Exhortation. And therefore let us all be zealous to love all men with our whole heart; praying that those who are good may become better, and remain in good work; that those who are evil may quickly correct themselves: fearing that which the Lord threatened, saying, 'If you do not forgive men their sins, neither will your Father forgive you your sins' (Matt. 6:15). But rather let us labor with his help, that this may be able to be fulfilled in us: 'Give, and it shall be given to you; forgive, and it shall be forgiven you.' Therefore, since according to the aforesaid sentence of the Lord
by which he said, 'If you forgive men their sins, your heavenly Father will forgive you your sins' (Matt. 6:14), it is placed within our power in what manner we shall be judged on the day of judgment; let us forgive all our enemies: that with a free conscience we may be able to say in the Lord's Prayer, 'Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors' (Matt. 6:12). Which may he himself deign to grant, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns unto the ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 272. On loving enemies, 1. In the Scriptures there are both ornaments for the healthy and medicines for the sick. The chief medicine is the love of enemies.
In the divine volumes, dearest brethren, the Holy Spirit so dispensed things that neither ornaments for the healthy nor spiritual medicines for the sick could be lacking. Recognizing this, by the Lord's gift, I have been zealous to provide the one and singular remedy of souls, as it were a spiritual antidote. The first and principal medicine for the ailing soul is so to retain the sweetness of charity, that one may wish to love with the whole heart not only friends but even enemies: because of that which is written, 'If you forgive men their sins, your heavenly Father will forgive you your sins' (Matt. 6:14).
Therefore, that you may be able, God helping, both to hold this so excellent love in memory and to carry it out in works, we have excerpted a few chapters from the holy Scriptures, which if each one receives not by disputing but by believing, he will both receive pardon of his sins, and, God helping, will attain to the blessedness of eternal life. 2. This the saints cultivated: Joseph, Moses, Job. First of all, the kindly charity of the ancient saints even toward enemies must be considered and imitated with all our strength. For blessed Joseph, for the crime of parricide, requited to his impious and hostile brothers not the bitterness of hatred, but the sweetness of charity. For he kissed each of them, and wept over each.
To them he not only rendered nothing evil, but even repaid all good things, and, while his own father lived and after he had died, always loved them with brotherly love. Blessed Moses too, when the rebellious people frequently wished not only to despise but even to stone him, mindful of divine charity, so supplicated the Lord for them that he cried out and said, 'If you do not forgive the sin of your people, blot me out of the book which you have written' (Exod. 32:32). For in that same Old Testament we read it written, 'The ways of those who retain the wrong done to them by evildoing lead to death'; and again, 'Be not mindful,' it says, 'of the wrong done by your neighbor' (Lev. 19:18):
and again, 'If you see the ass of your enemy lying in the mire, you shall not pass by unless you first lift him up' (Exod. 23:5). On which passage let each one of you diligently consider, that if it is not lawful to leave an enemy's ass in the mire, how much more ought not a man, made in the image of God, to be held in hatred nor to be neglected? Blessed Job too so faithfully retained true and perfect charity even with enemies, that rejoicing and with a free conscience he said to the Lord: 'If I have rejoiced at the ruin of my enemy, and exulted because evil had found him, or if in my heart I have said, Good' (Job 31:29). 3. This David also cultivated, and what fruit he took from it.
Blessed David too, although he was adorned with many virtues, yet no action joined him more familiarly to God than the love of his enemies (1 Sam. 16). When his enemy cursed him to his face, he chose rather to spare and to reserve it for God's judgment, than to satisfy his own anger. And his love was so far from being feigned or false, that he even wept for his very adversaries, and took vengeance on those who had presumed to kill them (2 Sam. 1). Therefore he securely said in the Psalms that which all men ought to say with a sufficiently attentive and trembling soul: 'If I have rendered evil,' he says, 'to those who repaid me, let me deservedly fall empty before my enemies;'
let the enemy pursue my soul, and take it, and trample my life on the ground, and bring down my glory into the dust' (Ps. 7:5-6). Behold, with what a curse he condemns himself, who, despising God's commandments concerning the loving of enemies, does not fear to keep hatred in his heart. Whence it must be considered, with what face or with what conscience he shall be able to bring forth that verse from his mouth, who requites evil for evil to his enemies. Through Solomon too the Holy Spirit cries out and says: 'When your enemy shall fall, do not rejoice: lest perhaps God see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him' (Prov. 24:17, 18).
And assuredly, when he has turned it away from him, he directs it toward the one who rejoices together over his enemy's ruin, according to that saying: 'He who rejoices further at another's ruin shall not go unpunished' (Prov. 17:5). Likewise in the same place: 'Man reserves anger for man, and seeks healing from God' (Sir. 28:3); and, 'He has no mercy on a man like himself: he, though he be flesh, reserves anger, and seeks propitiation from God! Who shall entreat for his sins?' (Sir. 28:4, 5). 4. In what sense it is said, 'You shall hold your enemy in hatred.' It is indeed said in the Old Testament: 'You shall love your neighbor, and hold your enemy in hatred' (Lev. 19:18).
But whoever desires with sound understanding to recognize the meaning of the divine Scripture, let him understand this sentence in this way: that he should love every man his neighbor, and hold the devil his enemy in hatred. This can even be fulfilled in one evil man. For in that same one who is evil, you have both a neighbor and an enemy. For inasmuch as he is a man, he is your neighbor; inasmuch as he is evil, he is an enemy not only to you, but even to himself. Love, therefore, in him the flesh and the soul, that is, your neighbor whom God made; and hold in hatred the malice which the devil, with his consent, introduced. And when you have done this with a holy and pious mind, you play the part of the heavenly Physician, holding in hatred the disease, and loving the sick man. 5.
There is also that saying: 'You will heap coals of fire upon the head of your enemy.' The letter of Scripture is not always to be followed. Again the Holy Spirit speaks through Solomon: 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink; for in doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head' (Prov. 25:21-22). In this passage, then, we must take great care lest, while we do not understand it rightly, we make wounds for ourselves out of what are meant to be remedies. For some are wont to use this precept as if to glut their own fury. For they say within themselves: 'See, I feed my enemy, so that he may burn forever.' May God turn away such an interpretation from our souls.
In what way, then, this passage ought to be taken, the holy and ancient fathers, by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, have defined. 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him,' and so forth; 'for in doing this,' it says, 'you will heap coals of fire upon his head.' By 'head' in a man is understood the rational sense; and when this sense, withdrawing from the fervor of charity, has become cold (whence it is written, 'Because iniquity has abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold' [Matt. 24:12]), it necessarily has a taste for what is contrary to salvation, and to the one to whom it ought to be a friend it becomes an enemy. To heal, therefore, such a frenzied man, the Holy Spirit exhorts holy men, kindled with the fire of charity, saying: 'You will heap coals of fire upon his head.'
For when you have with a devout heart done good again and again to your enemy, however impious and cruel, barbarous and bloodthirsty he may be, yet he is at length ashamed at your praiseworthy conduct and grieves, and begins to repent of what he has done. Now when he has begun to do penance, the rational sense—that is, his very head—begins to be set aflame with the fire of charity; and he who before, as though cold and frenzied, was accustomed to keep up his wrath against you, now kindled with spiritual warmth by your goodness, begins to love you with his whole heart. Behold in what manner the holy Fathers said this passage of Scripture is to be understood.
For far be it from the catholic mind that anyone should try to bestow some good upon his enemy with the intent that, in return for this kindness, he should wish him to be consumed in eternal fire. Wherefore with great caution of faith it must be considered and feared, lest we follow the letter that kills; but rather let us love the Spirit that gives life. The heavenly Jerusalem has walls made of peace, impassable to one who does not hold peace. And this too, most beloved brethren, we ought to consider with great trembling, which the Holy Spirit spoke fearfully in the Psalm. For when He was summoning that heavenly Jerusalem—that is, the congregation of all the saints who are to reign with Christ—to praise the Lord;
when He had said, 'Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem,' He added, 'Who has set your borders in peace' (Ps. 147:12, 14). Therefore, as you yourselves see, that heavenly Jerusalem has its walls built of peace. For whoever has such peace and such charity that he loves all, and prays for the good that they may become better, and entreats for the wicked that they may quickly amend—from whatever side he wishes to enter, he will deserve to find the gates of that heavenly Jerusalem open. But whoever is unwilling to have such charity as both Christ commanded and the Apostle taught, will find the gates of Jerusalem shut on every side. And because he refused to have the oil of charity, at the closed doors of the Bridegroom, with those foolish virgins he will hear that dread voice:
'Amen I say to you, I know not whence you are' (Matt. 25:12). For just as, to those five virgins who had the oil of charity, that heavenly Jerusalem will open her gates, that they may enter into the joy of their Lord: so, on the contrary, to those who come without charity she will shut them, and drive them away in mutual separation from herself; and that will be fulfilled which is said in the Psalm concerning Jerusalem, 'For,' it says, 'He has strengthened the bars of your gates' (Ps. 147:13). When the gates are closed and the bars made firm, never will a friend go out, never will an enemy be able to enter: for just as the righteous man is never to depart from glory, so too the sinner will never be able to be freed from punishment. Let nothing separate us from charity.
And therefore, if we wish that the divine mercy may deign to free us from these evils, so that we may happily deserve to enter into that heavenly Jerusalem, let us labor with all our strength that there may be fulfilled in us what the Apostle said: 'Who shall separate us from the charity of Christ? Tribulation? or distress? or persecution? or famine? or peril? or the sword?' and that other saying: 'For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the charity of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord' (Rom. 8:35, 38-39).
Behold, as you have heard, so many and such terrible things could not separate the blessed Apostle and apostolic men from the charity of God. Wherefore it is exceedingly to be lamented that, whereas they could not be separated from the charity of God even by torments, we are sometimes separated by idle chatter, and now and then, on account of the slightest insult and the disparagement of any wretched man, we so abandon charity that with him we will not only for many days, but perhaps even for months and years, neither speak nor be willing to come to a meal together: and we do not take heed that, while we hold one another in hatred, we thus shut the walls of the city of Jerusalem against ourselves, so that no entrance remains for us by which we might enter.
And because that city has God for its inhabitant, and, as John the Evangelist says, 'God is charity' (1 John 4:16); if the sons have refused to have charity, with what face or with what conscience will one presume to draw near to the Lord, who is charity? No one can excuse himself for not holding charity. All these things, most beloved brethren, while with fatherly affection I frequently impress upon you, I absolve my conscience before God. And because there will never be anyone who can truly excuse himself as unable to hold true peace and true charity;
let us with all our strength beseech the mercy of God, that He may deign to instill and grant to us that charity, without which no one shall ever see God, so that by no torments, nor losses, nor persecutions we may be separated from His love or sweetness. If He so bids, there is now no need that we weary you longer with a more prolix sermon: and therefore let these things which have been said for the present suffice for your Charity, so that these things pleasing to God, which you have received, you may constantly ruminate with holy thoughts like clean animals, and may determine in your souls in what manner, with God's help, you may be able to fulfill them.
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Eaquæsequunturdeamoreinimicorum, autdiecrastina, autcertediedominicoabsquealiqualassitudinecorporisopportuniusaudietis ; præstanteDominonostroJesuChristo, cuiesthonoretgloriainsæculasæculorum. Amen. SERMOCCLXXIII (a). Dediligendisinimicis, u (b). i. CharitasmagnumpeccatorumremediumAneminenonpotestcumDeiadjutoriohaberi, cuminbonavoluntatesitasit. ScioetcredoChuritatemvestramsapienterintelligere, noncssesinecausaquodvosdeveraetperfectacharitatetamfrequenteradmoneo. Hoccnimidcofacio, quiaadomniumpeccatorumvulneranullummedicamentumtamsalubreettamellicaxessecognosco.
The things which follow concerning the love of enemies, you shall hear more opportunely either tomorrow, or surely on the Lord's Day, without any weariness of body; by the granting of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 273. On loving one's enemies. 1. Charity is a great remedy for sins, and there is no one who cannot, with God's help, possess it, since it consists in good will. I know and believe that your Charity wisely understands that it is not without reason that I so frequently admonish you concerning true and perfect charity. For I do this because I recognize that for the wounds of all sins there is no medicine so healthful and so effective.
This too is added, that although the remedy of true and perfect charity is so great, yet no one is found who cannot possess it with God's help. In the remaining good works one may sometimes offer some sort of excuse; but in having love no one will be able to excuse himself. Someone can say to me, 'I cannot fast': can he say, 'I cannot love'? He can say, 'On account of the infirmity of my body I cannot abstain from wine or from meat': can he say, 'I cannot love'? He can say that he cannot keep virginity; that he cannot sell his goods and distribute them to the poor:
can he say, 'I cannot love my enemies, and pardon those who have sinned against me'? Let no one deceive himself, most beloved brethren; for God deceives no one. For although there are many things which, on account of human frailty, we cannot fulfill bodily, yet charity in our heart, God inspiring it, if we truly wish it, we shall without any doubt be able to have. For there are many things which from the barn or the wine-cellar or the storeroom we cannot always bring forth; but from the treasury of the heart it is exceedingly foul and base if we should seem to put forward any excuse.
For there neither do the feet grow weary with running, nor the eyes with seeing, nor the ears with hearing, nor the hands with working, so that we might try to excuse ourselves through that very weariness. It is not said to us, 'Go to the East, and seek charity; sail to the West, and you will find love.' We are bidden to return within, into our own heart, from which anger is wont to shut us out, as the prophet says: 'Return, transgressors, to the heart' (Isa. 46:8). For, as has already been said, what the Lord demands of us is not found in far-off regions: He sends us within, to our own heart. For in us He has placed what He requires, where the whole perfection of charity consists in the goodness or will of the soul:
concerning which will or goodness the Angels cried out to the shepherds, 'Peace on earth to men of good will' (Luke 2:14). And therefore, because before the tribunal of Christ no excuse will avail us; let us with God's help labor with all our strength, that in our souls goodness may prevail more than malice, patience more than anger, kindness more than envy, humility more than pride: and, to conclude the whole in a brief word, let the sweetness of charity so possess our whole heart that the bitterness of hatred may find no place in us. 2. In vain does anyone say that he cannot love his enemies. But someone says: 'By no reasoning can I love my enemies.' In all the Scriptures God has told you that you can:
on the contrary you answer that you cannot. Consider now whether God or you ought to be believed. And therefore, because Truth cannot lie, let human frailty now abandon its empty excuses: for neither could He who is just have commanded anything impossible, nor will He who is loving condemn a man for that which he could not avoid. Why do we shift about in vain? For no one knows better how much we are able than He who bestowed on us the very ability. So many men, so many women, so many boys, so many tender and delicate girls have with equanimity endured flames and fires and swords and beasts for Christ: and we say that we cannot bear the insults of foolish men; and sometimes, for the slightest losses which
the wickedness of evil men inflicts on us, if we can, we avenge our injuries even unto their death! Wherefore I know not with what face or with what conscience we desire to have a share with all the saints in eternal blessedness, whose example we are unwilling to follow even in the smallest matters. 3. They cite a passage of Scripture in their own favor, but chiefly the love of God is here relied upon. God loved those who did not love, and in this He wishes us to imitate Him. Frenzied are those who trouble us. But there are some who suppose that a testimony of divine Scripture supports their anger. For they say it is written, 'My soul loves the one who loves it': and while they misunderstand the divine authority, they make wounds for themselves out of remedies.
But in what way this both ought to be and can be understood, let your Charity attend. 'My soul,' it says, 'loves the one who loves it.' Although it ought to be understood according to the letter of all, yet more certainly it ought to be understood of God, because no one loves us better than He Himself. For if only the good are to be loved, what do we say of our God, of whom it is written, 'So God loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son' (John 3:16)? For what good had the world done, that God should so love it? For Christ our Lord found all men not only evil, but even dead in original sin. And yet, even when we were such, He loved us, and delivered Himself up for us:
and by this He loved even those who did not love, as also Paul the Apostle says, 'Christ died for the ungodly' (Rom. 5:6); and through His ineffable mercy He gave this example to the whole human race, saying: 'Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart' (Matt. 11:29). Which also the blessed Apostle Peter in his Epistle likewise enjoined, saying: 'Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow His footsteps' (1 Pet. 2:21). What example of the Lord are we to follow? Is it that we should raise the dead? Is it that we should walk upon the sea with our feet? Not so indeed; but that we should be meek and humble of heart; and should love not only friends but also adversaries: 'That you should follow,' it says, 'His footsteps.'
This the blessed Evangelist John also said: 'He who says that he abides in Christ ought himself also to walk even as He walked' (1 John 2:6). In what manner did Christ walk? For, placed upon the cross, He prayed for His enemies, saying: 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do' (Luke 23:34). For they are frenzied, and are possessed by a contrary spirit, and, that they may persecute others, they themselves suffer a greater persecution from the devil: and therefore we ought rather to pray that they may be freed than that they may be condemned. For thus did the blessed Stephen, who most gloriously first followed the footsteps of Christ. For when he was being struck with the hard showers of stones, standing he prayed for himself;
but for his enemies, on bended knees, with all his strength he cried out and said: 'Lord, do not lay this sin to their charge' (Acts 7:60). If, therefore, we think we cannot imitate our Lord, let us at least imitate our fellow-servant. Let us imitate also the blessed James: who himself too, when he was being stoned by the Jews, on bended knees entreated for his persecutors. 4. The love of enemies is not counsel, but precept. The Lord also in the Gospel did not give counsel that we ought to love our enemies, but a precept. Counsel is one thing, precept another. Counsel is given that virginity be preserved, that one abstain from wine and from meat, that all things be sold and distributed to the poor.
But a precept is given, that justice be kept, that every man turn away from evil and do good. In short, concerning virginity it is said, 'He who is able to receive it, let him receive it' (Matt. 19:12): but concerning justice it is not said, 'He who is able to do it, let him do it'; but, 'Every tree that does not bear good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire' (Matt. 3:10). Whoever willingly hears and does the counsel, will have the greater glory. Whoever does not fulfill the precept, unless penance comes to his aid, will not be able to escape punishment. For thus the Lord commanded: 'Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute you and calumniate you' (Matt. 5:44). And if you ask what reward you will receive;
hear what follows: 'That you may be the sons of your Father who is in heaven' (Matt. 5:45). Take heed, that if we do not love our enemies, we cannot be the sons of God. And with what face do we say in prayer, 'Our Father, who art in heaven'? or with what conscience shall we be able to say, 'Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive' (Matt. 6:12)? 5. He who loves only those who love him is no different from the heathen and the beasts. True charity. But someone says: 'I hear the Scripture saying, My soul loves the one who loves it.' Do you love your children and your parents? The robber too loves, the dragon too loves, the wolves too love, the bears too love. For if we do not love those who love us, if we despise our children or parents, we are worse than lions and the aforesaid beasts:
but if we love only those who love us, we seem to differ in nothing from those very beasts. So too the Lord Himself said: 'For if you love those who love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans do this? And if you salute your brethren only, what more do you do? Do not even the heathen do this?' (Matt. 5:46-47). Those, therefore, who love only their friends, as you yourselves see, are in this respect still like publicans and the Gentiles. That we may therefore be superior both to the Gentiles and to the beasts, let us love even our enemies and adversaries; and let us fear that which the Lord said in the Gospel: 'Wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt, because you besought me;
ought you not also to have had mercy on your fellow-servant, even as I had mercy on you?' And what afterwards? 'He delivered him to the torturers, until he should pay all the debt. So,' says the Lord, 'shall my heavenly Father do to you also, if you do not each forgive his brother from your hearts' (Matt. 18:32-35). And again the Lord Himself says: 'By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another' (John 13:35). And again: 'This is my commandment, that you love one another' (John 15:12). And again: 'Whoever has fulfilled the whole law, but offends in one point, is become guilty of all' (James 2:10). What is this one point, unless what we said above, 'A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another' (John 13:34)?
What, I say, is this one point, unless that which the Apostle says, 'The whole law is fulfilled in one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself' (Gal. 5:14)? But lest perhaps someone should say that this passage ought not to be so understood, let him hear the Apostle crying out again about this commandment with sublime voice: 'If I should deliver my body to be burned, but have not charity, it profits me nothing' (1 Cor. 13:3). This is the true and genuine charity, which reaches not only unto friends, but even unto enemies themselves:
just as our Lord too is known to have such charity toward the human race, that He grants not only upon the good, but even upon the evil, that His rain should fall and His sun should rise daily. 6. Conclusion. This too above all we ought, with great reverence and fear, to recall and retain, which the Lord said in the Gospel: 'If you forgive men their sins,' He says, 'your heavenly Father will also forgive you your sins: if you do not forgive, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your sins' (Matt. 6:14-15). It is placed within our power in what manner we shall be judged on the day of judgment.