ELEVENTH HOMILY. It is necessary to estimate virtue, to imitate the saints, who, being of the same nature as we, have practiced it excellently: negligence will be without excuse.

ANALYSIS

1.- 2. In this homily, pronounced one of the two days of the week when one did not fast; that is to say, on Saturday or Sunday, St. Chrysostom interrupts the explanation of Genesis, and treated a very moral subject: the esteem of virtue and the imitation of the saints. 3. He proves to his hearers that fasting and the hearing of the holy word are useful only in so far as the practice of Christian virtues is combined with it, and that the essential thing is to tame his passions. 5. He then proposes to them the example of St. Paul, who, though commendable by so many virtues, did not fail to make himself more perfect every day. 7. He ends by exhorting them to go, like the Apostle, to temples worthy of receiving the Holy Spirit.

1. I have spoken to you these last days of deep matters which may have fatigued your mind and your attention; That is why I want to treat an easier subject today, for if the body slaughtered by fasting needs some relief, to renew with renewed ardor this exercise of penance, the soul itself claims some rest and some rest. No doubt it is not a question here of always keeping the mind bandaged or always relaxed, but of knowing how to turn it distractively and to render it attentive; it is the true means of preserving the forces of the soul and of repressing the revolts of the flesh; for too much work produces boredom and disgust, and a too prolonged rest leads to laziness; experience tells us enough of it, for the soul and for the body, so that moderation is necessary in all things.

This is still the teaching that God gives us by the creatures he has made for our use: thus, to speak only of day and night, that is, of light and darkness, he has destined for the days of man's labor, and the night for his rest; he has thus fixed on both of them limits and limits which double the utility of them; and first, the day is the time of work, the Psalmist tells us: the man then goes out to do his work and work until evening. (Ps. CIII, 23.)

It is with reason that he says: until evening, because the darkness that comes, doze the man, and make the rest at work; then, indeed, the night, like a tender nurse, calms the activity of our senses, and it pours on our tired members rest and sleep; but as soon as the hours of the night have passed, the first rays of the day awaken the man; his senses, which have resumed a new vigor, are revived by the light of the sun, and he himself resumes his accustomed labors with more ardor and facility. We observe the same wisdom in the periodic course of the seasons spring follows winter and autumn in summer, and this change of season and temperature is a real rest for our bodies. Too much cold would embarrass them, and excessive heat would annoy them; but autumn is imperceptible to winter and spring to summer.

I even add that the sensible and judicious man who will study nature from this point of view, will easily discover an admirable order; so he will admit that nothing in the creation was done without reason and at random. The plants produced by the earth give us a good example of this, for the earth does not bring them all to a single epoch, just as all times are not peculiar to culture; but the plowman knows the various seasons which the (60) divine wisdom has marked for the various works of the fields: he knows when he must sow the wheat, plant the trees and entrust the roots of the vine to the earth; he knows also when he must put the sickle in the harvest, strip the vine of its fruit, and collect the berries of the olive tree; who would not admire here his science and his experience!

If from the mainland we rush to the ocean, what new wonders! The pilot distinguishes the favorable winds to raise the anchor, to leave the harbor and to cross the seas, and it is mainly in him that this gift of intelligence reveals that God has distributed to the man: because the couriers do not know better relays and hostelries than pilots ports and shores. So the holy Scripture, speaking of divine wisdom, she says with a strong feeling of admiration: the Lord has traced to man the way to the seas, and an assured way in the midst of the waves. (Sag XIV, 3.) What human intelligence could understand all these wonders! We still find this same order and variety in the foods that form the basis of our food: for the Lord diversifies them according to the seasons and times of the year, and the earth, as a good nurse, does not fail to lavish on us his blessings at the precise times that God has marked him.

2. But I would be afraid to dwell too much on these details, and it is better to abandon them to your reflections. Give an opportunity to the wise man, says the author of Proverbs, and he will become wiser again. (Prov IX, 9.) Moreover, it is not only in the food of man, but also in those of animals, and in a multitude of other phenomena, that we can recognize the ineffable wisdom of the Lord. admire his sovereign goodness and proclaim the beautiful order and harmony of the universe. Lent itself offers us this admirable temperament of severity and gentleness. On the public roads, weary travelers find stations and inns where they can relax and then resume their journey; the shores of the sea also offer the sailors quiet ports, where they can rest from a long navigation and the jolts of the storm, and then happily complete their course. It is thus that those who have begun the fasting of Lent also meet stations and hostels, shores and hospitable ports because the Lord exempts us from fasting two days of the week, so that the body is recovering from its fatigues, let the soul rest from its preoccupations, and then we may continue cheerfully the course of our exercises.

But today is one of those days off; we conjure you, my dear brothers, to preserve with care the fruits which you have already withdrawn from the fast. Tomorrow, after taking new strength, you will increase these spiritual treasures, you will make abundant gains in this holy trade, so that in the day of the Lord, your ship, loaded with a rich cargo, will enter full sail in the port of great solemnity: for all the works of the Lord, as the Scripture marks, and as experience reveals to us, bear the seal of a sovereign wisdom, and of eminent utility, and so that in all our conduct nothing must be the effect of lightness or irreflexion; all our actions, on the contrary, must tend to the advantage and the success of our salvation. In the world we do not undertake any business. if at first they are not expected to be lucrative; and is it not right that we imitate this prudence? That is why it is not enough for the weeks of Lent to run out; but it is necessary that each one examines his conscience, and that he realizes what he has done well in the present week and in that which preceded; he will thus appreciate the progress he has made in virtue, and will recognize the vices with which he will be corrected.

These rules of conduct and this care of our salvation alone can make us fast and abstinence. Hey! how little do we do in comparison with the zeal that the merchants display to increase their wealth; for you will not find any who do not work with one. continual assiduity, which does not seek to increase every day its gain, and which never seems satisfied; so the more his trade becomes lucrative, and the more his care and his zeal increase; but if men show so much activity in things where success is uncertain, and gain is often dangerous to salvation, what should we not do in this spiritual commerce, where profit always corresponds to labor, and where we are assured of ineffable rewards (61) and immense benefits! On earth nothing less stable and nothing more uncertain than the possession of wealth; and, first of all, of what use are they to us at death, since they remain below the tomb? But without accompanying us, they do not fail to be the subject of a rigorous judgment. It often happens that even before death, and after a thousand labors, a thousand pains, and a thousand fatigues, adversity, like a sudden hurricane, engulfs them entirely, so that from a state of opulence one falls into an extreme poverty; every day we see sad examples; but, in this spiritual commerce, no such setback is to be feared, our gain is assured and certain, and the more we have worked to increase it, the more we will receive joy and consolation.

3. That is why, while we have time and facility, bring at least, I conjure you, in the acquisition of spiritual riches, the same zeal that so many others deploy for perishable treasures. Moreover, we must never relax in our activity, even if we have already made some profit, and that, by our vigilance, we would have overcome some defect. For it is at this price that soft will taste the solid pleasures that the good testimony of the conscience procures. What I am asking of you, then, is not to confine yourself to coming here every day, to hear the holy word, nor even to fast all Lent; and indeed, if these frequent conversations, and if this fast does not serve your spiritual advantage, far from being useful to you, they will become the subject of a more severe condemnation. It will be just because, in spite of all our care, you will have remained, in relation to salvation, in the same state of indifference. Thus the angry and irascible man must become gentle and peaceful, the envious charitable, the miser disinterested in the senseless love of riches, generous in his alms and lavish of his goods on the poor; thus the voluptuous must be chaste and reserved, the ambitious to accustom himself to despise the vain glory of the world, and to seek only the solid glory of salvation, and that which neglects the duties of charity towards its brethren must be To excite himself not to appear inferior to publicans: For, says Jesus Christ, if you love only those who love you, what more do you do? do not publicans do it too? This is why he must arrive at this disposition of heart that he receives his enemies with a kind look, and that he shows them a tender charity.

If we always let ourselves be dominated by these passions, and a thousand others who are born in us, and that when we come here every day, and add to the virtue of fasting, the help of instruction and doctrine, what will be our excuse and our defense? For tell me, if you saw your child attending school regularly, and after several years making no progress, would you still be patient and indifferent? You would cheat the child, and you would blame the master. But then prove to yourself that he has fulfilled all his duties, and that he has omitted nothing from your child, of which only laziness and indolence must be accused, and suddenly you Turn to the latter all your indignation, and you will not condemn the master.

Apply this parable. The divine vocation has called me to the ministry of the holy word, and, like my spiritual sons; I am bringing you here. every day to give you a salutary instruction. Moreover, it is not my own thoughts that I develop and that I seek to inculcate you, but this is a great doctrine that the Lord has revealed to us in his divine Scriptures. And if now, in spite of all my care, and all my zeal to make you every day walk in the way of truth, you persevere in your errors and your vices, think what will be my pain, and, without using a harsher term, what will be your own conviction! No doubt I shall be safe from reproach, since I have neglected nothing to secure your progress in virtue, and nevertheless, as I greatly desire your safety, I will only be deeply saddened by your cowardice. Hey! who is the teacher who, seeing his disciple withdraw no fruit from his lessons, does not grieve and groan bitterly, because he feels that his pain and his care are lost?

4. My intention, in speaking to you thus, is not to grieve you, and I only wish to awaken your ardor, so that you do not fatiguish your body unnecessarily by rigorous fasting, and that you do not fruitlessly end the during this holy quarantine. But why limit our zeal to (62) Lent, since there should not be, a single day in all our existence where we do not make any spiritual profit through prayer, compassion, alms and other practices of godliness ? And indeed, the great apostle to whom the Lord had uncovered secrets that no one until today has known, wrote to the Corinthians: I die every day for your glory. (I Corinthians 15:31) He thus revealed to us that in his desire to obtain the spiritual advancement of the faithful, he exposed himself. at such great perils that every day he faced death. But this heroism is above nature that allows us to die only once; and yet the Apostle braved generously a thousand deaths, although the Lord in his goodness preserved for him a life necessary to the salvation of his brethren. Now if Paul, raised to the summit of virtues and holiness, and who was less a man than an angel, strove each day to advance in piety, to fight for the truth, and to brave a thousand perils for justice: and if it were his duty to increase every day his spiritual riches and never to be put down, how can we excuse our cowardice? alas! we are devoid of virtue and inclined to a multitude of vices, of which only one would suffice for our eternal loss, and. yet we bring no zeal to the work of our conversion.

Must I add that almost always the same man is subject to several faults, and that he is at once angry and intemperate, miserly, jealous, and violent? But if he will neither correct these vices, nor exercise the opposite virtues, what hope can he have of his salvation! For the rest, I will not cease to repeat these maxims to you, so that each of my listeners may find a remedy for his ills, and remove the evil affections which disturb his soul. Then he can apply himself zealously to the practice of Christian virtues. For it is useless for the doctor to undertake the treatment of a patient who rejects his care, and who, impatient and exasperated by the pain, rejects all the remedies presented to him. What sensible man would then accuse the physician of not having fulfilled his duty, and render him responsible for what the patient would not heal? Thus I present to you the holy doctrine as a spiritual remedy, but your duty is to take it, however bitter it may be, so that it may become really useful to you and restore you to perfect health. What immense advantages you will derive from it; and I, myself, will rejoice to see those who were weak and sick recover their strength and vigor!

I conjure you therefore, that henceforth each one of you strives to uproot his dominant defect and that he uses some pious thought as a spiritual sword to cut and eradicate it. For God has given us reason, and if we want to help her a little, she can easily stifle all our vices. Moreover, the Holy Spirit has left us in Scripture the life and examples of the saints which, being men like us, have not failed to be illustrated by the practice of all virtues. How. Would not their example prevent us from being cowardly and negligent in the practice of these same virtues?

5. Was the Apostle St. Paul of another nature elected us? I admit it, I love it passionately, and that's why his name is so often on my lips. I consider him, then, as the finished model of the highest perfection, and, when I contemplate his virtues, I admire in him the entire mortification of all the passions, the excellence of courage, and the fervor of divine love. Alas! I say to myself, Paul unites in him and shines all the virtues; and I do not have the courage to do any good. Hey! who will tear us from the inevitable torments of hell? The Apostle, a man like us and subject to the same weaknesses, lived in very difficult times, and every day he was persecuted, beaten and publicly abused by those who opposed the preaching of the Gospel. Often even his enemies thought he had expired under their blows and they left him as dead. Ah! Where do these great examples of firmness find among our soft and edgy Christians? For the rest, it is not from my mouth, but from his own, that you must learn what were his brilliant works and his courage for the spread of Christianity.

When the calumnies of the false apostles compelled him to recount his own virtues, he only drifts with the greatest repugnance; and, far from accepting it complacently, he had no boldness except to name himself a blasphemer and a persecutor. But, finally, forced to speak to close his mouth to (63) vile impostors and to comfort a little his disciples, he expresses himself as follows: As for the benefits they dare to claim, I want to be imprudent. making me as bold as they are. What a lesson in these words! The Apostle calls praise that he will give himself a boldness and an imprudence; and he teaches us that, without urgent necessity, we must never divulge our good works, if we have made some of them: As for the advantages they attribute to themselves, I do not want to be imprudent on going as bold as they are, that is to say, I yield to necessity, and I consent to act boldly and imprudently. Are they Hebrews? I am too; are they Israelites? I am too; are they of the race of Abraham? I am too. They boast, he says, and they boast of these advantages, but I am not deprived of them, I possess them as they do. He then adds: Are they ministers of Jesus Christ? when I should pass for imprudent, I am more than them. (II Cor II, 21, 22, 23.)

6. Ah! see here, my dear brother, how great is the virtue of the Apostle; already he had qualified. and imprudent praises which he had given by necessity, but little satisfied with this first act of humility, he renews it at the moment when he is going to prove that he infinitely surpasses his detractors. That is why, lest we think that pride makes him speak, he wants to charge himself again with imprudence. It is as if he said: I know well that my words will shock many and that they will look strange in my mouth, but I am really forced to speak; so please excuse my imprudence. Ah! how far we are from imitating even the appearance of this modesty! If, in spite of all the sins with which we are charged, we have done the least good, we can not keep it hidden, in the treasure of our heart, but we divulge it to obtain a little glory from men; and by our imprudent vanity we deprive ourselves of the heavenly reward. This is not the way the Apostle acted: he confesses at first that he is imprudent in saying that he is more than they ministers of Jesus Christ; and then he approaches the virtues and merits that these false apostles could not show.

Hey! should we be surprised? They only knew how to fight the truth, oppose the progress of the Gospel, and corrupt the simple and easy minds. Therefore, after saying, "I am more than they are ministers of Jesus Christ," he enumerates the brilliant proofs of his virtue and his courage. I wiped, he says, more jobs, I received more blows, and I saw myself more often as dead. (II Corinthians XI, 23.) What do you say, O great Apostle! And is not this last word a real paradox? Because, is it possible to die several times? Yes, that is possible, answer me; no, in reality, but by desire and resolution. Then he tells us how he braved death a thousand times for the preaching of the Gospel, and how, for the benefit of the faithful, the Lord has delivered his invincible athlete. I often saw myself as dead, I received Jews, up to five times, thirty-nine lashes, I was beaten three times, I was stoned once, I once wrecked, I spent a day and a night at the bottom of the sea; often, in the course of my travels, I have been in danger on the rivers, in danger among the thieves and in the midst of mine, in peril among the pagans and among the false brothers, in peril in the cities, in the deserts and on the sea (II Cor XI, 24, 26.)

Let us not pass slightly on these different circumstances, for each reveals to us as an abyss of suffering. And, indeed, the Apostle does not say, only that he was once in peril in a single journey, but that several times he ran a thousand dangers on the rivers, and that always he, deployed the most great firmness. Finally, he concludes his narrative with these words: I have been in labor and sorrow, often in vigils, in hunger and thirst, in fasts, in cold and nakedness, and, moreover, have the evils that come to me from the outside. (II Corinthians XI, 27.)

7. So probe, if you can, this second abyss of suffering, for by saying. besides, I have the evils which come to me from without, He makes us understand that his tribulations were greater and more numerous than he admits. However, he is willing to reveal to us some of the adversities and conspiracies to which he has been exposed, in speaking of the daily despondency in which the solicitude of all the churches held him. This zeal alone would be enough to make us understand all the heroism of his virtue; for I have, he says, the solicitude, not of one, two, or three churches, but of all those which are spread abroad throughout the world. Thus the care and solicitude of the Apostle embraced, like the rays of the sun, the immensity of the universe.

What a wide heart! and what a great soul! But the following words erase all the rest by their sublimity: Who is weak, he says, without my weakening with him, and who is scandalized without my being burned? (II Corinthians II, 29.) Ah! what tenderness of father for his children! what charity! what vigilance and what anxiety! Does the heart of a mother suffer as much near the bed where the heat of fever holds her son, as that of Paul who weakened with every weak Christian, no matter where he lived, and who burned with all the faithful who were scandalized? And indeed, consider the strength and energy of the expression; he does not say: who is scandalized without my being sad, but without my burning; he thus indicates to us all the vivacity of his grief; it was like a burning fire that devoured him; such was his compassion for all who were scandalized.

But I realize that this conversation is prolonged indefinitely, although I have resolved to be short, so as not to aggravate the fatigue of fasting. It is because my subject has led me to speak of the eminent virtues of the Apostle; and then my words flowed like an impetuous river. I conclude by praying to you, my dear brothers, to remember St. Paul often, and especially not to forget that he was a man like us, and subject to the same weaknesses. He exercised, besides, a vile and scant occupation, that of making tents, and spent a part of his life in the shops: and yet, because he sincerely desired it, he possessed all the virtues and became the temple of the Holy Spirit, who fills him with the fullness of his graces. And we too, if we want to silence what depends on us, we can get the same benefits. For our God is generous, and He wants all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (I Tim. II, 4.) All that remains for us then is to make ourselves worthy of his kindness, and to embrace with zeal, albeit a little late, the practice of Christian virtues. We must also work to subdue our passions, so that we become, like the Apostle, the temples of the Holy Spirit. May we succeed, by the grace and goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be with the Father and the Holy Spirit glory and honor. and the empire, now and forever, for ever and ever. So be it.