Sermon 299B

Peter first in all things.

So then, just as the Lord was now entrusting His sheep to him, He foretold to him the suffering which we celebrate today. When you were younger, He said, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you grow old, another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go. This He said signifying by what death he would glorify God. It happened, Peter denied, Peter wept, Peter washed away his denial with tears. Christ rose again, Peter was asked about his love: he received the sheep entrusted to him, not his own, but Christ’s. For He did not say to him: Feed your sheep, but: Feed My sheep; feed those whom I bought, because I also redeemed you. Then the Lord Christ conversed with His disciples for forty days; a cloud received Him in their sight, and He ascended into heaven. They led Him ascending with their eyes: afterwards they sat in the city, on the fiftieth day they received the Holy Spirit, and were filled; at that moment they learned the languages of all nations, and began to speak them, to the amazement and astonishment of those who had killed Christ. Then that denier, now this lover, first among all, because he was first in all things, rushed to the Jews, and began to proclaim Christ to the murderers of Christ; he sowed the faith of Christ among them, and persuaded many of them to die for Christ, by whom he had been afraid to be killed.

Psalm 18 had been sung.

Where is it said, where is it foretold, that the Apostles of Christ would speak with the tongues of all nations? The heavens declare the glory of God: understand the heavens as those who bear God; and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands, that is, the glory of God. These are the heavens. Day unto day pours forth speech, and night unto night declares knowledge. Let Christ not be silent by day or by night. Still, consider that the day passes speech to the day: Christ to the disciples, light to the lights. And night unto night declared knowledge: where Christ was, Judas declared to the Jews. Christ was arrested, Christ was killed, death was killed in Christ; because Christ rose, and ascended into heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit which he had promised, and they were filled with it as with new wine, new wineskins. For the Lord had said: No one puts new wine into old wineskins. And you should know this was fulfilled. The Jews, astonished and some almost mocking, said, not knowing what they said: These men are full of new wine. Therefore, with the granting, dictating, and teaching of the Holy Spirit, they spoke in tongues which they had not learned. In their own country, they had learned one, perhaps two; however, they spoke, shall we say, in three tongues, four, five, six? Why do you seek a number? There is no speech nor language where their voices are not heard; just now you heard the psalm being sung. And they were killed, but their words were written. What did they do, who killed them? Their sound went out into all the earth. We in Africa were set, far from there: where there were no speech nor languages, where their voices were not heard. We were far from there, we lay far off, we slept far off; but that we might be awakened from sleep, their sound went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. Arise, you who sleep, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light who said to Peter: Do you love me? Who is sufficient to say worthy things about Peter? Who is sufficient to speak about Peter? Without insult, blessed Peter, allow me to be silent about you for a little while, whose sound awakened me. My speech cannot rest solely on you: you did not suffer alone today: you are indeed the first of the Apostles, but the last one deserved to be your companion.

Name, crime. From Saul named Saulus.

Let the blessed Paul come forth to us, and let us say something briefly about Paul; indeed, he wished to be called Paul for this reason, for he was previously called Saul. First Saul, then Paul; because he was proud before, and humble afterward. Recall his first name, and in it you recognize the crime of the persecutor. Saul was named after Saul. Saul, from whom Saul was named, persecuted holy David, in whom the holy David was a figure of Christ to come from the seed of David through the Virgin Mary. Saul fulfilled the role of Saul when he persecuted Christians. He was an extremely fierce persecutor: when the blessed Stephen was stoned, he kept the garments of those who stoned him, so as to stone in the hands of all. After the passion of the most blessed Stephen, the brothers who were in Jerusalem were scattered; and because they were lights, they burned with the Spirit of God; wherever they went, they ignited. Then Saul, seeing the Gospel of Christ grow, was filled with the most bitter zeal: he received letters from the leaders and went to bring back bound for punishment those whom he found confessing the name of Christ; and he went breathing out slaughter, thirsting for blood. Thus, as he went, thirsting for blood, seeking to bring back and kill whomever he might find, just as he was a persecutor, he heard a voice from heaven. My brothers, what had he deserved of good? What had he not deserved of evil? And yet with one voice from heaven, the persecutor was struck down, the preacher was raised up.

The Latin word: I will see you shortly. It is not an injustice to Paul, where the grace of Christ is commended. It had been read from 2 Timothy 4:9 and following. The merits of Paul, the gifts of God.

Behold Paul after Saul: behold now he preaches, behold now he indicates to us what he was and what he is. "I," he says, "am the least of the Apostles." If the least, rightly called Paul. Recall the Latin word: "paulum" means small. Thus certainly we speak: After a little while I shall see you. Therefore Paul confesses himself to be the least, just as the hem of the Lord's garment, which the feeble woman touched. Certainly, she who suffered the issue of blood represented the Church of the Gentiles; to which Gentiles Paul was sent, both the least and the latest: because a hem is both the smallest part of the garment and the latest. Paul confessed both about himself: and said he was the least, and the latest. "I am the least of the Apostles," he said: "I am the last of the Apostles," he said. We do not do him an injury, he said it. And what else did he say? Let him say it, lest we seem to do him an injury; although in no way is there any injury to Paul, where the grace of Christ is commended. Nonetheless, brothers, let us hear him. "I am," he says, "the least of the Apostles, who am not worthy to be called an Apostle." Behold what he was: "who am not worthy to be called an Apostle." Why? "Because I persecuted the Church of God." And how are you an Apostle? "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace in me was not in vain, but I labored more than all of them." I ask you, Saint Paul, not understanding people think Saul is still speaking: "I labored more than all of them," it seems to be said almost arrogantly. However, it is truly said: but what follows? When he saw that he said something that might elevate him to a certain height, he says, "I labored more than all of them: yet not I, but the grace of God with me." Humility acknowledged itself, weakness trembled, perfect charity confessed the gift of God. So speak now as full of grace, as a vessel of election, as made what you were not worthy, speak, write to Timothy, and announce this day. "For I," he says, "am already being poured out." It was just read from the epistle of Paul, here what I am now saying was read: "For I," he says, "am already being poured out. The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day." He will reward merits, who grants merits. He became an Apostle, who was not worthy: and will he not be crowned worthy? For then, when he received grace, not due but gratuitous: "I am," he says, "not worthy to be called an Apostle, but by the grace of God, I am what I am." But now he demands what is due: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, the crown of righteousness is due to me." And to know that it is due: "Which the Lord will award to me." He did not say, gives to me, or, grants to me, but, will award to me the righteous judge on that day. The merciful God granted me, the righteous God will award to me. I see, blessed Paul, to whom the crown is due, your merits; but looking at what you were, I recognize, the very merits are God's gifts. You said: "I have fought the good fight;" but you yourself said: "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Therefore, you fought the good fight, but by Christ's gift, you conquered. You said: "I have finished the course;" but you yourself said, "It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy." You said: "I have kept the faith;" but you yourself said: "I obtained mercy, that I might be faithful." We see, therefore, that your merits are God's gifts, and thus we rejoice in your crown. And if I have been unequal to the praises of the blessed Apostles, whose solemnity we celebrate, yet I have not failed the expectation of your charity, as much as their crowner has deigned.