Sermon 15A

SERMON 15/A In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us beseech our Lord God that he may teach us, as he taught his disciples in the law, to fulfill his will. Let us ask him to give us knowledge and understanding in all spiritual wisdom, that we may walk worthy of him and please him in all things. My beloved brothers, as we are gathered here to offer divine praises and to hear the word of God, let us direct our hearts and minds to him, and let us cleanse ourselves from all worldly and carnal thoughts. For just as those who wash in water first cleanse their bodies from all uncleanness, and then are sprinkled with pure water, so too we, brothers, must wash and cleanse our minds from all vices and evil desires, and then be renewed by the pure word of God. For it is written, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Therefore, let us strive to purify our hearts, so that we may be able to see God not only in the future life but also in this present one, in the contemplation of his holy law and in the works of his commandments. But if we want to be pure in heart, we must first remove from our hearts all pride and arrogance, all envy and malice, all anger and wrath, all hatred and enmity. For these are the things that defile the heart and make it impure. Instead, let us cultivate humility and meekness, patience and kindness, love and charity, which are the virtues that make the heart pure and pleasing to God. Let us also, my dear brothers, be vigilant in prayer, constant in reading and meditating on the holy Scriptures, diligent in good works, and fervent in the love of God and of our neighbor. For these are the things that lead us to true purity of heart and to the vision of God. May our Lord Jesus Christ grant us this purity of heart, and may he make us worthy to see and enjoy his face forever. Amen.

Sermon Given at Hippo During Diarrhoea in the Basilica of the Pearl
10 days before the Kalends of October, the fifth weekday.
ON THE RESPONSE OF PSALM 32:
"Rejoice, righteous ones, in the Lord; praise befits the upright."

Praise befits the righteous; it does not befit the wicked.

To rejoice in the praise of God and to live in accordance with the praise of God, we are admonished by what we have just sung: "Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, for praise is fitting for the upright." For if it is fitting for the upright, it is not fitting for the wicked. But those who are upright are also righteous, to whom it is said to rejoice in the Lord: for praise is fitting for them. But who are wicked, if not sinners and the unjust, who cannot rejoice in the Lord because praise is not fitting for them? Rightly does it say in another psalm: "But to the sinner, God says, 'Why do you recite my statutes and take my covenant on your lips?' For praise is fitting for the upright, and indeed the justifications of the Lord and the covenant of the Lord are where the praise of the Lord is, rightly is it also said elsewhere: 'Praise is not becoming in the mouth of a sinner.' For where it is not fitting, it is not beautiful; and where it is beautiful, it is fitting."

Those are upright in heart to whom God appears good, whether in the sufferings of the pious or in the prosperity of the impious.

Yet who are properly righteous men, so that everyone may recognize whether the praise of God is fitting in his mouth, we find in the Scriptures in this way. A certain Psalm says: How good is God to Israel, to those who are upright in heart! And it follows: But my feet almost slipped, because I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. He confesses not indeed his turning away and fall, but nevertheless his danger. For he does not say that he fell, but that his feet almost slipped as if to fall. For he says: How good is God to Israel, to those who are upright in heart! But my feet almost slipped. When he distinguishes himself by this "but" from those who are upright in heart, he confesses that he was not at some time upright in heart, and therefore his feet almost slipped. Therefore, he says, God is good to Israel, to those who are upright in heart. But to me, at some time, He did not seem good, because I was not upright in heart. However, he did not dare to say: "God did not seem good to me," but nevertheless he said it. For when he says: God is good to Israel, to those who are upright in heart; but my feet almost slipped, he shows that his feet slipped because God did not seem good to him. But from where did God not seem good to him? My steps had well nigh slipped. Well nigh, what is it? They almost slipped. From where? Because I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. "I saw," he says, "sinners who do not worship God, who blaspheme God, who provoke God. I saw them abound in peace, abound in happiness. And it seemed to me that God does not judge rightly, giving happiness to His blasphemers." Therefore, when he observed this, that is, the happiness of the wicked, he said his feet almost slipped because God did not seem good to him. But because he later recognized, as he says in the same psalm: I strove to understand, and he added: This was an oppressive task to me, why the wicked are happy, this was an oppressive task to me, he says, until I entered the sanctuary of God and understood their final destiny, because to the wicked, happiness is given for a time, but eternal punishment is reserved at the end. When he understood this, he became upright in heart and began to praise God in all things, and in the sufferings of the pious, and in the very happiness of the impious, perceiving that God is a just rewarder at the end, now giving some temporal happiness to whom He reserves eternal unhappiness at the end, and some pious ones undergoing present unhappiness to whom He again reserves eternal happiness; and it is fitting for the fortunes to change, as in the case of that rich man who feasted splendidly every day, and that poor man full of sores lying at the rich man's gate, desiring to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. But when both had died, the rich man began to be in torment in hell, while the poor man rested in Abraham’s bosom. And when it seemed unworthy to the rich man, and he wanted a drop of water from Lazarus' finger to be dropped on him, reciprocally desiring a drop from the finger of him from whose table he had desired a crumb, he heard from Abraham the sentence of the just God: Son, remember that you received good things in your lifetime, and Lazarus bad things; but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. He, who once did not think God was good because he envied the peace of the sinners, upon entering the sanctuary of God directed his gaze to these final things. And recognizing God's true and just judgment, which indeed operates now but secretly, to be revealed in the end in manifestation, and as if straightening his own crooked heart, brought near as it were by the rule of God’s justice by which a tortuous heart would be corrected, he burst forth in this voice and said: How good is God to Israel, to those who are upright in heart! Now I understand the good, because I have become upright in heart. But before, He did not seem good to me, because my feet slipped: For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

God instructs you through hardships to give the kingdom of heaven.

If, therefore, God now appears good to you even when He gives happiness to the wicked, from which you used to murmur against God, you have been made upright in heart; praise befits you, for praise befits the upright. But if you are perverse, praise does not befit you. Why does it not befit you? The praise with which you praise God will not be persevering. For you praise God when it is well with you; you blaspheme God when it is ill with you. For He pleases you then when He gives happiness; but He displease you when He chastises. You are not upright in heart, you cannot say that verse from another psalm: I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. For how is it "continually," if then when it is well with you you praise, not also when it is ill with you? For even what is said to be ill with you is well if you understand it as being from a chastising father. A foolish child often loves a gentle teacher and hates a chastising one. But a wise child understands a good teacher, both gentle and chastising. For he is gentle so that the child may not fail, he chastises so that the child may not perish. Therefore, when one has such a heart, that is, upright, so that God does not displease him even when He does something that may seem to oppose him for a time, that person securely praises God, because he will always praise, and truly praise befits him, and he truly and faithfully sings: I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. For He chastises every son whom He receives. So what do you choose: to be chastised and received, or not touched and not received? See what sort of son you are. If you desire your father's inheritance, do not reject the chastisement. If you spurn the chastisement, renounce the inheritance. For what does He train you for, except that He might give you the inheritance? To be an heir to your father, did he not rebuke you, did he not scold you, did he not chastise you, did he not beat you? For what purpose? That you might eventually succeed him in a house that will eventually fall, a field that will eventually pass away, and gold that will not last longer in this world than you yourself, who possess the gold. For either living, you will lose what you have, or dying, you will leave it behind. For such a temporary inheritance you endured your father's chastisements, and you murmur against God who teaches you to give you the kingdom of heaven?

And God is rightfully and steadfastly praised by those of upright heart.

Since you are such that God pleases you, and chastising you pleases you—either there is something in you that must be corrected with a whip, or your very uprightness is tested with a whip—since you are such, praise. For you praise securely. Why do you praise securely? Because you praise properly, because you praise perseveringly. For I do not fear that you now praise and shortly thereafter blaspheme. I do not fear that you praise when well and blaspheme when sick. I do not fear that from a healthy mouth proceeds the praise of God, from a sick tongue is sought a mathematician or a sorcerer, a chanter or a binder of diabolical remedies. I do not fear, because you have now understood that God is good even when He chastises, and you know that He who strikes the son knows also when to spare. It will be fitting to praise, because you will always continuously praise, and the praise of God will always be in your mouth. You receive willingly a flattering Father, you receive willingly also a chastising Father. You do not run to Him when He flatters and flee from Him when He chastises. For if you do this, you will be like a child who, fleeing from a chastising father, runs into the arms of a flattering slave trader and thinks him good, but considers his own father bad, and prefers the deceit of flattery to the truth of chastisements; by preferring flattery, he loses his inheritance and falls into bondage. Change your counsel, and make your heart upright. For God is not changed because He chastises you, but you are changeable. He does something through change so that you, changed for the better, may receive the inheritance. For if He leaves you and neglects you when He seems good to you, then He is very much angry. Let your Charity notice what the Scripture of God says in another psalm. "The sinner provoked the Lord," it says. Why did he provoke? See where he cried out against the provoked Lord. Certainly, the sinner provoked the Lord to greater wrath: "In His great wrath," it says, "He will not seek."

Job blessed God in his riches, using them well.

Against Job the saint, blessing the Lord at all times, in whose mouth was always His praise, when he was rich, he blessed the Lord in his wealth, doing with it all the good works that are enumerated in his book: breaking bread for the hungry, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, and others, which only the wealthy from their wealth receive, which only the rich obtain. For they do not gain or presume upon the earnings which they leave to their children. They do not know who will possess their labors after their death. And this Scripture has called vanity: "Nevertheless, every man living is all vanity; he treasures and does not know for whom he gathers them." Therefore, all the profit that is made from riches is the treasure of the kingdom of heaven, from which the Lord gave advice, not that you lose, but that you change the place for your gold. For He does not say to you, "When you give, you lose," but: "You have it poorly on earth, in heaven I will keep it for you. What are you afraid to lose? You place it in heaven, Christ the keeper. If you are concerned about the place, heaven it will be; if about the keeper, Christ it will be. What are you afraid to lose?" Therefore, when Job did these things, surely he worked, and in his works God was praised and he blessed the Lord in what he had received. For not truly, brethren, are riches blamed. Do you think, when you see the wicked rich, that riches are evil? Riches are not evil, but those who are; riches, however, are gifts of God. Give them to a just man, and see what good he makes from them. Is wine therefore evil because someone gets drunk? Give it to a sober man using it well, and see the gift of God. Thus give gold to a greedy man. In order to make more of what he has, he seeks to commit all crimes. Give gold to a just man, and see how he distributes it, how he imparts it, how he aids the needs of men as he can. Therefore, it is not riches, but the one who uses them badly who is evil. When therefore Job used them well, as Abraham used them well... Certainly, brethren, the beggar with ulcers lying at the gate of the rich man was so needy that dogs licked his sores. Thus certainly we read, thus it is written. And yet where was he taken? Into Abraham's bosom. Reflect on the Scriptures. See if Abraham was poor here. You will find that he had much gold here, much silver, many flocks, many servants and estates. Therefore, the poor man is raised into the bosom of the rich man. If poverty merited this for him, he himself would not succeed to Abraham for rest, and would not have Abraham to receive him. But because there was in poor Lazarus what was in rich Abraham, that is humility, piety, worship of God, observance of God, riches were not harmful to him, nor poverty to this one, but his merit was piety. Hence, in that rich man who badly changed his ways, it is not his wealth that is censured but his mind. For he was clothed in purple and fine linen, and feasted splendidly every day, and allowed the ulcerated beggar to lie at his gate, and arrogantly despising him, he did not relieve his poverty. What do you think the rich man disdainfully said of the beggar? "Why does this one lie here?" But deservedly that tongue which scorned the poor man longed for a drop from his finger.

Job blessed God even in the poverty which he received from the hand of the Lord.

So when the holy Job, as I said, had many riches, he praised God, was tempted to be tested, tested to be shown. For he was hidden not only from men but also from the devil himself, who watches more diligently than any man. Therefore, who Job was was hidden from him, but it was not hidden from the Lord. The tester permitted the tempter, but not for himself, but for us, so that it would be revealed to us what we ought to imitate. For he did not wish to show Job to the devil, but through the devil to us, so that we, having conquered the devil, would have something to imitate. Therefore, having lost everything not gradually but suddenly, he said: The Lord gave, and the Lord took away. As it pleased the Lord, so it was done. Blessed be the name of the Lord. As it pleased the Lord, so it was done. What pleased the Righteous One cannot be unjust. What pleased the Good One cannot be evil. For God is good to Israel, to those who are upright in heart. Job was upright in heart, thus praise was fitting for him. The Lord gave, and the Lord took away. As it pleased the Lord, so it was done. He confessed by praising: Blessed be the name of the Lord. The Lord gave and the Lord took away. There was abundance, now there is want. Things have changed with me, He has not changed. I was once rich, now poor; He is always rich, always righteous, always the Father. Blessed be the name of the Lord. The name of the Lord was not blessed in my abundance and cursed in my want. May this never be with me. This is what Job, endowed with inner riches, said. He had lost his whole house, but his heart was full. He lost his house, he lost his gold. He filled his heart. God himself was present for all that he had given. The Lord gave, and the Lord took away. See how he understands the supreme power. Do not, O Christian, wish to worship God for the sake of the kingdom of heaven and fear the devil for earthly goods, for all power and authority are entirely from him. The devil only wanted to harm; he could not unless permitted. Therefore, authority is with him. Otherwise, if the devil were permitted to do as much as he wills, which Christian would remain? Which worshiper of God would be left on earth? Do you not see his temples falling, his idols being shattered, his priests converting to God? Do you not think that from this the devil is suffering and tormented? Therefore, if he had power to act for his pain, what Church would remain on earth? Therefore, when the holy Job lost everything through the devil's snares, he is not given any power. When he praises God, he does not say, "The Lord gave, the devil took away," but says, "The Lord gave, the Lord took away. Let not the devil claim anything for himself. And what I was when I was rich was of God, and what I am in poverty is of God." And if he was permitted to tempt, he was not permitted to suffocate; indeed, if he tried to suffocate, he would not hold the throat and crush but cut off the spirit. If perchance he, under the pressure of tribulation, had uttered a blasphemous word from his mouth, then he would have breathed his last, suffocated by excluding the spirit of life from himself. He did not do this either in that sudden poverty or in that ultimate wound.

Finally, tempted by his wife, Job blessed God even in extreme weakness.

For it was not enough for the devil to have taken away all that Job possessed; he also took his sons, whom he possessed, leaving only his wife. Indeed, he did not take her away, knowing what he was doing. He knew that Adam had been deceived by Eve. Therefore, he rather preserved her as his helper than as her husband's comforter. So, having taken all of those things and left one through whom he could tempt again, it wasn't enough for him. He also sought to take away the health of the body. And he was permitted to take it, so that, placed in that wound, righteous Job would praise God with an upright heart, changing in nothing, he whom praise befitted. She came to him, she who had been left for this purpose, and persuaded, or rather urged him to blasphemy. For she said: "How much evil we suffer! Curse God and die." First, Eve was deceived by the devil as if invited to life, and she found death. For the devil said: "You will not die by death." And thinking she would have life, she found death, because she acted against God's command, and persuaded her husband against God's command. Now the opposite: "Curse God and die." It was enough for Eve that she persuaded to act against God's command. She is still Eve, but he is now not Adam. She filled by the devil, he corrected by example. Job better in the dung heap than Adam in paradise. So that you may know how much it matters to have an upright heart, how did Job throw down the devil in that poverty, in that wound? For he replied to the woman and said: "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we receive good from the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" He blessed the Lord at all times, always His praise was in his mouth. For he was upright in heart, hence praise befitted him. If you then also wish for praise to befit you, be upright in heart. If you wish to be upright in heart, let not God displease you in anything. For either you see the reason why He does what He does, and seeing the reason you do not blame. Or if the reason escapes you, know that He does who in no way can displease.

God can act against your will, but not against your benefit.

Someone destroys his own house and is criticized. If you knew the reason, perhaps you would not criticize the person doing it. Indeed, we are in this basilica, and it is narrow and has something small. And it pleased the lord to make another, and this one will have to be destroyed. Whoever perhaps sees the destruction, when it begins to be torn down, says: "Wasn't this a place of prayer? Wasn't God's name invoked here? Why are they letting this be destroyed?" The work is displeasing because the plan is hidden. So also does God do something. Why He does it, either you know and praise, or you do not know and believe, if you are right in heart. For he is indeed right in heart who, in those cases which he knows, praises God, and in those things he does not know, does not attribute foolishness to God. Unjustly and foolishly, you are criticized, man, the governor of your house, by someone ignorant of your reasons and plans. And you dare to criticize the governor of the whole world and the creator of heaven and earth because the wind blew and the vines withered, or a cloud arose and poured down hail? Do not criticize. He knows how to govern and count all His works. You certainly could not create heaven and earth, and yet if you had the chance, you would say to God: "Oh, if I were in charge, I would not do what you do." When something done by God displeases you, wouldn't you want to be the governor? Blush. See who you wish to succeed: a mortal to the immortal, a man to God. It is better to yield to Him than to seek to succeed Him. Yield to God because God is. And if perhaps He does something against your will, it is not against your benefit. How much do doctors do against the will of the sick, and yet they do not work against health. And a doctor sometimes makes a mistake, God never. If, therefore, you entrust yourself to a doctor who sometimes errs, you trust human counsel. Not to apply a poultice that is mild, or a plaster that doesn't cause you pain, but often to burn, to cut, to remove a member born with you, you entrust yourself to him. You do not say: "He might make a mistake, and I will miss one finger." You allow him to remove one finger, lest the whole body rots from it. And will you not allow God to cut, to take something from your fruits, if perhaps you have discipline in that moderation?

However, God must be prayed to in afflictions so that He may assist us.

Therefore, Brothers, be upright in heart, that is, let God displease you in nothing. I do not say do not ask. Ask as much as you can in affliction. He suspends the rain, he must be asked. But if he rains, he must be praised, and if he does not rain, he must be praised, yet he must still be asked. For we do not say do not ask. Sometimes indeed he is moved and grants to those asking, and he does not want to grant unless to those asking. Is God arrogant, that he does not grant unless to one asking? But then the little soul will grow to the greatness of God, if he helps it in tribulation, so that he gives comfort to us who are asking and afflicted. He wishes to sweeten us for our good, not His. For see what evil it is if the world has become sweet to you, and God, who made the world, has become bitter. Shouldn't you be changed? Shouldn't you be corrected, so that you have a right heart? Rather, let the world be bitter and let God be sweet. Therefore, let our Lord God mix bitterness into this world, indeed, let him mix it. To flow here, to abound in delights, pleases to forget God. If he has any excess of money, he wishes to waste it, and not wishes to do something useful with it, to amass something heavenly. He wishes to destroy both money and himself and others on whom he spends money. Therefore, do you not wish for God to cut away the excess so that the whole does not rot from decay? He knows what he is doing. Let us leave it to him. Only give ourselves to be cured, not give advice to the physician. Turned to the Lord.