Sermons & Tracts 4 part 8/28

he ought neither to despair because God is just, nor to trust with excessive security because He is merciful; but let him so fear His justice that he seeks His mercy, and so trust in His mercy that nevertheless he trembles at His justice: for the longer God waits for us that we may be corrected, so much the more grievously does He punish, if we think too tardily of conversion. For a poultice or a clamp is best applied to wounds while they are still warm; and a wound is quickly restored to health which is not allowed to fester through long neglect. But someone says: 'When I come to old age, then I will flee to the medicines of penance.' Why should human frailty presume this of itself, when it does not have a single day of its life in its own power?

How many believed they would live a long time, and yet sudden death so snatched them away that they could not attain even to that momentary penance! We are ashamed to do penance for a little while; and we do not fear to endure eternal torments without any end. O unhappy man, you are not ashamed of the wound itself, and you are ashamed of the binding of the wound! For sin is the wound, and penance is the binding of the wound: you who are unwilling to do penance are, without doubt, dissembling to apply the medicines to your wounds; and you do not recognize that a wound left uncovered is far more foul and breeds greater horror than if it were wrapped with medicines applied. I. Penance is necessary for all.

An enumeration of small sins. They can be redeemed by God's mercy alone. And consider this, brethren, that even if capital crimes do not creep upon you, those very small sins which—what is worse—we either do not heed or certainly count as nothing, if they should all be gathered together at once, I know not what abundance of good works would suffice to outweigh them.

Let us reflect, from the time we began to have understanding, on what we owe for oaths, what for perjuries, what for curses, what for slanders, what for idle talk, what for hatred, what for anger, what for envy, what for evil desire, what for gluttony, what for drowsiness, what for filthy thoughts, what for the lust of the eyes, what for the voluptuous delight of the ears, what for the harshness shown to the poor, what for the fact that we visited Christ in prison either tardily or with difficulty, that we received strangers negligently, that—contrary to the promise we made in Baptism—we neglected to wash the feet of guests, that we visited the sick later than we ought, that we did not recall the discordant to concord with our whole and entire heart, that while the Church was fasting we chose to dine, that standing in the very church, while the holy lessons were being read, we were occupied with idle chatter, that in chanting or praying we sometimes thought of something.

what we ought not to have thought, that at banquets we did not always speak of holy things, but sometimes of things luxurious. These things, therefore, and things like them, which can scarcely be known or numbered, if from the time we began to understand they were gathered into one heap, even without capital crimes being added, with what great and manifold stores of good works could they be redeemed, unless the divine mercy outweighs them, and unless—through humble and contrite penance, with the addition, according to our strength, of more generous alms—God's severity or justice be softened? Since, therefore, even these things I have mentioned, without which no one among men can be, press too heavily upon us, and since perhaps even capital crimes and sins creep upon us;

by I know not what conscience we bring upon ourselves a perilous security, and by a deadly dissembling we neglect to seek the remedy of penance: and when we are wearied by the innumerable waves in the sea of this world, we reserve ourselves, after long stretches of time, to seek the harbor of penance—not understanding that from the multitude of sins despair is born, and from despair the reins of sin are loosed without any reverence; and that is fulfilled which is written: 'The wicked man, when he is come into the depth of evils, contemneth' (Prov. 18:3). 3. To whom late penance profits. How unjustly it is awaited, how dangerously. But someone says:

'When I come to old age, or when I am given up for lost by some grave infirmity, then I will ask for penance.' We do not indeed say that such penance cannot profit: it is certain that it profits, if each one receives it with great and abundant almsgiving, and grants pardon to all his enemies, and asks forgiveness from whomever he has wronged; and so resolves with his whole heart that, if he escapes, for as long as he lives he will perform it humbly and faithfully, with all his strength, with wailing and groaning and with many alms. And yet you, O wise man, amid all these things consider: is it just that through your whole life you should be a slave to vices and sins, and rise up to acquire life only when already half-dead?

Would you wish this to be done to you by your servant, that as long as he is strong and young he should serve your enemies, and only when he comes to old age should he then at last be willing to return to your service? What, therefore, you would not wish to suffer from your servant, it is not just that you should do to your Lord. And yet we have known many who, while they were healthy, frequently said that they desired penance with their whole heart; but because they were unwilling to perform it at once, they departed from this world without its remedy. For the sinner is smitten also with this chastisement, that dying he should forget himself, who living forgot God. For he who, when he could, was unwilling to seek the remedy of his soul, afterward, even if he wishes it, it is doubtful whether he will deserve to receive it. 4.

Let both small and grave sins be redeemed continually. Evil hope and evil despair. And therefore, most beloved brethren, let us wisely and profitably think upon the time of judgment and the day of rendering account, and let us, as long as we live, mourn our crimes or greater sins with groans and sighs; and let us redeem those small offenses—whether those we committed before, or those we ceaselessly commit—with assiduous prayers and more generous alms. And just as the daily wounds of sins are never lacking, so let the remedies of alms or prayers never be lacking. For if we chastise ourselves by our own severity, we forestall the sentence of the future Judge. For he who does not spare himself for his sins, God quickly repays him with pardon:

and he who now suspends himself from communion on account of his guilt cannot be removed from that altar which is in heaven; according to that word: 'Declare thou first thy iniquities, that thou mayest be justified' (Prov. 18:17). If you acknowledge your iniquity, God pardons it. Let no one, therefore, despair; but let no one hope wrongly. He despairs wrongly who believes that even if he does penance for his sins, the divine mercy will not pardon them. But he hopes wrongly who reserves himself, after long stretches of time, to the medicines of penance. For as it is said to those who despair wrongly, 'In whatsoever day the sinner shall be converted, all his iniquities shall be delivered to oblivion' (Ezek. 18:21-22):

so to those who hope wrongly it is said, 'Delay not to be converted to the Lord' (Sir. 5:8). Let us, therefore, most beloved brethren, both men and women, both religious and laity, both old and young, both boys and girls, ponder these things more attentively: and, rejecting without any dissembling that deadly security, let us be zealous every day to apply the medicines of penance to our sins; fearing that which is said: 'Remember that death delays not' (Sir. 14:12). For if we faithfully do these things, we shall come happily, with joy and exultation, before the tribunal of the eternal Judge, not to receive the sentence of condemnation, but to be rewarded with eternal prizes:

with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen. SERMON 258. As above. I. That one who has fallen should quickly rise again. How perilous it is to heap sins upon sins. I beseech you, most beloved brethren, that if perhaps any one of you, as human frailty is prone, being overcome by the craftiness of the devil and entangled in capital crimes, has—according to what the Apostle says—destroyed in himself the temple of God by defiling it, he should not despair of God's mercy: but let him quickly rise up from the evil of his iniquity, lest by the habit of sinning he bury himself in those very ruins. For not he who has sinned, but he who has persevered in sins, will be hateful and abominable to God.

For, that no one may distrust the divine pardon, the Lord, like a most loving father, consoles us through the prophet, saying: 'I desire not the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live' (Ezek. 33:11); and that other word: 'The impiety of the impious shall not hurt him, in whatsoever day he shall be converted from his impiety' (Ezek. 33:12). But although this mercy is so great, yet it profits us then, if we do not delay to be converted to the Lord, nor add crimes to crimes. Indeed, even in the very wounds or fractures of bodies, we are able to recognize the infirmities of souls. For if anyone's foot or hand is broken, it is with labor restored to its former function.

But if a second and a third time, and still more frequently, the members themselves are broken in the same place, Your Charity can understand with how great pains those wounds must be cured: and yet after long and many treatments it will scarcely be that the members themselves can be restored to their former state. A like reasoning is to be believed to hold in the fractures or wounds of souls. If anyone has sinned once or twice, and without any dissembling has fled to the medicines of penance, he will recover his former soundness without any delay. But if he has begun to add sins to sins, and has preferred to let the wounds of souls fester by covering or defending them, rather than to cure them by confessing and doing penance;

it is to be feared lest in him be fulfilled that which the Apostle said: 'Knowest thou not that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance? But according to the hardness of thy heart and thy impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath, against the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God' (Rom. 2:4-5). I. That no one, however guilty, should despair of God's mercy, but without delay should hasten to win it for himself. By the example of David. But perhaps someone thinks he has committed sins so grave that he can no longer merit the mercy of God. Far be this from the minds of all sinners. O man, whoever you are, you regard the multitude of your sins, and you do not regard the omnipotence of the heavenly Physician.

For since God both wills to have mercy because He is good, and is able because He is omnipotent: he himself shuts against himself the door of the divine mercy, who believes either that God is unwilling or unable to have mercy on him, and who distrusts that He is either good or omnipotent. Let no one, therefore, despair of the divine mercy, neither after a hundred sins nor after a thousand crimes. Yet let him so not despair that, without any delay, he hastens to make God propitious to himself again: lest perhaps, if he has made a habit of sinning, even if he wishes, he can no longer free himself from the snares of the devil. For David, who deserved to be made both king and prophet by a divine gift, was after so great a grace so overtaken that he not only committed adultery, but even perpetrated homicide:

yet he did not still reserve himself to flee to the medicines of penance in his old age; but at once, prostrate in sackcloth and sprinkled with ashes, doing penance with immense wailing and groaning (2 Sam. 12:13), he fulfilled that which he himself had said in the Psalms: 'I will wash my bed every night; I will water my couch with my tears' (Ps. 6:7); and again: 'I did eat ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping' (Ps. 102:10). And because he did not, through deadly security, defer to do penance, he quickly provoked God's mercy toward himself; so that he not only did not lose the kingdom, but even deserved to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. But perhaps there is someone who might say:

'I am placed in military service, I have a wife; and therefore how can I do penance?' As though we, when we urge penance, were saying this: that each one should rather be zealous to shave off his hair than to put away his sins; and should pluck at his garments rather than at his morals. Whoever tries by this dissembling to deceive himself rather than to excuse himself, let him consider that neither the honor of his kingdom nor the dignity of his garment could hinder King David from doing penance (2 Sam. 12:13). 3. Likewise by the example of Ahab, Manasseh, and the harlot who washed the Lord's feet. Ahab too, the sacrilegious king, of whom Scripture says that there was not another such as he, who was sold to do evil against the Lord (1 Kings 21:20);

after he had been corrupted by his wife Jezebel and had become abominable to God, when—after Naboth the Jezreelite had been killed and stoned—he wished to seize his vineyard, being rebuked by holy Elijah, he rent his garments, was clothed in sackcloth, and with bowed head did penance. On account of which the word of the Lord at once came to Elijah, saying: 'Hast thou seen Ahab humbled? Because,' He said, 'he is humbled for my sake, I will not bring the evil in his days' (1 Kings 21:29). Consider, brethren, that he too, sacrilegious though he was, did not reserve himself to do penance after long stretches of time; but at once he did not defer to offer to God the sacrifice of a contrite and humbled heart.

And indeed, if he had afterward persevered in that humility which he had begun, God's mercy would never have departed from him. Manasseh too, the king, as we read in the Scriptures, was so sacrilegious and impious that it is written of him that he filled all Jerusalem with every iniquity: and yet after these things, when he had been led into captivity and cast into prison, doing penance with great humility, he so obtained the grace of God that he deserved afterward to be numbered among the friends of God (2 Chr. 33:9, 13). That harlot too, who washed the Lord's feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair, when she learned that the heavenly Physician had come, of her own accord thrust herself into the house where she had not been invited:

and she who before had been brazen unto perdition, afterward became more brazen unto salvation; and therefore she deserved to hear that all her sins were forgiven her (Luke 7:47). Nor did she reserve herself for this, that she should do penance at the end of her life: but while she was still able to sin, she willed thus to forsake her sins; so that it was not impossibility but her own will that withdrew her from her adulteries. I. Let him not be ashamed to do penance, who was not ashamed to commit things worthy of penance. Many more we could find in the divine Scriptures who, doing penance after countless crimes, provoked God's mercy upon themselves; and returned not only to their former, but even to a better state.

But because it would be long for me to recount them all, these four whom we have named suffice fully and abundantly, that we may recognize that our God—who both pardoned David after so grave a sin, and spared the sacrilegious king Ahab, and reckoned Manasseh, doing penance after innumerable sins, among His friends, and forgave everything to the harlot who had watered His feet with tears and wiped them with her hair; who gave pardon to sinners so great and of such a kind—is ready also for us, if in truth we are converted, not only to forgive our sins, but even to give us eternal blessedness.

Therefore, pondering these things, most beloved brethren, let us labor, as much as we can, with God's help, that no crimes or capital sins creep upon us. But if anyone should be laid low by this evil through the devil's craftiness, before the crimes themselves grow strong through habit, let him acquire for himself a remedy in the day of necessity, and with immense wailing and groaning strive to reconcile God to himself. Let him not be ashamed to do penance, who was not ashamed to commit things worthy of penance; but let him quickly strive by good works to repair in himself the image of God, that he may deserve to be recognized among the sons by the Father:

lest, being excluded from that eternal blessedness and cast out from the nuptial banquet, he be thrown, with hands and feet bound, into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 22:13); but rather, restored to his former soundness by the medicines of penance, humility, or compunction, and adorned with the pearls of good works, he may deserve to hear: 'Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of thy Lord' (Matt. 25:23). Amen. SERMON 259. An admonition that, since sins always creep in, penance should always be done for them, and that no one should, by perilous dissembling, reserve himself to receive rather than to do penance at the very end of his life. I.

Penance ought here to be neglected by no one, since we sin daily, and tender sins are more easily plucked out. I beseech you, most beloved brethren, that in your fatherly custom, as you are accustomed, you receive it not only patiently but even gladly: because you know that I—God being propitious—strive to instil it with great humility and fear, not for any earthly gain, but out of perfect love toward you, in what it is both profitable for me to say and fitting for you to hear. And because, dearest brethren, not only small sins but also greater crimes strive day and night to creep upon us, let us not reserve ourselves to that penance which is received at the end; but let us be zealous to do penance every day, as long as we live.

This thing not only laity and clerics, but even the monks and priests themselves ought continually to practice. For the bishop who does penance daily, let him pray for me. But he who, presuming upon his honor or holiness, dissembles to do penance, let him seek for himself someone who ought to intercede on his behalf. Since we cannot pass a single day without sin, what reason is there that, while we gradually heap up small sins, we should make of very tiny drops boundless floods? From the multitude of sins, which is heaped up over a long time, despair is generated, according to what is written: 'The wicked man, when he is come into the depth of evils, contemneth' (Prov. 18:3).

For you all know that we can more easily pluck out tender things than cut down sturdy ones. 2. Daily penance is urged by familiar examples. And, that we may take an example from the things we daily have before our eyes: who today is found so useless or slothful that he does not every day have his house cleaned with brooms? Who is there who would allow his horses always to stand upon their own dung? I beseech you, brethren, from the least things infer the great; nor let it seem incongruous to you that we make mention of sweeping the house: because concerning this matter the Lord Himself said in the Gospel that the woman who had lost the drachma, when she had cleaned her house with brooms, straightway deserved to find the drachma which she had lost (Luke 15:8).

In the drachma a coin is understood, in the coin the image of the emperor is recognized: just as, therefore, when the house is swept, the image of the emperor is found in the drachma; so the soul, when by fruitful penance it is freed from the filth of vices, the image of the emperor is recognized in it. Therefore, as I have already said above, most beloved brethren, recognize that what I suggest is neither hard nor laborious: for this I ask, that as we cleanse our house with brooms so that it may please the eyes of our friends, so, with God's help, we may cleanse the soul from all sins, that it may not displease the eyes of the Angels. To the house of our soul not only the Angels, but even the Lord of the Angels, deigns to come;

as He Himself also said: 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man shall rise up and open to me, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me' (Rev. 3:20); and that other word: 'I and my Father will come, and will make our abode with him' (John 14:23). How happy is that soul which has so willed to cleanse the house of its heart from the filth of sins, and to fill it with holy and just works, that the Lord delights to dwell in it! Let it not therefore irk us to do in our souls what we command to be done in our houses or stables. For as it is just that we should have our stables cleaned daily, lest our horses suffer harm;

so it is exceedingly unjust and quite cruel if we should have greater care for our beasts than for our souls. 3. The fruit of that penance. The sinner cannot dwell within himself; hence by straying he seeks relief: but thereby he increases his disquiet. Whence he could more truly turn it away. This too I suggest, that Your holy Charity may not receive it with distaste: for I wish to give you from the very things of which we speak an evident likeness. For just as our houses or stables, if they are cleaned daily, cause us neither horror nor labor, so lesser sins, if they are daily redeemed, can beget neither despair nor grief.

But if we are unwilling to be diligent in cleansing, then, just as stables which are not cleaned for a long time so rot and give off a horrible stench from the dung itself that not only can men not dwell there, but not even the beasts themselves can stand there; so whoever is negligent, willing to gather in his soul the filth of sins by evil deeds over a long time, and neglecting daily to amend it by good works, not only will God not deign to visit him, but the sinner himself will not be able to abide within himself. And so all the negligent, whose hearts are torn as if by certain beasts by many sins, and are pricked as though by most venomous thorns, are wont to say this to those like themselves:

'You know that we are sad or anxious; and therefore come, let us divert ourselves, going either to the circus or to the theater, or playing at dice, or exercising ourselves in some hunts.' Such men seek the world's consolation outwardly for this reason: because they do not deserve to receive that which is given by God inwardly in the soul. For when, from many false accusations or robberies, and from those wretched spectacles and perilous hunts, they return to their own consciences, since there, through that dissipation, they have added grief rather than removed it, they can by no means dwell or rest within themselves, but are tossed about by the quarrels of their sins.

For through pride they are torn as if by lions, through envy they are struck as though by the bite of vipers, through wrath they are burned with a cruel fire, through cruelty they are rent by the bite of savagery; in robberies they are devoured as if by the teeth of wolves, in luxuries and drunkenness they wallow as though in the filthiest sewers: and thus, while from most cruel theaters they return to still crueler consciences, as if from evils to worse, they cannot have rest. But how much better it would be if, wearied by the goads of vices, they were to devote themselves to the divine readings, where they could find true relief and entire consolation; frequenting also the thresholds of the saints, they should seek help against those very sins;

and persisting in fastings and prayers or alms, they should strive rather to punish than to nourish or add to those very sins: so that, with the most cruel army of vices driven from their hearts, they might run back with their whole heart to true rest—that is, to Christ—and hear Him crying out to them with a most merciful voice: 'Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened, and you shall find rest for your souls' (Matt. 11:28). 4. Even small sins are to be carefully expiated. Those who are willing humbly and faithfully to do these things will be able to come from a grave tempest to tranquillity, and from the most cruel barbarism of vices to true peace.

But if there are any who are confident that they are free from the aforesaid evils, and, because they do not commit capital crimes, glory as it were in their innocence with perilous security; let them fear lest the abundance of small sins, like the most stubborn mange of flies or fleas, so afflict and torment them that they too cannot dwell within themselves. Whence, just as we fear cruel and deadly beasts, which are wont to kill with a single bite, and we shudder at tiny little creatures which can torment us; so, with God's help, let us redeem both capital crimes and small sins—without which we cannot exist—by daily alms or prayers, especially while we love our enemies with our whole heart.

For if, at the very end of our life, we reserve ourselves for doing penance or for redeeming our sins or crimes, we ought to fear lest perhaps an unforeseen death forestall us, and not allow us to attain to that sudden time of penance to which we wish, by deadly security, to reserve ourselves. And therefore let us fear that which is written: 'Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and put it not off from day to day' (Sir. 5:8). O man, why do you put it off from day to day, and do not rather fear lest perhaps today you have your last day? These things, therefore, which we have suggested, most beloved brethren, if according to your holy custom you receive with a willing spirit, and continually ponder in a solicitous and vigilant heart;

And in this life you will be able to live with a good conscience, and in the age to come you will happily attain to everlasting blessedness, through the bounty of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honour and dominion for ever, and so forth. SERMON 260. An admonition drawn from the books of the ancient Fathers, that whoever knows he has committed capital sins should flee without any dissimulation to the medicines of penance. 1. Confession is the plank after shipwreck. A dead soul is roused to life by tears. Not, however, by almsgiving alone.