Greater was what you had done: you had trodden the sea, pressed down the waves, conquered the winds; why did you doubt? In Peter, therefore, the condition common to us all is to be considered: so that if in any of the temptations the wind attempts to overturn us, or the wave to submerge us, let us cry out to Christ. What does 'let us cry out' mean? Let us pray. He will stretch out his hand and rescue us from the deep. For his hand will lead us, and his right hand will hold us, until he brings us to his everlasting promises. SERMON 73. On the words of the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 17, verse 21: 'This kind is cast out by nothing but prayer and fasting.' 1. The effect of fasting. The arms which the Lord shows us against the wickedness of demons we ought certainly to retain.
'This kind,' he says, 'is cast out by nothing but prayer and fasting.' When these are practiced with full faith, it is piety. And piety is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come (1 Tim. 4:8). Let us therefore usefully inspect the fruits of prayer and of fasting, since these are the arms against wicked thoughts. Fasting purges the mind, uplifts the sense, subjects the flesh to the spirit. Fasting makes the heart contrite and humbled, which God does not despise. Fasting scatters the clouds of concupiscence, extinguishes the fires of lusts, and kindles the true light of chastity.
Fasting does not love verbosity, judges the superfluity of riches, despises pride, commends humility, grants to a man to understand himself, what he is—weak and frail; and while he thus understands himself feeble, he more fittingly seeks and receives the help of God's power; and he seeks it through frequent prayers and supplications. 2. Prayer is the refreshment of fasting. What prayer itself is. Prayer indeed is the refreshment of fastings, and it summons the grace of the Holy Spirit. Prayer softens the hardness of the heart, tempers its austerity, sweetens fasting. For as without drink there is no full refreshment, so also fasting without prayer cannot perfectly nourish the soul.
But what is prayer, except the ascent of the soul from earthly things to heavenly, the seeking of things above, the desire of things invisible? Let there depart the dissension of worldly ways, by which the human mind is daily oppressed. Prayer is a conjunction with the Holy Spirit—if only the mind be intent in prayer; as the Prophet cries, 'My soul has thirsted for you; how manifoldly has my flesh thirsted for you.' And what is to be thirsted for, there follows: 'That I may see your power.' Believe me, if the soul of human substance fully thirsts to see the full power of God, and, overcome by weariness, does not dissemble, it shall be filled with fatness and spiritual richness:
And thirsting for that visitation of God, he will cry out with heartfelt affection, 'My soul hath cleaved close after thee; thy right hand hath upheld me' (Ps. LXII, 9). Fasting removes sloth and takes away the impediments of the flesh from the soul. Persevering prayer, however, joins one to God; and so, rejoicing, one glories in standing before the Lord. But the soul cleaving to the Lord begins to have security and freedom; it endures neither dreads nor fears. And having received so great a protection of God's right hand, how can it be harmed by any power? As it is written, that no one snatches it from the Father's hand (John X, 29). This fasting bestows, this prayer bestows. SERMON LXXIV. On the words of the Gospel of Matthew, chapter
chapter XXII, 2-14: 'The kingdom of heaven is made like unto a king, who made a marriage for his son'; and concerning the adulterine dress of men and women. 1. The householder is God. We have heard from the Gospel parable that a certain householder made a wedding for his son, and invited many to it. Among these, when a certain man had entered not having a wedding garment, he was seen by the householder and ordered not only to be shut out from the wedding, but to be thrust into the outer darkness. This parable manifestly rebukes the senseless men of this age, although by deeper examination something more secret and more sacred can be understood. First, then, let us ask who this householder is, who this son is, and what this wedding is.
When these things are understood, we shall the more easily be able to grasp why that man was excluded from this wedding, who came to it with adulterine attire. We understand therefore this householder to be God the Father Almighty, whom all the families of the Gentiles serve, who begat a Son coeternal and coequal with himself, in heaven without a mother, on earth without a father: for whom he made a wedding when he joined the Church to him out of every race of men. To this fellowship of Christ and the Church were called the noble and the ignoble, the rich and the poor, every condition, every sex, every age. 2. The reprobate, though many, are one. Among these there entered one who alone deserved to be excluded, because he did not have the garment befitting the holiness of such a wedding. Attend, breth-
-ren, this one man is many; and yet all this multitude is comprehended under the name of unity. For they are many as regards the number of personal distinction; but they are one through the concord of one and the same wickedness. For just as the Church is one through faith under Christ its head, so the whole multitude of the reprobate, whether it be manifest or hidden, is one body under the devil its prince. He therefore who by unbelief manifestly withdraws from God does not come to this wedding: but he who is a believer comes in body, withdraws in mind, enters the church with us, shares Christ's table with us. Good and bad fish still lie hidden within the nets, until they be separated on the shore. Still the chaff is tolerated, until the barn be winnowed.
Then it will manifestly appear that many are called, but few are chosen. 3. The shameless dress of the body in men; in women. The adulterine dress is injurious to the Creator. Then that adulterer of the wedding garment will, by command of the householder, both be manifestly excluded and thrust into prison. Yet in the meantime the friends of the bridegroom are not ignorant of such a counterfeit; because the shameless dress of the body is the herald of an adulterous heart. Now the shameless dress of his own body in men is superfluous and disordered hair, and an affected imitation of women's garments, the counterfeit length of shoes also exceeding the bounds of necessity:
in women, a painted face, the imitation of men's garments, the falsifying of the hair's natural colour. This dress in either sex is adulterine, and unworthy of the fellowship of the holy wedding, and altogether to be removed from the sight of so great a bridegroom and so great a bride. Nor ought the friends of the bridegroom, who love the beauty of the house of God, to pass over this in silence. They ought publicly to cry out against such adulterers, lest it be said of them, 'Dumb dogs, not able to bark' (Isa. LVI, 10). For he who strives to transform into another the size or the form which the almighty and most wise fashioner has shaped, does he not manifestly seem to say to him who fashioned him, 'Why hast thou made me thus?' It is a wicked audacity so to debase the workmanship of the Creator;
so as to transform, as far as in him lies, his own size and form into something else, which, if he had it from nature, he would grieve incomparably to possess. 4. It is condemned by the Fathers. To alter nature is the devil's work. Nor do we say these things of ourselves as from ourselves. We have our fathers, those illustrious teachers, who before us wrote against these things, and by irrefragable authority condemned them. Let us hear Paul, the teacher of the Gentiles, saying to the Corinthians concerning superfluous hair: 'If a man nourish his hair, it is a shame unto him' (1 Cor. XI, 14). For since man by God's ordinance holds the primacy above woman, he who, against the honour of his sex, veils his head with a superfluity of hair, adjudges away his own primacy from himself;
so that it may deservedly be said of him, 'Man, being in honour, understood not; he is compared,' to speak the truth, not only to women, but even to senseless beasts (Ps. XLVIII, 21). For by the judgment of the laws he is rightly cast down from the dignity he has held, who abuses a privilege granted to him. Let us hear also blessed Cyprian, the illustrious martyr and most sweet teacher, disputing concerning adulterine dress. For he says in the epistle which he writes, 'On the Dress of Virgins': 'The work of God and his making and his fashioning ought in no way to be adulterated with dress, whether by yellow colour or black, or with any medicament whatsoever corrupting the native lineaments: for God says, Let us make man after our image and likeness (Gen. I, 26):
and does anyone dare to change and alter what God has made? They lay hands upon God, when what he has formed they strive to reform and transfigure: knowing that whatever is born is God's work; whatever is altered is the devil's. If some painter had marked out with rival colour the face and appearance and bodily quality of someone, and, when the likeness was already signed and completed, another's hand should be laid upon it, so as to reform, as though more skilled, what was already formed and painted; a grave wrong to the earlier artist and a just indignation would seem to arise.' And in what follows: 'Dost thou not fear lest, when the day of resurrection shall come,
thy Maker may not recognize thee, and may remove and exclude thee when thou comest to his rewards and promises, chiding with the vigour of a censor and judge, and say: This work is not mine, nor is this image ours, since thou hast polluted thyself with yellow medicament, since thou hast deformed with a lie the form which I had given thee; thy face is corrupted, thy members are alien: thou canst not see God; since thou hast not the eyes which God made, but which the devil has stained?' 5. Who bears God in the body. Hear me therefore as a parent, I beseech you, teaching you and likewise admonishing you; hear one faithfully consulting for your benefits and advantages. Be such as God the artificer made you: be such as the hands of the Father established you.
Let there remain in you a face uncorrupted, a neck pure, a form sincere, feet free from superfluous shoes, hair painted with no colour, eyes worthy to behold God. It is the voice of the Apostle, whom the Lord called a vessel of election: for he says, 'The first man was of the earth, earthy; the second man from heaven, heavenly. As we have borne the image of the earthy, so let us bear the image of the heavenly' (1 Cor. XV, 47 and 49). This image virginity bears, integrity bears, holiness bears, and truth also bears;
they bear it who are mindful of God's discipline, who retain justice together with religion, steadfast in faith, humble in fear, strong to all endurance, gentle to bearing wrong, ready to show mercy, of one mind in brotherly peace and concord (On the Dress of Virgins, chaps. 2, 4): all which things we ought to observe, to love, and to fulfil, that we may fulfil the Apostle's precept: 'Ye are bought with a great price; glorify and bear God in your body' (1 Cor. VI, 20). For we bear God in our body when we do not deform his image by unclean and profane inventions, when through every service of obedience we strive to obey the command of our Redeemer.
For so will he recognize his own image in us, and will not exclude us, adorned with the wedding garment, from his own fellowship and that of the saints: which may he mercifully deign to grant us, who lives and reigns as God through all ages of ages. Amen. SERMON LXXV. On the words of the Gospel of Matthew, chapter XXIV, 19: 'Woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck,' etc. 1. What the Scriptures here promise. We ought to know and understand, most beloved brethren, that for Christians, while they live in this body, tribulation cannot be lacking. For thus, as you have heard, the Apostle testifies to us, saying: 'All who wish to live piously in Christ shall suffer persecution' (2 Tim. III, 12);
and again, 'Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of heaven' (Acts XIV, 22). Days of tribulation and of evil tribulations are to come; they are to come, as the Scripture says: and the more the days draw near, the more are tribulations increased. Let no one promise himself what the Gospel does not promise. For as, when the end of the world draws near, as the Gospel says, iniquity shall abound, and charity shall grow cold (Matt. XXIV, 12); so, because of those very iniquities, adversity shall never be lacking. It is needful that we prepare our mind not only for repentance, but also for patience. My brethren, I beseech you, attend to the holy Scriptures, whether they have deceived in anything;
whether they have said anything, and it happened otherwise than they said: it must needs be that it so come to pass unto the end, just as they have said. Our Scriptures do not promise us in this age anything but tribulations, pressures, straits, increases of sorrows, an abundance of temptations. As also the Lord himself says in the Gospel, 'In the world you shall have pressure'; and again, 'The world shall rejoice, and you shall be sorrowful; but your sorrow shall be turned into joy' (John XVI, 33, 20). For these things especially let us prepare ourselves, lest, being unprepared, we fail. 2. The pregnant and the nursing. The arts of the covetous. For concerning these tribulations, when the Gospel was read, you heard, 'Woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck.' The pregnant are those who swell up in hope;
but the nursing, that is, those who give suck, are those who have already obtained what they had coveted. For indeed a pregnant woman swells with hope of a child, she does not yet see the child: but she who now gives suck embraces what she had hoped for. Pregnant is he who covets others' property; nursing is he who has already seized what he coveted. And that even the simple may understand this more plainly, let us set forth some comparison. Someone covets his neighbour's farm, and says: 'This farm of my neighbour is good; O that it were mine! O that I might join it to my own, and make of this estate and that a single one!' Covetousness too loves unity: the thing it loves is good; but where it ought to be loved, it knows not.
Perhaps that neighbour who has the good farm is rich, and he suspects that he cannot take it away; because the man is powerful, and is strong enough to defend himself against him: so he neither covets nor is made pregnant; hoping for nothing, he conceives nothing, he is not pregnant in mind. But if some neighbour nearby be poor, who is either placed in such need that he can be made to sell; or can be oppressed, so that he is forced to sell: an eye is cast, he hopes that he can take away either the farm or the holding of his poor neighbour, and he sends upon him certain tribulations. That is to say, he acts more secretly among those who have power, so that the tax-collectors may either afflict the afflicted man, or constrain him in some public administration:
so that from these contracted debts the unhappy man may be under necessity of selling the little cottage, from which either he himself or his sons were sustained. Compelled therefore by necessity, he comes to that very man by whose wickedness he is pressed and afflicted: and, not knowing that he suffers this by that man's own instigation, he says to him: 'Give me, sir, I beg thee, a few solidi; I suffer necessity, I am pressed by a creditor.' And he: 'I have none now in hand.' He says he has none in hand for this very reason, that the other, oppressed by extortion, may be under necessity of selling. Then, when the poor man has told him that by reason of his excessive affliction he is compelled to sell off, at once the other replies: 'Even if I have no money of my own, I will strive to borrow from somewhere, that I may help thee, my friend;
and if it is so necessary, I will even sell off my silver, that thou suffer no wrong.' When the poor man was asking a favour, he professed to have nothing at all: but when he said that he would sell his own possession, he pretended, as it were, to be helping a friend: and when he has brought him to this necessity, he tells him that he ought to make the sale; and for the cottage for which he had at first, for example, perhaps offered a hundred solidi, when he sees him being oppressed, he does not consent to give even half the price. For to such men as these, as has already been said above, the Evangelist proclaims: 'Woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck': for to these there shall be woe in the day of Judgment, and from evil hearing they shall not be able to be delivered;
but they shall hear: 'Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry, and ye gave me not to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me not to drink' (Matt. XXV, 41 and 42). In this place let your Charity attend diligently. If he strives toward the fire who did not give his own thing, where, thinkest thou, is he to be sent who invaded another's? If he must burn with the devil who did not clothe the naked, where, thinkest thou, shall he burn who stripped him bare? 3. That saying, 'Woe to them that are with child,' is not to be understood literally. Every man conceives; one of Christ, another of the devil.
And therefore, as often as the Gospel lection shall be recited to you in which it says, 'Woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck,' do not believe this to be said of women who have lawful husbands. For what evil did a woman do who conceived by her own husband? Why shall it be ill with her in the day of judgment, who did that which God commanded? Not therefore of women who justly conceive and bring forth is this to be believed; but of those, whom we spoke of above, who by unjustly coveting another's property are seen to be made pregnant: of whom we read it written, 'He hath conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity' (Ps. VII, 15). For every man conceives, nor can any be without conception: but some conceive of Christ, others of the devil.
For just as of those who conceive by the devil it is said, 'He hath conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity'; so also of those who conceive by the Holy Spirit it is written, 'From thy fear we have conceived in the womb, and have brought forth the spirit of thy salvation' (Isa. XXVI, 18). 4. Lift up your heart. For these things which we have said, most beloved brethren, whoever diligently attends, so that he recognizes the aforesaid things either to have been born in him, or perhaps still to be, let him quickly correct himself. For past evils do not harm, if they do not please; for there is still place for repenting and correcting. Not yet has that separation of some to the right hand, of others to the left, been made (Matt. XXV, 33);
we are not yet among those below, where is that rich man thirsting and desiring a drop (Luke XVI, 24). Let us hear while we live, let us be corrected; let us not covet others' goods and swell up made pregnant; nor let us wish to attain to them, and by acquiring them kiss them as sons. For when anyone covets another's property, as has already been said, his soul is seen, as it were, to have conceived: but if what he covets he can obtain by some craftiness or wickedness, he is known, as it were, to kiss and nurse a son that has been born. Let us not therefore so love these earthly things, brethren, that we lose the heavenly. The heart must be changed, the heart must be lifted up, let us not now dwell here in heart. An evil region is the love of the world:
let it suffice that we still seem to be here in the flesh. Let us hear the Apostle saying: 'If ye are risen with Christ, savour the things that are above, seek the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth' (Col. III, 1, 2). What is promised to you does not appear: for it is already prepared; but it is not seen. Dost thou wish to be made pregnant by coveting? Then be made pregnant thus: covet eternal life; to which life God invites thee, let that be thy hope: thy childbearing shall be certain, there shall be no miscarriage. Thou shalt not embrace temporally what thou hast brought forth; but shalt possess it for eternity. 5. The certainty of the things promised in the Scriptures. For what has been promised must without doubt be given, but as yet it is behind: it shall not be given now, but shall be given afterward.
See now how great things have been given, brethren; who is able even to number them? For of all the things which have been promised to us in the divine Scriptures, one only remains. Shall God, who in so many things spoke truly, deceive us in one? It is written of the Church that it shall be; and it is seen that it is. It is written of idols that they shall not be; and it is seen that they are not. It is written that the Jews should lose their kingdom; and it is seen. It is written of heretics that they should come; and it is seen. It is written of the day of judgment, it is written also of the rewards of the good, and of the punishment of the wicked: let no one deceive himself, brethren;
just as all those things which were promised have come to pass, so also the day of judgment, and the punishment of the wicked, and the rewards of the just, shall without any doubt come to pass. And therefore let each one of us, while it is allowed, and while by the help of God it lies within our power, strive both to avoid sins and to practise what is good; that when that terrible and dreadful day shall come, he may not be burned up in perpetual fire with the impious and sinners; but with the just and those who fear God may deserve to attain to the eternal reward: which may he himself deign to grant, to whom is honour and dominion unto the ages. Amen. SERMON LXXVI. On the words of the Gospel of Matthew, chapter XXV, 1-13: 'The kingdom of heaven shall be like unto ten virgins,' etc. 1. The sleep of the virgins is death.
Midnight is the day of judgment. In the Gospel lection which was recited to us concerning the ten Virgins, most beloved brethren, it was said that all the virgins trimmed their lamps: but the foolish did not have oil prepared with their lamps; the wise, however, took oil in their vessels. And while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was made: 'Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.' Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And when the lamps of the foolish virgins were going out, they asked the rest, in whose vessels there was oil, to give them of their oil; and they said:
'Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you, go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.' But while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage; and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying: 'Lord, Lord, open to us.' To whom it was said: 'I know not whence ye are.' When it says, 'While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept': that sleep signifies death. So indeed the Apostle says, 'Concerning them that are asleep, we would not have you ignorant, brethren' (1 Thess. IV, 13). Midnight, when the great cry was made, signifies the day of judgment: on account of ignorance it was said at midnight; because no one knows when or at what hour the day of judgment shall come.
Oil is mercy or charity. An obligation to generous almsgiving. But that all the virgins trimmed their lamps shows that even the foolish had some oil, but it was little, so that it could not suffice them at all: indeed they at once began to go out. Whence, as much as we can, with God's help, we ought to labour, most beloved brethren, that—since by oil is understood mercy or charity—we may lay up so much in the vessels of our souls as may suffice us unto eternity. To no one does a little suffice, most beloved brethren, except perhaps to one who by reason of poverty cannot give more. A full lamp of the soul is needed, that through the oil of charity our light may shine unto eternity.
To whom God has given more ample substance, let him, as much as he can, loosen his hands to almsgiving, nor let him believe that a little can suffice him: but let each one consider himself from that time when he began to have understanding, how much he owes for the things he has evilly thought, evilly spoken, or evilly done; let him attend to the multitude of his sins, and weigh diligently the price of each; let him see how much he owes for lies, for oaths, for perjuries, for curses or detractions, for drunkenness, for gluttony and luxury, for sordid thoughts, for idle words. Let each one consider all these things and things like them, which cannot even be numbered; and then he will recognize how great alms he ought to practise;
for even if we give the whole, unless God's mercy shall preponderate, we cannot redeem all our sins: yet humbly, with a contrite and compunctious heart, let us do as much as we can; and let us do it not for human praise, but for God's precept and for contemplation of eternal life. 3. Whence the fear of the wise virgins. The poor are the merchants. Oil in the vessels is good works in the conscience. Flatterers are sellers of oil. But that the foolish virgins said to the wise, 'Give us of your oil'; and they answered, 'Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you': this I judge to have been said humbly;
because so great will be the terror and so great the examination in the day of judgment, that even those who understand themselves to have more abundantly prepared the oil of mercy fear lest it may not be able to suffice them for the redeeming of all their sins. But that which was said, 'Go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves,' can be understood of the poor. These are the merchants, who sell the oil necessary for the lamps of souls. For through them Christ is wont to carry on this business. In them he receives earthly things, being about to repay eternal ones. So indeed he himself said, 'As long as ye did it to one of these least, ye did it to me' (Matt. XXV, 40). But the lamps are understood to be souls. And those vessels where the oil is reserved signify good consciences.
But what is it to have oil in the vessels, except to store up good works within in the conscience? And because some do good works for the love of God, others for desire of human praise, those virgins—both that they were virgins in body, and that they exercised themselves in vigils, psalms, readings, or prayers—did all this for human praise, not for God nor for eternal blessedness; therefore, when death intervened, where the praise of men ceased for them, at the same time the oil also failed them. For that which was said to them, 'Go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves,' can also be so taken, that by the sellers are understood those who extol the foolish virgins with flattering adulations.