Sermon 64
SERMO 64
Treatise on the Birthdays of the Holy Martyrs
The fate of good and evil.
We celebrate the memory of the martyrs. Therefore, let us admire the praises of the martyrs and imitate their deeds. All these things that you have heard when the Holy Gospel was read: "For they will deliver you up to councils and flog you in their synagogues," and then what was said: "And brother will deliver brother to death, and father his child, and a man's enemies will be those of his own household," these happen to both the good and the bad. For the evils that men suffer on this earth are common to both the good and the bad, just as the good things that men have on this earth are commonly shared by the good and the bad. Therefore, seeing the chorus of martyrs because many wicked endure many evils on this earth, they cried out to God with one voice: "Judge me, O God, and discern my cause from an unholy nation." For when both the wicked and the good are punished, what becomes of the good if the cause is not distinguished? The good man is punished here, but is crowned by God. The wicked man is punished here and is tormented in eternal judgment. Therefore, if we love the holy martyrs, let us choose their cause so that we may please God.
Wolves made into sheep.
See how our Lord Jesus Christ shapes His martyrs with His discipline. "I send you," He says, "like sheep in the midst of wolves." See what happens if one wolf comes among many sheep. No matter how many thousands of sheep there are, if one wolf is sent among them, they are disturbed and, even if not all are torn apart, all are terrified. What kind of reason, what kind of counsel, what kind of power, what great divinity it was, not to admit the wolf to the sheep, but to send the sheep among the wolves! "I send you," He says, "like sheep in the midst of wolves"; not to the borders of the wolves, but in the midst of the wolves. Therefore, there was a host of wolves, a few sheep, so that many wolves might kill the few sheep. The wolves were turned and became sheep.
The name of Christ, once despised, is now glorified.
However, it is said to all, both those who were there listening to the Lord and those who would believe in the Lord through them, and those following them in birth even up to us and after us until the end of the age, it is said to all: You will be hated by all nations because of my name. Indeed, the Church was foretold to exist among all nations. Just as we read it promised, so we see it fulfilled. And all nations are Christian, and yet all nations are not Christian. Throughout the field, there are both wheat and weeds. Therefore, when you hear our Lord Jesus Christ saying this: You will be hated by all men because of my name, listen as wheat; this is said to the wheat. Consider with me lest anyone might say in his heart: "This was said to the Lord's disciples when our Lord Jesus Christ sent them to preach his word to the nations. All nations hated them because of his name. But now, all nations glorify his name. Let us not think that we are hated by all nations but rather loved by all nations." O all Christian nations, O the Lord's wheat, O Catholic sprouts spread throughout the world, examine yourselves and you will know that all nations hate you because of Christ's name! As many as remain pagans, as many as remain Jews, as many as have become heretics, do they not all hate us because of Christ's name? But suppose there is even a very wicked man, whether noble, powerful, shining in dignity, or exalted in power, who wishes evil and may have much power, he too is hated by all men, but not because of Christ. The voice indeed is similar but the cause is different. Therefore, our Lord Jesus, knowing that it also happens to wicked men to be hated by all men, when he said: They hate you all, added: because of my name, for he heard those who say: Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from an unholy nation.
Whence confidence for the Christian among wolves.
Let us therefore hear what He who promised crowns has admonished. He proposed a contest but assists those who struggle and labor. What kind of contest, then, did He propose? In Latin, agon means contest. What kind of contest, then, did the Lord Jesus Christ declare? This is what He declared: "Be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves." He who understands this, he who holds to this, he who keeps this, dies securely because he does not die. For no one ought to die securely except he who knows himself to die in such a way that death dies in him, and life is crowned.
How the cunning of the serpent is to be imitated.
Therefore, dearest ones, it must be explained to you, although we have often spoken of it here, what it means to be simple as doves, and shrewd as serpents. If the simplicity of the doves is already prescribed to us, what does the shrewdness of the serpent do in the simplicity of the dove? I love in the dove that it has no gall. I fear in the serpent that it has venom.
Do not utterly dread the serpent. It has something to hate, it has something to imitate. For the serpent, when burdened by old age and feeling the weight of its antiquity, constrains itself through a narrow cave and sheds its old skin to emerge as new. Imitate it, you Christian, who hears Christ saying: Enter through the narrow gate. And the Apostle Paul says to you: Put off the old man with his deeds and put on the new who is created according to God. Therefore, you have something to imitate in the serpent: do not die because of old age. He who dies for some temporal advantage dies because of old age. He who dies for the advantage of human praise dies because of old age. But when you have shed all these old things, you have imitated the cunning of the serpent. Imitate it more strongly: protect your head. What does it mean to protect your head? Keep Christ with you. If any of you has observed how when a serpent is killed, it protects its head by exposing its whole body to the blows of the attacker? It does not want that part to be struck where it knows it has life. And Christ is our life. For He Himself said: I am the way, the truth, and the life. Listen also to the Apostle: The head of the man is Christ. Therefore, he who keeps Christ in himself keeps his head for himself.
The simplicity of the dove is to be imitated.
Now truly, what need is there to commend at length the simplicity of doves? For the poisons of the serpent were to be avoided. There, imitation was endangered where there was something to be feared. But imitate the dove safely. Notice that the doves rejoice in society; everywhere they fly together, they feed together, they do not want to be alone, they delight in communion. They burn with love, murmur with the sighs of love, generate offspring with kisses. However, as long as we are in the body, we are away from the Lord. Blessed are those who mourn! And if you want to be a dove, say to your Lord: My groaning is not hidden from you. Therefore, when doves, for we often notice this too, quarrel among themselves about their places, in a way it is a peaceful contention. Do they separate because they quarrel? They fly together, they feed together, and even this quarrel is peaceful. Observe the quarrel of doves. The Apostle said: If anyone does not obey our word by this letter, mark that one and do not associate with him. Behold the quarrel. But note that it is the quarrel of doves, not wolves. He immediately added: And do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. The dove loves even when she strikes. The wolf hates even when he flatters.
Therefore, having the simplicity of doves and imitating the cunning of serpents, celebrate the solemnities of the martyrs in sobriety of mind, not in drunkenness of the belly. Give praises to God. For He is our God who is also the Lord of the martyrs, He our crowner, if we have fought well, who has crowned those whom we desire to imitate.