Sermo De Symbolo [Incertus]

SERMON ON THE CREED. EXORDIUM. The necessity of inner and outer faith. The Creed as a rule of faith. The reason for its institution. What it contains. It is well known, most beloved, to Your Charity, that soldiers of the world, about to receive temporal benefits from temporal lords, are first bound by military oaths and profess that they will keep faith with their lords. How much more, then, ought those who are about to serve the eternal King and to receive eternal rewards to be bound by celestial oaths and publicly profess the faith by which they are to please Him? For the Apostle says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Heb. 11:6). He who searches reins and hearts (Ps. 7:10) recognizes this faith in our hearts. But for the sake of preserving the unity of the Church, in the dispensation of this time, along with the faith of the heart, oral confession is necessary: because one believes in the heart for righteousness, but confession is made by mouth for salvation (Rom. 10:10), not only of preachers but also of hearers. For a brother could not otherwise think well of a brother, nor would the peace of the Church be preserved, nor could one teach another or learn from another what is necessary for salvation, unless he transmitted what he has in his heart to the hearts of others by means of signs of speech as their vehicles. Therefore, faith is to be kept in the heart and professed by mouth. For faith is the foundation of all goods and the beginning of human salvation.

Without this no one can attain to the number of the sons of God: because without it in this world he neither obtains the grace of justification, nor in the future will he possess eternal life. And if one does not walk by faith, he will not arrive at the vision. The holy Apostles, attending to this, handed down a certain rule of faith, which, comprised in twelve sentences according to the Apostolic number, they called the Creed: by which believing Catholics would hold to unity, and by which they would convict heretical depravity. Therefore, our elders said that the Creed was instituted with such a rationale. For they relate that after the ascension of our Lord and Savior to the Father, when through the coming of the Holy Spirit his disciples, inflamed, spoke in all tongues, about to go and depart from one another to each and every nation to preach the word of God, they first established among themselves in common a norm for their future preaching: lest, departing from one another locally, they might preach something diverse or dissonant to those who were being invited to the faith of Christ. Therefore, all placed in one place, and filled with the Holy Spirit, bringing together into one a brief indication of their preaching, each one computed what he felt, and they instituted this rule to be given to those believing. The Creed is brief in words, but great in sacraments.

For whatever was prefigured in the Patriarchs, whatever was announced in the Scriptures, whatever was foretold in the Prophets, whether concerning the unbegotten God, or concerning the Son born from God in God, or concerning the Holy Spirit, or concerning the reception of every sacrament, or concerning the mystery of the Lord's death and resurrection—all this the Symbol briefly contains, and by containing it, holds and confesses it. Therefore let each one who professes the Apostolic faith learn it through the mouths of those carrying it in Baptism, when he has come to the years of understanding. Now let us come to the sacrament and text of the profession of this Symbol, which begins in this manner: CHAPTER ONE. To believe God, to believe in God, to believe into God. The faith of the devil. Almighty. I believe in God the Father Almighty. First of all, dearly beloved, pay close attention to what the discourse is in the head of the Symbol. Therefore, first it has, "I believe." See that our Lord does not command us to discuss divine judgments, but to believe: nor to demand reason, but to exhibit faith simply and immovably. It does not say, "I believe God," or "I believe in God," although these too are necessary for salvation. For it is one thing to believe him, another to believe that he is, another to believe into him. To believe him is to believe that what he says is true: to believe that he is, is to believe that he himself is God: to believe into him is to love him. To believe that what he says is true, many, even evil men, can do: for they believe it to be true, yet they do not wish to make it their own; because they are sluggish in their feet for this. But to believe that he himself is God, even demons hold.

To believe in God, only those know who love Him, who are Christians not only in name but also in deeds and in life, because without love faith is empty. With love, faith is Christian; without love, faith is demonic. Therefore, those who are unwilling to believe in Christ do not yet imitate even demons. For the demon believes in Christ, but hates Christ; it has a confession of faith in fear of punishment, not in love of the crown: for even they feared being punished. Finally, when the blessed Peter, confessing with the Lord, would say, "You are Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16), he seems to utter from his mouth the same words that the demons utter: but their confession, because it was uttered with hatred of Christ, was justly condemned; his, because it proceeded from inner love, was rewarded with eternal blessedness. Therefore we, who by adoption of grace are sons of God (Romans 8:15), by saying, "I believe in God the Father almighty," that is, let us believe in Him in such a way that we cleave to Him through love. "In God the Father almighty." Note that the name of God the Father is joined in the confession; it shows that God did not first begin to be, and afterwards become Father; but without any beginning He is both always God and always Father. Moreover, when you hear "Father," recognize that He has a Son truly begotten: just as one is called a possessor who possesses something, and a lord who rules over someone. Therefore "God the Father" is a term of a secret sacrament, whose Son is truly the Word.

Nor should one ask how the lily begot, for even the angels do not know, and it is unknown to the prophets. Hence that saying: "Who shall recount His generation?" (Isaiah 53:8). God is not to be debated by us, but believed. But to speak briefly, it suffices for us to know that light begot radiance. He is called Almighty for this reason, because He is all-powerful, to whom nothing is impossible, who created heaven and earth, the sea, men, and all animals and reptiles, not by any work of action, but by the sole command of His word. And therefore let it not enter our thoughts how this or that could have been done, since we are commanded to confess the Almighty. Chapter II. Jesus, Christ, the Only One. Christ compares Himself to a worm by reason of His conception. This manner of being born is neither injurious to God nor impossible. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. Note that just as in the Father, so also in the Son must we believe. And because He is equal in majesty to the Father, we know that as much honor and service of obedience is owed to Him as to the Father. Now Jesus is interpreted as Savior. Jesus is so called because He saves the people. Christ is so called from chrism: because just as ancient kings were anointed with sacred oil, so our Lord Jesus Christ was filled with the infusion of the Holy Spirit. He is called the Only One because He admits neither comparison with creatures nor likeness: for He Himself is the supreme creator of all things.

But men are called lilies of God by grace: He alone is the Son begotten by nature. These things show in what manner one must believe, because on account of this, that He is equal to the Father, He is our Savior redeeming us, and He is Christ the King ruling us, and He is our one Lord, claiming us for His singular dominion after despoiling the ancient enemy. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit: that is, the sole author of whose conception was the Holy Spirit. For just as a worm is formed by the action of the sun from pure mud, so, with the Holy Spirit illuminating and sanctifying the womb of the Virgin, the flesh of Christ was conceived from the flesh of the Virgin alone, with no seminal origin of flesh operating. Hence, comparing Himself to a worm, He says through the Psalmist, "I am a worm, and not a man" (Ps. 21:7): that is, not conceived in the human manner. Born of the Virgin Mary. He who came to renew nature grown old with the sins of men wished to have a new law of being born. Therefore the Only-begotten of God became a son of man: He who was the Creator of the world would also become the Redeemer. But that the God of majesty was incarnated from Mary was not defiled by being born of a Virgin, He who was not polluted when forming man from dust. Finally, the sun or fire, if it touches mud, purifies what it touches, and yet does not itself become soiled. Nor was it an injury to God for the sake of mercy. Nor should it be incredible that He Himself was born of a Virgin, who could form Adam from virgin dust and the first woman from a rib.

God gave His Son, whom alone from His heart, equal to Himself, begotten, He loved as Himself, to Mary; so that naturally He would be one and the same common son of God and Mary. Every nature was created by God, and God was born from Mary. God created all things, and Mary gave birth to God. God, who made all things, Himself made Himself from Mary; and thus He remade all things He had made. He who could make all things from nothing did not wish to restore them, violated, without Mary. CHAPTER III. Why the Lord wished to be crucified. The power of the cross. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. This Pilate was the judge at that time placed by the emperor in Judea, under whom the Lord suffered. Mention of him pertains to the indication of the time, not to the dignity of that person. Crucified. Hence many prophets foretold how He hung crucified on the cross in the sight of the wicked people with hands extended. Yet, to speak briefly, He was suspended on the cross so that He might release us from the condemnation of the forbidden tree and free us from death. But it is asked what the meaning of the cross is, and why the Lord chose to suffer on the gallows. To this a threefold reason is given. The first, that Christ might give redemption for the guilt of the world, and the ancient enemy might be caught as if by the hook of the cross: namely, that he might vomit forth those he had swallowed, conquered not by power, but by justice. The second reason is that He might provide the teaching of life to men who would follow.

For this reason He ascended the cross, to provide us with an example of passion and resurrection. There is a third reason for the cross being undertaken: that the pride of the world and its inflated wisdom might be humbled and collapse through the foolish, as it is thought, preaching of the cross, and that it might know that the foolishness of God is wiser than men. But it remains to be seen why the Lord chose this kind of death. For we read in the Gospel that the Pharisees wanted to throw Him down from the mountain; but He passed by, going through the midst of them (Luke 4:29-30). Elsewhere we also read that the Jews took up stones to throw at Him; but He hid Himself and went out of the temple (John 8:59). Why did the Lord not wish to be thrown down, or stoned, or even killed by the sword? Surely He did this for the sake of our salvation. For the death of Christ is the sign of our salvation. He did not wish, therefore, to be stoned or struck by the sword, because evidently we cannot always carry stones or iron with us with which to defend ourselves. But He chose the cross, which is expressed by a light movement of the hand, and by which we are fortified against the wiles of the enemy. For by this sign of the cross the Lord's body is consecrated, the font of Baptism is sanctified, priests and the other ecclesiastical orders are initiated, and all things whatsoever that are sanctified are consecrated by this sign of the Lord's cross with the invocation of the name of Christ.

CHAPTER IV. The Mystery of the Cross. The Depth of the Mystery of the Cross. For the cross itself contains a great mystery within it: its position is such that its upper part seeks the heavens, its lower part clings to the earth, its fixed point touches the depths of the underworld, and its breadth reaches for the parts of the world. Because Christ through the passion of the cross was of benefit to the angels in heaven, whose number, diminished by the apostate angel, is daily filled up from the souls of the faithful; and to us who are on earth; and to those who were detained in the underworld on account of original sin; and also to those who dwelt in the various parts of the world. The cross, when lying down, reaches for the four parts of the world, namely east and west, north and south: because Christ through his passion draws all peoples to himself and has subdued everything to himself, according to what he himself says after rising from the dead, "All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18). Also contained in this figure of the cross is a deeper sacrament: the deeper it is, the more diligently it must be attended to. For in the breadth of the cross is understood the love of neighbor, which must be extended not only to friends but even to enemies. In its length is understood the long and persevering endurance of labors and persecutions, which our pilgrimage, sighing for the fatherland, must patiently bear, both for the love of neighbors and for the performance of all good works.

Its depth is similarly figured in its height, the eminence of hope penetrating to the inner parts of the veil: where those who are here exercised in many ways by the citizens of Babylon enjoy a vision of peace, until they are freed into the glorious liberty of the sons of God from the servitude of this corruption. The depth of the cross is also to be considered; for the mystery of the cross is deep, in which the intellects of many who are called wise have failed: they have dared to reproach what they could not comprehend by human reason, namely, why the Word coeternal with God the Father, containing all things, filling all things, enclosed himself entirely in the assumed man, and yet did not cease to rule, fill, and contain the whole world. CHAPTER V. Why Christ Chose the Punishment of the Cross. Through the death of the flesh he merited for us a twofold resurrection. Therefore let there be no shame for us concerning the cross of Christ, who have victory from his passion. For just as the eternal Son of God was born not for himself but for us, so the immaculate Lamb of God suffered not for himself but for us. But who does not notice that it is a wondrous mystery, where the same man is proclaimed who is God, and where the same Lord is announced who is recorded as crucified? Nor did what happened to him—that he was put to death—come upon him unthought of or unforeseen; for by the counsel of his divinity he took up man precisely so that he could be killed for man.

He chose the punishment of the cross, so that a more sublime victory might be prepared by a harsher penalty; and he who suffered for the honor of the universe, raised on high, would fall in the sight of the world. At the same time, so that those who saw the crucified one might behold the wonders of the crucified. For the sudden darkness of the sun, the trembling of the earth, the splitting of rocks, and the resurrection of the dead sufficiently and abundantly show the glory of the sufferer. But that is a matter of... testimony, that even the crucified thief, a partner in punishment, equally prayed for his own memory in the heavenly kingdom? Hence, dearest ones, it is that we do not bewail with sighs the mockeries and insults which Christ endured, his cross and his death, but rather celebrate them with continuous praises. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ was not in the soul, but in the flesh; our death, however, is not only in the flesh but also in the soul: in the soul on account of sin, in the flesh on account of the penalty of sin. But he, because he never committed sin nor had it in his soul, did not die except in the flesh alone; and this through the likeness of the flesh of sin which he drew from Adam. Therefore, his single death profited our double death, and his single resurrection profited the resurrection of soul and body. For his resurrection loosed our two deaths and formed our two resurrections. Nor is it without reason that he lay in the tomb for one day and two nights, because he joined the light of his single death to the darkness of our double death.

He came to us, who were held in the death of flesh and spirit, and he offered his own single death of the flesh, and he loosed our two deaths. For if he himself had taken on both, he would have freed none of us. Chapter VI. What Christ provided for us through his weaknesses. Moreover, it is fitting: that for the consolation of the buried, the earth might receive the blessing of his body. The weaknesses of the incarnate Word are recalled, concerning which the Apostle says, "What is weak in God is stronger than men" (1 Cor. 1:25). He was born of a Virgin, so that we might be born from the womb of the virgin Church; he was tempted, so that he might free us from temptation; he was seized, so that we might be released; he was bound, so that we might be absolved from the knot of the curse; he was mocked, so that he might free us from the illusions of demons; he was sold, so that he might redeem us; he was humiliated, so that he might exalt us; he was captured, so that he might free us from demonic captivity; he was stripped, so that the nakedness of the first man, through which death entered, might be covered; he was crowned with thorns, so that he might free us from the thorns of sins, or rather to show that those who were thorny from loving vices would be crowned with him and would become the head and crown of the Church; he was given vinegar to drink, so that he might inebriate us with the sweetness of heavenly desire and eternal joy; finally, he was sacrificed on the altar of the cross, so that he might blot out the sins of the whole world; he died, so that he might take captive the dominion of death; he was buried, so that he might bless the burial of the saints; so that he might bury us with himself from vices and lusts.

This weakness of Christ, therefore, overcame all the strength of the world. Chapter VII. What he did in the underworld. He descended into the underworld, in order to free Adam the first-formed, and the Patriarchs, and the Prophets, and all the just, who were detained there on account of original sin; and in order to recall them, absolved from the bonds of sin, redeemed by his blood from that same captivity and from the grove of the underworld, to the heavenly homeland and to the joys of everlasting life. The rest, who beyond original sin committed a principal fault, as Scripture asserts, remained in penal Tartarus, just as it is said through the prophet in the person of Christ, "I will be the death of death"; that is, by his death Christ killed the death hostile to the human race, and gave life. "I will be your bite, O underworld" (Hosea 13:14). He bit the underworld in part for the sake of those whom he freed; he left it in part for the sake of those who remained in torments on account of their principal crimes.

On the third day he rose from the dead. If you believed concerning Christ what is shameful, believe what is glorious. If you believed what is of death, believe what is of life. For just as in the passion there is a mystery of piety, so in the resurrection there is an operation of power, as he himself says, "I have the power of laying down my soul and of taking it up again" (John 10:18). He ascended to the heavens: that is, he placed the condition of our nature, which he assumed when born from a human mother, above the heavens at the right hand of God the Father. Let us also ascend with Christ in our hearts for now, so that when his promised day arrives, we may follow also with our bodies. Yet we ought to know, brothers, that with Christ pride does not ascend, nor avarice, nor luxury; none of our vices ascends with our physician. Therefore, if we desire to ascend after the physician, we must lay aside our vices or sins. For all these press us down with certain fetters and strive to bind us with the nets of sins; and so with his help, according to what the Psalm says, "Let us break their bonds" (Psalm 2:3), so that we may safely say to the Lord, "You have broken my bonds; to you I will sacrifice an offering of praise" (Psalm 115 and 17). He sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. To sit is the mark of one who judges. And because our Redeemer, taken up into heaven, now judges all things, and will come as the judge of all at the end, he is described as sitting.

CHAPTER VIII. All men are to be judged by Christ. Thence he is coming to judge the living and the dead. He is coming to judgment in the same body in which he ascended to heaven, to judge Christians and pagans, the just and sinners, the faithful and the impious. For all, as the Apostle says, shall stand before the tribunal of Christ, so that each one may render account of his own body, according to what he has done, whether good or evil (2 Cor. 5:10). This same thing the Lord proclaims in the Gospel, saying.... CHAPTER IX. How they ought already to prepare themselves for the final judgment. Let us ourselves chastise ourselves, let us ourselves make an account with ourselves of our daily conduct, let us ourselves accuse ourselves daily before our judge; and, while we are in the flesh, with the Lord’s help, let us daily fight against the flesh itself. He who does this will be freed from an evil hearing: but he who scorns it, what will he do on that fearful day of judgment, when the Lord, with the world trembling, with the trumpets of the angels sounding before him, has sat down on that throne of his majesty, surrounded by the light of the heavenly host....?

CHAPTER X. On taking refuge in the remedies of penance. The end of one’s life, which is always uncertain, is not always to be delayed for the remedy of one’s salvation: because He who makes us secure by saying, “The sinner, on the day he has turned, all his iniquities shall be consigned to oblivion” (Ezekiel 18:21-22), also wished us to be cautious, saying, “Do not delay in turning to the Lord, nor put it off from day to day” (Sirach 5:8). Let us therefore turn to better things, while the remedies are in our power. Let us here extinguish death by dying to sins, here acquire life by the merits of life. Thinking on these things wisely and faithfully, therefore, most beloved brothers, let us hasten to take refuge in the remedies of penance, and through chastity or humility, through works of justice and mercy, let us purchase eternal things for ourselves with God. But to return to the point from which we digressed, there follows in this holy Creed: CHAPTER XI. The mystery of the Trinity is explained through similitudes. I believe in the Holy Spirit. Note that just as in the Father, so also in the Son and in the Holy Spirit is belief to be placed. For he who does not believe in one of the persons of the Trinity, it will profit him nothing to have believed in the other two. For this is the Catholic faith, that we venerate, believe, worship, and confess one God in Trinity, and the Trinity in unity.

And in this Trinity there is nothing earlier or later: because just as the Father is never without the Son, nor the Son without the Father, so too the Father and Son were never without the Holy Spirit. Therefore the holy Trinity is coeternal, and an inseparable unity, without beginning and without end. Nothing greater or lesser. It speaks of the equality of the persons, because the holy Trinity is equal, and the divinity is one, the Apostle teaching and instructing, "Through those things which are made, the intelligible are perceived" (Rom. 1:20), and through the creature the Creator is understood, according to these comparisons and many others. The sun, its brightness and its heat: these are three terms, and three are one. What shines, that also heats; and what heats, that also shines: these three terms, one thing is recognized. Thus the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, three persons in the divinity, are one, and an undivided unity is rightly believed. Likewise, with earthly things: a vein, a spring, a river; these three terms, and three are one in their nature: thus the substance or divinity of the three persons, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, is one. Neither the person of the Father, nor that of the Holy Spirit, but only that of the Son took on flesh. And so that you may understand this, I will use comparisons. Certainly, so that you may understand the Creator from the creature: in the soul there is also reason; and although they are one, the soul does one thing, reason another; we live by the soul, we are wise by reason.

I..., the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, since they are one substance, the whole Trinity wrought the man whom it assumed, yet not the whole Trinity, but the person of the Son alone. And although the Son of God himself was both God and man, only the man was subject to suffering. Just as, for example, we see a tree having the sun’s radiance upon it; and when it is cut, we see that the blow of the striker receives the radiance of the iron before the wood is reached: but the radiance, though it is there, can neither be cut nor separated from the hewer; so also the divinity can neither be separated nor cut: but that which was subject to suffering is what, like the wood, can both be bound and held. Therefore, just as we must believe in the Father and the Son, so also must we believe in the Holy Spirit. This, dearest ones, is the inviolable rule of truth, that those whose being is one and who are one should not be separated by us on earth. For just as nothing among creatures can be equated to the divinity, so every division and inequality is excluded by the nature of the divinity. For according to evangelical truth, just as the Son proceeded from the Father, so also the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father; and just as the Son is the only-begotten Son of God, so also the Holy Spirit is of God; and just as the Father has mercy on whom he wills, and the Son reveals the Father to whom he wills, so also the Holy Spirit is read to inspire as he wills, and to distribute the gifts of heavenly graces as he wills. Whence the sevenfold grace of the same Spirit is well described by the prophet (Isaiah...).

...because, of course, through its inspiration one arrives at rest, and in its full reception and vision true rest is possessed. Concerning which it is rightly promised, "He himself will teach you everything" (John 14:26): because unless the same Spirit is present in the heart of the hearer, the speech of the teacher is idle. Let no one attribute to the human teacher what he understands from the mouth of the teacher, because unless there is one who teaches within, the teacher's tongue labors externally in vain. Hence, because without it we can do nothing good, with its help let us render ourselves such that the Holy Spirit may deign to come to us and dwell in us. CHAPTER XII. The Catholic Church. There are no greater riches than faith. The Church is one. "The Holy Catholic Church." It must be known that we ought to believe the Church, but not believe in the Church: because the Church is not God, but the house of God. It is called Catholic because it is spread throughout the whole world, since the churches of various heretics are not called catholic because they are confined to places and their own provinces. But this one, from the rising of the sun to its setting, is diffused with the splendor of one faith. There are no greater riches, no treasures, no honors, no greater substance in this world than the Catholic faith, which saves sinful men, enlightens the blind, heals the sick, baptizes catechumens, justifies the faithful, and restores penitents.

It increases the just, crowns the martyrs, ordains the clergy, consecrates priests, prepares for heavenly kingdoms, and shares in eternal inheritance with the holy angels. Whoever that person is, and of whatever sort he is, he is not a Christian who is not in the Church of Christ. For it alone is the one through which the Lord willingly accepts the sacrifice, the only one that confidently intercedes for the erring. Whence also concerning the lamb as victim the Lord commanded, saying, "You shall eat in one house, and you shall not carry out its flesh outside" (Exod. 12:46). For the lamb is eaten in one house, because in the one Catholic Church the true victim of the Redeemer is offered. Concerning whose flesh the divine command forbids it to be carried outside, because it forbids giving the holy thing to dogs. It alone is the one in which a good work is fruitfully performed, whence those who labored within the vineyard alone received the reward of the denarius. It alone is the one that guards those placed within it with the strong bond of charity. Whence also the water of the flood lifted the ark indeed to higher places, but all whom it found outside the ark it destroyed. It alone is the one in which the heavenly mysteries are truly contemplated. Whence the Lord says to Moses, "There is a place near me, and you will stand upon the rock"; and a little later, "I will take away my hand, and you will see my back parts" (Exod. 33:21, 23). For because truth is seen only from the Catholic Church, the Lord declares that the place from which it is seen is with him.

Moses is placed upon the rock, so that he may contemplate the face of God; for unless someone holds to the solidity of faith, he does not recognize the divine presence. "Pluck," he says, "a ray of sunlight from the body; the unity of light does not admit division. Break a branch from the tree; the broken branch will not be able to bear fruit. Cut off a stream from its source; the severed stream dries up." In these words of Cyprian we understand that light does not admit division, except among the saints predestined for the kingdom of God, who can in no way be divided from the Church, and we understand that the broken branch does not germinate with the seed of eternal salvation. But we recognize the dryness of the stream cut off from its source in the fact that those who are separated from unity are emptied of the Holy Spirit. CHAPTER XIII. Who becomes a participant in the merits of the saints. The communion of saints: that is, we are bound to those saints who have died in this faith which we have received, by fellowship and by sharing of hope. If, therefore, we wish to have communion with the saints in eternal life, let us think about imitating them. For they ought to recognize something of their own virtues in our hours, so that they may deign to supplicate the Lord on our behalf. For if we cannot bear the torments which the saints endured, let us at least, with them interceding, resist evil desires. For neither Abraham, nor Isaac, nor Jacob were killed; and yet by the merits of their faith and justice they deserved to be honored among the first of the Patriarchs. To whose banquet is gathered whoever is found to be faithful and just and praiseworthy.

Therefore we too, dearest brothers, even if we suffer nothing of the kind—if we endure no chains, no beatings, no prisons, no other bodily torments, no persecution from men for the sake of justice—we will still be able to obtain the fellowship of the saints, if we take care to discipline our body and subject it to servitude, if we grow accustomed to supplicating the Lord in a spirit of humility and a contrite soul, if we strive to receive insults inflicted by our neighbor with a calm mind, if we love those who hate us, who do us injuries, do good to them, and rejoice in praying for their life and safety, if we strive, along with the virtue of patience, to be adorned with the fruits of good works as well. For if we live in this way and, according to the Apostle’s word, offer our bodies as a living, holy, and God-pleasing sacrifice (Rom. 12:1), we will be granted the divine favor that we be rewarded with a glory shared with those who gave their limbs to death for the Lord: so that, just as their death, so too our life is precious in the sight of the Lord; and, once the bonds of the flesh are broken, we ourselves will merit entering the halls of the heavenly city and, among the choirs of the blessed martyrs, rendering thanks to our Redeemer. These are the footprints that all the saints, returning to their homeland, have left for us, so that, clinging to their paths, we might follow them to joy. Why do we not hasten and run, so that we may see our homeland?

A great number of our dear ones awaits us there: parents, brothers, children; a frequent and abundant throng desires us, already secure in their own safety, still anxious about our salvation. To come into their embrace and sight—how great a joy it is for them and for us in common! There is the glorious chorus of the Apostles. There is the distinguished number of exulting Prophets. There the innumerable people of martyrs is crowned for the victory of their contests. There the most illustrious band of virgins rejoices; there also the fortitude of confessors is praised. But the reward is also reckoned for those who, keeping the Lord’s commandments, transferred earthly patrimonies to heavenly treasures. Yet what tongue can tell, or what intellect can grasp, how great are the joys of that heavenly city: to be among the choirs of Angels, to stand with the most blessed spirits before the glory of the Creator, to behold the face of God present, to see the unencompassed light, to be afflicted by no fear of death, to rejoice in the gift of perpetual incorruption? Let us hasten with eager desire to these elect of God, so that it may befall us to be with them soon, and soon to come together to Christ—to Him whom we have as the leader of this journey, the author of salvation, the prince of light, the giver of joy.

CHAPTER XIV. Remission of Sins. The Novatians Are Refuted. The remission of sins must especially be believed, brothers, because this is the sole remedy that absolves the human race from the sentence of perpetual death. Therefore the Only-Begotten of the Most High deigned to assume flesh, was content with the cross, so that you, who could not escape your crimes, might be made innocent by indulgence. Therefore the immaculate Lamb was slain, so that by His blood the stain of the human race might be wiped away. But I am amazed that some are so obstinate as to think that penance should not be given to the lapsed, or that they deny pardon to those who repent, when it is written: "Remember from what you have fallen, and do penance, and do the former works" (Apoc. 2:5). And it is said to him who is known to have fallen, and whom the Lord exhorts to rise again through works, because it is written: "Almsgiving frees from death" (Tob. 4:11)—not, of course, from that death which the blood of Christ once extinguished, and from which the grace of our saving Baptism and Redeemer has freed us, but from that which has crept in afterward through sins. For since it is written: "The Lord did not make death, nor does He rejoice in the destruction of the living" (Wis. 1:13), He who wishes no one to perish certainly desires sinners to do penance and through penance to return again to life.

Therefore, through the prophet Joel, He cries out and says: "And now your Lord God says: Return to Me with your whole heart, and at the same time with fasting, weeping, and lamentation; and rend your hearts, not your garments; and return to your Lord God, because He is merciful and compassionate, and patient and of great mercy, and who bends the sentence against the malice that has been inflicted" (Joel 2:13). Likewise, the Lord in the Gospel, showing the piety of God the Father, says: "Which one of you men, if his son asked him for bread, would hand him a stone? Or if he asked for a fish, would hand him a serpent? Therefore, if you, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to those who ask Him" (Matthew 7:9-11). Here the Lord compares a carnal father with the eternal and generous piety of God the Father.

If a wicked father here on earth, gravely offended by a sinful and evil son, yet afterwards sees him reformed, with the faults of his former life set aside, corrected by the pain of penance toward sober and good habits, toward the discipline of innocence—he rejoices and congratulates him, and embraces with a vow of paternal exultation the son he had previously lost: how much more does that one true father, good, merciful, pious—indeed, goodness and mercy and piety itself—rejoice in the penance of his children, and threaten neither anger nor punishment to those who are penitent, weeping, and lamenting, but rather promises pardon and indulgence? For if the devil was able to rain so much that he led you from the lofty heights of virtues into the deep pit of evils, how much more will God be able to recall you to the highest summit of goods, and not only recall you to what you were, but make you far more blessed than you formerly seemed?

CHAPTER X, 5. That one must not despair, and whence despair arises. One must not cease from begging pardon. Only do not lose heart, nor cut off from yourself the hope of good things; do not, I beg, let what usually happens to the impious befall you. For it is not the multitude of sins that leads to despair, but impiety. And for this reason Solomon did not say that everyone who comes into the depth of evils despises, but, "The impious," he says, "if he comes into the depth of evils, despises" (Prov. 18:3). Therefore it belongs to the impious to despair of salvation and to despise when they have come into the depth of evils, not of sinners. For impiety does not allow them to look back to God and to return there whence they have slipped away. Therefore this kinship, which cuts off the hope of conversion, descends from impiety; and like a very heavy stone pressing upon the neck of the soul, it always forces it to look downward to the earth, but does not allow it to lift its eyes to its own God. But it is the mark of a manly spirit and a brilliant mind to cast down from the neck of his soul the hostile weight, indeed to throw off the devil pressing him down; and to command his soul, singing the prophetic words, to say to the Lord, "As the eyes of servants in the hands of their masters, and as the eyes of a handmaid in the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes to our Lord God, until he takes pity on us. Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us; for we are filled with much contempt" (Ps. 122:5). A splendid teaching of celestial philosophy is contained in these words.

We are filled, he says, with contempt: this is what he wished to teach us, that although we are filled with the multitude of our sins, covered with contempt and reproaches, yet our eyes are to be upon our Lord God, until he takes pity on us. Nor should we cease from supplication before we merit to obtain pardon for our sins. For this is the mark of a truly steadfast and persistent soul, that it is in no way repelled from persevering in asking by the despair of obtaining; but it perseveres and persists in supplications until he takes pity on it. And lest you perhaps think that you incur more offense with God if, when you do not deserve to be heard, you persist importunately in prayers; recall the parable of the Gospel, and there you will find that the Lord shows that persevering and importunate petitioners are not displeasing to him. For he says: Even if he does not give to him because he is his friend, yet on account of his importunity he will rise and give him as much as he needs (Luke 11:8). Understand, dearest one, therefore that the devil introduces despair of obtaining, so that he may cut off from you the hope of God’s goodness, which is the guide of the journey by which one goes to heaven. But just as for a common death it is philosophical to refrain from tears, so to receive consolation in the death of the soul I consider both foolish and irreligious.

CHAPTER XVI. However guilty we may be, there remains hope of life. God never despises sincere penance. Ah! God created us for heaven, not for hell. Through penance, sins of any magnitude can be washed away here. Indeed, I think we are to be reproached for our negligence, if, when even the bearers of bodies and of common death do this so harshly and so vehemently, knowing and being certain that their weeping is of no benefit to the life of the deceased, we do nothing of the kind with lamentation for the soul, which we know can be restored to its state through penance. For we know that many have fallen from the right path and been precipitated from the entrance of the narrow way, and have been so restored that the later deeds have effaced the earlier ones, and they have attained the palm and the crown, and are believed to be again enrolled in the number and choir of the saints. And I do not want you to think that I am speaking only of those who have sinned in few and light matters: I speak of him who has succumbed to all evils, who by the enormity of his crimes has barred the way of the kingdom of heaven for himself; and who, not among the unbelievers, but among the faithful, and among those who formerly pleased God, afterwards fell, either into adulteries or into all kinds of unchastities, which, as the Apostle says, it is shameful to mention.

He never spurns penance, if it is offered to him sincerely and simply: he receives it, willingly accepts it, embraces it, does everything to recall the person to his former state; and what is even more excellent and outstanding, even if someone has not been able to fulfill the entire order of satisfaction, he does not reject penance, however small and however brief it may be; he receives even that, and does not allow the reward of even a slight conversion to perish. For this seems to me to be what Isaiah judges, where he says certain such things about the Jewish people: "Because of a sin I grieved you a little, and I struck you, and I turned my face away from you; and you were grieved, and you walked in sadness, and I consoled you" (Isaiah 57:1 and 8). Therefore, having these examples of penance, let us not persist in evils, nor hope for reconciliation; but let us say, "Let us also return to the father, and draw near to God." Never, believe me, will he turn away from one who has turned to him. For he himself says, "I am a God who draws near, and not a God from afar" (Jeremiah 23:23); and again through the same prophet, "Sins," he says, "separate between me and you" (Isaiah 59:2). If, therefore, sins are what separate us from God, let us remove that obstacle, and there is nothing that prevents us from being joined to God. For God created us for this reason, and made us to exist who did not exist, in order to confer eternal goods upon us and bestow the kingdoms of heaven. For he did not make us for this, to deliver us to Gehenna and perpetual fire.

The kingdom of heaven was made for us, Gehenna for the devil. And that this is so, I shall teach from the Gospels. For the Lord himself will say to those who will be on his right: "Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world." But to those who will be on his left, he will say: "Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:34, 41). If, therefore, the fire of Gehenna is for the devil, but the kingdom of heaven is prepared for man from the foundation of the world, it remains that we not exclude ourselves from the entry of good things by persisting stubbornly in evils. For as long as we are in this life, no matter how great the sins that have befallen us, it is possible for all to be washed away through penance. But when we have been taken away from this world, then even if we will repent (for we will repent greatly, but there will be no usefulness of repentance), and although there is the gnashing of teeth, although there is wailing and weeping, although we pour forth prayers and cry out with countless entreaties, no one will hear, no one will help, nor will anyone pour even a drop of water with the tip of a finger upon our tongue placed in the flames; but we will hear that which that rich man heard from Abraham: "Because a great chasm has been fixed between us and you; and neither can anyone cross from here to there, nor from there to here" (Luke 16:26).

CHAPTER XVII. Pleasures pass quickly. They lead to eternal torments. We enjoy them now as if in a dream. Let us therefore finally come to our senses, and remember what profit there was for those who persisted in bodily luxury and the pleasures of the present life until their last day. Enter now their tombs, and see if there is in them any trace of their boasting, if you recognize any signs of the luxury of their riches. Seek now where are the foreign garments and perfumes, where is the pleasure of the spectacles, where are the crowds of followers, and the opulence of banquets, laughter, jest, and immoderate and unbridled joy—where has it gone, where has it departed? Where are those things now, and where are they themselves? What is the end of both? Examine more carefully, and draw nearer to the individual tombs. See only ashes and the foul remains of worms: and remember that this is the end of bodies, even if they have spent their life in delights and joy, or in labor and continence. For if the whole matter and every cause came only to ashes and worms, these losses would be considered slight, and the condition of nature would easily excuse them. But now turn your eyes from those ashes and tombs, and recall your thought to that terrible tribunal of divine judgment, which the fiery river encompasses with its flaming streams, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, where there is outer darkness, where there is that worm of conscience which will never die, and the fire which will never be extinguished.

Remember the parable of Lazarus and that rich man, who, though master of such great wealth, clothed in purple and fine linen, could not then find a single drop of water when he was placed in the necessity of burning heat. Tell me, I ask you, what more does this life have than a dream? For just as those who are placed in the mines, condemned, or set in any other punishment, when after much hardship of harsh life they are briefly relaxed in sleep, see themselves placed among many feasts, enjoying the most abundant banquets; but when they have arisen, they find that no grace from the delight of the dream has remained for them, so also that rich man had this life as a dream; when he departed, nothing remained with him except repentance for the past and punishment for the present. CHAPTER XVIII. Eternal punishments. The power of repentance. Remember these things, and oppose that fire of Gehenna to those flames of lust and desire that now agitate you. This fire which is in the present life consumes everything it receives; that fire always tortures those whom it has taken in, and always keeps its punishment intact. For this reason it is also called unquenchable, not because it itself is not extinguished, but because it does not extinguish or destroy those whom it has taken in. For Scripture says that even sinners will put on incorruption, namely not for the honor of life, but for the duration of punishment. But no voice can express, no speech can explain, the power of this punishment and that fire.

For there is nothing in corruptible things that can be compared to incorruptible things, whether good or evil. What shall we do there, what shall we answer? There will be nothing but the gnashing of teeth, nothing but wailing and weeping, and belated repentance, with help ceasing on all sides and punishments increasing on all sides; but indeed no comfort. Nothing will meet our eyes there except the sole ministers of punishments and the grim faces of torturers. But we can not only escape these punishments, these torments, but also acquire eternal blessedness, if only we repent of our evils. CHAPTER XIX. How it is corrupted. Yet even then it was not entirely fruitless. Let it be read cautiously. You see how great is the power of repentance? You see how much merit conversion has restored? But repentance is corrupted if someone, for the same evils for which he confesses, again becomes entangled in them. For one building and another destroying, what do they achieve but labor? And he who is baptized by a dead man, and again touches the dead man, what does he profit by his washing? So too the man who fasts for his sins, and again strikes, and does the same things, who will hear his prayer (Ecclus. 34:28, 30, 31)? And again it is said, He who returns from justice to sin, the Lord casts him into the sword. And just as a dog, when it returns to its vomit, becomes hateful, so too the fool, when he returns to his sin (Prov. 26:11). But now what shall we say, listen.

It often happens that through penance someone corrects many and great things, yet among these good things which he corrected through penance, he also committed sins: and this is what especially brings despair to the soul, because it seems that here he has destroyed what he had built, and poured out all those labors in vain. And this is the thought which especially imposes the weight of despair upon the soul. But on the other hand, it is necessary to consider that by which this most evil and hostile thought to our life is repelled: because those good things which we did, and that correction which was sought through penance, unless it had been, and had stood in the way like a contrary weight to this which is introduced to us from sin, there would have been nothing to prevent us from falling into the depth of evils. But now, just as a certain strong breastplate did not allow the heavy and bitter javelin to penetrate to the vital organs, but broke the greatest force of the deadly weapon. For it is certain that he who carries with him there more good works and more evil works will have some relief in those punishments: but he who has no good works, but carries with him a great abundance of evil ones, what awaits him need not be said. For there will be without doubt a compensation of goods and evils, and as if placed on a scale, each part. Whichever side sinks, that one to which the balance inclines will claim the worker. Therefore, if the multitude of evils outweighs, the worker.

its own operator drags to Gehenna: but if the works of the good are greater, they will resist with utmost force and fight against the evils, and will recall their operator to the region of the living even from the very border of Gehenna. Therefore, dearest brothers, if we wish to consider these things more attentively, let us acquire remedies for ourselves in the day of necessity; so that when the day of judgment comes, we may not be punished with the impious and sinners, but may happily come with the just and those fearing God to eternal rewards. Amen.