Sermon 258

SERMO 258

ANOTHER SERMON
WHICH HE SAID TO THE GREAT BASILICA
EADEM DIE

Christ the cornerstone and the day made by the Lord.

What we have sung to God: This is the day which the Lord has made, hence let us speak of what the Lord has given. Here the Prophetic Scripture surely wanted us to understand something. That day which is not common, not conspicuous to the eyes of the flesh! It is not that day which rises and sets but the day which could know its dawn, not its setting! Let us see what the same Psalm previously said: The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the cornerstone. By the Lord has this been done, it is marvelous in our eyes. And it continues: This is the day which the Lord has made. Let us take the beginning of this day from the cornerstone. Who is the cornerstone which the builders rejected if not the Lord Christ whom the Jewish teachers rejected? For the experts of the Law, the teachers of the Jews, rejected Him saying: This one is not from God who loosens the Sabbath. You have already said: This one is not from God who loosens the Sabbath. The stone which the builders rejected, this one has become the cornerstone. How as the cornerstone? Why is Christ called the cornerstone? Because every corner unites two walls from different angles. The Apostles came from the circumcision, they came from the people of the Jews, they also came from those crowds which preceded and followed His beast, saying what is in this same Psalm: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; from there came so many churches of which the Apostle Paul says: I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which are in Christ, but they only heard that he who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once destroyed and they glorified God in me, Jews but adhering to Christ like the Apostles, coming and believing in Christ and making one wall. The other part remained, the Church coming from the Gentiles. They found each other; peace in Christ, unity in Christ who made both one. This is the day which the Lord has made. Consider the whole day as the head and the body, the head Christ, the body the Church. This is the day which the Lord has made.

Those who are baptized are made into days out of darkness.

Recall the first condition of the world. Darkness was over the abyss, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said: Let there be light, and there was light. And God divided the light from the darkness, and the light He called day, the darkness He called night. Think of the darkness before they came to the remission of sins. Therefore, darkness was over the abyss before those sins were forgiven. But the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. They descended into the waters, the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters, the darkness of sins was dispelled, this is the day that the Lord has made. To this day the Apostle says: For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Did he say: You were darkness in the Lord? Darkness in yourselves, light in the Lord. But God called the light day, because it is by His grace that it is made. They could be darkness by themselves, but they could not be light unless the Lord had made them so. Because this is the day that the Lord has made, not the day itself, but the Lord.

Incredulous Thomas was made a believer by the Lord.

Was not Thomas a man, one of the disciples, like a man from the crowd? His fellow disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord." And he said, "Unless I touch, unless I put my finger into his side, I will not believe." The evangelists announce to you and you do not believe? The world believed them, but the disciple does not believe. Of them it was said: "Their sound has gone through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." Their words go out, they reach the far ends of the earth, the whole world believes, everyone proclaims one and he does not believe. The day the Lord made had not yet come. There was still darkness in the abyss; in the depth of the human heart, there was darkness there. Let him come, the head of this day, and say patiently, gently, not angrily because he is a doctor: "Come," he says, "come, touch this and believe." You said, "Unless I touch, unless I put my finger in, I won’t believe." Come, touch, put your finger, and do not be unbelieving but faithful. Come, put your finger. I knew your wounds, I kept my scar for you. But clearly when he put his hand in he fulfilled faith. For what is the fullness of faith? That Christ is believed not only to be a man, nor only to be God, but man and God. That is the fullness of faith, because the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Therefore, this disciple, when the scars and members of his Savior were offered to be touched, when he touched, he cried out: "My Lord and my God." He touched the man, recognized God, and touched the flesh, looked to the Word, because the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. This Word suffered, had his flesh hung on a tree; this Word suffered nails to be driven into his flesh; this Word suffered his flesh to be pierced by a lance; this Word suffered his flesh to be placed in a tomb; this Word resurrected his flesh, offered it to the sight of the disciples, and provided it for their hands to touch. They touch, they exclaim: "My Lord and my God." This is the day the Lord has made.