Sermon 229B
Sermon 229/B "Ignem veni mittere in terram, et quid volo nisi ut accendatur?" (Luke 12:49). Solent homines quantam de igne deprecari; et cum ignem Dominus velit mittere in terram, quomodo melius accendetur, nisi ut accendatur in cordibus? Iste incendium non in lignis, non in stramentis, sed in cordibus nostris vult Dominus accendi, ut consumat cupiditates nostras, et caritatem augeat. Omnes enim quemadmodum accenditur in lignis ignis, sic et in cordibus nostris Spiritus sanctus accendatur. Ignis est amor Dei. "I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I wish except that it be kindled?" (Luke 12:49). People usually pray to save themselves from fire; and since the Lord wants to cast fire upon the earth, how will it better be kindled, except that it be kindled in hearts? This fire the Lord wants to ignite not in wood, not in straw, but in our hearts, so that it consumes our desires and increases love. For just as fire is kindled in wood, thus also in our hearts the Holy Spirit should be kindled. Fire is the love of God.
TREATISE ON THE HOLY EASTER SUNDAY
Live well, and you are the day which the Lord has made.
The Lord indeed made every day: but He not only made, but also makes; for so He makes every day, when He makes His sun rise upon the good and the evil, and sends rain upon the just and the unjust. Therefore, this common day, shared by the good and the bad, is not to be considered here where we heard: This is the day which the Lord has made; for He speaks of some distinguished day, and makes us intent upon some day by saying: This is the day which the Lord has made. What kind of day is this, where it is said: Let us rejoice and be glad in it? What sort of day, if not good? What sort, if not desirable, lovable, desirable, delightful, of which the holy Jeremiah spoke: And I did not desire the day of man, You know. Who then is this day, which the Lord has made? Live well, and you shall be. For the Apostle was not speaking of this day, which the sun’s rise begins and its setting ends, when he said: Let us walk honestly as in the day. Where he also says: For those who are drunk, are drunk in the night. Nobody sees people drunk at lunch; but when it happens, it pertains to the night, not to the day which the Lord has made. For as the day is in those who live piously, holily, and religiously, temperately, justly, soberly; so on the contrary in those who live impiously, luxuriously, proudly, irreligiously, without a doubt the night will be a thief: The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, for it is written. But when the Apostle recalled this testimony, turning to those to whom he had said elsewhere: You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; where the day which the Lord made was formed, turning to them, when he had said: You know, brethren, that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, he said to them: But you are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you like a thief. For you are all children of light, and children of the day; we are not of the night nor of the darkness. Therefore, this is the remembrance of our good life. When we all say with one harmonious voice, with a joyful spirit, with a concordant heart: This is the day which the Lord has made, let us agree with our sound, lest our tongue forbids us. You say today in drunkenness: This is the day which the Lord has made; do you not fear, lest it answers you: This day the Lord did not make; and that is called a good day, which luxury and wickedness make the worst day for themselves.
If the hope brings so much joy, what will it be like when we possess it?
Behold joy, my brothers, joy in your congregation, joy in psalms and hymns, joy in the memory of the passion and resurrection of Christ, joy in the hope of future life. If the hope brings us such great joy, what will it be like when we possess it? Behold these days, when we hear Alleluia, our spirit is somewhat changed. Do we not taste something of that heavenly city? If these days bring us so much joy, what will it be like when they say: Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom; when all the saints are gathered together in one; when those who did not know each other see each other; when those who knew each other recognize each other; when they will be together in such a way that a friend will never perish, an enemy will never be feared? For behold, we say: Alleluia; it is good, it is joyful, it is full of the delight of gladness and sweetness. However, if we say this always, we tire; but when it comes at a certain time of the year, with what delight it returns, with what longing it departs! Will there be such joy there, and will there be weariness there? There will not be. Perhaps someone says: And how can it be that this is always, and never tiring? If I show you something in this life that cannot be tiring, do you believe that there, everything will be like this. Weariness in food, weariness in drink, weariness in spectacle, weariness in this and that thing; but there was never weariness in health. Just as in this mortality of the flesh, in this fragility, in this weariness of the burden of the body, there could never be weariness in health, so there will never be weariness in love, immortality, eternity.