Sermon 374 augm

Sermon 374

Sermon of Saint Augustine delivered on Epiphany

To see God, let us cleanse our hearts.

The annual celebration of this day demands from us an annual sermon, which is due to your ears and hearts, and, if you listen devoutly, also due to your morals. For the fruit of our whole life is righteousness, the reward is eternal life, the beginning of righteousness is faith. For we were not called to what we already see, nor do we already possess what was promised. But because the promiser is true, we must first live in hope, that we may be worthy to live in reality: what God has promised, without doubt, He will give. But because what He is going to give is great, by delaying, He extends our desire so that He may make us capable of such a great gift. For He is not going to give perishable, changing, fragile goods that, when they abound, fill us with fears, and when they recede, fill us with sorrows. But He is going to give – what do you think? – something earthly? Far from it! Something heavenly, the like of which we see with the eyes of the body? Even that is cheap in comparison to the promised gift, for receiving which hearts are cleansed. For if God now gave you something that pertains to the present time, He would seek your eyes to see what He gives. But because He will give what the eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man, as the Apostle says, what does He prepare to give you? Blessed, He says, are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Therefore our whole reward will be to see God. Is it a small reward to see the one by whom you were made? Stretch out the lap of your desire as much as you like, be greedy in desiring what such a great one has promised: He cannot give you anything better than Himself. For whatever God has made is cheaper and inferior to its maker.

An eternal reward is promised to the man created in the image of God.

And where does the creation of God begin? With the angels. And where does the creation of God end? It extends to earthly mortals. Upward, the end of creation is, beyond which God is. Downward, the end of creation is, beyond which nothing is. Therefore begin to count the gifts you have received for now, not yet those to which you have been called. Begin. Behold the earthly goods: light, a certain nourishment of air without which we cannot exist at any time, then the fruits of the earth, springs, the very health of the body, and other such things that can be mentioned, which were to be briefly touched upon: they are God's gifts, they are divine favors. But do not covet these greatly from Him in whose image you were made. For you see that these are still common to you with the beasts, nor will you find the source of these things except from that true God, the creator and giver of all; however, because He even gives these, you should not be content with them: He reserves something for His image which He does not give to the beasts. Therefore let us seek what it is, and having recalled it, let us desire it, having desired it, let us expect it, and, that we may attain it, let us do what He who promised commands.

"If you love the reward of faith, do not flee from the toil of labor."

There, the reward; here, the work. The Promiser of the reward is also the giver of the command: He who predicts what you will receive, commands what you should do. If you love the reward of faith, do not shun the labor of the work. He will give: for God is truthful. Whoever promises and does not give fails to give for one of two reasons, either because he is a liar, or because he cannot. What can we say like this about God? Is the truth a liar? Is there anything the Almighty cannot do? Therefore, if He is both truthful and has the means to give, why would He deceive you? Lift up your mind, hope confidently: He who promised is powerful, eternal. Do you fear that, after you have worked, before you receive, your promiser might pass away? Therefore, let us rather see what is promised. Let us transcend these common goods shared with animals; let us see what unique quality man possesses beyond what animals have: to speak, to understand, to distinguish between true and false, just and unjust, and finally, the very One by whom he was made.

The reward promised to us will not be given to the unjust.

It is a great work to seek what is a great reward to find. Therefore, man is distinguished from animals by speaking, indeed he is distinguished from animals by talking, from certain men by eloquence. This gift of eloquence is great, a great good, but even the wicked possess it. It is not shared with beasts, but it is shared with the wicked. Many have eloquence and are wicked, and they deceive many with that same eloquence and seek temporal power for themselves. All these are to be condemned, yet they are still men. Seek something from God that you may have in common not only with beasts, but not even with wicked men. If I spoke of eloquence, take this also concerning riches. For riches were given not to beasts, but to men. For it pertains to humans to rule, command, and govern. Yet many wicked men also possess riches: this earthly good is possessed by both the good and the wicked, and the good do not possess it while the wicked do not possess it. Seek something higher. Do you fear that, once you find something chosen that can be given neither to beasts nor to wicked men, the Almighty may not be able to give it to you, who has called you to do a work and receive a gift? "I have found something." What will you find? Wicked men also have intellect, wicked men also have memory, they have riches – as I said – and wicked men have honors and temporal power. What will you find?

In the absence of the good by which you become good, you will not be able to use other goods well.

Oh if you would listen to me, seek nothing from God except God. To whomever this is granted, he is indeed made good. What separates the good from the evil cannot be common to both. For there is a difference between a good thing which allows you to do good, and a good thing which makes you good. All good things besides God are such that you can do good with them, but God is such a good that He makes you good. You have gold: it is good, but it is something with which you do good. You have eloquence: it is good, but it is something with which you work well. You have bodily health: use it well. For many have been corrected by infirmity and ruined by health. Many have fallen ill because of their good and recovered because of their malign. Therefore, even bodily health, which is a poor man's inheritance, unless it is turned to good use, is also harmful. Sharpened wit, a great good, but still such that both the good and the evil can use it well or poorly: it is not yet the good by which you become good. All the perversities of all errors, all sects of deviation and impiety have had great minds as authors. They were not created by just any people, but were established by sharp-witted individuals. For the ruin of the human race, all theatrical absurdities were not invented except by clever people. "All are enemies, certainly disgraceful." They are disgraceful, you say. So how can what is done disgracefully be viewed honorably? You confess this is disgraceful, and yet you support it so it can exist. I do not know whom to call worse: the seller of disgrace or the buyer. Yet these things were invented and established by the sharpest minds. Therefore wit is also good, but only if used well. Up until now I have mentioned those goods with which you do good, not those with which you become good. If that good by which you become good accompanies, you will use the other goods well. But if that good does not accompany by which you become good, how can you, being evil, use other goods well? What is the good by which you become good? God Himself.

"There is an inhabitant inside, he has his own eyes."

There is a certain thing that is seen by the mind. For the eyes do not have what they see, and the mind does not have. What is better: the body or the soul? I think that even lifeless bodies, if they could, would respond that the soul is better. But it does not wish to tell me that the soul is better than the body. So I ask: Who is better, the one who rules or the one who is ruled? Now here I think even beasts would not doubt to respond that the ruler is better. Who then rules? Certainly the soul, which is better than the body. If the soul becomes absent, the windows of the body, even if they are open, do not have someone to see through them. The eyes are open, the ears are open: if the inhabitant is absent, what use are the open doors? Therefore, the soul sees certain things through the eyes: light, colors, shapes; the soul hears certain things through the ears: voices and sounds; the soul smells certain things through the sense of smell: all odors; the soul tastes all flavors through the sense of taste; the soul feels through the entire body hard and soft, rough and smooth, cold and hot, light and heavy. The eye does not hear, nor does the ear see, yet the soul sees through the eye and hears through the ear. It cannot do both through both, but yet it alone can do what it can through both. Does the soul do nothing by itself? If it can do through the body, can it not do by itself? It sees white and black through the body, can it not by itself see just and unjust? And yet many are those who think that only these things that are seen through the body exist, doing an injury to their mind, ungrateful to God by whom they were made in His image. The inhabitant is inside, it has other eyes of its own.

Only the mind perceives the nature of justice.

If I wanted to show jewels, if I wanted to show gold and silver, crafted vessels, precious garments and whatever precious and beautiful things are counted among the riches of men, if finally I wanted to show the heavens, and not a coffered, but a starry chamber of the poor, what would I seek? Eyes. When I want to show what is just and unjust, what do I seek? To whom do I show it? But perhaps I do not have something to show. For some have thought that justice is not by nature, but established by opinion, that is, that this is just—or rather called just—because men wanted it to be by some pact of human society, and not by some nature of justice. Is it then not truly by nature that justice exists? We struggle to show—and yet we ought to know most clearly what we know through the mind alone—we struggle to show what the nature of justice is, and we do not struggle to show that gold exists, that earth exists, that the heavens exist. Do I need to struggle to show these things? Every man proclaims that what can be seen through the body exists, and many deny that what can be seen only through the mind exists.

"God cannot be shown by man; He shows Himself."

It is a wonder if this soul is not ailing, it is a wonder if it does not have its eyes wounded or even extinct! Whence shall they be restored? Whence shall they be healed? The door of medicine is faith. For in order to see what it does not see, it must first believe that there is something to see, but it must also recognize that it is not yet in a condition to see. "Perhaps I can: show me." But to whom shall I show? Indeed, I cannot either, but He can who also showed me, if I see anything from here. The physician comes to the sick man having wounded eyes, or perhaps already lost eyes - he has forgotten ever seeing, or perhaps has never seen since his birth - but yet there is such a great physician who can banish ancient blindness by cure: he promises to show something if the patient allows himself to be healed. But moreover, if the patient does not believe before he sees, how shall he be healed? "There is," he says, "something for you to see, but you shall see it when your eyes have been healed." And he replies, "I will not be healed unless I see." What an absurd and perverse response: to want to see first in order to be healed, when indeed if he could see, there would be no reason why he should be healed. Therefore, believe in the physician who will demonstrate, so that you do not resist the healer. "Show me," he says. What shall I show you? "God," he says. To whom? "To me," he says, "if you wish me to believe. For I do not believe unless I see." Whom do you seek to be shown, to whom do you seek to be shown, by whom do you seek to be shown? God must be shown, to man He must be shown, He cannot be shown by man: He shows Himself. I can admonish you what to do, so that you may merit to see.

The soul moves the flesh, God moves the world.

"Absolutely not," he says, "there is no God." All are horrified. Who has said this: "There is no God"? And yet the psalm did not remain silent about this: The fool said in his heart, "There is no God." Because it is such a word that horrifies everyone, he said it in his heart, he did not entrust it to his tongue and voice. Nevertheless, I also seek something. "Show me," he says, "God." Brother, let us seek together. Even if I try to show and cannot—as indeed it probably requires time, effort, and certain teachings—nevertheless I also ask something. You say: "Show me God"; I say: Show me your soul. You ask me for the most lofty thing, I ask for the humble; you for the one who is absent, I for the one who is present; you for the sought, I for the seeker. Behold, if I say you do not have a soul, what would you do? For if we must believe only in the eyes, you do not have a soul; unless I see your soul, I will not believe it exists. You will say: "Indeed, a soul cannot be seen with the eyes, but it can be shown through works. You see a person walking, you hear a person speaking; you speak, I respond, and you doubt that I have a soul?" In the meantime, I have not seen your soul, but I have seen the works of your soul. If I recognize your soul through its works, recognize God through the works of God. There is a soul because it moves the flesh, and there is no God who moves the world? Does the order of things not terrify you: earthly things subjected to celestial, the alternation of night and day, the arrangement of seasons, the brightness of the sun that fills the clarity of the day, the moon and stars that temper the darkness of night, fruits emerging from the earth, flowing springs? The very animals that are born on earth are born with life: what is made lives, and He who makes does not live? Therefore there is a God, far be it that we doubt! But perhaps still one who doubts seeks, but let him seek in such a way that he first believes, so that by not believing he does not fail to deserve to find what he seeks.

"As God wanted Himself to be worshiped, He also wanted Himself to be written about."

Therefore, God is, and the question arises more about how He should be worshiped than whether He exists. What then? And hence we shall say something. I think it is easy for me to speak to Christians: God should be worshiped as He ordered Himself to be worshiped. For if a Christian asks me how God ordered Himself to be worshiped, I do not put forth my own word, but I recite the book to which, without a doubt, he is rightfully subject in his faith. For it is not permitted for him to doubt the divine writings: God also willed it to be written how He wished to be worshiped; what He willed to be written, He willed to be recited, and He placed such a peak and summit of authority on that Scripture that He placed beneath it all the authors of other books. For there were those who wrote what they wanted, as they wanted. Whose book is placed at such a peak of authority that the world responds to it with “amen”? When we deal with someone perhaps not subject to the great authority of those books and contending with me and saying: "Men wrote these things for themselves," what should I do? From where shall we prove that these writings are divine?

The daily miracles of God have become commonplace through their frequent occurrence.

Apart from this administration of nature by which the world is governed, men have not been awe-struck by certain divine works except through wondrous deeds and sayings. Nature indeed is full of miracles, but all things to be wondered at have become common through constant occurrence. For instance, if one man who was among men rises from the dead, the divine work is proclaimed by all: every day many who were not are born, and no one marvels. Christ turned water into wine, a great miracle: what else does he do every year in the vine? Do you think it is a small thing to be wondered at, that moisture is drawn from the earth, turned into the quality of that wood, passes through the tendrils, unfolds into leaves, and even produces swelling clusters, increases immature grapes, and colors the ripe ones? Ask the root how all these things happen. What numbers, what measures, what art of working in such a small and contemptible appearance? I still wonder at the workmanship of the root, but the seed grain is even more to be marveled at. How small, how almost nothing, yet where all the numbers of the future root, strength, branches, fruits, leaves are contained, and the workmen numbers drawing sap, turning it into such a beautiful and delightful work. These are the astounding works of the Creator. You have not yet gone up to heaven to see him present, and already you find him creating on earth. These things require consideration. For is there anything more wondrous than such works? However, because they are daily occurrences, as I said, they have become common. Therefore God, wanting to quicken the minds of men, reserved for himself certain things not greater, but certainly rarer. For it is more to make a man than to raise one. But because now no one marvels at him making every day, he sometimes presented himself as raising the dead. He gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute. He who does these things without a miracle in seeds, did them with a great miracle in men.

"Every miracle is either in deed or in word."

These things are written, these things are read. "But now," he says, "they do not happen, and I fear that these things were written by men and did not happen." We sometimes suffer such questioners; indeed, you ought not to be such but should be able to respond to such. I know that I speak almost superfluously to believers, but let me be like one persuading unbelievers so that you may be able to be instructed against unbelievers. Some men say, indeed now few, but not none: "These things were written, but they did not happen." How then shall I prove that they happened? Certainly every miracle is either in deed or in word. Marvelous deeds are those that occur beyond the usual course and order of nature; marvelous words are those by which future things are announced. Therefore, if you do not wish to believe in the marvelous deeds which are written to be read, at least believe in the marvelous words which are shown to be true by their very effect. For here he shows his faith who narrated to you the wonders of the past, when you see the present things which he foretold would come. Or perhaps divine prophecy is not divine, from which it even got its name, to which the curiosity of men is so given that many today do not want to be Christians because they want to allow themselves to consult soothsayers, astrologers, augurs, and - what else shall I say? - magicians? But the power of Christ also extinguishes the works of this art, which led the Magi from such a distant nation to worship him.

Through the revelation of the Magi, they were taught about the sign of the star.

They came to worship the child, the Word of God. Why did they come? Because they saw an unusual star. And how did they know it was Christ's? Indeed, they could see the star, but could it speak to them and say: "I am Christ's star"? Undoubtedly, it was indicated in some other way, through some revelation. However, a king was born unusually who was to be worshiped by foreigners as well. Were kings not born before in Judea or throughout the entire earth in different nations? Why was this one to be worshiped—and worshiped by foreigners—not by a terrifying army, but hidden in the poverty of flesh with the majesty of virtue? When he was born, he was worshiped by the Israelite shepherds to whom the angels had announced him. But the Magi were not from Israel: they worshiped idols or the gods of nations, that is, demons, deceived by their deceitful power. Therefore, they saw some unusual star, they marveled: without a doubt, they inquired whose sign it could be that they saw as so new and unusual, and surely they heard. But you say: "From whom did they hear?" Surely from the angels, through some admonition of revelation. You may perhaps ask: "From good angels or bad?" Indeed, even the evil angels, that is demons, confessed Christ as the Son of God. But why would they not have heard from the good ones, since their salvation was being sought in worshiping Christ, not condemnation of iniquity? Therefore, even the angels could have said to them: "The star you have seen is Christ's, go and worship him where he is born," and at the same time indicate what kind and how great the born one is. Having heard this, they came and worshiped. They offered gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, according to their custom: for they were accustomed to offer such things to their gods.

The magi adore Christ, the Jews show Him born but do not believe.

Before they could act, before they found him in the city where he had been born, they came asking where the king of the Jews was born. Could they not have known this by revelation, just as they knew that this star was the king of the Jews, worthy of worship even from foreigners? Could the same star not have led them to that city, just as it later led them to the place where Christ was with his mother as an infant? It could indeed have done so, but it was not done, so that this might be asked of the Jews. Why did God want this to be asked of the Jews? So that while they pointed out him in whom they did not believe, they might be condemned by their own demonstration. Note that this happens even now. The Magi, the first fruits of the Gentiles, freed from greater impiety, give greater glory to the one who freed them. They ask: Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? Herod, hearing of the king’s name, trembles with jealousy. He calls the experts in the law and asks them according to the Scriptures to tell him where Christ was to be born. They respond: In Bethlehem of Judea. The Magi set out and worship, while the Jews who pointed the way stay behind.

"We convict the unbelievers from the books of the Jews."

O great sacrament! Today we convince unbelievers from the books of the Jews to become believers; through their books, we show pagans what they do not want to believe. For sometimes pagans put this kind of question to us: when they see the things that are written being so fulfilled that they cannot deny at all that through the name of Christ all things are presented among all nations which are recited as having been foretold in the holy books—in the faith of kings, in the destruction of idols, in the transformation of human affairs—they are sometimes so moved that they say: "You saw these things happening and wrote them as if they had been predicted." A certain poet of theirs did this: those who have read recognize these things. He narrated that someone descended to the underworld and then came into the region of the blessed, and that certain future Roman leaders were shown to him, whom the writer himself already knew had been born. Indeed, he narrated past events but wrote them as if they were prophesied future ones. "Thus you," the pagans say to us, "saw all these things happening and wrote books for yourselves in which these things are read as if predicted future ones." O glory of our king! Deservedly the Jews were conquered by the Romans but not destroyed. All nations subjected by the Romans passed into Roman laws: this nation was both conquered and remained in its law; as far as the worship of God is concerned, it preserves its ancestral customs and rites. Even with their temple destroyed and their former priesthood extinguished, as foretold by the prophets, they still keep circumcision and a certain custom by which they are distinguished from other nations. For what other reason, except for a testimony of the truth? The Jews are scattered everywhere, carrying books in which Christ is foretold—and as he is foretold, he is presented—so that even pagans may be shown. I produce the book, read the prophet, show that the prophecy is fulfilled. The pagan doubts, lest I have invented this: my enemy has this book, anciently commended to him by his ancestors. From this, I convince both: the Jew, because I have recognized that what is prophesied there is fulfilled; the pagan, because I did not invent this.

Things which were once offered to God in sacrifices had to be changed.

Therefore, let not demons seduce the unwary and those improperly curious about temporal matters by the appearance of divination, nor let them, through their haughty pride, deceive and demand honor from the impious sacrifices offered to them. The true divine prophecies belong to the one true God. True sacrifice is owed to the one true God, whose figures were previously foreshadowed in incense and victims, so that, by divine providence announcing in many ways what was to come in one way, it might show how great it would be. For this too, among other things foretold for Christian times, was prophesied—that those things previously offered to God as sacrifices were to be entirely changed. "Why then," you ask, "were they commanded if they were to be changed?" O sick one, do not give advice to the physician on how you should be cured. One man, Adam, filled the world through his offspring. The human race, as it were, one great sick man lying from east to west, needs to be healed: a great sick man, but a greater physician. Let us therefore take an analogy from the very art of human medicine. The physician comes to the sick man and says: "Take this in the morning, but in the afternoon take that." And the sick man to the physician: "Why," he says, "not this in the afternoon just as in the morning?" Would not the physician rightly respond to him: "You can be sick, but you cannot cure yourself; allow the art to counsel your recovery"? "Then," says the sick man, "the art is inconstant, ordering one thing first and another later." "Rather be quiet and heal. The art is constant; it knows what to apply in the morning, what in the afternoon. The art has not changed, but your sickness is changeable. It knows what is expedient at any time, assisting mutable maladies according to the diversity of times." Thus, for the benefit of the human race, some things were profitable in earlier times, others in later times. Do you ask why? Be a friend of the physician, and perhaps you will understand, lest even today you think we ought not to go to sacrifice to God unless with a bull, with a ram, or with incense.

Of the Old and New Testament.

"Show, someone says, that God commanded these things and predicted these changes, and I will believe, lest I think you speak these things from yourself, not from divine authority." So listen to the words of God, a few among many: "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord. The prophet speaks. If you think this is fabricated by Christians, let a Jew bring forth the codex. How then can I bring forth something my ancient enemy carries? Therefore, let the codex be brought from the library of the Jews, and we shall read from it. What shall we read? "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah." "But perhaps he says this about the testament the Jews received, and it is said to be new when our fathers received it through Moses on Mount Sinai, because it was not before in human kind." You suggested well, but wait: I require patience until I recite the rest. Listen about the New Testament: "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah." I am not yet saying the rest. Who is speaking? Jeremiah. When did Jeremiah prophesy? Long after Moses through whom the first testament was given. If therefore Jeremiah, who says, "Behold, the days are coming," speaks of the future, and "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah," there is no reason to say it signifies the testament given through Moses. Therefore, he speaks of another new testament. But still, listen to the rest: "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt." What could be clearer? For then the first testament was given through Moses, which is called old.

What the Magi offered to Christ were signs rather than gifts.

Behold, brothers, heed the divine words. We read what was foretold, we perceive what has been fulfilled, and still, do we doubt the divine authority of the books? Therefore, let no one say: "Behold, the Magi brought frankincense to Christ, why do we not also burn incense to Christ?" First observe that the Magi brought frankincense, they did not burn it. "But why did he accept this gift?" you ask. As if they would indeed forbid that anything created be offered to the Creator! God made frankincense—not demons—God made myrrh, God made gold. The Magi sin by giving these to demons and honoring them, using creation to injure the Creator. Nevertheless, today learn that they gave such things as they were accustomed to give to their gods. But Christ did not let them give these things in vain: rather, they were symbols than gifts. He received frankincense as God, gold as a king, myrrh as one destined to die for burial. At that time, not only frankincense was offered, but also the sacrifices of animals by both pagans and Jews, that is, by those who worshiped many false gods and by those who worshiped one true God. These, I say, were offered to God according to the Old Testament, but this changed with the New Testament. "Behold," he says, "the days are coming," says the Lord, "and I shall consummate a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, on the day that I took their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt."

"The sacrifice cleansing sins, the body of Christ."

"But, one may say, he did not speak about sacrifices." Do you then want to hear something about sacrifices? Because God predicted that all those sacrifices would be abolished and that a single sacrifice, truly cleansing sins, the body of Christ, would be given, the faithful know. And what I am saying, I know is not understood by all, but let those who understand rejoice and live worthily of such a great sacrament. But those who do not yet understand, it is in their power to change their life, to receive the sacrament of change, and to know what is offered by the faithful and what is received. For there is what was foretold: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. For the first priesthood was according to the order of Aaron, but afterward it was said to our priest, and this by a prophet long before he came in the flesh: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Therefore, the order of Aaron was changed, and the order of Melchizedek came. According to the order of Aaron were the animal sacrifices, according to Melchizedek, the body of Christ. "You still have not said," someone says, "whether God predicted that those sacrifices would cease." Behold, I read to you, lest perhaps my memory fails me. For I, brothers, did not learn these writings from my youth, and, what is worse, I can recite other things from memory that are superfluous. But these things to which I did not apply myself from childhood, unless I look at the books, I cannot pronounce. Or perhaps it is more useful that you hear not from my mouth but from the divine book, what you should healthily know. Listen now and do not be surprised that now Christ is not approached with incense, since he established another sacrifice, of which all past things were shadows."

Through the things that have been made new, we understand the old.

Among many, the prophet Isaiah speaks, whose book I hold in my hands. What does Isaiah say? "Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old." Behold now, brothers, the abolishment of the old is clear. "But still," you say, "he has said nothing about sacrifices. Perhaps he has changed other things, but not these." Although it is general, "nor consider the things of old," and there I may understand from what later the apostolic doctrine taught me, what I should offer, what I should no longer offer—I have an expositor of this obscurity, I have a teacher telling me how to take this—however, even the prophet himself does not allow a man to guess as he pleases: for he speaks plainly what you will hear. Therefore listen: "Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old. For behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" What is this: "For behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" That is: I will do new things which were not, so that you might understand what has been. Animals were killed, blood was shed, and through blood God was appeased. Indeed, God is appeased by blood, and God desires blood, and God delights in the smoke of sacrifices, or seeks the smell of incense or other aromatics who creates all, who gives all to you? Perish the thought! He is fed by your devotion, and indeed that is useful to you, not to him whom you serve. Every human servant of a human master serves his master for the benefit of his master, and in turn, the master looks after his servant for the benefit of the servant. Not so with God. Whoever serves him, serves him for his own benefit, not for his. And do I perhaps say this on my own? Hear the prophet: "I said to the Lord." What? "You are my Lord." Why? "Because you do not need my good things," he says. You have an absolute sentence, there is no doubt: God does not need your good things. Therefore do not believe that your God needs such sacrifices, but seek what they teach, what they signify. Formerly, blood was shed from victims, because the true one victim's blood to be shed was foretold, the blood of your Lord, the blood your price, the blood by which your debt's handwriting would be erased, that is, the oldness of your sin would be abolished. It has come, it has been shed, he himself is offered. Let the day breathe now, and let the shadows be removed. "Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old. For behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" Now we understand why those things preceded which foretold what was to come. All things are interpreted in relation to Christ, all things have an end in Christ. "For behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" Before all these new things happened, the old things were carried out and not understood.

Augustine is not a debater, but a reader.

What follows then? I will make a way in the wilderness. In which wilderness? Certainly of the nations, where there was no worship of the true God. I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the dry land. Nowhere among the nations were the prophets read, now their Scripture is spread through all nations. Behold rivers in the dry land. The beasts of the field will bless me. What are the beasts of the field, if not understood as the nations? The beasts of the field and sirens, daughters of sparrows, will bless me. Some impious souls, daughters of demons, will bless me. How, unless by deserting the devil they turn to Christ? "But these things are still obscure and interpreted almost according to our understanding to something clearer. Say specifically where it is shown that God was displeased with sacrifices of victims." If I could not recite something clearer, I would not dare to take up this codex. Therefore, let your charity hear with patience. The beasts of the field and sirens, daughters of sparrows, will bless me. Why will they bless? Hear what follows: Because I will give water to the desert, and rivers in that place where there was no water, that I might give drink to my chosen kind. To which kind of yours? To my people whom I have acquired for myself. I did not call you Jacob, nor did I make you labor as Israel. Why do I need sheep for burnt offerings? Ah, brothers. I do not know if there is anyone who might say to me: "I do not understand. You say what you want, you interpret what you want." Now I have become not a disputant, but a reader. Refer this to that from which we started, where it says: You must not be mindful of former things nor consider the things of old. For it appears that God first commanded these things to be done for the sake of a certain sacrifice, foretelling the shedding of righteous blood and foreshadowing it through the likeness of victims. Now what does he say? Why do I need sheep for burnt offerings? For neither have you adorned me with your sacrifices, nor have you served me with your sacrifices. For I did not make you for this, that you should labor in incense. Lest perhaps someone says he forbade sacrifices, but allowed incense: For I did not make you for this, he says, that you should labor in incense, or that you should buy incense for me with silver, nor have I desired the fat of your sacrifices.

In the sacrifices of the old law there was not abolition, but testimony of sins.

Let us dare to say to the Lord our God: "And why did you establish these things beforehand?" Now here we seek understanding. This was not the abolition of these things, but a testimony to sins. What I said, I know is obscure and somewhat needs to be made clear. But I say briefly, because I have already said many things; if by chance I could explain this less due to the constraints of time, the Lord will be present so that I may be able to do so at another time. However, I say this: that people were such that they had certain wise men, holy, just, and they also had a carnal crowd, ignorant of why these commands were given, doing rather than understanding; now, however, through this prophet, he briefly shows why he commanded those things. When he said: "Neither did I desire the fat of your sacrifices," and other things like that, immediately as if it were asked why he commanded them then, he added and said: "But in your sins and iniquities you will stand before me." For all these things served as testimony to the sinners. Why this? Unless to break the pride of the neck. Why this? Unless because Christ was to come with grace, erasing the handwriting of sins, and the Jews would say: "We are just." But what does the Apostle say to them? "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." "From where, where do you prove that we have sinned?" "The sacrifices you offered for sins testify against you." This is what God says: "Neither did I desire the fat of your sacrifices, but in your sins and iniquities you will stand before me." Hence the sacrifices you offered convicted you, they did not cleanse you. Therefore now let the guilty people, broken of pride, confessing their sickness, seeking salvation, say to themselves: "What then shall I do? If my sins are not cleansed by those sacrifices, from where shall I be cleansed?"

Christ the physician and the medicine, he himself the priest and the sacrifice.

Listen to what follows: I am, I am he who blots out your iniquities, that you may be justified. I am, I am, not a bull, not a ram, not a goat, not any aromatics, not frankincense, but I am, I am he who blots out your iniquities, that you may be justified. How greatly he commended his grace! Lest anyone boast about the merits of works or the abundance of sacrifices, it was not enough to say once: I am, but by repeating this he more strongly commended it: I am, I am. He himself is the doctor, he himself the medicine. The doctor because the word, the medicine because the word was made flesh. He himself is the priest, he himself the sacrifice. I am, I am he who blots out your iniquities, that you may be justified. Lest perhaps, because he says: I blot out your iniquities, it always pleases you to sin, to this end he blots them out that you may be justified, that is, that with previous iniquities blotted out you may live rightly afterwards, so that you may receive what he has promised. Rightly also those Magi, the firstfruits of the nations, in whom as sin had abounded, so grace superabounded, being divinely warned not to return to Herod, they returned by another way. He who then changed the way of the Magi, now also changes the life of the wicked. Whose manifestation in the flesh, which is called theophany in Greek, nations justified in the Spirit today solemnly celebrate, that the solemnity may renew the memory, piety may flourish in devotion, charity may glow in the congregation, truth may shine among the envious.