De caeco et Zacchaeo

On the blind man whom Christ healed, and on Zacchaeus, and concerning judgment and almsgiving, a homily. Many and varied are the teachings of the holy Scriptures, but one grace shines upon all, and one source of teaching is the Spirit of truth. And whatever the law prescribes, and whatever the prophets teach, whatever the apostles proclaim, whatever the Gospel of piety dictates, all issue from one, as it were, flourishing and fertile source, the Holy Spirit. And it is not possible either to say anything noble, or to conceive anything right, or to do anything wonderful, unless the Holy Spirit confirms what is said, what is conceived, and what is done. For even if someone prides himself on human wisdom and has a soul fortified by human reasonings, but rejects the word of God, he is nothing and will be accounted as nothing. Therefore the prophet says: "They rejected the word of the Lord. What wisdom is there in them?" For us, then, the Scriptures of piety are flowers of truth. And many are the flowers, but one is the meadow that nourishes the flowers; many are the lamps of teaching, but one is the true light; many are the stars, but one is the heaven that bears the stars; many are the branches, but one is the root; many are the fingers, but one is the hand that writes through the fingers; many are the strings, but one is the cithara of the Spirit; many are the teachings, but one is the source of piety.

But I marvel: how did this blind man, having read no law, gone through no prophets, encountered no Gospels, been confirmed by no apostles, call upon the Savior of the world, saying, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me”? Whence did you learn to call these things, not having learned what you invoke? You did not read books, being deprived of sight; you did not attend to teachings, having one subject of life, begging—or rather, mendicancy—whence then did you know the luminary of the world, whom you neither beheld in the heavens nor on earth, being deprived of sight? But truly in this was fulfilled what was said by David: “The Lord makes the blind wise.” There was a great crowd around Jesus, and the blind man did not know the luminary of truth, but he perceived the activity; he seized by disposition what sight had not received. “What,” he says, “does the crowd want?” They say to him, “Jesus the Nazorean is passing by.” O the wonder! He is taught one thing and proclaims another; he hears “Jesus the Nazorean,” but he does not call him Jesus the Nazorean, but Jesus son of David. Those who saw spoke from conjecture, but the blind man proclaimed from truth. “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” Therefore let each one, appropriating the voice, break forth from the heart in confession, and let each one say this voice for himself: “Son of David, have mercy on me.” And just as, brothers, when many go to a mourning, and see a bier laid out and wept over by its own, all weep, some sharing in the grief, others examining their own affairs—

And a woman often weeps and laments, but not for the one lying before her (for he is a stranger), but for her own who has departed before, and the alien circumstance becomes a reminder of her own evils. Thus each of you, brothers, when you learn what is proclaimed by the saints, let him appropriate the word, saying on behalf of his own wounds, "Son of David, have mercy on me." And let each one now, roused by his own evils, say: one, that he is blind in mind; another, that he has a deaf soul; another, that he has a lame reasoning; another, that he has a leprous judgment. For the passions which Christ healed in bodies, these also occur in souls and require help from above. There is a blind soul, needing to see again; a blind soul, which does not see the wonders of the law; a blind soul, which does not behold the coming age; a blind soul, which sees the body of Christ but does not recognize the divinity. That the soul ignorant of matters concerning God is blind, Isaiah testifies, saying: "And the servants of God were blinded." How were they blinded? "For you saw," he says, "many times, and did not guard yourselves; your ears were open, and you did not hear." And who is blind, if not my children? And who is deaf, if not those who rule over them? And the Savior, wishing to show blindness of mind, convicts the Pharisees as being blind concerning the truth, saying: "Leave them; they are blind guides of the blind; and if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit." The soul is deaf which does not obey the law, which disregards the Lord's voice, deaf not by nature but by choice. For this reason the Savior said:

He who has ears to hear, let him hear—not that some of those present lacked ears (for how could they attend to the teaching without the organ of hearing?), but he clearly shows that the visible ear is created for hearing, yet the perception of the soul is not attuned to the hearing of the divine law. There is therefore no benefit from external hearing when the inner understanding is deafened. There is a leper in the soul, not one whose body is dimmed, but one whose soul is darkened. For what is leprosy in the body but a double color? What is leprosy in the soul? Double-mindedness. Woe to the sinner who treads on two paths! When someone sometimes believes and sometimes disbelieves, and sometimes inclines toward charity and sometimes toward inhumanity, he is a leper in the soul, having no healthy color, but dividing his mind; and just as leprosy divides the body, so an evil thought divides the mind. Let each one then cry out over his own wounds and call upon Jesus, the physician of souls and bodies, as the blind man cried out: "Son of David, have mercy on me." And those who were leading the way rebuked him, but his boldness is not hindered by those who obstruct. Faith knows how to fight against all things and conquer all things. Men rebuked him, yet the faithful man does not shrink back, but follows the Master, knowing that noble shamelessness on behalf of piety is good. For if many are shameless for the sake of money, is it not most excellent to put on noble shamelessness for the sake of the soul's salvation? Jesus orders him to be brought. The voice of the one calling with faith stopped the Lord Jesus.

He commanded that the one who had previously drawn near to him in faith be brought to him and approach his body. He commanded him to be brought, and says, "What do you wish me to do for you?" He does not ask idly; for he could have sent healing even while he was seated, but the Jews, who slander the truth, could have said, as in the case of the man blind from birth, "This is not he, but someone like him." So he calls the beneficiary into the midst of the theater of the ungrateful, so that first he might display the impairment of nature, and then make known the authority of the grace. "What do you wish me to do for you?" He asks that man, but he teaches those present. And he says, "Lord, that I may see again." See how many pledges he receives from the one accepting the treatment, in order to shut out the slander of the malicious. Then he says, "Go; your faith has saved you." Do you see how what we said earlier is demonstrated through the very deeds themselves? And that the benefits are not for sale, but are sold for faith? Jesus does not give benefits for money, but he sells them for faith. If you do not pay down faith, you do not receive the benefit; grace is spread out, but faith comes forward. And just as there is one spring, and some draw from the spring with small vessels, others with larger ones, and one draws a little water, another much—not because the spring apportions the measures, but because each draws according to his own vessel—so grace is spread out like a spring, and the intention of the one approaching becomes the vessel and container of grace. Therefore, if you bring little faith as a small vessel, you draw little grace; but if you bring a great mind, you draw a great benefit.

For this reason the Savior says, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” And he says, “Yes, Lord.” And the Savior says, “Let it be to you according to your faith.” From this the Apostle exhorts the Corinthians, saying, “Expand yourselves,” to show that grace enters more widely into the expanded mind. And the prophet says, “Open your mouth, and I will fill it.” The hindrance is not on the part of the benefaction, but on the part of our negligence. Jesus, the light of righteousness, has risen; the ray of the intelligible sun is spread everywhere. And one enjoys less grace, another more, not because grace divides, but because the measure of the mind determines it. For just as one sun shines on the whole earth, with one ray and one radiance, yet not the whole world is equally illuminated, but one has bright light, another less, another more, and one narrow, another broader—not because the sun assigns more to this house and less to that, but because the ray finds space according to the windows that the builders have opened, and thus pours in. So, since the thoughts of our soul are our windows, when you open your thoughts more widely, you receive the benefaction more widely; when you narrow your mind, you narrow grace. Uncover your thought, that it may receive the radiance. For this reason Paul says of himself, “But we all, with unveiled face, mirror the glory of the Lord, being transformed from glory to glory.” One blind man was healed through the history, and the eyes of many are opened through the teaching. Let it be to you according to your faith.

The blind man, it is said, followed glorifying God, and Jesus does not prevent him. Here it is necessary to observe that when he healed the demoniac, he was entreated by the one who received the benefit to follow Jesus; for he wished, it is said, to follow. But the Savior prevents him and says, "Go to your house, and proclaim all that God has done for you." Why does he prevent the one who wished to follow, but does not prevent the other? Why does he permit this one to follow, but not permit that one? Both for that one usefully, and for this one advantageously. He did not allow that one to follow for another reason, because he was demon-possessed; and the speech and tongue of the demoniac were distorted. Therefore he sends him as a herald, so that from his condition he might proclaim the benefactor. For it was a strange sight to see one formerly not in his right mind proclaiming words of sound mind. Therefore he makes the very instrument of the one who received the benefit a herald of the one who saved him. And see the wonder, see the humility of the Savior, see the gratitude of the demoniac. The Savior says, "Go, and announce all that God has done for you." He does not say, "All that I have done for you," but, humbly, he ascribes it to the name of God. And the demoniac went about proclaiming all that the God Jesus had done for him. Therefore he sends that one to proclaim, so that from his condition he might show the magnitude of the benefit; but he permits the blind man to follow. Why?

Since he was going up to Jerusalem to accomplish the great mystery and to undertake the economy for the world, and since the cross was about to follow, and insult, and all the things innovated by the God-fighters, for this reason he makes the blind man follow, so that they might have the memory of the miracle fresh, so that the memory of the healing might support the mind of those who were about to slip. He makes the blind man follow, so that no one might deny the miracle-working, since the mind of the apostles was about to be shaken as in a storm, and the condition of those who saw was about to be storm-tossed, seeing the Only-begotten of God on the cross. So that, therefore, looking at the passion they might not falter, he allows the blind man to follow, so that having the memory of the benefaction fresh, they might have the reasoning of the truth unshaken. 3. For Christ does many such things, since he came to undertake the economy for the sake of men. And so that no one might suppose that he suffers because of weakness, and not that he endures because of love for humanity, before he enters Jerusalem, he sees a fig tree. And he went away, it says, seeking

from it fruit, and did not find any. When he did not find any, he rebuked it, saying, "May fruit never come from you for all eternity." What sin did the fig tree commit? Does it not bear fruit by a rational power? Does the creator not provide energy for fruit-bearing whenever he wishes? Then again, it was not the season for figs; the Gospel itself testifies to this. What ordinary person, let alone God, demands fruit out of season? Did you not, the creator, establish the seasons? Did you not give seasons and times for fruit-bearing? Why then do you demand fruit contrary to the season you ordained? But even if it were the season for figs and the fig tree bore no fruit, would that be a fault of its nature? Does it not produce whenever it wishes? Does it not bring forth fruit when commanded? For what reason, then, does he rebuke the fig tree? Because he was about to undergo the Passion, so that they might not think he suffered from weakness, he demonstrates his power on the inanimate object, to show that he could have dried up all who opposed him, annihilated all the God-fighters. But since he did not come to judge the world, but to save it, as he himself said, he displays his power on the inanimate, while he reserves his philanthropy for humans. So too here, he allowed the blind man to follow, so that the fresh memory might dispel the scandal, so that they might have the miracle blazing forth. But one miracle followed another; for after the blind man regained his sight, another blind man in soul regained his sight. Who is this? The chief tax collector, blind concerning money, having his soul blinded by greed; for nothing so blinds the soul as money. Because of this, Moses says:

For gifts blind the eyes of men and corrupt just words. The chief tax collector came, and Jesus passed by, Jesus who dissolves every sin, who obliterates every evil, who transforms darkness into light and leads the crooked into the straight path. Zacchaeus was short in stature, but extended in desire; short in body, but great in spirit; for he sought to see Jesus, and could not because of his short stature; and anticipating, he contrived a device to supply what his stature lacked: he climbed up a sycamore fig tree, and saw Jesus as he passed by. But our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Paul says, "He who knows how to do more than we ask or think," gave him not merely as much as he desired, but more than he expected. For he desired only to see, but he deemed him worthy also of his greeting. And he who perceived his mind says to him (for before he climbed the fig tree, he knew his mind): "Zacchaeus, come down quickly." The Savior is a good fowler, bringing down a soul from a tree. "Zacchaeus, come down quickly." He extended to him the reed of his word, placed the birdlime of love around him, took him from the wings of his mind, and gathers him under his own Church. And see what he does. Lest you think that the word is what compelled him, but that the word of God is like a fowler, the blessed Zechariah says: "And the Lord showed me a fowler's vessel, and said to me: I will not pass by my people until, he says, I have snared him." Thus truth is attested, that the word of God is birdlime, entangling souls with love as with birdlime.

And just as that glue can no longer separate what is held from what holds, so also the souls united to the Savior are glued as if by the fowler’s glue. For this reason the beautiful nestling David said, “My soul has cleaved after you”; and again the Apostle, “He who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit.” He snares Zacchaeus, and brings him down from the tree, and leads himself into his tent, which once he himself had darkened with sins, but today the light of piety has illumined. So when the Savior entered, the tax collector received him joyfully. O the great goodness of the Master! The sinless one with sinners, the fountain of justice with the matter of injustice—for matter of injustice is greed. He entered the house of the tax collector, not insulted by the gloom of greed, but by the radiance of justice he obliterates greed. And see the wonder: Immediately Zacchaeus, standing before the doorway, says, “Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor.” You have not yet been taught, and you obey? You have not yet learned, and you have kept? The Savior said nothing, taught nothing, gave no instruction about almsgiving, did not then dictate love of the poor, but was silent and gently shone. And just as the sun, pouring through its rays into a house, does not illuminate by word but by its very activity shines, so also the Savior, entering, by the rays of justice banished the course of injustice. For “the light shines in the darkness,” as the evangelist says. “Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor.

He rightly divides greed, he cuts off injustice. "The halves of my possessions." Every whole is strong, but when divided it becomes weak. "The halves of my possessions." O what a beautiful voice, conquering nature, or rather conquering habit! For habit is a second nature. He banished insatiability, he recognized the truth. "The halves of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have wronged or falsely accused anyone, I repay fourfold." Here one must pay close attention, that Zacchaeus' wealth came not only from injustice but also from his paternal inheritance. For if it came only from injustice, how could he repay four times what he took? Why does he say, "If I have wronged anyone, I repay fourfold"? Even though he lived in lawlessness, he also knew the law. For the law commands that a thief repay the theft fourfold. "If someone," it says, "steals a sheep and is found out, he shall repay four sheep." God multiplies the punishment, or rather the penalty, by four, so that even if the law does not frighten, the penalty may shame. For many, often not respecting the law, are shamed by the penalty. Therefore he condemns himself, not awaiting the verdict of the law, but becoming a law unto himself. For the just man has no need of law. The Savior, having heard this voice, says, "Today salvation has come to this house." He justified himself, not simply because he saw Christ, but because he obeyed Christ's laws. "Today salvation has come to this house," because this man too is a son of Abraham.

Before he performed the works of Abraham, he does not call him a son of Abraham, but calls him Zacchaeus by a bare appellation. When, however, he fulfilled the works of the patriarch, having professed love of the poor and alienation from injustice, then he says, "And this one is a son of Abraham." 4. And we therefore, brethren, even if we are Christians and are called so, nothing shows us to be Christians so much as the work of truth. Let us not, then, dishonor the appellation by our works, but let us honor the faith by our works. We were called sons of Abraham through faith; let us be called sons of Abraham through good works. For what I said earlier, it is not the nobility of the body that is sought, but the consistency of character. For this reason Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs renounced the synagogue, because they did not inherit the faith of the fathers. Abraham renounced his own relatives, because they did not follow the faith; Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs also renounced them. For he who denies God is also denied by nature. And what testimony of Scripture is there that Abraham renounced the Jews, so that we may not seem to be insolent as toward enemies, but to reprove them as sinners? The blessed Jeremiah says in the person of the people: "Lord, have mercy on us. The mountain and the city, which our fathers blessed, have been burned. You, Lord, have mercy on us, for Abraham did not know us, and Israel did not recognize us. You, Lord, spare us." Because, he says, those in whom we took pride have become alienated from us and have renounced our race, do you, who conquer all by philanthropy, have mercy on us. Have mercy on us, for Abraham did not know us.

For if he had claimed our things as his own, he would not have interceded on behalf of his own children. He interceded on behalf of the Sodomites, and he was heard; and when interceding on behalf of his own, was he not heard? Abraham did not know us. Abraham denies those who are alien in their ways, but he claims as his own, as I said, those who are alien in lineage but kindred in piety. For this reason, Scripture, wishing to show the Jews that one who chooses the ways of others also receives their appellation, says: Your father is an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite, your sister a Sodomite. See how it constructs kinship from ways. Because he had the mind of the Sodomites, he was called sister of Sodom, he was called daughter of the Canaanites; and thus it was shown that it was not vindicating lineage, but honoring character. I, however, think that the Canaanite and the Amorite deny the kinship; and when they see those who are enemies of God and alien to piety approaching him, they deny it, and the Canaanite does not accept being called father of the impious. Why does he deny it? If you press the Canaanite and say that your father is a Canaanite, will he say: This one, who denied the faith of his fathers, is my son? I am not faithless, even if I am a Canaanite; for the Canaanite woman will testify to my faith, crying out: Son of David, have mercy on me. But let them not be called sons of Canaanites; for they did not preserve the faith of the Canaanite woman; let them be called sons of stones and wood, those who say to the stone: You are my father, and to the wood: You gave birth to me. I, however, think that even the stones deny, and the wood renounces the kinship of the faithless. A stone can also deny and say:

He is not my child, the son of impiety; he is not my child, the son of injustice. For I, even if I am a stone, have heard the Scripture saying, "God is able, even from these stones, to raise up children for Abraham." Then, "Yes," someone says, "does he personify from the perspective of the stone, and does a stone speak?" Listen to the prophet saying that a stone from a wall will utter these things, and a beetle from wood will speak. Even if you fall silent, the stones will cry out. What, then, shall the race of the unbelievers be called, if they are neither sons of Abraham, nor Canaanites because of the Canaanite woman (for the light of the Canaanite woman's faith blunted their disbelief), nor sons of the stones? For even the stones deny kinship. What name for the unbelievers? Jeremiah gave them a name: call them rejected silver, because the Lord has rejected them. Let us also fear, therefore, brothers. Does the nobility of Christ exalt you? Let the just judgment of Christ terrify you. Yesterday it was proclaimed concerning almsgiving, that everything must be placed second to almsgiving, that the soul must be preferred to all things. I have also marveled at another ingratitude, that those who have no children adopt sons; and one becomes a father-maker, another a brother-maker. You adopt a stranger as a son, and do you flee the Master? Adopt the one who gives you the reward in return; let Christ become a son to you. "That is a fearful saying," someone says. See what you say; do not, on the pretext of the word, be turned aside from the Word, do not be carried down into unreason. Do you call Christ the son of a man? But I not only call him son, but also brother, not from myself, but following his own words.

They say to him once, "Your mother and your brothers are seeking you." The Saviour says, "Who is my mother, or who are my brothers? Whoever does the will of my Father, that one is my brother and sister and mother." If she is his mother, then the one who honoured righteousness with the title is the son of the mother. Let every soul, therefore, become a mother of Christ in disposition. How a mother of Christ? Every soul gives birth to Christ within herself; but if she is not transformed by piety, she cannot be called a mother of Christ. When you receive the word of Christ and mould it in your mind, and as if in a womb you transform it by reasoning, you are called his mother. And so that you may learn that Christ is formed in each one, and that the soul of each of us becomes a mother of Christ—I mean of the word of Christ—Paul says, "My children, whom I again bring forth, until Christ is formed in you." Did you work righteousness? You formed Christ in your soul. Did you give alms? You formed the character of truth. Not that Christ is formed in each individual case; for he calls the word of piety "Christ," through which we assume the character of truth. Did you give alms? You formed

... Christ. Have you done justice? The character of truth has been formed. Therefore, one must attend to how one should make Christ a brother. Take him as a partner in your affairs. Do you not wish to give him everything? At least give him half, as Zacchaeus did. For it says, Zacchaeus gave to him, not to the poor. But listen: He who pities a poor man lends to God. By giving to the poor, you have given to Christ. Do you not know that he takes what is given to himself? Do you not know what a fearful judgment he has inscribed for you, saying: When the Son of Man comes in the regeneration, he will set the sheep on the right and the goats on the left; and he will say to those on the right, Come, the blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, because I was hungry and you gave me to eat? See how he who borrows through the poor acknowledges the debt. I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was naked, and you clothed me. Therefore, in apparent form you clothe a naked man, but in truth you clothe Christ. Clothe Christ, so that he may clothe you on the day of judgment; shelter him, so that he may shelter you on the day of wrath. Listen to David saying: He sheltered me in the hidden part of his tent. There is need of shelter; that terrible fire, that inexorable Gehenna, overtakes; and if the hand of Christ does not shelter, the alien fire will recognize you. It knows how to seize aliens, it knows how to honor saints, it respects piety, it seizes impiety. There, neither wealth nor money persuades, nor authority, nor power; all stand on equal footing before the tribunal of Christ.

For even if there are differences among human beings, yet with respect to the Master all are of equal honor, even if the difference is great. What great difference is there between an angel and a human? Great, and not an ordinary one. What great difference is there between the sun, the moon, and the stars? But they are all called together to the law of worship. What great difference is there between a plant, angels, and animals? Some are immortal, others mortal; but each in the yoke of servitude acknowledges the lordship. For this reason David unites things divided in rank by harmony, saying, "Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the highest, praise him, all his angels, all his powers, sun and moon." For even if they are inferior in rank, they are united in servitude; and just as, brothers, the dignities in the world are divided among themselves but united under the yoke of servitude (for all bow to the King, all tremble at his authority; and the difference concerns the dignities, but the harmony is among the servants), so also there all human beings are equal, and only those who excel are unequal, those who shine in piety. For this reason Daniel rightly said, "I was observing in a vision of the night, and behold, one like an Ancient of Days was seated." Here pay close attention, I beg you, to how he describes the judge of truth as if in a bodily image. For since God is incorporeal by nature, he depicts the intelligible things as if in an image through sensible things. So he says, "Like an Ancient of Days," not aged by time, but honored by antiquity; "His garment was white as snow, the hair of his head like pure wool.

His throne is a flame of fire; his wheels are blazing fire. A river of fire is drawn before him; a thousand thousands stood by him, and ten thousand myriads serve him. O fearful judgment! O memory sufficient to frighten the ungrateful! If what is heard is so fearful, how much more fearful is what is seen? And they saw in a vision of the night, and behold, books were opened, and thrones were set. Thrones—of whom? It is clear: of the holy apostles, to whom the Savior said: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Books were opened. Books in which the base deeds are recorded, in which the good deeds are recorded, in which the life of each is inscribed. And he calls it a "book" not because there is hide and letters with God, but because for you the book is an instrument of memory; he describes the memory of God as if in a book. For God has no need of a book; for God, memory is a book.

It is not because we humans, when reading prophets, apostles, Gospels, do not carry memory in our heart without a book, that God needs a book. The source of memory needs no book. There virtuous deeds are written, there base deeds are written. Do not fear the prejudgment; even if your evil deeds are recorded, they can be erased through good deeds. Just as again, if someone's name is written for piety, but he denies it by his ways, the writing does not constitute a prejudgment; for it is erased. And that you may learn that he who was written for piety and later cast out through negligence is erased, David says concerning the Jews who were once written and later erased: "Let them be erased from the book of the living, and let them not be written with the righteous." Just as the faithless are erased, so the faithful are written. Hear Paul saying: "Greet the brothers beloved by us, and the spouse with Clement and the other fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life." Let us fear that book; fear that your sins may be recorded. Consider how you behave before a judge, if the records against you are opened before a magistrate, exposing your injustice, pillorying your madness. Consider how great the fear, how great the trembling, how the limbs quake, how all within is stirred up, when a human judges. But if there is such fear when a human judges, who will be able to describe that fear when the Master of all is about to judge the world? We say these things not to frighten, but to bring to soberness. Let not wealth be preferred to Christ.

Let not injustice and greed be preferred before God. You have heard the preceding words, that good conduct lasts only until the tomb. These things were set before us yesterday. Why do you wait for the tomb to become the end of your life? Await the tomb to become the end of your life, so that through the present you may be ferried across to the future. Love the works of justice. The tomb is that in which we are dissolved, the tomb in which the earthly vessel is obliterated. Let us flee the coming judgment, brothers, I implore you. It is necessary to say these things while suffering, and to hear them while suffering. Let us take up a desire for justice. See how the prophet cries: "Woe is me for the day of the Lord, for the day of the Lord is near." If a prophet, mindful of the day, trembles, shall we, who are liable for countless sins, remember it without fear? Let us shame the judge through repentance, let us blot out our sins, let us fear that terrible voice which says: "Whoever denies me before men (not the one who denies in word, but the one who denies in his ways denies), I also will deny him before my Father. Whoever confesses me, I also will confess him before my Father." If the words, when examined, are fearful, are not the things seen even more fearful?

Consider, brother, the judge of the inhabited world seated, angels standing by, archangels forming an escort, the Cherubim glorifying, the supracosmic powers, the supercelestial armies, and among all these, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, evangelists, martyrs, and those in the world—kings, rulers, judges, potentates, the rich, the poor, commoners, the wise—all these standing before the tribunal, and before so many heavenly and earthly witnesses, the judge saying and denying the alien things before the Father: "For I will deny him," he says, "who denies me, before my Father." 6. Consider him saying: "Father, this one despised my faith, this one persecuted my own, this one insulted my Church, this one denounced my own, this one spat upon my word, this one trampled my proclamation." He says these things not teaching the Father, who is not ignorant, but denouncing the enemy by the accusation. Consider the judge saying, when he summons the glorious ones of the earth bound in handcuffs (For it says, "to bind their rulers in fetters and their glorious ones in iron handcuffs"), those standing in fear

being judged, the rulers, and the Savior saying: These spat upon my word of truth, these set aside my law, these annulled my decree, these punished the apostles, these tortured the martyrs. He says these things, and consider, when the King speaks, how the attending angels nod fearfully, threaten dreadfully, already consuming the sinner with their gaze; consider the angels indignant, the archangels stirred, the powers shaken, the Father indignant, the Holy Spirit angered, that one cast out with great shame, cast out not only from salvation but also banished to condemnation. But indeed it is not only fearful not to be saved, nor to reign, but also to be consigned to the fire. Whoever confesses in me, I will confess in him. Consider, how great the glory, how great the boast, how great the crown, when the judge says: This one kept my word, this one proclaimed my faith, this one confirmed my word, this one did not overlook my poor, this one trampled greed and preferred justice, this one laughed at the world as if it were not, and loved the world to come, this one ferried my kingdom across; this one honored my word; honor him, Father. And when we say these things in personification, we do not divide the dignity nor dissolve the authority, but by the form of accusation the indignation of the Judge is shown; and all this becomes for the salvation of those who confess, for the condemnation of those who disbelieve.

But the most fearful thing of all is when you consider Michael and Gabriel standing, and all the angelic hosts, while the sons of Zebedee are seated, Paul and Peter are seated—men who were once human, with angels standing in fear, and men sitting with boldness. Consider angels standing, and fishermen and tax collectors sitting, and let us also say with them: How great is the multitude of your kindness, O Lord! Zacchaeus sits, Paul and Peter sit, and Michael stands. We are not speaking strange names, but we follow what is written; for we have not learned the names of angels, but we adhere to what is written. There is no envy, no jealousy; for these are not earthly matters. Angels are not grieved because they themselves stand while men sit; for they are sharers in the glory of the saints. Hear the Lord saying: “Truly I tell you, there is joy before all the angels over a single repentant sinner.” Let us therefore love the glory of Christ, and let us spit upon passing glory as if it were a dream. For it was also said to you yesterday how the prophet called the glory of the world a dream. “For,” he says, “the wealth of the impious will be like a dream.” For the present state differs nothing from phantoms. He who yesterday was in health is today in sickness; he who yesterday was in authority is today in humiliation; he who yesterday was in wealth is today in poverty; he who yesterday was in pride is today in contempt. Everything is shaken, everything changes; and I do not speak only of human things, but also: “The heaven,” he says, “and the earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Therefore, blessed are the Christians who are humble even in their office. Have you been humble in your office? Humility does you no harm; for it finds you as you ought to be. If you humble yourself beforehand, before humiliation comes, then humiliation will introduce nothing strange against you, but having prepared your mind, you equip yourself for the battle. So David spoke well: "I was prepared, and I was not troubled." Let us then flee from arrogance, let us flee from vainglory, let us love Christ, and for Christ's sake the poor, so that the one who enriches all, who has mercy on all, may bestow abundance upon the Church, that she may flourish in piety, that she may have the farmer of righteousness, the one who yesterday was absent due to another economy, but is with us now through spiritual oversight. For the people were not Jewish, that I might say that the people were like sheep without a shepherd; but they were apostolic, having an evangelical shepherd who says, "Even if I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing and beholding the firmament of faith in Christ." To him is the glory and the power, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.