Sermon 260A
SERMON 260/A
ON THE OCTAVE OF EASTER - TO THE INFANTS
A new life begins in the sacrament, it will be perfected in heaven.
My address is to you, newly born infants, little ones in Christ, new offspring of the Church, the grace of the father, the fertility of the mother, a devout sprout, a new swarm, the flower of our honor and the fruit of our labor, my joy and my crown, all who stand in the Lord. I speak to you with Apostolic words: Behold, the night has passed, and the day has drawn near; cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light; walk honorably as in the day: not in revelries and drunkenness, not in lewdness and debauchery, not in strife and jealousy; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts, so that you may also put on life, whom you have clothed in the sacrament. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no Jew nor Greek, there is no slave nor free, there is no male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. This, indeed, is the power of the sacrament: for the sacrament is of new life, which in this time begins with the remission of all past sins, but it will be perfected in the resurrection of the dead. For you have been buried with Christ through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, so you too may walk in newness of life. But you walk now by faith, while in this mortal body you are far from the Lord; but Christ Jesus himself, who deigned to become one of us, is the sure way for you to whom you strive. For he has preserved great sweetness for those who fear him, and he will reveal and perfect it for those who hope in him, when we receive in reality what we now have accepted in hope. 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. He himself promised this in the Gospel: He who loves me, he said, keeps my commandments. And he who loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him. Surely those to whom he spoke saw him, but in the form of a servant, in which the Father is greater, not in the form of God, in which he is equal to the Father. He showed this to those who feared, he preserved that for those who hoped; he appeared in this to those who were wandering, he called those who would dwell with him to that; he laid this before those who were walking, he promised that to those who would reach it.
Baptism is not repeated in a heretic or apostate.
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. I beseech you to walk worthily of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility of mind and gentleness, bearing with one another in love, earnestly striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. For what manner of thing is it, from which we have received such a pledge? But there are some who have put on Christ only by the sacrament, in whom both faith and morals are barren. For many heretics too have the same sacrament of baptism, but do not have the same fruit of salvation, nor the bond of peace, having, as the Apostle says, the form of godliness but denying the power thereof, either marked by deserters or themselves also deserters, bearing the mark of a good king in condemned flesh; who say to us: If we are not faithful, why do you offer us baptism? If we are already faithful, why do you seek us? As if they do not read that Simon Magus also received baptism and yet heard from Peter: You have no part or portion in this faith. Behold, it is possible that someone may have the baptism of Christ and not have the faith or love of Christ; he may have the sacrament of holiness and yet not be counted in the lot of the saints. Nor does it matter, as far as the sacrament itself is concerned, whether someone receives the baptism of Christ where there is no unity of Christ; for even someone baptized in the Church, if he becomes a deserter from the Church, will lack the holiness of life, but will not lack the seal of the sacrament. For it is shown that he could not lose what is not given back when he returns; just as a deserter from the army lacks lawful fellowship, but does not lack the royal mark. If he then signs another with the same mark, he does not make him a companion in life, but a companion in punishment; but if he returns to legal and orderly service and the other comes too, with the royal severity appeased, pardon is granted to him who deserted, and he who comes is received: in both, the fault is corrected, in both, the punishment is remitted, in both, peace is given, in none, what was signed is repeated.
The blessings which the heretic, even if baptized, lacks, are innumerable.
Now therefore they should not say to us: What will you give us, if we already have baptism? For they speak so ignorantly that they do not even want to read what the Holy Scripture attests, that in the very Church itself, that is, in the communion of the members of Christ, many baptized in Samaria did not receive the Holy Spirit but were only baptized, until the Apostles came to them from Jerusalem; on the other hand, Cornelius, and those who were with him, deserved to receive the Holy Spirit before they received the sacrament of baptism. Thus, God taught that the sign of salvation is one thing, and salvation itself is another; that the form of piety is one thing, and the virtue of piety is another. What will you give us, they say, if we already have baptism? O sacrilegious vanity, to think so little of Christ's Church, which they do not have, that they believe they will receive nothing if they join its communion! Let the prophet Amos say to them: Woe to those who do nothing for Zion! What will I receive, he says, if I already have baptism? You will receive the Church, which you do not have; you will receive unity, which you do not have; you will receive peace, which you do not have. Or if these things seem nothing to you, fight, deserter, against your emperor who says: He who does not gather with me scatters. Fight against his Apostle, or rather even against him who spoke through the Apostle, who says: Bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Count what he has said: forbearance, love, unity of spirit, peace. The Spirit is there, the worker of all these, whom you do not have. Did you bear with one another, you who have seceded from the Church? Whom did you love, when you deserted the members of Christ? What unity do you have in sacrilegious separation? What peace in nefarious dissension? Far be it from us that these things are nothing, but you yourself are nothing without these. If you disdain to receive these in the Church, you may indeed have baptism, but you have it for greater punishment, whatever you have without these: for the baptism of Christ, which would be a supporter of your salvation with these, is a witness of your iniquity without these.
The sacrament of baptism requires a new life.
But you, holy children, members of the Catholic Church, received baptism not for another purpose, but for a different one; for you received it not for punishment, but for life; not for destruction, but for salvation; not for condemnation, but for honor. For at the same time you also received the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace; if, however, and I wish, hope, exhort, and beseech, that you may keep what you received intact, and by advancing, come to greater things. Today is the eighth day of your birth; today the seal of faith is completed in you, which among the ancient fathers was performed in the circumcision of the flesh on the eighth day of physical birth; for the shedding of mortality in that human member through which man is born to die was symbolized. Hence, the Lord Himself by rising, shedding the mortality of the flesh, and not indeed creating another but nonetheless raising the body beyond death, marked the Lord's Day in His resurrection, which is the third day after His passion, but in the number of days after the Sabbath it is the eighth, and also the first. Therefore, you too, not yet in reality but already in assured hope, because you have both the sacrament of this matter and have received the pledge of the Spirit, if you have risen with Christ, seek things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not those on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.