De Rectitudine Catholicae Conversationis Tractatus [Incertus]

ON THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CATHOLIC CONVERSATION, A TREATISE.

That a bishop is bound to exhort the people. To recall the day of judgment and the vows of baptism. The duty of a Christian. Pious exercises are prescribed. Christians are deterred from the rites of the Gentiles. God alone is to be worshiped. Pious admonitions. Against drunkenness. Against superstitions. How they should conduct themselves on the Lord's day and in the churches. What judges must do. To fortify oneself frequently with the sign of the cross. That the devil harasses those who live piously. Why God permits it. To give alms to the poor. To give tithes to God in the poor or to the churches. To keep the commandments of God. To correct one's morals quickly. To love one's enemies. To take care for the soul. Who should fast. To feed the soul with divine readings. Against lust. Concubinage. Capital crimes. Pious instructions for living rightly. To pursue piety now at last. To dissent from the devil. Not to swear. When one should pray or converse. To flee scandals. To be merciful. The commendation of charity. An exhortation to repentance, to watchfulness. That an angel of God is assigned to each person. That no one should ever despair. On caution in words. On keeping sobriety. That nothing is evil of itself. That the poor are to be invited to one's table. Consideration of death. The happiness of eternal life. Meditation on the last judgment. How Christ will reproach the reprobate with his benefits. The punishment of the reprobate. The blessed lot of the just. Not to be ashamed of public penance. Nor to despair of pardon. Nor to presume too much. That the end of the world is at hand. To despise earthly things.

To bear adversity patiently for the love of God. Always to revere God as present to oneself. To keep charity. To persevere in a good purpose. Let penance not be delayed.

I ask you, dearest brothers, and with great humility I admonish you, that you be willing to listen with attentive minds to what I wish to suggest to you for your salvation. For the almighty Lord knows that I bring these things to you with ready charity toward you; and if I do not do so, I shall without doubt be held guilty of a debt. Therefore receive willingly, not according to my smallness, but according to your salvation, the things I say; and indeed in such a way that what you receive with the ear you fulfill in deed: so that I may deserve to rejoice with you in the heavenly kingdom both over my own service and over your progress. If perhaps someone is displeased that I strive to preach to you so frequently, I ask that he not be troublesome to me, but rather consider my danger, and hear the Lord terribly threatening the priest: If you have not announced to the wicked man his wickedness, he himself shall die in his wickedness; but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you have announced to the impious man, and he has not been converted from his wickedness and from his impious way, he indeed shall die in his wickedness, but you have delivered your own soul (Ezek. 33). And that saying: Cry out, do not cease; lift up your voice like a trumpet, and announce to my people their crimes (Isa. 58:1).

Consider therefore, brothers, that I must without ceasing rouse your minds to fear the dread judgment of God and to desire the heavenly reward, so that together with you I may merit to rejoice in perpetual peace in the company of the angels.

And so I ask that you always dread the day of judgment and keep the day of death, ever suspect, before your eyes daily. Consider what sort you will be when presented to the gaze of the angels, or what kind of recompense you will receive, if on that day you are able to bring back unsullied what you promised in Baptism. Remember that then you made a covenant with God, and that you promised in that same Baptism to renounce the devil and all his works. He who was able, then answered these things for himself and on his own behalf; he who was not able, a surety for him made that promise to God in his stead—namely, the one who received him from the sacred font. Consider therefore what covenant you made with God, and examine within yourselves whether after that promise you have followed the works of the malignant devil, whom you renounced. For you renounced the devil and all his pomps and works, that is, deceits, lots, auguries, thefts, frauds, fornications, drunkennesses, and lies. These are truly his works and pomps.

You promised in return to believe in God the Father almighty, and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, born of the Virgin Mary, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, rose from the dead on the third day, and ascended into heaven. You promised next to believe also in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the flesh, and eternal life. This your surety and confession, which you then promised, is without doubt always held before God. Wherefore, most beloved, I admonish you that this confession or promise of yours be always kept in your memory, so that the fact that you are called Christians may not be for your judgment, but rather for your remedy.

For you were made Christians for this reason, that you should always do the works of a Christian, that is, that you should love chastity, flee luxury and drunkenness, hold to humility, and detest pride; because the Lord Jesus Christ both showed humility by his examples and taught it in his words, saying: Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matt. 11:29). You should also reject envy, have charity toward one another, and always think of the world to come and of eternal blessedness, and labor more for the soul than for the body; because the flesh will be in this world for a short time, but the soul, if it has acted well, will reign in heaven without end; but if badly, it will burn in hell without mercy.

But whoever thinks only of this present life is like the animals and the beasts. Therefore, dearest ones, it is not enough for you that you have received the name of Christian, if you do not perform Christian works. For it profits him to be called a Christian who always keeps the precepts of Christ in his mind and fulfills them in deed; who, namely, does not commit theft, who does not bear false witness, who neither lies nor perjures himself, who does not commit adultery, who harms or hates no man, but loves all as himself; who does not return evil for evil to his enemies, but rather prays for them; who does not stir up quarrels, but recalls the discordant to concord. For the Lord Jesus Christ himself deigned to hand down these precepts through himself in the Gospel, saying: You shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit theft, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not perjure yourself, and you shall not commit fraud. Honor your father and mother. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And, whatever you wish men to do to you, do you also to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets. And yet greater than these, but very strong and fruitful, he gave commandments, saying: Love your enemies, and do good to those who hate you; pray for those who persecute and slander you. Behold a strong commandment, and it seems hard to men; but it has a great reward.

Hear what kind of thing this is: "That you may be," he says, "sons of your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:44-45). O what grace! Through ourselves as servants we are not worthy, and through love of enemies we are made sons of God. Therefore, brothers, love both friends in God and enemies for God's sake. For whoever loves his neighbor, as the Apostle says, has fulfilled the law (Romans 13:8). For whoever wishes to be a true Christian must keep these commandments; for if he does not keep them, he deceives himself. So that one is a true Christian who believes in no phylacteries or inventions of the devil, but places all his hope in Christ alone; who receives strangers with joy as if Christ himself, because he himself says, "I was a stranger, and you took me in"; and, "As long as you did this to one of the least of mine, you did it to me" (Matthew 25:40).

That man, I say, is a good Christian who washes the feet of guests and loves them as dearest parents; who according to what he has gives alms to the poor; who comes more frequently to church and presents the offering that is to be offered to God at the altar; who does not taste of his fruits unless he first offers to God; who does not have false scales and double measures; who does not lend his money at usury; who both lives chastely himself and teaches his children or neighbors to live chastely and in the fear of God, and as often as the holy solemnities come, for several days beforehand keeps chastity even with his own wife, so that with a secure conscience he may be able to approach the altar of the Lord; who finally holds the creed and the Lord's Prayer by memory and teaches these to his children and household. Whoever is such a one is without doubt a true Christian; but Christ also dwells in him, who said, "I and the Father will come to him and make our dwelling with him" (John 14:23). Likewise also through the prophet he says, "I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God" (Leviticus 26:12).

Behold, brothers, you have heard what kind of people good Christians are. Therefore, as much as you can, labor with God's help, so that the name "Christian" may not be false in you. But so that you may be able to be true Christians, always think over the precepts of Christ in your mind and fulfill them in action. Redeem your souls from punishment, while you have the remedies in your power. Give alms according to your means, keep peace and charity, recall the discordant to concord, flee falsehood, dread perjury, do not speak false testimony, do not commit theft. Offer oblations and tithes to the Church; provide lights for the holy places according to what you have. Keep the Symbol and the Lord's Prayer in memory, and instill them in your children. Also teach and chastise the children whom you have received from Baptism, so that they may always live in the fear of God; know that you are sureties for them before God. Also assemble more frequently at the Church, humbly seek the patronage of the saints, keep the Lord's day with reverence for the resurrection of Christ without any servile work, celebrate the solemnities of the saints with pious affection. Love your neighbors as yourselves: what you wish to be done to you by others, do also to others; what you do not wish to be done to you, do to no one. Have charity before all things, because charity covers a multitude of sins (1 Pet. 4:8).

Be hospitable, humble, casting all your care upon God, for he himself cares for you (1 Pet 5:7). Visit the sick, seek out those in prison, receive strangers, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, flee from soothsayers and magicians. Let there be equality for you in weight and in measure; let there be a just scale, a just peck-measure, and an equal sextarius; do not demand back more than you gave, nor exact interest from anyone for money lent. But if you observe these things, you will come secure on the day of judgment before the tribunal of the eternal judge and say: Give, Lord, because we have given; have mercy, because we have shown mercy: we have fulfilled what you commanded, you repay what you promised.

But before all things I declare and adjure this, that you observe no sacrilegious customs of the pagans—no caragios, no diviners, no sorcerers, no chanters of incantations; nor presume for any cause or illness to consult or question them, because whoever does this evil loses the sacrament of Baptism. Likewise, do not observe omens or sneezings, nor, when you have set out on a journey, pay attention to some little birds singing: but whether you undertake a journey or any work whatsoever, sign yourselves in the name of Christ, and say the creed and the Lord's Prayer with faith and devotion; and the enemy will be able to harm you in nothing. Let no Christian observe on what day he should go out, or on what day he should return, because God made all days. Let no one to...

Let no one on the calends of January do wicked and ridiculous things, old women's tales, or the stag-play, or jestings, nor set tables through the night, nor practice excessive revels or drinking-bouts. Let no Christian believe in pyres, nor sit in chanting, because these are works of the devil. Let no one on the feast of Saint John or in the solemnities of the saints practice solstitial rites, or bleatings, or dances, or diabolical songs. Let no one presume to believe in or invoke the names of demons, or Neptune, or Orcus, or Diana, or Hercules, or Minerva, or Geniscus, or other follies of this kind. Let no one observe Thursday without the saints' festivities, neither in May nor at any time at all, nor the days of the dead or of walls, nor any day at all, except only the Lord's day. Let no Christian presume to make lights or to pay vows at shrines, or at stones, or at springs, or at trees, or at lattices, or at crossroads. Let no one presume to hang ligatures on the necks of a man or of any animal, even if they are given by clerics, even if it is said that the thing is holy and contains divine readings, because in them there is not the remedy of Christ but the poison of the devil. Let no one presume to make lustrations, nor to enchant herbs, nor to pass cattle through a hollow tree or a pierced earth, because through these things he seems to consecrate them to the devil.

Let no woman presume to hang amber at her neck, nor in weaving, or in dyeing, or in any work whatsoever to name Minerva or the other unlucky persons; but in every work let her desire that the grace of Christ be present, and with her whole heart trust in the power of His name. Let no one, when the moon is darkened, presume to practice sorcery, because at fixed times it is darkened by God's command. Nor let anyone fear to begin any work at the new moon, since God made the moon for this purpose, to mark the seasons (Gen 1:14), and to temper the darknesses of the night; not to hinder anyone's work, or to make a man insane, as fools think, who believe that those possessed by demons suffer from the moon. Let no one call the sun or the moon lords, nor swear by them, because they are creatures of God, and by God's command serve the needs of men. Let no one set before himself fate or fortune, or genethliology, which is commonly called nativity; so as to say, As the nativity he brought, so will it be; because God wills all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4), and in wisdom He disposes all things, as He arranged before the foundation of the world.

Moreover, whenever any illness occurs, let no incantators be sought, no diviners, no sorcerers, no oaragii, nor let diabolical phylacteries be practiced at springs, or trees, or crossroads; but let the one who is sick trust in God's mercy alone, and receive the Eucharist of the body and blood of Christ with faith and devotion, and faithfully ask the Church for blessed oil, with which he may anoint his body in the name of Christ; and, according to the apostle, the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will lift him up (James 5:15); and he will receive health not only of body but also of soul: and there will be fulfilled in him what the Lord promised in the Gospel, saying, For all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer believing, you shall receive (Matthew 21:22). Before all things, wherever you are, whether at home, or on a journey, or at a banquet, do not bring forth shameful and lustful words from your mouth: because, as the Lord declares in the Gospel, for every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account on the day of judgment (Matthew 12:36). Forbid also diabolical games, or revelries, or the songs of the Gentiles. Let no Christian practice these things, because through these one becomes a pagan: for it is not just that from a Christian mouth, where the sacraments of Christ are placed, and which ought always to praise God, diabolical songs should proceed.

Therefore, brothers, spit out with your whole heart all the inventions of the enemy, and flee with all horror from the sacrileges mentioned above. Show veneration to no creature except God and his saints: cut down the springs or trees that they call sacrivos; forbid the making of likenesses of cattle, which they place at crossroads, and wherever you find them, burn them with fire. Believe that you are saved by no other art except through the invocation of the Lord and the cross of Christ. For what kind of thing is it that if the trees where wretched men make their vows have fallen, they do not carry wood from them for the fire? See how great is the folly of men, if they pay honor to a tree both insensible and dead, and despise the precepts of almighty God.

Let no one therefore believe that heaven, or earth, or any creature at all besides God is to be adored, because he alone created and disposed all things. High indeed is heaven, vast is the earth, immense is the sea, beautiful are the stars: but more beautiful and more immense must be he who created these things.

For if these things which are considered vile are so incomprehensible—that is, the various fruits of the earth, the beauty of flowers, the diversity of fruits, the kinds of animals, some on land, some in the waters, some in the air; the prudence of bees too, the blowing of the winds, the dews of the clouds, the crashes of thunder, the changes of the seasons, the varied recurrence of days and nights—all of which the human mind can in no way grasp by estimation: if these things are such as we see and in no way comprehend, of what sort are those heavenly things to be esteemed, which we do not yet see; or of what sort is the craftsman of all these things, by whose nod all things are created? Him therefore, brothers, fear above all things, adore Him among all things; love Him beyond all things, hold fast to His mercy, never despair of His clemency.

Those whom you see as honorable, imitate; those whom you perceive as evil, chastise and rebuke, so that you may be able to have a double reward. And he who is known to have lived blamelessly up to now from the aforesaid evils, let him indeed rejoice and give thanks to God, and henceforth be watchful, and hasten to persevere in good deeds; but he who has practiced evil works until now, let him quickly correct himself, and do penance with his whole heart, before he departs from this light: because if he dies without penance, he will not go into redemption, but will be cast down into the gehenna of fire, from which he will never go out for ages of ages.

Therefore I address all, I speak to men and women: let each one correct himself, let him amend his vices while he can, let him expiate by penitence the evil works he has committed. Let no one make himself drunk, let no one at a banquet compel another to drink more than is fitting, because the Apostle sharply rebukes those given over to much wine, saying, Nor shall drunkards possess the kingdom of God (I Cor. 6:10). Let no one in any matter, however small, follow the devil's devices; let no one, as has been said, observe as he goes out and comes into his house what meets him, or whether some voice of one crying out is made, or what kind of bird chatters its song, or what he sees even in one carrying something; because whoever observes these things is recognized as in part a pagan. But whoever despises these things may rejoice that the prophet cries out on his behalf, Blessed is the man whose hope is the Lord, who has not looked upon vanities and false follies (Ps. 39:5). Hence also the Apostle admonishes: All things, he says, whatever you do in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Col. 3:17). Therefore one must altogether withdraw from all observances of this kind. Mathematicians are to be spurned, auguries to be shuddered at, dreams to be despised, since, as the Scripture testifies, they are vain. Whence also it is commanded through Moses: You shall not practice augury, he says, you shall not observe dreams, nor shall you turn aside to magicians (Lev. 19:26, 31).

It is necessary, therefore, that you also observe all these things with your whole mind; and if you know of any who practice certain charms, even secretly, it is expedient that you neither take food with them nor have any fellowship with them (1 Cor. 5 and 11). Despising all these things, therefore, betake yourselves to the help of God, and never despair of his mercy. On every Lord's day assemble at the church, and there do not engage in lawsuits or quarrels or idle tales, but listen to the divine readings in silence, and pray for the peace of the Church and for your own sins. For he who does not fear to chatter in the churches will have to give an account both for himself and for others, since he neither hears the word of God himself nor permits others to hear it. For of such the Lord says in the Gospel: Woe to you, hypocrites, who shut the kingdom of heaven before men; you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you permit those who are entering to enter (Matt. 23:13). You also who preside as judges, judge most justly: do nothing unjustly in judgment, do not accept gifts against the innocent, do not regard the person, nor seize the property of others with rapacious boldness, because you do not know what may be done concerning your own affairs, even before night. Do not in any way oppress the poor or the widow in judgment, fearing that which the Truth says: For by whatever judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and by whatever measure you measure, it shall be measured to you again (Matt. 7:2).

Always beware lest the prophet speak of you: Woe to you who are mighty in this world, who justify the wicked for rewards, and take away the justice of the just from him. Woe to you who call good evil, and evil good (Isa. 5:22, 23, 20). Your lips speak lies, and your hands are full of iniquity; truth has become forgotten by you, and justice has fled from you (Id. 59:3, 15, 14).

Considering these things together, brothers—both you who preside and those over whom you preside—strengthen yourselves in the fear of God. Hold fast to what has been said, do what has been commanded. Always keep Christ in mind, His sign on your forehead. Know that you have many adversaries who hasten to hinder your course. Therefore in every place, at every hour, arm yourselves with the sign of the cross, fortify yourselves with the banner of the cross; for this alone they fear, this alone they dread; this shield also has been given to you, with which you may extinguish the burning arrows of the evil one. Moreover, great is the sign of Christ, and the cross of Christ; but it profits only those who do the commandments of Christ. Therefore, so that it may profit you, strive with all your strength to fulfill His precepts; and whether you sit, or walk, or eat, or go up to bed, or rise from your bed, let the sign of Christ continually guard your forehead, so that it may always protect you while you are awake, through the remembrance of God, and keep you in sleep. And as often as you are awakened in the night and sleep has flown from your eyes, let the sign of the cross meet you at once.

Let the mind also be occupied with prayers, and let God's commandments be turned over in the heart, lest the enemy creep suddenly into a dull heart, or the greedy adversary crawl toward the soul through foul negligence. And when he has suggested a shameful thought to your senses, set before yourselves the future judgment of God, the punishment of hell, the pains of Gehenna, the darkness of Tartarus, which the wicked shall suffer. If you do this, the shameful thought will immediately vanish, nor will the virtue of Christ forsake you; because it is true what the prophet sings: Those who hope in the Lord, mercy shall surround them (Ps. 31:10).

But when you have fulfilled all these things with the Lord's help, know that the devil will take this grievously, because he sees you departing from his company; and for this reason perhaps he will inflict some wickednesses or infirmities upon you. Do not despair on this account; because God will permit this to be done to you for your testing, so that he may know whether you hold to his mercy with your whole heart, or whether you truly believe in him. Indeed, do you also patiently endure all things, and bless God in all things, so that there may be fulfilled in you what is written: Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been tested, he will receive the crown of life (James 1:12). Let this also console you which the Apostle says: Because when we are troubled, we are corrected by the Lord, so that we may not be condemned with this world (1 Cor. 11:32). And also that: God scourges every son whom he receives (Heb. 12:6). And that: Those whom the Lord loves, he reproves and chastises (Prov.

But if you have manfully and faithfully endured for the love of God the wicked assaults that he sends once or twice, then God will afterward deign to drive him back from infesting you, so that he can never harm you again. Therefore, if you are true and not false Christians, flee and despise all the devil's snares, and hold fast to God with your whole mind, so that whatever adversities the enemy sends upon you, you may bear them patiently and bravely. For even if he has foretold something through sorcerers or soothsayers, and it has come to pass, do not marvel: for spirits flying through the air can easily foresee certain future things. Concerning this matter divine Scripture testifies, saying: Even if they tell you the truth, do not believe them; for the Lord your God tests you, whether you fear him or not (Deut. 13:5). Know this also, that neither you nor anything that belongs to you can the enemy harm, except insofar as God permits. But God permits this because the sins of men demand it. He permits it for two reasons: either to prove you if you are good, or to chastise you if you are sinners. But whoever has patiently endured God's dispensation, so that when he has lost something he says, The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so it has been done: blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21)—for this patience he will receive either a crown if he is just, or pardon if he is a sinner.

But if he has murmured or despaired, he will bring upon himself the loss of his soul together with his goods. But believe me, brothers, that if you remain always with your whole heart in the fear of God, and keep his commandments, so that you observe no inventions out of pagan custom, the enemy will be able to harm you in nothing, but all your affairs will prosper. For no auguries or any other figments whatsoever can harm a upright Christian, because where the sign of the cross has gone before with faith and the fear of God, the enemy can harm nothing there. But they can harm the tepid and negligent because, forsaking the commandments of God, by the negligence of their life practicing evil works, they hand themselves over to the power of demons by their own will. If they persevered in the service of Christ and trusted only in his help, they would suffer no evil at all.

Knowing these things, therefore, hold your strength fast to the mercy of God, always do good works, and give to the poor from your substance. Let him who has more give more; but let him who has less give from that very amount, blessed and cheerful. Let each one give what he is able, because surely he has that from which he will rejoice. Indeed, he who gives little will receive much, as the Lord promises to the Apostles, saying, He shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess eternal life (Matt. 19:29). He gives, I say, a coin and purchases the kingdom of heaven; he gives a little money and buys eternal life.

Hold fast, therefore, to almsgiving; for, as it is written, almsgiving delivers from death, and he who does it shall not go into darkness. Let each one give as much as he is able. He who has gold, let him give gold; and he who has silver, let him give silver; but he who has no money, let him give a morsel to the poor with a good heart; and if he does not have a whole one, let him break off from what he has and give a portion to the needy. Let him know that even if he has given little with a good heart, it will be acceptable to God. For the Lord delights in and is fed not by the abundance of the giver's generosity, but by his benevolence and devotion. But so that no poor man may be able to excuse himself from almsgiving, the Lord himself promised that he would give a reward for a cup of cold water. For he who has received more resources from God will certainly bear the greater peril of judgment. God could, of course, have made all men rich; but he willed that there be poor in this world so that the rich might have a means of redeeming their sins. Redeem yourselves, therefore, most beloved, while you have the price in your power; give alms from good and just labor, and not from the plunder of another. Hear now the poor begging at your doors, so that they too may plead for you on the day of judgment. Attend to the prophet crying out: He who turns away his ear from the needy, he himself shall call upon the Lord, and he will not hear him. Give, therefore, from what God has given you; because he receives what you give to the poor.

You indeed give these things, but you send them ahead for yourselves into the future; not that you may fill the belly, but that you may extinguish the flames: because just as water extinguishes fire, so almsgiving extinguishes sin (Ecclus. 3:33). Hence the Lord says through the prophet: They shall each give the ransom of their souls, and there shall be in them neither disease nor fall. Give, therefore, while it is permitted, the ransom of your souls: redeem yourselves while you live, because after death no one can redeem.

Let each one, according to the talent or craft by which he lives, give a tenth to God in the poor or in the churches. Let him consider that all things by which he lives are God's, whether land, or rivers, or seeds, or all things that are under the heavens or above the heavens: and if he himself had not given, he would have nothing at all. For our God, who deigns to give all things, deigns to require from us a tenth of his own, not for his own benefit, but for ours. For thus he himself promised through the prophet, saying: Bring in, he says, all the tithe into my storehouses, and prove me in this, says the Lord: if I shall not open for you the floodgates of heaven, and pour out for you the fruits of the earth even to abundance (Mal. 3:10). Render therefore willingly the tithe from all things that you possess upon the earth, which you know to be pleasing to God: from grain, from wine, from legumes, from hay, from gold, from silver, from flocks, and besides also from the wool at the shearing of the sheep.

Do not defraud the tithe from all your substance, lest nine parts be taken from you and only the tenth remain. Be converted to this, says the Lord, that I may open for you the floodgates of heaven, and pour out my blessing upon you (Ibid.). If, therefore, you give willingly, the Lord will always give you more; if you do not give, however many poor people in the places where you dwell die of hunger, you will be guilty of so many murders. Moreover, the Lord will send pestilence and famine upon you, and you will lose all that you have, and even your souls besides. But so that these things may not come upon you, hasten with a good heart to give, whereby you may redeem your souls. And do not choose to whom you show mercy, lest perhaps you pass by one who deserves to receive; because you do not know in whom Christ may deign to come. Know that what you bestow on the poor or the stranger on earth is given to him who sits in heaven, who said, Whoever receives you receives me (Matthew), and, As long as you did it to one of the least of mine, you did it to me (Id. XXV, 40).

But among all these works of goodness that the Lord has commanded to be practiced, he seeks nothing else from you except the salvation of your souls: that you fear him always and keep his commandments. And if you do this, he will give you, as he promised through Moses, rains in due season, and your land will yield its produce: there will be abundance of fruits, of garments, of vineyards and of crops, and you will abound in all good things. And he will give you peace all around, and you will be without terror, and he himself will dwell among you. On the other hand, if you do not keep his commandments, the plagues foretold by the same Moses will come upon you, namely pestilence, famine, and the sword; and the heaven will be like iron and the earth like brass; nor will the earth bring forth its produce, and all the crops will be destroyed, and all your labor will be consumed in vain. Moreover, your enemies will rise up against you, and the sword will devour you, and your land will be deserted and desolate (Leviticus 26:3-45). And then you will cry out in your distress, and the Lord will not hear you, as he threatens through the prophet, saying: I spoke, and they did not listen; and they will cry out, and I will not hear (Zechariah 7:13). Again the prophet cries out: The hand of the Lord is not shortened, that it cannot save or hear; but your iniquities have divided between you and your God, and your sins have turned his face away so that he does not hear (Isaiah 59:1-2). But so that these things may not happen to you, keep what has been commanded.

Fulfill God's commandments, that you may live, that it may be well with you, and that no calamity befall you. For he himself consoles us through the prophet, saying: If they do penance for their iniquities, I also will repent of the evil which I spoke of doing to them; and I will not do it, says the Lord. Therefore, brothers, keep these things always in mind, tell these words to your children and your neighbors. Remember these things, sweat over them in your houses, and while you walk, do not forget them when it is well with you; but always fear God, and serve him alone, lest his fury be kindled against you. Know that he himself keeps covenant and mercy for those who love him and keep his commandments, and he will take away all sicknesses from them. Consider that, as the apostle John foretells, it is the last hour. And therefore do not now love the world, because it quickly passes away, and all its concupiscence with it. But do the will of the Lord, that you may remain forever, and have confidence when he appears, that you not be confounded at his coming. Let no one seduce you. He who does justice is just; and he who does sin is of the devil. And indeed every sin, whether theft, or adultery, or lying, is not done without the aid of a demon. Consider, I ask, how pernicious it is to practice the works of the devil, and to become a partaker of him, not in rest, but in the punishment of hell.

Therefore, whenever you sin, do not wait in deadly security, letting the wounds themselves fester, and adding other wounds besides; but hasten at once to apply the medicine to yourselves through the confession of penance. Strive also continually to enlarge yourselves in great works, so that he who has hitherto been proud may now be humble; he who was an adulterer may be chaste; he who was wont to steal or take the goods of others may begin now to give his own to the Churches or to the poor; he who was envious may be kind; he who was a drunkard may be sober; he who was irascible may be patient; he who has done injury to another, let him quickly seek pardon; he to whom injury has been done, let him forgive without delay, that he too may be forgiven. Or why should he not forgive his brother a little, that God may deign to forgive him all?

For this also is a kind of almsgiving, that a man forgive from his whole heart the one by whom he has been injured. But if anyone is so poor that he has nothing from which to give bodily alms, since it cannot be that he should not suffer injury from some persons, if he forgives from his whole heart all who sin against him, and holds hatred in his heart against no man, and loves all as himself, this will without doubt be reckoned to him as the greatest almsgiving.

But so that we may more freely forgive those who sin against us, the Lord urges us in the Gospel, saying: If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your trespasses; if you do not forgive, neither will your Father forgive you (Matt. 6:15). Let no one therefore deceive himself, let no one mislead himself; because whoever holds hatred even against one man in this world, whatever he offers to God in good works, he will lose it all; because the apostle does not lie when he cries out terrifyingly: Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and is a liar, and walks in darkness (1 John 3:15). In this place, "brother" must be understood as every man; because we are all brothers in Christ. Therefore, brothers, I admonish you to the love of enemies for this reason, because I know that there is no stronger medicine for healing the wounds of sins. Although it is a great labor to love enemies in this world, yet the reward will be great in the future. Whoever loves his enemies here will be a friend of God: not only a friend, but also a son, as he himself promises, as we have already set forth above, saying: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who slander you, that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:44). Whoever therefore loves will possess rest: for whoever does not love, as the Apostle says, remains in death (1 John 3:14).

Since these things are so, most beloved, hold true love, not false, toward one another. Always direct your actions toward God, and whatever you can, labor for the love of God and of eternal life. Run while you have the light, before the darkness overtakes you. When you labor for the flesh, labor also for the soul. If you run for the flesh, which after a short time worms will devour in the grave, run all the more for the soul, that adorned with good works it may rejoice in heaven without end. Above all, when you fast, give to the poor what you ought to eat; and as the Lord teaches in the Gospel: When you fast, do not become like the hypocrites, sad, so that you may be seen by men, but [fast] for Him alone who sees in secret. And again he admonishes: Take heed that you do not practice your righteousness before men, so that you may be seen by them. Let us therefore always think of the food of the heart rather than the food of the body; and while you are engaged in the world, buy eternal life for yourselves by living well. Gladly hear the divine readings in the church, and continually recall in your homes what you hear, so that just as the body is fed with food, so the soul may be refreshed by the word of God.

It is certain that as the flesh is when it receives food after many days, so is the soul that is rarely fed by the word of God. Therefore, most beloved, whether you walk, or sit, or work, or in all things whatsoever you do, always bring back to mind what you have heard from the divine reading, and always ruminate the precepts of the Gospel in your heart.

Above all, flee luxury, avoid evil concupiscence, fearing that which the Lord says in the Gospel: Everyone who looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matt. 5:28). Love your lawful wives without any pretense, as the Apostle commanded, saying: Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church. And according to the same Apostle: Let wives be subject to their husbands, and let them fear as God (Eph. 5:25, 22). Nor let any man presume to dismiss his lawful wife on any occasion, because, according to the sentence of the Lord, Whoever dismisses his wife, except for the cause of fornication, makes her commit adultery (Matt. 5:32). But we forbid having concubines either before marriage or after marriage, because it is altogether unlawful. For he who intends to take a lawful wife should keep his virginity until marriage, and after marriage know no other woman besides his one lawful spouse, as the Apostle Paul commanded.

Let him keep faith to her, as he wishes it kept to himself; and let him not sin with another woman, just as he does not wish his own wife to sin with another man; fearing that which the same apostle proclaims terrifyingly, saying, "God will judge fornicators and adulterers" (Heb. 13:4). For whatever is not permitted to women by the law of marriage is by no means permitted to men either. For he who presumes to have a concubine before legitimate marriage sins worse than one who commits adultery; and for this reason he deserves to be separated from the fellowship of Christians. But if he does not repent, eternal flame will torment him without remedy.

Wherefore, Christian, flee fornication; be ashamed to sin even under the eyes of God and the angels. Detest with all effort the capital crimes, which are sacrilege, homicide, adultery, false testimony, theft, robbery, pride, envy, avarice, anger, drunkenness. For these are the crimes that plunge men into eternal punishment; whoever recognizes that he has even one of these in himself, if he does not do penance, will burn in the fire of hell without remedy. And therefore, O Christian soul, watch, pray, always beware of the aforesaid crimes; and whatever good you are able, do for eternal life. Open your hand to the poor, so that Christ may open his door to you, and you may enter into the joys of paradise. Do not hand yourself over to perdition, because Christ poured out his blood for you. He held you dear enough, whom he purchased at so dear a price.

Let the fear of hell terrify you, so that you may be able to abstain from evil works. Hope that death is present at every hour, and continually dread the future judgments of God upon you, so that there may be applied to you what is written: Blessed is the man who is always fearful (Prov. 28:14). Amend what you have done wrong while you can, while you have the freedom of repentance. Do not despair of pardon if you turn to better things, because despair is worse than every sin. Therefore by no means despair of God's mercy, neither after a hundred sins nor after a thousand crimes, because no guilt is so great that by repenting it may not obtain pardon. Therefore, however much anyone provokes you, however much he rebukes you, however much he does you injury, be silent, be patient, and do not return the insult; and better by keeping silent you will overcome the injury. When you are cursed, you bless; and you will have great grace if you do not harm the one by whom you have been harmed. Despise no one, not a slave, not a poor man, because perhaps he is better in the sight of God than you; and because all, according to the Apostle, are one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28); and because God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34); but, as it is written, Each one shall receive from the Lord whatever good he has done, whether slave or free (Eph. 6:8).

Do not slander your brother, nor make false accusations against your neighbor, nor oppress him by force; but as it is said through Moses, If your brother, compelled by poverty, has sold himself to you, you shall not afflict him in the manner of slaves by your power, but deal with him in the fear of God. Remember that he is your servant. Do not hate your brother in your heart, but reprove him openly, so that you may not bear sin on his account. Hence the Lord also says in the Gospel, If your brother has sinned against you, reprove him between you and him alone; and again, If he sins seven times in a day, he says, and repents as many times, forgive him; and again, If you offer your gift at the altar, he says, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to your brother; and then coming, offer your gift. Let these precepts, Christian, recall you to concord; let these sweet medicines of Christ cure the wounds of hatred. If you despise them, you turn back upon yourself the terrible sentence by which it is said, Everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; or, whoever says to his brother, Racha, or Fool, will be liable to the fire of hell. Behold, dearest one, you have heard what you should fear, what you should observe.

Therefore hold fast to charity, keep patience, flee discord, put a bridle on your tongue, lest it drag your soul to hell; because according to Scripture, Death and life are in the hands of the tongue (Prov. 18:21); and the man who is slanderous shall not be directed in the earth (Ps. 139:12).

Pondering these things with careful consideration, dearest brothers, compose both your words and your conduct. Always pursue justice, love the precepts of Christ. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts: and let him return to the Lord, as the prophet cries out, and he will have mercy on him; because he is gracious to forgive (Isa. 55:7). For he himself admonishes, saying, Return to me, and I will heal your contritions (Hos. 14:5). And again: Seek good and not evil, that you may live; and the Lord of hosts will be with you. And again: Hate evil, and love good; that the Lord may have mercy on you (Amos 5). Behold, the Lord himself cries out through the prophet; and if you despise hearing me, at least hear him. He also in the Gospel consoles sinners, saying, I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). He again admonishes, saying, First seek the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be added to you (Matt. 6:33). And again: Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you (Matt. 7:7). For now the Lord, out of his ineffable goodness, not only admonishes, but even entreats us to be converted to him.

Let us therefore hear him while he asks, lest, if we do not do so, he not hear us when he judges. Let us also hear the Scripture saying, Son, have mercy on your soul, pleasing God (Ecclus. 30:24). What does human frailty answer to this? God asks that you have mercy on yourself, and you are unwilling; how will he hear you supplicating in the day of need, when you do not hear him asking on your own behalf? If you neglect these things now, brothers, what will you do in the day of judgment, or to whose help will you flee? If, I say, you now neglect such exhortations of God, you will then flee the torments of hell; neither gold nor silver will be able to free you, nor riches, which are now hidden in corners, and by which you have become arrogant and have forgotten your salvation. For hence the Lord says through the prophet, I will visit evils upon you, and I will make the pride of the wicked to cease, and I will humble the arrogance of the strong (Isa. 13:11). And again he admonishes, saying, Return, you transgressors, to the heart (Id. 46:8): cease to act perversely, learn to do good, help the oppressed, defend the poor, and do not slander the widow and the stranger and the orphan (Id. 1:17).

Keep these things, therefore, brothers, in your mind, and hasten to guard them with great care. Strive that, separated from the devil, you may be joined to God who has redeemed you. Let the nations marvel at your conduct; and if they disparage you and even mock you for following the works of Christianity, do not be disturbed by this, for they will give an account for it. Place, therefore, your whole hope in the mercy of Christ, and keep your souls not only from impure action but also from filthy thoughts, because the Lord God, the just judge, judges also of thoughts. And this I admonish, brothers, that you lay aside utterly pride, through which the devil fell from heaven, because, as the apostle testifies, God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Whence the Lord says in the Gospel: For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14:11). And again: Unless you are converted and become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3). Also abandon entirely the habit of swearing, because in this you greatly contravene the precepts of God, the Lord forbidding it in the Gospel: I say to you, he says, do not swear at all, neither by earth, nor by head, nor by anything else; but let your speech be Yes, yes; No, no.

When others wrong you, bring forth the precepts of God, by which it is said: I say to you, do not resist evil; but if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well; and, Whoever wishes to take your tunic, let him have your cloak also; and again, Give to the one who asks of you; and from the one who takes what is yours, do not demand it back. You must certainly hold to that manner of praying which the Lord commanded, saying: When you pray, do not pray with much speaking, but in the secret of the heart; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. Your Father, he says, knows what you need before you ask him. Therefore, most beloved, recall these words, remember these precepts continually. Wherever you are, mingle the remembrance of Christ in your conversation, because he himself says: Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Flee scandals also, because the Lord severely marks the one who stirs up strife, saying: Woe to that man through whom scandal comes. In compassion for your neighbor, hold to that sentence which is spoken in the Gospel: Let the one who has two tunics give to the one who has none; and let the one who has food do likewise. And that: Give, and it will be given to you. Always remember the words of the Lord, by which it is said: If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, whatever you ask will be done for you.

Hear also the Apostle himself crying out: The time is short; it remains that those who have wives be as though they had none; and those who weep, as though they wept not; and those who rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and those who use this world, as though they used it not: for the fashion of this world passes away (1 Cor 7:29-31). That we may love and desire heavenly things more than earthly, let us hear the Lord saying: For what does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of his own soul (Matt 16:26). But that we may love charity, the evangelist John exhorts, saying: If we love one another, God abides in us, and his charity is perfected in us. And again: God is charity, and he who abides in charity abides in God, and God in him (1 John 4:12, 16). Paul also sets forth the excellence of charity in like manner, saying: If I distribute all my goods as food for the poor, and if I deliver my body so that I burn, but have not charity, it profits me nothing (1 Cor 13:3). Hence he again admonishes, saying: Let all your affairs be done in charity (1 Cor 16:14). And again: Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ (Gal 6:2). He also, gently restraining even the wicked to the path of perfection, says: Let him who stole steal no more (Eph 4:28). And that: Flee fornication. Because every sin whatsoever a man commits is outside the body; but he who commits fornication sins against his own body.

And again, Neither shall the covetous possess the kingdom of God, nor fornicators, nor adulterers, nor drunkards, nor thieves, nor revilers, nor extortioners (1 Cor 6:9-10). The same apostle, restraining covetousness, says, The root of all evils is covetousness (1 Tim 6:10). Therefore, brothers, cast away covetousness, follow after charity, lay aside impiety, bear with one another in humility, guarding in every way against that which the Apostle, writing to the Romans, adds, saying, The wrath of God shall be revealed from heaven against all impiety and injustice of men (Rom 1:18). And also against that which is threatened by the voice of Truth in the Gospel: Those who do, he says, iniquity shall be cast into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 13:50). Consider, therefore, how savage and how dreadful that fire is: and let him who now cannot bear even to put one finger into the fire fear to be tormented there with his whole body for ages.

ID. I ask you, therefore, that if you wish to be freed from that fire and from that punishment, you cease now to sin any further; and attend to the Lord crying out through the prophet: Return, you who have departed from your iniquities, and I will heal you (Ezek. 18:32). And again: I do not will the death of the impious, he says, but that he turn back and live (ibid. 33:11). And through Isaiah he cries out, saying: When, being converted, you groan, you shall be saved (Isa. 45:22). Through Joel also he similarly admonishes, saying: Be converted to me with your whole heart, in fasting and weeping and lamentation (Joel 2:12). Behold how many testimonies for your conversion have been brought forth from the divine oracles. Watch, therefore, with solicitude; for the closer the devil sees the end of the world to be, the more cruelly he rages against Christians: so that, because he knows he is soon to be condemned, he may multiply for himself more companions in the fire, with whom he will without doubt be tormented without end. Take care, therefore, the more attentively, and continually converse in the fear of God: knowing that each one of you has an angel of God who watches continually over what he has done. And if indeed he acts well, he generates joy for the holy angel adhering to him; but if he practices evil works, he drives the holy angel away from himself and joins to himself the malignant demon.

Wherefore, most beloved, while I am saying these things, return inward to yourselves, examine your consciences. If you bear minds worthy of the fellowship of angels, take heed beforehand; and if you see yourselves to be good and worthy of God, never presume upon your merits with a proud mind, but rather from now on beware with humility. But if you see yourselves guilty of sins, by no means despair (only make a pact in your heart with God, that you will sin no more); but confidently hope for pardon, because the Lord continually opens the bosom of his mercy and seeks to receive all to himself through repentance. For even if someone has been an adulterer, or a prostitute, or a thief, or a drunkard, or a liar, or even a killer of his own children, let him only from now on beware as a penitent, and God will forgive him. Take as examples the publican from the Gospel, and the thief, and also the prostitute, and indeed Paul, who says of himself: I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man; but I obtained the mercy of God, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief (1 Tim. 1:13). And you, therefore, if perhaps you have committed sins ignorantly, restore yourselves, I ask, while it is permitted, through repentance. Confess to the Lord in the inmost places of your hearts, for he is good: let it grieve you that you have not done what is good. And let the one who repents repent in such a way that he never again commits things to be mourned. And you who are poorer in this world, do not be saddened on this account: because if you do good, you will be richer in heaven.

Finally, take care that no one utters foul speech from his mouth: and, according to the Apostle, do not be led astray by various fables and doctrines (Hebr. 13:9). But reprove the restless, console the fainthearted, be patient toward all (1 Thess. 5:14). And let no evil word proceed from your mouth (Eph. 4:29), fearing that which is written: Evil conversations corrupt good morals (1 Cor. 15:33). Also abhor drunkenness and excess of drink, because the Lord Himself rebukes this, saying: Take heed lest your hearts be weighed down with surfeiting and drunkenness (Luke 21:34). And the Apostle forbids it, saying: Do not be drunk with wine, wherein is luxury (Eph. 5:18). For without doubt, whoever eats or drinks more than is expedient both incurs sin and cannot preserve his health: because when the belly or the veins have been filled with excessive satiety, it is immediately necessary that lust be generated in the members. Whence also it is written elsewhere: Wine drunk in abundance is bitterness of soul, and a ruin that multiplies offense for the foolish, diminishes virtue, and causes wounds (Eccli. 31:39, 40). And these things indeed I say, not that I may assert a creature of God to be evil, or to be judged worthy of condemnation; but that I may make you more cautious and more sober. Nay rather, I also admonish you that you call no creature of God evil; because God created all things very good (Gen. 1:31). For whatever things seem or are born to be evil, exist as evil to us by our own fault, not by their nature.

Therefore, brothers, detesting only the devil, who became evil by pride, glorify the Lord, the creator of such great goods. Always beware of the broad way, which leads to destruction; take hold of the narrow one, through which eternal breadth is found. Call the poor and the strangers back to the banquet, and heed the Lord giving instruction on this matter: When you make, he says, a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite the rich who will dine with you; but call the poor, the weak, the blind, the lame, and you will be blessed, because they do not have the means to repay you; for it will be repaid to you in the resurrection of the just (Luke 14:12-14). For it is not just that in the Christian people, who were redeemed at one price and serve one Lord, some walk about with tables spread and bellies drunk, while others faint from the danger of hunger. Indeed, it is a sin that our superfluities are devoured by dogs, and that the poor deserve to receive only the oldest things. Why do you not consider that you came into this world on an equal footing, and are servants of one Lord, and will also depart from the world by a similar end; and if you act well, you will come to one blessedness? But why should the poor man not receive food with you, who is to receive the fellowship of Angels with you? Why should he not receive even an old tunic, who is likewise to receive the robe of immortality? Considering these things, brothers, so take care of the poor that you may receive the richest repayment for them in heaven.

Always flee falsehood, because it is not a minor crime, as the Scripture says, "The mouth that lies kills the soul" (Wis. 1:11). And, "A false witness shall not go unpunished" (Prov. 19:5). And David says to the Lord, "You will destroy all who speak lies" (Ps. 5:7). And the Apostle says, "Putting away falsehood, speak the truth, each one with his neighbor" (Eph. 4:25).

Therefore, placed in this life, so act that when you have departed from here, and your flesh has begun to be devoured by worms in the grave, your soul, adorned with good works, may rejoice in heaven with all the saints. Let the destruction of sinners draw you back from evil works. Attend to the calamities of those whom you have already sent ahead. Consider the tombs of the rich, or of those who were with you a short time ago: what they were, and what they are, and what their riches or the desire of the world profited them. Behold, nothing remains of them except ashes alone; and if they could speak, they would doubtless say these things to you: Why, unhappy ones, do you run about so much for the desire of the world? Why do you fill yourselves with vices and crimes? Consider our bones, that even so desire or your misery may horrify you. What you are, we were; what we are, you will be. Brothers, weigh all these things with anxious consideration, and considering them, be terrified: always place the day of death before your eyes, and hasten to amendment as much as you can.

Do not neglect the fact that the pious Lord sustains you while you sin; for the longer he waits for you to amend, the more severely he will punish if you neglect it. If perhaps you think that the end of the world will come too late, let each one consider his own end. Behold, while a man lingers in the world willingly and most pleasantly, and arranges many things to be done over a long time, he is suddenly snatched away in death, and unexpectedly taken from the body. But that man is blessed who has always kept that hour before his eyes beforehand, and has hastened to be found ready in that hour of death, so that he may escape the terror of such great fear. But if you wish to know, dearest ones, with a great belching and great pains the soul is separated from the body. For angels come to take it up, to lead it before the tribunal of the fearful Judge; then, remembering its evil works, which it committed day and night, it trembles and groans, and seeks to flee from them and to ask for a delay, saying, "Give me even the space of one hour." Then, as if all its works were speaking together, they say, "You did us; we are your works; we will not abandon you, but will always be with you, and will go with you to the judgment." These things indeed the soul of the sinner does, which is separated from the body with horrible fear, and goes on full of sins and weighed down by immense confusion. But the soul of the just man, when it is separated from the body, does not fear nor is terrified; but rather goes forth with joy, and with exultation proceeds to God, with the holy angels leading it.

Fear that hour, then, brothers, now, so that you may not fear it then; guard against it now, so that you may be secure then. Remember continually that you walk in the midst of the devil's snares; and therefore always be ready, so that when the command is sent to a man, you may be able to pass free from every stain of sin to rest. Nor think that you will remain long in this world; for it will surely come about that, after the Lord's command has been sent, not even the space of one hour or a moment of life will be granted. Take care, therefore, that you do not cause sorrow to the holy angels and joy to your enemies by your departure. Know truly that when the soul is torn from the body, it is immediately either received into paradise for good merits, or certainly for sins cast straightway into hell. Therefore choose now what you will, and settle this already in your life, here: either to rejoice forever with the saints, or to be tormented without end with the wicked. So then, let the punishments at least terrify you, if the rewards do not attract you; and if you cannot despise the present world, at least possess it with justice. Let him who went astray in youth at least recover his senses in old age; and let him now purge by repentance the evils he committed by sinning. Behold, the world gradually fails, and all things that are seen pass swiftly like a cloud or like the evening shadow. Behold, what was once foretold is now clearly discerned in the present time: all good things are withdrawn, and evils increase daily.

Do not, then, brothers, love the world any longer, which you see passing away with such speed; do not fix the anchor of your heart any longer in love for it, which you see thus hastening to its end; especially since the Apostle cries out that friendship with this world is enmity with God.

Therefore, out of all things, I beseech you, love eternal life, which you will never end throughout the ages. Hasten to that place where you may always live, and where you may never fear to die. If you so love this wretched and fleeting life, where you live with such great labor, and where scarcely by running, striving, sweating, and sighing do you satisfy the necessities of the body: how much more ought you to love eternal life, where you will never endure any labor, where there is always the highest security, secure felicity, happy liberty, free blessedness; where that which the Lord says in the Gospel will be fulfilled: Men will be like angels (Matthew 22:30); like, indeed, not in substance, but in blessedness. And that: Then the just will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43). What do you think will then be the splendor of souls, when the light of bodies will have the brightness of the sun? There will then no longer be any sadness, no labor, no sorrow, no fear, no death; but perpetual health will always endure. No malice will rise up there, no misery of the flesh, no sickness, no necessity at all.

There will be no hunger there, no thirst, no cold, no heat, no weariness of fasting, nor any temptation of the enemy, no longer any will to sin, nor any possibility of doing wrong; but exultation will possess all, joy will possess all, and men, joined in fellowship with the angels, will flourish without any weakness of the flesh. There, then, will be joy that is certain, there rest that is secure, there peace that is true, there delight that is infinite, where, if there be any place for obtaining, there will be none for losing throughout the ages. In that blessedness, what is once attained is forever held. Nothing is more magnificent than that place, nothing more glorious, nothing brighter, nothing more beautiful, nothing truer, nothing more generous, nothing more sincere than that goodness, nothing more abundant than that plenty. There is always peace and the highest solemnity, there is true and certain felicity. There the most ferocious enemy, who desires continually to slay souls, will no longer be feared; nor will the fiery darts of the devil be feared any longer, nor any temptations of the enemy. The savagery of barbarians will not strike terror, nor will any adversity be feared hereafter. There neither iron will be feared, nor fire, nor the wholly savage face of the torturer. No one in that glorious place needs clothing, because there is no cold there, nor heat, nor any unevenness of air. No one there hungers, no one is sad, no one is a stranger; but all who have merited to reach that place will live secure as in their homeland.

No longer will the flesh oppose the spirit, nor will any danger be feared; but rewards beyond words, together with the angels and everlasting, will be given back by Christ, and what the eye has not seen, as the Apostle says, nor the ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, God has prepared for those who love him (1 Cor 2:9). Behold what a blessedness he will lose who now, while it is permitted, refuses to amend himself. Therefore, brothers, with the Lord's help let us disdain any longer to serve sin, for whom such great blessedness is prepared in heaven.

While therefore there is time, let us hasten to make God favorable to us: let us despise the things that are earthly, that we may attain the heavenly. Let us consider that we are strangers in this world, that we may hasten more freely to heaven: for all things that are seen here pass swiftly and quickly pass away like a shadow. Let us weigh what we shall be on the day of judgment, to be presented before the sight of God and the angels, when our works will be set before our eyes. What will that confusion be, for the one who has come to blush for his sins in the sight of God and of all men, who here does not wish to look upon even one man sinning against him? Or what fear will there be then to see God angry, whom, when appeased, the whole world cannot comprehend? Let us therefore always fear that day, which we are now in no way able to foresee. Let us continually dread that day, and even so recall our deeds from evil.

Let us consider what terror there will be on that day, when the Lord comes from the heavens to judge the world. What fear it will be to see God, at whose coming all the elements will be shaken, and heaven with earth will tremble, and the powers of the heavens will be moved? Then indeed, with the trumpets of the angels sounding beforehand, all the nations that are under heaven, and every person, both men and women, each in that sex in which he was born into the world, the good together with the evil, the saints and the sinners, and whoever from the beginning of the world were born and died, whether devoured by beasts, or consumed by fire, or swallowed by waters, all together in a moment of time and in the twinkling of an eye will rise again (1 Cor. 15:52), without doubt in the very bodies and in the very flesh which they had here; namely, into the perfect man and into the measure of the fullness of the age of Christ (Eph. 4:13), in which the Lord himself also rose from the dead. And all will come before the judgment of Christ, and together with him both the elect and the reprobate will see with their own eyes, just as the Lord himself says in the Gospel: Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with great power and majesty, surrounded by the hosts of angels; and all nations will be gathered before him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over themselves, and he will separate them from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will set the righteous indeed at his right hand, but the wicked at his left.

Then he will say to those who will be at his right hand: Come, blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you covered me; sick and in prison, and you visited me. As long as you did these things to one of the least of mine, you did them to me (Matt. 25:34-36, 40). Then, with all looking on, he will show the bruises and the marks of the nails, in that very body, without doubt, which was wounded for our sins; and so, addressing sinners, he will say: I, man, formed you with my hands from the clay of the earth, and placed you amid the delights of paradise, which you did not deserve; but you, despising me and my commands, preferred to follow the deceiver, and therefore, condemned by just penalty, you have been assigned to the punishments of hell. Afterwards I had mercy on you, I took flesh, I dwelt here among sinners, I endured insults and blows for you; to rescue you, I received buffets and spittings; to restore to you the sweetness of paradise, I drank vinegar with gall. For you I was crowned with thorns; I was stretched on the cross, I was wounded with a lance. For you I died and was placed in the tomb, I descended to hell. To bring you back to paradise, I approached the bars of Tartarus; so that you might reign in heaven, I penetrated the depths of hell. Recognize, then, what I, human wickedness, endured for you.

Behold the bruises that I received for you, behold the holes of the nails by which I hung fixed to the cross. I took upon myself your pains, that I might heal you; I took upon myself the punishment, that I might give you glory; I took upon myself death, that you might live without end; I lay hidden in the tomb, that you might reign in heaven. All these things I endured for you. What greater things than these ought I to have done for you, and did not do? Say now, or show me what you have suffered for me, or what good you have done for yourselves. When I was invisible, I became incarnate of my own will for your sake; when I was impassible, I deigned to suffer for your sake; when I was rich, I became poor for your sake. But you, always rejecting my humility and my commandments, have been followers of the world rather than of me. Behold, now my justice cannot judge otherwise than that you receive what your works deserve. Therefore hold fast to what you yourselves have chosen. You have despised the light, possess the darkness; you have loved death, go into perdition; you have followed the devil, go with him into eternal fire. What, do you think, will then be the mourning, what the wailing, what the sorrow, what the anguish, when this sentence has been pronounced against the wicked? For then there will be a harsh separation from the sweet fellowship of the saints; and, handed over into the power of demons, they will go in their very bodies with the devil into eternal punishment, and will remain forever in mourning and groaning.

For, being exiled far from the blessed fatherland of paradise, they will be tormented in Gehenna, never to see the light, never to obtain refreshment, never to end their punishments, never to receive rest; but for thousands of thousands of years they will be tormented in hell, and never to be freed throughout the ages. There neither does the one who torments ever grow weary, nor does the one who is tormented ever die. For thus does the fire there consume, that it may always preserve; thus are the torments carried on, that they may always be renewed. According to the quality of the guilt, each one there endures the punishment of Gehenna. There nothing else is heard but weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth; there will be no other consolation but flames and the terrors of punishments: and the wretched will burn with the sinners without end in eternal fire, forever and ever. But the righteous will go into eternal life, in that very flesh without doubt which they had here; and they will be joined to the holy angels in the kingdom of God, appointed to perpetual joys, never now to die, never to see corruption, but always to be filled with the joy and sweetness of Christ, and they will shine like the sun in the glory and brightness which God has prepared for those who love him. And the more abundantly anyone has been obedient to God in this life than another, the more abundant reward will he receive there; and the more abundantly anyone has loved God here, the more closely will he see him then.

Behold, dearest ones, I have foretold to you plainly, so that you may be able to understand what things are to come to each one. No one will now be able to excuse himself on the ground of ignorance, since death and life have been announced beforehand to you, the punishments of the wicked and the glory of the just. But now it lies in your own choice to choose what you will hold to. For each one will surely possess whatever he has desired here and obtained. Desire eternal life, therefore, with all your striving; and do not put off your amendment any longer, but rather surrender of your own accord what must be lost with the end of this light, in order to gain the heavenly kingdoms. Let him now arise, I beseech you, whoever is held bound by the chain of sin, and, awakened from the sleep of his death, let him keep watch. Let him run back to confession and do penance. And let him not be ashamed to repent publicly for the impurities he has committed, because truly it is much better to repent here for a short time than to endure the punishments of hell for so many thousands of years. If he has repented with his whole heart, the Redeemer will quickly come to his aid—he who raised up Lazarus, already four days dead and stinking (John 11:43). He is always ready with the bosom of mercy, and he mercifully waits to receive those who repent. For, as we hold it written, the mercy of God is never to be despaired of for the remission of any sins, however great: because he himself daily cries out through the prophet, saying, On whatever day the sinner turns from his uncleanness, all his iniquities will be forgotten before me (Ezekiel 18).

And again through another prophet he says, I am the Lord your God who blots out your iniquities (Isa. XLIII, 25). And that passage from the Gospel: There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine just who do not need repentance (Luke XV, 7). And that: I do not wish the death of the sinner, but rather that he be converted and live (Ezek. XXXIII, 11). Consider, dearest brothers, how generous is the goodness of our God, how ineffable his mercy. Daily he is despised; and daily with most kind loving-kindness he invites us to repentance. His loving generosity gives us confidence: that we may neither despair of Christ's mercy, nor yet presume that pardon is granted to us without the fruit of repentance. For the Lord, as much as he is indulgent and always merciful with a father's loving-kindness, so much is he severe and to be feared with a judge's majesty. He can indeed grant indulgence, he can himself reverse his sentence, he can grant pardon to the penitent; yet he cannot judge otherwise than most justly, since with God there is no change, nor shadow of turning (James I, 17). For he judges most equitably, and repays equally according to each one's deeds; namely, good things to the good, and evil things to the evil. And therefore, dearest ones, remember what you have done: and if you recognize that you have sinned, flee without any delay to the remedies of repentance.

Hear the prophet admonishing: Do not delay, he says, to be converted to the Lord, and do not put it off from day to day (Ecclus. V, 8), for you do not know what tomorrow will bring. Always remember that you walk in the sight of almighty God, who sees ahead of time not only the deeds of all men but even their thoughts, as the Apostle also says: No creature is invisible in his sight, but all things are naked and open to his eyes (Heb. IV, 13).

Thinking on these things continually, keep watch over yourselves with the most earnest care, and always prepare yourselves with good works for the coming of the last day. Behold, already, as we most certainly hold, the end of the world is at hand, already the end of the age presses near; and, what is to be lamented, so many evils are committed daily, so many tribulations multiply, that through these the world itself seems in some manner to proclaim its own end. Behold, all things that the Prophets foretold and the Apostles predicted are now almost fulfilled: only the day of judgment and the dreadful coming of Antichrist still remain. Behold, war upon war, tribulation upon tribulation, famine upon famine, pestilence upon pestilence, and nation rises against nation. All things that were foretold long ago, we now see fulfilled. Why then are we made of stone, and possess an iron heart, that amid such evils we think not at all for the remedy of our soul? For it is long since the divine voice has threatened: but the stubbornness of men is in no way shaken.

The heavenly vengeance is threatened as it once was, and no satisfaction is offered by men. The wrath of God is drawing near, and penance is performed lukewarmly. The Prophets testify that punishment is to come, and rarely is God's help implored by men. Wherefore, most beloved, I admonish you that, even as the world is ending, human malice may be ended, and that God's mercy alone may be sought with all our strength. Let not the burdens of riches press you down to the earth any longer, for we shall soon leave all these things here; nor let us wish to have both Christ and the world together; but, despising the world, let us hasten as free men to heaven.

Let us remember how grave are the sins we have committed, and how dreadful are the punishments of hell which we fear; and according to the quality of the fault, let us apply the medicine of penance. Let us consider that, according to the Apostle, we brought nothing into this world, and we shall be able to carry nothing out of it when we die (1 Tim. VI). We are born naked, and naked surely we shall die; and whatever has been found here will without doubt be left here. Only good works, if we have done them here, will themselves be carried with us to the heavens; indeed, they will carry us to heaven. As pilgrims, therefore, content with mere sufficiency, let us acquire here those riches which we may carry with us to the fatherland of paradise. Let us love God above all things; because it is truly impious for Him not to be loved, to whom we cannot make return even when we do love Him. For what shall we impious ones be able to render to the pious Lord for all that He has rendered to us (Psal.

from V, 12); because with no merits of ours preceding, he bestowed such great things on us who were unworthy, that he redeemed us from the yoke of cruel domination? From the seat of paternal majesty he descended to us, he endured injuries on earth, he bore reproaches, he underwent death undeservedly: and all these things indeed he bore patiently, so that he might show us examples of humility and patience; whence also he said to the disciples who followed him, Learn from me, because I am meek and humble of heart (Matt. XI). It is fitting, therefore, that just as he did for us, so also we should bear with equanimity all adversities that come upon us because of our sins; so that we may be able to reap the fruit of patience in eternal life. Let us press on, therefore, brothers, in our course, while we have time: let us hate this world, which we cannot possess for long. Let no contagion of evil works pollute us any longer: but let the divine gaze always keep us from sins. For if we are ashamed that men, sinners like us and formed from the same clay, should see us sinning; how much more ought we to revere and fear the eternal and alone omnipotent God without sin, who considers and sees not only deeds, but even thoughts? Let us therefore fear him daily, let us always carry his reverence with us: let hope of indulgence lift us up, let fear of hell always afflict us. Before all things and above all things let us have charity, remembering the precept of the Lord where it is said, Have salt in yourselves, and have peace among you (Mark.

IX. 49). And that: A new commandment I give you, that you love one another (John XIII. 34). For elsewhere it is said, Have charity, which is the bond of unity (Coloss. III, 14). And again, Be imitators of God as most dear children, and walk in love (Ephes. V, 1 and 2). And again, Let all bitterness and anger and indignation be taken away from you with all malice (Id. IV, 31). And, Let not the sun go down upon your anger (Ibid., 27). For just as no medicine profits a wound if the iron remains within, so the prayer of him in whose breast deadly hatred dwells profits nothing. Let us have charity, brothers, for if we have it, we shall be filled with all virtues; but if we do not have charity, whatever good we seem to have, we lose it all. Nor let us grow sluggish, punished in the purpose of well-doing once undertaken, especially since the Lord says that no one putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of heaven (Luke IX, 62). But to look back is nothing other than for anyone to repent of the good he has begun, and to be bound again by worldly desires. Finally, let no quantity of evils call us back from the hope of pardon, because however grave human guilt may be, divine mercy is nonetheless more abundant. Whence it is said through the Psalmist, With the Lord there is much mercy, and plentiful redemption with him (Psal. CXXIX, 7). And again, A contrite and humbled heart, O God, you will not despise (Psal. L, 19).

Let these things, brothers, refresh your memory by day and by night; let these precepts keep us frequently solicitous. Let us consider the debt of this life already at hand; and let us hope that the day of death is near, which we do not know to be far off. Now let us amend what we have done amiss, lest we begin to repent when we are no longer able. There will indeed be repentance even in hell, but altogether fruitless. There will be repentance there having remorse, but not having healing; and there he will by no means be able to deserve from God what he asks, who here has been unwilling to hear what God commands. And therefore, most beloved, as much as we can, let us obey the precepts of God in all things, so that there we may receive the reward of the gift. Let us ourselves, while it is permitted, chastise ourselves here; let us ourselves make an account with ourselves concerning our deeds; let us ourselves accuse our mouth before our judge, and let us not defer our amendment to the very end of life; but as often as we slip into sins, let us rise again through repentance, and having washed away our vile pleasures and conquered those enticements of the flesh, let us in every way beware of this: since daily we hasten toward death, and while we are unaware and stand secure, death comes suddenly. Therefore let us hasten to that place where it is no longer feared, and where all the saints desire to receive and see us, where Christ the heavenly King and the Angels, citizens on high, await us with the outstretched arms of charity. There, I say, let us hasten, where we may live without end, and where we may be able to be sharers with the angelic hosts.

Finally, then, let us so conduct ourselves in this exile of the world that we may come to the future judgment with a secure conscience, adorned with good works; and there let us offer our souls to God as a most pleasing gift, so that in return for this exchange we may receive from him the blessedness of eternity and be able to glory forever and ever. These commandments, most beloved, we have until now held out to you to taste as it were milk; and behold, now, under the testimony of God and of the holy angels who hear us speaking, we have discharged our debt, handing down to you heavenly precepts. From now on it is yours to consider how our admonition may have the effect of salvation, and that you, always doing the will of God, may keep yourselves from every evil, and at last, free from every contagion of sin, may be able to reach the heavenly kingdoms rejoicing: with our Lord Jesus Christ providing this, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns through all ages of ages. Amen.