Sermon 68

SERMO 68

FROM THE CHAPTER OF THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW WHERE THE LORD SAYS:
"I confess to You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because"
You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent.

Great silence was needed for the voice of Augustine to be heard.

We also heard this reading of the holy Gospel yesterday on the Lord's day, as you remember; but today we wished it to be read because yesterday the crowded multitude, somewhat more restless due to narrow spaces, did not grant our voice ease; since it is not such that it is sufficient unless with great silence. Therefore, today with the Lord's help, I think we should discuss what we omitted yesterday and consider it according to our small ability, not because we begrudged yesterday's multitude, but because our weak voice could not suffice for the multitude. Now, therefore, support me with your attention before our Lord God, that He may grant us what we should say, and that you may hear it healthfully.

What the literal meaning is: confession of praise and confession of fault.

The Son of God, only begotten of the Father, always God, became man for us, made what He made—indeed, He became man who made man—says to the Father: "I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth." To me, the Father: Lord of heaven and earth, His Father through whom all things were made. For every creature is briefly explained by these two words, when it is said heaven and earth; therefore, the first book of God's Scripture says, In the beginning, God made heaven and earth; and, my help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. But by the name of heaven is understood whatever is in heaven, by the name of earth is understood whatever is on earth; thus, when these two parts of creation are named, no creature is omitted: because it is either here or there. But the Son says to the Father: I confess; and reminds us that confession is not owed to God only for sins. For often when it is heard in the Scriptures, Confess to the Lord, many who hear it strike their breast: it does not seem to them that confession signifies anything else, except that which penitents are accustomed to use, confessing their sins, expecting their merits from God, not what they deserve to suffer, but what He deigns to do mercifully. If there were no confession in praise, He would not say: I confess to you Father, who had no sin to confess. It is also said in a certain book of Scripture: Confess to the Lord, and this you shall say in confession: all the works of the Lord are very good. Here too, confession is of praise, not of guilt. Therefore, when you praise God, you confess to God; when you accuse your sins before God, you confess to God: but all this pertains to the praise of the Creator, both that you proclaim Him, and that you accuse yourself.

The wise and prudent of this world, who they are.

But since it pertains to his praise that you proclaim him, no one doubts it; however, how it pertains to his praise that you accuse yourself, perhaps you will ask. This is what can be briefly said and understood: when you accuse yourself in sin, you praise him who made you without sin; for if he had made you with sin, you would not blame yourself for sinning, but him for creating. Therefore, in the proclamation of God, there is praise; and your accusation is praise of God: both pertain to confession. We have heard the Son of God saying: I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. What does he confess to him? In what does he praise him? Because you have hidden these things, he says, from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to little ones. Who are the wise and prudent? Who are the little ones? What has he hidden from the wise and prudent, and revealed to the little ones? He refers to those wise and prudent ones whom Paul speaks of: Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the inquisitor of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Even now you may still ask who these are. Perhaps they are those who, arguing much about God, have spoken false things; inflated by their own doctrines, they were least able to find and know God. Perhaps someone might say that they were those signified by the apostle Paul, who says: Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the inquisitor of this age? Indeed, let these be so: let those also be understood who were least able to know God, and for God, whose substance is incomprehensible and invisible, they thought God to be the air, the ether, the sun, or something that eminently exists in creation; for paying attention to the magnitudes and beauties and strengths of creations, they remained there, did not find the Creator, admiring the things that were made. It is not out of place to accept these as also being signified.

Less worthy of ridicule are those who believed the works of God than those who believed the works of men to be gods.

Nevertheless, dearest ones, it is more astonishing that we find in a certain place of the Holy Scripture that even those who knew were reprimanded, and their foolishness was accused, and their false wisdom was mocked. For those who did not discern the Creator from the creation are rebuked in the book of Wisdom, where it says that they thought the gods to be the circle of the stars, the sun, the moon, the rulers of the earth. And concerning these, it is said that, although they are preferred over those who worshiped idols and considered the works of men, not the works of God, to be gods, yet even they are accused so that it might be said: "Again, they are not to be pardoned." For indeed, in comparison to those who considered the works of men to be gods, surely, those who considered the works of God to be gods are better. For the craftsman made the idol; God made the sun: in comparison to someone who considers what the craftsman made to be a god, he who considers what God made to be a god is better. But nevertheless, notice how even they are rebuked, and how rightly they are accused: "Again," it says, "they are not to be pardoned; for if they had the power to understand the world, how did they not more easily find its Lord?" They are accused of spending their time and their efforts in investigating and in a way measuring the creation: they sought the courses of the stars, the intervals of the constellations, the paths of the heavenly bodies; to the extent that they reached a certain knowledge through calculations, to predict the eclipse of the sun, the eclipse of the moon, and when they predicted it would happen, it occurred on that day and at that hour, as much and in that part as they had predicted. Great industry! Great ingenuity! But when scrutinizing the Creator, placed not far from them, they did not find Him; whom if they had found, they would have within themselves. As if someone entering this building counted the columns, measured how many cubits they were, calculated the height of the roof, the width of the pavement, and the stature of the walls, and reported to you all the numbers that you did not know; but you, however, would know by whom the building was constructed, he would not know, and uncertain about the facts, he might not think this building was made by a man, but would believe those columns, that roof, those walls, existed by their own power and nature, with no maker; or he might attribute to some part of this building the power to bring forth the rest. And you, when you said: "A man made this building"; he would say: "Which man? When could a man build this structure? This high roof you see, this very roof constructed all the low things you see." I do not say he would appear foolish or delusional to you. And what would it benefit him that he could calculate the measurements of all the columns and the entire building and tell you what you did not know? A man endowed with better knowledge would know the maker of this building: for it is more significant to know that a man made it, that it was made by reason, that it was constructed by a rational mind, that counsel preceded this structure, than to know how many cubits a column is or how many columns there are, or how wide the pavement or the roof is.

See what the Creator has made; love Him who made it.

I believe that your Charity discerns these sciences. For it is not something great that you know, since you know a man made it, if you ascribe this craft to the body of the man himself. You know something great if you know it was done with counsel, a rational mind, where the craft existed before it could be seen with the eyes. For the counsel of making preceded, and then the effect followed: what you did not see preceded so that what you would see might exist. Now therefore you see the craft, you praise the counsel: you focus on what you see, you praise what you do not see; and what you do not see is greater than what you see. Therefore, they are best and most justly accused, who could investigate the numbers of the stars, the intervals of times, recognize the eclipse of lights, predict: they are rightly accused; since they did not find Him by whom these things were made and ordered, because they neglected to seek Him. But you should not greatly care, if you are ignorant of the circuits of stars and of the heavenly or earthly bodies: see the beauty of the world, and praise the counsel of the Creator: see what He made, love Him who made it. Hold this especially, love Him who made it; because He also made you, His lover, in His image. Therefore, why is it surprising, that to such wise men occupied with the creatures, who did not wish to seek the Creator neglecting Him, neither could they find Him, those things are hidden about which Christ said: You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent? It is more wonderful that you will hear, that even the wise and prudent who could know were reproved. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven, he says, upon all impiety and injustice of men, who hold the truth in iniquity. Perhaps you ask, what truth do they hold in iniquity? Because that which is known of God is manifest in them. From where is it manifest? He follows and says: For God has shown it to them. You still ask how He has shown it to them to whom He did not give the law? How then? For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. Thus He revealed it, because the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.

The book of the species of creation is great.

Another reads a book in order to find God. There is a great book, namely the very appearance of creation: observe the higher and the lower, attend, read. God did not make letters out of ink, to be known by them: He placed before your eyes the very things He made. Why seek a greater voice? The heavens and the earth cry out to you: God made me. You read what Moses wrote. What did Moses himself, a temporal man, read to write? Attend piously to heaven and earth. There were, therefore, some not like Moses the servant of God, not like the many Prophets who viewed and understood these things, assisted by the Spirit of God; whom they received in faith, drank with the jaws of piety, belched with the mouth of the inner man. Not therefore such as these. But there were others dissimilar, who through the creation were able to arrive at understanding the Creator, and to say about those things which God made: "Behold what He has made, He governs and contains; He Himself, who made, fills with His presence those things which He made." They were able to say this: For these too, the apostle Paul mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, where, when he had spoken about God: For in Him we live and move and have our being, since he was speaking to the Athenians, where these most learned men were found, he immediately added: As also some of your own poets have said. It is not a light matter what they said, for in God we live, and move, and have our being. Whence then are they dissimilar? whence are they reproved? whence rightly accused? Hear the words of the Apostle, which I began to say: The wrath of God is revealed, he says, from heaven upon all ungodliness, namely of those who have not received the law; upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. What truth? Because that which is known of God is manifest in them. How manifest? For God has showed it unto them. How did He show it? For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. Why did He show it? So that they are without excuse. If He showed it so that they are without excuse, whence then are they culpable? Because, knowing God, they did not glorify Him as God. What does it mean: “They did not glorify Him as God”? Neither were they thankful. Therefore, to glorify God is to be thankful to God. This indeed: for what is worse, if being created in His image, knowing God, you are ungrateful? This is, absolutely, this is to glorify God, to be thankful to God. The faithful know, when and where it is said: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. But who gives thanks to the Lord except those who have their hearts lifted up to the Lord?

To perceive revelation, humility is necessary.

There are among you those who hear and do not hear: but let them not be angry with us, when they differ from themselves. Therefore, they are culpable: who are inexcusable, because knowing God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor gave thanks. But what? But they became futile in their thoughts. Where did they become futile, if not because they were proud? Smoke also vanishes as it rises higher; and fire shines and is strengthened by grasping lower. They became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Even smoke, though higher than fire, is obscure. Finally, attend to what follows, and see whence the whole cause depends: For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. By arrogating to themselves what God had granted, God took away what He had given. Therefore, He hides Himself from the proud, who by diligently scrutinizing the creature, intimated the Creator to be nothing but Himself. Therefore, the Lord says rightly: You have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent: whether from those who, by multiple disputations and the most skillful inquiry, reached the investigation of the creature, but did not know the Creator; or from those who, knowing God, did not glorify Him as God or gave thanks, and could not see perfectly and healthily because they were proud. You have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and revealed them to little ones. Which little ones? the humble. He says: Upon whom shall my Spirit rest? Upon the humble and quiet and trembling at My words. Peter trembled at these words, Plato did not tremble: a fisherman holds what the most noble disputant lost. You have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and revealed them to little ones: you have hidden them from the proud, and revealed them to the humble. What therefore are we, no matter how much we are? If we are humble, we will merit to be blessed with the full sight of God, if we merit to be numbered among the little ones. Yes, Father, he says, exulting in the Holy Spirit - he approved, was pleased, praised it to be so, praised it so to have happened - yes, Father, because such was your good pleasure before you.

The grace of Christ has eluded all the wise men of this world.

We have heard that he says: You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to little ones; who are the wise and prudent from whom you have hidden them, and who are the little ones to whom you have revealed them? What are these things? For when he said this: You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to little ones, he was not referring to heaven and earth, as if pointing to them with his hand when he said these things. For who does not see these things? The good see them, and the wicked see them too, because he makes his sun rise over the good and the bad. What then are these things, about which he says, because you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to little ones? What, except what he adds later and says: Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will? Here he praised, it pleased him. What then are these things? All things have been handed over to me by my Father. This Christian grace, because all things have been handed over to him by his Father, was hidden from the wise of this world. And not only those who, being overly and intensely occupied with earthly or heavenly creatures, neglected to seek and were unable to find the Creator, but also those who, from the creature and from the things that were seen, that is, from the visible, could not reach in thought to him by whom they were made, did not recognize what was said: All things have been handed over to me by my Father. Moses saw these things, the Prophets saw these things, the Patriarchs saw these things; the great wise men, the sharp disputants, inquirers, profuse thunderous speakers of eloquence, were utterly ignorant of them. This is the mystery that was hidden from ages in God, but now is revealed to his saints, his little ones, therefore his humble ones, upon whom his Spirit rests, to the quiet and those who tremble at his words: All things, he says, have been handed over to me by my Father.

The better a person is, the more vehemently they desire to see God.

But because among all these things we very much wish and desire to see God Himself, and we desire this as much as we are better, as much as we are more pious, as much as we are more faithful, as much as we are more instructed and firm in mental progress, this desire surpasses all desires; He addresses us gently, as if we were His little ones to whom He has given to know His grace, because all things have been handed over to Christ by His Father, so that they may not endure with difficulty because they do not see now; in order to be prepared for that vision, they endure the medicinal delay. He says, "All things have been handed over to me by my Father." And the little ones were going to say: "We wish to see the Father Himself, as Philip says: Show us the Father, and it is enough for us." As if He would say: "I know what you desire, and how little you are for so great a good: No one knows the Son except the Father. You thought you already knew me: No one knows the Son except the Father. As if, with me known, you sought to see and know the Father: Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son." Yet you will not remain separated from this vision, for it follows: and to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. To whom will the Son reveal, if not of those of whom it is said: you have revealed them to little ones? Therefore, let us be little ones: let us ask and learn this from the great teacher. Since you are nothing, will you not be a little one, for whose sake so great became a little one? Therefore, the Father reveals the Son to whom He wills, and the Son reveals the Father to whom He wills. For the Son does not reveal the Father, and the Father does not reveal the Son. Here we have heard, here we read: Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and the one to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. We have learned the Son as the revealer of the Father: how do we know the Father as the revealer of the Son? Hear the same Son. When Peter said: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, he received the response: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven. Therefore, the Father reveals the Son, and the Son reveals the Father. How indeed do you recognize the Son unless you recognize that He has a Father? And how do you recognize the Father unless you recognize that He has a Son? For He cannot be called Father if He does not have a Son; nor can He be called Son if He does not have a Father. Therefore, if He is not the Father except because He has a Son, the Father reveals the Son. By this very thing that fatherhood is recognized in Him, the offspring is inquired; if He is the Father, you seek whom He begot: it is God Christ. If Christ is the Son, you seek from whom He was begotten: it is God the Father. Therefore, when you direct the eye of your mind, the eye of faith, to the Son, insofar as He is the Son, you recognize that He is begotten, so that He would be the Son; and thus the Son reveals the Father. But to whom, if not the little ones?

From seeing God, our sins hinder us.

Why do we not see God now? Because our sins separate us from God. Therefore, if we do not see Him because our sins separate us from God, and He turns His face away from us because of our offenses, let us hear the following call through the sweat of our burdens: Come to me all you who labor. Why do you sweat in vain under sins? Come to me all you who labor. Where do you labor, if not when you desire what is not in the power of the desirer? You desired gold, you loved gold: do you have gold by loving it? What is this? What do you love? In loving, you thirst, in thirsting, you seek, in finding, you are tormented. Behold, before you find what you desire to have, before you seize it, before you have it, before you possess it, you burn with desire: this torturer eviscerates the heart, this very desire tears you apart. But for how long? Until you attain it. Behold, you have attained it. You burned with desire when you wished to have what you would possess: now you have what you fear to lose. Therefore, it is not security that follows desire, but fear joins desire as a torturer. Before you had anything, desire alone tormented you; when you began to have it, fear also tormented you. I spoke poorly, saying "followed," but another torturer joined: for initially there was the desire of having, now there remains the increase. For, it is not that a boundary was set to desire because what you sought was added to you. Do you not see that the more you have, the more you crave? When you had nothing, you sought little; but since you have become rich, inheritances do not satisfy your desires. You desire to have what you do not have, you fear to lose what you have: these two torturers strangle you. Even amidst torments, confess to your God; hear the one calling, feel the one offering, so that the torturers may depart; hear him who says: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened. You are fatigued by diverse and tearing affections of the world, and pressed by severe burdens: I will refresh you. You were free and wandering, rushing into precipices: take my yoke upon you. Because of this desire and the difficulty of having, you were rough, and walking elevated by vain success of things: against the bitterness and against the elevation, learn from me because I am gentle and humble in heart. Do not observe each other, he says, and have arrogance among you.

To be blessed, humility must be learned from Christ.

Someone says: "What if I want to have? Oh, if only I had! God, give me that I may have. Behold, my neighbor has what I do not have: he is greeted, and he does not greet; I greet in return, and he does not greet. God, give me." If you dislike him, why do you wish to be like him? He himself says: "I greet in return, and I am not greeted"; and he desires to be what he condemns. "But," he says, "when I have, not only will I greet in return, but I will also greet first." Out of desire to have, you submit yourself: but he who made you knows you better; he better advises you who does not give what is not expedient for you. Certainly, that you may have, because you rightly think you will have, will use well, and govern piously; that you may have riches, you fear labor and want. Do you wish to be blessed? Come to him who cries: I will refresh you. The only thing is that you learn what he says: Learn from me, because I am meek and humble in heart. For you look to your wealthy neighbor, having and being proud: by looking at him and emulating him, you will be proud; you will not be humble unless you look at him who was made humble for your sake. Learn from Christ what you do not learn from man: in him is the model of humility; whoever comes to him is first formed in humility itself, that he may be adorned in exaltation. For what is his appearance? Who, though in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God; but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men, and found in appearance as a man: he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross. He said so much, and had not yet ended the measure of his humility unless he had added: even death on a cross; for this kind of death had great opprobrium among the Jews. He took this, which had great opprobrium, that he might give a reward from that very humility to those who do not blush. How far did he go, cutting down your pride? Even to the reproaches of the cross.

How light is the burden of Christ!

But perhaps as small? He who, being in the form of God. Pay attention: when have you been in the form of God? And do you blush to be humbled, for whose sake the form of God was humbled? Learn, he says, from me. You have not found out how great a foundation of your loftiness you knew: He says, Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For indeed in all your desires you seek rest: for this reason you are restless, while seeking, so that, having found what you seek, you may finally rest. You think this in vain: by finding what you wrongly seek, you will be more restless. He says, Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls; for my yoke is easy. Did you fear being bound? My yoke is easy, sweet; if you feared being bound, desire to be pleasantly bound. Do you not see even in the very bodies of humans seeking and desiring temporal things there are certain bindings, of which people are pleased? How difficult it is for them to allow themselves to be loosened! He who has a collar, pleases himself with the collar, which desire twists. And do you think that the yoke of Christ will strangle you? Do not fear, accept: it is easy; it restrains miserable freedom, does not bring any harshness. And my burden is light. Do not think that I will not impose something on you, if you are my beast of burden - this your Lord says to you - I will impose my burden: but do not fear, it is light; it does not weigh you down, but lifts you up; it does not burden, but honors. It is not so light, although not very heavy: as small burdens are, which when carried, the one who carries them says: "It is light"; still even the light itself, although not much, has some weight. The burden of Christ is so light that it lifts: you will not be pressed by but lifted by it; without it you will not rise. Consider this burden to be such for you as the wings are for birds: if birds have the burden of wings, they are lifted up; if they are removed, they remain on the ground. For what is heavy to a lover? Do we not see - to omit innumerable other things with which the human race boils and is worn out - how much a hunter labors, what he endures, what heats in summer, what colds in winter, what thickets of forests, what difficulties of paths, what slopes of mountains? Love, however, not only makes all these things tolerable, but even pleasant: so pleasant that, if you forbid hunting, then he labors, then he suffers dreadful mental tedium; he cannot bear rest. So much is endured to reach a boar; and it is hard to endure to reach God!

The burden of Christ is called love.

Therefore Christ said this. When you heard: My burden is light, do not think about what the martyrs suffered here, and say to yourselves: "How is Christ's burden light?" Men confessed Him and suffered so much: boys confessed Him, girls confessed Him; the stronger and weaker sex, the older and younger age, all deserved to confess and be crowned. I think they did not labor. Why did they not labor? Because they endured everything with love. This is the burden of Christ, which He deigns to impose: it is called love, it is said to be love, it is named affection. Through this, whatever was most laborious before will be easy for you; through this, whatever you weighed as heavy will be light. Take up this burden: it will not weigh you down, it will lift you up; it will be wings for you, which before you have them, cry out to the one calling: Who will give me wings like a dove? - not like a raven, but like a dove, and I will fly, he says. And as if you were asking: For what? And I will find rest. Therefore through that burden you will find rest for your souls. Take up this burden, these wings; and if you begin to have them, nourish them. Let these wings reach such a measure that you may be able to fly. One wing is, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. But do not remain with one wing; for if you think you have one, you do not have it at all. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. For if you do not love your brother whom you see, how can you love God whom you do not see? Let the other wing come: thus you will fly, thus you will take away desire from earthly things, you will fix love in heavenly things. As you strive with these two wings, you will meanwhile have your heart lifted up; so that the lifted-up heart may in due course also lift up its flesh. And do not think that having all the wings is too much for you: indeed, the numerous precepts of this love should be sought in the Holy Scriptures, in which the reader and listener may be exercised; but on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.