Since this sermon is found in the Turin codex under number 28, On Lent, and since the one that follows, found in two manuscripts soon to be commended, is referred to this same author, we have assigned both to our holy Maximus. We do not omit to point out that the eminent editors of the works of Saint Augustine, the monks of Saint Maur, placed the same sermon in the appendix of sermons under number 143, On Lent IV, column 189 of the Antwerp edition of the year 1700, where, reviewing the judgment of Verlinus and Vindingius, they said it was not to be rejected. The scholars of Louvain doubted whether it should be ascribed to Saint Augustine—and rightly and deservedly so, since the Maximian manner of speaking shines forth in it rather than that of the bishop of Hippo. In the Turin codex it is noted that Sermon 27 On Lent is missing.
We ought to consider the whole span of our life a certain contest-ground of the virtues, and to strive with all our mind toward the heavenly prize. But this is to be fulfilled especially in the days of Lent, which, dedicated to abstinence and fasting, confer upon us as much of strength for the soul as they drive away pleasure from the body. Now that number of the fast is the lawful one, and it is celebrated in holy examples. Moses, about to receive the law from God, passed forty days and nights without food or drink, and was prepared by fasting to receive the will of the Lord. Elijah, after fasts of forty days, was carried away in a fiery chariot from this world to the heights of the heavens.
Our Lord and Savior Himself likewise, fasting forty days, triumphed over the temptations of the devil, that He might approach the preaching of the Gospel already a victor. Rightly, then, ought we too keep this number of days by fasting, which we read was consecrated by such examples. Let us therefore celebrate these days with all alacrity of mind and with joy, and let us prefer them to all feasts and bodily delights. For especially in these days let us be kindled to fulfill the will of the Lord, when most of all through abstinence the pleasure of the flesh is extinguished. For then does the purer mind hasten to the Lord and to His future promises, when it is thickened by no drunkenness, by no surfeit of food and drink. Whence also the Savior said in the Gospel:
Take heed to yourselves, therefore, lest your hearts be weighed down with surfeit and drunkenness and the cares of this world, and that day come upon you suddenly; for as a snare it shall come upon the whole world, and no one shall escape (Luke XXI). But there is also this great benefit in the days of Lent: that while we abstain even from things lawful, we are more and more admonished to avoid the unlawful. For we who abstain from meats, which on other days it is permitted to use; we who abstain from wine, which it is permitted to use in moderation—we, then, who shun these things that at times are allowed, let us above all flee sins, which are by no means allowed. And so, if we wish to fast from foods, let us before all things fast from vices.
For what does it profit to be pale with fasting, if you grow livid with hatred and envy? What does it profit to drink no wine, and to be drunk with the poison of anger? What does it profit to abstain from flesh created for eating, and to mangle the members of the brethren with malicious detraction? What does it profit if we abstain from those things that at times are lawful, and do those things that are never lawful? For God honors and loves those who flee the unlawful. So then, as I have said, let us fast from foods in such a way that we may much more fast from vices, that we may be filled with the abundance of holy conduct, that in the world to come also we may deserve to be satisfied with the recompense of those very works, as we read in the Gospel: Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled (Matthew V).
For we ought rather to choose that exchange, whereby the foods from which we abstain we may bestow upon the poor and the weak; according to that which is written: Blessed are they who are content to hunger, that others may be refreshed. The gift is acceptable enough to God when the needy is fed to the full, when the naked is clothed, when anger is not carried through and no time is reserved for wrath, when evil is not returned for evil. Then are our fasts pleasing to God, if those who fast out of necessity are refreshed by us. For then shall we deserve to hear that sentence of the Lord: Amen I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of these least, you did it to Me (Matthew XXV).
O most kind Lord, to tame the avarice of men, who says that what is given to even the least poor man is given to Himself! But to you, brethren, may the mercy of the Lord grant that by fasts and alms you may serve good works, that He Himself may lead you to the eternal, true life, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.