If you have nothing more in your substance than suffices you for food or reasonable or modest clothing, good will alone can suffice for you. But I beg you, diligently question your conscience, lest perhaps sometimes through drunkenness you lose what you could have given through almsgiving; lest perhaps you strive to consume in dainties upon earth, by gluttony, what through almsgiving you ought to have laid up in heaven; lest perhaps, by preparing dainties, by procuring ornaments for luxury, you have not what for the remedy of your soul you might dispense to the poor; and while our garments are wont to be devoured by moths, the poor cannot deserve to receive even cheap garments.
If therefore all these hindrances do not weigh down our soul, and we have only that which can suffice for us or for our own; we shall not appear guilty, if we do not dispense alms to the poor. But if, as has already been said, luxury frequently devours what mercy could have treasured up in heaven; let us be corrected while there is time, and what up to now we have either not done, or perhaps done less than we ought, let us strive with all our strength to fulfill. The necessity and efficacy of almsgiving. And therefore, O Christian soul, who hear and read with me, aid yourself with the counsel of most holy Daniel: for thus he says, 'Take my counsel, and redeem your sins with alms' (Dan. 4:24).
If you do not willingly hear this counsel, you will knock at heaven without cause. O soul, who dwell within fleshly and frail walls, watch, pray, ask, seek, knock. Watch, I say, by asking; pray by seeking; knock by working. To you watching and asking the Lord answers, 'Behold, I am here.' If you pass through the fire, your Lord is with you, and the flame shall not burn in you: for as water quenches fire, so alms quenches sin (Sir. 3:33). If therefore you open your hands to the poor, Christ will open His gates to you, that you may enter as a possessor of paradise. If perhaps you think that the end of the world comes too slowly, consider at least your own end.
Behold, the world little by little fails, all the good things that had been are withdrawn, and the evils that were not come on. Daily what the word of God foretold is fulfilled; and yet man is not changed even so. Take counsel therefore, while you hold your price in your own hands. Give to yourself of your own while it is yours: for frail is what you hold, and what you regard belongs to others. Consider what a price your Lord gave for you: He shed His blood. He held you dear, whom He purchased at so dear a price. The changed lots of the rich man and Lazarus the poor. Flee, brother, the example of the rich man clothed in purple, whose sores the poor Lazarus fed with his own wounds, and he did not receive the crumbs falling from the rich man's table. But after no long interval of time the lots were changed.
The poor man bought blessedness by beggary, and the rich man punishment by his means. The one is lifted up by the Angels into Abraham's bosom, but the rich man is led down into the depths of hell; from which place the rich man saw the poor man, now the poor man the rich. He longs for a drop, who had denied a crumb. Let the rich therefore consider these things, who are unwilling to redeem themselves by their means, lest they suffer the like. Rich was that man of whom we now speak: there are rich men here also, to whom we now speak. They are of one name; let them beware lest they be of one condition. So between the rich man clothed in purple and Lazarus full of sores the lots were changed. The rich man lost what he had; the poor man began to be what he was not. That rich man in the world had left storehouses full;
and in hell, burning, he begged for a drop, yet could not obtain it. 4. The rich man is tormented more grievously in his tongue. He pleads for himself before God. His cause falls because of the guilt of his hardness. Attend, brethren. The rich man's whole body is consumed by the flames of Gehenna, yet his tongue alone is tormented all the more. Without doubt, therefore, he feels a greater burning in his tongue, because through it, speaking proudly, he had despised the poor man. For that very tongue which had refused to say that alms be given to the poor man is now more heavily scorched by the flames of Gehenna. For he cried out and said: 'Father Abraham, send Lazarus that he may dip his finger and cool my tongue' (Luke 16:24). O rich man, with what face do you seek a drop, you who would not hold out a crumb? Justly would you now demand, if you had given.
O the goods of the world, evils among the dead! Fires came to serve the rich man, and savage tormentors to attend upon him. He suffers the harsh ministers of Tartarus. He is tortured and cries out: O just and upright Judge, either let these punishments be measured according to my sins, or against the span of years in which I had good things, let me receive evils, or at least double or fourfold! Why do you command me to be held in the flame for so many thousands of years? I am bound fast by the chains of my sins, that I may not flee. At every moment I am pierced, that I may grieve. The fire rages against me and does not spare; it torments, yet keeps me back: nor is that which it punishes ever fully consumed, for which the burning is savage. After those pitiable words, without doubt he could be answered: What shall I do for you?
You gave no alms that might have extinguished the penalties of your sins. Scripture cried out to you, and you did not hear; the prophet was not silent, the apostle preached, the Gospel thundered; the punishment of the wicked was announced, the reward of the just was promised: but you, believing that you held fast the shadows and mists of this world, spurned the divine precepts as though they were empty tales. Let the poor intercede for you, and whatever you shall ask, I grant. But by just judgment I render to you your due: For judgment is without mercy to him who has not shown mercy (James 2:13). My justice can bestow upon you nothing but what your works deserve.
Without cause, dead and placed in another's power, you cry out, you who in the time when you were able, when you saw me in the poor man, were blind. 5. The reward of almsgiving is set forth. My brethren, formed by the hand of God, purchased together with me at a great price, hear the counsel of the Lord our God, fulfill the desire of your bishop, that with him you may receive the inheritance in the kingdom of your Father. From a servant you have been made a friend: despise what you were born, make an exchange for yourself with Christ. Why should he not receive a share of your substance, who has prepared for you eternal rewards? Why should he not receive even a tenth, who has bestowed the whole? Against an earthly patrimony God offers heaven: for thus he says, 'Come, blessed ones, take possession of the kingdom;'
for I was hungry, and you gave me to eat (Matt. 25:34-35). Then you, if only you give alms generously and faithfully, will be able to say happily: 'Lord, when did we see you hungry, and minister to you' (Matt. 25:37)? What is this, brethren? The faithful debtor comes forward, and the creditors excuse him? Then the Father, Lord and Friend, with whom you have carried on the heavenly commerce, will answer you: 'As long as you did it to one of these my least ones, you did it to me' (Matt. 25:40). Was not what I received an earthly thing? I will repay with heavenly things, I will give an eternal reward, and at my right hand the kingdom: not because you did not sin, but because you have redeemed your sins by almsgiving. I beg you, brethren, that these things be received into your souls.
and so may they profit the pilgrims; that before the tribunal of the eternal Judge, pardon may be granted to me for my kindly admonition, and to you eternal glory for the bounty of your almsgiving: through the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 307. On the likeness of the elm and the vine, or, what the rich and the poor confer upon one another. 1. The elm represents the rich; the vine, the poor servants of God. What they confer upon each other. We read in a certain book, dearest brethren, a likeness set forth to us concerning the elm and the vine; and whoever attends to it diligently will find no small edification for his soul. For the elm tree and the vine seem to suit each other quite well.
For the elm tree, though it be pleasant and stretched up on high, is nevertheless proven to bear no fruit. But the vine, though it be small and lowly, is known to be full of fruit: which fruit, unless it be lifted up on high by some kind of wood, rots on the ground and perishes. But if the elm stretch out its branches and lift up the vine, it both adorns itself and frees the vine from decay. Let us attend diligently to why this likeness is set forth. The elm tree signifies the rich man in this world. For just as that tree is lofty and pleasant and full of sap, and yet empty of fruit: so also whoever is rich in this world, although he be exalted with honors, and appear pleasant and delightful in many possessions;
yet if he does not humbly stretch out to the vine, that is, to the poor man of Christ, the arms of his alms as most tender branches, he will remain empty of the fruits of eternal life. But the vine signifies the servants of God who are at leisure, and who persevere continually in doctrine, and any others like these, who, despising the world, serve God day and night; by which service they are believed to have abundant fruit in eternal blessedness. And thus the rich of this world abound in this age, and the poor of Christ in heaven. What then is to happen, that neither the elm tree remain without fruit, nor the vine rot on the ground? For this is expedient to be done, that just as the elm tree stretches out its branches, and raises up or supports the vine;
so let the rich man of this world stretch out his branches, that is, his hands full of the fruits of his field, and sustain the poor of Christ. And if he does this in this world, without doubt it will be repaid to him manifoldly by those very poor of Christ in the world to come. 2. What penalties await the stingy rich man. Of what grace tenacity may deprive you. Let not the rich man disdain, or think an injury done to him, that he is compared to a tree, if he hears the Lord saying, 'A good tree brings forth good fruits; but a bad tree brings forth bad fruits': but let him rather fear that which follows, 'Every tree,' he says, 'that does not bear good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire' (Matt. 7:18-19). Let him therefore stretch out his hands to almsgiving, that he may be able to escape the eternal flames.
Let all the rich therefore fear the example of that unfruitful and barren tree, that is, of him who was clothed in purple and fine linen. For the tree was pleasant and lofty in the world: but because he did not stretch out the branches of mercy to Lazarus, he deserved to receive the flames in hell, and begged a drop from him to whom he had denied a crumb (Luke 16:24). Let the rich therefore ponder these things, who are unwilling to redeem themselves by their goods while they are still theirs; that they may not do such things, lest they suffer such things. He was a rich man of whom we speak; there are also certain rich men to whom we now speak. They are of one name; let them beware lest they be of one condition.
Since these things are so, if those who are rich have hands dry and shrunken for the doing of alms, and are unwilling to give the things necessary for the body to any servants of God who persevere in vigils, readings, or prayers; they become like the barren elm, which neglects to support the vine. And when the rich man gives nothing to the poor of Christ, of necessity these are compelled to labor in earthly work more than they were wont. And while they are occupied with worldly deeds, they attend less to prayer, reading, fasting, and vigils; it must needs be that their fruits, like the vine's, lie on the ground and are in some part diminished; so that they suffice for themselves alone, and bestow nothing on the rich. For the blessed apostle Paul,
when he admonished the poor, as it were spoke concerning the vine to the tree, that is, on behalf of the poor of Christ he spoke to the rich man: 'Let your abundance,' he says, 'supply their want; that their abundance also may be a supplement to your want' (2 Cor. 8:14). And that all may understand this matter, we ought to explain it more plainly. 3. The commerce between the rich and the poor. Those of the household of the faith. The rich of the world abound in money in this age; the poor of Christ in eternal life in heaven; let the rich therefore pay out money in the world that they may receive eternal life in heaven. The rich of the world store up grain, wine, and oil abundantly in barn or cellar; the poor of Christ, by praying, keeping vigil, and fasting, lay up spiritual treasures in heaven:
let these rich men of the world therefore make whatever servants of God partakers of their earthly substance; that they in turn may make them co-heirs in the heavenly treasure. The rich of this world, while at times they bind themselves too much to earthly deeds, cannot keep vigil, read, and pray or fast as much as they ought (whence it is to be feared lest perhaps they either offer less for their sins, or lay up in the heavenly treasure not so much as is expedient); the poor of Christ abound in these fruits by continually being at leisure for God: let not the rich therefore be slothful in paying out earthly things, if they desire to have heavenly ones. For Christ, who bestows his gifts on all men, deigns in his poor to be in need and to hunger and to be cold.
Let no one therefore hesitate to give to the poor; for the hand of the poor man is the treasury of Christ: what it receives on earth, it lays up in heaven. So also the Lord himself said: 'When you did it to one of these least ones, you did it to me' (Matt. 25:40). Let us hear the Apostle saying, 'He who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly' (2 Cor. 9:6): and a little after, 'Let us work that which is good toward all, but especially toward those of the household of the faith' (Gal. 6:10). Who are those of the household of the faith, brethren, but the clergy, good monks, and whatever other servants of God who flee the hindrances of this world, are at leisure for God, and persevere in readings and prayers?
To all indeed who ask, according to what we are able, we must give: but to the servants of God, who blush to ask of us, even if they have not asked, it must be pressed upon them. Let us therefore be zealous to act in such a way, dearest brethren, that we may be secure from the evil hearing. What will be the evil hearing? 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me not to eat' (Matt. 25:41-42). I beg you, brethren, do not hear this idly and negligently: but with all your strength, with God's help, strive both not to seize what belongs to others, and to pay out of your own more abundantly to the poor of Christ;
with a contrite heart continually pondering, and speaking to one another and to your very selves: 'If he who did not give his own is cast into the fire, where do you think he will be cast who took what belonged to others?' Let not that dreadful and terrible voice, therefore, be directed at us on account of avarice, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire': but rather, on account of almsgiving, may we deserve to hear that desirable voice, 'Come, blessed ones, take possession of the kingdom which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink' (ibid., 34-35): and moreover may that voice of the Lord who sends in be happily directed to us, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'
'Enter into the joy of your Lord' (ibid., 23), through the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 308. An admonition through which are shown the three kinds of almsgiving by which sins may be redeemed without labor. 1. God has provided easy remedies for sins. Therefore some are in want, others abound: that these may be healed by mercy, those by patience. The kind and merciful Lord, dearest brethren, deigns in many ways to provide occasions or opportunities, that we may be able without great labor and difficulty to redeem our sins.
For those whom he sees to have no strength for fasting on account of their sins, and to be unable to abstain from meat or from wine, he bids even to sell their substance and to pay it out to the poor. He provides for the want of the poor, and bestows more abundant fruits: that while they lavish their superfluities on the poor, they may obtain pardon for their sins. What so godly and pleasing, what so easy and ready at hand can there be, dearest brethren, than that, out of what God has deigned to give you beyond what you need, you should strive by giving alms to redeem your sins? God does not command this, that you should have to pay out the things necessary for yourself or for your own:
concerning which the Apostle also says, 'Not that others should have relief, but you tribulation' (2 Cor. 8:13). He does not need you to spend your superfluities on himself, but he wills to preserve them for you in eternal blessedness. For he willed there to be poor for this very reason, that the rich might have the means to redeem their sins. For God could have made all men rich; but he willed to provide for the rich a place for mercy. For it is not by their own merit that the few rich gather more than they need: and the many poor do not gather even what is necessary for themselves. This indeed, as I have already said, is a device of divine mercy;
that while the poor patiently endure their want, they may receive pardon of their sins, and likewise the rich, while they mercifully pay out their superfluities, may both redeem themselves from their sins and attain to eternal rewards. 2. No excuse for paying out one's superfluities. Nor are the children to be enriched thereby. Since these things are not ours. Consider, dearest brethren, and see that no excuse can remain for us, whereby we might say that we could not redeem our sins. Perhaps you can say that you cannot afflict your flesh with fastings and vigils, that you are not strong enough to abstain from wine or from meat: can you say that the things which God has given you beyond what you needed, you cannot pay out for your sins to the poor?
But perhaps you answer and say: 'Out of that which God has given me beyond what I need, I wish to buy silver for my sons or my daughters, to purchase most precious ornaments.' To which I reply: You buy ornaments indeed, but you do not redeem your sins. And since not only the tithes are not ours, but are assigned to the Church; and moreover whatever we receive from God beyond what we need, we ought to pay out to the poor: if what has been assigned to them we reserve for our own greed or vanities, then however many poor in the places where we are shall have died of hunger or nakedness, let us know that we shall render an account for their souls on the day of judgment. 3. Another kind of almsgiving: to forgive one's enemies. This is easy for all.
There is yet another kind of almsgiving, by which we can redeem our sins without any labor. For if one be so poor that he has neither gold, nor grain, nor wine or oil, from which to give a bodily alms; since it cannot come to pass that he should not suffer injury from some men, let him with his whole heart forgive all his enemies, and let no sin remain that gnaws at his conscience, and let him securely say in the Lord's Prayer, 'Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors' (Matt. 6:12):
and there will be fulfilled in him that which Christ in the Gospel deigned to promise, saying: 'If you forgive men their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your sins' (ibid., 14); and that other saying, 'Give, and it shall be given to you, and it shall be forgiven you' (Luke 6:37-38). See, dearest brethren, that just as in that other kind, of which we spoke before, so also in this alms no one can find whereby he might excuse himself; nor will he be able to give any reason why he cannot fulfill it. For this alms, by which we grant pardon to those who sin against us, is brought forth not from the cellar, not from the barn or the little field, but from the treasury of the heart, concerning which the Lord himself said:
'A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things' (Matt. 12:35). From those things therefore which we mentioned above, that is, gold, silver, grain, wine, and oil, many poor can excuse themselves: but that alms which is brought forth from the heart, with what face or with what conscience will any man say that he cannot have it? 4. Let no one say he cannot have the alms which is brought forth from the heart. And therefore, since we have no way to excuse ourselves; let him to whom God has given more than he needs make haste to redeem his sins out of his superfluities:
but he who is not able to redeem captives and to feed or clothe the poor, let him harbor no hatred in his heart against any man, and not only let him not render evil for evil to his enemies, but even let him love them and not cease to pray for them. Certain of the promise and of the mercy of his Lord, with a free conscience he will be able to say before the tribunal of Christ, 'Give, Lord, because I have given; forgive, because I have forgiven':
yet on this condition, that after he has begun to redeem his sins by such alms, since he will never lack the small sins which he may daily redeem, he should not commit capital crimes, on account of that which is written, 'He who is baptized from a dead body, and again touches the dead, what does his washing profit him' (Sir. 34:30)? and that other, 'As a dog is hateful when it returns to its vomit, so is the sinner when he returns to his sin' (Prov. 26:11). 5. The third kind of almsgiving. Good will is charity. But while we seem to be setting forth these two kinds of almsgiving, perhaps someone says:
'Behold, I have neither earthly substance which I might pay out to the poor, nor do I suffer injury from anyone, to whom by granting pardon I might redeem my sins: what shall I do, who have neither these things, nor am able to fast from wine or to abstain from meat?' To him who says this I could reply that what he attempts to assert is false; for no man is found in this world who never suffers injury from others. Yet let us grant that things are as he asserts: yet let us grant it in such a way that we may show him there is still a third kind of almsgiving, which can so exclude all excuses that no one may ever find anything to oppose to it.
Behold, you have said that you neither gather grain abundantly, from which you could give food or clothing to the poor; nor endure injury, which you ought to forgive your enemies: and therefore you doubt that you have not the means to redeem your sins. Receive therefore and faithfully hold the excellent and chief third kind of almsgiving. Let there be in you a good will, love all men as yourself, pray for all, and desire this for them which you desire for yourself: and it is proclaimed to you by the Angels, 'Peace to men of good will' (Luke 2:14). And since good will itself is charity; if you are willing to have it, there is fulfilled in you that which is written, 'Charity covers a multitude of sins' (1 Pet. 4:8).
Acknowledge therefore that every excuse or contradiction of yours has been taken away. For you will not be able to say that you cannot have a good will: since it may happen that you are unwilling; yet you will never be able to prove that you cannot. 6. What things, and when, are to be set aside for alms. And therefore let us receive and keep, not negligently but faithfully, the great benefits and the excellent remedies of our Lord and Savior, and let us labor with his help: that we may deserve not only to receive pardon of our sins, but also to attain to the eternal rewards.
Of those two kinds of almsgiving which were set in the second and third place, the one is that we forgive those who sin against us, that we pray for our enemies, that we love them with our whole heart; and the other, that through good will and true charity, which covers a multitude of sins, we labor to make God propitious within us: so plain is this admonition that it needs no expositor at all. But that alms which we placed in the first rank, through which, out of what God gives us beyond what we need, we can both redeem our sins and prepare for ourselves eternal rewards by the Lord's inspiration, if you are willing to hear my counsel, you will be able, with God's help, to perform it with joy and with gladness.
As often as you gather harvests or vintages, reckon up both your own expenses and those of all who belong to you, and likewise also that which you are to pay into the treasury; and that which you recognize to be left over for you, since it was not given properly to you, but, as has already been said, was handed over to be dispensed by you to the poor, set apart either the whole, or as much as God shall have inspired in your heart, and let it so be with you as if you had already offered it into the hand of God. If, according to what we believe, you are able faithfully to do this, when captives and poor come, your mind is not only not exasperated or saddened, but even is gladdened and rejoices;
while what you have set aside for the love of God for the needs of the poor, you hasten to spend with the highest desire; and there is fulfilled in you that which is written, 'God loves a cheerful giver' (2 Cor. 9:7): and that other, 'He who gives to the poor shall never want' (Prov. 28:27): and that other, 'As water extinguishes fire, so almsgiving extinguishes sin' (Sir. 3:33): and that which the Lord said in the Gospel, 'Nevertheless give alms, and behold, all things are clean to you' (Luke 11:41). May he himself deign to grant this, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God unto the ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 309. An admonition to those who thus more frequently give alms, and yet practice robberies and commit adulteries.