Sermon 115
SERMO 115
ABOUT THE WORDS OF THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 18:1-17
"One must always pray, and not lose heart," etc.
CONCERNING THE TWO WHO WENT UP TO THE TEMPLE
That they might pray; concerning the little children brought to Christ
Faith is necessary for praying and vice versa.
The reading of the holy Gospel edifies us to pray and to believe, and not to presume of ourselves, but of the Lord. What greater encouragement to pray is there than that the likeness of the unjust judge should be set before us? For the unjust judge, neither fearing God nor respecting man, yet heard the widow who appealed to him, conquered by weariness, not inclined by piety. If therefore he who hated what he was asked heard, how much more does He hear who encourages us to ask? Therefore, when the Lord persuaded us by this comparison from contrary: that it is necessary to always pray and not to lose heart, He added and said: Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth? If faith fails, prayer perishes. For who prays for what one does not believe? Hence also the blessed Apostle, when he exhorted to prayer, said: Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And to show that faith is the source of prayer, and that the stream cannot go where the head of the water is dried up, he added and said: But how will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? Therefore, to pray, let us believe; and to ensure that the faith by which we pray does not fail, let us pray. Faith pours out prayer, prayer poured out obtains the firmness of faith. Faith, I say, pours out prayer, prayer poured out also obtains firmness even to faith itself. Indeed, lest faith fail in temptations, for this reason the Lord said: Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. Watch, He says, and pray, lest you enter into temptation. What is it to enter into temptation, but to depart from faith? For temptation prevails to the extent that faith fails; and temptation fails to the extent that faith prevails. For that your Charity may know more openly, that the Lord said: Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation, concerning faith that it might not fail and perish: In that place in the Gospel He says: This night Satan has asked to sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail. Does He who protects pray, and not rather he who is in peril? But what the Lord said: When the Son of Man comes, do you think He will find faith on the earth? He spoke concerning faith which is perfect. For this is scarcely found on earth. Behold, the Church of God is full: who would approach here if there were no faith? Who would not transfer mountains if faith were full? Consider the very Apostles: having forsaken all their own, having trampled on the hope of the world, they would not follow the Lord unless they had great faith; and yet, if they had full faith, they would not say to the Lord: Increase our faith. See also that one confessing both about himself (see faith, and not full faith), who, having offered his son to the Lord to be healed from an evil demon, and being asked whether he believed, responded and said: I believe, Lord; help my unbelief. I believe, he says: I believe, Lord; therefore, there is faith. But help my unbelief: therefore, faith is not full.
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican.
But because faith is not of the proud, but of the humble: He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee said: I thank you, God, that I am not as other men. He might have said at least, As many men. What does "as other men" mean, if not all except himself? I, he says, am righteous; the others sinners. I am not as other men, unjust, extortioners, adulterers. And behold, from the proximity of the publican there arises a greater opportunity for arrogance. As, he says, this publican. I, he says, am alone; this one is of the rest. I am not, he says, like this one, by my justices, by which I am not unrighteous. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I possess. Seek what he petitioned from God in his words, you will find nothing. He went up to pray: he did not wish to ask God, but to praise himself. It is not enough to not ask God, but to praise himself; additionally, he insults the one who asks. But the publican, standing afar off: yet he was approaching God. The consciousness of his heart kept him away, piety drew him near. The publican stood afar off: but the Lord was attentively regarding him from nearby. For the Lord is high, and regards the lowly. But the proud, such as this Pharisee, he knows from afar. He indeed knows the proud from afar, but does not forgive them. Hear further the humility of the publican. It is not enough that he stood afar off: he did not even lift his eyes up to heaven? He did not look up to be seen. He did not dare to look up: his conscience pressed him down, hope lifted him up. Hear further: He struck his breast. He exacted punishment from himself: therefore the Lord spared the one who confessed: He struck his breast, saying: Lord, be merciful to me a sinner. Behold the one who prays. Do you wonder that God forgives, when he himself acknowledges? You have heard the dispute between the Pharisee and the Publican; hear the sentence: you have heard the proud accuser, you have heard the humble accused; now hear the judge. Truly I tell you. The Truth says: God says, the judge says: Truly I tell you, that publican went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee. Tell, Lord, the reason. Behold I see the publican descending justified from the temple rather than the Pharisee. I ask why. Do you ask why? Hear why. Because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. You have heard the sentence, beware of the evil cause: I say another thing, You have heard the sentence, beware of pride.
Against the Pelagians.
Let them see now, let those hear, who speak impiously and presume upon their own strength, let them hear who say: God made me a man, I make myself righteous. O one worse and more detestable than the Pharisee! That Pharisee indeed arrogantly called himself righteous, but nevertheless he gave thanks to God for it. He called himself righteous; but still he gave thanks to God. Thank you, God, because I am not like other men. Thank you, God: he gives thanks to God because he is not like other men: and yet he is criticized as proud and puffed up; not because he gave thanks to God, but because he desired to add nothing to himself. Thank you, because I am not like other men, unjust. Therefore you are righteous; therefore you ask for nothing; therefore you are already full; therefore human life on earth is not a temptation; therefore you are already full; therefore you already abound; therefore there is no longer a reason to say: Forgive us our debts. What then of the one who impiously opposes grace, if even the one who proudly gives thanks is criticized?
The baptism of Christ is necessary for little ones.
And behold, after the said controversy and the pronounced sentence, even the infants proceed, or rather are brought and offered to be touched. To be touched by whom, if not by the doctor? Certainly the healthy: to whom are infants offered to be touched? To whom? To the Savior. If to the Savior, then certainly to be saved. To whom, if not to Him who came to seek and to save what was lost? Where were they lost? As it pertains to them specifically, I see innocence, I seek the guilt. From where? I hear the Apostle: Through one man sin entered the world. Through one man, he says, sin entered the world, and through sin death; and so death passed unto all men, in whom all have sinned. Let the infants come, therefore, let them come: let the Lord be heard: "Let the little children come to me." Let the infants come, the sick to the doctor, let the lost come to the redeemer: let them come, let no one forbid them. They have committed nothing on the branch: but they were lost in the root. May the Lord bless the small with the great: let the doctor touch both the small and the great. We commend the cause of the infants to the elders. Speak for the silent, pray for the weeping. If you are not elders in vain, be their protectors: defend those who still cannot plead their own cause. The loss was common, let the discovery be common: we perished together, let us be found together in Christ. The merit is different, but the grace is common. They have nothing evil except what they drew from the fountain: they have nothing evil except what they drew from the origin. Let not those who have added much to what they drew hinder them from salvation. The older in age, the greater in iniquity. But the grace of God erases what you drew, it erases also what you added. For where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.