Sermon 47

SERMO 47

DE OVIBUS
In Ezekiel 34:17-31 17 "As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. 18 Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? And to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must muddy the rest with your feet? 19 And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet? 20 "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, 22 I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken. 25 "I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. 26 And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. 27 And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 28 They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them; they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. 29 And I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. 30 And they shall know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord GOD. 31 And you are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, says the Lord GOD."

God made for Himself sheep which He might pasture.

The words we have sung contain our profession because we are the sheep of God. Nor do we improperly ask with tears for His mercy, whose sheep we are. For we have said: Let us weep before the Lord who made us, for He is the Lord our God. Let no one despair, thinking they cannot be heard when they are weeping, for a certain necessity of Him hearing us is recalled: Because He is the Lord our God, who made us. He is our God; we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hands. Human shepherds, or even heads of families who are masters of the sheep, did not themselves make the sheep they have, nor did they create the sheep they feed. But our Lord God, because He is God and creator, made for Himself the sheep He possesses and feeds. Nor does another establish those He Himself feeds, nor does another feed those He Himself established. Therefore, let us weep before Him. For we are not in a good state when we are in this world. For when we please the Lord in the land of the living, then our tears will be wiped away, and we will praise Him who has freed us from the bonds of death, our feet from stumbling, our eyes from tears, that we may please the Lord in the land of the living, because it is difficult to please Him in the land of the dead. But there is also a way to please Him here, by imploring His mercy upon us, abstaining from sins as much as we can, and confessing and lamenting where we cannot. Thus we are in this life hoping for another life, weeping in hope—in fact, weeping in experience—and rejoicing in hope.

The overseers of the church are sheep and shepherds.

Therefore, having confessed in this song that we are his sheep, the people of his pasture, the sheep of his hands, let us hear what he speaks to us as to his sheep. Recently, in the previous reading, he was speaking to shepherds. But in the present and today’s reading, he speaks to the sheep. Thus, in those earlier words of his, we listened with trembling, and you with security. What, then, in these words of today? Shall we, in turn, hear with security, and you with trembling? By no means. First, because even if we are shepherds, a shepherd not only listens with trembling to what is said to shepherds, but also to what is said to the sheep. For if he listens securely to what is said to the sheep, he has no care for the sheep. Moreover, as we already mentioned to your Charity, there are two things to be considered in us: one, that we are Christians, and the other, that we are appointed leaders. As appointed leaders, we are counted among the shepherds, if we are good. But as Christians, we too are sheep with you. Therefore, whether the Lord speaks to shepherds or to sheep, we ought to listen to everything with trembling, and let not anxiety depart from our hearts, so that we may weep before the Lord who made us.

Let us hear then, Brothers, from where the Lord rebukes the wicked sheep, and what He promises to His sheep. And you, He says, are my sheep, thus says the Lord God. First, how great is the happiness to be the flock of God, if anyone considers, Brothers, even in these tears and in these tribulations he conceives great joy. For indeed he is not in that flock, whom wolves can ravage, or whose slumber robbers can capture. For it is said to him: You who shepherd Israel, of whom it is said: He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. He therefore watches over us while we are awake, and watches while we sleep. If then, for a human shepherd, the flock of a human is secure, how great should our security be, with God shepherding us, not only because He shepherds us, but also because He made us?

Let us heed the judgment of the judge.

Our one concern that is imposed upon us: to hear the voice of the shepherd. And now is the time to listen, because he has not yet taken up the time of judging. He who speaks, now remains silent. For he speaks in commandment, he is silent in judgment. Therefore, he says in a certain place: "I was silent, will I always be silent?" How did he remain silent when he said this very thing by speaking? He who says, "I was silent," is not silent, because even to say this itself: "I was silent," is not to be silent. Therefore, I hear you speaking in so many commandments, in so many sacraments, in so many pages, in so many books. Finally, I hear in this very thing that you say: "I was silent, will I always be silent?" How then did you remain silent? Because I do not yet say: "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom." And I do not yet say to others: "Depart into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." And these very things I do not yet say, as now I proclaim. The last sentence which the judge will pronounce, writing with his own hand in the scroll, beyond which sentence nothing more will be judged, the parties do not hear: it is written as they go out. Both parties are astonished and uncertain, wondering which side or for whom the sentence of the judge will proceed. A great secret of the judge, from which the term 'secretarium' is derived. Great fear for those who are involved in the case; what he thinks and what he writes is unknown. And he is a man, and those about whom he judges are indeed men. But He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. And though He is the Creator, we the creature; He immortal, we mortal; He invisible, we visible; He did not wish to hide from us in this life what ultimate sentence He will declare in the end. No one says beforehand "I condemn" who wishes to condemn; no one says beforehand "I strike" who wishes to strike.

The patience of God leads us to repentance.

Great is therefore his gentleness, great is his mercy, great is his meekness. But if we do not abuse his patience to our wickedness, and, while he bears our sins, we increase sins upon sins as if to make a burden for him; as if he who does not labor while he bears should bear more. Our sins, which he still spares because he still endures, show his patience and accumulate our burden. Do you not know, he says, that the patience of God leads you to repentance? That is the patience which he calls taciturnity, about which he says: I have held my peace, will I always be silent? Therefore, when he reproved some and said: You who preach not to steal, do you steal? You who say not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? And so forth, he said: Or do you despise the riches of his goodness and forbearance? Because he is good, because he is patient, because he sees and is silent, because he sees and endures, do you think him unjust? Do you not know that the patience of God leads you to repentance? And see if he will always be silent who is now silent. But you, he says, according to the hardness of your heart and your impenitent heart, are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each according to his works. Therefore, he is silent, but will he always be silent? Again, after enumerating some sins, he says: You have done these things, and I have been silent, that is: you have done these things and I have not avenged; you have suspected iniquity, that I will be like you. And truly, many think this, when they have done many evils and see nothing bad happen to them; not only do their evil deeds please them, but they also think they please God: impiety proceeds so far that an impious contemptor considers God to be like himself. And when God admonishes, teaches, exhorts, reproves, to bring to his likeness, not only does he not follow the likeness of God, but he wants to lead God to his own likeness. This is an iniquity greater than the sins themselves, from which he does not correct himself. You have suspected iniquity, that I will be like you. And what follows? I will reprove you. Why this? I have kept silent, will I always be silent? Therefore, brothers, since this sermon, which proceeds from the mouth of God, terrifies both me and you—for we all have one good hope in him, and we must all equally fear that if we offend him, we may not find what we hoped for, but experience what we have despised—let us all hear as the sheep of God, while he speaks who is silent, while he admonishes us, and not yet judges us who made us, while there is still time to listen, while it is permitted to read.

Let us endure the tares mixed with the wheat.

And you, he said, my sheep, this says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, and rams and goats. What do goats do here in the flock of God? In the same pastures, at the same fountains, and yet goats destined for the left mix with the right, and first endure before being separated. And here the patience of the sheep is exercised in the likeness of the patience of God. For the separation will be by Him, of some to the left, of others to the right. But now He is silent, you want to speak. But how do I say: You want to speak? Because He is silent. From the vengeance of judgment, not from the word of reproof. He does not yet separate, you want to separate. He tolerates mixtures who sowed. If you want the wheat to be purified before the threshing, by your wind, you will be badly winnowed. It was allowed for the servants to say: Will you, we go, and gather them? For they were upset, seeing the tares, and grieved that tares were mixed with the good seed. And they said: Did you not sow good seed? Where then did the tares come from? He gave the reason where they came from; yet he did not allow them to be pulled up before the time. Although the servants were indignant against the tares, they sought counsel and command from the lord. They displeased in the midst of the crop, but the servants saw that if they did something of their own will in plucking the tares, they would themselves be numbered among the tares. They waited for the Lord's command, they sought the command of their king: Will you, we go, and gather them? And He said: No. And He gave the reason: Lest while you gather the tares, you root up also the wheat with them. He calmed them from their indignation, nor left them in pain. For it seemed grave to the servants to have tares among the wheat, and indeed it was grave. But there is one condition of the field, another of the barn at rest. Endure, for you were born for this. Endure, for perhaps you were endured. If you have always been good, have mercy; if you were once bad, do not lose understanding. And who is always good? More easily, if God diligently examines you, He will find you even now bad rather than you always good. Therefore, these tares among the wheat must be endured, goats among the rams, kids among the sheep. But what about the wheat? At the time of the harvest, He says, I will say to the reapers: Gather first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather my wheat into the barn. Therefore, the conjunction of the field will pass, the harvest separation will come. Now the Lord requires patience from us which He proposes in Himself, saying to you: "Surely if I wanted to judge now, would I judge unjustly? If I wanted to judge now, could I be deceived? If I, who always judge rightly and cannot be deceived, defer my judgment; you, ignorant of how you shall be judged, dare to judge so hastily?" Brothers, see how, to the servants wanting to uproot the tares before the time, this work was not granted even at the harvest. For He says: At the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers. He did not say: I will say to you. But what, if the servants themselves shall be the reapers? No. For explaining everything individually: The reapers, He says, are angels. Therefore, man enclosed in flesh, carrying flesh, or perhaps entirely flesh, that is, flesh in body, carnal in mind, do you dare to usurp a foreign office which will not be yours even at the harvest? This about separating the tares. What about the goats? When the Son of Man comes, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on the throne of His glory, and all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them, as a shepherd separates sheep from kids. And He will come, and He will separate. The harvest will come, and the separation will occur. Now, therefore, is not the time for separation, but for endurance. We do not say these things, Brothers, so that diligence in correction may sleep. Indeed, so that we do not come to that judgment incautiously, and, blinded by negligence, suddenly find ourselves on the left, discipline must be exercised, judgment must not be expedited.

Let us fear judgment.

What then does the Lord say? Behold, I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. I judge. Great security, He Himself judges, let the good be secure. No adversary corrupts their judge, no advocate deceives Him, no witness mocks Him. But as much as the good are secure, so should the wicked fear. He judges in such a manner that nothing is hidden from Him. For does God, in judging, seek witnesses through whom He may learn who you are? From where can He be deceived about who you are, who knew what you would be in the future? He questions you, not another about you. The Lord, He says, interrogates the righteous and the wicked. He questions you, not to learn from you, but to confound you. Therefore, having such a judge, whom no one can deceive against us, nor anyone for us, let us act so that we may not fear His coming judgment, but await and desire it. For do crops fear being put into the granary? Rather, they long for it and desire it earnestly. Do sheep fear being placed on the right? Rather, nothing seems as slow to them as when it is done. Truly, they say from the heart and with complete sincerity, when they pray: Thy kingdom come. But in these words, the wicked man's heart trembles and his tongue stammers. How then do you say: Thy kingdom come? Behold, it will come. What kind of person will it find you to be? Therefore, act in such a way that you pray with confidence. And if there is any error and sin in your conscience, you have in the prayer itself a cure: Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. For God wished for you to be a debtor in such a way that you have a debtor. Indeed, by sinning you make yourself an enemy of God, but pay attention lest you perhaps have an enemy. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. What you do who can be found in sin, He who can judge no one of sin will do to you. But if as a man in sin, you do not spare your sinner, you neither consider your own condition in them, nor dread the future fall of your own frailty; what will He do to you, who judges so securely, like one who never sins?

Let us anticipate the face of God in confession.

Therefore, effort must be made for a pure conscience. And if perhaps any scruple is present, let us prevent His face by confession. Now in the psalm, when it was sung, we heard: "Let us prevent His face by confession." Let us prevent Him, lest He prevent us Himself. After confession, vengeance will not follow, if even you do not repeat iniquity after confession. Prevent before you are prevented. For it is certain that He is coming. You will perish if you do not desire what is to come. For even if you are unwilling, He will come. Will you delay Him by refusing to have Him come? Just as He knew the hour when He ought to be judged, so He knows the hour when He ought to judge. He will come, you see to what you will become. Today there is a scruple, today let there be confession, today let the scruple be renounced. Today it is forgiven, today it is released. It is not for you to say: "God defers forgiveness." You do not defer your medicine. For you have something in your soul that torments you. And if it torments, it also troubles. Surely, if there were any stone in your home that offends your eyes, you would command it to be removed, especially if you were about to receive a somewhat greater guest in your home. So when you invoke God, you call Him within you. How will He come to you, to whom you have not cleansed the place where you will receive Him? But are you less able to remove from your heart what you have made for yourself? Invoke Him to cleanse it; invite Him to enter it. However, do now what you are going to do, while He speaks by advising and remains silent by judging.

God judges between sheep and sheep.

He mentions goats, he mentions rams, and he judges between them. And what does he say to them? Is it not enough for you that you fed on good pasture? And you trampled the rest of your pasture with your feet, and you drank the water that settled - that is, which was pure and tranquil - and you disturbed the rest with your feet: and my sheep fed on what was trampled by your feet, and drank the water disturbed by your feet. What does this mean? The pastures of God are good, and the springs of God are pure. We have these in the Holy Scriptures. So who are those who drink from what is tranquil and feed from what is clean, and trample the remnants and disturb the water so that other sheep take the trampled grass and drink the disturbed water? And surely you see that this displeases the shepherd, who says as these things are done: I judge between one sheep and another, surely so that these things may not happen. There are many who learn quietly, teach disruptively, and while they have a patient teacher, they become fierce with the learner. For who does not know how quietly the Scripture itself teaches us? So then someone comes, reads the precepts of God, reads and understands, understands quietly drinking from what is tranquil, feeding from what is green and clean. Someone else comes to hear something from him. He becomes indignant, disrupts, accusing the slowness of someone understanding later, making the disturbed one understand less what he could have heard quietly.

May God remove delay, grant truth.

And I do not say this, Brothers, because there is never a time when hardness must be corrected, which such great tranquility of truth itself corrects, saying: O foolish and slow of heart to believe! If these things are done with that love by which we wish to instill care in people, to incite diligence of attention, and perhaps to clear the cloud of their mind, which they have contracted from worldly cares, and perhaps while thinking about other useless things, they cannot hear what is useful. Then also, if anyone sees tardiness in themselves, it is not without reason that they are accused, so that they may ask God and dissolve the tardiness, grant the truth. For if by our negligence we understand less of what we have heard, negligence must indeed be corrected. Or if it is tardiness, when it has been accused, there will be a reason to pray to God. Therefore, such teachers should not be blamed, but those who do this with a bitter mind, with an envious mind, they trample the pastures and disturb the fountains. Whatever they may know, they want to know it in such a way that others do not know it. Men of malign mind, full of Tartarean zeal, envying not in body but in heart, they read and understood. When asked: "Does this matter much to you, should I believe these things from you? And are you worthy to read or hear these things?" Why do you disturb the water? The fountain flows for both. Why do you trample the common herbs? It did not rain because of you that they grew.

Care must be taken for good conduct before men.

There is another thing in these words; which can not be understood absurdly. There are men who think that a good conscience is sufficient for living well and do not care much about what others think of them, unaware that when a person sees a person of good conscience living carelessly, associating freely with anyone and everywhere, knowing that an idol is nothing, and yet reclining in an idol temple, that person's conscience, being weak, is built up not to what it examines, but to what it suspects. For your peer, your brother, cannot enter into your conscience, which God knows. Your conscience is before God, your behavior is before your brother. If he, suspecting something bad about you, is disturbed and built up to do something he thinks you are doing, while you live like that, what good is it that the stomach of your conscience drew pure water, and he has a disturbed behavior from your negligence?

Sometimes nothing remains to be sought except the testimony of conscience.

And you hear such people, when they are reproached not to do these things, respond to us and say: "The Apostle said: If I wished to please men, I should not be the servant of Christ." And here you stir the water, trample the pastures. Consider better, lest you also stir the water for yourself, what the Apostle says: If I wished to please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. I accept it excellently, I gladly acknowledge the apostolic sentiment. But have you not read something else in the Apostle? Please all men in all things, even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking that which is profitable for myself, but for many, that they may be saved. Have you not heard the same Apostle again? Be without offense to Jews and Gentiles, and to the Church of God. Have you not heard the same Apostle a third time? For we provide good things, not only in the sight of God but also in the sight of men. Therefore, he says: "Explain to me, then, how I should understand different and contrary things, with the Apostle saying: If I wished to please men, I should not be the servant of Christ; saying: Please all men in all things, even as I also please all men in all things; saying: This is our glory, the testimony of our conscience; saying: We provide good things not only in the sight of God but also in the sight of men." If you listen calmly, if you do not disturb the water of your mind, as much as I can, perhaps I will explain. There are rash judges, detractors, whisperers, murmurers, seeking to suspect what they do not see, even seeking to spread what they do not even suspect: what remains against such, but the testimony of our conscience? For indeed, Brothers, even in those we wish to please, we do not seek our glory, nor should we seek our glory, but their salvation, so that if we walk well, by following us they may not err. Let them be imitators of us if we are of Christ; but if we are not of Christ, let them be imitators of Christ. For he feeds his flock, and with all good pastors, he alone is, because all are in him. Therefore, we do not seek our own profit when we wish to please men, but we wish them to rejoice, and we rejoice to please them in what is good, for their benefit, not for our dignity. Against whom the Apostle said: If I wished to please men, I should not be the servant of Christ, is clear. And for whom he said: Please all men in all things, even as I also please all men in all things, is clear. Both things are clear, both things are tranquil, both things are pure, both things are undisturbed. You only feed and drink, do not trample and disturb.

Let us not place the end of good works in the praise of men.

For you have surely heard the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the teacher of the Apostles: "Let your works shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven," that is, who made you as you are. For we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hands. Therefore, let Him be praised who made you good if you are good, not yourself who by yourself could only be evil. Why then do you want to drive truth in the opposite direction, so that when you do something good, you want to be praised, but when you do something bad, you want the Lord to be blamed? For the one who said, "Let your works shine before men," also said in the same sermon, "Do not do your righteousness before men." Just as these seemed contradictory to you in the Apostle, so too in the Gospel. But if you do not disturb the water of your heart, here too you will recognize the peace of the Scriptures, and with them you will have peace. If, however, you do not want to have peace with them, you are complicating your own argument; they will not lose their peace. For because of those who commend themselves by boasting to men, and thus flaunt their good works so as to place the end of their good works in the praise of men, and consider the praise of men as a kind of reward for their good works, it is said of them: "Amen I say to you, they have received their reward." Against them it is said: "Beware of doing your righteousness before men." Consequently, it follows: "to be seen by them." He does not extend his intention further; here he ends. Do not do any good thing before men in such a way that you may be seen by them, so that the seeing by them is the end of your good work. Therefore, do not act so that you may be seen by them. But he does not end there, but he wants our good deeds to be seen by men, about which he says: "Let your works shine before men, that they may see your good works." He did not pause, nor did he remain here, but he led you upward from here and took you away from yourself—for you would fall if you were in yourself—and placed you where you would be safe. "Let them see," he says, "your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Do not be angry, for He is glorified. Be with Him, and you will be glorified in Him. So that no flesh might boast before Him, the Apostle says. Will we then remain without glory? No. For he himself says, "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord." For the witness of our conscience is glory to us because it is in Him. For if our glory is such that we are pleased with ourselves and become pleasing to ourselves, a very foolish man is pleased with himself.

Therefore, let us care, Brothers, not only to live well, but also to behave well before men, and not only to strive to have a good conscience but, as much as our weakness can, as much as human frailty's vigilance allows, let us care also to do nothing that would come into evil suspicion by a weak brother, lest by eating pure herbs and drinking pure waters, we trample the pastures of God, and the weak sheep eat what is trampled and drink what is troubled. And woe to him on account of this who says: I judge between sheep and sheep.

The goats will be separated from the sheep at the end.

For these things the Lord God says to them: Behold, I judge between the strong sheep and the weak sheep. Let something else be said. We have already heard about those who trample the grass and disturb the waters. Let us hear another kind of evil, and a great kind of evil. Afterwards he makes no mention of the goats. He mentioned them once, so that we would know they exist. For he knows them well. Afterwards he speaks as though all are sheep. First, how he himself sees, then how we see, he has spoken. For the goats are present, and because in the end they will be separated, let it be known to the sheep: now I am discerning between sheep and sheep. Only he who could predestine, who could foresee, knows by predestination and foreknowledge the sheep and the goats. Now, because all are under the sign of Christ and all come to the grace of God, you think you are a sheep, perhaps God knows you are a goat. But listen as a sheep to what you hear: Behold, I judge between the strong sheep and the weak sheep.

Heretics scatter the sheep of God.

Since you thrust with sides and shoulders, and butted with your horns, and scattered all the weak ones, until you drove them away. Who does not understand this? Who does not shudder at it? If there are no sheep outside, the deed has not been done. But if we lament that many sheep are wandering outside, woe to those by whose sides and shoulders and horns it was done. For they would not have done these things if they were not strong sheep. Who are the strong? Those who presume on their own strength. Who are the strong? Those who glory in their own righteousness. They did not scatter the sheep, they did not send them outside except those who said they were righteous. Bold with their shoulders to thrust, because they do not bear the burden of God; wicked at the sides, conspiring friends, a company of stubbornness; horns lifted high, elevated pride. Thrust with sides and shoulders, scatter with horns, send outside what you did not gather. Indeed, the whole reason is because you are righteous and others are unrighteous, and it was unworthy for the righteous to be with the unrighteous, plainly unworthy for the wheat to be among the tares, unworthy for the sheep to graze among the goats, until the shepherd comes who will not err in separating. Are you then an angel rooting out the tares? I would not recognize you as an angel rooting out the tares, not even if the harvest had already come. Before the harvest, it is not you, but whosoever it might be, is not true. He who designated the reapers also designated the time. Men might also call themselves angels. We may perhaps find in Scriptures that men have been called angels, but I still look to the time of harvest. You can call yourself an angel, but you cannot shorten the time of the harvest. Therefore, you falsely claim that you are, because the time has not yet come when you are. Hence, when it comes, and the true reapers have been sent, I do not know where they will find you, whether to be gathered into the barn or to be bound and cast into the fire. Therefore, I say “perhaps”, because I do not dare to judge. Now I grieve for you being outside. Whether you will be inside in the future, I do not know.

The pride of the Donatists must be condemned.

Listen instead to another testimony of Scripture, written about you while you live, and do not desire to uproot the weeds when it is not the time, but you yourself return inward when the time is right. Another Scripture of God says: "A wicked son declares himself righteous." These are your shoulders and flanks and horns. Wickedly strong, how much better you would be if you were weak. Wickedly strong, but not healthy. Wickedly strong, the frenzied man strikes and kills even the doctor. You say you are perfect in order to create an imperfection. How much better, how much more useful you would be if you were weak so that He who knows the imperfect may perfect you. The Apostle Paul, the chosen vessel, lest he be too elated by revelations - which we would not dare to say unless we believed him saying it - said, "To prevent me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, there was given to me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me." He said that he was buffeted so that he would not lift up horns. Therefore, he said, "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' So then, how much more useful is the weakness which is perfected than that strength which drives away and excludes the sheep. You are a wicked son, you declare yourself righteous. A wicked son declares himself righteous but does not cleanse his departure. Take heed, my brothers, to a brief sentence in number of words, but immense in weight of truth. He declares himself righteous in order to depart and exclude. He declares himself righteous, but he is wicked: therefore, he does not cleanse his departure. What does it mean that he does not cleanse? He does not purify, he does not defend, he does not excuse. Why did you separate? Why did you leave? Why does your heart tremble when you hear from the divine books: "They went out from us, but they were not of us," if indeed that wicked strength by which you push, strike, and scatter the sheep of God allows trembling to reach your heart? For certainly, when you hear: "They went out from us, but they were not of us," he was speaking who was in the Church. The Church is spread throughout the whole world; what are you doing outside? For not I, but the prophets, the apostles, and the Lord Himself announced the Church spread throughout the whole world. Just now, when a Psalm was being read, we heard: "The Lord will not reject His people" - as if being asked - "for the ends of the earth are in His hand." He does not reject them, and you drive them away. You push, you scatter, you exclude. You accuse traitors but do not prove it. These are the horns of one who scatters, not the meekness of one who tends. Behold, the people of God at the ends of the earth. Behold, the people of God groaning and weeping before God who made them, saying in the Psalm to the Lord before whom they weep: "From the ends of the earth I cried to You when my heart was anguished." See how he humbles himself in the anguish of his heart. And what does he say has been done for him? "You have exalted me on the rock." You have exalted me on Christ the Rock, not cast me down from Mount Donatus. Go now, and toss your horns, spread your flanks, inflate your shoulders and push the sheep, and say: "I am righteous." The Scripture will answer you: "Wicked, not righteous. A wicked son declares himself righteous." If you are righteous, why do you go outside? Why do you throw out others? What do you do with those you throw outside? Did you flee the goats like a sheep? It is better to be separated to the right by the shepherd than to be confuted on the left with them. They were goats, you were a sheep, you would graze with the goats. What did the pastures, the waters offend you? Finally, what did the shepherd himself offend you, who for a time mingled both flocks, who, even when He does good to each at will, has reserved separation for the end? Even if He were to separate now, He would not err. He defers separation to the end, you separate before the time. You do not await the end, not knowing when your end shall be. Why is this unless that those you accused as goats, you falsely accused? For if you had truly accused, you would not have separated. Your separation is their purification. They were weeds, why did you want to separate them before the time? Being mixed with them, you would be wheat, rooted in the same field, watered by the same rain. Why did you leave then? Do you find a reason? Whom you accuse, you do not convict. By going out before the time and separating yourself, you convict yourself. See that you are a wicked son. You declare yourself righteous, but you do not cleanse your departure. I do not say to you: You are rather a traitor. If I say it, I can easily prove it. Yet I refuse to say it because your actions, not you, did it. I do not attribute to you the deeds of others, even of your people. I look at your deed. I accuse that you are outside; I accuse your departure. I remove all other things that can be said against you. I omit your drunkenness, usury, and interest upon interest. I omit the throngs and furies of the Circumcelliones. I omit all these and whatever other things I cannot enumerate. Not all among you may do these things. Let him who does not do these there, who disapproves of what is done there come forward, let him speak. I do not impute to him the crime of another; let him cleanse his departure. You see rightly that you are told: "A wicked son declares himself righteous." For the Lord says, who speaks the truth: "A wicked son declares himself righteous." Not I, but He. However, does He want me to call you righteous? Let him come, let him bring forth good fruits in the peace of the Catholic Church, let him keep them in the peace of the Catholic Church, because also...

There is no fruit where there is no endurance. And, he says, they will bear fruit with endurance. Do you want to see how you have been struck by hail? Listen from another place: Woe to those who have lost endurance.

The true marks of the Church of Christ are not found among the Donatists.

Just imagine someone thinking, as it often happens, where a Christian might be. He is moved to be a Christian, he notices that humankind converges upon the name of Christ. Proposing no temporal benefit, he wishes to be a Christian, not to gain a greater friend, not to obtain the wife he desires, not to escape some worldly pressure, although many even entering for such reasons are corrected once they enter. But let us consider someone thinking about his soul, and wanting to be a Christian. He notices where he sees two parties, he inquires the reasons why they have separated themselves from the others. They respond: "We have separated ourselves as the righteous from sinners," as if speaking to a blind man, hearing what they say, not seeing what they do. So if, observing their behavior, and those things I mentioned just a moment ago, he says to them: "I ask you, you call yourselves righteous, and therefore you contend that you rightly separated yourselves. Why are such and such people among you?" And they perhaps because they do not dare to deny, because those things are pointed out which are visible to the eyes say: "Indeed, there are such people among us, but are we all like that?"

Excellent. Therefore I see you outside with sinners. Why not inside? For the reward of your separation was to not live with a sinner. If you were outside in such a way that you did not have those you claim to have fled from, I would bear your separation in some way. Therefore, let him who desires to be a Christian take heed where he is a Christian. He sees those separated as if from sinners, yet full of sinners. Again, let him take heed to the Church of Christ according to the commendable life of human morals, according to which morals he can even, coming from the world, somewhat judge. Let him see here some sober, some drunken, some patient poor, some eager for the plunder of other people's goods, and other such things. He sees this here, he sees that there. Let him now attend to God, what He says about His Church. He finds the Lord saying through all nations His Church. He also finds God in that parable of the tares saying: The field is this world. Not the field is Africa, but this world. Throughout the whole world is the wheat, throughout the whole world are the tares - yet the field is the world, the sower is the Son of Man, the reapers are angels, not the leaders of the Circumcellions - both to grow until the harvest, not the tares to grow and the wheat to decrease, but both to grow until the harvest. What harvest? Listen to him: The harvest is the end of the world. Hearing these things clearly, and rightly judging, what does he say? "I will not be in that division. I will be here, and I will be good in the name of him to whom I belong. And I will be good, not making myself good, but expecting to be made so by Him, not calling myself good and just, but desiring to be called so by Him." He enters, becomes Catholic. Behold, he washes away his entrance, you also wash away your exit. You cannot: for the evil son himself calls himself just, yet does not wash away his exit.

The bridegroom is in heaven, the bride in the whole earth.

You pushed with side and shoulder, and with your horns you struck, and you scattered all that was weak, until you had driven them away. And I will save my sheep. Just as their wickedness and cruelty are detestable, so is the mercy of our shepherd, truly our God, praiseworthy: He will save His sheep. Perhaps, my Brethren, although through his least servants, perhaps through unworthy ones, He does this, when we say this: Let Him save His sheep, let them hear the voice of their shepherd and follow Him. Do not seek the Church from the mouth of men. Seek it from the mouth of God, seek it from the mouth of Christ. He who says that someone is impious is impious, he who says that someone is just is just, he who says that someone is a sheep is a sheep, he who says that someone is a goat is a goat. He is the truth, let Him speak, let the Church be sought from Him. Tell us, Lord, where is your Church? And He to all: "You know where I am." Let all respond: "In heaven at the right hand of the Father." "Whole faith: this I taught, this I sowed, but I sowed through the world. When you, He says, confess me in heaven, that Psalm surely comes into your mind: Be exalted above the heavens, O God. Are you seeking the Church? Read what follows: And your glory above all the earth." There, Brethren, where it is said: Be exalted above the heavens, God, concerning Christ rising and ascending, there it immediately follows: And your glory above all the earth. The bridegroom is in heaven, the bride is on earth. He is above all the heavens, she is above all the earth. O heretic, you believe what you do not see in heaven, you deny what you see on earth! Therefore, let this be said, let this be heard: Let Him save His sheep. And I will save, He says, my sheep, and they shall no longer be a prey, and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

Christ, whom David foretold, is the true shepherd.

And I will raise up over them one shepherd. Had He not said earlier in the reading: I shall shepherd? Now He raises up one shepherd, the one who shepherds. Was He perhaps weary of shepherding within such a short interval of reading and raised a shepherd to whom He entrusted the care of the sheep, that He Himself might be secure? Let us hear whom He calls a shepherd; and there we understand why even He, the shepherd, even with the raising of this shepherd, shepherds and shepherds alone. I will raise up over them one shepherd, and my servant David will shepherd them, he will shepherd them. It quickly becomes clear to you, Brothers, if you recognize the times, that this is a prophecy about Christ coming to humanity from the seed of David. This prophet Ezekiel was during the time of the captivity which occurred with the migration of the people to Babylon. There are fourteen generations from the time of David until the time of this migration. Look how long afterward it says: And David will shepherd them. If this were said in the time of Noah, or in the time of Abraham or in the time of Moses, or at least in the time of Saul himself, whom David succeeded in the kingdom, we would rightly understand this to be said of David the son of Jesse, that he would be the shepherd of God's flock, to whom the people were entrusted during his reign. But now David had already reigned, he had already left this life, he had already been gathered to his fathers, he was already resting for his merit. What does it mean when He says: I will raise up David and make him their one shepherd, if not that David is the one who comes from the seed of David? So how does God raise up a shepherd for us? Which one shepherd? And my servant David will shepherd them. He has already been shepherding us for a long time. Now His servant David shepherds us. Why as if another? For when He Himself was shepherding, God was shepherding. And when God was shepherding, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit were shepherding. Now He is raised up and becomes as another shepherd. But not another. Not another according to the form of God, because in the form of God He and the Father are one God. But in the form of a servant He is raised up as another to shepherd, because the Father is greater. Hear one shepherding, and Christ shepherding: I and the Father are one. Hear Christ shepherding being raised up: The Father is greater than I. Therefore, one shepherds; because when He was in the form of God, He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. But He is raised up to shepherd because He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. This is what the words themselves testify here: My servant David will shepherd them. A servant, in the form of a servant. A servant, because He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore let Him be raised up to shepherd. For which reason, it says, God exalted Him from the dead and gave Him the name which is above every name. Now having raised up His servant David, having raised up the form of a servant which He placed at His right hand, He gave Him the name which is above every name. See how He shepherds, how broadly He shepherds: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. To what narrow part are you casting the wide possessor with heretical vanity? Do you trust so much in your proud shoulders and horns that you do not gather to the shepherd, but also endeavor to exclude the shepherd from the flock? My servant David will shepherd them. Listen, sheep, to David shepherding you. Hear the voice of your shepherd David, not the voice of robbers, not the howls of wolves. My servant David will shepherd them. He will shepherd them. Oh commendation! He will shepherd them. Let no one say they shepherd except Him: He will shepherd them. Whoever wishes to shepherd, let them shepherd in Him, because He will shepherd them. God was saying a little earlier: I shall shepherd. Now He says: He shall shepherd them. Let the Son reply and say to us: "Both are truly said. I and the Father are one. The one who says, 'I shall shepherd,' does not lie in saying, 'He shall shepherd,' and when He says, 'He shall shepherd,' He does not lie in saying, 'I shall shepherd.' Do you not believe, He says, that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? Philip, whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. It is rightly said: I shall shepherd, it is rightly said: He shall shepherd. There is a distinction, not a separation, He shall shepherd them. Do not be frightened, sheep. He does not abandon you who said, 'He shall shepherd them.' God shepherds, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, He Himself shepherds. But the form of a servant had to be distinguished, not separated and alienated and constituted as a different person. The Creator received the creature into Himself; the Creator was not changed into the creature. He took on what He was not, without losing what He was.

The shepherd is Christ, the shepherd is also the Father.

My servant David will shepherd them. He will shepherd them, and he will be their shepherd, and I, the Lord, will be their God. Pay attention, brothers. Observe the unity of the Godhead and the distribution of persons, so that we do not say that the Son is He who is the Father, or that He is the Father who is the Son. Behold, He said: He will shepherd them: who had just said: I will shepherd them. And he says, He will be their shepherd, and I, the Lord, will be their God. Explain to us, Lord. Let no one disturb the water; what is pure springs from a pure source, let us drink. For why do you say each individually: He will be our shepherd, and I will be their God, as if He is our shepherd, you are our God? Why, Lord, are you not our shepherd and He is not our God? Listen calmly, be meek in hearing the word so that you may understand. For perhaps now some ear, perceiving differently and corroded by heretical venom, hears me and mocks me for saying that the Father and the Son are one God, while it does not mock the thousands of brothers having one soul. And it says to me: "See, God openly says: My servant David will be their shepherd, whom you yourself understood to be Christ, nor can it be understood otherwise. For you gave the reason that these things were said when David was already asleep. Therefore, Christ will be their shepherd; I, the Lord, He says, will be their God. He [David] will be the shepherd, He [God] will be the God. So explain to me what: I will shepherd." Who said: I will shepherd? Certainly, it was God speaking, saying: I will shepherd. How did He not separate Christ in shepherding, when He said: I will shepherd so He did not separate Christ from the deity when He said: I am God. Behold, Christ is shepherd, the Father is shepherd. Thus the Father is God, Christ is God. Just as you do not separate the Father from shepherd Christ, so you do not separate Christ from God the Father. The Father has compassion in shepherding with the Son, the Son has equality of divinity with the Father. But unless He spoke thus, you would think that He is the Father who is the Son. Therefore, He reminded you both of the unity of the Godhead and the distribution of persons, so that what He says: He will shepherd, and I will be their God; not separating Himself from the Son shepherding, nor separating the Son from Himself ruling, and you understand God the Father in the Son, and you understand the shepherd Father in the Son. I, He says, the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be the prince among them. Why: among them? Because the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. The prince among them. Hence also the mediator of God and men, because He is God with the Father, because He is man with men. Not a man mediator without deity; not God mediator without humanity. Behold the mediator. Divinity without humanity is not a mediator, humanity without divinity is not a mediator. But between sole divinity and sole humanity, the human divinity and divine humanity of Christ are mediators. And my servant David will be the prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken: not some heretic. I, the Lord, have spoken.

The testament of God must prevail altogether.

And I will establish with them a covenant of peace: through Him indeed who said: My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you. This is our Father's covenant, it is a covenant of peace. Any inheritance is divided among co-inheritors; the inheritance of peace cannot be divided. Our peace is Christ. Peace makes both one, not two out of one. For He Himself is our peace, who made both one. The covenant of God is peace as an inheritance. It should be possessed by harmonious partners, not divided among those who quarrel. And I will establish with them a covenant of peace. Be watchful, heretics, listen to the shepherd's covenant of peace, come to peace. You are angry with Christian Emperors, because your testaments were not considered valid in your homes. Behold how fitting the punishment is. And why is your testament not valid in your home? What is it? How much is it? This pain is a warning, not yet a condemnation. For God wished to sympathize with the testament of His peace. You lament for your testament if it does not stand in your home. Certainly, you will die, and you will not know what will happen in that house afterward. For on that day, all his thoughts will perish, and he will no longer know his place. Therefore, you will not know what will happen in your house when you are dead; yet you lament that your testament does not stand in your house. Christ died and rose again, looked down from heaven so that His testament might stand. Wake up from your pain, correct yourself from your torment. You know that heat is usually applied to a badly bent piece of wood. Let this pain correct you. It is not yet the flame of eternal fire. The heat of a hearth is applied to your curved heart, that it may be warned and corrected. You lament, you rightly lament, that your testament does not stand in your house. The house of God is your heart. If you want your testament to stand in your house, why do you not want God's testament to stand in His house? You leave your walls to your children, and if you knew your children would divide them differently from how you arranged, you would lament. For one most vile house, for a roof about to collapse, how much care you have, how much anxiety you feel. In your burning fever, pressing illness, you resist impending death as much as you can, gasping your last words to fulfill your testament. How many legal experts do you consult, how many deceits do you inquire into, so that your testament stands against the law of the Emperor itself? From nearby, God answers you: Do not seek deceits, do not pursue litigious formulas. Do you want your testament to stand? Then let Mine stand in you. You lament because another takes your acquisition, whom you did not want. What concerning my inheritance so wide, so pious? In your seed all nations will be blessed, I said to my servant, God says to you, and he believed when he did not yet see these things. You see, and you deny. Behold, he kept the covenant made, you tear it apart when it is open. For then the covenant was kept, when it was heard. Then it was open, when it was fulfilled. The covenant has been kept up to your hands. Certainly, you wish to be an heir. Does your co-heir so contend with you as to say to you: "Take this…"

"A part for me, that one," or: "Take the smaller and I the larger"? It does not say: "Let us divide it together," but: "Let us have it together." For this indeed he who made the will wanted. Open and read. And you cry: "So that it would not be burned, I did this; so that it would not be burned, I saved it." You saved it so it would not be burned? Open and see because you saved it from being burned, even though I refuse to believe that you saved it whom I see not keeping what is commanded. And I shall make with them a covenant of peace.

Let us ask if there is love within the heart.

And I will exterminate the evil beasts from the land. Beasts, enemies of the covenant of peace. It is said of these beasts in another psalm: Rebuke the beasts of the reed. What does it mean: beasts of the reed? It refers to beasts opposed to the holy Scripture, because it is written by a reed. I will exterminate the evil beasts from the land: and they will inhabit the desert in hope. What does it mean: in the desert? In solitude. What does it mean: in solitude? Within the conscience. Great solitude, where not only does no human pass, but not even sees. There let us dwell in hope, because not yet in reality. For indeed everything that is ours externally fluctuates with the storms and temptations of the world. There is an inner desert; there let us question our faith. Let us question whether love is there within. Let us see if not the lips speak, but also the heart, when we say: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. If it truly sounds, if truly we speak where no human sees, there is the desert where we rest in hope. Because all this tribulation passes, and what was hope will become reality, and all that is ours will be in reality. For we will then be visible to ourselves and our thoughts will not be hidden, and conscience will no longer be a desert, because all will be known to each other and they will not have their thoughts unknown, when the Lord comes and illuminates the hidden things of darkness; and he will manifest the thoughts of the heart, and then praise will be to each one from God. Now you see two men in tribulation, you cannot see their heart. Perhaps one is tormented in conscience, another rests in conscience, just as in the desert, in hope. And they will inhabit the desert in hope: and they will have rest, that is, peace as if their senses are alienated from all the noise of the world, they will rest within themselves, in streams. In that very inner desert, there are certain streams flowing from memory, divine liquids gushing from the mind of one holding and recollecting the Scripture. For what you have read, what you have heard, if you have committed it to memory pure and clear and holy, when you begin to rest in that inner desert, that is, in good conscience, it will be distilled from the inner parts of your mind, and in some way, the memory of God’s word will flow, and you will rest with others in hope and say: "It is true, it is well with me, this is my hope, this God has promised me, He does not lie, I am secure." And this security is rest in the streams. And they will have rest in the streams.

And I will give them the blessing around my hill. Although it is a mountain, although it is a hill, around it may it be well with us. The hill itself is Christ. For thus He Himself is in our midst, we are around Him. For He had long ago said: David a ruler in their midst. And because He is a ruler, therefore He is a hill: gentle, not steep and difficult to ascend, but only if one does not place his feet from on high. And I will give them the blessing around my hill: and I will send rain in its season, the rain of the word of God. For there is also a bad rain, which brings down a house established on sand and for which it is great that a house founded on rock may resist. For it is the rain of temptation, seeking ruin, not watering the earth. Such will not be the rain which the Lord says He will send. For what does He say? Showers of blessing shall be. The mentioned rain made you suspicious: the showers will be of blessing, not of temptation. Showers of blessing shall be.

Our land will yield its fruit.

And see where that rain benefits. And the trees that are in the field will give their fruit. In the field, on a certain plain not arduous, in a certain ease of life. A certain ease of this life, having nothing arduous in it, laborious, difficult, he called a field. Such is the life of many faithful in the Church of God, having spouses, children, their homes. They are like trees in the field, able to ascend nothing arduous. But when they receive the rain, these trees also will give their fruit. The fruit of these trees is: Break your bread to the hungry, and bring the needy without shelter into your house. To such trees, the Apostle was saying: Not because I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit. And the trees that are in the field will give their fruit: and if they do not have greater fruit, yet they do have their own fruit. And the earth will yield its offspring: the whole earth. And they shall inhabit their land. Now fields, hills, mountains will give their offspring. What can the field do? What can the hill do? What can the mountain do? Let only the farmer be recognized. And they shall inhabit their land in hope. You see that he promises those things which he gives us in this time. As long as he says, in hope, I still understand it in this time. For when we have arrived at the promises, there will no longer be hope, but the reality itself will be.

And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the yokes of their burden: the yokes which press upon their necks. Lord, break the yokes with which the heretics press the necks of the weak. For what is so narrow and pressed by a yoke, as: "Do not listen to Christ, listen to me"? Remove the yoke, allow to breathe. I do not know what you are saying. I hear the voice of my shepherd: Through all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Allow me to follow the shepherd. Why do you press? Take the yoke from my neck, I will take up the gentle yoke of my Lord. He hears this and presses. Lord, the heretic does not want to suspend the yoke, you break the yoke. The cross of the Lord lifts up, the yoke of the heretic presses down. But they shall be broken: When I break the yokes of their burden. For they wish to impose their dominion upon men, wanting them to be under them, not under God. When I break the yokes of their burden: and I will rescue them from the hands of those who subjugated them to slavery. What is: subjugated to slavery? They forced them to sin. For everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. See what they have persuaded them, brothers, to say: "They will give account for us. We are sheep. Wherever they lead, we follow." Are you a sheep? Listen to the shepherd, not the wolf.

Errors, differing among themselves, all agree against unity.

And they will no longer be a devastation to the nations. For among all the nations, some are here, some are there. Not those there who are here, but nevertheless there are not lacking those who, pressing the necks of the faithful with forks, neither here nor there. They disagree among themselves, they all agree against unity. But unity does not disagree with itself, but everywhere fights against all who disagree with it, everywhere it labors. But there is rest in the desert. And they will no longer be a devastation to the nations, and the beasts of the land will no longer devour them. Hearing the voice of the shepherd, they will be rescued from the jaws of wolves. Those beasts of the reed will not devour them, wishing to interpret the Scriptures according to their own sense, turning their ears away from the open Scriptures, wanting to be heard themselves, and not to hear the Scriptures. And the beasts of the land will not devour them, and they will dwell in hope. Observe how many times it shows, because what he now promises, he promises here: he speaks of things which he still exhibits here. And there shall be none to terrify them. How will there be none to terrify them? There will be absolutely none. I trust in the Lord. Now when a man begins to say: In God I will praise the word, in the Lord I will praise the word, not in myself; they praise the word in themselves, saying: "Believe what we tell you." We praise the word in the Lord, saying: "Let us believe what is told to us by the Lord." There will be none to terrify us, because: In God I will praise the word, in the Lord I will praise the word: in God I have hoped, I will not fear what man can do to me: There will be none to terrify them.

The Gentiles accuse the Christians of the discord among Christians.

And I will raise up for them a plant of peace. The covenant of peace, the planting of peace. Let what God plants grow and what the heretic sows be uprooted. What God planted from Himself, from His Church; from Himself in heaven, from the Church on earth; from Himself above all heavens, from the Church through all lands; this God planted. "Come here, be in the part of Donatus, the Church is only in Africa": God did not plant it, I do not recognize the plant of God. What you speak must be uprooted, not watered. And I will raise up for them a plant of peace: and there will no longer be those who are exterminated by famine in the land. Truly, brothers, because there is famine, seek and see how great a famine they endure. And what is worse, they have food around their mouth but do not eat; indeed, just as the sick often die from aversion, not because there is no food, but because they do not want to eat and disdain it. For surely the Scriptures speak of this, and here, and surely the psalm sounds here too: All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before Him. Behold, food is placed in the vessel. If you were healthy and ate, would you remain there? And there will no longer be those who are exterminated by famine in the land, and they will no longer bear the curse of the nations. Truly, brothers, the Church has been raised to such a height in the name of Christ that now all the revilers are confounded, nor do they dare to revile. Only this remains for them, that they say against us: "Why do you not agree among yourselves?". Pagans who remain, having nothing to say against the name of Christ, throw the dissension of Christians at the Christians. Therefore, whoever crosses over from the heretics to the Catholic Church will not bear this reproach of the nations. Nor will they bear the curse of dissension, because they remain in the root of unity, in the planting of charity: They will not bear the curse.

And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, and they are my people, the house of Israel, says the Lord God. Behold, there are sheep, and behold, there is a vineyard. Just as when Isaiah spoke of the vineyard, reproving a certain bad vineyard lest he should say: "I did not understand"; he explained at the end, saying: But the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, lest they should say: "It was not spoken to us, but to some unknown vineyard." So also here, when he had spoken about the sheep, at the end lest anyone should say: "Perhaps there are some sheep of God somewhere, which God cares for, and I do not know them," although it is exceedingly absurd to human sense to think such things, yet that Shepherd, compassionate to the weak, descended to such thoughts, and he explained most clearly which were his sheep. And you are my sheep, the sheep of my flock, you are men. But which men? All men? No. Blessed is he whose Lord God is his hope. And: How good is God to Israel, to those who are upright in heart! Blessed is the man whose Lord God is his.

God gives Himself to all in common for enjoying.

Above all is God. However, somehow no one easily dares to say: "My God," except those who believe in Him and love Him. They alone say: "My God." You have made Him yours, whose you are. He loves this. Indeed, with sweetness and secure and confident affection, say: "My God." You say this securely, you speak the truth, for He is yours, and you have not made it so that He is not another's. For you do not say: "My God," as you would say: "My horse." Your horse is yours, not another's. God is both yours and His who likewise says: "My God," just as you say. Each says: "My God," and: "My God." He is of all, offering Himself to all to be enjoyed, whole in all, whole in each. Those who individually say "My God" do not divide Him among themselves. If this speech which I cast with my tongue, and with sound consisting of letters and syllables, reaches each person in its entirety, and those who hear it do not divide it among themselves; if a speech that sounds physically to the ears of the body, clearer when near, fainter when far, is nevertheless received whole by all who listen, without dividing it syllable by syllable, but each receiving it whole, how much more so with God who is present everywhere, filling all things, not clearer when near and fainter when far, but extending mightily from end to end and disposing all things sweetly, equally possessed by all! This light, my brothers, is certainly physical, shining from the sky, rising, setting, moving from place to place. Yet all eyes proceed in it and are directed. And the eyes of all hold it equally, not dividing it. No one in it, rich or poor, has set a limit, nor has anyone by first seeing it excluded or narrowed the eyes of the poor. Let the poor say: "My God"; let the rich say: "My God." The poor has less, the rich has more, but both have silver, not God. To reach God, Zacchaeus the rich gave half of his possessions; Peter left nets and boat; the widow gave two mites; the poorer person offered a cup of cold water; the perfectly poor and needy gave only good will. They gave different things, but they reached the same one, because they loved not different things. So also you, people, sheep of God, sheep of the flock of God, do not be disturbed by your temporary differences, some in honor, some without honor, some with money, some without money, some beautiful in body, some less beautiful, some aged and weary, some young, some children, some men, some women. God is equally present to all. He who brings more to Him, not of silver, but of faith, has more place with Him. And you, He says, are my sheep, and the sheep of my flock, you are humans; and I am your God, says the Lord God. Oh, blessed are we with such possession and such possessor! For He both possesses us, and we possess Him. He possesses us that He may cultivate us, and we possess Him that we may worship Him. But we worship Him as God, and He cultivates us as a field. He cultivates us that we may bear fruit, we worship Him that we may give fruit. It all returns to us, He does not need us. I will give you, He says, your inheritance and your possession to the ends of the earth: behold, we are His possession. The Lord, he says, is the portion of my inheritance, and my cup: behold, He is our possession. But nevertheless, with distinction: You are humans, I am the Lord your God, says the Lord our God.