lord and to remember all His rewards: "Who redeems your life from ruin," he says, "who satisfies your desire with good things, who crowns you with compassion and mercy, your youth will be renewed like the eagle’s. Therefore, dearest brothers, it is necessary that we, who desire to reach the rewards of this most beautiful renewal, as the ultimate circumcision, in the meantime care for the preliminary circumcision and renewal, which must be undergone daily in the exercise of virtues as in a form of remedy. Let us lay down the old man, according to the former conduct, who is corrupted according to deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of our mind, and put on the new man, who is created according to God in justice and holiness of truth. Neither let us believe that it is sufficient to chasten ourselves by hearing circumcision only in one member of our body: but as the Apostle warns elsewhere: "Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement and pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (II Cor. VII);
let us read the Acts of the Apostles, see the most blessed proto-martyr Stephen thundering terribly at the Jews who are persecuting him with the Lord: "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if the uncircumcised in heart and ears are those who resist the Holy Spirit's admonitions, there is certainly a circumcision of the heart and ears. And if there is a circumcision of the heart and ears, there is also one of all the senses of our outer and inner man. For he who has seen a woman to covet her, who has lofty eyes, has uncircumcised sight: to whom it is said by the voice of Truth: "He who is of God hears the words of God. Therefore, you do not hear, because you are not of God" (John VIII). They are uncircumcised in ears, uncircumcised in tongue and hands are those whose mouth has spoken vanity, and their right hand is the right hand of iniquity: "who speak peace to their neighbor, but evil is in their hearts, and their right hand is filled with bribes. They are uncircumcised in taste, whom the prophet rebukes, saying: "Woe to those who are strong to drink wine, and men of strength to mix drunkenness" (Isaiah V). Uncircumcised by smell and touch, who are smeared with ointment and various perfumes; who follow the embraces of a harlot, sprinkling their bed with myrrh, and aloes, and cinnamon. Uncircumcised in their steps, of whom the Psalmist mentions:
Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known (Psalm XI). But those who with all guard keep their heart, who turn their eyes away so that they do not see vanity, who fence their ears with thorns so that they do not hear the evil tongue, who taste and see how sweet the Lord is, how blessed are the men who trust in Him, who keep their paths so that they do not sin with their tongue, who, as long as there is breath in them, and the Spirit of God in their nostrils, do not speak with iniquitous lips, nor does their tongue meditate deceit, who lift up their hands to the commands of God which they love, who prevent their feet from every evil way so that they keep the word of God, all these show that they have their senses circumcised by the spiritual rock of exercise. For we read that circumcision is done with flint knives: but the rock was Christ, by whose faith, hope, and love, not only in baptism but in every truly devoted action, the hearts of the good are purified.
And this continuous circumcision of ours, which is the daily purification of the heart, never ceases to celebrate the sacrament of the eighth day, because it customarily sanctifies us in the example of the Lord's resurrection, which took place on the eighth day, that is, after the seventh of the Sabbath, so that as Christ rose from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we may also walk in newness of life, provided by God who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.