Sermon 338
SERMO 338
ON THE DEDICATION OF THE CHURCH
Good works done openly have a double benefit.
When good works, even those done for God, are shown to men, when they are done by the good and religious, human praises are not sought, but they are proposed as examples to be imitated. For mercy is of two kinds, which is done in good work, bodily and spiritual. The hungry, the thirsty, the naked, and strangers are relieved by bodily mercy: but when these same things are shown, and provoke others to imitation, spirits and minds are also nourished. One is fed by a good work, another by a good example: for both are hungry. One wants to receive something to nourish himself, the other wants to see something to imitate. This truth is also taught to us by the reading of the Holy Gospel, which has just been recited. For it is said to Christians who believe in God, who do good works, who expect the hope of eternal life for good works: You are the light of the world. And it is said to the Church spread throughout everywhere: A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. In the last times, he says, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be manifest, prepared on the top of the mountains. He is the mountain, which grew from a small stone, and by growing filled the whole world. In him, the Church is built, which cannot be hidden.
A lamp on a candlestick.
Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a lampstand, so that it shines for all in the house. The reading is well suited when the lampstands are dedicated, so that it serves as an example of a lamp placed on a lampstand. For the lamp is a man who does good works. But what is the lampstand? But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, whoever acts according to Christ and for Christ, so that he does not boast except in Christ, is a lampstand. Let it shine for all, let them see what they should imitate: let them not be lazy, not barren: let what they see be beneficial; let them not be seeing with their eyes and blind in their hearts.
The Lord's commands, though two in number, are reconciled despite seeming contrary.
But lest it perhaps occur to someone that the Lord commands good works to be hidden, where He says: Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be seen by them; otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven, this question must be resolved, so that we may know how to obey the Lord, and not be unable to obey Him when we hear that He commands the opposite. Here He says: Let your works shine before men, that they may see your good deeds; here He says: Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be seen by them. Do you want to know how this question should be resolved, and unless it is resolved, it will be troublesome if it remains unresolved? Some men do good, and fear being seen; and with all effort, as much as they can, they conceal their good works. They seize opportunities when no one is watching: then they give something, fearing lest they offend that command where it is said: Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be seen by them. But the Lord did not command good works to be hidden, but not to think of human praise in good works. Finally, when He said: Beware of practicing your righteousness before men: where did He finish? To be seen by them. Therefore, they act to be seen by men; they seek this fruit of good work, they bear this: they expect nothing else, they desire no higher and heavenly benefit. But if he does it for this reason alone, to be praised: the Lord prohibited this. Beware of doing. How? To be seen by them. Beware of having this fruit, the vision of men.
In good work, we are forbidden to seek our praise.
He commands that our works be seen, and he says: "No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but on a stand, so that it may shine for all who are in the house." And: "Let your works so shine before men, that they may see," he says, "your good deeds." And he did not stop there: but added, "and glorify your Father who is in heaven." It is one thing to seek your own praise in good work, another to seek the praise of God in good work. When you seek your own praise, you remain in the sight of men; when you seek the praise of God, you acquire eternal glory. Therefore let us act in such a way that we are not seen by men, that is, let us act in such a way that we do not seek the sight of men as a reward: but let us act in such a way that from those who see and imitate, we seek the glory of God and understand that if He did not make us such, we would be nothing.