Sermones VII A Sancto Patre Quondam Abjudicati

APPENDIX. Seven Sermons of Saint Peter Chrysologus, Archbishop of Ravenna, Once Adjudicated Not to Be by the Holy Father. SERMON I. On the Lord’s Prayer. You have received the hearing of faith, dearest brothers; hear the form of the Lord’s Prayer. Christ teaches us to pray briefly, who wishes to grant requests quickly: or what will he not give to those who ask, when he gave himself to those who did not ask? Or what delay will he make in responding, when he thus anticipates the vows of suppliants in dictating their prayers? Today, what you are about to hear astonishes the angels, the heavens marvel, the earth trembles, flesh cannot bear it, hearing cannot grasp it, the mind does not reach it, the whole of creation cannot sustain it; I dare not speak, I cannot be silent. May God grant that you may be able to hear and I to speak. What is more awe-inspiring: that God gave himself to the earth, or that he gives you to heaven; that he himself enters into the fellowship of the flesh, or that he makes you enter into the fellowship of divinity; that he himself took on death, or that he makes you rise again from death; that he himself is born into your servitude, or that he begets you as his children; that he takes on your poverty, or that he makes you his heirs, co-heirs of his only Son? It is certainly more terrible that the earth is transferred to heaven, that man is changed by divinity, that the lot of servitude obtains the rights of dominion.

But however much this is to be feared, nevertheless, because the cause looks not to the speaker but to the one who commands, let us approach, little sons, where charity calls, love draws, affection invites; let the bowels of God the Father feel, let the voice resound, let the tongue speak, let the spirit cry out. Let everything in you respond to grace, not to fear; because he has changed the judge into a Father, he wished to be loved, not feared. Our Father who art in heaven (Matt. 6:9; Luke 11:2). When you say this, do not think as if he is not on earth; do not take it as if he is confined to a place who encloses all things; but understand that there is a kind from heaven, whose Father is held to be in heaven. And act so that by living holily you may answer to the holy Father. He proves himself to be the Son of God who is not obscured by human vices, who shines forth with divine virtues. Let the name be sanctified. Whose kind we are, we are also counted by his name. Therefore we ask that the name which is holy in itself and through itself be sanctified in us; for the name of God is either honored by our action, or blasphemed by our actions. Hear the Apostle saying: The name of God is blasphemed by you among the Gentiles (Rom. 2:24).

Let your kingdom come. And when has God not reigned? Therefore we ask that He who has reigned for Himself may always rule in us, so that we too may be able to reign in Him. The devil has reigned, sin has reigned, death has reigned, and mortality was long captive. Therefore we ask that, with God reigning, the devil may perish, sin may fail, death may die, captivity may be taken captive, so that we, free, may reign perpetually in life. Let your will be done as in heaven and on earth. This is the kingdom of God, when in heaven and on earth God's will is alone, when for all men God lives, God acts, God reigns, God is everything, according to that saying of the Apostle, that God may be all things and in all of us (1 Cor. 15). Give us this day our daily bread. He who gave Himself to us as a Father, who adopted us as sons to Himself, who made us heirs with Himself, who exalted us by His name, who endowed us with His own honor and kingdom, He Himself has bound us to ask for our daily bread. In the kingdom of heaven, among divine gifts, what does human poverty seek? Does such a good, so kind, so generous Father not grant bread to His sons even without being asked? And where is that saying: "Be not anxious about what you will eat or drink or wear" (Matt. 6:31)? The Father commands this, which He forbids us to think about; what do we hold? The heavenly Father urges us to ask for the heavenly bread of the heavenly Son; He Himself said: "I am the bread that came down from heaven" (John 6:51).

He is the bread, sown in the Virgin, leavened in the flesh, prepared in the Passion, baked in the oven of the sepulcher, stored in the churches, brought to the altars, and daily supplies heavenly food to the faithful. And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Man, you cannot be without sin; and He always forgives you, forgive always entirely; as much as you wish to be forgiven, forgive that much. As often as you wish to be forgiven, so often forgive; nay, because you wish to be entirely forgiven, forgive entirely. Man, understand that by forgiving others you have granted pardon to yourself. And lead us not into temptation. Because in this world life itself is temptation. Temptation, it is said, is the life of man (Job 7:1), we ask that He not leave us to our own will, but that in every action He bind us with paternal affection, and confirm us on the path of life with heavenly moderation. But deliver us from evil. From what evil? From the devil, for from him comes all evil. We ask to be delivered from evil, because he who has not been without evil cannot enjoy the good. If those not yet born, if those still in the womb seek bread, seek the kingdom, why is it questioned that the Son of God was always in the mystery of God the Father, and that the Son of God was in God the Father? How is it treated by human reason? It is not, divinity is not to be estimated in a human way. You have heard "God," think of nothing earthly, nothing human. You have heard "Father of Christ," believe this by substance; you have heard "your Father," believe this by grace.

He always had to be the Son; He only recently gave that He was the Son. Know yourself, therefore, as a son, and do not be unaware that you are a servant. Hear that you are brought back to the likeness of Christ in such a way that you always recognize yourself as subject to Christ. Sermon II. On the same. The mortal condition, the earthly frame, the muddy substance, worn down by the labor of life in the uncertainty of death, consumed by punishments, a nature subject to the dust of decay, is unable to grasp, and shrinks from believing, what today it is compelled to confess. Human frailty cannot discover such a grace of gifts, such a magnitude of nearness, such a bounty of rewards. I think the prophet foresaw this ambiguity with the gaze of his mind, when, shaken by such great fear and so agitated by the tremor of hearing this, he said: "Lord, I heard your hearing, and I feared; I considered your works, and I was terrified" (Hab. 3:2). He feared the hearing, not because the servant then found his Lord to be a fellow servant with him, and heard himself called to a share; nor because, contemplating the construction of this world, so harmonious in its discordant elements, he was terrified; but because, considering such great piety toward himself, he was then shaken by trembling and fear at the works of wonder. "I considered," he said, "your works, and I was terrified." He was then terrified at being adopted as a son, when he lost the confidence of his servitude.

Finally, so that you may know the affection of this prayer, which the divinity today insinuates and instills into you, the prophet then perceived with heavenly hearing, and, in a way, dissolved by fear of this gift, see what he said again: "I kept watch over myself," he says, "and my belly trembled at the voice of the supplication of my lips" (Ibid. 16). After he had sensed such great bounty of the divine gift, he kept watch over himself, lest he endure himself again as an enemy, as a foe, as a thief in paradise: he becomes more vigilant, he becomes a more careful guardian of himself, who, after the loss of such a thing, sensed that he had found the heavenly treasure, as Paul says: "We carry this treasure in fragile vessels" (2 Cor. 7). "I kept watch over myself, and my belly trembled." The prophet here calls the internal part of the heart the belly, because just as the belly is fed and filled with foods, so the heart is fed and filled with senses: "and my belly trembled at the voice of the supplication of my lips." If the understanding of the heart had poured forth the voice to the mouth, the lips ought to have given words, why would he exhort his vows, his desires, from this? He trembled because he was not speaking by the suggestion of his own heart, but by the inspiration of the divine Spirit. Hear Paul saying: "God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out: Abba, Father" (Gal. 4:6); when that was transmitted to the inner parts upon being heard, he marveled that he had merited so much, and the whole inner being of man trembled, rightly he added: "And trembling entered into my bones," because the very entrails of the prophet were shaken, "and beneath me," he says, "my strength was moved." What is "beneath me"?

because the same one man, now lifted up by grace, lay beneath his former nature, and earthly strength could not sustain heavenly power. Already Mount Sion smoked when God descended to give the law upon the mountain: what would flesh do when God descended into flesh? The Father came to establish the grace of the flesh, because man did not tread upon God, nor the servant upon the Lord. And because He who said, "Open your mouth, and I will fill it" (Ps. 80:11) is faithful in His words, open now your mouths, so that He Himself may fill them with such a prayer, such a cry. Where are those who distrust God's promise? Behold how quickly the confession of faith is rewarded; as soon as you confessed God as Father of the only Son, you yourself were adopted as son of God the Father, so that you might be heir of heaven, you who were considered an exile from paradise and of earth. And therefore you call out: "Our Father who art in heaven." Because once you had a father who dissolved you into mud, who led and dragged you to the gates of hell. Let him who seeks from God the Father a return to heavenly nature know no earth, ignore love of the flesh, not seek a father of dust, permit nothing of vice in himself, so that he who believes himself a son of God may respond in deed, life, character, and honor to such a lineage, lest descending again to earthly things, he direct injury toward that great parent himself.

May your name be sanctified." If the name of Christ gives sight to the blind, movement to the lame, health to those weary with various ailments, life to the dead, and sanctifies you yourself, man, and the whole creation, how is it that you beg and demand sanctity from his name? Because you have been called a Christian from Christ, and therefore you implore that the prerogative of so great a name be strengthened by the merits following in you. "May your kingdom come." He who has the life of his coming in his own power commands devotion, demands desires, and seeks out vows. That soldier is faithful who thirsts for the presence of the king for whom he fights, and who seeks and desires all the triumphs of the kingdom. But here you ask that he come to reign for you and in you, in whom the devil has held the citadel, death the dominion, and hell the power for a long time. Let us pray, therefore, dearest ones, that Christ always reign in his soldier, that the soldier always triumph in his king. "May your will be done, as in heaven and on earth." Blessed is that day which joins, unites, and equalizes earthly will with heavenly, so that among disparate substances one and the same will may exist. This is trust, peace, unshaken harmony, persevering grace, because the order and nature of one Lord, with the family placed through diverse wills, is found to be one and the same in sense.

Our daily bread give us today. After the heavenly kingdom, who would ask for temporal bread? But daily bread. And thereby he wishes us to ask for the viaticum of bread in the sacrament of his body, so that from this we may reach the perpetual day and the very table of Christ, so that from where we have taken a taste here, we may there receive the fullness of food and all satiety. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. He who prays thus and does not release debts accuses himself even through what he prays, he who asks that only as much be granted to him, as much be remitted, as he himself remits and grants at his pleasure, invites God to such a pact: as much as he has rendered to another, so much he demands be rendered to himself. But debts must be forgiven, brothers, not only of money, but of all causes, faults, crimes—whatever a man can incur. In these matters, when another has incurred them against you, forgive; he is faithful in seeking pardon for his sin who willingly forgives the sinner.

And lead us not into temptation. We are compelled to ask for this in many ways, brothers, lest our frailty, daring too much and rashly presuming of itself, gathering none of its own strength, should succumb, ill-cautious in the conflict; and then an offended God should hand over to temptations those whom he abandons. But deliver us from evil. He thinks humbly enough of himself who implores that he be delivered from evil by God. Mark this well. Understand, dear children, how great is the glory and power of the perfect, of the strong, when such great virtue is revealed in the very conception, such great majesty in the birth. Not yet born, he calls upon his Father, he asks for holiness, he seeks a kingdom, he gives laws to the lands, he equates earthly wills with heavenly ones, and for future labors he already demands the devoted provision. "Bread," he says, "give us our daily bread today." Blessed are you who have begun to conquer before the battle, to triumph before living, to reach the Father's bosom, to reach the Father's storehouse before reaching the mother's bosom; to seize the flock's pasture before the milk's juice; to sound the cry of victory, to answer with a wail, before the cradle's [...]. Truly, as the Apostle said, the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Cor. 1:15). But who will be able to relate the sacrament of such a great conception, where a virgin mother gives birth to the world daily, and does not leave offspring for labor, but sends them on from earthly seed to glory?

SERMON III. On the Same. All things that are reported as having been divinely said and done are a miracle, are a wonder, are things to be feared by mortals, and are even things to be trembled at by the heavenly beings themselves. But nothing so much astonishes heaven, terrifies the earth, and makes the whole creation shudder, as what you are about to hear from us speaking today. A slave dares to call the Lord Father, a defendant names his judge parent, an earthly condition by its own voice adopts itself as a son, one who has lost earthly things deems himself an heir of the Divinity. But we dare, because there is no presumption in the speaker where there is the authority of the one who commands. For he himself wished you to speak thus today, who taught us to pray thus. And what wonder, if he then consecrated men as his sons, when he gave and fitted himself as a son to men? He then transferred the nature of flesh into the divine, when he brought down divine nature to the human. He then set man before himself as a co-heir in heavenly things, when he made himself a participant in earthly things: or what of love, what of gift, what of honor could he deny to man, who took upon himself everything that was of man, both sin and death? Or how will he not have man in his prosperity, who made himself a companion to man in adversity? Man, return to God, so loved by God; and give your whole self to his glory, who gave his whole self for you, down to your injury; and call him Father, whom you prove, feel, and understand to be your parent with such great love.

Our Father, who art in heaven. Let no one be surprised that one not yet born calls him Father. Things about to be born are already born for God; future things are already made for God. "He has made," it says, "what is to come" (Ecclesiasticus 6:10). Hence it is that John in the womb sensed his author and became a messenger to his mother, though he was ignorant of life. Hence it is that Jacob is read to have wrestled before being born, to have begun to triumph before living. Hence it is that those who are not yet for themselves are already for God, because you were chosen before the foundation of the world. Our Father, who art in heaven. Not that he is not on earth, but that through this you may know yourself to be a heavenly offspring. And if you confess yourself a son of God, live as a son of God, so that by your action, life, and virtues you may be able to correspond to such a parent. Hallowed be thy name. Because you are called a Christian from Christ, you ask that the prerogative of so great a name be hallowed in you, since the name of God, which is holy in itself and for itself, is either hallowed in us by our action, or blasphemed by our action among the Gentiles.

Let your kingdom come. He himself says: The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). If it is within us, why do we pray that it come? It is in faith, it is in hope, it is in expectation, but we now pray that it come. Let it come, however, to us, not to him who always co-reigns with his Father, always reigns in the Father, but let it come to us: Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom that has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world (Matthew 25:34). We say let your kingdom come, so that God may reign in us in such a way that in us death ceases to reign, sin ceases to reign. Death, it says, reigned from Adam to Moses (Romans 5:14). And elsewhere: Let sin not reign in your mortal body (ibid., 15). Let your will be done as in heaven and on earth. Now on earth many things happen according to the devil’s will, according to the world’s wickedness, according to the will of the flesh. In heaven, however, nothing happens except the Lord’s will. Therefore we ask that, with the devil destroyed, with the world renewed, with the body changed, with the empire of death destroyed, with the dominion of sin abolished, in heaven and on earth, in God and in men, there be one and the same will of God.

Give us this day our daily bread. After the heavenly kingdom, we are not commanded to ask for earthly bread, the Lord himself forbidding it when he said: Be not anxious about what you eat or what you drink (Matthew 6:13). But because he himself is the bread that came down from heaven (John 6:50), we ask and pray that we may receive that bread, which we take daily, that is, continually, in eternity for the sustenance of body and mind. And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. By speaking thus, man, you have set the measure, the limit of indulgence; and you have given to yourself, who ask from the Lord only as much as you yourself have forgiven your fellow servant. Forgive, therefore, everything in the one who offends against you, if you wish yourself to owe nothing to the Lord for your own offenses. Forgive yourself in another, if you wish to avoid the sentence of the avenger. And lead us not into temptation. God tempts no one, as it is written; but he is said to tempt when he leaves snares for those who stubbornly go into temptation. Thus Adam fell into the traps of the tempter when he abandoned the precepts of his creator. Whence and by whom man is tempted, he has revealed by saying: But deliver us from evil; that is, from the devil, who is the author and origin of all evil. The devil was of a heavenly nature, now he is a spiritual wickedness, older than the world, practiced in the habit of harming, most skilled in the art of injuring. Hence he is called not so much evil, but evil itself, from whom comes everything that is evil.

Hence it is that man, bound by carnal chains, cannot be freed by his own strength. Therefore we must ask that God free us from the devil, who lent Christ to the earth so that he might conquer the devil. Let man cry out, let him cry out to God, let him cry: Free us from evil, so that from such great evil we may be freed, with Christ alone conquering. Our Father, who art in heaven. The theme of prayer, the matter of petition, the norm of supplication, in very few words he himself, who is to be entreated by you, has granted to himself; so that from this you may take the sense of asking, so that you may grasp the understanding of demanding, so that you may gather the measure of obtaining, and by a brief teaching you may grasp the broadest discipline of praying; at the same time because, by a judgment of love, the king himself has performed the office of advocate, so that he himself might dictate the prayers to which he was about to respond. All hesitation about deserving has been removed, when he who is asked has chosen himself as intercessor in prayers. Fear has no place, where the Son, as interpreter, desires from the Father what is holy to obtain.

SERMON IV. On the Same. Most beloved brothers, He who gave you the gift of belief has Himself taught you both to pray and has fitted the entire form of petition into few words, because when the Son asks the Father, he does not labor over many prayers. For just as the necessity of being born compels one to ask, so the charity of the begetter urges him to give. Therefore the Father, who grants freely, shows not so much that a petition be made as what is to be petitioned; so that the Son, by asking what is just, may be pleasing, who could displease by requesting foolish things. Hear the Father, and now believe that you are sons, so that you may be able to obtain without hesitation what you have asked. What faith can do, what belief is capable of, how great confession is, is shown in us today. Behold, the threefold confession of the Trinity has lifted you from earthly servitude into a heavenly offspring: behold, faith which has spoken of God the Father has today acquired for you God as Father; behold, the voice which has confessed the Son of God has adopted you as sons of God; behold, the belief which has proclaimed God the Spirit has changed you from a mortal substance of flesh into the life-giving substance of the Spirit. Who is found worthy to be the assertor of such great piety? God the Father deigns men as heirs; God the Son does not disdain fellow heirs who are servants; God the Spirit takes flesh as a partner of divinity under the rule of law in the heavenly realm, as the Apostle proves when he says: "Or do you not know that we shall judge angels?" (1 Cor. 6:3)?

Call therefore upon the Lord as Father, and believe that you, though not yet born, are already designated as sons, and take care that heavenly life be yours, that divine customs be yours, and that the whole form of divinity be borne in you toward the Son: because the heavenly Father enriches sons who answer to their lineage with divine gifts, and recalls those who degenerate to penal servitude. Our Father who art in heaven. The conscience of servants would succumb, the earthly condition would be dissolved, unless the authority of the Father Himself, the Spirit of the Son Himself, roused us to this cry. God, it says, sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying out Abba Father (Gal. 4:6). The mind grows weary, the flesh fails in divine matters, unless God, who commands what is to be done, Himself fulfills what He commands. When has mortality dared to call upon the Father, except now when men are animated on earth by heavenly power? Our Father who art in heaven. Man, what commonality with the earth have you, who confess that your lineage is in heaven? Therefore show heavenly life in your earthly dwelling, because if earthly thought has carried anything within itself, you have brought a stain upon heaven, you have inflicted an injury upon your heavenly lineage.

May your name be sanctified." We do not ask that your name, O God, be sanctified, for by its own sanctity it saves and sanctifies the whole of creation. Brothers, this is the name which the heavenly powers fear, which they accept with trembling servitude; this is the name which puts demons to flight; this alone is the name which frees souls captive to the savagery of the devil; this is the name which gives salvation to a lost world. But we ask that the name of God be sanctified in us by our action. For when we act well, the name of God is blessed; when we act badly, it is blasphemed. Hear the Apostle saying: "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles" (Rom. 2:24). We ask, therefore, we ask that, as the name of God is holy, so we may merit its sanctity in our own conduct. "May your kingdom come." As if the kingdom of Christ were not always such that it comes, we now ask. And where is that kingdom of God? It is within us. It is within us by faith, but we beseech that it come. Brothers, when the devil, by various kinds of wickedness and manifold arts of deception, disturbs the face of things, confuses the senses of men and their morals, rages, raves with sacrilegious idols, deceives with auguries, lies with divination, misleads with signs, deludes with arts, occupies with spectacles, besets with vices, wounds with sins, injures with crimes, prostrates with despair, he prolongs the kingdom of Christ and makes it absent from us.

We ask, therefore, that the time may come when, with the author of such great evil perishing, the whole world, the whole of creation, may reign and triumph entirely for the glory of Christ alone, and that what follows may come to pass. As it is in heaven, so also on earth. Let there be one will of the Lord: earth, heaven, life, God, time, eternity, homeland, rest, wealth, innocence, honor, immortality, fury, chastity, God, everything. He added: Give us this day our daily bread. After the fatherhood of God, after the sanctity of the divine name, after the kingdom of heaven, we are commanded to ask for daily bread. Christ is not subject to oblivion; Christ does not command things contrary to his own teachings. He himself says: Do not be anxious about what you will eat or what you will drink (Matthew 6:31). But because there is a bread which descends from heaven, which was ground in the form of law and grace, which was made into flour by the cross, which was confected by the passion of the cross, which was leavened with the great sacrament of piety, which took the leavening of the mixture from the sepulcher, which, when heated with the warmth of its own divinity, baked the oven of hell, which is brought daily to the table of the Church as celestial food, which is broken in the remission of sins, which nourishes those who eat it, feeding them perpetually unto life; we ask that this bread be given to us daily, until on that day we may enjoy it perpetually.

And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Man, the power of pardon is in your hands, the indulgence of it is within you, you are established as the author of your own remission; you ask for pardon in vain, who scorn to grant it to another. Man, you have become the very measure of mercy for yourself; as much mercy as you seek, so much do you show. And lead us not into temptation. Temptation, brothers, is a deceiving appearance, which makes prosperity in adversity, conceals adversity in prosperity, and leads human ignorance into treacherous falls. We ask, therefore, that we may not, driven by sins, fall into the pits of temptations. But the Lord is said to lead on those who rush into crimes when he abandons them. But deliver us from evil. Here "evil" designates the author of evil, that is, the devil. We ask, therefore, for one thing: that by this gift we may be free from all evils together with their evil author. Our Father, who art in heaven. Let no one, when he calls himself a son, be surprised that he remains in the garb of servitude. Today you are designated for a divine lineage; you have not been quick to hope, but to possess; know that you have attained it. Hear the apostle: "You are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope; for what does one who sees hope for? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience" (Rom. 8:24). Today is the day of adoption, today is the time of promise.

Listen, believe, wait; believe your creditor, who trusted you as a debtor, wait a little while so that he may come, who long sustained you so that you might come; grant a delay to him, but to the promisor who has already given you whatever debt he owed. Why do you weary yourself with hope for God? Live by faith. The farmer would never sow, breathless, if he did not hope for the fruit of his labor from the season; the traveler would not undertake the toil of a long journey, unless he believed he would reach his destination; the sailor would not enter the uncertainties of the sea, if he did not weigh that subsequent gains would compensate for the dangers; the soldier would not spend all the years of his youth in perils, if he did not hope for the most abundant honors of old age; the son would not endure the times of his father’s rule, if he did not hope to be the heir of his father’s substance. Since you already believe you are a son of God, according to the prophet: Wait, act manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, sustain the Lord (Ps. 16:20). Wait, so that by the faith of waiting you may obtain the heir of God, and by the virtue of patience you may attain it. Hear the apostle: We are sons of God, but it is not yet apparent what we are. When it appears, we shall be like him (1 John 3:2). And again: Our life is hidden with Christ; when Christ, your life, appears, you also will appear in glory (Col. 3:3). Brothers, the sons of God are blessed, because they will possess the inheritance of all things, and they will not see the times of mourning for the passing of the Father.

SERMON V. On the same. What I am now about to say with great trembling, what you are now about to hear terribly, or rather to call out terribly, astonishes the angels; the heavenly powers are astounded, heaven cannot contain it, the sun does not see it, the earth does not sustain it, the whole of creation does not comprehend it. What is a mortal breast to these things? what is the weak mind of man to these? what are the narrow limits of human sense to that? what is the breath of the human voice to these? what is the human tongue, soon to be silent, to that? Paul, when he had invisibly seen this, betrayed it by not betraying it, saying: "Neither has the eye seen, nor the ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor. 2:9). Isaiah, when he had barely begun to hear this with his hearing, ought still to be able to reach man, to the hearing, saying: "Lord, who believes our hearing?" (Isa. 53:1). Jeremiah, when he had conceived this with divine hearing, sustained the birth of heavenly senses, crying out: "My belly aches, and the senses of my heart are disturbed" (Jer. 4:19). Habakkuk, when he was inspired by the divine Spirit, declares when he says: "It guarded me, and my belly was terrified at the voice of the supplication of my lips, and trembling entered into my bones, and my strength was moved beneath me" (Hab. 3:16). Raised up by the power of God, he felt his own strength had given way beneath him. It is a long story to pursue and enumerate the fears of the saints concerning this mystery; time does not allow me to be counted in this fear; the impulse of the heavenly birth cannot delay those who are being born.

I say, therefore, and I address you while you are still in the womb with a penetrating voice, I warn you with a provident exhortation, that before you see your mother, you call upon that Father; before the caresses of your mother, you stretch out and hasten to the Father’s kingdom; before you reach the Father’s bread, you hang from the mother’s breasts. Let neither the necessity of the mother nor the times of age claim anything for themselves in you, but in you let everything divine, everything of the heavenly Father, respond and meet the author. Our Father, who art in heaven. This is what I trembled to utter, this is what the condition of its own servitude allowed no one, whether of the heavens or of the earth, to suspect: that such a commerce between heaven and earth, between flesh and God could suddenly arise, that God might be turned into man, man into God, the Lord into a servant, the servant into a son, and that an ineffable and everlasting kinship of divinity and humanity might be made. And the condescension of the Divinity toward us is so great that the creature cannot know what it should most marvel at: whether that God lowered himself to our servitude, or that he snatched us up to the dignity of his own divinity. Hence it is that man, who is also divinely adored, is now so inflamed with his own love that, while still in the womb, he adopts you as a son by his voice: blessed are you to whom it is given to rule before being born, to reign before living, to arrive at the glory of God the Father before recognizing the lineage of your own lowliness.

The Church is a happy mother, who looks upon you as such, who, while she remains a virgin, marvels that she has borne so many of you and in such a way. This birth was once prefigured by earlier examples. Hence it is that Jacob and Esau, twins in the womb, struggle over the honor of primacy, delay the birth, and wish to see the light only after conquering. Hence it is that John leaps for joy and meets his Author before he comes forth from his mother’s womb. And human offspring thus serve God before they are known to their parents, before they live in the world. What wonder, then, if the Church’s divine offspring, if God’s own children, while still in the womb, already profess that they are of a heavenly origin: “Our Father, who art in heaven.” Astonishment arises: Christ, from the breast of God the Father, calls his mother and professes her on earth; and man, from his mother’s womb, calls upon the Father and confesses him in heaven: “Our Father, who art in heaven.” Whither, O man, has grace suddenly borne you? Whither has heavenly grace snatched you? Whither has celestial nature carried you, that, still placed in flesh and on earth, you should be ignorant of flesh and earth, saying: “Our Father, who art in heaven”? Therefore, let him who confesses and believes himself the son of so great a Father respond by life to his origin, by conduct to his Father, and by mind and action affirm that he has attained a heavenly nature.

May your name be sanctified." We have certainly begun to be of that kind, and we are certainly considered to be of that Lord. And therefore we ask that in us the sanctification of that name, the honor and prerogative of the name which the sublimity of such a great begetter has so exalted, may endure. "May your kingdom come." We ask this for him who never lacks nor has lacked a kingdom, indeed who is himself his own kingdom, and contains within himself the whole power of the kingdom. But he who wishes us to attain to the promised glory of his kingdom warns us to seek this with all our vows; in this he wishes us to yearn with all our minds. For how rash is he who disputes it, how ignorant of the kind is he who does not dare, who seethes and pants, when he intends and strives for the promised kingdom. "May your will be done, as in heaven and on earth." Then indeed all is heaven; then, moreover, the mind of God is one for all; then, in Christ all and in all Christ, when all taste and do the wills of God alone; then all are one, indeed one is all, when the spirit of God lives as one in all.

Give us this day our daily bread. As in the Psalm: “Blessed be the Lord day by day” (Ps. 67:22), so here we say “Give us this day our daily bread,” calling “daily” what is perpetual. That bread is perpetual which came down from heaven: “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” That bread, therefore, is of perfect blessedness. “This day” means to live now on the food of that bread, by whose perpetuity—that is, “daily”—we shall be nourished in the future. And forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. From the suppliant’s breast the fountain of pardon flows, and whatever abounds in piety flows back toward pardon and pours forth upon another, when one grants to himself as much as he has remitted to another. “Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.” A merciful man is powerful enough, who contends with God in piety, when he desires that as much be given to him as he has given, as much as he has bestowed, so much be granted to him. Man, let pardon always be in your breast, if you wish not to fear your crimes.

And lead us not into temptation. This does not need interpretation, because the devil’s temptation is a prior and bitter servant. As long, however, as one is confined in this fragile body, he necessarily prays that no access be opened to temptation, nor any approach granted to the devil. But deliver us from evil: may our Lord Jesus Christ himself deliver us from evil and lead us to every good, who lives and reigns as God now and always through infinite ages of ages. Amen. Sermon VI. On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 17: “This kind is cast out by nothing except prayer and fasting.” Against the wickedness of demons, what arms the Lord has shown us we ought surely to retain. “This kind,” he says, “is cast out by nothing except prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:20). When these are practiced with full faith, it is piety. Piety, moreover, is useful for all things, having a promise of present and future life (1 Timothy 4:8). Let us therefore usefully examine the fruits of prayer and fasting, because they themselves are the arms against wicked thoughts. Fasting purifies the mind, lifts up the senses, subjects the flesh to the spirit. Fasting makes the heart contrite and humbled, which God does not spurn. Fasting disperses the clouds of lust, extinguishes the fires of desire, and kindles the true light of chastity.

Fasting does not love verbosity, judges the superfluity of riches, spurns pride, commends humility, and grants a person to understand himself for what he is—weak and fragile—and when he understands himself as feeble, he more aptly seeks and receives the help of God’s power; he seeks it, moreover, through frequent prayers and supplications. Prayer, indeed, is the refreshment of fasts and invokes the grace of the Holy Spirit. Prayer softens the hardness of the heart, tempers austerity, and sweetens the fast. For just as there is no full refreshment without drink, so fasting without prayer cannot perfectly nourish the soul. What, then, is prayer but the ascent of the soul from earthly things to heavenly ones, an inquiry into the celestial, a desire for the invisible? It puts away the discord of worldly habits by which the human mind is daily oppressed. Prayer is a union with the Holy Spirit—if, however, the mind is intent in prayer, as the prophet cries out: “My soul thirsted for you, how manifoldly my flesh [thirsted] for you” (Ps. 62:2). And when it thirsts, it follows that it may see your power (Ibid., 3). Believe me. If the soul of human substance fully thirsts to see the full power of God, and is not overcome by disdain through fastidiousness, it will be filled with spiritual fat and richness; and, thirsting for that visitation of God, it will cry out with its own sense and with faith: “My soul has adhered after you, your right hand has taken me up” (Ibid., 9). Fasting removes inertia, and takes away carnal impediments from the soul.

Persevering prayer, however, joins one to God, and thus rejoicing, it boasts of standing before the Lord. Moreover, when the soul clings to the Lord, it begins to have security and freedom; it endures no terrors, no fears. And having received such great protection from the right hand of God, how could it be harmed by any power, as it is written that no one snatches it from the hand of the Father (John 10:19)? This fasting bestows, this prayer bestows. SERMON VII. On the Words of the Gospel, John 14: "I give you my peace, I leave you my peace." It is the voice of the Lord, dearest brethren: "I give you my peace, I leave you my peace" (John 14:27). About to speak of peace, let us first see what the benefits of peace are. Peace is serenity of mind, tranquility of spirit, simplicity of heart, a bond of love, a union of charity. It is this that removes enmities, suppresses wars, restrains angers, tramples the proud, loves the humble, calms the discordant, reconciles enemies, and is pleasing to all. It seeks nothing of another's, considers nothing its own; it teaches one to love what it does not know how to hate. It knows not how to be exalted, it knows not how to be puffed up. Therefore, let him who has received it keep it; let him who has lost it seek it again; let him who has let it go search for it: because he who is not found in it is disowned by the Father, disinherited from the Son, and likewise is made a stranger to the Holy Spirit. For he who has scorned the good of the given laws rejects the offered gift; nor will he be able to come to the inheritance of the Lord who has refused to observe the testament.

There can be no harmony with Christ for one who chooses to be at odds with a Christian. Therefore, it is the crime of contumacy to despise what is commanded, to refuse what is ordered, to shun what is enjoined. What common ground have you with discord, Christian? Why do you cherish enmities, which could not please the author of peace? Why do you practice hostilities, which not even he who first invented them could escape? For at the beginning, when the serpent unleashed enmities against the first-formed man, it was slain; when it begrudged the man, it was itself laid low; when it desired to deceive Adam, it was itself the first to be cut down. Therefore, either embrace the love of Christ, Christian, or recognize that by the likeness of your works you are equal to the author of discord.