Sermon 229O

Sermon 229/O

TREATISE OF THE SABBATH OF THE OCTAVE OF HOLY EASTER

Peter, by the gift of God, healthily wept for his fault.

You heard the confession of the Apostle Peter when the Lord questioned, whose denial you had heard when the maid frightened him. For it was said to the one presuming: "You will deny me"; it was said to the one loving: "Do you love me?" For the Apostle Peter wavered, presuming upon his own strength of mind. Long ago the Psalm had said: "Those who trust in their own strength..." Thus Peter became like the one about whom it is sung in the Psalms: "I said in my abundance: I shall never be moved." In his abundance he had said to Christ: "With you until death"; in his abundance he had said: "I shall never be moved." However, the Lord, as a skillful physician, knew better what was happening in the frail than did the frail themselves. Physicians do the same in the illnesses of bodies, as the Lord can also in the illnesses of souls. For what do you think, I ask you, should the sick wait to hear from the doctor what is happening to them? They can perceive the pains they suffer; but whether they are dangerous, and what causes they have, whether they can escape them or not, the doctor inspects the vein and tells the sick what is happening within them. Therefore, when the Lord said to the blessed Peter, "You will deny me three times," he touched the vein of his heart. Behold, what the physician predicted happened, and what the frail presumed was found false. For in the same Psalm the Holy Spirit follows with: "I said in my abundance: I shall never be moved," as if presuming upon his own strength of mind. Immediately he added: "O Lord, in thy favor thou hast made my mountain strong. Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled." What did he say? What I had, I had from you, but I believed it was from myself. You hid your face; you took away what you had given; and I was troubled. I found who I was, because you had withdrawn. Therefore, the Lord deserted Peter for a time, to make him healthily humble: however, when he looked at him, then he wept. Thus you have it in the Gospel: after he denied him three times, and what the Lord had predicted was fulfilled, what is written? "The Lord looked at him, and Peter remembered." If the Lord had not looked at him, Peter would have forgotten everything. The Lord looked at him, and Peter remembered, because Jesus had said to him: "Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly. Therefore, Peter needed the baptism of tears to wash away the sin of denial, but where would he have this from, unless the Lord also gave it? For this reason, the Apostle Paul, when admonishing the people on how they should deal with those holding different views, said: "Correcting those who are in opposition in gentleness, if God perhaps may give them repentance." Therefore, repentance is also a gift of God. The hard heart of the proud does not soften to repentance unless it is watered by God's grace.

It was fitting that the threefold confession should erase the threefold denial.

Now, therefore, after the resurrection of the Lord, Peter is questioned: a confession is elicited, a passion is predicted; he is found in love, strengthened in virtue. The Lord says to him already after the resurrection: Peter, do you love me more than these? You who denied me, do you love me? It is now sufficient for you: you see alive the one whom you saw dying, when you feared death. Behold, I live, behold, I am: why did you fear to die? When you denied me, certainly you did not lose me. So, do you love me? because I am. And he: Lord, indeed, you know that I love you. Why do you ask me what you know? You knew, when you predicted to me that I would deny you. What I did not know in myself, you knew: and what I know, do you not know? For I see in my heart that I love you, but you see it too; for you did not see the present love, who saw the future fear. And again the Lord knows, and asks; and again Peter responds the same to the one asking the same. And the Lord asks a third time, so that a threefold confession may erase a threefold denial. Let us rejoice with the Apostle: He was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.

Feed the sheep, but remember that they are mine.

Arm yourself for better and greater things; it is said to him: Feed my sheep; where certainly he was going to be endangered in the flesh, to be glorified in the spirit. For by feeding the sheep of Christ, how much he was going to suffer for the name of Christ! Feed my sheep, feed my lambs. For what are you going to offer me if you love me? The chief Shepherd appoints Peter as the shepherd to feed the sheep of Christ, not his own. For indeed some, who wanted to be learned of the Apostles, are called back by the Apostles themselves to the full understanding. For the sheep were of Christ, and they desired to be of men; and others said: I am of Paul, I am indeed of Apollo, but I am of Cephas. There were sheep there who recognized the Lord: I, however, belong to Christ. But Paul, knowing that Christ entrusted his sheep to the Apostles, not those of men, rejected such lordship over himself; he confesses that he is not the Lord, so that he may be with the Lord. Was Paul crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul? You are his sheep, do you not know whose sheep you are? Read the character in which you were sealed. Feed my sheep. Why? Because you love me, because you cherish me, I entrust my sheep to you; feed them, but remember they are mine. However, the leaders of heresies want to make their own sheep, which are Christ's; but still, whether they wish it or not, they are compelled to impose the character of Christ. They make their own special flock and inscribe in the name of the Lord. But what does the divine Scripture say to such in the Songs of Songs? For the bridegroom calls the bride the Church, and says: Unless you know yourself, O beautiful among women. What does it mean: Beautiful among women? Catholic among heresies. Behold how he threatens. Unless you know yourself, whose you are, what you believe, to whom you belong, how far and wide you are spread, by whose blood you were redeemed; unless you know yourself, O beautiful among women, unless you know yourself, I cast you out, go you away. What does it mean: go you away? What John says in his epistle: They went out from us, but they were not of us. Go away in the footsteps of the flocks; not in the footsteps of the shepherd, but in the footsteps of the flocks; following the footprints of men, not of Christ. And feed your goats; not, like Peter, my sheep. And where do you feed your goats? In the tabernacles of the shepherds; divided in the tabernacles of the shepherds, not in the tabernacle of the shepherd. I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.

Augustine announces that one of the four Eunomians has become a Catholic.

I announce therefore to your Charity, that yesterday we were not severe in vain; by the severity of discipline we gained profit. One of those four today anathematized the heresy of the Arians and Eunomians along with Arius and Eunomius himself, and became Catholic. Therefore, whom we showed yesterday as to be avoided, today we show as to be loved. Therefore, I commend him to you, so that you may see him now with joy, not suspicion. I also commend that you pray for the others.