Sermon 205
SERMO 205
During Lent
A Christian ought perpetually to hang upon the cross.
The observance of Lent, presented with solemn return, we enter on this day: on which our exhortation is also solemnly due to you; so that the word of God, ministered through our service, may feed in the heart those who will fast with the body; and thus the inner man, refreshed with his food, may be able to carry out the chastisement of the outer one and endure it more robustly. For it is fitting for our devotion that we, who are about to celebrate the approaching passion of the crucified Lord, should also make a cross for ourselves by restraining carnal desires, as the Apostle says: “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Indeed, on this cross, throughout this whole life, which is led amid temptations, the Christian ought to perpetually hang. For in this life there is no time to remove the nails, of which it is said in the Psalm: “Pierce my flesh with fear of you.” The flesh is carnal desires; the nails are the precepts of justice: these the fear of the Lord fastens, which crucifies us as an acceptable sacrifice to him. Hence, the Apostle says again: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.” Therefore, this cross, on which the servant of God is not only not ashamed but also glories, saying: “But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world:” this cross, I say, is not of forty days, but of this entire life, which is signified by the mystical number of these forty days; whether it is because man, who is to live this life, as some assert, is formed in the womb in forty days; or because the four Gospels agree with the ten Commandments, and four times ten marks this number, demonstrating that both Scriptures are necessary for us in this life; or for some other more probable reason, which a better and clearer intellect can discover. Hence both Moses and Elijah and the Lord himself fasted for forty days: so that it might be indicated to us in Moses and Elijah and in Christ himself, that is, in the Law and the Prophets and in the Gospel itself, that this is to be done with us, that we may not conform and cling to this world, but crucify the old man, not acting in revellings and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envy; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in its lusts.” Live thus always here, Christian: if you do not wish to immerse your steps in earthly mire, do not descend from this cross. But if this is to be done throughout this whole life, how much more through these days of Lent, in which this life is not only acted but also signified?
Pious works must be practiced more fervently.
Therefore, on other days, do not let your hearts be weighed down by gluttony and drunkenness; but on these days also fast. On other days, do not touch adulteries, fornications, and all illicit corruptions: but on these days also abstain from your spouses. What you deprive yourselves of in fasting, add in almsgiving. The time that was occupied in rendering the marital duty, let it be spent in supplications. The body that was released in carnal affections, let it be humbled with pure prayers. The hands that were entwined in embraces, let them be extended in prayers. But you who also fast on other days, increase what you do on these days. You who crucify the body in perpetual continence on other days, cling to your God with more frequent and earnest prayers on these days. All in unity, all faithful, all faithfully, all in this pilgrimage, sighing with the desire of one homeland, and burning with love. No one should envy the gift of God that he does not have in another, nor ridicule it. In spiritual goods, consider yours what you love in your brother: let him consider his what he loves in you. Let no one under the guise of abstinence seek rather to change than to cut off delights; so as to seek precious foods because he does not eat meat, and unusual drinks because he does not drink wine: lest under the pretense of taming the flesh, he rather engages in the business of pleasure. Indeed, all foods are clean to the clean: but in none is luxury clean.
From disputes, fasting first and foremost.
Above all, brothers, fast from quarrels and discord. Remember the prophet reproaching and crying out to some: In the days of your fast, your desires are found, for you lash out against everyone who is under your yoke, and you strike with fists; your voice is heard in an uproar, and the other such things. After recalling these, he added: This is not the fast that I have chosen, says the Lord. If you wish to cry out, engage in that cry about which it is written: I cried out to the Lord with my voice. For that cry is indeed not of quarrel, but of charity; not of the flesh, but of the heart. It is not like that which is said: I expected him to do justice, but he did iniquity; and not righteousness, but a cry. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. These are the two wings of prayer, by which it flies to God: if he forgives what is committed, pardoning the one who errs, and giving to the one in need.