Sermon 211

SERMO 211

In Lent

Anger is one thing, hatred is another.

These holy days which we observe in the observance of Lent admonish us to speak to you about fraternal concord so that whoever has a quarrel against another may end it, lest it ends. Do not disdain these things, my brothers. For when this mortal and fragile life, which is in danger among so many earthly temptations and prays not to be overwhelmed, cannot be without any sins in any way of its own, there is one remedy by which we can live, because our master, God, has taught us to say in prayer: Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. We have made a pact and agreement with God, and have signed the condition of paying off the debt in a bond. Forgive us, we ask with full confidence, if we also forgive; but if we do not forgive, we should not think our sins are forgiven. Let us not deceive ourselves, a man does not deceive himself, God deceives no one. It is human to be angry - and would that we could not even do this - it is human to be angry, but your anger, a short-lived shoot, should not be watered with suspicions and reach the beam of hatred. For anger is one thing, hatred is another. For often even a father is angry with his son, but does not hate his son; he is angry to correct him. If he is angry to correct, he is angry with love. Therefore it is said: You see the speck in your brother's eye; but you do not see the beam in your own eye. You blame anger in another and harbor hatred in yourself. In comparison to hatred, anger is a speck; but if you nurture the speck, it will be a beam; if you pluck it out and throw it away, it will be nothing.

The prison of one who hates is his own heart.

If you have noticed... what have you noticed? The sentence of blessed John, when his epistle was read, ought to have terrified you. For he says: The darkness has passed, the true light already shines. Then he continued and added: Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness even now. But perhaps a man thinks those to be the kinds of darkness which those confined in prisons suffer. If only they were such! And yet in such darkness no one wants to be. However, in these prison darknesses, the innocent may be confined. For in such darkness, the martyrs were enclosed. Darkness was spread all around, and light thrived in their hearts. In those darknesses of the prison, they did not see with their eyes but saw God with the love of brotherhood. Do you wish to know what kind of darknesses are those of which it is said: Whoever hates his brother is in darkness even now? In another place, he says: Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. Whoever hates his brother walks, exits, enters, proceeds, burdened by no chains, enclosed in no prison, yet bound by guilt. Do not think him to be without a prison: his prison is his heart. When you hear: Whoever hates his brother is in darkness even now, lest perhaps you disregard the darkness, he adds and says: Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. You hate your brother and walk safely, and you are unwilling to reconcile, even though God gives space for that reason? Behold, you are already a murderer, and you still live; if you had God wrathful toward you with the hatred of a brother, you would suddenly be snatched away. God spares you, spare yourself, reconcile with your brother. But perhaps you are willing, and he is not willing? Let that be enough for you. You have something for which to grieve for him; you have freed yourself. Say, if you wish to reconcile and he is not willing, say confidently: Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Forgive your brother.

Perhaps you have sinned against him, you wish to reconcile with him, you wish to say to him: Brother, forgive me, I have sinned against you. He does not want to forgive, does not want to release the debt; what you owe him, he does not want to release to you. Let him observe, when he has to pray. When he comes, who refused to forgive you for having perhaps sinned against him, when he comes to pray, what will he do? He will say: Our Father who art in heaven. He will say, he will approach: Hallowed be thy name. Say further: Thy kingdom come. Follow: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Go further: Give us this day our daily bread. You have said it. See what follows, lest perhaps you wish to skip over and say something else. There is nothing you can pass over, you are held there. Therefore say or if you do not have a reason to say: Forgive us our debts, do not say it. And where is that which the same Apostle said: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us? But if the conscience of frailty stings and in this world the abundance of iniquity is everywhere, then say: Forgive us our debts. But see what follows. For you did not want to forgive the sin of your brother, and you will say: As we forgive our debtors? Or will you not say it? If you will not say it, you will receive nothing; but if you will say it, you will say a false thing. Therefore say it and say it truthfully. How will you say it truthfully, who refused to release the sin of your brother?

I seek pardon from brother.

I have advised him; now I console you, whoever you are, if indeed you are the one who said to your brother, “Forgive me for what I have sinned against you.” If you said it from your whole heart, with true humility, not false charity, as God sees in the heart from where you spoke, but he refused to forgive you, do not be anxious. You are both servants; you have a Lord. You owe to your fellow servant; he refused to forgive you, appeal to the Lord of both. What the Lord forgives you, if he can, let the servant demand. I say something else. I admonished the one who refused to forgive his brother when he asks to be forgiven, to do what he was unwilling to do, lest when he prays, he does not receive what he desires; I also admonished the one who sought forgiveness for his sin from his brother and did not receive it, to be secure in the Lord for what he did not obtain from his brother. There is also another thing to admonish. Your brother sinned against you and refused to say, “Forgive me for what I have sinned against you.” This weed abounds; would that God would uproot it from His field, that is, from your hearts! For there are many who know they have sinned against their brothers and refuse to say, “Forgive me.” They were not ashamed to sin, and they are ashamed to ask; they were not ashamed of iniquity, and they are ashamed of humility. Therefore, I particularly admonish those of you who have discord with your brothers, and recall yourselves to yourselves, and consider yourselves, and pass a just judgment within yourselves, within your hearts, and find that you should not have done what you did, should not have said what you said. Ask for forgiveness, brothers, from your brothers; do what the Apostle says: “Forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you”; do it, do not be ashamed to ask for forgiveness. Therefore, I say to all, men and women, younger and older, laypeople and clerics, I say to myself as well, let us all listen, let us all fear if we have sinned against our brothers. We have still received a reprieve of living; we do not die for it; we are still alive, we are not yet condemned; while we live, let us do what the Father who will be the judge commands, and let us ask forgiveness from our brothers whom perhaps we have offended or injured by sinning against them. There are humble persons according to the order of this world, from whom if you ask forgiveness, they become arrogant in pride. This is what I say: sometimes a master sins against his servant; for if that one is a master, that one is a servant, yet both are other’s servants, for both are redeemed by the blood of Christ. However, it seems harsh even for me to command it, that if perhaps a master sins against his servant by unjustly arguing, by unjustly beating, he should say, “Forgive me, give me pardon.” Not because he should not do it, but lest that one begins to become proud. What then? Before the eyes of God, let him repent, before the eyes of God, let him punish his heart, and if he cannot say to the servant because he ought not: “Give me pardon,” let him speak gently to him. A gentle address is a request for pardon.

Do not seek forgiveness from a brother who has sinned against you.

It remains for me to address those against whom others have sinned and who have not wanted to ask for forgiveness. For I have already addressed those who were unwilling to forgive their brethren who were asking for pardon. Now therefore, as I address all of you, since these days are holy, let not your disputes remain; I believe that some of you have thought in your hearts, knowing that you have some disagreements with your brethren, and have found that it was not you who sinned against them, but they against you. Even if you do not speak to me now, because it is my place to speak here, and yours to be silent and listen, nevertheless you may be thinking and saying to yourselves: I want to reconcile, but he offended me, he sinned against me and does not want to ask for forgiveness. What then? Shall I say: Go to him and you ask for forgiveness? By no means. I do not want you to lie, I do not want you to say: Grant me forgiveness, when you know that you did not sin against your brother. For what benefit is it to you, when you are your own accuser? What do you seek to be forgiven by him whom you did not offend or against whom you did not sin? It is of no benefit to you, I do not want you to do it. Have you examined well and know that he sinned against you, not you against him? I know, he says. Let your knowledge be your judgment. Do not go to your brother who has sinned against you and ask for his forgiveness. There should be other peacemakers among you who will rebuke him to ask forgiveness from you first. Be ready only to forgive, be entirely ready to remit with your heart. If you are ready to forgive, you have already forgiven. If you still have something to pray for, pray that he may ask you for forgiveness, because you know it harms him if he does not ask; pray for him to ask. Say to the Lord in your prayer: Lord, you know that I have not sinned against that brother of mine, but rather he has sinned against me, and it harms him that he sinned against me if he does not ask for pardon from me; with a good heart I ask you to forgive him.

Let us celebrate Easter in security.

Behold, I have told you that... especially during these days of your fasting, your observances, your continence, what you should do to be in concord with your brothers. I also may rejoice in your peace who am saddened by your quarrels, so that forgiving each other, if anyone has a grievance against someone, we may celebrate Easter securely, we may celebrate His passion safely, who owed nothing to anyone and paid the price for debtors — I mean, the Lord Jesus Christ, who did not sin against anyone and yet the whole world sinned against Him, who did not exact punishments but promised rewards. Therefore, we have Him as a witness in our hearts that if we have sinned against anyone, we should sincerely ask for forgiveness; if anyone has sinned against us, we should be ready to grant forgiveness and pray for our enemies. Let us not wait to be avenged, brothers. What is it to be avenged if not to be fed with another's evil? I know people come daily, kneeling, striking their foreheads to the ground, sometimes washing their faces with tears in such humility and disturbance and saying: Lord, avenge me, kill my enemy. Certainly, pray for the one who kills your enemy and saves your brother; let the enmity die, let nature be saved. Pray in such a way that God may avenge you: let him who persecuted you perish, but let him who is restored to you remain.