Sermon 165

SERMO 165

FROM THE WORDS OF THE APOSTLE (EPH 3, 13-18):
"I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you,"
"WHAT IS YOUR GLORY", ETC.,
Of Grace and Free Will, Against the Pelagians.
Dress in the Basilica of the Elders

Hope is to be placed in God, not in the strength of free will. The cooperation of grace and free will.

We have heard the Apostle, we have heard the Psalm, we have heard the Gospel; all the divine readings harmonize, so that we place our hope not in ourselves, but in the Lord. The Apostle says, "I ask that you do not weaken in my tribulations for you, which is your glory." I ask, he says, that you do not weaken, that is, that you do not lose heart when you hear that I suffer tribulations for you; because this is your glory. Therefore, he asks them not to lose heart; which he would not do if he did not wish to stir their will. For if they were to reply: "Why do you ask us for something we do not have in our power?" Would they not seem to have given a just response? And yet the Apostle, unless he knew there was within them the agreement of their own will, where they themselves could do something, would not say: "I ask." And if he were to say: "I command," unless he knew they could apply their will to his command, this word would proceed from his mouth in vain. But again, knowing that without God's help the will of man is weak, lest they should say: "We do not have free will," he said: "I ask"; and lest they should say: "Free will is sufficient for us," see what he added: "For this reason." For what reason, unless it was as he said above: "I ask that you do not weaken in my tribulations for you, which is your glory"? Therefore, because you have free will: I ask. But because free will is not sufficient to fulfill what I ask: For this reason I bend my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named. That he may grant you. What: grant you? What I ask of you, I pray he may grant you. For I ask of you, on account of free will: I pray he may grant you, on account of the help of majesty.

From God is asked this very thing which is required by man.

But let us anticipate the words of the Apostle. Perhaps you are still waiting to hear, you who do not remember the text of the same reading, whether the Apostle indeed bows his knees to the Father for them to give them what he said: I ask. Therefore, remember what he asked of them. I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you: this he asks of them. Now see what he asks for them: I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he may grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power. What else is it but not to lose heart? To be strengthened with power, he says, through his Spirit. This is the Spirit of grace. See what he asks for. He asks this from God, which he requires of men; for in order for God to be willing to give, you must also adjust your will to receive. How do you wish to receive the grace of divine goodness if you do not open the bosom of your will? He says, grant to you. For you do not have it unless he grants it to you. May he grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit. For if he grants you to be strengthened with power, then he grants you not to lose heart. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith in the inner man. May he grant you all this. Being rooted and grounded in love, that you may have power to comprehend with all the saints. What to comprehend? May he grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your inner man through faith, and thus being rooted and grounded in love, you may have power to comprehend with all the saints: what? What is the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth. In the Latin language indeed, height signifies both: what is upwards is called height; and what is deep down is also called height. Therefore the interpreter rightly answered to call what is high upwards, height; and to call what is deep down, depth.

In the four dimensions, the mystery of the cross.

What is it then, my brothers, let me explain this to you. Perhaps it is easier for anyone; what then? Because breadth, length, height, and depth, these four things that the Apostle says, are less suitable for me either to comprehend or to express, shall I pass by this? Or perhaps I will knock, and to bring forth something beneficial for you, will I be helped by your prayers? Why do you traverse, Christian man, in heart, through the breadth of the earth, the length of time, the height of heaven, the depth of the abyss? When do you understand these things either by mind or body? That is, whether by thinking or by looking with the eyes of the flesh, when do you understand these things? Listen to the Apostle himself saying to you: "But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." And let us also glory in that, whether because we rely on it. Let us all glory in that, O good brothers, let us glory in that. There we may perhaps find both breadth, and length, and height, and depth. For by the Apostle's words, the cross is somehow set before our eyes. For it has breadth, where the hands are fixed; it has length, where the wood is led down to the ground; it also has height, which exceeds somewhat from the transverse part where the hands are fixed, where the head of the crucified is placed; and it has depth, which is planted in the earth and is not seen. Behold the great mystery. From that depth which you do not see, rises everything that you do see.

The breadth of the cross, the length and the breadth.

Where then is the breadth? Look at the life and ways of the saints, who say: Far be it for me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We find in their ways the breadth of charity; hence the Apostle himself admonishes them, saying: Be wide, do not be yoked with unbelievers. And because he himself was wide, who exhorted them to breadth, hear what he says: Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians; our heart is widened. Therefore, breadth is charity, which alone works well. Breadth makes God love a cheerful giver. For if he has suffered distress, he will give sadly: if he gives sadly, what he gives perishes. Therefore, there is need for the breadth of charity, lest whatever good you do perishes. But since the Lord says: Where iniquity abounds, the love of many will grow cold; give me also length. What is length? He who endures to the end will be saved. This is the length of the cross, where the whole body is stretched out; where, in a way, one stands, and by standing perseveres. Therefore, if you seek to glory in the cross, to have the breadth of the cross, have the virtue of doing good. If you want to have the length of the cross, have the longanimity of persevering. But if you want to have the height of the cross, know what you hear, and where you hear: Lift up your hearts. What is "Lift up your hearts"? Hope there, love there: ask virtue from there, expect the reward there. For if you do well and give cheerfully, you seem to have breadth. If you persevere in the same good works until the end, you seem to have length. But if you do all these things not for the heavenly reward, you will not have height; and it will no longer be breadth nor length. For what is to have height, if not to think of God, to love God; and to love God freely as helper, as observer, as crown-giver, as reward-giver; finally to consider God himself as the reward, and to expect nothing from him but himself? If you love, love freely: if you truly love, he whom you love will be your reward. Do you indeed hold all things dear, and is He who created all things vile to you?

The depth of the cross.

That we may be able, the Apostle bent his knees for us, of course, in order that it might be given to us. For the Gospel terrifies: To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom, but to them it is not given. For whoever has, it will be given to him. But who has to whom it will be given, except to whom it has been given? But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. But who does not have, except to whom it has not been given? Why then is it given to this one, and not given to that one? I am not reluctant to say, this is the depth of the cross. From some deepness of the judgments of God, which we cannot scrutinize or contemplate, proceeds everything which we can. From the deepness, I say, of the judgments of God, which we cannot contemplate because they are inscrutable, which we cannot scrutinize, proceeds everything which we can. What I can, I see: whence I can, I do not see; except that I see this so far, that I know it to be from God. But why this one, and not that one; it is much for me, it is an abyss, it is the depth of the cross; I can exclaim in admiration, I cannot demonstrate in argument. What can I exclaim about this depth? How magnificent are your works, O Lord! Nations are enlightened, Jews are blinded. Some infants are cleansed by the sacrament of Baptism, but other infants are left in the death of the first man. How magnificent are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts have become exceedingly deep! And it follows: The unwise man does not know, and the fool does not understand this. What does the fool and the unwise not understand? Because it is deep. For if the fool does not understand, and the wise one understands, it is not exceedingly deep. But if the wise one understands because it is deep, the fool does not understand because it is indeed deep.

The error of souls sins before the body, whence.

Therefore many, seeking to account for this profound mystery, have turned to foolish fables. Some have said that souls sin up in heaven, and according to their sins are directed to bodies based on their merits, and are imprisoned in them as if in prisons. They followed their own thoughts; wishing to dispute about the depth of God, they plunged into the depth. For the Apostle encounters them, wishing to commend grace, and chose those twins in Rebekah’s womb, and says: For the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil. See how he took away from vain men the fantasies of the souls' existence and actions in heaven before the body. For if they have already lived there, they have already done some good or evil, and are thrust into earthly bodies for their merits. If it pleases, let us contradict the Apostle, who said: For the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil. But because of the Apostle's clear statement, the Catholic faith rejects this, that souls first live and act in the heavens, and there assume merits for the bodies to be received. Thus these newcomers do not dare to say it now.

Death comes only from sin. The death of infants comes from the sin of the first man.

But what do they say? Some, as we have heard, argue thus: Certainly, they say, all men die because of their merits, because they have sinned; for there would be no death unless it came from sin. It has indeed been well and truly said: There would be no death unless it came from sin. But when I hear this, I commend it because I look upon that first death and the sin of that first man. For I hear the Apostle: As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. By one man, sin entered into the world, and by sin, death; and so it passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned. For all were one. Do I thus hear you saying that man's death is caused by sin? No, he says. And what do you say? God creates every man immortal now. Remarkable newness. What are you saying? Certainly, he says, God creates every man immortal. Why then do little infants die? For if I say: Why do grown men die? You will tell me: They have sinned. Therefore, I will not dispute about adults: I will summon the infancy of little children against you as a witness. They do not speak yet, and they convict you; they are silent, and they prove what I say. Behold, infants are innocent in their deeds, having nothing but what they have drawn from the first man; for which reason Christ's grace is necessary for them, that they may be made alive in Christ, who have died in Adam; that because they have been stained by generation, they may be cleansed by regeneration. Therefore, I will summon them as witnesses. Answer me: Why do they die if all men are born immortal, and because they sin, therefore they die? What do you think could be said? What ears could bear it? They also have sinned. Where have they sinned? I ask you, when did they sin? how did they sin? They do not know what good and evil are. Do they take a sin who do not understand a command? Prove to me that infants are sinners; what you have said, truly because you forgot what you were, prove to me the sins of infants. Or because they cry, do they sin? Because with the movements of almost mute animals, they repel discomforts and accept pleasures, therefore they sin? If these movements are sins, they become greater sinners in baptism; for when they are baptized, they resist most vehemently. Why is sin not imputed to them in such great resistance, except because there is not yet any will of choice?

Little ones extinguished in the womb.

But I say something else: Those who were born, as you think, have sinned. For if they did not sin, you say, they would not die. What do you say about those who die in the womb? O distress! And he says, they also sinned, therefore they die. Are you lying, or are you mistaken? The Apostle contradicts: Not yet born, nor having done anything good or bad. I rather listen to the Apostle than to you: I believe the Apostle more than you: Not yet born, nor having done anything good or bad. But if you refute this testimony, go rather to those wanderings, and say: Because they sinned in the heaven, and so they are thrown into bodies. I do not say, he says. Why do you not say? Because the Apostle says: Not yet born, nor having done anything good or bad. If therefore you do not accuse them in heaven, why do you accuse them in the womb? The Apostle responds to both, and he responds to those who say: They sinned in heaven; and he responds to those who say: They sinned in the womb, because those words which say, before they were born, they had done nothing either good or bad, apply to both. Why then do they die? And here I will listen to you, and not rather to the Master of the Gentiles?

Grace helping the little ones and the greater ones. The inscrutable mystery of grace.

Tell me, Paul the Apostle, why do they die? Through one man, sin entered into the world, and through sin, death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned. Behold, the first man made the whole mass condemnable: come, come our Lord, the second man; come, come; come by another path, come through a virgin; come alive, find the dead: die, that you may help the dying, transfer the dead to life, redeem the dead from death, save life in death, kill death by death. This is the sole grace for the little ones, the sole grace for the greater ones: it alone frees the small with the great. Why him, and why him; why not him and him; do not ask me. I am a man: I observe the depth of the cross, I do not penetrate it; I am frightened, I do not investigate. His judgments are inscrutable, his ways unsearchable. I am a man, you are a man; he was a man who said: O man, who are you who answers God? A man was speaking, he was speaking to a man. Let man hear, that man may not perish, for whom God became man. Therefore in this depth of the cross, in this great obscurity of things, let us hold fast to what we have sung: let us not presume on our own virtue, let us not arrogantly attribute anything in this inquiry to the strength of our intellect: let us say the Psalm, let us say with the Psalm: Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. Why? Because I have a virtue by which I may merit you? No. Why? Because I bear the will's choice, where my merit precedes your grace? No. But why? Because my soul trusts in you. Great knowledge, this trust. Turned to the Lord...