Sermon 295
SERMO 295
On the Natal Day of the Apostles Peter and Paul
The rock upon which the Church was built is Christ himself.
This day has been consecrated for us by the passion of the most blessed apostles Peter and Paul. We do not speak of some obscure martyrs. Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. These martyrs saw what they preached, following righteousness, confessing the truth, and dying for the truth. Blessed Peter, the first of the Apostles, a fervent lover of Christ, who deserved to hear: And I say to you, that you are Peter. For he had said: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Christ to him: And I say to you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church. Upon this rock I will build the faith which you confess. Upon this which you said: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, I will build my Church. For you are Peter. From the rock Peter, not from Peter the rock. Thus from the rock Peter, just as from Christ Christian. Do you want to know from what rock Peter is called? Hear Paul: For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers; the Apostle of Christ says: I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ. Behold whence Peter.
The keys of the kingdom of heaven were given to Peter bearing the person of the Church. They were given to one because of the unity of the Church. Christ first resurrects, then the Church looses.
The Lord Jesus chose His disciples before His passion, as you know, whom He called Apostles. Among these, almost everywhere, Peter alone deserved to bear the person of the whole Church. On account of this person, which he alone bore of the whole Church, he deserved to hear: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven." For these keys were received not by one man, but by the unity of the Church. Hence, therefore, Peter’s excellence is proclaimed, because he bore the figure of the united Church and its totality when it was said to him: "I give to you what has been given to all." For, that you may know that the Church received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, listen to what the Lord says to all His Apostles in another place. "Receive the Holy Spirit." And immediately: "If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained." This pertains to the keys about which it was said: "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." But this He said to Peter. That you may know that Peter was then carrying the person of the entire Church, hear what was said to him and what is said to all the faithful saints: "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, for it is written, 'In the testimony of two or three witnesses, every word shall stand.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the Church. If he refuses to listen even to the Church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." The dove binds, the dove looses; the building upon the rock binds and looses.
Let those who are bound fear, let those who are free fear. Those who are free, fear lest they be bound; those who are bound, pray that they may be freed. Each one is constrained by the chains of their own sins: and outside this Church, nothing is loosened. To the one who has been dead for four days, it is said: Lazarus, come forth! And he came forth from the tomb, bound hand and foot with grave clothes. The Lord awakens, so that the dead may come forth from the tomb; if He touches the heart, so that the confession of sin may come forth. But it is still tied a little. Therefore the Lord, after Lazarus came forth from the tomb, said to His disciples, to whom He had said: Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven: Loose him, and let him go. He awakens by Himself, He loosens by His disciples.
The strength and weakness of the Church were figured in Peter.
Therefore, the strength of the Church is especially commended in Peter; because he followed the Lord going to His passion: and a certain weakness was noted; because when questioned by a maidservant, he denied the Lord. Behold, that lover suddenly became a denier. He found himself, who had presumed of himself. For he had said, as you know: Lord, I will be with you unto death: and if it is necessary that I die, I will lay down my life for you. And the Lord to the presumptuous one: Will you lay down your life for me? Truly I say to you, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times. What the physician predicted happened: it could not happen what the sick man presumed. But what? Immediately the Lord looked at him. Thus it is written, thus the Gospel speaks: The Lord looked at him, and he went outside, and wept bitterly. He went outside: this means, to confess. He wept bitterly, who knew how to love. Sweetness followed in love, whose bitterness had preceded in sorrow.
The sheep are entrusted by Christ to Peter, signifying the unity of the Church. Why Peter is asked three times about his love.
Rightly also after the resurrection, the Lord entrusted his sheep to Peter to be fed. For it was not only among the disciples that he deserved to feed the Lord's sheep: but when Christ speaks to one, unity is commended; and to Peter first, because Peter is first among the Apostles. "Simon, son of John," said the Lord, "do you love me?" He answered, "I love you." And asked again, he again answered. And asked a third time, and as if he were not believed, he was saddened. But how could he not be believed by the one who sees his heart? Finally, after that sadness, he answered thus: "Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you. For you who know all things do not know this one thing.” Do not be sad, Apostle; answer once, answer again, answer a third time. Let confession triumph three times in love, because presumption was conquered three times in fear. What you bound three times must be loosed three times. Loose through love what you had bound through fear. And yet the Lord entrusted his sheep to Peter once, and again, and a third time.
Against the Donatists, dividers of the Lord's flock.
Listen, my brothers: "Feed," He said, "my lambs, feed my sheep. Feed my sheep:" did He say: Yours? "Feed, good servant, the Lord's sheep, having the Lord's mark. For has Paul been crucified for you? or have you been baptized in the name of Peter and Paul? Therefore feed His sheep, washed by His Baptism, marked by His name, redeemed by His blood: "Feed," He said, "my sheep." For heretical wicked and runaway servants, dividing among themselves what they did not purchase, and making from stolen goods their own wealth, seem to themselves to be feeding their own sheep. For what else is it, I ask you, except: If I baptize you, you will be unclean? If you do not have my Baptism, you will not be cleansed? Have you not heard: Cursed is everyone who puts his hope in man? Therefore, beloved, those whom Peter baptized are Christ’s sheep, and those whom Judas baptized are Christ’s sheep. For see what the bridegroom says to his beloved in the Song of Songs, when the bride said to him: "Tell me, whom my soul loves, where you pasture, where you lie down at noon; lest I become like one who is veiled, over the flocks of your companions." Tell me, he said, where you pasture, where you lie down at noon, in the brightness of truth, in the fervor of charity. Why are you afraid, O beloved? What are you afraid of? "Lest I become," he said, "like one who is veiled," that is, like one who is obscure, like one who is not the Church; because the Church is not veiled: For the city set on a hill cannot be hidden. And wandering I may fall, not among your flock, but among the flocks of your companions. Even heretics are called companions. They went out from us: they approached the one table with us, before they went out. Therefore, what is answered to her? Unless you know yourself: the bridegroom says, answering her who asks: Unless you know yourself, O beautiful among women. O true among the heresies, unless you know yourself: because so much has been predicted about you: In your seed all nations will be blessed: God of gods, the Lord has spoken, and called the earth, from the rising of the sun to its setting: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession: their voice went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world: these testimonies have been predicted about you. Unless therefore you know yourself, go out. For I do not cast you out, that those who remain may say of you: They went out from us. Go out in the tracks of the flocks: not of the flock, of which it was said: There will be one flock and one shepherd. Go out in the tracks of the flocks, and feed your kids: not as Peter, my sheep. For these sheep entrusted to him, Peter deserved to be crowned with martyrdom, which by today’s solemnity he deserved to be celebrated throughout the world.
Paul, from persecutor to preacher of Christ.
Let Paul come from Saul, the lamb from the wolf; first an enemy, later an apostle; first a persecutor, later a preacher. Let him come, let him receive letters from the chiefs of the priests, so that wherever he finds Christians, he may bring them bound to punishment. Let him receive, receive, proceed, go, pant for slaughter, thirst for blood: He who dwells in the heavens will laugh at him. For he was going, as it is written: Breathing out slaughter, and was approaching Damascus. Then the Lord from heaven: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? I am here, I am there: here the head, there the body. Therefore let us not wonder, brothers, we belong to the body of Christ. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. You harm yourself: for my Church grows through persecutions. But he, trembling and astonished, said: Lord, who are you? And he: I am Jesus the Nazarene whom you persecute. Immediately transformed, he awaits the command: he sets aside envy, prepares for obedience. He is told what to do. And before Paul is baptized, the Lord speaks to Ananias: Go to that street, to that man named Saul, baptize him; for he is a chosen vessel for me. A vessel must carry something, a vessel must not be empty. The vessel is to be filled: with what, if not grace? But Ananias answered our Lord Jesus Christ: Lord, I have heard that this man has done much evil to your saints. And now he carries letters from the chief priests, so that wherever he finds men of this way, he may bring them bound. And the Lord to him: I will show him what he must suffer for my name's sake. Ananias trembled, at the name of Saul heard; a weak sheep trembling at the fame of the wolf, even under the shepherd’s hand.
Paul and Peter suffered for Christ.
Behold, the Lord showed him what he must suffer for His name. Afterwards, He trained him in labor. He was in chains, he was in beatings, he was in prisons, he was in shipwrecks. He procured suffering for him: He led him to this day. One day of passion for the two Apostles. But even those two were one: although they suffered on different days, they were one. Peter preceded, Paul followed. First Saul, later Paul: because first proud, later humble. Saul from Saul the persecutor of holy David. The persecutor was cast down, the preacher was raised up. He changed his name from pride to humility. For Paul means small. Look at your love’s words: don't we say every day, “After a little while I will see you,” or “In a little while I will do this or that?” Therefore, what is Paul? Ask him himself. “I am,” he says, “the least of the Apostles.”
The days of the martyrs are celebrated for this reason, that it may delight to imitate them.
We celebrate a feast day, consecrated for us by the blood of the Apostles. Let us love their faith, life, labors, sufferings, confessions, preachings. For we make progress by loving; not by celebrating these things for carnal joy. For what do the martyrs seek from us? They have less if they still seek the praises of men. If they still seek the praises of men, they have not yet conquered. But if they have conquered, they seek nothing from us for their own sake; but they seek for our own sake. Therefore, let our path be directed in the sight of the Lord. It was narrow, thorny, hard: but by such many and so many passing through, it has become smooth. The Lord Himself passed first, the fearless Apostles passed, afterward the martyrs, children, women, maidens. But who in them? He who said: Without me you can do nothing.