Volume 13 · pp. 522–525
Sermon XXVIII. On the Feast of Saint Peter the Apostle in Chains
A marker with ≈ is an approximate page boundary, placed by measure of the text; the page photographs remain the authority. In the paired views, clicking a page marker brings that page into view.
SERMO XXVIII.
IN FESTO AD VINCULA S. PETRI APOSTOLI.
Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram ædificabo Ecclesiam meam. Matth. XVI, 18.
Tria sunt principaliter hic notanda:
I. Quare princeps Apostolorum a Domino Petrus appellatur? II. Quæ sit petra, cujus mentio hic habetur? III. Quæ Ecclesia super hanc petram ædificetur?
I.
De primo nota, quod in eo, quod Dominus dicit ad Petrum, Tu es Petrus, commendat eum a tribus, videlicet, 1. A fidei claritate, 2. A spei firmitate, 3. Et a forti charitate. Et hæc tria possunt elici ex interpretatione hujus nominis, Petrus, agnoscens, sive discalceans, aut dissolvens.
1. Petrus igitur primo interpretatur agnoscens. Ipse enim agnovit Christi divinitatem per fidei claritatem, dicens: Tu es Christus Filius Dei vivi. Unde et Dominus respondit ei: Beatus es Simon Bar Jona, quia caro et sanguis non revelavit tibi, scilicet, hanc fidei professionem, sed Pater meus qui in cælis est 1.
2. Petrus etiam interpretatur discalceans. Ecce spei firmitas. Ipse enim discalceaverat pedes effectuum suorum ab omnibus concupiscentiis, et desideriis terrenorum. Unde et propter spem cælestium se ostendit reliquisse omnem possessionem terrenorum, ita cum fiducia loquens a Dominum, Matth. XIX, 27: Ecce nos reliquimus omnia, et secuti sumus te: quid ergo erit nobis?
3. Petrus etiam interpretatur dissolvens. Ecce fortis charitas. Charitas enim dissolvit, quidquid iniquitas ligat. Per charitatem igitur Petrus animam dissolverat a mundo et ligaverat Christo. Unde legitur, Joan. VI, 67 et seq., quod cum multi discipulorum retro abiissent, nec jam cum Christo ambularent, et Dominus dixisset ad duodecim: numquid et vos vultis abire? Respondit ei Simon Petrus: Domine, ad quem ibimus? Quasi diceret: Anima mea et cor meum sic alligata sunt tibi per dilectionem, quod non possunt a te aliquatenus separari.
1. Debemus etiam et nos, charissimi, in prædictis tribus imitatores esse Beati Petri, ut videlicet simus primo agnoscentes, sive videntes per fidei claritatem. Fides autem tria videt, videlicet infima, media, et summa.
Debemus igitur infima videre per metum, media per contemptum, suprema per appetitum. Infima itaque sunt supplicia peccatorum, quæ debemus videre cum metu. De his suppliciis dicit II Pet. II, 4 et 9: Si Deus Angelis peccantibus non pepercit, sed rudentibus, id est, duris catenis, inferni detractos in tartarum tradidit cruciandos in judicium reservari.... Novit Dominus iniquos in diem judicii reservare cruciandos.
SERMON XXVIII.
ON THE FEAST OF SAINT PETER THE APOSTLE IN CHAINS.
You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church. Matthew 16:18.
There are principally three things to be noted here:
I. Why is the prince of the Apostles called Peter by the Lord? II. What is the rock of which mention is made here? III. What Church is built upon this rock?
I.
On the first, note that in this, that the Lord says to Peter, You are Peter, he commends him for three things, namely, 1. For brightness of faith, 2. For firmness of hope, 3. And for strong charity. And these three can be drawn out from the interpretation of this name, Peter: recognizing, or unshoeing, or loosening.
1. Therefore Peter is first interpreted recognizing. For he recognized the divinity of Christ through brightness of faith, saying: You are Christ, the Son of the living God. Hence the Lord also answered him: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood has not revealed to you, namely, this profession of faith, but my Father who is in heaven 1.
2. Peter is also interpreted unshoeing. Behold firmness of hope. For he had unshod the feet of his effects from all concupiscences and desires of earthly things. Hence also, because of hope of heavenly things, he showed himself to have left behind every possession of earthly things, speaking thus with confidence to the Lord, Matthew 19:27: Behold, we have left all things and have followed you; what therefore will there be for us?
3. Peter is also interpreted loosening. Behold strong charity. For charity loosens whatever iniquity binds. Therefore through charity Peter had loosened his soul from the world and had bound it to Christ. Hence one reads in John 6:67 and following that when many of the disciples had gone back and now no longer walked with Christ, and the Lord had said to the twelve: Do you also wish to go away? Simon Peter answered him: Lord, to whom shall we go? As if he were saying: My soul and my heart are so bound to you through love that they cannot in any way be separated from you.
1. We too, dearest ones, ought also to be imitators of Blessed Peter in the three aforesaid things, namely so that first we may be recognizing or seeing through the brightness of faith. But faith sees three things, namely the lowest, the middle, and the highest.
Therefore we ought to see the lowest things through fear, the middle things through contempt, the highest things through desire. Thus the lowest things are the punishments of sinners, which we ought to see with fear. Concerning these punishments 2 Peter 2:4 and 9 says: If God did not spare the Angels when they sinned, but, drawn down from hell into Tartarus with ropes, that is, with hard chains, handed them over to be tormented, to be reserved for judgment.... The Lord knows how to reserve the unjust to be tormented on the day of judgment.
Debemus etiam media, id est, bona gaudia hujus mundi videre cum contemptu. Nullius enim pretii vel momenti sunt bona et gaudia hujus mundi, futuræ gloriæ comparata. Unde Paulus ad Roman. VIII, 18: Non sunt condignæ passiones hujus temporis ad futuram gloriam, quæ revelabitur in nobis. O quam pauci bona et gaudia hujus mundi contemnunt!
Debemus etiam videre summa, hoc est, cœlestis patriæ jucunditatem cum omnis desiderii appetitu. De hoc dicitur Deut. XXXIII, 28: Oculus Jacob in terra frumenti et vini. Per Jacob intelligitur quilibet bonus Christianus, qui quotidie contra diabolum et vitia luctatur. Hujus oculus debet esse in terra frumenti et vini, id est, in patria supercœlesti, ubi Jesus Christus tamquam panis et vinum confortat et lætificat corda electorum suorum. Hinc etiam dicitur ad Hebr. XI, 13: Juxta fidem defuncti sunt omnes isti, non acceptis repromissionibus, sed a longe eas adspicientes, et salutantes, et confitentes, quia peregrini, et hospites sunt super terram.
2. Debemus etiam esse discalceantes per spei firmitatem, ut videlicet cor nostrum a carnalibus desideriis et concupiscentiis terrenis discalceemus, ut ita digni simus videre Deum deorum in Sion. De hac discalceatione et visione legitur in Exod. III, 1 et seq., quod Moyses cum pasceret oves soceri sui, et venisset ad interiora deserti, vidit Dominum in medio rubi qui ardebat, et non comburebatur. Dixit ergo Moyses: Vadam, et videbo visionem hanc magnam... Cui Dominus: Solve calceamentum de pedibus tuis: locus enim in quo stas, terra sancta est. Quasi diceret: Nisi solveris calceamenta tua, non poteris ad me propinquare.
Nota, quod quandoque dulces fructus crescunt in rubo: unde per rubum intelligitur dulcedo consolationum, et magna multitudo dulcedinis Dei: de quibus dicitur in Psal. XXX, 20: Quam magna multitudo dulcedinis tuæ Domine, quam abscondisti timentibus te. Unde rubus ille dicitur fuisse in interioribus deserti, per quod desertum cælum intelligitur. Et certe in medio consolationum suarum ac dulcedinis suæ ostendet se ibi Christus Jesus. Quæ consolationes dulci charitatis igne accensæ suaviter ardent: sed numquam consumuntur. Ad has consolationes et ad Christum, qui in medio eorum est, qui pertingere voluerit, oportet ut animam suam discalceet ab omnibus concupiscentiis terrenis et immundis.
We ought also to see the middle things, that is, the good joys of this world, with contempt. For the goods and joys of this world are of no price or moment when compared with future glory. Hence Paul at Romans 8:18 says: The sufferings of this time are not worthy of the future glory that will be revealed in us. O how few contemn the goods and joys of this world!
We ought also to see the highest things, that is, the joy of the heavenly fatherland, with the appetite of every desire. Concerning this Deuteronomy 33:28 says: The eye of Jacob is in the land of grain and wine. By Jacob is understood any good Christian who daily wrestles against the devil and vices. His eye ought to be in the land of grain and wine, that is, in the super-heavenly fatherland, where Jesus Christ, as bread and wine, strengthens and gladdens the hearts of his elect. Hence also it is said at Hebrews 11:13: All these died according to faith, not having received the promises, but beholding them from afar, and saluting them, and confessing that they are pilgrims and guests upon the earth.
2. We ought also to be unshoeing through firmness of hope, namely that we unshoe our heart from carnal desires and earthly concupiscences, so that thus we may be worthy to see the God of gods in Sion. Concerning this unshoeing and vision one reads in Exodus 3:1 and following that when Moses was feeding the sheep of his father-in-law and had come to the interior parts of the desert, he saw the Lord in the midst of the bush that was burning and was not being consumed. Therefore Moses said: I will go and see this great vision... To whom the Lord said: Loose the shoe from your feet; for the place in which you stand is holy ground. As if he were saying: Unless you loose your shoes, you will not be able to draw near to me.
Note that sometimes sweet fruits grow in a bush; hence by the bush is understood the sweetness of consolations and the great multitude of the sweetness of God, concerning which Psalm 30:20 says: How great is the multitude of your sweetness, O Lord, which you have hidden for those who fear you. Hence that bush is said to have been in the interior parts of the desert; by this desert heaven is understood. And certainly there, in the midst of his consolations and his sweetness, Christ Jesus will show himself. These consolations, kindled by the sweet fire of charity, burn sweetly, but are never consumed. Whoever wishes to reach these consolations and Christ, who is in their midst, must unshoe his soul from all earthly and unclean concupiscences.
3. Debemus etiam esse dissolventes per fortem charitatem, ut videlicet per charitatem dissolvamus et discindamus omnes funes peccatorum nostrorum, quibus a Deo trahimur in profundum abyssi. Peccata enim sunt funes inferni, quibus miser homo, licet peccatis excæcatus hoc non videat, quotidie trahitur ad infernum. De his funibus dicit David Rex, II Reg. XXII, 6: Funes inferni circumdederunt me: prævenerunt me laquei mortis. Necessarium ergo nobis est, ut hos funes mature virtute charitatis dissolvamus, de qua dicitur Cant. VIII, 6: Fortis est ut mors dilectio..., lampades ejus lampades ignis atque flammarum.
II.
De secundo nota, quod petra de qua habetur, est ipse Jesus Christus: de qua dicit Apostolus, I ad Cor. X, 4: Petra autem erat Christus. Est autem hæc petra commendabilis propter plura. 1. Est enim refugium peregrinantium, 2. Et securitas transmigrantium, 3. Et multiformis beatitudo regnantium.
1. Est igitur primo refugium peregrinantium. Unde dicitur Cant. II, 13 et 14: Veni columba mea, scilicet et latita in foraminibus petræ, et in caverna maceriæ. Per columbam intelligitur anima boni Christiani, quæ quamdiu peregrinatur in hoc corpore, persecutionem patitur ab infernali accipitre. Unde summe necesse est ei, ut fugiat in foramina petræ, id est, in quinque vulnera Jesu Christi. Debet etiam fugere in cavernas maceriæ, id est, Beatæ Virginis ac aliorum Sanctorum præsidia implorare. Et nota, quod hæc petra non solum est refugium columbis, id est, justis et innocentibus, sed etiam herinaciis, id est, peccatoribus, spinis peccatorum circumseptis; si tamen per veram pœnitentiam recurrerint ad Christum. Unde in Psal. CIII, 18: Petra refugium herinaciis.
2. Secundo, est etiam hæc petra securitas transmigrantium, id est, morientium. Unde II Reg. XXII, 2: Dominus petra mea, et robur meum, et salvator meus. Item, Psal. XXXIX, 3: Statuit Dominus supra petram pedes meos: et direxit gressus meos. Ita dicit anima justi, quando in morte ex corpore evolaverit. Vere beatus est, cujus animæ basis tunc Deus fuerit, ut super eum tunc puteus inferni non urgeat os suum.
3. We ought also to be loosening through strong charity, namely so that through charity we may loosen and cut apart all the cords of our sins, by which we are dragged away from God into the depth of the abyss. For sins are cords of hell, by which the wretched man, although blinded by sins he does not see this, is daily dragged to hell. Concerning these cords King David says, 2 Kings 22:6: The cords of hell surrounded me; the snares of death came before me. Therefore it is necessary for us to loosen these cords maturely by the power of charity, concerning which it is said in Song of Songs 8:6: Love is strong as death..., its lamps are lamps of fire and of flames.
II.
On the second, note that the rock of which one speaks is Jesus Christ himself; concerning it the Apostle says, 1 Corinthians 10:4: But the rock was Christ. This rock is commendable on account of several things. 1. For it is the refuge of pilgrims, 2. And the security of those migrating, 3. And the manifold beatitude of those reigning.
1. Therefore first it is the refuge of pilgrims. Hence it is said in Song of Songs 2:13 and 14: Come, my dove, namely and hide in the openings of the rock and in the hollow of the wall. By the dove is understood the soul of a good Christian, which, as long as it is a pilgrim in this body, suffers persecution from the infernal hawk. Hence it is supremely necessary for it to flee into the openings of the rock, that is, into the five wounds of Jesus Christ. It ought also to flee into the hollows of the wall, that is, to implore the aids of the Blessed Virgin and of the other Saints. And note that this rock is not only a refuge for doves, that is, for the just and innocent, but also for hedgehogs, that is, for sinners surrounded by the thorns of sins, if nevertheless they have run back to Christ through true penance. Hence in Psalm 103:18: The rock is a refuge for hedgehogs.
2. Secondly, this rock is also the security of those migrating, that is, of those dying. Hence 2 Kings 22:2: The Lord is my rock, and my strength, and my savior. Likewise, Psalm 39:3: The Lord set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps. Thus says the soul of the just man when in death it has flown out of the body. Truly blessed is he whose soul's foundation will then have been God, so that then the pit of hell may not press its mouth upon him.
3. Tertio, est etiam hæc petra beatitudo regnantium. Tres enim dotes animæ fluunt ex hac petra, videlicet clara cognitio, suavis dilectio, et dulcis fruitio. Prima dos est rivus fontis lucidissimi. Secunda dos est rivus olei suavissimi. Tertia est rivus mellis dulcissimi. De prima dicitur, Num. XX, 11, quod Moyses virga percussit petram, et egressæ sunt aquæ largissimæ. De secunda dicit Job, XXIX, 6: Petra fundebat mihi rivos olei. De tertia dicitur, Deut. XXXII, 13: Constituit eum super excelsam terram: ut sugeret mel de petra.
III.
De tertio nota, quod Dominus super seipsum ædificat Ecclesiam suam. Et nota, quod duplex est Ecclesia, videlicet Ecclesia Dei, et ecclesia diaboli. Prima signatur per Jerosolymam, secunda per Babyloniam.
De prima dicitur, Psal. XXXIV, 18: Confitebor tibi in ecclesia magna, in populo gravi laudabo te.
De secunda dicitur in Psal. XXV, 5: Odivi ecclesiam malignantium: et cum impiis non sedebo.
Ecclesia igitur Dei est congregatio justorum, quibus ut dicitur ad Eph. IV, 5 et 6: Est unus Dominus, una fides, unum baptisma, unus Deus et Pater omnium. Quilibet autem justus est quasi quidam lapis vivus, qui per virtutes et bona opera ædificatur super Christum, qui est fundamentum omnium electorum. De hoc dicit I Petr. II, 4 et 5: Accedentes ad lapidem vivum, ab hominibus quidem reprobatum, a Deo electum, et honorificatum: et ipsi tamquam lapides vivi superædificamini, domus spiritualis.
Et nota, quod in hac Ecclesiæ ædificatione fides animæ Christum ostendit, spes animam ad Christum adducit, charitas autem quasi optimum cæmentum animam Christo alligat et unit. Cavere vero debet quilibet qui de Ecclesiæ Dei consortio esse desiderat, ne portæ inferi, id est, superbia, avaritia, luxuria prævaleant adversus eum.
Rogate ergo Dominum, ut sic Petri imitatores existamus, sicque super Dominum structuram animarum nostrarum ponamus, ut in die judicii cum Christo fiduciam habeamus. Quod, etc.
3. Thirdly, this rock is also the beatitude of those reigning. For three dowries of the soul flow from this rock, namely clear knowledge, sweet love, and sweet fruition. The first dowry is a stream of the most lucid fountain. The second dowry is a stream of the sweetest oil. The third is a stream of the sweetest honey. Concerning the first it is said in Numbers 20:11 that Moses struck the rock with the rod, and the most abundant waters came forth. Concerning the second Job 29:6 says: The rock poured out streams of oil for me. Concerning the third it is said in Deuteronomy 32:13: He set him upon the high land, so that he might suck honey from the rock.
III.
On the third, note that the Lord builds his Church upon himself. And note that the Church is twofold, namely the Church of God and the church of the devil. The first is signified by Jerusalem, the second by Babylon.
Concerning the first Psalm 34:18 says: I will confess to you in the great church; in a weighty people I will praise you.
Concerning the second it is said in Psalm 25:5: I have hated the church of the malignant, and I will not sit with the impious.
Therefore the Church of God is the congregation of the just, for whom, as is said at Ephesians 4:5 and 6: There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. But every just person is like a certain living stone, which through virtues and good works is built upon Christ, who is the foundation of all the elect. Concerning this 1 Peter 2:4 and 5 says: Drawing near to the living stone, indeed rejected by men, but chosen and honored by God, you yourselves also, as living stones, are built above it, a spiritual house.
And note that in this building of the Church, faith shows Christ to the soul, hope leads the soul to Christ, but charity, as the best mortar, binds and unites the soul to Christ. But everyone who desires to be of the fellowship of the Church of God ought to beware lest the gates of hell, that is, pride, avarice, and lust, prevail against him.
Therefore pray to the Lord that we may so exist as imitators of Peter, and may so place the structure of our souls upon the Lord, that on the day of judgment we may have confidence with Christ. May he grant this, etc.
Notes
- Matthew 16:17. (Matth. XVI, 17.) ↩
If a page does not appear, its photograph has not been uploaded yet.