Works › Sermons for the Seasons of the Year
Volume 13 · pp. 206–208
Sermon LII. On Monday After Pentecost
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SERMO LII.
IN FERIA SECUNDA POST PENTECOSTEN.
Sic Deus dilexit mundum, ut Filium suum unigenitum daret: ut omnis, qui credit in eum non pereat, sed habeat vitam aeternam. Joan. III, 16.
Quatuor sunt hic notanda:
I. Ad quid Deus Filium suum unigenitum dederit? II. Qualiter credere debeamus in eum? III. Quale bonum consequatur, qui credit in eum? IV. Quod malum incurret, qui non credit in eum?
I.
De primo nota, quod Deus Filium suum unigenitum dedit, propter tria, videlicet 1. Ut nos ab obsessione daemonum liberaret. 2. Ut nos aeternae vitae doctrinis illustraret. 3. Ut formam vivendi nobis semetipsum demonstraret.
1. De primo dicitur Luc. VIII, 27 et seq., quod Jesus cum a navicula egressus esset ad terram, occurrit ei quidam vir, qui a legione daemonum obsessus fuit, et qui vestimento non induebatur, neque in domo manebat, sed in monumentis: qui etiam vinciebatur catenis, et compedibus, et custodibus custodiebatur, sed ruptis vinculis agebatur a daemonio in desertum, quem Dominus ab obsessione daemonum liberavit. Daemones vero ejecti accepta prius a Domino licentia porcos intraverunt, eosque in mare praecipitantes suffocaverunt. Ubi etiam dicitur, quod homines hoc miraculum audientes exiverunt, et invenerunt hominem vestitum ac liberatum, et sana mente sedere ad pedes Jesu: cui dixit Jesus: Vade in domum tuam ad tuos, et annuntia illis quanta tibi Dominus fecerit, et misertus sit tui. Et abiit, et coepit praedicare in Decapoli, quanta sibi fecisset Jesus 1.
Iste vir significat peccatores, qui a daemonibus mentaliter obsessi, vestimentum baptismale lacerant, ac sese castitate denudant. Et hoc multi incipiunt facere a pueritia, qui et fugiunt domum orationis, ubi Dei Filius immolatur, et verbum vitae praedicatur: et libentius habitant in monumentis, id est, in lupanaribus et tabernis, et diligunt consortia scortatorum et potatorum, quorum guttur, sicut sepulcrum patens, exaltat luxuriae foetorem ac putredinem voluptatis: qui etiam licet catenis decem praeceptorum, et compedibus sanctarum praedicationem vinciantur, omnia tamen haec disrumpunt, et a daemone in loca deserta ab Angelis agitantur. Loca vero deserta ab Angelis Dei sunt illa loca, ubi choreae ducuntur, et globis ad signum luditur, et ubi etiam aliae vanitates exercentur. Si tamen Dominus tales per suam gratiam visitaret, et ipsi ei per veram conversionem ac poenitentiam occurrerent, procul dubio a daemonibus liberarentur. Daemones vero ab homine vere poenitente exeuntes intrant in porcos, id est, homines vitam porcorum habentes, a quibus in mare aeternae amaritudinis praecipitabuntur, ac morte perpetua suffocabuntur.
SERMON LII.
ON MONDAY AFTER PENTECOST.
God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. John III, 16.
Four things are to be noted here:
I. For what did God give his only-begotten Son? II. In what manner ought we to believe in him? III. What good does the one who believes in him obtain? IV. What evil will the one who does not believe in him incur?
I.
Concerning the first, note that God gave his only-begotten Son for three things, namely 1. That he might free us from the obsession of demons. 2. That he might illumine us with teachings of eternal life. 3. That he might show himself to us as the form of living.
1. Concerning the first, it is said in Luke VIII, 27 and following, that when Jesus had gone out from the little boat onto the land, a certain man met him, who was obsessed by a legion of demons, and who was not clothed with a garment, nor remained in a house, but in tombs; who also was bound with chains and fetters and was guarded by guards, but, with the bonds broken, was driven by the demon into the desert, whom the Lord freed from the obsession of demons. But the demons, cast out, after leave had first been received from the Lord, entered swine and, throwing them headlong into the sea, suffocated them. There it is also said that men, hearing this miracle, went out and found the man clothed and freed, and sitting with a sound mind at the feet of Jesus; to whom Jesus said: Go into your house to your own, and announce to them how much the Lord has done for you and has had mercy on you. And he went away and began to preach in Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him 1.
That man signifies sinners who, mentally obsessed by demons, tear the baptismal garment and strip themselves of chastity. And many begin to do this from boyhood, who both flee the house of prayer, where the Son of God is sacrificed and the word of life is preached, and more gladly dwell in tombs, that is, in brothels and taverns, and love the company of fornicators and drinkers, whose throat, like an open sepulcher, lifts up the stench of lust and the rottenness of pleasure; who also, although they are bound by the chains of the ten precepts and the fetters of holy preaching, nevertheless burst apart all these things and are driven by the demon into places deserted by the Angels. But places deserted by the Angels of God are those places where dances are led, and ball games are played at a target, and where other vanities are also exercised. If however the Lord should visit such persons through his grace, and they should meet him through true conversion and penance, without doubt they would be freed from demons. But demons going out from a truly penitent man enter swine, that is, men having the life of swine, by whom they will be thrown headlong into the sea of eternal bitterness and will be suffocated by perpetual death.
Et nota, quod homo per quatuor debet ostendere, quod vere per Dominum sit a daemonio liberatus. Primum est, quod deinceps debet et innocenter vivere, ac bonis moribus se vestire. Secundum est, quod per mentis tranquillitatem ac corporis stabilitatem debet ad pedes Domini residere. Tertium, quod debet in domum cordis sui redire, et semetipsum, utrum proficiat an deficiat, quotidie discutere. Quartum est, quod debet Domino pro beneficiis gratias agere, ejusque misericordiam per bonam vitam praedicare publice.
2. Secundo etiam Deus Filium suum unigenitum dedit, ut nos in vitae aeternae doctrinis illustraret. Unde Dominus dicit in Evangelio hodierno, Joan. III, 19 et 20: Hoc est judicium: quia lux venit in mundum, et dilexerunt homines magis tenebras, quam lucem: erant enim eorum mala opera. Omnis enim, qui male agit, odit lucem, et non venit ad lucem, ut non arguantur opera ejus. Nota ergo, quod homines propter hoc judicium aeternae damnationis patientur, quia lucem verbi Dei fugiunt, nolentes audire verba salutis aeternae. Hinc etiam dicitur Joan. VI, 61 et seq., quod Jesus, cum diceret carnem suam vere esse cibum, et sanguinem suum vere esse potum: Multi audientes ex discipulis ejus, dixerunt: Durus est hic sermo, et quis potest eum audire...? Ex hoc multi discipulorum ejus abierunt retro... Dixit ergo Jesus ad duodecim: Numquid et vos vultis abire? Respondit ergo ei Simon Petrus: Domine, ad quem ibimus? verba vitae aeternae habes. Et nos credidimus, et cognovimus quia tu es Christus Filius Dei.
3. Tertio dedit etiam nobis Dominus Filium suum, ut nobis semetipsum formam bene vivendi demonstraret. Christus enim est forma vitae nostrae. Haec enim forma repraesentat nobis reformem imaginem munditiae, misericordiae, sive benevolentiae, et imaginem justitiae, ad quarum imitationem debemus esse mundi, misericordes, et justi. Ut autem huic reformi imagini conformemur, necesse est ut credamus in Christum.
II.
De secundo nota, quod in Christum credere, est per charitatem in ipsum fluere. Ut autem anima nostra fluat in Christum sua triformi imagine accepta, necesse est ut liquefaciat eam Spiritus sanctus. Unde et ipse discipulis suis in specie ignis apparuit. Ignis enim duram materiam dissolvit, et liquefacit, eamque in formam subjectam currere facit. Verum ut ostenderetur, quod ignis divinus virtuose liquefaciat animam, propterea tamquam ventus vehemens venit Spiritus sanctus: ventus enim acuit virtutem ignis.
And note that a man ought to show through four things that he has truly been freed from a demon by the Lord. The first is that thereafter he ought both to live innocently and to clothe himself with good morals. The second is that through tranquillity of mind and stability of body he ought to sit at the feet of the Lord. The third, that he ought to return into the house of his heart and daily examine himself, whether he is advancing or failing. The fourth is that he ought to give thanks to the Lord for his benefits and publicly preach his mercy through a good life.
2. Second, God also gave his only-begotten Son so that he might illumine us in the teachings of eternal life. Hence the Lord says in today's Gospel, John III, 19 and 20: This is the judgment: because light came into the world, and men loved darkness more than light, for their works were evil. For everyone who acts evilly hates the light and does not come to the light, so that his works may not be reproved. Therefore note that men will suffer this judgment of eternal damnation because they flee the light of the word of God, being unwilling to hear the words of eternal salvation. Hence it is also said in John VI, 61 and following, that when Jesus was saying that his flesh truly was food and his blood truly was drink, many hearing from his disciples said: This saying is hard, and who can hear it...? From this many of his disciples went backward... Therefore Jesus said to the twelve: Do you also wish to go away? Therefore Simon Peter answered him: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known that you are Christ, the Son of God.
3. Third, the Lord also gave us his Son so that he might show himself to us as the form of living well. For Christ is the form of our life. For this form represents to us the reformed image of cleanness, mercy or benevolence, and the image of justice, to the imitation of which we ought to be clean, merciful, and just. But so that we may be conformed to this reformed image, it is necessary that we believe in Christ.
II.
Concerning the second, note that to believe in Christ is to flow into him through charity. But so that our soul may flow into Christ, with its threefold image received, it is necessary that the Holy Spirit liquefy it. Hence he himself appeared to his disciples in the appearance of fire. For fire dissolves hard matter and liquefies it, and makes it run into the subject form. But so that it might be shown that the divine fire powerfully liquefies the soul, for this reason the Holy Spirit came like a vehement wind; for wind sharpens the power of fire.
III.
De tertio nota, quod qui in Christum crediderit, id est, per charitatem in ipsum fluxerit, hoc bonum consequetur, quod non peribit, sed vitam aeternam habebit. Et nota, quod non perire, sed vitam aeternam habere, consistit in tribus, videlicet in supercaelestium bonorum ubertate, in felici corporis et animae suavitate, in divinae cognitionis infastidita satietate. Ille enim non perit, qui in aeternis bonis cum amicis innumerabilibus deliciatur. Ille enim non perit, qui nulla infirmitate vel dolore gravatur. Ille etiam habet vitam aeternam, qui beatae Trinitatis faciem jugiter contemplatur. Unde ipsa Veritas dicit in Joan. XVII, 3: Haec est vita aeterna: Ut cognoscant te, solum Deum verum, et quem misisti Jesum Christum.
IV.
De quarto nota, quod qui in Christum non crediderit, id est, per charitatem in Christum non fluxerit, peribit, et morte morietur aeterna. Peribit, inquam, tripliciter: 1. Videlicet aquae submersione. 2. Ignis combustione. 3. Et multiplici infirmitatum oppressione. Peccatores, qui in Christo inventi non fuerint, tamquam plumbum in aquis vehementibus submergentur, igne aeterno comburentur, et diversis infirmitatum doloribus affligentur. Vae ergo ei, quem sic perire contigerit! Unde Augustinus in Enchiridio: "Perire a regno Dei, alienari a vita Dei, carere tam magna multitudine dulcedinis Dei, tam grandis est poena, ut ei nulla possint tormenta quae novimus comparari." Morte etiam morientur aeterna, qui non credunt in Christum, id est, qui per charitatem non fluunt in ipsum. Quid autem sit mors aeterna, dicit Bernardus: "Mors aeterna est, quae omnem tolerantiam excedit, cui nulla consolatio succedit, a qua desperatio numquam recedit."
Rogate ergo Deum Patrem, ut igne sancti Spiritus liquefacti, sic per veram charitatem fluamus, ut Filium suum unigenitum, et vitam aeternam cum electis possidere valeamus. Quod nobis praestare dignetur, etc.
III.
Concerning the third, note that he who will have believed in Christ, that is, will have flowed into him through charity, will obtain this good, that he will not perish but will have eternal life. And note that not to perish, but to have eternal life, consists in three things, namely in the abundance of supercelestial goods, in the happy sweetness of body and soul, and in the unwearied satiety of divine knowledge. For that one does not perish who delights in eternal goods with innumerable friends. For that one does not perish who is burdened by no infirmity or pain. That one also has eternal life who continually contemplates the face of the blessed Trinity. Hence the Truth itself says in John XVII, 3: This is eternal life: That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
IV.
Concerning the fourth, note that he who will not have believed in Christ, that is, will not have flowed into Christ through charity, will perish, and with eternal death he will die. He will perish, I say, in three ways: 1. Namely by submersion of water. 2. By burning of fire. 3. And by manifold oppression of infirmities. Sinners who will not have been found in Christ will be submerged like lead in vehement waters, will be burned by eternal fire, and will be afflicted by the pains of various infirmities. Woe therefore to him whom it will have happened thus to perish! Hence Augustine in the Enchiridion: "To perish from the kingdom of God, to be alienated from the life of God, to lack so great a multitude of the sweetness of God, is so great a punishment that no torments which we know can be compared to it." They will also die by eternal death who do not believe in Christ, that is, who do not flow into him through charity. But what eternal death is Bernard says: "Eternal death is that which exceeds every endurance, to which no consolation succeeds, from which despair never withdraws."
Therefore pray to God the Father that, liquefied by the fire of the Holy Spirit, we may so flow through true charity that we may be able to possess his only-begotten Son and eternal life with the elect. May he deign to grant this to us, etc.
Notes
- Mark V, 19 and 20. (Marc. V, 19 et 20.) ↩
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