In the Venetian edition of the works of Saint Peter Chrysologus, published in the year 1750, page 20, this homily is reported as though it had been composed by that same holy archbishop of the Ravennates. The editor of Augsburg noticed the error, and for that reason, in the year 1758, he judged that it ought not to be given a place among the sermons of Chrysologus. Since indeed to the ancient manuscripts, which are likewise of the finest quality, their authority must be joined, this homily is surely to be adjudged to Maximus. The Vatican codices 6450 and 6452 read thus: 'A sermon of Saint Maximus on the Lenten fast.' Nor do the following codices disagree: Laurentianus I, Plut. XIV; Vallicellanus vol. II; Novariensis 27; Lucensis 85; and Augiensis, in which this heading is read: 'On Lent.'
In the excellent codex of the Cistercian monastery of Monte Amiata it bears this heading: 'The first Sunday of Lent, a sermon of Blessed Maximus the bishop.' As to Maximus being the author of this homily, there is the fullest agreement among the editors Gymnicus, Galesinius, Combefis, Cumdius, Margarinus, Raynaudus, and others. Observe, dearly beloved brethren, how great are the lessons of the spiritual life that spring up for us, and although we are summoned by magnificent examples to the pursuit of holiness, in that both blessed Moses and the Son of God are recorded to have fasted for forty days. Yet mark this clearly: that as far as a servant stands apart from his lord, so far must their fasting differ. For Moses is the promulgator of the old law, Christ the founder of the new Testament.
Moses fasts that by the precepts of the law he may instruct the discipline of one people; Christ fasts that He may redeem all nations. Moses fasts that he may receive the commandments of the present life; Christ also fasts that He may establish the sacraments of eternal salvation. Moses fasts that he may see God; Jesus also fasts that He may show, while He triumphs over the devil, that He is one with God. Moses, after his fast, shattered the tablets written by the finger of God when the people transgressed; Christ by His fast preserved the Gospel that will endure through the ages. But what is this, that although each fasted forty days, each is not reported to have hungered after the fast? Moses assuredly did not hunger, so that the divinity working in a frail man might be proved;
the Son of God hungered, that by the assumption of our flesh He might reveal that He had taken upon Himself a frail man. That Moses did not hunger is an example of heavenly capacity; that Christ hungered is the sacrament of our redemption. In this manner the Lord accomplished a mystery in His own flesh, so that, just as He is believed to be God by His divine powers, so also He might be recognized to be man by human infirmities. And hence it is that Christ as man hungers, and as God feeds the hungry; hence that He is wearied by the journey, and grants to the lame the power of walking; hence that He lets His eyes flow in tears, and wondrously restores sight to the blind; hence that at the approach of death He is saddened, and raises the dead Lazarus from the tomb.
All these things, brethren, our Creator and Redeemer does as both God and man; not because there was for Him any necessity of being born so, but because He willed that such a mystery should reign in heaven and on earth. This too is a matter of how great wonder in Christ, that He answered all the questionings of the tempter in such a way that He neither betrayed the truth of His kingdom to the tyrant, nor let the spy discern the mystery of the flesh He had assumed. In short, He conducted His speech with such subtlety that that enemy, the contriver of all deceit, deceived by the error of his own rage, while he tempts Christ as a man, did not see God in the man.
But we, brethren, for whom our unconquered champion has consecrated this venerable Lent, let us reject carnal desires and so chasten our members with fasts that we may fatten our souls with virtues. Let pernicious lust fast in us, let all iniquity fast, let hateful contention fast; let us abstain from feasts, and still more let us abstain from vices; let us so temper ourselves, let us be so sober from wine, that no drunkenness of pleasures may hold dominion over us. For what does it profit us to keep the times of fasting by the observance of forty days, and not to keep the law of the fast? What does it profit you to be free from banquets, and to occupy the day with quarrels? What does it profit not to eat one's own bread, and to snatch away the sustenance of the wretched?
The fasting of a Christian ought to be the refreshment of the needy; the fasting of a Christian ought to nourish peace, not strife. But what sort of thing is this, that you do not eat flesh, and yet from your mouth there issues a curse more foul than any food? What sort of thing is it, that the belly is sanctified by fasting, and the tongue is defiled with lies? Rightly indeed, brother, will you frequent the church, if that greedy usury does not entangle your steps in deadly snares and enfold them. Rightly will you pray to your Lord, if the envy of your own heart, coming to meet you, does not oppose your prayers. Rightly will you beat your breast with your hands, if you have shaken out from it every fury of malignant will. Justly too will you give a coin to the poor man, if you have not taken it from another poor man.
This, then, dearly beloved, is the religious hunger, this the food of faithful souls: that chastity may sanctify our fast, patience adorn it, kindness cherish it, mercy gladden it, humility commend it. With these virtues let us follow after the Lent of Christ as best we can, so that by a certain twofold fast, of body and of soul, we may ever commend ourselves to the divine grace.