Sermon 334

SERMO 334

On the Birthdays of the Martyrs

The security of the martyrs under the protection of God.

The voice of all good and faithful Christians, but especially of glorious martyrs, is this: If God is for us, who is against us? The world raged against them, the people meditated vain things, the rulers gathered together in one: new torments were devised, and ingenious cruelty found incredible punishments. They were overwhelmed with reproaches, accused of false crimes, enclosed in unbearable prisons, they were plowed with claws, killed with iron, set before beasts, burned with fire, and the martyrs of Christ said: If God is for us, who is against us? The whole world is against you, and you say: Who is against us? They answer you: And who is the whole world, when for its sake we die, through whom the world was made? Let them say, let them say, let us hear, let us all say together: If God is for us, who is against us? They can rage, they can malign, they can slander, they can harass with false reproaches, to the end they can kill the body not only but also mangle it; and what will they do? Behold, God is my helper, and the Lord is the protector of my soul. Tell me, blessed martyr: your body is mangled, and you say, It does not concern me? Yes, I said. Why? Tell us why. Because the Lord is the protector of my soul. My body is restored through my soul. My hair does not perish, and the head perishes? My hair does not perish. But your body is mangled by dogs. And what about it? Even if my body is mangled by dogs, it is resurrected by the Lord. The world is the destroyer of my body, but the Lord is the protector of my soul. And what harm is it to me, when the Lord is the protector of my soul, that the world is the destroyer of my body? What have I lost? What have I missed? When the Lord is the protector of my soul, He will also be the restorer of my body. What will be lacking for me, if my limbs are torn apart by the enemy, when God counts my hairs? Christ encouraging His martyrs not to fear anything from persecuting enemies said: Your hairs are all numbered. Shall I then fear for the loss of limbs, when I have received security concerning the number of hairs? Therefore, let us say, let us say with faith, let us say with hope, let us say with the most ardent charity: If God is for us, who is against us?

Hence we are safe and certain of God's protection. Christ's death, the pledge of his life given to us.

Behold, the king is against you, and you say, who is against us? Behold, all the people are against you, and you say: Who is against us? From where do you prove this, O glorious martyr; from where do you prove to me what you say: If God is for us, who can be against us? For it is clear that if God is for you, who can be against you? But prove that God is for you. Do I not prove it then? Behold, I teach: He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. What follows, you heard when the Apostle was read. For when he said: If God is for us, who can be against us? as if it were said to him: Prove that God is for you: he immediately brought forth a great proof, immediately introduced the Martyr of martyrs, the Witness of witnesses; namely Him to whom the Father did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all: from this the Apostle proved that he truly said: If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. How will He not also with Him freely give us all things? When He has given us all things with Him, He has also given Himself to us. Does the rage of the world terrify me, to whom the Maker of the world is given? Let us rejoice that Christ is given to us, and let us fear no enemies of Christ in this age. See who has been given to us: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He is Christ, He is the only-begotten Son of God, He is co-eternal with the Begetter. All things were made through Him. How are not all things given to us, which were made through Him, when He Himself, through whom all things were made, is given to us? And know that He is: The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. Desire and seek the life of Christ given to you; and until you reach it, hold onto the pledge of Christ’s death. For He, promising us that He would be with us, could not give a greater pledge to us than to die for us. He says, I endured your evils, shall I not give back my goods? He promised, He made a covenant, He gave a pledge; and do you doubt to believe? He promised, while He walked here among men; He made a covenant, when He wrote the Gospel. To His pledge, you say Amen every day. You have received the pledge, it is given to you daily. Do not despair, you who live by the pledge.

Christ himself will be our possession.

Is it perhaps an injury to the Only-Begotten Son when it is said that He has been given to us as if He will be our possession? Clearly, He will be. For if someone today were to gift you a pleasant and fertile estate, where it would delight you to always reside because of its pleasantness, and from which you could easily sustain yourself because of its fertility, would you not embrace the gift and give thanks to the giver? In Christ, we shall dwell. How could it not be our possession, where we will dwell and from which we will live? Let Scripture also say this so that we do not seem to have usurped anything against the discipline of the word of God with our suppositions. Hear what one who knew says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" The Lord, he says, is my portion of inheritance. He did not say: O Lord, give me some inheritance. Whatever you give me is worthless. Be my inheritance; I love you; I love you wholly, with my whole heart, with my whole soul, with my whole mind, I love you. What will anything be to me, whatever you give me besides you? This is to love God freely, to hope for God from God, to hasten to be fulfilled by God, to be satisfied by Him. For He is sufficient for you; besides Him, nothing is sufficient for you. Philip knew this when he said, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." So, when will be what the Apostle says at the end: "That God may be all in all," that He Himself may be to us whatever we desire here without Him, and by the desire of which we often sin against Him? He will be everything to us when God will be all in all. You sin against God to eat, you sin against God to be clothed, you sin against God to live, you sin against God to be honored. And when shall I number all things? Do not, for these things, sin against God. Do you sin against God for food? God will be your eternal food. Do you sin against God for clothing? God will clothe you with immortality. Do you sin against God for honor? Your honor will be God. Do you sin against God for the love of temporal life? Eternal life will be God to you. Do not sin against Him for anything. You ought to love Him freely, who can wholly satisfy you for everything.