Luke IX, 1-6. Mission of the Apostles.

"And whenever we refuse to receive you, take this city out, and shake even the dust of your feet as a testimony against them."

feet in testimony against them. "

Who should be the one who announces the Kingdom of God, the precepts of the Gospel indicate it: without stick, without wallet, without shoe, without bread, without money, that is to say, not seeking the help of the the resources of this world, abandoned to faith, and counting that the less he seeks the temporal goods, the more they may fall to him. We can, if we wish, hear all this in the following sense: this passage would aim to form a spiritual state of mind, which seems to have stripped the body as a garment, not only by renouncing power and despising the riches, but even excluding the attractions of the flesh. Above all, they are given a general recommendation of peace and constancy: they will bring peace, keep the constancy, observe the rules of the law of hospitality: it is not suitable for the preacher of the kingdom of heaven, affirms to run from house to house, and to modify the inviolable laws of hospitality. But just as it is supposed that they will be offered the benefit of hospitality, so, if they are not received, they are ordered to shake off the dust and leave the city; which teaches us that good hospitality is not a small reward: not only do we provide peace to our guests, but if they are covered with the light dust of faults, receiving the footsteps of the apostolic preachers removes them. And it is not without reason that in Matthew the Apostles are commanded to choose the house where they will enter, so that they have nothing to change and to violate the rights of hospitality. It is not recommended, however, the same precaution to the one who receives the host, for fear that choosing the host will not restrict hospitality.

 But if we have here, in the literal sense, the content of a venerable precept which touches on the religious character of hospitality, the mysterious and spiritual interpretation smiles upon us. When we choose a house, we look for a worthy guest. Let us see then if it would not be the Church which is designated to our preference, and Christ. Is it home more worthy to welcome apostolic preachers than the holy Church? who, to be preferred to all, has more titles than Christ? He is accustomed to washing his feet to his guests, and from the moment that he receives in his house, he does not suffer to be sojourned with soiled feet, but, however meager of life, II deign to clean them for the rest of the journey. It is therefore He alone that no one must leave, of which no one must change. He is rightly told, "Lord, to whom shall we go? you have the words of eternal life, and we believe "(Jn, VI, 69-70). Do you see how He (Peter) executes the heavenly precepts? for not having changed hotels, he deserved to have his share of celestial consecration. It is, therefore, first and foremost to inquire into the faith of a Church: if Christ is its inhabitant, it must certainly be chosen; but if a people of evil faith or a heretical doctor disfigures the dwelling, it is ordered to avoid the communion of heretics, to flee this synagogue. We must shake off the dust of the feet, lest the drought of a bad and sterile faith defile, like an arid and sandy soil, the march of your mind. 5. For if the preacher of the Gospel is to take upon him the bodily infirmities of the faithful people, to take away and to make disappear as they do their vain, dust-like actions - as it is written:

"Who is sick without me being ill? (II Cor., XI, 29) - He must also abandon any Church that repels the faith and does not have the foundations of apostolic preaching, for fear of being spattered and defiled by false faith. The Apostle, in his turn, clearly states: "Avoid, he says, the heretic, after a single warning" (Tit., III, 10).

Luke, IX, 10-17. Multiplication of breads.

"And he said to them, Give them food for themselves, and they say, We have not more than five loaves." What is the reason why, John's passion being told below, right now Herod's words show him already dead (IX, 9)? perhaps because after the end of the Law the food of the Gospel began to feed the hungry hearts of peoples? Moreover, it is after the one who is the figure of the Church has been healed of her blood loss, after the Apostles were sent to announce the Kingdom of God, that the food of heavenly grace is distributed. But notice to whom it is distributed: not to the nonchalant ones, not to those who live in the city - as in the Synagogue or in the dignities of the century - but to those who seek Christ in the desert; those who do not disgust themselves, these are welcomed by Christ, and the Word of God converses with them, not of the world, but of the kingdom of heaven; and if there are any that cover the ulcers of a bodily malady, he willingly gives them his remedy. It was thus in order that, having cured them of their painful wounds, He would deliver them from hunger by spiritual foods. Thus no one receives the food of Christ unless he has been healed first, and those who are invited to the feast are healed beforehand by the invitation: was there a lame man, he received the means of to walk to come; a man deprived of the light of his eyes, he was obviously able to enter the house of the Lord only if he regained his sight. Everywhere, therefore, a mysterious order is observed: first, the remission of sins is a remedy for wounds, and the food of the celestial table is multiplied. Yet this crowd is not yet nourished by the most substantial dishes; hearts that fast with strong faith can not feast on the body and blood of Christ: "I made you drink milk," he says, "not food: you were not yet able to, and even now you are not yet "(I Cor. III, 2). The five loaves correspond to the milk; solid food is the body of Christ, the generous beverage is the blood of the Lord. It is not from the outset that we eat everything or drink all things. "Drink this first," he says. So there is one thing, there is a second to drink. There is also a first thing to eat, there is also a second, there is a third. First there are five loaves, in the second place seven, in the third the body of Christ. So let us not abandon such a Master at any price, who deigns to distribute food to us according to the strength of each one, lest the weak should be overwhelmed by food that is too solid, or that light food should not satisfy the strong; for "he who is sick must eat vegetables" (Rom. xiv. 2), and he who already seems to be escaping from the shackles of infirmity will eat of these five loaves and two fishes. At least, if he is afraid to ask for food, let him give up all his possessions and hurry to the word of God: beginning to hear, he begins to be hungry; the Apostles begin to see this hungry; Even though they do not yet understand what he is hungry for, Christ understands him: He knows that he is not hungry for material food, but for the food of Christ. Let him say, "I do not want to send them away fasting, lest they fail on the way" (Matt. XV, 32). Good master, He demands zeal, provides strength. If you would not, Lord Jesus, leave them fasting with me, but feed them with the food you distribute, so that strengthened by your food they may not fear the weakness of fasting! If you said of us too, "I do not want to send them away on an empty stomach! Tell me again why you do not want to send them away fasting; or rather, as you have already said: the one you send back on a fasting day fails on the way, that is to say, fails either in the course of this life, or before reaching the end of the road, before reaching to the Father and to understand that Christ comes from the Father, before understanding that Christ comes from heaven, to understand that the Christ who descended from it is the same who ascended to it (Ephesians 4: 10), lest Having learned that he was born of a Virgin, he does not take the liberty of judging that his power is not divine, but human.

So that they do not fail, "give them yourselves to eat," says II. But they said, "We do not have more than five loaves and two fish unless we go and buy food for the whole crowd. The Apostles had not yet understood that the food of the believing people is not an object of sale. Christ knew it: He knew that it was us rather that had to be redeemed, and that his feast was free. The disciples did not yet have the food that could redeem us; they had already the food that could satiate us, they had the food that could strengthen us, because "the bread fortifies the heart of man" (Ps 103, 15). The Lord has mercy, so that no one will fail on the way. If, therefore, anyone fails, it is not because of the Lord Jesus, but by his doing to him that he fails, and you have nothing to impute to the Lord, who "triumphs when he is judged" (Ps. 50, 6). What will you say to Him who has given you all the strength of your strength? Is it not He who begot you, who nourished you? his food is strong, his food is courage. But if you, by your negligence, have wasted the strength you have received, it is not the help of heavenly foods that you have missed, but those of your soul. The Lord, just as He rains upon the just and the unjust (Matt. V, 45), also nourishes the unjust and the just. Is it not on the strength of the food that Elijah the saint, already failing on the way, walked forty days (I Kings, XIX, 6 ff.)? and this food is an angel who gave it to him. But you, if Christ feeds you, and if you keep the food thus received, you will walk not for forty days and forty nights, but, I dare say it based on the examples of Scripture, for forty years, from your out of the borders of Egypt until you arrive in the land of abundance, in the land where milk and honey flow, and which the Lord swore to give to our fathers (Ex., III, 8, XIII , 5). It is the earth of which you must seek the resources, the one which the sweetness possesses (Matth., XII, 43): not this earth, I say, which is desiccated, but that which is enriched with the food of Christ, who, subject to the authority of the eternal King, is inhabited by the crowd of saints. Christ therefore shares the food. And He, no doubt, wants to give to all, do not deny anyone, for He is the provider of all; but when He breaks the loaves and gives them to the disciples, if you do not stretch out your hands to receive your food, you will fail on the way. And you will not be able to blame him: He has mercy and distributes; but He gives to those who dwell with Him, even in the wilderness, who go neither the first nor the second nor the third day; for you read elsewhere: "I have pity on this crowd, for it has been three days since they continued to be with me" (Matt., XV, 32). What condescension, what humanity is by him inspired to men! He does not want to let them go on an empty stomach; He does not want it, lest they fail on the way. Do not fail then under the correction of God; do not be weary of being taken back by Him; do not get tired now, for fear of being tired later. What will you answer to Him, or how will you excuse yourself, if you have let the strength of the food that he provides loses? You can not say that he did not give food, since he gives it to everyone. You can not say that he did not want you to do good, having proposed good and evil, so that your good action would not be constrained, but voluntary (Philém., 14). For there is a great difference between the one who acts by constraint and in spite of himself, and the one who voluntarily chooses what is good: "if I do it out of necessity, it is a charge entrusted to me; if it is of my own free will, I will have a reward "(I Cor., IX, 17). Consider, then, that we shall appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and that, if our work burns (I Cor., III, 15), we shall have nothing to excuse ourselves; for he will tell us what he said before by the Prophet: "My people, what have I done to you, or what have I done to you? answer me "(Mich., VI, 3). He will say to him who has fallen on the road: How did you come down on the road? have I not made loaves, have I not blessed them, have I not given them to you? but you, why did not you want to receive them? How many who are present here will fail along the way, even after these discourses which, to be ours, must nevertheless be considered as loaves, since "no one can name the Lord Jesus except by the Holy Spirit" ( I Cor., XII, 3)! How many, I say, will faint and go to the paths of the pagans by cross roads, fornicators! and please God that there was only one, not a great number! But it is not Jesus who is the cause of failure, even if such a failure: for He distributes to all those who follow Him, that there are five thousand or four thousand. The number is not indifferent, the order is not indifferent, the remains of those who eat are not indifferent. Why in fact the most numerous, that is to say, five thousand, are they satisfied with five loaves, or a smaller number, and the least numerous, which are four thousand, are they fed with seven loaves of bread? that is, a higher number? To hold on to the miraculous fact alone, the divine is more visible if a lesser measure has been abundant for a greater number. Why then, what is less, is it added to the greater, as if it carried it away? for we read first that five thousand were satisfied with five loaves, and four thousand with seven loaves. Let us seek, then, the mystery which prevails over the miracle.180 Therefore, the five thousand seem to be, as the five senses of the body, having received from Christ food still within the reach of the carnal; as for the four thousand, although they are still in the body, and in this world which is composed of four elements, it is however not without motive that they received, it is said, the food of the mysterious rest they are already equal to the world, they who will be above the world, for although they are in this world, they are not yet shut up in the world. The food of the mysterious rest is distributed to them: for in six days the world has been made, the seventh has been a day of rest, and the Lord has sanctified it.2 Beyond the world is rest, therefore, beyond the world also the fruit of rest. Also "happy are the peaceful ones, for they are the ones who will be called children of God" (Matt, V, 9). For God being above the world, no one can surely see God if he does not go beyond the world by the spiritual gaze. Thus the seventh bliss is for the pacified; there are also seven baskets of debris for the four thousand. It is not a small thing that this bread of Sabbaths, hallowed bread, bread of rest. And perhaps, if you start eating the five loaves with your senses, I will dare to say: after the five loaves and the seven, in the third place it is not on earth that you will eat the bread, but higher than the earth you will eat eight loaves, as those who are in heaven; for as the seven loaves are the bread of rest, so the eight loaves are the bread of the resurrection. So those who were fed bread had persevered for three days, and perhaps obtained the full faith and assurance of the coming resurrection. So it is the saints who say, "We will walk three days, to feast with our God" (Ex., V, 3). But that will come in his place. As for the five loaves, St. John taught me what I did not know, which Matthew did not teach me, nor did he teach me S. Luke? because everyone has received a different grace? ; he taught me, I say, that these five loaves were of barley. It was not unreasonable to say that this food was within the reach of the carnal. Why in the first place barley bread? because we must first feed milk, then meat, who comes to faith; because "we could not yet" (see I Cor., III, 2-3), and perhaps many of us can not yet; because as long as there are quarrels and disagreements among us, are not we carnal and we lead in a human way? The food is adapted to the strength of each: also the barley first, then the wheat is given to us in food, while in the strongest? like Elijah (I Kings, XVII, 12)? a loaf of flour made of the marrow of wheat is served, which sinners can not feed. It is not only with regard to the bread, as to the number, but in the installation that there is a difference: these are seated on the grass, these on the ground; the five thousand on the grass, the four thousand on the ground. Fouling the earth is more than being laid on the grass: those whose senses are still carnal like softness and therefore sit on the grass? for all flesh is grass (Is., XL, 6); for others, it is on the earth, producing wheat, wine, and olive, that they obtain the food of grace. Some are seated, others are stretched out, for one lies more extended. There are two fish here, we do not count: so many thought that the grace of the Spirit to the seven gifts was determined in the loaves, and that the fish of the two Testaments should be understood in fish. It does not, therefore, repugnant to us to calculate that the four thousand, gathered together from the four corners of the world and representing the Church, receive the food of a greater grace, as it is written: "It will come from the East. and from the west and from the north and from the south, and they will sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven " (Matt., VIII, 11). This is what Christ gives thanks to the Father, for it is not in vain that elsewhere there is only blessing, here also thanksgiving (Jn, VI, 11). Yes, the Lord is accustomed to give thanks to the Father for his Church, because he has revealed to the little ones what he has hidden from the sages (Matt. XI, 25). The blessing is therefore for us who are less elevated, the thanksgiving for those who have triumphed over the weaknesses of their bodies by the holy martyr. We have already touched on this point above: when seated by fifty, no doubt this number is sacred, but it is determined; it seems that here we have the people of a stronger Church, which takes place without determination of numbers.

 There is still mystery in the fact that the people eat and are satisfied, and that the Apostles do the service. For satiety indicates and shows hunger banished forever, because one will not be hungry once received the food of Christ; and service by the Apostles foresaw the distribution of the body and blood of the Lord. But the divine is that the five loaves were sufficient, and beyond, for five thousand people: for it is clear that it is not this small food, but its multiplication, which has satisfied the people. You would have seen, as if by an irreproachable irrigation, to yield in the hands of the distributors parcels which they had not broken, and, without the fingers having touched them to break them, the pieces to escape spontaneously. When one reads such things, how can one be astonished at the perpetual motion of the waters, be astonished that, from liquid sources, the waves follow each other incessantly, when the bread itself overflows, and when a solid matter spreads in abundance? This has been done to make us see the very things we do not see. By some He manifestly manifested that he is also the author of others and the Creator of all material nature, which, not found, as the philosophers want, but made, provides his successive contributions to the production of all things. 86. This is surprising: everything you draw from streams is not recorded and marked as an expense; everything you take at the fountains is replaced by a movement of income. But even the rivers themselves, if they seem to lose nothing, gain nothing; and as for the fountains, if we see the waters accumulate there, so we realize when the waters diminish. But this bread that breaks Jesus is, as to the mystery, the word of God and the discourse on Christ: distributed, it increases; for with a few speeches He has provided all the peoples with an abundant food; He gave us speeches like loaves, and while we taste them they multiply in our mouths. In the same way, visibly and unbelievably, this bread, when broken, when it is distributed, when eaten, crams without any diminution. And do not doubt that this food increases either in the hands that distribute it, or in the mouths that eat it, since in all this the testimony of our activity is invoked to strengthen our faith. It is thus that at the wedding the waters take the color of the wine while the servants act, and even those who filled the jars with water drew a wine which they had not brought (Jn, II, 6 sqq. .). Understand, if you can, such miraculous realities. Here, while the crowds are eating, the pieces are increasing as they spend themselves, and from five loaves more remains are gathered than the whole; here, the elements change species, and nature does not suffer from diminution and does not recognize its products, while recognizing its own uses. Moreover, the wine of transmutation is of better quality than the natural wine, because it is in the power of the Creator and to serve the species for the uses of his choice, and to give to the beings to come their nature. See by what works He proves his work: while the servant pours the water, the decadent bouquet intoxicates, the modified color commands the claim, the flavor of the beverage is the height. That the Gentiles, if they please, compare with the blessings of Christ not the deeds, but the fictions of their gods! Their fables in fact report that there was a king who changed into gold all that he touched; but the feasts themselves were fatal to him: the napkins themselves, seized by his fingers, hardened, and the food crunched in his mouth, giving him not food, but wounds, and the drink clung to his throat, unable to neither penetrate nor retreat. Benefits worthy of his desires! present worthy of such a solicitor! a gift worthy of the donor! Such are the benefits of idols: when they seem to be of service, they are only more harmful. On the contrary, the benefits of Christ seem small, and are very great. It is not only to one, but to the crowds, that he grants them. The food increased in the mouths of the eaters; and it seemed that it was nourishment for the body, but it was taken for eternal salvation.

 But why is there more for the five thousand, less for the four thousand? Because these four thousand spent three days with Christ, and therefore received more from the heavenly food. And it is not without reason that the remnant of the crowd are gathered by the disciples, because you will be able to find the things of God more easily in the elect than in the crowds. Would it please God to hear: Gather what remains!

If I hear it, and if I do, I will have many things that the crowds, many things that children and women could not eat. Happy who can collect what leave the learned themselves! Let's see how he gathers. The Law said: You will not be adulterous. Christ broke this bread, he shared this word, without adding to it, but distributing his own. "To look," he says, "for a woman to covet her, is to have already committed adultery on her" (Matt. V, 28): here is a piece that comes from Him. He added, "If your right eye scandalizes you, tear it off" (Matt, V, 29). Here is another: "If your right hand scandalizes you, cut it off" (Ib., 30) and "to marry the one sent back by her husband is to commit adultery" (Ib., 32). See how many fragments with one! Moses said that Abraham had two sons, one of the servant and the other of the free woman. (Gen., XXI, 2, 9). Paul said, "These are the two Testaments" (Gal., IV, 24): He shared this word and found the mystery. Happy then who gathers what Christ has shared! But why did Christ fill twelve baskets? Is it not to put an end to this test of the Jewish people "His hands have served with the basket" (Ps 80.7)? in other words, the people who previously gathered the mud in the baskets now obtain the food of the heavenly life by the cross of Christ, and collect the food of faith in what contained the mire of pagan unbelief. And this is not the boon of a small number, but of all; for by the twelve baskets it is like the strengthening of each tribe in the faith which overflows, since "the bread strengthens the heart of man" (Ps 103, 15).

Luke, IX, 18-26. Testimony of Pierre.

"And He said to them, Who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "The Christ of God."

 The opinion of the crowd is not without interest: some believed in the resurrection of Elijah, which they thought should come, the others of John, whom they knew to be beheaded, or of one of the ancient prophets . But to seek that is above us: it is for the thought of another, the prudence of another. For if it is enough for the apostle Paul to know only Christ Jesus, and crucified (I Cor., II, 2), what do I have to wish to know in addition to Christ? in this name alone is expressed the divinity, and the Incarnation, and the reality of the Passion. Also, although the other apostles know it, Peter, however, responds, preferably to all: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. He has therefore embraced all things, expressing both nature and the name which summarizes the virtues. Shall we raise questions about the generation of God, when Paul judged that he knows nothing apart from Christ Jesus, and crucified, when Peter thought he had to confess only the Son of God? we seek, with the eyes of human weakness, when and how He was born, and what is His greatness. Paul recognized in all this the pitfall of questions rather than a profit for edification, and therefore decided to know nothing but Christ Jesus. Peter knew that in the Son of God are all things, for "the Father gave everything to the Son" (Jn, III, 35): if he gave all, he transmitted the eternity and the majesty he possesses. But why leave me so far? the end of my faith is Christ, the end of my faith is the Son of God; I am not allowed to know the process of his generation, but I am not allowed to ignore the reality of his generation. Believe, then, in the way that Peter believed, so that you too may be happy to deserve to hear, "For it is not flesh and blood that has revealed it to you, but my Father who is in heaven ". Indeed flesh and blood can only reveal the earthly; on the other hand, he who speaks of mysteries in spirit does not rely on the teaching of flesh and blood, but on divine inspiration. So do not rest on flesh and blood, for fear of taking the orders of flesh and blood, and becoming yourself blood and flesh. For who is attached to the flesh, is flesh, and "who is attached to God is one spirit" (with Him) (I Cor., VI, 17). "My spirit," said He, "will never remain with these men, because they are carnal" (Gen. VI, 3). But please God that those who hear are not flesh and blood, but stranger to the lusts of flesh and blood, everyone can say: I will not be afraid of what the flesh will do to me (Ps 55: 5)! Whoever has conquered the flesh is a foundation of the Church, and if he can not match Peter, he can imitate him. For the gifts of God are great: not only has He restored what was ours, but He has conceded to us that which is His own.

 It is interesting, however, to wonder why the crowds did not see in Him another than Elijah, or Jeremiah, or John the Baptist. Elijah perhaps because he was taken to heaven; but Christ is not Elijah: one is taken away, the other comes back; one, I say, is taken away, the other did not think to take away his equality with God (Phil., II, 6); one is avenged by the flames he calls (I Kings, XVIII, 38), the other has preferred to heal his persecutors than to lose them. But why did they believe Jeremiah? perhaps because he was sanctified from the womb. But it's not about Jeremiah. One is sanctified, the other sanctifies; the sanctification of one began with his body, the other is Saint of the Saint. Why do the people still believe him John? would it not be because, being in the bosom of his mother, he perceived the presence of the Lord? But this is not John: one adored being in the womb, the other was worshiped; one was baptizing in water, Christ in the Spirit; one counseled penance, the other forgave sins. So Peter did not wait for the opinion of the people, but expressed his own, saying: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. The one who is, always is, did not begin to be, and never ceases to be. The goodness of Christ is great: almost all his names, He gave them to his disciples. "I am," he says, "the light of the world" (Jn, VIII, 12); and yet, that name of which He glorifies Himself, He granted it to His disciples, saying, "You are the light of the world" (Matt., V, 14). "I am the living bread" (Jn, VI, 51); and "we are all one bread" (I Cor., X, 17). "I am the true vine" (Jn, XV, I); and He says to you, "I have planted you as a fruitful, all-true vine" (Jer., II, 21). Christ is stone? "They drank the spiritual stone that accompanied them, and the stone was Christ" (I Cor., X, 4)? Nor did he refuse the grace of this name to his disciple, so much so that he is Peter too, because he will have steadfastness, firmness in faith. Strive, therefore, to be a stone in your turn: therefore seek the stone not outside, but in you. Your stone is your action; your stone is your spirit. It is on this stone that your home is built so that no storm of evil spirits can overthrow it. Your stone is faith; faith is the foundation of the Church. If you are stone, you will be in the Church, since the Church rests on stone. If you are in the Church, the gates of hell will not triumph over you: the gates of hell are the gates of death, and the gates of death can not be the gates of the Church. But what are the gates of death, in other words the gates of hell, if not the various kinds of sins? If you fornicate, you have passed the gates of death. If you hurt good faith, you have gone through the gates of hell. If you have committed a mortal sin, you have passed the gates of death. But God has the power to raise you from the gates of death, so that you proclaim all his praise at the gates of the daughter of Zion (Ps 9, 14). As for the gates of the Church, these are the gates of chastity, the gates of justice, which the righteous have accustomed to cross: "Open to me," he says, "the gates of justice, and, having crossed them I will praise the Lord "(Psalm 117: 19). But as the door of death is the door of hell, the door of justice is the door of God; for "Behold, the gate of the Lord, the righteous will come in" (Ib., 20). So run away from stubbornness in sin, so that the gates of hell can not triumph over you: for if sin is master of you, the door of death has triumphed. Flee the quarrels, the dissensions, the noisy and tumultuous discords, so as not to come to pass the gates of death. For the Lord Jesus did not at first want to be published, to cause no tumult: He enjoins his disciples to tell no one that "the Son of man must suffer much, be reproved by the priests of priests. the elders and the scribes, to be put to death and to rise again on the third day "(Lk. IX, 22). And perhaps the Lord added this because he knew how much trouble his followers would have to believe in the Passion and the Resurrection; then He preferred to affirm Himself His Passion and Resurrection, for the event to give birth to faith, and not its announcement of disagreement. So Christ did not want to boast, but He preferred to appear without glory to suffer; and you, who are born without glory, do you boast? it is by the way in which Christ walked that you must go forward. It is to recognize it, to imitate it in ignominy and good renown (see II Cor., VI, 8), to glorify you by the Cross, as He Himself boasted. Such was Paul's conduct, and he boasted of it: "For me," said he, "God forbid that I should boast other than the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. Vi. 14). .

But let us see why, according to Matthew (XVI, 20), we find that the disciples are warned not to tell anyone that he is the Christ, whereas here it is enjoined, it is written, to tell no one that he must suffer much and rise again. You see that in the name of Christ alone there is everything. It is Christ who was born of a Virgin, who did wonders before the people, who died for our sins and rose from the dead. To cut off one of these things is to cut off your salvation. For even the heretics seem to have Christ with them: no one denies the name of Christ; but it is to deny Christ that he does not recognize all that belongs to Christ. For many reasons, therefore, He commands his disciples to be silent: to deceive the devil, to avoid ostentation, to teach humility, and also so that his disciples, still rude and imperfect, are not crushed under the burden of a complete announcement.

Let us now examine for what motive He also commands impure spirits to be silent. But that even Scripture has discovered to us, because "God says to the sinner: why do you tell my righteousness" (Ps 49, 16)? lest by hearing him preach, one should follow his bewilderment; for he is a bad master to the devil, and he often mixes the false and the true, to cover his fraudulent testimony with the appearances of the truth. Consider this again: is it now the first time he recommends to the disciples to tell no one that he is the Christ? or did He recommend it when He sent the Twelve Apostles and commanded them, "Do not go in the direction of the Gentiles, and do not enter the cities of the Samaritans; but go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons "; and "inquire of a worthy person, and dwell at home" (Matt. x. 5 ff.). Thus in this place, too, we do not see that it is prescribed to preach Christ the Son of God. There is therefore an order for discussion, an order for the exposition; and therefore we, too, when Gentiles are called to the Church, must regulate the order of the recommendations in such a way as to first teach that there is one God, the author of the world and all things, who we live, exist and move, and of the race of who we are (Acts, XVII, 28): so that we must love him not only for the benefits of light and life, but also to because of a certain race kinship. Then we will destroy the idea that they have idols, because the matter of gold, silver or wood can not have in it a divine energy. Having convinced them of the existence of a single God, you will be able to prove to Him that salvation has been given to us by Christ, beginning with what he has accomplished in his body and showing the divine character, so to show in Him more than a man, death conquered by the strength of one, and this dead man risen from hell. It is, indeed, little by little that faith grows: seeing that he is more than a man, it is believed that he is God; for unless you prove that he could not accomplish these things without a divine power, how can you demonstrate that there was a divine energy in him? But we may be given little authority and no credence: read the Apostle's address to the Athenians. If he had wanted to destroy the idolatrous ceremonies from the outset, the pagan ears would have rejected his word. He therefore begins with one God, the craftsman of the world, saying, "God who made the world and all that is in it" (Act. XVII, 24).

They could not deny that there was one craftsman in the world, one God, one Creator of all things. He added that the Master of heaven and earth does not consent to dwell in the works of our hands; then that it is not probable that human art imprisoned in the vain matter of gold and silver the power of divinity; the remedy for this error, he said, is zeal to repent. Then he comes to Christ; yet he did not want to call it God rather than men "In the man, he said, he has appointed to the faith of all men by raising him from the dead. Indeed, he who discourses must have regard to the people who hear him, not to be mocked before being heard. How the Athenians would they believed the Word was made flesh, and a Virgin conceived of the Spirit, who mocked them when they had heard about resurrection of the dead? Yet Dionysius the Areopagite believed, and others believed this man to believe in God. What does the order in which everyone believes matter? we do not ask for perfection from the beginning, but from the beginning we arrive at perfection. He therefore instructed the Athenians according to this principle, and this is the order we must keep with the Gentiles. But when the Apostles addressed the Jews, they said that Christ is the One who was promised to us by the oracles of the Prophets. They did not call immediately and on their own authority Son of God, but one approved, a just man, a man raised from the dead, the man he had said in the prophets: "You are my Son; it is I who today have begotten you "(Ps 2, 7). So you also, produce in support of difficult things to believe the authority of God's word, and show that his coming was promised by the voices of the prophets; teach that his resurrection was also affirmed, long beforehand, by the testimonies of the Scriptures? not the one that is normal and common to all? in order to obtain, by establishing his bodily resurrection, a testimony of his divinity. Having been found that the bodies of others suffer corruption after death, for the One whom it is said (Ps. 15, 10) you recognize the exemption of human frailty, you find that it exceeds the characteristics of human nature and must be closer to God rather than men. If it is a question of teaching a catechumen who aspires to the sacraments of the faithful, it must be said that there is one God, of whom are all things, and one Jesus Christ, by whom are all things (I Cor., VIII, 6); that it is not necessary to speak of two Lords; that the Father is perfect, perfect also the Son, but that the Father and the Son have the same substance; that the eternal Word of God, a word not uttered, but acting, is begotten of the Father, not produced by his word.

 It is forbidden for the Apostles to announce him as the Son of God, so that they may announce him crucified later. It is the splendor of faith, to really understand the cross of Christ. The other crosses serve me nothing; only the cross of Christ is useful to me, and really useful: through it "the world was crucified for me, and I for the world" (Gal., VI, 14). If the world is crucified for me, I know that it is dead: I do not love it; I know he is passing: I do not covet him; I know that corruption will devour this world: I avoid it as smelly, I flee like the plague, I desert it as being able to harm me.

But some can not believe from the start that salvation has been given to the world by the Cross. Establish by the history of the Greeks that this was possible. Thus the Apostle himself occasionally persuades unbelievers, and does not retreat before poets' verses to destroy the fables of poets. If we remember, in fact, that legions and great nations have often been delivered by the sacrifice and death of some, as Greek history asserts; if we remember that the daughter of a chief was sacrificed to pass the armies of the Greeks; if we consider, in ourselves, that the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sanctify by its sprinkling to purify their flesh, as it is written to the Hebrews (IX, 13); if the plague, attracted to certain provinces by such sins of men, has been conjured, it is said, by the death of a single one: all this, having prevailed by reasoning or result of an arrangement, for one to believe more easily to the cross of Christ, will create a slope such that not being able to deny their history, they will acquiesce to ours. But as none of the men was big enough to take away the sins of the whole world - neither Enoch, nor Abraham, nor Isaac, who, though offering himself to death, was spared because he did not could erase all sins: and what man was so great as to expel all sins from him? Henceforth it is not one of the people, some one in the rank, but the Son of God, who has been chosen by God the Father; being above all, He could offer himself for all; He was to die, so that being stronger than death He would deliver others, become among the dead free without help (Ps. 87, 5), free from death without help from man or any creature, and truly free, since He rejected slavery of lusts, ignored the bonds of death.