Sermon 335G
Sermon 335/G
CONCERNING THE MARTYRS
Perfect love made the martyrs fear nothing. Two fears.
Therefore our martyrs greatly loved God. Because they had perfect charity in themselves, they did not fear the cruelty of the persecutor. Therefore, the perfect charity of the martyrs made them fear nothing. Persecutors raged everywhere. They suffered storms and tempests of this world from every side. They were strong in God and in Christ. Their own weeping more persecuted them than angry enemies. On the one hand, the enemy threatened. On the other hand, the spouse lamented: "To whom do you leave us? Consent, live with us, God forgives! To whom do you leave our solitude?" The enemy threatened: "If you do not comply, I will torture, kill, burn you." Amid the threats of the persecutor and the tears of the spouse, he stood firm, neither broken nor bent, fixed in God, upright in Christ, laughing at the persecutor’s threats—for the persecutor could not threaten eternal punishments—disdaining even the tears of the spouse because the greater union is the soul's with Christ. Hoping for heavenly things, he scorned earthly things. Perceiving the future, he was not frightened by the present, and filled with charity, as it is written: Perfect love casts out fear. For there was nothing that a person perfect in charity should fear. But we find it said elsewhere: The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. Here it is said: Perfect love casts out fear; there, the fear of the Lord endures forever. Therefore, there are two fears: one which charity casts out, the other enduring forever. There is thus an earthly fear, and there is also a pure fear, and it could not have been better termed than pure.
Martyrs are made not by punishment but by cause. The schismatic has no good cause.
Therefore, as I began to say, why do you boast about your evil punishment, o schismatic, which does not have a good cause? Let us honor the martyrs within the Catholic Church, having grace, not audacity; piety, not recklessness; constancy, not obstinacy; gathering, not dispersion. Hence, listen to the martyr praying: Judge me, O God, and discern my cause. He did not say: my punishment, but: my cause. For he looks to the martyr of martyrs, the head of martyrs, the Lord of martyrs, the example of martyrs, the spectator of martyrs, the helper of martyrs, the crowner of martyrs. He looks to him not magnifying the punishment, but discerning the cause. For he himself said: Blessed are those who are persecuted. It is still confused. The adulterer suffers persecution for lust, the murderer for cruelty, the thief for fraud, others who are wicked suffer persecution for their crimes. What do you say, let me hear. Blessed are those who are persecuted. You mentioned the punishment. Discern the cause. Listen, he says, I discern. Follow: those who are persecuted, for righteousness' sake. Why do you emphasize the punishment to me? O false witness, prove the righteousness. Therefore, it is not the punishment but the cause that makes martyrs. Do not emphasize your punishment, first prove your righteousness, which you are not going to do but will be proven by the removal of your injustice. If you want to truly imitate the martyrs, brothers, choose for yourselves a cause so that you may say to God: Judge me, O Lord, and discern my cause from a non-holy people. He discerns not my punishment, for the non-holy people also have this, but my cause which only the holy people have. Therefore, choose a cause for yourselves, a good and just cause, for blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.