You have heard today how the Lord joined to the pastoral rejoicing the blast of the heavenly trumpet, that he might lift up to divine things the minds of the sheep, long bowed down, and forthwith advance them to the heavenly kingdom. 'Fear not,' he says, 'little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom' (Luke 12).
Humility acquired what pride lost, and the little and gentle flock subdued all the varied wildnesses by its own meekness. The little flock conquered and broke as many kinds of beasts as it subjected diversities of nations to the yoke of Christ. The little and gentle flock, long content to be slain, long suffered itself to be devoured, until the pagan savagery, sated with blood or with flesh, tasting the sweetness of the gospel food and the streams of the divine fountain, might shun the whole contagion of the world and its pasture; and might return from a beast into a man — he who from a man had fallen into a beast. That the prophets perceived this beforehand, that the apostles fulfilled it, that the martyrs...
...endured it, is clear, as he testifies who says: 'For thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter' (Ps. 44:22). But that this flock of a new order might undertake the battle, where he lives who was slain, he who has fallen conquers; he finds his soul who loses it; he has imitated his King, he has followed that sheep, that Lamb, who was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer, opened not his mouth (Isa. 53). He is silent who suffers willingly, he cries out who is torn against his will. Nor can he complain of death who takes up death deigning, not compelled. It is a mark of power when one dies willingly for many;
but when one dies unwilling, it is of extreme necessity, because the one comes from contempt of death, the other from the condition of nature. Christ therefore, as a sheep, both willing and silent, is shorn, that he might cover that nakedness which the first Adam brought in; like a lamb he is slain, that, being offered up, he might absolve the sin of the whole world; he lays down his soul for the sheep, that he might fulfil both the piety and the care of a shepherd. For you therefore he became King, for you Priest, for you Shepherd, for you Sacrifice, for you Sheep, for you Lamb, for you he became all things, he who had made all things. And he who never changes for himself, is for your sake so often transformed, for you is shown in various forms, who remains in the one form of his majesty. And what more? God-made-man gives himself to you as you are able to bear, because as he is you cannot endure him.
But let us now hear what such a shepherd has promised to the little flock. 'Fear not,' he says, 'little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom.' O outpoured goodness! O unheard-of piety! O ineffable affection! Into fellowship of his wealth the shepherd takes up the sheep, and into partnership of dominion the lord admits the slaves; to a sharing of the kingdom the King admits the flock of the whole people: thus, thus he gives, he for whom wealth cannot fail, whose kingdom cannot be diminished, whose power cannot be emptied by lavishing. But providently the Lord began, saying: 'Fear not, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom.'
It is not enough to hear the promise of a kingdom without fearing one's servile condition, for he who is scarcely worthy of liberty cannot lay hold of the insignia of sovereignty. The Lord therefore steadies the minds of servants with such a word, lest the sudden hearing of the promised kingdom lay them low. For a servant to desire a kingdom is a crime; to approach the peril is rashness; not to fear it is temerity. Yet how great is this in comparison with Christ? Or how marvellous that He gives a kingdom to servants, that He makes servants His partners in dominion, He who washes His servants' feet, that He may serve His servants with the lowest servitude? Let them come here, let them come, those who scrutinize His power, and then let them dispute about His fairness, when they shall have been able to grasp so great a thing, to speak of it, to weigh it reverently.
Nor let them now bring a false charge, if in our body He calls Himself less than the Father, He who not by word only but by deed also, when He washes the feet of servants, has subjected and submitted Himself to the feet of little servants. O man, spare yourself now, for that you might spare yourself, God has washed your feet, has held your feet, has embraced your feet. But let us return to what we began: 'Fear not, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you a kingdom.' Behold, He who gives declares that the Father gives. Does He then deny His own bounty by speaking thus? God forbid! He does not diminish His power, but discloses His affection; by speaking thus He makes no separation from the Father, but shows the Father's will and His own, and confirms their unity. But in that He said 'it has pleased well,' and did not say 'it pleased' —
it teaches the gift of the Trinity, for what pleased the Son concerning us, this pleased well the whole Trinity. 'Fear not, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you a kingdom.' After so great a bounty of the Lord, therefore, after His grace so abundantly bestowed upon you, He commands the one who is to reign to cast away the abject and worthless trappings of servitude. 'Sell what you possess, and give alms.' Royal power does not admit a plebeian garb; august honor is conferred by nothing but the diadem and the purple. He must therefore cast off the habit of servitude who believes himself divinely consecrated a king. Hence it is that the heavenly King commanded him who dared to enter the banquet in a garment unworthy of His majesty to be bound, cast out, and thrust into the outer darkness (Matthew XXII),
because a deformity in the one invited redounds to the injury of the one inviting. Likewise, he who, now enriched with riches, now with royal wealth, keeps back the little hoard of his former servitude, does not know, captive of his own misery, that he is blessed. It belongs to good custom, it belongs to a happy soul, that one admitted to a kingdom should promptly and generously distribute what was once his own, his private property, to his parents, to his kinsmen, to needy fellow-citizens, lest he be a beggar in soul who has been endowed with wealth and honor. With such foresight, therefore, and with such counsel, the Lord commands us to sell what is cheap and perishable, to bestow, to give it away — we who wish to possess in the heavenly kingdom all things that are in heaven and that are on earth.
But if you wish to preserve the price of your estates, and perhaps the treasures stored in your purses delight you, make for yourself such purses as He commanded who is now the guardian and provider of your desire. Indeed, when He saw that He had spoken harshly, 'Sell what you possess,' He at once added: 'Make for yourselves purses that do not grow old, a treasure that does not fail in the heavens.' Are you saddened again, because what you have you are compelled to lay up in the heavens? I beg you, trust your God, you who trust a servant, and entrust it rather to God than to man. But if you fear lest anything be presumed thence, lest the piety of the Giver scatter anything, seal your purses with the ring of faith, that with such a guardian you may sleep secure; for where He is, there is no place for a thief.
He will not be able to deny you your money, He who has bestowed on you all that is His, He who has enriched you both with the honor and with the glory of His kingdom.