Sermon 23
SERMO 23
SERMON GIVEN IN THE BASILICA OF FAUSTUS
OF THE VERSE OF PSALM 72:
"You have held the hand of my right."
On the Vision of God
The office of a teacher is dangerous, but the discipleship is safe.
What we have sung to the Lord, let us believe it is our purpose to speak. From this, let our speech to you be derived. And to whom we said: "You have held my right hand, and with your will you have guided me, and with glory you have taken me," may He Himself lift up your hearts to clearer understanding, and may His mercy and grace help us—me in speaking, you in judging. For although we seem to stand on a higher place for the convenience of projecting our voice, nevertheless, in that higher place, you judge, and we are judged. We are called teachers, but in many things, we seek a teacher, nor do we wish to be considered masters. For it is dangerous and prohibited, as the Lord Himself says: "Do not wish to be called masters, for one is your master, Christ." Therefore, teaching is dangerous; discipleship is safe. Hence the psalm says: "To my hearing, you will give joy and exultation." For the hearer of the word is more secure than the speaker of the word. Therefore, he stands securely, and hears it, and rejoices with joy because of the voice of the bridegroom.
He who speaks, even if he does not offend, suffers with fear lest he offend.
And because the Apostle Doctor had taken on the role by the necessity of dispensation, see what he says: "With much fear and trembling I was among you." Therefore, it is safer that both we who speak, and you who listen, know that we are fellow students under one teacher. It is altogether safer and expedient that you listen to us not as teachers, but as your fellow students. For see the anxiety imposed on us where it is said: "Brothers, do not become many teachers, for in many things we all offend." Who does not tremble when the Apostle says: "All"? And it follows: "Whoever does not offend in speech, he is a perfect man." But who would dare to say he is perfect? Therefore, he who stands and listens does not offend in speech. But he who speaks, even if, which is difficult, does not offend, what does he suffer when he fears he might offend? It is necessary, therefore, for you to be not only listeners of those speaking, but also sympathizers of those fearing, so that in what we say truthfully—since all truth is from the Truth—you praise not us, but Him; where however we offend as men, you pray to Him for us.
We do not corrupt it being corrupted, but the Scripture stands correct.
The Holy Scriptures are, they are true, they are blameless. All Scripture inspired by God is useful for teaching, for rebuking, for exhortation, for doctrine. Therefore, there is no reason for us to accuse Scripture, if perhaps, not having understood it, we deviate in some way. When we understand it, we are upright. But when it is not understood, we are perverse, leaving it while it remains upright. For it is not we who corrupt it by our corruption, but it remains upright, so that we may return to it to be corrected. However, in order to exercise us, the same Scripture speaks in many places as if carnally, although the law is always spiritual. For the law, as the Apostle says, is spiritual, but I am carnal. Although it is spiritual, it often walks as if carnally with the carnal. But it does not wish them to remain carnal. For even a mother loves to nurture her infant, but she does not love for it to remain an infant. She holds it in her bosom, warms it with her hands, soothes it with caresses, nourishes it with milk. She does everything for the infant, but she hopes it will grow, so that she may not always do such things. Look at the Apostle. For we consider him better, who did not disdain to call himself also a mother, where he says: I became a child among you, as a nurse cherishing her own children. For there are nurses indeed cherishing, but not their own children. There are also mothers giving to nurses, not cherishing their own children. But the Apostle, with genuine and abundant affection of charity, assumed the role of nurse by saying: cherishing, and adding: her own children. Therefore, the same nourisher and cherisher says elsewhere, what I mentioned a little earlier: With great fear and trembling I was among you.
Carnal hearers and spiritual hearers.
But you say: "What were they like, that he was in much fear and trembling towards them?" As unto babes in Christ, he says, I have fed you with milk, not with meat. For you were not able, nor yet are you even now able; for you are still carnal. Those whom he calls carnal, he nonetheless calls babes in Christ. Thus he reproves, yet does not reject. They are carnal and yet babes in Christ. He does not want them to be carnal, whom he calls babes in Christ. He desires them to be spiritual, discerning all things, and judged by no one. For the natural man, as he himself says, does not perceive the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is judged by no one. He himself says: We speak wisdom among the perfect. Why then do you speak, if among the perfect? For what need is there for you to speak to a perfect man? But seek where he is perfect. For I may not find a perfect knower, but I may find a perfect listener. There is then also a perfect listener, already capable in mind, to whom solid food causes no disturbance, introduces no crudity. Who is this, and we will praise him? Yet I do not doubt that there are some spiritual ones, listening well, judging well. With these I do not labor. For either I am found carnal, and they deal mercifully with me; or they grasp what I say, and rejoice with me.
May God grant him not to be deceived, who did not want to lie.
Behold, now I have received the words of the psalm which we just sang: You have held my right hand. Give a carnal listener; what will he think except that God appeared in human form, grabbed his right hand not the left, and led him to His will, took him where He wanted? If he understands this, rather if he assumes this, does he understand anything? For whoever understands, understands the truth. But whoever assumes falsehood does not understand. Therefore, if a carnal man assumes this, that the nature and substance of God are distinct with limbs, determined form, circumscribed quantity, remaining in place, what do I do with him? If I say: "God is not like that," he does not grasp it. If I say: "He is like that," he seemingly grasps it, but I deceive. I cannot say: "He is like that," for I would lie; and not trivially, but about my God, my Savior and Redeemer, my hope, the one to whom I stretch out my desire. It is no small matter to lie about such a one. It is troublesome and dangerous to be mistaken about such a one. However, to lie about such a one is ruinous and pernicious. Not everyone who lies is mistaken. For if he knows the truth and speaks falsehood, he lies, he is not mistaken. But if he assumes to be true what is not true, he is mistaken; and if he speaks what he assumes to be true, he does not lie, but is still mistaken. May God grant him not to be mistaken, who did not wish to lie.
Let man be a temple, and from him God will come.
If, therefore, as I said, that little one of ours has believed in such a God, having members set in specific places of His body, circumscribed by figure, limited by form, remaining locally, moving locally, according to what is said: "Where shall I go from Your Spirit, or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there." If He is in heaven, He is there; if He is on earth, He is there; if He is in hell, He is there, what should that little one do now? If he listens, he should not seek mountains and temples with the Samaritan woman to go to God, from Jerusalem to the mountains of Samaria. He should not hurry to a visible temple, nor should he seek any temple to come to God. Let him be a temple, and God will come to him. He does not disdain, does not reject, does not scorn; rather, He deigns, unless He should be indignant. Hear Him promising, hear Him in the meantime deigning by promising, not indignantly threatening: "We will come," He says, "to him, I and the Father." To him whom He mentioned above as His lover, the obedient to His commandments, the keeper of His mandate, the lover of God, the lover of his neighbor: "We will come," He says, "to him, and make Our home with him."
Do not fear the coming of your God.
The heart of the faithful is not narrow, to whom the temple of Solomon was narrow. For even he, when he built this, said: If the heaven of heavens does not suffice for you. And yet the temple of God is holy, which you are. For we, he says elsewhere, are the temple of the living God. "And how do you prove this?", as if it were said to him: As it is written, he says, I will dwell in them. If some great patron said to you: "I will dwell with you," what would you do? Since your house is narrow, without a doubt you would be troubled, indeed you would be terrified, you would wish it not to happen. For you would not want to be in straits, receiving a great one, to whose coming your poor little house would not suffice. Do not fear the coming of your God, do not fear the affection of your God. He will not narrow you when He comes; rather by coming, He will broaden you. For in order that you may know that He will broaden you, He not only promised His coming: I will dwell in them, but also the very breadth, by adding: And I will walk in them. If you love this breadth, you see it. Fear has torment, therefore it has straits; and thus love has breadth. See the breadth of charity: Because the charity of God is poured forth, he says, in our hearts.
We have received the pledge or earnest of the Spirit.
But why were you trying to enlarge the place for him? Let the inhabitant himself enlarge: For the love of Christ has been poured into our hearts, not, however, from us, but through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. If love has been poured into our hearts, and God is love, behold now, from even the smallest token, God walks in us. For we have received a pledge. What is that of which the pledge is such? Although the manuscripts which have "earnest" are better than those which have "pledge". For the translators intended to say the same thing. However, there is some difference in usage between "earnest" and "pledge". For a pledge, when it is given, will be taken back once what it was given as security for has been fulfilled. I do not doubt that many of you have understood. For I see, from the conversation you have with one another, I sense those who have understood wishing to explain to those who have not yet understood. Therefore, I will speak somewhat more plainly so that it may reach everyone. You receive, for example, a book from your friend; to get it, you give some pledge. When you return what you received, for which you gave the pledge, he will have what you returned, and you will receive back the pledge. For he will not have both things.
This will be fulfilled from where the pledge was given.
What then, Brothers? If God has now given love as a pledge through His Spirit, when He delivers the very thing that He has promised by giving the pledge, is the pledge to be taken away from us? By no means. But what He has given, He will fulfill. Therefore, the earnest is better than the pledge. For sometimes you prepare to give the price, for instance, for something you hold under a contract of good faith, and you give part of the price itself. And it will be an earnest, not a pledge, because it is to be fulfilled, not taken away. So understand now. If I find a lover, he has the earnest and desires the fullness from the earnest. Let him consider the earnest itself. For what has been given as an earnest will be fulfilled. Let him think of it, let him discuss it within himself, let him look at it, let him inquire of it about that fullness which he does not see, lest perhaps he desires something in the fullness other than what he has received as an earnest. Perhaps God is going to give gold, He will fulfill the fullness of gold, and He has given an earnest of gold. It must be feared lest you desire lead instead of gold. Look at the earnest, therefore. If I can persuade you where to look: God is love.
Sprinkled with this dew, burning into the spring.
From there we have something, from there we are sprinkled, from there we are wetted. Whose dew is such as the fountain? Sprinkled with this dew, but burning for the fountain, say to your God: For with you is the fountain of life. In this dew, desire is born; in the fountain you will be satisfied. There is what suffices for us. But the sons of men will hope under the cover of your wings. Why do we greatly desire the benefits of God which he grants also to beasts? Indeed, his benefits are from him, who doubts? From whom is the salvation of even the smallest creature, except from him of whom it is said: Salvation belongs to the Lord?
Men and sons of men.
But the same psalm says: "You save humans and animals, Lord, just as Your mercy is multiplied, God." Although merciful God, You have such abundant mercy that it reaches not only humans but also animals. Such is Your great mercy that You make Your sun rise on the good and the bad, and rain on the just and the unjust. Do Your saints receive nothing special from You, nothing peculiar to the pious that the impious do not also receive? Surely, they do. Listen to what follows. For he had already said: "You save humans and animals, Lord, just as Your mercy is multiplied, God," and he added and said: "But the children of men." So, what then? Were those you previously mentioned as humans not children of men? He says, "You save humans and animals, Lord; but the children of men." So what then? "The children of men will hope under the shadow of Your wings." Not with the animals. Why then are both these and those called humans? Are not even the humans children of men? Surely, the humans are children of men. So where does this distinction come from, if not because there is a human who was not a child of man. The man who was not a child of man, Adam; the man who is a child of man, Christ. Just as in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall be made alive. They seek salvation with the animals who die and will not live again. They seek salvation with the children of men who die, so that they may never die. That distinction is clear. Those referred to are humans; these children of men belong to the Son of Man.
God is the source of life.
What then follows? The children of men shall hope under the shadow of your wings. Behold, I hope, behold hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. Therefore, the future things that are promised shall intoxicate. They shall be intoxicated from the abundance of your house. I fear lest, as he was seeking the members of the body in God a little while ago, so in his intoxication he may not think of the satisfaction of ineffable goods, but of the debauchery of carnal feasts. Nonetheless let us say. Let him think what he can, if he cannot think higher. Let him not depart from the bosom when he grows. Let us follow, and those who can, let us delight spiritually as much as we can. They shall be intoxicated, he says, from the abundance of your house, and you shall make them drink from the torrent of your pleasure. With what wine, with what new wine, with what wave, with what honey, with what nectar? Do you ask with what? Since with you is the fountain of life. Drink, if you can, life. Prepare the conscience, not the gullet, the mind, not the belly. If you have heard, if you have understood, if you have loved as much as you could, you have already drunk from there.
Love charity.
Be attentive to what you drink. You have drunk love. If you know it, God is love. If, therefore, you have drunk love, tell me where you have drunk it. If you know it, if you have seen it, if you love, whence do you love? For whatever you love well, you love with love. But how do you love anything with love if you do not love with love? Therefore, if you love, whence do you love? It comes to you, and you know it and see it. And it is not seen in a place, nor is it sought with bodily eyes, so that it may be loved more vehemently. Nor is it heard by speech, and when it comes to you, it is not felt by walking. Have you ever felt the steps of love walking in your heart? What, then, is it? Whose is this that is already in you, and is not contained by you? Thus, learn to love God.
God can both appear and remain hidden.
But he walked in paradise, but he was seen at the oak of Mamre, but he spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai face to face. And what of it? Behold, He who is seen in place is not perceived by movement. Do you wish to hear Moses himself, lest you, as a restless child, cause me weariness despite my desire to nourish you? Do you then wish to hear Moses himself? Surely he spoke with God face to face. To whom then did he speak, if not to the one with whom he was speaking: If I have found favor in your sight, show me Yourself? He speaks with Him face to face, as one speaks to a friend, and says to Him: If I have found favor in your sight, show me Yourself plainly. What did he see, and what did he thirst for? If it was not He, how is it said to Him: Show me Yourself? We cannot say that it was not He. If it were not He, he would say to Him: "Show me God." Therefore, when he says: Show me Yourself, he manifests that it was He whom he wished to see. And he spoke with Him face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Do you then wish to hear, if you can grasp God? Moses appeared hidden. For if He did not appear, there would not be one speaking face to face saying to Him: Show me Yourself. But if He did not hide, he would not still seek to see the same. Therefore, if you can grasp, if you understand, God can both appear and hide simultaneously, appear in form, hide in nature.
Recognize the mystery in God.
If you have understood this as you were able, see to it that the thought does not slip into you that God, in order to appear in whatever form He wishes, changes His nature. God is immutable, God is unchangeable, not only the Father, but the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The very Word God is immutable, just as the God with whom He is God. Think of nothing detrimental in any person, nothing changeable. For God is the Father of lights, with whom there is no change or shadow of turning. "If, therefore, He is immutable," you ask, "What is that form in which He appeared as He wished, to whom He wished, by walking, speaking, or even showing Himself to corporeal eyes?" You ask me what substance God makes His presence from, as if I could now explain from what He made the world, from what He made heaven, from what He made the earth, from what He made you. "Now I see," you respond, "from the slime." Behold yourself from the slime. Whence the slime? You answer: "From the earth." But I think not from that earth which another made, but from that earth which He made who made heaven and earth. Wherefore, from what is that earth itself? From what heaven and earth? He spoke, and they were made. Well, you answer excellently. You recognize: He spoke, and they were made. I seek nothing more. But how, when you say: He spoke, and they were made, I seek nothing more; so you should seek nothing more when I say: He willed, and He appeared. He appeared as He judged fitting; He concealed as He existed.
Because, children, we will see him just as he is.
Our true affection, our love, our devotion, may it surge with that desire with which Moses surged, who said to Him whom he saw: "Show me yourself." If we thus seek this, we are His children. For we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. Not as He appeared by the oak of Mamre, not as He appeared to Moses, that we might still say to Him: "Show us yourself," but we shall see Him as He is. By what merit? Because we are children of God. And this not by our own merits, but by the grace of His mercy. For God, you have generously separated the rain for your inheritance. And it was weakened, not by presuming to see what it does not see, but by believing what it desires to see. You, truly, have perfected it. Therefore, His inheritance being perfected, His children shall see Him as He is. But what did the Lord say about the children? "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God."
Let us seek peacefully.
Therefore, concerning such hidden and very difficult questions, if we understand less, let us seek peacefully. Let one not be inflated against another for the sake of another. For if you have bitter zeal and contentions are among you, that wisdom is not descending from above, but earthly, natural, demonic. Therefore, we are sons of God and let it be known that we are His sons, and we will not be known unless we have been peaceful. For we will not have the means to see God, if by contending among ourselves we have extinguished our own eye.
God wanted you to be a lover of good.
Pay attention to what he says, why I speak fearing and trembling. Pursue peace with all and holiness, without which no one shall see God. How did he terrify lovers? He did not terrify anyone but lovers. Did he perhaps say: Pursue peace with all and holiness, which if someone does not have, they will be cast into fire, tortured with eternal fire, given over to unwearied torturers? These things are true, and he did not say this. He wanted you to be a lover of good, not a fearer of evil, and from that very thing which you desired he terrified you. You will see God. Therefore do you despise this, therefore do you quarrel, therefore do you stir up conflicts? Pursue peace with all and holiness, without which no one shall see God. How foolish would it be for two wanting to see the rising sun, if they quarreled among themselves about from which direction it would rise and how it could be seen, and if a dispute arose between them, they fought, and by fighting they struck each other, by striking extinguished their own eyes, so that they could not see that rising? Therefore, so that we may see God, let us cleanse our hearts with faith, heal them with charity, strengthen them with peace, because this very thing, from which we love each other, is already from Him whom we desire to see.