Sermon 313D

Sermon 313/D

TREATISE ON THE BIRTHDAY OF CYPRIAN

The Gospel of Mark 8:34 and following, together with John 12:25, had been read. For the festival of the martyr, a crowd of brothers and sisters had gathered.

Today we celebrate the holy solemnity of his martyr, who sent many martyrs before him by his word, and led many after him by his example. What then can we offer worthy of such a great matter to such a great one, except that he does not expect to be praised by us, but does not cease to pray for us? For we are indeed, if not in that merit in which he was, at least in the life in which he himself labored. For he lived a mortal life and now, having lived it, he has merited to obtain everlasting life. This mode of living a mortal life and reaching immortality was not prescribed by himself, but by the leader, king, emperor, precursor, helper, savior, liberator, the crown-giver of all martyrs, namely our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, the only Son of God that we might be created, and the son of man that we might be recreated; by Him who cannot lie, who neither deceives nor is deceived, the rule was prescribed in which is established the mode of living a mortal life and arriving at eternal life. Blessed Cyprian knew and taught this: he not only taught, but also did; demonstrating that he did not deceive those he taught, because he lived by teaching, and taught by living. What then did the Lord establish? What mode did he constitute for living a mortal life, and meriting to obtain everlasting life? We have just heard when the holy Gospel was read: He who wishes to follow me, He says, let him deny himself. As if it would seem obscure, the heavenly master added and says: He who loves his life will lose it; and he who loses it for my sake will find it. This is the mode of living a mortal life to obtain everlasting life; concerning this mode, with the favor of him whose solemnity we celebrate, and praying for us, may your Charity hear something from us. [For a great reward is proposed, beloved brothers]. Surely we celebrate the solemnity of the most blessed martyr: to this feast a multitude of all brothers and sisters convenes, and they rejoice in celebrating the birth of the martyr. If it is a birth, he was born; so that he might be born, he was conceived. Where was he conceived? In this life in which he was born. We all know this life is full of tribulations: that in which the blessed Cyprian was reborn, we know well; yet we celebrate his birth. And who among us would dare to compare his own birthday, celebrated in his house, even in part to these birthdays of the blessed martyrs? Whoever would do this would judge himself sacrilegious.

The proconsular acts concerning Cyprian are recited. How we lose what we love.

So let us see what "deny oneself" means; for a great reward is promised, dearest brothers. We heard the confession of the most blessed martyr Cyprian: "I worship one God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them." God is silent, but the works of God speak: behold, to whom God, behold, what kind of God, rather not what kind and such, but God, behold, to whom Cyprian believed. So what does "deny oneself" mean? Deny yourself. What does "deny yourself" mean? Are you forced to deny God? Deny yourself, and do not deny God. Do not love this temporal life of yours and strive against eternal life; rather, yield to eternal life, that you may become eternal: deny yourself, that you may confess God; deny yourself, man, that you may become an angel; deny yourself, mortal man, that confessing God you may deserve to live forever. Behold, you love temporal life: you do not want to deny it, and you want to deny God. God departs from you, whom you have denied, whom you did not want to confess; and you will have temporal life, which you did not want to deny. So let us see how long you will have that life. Behold, tomorrow, and after tomorrow another tomorrow, and after many tomorrow comes the end. And where will you go? Where will you exit? Indeed to God, whom you have denied. O miserable, unhappy one! and you have denied God and lost temporal life willingly or unwillingly. For this life, dearest brothers, whether we will or not, passes, runs; so let us deny ourselves in this temporal life, that we may deserve to live forever. Deny yourself, confess God. Do you love your soul? Lose it. But you say to me: How do I lose what I love? You do this in your house. You love grain, and you scatter the grain, which you had stored in the barn with such diligence, which you had cleaned with such labor of harvesting and threshing; already stored, already cleaned, when the time of sowing comes you will bring it out, scatter it, bury it, that you do not see what you scatter. Behold, by loving the grain, you scatter the grain; by loving life, shed life; by loving your soul, lose it; because when you have lost it for God in this time, you will find it in the future in eternal life. So by loving life, shed life.

Psalm 125 was sung.

It is hard, it is troublesome, it is a certain sadness; I sympathize with you, because our Lord God sympathized with us. For he showed himself in you, and you in him, when he said: My soul is sorrowful unto death. He suffered for us, let us suffer for him; he died for us, let us die for him, so that we may live with him eternally. But perhaps you hesitate to die, O mortal man, destined to die sometime, because you were born mortal. Do you want not to fear death? Die for God. But perhaps you fear to die because death is a sad thing. Consider the harvest: the time of sowing has cold; but if the farmer refuses to be distressed by the cold in winter, he will not rejoice in summer. Look if you are reluctant to sow because there is sadness of cold in the sowing. Pay attention to the Psalm: Those who sow in tears, shall reap in joy. Going forth they went and wept, casting their seeds. This way we sang. What we sang, let us do: let us sow our souls in this time, like grain in winter, that we may reap them in eternal time, like grain in summer time. Thus did the holy martyrs, thus did all the righteous, laboring on earth, weeping, they sent forth their seeds: for this life abounds in weeping. And what follows? But coming, they shall come with exultation, carrying their sheaves. Your seed, the shedding of blood; your sheaf, the crown received.

Again from the suffering of Cyprian. He suffered not because of the emperor, but because of the command of his God.

Cyprian. Thanks be to God, from Cyprian.

This our martyr believed, this he taught before he acted, this he did because he had already taught it. To whom the blessed Cyprian spoke, he taught them with his words alone; we hold his doctrine in twofold manner; we hold the word in scripture, the example in memory. Therefore, he exhorts us, and prays for us; may he obtain for us such a will from the Lord, concerning which he spoke in his passion, saying: “Good will, which knows God, cannot be changed.” And when the judge, threatening him, said: “Consider yourself,” that judge seemed to hate, not love, the man, when he said to the mortal man: “Consider yourself;” that is, consider yourself, so that you may live a few more days now, and die forever. But Saint Cyprian did not pay attention to the human judge, who had power on earth; but he paid attention to the judge God, who made heaven and earth. Therefore, the blessed Cyprian, unless he denied himself, unless, loving his soul, he lost it, so that by losing it he might find it, would have said to him: “I indeed consider, and give thanks, because you give a place for consideration, or delay for thinking; or certainly: Now accept my devotion, I accept the ceremonies of princes.” He would say this, not denying himself; and perversely loving his soul, he would not lose it: that is, he would not sow what he would reap. But now, despising the cold of winter, thinking of the joy of summer, he replied to the man, as to an adversary whom he saw, convicting him whom he did not see. For what the devil was doing through that judge, the judge himself did not know, but Saint Cyprian knew. He responded to him, saying: “Do what you are commanded.” The holy martyr understood this command more deeply, remembering his Lord God, who standing before Pontius Pilate, when he said inflamed: “Do you not know that I have power to release you, and have power to crucify you?” he answered him truthfully and truthfully: “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” Truly, brothers, for it was not because the emperor commanded this, that Saint Cyprian suffered, and not because he commanded it, who awarded us such a martyr. Therefore, remembering his Lord God, he replied to the judge: “Do what you are commanded; in so just a matter there is no consultation. Doubtful matters are usually consulted: if I still consult, I still doubt. In so just a matter there is no consultation.” What is this just matter? It is just that I follow the martyrs, whom by speaking I made to precede me in martyrdom; it is not just that I abandon those who preceded me. For if I do not do what I taught, others will grow cold upon seeing them crowned. Therefore, it is just that I fulfill what I taught, and by fulfilling teach what I fulfilled. The blessed Cyprian did this. In so just a matter there is no consultation; he received the sentence, deserved the crown. The judge saw whom he afflicted, did not see where he sent him; because, to see it, he was not worthy. What then do we do about such great gifts of God, dearest brothers, except what the martyr himself said? For in the end, when the judge said: “It pleases that Tascius Cyprian be executed by the sword,” Cyprian said: “Thanks be to God.” And we therefore, placed in this celebration, seeing these things with the eyes of faith, and hoping, where he hastened, that we will also come, let us all say: Thanks be to God. Turned to the Lord.