Sermon 229S

Sermon 229/S

FROM THE SERMONS OF THE PASCHAL OCTAVE

FRAGMENT

The sea and dry land are allegorically described.

We see the land, we see the sea: they are the works of God; these are subject to our eyes, those are subject to our intellects; these are known to our flesh, those are known to our minds. What is the dry land in the Church? Every soul thirsting for God is called the dry land. For the waters were separated, and dry land appeared. This sea is the world and the evil waters are bitter; they were separated and gathered into one congregation, that is, predestined for one end, to which God directs all those whom He separates from the saints. But God separates; for man cannot separate these, and the dry land appears by separation. Place two men together: one desires a spectacle, the other the church. Joined in body, they are separated in desires. The former belongs to the bitter water, the latter appears as dry land. How do we know that this land, which signifies men desiring good, is dry? The Psalm says to God: "My soul is like a waterless land to You." My soul has thirsted for You. It thirsts, it is dry; it is separated from the waters of the sea. Let it not consider that it is not yet separated in body; desire has already caused the separation. Some desire God, others desire the world. What then does the dry land thirst for? Rain from heaven, rain from the clouds, rain from the Scriptures, rain from the firmament. When it desires rain, it desires sweet water separated from bitter water. But God knows that the dry land desires, for it is hidden and in secret. The desires of the sea, that is, secular desires, are apparent. If anyone desires money, they are moved towards that money, they want to acquire it; since money is a visible thing, its desire is apparent. But he who desires God, his desire is hidden; for God, whom he desires, is hidden; He is inward, a hidden thing. Indeed, he thirsts, and he is dry; but he appears to the eyes of God. And he did not omit the fruit, he immediately said: "Let the land sprout a plant of fodder." Let the land sprout on the very day it became dry. That dry land could not be without fruit for long. Let us also hear the word of God so that the land may sprout a plant of fodder, that is, good works of mercy, of which Isaiah says: "Share your bread with the hungry, and bring the needy without shelter into your house," and so on. Therefore, the firmament is the Scripture of God; the luminaries in the firmament are the understanding of the Scriptures; the lights in heaven are the intellect in the Scriptures. Do you wish to attain the heavenly light? First, be the land that gives fruits, that is, good works of mercy precede; for after the works of mercy comes the illumination of that light which you desire.