Sermon 286
SERMO 286
On the Birthday of the Martyrs Protasius and Gervasius.
Martyrs in Greek, in Latin Witnesses. A witness of Christ unto death is not everyone who believes in Him. Three ranks of those who believe.
Martyrs, the name is Greek, but now custom uses this name instead of the Latin: in Latin they are called Witnesses. Therefore there are true martyrs, and there are false ones: because there are true witnesses, and there are false ones. But Scripture says: A false witness will not go unpunished. If a false witness will not be without penalty, neither will a true witness be without a crown. And indeed, it was easy to give testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ and the truth, because He is God; but to do so unto death, this was a great work. There were some, whom the Gospel notes, chiefs of the Jews, who believed in the Lord Jesus: but on account of the Jews, it says, they did not dare to confess publicly. And immediately a note was added to this statement; for the Evangelist follows by saying: For they loved the glory of men more than that of God. Therefore, there were those who were ashamed to confess Christ before men: but there were others, now better, who were not ashamed to confess Christ before men, but could not confess Him unto death. For these are gifts of God: and sometimes they are nourished in the soul gradually.
First, observe and compare these three witnesses among themselves - one who believes in Christ and barely whispers Christ timidly; another who believes in Christ and publicly confesses Christ; a third who believes in Christ and is prepared to die for Christ in his confession. The first one is so weak that shame overcomes him, not fear: the second already has a firm countenance, but not yet unto blood: the third, entirely, so that nothing more remains. For he fulfills what is written: Fight for the truth unto death.
Peter, before the death of the Lord, was weaker than some martyrs and girls. Peter dies by denying life.
What do we say about Peter? He preached Christ, he was sent, he evangelized even before the Lord's passion. For we know the Apostles were sent to preach the Gospel: he was sent and he preached. How much he surpassed those Jews who were afraid to confess publicly! But still, he was not yet like Protasius and Gervasius. He was already an Apostle, he was first, he was close to the Lord. It was said to him: You are Peter, but he was not yet Protasius or Gervasius, he was not yet Stephen, he was not yet the boy Nemesianus; Peter was not yet like that; he was not yet as certain women, as girls, as Crispina, as Agnes; Peter was not yet what these women's frailty was.
I praise Peter: but first I blush for Peter. How prompt a soul! but unknowing of its own measure. For indeed if he were not prompt, he would not have said to the Savior, "I will die for you." Even if I ought to die with you, I will not deny you. But the physician who knew how to inspect the vein of the heart foretold the danger of the attack. "You," he said, "lay down your life for me? Recognize the order. I lay down first. You lay down your life for me? Truly, I say to you, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times." The physician foretold what the patient did not know. Therefore, the patient found himself having falsely presumed when he was asked: "Are you one of them?" The maid who asked was the fever. Behold, the fever has come, behold, it clings: what shall I say? Behold, Peter is in peril, behold, Peter is dying. For what is dying but to deny life? He denied Christ, he denied life, he died. But He who raises the dead, the Lord looked at him, and he wept bitterly. By denying he perished, by weeping he rose again. And first the Lord died for him, as was fitting: and afterward, Peter died for the Lord, as the order itself required: and the martyrs followed. The road was first thorny, and crushed by the feet of the Apostles, made smoother for those who followed.
Martyrs assert Christ more in death than in life. Their death is precious.
The earth is filled with the blood of martyrs as with seed, and from that seed rose the crop of the Church. The dead have asserted Christ more than the living. Today they assert, today they preach: the tongue is silent, the deeds resound. They were held, bound, enclosed, brought forth, tormented, burnt, stoned, struck, thrown to beasts. In all their deaths, they were mocked as worthless: but precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. Then it was precious only in the sight of the Lord, now also in our sight. For when it was a disgrace to be a Christian, the death of the saints was despised in the sight of men: they were detested, held in execration; they were cast out as a curse, "Thus may you die, thus may you be crucified, thus may you be burned." Now who of the faithful does not long for these curses?
The discovery of Protasius and Gervasius illuminated by miracles.
We therefore celebrate today, brothers, the memory of the holy martyrs Protasius and Gervasius placed in this location in Milan. Not the day on which they were placed here, but today we celebrate the day on which their precious death was discovered in the sight of the Lord through Ambrose, the bishop, a man of God: I was also a witness to the great glory of the martyrs at that time. I was there, I was in Milan, I knew the miracles that were done, with God attesting to the precious deaths of his saints: so that through those miracles, that death was now precious not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of men. A very well-known blind man of the entire city was illuminated, he ran, had himself brought there, and returned without a guide. We have not yet heard that he died: perhaps he still lives. In that very basilica where their bodies are, he vowed to serve his whole life. We rejoiced to see him, left him serving.
Immortality is given not to all through the martyrs, but to their imitators. The sick person is not heard according to his will, but according to his health.
God does not cease to bear witness and knows how He ought to commend His own miracles. He knows how to make them magnificent; He knows how to ensure they do not become devalued. He does not grant health to everyone through martyrs, but He promises immortality to all who imitate the martyrs. Let him who does not receive what is not given to everyone not seek it, nor murmur against Him because He does not give it, so that He may give what He promised at the end. For even those who are healed now will eventually die after some time; but those who rise at the end will live with Christ.
The head has gone ahead, it awaits the members to follow: the whole body will be completed, Christ and the Church. There he counts us among the written: and in this life, he grants what is expedient. For he knows what is expedient for his children. Therefore he says, "If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children; how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?" What good things? Surely not temporal ones? He gives those too; but he also gives them to the faithless. He gives those as well; but he also gives them to the impious, and even to his blasphemers. Let us seek goods that are not common to us with the wicked. The Father knows how to give those good things to his children. Now a son asks him for bodily health: and he does not give it, he still chastises. But does the father, when he chastises, not provide? He brings forth the scourge, but consider what kind of inheritance he is preparing. He chastises, he says, every son whom he receives. For whom the Lord loves, he corrects. Therefore I say this, my brothers, so that you may not be saddened when you ask and do not receive, and think that God does not have you in his sight if he does not grant your will for a time. For a physician does not always listen to the will of the sick, even though he undoubtedly seeks and desires his health. He does not give what is asked: but what is not asked, he procures. He asks for a cold drink, he does not give it. Has he become cruel, who came to heal? It is of the art, not of cruelty. He does not give what delights at the moment: so that the healthy can have everything, some things are denied to the not yet healthy.
More has been granted to the martyrs and the Maccabees than to the three youths freed from the fire.
Consider the promises of God. Do you think that to these very martyrs He gave everything that they asked for? No. Many desired to be released, and to be released with some miracle, just as the three youths were released from the furnace. What was the voice of King Nebuchadnezzar like? Because, he said, they trusted in Him and changed the word of the king. What testimony does he give, who was trying to kill them? He wanted to burn those whom he later believed through. If they had died in the fire, they would have been crowned secretly, it would not have benefited him. Therefore, they were preserved for a time, so that the unbeliever might believe, and praise God, who had condemned them. He was the God of the three youths, who was the God of the Maccabees. He delivered those from the fire, he made these die in the fire. Was He changed? Did He love those more than these? A greater crown was given to the Maccabees. Surely those escaped the fires, but they were preserved for the dangers of this world: these in the fires ended all dangers. No more temptation remained, but only the crowning. Thus the Maccabees received more.
Shake off your faith, bring forth the eyes of your heart, do not rely on the human ones: for you have others inside, which the Lord has made for you, who has opened the eyes of your heart when He gave you faith. Question those eyes: who received more, the Maccabees or the three boys? I ask about faith. If I ask the lovers of this world: I wanted to be among the three boys, says the weak soul to me. Be ashamed before the mother of the Maccabees, who wanted her sons to die before her because she knew they would not die.
Books about the miracles of the martyrs read in the Church. Martyrdom in bed.
I sometimes recall the little books of the martyrs' miracles, which are read in your presence. A few days ago, a certain little book was read, wherein it was said of a certain sick woman who was being tormented by very sharp pains, that when she had said, "I cannot bear it," the martyr himself who had come to heal her said to her: "What if you had to endure martyrdom?" Many, therefore, undergo martyrdom in bed: certainly many. There is a certain persecution by Satan, more hidden and cunning than there was then. A faithful person lies in bed, is tormented by pains, prays, and is not heard: rather, they are heard, but are tested, but are exercised, but, in order to be received as a son, are scourged. Therefore, when they are tormented by pains, the temptation of the tongue comes, either a certain small woman or a man approaches the bed— if they can be called a man— and says to the sick person, "Make this binding, and you will be well: let that incantation be applied, and you will be well. This person and that person, ask, they were made well by it." They do not yield, do not obey, do not incline the heart; yet they struggle. They do not have strength, and they conquer the devil. They become a martyr in bed, crowned by Him who hung on the wood for them.