De paenitentia sermo 2

On Cheese-Fare Sunday, concerning repentance and almsgiving. Homily 2. 1. The trumpets of an earthly king prepare his soldiers for battle; the reading of the divine Scriptures rouses the soldiers of the heavenly king, Jesus Christ, to doxology and fear of God. But those are prepared for the confrontation with visible enemies and foes, while we are prepared for invisible enemies and demons, as Paul says: "Our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." See, brothers, what enemies we have; see with what foes we fight. For they are wicked, as you see, and shameless, and they force us toward every sin. And if they fail in this, they come to another; and if they are at a loss from that, they move on to another; and, to speak simply, passing from one to another they do not desist until their will is accomplished. And they incite one to fornication, another to adultery; and another to seize what belongs to others, and another to steal what belongs to his neighbor; and one to greed and insatiability, another to malice and envy; another to murder and slander, and another to backbiting and fratricide; another to gluttony and pederasty, and another to sacrilege and shamelessness; and one to people-pleasing and love of glory, another to heartlessness and inhumanity; another to denial and oath-breaking, and another to insolence and dishonor.

and one to anger and wrath, and another to usury and to envy and strife, and another to blasphemy and impurity; and they persuade some not to pity the poor, and others to encroach upon their neighbor's boundaries; they cause some to defraud hired laborers of their wages—what could be more pitiable than that?—others they cause to strip orphans, others to oppress widows, others not even to enter the church, others they hurl into countless sufferings, of which there is no number; and even as I recount them, the time of my life will fail me. See, brothers, into how many evils we fall each day, and we do not pay attention. But, alas, what am I to become as I recount these things? Believe me, brothers, that even as I write these things alone, I am terrified and trembling, and a shudder has fallen upon me, and I am beside myself, and tears come to me, when I consider how many evil and demonic passions we are ensnared by. So why are we negligent, why do we wait? What time are we awaiting? Why do we despise our own salvation? Why do we not take thought for our departure? Why are we negligent, why do we shrink back? How long this despondency, how long this luxury, how long this drunkenness, how long these pleasures, how long this self-indulgence, how long this insatiability, how long these plunderings, how long this injustice? How long this persecution of the poor? How long these depredations of the needy? How long wealth, how long money, how long gold? How long this love of money, the noose of souls? How long envy, how long falsehood, how long slander, how long abuse, how long shameful and unbridled desires? Why do we wander? Why do we wait? Why do we toil unseasonably? Why do we mock ourselves?

Why do we cut ourselves down in vain? Why do we rush upon what belongs to others? Why are we disturbed? Why do we labor? Why do we amass temporary treasures? Let us repent from now on, let us wake up, let us keep watch, I implore you, brothers, let us shake off the deep sleep of sin. Come, listen, and I will relate to you, all who fear God: come, hear things and words spiritual and salvific; come, learn a counsel that saves and is pleasing to God; come, know how we shall confess to God our Savior; come before the festival of life is dissolved; come before the doors of life are closed, before death comes and finds you unprepared; come before the sun sets, before the light grows dark. Come, listen, all nations, and give ear, all who inhabit the world; come, earthborn and sons of men, rich and poor together; come, noble and renowned, slaves and free; come, every race and every age, men together with women, small and great, young and old; come, priests of the Lord, and the whole fullness of the Church from the ends to the ends of the world; come, youths and virgins, elders with the younger; come, kings of the earth, both wise and unlearned; come, let us fall down before the Lord who made us; for he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Come, brothers, and let us know that the ends of the earth will not help us. Come, see that we entered naked, and again we are about to depart naked from there.

Come, let us confess to the Lord with tears and groans, with alms, with compassion for the poor; and He Himself will teach us how we may be saved. Let us also say to Him: Lord, we have sinned against heaven and before You; accept our return and our repentance, accept our groaning and our tears, accept the repentance of us sinners, the lamentation and weeping unto death; accept us, the wretched ones, who have lived shamefully; accept us, O Lover of mankind, who have greatly provoked You; accept us, O Master, who have spent our whole life in profligacy and every wickedness and impurity; accept, O Lord God, those who have disobeyed Your commandments; accept us, O Master, Your unworthy servants, and do not repay us according to the works of our hands. We confess, O Master, that we are not even worthy of life because of our sins; we confess, O Lord, that we are not even worthy to behold this sun, because there is no sin, no form of every kind of evil, that we wretches have not committed; but accept us, O Master, as the prodigal son, accept us as the robber, accept us as the harlot and the tax collector. Lord, turn us back; Lord, make us wise, and do not be angry, but be propitiated by our sins. You are our God, and apart from You we know no other. Lord, deliver us from our enemies, and do not enter into judgment with Your servants. Lord, You are God, and we are Your people. For we have sinned, we have transgressed, we have done wrong, and we have done evil, and we have erred in everything, and we have not listened to Your commandments, and because of this we have wandered far from You.

But have mercy, Lord, on the works of your hands; have mercy, Master, on those cast out of paradise by the deceit of the serpent; have mercy on us, and clothe us with a garment of gladness and a saving cloak; have mercy on us, whom the devil has stripped of your assistance. O compassionate one, have mercy on those who abandoned you and served him; have mercy on the erring, have mercy on those who did not keep your commandments and who served the evil machinations of demons; have mercy on those defiled by sins, have mercy on those tyrannized by the devil, have mercy on those befouled by profligacy; have mercy, O merciful one, have mercy, O good one, have mercy, O patient one, for every evil and every impurity and greed and injustice our hands have wrought. For we have defiled the soul, which you made in your image; we have defiled the body, we have defiled the senses. Our tongue has become a sharp sword against our neighbor, our eyes see fire, our hands are full of blood, our feet are swift to do some evil.

Our mouth has been defiled by slanders; and, to put it simply, we have defiled the earth and the air. For our injustices have approached as far as heaven, our plunderings have been raised higher than the mountains, our greed has been lifted above the clouds, our wickednesses have reached as far as heaven, our sins are unforgivable, our errors have no consolation, our failure is inconsolable, and behold, the earth cannot bear our evils; and because of this, Master, we have need of your mercy. You know the weakness of our nature; have mercy, Lord, on the work of your hands. For we call upon your compassion; do not deprive us of your help; send down your mercy to us, the unworthy; grant us, the sinners, your assistance, and show your face, and we shall be saved. Saying and doing these things, my brothers, let us flee every wickedness and every impurity, let us flee every injustice and greed, let us flee vainglory, drunkenness and every insatiability, let us flee gluttony, the mother of all evils, let us flee love of money, the beginning and root of every sin, let us flee hatred of brothers and lack of compassion, let us flee slander and abuse; let us flee fornication, adultery, and every blasphemy; let us flee theft, plundering; let us flee love of honor and partiality and strife and envy and the remaining deceit of this vain life; so that our Lord Jesus Christ may not come and find us being negligent, and cut us in two, and pronounce against us, saying: Bind their hands and feet, take them away, and cast them into the outer darkness.

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Oh, how much we shall then weep, brothers, and lament and mourn and beat ourselves, no longer being of any benefit! Woe in that terrible hour, if we are found so unrepentant; it would have been better for us not to have been born, if we are to be found in such a state. Let us weep bitterly now, brothers, so that we may not be punished eternally there; let us have mercy, so that we may be shown mercy, so that we may be forgiven; let us ourselves scatter our wealth, so that others after our death, eating and drinking and living luxuriously from our labor, do not sing, saying: "The rich man amasses, and does not know for whom he gathers it"; and again, "Behold a man who did not make God his helper." For what benefit is it, brothers, when we labor, and others enjoy the fruit of our labor? Let us send it ahead there, so that we may find it. For what a man sows, that he will also reap. Let no one make the excuse, "I have a wife and children, and I cannot scatter my wealth because of them, lest I die and leave them as beggars." No, brothers, no, I beg you all, let us not be concerned about this. For there is a God in heaven, the merciful one, who cares for and manages the wife and children, the one who also made them; let us only care for ourselves, weep for ourselves, prepare ourselves, secure ourselves in advance for the tribunals and courts there. For in that hour, neither children nor wife, nor father, nor mother, nor brother, nor relative, nor even Abraham himself, or Noah, or Daniel, or Peter, or Paul will be able to ransom us from those incomprehensible torments, if not our own works.

He comes from heaven to judge the living and the dead; he comes who examines hearts and kidneys; he comes, and who then can escape his hands? He comes seated upon a throne of Cherubim, and gazing into the abysses; he comes, the God of gods, and Lord of lords; he comes, the Ruler of rulers, and Judge of judges; he comes, the King of kings, and Justicer of justicers; he comes who makes public and exposes every base and hidden secret; he comes who openly reveals and uncovers the errors of secret things; he comes who triumphs over the thoughts and the deeds and the words and every conception of all; he comes, the true and sleepless eye, the impartial judge, the unbribable examiner, who burns up every foul action and shameful pleasure, and consigns to Gehenna; he comes who loves peace, and hates every evil word, and every plunder, and every sin, and punishes eternally those who cause scandals; he comes, from whose face the earth flees, the sea is dried up; the heaven is rolled up like a scroll, the stars fall, the air is shaken, the sun is darkened, the moon will not give its light, the powers of the heavens will be shaken, the Cherubim tremble, the Seraphim are amazed, angels shudder, archangels tremble, the things above, the things below are shaken, all things are convulsed; he comes who does not regard a man's face, and does not pity a poor man in judgment; he comes who gives to each according to his works, who exposes and pillories the plans and movements of every living creature.

He comes who has mercy on the merciful, and condemns the pitiless; he who is terrible in his counsels beyond the sons of men; he comes before whom every knee of the heavenly, earthly, and subterranean beings bends; he comes whose throne is a flame of fire, and whose wheels are blazing fire; he comes to save and glorify the righteous, and to punish the sinners; he comes to bless the thirsty, and to lament the sated; he comes to honor those who strive and keep vigil in prayers and psalmody, in thanksgiving and supplication and endurance; but the idle and negligent he will consign to torments and punishments; he comes terrible and harsh to sinners, and will punish with great threat; but to the righteous he is gentle, cheerful, and mild. And what does he say to them? "Come, the blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; not because you acquired great wealth on earth, nor because you had many slaves and maidservants, nor because you became noble and renowned; not because you inherited many fields and vineyards, not because you built storehouses and splendid houses, not because you possessed many yokes of oxen and flocks of sheep, nor because you enjoyed a rich and abundant table, nor because you wore bright garments, nor because you anointed yourselves with myrrh and spices, nor because you were greatly honored by all; not because you were glorified and exalted and magnified, nor because you fasted or kept vigil; nor because you preserved virginity, or because you endured hardship; but because I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat.

I thirsted, and you gave me drink; you saw me a stranger, and you brought me into your homes, and you greatly comforted me; you saw me naked, and you clothed me; you beheld me lying in sickness, and you visited me, and deemed me worthy of much care; you saw me in prison, and you came to me with great eagerness. And the righteous say to him: Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you drink? Or a stranger and bring you in? Or naked and clothe you? Or sick or in prison and serve you? And the Judge says to them: Truly, truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did to one of these, my least brothers, the poor, the castaways, the strangers, the lowly, the despised, the maimed, those in distress, those in need, those in affliction, those in famine, those in thirst, those wounded, those oppressed, those sick, those suffering; inasmuch as you did to any one of all these, you did to me, you warmed my limbs, you served me, you gave rest to my soul; therefore, Come, the blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Come first, you who kept the faith spotless and undefiled; come, you who for my sake became poor in spiritual poverty; come, you who in deserts and mountains and caves and hollows

...who dwelt on the earth with the beasts for my name's sake. Come, those who are grieving and afflicted; come, those who have hungered and thirsted for my sake; come, those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness; come, those who have been reproached and hated for my name's sake; come, those who are pure in heart; come, those who are merciful; come, those who are generous; come, those who are compassionate; come, those who care for orphans; come, those who are hosts to strangers; come, those who are protectors of widows; come, those who are helpers of the powerless; come, those who are comforters of the sick; come, those who visit those in prison; come, those who pay the debts of debtors; come, those who have filled the souls of the hungry and thirsty for my name's sake; come, those who are the most ardent protectors of those unjustly enslaved and endangered; come, those who are the compassionate liberators of those in exile and bitter servitude; come, those who have lived a tranquil and peaceful life for my sake; come, those who have contended in virginity and asceticism and a chaste life until death; come, those who have preserved the body and soul spotless and undefiled in temperance and purity; come, those who have completed their entire life in fasts and vigils and psalmody; come, those who have not departed from the church each night and day; come, those who adorn and tend my altars; come, those who have despised earthly things, receive the heavenly; come, those who have left behind for my sake fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, houses and fields and relatives, receive the goods of the heavenly Jerusalem.

Come and behold my glory, and rejoice and exult, because your reward is great in the heavens; come, and see of what Master you are servants, and rejoice and leap for joy, because the kingdom of the heavens is yours. Enter into the joy of your Lord, receive those good things which no eye has seen and no ear has heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man; enter into the treasuries of my Father, where angels long to peer; receive the prizes and the crowns and the rewards of your struggles. You bore the burden and the heat of the day; receive the kingdom of the heavens. You endured hunger and thirst, sleeping on the ground and dry food; now enjoy glory beyond compare and joy ineffable, which I have prepared for you, my friends. Rest now in the courts of paradise, in the luminous abodes, in delight and gladness without end, in bright and glorious dwellings. Enter into luminous places, and rest from your labors, which you endured for my sake. Rest with my holy angels, with apostles, with prophets and with the saints who have pleased me from eternity; enter into my palace, where there is no toil, grief, groan, or tear, but eternal and unending life. Such gifts I bestow upon those who have kept my word; thus I honor those who have honored me, thus I glorify those who have glorified me, thus I give rest to those who have given rest to my members, the poor and the powerless.

Thus I bless those who care for my Churches, thus I repay richly and bountifully and a hundredfold, eternal life. You gave me a fragment of bread, receive the heavenly kingdom; you gave me silver, receive the paradise of delight; you gave me an old garment, I clothe you with the unapproachable light; you gave me a cup of water, receive the living water of rest; you brought me into shelter; behold, I grant you to be with the holy angels; you gave me perishable things, receive imperishable things; you gave me temporal things, receive eternal things; you deemed me worthy of your table, receive eternal delight; you rescued me from prison, you visited me when I was sick, you relieved my hunger and thirst, you washed my feet, you warmed me when I was shivering; behold, I grant you the bosom of Abraham. I received clay, I give pearls; I received grass, I give gold. For all your things, such as they are, compared to my gifts are grass and clay; for your things are earthly, but mine are heavenly; all your things are withering, but mine are light, life, and joy and rest.

I know what you have done for me, I know what you have cut from your own mouths and filled my soul with; I am aware, and I have not forgotten how you have entertained me as a guest; and for all these things, all the good things that exist in heaven and on earth, I bestow upon you, my friends, for eternity. See, brothers, the profit of almsgiving, you have known its strength, you have learned its power, you have perceived its benefit. Then, it says, the Lord speaks to those on the left, to the merciless, to those who waste their lives shamefully: For I was hungry, he says, and you did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and you did not give me drink, and so forth. How many times did I come to your door seeking a commandment, and you sent me away empty-handed? How many times did I come into your houses, and I saw a table full of all kinds of good things, nourishing prostitutes and dancers and flatterers, and you did not deem me worthy even of a fragment of bread? Was I not asking for your own things? And from my own you did not give me to eat. How many times did I come into your houses in the midst of a severe winter, naked and barefoot, unable even to speak from the force and necessity; and you, having given orders, having scorned me, left me outside, and did not even count me as one of the little dogs? And because of this you go from me, accursed ones, into the outer fire, where the sleepless worm and the gnashing of teeth are; because not only did you not have mercy on me, but you also often prevented those who wished to have mercy on me, and you persuaded them, saying, The poor are thieves; why do you have mercy on them?

You fed the dogs, you tended the horses, you cared for the beasts of burden and looked after donkeys, and you worried about pigs and sheep; but my own limbs, the poor and the weak, you never pitied; thus you yourselves will not be pitied. Do you not know, wretches, that through the poor every man has his salvation? Have you not read that I called them my brothers? Have you not heard the Scripture saying, “He who pities the poor lends to God”? Have you not learned that Judgment is merciless to those who have not done mercy? Oh, how many cries did the poor, my brothers, utter, lamenting, weeping, and mourning? What word did they not invoke to bend your unyielding heart, saying, “Have mercy, help, give, you benefactors, give, you merciful ones, give, you friends of God, give, you compassionate ones,” and countless other words and gestures they devised, which could soften stones and tame wild beasts? But you hardened your bowels, and not only did you not pity and comfort, but you even drove them from place to place, so that many died from hunger and cold. Oh, how many orphans did you wrong, how many widows did you defraud, how many weak did you oppress, how many distressed did you strip and make captives? Oh, how many wages of laborers did you withhold, for which you will be punished eternally? Did you not learn from the five foolish virgins that every virtue without almsgiving is of no use? Even if you speak of virginity, even of fasting, even of prayer, even of vigil, dry-eating, hunger and thirst, even if you speak of anything whatsoever without almsgiving, it is nothing.

What then shall I say about your inhuman disposition? Therefore, "Depart from me, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire." For into my palace a merciless person does not enter; into the heavenly abodes a pitiless person is not deemed worthy; into my paradise a wicked or blasphemous or villainous person does not come; into my bridal chamber a fornicator or adulterer or male homosexual will not be admitted; to my table a harsh or ungenerous person will not recline; in the upper abodes a rapacious or covetous person will not walk; near my royal courts a thief or slanderer will not approach; to the upper sanctuary a liar or backbiter or drunkard will not enter; in my house a lover of money or defrauder will not rest; through the heavenly veil an impure or licentious or profane person does not pass; to eternal rest a slothful or sleepy or murderous person will not pass; to my dinner an angry or murmuring or resentful person will not touch; in my nuptial chamber a babbler or storyteller or jester will not lodge at all; in eternal dwellings a shameless or envious person has no inheritance. Let no one be deceived: no unjust person or any such person will be deemed worthy of the kingdom of heaven; but only those will enter—the generous, the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, those hungering and thirsting for righteousness, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers. Such persons will enter the kingdom of heaven, and they will rejoice and exult, because their reward is great in heaven.

But you, the inhuman and pitiless, go into the outer fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels. For just as you did not show mercy, so you will not be shown mercy. Hence depart from me, you workers of lawlessness; go into the eternal darkness, you cursed and hated ones, where the sleepless worm is and the fire is not quenched; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And these will go into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Having learned these things, therefore, brothers, come, let us turn back from our evil way; let us repent, groan, beat our breast, let us who are drowsy wake up, let us weep over our sins; and if we have falsely accused or seized anything from anyone, let us give it back, so that we may not be condemned; let us show mercy, so that we may find mercy. And if we have anything against anyone, whether poor or rich, let us forgive everything from our very heart, as Christ commanded, lest we too be condemned and sentenced on the day of judgment, just as those pitiless and misanthropic ones. Let us become to one another compassionate, philanthropic, gentle, lovers of good, fair-minded, long-suffering, helping one another, tolerating one another, forgiving one another, correcting one another, admonishing one another, bearing one another's burdens.

so that we may escape the experience of the punishments foretold, and having completed our present life in remission of sins, we may attain eternal goods, by the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and power, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.