Sermon 76

SERMO 76

Again on Matthew 14:24-33:
ABOUT THE LORD WALKING ON THE WATERS OF THE SEA,
AND ABOUT PETER WAVERING

The sea, the age, Peter the type of the Church.

The Gospel which was most recently read is about the Lord Christ, who walked on the waters of the sea; and about the apostle Peter, who, walking, wavered with fear, and sinking with doubt, by confessing rose again; it admonishes us to understand that the sea is the present age, but Peter is the type of the one Church. For Peter himself is the foremost in the order of the Apostles, the most ready in love for Christ, often one responding for all. Finally, when the Lord Jesus Christ inquired who men said that He was, with the disciples answering the various opinions of men, and the Lord again asking and saying: But who do you say that I am? Peter replied: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. One gave the answer for many, unity in many. Then the Lord said to him: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. Then He added: And I say to you. As if to say: Because you said to me: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God: I also say to you: You are Peter. Indeed, he was previously called Simon. But this name was given to him by the Lord, that he might be called Peter: and this in that figure, to signify the Church. Because Christ is the rock, Peter the Christian people. For the rock is the primary name. Therefore Peter is from the rock, not the rock from Peter: just as not Christ from the Christian, but the Christian from Christ is called. Therefore you are, He says: Peter; and upon this rock which you have confessed, upon this rock which you have recognized, saying: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, I will build my Church: that is: Upon myself the Son of the living God, I will build my Church. Upon me I will build you, not me upon you.

The church is not built upon men, but upon Christ.

For men wishing to be built upon men said: "I am of Paul," and "I am of Apollos," and "I am of Cephas," which is Peter. And others who did not wish to be built upon Peter but upon the rock said: "I am of Christ." But the Apostle Paul, when he realized he was being chosen and Christ was being despised, said: "Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" Just as you were not baptized in the name of Paul, neither were you in the name of Peter; but in the name of Christ: so that Peter was built upon the rock, not the rock upon Peter.

Peter first blessed, soon called Satan.

So then, the same Peter, surnamed blessed from the rock, bearing the figure of the Church, holding the primacy of the apostleship, immediately after a little while when he had already heard that he was blessed, already heard that he was Peter, already heard that he would be built upon the rock, after he heard about the future passion of the Lord, because He had foretold it quickly to His disciples, it displeased him. He feared that he might lose Him who was to die, whom he had confessed as the source of life. He was disturbed, saying: God forbid, Lord; this shall never happen to you. Be kind to yourself, God; I do not wish you to die. Peter was saying to Christ, I do not wish you to die; but Christ was better saying, I wish to die for you. Therefore, immediately he rebuked whom he had praised a little before; and whom he had called blessed, he called Satan. Go behind me, Satan; you are an obstacle to me: for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men. What does he want to make of us out of what we are, who thus blames that we are men? Do you want to know what he wants to make of us? Listen to the Psalm: I said, 'You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High', but by thinking humanly: However, you will die like men. The same Peter shortly before blessed, afterwards Satan, in a single moment, within a few words. Do you wonder at the difference in names, consider the differences in causes. Why do you wonder, that shortly before he was blessed, afterwards Satan? Consider the cause why he was blessed. Because flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. Therefore blessed, because flesh and blood did not reveal it to you. For if flesh and blood revealed this to you; it was of yourself: but because flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father who is in heaven; it was of mine, not of yourself. Why of mine? Because all things that the Father has are mine. Behold, you have heard the cause, why blessed, and why Peter. But why that which we shudder at, and do not wish to repeat? Why, except because it was of yourself? For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.

In Peter are symbolized the strong and the weak.

Considering this, we as members of the Church should discern what belongs to God and what belongs to us. Then we will not waver, then we will be founded on the rock, fixed and stable against winds, rains, floods, namely the temptations of the present age. Look, however, at Peter, who was then a figure of us: at one moment he trusts, at another moment he wavers; at one moment he confesses the immortal, at another moment he fears dying. Accordingly, because Christ's Church has strong ones and it has weak ones; it cannot exist without the strong, nor without the weak: hence the Apostle Paul says: But we who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak; in what Peter said: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, he signifies the strong; but in the way he trembles and wavers, and does not want Christ to suffer, fearing death, not acknowledging life, he signifies the weak of the Church. Therefore, in that one apostle, that is, Peter, first and foremost in the order of the Apostles, in whom the Church was prefigured, both types had to be represented, that is, the strong and the weak: because without both, the Church does not exist.

Man is weak in himself, strong in the Lord.

From this arises therefore also what has just been read: Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the waters. If it is you, command me: for I cannot do this in myself, but in you. He understood what was from himself, what was from Him, whose will he believed enabled him to do what no human weakness could accomplish. Therefore: If it is you, command: because when you command, it will happen. What I cannot presume to do, you can command. And the Lord said: Come. And without any hesitation, Peter, at the word of the one commanding, at the presence of the one sustaining, at the presence of the one guiding, without any delay, leaped into the waters and began to walk. He could do what the Lord could, not in himself, but in the Lord. For you were once darkness, but now light; but in the Lord. What no one can do in Paul, no one in Peter, no one in any other of the Apostles, this can be done in the Lord. Therefore, Paul rightly espousing his own unimportance, commending Him: Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? Therefore, not in me, but with me; not under me, but under Him.

The awareness of one's own infirmity is necessary for obtaining grace.

Thus Peter walked on the waters by the command of the Lord, knowing that he could not do this by himself. Faith achieved what human weakness could not. These are the firm ones of the Church. Attend, listen, understand, act. For it is not necessary to deal with the firm elsewhere, so that they become weak; but it is necessary to deal with the weak, so that they become firm. Yet, many are hindered from firmness by the presumption of firmness. No one will be firm by God, except he who feels himself weak by himself. Separating a voluntary rain God gave to his inheritance. Why do you anticipate, you who know what I am about to say? Let the speed be tempered, so that the slowness may follow. I said this, and I say this: listen, understand, act. No one is made firm by God, except he who feels himself weak by himself. Therefore, as the Psalm says, God separated voluntary rain for his inheritance; not of our merits, but voluntary. Therefore, God separated voluntary rain for His inheritance: for it is weakened; but you perfected it. Because you separated voluntary rain, not regarding the merits of men, but your grace and mercy. Therefore, that inheritance was weakened, and it recognized itself weak in itself, so that it might be firm in you. It would not be firm, if it were not weakened, so that it might be perfected by you in you.

Paul, acknowledging his weakness, is made perfect.

See the portion of this inheritance in Paul, see the one made infirm who said: "I am not fit to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God." Why, then, are you an Apostle? "By the grace of God, I am what I am." I am not fit, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. Paul was made infirm, but you have perfected him. Now indeed, since it is by the grace of God that he is what he is, see what follows: "And his grace in me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than all of them." See to it that you do not lose by presumption what you have deserved by infirmity. Well this, well: "I am not fit to be called an Apostle; by his grace, I am what I am; and his grace in me was not in vain: all things are excellent." But: "I labored more abundantly than all of them": as if you began to attribute to yourself what just now you had given to God. Recognize, and follow: "Yet not I, but the grace of God with me." Well done, infirm one, you will be most firmly exalted, because you are not ungrateful. You are the same Paul, small in yourself, great in the Lord. You are the one who asked the Lord three times to remove the thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet you. What was said to you? What did you hear when you asked this? "My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is made perfect in weakness." For indeed he was made infirm, but you have perfected him.

Peter is powerful not in himself, but in the Lord.

So too Peter: "Command me," he said, "to come to you upon the waters." I am daring as a man, but I do not ask as a man. Let God as man command, so that what man cannot do, he may be able to do. "Come," he said. And he descended, and began to walk upon the waters: and Peter was able, because the Rock had commanded. Behold what Peter is in the Lord; what is he in himself? Seeing the strong wind, he was afraid; and when he began to sink, he cried out: "Lord, I perish, save me." He dared by the Lord, he could by the Lord: he faltered as a man, he returned to the Lord. "If I said, 'My foot is moved.'" The Psalm speaks, the voice of the holy song is; and if we recognize it, also ours: indeed, if we will, it is also ours. "If I said, 'My foot is moved,'" Why moved, except because it is mine? And what follows? "Your mercy, O Lord, helped me." Not my virtue; but your mercy. For has the Lord indeed abandoned the one who hesitated, who called upon him? Where is that: "Who has called upon God, and been abandoned by him?" Where also that: "Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved?" Immediately extending the help of his right hand, he lifted the sinking one, rebuked the doubting one: "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" You dared by me, you doubted in me.

In the adversity or prosperity of the world, desire is a storm.

Lo, brothers, the discourse must be concluded. Consider the world as a sea, a strong wind, and a great storm. To each individual, their own desire is a storm. You love God; you walk upon the sea, and the swell of the world is under your feet. You love the world; it will swallow you. It knows how to devour its lovers, not to carry them. But when your heart is agitated by desire, to conquer your desire, invoke the divinity of Christ. Do you then think the contrary wind, when there is an adversity of this world? For when there are wars, when there are tumults, when there is famine, when there is pestilence, when any private calamity happens even to each individual, then it is thought that the wind is contrary, there it is thought that God should be invoked. But when the world smiles with temporal prosperity, as if there is no contrary wind. Do not inquire hence about the tranquility of the time: inquire, instead, about your desire. See if there is tranquility in you; see if the inner wind does not subvert you: see this. It is a great virtue to struggle with prosperity, lest it entice, lest it corrupt, lest prosperity itself subvert. It is, I say, a great virtue to struggle with prosperity; it is great felicity not to be conquered by prosperity. Learn to tread upon the world: remember to trust in Christ. And if your foot is moved, if you stumble, if you do not overcome some things, if you begin to sink, say: Lord, I perish, deliver me. Say: I perish; so that you do not perish. For he alone delivers you from the death of the flesh, who died in the flesh for you. Turned to the Lord, etc.