Sermon 339
SERMO 339
ON THE DAY OF HIS ORDINATION
The weight of the bishop's burden. How Augustine was affected by the praises of men.
Today's day, brothers, reminds me to think more attentively about my burden, of whose weight even if I should think night and day, in some way this anniversary day strikes it to my senses so that I cannot entirely pretend not to think about it. And as years advance, or rather recede, and make us nearer the final day, which certainly at some point will come without doubt, the thought becomes sharper and fuller of provocations for me, as to what kind of account I can render to our Lord God for you. For this is the difference between each of you and us, that you are almost accountable only for yourselves; we, however, are accountable both for ourselves and for all of you. Therefore, the burden is greater but well carried it compares to greater glory; poorly carried it precipitates to the most immense punishment. What therefore must I particularly do today, except to commend to you my danger so that you may be my joy? But my danger is, if I pay attention to how you praise, and pretend not to notice how you live. He knows, under whose eyes I speak, or rather under whose eyes I think, I am not so much delighted by popular praise as I am provoked and distressed as to how those who praise me live. I do not want to be praised by those living poorly, I abhor, detest, it is pain to me, not pleasure; but to be praised by those living well, if I say I do not want, I lie; if I say I do want, I fear that I desire vanity more than solidity. So what shall I say? I neither fully want nor fully do not want. I do not fully want, lest I be ensnared in human praise; I do not fully want not, lest those to whom I preach be ungrateful.
The care for the salvation of others is how great a burden placed upon the bishop.
But my burden is the one you have just heard, when the prophet Ezekiel was read. It is not enough that the day itself reminds us to think about this same burden; moreover, such a reading is recited that strikes great fear into us, so that we consider what we bear; for unless He who imposed it carries it with us, we fail. Behold, you have heard: The land, he says, upon which I bring a sword, and it sets a watchman for itself who sees the sword coming and speaks and warns; but if the watchman sees the sword coming, and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand. If, however, he sees the sword coming and blows the trumpet and warns the people, and the person who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, his blood shall be upon himself. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand. And you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. He has explained what he meant by the sword, he has explained what he meant by the watchman, he has explained what he meant by death; he did not allow us to excuse our negligence in the obscurity of the reading. Therefore I have made you, he says, a watchman. If I say to the sinner: You shall die, and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his way, that sinner will die in his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his blood. However, if you warn the sinner, and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself. And he adds the words he wanted to be spoken to the people of Israel: Therefore, say to the house of Israel: What is this saying of yours: Our iniquities and sins weigh us down, and we waste away in them, how then can we live? This says the Lord: I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. This is what He wanted us to announce to you. If we do not announce this, we shall render a bad account of this watchfulness. But if we do announce it, we have done what pertains to us. See for yourselves; we are now secure. But how secure, if you are in danger and dying? We do not want our glory to be with your punishment. Indeed, security is given, but charity makes us solicitous. Behold, we say and you know that I have always said, you know that I have never been silent. This says God: I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his evil way and live. What did the wicked say? He said the words of the wicked and unjust: Our iniquities weigh us down, and we waste away in them, how then can we live? The sick man despairs, but the physician promises hope. The man says to himself: How can we live? God says: You can live. If every man is a liar, God alone is true: erase what the man said, and write what God said. Do not despair, you can live, not because of your past evils, but because of your future goods; you will erase the evils if you turn away from evil. All things, whether good or evil, are erased by change. From a good life, you inclined yourself to an evil one, you erased the good. See where you are looking, what you are pursuing; two treasures are prepared for you; what you send is what you will find; God is a faithful keeper, He will give back to you what you have done.
He encourages his own to assist him by living well.
But there are others who do not perish out of despair; they do not say to themselves: "Our iniquities are upon us, we waste away in our sins, how then can we live?" but deceive themselves in another way: they flatter themselves with the excessive mercy of God, so that they never amend their ways. For they say this: although we do evil, although we commit iniquities, although we live luxuriously and wickedly, although we despise the poor and the needy, although we are lifted up by pride, although we have no sorrow of heart for our evils, will God destroy so great a multitude and save only a few? Therefore, there are two dangers: one which we have just heard from the Prophet, another which the Apostle has not kept silent about. For against those who perish by despair, like gladiators as if destined for the sword, gaping after pleasures and living wickedly, they neglect their souls as already doomed, he says what they say to themselves: "Our iniquities are upon us, and we waste away in our sins, how then can we live?" But the other, from which the Apostle says: "Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering?" Against those who say: "God is good, God is merciful, He will not destroy so great a multitude of sinners and save only a few"; for indeed if He did not want them to exist, they would not live: when they do so much evil and live, if it displeased God, He would certainly take them from the earth at once. Against these the Apostle says: "Do you not know that the patience of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds." To whom does he say this? To those who say: "God is good, He will not render." He surely will render to each one according to his deeds. What are you doing? You are treasuring up. What? Wrath. Add wrath upon wrath, increase the treasure; it will be rendered to you what you treasure up, for He to whom you entrust it does not defraud you. But if you send into another treasury good works, the fruits of righteousness, or continence, or virginity, or conjugal chastity; if you are free from fraud, from murder, from wickedness; if you remember the needy, for you are also in need; if you remember the poor, for you are also poor, no matter how much you abound in wealth, wrapped as you are in the rags of flesh; if considering and doing these things you send into the good treasury for the day of judgment, He who defrauds no one, and renders to each one according to his deeds, will say to you: "Take what you have sent, for it abounds; when you were sending, you did not see, but I was keeping it, how I was to render it." For truly, brothers, each one, what he sends into the treasury, because he sends knows it, nor does he see it when he sent it. Place a treasury buried in the ground, having one opening or slit, by which you send: gradually whatever you have acquired you send, and you do not see; if what you have sent and you do not see the earth keeps for you, will not He who made heaven and earth keep it for you?
He is frightened by the Gospel, lest, having placed aside the episcopal burden, he chooses a more secure life.
Raise, therefore, brothers, raise my burden and carry it with me: live well. Today, we have to feed our fellow poor, and with them, humanity must be shared; however, these words of mine are my dishes for you. I cannot feed everyone with a tangible and visible bread; thus I feed from where I am fed; I am a servant, not the head of the household; I serve you from the Lord's treasure, from the feasts of that head of the household, who became poor for our sake, though he was rich, so that through his poverty we might become rich. If I set bread before you, each would take individual fragments from the broken bread; and even if I placed much, very little would reach each individual. But now, what I speak, everyone has entirely, and each individual has entirely. Did you divide the syllables of my word among yourselves? Did you take individual words from the spoken discourse? Each of you heard the whole. But let him see how he heard, because I am a distributor, not a collector. If I do not distribute and save the money, the Gospel terrifies me. For I could say: What concern is it of mine to be a burden to people? To say to the wicked: Do not act wickedly, live thus, act thus, cease to act thus? What concern is it of mine to be a burden to people? I have received how I should live: I will live as I was commanded, as I was ordered. I will allocate what I received: from others, why should I return an account to myself? The Gospel terrifies me. For no one could surpass me in that most secure leisure: nothing is better, nothing sweeter, than to search the divine treasure with no noise; it is sweet, it is good; but to preach, to argue, to correct, to build up, to strive for each individual, is a great burden, a great weight, a great labor. Who would not shrink from that labor? But the Gospel terrifies me. A certain servant went forth and said to his master: I knew you were a hard man, reaping where you did not sow; I kept your money, I did not want to distribute it: take what is yours; if anything is less, judge; if it is whole, do not trouble me. But he said: Wicked servant, I condemn you out of your own mouth. Why this? Because you called me greedy, why did you neglect my profit? But I feared to give, lest I lose. Do you say this? Often it is said: Why correct? It perishes to him what you say; he does not hear you. And he, says he, I did not want to give, lest I lose your money. He says to him: You should have given my money, and I would come to demand it with interest; I placed you as a distributor, not a collector; you should conduct the distribution, leaving the collection to me. Therefore, let each one see, fearing this, how he receives. If I, distributing, fear, should he who receives be secure? He who was bad yesterday, let him be good today. This is my distribution: he who was bad yesterday, let him be good today. He was bad yesterday, and he did not die; if he had died bad, he would have gone where he would not have returned from. He was bad yesterday, he lives today; let it benefit him that he lives, do not let him live badly. Why then does he want to add the evil of today to the evil of yesterday? Do you want to have a long life, and not a good one? Who can endure long evil, even a meal? To such an extent has the blindness of the mind calloused, to such an extent is the inner person deaf, that he wants to have all good things, except himself? Do you want to have a villa? I deny that you want to have a bad villa. You want to have a good wife, a good house. Why should I go through each thing? You do not want to have a bad shoe, and you want to have a bad life? As if a bad shoe hurts you more than a bad life. When a bad and tight shoe harms you, you sit, take it off, throw it away, correct or change it, so that you do not hurt your toe, and you put on a shoe. A bad life, which destroys the soul, you neglect to correct. But this, indeed, I clearly see why you are deceived: a harmful shoe causes pain, a harmful life causes pleasure: that harms, this pleases; but what pleases for a time, later hurts worse; what beneficially causes pain for a time, later delights with infinite pleasure and abundant joy.
It is the duty of the servant to pay; it is the duty of the master to demand an account.
See the joyful and sorrowful, the rich man joyous, and the poor man sorrowful: the former feasted, the latter was tormented; the former was honored surrounded by his household, the latter was licked by dogs; the former was made more gluttonous by feasts, the latter was not satisfied even with crumbs. The pleasure has passed, the need has passed; the good things of the rich man have passed, the evils of the poor man have passed; evils have succeeded for the rich man, good things for the poor man. What passed could not be recalled; what came after could not be diminished. The rich man burned in hell, the poor man rejoiced in the bosom of Abraham. Formerly, the poor man had desired a crumb from the table of the rich man; later, the rich man desired a drop from the finger of the poor man. The poor man’s destitution was ended with the end of satisfaction, the rich man’s pleasure was ended with the pain that succeeded it without end. Thirst succeeded feasting, pain succeeded pleasure, fire succeeded purple. This is the feast that Lazarus is seen to have in the bosom of Abraham; this is what we wish you all to have, this is what we wish we all have together. For what kind of feast would I offer you if I invited you all, and this church was full of feasting tables? These things are transitory. Think about what I say, so that you may come to that feast you will never finish. For there no one is overburdened by feasting; nor are those feasts such that they feed us by their corruption and replenish us by their decline; they will be whole, and we will be replenished by them. If our eye is fed by light and the light does not fail, what kind of feasts will those be in the contemplation of the truth, in the sight of eternity, in the praises of God, in the security of happiness, with a stable mind, an immortal body, our flesh not decaying with old age, no hunger exhausting our soul? There, no one increases or decreases; there, no one is born, because no one dies; there, neither are you compelled to do any works, which we now encourage you to do.
He encourages them to change their life for the better. Men do not care to have a good life only.
For you have just heard the Lord saying, to all of us: When you give a feast, do not call your friends - he showed where you should be generous: do not call your relatives, who have something to give back to you - but call the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame, the needy, who have nothing to give you in return. And will you lose anything by this? It will be repaid to you at the resurrection of the righteous. You give, he says, I receive, I note it, I repay. God said this, and he encouraged us to do these things, and he will repay us. When he repays us, who will take it away from us? If God is for us, who can be against us? We were sinning, and he gave the death of Christ for us; we live righteously, and will he deceive us? For Christ did not die for the righteous, but for the ungodly. If he gave his Son's death for the wicked, what does he reserve for the righteous? What does he reserve for them? He has nothing better to reserve for them than what he gave for them. What did he give for them? He did not spare his own Son. What does he reserve for them? The same Son, but God to be enjoyed, not man to die. Behold where God calls you. But how do you heed where, deem it worthy to heed also how, deem it worthy to heed also how. But clearly when you arrive, will this be said to you: Break your bread for the hungry; if you see the naked, clothe him? Will this chapter be recited to you: When you give a feast, call the crippled, the blind, the needy, the poor? There no one will be poor, there no one will be crippled, no one blind, no one weak, no one a stranger, no one naked; all healthy, all vigorous, all abundant, all clothed in eternal light. Whom do you see there as a stranger? Our homeland itself: here we are strangers, let us desire that. Let us do what is commanded, that we may demand the promises, we will receive what is given freely. For if we demand, as if God does not want to give: he will certainly give, he will defraud no one. Consider this, my brothers, see how many goods the Lord our God gives to the wicked: light, life, health, springs, fruits, generations, often honors, heights, powers; he gives all these goods to both good and wicked. Do we think there is nothing he reserves for the good, who gives so many goods even to the wicked? Let no one bring this into his heart. My brothers, God reserves great goods for the good, but what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man. You cannot think of it before you receive it. You will be able to see it when you receive it; you cannot think of it before you receive it. What is it that you want to see?... It is not a harp, it is not a flute, it is not a sound, that brings pleasure to the ears. What do you want to think about? It has not entered the heart of man. And what do I do? I neither see, nor hear, nor think, what do I do? Believe. A great shortcut, a great vessel, where you can receive a great gift, is faith. Prepare a vessel for yourself, because you have a great spring to approach: prepare a vessel for yourself. What does it mean: Prepare? Let your faith grow, let your faith be augmented, let your faith be strengthened; let not your faith be slippery and clayey, let it not be broken by the tribulations of this world but be baked. And when you have done this, and have faith, as a suitable, capacious, firm vessel, God will fill it. For he will not say to you, as men say to one who is begging and saying: Give me some wine, please; and he: I give, come and I am making it ready. He brought a jar, and says: As you commanded I have come; and he: I thought you would bring a small cup: what have you brought, or to where have you come? I am not sufficient to give so much: take back the larger vessel you brought, and bring something smaller; bring to me what my poverty can suffice. God does not say this: he is full, you will be full, and when he fills you, he will have as much as he had before he filled you. God's gifts are abundant; you will not find such things on earth; believe, and you will test, but not now. And when, you ask? Wait for the Lord, act manfully, and let your heart be strengthened; that when you have received you may say: You have put gladness in my heart.
Bear with the Lord, act manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, and wait for the Lord. What does it mean to "Bear with the Lord"? To receive when He gives, not demand when you wish. The time for giving is not yet: He has endured you, endure Him. What do I mean by: He has endured you, endure Him? If you now live justly, if you have now turned to Him, if your past deeds now displease you, if you have now chosen to lead a good new life, do not hasten to demand; He endured you to change your bad life; endure Him to crown your good life. If He had not endured you, there would be no one to whom He could give; therefore, endure, for you have been endured. But you who do not wish to be corrected, whoever you are who still do not wish to be corrected - as if there were only one! I should rather say: Whoever you are, if indeed you are here, who have resolved to be corrected; yet I will speak as if to one - whoever does not wish to be corrected, what do you promise yourself? Will you perish by despairing, or by hoping? Whoever perishes by despairing, you say this in your heart: My iniquity is upon me, I am wasting away in my sins, what hope of living is there for me? Hear the Prophet saying: I do not wish the death of the wicked, but that the wicked should turn from his evil way and live. Do you perish by hoping? What is it, to perish by hoping? You say this in your heart: God is good, God is merciful, He forgives all, He will not repay evil for evil. Hear the Apostle saying: Do you not know that the kindness of God is meant to lead you to repentance? What remains then? It seems you did something if what I said entered your heart. I see the response: It is true, and I do not despair; I do not perish by despairing; nor do I have false hope, so as to perish by hoping. I do not say to myself: My iniquity is upon me, I have no hope; nor do I say: God is good, He will repay no one with evil; I do not say this, nor that; I am pressed by the Prophet, I am pressed by the Apostle. And what do you say? For a little while longer, I will live as I wish; later, when I have corrected myself - surely the Prophet is right in saying: I do not wish the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his evil way and live - when I have turned, He will blot out all my evil deeds: why not add something to my pleasures and live as I please, and then later turn to God? Why do you say this, brother, why? Because God promised forgiveness, if I change. I understand, I know, He promised forgiveness; through the holy Prophet He promises this, and through me, His least servant, He promises this. It is true what He promises: He promises this through His Only Begotten. But why do you wish to add evil days to evil days? Sufficient for the day is its own evil: yesterday was evil, today is evil, and tomorrow will be evil. Or do you think the days are good when you satisfy your pleasures, when you indulge your heart in luxury, when you plot against another’s chastity, when you grieve your neighbor with fraud, when you deny entrusted goods, when you swear falsely for money, when you indulge in a good meal? Therefore, do you think you are leading a good day? How can it be that the day is good, when the man is bad? Do you wish to add evil days to evil days? Grant me a little, I say, let me be indulged. Why? Because God promised me forgiveness. But no one promised you that you would live tomorrow. Or read to me, just as you read the Prophet, the Gospel, the Apostle to me, that when you repent, God will wipe away all your iniquities: read to me where it is promised to you that you will live until tomorrow, and then live tomorrow badly. Although, my brother, I ought not to have said this to you. Perhaps your life will be long; if it is long, let it be good; why do you wish to have a long life that is evil? Either it will not be long: and that eternity should delight you, which has no end. Or it will be long: and what harm is it, if you live well for a long time? You wish to live long in evil, but not in good; and yet no one has promised you tomorrow. Correct yourself: listen to Scripture. Do not despise me as a man of the anniversary, I speak to you from Scripture: Do not delay to turn to the Lord. These words are not mine, but they are mine; if I love, they are mine; love them and they are yours. This speech, which I now deliver, is Holy Scripture: if you despise it, it is your adversary. But hear the Lord saying: Make friends quickly with your adversary. What a terrible word this is! You have come to rejoice, today is said to be the birth of the bishop: should I present something to sadden you? Rather, I present something from which the lover may rejoice, the despisers may be angered; it is better for me to sadden the despisers than to defraud the faithful.
Let all hear, I recite words from Scripture. O wicked delayer, o wicked seeker of tomorrow, hear the Lord speaking, hear the holy Scripture preaching. From this place, I am a watchman. Do not delay in turning to God, nor postpone from day to day. See if He did not see them, see if He did not inspect those who say: Tomorrow I will live well, today I will live badly. And when tomorrow comes, you will say this. Do not delay in turning to God, nor postpone from day to day; for suddenly His wrath will come, and in the time of vengeance, He will destroy you. What have I done? Can I erase it? I fear it being erased. Can I remain silent? I fear being silent. I am compelled to preach, terrified I terrify. Fear with me, so that you may rejoice with me. Do not delay in turning to God. Lord, see that I say: Lord, you know that you terrified me, when your Prophet was read. Lord, you know my trembling on that chair, when your Prophet was read. Behold, I say: Do not delay in turning to God, nor postpone from day to day; for suddenly His wrath will come, and in the time of vengeance, He will destroy you. But I do not want Him to destroy you; I do not want you to say to me: I want to perish; because I do not want this. It is better: I do not want mine, than: I want yours. If your lethargic father were sick in your hands, and you were a young man attending to the old sick man, and the doctor said: Your father is in danger, this sleep is a certain fatal lethargy: watch him, do not allow him to sleep; if you see him sleep, wake him; if it is not enough to wake him, pinch him; if even this is not enough, prod him, so that your father does not die; you would be attending, you would be a burden to the old man as a young man. He, dissolved into sweet sickness, would go, his eyes closed by that heaviness; but you: Do not sleep. And he: Leave me, I want to sleep; and you: But the doctor said: If he wants to sleep, do not let him sleep. And he: I beg you, leave me, I want to die. But you say, son to father: But I do not want this. To whom? Indeed, to one desiring to die. And yet you wish to delay your father's death, and live somewhat longer with your dying old father. The Lord cries out to you: Do not sleep, lest you sleep forever; wake up, that you may live with me, that you may have a father whom you never bury. And you are deaf.
What have I done, watchman? I am free, I do not burden you. I know some will say: What did he want to tell us? He frightened, burdened us, made us guilty. Rather, I wanted to free you from guilt. It's shameful, disgraceful, that I would deceive you, if God does not deceive me. The Lord threatens death to the impious, the wicked, the deceivers, criminals, adulterers, seekers of pleasures, despising him, murmuring about the times, and not changing their ways; The Lord threatens them with death, threatens them with hell, threatens them with eternal destruction. What do they want, that I promise what He does not promise? Behold, the lieutenant gives you security: what does it benefit you if the head of the household does not accept it? I am a lieutenant, I am a servant. Do you want me to say to you: Live however you want, the Lord will not lose you? The lieutenant gave you security: the security of the lieutenant is worth nothing. Would that the Lord gave it to you, and I would make you anxious! For the Lord's security is worth, even if I don't want it; mine truly is worth nothing if He does not wish it. But what is security, brothers, either mine or yours, except that we listen attentively and diligently to the Lord's commands, and faithfully await His promises? In those things we struggle with, because we are human, we implore His help, groan to Him; let our prayers not be for secular, passing things, fleeting and vanishing like vapor; but let our prayers be for the fulfillment of justice itself, and sanctification for the name of God; not to conquer a neighbor, but to conquer lust; not to satisfy, but to repress greed. Hence, let our prayers be: help us struggling within, and grant us victory crowns.