· · · · · · ·
Are you unable to practise the virginal life? Then make a prudent marriage. Are you unable to do without possessions? Give, then, of what you possess. Is such a burden too heavy for you? Divide your goods with Christ. Are you not willing to cede Him everything? Make over to Him at least the half or the third part. He is your brother and co-heir; make Him your co-heir even on earth. How much soever you give to Him you give that to yourself. Do you not listen to the Prophet’s words, Despise not thy own flesh? But if we may not despise relations, how much less the Master, Who, besides His superiority, has the rights of relationship on His side, and many other stronger claims? He has made you a partaker of His own possessions, taking nothing from you, but being the first to give to you out of His unspeakable mercy. Then, is not it extreme folly neither to grow kind by this gift, nor to return a reward for a favour, and to give less instead of more? For He has made you heir to the kingdom of heaven, but you have not even given Him a share of the things of earth. You He reconciled without any merit of your own, when you were even His enemy; will you not make any return to your lover and benefactor, although, over and above the kingdom and all His other gifts, it was just that you should feel grateful to Him for the giving itself? Servants, indeed, when they call their masters to dinner, deem not that they are offering, but receiving; here, however, it was just the contrary. It was not the servant who first called the Lord, but the Lord Who first called the servant to His own table; and will you not call Him even after this? He was the first to bring you under His own roof; can you not even follow His example? He covered you in your nakedness, and in the face of this do you refuse to bring in a stranger? It was He Who first gave you to drink of His own cup, and will you not offer Him even cold water? He gave you the Holy Spirit to drink, and will you not relieve bodily thirst? He gave you the Spirit to drink, who were worthy of chastisement, but do you disregard a thirsty man whilst you are about to do all this out of what is His? Do you not consider it a great honour to hold the cup out of which Christ is about to drink, and to approach it to His mouth? Do you not see that the priest alone may give the chalice with the Blood? ‘I go into none of these particulars.’ Our Lord says: ‘If you yourself give it I receive it; even if you are a layman I do not refuse it. I do not require what I have given, for I seek not blood but cold water.’ Consider, then, Whose thirst you are relieving, and be in awe. Consider that you have become Christ’s priest, giving with your own hands not flesh but bread, not blood but a drink of cold water. He has put on you the robe of salvation, and has clothed you through Himself; do you also clothe Him in the person of a child. He has made you a name in heaven; do you drive away cold, and nakedness, and unseemliness. He has made you a citizen of the angels; if you can bear it, give Him a portion only, give Him house-room as you would your servant. He says, ‘I will not turn away from this refuge, and that when I have opened all heaven to you. I have delivered you,’ He says, ‘from the bitterest captivity: I do not require this, nor do I say, Deliver Me; but if you only see Me in chains, this is sufficient to console Me. I raised you from the dead: this I do not require from you; but I say, only visit Me when I am sick.’ Since, then, the gifts given to us are thus great, and the things demanded of us so very small, and we do not offer even these, what sort of hell should we not deserve? It is just that we should go down into the fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, since we are harder than a rock. For, tell me, what insensibility is this, receiving gifts so great with the prospect of the same hereafter, to be the slaves of money, which in a little while we shall have to give up, and to give up unwillingly? Others have laid down their lives and shed their blood, but you have not hazarded the smallest thing for heaven or for those unfading crowns. What sort of excuse or pardon would you deserve for enjoying all things with the fat of the earth, neglecting nothing for putting your money out to interest, and yet being cruel and inhuman in feeding your Lord in the person of the indigent? Pondering all this in our minds, and considering what we have received, and what we are going to receive, and what we are asking for, let us show forth all our zeal in spiritual things. Let us, then, become gentle and kind, so that we may escape the weight of that tremendous judgment. What is there which is not sufficient to condemn us?—the enjoyment of things so wonderful, the being asked for nothing great, the fact that we shall have to give up what we are asked for in spite of ourselves when we leave this world, the ostentation of great ambition in worldly things. Each one of these is by itself sufficient to condemn us, but when they are all combined, what hope will there be of salvation? In order, then, that we may escape this great condemnation, let us show ourselves kind towards the poor.
· · · · · · ·
The Archetype and the Type.
(Homilies on the Epistle to the Philippians, xiii., vol. v., p. 136.)
· · · · · · ·
The Apostles presented a type, maintaining in their own persons a certain archetype. Consider how austere their life was, as if offering an archetype, and example, and living laws. For they set forth to all, through their deeds, that which the Scripture said. This is the best teaching, which has power to lead the disciple. You may talk and use fine words, but if your actions do the contrary you are no teacher. The disciple thinks very little of fine words; they should be accompanied by the teaching and leading of works: this makes both the master venerable, and disposes the disciple to agree with him. How so? When he hears a man making a display of words, he says that he has enjoined what is impossible, and that he who is not a doer is the first to prove their impracticability. Now, if he saw a man practising goodness in deed, he would not be able to say this. Moreover, supposing the master’s life be careless, let us rouse ourselves, and listen to the Prophet, saying, All shall be taught by God, and again, They shall teach no more every man his brother, saying: Know the Lord; for all shall know Me, from the least of them even to the greatest. Have you no righteous teacher? You have the real Master, Him Whom alone you may call Master, learn of Him. He said, Learn of Me, for I am meek. Cleave, then, to no teacher, but to Him and to His teaching. Take your model from Him; you have a most excellent one; fashion yourself after it. The Scripture offers us numberless examples of a holy life; choose which you will, and follow the Master with His disciples. One shone by poverty, another through riches; for instance, Elias by poverty, Abraham by his wealth; choose whichever you think the easier and securer. Again, the one was holy through marriage, the other through virginity, as Abraham and Elias: choose your road, for each leads to heaven. John was holy by fasting, and Job without it. Job, moreover, was what he was by despising wife, and sons, and daughters, and house, having great wealth, whilst John possessed nothing except his sheep-skin. And why do I speak of house and abundance and money, since a king has it in his power to win goodness for himself. A royal palace would be found to be far more troublesome than any private house. David, then, shone in his royalty, and his purple and his crown impeded him in nothing: another was entrusted with the leadership of a whole people—I mean Moses—which is a more difficult thing. In the latter, power was greater, therefore the difficulty was greater. Do you see men who gained a good name both in riches and in poverty, in marriage and in continency? Now look, on the other hand, at those who were lost both in marriage and in continency, in riches and in poverty. For instance, many men, living in the married state, have been lost, like Samson, not because of marriage, but through their own will; in virginity, too, as the five virgins; in abundance, as the rich man who despised Lazarus; in poverty, for thousands of poor are lost every day. I can show you many men lost in monarchy, many in leading the people. Would you like to know of some in armies who have been saved? There is Cornelius. And of some in stewardships? There is the eunuch of the Ethiopian. Thus, if everywhere we use wealth as we should, it does us no harm; if we do not, everything harms us—royalty and poverty and riches. Nothing can hurt the man who is watching. Tell me, has captivity ever harmed anyone? No, never. Think of Joseph in servitude, bearing goodness in his mind; think of Daniel and the three children taken captive, how they shone the more. Everywhere goodness is resplendent and invulnerable, and nothing can master it. Why do I speak of poverty and captivity and slavery? I may add hunger and ulceration and a painful illness, for this is worse than slavery. Lazarus suffered this, and Job, and Timothy with his frequent infirmities. Do you see how nothing can overcome goodness? Neither wealth, nor poverty, nor power, nor leadership, nor being at the head of affairs, nor illness, nor being unknown, nor cast aside: disregarding all these things on the earth, it makes its way to heaven. Only have a brave spirit, and there is no obstacle against goodness. When the labourer is strong, no external thing hinders him. And so, in the case of handicrafts, when a mechanic is experienced and steadfast, and possesses all his art, even if illness should come, he has it still; or if he should be in poverty, he has it; and whether he has the instrument in his hands or not, whether he works or not, it is not diminished, because the science is in himself. So is it with God’s servant: even if you throw him into riches, his art is shown forth; or into poverty, or disease, or health, or contempt, or fame, it is all the same. Did not the Apostles work through everything? Through honour and dishonour, and evil report and good report. This shows the soldier, the being invulnerable against everything. For this is the nature of virtue. If you say, ‘I am unable to be set over many, I do best alone,’ you insult virtue, for it can benefit all, and show itself, let it only be in the mind. Has hunger to be endured? or is there abundance? Virtue, again, shows its own strength; as Paul said: I know both how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. Was it necessary to work? He was not ashamed, but laboured for two years. Was hunger to be borne? He neither pined nor doubted. Had he to die? He did not lose heart, but showed in all things a brave soul and his skill. Now let us emulate him, and we shall have no cause for sorrow. For, tell me, what is capable of grieving such a man? Nothing. As long as no one robs us of virtue, the man who possesses it is the happiest of creatures even here—not only there. Supposing there is a holy man, with wife and children, and money, and a great name, and he still remains holy in spite of them: take them away, and he will still be holy: neither dejected by tribulation, nor elated by his righteousness, but like a rock which stands immovable whether the sea rages or whether it is calm, not troubled by the waves nor affected by the calm, so does the steadfast soul stand bravely both with calm, and with foaming waves. And, as children sailing on the sea are frightened whilst the pilot sits still and laughs at them, sees their trouble and is of good cheer, so does the mortified soul recline as if on some land or oasis of contentment, whilst all men are troubled, and laughing in an untimely way at the vicissitudes of things. For what can disturb the soul of a peaceful man? Death? But this is the beginning of a better life. Or poverty? This helps that soul on to virtue. Or illness? It accounts both refreshment and suffering as nothing, for it punished itself beforehand. Or being defamed? But the world is crucified to it. Or the loss of children? It had no fear if fully convinced of the resurrection. What, then, can make it miserable? Nothing whatever. If this man be rich, is he puffed up? By no means, for he knows that money is nothing. What of fame, then? He has been taught that all human glory is like the flower of the field. Or luxury, again? He has listened to Paul’s words: She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she is living. Now, since this soul is neither lifted up nor dejected, what could come up to this well-being? Not all souls are so disposed, but they are more changeable than wind or weather, so that it is most ludicrous to see the same man now laughing, now weeping, now buried in thought, now loquacious beyond measure. Therefore he said: Be not conformed to this world: our citizenship is in heaven, where there is no change. Immutable rewards are offered to us: let us show forth that citizenship whence we have already received good things. But what if we cast ourselves into uncertainty and a surging sea, into a storm or a hurricane? Let us be at peace. The point lies not in riches or poverty, or glory or dishonour, or sickness or health, or weakness, but in our own soul. If this be steadfast and well-grounded in goodness, all things will be easy to it, and even here it will behold its rest, and the peaceful harbour, and departing hence it will gain endless goods. May it be granted to us all through the love and kindness of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and praise now and for ever. Amen.
The Weak Things of God.
(Homilies on First Epistle to Corinthians, vi., vol. ii., p. 59.)
· · · · · · ·
And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. Here, again, is another point. Not only are those who believe illiterate, not only is the teacher illiterate, not only is the mode of teaching replete with illiterateness, not only is the teaching itself qualified to terrify—for it was the Cross and death—but together with these there were other obstacles: dangers and plottings, and daily anguish, and harassing pursuit. For he often calls persecution weakness, as he does in another place: Ye have not spurned the weakness in my flesh; and again: If it behoves me to glory, I will glory in my weakness. What weaknesses are these? The governor of king Areta was keeping the city of Damascus, wishing to take me. And again: Therefore I rejoice in my infirmities. Then, going on to distinguish what infirmities, he added: In contumely, in want, in persecutions. So here he speaks in the same way; for, saying, And I was in weakness, he added, and I was with you in fear and in much trembling. What is this? Did Paul himself fear dangers? He did indeed, and greatly too; for, if he was Paul, he was also a man. This is no accusation against Paul, but a weakness of nature, and an encomium of his choice, that whereas he did fear stripes and death, this fear did not lead him to do any unworthy action; so that those who say he did not fear stripes not only do not exalt him, but take much away from his praises. If, indeed, he did not fear, where is the fortitude and where is the merit of braving dangers? For my own part, this is what I admire in him, that, fearful as he was, and not only fearful, but trembling at dangers, he came out victorious through everything, and in no case surrendered, cleansing the world, and sowing the Gospel all over the earth and sea. And my speech and my preaching was not in the persuasive words of human wisdom—that is, it has not outward wisdom. If, therefore, his preaching had no subtlety about it, and those who were called were uncultured as well as the preacher, and there was, besides, persecution, and fear, and trembling, tell me, how did they gain the mastery without divine power? So, in saying, That which I say and preach does not consist in the persuasive words of wisdom, he added, but in the manifestation of the Spirit and of power. Do you see how the folly of God is wiser than man, and how the weakness is stronger? Illiterate as they were who preached these things, in chains and imprisoned, they overcame those who bound them. How? Was it not through showing the faith which is of the Spirit? This, indeed, was an irrefutable argument. For, tell me, what man, seeing the dead arise and devils put forth, would not have received their teaching? Since, however, there are powers of deception, such as those of magicians, he removed this ambiguity. He did not speak of power only, but first of the Spirit and then of power, thus showing that what had taken place was spiritual. Consequently, there having been no learning about the preaching of the Gospel is no lessening of its value, but its greatest glory. This, at least, shows it to be divine, and to have had its root above, in heaven. On this account he continued: That your faith may not be in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God. Do you see how clearly in everything he pointed out the gain of illiterateness and the harm of culture? While human wisdom made the Cross vain, ignorance proclaimed the power of God: the one disposed men not to find the necessaries of life, and so to glory in themselves; the other, to receive the truth and to glory in God. Again, wisdom persuaded many men to regard dogma suspiciously as human; ignorance pointed it out clearly as divine, and coming down from heaven. Now, whenever a proof is arrived at by word-wisdom, it is very often the bad men who get the better of the more moderate, being the more skilful in their arguments, and falsehood outwits the truth. It is not so here: for neither does the Holy Spirit take possession of an unclean soul, nor when He has taken possession can He be ever lessened, even if all the clever words in the world be used. A manifestation through works and signs is much clearer than that of words.
But some one might reasonably say that, if the Gospel is bound to conquer, and the Cross needs no eloquence, that it may not be proved vain, why is it that miracles have now ceased? Why is it? Do you speak as an unbeliever, and not receive those which took place in the case of the Apostles, or do you honestly seek to learn? If as an unbeliever, then I will first direct myself to this. Now, if miracles did not take place then, how did they make themselves heard, standing up against whole peoples and speaking such things, driven about as they were, pursued, in fear, in chains; one and all an object of hatred to the world; at the mercy of everyone’s ill-treatment; having nothing attractive of their own—neither eloquence, nor fame, nor riches, nor city, nor nationality, nor family, nor career, nor reputation, nor any one of these things, but just the reverse of them all, an illiterate and sorry condition, poverty, hatred, and enmity? Their injunctions also entailed much hardship and their teaching many dangers, and the hearers too who were to be persuaded were given up to much feasting and drunkenness and vice. Now, tell me, whence their power of persuasion, whence their titles of credence? As I was saying, if they did gain men without miracles, the wonder appears very much greater. Therefore do not conclude that because there are no miracles now there were none then. It was to the point, both that they took place then and that they do not take place now. Persuasion by word alone now is no security that the Gospel lies in the possession of wisdom. For they who in the beginning were sowers of the Word were uncultured and ignorant, and they spoke nothing of themselves, but they gave to the world that which they had received from God; now, we also spread abroad not our own inventions, but we speak to all what we have received from them. We do not persuade by arguments now but by Holy Scripture, and the signs which then took place inspire us with confidence in what we say. Neither did they persuade by signs alone, but also by discoursing, whilst the signs made their words appear the more powerful together with the testimony of the Old Testament, not the cleverness of what was said. ‘Why,’ you ask, ‘were miracles good then and not now?’ Let us suppose a case, for so far my contest has been directed against a heathen, and therefore I will suppose something that must undoubtedly happen; let us then suppose a case, and let the unbeliever submit to believe, for instance, that Christ will come, even if he take my word for it; well, then, when Christ shall come and all the angels with Him, and He is shown to be God, and all things are under His dominion, will not the heathen too believe? It is evident that he will fall down in adoration and confess Him to be God, however stubborn he may be. Who, indeed, seeing the heavens opened and Christ Himself seated on the clouds, with all the heavenly host surrounding Him, the rivers running fire, all men standing by in great fear, would not worship Him and acknowledge Him as God? Tell me now, shall that worship and knowledge be accounted to the heathen as faith? By no means. For it is not faith; sheer force produces it, and the manifestation of visible things. It is not a matter of choice, but reason is constrained by the greatness of the vision. Therefore, the more evident and undeniable that which happens is, by so much is faith diminished, and this is why miracles are not worked now. And that it is so, listen to Our Lord’s words to St. Thomas: Blessed are they who have not seen yet have believed. Therefore the reward of faith is diminished just in proportion to the greater evidence of the sign, so that if signs took place now the same would follow. In the words, Now we walk through faith, not through sight, Paul made it clear that then we shall no longer know Him by faith. Thus, if you believe then, you will not be convinced by the wonder of the thing, so neither would you be now if the same signs took place as of old. Whenever we receive things which are in no sort of way discoverable to anyone by reasoning, that is faith. On this account, too, hell is threatened, but is not apparent, for if it were, the same would be the case here also. Still, if you seek for miracles, you will see them even now, though they are not the same kind of miracles. You will see a thousand prophecies concerning a thousand things, the conversion of the world, the holy life of barbarians, the change of cruel habits, the increase of piety.