Sermon 350D

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ErfurtSermon 350/D

Sermon of Saint Augustine Bishop

On the alms of spiritual things

The fruit of faith is to do good to the needy.

The fruit of faith is to do good to the needy, because it is fruitless faith to believe in God while neglecting works of mercy. For just as a barren tree is cultivated in vain, a hard flint is wetted in vain, the dryness of sand is ploughed in vain, so it is of no benefit to a person to not deny what is true, who does not wish to provide what is good. Deservedly it is written that faith without works is dead in itself, from which also such people are compared to demons; for to some boasting of faith and devoid of good works the apostle James speaks thus: You believe that there is one God; you do well. Even the demons believe and tremble, so that it seems there is no difference between the fear of a suffering demon and the grace of a faithful person, except that the former's deeds are evil while the latter's are good, since both proceed from the same belief, just as from the same water both the horror of thorns and the fruit of grapes arise.

Whatever man does in his life, it is nothing but a work of mercy.

Mercy, moreover, is first of a faithful man toward himself; this is commanded by scripture saying: Have mercy on your soul pleasing God. Thence it extends to the neighbor by growing so that the commandment may be fulfilled: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Therefore, true mercy which is bestowed upon the neighbor is to be bestowed for this reason, that he may also please God: he must be called to this, exhorted to this, taught and instructed in this. For even those alms which are given for bodily necessities and temporal life are to be done with the intention and mind that those on whom they are bestowed may love God by whose gift they are given. The Lord also admonishes this saying: Let your good works shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Therefore, a man of God, a vessel sanctified in honor, useful to the Lord, prepared for every good work, whatever he does in his life, is nothing but a work of mercy, whether toward himself or toward the neighbor. And toward himself indeed he is merciful, as we have mentioned above, when he pleases God; he pleases God, when in that which he does well God is pleased, and in that which he suffers evil God is not displeased. For the apostle also when speaking of his good works had said: I have labored more than all of them, immediately adds: Yet not I, but the grace of God with me, and Job in his temptation and tribulation says: As it has pleased the Lord, so it has been done. Blessed be the name of the Lord. But he is merciful toward his neighbor, when he does his utmost, so that even he may similarly enjoy the sweetness of pleasing God.

Spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

I had intended to speak about works of mercy, from which I might now seem to some to have strayed from my purpose and gone elsewhere, because I do not say, "Break your bread to the hungry, bring the poor and homeless into your house, when you see the naked, cover him," and so forth. These are in fact rightly considered and called alms, as if these alone pertain to works of mercy. They do pertain, indeed, but not solely, so much so that they are the least, unless perhaps people are so foolish as to think that those who provided material needs to the apostles were more merciful than the apostles themselves, who were sowing spiritual things. Let it not be thought by anyone who listens intelligently to the apostle saying: "If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it too much if we reap your material things?" In sowing spiritual things, see what kind of giver appears where he says: "Being so desirous of you, we were pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own souls," and elsewhere: "I most gladly will spend and be spent for your souls." Compare now the one who breaks his bread to the hungry with the one who imparts his soul to the believer, compare the one who spends gold for the temporal life of the poor with the one who spends himself for the eternal life of his brother: if he is rightly merciful and is said and considered to be so who brings a stranger in need of shelter into his house, provides satisfaction with a table, rest with a bed, how much more merciful is he found who recalls and brings back the one wandering through the ways of iniquity, introduces him into the house of God, incorporates him into the members of Christ, where he is restored by the refreshment of justice, made secure by the remission of sins!

But perhaps this is to do mercy to oneself, but to do cruelty to another?

However, these works of mercy, by which it is made so that one pleases God, are placed by the true law of wisdom above those works by which necessary sustenance is provided to carnal need, so that often while those are performed more prudently, these are more mercifully withheld. For firstly, a man merciful towards himself, mindful of the divine command which says, “Take pity on your soul, pleasing God,” often fasts so that he may please God, and when he is ordered to love his neighbor as himself, he provides bread to a hungry neighbor, denying it to himself, thus punishing his own body and bringing it into subjection, lest perhaps, while preaching to others, he himself may be found reprobate. But perhaps this act in himself is mercy, in another, however, is cruelty? What then? When food is often not provided to hungry little ones by parents, whether for reasons of health or the severity of discipline or for the purpose of observing a fast for great humiliation rendered by all, were not the parents then more merciful to their children, unless perhaps the Ninevites, believing in God and converting to God, not only feared Him threatening but also hoped for Him showing mercy, and observed the fast decreed by the command of the king with such humility that they even withheld the beasts from pasture and water, were cruel to their little ones whom that entire multitude contained, which had not even left out the mute animals? Surely how many, because of their age, did not know what was being done and cried out demanding food, were denied it, so that even from this the greater tears afflicted the spirits of the elders more heavily and pressing them down in humility, they poured out to the Lord a groan and prayer squeezed out by this pressure, obtaining salvation not only for themselves, who fasted willingly, but also for their little ones whom they compelled! Indeed, there was not only no cruelty of fathers or mothers towards the children, but rather great mercy; which nonetheless did not break bread for the hungry but also withheld it from the crying. Finally, what is more merciful than the Lord God Himself, who makes His sun rise on the good and the bad and rains on the just and the unjust, who nonetheless not only often chastises sinners with the scourge of hunger but also exercises the patience of the just with such trials of probation? Or was He not merciful towards the apostle Paul, when he was fighting in hunger and thirst and cold and nakedness, fortifying him with paternal chastisement, or did He not become indignant with the people of Israel because, when they longed for carnal care, He filled their camps with quails? Therefore, these temporal and earthly goods are often given as a punishment to those to whom they are given and often denied for utility, often God graciously takes them away and gives them angrily, and again He often gives them graciously and takes them away angrily, according to the most wise judgment of the ruling one. Therefore, the Apostle came to visit the people of God not only in the gentleness of the spirit of meekness but also with a rod mercifully, not only did he command the spirit of divination to leave a woman moved by mercy but also mercifully handed over certain ones to Satan, that they might learn not to blaspheme, because even to the Apostle himself the Lord not only mercifully provided food and covering, whereby the infirmity of the flesh might be sustained under the strength of the spirit, but also mercifully gave to him an angel of Satan to buffet him, so that the strength of the spirit might be perfected in the infirmity of the flesh.

That mercy, by which we are made pleasing to God, must be perpetual.

Food, drink, clothing, and even the entire health of the mortal body are opportunely withdrawn through mercy; but indeed that mercy by which it is brought about that we please God must be perpetual, continual, and unceasing, altered by no seasonal change. For it cannot be said, "Sometimes it is expedient to take food, sometimes it is not expedient," in the same way that it cannot be said, "Sometimes it is expedient to please God, sometimes it is not expedient," or as it is said, "Now break bread for the hungry because this benefits him, now compel him to fast because this is to his health," so also is it correctly said: "Now act with this one so he pleases God, for this benefits him, now so that he displeases Him, because this is sometimes expedient too." Certainly, the most absurd and utterly detestable error is of this kind, nor is it to be believed that anyone could be entangled in it, no matter how sacrilegious! Therefore, that mercy by which efforts are made so that we please God is itself, in a certain way, the cardinal virtue: the other merciful acts are rightly done if they never depart from this contemplation.