Sermon 230
In the Days of Easter

1. As we have sung to our Lord, so let us, with his help, also act. For every day has been made by the Lord; yet it is not without reason that of one day in particular it is written: This is the day which the Lord has made (Ps 118:24 (117:24)). We read that when God established heaven and earth, he said: Let there be light; and there was light. And God called the light day, and the darkness night (Gen 1:3-5). But there is another day, sure for us and especially to be commended, of which the Apostle says: Let us walk becomingly, as in the day (Rom 13:13). This common, everyday day is completed by the rising and setting of the sun. There is another day, in which the word of God shines in the hearts of the faithful and drives out the darkness, not of the eyes, but of evil ways. Let us therefore acknowledge that day, and rejoice in it. Let us hear the Apostle saying: For we are sons of light and sons of the day; we are not of the night or of the darkness (1 Thess 5:5). Let us walk becomingly, as in the day: not in reveling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in its desires (Rom 13:13-14). If you do this, you sing with your whole heart: This is the day which the Lord has made (Ps 118:24 (117:24)). For what you sing, you yourselves are, if you live well. How many during these days get drunk? How many during these days, and it is too little that they get drunk, on top of that quarrel shamefully and cruelly? Such people do not sing: This is the day which the Lord has made. The Lord answers them: You are darkness; I did not make you. If you wish to be the day which the Lord has made, live well; and you will have the light of truth, which will never set in your hearts.

Sermon 231
In the Days of Easter

1. The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is, as is customary, read during these days from all the books of the holy Gospel. In this reading we notice how the Lord Jesus rebuked his disciples, his first members, who were clinging to his side, because they did not believe that he whom they grieved as slain was alive. The fathers of the faith, not yet faithful, the teachers by whom the whole world was to believe what they were going to preach and for which they were going to die, did not yet believe. They did not believe that he had risen, whom they had seen raise the dead. Rightly, then, were they rebuked. They were shown to themselves, that they might come to know who they were of themselves and who they would be through him. So too Peter was shown to himself, when at the approach of the Lord's passion he presumed, and when the passion itself came he faltered. He saw himself in himself, he grieved over himself in himself, he wept over himself in himself; he turned to him who had made him. See, these men still did not yet believe; in this reading they did not yet believe, though they already saw. How great the condescension of him who granted us to believe what we do not yet see! We believe their words; they did not believe their own eyes.

2. Now the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is the new life of those who believe in Jesus. And this is the mystery of his passion and resurrection, which you ought thoroughly to know and to enact. For it was not without cause that life came to death, not without cause that the fount of life, from which one drinks in order to live, here drank a cup that was not owed to him. For dying was not owed to Christ. Where death came from, let us seek its origin thus: the father of death is sin. For if no one ever sinned, no one would die. The first man received the law of God, that is, the commandment of God, with a condition: that if he kept it, he would live; if he broke it, he would die. By not believing that he would die, he brought about the very thing from which he died, and he found that what he had said who had given the law was true. From there came death, from there the mortal condition, from there toil, from there misery, from there too, after the first death, a second death, that is, after temporal death, everlasting death. To this condition of death, then, bound by these laws of the underworld, every man is born; but not that man who was made man, lest man should perish. For he did not come bound by the laws of death, and therefore it is said in the Psalm: Free among the dead (Ps 88:5 (87:6)). Whom a Virgin conceived without desire, whom a Virgin bore and remained a Virgin, who lived without fault, who did not die because of fault, sharing the penalty with us, not sharing the fault with us—death being the penalty of fault—the Lord Jesus Christ came to die, he did not come to sin. By sharing the penalty with us without the fault, he loosed both the fault and the penalty. What penalty did he loose? The one owed to us after this life. Therefore he was crucified, so that by the cross he might show the setting of our old self, and he rose, so that in his own life he might show the newness of our life. For thus the apostolic teaching instructs us: He was handed over, it says, for our sins, and rose again for our justification (Rom 4:25). The sign of this matter had been given to the fathers in circumcision, that every male should be circumcised on the eighth day. Circumcision was done with knives of stone (See Josh 5:2), because the rock was Christ (1 Cor 10:4). In this circumcision was signified the stripping off of the carnal life on the eighth day through Christ's resurrection. For the seventh day of the week is completed with the Sabbath. On the Sabbath the Lord lay in the tomb, on the seventh day of the week; he rose on the eighth. His resurrection renews us. Therefore on the eighth day he circumcises us. In this hope we live.

3. Let us hear the Apostle saying: If you have risen with Christ . . . (Col 3:1). When have we risen, we who have not yet died? What, then, did the Apostle mean to say: If you have risen with Christ? Would he have risen unless he had first died? He was speaking to the living, to those not yet dying and already rising. What does he mean? See what he says: If you have risen with Christ, set your minds on the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth. For you have died (Col 3:1-3). He says it, not I, and yet he says what is true, and therefore I too say it. Why do I too say it? I believed, therefore I have spoken (Ps 116:10 (115:10)). If we live well, we have died and have risen; but whoever has not yet died and risen still lives badly; if he lives badly, he does not live; let him die, that he may not die. What does it mean, let him die, that he may not die? Let him be changed, that he may not be condemned. If you have risen with Christ—I repeat the Apostle's words—set your minds on the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Col 3:1-4). These are the Apostle's words. To him who has not yet died, I say: let him die; to him who still lives badly, I say: let him be changed. For if he lived badly and no longer lives badly, he has died; if he lives well, he has risen.

4. But what is it to live well? Set your minds on the things that are above, not the things that are on earth (Col 3:2). As long as you are earth and will go into the earth, as long as you lick the earth—by loving earth you do indeed lick earth—and become the enemy of him of whom the Psalm says: And his enemies shall lick the earth (Ps 72:9 (71:9)). What were you? Sons of men. What are you? Sons of God. Sons of men, how long will you be heavy of heart? Why do you love vanity and seek a lie? (Ps 4:2 (4:3)) What lie do you seek? I will say it now. You want to be happy, I know. Give me a man who is a robber, a criminal, a fornicator, a sorcerer, a sacrilegious person, defiled with every vice, sunk in every disgraceful deed or crime, who does not truly want a happy life. I know you all want to live happily; but from what does a man live happily? This you do not want to seek. You seek gold because you think you will be made happy by gold; but gold does not make you happy. Why do you seek a lie? Why do you want to be exalted in this world? Because you think you will be made happy by men's honor and the pomp of the world, but the pomp of the world does not make you happy. Why do you seek a lie? And whatever else you seek here, when you seek it in a worldly way, when you seek it by loving the earth, when you seek it by licking the earth, you seek it in order to be happy; but no earthly thing will make you happy. Why do you not stop seeking a lie? From where, then, will you be happy? Sons of men, how long will you be heavy of heart? Do you not want to be heavy of heart, you who burden your heart with earth? How long were men heavy of heart? Before Christ came, before Christ rose, men were heavy of heart. How long will you be heavy of heart? Why do you love vanity and seek a lie? Wishing to be happy, you seek the very things that make you wretched. What you seek deceives you; it is a lie that you seek.

5. Do you want to be happy? I will show you, if you wish, where you are to find happiness. Follow on there: How long will you be heavy of heart? Why do you love vanity and seek a lie? Know. Know what? That the Lord has magnified his holy one (Ps 4:3 (4:4)). Christ came to our miseries: he hungered, he thirsted, he grew weary, he slept, he did wonders, he suffered evils, he was scourged, he was crowned with thorns, he was smeared with spittle, struck with blows, fastened to the wood, wounded with a lance, laid in the tomb—but rising on the third day, his toil finished, death dead. See, fix your eye there, on his resurrection. For the Lord magnified his holy one, raising him from the dead and giving him the honor of sitting in heaven at his right hand. He shows you what you ought to set your mind on, if you wish to be happy. For here you cannot be happy. In this life you cannot be happy. No one can. You seek a good thing, but this earth is not the region of the thing you seek. What do you seek? A happy life. But it is not here. If you were seeking gold in a place where it is not, one who knew that it is not there would say to you: Why are you digging? why are you disturbing the earth? You make a pit to go down into, not where you find anything. What will you answer the one who warns you? I am seeking gold. And he: I do not say to you, There is nothing you seek; you seek a good thing, but it is not where you seek it. So too you, when you say, I want to be happy, you seek a good thing, but it is not here. If Christ had it here, you too will have it. In the region of your death, what did he find? Pay attention: coming from another region, what did he find here, except what abounds here: toils, sorrows, death—see what you have here, what abounds here. He ate with you what abounded in the cell of your misery. Here he drank vinegar, here he had gall. See what he found in your cell. And he invited you to his own great table, the table of heaven, the table of the angels, where he himself is the bread. Coming down, then, and finding these evils in your cell, he did not disdain such a table of yours, and he promised his own. What does he say to us? Believe, believe that you will come to the good things of my table, since I did not disdain the evil things of your table. He bore your evil—will he not give his good? Surely he will give it. He promised us his life, but what he did is more unbelievable: he advanced us his death. As if he said: I invite you to my life, where no one dies, where the life is truly happy, where the food does not spoil, where it restores and does not fail. See where I invite you: to the region of the angels, to the friendship of the Father and the Holy Spirit, to the everlasting supper, to my brotherhood; finally, to myself. I invite you to my life. Do you not want to believe that I will give you my life? Hold my death as a pledge. Now, then, while we live in this corruptible flesh, let us die with Christ by a change of conduct, let us live with Christ by love of righteousness. We shall not receive the happy life until we have come to him who came to us, and have begun to be with him who died for us.

Sermon 232
In the Days of Easter

1. The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ has been recited today as well, but from another book of the Gospel, the one according to Luke. For first it was read according to Matthew, yesterday according to Mark, today according to Luke, in the order of the Evangelists, just as his passion was written down by all the Evangelists. But these seven or eight days give the space for the resurrection of the Lord to be recited according to all the Evangelists; the passion, however, since it is read on one day, is not usually read except according to Matthew. I once wished that each year the passion too should be read according to all the Evangelists. It was done; people did not hear what they were used to, and they were disturbed. But whoever loves the letters of God and does not wish to remain forever unlearned, knows all and diligently inquires into all. But as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith (Rom 12:3), so each one makes progress.

2. Now let us attend to what we have heard today as it was read; for what I also commended yesterday to your Charity, we heard more plainly today—the unbelief of the disciples—so that we may understand how great a benefit has been bestowed on us by his grace, that we should so believe what we have not seen. He called them, he instructed them, he lived with them on earth, he did such great wonders before their eyes—and he even raised the dead; yet his own flesh was not believed to rise. The women came to the tomb; they did not find the body in the tomb; they heard from the angels that Christ had risen; the women announced it to the men. And what is written? What did you hear? These things seemed before their eyes like nonsense (Luke 24:11). Great is the unhappiness of the human condition! When Eve spoke what the serpent had said, she was quickly heard. The lying woman was believed, so that we should die; the women telling the truth were not believed, so that we might live. If women were not to be believed, why did Adam believe Eve? If women are to be believed, why did the disciples not believe the holy women? And therefore in this event the kindly dispensation of our Lord is to be considered. For this is what the Lord Jesus Christ did, that the female sex should first announce that he had risen. Because through the female sex man fell, through the female sex man was restored; because a Virgin had borne Christ, a woman announced that he had risen. Through woman death, through woman life. But the disciples did not believe what the women said; they thought them raving, when nevertheless they were announcing the truth.

3. See, two others were walking on the road and talking with each other about the things that had happened in Jerusalem, about the wickedness of the Jews, about the death of Christ. They were walking along chatting, grieving as it were for a dead man, not knowing he had risen. He appeared and became a third traveler with them; he joined them in friendly conversation. Their eyes were held, so that they should not recognize him. For their heart needed to be the better instructed; recognition is deferred; he asks them what they were saying among themselves, so that they might confess to him what he himself already knew. And what did you hear? They began to wonder that they were being questioned, as though by one who did not know, about a matter so clear and so manifest. Are you the only one staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there? But he said: What things? Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deeds and words (Luke 24:18-19). Is this so, O disciples? Was Christ a prophet, the Lord of the prophets? You impose on your judge the name of a herald. They had come down to the words of strangers. What do I mean, the words of strangers? Recall when Jesus himself said to his disciples: Who do men say that the Son of man is? They reported the opinions of strangers. Some say, they said, that you are Elijah, others John the Baptist, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets (Matt 16:13-14). These were the words of strangers, not of the disciples. See, the disciples had come to those very words. But who do you say that I am? (Matt 16:15) You answered me with the opinions of strangers; I want to hear your faith. Then Peter said, one for all, because there is unity in all: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt 16:16). Not just anyone, one of the prophets, but the Son of the living God, the fulfiller of the prophets, the creator even of the angels. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. He heard what it was fitting for him to hear, from this voice and from such a voice: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. To you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven (Matt 16:17-19). Faith merited to hear this, not the man. For the man himself, what was he, except what the Psalm says: Every man is a liar (Ps 116:11 (115:11))?

4. Finally, immediately after these words, he foretold to them his passion and death. Peter was terrified and said: Far be it from you, Lord, this shall not happen. Then the Lord: Get behind me, Satan (Matt 16:22-23). Peter Satan? Where are those words: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona? Surely not blessed Satan? Blessed in what is of God. Satan in what is of man. Finally, the Lord himself explained why he called him Satan: For you do not savor the things that are of God, but the things that are of man (Matt 16:23). From what was he then blessed? Because flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father who is in heaven (Matt 16:17). From what afterward Satan? You do not savor the things that are of God; when you savored them, you were blessed: but you savor the things that are of men (Matt 16:23). See how the soul of the disciples alternated, as it were by rising and setting; now it stood, now it lay low; now it was lit up, now it was darkened; because from what was of God it was lit up, from what was its own it was darkened. From what was it lit up? Draw near to him and be enlightened (Ps 34:5 (33:6)). From what was it darkened? He who speaks a lie speaks of his own (John 8:44). The Son of God had spoken, life had spoken, and they were afraid that life might die, when life can in no way die, and the Son of God had come for this very purpose, that he might die; for if he had not come to die, from what would we live?

5. From where comes life for us, from where death for him? Attend to this: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). Seek death there. Where? from what? How was the Word? The Word with God, the Word God. If you find flesh and blood there, you find death. So from where comes death for that Word? But for us human beings, set on earth, mortal, corruptible, sinners, from where comes life? There was nothing from which he could have death; we had nothing from which we could have life. He took death from what is ours, that he might give us life from what is his. How did he take death from what is ours? The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). From here, from us, he took what he might offer for us. But from where comes life for us? And the life was the light of men (John 1:4). He himself is life for us, we are death for him. But what kind of death? By condescension, not by condition. Because he condescended, because he willed it, because he had mercy, he died by his own power. I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again (John 10:18). Peter did not know this when, hearing of the Lord's death, he was terrified. But see, the Lord had already said that he would die and rise on the third day. What he foretold came to pass, and those who had heard did not believe. See, it is now the third day since these things were done, and we were hoping that he was the one to redeem Israel (Luke 24:21). You were hoping; have you now despaired? You have fallen from hope. He who walks with you lifts you up. They were disciples, they had heard him, they had lived with him, they had known him as their master, they had been instructed by him, and they could not imitate and have the faith of the robber hanging on the cross.

6. But perhaps some of you do not know what I said about the robber, since you do not hear the passion read according to all the Evangelists. For this Evangelist Luke narrated what I am saying. That two robbers were crucified with Christ, Matthew too said this; but that one of those robbers insulted the Lord and that the other believed in Christ, Matthew did not say, but Luke said. Let us recall the faith of the robber, which Christ did not find in his disciples after the resurrection. Christ was hanging on the cross, the robber too was hanging. He in the middle, they at the sides. One insults, the other believes, the one in the middle judges. For the one who was insulting said this: If you are the Son of God, free yourself. And the other to him: Do you not fear God? If we suffer deservedly for our deeds, what has he done? And turning to him: Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom (Luke 23:39-42). Great faith! What could be added to this faith, I do not know. Those who saw Christ raising the dead faltered; he believed in the one whom he saw hanging beside him on the wood. When they faltered, then he believed. What fruit Christ gathered from the dry wood! For what did the Lord say? Let us hear. Truly I tell you, today you shall be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43). You put yourself off, I acknowledge you. When would the robber have hoped, from robbery to the judge, from the judge to the cross, from the cross to paradise? Finally, considering his own deserts, he did not say: Remember me to free me today. But: When you come into your kingdom, then remember me. As if to say, even if torments are owed me until you come into your kingdom. And he: Not so; you have invaded the kingdom of heaven, you have used force, you have believed, you have seized it. Today you shall be with me in paradise. I do not put you off: to such great faith I today repay what I owe. The robber says: Remember me when you come into your kingdom. He believed not only that he would rise, but also that he would reign. To one hanging, crucified, bloody, fixed there, he said: When you come into your kingdom. And those others: We were hoping. Where the robber found hope, the disciple lost it.

7. Then now, beloved, we have come to know a great mystery. Hear. He was walking with them, he is received as a guest, he breaks bread and is recognized. And let us not say that we do not know Christ; we know him if we believe. It is too little to say, we know him if we believe; we have him if we believe. Those men had Christ at table, we have him within, in the soul. It is more to have Christ in the heart than in the house. For our heart is more inward to us than our house is. But now, where ought the faithful one to recognize him? He who is faithful recognizes him; but he who is a catechumen does not know him. But let no one shut the door against him, so that he may not enter.

8. Yesterday I warned and admonished your Charity that the resurrection of Christ is in us, if we live well; if our old, evil life dies and the new one daily makes progress. Penitents abound here; when hands are laid on them, a very long line is formed. Pray, penitents. And the penitents go to pray. I examine the penitents, and I find them living badly. How does one repent of what he keeps doing? If he repents, let him not do it. But if he does it, the name is wrong, the offense remains. Some have asked for the place of penance for themselves; some, excommunicated by us, have been put into the place of the penitents. And those who asked for it themselves wish to keep doing what they were doing, and those who, excommunicated by us, have been put into the place of the penitents do not wish to rise from there, as if the place of the penitents were a choice place. What ought to be a place of humility becomes a place of iniquity. To you I say, you who are called penitents and are not, to you I say. What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I do not praise you (1 Cor 11:22), but I groan and lament. And what am I to do, having become a worthless song? Be changed, be changed, I beg. The end of life is uncertain. Every man walks along with his own downfall. You put off living well, while you think your life will be long. You think your life long, and do you not fear a sudden death? But suppose it is long: see that it be good. And I look for one penitent and do not find him. How much better a long and good life will be than a long and bad one! No one wants to have or to endure a long bad supper, yet almost everyone wants to have a long bad life. Surely, if it is a great thing that we live, let that great thing itself be good. For what do you want bad, tell me, in all your acts, thoughts, desires? On the land you do not want a bad crop; you do not want a bad one but a good one, a good tree, a good horse, a good slave, a good friend, a good son, a good wife. And why do I mention these great things, when you do not want to have even a bad garment, but a good one? Finally, you do not want even a boot unless it is good; or else give me something you want that is bad, and that you do not want something good. I think you do not want a bad farm, but a good one. Only your own soul do you want to be bad. How have you offended yourself? What have you deserved badly of yourself? Among your good things you do not want anything bad, except only yourself. I think I am saying what I usually say, and some perhaps are doing what they usually do. I did not say it for certain, but perhaps. Let no one slander me, because I have spoken by way of fear rather than of assertion. Before God I shake out my garments (See Acts 18:6). I fear lest it be charged to me because I fear. What do you want? I fulfill my office, I seek your fruit. I want to have joy from your good works, not money. For it is not he who lives well that makes me rich. And yet let him live well, and he does make me rich. My riches are nothing but your hope in Christ. My joy, my consolation, and my relief amid my dangers in these trials is nothing, except your good life. I beseech you, if you have forgotten yourselves, have pity on me.

Sermon 233
In the Days of Easter

1. 1. The faith in the resurrection is proper to Christians. You have heard the reading of the holy Gospel about the resurrection of Christ. In the resurrection of Christ our faith is established. The passion of Christ both pagans and the impious and the Jews have believed: the resurrection none but Christians. The passion of Christ signifies the miseries of this life; the resurrection of Christ shows the blessedness of the life to come. In the present let us labor; in the future let us hope. Now is the time of work; then, of reward. He who is lazy in performing the work is shameless in demanding the reward. You have heard what he said to his disciples after the resurrection. He sent them to preach the Gospel, and it was done: the Gospel was preached, it came to us. And see: Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world (Ps 19:4 (18:5)). By walking on and on, the Gospel came to us, and to the ends of the earth. He briefly settled things for us, telling his disciples what we are to do, what we are to hope for. For he said, as you heard when he was speaking: He who believes and is baptized will be saved (Mark 16:16). Faith is required of us, salvation is offered: He who believes and is baptized will be saved. Precious is what is promised to us; freely is done what is commanded.

1. 2. He who believes and is baptized will be saved. What then? Were those who heard these things not saved? Do not many who are saved believe, and are they not saved even before they believe? Saved indeed: but vain is the salvation of men. What sort of salvation is this, which you have in common with your beast? And yet even this, from where does it come, except from him of whom it is written: Men and beasts you will save, O Lord? And he added: According to the multitude of your mercy, O God (Ps 36:6-7 (35:7-8)). For so great is the multitude of your mercy that salvation comes from you into this mortal flesh of men, comes also to the flesh of cattle. This is the multitude of your mercy. And to your sons, what? See, men and beasts you will save, O Lord. Nothing more for us? What is granted to men of any sort, what to cattle, is this granted to us also? Not so, surely.

2. 2. But what then? Hear: But the sons of men will hope under the shelter of your wings: they will be inebriated with the abundance of your house, and you will give them to drink of the torrent of your delight. For with you is the fountain of life (Ps 36:7-9 (35:8-10)). Christ is the fountain of life. We had salvation in common with the cattle, until the fountain of life came to us: the fountain of life came to us, and the fountain of life died for us. Will he deny his life, who paid out his death for us? This is the salvation that is not vain. Why? Because it does not pass away.

2. 3. How men and sons of men differ. This distinction is to be well noted: Men and beasts you will save, O Lord. Men, those belonging to the man. But the sons of men, those belonging to the Son of man, will hope under the shelter of your wings. Set before your eyes two men. Lift up your faith, let your heart awake: remember the man by whom we were deceived; remember the man by whom we were redeemed. Was that man a son of man? Adam was a man, he was not a son of man. Therefore the Lord Christ constantly calls himself the Son of man, to make us remember the man who was not a son of man: that we may remember in the one death, in the other life; in the one sin, in the other the forgiveness of sins; in the one bondage, in the other freedom; in the one condemnation, in the other absolution. These two men, then, are signified in these words: Men and beasts you will save, O Lord. Men, those belonging to the man: and beasts, together with the beasts you will save them. For man, set in honor, did not understand, as it is written: Man, set in honor, did not understand; he is compared to the senseless beasts, and is made like them (Ps 49:12 (48:13)). Therefore: Men and beasts, to whom men have been made like, because they did not understand and have been compared to those over whom they were created to have dominion, you will save.

3. 4. True salvation was not found here by Christ. He was born mortal, that he might take it away. Is this the salvation of which it is said: He who believes and is baptized will be saved (Mark 16:16)? That salvation is another, far other. The angels have it: do not seek it on earth. It is great, but it is not here. That thing is not from this region, there is no such salvation here. Lift up your heart. Why do you seek here on earth this salvation? Salvation itself came here, and found our death here. When our Lord Jesus Christ came to us in the flesh, did he find this salvation here in our region? Something great this merchant brought here, coming from his own region: this merchant found in our region what abounds here. What abounds here? To be born and to die. The earth is full of these wares, to be born and to die. He was born, and he died. But by what way was he born? He came to this region, but not by the way we too came. For he came from heaven, from the Father. And yet he was born mortal. He was born of the Holy Spirit, of the Virgin Mary. Surely we were not so born of Adam and Eve? We through the desire of the flesh, he, however, not through it. For Mary was a virgin, without a man's embrace, without the heat of desire; and that she might not suffer this heat, it was said to her: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you (Luke 1:35). The Virgin Mary, then, did not lie with a man and conceive: but she believed and conceived. For he was born mortal, for mortals. Why mortal? Because in the likeness of sinful flesh: not in the flesh of sin, but in the likeness of sinful flesh. What does the flesh of sin have? Death and sin. What did the likeness of sinful flesh have? Death without sin. If it had sin, it would be the flesh of sin: if it did not have death, it would not be the likeness of sinful flesh. Such did he come, the Savior came: he died, but he killed death; he ended in himself what we feared; he took it up, and killed it; as a great huntsman takes a lion, and slays it.

4. 5. Where is death? Seek it in Christ, now it is not there: but it was, and it died there. O life, the death of death! Be of good cheer, it will die in us too. What went before in the head, will be repaid in the members: death will die in us too. But when? At the end of the world, in the resurrection of the dead, which we believe and of which we do not doubt. For he who believes and is baptized will himself be saved. Follow on to what you should fear: But he who does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16:16). Therefore death will die in us, it will live on in the damned. Where death will not know death, there will be everlasting death: because the torments will be eternal. In us it will die, and will not be. Do you want to know? I tell you a few words of those who triumph, that you may have something to meditate on, something to sing in your heart, something to hope for with your whole soul, something to seek by faith and good work. Hear the words of those who triumph, when there will be no death; when in us too, as in our head, death will die. The apostle Paul says: This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Then will come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory (1 Cor 15:53-54). I told you that death will die in us: Death is swallowed up in victory. This is the death of death. It will be swallowed up, so as not to appear. What does it mean, so as not to appear? So as not to be, neither within nor without. Death is swallowed up in victory. Let those who triumph rejoice; let them rejoice, let them say what follows: Where, O death, is your victory? where, O death, is your sting? (1 Cor 15:55) Where is it? You seized, you possessed, you conquered, and you said within yourself; you struck, and you killed; Where, O death, is your victory? where, O death, is your sting? Has not my Lord broken it? O death, when you clung to my Lord, then you also perished for me. By this salvation he who believes and is baptized will be saved. But he who does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16:16). Flee condemnation, love and hope for eternal salvation.

Sermon 234
In the Days of Easter

1. The resurrection of the Lord according to all four Evangelists is read during these days. For it is necessary that all be read, because the individual ones did not say everything; but what one left out, another said: and in a way they all made room for one another, so that all are necessary. The Evangelist Mark, whose Gospel was recited yesterday, said briefly what Luke pursued more fully, about two certain disciples, who were not indeed of the number of the twelve, but were nevertheless disciples to whom, as they journeyed, the Lord appeared, and walked with them. For Mark only said that he appeared to two as they journeyed: but this Evangelist Luke said both what he said to them, and what he answered them, and how far he walked with them, and how they recognized him in the breaking of the bread; all these things he said, as we have heard.

2. What then, brothers, what do we discuss here? We are built up to believe that the Lord Christ has risen. We already believed when we heard the Gospel, and we entered this church today as believers: and yet somehow it is heard with joy, because the memory is renewed. How do you want our heart to be gladdened, when we seem to be better than those who walked on the road, and to whom the Lord appeared? For we believe what they did not yet believe. They had lost hope, and we do not doubt where they doubted. When the Lord was crucified, they had lost hope: this appeared in their words, when he said to them: What are these words that you have between you, and why are you sad? And they: Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem, and do you not know what has happened there? And he answered: What things? Knowing everything about himself, he asked: because he desired to be in them. What things? he said. And they: Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, great in words and deeds. See, we are better. They called Christ a prophet: we have known him as the Lord of the prophets: He was, they say, a great prophet in deeds and words. And how the chief priests crucified him: and behold, it is the third day since all these things were done. But we were hoping (Luke 24:17-21). You were hoping: do you now not hope? Is this all your discipleship? On the cross a robber surpassed you. You forgot him who was teaching: he recognized the one with whom he was hanging. We were hoping. What were you hoping? That he was the one to redeem Israel (Luke 24:21). What you were hoping, and lost when he was crucified, this the crucified robber recognized. For he said to the Lord: Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom (Luke 23:42). See that he was the one to redeem Israel. That cross was a school. There the Master taught the robber. The wood of one hanging became the chair of one teaching. But he who gave himself back to you, let him recall hope to you. And so it was done. Remember, however, beloved, how the Lord Jesus willed to be recognized in the breaking of the bread by those whose eyes were held so that they should not recognize him. The faithful know what I mean: they know Christ in the breaking of the bread. For not all bread, but that which receives the blessing of Christ, becomes the body of Christ. There they recognized him, they exulted, they hastened to the others: now knowing, they found them, telling what they had seen, they added to the Gospel. These things were said, were done, were written: they have come to us.

3. Let us believe in Christ crucified; but in him who rose on the third day. This is the faith that distinguishes us from them, distinguishes us from pagans, distinguishes us from Jews; the faith by which we believe that Christ rose from the dead. The Apostle says to Timothy: Remember that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel (2 Tim 2:8). And again the same Apostle: For if you believe in your heart, he says, that Jesus is the Lord, and confess with your mouth that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom 10:9). This is the salvation about which I discoursed yesterday. He who believes and is baptized will be saved (Mark 16:16). I know that you believe: you will be saved. Hold in your heart, profess with your mouth that Christ rose from the dead. But have the faith of Christians, not of demons. For see, I distinguish these things for you: what is mine, I distinguish; according to the grace of God that has been given to me, I distinguish for you. When I have distinguished, choose, love. See, I have said: This faith, by which we believe that Christ Jesus rose from the dead, distinguishes us from pagans. Ask a pagan whether Christ was crucified: he cries, Very much so. Whether he rose: he denies it. Ask a Jew whether Christ was crucified: he confesses the crime of his parents; he confesses the crime, in which he too has a share. For he drinks what his parents pledged him: His blood be upon us, and upon our children (Matt 27:25). But ask him whether he rose from the dead: he will deny it, he will mock, he will accuse. We are distinguished. For we believe that Christ rose from the dead, of the seed of David according to the flesh. Did the demons not know this, or did the demons not believe these things, which they even saw? Even before he had risen, they cried out and said: We know who you are, the Son of God (Mark 1:24; Luke 4:41). We distinguished ourselves from pagans by believing that Christ rose: if we can do anything, let us distinguish ourselves from the demons. What is it, I beg you, what is it that the demons said? We know who you are, the Son of God. And they hear: Be silent (Luke 4:35). Did they not say this very thing that Peter also said, when he asked them and said: Who do men say that I am? And when they had answered the opinions of strangers, he added and questioned, saying: But who do you say that I am? Peter answered: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt 16:13-16). This the demons, this Peter: this the evil spirits, this the Apostle. And the demons hear: Be silent: Peter hears: Blessed are you (Matt 16:17). What distinguished them, let it distinguish us too. From what did the demons cry this out? From fear. From what did Peter? From love. Choose, love. This is the faith that distinguishes Christians from demons; not just any faith. For the apostle James says: You believe—the Epistle of the apostle James has this: You believe that God is one: you do well. The demons also believe, and tremble (Jas 2:19). He himself said this, who wrote in the same Epistle: If anyone has faith, but does not have works, can faith save him? (Jas 2:14) And the apostle Paul, distinguishing, says: Neither circumcision is of any avail, nor uncircumcision; but faith which works through love (Gal 5:6). We have discerned, we have distinguished: rather, we have found it distinguished, we have read it distinguished, we have learned that it is distinguished. As we are distinguished by faith, so let us be distinguished by conduct too, so let us be distinguished by works too, set ablaze with the love which the demons did not have. With which fire those two on the road also burned. For when Christ was recognized and was departing from them, they said within themselves: Was not our heart burning within us on the road, while he was opening the Scriptures to us? (Luke 24:32) Burn, lest you burn with the fire with which the demons are to burn. Burn with the fire of love, that you may distinguish yourselves from the demons. This burning carries you upward, lifts you up, raises you to heaven. Whatever troubles you have suffered on earth, however much the enemy presses the Christian heart down low; the burning of love seeks the heights. Take a likeness. If you hold a burning torch, hold it upright, head upward; the tress of flame rises to heaven: lower the torch, the flame goes to heaven: turn the torch head downward, surely you do not set the flame down on the earth too? Wherever the burning thing turns, the flame knows no other way, it seeks heaven. Fervent in spirit, be set ablaze with the fire of love: make yourselves fervent with the praises of God, and with the best conduct. One is warm, another cold: let the warm kindle the cold; and let him who burns too little wish for increase, pray for help. The Lord is ready to give: let us with hearts spread open wish to receive. Turning to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 235
On the Monday of Easter Week

1. Yesterday, that is, last night, the resurrection of the Savior was read from the Gospel, and read from the Gospel according to Matthew. Today, however, as you heard the reader announce, the resurrection of the Lord was recited to us as the Evangelist Luke wrote it down. As you must often be reminded, and ought to hold in memory, it should not disturb you that one Evangelist says something, if another leaves something out, because even the one who leaves out what another says, says something that the other had left out. For some things the individual ones say, which the other three do not say; some things two say, which others do not say; some things three say, and one does not say. But so great is the authority of the holy Gospel that, because in them one Spirit was speaking, what one has said is true as well. This, then, which you have just heard, that the Lord Jesus, after he had risen from the dead, found two of his disciples on the road, talking with each other about the things that had happened, and said to them: What are these words that you are speaking with one another (Luke 24:17), and so on, the Evangelist Luke alone said. Mark touched on it briefly, that he appeared to two on the road, but what they said to the Lord, or what the Lord said to them, he left out.

2. What then has this reading brought us? Something great, if we understand. Jesus appeared. He was seen by the eyes, and was not recognized. The Master was walking with them on the road, and he himself was the road. And they were not yet walking on the road; for he found that they had strayed from the road. For when he had been with them before the passion, he had foretold everything: that he would suffer, would die, would rise on the third day. He had foretold everything, but his death was their forgetfulness. They were so disturbed when they saw him hanging on the wood, that they forgot the teacher, did not await the one who would rise, and did not hold to the one who promised. We, they say, were hoping that he was the one to redeem Israel (Luke 24:21). O disciples, you were hoping! So you no longer hope? See, Christ lives. Is hope dead in you? Truly Christ lives. The living Christ found the hearts of the disciples dead; to whose eyes he appeared and did not appear. He was both seen and hidden. For if he was not seen, how did they hear him questioning, how did they answer when he questioned? On the road he walked with them as a companion, and he himself was the guide. They surely saw, but did not recognize. For their eyes, as we have heard, were held, so that they should not recognize him (Luke 24:16). They were not held so that they should not see, but held so that they should not recognize him.

3. Come now, brothers, where did the Lord wish to be recognized? In the breaking of the bread. We are safe: we break bread, and we recognize the Lord. He did not wish to be recognized except there, for our sake, who were not to see him in the flesh, and yet were to eat his flesh. Whoever, then, you are who are faithful, whoever you are who are not called Christian in vain, whoever you are who do not enter the church without cause, whoever you are who hear the word of God with fear and hope, let the breaking of the bread console you. The Lord's absence is not absence. Have faith, and he whom you do not see is with you. Those men, when the Lord was speaking with them, neither had faith, because they did not believe that he had risen, nor hoped that he could rise. They had lost faith, they had lost hope. Dead, they walked with the living one; dead, they walked with life itself. Life was walking with them, but in their hearts there was not yet life. And so you too, if you wish to have life, do what they did, that you may recognize the Lord. They received him as a guest. For the Lord was like one going to a distant place, but they held him. After they came to the place where they were heading, they said: Stay here with us now, the day has declined toward evening (Luke 24:29). Hold the guest, if you wish to recognize the Savior. What unbelief had taken away, hospitality restored. The Lord, then, presented himself in the breaking of the bread. Learn where you should seek the Lord, learn where you should have him, learn where you should recognize him. When you eat. For the faithful know something that they understand better in this reading than those who do not know.

4. The Lord was recognized by them; and after he was recognized, he nowhere appeared. He was absent from them in body, while he was held by faith. For this reason our Lord absented himself in body from the whole Church, and ascended into heaven, so that faith might be built up. For if you know only what you see, where is faith? But if you believe even what you do not see, when you see it you will rejoice. Faith is built up, because the form will be restored. What we do not see will come, it will come, brothers, it will come. See how it finds you. For it will come, though men say: Where is it, when is it, what is it like? when will it be? when is it to come? Be certain, it will come. Not only will it come, but even if you do not wish it, it will come. Woe to those who did not believe, and great joy to those who believed. The faithful will rejoice, the unfaithful will be confounded. The faithful will say: Thanks to you, Lord; we heard the truth, we believed the truth, we hoped for the truth, we behold the truth. But the unfaithful will say: Where is what we did not believe? where is what, when those things were read, we thought to be lies? So it will come about that punishment is rendered for confusion, reward for gladness. For those will go into eternal burning, but the just into eternal life (See Matt 25:46). Turning to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 236
In the Days of Easter

1. Our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Apostle says, died for our offenses, and rose for our justification (Rom 4:25). As by his death we are sown, so by his resurrection we sprout. For by his death is signified the death of our life. About this matter, hear the Apostle: We have been buried, he says, with Christ through Baptism into death, so that as Christ rose from the dead, so we too may walk in newness of life (Rom 6:4). He had nothing to amend on the cross: because he ascended the cross without sin. Let us be amended on his cross, and there let us lay down what we have wrongly contracted, so that we may be able to be justified by his resurrection. For you ought to distinguish thus: He was handed over for our offenses, and rose for our justification. He did not say: He was handed over for our justification, and rose for our offenses. In his being handed over, offense sounds; in his resurrection, righteousness sounds. Therefore let offense die, and let righteousness rise.

2. This hope, this gift, this promise, this so great grace, when Christ died, his disciples lost from their mind, and in his death they fell away from hope. See, his resurrection was being announced to them, and the words of those announcing it seemed to them like nonsense. The truth had become as it were nonsense. If at any time the resurrection is preached in this age, and it seems to someone to be nonsense, do not all say that he has great torment? Do not all detest, recoil, turn away, shut their ears, refuse to hear? See what the disciples were when Christ was dead: what we shudder at, that they were. The rams had this evil that the lambs shudder at. Then these two to whom he appeared on the road, and whose eyes were held that they should not recognize him—where their heart was, their words indicate; and what is going on in the mind, the voice is the witness, but for us: for to him even the heart lay open. They were speaking among themselves about his death. He joined them as it were a third traveler; and on the road he began to converse with them on the road, he mingled in conversation. He asks what they were saying among themselves, though he knew everything; that he might provoke them to confession as one who did not know. And they say to him: Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem, and do you not know what has happened there in these days, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a great prophet? No longer Lord, but prophet. For this they thought he had been, when he was dead. They still honored him as a prophet; they did not yet recognize the Lord, not only of the prophets, but also of the angels. How, they say, our elders and the chief priests handed him over to the condemnation of death. And behold, it is now the third day since these things were done. But we were hoping that he was the one to redeem Israel (Luke 24:18-21). Is this all your trouble? You were hoping, have you now despaired? You see that they had lost hope. He began, therefore, to expound the Scriptures to them, so that they might recognize Christ there, where they had abandoned Christ. For they had despaired of Christ, because they had seen him dead. But he opened the Scriptures to them, so that they might recognize that, if he had not died, he could not be Christ. He taught about Moses, he taught about the Scriptures that follow, he taught about the prophets, what he had said to them: That it was fitting for Christ to die, and so to enter into his glory (Luke 24:26). They heard, they rejoiced, they sighed; and, as they themselves confessed, they burned: and they did not recognize the present light.

3. But what a mystery, my brothers! He enters in to them, he becomes their guest; and he who was not recognized along the whole road is recognized in the breaking of the bread. Learn to receive guests, where Christ is recognized. Do you not know that if you have received any Christian, you have received him himself? Does he not himself say: I was a guest, and you received me? And when it is said to him: Lord, when did we see you as a guest? he answers: When you did it to one of the least of mine, you did it to me (Matt 25:35, 38, 40). When therefore a Christian receives a Christian, members serve members; and the head rejoices, and reckons as given to itself what has been bestowed on its member. Here, then, let Christ be fed when he hungers, let him receive drink when he thirsts, let him be clothed when he is naked, let the stranger be received, let the sick be visited. This the necessity of the journey requires. So must we live in this pilgrimage, where Christ is in need. He is in need in his own, he is full in himself. But he who is in need in his own, and is full in himself, leads the needy to himself. There will be no hunger, no thirst, no nakedness, no sickness, no pilgrimage, no toil, no sorrow. I know that these things will not be there, and I do not know what will be there. For these things, which will not be there, I know: but that which we are to find there, eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man. We can love it, we can desire it, we can sigh after so great a good in this pilgrimage: but to think of it worthily and to explain it in words we cannot. Certainly I cannot. Therefore, my brothers, seek who can. If you can find him, draw me too along with you as a disciple. This I know, that he who is able, as the Apostle says, to do more than we ask or understand (Eph 3:20), will lead us there, where there comes to pass what is written: Blessed are those who dwell in your house; forever and ever they will praise you (Ps 84:4 (83:5)). Our whole business will be the praise of God. What will we praise, if we do not love; and we will love that which we will see? For we will see the truth, and the truth itself will be God, whom we will praise. There we will find what we sang today, Amen, It is true: Alleluia, Praise the Lord.

Sermon 236/A
On the Monday of Easter Week

1. During these days of holy Easter, as your Charity knows, brothers, the resurrection of the Lord according to all the Evangelists is solemnly recited. For they wrote their narratives in such a way that they said some things alike, while one left out some things, yet no one was in disagreement with the harmony of truth. All said that the Lord was crucified, buried, and rose on the third day; but how he appeared to the disciples—since he appeared in many ways—some said some things, which others left out; yet all wrote down the truth.

2. See, on the past night of the vigils it was read, if you remember, that the Lord appeared after the resurrection to the women, whom he himself first greeted, saying: Hail. But they approached, and held his feet, and worshiped him (Matt 28:9). Likewise today it was read that he appeared to two of his disciples walking on the road: For they were walking with him, and did not recognize him; for their eyes were held, that they should not recognize him (Luke 24:15-16); but recognition was being reserved for the breaking of the bread. For he came with them; he was received by them as a guest; he blessed the bread, and broke it, and they recognized him. So you recognize Christ, you who believe in Christ. But let your Charity consider what all the disciples were like before the Lord's resurrection. Let them forgive me; they were not yet faithful; afterward they became great, but before they were even inferior to us. For we believe that Christ rose, which they did not yet believe. But afterward they saw, they touched, they handled him with their own eyes and hands, and so believed, and their hearts were strengthened by the holy Scriptures. Those who drank, belched, and filled us too.

3. They were speaking, then, of these things among themselves, grieving for Christ's death as for a man's, and Jesus appeared to them, and added himself as a companion, a third, and asked what they were saying among themselves. They answered him: Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem; do you not know what has happened here in these days; how the chief priests handed Jesus over to death, who was a great prophet? (See Luke 24:18-20) O disciples, where was the Lord—now a prophet? Did he not himself fulfill all the prophets? See, brothers, how the disciples believed, but out of despair at the Lord's death they went back to the words that strangers used to say about Christ. You remember, beloved, that the Lord once said to his disciples: Who do men say that the Son of man is? and they answered him the words and opinions of strangers, not their own faith, and said: Some say you are John the Baptist, others Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets (Matt 16:13-14). To this, then, the disciples went back, they lost their own faith; they began to hold the opinion of strangers. He who was, they say, a prophet. This strangers used to say about Christ, but what did the disciples say? When Christ said: Who do you say that I am? Peter answered: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And the Lord: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood did not reveal it to you—as it did to those who call me a prophet—but my Father, who is in heaven; and I tell you: You are Peter (Matt 16:15-18). You told me, I will tell you; you have given back the confession, hear the blessing. For the Lord had said of himself what was less, and Peter had told him what was more. For in the Lord Jesus Christ it was less that he was the Son of man; it was more that he was the Son of God. He said less who humbled himself; he said more whom the other exalted. On this rock, says the Lord, I will build my Church. On this confession, on this, that you have said: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt 16:18). For the gates of hell had prevailed against these men; they had withdrawn from Peter; they had failed on the sand. Help, Lord, your disciples; break the bread, that you may be recognized; unless you gather them, they are lost. How did you ask? See, the disciples call you a prophet.

4. But then Jesus opened to them the Scriptures, because they had said in despair: But we were hoping that he was the one to redeem Israel (Luke 24:21). O disciples, you were hoping, now you do not hope. Come, robber, admonish the disciples. Why do you despair, because you saw him crucified, because you looked on him hanging, because you thought him weak? Such did the robber too, hanging on the cross, at once believing, recognize him—that sharer in punishment; but you forgot the author of life. Cry out, robber, from the cross; you, a criminal, convict the saints. What do they say? We were hoping that he was the one to redeem Israel. What does this one say? Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom (Luke 23:42). You were hoping, then, that he was the one to redeem Israel. O disciples, if he is the one to redeem Israel, you have failed; but he restored you, he does not abandon. He who became your companion on the road, he himself became your road. But Peter was not there then, that Peter who said: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt 16:16). He was not with them. He, thinking of Christ, wherever he was—because he was with them, before the Lord died, then he denied, but when the Lord looked at him he wept. But now, when the Lord was crucified and dead . . . For perhaps he thought, because the Jews insulted him by saying: If he is the Son of God, let him come down from the cross, and we will believe in him (Matt 27:42). When perhaps even the disciples were not insulting, but exhorting him to come down from the cross. After he did not do it, but handed over his spirit, and was seen dead on the wood, as other men die, wrapped, buried; when they too despaired, and among the despairing was Peter; after the resurrection, as the Evangelist Mark says: He appeared to the women; he said: Go, tell my disciples, and Peter, that I have risen from the dead (See Mark 16:7). For the Lord had already shown himself to the faithful women; and they returned and brought the good news to the disciples, that they had seen a vision of angels, who said to them: Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here: he has risen (Luke 24:5-6); and they did not find his body in the tomb. The women said these things, and the men did not believe; they were announcing these things to the apostles, they were announcing to the heralds who he was. For when he was casting out wandering spirits from possessed bodies, those very spirits, twisted and afflicted with torments, said: What have we to do with you, Jesus, Son of the most high God? Why have you come before the time to torment us? (Matt 8:29)

Sermon 237
A Discourse Given on Wednesday

1. What followed in the Gospel according to Luke concerning the resurrection of the Lord was finished today, where we heard that the Lord appeared in the midst of his disciples as they were debating about his resurrection and not believing. So unexpected and incredible was it to them that even seeing they did not see. For they saw a living body which they had bewailed as dead, they saw standing in their midst him whom they had grieved over as hanging on the cross; they saw, then, and because they did not believe their own eyes that they saw what was true, they thought they were being deceived. For they supposed, as you heard, that they were seeing a spirit (Luke 24:37). What the worst heretics afterward believed about Christ, this the faltering apostles first believed. For there are today those who do not believe that Christ had flesh, because they both destroy the Virgin's childbearing and refuse to believe him born of a woman. The Word was made flesh (John 1:14)—they utterly alienate this from their faith, or rather from their unbelief. This whole dispensation of our salvation, that he was made man for the finding of the man whom God had made man; this whole thing, that Christ for the forgiveness of our sins poured out true, not false, blood, and with his own true blood blotted out the bond of our sins—this whole thing the damnable heretics try to empty out; this whole thing, like the Manichees, they do not believe; they say that what appeared to the eyes of men was a spirit, was not flesh.

2. See, the Gospel speaks. The Lord stood among his disciples, who did not yet believe that he had risen. They saw him and thought they were seeing a spirit. If there is nothing wrong in believing that Christ was a spirit, not flesh; if there is nothing wrong, let the disciples be left in that opinion. Attend, that you may understand what I wish to say; and may God grant that I may say it, that is, that I may say it as it is good for you to hear it. See, I repeat this very thing. Sometimes those detestable people, detesting the flesh and living according to the flesh, sometimes say this and so deceive: Who believe better about Christ, those who say that he had flesh, or we who say: He was God, he was a spirit, and to the eyes of men not a body but God appeared? Which is better, flesh or spirit? What shall we answer, except that the spirit is better than the flesh? If, then, he says, you confess that the spirit is better than the flesh, I think better about Christ who say that he was a spirit, not flesh. O wretched error! Why do I say that Christ was flesh? You say a spirit, I a spirit and flesh; you do not say better, but you say less. Hear, then, the whole of what I say, that is, what the Catholic faith says, what the most firmly grounded and most serene Truth says. You who say that Christ was only a spirit—which is also our spirit, that is, our soul—you say that Christ was only this. Hear what you say. I say what you say. He himself was a spirit of that nature and substance from which our spirit too is. How much less you say, attend: there was the Word there, there was flesh there. You say: a human spirit only. I say: Word, spirit, body: God and man. If I want to say two things, if I want to name two things, I use this shorthand: God and man. Both true God and true man. Nothing false in the humanity, nothing false in the divinity: God and man. But if you ask me about the man himself, again I say two things, a human soul and human flesh. You are a man because of soul and flesh; he is Christ because of God and man. See what I say.

3. But you think you say better, because you say: He was a spirit, a spirit appeared, a spirit was seen, a spirit dwelt among men. This you say. This I have said: this the disciples too thought. If you say nothing wrong, if what you say is good, then what the disciples thought was good too. If the Lord left them so, that they should think this, you too are to be left so. What you believe, this they believed. Is what you believe good? Then what they believed was good. But it was not good. The Lord said to them: Why are you troubled? Trouble believed what you believe; what? they believed they were seeing a spirit. And the Lord to this: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your heart? These thoughts are earthly. For if they were heavenly, they would descend into your heart, not arise. For why is it said to us: Lift up your heart, except that earthly thoughts may not find our heart before themselves, since we have set it on high? Therefore: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your heart? See my hands and my feet, handle and see (Luke 24:38-39). It is too little for you to look, put forth your hands; if it is too little to look and it does not suffice to touch, handle. Nor did he say only touch, but handle and feel all over. Let your hands test for you, whether your eyes are lying. Handle and see, have your eyes in your hands. Why handle and see? Why? Because a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me to have (Luke 24:39). You were erring with the disciples, be corrected with the disciples. It is human, I grant. You thought Christ a spirit; this Peter too, this the others too: They thought they were seeing a spirit; but they did not remain in this error. That you may know that this was utterly false in their hearts, the physician did not leave them so. He came near, he applied the medicine, he saw the wounds in their hearts, and the very means by which he would heal the wounds of hearts, he bore as scars in his body.

4. So, then, let us believe. I know that you do believe so. But lest perhaps in this field of the Lord there be some bad weed, I address even those whom I do not see. Let no one believe about Christ anything but what Christ wished to be believed about himself; and how it is good for us to believe what he wished to be believed about himself, who redeemed us, who sought our salvation, who poured out his blood for us, who bore for us what was not owed by him, who brought to us what was not owed to us: let us believe this. Christ, what is he? The Son of God, the Word of God. What is the Word of God? What the word of man cannot speak, that is the Word of God. You ask me what the Word of God is? If I wished to tell you what the word of man is, I cannot explain it, I grow weary, I hesitate, I give way; I cannot explain the force of the human word, how much less of the Word of God. See, before I say to you what I wish to say, the word is already in my heart; it has not yet been spoken by me and is with me; it is spoken by me and reaches you and does not depart from me. You are intent on hearing the word from me; I feed your minds when I speak. You would divide the food among yourselves, if I brought it to your stomachs, nor would it all reach each one; but the more of you there were, into the more pieces you would divide what I set down, and the less each would receive, the greater the number of recipients. But now I have brought food to minds; I say: Receive, take, eat. You have received, you have eaten, and you do not divide. Whatever I speak is both whole to all and whole to each. See how the force of the word of man cannot be sufficiently explained, and you say to me: What is the Word of God? The Word of God feeds so many thousands of angels. For they are fed by mind, they are filled by mind. He fills the angels, he fills the world, he fills the Virgin's womb, and neither ranges abroad there nor is straitened here. What is the Word of God? Let him say it himself, the only-begotten, the only Son, let him say what is the Word of God. He says of himself briefly, but great is what he says: I and the Father are one (John 10:30). Do not count words about the one Word. Surely all the words of men that can be cannot, in explaining, explain the one Word. The Word, then, which cannot be explained, was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14); he took up, as it were, a whole and full man, the soul and body of a man. And if you wish to hear something more precisely—because a beast too has soul and flesh; when I say a human soul and human flesh, he took up a whole human soul. For there were those who made a heresy from this and said that the soul of Christ did not have mind, did not have understanding, did not have reason, but the Word of God was to it in place of mind, in place of understanding, in place of reason. I do not want you to believe so. He who created the whole redeemed the whole; the Word took up the whole, freed the whole. There is the mind and understanding of man, there is the soul giving life to the flesh, there is true and whole flesh, only sin is not there.

Sermon 238
In the Days of Easter

1. Thus the sacred and perennial Gospel reading shows us the true Christ and the true Church, so that we may not err in either of them, or substitute one for the other in place of the holy bridegroom, or bring in to the holy bride not her own husband but another. Therefore, lest we err in either of them, let us hear, as it were, the marriage records of their Gospel.

2. Concerning the Lord Christ there have not been lacking, nor are there lacking, those who are so deceived as not to believe that he had true flesh. Let them hear what we have just heard. He is in heaven, but he sounds here; he sits at the right hand of the Father, but he speaks among us. Let him point himself out, let him manifest himself. What need is there for us to seek another witness about him? Let us rather hear him. He appeared to his disciples, and suddenly stood in their midst. You heard it as it was read. But they were troubled: for they supposed they were seeing a spirit. This is what those think who do not believe that he had true flesh: they are Manichees, they are Priscillianists, and any other plagues not even to be named. For they do not think that Christ is nothing—they do not think this—but they think he is a spirit, that he did not have flesh. What about you, Catholic? what about you, the bride, not an adulteress? Well then, what about you, except what you have learned from him? For you could find no better witness about him than himself. So what about you? You have learned that Christ is both the Word, and the spirit of a man, and the flesh of a man. What have you learned about the Word? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: this was in the beginning with God (John 1:1-2). What have you learned about the spirit of a man? And bowing his head he handed over the spirit (John 19:30). What have you learned about the flesh? Hear now. Forgive those who think this, which the disciples first thought in their error. But they did not persevere in error. For the disciples thought what the Manichees think today, what the Priscillianists think today, that there was not true flesh in the Lord Christ, but only a spirit. Let us see whether he left them to err. See how bad is the error that the physician hastened to heal, refused to confirm. They thought, then, that they were seeing a spirit: and he, who knew that these thoughts were bad, rooting them out of their hearts, said: Why are you troubled? why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your heart? See my hands and my feet: touch and see that a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me to have (Luke 24:38-39). Hold fast, against all the insane thoughts of all men, hold what you have received: otherwise you are lost. Christ is the true Word, the only-begotten, equal to the Father, a true human spirit, true flesh without sin. This died, this rose again, this hung on the wood, this lay in the tomb, this sits in heaven. The Lord Christ wished to persuade the disciples that what they saw was bones and flesh: but you contradict him. So he lies, and you speak the truth? you build up, and he deceives? Why did Christ wish to persuade me of this, except because he knew what it profits me to believe, and what it harms me not to believe? So, then, believe. He is the bridegroom.

3. Let us hear also about the bride: because there are some, again, who, favoring adulterers, wish to overthrow the true one and substitute a false one. Let us hear also about the bride. When, then, they had touched the feet, the hands, the flesh, the bones, the Lord added and said: Have you anything here to eat? that by sharing food too he might be shown to be a true man. He took, he ate, he gave; and while they were still trembling for joy, he said to them: Did I not say these things to you, while I was still with you? Why was he now not with them? What does it mean, while I was still with you? While I was still mortal, as you too are. What, then, was I saying to you? That all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms about me. Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures; and he said to them, that thus it was fitting for Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day (Luke 24:44-46). Take away true flesh, there will be no true passion, no true resurrection. See, you have the bridegroom: It was fitting for Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day. Hold the head: hear about the body. For what must we now show? We who have heard the bridegroom, let us recognize the bride too. And that repentance and the forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name. Where? from where? how far? Among all nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:47). See, you have the bride. Let no one sell you fables, let not the rabid fury of heretics bark from its corner. The Church is spread through the whole world: all nations have the Church. Let no one deceive you: she is the true one, she is the Catholic one. We have not seen Christ; her we do see: about him let us believe. The apostles, on the contrary, saw him, and believed about her. They saw one thing and believed another: and we, on the contrary, see one thing and believe another. They saw Christ, they believed the Church, which they did not see: we too see the Church, let us believe in Christ, whom we do not see; and holding what we see, we will come to him whom we do not yet see. Knowing, therefore, the bridegroom and the bride, let us acknowledge them in their records, lest in so holy a marriage we quarrel.

Sermon 239
In the Days of Easter, on the Resurrection of Christ According to Mark and Luke

1. 1. Today, see, we have already heard for the third time from the Gospel the resurrection of our Lord: just as you remember I told you, since this is the custom, that the resurrection of the Lord should be recited according to all the Evangelists. It is the Gospel of Mark that we have just now heard read. Now Mark merited this office, although he was not among the number of the twelve, just as Luke too. For although there are four Evangelists, Matthew, John, Mark, and Luke, two of them are from those twelve apostles, that is, Matthew and John. But the priority of those was not unfruitful, so as not to have companions following. Mark and Luke were not equals of the apostles, but next to equals. For the Holy Spirit willed to choose, even from those who were not among the twelve, two to write the Gospel, lest it should be thought that the grace of evangelizing reached only as far as the apostles, and that the fount of grace failed in them. For since the Lord says of his spirit and of his word, that if anyone receives it and holds it worthily, there will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life (John 4:14): a fountain surely shows itself by flowing out, not by staying still: through the apostles the grace reached others, and they were sent to evangelize. For he who called the first ones, he himself called the second; he himself has called even down to the last age the body of his Only-begotten, that is, the Church spread through the whole world.

2. What, then, have we heard Mark saying? That the Lord appeared on the road to two, as Luke also said, whose Gospel we heard yesterday: He appeared, he says, to two on the road in another form (Mark 16:12). But Luke said this same thing in other words, yet did not deviate from the same meaning. For what did Luke say? Their eyes were held, so that they should not recognize him (Luke 24:16). And what did Mark say? He appeared to them in another form. What the one said, their eyes were held so that they should not recognize him; this the other said, in another form. For another form was seen, their eyes being held, not opened. What then, brothers, since Luke said—what I believe you most recently remember from yesterday's reading—that when he broke the blessed bread, their eyes were opened; what do we think? If their eyes were then opened, then with eyes closed were they accompanying him on the road, and could they know where they were setting their steps, if they had their eyes closed? Their eyes were opened, then, to recognition, not to sight. And so our Lord Jesus Christ, before the breaking of the bread, speaks unknown with the men; in the breaking of the bread he is recognized: because there he is received, where eternal life is received. He is received as a guest, who prepares a house in heaven. For he says, according to the Evangelist John: There are many dwellings with my Father: otherwise I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. But if I go and prepare it, coming again I will take you to myself (John 14:2-3). The Lord of heaven willed to be a guest on earth, a stranger in the world, through whom the world was made: he condescended to be a guest, that you might have a blessing by receiving him; not because he was in need, when he entered as a guest.

3. 3. The Lord fed holy Elijah by means of a raven in time of famine: and the birds served him whom men were persecuting. The raven brought the servant of God bread in the morning, and meat in the evening. He was not in need, then, whom God fed by the ministry of birds: and yet, though Elijah was not in need, he is sent to a widow in Zarephath, and it is said to him: Go to that widow, she will feed you. Had God failed, that Elijah should be sent to a widow? But if God always provided bread for his servant without human ministry, from where would the widow have her reward? He is sent, then, not in need, to one in need; not hungry, to one hungry; and he says to her: Go, and bring me a little, that I may eat. She had a little, which she was about to consume, and to die. She answered how much she had, she made it known to the prophet: and the prophet said to her: Go, first bring it to me. She did not doubt, but brought it. She offered refreshment, and merited a blessing. Holy Elijah blessed the jar of meal and the cruse of oil (See 1 Kgs 17:6-16). That had been stored in the house to be consumed; and that oil hung on a peg to come to an end: a blessing came, and those vessels became treasuries. The little cruse of oil became a fount of oil, the little meal surpassed the most abundant harvests.

4. 4. If Elijah was not in need, was Christ in need? Therefore, my brothers, holy Scripture admonishes us that very often God makes those servants of his needy whom he could feed, in order to find people who do works of mercy. Let no one be proud because he gives to the poor: Christ was poor. Let no one be proud because he receives a guest: Christ was a guest. Better is the one received than the one receiving; richer the one accepting than the one handing over. He who was accepting possessed all things: he who was giving had received from the one to whom he gave what he gave. Let no one, then, be proud, my brothers, when he gives to the poor: let him not say in his soul, I give, he receives; I provide shelter, he lacks a roof. Perhaps what you lack is more. Perhaps the one you receive is righteous: he lacks bread, you truth; he lacks a roof, you heaven; he lacks money, you righteousness.

4. 5. Be a lender, pay out what you may receive back. Do not fear that God will judge you a usurer. By all means, by all means be a lender. But God says to you: What do you want? Do you want to lend at interest? What is it to lend at interest? To give less, and to receive more. See, give to me, God says to you: I receive less, and give more. What? A hundredfold, and eternal life. The man you seek to whom to give, so that your money may grow—the man you seek, when he receives, rejoices; when he repays, he weeps: to receive, he prays; not to repay, he makes false charges. Give indeed also to a man, and do not turn away from him who asks a loan. But receive only as much as you gave. Let not the one to whom you gave weep: for then you have lost the kindness. And if this very thing that was given, or what he received, is demanded, and perhaps he does not yet have it to hand: you have borne with him when he asked, wait for him when he does not have it: when he has it, he will repay you. Do not bring straits upon the one whose straits you relieved. See, you gave, and you demand: but he does not have the means to repay; when he has it, he will repay you. Do not cry out and say: Surely I am not seeking interest? I ask only as much as I gave: what I gave, this I will receive. You do well, but he does not yet have it. You are not a usurer, and yet you want the one you helped to seek out a usurer, so that he may repay you. If you do not demand interest, lest he have to endure you as a usurer, why do you want him to have to endure another usurer for your sake? You press, you choke: even if you demand only as much as you gave; yet by choking and bringing him into straits, you have not given a kindness, but rather brought greater straits upon him. But perhaps you say: He has the means to repay: he has a house, let him sell it; he has property, let him sell it. When he asked of you, he asked precisely so as not to sell. Let him not do for your sake what you helped him not to do. Let it be so done among men, this God commands, this God wills.

5. 6. But are you greedy? God says to you: Be greedy, be as greedy as you can; but apply to me for your greed. God says to you: Apply to me, I made my rich Son poor for you. For our sake Christ became poor, though he was rich (2 Cor 8:9). Do you seek gold? he made it. Do you seek silver? he made it. Do you seek servants? he made them. Do you seek cattle? he made them. Do you seek possessions? he made them. Why do you seek only the things he made? Take him who made them. Consider how he loved you. All things were made through him, and without him was made nothing (John 1:3). All things through him, and he himself among all things. He who made all things was made among all things. He who made man was made man: he was made what he had made, lest the one he had made should perish. He who made all things was made among all things. Consider his riches: what is richer than he, through whom all things were made? And yet he, though he was rich, took mortal flesh in the womb of a virgin. He was born an infant, wrapped in infant's swaddling clothes, laid in a manger; patiently he awaited the ages, patiently he endured the times, he through whom the times were made. He nursed, he wailed, he appeared an infant. But he lay there, and he reigned: he was in the manger, and he held the world: he was nursed by his mother, and adored by the gentiles: he was nursed by his mother, and announced by the angels: he was nursed by his mother, and declared by a shining star. Such riches, such poverty: riches, that you might be created; poverty, that you might be restored. That he, then, being poor, was received as a guest like a poor man, was the condescension of the one received, not the misery of one in need.

6. 7. Perhaps you say to yourself: O blessed those who merited to receive Christ! O if I had then been alive! O if I had been one of those two whom he found on the road! Be you on the road, and Christ the guest will not be lacking. For do you think it is no longer permitted you to receive Christ? From where, you say, is it permitted? Now, rising, he was manifested to his disciples, he ascended into heaven, there he is at the right hand of the Father; he is not going to come except at the last age, to judge the living and the dead: and he will come in glory, not in weakness; to give the kingdom, not to seek hospitality. When he gives the kingdom, has it slipped your mind what he is going to say: When you did it to one of the least of mine, you did it to me (Matt 25:40)? He who is rich is needy until the end of the age. He is needy indeed, not in the head, but in his members. Where is he needy? In those over whom he grieved, when he said: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? (Acts 9:4) Let us, then, serve Christ. He is with us in his own, he is with us in us: nor did he say in vain: Behold, I am with you until the consummation of the age (Matt 28:20). By doing these things we recognize Christ in good works, not with the body, but with the heart; not with the eyes of the flesh, but with the eyes of faith. Because you have seen, you have believed, he said to a certain unbelieving disciple of his, who had said: I will not believe, unless I touch. And the Lord: Come, touch, and do not be unbelieving. He touched, and cried out: My Lord and my God! And the Lord: Because you have seen me, you have believed (John 20:25-29). This is all your faith, that you believe what you see: I praise those who do not see, and believe; because when they see, they will rejoice.

Sermon 240
In the Days of Easter, on the Resurrection of Bodies, Against the Gentiles

1. During these days, as your Charity recalls, the Gospel readings relating to the resurrection of the Lord are solemnly read. For all four Evangelists could be silent neither about his passion nor about his resurrection. Now, because the Lord Jesus did many things, they did not all write everything down: but one wrote these things, another those; yet with the greatest harmony of truth. The Evangelist John also relates that many things were done by the Lord Jesus Christ that were written down by none of them. As many things were done as then needed to be done; as many were written as now needed to be read. But to show that all four Evangelists, in what they all say together and do not leave out—that is, about either the passion or the resurrection of Christ—did not say things contrary to one another, is a very laborious task. For some have thought them to be contrary to one another, when they themselves were contrary to their own soul. And therefore care has been taken by those who were able, with the Lord's help, to show that they are not contrary to one another. But, as I said, if I were to show this to you, and wished to discuss these things among the people, the multitude of hearers would be overwhelmed by tedium before the knowledge of the truth was revealed. But I know your faith, that is, the faith of this whole multitude, and of those who are not here today, and yet are faithful; I know their faith to be so certain about the truth of the Evangelists that they have no need of my exposition. He who knows how to defend these things is more learned, not more faithful. He has faith, he has the ability to defend the faith. Another does not have the ability and resource and learning to defend the faith, but he has the faith itself. But he who knows how to defend the faith is necessary for those who falter, not for those who believe. For in the defense of the faith the wounds of doubt or unbelief are cured. He, then, who defends the faith is a good physician: but in you there is no disease of unbelief. When does he know how to cure what you do not have? He knows how to apply the medicine, but in you there is no fault. The healthy do not need a physician, but those who are ill (Matt 9:12).

2. The resurrection is proved against unbelievers from the omnipotence of God. Nevertheless, it is not my counsel to keep silent toward you about what can be said more readily for the occasion, and heard more conveniently. About the resurrection itself, the example of which the Lord sent ahead in himself, that we might know what we ought to hope for in our bodies too at the end of the age, many people argue many things; some faithfully, some unfaithfully. Those who argue faithfully wish to know more diligently what they should answer unbelievers: but those who argue unfaithfully reason against their own souls, by arguing against the power of the Almighty, saying, How can it happen that a dead man rises? I say, It is God who does it, and you say, It cannot happen? I do not say, Give me a Christian, give me a Jew: but, give me a pagan, a worshiper of idols, a slave of demons, who does not say that God is almighty. He can deny Christ, he cannot deny that God is almighty. Whom you, then, believe—I speak as it were to a pagan—whom you believe to be almighty God, that same one I say is the raiser of the dead. If you say, It cannot happen, you detract from the Almighty. But if you believe him almighty, why do you reject me when I say these things?

3. If we were to say that the flesh will rise to hunger, to thirst, to be sick, to toil; to be subject to corruptions; you would rightly not have to believe. For this flesh now has these necessities or calamities. And from where is this? The cause is sin. In one we all sinned, and we are all born to corruption. The cause of all our evils is sin. For it is not without cause that men suffer these evils. God is just, God is almighty: we would in no way suffer these things, if we did not deserve them. But while we were in the punishments to which we came from our sins, our Lord Jesus Christ willed to be in our punishments without sins of his own. By enduring punishment without fault, he loosed both the fault and the punishment. He loosed the fault by forgiving sins: he loosed the punishment by rising from the dead. This he promised, and he willed us to walk in hope: let us persevere, and we will reach the reality. The flesh will rise incorruptible, the flesh will rise without flaw, without deformity, without mortality, without burden, without weight. What now causes you torment, will afterward be your adornment. Therefore, if it is good to have an incorruptible body, why do we want to despair that God will do this?

4. The philosophers of this world, who were great and learned, and better than the rest, held that the human soul is immortal: nor did they merely hold it, but defended it with as many arguments as they could, and left their very defenses written down for posterity. There are books, they are read. I said that these philosophers were better than others in comparison with worse ones; because there were philosophers who said to man that, when he was dead, no life remained afterward. To such people the former are surely to be preferred. And in the respect in which they were better—although in many things straying from the truth—yet in the respect in which they were superior, they had come near to the truth. These, then, who held and said that human souls are immortal, sought the causes of the evils of men, of the troubles and errors of mortals, as far as men could; and they said, as they could, that certain sins, I know not what, had gone before in another life, on account of which sins these bodies deserved, as a prison for the soul. Then it was asked of them, what afterward, when a man is dead, what will he be. And here they wore out their wits; and they labored, as far as they could, to give an account to men, either to themselves or to others: and they said that the souls of men who live badly, unclean with the worst conduct, when they have departed from their bodies, are at once turned again into other bodies, and pay here the penalties that we see; but those souls that lived well, when they have departed from their bodies, go to the upper regions of the heavens, rest there in the stars and these conspicuous lights, or in whatever heavenly and hidden recesses, forget all past evils, and again take delight in returning to bodies, and come again to suffer these things. This, then, they wished to be the difference between the souls of sinners and the souls of the just: that the souls of sinners, soon, at once, when they depart from their bodies, they say, are turned again into other bodies; but the souls of the just are long in rest; not always, however, but again they take delight in bodies, and from the highest heavens, after so great a righteousness, make a downfall to these evils.

5. This very great philosophers said. Beyond this the philosophers of this world could find nothing, of whom our Scripture says: God has made foolish the wisdom of this world (1 Cor 1:20). If the wisdom, how much more the folly? If the wisdom of the world is folly with God? Yet there is a certain folly of this world that reaches to God, of which the Apostle says: Since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of preaching to save those who believe. And he says: Since the Jews ask for signs, and the Greeks seek wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified; to the Jews indeed a stumbling block, to the gentiles folly; but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:21-24). The Lord Christ came, the wisdom of God: heaven thunders: let the frogs be silent. What truth said, this is true. What it said—that the human race is indeed in evil because of sin—is manifest. But whoever believes in the Mediator, who has been set in the middle between God and men (between the just God and unjust men, a just man in the middle, having his humanity from below, his righteousness from above; and therefore in the middle: one thing from here, one from there: because if both were from there, he would be there; if both were from here, he would lie with us, and would not be in the middle): whoever, then, believes in the Mediator, and lives faithfully and well, will indeed depart from the body, and will be in rest; but afterward he will receive the body, not for torment, but for adornment, and will live with God forever. There is no reason for it to delight him to return: because he has his body with him. Therefore, beloved, since I have set before you today what even the philosophers of this world say, whose wisdom God reproved as if it were true folly, tomorrow, with the Lord's help, we will be able to expound.

Sermon 241
In the Days of Easter, on the Resurrection of Bodies, Against the Gentiles

1. The proper faith of Christians is the resurrection of the dead. This—that is, the resurrection of the dead—Christ our head showed in himself, and gave us an example of faith; so that the members might hope for in themselves what went before in the head. Yesterday we suggested to you that the wise men of the gentiles, whom they call philosophers, those very ones who were most excellent among them, scrutinized nature, and from the works came to know the craftsman. They did not hear the prophets, they did not receive the law of God: but God, as it were silent, was speaking to them by the works of the world itself, and the forms of the world invited them to seek the craftsman of things: nor could they bring themselves to think that heaven and earth stood without an author. Of these the blessed apostle Paul speaks thus: The wrath of God, he says, is revealed from heaven against all impiety. What does it mean, against all impiety? Not only against the Jews, who received the law of God and offended the giver of the law; but also against all the impiety of the gentiles is the wrath of God revealed from heaven. And lest anyone should say, Why, since they themselves did not receive the law? he went on to add: And against the unrighteousness of those who hold the truth in iniquity. Now you answer: What truth? For they did not receive the Law, they did not hear a prophet. Hear what truth: Because what is known of God, he says, is manifest among them. From where manifest? Hear further: For God has manifested it to them. If you still ask, How did he manifest it to those to whom he did not give the law? hear how: For his invisible things, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood through the things that have been made. For his invisible things, that is, the invisible things of God: from the creation of the world, that is, from when he established the world: are clearly seen, being understood through the things that have been made, those things are understood through these. Also his everlasting—I quote the Apostle's words, I weave them in—also his everlasting power and divinity, you supply: are clearly seen, being understood. So that they are without excuse. Why without excuse? Because, knowing God, they did not glorify him as God, or give thanks (Rom 1:18-21). He did not say: Not knowing God; but: Knowing him.

2. From where knowing? From the things he made. Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the wide and diffused air, question the beauty of the sky, question the order of the stars, question the sun making the day bright with its splendor, question the moon tempering the darkness of the following night with its brightness, question the animals that move in the waters, that abide on the land, that fly in the air; the hidden souls, the visible bodies; the visible things to be ruled, the invisible things ruling: question these things. They all answer you: See, look, we are beautiful. Their beauty is their confession. Who made these beautiful changeable things, except the unchangeable Beautiful One? In man himself, finally, that they might be able to understand and know God the creator of the whole world; in man himself, I say, they questioned these two things, body and soul. They questioned what they themselves bore: they saw the body, they did not see the soul. But they did not see the body except through the soul. For they saw through the eye, but within was the one who looked out through the windows. Finally, when the inhabitant departs, the house lies still: when the one who ruled departs, what was ruled falls: and because it falls, it is called a corpse. Are not the eyes there whole? Even if they are open, they see nothing. The ears are present; but the hearer has departed: the organ of the tongue remains; but the musician who moved it has gone away. They questioned, then, these two things, the body that is seen, the soul that is not seen: and they found that the one that is not seen is better than the one that is seen; the hidden soul better, the visible flesh worse. They saw these things, they gazed on them, they examined both, and found both, in man himself, changeable. The body changeable through ages, through corruptions, through nourishment, through restorings, through failings, through life, through death. They passed to the soul, which they had surely grasped to be better, and they marveled at it even as invisible: they found it too changeable; now willing, now unwilling; now knowing, now not knowing; now remembering, now forgetting; now fearing, now daring; now going into wisdom, now failing into folly. They saw it too changeable, they passed beyond it too; for they sought something unchangeable.

3. Thus, then, they came to knowing God who made these things, through the things he made. But they did not honor him as God, or give thanks: the Apostle himself says. But they became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. Saying that they were wise, they became fools (Rom 1:21-22). By arrogating to themselves what they had received, they lost what they were holding. Saying that they were great, as it were, they became fools. And where did they arrive? And they changed, he says, the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of corruptible man. He means idols. And it was too little to make an idol after the form of man, and to consign the craftsman to the likeness of his own work: this was too little. But what besides? And of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of serpents (Rom 1:23). For all these mute and irrational animals, those, as it were, great wise men, made gods for themselves. I rebuked you when you adored the image of a man: what shall I do with you, when you adore the image of a dog, the image of a snake, the image of a crocodile? They reached down even to these. As high as, seeking, they were carried up to the heights, so far, falling, they were plunged into the depths. For what falls from on high is plunged the deeper.

4. These, then, as I admonished you yesterday, sought what afterward, that is, what after this life. They sought as men: but how could they find, since they were men? They did not have the teaching of God, they did not hear the prophets: they could not find, they made guesses. I reported to you yesterday their guesses. The bad souls go out, they say; and because they are unclean, they are at once turned again into other bodies: the souls of the wise and the just go out; and because they lived well, they fly to heaven. Well done, prettily you have found them a place: flying, they reach heaven. And what there? There they will be, they say, and will rest with the gods: their seats will be the stars. You have found them no bad dwelling: at least leave them there, do not cast them down. But, they say, after long ages, having utterly forgotten their old miseries, they begin to wish to return into bodies; and it will delight them to come, and again they come to suffer these things, to endure these things, to forget God, to blaspheme God, to follow the pleasures of the body, to fight against lusts. They come to these miseries: from where, and to where? Tell me, why? Because they forget. If they forget all evils, let them forget also the delight of the flesh. This alone they remembered, to their harm, the place from which they fell. They come: why? Because it delights them to dwell again in bodies. From where the delight, except through memory, because they once dwelt there? Wipe out all memory, and perhaps you will make the remaining wisdom: let nothing remain to call them back.

5. Virgil does not approve the doctrine of the return of souls into bodies. That souls cannot be blessed in that opinion. A certain author of theirs shuddered at it, to whom it was being shown, or who brought in a father showing it to his son among the dead. For nearly all of you know this; and would that few of you knew it. But few of you know it in the books, many in the theaters, that Aeneas went down to the underworld, and his father showed him the souls of the great Romans about to come into bodies: Aeneas himself was terrified, and said:
Into bodies?
Is it to be believed, he says, that they go to heaven, and return again?
The son understood better than the father expounded. He rebuked the desire of the souls wishing to return again into bodies. He called it a dire desire, he called them wretched; nor did he blush for them. To this, philosophers, you have brought it, that souls are purified, reach the highest cleanness, and through that very cleanness forget everything, and through forgetting their miseries return to the miseries of bodies. Tell me, I beseech you: even if these things were true, would they not better be unknown? Even if they were true, I say—which without doubt are false, because they are foul—would they not better be unknown? Or perhaps you are going to say to me: You will not be wise, if you do not know these things. Why should I know them? Can I be better now than I will then be in heaven? If in heaven, when I will be better and more perfect, I will forget everything I learned here, and there, being better, I am not going to know these things, allow me now not to know them. You say that the one dwelling in heaven forgets everything: allow me to be on earth not knowing all these things. Then, I ask you, do these souls in heaven know that they are going to suffer again the miseries of this life, or do they not know? Choose what you will. If they know they are going to suffer such great miseries, how are they blessed, thinking of their future miseries? how are they blessed, where they are without security? But I see what you will choose: you are going to say, They do not know. So you praise there this ignorance, which you do not now allow me to have, teaching me on earth what you say I am not going to know in heaven. They do not know, you say. If they do not know, and do not think they are going to suffer, by being deceived they are blessed. For what they are going to suffer, they think they are not going to suffer: and to think what is false, what is it but to be deceived? They will, then, be happy by deception; they will be blessed; not by eternity, but by falsehood. Let the truth free us, that we may be able to be truly blessed: for the word of our Redeemer is not empty: If the Son frees you, then you will be truly free (John 8:36). For he himself said: If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will free you (John 8:31-32).

6. Then hear something else worse, something to be lamented, or rather laughed at. Here, wise man, here, philosopher, that is, on earth (for example, Pythagoras, Plato, Porphyry, and I know not who else of them), why do you philosophize? For the blessed life, he says. When will you have this blessed life? When I have left this body, he says, in the earth. So now a wretched life is led, but there is hope of a blessed life: there a blessed life is led, but there is hope of a wretched life. Therefore the hope of our unhappiness is happy, and that of our happiness unhappy. Let us throw these things away, and either laugh because they are false, or grieve because they are thought great. For these things, my brothers, are the great ravings of great learned men. How much better do we hold the great mysteries of great saints? Out of love of bodies, they say, the purified, cleansed, wise souls return; the purified souls, out of love of bodies, return to bodies. Does a purified soul, then, love so? Is not this love a great filth?

7. But every body is to be fled. Their great later philosopher Porphyry, a most bitter enemy of the Christian faith, who lived already in Christian times; but yet, blushing at those very ravings, in some measure corrected by the Christians, said, and wrote: Every body is to be fled. He said every, as if every body were a wretched chain of the soul. And, to be sure, if a body of any kind is to be fled, you cannot praise the body to it, and say how, by God's teaching, our faith praises the body: because even the body that we now have, although from it we have punishment for sin, and the body that is corrupted weighs down the soul; yet this body has its own form, the arrangement of its members, the distinction of senses, an upright stature, and the rest of the things at which those who consider them well are amazed. Yet that body will be wholly incorruptible, wholly immortal, wholly nimble and easy for movement. But Porphyry says: In vain do you praise the body to me; whatever kind of body it is, if the soul wishes to be blessed, every body is to be fled. This the philosophers say: but they err, but they rave. I prove it quickly: I do not wish to argue at length; because that which is predicated must have a subject. For there are two things joined to each other, predicate and subject. God surpasses all things: to him all things are subject. And the soul, if it has any honor with God, must have something subject to it. But I do not wish to argue at length from this; I read your books: you say that this world is an animal, that is, heaven, earth, seas, all the huge bodies that exist, the immense elements everywhere; all this, and the whole body that consists of all these elements, you say is a great animal, that is, it has its own soul, but does not have bodily senses; because outside there is nothing that could be perceived: yet it has understanding, it clings to God: and that very soul of the world you call Jupiter, or call Hecate, that is, as it were the universal soul ruling the world, and making it one single animal. And you say that this same world is eternal, will always be, will have no end. If, then, the world is eternal, and the world remains without end, and the world is an animal; that soul is always held in the world: surely every body is to be fled? What was it you were saying, Every body is to be fled? I say that blessed souls will always have incorruptible bodies. You who say, Every body is to be fled, kill the world. You say that I should flee from my flesh: let your Jupiter flee from heaven and earth.

8. What of the fact that we find this same Plato, the master of all of them, in a certain book of his which he wrote on the constitution of the world, bringing in God the fashioner of gods, making, that is, the heavenly gods, all the stars, the sun and the moon? He says, then, that God is the maker of the heavenly gods: he says that these very stars have intellectual souls, which understand God, and visible bodies which are seen. I say it, that you may understand: This sun that you see would not be seen, unless it were a body: this is true. No star or the moon would be seen, unless it were a body: he speaks the truth. Therefore the Apostle too says: And heavenly bodies, and earthly bodies. And it follows: One is the glory of the heavenly, another of the earthly. And again, speaking of the glory of heavenly bodies, the Apostle added and said: One is the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, another the glory of the stars. For star differs from star in glory: so also is the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor 15:40-42). You see that brightness is promised to the bodies of the saints, and a diversity of forms of brightness, because the merits of love are diverse. But what do they say? These stars that you see are indeed bodies, but they have their own intellectual souls, and they are gods. Meanwhile, about the bodies, because they are bodies, they speak the truth: but whether they have their own souls, why should I discuss it? Let us now come to the point. God is brought in by Plato himself addressing the gods, whom he made of corporeal and incorporeal substance, and among other things saying to them: Since you have come to be, you cannot be immortal and indissoluble. Already at this voice they could tremble. Why? Because they desired to be immortal, and were unwilling to die. So, to take away their fear, he went on to add and said: Yet you will not be dissolved, nor will any fates of death destroy you, nor will they be stronger than my counsel, which is a greater bond for your perpetuity than those by which you have been bound together. See, God gives security to the gods made by him: he gives them the security of immortality; he gives them the security that they will not leave the globes of their bodies. Surely every body is to be fled? As far as I judge, they have been answered, as you can understand: just as we too can speak, as far as the hour of the sermon permits, as far as your capacity allows, they have been answered. But as for what they themselves also say about the resurrection of bodies, as if cleverly, so that we cannot, as they think, answer them too—it is much for me to tell you today. But since I once promised you that during these days this question about the resurrection of the flesh was to be handled, prepare both ears and hearts for tomorrow, with the Lord's help, for the things that remain.

Sermon 242
In the Days of Easter, on the Resurrection of Bodies, Against the Gentiles.

1. 1. On these holy days dedicated to the resurrection of the Lord, as far as we can by his gift, let us treat of the resurrection of the flesh. For this is our faith, this gift was promised to us in the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the example went before in him. For he willed not only to foretell to us what he promised for the end, but also to demonstrate it. Those indeed who were then with him saw, and though they were terrified, and believed they were seeing a spirit, they grasped the solidity of the body. For he spoke not only with words to their ears, but also with his appearance to their eyes: and it was too little to offer himself to be seen, unless he also offered himself to be handled and felt all over. For he said: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your heart? For they supposed they were seeing a spirit. Why are you troubled, he says, and why do thoughts arise in your heart? See my hands and my feet: handle, and see, that a spirit does not have bones and flesh, as you see me to have (Luke 24:38-39). Against this evidence men argue. For what else would men do, who savor the things that are of men, but argue about God against God? For he is God, they are men. But God knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain (Ps 94:11 (93:11)). In a carnal man the whole rule of understanding is the custom of seeing. What they are accustomed to see, they believe: what they are not accustomed to, they do not believe. Beyond custom God works miracles, because he is God. Greater miracles indeed are that so many men are born daily who did not exist, than that a few have risen who did exist: and yet these miracles are not grasped by consideration, but have grown cheap through their constant occurrence. Christ rose, it is a settled matter. It was a body, it was flesh, he hung on the cross, he sent forth his soul, it was laid in the tomb. He who lived in it showed it alive. Why do we marvel? Why do we not believe? It is God who did it: consider the author, and remove the doubt.

2. 2. Men ask, then, whether this corruption of the body, which they feel in their flesh, will be in the resurrection of the dead. We say it will not be. They answer us: If there will be no corruption, why will there be eating? Or if there will be no eating, why did the Lord eat after the resurrection? Just now, as the Gospel was read, we heard that when he showed himself alive to the eyes and hands of his disciples, it seemed to him too little to demonstrate the bodily evidence: but he added: Have you here anything to eat? And they offered him a piece of broiled fish, and a honeycomb: and he ate, and gave the remains to them (Luke 24:41-43). So it is said to us: If the corruption of the body will not rise, why did the Lord Christ eat? You have read that he ate; have you read that he hungered? That he ate was of power, not of need. If he desired to eat, he would be in need. Again, if he could not eat, he would be less able. Did not the angels too, when they were received as guests by our fathers, eat, and yet were not corruptible?

2. 3. Again they say: Will the flaws that were in the human body, with which a man dies, rise? We answer: The flaws will not rise. And it is said to us: Why, then, did the Lord rise with the scars of his wounds? What do we say to this, except that this too was of power, not of necessity? He willed so to rise, he willed so to show himself to certain doubters. In that flesh the scar of a wound healed the wound of unbelief.

3. 4. Still they argue, and ask of us: The little ones who die, will they rise as little ones? or will the age of those coming back to life be full, whose age was small when they died? This indeed we do not find defined in the Scriptures. Incorruptible and immortal bodies are promised to rise. But if the small age is restored, if the tiny stature is recalled, is weakness too therefore recalled? If they will be small, will they lie there, and not be able to walk? Yet it is taken as more credible and more probable and more reasonable that full ages will rise, so that what was going to accrue in time may be rendered by gift. For we are not going to believe that even gasping and bent old age will rise. In short, take away corruption, and add what you will.

3. 5. But, you say, how will an earthly body be in heaven? For the philosophers of the gentiles, those very great ones, whose either insane or at least merely human opinions I have already conveyed to you (for they sought these things not by the Spirit of God, but by the conjecture of the human heart); from this most of all they make a question, they treat subtly of the measures of weights and the order of the elements: and they say—what we too see—that the world is so arranged that the earth is lowest as it were at its bottom, the second, water, is poured over the earth, the third, air, comes, the fourth, ether, covers all. That uppermost element, which they call ether, they say is fire, liquid and pure, that from it the stars are formed, that nothing earthly can be there, since the order of weights does not admit it. If we were to say to them that our bodies will live in a new earth, and will not be in heaven, we speak boldly and rashly, indeed unfaithfully. For we ought to believe that we will have such bodies that wherever we wish, whenever we wish, there we will be. For if we answer, to solve the question about the order of weights, that we will live on earth, there arises for us the question about the very body of the Lord, with which he ascended into heaven.

4. 6. You heard what just now sounded freshly from the Gospel in our ears: Lifting up his hands he blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he withdrew from them, and was carried up into heaven (Luke 24:50-51). Who was carried up into heaven? The Lord Christ. Which Lord Christ? The Lord Jesus. What, are you going to separate the man from God, and make one person of God, another of man, so that there is now no longer a Trinity, but a quaternity? As you, a man, are soul and body, so the Lord Christ is Word, soul, and body. But the Word did not withdraw from the Father: and he came to us, and did not abandon the Father; and in the womb he took flesh, and ruled the world. What, then, was lifted up into heaven, except what was taken up from the earth? that is, that flesh, that body, of which, speaking to the disciples, he said: Handle, and see, that a spirit does not have bones and flesh, as you see me to have (Luke 24:39). Let us believe this, brothers: and if we resolve the arguments of the philosophers with difficulty, let us hold without difficulty of faith what was demonstrated in the Lord. Let them chatter, let us believe.

5. 7. But an earthly body, they say, cannot be in heaven. What if God wills it? Answer against God, and say: God cannot. Do you not, whatever pagan you are, say that God is almighty? Is it not read in the book of Plato, as I showed yesterday, that the uncreated God said to the gods made by him: Since you have come to be, you cannot indeed be immortal and indissoluble; yet you will not be dissolved, nor will any fates of death destroy you; nor will they be stronger than my counsel, which is a greater bond for your perpetuity than those by which you have been bound together? God brought everything to his own will, who can do even what is impossible. For what else is it to say, You cannot be immortal, but I make it that you do not die; except, even what cannot happen, I make happen?

6. 8. Yet I want to argue something also about the diversity of weights. I ask you, tell me, Earth is earth, Water is water, Air is air, Ether, that is heaven, and that liquid fire is heaven. These four, as it were step by step, they constructed and built the world, that is, of these four the world is built. Ask what is at the bottom, it is earth: what above, it is water: what above the water, it is air: what above the air, it is heaven, it is ether. What of solid bodies that are held and handled? I do not mean liquid ones, which slip and flow; I mean handleable bodies—from where are they? Are they to be assigned to earth, or to water, or to air, or to ether? You will answer, To earth. So is wood an earthly body? Plainly earthly. It is born in earth, it is nourished in earth, it grows in earth. It is handleable, not fluid. Return with me to that order of weights. Earth is at the foundation: follow the order. What above the earth? Water. Why does wood float on water? It is an earthly body: if you bring it back to that order of weights, it ought to be under the water, not above. We find water in the middle between earth and wood: earth below, water above, and above the water again earth, since wood is earth. You have lost that order, hold the faith. Therefore earthly bodies are found above the element that is second in the order of elements, when wood floats and is not sunk.

7. 9. Attend to something else, at which you may marvel more. The very heaviest bodies, and yet earthly, which, as soon as they are let go upon water, at once sink, and reach the lowest depths, like iron, finally like lead. For what is heavier than lead? Yet the hand of the craftsman comes to the lead, makes from it some hollow vessel, and the lead floats on the water. Will God, then, not give to my body what the craftsman gives to lead? Then, where do you place the water itself? Return to the order of the elements. Surely you will answer that water is above the earth. Why, then, before they run on the earth, do rivers hang in the clouds?

7. 10. Recall your consideration and thought from there to the things I am going to say, if with the Lord's help I am able. What is moved more easily, what is driven more swiftly, a heavier body or a lighter one? Who would not answer, A lighter one? For lighter bodies are moved more easily, driven more swiftly: heavier ones with more difficulty and more slowly. Surely you have fixed the rule, surely you have considered, and having looked around at everything, you have answered that lighter bodies are moved more easily and driven more swiftly than heavier ones. It is so, you say. Answer me, then. Why does the very light spider move itself slowly, and the heavy horse run swiftly? Let me speak of men themselves: a larger body of a man is heavier; a shorter body, which has less weight, is lighter. So indeed it is, but only if another carries it. But if the man himself carries his own body, the strong man runs, the thin man with feebleness scarcely walks. Weigh a thin man and a robust one; the one with feebleness scarcely weighing a few small pounds, the other with bodily health carrying many pounds in his flesh: try you to lift both; the strong one is heavy, the emaciated one is light. Let the carrier withdraw, let the walker appear; leave them to themselves, let them move their own bodies; I see the thin one scarcely moving a step, I see the strong and robust one running. If health avails this much, what will immortality avail?

8. 11. God, then, will give a wondrous ease, a wondrous lightness. Not without cause are those bodies called spiritual. They are not called spiritual because they will be spirits, not bodies. For these that we now have are called animate bodies: and yet they are not souls, but bodies. As now these are called animate, and are not souls: so those are called spiritual, but are not spirits, because they will be bodies. Why is it called a spiritual body, beloved, except because it will serve at the nod of the spirit? Nothing in you will contradict you, nothing in you will rebel against you. There will not be there what the Apostle laments: The flesh desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh (Gal 5:17). There will not be there: I see another law in my members fighting against the law of my mind (Rom 7:23). These wars will not be there: there will be peace, perfect peace will be there. Where you wish, you will be: but you will not withdraw from God. Where you wish, you will be: but wherever you go, you will have your God. In whom you will be blessed, with him you will always be.

8. 12. The promise of the resurrection is confirmed by so many other promises of God already fulfilled. Let no one, then, deceive, let no one argue, let no one rave with his own suspicion: what God promised us, let us hold most certainly will come. When Christ was being seen, my brothers, when he was thought a spirit, to persuade that he was a body, he offered himself not only to the eyes to be seen, but also to the hands to be handled. To whom, to show the truth of faith in the body, he condescended even to take food, not from necessity, but from power: yet while they still trembled for joy, he applied a strengthening of the heart from the holy Scriptures; and he said to them: These are the words that I spoke to you, while I was still with you: that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms about me. Then he opened their minds, as the Gospel says, which was just now read, that they might understand the Scriptures; and he said to them, That so it is written, and so it was fitting for Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and the forgiveness of sins be preached in his name among all nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:44-47). That we did not see, but this we do see. When those things were being promised, they were not yet seen. The apostles saw Christ present: but they did not see the Church spread through the whole world: they saw the head, and believed about the body. We have our turns, we have the grace of our dispensation and distribution: for believing by the most certain documents, the times have been distributed to us in one faith. They saw the head, and believed about the body: we see the body, let us believe about the head.

Sermon 242/A
In the Days of Easter, on the Resurrection of Bodies

1. That our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day the holy Gospels testify, and the whole world now confesses it in the holy Creed. The prophets, who did not see such things, foretold them as future; for they did not see, but foresaw in the spirit. And I think the others ought now to blush at this, who, since they do not dare deny the resurrection of Christ, deny that ours will be. For they say: He rose, as one to whom alone it was permitted to rise with the very flesh which he condescended to take. Does it therefore follow that our flesh too rises, because his rose? His power and strength is surely far distant from us. To whom it is answered: Far from you is the divinity of Christ, but the weakness of Christ has drawn near to you. With himself God, for you man; from what is his he made you, from what is yours he suffered for you. If, then, he made you from what is his, he rose in what is yours. For the Word did not have flesh: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: this was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him (John 1:1-3). And man was made through him: but afterward he through whom man was made was made man; and, lest man should perish, Christ died. But Christ rose. What rose in him? The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The Word took up what it was not, but never lost what it was. The Word, then, remained. What rose? The Word. Why did it fall? to rise. Why did the Word die? to come to life again. But we say it died in the flesh which it took up, not in the divinity in which it remained. Therefore, in the respect in which Christ rose, he did himself an injury, he gave you an example; for that he should rise was a humiliation, was an injury. Return to the Word, return to that, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and see what it is for him to rise; for he who raised his own flesh will also raise yours; for he willed to raise his own precisely so that you would not disbelieve that yours will rise.

2. But the men who argue against this say: The flesh of Christ rose, because it was for three days in the tomb, and did not see corruption; it neither wasted away, nor rotted, nor was dissolved into dust; but ours, when perhaps the tombs are opened, scarcely are bones found there, dust is found; whatever was flesh is all reduced to rottenness, all dissolved into dust; will that, then, be able to rise, which could not keep its own integrity? Consider, O man who argue these things, consider, I say, that there are bones in the tomb; if nothing else, there are at least bones. There is in the tomb also the dust of the body, in that place where the bosom of the earth received it. Return to your origin, and inquire what you were when you were sown. In the womb it poured out our first beginnings; remember: compare a man buried, and a man sown. Surely we all know that we are mortal. As, then, we consider the bowels of the earth, in which the body lies sown to rise, so let us consider men sown in their mothers' wombs, from where this composition of members has risen. Where lay hidden those five senses of the body? where were, in that fluid, the eyes and the tongue and the ears and the hands? From where did these distributed offices of members proceed? who created them? who formed them? Was it not God? That same God, then, who was able to bring the formed one out of the womb, he wills that from things done you should consider things to be done, and believe that he can bring you living out of the tomb. That men are sown in these ways, that men, I say, are formed in these ways in their mothers' wombs, are daily miracles; but they have lost their wonder through their too constant occurrence, and through that very familiarity have grown cheap. But a thing that is to be once—that is, the resurrection that is to be once—daily testimonies attend. Nature cries out, Scripture rebukes, let the future thing be believed; let it be believed, brothers, that this body of ours will rise, the good to glory, the bad to punishment.

3. For what, I beseech you, you who do not want to believe in the future resurrection of the flesh, what moves you? what displeases you in the body? Who ever hated his own flesh? says the Apostle (Eph 5:29). What displeases you in the body? If all the fitting-together of the body were described, would not the one who hears grow dull, and would not the one who describes be exhausted? What displeases you in the body? I say it: corruption, mortality. But the things that please you will be there, the things that displease you will not be. Hear the Apostle: An animate body is sown, a spiritual body will rise; it is sown in dishonor, it will rise in glory; it is sown in weakness, it will rise in power (1 Cor 15:44, 43). Hear more fully: This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality (1 Cor 15:53). What pleases you comes back to life, what displeases you perishes. Do not, then, be ungrateful to your Redeemer, by not believing what he promised; but do what he commands, that you may receive what he promised. For your Redeemer can do everything, because he is God. If it displeases you that the body be raised, let the body now displease you too. Why do you cherish what displeases you? why do you protect what displeases you? why do you nourish what displeases you? why do you wish it unharmed? Or does it please you? Then give thanks, and believe the resurrection. Bodies, then, will rise, because Christ rose; but they will not have any need, because Christ too, when he rose, ate by power, not by need. There will be no hunger there; we will not stand there with trembling and say: Give us this day our daily bread (Matt 6:11); we will always have the eternal bread. But it is always at hand; we will not pray for rain on its account, we will not tremble at a dry sky; because our bread will be he who made the sky. And there will be no fear there, no toil, no sorrow, no corruption, no need, no weakness, no weariness, no sluggishness. All these will not be: but the body will be. For all these evils that we feel in the body befell us through sin, did not arise through our condition. For from the beginning, through the man who sinned, we received a bad inheritance from our sinful father; but another inheritance came to us, of him who took up ours, and promised his own inheritance. We had death through fault, he took up death without fault; he was slain who was not a debtor, and he wiped out the bond of the debtors. Let there be in you, then, a mind full of faith in the resurrection. Not only are the things already done in Christ preached, but also the things to come are promised to Christians about him.

Sermon 243
In the Days of Easter, on the Resurrection of the Lord According to John

1. 1. The narrative of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Evangelist John began to be read today. For this you know, and I had commended it to you, that during these days the resurrection of the Lord is recited according to all four Evangelists. In these things, then, that we have heard, this alone is wont to disturb: why the Lord Jesus said to the woman seeking his body, and now recognizing him as alive: Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father (John 20:17). But I told you, and you ought to remember, that not all say everything; but things are said by some that are left out by others. Yet not so that they are to be believed to be at variance with one another, if contentiousness is absent, and the devotion of one who understands is present. For, as it is read in the Evangelist Matthew, after he rose, he met two women, among whom this one too was; and he said to them: Hail. But they approached, and held his feet, and adored him (Matt 28:9): and surely he had not yet ascended to the Father. How, then, is it now said to this woman: Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father? For these words seem to sound as though Mary could then touch him, when he had ascended into heaven. If she does not touch him set on earth, who of mortals can touch him sitting in heaven?

2. 2. But that touch signifies faith. He touches Christ who believes in Christ. For that woman too who was suffering from a flow of blood said within herself: If I touch the hem of his garment, I will be saved. By faith she touched, and the health which she presumed followed. Finally, that we might know what it is truly to touch, the Lord at once said to his disciples: Who touched me? And the disciples said: The crowds press you, and you say, Who touched me? And he: Someone touched me (Luke 8:43-46). As if to say: The crowd presses, faith touches. This Mary, then, to whom the Lord said: Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father, seems to bear the person of the Church, which then believed in Christ, when he had ascended to the Father. See, I ask you, when you believed; I ask the Church spread through the whole world, whose person was in one woman: and with one voice she answers me, I believed then, when Jesus had ascended to the Father. What does it mean, I believed then; except, I touched then? Many carnal men thought Christ only a man, they did not understand the divinity hidden in him. They did not touch well, because they did not believe well. Do you wish to touch well? Understand Christ where he is coeternal with the Father, and you have touched. But if you think him a man, and think nothing more, he has not yet ascended to the Father for you.

3. 3. The Lord Jesus, then, presented the appearance of his body to human senses, to confirm the resurrection of the flesh. He wished to teach us nothing else, by showing himself alive in the body after his resurrection, than that the resurrection of the dead should be believed by us. Since, then, everything is to be restored whole, a difficult question about the use of the members is wont to be asked by those who desire to know, and again to be raised by those who desire to quarrel. For they say that our body has all its members, and that it is evident which members are necessary for which works. For who does not know, who does not see, that we have eyes for seeing, ears for hearing, a tongue for speaking, nostrils for smelling, teeth for chewing, hands for working, feet for walking; and also those members that are called the private parts, for generating? Moreover, the inner organs too, which, lest they should be horrible to the sight, God willed to be covered; our inner parts, and what are called the intestines, for what uses they serve, both many men, and physicians better, have come to know. They argue, then, and say to us: If we will have ears to hear, eyes to see, a tongue to speak; why will we have teeth, if we will not eat, the throat, lungs, stomach, intestines through which foods pass and are changed to suit the balance of our health; finally, those very members that are called the private parts, why, they say, will we have them, where there will be no generation, no digestion?

4. 4. What shall we answer them? Are we going to say that we will rise without intestines, after the likeness of statues? For about the teeth it is easily answered. For the teeth help us not only to chew, but also to speak; striking our tongue, as the plectrum the strings, so that it may sound out syllables. The rest of our members, then, will be for appearance, not for use; for the commendation of beauty, not for the need of necessity. Will they, because they will be idle, therefore be unseemly? And indeed now, because we are unskilled, and ignorant of the causes of things, if our inner parts are seen, they are shuddered at rather than loved. For who knows how the members are connected to one another, and by what proportions they are fitted together? Hence it is even called a harmony; which word is taken from music: where surely we see in the lyre the strings stretched. If all the strings sound alike, there is no melody. A different stretching produces different sounds; but different sounds joined by reason produce, not for those who see, a beauty, but for those who hear, a sweetness. Whoever has learned this reason in the human members marvels so much, delights so much, that this reason is preferred by those who understand to all visible beauty. Now we do not know it; but then we will know it: not because they will be laid bare, but because, even covered, they will not be able to lie hidden.

5. 5. Someone will answer me, and say: How, if they are covered, will they not be able to lie hidden? Will our hearts not lie hidden, and our inner parts lie hidden? Our thoughts, my brothers, the thoughts that now no one sees except God, all will see one another's in that society of the saints. No one there wishes what he thinks to be covered, because no one there thinks evil. Hence the Apostle says: Do not judge anything before the time: that is, Do not rashly judge, when you do not see with what heart anyone acts. If something is done that can also be done with a good heart, do not blame it: do not arrogate to yourself more than humanity requires. To see the heart belongs to God: but it does not belong to men, except to judge of the things that are manifest. Do not, then, he says, judge anything before the time. What does it mean, before the time? It follows, and he says: Until the Lord comes, and illumines the hidden things of darkness. What darkness he meant, he plainly shows by the following words: He will illumine, he says, the hidden things of darkness. What is this? Hear what follows: And he will make manifest the thoughts of the heart (1 Cor 4:5). This is to illumine the hidden things of darkness, to make manifest the thoughts of the heart. Now, then, our thoughts are in the light to ourselves, to each one individually, because we know them: but to our neighbors they are in darkness, because they do not see them. There, what you know you are thinking, another too will know. What do you fear? Now you want to hide, now you fear to have your thoughts made public: for perhaps you sometimes think something evil, perhaps something base, perhaps something vain. Nothing but good, nothing but honorable, nothing but true, nothing but pure, nothing but sincere, when you are there, will you think. As you now want your face to be seen, so then you will want your conscience to be seen.

6. 5. For the very recognition too, beloved, the very recognition—will it not be the recognition of us all? Do you think that, because you know me, you are going to recognize me, but you are not going to recognize my father, whom you do not know, or some bishop or other who was in this church many years ago? You will all know one another. Those who will be there will not recognize one another because they will see faces: there will be a recognition of one another by a greater knowledge. So all will see, and far more excellently, in the way the prophets are accustomed to see here. They will see divinely, when they will be full of God. There will be nothing to give offense, nor anything to lie hidden from the one who knows.

6. 6. There will be there, then, whole members, even those that here are private parts, but there they will not be private parts. There will be no anxious concern for the honor of modesty, where there will be no disgrace of lust. See, even here, where, in a way, necessity is the mother of all our works—which necessity then will not be—yet we find some things that God placed in bodies for no uses, but for adornment alone.

7. 6. A while ago I was running through the members: and now let us go over them a little more carefully. We have eyes for seeing, ears for hearing, nostrils for smelling, the mouth and tongue for speaking, teeth for chewing, the throat for swallowing, the stomach for receiving and digesting, the intestines for passing the food down to the lower parts, and those that are called the private parts, either for excretion or for generation; hands for working, feet for walking. What is the use of a beard, except that it is beauty alone? Why did God create a beard on a man? I see its appearance, I do not seek its use. It is clear why women have breasts, surely that they may suckle little ones: why do men have nipples? Ask the use, there is none: ask the appearance, a chest with nipples becomes men too. Take the nipples away from a man's chest, and see how much beauty you have removed, how much ugliness you have introduced.

8. 7. So then, beloved, so believe, so hold, that there will be no use for many of the members there, but no adornment of any will be lacking. Nothing will be unseemly there, there will be the highest peace, nothing discordant, nothing monstrous, nothing that offends the sight; in all things God will be praised. For if now, in this weakness of the flesh and the delicate working of the members, so great a beauty of the body appears, which entices the lustful, and rouses to inquiry both the studious and the curious; and if there is found in the body a reasoning of numbers, and no other craftsman of these is found than the craftsman of the heavens, but the same one is the creator of the lowest things and of the highest: how much more there, where there will be no lust, no corruption, no deformed crookedness, no troublesome necessity, but unending eternity, beautiful truth, the highest happiness?

9. 8. But you say to me: What am I going to do? there will be no use of the members there, what am I going to do? Does no activity seem to you to be there—to see, to love, to praise? See, these holy days, which are celebrated after the Lord's resurrection, signify the life to come after our resurrection. For as the days of Lent before Easter signified the laborious life in this mortal trouble: so these joyful days signify the life to come, where we will be going to reign with the Lord. The life that is signified by Lent before Easter is now had: the life that is signified by the fifty days after the Lord's resurrection is not had, but hoped for, and by hoping loved; and in that very love God who promised these things is praised, and those very praises are the Alleluia. For what is Alleluia? It is a Hebrew word, Alleluia, Praise God. Allelu, Praise; ia, God: so when we sound Alleluia we say Praise God, and we rouse one another to praise God: with hearts in concord, better than with the strings of a lyre, we say praises to God, we sing Alleluia. And when we have sung, because of weakness we withdraw, to refresh our bodies. Why do we refresh them, except because we grow faint? Then so great is the weakness of the flesh, so great the trouble of this life, that any great thing whatever comes into distaste. How we desired these days to come round each year, when they were just departing; and with what eagerness we came to them through the interval of time? If it were said to us, Say Alleluia without ceasing, we would excuse ourselves. Why would we excuse ourselves? Because, being weary, we could not, because even at the good itself we would grow tired with distaste. There there is no failing, no distaste. Stand, praise, you who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God (Ps 135:2 (134:2)). What do you seek, what you will do there? Blessed, he says, are those who dwell in your house, O Lord; forever and ever they will praise you (Ps 84:4 (83:5)).

Sermon 244
In the Days of Easter

1. From the Gospel according to John the resurrection of the Lord began to be recited today. We have heard, and with the eyes of faith we have seen, the devout woman's affection toward the Lord Jesus. She was seeking Jesus, but yet still sought him as the body of a dead man, and yet loved him as a good master. She did not understand that he had risen from the dead, she did not believe it; and because she saw the stone removed from the tomb, believing that the body she sought had been taken away from there, she announced to the disciples a thing to be grieved over. Two ran, of whom one was Peter, the other John. For he it is whom Jesus loved, surely above the rest: for he loved them all as the Lord. They ran, to see whether the woman spoke the truth, that the body had been taken away from the tomb. They came, they looked, they did not find the body, and they believed. But what did they believe? What they ought not to have believed. So when you heard: And they believed, perhaps you thought they believed what they ought to have believed, that is, that the Lord had risen from the dead. They did not believe this, but what the woman had announced. Finally, that you may know they believed this, the Evangelist at once added, and said: For they did not yet know the Scriptures, that he must rise from the dead (John 20:9). Where is faith? where is the truth so often attested? Did not the Lord Jesus himself, before the passion, several times tell them that he was to be handed over, to be killed, and to rise again? He was still speaking to the deaf. Already Peter had said to him: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Already he had heard: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt 16:16-18). Such faith was swallowed up when the Lord was crucified. For Peter believed him the Son of God only until he saw him hanging on the wood, until he saw him fixed with nails, until he saw him dead, until he saw him buried. Then he lost what he was holding. Where is the rock? where is the firmness of the rock? The rock was Christ himself, but Peter was from the rock. Therefore the rock had risen, to make Peter firm: for Peter would have perished, unless the rock lived.

2. Afterward, however, when the Lord said to the woman: Mary, turning she recognized him, and called him master: Rabboni. The Lord's resurrection was manifested to this woman. What, then, does it mean: Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father (John 20:16-17)? A question wonderful in many ways. First, because he forbade himself to be touched, as though he could be touched badly by one touching him. Then, because, giving the reason why he did not wish to be touched and forbade it, he says: For I have not yet ascended to my Father: as if he said: Then you will touch me, when I have ascended to my Father. He was set on earth and forbidden to be touched, and could she touch him sitting in heaven? For I had said, What does it mean: Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father? I add more: When he rose, as he himself says, and the other Evangelists, and we have already heard, when the holy readings were read, he appeared to his disciples; and when they thought him a spirit, he said to them: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your heart? See my hands and my feet. Handle, and see (Luke 24:38-39). Surely he had now ascended? He had not yet ascended to his Father, and he said to his disciples: Handle, and see. Where is: Do not touch me? Here perhaps someone is going to say: He willed to be touched by the men, he did not will to be touched by the women. If he shrank from a woman, he would not have been born of a woman. Nevertheless, whatever this is that can make some kind of question, so that it is said that the Lord, before he ascended to the Father, willed to be touched by men, did not will to be touched by women, the Evangelist Matthew speaks against it. For he himself narrated that women met the Lord rising again, among whom this Mary too was, and that they held his feet. The question is constricted in many ways, as to what it means: Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father. All that I have said, I have said for this, that the difficulty of the question might be increased: you see it strong, and as it were insoluble. May the Lord help me, that it may be solved. He who has condescended to propose it, let him condescend to expound it. Pray with me for the effect: your ears to me, your heart to him. What he condescends to suggest to me, I will share with you. Whoever understands better, let him teach me: I am so a teacher that I am not unteachable. But whoever does not understand better, let him hear from me what he understands.

3. The Lord Jesus, as we have heard, as it appears, the disciples thought a man, and according to this they weighed their faith: they did not raise it higher. On earth they walked with Christ. What he had been made for our sake, this they knew: what made us, they did not know. He himself is Christ both the maker and the made. See the maker: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: this was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him (John 1:1-3). See the made: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:14). We see Jesus, then, but with the faith of the apostles already preached to us. What we know, they did not yet know. I do no injury. I do not dare to say that they were ignorant: but yet I see them confessing ignorance. They did not know, afterward they learned, what we already know. That Christ is both God and man, that Christ is both the maker of things and made among things, that Christ is both the creator of man and a created man, we know, they did not yet. God, Christ is equal to the Father: he is as great as he, he is such as he, he is what he is; he is not who he is. He is what the Father is; because the Father is God, and he is God; the Father is almighty, and he is almighty; the Father is unchangeable, and he is unchangeable: he is what the Father is. He is not who the Father is; because the Father is the Father, this one the Son. Whoever knows this, for him Christ has ascended to the Father: whoever does not know this, for him Christ has not yet ascended to the Father; he is a little child with him, he is on earth with him, he is not yet for him equal to the Almighty. For the one making progress he ascends; with him who makes progress he ascends. What, then, does it mean: Do not touch me? Touch signifies faith. For by touching, one draws near to the one who is touched. See that woman who was suffering from a flow of blood. She said in her heart: I will be healed, if I touch the hem of his garment. She drew near and touched, she was healed. What does it mean, She drew near and touched? She came close and believed. That you may know she touched by believing, the Lord said: Someone touched me. What does it mean, Someone touched me; except, Someone believed in me? And that you may know that this is, Someone touched me, namely Someone believed in me; The disciples answered, and said to him: The crowds press you, and you say, Who touched me? If you were walking alone, if the crowd had made you space for walking, if no one were beside you, you would rightly say: Someone touched me. The crowd presses you, you mention one who touched. And he repeated: Someone touched me. For first he had said: Who touched me? and afterward: Someone touched me (Luke 8:44-46). You know, because you say: The crowds press you. Someone touched me. This crowd knows how to press, it does not know how to touch. It is settled that he wished to signify this by saying: Who touched me? Someone touched me. So that we believe that touch to be the faith of the one touching, or rather the approach of the one believing. What, then, does it mean: Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father? What you see me to be, this you think me to be: I have not yet ascended to the Father. You see me a man, you think me a man: I am indeed a man, but let your faith not stop here. Do not touch me so as to believe me only a man. For I have not yet ascended to my Father. I ascend to my Father, and touch me: that is, make progress, understand me equal to the Father, and then touch, and you will be saved. Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father. You see that I have come down, you do not yet see that I have ascended. For I have not yet ascended to my Father. I emptied myself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man (Phil 2:7). This was crucified, this buried, this raised again. But that, Since he was in the form of God, he did not think it robbery to be equal to God (Phil 2:6), you do not yet see. That I have ascended you do not yet see. Do not, by touching the earth, lose heaven: do not, by remaining in the man, fail to believe in the God. Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.

4. Let the Arian come forward: first let the Photinian come forward. We answer the Photinian: Do not touch. What does it mean, Do not touch? Do not believe so: Christ has not yet ascended to the Father for you. Let the Arian come forward. I, he says, believe Christ to be God, but less. Neither for you has he yet ascended to the Father. When he has ascended to the Father, stretch yourself out, that you may touch: stretch yourself out, touch God. And I, he says, profess God; but of another nature, and another substance; created, not the one through whom all things were created; made, not in the beginning the Word without time. So you are still below; he has not yet ascended to the Father for you. Do you want him to ascend to the Father for you? Believe: Since he was in the form of God, he did not think it robbery to be equal to God (Phil 2:6). It was not robbery, because it was nature. Robbery is usurped, nature is recognized. In the form of God he did not think it robbery to be equal to God. So he was born, and always born; both born and always born, and born without beginning. What do you say, Arian? There was a time when the Son was not. Do you see that he has not yet ascended to the Father for you? Do not touch, do not believe so. There is no time between the Father and the Son. The Father begot, the Son was born: without time he begot, without time he was born, he through whom the times were made. Touch so, and he ascends to the Father for you. The Word, but coeternal with God: the Wisdom of God, but without whom the Father never was. Your flesh has an answer for you, and will chat with you, will say to you in the darkness: How was he born? The darkness speaks with you. Let it be expounded to me, you cry: I cry, let it be expounded to me. What do you want expounded to you? Was he born, or not born? For he would not be the Son, unless born. If, then, he was born, there was a time when he was not. This is false: you speak earth, you speak from earth. Expound to me, then, he says, how he was born, if he always was. I do not expound it, I do not expound it; I cannot. I do not expound it: but for myself I set up the prophet: His generation, who shall declare it? (Isa 53:8)

Sermon 245
In the Days of Easter

1. Today too the resurrection of the Lord has been recited from the holy Gospel. And the Gospel was read according to John. We have heard things that we had not heard in the other books of the Gospel. The preaching of the truth is indeed common to all, and they all drank from one fount: but in the preaching of the Gospel, as I have often reminded your Charity, some things all set down, some things three, some things two, some things the individual ones set down. So now what we have heard according to the Gospel of John—that Mary saw the Lord, and the Lord said to her: Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father (John 20:17)—the Evangelist John alone records. From this, then, I must speak to your Holiness. Even when they had seen the linen cloths in the tomb, they had believed that the Lord had not risen, but had been taken away. John himself (for he calls himself the one whom Jesus loved), when he had heard the women announcing and saying: They have taken away my Lord from the tomb, ran with Peter, and looked into the tomb, saw only the linen cloths, and believed. What did he believe? Not that he had risen, but that he had been taken away from the tomb. This the following words attest. For so it is written, what we just now heard: He looked, he saw, and he believed: for he did not yet know the Scriptures, that he must rise from the dead (John 20:8-9). So it appeared what he believed: what was not of faith, this he believed: he believed, but believed something false. The Lord appeared to him afterward, put the false to flight, implanted the true.

2. Yet that which is wont to disturb a reader and hearer who is not incurious or negligent—how it was said: Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father—let us see here, with the Lord's own help, what was meant. For this disturbs, what it means: Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father. For when did he ascend to the Father? As the Acts of the Apostles indicate, on the fortieth day after his resurrection, which day we are going to celebrate in his name: then he ascended to the Father; then the disciples, who had touched him with their hands, escorted him with their eyes. Then the angelic voice sounded: Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you, will come in the same way as you saw him going into heaven (Acts 1:11). If, then, he ascended to the Father then, what do we say, my brothers? Could Mary not touch him standing on earth, and could she touch him sitting in heaven? If she could not here, how much less could she there? What, then, does it mean: Do not touch me; for I have not ascended to the Father? For the words sound as though he said, Touch me then, when I have ascended; before I ascend, do not touch me. O Lord, you are here, and I do not touch; when you have ascended, shall I touch? Then, if before he ascended to the Father he shrank from human touch, how did he offer himself to the disciples not only to be seen but even to be felt, when he said: What do you think in your hearts? See my hands and my feet: handle, and see, that a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me to have (Luke 24:38-39)? That disciple Thomas too, the unbelieving one, touched the pierced side, and exclaimed: My Lord and my God! (John 20:28) When he touched, Jesus had not yet ascended to the Father. Or will some foolish person perhaps say: Before he ascended to the Father, men could touch him; but women could not, except when he had ascended to the Father? That thought is absurd, and the opinion perverse. By all means let the Church hear what Mary heard. Let all hear this, let all understand, let all do it. What, then, does it mean: Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father? What you see me to be, you think me only a man, you do not yet know that I am equal to the Father: do not touch me as such, do not believe in me as only a man, but understand the Word equal to the Begetter. What, then, does it mean: Do not touch me? Do not believe. What do you mean, do not believe? That I am only what you see. I will ascend to the Father, and then touch. I ascend for you, when you have understood me to be equal. For when you think me less, I do not yet ascend for you.

3. But that to touch is to believe, I think we can easily understand from that woman who touched the hem of Christ's garment, and was made whole. Remember the Gospel: the Lord Jesus Christ was going to visit the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, who was first reported sick, afterward dead. As he went on his way, see, a woman came across his path, who had been afflicted with a flow of blood for twelve years, and, while the physicians cured her in vain and did not heal her, had consumed all she had: and she said in her heart: If I touch the hem of his garment, I will be saved. To say this very thing was already to touch. Finally, hear the verdict. When she had been made whole according to her faith, the Lord Jesus Christ said: Someone touched me. And the disciples: The crowds press you, and you say, Who touched me? And he: Someone touched me; for I know that power has gone out from me (Luke 8:43-46). Grace went forth, that she might be healed, not that he might be diminished. So the disciples say, The crowds press you; and have you felt one man or one woman? and he: Someone touched me: they press, this woman touched. What does it mean, they press, this woman touched? The Jews afflict, the Church believed.

4. According to this understanding, then, by which we see that the woman touched, which is, believed, according to this it was said to Mary: Do not touch me; I will ascend, and touch. For touch me then, when you have come to know: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). The Word indeed was made flesh, the Word remains uncontaminated, immaculate, unchangeable, and whole. But because you see only the man, you do not see the Word; I do not want you to believe in the flesh, and abandon the Word. Let the whole Christ appear to you, because he is equal to the Father in the Word. Do not, then, he says, touch now: because you do not yet see who I am. So let the Church, whose figure Mary bore, hear what Mary heard. Let us all touch, if we believe. He has already ascended to the Father, he sits at the right hand of the Father. The whole Church confesses this today: He ascended into heaven, he sits at the right hand of the Father. This those who are baptized hear: this they believe before they are baptized. When, then, they believe, Mary touches Christ. The understanding is obscure, but sound: closed to unbelievers, open to faith that knocks. The Lord Jesus Christ himself, then, is both there and with us; both with the Father and in us; he neither withdraws from him, nor abandons us: and he teaches us to pray, as a master; and with the Father he hears, as a Son.

Sermon 246
In the Days of Easter, a Discourse Given on Thursday

1. In many ways the Lord Jesus appeared to his faithful after the resurrection; all the Evangelists had material from which to write, as the Spirit supplied to them the recollections of the things that they were to write. One said one thing, another another. Someone could leave out something true, not say something false. Reckon that all these things were said by one; truly one said them, because one Spirit was in them all. What have we heard today? That the disciples did not believe that Jesus had risen, and did not believe him when he himself had foretold this very thing. The matter is manifest, and is therefore written down, that we may give great thanks to God, because we believed in him whom we did not see on earth. To their eyes and hands it was scarcely persuaded what we believe.

2. You have heard that his disciple entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths laid there and believed; for he did not yet know the Scriptures, that Jesus must rise from the dead. So you have heard, so it was read: He saw and believed; for he did not yet know the Scriptures (John 20:8-9). Therefore it should have said: He saw and did not believe; for he did not yet know the Scriptures. What, then, does it mean: He saw the linen cloths and believed? What did he believe? What the woman had said: They have taken away my Lord from the tomb. For if you heard—rather, since you heard—this is what that woman had said: They have taken away my Lord from the tomb, and I do not know where they have put him (John 20:13). On hearing this they ran. He entered the tomb, saw the linen cloths, and believed what the woman had said; that Christ had been taken away from the tomb. Why did he believe that Christ had been taken away and stolen from the tomb? Why? For he did not yet know the Scriptures, that Jesus must rise from the dead. He had entered, he had not found him. He ought to have believed that he had risen, not that he had been stolen.

3. What, then, does it mean? We are wont to speak to you about it every year. But the reading itself is solemnly read, and let the sermon itself be solemnly rendered. Why did the Lord Christ say to the woman who now recognized him . . . For first he had said: Whom do you seek? why do you weep? But she thought him to be the gardener (John 20:15). And, if you consider, if we are his vegetables, Christ is the gardener. Is he not a gardener who planted a grain of mustard seed, that is, a very small and fervent seed? And it grew and ascended and made so great a tree that even the birds of the air rested in its branches. If you have, he himself says, faith like a grain of mustard seed (Matt 17:20). A grain of mustard seed seems small, nothing more contemptible in appearance, yet nothing stronger. What else is this but the greatest ardor and inmost power of faith in the Church? So she thought him the gardener and said to him: Lord—for honor's sake, because she was begging a favor, she therefore said Lord—if you have taken him away, show me where you have put him, and I will take him away (John 20:15). As if to say: He is necessary to me, not to you. O woman, you think a dead Christ necessary to you, recognize the living one. You seek the dead one, the Lord saw himself sought as dead. But the dead one would profit us nothing, unless he had risen from the dead. And he was sought as dead, he showed himself alive. How alive? He called her by name: Mary; and at once she, hearing her name: Rabboni. For a gardener could say: Whom do you seek? why do you weep? But Mary none could say except Christ. He called her by name, who called her to the kingdom of heaven. He said this name which he himself had written in his book: Mary. And she: Rabboni, which means Master (John 20:16). Now she had come to know him by whom she was enlightened to be known; now he who before was thought the gardener was seen to be Christ. And the Lord to her: Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father (John 20:17).

4. What does this mean: Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father? If she could not touch him standing on earth, could she touch him sitting in heaven, as if he said: Now do not touch me, then touch me when I have ascended to the Father? Let your Charity recall yesterday's reading, when the Lord appeared to the disciples and they thought they were seeing a spirit. But he, wishing to take away this error from them, offered himself to be touched. What did he say? It was read yesterday, the sermon was from it. Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your heart? See my hands and my feet, handle and see (Luke 24:38-39). Surely he had now ascended to the Father, when he said: handle and see, offering himself to be touched by his disciples—not touched but handled, that there might be faith in the true flesh of the true body, that the solidity of the truth might be shown even to human touch? He offers himself, then, to be handled by the hands of the disciples, and says to the woman: Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. What does it mean? The men could touch him only on earth, the women had to touch him then in heaven: For I have not yet ascended to my Father? What, then, is it to touch, except to believe? For by faith we touch Christ, and it is better not to touch with the hand, and to touch by faith, than to handle with the hand and not to touch by faith. It was no great thing to touch Christ. The Jews touched him when they seized him, they touched him when they bound him, they touched him when they hung him up, they touched him even by touching badly, and what they touched they lost. Touch you by faith, O Catholic Church, by faith touch you. If you think Christ only a man, you have touched on earth. If you believe Christ the Lord equal to the Father, then you have touched when he ascended to the Father. So he ascends for us when we have understood him. Once, at that time, he ascended, but now he ascends daily. And for how many he does not ascend, for how many he lies on earth, how many say: He was not a man, how many say: He was a great man, how many say: He was a prophet, how many Christians have arisen who would say, like Photinus: He was a man, he had nothing more; but he surpassed all pious and holy men in the excellence of righteousness and wisdom, for he was not God. O Photinus, you have touched on earth, you hastened to touch, you rushed your verdict, you did not arrive at the truth, equal to the Father, and therefore did not arrive at the homeland, because you erred on the road.

5. Then let us hear his words: I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God (John 20:17). Why not: to our Father and our God, but with a distinction: my Father and your Father, and my God and your God? My Father, because I am the only one, your Father by grace, not by nature. My Father, because he always was this, your Father, because I chose you. My God and your God. How is the Father God of Christ? He is his Father because he begot him. How is he his God? Because he also created him. He begot him, the only-begotten Word; he created him from the seed of David according to the flesh; therefore he is both Father of Christ and God of Christ; Father of Christ according to the divinity, God of Christ according to the weakness. Hear how God is of Christ, let us question the Psalm. Through the prophet he himself said: From my mother's womb you are my God (Ps 22:10 (21:11)). Before my mother's womb my Father, from my mother's womb my God. Why, then, is there a distinction there too, namely, my Father and your Father? There is a distinction because in one way he is the Father of the only-begotten Son, in another our Father. His Father by nature, ours by grace. He ought, then, to have said: to my Father and your Father and our God, because God, if he is God of a creature, and therefore of Christ because Christ too is a creature according to man. Father of Christ distinctly. Since he is the creator of Christ, the God of Christ, why distinctly, when according to man Christ is a creature, we too are creatures, according to man Christ is surely a servant—taking the form of a servant, says the Apostle (Phil 2:7)—why, then: my God and your God, and there too distinctly? Distinctly plainly. For all of us our God formed by the propagation of sin. But he both was made man otherwise, he was born of a virgin, a woman conceived him not by desiring but by believing, he did not draw the propagation of sin from Adam. We were all born through sin; he was born without sin, who cleansed sins. Therefore there too a distinction: my God and your God. For you were created from seed, from male and female, you came from the desire of the flesh with the propagation of sin: For who is clean in your sight? Not even an infant whose life is of one day upon the earth (Job 14:4-5). Finally, there is haste with infants, that there may be loosed in them what they added not by living, but drew by being born. Not so Christ. My God and your God; my God because of the likeness of sinful flesh; your God because of sinful flesh.

6. Thus far concerning the Gospel reading that relates to the resurrection of the Lord which the Evangelist John wrote, and it will be enough to have made a sermon, because other readings of the same Gospel of John concerning the same resurrection of the Lord will have to be read. For no one narrated his resurrection more copiously than holy John, so that it cannot be read in one day, but is read on another, is read again on a third, until whatever holy John wrote down about the Lord's resurrection is finished.

Sermon 247
In the Days of Easter

1. The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the truth of the four Evangelists seems to have been completed yesterday. For on the first day the resurrection was read according to Matthew, on another day according to Luke, on the third day according to Mark, on the fourth, that is yesterday, according to John. But since John and Luke wrote very many things about the resurrection itself and what happened after the resurrection, which cannot be recited in one reading; yesterday too we heard something according to John, and today, and still other readings remain. Today, then, what have we heard? That on the very day on which he rose, that is, the Lord's day, when it had become late, and the disciples were in one place, and the doors were shut for fear of the Jews, the Lord appeared in their midst. On that very day, then, as the Evangelist John witnesses, he appeared to his disciples twice, in the morning and in the evening. From the fact that he appeared in the morning, that reading too was recited: but that on the same day he appeared again in the evening, we have just now heard as it was recited. There was no need for these things to be recalled by me, but that they should be noted by you: yet because of the lesser understanding or greater negligence of certain people, it was fitting to recall them, that you may know not only what you have heard, but also from what Scripture is read to you what you have heard.

2. Let us see, then, what is proposed to us to speak about by today's reading. For the reading itself admonishes us, and in a way speaks to us, that we should say something about how the Lord, who rose in that solidity of body, so that he was not only seen by the disciples, but even touched, could appear to them with the doors shut. For some are so moved about this matter that they almost come into danger, bringing against the divine miracles the prejudgments of their own reasonings. For thus they argue: If it was a body, if it was flesh and bones, if this rose from the tomb, which hung on the wood; how could it enter through shut doors? If it could not, they say: It did not happen. If it could, how could it? If you grasp the manner, it is not a miracle: and if it does not seem to you a miracle, you are close to denying that he even rose from the tomb. Look back from the beginning at the miracles of your Lord, and give me a reason for each. A man did not approach, and a virgin conceived. Give a reason how a virgin conceived without a male. Where reason fails, there is the building up of faith. See, you have one miracle in the Lord's conception: hear another in the birth too. A virgin gave birth, and remained a virgin. Already then, before he rose, the Lord was born through shut doors. You ask of me and say: If he entered through shut doors, where is the measure of the body? And I answer: If he walked on the sea, where is the weight of the body? But the Lord did that as Lord. So when he rose, did he cease to be Lord? What of the fact that he even made Peter walk on the sea? What divinity could do in him, faith fulfilled in the other. But Christ, because he could; Peter, because Christ helped him. If, then, you begin with human sense to discuss the reason of miracles, I fear lest you lose faith. Do you not know that nothing is impossible to God? Whoever, then, says to you, If he entered through shut doors, it was not a body: answer him on the contrary, On the contrary, if he was touched, it was a body; if he ate, it was a body: and he did it by a miracle, not by nature. Is not the daily course of nature itself to be marveled at? All things are full of miracles: but through their constant occurrence they have grown cheap. Give me a reason: I ask something about the customary and usual things: give a reason why the seed of so great a fig tree is so small that it can scarcely be seen, and the lowly gourd produces so large a seed. Yet in that tiny grain of seed, scarcely visible, if you consider with the mind, not the eyes; in that smallness, those straits, both the root lies hidden, and the wood is set within, and the future leaves are bound up, and the fruit that will appear on the tree is already sent ahead in the seed. There is no need to run through many things: of daily things no one gives a reason, and you demand of me a reason about miracles. Read, then, the Gospel, and believe the deeds that are marvelous. Greater is what God did, and you do not marvel at what exceeds all works: it was nothing, and there is a world.

3. But the mass of the body could not, you say, pass through the doors, which were shut. How great was that mass, I ask you? As great surely as it is in all men: surely not as great as it is in a camel? Surely not so great. Read the Gospel, hear him: when he wished to show the difficulty of a rich man entering the kingdom of heaven, he said: It is easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich man into the kingdom of heaven. On hearing this the disciples, considering that it could in no way happen that a camel should enter through the eye of a needle, were saddened within themselves, saying: If it is so, who then can save himself? If it is easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich man into the kingdom of heaven; in no way can a camel enter through the eye of a needle; so none of the rich can be saved. The Lord answered: The things that are impossible to men are easy to God (Matt 19:24-26). God can both pass a camel through the eye of a needle, and bring a rich man into the kingdom of heaven. Why do you slander me about the shut doors? Shut doors have at least a crack: compare the crack of the doors to the eye of a needle, compare the mass of human flesh to the size of camels; and do not slander the divinity of the miracles.

Sermon 248
In the Days of Easter

1. Today too a reading has been recited from the things that were done after the Lord's resurrection, according to the Evangelist John. Your Charity has heard with us that the Lord Jesus Christ showed himself to his disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and he who had already made them fishers of men found them still fishers of fish. Through the whole night they caught nothing: but when the Lord was seen, and at his command they cast their nets, they caught the number you heard. The Lord would never command this, unless he wished to signify something that it was good for us to know. What, then, of any great moment could pertain to Jesus Christ, whether fish were caught, or were not caught? But that fishing was our signification. Let us, then, recall with you those two fishings of the disciples, made at the command of the Lord Jesus Christ, one before the passion, the other after the resurrection. In these two fishings, then, the whole Church is figured, both what it is now, and what it will be in the resurrection of the dead. For now it has without number many, both good and bad: but after the resurrection it will have, with a fixed number, only the good.

2. Remember, then, the first fishing, where we may see what the Church is like in this time. The Lord Jesus found his disciples fishing, when he first called them to follow him. Then through the whole night they caught nothing. But when he was seen, they heard from him: Cast the nets. Lord, they said, through the whole night we caught nothing; but see, at your word we cast the net. They cast it, at the command of the Almighty. What else could happen, except what he willed? But yet by that very deed he condescended, as I said, to signify something to us that it is good to know. The nets were cast. The Lord had not yet suffered, had not yet risen. The nets were cast: they caught so many fish that the two boats were filled, and the very nets were torn by that multitude of fish. Then he said to them: Come and I will make you fishers of men (Luke 5:4-10). They received from him the nets of the word of God, they cast them into the world as into a deep sea: they caught as great a multitude of Christians as we behold and marvel at. But those two boats signified two peoples, of the Jews and of the gentiles, of the Synagogue and of the Church, of the circumcision and of the uncircumcision. For of those two boats, as of two walls coming from different directions, Christ is the cornerstone. But what have we heard? There the boats were pressed by the multitude. So it happens now: many Christians who live badly press the Church. It is too little that they press it: they also tear the nets. For if the nets had not been torn, schisms would not have been committed.

3. Let us pass, then, from this fishing which we endure, and come to that one which we ardently long for and faithfully desire. See, the Lord died, but rose: he appeared at the sea to his disciples, he commands them to cast the nets, not in just any way. Attend. For in the first fishing he did not say to them: Cast the nets on the right, or on the left. For if he said, On the left; only the bad would be signified: if he said, On the right; only the good would be figured. Therefore he did not say either On the right or On the left, because the good were to be caught mixed with the bad. But now, after the resurrection, what the Church will be like, hear, discern, rejoice, hope, grasp. Cast, he said, the nets on the right side (John 21:6). Now those on the right are caught: let no bad ones be feared. For you know that he said he would separate the sheep from the goats; that he would set the sheep on the right, the goats on the left: that to those on the left he would say: Go into the eternal fire; to those on the right he would say: Receive the kingdom (Matt 25:32-41). See from where: Cast the nets on the right side. They cast them, they caught: the number is fixed; no one there is over the number. But now how many over the number come to the altar, are seen among the people of God, and are not written in the book of life. There, then, the number is fixed. Strive to be of these fish too; not only by hearing and praising, but by understanding and living well. The nets are cast, then, great fish are caught. For who is there small then, when they will be equal to the angels of God? Great fish are caught, then, one hundred fifty-three. Someone will say to me, And will the saints be so few? Far be it from us to suspect that there will be so small a number of saints, even of those who will be in that kingdom, even from this Church alone. The number will be fixed: but there will be thousands of thousands from the people of Israel. Holy John in the Apocalypse says that from the people of Israel alone there will be twelve times twelve thousand, who did not defile themselves with women; for they remained virgins. But of the rest of the nations he says that there come, with white robes, so many thousands of men that no one can count them.

4. So this number means some sign, and by the anniversary solemnity of this sermon I ought to recall to you what you are accustomed to hear every year. One hundred fifty-three fish is a number signifying thousands of thousands of saints and faithful. But why by this number did the Lord condescend to signify so many thousands, who will be in the kingdom of heaven? Hear why. You know that the Law was given through Moses to the people of God, and that in the Law itself the chief thing recalled is the Decalogue, that is, the ten precepts of the Law. Of which one precept is about worshiping the one God; the second precept: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; the third precept about the observance of the Sabbath, which Christians observe spiritually, the Jews violate carnally. These three precepts pertain to God, the remaining seven to men: because of those two chief ones: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets (Matt 22:37-40). Because, then, these are two precepts, in that Decalogue three pertain to the love of God, and seven to the love of neighbor. What are the seven pertaining to man? Honor your father and mother, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, You shall not covet your neighbor's goods (See Exod 20:12-17).

5. These ten precepts no one fulfills by his own strength, unless he is helped by the grace of God. If, then, no one fulfills the law by his own strength, unless God helps by his Spirit; now recall how the Holy Spirit is commended by the number seven, as the holy prophet says, that man is to be filled with the Spirit of God, of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and fortitude, of knowledge and piety, with the Spirit of the fear of God (See Isa 11:2-3). These seven workings commend the Holy Spirit by the number seven, who, as it were descending to us, begins from wisdom, ends at fear. But we, ascending, begin from fear, are perfected in wisdom. For the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Ps 111:10 (110:10)). If, then, the Spirit is needed for the law to be fulfilled, let the seven be added to the ten, it makes the number seventeen. If you count from one up to seventeen, they make one hundred fifty-three. There is no need to count everything now, count among yourselves: count thus, one and two and three and four are ten. As one and two and three and four are ten, so add the rest of the numbers up to seventeen: and you find the sacred number of the faithful and the saints who will be in heaven with the Lord.

Sermon 249
In the Days of Easter

1. We have heard the Gospel, how the Lord Jesus, after the resurrection, appeared to the disciples fishing at the sea of Tiberias. When he first called them, he had said to them: Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men (Matt 4:19). And then indeed, when they were called, casting the nets at his word, they caught a great multitude of fish; but the number was not given. Then in that first fishing he had not said to them: Cast the net on the right side: but had only said: Cast; nor did he say, On the right; nor, On the left. And so great a number of fish was caught that it was without number, and their boats were loaded. And how were they loaded? Thus the Gospel speaks: So that they were almost sinking (Luke 5:7). Then he said to them what I recalled: Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. We belong to those very nets, we are indeed caught by those nets; but we do not remain captives. Let a man not fear to be caught: if he can be caught, he cannot be deceived. But what does this last fishing mean, about which the Gospel was read today? The Lord appeared to the fishermen, standing on the shore, and asked them whether they had any food. They said they had none; for they had caught nothing the whole night. And he said to them: Cast on the right side: which he had not said then. And they did; and they could not draw the nets for the multitude of fish. And there were found one hundred fifty-three fish. And since in that first fishing it was said that the nets were broken by the multitude of fish, it belonged to the care of the Evangelist in this fishing to say: And though they were so great, the net was not torn (John 21:11).

2. Let us distinguish the two fishings; one before the resurrection, the other after the resurrection. In that one the nets are cast at random: the right is not named, lest only the good be understood; the left is not named, lest only the bad be understood: therefore good and bad are mixed. And the nets were broken by the multitude. The broken nets signify schisms. We see it, so it is, so it happens. The two boats are filled because of the two peoples of the circumcision and the uncircumcision: and they are so filled that they are pressed, and almost sink. What this signifies is to be groaned over. The crowd troubled the Church. How great a number have those living badly made, pressing and groaning? But because of the good fish the boats were not sunk. Let us discuss that latest fishing after the resurrection. No bad one is there, great security, but only if you will be good. Among the bad be good, and you will be good without the bad. In this fishing there is something for you to be moved about: you are among the bad. O you who hear me faithfully, O you to whom what I say is not lost, O you in whom the word does not pass through the ears, but descends into the heart, O you who fear more to live badly than to die badly: because if you have lived well, you cannot die badly: you, then, who hear me, so that you not only believe, but also live well; live well, and among the bad live well, do not break the nets. Those who pleased themselves too much, and as it were refused to bear with the bad, broke the nets, perished in the sea. Live well among the bad, let not bad Christians persuade you to live badly. Let not your heart say: I alone am good. If you have begun to be good; believe that there are others too, if you yourself could be so. Do not commit adultery, do not fornicate, do not commit fraud, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not swear falsely, do not get drunk, do not deny a thing lent, do not fail to return what you have found of another's in the street. Do these and such things, secure among the bad fish. You swim within the same nets; but you will come to the shore, after the resurrection you will be found on the right. There no one is bad. For what does it profit you that you know the law, that you know the commandments of God, that you know what is good and bad, if you do not do them? Is not the conscience itself punished by that very knowledge? Learn so as to do.

3. The commandments of God, because of the great mystery of perfection, are contained in the Decalogue. The ten precepts of the Law are written on tablets of stone by the finger of God, that is, the Holy Spirit: on one tablet, the precepts that pertain to God; on the other, those that pertain to man. Why this? Because on the love of God and of neighbor hang the whole Law and the Prophets. But what do these ten avail? The law was given, but if a law had been given that could give life, righteousness would be entirely from the law (Gal 3:21). You know the law, and you do not do the law; The letter kills: but that you may do what you know: but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor 3:6). Let the seven be added to the ten. For as the law is signified by the Decalogue, so the Holy Spirit is shown to be sevenfold. He himself is invoked over the baptized, that God may give them, according to the prophet, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding: see, two. The Spirit of counsel and fortitude: see, four. The Spirit of knowledge and piety: see, six. The Spirit of the fear of the Lord: see, seven (See Isa 11:2-3). When these seven have been added, they become ten. What did I say? It is as it were absurd: When seven have been added to ten, they become ten: as if I have forgotten how to count. So I should have said: When seven have been added to ten, they become seventeen. This all know: for when I said, When seven have been added to ten, they become ten; were not these boys laughing at me? And yet I say it, and I repeat it, I do not blush. When you have understood, you will not blame the one counting, but love the one discoursing. Those ten precepts of the law are: but I have also enumerated the seven cooperations of the Holy Spirit. When these seven have been added, they become ten: when the Holy Spirit has been added, the law is fulfilled. But if these seven have not been added, those ten do not come to be: they will be in the letter, but the letter kills; knowledge makes a transgressor. Let the Spirit be added, and the law is fulfilled, by the help of God, not by your strength. So see: let us not love too much to belong to those ten. For if righteousness is from the law, then Christ died for nothing (Gal 2:21). But to what should we belong? to those seven? It is as if we could do, but did not know what we are doing. Therefore let us belong to seventeen. The law commands, the Spirit helps: the law deals with you, that you may know what to do; the Spirit, that you may do it. Therefore let us belong to seventeen, and let us count seventeen, and we will find ourselves in one hundred fifty-three. You already know it, I have often said it, often shown it. From one to four are ten: but only if you add them all. Let two follow one: add the two also, now they are three: after two let three follow, now they are six: after three let four follow, now they are ten. Why do I wear myself out? I speak what you know. Add the rest of the numbers, and you will arrive. When you have arrived at seventeen, by growing you will arrive at one hundred fifty-three. What is by growing? By making progress, as it were step by step, you will arrive at the right hand. Obey us, count for yourselves.

Sermon 250
In the Days of Easter

1. The Lord Jesus, choosing the weak things of the world to confound the strong, and gathering his Church from the whole world, did not begin from emperors or from senators but from fishermen. For if those first chosen had been of any high rank, they would dare to ascribe this to themselves, not to the grace of God. This secret counsel of God, this counsel of our Savior, the Apostle expounds where he says: For consider your calling, brothers—they are the Apostle's words—for consider your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many powerful, not many noble, but God chose the weak things of the world to confound the strong, and the ignoble things of the world and the contemptible things God chose, and the things that are not, as though they were, that the things that are might be brought to nothing; so that no flesh may glory before him (1 Cor 1:26-29). This too the prophet said: Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be brought low, the level of the plain will be established (See Isa 40:4). Finally, today the noble and the ignoble, the learned and the unskilled, the poor and the rich come alike to the grace of the Lord. To receive this grace, pride does not set itself before humility, before one who knows nothing, has nothing, is worth nothing. But what did he say to them? Come after me, and I will make you become fishers of men (Matt 4:19). If those fishermen had not gone before, who would have caught us? Now any orator whatever is great if he can well expound what a fisherman wrote.

2. Since, then, the Lord Jesus Christ had chosen fishers of fish and made them fishers of men, in their very fishings too he willed to admonish us something about the calling of the peoples. Attend to two fishings, distinguished by a necessary distinction; one when the Lord chose them from fishermen and made them his disciples, the other which we just now heard when the holy Gospel was read after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; the former before the resurrection, the latter after the resurrection. What is the difference between these fishings we ought greatly to attend to; it is the boat of our instruction. The new preaching of the Gospel; then it found them fishing; he approached and said to them: Cast the nets. They said: The whole night we caught nothing, we labored in vain. See, in your name we will cast the nets. They cast them and caught so many that they filled two boats, which were so pressed by the multitude of fish that they almost sank. Then by that very multitude of fish the nets were broken. Then he said to them: Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. Leaving then the nets and the boats they followed Christ (See Luke 5:5-11). Now after the resurrection the Lord Christ showed us another fishing, differing from that earlier one. For then he said: Cast the nets; neither "on the left" nor "on the right side," but only: Cast the nets. For if he said: "on the left," he would signify the bad only, "on the right," the good only. Because, then, he said neither "on the right" nor "on the left," good and bad are signified, of whom the Gospel speaks in another place, that the head of the household, when the supper was prepared, sent his servants and they brought in those whom they could find, good and bad, and the wedding was filled with guests reclining (Matt 22:9-10). Such is the Church now, full of good and bad. The Church is filled with a multitude but that multitude sometimes presses and tries to bring it near to shipwreck. The multitude of those living badly troubles those living well, so troubles them that one who lives well thinks himself a fool, when he attends to others living badly, especially because, by the goods of this world, many are found prosperous who are harmful, many are found wretched who are innocent. And how to be feared it is lest he be pressed by shipwreck and sink! How to be feared it is, beloved, lest he who lives well say: What does it profit me that I live well? For see, that man lives badly and is more honored than I. What does it profit me that I live well? In danger, I fear lest he sink. Let me address him, lest he who lives well sink more deeply. You live well, do not grow weary and look back. The promise of your Lord is true. He who perseveres to the end, he will be saved (Matt 24:13).—You attend, you say, to the fact that another lives badly and is prosperous!—You are deceived, he is wretched, and is the more wretched the more prosperous he seems to himself. It is madness that he does not recognize his misery. If you saw a feverish man laughing, you would mourn the madman. What was promised you has not yet come. He who seems more prosperous than you is fed on visible and temporal things, rejoices in them; he neither brought them, nor will carry them off, he entered naked, he will go out naked; from false joys he will come to true sorrows. But to you, what was promised has not yet come; endure that you may arrive; persevere lest by failing you defraud yourself, for God cannot deceive you. See, I have said briefly, lest the boats sink. Something else more detestable was added to that fishing, that the nets were broken. The nets were broken, heresies arose. For what else are schisms but rents? So the first fishing is to be borne and endured, that no one be worn out with weariness, although it is written: Weariness held me because of sinners who forsake your law (Ps 119:53 (118:53)). The boat cries that it is pressed by the multitude, as though the ship itself has this voice: Weariness held me because of sinners who forsake your law. Even if you are pressed, see always that you do not sink. The bad are to be tolerated now, not separated. Mercy and judgment we will sing to the Lord (Ps 101:1 (100:1)); first mercy is paid out and afterward judgment is exercised; the separation will be made in the judgment. Now let the good hear me and be better, let the bad also hear and be good; while it is the time of repentance, not yet of the verdict. Let us pass from this fishing that has joys mixed with tears; joys because the good are gathered, mixed with tears because the bad are scarcely borne.

3. Let us turn our mind to that latest fishing; there let us be refreshed, there let us be consoled. And therefore it was made after the Lord's resurrection, because thus he signified the Church such as it will be after the resurrection. See, it is said to the disciples fishing—the Lord says it, who said it before, both he himself and afterward, but before what they should cast, now where they should cast, that is, on the right side of the boat. So now those are caught who will stand on the right, those are caught to whom it was said: Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom (Matt 25:34). They cast and catch. There the number was not given in the first fishing, only the multitude was given, the number was not defined. For many are over the number now, that is, they come, enter, fill the churches; the very ones who fill the theaters fill the church; over the number they fill it; to that number which will be in eternal life they do not belong, unless they are changed while they live. And are all changed? How? Not even all the good persevere. Therefore it was said to them: He who perseveres to the end, he will be saved (Matt 24:13). And to those who are still bad it is said: I do not want the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live (Ezek 33:11). Therefore there the number was not given because many were made over the number, as the Psalm says: I have announced and spoken, they are multiplied beyond number (Ps 40:5 (39:6)). Now on the right, not over the number; one hundred fifty-three are the fish but great. For this was said: And though they were great, the net was not torn (John 21:11). For then there will be the congregation of the saints, there will not be the divisions and rending of heretics, there will be peace and there will be perfect unity, no one will be less, no one more, the whole number. But they are very few, if there are one hundred fifty-three. Far be it from us that there be so few only in this congregation, how much more in the universal Church of God. The Apocalypse of the same blessed John the Evangelist shows that there was seen so great a multitude of saints, happy in that eternity, that no one can count it. So you have it there written. And yet all belong to this number of one hundred fifty-three. To a greater fewness I want to reduce this number. They are one hundred fifty-three, let us make them fewer, they are seventeen. These one hundred fifty-three are seventeen. Why ten? why seven? Ten because of the law, seven because of the Spirit. For the form of seven is because of the perfection that is preached in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He will rest, says the blessed prophet Isaiah, he will rest, he says, upon him, the Holy Spirit. And when he had said Holy Spirit, he enumerated seven powers: the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and fortitude, you have four. The Spirit of knowledge and piety, the Spirit of the fear of the Lord (Isa 11:2-3). He began from wisdom, he ended at fear, as though descending he spoke from the highest to the lowest, from wisdom to fear. From the lowest to the highest: from fear to wisdom. For the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Ps 111:10 (110:10)). This is the gift of grace; with this sevenfold power the Holy Spirit works in the beloved of God so that the law may avail something there. For if you take away the Spirit, what does the law avail? It makes a transgressor, therefore it is said: The letter kills (2 Cor 3:6). It commands and does not do it. It did not kill before it was commanded you, and if providence held you a sinner, yet it did not hold you a transgressor. It is commanded and you do not do it, it is forbidden and you do it, see, the letter kills. Now the law has ten precepts. The first precept of the law is: that one God is to be worshiped, no other, no idol to be made. The second precept is: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. The third precept is: Observe the Sabbath day spiritually, not carnally as the Jews. These three precepts pertain to the love of God, but because on these two precepts, he says, hang the whole Law and the Prophets (Matt 22:40), that is, on the love of God and on the love of neighbor. When you have heard what pertains to the love of God: unity, truth, rest; attend to what pertains to the love of neighbor. Honor your father and your mother; you have the fourth precept. You shall not commit adultery; you have the fifth. You shall not commit murder; you have the sixth. You shall not commit theft; you have the seventh. You shall not bear false witness; you have the eighth. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods; you have the ninth. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife; you have the tenth (See Exod 20:12-17). He who says: You shall not covet strikes the inner parts, beats the inward parts where desire does its business. See, this law is in ten. What does it profit when you have learned it and not done it? You will be a transgressor. But that you may do it, help is necessary. From where help? From the Spirit. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor 3:6). Let the seven be added to the ten, they become seventeen. In this number is the whole multitude of the blessed. But how they arrive at one hundred fifty-three, I am now wont to tell you and many anticipate me, yet the sermon must be solemnly rendered. Many have forgotten, some have not even heard. But those who have not forgotten and have heard, let them patiently bear that others too be reminded and instructed. When two walk a road, one quicker and the other slower, it is in the power of the quicker that the companion not be abandoned. He who hears what he knew loses nothing, and in that he loses nothing he ought even to rejoice, and because he who did not know is instructed. Count seventeen from one up to seventeen so that you add them all and you will arrive at one hundred fifty-three. What do you expect from me? Count for yourselves.

Sermon 251
In the Days of Easter

1. 1. Our Liberator's fishing is our liberation. We notice in the holy Gospel two fishings of the Lord, that is, when at his word the nets were cast: one before, when he chose the disciples; and this other, when he rose from the dead. That fishing signified the Church such as it is now: but this one after the Lord's resurrection signified the Church such as it will be at the end of the age. Finally, in that earlier fishing, he ordered the nets to be cast, and did not say on which side; but commanded only that they be cast. The disciples cast them: it was not said, On the right; it was not said, On the left. For the fish signified men: if, then, it were said, On the right, only the good would be: if it were said, On the left, only the bad. But because both good and bad were going to be mixed in the Church, the nets were cast without distinction; that fish might be caught signifying the mixture of good and bad. Then this too is written there, that they caught so many fish that the two boats, filled, sank, that is, were pressed to sinking. For those two boats were not sunk, but endangered. From what endangered? From the multitude of fish. It was signified by this, that through the multitude that the Church was going to gather, discipline was going to be endangered. And this is added in that fishing, and is narrated, that the nets too were broken by the multitude of fish. The broken nets, what did they signify, except the schisms to come? These three things, then, were signified in that fishing: the mixture of good and bad, the pressure of the crowds, the separations of heretics. The mixture of good and bad; because the nets were cast neither on the right nor on the left: the pressure of the crowds; because so much was caught that the boats were pressed: the separations of heretics; because so great had been the multitude that the nets were broken.

2. 2. Look now at this fishing, which was recited today. For it was made after the Lord's resurrection, to signify that the Church will be such after our resurrection. Cast, he says, the net on the right side (John 21:6). The number of those who will stand on the right is therefore set apart. For you remember that the Lord said he would come with his angels, and that all nations would be gathered before him; and he will divide them, as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats: he will set the sheep on the right, the goats on the left. To the sheep he is going to say: Come, receive the kingdom: to the goats he is going to say: Go into the eternal fire (Matt 25:32-41). Cast on the right. As though he said: Now I have risen, I want to signify the Church, which will be in the resurrection of the dead. Cast on the right. The nets were cast on the right: and they could not lift them for the multitude of fish. And there too multitude was mentioned: but here a fixed number, and multitude, and greatness: but there the number was not given. For now, before the resurrection comes, and the good are separated from the bad, that is fulfilled which the prophet says: I have announced and spoken. What does it mean: I have announced and spoken? I cast the nets. And what? They are multiplied beyond number (Ps 40:5 (39:6)). There is a number, there are those beyond the number. The number pertains to the saints, who will reign with Christ. Beyond the number they can now enter the Church, they cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

3. 2. Therefore I admonish you to snatch yourselves out of the present evil age. Therefore I admonish you, that you who wish to live not imitate bad Christians. Do not say: Why? he is unfaithful, and gets drunk? Why? he is unfaithful, and has concubines? Why? he is unfaithful, and commits frauds daily? Why? he is unfaithful, and consults astrologers? For now, you who wish to be grains, then you will be found in the heap of grain. But you who wish to be chaff, you will be found in a great pile, but to be burned with a great fire.

3. 3. What then? They drew, he says, the nets to the shore. Peter drew the nets to the shore: you heard it just now when the Gospel was read. Where you hear shore, understand the end of the sea: where you hear the end of the sea, understand the end of the age. In that fishing the nets were not drawn to the shore: but the very fish that were caught were poured into the boats. But here they drew to the shore. Hope for the end of the age. The end will come; to the good of those on the right, to the bad of those on the left. And how many fish? They drew, he says, the nets holding one hundred fifty-three fish. And the Evangelist added a necessary thing: And though they were so many, that is, so great, the net was not torn (John 21:11). They will be great, but there will be no heresies: and they will the more have no heresies because they will be great. Who are the great? Read the words of the Lord himself in the Gospel, and you will find the great. For he says in a certain place: I have not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matt 5:17).

4. 3. For truly I tell you, that whoever loosens one of these least commandments, and teaches: loosens and teaches thus; loosens by living badly, and teaches by teaching good things: he will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But in what kingdom of heaven? In the Church that now is; because it too is called the kingdom of heaven. For if this Church too, which gathers good and bad, were not called the kingdom of heaven, the Lord himself, speaking in a parable, would not say: The kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea, which gathers all kinds of fish. But see what follows? The kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea. The net is the seine: it gathers all kinds of fish. But what? They draw it to the shore. This the Lord says in the parable. And when they have drawn it to the shore, they sit, and gather the good into vessels, but the bad they throw away. And he expounded what he proposed. For what did he say? So it will be at the consummation of the age. Have you understood the shore? The angels will come, he says, and gather the bad from the midst of the just, and cast them into the furnace of burning fire: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 13:47-50). Yet the Church was called the kingdom of heaven. And since indeed the sea has fish swimming together, both good and bad, in this kingdom of heaven, that is, in the Church of this time, he is called least who teaches good things, and does bad things: because there he too is. For he is not absent from there: there he is in the kingdom of heaven, that is, in the Church, such as it is at this time. He teaches good things, does bad things: he is necessary, he is a hireling. Truly I tell you, he says, they have received their reward (Matt 6:2). He profits something. For if those who teach good things and live badly profited nothing, the Lord himself would not say to his people: The scribes and Pharisees sit on the chair of Moses: what they say, do; but what they do, do not do. Why? For they say, and do not do (Matt 23:2-3).

5. 4. Let your Charity attend, then: for I want to expound who are the great fish. He who loosens, he says, one of these least commandments, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. He will be there, but least. But he who does, and so teaches, will be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:19). See, those are the great fish, caught on the right. He who does, and so teaches: does good things, teaches good things; does not contradict himself when speaking by living badly, when he has a good tongue as a witness of a bad life. He, then, who does, and so teaches, will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And it follows: For I tell you, that unless your righteousness abounds more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:20). Now how do you understand the kingdom of heaven? That from which it is said to those on the right: Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom (Matt 25:34). Unless your righteousness abounds more than that of the scribes and Pharisees. What does it mean, more than that of the scribes and Pharisees? Look at those scribes and Pharisees, who sit on the chair of Moses, of whom it was said: What they say, do; what they do, do not do: for they say, and do not do. Therefore the righteousness of the Pharisees is to say and not to do. Let your righteousness abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, that you may both say good things, and live well.

6. 5. Now then, about the number of one hundred fifty-three fish, what need is there to go over the same things again? You know them. From seventeen the growing number is born. Begin from one, arrive at seventeen, so that you add them all: that is, add one to two, and they become three; add three, and they become six; add four, and they become ten. So add them all up to seventeen, and you arrive at one hundred fifty-three. Therefore our whole attention need only be on what seventeen means: for there is the foundation of one hundred fifty-three. What does seventeen mean? In the law recognize ten. Ten precepts were given first: the Decalogue is called what was written on the tablets by the finger of God. In ten recognize the Law, in seven recognize the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit is commended by the number seven. Therefore sanctification is not named in the Law except on the seventh day. God made light: it was not said, He sanctified it. He made the firmament: it was not said, He sanctified the firmament. He separated the sea from the land, he commanded the earth to bring forth: it was not said, He sanctified. He made the moon and the stars: it was not said, He sanctified. He commanded the animals to come forth from the waters, swimming and flying: it was not said, He sanctified. He commanded the four-footed animals and all creeping things to come forth from the earth: it was not said, He sanctified. He made man himself: it was not said, He sanctified.

7. 5. The seventh day was reached, where he rested; and that he sanctified. By his rest God sanctified our rest. There, then, will be our full sanctification, where we will rest with him without end. For why would God rest? For he was not wearied by working. You, if you make something by a word, are not wearied; if you command, and at once it is done, you stand, you remain whole. He said a few words, from which he made everything, and was he suddenly wearied?

7. 6. Therefore recognize the law in ten; recognize the Holy Spirit in seven. Let the Spirit be joined to the Law. Because if you receive the Law, and the help of the Spirit is lacking to you, you do not fulfill what you read, you do not fulfill what is commanded you: but a man under the Law is moreover held a transgressor. Let the Spirit be added, let him help; and what is commanded is done. If the Spirit is lacking, the letter kills you. Why does the letter kill you? Because it will make you a transgressor. Nor can you excuse yourself from ignorance, because you have received the law. Now you have learned what you should do, ignorance does not excuse you, the Spirit does not help you: therefore you have perished. But what does the apostle Paul say: The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor 3:6)? How does the Spirit give life? Because he causes the letter to be fulfilled, lest it kill. These are the saints, who do the law of God by the gift of God. The law can command, it cannot help. The Spirit the helper is added; and the command of God is done with joy, with delight. For many do it out of fear. But those who do the law fearing punishment would prefer that there be nothing to fear. But those who do the Law loving righteousness rejoice even there, because they do not have it as an enemy.

8. 7. Therefore the Lord says: Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him on the road (Matt 5:25). Who is your adversary? The word of the Law. What is the road? This life. How is it your adversary? It says: You shall not commit adultery: and you want to commit adultery. It says: You shall not covet your neighbor's goods: and you want to seize others' goods. It says: Honor father and mother: and you are insolent toward your parents. The Law says: Do not bear false witness: you do not depart from lying. When you see that that word commands one thing, and you do another, it is your adversary. You have a bad adversary, let him not enter with you into the council chamber: settle while you are with him on the road. God is present to make you agree. How does God make you agree? By forgiving sins, and by inspiring righteousness, so that good works may be done. When, then, you have agreed with your adversary, that is, with the Decalogue of the Law, through the Holy Spirit, you will belong to seventeen. When you have belonged to seventeen, thereafter the number will grow to one hundred fifty-three. You will be on the right, to be crowned: lest you remain on the left, to be condemned.

Sermon 252
In the Days of Easter

1. In many and various ways our Lord Jesus Christ shows, in the holy Scriptures, both the height of his divinity and the mercy of his humanity, as he is wont, in mysteries and sacred signs; so that those who ask may receive, and those who seek may find, and to those who knock it may be opened. For this too which was read today from the holy Gospel seeks one who understands, and produces spiritual joy when it has been understood. Let your Holiness attend to what it means, that the Lord showed himself to the disciples in the way that the Evangelist narrates. For the disciples went out to fish, and the whole night caught nothing. But the Lord appeared to them in the morning on the shore, and asked whether they had any food: they said they had none. He said to them: Cast the nets on the right side, and you will find (John 21:6). He who had come as if to buy gave so much freely; and gave from the sea, as from his own creation. A great miracle indeed. They cast at once, and caught so much that they could not draw out the nets for the multitude of fish. But if you attend to who did this great miracle, it is not marvelous: for he had already done many greater things. For since he had raised the dead before the resurrection, it was no great thing after the resurrection that he caused fish to be caught. We ought, then, to question the miracle itself, what it speaks to us inwardly. For not without cause did he not say merely, Cast the nets; but: Cast on the right side. Then it belonged to the Evangelist to give also the number of the fish. It belonged also to say: And though they were so many, that is, so great, the nets were not torn (John 21:11). In this place he made us remember that once, at the Lord's command, the nets were cast, when he chose the disciples, before he himself suffered. There were Peter, John, and James. They cast the nets, they caught fish without number, and when one boat was filled, they asked to be helped by the neighboring boat: and the two boats were filled with fish (this before the resurrection), so many that the nets were broken. Why is no number given there? Why were the nets broken there, and here they were not broken? Why was it not said there that the nets should be cast on the right side, but here he said: Cast the nets on the right side? It is surely not without cause. For the Lord did not do these things as it were in vain and to no purpose. Christ is the Word of God, who speaks to men not only with sounds, but also with deeds.

2. This, then, is set before us to discuss with your Charity, what this difference means. For those nets which were cast before, and caught an innumerable number of fish, and loaded the two boats, and were broken, were not cast on the right side; but neither was it said, on the left. Now the mystery of that catch is fulfilled in this time. But that other mystery, which not without cause he made after the resurrection, when he was no longer going to die, but to live always; not only in his divinity, by which he never died, but also in his body, by which he condescended to die for us. Therefore not in vain that one before the passion, this one after the resurrection. There neither on the right nor on the left, but only: Cast the nets: but here: Cast on the right. There no number, but only a copious multitude, so that it almost sank the two boats; for this too was said there: but here there is both number and greatness of the fish. Then there the nets were broken, here it belonged to the Evangelist to say: And though they were so great, the nets were not torn (John 21:11). Do we not see, brothers, that the word of God is the nets, and this age the sea, and that all who believe are enclosed within those nets? If perhaps anyone doubts that this is signified, let him attend to the fact that the Lord himself said in a parable what he showed in the miracle. For he says: The kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea, which gathers fish of every kind. When it was full, drawing it out they dragged it to the shore; and sitting beside the shore they chose the good into vessels, but the bad they cast outside. So it will be at the end of the age: the angels will go out, and separate the bad from the midst of the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 13:47-50). It appears, then, that the nets cast into the sea have a sign of faith. Is not the sea this age, where men devour one another like fish? Do not small storms and waves of temptation trouble this sea? Are the dangers of those sailing—that is, of those seeking the heavenly homeland on the wood of the cross—small? The likeness, then, is most manifest.

3. Let us only see this, brothers (because the Lord's resurrection signifies the new life which we will have when this age has passed), how the word of God was first cast into this sea, that is, into this world. Into this age, troubled with waves, and dangerous with storms, and burdensome with shipwrecks, the word of God was cast, and it caught many, so that two boats were filled. What are the two boats? Two peoples. To which two peoples, as to two walls, the Lord was made the cornerstone, to join them in himself coming from different directions. For the people of the Jews came from one custom far different: but the people of the gentiles came from idols. The people of the Jews came from the circumcision: the people of the gentiles came from the uncircumcision. They came from different directions: but in the cornerstone they are joined. For walls never make a corner, except coming from different directions. In Christ, then, the two peoples agreed, called from the Jews who were near, and from the gentiles who were far. For because the Jews were near (for they already worshiped one God), when they believed in Christ, attend to what they did. Whatever they had, they sold, and laid the prices of their estates before the feet of the apostles: and it was distributed to each, as each had need. They were freed from the burdens of worldly business, and with light shoulders followed Christ: they put their neck under the gentle yoke, and embracing the cornerstone from nearby, were at peace. But the people of the gentiles also came from afar, and they too reached that stone, and met in peace. These two peoples those two boats signify. But they were filled with so great a multitude of fish that they almost sank. For we read that even among those who had believed from the Jews there arose carnal men, who caused pressure to the Church, and forbade the apostles to speak the Gospel to the gentiles, saying, Christ was sent only to the circumcised: so that if the gentiles wished to receive the Gospel, they should be circumcised. Hence the apostle Paul, sent to the gentiles, had become hateful, preaching the truth, to those who had believed from Judea. For the Apostle wished that the people of the gentiles, coming from a different direction, should yet touch the corner, where there was firm peace. Those carnal men, then, demanding circumcision, did not belong to the number of the spiritual: nor did they yet see that, the carnal sacred signs being past, he had come by whose present light the shadows would be put to flight. Yet because they made seditions, they as it were sank the boat by their multitude.

4. Let us attend also to the boat of the gentiles. Let us see whether so great a multitude has not been gathered into the Church that the grains of wheat scarcely appear there among so great a number of chaff. How many robbers, how many drunkards, how many slanderers, how many spectators of the theaters! Do not the very ones who fill the theaters fill the churches? And often they seek in the churches by seditions such things as they are wont to seek in the theaters. And often, if something is said or commanded spiritually, they resist, they struggle against it, following the flesh, fighting against the Holy Spirit. For which thing Stephen too accused the Jews. In this city, my brothers, have we not experienced—as your Holiness recalls with us—with how great danger to ourselves God expelled drunkenness from this basilica? Was not the boat almost sunk with us by the sedition of the carnal? From what, except from that innumerable number of fish? Then this too was said there, that the nets were broken. When the nets were broken, heresies and schisms were made. The nets indeed enclose all: but the impatient fish, unwilling to come to the food of the Lord, dash themselves where they can, and break out, and go out. And those nets indeed are spread throughout: but those who break out, break out in places. The Donatists broke out in Africa, the Arians broke out in Egypt, the Photinians broke out in Pannonia, the Cataphrygians broke out in Phrygia, the Manichees broke out in Persia. In how many places was that seine torn? And yet those whom it encloses, it brings to the shore. It brings them indeed, but surely not those who broke the nets? All the bad go out. They do not indeed go out, except the bad: but both good and bad remain. For how else is the seine brought to the shore with fish both good and bad, of which the Lord spoke in the parable?

5. For the threshing floor too has this likeness, when it is threshed. There is chaff, there are grains: but yet those who look at the threshing floor scarcely see anything but chaff. Diligence is needed for the grains to be found in the chaff. But the winds blow over the threshing floor from every side. And when it is threshed, before it is lifted up so that it can be winnowed, does it not suffer the winds? The wind blows from this side, for example, it carries off the chaff: again it blows from there, it carries it to the other side. From whatever side it carries off the chaff, it casts it into the hedge, and into the thorns, and anywhere. It cannot carry off the wheat from there: the wind carries off nothing but the chaff. But yet when the winds blowing from every side have carried off the chaff, will only the wheat remain on the floor? Nothing goes from there but the chaff: but both chaff and grain remain. When does all the chaff go? When the Lord comes bearing the winnowing fan in his hand, and will cleanse his threshing floor, will store the grains in the barn, but will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. Let your Holiness attend better to what I say. For sometimes the winds that carry off the chaff from the floor blow again from the hedge where the chaff had clung, and recall it to the floor. As, for example, some man or other, set in the Catholic Church, suffered some temptation of tribulation. He saw that he could be helped carnally in his business among the Donatists: it was said to him, You will not be helped, unless you take communion here. The wind blew, it cast him into the thorns. If it happens that he again has some worldly business, which cannot be settled except in the Catholic Church, not attending to where he is, but where he may more conveniently settle his affairs, as if the wind blowing from the other side of the hedge, he is recalled to the Lord's floor.

6. These, then, brothers, who seek carnal things in the Church, and do not set before themselves what God promises—because here are temptations, dangers, difficulties; but after the temporal labors he promises everlasting rest, and the society of the holy angels: not setting these things before themselves, then, but desiring carnal things in the Church, whether they are on the floor, or are outside, they are chaff. We neither greatly rejoice over them, nor do we caress them with empty flatteries. It is good for them that they become wheat. For this is the difference between that real chaff and these carnal men, that that chaff does not have free choice, but to man God gave free choice. And if a man wishes, yesterday he was chaff, today he becomes wheat: if he turns himself away from the word of God, today he becomes chaff. And there is nothing to seek, except what the last winnowing finds them.

7. Attend now, brothers, also to that blessed, mystical, great Church, which the one hundred fifty-three fish signify. For what this present Church is like, we have heard, and known, and seen: but what that one will be like is in prophecy for us; but it has not yet arrived in experience. But yet it is permitted to rejoice over the future one, although we do not yet see the present one. The nets were cast then neither on the right nor on the left: for they were going to catch both good and bad. For if it were said, On the right; the bad would not be understood there: if it were said, On the left; the good would not be understood there. But since they were going to have good and bad, the nets were cast at random, and they caught, as we have discussed, the wicked and the just. But now, the Church to come in that holy Jerusalem, where the hearts of all mortals will lie open, it is not to be feared that anyone who is bad will enter that Church. For he will not cover the cunning of a most wicked heart under the skin of mortality. For now the Lord has come: and therefore after the resurrection he commands that these nets be cast on the right, when he is no longer going to die. And that is fulfilled which the Apostle says: Until the Lord comes, and illumines the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the thoughts of the heart: and then there will be praise for each one from God (1 Cor 4:5): when the consciences which are now covered will be made public. Then, then, the good alone will be there, the bad will be expelled. For the nets were cast on the right, they cannot have the wicked.

8. Why, then, one hundred fifty-three? Will the saints be so many? For if there be counted, not only all the faithful, who departed from the body in a good life, but the martyrs alone; if one day of the passion of martyrs be counted, thousands of men are found crowned. Therefore what the one hundred fifty-three fish mean is without doubt to be sought out. What does fifty mean? For in this number, that is, in fifty, there is a mystery: because fifty multiplied by three makes one hundred fifty. For the number three seems to be added for this reason, that we may be admonished from what multiplication one hundred fifty-three were made: as if it were said: Divide one hundred fifty into three. For if it were said: One hundred fifty-two, admonished by that number which exceeded, we would divide into seventy-five: since seventy-five taken twice make one hundred fifty. For the binary number added would indicate a division by two. If it were said: One hundred fifty-six, we should divide into twenty-fives, so that there would be six parts of them. But now because it was said, One hundred fifty-three, we ought to divide that whole number, that is, one hundred fifty, into three parts. The third part of this number, then, is fifty. And so our whole consideration is to be fixed on the number fifty.

9. Are these perhaps the fifty days that we now celebrate? For not without cause, my brothers, does the Church hold the custom of ancient tradition, that during these fifty days Alleluia should be said. For Alleluia is the praise of God. Therefore the activity of our rest is signified to us who labor. For when after this labor we will come to that rest, our only business will be the praise of God, our activity there is Alleluia. What is Alleluia? "Praise God." Who praises God without failing, except the angels? They do not hunger, do not thirst, do not grow sick, do not die. For we too said Alleluia, and it was sung here in the morning, and just now, when we were already present, we said Alleluia. A certain fragrance of divine praise and of that rest touches us, but for the greater part mortality presses us down. For we grow weary with saying it, and want to refresh our members: and if Alleluia is said for long, the praise of God is burdensome to us, because of the mass of our body. For fullness without ceasing in Alleluia will be after this age and after labor. What then, brothers? Let us say it as much as we can, that we may merit to say it always. There our food is Alleluia, our drink Alleluia, the activity of our rest Alleluia, all our joy will be Alleluia, that is, "the Praise of God." For who praises anything without failing, except one who enjoys it without distaste? How great, then, will be the strength in the mind, how great the immortality and firmness in the body, that neither the mind's attention fail in the contemplation of God, nor the members succumb in the continuation of the praise of God?

10. Why, then, are fifty days celebrated in this mystery? The Lord spent forty days with the disciples after the resurrection, as the Acts of the Apostles testify: after forty days he ascended into heaven, and on the tenth day after he ascended, he sent the Holy Spirit. Filled with him, the apostles, and all who had gathered together, spoke in tongues, and did those mighty works which we, reading and believing, embrace, speaking the word of God with great confidence. He spent forty days on earth with the disciples, but before the passion he fasted forty days: you do not find anyone else having fasted forty days, except the Lord, and Moses, and Elijah. The Lord as the Gospel, Moses as the Law, Elijah as Prophecy: because the Gospel has testimony from the Law and the Prophets. Therefore on the mountain too, when our Lord Jesus wished to show his glory, he stood between Moses and Elijah. In the middle, in honor, he himself shone: the Law and the Prophets attested from the sides. The number forty, then, signifies this time, in which we labor in the world: because wisdom is here dispensed to us temporally. For the vision of immortal wisdom is one thing, without time; but it is another thing for it to be dispensed temporally. For there were patriarchs, and they passed from here: their dispensation was temporal. I do not say, they live temporally; for they always live, and live with God. But the temporal dispensation of the word was made through them. For they do not now speak here; but what they spoke is written, and is read in time. The prophets came in their own time, and departed. The Lord came in his own time: for never did the presence of his majesty withdraw, never does he, established everywhere by his divinity, withdraw; but, as it was said in the Gospel: He was in this world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him: he came to his own, and his own did not receive him (John 1:10-11). How was he here, and how did he come, except that he was here by majesty, he came by humanity? For in that he came in the flesh, he himself ministered wisdom to us temporally: temporally through the Law, temporally through the Prophets, temporally through the Scriptures of the Gospel. For when the times have passed, we will see that very wisdom as it is, which renders the number ten. For the number seven indicates the creation: because in six days God worked, and on the seventh rested from his works. But the number three suggests the Creator, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. It is perfect wisdom devoutly to subject the creation to the Creator; to distinguish the maker from what is made, the craftsman from the works. He who confuses the works with the craftsman understands neither the art nor the craftsman: but he who distinguishes is filled with wisdom. This, then, is the ten, the fullness of wisdom. But when it is distributed temporally; because in the number four is the mark of temporal things, ten taken four times makes the number forty. And the year is varied in four ways, by spring, summer, autumn, and winter: and there especially appears in time a certain fourfold alternation. Scripture too mentions four winds. For through the four cardinal points the Gospel has gone, which is dispensed in time: and that is the Catholic Church, which has taken hold of the four parts of the world. Therefore ten in this way makes the number forty.

11. Therefore they fasted forty days, signifying that in this time abstinence from the love of temporal things is necessary. For this those perpetual fasts through so many days signify, in the forty days. Hence too that people of Israel was led forty years through the desert, before they entered the land of promise to reign. So we too in this life, where there is the greatest anxiety, where there is fear, where there are dangers of temptations, are led, as it were through the desert, by the temporal dispensation. But when we have carried out well the number forty, that is, lived well in this temporal dispensation, walking according to the precepts of God, we will receive as a reward that ten of the faithful. Because the Lord too, when he hired laborers for the vineyard, gave them a denarius as a reward. To all a denarius, both those whom he hired in the morning, and those at midday, and those at the end of the day, to all he gave a denarius. Because if anyone is faithful from his early age, he is going to receive the denarius; now not through the distribution of times, but in the eternal contemplation, wisdom distinguishing the Creator from the creation; that he may fully enjoy the Creator, and from the creation praise the Creator. But suppose some young man believed, and in his earlier time was not faithful; he is going to receive the denarius. But suppose an old man believed, now at the setting of the day, as it were hired to the vineyard at the eleventh hour; he too is going to receive the denarius. And so to that forty well carried out, add the reward of the denarius, and it becomes the number fifty, which signifies the Church to come, where God will always be praised. But because all were called in the name of the Trinity, that they may live well in the number forty, and receive the denarius, multiply that fifty by three, and it becomes one hundred fifty. Add the very mystery of the Trinity, it becomes one hundred fifty-three, which number of fish was found on the right: in which number, nevertheless, are innumerable thousands of saints. Hence no bad ones will be cast away, because they will not be there: nor by any schism will the nets be torn, which are the bonds of unity and peace.

12. I think the great mystery has been sufficiently expounded. But you know that it pertains to us to work well in the time of forty, that we may be able to praise the Lord in the fifty. Therefore we celebrate those forty days, before we keep vigil, in labor and fasting and abstinence: for they signify the present of this time. But after the Lord's resurrection, because these days signify everlasting gladness (they are not yet this, but they signify this: the thing is in a mystery, brothers, not yet in fulfillment: for when Easter is celebrated, the Lord is not crucified: but as by an anniversary celebration we signify past things, so also future things that are not yet): in this time, then, the fasts are relaxed; for the number of these days signifies the rest to come. But see, brothers, lest by much drunkenness, as if you were permitted great extravagance, wishing to celebrate these days carnally, you fail to merit to celebrate forever what they signify, with the angels. For perhaps any drunkard whom I rebuke is going to say: You told us that these days signify everlasting gladness; you suggested to us that this time foretells angelic and heavenly joy: ought I not, then, to do well by myself? Would that it were well, and not badly. For it signifies joy to you, if you are the temple of God. But if you fill the temple of God with the uncleanness of drunkenness, the Apostle sounds to you: Whoever corrupts the temple of God, God will corrupt him (1 Cor 3:17). Let this be written in the hearts of your Holiness, that a man who understands less and lives better is better than one who understands much and does not live well. It is indeed fullness and perfect blessedness for one to understand quickly and to live well: but if perhaps one cannot do both, it is better to live well than to understand quickly. For he who lives well merits to understand more: he who lives badly will lose even what he understands. So it was said: To him who has, it will be given; but from him who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away (Luke 8:18).

Sermon 252/A
In the Days of Easter, a Sermon of Saint Augustine on the Gospel, John 21

1. According to the Evangelist John many things are written, how the Lord Jesus appeared to his disciples after the resurrection. And he appeared to them also as they were fishing. This fishing of the disciples took its beginning at the sea of Tiberias, where the Lord wished to show himself to them; which contains a great sacred meaning, already known to you, but now to be briefly recalled by us.

2. Recall that fishing, when he called fishers of fish, and made them fishers of men, in his first preaching, far from the passion. For then, as you ought to remember, he came to the disciples, not yet disciples; for then they followed him, leaving their nets. And he found that they had caught nothing the whole night, and said to them: Cast your nets into the sea. And they cast them, and caught so many fish that two boats were filled, were pressed, and almost sank. Then by the multitude of fish the nets were broken. Then he said to them: Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. And he did, and they cast the nets of the apostolic word through the sea of the world, and caught many fish. If you wish to consider the number of fish, the innumerable number, consider the multitudes of Christians: these are caught in the holy nets, caught for life, not for death. But yet from those very many that were caught, many schisms too were made, because the nets were broken. The two boats too, that is, the two little boats that were then filled, signified those coming from the circumcision and the uncircumcision, that is, the Church gathered from the Jews and the gentiles. Hence Christ is called the cornerstone; because in the corner the walls coming from different directions, as it were, kiss one another. Therefore those boats were filled, pressed almost and sunk. This signified Christians living badly, and pressing the Church with bad conduct. But yet the boats were not sunk; for the Church tolerates those living badly: it can be pressed, it cannot be sunk. But now after the resurrection Christ signified the Church such as it will be after our resurrection: for then it will have only the good, no bad one mixed in, a happy Church.

3. What, then, did he say then to the disciples after the resurrection? Cast the nets on the right side. In that earlier fishing he had not said, on the right side, lest he signify the good only; nor did he say, on the left, lest he signify the bad only; but the nets were cast at random, because it was going to have good and bad. So the Lord Christ himself narrated by a certain likeness. For he says: The kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea, in which fish of every kind were gathered. When they have brought it to the shore, they sit, and choose the good and put them in their vessels; but the bad they cast outside. He proposed, and expounded. So it will be also at the consummation of the age, he says: the angels come, and gather the bad from the midst of the just, and cast them into the furnace of burning fire; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 13:47-50). Let the good fish, then, swim with the bad, let the bad swim with the good; let them swim among the nets, and not break the nets; for those who break the nets are bad! but those who remain within the nets are both good and bad, but only for now.

4. But then what did he say? Cast the net on the right side. What does it mean, on the right side? You are going to catch on the right side those who will stand on the right. For he is going to say to those who are on the right: Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom (Matt 25:34). These he signified, when he commanded that the nets be cast on the right side. They were cast: they caught many and great fish, and he did not pass over the number in silence. In that first fishing, which signifies the good and the bad, he did not give the number: for there were supernumeraries there. Who are the supernumeraries? Those who do not belong to the number of the saints; from whom come those who break the nets, make schisms; from whom come those who renounce the world by words and not by deeds, who receive the sacred sign of the new man, and persevere in the old man. These, then, were going to be there. Therefore it was not said: on the right side; therefore the number was passed over in silence. They themselves are the supernumeraries, of whom the Psalm says: I have announced and spoken, they are multiplied beyond number (Ps 40:5 (39:6)). There was the holy number there, there were also many beyond the number: but here no one is beyond the number.

5. And how many were they? One hundred fifty-three. Is this the whole number of the saints? Far be it that even this church alone in which we now speak should have so few. What then? We who do not know ought to come to know, and we who know to remember: let the suggestion do the one, the reminder the other, lest forgetfulness creep in. One hundred fifty-three, he says. It belongs to the Evangelist to say this. Though they were so great, he says, the net was not torn (John 21:11); as one who recalled that in the first fishing those nets were broken. Now what? And though they were so great, he says, the net was not torn. Who there now fears schisms, where the bosom of unity and the germ of mother Church cannot be torn? For no friend is separated from her, no enemy is joined to her: for all who cling to her will be chosen, will be perfect. There will be thousands of thousands, and more than thousands of thousands, and yet they will be reckoned by this number.

6. This number rises from seventeen: whoever wishes to count from one up to seventeen, and add them all, will find it. He set down one: let him add two also, that they become three; let him add three also, that they become six; let him add four also, that they become ten, and so on let them arrive at the number seventeen, and he will find one hundred fifty-three. It remains that I be asked what seventeen means. If we find the reason of this lesser number, that is seventeen, the sacred meaning of the greater, that is one hundred fifty-three, will be clear. Here in seventeen is the root; there the tree. So what does seventeen mean? Ten signify the law: for the ten precepts of the law are written on two tablets of stone by the finger of God, as the law says, as the holy Books testify. For the law is marked by the number ten. But who fulfills the law without help? Absolutely no one. For if a law had been given that could give life, righteousness would entirely be from the law. But Scripture has shut up all things under sin, that the promise from faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe (Gal 3:21-22). The law was given. Not to say many things, among the other precepts it has, You shall not covet your neighbor's goods. Do not covet: do not pass before another's farm, and sigh, because it is good. Do not covet your neighbor's goods. The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof (Ps 24:1 (23:1)): what have you not acquired, if you have held God? Do not, then, covet your neighbor's goods. The law was heard, and from fear of punishment certain men held themselves from the bad deed; yet they did not hold themselves from the bad delight. Therefore, Lord, give help: For he will give a blessing, who gave the law (Ps 84:6-7 (83:7-8)). But as it was said here: He who gave the law will give a blessing, that is, the help of the Holy Spirit, that the law may be fulfilled, so it was said of the wisdom of God, she carries the law and mercy on her tongue (See Prov 31:26). If she carried the law alone for herself, who would endure? The deeds of the law would be demanded, and all would be found guilty. Mercy was added, which helps you to do, forgives what you do not do. This mercy is from the Holy Spirit: but the Holy Spirit is commended in the Scriptures by the number seven. From one place I recall it. Isaiah too says: The Holy Spirit will rest upon him. And he enumerates: The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and fortitude, the Spirit of knowledge and piety, the Spirit of the fear of God (Isa 11:2-3). This Spirit is added, and seven and ten come to be. When the seven have been added to the ten, they make the saints, not believing from the law, but presuming on the help of God; so that it is said to one's Lord: Be my helper, do not forsake me, nor despise me, O God of my salvation. For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord has taken me up (Ps 27:9-10 (26:9-10)). And these have learned to say with you: Our Father, who are in heaven (Matt 6:9). Mercy, then, was added to the law. Let us not fear, we who are in seventeen; for if we are in seventeen, we will arrive at one hundred fifty-three; and if we arrive at one hundred fifty-three, we will be on the right; if we are on the right, we will receive the kingdom.

Sermon 253
In the Days of Easter

1. The Gospel of the holy apostle John, which is called according to John, was today finished concerning those things that he narrated, how the Lord appeared to his disciples after the resurrection. He addressed the apostle Peter, that presumer and denier, when, now alive with death conquered, he spoke to him and said: Simon, son of John (for thus Peter was called), do you love me? He answered what was in his heart. If Peter answered what he had in his heart, why did the Lord ask, who saw hearts? Finally, Peter himself marveled, and with a certain weariness heard him asking, whom he knew to know. Once it was said: Do you love me? The answer was: I love you, Lord, you know it. And again: Do you love me? Lord, you know all things, I love you. And a third time: Do you love me? Peter was saddened (John 21:15-17). Why are you saddened, Peter? Because you answer love three times? Have you forgotten the threefold fear? Let the Lord question you, it is a physician who questions you, what he asks pertains to health. Do not be affected with weariness. Wait: the number of love is fulfilled, to wipe out the number of denial.

2. Yet everywhere, everywhere, that is, in the very threefold number of his question, the Lord Jesus, to the one answering love, commends his lambs, and says: Feed my lambs, feed my sheep (John 21:15-17); as if to say: What do you repay me because you love me? Show your love in my sheep. What do you furnish me because you love me, when I have furnished you with what to love me with? But your love toward me, you have where to show it, you have where to exercise it: Feed my lambs. But to what extent the Lord's lambs were to be fed, the sheep bought at so great a price were to be fed with so great a love, he showed in what follows. For after Peter, the lawful number of the threefold answer being fulfilled, professed himself a lover of the Lord, when the Lord's sheep had been commended to him, he hears about his future passion. Here the Lord showed that his sheep are so to be loved by those to whom he commends them that they be ready to die for them. So the same John in his epistle: As Christ laid down his life for us, so we too ought to lay it down for the brothers (1 John 3:16).

3. Peter, then, had answered the Lord through a certain proud presumption, when he had said to him: I lay down my life for you (John 13:37). He had not yet received the strength with which to fulfill the promise; now, that he may be able to do this, he is filled with love; therefore it is said to him: Do you love me? and he answers: I love you; because nothing fulfills this but love. What, then, is it, Peter? When you denied, what did you fear? All that you feared was to die. He who was alive speaks with you, whom you saw dead; do not now fear death; in him was conquered the one whom you feared to die. He hung on the cross, he was fixed with nails, he gave up his spirit, he was struck with a lance, he was laid in the tomb; this you feared when you denied, you feared lest you suffer this, and by fearing death you denied life. Now understand: when you feared to die, then you died. For he died by denying, but he rose by weeping. Why then does he say to him: Follow me (John 21:19)? Knowing his ripeness. For if you remember—rather, because those who read it remembered; let those too be reminded who read it and did not remember, or let those come to know who did not read—Peter had said: I will follow you wherever you go. And the Lord to him: You cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward (John 13:36-37). Now, he says, you cannot. You promise, but I see your strength, I inspect the vein of your heart, and what is true I report to the sick man: You cannot follow me now. But this report of the physician is not despair, he added and said: But you will follow afterward. You will be healthy and will follow. Now then, because he sees what is going on in his heart, and sees what gift of love he has given to his soul, he says to him: Follow me. I certainly had said: You cannot now; I say: Now follow me.

4. But a certain question arose, not to be omitted. When the Lord said to Peter: Follow me, Peter looked back at the disciple whom Jesus loved, that is, that John who wrote the Gospel, and said to the Lord: Lord, and this man? I know that you love him; how then? shall I follow and he not follow? The Lord said: So I want him to remain until I come, you follow me. But the Evangelist himself, the very one who wrote, of whom this was said: So I want him to remain until I come, went on to add his own words in the Gospel and said: That a report had arisen among the brothers because of this word, that that disciple would not die. And to remove this opinion he added: But he did not say that he would not die, but only said: So I want him to remain until I come, you follow me (John 21:20-23). This opinion, then, by which John was thought not going to die, John himself took away by his following words; lest this be believed, he says: The Lord did not say this, but said this. But why John said that he did not expound, but left it to us, that we might knock for it, if perhaps it be opened to us.

5. As far as the Lord condescends to grant me, as far as it seems to me—but it seems better to the better—so I think this question is solved in two ways: either the Lord said what he said about Peter's passion, or about the Gospel of John. What is about the passion is also this: follow me, suffer for me, suffer what I did, for Christ was crucified, Peter too was crucified, he experienced the nails, he experienced the torments; but John experienced none of these, this is: So I want him to remain, without wound, without torment let him sleep and await me; you follow me, suffer what I did, I poured out my blood for you, pour it out for me. In this one way, then, what was said can be expounded: So I want him to remain, until I come, you follow me; I do not want him to suffer, you suffer. But according to the Gospel of John this seems to me to be understood, since Peter wrote about the Lord, and others too wrote, but their writing is occupied more with the humility of the Lord. For the Lord Christ is both God and man. What is man? soul and flesh. What, then, is Christ? Word, soul, and flesh. But what kind of soul? for beasts too have souls. The Word, the rational soul and flesh, all this is Christ. But about the divinity of Christ something stands out in the letters of Peter, much in the Gospel of John. In the beginning was the Word, he himself said. He transcended the clouds and transcended the stars, transcended the angels, transcended all creation, reached the Word, through which all things were made. In the beginning was the Word, this was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him (John 1:1-3). Who could see, who could think, who could worthily take it in, who could worthily declare it? Then it can be well understood when Christ comes. So I want him to remain until I come. I have expounded as I could, he can do it better in your hearts.

Sermon 254
In the Days of Easter

1. So it stands, my brothers, so it stands with the misery of our condition and the mercy of God, that the time of gladness is preceded by the time of sorrow; that is, that first comes the time of sorrow, afterward the time of gladness; first the time of labor, afterward of rest; first the time of calamity, afterward of happiness. So it stands, as we have said, with the misery of our condition and the divine mercy. For the time of sorrow, labor, misery, our sins brought forth for us; but the time of gladness, rest, happiness will come not from our merits, but from the grace of the Savior. We deserve one thing, we hope for another; we deserve evils, we hope for good things. This the mercy of him who created us does.

2. But in the time of our misery, and, as the Scripture says, in the days of our vanity (See Eccl 7:15), we ought to know from what this sadness ought to come. For sadness is like dung. Dung not put in its place is uncleanness. Dung not put in its place makes a house unclean; put in its place it makes a field fertile. See the place provided for dung by the farmer. The Apostle says: And who is there to gladden me, except the one who is saddened by me? (2 Cor 2:2) And in another place: Sadness, he says, that is according to God works repentance unto a salvation not to be repented of (2 Cor 7:10). He who is sad according to God is sad with repentance over his sins. Sadness over one's own iniquity gives birth to righteousness. Let what you are first displease you, that you may be able to be what you are not. The sadness that is according to God, he says, works repentance unto a salvation not to be repented of. Repentance, he says, unto salvation. What kind of salvation? Not to be repented of. What does it mean, not to be repented of? One that you can in no way repent of. For we had a life that we ought to have repented of; we had a life to be repented of, but we cannot reach the life not to be repented of, except through repentance of the bad life. Surely, brothers, as I had begun to say, will you find dung in a cleaned mass of wheat? Yet to that brightness, to that beauty and loveliness one comes through dung; the foulness was the way to a beautiful thing.

3. Rightly too the Lord in the Gospel says of a certain unfruitful tree: See, it is now three years that I come to it, and find no fruit on it; I will cut it down, lest it encumber my ground. The gardener intercedes; he intercedes when the axe is already threatening the unfruitful roots and about to strike; the gardener intercedes, as Moses interceded with God; the gardener intercedes and says: Lord, leave it this year too; I dig around it and apply a basket of dung: if it bears fruit, well; if not, you will come and cut it down (Luke 13:7-9). This tree is the human race. The Lord visited this tree in the time of the patriarchs, as it were in the first year. He visited it in the time of the Law and the Prophets, as it were in the second year. See, in the Gospel the third year has dawned. Now as it were it ought to be cut down: but the merciful one entreats the merciful one. For he who wished to show himself merciful set up an intercessor against himself. Let it be left, he says, this year too; let it be dug around—the digging is a sign of humility; let a basket of dung be applied, in case perhaps it bears fruit. Rather, because it bears fruit, and in part does not bear fruit, its Lord will come and divide it. What does it mean, divide? Because there are good, there are bad, but now as it were established in one assembly, in one body.

4. Therefore, my brothers, as I said, the suitable place of dung produces fruit, but the unsuitable place makes a place unclean. Someone or other is sad, I find someone or other sad. I see the dung, I look for the place. Tell me, friend, why are you sad? I have lost money. An unclean place, no fruit. Let him hear the Apostle: The sadness of the world works death (2 Cor 7:10). Not only no fruit, but even great ruin. So too about the other things pertaining to worldly joys, which it would be long to enumerate. I see another grieving, groaning, weeping. I see much dung, and there I look for the place. And when I saw him sad, weeping, I looked and saw him also praying. Sad, groaning, weeping, praying—this brought me some good signification; but still I look for the place. For what if this man, praying, groaning, and with great weeping, begs death for his enemies? Even so, even so he now weeps, now begs, now prays. An unclean place, no fruit. There is more that we find in the Scriptures. He begs that his enemy may die, he falls into the curse of Judas: Let his prayer become sin (Ps 109:7 (108:7)). I looked at another again groaning, weeping, praying. I recognize the dung, I look for the place. I turned my ear to his prayer, and I hear him saying: I said: Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against you (Ps 41:4 (40:5)). He groans over sin, I recognize the field, I await the fruit. Thanks be to God. The dung is in a good place, it is not idle there, it gives birth to wheat. This is truly the time of fruitful sorrow, that we grieve over the condition of our mortality, the abundance of temptations, the stealthy approaches of sins, the adversities of desires, the brawls of the lusts that always make tumult against good thoughts; over this let us grieve, over this let us be sad.

5. This time of our misery and of our groaning, if there is anyone who has such a groaning of hope, those forty days before Easter signify; but the gladness, which will be later, of rest, happiness, eternal life, the kingdom without end, which is not yet, is signified by these fifty days, on which praises are said to God. For two times are signified to us: one before the Lord's resurrection, the other after the Lord's resurrection; one in which we are, the other in which we hope to be. The time of mourning, which the days of Lent signify, we both signify and have; but the time of gladness and rest and the kingdom, which these days signify, we do indeed signify by Alleluia, but we do not yet have the praises; rather now you sigh Alleluia. What is Alleluia? "Praise the Lord." Why are the praises of God frequently used in the Church during these days after the resurrection? Because for us too there will be perpetual praise after our resurrection. The Lord's passion signifies our time, in which we here weep. The scourges, bonds, insults, spittle, crown of thorns, gall-mixed wine, vinegar on a sponge, mockeries, reproaches, finally the cross itself, the sacred limbs hanging on the wood, what does it signify to us, except the time we now pass, the time of mourning, the time of mortality, the time of temptation? Therefore a foul time, but let this foulness of dung be in the field, not in the house. Let mourning be over sins, not over cheated desires. A foul time, but, if it is well used, a fertile time. What is fouler than a dunged field? The field was beautiful, before it had a basket of dung. The field was first brought to foulness, that it might come to richness. The foulness of this time, then, is a sign, but let this foulness be for us a time of fertility. And let us see with the prophet who says: We saw him. Of what kind? He had no form or comeliness (Isa 53:2). Why? Ask another prophet. They numbered all my bones (Ps 22:17 (21:18)). The bones of the one hanging were numbered. A foul appearance, the appearance of the crucified, but that foulness gave birth to beauty. What beauty? Of the resurrection, because he is beautiful in form beyond the sons of men (Ps 45:2 (44:3)).

6. Let us, then, praise the Lord, brothers, because we hold his faithful promises, we have not yet received them. Do you think it a small thing, that we hold the promiser, so that we may now demand of the debtor? God the promiser became a debtor. By his goodness he became a debtor, not by any prerogative of ours. What did we give him, that we should hold him a debtor? Or perhaps because you heard in the Psalm: What shall I repay to the Lord? First, when he says: What shall I repay to the Lord? these are the words of a debtor, not of one demanding a debt. It was furnished to him: What shall I repay to the Lord? What does it mean: What shall I repay? I will pay back. For what? For all that he has repaid to me (Ps 116:12 (115:12)). What has he repaid you? First I was nothing, and he made me; I had perished, he sought me; seeking he found me; captive he redeemed me; bought he freed me; from a servant he made me a brother. What shall I repay to the Lord? You have nothing to repay. When you await everything from him, what have you to repay? But wait. I do not know what he means, when he asks: What shall I repay to the Lord for all that he has repaid to me? Looking around everywhere for what to repay, he as it were found something. What did he find? I will take the cup of salvation (Ps 116:13 (115:13)). You were thinking of repaying, you were still seeking to receive. See, I beg you. If you still seek to receive, you will still be a debtor. When the repayer? If, then, you will always be a debtor, when will you repay? You will not find what to repay. You will have nothing, except what he gives.

7. See, when you said: What shall I repay? it pertains to that which you said: Every man is a liar (Ps 116:11 (115:11)). For whoever wishes to say that he has repaid something to God is a liar. All things are to be hoped for from him. From ourselves, apart from him, nothing, except perhaps sin and a lie, because he who speaks a lie speaks of his own. Truly, man fully abounds with what is his own. He has utterly a lie there, and his heart is a treasury of lies. He lies as much as he can, he does not fail. Let him invent whatever he can, he lies whatever he can. Why? Because what he has freely—for he has it from himself, he did not buy it. But when one comes to the truth, if he wishes to be truthful, it will not be of his own. Peter was a liar of his own. Where a liar? The Lord promised us the passion, and he says: Far be it from you, this shall not happen. Every man is a liar. From where a liar? Hear the Lord himself: You do not savor the things that are of God, but the things that are of man (Matt 16:22-23). But Peter truthful, when? You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt 16:16). From where this truth to a lying man? See, a man says: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Who says it? Peter. What was Peter? A man who said the truth? Surely, every man is a liar. See, see his tongue, see the truth from his tongue, how is every man a liar? Hear that every man is a liar. For that man is truthful, because not of his own. Therefore every man is a liar, because of his own. So from where is Peter truthful? Hear Truth himself: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona. From where blessed? From your own? Far be it. Because flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father who is in heaven (Matt 16:17).

8. Let us, then, praise the Lord who is in heaven, beloved. Let us praise God. Let us say Alleluia. Let us signify by these days the day without end. Let us signify, in place of mortality, the time of immortality. Let us hasten to the eternal home. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; forever and ever they will praise you (Ps 84:4 (83:5)). The Law says it, Scripture says it, Truth says it. We are going to come to the house of God, which is in heaven. There we will praise God not for fifty days, but, as it is written: Forever and ever. We will see, we will love, we will praise; neither will what we will see fail, nor will what we will love perish, nor will what we will praise be silent; the whole will be everlasting, it will be without end. Let us praise, let us praise, but not with voices alone, let us praise also with conduct. Let the tongue praise, let the life praise, lest the tongue quarrel with the life, but let them have infinite love. Turning to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 255
In the Days of Easter, on the Alleluia.

1. 1. Since the Lord willed that we should see your Charity in the Alleluia, we owe you a word about the Alleluia. Let me not be a burden, if I recall what you know: for we both say Alleluia daily, and daily delight in it. For you know that Alleluia is said in Latin "Praise God": and in this word, agreeing with the mouth and consenting in the heart, we exhort one another to praise God. A man praises him securely only when he has nothing to displease. And in this time of our pilgrimage, indeed, we say Alleluia for the comfort of our provisions for the journey; now Alleluia is for us the song of the traveler: but we make our way along a laborious road to the quiet homeland, where, all our actions withdrawn, nothing will remain but Alleluia.

2. 2. That sweetest part Mary had chosen for herself, who was at leisure, learned, praised: but Martha her sister had been occupied about many things. She was indeed doing a necessary thing, but one not to remain: she was doing a thing of the road, not yet of the homeland: she was doing a thing of the pilgrimage, not yet of the possession. For she had received the Lord, and those who were with him. And the Lord had flesh: and as for our sake he condescended to take flesh, so he condescended to hunger and to thirst. And from the fact that he condescended to hunger and to thirst, he condescended to be fed by those whom he himself enriched: he condescended to be received, not from need, but by grace. Martha, then, was doing what pertained to the need of the hungry and thirsty: with anxious busyness she was preparing what might be eaten and drunk by the saints and by the Holy of holies himself in her house. A great work, but transitory. Will there always be hunger and thirst? When we will cling to that most pure and most perfect goodness, there will be no reason to serve need. We will be blessed, lacking nothing; having much, seeking nothing. And what is it that we will have, that we will seek nothing? I have said: what you believe, you will afterward see. What we have said, then, having much and seeking nothing, that is, lacking nothing; what is it that we will have? To those serving him, worshiping him, believing in him, hoping in him, loving him, what will God give?

3. 3. For we see how much he gives in this time to those who distrust him, despair of him, are turned away from him, blaspheme him; we see how many gifts he bestows. For from him is, first, health: which is so sweet that it never comes into distaste. When he has this, what does the poor man lack? When he does not have it, whatever the rich man has, what does it profit him? From him, then, that is, from the Lord our God whom we worship, from the true God in whom we believe, and in whom we hope, and whom we love; from him is so great a thing, health. See, however, since health is a great thing, how he gives it both to the good and to the bad, both to his blasphemers and to his praisers. And what shall I say? Both are men. Even a bad man is better than any beast. He gives health even to beasts of burden and to serpents, down to flies and little worms he grants health; and he saves all who created all. To omit other things, then; because we find nothing better than health: God gives it not only to men, but also to beasts, as the Psalm says: Men and beasts you will save, O Lord; how your mercy is multiplied, O God (Ps 36:6-7 (35:7-8)). For such you are, because you are God; that your goodness does not remain in the highest things, and abandon the lowest. It reaches from the angels down to the last and tiny animals. For it reaches from end to end, wisdom stretching mightily, and orders all things sweetly: and in that very ordering of his sweetness, health is sweet to all.

4. 4. Since, then, he gives so great a good both to the good and to the bad, both to men and to beasts; what is it, my brothers, that he keeps for the good? For he had already said: Men and beasts you will save, O Lord; how your mercy is multiplied, O God. And then he added: But the sons of men. Who are these? As if there are other men, of whom a little before he had said: Men and beasts you will save, O Lord; and others the sons of men. Are men a different thing from the sons of men, and the sons of men a different thing from men? What, then, does this distinction mean? Unless perhaps because men pertain to the man, the sons of men to the Son of man: men, to the man; the sons of men, to the Son of man. For there is a certain man who was not a son of man. For he who was first made was a man, he was not a son of man. What, then, came to us through the man, and what came to us through the Son of man? I recall what came through the man, and I quote the Apostle's words: Through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death: and so it passed into all men, in whom all sinned (Rom 5:12). See what the man pledged us, see what we drink from our parent, and scarcely digest. If this through the man, what through the Son of man? He did not spare, he says, his own Son. If he did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for us all; how will he not also with him give us all things? (Rom 8:32) Again, As through the disobedience of one man many were made sinners; so also through the obedience of one man many will be made righteous (Rom 5:19). Through that one, then, sin, through Christ righteousness. All sinners, then, pertain to the man: all the righteous to the Son of man. Why, then, do you marvel that sinners, that the impious, that the wicked, that despisers of God, turned away from God, lovers of the age, embracing iniquity, hating the truth, that is, men pertaining to the man; why do you marvel that they have this health, when you hear the Psalm: Men and beasts you will save, O Lord? Lest men exalt themselves, because they have temporal health, the beasts were added to them. What is it, then, in which you rejoice, O man? Is it not common to you with your donkey, and with your hen, with any living thing in your house, with those sparrows? is not bodily health common to you with all these?

5. 5. To the devout is promised the delight of the praise of God, which is not given to the impious. Seek, then, what was promised to the sons of men, and hear what follows: But the sons of men will hope under the shelter of your wings. Meanwhile they will hope, as long as they are on the road. But the sons of men will hope under the shelter of your wings. For by hope we have been saved (Rom 8:24). This does not pertain to men and beasts, to hope under the shelter of God's wings. And see, hope suckles us, nourishes us, strengthens us, and in this laborious life consoles us; in that very hope we sing Alleluia. See how much joy hope has. What will the reality itself be? You ask what it will be? Hear what follows: They will be inebriated with the abundance of your house (Ps 36:8 (35:9)). Of this thing there is hope. We thirst, we hunger, it is necessary that we be filled: but on the road hunger, in the homeland fullness. When will we be filled? I will be filled when your glory has been manifested (Ps 17:15 (16:15)). But now the glory of our God, the glory of our Christ, is hidden: and with him our glory too is hidden. But when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Col 3:4). Then there will be Alleluia in reality: but now in hope. Hope sings it, love sings it now, love will sing it then too: but now love sings hungering, then love will sing enjoying. For what is Alleluia, my brothers? I told you, it is the praise of God. See, now you hear the word, and in hearing you delight, and in delight you praise. If you love the dew so, how will you love the fount itself? For what belching is to a belching stomach, that is praise to a sated heart. For if we praise what we believe, how will we praise when we see? See what Mary had chosen for herself: but it signified that life, she did not yet hold it.

6. 6. There are two lives: one pertaining to delight, the other pertaining to need. The one for need is laborious: the one for delight is full of pleasure. But enter within, do not seek delight outside: lest you swell with it, and not be able to enter through the narrow place. See how Mary saw the Lord in the flesh, and heard the Lord through the flesh, as you heard, when the Epistle to the Hebrews was read, as it were through a veil. There will be no veil, when we will see face to face. Mary, then, was sitting, that is, at leisure, and was hearing, and praising: but Martha was occupied about much service. And the Lord says to her: Martha, Martha, you are occupied about many things: but one thing is necessary (Luke 10:41-42). One true thing: many things will not be necessary. Before we reach the one, we need many things. Let the one extend us, lest the many distend us and tear us away from the one. The apostle Paul spoke of that very one, because he had not yet attained it. I, he says, do not consider that I have grasped it. But one thing, forgetting the things behind, stretched out to the things that are before. Not distended, but stretched out. For the one stretches out, it does not distend. Many things distend, the one stretches out. And how long does it stretch out? As long as we are here. When we have come, it gathers, it does not stretch out. But one thing, forgetting the things behind, stretched out to the things that are before, according to the intention. See the stretching out: never the distending. According to the intention I follow, to the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:13-14). The order of the words is: But one thing I follow. Then, then, we will come, and enjoy the one; but that very one will be all things to us. For what did we say, brothers, when I began to speak? What is that much which we will have, when we will not be in need? what is the much which we will have? This I had proposed to say: what will God give us, that he will not give to them? Let the impious be taken away, lest he see the brightness of God (Isa 26:10). Therefore God will give us his brightness, which we may enjoy: from which the impious will be taken away, lest he see the brightness of God. The whole of our much that we will have, God himself will be. Greedy one, what were you seeking to receive? What does he seek from God, for whom God is not enough?

7. 7. But when it is said that we will have God, and we will be content with him alone, rather, we will so delight in him alone that we seek nothing else; because we will both enjoy him in the one himself, and enjoy him in one another: (for what are we, if we do not have God? or what else in ourselves ought we to love than God, either because we have him, or that we may have him?) when, then, it is said that the rest are taken away, and God alone will be the one in whom we delight; the soul as it were is straitened, which was accustomed to delight in many things; and the carnal soul, addicted to the flesh, entangled in carnal desires, having its wings smeared with the birdlime of bad desires, lest it fly to God, says to itself: What will there be for me, where I will not eat, where I will not drink, where I will not sleep with my wife? what kind of joy will there be for me? This joy of yours is from sickness, not from health. Surely your very flesh in this time is sometimes sick, sometimes healthy. Attend, that I may say something from which you may grasp an example of a thing I cannot speak. There are certain desires of the sick: they burn with desire either for some spring, or some fruit; and so they burn that they suppose that, if they recover, they ought to enjoy those very desires of theirs. Health comes, and the desire perishes. What it desired, it now loathes: because the fever was seeking this in it. And what kind of health is this, in which the sick man recovers?

8. 7. This health by which we are called healthy, what is it? But yet from this take an example. Since there are many desires of the sick, which this health takes away; as this health takes those away, so immortality takes all away: because our health is immortality. Recall the Apostle, and see what it will be: This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality (1 Cor 15:53). And we will be equal to the angels of God. Surely those are not wretched, who do not feast? Are they not therefore more blessed, because they do not need these things? Or will any rich man be made equal to the angels? The angels are truly rich. What are riches called? Resources. The angels have great resources, who have great facilities. You hear when a rich man is praised: How great he is, he is a lord, he is rich, he is powerful. How great a thing, that he may go where he wishes, beasts of burden are at hand, supplies are at hand, servants are at hand, services are at hand. All these the rich man has: he goes where he wishes, he suffers no labor. The angel will be wherever he wishes: nor does he say: Harness; nor does he say: Saddle; which the rich say with pride, and want to swell over it, because they have those to whom to say, Harness and Saddle. Unhappy man, these words are of weakness, not of resources. Therefore we will not be in need: and so we will be blessed. For we will be full, but of our God: and all the things that we here desire as great, he himself will be to us. As a great thing you seek food here: God will be food to you. The embrace of the flesh you seek here: But for me to cling to God is good (Ps 73:28 (72:28)). Riches you seek here: how will all things be lacking to you, when you have him who made all things? And to make you secure by the words of the Apostle, of that life he said this: That God may be all in all (1 Cor 15:28).

Sermon 255/A
In the Days of Easter, on the Alleluia

1. It is fitting for us to say as many praises as we can to our Creator. For when, most beloved brothers, we praise the Lord, we confer something on ourselves, while we stretch ourselves out into his love. For we have sung: Alleluia. Alleluia is a new song.

2. A new man sings a new song. We have sung: you too have sung, infants, who have recently been made new by him; and we have sung with you, because we have been redeemed at the same price. What fraternal love requires, let me admonish you—not only you, but I admonish also those who hear, as brothers and sons; brothers, because one mother Church bore us; sons, because through the Gospel I begot you. Live well, most beloved sons, that you may be able to have good causes from so great a sacred sign received. Let vices be corrected, let conduct be set in order, let virtues be taken up; let there be in each of you piety, holiness, chastity, humility, sobriety; that, offering such fruits to God, he may delight in you, and you in him. Let us too rejoice over the advance of your hope, seeing in you the fruits of the reward of our hope. Love the Lord, because he loves you; frequent this mother, who bore you. See what this mother has conferred on you, that she might join the creature to the Creator, make servants sons of God, make the chattels of the devil brothers of Christ. To these so great benefits of hers you will not be ungrateful, if you offer her the worthy homage of your presence. Nor can anyone have God the Father favorable, who has despised the Church his mother. This holy and spiritual mother, then, daily prepares for you spiritual food, by which she may refresh not your bodies but your souls. She bestows on you the heavenly bread, she offers you the cup of salvation; she does not want any of her sons to labor under such hunger. Act for yourselves, most beloved, do not abandon so great a mother; that you may be filled with the abundance of her house, and that she may give you to drink of the torrent of her delights, and may assign to God the Father worthy sons, whom, to be devoutly nourished, she may lead, safe and free, to eternal life.

Sermon 256
In the Days of Easter, on the Alleluia

1. Since it has pleased the Lord our God that, established here by bodily presence, we should sing Alleluia to him together with your Charity, which is interpreted in Latin: "Praise the Lord"; let us praise the Lord, brothers, with life and tongue, with heart and mouth, with voices and conduct. For God wishes Alleluia to be said to him in such a way that there be no discord in the one praising. Let the tongue, then, first agree in us ourselves with the life, the mouth with the conscience. Let the voices, I say, agree with the conduct, lest perhaps good voices bear witness against bad conduct. O happy Alleluia in heaven, where the angels are the temple of God! For there is the highest concord of those praising, where there is secure exultation of those singing: where no law in the members fights against the law of the mind; where there is no brawl of desire, in which the victory of love is endangered. Here, then, let us sing Alleluia still anxious, that there we may be able someday to sing it secure. Why anxious here? Do you not want me to be anxious, when I read: Is not human life on earth a temptation? (Job 7:1) Do you not want me to be anxious, when it is still said to me: Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation (Matt 26:41)? Do you not want me to be anxious, where temptation so abounds that prayer itself prescribes it to us, when we say: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors (Matt 6:12)? Daily petitioners, daily debtors. Do you want me to be secure, where daily I ask pardon for sins, help for dangers? For when I have said, because of past sins: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors; at once, because of future dangers, I add and join: Lead us not into temptation. But how is the people in a good state, when it cries out with me: Deliver us from evil (Matt 6:13)? And yet, brothers, in this still present evil let us sing: Alleluia to the good God, who delivers us from evil. Why do you look around to see from what he delivers you, when he delivers you from evil? Do not go far, do not stretch the gaze of your mind everywhere around. Return to yourself, look at yourself. You are still bad. When, then, God delivers you from yourself, then he delivers you from evil. Hear the Apostle; and there understand from what evil you are to be delivered. I delight, he says, in the law of God according to the inner man; but I see another law in my members fighting against the law of my mind, and taking me captive in the law of sin, which is. Where? Taking me captive, he says, in the law of sin, which is in my members. I thought it had taken you captive under some unknown barbarians; I thought it had taken you captive under some foreign nations, or under some men as masters. Which is, he says, in my members. Cry out, then, with him: Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me? From where will someone deliver? Say from where. One says, from the levy, another from prison, another from the captivity of barbarians, another from fever and sickness; say you, Apostle, not to where we are sent, or to where we are led; but what we carry with us, what we ourselves are, say it: From the body of this death (Rom 7:22-24). From the body of this death? From the body, he says, of this death.

2. Another says: The body of this death does not pertain to me; my prison is for a time, my chain is for a time: I am in the body of death; I am not the body of death. You argue, therefore you are not delivered. For I, he says, am a spirit; I am not flesh, but I am in the flesh; when I have been delivered from the flesh, what will I then have to do with the flesh? To this argument do you want, brothers, that I answer, or the Apostle? If I answer, perhaps the greatness of the word will be despised because of the cheapness of the minister. I keep silent rather. Hear with me the Teacher of the gentiles, hear with me the Vessel of election; that the controversy of dissension may be taken away from you. Hear, but say first what you were saying. Surely this you were saying: I am not flesh, but I am a spirit. In my prison I groan; when this chain and this workhouse has been dissolved, I depart free. Earth is rendered to earth, the spirit is received into heaven; I go, I leave behind what I am not. So you were saying this? This, he says. I do not answer you: answer, Apostle, answer, I beseech you. You preached, that you might be heard; you wrote, that you might be read; everything was done, that you might be believed. Say: Who will deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:24-25). From what does he deliver you? From the body of this death. But are you not yourself the body of this death? He answers: So then I myself with the mind serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin (Rom 7:25). But I myself; how through different things yourself? With the mind, he says, because I love; with the flesh, because I desire; a victor indeed, if I do not consent; yet still a wrestler, with the adversary pressing. And how, when you have been delivered, O Apostle, from this flesh, will you then be nothing but a spirit? The Apostle answers, death now threatening, the debt that no one escapes: I do not lay down the flesh forever, but for a time set it aside. So you are going to return to the body of this death? And what? Let us rather hear his own words. How do you return to the body, from which with so devout a voice you cried out that you were to be delivered? He answers: I return indeed to the body, but no longer of this death. Hear, unskilled one, deaf against the daily voices of the readings; hear, how he returns indeed to the body, but not of this death. Not because he takes another body, but because this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. My brothers, when the Apostle said this corruptible, this mortal, in a way he was touching the flesh with his own voice. Therefore not another. I do not, he says, lay down the earthly body, and receive an airy body, or receive an ethereal body. The very one I receive, but no longer of this death. Because this corruptible, not another, but this must put on incorruption; and this mortal, not another, but this must put on immortality. Then will come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. Let Alleluia be sung. Then will come to pass the saying that is written, the saying now not of those fighting, but of those triumphing: Death is swallowed up in victory. Let Alleluia be sung. Where, O death, is your sting? Let Alleluia be sung. But the sting of death is sin (1 Cor 15:53-56). But you will seek its place and will not find it (See Ps 37:10 (36:10)).

3. But even here, amid dangers, amid temptations, both by others and by us let Alleluia be sung. For God is faithful, who will not allow, he says, you to be tempted beyond what you are able. Therefore here too let us sing Alleluia. Man is still guilty, but God is faithful. He did not say: He will not allow you to be tempted, but: He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way out, that you may be able to endure (1 Cor 10:13). You have entered into temptation: but God will also make a way out, lest you perish in the temptation; so that, like the potter's vessel, you may be formed by preaching, baked by tribulation. But when you enter, think of the way out; because God is faithful, the Lord will guard your going in, and your going out (Ps 121:8 (120:8)). Moreover, when this body has been made immortal and incorruptible, when the whole temptation has perished; because the body indeed is dead; why is it dead? Because of sin. But the spirit is life, they are the Apostle's words; why? Because of righteousness. Do we then send away the dead body? No, but hear: But if the Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead dwells in you; he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies (Rom 8:10-11). For now the body is animate, then spiritual. For the first man was made into a living soul, the last man into a life-giving spirit (1 Cor 15:45). Therefore he will give life to your mortal bodies also because of his Spirit dwelling in you. O happy Alleluia there! O secure! O without an adversary! Where no one will be an enemy, no one perishes as a friend. There praises to God, and here praises to God; but here from the anxious, there from the secure; here from those about to die, there from those always to live; here in hope, there in reality; here on the road, there in the homeland. Now then, my brothers, let us sing, not for the delight of rest, but for the solace of labor. As travelers are wont to sing; sing, but walk; console your labor by singing, do not love laziness; sing and walk. What is "walk"? Make progress, make progress in good. For there are, according to the Apostle, some making progress for the worse. If you make progress, you walk, but make progress in good, make progress in right faith, make progress in good conduct: sing and walk. Do not stray, do not turn back, do not remain behind. Turning to the Lord.
And after the Sermon:
Tomorrow the festival of the holy martyrs Marian and James dawns; but, since because of so great a gathering of the holy council we are still somewhat occupied, on the third day after that birthday of theirs, with the Lord's help, we will render you the sermon owed.

Sermon 257
In the Days of Easter, a Discourse on the Lord's Day Which He Gave at the Memorial of the Saints

1. What in the Hebrew tongue is called Alleluia, in Latin is: Praise the Lord. Let us, then, praise the Lord our God, not only with the voice but also with the heart, since he who praises with the heart praises with the voice of the inner man. The voice toward men is a sound, the voice toward God is an affection.

2. A certain man said in his ecstasy, as you have read, as you have heard: Every man is a liar (Ps 116:11 (115:11)). From this came the one who did not believe, unless he had touched the Lord's body. It seemed to him a lie that his fellow disciples were speaking the truth. And it was too little for him to hear the truth, he wanted also to touch. But the Lord showed this to him in those things that follow in the Gospel, to be recited later. But whoever hears: Every man is a liar ought not to fix himself in the lie and refuse to rise from it, as if reasoning out within himself an empty reason, like a lying man, and saying to himself: When will I not be a man? But if, as long as I am here a man, I will be a liar; I would rather be a liar than that the Scripture should lie which says: Every man is a liar. For if I am truthful, the Scripture will be a liar, but because the Scripture cannot be a liar, I will be a liar. Chattering these things there, he seems to himself to rest secure as it were in a harbor of lying, where he makes shipwreck. You desired to rest well as it were in this harbor; hear the reef on which you run: You will destroy all who speak a lie (Ps 5:6 (5:7)). And this is the Scripture of God which says: You will destroy all who speak a lie. Therefore he is going to destroy all, because every man is a liar. But what was said to us? of what were we admonished? That of our own we are liars. But if we wish to be truthful, let us flee to the Lord. From him we are truthful, from our own we are liars.

3. Hear this by one example, brief and great; brief because it is quickly said, great because it is weighed wisely. Peter alone shows this thing that I want said. When he said to the Lord Christ: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, what did he answer? Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. You spoke the truth, but not your own. From where, then? My Father who is in heaven revealed it to you. From where blessed, because from what is of God; not wretched, except from what is your own. After this, where the Lord says to him: Blessed are you, because flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father who is in heaven, after these words the Lord Christ began to foretell his passion and death. There at once Peter: Far be it from you, Lord! Every man is a liar. See, a little before Peter truthful, see, now Peter a liar. But from where Peter truthful? Flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. From where Peter a liar? Get behind me, Satan, for you do not savor the things that are of God, but the things that are of men (Matt 16:16-23). Every man is a liar. Therefore it was said to us: Every man is a liar, that we may flee ourselves and run to God who alone is truthful.

Sermon 258
Another Sermon Which He Gave at the Greater Basilica on the Same Day

1. What we have sung to God: This is the day which the Lord has made (Ps 118:24 (117:24)), from this let us speak what the Lord may grant. Here surely the prophetic Scripture wished us to understand something. What a day, not common, not visible to the eyes of the flesh! Not that day which rises and sets, but a day that could know a rising and not know a setting! Let us see what the same Psalm had said above: The stone which the builders rejected, this has been made the head of the corner. By the Lord it was made, this is wonderful in our eyes. And it follows: This is the day which the Lord has made (Ps 118:22-24 (117:22-24)). Let us take the beginning of this day from the cornerstone. Who is the cornerstone which the builders rejected, except the Lord Christ whom the teachers of the Jews rejected? For the teachers of the Jews, skilled in the law, rejected him, saying: This man is not from God, who breaks the Sabbath (John 9:16). You have already said: This man is not from God, who breaks the Sabbath. The stone which the builders rejected, this has been made the head of the corner. How the head of the corner? Why was Christ called the cornerstone? Because every corner makes peace between two walls from different directions. The apostles came from the circumcision, they came from the nation of the Jews, from there too came those crowds that went before and followed his beast, saying what is in this very Psalm: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord (Ps 118:26 (117:26)); from there came so many churches of which the apostle Paul says: I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea that are in Christ, but they only heard that he who once persecuted us now preaches the faith that he once ravaged, and in me they glorified God (Gal 1:22-24)—Jews, but clinging to Christ like the apostles, coming and believing in Christ and making one wall. There remained the other part, the Church coming from the gentiles. They found one another; peace in Christ, unity in Christ who made both one. He is the day which the Lord has made. Understand the whole day to be head and body, the head Christ, the body the Church. This is the day which the Lord has made.

2. Recall the first condition of the world. Darkness was over the abyss, and the Spirit of God was borne over the water. And God said: Let there be light, and there was light. And God divided the light from the darkness, and called the light day, but the darkness he called night (Gen 1:2-5). Think of the darkness of these people before they came to the forgiveness of sins. Darkness, then, was over the abyss, before these sins had been forgiven. But the Spirit of God was borne over the waters. These went down into the waters, the Spirit of God was borne over the waters, the darkness of sins was driven out, this is the day which the Lord has made. To this day the Apostle says: For you were once darkness, but now light in the Lord (Eph 5:8). Surely he did not say: You were darkness in the Lord? Darkness in yourselves, light in the Lord. But God called the light day, because his grace does what is done. They by themselves could be darkness, they could not become light unless the Lord had made it. Because this is the day which the Lord has made, not the day itself, but the Lord.

3. Was not Thomas a man, one of the disciples like a man from the crowd? His fellow disciples said to him: We have seen the Lord. And he said: Unless I touch, unless I put my finger into his side, I will not believe. The Evangelists announce to you and you do not believe? The world believed them and the disciple does not believe. Of them it was said: Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world (Ps 19:4 (18:5)). Their words go out, reach to the ends of the earth, the whole world believes, all announce to one and he does not believe. It was not yet the day which the Lord had made. Still there was darkness in the abyss; in the depth of the human heart, there was darkness there. Let him come, let the head of this day come and say, patient, gentle, not angry because a physician: Come, he says, come, touch this and believe. You said: Unless I touch, unless I put my finger, I will not believe. Come, touch, put your finger, and do not be unbelieving but believing. Come, put your finger. I knew your wounds, I kept for you my scar. But plainly, putting in his hand, he completed his faith. For what is the fullness of faith? That Christ be believed neither only a man nor only God, but man and God. This is the fullness of faith, because the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Therefore this disciple, when the scars and members of his Savior were offered to him to be touched, when he had touched, exclaimed: My Lord and my God (John 20:25-28). He touched a man, he came to know God, and touched the flesh, he looked to the Word, because the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. This Word suffered its own flesh to be hung on the wood; this Word suffered nails to be fixed in its flesh; this Word suffered its own flesh to be pierced through with a lance; this Word suffered its own flesh to be laid in the tomb; this Word raised its own flesh, offered it to the gaze of the disciples to be seen, presented it to their hands to be handled. They touch, they exclaim: My Lord and my God. This is the day which the Lord has made.

Sermon 259
On the Lord's Day of the Octave of Easter

1. Today's day is for us a great sacred sign of perpetual happiness. For as this day is not going to pass, so the life which this day signifies is not going to pass. And so, brothers, we exhort and beseech you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom our sins have been forgiven, who willed his own blood to be our price, who condescended to make us, unworthy even to be called his servants, brothers, that all your purpose—why you are Christians, and bear his name on your forehead and in your heart—be directed to nothing but that life which we will have with the angels: where there is perpetual rest, everlasting gladness, unfailing blessedness, no disturbance, no sadness, no death. Which life none can know, except those who experience it: but they cannot experience it, except those who believe. For if you demand that we show you what God promises you, we cannot. But you heard how the Gospel of John concludes: Blessed are those who do not see, and believe (John 20:29). Both you wish to see, and I. Let us alike believe, and together we will see. Let us not be hard against the word of God. For is it fitting, brothers, that Christ should now come down from heaven, and show us his scars? Therefore he condescended to show them to that unbeliever, that he might rebuke the doubting, and instruct those about to believe.

2. This eighth day, then, signifies the new life at the end of the age: the seventh, the future rest of the saints on this earth. For the Lord will reign on earth with his saints, as the Scriptures say, and will have here a Church which no bad one will enter, separated and purged from all contagion of wickedness; which the one hundred fifty-three fish signify, about which we have already discoursed at some time, as far as I remember. For the Church will here first appear in great brightness and dignity and righteousness. There it will not be allowed to deceive, to lie, to hide a wolf under a sheep's skin. For the Lord will come, as it is written, and will illumine the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the thoughts of hearts: and then there will be praise for each from God (1 Cor 4:5). The wicked, then, will not be there: for they will already be separated. Then, as it were a purged mass, the multitude of saints will appear, as on a threshing floor, and so will be sent into the heavenly barn of immortality. For as grain is first cleansed where it is threshed; and the place where the grains endured the threshing, that they might be cleansed of chaff, is adorned with the dignity of the cleansed mass. For we see on the threshing floor, after the winnowing, a heap of chaff on one side, and a heap of grain on the other. But to what the chaff is destined, we know; and how the grains make gladness for the farmers. As, then, the grain first appears on the threshing floor, separated from the chaff, and when, after such great labors, that heap which lay hidden in the chaff, which was not seen when it was threshed, has made joy, it is then sent into the barn, and kept in secret: so in this age, you see how this threshing floor is threshed, but the chaff is so mingled with the grain that it is hard to distinguish: because it has not yet been winnowed. So, then, after the winnowing of the day of judgment, the mass of saints will appear, shining with dignity, mighty in merits, and bearing before it the mercy of its liberator. And this will be the seventh day. As though the first day in the whole age be the time from Adam to Noah; the second, from Noah to Abraham, and as the Gospel of Matthew now divides, the third from Abraham to David; the fourth, from David to the migration to Babylon; the fifth, from the migration to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. From the Lord's coming, then, the sixth is being passed; we are in the sixth day. And therefore, as man was formed in Genesis on the sixth day in the image of God, so in this time too, as it were the sixth day of the whole age, we are renewed in Baptism, that we may receive the image of our Maker. But when this sixth day has passed, rest will come after that winnowing, and the saints and just of God will keep Sabbath. But after the seventh, when in the threshing floor the dignity, splendor, and merit of the harvest of the saints has appeared, we will go into that life and into that rest, of which it was said: That eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Cor 2:9). Then, as it were, there is a return to the head. For as, when these seven days have been completed, the eighth is the same as the first: so after the ages of the passing age have been ended and completed, seven of them, we will return to that immortality and blessedness from which man fell. And therefore the octaves complete the sacred signs of the infants. Hence too the number seven itself, multiplied seven times, makes forty-nine; and with one added, as it were there is a return to the head, and they become fifty: which number is celebrated by us in a mystery up to Pentecost. Which also, according to that division of the number forty, to which is added as a reward the denarius, by a different reasoning appears the same again. For both reasonings come back to the same number fifty. Which, multiplied by three because of the mystery of the Trinity, makes one hundred fifty. With the number three itself added, as a witness and indicator of the tripling and of the Trinity, we understand the Church in those one hundred fifty-three fish.

3. But meanwhile now, until we come to that rest, in this time in which we labor, and are in the night, as long as we do not see what we hope for, and make our way in the desert, until we come to the heavenly Jerusalem, as to a land of promise flowing with milk and honey: now, then, since temptations do not cease, let us do good works. Let the medicine always be at hand, to be applied as it were to almost daily wounds. But the medicine is in the good works of mercy. For if you wish to obtain the mercy of God, be merciful. If you deny to a man, when you are a man, humanity; God will deny to you divinity too, that is, the incorruption of immortality, by which he makes us gods. For God needs nothing from you: but you need from God. He asks nothing from you, that he may be blessed: but you, unless you receive from him, cannot be blessed. What do you receive from him? I do not know whether you would dare to complain if you received from him, who established all things, something that he established most excellent. But he gives you, not something from the things he established; but himself to you to enjoy, himself the Creator of all things. For what among the things made by him can be more beautiful and better than the one who made them? And how will he give himself to you? as it were by your merits? If you ask what you have deserved, attend to your sins; hear the verdict of God passed on the transgressing man: You are earth, and into the earth you will go (Gen 3:19). Since the threat went before, when the precept was given: On the day that you touch it, you will die the death (See Gen 2:17). If you seek the merit of sins, what occurs except punishment? Forget, then, your merits, lest they cause terror in your heart: or rather, do not forget them, lest through pride you repel mercy. We commend ourselves, brothers, to God by works of mercy. Confess to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever (Ps 118:1 (117:1)). Confess, because God has mercy, and wishes to forgive the sins of those who confess. But offer him a sacrifice. Have mercy on a man, O man, and God will have mercy on you. You a man, and another a man, two wretched ones. But God is not wretched, but merciful. But if a wretched man does not have mercy on a wretched man, how does he demand mercy from him who will never be wretched? See what I say, brothers. Whoever is cruel toward a shipwrecked man, for example, is cruel only so long as shipwreck does not befall him. But if it befalls him, recalling his former life, when he sees a shipwrecked man, a similar misery once strikes him; and whom the fellowship of humanity could not bend to mercy, the fellowship of calamity bends. How quickly he has mercy on a slave who once was a slave. How quickly he who was a hired man grieves for a hired man cheated of his wage. How deeply he sympathizes with a man bitterly mourning his son, who once mourned something of the kind. Therefore however great a hardness of the human heart the likeness of misery dissolves. If, then, you, who either have been wretched, or fear lest you be wretched (for as long as you live here, you ought both to fear what you were not, and to remember what you were, and to consider what you are): set, then, both in the memory of past miseries, and in the fear of future ones, and in the affliction of present ones, you do not have mercy on a man calamitous and needing your help, and you wait for him to have mercy on you, whom misery never touches? And you do not give from what you have received from God, and you want God to give to you from what he did not receive from you?

4. All of you, my brothers, who are going to your homes, and after this will scarcely see us, except for some solemnity, work mercy, because sins abound. There is no other rest, no other way, by which we come to God, by which we are restored, by which we are reconciled to him whom we most dangerously offended. We are going to come into his sight: there let our works speak for us; and let them so speak that they overcome our offenses. For whatever is the greater, this will prevail, either to punishment, if the sins have deserved it; or to rest, if good works. But mercy is twofold in the Church: one under that heading by which no one spends money, no one even labor; the other which demands of us either the service of work, or the expenditure of money. That which demands of us no outlay or labor is established in the soul, that you forgive him who has sinned against you. For paying out this alms your treasury is in your heart: there you unfold yourself before God. It is not said to you: Bring out your purse, open your chest, unseal your barn; nor is this said to you: Come, walk, run, hasten, intercede, speak, visit, labor. Standing in one place you have cast from your breast the resentment you held against your brother, you have done mercy, with no expense, with no labor, by goodness alone, by the thought of mercy alone. For if we should say: Pay out your goods to the poor; we would seem hard. Surely we are now at least gentle and easy, when we say: Spend what you will lose nothing of, forgive that it may be forgiven you. Yet let us say this too, Give and it will be given to you. The Lord joined these in the precept, and expressed these two kinds of mercy. Forgive, and it will be forgiven you: this is the mercy of the one forgiving. Give, and it will be given to you (Luke 6:37-38): this is the mercy of the one giving. See whether God does not give us more. You forgive a man, in that a man, you a man, has injured you: God forgives you, in that you, a man, have offended God. For is this—to injure a man—the same as to offend God? Therefore he gave you more: because you forgave that in which a man was injured; he forgives that in which God was offended. Attend to the other mercy of distribution. You give bread, he gives salvation; you give to the thirsty a cup of some liquid, he gives you the cup of his wisdom. Surely these are not even to be compared, what you give, and what you receive? See how one should lend at interest. If anyone wishes to be a lender, we by no means forbid it: but let him lend to the one who will not be poor by paying back more and greater things, and to whom belongs even this very thing, of whatever kind, that you give him, so that you may receive more and better.

5. This too I advise your Holiness, that you may know that he does a double mercy who gives something to the poor in such a way that he himself pays it out. For there ought to be not only the kindness of the giver, but also the humility of the one ministering. Somehow, my brothers, the soul of him who holds out to the poor man as it were sympathizes with the common humanity and weakness, when the hand of the one who has is placed into the hand of the one in need. Although the one gives, the other receives, the minister and the one ministered to are joined. For it is not calamity that joins us, but humility. Your abundance will be for you, if it please the Lord, and for your sons. But of this earthly abundance there is no mention, which you see liable to so many mischances. A treasure lies quiet in the house, it does not allow its owner to be quiet. The robber is feared, the burglar is feared, the unfaithful servant is feared, the bad and powerful neighbor is feared. The more is held, the more is feared. But if you pay out to God in the poor, you do not lose it, and you are made secure, because God himself keeps it for you in heaven, who also gives you what is necessary on earth. Or do you perhaps fear lest Christ lose what you have entrusted to him? Does not each one choose a faithful steward from his household, to whom he commits his money? Who, even if he has it in his power not to take it away, yet does not have it in his power not to lose it. What is more ample than the faith of Christ? what more divine than omnipotence? He can neither take anything away from you, because he himself gave it to you in hope of what you would give him: nor lose anything, because the Almighty holds all things. You refresh the bowels of the poor, when you make love-feasts. Because we seem to minister, and our things are given, and given through us; and yet those things are given which God gave us. It is good, brothers, that you distribute even with your own hand: it is very pleasing to God. He himself receives, and will give to you, who gave you, before he owed it, what you would give. The service of ministering ought to be joined to the office of paying out. Since you are allowed to have two rewards, why do you lose one? But whoever is less able to give to all, let him give to the poor according to his strength, with cheerfulness. For God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9:7). The kingdom of heaven is set forth to be bought at any price. There is no reason for anyone who has two pennies to say that he is not able to buy it. At so much that evangelical widow bought it.

6. The festal days have been completed, now will come those of meetings, exactions, lawsuits: see how you live in these, my brothers. From the leisure of these days you ought to conceive gentleness, not meditate plans of quarrels. For there are men who took leisure during these days for this reason, that they might plot the malices which they would carry out after these days. We ask you to live in such a way as those who know they will render an account to God of your whole life, not of these fifteen days alone. Then the questions of the Scriptures, which I proposed yesterday, and, the shortness of time hindering, did not solve, I confess I owe. But surely, because the days that follow now permit even the exactions of money by forensic and public law, demand this rather from me by Christian law. For now all come for the sake of the solemnity: after these days let the love of the law bring it about that what I promised be demanded of me. For he who gives, gives to you through me: he himself surely gives to all of us. For I know the Apostle saying: Render to all their dues: to whom tribute, tribute; to whom toll, toll; to whom honor, honor; to whom fear, fear: owe no one anything, except to love one another (Rom 13:7-8). Love alone is always to be rendered; no one is a stranger to such a debt. For what I owe, brothers, in the name of the Lord I will render. But I confess to you, I render it not to the slack in service, but to those who demand it.

Sermon 260
Given on the Same Day in the Leontian Church, on the Instructions for the Baptized

1. Lest we cause delay, having much to do, a brief but weighty sermon must be rendered to those reborn in Baptism, who today are to be mingled with the people. You who have been baptized, and today complete the sacred sign of your octave, briefly receive and understand that the figure of the circumcision of the flesh has been transferred to the circumcision of the heart. On the eighth day they are circumcised in the flesh according to the old Law: and this because of the Lord Christ, who, after the seventh day of the Sabbaths, rose on the eighth, the Lord's day. With knives of stone it was commanded that they be circumcised: the Rock was Christ. You are called infants, since you have been reborn, and have entered upon a new life, and have been born again to eternal life, if you do not suffocate by living badly what has been reborn in you. You are to be rendered to the peoples, you are to be mingled with the company of the faithful: beware lest you imitate bad faithful, or rather false faithful; as it were faithful by confessing, but unfaithful by living badly. See, because I testify to you before God and his angels: keep chastity, whether conjugal, or of complete continence. Let each render what he has vowed. You who do not have wives, it is allowed you to take wives, but ones whose husbands are not living. Women who do not have husbands, it is allowed them to marry, but those men whose wives are not living. You who have wives, do nothing bad apart from your wives. Render what you demand. Faithfulness is owed to you, faithfulness you owe. The husband owes faithfulness to the wife, the wife to the husband; both to God. Whoever have vowed continence, render what you have vowed: because it would not be demanded, if you had not vowed it. What could be allowed, is not allowed: not because marriage is condemned, but because he who looks back is condemned. Beware of frauds in your business. Beware of lies and perjuries. Beware of wordiness and self-indulgence. Whatever you do not want done to you, do not do to others, both men and God. Why should I burden you? Do these things, and the God of peace will be with you (Phil 4:9).

Sermon 260/A
In the Octave of Easter - to the Infants

1. My sermon is to you, infants just now born, little ones in Christ, new offspring of the Church, grace of the Father, fruitfulness of the mother, devout shoot, new swarm, flower of our honor and fruit of our labor, my joy and crown, all of you who stand in the Lord. I address you with the Apostle's words: See, the night has gone before, and the day has drawn near; cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light; walk becomingly as in the day: not in reveling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in its desires (Rom 13:12-14), so that by your life too you may put on him whom you have put on in the sacred sign. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:27-28). This the very force of the sacred sign holds: for it is the sacred sign of the new life, which in this time begins from the forgiveness of all past sins, but will be perfected in the resurrection of the dead. For you were buried with Christ through baptism into death, that, as Christ rose from the dead, so you too may walk in newness of life (Rom 6:4). But you now walk by faith, as long as you are pilgrims away from the Lord in this mortal body; but a sure way for you to him to whom you tend has been made Christ Jesus according to man, which he condescended to become for us. For he kept much sweetness for those who fear him, to open and perfect it for those who hope in him, when what we have now received in hope we have received also in reality. For we are sons of God, and it has not yet appeared what we will be. We know that, when he appears, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is (1 John 3:2). This he himself promised in the Gospel: He who loves me, he says, keeps my commandments. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will show myself to him (See John 14:21). Surely those to whom he spoke saw him, but in the form of a servant, in which the Father is greater, not in the form of God, in which he is equal to the Father. This he showed to those who feared, that he kept for those who hoped; in this he appeared to those on pilgrimage, to that he called them to dwell together; this he spread out for them as they walked, that he promised to those arriving.

2. Having these promises, then, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting sanctification in the fear of God (2 Cor 7:1). I beseech you to walk worthily of the calling by which you were called, with all humility of mind and gentleness, bearing with one another in love, striving to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace (Eph 4:1-3). For what kind of thing is it, from which we have received such a pledge? But there are some who have put on Christ only by the sacred sign, in which they are naked as to faith or conduct. For many heretics too have the very sacred sign of baptism, but not the very fruit of salvation, nor the bond of peace, having, as the Apostle says, a form of piety, but denying its power (2 Tim 3:5), whether marked by deserters, or themselves also deserters, bearing the mark of the good king in damnable flesh; who say to us: If we are not faithful, why do you not give us baptism? But if we are already faithful, why do you seek us? As if they do not read that Simon Magus both received baptism, and yet heard from Peter: You have no part nor lot in this faith (Acts 8:21). See, because it can happen that someone may have the baptism of Christ, and not have the faith or love of Christ; may have the sacred sign of holiness, and not be counted in the lot of the saints. Nor does it matter, as far as the sacred sign alone is concerned, if someone receives the baptism of Christ where there is not the unity of Christ; for even one baptized in the Church, if he becomes a deserter of the Church, will lack the holiness of life, will not lack the seal of the sacred sign. For surely it is shown that one going out could not lose what is not restored to one returning; as a deserter of the army lacks the lawful fellowship, does not lack the royal stamp. And if he himself marks another with the same mark, he will not make him a partner of life, but a companion of punishment; but if both that one returns to the lawful and ordered army, and this one comes, the royal severity being appeased, both the one who departed is forgiven what he departed, and the one who came is received: in both the fault is corrected, to both the punishment is remitted, to both peace is given, in neither is what was marked repeated.

3. Let them not, then, now say to us: What will you give us, if we already have baptism? For they so do not know what they say that they will not even read what the holy Scripture testifies, that in the Church itself within, that is, in the communion of the members of Christ, many in Samaria were baptized and did not receive the Holy Spirit, but were in baptism alone, until the apostles came to them from Jerusalem; but on the contrary that Cornelius, and those who were with him, merited to receive the Holy Spirit, before they received the sacred sign of baptism. So God taught that the sign of salvation is one thing, salvation itself another: that the form of piety is one thing, the power of piety another. What will you give us, they say, if we already have baptism? O sacrilegious vanity, so to think that the Church of Christ, which they do not have, is nothing, that they suppose they receive nothing, if they are associated to its communion! Let the prophet Amos say to them: Woe to those who count Zion as nothing! (See Amos 6:1) What am I going to receive, he says, if I already have baptism? You are going to receive the Church, which you do not have; you are going to receive unity, which you do not have; you are going to receive peace, which you do not have. Or if these seem nothing to you, fight, deserter, against your emperor who says: He who does not gather with me, scatters (Matt 12:30). Fight against his Apostle, rather even there against him who spoke through him, who says: Bearing with one another in love, striving to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace (Eph 4:2-3). Count what he said: bearing with, love, unity of spirit, peace. The Spirit is there the worker of all things, who was named, whom you do not have. Surely you did not bear with, you who departed from the Church? Whom did you love, when you deserted the members of Christ? What unity is yours in sacrilegious cutting-off? what peace in wicked dissension? Far be it from us that these things be nothing, but you yourself are nothing without these. If you scorn to receive these in the Church, you can indeed have baptism, but you have it for a greater punishment, whatever you have without these: for the baptism of Christ, which with these would be a support of your salvation, without these is a witness of your iniquity.

4. But you, holy sons, Catholic members, have received baptism not another, but for another end; for you received it not for punishment, but for life; not for ruin, but for salvation; not for condemnation, but for honor. For at the same time you received also the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace (Eph 4:3); if indeed you too, which I wish, which I hope, which I exhort and beg, both guard whole what you have received, and by making progress come to greater things. Today is the eighth day of your birth; today is completed in you the seal of faith, which among the ancient fathers was done in the circumcision of the flesh on the eighth day of carnal birth; for there was figured the stripping off of mortality in that human member through which man, who is to die, is born. Hence the Lord himself too, stripping himself by rising from the mortality of the flesh, and raising not indeed another, but yet a body no longer to die, marked the Lord's day in his resurrection, which is the third after the day of his passion, but in the number of days after the Sabbath the eighth, and the same the first. Hence you too, not yet in reality, but now in sure hope, since you both have the sacred sign of this thing, and have received the pledge of the Spirit, if you have risen with Christ, set your minds on the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Col 3:1-4).

Sermon 260/B
A Sermon Given in the Days of the Octave of Easter, in Which He Addresses Especially the Infants

1. The sermon by which a good life is commanded and commended, that eternal life may be obtained and received, pertains indeed to all; nevertheless we address especially you, new shoots of holiness, reborn of water and the Spirit, planted and watered through our ministry in the field of God, who gives the increase. Consider yourselves thus, as it were freed from Egypt, from the hard slavery in which iniquity ruled over you; as having also passed through the Red Sea, namely through baptism, marked by the bloody cross of Christ. The enemies who were pursuing you from behind, reckon as past sins: for, as when the people of God were passing through the Egyptians perished, so for you, when baptized, those sins were blotted out. Now, then, seek the heavenly kingdom, to which you are called, as a land of promise; and, making your way through this earthly life as through the desert, resist temptations vigilantly. For you receive your manna from the participation of the holy altar, and from the rock flows what you drink. Recalling all this, and preaching it by teaching, the apostle Paul says: I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them; and the rock was Christ (1 Cor 10:1-4). By these apostolic words you surely recognize clearly that we have suggested these things to your ears and minds not by our own conjecture, but taught by holy Scripture.

2. But what I admonished, saying, resist temptations vigilantly, look at what the same Apostle says next and terribly: But with most of them God was not well pleased; for they were laid low in the desert. But these things were made figures of us, that we should not be desirous of evil things, as they too desired; nor servants of idols, as some of them, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Nor let us fornicate, as some of them fornicated, and there fell in one day twenty-three thousand. Nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted, and perished by serpents. Nor murmur, as some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer. But all these things happened to them in figure: and they were written for our correction, upon whom the end of the ages has come (1 Cor 10:5-11).

3. You, then, beloved, avoiding the preceding bad examples, imitate those who pleased God, not those who perished by offending God. For what did it profit to escape from the Egyptians through the Red Sea, and to perish from serpents in the desert? Such are those who, baptized and freed from past sins, neglect so great a grace, and, cut off by the venomous bites of deadly seductions, cannot come to the promised life. Fleeing their examples, cling with persevering obedience to him who redeemed you, that you may come to the kingdom; not such as was given to the first people in a shadow of what was to come, but where, with Christ, there will be no end, and you will live in eternal happiness.

Sermon 260/C
On the Lord's Day of the Octave of Holy Easter

1. I do not doubt that it is neither new nor unheard of, but manifest to your faith, that as we are born of our parents carnally, so we are born of God the Father and the Church our mother spiritually. Yet the same Lord God is both our creator from those parents, and our re-creator from himself and the Church. In that generation the bond of sin is drawn, in this it is loosed. There we are begotten, that we may succeed parents who are to die; here, that we may cling to those who so remain. And so, if the sons of men, who precede by being born, rejoice with genuine love at the brothers being born in the house, rather rejoicing over partners of light from the same blood than envying sharers of the inheritance; how much more and more sincerely ought we to rejoice together, when the same sons of men, reborn through the grace of holy baptism, become sons of their Creator, since we are born to that inheritance which is both whole for all its possessors, and entire for each? The Lord, he says, is the portion of my inheritance (Ps 16:5 (15:5)). If, then, as the prophet David says, our inheritance is God himself, and, as the apostle John says: God is love (1 John 4:8); and as the apostle Paul says: Love is not jealous (1 Cor 13:4); the more partners and companions we see born to us to obtain such an inheritance, the more with abundant love we rejoice, to whom that very love is set forth to be possessed. For where the inheritance itself is love, he shows that he is not an heir, who does not love the coheir. And so the things which, with the Lord's help, we are going to say to those whose eighth day of baptism is being completed today, embrace the more gladly, the more you exult that they are joined to you by new kinship; that the catechumens too, whom mother Church has already conceived by a certain sacred sign, may with desire of the new light press her womb, and hasten to be perfected and born.

2. The solemnity especially of these very octaves, which throughout the whole world has wholesomely subjected the nations everywhere to the name of Christ, is most devoutly celebrated by all who are reborn through his baptism. What, then, it means, and what is the reason of so great a mystery, let us try, with the Lord's help, to recall in a few words. Let your Christian learning consider with me whether it agrees with the rules of our faith. For who does not know that the earth was once cleansed from iniquities by the flood, and that the sacred sign of holy baptism, by which through water all the sins of a man are blotted out, was even then foretold, where the ark, fashioned of unrotting wood, by which the Church was figured, contained only eight men? What, then, the number eight of men attests in the waters of the flood, by which sins were extinguished, this the number eight of days attests in the waters of baptism, by which sins are blotted out. For deeds that signify something are compared to the sounds of our mouth; as, then, one and the same thing can be said by manifold words and tongues, so one and the same thing is wont to be signified not only by voices but also by figurative deeds, many and various, without any alteration of itself. For which reason, not because there are eight men there, but here eight days, is one thing and another announced, but the same thing in one way and another, by the difference of signs, as by the diversity of letters.

3. By the number eight, then, are prefigured the things that pertain to the age to come, where by no rolling of times anything either fails or makes progress, but it perseveres continually in stable blessedness. And since the times of this age slip away by the number seven of days repeated in a circuit, that is rightly called as it were the eighth day, on which, when the saints have arrived after the temporal labors, they distinguish action or rest by no alternation of light and night; but for them there will be a perpetually waking rest, and an action not slothfully but tirelessly at leisure. But as for the saints, when the time of seven has passed, there is the eighth and eternal happiness, so for the impious, the same sevenfold revolution being completed, there is the eighth, the judgment of punishment. From which, desiring to be freed, that man in the sixth Psalm, which is inscribed with the title for the eighth, groaning alleges his weakness, and says: Lord, do not rebuke me in your indignation, nor chastise me in your anger (Ps 6:1 (6:2)). Again in the eleventh Psalm, where likewise the inscription is for the eighth, it is shown that for the very reward of eternal life all the adversities of this age are to be endured; lest, when iniquity begins to abound, love grow cold, and he who has not persevered to the end cannot be saved. For when anyone has wished to rest in other men, and in many, in whom he least thought it, has found falsehoods and deceits and empty and proud boasting, it is good for him to look to the eighth and everlasting day, where his secure gladness will be wounded by the fellowship of no wicked one, and to say, groaning here and praying with tears: Save me, Lord, for the holy one has failed, for the truths are diminished from the sons of men (Ps 12:1 (11:2)); for so the Psalm itself begins. But let him pray in sure hope according to the last words of the same Psalm; for so it ends: You, Lord, will preserve us, he says, and will guard us from this generation forever (Ps 12:7 (11:8)); as it were beginning from the seventh, and leading on to the eighth, from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor 3:18).

4. For what is it that elsewhere too he promises through the prophet peace upon peace (See Isa 26:3), except that the Sabbath too, which is signified by the seventh day, although it is contained in the same temporal rolling of days, has surely a rest, which has been promised to the saints on this earth; where no storm of this age troubles them, resting in their God after good works? Which, to signify it so long before, after he had made all things very good, on the seventh day he himself too rested. Or is it for another reason that it is written in the book of holy Job: Six times I will rescue you from necessities, and in the seventh evil will not touch you (Job 5:19)? But for this reason that day no longer has an evening, because, without any incursion or clouding of sadness, which is often spread over from the mingled company of malignant men, it carries the saints across into the eighth day, that is, everlasting blessedness. For it is one thing to rest in the Lord still amid the times themselves, which is signified by the seventh day, that is, the Sabbath; but another to transcend all times, and to be set in the artificer of the times without any end now, which is signified by the eighth day, which, by not rolling with the rest, declares that it has the mark of eternity. For with these seven continually rolling by the repetition of succession, the circuits of all times are completed. But the friends of this world are not figured by the significations of these days; for they do not desire the rest of the spiritual Sabbath in the seventh, from which their attention too could be stretched into the eighth, eternity; but, given to those transitory celebrations, deserting the Creator they slip into worshiping the creation, and become impious. Hence consequently that man who sings for the eighth added; and when he had said: You, Lord, will preserve us and will guard us from this generation forever, he at once joined: The impious walk in a circuit (Ps 12:7-8 (11:8-9)); subject, namely, to temporal reasonings, not knowing how to savor the eternal.

5. And in these days, indeed, in which a certain signification is figured, the same eighth is found which is the first. For the Lord's day is itself called the first of the Sabbath; but it itself passes away as the first, the second succeeding. But in that eternity which this eighth and first signifies, there is both a first eternity, which, deserting by sinning in the origin of our first parents, we came into this mortality; and as it were a last, an eighth, which after the resurrection, the last enemy, death, being destroyed, we seek again, that this corruptible may put on incorruption, and this mortal may put on immortality; and the returning son may receive the first robe, which, after the labor of the long pilgrimage, and the feeding of swine, and the other troubles of mortal life, and the sevenfold circuits of times, is rendered to him as that last and as it were eighth. Not undeservedly, then, did our Lord himself too, on the first and the same eighth day, the Lord's day, condescend to demonstrate in his own flesh the example also of bodily resurrection; he who now no longer dies, and death will no longer have dominion over him. To this exaltation of his we ought to tend through humility. For setting it before two disciples who were asking, and desiring to sit one at his right and the other at his left, he said: Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink? (Matt 20:22) That they might understand that the way to the height is to be begun from the valley of weeping; and that they would not be made worthy to take the summit of heaven, unless they first did not disdain the reproach of the cross.

6. For the very last verse too of the eleventh Psalm, over which the title for the eighth stands out, Lord, according to your height you have multiplied the sons of men (Ps 12:8 (11:9)), is fittingly taken as said to the same Lord Jesus Christ, who in himself, the Son of God and Son of man, making sons of God of the sons of men, multiplies, according to his height, those who in this earth are few because of the abundance of sins, and like grains on the threshing floor because of the multitude of chaff, which alone seems to be everywhere—those very ones lying hidden and almost not appearing—into the heavenly Jerusalem, calling the things that are not as though they were. And from what height? Because blindness in part has come upon Israel, that the fullness of the gentiles might enter, and so all Israel might be saved (Rom 11:25-26); it was exclaimed by the Apostle saying: O the height of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! (Rom 11:33) Let us not, then, seek the ruinous heights of temporal sublimities. For we are dead, and our life is hidden with Christ in God; when Christ who is our life appears, then we too will appear with him in glory. Therefore let our attention persevere toward the eighth, where, every circuit of times being completed, the impious walk. Since our way of life precedes in hope into heaven, let us live with Christ, in Christ, equal to the angels of God, and made partakers of that eternity, who did not refuse to become a partaker of our mortality. For as in the octaves of the sacred signs after seven days there is the eighth, so in the sacred sign of Pentecost after seven weeks, which we conclude on the forty-ninth day, the same eighth is added, that fifty may be completed; one in the smaller number, and the same one in the greater. For eternity, of which this eighth day has the sign, can neither be increased nor diminished; and there it is always today, since nothing succeeds to something passing away. And that today is neither begun from the end of yesterday, nor ended at the beginning of tomorrow, but is always today; since all past things passed away without it setting, and all future things will come without it being born.

7. Forgetting, then, the things that are behind, and stretching yourselves out to the things that are before, following according to the intention toward the prize of the upward calling, dearest brothers and sons, even when you have laid aside the seals of the sacred signs, always bear in your heart the hope of this everlasting day; and so change your shining garments—by which the bright shoot is written in your memory, in the newness of your life, as it were by a visible word—that you do not change what they indicate, gleaming with the light of faith and truth; and let it be stained with no filth of perverse conduct: that on that day we may not be found naked, and may pass from the glory of faith into the glory of vision without any difficulty. But when, as is solemnly done today, you have been mingled with the people from these railings by which your spiritual infancy distinguished you from the rest, cling to the good; and remember that bad conversations corrupt good morals; be sober, just, and do not sin (1 Cor 15:33-34). For I betrothed you to one husband, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ; and I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his cunning, so your senses too be corrupted from the chastity of God, which is in Christ (2 Cor 11:2-3). The friendship which is of this world commits adultery against souls, and makes them fornicate away from the one and true and lawful spouse, from whom you have received the ring of the Holy Spirit. Beware of the wide way, which leads to destruction, and many are those who walk by it (Matt 7:13); do not fail in the narrow way, whose end is eternal breadth. And if ever, as in human life it must happen amid the waves of this age, you fall into various temptations, and are barked at all around by the iniquities of many men, with the perseverance of faith and the joy of hope and the ardor of love sing for the eighth, and say: Save me, Lord, for the holy one has failed; for the truths are diminished from the sons of men; each one has spoken vain things to his neighbor (Ps 12:1-2 (11:2-3)).

8. But you, sons of man, now made sons of God, how long heavy of heart? Do not love vanity and seek a lie (See Ps 4:2 (4:3)), and you will give no place to the devil. Nor let each of you, when amid the tumults of temptations and scandals he has clung unshaken to Christ, and, embracing the word of God, has stood immovable, think himself the only grain, because, walled around on every side by chaff, he does not see the partners of his barn. Let him consider that even in those times, before the blood of Christ, the price of the world, had been poured out on the earth, when holy Elijah said: I am left alone; the answer was: I have left for myself seven thousand men, who have not bent their knees before Baal (See 1 Kgs 19:14, 18; Rom 11:3-4). Which seven thousand, when they were still being threshed with him on the threshing floor of this age, did not yet touch one another in the mass; and therefore each one seemed to himself to be alone. More abundant is the mass in all the nations, which will be kept for the Lord, and will be guarded from this generation and forever; because by a hidden counsel, according to his height, he will multiply the sons of men.

Sermon 260/D
A Discourse on the Lord's Day of the Octave of Holy Easter

1. Your Charity knows that on the first Lord's day, that is, before these eight days, we sang this to the Lord, which today: This is the day which the Lord has made (Ps 118:24 (117:24)). For what day is there that the Lord has not made? But by the name of day the Spirit of God wished to commend a certain chief work of God. But what is better among all the works of God than a faithful man? For as on that day too we recalled to you, in the first works of the world God said: let there be light, and there was light. And God divided between the light and the darkness; and called the light day, and the darkness night (Gen 1:3-5). If, then, he called the light day, without doubt those to whom the Apostle says: You were once darkness, but now light in the Lord (Eph 5:8), are day. All the saints, all the faithful, and through this all the just—because the just lives by faith (Rom 1:17)—all together in most concordant unity are day; and that very unity of all is one day. For how is it not one day, of which it is said in the Acts of the Apostles: They had one soul and one heart in the Lord (Acts 4:32)? God plainly divided among men too between day and night, between light and darkness; about to give eternity to the light, condemnation to the darkness. It does not yet appear now, but God has already divided. A man lives badly, and perhaps in God's predestination is light: and another lives well, and perhaps in predestination is night. But God divided, and keeps the division itself hidden with himself, lest the day grow proud, and become night. For there are some who wish to ascribe to their own virtue that they are just, and with a hellish heart and sacrilegious mouth dare to say: God made us men, but we make ourselves just. If they make themselves just, this is not the day which the Lord made. Let the faithful one, then, made light from darkness, to whom the Apostle says: You were once darkness, but now light in the Lord; let him say with the same Apostle: I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God (1 Cor 15:9). See the night, see the darkness. When he persecuted the Church of God, darkness was over the abyss. The Lord called him from above: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? (Acts 9:4) The darkness was wiped away, the light rose; he began to preach whom he persecuted, and said: I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. From where, then, comes to you what you are? By the grace of God I am what I am (1 Cor 15:10). This is the day which the Lord has made.

2. And so I address you, one day, infants born badly of Adam, born well in Christ. See that you are day, see that the Lord made you. He drove from your hearts the darkness of sins, he renewed your life. You are to be mingled today with the number of the peoples: choose whom you will imitate, do not choose for yourselves the lost, with whom you will perish. Do not say: Why, is this man not faithful? and he gets drunk. Why, is this man not faithful? and he has a wife, and also has a concubine. Why, is this man not faithful? and he daily swears a lie for gain. Why, is this man not faithful? and he gives his money at interest. Why, is this man not faithful? and he questions a witch. Why, is this man not faithful? and when his head aches, he ties amulets to his neck; and he who does not want to die, ties them to his neck. If you say these things, you perish. I testify to you before God and his angels; what was ours, we have given what we received; nor did we give it, but it was given through us. The money is the Lord's: we are dispensers, not bestowers. We have a common Lord, we measure out rations to fellow servants: from that same barn we too live. We are not our own, but his who poured out his blood as a price for us. We have been redeemed together, we all have one price: our wheat is the holy Gospel. He who redeemed us made us brothers from servants: the Only-begotten made us coheirs. He was one, and condescended to have brothers: do not forget this condescension, beloved. You are called faithful, live faithfully: keep faith to your Lord in your heart and conduct. Do not mingle yourselves with bad conduct in the crowd of bad Christians. See what I say: be grains. The chaff abounds on the threshing floor, but the winnowing is to come, the chaff will be separated; neither does one straw enter the barn with you, nor does one grain go into the fire. He knows how to separate, who was able to gather; you err, if you think the Lord errs. He knows you, who created you, and re-created you; for if he had only created and not re-created, you would enter into the mass of perdition. Do I say to you, my brothers, that you will not be able to find Christians living well? Far be it that I should think this of the threshing floor of my Lord. If this is so, why do I labor? See the good, whom you may imitate: be such, and you will find them. But if you begin to be bad, you will believe all are bad; and it is a lie, you are deceived. You attend to the threshing floor from afar, therefore only the chaff meets you: approach, seek, fill your hand, apply the judgment of the mouth; from there is shaken out everything that flies, and what is heavy remains. You will find good Christians, believe me; good married men, keeping faith to their wives; good married women, keeping faith to their husbands. Seek, and you will find: be such, and it will not be hidden from you. Like meets like. Are you a grain? you join yourself to a grain. Are you chaff? you join yourself to chaff. You will find those who do not give their money at interest, you will find those who hate fraud more than loss: you will find these. Begin to be such, and you will see how many there are. They are few, but in comparison with the many. It is being winnowed, and it is a mass. He will winnow, who bears the winnowing fan in his hand (Matt 3:12).

3. Now, beloved, I address also you who are faithful, baptized long ago, baptized in a former year, baptized in earlier years, you too I address; go by that same way, by which you will not perish, if these wish to follow. For it will pertain to your judgment, if with your bad conduct you both perish, and are lost.

Sermon 260/E
A Discourse on the Lord's Day of the Octave of Holy Easter

1. When the blessed apostles were doing wonders and healings in the name of Christ, the Jews, filled with zeal, forbade them to speak in the name of him who had chosen them, and had granted them to be such. But they answered, saying: If it is just before God to obey you rather than God, judge this; for we cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard (Acts 4:19-20). They professed themselves witnesses of Christ; but those who are called "witnesses" in Latin are called "martyrs" in Greek. Saying, then, We cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard, they despised the prohibition of men, that they might have the blessing of God. They saw and heard: what about us? We too ought to preach. But we did not see. Surely let us preach what we have heard; because the Apostle says: So then faith is from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Rom 10:17). Judea saw the Lord Christ in the flesh, the gentiles did not see him; and yet, not seeing, they heard and believed, seeing, they despised and killed. We, then, were going to hear, not to see; but vision is kept for us, that what we now believe we may see at the end of the age. The Lord himself, then, foresaw us, when he said in prophecy: A people whom I did not know served me (Ps 18:43 (17:45)); the one I knew resisted me, the one I did not know served me. But from where did a people serve you whom you did not know, that is, to whom you did not exhibit the presence of your flesh, to whose eyes you did not show your scars after the resurrection, from where did it serve you? Follow on, and you hear: In the hearing of the ear it obeyed me (Ps 18:44 (17:45)).

2. Say, then, you too: We cannot but speak what we have heard and preach the Lord Christ. Let each preach where he can, and he is a martyr. But sometimes a man does not suffer persecution, and fears shame. It happens to him, for example, to dine among pagans, and he blushes to be called a Christian. If he is terrified of a dinner-companion, how can he despise a persecutor? Preach Christ, then, where you can, to whom you can, how you can. Faith is demanded of you, not eloquence: let faith speak of you, and Christ speaks. For if faith is in you, Christ dwells in you. You heard the Psalm: I believed, therefore I have spoken (Ps 116:10 (115:10)). He could not believe, and be silent. He is ungrateful to the one who fills him, who does not pour out; whatever each one has been filled with, he ought to pour out. For such a fount is born in him that knows how to pour out, does not know how to dry up: There will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life (John 4:14). For you preach securely, because you do not lie about the fount of truth: you have received what you belch out on your tongue. For if you wish to speak of your own, you will be liars; this the same Psalm says: I said in my ecstasy: Every man is a liar (Ps 116:11 (115:11)). What does it mean: Every man is a liar? Every Adam is a liar. Strip off Adam, and put on Christ, and you will not be a liar. Let this suffice your Charity, because there are many things to be done.

Sermon 261
A Sermon Given at Carthage in the Basilica of Faustus on the Fortieth Day, the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ

1. The resurrection of the Lord is our hope; the ascension of the Lord is our glorification. For today we celebrate the solemnity of the Ascension. If, then, we rightly, if faithfully, if devoutly, if holily, if piously celebrate the ascension of the Lord, let us ascend with him, and let us have our heart on high. But ascending let us not be lifted up. For we ought to have our heart on high, but to the Lord. For to have the heart on high not to the Lord is called pride; but to have the heart on high to the Lord is called a refuge. For to him who ascends we say: Lord, you have become a refuge for us (Ps 90:1 (89:1)). For he rose, that he might give us hope, because what dies rises; lest by dying we should despair, and think our whole life ended by death. For we were anxious about the soul itself, and he by rising gave us security about the flesh too. He ascended, then, who? He who descended. He descended, to heal you; he ascended, to lift you. You will fall, if you lift yourself; you will remain, if he lifts you. Heart on high, then, but to the Lord, is a refuge; heart on high, but not to the Lord, is pride. Let us, then, say to him rising: Since you, Lord, are my hope; but to him ascending: You have made the Most High your refuge (Ps 91:9 (90:9)). For how, having the heart on high to him, will we be proud, who for our sake was made humble, lest we should remain proud?

2. God Christ, this always: he will never cease this, because he never began. For if through his grace something begins that will never cease; how will he cease, who never began? What is it that begins, and never ceases? Our immortality will have a beginning, it will not have an end. For we do not yet have what, when we have begun to have it, we will not lose. Therefore God always Christ. And what kind of God? You ask what kind? Equal to the Father. Do not, then, seek in eternity quality, but happiness. What kind of God Christ is, grasp, if you can. See, I say it, I will not defraud you. You ask what kind of God Christ is? Hear me, rather hear with me; together let us hear, together let us learn. For not because I speak and you hear, do I therefore not hear with you. You ask, then, when you hear: Christ is God, what kind of God is Christ? Hear with me: not, I say, hear me, but with me. For in this school we are all fellow students: heaven is the chair of our master. Hear, then, what kind of God Christ is. In the beginning was the Word. Where? And the Word was with God. But words we are wont to hear daily. Do not think so, as you are wont to hear: God was the Word, what kind I ask. For see, I already believe him God: but what kind of God he is, I ask. Seek his face always (Ps 105:4 (104:4)). Let no one fail in seeking, but make progress. He who seeks makes progress, if piety seeks, not vanity. How does piety seek, how vanity? Piety seeks by believing, vanity by quarreling. For if you wish to quarrel with me, and to say to me: What God do you worship? what kind of God do you worship? show me what you worship, I will answer: Even if there is what I might show, there is no one to whom to show it.

3. Nor do I dare to say that I have already grasped what you seek. For I enter, as far as I can, after the footsteps of that great athlete Christ, namely the apostle Paul who says: Brothers, I do not consider that I myself have grasped it. I myself. I, what is it, and myself? I who labored more than all of them? I know, Apostle, how you say: I. It is emphasis, not exaltation. For do you wish to hear how he says: I? When he had said: I labored more than all of them, he took the I from himself. I labored, he says, more than all of them. And as though we to him: Who? and he to us: Yet not I, but the grace of God with me (1 Cor 15:10). He, then, with whom was so great a grace of God that, called later, he labored more than those who preceded, yet says: Brothers, I do not consider that I myself have grasped it. There I, where he does not grasp. For it belongs to human weakness not to grasp. But where he was lifted into the third heaven, and heard ineffable words, which it is not lawful for a man to speak, he did not say: I. But what did he say? I know a man fourteen years ago (2 Cor 12:2-4). I know a man: and he himself who spoke was a man, and what was done in him, he did as it were another, therefore he did not fail. Do not, then, contend, do not quarrel, demanding of me what kind of God I worship. For it is not an idol, and I extend my finger, and say to you: See the God whom I worship; or it is some constellation, or some star, or the sun, or the moon; and I extend my finger to heaven, and say: See what I worship. There is nothing to which the finger may be extended, but there is something to which the mind may be extended. See him not grasping, and yet seeking, following, gaping, sighing, desiring; see him, see to what he stretches toward his God, whether a finger, or rather the mind. What does he say? I do not consider that I have grasped it. But one thing, forgetting the things behind, stretched out to the things that are before, I follow according to the intention toward the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:13-14). I follow, he says, I walk, he says, I am on the way. Follow, if you can: together let us come to the homeland, where you will not seek of me, nor I of you. Together, then, now by believing let us seek, that together afterward by seeing we may rejoice.

4. For who has shown you what kind of God Christ is? See what he condescended to say through his servant, let him say also through this servant of his, to my fellow servants, his servants. It was said to you: In the beginning was the Word. You were asking where he was, the answer was: The Word was with God. And lest you despise the word from the custom of human speech, you heard: God was the Word. Do you still ask what kind of God? All things were made through him (John 1:1-3). Love him: whatever you love is from him. Let us not love the creation, neglecting the Creator; but let us attend to the creation, and praise the Creator. I cannot show you my God: I show what he made, I recall what he made. All things were made through him. He made new things, not being new; he made temporal things, being everlasting; he made changeable things, who knows no change. Inspect the things made, praise the maker: believe, that you may be cleansed. For do you wish to see? A good thing, a great thing you wish; I urge you to wish it. Do you wish to see? Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matt 5:8). First, then, think about cleansing the heart: have this as your business, call yourself away to this, press at this work. What you wish to see is clean, that with which you wish to see is unclean. You think of God as some immense or manifold light of these eyes, you increase the spaces for yourself as great as you wish: you do not set an end where you do not wish, you set one where you wish. These are phantasms of your heart, this is the uncleanness of your heart. Take it away, cast it out. If earth fell into your eye, and you wished me to show you the light; your eyes would first seek a cleanser. So great is the uncleanness in your heart; there avarice is no small uncleanness. You heap up what you will not take away with you. Do you not know that when you heap up, you draw mud to your heart? From where, then, will you see what you seek?

5. You say to me: Show me your God. I say to you: Attend a little to your heart. Show me, you say, your God. Attend, I say, a little to your heart. Whatever you see there that displeases God, take it away from there. God wishes to come to you. Hear the Lord Christ himself: I and the Father will come to him, and will make our dwelling with him (John 14:23). See what God promises. If, then, I promised that I would come into your house, you would clean it; God wishes to come into your heart, and are you slow to clean the house for him? He does not love to dwell with avarice, with an unclean and insatiable woman, whom you served at her command, and sought to see God. What have you done that God commanded? What have you not done that avarice commanded? What have you done that God commanded? I show what your heart dwells with, you who wish to see God. For this I had said: There is what to show, but there is no one to whom. What God commanded, what have you done? What avarice commanded, what have you delayed? God commanded that you clothe the naked, you trembled; avarice commanded that you strip the clothed, you raged. If you had done what God commanded, what shall I say to you, you would have this and that? You would have God himself. If you had done what God commanded, you would have God. You did what avarice commanded, what do you have? I know, you are going to say to me: I have whatever I took away. So you have by taking away. Do you have something with you, who have lost yourself? I have, you say. Where, where, I ask you? Surely either in the bedroom, or in the little bag, or in the chest: I do not want to say more. Wherever you have it, surely now you do not have it with you. Surely now you think you have it in the chest; perhaps it has perished, and you do not know; perhaps when you return, you do not find what you left. I seek your heart: there, what you have, I ask. See, you have filled your chest, and broken your conscience. See the full man, learn to be full: The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so it was done; blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21). Surely he had lost everything. From where, then, did he bring forth these gems of praise to the Lord?

6. Cleanse, then, your heart, as much as you can; do this, work at this. And that he may cleanse it, where he may dwell, ask, beseech, humble yourself. You do not grasp: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: this was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was made nothing. What was made in him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it (John 1:1-5). See why you do not grasp: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it. What is the darkness, except bad works? What is the darkness, except bad desires, pride, avarice, ambition, envy? All these are darkness: therefore you do not grasp. For the light shines in the darkness; but provide one to grasp it.

7. See, then, lest perhaps you can in some way receive this: The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Through the man Christ you tend to God Christ. God is far from you: but God became man. What was far from you, through the man was made near to you. Where you may dwell, is God: by which you may go, is man. The same Christ himself is both by which you go, and to which you go. He himself, then, the Word, was made flesh and dwelt among us. He took up what he was not, he did not lose what he was. The man appeared, and God lay hidden. The man was killed, and God was offended: but the man rose, and God was found. Consider, then, how many things he did as God, how many he suffered as man. He was killed, but not in his divinity: Christ himself was killed. For there are not two, God and man; so that we now make or know not a Trinity, but a quaternity. The man indeed is man, and God is God; but the whole Christ is man and God: he himself, then, Christ, is man and God. As you, a man, are body and soul; so the whole Christ is man and God. Therefore the whole Christ is flesh, soul, and God. The same one says something that pertains to God; says something that pertains to the soul; says something that pertains to the flesh: the whole pertains to Christ. What does he say as God? As the Father has life in himself, so he gave the Son to have life in himself. Whatever the Father does, these same things the Son also does likewise (John 5:26, 19). I and the Father are one (John 10:30). What does Christ say according to his soul? My soul is sorrowful unto death (Matt 26:38). What does Christ say according to the flesh? Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up (John 2:19). Handle and see, that a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me to have (Luke 24:39). These are the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3).

8. Surely the whole law hangs on two precepts: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, with your whole mind; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two precepts hang the whole Law and the Prophets (Matt 22:37-40). In Christ you have the whole. Do you wish to love your God? You have it in Christ: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). Do you wish to love your neighbor? You have it in Christ: The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).

9. Let his grace cleanse us: let him cleanse us by his helps and consolations. My brothers, through him and in him I beseech you, abound in good works, in mercy, goodness, kindness. Quickly forgive what is sinned against you. Let no one hold anger against another, lest he block off for himself his prayer to God. For all these things, because we are in this age, because even if we make progress, even if we live justly, we do not live here without sin. For sins are not only those which are called crimes, adulteries, fornications, sacrileges, thefts, robberies, false testimonies; these alone are not sins. To attend to something that you ought not, is a sin; to hear willingly something that ought not to be heard, is a sin; to think something that ought not to be thought, is a sin.

10. But our Lord, after that washing of regeneration, gave other daily remedies. Our daily cleansing is the Lord's Prayer. Let us say, and let us say truly, because this too is an alms: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Give alms, and all things are clean to you. Remember, brothers, what he is going to say to those who will stand on the right. He will not say: you did this great thing and that; but: I was hungry, and you gave me to eat. To those who will stand on the left he is not going to say: you did this evil and that; but: I was hungry, and you did not give me to eat. Those, for their alms, into eternal life: those, for their barrenness, into eternal fire (See Matt 25:34-46). Now choose either the right or the left. For I ask you, what hope of salvation can he have who is slack in remedies, frequent in diseases? But they are small diseases. Heap them up, and they press. The sins I have are smaller. Are they not many? For how are those small which press, which overwhelm? What is tinier than raindrops? Rivers are filled. What is tinier than grains of wheat? Barns are filled. You attend to the fact that they are smaller, and you do not attend to the fact that they are many. You know how to attend: count them, if you can. But plainly God gave a daily remedy.

11. Great is the mercy of him who ascended on high, and led captivity captive. What does it mean: led captivity captive? He killed death. Captivity was taken captive: death died. What then? Did he who ascended on high, and led captivity captive, do only this? Did he then abandon us? Behold, I am with you until the consummation of the age (Matt 28:20). Therefore attend to that: He gave gifts to men (Eph 4:8). Open the bosom of piety, receive the gift of happiness.

Sermon 262
Given on the Day of the Lord's Ascension in the Leontian Basilica.

1. 1. The Lord Jesus, only-begotten of the Father and coeternal with his begetter, equally invisible, equally unchangeable, equally almighty, equally God; for our sake, as you know, and have received, and hold, became man, the human form being assumed, the divine not lost: powerful while hidden, weak while manifest; as you know, he was born, that we might be reborn; he died, lest we should die forever. He at once, that is, on the third day, rose: to us he promised the resurrection of the flesh at the end. He offered himself to be seen by the eyes of the disciples, and to be handled by their hands; persuading them of what he had become, not taking away what he always was. He lived with them for forty days, as you have heard, going in and out, eating and drinking; now not from need, but the whole from power: and manifesting to them the truth of the flesh, on the cross weakness, from the tomb immortality.

2. 2. Today, then, we celebrate the day of his ascension. But another local solemnity meets this Church. Today is the deposition of the holy Leontius, founder of this basilica. But let the star deign to be obscured by the sun. Let us, then, rather speak of the Lord, what we had begun. A good servant rejoices when the Lord is praised.

3. 3. Today, then, that is, the fortieth day after his resurrection, the Lord ascended into heaven. We did not see it: but let us believe. Those who saw it preached it, and filled the world. You know who saw it, and who told us: of whom it was foretold: There are no speeches nor words, whose voices are not heard. Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world (Ps 19:3-4 (18:4-5)). So they came to us too, and roused us from sleep. See, today's day is celebrated throughout the whole world.

4. 4. Recall the Psalm. To whom was it said: Be exalted above the heavens, O God? To whom was it said? Surely it would not be said to God the Father: Be exalted, who was never humbled? Be you exalted: you who were enclosed in your mother's womb; you who were made in her whom you made; you who lay in the manger; you who sucked the breasts like a little one at the vein of the flesh; you who, bearing the world, were borne by your mother: you whom old Simeon recognized as a little one, and praised as great; you whom the widow Anna saw sucking, and knew to be almighty: you who hungered for our sake, thirsted for our sake, were wearied on the road for our sake (surely the bread does not hunger, or the fount thirst, or the way grow weary?); you who endured all these things for our sake: you who slept, and yet do not slumber, keeping Israel: finally, you whom Judas sold, whom the Jews bought, and did not possess: you seized, bound, scourged, crowned with thorns, hung on the wood, struck with a lance, you dead, you buried: Be exalted above the heavens, O God (Ps 57:5 (56:6)).

5. 4. Be exalted, he says, be exalted above the heavens, because you are God. Sit in heaven, you who hung on the wood. You are awaited to come as judge, who were awaited and judged. Who would believe these things, unless he were doing it who raises the needy from the earth, and exalts the poor from the dung? He himself raises his needy flesh, and places it with the princes of his people, with whom he is going to judge the living and the dead. With them he placed this needy flesh, to whom he says: You will sit upon twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt 19:28).

6. 5. Be exalted, then, above the heavens, O God. It is already done, it is already fulfilled. But we say, How was it foretold as future: Be exalted above the heavens, O God; we did not see it, but we believe: see, before our eyes is what follows: Be exalted above the heavens, O God, and your glory over all the earth (Ps 57:5 (56:6)). Let him not believe that, who does not see this. For what does it mean: And your glory over all the earth? except, over all the earth your Church, over all the earth your matron, over all the earth your bride, your beloved, your dove, your spouse. She is your glory: A man indeed, says the Apostle, ought not to veil his head, since he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man (1 Cor 11:7). If the woman is the glory of the man, the Church is the glory of Christ.

Sermon 263
On the Fortieth Day, the Ascension of the Lord

1. The glorification of our Lord Jesus Christ was completed by rising and ascending. His resurrection we celebrated on the Lord's day of Easter: his ascension we celebrate today. Both are festal days for us. For he rose, to show us the example of resurrection; and he ascended, to protect us from above. We have, then, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ first hanging on the wood, now sitting in heaven. He gave our price, when he hung on the wood; he gathered what he bought, when he sits in heaven. For when he has gathered all whom he surely gathered through the times, at the end of time he will come, and, as it is written: God will come manifest (Ps 50:3 (49:3)); not as he first came hidden, but as it was said: manifest. For it was fitting that he come hidden, that he might be judged; but he will come manifest, that he may judge. For if he first came manifest, who would dare to judge the manifest one? Since indeed the apostle Paul says: For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8). But if he were not killed, death would not die: the devil was conquered by his own trophy. For the devil exulted, when by seducing the first man he cast him down into death. By seducing he killed the first man: by killing the last, he lost the first from his snares.

2. The true victory of our Lord Jesus Christ, then, was made when he rose and ascended into heaven; and what you heard, when the Apocalypse was read, was fulfilled: The lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered (Rev 5:5). He himself is called a lion, he himself is called a lamb; a lion because of strength, a lamb because of innocence; a lion because unconquered, a lamb because gentle. And this lamb, slain, by his own death conquered the lion who seeks whom to devour. For the devil is called a lion by ferocity, not by power. For the apostle Peter says: We ought to watch against temptations, because your adversary the devil goes about seeking whom to devour. But how he goes about, he said: Like a roaring lion he goes about, seeking whom to devour (1 Pet 5:8). Who would not run into the teeth of this lion, unless the lion of the tribe of Judah had conquered? Against the lion a lion, against the wolf a lamb. The devil exulted when Christ died, and in the very death of Christ the devil was conquered; as it were in a mousetrap he took the bait. He rejoiced at the death, as one set over death; at what he rejoiced over, from there a trap was set for him. The mousetrap of the devil was the cross of the Lord; the bait by which he was caught was the death of the Lord. See, our Lord Jesus Christ has risen. Where is the death which hung on the wood? Where is the insult of the Jews? where is the pride and arrogance of those who shook their heads before the cross and said: If he is the Son of God, let him come down from the cross (See Matt 27:40)? See, he did more than they demanded by insulting; for it is more to rise from the tomb than to come down from the wood.

3. But now how great is the glory, that he ascended into heaven, that he sits at the right hand of the Father? But this we do not see with our eyes, because we neither saw him hanging on the wood, nor beheld him rising from the tomb. All this we hold by faith, we behold with the eyes of the heart. We were praised, because we did not see and yet believed. For the Jews too saw Christ. It is no great thing to see Christ with the eyes of the flesh, but it is great to believe in Christ with the eyes of the heart. If Christ were now presented to us, and stood before us, and were silent, from where would we know who he was? And then, being silent, how would he profit us? Is it not better that he speak absent in the Gospel, than be silent present? And yet he is not absent, if he is held in the heart. Believe in him, and you see him: he is not before your eyes, and he possesses your heart. For if he were absent from us, what we just now heard would be a lie: behold, I am with you until the consummation of the age (Matt 28:20).

Sermon 263/A
On the Ascension of the Lord

1. Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascends into heaven; let our heart ascend with him. Let us hear the Apostle saying: If you have risen with Christ, set your minds on the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth (Col 3:1-2). For as he ascended, and did not withdraw from us, so we too are already there with him, although what is promised to us has not yet been done in our body. He is already exalted above the heavens; yet he suffers on earth whatever of labors we, as his members, feel. To which thing he bore witness, crying from above: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? (Acts 9:4) And: I was hungry, and you gave me to eat (Matt 25:35). Why do we too not so labor on earth that, through the faith, hope, and love by which we are connected to him, we already rest with him in heaven? When he is there, he is also with us; and we, when we are here, are also with him. He himself does this both by divinity and by power and by love; but we, even if we cannot by divinity as he can, yet can by love, but in him. He did not withdraw from heaven, when from there he came down to us; nor did he withdraw from us, when he ascended again into heaven. For that he was there when he was here, he himself testifies thus: No one, he says, has ascended into heaven, except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven (John 3:13). He did not say: the Son of man who will be in heaven, but: the Son of man who is in heaven.

2. But that he is with us even when he is there, before he ascended he promised this, saying: Behold, I am with you until the consummation of the age (Matt 28:20). But we are there by name, since he himself said: Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20); although by our bodies and labors we wear down the earth, and are worn down by the earth. But when, after the resurrection of the body, we have begun to be in his glory, neither will these mortal things inhabit our body, nor will our affection be bent down to these; the whole gathers from here him who holds the firstfruits of our spirit. For not on this account is the perfect and angelic heavenly dwelling to be despaired of by us, because he said: No one has ascended into heaven, except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven; for he seems to have said it of himself alone, as if none of us could receive this; but it was said because of unity, because he is our head, and we are his body. This, then, no one but he, because we too are he, according to that by which he himself is the Son of man for our sake, and we are sons of God for his sake. For thus the Apostle says: For as the body is one, and has many members, but all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ (1 Cor 12:12). He did not say: so is Christ; but he said: so also is Christ. Christ, then, is many members, one body. He came down, then, from heaven by mercy, nor does anyone ascend but he, since we too are in him by grace. And through this no one but Christ came down, no one but Christ ascends; not that the dignity of the head is confounded in the body, but that the unity of the body is not separated from the head. For he does not say, To seeds, as of many, but as of one, In your seed, which is Christ (Gal 3:16). Accordingly he calls Christ the seed of Abraham; and yet the same Apostle: You, then, he says, are Abraham's seed (Gal 3:29). If, then, not in seeds as of many, but as of one: and this is the seed of Abraham, which is Christ: and this is the seed of Abraham, which we are; when he ascends into heaven, we are not separated from him. He who came down from heaven does not envy us heaven, but in a way cries out: Be my members, if you wish to ascend into heaven. And by this very thing let us meanwhile be strengthened, let us be aflame for this with all our prayers; let us meditate on earth on this, that we are counted in heaven. Then about to put off the flesh of mortality, now let us put off the oldness of the mind: easily will the body be lifted into the heights of the heavens, if the burdens of sins do not press the spirit.

3. For this too moves some, when heretics slander, how the Lord came down without a body, when he ascended with a body; as if it were contrary to those words in which he says: No one has ascended into heaven, except the one who came down from heaven. The body, then, they say, which did not come down from heaven, how could it ascend into heaven? As if he had said: Nothing ascends into heaven, except what came down from heaven; but he said: No one ascends, except the one who came down. For this he referred to the person, not to the dress of the person. He came down without the garment of the body, he ascended with the garment of the body; yet no one ascends except the one who came down. For if he so fitted us to himself as his own members that, even when we are joined, he himself is the same; how much more can that body, which he took from the Virgin, not have another person in him? For who would say, whether of a mountain, or of a wall, or of any higher place, that not only the one who came down ascended, if, when he had come down stripped, he ascends clothed; or when he had come down unarmed, he ascends armed? As, then, of this it is said: No one ascends except the one who came down, although he ascended with that thing with which he did not come down; so no one ascends into heaven except Christ, because no one but Christ came down from heaven, although he came down without a body, and ascended with a body, we too being about to ascend not by our own power, but by our unity and his. For two are in one flesh: it is a great sacred sign in Christ and in the Church; hence he himself says: Now no longer two, but one flesh (Matt 19:6; Eph 5:31-32).

4. And therefore he fasted when he was tempted, before death still needing food; but he ate and drank when he was being glorified, after the resurrection now not needing food. For there he showed in himself our labor, but here in us his consolation, defining each by forty days. For he fasted forty days, when he was tempted in the desert, as it is written in the Gospel, before the death of his flesh; and again he was forty days with the disciples, as Peter says in the Acts of the Apostles, going in and out, eating and drinking after the resurrection of his flesh. By which number forty seems to be signified the course of this age in those who are called to grace, through him who came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. For there are ten precepts of the law, grace of Christ now spread through the world; and the world is fourfold, and ten multiplied by four make forty; since those who have been redeemed by the Lord, he gathered them from the regions, from the East and West, and the North and the Sea (Ps 107:2-3 (106:2-3)). Fasting, then, forty days before the death of the flesh, he as it were cried out: Abstain from the desires of this age; but eating and drinking forty days after the resurrection of the flesh, he as it were cried out: Behold, I am with you until the consummation of the age (Matt 28:20). For fasting is in the tribulation of the contest; since he who strives in the contest abstains from all things (1 Cor 9:25); but food is in the hope of peace, which will not be perfect, except when our body, whose redemption we await, has put on immortality; which, by not yet attaining, we glory in, but by hoping we are now fed. The Apostle shows that we do both at the same time, saying: Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation (Rom 12:12); as though the one were in food, the other in fasting. For at the same time, while we travel the Lord's way, let us both fast from the vanity of the present age, and be refreshed by the promise of the future: here not setting our heart, there feeding our heart on high.

Sermon 264
On the Ascension of the Lord

1. Many are the hidden sacred meanings of the divine Scriptures, whether those that we ourselves still have to seek, or those which the Lord has already condescended to reveal to our lowliness: but time does not suffice to open these to your Holiness. For I know that especially in these days the church is filled with such people who would rather depart than come; and they find us burdensome, if we ever converse rather long: who yet, at their dinners, to which they hasten, if they are kept until evening, neither labor nor refuse, nor at least ever depart with any shame. Yet lest we defraud those who come hungry, even if briefly, we will not be silent about the sacred meaning of this matter, that our Lord Jesus Christ ascended with that body in which he rose.

2. Surely it was because of the weakness of his disciples: for even in that number there were not lacking those whom the devil tempted with unbelief, so that a certain disciple of his, even in the very form in which he had known him, yet had no more faith in the living members than in the fresh scars: therefore for their strengthening he condescended after the resurrection to live with them for forty whole days, from the very day of his passion to this present day, going in and out, eating and drinking, as the Scripture says; confirming that this had been restored to their eyes after the resurrection, which had been taken away through the cross. Nevertheless he did not wish them to remain in the flesh, nor to hold him longer by carnal love. For they wished him to be always carnally with them with the same mind by which Peter too feared him to suffer. For they saw with them a master, a comforter and consoler and protector, a man, such as they saw themselves to be. If they did not see something of the kind, they believed him absent; though he is everywhere present by majesty. But he truly watched over them, as he himself condescended to say, like a hen her chicks. For as a hen, because of the weakness of her chicks, herself too grows weak. For if you remember, before our eyes are so many birds that make chicks; we do not see any bird grow weak with its chicks, except the hen: and therefore the Lord drew a likeness from her; because for our weakness he himself too, by the taking up of flesh, condescended to grow weak. But it was fitting that they be raised up somewhat, and now begin to think of him spiritually, as the Word of the Father, God with God, through whom all things were made: and the flesh which they saw did not allow them. It profited them, then, to be strengthened in faith through his company with them for forty days: but it profited them more that he should withdraw himself from their eyes; and that he who had lived on earth as a brother should help them from heaven as the Lord; and that they should learn to think of him according to God. For this the Evangelist John sounded: if anyone notices, if anyone understands. For the Lord says: Let not your heart be troubled. If you loved me, he says, you would rejoice, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I (John 14:27-28). And in another place, he says: I and the Father are one (John 10:30). And he claims for himself so great an equality, not by robbery but by nature, that he said this to a certain disciple who said to him: Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us: and he: Philip, so long a time I am with you, and you do not know the Father? He who has seen me has seen the Father also (John 14:8-9). What does it mean: He who has seen me? If according to the eyes of the flesh, those too saw him who crucified him. What, then, does it mean: He who has seen me; except, he who has understood, who has seen with the eye of the heart? For as there are inner ears, which the Lord sought when he said: He who has ears, let him hear (Matt 11:15), though no deaf man stood before him: so there is also an inner gaze of the heart, by which, if anyone has seen the Lord, he has seen the Father; because he is equal to the Father.

3. Hear the Apostle wishing to commend to us his mercy, because for our sake he grew weak, that he might gather his chicks under his wings, teaching also the other disciples, that they too should sympathize with the weakness of the weak, who from a common weakness had ascended to some firmness; when he came down from heavenly firmness to our weakness: he says to them: Have this mind in you, which also was in Christ Jesus. Deign, he says, to imitate the Son of God by sympathy with the little ones. Who, since he was in the form of God. Already by saying, he was in the form of God, he shows him equal to God. For the form is not less than him whose form it is. For if it is less, it is not the form. Yet lest anyone doubt, he added, and set down the very Word, by which he would shut the mouths of the sacrilegious: Who, since he was in the form of God, he says, did not think it robbery to be equal to God. What is it, dearest brothers, that the Apostle says: He did not think it robbery? Because by nature he is equal. To whom, then, was equality with God a robbery? To the first man, to whom it was said: Taste, and you will be as gods (See Gen 3:5). He wished by robbery to reach out to equality, and by punishment lost immortality. For he to whom it was not a robbery did not think it robbery to be equal to God. If, then, not a robbery; it is nature, whole fellowship, and the highest comparison itself. But what did he do? He emptied himself, he says, taking the form of a servant; made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man: he humbled himself, made obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Phil 2:5-8). It was too little to say death, and he showed the kind of death. Why also the kind of death? Because many are ready for death: for many say: I do not fear to die, but I would wish to die in my own bed, surrounded by sons, grandsons, the tears of my wife. These seem indeed not to refuse death, but, by choosing the kind of death, are punished by fear. But he chose a kind of death, but one that is worse than all. As men choose for themselves a better kind of death, so he chose a worse one, this which was execrable to all the Jews. For he did not fear to die through false witnesses, through the sentence of a judge, he who will come to judge the living and the dead: he did not fear to die through the ignominy of the cross, that he might free all believers from all ignominy. Therefore made obedient unto death, even the death of the cross: yet by nature equal to God; strong in the power of his majesty, weak in the compassion of his humanity: strong, to make all things; weak, to remake all things.

4. Attend, then, to what John says: If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I (John 14:28). How equal, as the Apostle says? As the Lord himself: I and the Father are one (John 10:30). And in another place: He who has seen me has seen the Father also (John 14:9). How here: For the Father is greater than I? This voice, brothers, as far as the Lord inspires me to notice, was in a way that of one rebuking and consoling. For they were fixed on the man, and could not think of God. For then they would think of God, if the man were taken away from them and from their eyes, that, the familiarity which had been made with the flesh being cut off, they might learn, even with the flesh absent, to think of the divinity. Therefore he says this to them: If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I go to the Father. Why? That with him to the Father, you may be able to think of me as equal to the Father. For therefore he is greater than I: still, while you see me in the flesh, the Father is still greater than I. See whether you have grasped it: for they did not know how to think of anything but a man. I say this somewhat more plainly, because of our slower brothers: but those who have understood, let them bear with the slowness of the rest and imitate the Lord himself, who, since he was in the form of God, humbled himself, made obedient unto death (Phil 2:6-8). If you loved me, what is this? If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I go to the Father. If you loved me, what else is it but, you do not love me? What, then, do you love? The flesh which you see. For you do not want it to depart from your eyes. But if you loved me; what is, me? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1): which the same John says. If, then, you loved me so, as he through whom all things were made, you would rejoice, because I go to the Father. Why? Because the Father is greater than I. Still, while you see me on earth, the Father is greater than I. I will depart from your eyes; let the mortal flesh be taken away from your gaze, which was taken up because of your mortality; begin not to see this garment, which I took up in humility: yet let it be lifted into heaven, that you may learn what you should hope for. For he did not lay aside here that very tunic, which he willed to be clothed with here. For if he had laid it aside here, all would despair of the resurrection of the flesh. For now he lifted it into heaven, and there are those who doubt the resurrection of the flesh. If God showed it in himself, will he deny it to man? For God took it up out of mercy, but man has it by condition. And yet he showed it, strengthened them, and lifted it up. But the carnal sight being withdrawn from their eyes, now they did not see the man. If anything had been drawn in their hearts from carnal desire, it was as it were saddened in them. Yet they were gathered into one, and began to pray. But he was going to send, after this, with ten days intervening, the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit might fill them with spiritual love, taking away from them carnal desires. He made them now so understand Christ as he was, the Word of God, God with God, through whom all things were made. But they could not be filled with such understanding, unless carnal love had departed from their eyes. And therefore he said: If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. According to man he is greater than I, equal according to God: equal according to nature, greater according to the mercy of the Son. For he humbled him, not only below himself, but also below the angels, as the Scripture says. He is not less; and if you see the Son to have somewhat withdrawn, by the taking up of flesh, from equality with the Father, from which he never withdraws: but by taking flesh (for he took up a man), he was not changed. As he who takes a garment is not turned into the garment, but himself remains whole, a man within: and if a senator takes a servile garment, if perhaps he cannot enter to console someone chained in prison with his senatorial garment, he takes the dress of the prison, the dress seems base through humanity; but within the senatorial dignity remains so much the more whole, the greater the mercy by which he willed to put on what was of humility. So too the Lord, remaining God, remaining the Word, remaining wisdom, remaining the divine power, remaining in the government of the heavens, remaining in the administration of the earth, filling the angels, wholly everywhere, wholly in the world, wholly in the patriarchs, wholly in the prophets, wholly in all the saints, wholly in the womb of the Virgin, to put on flesh, to join it to himself as a bride, that the bridegroom might come forth from his bridal chamber, that he might betroth the Church a chaste virgin. For this, then, less than the Father, because man: but equal to the Father, because God. Take away, then, from your midst carnal desires. As though he said this to his apostles: You do not want to let me go (as each one does not want to let go his friend, as if saying: Be with us a while, our soul is refreshed when we see you); but it is better that you not see this flesh, and that you think of the divinity. I take myself from you outwardly, and fill you with myself inwardly. For does Christ enter the heart according to the flesh and with the flesh? According to the divinity he possesses the heart: according to the flesh he speaks through the eyes to the heart, and admonishes from outside; dwelling within, that we may be converted inwardly, and made alive from him, and formed from him; because he is the unfashioned form of all things.

5. Therefore if he spent forty days with his disciples, not without cause did he spend forty days. Perhaps twenty would suffice, thirty would suffice: forty days is the dispensation of this whole age. We have discoursed on this at some time because of the number ten taken four times. I remind you who heard it. For the number ten signifies all wisdom. This wisdom has been dispensed through the four parts of the world, through the whole world: and the times are divided by a fourfold arrangement. For the year has four seasons: and the world has four cardinal points. Ten, then, taken four times has the number forty. But the Lord fasted forty days, showing us that abstinence from all corruption ought to belong to the faithful, as long as they are in this world. Forty days Elijah fasted, bearing the person of Prophecy, showing that this is taught in Prophecy too. Forty days Moses fasted, who bore the person of the Law, showing that this is taught in the Law too. Forty years the people of Israel was led in the desert. Forty days the ark floated in the flood, which ark is the Church, made of unrotting wood; the unrotting wood is the souls of the saints and the just: yet having clean and unclean animals; because as long as one lives in this age and the Church is cleansed through Baptism as through a flood, it cannot but have good and bad: therefore that ark had both clean and unclean. But after Noah went out from there, he made sacrifice to God only from the clean animals. From which we ought to understand that in this ark there are both clean and unclean animals, but after this flood God receives only those who have cleansed themselves. Therefore hold all this time that is seen, brothers, for forty days. All this time, as long as we are here, is the ark in the flood: as long as Christians are baptized and cleansed through water, the ark seems to swim in the waves, which was carried on the water for forty days. But the Lord, remaining with the disciples for forty days, condescended to signify that throughout this time faith in the Incarnation of Christ is necessary for all: which is necessary for the weak. If there were now an eye that could see: In the beginning was the Word, that could see, that could hold, that could embrace, that could enjoy, there would be no need that the Word be made flesh and dwell among us: but because for holding and enjoying that the inner eye was blinded with the dust of sins, there was now no means by which the Word could be understood; which condescended to become flesh, that it might be entrusted to that by which it could afterward be seen, what now cannot. Because, then, the dispensation of the flesh of Christ is necessary for the faithful of this life, through which they tend to the Lord: but when one has come to that vision of the Word, all carnal dispensation will not be necessary: therefore his company in the flesh after the resurrection for forty days was necessary, that he might demonstrate that faith in the Incarnation of Christ is necessary as long as in this life the ark is taught to float in the flood. See what I say, brothers: believe in Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary, crucified, risen. There is no need that we inquire after this age, because we have already received it in faith: we hold it; it is necessary for our weakness. Think, then, of the love of that hen, which protects our weakness; think that it is the beast of burden of that merciful one passing by, onto which he lifted the sick man who had been wounded. For he lifted him, where? Onto his own beast. The beast of the Lord is the flesh. Therefore when this age has passed, what will be said to you? Because you rightly believed in the flesh of Christ, now enjoy the majesty and divinity of Christ. The weak one was necessary for the weak, the strong one will be necessary for the strong.

6. Because you too have to lay aside that very weakness, according to what you heard in the Apostle: This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Because flesh and blood, he says, will not possess the kingdom of God (1 Cor 15:53, 50). Why will they not possess it? because the flesh will not rise? Far be it: the flesh will rise, but what happens? It is changed, and itself becomes a heavenly and angelic body. Surely the angels do not have flesh? But this is the difference, that this flesh will rise, this very flesh which is buried, which dies; this which is seen, which is handled, which needs to eat and drink, that it may be able to last; which grows sick, which suffers pains, this very flesh has to rise, for the bad to eternal punishments, but for the good that they may be changed. When it has been changed, what will happen? It will now be called a heavenly body, not mortal flesh: because this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. But they marvel whether God makes a heavenly body from flesh, he who made all things from nothing. The Lord, set in the flesh, made wine from water, and is it a marvel if he could make a heavenly body from flesh? Do not, then, doubt of God, because he is able to do it. That the angels might exist, they were nothing; but by his majesty they are what they are. He who was able to make you when you were not, cannot he restore what you were, and cannot he give the honor of brightness to your faith because of his very incarnation? Therefore when these things have passed, there will come to us that which John says: Most beloved, we are sons of God, and it has not yet appeared what we will be: we know that, when he appears, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is (1 John 3:2). For this vision prepare yourselves; meanwhile, as long as you are in the flesh, believe in Christ incarnate; and so believe that you do not think yourselves seduced by some falsehood. For the truth never lies: for if it lies, where do we go for counsel? what do we do? whom do we believe? Therefore the truth, the true Word, the true wisdom, the true power of God: The Word was made flesh, true flesh. Handle, and see, he says, that a spirit does not have bones and sinews, as you see me to have. For there were true bones, true sinews, true scars: true whatever was touched, true whatever was understood. The man was touched, God was understood: the flesh was touched, wisdom was understood: weakness was touched, power was understood. The whole true. Yet then the flesh went before into heaven, that is, the head. The other members will follow. Why? Because it is fitting that these members receive sleep for a while, and all rise in their own time. If the Lord too wished to rise then, there would be no one in whom we would believe. Therefore he willed to free for God in himself the firstfruits of those who sleep, that, when you saw in him what was restored, you might hope in yourself for what is to be granted. The whole people of God will be made equal to the angels and associated with them. Let no one, then, say to you, brothers: Foolish Christians believe that the flesh will rise: who rises? or who has risen? or who has come here from there, from the dead, and told you? Christ came from there. O wretched man! O perverse and backward human heart! If his own grandfather rose, he would believe him: the Lord of the world has risen, and he does not want to believe.

7. Hold, therefore, my brothers, the true, genuine, Catholic faith. The Son is equal to the Father, the gift of God the Holy Spirit is equal to the Father, and therefore the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God, not three gods: not added to one another by degrees, but united by majesty, and one God. But yet the Son for our sake: The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He did not think it robbery to be equal to God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and found in fashion as a man (John 1:14; Phil 2:6-7). And that you may know, brothers, that this Trinity is truly equal, and it was not said that the Father is greater than I, except because of the flesh which the Lord took up; why is it never said of the Holy Spirit, He is less, except because he himself did not take up flesh? See what I have said: search all the Scriptures, lift all the pages, read all the verses; you will never find that the Holy Spirit is less than God. He, then, was called less, who for our sake was made less, that through him we might be made greater.

Sermon 265
On the Ascension of the Lord

1. 1. By the solemnity of this day we admonish those who know, we instruct those who are negligent. Today we solemnly celebrate the Lord's ascent into heaven. For our Lord and Savior, his body laid aside and his body received, after he rose from the dead, showed himself living to the disciples, whom they had despaired of as dying. After he gave himself back to be beheld by the eyes, to be handled by the hands, building up faith by showing the truth; since it was too little for human frailty and weak trembling to show so great a miracle on one day, and then to withdraw it; he lived with them on earth, as we have heard, when the book of the Acts of the Apostles was read, he lived with them on earth forty days, going in and out, eating and drinking; that he might show the truth, not that he had any need. On that very fortieth day, then, which we celebrate today, while they saw, and by seeing escorted him, he ascended into heaven.

1. 2. Then, after they marveled at what they saw ascending, yet rejoiced that it went up; for the going-before of the head is the hope of the members; they heard also the angelic voice: Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus will so come, as you saw him going into heaven (Acts 1:11). What does it mean, he will so come? He will come in that form: that it may be fulfilled which is written: They will see him whom they pierced (John 19:37; Zech 12:10). He will so come. He will come to men, he will come a man; but he will come God-man. He will come true man and God, to make men gods. The judge of heaven ascended, the herald of heaven sounded. Let us have a good cause, that we may not fear the judgment to come. For he ascended: those saw it who announced it to us. Those who did not see, believed: others, not believing, mocked. For faith is not of all (2 Thess 3:2). And because faith is not of all, and the Lord knows who are his (2 Tim 2:19), why do we dispute that God ascended into heaven? Let us rather marvel that God descended into the underworld. Let us marvel at the death of Christ, but let us rather praise the resurrection than marvel at it. Our perdition is our sin: the blood of Christ is our price. The resurrection of Christ is our hope: the coming of Christ is our reality. He, then, who is at the right hand of the Father, is to be awaited until he comes. Let our thirsting soul say to him: When will he come? and: My soul thirsted for the living God (Ps 42:2 (41:3)). When will he come? He will come: but when will he come? You desire that he come: would that he find you ready.

2. 3. Nevertheless, lest we think that we alone have this desire about our Lord, that we say, When will he come? his disciples too had this desire. If I could tell you, gaping, waiting, suspended, desiring to know, when our Lord God comes, if I could tell you, what kind of person would I seem to you? But if you do not hope to be able to hear this from me; and if you do hope it, you are foolish: surely if you had the Lord Jesus Christ himself present in the body, living, speaking, before your eyes and before your hands, I know that out of this desire you would question him, and would say to him: Lord, when are you going to come? The disciples themselves questioned the Lord Jesus Christ present. You cannot question what they questioned, hear what they heard. For they existed then, we did not yet exist: yet if we believe them, they questioned for us too, and heard for us too. The disciples of Christ, then, about to escort Christ ascending with their gaze, questioned him and said to him: Lord, will you present yourself at this time? To whom did they say it? Whom they saw present. Will you present yourself at this time? And what is that? Did they not see him present? did they not hear him present? did they not even touch him present? What is this: Will you present yourself at this time? except that they knew that the future judgment would be by the presence of Christ, that he might be seen by his own and by strangers? For when he rose, he was seen only by his own. This, then, they knew, and held by faith, that there would be a time when, having been judged, he would judge, when, having been rejected, he would approve and reject; when, conspicuous to both kinds of men, he would set some on the right, others on the left, about to say what both would hear, to offer what not both would receive, to threaten what not both would dread. They knew it would be: but when, they asked. Will you present yourself at this time? Not surely to us; for we even now see you: but you will present yourself also to those who did not believe in you. If you will present yourself at this time, tell us, and when the kingdom of Israel? This they asked: If you will present yourself at this time, and when the kingdom of Israel? What kingdom? Of which we say: Your kingdom come (Matt 6:10). What kingdom? Which those set on the right are going to hear of: Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matt 25:34). When he is going to say also to those on the left: Go into the eternal fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41). A terrible voice, a fearful voice: but: The just will be in eternal memory: he will not fear an evil report (Ps 112:6-7 (111:6-7)). To these this, to those that: in both truthful, because in both just.

3. 4. But what they asked, if they heard it, let us hear: if they did not hear it, let us hold what they heard; and what is to come, let us not fear. Lord, will you present yourself at this time? And we, supposing ourselves to see the Lord present, established in the body, let us say to him: Lord, will you present yourself at this time, and when the kingdom of Israel? When the kingdom of your own, when the kingdom of the humble, how long the arrogance of the proud? Surely this is what you were asking, this is what you desired to hear. Let us see what he answered. Let not the lambs disdain to hear what the rams heard. Let us hear what the Lord himself said. To whom? To Peter, John, Andrew, James, the rest, so great and such, so worthy: but whom he found unworthy, and made worthy. What did he answer them when they said: Will you present yourself at this time, and when the kingdom of Israel? It is not yours to know the times, which the Father has set in his own power (Acts 1:6-7). What is this? It is said to Peter: It is not yours: and do you say, It is mine? It is not yours to know the times, which the Father has set in his own power. What you believe, you believe well: because it is to come. When it is to come, what is it to you? When it comes, prepare yourself. It is not yours to know the times, which the Father has set in his own power. Let curiosity withdraw, let piety succeed. What is it to you when he comes? Live as though he were going to come today; and you will not fear, when he comes.

4. 5. But see the order and discipline of the good master, the singular master, the only master. He did not say what they asked, and he said what they did not ask. For he knew that what they asked did not profit them to know: but what he knew profited them, that he said, even when they did not ask. It is not yours to know, he says, the times. What good are the times to you? This is being done, that you may escape the times, and you seek the times. It is not yours to know the times, which the Father has set in his own power. And as if it were said to him, And what is ours? Now let us hear what especially pertains to us, now let us hear. What ought not to be said was asked: but what ought to be heard was said. It is not yours to know the times, which the Father has set in his own power. But what is yours to know?

5. 6. But you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and you will be my witnesses. Where? In Jerusalem. It was fitting that we hear this: for by these words the Church is preached, the Church is commended, unity is announced, division is accused. To the apostles it was said: And you will be my witnesses. It is said to the faithful, it is said to the vessels of God, it is said to the vessels of mercy: You will be my witnesses. Where? In Jerusalem, where I was killed: and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). See what you hear, see what you hold. Be the bride, and securely await the bridegroom. The bride is the Church. Where was she foretold as future, whom those witnesses would announce; where was she foretold as future? For many are going to say, See, here he is. I would hear, if another did not also say, See, here he is. What do you say? See, here he is. I was already going: but another recalls me with a like voice, See, here he is. You from one side, See, here he is: another from the other side, See, here he is. Let us question the Lord, let us appeal to the Lord. Let the parts be silent, let us hear the whole. One says from one corner, See, here he is: another from another corner, No, but see, here he is. You, Lord, say: you claim her whom you redeemed, show her whom you loved. We have been invited to your wedding, show your bride, lest by quarreling we trouble your vows. He says it plainly, he shows it plainly: he does not desert those who inquire, he does not love those who quarrel. He says to his disciples, and he says to those who do not ask; because to those who contend he speaks against them. And therefore perhaps this was not yet asked by the apostles, because the flock of Christ was not yet divided by robbers. We, having experienced the pains of division, eagerly seek the binding of unity. The apostles ask the time of the judgment, and the Lord answers the place of the Church. He did not answer what they asked, but he foresaw our pains. You will be, he says, my witnesses in Jerusalem. It is too little. You did not give so great a price only for this, to buy this alone. In Jerusalem. Say more: And to the ends of the earth. You came to the ends: why do you not end contentions? Let no one now say to me, See, here he is: No, but see, here. Let human presumption be silent, let the divine preaching be heard, let the true promise be held: In Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. These things being said, a cloud received him (Acts 1:9). Now there was no need that anything be added, lest he be thought of from elsewhere.

6. 7. Brothers, the last words of a parent going to the tomb are wont to be heard as a great thing, and are the last words of the Lord ascending into heaven despised? Let us consider that our Lord wrote a testament, and in his testament set down his last words. For he foresaw the future quarrels of bad sons, he foresaw men trying to make parties for themselves from another's possession. For why should they not divide what they did not buy? Why should they not cut up that for which they did not give a price? But he willed that the tunic woven from above, nowhere stitched, not be divided: it came by lot. In that garment unity was commended, in that garment love was preached, it is the very one woven from above. Cupidity is from the earth, love from above. Act, brothers: the Lord wrote a testament, he set down his last words. See, I beseech you, and let it move you as it moves us too, let it move you, if it can be.

7. 8. There are two glorifications according to the form of the man he took up: one, by which he rose from the dead on the third day; the other, by which he ascended into heaven before the eyes of his disciples. These two glorifications of his, now done, are commended. There remains one, and that too in the sight of men, when he will present himself for judgment. Of the Holy Spirit this had been said through the Evangelist John: But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified (John 7:39). But the Spirit had not yet been given: why had it not yet been given? Because Jesus had not yet been glorified. It was awaited, then, that when Jesus was glorified the Spirit would be given. And deservedly, twice glorified, by rising and by ascending, he twice gave the Spirit. He gave one, and one gave, he gave to unity, and yet he gave twice. First, after he rose, he said to his disciples: Receive the Holy Spirit. And he breathed into their faces (John 20:22). You have it once. Then he promises that he will still send the Holy Spirit, and says: You will receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you (Acts 1:8): and in another place: Sit in the city: for I will fulfill the promise of the Father, which you heard, he says, from my mouth (See Luke 24:49). After he ascended, ten days being spent there, he sent the Holy Spirit: that is the coming solemnity of Pentecost.

8. 9. See, my brothers. Let someone ask me, Why did he give the Holy Spirit twice? Many have said many things, and sought as men: and they said something that is not against the faith; one this, another that, both of which did not exceed the rule of truth. If I should say that I know why he gave it twice, I would lie to you. I do not know. He who says that he knows what he does not know is rash: he who denies that he knows what he knows is ungrateful. So I confess to you, why the Lord gave the Holy Spirit twice, I still seek: I desire to come to something more certain. Let the Lord help me, with you praying, that what he condescends to grant may not be kept silent from you too. Therefore I do not know. Yet what I think, not yet knowing, not yet holding for certain, as I hold most certain that he gave it; what, then, I think, I will not be silent about. If this is it, let the Lord confirm it: if it is something else that appears truer, let the Lord grant it. I think, then, but I think, that the Holy Spirit was given twice for this reason, that the two precepts of love might be commended. For there are two precepts, and love is one: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul: and: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two precepts hang the whole Law and the Prophets (Matt 22:37-40). One love, and two precepts: one Spirit, and two givings. For one was not given first, and another given afterward: because it is not another love that loves the neighbor than that which loves God. It is not, then, another love. By the love by which we love the neighbor, by that very love we love God too. But because God is one thing, the neighbor another; they are loved by one love, yet those who are loved are not one: because, then, the love of God, to be commended first, is great, the second the love of neighbor; but one begins from the second, that one may come to the first: For if you do not love the brother whom you see; God whom you do not see, how can you love? (1 John 4:20) Therefore perhaps, forming us to the love of neighbor, conspicuous on earth and near to the near, he gave the Holy Spirit by breathing into their faces; and from this love especially which is in heaven, from heaven he sent the Holy Spirit. Receive the Holy Spirit on earth, and you love the brother: receive him from heaven, and you love God. Because even what you received on earth is from heaven. On earth Christ gave it, but what he gave is from heaven. For he gave it who came down from heaven. Here he found one to whom to give, but from there he brought what he would give.

9. 10. What then, brothers? Or perhaps I should recall this too, how love pertains to the Holy Spirit? Hear Paul: And not only so, he says, but we also glory in tribulations: knowing that tribulation works patience, patience trial, but trial hope; and hope does not confound: because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts. From where has the love of God been poured out in our hearts? From where? What did you give yourself? What did you presume on as if from your own; For what do you have that you have not received? (1 Cor 4:7) From where, then, except what follows: Through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us? (Rom 5:3-5)

9. 11. This love is not held except in the unity of the Church. The dividers do not have it: as the apostle Jude says: These are they who set themselves apart, animal men, not having the Spirit. Who set themselves apart: why do they set themselves apart? Because animal men, not having the Spirit (Jude 19). Therefore they flow away, because they do not have the binding of love. Of that very love is full that hen, grown weak for her chicks, humbling her voice with the chicks, stretching out her wings: How often, he says, did I wish to gather your sons? (Matt 23:37) To gather, not to divide. Because I have, he says, other sheep, which are not of this fold: I must bring them too, that there may be one flock and one shepherd (John 10:16). Deservedly he did not heed the brother appealing against his brother, and saying: Lord, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Lord, he says, tell my brother. What? To divide the inheritance with me. And the Lord: Tell, O man. For why do you want to divide, except because you are a man? For when one says, I am of Paul; but another, I am of Apollos: are you not men? (1 Cor 3:4) Tell, O man, who appointed me a divider of the inheritance among you? I came to gather, not to divide. Therefore, he says, I tell you, beware of all cupidity (Luke 12:13-15). For cupidity desires to divide, as love to gather. But what is it: Beware of all cupidity, except, Be filled with love? We, having love according to our capacity, appeal to the Lord against the brother, as that man too against his brother: but not with this voice, not with this petition. For he says: Lord, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. We say: Lord, tell my brother to hold the inheritance with me.

10. 12. See, then, brothers, what you should most love, what you should firmly hold. The Lord, glorified by rising, commends the Church: to be glorified by ascending, commends the Church: sending the Holy Spirit from the heavens, commends the Church. For rising, what does he say to his disciples? These things I was telling you, while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law, and the Prophets, and the Psalms about me. And then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said to them, That so it is written, and so it was fitting for Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day. Where is the commendation of the Church? And that repentance and the forgiveness of sins be preached in his name. And this where? Among all nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:44-47). This glorified by the resurrection. What, to be glorified by the ascension? What you heard: You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). What by the very coming of the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit came: those whom he first filled spoke in the tongues of all nations. Each man speaking in all tongues, what else did he signify, except unity in all tongues? Holding this, established in this, strengthened in this, fixed in this by unshaken love, let us as children praise the Lord, and say alleluia. But in one part? And from where? and how far? From the rising of the sun to its setting, praise the name of the Lord (Ps 113:3 (112:3)).

Sermon 265/A
On the Fortieth Day, the Ascension of the Lord

1. The holy and solemn day of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ has dawned today: Let us exult and rejoice in it (Ps 118:24 (117:24)). Christ descended, the underworld lay open; Christ ascended, the heavens shone bright. Christ on the wood, let the raging insult; Christ in the tomb, let the guards lie. Christ in the underworld, let those at rest be visited; Christ in heaven, let all nations believe. He, then, ought to be the author of our sermon, who is the bestower of our salvation. We speak to you of no other than him who just now was speaking to all of us from the Gospel, and, about to ascend to the Father, was saying to his disciples: These things I have spoken to you, while I was present with you. But the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and will remind you of all things whatever I have said. Let not your heart be troubled, nor be afraid. You heard that I said to you: I go to my Father; for the Father is greater than I (John 14:25-28).

2. You know, brothers, that our Lord Jesus Christ became for our sake what we are, but nonetheless remained in that form in which he is equal to the Father. For we believe that the Son of God was made a partaker of our weakness, yet not deprived of his own majesty. This, then, is our faith: God above us, and the same man among us. But because for our sake, in the form of the lowliness he assumed, he did many things here, to hide the substance of divinity, which lay hidden in him, and to show the human alone, which appeared in him; those who could not discern and understand this founded heresies. Among these are, beyond the rest, the Arians, who contend that God the Father is greater than God the Son. Let the Catholic truth answer them briefly and clearly.

3. For we ask of them, in what respect they say the Father is greater than the Son. If they say by magnitude, that is, by some bodily mass, as we say, for example: That mountain is greater than that one, or: That city is greater than that one; we answer them from the Gospel, that God is Spirit (John 4:24), and bodily things cannot be compared with spiritual things. For one thing can be called greater or less only when in both a bodily form is defined. But God is neither extended by mass, nor distinguished by the lineaments of a body, nor enclosed by places, nor confined by straits, nor terminated by any limits: for God is great not by mass, but by power. Let the unworthy phantasms of thoughts, then, cease and rest, which burden the minds of the faithful with their imaginations; let the familiarity of the flesh too utterly depart: when we think of God, let no appearance of flesh meet our eyes.

4. But again they say that the Father is greater by time, that is, by age; for they assert that it can in no way be that the one who begets and the one who is born be of the same age. For they say it is necessary that he who generates exist first, from whom in turn the one who is born can exist. And from where is this, except from the thoughts of the flesh? For this they learned from the custom of human generation; nor do they consider that among men, where the son is feebler in age, there the father too is more failing in old age: and surely the son, who is younger in birth, whatever he grows and is strengthened, the father grows old and fails. If, then, they everywhere contend that the Father is older, they must of necessity confess the Son is stronger. Which, if it is surely absurd to think of God, let them at last cease to commend divine secrets by human sense.

5. But it is too little to convince them so, unless we can demonstrate something in the visible creation, where the one who is born is of the same age as his generator. To drive away these shadows of error, then, let us bring forward one lamp for comparison, which pours out a trembling light by the kindling of burning flax. Fire surely burns: the fire is in substance, the splendor is in appearance; and yet the splendor is born not of the splendor of the fire, but of the fire: and yet the fire never was without its splendor, although the splendor is born of the fire; but from when that small fire first took its beginning, it arose surely with its coeval splendor. The splendor, then, is coeval with the fire from which it is born, and the splendor would surely be coeternal, if the fire were eternal.

6. But far be it that by this most lowly comparison we should seem to have done an injury to our Lord Jesus Christ. We ought, then, to show in the Gospel where the Son himself, or in what form, said himself to be inferior to the Father, made obedient unto death, or where he showed himself equal to his begetter: I and the Father are one (Phil 2:8; John 10:30). For they themselves say to us on the contrary: See, the Son himself said: The Father is greater than I; nor do they understand that he said this set in the flesh, when he was not only less than God the Father, but, as the divine Psalm says: was made even a little less than the angels (Ps 8:5 (8:6)). If they want to hear this alone willingly, why do they not attend to what he himself said again: I and the Father are one? Then let them consider why it was said: The Father is greater than I. For, about to ascend to the Father, the disciples were saddened that he would leave them in bodily form; and he said to them: Because I said to you: I go to the Father, sadness has filled your heart. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I (John 16:6; 14:28). This is to say: therefore I withdraw from your eyes this form of a servant, in which the Father is greater than I, that, the form of a servant being removed from the eyes of the flesh, you may be able to see the Lord spiritually.

7. Therefore both because of the true form of a servant, which he had assumed, he spoke truly: The Father is greater than I, because surely God is greater than a man; and because of the true form of God, in which he remained with the Father, he spoke truly: I and the Father are one. He ascended, then, to the Father by that which he was a man, but remained in the Father by that which he was God, because in the flesh he came forth to us, and did not withdraw from the Father. He ascended, I say, to the Father, the Word, which was made flesh, that it might dwell among us; and he promised his presence, saying: Behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age (Matt 28:20). According to the form of God the apostle John says of him: He is the true God, and eternal life (1 John 5:20). According to the form of a servant the apostle Paul says of him: Who, since he was in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal to God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant (Phil 2:6-7). According to the form of God he himself speaks of himself: I and the Father are one (John 10:30); according to the form of a servant he says: My soul is sorrowful unto death (Matt 26:38). From where is that confidence? from where is this dread? That voice surely from the property of his substance, but this from the participation of the weakness he assumed.

8. Understanding these things, then, prudently from the holy Scriptures, beloved, let us distinguish while we read; but, while we distinguish, lest perhaps we err, let us ask understanding from the Lord himself.

Sermon 265/B
On the Fortieth Day, the Ascension of the Lord

1. Our Lord Jesus Christ, after he rose from the dead, wishing by a most certain and most faithful attestation to show that he had risen in the same body in which he hung on the cross, was with his disciples for forty days, going in and out, eating and drinking. For so it was fitting both that the doubting be made firm, and that the truth of the Gospel be preached to posterity, and that to believers the future incorruption and immortality of his flesh in that eternal blessedness be shown, and that the malicious men who think and teach about the Lord otherwise than the truth holds be contradicted. For in that body he ascended rising into heaven, in which body dead he visited the underworld. For he placed in heaven that very dwelling of his now immortal flesh, which he himself fashioned for himself in the womb of the Virgin mother.

2. It seems indeed marvelous to some, that the Lord says in the Gospel: No one has ascended into heaven, except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven (John 3:13). How, they say, is the Son of man said to have come down from heaven, when he was here assumed in the womb of the Virgin? Those who say these things are not to be spurned, but to be taught; for I judge that they ask devoutly, but cannot yet understand what they ask. For they do not know that the divinity itself so assumed that humanity, that God and man became one person; and that humanity so cohered to that divinity, that there was one Christ, Word, soul, and flesh. And therefore it was said: No one has ascended into heaven, except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven.

3. For each substance imparts to the other the names of its own properties, both the divine to the human, and the human to the divine; so that both the Son of God is called man, and the Son of man is called God, yet the same Christ is both. For our Lord Jesus Christ himself so condescended to take up a man, that he did not disdain to call himself the Son of man, as we read in many places in the Gospel. For to blessed Peter he himself says: Whom do men say the Son of man to be? To whom Peter, with Christ the rock himself inspiring, answered: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt 16:13-16). See, here is that harper whom David signified: now he has appeared, because he touched the hearts of his own, and drew out the sound he wished, which would be known to all. And, terrifying the Jews about his last coming, in his passion: From now on you will see, he says, the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven (Matt 26:64). And in another place: You will see the angels ascending and descending to the Son of man (John 1:51). When he says: ascending, he shows himself to be in heaven; when he says: descending, he shows that he will never be lacking on earth either, as he also promised to the disciples when about to ascend into heaven, saying: Behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age (Matt 28:20).

4. But God so loved the human race, that he gave his only-begotten Son for the life of the world. For unless the Father handed over life, we would not have life; and unless life itself died, death would not be killed. For the Lord Christ himself is life, of whom the Evangelist John says: This is the true God, and eternal life (1 John 5:20). For he too, through the prophet, threatening death to death, says: I will be your death, O death; I will be your bite, O underworld! (Hos 13:14) As if to say: I by dying will kill you, I will consume you, I will take from you all power, I will rescue the captives whom you held. You wished to hold me, the harmless one; it is just that you lose those whom you wished to hold.

5. Therefore both life died, and life remained, and life rose again, and by his death, killing death, conferred life on us. Death therefore was swallowed up in the victory of Christ, who is eternal life; therefore he swallowed up death, as the Apostle says, that we might be heirs of life (1 Cor 15:54; 1 Pet 3:22; Titus 3:7). Through Christ, then, we have been made heirs of eternal life, through whom we have been freed from everlasting death, of whom we do not doubt that we are members. And so on the fortieth day, that is, today, the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples contemplating and marveling: for while they stood and talked, suddenly a cloud received him, and he was taken from them into heaven.

Sermon 265/C
On the Fortieth Day, the Ascension of the Lord

1. We celebrate today the ascension of the Lord into heaven with the flesh in which the Lord rose; the anniversary solemnity does not recall the deed, but renews the memory. Let us meanwhile ascend with him in heart; we are sure that we will follow also in the flesh. Not in vain did we just now hear heart on high; nor without cause does the Apostle exhort us, saying: If you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; set your minds on the things that are above, not the things that are on earth (Col 3:1-2). Lift yourselves from the earth: the body cannot, but the mind can. Lift yourselves from the earth: endure labors on earth, think of rest in heaven; let it be done well here, that it may be remained there forever. The heart's place is not on earth, where it can keep its integrity; if it is on earth, it is corrupted. What precious thing each one has, he lifts on high; many men, indeed all men, when they hear that some dangers of wars are imminent on earth, whatever dear thing they have, seek where to keep it. Is it not so? Can anyone in the human race be otherwise than I say? He has silver, he has gold, he has gems, he has precious necklaces, he has costly garments; he seeks where to keep them, surely lest he lose what he has. Better let him put on high what he has better, let him put it on high. What does he have better than his heart? From the heart earthly things are possessed. Finally, little children, because they do not yet have sense and understanding in use—for they have it set aside, what was created in them has not yet awakened—surely do they possess? An heir is born, the future heir of all things, and although all things are now his by right, yet he does not yet possess what is his, because he does not yet have that by which he may possess. Therefore the Apostle said: As long as the heir is a little one, he differs nothing from a slave (Gal 4:1). From where, then, do we possess anything on earth—it is the heart, it is the understanding, it is sense, it is talent, it is reason, it is thought, it is counsel. How many things I have said, and what have I said? For who comprehends himself? how much less him who made himself? There let us entrust what we hold dear. Look around at all your things, my brothers, and find what you hold more dear. I admonish even the greedy: how much more easily do the non-greedy hear me! I convict the greedy: O you greedy acquirer of a man, gathering gains from anywhere, whether honorably or shamefully, you heap up to yourself much mud; you collect mud, and you do not dread to be stuck there, earthly things are dear to you. You are a man, you have a body, you have a soul; in your very body first I ask what you hold more dear? I think you find nothing in your body dearer than your eyes. Finally, those who love a man much say: I love you so, as my own eyes. Let us make steps to what I desire to show. Among your members nothing is dearer to you than the eye. Attend now to your treasures, attend to what you keep. If someone said to you: Either you give me what you keep on earth, or I now take away your eyes; would you not give the whole for your eyes? You would give the whole, lest you remain blind amid your riches; for you would not possess what you did not yet see. And your avarice indeed possesses gold, some last and tiny part of the earth; with your eyes you possess heaven, with your eyes you look on the sun, with your eyes you behold the stars, through your eyes you are a possessor of the world. And why should I say much? Question yourself, your soul will answer you on behalf of its body: Give the whole, keep my windows. This your soul says to you: I have two windows in your face, through them I see this light: give the gold, lest my windows be shut. The whole, then, you give for your eyes.

2. Surely you have nothing dearer than your eyes: nothing indeed, but in the body. For I show you something you have dearer than your eyes: now you will confess, the one to whom I speak is dearer in you than your eyes. The one to whom I speak, I say, not that through which I speak; through the ear I address the mind, through the ear I rouse the mind, through sound I speak to the mind, I exhort the mind, I build up the mind. I ask of the mind itself, and about the mind itself, and I question the man in this way. A while ago I was saying, if someone wished to take from you your treasures or your eyes, one of the two, you would choose your eyes: though grieving, you would lose the treasures, lest you lose your eyes. Now I ask about the eyes themselves. If it is allowed to keep both, it is happiness, the eyes and the mind. If it is not allowed to keep both, and one of these is set forth: Choose which is better, to lose the eyes of the body, or the mind. If you lose the mind, you will be a beast; if you lose the eyes, you will have the mind, you will be a man. Tell me, choose what you wish. What do you want to be, a blind man, or a seeing beast? You cried out, you chose; what you chose, from where did you see it? what did I show, that you should cry out? Did I show some beautiful colors, some most lovely forms, gold, silver? did I bring forth some gems for you to look at? None of these: yet you cried out, and by crying out you signified that you had chosen. From where did you see what you chose? it is the mind itself, to which I speak. From where you chose what you heard through my word, this believe in the Word of God. This you hear and do, when it is said: Heart on high. Think of Christ sitting at the right hand of the Father; think that he will come to judge the living and the dead. Let faith think it: faith is in the mind, in the foundation of the heart is faith. See who died for you; attend to him ascending, love him suffering; attend to him ascending, and hold him dying. For so great a promise you have a pledge, what Christ promised you: what he did today, his ascension, is a promise to you. We ought to hope that we will rise, and ascend to the kingdom of God, and there be with God forever, going to live without end, going to rejoice without any sadness, going to remain without trouble. There it will not be said to you: Beware of evil; but: Hold the good. Great is what is promised; when would timid and feeble mortality dare to promise this to itself? when would this rottenness dare to pledge these things to itself? considering what it was, when would it promise these things to itself? God promised those things. That you may believe, he says, that you will ascend to me, I first descend to you; and that you may believe that you will live from me, I first die for you.

Sermon 265/D
A Discourse on the Fortieth Day, the Ascension of the Lord

1. We heard, when the holy Gospel was read, and marveling we believed, and believing we marveled, that the Lord appeared after the resurrection of the dead, that he offered himself as a lesson to those who would die, an example to those who would rise. He appeared to those who despaired, who, when they were terrified, thought they were seeing a spirit (Luke 24:37). There is a malicious heresy, which even today thinks this, which the disciples then thought: the Manichees say that the Lord Christ was a spirit, not a body, and that all that was done was in a figure of a body, and that he appeared by movements of members rather than was. These let us address a little, with you bearing with it; because perhaps they too lie hidden among you, let not this opportunity of the reading pass them by.

2. What do you say, whoever you are, Manichee, what do you say? Christ, he says, was a spirit, did not have flesh, but appeared as if flesh. I admit it for the moment, I admit the contradictor, that I may make him, if I can, a believer. This surely you say, that Christ was seen to be a spirit, not a body? This, you say. This, I say, the disciples too thought beforehand. I am not, then, greatly angry that you so erred: but you are plainly to be condemned, because, when they were corrected, you remained in the error. Christ was a spirit, did not have flesh? I have admitted the contradictor, hear the teacher; hear, I say, the teacher, not me, but himself. Go, and say, and boast, and preach, and teach, and penetrate houses, and lead captive little women laden with sins (2 Tim 3:6); do it, and say: Christ was a spirit, did not have flesh and bones. Hear him saying: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your heart? See my hands and my feet; handle and see, that a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me to have (Luke 24:38-39). Why do you contradict? Are you a Christian? If you are a Christian, hear Christ saying: Why do thoughts arise in your heart? See my hands and my feet; handle and see, that a spirit—that is, what you think me to be—does not have flesh and bones, as you see me to have. Do you still contradict? If you still contradict, see whether perhaps it is no evil to think Christ was a spirit, even if he had true flesh. If it were no evil, the Lord would have left his disciples in that very error. Do not despise the wound which such a physician took care to heal; if those thoughts, as it were thorns, did not harm the Lord's field, the farmer would not uproot them with diligent hand. But the disciples were corrected, the Manichees were perverted; that thought made a passage through the disciples' hearts as a foreigner; it possessed the hearts of the Manichees as a mistress, because it invaded as an enemy.

3. Let it be cured, brothers, if anyone perhaps doubts about it; let him hear the truth, lay aside contention. Christ, the Word, soul, and flesh. Any man, soul and flesh: Christ, Word and man. If Word and man, Word and soul and flesh. They are not three persons, the Word and soul and flesh; because you too are not two, soul and flesh. You, soul and flesh, are one man; he, Word soul and flesh, is one Christ. But sometimes he speaks according to that which is the Word, and yet Christ himself speaks; sometimes he speaks according to that which is soul, and yet Christ himself speaks; sometimes he speaks according to that which is flesh, and yet Christ himself speaks. Let us prove these things by examples of the divine words. According to the Word hear: I and the Father are one (John 10:30). According to the soul hear: My soul is sorrowful unto death (Matt 26:38). According to the flesh hear: It was fitting for Christ to suffer, and to rise on the third day. Where to rise, except in that which could fall? There he rose, where he died. Seek death in the Word: it could never be. Seek death in the soul: it never was, where there was no sin. Seek death in the flesh: there plainly it was; and therefore there was a true resurrection, because there was a true death. There death was. Why was it, where there was no sin? There was punishment without fault, that in us both fault and punishment might be loosed.

4. Why do you marvel that Christ died, when Christ utterly did not sin? He wished to pay for you what he did not owe, that he might free you from the debt. By right the devil possessed the deceived human race; he possessed what he had captured, he had captured what he had deceived. Christ brought in mortal flesh blood to be poured out, by which the bond of sins might be blotted out. He would still hold the guilty, if he did not kill the innocent. But now see how justly it is said to him: You killed one who owed nothing, give back the debtors. Behold, he says, the prince of this world comes, and in me he will find nothing. How nothing? Do you not have a soul, do you not have flesh? are you not also the Word? Are all these nothing? Far be it. Nothing of his own, because no sin. He is the prince of sinners: the prince of sinners will find nothing in me. I did not sin, I drew nothing from Adam, who came to you from a virgin. I added nothing, because I had no one to whom to add, and by living justly I committed nothing. Let him come, and, if he can, let him find something of his own in me. But he will find nothing of his own in me; I have no sin: born innocent, I led an innocent life. Let him come, he will find nothing. Why, then, do you die, if he will come, and will find nothing? And he gives the reason why he dies: Behold, the prince of the world will come, and in me he will find nothing. And as though we said: Why, then, do you die? he answered: But that all may know, he says, that I do the will of my Father, rise, let us go from here (John 14:30-31), to the passion, because of the will of the good Father, not because of the debt of the evil prince.

5. Why, then, do you marvel? Surely Christ is life: why did life die? Neither did the soul die, nor did the Word die; the flesh died, that in it death might die. Suffering death, he killed death; he set bait for the lion in a snare. A fish, if it wished to devour nothing, would not be caught on the hook. The devil was eager for death, the devil was greedy for death. The cross of Christ was a mousetrap: the death of Christ, rather the mortal flesh of Christ, was as it were the bait in the mousetrap. He came, he drank it in, and was caught. See, Christ has risen: where is death? Now in his flesh is said what will be said in ours at the end: Death is swallowed up in victory (1 Cor 15:54). It was flesh, but there was no corruption. The nature remaining, the quality is changed: the same substance, but no failing there now, no sluggishness, no corruption, no need, nothing mortal, nothing such as we are wont to know as earthly. He was touched, handled, felt, but was not killed.

6. Hear still more. He ascended into heaven, he was escorted by the eyes of the disciples; he sends them gazing, makes them witnesses. It is said to them: Why do you stand? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you, will so come. What is, So? So, in that form, in that flesh: They will see him whom they pierced (John 19:37; Zech 12:10). He will so come, as you saw him going into heaven (Acts 1:11). Surely they saw, surely they touched, they handled: they strengthened their faith both by gazing and by touching: they escorted with their gaze the one ascending into heaven: with attentive ears they heard the witnessing voice of the angel foretelling Christ to come. Yet, now all these things being completed in them, that they might become witnesses of Christ, and bravely endure all things for the preaching of the truth, and contend against falsehood even to blood, neither that vision alone, nor that handling of the Lord's members, granted it. But who granted them this? Hear the Lord himself: But you, sit in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49). You have seen, and have touched; but you cannot yet preach and die for what you have seen and touched, until you are clothed with power from on high. Let men now go, and ascribe to their own strength, if they can do anything. He was Peter, and was not yet established on the rock; he was not yet clothed with power from on high; because no one can receive, unless it has been given him from heaven (John 3:27).

7. This, then, brothers, let the truth itself persuade us; let no one glory in his own strength, let no one be lifted up over the choice of his will. For sinning you are fit alone: for doing right you need a helper. Say: Be my helper, do not forsake me (Ps 27:9 (26:9)); woe to you, if he forsakes you. When he leaves you to yourself, to whom does he leave you but to a man? Do you not, then, dread, when you hear: Cursed is everyone who puts his hope in a man (Jer 17:5)? See, the Lord Christ, as I said, Word soul and flesh; there God, there you too; and one Christ. From where there you? By what merit, by what free choice did the Lord take up human nature, was the Word clothed with human nature? What merit of that human nature itself went before? Or will you perhaps say that, I know not where, Christ lived well, and by living well merited to be taken up by the Word, and to become one with the Word, and to be born of a virgin? Far be it, far be it: take this away from the minds of Christians, O Lord our God. We see him as the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). For the Word had no means by which to die for you: it was fitting for Christ to die for you, and in the Word there was no means by which to die for you; because, a simple life, without flesh and blood, without any changeability, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). How far from death! Therefore what mercy! Mary surely of the human race: a virgin, but a human being; holy, but a human being. But the Lord, the only-begotten Word, took up for you, what he might offer for you. But he took up for you, only from you; because the means by which to die for you, he did not have in himself. Neither did you have the means by which to live, nor he the means by which to die. O great exchange! Live from his, because he died from yours.

Sermon 265/E
On the Fortieth Day, the Ascension of the Lord, a Fragment

1. . . . poured out. I have repaid. Your price went out from his side. On the wood hung the purse of your price. I have repaid you, then, the blood of Christ. I have repaid the resurrection. I have repaid the Holy Spirit sent by him. I have repaid the Church spread through the whole world. I promised that idols would be broken, the temples of demons overthrown. It is done. It is repaid. I promised that the Church would have exercise through heresies and would not perish, and that, certain useless branches being cut off, the vine would be pruned, not amputated. And this I have repaid. It is done. I promised the blood and crowns of martyrs. I have repaid it. Of the day of judgment alone do you still hold me a debtor. Why do you hasten? That too will be repaid. And would that, as he will come, so he may find you ready!

2. Of Christ, then, we have sung: You are the Lord most high over all the earth. You are greatly exalted above all gods (Ps 97:9 (96:9)). For who is exalted except one who had been humbled? See him humbled and see him exalted. The Apostle tells you both. For he was exalted from the beginning, because in the beginning was the Word. This height lacks a beginning, lacks time, because through him all things were made. What, then, does the Apostle say of him? Since he was in the form of God, he says, he did not think it robbery to be equal to God; because it was nature, it was not robbery. For he did not claim for himself equality with God, but was always equal because born equal; therefore since he was in the form of God, he did not think it robbery to be equal to God. You have heard his ineffable height. Hear also his humility. He emptied himself, he says. How? Did he then lose what he was? No. And how did he empty himself? Not by losing what he was, but by taking up what he was not. Hear the Apostle himself expounding this. When he had said: he emptied himself, as though we asked how, he added: taking the form of a servant, not by losing what he was, but by taking up what he was not, existing in the form of God, afterward taking the form of a servant. The emptying, then, was to take up lowly things, not to lose lofty ones. Taking the form of a servant he emptied himself. Within the man God lay hidden. If what was within were seen, that man would not be crucified. If that man were not crucified, that blood would not be poured out. If that blood were not poured out, the world would not be redeemed. He emptied himself, then, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men—for in the form of God he was not made, because through him all things were made, so that it should not be said: The Word was made. Therefore he who made was made, lest what he made should perish—. Made in the likeness of men and found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself, made obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. See to what extent humbled. And what follows? For which reason God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, on earth, and in the underworld, and every tongue confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:6-11). Greatly exalted above all gods, and you alone are most high over all the earth.

3. Greatly exalted above all gods. Above what gods? For there are gods. The Psalm shows us: God stood in the synagogue of gods (Ps 82:1 (81:1)), calling gods men born of man. But those are adopted sons. One is so by nature, the others by grace. One Son by nature, the rest by grace. Our Lord Jesus Christ Son by nature according to that which he is the Word. Who are the adopted? The rest who believed in him. Those are men, a man among them, but greatly exalted above all gods. There is much difference between you and them. You were born, they were born; but the condition is one thing, the mercy another. You died, they die; but the necessity is one thing, the kindness another. We all die by necessity, he alone died by kindness. We all are born by condition, he was born by mercy. Greatly therefore exalted above all gods, because you are a man and they are men, as it were they are compared to you, but the virginal birth is one thing, the desire-born conception another. You rose, they will rise, but it is one thing that was said: His flesh did not see corruption and another: He was laid with his fathers and saw corruption (Acts 13:37, 36). The flesh of all who die is handed over to corruption; on the third day you rose, corruption could work nothing in you. In heaven you went before; at the right hand of the Father you sat; all confess you, angels, men, the heavens, the earth, the underworld.

4. You are greatly exalted above all gods, well was it said to him and most excellently through prophecy, because what we see fulfilled—for here too it is fulfilled: Hear, daughter, and see—be exalted above the heavens, O God, of this it was said: You are greatly exalted above all gods. To whom did he say this: You are greatly exalted above all gods? To Christ. And what of the Church? And your glory over all the earth. Be exalted above the heavens, O God (Ps 57:5 (56:6)). Christ we did not see. The apostles saw him. They were there. He led them to the Mount of Olives, and they asked him about the end of the age, and he said to them: It is not yours to know the times which the Father has set in his own power, but you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and to the ends of the earth. These things being said, a cloud received him (Acts 1:7-9). After these words he wished to say nothing. He willed those to be the last, which he might more strongly commend to our heart, about the future Church throughout the whole world, because many were going to make for themselves their own flocks, to gather disciples after themselves and make for themselves heresies and schisms in diverse places. There the vine itself holds the whole from which the branches are cut off. Where a branch is cut off, there it remains. The vine grows and takes up the whole, holds the whole. So the Church did.

5. Hence he granted the Church, as he promised, the bridegroom the bride. Be exalted above the heavens, O God. What God? Of whom did we speak today except of Christ: Exalted above all gods and over the earth his glory? What is your glory? Your Church, your spouse. Hence the Apostle says: A man indeed ought not to veil his head, because he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of the man (1 Cor 11:7). The wife is the glory of the husband. Who is the wife of that great king? The whole Church. He where? Be exalted above the heavens, O God. He where? Greatly exalted above all gods. She where? And over all the earth your glory. A great sacred sign! We have been invited to a wedding, and the wedding itself is we ourselves. In the weddings of men, the bride is one, the invited are others. We are both invited and are ourselves the bride. For we are the Church, and we are invited within the Church. And to what are we invited? If it is now done, beloved, if we now see it, if we now behold it fulfilled, if what we say cannot be denied: Over all the earth your glory, when he comes, what will we be? But only if we guard what we have received.

Sermon 265/F
On the Day of the Fortieth of the Ascension

1. Today, beloved, as you know, we celebrate the solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. For he ascended, as you heard, to his Father and to our Father, to his God and to our God. From where did we merit the brotherhood of Christ? In no way would we attend to his brotherhood, if he had not taken up our weakness. For therefore we are brothers, because he is man. Therefore he who was Lord condescended to be a brother; Lord always, brother from a certain time; Lord from the form of God, brother from the form of a servant. For since he was in the form of God, he did not think it robbery to be equal to God (Phil 2:6): there Lord. From where, then, brother? He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant (Phil 2:7). If he were only a brother, it would be much. And he took the form of a servant, condescended to be a servant. Is he ours, or not? He is ours too. For he himself said of himself: I came not to be ministered to, but to minister (Matt 20:28). Of him the prophet foretold that he would justify the just one, serving many well (See Isa 53:11). But let us not exalt ourselves. Very often a master too serves sick servants, that he may have healthy servants to serve him: that they may be healed, he serves the sick. Our Lord serves the sick. Did he not from his weakness prepare medicines for the sick? For the sick he poured out his blood, with the salve of his blood he anointed the eyes of the blind.

2. He became for us, then, by condescension a brother, who by nature is Lord. He said: I will ascend to my God and your God, to my Father and your Father (John 20:17). To whom did he command this to be said? Go, he says, tell my brothers, and because I am a brother, I will ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God. He did not say: I ascend to our Father; nor did he say: I ascend to our God. It is not idle, my Father and your Father, my God and your God. This distinction indicates something I ought not to be silent about. My Father, because I am the only one; your Father, because you are adopted through me. My God, from where? Christ is not a creature. But according to that he is the Only-begotten. From where, then: my God? The Psalm indicates it. From there, my God, because I took the form of a servant: From my mother's womb you are my God (Ps 22:10 (21:11)). If you remove the mother's womb where he was made man, he is not his God, but his Father. His Father, then, always, the eternal Father of the eternal Son. But that he might be his God, the mother's womb was added, and it was said in the prophet: You are my God. But not so as ours. For he is our God, because he made sinners whole! But he is his God because he was made a man without sin. Therefore, when he had come to God, he distinguished: my God and your God. My God, how? Because I am a man. Why, then, not at the same time ours, since you too are a man, and we are men? But one thing is a man without sin, who came to blot out sins; and another is a man with sin, to whom it was come that he might be freed from sin. This, then, is a distinction, not a separation. We have a Father in heaven, but Christ otherwise, because he without sin, the only one, adopted us. We have a God in heaven, but Christ otherwise, because he without sin, we sinners.

3. Yet that is the condescension which the Apostle speaks of: Heirs indeed of God, but coheirs of Christ (Rom 8:17). We find a Father in heaven, we belong to a great family. The Son came to us from there that he might become a brother. He did not leave the Father when he came to us, nor returning to the Father did he leave us. Let us believe Christ to be in heaven, let us believe him to be with us. How in heaven, if with us? How as God. My word both is with me and is with you; and it is with me in my heart, and is with you in your ears. If this my word can do it, could not the Word of God? He came down indeed, when he was here. What, then, is to come down? For Christ Jesus to appear. How did Jesus appear? Because he was made man. What, then, is to ascend? For the body of Christ to be lifted into heaven, not for the majesty to migrate. To where he ascended, from there he is to come down; and as he ascended, so he is to come down. It is the voice of the angels, not ours. For the disciples stood, and escorted him ascending by seeing. And it was said to them: Men of Galilee, why do you stand? This Jesus will so come, as you see him going into heaven (Acts 1:11). What is: he will so come? in that very form he is to judge, in which he was judged. Visible to none but the just, visible also to the unjust, he will come to be seen by the just and the unjust. The unjust will be able to see him, they will not be able to reign with him.

4. Let us celebrate, then, the holy day of the Fortieth; for this day the whole world celebrates with us. And the Fiftieth the Church spread through the whole world celebrates with us; the celebration, then, of the twenty and the thirty is a custom of Africa, not a sacred sign of the Church.

Sermon 266
On the Vigils of Pentecost, Against the Donatists

1. Among the other divine words which we heard when the Psalm was sung, it pleases me, with the Lord's help, to discuss and treat especially this sentence, by which it was said: The just will amend me in mercy, and reprove me; but let the oil of the sinner not fatten my head (Ps 141:5 (140:5)). For some have believed that the oil of the sinner is the oil of a man; because every man is a liar. But the oil of Christ, because he had no sin at all, even if it is administered through a sinner, is not the oil of a sinner. Since three are to be considered in mind: by whom it is given, to whom it is given, through whom it is given: let us not fear the oil of the sinner, because the intermediary minister does not intercept the benefit of the bestower.

2. For surely we now celebrate the solemnity of the coming of the Holy Spirit: for on the day of Pentecost, which day has now begun, there were in one place one hundred twenty souls, among whom were the apostles and the mother of the Lord and others of both sexes praying and awaiting the promise of Christ, that is, the coming of the Holy Spirit. The hope of those awaiting was not empty, because the promise of the one promising was not deceptive: what was awaited came, and found clean vessels by which to be received. There appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, which also settled upon each of them; and they began to speak in tongues, as the Spirit gave them to utter (Acts 2:3-4). Each man spoke in all tongues, because the future Church in all tongues was foretold. One man was the sign of unity: all tongues in one man, all nations in unity. Those who were full spoke: and those who were empty marveled; and what is more blameworthy, they marveled and slandered. For they said: These are drunk and full of new wine (Acts 2:13). How foolish and slanderous a rebuke! A drunk man does not learn another tongue, but loses his own. Nevertheless through the ignorant and slandering the truth spoke. For now they were full of new wine, because they had been made new wineskins. But the old wineskins marveled at the new wineskins, and by slandering were neither renewed nor filled. But the slander being at last repressed, soon, when they offered their ears to the apostles speaking and giving an account and preaching the grace of Christ, by hearing they were pricked, by the pricking they were changed, changed they believed; believing, they merited to receive what they marveled at in others.

3. Then the Holy Spirit began to be given through the ministry of the apostles. They laid on hands, and he came. But this was not of men: let the minister not arrogate to himself more than that he is a minister. One is the giver, another the minister. For the Spirit attested this, lest men arrogate to themselves what was of God. For from this Simon wished to be puffed up, who, thinking this was to be granted by men, promised money to the apostles, that the Holy Spirit might come also at the laying on of his hands. He did not know grace. For if he recognized grace, he would have it freely. Therefore, because he wished to buy the Spirit, he did not merit to be redeemed by the Spirit. What are you, O man, that you want to puff yourself up? It is enough for you to be filled, not to be puffed up. He who is filled is rich: he who is puffed up is empty. But through men, they say, it was given. Was it therefore of men because it was given? But it could not be given, they say, except through holy men. Surely it did not come into them through men? The apostles laid on hands, and the Holy Spirit came: when he came to them, who laid hands on them?

4. Receive and hold the divine examples: but they are the words of God, the authority of Scripture, the trustworthiness of the words, the truth of the examples. We read the whole, let us believe the whole. Through the laying on of the hands of the apostles the Holy Spirit was given to many: but those through whom it was given had received it. When had they received it? When in one chamber there were one hundred twenty men: each of them prayed, none laid on a hand; he came upon them as they prayed, filled them as they prayed, made the filled into ministers, and through them gave his own. Hear still more. Philip the evangelist, who preached the Gospel in Samaria, was one of the seven deacons: for in the need of ministry seven deacons had been added to the twelve apostles; of whom one, as I said, was Philip, who, because of his ready eloquence of preaching, properly merited to be called an evangelist. Although all did this; he, as I said, preached the Gospel in Samaria: many believed in Samaria, believing they were baptized. But when the apostles heard, they sent to them Peter and John, that they might lay hands on the baptized, and by laying hands on them obtain the Holy Spirit by invoking him. Simon, marveling at so great a grace of the apostles, wished to give money, as if that which was invoked were offered for sale: but he was rejected, and found unworthy of so great a grace. Those, then, received the Holy Spirit through the hands of the apostles. Then, therefore, because that Simon had thought the gift of God to be of men, lest this suspicion be confirmed among the weak; afterward a certain eunuch of Queen Candace was coming from Jerusalem, where he had gone to pray, and sitting in his chariot was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Holy Spirit said to Philip that he should approach the chariot. He who had baptized in Samaria, and had laid hands on no one, and had reported to the apostles, that through their coming and laying on of hands those baptized by him might merit to receive the Holy Spirit, approaches the chariot, asks the eunuch whether he understood what he was reading. He answers that he can understand, if he has an expounder: he asks Philip to come up into the chariot; he came up, sat with him, found him reading in the prophet Isaiah what had been foretold of Christ: Like a sheep he was led to be sacrificed, and the rest that are around the same reading. Then, asking whether the prophet was speaking of himself, or of another; the door of opportunity being opened, he preached Christ the door of salvation. While these things are done on the journey, they came to water, and the eunuch said to Philip: See, water, who forbids me to be baptized? Philip says: If you believe, it can be done. And he: I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. They went down into the water, Philip baptized him. After they came up from the water, the Holy Spirit came upon the eunuch (See Acts 8:5-39). See, Philip was there, who had baptized in Samaria, and had led the apostles to those baptized, he baptized, and did not lay on hands: but, to show that Simon had not suspected the truth, that the Spirit of God was the gift of men, he came into the man freely, and made him free. He came as God, and filled him: as the Lord came, and redeemed.

5. Perhaps someone of the contentious may say that Philip who baptized in Samaria was not a deacon, but was an apostle; because both Philip is named among the apostles, and the one who was properly called the evangelist is one of the seven deacons. But let them suspect what they will, I quickly solve the question. Whether he was an apostle, or a deacon, which the reading was silent about, let this be uncertain. Yet this is written, that as soon as he came up from the water, the Holy Spirit came upon the eunuch. No one there mentions a laying on of hands. Perhaps even this is too little: for he says, Surely someone laid a hand on him, but the Scripture was silent about it.

6. So what do you say? This, he says, I say, that upon those first one hundred twenty indeed, because then for the first time the Holy Spirit was coming, he came without the laying on of hands; but from then on he came upon no one, unless a hand had been laid. You have forgotten Cornelius the centurion: read diligently, and understand prudently. Cornelius the centurion, as is read in the same book of the Acts of the Apostles, where the coming of the Holy Spirit too is proclaimed. To Cornelius the centurion an angel was sent, announced to him that his alms had been accepted, his prayers heard: and accordingly that he ought to send to Peter, who was dwelling in Joppa in the house of Simon the tanner, and that he was to be summoned. But then a great question was being debated between the Jews and the gentiles, that is, between those who had believed from the Jews, and those from the gentiles, whether the Gospel was to be administered to the uncircumcised. There was great hesitation about this, when Cornelius sends. Meanwhile Peter is admonished, the business of the kingdom of heaven is carried on, both here and there, by him who is everywhere. For while these things are done at Cornelius', meanwhile Peter too in Joppa grew hungry, went up to pray when refreshment was being prepared for him; the mind of the one praying was carried away; but from the lowest to the heights; not that it might stray, but that it might see. There came to him a dish let down from heaven, as it were a heavenly course for the hungry. But this dish was bound by four lines, having all kinds of animals, clean and unclean, and the hungry one was struck by the heavenly voice: Peter, rise; slay, and eat. He attended, saw in the dish unclean animals, which he was not accustomed to touch, and answered the voice: Far be it from me, Lord: never has common and unclean entered my mouth. And the voice to him: What God has cleansed, do not call unclean. But this was done three times, and the vessel was received into heaven (See Acts 10:1-16). An evident sacred sign. The dish is the whole world. The four lines holding the dish, the four cardinal points of the world, which the Scripture mentions, saying: From the East and West, and from the North and the Sea (See Ps 107:3 (106:3)). The animals, all nations. The dish let down three times, the commendation of the Trinity. Peter, the Church; Peter hungering, the Church desiring the faith of the gentiles. The heavenly voice, the holy Gospel. Slay, and eat: kill what they are, make them what you are. While Peter was at variance over the command, suddenly it was announced that certain soldiers sent by Cornelius wished to see him. And the Holy Spirit to Peter: Go with them; I sent them. Peter proceeds, now not hesitating about the vision, but certain: and, as is read, it is announced to Cornelius, he meets him humbly, prostrates himself humbly: he is lifted more humbly. They reach the house, find many others gathered. It is told Peter what the reason was for sending to him, and thanks are given that Peter has come. Therefore, opening his mouth, he began to preach to the uncircumcised gentiles, about which that great question was being debated, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. There were certain ones with Peter, who had believed from the Jews, who could be moved if the uncircumcised were baptized: there plainly Peter says: You know, brothers, how abominable it is for a Jew to approach or join himself to a gentile; but God showed me to call no man common or unclean (Acts 10:28). That hungry one looked to the dish.

7. Where are those who said—for I narrated the whole for this reason, for what I want to say: where are those who said that the Holy Spirit is given by the power of a man? While Peter was preaching, Cornelius and all who were with him, a gens, that is, gentiles, believed; and suddenly, before they were baptized, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. What does human presumption answer here? Not only before hands were laid, but before Baptism itself the Holy Spirit came; of power, not of necessity. He came before the washing of baptism, that he might take away the controversy of circumcision. For it could be said to Peter by the slanderous or those not understanding: You did badly to give the Holy Spirit. See, it is fulfilled, see, it is demonstrated, what the Lord says: The Spirit breathes where it wills (John 3:8). See, it is fulfilled, see, it is shown how truly the Lord said: The Spirit breathes where it wills. And yet the proud heretic does not yet breathe out the spirit of arrogance. He still says: It is mine; do not receive from him, but from me. You answer: I seek what is of God. He: Have you not read: But let the oil of the sinner not fatten my head (Ps 141:5 (140:5))? So the oil is yours? If it is yours, I do not want it: if it is yours, it is bad. But if it is of God, even through you the bad one it is good. Mud does not stain the ray of the sun, and do you stain the oil of God? But you have it to your harm, because you have what is good while bad; what is of God, you received while bad: because, separated, you did not gather, but scattered. Those who eat unworthily, eat and drink judgment to themselves: because they eat unworthily, do they not eat? Christ gave the morsel to the unworthy Judas, and he received it unto judgment. Surely he did not receive from one who was bad? surely he did not receive something bad? But he is guilty for this reason, that, being bad, he received the good from the good. The oil of the sinner, then, is not the oil of salvation. Let it be well received, and it is good: even if it is badly received, it is good. Woe to men receiving the good badly!

8. See, however, the sense of the Scripture, lest perhaps it suggest something that lies open to a better understanding. The just will amend me, he says, in mercy: even if he strikes, the reprover loves, esteems; the flatterer deceives: the one has mercy, the other circumvents. Hard is the rod of the one striking, soft is the oil of the one fawning. For all flatterers anoint the head, do not heal the inner parts. Love the reprover, beware of the flatterer. For if you love the truthful reprover, and beware of the deceitful flatterer, you can say what was sung: The just will amend me in mercy, and reprove me, but the oil of the sinner, that is, the flattery of the fawner, let it not fatten my head. A fat head is a big head: a big head is a proud head. Better is a sound heart than a big head: but a sound heart the rod of the reprover makes; a big head the oil of the sinner makes, that is, the assent of the flatterer. If you have made your head big, beware of the weight of the head, lest you be led to a fall. These things, as far as I judge, for the time we have spoken sufficiently about this one sentence of the Psalm, the Lord helping, and building up your hearts in secret.

Sermon 267
On the Day of Pentecost

1. The solemnity of today's day makes a remembrance of the great Lord God and of the great grace which was poured over us. For a solemnity is therefore celebrated, lest what was once done be wiped from the memory. For a solemnity takes its name from what is customary in the year: as the perennity of a river is so called, because it does not dry up in summer, but flows through the whole year: therefore perennial, that is, through the year; so too a solemnity, what is customarily celebrated in the year. We celebrate today the coming of the Holy Spirit. For the Lord sent from heaven the Holy Spirit, whom on earth he promised. And because he had so promised that he would send him from heaven: He cannot come, he says, unless I go away; but when I have gone away, I will send him to you (John 16:7); he suffered, died, rose, ascended: it remained that he fulfill what he promised. His disciples awaiting this, souls, as it is written, one hundred twenty, the number of the apostles multiplied tenfold; for he chose twelve, and into one hundred twenty he sent the Spirit: awaiting this promise, then, they were in one house, they prayed: because they desired now by faith itself, what by prayer itself, by spiritual desire itself; they were new wineskins, the new wine was awaited from heaven, and it came. For now that great cluster had been trodden and glorified. For we read in the Gospel: For the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified (John 7:39).

2. Now what answered, you heard, a great miracle. All who were present had learned one tongue. The Holy Spirit came; they were filled, they began to speak in the various tongues of all nations, which they had not known nor learned: but he who had come taught them; he entered, they were filled, he poured forth. And then this was the sign, whoever received the Holy Spirit, suddenly filled with the Spirit spoke in the tongues of all; not those one hundred twenty alone. The Letters themselves teach us, that afterward men believed, were baptized, received the Holy Spirit, spoke in the tongues of all nations. Those who were present were terrified, some marveling, some mocking: so that they said, These are drunk, they are full of new wine (Acts 2:13). They mocked, and said something true. For they were filled, the wineskins, with new wine. You heard when the Gospel was read: No one puts new wine into old wineskins (Matt 9:17): the carnal man does not hold spiritual things. Carnality is oldness, grace is newness. However much a man has been renewed for the better, so much the more he holds, what savors of the true. The new wine bubbled, and as the new wine bubbled the tongues of the nations flowed forth.

3. Is the Holy Spirit not given now, brothers? Whoever thinks this is not worthy to receive him. He is given now too. Why, then, does no one speak in the tongues of all nations, as he spoke who was then filled with the Holy Spirit? Why? Because what that signified, is fulfilled. What is that? When we celebrated the Fortieth, recall, because we commended to you that the Lord Jesus Christ commended his Church and ascended. The disciples asked, When will the end of the age be? And he: It is not yours to know the times or the moments, which the Father has set in his own power (Acts 1:7). He was still promising what today he fulfilled: You will receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). The Church then was in one house, it received the Holy Spirit: it was in a few men, it was in the tongues of the whole world. See what it was then prefiguring. For that that small Church spoke in the tongues of all nations, what is it, except that this great Church from the rising of the sun to its setting speaks in the tongues of all nations? Now is fulfilled what was then promised. We have heard, we see. Hear, daughter, and see: it was said to the queen herself: Hear, daughter, and see (Ps 45:10 (44:11)); hear the promise, see the fulfillment. Your God did not deceive you, your bridegroom did not deceive you, he who endowed you with his own blood did not deceive you: he did not deceive you who from foul made you beautiful, from unclean made you a virgin. You were promised to yourself: but promised in a few, fulfilled in many.

4. Let no one, then, say: I received the Holy Spirit; why do I not speak in the tongues of all nations? If you wish to have the Holy Spirit, attend, my brothers: our spirit, by which every man lives, is called the soul; our spirit, by which each single man lives, is called the soul: and you see what the soul does in the body. It enlivens all the members; through the eyes it sees, through the ears it hears, through the nostrils it smells, through the tongue it speaks, through the hands it works, through the feet it walks: it is present to all the members at once, that they may live; it gives life to all, offices to each. The eye does not hear, the ear does not see, the tongue does not see, nor does the ear and the eye speak; but yet it lives: the ear lives, the tongue lives; the offices are diverse, the life common. So is the Church of God: in some saints it works miracles, in other saints it speaks the truth, in other saints it keeps virginity, in other saints it keeps conjugal chastity, in others this, in others that: each does his own work, but they live alike. But what the soul is to the body of a man, this the Holy Spirit is to the body of Christ, which is the Church: the Holy Spirit does in the whole Church what the soul does in all the members of one body. But see what you should beware, see what you should observe, see what you should fear. It happens that in the human body, rather from the body, some member is cut off, a hand, a finger, a foot; does the soul follow what is cut off? When it was in the body, it lived; cut off, it loses life. So too a Christian man is Catholic, while he lives in the body; cut off, he becomes a heretic, the spirit does not follow the amputated member. If, then, you wish to live by the Holy Spirit, hold love, love the truth, desire unity, that you may come to eternity. Amen.

Sermon 268
On the Day of Pentecost

1. Because of the coming of the Holy Spirit today is a solemn day for us, the fiftieth from the Lord's resurrection, seven weeks multiplied. But counting seven weeks, you will find forty-nine: one is added, that unity may be commended to us. What did the very coming of the Holy Spirit do? From what did it teach its presence? from what did it show it? They all spoke in the tongues of all nations. But they were in one place, one hundred twenty: by ten the number twelve of the apostles, consecrated by a mystery, was multiplied tenfold. What then, did the individuals on whom the Holy Spirit came speak, each in single tongues of all the nations, that one in another tongue, and this one in another, and as it were divide among themselves the tongues of all nations? Not so: but each man, one man, spoke in the tongues of all nations. One man spoke in the tongues of all nations: the unity of the Church in the tongues of all nations. See, here too the unity of the Catholic Church, spread through the whole world, is commended.

2. He, then, who has the Holy Spirit is in the Church, which speaks in the tongues of all. Whoever is outside this Church does not have the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit condescended to show himself in the tongues of all nations for this reason, that he may understand himself to have the Holy Spirit who is contained in the unity of the Church, which speaks in all tongues. One body, the apostle Paul says: One body, and one Spirit (Eph 4:4). Attend to our members. The body is composed of many members, and one spirit gives life to all the members. See, by the human spirit, by which I myself am a man, I gather all the members: I command the members to be moved, I direct the eyes to seeing, the ears to hearing, the tongue to speaking, the hands to working, the feet to walking. The offices of the members are divided, but one spirit holds all things together. Many things are commanded, many things are done: one commands, one is served. What our spirit is, that is, our soul, to our members; this the Holy Spirit is to the members of Christ, to the body of Christ, which is the Church. Therefore the Apostle, when he had named one body, lest we understand a dead body: One, he says, body. But I ask you, does this body live? It lives. From what? From one spirit. And one Spirit. Attend, then, brothers, in our body, and grieve for those who are cut off from the Church. In our members, as long as we live, when we are healthy, all the members fulfill their offices. If one member somewhere is in pain, all the members suffer with it. Yet because it is in the body, it can be in pain, it cannot expire. For what is it "to expire," except to lose the spirit? But now if a member is cut off from the body, does the spirit follow it? And yet it is recognized what the member is; it is a finger, it is a hand, it is an arm, it is an ear: apart from the body it has form, but does not have life. So too a man separated from the Church. You ask of him the sacred sign, you find it: you ask for Baptism, you find it: you ask for the creed, you find it. It is form: unless within you are given life by the spirit, in vain do you glory outwardly in the form.

3. Beloved, God greatly commends unity. Let this very thing move you, that in the beginning of created things, when God established all things, he made the stars in heaven, but on earth the plants and trees, and said: Let the earth bring forth, and the trees were brought forth, and all green things: he said: Let the waters bring forth swimming and flying things, and so it was done: Let the earth bring forth the living soul of all cattle and beasts, and so it was done (See Gen 1:11-24). Surely God did not make the other birds from one bird? surely not all the fish from one fish? all the horses from one horse? all the beasts from one beast? Did not the earth bring forth many at once, and fill many things with manifold offspring? It came to the making of man, and one was made, from one the human race. Nor did he wish to make two separately, male and female: but one, and from one, one. Why so? Why is the human race begun from one, except because unity is commended to the human race? And the Lord Christ from one, unity, is a virgin; he holds virginity, keeps incorruption.

4. The Lord himself commends the unity of the Church to the apostles: he shows himself, they think they see a spirit: they are terrified, they are strengthened, it is said to them: Why are you troubled, and do thoughts arise in your heart? See my hands: handle and see, that a spirit does not have bones and flesh, as you see me to have (Luke 24:38-39). See, while they were still troubled for joy, he takes food, not from need, but from power; he takes it before them: he commends, against the impious, the truth of the body, he commends the unity of the Church. For what does he say? Are not these the things that I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms about me? Then he opened their minds, the Gospel says, that they might understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, That so it is written, and so it was fitting for Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day. See our head; see the head, where are the members? See the bridegroom, where is the bride? Read the marriage records: hear the bridegroom. Do you seek the bride? Hear from him: no one takes away his own from him, no one substitutes another's: hear from him. Where do you seek Christ? In the fables of men, or in the truth of the Gospels? He suffered, he rose on the third day, he showed himself to his disciples. Now we have him: where do we seek her? Let us ask of him: It was fitting for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day. See, it is now done, it is now seen. Tell, O Lord; tell, Lord, lest we err: And that repentance and the forgiveness of sins be preached in his name among all nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:44-47). He began from Jerusalem, and reached us. And he is there, and here. For not, that he might come to us, did he depart from there: he grew, he did not migrate. This he commended immediately after his resurrection. He spent forty days with them: about to ascend into heaven, again he commended the Church. The bridegroom, about to set out, commended his bride to his friends: not that any of them should love her; but himself as the bridegroom, them as the friends of the bridegroom, none of them as the bridegroom. This the friends of the bridegroom are zealous for, and they do not allow her to be corrupted by lascivious love. They hate it when she is so loved. Attend to the zealous friend of the bridegroom: when he saw the bride in a way fornicating through the friends of the bridegroom, he said: I hear that there are schisms among you, and in part I believe it. It has been reported to me about you, brothers, by those of Chloe, that there are contentions among you, and each of you says: I indeed am of Paul; but I of Apollos; but I of Cephas; but I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Cor 1:11-13; 11:18) O the friend! He repels from himself the love of another's bride. He does not want to be loved in place of the bride, that he may be able to reign with the bridegroom. The Church, then, was commended: and when he ascended into heaven, he said thus to those who asked about the end of the age: Tell us, when will these things be, and when the time of your coming? And he: It is not yours to know the times, which the Father has set in his own power. Hear what you should know from the master, disciple: But you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you (Acts 1:7-8). And it was done: on the fortieth day he ascended into heaven, and see, today, the Holy Spirit coming, all who were present are filled, they speak in the tongues of all nations. Likewise that very unity is commended through the tongues of all nations. It is commended by the rising Lord, commended by the ascending Christ; confirmed by the Holy Spirit coming today.

Sermon 269
On the Day of Pentecost

1. We celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit by an anniversary festival. To this a solemn gathering, a solemn reading, a solemn sermon is owed. Those two have been paid, because you both have come in great numbers, and have heard as it was read. Let us render the third too: let the homage of our tongue not be lacking to him who both gave all tongues to the unlearned, and subjected the tongues of the learned among all nations, and gathered the diverse tongues of the nations to the unity of faith. For there came suddenly from heaven a sound, as of a violent blast being borne along: and there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, which also settled upon each of them; and they began to speak in tongues, as the Spirit gave them to utter (Acts 2:2-4). For that blast did not puff up, but gave life: that fire did not burn, but kindled. There was fulfilled in them what had been prophesied so long before: There are no speeches nor words, whose voices are not heard (Ps 19:3 (18:4)): that then, distributed to preach the Gospel, they might do what follows: Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world (Ps 19:4 (18:5)). For what else did the Holy Spirit foretell in the tongues of all nations, which he gave to those who had learned only the one tongue of their own nation (which he willed to be then the indication of his presence), except that all nations would believe the Gospel; so that first each of the faithful, but afterward the very unity of the Church, would speak in all tongues? What do those say to these things, who refuse to be incorporated and joined to the Christian fellowship, which bears fruit and grows in all nations? Can they deny that even now the Holy Spirit comes into Christians? Why, then, does no one now, neither among us nor among them, speak in the tongues of all nations (which then was the indication of his coming), except because now is fulfilled what was then signified? For then even one faithful man spoke in all tongues: and now the unity of the faithful speaks in all tongues. And so even now all tongues are ours, since we are members of the body in which they are.

2. And not without reason is it rightly understood that, although we confess that they themselves have the Baptism of Christ, heretics or schismatics do not receive the Holy Spirit, except while they cling to the framework of unity through the fellowship of love. For then the tongues of the nations will be theirs too: because where those are, there they too will be, namely in the same body of Christ growing everywhere, keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Whom this bond does not bind is a slave. For we did not receive, as the Apostle says, the spirit of slavery again in fear; but we received the Spirit of the adoption of sons, in whom we cry, Abba, Father (Rom 8:15). Accordingly we truly understand that the Holy Spirit demonstrated his presence at that time in the tongues of all nations for this reason, that even in this time, in which he does not so demonstrate himself, whoever is separated from the unity of all nations is not understood to have him, although he is steeped in the sacred sign of Baptism. And lest it be thought to follow that whoever has the Baptism of the Trinity also has the Holy Spirit; therefore even within the unity itself so great a distinction was made, that we find some, baptized, afterward merited the Holy Spirit, when the apostles came to them in Samaria, in whose absence they had been baptized: but others, which is a singular example that occurs, received him before Baptism; as, when Peter spoke, it was granted by the heavenly power to Cornelius and those who were with him, which no man can contradict. Upon others he came soon after they were baptized; as upon that eunuch, to whom Philip had preached Christ from the prophet Isaiah. Upon others through the laying on of the hands of the apostles, as on very many. Upon others, with no one laying on hands, but with all praying; as on that very day which we solemnly celebrate today, when there were in one chamber one hundred twenty souls with the apostles. Upon some, with no one laying on hands, nor anyone praying, but with all hearing the word of God; as upon those whom I mentioned a little before, Cornelius and his household. Why, then, now thus, but now thus, except that nothing here be ascribed to human pride, but the whole to divine grace and power? And so this distinction between the receiving of Baptism, and the receiving of the Holy Spirit, sufficiently instructs us, lest we think those at once to have the Holy Spirit whom we do not deny to have Baptism. How much more those, whom not only no love of Christian unity has armed! For the love of God has been poured out in our hearts; not surely through ourselves, but, as it follows, through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:5). For which reason, as then the tongues of all nations indicated that the Holy Spirit was present in one man; so now the love of the unity of all nations indicates him.

3. But the animal man, the Apostle's words are, does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:14). And surely he rebukes as animal those to whom he says: Each of you says: I indeed am of Paul, but I of Apollos, but I of Cephas, but I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Cor 1:12-13) For as the spiritual rejoice in unity, so the animal are eager for dissensions. Of these the apostle Jude too, writing most plainly: These are they, he says, who set themselves apart, animal men, not having the Spirit (Jude 19). What more evident? what more express? Let the foolish, then, cease to flatter themselves, and to say to us: What are we going to receive, when we come to you, since you already confess that we have the Baptism of Christ? We answer them: You have the Baptism of Christ; come that you may have also the Spirit of Christ. Fear what is written: But whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his (Rom 8:9). You have put on Christ by the form of the sacred sign; put him on by the imitation of his example. Since Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his footsteps (1 Pet 2:21). Do not be having a form of piety, but denying its power (2 Tim 3:5). But what greater power of piety is there than the love of unity? It is said in the Psalms: I have seen the end of all completion: your commandment is exceedingly wide (Ps 119:96 (118:96)). What commandment, except that of which it was said: A new commandment I give you, that you love one another (John 13:34). Why wide, except because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts? Why is it the end of all completion, except because the fullness of the law is love; and all the law is summed up in this saying, in that it is written, You shall love your neighbor as yourself? (Rom 13:10; Gal 5:14) But you so love your neighbors as yourselves, that, when you are unwilling that some evil, which has neither been seen nor proved in you, be believed of you, you yet believe of the whole world that which you have neither seen nor received as proved.

4. You seem to yourselves to say: The Lord Jesus. And perhaps, not understanding, you attend to that which the Apostle says: No one says: The Lord Jesus, except in the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:3). But this which he says, says, is set down with a mark, and in a certain proper way. For no one says: The Lord Jesus, except in the Holy Spirit, but if he says it by deeds, not by words alone. For they can say: The Lord Jesus, even those of whom he says: What they say, do; but what they do, do not do (Matt 23:3). All the heresies, which surely you too disapprove, say: The Lord Jesus. Nor surely is he going to separate from the kingdom of heaven those whom he finds in the Holy Spirit; and yet he says: Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt 7:21). But No one says: The Lord Jesus, except in the Holy Spirit! no one plainly, but in that way in which it was said, that is, by deeds. Hence he went on to add: But he who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven, he will enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt 7:21). For the same Apostle says of certain ones: They confess that they know God, but by deeds they deny him (Titus 1:16). As he is denied by deeds, so he is said by deeds. In this manner of speaking no one says: The Lord Jesus, except in the Holy Spirit. If, then, you do not come to unity, setting yourselves apart, you will be animal, not having the Spirit. But if you come deceitfully: The Holy Spirit of discipline will flee deceit (Wis 1:5). Then, therefore, know that you have the Holy Spirit, when through sincere love you have consented that your mind cling to unity. Let us answer these things to those who say, What are we going to receive! and let us, brothers, offer them ourselves as an example of good works, neither being proud because we stand, nor despairing of those who lie fallen.

Sermon 270
On the Day of Pentecost

1. Since we celebrate the holy solemnity of so holy a day, that today the Holy Spirit himself came, this festive and welcome solemnity admonishes us to say something about that very gift of God, the grace of God, and the abundance of his mercy toward us, that is, about the Holy Spirit himself. In the school of the Lord we speak as fellow students. For we have one master, in whom we are all one: who, lest perhaps we dare to be proud about teaching, admonished us, and said: Do not be called Rabbi by men; for one is your master, Christ (Matt 23:8). Under this master, then, whose chair is heaven, because we are to be instructed by his letters, attend to the few things I will say, by his gift who commands that I speak. You who know, recall; you who did not know, receive. Often it moves a devoutly curious mind, if yet human frailty and weakness be admitted to scrutinize such things. Rather, it is admitted. For not because something in the holy Scriptures is covered is it therefore closed so as to be denied, and not rather opened to one who knocks, the Lord himself saying: Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you (Matt 7:7). Often, then, it moves the mind of the studious, why on the fiftieth day after the Lord's passion and resurrection the promised Holy Spirit was sent.

2. Here first I admonish your Charity, that it not weary you to consider somewhat why it was said by the Lord himself: He cannot come, unless I go away (John 16:7). As if, to speak according to carnal sense, the Lord Christ kept something in the heights, and, descending from there, had entrusted to the Holy Spirit what he kept, and therefore could not come to us, unless he returned who would receive what was entrusted; or as if we could not bear both, nor endure the presence of both. As if indeed one were separated from the other; or as if, when they come to us, they themselves suffered straits, and we were not rather enlarged. What, then, does it mean: He cannot come, unless I go away? For it is expedient, he says, for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Paraclete will not come to you (John 16:7). What this means, then, as far as we either grasp, or estimate, or by his gift perceive, or speak what we believe, let your Charity briefly receive. It seems to me that the disciples had been occupied about the human form of the Lord Christ, and, like men, were held by a human affection toward the man. But he wished them rather to have a divine affection, and so to make them spiritual from carnal: which a man does not become except by the gift of the Holy Spirit. This, then, he says: I send you a gift, by which you may be made spiritual; namely the gift of the Holy Spirit. But you cannot become spiritual, unless you cease to be carnal. But you will cease to be carnal, if the form of the flesh is taken from your eyes, that the form of God may be implanted in your hearts. For by this human form the Lord—that is, the form of a servant: He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant (Phil 2:7)—by this form of a servant, then, the affection of Peter too was held, when he feared that the one he greatly loved would die. For he loved the Lord Jesus Christ, as a man a man; as a carnal man a carnal man, not as a spiritual man the majesty. From what do we prove this? Because when the Lord himself had asked his disciples who he was said to be by men, and they, recalling the opinions of others, had said that some said he was John, others Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets; he said to them: But who do you say that I am? And Peter, one for the rest, one for all: You are, he says: the Christ, the Son of the living God. This excellently, most truly: deservedly he merited to receive such an answer: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, because you told me; you told, hear; you gave a confession, receive a blessing: therefore: And I tell you, You are Peter: because I am the rock, you are Peter; for not from Peter the rock, but from the rock Peter, because not from the Christian Christ, but from Christ the Christian. And on this rock I will build my Church: not on Peter, which you are; but on the rock, which you confessed. And I will build my Church: I will build you, who in this answer bear the figure of the Church. This and the rest, for which Peter had said: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God: and had heard, as you remember: Flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, that is, the human mind, human weakness, human ignorance, but my Father who is in heaven (Matt 16:15-18). Then the Lord Jesus began to foretell his passion, and to show how great things he was going to endure from the impious. Here Peter was terrified, and feared lest Christ the Son of the living God should perish by death. Surely Christ the Son of the living God, good of good, God of God, living of living, the fount of life and true life, had come to destroy death, not to perish from death. Yet Peter, as a man, terrified, whose affection, as I said, was human about the flesh of Christ: Be merciful to yourself, Lord, he says; far be it, let this not happen. And the Lord refutes such words with a worthy and fitting answer. As he gave worthy praise to that confession, so also a worthy rebuke to this trembling: Get behind me, Satan (Matt 16:22-23). Where is that: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona? Distinguish the words of the one praising, and the one restraining: distinguish the causes of the confession, and of the trembling. The cause of the confession: Flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. The cause of the trembling: For you do not savor the things that are of God, but the things that are of man (Matt 16:23). We would not wish, then, that it be said to such people: For it is expedient for you that I go? If I do not go, the Paraclete will not come to you. Unless the human form is withdrawn from your carnal gaze, you will be least able to grasp, feel, think anything divine. Let this suffice. Hence it was fitting that, after the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, his promise about the Holy Spirit be fulfilled. For so the Evangelist John too had said from his own person, when Jesus, signifying the same Holy Spirit, had cried out, saying: If anyone thirsts, let him come to me, and drink; and rivers of living water will flow from his belly. For the Evangelist went on and said: But this he said about the Spirit, whom those were going to receive who were going to believe in him. For the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified (John 7:37-39). Therefore our Lord Jesus Christ was glorified by the resurrection and ascension, and sent the Holy Spirit.

3. But as we have learned from the holy Books, he completed forty days with his disciples after the resurrection, manifesting to them, lest they should think anything was feigned, the truth of his raised body, going in and out with them, eating and drinking. But on the fortieth day, which we celebrated ten days ago, in their sight he ascended into heaven, going as he was promised, so to come; that is, in the human form in which he was judged, in that to judge. He willed to send the Holy Spirit on a day other than the day on which he ascended; not even after two or three days, but after ten days. This question has compelled us to scrutinize and inquire into certain hidden things of numbers. Forty days have four times ten. By this number is commended, as it seems to me, a sacred meaning. For we men speak to men; and we are rightly called expounders of the Scriptures, not affirmers of our own opinions. This number forty, then, having four times ten, signifies, as it seems to me, this age, which we now pass and complete; we are carried along and worn through, by the course of times, the instability of things, by failing and succeeding, by flying rapacity, and a certain flux of things that do not stand still. This age, then, is signified by this number, because of the fourfold seasons of the world, which complete the year; the fourfold cardinal points too of the world itself, known to all, and often mentioned by sacred Scripture: From the East and West, from the North and South (See Ps 107:3 (106:3)). Through these fourfold seasons, then, and through the fourfold world, the law of God is preached, as the number ten. Hence too the Decalogue is first commended. For in ten precepts the law is established: because in this number ten there seems to be a certain perfection. For up to that number the progress of the one counting goes, and from there returns from one up to ten, again to one. So the hundreds, so the thousands; so beyond, with certain tens folding together, the forest of numbers grows infinitely. And so the law being perfect in ten, and the law preached through the fourfold world, four tens make forty. But we are taught, while we are in this living of this age, to abstain from worldly desires: which the forty-day fast, known to all by the name of Lent, signifies. This the Law commanded you, this Prophecy, this the Gospel. Therefore, because this is the Law, Moses fasted forty days: because this is Prophecy, Elijah fasted forty days: because this is the Gospel, the Lord Christ fasted forty days. When, then, after forty days other ten days are completed, ten once, ten simply, not fourfold, the Holy Spirit came, that the law might be fulfilled through grace. For the law without grace is a killing letter. For if a law had been given, he says, that could give life, righteousness would entirely be from the law. But Scripture has shut up all things under sin, that the promise from faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe (Gal 3:21-22). Therefore: The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor 3:6). Not that you fulfill something other than what is commanded you through the Letter: but the letter alone makes one guilty, grace both frees from sin, and grants the letter to be fulfilled. Hence comes through grace the forgiveness of all sins, and faith which works through love. Do not, then, think the letter condemned, because it was said: The letter kills. For this is, the letter makes one guilty. A precept is given, you are not helped by grace: you at once find yourself not only not a doer of the law, but even guilty of transgression. For where there is no law, neither is there transgression (Rom 4:15). The law, then, was not blamed, when it was said: The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life, as if it condemned the one, and praised the other: but The letter kills, the letter alone without grace. Take an example. By this manner of speech it was said: Knowledge puffs up. What does it mean: Knowledge puffs up? Is knowledge condemned? If it puffs up, we will better remain unskilled. But since he added: But love builds up (1 Cor 8:1); as where he added: But the Spirit gives life, he gave to understand, The letter without the Spirit kills, with the Spirit gives life, and makes the letter to be fulfilled; so knowledge without love puffs up, love with knowledge builds up. Therefore the Holy Spirit was sent, that the law might be fulfilled, and that there might come to pass what the Lord himself had said: I came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matt 5:17). This he grants to those who believe, this he grants to the faithful, this he grants to those to whom he gives the Holy Spirit. The more capable each becomes of him, the readier he becomes to do the law.

4. For I say to your Love, what you too will be able to consider and easily see: love fulfills the law. The fear of punishments makes a man work, but still slavishly. For if you do good for this reason, that you fear to suffer evil, or do not do evil for this reason, that you fear to suffer evil; if someone promised you impunity, you would at once seize iniquity. It would be said to you, Be secure, you will suffer no evil, do it; and you would do it. For you were recalled by fear of punishment, not by love of righteousness. For love was not yet working from within you. See, then, how love works. Let us so love him whom we fear, that we fear him with a chaste love. For a chaste wife too fears her husband. But distinguish these fears. A chaste wife fears lest she be abandoned by her absent husband: an adulterous wife fears lest she be caught by her husband coming upon her. Love, then, fulfills the law: because perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18); namely servile fear, coming from sin. For the fear of the Lord, chaste, remains forever and ever (Ps 19:9 (18:10)). If, then, love fulfills the law, from where is this love? Recall, attend, and see, that love is the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:5). And so deservedly, when ten days were completed, by which number the perfection of the law too is commended, the Lord Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit: because grace grants us to fulfill the law, which he came not to abolish, but to fulfill.

5. But the Holy Spirit is wont in the holy Scriptures to be commended by the number seven, not ten: the law by ten, the Holy Spirit by seven. That the law is by ten, is known: that the Holy Spirit is by seven, we recall. First in that very book, at the head of the book which is entitled Genesis, the works of God are enumerated. Light is made, heaven is made, which is called the firmament between water and water; the dry land is bared, the sea is separated from the land, to the earth is given the fruitful conception of all plants; the greater and lesser luminaries are made, the sun and the moon, and the other stars; the waters bring forth their offspring, the earth its own; man is made in the image of God: God completes all his works on the sixth day; in none of the works of God, so many enumerated and completed, did sanctification sound. God said: Let there be light; and there was light: and God saw the light that it was good: he did not say, God sanctified the light: Let there be a firmament, and it was made; God saw that it was good: nor was it said that the firmament was sanctified. And so the rest, lest we delay over most manifest things, up to those things that were made on the sixth day, when, man being created in the image of God, all things are enumerated, nothing is said to be sanctified. It came to the seventh day, where no work was done, but the rest of God is intimated, and God sanctified the seventh day. In the number seven of days sanctification first sounded, sought in all the places of the Scriptures and here first found. Where the rest of God is mentioned, our rest too is intimated. For God did not labor, so as to need rest; and as though after labor he congratulated himself on a feast day, he sanctified that day, on which it is permitted to be at leisure. This is a carnal thought. Rest after all our good works was intimated to us, as the rest of God after all his good works was intimated. For God made all things, and behold all things were very good. And God rested on the seventh day from all his works which he made (Gen 1:31; 2:2). Do you too wish to rest? First do works very good. So the observance of the Sabbath was given to the Jews carnally, like the rest, by signifying sacred signs. For a certain leisure was commanded: that leisure which it signifies, you do. For spiritual leisure is the tranquility of the heart: but the tranquility of the heart comes from the serenity of a good conscience. Therefore he truly observes the Sabbath who does not sin. For so it is commanded to those to whom the observing of the Sabbath is commanded: You shall do no servile work (See Lev 23:7). Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin (John 8:34). The number seven, then, is dedicated to the Holy Spirit, as ten to the law. This Isaiah the prophet too intimates in this place, where he says: The Spirit of wisdom and understanding will fill him (count), of counsel and fortitude, of knowledge and piety, the Spirit of the fear of God (Isa 11:2-3). As though descending to us, the spiritual grace begins from wisdom, ends at fear. But we, ascending, tending from the lowest to the highest, ought to begin from fear, and end at wisdom. For the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Ps 111:10 (110:10)). It is long, and surpasses our strength, even if not your eagerness, to recall all the testimonies about the number seven, as it pertains to the Holy Spirit. Let these, then, suffice.

6. Now attend to this, how, since through the grace of the Holy Spirit the law is fulfilled, both the number ten had to be recalled and commended, as we have already shown, and the number seven because of the very grace of the Holy Spirit. Christ commended by the number ten, sending the Holy Spirit after ten days, the very law which he commanded to be fulfilled. Where, then, will we find here the commendation of the number seven especially because of the Holy Spirit himself? You have in the book of Tobit that very festival, that is, Pentecost, consisting of weeks. How? Multiply the seven by itself, that is, seven by seven, which is learned in the schools: seven times seven make forty-nine. To this form of seven, by the reasoning of seven by seven: (since the Holy Spirit himself gathers us, and assembles us: hence too he gave this as the first sign of his coming, that those who received him, even individuals, spoke in all tongues. For the unity of the body of Christ is gathered from all tongues, namely through all the nations spread through the whole world. And that one then spoke in all tongues, testified that that very unity would be in all tongues. But the Apostle says: Bearing with one another in love, which is love: striving to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace (Eph 4:2-3). Because, then, the Holy Spirit gathers us from many into one: but he is grasped through humility, repelled through pride. For a humble heart is like water seeking a hollow place, where it may settle: but by the lifting up of pride, as by the swelling of a hill, repelled, it slips away: hence it was said: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (Jas 4:6). What is, gives grace? He gives the Holy Spirit. He fills the humble, because he finds them capable). Therefore, because these things are so, to the forty-nine, which are made from seven by seven, that Pentecost may come, one is added, and unity is commended.

7. Because the eagerness of your Charity helps our weakness before the Lord our God, receive something, as it seems to me, so much the sweeter when it is expounded, the more hidden it is if it is not expounded. Before the resurrection, the Lord commanded his disciples to cast the nets into the sea, when he chose them. They cast them, they caught an innumerable multitude of fish, so that the nets were broken, and the loaded boats sank. But he did not command on which side they should cast the nets, but only said: Cast the nets. For if he had commanded that they cast on the right side, he would signify only the good to be caught: if on the left, only the bad. But because they were cast at random, neither on the right nor on the left; both good and bad. This is the signification of the Church of the present time, in this age. For those servants too, sent to the invited, went out; and brought in whomever they found, good and bad, and the wedding was filled with guests reclining. Both good and bad, then, are gathered now. But why do schisms too come about, if they do not break the nets? Why is the Church often pressed by the scandals of carnal crowds making bad tumult, if the boats too are not pressed? This, then, the Lord did before the resurrection. But after the resurrection he likewise found his disciples fishing: he commanded the same nets to be cast, not anyhow and at random, because now after the resurrection. For after the resurrection his body, which is the Church, will not have bad ones. Cast, he says, the nets on the right side. The nets were cast, at his command, on the right side, and fish of a fixed number were caught. For those without number, those by whom was signified the Church which is now passed, as from that catch: I have announced and spoken, they are multiplied beyond number (Ps 40:5 (39:6)). There are understood, then, certain supernumeraries, in a way superfluous: yet they are gathered. But there on the right fish are caught, both numbered, and great. For he who does, he says, and so teaches, will be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:19). Therefore great fish were caught, in number one hundred fifty-three. Whom does it not move, that this number is not mentioned in vain? For the Lord, signifying nothing in vain, would not either say this very thing: Cast the nets; or have it pertain to him that they be cast on the right side. This number too, one hundred fifty-three, signifies something: and it belonged to the Evangelist to say, as though he had looked back at that first catch, where the broken nets signified schisms; because in that Church of eternal life there will be no schisms, because no dissension; all great, because full of love: as though, then, he had looked back at what was first done to signify schisms, it belonged to him to say in this second catch: And though they were so great, the nets were not broken. What, therefore, the right side signified, has been said, because all good. What the greatness, has been said, because he who does and so teaches will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. What too that the nets were not broken, has been said, because then there are no schisms. What, then, the one hundred fifty-three? This number will surely not itself be the number of the saints. For there will not be one hundred fifty-three saints; when those alone who have not defiled themselves with women are mentioned as twelve times twelve thousand. But this number, like a tree, seems to grow up from a certain seed. But the seed of this great number is a certain smaller number, which is seventeen. Seventeen makes one hundred fifty-three. But if you count from one to seventeen, and add all the numbers: for if you do not add the numbers from one to seventeen, which you mention as wholes, they will be only seventeen: but if you so count: one, two, three; as one and two and three make six, six and four and five make fifteen; so you reach to seventeen, carrying on your fingers one hundred fifty-three. Now then recall what I mentioned and commended a little before, and see who, and what, seventeen signify. Ten, the law; seven, the Holy Spirit. Hence what do we understand, except that those will be in the Church of the eternal resurrection, where there will be no schisms, where death will not be feared, because it is after the resurrection; those, then, will be there, and will live with the Lord forever, who fulfilled the law through the grace of the Holy Spirit and the gift of God, whose feast we celebrate?

Sermon 271
On the Day of Pentecost

1. A welcome day has dawned for us, brothers, on which the holy Church gleams in the gaze of the faithful, glows in their hearts. For we celebrate this day, on which the Lord Jesus Christ, after the resurrection, glorified by the ascension, sent the Holy Spirit. For so it is written in the Gospel, when he said: If anyone thirsts, let him come to me, and drink; he who believes in me, rivers of living water will flow from his belly: the Evangelist goes on to expound, and says: But this he said about the Spirit, whom those were going to receive who had believed in him. For the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified (John 7:37-39). It remained, then, that Jesus being made glorious, when he rose from the dead and ascended to the heavens, the Holy Spirit should now be given, sent by him by whom he was promised: as indeed it was done. For the Lord, having lived with his disciples for forty days after the resurrection, ascended into heaven, and on the fiftieth day, which we celebrate today, sent the Holy Spirit, as it is written: that there came suddenly a sound from heaven, as of a violent blast being borne along; and there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, which settled upon each: and they began to speak in all tongues, as the Spirit gave them to utter (Acts 2:2-4). That blast cleansed hearts from carnal chaff; that fire consumed the hay of the old desire; those tongues, with which they spoke, filled by the Holy Spirit, prefigured the future Church through the tongues of all nations. For as after the flood the proud impiety of men built a high tower against the Lord, when the human race deserved to be divided through diverse tongues, so that each nation spoke in its own tongue, lest it be understood by others: so the humble piety of the faithful conferred the diversity of those tongues on the unity of the Church; that what discord had scattered, love might gather, and the scattered members of the human race, as of one body, might be reduced, fitted together to one head, Christ, and be welded by the fire of love into the unity of the holy body. From this gift of the Holy Spirit, then, those are utterly alien who hate the grace of peace, who do not keep the fellowship of unity. For although they too gather solemnly today, although they hear these readings by which the Holy Spirit was promised and sent: they hear them unto judgment, not unto reward. For what does it profit them to receive with their ears what they spit out from their hearts; and to celebrate his day, whose light they hate? But you, my brothers, members of the body of Christ, shoots of unity, sons of peace, keep this day joyful, celebrate it secure. For there is fulfilled in you what was prefigured in those days when the Holy Spirit came. Because as then he who received the Holy Spirit, even one man, spoke in all tongues: so now through all nations the very unity speaks in all tongues, established in which you have the Holy Spirit; you who dissent by no schism from the Church of Christ speaking in all tongues.

Sermon 272
On the Day of Pentecost, to the Infants, on the Sacrament.

1. This which you see on the altar of God, you saw also the past night: but what it was, what it meant, what great matter's sacred sign it contained, you had not yet heard. What you see, then, is bread and the cup; which your eyes too report to you: but what your faith asks to be instructed about, the bread is the body of Christ, the cup the blood of Christ. This indeed has been said briefly, which perhaps suffices for faith: but faith desires instruction. For the prophet says: Unless you believe, you will not understand (Isa 7:9 (Old Latin)). For you can now say to me: You commanded that we believe, expound that we may understand. For such a thought can arise in anyone's mind: Our Lord Jesus Christ, we know from where he took flesh; from the Virgin Mary. He was suckled as an infant, was nourished, grew, was brought to a youthful age, suffered persecution from the Jews, was hung on the wood, was killed on the wood, was taken down from the wood, was buried, rose on the third day, on the day he willed ascended into heaven; thither he lifted his body; from there he is to come to judge the living and the dead; there he now is, sitting at the right hand of the Father: how is the bread his body? and the cup, or what the cup holds, how is it his blood? These things, brothers, are therefore called sacred signs, because in them one thing is seen, another understood. What is seen has a bodily appearance, what is understood has a spiritual fruit. If, then, you wish to understand the body of Christ, hear the Apostle saying to the faithful: But you are the body of Christ, and members (1 Cor 12:27). If, then, you are the body of Christ and members, your mystery is set on the Lord's table: you receive your mystery. To that which you are, you answer Amen, and by answering you subscribe to it. For you hear, The body of Christ; and you answer, Amen. Be a member of the body of Christ, that the Amen may be true. Why, then, in bread? Let us bring nothing here of our own, let us hear the Apostle himself again and again, who, when he spoke of this sacred sign, said: One bread, one body, we many are (1 Cor 10:17): understand and rejoice; unity, truth, piety, love. One bread: who is this one bread? One body, we many. Recall that bread is not made from one grain, but from many. When you were exorcised, you were as it were ground. When you were baptized, you were as it were moistened. When you received the fire of the Holy Spirit, you were as it were baked. Be what you see, and receive what you are. This the Apostle said about the bread. Now what we should understand about the cup, even though not said, he sufficiently shows. For as, that the visible appearance of bread may exist, many grains are moistened into one, as though that came to pass which the holy Scripture says of the faithful: They had one soul, and one heart toward God (Acts 4:32): so too with the wine. Brothers, recall from what wine is made. Many grains hang on the cluster, but the liquor of the grains is mingled into unity. So too the Lord Christ signified us, willed us to belong to him, consecrated on his table the sacred sign of our peace and unity. He who receives the sacred sign of unity, and does not keep the bond of peace, receives not a sacred sign for himself, but a testimony against himself. Turned to the Lord God the Father almighty, let us with a pure heart give him, as far as our littleness can, the greatest and truest thanks; praying with our whole soul his singular gentleness, that he may condescend to hear our prayers in his good pleasure; that he may by his power also expel the enemy from our acts and thoughts, multiply our faith, govern our mind, grant us spiritual thoughts, and lead us to his blessedness: through Jesus Christ his Son. Amen.

Sermon 272/A
On the Fiftieth Day of the Resurrection, a Fragment

1. The Lord Christ was humbled, that we might know to be humble: he who contains all things was conceived, he who begets all things was born, he who gives life to all things died; but after three days he rose, and ascended into heaven, and placed the human flesh which he had assumed at the right hand of the Father. It is marvelous, brothers—and this is what the impious refuse to believe—it is marvelous that a man rose in the flesh, and ascended into heaven with the flesh; but it is far more marvelous that the whole world believed a thing so incredible. What is more incredible, that God did such things, or that the world could believe? What if the very manner too, by which the world believed, be considered by us? It too is truly seen to be divine, and is found greatly marvelous. Men untaught in the liberal disciplines, and altogether, as far as pertains to the doctrines of the world, unpolished, not skilled in grammar, not armed with dialectic, fishermen, with the nets of faith Christ sent in fewest number into the sea of the age. Why do I say "in fewest number"? He sent twelve. And yet through them he so filled the churches with every kind of fish, that very many even of those wise of the world, to whom the cross of Christ seemed ignominious, are marked with it on their forehead, and set on the citadel of honor that of which they thought one ought to blush, and over which they insulted us.

Sermon 272/B
On the Day of Pentecost

1. Today I believe that your Charity knows that the Church celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit of the Lord; for the Lord promised that he would send the Holy Spirit to his apostles, and according to his most faithful promise he surely fulfilled what he promised. For as the resurrection of the Lord confirmed in the faith of men his divinity, who for our sake condescended to become man, so much more his ascent into heaven, and more fully and more perfectly the gift of the Holy Spirit which he sent, and filled his disciples, now made new wineskins, that they might be able to receive the new wine; therefore when they spoke in tongues, they were said to be drunk and full of new wine. The voice of those who heard was a testimony of the Lord's Scripture: For no one puts new wine into old wineskins, the Lord had said. He was preparing, then, new wine for new wineskins. For they were old wineskins, as long as they thought carnally about Christ; for to the old wineskin belonged that saying of the apostle Peter, when the Lord said to him, fearing lest Christ should die and as it were perish as other men too: Get behind me, Satan, you are a stumbling block to me (Matt 16:23). This trouble of Peter belonged to the old wineskin. But when the Lord rose, and showed himself to them, and they handled what they had bewailed hanging on the cross; they saw living members, which they bewailed as dead and buried; they were confirmed in faith, and believed him. He ascended into heaven, and commands that they gather themselves into one place, and there await until he himself should send his promise. Gathered, then, into one place, praying and desiring the promise, they put off the oldness, and put on newness. Made now capable, then, they received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And not without cause do we celebrate this day as a great and most evident sacred sign. But let your Holiness attend, how the old and new Scriptures harmonize with each other: for there grace was promised, here given; there figured, here perfected. As, if some craftsman of things to be formed from another metal, bronze or silver, first composes from wax the forms which he is going to cast, and the first sketch makes the way for the future solidity—for he makes the very forms which he is going to fill—so too the Lord, for the old people, sketched and outlined all things in figures, but for the new people fulfilled them by a most perfect outpouring. What, then, that forming is, and what this fulfillment on the day of Pentecost, let your Holiness attend somewhat more intently: it is worth the effort of attention; with great fruit is it spoken, when what is spoken is heard more intently. Be you too surely new wineskins, that through our ministry you may be able to receive the wine.

2. It is often asked of us: If we celebrate the day of Pentecost because of the coming of the Holy Spirit, why do the Jews celebrate Pentecost? For they too have a Pentecost. You heard this morning, you who were attentive, when the reading of Tobit was read at the memorial of blessed Theogenes, that on the day of Pentecost he made himself a dinner, about to invite some of his own who were worthy to share the table with him, in that there was in them the fear of the Lord: On the day of Pentecost, he says, which is holy, of the weeks (Tob 2:1). For seven times seven make forty-nine: to this one is added because of unity, that we may return to the head, because unity confirms all multitude. And a multitude, unless it is bound by unity, is quarrelsome and contentious; but a multitude that shares makes one soul, as even of those very ones who received the Holy Spirit, as Scripture says, there was one soul and one heart toward God (Acts 4:32). They become, then, fifty, which is the sacred sign of Pentecost. Why, then, do the Jews celebrate it, except because there it was a figure? Attend: you know—and there is no Christian at all who is ignorant of what I am going to say—that among the Jews a lamb is slain, and Easter is celebrated in figure of the future Lord's passion. For this too was commanded them, that they should seek a lamb from goats and sheep. From where can a lamb be found from goats and sheep? But what was there commanded as impossible announced the future possibility of the Lord: for a lamb from goats and sheep was found, because our Lord Jesus Christ, born according to the flesh of the seed of David, has his origin from sinners and the just. You find in the origin of the Lord, according to the generations which the Evangelists expound, both many sinners and the just; therefore he also called such, that is, sinners, because he came through such too. For he gathers his Church from the just and sinners: about to send the just into the kingdom of heaven, and to separate the sinners who persevere in sins and wickedness. Yet he so came to bear our sins, that he did not disdain to take up the origin of sinners; and there are many sacred meanings there, in the generations themselves, which God will grant that there be time to expound to your Holiness. Now, however, let us return to what we had begun.

3. We were speaking about the day of Pentecost, why the Jews celebrate that day. They slay a lamb, it is the slaying of the paschal lamb: so we too celebrate Easter, where the lamb was slain, immaculate, without fault. Truly a lamb, to whom John bore witness, saying: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29); by his passion we celebrate Easter. The law was given to the Jews in fear; the Holy Spirit was given to Christians in grace. They through fear could not fulfill the law, and through the very law were made guilty. The law has five books; five porticoes surrounded the pool of Solomon, but they bore the sick, they could heal none of them. The five porticoes bore the sick, where they lay; as in the books too no one was healed. Why no one? Because of pride: for when they think they can by their own strength fulfill what is commanded, they did not fulfill what was commanded. And the law was against them, in which they are found guilty, until they cry out, what we said also this morning to your Holiness: Wretched man that I am, who will free me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:24-25). The law, then, shows the guilty, grace frees from guilt: the law threatens, grace coaxes: the law intends punishment, grace promises pardon. Yet they themselves, the things commanded, are in the law and in grace; and therefore that law is said to be written by the finger of God. So we have it written.

4. But what the finger of God is, let us seek in the Gospel, and we will find. What does "the finger of God" signify? For God does not truly have such a form of body as we have; and does he see from one side, and not see from one side; or is he defined by the shape of members, who is wholly everywhere, and present to all? What, then, is the finger of God? The Holy Spirit. Attend: from where do we prove this? From the Gospel. For sometimes what one Evangelist says figuratively, another says the same place more openly. There is in a certain place of the Gospel where the Jews said of the Lord, that in the name of Beelzebub he cast out demons. But the Lord, answering: If I cast out demons by the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you (Luke 11:20). Another Evangelist expounds the same place thus, saying: If I by the Holy Spirit, therefore the kingdom of God has come upon you (Matt 12:28). When, then, one Evangelist says the finger of God, the other expounds it, to show us that the Holy Spirit is the finger of God. Let us not seek fingers of flesh in God, but understand why the Holy Spirit is called a finger. Because through the Holy Spirit the apostles received divisions of gifts: but in the fingers the division of the hand appears; there is reckoning and distribution. Why, then, do the Jews celebrate Pentecost? A great sacred sign, brothers, and altogether marvelous: if you notice, on the day of Pentecost they received the law written by the finger of God, and on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came.

5. But this must be proved from the giving of the law, which the Jews received on tablets of stone. But it signified the hardness of their heart. Yet written by the finger of God: because all the things that are written there, these very things are commanded to Christians too; but now, as the Apostle says, Not on tablets of stone, but on the fleshly tablets of the heart (2 Cor 3:3). This, then, is the difference, that it was written on their hard hearts, and was not fulfilled; it was given onto the already believing and easy and everlasting hearts of Christians. Therefore that was stone: but the hearts of Christians were fruitful earth, which could bring forth fruit. Hence the Lord too in the Gospel, when that woman was brought to him who had been caught in adultery—and they wanted to stone her according to the law, but the Lord wanted her thereafter not to sin, ready to forgive her sin—said to those who wanted to stone her, when they themselves were of stone: If anyone among you is without sin, let him first cast a stone at her. But when he had said this, he bowed his head, and began to write with his finger on the earth; but they, considering their consciences, departed one after another from the greater to the lesser, and that woman was left alone. But the Lord lifted his head, and said to her: What is it, woman, has no one condemned you? And she said: No one, Lord. And the Lord: Neither will I condemn you; go, thereafter sin no more (John 8:7-11). What did this pardon signify? Grace. What did that hardness signify? The law given on stones. Hence the Lord was writing with his finger, but now on the earth, from which fruit could be received. But in stone whatever is sown does not come up, because it cannot send out a root. The finger of God, and the finger of God: by the finger of God the law was written; the finger of God, the Holy Spirit.

6. The law was given on the day of Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost. But we had said that we would prove that the Jews received the law on the fiftieth day from the Easter that we celebrate. You have that it is commanded them, on the fourteenth day of the first month to slay the lamb and celebrate Easter. There remain of the month seventeen days, counting that very fourteenth day from which Easter begins. They came to the desert, where the law was given, and so the Scripture says: But in the third month, from when the people was led out of Egypt (See Exod 19:1), the Lord spoke to Moses, that those who were going to receive the law should purify themselves for the third day, on which the law was to be given. At the beginning, then, of the third month purification is commanded for the third day; and Easter begins . . . Attend, lest the numbers as it were trick you, and bring a fog of understanding upon you: as far as we can, we open it, the Lord granting. If your attention helps us, you will quickly see what is said; but if not, whatever I say will be obscure, even if it is said most plainly . . . Therefore Easter is appointed on the fourteenth day of the month: and purification is commanded, that the law might be given on the mountain, written by the finger of God; but the finger of God is the Holy Spirit. Remember: for we proved this from the Gospel. Purification is appointed for the third day of the third month. From the first month, then, subtract thirteen, and there remain seventeen, that you may begin from the fourteenth. Add the whole second month: they make forty-seven days; from that very day of purification to the third day, they make fifty days. Nothing is more manifest, nothing more evident, than that the Jews received the law on the day of Pentecost.

7. But it was hard, it was a burden, it was a hard weight. But the Lord came with grace, and cries out: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matt 11:28-30). How is his yoke easy? The law threatens, he coaxes: the law says, If you do not do it I will punish; Christ says, Whatever you do I forgive, thereafter see that you do not sin. Therefore his yoke is easy, and his burden light. If we are made new wineskins, we await his grace intently, we will be greatly filled with the Holy Spirit, and through the Holy Spirit there will be in us love, now when we have been made fervent with new wine, and inebriated with his inebriating and glorious cup, so that we forget those worldly things that held us, as the martyrs forgot, when they went to their passion, and forgot both sons and wives, and parents casting dust on their heads, and mothers offering their breasts, with the reproach of milk separating themselves from food—they forgot all things, nor did they recognize their own. Why do you marvel if a martyr does not recognize his own? The man is drunk. But from where drunk? From love. But from where love? From the finger of God, from the Holy Spirit, from him who came at Pentecost.

Sermon 272/B
(Augmented). a Sermon of Saint Augustine on Pentecost

1. Today I believe that your Charity knows that the Church celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit of the Lord: for the Lord promised that he would send the Holy Spirit to his apostles, and according to his most faithful promise he surely fulfilled what he promised. For as the resurrection of the Lord confirmed in the faith of men his divinity, who for our sake condescended to become man, so much more his ascent into heaven, and more fully and more perfectly by the gift of the Holy Spirit which he sent and filled his disciples, now made new wineskins, that they might be able to receive the new wine—therefore when they spoke in tongues, they were said to be drunk and full of new wine. The voice of those who heard was a testimony of the Lord's Scripture: for no one puts new wine into old wineskins, the Lord had said. He was preparing, then, new wine for new wineskins. For they were old wineskins, as long as they thought carnally about Christ. For to the old wineskin belonged that saying of the apostle Peter, when the Lord said to him, fearing lest Christ should die and as it were perish as other men too: Get behind me, Satan; you are a stumbling block to me (Matt 16:23). This faltering of Peter belonged to the old wineskin. But when the Lord rose, and showed himself to them, and they handled what they had bewailed hanging on the cross; they saw living members, which they bewailed as dead and buried; they were confirmed in faith and believed him. He ascended into heaven, and commands that they gather themselves into one place and there await until he himself should send his promise. Gathered, then, into one place, praying and desiring the promise, they put off the oldness and put on newness. Made now capable, then, they received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And not without cause do we celebrate this day as a great and most evident sacred sign. But let your Holiness attend, how the old and new Scriptures harmonize with each other: for there grace was promised, here given; there figured, here perfected. As, if some craftsman of things to be formed from some metal, bronze or silver, first composes from wax the forms which he is going to cast, and the first sketch makes the way for the future solidity—for he makes the very forms which he is going to fill—so too the Lord, for the old people, sketched and outlined all things in figures, but for the new people fulfilled them by a most perfect outpouring. What, then, that forming is, and what this fulfillment on the day of Pentecost, let your Holiness attend somewhat more intently: it is worth the effort of attention; with great fruit is it learned, when what is spoken is heard more intently. Be you too surely new wineskins, that through our ministry you may be able to receive the wine.

2. It is often asked of us: "If we celebrate the day of Pentecost because of the coming of the Holy Spirit, why do the Jews celebrate Pentecost?" For they too have a Pentecost. You heard this morning, you who were attentive, when the reading of Tobit was read at the memorial of blessed Theogenes, that on the day of Pentecost he made himself a dinner, about to invite some of his own who were worthy to share the table with him, in that there was in them the fear of the Lord: On the day of Pentecost, he says, which is holy, of the weeks (Tob 2:1). For seven times seven make forty-nine: to this one is added because of unity, that we may return to the head, because unity confirms all multitude, and a multitude, unless it is bound by unity, is quarrelsome and contentious; but a multitude that shares makes one soul, as even of those very ones who received the Holy Spirit, as Scripture says, there was one soul and one heart toward God (Acts 4:32). They become, then, fifty, which is the sacred sign of Pentecost. Why, then, do the Jews celebrate it, except because there it was a figure? Attend: you know—and there is no Christian at all who is ignorant of what I am going to say—that among the Jews a lamb is slain, and Easter is celebrated in figure of the future Lord's passion. For this too was commanded them, that they should seek a lamb from goats and sheep. From where can a lamb be found from goats and sheep? But what was there commanded as impossible announced the future possibility of the Lord: for a lamb from goats and sheep was found, because our Lord Jesus Christ, born according to the flesh of the seed of David, has his origin from sinners and the just. You find in the origin of the Lord, according to the generations which the Evangelists expound, both many sinners and the just: therefore he also called such, that is, sinners, because he came through such too. For he gathers his Church from the just and sinners, about to send the just into the kingdom of heaven, and to separate the sinners who persevere in sins and wickedness; yet he so came to bear our sins, that he did not disdain to take up the origin of sinners. And there are many sacred meanings there, in the generations themselves, which God will grant that there be time to expound to your Holiness. Now, however, let us return to what we had begun.

3. We were speaking about the day of Pentecost, why the Jews celebrate that day. They slay a lamb, it is the slaying of the paschal lamb: so we too celebrate Easter, where the lamb was slain, immaculate, without fault, truly a lamb, to whom John bore witness, saying: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29); by his passion we celebrate Easter. The law was given to the Jews in fear; the Holy Spirit was given to Christians in grace. They through fear could not fulfill the law, and through the very law were made guilty. The law has five books; five porticoes surrounded the pool of Solomon, but they bore the sick, they could heal none of them. The five porticoes bore the sick, where they lay, as in the books too no one was healed. Why no one? Because of pride. For when they think they can by their own strength fulfill what is commanded, they did not fulfill what was commanded. And the law was against them, in which they are found guilty, until they cry out, what we said also this morning to your Holiness: Wretched man that I am, who will free me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:24-25). The law, then, shows the guilty, grace frees from guilt; the law threatens, grace coaxes; the law intends punishment, grace promises pardon. Yet they are the same, the things commanded in the law, which are also in grace; and therefore that law is said to be written by the finger of God. So we have it written.

4. But what the finger of God is, let us seek in the Gospel, and we will find. What does the finger of God signify? For God does not truly have such a form of body as we have. And does he see from one side, and not see from one side? or is he defined by the shape of members, who is wholly everywhere and present to all? What, then, is the finger of God? The Holy Spirit. Attend: from where do we prove this? From the Gospel. For sometimes what one Evangelist says figuratively, another says the same place more openly. There is in a certain place of the Gospel where the Jews said of the Lord, that in the name of Beelzebub he cast out demons. But the Lord, answering: If I cast out demons by the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you (Luke 11:20). Another Evangelist expounds the same place, saying: If I by the Holy Spirit, therefore the kingdom of God has come upon you (Matt 12:28). When, then, one Evangelist says the finger of God, the other expounds it, to show us that the Holy Spirit is the finger of God. Let us not seek fingers of flesh in God, but understand why the Holy Spirit is called a finger. Because through the Holy Spirit the apostles received divisions of gifts; but in the fingers the division of the hand appears: there is reckoning and distribution. Why, then, do the Jews celebrate Pentecost? A great sacred sign, brothers, and altogether marvelous: if you notice, on the day of Pentecost they received the law written by the finger of God, and on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came.

5. But this must be proved from the giving of the law, which the Jews received on tablets of stone—but the hardness of their heart was signified—yet written by the finger of God, because all the things that are written there, these very things are commanded to Christians too, but now, as the Apostle says, not on tablets of stone, but on the fleshly tablets of the heart (2 Cor 3:3). This, then, is the difference, that it was written on their hard hearts and was not fulfilled; it was given onto the already believing and easy and everlasting hearts of Christians. Therefore that was stone; but the hearts of Christians were fruitful earth, which could bring forth fruit. Hence the Lord too in the Gospel, when that woman was brought to him who had been caught in adultery—and they wanted to stone her according to the law, but the Lord wanted her thereafter not to sin, ready to forgive her sin—said to those who wanted to stone her, when they themselves were of stone: If anyone among you is without sin, let him first cast a stone at her. But when he had said this, he bowed his head and began to write with his finger on the earth; but they, considering their consciences, departed one after another from the greater to the lesser, and that woman was left alone. But the Lord lifted his head and said to her: What is it, woman? has no one condemned you? And she said: No one, Lord. And the Lord: Neither will I condemn you. Go, thereafter sin no more (John 8:7-11). What did this pardon signify? Grace. What did that hardness signify? The law given on stones. Hence the Lord was writing with his finger, but now on the earth, from which fruit could be received. But in stone whatever is sown does not come up, because it cannot send out a root. The finger of God, and the finger of God: by the finger of God the law was written; the finger of God, the Holy Spirit.

6. The law was given on the day of Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost. But we had said that we would prove that the Jews received the law on the fiftieth day from the Easter that we celebrate. You have that it is commanded them, on the fourteenth day of the first month to slay the lamb and celebrate Easter. There remain of the month seventeen days, counting that very fourteenth day from which Easter begins. They came to the desert, where the law was given, and so the Scripture says: But in the third month, from when the people was led out of Egypt (See Exod 19:1), the Lord spoke to Moses, that those who were going to receive the law should purify themselves for the third day, on which the law was to be given. At the beginning, then, of the third month purification is commanded for the third day, and Easter begins . . . Attend, lest the numbers as it were trick you and bring a fog of understanding upon you. As far as we can, we open it, the Lord granting. If your attention helps us, you will quickly see what is said; but if not, whatever I say will be obscure, even if it is said most plainly. Therefore Easter is appointed on the fourteenth day of the month; and purification is commanded, that the law might be given on the mountain, written by the finger of God—but the finger of God is the Holy Spirit: remember, for we proved this from the Gospel. Purification is appointed for the third day of the third month. From the first month, then, subtract thirteen, and there remain seventeen, that you may begin from the fourteenth; add the whole second month: they make forty-seven days; from that very day of purification to the third day they make fifty days. Nothing is more manifest, nothing more evident, than that the Jews received the law on the day of Pentecost.

7. But for the hard it was a burden, for the hard it was a weight. But the Lord came with grace and cries out: Come to me, you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matt 11:28-30). How is his yoke easy? The law threatens, he coaxes. The law says: "If you do not do it, I will punish"; Christ says: "Whatever you do, I forgive; thereafter see that you do not sin." Therefore his yoke is easy, and his burden light. But let us be made new wineskins, let us await his grace intently: we will be greatly filled with the Holy Spirit, and through the Holy Spirit there will be in us love, now when we have been made fervent with new wine and inebriated with his inebriating and glorious cup, so that we forget those worldly things that held us, as the martyrs forgot, when they went to their passion—and forgot both sons and wives, and parents casting dust on their heads, and mothers offering their breasts, with the reproach of milk separating from food—they forgot all things, nor did they recognize their own. Why do you marvel, if he does not recognize his own? The man is drunk. But from where drunk? From love. But from where love? From the finger of God, from the Holy Spirit, from him who came at Pentecost.

8. From where do we prove that love is from the Holy Spirit and fulfills the law? Since the Apostle says: The fullness of the law is love (Rom 13:10), and in another place: Love of neighbor works no evil. For "you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not kill, you shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, is summed up in this saying: you shall love your neighbor as yourself (Rom 13:9), because love fulfills the law. But from where do we prove that love is from the Holy Spirit? Hear the Apostle saying that we glory in tribulations (Rom 5:3). Through tribulations the Jews were compelled to fulfill the law, and could not; Christians by tribulations were not separated from the law, but rather ran to the law. See what I say, brothers. A punishment was set for the Jews, that whoever sacrificed to idols should be stoned or crucified, yet because fear pressed them, love did not hold them: they did not fear because they were conquered by desire, and went after idols, where the cross, where the threat of death and stoning was imminent, and they were not recalled by these punishments. Afterward, because love came, and fear, love succeeded. The Gospel was preached to the nations; that they should sacrifice to idols, they began to threaten them with fire, crosses, beasts, and they endured all those things which the kings threatened and inflicted on them, nor yet did their heart turn aside to idols. By what punishments those could not be recalled from idols, by those punishments Christians could not be compelled to idols, because now love was from the Holy Spirit. But we even glory, says the Apostle, in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience, patience trial—for we wish to prove that the love which fulfills the law of God is from the Holy Spirit—for tribulation works patience, patience trial, trial hope; but hope does not confound, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:3-5).

9. And so, brothers, we celebrate an anniversary day of the coming of the Holy Spirit, but daily the Holy Spirit ought to be in our heart. Nor let us think that this festival ought to be only on this day, but on the rest of the days ought not to be: let us not celebrate it on one day, but for the whole time, that we may be found not reprobate, but approved on the day of the Lord when he comes, that those to whom he gave the pledge, these he may lead also into the everlasting possession. For Christ betrothed his Church to himself, he sent her the Holy Spirit. This Spirit was given as it were a ring. He who gave the ring, is going to give immortality in rest. Let us love him, let us hope in him, let us believe in him.
Come a little earlier in the afternoon hours because of the hymns of God. Others are inebriated with the wine of the earthly vine, in which there is self-indulgence, and let us be inebriated with the songs of God; praising the Lord with songs of salvation, let us for a while forget the earth, that from earth we may merit to be lifted into heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, who lives and reigns with God the Father.