Let us see whether I have passed this day without sin, without envy, without detraction, without murmuring; let us see whether today I have done anything that pertains to the profit of the soul. I think that today I have lied, I have been overcome by anger or by concupiscence, I have done good to no one, and lastly I have not groaned in fear of eternal death. Who will give me back this day, which I have lost in vain things, which I have consumed in guilty and most wicked thoughts? And thus, brethren, let us be pricked with compunction over all our negligences in our chambers—that is, in our hearts; let us condemn ourselves, let us daily accuse ourselves before our Judge, and, while we are in this flesh, let us daily contend against the flesh itself with the Lord's help.
Let us overcome our own wills and inclinations, until that most longed-for and most blessed time succeeds for us, by the happy exchange of eternal life, when that shall be fulfilled which the Lord said: 'And men shall be like the angels'; and again: 'Then shall the just shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.' What do you suppose will then be the splendour of souls, when the light of bodies shall have the brightness of the sun? For then, when we have come to that blessedness, there will be no sorrow for us, no fear, no death. No infirmity shall then any longer stand in the way of our serving our Lord, no adversity of carnal misery shall gainsay it, no necessity of fighting shall remain any further.
That time shall come, I say, when the refreshment of food and sleep shall no longer be desired, when no weariness of fasting shall be felt, when no disquiet of the flesh nor temptation of the enemy shall be feared; but, with the adversary thrust down into the depths of hell, we shall first enjoy this felicity: that we begin neither to wish to sin any more nor to be able to. With all iniquity, all misery, all grief ceasing, innocence shall possess the whole, gladness the whole, felicity the whole. No lesser one shall fear misery, no more blessed one shall fear envy; because, with all malignity emptied out and utterly extinguished, the charity of the angels shall pass into the breasts of men, with whom men, now become heavenly, having received back the flesh, shall shine without the infirmity of the flesh.
And therefore they shall no longer suffer any weariness of their Lord's everlasting power, no failing under the perennial exultation of His praises. We shall have full blessedness amid those immense benefits of our God, so that we may never be wearied in rendering to Him thanksgiving, having been made co-heirs of Him who said: 'Come, blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world.' Behold what blessedness he is about to lose, who has been unwilling to amend himself according to the time of repentance; who has not redeemed himself out of his own goods while they were his own; who, turning the medicines into wounds, has bowed his unhappy neck beneath avarice or luxury.
But we, brethren, with God's help, let us disdain to serve sins, for whom so great a blessedness is prepared in heaven. While, therefore, it is permitted us and is in our power, let us reject false and transitory things, that we may deserve to receive those things which are truly good. Let us be emptied of vices, let us be filled with virtues, because no one can receive good things if he has been unwilling to free himself from evils. For vessels full of mud cannot receive and store the liquor of a pure element; and a thorny field, unless it has been diligently cleared of stumps by cultivators, will not nourish the seeds cast into it, but chokes them; for it is written that the kindly Holy Spirit will not dwell in a body subject to sins.
While in this world we sail as if upon a stormy sea, that we may be able to arrive at the fatherland of paradise, let us hasten to bail out the bilge-water of vices, so that our soul, adorned with good works, like a ship full of diverse merchandise, may deserve to cast anchor in the harbour of eternal blessedness and to arrive at the fellowship of the angels, where, delivered from the evil hearing, we may deserve to hear that happy and longed-for voice: 'Well done, good and faithful servant; because you have been faithful over few things, I will set you over many. Enter into the joy of your lord'—by the granting of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honour and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen. XIII. A SERMON ON SAINT VINCENT THE MARTYR.
In the passion which was recited to us today, most dear brethren, there is plainly shown a ferocious judge, a bloody torturer, an unconquered martyr. In his body, furrowed with diverse punishments, the torments had already given out, and yet his limbs still endured. Impiety, though convicted by so many miracles, persisted; infirmity, though harassed by so many torments, did not yield. Let the working divinity therefore be acknowledged. For how could corruptible dust endure against such monstrous torments, unless Christ dwelt within it? For in all these things He is to be acknowledged, He to be glorified, He to be praised, who both gave faith in the first calling and courage in the final passion. Do you wish to know that both were granted? Hear the Apostle Paul:
'To you,' he says, 'it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only that you should believe in Him, but also that you should suffer for Him.' Vincent had received both these things, he had received them and possessed them. For if he had not received them, what would he have had? He had confidence in his speech, he had endurance in his passion. Let no one, therefore, presume upon his own heart when he utters a word; let no one trust in his own strength when he undergoes temptation; because both that we may speak good things prudently, our wisdom is from Him, and that we may bravely endure evils, our patience is from Him. Recall Christ, the Lord of laws, admonishing His disciples in the Gospel; recall the King of martyrs equipping His cohorts with spiritual arms, showing them the battles, promising the rewards.
When He had said to His disciples, 'In this world you shall have tribulation,' at once, whereby the terrified heart might be consoled, He added, saying: 'But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.' Why, then, do we marvel, beloved, if Vincent conquered in Him by whom the world was conquered? 'In this world,' He says, 'you shall have tribulation,' so that, if it presses, it may not crush, and if it assails, it may not overcome. The world produces a double battle-line against the soldiers of Christ. Take heed, brethren: a double line, I have said, the world produces against the soldiers of Christ. For it flatters, that it may deceive; it terrifies, that it may break. Let not our own pleasure hold us, let not another's cruelty terrify us. And because Christ meets both approaches, the world is conquered and the Christian is not conquered.
If in this passion human patience be considered, it begins to be incredible; if the divine power be recognised, it ceases to be marvellous. So great a cruelty raged upon the martyr's body, and so great a tranquillity was brought forth in his voice; so great a harshness of punishments savaged his limbs, and so great a security sounded in his words, that in a marvellous manner it seemed, while Vincent suffered, that another was being tortured, or certainly that another was speaking while Vincent was tormented. And truly, most dear brethren, so it was, altogether so it was. Another was speaking. For Christ had promised this too to His witnesses. For thus He spoke in the Gospel to His own, whom He was preparing for combats of this kind: 'Do not premeditate how or what you shall speak.'
'For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father, who speaks in you.' The flesh, therefore, was suffering, and the Spirit was speaking; and while the Spirit spoke, not only was impiety confuted, but even infirmity was strengthened. The torments made the martyr more glorious to us. Pierced through with the manifold variety of his wounds, he did not desert the battle, but renewed it more fiercely. You would think that the flame hardened him, and did not burn him, and, like a potter's furnace receiving soft clay, made it into a hard vessel. Our martyr could say to Datianus: 'Now my flesh no longer heeds your fires, because my strength has been dried hard like a potsherd.' And since it is truly written:
'The furnace proves the potter's vessels, and the trial of tribulation proves just men'—Vincent was proved and refined by that fire, while Datianus, on the contrary, burned and crackled. For if he was not burning, whence was he smoking? What were the words of the angry man but the smoke of one on fire? Therefore he was applying flames from without to our martyr, who had refreshment within his heart; but he himself, kindled by the torches of his own fury, burned within like an oven and consumed his own indweller, the devil. For through the furious voices of Datianus, through his savage eyes, threatening looks, and the motions of his whole body, that inner indweller of his was stirring himself, and through these visible signs he was betrayed, as through the crackling chinks of his own little vessel which he had filled.
The flame did not torture the martyr so much as madness laid waste to his persecutor. But now, brethren, all those things have passed away, both the wrath of Datianus and the punishment of Vincentius. Yet the punishment of Datianus abides, and so does the crown of Vincentius. Finally, that we may show forth the glory of the martyrs even in this world, leaving aside for the moment the boundaries of the recompense to come: what region today, what province beyond the sea, as far as either the empire of the Romans or the Christian name extends, does not rejoice to celebrate the birthday of Vincentius? But who today would ever have heard so much as the name of Datianus, had he not read it in the passion of Vincentius? And in that the Lord preserved the body of the martyr with such great care, what else did He show but that He had governed him while living, whom He did not forsake even when lifeless?
Therefore Vincentius conquered Datianus while living, and he conquers even in death. Living, he trampled the torments; dead, he swam across the seas. He who amid the iron hooks gave up his unconquered soul to God, He it was who steered the lifeless corpse amid the waves. The flame of the torturer did not bend his heart, the water of the sea did not sink his body; but in all these things there is nothing else than that precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. To which glory may the Lord bring us under His protection, to whom belong honor and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen. XIV. AN EXHORTATION. I beg you, dearest brethren, that, as I have often admonished, we may earnestly strive continually to ponder the day of our death and that dread and fearful judgment.
For against the wounds of all sins no more profitable remedies can be found than that each one should ponder that hour when he shall depart from this world. For how can it come to pass that one should presume to commit any grievous sins, who believes that at any single moment he may depart from this light? For so Scripture also says: 'Remember, my son, that death does not delay,' and this: 'Remember thy last end, and cease from enmity.' For whoever diligently considers how harsh the examination will be before the tribunal of Christ, where each one shall receive according to his own works, will find that his own sins and crimes can bring him no pleasure.
For when before that dread Judge all the nations shall be gathered together, what weeping of eyes and gnashing of teeth shall there then be for the unjust and the adulterers and the rapacious, when the wicked man shall see the multitude of the saints set apart at the right hand of the King and unto glory, and the peoples of sin plunged into the depths of Tartarus without any end of mercy or hope of pardon, shut out in their own darkness from the blessed light of the saints; and descending into the endless deep, with the pit pressing hard upon his mouth, shall behold, himself not to die, eternal torments and everlasting death. In vain shall he beg mercy of the poor man whom in this life he despised; in vain, with burning lips, shall he plead that the tip of Lazarus' finger be laid to him, that with it, as he burns, he may be cooled.
How the wretched man, when he beholds the glory of the poor, would wish that he had once lain under the hard labors of poverty, and had borne evils in that life which were to die together with life, that he might not deserve to come to those eternal torments!
Therefore, that we may not deserve to hear such harsh and terrible things before that tribunal of the eternal Judge, for this reason, dearest brethren, while it is yet permitted and, with God's help, is within our power, let us examine our consciences; and if we recognize that any crimes or capital sins, not yet purged by alms and prayers, still hold sway within us, let us hasten, with Christ's help, having overcome the floods of sin, to enter the harbor of penance; and if we recognize that anything in the little ship of our soul has, through the many storms of sin, been broken by pride, or torn apart by avarice, or loosened by luxury, let us hasten to mend or repair it by good works. For past sins do no harm, if they do not please.
For just as his own righteousness suffices no righteous man unless he perseveres unto the end, so his own iniquity shall be able to harm no sinner, if, before he departs from this body, he takes refuge in the remedies of almsgiving and the medicines of penance. But since we cannot know when, or at what hour, we shall be snatched from this world, let us hasten without any delay or postponement to flee from the left hand to the right. We must not trust in health, nor in age. Ever be intent upon the remedy of your salvation, you who are ever uncertain of your life; for He who made us secure by saying, 'On whatever day the sinner is converted, all his iniquities shall be delivered over to oblivion,' the same also willed us to be watchful, saying:
'Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and put it not off from day to day.' But perhaps, when we generally summon all to penance, someone may think within himself, saying: 'I am a young man, having a wife; how can I either cut my hair or take up the habit of religion?' We do not say this, dearest brethren, we do not preach this, that young men who are seen to have marriages ought to change their manner of life rather than their dress. For what harm is it to a man who has a wife, if he is willing to convert his corrupt morals to good and honorable works, if he strives to recall the wounds of his sins to their former health by fastings and prayers and alms? For true conversion suffices for itself without any change of garments.
But religious garments without good works shall not only be unable to have any remedy, but shall even sustain the just judgment of God. Let us therefore be converted to better things, while the remedies are in our power. Here let us extinguish death by dying to our sins; here let us acquire the life of life by merits, through Him who with the Father lives and reigns unto the ages of ages. Amen. XV. ON THE FAST OF LENT. Behold, most beloved brethren, the days of holy and spiritual Lent are now close at hand, in which the losses of the body pass over into the gains of the soul.
And therefore, since, as the Apostle says, 'the acceptable time and the day of salvation' are drawing near, let us prepare our souls as for a spiritual vintage, and so strive to be free for God, that in these few days we may gather what may suffice us for the whole year. For we believe that the Lord spoke of these days through the prophet: 'On the days of your solemnities you shall afflict your souls.' Why did He say this? Because fasts and vigils and holy afflictions waste the humbled body, but purify the stained heart; they subtract strength from the limbs, but bring brightness to the conscience.
For by the weariness of the body the crimes of the will are redeemed; through the exercises of the hard cross the luxuries and pleasures of the flesh are punished; and thus by present mortification the sentence of future death is allayed, and while the author of the fault is humbled, the fault is consumed. And while affliction of the body is inflicted by voluntary strictness, the offense against the dread Judge is allayed, and a small labor dissolves the enormous sins which the eternal fire would scarcely have consumed. For if we ourselves impose discipline upon our sins, and through penance despise the luxury of the flesh, we shall quickly make God favorable to us. If you yourself acknowledge your sin, God pardons it.
For how can it come to pass that God should deign to pardon that sin which a man disdains to acknowledge in himself? Therefore, in treating the cause of our salvation, let us do within ourselves what physicians are wont to do concerning our bodies. If some injury or complaint is felt in the outer skin of the body, the treatment of a gentler medicine is applied. But if the wound is hidden in the bones, or sunk deep in the vitals, the hidden malady demands a harsher and more violent medicine, so that the greatness of the ulcer may be overcome either by cautery or by incision, and pain may be conquered by pain. A like reasoning must be applied in the sickness of souls.
If perhaps the sins are light—for example, if a man has sinned either in speech or in some rebuke of the will, if he has sinned with the eye or with the heart—the stains of words and thoughts are to be overcome by daily prayer and wiped away by private compunction.
But if anyone, examining his conscience within, has committed some capital crime; if he has assailed and lost his faith by false testimony; if he has violated the sacred name of truth by the rashness of perjury; if he has stained the snow-white tunic of baptism and the precious silk of virginity with the filth of defiled chastity; if in himself he has slain the new man by the crime of homicide; if by observing auguries through soothsayers and diviners and enchanters he has handed himself over, captive, to the devil—these evils, and evils of this kind, can scarcely be expiated at all by common and moderate or secret satisfaction.
Grave causes require graver and sharper and public remedies, so that he who has destroyed himself together with the ruin of many, may in like manner redeem himself together with the edification of many. For a man deceives his very self, if, when he feels the disease seething within, deep in his marrow, he draws a soothing ointment over the surface of the body. These capital evils, therefore, need great roaring and groaning and a fountain of tears, and one must cry out with the prophet: 'I roared for the groaning of my heart,' and: 'Every night I will wash my bed, I will water my couch with my tears,' and again: 'But I did eat ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping.' Let no one despise penance, let no one hold this humility in contempt.
For it was David who said these things, a king; it was the supreme king who did these things. It is fitting, therefore, to give great lamentations, as it were over a dead man, with crying and wailing, over a soul extinguished by sins. And as a mother, bereaved, is wont with broken heart to lament over the loss of her only son, so it befits us to be afflicted—yet with the hope of restoration—over our only soul, of which the prophetic word speaks as of an only one: 'Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword, and my only one from the hand of the dog.' Why does he say 'only one'? Either because it must be loved as an only child, or because it alone, with all comforts removed, shall render an account before the tribunal of Christ.
So, I say, it is necessary that over this only one, slain by the sword of crimes, the whole weight of grief be poured out with roaring and groaning, if perchance it may be revived by the warm compresses of tears and the heat of faith. Compunction must be kindled, prayers must be strengthened by the remembrance of the coming judgment. And truly the saying of the prophet Daniel must be heard—yet heard with the ear of obedience—when he says: 'Receive, O king, my counsel, and redeem thy sins by alms to the poor.' The example, too, of that man of the Gospel must be heard as though truly written for our redemption: 'Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor'—concerning whom in the Gospel we heard the Lord saying, with ineffable condescension and charity:
'What you did to one of these least ones, you did to Me.' These words commend to us the fruit of almsgiving by heavenly authority. But perhaps, when we speak of alms, straitened poverty may take fright and say that it has nothing which it can bestow upon the poor. Yet no one shall be able to excuse himself on this account, since the Lord promised that He would render a reward for so much as a cup of cold water, and praised the widow who had cast two coins into the treasury. For our God is fed not by the abundance of the gift, but by the goodwill of the giver.
But I think, beloved, that for this reason our Lord permitted there to be poor men in this world: that in the poor He might test the faith of the rich, or in mercy to the poor might show mercy to the rich; that to those who abound there might not be lacking an occasion for good work and for their own redemption; that He might enrich the benevolent and merciful man even by another's want; that each wealthier man might gather enormous gains from the needy, and by a marvelous and supreme commerce—while he bestows mercy on the needy by a temporal generosity—might thus lay up for himself eternal treasures. Let us direct our actions, so that whatever we can, whatever we are able, we may devote, for the love of eternal life, to the exercises of good will, to the pursuits of righteousness and mercy.
Let us run while we have the light, before the darkness overtakes us; for in that world it will no longer be permitted to provide for amendment or redemption, as the divine word says: 'For in death there is no one who is mindful of Thee.' Just as, therefore, no loss of merits will there be feared, so no remission of sins will be granted; no license for practicing good work will there be conceded. These things therefore, brethren, considering wisely and happily, let us hasten to flee to the remedies of penance, and through chastity and humility, through works of righteousness and mercy, let us prepare for ourselves eternal rewards with God, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, to whom is honor and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen. XVI.
ON THE LORD'S BEGINNING OF LENT. Our Lord and Savior exhorts and admonishes us how, after many negligences, we ought to come to Him, saying through the prophet: 'Come, let us adore and fall down before the Lord who made us,' and again: 'Be converted to Me with all your heart, in fasting, in weeping, and in mourning.' For the days of holy Lent, dearest brethren, if we attend diligently, signify the life of this present world, just as the days of Easter prefigure eternal blessedness.
And as in Lent we have, as it were, sadness, that at Easter we may rejoice in lawful order, so also in this world, as long as we live, we ought to do penance, that in the world to come we may receive indulgence for our sins and be able to come to eternal joy. But each one ought so to sigh for his crimes, to pour forth tears, to give alms, that, with God's help, as long as he lives, he may ever strive to flee those very crimes. For just as no one ever was or can be without small sins, so, with God giving and helping, we ought by all means to be without capital crimes.
And that we may be able to obtain these things: if at another time the hindrances of the world detain us, bound as we are, at least in the days of holy Lent let us meditate on the law of the Lord day and night, as it is written, and so fill our heart with the sweetness of the divine law, that we leave in ourselves no place empty of virtues, which the vices might occupy.
For just as at the time of harvest or vintage, dearest brethren, that whereby our flesh may be sustained is gathered, so in the days of Lent, as it were at the time of a spiritual vintage or harvest, let that be gathered whereby our soul may live forever; because, just as anyone who is negligent at the time of vintage or harvest, gathering nothing, will be tormented by hunger throughout the whole span of the year, so whoever at this time neglects to provide and to gather the spiritual wheat and heavenly new wine into the barns of his soul, by fasting, by reading, by praying, shall for all eternity endure the harshest thirst and cruel want.
Know most certainly, dearest brethren, that as is the flesh which takes food only after many days, such is the soul which is not continually fed with the word of God. And as the flesh, through hunger and want, becomes thin and dry, like a mere phantom, so also the soul, if it is not fed with the food of God's word, is found dry and useless and fit for no good work. Consider, dearest brethren: we prepare a granary and a store-cellar and a larder every single year, whence our flesh may have food for one year; how much, think you, ought we to lay up, whereby our soul may be sustained forever?
And therefore, dearest brethren, at least in these few days let the hindrances of the world withdraw, since, according to Scripture, they make many negligent men wretched. Let carnal gladness withdraw, let the enticements of this world, full of poison, withdraw. Let the joys of the flesh be diminished, that the gains of the soul may be spiritually prepared, on account of that which is written: 'Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep,' and this: 'Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.' Let the divine reading begin to occupy the time which the frenzied game of dice was wont to steal from us, and let discourse from the holy Scriptures succeed the hateful tales and biting jests and poisonous detractions.
In the spans of hours in which we were wont to be detained in hunts, to the harm of our soul, let the sick be visited, let those set in prison be sought out, let strangers be received, and let the discordant be recalled to concord. If we do these things, brethren, we shall be able thence to prepare for ourselves medicines, whence we had inflicted wounds upon ourselves. Above all, in the days of the fasts, let us bestow upon the poor that which we were wont to eat at midday, lest perchance someone should strive to prepare for himself sumptuous suppers and banquets of exquisite savors, and should seem to have exchanged rather than to have subtracted an abundance of food from his body. It profits nothing to have drawn out a long fast all day, if afterward the soul is overwhelmed by the sweetness or the excess of food.
For by such things the mind, being filled, grows foul, and the ground of our body, being watered, will sprout the thorns of lust. Let food therefore be temperate, let the belly never be too full, and let us always think more of the food of the heart than of the food of the body—we who, in the inner man, were made after the image of God, but in the flesh were formed from the mud of the earth. And see, brethren, whether it is just that the flesh, made from earth, should sometimes take food twice a day, while the soul, which is the image of God, scarcely after many days takes the word of God, when nevertheless it is fitting for us that we ought to honor the image of God in us more than our flesh.