Sermon 157
SERMO 157
ON THE WORDS OF THE APOSTLE (ROM 8, 24. 25):
"By hope we were saved;
Hope, however, that is seen, is not hope.
The hope of Christians is in eternal things. The world is believed to be deceitful, not God.
As your Holiness recalls the Apostle said, dearly beloved brothers: We were saved by hope. But hope, he says, that is seen is not hope; for what a man sees, what does he hope for? But if we hope for what we do not see, through patience we wait for it. Hence the Lord God Himself, to whom it is said in the Psalm: You are my hope, my portion in the land of the living, admonishes us to offer you an exhortatory and consolatory word. He Himself, I say, who is our hope in the land of the living, commands that we speak to you in this land of the dying; so that you do not look at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporary; but the things that are not seen are eternal. Therefore, since we hope for what we do not see and wait for it through patience, it is rightly said to us in the Psalm: Wait for the Lord, act manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, and wait for the Lord. For the promises of the world always deceive; but the promises of God never deceive. But because the world promises what it seems to give here, that is, in this land of the dying, where we are now; but God promises to give us in the land of the living; many grow weary of waiting for the truthful One, and are not ashamed to love the deceitful one. Scripture says of such people: Woe to those who have lost patience and turn aside to crooked ways. Even when children of eternal death cease not to insult those who act manfully and wait for God with a strengthened heart, boasting of their temporary pleasures, which for a while sweeten their throats, but afterward they find them more bitter than gall. For they say to us: Where is what has been promised to you after this life? Who has returned from there and has shown that what you believe is true? Behold, we delight in the fullness of our pleasures, because we hope for what we see; but you are tormented in the struggles of continence, believing what you do not see. Then they add what the Apostle mentioned: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. But see what he himself warned to be avoided: Bad company corrupts good morals. Be sober justly, and do not sin.
Patience and gentleness are necessary.
Therefore, beware, brothers, lest your morals be corrupted by such conversations, your hope overturned, your patience weakened, and you diverge into wicked ways. Rather, the meek and gentle should keep to the right paths that the Lord teaches you; about which the Psalm says: "He will guide the meek in judgment, and will teach the gentle His ways." Indeed, patience in the labors of this life, without which the hope of future life cannot be preserved, cannot be held perpetually by anyone unless he is meek and gentle; one who does not resist the will of God, whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light, but believes in God, hopes in Him, and loves Him. Thus, the meek and gentle will not only love His consolations, but also endure His chastisements as good children; so that, because you hope for what you do not see, you may wait for it with patience. Act this way, walk this way. For you walk in Christ, who said: "I am the way." Learn how to walk in Him, not only by His word but also by His example. For the Father did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all; not unwillingly, nor resisting, but equally willing; because the will of the Father and the Son is one according to the equality of the form of God, in which, being, He thought it not robbery to be equal with God; and singularly obedient, in that He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. For He loved us, and gave Himself up for us as an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Thus, the Father did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, that the Son Himself might also give Himself up for us.
We see in our head what we hope for.
Therefore, He who is Most High, through whom all things were made, was delivered up because of the form of a servant into the reproach of men and the rejection of the people, into insult, into scourges, into the death of the cross. He taught us by the example of His passion, with how much patience we should walk in Him; and He strengthened us by the example of His resurrection, what we ought to hope for patiently from Him. For if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. What we do not see indeed, we hope for; but we are the body of that head, in which is already perfected what we hope for. For it has been said of Him that He Himself is the head of the body, the Church, the firstborn, holding the preeminence. And of us it is written: But you are the body of Christ and members. If therefore we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience, secure; because He who has risen is our head, He preserves our hope. And because before He rose, our head was scourged, He strengthened our patience. For it is written: For whom the Lord loves, He disciplines; He scourges every son whom He receives. Therefore, let us not fail in the scourging, so that we may rejoice in the resurrection. For it is indeed true that He scourges every son whom He receives, that He did not even spare His Only Begotten, but delivered Him up for us all. Therefore, considering Him, who was scourged without deserving it, who died for our sins, and rose for our justification, let us not fear that we may be cast away after being scourged; but rather let us be confident that we will be received as justified.
Nor are we without joy. Fleeting are the delights of sinners.
Although the fullness of our joy has not yet come, nevertheless we are not left without joy; for we are saved by hope. Therefore the Apostle himself, who says, "If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience," also says elsewhere, "Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation." Therefore, having such a hope, let us use much confidence; and let our speech be seasoned with grace, so that we may know how to answer each one. For it must be said to those who, having lost or never received endurance, dare to insult us who endure the Lord (because we hope for what we do not see, and wait for it with patience), when they should imitate us: "Where are your delights, for which you walk by crooked paths?" We do not say, "Where will they be, when this life passes?" but rather, "Where are they now?" When today has taken away yesterday, and tomorrow will take away today, what of the things you love does not run and fly away? What does not speed away almost before it is grasped, since from this very today not even an hour can be retained? For the second hour is excluded by the third, just as the first was excluded by the second. Nothing of the present hour, which seems to be present, is truly present; for all its parts and all its moments are fleeting.
The emptiness of temporal things.
Why does man sin if he is not blinded when he sins, or if he pays attention when he sins? He could see that pleasure, when passing, is desired without prudence; or when it has passed, it is considered with repentance. You mock us because we hope for eternal things, which we do not see; while you, subject to the temporal things which are seen, do not know what kind of day will dawn for you tomorrow; which, often hoping for a good one, you find evil; nor, if it has been good, will you be able to hold onto it so that it does not flee. You mock us because we hope for eternal things; which, when they come, will not pass away; for they do not come, but always remain; but we will come to them, when through the Lord's way we will have passed through these things which pass. But from you temporal things are never ceased to be hoped for, and yet often those things you hope for deceive you; nor do they cease to inflame you when they are coming, to corrupt you when they arrive, to torment you when they pass. Are they not the very things which, when desired, inflame, when obtained, become worthless, when lost, vanish? We also make use of them according to the necessity of our pilgrimage; but we do not fix our joys in them, lest we collapse with them as they slip away. For we use this world as not using it, so that we may come to Him who made this world, and remain in Him, enjoying His eternity.
The certainty of our hope.
But what is it that you say: Who has come from there, and who has informed humans of what is done in the underworld? And here He has shut your mouths, who raised the dead on the fourth day and, never to die again, resurrected on the third day, and who, before dying, revealed what kind of life awaits the dying as one to whom nothing was hidden, narrated about the resting poor man and the burning rich man. Yet those do not believe these things, who say: Who has returned from there? They want to be seen as believing, if any of their parents would come back to life. But cursed be everyone who places their hope in man. Therefore, God became man, willed to die and rise again; so that what was to come for man would be shown in the flesh of man, and yet believed in as God, not as man. And indeed, the Church of the faithful spread throughout the whole world is now before their eyes. Let them read that it was promised to one man many ages ago, who against hope believed in hope, that he would become the father of many nations. Hence, what was promised to the believing Abraham alone, we now see fulfilled; and shall we despair of what is promised to the believing whole world, that it will come? Let them now go and say: Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die. They still say that they will die tomorrow, but truth finds them already dead even when they say these things. But you, brothers, sons of the resurrection, citizens of the holy angels, heirs of God, and coheirs with Christ, beware of imitating those who, expiring tomorrow, die and are buried today by drinking. But, as the Apostle says, do not let bad company corrupt your good morals, be sober righteously, and do not sin; walk the narrow but certain path leading to the broadness of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is our eternal mother; firmly hope for what you do not see, patiently wait for what you do not yet have; for you most faithfully hold onto Christ the truthful promiser.