Hoc ergo petierunt ut qui inchoavit ipse perficiat, secundum Apostolum: Quoniam qui in vobis opus bonum coepit, perficiet usque in finem (Philip. i, 6). Et quod cantavimus modo quid aliud demonstrat, charissimi: Deduc me, Domine, inquit, in via tua, et ambulabo in veritate tua (Psal. lxxxv, 11). Non ait: Adduc me ad viam tuam; nam et hoc ipse facit; sed non, cum adduxerit, dimittat. Parum ergo est ad viam adduxisse, nisi sequatur, in via deduxisse, et ad patriam perduxisse. Cum ergo bona omnia habeamus a Deo, in bonis omnibus operibus nostris quando datorem bonorum omnium cogitamus, Deum sine fide laudamus; cum autem Deum, si bene vivimus, sine fide laudamus. Benedicamus Dominum in omni tempore, et semper laus ejus propter hoc in ore sit nostro (Psal. xxxiii, 2). Septies, inquit, in die laudabo te, septenario numero universitatem significans. Ergo si septies in die frater tuus peccaverit in te, et veniens dixerit Poenitet me; dimitte illi. Non tibi sit taedium semper ignoscere poenitenti. Si non es debitor, impune esses molestus exactor; cum vero debitor habeas debitorem, et tu ejus sis debitor, qui non habet debitum, vide quid facias cum debitore tuo; hoc enim Deus facturus est cum suo. Audi, et time: Laetetur, inquit, cor meum, ut timeam nomen tuum (Id. lxxxv, 11). Si laetaris quando tibi dimittitur, time ut dimittas.
They therefore asked that he who began the work should himself complete it, according to the Apostle: Since he who began a good work in you will complete it even to the end (Phil 1:6). And what else does what we have just sung show, dearest ones: Lead me, Lord, he says, in your way, and I will walk in your truth (Ps 85:11). He did not say: Bring me to your way; for he himself does this too; but let him not, when he has brought me, abandon me. It is little, then, to have brought someone to the way, unless there follows leading him along the way and leading him through to the homeland. Since, then, we have all good things from God, in all our good works, when we think of the giver of all good things, we praise God without faith; but when we praise God, if we live well, we praise him without faith. Let us bless the Lord at all times, and for this let his praise always be in our mouth (Ps 33:2). Seven times, he says, in the day I will praise you, signifying the whole by the number seven. Therefore, if seven times in the day your brother sins against you, and coming he says, I repent; forgive him. Let it not weary you always to pardon the penitent. If you are not a debtor, you would be a troublesome exactor with impunity; but since you are a debtor and have a debtor, and you are a debtor to him who has no debt, see what you do with your debtor; for God will do this with his own. Hear, and fear: Let my heart rejoice, he says, that I may fear your name (Ps 85:11). If you rejoice when you are forgiven, fear so that you may forgive.
Quantum enim timere debeas, idem ipse Salvator ostendit proponens servum, illum in Evangelio, cum quo rationem Dominus fecit, et invenit eum debitorem centum millium talentorum; Jussit eum venumdari, et omnia quae habebat, et reddi (Matth. xviii, 32). Ille provolutus ad pedes Domini sui orare coepit, ut acciperet dilatationem, et meruit remissionem. Ille autem exiens a facie Domini sui, omni sibi debito relaxato, invenit etiam ipse debitorem suum conservum suum, qui ei debebat centum denarios, et obtorto collo coepit trahere ad solutionem. Quando ei dimissum est, laetatum est cor ejus; sed non sic ut timeret nomen Domini Dei sui. Servus dicebat conservo quod servus dixerat Domino: Patientiam habe in me, et reddam tibi. At ille: Non: hodie reddis. Renuntiatum est patrifamilias; et quod nostis, non solum minatus est ei quod deinceps non esset remissurus, si debitorem inveniret, sed totum quod relaxaverat, in caput ejus replicavit, et reddere eum quidquid donaverat jussit. Quomodo ergo timendum est, fratres mei, si est in nobis fides, si credimus Evangelio, si mendacem Dominum non putamus? Timeamus, observemus, caveamus, dimittamus. Quid enim perdis ex eo, quod dimittis? Veniam das, non pecuniam; quanquam et in ipsa eroganda pecunia, aridae arbores non esse debetis.
For the Savior himself shows how greatly you ought to fear, setting before us that servant in the Gospel with whom the Lord settled accounts and found him a debtor of ten thousand talents; he ordered him to be sold, and all that he had, and to be repaid (Matt 18:32). That man, falling at the feet of his lord, began to beg that he might receive an extension, and he obtained forgiveness. But going out from the face of his lord, with all his debt released to him, he himself also found his fellow servant who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him by the neck he began to drag him to payment. When it had been forgiven him, his heart rejoiced; but not in such a way that he feared the name of the Lord his God. The servant said to his fellow servant what the servant had said to his lord: Have patience with me, and I will repay you. But he said: No; today you will pay. It was reported to the householder; and, as you know, he not only threatened him that he would not forgive him thereafter if he found him a debtor, but he folded back upon his head all that he had released, and ordered him to repay whatever he had forgiven. How then must we fear, my brothers, if faith is in us, if we believe the Gospel, if we do not think the Lord a liar? Let us fear, let us watch, let us beware, let us forgive. For what do you lose by what you forgive? You grant pardon, not money; although even in dispensing money itself, you ought not to be barren trees.
In eroganda pecunia, indigenti tribuis; in danda venia, peccanti ignoscis; utrumque Dominus videt, utrumque remunerat, utrumque uno loco commendavit: Dimittite, et dimittetur vobis, date et dabitur vobis (Luc. vi, 37). Tu autem nec ignoscis, nec erogas; tenes iram, servas pecuniam. Observa iram, ubi non possis liberari per pecuniam Non proderunt thesauri iniquis: non est ista mea, sed divina sententia. Noverunt qui legerunt. Legi ut dicerem, credidi ut loquerer: Non proderunt thesauri iniquis (Prov. x, 2). Videntur prodesse, sed non proderunt. Forte in praesenti? forte; si tamen aliquid prosunt; sed in die illo non proderunt. Teneantur et non proderunt; contemnantur et proderunt. Justitia tunc bene uteris si amaveris, quia si non amaveris, non habebis fortitudinem, temperantiam, castitatem, charitatem. Aliis animi bonis bene uteris si amaveris; pecunia tunc bene uteris, si non amaveris. Postremo pecunia si amatur, in coelo servetur. Si timendum est ne amittatur, loco tutiore custodiatur. Neque enim in conservanda pecunia fidem tibi servat servus tuus, et fallit te Dominus tuus. Non cum dicentem audis: Thesaurizate vobis thesaurum in coelo? Ecce non tibi praecepit perdere, sed migrare: Thesaurizate vobis thesaurum in coelo, quo fur non accedit, neque tinea corrumpit; ubi enim est thesaurus tuus, ibi et cor tuum (Matth. vi, 20, 21). In terra thesaurizas, in terra cor ponis.
In dispensing money, you give to the needy; in granting pardon, you forgive the sinner; the Lord sees both, rewards both, and commended both in one place: Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you (Luke 6:37). But you neither forgive nor give; you hold on to anger, you keep your money. Guard your anger, where you cannot be delivered by money. Treasures will not profit the wicked—this is not my sentence, but a divine one. Those who have read know it. I read it that I might speak it, I believed it that I might proclaim it: Treasures will not profit the wicked (Prov. 10:2). They seem to profit, but they will not profit. Perhaps in the present? Perhaps; if indeed they profit at all; but on that day they will not profit. Let them be held, and they will not profit; let them be despised, and they will profit. You will use justice well then if you have loved it, because if you have not loved it, you will not have fortitude, temperance, chastity, charity. You will use other goods of the mind well if you have loved them; money then you will use well if you have not loved it. Finally, if money is loved, let it be kept in heaven. If there is fear that it be lost, let it be guarded in a safer place. For your servant does not keep faith with you in preserving money, and your Lord does not deceive you. Do you not hear him saying: Store up for yourselves treasure in heaven? Behold, he did not command you to lose it, but to transfer it: Store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches, nor moth corrupts; for where your treasure is, there also will your heart be (Matt. 6:20, 21). You store up treasure on earth, you place your heart on earth.
Quid futurum est in terra cordi tuo? Tabescit, putrescit, cinerescit. Sursum leva quod amas, et ibi ama, et noli putare hoc te recepturum esse quod ponis. Ponis enim mortalia, recipies immortalia; ponis temporalia, recipies aeterna; ponis terrena, recipies coelestia; postremo erogas quod tibi dedit Dominus tuus, et mercedem accipies ab ipso Domino tuo. Sed dices: Quomodo sum in coelo positurus, per quas machinas cum auro, et argento meo sum ascensurus in coelum? Quid quaeris machinas? Migra. Laturarii tui pauperes sunt, et per contritionem mundi facti sunt laturarii. Postremo trajectitium facis: hic das, et ibi accipis. Prorsus si hic dederis, ibi accipies, et cui dederis, ab illo accipies. Non tibi modo veniat in mentem pannosus quisque mendicus; sed veniat in mentem. Quando uni ex minimis meis fecistis, mihi fecistis (Id. xxv, 40). In paupere accipit, qui pauperem fecit; a divite accipit, qui divitem fecit; quod enim dedit inde accipit; de suo das Christo, non de tuo. Quid enim te jactas, quia hic multa invenisti? R cole qualis venisti. Cuncta hic invenisti, et multis inventis si male uteris, superbia tumuisti. Nonne de ventre matris nudus existi? Da ergo, da, ne perdas quod habes. Si dederis, ibi inventurus es; si non dederis, hic relicturus es: tamen dederis non dederis, migraturus es.
What will become of your heart on earth? It wastes away, rots, turns to ashes. Lift up on high what you love, and love it there, and do not suppose that you will receive back what you lay down. For you lay down mortal things, and you will receive immortal things; you lay down temporal things, and you will receive eternal things; you lay down earthly things, and you will receive heavenly things; in short, you give away what your Lord gave you, and you will receive a reward from that same Lord of yours. But you will say: How am I to lay something up in heaven? By what devices, with my gold and silver, am I to climb into heaven? Why do you ask for devices? Migrate. Your porters are the poor, and by the wearing down of the world they have been made porters. In short, you are making a transfer: here you give, and there you receive. Indeed, if you give here, you will receive there, and from the one to whom you give, from him you will receive. Do not let some ragged beggar merely come to mind; but let this come to mind: When you did it to one of the least of mine, you did it to me. He receives in the poor man who made the poor man; he receives from the rich man who made the rich man; for what he gave, from that he receives; you give to Christ from his own, not from your own. For why do you boast that you found many things here? Remember how you came. You found all things here, and if you use badly the many things you found, you have swelled with pride. Did you not come naked from your mother's womb? Give, then, give, lest you lose what you have. If you give, you will find it there; if you do not give, you will leave it here; yet whether you give or do not give, you are going to migrate.
Sed aliquando, etsi nugatoriam et improbandam et respuendam ab auribus fidelium, tamen habet aliquam excusationem avaritia nolens erogare pauperi ex eo quod abundat. Dicit enim sibi: Si dedero, non habebo: et multum dando, egebo; et postea requiram a quo et ipse accipiam; debet mihi abundare non solum ad victum, et tegumentum, et domui meae, et familiae meae, sed etiam propter bonos casus, ut habeam quid calumniatori impendam, ut habeam unde redimam; casibus plenae sunt res humanae, debeo mihi servare unde me possim liberare, Haec dicis cum vis pecuniam servare. Quid dicturus es quando peccanti non vis dare veniam? Si pecuniam piget erogare indigenti, eroga veniam poenitenti. Quid perdis si dederis? Novi quid perdas, novi quid amittas; video, sed bono tuo amittis. Amittis iram, amittis indignationem, amittis de corde odium fratris. Maneant illic ista? ubi eris? Ira, indignatio, odium permanent; quid de te facit? Quid mali de te non facit? Audi Scripturam: Qui odit fratrem suum, homicida est (Joan. v, 15). Ergo et si septies in die peccaverit in me, dimittam illi? Dimitte, Christus hoc dixit, veritas dixit cui captasti: Deduc me, Domine, in via tua, et ambulabo in veritate tua. Noli timere, non te decipit. Sed nulla, inquies, erit disciplina; impunita erunt semper quaecumque peccata; delectat enim semper peccare, quando te ille qui peccat cogitat semper ignoscere. Non est ita.
But sometimes avarice, unwilling to give to the poor from its abundance—though it is a frivolous thing, to be disapproved and spat out from the ears of the faithful—still has some excuse. For it says to itself: If I give, I shall not have; and by giving much, I shall be in need; and afterward I shall seek from whom I myself may receive. I ought to have abundance not only for food and clothing, and for my house and my household, but also for good fortune, so that I may have something to spend on a slanderer, so that I may have something with which to redeem myself. Human affairs are full of misfortunes; I ought to keep something for myself with which I can free myself. You say these things when you wish to keep your money. What will you say when you are unwilling to give pardon to a sinner? If it irks you to spend money on the needy, spend pardon on the penitent. What do you lose if you give? I know what you lose, I know what you let go; I see it, but you let it go for your own good. You lose anger, you lose indignation, you lose from your heart hatred of your brother. Should these remain there? Where will you be? Anger, indignation, hatred remain; what do they do to you? What evil do they not do to you? Hear the Scripture: Whoever hates his brother is a murderer (1 John 3:15). Therefore, even if he sins against me seven times a day, shall I forgive him? Forgive; Christ said this, the Truth said it, whom you have taken hold of: Lead me, Lord, in your way, and I will walk in your truth. Do not fear; he does not deceive you. But, you will say, there will be no discipline; whatever sins will always go unpunished; for it always delights to sin, when the one who sins thinks that he always forgives. It is not so.
Et disciplina vigilet, et benevolentia non dormitet. Quid enim putas malum pro malo te reddere, cum peccanti dederis disciplinam? Absit. Bonum pro malo reddis, et tunc non bene facis si non dederis. Aliquando quidem etiam ipsa disciplina mansuetudine temperatur, data tamen est. Sed non aliud est eam negligentia extinguere, aliud mansuetudine temperare? Vigilet disciplina, ignosce et caede. Videte ipsum Dominum, audite ipsum Dominum, cogitate cui quotidiani mendici dicimus: Dimitte nobis debita nostra (Matth. vi, 12). Et taedia pateris quando tibi frater assidue dicit: Ignosce mihi poeni enti. Tu quoties hoc dicis Deo taces ab hac supplicatione in omni oratione. Numquid vis ut dicat tibi Deus: Ecce heri ignovi, nudiustertius ignovi, per tot dies ignovi, quoties adhuc ignosco? Non vis ut dicat tibi: Semper cum illis verbis venis, semper dicis: Dimitte nobis debita nostra: semper pectus tundis, et tanquam ferrum durum non corrigis? Sed quia egebamus de disciplina, numquid non dimittit nobis Dominus Deus noster, quia ex fide dicimus: Dimitte nobis debita nostra? Et tamen quamvis dimittat nobis, quid de illo dictum est? quid de illo scriptum est? Quem enim diligit Deus corripit: sed forte verbis? Flagellat autem omnem filium, quem recipit (Hebr. xii, 6). Ne indigetur peccator filius flagellatus corripi, et ipse unicus sine peccato dignatus est flagellari.
And let discipline be vigilant, and benevolence not sleep. For why do you think it is evil to return evil for evil, when you have given discipline to a sinner? Far be it. You return good for evil, and then you do not do well if you do not give it. Sometimes indeed discipline itself is tempered by gentleness, yet it has been given. But is it one thing to extinguish it by negligence, and another to temper it by gentleness? Let discipline be vigilant; forgive, and yet strike. Look at the Lord himself, hear the Lord himself, consider to whom we say daily as beggars: Forgive us our debts (Matt. 6:12). And you suffer weariness when your brother says to you repeatedly: Forgive me as I repent. How many times do you say this to God, and you are silent from this supplication in every prayer. Do you not wish God to say to you: Behold, yesterday I forgave, the day before yesterday I forgave, through so many days I have forgiven, how many times do I still forgive? Do you not wish him to say to you: You always come with those same words, you always say: Forgive us our debts; you always beat your breast, and like hard iron you do not correct yourself? But because we needed discipline, does not the Lord our God forgive us, since we say in faith: Forgive us our debts? And yet, although he forgives us, what has been said of him? What has been written of him? For whom God loves he reproves: but perhaps with words? But he scourges every son whom he receives (Heb. 12:6). Lest a sinful son, when scourged, be thought not to be reproved, even the only Son without sin deigned to be scourged.
Ergo di disciplinam, sed ex corde dimitte iram. Sic enim ait et ipse Dominus. cum de illo ageret debitore, cui replicavit omne debitum, quod inhumanus fuerit in conservum: Sic et vobis, inquit, faciet Pater vester coelestis, si non dimiseritis unusquisque fratri suo de cordibus vestris (Matth. xviii, 35). Ubi Deus videt, ibi dimitte; inde noli perdere charitatem; exerce salubrem severitatem; dilige et caede; dilige et verbera. Aliquando enim blandiris et saevis. Quomodo blandiris et saevis? quia peccata non arguis, et illa peccata interfectura sunt eum, quem perverse parcendo diligis. Verbum tuum aliquando asperum, aliquando durum; quod est laesurum, attende, quid est facturum. Peccatum cor vastat, interiora demolitur, animam suffocat, animam perdit: miserere, caede. Constituite vobis, charissimi, ante oculos, ut planius intelligatis, quod loquor, homines duos. Puerulus quilibet incautus volebat sedere ubi noverant in gramine latere serpentem. Si sederet, morderetur, et moreretur. Noverant hoc homines duo. Ait unus: Noli ibi sedere; contemptus est. Ivit sedere, ivit perire. Ait alter: Non vult iste nos audire, corripiendus, tenendus, avellendus, colapho est percutiendus, quidquid possumus faciamus ne hominem perdamus. Ait alius: Dimitte, noli ferire, noli offendere, noli laedere. Quis horum misericors? Parcens, ut homo a serpente moriatur; an saeviens, ut homo liberetur?
Therefore give discipline, but from the heart dismiss anger. For thus the Lord himself also said, when he was dealing with that debtor to whom he demanded back the whole debt because he had been cruel to his fellow servant: So also, he says, will my heavenly Father do to you, if you do not each forgive your brother from your hearts (Matthew 18:35). Where God sees, there forgive; do not lose charity there; exercise wholesome severity; love and strike; love and scourge. For sometimes you flatter and rage. How do you flatter and rage? Because you do not reprove sins, and those sins will kill the very man whom you love by perverse sparing. Your word is sometimes harsh, sometimes hard; consider what it will harm and what it will accomplish. Sin lays waste the heart, demolishes the inner self, chokes the soul, destroys the soul: have mercy, strike. Set before your eyes, dearest ones, so that you may understand more plainly what I am saying, two men. Some careless little boy wanted to sit where two men knew a snake lay hidden in the grass. If he sat there, he would be bitten and would die. Two men knew this. One says: Do not sit there; he is despised. He went and sat, he went and perished. The other says: This one will not listen to us; he must be rebuked, held back, pulled away, struck with a blow; let us do whatever we can so that we do not lose the man. Another says: Let him alone, do not strike, do not offend, do not hurt. Which of these is merciful? The one who spares, so that the man dies from the snake; or the one who rages, so that the man is set free?
Et sic intelligite, eos qui sunt vobis subditi corrigitis, moribus imponite disciplinam. Servate benevolentiam, de corde dimittite, intus non sit ira, quia ira illa recens festuca est, tenuis, et quasi contemptibilis. Ira recens turbat oculum tanquam festuca in oculo: Turbatus est in ira oculus meus (Psal. vi, 8). Sed festuca illa suspicionibus nu tritur, productione temporis roboratur, ad trabem perventura est ista festuca. Inveterata ira odium erit; jam ubi odium homicidium erit: Qui odit fratrem suum, homicida est, inquit. Et aliquando homines habentes in corde odium, reprehendunt irascentes: odium tenes, irascentem reprehendis? Festucam in oculo fratris tui vides, trabem in tuo non vides (Matth. vii, 3)? sermo concludatur. Dominus invocetur, ut quod praecipit, donare dignetur: Dimittite, et dimittetur vobis; date, et dabitur vobis (Luc. vi, 37, 38).
And so understand: you correct those who are subject to you, impose discipline on their conduct. Preserve benevolence, forgive from the heart, let there be no anger within, because that fresh anger is a splinter, thin and, as it were, contemptible. Fresh anger disturbs the eye like a splinter in the eye: My eye is troubled with anger (Ps. 6:8). But that splinter is nourished by suspicions, is strengthened by the passing of time, and that splinter will grow into a beam. Anger grown old will become hatred; and where there is hatred, there will be murder: Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, it says. And sometimes people who hold hatred in their heart reprove those who are angry: you hold hatred, and you reprove one who is angry? Do you see the splinter in your brother's eye, and not see the beam in your own (Matt. 7:3)? Let the sermon be concluded. Let the Lord be invoked, that what he commands he may deign to grant: Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you (Luke 6:37-38).
SERMO X.
In Dedicatione Ecclesia
Admoneo vos, dilectissimi, ut demus operam, ut simus domus Dei, ut habeamus in nobis habitantem Dominum; nam si habeamus in nobis Deum habitatorem, semper cum habebimus adjutorem. Congratulemur istis bonis operibus, quae in suis fidelibus operatus est Christus, et unusquisque in quantum divinitus adjuvatur bonorum operum profectus jugiter imitetur. Hoc est autem necessarium, fratres, ut omnis aedificet domum Deo. Aedificet autem dives, aedificet pauper; aedificet sublimis, aedificet humilis; aedificet dominus, aedificet servus. Sed quomodo simul haec dicimus et diviti, pauperi, et sublimi et humili, et domino et servo? Quandoquidem nec facultas illis aequalis, nec dignitas, nec potestas? Potest denique fiducialiter respondere dives, et dicere: Aedifico domum Deo, quia copiosam possideo facultatem. Respondet sublimis: Aedifico domum Deo, quia excelsam adeptus sum in saeculo dignitatem. Respondet dominus: Aedifico domum Deo, quia magnam habeo in subditis potestatem. Quam bene gaudemus in istis, qui nos laetificant, et sermonibus, et operibus bonis! Sed ut isti nobis talia responderent, securus est dives de abundantia facultatum, attendit sublimis excellentiam honorum, considerat Dominus multitudinem subditorum.
SERMON X.
On the Dedication of a Church
I urge you, most beloved, to take care that we be a house of God, that we have the Lord dwelling within us; for if we have God dwelling within us, we will always have Him as our helper. Let us rejoice together in these good works which Christ has worked in His faithful, and let each one, insofar as he is divinely aided, continually imitate the progress of good works. This, then, brothers, is necessary: that everyone build a house for God. Let the rich build, let the poor build; let the lofty build, let the lowly build; let the master build, let the servant build. But how do we say these things at once to the rich and the poor, to the lofty and the lowly, to the master and the servant? Since neither their resources, nor their rank, nor their power are equal? Finally, the rich man can confidently answer and say: I build a house for God, because I possess abundant resources. The lofty man answers: I build a house for God, because I have attained exalted dignity in the world. The master answers: I build a house for God, because I have great power over my subjects. How well we rejoice in those who gladden us both by their words and by their good works! But for these to give us such answers, the rich man is secure in the abundance of his resources, the lofty man looks to the excellence of his honors, the master considers the multitude of his subjects.
Audivimus ergo responsum divitis, audiamus et pauperis; audivimus responsum sublimis, audiamus et humilis; postremo audivimus responsum domini, audiamus et servi. Illi enim habuerunt quod promitterent, habent isti forsitan quod excusent. Dicit enim nobis sine dubio pauper: Quomodo possum domum Deo aedificare, qui sum inopia paupertatis astrictus? Dicit nobis humilis: Quando possum fabricare domum Deo, qui sum ignobilitate dejectionis comprehensus? Deinde dicit servus: Quomodo possum fabricare domum Deo, qui teneor jugo servitutis obnoxius, et cum a domino meo vix diurni panis mihi prorogetur annona, ad aedificandum domum Deo unde mihi sufficiens potest esse substantia? Quasi videntur rationabiliter respondisse. Sed si responsionem nostram velint libenter accipere. nullatenus se ab aedificatione domus Dei poterunt excusare. Respondemus ergo primitus pauperi quod donaverit Dominus, ut ipse potius aedificetur dum ad aedificandum domum Deo salubriter admonetur. Audi quisquis de paupertate conquereris, et ideo ad aedificandum domum Dei te invalidum protestaris. Quare solam attendis paupertatem tuam, et despicis interiorem substantiam? Ibi enim domum Deo construere, ibi oportet te spiritualibus divitiis abundare: Proinde si pauper es inopia terrenae facultatis, esto dives abundantia charitatis; non possides villam, possides sapientiam; non est nummus in sacculo, sit Deus in animo.
We have therefore heard the answer of the rich man; let us hear also that of the poor man. We have heard the answer of the lofty; let us hear also that of the lowly. Finally, we have heard the answer of the master; let us hear also that of the servant. For the former had something they could promise; the latter perhaps have something they could plead in excuse. For the poor man surely says to us: How can I build a house for God, who am bound fast by the want of poverty? The lowly man says to us: When can I build a house for God, who am held down by the ignobility of abjection? Then the servant says: How can I build a house for God, who am held liable under the yoke of servitude, and when my master scarcely extends to me the daily allowance of bread, from where can sufficient means be available to me for building a house for God? They seem to have answered reasonably. But if they are willing to receive our answer, they can by no means excuse themselves from building the house of God. We answer, then, first to the poor man, with what the Lord has given, so that he himself may rather be built up, while he is wholesomely admonished to build a house for God. Hear, whoever you are who complain of poverty, and therefore declare yourself incapable of building a house for God. Why do you consider only your poverty, and despise the substance within? For there it is that you must build a house for God; there you must abound in spiritual riches. Therefore, if you are poor in the want of earthly means, be rich in the abundance of charity. You do not possess an estate; you possess wisdom. There is no coin in your purse; let God be in your soul.
Esto nitidus paupertate mentis, quod multo melius est, quam si pretiosis splendeas indumentis; non habes deliciosos cibos, quibus corpus pascitur, sint tibi boni mores, quibus anima saginatur: deliciosi enim cibi quod aliud noverunt, quam in corpore nutrire libidinem? boni autem mores sanctam in corde enutriunt charitatem. Noli ergo pro magno quaerere divitias, quae hic remanebunt; spirituales enim divitias si habueris, pauper non eris; imo si talis fueris, ut per cor porales divitias spirituales inquiras, in eo vere dives eris, quia pauper laudabilis eris: Sic vere domum Deo aedificabis, quia ipsa domus Dei tu eris. Aedifi cando quippe domum Dei non necesse est abundantia nummorum, quia non placet Deo numerositas solidorum, sed puritas animorum. Veram ergo domum Dei charitas aedificat, non facultas. Quod nobis donavit Deus respondimus pauperi; tempus est ut respondeamus et humili. Opponit enim nobis excusatione, quia nullum habuit in saeculo celsitudinis dignitatem.
Be shining with poverty of mind, which is much better than if you gleam with precious garments. You do not have delicate foods with which the body is fed; let good morals be yours, with which the soul is fattened. For what else have delicate foods been known to do than nourish lust in the body? But good morals nourish holy charity in the heart. Therefore do not seek riches as something great, for they will remain here; for if you have spiritual riches, you will not be poor; indeed, if you are such a person that through bodily riches you seek spiritual ones, in this you will truly be rich, because you will be a praiseworthy poor man. Thus you will truly build a house for God, because you yourself will be the house of God. For in building the house of God, an abundance of coins is not necessary, because the number of solidi does not please God, but the purity of souls. Therefore true charity builds the house of God, not wealth. We have answered the poor man with what God has given us; it is time that we answer the humble man as well. For he opposes us with the excuse that he had no dignity of high rank in the world.
Audi, et esto, charissime, humilis in corde, ut ob hoc existimes domum Dei aedificare te posse. Humilitas tua plus sit in voluntate, quam in necessitate. Esto humilis in corde, et incipies in te domum Deo aedificare. Ipse enim dicit: Super quem requiescit Spiritus meus, nisi super humilem. et quietum, et trementem verba mea (Isai. lxvi, 2). Quanto ergo te fecit voluntas humilem, tanto te cognosce esse in sublimem; et in quantum servabis humilitatem cordis, in tantum Deo sanctissima fabricabis.
Jam nunc servis respondeamus, qui dum nobis opponunt servitutis conditionem, putant sibi ad fabricandum domum Deo nullam suppetere facultatem. Audi quisquis es temporaliter servus, quisquis teneris quocumque jure dominationis obstrictus, quisquis conditione qualibet obnoxius, ut aedifices domum Deo esto servus, esto et liber. Esto servus humiliter obediendo, esto liber fideliter serviendo, esto servus Domini tui, et noli esse servus peccati. Cum servieris homini, Deum cogita, Dei praecepta conserva, Dei voluntati semper obtempera, a Deo mercedem bonae servitutis expecta: custodi fidem, fuge fraudem, cognosce Deo te reddere rationem de omni opere tuo: non te faciat pigritia contemptorem, non segnitia negligentem. Ista fiet, ut, dum bonam exhibes servitutem, a Deo recipies perpetuam libertatem.
Listen, and be humble in heart, dearest one, so that by this you may consider that you can build the house of God. Let your humility be more in willingness than in necessity. Be humble in heart, and you will begin to build a house for God within yourself. For he himself says: Upon whom does my Spirit rest, if not upon the humble and quiet and one who trembles at my words (Isaiah 66:2). Therefore, to the extent that your will has made you humble, to that extent recognize that you are on high; and insofar as you keep humility of heart, to that extent you will build most holy things for God.
Now let us answer the servants, who, while they set before us the condition of servitude, think that no ability to build a house for God is available to them. Hear, whoever you are who are a servant in time, whoever you are who are bound by whatever right of lordship, whoever you are who are subject to any condition whatsoever: in order to build a house for God, be a servant, be also free. Be a servant by obeying humbly, be free by serving faithfully, be a servant of your Lord, and do not be a servant of sin. When you serve a man, think on God, keep God's commandments, always obey God's will, expect from God the reward of good service: keep faith, flee fraud, know that you will render an account to God for every work of yours: let not sloth make you a despiser, nor laziness make you negligent. Thus it will come about that, while you show good service, you will receive from God perpetual freedom.
Sit ergo in tuo corpore libertas, quae in se habet veras magnasque divitias, non quibus homo mortalis inflatur, sed ex quibus Deo domus delectabilis fabricatur. Apud Deum enim, ubi non est servus neque liber (Galat. iii, 23), ille veram domum Deo aedificat, qui bonam conversationem in Dei timore conservat. Quantum existimo, fratres, donante Domino, pauperibus, humilibus, servisque respondimus, ut agnoscant aedificare se debere domum Deo non extra se, sed in se. Verumtamen quia et divitum et pauperum, et sublimium et humilium, et dominorum et servorum servi sumus in Christo, quia ipse hoc praecepit, qui primum hoc fecit, Qui cum sit verus dives, pro nobis pauper factus est, ut illius paupertate nos divites essemus (2 Cor. viii, 9); cum sit verus Altissimus, Humiliavit semetipsum pro nobis factus obediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis (Philip. ii, 8); cumque sit verus rerum omnium Dominus, semetipsum servus fecit, quando formam servi non solum pro nobis, verum ex nobis accepit. Ergo quia in Christo servi omnium sumus, sicut pauperibus, humilibus, et servis, in divitibus, et sublimibus, et dominis debemus servitutem nostri redhibere sermonis. Facilius enim solet et divites facultas inflare, et sublimes dignitas ventilare, et dominos potestas extollere.
Let there be, then, in your body that freedom which possesses in itself true and great riches—not those by which mortal man is puffed up, but those from which a house delightful to God is built. For before God, where there is neither slave nor free (Gal. 3:23), that man builds a true house for God who preserves good conduct in the fear of God. As far as I judge, brothers, by the Lord's gift, we have answered the poor, the humble, and the servants, so that they may recognize that they ought to build a house for God not outside themselves but within themselves. Yet because we are servants in Christ of both rich and poor, both high and low, both masters and servants—since he himself commanded this, who first did it, who, though he is truly rich, became poor for us, so that by his poverty we might be rich (2 Cor. 8:9); though he is truly the Most High, he humbled himself for us, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:8); and though he is truly the Lord of all things, he made himself a servant, when he took the form of a servant not only for us but from us. Therefore, since in Christ we are servants of all, just as we have done for the poor, the humble, and the servants, so we ought to render the service of our sermon to the rich, the high, and the masters. For it is usually easier for wealth to puff up the rich, and dignity to toss about the high, and power to exalt masters.
Proinde ipsi sunt sollicitius instruendi, ut studium quod habent in construendis Ecclesiis adhibeant semper operibus bonis, domum que veram Deo in semetipsis aedificent, cujus sancta aedificatio nulla vetustate concidat, nulla reprehensione succumbat. Vos ergo nunc alloquimur, vos in charitate ipsius nostri aedificatoris hortamur, qui divitiis abundatis, qui honoribus excellitis, qui dominatione potestatis gaudetis. Curam gerite, ut domum Dei aedificetis in vobis non lapidibus, et lignis, sed moribus sanctis. Talis autem erit aedificatio vestra, qualis fuerit operatio vestra. Principaliter itaque estote stabiles in fundamento, et permanete in Christo. Deinde contra ipsam copiam, et abundantiam vestram custodite congruam in corde cautelam. Tunc enim aedificatis Deo veram domum, si nullum patiamini vestra animae detrimentum. Fugite superbiam, si non vultis pati ruinam; Nolite sperare in incerto divitiarum (1 Tim. vi, 17), et stabile semper habetis aedificii firmamentum. Divites estote semper in operibus bonis, ut non destructioni, sed aedificationi vestrae proficiant. Estote proni ad misericordiam, et nolite esse faciles ad rapinam. Facultas vestra non sit violenta; dignitas vestra non sit superba; potestas vestra non sit injusta. Omnes ergo fideles aedificate domum Deo bene vivendo.
Therefore they themselves are to be instructed more carefully, so that the zeal they have for building churches they may always apply to good works, and may build in themselves a true house for God, whose holy building may not collapse through any age, nor succumb to any reproach. Therefore we now address you, we exhort you in the charity of our own builder, you who abound in riches, who excel in honors, who rejoice in the dominion of power. Take care that you build a house for God in yourselves, not with stones and wood, but with holy conduct. For your building will be such as your working has been. First, then, be steadfast in the foundation, and remain in Christ. Then, against your very abundance and plenty, keep fitting watchfulness in your heart. For then you build a true house for God, if you suffer no loss to your soul. Flee pride, if you do not wish to suffer ruin; do not hope in the uncertainty of riches (1 Tim. 6:17), and you will always have a stable foundation for your building. Be rich always in good works, so that they may profit not your destruction but your building up. Be inclined to mercy, and do not be quick to plunder. Let your wealth not be violent; let your dignity not be proud; let your power not be unjust. All the faithful, therefore, build a house for God by living well.
Attendamus, fratres, quid nos beatus Petrus admoneat, et quomodo nobis curam hujus aedificationis injungat. Dicit enim: Et vos tanquam lapides vivi superaedificamini domus spirituales (1 Petr. ii, 5). Ecce. fratres, in ista Ecclesia, quam cernimus, quomodo nobis placet lux, novitas, et firmitas. Proinde et nos, qui domus Dei sumus, bonis operibus luceamus, Veterem hominem deponamus (Ephes iv, 23), et novum laudabiliter induamus; firmitatem quoque sanctae charitatis indefessam jugiter habeamus. Ecce videmus columnas, quibus sunt superpositi parietes, videmus etiam lapides in aedificio sibi invicem cohaerentes. Qui sunt in domo Dei columnae a quibus lapidum multitudo parta tur, nisi viri spirituales, per quos multitudo fidelium gubernatur? Qui sunt lapides mutua sibi connexione conjuncti, nisi omnes fideles, qui sunt unitatis vinculo colligati, qui habentes animam unam et cor unum in Deum, aedificant in semetipsis Deo habitaculum sempiternum? Conjungantur ergo lapides vivi lapidibus vivis in aedificio domus Dei; adhaereant sibi invicem sancti lapides, et insolubiliter socientur non admixtione calcis, sed dulcedine charitatis. Quisquis ergo intras in domum Dei, esto domus Dei; custodi fidem, tene unitatis Ecclesiae charitatem, Declina a malo, et fac bonum (Psal. xxxvi, 28).
Let us attend, brothers, to what the blessed Peter admonishes us, and how he lays upon us the care of this building. For he says: And you, as living stones, are built up into spiritual houses (1 Pet. 2:5). Behold, brothers, in this Church which we see, how the light, the newness, and the firmness of it please us. Therefore let us also, who are the house of God, shine forth in good works, let us put off the old man (Eph. 4:23), and put on the new in a praiseworthy manner; and let us continually hold fast the unwearying firmness of holy charity. Behold, we see the columns upon which the walls are placed; we see also the stones in the building cohering to one another. Who are the columns in the house of God, from which the multitude of stones is produced, but spiritual men, through whom the multitude of the faithful is governed? Who are the stones joined together by mutual connection, but all the faithful, who are bound by the bond of unity, who, having one soul and one heart toward God, build in themselves an everlasting dwelling place for God? Let the living stones, therefore, be joined to living stones in the building of the house of God; let the holy stones adhere to one another, and be united indissolubly, not by the mixture of lime, but by the sweetness of charity. Whoever therefore enters into the house of God, be yourself the house of God; keep the faith, hold the charity of the Church's unity. Turn away from evil, and do good (Ps. 36:28).
fuge avaritiam, dilige misericordiam, fuge fornicationem dilige castitatem; et si nondum potes esse in domo Dei columna, ut onus multorum lapidum portes, esto lapis adhaerens lapidibus, ut in aedificio perseveres. Bonum est quidem, ut aedifices Deo etiam visibilem domum in jure tuo, in solo tuo, in praedio tuo; sed multum melius est ut aedifices Deo domum invisibilem in animo tuo. Extra te est domus orationis humanae, intra te sit domus orationis tuae. Hic frequenter habeto illam, et in te jugiter porta: ibi te Deus tanto exaudiet libentius, quanto in ea dignatur licentius habitare. In corde ergo tuo domum Deo semper aedifica, ipsam munda, illam Deo praepara, ubi et tu Deum semper possis habere praesentem, et ilic te salubriter audiat orantem. Cui est honor, et regnum, et summa potestas in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Flee avarice, love mercy; flee fornication, love chastity; and if you cannot yet be a column in the house of God, so as to bear the weight of many stones, be a stone adhering to stones, that you may persevere in the building. It is good indeed that you build for God even a visible house on your own right, on your own land, on your own estate; but it is much better that you build for God an invisible house in your own soul. The house of human prayer is outside you; let the house of your prayer be within you. Have it here frequently, and carry it continually within you: there God will hear you all the more willingly, the more freely he deigns to dwell in it. In your heart, therefore, always build a house for God, cleanse it, prepare it for God, where you too may always have God present, and where he may hear you praying to your salvation. To whom is honor, and kingdom, and supreme power for ages of ages. Amen.