Works › Sermons for the Seasons of the Year
Volume 13 · pp. 131–132
Sermon XXIX. On the Same Sunday
Sermo XXIX.
In eadem Dominica.
Haec est voluntas Dei, sanctificatio vestra. I ad Thess. iv, 3.
Olim David orabat dicens: Doce me facere voluntatem tuam, etc. 1; et misericors Deus per Apostolos Petrum et Paulum, et per semetipsum docuit nos suam voluntatem.
Considera ergo, quod voluntas Dei est:
I. Ut a peccato sanctificemur. II. Ut in bono exerceamur. III. Ut in utroque confirmemur. IV. Ut in caelo glorificemur.
Primo enim voluntas Dei est, ut a peccato sanctificemur. Unde habetur I ad Thessal. iv, 3: Haec est voluntas Dei, sanctificatio vestra: ut abstineatis vos a fornicatione, etc. Sanctificatur, qui a peccatis mundatur. Munda enim debet esse dilecta sponsa Christi. Ad Ephes. v, 25 et 26: Christus dilexit Ecclesiam, et semetipsum tradidit pro ea, ut illam sanctificaret, mundans lavacro aquae, et.
Mundat autem Deus animam non solum lavacro baptismi primi, sed etiam secundi, scilicet lacrymarum. Isidorus: "Lacrymae poenitentis apud Deum pro baptismate reputantur." Sed quid prodest homini, si balneatur, et statim sordidis vestibus induatur? Sic quid prodest animae, si etiam mundetur, et statim in vitiosam consuetudinem relabatur? Propter hoc praecipitur Exod. xix, 10: Vade ad populum, et sanctifica illos hodie, et cras, laventque vestimenta sua, id est, mores suos. Eccle. ix, 8: Omni tempore vestimenta tua sint candida. Stultus esset, qui etiam in ipso balneo sordidas vestes non deponeret; sic est, qui peccata sua plangit, et non relinquit. S. Gregorius: "Qui fletibus suis vitae munditiam subtrahit ante Dei oculos, sordidas etiam ipsas lacrymas facit."
II.
Voluntas Dei est, ut in bono exerceamur. I Pet. ii, 15: Sic est voluntas Dei, ut benefacientes obmutescere faciatis, etc. Si ergo bene facitis, voluntatem Dei impletis, imo ex Deo nati estis 2. Joan. iii, 11: Qui bene facit, ex Deo est: qui male facit, non vidit Deum: imo nec videbit in aeternum. Deus enim bene facit benefacientibus. Psal. cxxiv, 4: Benefac Domine bonis, et rectis corde, etc. Sed attende quid ait Petrus, obmutescere faciatis. Magna virtus bonorum sanctorum, qui nos ipsos apud Deum crescere, et obmutescere adversarios, et amicos non erubescere faciunt. Augustinus: "Qui nos amant, quaerunt quod laudent in nobis: qui autem oderunt, detrahunt nobis: nos autem in utroque judicio constituti vitam nostram sic custodire debemus et famam, ut erubescant de detractoribus laudatores." Sed certe, qui modo detractionibus, et contentionibus, et conspirationibus, et aliis perversis locutionibus nolunt in mundo obmutescere, obmutescent in judicio. Matth. xxii, 12: At ille obmutuit.
III.
Voluntas Dei est, ut in utroque confirmemur. Scilicet ut a peccato sanctificemur, et in bono exercitemur. Joan. vi, 39: Haec est autem voluntas ejus, qui misit me, Patris: ut omne, quod dedit mihi, non perdam ex eo. Sola perseverantia facit, ut non perdamur. Unde Matth. x, 22: Qui autem perseveravit usque in finem, hic salvus erit. Bernardus: "Absque perseverantia nec qui pugnat, victoriam, nec palmam victor consequetur." Illi autem perduntur, qui non perseverando a Deo separantur. Psal. lxxii, 27 et 28: Perdisti omnes, qui fornicantur abs te. Mihi autem adhaerere Deo bonum est. Fornicantur, qui derelicto Deo vero sponso in mundo luxuriantur. Si ergo non vis perdi, adhaereas Deo, voluntatem ejus semper et perseveranter implendo. I ad Thess. v, 15 et seq.: Semper quod bonum est sectamini in invicem, et in omnes. Semper gaudentes. Sine intermissione orate. Haec est enim voluntas Dei in Christo Jesu, in omnibus nobis. Isidorus: "Tunc Deo placet nostra conversatio, quando bonum, quod inchoamus, fine perseveranti complemus."
Et nota, quod de triplici voluntate Dei praedicta, dicitur ad Rom. xii, 2: Reformamini in novitate sensus vestri: ut probetis quae sit voluntas Dei bona, et beneplacens, et perfecta. Voluntas Dei bona est, ut a malo sanctificemini: beneplacens
Sermon XXIX.
On the Same Sunday.
This is the will of God, your sanctification. 1 Thessalonians 4:3.
Once David prayed, saying: Teach me to do your will, etc. 1; and merciful God through the Apostles Peter and Paul, and through himself, taught us his will.
Consider therefore that the will of God is: that we be sanctified from sin; that we be exercised in good; that we be confirmed in both; and that we be glorified in heaven.
First, the will of God is that we be sanctified from sin. Hence 1 Thessalonians 4:3 says: This is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from fornication, etc. One is sanctified who is cleansed from sins. For the beloved bride of Christ ought to be clean. Ephesians 5:25 and 26 says that Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her, that he might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of water, and.
But God cleanses the soul not only by the washing of the first baptism, but also of the second, namely tears. Isidore says: "The tears of a penitent are reckoned before God as baptism." But what does it profit a person if he is bathed and at once clothed in filthy garments? So what does it profit the soul if it is cleansed and at once slips back into a vicious custom? Therefore Exodus 19:10 commands: Go to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, that is, their morals. Ecclesiastes 9:8: Let your garments be white at every time. He would be foolish who did not put off filthy garments even in the bath itself; so is one who laments his sins and does not abandon them. Saint Gregory says: "He who by his tears withholds cleanness of life before the eyes of God makes even those tears themselves filthy."
II.
The will of God is that we be exercised in good. 1 Peter 2:15: So is the will of God, that doing good you make them mute, etc. Therefore if you do good, you fulfill the will of God; indeed you have been born from God 2. John 3:11: He who does good is from God; he who does evil has not seen God, indeed will not see him eternally. For God does good to those doing good. Psalm 124:4: Do good, O Lord, to the good and to the right of heart, etc. But attend to what Peter says: make them mute. Great is the virtue of good holy persons, who make us grow before God, make adversaries mute, and make friends not ashamed. Augustine says: "Those who love us seek what they may praise in us; but those who hate us detract from us. But we, placed in each judgment, ought so to guard our life and reputation that those who praise may be ashamed of detractors." But certainly those who now do not wish to become mute in the world from detractions, contentions, conspiracies, and other perverse speeches, will be made mute in judgment. Matthew 22:12: But he was made mute.
III.
The will of God is that we be confirmed in both, namely that we be sanctified from sin and exercised in good. John 6:39: This is the will of him who sent me, the Father, that I lose nothing from all that he gave me. Perseverance alone makes it so that we are not lost. Hence Matthew 10:22: He who has persevered to the end will be saved. Bernard says: "Without perseverance, neither does the one who fights obtain victory, nor the victor the palm." Those are lost who, by not persevering, are separated from God. Psalm 72:27 and 28: You have destroyed all who fornicate away from you. But for me it is good to adhere to God. Those fornicate who, having abandoned God the true spouse, are luxurious in the world. Therefore if you do not wish to be lost, adhere to God, always and perseveringly fulfilling his will. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 and following: Always pursue what is good toward one another and toward all. Always rejoicing. Pray without ceasing. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus in all of us. Isidore says: "Then our conversation pleases God, when we complete with a persevering end the good that we begin."
And note that concerning the aforesaid threefold will of God it is said in Romans 12:2: Be reformed in the newness of your sense, that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God. The good will of God is that you be sanctified from evil; the well-pleasing
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