Sermons 245

709 Every word of God, brethren, ought indeed to be heard with all the intention and diligence of the mind, but especially this one which today we are about to address to your charity. For therefore, the catechumens having now been dismissed, we have retained you alone to hear; because, besides those things which it befits all Christians to observe in common, we are going to speak in a special way about the heavenly mysteries, which they cannot hear except those who, the Lord now granting it, have received them. With so much the greater reverence, then, ought you to hear what we say, by how much these things are greater which are committed only to the baptized and to faithful hearers, than those which even the catechumens are accustomed to hear.

But you ought not to wonder, most beloved brethren, that in the very midst of the mysteries we said nothing to you about the mysteries—that we did not at once interpret those things which we handed down. For to things so holy and divine we brought the honor of silence, and amid those sacred preparations of the mysteries we ceased from the office of teaching, that we might the more venerate, by keeping silent, so great a majesty of divine grace, which can worthily be explained by no words of men. But because it is necessary that your love be instructed and taught in all things, now that the order of the mysteries has been completed, we expound to you those things which we before handed down, lest, while you understand less the dignity of the divine mystery, you should esteem that precious thing the less.

And if you understand this, you will see that all things which in this world are believed to be precious are, in comparison with so great a sacrament, most base. Let each one of you therefore recall the several kinds of the mysteries which through our ministry, the Lord granting it, you have obtained, and those things which you then received simply and faithfully, 710 now understand prudently, that you may the better be able to keep what you have understood. First of all, indeed, we anointed your ears with the oil of blessing; but for what cause this is done, according to ecclesiastical tradition, by all the catholic priests of Christ, learn. The entrance of faith and of all holy doctrine is admitted to the soul through the ears, and from hearing arises understanding.

For no one can come to know the sacraments of faith unless he hear the preacher, as the blessed Apostle affirms, who says: 'But how shall they hear without a preacher?' and again: 'Therefore faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God' (Rom. x). Rightly therefore are the organs of that sense sanctified with that oil, without which faith cannot reach the soul. And at the same time, those coming to baptism, that they may keep their ears unpolluted from every evil and base word even to the end, or that they may, as though deaf, not hear one who disparages his neighbor, or one who speaks obscene and shameless things, fulfilling that sentence of divine Scripture which says: 'Hedge in your ears with thorns, and do not hear a wicked tongue' (Ecclus. XXVIII, 28). And elsewhere: 'Do not believe an empty report.'

And again: 'Apply your heart to instruction, and prepare your ear for words of prudence' (Prov. XXIII; Ecclus.). Therefore the holy anointing applied to the ears signifies that men should turn away from and flee all speech contrary to discipline, as opposed to the doctrine of Christ, and should turn themselves to hearing the words of God alone, because, the oil being applied, they have preserved their hearing for the sayings of Christ. For the Savior himself speaks to the Father, and glories in the obedience of the people believing in him, saying: 'Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but ears you have perfected for me' (Ps. XXXIX). For then are the ears of the truly faithful perfected for Christ, when they desire to hear nothing except Christ and the things which are Christ's.

Whence in the Gospel the same Lord, when he was speaking of the mystery of the heavenly kingdom, would say: 'He who 711 has ears to hear, let him hear' (Matt. XI, XIII; Mark IV, and elsewhere). For although it is common to all to have ears, yet it is not common to have ears to hear. For whoever despise the words of God—although they cannot despise them unless they first hear them—yet, because they despise what they hear, are not said even to have heard, since the things they have heard they scorn as though unheard. And therefore these have ears, not such as are said to be ears to hear, but ears which hear so as not to hear; that is, so that they despise the things they have heard as though, as we said, never heard.

But those alone are said by Christ to have ears to hear who, when they hear with their ears, firmly commit it to the mind, and what they have delivered to the mind they carry out in works. Of hearers of this kind the Lord speaks in the Gospel: 'But blessed are your eyes, which see; and your ears, which hear' (Matt. XIII). And again: 'Everyone therefore who hears these my words and does them shall be likened to a wise man who built his house upon a rock; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and came upon that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded upon firm rock' (Matt. VII and following). Again, of those who hear ill, who have ears indeed, but not for obeying, he thus pronounces:

'Everyone who hears these my words and does not do them shall be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was its ruin' (Ibid.). You see therefore how great is the difference between one who hears well and one who hears ill: that is, between him who keeps the words of God, and him who has heard them and despises them as though never heard. To him who obeys and does, wisdom; to him who has despised, folly is reckoned. The one builds upon a solid foundation; the vain building of the other, without a foundation, is described as likely to fall easily. There is stability; here is ruin, and great ruin.

For no one falls more grievously than he who, having heard the word of God, turns to sins, for which eternal punishments have been prepared. But you, after your ears have been anointed with the blessed oil, have been marked out in the number of the wise hearers; so that, rightly retaining the words of God—that is, fulfilling what you have heard—on the day of judgment you may hear Christ saying to you: 'Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world' (Matt. XXV). But do not suppose that it was done idly, or without a sure reason of mystery, that we anointed also your nostrils with the oil of blessing;

which is understood to be done for this reason, that those who come to baptism may be admonished to keep the sacrament of so great a mystery inviolate and whole even unto death, so that as long as they draw the breath of this life through their nostrils, they may not withdraw from the worship and service of Christ our Lord. Whence also the holy man Job speaks: 'The Lord lives, who has taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, who has brought my soul to bitterness; for as long as breath remains in me and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips shall not speak iniquity, nor shall my tongue speak a lie. Far be it from me that I should judge you just; until I fail, I will not depart from my innocence. The justification which I have begun to hold, I will not forsake' (Job XXVII).

But there is still a subtler meaning signified in this anointing of the nostrils. For the fragrance of that oil, which has been blessed in the name and power of Christ, provokes you to a spiritual smell, that you may be able to perceive Christ with inestimable sweetness—not by the senses of the body, but of the mind; and, delighted with the knowledge of his mouth, following his footsteps, you may be able to say that which the choir of believers speaks to God: 'After you, in the odor of your ointments, we run' (Cant. I). This fragrance the Apostle commends to Christians when he says: 'But thanks be to God, who triumphs over us in Christ Jesus, and manifests the odor of his knowledge through us in every place, for we are the good odor of Christ to God' (II Cor. II).

Consider how greatly the apostles profited by perceiving the odor of Christ, and by the innocence of their preaching and the sanctity of their life to be preferred even to others: who, while they diffuse everywhere the odor of Christ's sweet fragrance, themselves also became a good odor to God. Which also in you, most beloved brethren, we desire to be fulfilled; that when you yourselves have taken the good odor of the knowledge of Christ, a most sweet odor may ascend to God also from the sanctity of your life. Through the Lord, etc.