Sermons & Letters 28

Chapter I. — The apparition of our Lord and Saviour, dearly beloved, illumines today's festival, as you know; and this is that day on which a preceding star led three Magi to know and adore the Son of God. The memory of which deed has rightly pleased us to celebrate with an annual honour; so that, while the evangelical history is unceasingly recounted, the saving mystery may ever, through a signal miracle, present itself to the senses of the understanding.

There had indeed preceded many proofs which by manifest tokens declared the corporeal Nativity of the Lord: whether when the blessed Virgin Mary heard and believed that she was to be made fruitful by the Holy Spirit and to bear the Son of God, or when at her salutation John, not yet born, was moved with prophetic exultation in the womb of Elizabeth (Luke i, 41), as though even within his mother's entrails he already cried out: 'Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world' (John i, 29); or when, at the angel's announcement of the Lord's birth, the shepherds were encompassed with the brightness of the heavenly host (Luke ii, 9), that they might not doubt of the majesty of the child whom they were to see in the manger;

nor should they think that He was born in the sole nature of man, to whom the meeting of the heavenly soldiery ministered its service. But these and other proofs of this kind then seem to have become known to few persons, who pertained either to the kindred of the Virgin Mary or to the family of holy Joseph. But this sign, which both effectively moved the Magi set in a far country, and drew them perseveringly to the Lord Jesus, was without doubt the sacrament of that grace, and was the beginning of that calling by which, assuredly, the Gospel of Christ was to be preached not in Judea only, but also in the whole world; so that through that star which shone to the sight of the Magi, but did not gleam to the eyes of the Israelites, both the enlightenment of the Gentiles and the blindness of the Jews might be signified. Chapter

II. — There remains, therefore, dearly beloved, as evidently appears, the form of the mystical deeds; and what was begun in image is completed in truth. As the star shines from heaven through grace, the three Magi, summoned by the flashing of the evangelic brightness, hasten daily among all nations to adore the power of the supreme King. Herod also rages in the devil (Matt. ii, 3), and groans that the kingdom of his iniquity is taken from him in those who pass over to Christ. Wherefore, if he slays little ones, he seems to himself to be slaying Jesus. Which indeed he strives to do without ceasing, while he tries to snatch away the Holy Spirit from the first beginnings of the reborn, and to extinguish, as it were, a certain infancy of tender faith.

But the Jews, who willed to be outside the kingdom of Christ, are still in some manner under the sovereignty of Herod, and, with the enemy of the Saviour ruling over them, they serve a foreign power, as though they knew not what was prophesied when Jacob said: 'The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a ruler from between his feet, until he come to whom they are laid up; and he is the expectation of the nations' (Gen. xlix, 10). But they do not yet understand what they cannot deny, and do not grasp with the mind what they have known from the narrative of the Scriptures: since to insane teachers the truth is a scandal, and to blind doctors that which is light becomes darkness. And so, being questioned, they answer that Christ is born in Bethlehem; and they do not follow their own knowledge by which they instruct others.

They have therefore lost the succession of their kings, the propitiation of their sacrifices, the place of their supplications, the order of their priesthood; and although they find all these things closed to them and all things ended for them, they do not see that these things have been transferred into Christ. Hence that inheritance which those three men, bearing the person of all the nations, obtained when they had adored the Lord, the whole world attains among its peoples through the faith which justifies the ungodly; and the adopted receive the inheritance of the Lord prepared before the ages, while those who seemed to be the lawful heirs lose it. Come at last to your senses, O Jew, come to your senses; and, laying aside your unbelief, turn even to your own Redeemer. Do not be terrified by the enormity of your crimes: Christ calls not the righteous, but sinners (Matt. ix, 13);

nor does he reject your impiety, he who, when he was crucified, prayed for you (Luke xxiii, 34). Loose the harsh sentence of your cruel fathers, and do not suffer yourself to be bound by the curse of those who, crying out concerning Christ, 'His blood be upon us and upon our children' (Matt. xxvii, 25), passed on to you the guilt of their crime. Return to the merciful One; make use of the clemency of him who forgives. For the savagery of your iniquity has been turned into an occasion of salvation. He lives whom you willed to perish. Confess him whom you denied, adore him whom you sold: that his goodness may profit you, whom your malice could not harm. CHAPTER III.

— As regards therefore, dearly beloved, that true charity which we owe even to our enemies according to the Lord's teaching (Matt. v, 44), we must both wish and strive that even this people, which has fallen away from that spiritual nobility of the fathers, may be grafted back onto the branches of its own tree. For that goodwill greatly commends us to God: because he made their transgression an occasion of mercy for us, so that our faith might recall them to a zeal for receiving salvation. For the life of the godly ought to be useful not only to themselves but also to others: so that what cannot be accomplished among them by words may be obtained by examples.

Considering therefore, dearly beloved, the unspeakable bounty of the divine gifts toward us, let us be fellow workers of the grace of God working in us. For the kingdom of heaven does not come to those who sleep, nor is the blessedness of eternity thrust upon those benumbed by idleness and sloth; but because, as the Apostle says, 'if we suffer together, we shall also be glorified together' (Rom. viii, 17; 2 Tim. ii, 12), we must run that way which the Lord himself testified that he is (John xiv, 6): who, without any merits of our works supporting us, provided for us both by sacrament and by example: so that he might advance those called into adoption unto salvation through the one, and instruct them unto labor through the other.

But this labor, dearly beloved, is to godly sons and good servants not only neither harsh nor burdensome, but even sweet and light, since the Lord says: 'Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is sweet, and my burden light' (Matt. xi, 28-30). Nothing therefore, dearly beloved, is arduous to the humble, nothing harsh to the meek, and all the commandments easily come into effect, when grace holds out its help, and obedience softens the command. For daily the words of God resound in our ears, and every man is shown to know what pleases the divine justice.

But because that judgment, in which each one shall receive according as he has done, whether good or evil (2 Cor. v, 10), is deferred through the patience and goodness of him who will judge, the hearts of the unbelievers promise themselves impunity for their iniquity, and think that the qualities of human acts do not pertain to the scrutiny of divine providence, as though evil deeds were not for the most part punished by the most evident chastisements, or the terror of heavenly threats were not often displayed: by which surely both faith is admonished and unbelief is rebuked. CHAPTER IV. — But amid these things the kindness of God remains over all, and he denies his mercy to none, since he indiscriminately bestows many good things upon all, and prefers by his benefits to invite those whom he might justly subject to punishments.

For the delay of vengeance gives place to repentance. AND YET it cannot be said that there is no punishment where there is no conversion, because a hard and thankless mind is already a punishment to itself, and in its own conscience it suffers whatever is deferred by the goodness of God. Let not their sins so delight sinners that the end of this life should find them in their evil deeds: since in hell there is no correction, NOR IS any remedy of satisfaction given, where no action of the will remains, as the prophet David says: 'For in death there is none that is mindful of thee; and in hell who shall confess to thee?' (Ps. vi, 6). Let harmful pleasures be fled, hostile joys and desires that are about to perish at any moment.

What fruit is there, or what profit, to desire without ceasing those things which, even if they do not forsake us, must themselves be forsaken? Let the love of perishing things be transferred to things incorruptible, and let the soul, called to lofty things, delight in the heavenly. Establish friendships with the holy angels; enter into the city of God, whose habitation is promised to us, and be joined to the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs. Whence they rejoice, there rejoice. Covet their riches, and by good emulation aspire to their support. For with whomever we shall have fellowship of devotion, there will also be communion of dignity. While therefore time is granted you for carrying out the commandments of God, glorify God in your body (1 Cor.

vi, 20), and shine, dearly beloved, as lights in this world (Phil. ii, 15). Let the lamps of your minds be ever burning, and let nothing dark remain in your hearts (Luke xi, 35): since, as the Apostle says, 'you were once darkness, but now light in the Lord; walk as children of light' (Eph. v, 8); and let there be fulfilled in you the things that went before in the figure of the three magi; and so let your light shine before men, that seeing your good works, they may glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matt. v, 16).

For just as it is a great sin when among the Gentiles the name of the Lord is blasphemed on account of bad Christians, so it is a great merit of piety when he is blessed in the holy conduct of his servants: to whom be honor and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen. CHAPTER I. — The day, dearly beloved, on which Christ the Savior of the world first appeared to the Gentiles, is to be venerated by us with sacred honor; and today those joys are to be conceived in our hearts which were in the breasts of the three magi, when, incited by the sign and guidance of the new star, they adored, made visible, the King of heaven and earth, whom they had believed to be promised.

For that day did not so pass away that the power of the work which was then revealed has passed, and nothing has come to us but the report of the deed done, which faith might receive and memory celebrate; since, the gift of God being multiplied, even our times daily experience whatever those beginnings possessed. Although therefore the narrative of the Gospel reading properly recounts those days in which three men, whom neither prophetic preaching had taught nor the testimony of the law had instructed, came from the most remote part of the East to know God; yet we perceive that this same thing now takes place both more manifestly and more abundantly in the enlightenment of the calling of all, since the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, saying:

'The Lord hath revealed his holy arm in the sight of all the Gentiles; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation which is from the Lord our God' (Isa. lii, 10); and again: 'And they to whom it was not announced concerning him shall see; and they that have not heard shall understand' (Ibid., 15). Hence, when we behold men given over to worldly wisdom and far from the confession of Jesus Christ led out of the depth of their error and called to the acknowledgment of the true light, without doubt the splendor of divine grace is at work; and whatever of new light appears in darkened hearts is sent from the rays of that same star: so that it may both move by miracle the minds which it has touched with its brightness, and by going before lead them to the adoration of God.

But if with careful understanding we are willing to consider how also that threefold kind of gifts is offered by all who come to Christ by the step of faith, is not the same oblation celebrated in the hearts of those who rightly believe? For he offers gold from the treasure of his soul who acknowledges Christ as King of the universe; he offers myrrh who believes that the Only-begotten of God united to himself the true nature of man; and he venerates him with a kind of incense who confesses him in no way unequal to the majesty of the Father. CHAPTER II. — These comparisons, dearly beloved, being prudently examined, we find that the person of Herod also is not lacking, of whom the devil himself, just as he was then the hidden instigator, so now also is the tireless imitator.

For he is tormented by the calling of all the nations, and racked by the daily destruction of his power, grieving that everywhere he is forsaken, and that the true King is adored in all places. He prepares deceits, feigns agreements, breaks out into murders, and, that he may make use of the remnants of those whom he still deceives, he burns with envy in the Jews, lies in wait by pretense in the heretics, is inflamed with savagery in the pagans. For he sees that the power of the eternal King is insuperable, whose death has extinguished the force of death; and therefore he has armed all his art of harming against those who serve the true King: hardening some by the inflation of legal knowledge, depraving others by the fictions of a false faith, and inciting still others into the fury of persecution.

But this madness of that Herod is conquered and destroyed by him who crowned even little children with the glory of martyrdom: and who has implanted in his faithful a charity so unconquered that they dare to say in the words of the Apostle: 'Who shall separate us from the charity of Christ? Tribulation? or distress? or persecution? or famine? or nakedness? or peril? or the sword? As it is written: For thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are esteemed as sheep for the slaughter. But in all these things we overcome, because of him that loved us' (Rom. viii, 35; Ps. xliii, 22). CHAPTER III.

— This fortitude, dearly beloved, we believe was necessary not only in those times in which the kings of the world and all the powers of the age raged with bloody impiety against the people of God, when they reckoned it to pertain to their greatest glory if they could remove the Christian name from the earth; not knowing that the Church of God was increased through the fury of their cruelty: since in the torments and deaths of the blessed martyrs, who were thought to be diminished in number, they were multiplied by example. In short, the assault of the persecutors contributed so much to our faith, that nothing more adorns the royal sovereignty than that the lords of the world are members of Christ: nor do they so much glory that they were born into empire, as they rejoice that they have been reborn in baptism.

But because the tempest of the former whirlwinds has subsided, and, the battles having long since ceased, a certain tranquility seems to smile upon us, those dangers must be vigilantly guarded against which arise from the very leisure of that peace. For the adversary, who was ineffectual in open persecutions, rages by a hidden art of harming: so that those whom he did not overthrow by the blow of affliction, he may cast down by the fall of pleasure. Seeing therefore that the faith of princes resists him, and that the inseparable Trinity of one Godhead is adored no less zealously in palaces than in churches, he grieves that the shedding of Christian blood is forbidden; and those whose death he cannot obtain, he assails by their manners. He turns the terror of proscriptions into the fire of avarice, and those whom he did not break by losses, he corrupts by covetousness.

For malice, long imbued by practice with its own wickedness, has not laid aside its hatred, but changed its device, whereby it may subject to itself the minds of the faithful by flatteries. It inflames with concupiscence those whom it cannot vex with torments; it sows discords, kindles wraths, incites tongues, and, lest hearts more cautious recall themselves from unlawful deceits, it thrusts upon them opportunities for consummating crimes: because for him this is the fruit of all his fraud, that he who is not worshiped by the immolation of cattle and rams, and by the burning of incense, may be served by any crimes whatsoever. CHAPTER IV. — Our peace therefore, dearly beloved, has its own dangers; and in vain are they secure about the liberty of faith who do not resist the desires of the vices.

The heart of men is shown by the quality of their works, and the appearance of their actions discloses the forms of their minds. For there are certain ones, as the Apostle says, who profess that they know God, but in their deeds deny him (Titus i, 16). For truly the guilt of denial is incurred, when the good which is heard in the sound of the voice is not held in the conscience. The frailty indeed of the human condition easily slides into transgressions; and because no sin is without pleasure, one quickly acquiesces to deceptive delight. But let one turn back from carnal desires to spiritual protection; and let the mind, having knowledge of its God, turn itself away from the counsels of the enemy who evilly persuades. Let the patience of God profit him, and let not obstinacy in sinning be nourished for the reason that vengeance is deferred.

Let not the sinner be secure about impunity, because if he loses the time of repentance, he will not have place for pardon, as the prophet says: 'For in death there is none that is mindful of thee: and in hell who shall confess to thee?' (Ps. vi, 6). But whoever finds the restoration of correction to be difficult for himself, let him flee to the clemency of the helping God, and let him ask to have the bonds of evil habit broken by him who 'lifts up all that fall, and sets upright all that are cast down' (Ps. cxlv, 8). The prayer of him who confesses will not be empty, since the merciful God will do the will of them that fear him; and he will give what is asked, who gave that whereby it might be asked. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, living and reigning with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages.

Amen. CHAPTER I. — The remembrance, dearly beloved, of the things done by the Savior of the human race confers great profit upon us, if we take up as things to be imitated what we venerate as believed. For in the dispensations of the mysteries of Christ there are both powers of grace and incentives of doctrine: so that we may also follow by the example of our works him whom we confess to be made in spirit. For even those very beginnings which the Son of God took up in being born of a Virgin mother instruct us unto the advancement of piety. For at once there appears to upright hearts, in one and the same person, both human humility and divine majesty. Him whom the cradle attests to be an infant, heaven and the heavenly things declare to be their author. A child of small body, he is the Lord and Ruler of the world;

and he is held in the bosom of his mother, who is enclosed by no bound. But in these things is the healing of our wounds, and the raising up of our fallen state: because unless so great a diversity had come together into one, human nature could not be reconciled to God. CHAPTER II. — Our remedies therefore have sanctioned for us a law of living: and thence has been given a form for morals, whence medicine was bestowed on the dead. And not without reason, when the brightness of the new star had led the three magi to adore Jesus, they did not see him commanding demons, nor raising the dead, nor restoring sight to the blind, or gait to the lame, or speech to the mute, nor in any action of the divine powers; but a child silent, quiet, and placed under the care of his mother;

in whom indeed no sign of power appeared, but a great miracle of humility was displayed. Therefore that very form of sacred infancy, to which God the Son of God had fitted himself, presented to the eyes the preaching that was to be conveyed to the ears, so that what the sound of the voice did not yet utter, the effect of sight already conducted. For the whole victory of the Savior, which conquered both the devil and the world, was begun in humility, and completed in humility. He began his appointed days under persecution, and under persecution ended them; nor did endurance of suffering fail the child, nor childlike gentleness fail the one who would suffer: because the Only-begotten Son of God, under one bowing-down of his majesty, took it upon himself both to be willing to be born as man, and to be able to be killed by men. CHAPTER.

III. — If therefore Almighty God made our exceedingly bad cause good by the privilege of humility, and thereby destroyed death and the author of death, because he did not refuse all the things which the persecutors inflicted, but, obedient to the Father, bore the cruelties of the raging with the gentlest mildness; how humble ought we, how patient ought we to be, who, if we meet with any labor, never bear it except by our own desert! For who shall glory that he has a chaste heart, or that he is clean from sin (Prov. xx, 9)? And, as the blessed John says: 'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us' (1 John i, 8);

who shall be found so free from fault that in him either justice would not have what to reprove, or mercy what to forgive? Hence the whole discipline of Christian wisdom, dearly beloved, consists not in abundance of speech, not in cunning of disputation, nor in the appetite for praise and glory, but in true and voluntary humility, which the Lord Jesus Christ, from his mother's womb even to the torment of the cross, both chose and taught above all fortitude. For when his disciples, as the evangelist says, were inquiring among themselves which of them should be greater in the kingdom of heaven: he called a little child, and set him in the midst of them, and said: 'Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.'

'Whoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he shall be the greater in the kingdom of heaven' (Matt. xviii, 1-6; Luke ix, 46-48). Christ loves infancy, which he first took up both in soul and in body. Christ loves infancy, the mistress of humility, the rule of innocence, the form of gentleness. Christ loves infancy, to which he directs the manners of grown men, to which he leads back the ages of the old; and he inclines to his own example those whom he exalts unto the eternal kingdom. CHAPTER IV. — But that we may be fully able to recognize how so wondrous a conversion may be attained, and by what change we must return to the childlike degree, let the blessed Paul teach us, and say: 'Be not children in understanding, but in malice be little children' (1 Cor.

xiv, 20). We are not therefore to return to the playthings of infancy and to imperfect beginnings, but something is to be taken thence which may befit even weighty years, so that there may be a swift passing over of agitations, a quick return to peace: let there be no memory of offense, no covetousness of dignity; a love of shared communion, a natural equality. For it is a great good to know not to know and not to be wise in malicious things: because to inflict and to return injury is the prudence of this world; but to render evil to no one for evil is the infancy of Christian equanimity. To this likeness of little children, dearly beloved, the mystery of today's festivity invites you; and this form of humility the child Savior, adored by the magi, instills into you:

who, that he might show his imitators what glory he was preparing for them, consecrated by martyrdom, at the time of his birth, those who were then born: so that in Bethlehem, where Christ was born, those begotten might, through the communion of age, become sharers of his passion. Let humility therefore be loved, and let all self-exaltation seem base to the faithful. Let each prefer the other to himself, and let no one seek what is his own, but what is another's: so that when in all things the affection of goodwill has abounded, in none may the poison of envy be found: since 'whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted' (Luke xiv, 11): as our same Lord Jesus Christ himself testifies, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, unto the ages of ages. Amen.