Sermon 228
SERMO 228
ON THE DAY OF EASTER
To the people and to the children.
Let other faithful provide examples of goodness for the infants.
After the labor of the preceding night, since although the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak, I should not hold you long with a sermon, yet I owe you a sermon. These days, during which after the passion of our Lord we sing Alleluia to God, we celebrate festively in joy until Pentecost, when the promised Holy Spirit was sent from heaven. Of these days, the seven or eight which are now passing, are dedicated to the Sacraments of the Infants. Those who were recently called Competentes, are now called Infants. They were called Competentes because they knocked, requesting to be born from the maternal womb; they are called Infants because they are now born in Christ, who before were born in the world. In them what is renewed should be firm in you: and you who are already faithful, should offer them examples not by which they may perish, but by which they may progress. For those newly born observe you, how you, the already born, live. This also occurs with those born according to Adam: first, they are small; later, when they begin to understand, they look at the ways of their elders to see what to imitate. And since the younger follows where the elder leads, it is desirable that the elder walks a good path, so that neither the elder nor the younger perish by following. Therefore, you, brothers, who are now in a way parents by the age of regeneration, I address you and exhort you, that you live in such a way that you rejoice with those who imitate you and do not perish. A newly born observes some unknown faithful drunkard; I fear he may say to himself: Why is he faithful and drinks so much? He observes some userer, a sorrowful giver, a harsh exactor, and says to himself: I will do the same. It is replied to him: You are now faithful, do not do it; you are baptized, you are reborn, hope has changed, let your habits change. And he says: Why are he and he faithful? I do not wish to say more; for who can recall everything? Therefore, my brothers, when you live badly, you who are already faithful, you will give a bad account to God both about yourselves and about them.
He encourages children to imitate the good.
I now address you, that you may be as grains on the threshing floor, not follow the chaff carried by the wind, with which they perish; but may remain with the weight of charity, that you may arrive at the kingdom of immortality. Therefore, you brothers, you children, you new sprouts of the mother Church, I beseech you by what you have received, that you may attend to Him who called you, who loved you, who sought after you when lost, who illuminated you when found, that you not follow the ways of the lost, in which the name of the faithful goes astray: for it is not asked what they are called, but whether they align with their name. If one is born, where is the new life? If one is faithful, where is the faith? I hear the name, let me recognize the reality as well. Choose for yourselves those whom you may imitate, fearing God, entering the church of God with fear, diligently hearing the word of God, retaining it in your memory, meditating on it in thought, fulfilling it in deeds; choose for yourselves those whom you may imitate. Do not let your heart say: And where will we find such people? Be such, and you will find such. Every similar thing adheres to its like: if you live a lost life, only the lost will join you. Begin to live well, and you will see how many companions surround you, from what great brotherhood you rejoice. Finally, do not find what to imitate? Be what another may imitate.
A sermon suitable for children, about the sacrament of the altar.
We must deliver a sermon today to the children about the Sacrament of the altar. We have discussed with them the sacrament of the Creed, which they should believe in: we have discussed the sacrament of the Lord's Prayer, how they should pray; and of the sacrament of the font and Baptism. All these things they have heard discussed and received when handed over to them: but about the sacrament of the sacred altar, which they saw today, they have heard nothing yet; today, a sermon about this matter is owed to them. Therefore, this sermon ought to be brief, both for our sake and for their edification.