Works 4 part 3/9

Meanwhile the blessed embassy marvels to be led to the sacred cradle by a ray running down from above. The remotest nation is the first to enjoy the public good. With what stupendous condescension is He enclosed within the embraces of His mother, who embraces earth and heaven! He lies hidden in a mother's bosom, who transcends the kingdom of the Father. Through a simple office the spiritual mystery is revealed: the humanity is discerned, the divinity is adored. They present gold and frankincense and myrrh, offering more in the mysteries than in their own consciousness. In the gift of gold, royal dignity; in the vapor of frankincense, divine majesty; in the appearance of myrrh, a humanity to be buried, is shown forth. And thus the number of the offering speaks the Trinity, and the one devotion attests the unity.

And by this, with the ever-watchful attention of the heart, let us strive to look toward heaven, if we desire to come to Christ. Let the star of justice direct for us the paths of a perfect life. To Him who said, 'You shall not appear before me empty,' let us offer the gold of faith, the aromatic spices of piety, the holocausts of chastity. Let us have within us the spiritual myrrh, which so seasons our souls that it keeps them unharmed from the corruption of sin. Let us change our way, if we desire to come to the fatherland—assuredly to the heavenly fatherland. Let this be the exchange between the two: that we procure for ourselves the ownership of the one by the use of the other; so that, as eternal life will be the reward of this life, so we may labor that this life be the merit of that one.

But that which the evangelist says, that the Magi were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, but to go back to their own country by another way—this therefore is enjoined upon us spiritually, that by another way, that is, by another manner of living, we return to the fatherland. Perhaps someone asks how this can be done. Whoever desires to know this, let him hear the prophet saying: 'Turn away from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it.' For in this order one returns to the fatherland by another way. For since through pride we fell into the world, it behooves us through humility to return to paradise. Through covetousness we came into the servitude of the devil; through mercy let us return to Christ the Lord.

Through pleasure and luxury we bore the most grievous yoke of the devil; through charity and justice let us hasten to take up the light yoke of Christ, so that we who, serving the devil unhappily by the ways of unbelief and wickedness, departed from the fellowship of the angels, may strive to return to the principal fatherland by the ways of goodness and faith. If, forsaking in this order the death-bearing ways, we are willing to hold to the ways of eternal life, transferred from the left to the right, we may faithfully and happily imitate the journeys of the Magi. Does it not already seem to you that he returns to the fatherland by another way, who was formerly wont to take away the goods of others, and now desires mercifully to give away his own?

Does it not seem to you that he walks by another way, who was an adulterer and is chaste, who had been a drunkard and is sober, who was wont to curse and now blesses, who had been envious and is kindly? For if by prayers together with good works, God helping us, we strive in this order to change the journeys of our conduct for the better, we shall be able to come to eternal blessedness, by the granting of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns unto ages of ages. Amen. IX. ON THE EPIPHANY. That which, on account of the labor of the vigils, we reserved for you from yesterday's festivity, now, if you bid it, you can more opportunely hear.

Lately, dearest brethren, we kept the birthday of the Lord our Savior, on which was born for us in time He who is the forerunner and founder of all ages and times. But today, by most certain proofs, God has been declared in man: either in that He offered from heaven a star as the herald of His birth, which He made to go before the Magi who followed it, all the way to the venerable cradle of His assumed infancy; or in that in the channel of the Jordan He consecrated the waters by His baptism for the salvation of the human race unto all nations—for He, purer than all waters, entered them not so much to be sanctified as about to sanctify—or that this same day be that of that miracle by which He first turned water into wine in Cana of Galilee at the wedding banquet.

By which miracle He indicates this above all: that He is about to change the whole of the Gentile peoples, flowing away with a most vain and fickle understanding into the likeness of waters, into the true savor of spiritual prudence and into the pure truth of the true faith. In any one of these three are contained the mysteries and joys of our salvation. For to us either He was born of a Virgin, which the star showed us, or He was granted from baptism, which He consecrated in the channel of the Jordan. He also foreshowed that we are to be changed for the better, by the miracle of His work, when He turned water into wine. But the Magi themselves, who came by the indication of the star to the venerable cradle of that heavenly Child, what else did they express in those gifts but our faith?

For in that they offer three things, the Trinity is understood; but in that they are three, and each singly offers his single gift, the unity in the Trinity is declared. By the gold the King is shown; by the frankincense God is discerned; by the myrrh, which is suited for the seasoning of bodies, the burial of the Man to be crucified is proclaimed. According to these things, dearly beloved, let us also imitate the person of the Magi by spiritual acts of homage. First of all, let us seek Christ so long, until we deserve to find Him. Let the light of faith afford us guidance, like a star of heaven.

Let it show Him to us no longer crying in the manger, but reigning in the highest citadel of heaven; not in a mother's lap, but on the Father's throne to be adored; no longer to be judged in humility, but to come with majesty unto judgment. Let the offering of the three gifts be, as it were, the perfect confession of the Trinity. Let the unity be believed by us, joined together without confusion; the Trinity, distinguished without separation. Let the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit be believed one God, three persons and not three substances.

But as far as pertains to the order of the heavenly nature, in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit one divinity is so to be confessed that neither is a singular person to be supposed in the Trinity, nor a threefold substance in the unity; but plurality is so to be assigned to unity that equality be not taken away from the Trinity; and although numerousness be admitted in the one divinity, yet diversity is not to be received. Thus therefore is the worship of God to be disposed in the hearts of the faithful, that neither separation in the unity nor commingling in the Trinity be admitted. For very near to this day, dearest brethren, is the day of the sacred birth. Then the Lord was born, now He was baptized; then He begot us unto life, now He regenerated us unto salvation.

Then He took up the lost Adam, now He washed the sinner. He came therefore to baptism, as it is written. But what should He wash away, He who was clean? Assuredly, that being clean He might wash away the unclean. Him therefore the running waters then poured over, but they bore away our sins with them. From Him the drops of baptism flowed, but in the drops our crimes were washed away. O the mercy and at the same time the power of the Lord! We were not yet in the world, and already we were being washed in baptism. We were cleansed by Him before we were born. For this itself was the reason of the baptism, that the waters which were to purge us should first be purged by Him. 'And when He had come up,' says the Scripture, 'from the water, He saw the heavens opened.'

Was heaven then opened to Him, whose eyes already beheld the innermost recesses of the heavens? No; heaven is opened for this reason, that the mystery of baptism might be declared in it: because when a man comes forth from baptism, then the gate of the heavenly kingdom is opened to him. And how remarkable is this too, that the Magi come to the newborn Lord—nay, are led to Him? They see Him laid in the manger, and yet before their senses the lowliness of His birth did not diminish reverence for His divinity. They adore Him with their bodies, they honour Him with gifts, they venerate Him with their homage; with their eyes they see a man, and by their acts of service they confess Him God. For they saw in Him who had been born something greater, which the minds of men could discern, than what their eyes beheld before them.

The Lord, who had then been born in the flesh—through Him all things had been made—was indeed seen in the manger, yet He reigned in heaven; He was within a tiny body, yet within Himself He contained all things. He had indeed been born of a mother, yet He Himself had first created His own mother. And therefore the Magi humbled themselves, because they perceived the stars serving Him; they recognised Him to be God, whom the heavenly bodies obeyed. And for this reason their very gifts were full of divine mystery. For they offered, as you have heard, gold and frankincense and myrrh. In the number of the threefold gifts, therefore, a threefold meaning is contained. In the frankincense they offered honour to God, in the gold royal dignity, in the myrrh the burial of His body.

Let us also, then, most beloved brethren, offer holy and sincere gifts to our God: faith, charity, patience, humble minds, upright conduct, souls worthy to have God as their indweller. For these are the gifts pleasing to God, these the acceptable offerings, which indeed are offered to Him, yet profit those who offer them. For He needs no thing, no gift; but this is the best gift for Him, that He may have occasions for giving. He demands nothing more from us, He seeks nothing more, save the salvation of our soul. For He counts that all things are rendered to Him by us, if we so conduct ourselves that all things may be granted to us by Him, through the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father unto all ages of ages. Amen. X. ON THE BIRTHDAY OF SAINT FELIX.

To enlighten the human race, most beloved brethren, our Lord kindled in this world many spiritual lamps, so that, when the heavenly religion and doctrine had shone forth through holy men, the darkness of error might enfold no one at all who was willing to see the light of truth. And what are these lamps which our Lord bestowed to dispel and illumine the gloom of unbelief?

First the patriarchs, then the prophets, afterward the apostles, and lastly all the priests of all the churches; among whom the divine mercy granted to this city, as a distinguished and pre-eminent lamp, the lord Honoratus of holy memory, whom it deigned to raise upon the lampstand of this church, that he might give light to all. And although he shone forth to this city by the peculiar brilliance of his works, yet by the very fame of his name he reached to all places, and poured forth upon them the light of his merits. And while we recall his unconquerable faith in his works, his marvellous strictness in contempt of the world, his singular charity in mercy, we believe without doubt that he too fulfils the martyrdom of a passion not actually undergone.

For martyrdom is not consummated by the shedding of blood alone, nor does the burning of flames alone give the palm. One attains the crown not only by the setting (death) but also by contempt of the body. Without dishonour to the saints who died under persecutions, let it be permitted to say: to have afflicted the flesh, to have overcome lust, to have resisted avarice, to have triumphed over the world—this is a great part of martyrdom. But we, most beloved brethren, if we wish to attain even to the fellowship of the priests, let us think upon the imitation of the martyrs. For they ought to recognise in us something of their own virtues, that they may deign to make supplication to the Lord on our behalf.

For if we cannot endure the torments which the holy martyrs bore, let us at least, with them interceding for us, do battle against evil desires. And since daily sins are not lacking, let daily remedies also not be lacking. Let no one believe that he possesses any felicity or any true joy in this world. Blessedness can here be prepared for, but it cannot here be possessed. Two seasons succeed one another in their proper order: a time of weeping and a time of laughing. Let no one deceive himself, brethren: this world is not the time for laughing. I know, brethren, that every man desires to rejoice; but they do not seek joy there where it ought to be sought. True joy neither has been, nor is, nor ever shall be able to be in this world.

For thus the Lord admonished His disciples in the Gospel, saying: 'In this world you shall have tribulation'; and again: 'The world shall rejoice, but you shall be sorrowful; yet your sorrow shall be turned into joy.' And so in this life let us, with the Lord's help, do what is good with labour and sorrow, that in the age to come we may be able to gather the fruit of good things with joy and exultation, according to that saying: 'They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.' In this world, therefore, most dear brethren, through the sin of the first man we have been cast out from the blessed seat of paradise and sent forth as it were into exile, and thus in this present age we have no fatherland, just as the Apostle also says: 'While we are in this body, we are pilgrims away from the Lord.'

Let us not, therefore, seek joy in this world, because, as was said above, true joy can here be procured, but cannot be possessed. Do not seek on the road what is kept for you in the fatherland. And since 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 kept for you in the kingdom. Do not seek in the combat what is reserved for you when the victory has been made complete. Rather attend to what the Apostle says: 'All who wish to live godly in Christ suffer persecution'; and again: 'Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.'

Thus, therefore, by God's gift we ought to act, so that we may deserve to arrive happily at the principal fatherland, where our forefathers, the patriarchs, the prophets, and the apostles long to receive us and to behold us; where too our fellow-citizens, the angels, and that heavenly city, Jerusalem, and the King of that city, Christ, await us with the arms of charity outstretched, that with the devil laid low we may hasten to them, full of good works. For you know, brethren, that all merchants and all who are journeying are anxious while on the road, that they may be secure in the fatherland; and then they have true gladness, when with great gain they deserve to reach the fatherland.

So let us too, most beloved brethren, prepare our souls for joy at the time when we have deserved to come to Christ. Meanwhile let us only rejoice in hope, being about to have true joy afterward in reality. And what is worse, there are many who, in perverse order, believe that they rejoice over the pleasure and delights and luxury of this present age. But what they seem to sow in joy, it will be necessary for them to reap with tears and mourning; for He does not lie who said in the Gospel: 'Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.' For so did that unhappy rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen: he indeed had joy in the world, but he deserved to find flames in hell.

Lazarus, who lay at his gate, had sorrow on the road, but received true joy in the fatherland. But we, most dear brethren, let us as much as we can implore the mercy of God, that He may deign so to breathe into us love of eternal life, that we may wish to love the fatherland more than the road, and think more of the age to come than of the present; and so let us strive always to conduct ourselves in the exile of this 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 granting of our Lord, to whom is honour and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen. XI. AN ADMONITION CONCERNING THE DAY OF JUDGMENT.

I beseech you, most dear brethren, and with great humility I admonish you, that none of you be angry with me, or perchance judge me unfitting or excessive, because I strive so frequently to impress upon you the day of judgment, which is to be dreaded with trembling and profitably feared. If there is anyone whom perhaps I displease in this matter, let him consider my peril, and let him hear the Lord terribly threatening the priest through the prophet: 'If you do not announce to the wicked man his wickedness, I will require his blood at your hand'; and again: 'Cry aloud, cease not; lift up your voice like a trumpet, and announce to my people their sins.' But perhaps someone may say: Why are such harsh things constantly preached to us?

Because it is better here to endure a little bitterness and afterward to attain to eternal sweetness, than to have here a false joy and there to endure punishment without end. Hear, brethren, not me, but the Lord saying in the Gospel: 'Blessed are they that mourn now, for they shall be comforted'; and: 'Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall weep and mourn.' And attend to this, brethren, that all bodily physicians, whenever they come to those who appear to be sick in body, cut away all the things that seemed to be delightful to them, and wholly forbid what is sweet.

Sometimes too they do not permit them to take anything cold, at times they compel them to drink most bitter potions, and often they cut into their wounds with the roughest and sharpest instruments. This, therefore, which bodily physicians do for the health of bodies, spiritual physicians strive to practise for the salvation of souls. Considering these things, then, most beloved brethren, and not being ignorant that I shall have to render an account both for my own salvation and for yours before the tribunal of the eternal Judge, I wish to administer to you medicines that are indeed harsh but wholesome, so that afterward I may deserve to rejoice with you in perpetual well-being in the fellowship of the angels.

And these things I suggest, not because I have perceived that you receive our admonitions unwillingly, but because it is necessary for me to preach more frequently both for your salvation and for mine, that I may strive to rouse your minds both to dread the fearful judgment and to desire the reward; so that you may happily prepare, with the Lord's help, the storerooms of your holy breast for storing up the spiritual vintage, as you have always done. As often as we preach something harsh to you, we do not say it because we suspect that anything of the sort is being done by you, but we also proclaim those things which you do not do, so that we may be able to heal those in which perhaps you have been overtaken.

For it commonly happens that, while greater things are feared, lesser things are the more quickly guarded against. For just as an antidote is drunk so that poisons may not be able to prevail against bodies, so a stern preaching is administered, whereby the antidotes of souls may be prepared. It is certain, most dear brethren, that if we constantly ponder the benefits of our God, which have been conferred upon us with no preceding merits of our own, either sins do not gain mastery over us, or, if perchance they have crept in, they are quickly corrected through penance. For who could even conceive in mind—I do not say, express in words—how great these benefits of our God toward us are? For He made us when we were not, and afterward He restored us when we had perished.

He took upon Himself death, He redeemed us with His precious blood, He descended to the lower regions, He snatched us from the jaws of eternal death, He promised us the rewards of the heavens. Pondering all these things, most dear brethren, with a devout and kindly mind, let us hasten, as much as we can and with His help, to render a return for His benefits. Let us not repay 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 bring forth for us rather a remedy from our compliance than a judgment from our transgression.

For what shall we do, most dear brethren, on that dreadful day of judgment, when, with the world trembling and the trumpets of the angels sounding forth, the Lord shall have taken His seat upon that throne of His majesty, encompassed by the light of the heavenly host; and there, when the human race has been raised up from the bosom of the earth and its ancient dust, with witnesses standing by, before the consciences of each, the punishments of the wicked and the rewards of the just having been set in view, He shall begin to demand an account of their life; and now more just than merciful, with the severity of a judge He shall begin to accuse those guilty of despised mercy, and to say:

I, O man, made you from the clay with My own hands; I breathed a spirit into you by earthly arts; I deigned to confer upon you Our image and likeness; I placed you amid the delights of paradise. You, despising the life-giving commandments, chose rather to follow the deceiver than the Lord. But I pass over ancient things. Afterward, moved by mercy, when you, expelled from paradise, were held by the just right of sin in the bonds of death, I entered a virginal womb, to be born without loss of virginity. I lay laid in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes; I bore the humiliations of infancy and human sorrows, whereby I might be made like to you—for this very end, that I might make you like to Myself. I received the blows and spittings of those who mocked; I drank vinegar mingled with gall.

Scourged with whips, crowned with thorns, fastened to the cross, pierced with a wound, that you might be rescued from death, I gave up My soul amid the torments. Behold the marks of the nails, by which I hung fastened; behold the side pierced through with wounds. I took up your sorrows, that I might give you My glory. I took up your death, that you might live forever. I lay buried in the tomb, that you might reign in heaven. Why have you lost what I bore for you? Why, ungrateful one, have you refused the gifts of your redemption? I do not complain of My own death. Render Me your life, for which I gave My soul; render Me your life, which you have unceasingly slain with the wounds of your sins.

Why have you defiled with the filth of lust the dwelling which I had consecrated for Myself in you? Why have you stained with the foulness of enticements a body now Mine? Why have you afflicted Me with a heavier cross of your crimes than that on which I once hung? For to Me the cross of your sins is heavier, upon which I hang unwillingly, than that which, unwilling and taking pity on you, I ascended, about to slay your death. Though I was immortal, I was made a mutable man for your sake. Though I was impassible, I deigned to suffer for you. But you despised in the man God, in the weak one salvation, in the way the return, in the judge pardon, in the cross life, in the punishments the medicine.

In order, then, that we may be able to escape this terrible rebuke, as often as any sins whatsoever have crept upon us, let us hasten without any dissimulation to take refuge in the medicines of penance, so that, delivered from the evil hearing, we may deserve to attain to eternal pardon, by the granting of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honour and dominion with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. XII. AN ADMONITION. Just now, most dear brethren, 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, that each one may render an account of the deeds of his own body, according as he has done, whether good or evil.'

The Lord also declares this same thing in the Gospel, saying: 'The Son of man shall come in His glory with His angels, and then He shall render to each one according to his works.' Diligently, I beseech you, give heed, most dear brethren, and tremble together with me, because He did not say that He would render to each one according to His mercy, but according to his works. For here He is merciful, there He is just. For that He does not straightway take vengeance upon sinners is patience, not negligence. He has not lost His power, but has reserved us for penance. Whence it is greatly to be feared lest, the longer He waits for us to be corrected, the more heavily He take vengeance, if we have been unwilling to be amended.

Since these things are so, we ought to know and understand, most dear brethren, that nothing is more wholesome for us than that, having condemned the pleasures of all present things, we should rather ponder this: when we are about to pass from this age, or when we are about to lay down the tabernacle of our body on the last day when it comes upon us, and again to receive it back at the time of the resurrection, that we may receive with the same body according as we have done, whether good or evil. And therefore I beseech you, brethren, that we should rather ponder this daily: what manner of persons we shall be on the day of judgment, when we must be presented to the most pure gaze of the angels and render to the eternal Judge an account from the books of conscience.

For, with all proofs set aside, it is certain that on that day the man himself must be set before himself, and the soul itself must be shown to itself from the mirror of the heart, and that witnesses against it must be brought forth not from without or from elsewhere, but from within, from the soul itself. Not any foreign testimonies must be adduced, but ones exceedingly well known—that is, its own works. There shall be marshalled before the unhappy soul its own sins and crimes, so that both the proof may convict it and the recognition confound it, according to that which is written: 'I will reprove you and set it before your face.'

Whoever has neglected to amend himself now, while it is permitted, shall before that heavenly people be the first to receive punishment out of confusion; and the soul which now, through penance by a compendious settlement, disdains to cure the putrefactions of its sins, shall remain wounded forever without any remedy before that dreadful tribunal. Since these things are so, it would go well with us if even now we so repented over our evils as we shall then repent without any remedy—if we could now already see and shudder at our foulnesses and confusions in the same way as we are then going to see them.

Oh, if even now it were permitted to behold with the eyes of the body the face of the sinful soul, and we were allowed to bring the countenance of our conscience into the presence of our eyes! And if this were permitted, it cannot be told with how great zeal and how great fear we should be pressed to compose what is defiled, to wipe clean what is stained, to heal what is wounded. And therefore, since we cannot do so with the eyes of the body, let us look upon ourselves, as far as we can, at least with the eyes of the heart, and now let us set our consciences before the gaze of the inner man. Let us chastise our very selves; let us render an account with ourselves of our daily conduct. Let each and every soul address itself in the secret places of the heart and say: