Sermones

A. Sermons preserved in the codex of Durlacum. Sermon on the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. With the favor of the Godhead, most beloved brothers, the day is now near on which we long to celebrate the birthday of the Lord and Savior with joy. And therefore I ask and admonish that, as much as we can, with God’s help we labor, so that on that day, with a sincere and pure conscience, with a clean heart and a chaste body, we may be able to approach the altar of the Lord and deserve to receive His body and blood not for judgment, but for the remedy of our soul. For our life consists in the body of Christ, just as the Lord Himself said: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will not have life in you.” Therefore, let him who wishes to receive life change his life. For if he does not change his life, he will receive life for judgment, and will be more corrupted by it than healed, more killed than brought to life. For the Apostle said thus: “He who eats the body of the Lord and drinks His blood unworthily, eats and drinks judgment for himself.” And although it is fitting for us to be adorned and resplendent with good works at all times, especially, however, on the day of the Lord’s birth, just as the Lord Himself said in the Gospel: “Your works ought to shine before all men.

Consider, I ask you, brothers, when some powerful or noble man desires to celebrate either his own birthday or that of his son, with how much zeal, many days beforehand, he orders whatever he sees as filthy in his house to be cleaned and adorned, whatever is unsuitable and incongruous to be thrown out, whatever is useful and necessary to be brought forth. The house, even if it is dark, is whitewashed; the floors are cleaned with brooms and adorned, sprinkled with various flowers; whatever pertains to the delight of soul and body is provided with all care. For what purpose does he do all these things, dearest brothers, except that the day of his birth be celebrated with joy? A man who is going to die, if therefore you prepare so much for your own birthday or that of your son, how much and what kind of things ought you to prepare when about to receive the birthday of your Lord? If you prepare such things for one who will die, what kind of things ought you to prepare for the eternal one? Therefore, whatever you do not wish to find in your house, work as much as you can so that God does not find it in your soul. Certainly, if an earthly king or any head of a household were to invite you to his birthday celebration, with what garments would you strive to go about adorned, how new and bright or how splendid, such that neither their age nor any cheapness or filth would offend the eyes of the inviter.

Therefore, with such zeal, as far as you are able, striving with Christ’s help, so that your soul, composed of diverse ornaments of virtues, adorned with gems of simplicity and flowers of sobriety, may proceed to the solemnity of the eternal king, that is, the birthday of the Lord and Savior, with a pure conscience: shining with chastity, resplendent with charity, radiant with alms. For the Lord Christ, if he perceives that you, thus composed, celebrate his nativity, he himself will deign to come and not only visit your soul, but also rest perpetually and dwell in it, as it is written: I will walk among them and dwell in them, and again: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If someone rises and opens to me, I will enter to him and dine with him, and he with me. How blessed is that soul which, with God’s help, has striven to govern its life so as to merit receiving Christ as guest and dweller, just as, on the contrary, how wretched is that conscience, to be lamented with a whole fountain of tears, which has stained itself with evil works, darkened itself with the blackness of avarice, burned itself with the fire of wrath, befouled itself with constant lust, destroyed itself with the tyranny of pride, so that in it Christ does not begin to rest, but the devil to rule. For such a soul, if the remedy of penance does not quickly come to its aid, will be abandoned by light, seized by darkness, emptied of sweetness, filled with bitterness, invaded by death, rejected by life.

yet despair of the Lord’s mercy, which such a soul does not, nor be broken by excessive despair, but rather quickly have recourse to penance and, while the wounds of its sins are still fresh and warm, apply wholesome remedies to itself, because our physician is all-powerful and is accustomed to heal our wounds in such a way that he leaves no trace of scars. And therefore, most beloved brothers, just as at all times you must abstain from adulteresses and most wretched concubines, so also from your own wives many days beforehand, whenever you intend to celebrate either the Lord’s nativity or the other solemnities. Above all, flee drunkenness, resist wrath as a most cruel beast, drive hatred like a deadly poison from your heart, and let there be such charity in you that it reaches not only friends but even enemies themselves, so that you may safely say in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our debts,” and so forth. For whoever knows that he holds even one man in hatred, I know not whether he can approach the Lord’s altar in safety, especially since the blessed John the Evangelist cries out terribly and says: “He who hates his brother is a murderer.” It is now for you to judge whether a murderer, before he does penance, ought to presume to receive the Eucharist.

Saint John added further and cries out, saying: he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going, because darkness has blinded his eyes; and again he says: everyone who does not love his brother will remain in death; and again: if anyone says of himself that he loves God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he sees, how can he love God, whom he does not see? Therefore, whoever keeps hatred or anger in his heart and is neither terrified nor awakened by such thunder, is to be believed not sleeping, but dead. Therefore, most beloved brothers, pondering this constantly, let those who are good strive with God’s grace to persevere in good works, because not he who begins, but he who perseveres in the love of God until the end, will be saved. But those who recognize themselves as slow to almsgiving, quick to anger, and headlong in pursuing lust, let them hasten with the Lord’s help to free themselves from evils, so that they may merit to fulfill what is good, so that when the day of judgment comes, they may not be punished with the impious and sinners, but may merit to attain eternal rewards with the just and merciful, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

We read and faithfully hold that at the very beginning of the nascent world, in the first man, God made us in his own image and likeness. Behold, on this day, with the roles reversed, God has been made in our likeness. In the first instance, he bestowed his better things; in the second, he took up our lower ones. Through the taste of the forbidden tree, the incautious frailty of the first man attempted to seek, with damnable ambition, the divinity of his Lord, the devil persuading and saying: if you taste of this tree, your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods. And therefore let us acknowledge the admirable goodness of the pious Father. Man, at the instigation of the enemy, wished to be God through his pride, and God became man through mercy. In a certain way, through the divinity of Christ, that form of the ancient and beginning age is renewed in us today, when the first Adam was shaped from the matter of clay. Behold, even now the second Adam is formed, as it were, from untouched and raw virginal flesh. Behold, I say, again with the laws of nature ceasing, a new man is perfected into a new life by God alone working. Therefore, the son of a virgin is promised through the visitation of the Holy Spirit; what wonder if he is born without corruption, who is conceived from sanctification? For it was not fitting that he, who brought salvation to us all, should not offer the dignity of integrity to his own mother. The Spirit, it says, will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

It was certainly fitting that the royal mother, who was to be honored by her offspring, should first be sanctified by the entry of the heavenly king. Therefore, let us not believe our Lord and Savior to be a mere man simply because we see him born as a man. It is not right that he should not be believed to be God, for whom a dwelling was prepared by God when he was about to descend to earth. Thus, by divine power at work, the womb of the believing woman is made fruitful, and the tree of life is grafted onto a mortal stem; and the power that bears all things within itself is borne by weakness; and he who is not contained by earth, sea, or sky is received within the limbs of a single little body. The creator of all things is born from his creature, and the great spring arises from its own stream; the root of all things is born from its own shoot, and the true vine becomes the fruit of its own branch. Behold, the most longed-for day is here, shining with a doubled grace, illuminated indeed by the brightness of the customary light, but especially gleaming with the radiance of the shining womb. Let us therefore first confess one God, our Lord, and there will remain no other whom we could call lesser. For whoever speaks of one greater and another lesser necessarily confesses that he has two gods. Let us therefore believe in one God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, three persons, not three substances, three names and not three kingdoms. Why one God? Because there is one operation of power, the same concord of will, one divinity, one eternity, one majesty. But why three persons?

because the Father is one, the Son another, the Holy Spirit another, but in the equality of divinity there is no otherness. For there is one glory in the three, one substance, and equality of powers creates unity, while the property of names and the number of persons creates Trinity. Therefore let us faithfully hold that our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners, so that, just as he is wholly God from God, so he is wholly man from man without the contagion of sin, equal to the Father according to his divinity, lesser even than angels according to his humanity, and younger than the mother whom he created. These are the most solid foundations of our life and hope. It remains that upon these the structure of good works should arise for us, which we shall certainly obtain by imitating him who was made God from man so that we might be able to imitate him. We shall imitate God, however, by neglecting the world, by not pursuing injuries, by rejecting our own wills, by loving the glory of subjection, by bearing tribulations magnanimously, and by shunning honors, riches, and the pleasures of this body.

Let us therefore reserve all our delights and all our rest for that future homeland, and let us occupy our present pleasures and desires with longings for the future, sighing daily toward it, presenting to our heart at every moment that which the eye has not seen nor the ear heard, thinking without ceasing how we may worthily meet that second coming of tremendous majesty, about to render an account of our deeds, our words, our thoughts, acting and persevering in our place as if we were to depart from this life every day. O day, the novelty of all days, the gain of light and the loss of blindness, in which the eternal sun, descending from the highest height of paternal brightness, opened the entrance of the virginal womb and sprinkled the darkness of the whole world with a glittering radiance. Lead on, faithful of Christ, in festive joys. A thing has today become new for us, which had long been promised, that without detriment to the virgin’s modesty, the mother’s breasts might suckle the Son.

This is that newness announced by the prophecy of the prophet Jeremiah: "The Lord," he says, "will make something new upon the earth," and, as if kindling a lamp in this darkness, he immediately added: "A woman will encompass a man." This, I say, is the new thing which I declare the Lord will do upon the earth: that a woman will encompass a man. Pay attention, brothers, and anticipate me rather with your understanding. "A woman," he says, "will encompass a man." O blessed woman among women, who knew no man and yet encompassed a man in her womb, who is not touched by carnal union and yet rejoices in fleshly offspring from spiritual seed. Mary encompasses a man by giving faith to the angel, because Eve lost the man by consenting to the serpent. "The Lord," he says, "will make something new upon the earth." Therefore, when the time for displaying this newness arrived, a heavenly messenger is sent to the virgin; the angel greeted the girl unacquainted with a man's greeting. The virgin is frightened by the novelty of the words, to whom the angel says: "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with the Lord." "Do not," he says, "be terrified at my sight, mother of my Lord; I have come as the minister of your conception. He himself sent me to you, who is to be born from you; he himself announces joy to you through me, he who chose to join a mystical marriage with human nature in your womb. You have found favor with God; behold, you will conceive and bear a son, not a man of any ordinary merit, but the savior of the whole world.

Do not fear," he says, "cast away from yourself all fear, you who are about to conceive the joy of the world. Recollect, Mary, the prophetic reading. For knowledge of the divine books cannot escape you, who are about to give birth to the very fullness of the prophets. Recall in the book of the prophet Isaiah the virgin whom you read about, and rejoice, because you are she, you have merited to be she. You were prefigured there as a virgin. Behold, you will conceive in your womb not from a man, but from the Holy Spirit, and you will be pregnant and remain unstained, you will bear a son and suffer no loss of virginity." And she said: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word." Then immediately the angel, having obtained the virgin's consent, returned to the inhabitants of the heavenly region, and behold, suddenly the ineffable power penetrated the virgin's secret chamber. The craftsman of the world enters the narrow confines of the human womb, the untouched mother becomes pregnant, and behold, as a bridegroom from his bridal chamber, Christ proceeds from Mary's womb. The power of majesty is hidden in the limbs of an infant; God hangs at the breast, is covered by the squalor of cheap rags, endures the harsh confines of a manger, and the merciful one humbly suffers all, provided that the world, which had perished, might be set free.

blessed infancy, through which the life of our race has been restored; O most pleasing and delightful cries, by which we have escaped the gnashing of teeth and the weeping of our fathers; O happy swaddling clothes, with which the filth of sins has been wiped away; O splendid manger, in which there lay not the hay of animals, but the food of angels was found. Nurse, Mary, your creator; nurse the bread of heaven; nurse the ransom of the world; offer your breast to the suckling, so that for you he himself may offer his cheek to the one striking him; let the infant be nourished by the milk of your breasts, so that as a young man he may drink vinegar for you. Let your hands now carry him, so that his arms may later be fixed on the cross for you. Finally, you, as a mother, administer to him temporal substance, so that he, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, may grant eternal life to us and to you. Amen. III. SERMON ON THE NATIVITY OF SAINT STEPHEN. The reading from the Acts of the Apostles, which has been read to us today, most beloved brothers, while it contains much in its very appearance that is worthy of admiration, yet it contains no less dignity in its mystery. "Behold," says blessed Stephen, "I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." Consider more attentively, most beloved brothers, when the blessed martyr saw our Lord Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of God the Father, why did he testify that he saw the Son of Man, and not rather the Son of God, since he would certainly have seemed to be conferring greater honor upon the Lord if he had said that he saw the Son of God rather than the Son of Man?

but a certain reason demanded that this be both shown in heaven and proclaimed on earth. For the entire scandal of the Jews consisted in this: why our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to the flesh was the son of man, was also called the Son of God. Therefore, divine Scripture beautifully recorded that the Son of Man stood at the right hand of God the Father, so that, to confound the disbelief of the Jews, that martyr might be shown in heaven who was denied by the faithless on earth, and heavenly truth might give testimony to him to whom earthly impiety denied faith. Hence, although according to the psalm which was read, the death of his saints is precious in the sight of the Lord, yet if any distinction can be made among martyrs, he who is first would seem to be preeminent over all. For although Saint Stephen the deacon was ordained by the apostles, he preceded the apostles themselves in a blessed and triumphant death. And thus, he who was inferior in rank became first in passion, and he who was a disciple in grade began to be a master in martyrdom, fulfilling what the blessed prophet said in the psalm which was read: "What shall I render to the Lord for all that he has rendered to me?" For Stephen the martyr wished to be the first to render to the Lord what he, along with the whole human race, received from the Lord. For the death which the Savior deigned to suffer for all, this Stephen first rendered back to the Savior.

After this, sacred Scripture added and said: "Falling on his knees, he cried out, saying: 'Lord, do not set this down as a sin for them.'" See, most beloved brothers, the affection of the blessed man, see his great and wonderful charity. He was placed in persecution and was supplicating the Lord for his persecutors, and in the ruin of stones, when another could have forgotten even his dearest ones, he was commending his enemies to the Lord. For what was he saying when he was being stoned? "Lord, do not set this down as a sin for them." For he then grieved more for their sins than for his own wounds, more for their impiety than for his own death. And rightly so. For in their impiety there were many things that ought to be lamented, but in his death there were none that ought to be mourned. Their impiety was followed by eternal death, but his death was followed by perpetual life. Let us therefore imitate in some measure, most beloved brothers, the faith of so great a teacher, the charity of so illustrious a martyr. Let us love our brothers in the Church with that spirit with which he then loved his enemies. But what is worse, sometimes we not only do not love our enemies, but we do not even keep faith intact with our friends. But someone says: "I cannot love my enemy, whom I daily suffer as a most cruel foe." O whoever you are, you pay attention to what a man has done to you, and you do not consider what you have done to God. For since you have committed much graver sins against God, why do you not forgive a small thing to a man, so that God may deign to forgive you everything?

Recall what truth itself promised you in the Gospel and what kind of guarantee it in a certain way made to you, or what kind of pact it entered into with you: for it says, if you forgive men their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive your offenses. But if you do not forgive men, your Father will not forgive your debts either. You see, brothers, that it is placed in our power, together with God's grace, how we are judged by the Lord. It says, if you forgive, it will be forgiven to you. I have often said, brothers, and I must say it even more frequently, let no one deceive himself, let no one mislead himself, because whoever holds hatred for even one man in this world will lose everything he offers to God in good works, for it is written: he who hates his brother is a murderer. In this passage, "brother" must be understood as every man. For we are all brothers in Christ. Therefore, let no one presume on virginity without charity, let no one presume on alms, let no one presume on fasts, let no one presume on prayers, because as long as he holds enmity in his heart, he will be able to appease God neither by these nor by any other good works. But if he wishes to have God propitious, let him not disdain to hear good counsel. Let him listen not to me, but to the Lord himself: if you offer your gift at the altar and there you 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 back, offer your gift.

But we, having internal conflicts and turning deceits in our heart, as if we possessed a good conscience, presume to approach the altar, not fearing that which is written: he who eats the body of the Lord and drinks his blood unworthily, eats and drinks judgment for himself. But someone says: it is a great labor to love an enemy and to pray for persecutors. Nor do we deny this, brothers. It is indeed no small labor in this world, but the reward is great in the future. For through love of a human enemy, you become a friend of God—indeed, not only a friend but even a son, just as He Himself said: love your enemies, and so forth. If some powerful and wealthy man in this world wanted to make you an adopted son, how you would serve, what indignities even from his servants, what harshest and sometimes even most shameful servitudes you would endure, in order to attain his fleeting and fragile inheritance. What another endures, then, for the sake of earthly substance, you endure for the sake of eternal life. For we are convinced by the most certain reasoning that we can, indeed, endure injury for God's sake, but we are unwilling. Finally, if some powerful person commits an injury against us, if he even speaks evil to our face, we dare not respond with anything harsh, let alone return the favor. Why is this? Lest we suffer even greater things from that powerful person than we have already borne. What the fear of a man wrings from us, the love of Christ ought to demand from us.

If, therefore, a powerful person rages against us, we are silent and dare say nothing; but if an equal or perhaps an inferior offers even a slight insult, we rise up like a wild beast, without any patience and without any consideration of God, and either avenge our injury on the spot or at least prepare our spirit to return a greater blow. What is this, that when a powerful person has inflicted an injury upon us, we accept it patiently, but when an inferior does so, we are inflamed with excessive fury? Because where we have feared a man, there we are unwilling to fear God. Therefore I ask you, brothers, that as much as we are able, with God’s help, we prepare our heart for patience, and that in all things we strive to act as physicians toward evil men, and that we hate not the men themselves, but their malice. Let us pray for the good, that they may always ascend to better things; for the evil, that they may quickly flee to the correction of life and to the medicines of penance. May He Himself, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns as God forever and ever, deign to grant this to us as we pray. Amen.

SERMON 4. ON SAINT STEPHEN. Whenever we must urge your charity, according to the Lord’s command, to love enemies, I fear that some may think and say that they can by no means fulfill this. Perhaps they even wish to object and say that they cannot always imitate Christ. Behold, I speak to you, O man, whoever you are that say you cannot imitate your Lord in the love of enemies. Certainly, blessed Stephen was a man and not a god; he was what you are, but what he did, he did only by the gift of the one whom you also entreat. See, nevertheless, what he did. He spoke to the Jews; he raged and he loved. I must show both: the one raging and the one loving. Hear the one raging. These are Stephen’s words when he addressed the Jews: “Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you have always resisted the Holy Spirit. Which of the prophets did your fathers not kill?” You have heard the one raging. I must show the other; hear the one loving. Enraged by that, and burning more fiercely, and returning evil for good, they rushed to stones and began to stone the servant of God. Here I test, holy Stephen, your love; here let us see you, here let us watch you, here let us behold you as victor over the devil and triumphant. Behold, blessed Stephen, looking upon the one who hung for him and was fixed on the wood of the cross—that one was himself being stoned. He said: “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” You, blessed Stephen, what do you say?

I may hear and see you, lest perhaps I might even be able to imitate you. First, the blessed Stephen stood and prayed for himself and said: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” When he had said this, he bent his knees and, with knee bent, said: “Lord Jesus, do not set this down to them as a sin,” and with this said, he fell asleep. O happy sleep and true rest! Behold what it is to rest blessedly: to pray for one’s enemies. But I ask you, Stephen, that you deign to explain to me what this was: for yourself you stood and prayed, and for your enemies you bent your knee. For if you were present, you would without doubt answer this: I stood and prayed for myself, because for myself, who served God rightly, I did not labor in praying and obtaining, because he who prays for a just man does not labor. Therefore he stood and prayed for himself. Then it came about that he prayed for the Jews, for the slayers of Christ, for the slayers of the saints, for his own stoners. Because he considered that their impiety was too great and serious, which could be forgiven with difficulty, he bent his knee.

Let us therefore, most beloved brothers, imitate the blessed Stephen, at least insofar as God has granted, and let us love not only our friends but also our enemies, because there is nothing by which we can so both redeem our sins and overcome the devil and appease God. Finally, the Lord himself said: “Give, and it will be given to you; forgive, and you will be forgiven.” And again: “If you forgive men their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your offenses,” and so forth. See, brothers, the mercy of our Lord. He placed it within our power how we are to be judged on the day of judgment. If we forgive, we will be forgiven; if we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven. Let us therefore love, most beloved brothers, not only our friends but also our enemies, so that we may come to the tribunal of the eternal judge with a secure conscience, saying: “Give, Lord, because we have given; forgive, because we have forgiven. We have done what you commanded; you fulfill what you promised.” This He Himself will grant, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

Sermon on the Feast of the Holy Innocents. Today, dearest brothers, we celebrate the feast of those infants whom the text of the Gospel records as having been killed by King Herod. Therefore let our land, the fertile parent of so many heavenly soldiers and such great virtues, rejoice with the utmost exultation. Behold, the profane enemy could never have benefited the blessed little ones as much by his service as he benefited them by his hatred. For, as the most sacred festivities of the present day make manifest, as much as iniquity abounded against the blessed little ones, so much did the grace of blessing shine forth in them. For we heard a little while ago that, when King Herod was persecuting Christ, thousands of blessed boys were killed, as the prophet says: Rachel weeping for her sons and refusing to be consoled, because they are no more. O blessed parent of triumphal ones, illustrious homeland of warriors, rich in such pledges, though she seemed to be bereaved for the blink of an eye, she never lacks consolation nor weeps for the sons whom, while she lost them in unending grief, she acquired. Blessed are you, O Bethlehem of the land of Judah, which endured the savagery of King Herod in the slaughter of the boys, which at one time merited to offer to God the white-robed people of unarmed infancy.

Yet we worthily celebrate the birthday of those whom the world of eternal life brought forth more blessed than those whom the birth from maternal wombs poured forth, since they attained the dignity of everlasting life before they would receive the usufruct of the present. For the precious death of other martyrs earned praise in confession; the death of these was pleasing in its consummation, because at the very beginnings of incipient life, their sunset gave them the start of glory, which put an end to their present life. These are those whom Herod’s impiety tore from their mothers’ breasts while they were still nursing, who are rightly called the flowers of the martyrs, who, sprouting in the midst of the cold of unbelief, were like the first gems of the emerging Church, which a certain frost of persecution withered. And therefore it is fitting to offer to the infants killed for Christ ceremonies of honor, not of grief; to give vows in sacraments, not in tears, because the same one who was the cause of their punishment was also the cause of their crown; the same one who was the cause of hatred was also the cause of reward. But as Herod was preparing death for the little ones, Joseph is warned by an angel to transfer the Lord Christ into Egypt. Egypt was full of idols, and after the persecution of the Jews and the assent of the profane people to kill Christ, Christ deigns to go over to the nations devoted to idols, and, leaving Judea, is brought to be worshipped by an ignorant world.

And because we know from the divine scriptures that good and just men have always endured persecution from the wicked, if we consider carefully, we find that those who inflict it suffer greater torments than those who seem to endure it. For every man who persecutes another in body is known to suffer persecution first in his own heart. For even if he takes something from the substance of the one he persecutes, he inflicts a greater loss upon himself, because no one has unjust gain without just loss. Where there is gain, there is loss: gain in the purse, loss in the heart. He takes a garment, he loses faith; he acquires money, he loses justice. But men do this because they are unwilling to heed the last day. For if they would constantly think of the day of their death, they would restrain their mind from all greed and malice. But what they now refuse to think of salubriously, they must afterwards endure without any remedy. For their last day will come, the day of judgment will come, when they will be able neither to increase their money nor to redeem themselves from eternal death by good works, because the sinner is also struck by this penalty, that dying he forgets himself, who, while he lived, forgot God.

The day of judgment will come, when the foundations of the mountains will be shaken and the earth will burn down to the infernal regions below, when the burning heavens will be dissolved, when the sun will grow dark and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky, when sinners and the impious will be cast into the furnace of fire and the smoke of their torments will ascend for ages of ages. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Hence a time will come, dearest brothers, when no good man will fare ill and no evil man will fare well. The last day, I say, will come, when the pious are separated from the impious, the just from the unjust, the praisers of God from the blasphemers of God, when they will be separated so that, as has been said, no good man fares ill, no evil man fares well. Why then is it not so now, sometimes one way and sometimes another, but what is now hidden will then be manifest? Read the divine scripture, enter with me, if you can, into the sanctuary of God. Perhaps there, if I am able, I will teach you. Rather, learn with me from him who taught me, that even now it is not well for the wicked and it is better for the good than for the wicked, although the full happiness of the good has not yet come and the final punishment of the wicked has not yet come. If you attend diligently to the law of God, perhaps you will understand with me that it is not well for the wicked. For I ask you and inquire of you: why is it that you fare ill? You will answer me: poverty oppresses, difficulty presses, perhaps pain of the limbs, fear from an enemy. You fare ill because you suffer evils, and does he fare well who suffers evil himself?

There is a great difference between suffering evil and being evil, but you, who suffer, are not evil. For you suffer evil and are not evil. That one, however, does not suffer evil and is evil. Therefore do not be deceived. It cannot happen that you, who suffer evil, are in a bad state, and that he, who is evil, is in a good state. For when he is evil, do you think that he does not also suffer evil, when he suffers himself? Are you in a bad state because you suffer another's evil in your body, and is he in a good state who suffers himself, evil, in his own body? Are you in a bad state, who perhaps have a bad life, and is he in a good state, who has a bad soul? Be good, you who have goods. Riches are good, gold is good, silver is good, families are good, possessions are good. All these things are good, but from which you may do good. Have goods which make you good, which make you evil. What are these, you ask? Do judgment and justice. The goods you have are good. Be you also good among your goods. Blush at your goods, do not be evil among them, lest you perish with them. Thus, therefore, gold and silver are distributed to men by the creator of things and the administrator God, so that it is good in itself by its nature and kind, but its abundance does not exalt the good, nor does its lack cast them down. The evil, however, when it is offered to them, it blinds, and when it is taken away, it torments, because when wealth is acquired, it bestows a false joy, and when it is lost, it leaves behind a true sadness.

Let us therefore learn to love true riches, that is, chastity and justice and peace and mercy. Those riches are called just because they are bestowed upon good and righteous merits; those are called true riches because whoever possesses them will not be in need, since, according to the apostle, having food and clothing, he is content with them. Therefore it is unjust to consider these earthly possessions as riches, since they do not remove need. For the more eagerly someone burns with need, the more he loves them out of avarice and the greater he possesses them. How then are they riches, when as they increase, poverty increases, and they bring their lovers not satiety, however great they become, but inflame desire? Do you think a man is rich who would be less in need if he had less? Hence someone rightly said: the love of money grows as the money itself grows. For with the increase of money, the madness of desire is increased. For all the avaricious or greedy seem to suffer from the disease of dropsy. For just as a dropsical person, the more he drinks, the more he thirsts, so the avaricious or greedy man is endangered by acquiring and is not satisfied by seeking.

We, however, brothers, reflecting that we are pilgrims and guests in this world, let us reserve for ourselves on the journey of this life only that which is necessary for food and clothing, and, as much as we are able, let us direct ourselves toward eternal blessedness through almsgiving to the poor, so that, when on the day of judgment the greedy and avaricious have deserved to hear, for the barrenness of good works: "Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire," we may be able to hear, for our good works: "Come, blessed ones of my Father, receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world, because I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was naked and you covered me." May the Lord, to whom is glory for ever and ever, lead us under his protection to that blessedness. Amen. VI. SERMON ON THE NATIVITY OF THE APOSTLES JAMES AND JOHN. I ask you, dearest brothers, that you neither take it amiss nor judge us superfluous, because we remind you rather frequently concerning love for enemies. We do this because we have learned that no medicine is stronger for healing the wounds of all sins, and let it not seem inept to you that we sometimes, even on the solemnities of the martyrs, urge you toward love for enemies. We wish this to be done for this reason, because we have learned that all martyrs attained the crown of martyrdom through this most perfect charity, which we rejoice was fulfilled in the blessed Stephen with immense admiration.

Listen carefully, I ask, brothers, and understand: in all evil men we ought to hate the vices rather than the men—to love the man, to hate the vice. Do not, because of the man, love the vice, nor, because of the vice, hate the man. The man is your neighbor; the vice is the enemy of your neighbor. Then you love your friend, if you hate the vice that harms your friend. If you believe, you do well, because the just man lives by faith. I say this concerning what abounds in human affairs. Sometimes your dearest friend has an enemy who was once a friend of you both. Two of the three friends begin to be enemies of each other. What should the one who remains in the middle do? One of those who hate each other wants you to hate with him the one he hates, and he says these words to you: "You are not my friend, because you are the friend of my enemy." And what this one says to you about that one, that one says to you about this one. For you were three; two began to be at odds, and you alone remained. If you join this one, you will hate that one as an enemy; if that one, this one; if both, both will grumble. Behold the temptation. Perhaps you expect to hear from me what to do. Remain the friend of both. Let those who are at odds with each other be reconciled through you. If you have heard something bad from one about the other, do not betray it to the other, lest perhaps later they become friends, who are now enemies, and betray their betrayers to each other.

But I said this for the sake of men, not for the eyes of God. Behold, no one betrays you to God. It is God who sees you, who judges you. You have heard a word from an angry man, from one who is pained and incensed: let it remain in you. Why is it betrayed, why is it brought forth? For if it remains in you, it will not burst you. Speak plainly to a friend who wants to make you an enemy of your friend; address him and, as if he were a sick soul, handle him with the gentleness of medicine. Say to him: Why do you want me to be an enemy of that man? He will answer: Because he is my enemy. Do you therefore want me to be an enemy of your enemy? I ought to be an enemy of your sin. That man, whom you want me to make an enemy of, is a man; your enemy is another, whose enemy I ought to be, if I am your friend. He will answer: Who is this other enemy of mine? Your vice. He will answer: What is my vice? The hatred with which you hate your friend. Therefore be like a physician. A physician does not love the sick man if he does not hate the sickness. To free the sick man, he persecutes the fever. Do not love the vices of your friends, if you love your friends. But to whom am I speaking, do you think? Do I not myself do what I say? What I say, my brothers, I do, if I do it in myself. But first I do it in myself, if from the Lord I receive hatred of my vices, I offer my heart to the physician for healing, I persecute my sins as much as I can, I groan over them, I confess that they are in me, and I accuse myself. You who were reproaching me, correct yourself. This is justice, lest it be said to us: You see the straw in your brother’s eye and you do not see the beam in your own eye.

hypocrite, first cast the beam out of your own eye. Anger is a splinter, hatred is a beam, but you have nourished the splinter and it becomes a beam. Anger, when it grows old, becomes hatred; a nourished splinter becomes a beam. Therefore, so that a splinter may not become a beam, let not the sun set upon your anger. Do you see and feel yourself livid with hatred, and do you reproach one who is angry? Remove hatred from yourself, and you rightly reproach anger. There is a splinter in his eye, in yours there is a beam. And how can an eye with a beam see a splinter? I know not with what face one who preserves hatred in his heart reproaches one who is angry under his countenance. He who is angry under his countenance and is quickly angered and quickly appeased indeed incurs a splinter, but at once removes it through penance. He, however, who has held hatred in his heart for a long time, by nourishing the splinter, turns it into a beam. There is a beam in your eye, because you were unwilling to remove at once the splinter born there. You slept with it, you rose with it, you cultivated it within yourself, you watered it with false suspicions, you nourished it by believing the words of flatterers and those who bring evil words to you about a friend, you did not pluck out the splinter by your diligence, you made a beam.

Remove the beam from your own eye; do not hate. Do you shrink from your brother, or do you not shrink? I tell you, do not hate, and you are safe. You reply and say to me: What is hating, and what evil is there in a man hating his enemy? You hate your brother, but you despise hatred. Listen to divine Scripture: He who hates his brother is a murderer. Therefore, if he is a murderer, you have not prepared poison, you have not advanced against your enemy with a sword to strike him, you have not prepared an agent of the crime, you have not chosen a place, a time, and finally you have not committed the crime itself; you have only hated, and you have killed yourself before him. Learn justice, therefore, so that you hate only the vices of a man. If you hold to this and practice this justice, so that you prefer to heal even vicious men rather than condemn them, you will come happily before the tribunal of the eternal judge not to be condemned for hatred, but to be crowned for charity or peace, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.

VII. On the Epiphany. Recently, dearest brothers, we celebrated the sacrament of that day of our redemption, on which God clothed man with infirmities. Today, however, we honor that day on which God declared himself in man through virtues, because on this day either he offered the star of his rising as a messenger to the sky, or because in Cana of Galilee at a wedding feast he turned water into wine, or because in the waters of the Jordan he consecrated the waters for the restoration of the human race through his baptism, or because he satisfied five thousand men with five loaves. In any of these, the mysteries and joys of our salvation are contained. For he was born to us from a virgin, which the star showed. He signified by the miracle of the work and the conversion of the waters that we are to be changed for the better. He provided remedies for us from the baptism which he offered and urged in the bed of the Jordan. And therefore, dearest brothers, in all our actions let us carry the star of faith before us and celebrate the baptism of Christ in the guardianship of purity, because this regeneration of Christ is the confirmation of your faith. For he made known to you the benefit of his gift through the example of a second birth, and what he wanted you to do, he did first.

We read that the Jews had various baptisms under the law, but none of these could confer a general remedy against the evil of transgression. And therefore, for the absolution of the whole world, the water of regeneration needed to be sanctified from heaven, and because the sacrament of baptism was necessary for the human race throughout the entire world, He gave a blessing to all waters when He descended with unique and singular piety into the bed of the Jordan. For then the wave did not so much wash Christ the Lord as it was washed. For Christ was born for you, He lived for you, He died for you. Whom you see dead for you, understand him baptized for you. Thus Christ the Lord was altogether the same after baptism as he was before baptism. And therefore his forerunner and baptist, when he came to baptize him, addresses him thus: "I, Lord, ought to be baptized by you, and you come to me?" What is more evident concerning the purity of Christ not yet baptized, what is stronger? "I ought to be baptized by you," that is, you who are the fountain of innocence and the fullness of justice, who, needing nothing, know how to give, not how to receive; "I," he says, "ought to be baptized by you," because you exhibit with yourself and possess in yourself the gifts of purity and the sacraments of baptism, and what I will give through your grace, you possess by nature. Meanwhile, the creature makes progress. By the touch of the Creator, the limbs are dipped and the streams are enriched. Not the body from the river, but the river is changed from the body by vital grace.

descends into its own source, the blessed water marvels, conceiving eternal remedies in a single moment and, fruitful, giving birth to a new generation, rendering what it had received and receiving what it did not have. Amid these things, it would be remarkable that the Lord submitted himself to the blessing of a servant, had he not submitted himself to the cross and to death. And indeed, he taught by the dignity of that price that man is precious to him. But from this also we understand how great our Lord considers the causes of human crimes to be in his own estimation, on account of which he sent not an angel, not an archangel, but God to earth. How grave sin is, how harsh its condition, is revealed by the magnitude of the remedy. How great the judgment of evils will be, by which they will be condemned, the care with which they are redeemed indicates. Therefore, with all vigilance and diligence, let us beware lest the devil wound what God has healed, lest through the consent of the heart, through the sin of the body, we offer to the enemy the servitude which we owe rather to the Lord. And indeed, if someone violent and overbearing had seized something from our property and possessions, would we not consider it worthy of the utmost hatred, would we not rightly detest him as an enemy? And with what spirit, then, do we consent to the devil through sin, who wishes to take from us not substance but life, to defraud us not of land but of heaven, to narrow not the boundaries of our estate but the infinite spaces of eternity?

Amid these things, O man, if you wish to assess the dignity of your own making and the piety of your Lord toward you by the price, you will be able to have no doubt about the kingdom. That, dearest brothers, which we have heard read in the Gospel—that on the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee and that water was turned into wine—let us see what that wedding is. Here our acquisition or restoration is demonstrated by vows and wedding festivities, just as in another place the return of the younger son is received with a chorus and symphony. Moreover, the six water jars are the six ages of this world: the first from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to David, from David to the Babylonian exile, from the Babylonian exile to John the Baptist. In those times there was no lack of prophecy concerning Christ, through which the righteous presented the figure and type of the Lord. They hold two or three measures, because they contain within themselves the faith of the Trinity. But let us see what the divine word says. Let us handle the sacred oracles of the Gospel themselves.

In Cana of Galilee he turned water into wine and, by the power of his works, revealed the Lord hidden beneath the man. And it says, "on the third day." A wedding was taking place. But what is this wedding if not the joy of human salvation? Why on the third day? Either because he shows us the mystery of the Trinity, or because he rose on the third day. Thus, like a bridegroom coming forth from his bridal chamber, he descended to the earth and, having taken on incarnation, was to be joined to the Church that was to be gathered from the nations. To this Church—which indeed we are—he gave both an engagement pledge and a dowry. He gave an engagement pledge when he was promised to us by the Law; he gave a dowry when he was sacrificed for us. And this can be understood in another way: that we take the engagement pledge as present grace, the dowry as eternal life. Let us see what he does in Cana of Galilee. Here let the astounding miracles reveal God to us. Water jars are set up, holding two or three metretae each. The jars are filled. The waters are suddenly changed, waters that would later change men, and, while they are changed for the better, they speak, as it were, of the power of baptism. In them, in a certain way, the likeness of regeneration is expressed, and, while one thing is made from another, while the lower creature is transformed into a more pleasing form, the mystery of second birth is disclosed. Nothing in those waters is diminished from their quantity, and, while they remained in themselves, they degenerate from themselves entirely by a noble transformation. They lose their own substance; they acquire another's.

A stronger flavor is acquired from a weaker substance, and a hidden power is infused into the light waters, and the nature of the waters becomes intoxicated, and thus, in a new manner, they confess the power of their creator. Who can change these things except the one who was also able to create them? Therefore, when the wine ran out, his mother says to the son: they have no wine. Let us first inquire what the wine was that is said to have run out, and what the other wine is that is miraculously prepared, which the master of the feast pronounces better, saying: every man sets out the best wine first, and when they have become drunk, then the inferior wine. But you have kept the good wine until now. We understand wine in many places as the divine precepts and the holy scriptures, containing the purest vigor of heavenly wisdom, by which the senses grow warm with love for the Lord and the affections become intoxicated, according to what is said about wisdom: she set her table, she mixed her wine in the bowl. Therefore, the power of the divine scriptures, if ever it fills someone's inner being, will be able to say with the prophet: you have given us the wine of compunction to drink, and: how splendid is your intoxicating cup. So, as Christ worked in Cana of Galilee, the wine ran out and he made wine, that is, the shadow is removed and the truth is presented, the law recedes, grace succeeds, carnal things are exchanged for spiritual ones, the old observance is transferred into the new testament, as the blessed apostle says: the old things have passed away, and behold, in Christ all things have become new.

Just as those water jars filled with water lose nothing of what they were, and yet begin to be what they were not, so the Law did not perish through the coming of Christ, but was perfected. Thus, when the wine fails, another wine is served. The Old Testament is indeed good, but without spiritual understanding it vanishes in the letter, whereas the New has given forth the fragrance of life in grace. Since these things are so, let us consider the chief steward himself, the one placed in charge in the house of the bridegroom, whom we may perceive. And whom else ought we to understand but blessed Paul, who, after receiving the Law, filled and inebriated with the sweetest fragrance or taste of the mysteries of the New Testament and the scent of spiritual senses, exclaims and praises: "You have kept the good wine until now." Let us see, however, how he praises the wine itself: "Neither the eye has seen, nor the ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man," he says, "what God has prepared for those who love him." Behold the true, behold the praiseworthy miracles, which are worked in us, when from the worst he makes good, from the proud humble, from the dishonorable chaste, from followers of the world friends of God. What greater miracles can he perform than when he deigns to advance man, a worm and decay, to an angelic state, to place him from earthly things among heavenly ones, and to assume him into the grace of his adoption? May he himself deign to grant this, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives for all ages of ages.

VIII. ON THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD, FOR MASS OR ON THE NATIVITY OF LUCIANUS THE MARTYR. The solemnity concerning the nativity of our Lord, dearest brethren, we have celebrated with that faith by which God was born from this man. Therefore, let us venerate this one with that observance by which God was declared in man. There, He is hidden in infirmities; here, He is revealed by powers. For today, a star, about to show Christ to those seeking Him, led the Magi coming from the East all the way to the place of the newborn Savior. Let the sacred nativity be beheld in a humble hut. He who shines among the stars is adored in swaddling clothes. He is adored in swaddling clothes, that is, the inviolate majesty under the abjection of human corruption. The magnitude of divine mercy is revealed by the hinting mystery in that Ethiopians, that is, Gentiles, are the first to approach Christ. The first fruits of the Gentiles are consecrated in the recognition of truth; the Church of the Gentiles, stripped of the blackness of sin and to be clothed with the whiteness of faith, precedes the synagogue of the Jews. Thus, this one seeks our salvation in the manger. What is this, that it seeks our salvation in the manger? That is, the previously wild multitude of unbelieving peoples, received into the stable of the Church, grows tame. Indeed, the Jews boast that divine worship is with them, but the first ambassadors of the Gentiles see Christ. Why first? Because the healthy eye of a Christian follows the light, whereas the corrupted gaze of the Jews is itself flooded by that light, and the ailing sight grows darker in the presence of the brought light.

Meanwhile, the blessed embassy marvels as it is led to the sacred cradle by a ray descending from above. The farthest nation is the first to enjoy the public good. With how astonishing a condescension is he, who embraces earth and heaven, enclosed in his mother’s arms; he, who exceeds his father’s kingdom, lies hidden in his mother’s bosom. Through a simple office, a spiritual mystery is revealed: the humanity is seen, the divinity is adored. They offer gold, frankincense, and myrrh, offering more in mysteries than in their conscious intentions. In the gift of gold, royal dignity; in the vapor of frankincense, divine majesty; in the form of myrrh, the humanity destined for burial is demonstrated. And thus the number of the offering speaks of the Trinity, while a single devotion testifies to the unity. And because of this, let us strive with a watchful intent of the heart to gaze upon heaven, if we desire to reach Christ. Let the star of righteousness direct us along the paths of perfect life. To him who said, “You shall not appear before me empty,” let us offer the gold of faith, the aromas of piety, the holocausts of chastity. Let us have spiritual myrrh within us, which so seasons our souls that it keeps them unharmed from the corruption of sin. Let us change our path, if we wish to reach our homeland—indeed, our heavenly homeland. Let this be the exchange between the two: that we purchase his property for ourselves by the use of this one, so that, just as eternal life will be the reward of this life, so let us labor that this life may be the merit of that one.

Moreover, what the Evangelist says—that the Magi were warned in dreams not to return to Herod but to go back to their own country by another route—this is spiritually commanded to us: that we return to our homeland by another way, that is, by another manner of life. Perhaps someone asks how this can be done. Let him who desires to know this hear the prophet saying: Turn away from evil and do good, seek peace and follow it. For in this order one returns to the homeland by another way. For because we fell into the world through pride, we must return to paradise through humility. Through greed we came into the service of the devil; through mercy let us return to Christ the Lord. Through pleasure and lust we have endured the harshest yoke of the devil; through charity and justice let us hasten to take up the light yoke of Christ, so that we who, unhappily serving the devil along the paths of faithlessness and wickedness, departed from the company of the angels, may strive to return to our original homeland along the paths of goodness and faith.

If we are unwilling, by this order, to abandon the deadly ways and keep to the ways of eternal life, we can faithfully and happily imitate the journeys of the Magi, transferred from the left to the right. Does it not seem to you that he who formerly used to take others’ goods and now desires to distribute his own mercifully is already returning to his homeland by another way? Does it not seem to you that he who was an adulterer and is chaste, who was a drunkard and is sober, who used to curse and blesses, who was envious and is kind, walks by another way? For if, with the help of God, we strive by prayers and good works alike to change the journeys of our conduct for the better in this order, we can attain eternal blessedness, with our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen. IX. ON THE EPIPHANY. What we reserved for you from yesterday’s feast because of the labor of the vigils, you can now, if you wish, hear more opportunely. Recently, dearest brothers, we celebrated the birthday of the Lord and Savior, in which he, the predecessor and founder of all ages and times, was born to us in time.

Today, however, God has been declared in man through the most certain proofs: either because He provided a star from heaven as a herald of His birth, which He made to go before the following Magi all the way to the venerable cradle of the infancy He had taken on; or because in the bed of the Jordan He consecrated the waters for the salvation of the human race by His baptism—for He, purer than all waters, entered them not so much to be sanctified as to sanctify; or because this is the same day of that miracle when, first in Cana of Galilee, at a wedding feast, He turned water into wine. By this miracle He indicates, of course, that He is about to change all peoples, who flow away in the likeness of waters with the most vain and fickle understanding, into the true flavor of spiritual wisdom and the pure truth of genuine faith. In any one of these three, the mysteries and joys of our salvation are contained. For either He was born of a virgin for us—which the star showed to us—or it was granted to us through baptism, which He consecrated in the bed of the Jordan. He also showed beforehand by the miracle of the work that we are to be changed for the better, when He turned water into wine.

The Magi themselves, who arrived at the venerable cradle of that heavenly child by the sign of the star, what else did they express in those gifts but our faith? For in the fact that they offer three, the Trinity is understood; in the fact, however, that they are three and each offers his own individual gift, unity in the Trinity is declared. Through the gold, the king is shown; from the frankincense, the god is discerned; through the myrrh, which is suitable for embalming bodies, the burial of the crucified man is proclaimed. According to these things, dearest ones, let us also imitate the person of the Magi with spiritual observances. First, let us seek Christ for so long until we merit to find him. Let the light of faith, like a star of heaven, provide guidance for us. Let it show him to us not now wailing in a manger, but reigning in the highest citadel of heaven; not in the lap of his mother, but to be adored on the throne of his father; nor further to be judged in humility, but coming to judgment with majesty. Let the perfect confession of the Trinity be like the offering of the three gifts. Let unity be believed by us as joined without confusion, the Trinity as distinct without separation. Let the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit be believed as one God, three persons and not three substances.

However, as pertains to the order of the heavenly nature, in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit one divinity is to be confessed in such a way that neither is the person considered singular in the Trinity nor the substance triple in the Unity, but plurality is assigned to unity in such a way that equality is not withdrawn from the Trinity, and, although multiplicity is introduced into the one divinity, diversity is nevertheless not to be admitted. Thus, therefore, the worship of God is to be arranged in the hearts of the faithful, so that neither separation in unity nor confusion in the Trinity is admitted. For near to this day, dearest brothers, is the day of the sacred nativity. Then the Lord was born, now he is baptized; then he begot us to life, now he regenerated us to salvation. Then Adam received the lost one, now he washes the sinner. He came, therefore, to baptism, as it is written. But what would he wash, who was pure? Assuredly, that the pure might wash the impure. The running waters then poured over him, but they carried our sins away with them. The drops of baptism flowed from him, but our crimes flowed down in those drops. O the mercy and at the same time the power of the Lord! We were not yet in the world, and we were already being washed in baptism. We were cleansed by him before we were born. For this was the very reason for baptism, that the waters, which were to purify us, might first be purified by him. And when he had come up, the Scripture says, from the water, he saw the heavens opened. Was the heaven then opened for him, whose eyes beheld the interiors of the heavens?

But the sky is opened for this reason: so that the mystery in this baptism might be declared, because when a man emerges from baptism, then the gate of the heavenly kingdom is opened for him. But what of that: that the Magi come to the Lord when he is born—or rather, are led? They see him placed in a manger, yet the humility of the birth does not diminish the reverence for the divinity in their senses. They adore with their bodies, honor with gifts, venerate with services; with their eyes they see a man, and by their homage they confess a god. For they saw in him, who had been born, something more for the minds of men to attend to than what the eyes perceived. The Lord, who had then been born in the flesh, through him all things had been born; indeed, he was seen in the manger, but he ruled in heaven; he was within a little body, but within himself he contained all things. He had indeed been born from a mother, but he himself had first created his mother. And therefore the Magi humbled themselves, because they saw the stars serving; they recognized him to be God, whom the heavenly bodies served. And for that reason, even their gifts themselves were full of divine mystery. For they offered gold, as you have heard, and frankincense and myrrh. Thus, in the number of the three gifts, a threefold meaning is contained. In the frankincense they offered the honor of God, in the gold the royal dignity, in the myrrh the burial of the body.

Let us therefore also offer, most beloved brothers, holy and sincere gifts to our God: faith, charity, patience, humble minds, upright character, souls worthy of a divine inhabitant. For these are the gifts pleasing to God, these the welcome offerings which are indeed presented to Him, but which benefit those who offer them. For He lacks nothing, needs no gift; rather, His best gift is to have reasons for bestowing gifts. He demands nothing more from us, seeks nothing more than the salvation of our soul. For He considers everything to be provided to Himself if we so conduct ourselves that all things are provided to us by Him, with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father for all ages of ages. Amen. X. ON the Birthday of Saint Felix. To illuminate the human race, most beloved brothers, our Lord has lit many spiritual lamps in this world, so that, with heavenly religion and doctrine shining forth through holy men, the darkness of errors might envelop no one at all who wished to see the light of truth. But what are these lamps which our Lord has granted for dispelling and illuminating the darkness of unbelief?

First the patriarchs, then the prophets, afterwards the apostles, finally all the priests of all the churches, among whom divine piety granted to this city the illustrious and preeminent lamp of holy memory, lord Honoratus, whom it deigned to raise above the candelabrum of this church, so that he might shine for all; who, although he shone for this city with the particular brilliance of his works, nevertheless reached every place and even by the reputation of his name poured forth the light of his merits. And while we recall his unshakeable faith in works, his marvelous rigor in contempt of the world, his singular charity in mercy, we believe without doubt that he fulfills even a martyrdom not completed by passion. For martyrdom is not consummated by the shedding of blood alone, nor does that burning by flames alone give the palm. One arrives at the crown not only by death, but also by contempt of the body. Without injury to the saints who died in persecutions, it may be said: to have afflicted the flesh, to have overcome lust, to have resisted avarice, to have triumphed over the world is a great part of martyrdom. But we, most beloved brothers, if we wish to attain to the fellowship even of the priests, let us think about the imitation of the martyrs. For they ought to recognize in us something of their own virtues, so that they may deign to supplicate the Lord on our behalf. For if we cannot endure the torments which the holy martyrs underwent, let us at least, with them interceding, fight against evil desires.

And because daily sins are not lacking, let daily remedies also not be lacking. Let no one believe that he possesses any happiness or any true joy in this world. Beatitude can be prepared here, but it cannot be possessed. Two times succeed each other in their proper order: a time for weeping and a time for laughing. Let no one deceive himself, brothers; there is no time for laughing in this world. I know, brothers, that every man desires to rejoice, but they do not seek joy where it ought to be sought. True joy in this world neither has been, nor is, nor will be able to be. For thus the Lord admonished his disciples in the Gospel, saying: "In this world you will have distress," and again: "The world will rejoice, but you will be sad. But your sadness will be turned into joy." And so in this life, with labor and sorrow, let us do what is good, with the Lord's help, so that in the future age we may be able to gather the fruit of good things with joy and exultation, according to this: "Those who sow in tears will reap in joy.

In this world, therefore, most beloved brothers, we have been cast out from the blessed seat of paradise through the sin of the first man and, as it were, sent into exile, and thus in this age we have no homeland, just as the apostle says: while we are in this body, we are pilgrims from the Lord. Therefore let us not seek joy in this world, because, as was said above, true joy can be procured here, but it cannot be possessed. Do not seek on the road what is reserved for you in the homeland. And because it is necessary for you to fight daily against the devil with Christ as your leader, do not seek the reward in the battle which is reserved for you in the kingdom. Do not seek in the fight what is reserved for you when the victory has been completed. Rather, attend to what the apostle says: all who wish to live piously in Christ suffer persecution, and again: for through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. Therefore, with God granting it, we ought to act so that we may merit to arrive happily at our original homeland, where our parents, the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles desire to receive or see us, where also our fellow citizens, the angels, and that celestial city Jerusalem, and the king of that city, Christ, await us with the outstretched arms of love, so that, with the devil prostrated, we may hasten to them, full of good works.

You know, brothers, that all merchants and all who travel on a journey are anxious while on the road, so that they may be secure in their homeland, and they have true joy only when they deserve to arrive in their homeland with great profit. So also we, most beloved brothers, should then prepare our souls for joy, when we deserve to arrive at Christ. In the meantime, let us now rejoice in hope, and we will afterwards have true joy in reality. What is worse, there are many who believe they are rejoicing in the pleasure, delights, and luxury of this world in a perverse order. But what they seem to sow in joy, they will be forced to reap with tears and mourning, because the one who said in the Gospel does not lie: "Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep." For so did that unhappy rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen. He had joy indeed in the world, but he deserved to find flames in hell. Lazarus, who lay at his gate, had sadness on the road, but received true joy in his homeland.

We, however, dearest brothers, as much as we are able, let us beseech the mercy of God, that He deign to inspire in us such a love of eternal life that we may wish to love the homeland more than the road and think more about the future than about the present age, and that we may always strive to act in this exile of the world in such a way that we may be able to arrive at the future judgment with a free and secure conscience, adorned with good works, by the grace of our Lord, to whom is honor and power for ever and ever. Amen. XI. ADMONITION ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. I ask you, dearest brothers, and I admonish you with great humility, that none of you be angry with me or perhaps judge me incongruous or superfluous because I so frequently strive to instill in you the day of judgment, which is to be trembled at and profitably feared. If there is anyone to whom I am displeasing in this regard, let him consider my peril and hear the Lord threatening the priest terribly through the prophet: If you do not announce to the wicked man his iniquity, I will demand his blood from your hand, and again: O teacher, do not cease, like a trumpet, he says, raise your voice and announce to my people their sins. But perhaps someone may say: why are such harsh things so constantly preached to us? Because it is better to endure a little bitterness here and afterwards to arrive at eternal sweetness, than to have false joy here and to endure endless torment there.

Listen, brothers, not to me, but to the Lord speaking in the Gospel: "Blessed are those who mourn now, for they themselves will be comforted," and "Woe to you who laugh now, because you will weep and mourn." And consider this, brothers, that all physicians of the body, whenever they come to those who appear to be ill in body, cut off everything that seemed pleasurable to them and entirely forbid what is sweet. Sometimes they do not even permit them to take cold drink, and at other times they compel them to drink the most bitter potions and frequently cut into their wounds with the roughest or sharpest instruments. Therefore, what physicians of the body do for the health of bodies, physicians of the spirit strive to practice for the health of souls. Thinking on these things, therefore, most beloved brothers, and knowing that I will render an account for both my own salvation and yours before the tribunal of the eternal judge, I wish to administer to us remedies that are harsh indeed but salutary, so that afterward I may deserve to rejoice with you in perpetual well-being in the company of angels. And I suggest these things not because I have perceived that you receive our admonitions unwillingly, but because it is necessary for me to preach more frequently for both your salvation and my own, I strive to stir your minds both to fear the judgment and to desire the reward, so that the storehouses of your holy breast may be happily prepared, with the Lord's help, to store up the spiritual vintage, as you have always done.

Whenever we preach something harsh to you, we do not say this because we suspect you of doing anything of the sort, but we denounce even those things you do not do, so that we may heal those in which you might perhaps have been caught. For it often happens that, while greater things are feared, lesser ones are more quickly avoided. Just as theriac is drunk so that poisons cannot prevail over bodies, so austere preaching is administered, so that antidotes for souls may be prepared. It is certain, dearest brothers, that if we constantly ponder the benefits of our God, which have been conferred upon us with no preceding merits of our own, sins either do not dominate us, or, if they have crept in, they are quickly corrected through penance. For who can even conceive in the mind, let alone express in words, how great these benefits of our God are toward us. For He made us when we did not exist, He restored us afterward when we had perished. He underwent death, freed us with His precious blood, descended to the underworld, snatched us from the jaws of eternal death, and promised us the rewards of heaven. Pondering all these things, dearest brothers, with a pious and kindly mind, let us hasten, as much as we are able, with His help, to repay the favor for His benefits. Let us not return evil for good, but, as much as we can, let us strive faithfully, leaning with all our strength to obey His will, so that His precepts may produce for us a remedy from obedience rather than a judgment from transgression.

For what shall we do, dearest brothers, on that fearsome day of judgment, when the trembling world, with the angels’ trumpets sounding before, the Lord, surrounded by the light of the heavenly host, has taken his seat on that throne of his majesty, and there, from the bosom of the earth and the ancient dust, the human race, roused up, with the witness standing by, with the punishments of sinners and the rewards of the just set before the eyes of each individual’s conscience, he has begun to demand an account of life, and, now more just than merciful, with the severity of a judge, he has begun to accuse those guilty of spurning mercy, and to say: I, man, made you from clay with my own hands; I breathed spirit into your earthly frame; I deigned to bestow upon you our image and likeness; I placed you amid the delights of paradise. You, scorning the life-giving commandments, preferred to follow the deceiver rather than the Lord. But I pass over the past. Later, moved by mercy, when, rightly cast out of paradise because of sin, you were held by the bonds of death, I entered a virginal womb to be born, without loss of virginity. I lay exposed in a manger and wrapped in rags; I endured the insults of infancy and human sufferings, by which I might become like you, for this purpose, namely, to make you like me. I received the palms and spits of those who mocked me; I drank vinegar with gall. Beaten with whips, crowned with thorns, nailed to the cross, pierced with a wound, so that you might be snatched from death, I gave up my soul amid torments.

behold the marks of the nails by which I hung affixed; behold my side, pierced with wounds. I took up your sufferings, that I might give you my glory. I took up your death, that you might live forever. I lay entombed in the sepulcher, that you might reign in heaven. Why have you lost what I endured for you? Why, ungrateful one, have you spurned the gifts of your redemption? I do not complain of my own death. Give me back your life, for which I gave my soul; give me back your life, which you have ceaselessly slain with the wounds of sins. Why have you polluted the dwelling I had consecrated in you with the filth of lust? Why have you stained my body with the shame of allurements? Why have you afflicted me with a heavier cross of your crimes than that on which I once hung? For the cross of your sins, on which I unwillingly hung, is heavier to me than that which I, unwillingly pitying you, ascended to slay your death. When I was immortal, I became a changeable man for you. When I was impassible, I deigned to suffer for you. But you have despised in man the God, in the weak the salvation, in the path the return, in the judge the pardon, in the cross the life, in the torments the remedy.

So that we may escape that terrible rebuke, whenever any sins of whatever kind steal upon us, let us hasten without any dissimulation to take refuge in the remedies of penance, so that, freed from evil hearing, we may deserve to attain eternal forgiveness, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and power with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. XII. ADMONITION. Now, dearest brothers, when the divine lesson was being read, we heard the blessed apostle admonishing us terribly and wholesomely. For thus he says: We must all be made manifest 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. This matter the Lord also announces in the Gospel, saying: The Son of Man will come in his glory with his angels, and then he will render to each according to his works. Diligently, I ask, pay attention, dearest brothers, and together with me be terrified, because he did not say that he will render to each according to his mercy, but according to his works. For here he is merciful, there he is just. For the fact that he does not immediately punish sinners is patience, not negligence. He has not lost his power, but has reserved us for penance. Hence it is greatly to be feared, lest, the longer he waits for us to correct ourselves, the more severely he may punish, if we are unwilling to be reformed.

Since these things are so, we must know and understand, dearest brothers, that nothing is more salutary for us than that, having condemned the pleasures of all present things, we rather consider when we will be departing from this world or when, with the coming of the final day, we will lay aside the tabernacle of our body and again receive it at the time of resurrection, so that with it we may receive, according to what we have done, either good or evil. And therefore I ask you, brothers, that we daily rather consider what we will be like on the day of judgment, when we are to be presented to the most pure gaze of angels and are to render an account to the eternal judge from the books of our conscience. For, with all proofs removed, it is certain that on that day the man himself will be set before himself, and his very soul will be shown to him from the mirror of the heart, and witnesses against it will be brought forth not from outside elsewhere, but from within, from the soul itself. Not some foreign, but all too familiar testimonies will be added, that is, his own works. His sins or crimes will be arrayed before the wretched soul, so that proof may convict it and recognition confound it, according to what is written: I will accuse you and set that before your face.

whoever neglects to correct himself while it is still permitted will be the first to receive punishment from confusion before that heavenly people, and the soul which now, through a convenient transaction of penance, pretends not to cure the putridities of its sins, will remain wounded forever before that fearful tribunal without any remedy. Since these things are so, it would be well with us if we now repented of our evils in the same way as we will then repent without any remedy, if we could now see and abhor our foulnesses and confusions just as we will then see them. O if only it were permitted now to behold the face of the sinful soul with the eyes of the body, and we were allowed to bring the countenance of our conscience before the eyes! For if this were permitted, it cannot be said with how much zeal and how much fear we would be driven to set right what is defiled, to wipe clean what is stained, to heal what is wounded. And therefore, because we cannot with the eyes of the body, let us inspect ourselves, as much as we can, with the eyes of the heart, and let us now set our consciences before the sight of the inner man. Let us ourselves chastise ourselves, let us ourselves make an account of our daily conduct. Let each soul address itself in the secrets of the heart and say: let us see if I have passed this day without sin, without envy, without detraction, without murmuring; let us see if today I have done anything that pertains to the progress of the soul.

I think that today I have lied, that I have been overcome by anger or lust, that I have done no good to anyone, and finally that I have not groaned with fear of eternal death. Who will give me back this day, which I have wasted on vain things, which I have consumed with harmful and most wicked thoughts? And so, brothers, let us be pricked with compunction in our chambers, that is, in our hearts, concerning all our negligences; let us ourselves condemn ourselves, let us ourselves accuse ourselves daily before our judge, and while we are in this flesh, let us daily fight against the flesh itself with the Lord's help. Let us conquer our wills and intentions, while that most longed-for and most blessed time succeeds us with a happy change into eternal life, when that which the Lord said will be fulfilled: "And men will be like angels," and again: "Then the just will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father." What do you think the splendor of souls will be then, when the light of bodies will have the brightness of the sun? For then, when we have come to that blessedness, there will be no sadness for us, no fear, no death. No infirmity will then hinder us from serving our Lord, no adversity of carnal misery will oppose us, no necessity of fighting will remain any further.

That time will come, I say, when no refreshment of food or sleep will be desired, no weariness of fasting will be felt, no disturbance from the flesh or temptation from the enemy will be feared, but with the adversary thrust into the depths of hell, we shall first enjoy this happiness: that we begin neither to wish to sin any further nor to be able to. With all iniquity, all misery, all sorrow ceasing, innocence, joy, and happiness will possess everything. No lower misery will remain, no happier being will fear envy, because with all malice emptied and utterly extinguished, the charity of angels will pass into the hearts of men, and men, now heavenly, having received flesh without the weakness of flesh, will shine. And therefore they will suffer no further weariness from the eternal power of their Lord, no failure under the perpetual exultation of their praises. We shall have full blessedness among those immense benefits of our God, so that we never waver in rendering thanks to him, having been made co-heirs of him who said: "Come, blessed ones of my Father, receive the kingdom that has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world.

Behold what blessedness he will lose who is unwilling to correct himself during the time of penance, who does not redeem himself from his own possessions while they are still his own, who, turning remedies into wounds, has subjected his unhappy neck to avarice or luxury. But we, brothers, with God’s help, let us disdain to serve sins, for whom such great blessedness is prepared in heaven. Therefore, while it is permitted to us and is within our power, let us reject false and transitory things, so that we may merit to receive those things which are truly good. Let us empty ourselves of vices, let us be filled with virtues, because no one can receive good things if he is unwilling to free himself from evil things. For vessels full of mud cannot receive and store the pure liquid of an element, and a thorny field, unless it has been uprooted by the industry of cultivators, will not nourish the seeds cast into it, but will suffocate them, because it is written: that the benign Holy Spirit will not dwell in a body subject to sins. While we sail in this world as on a stormy sea, so that we may be able to reach the homeland of paradise, let us hasten to drain the bilge water of vices, so that our soul, adorned with good works, like a ship full of diverse wares, may cast anchor in the port of eternal blessedness and we may merit to arrive at the fellowship of angels, where, freed from evil hearing, we may merit to hear that happy and longed-for voice: "Well done, good and faithful servant, because you were faithful in a few things, I will set you over many.

enter into the joy of your Lord, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and power for ever and ever. Amen. XIII. ON THE HOLY MARTYR VINCENT. In the passion which has been read to us today, dearest brethren, the fierce judge, the bloodstained torturer, the unconquered martyr are clearly shown. In his body, furrowed by various torments, the tortures had already failed, and yet his limbs still held out. Impiousness persisted, though refuted by so many miracles; weakness did not yield, though assailed by so many punishments. Therefore let the working of divinity be recognized. For how could corruptible dust endure such monstrous torments, unless Christ dwelt in him? For in all these things, it is He who is to be acknowledged, He who is to be glorified, He who is to be praised, who gave both faith at the first calling and strength in the final passion. Do you wish to know that both were given? Hear the apostle Paul: "To you," he says, "it has been granted for Christ, that you not only believe in Him, but also suffer for Him." Vincent had received both of these; he had received them and he possessed them. For if he had not received them, what would he have? He had confidence in speech, he had endurance in suffering. Therefore let no one presume from his own heart when he utters a word. Let no one trust in his own strength when he endures temptation, because both that we speak good things wisely is from Him—our wisdom—and that we bear evil things bravely is from Him—our patience.

Recall the Lord of the Law, Christ, admonishing his disciples in the Gospel; recall the king of the martyrs instructing his cohorts with spiritual arms, showing battles, promising rewards. When he had said to his disciples, “You will have hardship in this world,” he soon added, to console their frightened hearts, “But trust, because I have conquered the world.” Why then are we amazed, dearest ones, if Vincent conquered in him by whom the world was conquered? “In this world,” he says, “you will have hardship,” so that if it presses, it does not crush, and if it attacks, it does not overcome. The world brings forth a twofold battle line against the soldiers of Christ. Pay attention, brothers. A twofold battle line, I say, the world brings forth against the soldiers of Christ. For it flatters, to deceive; it terrifies, to break. Let not our own pleasure hold us, let not others’ cruelty terrify us. And because Christ meets both approaches, the world is conquered and the Christian is not overcome. If human endurance is considered in this passion, it begins to be unbelievable; if divine power is recognized, it ceases to be wondrous. So great a cruelty raged in the martyr’s body, and so great a calm was uttered in his voice; so great a harshness of torments raged in his limbs, and so great a security sounded in his words, that in a wondrous way it was thought that another was suffering in Vincent, or certainly that another Vincent was being tortured while Vincent spoke.

And truly, dearest brothers, it was so, entirely so. Another was speaking. For Christ promised this to his witnesses. For thus he spoke in the Gospel to his own, whom he was preparing for contests of this kind: "Do not premeditate how or what you should say. For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your father, who speaks in you." Therefore, the flesh was suffering and the spirit was speaking, and with the spirit speaking, not only was impiety refuted, but also weakness was strengthened. Torments made the martyr more illustrious for us. Pierced by a manifold variety of wounds, he did not abandon the fight, but renewed it more fiercely. You would think that the flame hardened him, not consumed him, and like a potter's kiln receiving soft clay renders it hard earthenware. Our martyr could say to Datianus: "My flesh no longer heeds your fires, because my strength has dried up like a potsherd." And since it is truly written: "The potter's kiln tests vessels, and the trial of tribulation tests just men," Vincent was tested and baked hard by that fire, but Datianus burned and crackled. For if he was not burning, whence came the smoke? What were the words of the angry man but the smoke of one burning? Therefore, to our martyr, having refreshment in his heart, he applied flames from without, but he himself, kindled by the torches of fury, burned within like an oven and consumed his inhabitant, the devil.

Through the raging words of Datianus, through his savage eyes, threatening countenance, and the movements of his entire body, that inner inhabitant of his was stirring and, through these visible signs, was betrayed like a vessel he had filled, its cracking fissures giving him away. The flame did not torment the martyr as much as madness ravaged him. But now, brothers, all those things have passed—both the anger of Datianus and the punishment of Vincentius. What remains, however, is the punishment of Datianus and the crown of Vincentius. Finally, to set aside for now the bounds of future reward and to demonstrate the glory of the martyrs even in this world, what region today, what province across the sea, as far as either the Roman Empire or the Christian name extends, does not rejoice in celebrating the birthday of Vincentius? And who today would have even heard the name of Datianus, unless he had read it in the passion of Vincentius? Moreover, that the Lord preserved the martyr’s body with such care—what else did it show, except that he who governed him while living did not abandon him even when lifeless? Therefore, the living Vincentius conquered Datianus, and the dead Vincentius conquers him still. While living, he trampled upon the torments; while dead, he swam across the seas. But the same one who, amid the claws, gave his unconquered soul to God, also steered his lifeless corpse amid the waves.

The torturer’s flame did not bend his heart, the water of the sea did not drown his body, but in all these things there is nothing other than that the death of his saints is precious in the sight of the Lord, to which glory may the Lord lead us under his protection, to whom is honor and power for ever and ever. Amen. XIV. ADMONITION. I ask you, dearest brothers, that, as I have frequently admonished, we strive constantly to meditate upon the day of our death and the terrible and fearful judgment. For no more useful remedies can be found for the wounds of all sins than that each one should ponder that hour when he will be about to depart from this world. For how can it happen that someone presumes to commit any grave sins who believes that at any moment he can depart from this light? For thus also Scripture says: “Remember, son, that death does not delay,” and that: “Remember the last things and cease to be hostile.” For whoever diligently attends to how harsh the examination will be before the tribunal of Christ, where each one is to receive according to his works, sins or crimes of his own will not be able to please him.

For when before that fearsome judge all the nations have been gathered, then there will be weeping of eyes and gnashing of teeth for the unjust, the adulterers, and the rapacious, when they have seen the multitude of the saints set apart at the right hand of the king and for glory, and the peoples of sin plunged into the depth of Tartarus without any hope of mercy or pardon, and shut out in their own darkness from the blessed light of the saints, and descending endlessly into the abyss, the eternal punishments pressing upon their mouth, and perpetual death which will not die. In vain will the poor man, whom he despised in this life, beg for mercy; in vain will he ask that the tip of Lazarus’s finger be placed upon his burning lips, so that he might be cooled. How much would the wretch wish, when he has seen the glory of the poor, that he had once submitted to the harsh labors of poverty and had borne the evils of that life which die with life, so that he might not deserve to come to those eternal punishments.

So that we may not deserve to hear these so harsh and so terrible things before that tribunal of the eternal judge, therefore, dearest brothers, while it is still permitted and while it is within our power with God’s help, let us examine our consciences, and if we recognize that any crimes or capital sins, not yet purged by alms and prayers, still hold sway in us, let us hasten, with Christ’s help, to enter the port of penance, having overcome the waves of sins; and if we recognize that anything in the little ship of our soul, broken by many storms of sins, has been shattered by pride, or torn by avarice, or loosened by lust, let us hasten to mend or repair it with good works. For past sins do not harm, if they do not please. For just as the righteousness of any of the just is not sufficient unless he perseveres to the end, so the iniquity of any sinner will not be able to harm him if, before he departs from this body, he has recourse to the remedies of alms or the medicines of penance.

But because we cannot know when or at what hour we may be snatched from this world, let us hasten without any delay or hesitation to flee from the left to the right. Neither health nor age is to be trusted. He who is always uncertain of his life should always be intent on the remedy of his salvation, for He who made us secure by saying: “The sinner, on the day he is converted, all his iniquities will be consigned to oblivion,” also wished us to be cautious, saying: “Do not delay in turning to the Lord, nor put it off from day to day.” But perhaps when we generally call everyone to penance, someone may think within himself and say: “I am a young man with a wife; how can I either cut my hair or assume the religious habit?” We do not say this, dearest brothers, we do not preach that young men who appear to have marriages should change their habits rather than their habit. For what harm does it do to a man who has a wife, if he wishes to turn his corrupt morals to good and honest works, if he strives to recall the wounds of his sins to their former health through fasts, prayers, and alms? True conversion suffices for itself without a change of garments. Religious garments, however, without good works, will not only be unable to provide a remedy, but will also suffer the just judgment of God. Let us therefore turn to better things, while the remedies are within our power.

Here let us extinguish death by dying to sins; here let us acquire life by the merits of life, through him who lives and reigns with the Father for ever and ever. Amen. XV. ON THE FAST OF LENT. Behold, most beloved brothers, the days of holy and spiritual Lent are already at hand, in which the body’s losses turn into the soul’s gains. And therefore, because, as the apostle says, an acceptable time and days of salvation are coming, let us prepare our minds as for a spiritual vintage and let us strive to be so free for God that in these few days we may be able to gather what will suffice for us for the whole year. For we believe that the Lord said of these days through the prophet: “On the days of your solemnities you will afflict your souls.” Why did he say this? Because fasts and vigils and holy afflictions macerate the humbled body, but they purify stained hearts; they take away strength from the limbs, but they bring luster to the consciences. For by the weariness of the bodies the crimes of the will are redeemed; through the exercises of the harsh cross the pleasures of lust or of the flesh are punished; and thus by present mortification the sentence of future death is appeased, and, while the author of the fault is humbled, the fault is consumed. And while the affliction of the body is inflicted by voluntary severity, the offense of the dread judge is appeased, and a slight labor dissolves huge sins, which eternal fire would scarcely consume.

For if we ourselves impose discipline upon our sins, if through penance we despise the lust of the flesh, we shall soon make God propitious to us. If you acknowledge your sin, God forgives it. For how can it happen that God deigns to forgive that sin which man in himself disdains to acknowledge? Therefore, in treating the cause of our salvation, let us do within ourselves what physicians are accustomed to do about us. If some injury or complaint is felt in the first layer of the skin, a gentler remedy is applied. But if a wound is hidden in the bones or sunk deep in the bowels, the hidden force demands a harsher and more violent medicine, so that the magnitude of the ulcer is overcome either by cauterization or by incision, and pain is conquered by pain. A similar principle is to be applied in the sickness of souls. If the sins are perhaps light—for example, if a man has sinned in speech or in some reproach of the will, if he has sinned with the eye or the heart—the stains of words and thoughts are to be overcome by daily prayer and are to be wiped away by private compunction.

But if anyone, examining his own conscience within, has committed some capital crime; if he has assaulted and destroyed his faith by false testimony; if he has violated the sacred name of truth by the rashness of perjury; if he has stained the snowy tunic of baptism and the precious silk of virginity with the filth of defiled modesty; if he has killed the new man within himself by the crime of homicide; if, by observing auguries through haruspices, diviners, and enchanters, he has delivered himself captive to the devil—these and similar evils can scarcely be expiated by common, moderate, or secret satisfaction. Grave causes require graver, sharper, and public remedies, so that he who has destroyed himself along with the ruin of many may redeem himself in a similar way with the edification of many. For a man deceives himself if, when he feels the disease burning within his marrow, he applies a soft ointment only to the surface of the body.

These capital evils therefore require a great wailing and groaning and lamentation and a fountain of tears, and one must cry out with the prophet: "I roared from the groaning of my heart," and: "I will wash my bed each night, I will water my couch with tears," and again: "But I ate bread like ashes and mixed my drink with weeping." Let no one despise penance, let no one scorn this humility. For it was King David who said these things, it was a great king who did them. Therefore, as over a dead man, one must give forth wailing and great lamentations over the soul slain by sins. And just as a bereaved mother is accustomed to lament with broken heart over the loss of her only son, so it is fitting to be afflicted over our only soul, but with hope of restoration, concerning which the prophetic word says: "Snatch my soul from the sword and my only one from the dog's hand." Why does it say "only one"? Either because it is to be loved as an only child, or because it alone, with all supports removed, will render account before the tribunal of Christ. Thus, I say, it is necessary over this only one, slain by the sword of crimes, to pour out with roaring and groaning the whole weight of grief, if perhaps it can be revived by the fomentations of tears and the warmth of faith. Compunction must be kindled, prayers must be strengthened by the recollection of the future judgment. The saying of the prophet Daniel must truly be heard, but heard with the ear of obedience, as he says: "Take my advice, O king, and redeem your sins by alms to the poor.

The example also of that evangelical man is to be heard as if truly written for our redemption: "Behold, half of my goods, Lord, I give to the poor," concerning whom we have heard in the Gospel the Lord saying with ineffable condescension and love: "He who has done for one of these least ones has done for me." These words commend to us the fruits of almsgiving by heavenly authority. But perhaps, when we speak of alms, narrow poverty takes fright and says that it does not have what it can give to the poor. For no one will be able to excuse himself in this matter, when the Lord has promised that he will repay a reward even for a cup of cold water, and has praised the widow who placed two coins in the treasury. Moreover, our God is nourished not by the abundance of the gift, but by the goodwill of the giver. I myself think, dearest ones, that our Lord has permitted the poor to exist in this world for this reason: that in the poor he might test the faith of the rich, or that through mercy toward the poor he might show compassion to the rich, so that for the wealthy there would be no lack of opportunity for good work and for their own redemption, and so that benevolence and mercy might enrich even through another's need, and that each more opulent person might gain immense profits from the needy, and by a marvelous and supreme exchange, while conferring temporal generosity in mercy upon the needy, he might thus acquire eternal treasures for himself.

Let us direct our actions, so that whatever we can, whatever we are able, we may devote for the love of eternal life to the exercises of good will, to the pursuits of justice and mercy. Let us run while we have light, before the darkness overtakes us, because in that world it will no longer be permitted to look to amendment and redemption, as the divine word says: “For in death there is no one who remembers you.” Therefore, just as there no loss of merits will be feared, so no remission of sins will be granted, and no license for performing good works will be allowed there. Thinking wisely and happily on these things, therefore, brothers, let us hasten to take refuge in the remedies of penance, and through chastity and humility, through works of justice and mercy, let us obtain for ourselves eternal rewards before God, with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and power for ever and ever. Amen.

XVI. On the Lord’s Beginning of Lent. Our Lord and Savior exhorts and admonishes us, through the prophet, as to how we ought to come to him after many negligences, saying: “Come, let us adore and prostrate ourselves before the Lord who made us,” and again: “Turn to me with your whole heart, in fasting, weeping, and lamentation.” For the days, dearest brothers, of holy Lent, if we attend diligently, signify the life of the present age, just as the days of Easter prefigure eternal blessedness. And just as in Lent we have a kind of sadness, so that we may rejoice in Easter according to the rightful order, so also in this age, as long as we live, we ought to do penance, so that we may receive indulgence (for our sins in the future) and be able to attain eternal joy. But each one ought to sigh over his crimes, pour forth tears, give alms, so that, with God’s help, as long as he lives, he always strives to flee from those same crimes. For just as without minor sins no one has ever been or can be, so without capital crimes, with God granting and helping, we ought to be in every way.

And that we may obtain these things, if worldly hindrances detain and bind us at other times, let us at least during the holy days of Lent meditate day and night in the law of the Lord, as it is written, and so fill our heart with the sweetness of divine law that we leave no place in us empty of virtues, which vices might seize. For just as at the time of harvests or vintages, dearest brothers, that by which our flesh can be sustained is gathered, so in the days of Lent, as in a time of spiritual vintages or harvests, that by which our soul may live eternally should be gathered; because, just as anyone negligent at the time of vintages or harvests, gathering nothing, will be tormented by hunger throughout the whole year, so he who at this time neglects to provide for and store up spiritual grain and heavenly must in the granaries of his soul by fasting, reading, and praying will suffer the harshest thirst and cruel destitution for eternity.

Know this most certainly, beloved brothers: just as the body, after many days, receives food, so is the soul that is not constantly nourished by the word of God. And just as the body, through hunger and deprivation, becomes thin and dry, like some kind of image, so also the soul, if it is not nourished by the food of the word of God, is found to be arid and useless and fit for no good work. Consider, beloved brothers: we prepare the granary, the storehouse, and the cellar each year, from which our body may have food for one year: do you think how much we ought to store up, from which our soul may be sustained for eternity? And therefore, beloved brothers, at least during these few days, let the hindrances of the world recede, because, according to Scripture, they make many negligent people wretched. Let carnal joy recede, let the poison-filled blandishments of this world recede. Let the pleasures of the flesh be diminished, so that spiritual gains for the soul may be prepared, because of what is written: Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep, and: Blessed are those who mourn, for they themselves will be comforted. Let the time that the furious game of dice used to steal from us begin to be occupied by divine reading, and let odious tales and biting jokes and venomous slanders give way to conversations from the holy Scriptures. In the hours in which we used to be detained by hunting, to the detriment of the soul, let the sick be visited, let those confined in prison be sought out, let strangers be received, and let the discordant be recalled to harmony.

If we do this, brothers, we can prepare for ourselves remedies from the very place where we had inflicted wounds. Above all, in the days of fasts, let us give to the poor what we were accustomed to eat for dinner, lest anyone should strive to prepare sumptuous dinners and feasts of exquisite flavors for himself, and seem to have changed the abundance of foods for his body rather than subtracted it. It is of no benefit to have prolonged a fast for an entire day, if afterwards the soul is overwhelmed by the pleasantness or excess of foods. For the mind, when filled, becomes foul, and the watered earth of our body will sprout the thorns of lust. Therefore, let food be temperate, the belly never overfilled, and let us always think more about the food of the heart than the food of the body, we who within, in the inner man, are made in the image of God, but in flesh are formed from the slime of the earth. And see, brothers, if it is just that the flesh, made from earth, sometimes takes food twice a day, and the soul, which is the image of God, scarcely receives the word of God after many days, although it is expedient for us that we ought to honor the image of God in us more than our flesh. For those who think only about the flesh are like beasts and cattle, and those who act thus have already crushed the image of God in themselves. Indeed, let the flesh be governed like a handmaid, and the soul, as the lawful mistress, be preferred.

If it is done otherwise, if we do not recognize ourselves as made in the image of God and think more of the flesh than of the soul, I fear that the Holy Spirit may rebuke us through the prophet, saying: "Man, when he was in honor, did not understand. He was compared to senseless beasts and became like them." Listen willingly to the divine readings in church, as you are accustomed, and read them again in your homes. If anyone is so occupied that he cannot attend to the divine Scripture before a meal, let him not be reluctant to read something from the divine Scriptures at his own table, so that, just as the flesh is fed with food, the soul may be refreshed by the word of God, and the whole man—that is, the outer and the inner—may rise satiated from a holy and salutary banquet. For if only the flesh is fed and the soul is not refreshed by the word of God, the handmaid is satisfied and the mistress is tormented by hunger.

And how unjust this is, your holiness cannot be unaware, and therefore, as I have already said, you ought both to hear and read the divine readings with such desire that from them in your homes and elsewhere, wherever you may be, you can also speak and teach others, and, like clean animals ruminating with constant thought, you can both take into yourselves and, with God’s help, offer to others the useful juice, that is, the spiritual sense, fulfilling that which is written: “And your cup, how excellent it is, making drunk,” fulfilling that which the blessed apostle urges and admonishes, saying: “Whether you eat or drink or do anything, do all to the glory of God.” And if infirmity does not prevent it, fast daily and rise with eager and fervent devotion for the vigils, because of that which is written: “Day and night my spirit watches for you, O God,” and again: “I will pray to you, Lord, in the morning, and you will hear my voice,” and again: “I rose at midnight to confess your name, O Lord.” To this matter also our Lord and Savior urges and admonishes in the Gospel, saying: “Watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation,” which may He Himself deign to grant, to whom is honor and power with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

XVII. On the Reading of the Gospel, Where It Says: Let Your Left Hand Not Know What Your Right Hand Does. The Gospel reading, dearest brothers, which has just been recited to us, seems to me that it cannot be understood according to the letter, and therefore, with God’s help, let us seek how we may arrive at its spiritual sense. For it says thus: Take heed that you do not perform your righteousness before men, so that you may be seen by them; and again: When you give alms, let your left hand not know what your right hand does, although elsewhere it says: Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works. Pay close attention, brothers, and seek the understanding of divine Scripture humbly and wisely. For the Lord himself cannot be contrary to himself in the Gospel reading. For because he himself said that alms should be given secretly and he himself admonished that it be done publicly, so that his precepts may not seem to be contrary, he seeks a sober understanding. For he who gives alms in order to desire to be praised by men, even if he does it secretly, does it publicly, because he seeks praise from men. But he who gives alms for the love of God alone, so that others may imitate him in the good work and that not he, but the Lord, be praised, even if he gives alms publicly, does so secretly, because for that alms he desires not what is seen, but what is not seen, and he seeks not praise from men, but reward from God to receive.

We must also understand this in relation to fasting. For when the Lord himself says: anoint your head and wash your face, lest you appear to men as fasting, are we then to act contrary to Christ’s precepts, who publicly proclaim a fast and fast together with the whole people watching? And in this sense it must be understood, that no one should fast for human praise, but for the forgiveness of sins, for divine mercy. Therefore let each one question his own conscience, and if he gives alms for God alone, let him do so securely and publicly, so that whoever sees him may imitate him. For also that which the Lord says: let your left hand not know what your right hand does, is recognized to pertain to what we have said above. For in the right hand is understood the love of God, in the left hand vanity or worldly desire. And if you give alms for human praise, the left hand does everything, the right hand nothing at all. But if you give alms for the remission of sins and for the love of eternal life, the right hand does everything. What then is: let your left hand not know what your right hand does, except that what the love of God does, vanity or worldly desire should not corrupt or destroy? For if anyone believes this can be fulfilled according to the letter, what should he do if his right hand aches? Should he not give alms with his left hand? Or, if he wishes to ransom a captive, how will he be able to open a chest or untie a purse, if he does not join his left hand to his right?

or if it is necessary to receive a stranger and, according to the Lord’s command, to wash the feet of the saints, I do not see how this can be fulfilled without the left hand knowing. To this also pertains what the Lord said: do not pray on street corners, but, he says, enter into your chamber and, with the door closed, pray to your Father in secret. Behold, you yourselves well recognize that not even this can always be fulfilled according to the letter. For we ourselves and the whole people pray not only in our chambers, but we also assemble at church and kneel together with all the people. And are we, in doing these things, contrary to Christ’s precepts, who said that we ought to pray in chambers with the door closed? It is not so. Hence this sense also is consistent with the preceding statement. Therefore attend carefully to how this ought to be understood. If, when you pray to God, you ask of him that which is seen, you pray publicly and with open door, because you wish to receive from God that which is seen. But if you wish to supplicate for the forgiveness of sins and for eternal life, even if you pray publicly, you pray with closed door, because you do not ask for that which is seen, but for that which is not seen. For those things which are seen are temporal, but those which are not seen are eternal. If you seek temporal things, as I have already said above, you pray publicly and with open door; if you seek eternal things, your prayer is secret, because you desire to receive not those things which are seen, but those which are not seen.

Therefore, whoever has sought those things which are not seen in truth will also receive those things which are seen, with the Lord rewarding, because He who says does not lie: seek first the kingdom of God and its justice, and all these things will be provided to you. We do not say this, brothers, so that we do not pray to the Lord for temporal things, that is, for the health of bodies or for the peace of peoples or for an abundance of crops. We ought to ask these things from God as well, but in the second and third place, so that the first part in every intention of our prayer is held by love of the soul and desire for eternal life. Let us pray for the body, but without any comparison let us supplicate more for the soul. And therefore, dearest brothers, whenever this Gospel reading is read to you, you ought to receive its understanding in the order we have suggested above, so that whether in alms or in fasts or in prayers, whether in the right hand or in the left, we strive to observe this: that whatever we do, we do not for the vanity or desire of the world, but for the love of eternal blessedness, which He Himself deigns to grant, who lives with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.

XVIII. On the Calling of Abraham. Just now, when the divine reading was being recited, we heard the Lord saying to the blessed Abraham: "Go forth," he says, "from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house." For all things, dearest brothers, which are written in the Old Testament have borne the type and image of the New Testament. Thus also the Apostle Paul says: "For all things happened to them in a figure." They were written, however, for our sake, upon whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, if they were written for our sake, those things which we then read as having been done corporally in Abraham, if we live holily and justly, we see fulfilled spiritually in ourselves. "Go forth," he says, "from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house." All these things, dearest brothers, through the sacrament of baptism in us, we both believe and perceive to be fulfilled. Our land is our flesh. We go forth well from our land when, abandoning carnal habits, we cling to the footsteps of Christ. Does it not seem to you that he goes forth happily from his land, that is, from himself, who from being proud becomes humble, from wrathful becomes patient, from lustful becomes chaste, from greedy becomes generous, from envious becomes kind, from cruel becomes gentle?

Indeed, dearest brothers, one who is so changed for the love of God happily departs from his land. Finally, even in private conversation we are accustomed to speak thus: if some evil man suddenly begins to perform good works, we say of him: that man has departed from himself. And truly he is said to have well departed from himself who, having rejected vices, takes delight in virtues. "Go forth," says the Lord, "from your land." Our land, that is, our flesh, before baptism was a land of the dying; after baptism it has become a land of the living. It is the land of which the prophet had sung, saying: "I believe I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living." Therefore, we have become, through baptism, a land of the living and not of the dying, that is, of virtues and not of vices, as I have said—if, however, after having received baptism we do not return to the wallow of vices, if, after we have become a land of the living, we do not perform works subject to death and given to luxury. "And come," says the Lord, "into the land which I will show you." For then we come with joy to the land which the Lord shows, if first, with His help, we drive away vices and sins from our land, that is, from our flesh. "Go forth," he says, "from your kindred." This kindred is understood to be vices and sins, which are in a certain way born with us from the same source and are nourished from infancy by evil habits.

Therefore, we depart from our kinship when through the grace of baptism we are emptied of all sins and vices, yet in such a way that afterwards, with God's help, we labor as much as we can, so that, with vices repelled, we may be filled with virtues. For if after baptism, having been emptied of all evils, we wish to be idle and slothful, I fear that what is written in the Gospel may be fulfilled in us: "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, it wanders through waterless places, seeking rest and finding none. Afterwards, if it returns and finds the house empty, it will bring with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and that man's last state will be worse than the first." Thus, let us depart from our kinship, that is, from sins and vices, so that we may never afterwards wish to return to these evils like a dog to its vomit. "Depart," says the Lord, "and from the house of your father." And this, dearest brothers, we must understand spiritually. Our father before the grace of Christ was the devil. Concerning him, the Lord in the Gospel, rebuking the Jews, says: "You are from your father the devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father." Therefore, he called the devil the father of men, not by being born from him, but by imitating his wickedness; not because they could be born from him, but because they wished to imitate him. For that the devil was formerly our father, the Psalmist, speaking in the person of God to the Church, recalls, saying: "Listen, daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and the house of your father.

Consider therefore first what he said: "Listen, daughter," he says. He who says "Listen, daughter" is certainly a father. When he said, "Forget your people and your father's house," he certainly admonishes that the father is to be abandoned. We are therefore invited by God the Father to abandon the devil as father by a blessed and happy exchange. We rightly abandon the devil as father if, with God's help, we always strive to avoid or flee his cunning and wickedness. All these things, therefore—that we may be able to depart from our land, that is, from carnal living, and leave behind our kinship, that is, our vices and sins, and flee from the house of the devil our father—we have merited not by our own strength, but by the gift of Christ's grace. And therefore, as much as we can, let us labor with God's help, lest we return again to the fellowship or friendship of the devil, or to vices, or to carnal desires, because of what is written: "You have now been healed; do not sin, lest something worse happen to you." But rather, by imitating the faith of Abraham and by always doing good works, let us be able to attain not only pardon, but also fellowship or friendship with God. Let us also fear that which the Lord spoke to Moses concerning this same matter, which we ought to consider with great fear and trembling. For thus he says: "When," he says, "the Lord has handed over to you the land of the Canaanites, take care that you never form friendships with the inhabitants of that land, which would be to your ruin.

Although we believe that all crimes and sins have been driven out of us through the grace of baptism, if afterwards we form friendships with those same vices or sins, by consenting to them in desire or lust, their friendship undoubtedly becomes our ruin. And therefore, as much as we are able, with God’s help let us labor for the health of the soul and hasten to introduce virtues into the field of our heart, which sins and crimes had been accustomed to possess, so that in us may be fulfilled what the blessed Isaac, as a type of Christ, said while blessing his son: “Behold, the scent of my son is like the scent of a full field, which the Lord has blessed.” May He deign to grant this, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, is honor and power forever and ever. Amen. XIX. ON ABRAHAM AND HIS SON ISAAC. That reading, dearest brothers, in which the blessed Abraham is read to have offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice, is not recited in its proper order during the days of Lent because, as you yourselves know, it is reserved for the Paschal vigil on account of the mystery of the Lord’s passion. And since there is not then time for anything to be said about it, now, if you permit, let us briefly impart to the ears of your charity the exposition of it, according to what our fathers, inspired by the Lord, have treated, as briefly as we can.

The Lord therefore said to Abraham: "Take your son, whom you love, Isaac, and offer him to me as a sacrifice on one of the mountains which I will show you." And he, rising, saddled his donkey and took with him two servants and his son Isaac, and arrived on the third day at the place which the Lord had shown him. For Abraham, when he offered his son Isaac, bore the type of God the Father, while Isaac bore the figure of the Lord Savior. That the place of sacrifice is reached on the third day reveals the mystery of the Trinity. For that the third day in a sacrament or mystery should be understood as referring to the Trinity is frequently found in the sacred volumes, as in Exodus: "We will go," it says, "a journey of three days in the desert," and again, when they came to Mount Sinai, it was said to the people: "Sanctify yourselves and be ready on the third day," and Joshua, about to cross the Jordan, admonished that the people be ready on the third day, and the Lord rose on the third day. We have said this because the blessed Abraham came on the third day to the place which the Lord had shown him.

The two boys, whom Abraham ordered to remain with the donkey, were a type of the Jewish people, who, because they were not going to believe in Christ, could not ascend or arrive at the place where the sacrifice was to be made. That donkey signifies the synagogue. But that ram, which was caught by its horns among the thorns, itself also seems to have been a type of the Lord. For Christ also clung, as if by horns, among the thorns, when he hung fastened by nails to the horns of the cross. Moreover, that Isaac himself carried the wood for his own sacrifice—in this too he prefigured Christ the Lord, who carried his own cross to the place of his passion. Concerning this mystery, much had been foretold long before through the prophet: "And his principality," he says, "will be upon his shoulders." For Christ had the principality upon his shoulders when he carried his cross with admirable humility. Not incongruously does the cross of Christ signify the principality. For through it the devil is conquered and the whole world is recalled to the knowledge or grace of Christ. Finally, Paul also said this when speaking of the Lord's passion: "He became," he says, "obedient to his father unto death, and that death of the cross." For this reason God exalted him and gave him a name that is above every name.

We have said this, brothers, so that your charity might recognize that the principatus of Christ, concerning which it is written: "and the principatus will be upon his shoulders," is nothing other than his cross. And therefore that reading is read at Easter, when the true Isaac, whose type the son of Abraham bore, is affixed to the gibbet of the cross for the human race. It is also read in that same reading that the blessed Abraham, coming with his son, saw the place from afar and said to the boys: "Sit here with the donkey. I and the boy will go on, and when we have worshipped, we will return to you." Why is it said to the boys, who had the figure of the Jews: "Sit here with the donkey"? Surely that donkey could not sit, brothers? But it is said: "Sit with the donkey," because the Jewish people, who were not going to believe in Christ, could not stand, but, as weak and languid with sin, having despised the staff of the cross, were about to fall to the ground. Therefore the blessed Abraham says: "Sit here with the donkey; I and the boy will go on, and when we have worshipped, we will return to you." What is this that you say, blessed Abraham? You are going to sacrifice your son, and you say you will return with your son? For if you offer him as a holocaust, he certainly cannot return with you. The blessed Abraham could have answered: I speak truly, and I offer my son, and I will return with my son to you.

My faith is so great that I believe that he who deigned to give him to me from a barren mother can also raise him up when dead, and therefore I speak truly when I say that, when we have worshipped, we will return to you. But that the ram was killed and Isaac was not killed happened because Isaac was a figure and not the truth, and in him, therefore, it was signified what was later fulfilled in Christ. See the Lord contending with men in great piety. Abraham offered a mortal son who would not die to God, and God gave his immortal son over to death for the sake of men. Yet it can also be understood concerning the blessed Isaac and that ram in this way: that in the blessed Isaac the divinity is signified, and in the ram, the humanity of Christ. And so that in the passion it may be believed that not the divinity, but the humanity was crucified, therefore not Isaac, but the ram is sacrificed. For the only-begotten of God is offered, and the firstborn of the Virgin is sacrificed.

Hear another mystery, dearest brothers. The blessed priest Jerome wrote that he had learned with utmost certainty from ancient and elder Jews that Isaac was offered there where Christ was later crucified. (Indeed, from the place whence the blessed Abraham was commanded to set out, one arrives on the third day at the place where Christ was crucified.) Also this is reported by the account of the ancients: that Adam, the first man, was once buried in that very place where the cross was fixed, and therefore it was called the place of the skull, because the first head of the human race is said to have been buried there. And truly, brothers, it is not incongruously believed that the physician was set up there where the sick man lay. And it was fitting that where human pride had fallen, there divine mercy should bow down, and that that precious blood, even corporeally, by deigning to drip upon the dust of the ancient sinner, should be believed to have redeemed it. For these things, dearest brothers, as we were able, we have gathered from various volumes of the scriptures for the progress of your soul and have suggested them out of consideration of charity. But you, with the Lord’s help, as you more frequently read the divine scriptures, if you attend diligently, I believe that you can find an even better exposition.

I ask you, brothers, that whoever desires his son or his household servant to be baptized should not delay in offering him to the church now, because it is not right that a matter which is believed to be so great and so illustrious should be sought after carelessly or more slowly than is expedient. For I fear that some women offer their infants later for this reason, because they pretend not to come with them to the vigils. For we believe most certainly that those who, as soon as Lent begins, have wished to offer those who are to be baptized, and have faithfully come with them to the vigils, and whose children have received the sacrament of baptism in the legitimate order, they themselves will also obtain indulgence for their sins, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and power with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen. XX. ON SAINT JOSEPH I. Whenever, dearest ones, readings from the Old Testament are recited, as I have frequently admonished, you ought to attend not only to what sounds in the word, but to what is understood and savors in the spirit. Thus also the apostle admonishes us, saying: the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. For all these things which are read in the Old Testament, as the apostle says, happened to them in figure, but they were written for our sake.

For when the Christian people faithfully come to church, what benefit is it to them to hear how the holy patriarchs either took wives or begot children, unless they perceive with spiritual understanding why these things were done or what these matters prefigured? Behold, we have heard that the blessed Jacob begot a son and called his name Joseph and loved him more than his other sons. In this passage, the blessed Jacob bore the figure of God the Father, and the holy Joseph likewise bore the type of the Lord Savior. Jacob loved his son, and God the Father loved his only Son. Jacob sent his son to take care of his brothers, and God the Father sent his only begotten Son to visit the human race, languishing in sins. While Joseph was seeking his brothers, he wandered in the wilderness, and Christ was seeking the human race, which was wandering in the world, in which world He Himself also wandered, as it were, because He was seeking those who were wandering. Joseph sought his brothers in Shechem. Shechem is interpreted as "shoulder." For sinners always turn their back to the face of the righteous. For shoulders are behind. For just as Joseph's brothers, stricken with envy, offered their back rather than their face to brotherly love, so too the unhappy Jews, when the author of salvation came to them, preferred to envy rather than to love. Concerning such persons it is said in the Psalm: "Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and let their back be always bent.

Joseph found his brothers in Dothaim. Dothaim is interpreted as "defection." Truly they were in great defection who were contemplating fratricide. Therefore, when Joseph's brothers saw him, they plotted his death. Thus, seeing the true Joseph, Jesus Christ, they all resolved with one counsel to crucify him. Just as Joseph's brothers stripped him of his many-colored and ankle-length tunic, so the Jews stripped Christ of his bodily tunic through death on the cross. Joseph, stripped of his tunic, is thrown into a cistern, that is, a pit, and Christ, stripped of his human flesh, descended into hell. Joseph, after he is lifted from the cistern, is sold to Ishmaelites, that is, to the Gentiles, and Christ, after he returns from hell, is purchased by all nations through the commerce of faith. Joseph is sold for thirty pieces of silver by the counsel of Judah, and Christ is sold for the same price by the counsel of Judas Iscariot. Moreover, that in different translations Joseph is not written as sold for an equal price, but some said twenty pieces of silver, others thirty, this signified spiritually that Christ was not to be believed or loved equally by all. Finally, even now in the church some love him more, others less. Christ is worth more to those who love him with greater charity. Joseph descends into Egypt, and Christ into the world. Joseph saves Egypt from a scarcity of grain, and Christ frees the world from a hunger for the word of God.

For unless Joseph's brothers had sold him, Egypt would have failed; it is true, brothers, unless the Jews had crucified Christ, the world would have perished. Let us nevertheless reflect, dearest brothers, on why the brothers of blessed Joseph raged so cruelly against him. Why, if not from the poison of envy, through which death entered the world? Finally, hear the Scripture saying: "His brothers envied him and could not speak any peaceful word to him." For blessed Joseph saw a dream, as if he were standing with his brothers in the field, gathering sheaves, and the eleven sheaves of his brothers were adoring his sheaf. This was fulfilled in that Joseph when his brothers adored him in Egypt. And not incongruously were the barren sheaves compelled to adore the fruitful sheaf, through whom they were to be delivered from the danger of famine. He also saw another dream, that the sun and moon and eleven stars adored him. To this his father replied: "Shall I and your mother and your brothers adore you upon the earth?" This could not be fulfilled in that Joseph, because his mother had already departed from this light. In our Joseph, however, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ, the mysteries of that dream were completed.