Forty Homilies on the Gospels
Forty Homilies on the Gospels
continued
Homily 15
Delivered to the people in the basilica of Saint Paul the Apostle, on Sexagesima Sunday.
A Reading from the Holy Gospel According to Luke
At that time, when a very great crowd was gathering, and they were hastening to Jesus from the cities, he spoke by a parable: A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trampled upon, and the birds of the air ate it. And some fell upon rock, and when it sprang up, it withered away because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns springing up together choked it. And some fell on good ground, and when it sprang up, it brought forth fruit a hundredfold. Saying these things, he cried out: He who has ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples asked him what this parable might mean. To them he said: To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to the rest in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Now this is the parable: The seed is the word of God. And those by the wayside are they who hear; then the devil comes and takes the word from their heart, lest believing they should be saved. For those upon the rock are they who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. And these have no roots, because they believe for a time, and in the time of temptation they fall away.
And that which fell among thorns, these are they who have heard, and going their way are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and they bring forth no fruit. But that which fell on good ground, these are they who in a good and perfect heart, hearing the word, retain it, and bring forth fruit in patience. 1. The reading of the holy Gospel which you have just heard, dearest brothers, does not need exposition, but exhortation. For human frailty does not presume to examine what Truth itself has expounded. But there is something you ought carefully to consider in this very exposition of the Lord: that if we were to tell you that the seed signifies the word, the field the world, the birds demons, the thorns riches, your mind would perhaps hesitate to believe us. Hence the same Lord deigned to expound through himself what he was saying, so that you might learn to seek the meanings of things even in those matters which he did not wish to explain through himself. Therefore by expounding what he said, he made it known that he was speaking figuratively, so that he might make you certain when our frailty opened up to you the figures of his words. For who would ever have believed me if I had wished to interpret thorns as riches, especially since the former prick while the latter delight?
And yet they are thorns, because they tear the mind with the prickings of their thoughts, and when they drag it all the way to sin, they cause it to bleed as if by an inflicted wound. These, in this passage, as another evangelist attests, the Lord calls not simply riches, but deceitful riches, and rightly so. For they are deceitful because they cannot remain with us for long; they are deceitful because they do not drive away the poverty of our mind. Only those riches are true which make us rich in virtues. If therefore, dearest brothers, you desire to be rich, love true riches. If you seek the summit of true honor, strive toward the heavenly kingdom. If you love the glory of high positions, hasten to be enrolled in that supernal court of the angels. The words of the Lord which you perceive with your ears, retain in your mind. For the word of God is food for the mind. And just as food taken in is rejected when the stomach is weak, so a word that is heard is not retained in the belly of memory. But whoever does not retain nourishment, his life is surely despaired of. Therefore fear the danger of eternal death, if you receive the food of holy exhortation but do not keep in memory the words of life, that is, the nourishment of righteousness. Behold, everything you do passes away, and to the final judgment, without any intervening moment, you hasten daily, whether willing or unwilling.
Why then is what must be left behind loved? Why is that to which we are heading neglected? Remember what is said: If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. For all who were present there had bodily ears. But he who says to all having ears, If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear, without doubt seeks the ears of the heart. Take care therefore that the word received remains in the ear of the heart. Take care that the seed does not fall by the wayside, lest the evil spirit come and take the word from memory. Take care that rocky ground does not receive the seed and send forth the fruit of good work without the roots of perseverance. For many are pleased by what they hear and propose beginnings of good work; but as soon as they begin to be wearied by adversities, they abandon what they have begun. Rocky ground therefore lacked moisture, which did not bring what had sprouted to the fruit of perseverance. For many, when they hear the word against avarice, detest that same avarice and praise contempt for all things; but as soon as the mind sees what it desires, it forgets what it was praising. Many, when they hear the word against lust, not only do not desire to commit defilements of the flesh, but even blush at those committed;
but as soon as the beauty of the flesh appears before their eyes, the mind is so carried away to desires as if nothing had yet been resolved by it against these same desires; and it does condemnable things, which whatever it remembers having done, it has already itself condemned. Often too we are pierced with remorse against sins, and yet after weeping we return to the same sins. So Balaam, having gazed upon the tents of the Israelite people, wept and begged to be made like them in death, saying: Let my soul die the death of the just, and let my last end be like theirs; but as soon as the hour of compunction passed, he burned with the wickedness of avarice. For on account of promised gifts he gave counsel for the death of that people whose death he had wished to resemble; and he forgot what he had lamented, since he was unwilling to extinguish what burned through avarice. It should be noted that the Lord, in His explanation, says that cares, pleasures, and riches choke the word. For they choke it because by their importunate thoughts they strangle the throat of the mind; and since they do not allow good desire to enter the heart, they kill, as it were, the passage of the breath of life. It should also be noted that He joins two things with riches, namely cares and pleasures, because indeed they both oppress the mind through anxiety and dissolve it through abundance.
For by their contrary nature they make their possessors both afflicted and unstable. But since pleasure cannot coexist with affliction, at one time they afflict through the anxiety of guarding them, and at another time they soften toward pleasures through abundance. But the good earth brings forth fruit through patience, because clearly our good works are nothing if we do not also bear with equanimity the evils of our neighbors. For the higher anyone has advanced, the more he finds in this world what he must bear more harshly, because when our mind's love for the present age diminishes, the adversity of that same age increases. Hence it is that we see many both doing good and yet laboring under the heavy burden of tribulations. For they now flee earthly desires, and yet are wearied by harsher afflictions. But according to the word of the Lord they bring forth fruit through patience, because when they humbly accept afflictions, after the afflictions they are sublimely received into rest. Thus the grape is crushed by treading and is liquefied into the flavor of wine. Thus the olive, pressed by crushing, leaves behind its bitter residue and grows rich into the liquid of oil. Thus by the threshing of the floor the grains are separated from the chaff and arrive purified at the granary.
Therefore whoever desires to fully conquer vices, let him strive to humbly endure the afflictions of his purification, so that he may come before the Judge all the more pure afterward, the more the fire of tribulation now purges away his rust. In that portico which serves as a passageway for those going to the church of blessed Clement, there was a certain man named Servulus, whom many of you knew along with me—poor in possessions, rich in merits—whom a long illness had weakened. For from his earliest age until the end of his life he lay paralyzed. What shall I say, that he could not stand? He was never able to rise in his bed even to sit, never able to bring his hand to his mouth, never able to turn himself to his other side. His mother with his brother was present to serve him, and whatever he was able to receive from alms, he distributed to the poor through their hands. He knew no letters at all, but he had purchased for himself books of Sacred Scripture, and receiving any religious persons in hospitality, he had them read before him without ceasing. And so it came about that, according to his own measure, he learned Sacred Scripture fully, though, as I said, he was entirely ignorant of letters. He strove always to give thanks in his pain, to devote himself to hymns and praises to God day and night.
But when the time had come that his great patience ought to be rewarded, the pain of his limbs returned to his vital organs. And when he recognized that he was now near death, he urged the traveling men received in hospitality to rise and sing psalms with him in expectation of his departure. And while he himself, dying, was singing psalms with them, he suddenly silenced the voices of those singing, with the terror of a great cry, saying: "Be silent! Do you not hear how great are the praises resounding in heaven? And while he was directing the ear of his heart toward those same praises which he heard within, that holy soul was released from the flesh. But as it departed, such a fragrance of scent was spread there that all who were present were filled with inestimable sweetness, so that through this they clearly recognized that praises in heaven had received it. A monk of ours was present at this event, who still lives, and with great weeping he is accustomed to attest that until his body was handed over for burial, the fragrance of that scent did not depart from their nostrils. Behold with what end he departed from this life who in this life calmly endured afflictions. According to the Lord's word, therefore, the good earth brought forth fruit through patience, which, having been plowed by the plowshare of discipline, arrived at the harvest of reward.
But I ask you, dearest brothers, consider what argument of excuse we shall have in that strict judgment—we who, sluggish from good work, have received both resources and hands—if a beggar without hands fulfilled the Lord's commands. May the Lord not then display against us the apostles who by preaching drew crowds of the faithful with him to the kingdom, may he not bring forth against us the martyrs who by shedding their blood arrived at the heavenly homeland. What shall we say then, when we see this Servulus of whom we have spoken, whose arms a long illness held bound, yet did not bind them from good work? Do these things with yourselves, brothers, so urge yourselves to zeal for good work, that when you now set good men before you for imitation, you may then be able to be their companions.
Homily 16
Delivered to the people in the basilica of Saint John, which is called the Constantiniana, on the first Sunday in Lent.
Reading from the Gospel According to Matthew
IV, 1-11. At that time, Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit, to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him: If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. He answered and said: It is written: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him into the holy city, and set him upon the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him: If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down. For it is written: He has given his angels charge over you, and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest perhaps you strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him: Again it is written: You shall not tempt the Lord your God. Again the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory, and said to him: All these things I will give you, if you fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him: Begone, Satan. For it is written: You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.
It is often doubted by some by what spirit Jesus was led into the desert, because of what follows: "The devil took him up into the holy city. And again: "He took him up onto a high mountain. This question is properly understood if we believe he was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit, so that his own Spirit would lead him there, where the evil spirit would then find him to tempt him. But behold, when it is said that God made man was taken up by the devil either onto a high mountain or into the holy city, the mind recoils, human ears are terrified to hear this. Yet we recognize that these things are not incredible if we consider other things that were done to him. Certainly the devil is the head of all the wicked, and all the wicked are members of this head. Was not Pilate a member of the devil? Were not the Jews who persecuted and the soldiers who crucified Christ members of the devil? What wonder is it then if he allowed himself to be led onto a mountain by him, who also allowed himself to be crucified by his members? Therefore it is not unworthy of our Redeemer that he willed to be tempted, he who had come to be killed. For it was just that he should overcome our temptations by his temptations, just as he had come to conquer our death by his death. But we should know that temptation occurs in three ways:
by suggestion, by delight, and by consent. And when we are tempted, we frequently fall into delight or even into consent, because having been propagated from the sin of the flesh, we bear within ourselves that from which we endure struggles. But God, who was incarnate in the womb of a Virgin and came into the world without sin, tolerated no contradiction within himself. Therefore he could be tempted through suggestion, but the delight of sin did not bite his mind. And so all that diabolical temptation was external, not internal. But if we examine the very order of his temptation, let us consider with what great power we are freed from temptation. The ancient enemy raised himself against the first man, our parent, in three temptations, because he tempted him with gluttony, vainglory, and avarice; but by tempting he overcame him, because he subjected him to himself through consent. Indeed, he tempted him through gluttony when he showed him the food of the forbidden tree and persuaded him to eat. He tempted him through vainglory when he said: You shall be as gods. And he tempted him through the advancement of avarice when he said: Knowing good and evil. For avarice is not only of money, but also of exaltation. For it is rightly called avarice when loftiness is sought beyond measure. For if the seizure of honor did not pertain to avarice, Paul would never say of the only-begotten Son of God: He did not consider it robbery to be equal to God.
Moreover, the devil drew our parent to pride in this, that he aroused him to avarice for exaltation. But by the same means by which he overthrew the first man, by those same means he was overcome when he tempted the second man. For he tempts through gluttony when he says: "Command that these stones become bread. He tempts through vainglory when he says: "If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down. He tempts through the greed of ambition when he shows all the kingdoms of the world, saying: "All these things I will give you, if you fall down and worship me. But by the same means by which he boasted of having conquered the first man, he is conquered by the second man, so that he might depart from our hearts, captured at the very entrance by which he had entered and held us. But there is something else, dearest brothers, that we ought to consider in this temptation of the Lord: that when tempted by the devil, the Lord responded with the precepts of sacred Scripture, and he who could have plunged his tempter into the abyss by that Word which he was, did not display the power of his might, but gave only the precepts of divine Scripture, so that he might offer us an example of his patience, that whenever we suffer anything from wicked people, we might be stirred to teaching rather than to vengeance. Consider how great is the patience of God, and how great is our impatience.
If we are provoked by injuries or some harm, moved by fury, we either avenge ourselves as much as we can, or we threaten what we cannot do. Behold, the Lord endured the adversity of the devil, and answered him with nothing but words of gentleness. He bore him whom he could have punished, so that his praise might grow higher from this: that he overcame his enemy not by destroying him, but by enduring him for the time being. But it should be noted what follows: that when the devil departed, angels ministered to him. By this, what else is shown but both natures in one person? For he is man whom the devil tempts, and he is the same God to whom angels minister. Let us therefore recognize our nature in him, for unless the devil perceived him to be man, he would not have tempted him. Let us venerate his divinity in him, for unless he were God above all things, angels would in no way minister to him. But since the reading is fitting for these days—for we have heard of the forty days' abstinence of our Redeemer as we begin the season of Lent—we must discuss why this very abstinence is observed for the number of forty days. For Moses fasted twice for forty days in order to receive the law. Elijah abstained for forty days in the desert. The very Author of humanity, coming to humanity, took no food at all for forty days.
Let us also, as much as we can, strive to afflict our flesh through abstinence during the annual season of Lent. Why then is the number forty observed in abstinence, unless because the power of the Decalogue is fulfilled through the four books of the holy Gospel? For ten multiplied by four produces forty, because we fulfill the commandments of the Decalogue when we indeed keep the four books of the holy Gospel. From this another meaning can also be perceived. For in this mortal body we subsist from four elements, and through the pleasures of this same body we act contrary to the Lord's commandments. But the Lord's commandments were received through the Decalogue. Since therefore through the desires of the flesh we have despised the commandments of the Decalogue, it is fitting that we afflict that same flesh four times ten. Although concerning this season of Lent there is still another thing that can be understood. For from the present day until the joys of the Paschal solemnity, six weeks come, whose days indeed amount to forty-two. When the six Sundays are subtracted from the abstinence, no more than thirty-six days remain in abstinence. But while the year is reckoned through three hundred and sixty-five days, and we afflict ourselves through thirty-six days, we give as it were the tithes of our year to God, so that we who have lived for ourselves through the year we received, may mortify ourselves to our Author in his tithes through abstinence.
Therefore, dearest brothers, just as you are commanded in the law to offer tithes of your possessions, so strive to offer him also tithes of your days. Let each one, as much as strength allows, mortify the flesh and afflict its desires, and slay shameful lusts, so that according to Paul's words, one may become a living sacrifice. For a sacrifice is both offered and is living when a person both does not depart from this life, and yet slays himself from carnal desires. Let the flesh that drew us joyfully to sin, bring us back afflicted to pardon. For the author of our death transgressed the precepts of life through the fruit of the forbidden tree. Let us therefore who fell from the joys of paradise through food, rise again to them as much as we can through abstinence. But let no one believe that abstinence alone can suffice for him, since the Lord says through the prophet: "Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? adding: "Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the needy and homeless into your house; when you see the naked, cover him, and do not despise your own flesh. Therefore God approves that fast which raises hands of almsgiving to His eyes, which is performed with love of neighbor, which is seasoned with piety. Therefore what you take away from yourself, give generously to another, so that from that by which your flesh is afflicted, the flesh of your needy neighbor may be restored.
For hence the Lord says through the prophet: "When you fasted and mourned, did you fast a fast for me? And when you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? For he eats and drinks for himself who receives the nourishment of the body, which is the common gift of the Creator, without sharing with the needy. And each one fasts for himself if he does not give to the poor what he subtracts from himself for a time, but keeps it to be offered later to his belly. Hence it is said through Joel: "Sanctify a fast. Indeed, to sanctify a fast is to show abstinence of the flesh worthy of God by joining other good works to it. Let anger cease, let quarrels be stilled. For the flesh is worn down in vain if the mind is not restrained from its wicked pleasures, since the Lord says through the prophet: "Behold, on the day of your fast your own will is found. Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and you strike with the fist impiously, and you demand payment from all your debtors. For indeed one who demands back from his debtor what he gave does nothing unjust, but it is fitting that whoever mortifies himself in penance should forbid himself even what is justly owed to him. Thus, thus what we have done unjustly is forgiven by God when we are afflicted and penitent, if for love of Him we also release what is justly owed to us.
Homily 17
Delivered to the bishops at the Lateran baptistery.
Reading from the Gospel According to Luke
At that time, the Lord appointed also another seventy-two, and sent them two by two before his face into every city and place where he himself was about to come. And he said to them: The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest. Go, behold I send you as lambs among wolves. Do not carry a purse, nor a bag, nor sandals, and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say: Peace be to this house. And if a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to you. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they have. For the laborer is worthy of his hire. Do not go from house to house. And into whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal the sick who are there, and say to them: The kingdom of God has drawn near to you. Our Lord and Savior, dearest brothers, sometimes admonishes us through words, and sometimes through deeds. For His very actions are commandments, because when He does something in silence, He makes known what we ought to do.
For behold, He sends His disciples out to preach in pairs, because there are two commandments of charity, namely the love of God and of neighbor, and charity cannot exist between fewer than two persons. For no one is properly said to have charity toward himself, but love extends toward another so that it may be charity. The Lord sends His disciples to preach in pairs, so that by this He may silently indicate to us that whoever does not have charity toward another should by no means undertake the office of preaching. It is well said that he sent them before his face into every city and place where he himself was about to come. For the Lord follows his preachers, because preaching comes first, and then the Lord comes to the dwelling place of our mind, when words of exhortation run ahead, and through these truth is received in the mind. For thus Isaiah says to these same preachers: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God. Thus the Psalmist says to them: Make a way for him who ascends over the setting. For the Lord ascended over the setting because from that by which he fell in his passion, from that same thing he manifested his greater glory by rising again. He ascended over the setting, namely, because he trampled down by rising again the death which he had endured.
Therefore we make a way for him who ascends over the setting when we preach his glory to your minds, so that he himself also, coming afterward, may illuminate them through the presence of his love. When the preachers were sent, let us hear what he says: "The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send laborers into his harvest. For the great harvest the laborers are few, which we cannot speak of without heavy grief, because even if there are those who hear good things, there are none to speak them. Behold, the world is full of priests, yet in God's harvest a worker is found very rarely, because we have indeed taken up the priestly office, but we do not fulfill the work of the office. But consider, dearest brothers, consider what is said: "Pray the Lord of the harvest, that he send laborers into his harvest. Petition on our behalf, that we may be able to work worthily for you, lest our tongue grow sluggish from exhortation, lest after we have taken up the place of preaching, our silence condemn us before the just judge. For often the tongue of preachers is restrained because of their own wickedness; but often indeed it happens through the fault of those subject to them that the word of preaching is withdrawn from those who are in charge. Indeed the tongue of preachers is restrained because of their own wickedness, as the Psalmist says: "But to the sinner God said:
Why do you declare my justices? And again, because of the fault of those subject to them, the voice of preachers is forbidden, as the Lord says to Ezekiel: "I will make your tongue cleave to your palate, and you shall be mute, and not as a man who rebukes, because it is a provoking house. As if he were to say openly: Therefore the word of preaching is taken from you, because while the people provoke me in their actions, they are not worthy to receive the exhortation of truth. From whose fault, therefore, the word is withdrawn from the preacher is not easily known. But it is known most certainly that the silence of the Pastor sometimes harms himself, but always harms those subject to him. But would that if we are not sufficient for the power of preaching, we might at least maintain the duty of our position in innocence of life. For it is added: Behold, I send you as lambs among wolves. But many, when they receive the rights of governance, burn to tear apart their subjects, display the terror of power, and harm those whom they ought to have benefited. And because they do not have the bowels of charity, they desire to be seen as lords, they do not at all recognize themselves to be fathers, they change the place of humility into the exaltation of domination, and if ever they flatter outwardly, inwardly they rage. Concerning whom the Truth says elsewhere:
They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. Against all these things, we must consider that we are sent as lambs among wolves, so that, preserving the sense of innocence, we may not have the bite of malice. For he who undertakes the position of preaching ought not to inflict evils, but to endure them, so that by his very meekness he may soften the anger of those who rage, and he himself, wounded by afflictions, may heal the wounds of sins in others. And if ever the zeal of righteousness demands that he rage against his subjects, let that fury be from love, not from cruelty, so that he may both display the rights of discipline outwardly, and inwardly love with fatherly affection those whom he chastises as if pursuing them outwardly. This a Ruler exhibits well when he does not know how to love himself through private affection, when he desires nothing of the things of the world, when he in no way bends the neck of his mind to the burdens of earthly desire. Hence it is also added: "Do not carry a money bag, nor a wallet, nor sandals, and greet no one along the way. For the preacher ought to have such great trust in God that, although he does not provide for the expenses of the present life, he nevertheless knows most certainly that these will not be lacking to him, lest while his mind is occupied with temporal things, he provide less for others concerning eternal things.
He is also permitted to greet no one along the way, to show with what great haste he ought to proceed on the journey of preaching. If anyone wishes to understand these words also allegorically: in a money bag, money is enclosed; but enclosed money is hidden wisdom. Therefore, whoever has the word of wisdom but neglects to distribute it to his neighbor holds money bound up in a bag, as it were. Hence it is written: "Hidden wisdom and a concealed treasure, what profit is there in either? And what is signified by the wallet, except the burdens of the world; and what in this place by sandals, except the examples of dead works? Therefore, whoever undertakes the office of preaching, it is not fitting that he carry the burden of worldly affairs, lest while this weighs down his neck, he not rise up to preach heavenly things. Nor ought he to look upon the examples of foolish works, lest he believe he is protecting his own works, as it were, with the skins of dead animals. For there are many who defend their own depravity from the depravities of others. Because they consider that others have done such things, they think they may do these things freely. What else do these people do except try to protect their feet with the skins of dead animals? But everyone who greets on the way greets by occasion of the journey, not from zeal for wishing that same salvation.
Therefore, whoever preaches salvation to his hearers not from love of the eternal homeland but from ambition for rewards greets, as it were, on the journey, because he wishes salvation for his hearers by occasion and not by intention. There follows: Into whatsoever house you enter, first say: Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to you. The peace which is offered from the mouth of the preacher either rests in the house, if there be a son of peace in it, or returns to the same preacher; because either someone will be predestined to life, and follows the heavenly word which he hears; or if no one shall have been willing to hear, the preacher himself will not be without fruit, because peace returns to him, since a reward is recompensed to him from the Lord for the labor of his work. Behold, however, he who forbade carrying a purse and bag grants expenses and food from that same preaching. For it is added: "And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as are with them. For the laborer is worthy of his hire. If our peace is received, it is fitting that we remain in the same house eating and drinking such things as are with them, so that we may obtain earthly provisions from those to whom we offer the rewards of the heavenly homeland.
Hence Paul also, receiving these very things as of little account, says: "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? And it should be noted what is added: "The laborer is worthy of his hire," because the very food for sustenance is already part of the wages of the work, so that here the reward from the labor of preaching may begin, which is perfected there in the vision of truth. In this matter it should be considered that two rewards are owed to our one work: one on the way, the other in the homeland; one which sustains us in labor, another which recompenses us in the resurrection. Therefore the reward which is received in the present ought to accomplish this in us: that we may strive more vigorously toward the subsequent reward. Therefore every preacher should not preach in order to receive a reward in this time, but should receive a reward in order to continue preaching. For whoever preaches in order to receive here a reward of either praise or gift, without doubt deprives himself of the eternal reward.
But whoever desires that what he says please men so that, while what is said pleases, through those same words not he himself but the Lord may be loved, or who therefore obtains earthly provisions in preaching lest he be wearied from the voice of preaching through want—for this one without doubt nothing stands in the way of receiving the reward in the homeland, because he took expenses on the way. But what do we—and I cannot say this without grief—what do we, O Pastors, do, who receive wages and yet are by no means workers? For we receive the fruits of holy Church in daily payment, yet we labor not at all in preaching for the eternal Church. Let us consider what condemnation it is to receive here the wages of labor without the labor. Behold, we live from the offerings of the faithful, but what do we labor for the souls of the faithful? We take for our payment those things which the faithful offered for the redemption of their sins, and yet we do not sweat against those same sins with the zeal of prayer or preaching, as is fitting. We scarcely rebuke anyone openly for their fault. And still—what is more serious—sometimes if a person is powerful in this world, their errors are perhaps praised, lest, if opposed, they withdraw in anger the gift they were bestowing. But we must remember without ceasing what is written about certain ones: They shall eat the sins of my people.
Why are they said to eat the sins of the people, unless because they encourage the sins of transgressors, lest they lose their temporal payments? But we also who live from the offerings of the faithful, which they offered for their sins, if we eat and remain silent, we without doubt eat their sins. Let us consider, therefore, what a crime it is before God to eat the price of sins and to do nothing against sins by preaching. Let us hear what is said in the voice of blessed Job: If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together with it, if I have eaten its fruits without payment. For the land cries out against its possessor when the Church justly murmurs against its pastor. Its furrows also weep if the hearts of hearers, which have been plowed by the preceding fathers with the voice of preaching and the vigor of rebuke, see something to mourn in the life of their pastor. The good possessor does not eat the fruit of this land without payment, because the discerning pastor invests the talent of the word, lest he take the payment of sustenance from the Church to his own damnation. For we eat the fruits of our land with payment when, receiving ecclesiastical support, we labor in preaching. For we are heralds of the coming Judge. Who then will announce the coming Judge if the herald is silent?
Therefore we must consider that, insofar as each person is able, insofar as he is capable, he should strive to impress upon the Church entrusted to him both the terror of the coming judgment and the sweetness of the kingdom. And he who cannot admonish everyone at once with one and the same voice of exhortation ought to instruct individuals as much as he can, to edify them through private conversations, and to seek fruit in the hearts of his children through simple exhortation. For we must continually weigh what is said to the holy apostles, and through the apostles to us: You are the salt of the earth. If therefore we are salt, we ought to season the minds of the faithful. You then, who are shepherds, consider that you are feeding God's animals. Concerning these animals indeed it is said to God through the Psalmist: Your animals shall dwell in it. And we often see that a block of salt is set before brute animals, so that they may lick that same block of salt and be improved. Therefore, like a block of salt among brute animals, so should the priest be among the people. For the priest must take care what he says to each person, how he admonishes each one, so that whoever is joined to the priest may be seasoned with the taste of eternal life, as if from the touch of salt. For we are not the salt of the earth if we do not season the hearts of our hearers.
Indeed, he truly bestows this seasoning upon his neighbor who does not withhold the word of preaching. But then we truly preach right things to others if we show our words by deeds, if we ourselves are pierced with divine love, and wash with tears the daily stains of human life, which can in no way pass without fault. But then we are truly pierced with compunction about ourselves if we carefully consider the deeds of the fathers who went before, so that from beholding their glory, our own life may become vile in our own eyes. Then we are truly pierced with compunction when we diligently search the commandments of the Lord, and through these we ourselves strive to advance, through which we know those whom we venerate have already advanced. For hence it is written of Moses: He placed also the bronze laver in which Aaron and his sons were to wash when they entered the holy of holies, which he made from the mirrors of the women who kept watch at the door of the tabernacle. For Moses places the bronze laver in which the priests ought to be washed and enter the holy of holies, because the law of God first commands us to be washed through compunction, so that our uncleanness may not be unworthy for penetrating the purity of God's secrets. Which laver is rightly said to have been made from the mirrors of the women who ceaselessly kept watch at the door of the tabernacle.
For the mirrors of the women are the commandments of God, in which holy souls always behold themselves, and detect if there are any stains of defilement in them. They correct the faults of their thoughts, and as if arranging resisting countenances, they compose them as from a reflected image, because while they diligently attend to the Lord's commandments, in them they doubtless recognize both what pleases and what displeases the heavenly spouse in themselves. As long as they are in this life, they can in no way enter the eternal tabernacle. But yet the women keep watch at the door of the tabernacle, because holy souls, even while they are still weighed down by the weakness of the flesh, nevertheless with continual love await the entrance of eternal entry. Therefore Moses made the laver for the priests from the mirrors of the women, because the law of God provides the washing of compunction for the stains of our sins, while it presents for our contemplation the heavenly commandments through which holy souls have pleased the heavenly spouse. If we diligently attend to these, we see the stains of our inner image. But seeing the stains, we are pierced with the sorrow of repentance; and being pierced with compunction, we are washed as in the laver made from the mirrors of the women. It is very necessary that when we are moved by compunction concerning ourselves, we also be zealous for the life of those entrusted to us.
Therefore, let the bitterness of compunction affect us in such a way that it does not turn us away from the care of our neighbors. For what does it profit if, loving ourselves, we abandon our neighbors? Or again, what does it profit if, loving or being zealous for our neighbors, we abandon ourselves? Indeed, in the adornment of the tabernacle, twice-dyed scarlet is commanded to be offered, so that before the eyes of God our charity may be colored with love of God and neighbor. But he truly loves himself who purely loves his Creator. Therefore, the scarlet is dyed twice when the soul is inflamed with love of truth toward both itself and its neighbor. But amid these things we must understand that zeal for righteousness should be exercised against the wicked deeds of our neighbors in such a way that the virtue of gentleness is by no means abandoned in the fervor of severity. For the anger of a priest ought never to be hasty and disturbed, but rather tempered with the gravity of deliberation. And so we ought both to bear with those whom we correct and to correct those whom we bear with, lest if one of these two be lacking, the priestly action fail either in fervor or in gentleness. For this is why in the service of the temple, lions and oxen and cherubim were carved by sculptural work on the bases of the temple. For cherubim signifies fullness of knowledge.
But what does it mean that on the bases lions are not made without oxen, nor oxen without lions? For what else do the bases in the temple represent but priests in the Church? Who, while they bear the burden of governance, carry, as it were in the manner of bases, a weight placed upon them. Therefore cherubim are depicted on the bases, because it is certainly fitting that the hearts of priests be filled with fullness of knowledge. By lions, moreover, the terror of severity is symbolized, while by oxen the patience of gentleness is represented. And so on the bases neither lions without oxen nor oxen without lions are depicted, because in the priestly heart the virtue of gentleness must always be preserved along with the terror of severity, so that gentleness may season anger, and that same gentleness, lest it perhaps become lax, may be kindled by zeal for severity. But why do we speak of these things, when we still see many burdened by more atrocious deeds? For I speak to you priests with grief, because we have learned that some of you perform ordinations for payments, selling spiritual grace and accumulating temporal gains from the iniquities of others along with the harm of sin. Why then does the voice of the Lord commanding not return to your memory, saying: Freely you have received, freely give?
Why do you not recall before the eyes of your mind that our Redeemer, entering the temple, overturned the seats of those selling doves and poured out the money of the money-changers? For who are those in the temple of God today who sell doves, if not those who in the Church receive payment for the imposition of hands? Through which imposition, namely, the Holy Spirit is given from heaven. Therefore the dove is sold, because the imposition of hands, through which the Holy Spirit is received, is offered for a price. But our Redeemer overturned the seats of those selling doves, because he destroys the priesthood of such merchants. For hence it is that the sacred canons condemn the simonian heresy, and command that those be deprived of the priesthood who seek payment for bestowing ordinations. Therefore the seat of those selling doves is overturned when those who sell spiritual grace are deprived of the priesthood, either before human eyes or before the eyes of God. And indeed there are many other evils of those in authority which now escape human eyes. And often they present themselves to people as holy pastors, yet in their hidden deeds they are not ashamed to appear shameful before the eyes of the internal Judge.
It will come, it will surely come, that day, nor is it far off, in which the Pastor of pastors will appear, and will bring forth into public the deeds of each one, and he who now avenges the faults of subjects through those in authority, will then raging condemn the evils of those in authority through himself. Whence also entering into the temple, he made as it were a whip from cords by himself, and casting out the wicked merchants from the house of God, he overturned the seats of those selling doves, because he strikes the faults of subjects through pastors, but he strikes the vices of pastors through himself. Behold, now what is done secretly can be denied to people. That Judge will certainly come, from whom no one can hide himself by keeping silent, whom no one can deceive by denying. There is also another thing, dearest brothers, that greatly afflicts me concerning the life of Pastors; but lest what I assert perhaps seem injurious to anyone, I equally accuse myself as well, although, compelled by the necessity of barbarous times, I lie in these matters very much against my will. For we have slipped away to external affairs, and we have received one thing from the honor, yet we exhibit another through the duty of action. We abandon the ministry of preaching, and to our own punishment, as I see it, we are called bishops, we who hold the name of honor, not its virtue.
For those who have been committed to us abandon God, and we remain silent. They lie in wicked deeds, and we do not extend the hand of correction. Daily they perish through many iniquities, and we negligently watch them heading toward hell. But when can we correct the life of others, we who neglect our own? For intent upon worldly cares, we become all the more insensible within, the more zealous we appear toward things that are outside. Indeed by the habit of earthly care the soul grows hard against heavenly desire; and while it becomes hardened by its very habit through worldly action, it cannot be softened toward those things that pertain to the love of God. Hence holy Church rightly says of her weakening members: They made me a keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept. For our vineyards are the deeds which we cultivate through the habit of daily labor. But placed as keepers in the vineyards, we scarcely keep our own vineyard, because while we are entangled in others' affairs, we neglect the ministry of our own action. I think, dearest brothers, that God tolerates no greater injury from others than from priests, when He sees those whom He placed for the correction of others giving examples of wickedness from themselves, when we ourselves sin, we who ought to have restrained sins. Very often, what is more serious, priests who should have given their own possessions even plunder those of others.
Very often, if they observe any living humbly, any living continently, they mock them. Consider therefore what is happening to the flocks, when the shepherds become wolves. For those undertake the guardianship of the flock who do not fear to lie in wait against the Lord's flock, against whom God's flocks ought to have been protected. We seek no gain of souls, we attend daily to our own pursuits, we desire earthly things, we eagerly chase human glory with intent mind. And because by the very fact that we are placed over others, we have greater license to do whatever we wish, we turn the ministry of the blessing we received into an instrument of ambition; we abandon God's cause, we attend to earthly business; we receive a place of holiness, and we are entangled in earthly activities. What is written has surely been fulfilled in us: And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest. For the priest does not differ from the people when by no merit of his own does he transcend the common conduct. Let us implore the tears of Jeremiah; let him consider our death, and lamenting say: "How is the gold become dim, the most fine color is changed, the stones of the sanctuary are scattered at the head of every street. For the gold has become dim, because the life of priests, once bright through the glory of virtues, is now shown to be reprobate through the basest actions.
The most fine color is changed, because that habit of holiness has come to the disgrace of contempt through earthly and abject works. But the stones of the sanctuary were kept within, nor were they placed on the body of the high priest except when, entering the holy of holies, he appeared in the secret place of his Creator. We therefore, dearest brothers, we are the stones of the sanctuary who ought always to appear in the secret place of God; whom it is never necessary to be seen outside, that is, never to be seen in external affairs. But the stones of the sanctuary are scattered at the head of every street, because those who through their life and prayer ought always to have been within, through their reprobate life are occupied outside. Behold, now there is almost no worldly business which priests do not administer. Therefore, while established in the holy habit, they perform external things, and like stones of the sanctuary they lie outside. For since in the Greek tongue "platea" is named from breadth, the stones of the sanctuary are in the streets when religious persons follow the broad ways of the world. Nor are they scattered only in the streets, but also at the head of the streets, because they both carry out works through desire for this world, and yet seek the height of honor from their religious habit.
Therefore they are scattered at the head of the streets, because they both lie prostrate through the service of worldly work, and wish to be honored for the appearance of holiness. You see how greatly the world is struck by the sword, you observe with what daily blows the people perish. By whose sin is this brought about if not especially by ours? Behold, cities have been depopulated, fortresses overthrown, churches and monasteries destroyed, fields reduced to wilderness. But we who ought to have been guides to life stand as authors of death to the perishing people. For through our sin the multitude of the people has been laid low, because through our negligence they were not instructed for life. What else shall we call the souls of men but the food of the Lord, which were created for this purpose: that they might be taken into his body, that is, that they might tend toward the increase of the eternal Church? But we ought to have been the seasoning of this food. For as we said a little earlier, it is said to the preachers who were sent: You are the salt of the earth. If therefore the people are the food of God, the priests ought to have been the seasoning of the food. But because while we cease from the practice of prayer and holy instruction, the salt has become tasteless;
it cannot season the food of God, and therefore it is not taken up by the Creator, because through our prevailing foolishness it is not seasoned at all. Let us consider, then, who were ever converted through our tongue, who, rebuked by our reproof for their perverse deeds, have done penance, who abandoned luxury through our instruction, who turned away from avarice, who from pride? Let us consider what profit we have made for God—we who, having received a talent, were sent by him to trade. For he says: Trade until I come. Behold, he has already come; behold, he seeks profit from our trading. What profit of souls shall we show him from our trading? How many sheaves of souls shall we bring before his sight from the harvest of our preaching? Let us place before our eyes that day of such great severity, when the Judge will come and settle accounts with his servants to whom he entrusted the talents. Behold, in terrible majesty, he will be seen among the choirs of angels and archangels. In that great examination, the multitude of all the elect and the reprobate will be brought forth, and what each one has done will be shown. There Peter will appear with converted Judea, which he drew after himself. There Paul, leading the converted world, so to speak. There Andrew will lead Achaia after himself, there John will lead Asia, Thomas will lead India, converted, into the sight of their king.
There all the rams of the Lord's flock will appear with the gains of souls, who by their holy preaching draw after themselves a flock made subject to God. Therefore, when so many shepherds with their flocks have come before the eyes of the eternal Shepherd, what shall we wretches say, who return to our Lord empty-handed after the business, who have had the name of shepherds and do not have the sheep we ought to show from our nurturing? Here we are called shepherds, and there we lead no flock. But surely if we neglect our duties, does Almighty God abandon His sheep? By no means; for He Himself, as He promised through the prophet, feeds them by Himself, and He instructs all whom He has predestined to life through the goads of afflictions and the spirit of compunction. And indeed through us the faithful come to holy baptism, they are blessed by our prayers, and through the laying on of our hands they receive the Holy Spirit from God, and they themselves attain to the kingdom of heaven, and behold, we through our negligence tend downward. The elect enter the heavenly homeland, purified by the hands of priests; and the priests themselves through their reprobate life hasten to the punishments of hell. To what thing, then, to what shall I compare wicked priests, if not to the water of baptism, which, washing away the sins of the baptized, sends them to the heavenly kingdom, and itself afterward descends into the sewers? Let us fear these things, brothers;
let our ministry be fitting to our conduct. Let us think daily about the forgiveness of our sins, lest our life remain bound by sin, through which Almighty God daily releases others. Let us consider without ceasing what we are, let us weigh our business, let us weigh the burden we have undertaken. Let us make daily reckonings with ourselves, which we will have with our Judge. And so we ought to attend to our own care that we do not neglect the care of our neighbor, so that whoever is joined to us may be seasoned with the salt of our tongue. When we see someone idle and dissolute, he must be admonished to strive to restrain his wickedness with marriage, so that through what is permitted he may learn to overcome what is not permitted. When we see a married person, he must be admonished to exercise the care of the world in such a way that he does not set aside the love of God; to please the will of his spouse in such a way that he does not displease his Creator. When we see a cleric, he must be admonished to live in such a way that he provides an example of life to the laity, lest if anything is justly criticized in him, the very reputation of our religion be burdened by his vice.
When we see a monk, he must be admonished to always observe the reverence of his habit in his conduct, in his speech, in his thought, so that he may perfectly abandon the things of the world, and what he displays to human eyes by his habit, he may show forth before the eyes of God by his character. This one, therefore, is already holy; let him be admonished to grow. That one, however, is still wicked; let him be admonished to correct himself, so that whoever has joined himself to a priest may depart seasoned with the salt of his speech. Think carefully on these things with yourselves, brothers, and bestow them also on your neighbors; prepare to render fruit to Almighty God from the business you have received. But these things that we say we shall obtain with you better by praying than by speaking. LET US PRAY. O God, who has willed to call us as shepherds over peoples, grant, we beseech You, that what we are called by human mouth, we may be able to be in Your eyes. Through our Lord, etc.
Homily 18
Delivered to the people in the basilica of the holy apostle Peter, on Passion Sunday.
Reading from the Gospel According to John
At that time, Jesus said to the crowds of the Jews and to the chief priests: Which of you will convict me of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears the words of God; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God. The Jews therefore answered and said to him: Do we not say well that you are a Samaritan.and have a demon? Jesus answered: I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father; and you have dishonored me. But I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks and judges. Amen, amen I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will not see death forever. The Jews therefore said: Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets, and you say: If anyone keeps my word, he will not taste death forever. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died. Who do you make yourself to be? Jesus answered: If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, whom you say is your God, and you have not known him. But I know him. And if I say that I do not know him, I will be like you, a liar; but I know him, and I keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced that he might see my day; he saw it and was glad.
The Jews therefore said to him: You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham? Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am. They therefore took up stones to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. Consider, dearest brothers, the gentleness of God. He had come to forgive sins, and yet he said: "Which of you can convict me of sin? He did not disdain to show by reasoning that he was not a sinner, he who by the power of his divinity could justify sinners. But what follows is very terrifying: "He who is of God hears the words of God; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God. For if he who is of God hears the words of God, and whoever is not of him cannot hear his words, let each one ask himself whether he perceives the words of God in the ear of his heart, and he will understand where he is from. The Truth commands us to desire the heavenly homeland, to crush the desires of the flesh, to shun the glory of the world, not to covet what belongs to others, and to give away what is our own. Therefore let each one of you consider within himself whether this voice of God has taken hold in the ear of his heart, and he will recognize that he is already of God.
For there are some who do not deign to receive the precepts of God even with the ear of the body. And there are some who indeed receive them with the bodily ear, but embrace them with no desire of the mind. And there are some who gladly receive the words of God, so that they are even moved to tears of compunction, but after the time of weeping they return to iniquity. These certainly do not hear the words of God, who scorn to put them into practice by their deeds. Therefore, dearest brothers, call your life back before the eyes of your mind, and with profound consideration fear what sounds from the mouth of Truth: "Therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God. But what the Truth says about the reprobate, the reprobate themselves show about themselves by their own works. For it follows: "The Jews therefore answered and said to him: Do we not say rightly that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? But having received such an insult, let us hear what the Lord responds: "I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you have dishonored me. For since "Samaritan" is interpreted as "guardian," and he himself is truly the guardian of whom the Psalmist says: "Unless the Lord guards the city, in vain do those who guard it keep watch"; and to whom it is said through Isaiah: "Guardian, what of the night? Guardian, what of the night?" — the Lord did not wish to answer:
"I am not a Samaritan"; but rather, "I do not have a demon. For indeed two things were charged against him: one he denied, the other he conceded by remaining silent. For he had come as the guardian of the human race; and if he had said that he was not a Samaritan, he would have denied that he was a guardian. But he kept silent about what he acknowledged, and patiently repelled what he heard falsely spoken, saying: "I do not have a demon. In these words, what else is confounded but our pride? For if it is provoked even slightly, it returns more savage injuries than it received: it does the evils it can, and threatens even those it cannot do. Behold, the Lord receiving an injury does not grow angry, does not answer with insulting words. If he had wished to respond to those saying these things: "You have a demon," he would certainly have spoken the truth, because unless they had been filled with a demon, they could not have spoken such perverse things about God. But having received the injury, Truth did not wish to say even what was true, lest he should seem not to have spoken truth, but to have returned insult when provoked. From this matter, what is suggested to us except that at the time when we receive insults from neighbors out of falsehood, we should also keep silent about their true evils, lest we turn the ministry of just correction into weapons of fury?
But because whoever uses zeal for God is dishonored by wicked men, the Lord provided us an example of patience in himself, when he says: "But I honor my Father, and you have dishonored me. But what we should do in such matters, he still admonishes us by example, when he adds: "But I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks and judges. We know certainly what is written, that the Father has given all judgment to the Son, and yet behold the same Son, receiving injuries, does not seek his own glory. He reserves the insults inflicted for the Father's judgment, so that he might surely intimate to us how patient we ought to be, since he who judges does not yet wish to avenge himself. But when the perversity of the wicked increases, preaching must not only not be broken off, but even increased. The Lord admonishes us of this by his own example, who after being said to have a demon bestowed the benefits of his preaching more generously, saying: "Amen, amen, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he shall not see death forever. But just as it is necessary for the good to become even better through insults, so the reprobate always become worse from benefit. For having received the preaching, they say again: "Now we know that you have a demon.
For since they had clung to eternal death, and did not see the same death to which they clung, while they looked only at death of the flesh, they were blind to the word of Truth, saying: "Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead, and you say: 'If anyone keeps my word, he shall not taste death forever'? Hence they also set Abraham himself and the prophets before Truth itself, as if venerating them. But it is shown to us by clear reasoning that those who do not know God also falsely venerate God's servants. And it should be noted that the Lord saw them resisting Him with open hostility, and yet He did not cease to preach to them with repeated words, saying: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it, and was glad. For Abraham saw the day of the Lord when, as a figure of the supreme Trinity, he received three angels as guests; and having received them, he spoke to the three as if to one, because although there is a number of Trinity in the persons, there is a unity of divinity in nature. But the carnal minds of the listeners do not raise their eyes above the flesh, while they consider only the age of His flesh, saying: "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? Our gracious Redeemer draws them away from gazing at His flesh and leads them to the contemplation of His divinity, saying:
"Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am. For "before" belongs to past time, "I am" to present time. And because the Divinity has neither past nor future time, but always has being, He did not say "Before Abraham I was," but "Before Abraham I am. Hence also it is said to Moses: "I am who am. And: "You shall say to the children of Israel: He who is has sent me to you. Therefore Abraham had both a before and an after, because he was able both to arrive through the manifestation of his presence and to depart through the course of his life. But Truth always has being, because nothing in it either begins at an earlier time or ends at a later one. But the minds of the unbelievers, unable to endure these words of eternity, ran to stones, and sought to overwhelm Him whom they could not understand. But what the Lord did against the fury of those stoning Him is shown when it is immediately added: "But Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple. It is very remarkable, dearest brothers, why the Lord avoided His persecutors by hiding Himself, when if He had wished to exercise the power of His divinity, He could have bound them in their very blows by a silent command of His mind, or overwhelmed them with the punishment of sudden death. But because He had come to suffer, He did not wish to exercise judgment.
Indeed, at the very time of His passion He both showed how much He could do, and yet endured that for which He had come. For when He said to His persecutors seeking Him, "I am He," by this voice alone He struck down their pride and laid them all flat on the ground. He who therefore could have escaped the hands of those stoning Him in this place without hiding Himself—why did He hide Himself, unless because our Redeemer, made man among men, speaks some things to us by word, other things by example? But what does He say to us by this example, except that even when we are able to resist, we should humbly avoid the wrath of the proud? Hence it is also said through Paul: "Give place to wrath. Let man consider with how great humility he ought to flee the anger of his neighbor, if God avoided the furies of the wrathful by hiding Himself. Let no one therefore raise himself up against insults received, let no one return reproach for reproach. For in imitation of God, it is more glorious to flee injury by keeping silent than to overcome it by responding. But against this pride says in the heart: It is shameful that, having received an injury, you remain silent. Whoever observes that you receive an insult and remain silent does not think that you are showing patience, but that you are acknowledging guilt.
But from where does this voice arise in our heart against patience, unless because we have fixed our thought on base things, and while we seek glory on earth, we do not care to please Him who watches us from heaven? Therefore, having received an insult, let us meditate in our work on the voice of God: I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks and judges. Moreover, what is written about the Lord, He hid himself, can be understood in another way. For He had preached many things to the Jews, but they mocked the words of His preaching. They also became worse from the preaching, who went so far as to throw stones. And what does the Lord signify by hiding Himself, except that the truth itself is hidden from those who disdain to follow His words? For truth flees the mind which it does not find humble. And how many are there today who detest the hardness of the Jews, because they refused to hear the preaching of the Lord, and yet such as they accuse those of having been toward the faith, such are they themselves toward works. They hear the precepts of the Lord, they recognize the miracles, but they refuse to turn from their depravities. Behold, He calls, and we do not wish to return. Behold, He waits, and we disregard His patience.
Therefore, while there is time, brothers, let each one abandon his depravity, let him fear the patience of God, lest he whom one now despises as tranquil, one may by no means be able to escape when He is angry.
Homily 19
Delivered to the people in the basilica of the blessed martyr Lawrence, on Septuagesima Sunday.
Reading from the Gospel According to Matthew
At that time, Jesus told his disciples this parable: The kingdom of heaven is like a man, a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And having made an agreement with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them: Go also into my vineyard, and whatever is just, I will give you. And they went. And again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he said to them: Why do you stand here idle all day? They said to him: Because no one has hired us. He said to them: Go also into my vineyard. And when evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward: Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last even to the first. When therefore those who had come about the eleventh hour came, they received each a denarius. And when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more. But they also received each a denarius. And upon receiving it, they murmured against the householder, saying: These last worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the heat? But he, answering one of them, said:
Friend, I do you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go. But I wish to give to this last one even as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish? Or is your eye evil because I am good? So shall the last be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen. In its explanation, the reading of the holy Gospel demands much to be said, which I wish, if I can, to cover briefly, lest both an extended procession and a lengthy exposition seem to burden you. The kingdom of heaven is said to be like a householder who hires workers to cultivate his vineyard. But who more fittingly holds the likeness of a householder than our Creator, who rules those whom he created, and possesses his elect in this world just as a master possesses his subjects in a house? He has a vineyard, namely the universal Church, which, from righteous Abel to the last elect who will be born at the end of the world, has sent forth as many branches as it has produced saints. This householder, therefore, hires workers to cultivate his vineyard at dawn, the third hour, the sixth, the ninth, and the eleventh, because from the beginning of this world until its end he has not ceased to gather preachers to instruct the faithful people.
For the morning of the world was from Adam to Noah, the third hour from Noah to Abraham, the sixth from Abraham to Moses, the ninth from Moses to the coming of the Lord, and the eleventh from the coming of the Lord to the end of the world. In this last hour the holy apostles were sent as preachers, who received their full wage though they came late. Therefore the Lord has never ceased to send workers to instruct his people, as if to cultivate his vineyard, because both earlier through the patriarchs, and afterward through the teachers of the law and the prophets, and finally through the apostles, while he cultivated the character of his people, he labored, as it were, through workers in the cultivation of the vineyard. Although, in whatever measure or degree, whoever lived with right faith and good action was a worker of this vineyard. The worker at dawn, the third, sixth, and ninth hour designates that ancient Hebrew people, who among their elect from the very beginning of the world, while they strove to worship God with right faith, did not cease, as it were, to labor in the cultivation of the vineyard. But at the eleventh hour the Gentiles are called, to whom it is also said: Why do you stand here idle all day? For those who, after so long a time of the world had passed, had neglected to labor for their life, stood idle, as it were, all day. But consider, brothers, what they answer when questioned:
For they say: Because no one has hired us. Indeed, no patriarch, no prophet had come to them. And what does it mean to say: No one has hired us for labor, except: No one has preached to us the ways of life? What then shall we, who cease from good work, say in our excuse, we who came to the faith almost from our mother's womb, who heard the words of life from the very cradle, who from the breasts of holy Church have drunk the draught of heavenly preaching along with the milk of the flesh? We can indeed also distinguish these same diversities of hours according to the stages of ages for each individual person. For the morning of our understanding is childhood. The third hour can be understood as adolescence, because the sun, as it were, advances higher as the heat of age increases. The sixth hour is youth, because the sun is fixed as if at its center, while in that age the fullness of strength is established. The ninth hour is understood as old age, in which the sun descends as if from its high axis, because that age declines from the heat of youth. The eleventh hour is that age which is called decrepit or advanced. Hence the Greeks call the very elderly not γέροντας but πρεσβυτέρους, to indicate that those whom they call more advanced are more than old.
Therefore, since one person is led to a good life in childhood, another in adolescence, another in youth, another in old age, another in decrepit age, workers are called to the vineyard at different hours, as it were. Examine your ways, therefore, dearest brothers, and see if you are already workers of God. Let each one weigh what he does, and consider whether he labors in the Lord's vineyard. For he who in this life seeks his own things has not yet come to the Lord's vineyard. For they labor for the Lord who think not of their own things but of the Lord's gains, who serve with zeal of charity, with eagerness of piety, who are watchful for gaining souls, who hasten to lead others along with themselves to life. For he who lives for himself, who feeds on the pleasures of his flesh, is rightly reproached as idle, because he does not pursue the fruit of divine work. 3. He who has neglected to live for God even until the last age has stood idle until the eleventh hour, as it were. Hence it is rightly said to those who are sluggish until the eleventh hour: Why do you stand here idle all day? As if it were openly said: If you did not wish to live for God in childhood and youth, at least come to your senses in the last age, and come to the ways of life, even if late, when you will not have much labor ahead.
And such ones, therefore, the householder calls, and often they are rewarded first, because they depart from the body to the kingdom before those who seemed to have been called from childhood. Did not the thief come at the eleventh hour, who, even if he did not have time through age, yet had it late through punishment, who confessed God on the cross, and breathed out the spirit of life almost with the voice of his sentence? The householder began to give the denarius from the last, because he led the thief to the rest of paradise before Peter. How many fathers were there before the law, how many under the law, and yet those who were called at the Lord's coming arrived at the kingdom of heaven without any delay. Therefore those who labored until the eleventh hour receive the same denarius that those who labored from the first hour awaited with all their desire, because those who came to the Lord at the end of the world obtained an equal reward of eternal life with those who had been called from the beginning of the world. Hence those who had preceded in labor also say, murmuring: These last worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the heat?
For those have borne the burden of the day and the heat whom it befell from the beginning of the world, because they happened to live here for a long time, to endure also longer temptations of the flesh. For to bear the burden of the day and the heat is for each one to be wearied by the heat of his flesh through the times of a longer life. But it can be asked how those who are called to the kingdom even at a late hour are said to have murmured. For no one who murmurs receives the kingdom of heaven, and no one who receives it can murmur. But because the ancient fathers, up until the coming of the Lord, no matter how justly they had lived, were not led to the kingdom unless He descended who would open the gates of paradise to men by the interposition of His death, their murmuring was this very thing: that they both lived rightly for the sake of receiving the kingdom, and yet were long delayed in receiving the kingdom. For those whom the places of hell, however tranquil, received after their righteousness was completed, for them indeed it was both to have labored in the vineyard and to have murmured. Therefore they receive the denarius as if after murmuring, who after long periods in hell arrived at the joys of the kingdom.
But we who come at the eleventh hour do not murmur after our labor and receive the denarius, because after the coming of the Mediator, coming into this world, we are led to the kingdom as soon as we depart from the body, and we receive without delay what the ancient fathers deserved to receive with great delay. Hence the same householder says: "I wish to give to this last one even as to you. And because the very reception of the kingdom is the goodness of His will, He rightly adds: "Or is it not lawful for me to do what I wish? For it is a foolish complaint of man against the kindness of God. For there would be no cause for complaint if He does not give what He does not owe, but only if He did not give what He owed. Hence it is fittingly added: "Or is your eye evil because I am good? But let no one exalt himself on account of his work, let no one exalt himself on account of time, since with this statement completed, the Truth subsequently cries out: "So the last shall be first, and the first last. For behold, even if we already know what and how great the good things we have done are, we still do not know with what subtlety the heavenly Judge examines these things. And indeed each one should rejoice greatly to be even the last in the kingdom of God. But after these things, what follows is very terrible:
"For many are called, but few are chosen," because many come to faith, yet few are led to the heavenly kingdom. For behold, how many of us have gathered for today's feast, we fill the walls of the Church, yet who knows how few there are who are numbered in that flock of God's elect? For behold, the voice of all proclaims Christ, but the life of all does not proclaim Him. Most follow God with their voices, but flee from Him by their conduct. Hence Paul says: "They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him. Hence James says: "Faith without works is dead. Hence through the Psalmist the Lord says: "I have declared and spoken, they have multiplied beyond number. For when the Lord calls, the faithful are multiplied beyond number, because sometimes even those come to faith who do not attain to the number of the elect. For here they are mingled with the faithful through confession, but because of their reprobate life they do not deserve to be numbered there in the lot of the faithful. This fold of holy Church receives goats together with lambs; but, as the Gospel attests, when the Judge comes, He separates the good from the wicked, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. For those who here serve the pleasures of their flesh cannot be numbered there in the flock of sheep. There the Judge separates from the lot of the humble those who here exalt themselves in the horns of pride.
Those who here, though established in heavenly faith, seek the earth with all their desire, cannot receive the kingdom of heaven. And you see many such people within the Church, dearest brothers, but you ought neither to imitate them nor to despair of them. For we see what someone is today, but what each one will be tomorrow we do not know. Often one who is seen to come after us surpasses us through the swiftness of good work, and tomorrow we scarcely follow him whom today we seemed to precede. Certainly when Stephen was dying for the faith, Saul was guarding the garments of those who were stoning him. Therefore he himself stoned with the hands of all who were stoning, since he rendered them all free to stone, and yet in the holy Church he surpassed in labors that very one whom by persecuting he made a martyr. There are therefore two things which we ought to consider carefully. For since many are called but few are chosen, the first is that no one should presume too much of himself, because even if he has already been called to the faith, he does not know whether he is worthy of the eternal kingdom. The second is that no one should dare to despair of his neighbor, whom he perhaps sees lying in vices, because he does not know the riches of divine mercy.
I am relating a matter that happened recently, brothers, so that if you recognize yourselves to be sinners from the heart, you may love the mercy of almighty God more abundantly. In the present year, a certain brother came to conversion in my monastery, which is situated near the Church of the blessed martyrs John and Paul; he was devoutly received, but he himself lived even more devoutly (Dialogues, Book IV, Chapter 38). His brother followed him to the monastery in body, not in heart. For greatly detesting the life and habit of conversion, he dwelt in the monastery as a guest, and while fleeing the life of the monks by his conduct, he could not depart from dwelling in the monastery, because he had neither anything to do nor means to live. His wickedness was burdensome to all, but everyone bore with him patiently out of love for his brother. For, proud and dissolute, he did not know whether any life followed after this world, and indeed he mocked anyone who wished to preach this to him. And so he lived in the monastery in secular dress, frivolous in speech, unstable in movement, puffed up in mind, refined in clothing, dissolute in action. But in the month of July just past, he was struck by the plague of that pestilence which you know, and coming to his end, he began to be pressed to surrender his soul. And with the lower part of his body already dead, vital strength remained only in his chest and tongue.
The brothers were present and were protecting his departure with prayer as much as they could with God's help. But he, suddenly seeing a dragon coming to devour him, began to cry out with loud voices, saying: "Behold, I have been given to a dragon to be devoured, who cannot devour me because of your presence. Why do you cause me delay? Give way so that he may be permitted to devour me. And when the brothers urged him to make the sign of the cross upon himself, he responded with what strength he could, saying: "I want to sign myself, but I cannot, because I am pressed by the dragon. The foam of his mouth smears my face, my throat is suffocated by his mouth. Behold, my arms are compressed by him, who has already swallowed my head in his mouth. And while he, pale and trembling and dying, was saying this, the brothers began to press more vehemently with prayers, and to aid him who was oppressed by the dragon's presence with their supplications. Then suddenly freed, he began to cry out with loud voices, saying: "Thanks be to God; behold, he has departed, behold, he has gone out, the dragon who had seized me has fled before your prayers. Soon he vowed that he would serve God and be a monk, and from that time until now he is pressed by fevers, worn out by pains. He has indeed been withdrawn from death, but he has not yet been fully restored to life.
For because he was pressed by long and lasting iniquities, he is worn out by long illness, and a harder fire of purgation burns his hard heart, because it is brought about by divine dispensation that a more prolonged sickness may burn away more prolonged vices. Who would ever have believed that he would be preserved for conversion? Who can sufficiently consider such mercy of God? Behold, a wicked young man saw in death the dragon whom he served in life, yet he did not see him so as to lose his life utterly, but so that he might know whom he had served, by knowing might resist, and by resisting might overcome him, and he who was formerly held by him without seeing later saw him so as not to be held. What tongue, then, can sufficiently narrate the depths of divine mercy? What spirit does not stand amazed at the riches of such great kindness? The Psalmist considered these riches of divine kindness when he said: "My helper, to you I will sing praise, for you, O God, are my protector, my God, my mercy. Behold, perceiving in what labors human life is placed, he called God his helper; and because he receives us from present tribulation into eternal rest, he also calls him protector. But considering that he looks upon and bears our evils, tolerates our faults, and yet reserves us through penitence for rewards, he did not wish to call God merciful, but called him mercy itself, saying: "My God, my mercy.
Let us therefore recall before our eyes the evils we have done, let us weigh with how great benignity of God we are tolerated, let us consider what are the depths of his kindness, so that he not only pardons faults but also promises the heavenly kingdom to the penitent even after their faults. And from all the depths of our heart let us say individually, let us all say: "My God, my mercy," who lives and reigns, three in unity and one in trinity, through infinite ages of ages. Amen.