Sermon 299A

SERMON 299/A

TREATISE ON THE NATAL DAY OF THE APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL

A genuine birth that differs from the birth of martyrs. Peter and Paul suffered on the same day, not in the same year. Why Peter was questioned three times by Christ.

The birth of the most blessed apostles Peter and Paul has enlightened us today; not a birth that entangled them in the world, but one that delivered them from the world. Indeed, a man is born into travail through human weakness; martyrs are born to a crown through Christian love. And this day has been set before us as a celebration of their merit and an imitation of their sanctity; so that remembering the glory of the martyrs, we may love in them what those who killed them hated, and loving virtue, we may honor suffering. In virtue, merit was obtained, in suffering, the reward was restored. One day of two martyrs and two apostles: as we have received by the tradition of the Church, they did not suffer on one day, and yet they did suffer on one day. Today Peter suffered first, today Paul suffered later: passion equaled the merit, love anticipated the day; this was caused in them by Him who was in them, who suffered in them, who suffered with them, who helped those struggling, who crowned the victors. Let us therefore hear from the Gospel the merit of Peter; let us hear from the apostolic letter the merit of Paul. The Gospel has just been recited, we have just heard: The Lord said to Peter: Simon Peter, do you love me? And he said: I love you, Lord; and again the Lord: Feed my sheep. He asked the third time for the same reason he had asked twice. It pertained to Him to ask a third time, Peter was already weary of responding a third time. Peter, it is said in the Gospel, was saddened because the Lord asked him the third time, and he said: Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you. And the Lord: Feed my sheep. He who asks what he knows wishes to teach something. What therefore did the Lord wish to teach by asking Peter three times what he already knew? What do we think, brothers, if not that love should take away weakness, and that Peter should know he must confess love three times, who had denied three times through fear? The merit of Peter, which is that he fed the sheep of God; let us hear again the merit of Paul: He said to his disciple, foretelling his future suffering and removing his fear by his own example: I charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his manifestation and his kingdom. He bound him by this charge and added: preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season.

The suffering of Paul, a sacrifice to God. Whatever sweet thing this life has, it is not paradise. God is a debtor, not from our mutual agreement, but from His promise.

Hearing this, we too, according to our capacity, are considerate to those who are willing, and inconsiderate to those who are unwilling. He who offers bread to the hungry is considerate; he who forces food upon the sick is inconsiderate; to one, food is offered, to the other, it is forced; to one, the meal is pleasant, to the other, it is bitter, but love does not abandon either. Let us therefore take the merits of the Apostles as examples; let us not only not fear sufferings, but also, if necessary, endure them. Hear what the same Apostle says: For I am already being offered. Offering pertains to sacrifice; he knew his suffering to be a sacrifice to God. It was not those who killed him, but he himself offered such a sacrifice to the Father as a priest, who said, do not fear those who kill the body. The time, he says, of my departure is at hand. So, Paul, what do you hope for in that departure, you who labored for rest? The time, he says, of my departure is at hand. What have you done? What do you hope for? I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. Whence did he keep the faith, except that he was not terrified by the persecutors? Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. How wicked it is for us, then, if we, though we fear, do not keep the faith, especially to him who teaches us both to love better things, and to fear greater things! Whatever sweetness this life may have, it is not paradise, it is not heaven, it is not the kingdom of God, it is not the society of Angels, it is not the fellowship of the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. Let the heart be carried upward, let the flesh be trampled on the ground. The Lord taught us to disdain transient things and to love eternal things; he taught us, healed us, and continues to heal, because he deigns; for he did not find us healthy, but as a physician came to the sick. The cup of suffering is bitter, but it completely cures all diseases; the cup of suffering is bitter, but the physician drank it first so that the patient would not hesitate to drink it. Therefore, let this cup be drunk if he gives it who knows what to give and to whom; but if he does not wish it to be drunk, let him heal otherwise, as long as he heals. Nevertheless, let us be secure in the hands of such a great physician, entirely confident that he will apply nothing which is not beneficial to us. For the debt which Paul demanded, he claimed as if from merit. And what merit? I have finished the course, I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith. This you have done; what do you hope for? Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall award me on that day. He did not say, gives, but awards: if he awards, he owes. And had he borrowed so that he owed? He owes the crown, he awards the crown, not having become a debtor by our loan, but by his promise; for even when he crowned their merits, he crowned his own gifts.