Sermon 38

There are two things which in this life are commended to us by the Lord as laborious: to restrain and to endure. For we are commanded to restrain from those things which are called good in this world, and to endure those things which abound as evils in this world. The former is called restraint, the latter endurance. Two virtues which purge the soul and make it capable of divinity. In restraining desires and curbing pleasures, lest what flatters badly seduces and what is called prosperous weakens, we need restraint: not to believe in earthly happiness, and to seek the happiness which has no end until the end. As restraint entails not believing in the happiness of the world, likewise endurance entails not yielding to the unhappiness of the world. Whether therefore we are in abundance of things or in distress, the Lord is to be waited for, who both grants what is truly good and pleasant, and averts from us what is truly evil.

Good and evil are mixed in this world.

The good things of God which He promises to the righteous are kept for the end; and the bad things which He threatens to the impious are kept for the end. The good and the bad which circulate and mix in the world are neither possessed solely by the good nor solely by the bad. Whatever good you speak of in this world, both the good have it and the bad have it. For example, even good health of the body is possessed both by the good and by the bad. Riches can be found among both the good and the bad. The success of children we see as a common gift to both the good and the bad. A long life some good people live long, some bad people live long. And whatever other things you wish to count in this world as good, you find mixed among both the good and the bad. Again, whatever rough things, whatever sad things, both the good and the bad suffer: hunger, disease, pains, losses, oppressions, bereavements. This is the common material of tears for all. Therefore it is easy to see this, that both the goods of the world are among the good and the bad, and the evils of the world are endured by the good and the bad. And hence, the feet of some in the way of God stumble, and they try to deviate. Many even deviate and wander astray, having set and proposed in their mind to serve God in order to abound in earthly goods and avoid evils, and to escape them. For when they propose this to themselves, and set this reward for their piety and religion, when they see themselves laboring and the wicked flourishing, as if they had lost their reward, as if He who called them had deceived them, as if He had assigned the work in vain and deceived them of the reward, they renounce God. And where do the wretched turn, turning away from Him by whom they were made and clinging to the things that were made? When that which was made begins to perish, where will the lover of the temporal be, who lost eternity?

John distinguishes the time of faith and the time of appearance.

Therefore, on account of those goods, which God will not give except to the good, and on account of those evils, which God will not give except to the wicked, because both will appear in the end, God wants to be believed. For what is the reward of faith, or what is the very name of faith altogether, if you only wish to see what you hold? You should not, therefore, see what you believe, but believe what you see; believe as long as you do not see, so that you may not be ashamed when you have seen. Therefore, we believe while it is the time of faith, before it is the time of sight. For so says the Apostle: As long as we are in this body, we are exiled from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. Therefore, through faith, as long as we believe what we do not see. We will hold sight, when we will see face to face, as it is. The apostle John also distinguishes the time of faith and the time of sight in his epistle, saying: Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. This is the time of faith. See the time of sight. We know, he says, that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is.

The time of faith is laborious. Who denies it? It is laborious, but this is the work whose reward it is. Do not be slothful in the work whose reward you desire. For if you had hired a laborer, you would not count the reward before exercising in the work. You would say to him: "Do it, and receive." He would not say to you: "Give, and I do." Thus it is also with God. You do not deceive your laborer fearing God, and will God himself deceive you, who commands not to deceive the laborer? And yet you may not be able to give what you have promised. And if it is not in your heart the deceit of falseness, surely there is in human frailty the poverty of difficulty. Why do we fear God, who neither can deceive because He is truth, and abounds in all things because He made all things?

Our life does not grow but diminishes.

Let us therefore believe in God, brothers. This is the first commandment, this is the beginning of religion and our way, to have a heart fixed in faith, and by fixing the heart in faith to live well, to abstain from seductive goods, to endure temporal evils, and as long as they allure and they threaten, to have a heart steadfast against both, lest you slide into the one or be broken by the other. Therefore, by having self-control and also endurance, when the temporal goods will have passed and the evils which are inflicted will no longer be, you will have a good God, you will have no evil. Therefore, what was said to us in the reading? Son, if you approach to serve God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare your soul for temptation. Humble your heart and endure; so that your life may grow in the last times— not as it is now, but that in the last times—your life may grow. How much do we think it may grow? So that it may become eternal. For now, human life, as long as it is extended and seems to be extended, decreases rather than increases. Attend and see, reason and see that it decreases. A man is born. For instance, God has allotted him seventy years of life. Life is added to him, we say, by growing. Is it added, or is it subtracted? Behold, from the seventy years, he has lived sixty years, ten remain. What was proposed has diminished, and the more he lives, the less remains to him. Hence, by living here, life decreases, it does not increase. Hold what God has promised you, that in the last times your life may increase.

Greed is to be detested, wisdom is to be loved.

Then it follows what has not been read: Accept everything that has been brought to you, and endure in pain, and in your humility have patience. For gold and silver are tested in fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation. It seems hard, you have faltered. Have you not lost what does not falter? Why? Many suffer much for perishable money, and you do not want to suffer for enduring life? Thus you refuse to labor for the promises of God, as if, by not laboring for the promises of God, you will not labor for your own desires. How much do robbers suffer for their wickedness, how much do the lost suffer for their crimes, the lustful for their depravity, the traders crossing the sea committing their body and soul to winds and storms for their avarice, leaving their homes, rushing to unknown lands! If a judge pronounces exile, it is a punishment. Greed commands exile, and it is joy. What then does wisdom command you that greed could not also command? And yet when greed commands, you obey. And when you have done what greed commands, what will you have? A house full of gold and silver. Have you not read: Although man walks in an image, he is still in vain disturbed. He stores up riches, and does not know for whom he collects them? Why then did you sing and say to God: Gather my tears in your bottle, that is, Perceive my tears with your ears? Why do you not perceive with your ears his words, from whom you want your tears to be perceived? If you accuse your greed, it will invite you to its wisdom. But when you take on the yoke of wisdom, will it be laborious? Certainly laborious. But consider the end, the reward. Do you not know for whom you are gathering what you collect through wisdom? You are gathering for yourself. Wake up, arise, have the heart of an ant. It is summer time, gather what will benefit you in winter. When it is well for you, it is summer. Therefore, when it is well for you, learn from where you will be sustained when it is ill for you. It is well for you, it is summer. Do not be lazy, gather grains from the Lord's storehouse, the words of God from the Church of God, gather and store them within your heart. For you know it is well. There will come a time when it is ill. Tribulation will come to every man. And even if all things are serene, certainly when he begins to die, he passes through tribulation to another life. Who says: "It will be well for me, and I will not die"?

If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.

Although, if you love life and fear death, the fear of death itself is a daily winter. And then the fear of death stings most keenly, when things are going well for us. For when things are bad, we do not fear death. When things are going well for us, then we fear death more. Therefore that rich man, who took great delight in his wealth - for he had great wealth and vast possessions - I believe he was beset by the fear of death, and was wasting away amid his luxuries. For he thought he would leave those goods behind. He had gathered wealth, and did not know for whom, and he desired something eternal, and he came to the Lord, and said to him: "Good Master, what good must I do to gain eternal life?" It is well with me, but what I hold is slipping away. It is well with me, but soon what I have will not be. Tell me how I may have what will always be; tell me how I may attain what I will not lose. And the Lord to him: "If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments." He inquired, "Which commandments?" He listened. He replied he had kept all of them from his youth. The Lord, the counselor of eternal life, said to him: "One thing you lack. If you wish to be perfect, go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven." For I have not said: lose, but keep, and come follow me. He who delighted in his riches, and therefore sought from the Lord what good he might do to gain eternal life, because he desired to move from delights to delights, and feared to leave those in which he took pleasure, departed sorrowful to his earthly treasures. He did not want to believe the Lord that he could store in heaven what is perishable on earth. He did not want to be a true lover of his treasure. By holding it poorly, he lost it; by loving it greatly, he missed it. For if he loved it well, he would migrate to heaven, to follow it later himself. God showed him the home where he might migrate, not the place where he would lose. For he followed with the saying: "For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be."

But men want to see their riches. Do they not fear to be seen storing up their treasure on earth? They dig, they bury, and they cover. Do they see what they have? Not even he sees. He desires it to be hidden; he fears it being exposed. He wants to be rich in opinion, not in truth. As if it suffices to have it in conscience, because he has kept it on earth! O how much greater and better will your conscience be, if you have kept it in heaven! Here, when you bury on earth, you fear lest your servant knows and takes it and flees; here you fear lest your servant takes it from you. There you do not fear, because your Lord keeps it well for you. "But," you say, "I have a faithful servant, who knows and does not betray and does not take." Compare him to your Lord. If you have found a faithful servant, when has your Lord deceived you? And if your servant cannot take it, he can yet lose it. Your Lord can neither take nor lose it, nor permit it to perish. He keeps it for you, remains for you, delivers you, makes you abiding. He will not lose you, nor lose what you have entrusted to Him. "Come," He says, "receive what you have placed with Me." God forbid. God does not say this. "I," He says to you, "who forbade you to lend at interest, have been lent by you. For you wished to grow by interest, and you gave to man so that he might return more to you, and when he received it, rejoicing, and when he repaid it, weeping. This you wanted, and I forbade it. For I said: He who does not give his money at interest. I forbade you from usury. I command you interest, lend to Me." This your Lord says to you: "Do you want to give little and receive more? Leave the man who weeps when you demand. Find Me, who rejoices when I repay. Behold," He says, "here I am. Give and take. At the time of repayment, I will repay you. And what will I repay? You gave little, take more; you gave earthly things, take heavenly things; you gave temporal things, take eternal things; you gave what is mine, take Me Myself. For what have you given, unless from what you received from Me? Therefore, will I not repay what you have given, I who gave you from what to give? I who gave you yourself to give, I who gave you Christ to whom to give, who said to you: When you did this to one of the least of these, you did it unto Me." Behold to whom you give. He feeds and hungers for you; He gives and needs. When He gives, you wish to receive; when He needs, you do not wish to give. Christ needs, when the poor need. He who is prepared to give eternal life to all His own, has been deemed worthy to receive temporarily in each poor person.

Our laborers are poor.

And he gives advice on where to depart. For he indeed gave the advice on where you should depart. Depart from the earth to heaven, so that you do not lose. For how many have lost what they were maintaining, and even so, having not learned to correct themselves, they did not learn to place it in heaven. Thus, he who might perhaps say to you: “Transfer your wealth from the West to the East if you do not want it to perish,” you would be anxious, laborious, eager, considering how great the things you have are, you would see that due to the multiplicity of your possessions, you could not easily transfer them to distant places. And perhaps you would be made so, because you would be compelled to go, and you would not find how to take with you what you had gathered. He commanded you to depart to more distant places, who did not say: “Transfer from the West to the East,” but: “Transfer from the earth to heaven.” You are anxious, as if you are suffering a greater difficulty, and say to yourself: “If I could not find beasts of burden and ships, by which I could transfer from the West to the East, how will I find ladders to transfer from the earth to heaven?” “Do not,” says God to you, “labor, do not labor. I, who made you rich, who gave you what to give, made the poor your carriers.” If, for instance, you found someone impoverished across the sea, or where you wanted to go, you found a citizen there afflicted by necessity, you would say to yourself: “This citizen is from there where I want to go. He is in need here. I give him what he may return to me there.” Behold, this poor person is in need here. He is a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. Why do you hesitate to make a transfer? For those who do this give in such a way as to receive more when they arrive at those places from where he who received it is. Let us do likewise.

God will give what He has promised.

This happens if we believe, if we stir up faith. For we are troubled in vain. Why are we troubled in vain? Because when Christ was sleeping in the ship, the disciples were nearly shipwrecked. Jesus was sleeping, and the disciples were troubled. The winds were raging, the waves were stirred up, the ship was being submerged. Why? Because Jesus was sleeping. Likewise, when the storms of temptations rage in this world, your heart is troubled, as if your ship. Why, except because your faith is sleeping? For thus the Apostle Paul says, because Christ dwells through faith in our hearts. Therefore, awaken Christ in your heart, let your faith be vigilant, let your conscience be calm, and your ship will be liberated. Realize that He who promised is truthful. He has not yet shown, because it is not yet time to show. However, He has already shown many things. He promised and gave His Christ; He promised and gave His resurrection; He promised and gave His Gospel; He promised and gave His Church to be spread throughout the whole world; He foretold and showed these very tribulations and the heaps of calamities in human affairs. How many things remain? What was promised is being fulfilled, what was foretold is being fulfilled. And do you falter lest what remains shall not come? Then you ought to fear if you did not see what was foretold. There are wars, famines, devastations. One kingdom rises above another, there are earthquakes, exaggerations of calamities, abundance of scandals, coldness of charity, abundance of iniquity. Read all these, they were foretold. Read, see that all you see was foretold, and believe that you will see what has not yet come, counting how many have come. But seeing God show what He foretold, do you not believe He will give what He promised? There you must believe, where you begin to be troubled.

The labor passes, rest will come.

If the end of the world is, we must migrate from the world, not love the world. Behold, the world is disturbed, and the world is loved. What if the world were peaceful? How would you cling to the beautiful, who so embrace the foul? How would you gather flowers rightly, who do not withdraw your hand from thorns? You do not wish to leave the world, the world leaves you, and you follow the world. Therefore, let us cleanse our heart, dearest ones, and let us not lose endurance but attain wisdom and hold steadfastness. Labor passes, rest will come; false delights pass away, and the good that the faithful soul has desired will come, for which every pilgrim in the age burns and sighs: a good homeland, a heavenly homeland, a homeland with the peoples of the angels, a homeland where no citizen dies, where no enemy is admitted, a homeland where you will have God as an eternal friend, where you fear no enemy.