Sermon 343

SERMO 343

TREATISE ON SUSANNA AND JOSEPH

The mind of man is like the nest of the Word of God. Susanna divinely delivered from false witnesses.

Divine readings and holy oracles of God, which have sounded in our ears, may they make a nest in our minds. Let them not fly away and pass away, or sit and depart, but bring forth something. For if the sparrow has found a house for itself, and the turtledove a nest where it may lay its young, how much more the sparrow the Word of God, and the turtledove the mercy of God! We have heard a lesson about Susanna. Let the chastity of the married woman be built up, and let it lean on such a firm foundation and be fortified with a wall, so that it may both repel those who lie in wait and convict false witnesses. The chaste woman had remained, ready to die, unless there was someone who would see what was hidden from the judges. Her words were written down, which she spoke in paradise, that is, in her garden, words that no man had heard, except those two alone who were lying in wait for the modesty of another's wife and were planning false testimony against her as she resisted. They alone heard what was said: "I am in distress on every side. For if I do this, it is death for me; but if I do not do it, I will not escape your hands. It is better for me not to escape your hands than to sin in the sight of God." She scorned what she heard because she feared the one she did not see, yet by whose divine eyes she was conspicuous. For just as she did not see God, so she was not unseen by God. God saw what she was building, inspected His work, dwelled in His temple; He was there, He Himself answered those lying in wait. For if the giver of chastity had deserted her, chastity would have perished. Therefore she said: "I am in distress on every side." But she awaited Him who would save her from faint-heartedness and the storm of false witnesses, like evil winds. However, in those winds and waves, chastity did not suffer shipwreck because the Lord was at the helm. It was cried out, they came, they proceeded, the case reached judgment. Susanna's house had believed against their mistress the false elders. And though her previous blameless and immaculate life seemed to bear sufficient testimony to her chastity, it seemed irreligious to those elders not to believe them. Such a word had never sounded about Susanna. Therefore, they were false witnesses, but known to God. The house believed one thing, the Lord saw another. But what the Lord saw, men did not know. It seemed they must believe the elders. Therefore, she must die. But if the body should die, chastity would be crowned. The Lord was present to her in prayer, He heard her whom He knew. He did not abandon her to die, as He helped her not to commit adultery. The Lord stirred up the Holy Spirit in Daniel, still young in age, but strong in piety. For since the prophetic Spirit was in him, he immediately saw the deceit of the most wicked elders. But what he beheld had to be shown to others. "They are false witnesses," he said, "Return to judgment." But that they were false, he knew, to whom the prophetic Spirit had revealed it. Those ignorant had to be taught. Therefore, if judges had to be taught, witnesses must undoubtedly be convicted. Convicting them, pointing out the falsity of their testimony, which he already knew, he commanded them to be separated from each other. He interrogated each one. For they could both have the same lust, but they could not plan one counsel. One was asked under which tree he had caught the adulterers. He answered: "Under the mastic tree." Another was questioned. He answered: "Under the holm oak." The discrepancy of the testimonies revealed the truth, freed chastity.

Debt of death. False witnesses are not to be feared by the innocent.

And indeed chastity, brothers, as I have already said, would be freed and crowned, even if the flesh, which will someday die, were to die by that judgment. For we are all destined to die, and no one acts who desires to escape, to take away death, but to defer it. This debt holds us all. We shall all repay this which we have taken from Adam. And because we do not wish to die, security is not given by the collector of this debt, but delay is asked for. Therefore, Susanna was a religious woman and a chaste wife who was certainly someday to die. And if that time were then, how would it harm her chastity? The flesh would be laid in the sepulcher, chastity would be returned to God, it would be crowned by God. For you think, brothers, it belongs to great merit if false witnesses do not prevail over the innocent? It is not a great merit if false testimony does not prevail against the innocent. It would be a great merit if it did not prevail against the Lord. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself was crucified through the tongue of false witnesses. But even those false witnesses indeed prevailed for a time, what did they harm the one who was to rise again? Therefore, by his example, our Lord God in his flesh, in his weakness, and in the form of a servant, which he took to free the servant, to seek the fugitive, to redeem the captive, to release the bound, to make a brother from a servant; coming in the form of a servant, he demonstrated an example for the servant, that he should not dread false witnesses, and when they are believed, he should not fear. For they can make a bad reputation, but they cannot kill the conscience. The three men were freed from the burning fiery furnace. Their God was present, they walked among harmless fires, around them burning but not scorching, and in that very walking, they sang praises to God, and they escaped unscathed as they had been sent. Therefore, their God was present. But was God absent from the Maccabees? Those men escaped, those men were soon burned: both were tested. These were consumed in the flesh, these were unscathed in the flesh: both were crowned. So that the flames might be evaded by the three men, it was granted that Nebuchadnezzar believed in their God. For he who could openly deliver them could also secretly crown them. But if he had secretly crowned them, he would not have freed the king who raged. The health of their body became the salvation of his soul. They escaped by praising God, but from present fires. He escaped by believing in God, but from eternal hellfires. More therefore was granted to him than to them. But Antiochus was not worthy to have such granted to him, from whom the Maccabees were tormented. Therefore, with them consumed by fire and torments, he exalted, but he who exalts himself will be humbled.

Mary freed from false suspicion.

So the one who freed Susanna, a chaste woman and faithful wife, from the false testimony of the elders, also freed the virgin Mary from the false suspicion of her husband. Therefore, that virgin was found to be pregnant, to whom no man had approached. Indeed, her womb had swollen with the fetus, but her virginal integrity remained. She conceived the Sower of faith by faith. She had taken the Lord into her body, and did not allow His body to be violated. Yet, her husband, being human, came to suspect. He believed that it came from elsewhere, what he knew did not come from himself, and suspected adultery from elsewhere. He is corrected by an angel. Why was he worthy to be corrected by an angel? Because in him was not a malevolent suspicion, as the Apostle says, malevolent suspicions arise among brothers. Malevolent suspicions are those of accusers, benevolent suspicions are those of governors. It is allowed to suspect evil of a son, but it is not allowed to slander a son. You suspect evil, but you wish to find good. He who benevolently suspects, desires to be convinced otherwise; for then he rejoices well, when what he suspects badly is found to be false. Such was Joseph regarding his wife, to whom he had not been joined physically, but nevertheless, he was already united by faith. Therefore, the Virgin also came under false suspicion. But just as for Susanna, the Spirit was present in Daniel, so for Mary, the angel was present to Joseph: Do not fear to take Mary as your wife. For what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Suspicion is removed because redemption is found.

Chastity of virgins and of married women. A light burden for those who love.

A short time ago, married women were rejoicing with Susanna. Let the virgins rejoice with Mary. Let both groups maintain chastity, the former in marriage, the latter in virginity. For both types of chastity have merit before God. And if virginity is greater, and marital chastity is lesser, still both are pleasing to God, because they are gifts from God. All attain eternal life, but in eternal life not all attain the same honor, the same dignity, or the same merit. Eternal life and the kingdom of God will be like, for the sake of comparison, what we call the heavens. In the heavens all the stars are present: so too in the kingdom of God all the good faithful shall be. Eternal life is equal for all. For there, no one lives more and another less, since all will live without end. This is the denarius that the laborers will receive, whether they worked in the vineyard, or whether they came at the eleventh hour; that denarius is eternal life, which is the same for all. But consider the heavens, remember the Apostle: There are celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies. The glory of the sun is one, the glory of the moon is another, and the glory of the stars is another. For one star differs from another star in glory; so too the resurrection of the dead. Therefore, each one of you, my brothers, according to the gift received, strive in this world, so that you may rejoice in the future. Are you married? It is a lower life, a lesser reward is hoped for, but eternal kingdom is not despaired of. You must keep the marital commandments. What then? Because you have a wife, should you not recognize that you are a sojourner in this world? Should you not think that you will die, that you will leave the bed of pleasure? And consider where you may go, to the torment of suffering, or to the reward of eternity. Therefore, think, keep what you have received, carry your burden, because it is light if you love; heavy if you hate. For the Lord did not say in vain (or truly, when he said this, he was speaking only to the continent ones?): Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (not for your bodies, but for your souls); for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light, light for the one who loves, heavy for the one who denies. Have you taken the Lord's yoke on your neck? It is easy if you strive well; rough if you resist. Temptations surround the conjugal life. Wasn't Susanna tested in her very chastity, just because she was joined to a husband? Aren't all such women tempted in this regard, who are united with men? Look, Susanna was someone else's wife, she had a husband. Yet she was tempted. She was tossed about in the storm: "I am in dire straits," she said. She feared death from false witnesses, but feared eternal death from the true judge, God. She weighed, she chose. She first feared, and weighed. She weighed and chose. She chose and prevailed. She taught religious married women. She taught them to resist the tempter, taught them to fight, taught them to labor, taught them to implore for help.

For women, the example of Susanna.

If Scripture bears witness to a woman tempted, did it forsake men? Did it allow them to lack an example of imitation? We looked at Susanna tempted by men desiring her corruption. We looked at her struggling. That reading was the theater of our heart; we awaited the athlete of God, the chaste spirit, we saw combating the adversary. Let us triumph over the defeated with the victor. Religious wives have their building, they have what to imitate. They owe what they keep to God, not to man. For they only keep it, if they owe it to God. They only keep it if they owe it to Him who sees what they keep, which even the husband does not see. For often the husband is absent, but God is always present. And sometimes, because he is a man, the husband suspects falsely. Then let the woman pray for her husband suspecting falsely. Let her pray that he be saved, not that he be damned. For the false suspicion of a man does not close the eyes of God. Her conscience is bare before Him who creates her. For He liberates her who for a time is oppressed forever. But let her pray for her husband, and let her give effort not only to have a good life, but also an intact reputation. For a good life is freed by chastity itself, lest it be condemned. But a good reputation frees others, lest by falsely suspecting they stumble, and perhaps fall into sin, while they judge what they do not see; just as those men fell, and holy Daniel, or rather through Daniel the Lord, freed more those judges than Susanna from inner death. For He freed her lest she be condemned for a time. But He freed them, lest by judging wrongly and condemning the innocent, they fall into eternal punishment of that judge, whom no one can corrupt, from whom no one can hide.

The example of Joseph for men.

So I was saying about men, because they too are not left without an example. Chaste men, men fearing God, men whose own wives are enough for them, men who do not violate others as you would not wish to be violated, men who return the faith that you have demanded; observe also, as I recall, what your wives observed when the reader recited it. Nor has the Divine Scripture left you without an example. They heard Susanna, and rejoiced in her triumph. Look upon Joseph. Not that Joseph to whom the virgin Mary was betrothed who gave birth to Christ, for he was tempted by suspicion and was soon healed by an angel. Holy Scripture attests to another Joseph, tempted by an immodest woman. She loved what was beautiful but not chaste, with a perverse mind, where she had no eyes to see spiritual and invisible beauty. She did not wish the beautiful one to be chaste. She loved another’s, she loved her husband's servant. But did she love one who was faithful to his master? Or do you think she loved him more than herself? Not even him. If she loved him, why did she want to destroy him? Behold, I have proved that she did not love him. She burned with the poison of lust, not with the flame of charity. But he knew how to see what she did not. He was more beautiful inside than outside, more beautiful in the light of the heart than in the skin of the flesh. Where that woman’s eyes could not penetrate, there he enjoyed his own beauty. Therefore, viewing the inner beauty of chastity, when would he allow her to be tainted, when would he permit her to be violated by the temptation of that woman? She loved him. But he also loved. And what he loved was greater than what she loved. Because he saw what she did not see.

They themselves, being impudent, love chastity.

If you wish to see the spiritual beauty of chastity, if you have any eyes for it, for example, I propose something to you: you love it in your wife. Do not despise in another what you love in your own. What is it that you love in your wife? Chastity. This you hate in another which you love in your own. This you hate in another, whose chastity you seek to destroy by lying with her. What you love in your own, do you wish to destroy in another? What you love in your own, do you wish to lose in another? How can you have a sense of piety, killer of chastity? Therefore, preserve in another what you wish to be preserved in your own. Rather, love chastity itself. But perhaps you think you are a lover of your wife's flesh, not of chastity. Indeed, a vile thought, but I will not dismiss you without an example. For I believe that you love chastity more in your wife than flesh. But to show you more completely as a lover of chastity: this you love in your daughter. Who among men does not wish his daughters to be chaste? Who among men does not rejoice in the chastity of his daughters? Is it there that you love the flesh? Do you desire a beautiful body where you shudder at unchasteness? Behold, I have proved you a lover of chastity. If, therefore, I have shown you to be a lover of chastity, what offense have you taken, so that you do not love it in yourself? Behold, you have a shortcut. Love in yourself what you love in your daughter. Love this in another's wife, because your daughter will also be another's wife. Therefore, love chastity in yourself. If you love another's wife, you will not have her immediately. If you love chastity, you will have it immediately. Therefore, love chastity, so that you may have eternal happiness.

Resist in temptation.

But perhaps you will be tempted. An impudent woman will love you. She will find you in solitude, she will try to extort an embrace. If you refuse, she will threaten punishment by slander. The false elders did this to Susanna. The wife of his master did this to Saint Joseph. But pay attention to the one whom Susanna and Joseph also paid attention to. Not because there is no witness, God is not present there. Joseph did not want to offend His eyes, the eyes of His present Lord. He did not want to consent to illicit intercourse with the impudent woman. He rejected her foreign lust, he embraced his own chastity. Yet she did what she threatened. She lied to her husband, she was believed by her husband. Thus, God is still patient. But Joseph is held in prison as if guilty, from whom God is not offended. But even there, God was not absent, because he was not guilty. The Lord was present with Joseph patiently. That He did not help quickly, He postponed to greater rewards. He gladdened him with merit, whom He tried with punishment. For indeed, Saint Joseph had to suffer something even harsh for that chastity itself, that is, bitter. If he perhaps loved that impudent woman, he would have been prepared to endure hardships for her. And she would not prove her love towards him, unless she saw him endure such troubles or hardships for her, and would return affection (indeed not affection, but evil desire) in kind. She would ardently love him in return, because she saw him burn so much with her love that for that reason he did not refuse to bear any punishments. If this is for an impudent woman, how much more for chastity itself! Therefore, sometimes God rightly defers His help, to test the man, to exercise the man, so that man may discover himself. For nothing is hidden from God.

Treasure in heaven.

Therefore, I would caution your Charity, brothers, that above all else, you should set before carnal desires and secular joys and vain pomp and fleeting pleasures, and the vapor of this present life, the honor and beauty of wisdom, prefer the sweetness and delight of wisdom, prefer the honor of chastity, the beauty of purity. All these things are hidden in the heavenly treasure. These precious gems are laid bare before the eyes of God, they shine brightly. If you have eyes, you see. Therefore, place these before various and illicit delights. And if temptation approaches to the point that you even suffer discomfort, my brothers, who would not suffer for his own purse? Who would not suffer for his field, for a single boundary stone of his field? If you endure for these things, which you do not have in your control, as long as you wish to retain them, and wish to let go, but they are often lost while we live, often possessed after our death by those we hate; if for these goods (if they are properly called goods, which do not make men good) men endure so many evils with a calm mind, why are they sluggish for faith? Why are they timid for the heavenly treasure, for those riches which not even shipwreck can take from us? For a just man emerges from shipwreck wealthy and naked.

Job, rich in filth. The help of God.

Saint Job was full of riches. Everything perished at a single blow, nothing remained in his house, by which he seemed opulent just a little before. Suddenly a beggar, covered with worms from head to foot, sat in the dung. What misery is more miserable than this? What inner happiness is happier? He had lost all those things which God had given, but he had the one who had given everything, God himself. Naked, he said, I came out of my mother's womb, naked I shall return to the earth. The Lord gave, the Lord took away. As the Lord pleased, so it has been done. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Certainly, is he poor? Certainly, he has nothing? If nothing remains, from what treasure were these gems of praise to God produced? Later, the tempter approached even to his flesh. With all taken away, he left behind his tempting wife. He dismissed Eve, but that man was not Adam. And how was he found there? How did he respond to the wife suggesting blasphemy? She spoke, he said, like one of the foolish women. If we have accepted good things from the hand of the Lord, why should we not endure evil things? O decayed and whole man! O foul and beautiful! O wounded and healthy! O sitting in the dung, and reigning in heaven! If we love, let us imitate. That we may imitate, let us labor. And if in labor we faint, let us implore help. He helps the one fighting, who started the contest. For God does not watch you fighting as the people watch the charioteer; he does not want to shout, he does not know how to help. God does not watch you fighting as the trainer watches the athlete; he prepares a wreath of straw, but does not know how to supply strength to the laborer, nor can he; for he is a man, not God. And perhaps while he watches, he labors more by sitting than the other by wrestling. For God, when he watches his fighters, helps those who are called upon. For the voice of his athlete is in the Psalm: If I said: My foot is moved, your mercy, Lord, helped me. Therefore let us not be lazy, my brothers, let us ask, seek, knock. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.