In how many places are these ears scattered, when everywhere the relics of the martyrs are translated for the healing of the sick, and the light of the blind, and the solemnity of the peoples, and for the mercy of the needy? The bosoms are now unbound; but the consummated crown is not unbound. The relics of the martyrs are like ears of grain, which are planted throughout the whole world... the heavenly harvest comes... of the resurrection... the ears to their sheaves; and you shall see precious hosts, not scattered on the earth, but gathered in the everlasting homeland. In a new heaven and in a new earth they shall shine like lamps in the hands of the Angels.
When the wicked judges burned them with cruel fire, were they not, as it were, unbound like ears of grain? Where are they now? The Lord who built Jerusalem gathered them, and gathered together the dispersions of Israel. That field of the army of the dead is witness. Were not head and hands, feet and bones, joints and sinews, flesh and skins, like ears of grain? The one trumpet of the prophet crying out sounded; and when the joints were gathered, from the awns there was made one harvest, while heaven and earth were amazed, much more brightly than by the voices of Angels, as if by the sickles of joys (Ezek. 37). They shall be gathered from every place, from land and sea, from field and deep, from woods and waters, from the jaws of beasts and from the belly of monsters:
when sea and land shall render up their dead, and bones shall be gathered to bones, ears to bosoms, and a precious harvest shall appear in Jerusalem; for they are the ones who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 3. Through the resurrection they shall be united. Concerning that field the blessed David cried out, 'They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.' Truly they wept, when they mourned the fallen, and aided the weak with tears. Good things watered with blood, where the grains do not fall through infinite torments. They are stoned, and they are made solid; nor do the grains fall down, but they are the better nourished. See the harvest of the body of holy Stephen being stoned, and the grains of his fruit not shaken at all within.
The stones flung against him resounded, and he lifted his head toward the opened heavens: where the bread of life shone forth, there the reed of Stephen flourished in bearing witness. The blood was poured out, but his constancy was not dissolved; nor was his tongue confounded, because it was found strong upon the foundation of the Gospel. See, the ear of the prophet Isaiah was cut with a sharp saw; and yet the ear of his body was not dissolved, the constancy of faith holding it fast. For when the bosoms weakened by the hands of the reapers are well girded, the sheaves are not loosed, but are thrown whole onto the cart. Thus also the whole bosoms of the bodies of the saints are lifted onto the wagon of Christ's flesh:
thus they meet Christ in the clouds, and they shall reign in the splendors of the saints with the same one who lives and reigns unto the ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 228. On the festivity of the virgins, from the Gospel reading. I. What is to be understood by the wise virgins, what by the foolish. In the reading which has been recited to us, most beloved brethren, we have heard the Lord say, 'The kingdom of heaven is like ten virgins, who taking their lamps went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride' (Matt. 25:1). If we understand this only according to the letter, it seems too harsh and severe. Far be it from our understanding that from the house of any poor Christian so small a number should come to eternal life.
And therefore, since it ought by no means to be understood according to the letter, and since the Lord himself in truth said it was a parable, let us seek why five are called foolish and five wise. For those five wise ones signify all the saints who are to reign with Christ; and on the contrary those five foolish ones are seen to figure evil Christians, who without good works glory only in the mere name of Christian. And they are called five foolish and five wise, because five senses are proved to be in all men: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.
And because through these senses, as through certain doors or windows, either life or death enters into our soul—of which the Prophet also said, 'Death has entered through your windows' (Jer. 9:21)—therefore there too five virgins are called prudent, who use these senses well; and there five foolish, who through these five senses receive death rather than life. 2. The five senses as five virgins: how they may be corrupted or preserve their integrity. But how these five senses, like five virgins, either keep their virginity or lie subject to corruption, let us more diligently inquire. If any man, or any woman, shall see
either a son, or a daughter, or another's manservant or maidservant, and shall look upon them attentively with concupiscence, one virgin is corrupted: because through the eyes, that is, through the windows of the body, the poison of death has entered into the secret place of the heart. But if anyone, whether religious or layman, shall willingly listen to men slandering, uttering even idle words and lascivious or filthy songs, and shall receive them with delight and pleased hearing, another virgin is corrupted. But if one be not content with moderate foods, but seek costly delicacies, if he always be zealous to speak evil, through wicked taste the third virgin is corrupted. But
if he also diligently seeks out exotic perfumes, so that he may be able to please men unto luxury, the fourth virgin is violated. But if with his own hands he shall wish to touch others' sons or daughters for the sake of lust with delight, and shall seek with a voluptuous mind garments too soft, then the fifth virgin also is corrupted. For in this order these five senses, like five virgins, are corrupted in men. And on the contrary, when holy souls restrain these five senses—that is, sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch—from all unlawful things, and soberly and chastely loosen their tongue only to those things which are lawful or legitimate, they guard the virginity of the five senses.
Therefore the five virgins signify good people; and the other five prefigure those who are evil. 3. Virginity alone profits nothing. And truly, most beloved brethren, what does it profit a man or a woman, cleric or monk, or nun, if virginity is kept in the body, when through evil concupiscences the integrity of the heart is violated? What does it profit to display chastity in one member, and to have corruption in all? For even those virgins who follow the Lamb, if you attend diligently, do not follow the Lamb for this reason: because they have kept only the virginity of the body; for when he had said, 'These are they who have not defiled themselves with women;'
he followed by adding, 'And in their mouth there was found no lie; nor are they with blemish' (Rev. 14:4 and 5). Those therefore who glory in bodily virginity alone, let them attend diligently, that if they love a lie, they will not be able to follow Christ with those holy virgins. Let no virgin therefore presume upon bodily virginity alone; for if she be disobedient or full of tongue, let her know that she is to be excluded from that chamber of the heavenly bridegroom. When therefore a virgin holds the hundredfold degree, and a married woman the thirtyfold, yet a chaste and humble married woman is better than a proud virgin. For she, serving her husband chastely and humbly, possesses the thirtieth degree; but for a proud virgin not one will remain:
and in both is fulfilled what the Psalmist says, 'You will save the humble people, and will humble the eyes of the proud' (Ps. 17:28). 4. Every faithful soul is a virgin and a spouse of Christ. And since the blessed Apostle called the whole catholic Church a virgin, considering in her not only those who are virgins in body, but desiring the minds of all to be incorrupt, he speaks thus, 'I have betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ' (2 Cor. 11:2): not only the souls of nuns, but even of all men or women, if they will keep chastity in the body, and in the aforesaid five senses preserve virginity, let them not doubt that they are spouses of Christ.
For Christ is to be understood as the bridegroom not of bodies, but of souls. And therefore, most beloved brethren, both men and women, both boys and girls, if they keep virginity until marriage, and through these five senses—that is, sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch—while they use them well, do not corrupt their souls, on the day of judgment, with the doors opened, they will happily deserve to enter into the eternal bridal chamber of the bridegroom. But those who both corrupt their bodies before marriage by adulterous union, and afterward throughout their whole life, by living evilly, hearing evilly, speaking evilly, do not cease to violate their souls;
if worthy fruits of penance do not come to their aid, with the doors shut they shall cry out in vain, 'Lord, Lord, open to us'; and they shall deserve to hear, 'Amen I say to you, I know not whence you are' (Matt. 25:11, 12). These things therefore, brethren, if we—both clerics and laymen, monks and nuns, and those placed in marriages—attend faithfully and diligently, and with chastity of body also guard the integrity of heart, with the Lord's help, we shall not be cast with the foolish into the outer darkness; but with the wise, admitted to the spiritual nuptials, we shall deserve to hear, 'Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord' (ibid. 21). Which may he himself deign to grant. SERMON 229.
3:381
InDedicationeecclesiævelallarisconsecralione, i (b). i. Qnodintemplismanufactis, idspiritualitercompleturinnobis. Quotiescumque, fratrescharissimi. altarisveltemplifestivitatemcolimus, sifideliteracdiligenterattendimus, etsancteacjustevivimus, quidquidintemplismanufactisagitur, totuminnobisspiritualiædificationecompletur. Noncnimmentitusestillequidixit, TemptumenimDeisanctumest, quodestisvos (ICor. III, 17); etiterum, NescitisquiacorporavestratemplumsuntSpiritussancti (Id. vi, 15). Quiaveronullispræcedentibusmeritis, sedpergratiamDeimeruimusfieritemplumDei; quantumpossumus, cumipsiusadjutoriolaboremus.
On the Dedication of a church or the consecration of an altar, I. I. That what is done in temples made by hands is spiritually fulfilled in us. As often, most beloved brethren, as we celebrate the festivity of an altar or a temple, if we attend faithfully and diligently, and live holily and justly, whatever is done in temples made by hands is wholly fulfilled in us by spiritual edification. For he did not lie who said, 'For the temple of God is holy, which you are' (1 Cor. 3:17); and again, 'Know you not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit?' (id. 6:19). And since by no preceding merits, but through the grace of God, we have deserved to be made the temple of God, let us, as much as we can, labor with his help,
lest our Lord in his temple, that is, in ourselves, find something that may offend the eyes of his majesty; but let the dwelling place of our heart be emptied of vices, and filled with virtues; let it be closed to the devil, and opened to Christ; and let us so labor that we may be able, with the keys of good works, to open to ourselves the gate of the heavenly kingdom. For as by evil works, as by certain bolts and bars, the gate of life is closed to us, so without doubt by good works it is opened. 2. The due preparation for the sacred synaxis. Sometimes it is fitting to withdraw from it. And therefore, most beloved brethren, let each one consider his own conscience:
and when he knows himself wounded by some crime, let him first be zealous by prayers, fastings, or almsgivings to cleanse his conscience; and so let him presume to receive the Eucharist. For if, recognizing his guilt, he himself withdraws from the divine altar, he will quickly come to the pardon of the divine mercy: because just as he who exalts himself shall be humbled, so on the contrary he who humbles himself shall be exalted (Matt. 23:12). For he who, as I have said, recognizing his guilt, is willing humbly to remove himself from the altar of the church for the amendment of his life, will not fear to be utterly excommunicated from that eternal and heavenly banquet. 3. The crime of those who receive it unworthily. The penalty of this crime.
I ask you, brethren, attend diligently: if to the table of any powerful man no one presumes to approach with torn and defiled garments, how much more ought each one who is struck by the poison of envy or hatred, filled with the fury of wrath, to withdraw himself with reverence and humility from the banquet of the eternal King, that is, from the altar of the Lord, on account of that which is written, 'Go first to be reconciled to your brother; and then coming you shall offer your gift' (id. 5:24); and again, 'Friend, how did you come in here not having a wedding garment?' For thus the text of the Gospel reading has it, that a certain man made a wedding for his son, and went in to see those reclining together;
and seeing there a man not having a wedding garment, he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here not having a wedding garment?' And when he was silent, he said to the servants, 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth' (id. 22:1-13). Behold what a sentence he shall deserve to hear, who to the wedding banquet, that is, the altar of the Lord, presumes to approach either drunken, or an adulterer, or retaining hatred in his heart. May God avert this from us, most beloved brethren, and grant that we may either never wish to admit these evils;
or if they have been admitted, let us be zealous without any delay to heal them by penance or peace, and let us hasten to wash them away by more generous almsgivings, lest perchance, if we come before the tribunal of the eternal Judge with the wounds of our sins, we be separated by perpetual excommunication from that eternal Church and from that heavenly Jerusalem. 4. Excommunication temporary and eternal. Eternal penalties. Consider, I ask you, brethren, if today someone is cast out from the assembly of this Church for some crime, in how great grief or tribulation will his soul be? And if it is an intolerable grief to be cast out from this holy Church;
where he who is cast out can neither eat nor drink nor speak with men, and yet has hope that he may again deserve to be recalled to the Church: let us consider how great a grief it will be, if anyone for his crimes is separated from that Church which is in heaven, from the assembly of the Angels and the congregation of all the saints; for whom not even this alone shall suffice for punishment, that he is cast outside, but moreover he is shut up in the outer darkness to be burned with eternal fire. For whoever deserves to be excommunicated from that heavenly Jerusalem will not only have this penalty, that he can neither eat nor drink;
but he shall endure the flames of hell without any end, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, where there is wailing, lamentation, and repentance without any remedy; where is that worm which shall not die, and the fire which shall not be quenched (Isaiah 66:24); where death is sought and is not found. Why is death sought in hell and not found? Because to those to whom life is offered in this world, and who disdain to receive it, they shall seek death in hell and shall not be able to find it. There shall be night without day, bitterness without sweetness, darkness without light; where neither riches, nor parents, nor spouses, nor children, nor neighbours shall be able to bring aid;
where the sinner shall find nothing except what by living chastely and justly in this world he has sent ahead through the generosity of almsgiving. 5. The reward of those who worthily partake. The purity required for it. The wicked are shown not to love their own soul. Considering these things therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us strive, with God's help, to approach that altar so chaste, so sober, and so peaceable, that we may not deserve to be excluded from that eternal altar. For whoever comes to this altar with a chaste body and a pure heart, with a clean and untroubled conscience, shall by a happy passage arrive at that altar which is in heaven. Finally, dearly beloved brethren, what I suggest is neither heavy nor laborious: I say this which I frequently see you do.
All the men, when they are about to approach the altar, wash their hands, and all the women present clean linen cloths, on which they receive the body of Christ. What I say is not burdensome, brethren: just as the men wash their hands with water, so let them wash their souls with alms. Likewise, as the women present a clean cloth on which they receive the body of Christ, so let them present a chaste body and a pure heart, that they may receive the sacraments of Christ with a good conscience. I ask you, brethren, is there anyone who would put his garment into a chest full of filth? And if a costly garment is not put into a chest full of filth, with what face is the Eucharist of Christ received into a soul defiled with the filth of sins?
And since we have begun to speak by these most true examples, I set before you also this, which you well know. I do not think there is any man who, in his chest where he has costly garments stored, would consent to enclose a live coal or any spark whatever. Why is this, brethren? Because he fears lest the garments in which he is clothed on a feast day be burned. I ask you, brethren, he who is unwilling to enclose a spark of fire in his chest, why does he not fear to kindle the flame of anger in his soul? But why this is done, we recognize plainly and evidently. For we do not put fire into the chest, because we love our garment:
but the flame of anger we do not extinguish, because we not only do not love, but even hold in hatred our own soul, according to that which is written: He who loves iniquity hates his own soul (Psalm 10). 6. An exhortation. And therefore, dearly beloved brethren, considering these examples more attentively, let us strive more diligently, with God's help, to guard as far as we can the inner little chests, that is, our consciences; so that when the day of judgment comes, we may not appear cast out with the old rags into the outer darkness, in that eternal and blessed Church where the wicked shall never be able to dwell, and out of which the good shall never depart:
but clothed with the robe of immortality, adorned with the gems of chastity and justice, and vested with the light of almsdeeds, we may deserve to hear: Come, ye blessed of my Father, take possession of the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34); and that other word: Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord (ibid. 21). To which joy may the Lord bring you under His protection, who lives and reigns unto the ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 230. On the Dedication of a Church or the Consecration of an Altar, II. 1. This feast is celebrated in joy. As your Holiness well knows, brethren, we celebrate today the consecration of an altar:
and justly and deservedly rejoicing we celebrate the festival, in which is blessed or anointed the stone upon which the divine sacrifices are consecrated for us. But when we keep these festivals, dearly beloved brethren, we ought diligently to attend and to labour with all our strength, that what is visibly honoured in the temples or altars may be invisibly fulfilled in us: for although the temples which we see built of wood and stones are holy, yet more precious before God are the temples of our heart and body; because those are made by carnal man, but these by the Maker of the world. Temples of wood and stones are put together by human skill; the temples of our bodies are fashioned by the hand of the heavenly Craftsman Himself:
as it is written: Thy hands have made me and fashioned me (Psalm 118:73); and again: Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee (Jeremiah 1:5). For as temples are set on fire, so on the contrary he who has been filled with the light of charity, if he is negligent, in him charity grows cold and cupidity blazes up. Therefore let not him who is evil despair, because he can quickly rise again; nor let him who is good either remain negligent, or presume anything of his own virtue, lest his joy be turned into mourning. 2. His joy is not true, who has neither a pure heart nor a chaste body. For he is a dwelling place of the devil.
And therefore, most beloved brethren, let us strive, with God's help, to keep as far as we can chastity of body and purity of heart. For by these things the fire of charity or of compunction is ever kindled and nourished in us. For whoever neither guards chastity in his body nor keeps purity in his mind, as often as holy solemnities come, seems to have joy in his body, but in his heart celebrates nothing but mourning. For what joy can he have, in whose soul, occupied by many vices, the devil is proved to dwell rather than Christ?
What joy can that soul have which is set aflame with the fury of anger, darkened with the blackness of cupidity, filled with the most bitter gall of pride, struck with the poison of envy, defiled with the filth of lust? 3. God desires to dwell in us. But we, dearly beloved brethren, even if, as usually happens, some slight sins creep in, let us labour as far as we can, with God's help, by fastings, vigils, prayers, and alms to cleanse what is soiled, to rebuild what has fallen, to re-edify the temple of the living God; that when the Lord comes He may find nothing in us that offends the eyes of His majesty: for of Him it is written: Behold, I stand at the door and knock;
if any man shall rise up and open to me, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me (Revelation 3:20); and again: I and the Father will come, and will make our abode with him (John 14:23). How blessed is that soul, in which the Father and the Son, coming, deign not only to dwell and remain, but even to sup! Now what He said, I will sup with him, and he with me, we understand plainly; because the apostle Paul shows it, saying: The temple of God is holy, which you are (1 Corinthians 3:17). And through the prophet the Lord says: And I will dwell in them, and walk among them (Leviticus 26:11-12). And since, as you yourselves have seen, brethren, God desires to dwell and to walk among us,
let us strive, with His help, so to occupy our heart always with good thoughts, and to keep our bodies continually clean and chaste from every defilement of lust; that it may please God to dwell in us. 4. Two altars in the temple of Solomon. God requires a twofold sacrifice from us. For in the temple built by Solomon we read that two altars were set up, one without, the other within. On that which was without, the sacrifice of animals was celebrated; but on that altar which was within, the incense of sweet spices was offered. Let us see then, brethren, whether perhaps in us also two altars have been set up, namely of our body and of our heart. In short, God requires a twofold sacrifice from us:
one, that we be of chaste body; the other, that we ought to be of pure heart. Therefore on the outer altar, that is, in our body, let good works be offered; in the heart let holy thought exhale the odour of sweetness. On the altar of our heart let us continually work that which is pleasing to God. For then we celebrate with joy the lawful order of the consecration of the altar, when we offer the altars of our heart and body clean and pure in the sight of the divine majesty. For I know not with what face or with what conscience he wishes to rejoice in the consecration of the altar, who does not strive to keep cleanness on the altar of his own heart. But we, dearly beloved brethren, let us strive so to act that we may ever deserve to celebrate the twofold festival:
and as we rejoice in the consecration of the temple or altar, so invisibly may we deserve to have spiritual joy in the chastity of the body or the purity of the soul. 5. The two fires, of charity and of cupidity. And consider this, brethren, that on that altar which we read was dedicated by Solomon, a daily fire burned continually: which may the divine mercy accomplish in us also. Wherefore God is to be appeased not only by prayers, but also by good works: that on the altar of our heart He may ever kindle that fire of His, of which He Himself said: I came to send fire upon the earth; and what will I but that it be kindled (Luke 12:49)? for there are two fires, namely of cupidity and of charity:
one on the side of God, the other on the side of the devil; one devouring all evils, the other consuming all good things. Let each one consider his own conscience, and if he sees the fire of cupidity burning in himself, let him hasten with God's help to extinguish it; because nothing good can remain in him whom the fire of cupidity has kindled: just as, on the contrary, nothing evil will remain in him in whom the fire of charity has burned. For the flame of cupidity in the heart of sinners, as on a sacrilegious altar, devouring all good things, breathes out an odour of sweetness to the devil: but in a holy soul, as on a most sacred altar, the flame of charity, consuming whatever evils have come upon it, offers an odour of sweetness to God.
Each one's heart is either the altar of God or of the devil. The priest is the advocate of the poor. And since each one's heart is an altar either of God or of the adversary, as I have already said, let each one attend to his own conscience, and if he is consumed by the fire of cupidity, let him be soothed by the refreshment of almsdeeds; because it is written: As water quenches fire, so alms quench sin (Ecclesiasticus 3:33). Whoever therefore is consumed by cupidity, let him withdraw himself from evil works, and let him strive to practise what is good. But whoever is kindled by the flame of charity, let him ever increase in good works, and let him nourish in himself the fire which Christ deigns to kindle in him.