講道與短論 第 2 章 第 1/18 段

SERMONS ON THE SEASONS. SERMON 115. On the Advent of the Lord, 1. What must be furnished before the celebration of the Lord's Nativity. We must labor that the body of Christ may be worthily received. As the most sacred solemnity now draws near, on which our Savior mercifully willed to be born among men, dearest brothers, consider more attentively how we ought to be prepared for the coming of so great a power, that we may be worthy to receive our King and Lord with joy and gladness, with glory and praises, and, in His sight, amid the blessed assemblies of the saints, to exult in thanksgiving — rather than, being repelled by Him on account of our foulness, to merit eternal confusion among sinners.

And therefore I ask and admonish, that as much as we can, with God's help, we may labor so that on that day, with a pure and sincere conscience, a clean heart and a chaste body, we may be able to approach the altar of the Lord, and may merit to receive His body and blood not unto judgment, but unto the remedy of our soul. For in the body of Christ our life consists, as He Himself said: 'Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you' (John 6:54). Let him therefore change his life, who wishes to receive life. For if he does not change his life, he will receive life unto judgment: and he is more corrupted by it than healed; more slain than made alive. For thus the Apostle said:

'He who eats the body of the Lord and drinks His blood unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself' (1 Cor. 11:27). 2. The conscience must be cleansed. And although it befits us to be adorned and resplendent with good works at all times, yet especially on the day of the Lord's Nativity, as He Himself said in the Gospel, your works ought to shine before men (Matt. 5:16). Consider, I ask you, brothers, when some powerful or noble man desires to celebrate his own birthday or that of his son, with how much zeal, many days beforehand, he orders whatever he sees soiled in his house to be cleaned, whatever is unsuitable and unbecoming to be thrown out, whatever is useful and necessary to be brought forth.

The house too, if it has been rather dark, is whitewashed; the floors are cleaned with brooms, and, sprinkled with various flowers, are adorned; whatever also pertains to the gladness of the mind and the delights of the body is provided with all care. To what end are all these things, dearest brothers, except that the birthday of a man who is going to die may be celebrated with joy? If therefore you prepare so much for your own birthday or your son's, how much and what kind of things ought you to prepare when about to receive the Nativity of your Lord? If you prepare such things for one who is to die, what kind of things ought you to prepare for the Eternal One? Therefore, whatever you do not wish to find in your house, labor as much as you can that God may not find it in your soul. 3. The soul must be adorned with good works. Let repentance immediately follow the fault.

Surely, if an earthly king or any head of a household were to invite you to his birthday celebration, in what sort of garments would you be eager to come adorned? How new and gleaming, how splendid, garments whose age, meanness, or any foulness would not offend the eyes of the one inviting you! With such zeal, then, so far as you are able, strive with Christ's help, so that your soul, arrayed with the varied ornaments of the virtues, adorned with the gems of simplicity and the flowers of sobriety, may go forward with an untroubled conscience to the solemn feast of the eternal King, that is, to the Nativity of the Lord and Saviour, gleaming with chastity, splendid with charity, radiant with almsgiving.

For if Christ the Lord shall find you thus arrayed to celebrate his birthday, he himself will deign to come in person and not only to visit your soul, but even to rest in it and to dwell in it forever; as it is written: 'And I will dwell in them, and walk in them' (2 Cor. 6:16); and again: 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone shall rise and open to me, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me' (Rev. 3:20). How blessed is that soul which, with God's help, has striven so to govern its life that it may be counted worthy to receive Christ as guest and indweller!

As, on the contrary, how wretched is that conscience—to be lamented with a whole fountain of tears—which has so stained itself with evil works that in it not Christ may rest, but devils begin to hold sway! For such a soul, if the medicine of penance does not swiftly come to its aid, is abandoned by the light and seized by darkness; it is emptied of sweetness and filled with bitterness; it is invaded by death and rejected by life. Yet let him who is such not despair of the Lord's mercy, nor be broken by deadly despair; but rather let him swiftly flee to penance, and while the wounds of his sins are still fresh and warm, let him thus apply to himself healing remedies;

for our physician is Almighty God, and he is accustomed so to heal our wounds that not even the traces of scars remain after his remedies. Therefore also, before his Nativity, you ought to abstain for many days from every defilement. 4. Vices to be shunned before the solemn feasts, and especially hatred. As often as you make ready to celebrate either the Lord's Nativity or the other solemn feasts, before all things flee drunkenness, resist wrath as you would a most savage beast, drive out hatred from your heart like deadly poison; and let there be in you charity so great that it may reach not only to your friends, but even to your very enemies; that you may securely say in the Lord's Prayer:

'Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors' (Matt. 6:12). For whoever knows that he hates even a single man, I do not know how he can securely approach the altar of the Lord, especially when the blessed Evangelist John cries out terribly and says: 'He who hates his brother is a murderer' (1 John 3:15). For it is for you to judge whether a murderer, before he does penance, ought to presume to receive the Eucharist. Saint John moreover adds and cries, saying: 'He who hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and knows not whither he goes; for the darkness has blinded his eyes'; and again he says: 'Everyone who does not love his brother abides in death';

and again: 'If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?' (1 John 2:11; 3:14; 4:20). Whoever therefore keeps hatred or wrath in his heart, and under such thunder is neither terrified nor awakened, must be believed to be not sleeping, but dead. 5. Exhortation. Meditating daily on these things, then, dearest brethren, let those who are good strive with God's grace to persevere in good works; for not he who has begun, but he who has persevered unto the end, he shall be saved.

But those who recognize themselves to be slow to almsgiving, ready to wrath, and headlong to the practice of lust—let them, with the Lord's help, hasten to rescue themselves from evils, that they may be counted worthy to fulfil what is good; so that, when the day of judgment comes, they may be counted worthy to attain to the eternal rewards not with the impious, but with the just and merciful; our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns unto the ages of ages. Amen. Sermon 116. On the Coming of the Lord, II. 1. May the Nativity of the Lord not find us unprepared.

Dearly beloved brethren, being about to receive with most faithful devotion the holy and desirable, glorious and singular solemn feast—that is, the nativity of the Lord and Saviour—we ought with all our strength, and with his help, to prepare ourselves and diligently to inspect all the hidden recesses of our soul; lest perchance there be in us some hidden sin which may both confound and gnaw our conscience, and offend the eyes of the divine majesty. For although Christ our Lord, after his passion, has risen and ascended into heaven,

yet he still considers, as we believe, and diligently attends to how each one of his servants strives to prepare and compose himself—without avarice, without anger, without pride and lust—to celebrate his nativity; and according as he shall see each one adorned with good works, so will he dispense to him the grace of his mercy. For if he shall see one clothed with the light of charity, adorned with the pearls of righteousness and mercy, chaste, humble, merciful, kind, and sober; if he shall recognize such holiness, he will dispense to him his own body and blood not unto judgment, but unto healing, through the ministry of his priests.

But if he shall see anyone an adulterer, a drunkard, greedy and proud, I fear lest that be said to him which the Lord himself utters in the Gospel: 'Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment?' And—which God avert—may that not befall which follows: 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth' (Matt. 22:12-13). Behold what sentence he shall receive on the day of judgment who, without the remedy of penance, comes to the Lord's festival defiled with the filth of vices. 2. It is the wedding day of Christ. At the wedding of Christ, who is the bride, what is the food.

For at the Nativity of the Lord, dearly beloved brethren, as at a spiritual wedding, Christ was joined to his bride the Church. Then 'truth sprang out of the earth, then righteousness looked down from heaven' (Ps. 84:12); then 'the bridegroom came forth from his chamber' (Ps. 18:6), that is, the Word of God from the virginal womb. For he came forth with his bride the Church, that is, he took upon himself human flesh. Being invited, then, to these holy nuptials, and about to enter the banquet of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, see with what garments we ought to be adorned. And therefore let us cleanse, so far as we can with God's help, both our hearts and our bodies together;

so that that heavenly inviter may find in us nothing sordid, nothing foul, nothing dark, nothing unworthy of his eyes. These things, therefore, dearly beloved brethren, we ought to attend to not in passing, but with immense trembling. For we are invited to the wedding, where we ourselves, if we act well, shall be the bride. Let us consider to what a wedding, let us reflect to what a bridegroom, and to what a banquet we are invited. For we are invited to a table where the food of men is not found, but the bread of Angels is set forth. And therefore let us take heed lest perchance within, in the soul, where we ought to be adorned with the pearls of good works, there we appear wrapped in the old rags of vices;

and just as chastity renders bright in the eyes of God those who are good, so lust renders foul those who are evil. 3. What is to be done before the solemn feasts. And therefore, as often as either the Lord's Nativity or the other festivals draw near, as I have frequently admonished, for many days beforehand abstain not only from the unhappy company of concubines, but even from your own wives; make yourselves strangers to all wrath; let past sins be redeemed through almsgiving and penance; let hatred against no man be held in the heart; what vanity was wont to squander through gluttony, let righteousness begin to distribute to the poor through mercy; what lust or gluttony scattered in the world, let piety lay up in heaven. 4.

The poor are to be called to the banquet. And although it is fitting that we should always give alms, yet especially on the holy solemn feasts let us, according to our means, distribute more abundantly, and above all more frequently call the poor to the banquet. For it is not just that at a holy solemn feast, among a Christian people belonging to one Lord, some should be made drunk while others are tormented by the peril of famine. Both we and all the people are servants of one Lord; we have been redeemed at one price; we entered this world in like condition, and we shall depart by a like exit; and if we act well, we shall come together to one blessedness. And why should the poor man not receive food with you, who is to receive the kingdom with you?

Why should the poor man not receive even an old tunic, who is to receive with you the robe of immortality? Why should the poor man not be counted worthy to receive your bread, who with you was counted worthy to receive the sacrament of Baptism? Why is he unworthy to receive the remnants of your food, who with you is to come to the banquet of the Angels? Hear, brethren, hear not my precept, but the common precept of the Lord. For thus he says in the Gospel: 'When thou makest a dinner or a supper, do not invite the rich, who may invite thee in return, and a recompense be made to thee; but call the poor and the lame; and thou shalt be blessed, because they have not the means to recompense thee; for it shall be recompensed thee at the resurrection of the just' (Luke 14:12-14). 5.

Friends too are to be invited, but more rarely and to modest banquets. But someone says: 'Then ought I not to invite friends or kinsfolk to a banquet?' Both kinsfolk and neighbours are to be asked; but they are to be asked more rarely. And banquets should be prepared for them that are not too costly and dainty, but so modest and comforting or seemly, that there may remain wherewith the poor can be refreshed, wherewith something can be distributed to the needy; so that, when the day of judgment comes, we may not hear with the impious, who now despise the poor, 'Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire'; but with the just and merciful may we be counted worthy to hear, 'Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom: for I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat;'

'I was thirsty, and ye gave me to drink' (Matt. 25:41, 34, and 35): let that desirable voice likewise be directed to us: 'Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord' (ibid. 21). 6. Recapitulation. But that these things which we have suggested may cling more tenaciously to the minds of your Charity, let us briefly repeat what has been said. For this we have admonished, brethren: that since the Lord's Nativity is at hand, as unto a wedding and heavenly banquet, we should prepare ourselves through Christ's help, cleansed from all lust and adorned with good works; let us distribute alms to the poor, let us spit out wrath and hatred from our hearts as the poison of the devil.

Preserve chastity too faithfully with your own wives; call the poor more frequently to your banquets; rise earlier for the vigils; standing in church, either pray or sing psalms; bring forth from your mouth nothing idle or worldly, and rebuke those who wish to bring it forth; keep peace with all, and those whom you recognize to be at discord, recall to concord. If you are willing faithfully to fulfil these things, with Christ's help, both in this world you will be able to approach the Lord's altar with an untroubled conscience, and in the world to come happily to attain to eternal blessedness; our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, who lives and reigns unto the ages of ages. Amen. Sermon 117.

On the Nativity of the Lord, I. 1. The grace of this day. I beg you, dearest brethren, that with willing mind you receive the sermons which the Lord shall give, on this most sweet day, on which compunction comes even to unbelievers, on which the impious is touched by mercy, the contrite hopes for pardon, the captive does not despair of return, the wounded desires remedy; on which is born the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. At whose nativity he who has a secure conscience rejoices more sweetly; he who has a wretched one fears more attentively; he who is good prays affectionately; he who is a sinner supplicates most devoutly. Sweet day, truly sweet, and bearing pardon to all the penitent!

I promise you, little children, and I am most certain, that on this day, if anyone shall repent from the heart and shall not return to the vomit of his sin, whatsoever he shall ask shall be given him: only let him not doubt in faith, let him not seek again the delight of sin. Today the sin of the whole world is taken away—and does the sinner despair? 1. What makes penance sure. True and free penance. But see what penance ought to be like: for many constantly say that they are sinners, and yet it still delights them to sin. It is a profession, not an amendment: the soul is accused, not healed; the offence is pronounced, not taken away. Nothing makes penance sure but hatred of sin and love of God.

When you so repent that what before was sweet in your life now tastes bitter in your soul, and what before delighted you in the body now torments you in the heart—then indeed you well groan unto God, and you say: 'Against thee only have I sinned, and done evil before thee' (Ps. 51:6). Well, 'Against thee only have I sinned'; for no man is without sin: and therefore, 'Against thee only have I sinned,' because thou alone of men art without sin. Give, O Lord, mercy to the wretched, thou who hast so long spared the guilty. Let the humility of the penitent incline thee unto healing, whom the long duration of the sinner could not move. Say to him in the weeping of thy heart: 'Look upon the unhappy one, O immeasurable piety; regard the cruel one, O public mercy.'

'Despairing, I come to the Almighty; wounded, I run to the physician. Preserve the mercy of thy gentleness, thou who hast so long held back the sword of vengeance; blot out the multitude of my crimes by the multitude of thy mercies.' This, little children, is true penance: when a man is so converted that he does not return to sin; when he so repents that he does not do it again. 5. The vanity of passing delight. The true happiness of this life. Let there be, let us see, some of you who are strong and who exercise strength of soul, who on this day so hear my words for their salvation that they manfully cast off the softness of vices, fighting like sons—indeed they fight more bravely, who fight against themselves.

Let them open their ears to the precepts of Christ, which perhaps until now lay open to hearing mockeries. Let them open their eyes to brightness, which until now lay open to shame. Let penance for crimes prick him whom until now the delight of pleasures pierced through. Let virtue joined to him raise up him whom vices laid low. Let them open with medicine their nostrils, to which that habit of sin stinks. May he open to you the eyes of the heart, who today deigned to be born for our sake, that we might see him. What is reckoned sweet for a while in the brevity of time—how bitter it will be in the eternal fire! With how grievous and perpetual a punishment must the brevity of delight be punished! Delight has slain, and passed away; it has wounded, and gone by;

it has made him wretched, and departed; it has rendered him unhappy, and left him. How beautiful is the brightness of the soul! How happy is the conscience full of good works! If he counts himself blessed who possesses what he must relinquish after death, how secure is he who hopes for that reward which he shall never lose through all eternity! If he is called mighty who rules the world, how blessed is he who bears God in a pure conscience! And therefore, most sweet children, desire cleanness of heart, have love of God and of neighbour. Sinners, forgive, that it may be forgiven you. Just ones, do not sin, that Christ may remain in you. 4. A vow is to be made to the newborn God. Various vows. The best vow.

Since these things are so, it seems to me, dearest ones, that we should today promise vows to our newborn Lord and Redeemer, and pay them; as it is written: 'Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God' (Ps. 76:12). Let us sweetly and confidently make our vows; he will give the possibility that we may be able to pay them: let us only hope from him for whatever we promise him. But perhaps you ask me what you ought today to vow or to pay. There are many who make vows: one a pall, another oil or wax for the lights of the night; another, that he will not drink wine for some years; another, that he will keep fasts at a certain time; another, that he will not eat meat. That is not the best or most perfect vow: I want something still better.

God has need neither of your fair gift, nor of your oil, nor of your fasting: but that which he today redeemed in you, offer that very thing, that is, your soul. And if you ask me, 'How shall I offer my soul, which he himself holds in his power?'—I answer you how: by holy conduct, by chaste thoughts, by fruitful works; by turning away from evil, by turning to good; by condemning vice, by loving God; by loving your neighbour, by bestowing mercy on the wretched—for we too were wretched before we were redeemed; by forgiving those who sin against us, for we too were all under sin; by treading down pride, for through pride the first man was deceived;

by casting off envy, because through envy the devil deceived the human race. 5. How each one should vow out of his own case. The wrathful. The unchaste. The envious. The murderer. The slanderer. The unkind. The proud. The drunkard. Since these things are so, lift up all your minds, and let there be none—whether free, whether slave, whether freeborn—who does not today offer a vow to God and pay it as well: for it is exceedingly wretched that we offer nothing of our own to God, who laid down his own soul for us, and who, being eternal, took flesh for our sake. Now therefore, whoever holds wrath against another, let him nevertheless, for the love of God, forgive; and he has offered a vow.

If anyone has now for a long stretch of time been accustomed to wallow in lust, let him at last come to his senses, and shake off his filth through compunction; and let him cry in his heart, in more secret prayer, to the Lord: 'Most holy Lord, most merciful God, let it suffice me that I have sinned thus far, that I have despised thee, that I have gratified the foulnesses of my flesh: now, by thy inspiration, I vow that I will turn away from my wickedness.' When he has done this, he too has offered a vow. Again, if anyone is held by envy of a brother, and is not delighted by his happiness or prosperous action—which is a sin unto death—let him too promise in his heart that he will rather imitate good deeds than harbour malice against him;

and when he has done this, he too has offered a vow. But if anyone is conscious to himself of murder, let him impose penance upon himself in his own heart, and take vengeance upon himself for his own evils, and set before God for himself the torment and space of penance; and let him torment through abstinence and humility the mind full of poison, which the shedding of a neighbour's blood before wounded; and let him by no means presume to communicate, lest he doubly damn himself, wretched, while in a heart full of the horrors of crimes he perilously presumes to receive the most holy body of the Lord. But if anyone recognizes himself to be such, and has done these things, he too offers a vow. If anyone perhaps, as is customary, has always been accustomed to detract, and to speak against the actions of others, yet not to regard his own;

let him today vow to God in his heart, and say: 'Thus far I have spoken of others, I have not examined myself; I was the more wretched, and I esteemed others wretched: and therefore now it suffices that my tongue has sinned, and from now on I resolve to amend.' Behold, he who does this offers a vow. If anyone feels himself cruel, let him vow mercy of soul to God; if anyone proud, let him vow humility. If anyone is too much given to wine, let him vow sobriety to God. If anyone has sinned against his elder, let him ask pardon; and if the other has not the wisdom to ask, let him nevertheless forgive. 6. The fruit of such vows. The guardian Angels offer our vows to God. And when you have done all these things, dearest ones, you offer to God a pleasing vow, and as it were you repay Christ.

And after these things a blessing shall come to you, and your vows shall be offered before the tribunal of Christ, and, as Solomon said, 'your memorial shall not receive oblivion' (Wisd. 2:24 [cf. Ps. 111:6]): and it shall be said of you, 'Behold my people whom I have acquired with my blood; he has sated me with vows, he has filled me now with fragrant offerings: I will be to them as it were a Lord, and they shall be to me for a people, and there shall no more be among them captivity or desolation.' Let us consider how sweet it is when our vows, such as I have described, the Angels who are the guardians of our life shall have offered before the sight of the divine majesty. If we offer something to an earthly and mortal man, and yet hope to receive much from him and to be helped by him—

if we offer to God something of our own conduct, how much shall we receive? 7. The fruit of remembering the incarnate Christ. Now therefore let us exult in the Lord, let us rejoice with weeping, let us be mindful of the divine condescension and of our own captivity. Whomever power exalts, let the humility of Christ come into his mind, that this sentence be not directed against him: 'Why art thou proud, earth and ashes?' (Ecclus. 10:9). When we see anyone wretched or needy, let the mercy of God come into our mind; when a captive, let the redemption of our Lord come into our mind. When any sin delights or creeps upon us, let it be in our memory that our sins have already been blotted out.

Let us not lose the price of Christ's blood, nor stain the robe of the soul through iniquity, or robbery, or covetousness. We were lying down, now we are raised up; we had been wounded, now we are healed. There will be no excuse of any kind. The devil can invite to evil, he cannot compel; he brings delight, not power; he offers counsel, not conflict. 8. What virgins must care for or beware of. Now therefore, for the sake of the childbearing of blessed Mary, let my sermon be to virgins—whether to men, or to women, or to widows, or to penitents, or to the poor, or to slaves. With God there is no distinction but of merits. Hear me therefore, whoever you are that are virgins in body by the gift of Christ.