Sermon 223F
Sermon 223/F
ON THE EVE OF EASTER
Although the speech is not delivered to the ignorant, it nevertheless seeks the attentive.
On that night, dearest brothers, when our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead, we celebrate the yearly solemnity with this vigil. I am not now teaching, but reminding you not to forget, since you know. For just as the celebration itself arriving at its solemn time does not act to reveal something unusual to us, but rather to prevent by forgetting what we know from being erased - it renews memory, it does not insert knowledge - so also our discourse, even if not brought forth for the unknowing, nevertheless seeks the attentive; for although it does not act so that you hear what you do not know, I still wish it to act so that you remember with joy what you know.
The lion seeking to devour and the lion seeking to deliver.
Let us watch and pray so that we do not enter into temptation: For our adversary, like a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour. But that lion from the tribe of Judah, of whom it was foretold so long before: "You have ascended, lying down you slept like a lion; who will rouse him?" He ascended the cross when he suffered, because he was hung there by the will of the merciful, not by the necessity of the sinner. He lay down sleeping when he, having bowed his head, gave up his spirit. And like a lion, because even in that weakness he was strong; for that which is weak in God is stronger than men; ultimately, by dying he gave life and consumed death by his death. Who raised him up, if not the invisible God? For this reason, who? because he does not appear to human eyes, just as the only-begotten Word of God himself with the Father is invisible. Therefore he raised him from the dead, and gave him a name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and the lion seeking to devour is conquered by the lion seeking to free.
Why one must watch and pray.
Let us therefore watch and pray, so that we do not enter into temptation. Let us keep watch for Him, who willingly slept for us. For He slept, and took rest; and He arose, because the Lord sustained Him, to whom He had said: And raise me up, and I will repay them. He, against the enemies who would rage and taunt the dying one, said in prophecy: Is it not so that he who sleeps will rise again? Therefore, He who slept also awakened, and consecrated this watchfulness of ours to Himself. Let us watch and pray, so that we do not enter into temptation, because He watched, and was made like a solitary sparrow on the roof; therefore He rose, and flew on high, and for us the only one intercedes in heaven. To this great intercessor, let us give our prayers; He grants with the Father what He requested from the Father, because He is both mediator and creator: mediator, to request; creator, to grant: mediator made in the world, creator through whom the world was made. Therefore with most faithful and trustworthy affection let us watch with a sober mind to Him, and let us offer the Prayer which He taught; that we may be able to accomplish what He commanded us to do, with His help; and receive what He promised to give, with His giving.