Sermon 389

SERMO 389

Treatise on Obtaining Heavenly Bread or On Giving Alms and Mercy

Of obtaining the heavenly bread which our soul needs in this world.

The Lord admonishes us through the reading of the Gospel to speak to you about obtaining the heavenly bread. For this earthly bread is necessary for the earth because our flesh is earth. However, it could not be that our flesh has its bread, and our soul does not have its bread. Indeed, our soul also, in a certain destitution in this world, needs its bread, just as the flesh needs its own. For who does not need bread? Therefore, God alone, the bread, does not need bread: for He is the bread of our soul, who needs no other bread, but, being self-sufficient, nourishes both Himself and us. Therefore, the heavenly bread by which our soul is fed is manifest.

The plan on giving alms must be followed. You ask by praying, you seek by knocking, you knock by giving.

But how do we reach Him, so that we may be filled by Him, from whom now we barely collect crumbs, lest we perish in this famished desert? How, then, do we reach the nourishment of this bread of which the Lord said, "Whoever eats this bread shall not hunger, and whoever drinks the drink I give shall never thirst," promising a certain nourishment and satisfaction without disdain? How, then, do we reach this satisfaction of bread, far removed as we are in this hunger? Strategy is needed. If we neglect this strategy, we knock in vain for that bread. Indeed, the strategy which I am about to say, or rather remind you of—for I will not say what I have learned from you—is this: I do not say that whoever disregards it knocks in vain, but whoever disregards it does not knock at all. For to follow and act according to this strategy is to knock. What do you think, my brethren, that God truly has some physical door which He closes against humans, and therefore tells us: "Knock, so that we come and pound the door until knocking we reach the ears of the master of the house located in some hidden place, and he commands it to be opened to us by saying: Who is this who knocks? Who is making a nuisance of themselves to my ears? Give him what he asks and let him leave here." It is not so. However, there is something similar. Certainly, when you knock at someone’s door, you do so with your hands. There is something you act on with your hands when you knock at the Lord’s door. Indeed, act with your hands, knock with your hands. If you do not act in this way, I do not say you knock in vain, but I say you do not knock at all. Therefore, you will not deserve, you will not receive because you do not knock. How, he says, do you want me to knock? Behold, I pray daily. You do well to pray, you do excellently, for it has also been said: "Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you." Everything has been said: ask, seek, knock. You ask by praying, you seek by acting, you knock by giving. Therefore, let your hands not idle.

You receive from where man does not hunger for a time, you take from where you do not suffer hunger for eternity.

The Apostle, when he was advising the people about alms, said, "I give advice on this. For it is beneficial for you, because you not only began to do but also to will from the previous year." And Daniel said to King Nebuchadnezzar, "Accept my counsel, king, and redeem your sins with alms." Therefore, if it is advice that we receive when we are commanded or advised to give something of what we have to the needy, let us not be proud when we give. For if it is advice that you have received, it benefits you more than the one to whom you gave. Therefore, let us not exalt ourselves over our works and as if we please ourselves by providing good deeds to those to whom we give. Whoever wants to accept advice wants to accept what benefits themselves, and whoever gives advice is advising. If they advise, it benefits the one they advise. A humble poor person receives from you as a supplicant—for if it is not fitting for you to give proudly, how much less is it fitting for him to receive proudly. He receives humbly, he receives giving thanks. However, you must know and remember not only what you give but also what you receive. For if this poor person had the freedom to respond to you, if he perhaps sensed you being proud over him, he might say to you: "Why are you proud, why do you exalt yourself? Because you gave to me? What did you give to me? Bread. If you placed this bread in your house and neglected it, it would go to rust, from rust to rot, from rot to earth: earth would return to earth. And you, who extended your hand to give to my outstretched hand to receive, remember from what your hand was made, and from what mine. You placed earth from earth into earth. Then what do I do with your bread? I eat, I alleviate the bother of hunger. I receive a benefit, I am not ungrateful. Nevertheless, you think about what the Lord, the Savior himself, reminded you, that everything entering the mouth goes into the stomach and is expelled into the latrine.” And again, what did the Apostle Paul say to you? “Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food: but God will destroy both it and them.” Therefore the bread, as I said, is earth from earth into earth, to support earth and to refresh earth. You consider what you gave, you do not consider what you are to receive. Therefore, see to it that I may benefit you more by receiving than you by giving. For if there were no one to receive from you, you would not distribute earth and buy heaven. I knock on your door and you hear me, you command to be given to me that my hunger may be sustained, and the bother which it imposes on me may be alleviated. You have done well. Dare not listen to me knocking if you dare. If you are not about to ask, scorn the one asking. Scorn me if you seek nothing from Him who made both you and me. But if you will ask that which you give to me, because you have heard me, you provide for yourself so that you may be heard. Give thanks to Him who made you buy something so precious at such a low price. You give what perishes in time, you receive what remains eternally. You give what, if you did not give, you would soon throw away, you receive what you will enjoy forever. You give what sustains human hunger, you receive that which makes you a companion of angels. You give that a man may not be hungry for a time, who will soon suffer hunger again, you receive that you may never suffer hunger, thirst, or famine. When, therefore, you see what you give and what you receive, do not give if you dare. Let us see who bears the greater loss: I, to whom you do not give earth, or you who do not come to Him who made heaven and earth. Therefore, if we have accepted counsel, let us do it for ourselves and let no one say that he is providing for the poor: for he provides more for himself than for the poor.

How can we preserve perishable goods for eternity, and ourselves migrate from earth to heaven?

If we think truly, my brothers, and are wise according to the words of our Lord - for if we think otherwise we perish - if we live not by our own counsel, but by His, then we truly live. If we have anything to give to the poor, if we do not give it, we leave it here or perhaps we lose it while we live here. For how many have suddenly lost all their goods, which they had most diligently stored! By one hostile attack, the entire treasures of the wealthy perished. No one said to the enemy: I keep this for my children. Surely you see that if there is any faith in them - for we must speak of those who were Christians; of those ignorant of God there is no mention: for they lost in this life what they valued greatly, they did not hope for another life: outer darkness, inner darkness, poverty in the chest, greater misery in the conscience; therefore, as I said, we should not speak of them but of those who have some Christian faith: that is why I said some, not strong or full, for if it were strong and full, they would not have spurned the counsel of the Lord - nevertheless, dear ones, when they saw their homes empty, or perhaps were not even allowed to see the emptiness of their homes, when taken captive from there, and flames followed them as they departed, when therefore they found themselves empty, how they regretted not having heard the counsel of the Lord. For what did our Lord Jesus Christ say to that rich man seeking counsel on attaining eternal life? What did He say to him? Did He say to him: Destroy what you have? Indeed, if He had said that: Destroy temporal things to gain eternal ones. Yet He did not say: Destroy what you have. For He saw he was a lover of his possessions. He did not say: Destroy, but: Move where you will not lose. Do you love your treasures? Do you love your money? Do you love your riches? Do you love your lands? Whatever you love, you have on earth. There you have what you love, where you will both lose and perish. I give counsel: move to heaven. Here if you have it, you will lose what you have, you will perish with what you lose; but there if you have it, you have not lost it, but you follow where you have sent it. Therefore, I give this counsel: Give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. You will not be without a treasure, but what you anxiously have on earth, you will securely have in heaven. So move. I give a counsel of saving, not losing. You will have a treasure in heaven, and come, follow me, and I will lead you to your treasure. It is not a loss, but a gain. Let men wake up, hear even from experience what they fear, do what ensures they do not fear, and move to heaven. What kind of advice is it to plant grain on lower ground? A friend who knows the nature of grain and soil teaches your ignorance: What did you do? You placed grain on lower ground; it is a damp place, what you planted will rot, you will lose your effort. So what should I do? Move it to higher ground. You hear a friend giving advice about your grain, and you disdain God giving advice about your heart. You fear to place your grain on the ground, and lose your heart in the ground. Behold your Lord God, when He gives you counsel about your treasure, He gives counsel also about your heart. For where, He says, your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Lift, He says, your heart to heaven, so it does not rot on earth. It is the counsel of One who wishes to save you, not to lose you. If it is so, how do those who did not obey now regret it? Now what do they say to themselves? We would have what we lost on earth in heaven. The enemy invaded the house, but would he invade heaven? He killed the servant guarding it, but would he kill the Lord guarding it, where the thief does not come, nor the moth corrupts? How many say: We would have it there, we would store our treasures there, where we would safely follow them a little later. Why didn’t we hear our Lord? Why did we disregard the Father warning us, and feel the enemy invading us? Many therefore repent. For some, as it is truly said, that a man, not rich, but still from a modest means fattened with the wealth of charity, when he sold a solid for a hundred pouches, from the price of the solid he ordered to be given to the poor. It was done. Then that ancient enemy, the devil, made him regret his good work, and by murmuring, erased the right obedience. He sent a thief and took away everything, of which a small part was given to the poor. The devil awaited the voice of the blasphemer, found the voice of the praiser. He awaited stumbling, found confirmation. The enemy indeed wanted him to regret, and he did. But see what he did. “Woe to me,” he said, “that I did not give all! For I lost what I did not give. For I did not place it where the thief does not approach.” So if this counsel is sound, let us not be lazy in so good a counsel. If we must move what we have to a place where we do not lose it. What are the poor to whom we give, if not our carriers, by whom we move from earth to heaven? You give to your porter; he carries what you give to heaven. How, he says, does he carry it to heaven? I see that by eating he consumes it. Indeed, by not holding but by eating he transports it. Or have you forgotten: Come, blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom. For I was hungry and you gave Me food. And: When you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me. If you did not disdain the beggar before you, attend to whom that which you gave has arrived. When you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me. Christ received what you gave; He received it, who gave you whence to give; He received it, who at the end will give Himself to you.

In the judgment, there will be a distinction in good works, which Christ says have been done or refused to Him.

For I have also, brothers, sometimes reminded your Charity of this which I confess has greatly moved me in the Scripture of God, and I ought to remind you more frequently. I ask you to consider what our Lord Jesus Christ himself says when he comes to judgment at the end of the world: He will gather all nations before him and will divide men into two parts, placing some on the right, others on the left. And to those on the right, he will say: Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; but to those on the left: Go into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels. Ask for the reasons for such a great reward or such a great punishment: Inherit the kingdom, and: Go into the eternal fire. Why are these to inherit the kingdom? I was hungry and you gave me food. Why are these to go into the eternal fire? For I was hungry and you did not give me food. What is this, I ask? I see that those who are to inherit the kingdom did so because they gave, like good faithful Christians, not despising the words of the Lord and hoping for the promises with confidence. They did this because if they had not done so, their good lives would not have fittingly lacked such actions. For they might have been chaste, not deceivers, not drunkards, abstaining from evil deeds. If they had not added this, they would have remained sterile. For they would have done: Depart from evil; they would not have done: And do good. Nevertheless, to them he did not say: Come, inherit the kingdom, for you have lived chastely, committed no frauds, oppressed no poor person, invaded no one's boundary, deceived no one by swearing falsely. He did not say these things, but: Inherit the kingdom. Why? For I was hungry and you gave me food. How excellent this is, that he remained silent on other matters and mentioned only this! Again to those: Go into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels. How many things he could say to the wicked if they asked: Why are we going into the eternal fire? Why do you ask, you adulterer, murderer, deceiver, sacrilegious, blasphemer, unbeliever? None of these, but: because I was hungry, and you did not give me food. I see that you too are moved and marvel. And indeed it is a wonderful thing. But I gather the reason for this wondrous matter as best I can, which I will not conceal from you. It is written: As water extinguishes fire, so almsgiving extinguishes sin. Again it is written: Store up almsgiving in the heart of the poor, and it will plead for you before the Lord. Again it is written, which I mentioned a little earlier: Hear my counsel, O king, and redeem your sins with almsgiving. And there are many other teachings of divine eloquence, which show that almsgiving has great power to extinguish and obliterate sins. Therefore, to those whom he is about to condemn, or rather first to those whom he is about to crown, he will credit only the alms themselves, as if saying: It is difficult if I examine you, weigh you, and scrutinize your deeds thoroughly, not to find something from which to condemn you, but: Go into the kingdom: for I was hungry and you gave me food. Therefore you do not go into the kingdom because you have not sinned, but because you have redeemed your sins with almsgiving. Again and to those: Go into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels. And they, like culpable criminals trembling too late, considering their sins, when would they dare to say, they are unjustly condemned, this sentence being pronounced upon them by so just a judge? Considering their consciences, considering all the wounds of their consciences, when would they dare to say: We are unjustly condemned? About whom it was said in Wisdom: Their iniquities will accuse them to their face. Without a doubt, they will see that they are justly condemned for their crimes and wicked deeds. And as if he were saying to them: Not for what you think, but because I was hungry and you did not give me food: for if you had turned away from all those your deeds and turned to me, had redeemed all those crimes and sins with almsgiving, those same alms would now free you and absolve you from the guilt of such crimes: blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy; but now: Go into the eternal fire: for judgment without mercy to him who has shown no mercy.

Worthy fruits of repentance must be given and sins must be redeemed by alms.

I recommend to you, my brothers: give earthly bread, and knock for the heavenly. The Lord is bread. "I am," he says, "the bread of life." How will he give to you who do not give to the needy? Another is in need of you, and you are in need of another. And when you are in need of another, and another is in need of you, He needs the needy, to whom you are in need, needs nothing. Do what happens around you. For it is not as if friends are accustomed somehow to reproach each other with their benefits: "I have rendered you this," is answered: "And I to you this," so too God wishes that we bestow to Him, because He has also bestowed to us: he needs nothing. Therefore He is the true Lord: "I said to the Lord: You are my God, because You do not need my goods." Therefore since He is the Lord, and the true Lord, and does not need our goods, yet so that we might do something towards Him, He deigned to hunger in His poor: "I was hungry," he says, "and you gave me to eat." "Lord, when did we see You hungry?" "When you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me." Also to those: "When you did not do it to one of the least of mine, neither did you do it to me." So briefly let men hear and consider worthily, how much merit it is to have fed a hungry Christ, and what a crime it is to have despised a hungry Christ. Indeed, repentance for sins changes a man for the better; but even repentance itself does not seem to be of any use, if it is sterile from works of mercy. Truth testifies this through John, who said to those coming to him: "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, produce fruits worthy of repentance. And do not say: 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that God can raise up children of Abraham from these stones. For the axe is already laid at the roots of the trees. Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." About this fruit he surely said previously: "Produce fruits worthy of repentance." Therefore, whoever does not produce these fruits thinks in vain that he merits repentance for sins through sterile repentance. But he himself subsequently shows what these fruits are. For after these words of his, the crowds were asking him, saying: "What then should we do?" That is, what are these fruits which you urge us and frighten us to produce? While responding, he was saying to them: "He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise." What is clearer, my brothers, what is more certain, what is more expressed? What else then does it sound like what he said previously: "Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire," unless that the left will hear: "Go into the eternal fire: for I was hungry, and you did not give me to eat"? It is therefore not enough to turn away from sins if you neglect to care for past ones, as it is written: "My son, have you sinned? Do not add again." And lest he thinks himself secure in this alone, it says: "And pray for past ones that they may be forgiven you." But what will it profit to pray if you do not make yourself worthy to be heard by not producing fruits worthy of repentance, lest you be cut down like a sterile tree and thrown into the fire? Therefore, if you want to be heard when you pray for your sins: "Forgive, and it will be forgiven to you; give, and it will be given to you."