and straightway awaking in the resurrection, He might give a blessing to those who venerate His passion in mystery, but a fitting curse to His mockers. Of which cup the Psalmist says, How goodly is my cup which inebriates (Ps. xxii, 5)! and in the Gospel the Lord, The cup which My Father has given Me, shall I not drink it (John xviii, 11)? 2. In the rod of Moses, in Jonah. The mystery of the time in which the Pasch is celebrated. The rod of Moses too, cast upon the ground and turned into a serpent, when it was held by the tail returned again into a rod (Exod. vii): because that power of the divine majesty, descending from heaven to earth, willed for our sake to be mortal:
but after the dispensation of the assumed flesh was accomplished, He received back a seat at the Father's right hand. Of Jonah, whom the fish, having swallowed him, vomited forth unharmed upon the dry land, we have the plain sentence of the Lord Himself, that as he was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so should the Son of man be in the heart of the earth (Jonah ii; Matt. xii, 40). There exist also very many other holy proclamations concerning this solemnity of solemnities, to all of which the very reckoning of times also gives assent, which dedicated the paschal term to the vernal equinox, awaiting only the ensuing full moon of the first month:
so that, as the sun advancing from the lower regions on high now first builds up the nights in length, and the moon also through the daily increases of its light is seen to be most full; so the Sun of Righteousness, rising from the underworld, illumines with His light the Church hitherto set in darkness. 3. The death and resurrection of Christ to be imitated. These are the sacrosanct paschal joys of this day, these the solemnities desired and foretold through all ages: which it is just for us always to venerate in mind, always to imitate in deed according to our measure, as the apostle John says: He who says that he abides in Christ, ought, as He walked, himself also so to walk (1 John ii, 6). And He indeed for our sake for a time was crucified;
we ought daily to take up the cross, and to follow Him (Luke ix, 23). He tasted death for an hour; we ought always to mortify our members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, and the rest (Col. iii, 5). He rose again from the dead; we are commanded to rise again from vices, the Apostle saying: Rise, you that sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall enlighten you (Eph. v, 14). But if we shall now have crucified our flesh for Christ with its vices and concupiscences, being planted together also in the likeness of His death (Rom. vi, 5), by the mortification of vices, when Christ our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory (Col.
iii, 4), who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen. SERMON 166. On the Pasch, VIII. The reckoning of human salvation. The salvation of mankind, dearest brethren, and the revived liberty of the world, is required at no small a price; but it is tempered by the blood of Christ. But as much joy as the office of this venerable day has conferred upon believers, so much ruin and mourning has it borne to the unbelieving. It confers gladness on Christians by faith; it brings punishment upon the Jews despairing because of the cross. To them the injury done to the Son of God conferred eternal death; to us it profits unto perpetual salvation. What, I ask, is the excess of the divine mercy, or how great a fullness of love is shown?
For this God willed to descend from heaven on account of lost man, not that He might seem to receive honour in the world, but that He might be hanged upon the cross. And while He willed to snatch away the one deceived by the snares of death, He did not disdain to undergo death itself. And what kind of death? One that had stood forth more detestable than every death. This the Apostle affirms, saying: He humbled Himself even unto death, yea, the death of the cross (Phil. ii, 8). Whence after death a conquering resurrection was prepared. Let us say, brethren, This is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it (Ps. cxvii, 24): this is the Pasch which we keep; in this we are pilgrims, this once past returns, this rolls onward into the future. SERMON 167. On the Pasch, IX. 1.
Why the lamb was immolated at evening. The God of mercy and of justice today rose again from the dead by the power of the Father, as Paul says, Who raised Him from the dead (Gal. i, 1); and the prophet, Among the dead he is free (Ps. lxxxvii, 6). In whom we all too shall afterward rise again, and shall live. For because He has furnished us with leadership to His kingdom, we too are commanded to prepare the way of the Lord, that is, humility, love of God and neighbour, justice, goodness, integrity, patience, charity, prudence, piety and innocence. All these things the Lord has enjoined upon us through Himself by examples, who is signified by that lamb. It is asked therefore, why that lamb is immolated not by day, but at evening.
This reason is manifest. For our Lord and Saviour suffered in the consummation of the ages, as John says: My little children, it is the last hour (1 John ii, 18). Today the faith of the Church has been confirmed in Christ, and in the seed of Abraham all nations are blessed, and the Saviour of the world became known, and He conferred full gladness upon the citizens above as upon men, when after His passion He presented Himself alive according to His promise. 2. With how many mysteries the Lord's day is illustrious. The day of judgment. Well also are the Lord's word and the resurrection of the Lord joined together. Venerable is this day, which is the Lord's day and the first and perfect day, and a bright day, on which the first light was seen (Gen.
i, 5), on which the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea with dry feet (Exod. xiv), and on which manna rained upon the children of Israel in the desert (Exod. xvi), and on which the Lord was baptized in the Jordan (Matt. iii). On which the wine was made from water in Cana of Galilee (John ii), on which the Lord blessed the five loaves, with which He satisfied five thousand men (Matt. xiv). On which the Lord rose from death (Matt. xxviii), on which the Lord entered the closed houses, where the disciples were gathered for fear of the Jews (John xx, 19): on which the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles (Acts ii, 4), and on which we hope that our Lord Jesus Christ will come to judgment:
on which day every creature shall be reformed for the better; so that the sun and moon may receive sevenfold light, and holy men may receive from God eternal life for the merits of their good obedience. SERMON 168. On the Pasch, X. 1. What the Pasch of Christ is. The Pasch of Christ, most beloved brethren, is the kingdom of heaven, the salvation of the world, the life of believers, the downfall of hell, the glory of those above, the resurrection of the dead, the testimony of the divine compassion, the reward of human redemption, the crushing of abolished death. Which festivity, hallowed by the mystery of God and known by the sacrament, declares the power of the Lord's resurrection through the Angels, manifests it through the Apostles, multiplies good things through the hearts of believers.
This therefore is the day, dearly beloved, which the Lord has made (Ps. cxvii, 24), as you have heard, higher than all, brighter than all, on which the Lord rose again, on which He acquired for Himself a new people, as you yourselves see, by the spirit of regeneration, on which He flooded the minds of each with joy and exultation. This day therefore of Christ's resurrection is life to the departed, pardon to sinners, glory to the saints: since by the working of the virtues it lifts up from the lowest, raises from the earthly, places on high, perfects the just, strengthens the doubting, condemns the unbelieving. For to this end the Lord rose again today, that He might show us the image of the future resurrection:
And therefore today the people of God, rising again in the life-giving font, illumine our Church with the splendour of snow-white brightness, after the likeness of the resurrection. 2. Baptism is an image of the resurrection to come. The thief's devotion is to be imitated. We ought to give thanks to our God, that while we celebrate the holy solemnity of Easter, we already behold an image of the resurrection to come. For the human race shall rise again at the consummation of the age after death; now it rises again in Baptism. The people of God is to be raised up then after their slumber; now they are raised up after their unbelief. They are to be freed then from the mortal condition; now they are freed from the blindness of ignorance. They are to be reborn unto eternity; now they are reborn unto salvation.
For all who were once baptized in Christ, even if they cannot put on a white garment, let them at least not abandon a white manner of life. Often a soul quite pure lies hidden beneath a black habit; nor does it much matter if a man has no white garment. Such was that thief in the Gospel, who, crucified together with the Saviour, is said to have cried out: 'Remember me, Lord, when Thou comest into Thy kingdom' (Luke 23:42). Attend then, dearly beloved, and see what the faithful man obtains, what he merits. The thief on the cross asks for the kingdom of the Saviour; and while he suffers a multitude of torments, he is led to the rewards of eternity. Imitate therefore his devotion, imitate his loving of Christ: what the thief asks in dying, do you desire by living well.
To his believing faith paradise is opened, and to our hope the firmness of eternal rewards is shown. Let us therefore rejoice and exult in this day, on which the Lord, rising again, struck down death and brought in salvation. 3. The office of sponsors. This therefore I admonish, most beloved brethren, that as often as the Paschal solemnity comes, whatever men, whatever women have spiritually received children from the sacred font, let them recognize that they have stood as sureties for them before God; and therefore let them always bestow upon them the solicitude of true charity. Let them admonish them to guard chastity, to keep virginity until marriage, to restrain the tongue from cursing or perjury, to utter no base or lascivious songs from the mouth;
let them not be proud, nor envious, nor harbour anger or hatred in the heart; let them not observe auguries, nor ever hang upon themselves or their own phylacteries or diabolical charms; let them flee soothsayers as ministers of the devil; let them hold the catholic faith, let them run more frequently to church, and, despising verbosity, let them hear the divine readings with attentive ears; let them receive strangers, and, according to what was said to them in Baptism, let them wash the feet of their guests; let them themselves keep peace, and strive to recall the discordant to concord, and render to priests and parents the honour and love of true charity.
If therefore you strive to admonish your sons and daughters concerning all these things and the like, you shall together with them happily attain to eternal blessedness. 4. Each one is bound to the edification of his neighbour. Let no one deceive himself, most beloved brethren; no man lives to himself alone, nor dies to himself alone; but, as I have often suggested, however many a man may edify by the example of a holy life, with just so many and for so many shall he receive the reward of a blessed recompense; and however many he may furnish an example of an evil manner of life, even if they do not follow him, he shall know that he must render an account for so many evils.
And therefore, as I have already suggested above, we ought, with the Lord's help, to show our neophytes, as much as we can, an example of good conversation; that we may deserve to come, not to receive punishment for their destruction, but rather to the pardon of sins for their edification; through the bounty of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns unto the ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 169. On Easter, 11. 1. The entrance of Christ through closed doors is a miracle. The Gospel reading, most dear brethren, which lately sounded in our ears, contains a great miracle. Although the Lord is everywhere, His miracle contains a benefit, in which the disciples received the Holy Spirit.
It is a miracle that our Lord Jesus Christ in true flesh entered to the disciples through closed doors. Perhaps you require of me a reason, and you demand an argument. If, you will say, it was true flesh that rose again, how did that same flesh enter to the disciples with the doors shut? Is it really so, you will say, can anyone's hearing grasp that which observation does not attest, and that a man could enter a threshold in the body? Give me, you say, a reason. But here no reason nor example is given. For miracles, faith is required. Thomas's faith was dead. O man, if you demand a reason of me, it will not be marvellous; if an example is sought, it will not be singular. You believe, surely, that the Lord Christ walked upon the waters of the sea with firm steps? You believe it, certainly.
You say therefore to me: If Christ entered through closed doors, where is the dimension of the body? And I reply: If He walked upon the sea, where is the weight of the body? Let dimension and weight withdraw for a little while: He did this, to whom nothing is impossible. Could Christ, who was able to bring forth His own flesh from the sepulchre, not be able to enter to the disciples with the doors shut? When you hear a miracle, keep faith; let the mind not inquire after a reason. Hence it is that even the disciple Thomas wavered and did not believe; but afterwards the Lord confirmed him. For his fellow disciples had said to him: 'We have seen the Lord.' But he said: 'Unless I shall see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into His side, I will not believe.'
For he knew Him fastened to the cross with nails, he knew His side pierced with a lance: these signs he sought, and therefore he did not believe. He sought the hands and the side; and while he becomes curious about the wound, he had incurred death in his faith. O blessed Apostle, before your eyes Christ was able to raise up Lazarus, and could He Himself not rise from the sepulchre? You seek the places of the nails, and have you forgotten so many miracles of signs? Did He not before your eyes give light to the blind, heal the paralytics, cleanse the lepers? Have you so lost in three days the memory of your Master, that you would not believe in the power of Christ? The death of Christ in the flesh ought to be your life in faith. You saw indeed the one who pierced with the lance; but he did not penetrate the divine power. 5. He was restored to life by the touch of Christ.
Behold, the Lord comes again, lest the disciple should perish, and He says to Thomas: 'Put in your finger here, and see My hands; and bring your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but faithful.' O the loving-kindness of the Saviour, who does not disdain to show the place of His scar! Thomas answered and said: 'My Lord and my God!' Now He is your Lord and your God; because He willed that you should see, lest by unbelief you should lose your soul. Rightly does the Lord thus speak to him: 'Because you have seen Me, you have believed: blessed are they who have not seen, and have believed' (John 20:25-29). Behold, the disciple trembled; the Church believes what it has not seen. Blessed is our merit, brethren, if it be held as received in the catholic Church.
Here the reward is received, where true faith is held and known. This Church therefore Christ established by His resurrection, and in it He placed the eternal rewards. Believe, brethren, let him hope for rest who has not departed from the root: to whom be honour and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 170. On Easter, 12. 1. In the garden of delight Mary seeks the Lord; in the necessity of desolation the Church mournfully seeks Christ: that at least in paradise she may find a comforter, since in the parched fields she has not yet deserved to see the planter. Where the Lord rises, there the sorrowful Church seeks the loving planter. The Lord rises again in the garden of delights, having propagated together with Himself the plantings of the dead.
And that garden of resurrection is depicted with the lofty cedars of the Saints, the clusters of the Prophets, pine-groves with palm-trees, the fruits of the almond and the olive: Abel, Enoch, Elijah, Zechariah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. And in the field turning green the Church seeks the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For who would not delight, after the deformity of desolation through fields clothed with no ears of grain, to enter the paradise of delight with its flowering foliage? To gaze, after the days of drought and the dried-up bark, upon the trees of the earth budding with gems as they lament; to gaze upon the fragrant honey, the pomegranates dripping with dew, and to behold the milky and scarlet flowers of the almonds and the peaches;
which the angels delighted to behold in that little garden-house, that is, in that lovely sepulchre, where the angels were sitting, one at the head, the other at the feet. Outside, throughout the garden, the vines of the blessed who rose again covered the world. The angels were delighting on that day of resurrection, because it had brought peace to the whole earth. There delighted them, as it were spikenard and cinnamon, the new fragrance of the sweetness of the resurrection from the dead, where the dewy balsams were fragrant, the wounds of Christ watering the dead. The rose of gushing blood, the lily stretched forth from death in the flowering field, gave delight. Thither Mary, captivated, anxiously turned aside, and with the linens of the Lord's burial, as with the broadest leaves of the plane-tree in the streets, the weeping woman wiped her eyes of the tears of piety. She looked:
she saw the pool of the fountain rising up from death, and as it were green herbs from that pool, which are woven together by the nourishing waters through the fleeces of the hollows. 2. Having contemplated the shroud with the napkin, she did not find the fountain, and, thirsting, she was not satisfied; but thirsting with a more ardent affection she laments. Nor did she plainly receive the consolation of the angels, because she desired to see the firstborn of the dead. The angels say to her: 'Woman, why do you weep?' Would that they too might say to us amid the tears of our necessity: 'Servants of God, why do you weep?' It would be for us a renewal of joys at the tomb, it would be for us delight in the field, and safety on the sea, and a fortress in the camp.
And would that He too might question us, who said to Mary: 'Woman, why do you weep, and whom do you seek?' So might He say also to us: 'Whom do you seek, and why do you weep?' We would say: 'Lord, we lament, and we seek Thee, without whom we are able to do nothing; because in Thee we conquer, we move, and we are. We seek Thee: why hast Thou driven away the living, Thou who didst raise up the dead? At Thy rising, hell blossomed with trembling; and the earth withers without fruits. Behold, the rocks have burst forth with the plantings of the dead; and the furrows of the lands, their inward parts hardened, know not the adornment of the crops. Thee, Lord, we seek, by whom we have been sought; for our festal days are turned into mourning, and our songs into lamentation.'
The Alleluia, which is the delight of the angels, is sung with the fear of pirates; our harp has become a mournful song amid the tears of the hungry, and darkened above the gloom by the funerals of the dead. 3. Let us too say with Mary: 'They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and I know not where they have laid Him' (John 20:13). Say to us, Lord: 'Why do you weep?' For Thy question is our consolation: just as if a physician should say to a sick man, 'Do not weep,' does he not indeed give him assurance of an easy recovery? Where are Thy angels? Let them say to us, 'Why do you weep?' And if we do not say, 'They have taken away our Lord,' let us say, 'They have taken away our father, our priest, our mediator.' For just as Mary was sorrowful without the Lord;
so without its own priest the Church mournfully groans. But He who said to Mary, 'Go, tell My disciples that they go before Me into Galilee' (Matt. 28:10), He will say to us: 'Announce to My children, that they may come before Me to the church, that they may speedily see the presence of the Father, and in it receive pardon.' SERMON 171. On Easter, 13. On the Resurrection of the Dead. 1. Most certain is the faith of the resurrection, proved by the testimony and example of the Truth. Most certain is the confidence of Christians in the resurrection of the dead, divinely promised. For the Truth Itself has promised this: but the Truth cannot lie; otherwise it is not Truth, if it can lie. True therefore is the promised truth concerning the resurrection of bodies:
because the Truth knows not how to lie, it is wholly necessary that He fulfil what He has promised. For that we might most certainly know this resurrection of bodies to be future, the Lord Himself deigned to demonstrate it in His own body. Christ rose again, that the Christian might not doubt that he too shall rise again. For what went before in the Head shall follow in the body. 2. Two deaths. Two parts of the first death. The second death. Christ took upon Himself the second part of the first death. The resurrection is twofold. For we ought to know, most beloved brethren, that there are two deaths and two resurrections. There is said to be a first death, and there is said to be a second. Furthermore, of the first death there are two parts: one, by which the sinful soul through fault departed from its Creator;
the other, by which, God judging, it is excluded through punishment from its own body. But the second death is the eternal punishment of both body and soul. Through the first death, then, the soul of both the good and the evil man is separated from its body; but through the second death, the soul of the evil man alone is tormented for ever together with its body. Both deaths, therefore, held every man bound: because the transgression of nature held each one liable through the propagation of sin. But the immortal and just Son of God came, and, that He might die for us, took mortal flesh from us: in which flesh, because He could have no sin, He bore without guilt the punishment of sin.
And so the second part of the first death, that is, the death of the body alone, the Son of God accepted for us, through which He excluded from us both the dominion of sin and the penalty of eternal punishment. This therefore Christ mercifully works in His faithful, that here He first raises them up in soul, granting faith that they may rightly believe; bestowing charity that they may gladly persist in good works; but on the last day He will deign to raise up their bodies also for this end, that He may bestow upon them eternal blessedness. 3. How one comes from the first resurrection to the second. Raised up therefore in soul through faith, most beloved brethren, let us live with righteousness, that we may also rise in body to eternal gladness.
Let us depart from evil works, which mortify the soul even while the body lives; that in the eternal goods both our soul and our body may deserve to be. Let us preserve the gift of the first resurrection, which Christ has bestowed upon us through faith; that when we shall have risen in body, we may deserve to reign without end with Christ the Saviour. Then shall death be swallowed up in victory (1 Cor. 15:54); then shall true life be given to the faithful, and true gladness: then shall God, according to the merits of faith and of good works, give to His faithful the kingdom of heaven; who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit in power, God, etc. SERMON 172. On the Sunday of the octave of Easter, to the Neophytes. 1. The Paschal solemnity is concluded by today's festivity:
and therefore today the neophytes' garb is changed; yet in such a way that the whiteness which is laid aside in dress may always be held in the heart. In which the first thing to be done in us is that, since these are the Paschal days, that is, days of indulgence and remission, the festivity of the holy days may be so kept by us that the purity of the mind be not obscured by the relaxation of the body; but rather, abstaining from all luxury, drunkenness, and wantonness, let us give our effort to a sober relaxation and a holy sincerity: so that whatever we do not acquire by bodily abstinence, we may seek by purity of mind. The discourse indeed pertains to all whom our care embraces:
yet today, now that the solemnity of the sacraments is ended, we address you, new shoots, holiness regenerated from water and the Spirit, pious offshoot, new swarm, the flower of our honour and the fruit of our labour; my joy and my crown, all you who stand in the Lord (Phil. 4:1). In the words of the Apostle I address you: 'Behold, the night is far spent, and the day is at hand: cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light: let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ' (Rom. 13:12-14). 2. We have,
he says, a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto you do well to take heed, as unto a lamp in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts (2 Pet. 1:19). Let your loins therefore be girded, and your lamps burning, and you yourselves like men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding (Luke 12:35-36). Behold, the days come, in which the Lord says, 'A little while' (John 16:16), and so on. And so much the more is it poured forth in spiritual work, the more the soul that pours it forth is suspended from carnal pleasure.
For forty days Moses fasted, the administrator of the Law; forty days Elijah, the most excellent of the Prophets; forty days the Lord Himself, having testimony from the Law and the Prophets, through whom baptism was set before them. For John baptized Christ, when he professed himself less than Christ. But Christ baptizes the Christian, who showed himself greater even than John: just as the circumcision of the flesh, although Christ also received it, yet no Christian now receives it. For nothing is better than the sacrament of Christ's resurrection, and so on. Whence, when the time of His death was now approaching, He said to Peter: 'Satan has demanded to sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith fail not: