Sermon 88

SERMO 88

On the Words of the Gospel, Matthew 20:30-34: And behold, two blind men sitting by the roadside, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent; but they cried out all the more, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" And stopping, Jesus called to them and said, "What do you want me to do for you?" They said to him, "Lord, let our eyes be opened." And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.
Where two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and crying out,
"Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David."

Christ, the physician of our salvation. To what purpose his miracles were.

Your Holiness knows well with us that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the physician of our eternal salvation, and that He took on the weakness of our nature so that our sickness would not be eternal. For He assumed a mortal body in which He could kill death. And although He was crucified through our weakness, as the Apostle says, He lives by the power of God. The words of the same Apostle are: And because He no longer dies, death no longer has dominion over Him. These things are well known to your faith. It also follows that we should know that all the miracles which He did corporeally are for our admonition, so that we may perceive from Him that which will neither pass away nor have an end. He restored sight to the blind, whose eyes death would someday close; He raised Lazarus, who would die again. And whatever He did for the health of bodies, He did not do so that they would be eternal: although He will indeed grant even to the body eternal salvation in the end. But because those things which were not seen were not believed, through these temporal things which were seen, He built faith towards those things which were not seen.

The faith of the Church thereafter is more praiseworthy without miracles.

Therefore, let no one, brothers, say that our Lord Jesus Christ does not perform these things now, and for this reason prefer earlier times over the present times of the Church. For at one time the same Lord, to those who saw and therefore believed, preferred those who do not see and yet believe. Up until that time, indeed, the disciples’ weakness wavered to such an extent that, even though they saw Him already resurrected, they thought they needed to touch Him to believe. It was not enough for their eyes to see unless hands were also placed upon His members and the scars of the recent wounds were touched: so that the disciple who doubted, upon suddenly touching and feeling the scars, would exclaim: "My Lord and my God!" The scars showed Him to be the one who healed all wounds in others. Could the Lord not have risen again without scars? But He knew the wounds in the hearts of the disciples, which He kept the scars on His body to heal. And what did the Lord say to that now-confessing disciple who declared: "My Lord and my God"? "Because you have seen me," He said, "you have believed; blessed are those who do not see and yet believe." Whom did He call, brothers, if not us? Not just us alone, but those after us as well. For a short time later, after He withdrew from mortal sight to strengthen faith in hearts, whoever believed, believed without seeing, and their faith held great merit: comparable to this faith, they brought only a pious heart, but not a probing hand.

Christ now performs greater miracles.

Therefore, the Lord did these things to invite to faith. This faith now burns fervently in the Church, spread over the whole world. And now it performs greater healings, for the sake of which He did not disdain to demonstrate those lesser ones then. For as the soul is better than the body, so the salvation of the soul is better than the salvation of the body. Now the blind flesh does not open its eyes by the miracle of the Lord; but the blind heart opens its eyes to the word of the Lord. Now the mortal body does not rise again; but the soul, which lay dead in the living body, rises again. Now the deaf ears of the body are not opened: but how many have closed ears of the heart, which yet, being penetrated by the word of God, are opened, so that those who did not believe, believe, and those who lived badly, live well, and those who did not obey, obey? And we say, He believed; and we marvel when we hear about those whom we once knew as hard-hearted. Why then do you now marvel at someone believing, being innocent, serving God; except because you see someone seeing, whom you knew as blind; you see someone living, whom you knew as dead; you see someone hearing, whom you knew as deaf? For behold otherwise the dead, about whom the Lord said to someone who was delaying, so that he would not follow the Lord, because he wanted to bury his father: "Let the dead bury their own dead." Certainly, the dead who are burying are not dead in body: because if they were, they would not be able to bury dead bodies. Yet He calls them dead: where, except inwardly in the soul? For as visibly often in an entire and safe house, the master of that house lies dead; so in an entire body, many have a dead soul within: and thus the Apostle arouses them: "Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will illuminate you." He illuminates the blinded one who arouses the dead one. For by His voice through the Apostle, it is cried to the dead: “Arise, you who sleep.” The blind will be illuminated by light, when he has arisen. But how many deaf people did the Lord himself look upon with his own eyes, when He said: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." For who was standing before Him without ears of the body? Therefore, which other ears was He seeking, except the ears of the inner man?

The eye of the mind, by which God is seen, is cleansed through faith.

Moreover, what kind of eyes was he seeking when he was speaking to those who surely had sight, but seeing through the eyes of the flesh? For when Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us": he indeed rightly understood that the Father being shown could suffice; but if he who was equal to the Father did not suffice, how would the Father suffice? And why did he not suffice? Because he was not seen. Why was he not seen? Because the eye was not yet healthy enough to see. For what was seen in the flesh of the Lord was seen by the disciples who honored him, but also by the Jews who crucified him. Therefore, he who wished to be seen differently required different eyes. And so he responded thus to the one saying, "Show us the Father, and it suffices us": "Have I been so long with you, and you have not known me? Philip, he who has seen me has seen the Father." And so, to heal the eyes of faith for the time being, he was first admonished according to faith, that he might come to sight. And lest Philip think that God should be considered as he saw the Lord Jesus Christ in the body, he immediately added: "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" He had already said: "He who has seen me has seen the Father." But Philip's eye was not yet healthy enough to see the Father: and therefore not enough to see the Son equal to the Father. Thus, the mind's vision still wounded and unable to bear such great light, was healed and strengthened with the medicines and plasters of faith, and he said: "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" Therefore, he who cannot yet see what the Lord is about to demonstrate, should not seek first to see what he believes: but first believe, that the eye may be healed with which to see. For the form of a servant was displayed only to servile eyes: because he who did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, if he could already be seen as equal with God by those he wished to heal, would not have needed to empty himself and take the form of a servant. But because there was no way for God to be seen, and there was a way for a man to be seen, he who was God made himself man, so that what was seen might heal what could not be seen. For he himself said in another place: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Philip could indeed have responded, and said, "Lord, behold, I see you: is the Father like this which I see, since you said, 'He who has seen me, has seen the Father'?" Before Philip responded to this, or perhaps before he thought it, when the Lord said, "He who has seen me, has seen the Father," he immediately added: "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" For with that eye he could not yet see, neither the Father, nor the Son equal to the Father: but that the eye might be healed to see, it had to be anointed to believe. Therefore, before you see what you cannot see, believe what you do not yet see. Walk by faith, that you may arrive at sight. Sight will not gladden in the homeland, whom faith does not console on the way. Thus says the Apostle: "As long as we are in the body, we are away from the Lord." And immediately he connects why we are still away, although we have already believed: "We walk," he says, "by faith, not by sight."

Our whole work now is to heal the eye of the heart.

Therefore, all our work, brothers, in this life is to heal the eye of the heart, whereby God may be seen. For this reason are the most holy mysteries celebrated; for this reason is the word of God preached; for this reason are the moral exhortations of the Church—namely, those pertaining to the correction of morals, the correction of carnal desires, and the renunciation—not only in word but through a changed life—of this world; for this end do the divine and holy Scriptures accomplish whatever they do, that the inner part may be cleansed from that which hinders us from the sight of God. For just as the eye, made to see this temporal light, and although heavenly, yet corporeal and visible (for it was indeed made to see this light); nevertheless, if something is thrown or falls upon it, by which it is disturbed, it is cut off from this light; and although this light surrounds it by its presence, yet the eye turns away and is absent: but not only does it become absent by its disturbance from the present light, but the light itself, for which it was made to see, becomes painful to it: so too the eye of the heart, disturbed and wounded, turns away from the light of righteousness, neither daring nor able to contemplate it.

The study of cleansing the eye of the heart.

What disturbs the eye of the heart? Greed, avarice, iniquity, worldly desires disturb, close, and blind the eye of the heart. And yet, just as a doctor is sought when the eye of the flesh is disturbed, and it is not delayed to open and cleanse it so that it may be healed to see this light, so should it be. We run, no one rests, no one delays, even if a speck falls into the eye. Certainly, the sun, which we wish to see with healthy eyes, was made by God. Much more luminous, indeed, is He who made it: nor is it the same kind of light, which pertains to the eye of the mind. That light is the eternal wisdom. But God made you, O man, in His own image. Would He give you the means to see the sun He made, and not give you the means to see Him who made you, when He has made you in His own image? He gave this also: He gave you both. But you care much for these outer eyes, and neglect the inner one greatly: you carry it worn and wounded. It is torment for you if your maker wishes to show Himself to you: it is torment for your eye before it is cured and healed. For Adam sinned also in paradise and hid himself from the face of God. Therefore, when he had a healthy heart with a pure conscience, he rejoiced in God's presence: after the eye was wounded by sin, he began to fear the divine light, fled into the shadows and thick woods, fleeing the truth and seeking darkness.

The sick are invited to take the cup by the example of Christ.

Therefore, my brothers, since we were born from there, and as the Apostle says: In Adam all die: for we all were once two men if we did not want to obey the doctor, so that we would not be sick; let us obey, so that we may be freed from sickness. The doctor gave us precepts when we were healthy: he gave precepts so that we would not need the doctor. It is not the healthy who need a doctor, he says, but the sick. We disregarded the precepts when we were healthy, and we experienced how dangerous it was to disregard that precept. We have already begun to be sick, we labor, we are on the bed of sickness: but let us not despair. For since we were unable to come to the doctor, he himself deigned to come to us. He did not despise the wounded even when he was despised by the healthy. He did not cease to give other precepts to the ailing one, who did not wish to keep the first ones so he would not become ailing: as if he were saying: Surely you have experienced that I spoke the truth when I said: Do not touch this. Therefore heal at last, and come back to life. Behold, I bear your sickness: drink the bitter cup. For you yourself made those precepts of mine given to the healthy so sweet, so laborious. They were disregarded, you began to labor: you cannot be healed unless you drink the bitter cup, the cup of temptations with which this life abounds, the cup of tribulations, distresses, sufferings. Drink, he says, drink, so that you may live. And lest the sick respond to him, I cannot, I do not endure, I do not drink: the healthy doctor drank first, so that the sick would not hesitate to drink. For what bitterness is in such a cup, which he did not drink? If it is insult: he heard it first when he expelled demons: He has a demon, and because he casts out demons in Beelzebub. Hence, to console the sick, he said: If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more his household? If sufferings are bitter: he was bound and scourged and crucified. If death is bitter: he also died. If the kind of death is feared by weakness: nothing at that time was more ignominious than the death of the cross. For not in vain did the Apostle, commending his obedience, add, saying: He became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

Why Christ honored the cross here.

But because He was going to honor His faithful ones at the end of this age, He first honored the cross in this age; so that the princes of the earth who believed in Him would prohibit the crucifixion of any criminals: and what the persecuting Jews procured for the Lord with great insult, now His servants, even kings, bear on their foreheads with great confidence. It is not only evident now what kind of death the Lord deigned to endure for us: as the Apostle says: He was made a curse for us. And while the blindness of the Jews insulted Him as He was hanging, He could indeed have come down from the cross, He who would not have been on the cross at all if He had not willed it: but it was greater to rise from the tomb than to come down from the cross. Therefore, the Lord doing these divine acts and suffering human ones, reminds us by corporeal miracles and corporeal patience, that we may believe and be healed to behold those invisible things which the eye of flesh does not know. Therefore, doing this, He cured those blind men, about whom now the Gospel has been recited. And in curing, see what He admonished the inward sick man.

The healing of the two blind men, what it signifies.

Observe the outcome of the event itself and the sequence of things. Two blind men were sitting by the road, and as the Lord was passing by, they cried out for Him to have mercy on them. But the crowd that was with the Lord restrained them from shouting. Do not think this was left without a mystery. However, they overcame the restraining crowd with their very persistent cry, so that their voice reached the ears of the Lord, as if He had not already anticipated their thoughts. Therefore, the two blind men cried out to be heard by the Lord and could not be silenced by the crowd. The Lord was passing by, and they cried out. The Lord stopped, and they were healed. For the Lord stopped: Jesus, and called them, and said: What do you want me to do for you? And they said: That our eyes may be opened. Because of their faith, the Lord restored their sight. If we understand the inner sick, the inner deaf, the inner dead; let us also seek the inner blind. The eyes of the heart are closed: Jesus passes by, so let us cry out. What does it mean, Jesus passes by? Jesus does temporal acts. What does it mean, Jesus passes by? Jesus performs transient actions. Observe and see how many of His deeds have passed. He was born of the Virgin Mary: does He always get born? He was nursed as an infant: does He always suckle? He journeyed through the stages of life up to youth: does He always grow physically? Childhood gave way to boyhood, boyhood to adolescence, adolescence to youth in one who was passing by and yielding. Even the miracles He performed have passed: they are read and believed. For such things were written to be read, they were passing as they happened. Lastly, so that we may not dwell on many things, He was crucified: does He always hang on the cross? He was buried, rose again, ascended into heaven: He no longer dies, and death no longer has dominion over Him: His divinity always remains, and the immortality of His body will never fail. Yet all the things that were done by Him temporally have passed; they are written to be read and preached to be believed. In all these things, therefore, Jesus passed by.

Two blind men, two peoples.

What do the two blind men by the wayside signify if not the two peoples to whom Jesus came to bring healing? Let us show these two peoples in the Holy Scriptures. It is written in the Gospel: I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, that they too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. Who, then, are these two peoples? One is the Jewish people, and the other, the Gentiles. I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, He said. To whom did He say this? To His disciples, when that Canaanite woman was crying out, who confessed herself to be a dog, so that she might merit the crumbs from the table of her masters. And because she merited them, two peoples to whom He had come were demonstrated: specifically, the Jewish people, of whom He said: I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and the Gentiles, whose type this woman prefigured, whom He first rejected, saying: It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs. And to whom, when she said: Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table, He responded: O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire. From there was also that Centurion, about whom the same Lord says: Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith in Israel. Because he had said: Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. Thus, before His Passion and glorification, the Lord already designated two peoples: one, to whom He had come because of the promises to the fathers; and the other, whom He did not reject out of mercy: to fulfill what was promised to Abraham: In your seed all the nations shall be blessed. Therefore, the Apostle also, after the Lord’s resurrection and ascension, having been rejected by the Jews, went to the Gentiles. Yet he did not remain silent to the churches that had believed from among the Jews: I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report: The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. And they praised God because of me. Thus, Christ is called the cornerstone who made both one. For the cornerstone unites two walls coming from different directions. What is so different as circumcision and uncircumcision, with one wall from Judea and the other wall from the Gentiles? But they are united by the cornerstone: For the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. A corner in a building is not there unless two walls coming from different directions meet in one, and are joined together in a certain unity. Therefore, these two walls figuratively were the two blind men crying out to the Lord.

Passing by, Jesus is called upon and heals.

Pay attention now, most beloved. The Lord was passing by, the blind were crying out. What does it mean, 'was passing by'? He was doing transient works, as we have already said. According to these transient works, our faith is built. For we believe in the Son of God, not only because He is the Word of God, through whom all things were made: for if He had always remained in the form of God, equal to God, not emptying Himself by taking the form of a servant; the blind would not feel, so that they could cry out. But when He was working transiently, that is, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross, two blind men cried out: "Have mercy on us, Son of David." Because even this very thing, that the Lord and creator of David, also wished to be the son of David, He did in time, making this happen by passing by.

To cry out to Christ, what.

What does it mean, however, brothers, to cry out to Christ, if not to align with the grace of Christ in good works? I say this, brothers, lest we be noisy in voices and mute in conduct. Who is it that cries out to Christ to remove the inner blindness as Christ passes by, that is, by dispensing to us temporal sacraments, which remind us to grasp the eternal? Who is it that cries out to Christ? He who despises the world cries out to Christ. He who rejects the pleasures of the age cries out to Christ. He who says, not with the tongue, but with his life: The world is crucified to me, and I to the world; cries out to Christ. He who scatters and gives to the poor, that his righteousness may endure forever; cries out to Christ. For he who hears, and is not deaf, hears: Sell your possessions and give to the poor; make for yourselves purses that do not grow old, a treasure in heaven that does not fail: as if hearing the footsteps of Christ passing by, let the blind man cry out at these things, that is, let him do these things. Let his voice be in deeds. Let him begin to despise the world, distribute his own to the needy, consider as nothing the things that men love; let him disdain injuries, not seek to avenge, offer the cheek to him who strikes, pray for enemies; if anyone takes his belongings, not seek to retrieve them; if he has taken anything from anyone, restore it fourfold.

The crowd preventing them from shouting.

When they begin to do these things, all their relatives, friends, and acquaintances are disturbed. Those who love the world contradict them: "Why are you so insane? You are excessive. Are there not others who are Christians? This is foolishness, this is madness." And the crowd shouts such things, lest the blind call out. The crowd rebuked the shoutings, but it did not overcome their cries. Let them understand what they are doing, who wish to be healed. And now Jesus passes by: let those who are beside the way call out. These indeed are the ones who honor with their lips, but their heart is far from God. They are beside the way, whom the Lord commands to be of a broken heart. For when the things the Lord did are recited, passing by, Jesus is always shown to us as passing by. Because until the end of the age, there will not lack the blind sitting by the way. Therefore, it is necessary that those sitting beside the way cry out. The crowd that was with the Lord restrained the cry of those seeking healing. Brothers, do you see what I am saying? For I do not know how to say it, but more I do not know how to be silent. I say this, and I say it openly. For I fear Jesus passing by and remaining: and therefore I cannot be silent. Good Christians, truly zealous, wanting to do the commandments of God, which are written in the Gospel, are hindered by bad and lukewarm Christians. The very crowd that is with the Lord hinders those crying out; that is, it hinders those doing good works, lest by persevering they be healed. Let them cry out, not be discouraged, nor be led by the seeming authority of the crowds; nor imitate those who were Christians first, living poorly and envying good works. They should not say: "How do so many live, so let us live." Why not rather say as the Gospel says? Why do you want to live according to the rebuke of the prohibiting crowd, and not according to the footsteps of the passing Lord? They will insult, reproach, call back: you cry out until you reach the ears of Jesus. For those who persevere in doing such things as Christ instructed, and do not heed the prohibiting crowds, nor think much of the fact that they seem to follow Christ, that is, that they are called Christians; but love the light that Christ will grant more than they fear the noise of those prohibiting: in no way will they be separated, and Jesus will stand and heal them.

How eyes are healed.

For how are our eyes healed? How do we perceive Christ through faith when He passes by in temporal dispensation; thus let us understand Christ standing in immutable eternity. For there the eye is healed, when the divinity of Christ is understood. Let your Charity perceive this: heed what I will say, a great mystery. All things done temporally by our Lord Jesus Christ embed faith in us. We believe in the Son of God, not only in the Word through whom all things were made; but in the Word made flesh, so that He might dwell among us, born of the Virgin Mary, and the other things that faith holds, which were shown to us, so that Christ might pass by, and so that the blind, hearing the footsteps of Him passing by, might cry out, recalling with their deeds the profession of faith in life. Now that they may be healed by crying out, Jesus stands still. Indeed, he who says: And if we have known Christ according to the flesh, but now no longer do we know, sees Jesus already standing. For he saw the divinity of Christ, as far as possible in this life. There is the divinity of Christ, there is the humanity of Christ. Divinity stands, humanity passes. What is this, that Divinity stands? It does not change, is not moved, does not depart. For He did not come to us in such a way that He left the Father: nor did He ascend in such a way that He was moved from His place. By assuming flesh, He changed place: but God assuming flesh, because He is not in place, neither changes place. Let us be touched while Christ stands, let our eyes be healed. But whose eyes? Namely those crying out, when He passes by: that is, those doing good works through the faith that was dispensed temporally to educate us as infants.

The inner light is compared with the visible.

Having healed eyes, what could we possess more precious, brothers? Those who see this light which is made, which shines from heaven, or which is shown from a lamp, rejoice. And how wretched are those who seem not able to see this? But why do I speak, why do I say these things, except to exhort all of you to cry out when Jesus passes by? I commend to your Holiness a light to be loved, which perhaps you do not see. Believe, while you do not yet see; and cry out, that you may see. How great is the misfortune thought of men who do not see this bodily light? Someone is blinded: immediately it is said, 'He had an angry God, he committed some evil.' This is what the wife of Tobias was saying to her husband. He was shouting about the kid, lest it be from theft; he did not want to hear the sound of theft in his house: she defending her deed, struck her husband with reproach: and when he said, 'Return it, if it is from theft'; she responded insulting, 'Where are your justices?' How blind she was, who defended theft: and what light did he see, who commanded the return of theft! She was outside in the light of the sun: he was inside in the light of justice. Which of them was in the better light?

Alms do not allow [one] to go into darkness.

To this light, brothers, we urge your Love to love it; so that you may cry out through works as the Lord passes by: let the voice of faith resound; so that Jesus, the Wisdom of God and the majesty of the Word of God through which all things were made, may open your eyes. Tobias likewise advised his son to cry out for this: that is, he advised him to do good works. He told him to give to the poor, ordered him to make alms for the needy, and taught him saying: Son, alms do not let one go into darkness. A blind man gave advice for receiving and obtaining light. Alms, he said, do not let one go into darkness. If the son, amazed, replied to him, Why then, father, did you not give alms, so that now you speak as a blind man? Are you not now in darkness, who tells me, Alms do not let one go into darkness? He knew about which light he taught his son, he knew in the inner man what he saw. The son reached out his hand to the father, so that he might walk on the earth; and the father to the son, so that he might dwell in heaven.

Shouting must be done among the crowds preventing shouting.

Briefly, to conclude, brothers, this discourse, from that which most touches and distresses us, see that there are crowds that reprimand the shouting blind men. All who in this crowd wish to be healed, let them not deter you: for many are Christians in name, and impious in deeds; do not let them deter you from good works. Shout among the restraining crowds, recalling, insulting, living badly. For not only with voices do the wicked compress good Christians, but also with evil actions. The good Christian does not want to go and watch. This very fact that curbs his desire, that he may not go to the theater, he shouts for Christ, he shouts to be healed. Others rush in, but perhaps Pagans, perhaps Jews. Indeed, so few would be in the theaters, that they would leave in shame if Christians did not go to the theaters. Therefore they too run, bearing the holy name to their punishment. So shout, by not going, pressing in your heart the temporal desire; and hold yourself with a strong and persevering shout to the ears of the Savior, that Jesus may stand and heal you. Shout amid those very crowds, do not despair of the Lord's ears. For those blind men did not shout from that part where the crowd was not, to be heard from that part where there was no impediment of those preventing. They shouted amidst those very crowds: and yet the Lord heard. So also you, even among sinners and the wanton, among lovers of worldly vanities, shout there, that the Lord may heal you. Do not shout to the Lord from another place, do not go to heretics, and there shout to the Lord. Pay attention, brothers, because in that crowd which forbade shouting, those who shouted were healed.

Perseverance overcomes opponents.

For Your Holiness to consider, what it means to persevere in calling out. I will say what many have experienced with me in the name of Christ: the Church does not cease to bear such ones. When any Christian begins to live well, to be fervent in good works, and to despise the world, in the novelty of their works, they suffer reprovers and contradictory cold Christians. But if they persevere, surpass them by enduring, and do not falter from good works, the same ones who previously prevented them will now obey. For they reprimand and disturb and forbid as long as they presume they can be overcome. But if defeated by the perseverance of those making progress, they turn and begin to say: Great man, holy man: blessed is he to whom God has granted. They honor, congratulate, bless, and praise, like the crowd that was with the Lord. They prevented the blind from crying out, but after they cried out in this way, deserving to be heard and to obtain the mercy of the Lord, the same crowd says again: Jesus is calling you. Now they become encouragers who a little before were reprimanding them to be silent. However, he alone is not called by the Lord who does not labor in this world. But who in this life does not labor in sins and iniquities? If all labor, it is said to all: Come to me, all you who labor. If it is said to all, why blame your inviter for your fault? Come. His house is not narrow for you: equally by all, the kingdom of God is possessed entirely by each individual; increasing the number of possessors does not diminish it, because it is not divided. To each is the whole intact, which is held concordantly by many.

The good and the bad are intermixed in the Church.

However, in the mystery of this reading, brothers, we recognize that which resounds most openly in other places of the holy books: that inside the Church there are both good and evil, which we often call wheat and chaff. No one should leave the threshing floor before the time; bear the chaff during the threshing, bear it on the threshing floor. For what you bear, you will not have in the granary. The winnower will come, who will separate the evil from the good. There will also be a physical separation, which is now preceded by a spiritual one. Always separate yourselves from the evil in heart; cautiously couple with them in body for a time. Be diligent in correcting your own, who pertain to your care in whatever way, by admonishing, teaching, exhorting, warning. Use whatever means you can. And, when you find in the Scriptures and in the examples of the saints, whether those before or after the Lord's advent in this life, that the evil do not taint the good in unity, do not become lazy in correcting the evil. The evil does not taint you in two ways: if you do not consent and if you rebuke: that is, do not participate, do not consent. It is indeed participation when their deed is joined with a partnership of will or approval. Thus, the Apostle admonishing us says: Do not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness. And because it was not enough to merely not consent, lest indifference to discipline follow, he says: But rather, also reprove them. See how he includes both: Do not participate; but rather also reprove. What does it mean: Do not participate? Do not consent, do not praise, do not approve. What does it mean: But rather also reprove? Rebuke, correct, restrain.

Correction must not be done with a proud spirit.

Next, in the very act of correcting or restraining the sins of others, one must be cautious not to exalt oneself when correcting another; and that apostolic saying must be considered: "Therefore let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall." Outwardly, reproof should sound terrifying; inwardly, love should hold on to gentleness. If a man is overtaken in any transgression, as the same apostle says; you who are spiritual should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Again, elsewhere: "The servant of the Lord must not quarrel; but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition; if perhaps God will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will." Therefore, be neither consenting to evils, so as to approve them; nor negligent, so as not to rebuke them; nor proud, so as to rebuke others insultingly.

Unity must never be abandoned.

But he who has deserted unity violates charity: and whoever violates charity, whatever other great thing he may possess, he himself is nothing. If he speaks in the tongues of men and angels, if he knows all mysteries, if he has all faith to move mountains, if he distributes all his goods to the poor, if he gives his body to be burned, but lacks charity; he is nothing, it profits him nothing. He possesses all things in vain, who lacks that one thing by which all things are used.

Let us then embrace charity, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Let us not be led astray by those who understand carnally and make a physical separation, separating themselves in spiritual sacrilege from the grains of the Church scattered throughout the world. For the good seed has been sown throughout the whole world. That good sower, the Son of Man, did not sow the good seed in Africa alone, but everywhere. However, the enemy sowed weeds among the wheat. But what did the householder say? Let both grow together until harvest. By what means shall they grow? Certainly through the field. What is the field? Is it Africa? No. What is it then? Let us not interpret for ourselves, let the Lord speak: let no one presume anything by his own will. For the disciples said to the Master: Explain to us the parable of the weeds. And the Lord explained: The good seed, he said, are the children of the kingdom; but the weeds are the children of the evil one. Who sowed them? The enemy, he said, who sowed them is the devil. What is the field? The field, he said, is the world. What is the harvest? The harvest, he said, is the end of the age. Who are the reapers? The reapers, he said, are the angels. Is Africa the world? Is this time the harvest? Is Donatus the reaper? Await the harvest throughout the whole world, grow into the harvest throughout the whole world, tolerate the weeds throughout the whole world until the harvest. Do not be led astray by the perverse, by the very light chaff, which flies off before the coming of the winnower from the threshing floor: do not be led astray. Hold them to this one simile of the weeds, and do not allow them to speak further. He handed over the books. No. But he handed over the books. Whomever it was, did the faithlessness of the betrayers nullify the faith of God? What is the faith of God? That which he promised to Abraham, saying: In your seed all nations shall be blessed. What is the faith of God? Let both grow together until the harvest. By what means shall they grow? Through the field. What is, "Through the field?" Through the world.

A story of the Donatists about the diminution of the grains.

Here they say to him: Indeed both had grown throughout the world, but now the grain has diminished, and has been brought back to this our region and scarcity. The Lord does not allow you to interpret what you want. He who expounds this parable shuts your mouth, a sacrilegious mouth, an impious mouth, a profane mouth, a contrary mouth to you, who contradict the testator, even calling you to the inheritance? How does he shut your mouth? By saying: Let both grow until the harvest. If the harvest had already happened, we would believe the grain to be diminished. Although not even then will it be diminished, but will be stored in the barn. For so he says: Collect first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn; but gather the wheat into my barn. If therefore they grow until the harvest, they are stored after the harvest; wicked, impious, when are they diminished? I concede that in comparison to the tares and the chaff, the grains are fewer: yet both grow until the harvest. For when iniquity abounds, the love of many grows cold: the tares grow, the chaff grows. But because there cannot be an absence of grain in the whole field, which by enduring to the end may be saved, both grow until the harvest. And if because of the abundance of evils it was said: Do you think, when the Son of Man comes, he will find faith on the earth? and by this name are signified all those who through the transgression of the law imitate him to whom it was said: You are dust, and to dust you shall return: yet also because of the abundance of good, and because of him to whom it was said: Thus shall your seed be as the stars of heaven, and as the sand of the sea, even that cannot be left unsaid: Because many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac in the kingdom of God. Therefore both grow until the harvest; and the tares or chaff have their judgments in the Scriptures, and so do the grains. Those who do not understand these confuse and are confused; and thus they clamour with blind desire, so that they do not wish to be silent even when the truth is revealed.

Place concerning bodily separation wrongly understood by the Donatists.

Behold, they say, the prophet says: Depart, go out from there, and touch no unclean thing: how then shall we endure the wicked for the sake of peace, from whom we are ordered to depart and go out, that we may not touch the unclean thing? We understand this separation spiritually, they understand it physically. For I also cry out with the prophet, and whatever kind of vessels we may be, God uses us in your dispensation: we also cry out and say to you: Depart, go out from there, and touch no unclean thing; but by the contact of the heart, not of the body. For what is it to touch the unclean thing, if not to consent to sins? But what is it to go out from there, except to do what pertains to the correction of the wicked, as much as can be done with the peace of each individual being maintained according to their rank and person? It displeased you that someone sinned; you did not touch the unclean thing. You reproved, you corrected, you admonished, you also applied, if the situation demanded it, appropriate discipline that does not violate unity; you went out from there. Attend to the deeds of the saints, lest perhaps our interpretation should seem personal. As the saints understood these words, so indeed they must be understood. Depart from there, says the prophet. First, by the customary use of the very word, I assert this meaning, and afterward show that it is not my own. Often people are accused; and when they have been accused, they defend themselves: but when the man who is accused has reasonably and justly defended himself, those who hear say: He went out from there. Where did he go out from? Remaining in place, he went out from there. How did he go out from there? By giving a reason and a most just defense. This is what the saints did when they shook the dust off their feet against those who did not accept the peace proclaimed to them. That watchman went out from there, to whom it was said: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. For it is said to him: If you warn the wicked man, and he does not turn from his wickedness and from his way; that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your soul. If he does this, he goes out from there, not by separation of the body, but by the defense of his work. For he did what needed to be done: even if the other did not obey, who was supposed to obey. This is: Depart from there.

The prophets reproached the people's vices, nor did they depart from that.

Moses cried out, Isaiah cried out, Jeremiah cried out, Ezekiel cried out. Let us see if they themselves did this, if they abandoned the people of God and transferred themselves to other nations. How many times and how vehemently did Jeremiah rebuke the sinners and wicked people of his own! Yet among them he was, entering the same temple with them, celebrating the same sacraments: he lived in that congregation of wicked men, but by crying out, he separated himself from them. This is to separate oneself from them, this is to not touch the unclean, and to not agree in will, and to not spare with the mouth. What shall I say about Jeremiah, Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, and the other prophets who did not withdraw from the wicked people, lest they forsake the good ones mingled with those people, where they themselves could have been such? Moses himself, brothers, when he was receiving the law on the mountain, the people below made an idol. The people of God, the people led through the parting waves of the Red Sea, which had overwhelmed their pursuing enemies, after so many signs and miracles in the plagues upon the Egyptians leading to death, and in their own protection leading to salvation, nevertheless demanded, forced, made, worshipped an idol, and sacrificed to an idol. God communicates the act of the people to His servant, and says He will destroy them from His face. Moses intercedes on behalf of that very people to return to them: and he had the opportunity to withdraw and go out from them, as these understand, so as not to touch the unclean, so as not to live among such; yet he did not. And lest it seem that he did this more out of necessity than out of love, God offered him another people: "I will make you," He says, "into a great nation," so that He may destroy the others. But he did not accept this, instead he clung to the sinners, he prayed for the sinners. And how did he pray? Great is the proof of love, brothers. How did he pray? See that motherly love that we have often spoken about. When God threatened the sacrilegious people, the compassionate heart of Moses trembled, he interposed himself on their behalf against the wrath of God. "Lord," he said, "if You forgive their sin, forgive: but if not, blot me out of Your book which You have written." How fatherly and motherly his heart was, how confidently he said this, contemplating the justice and mercy of God! So that, because He is just, He would not destroy the just, and because He is merciful, He would forgive the sinners.

One must withdraw from evils with the heart, not with the body.

Certainly it is now evident to your prudence how all such testimonies of the Scriptures must be received: so that when Scripture sounds, we ought to withdraw from evil, we should not be commanded to understand anything else, but rather to withdraw with the heart; lest we commit a greater evil in the separation from the good than we flee from in the association with the wicked, as the Donatists themselves have done. If they truly rebuked the wicked and not rather defamed the good, they would tolerate whatsoever kinds for the sake of peace, who received the Maximianists as intact, whom they had formerly condemned as lost. Certainly the prophet openly said: "Depart and go out from there, and do not touch what is unclean." For me to understand what he said, I consider what he did. By his action he explains his statement to me. He said: "Depart." To whom did he say it? Certainly to the just. From whom did he say they should depart? Certainly from sinners and the wicked. I ask whether he himself departed from such people? I find that he did not depart. Therefore he understood it differently. For surely he would first do what he commanded. He departed in heart, he reproved and rebuked. By restraining himself from agreement he did not touch the unclean: but by rebuking he went out freely in the sight of God; to whom God imputes neither his own sins, because he did not commit them, nor those of others, because he did not approve them; nor negligence, because he did not keep silent; nor pride, because he remained in unity. Thus, my brothers, as many of you as have among you those who are still weighed down by the love of the world, the greedy, perjurers, adulterers, spectators of trifles, consultors of astrologers, soothsayers, augurs, drunkards, the lustful, whatever evils you know to be among you; as much as you can, disapprove them, so that you may withdraw with the heart; that you may rebuke, and depart from there; and do not consent, so that you do not touch the unclean.