Homily 37

Pronounced before the people

in the basilica of Blessed Sebastian, martyr,

the day of his birthday

January 20, 592

The conditions to be a disciple

The Gregorian Gospel passage states the great law of renunciation and then illustrates it by two short parables: that of the man who calculates the expenditure before building a tower, and that of the king who is preparing to fight a opponent twice as powerful. The holy pope, commenting on this text to his people, will endeavor to inculcate in him that it is at once necessary to renounce oneself and to obtain from God the forgiveness of his faults. He passes very cleverly from the first necessity to the second on the occasion of the parable of the king at war.

I- (1-6) The preacher begins by emphasizing the great efforts needed to achieve the infinite rewards of eternity. He explains in what sense Jesus asks us to hate our loved ones and our soul, what it means to carry our cross and follow it, to which invite us to reflect the comparison of the man who calculates his expenditure to build a tower and that of the king in war. This king, whose strengths are insufficient, represents us: we are accountable to our sovereign Judge, and we can never suffice. What to do?

II- (7-10) We must, of necessity, avoid the frontal encounter with the army of our King, and send for this purpose to meet him the embassy of our tears, our alms and the holy sacrifice to obtain our forgiveness. A story known to the audience reminds us rightly here that the Mass is very effective in delivering us chains of our sins. And the beautiful death of Bishop Cassius, who celebrated Mass every day with tears and alms, shows to what degree of holiness can we send the Holy Sacrifice's Embassy. If, then, we can not leave everything as our King asks us, let us at least appease it with our prayers.

Lk 14, 26-33

At that time, Jesus said to the crowds, "If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, and his wife, and his children, and his brothers, and his sisters, and even his own soul. he can not be my disciple. He who does not bear his cross and come after me can not be my disciple.

"Who of you, indeed, if he wants to build a tower, does not begin to sit down to calculate the expense and see if he has enough to finish it? Lest after laying the foundation, he may not finish it, and all who see him will not mock him, saying, 'This man began to build, and he did not Or else, who is the king who, going to war against another king, does not begin to sit down to examine whether he can face, with ten thousand soldiers, an enemy who is advancing towards him with twenty thousand? If he can not, he sends, while the other is still far, an embassy to negotiate peace.

"Therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has, can not be my disciple."

If our souls, dear brethren, take into consideration the nature and abundance of what is promised to Him in heaven, it will be a bargain for all that it has in this earth. For in comparison with the joys from above, the goods of the earth are a burden, not a support. And this ephemeral life, compared to eternal life, should rather be called a death than a life. The daily withering of our corruptible body is it not, indeed, a slow death?

What language can express, what intelligence can understand the abundance of the joys of the city from above: to take place among the choirs of angels, to be admitted in the presence of the glory of the Creator in the company of blessed spirits, to contemplate closely the face from God, to see the infinite light, to have nothing to fear from death, to rejoice in the gift of eternal incorruptibility? Our soul is inflamed by hearing these things, and here it is that desires to be admitted where it hopes to rejoice without end. But these great rewards can only be achieved by great and laborious trials. Paul, the eminent preacher, declares on this subject: "We will receive the crown only if we have fought according to the rules." (2 Tm 2, 5). Our mind must therefore rejoice in the greatness of the rewards, but without fear of laborious trials. That is why the Truthful One says to the crowds who come to him, "If anyone comes to me without hating his father and his mother, and his wife, and his children, and his brethren, and his sisters, and to his own soul, he can not be my disciple."

2. It is good to ask ourselves how we are commanded here to hate our parents and loved ones according to the flesh, while we are commanded to love even our enemies. Truth, moreover, tells men about their wives: "What God has united, let man not separate him" (Mt 19: 6). And Paul said to them, "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church" (Eph 5: 25). Now the disciple preaches to love his wife, while the Master says, "He who does not hate his wife can not be my disciple." Can the Judge declare one thing, and his herald proclaim another? Or can we at the same time hate and love? But if we reflect well on the exact meaning of each precept, we become capable of putting them both into practice, making distinctions: we can both love those who are united to us by the kinship of the flesh by recognizing them as our loved ones, and ignore them by hating them and fleeing them when they oppose [our advancement] in the way of God. Is it not, so to speak, to love by means of hatred that to refuse to listen to the one who judges things according to the flesh when he induces us to evil?

To show us that this hatred towards our loved ones does not come from a lack of affection, but from charity, the Lord immediately adds: "And to his own soul". Invited to hate our loved ones, we are also hating our souls. It is therefore evident that he who hates his neighbor as himself, must hate him by loving him. It is indeed hating our soul in the right way not to consent to his carnal desires, to put a brake on his attractions and to resist his pleasures. Therefore, to despise one's soul to make it better is, so to speak, to love it by means of hatred. And it is by making the same distinctions that we must hate our loved ones, so that while loving what they are, we hate in them that which hinders us in the way of God.

3. When Paul was going to Jerusalem, the prophet Agab took his belt and used it to bind his feet, saying, "The man to whom this belt belongs will be bound to Jerusalem." (Acts 21, 11). But what does the Apostle say, who hated his soul so perfectly? "For me, I am ready, not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 21:13). He had already said, "I do not regard my soul as more precious than me" (Acts 20:24). That is how he hated his soul by loving him, or rather that he loved him by hating her, since he wanted to deliver her to death for Jesus, in order to bring her back from the death of sin to the life.

Let us draw from discernment wrought in hatred towards ourselves the model of hatred towards the neighbor. We must love in this world all men, even if they are our enemies; but we must hate those who oppose [our advancement] in the way of God, even if they are our relatives. For whoever has begun to desire eternal goods must, for the cause of God whom he has embraced, make himself a stranger to his father, a stranger to his mother, a stranger to his wife, a stranger to his children, a stranger to his friends, a stranger to himself, in order to know God with so much the more truth that he does not want to recognize anyone when it comes to his cause. It is frequent, in fact, that carnal affections deflect the impulse of the mind and blind it; they do not hurt us if we control them.

We must therefore love our neighbor and show charity to all, both foreigners and those close to us, but we must not let such charity divert us from the love of God.

4. We know that when the ark of the Lord returned from the land of the Philistines to that of the Israelites, it was placed on a wagon, to which were harnessed cows that were said to have calved and that their young were locked in the stable . And it is written, "The cows went straight on the road to Beth Sames; they always followed the same road, walking and roaring, without turning either to the right or to the left "(1 Sam 6: 12). What do these cows in the Church symbolize, if not the faithful, who, so to speak, load the ark of the Lord on their shoulders, meditating on the precepts of Sacred Scripture? It must be noted that it is said of these cows that they had calved, for there are many who, engaged internally in the way of God, remain attached externally by human affections; but those who carry the ark of God in their hearts do not depart from the right path. Note that the cows are walking towards Beth-Sames. Now Beth-Sames means "house of the sun," and the prophet says, "For you who fear the Lord, the sun of righteousness will rise." (Mk 3,20). If, then, we are moving towards the abode of the eternal Sun, it is certainly fitting that carnal affections do not deter us from the path of God. For we must observe very carefully that the cows hitched to the chariot of God walk and roar: they utter moans from the depths of themselves, without, however, leaving their feet to deviate from the road. It is thus that the preachers of God and all the faithful must behave within the holy Church: they must be sympathized with their neighbor through charity, without allowing themselves to be diverted from the way of God by this compassion.

5. By the following words, the Truth shows us what kind of hatred we must have for our souls: "He who does not bear his cross and come after me can not be my disciple." The word "cross" [ crux] comes from cruciatus [torment]. And we carry the cross of the Lord in two ways: either by mortifying our flesh by abstinence, or by making ours the woes of the neighbor through compassion. For he who feels pain for the woes of the neighbor carries his cross in spirit.

One must know that there are some who do not practice the abstinence of the flesh for the sake of God, but by vain glory. And many are not animated for their neighbor with a spiritual compassion, but a carnal compassion, showing him a pity that encourages him to sin instead of favoring his virtue. These seem to bear the cross, but they do not follow the Lord. So the Truth rightfully declares: "He who does not bear his cross and come after me can not be my disciple." Carrying his cross and going after the Lord is practicing the same. abstinence from the flesh or compassion to one's neighbor for eternity. Indeed, he who performs such actions to obtain a transitional reward, probably carries his cross, but refuses to go after the Lord.

6. As these are very high precepts which our Redeemer gives us here, he immediately makes them follow the comparison with a building very high to build, when he says: "Of you, indeed, if he wants to build a turn, do not start sitting down to calculate the expense and see if he has anything to finish it? Lest after laying the foundation, he may not finish it, and all who see him will not mock him, saying, 'This man began to build, and he did not We have to precede all our actions with an effort of reflection. Notice, indeed, that according to the word of Truth, he who builds a tower prepares himself first of all for the expense necessary for this construction. So if we want to build the tower of humility, we must first prepare ourselves to withstand the adversities of this world. For there is this difference between the edifice of the earth and that of Heaven, that the edifice of the earth is built by collecting money, whereas it must be distributed to build that of Heaven. If one wants to undertake expenses to build on the earth, one must obtain what one does not possess; if we want to undertake expenses to build in Heaven, we must renounce even what we have.

These last expenses, the rich young man could not do them. He held great possessions and asked Master, "Good Master, what must I do to possess eternal life?" (Mt 19:16). But when he had heard the precept of abandoning everything, he withdrew very sad, all the more tight in his heart that his riches put him further out into the open. Because he loved to spend in this life to rise, he did not want to spend for eternal life to humble himself.

We must also consider these words: "And let all who will see him begin to mock him," for according to the words of St. Paul, "we are given as a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men." Co 4, 9). And we must take into account, in all that we do, our hidden adversaries, who constantly observe our actions and congratulate ourselves on our failings. It is by having these adversaries in front of the eyes that the prophet says: "My God, in you I trust: that I do not have to blush. Let not my enemies have any reason to mock me "(Ps 25: 2). For if we do not cautiously guard evil spirits when we work on a good work, we must suffer the raillery of those who incite us to evil.

After comparing with the building, the Lord adds another more noble, to help us understand the higher realities from those less worthy. The text goes on to say: "Or again, who is the king who, going to war against another king, does not begin to sit down to examine whether he can face, with ten thousand soldiers, an enemy who advance to him with twenty thousand? If he can not, he sends, while the other is still far away, an embassy to negotiate peace. "A king comes to fight another king, his equal, and if he nevertheless considers that he he does not have enough strength, he sends him an embassy to negotiate peace. In the terrible account we have to render to our King, what tears should we not shed to find a hope of forgiveness, we who do not come to judgment in equals, since our condition, our weakness and our wrongs certainly bring us in situation of inferior!

7. Perhaps we have already broken with sin in our acts, perhaps we now avoid all external disorders; but will we be able to give an account of our thoughts? For if it is said that the first king comes with twenty thousand soldiers, it is very insufficient for the other to come against him with ten thousand. Ten thousand against twenty thousand is the simple in front of the double. But we, with all our progress, hardly keep our external acts in the right way. Even though we have now cut with the lust of the flesh, we have not yet torn its roots from our hearts. But the one who comes to judge us is both the exterior and the interior that he judges; he weighs acts as well as thoughts. He therefore comes with an army double of ours, he who examines and our works and our thoughts, when we have hardly prepared to answer for our works alone. What do we need to do, my brethren, if not to recognize that a simple army can not suffice us against that, twice as important, of our Judge, and send him an embassy to negotiate peace, as long as he is still far? If it is said that he is far away, it is because his presence has not yet manifested itself by the judgment. Let us send our tears to an embassy, ​​send him our works of mercy, sacrifice sacrificial victims on his altar, and recognize that we will not be able to stand up to him in the day of judgment. Consider his infinite power, and negotiate peace with him. For such is the embassy that can appease the king who advances.

Consider, my brothers, the immense goodness of this King: he could crush us by his coming, but he is slow to come. Let us send him as an embassy, ​​as we have just said, tears, alms, and the offering of the holy sacrifice. The sacrifice offered on the holy altar with tears and a heart full of kindness is particularly effective in obtaining us absolution, since he who, risen from the dead, no longer dies, suffers again for us in the mystery of this oblation. For each time that we offer him the sacrifice of his Passion, we renew in us [the effect of] his Passion for our absolution.

8. Many of you, dear brothers, know, I think, the story that I want to tell you now to refresh your memory. In fact, we report the following event, which happened at times quite close to ours: a man, having been captured by enemies, was sent far from here and remained for a long time held in chains, to the point where his wife seeing him not come back from his captivity, thought he had ceased to live. So she took care now to offer for him the holy sacrifice every week, as for a dead man. Now the chains of the prisoner stood out in his prison every time his wife offered the holy sacrifice for the deliverance of her soul. The prisoner, returning home a long time later, informed his wife, surprisingly, that his chains were detached every week on a fixed day. His wife recognized, by examining the days and times of the phenomenon, that this liberation occurred at the very moment when the sacrifice, according to her memory, was offered for her husband. You can infallibly deduce, dear brothers, what virtue must have holy sacrifice to loosen within us the bonds of the heart, when we offer it ourselves, since offered by another, he was able to untie [in this prisoner ] the chains of the body.

9. Many of you, dear brothers, have known Cassius, bishop of Narni, who used to offer the Eucharistic sacrifice daily, so that almost no day of his life was going on without his immolating himself to God. Almighty the propitiation victim. His very life was in perfect accord with the holy sacrifice: he distributed all his goods in alms, and when the hour came for him to offer the holy sacrifice, spreading all in tears, he immolated himself with a great contrition of the heart.

I knew his life and death by the report of a venerable deacon of life, who had been formed by him. He related that one night, the Lord had shown himself to one of the priests of Cassius, saying to him: "Go and tell this to your bishop:" Do well what you do, continue practicing what you practice. . Let neither your foot stop, nor your hand stop. On the day of the feast of the Apostles [Peter and Paul], you will come to me, and I will give you your reward. "The priest rose, but as the feast of the Apostles was not far off, he did not dare to announce to his bishop on the day of an end so near. The Lord returned another night, strongly reproached the priest for his disobedience, and renewed his order in the same terms. The priest then rose to perform it, but his weakness prevented him from making his revelation again. He persisted in disobeying the warning of this reiterated order, and neglected to reveal what he had seen. But as the wrath of God usually inflicts his punishment on the contempt of his meekness and grace, the Lord appeared to this priest a third time, and, blending the words with his words, he struck him with such severity. that the wounds of his body softened the hardness of his heart. Then, informed by this correction, he rose and went to the bishop, whom he found ready to offer the holy sacrifice, near the tomb of the blessed martyr Juvenal, according to his custom. He asked for a secret talk away from the assistants and threw himself at his feet. As the bishop was able to raise, not without difficulty, the man who wept bitterly, he endeavored to know the cause of his tears. The priest, before telling his vision, took off the garment that covered his shoulders and showed his wounds, which testified, so to speak, of the truth [of his words] and his fault. He showed what severe punishment the blows received had marked his bruised limbs. At this sight, the bishop was horrified, and very astonished, he asked him who dared to give him such blows. The priest replied: "It was for you that I endured them." The astonishment of the bishop and his dread grew accordingly. Without further delaying the interrogations of the bishop, the priest then discovered the secret revelation he had received, and reported to him the command of the Lord, repeating to him these words he had heard: "Do well what you do, continue practicing what you practice. Let neither your foot stop, nor your hand stop. On the day of the feast of the Apostles, you will come to me, and I will give you your reward. "At these words, the bishop prostrated himself to pray with great contrition of the heart, and he who had come to offer the holy sacrifice to the the third hour, he delayed the celebration until the ninth hour, because of the prolongation of his prayer.

Since that day he has made progress more and more remarkable in the love of God, the more courageous to the task that he was more assured of the reward. For the Lord, of whom he had been the debtor, had himself become, by virtue of his promise, the debtor of this bishop. He had been in the habit of going to Rome every year for the Feast of the Apostles, but since he had been uneasy since the revelation of the priest, he did not want to go according to his custom. That year he was therefore on his guard; the second and third years, he remained in suspense awaiting his death, and also the fourth, fifth and sixth years. He could have despaired of the truth of the revelation if the blows received by the priest had not guaranteed the accuracy of his words.

Now, in the seventh year, when he had arrived in good health until the vigils of the expected fete, the fever seized him gently during these vigils. And on the very day of the feast, he said to his sons, who were waiting for him, that he could not celebrate Holy Mass. His sons, who also supposed that the moment of his death had come, went all together to find him, and protested that none of them would celebrate mass that day if their bishop did not make himself their intercessor with the Lord. At their insistence, the bishop then said Mass in his oratory; with his own hand he distributed to them all the body of the Lord and peace. Then, after completing the holy sacrifice, he returned to bed; there, seeing himself surrounded by his priests and his ministers, he encouraged them, as a last goodbye, to preserve the bond of charity between them, and enjoined them to remain united in a great concord. In the midst of these words of holy exhortation, he suddenly shouted in a terrible voice: "It's time!" He immediately gave his assistants the linen that is usually placed on the faces of the dead. As soon as it was disposed of, he restored the spirit, and his so holy soul freed himself from the corruption of the flesh to attain eternal joys. Did not this bishop, dear brothers, imitate in his death the one he had contemplated during his life? For he came out of this body saying, "This is the hour," just as Jesus, having finished everything, said, "All is consummated," before bowing his head and rendering the spirit (cf. Jn 19: 30). What the Lord had accomplished by His own power, His servant did it by the gift of an appeal.

10. This is the peace and grace that the King has obtained from this embassy of daily sacrifice, combined with alms and tears.

Let him who is capable of doing so abandon all things. As for him who has not the strength to leave everything, let him send an embassy to the King while the latter is still far away, and present to him the offerings of his tears, his alms, and the holy sacrifice. For this King knows well that his wrath can not be endured; so he wants to be appeased by our prayers. If he is slow in coming, he is waiting for us to send him this embassy to ask for peace. If he had wanted to, he would have come already and would have annihilated all his adversaries. But while he makes it known that his coming will be terrible, he is slow in coming, however, because he would like to find no one to punish.

He makes us see what crime we commit by scorning him, when he declares to us: "Thus, whoever among you does not renounce all that he possesses can not be my disciple"; he gives us, however, a remedy capable of procuring for us the hoped-for salvation, for he whose anger can not be tolerated will be allowed to be softened by an embassy of peace.

So wash with your tears, dear brethren, the stains of your sins; erase them by your alms, expiate them with holy sacrifice. May your heart be no longer attached to things you have not yet abandoned. Fix your hope in the only Redeemer, go into spirit in the eternal homeland. For if you know that you have nothing to do with love in this world, you can say that you have already abandoned all things, even if you continue to possess them. May Jesus Christ our Lord, who has given us remedies for eternal peace, also grant us the joys we desire, who, being God, lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit in all ages of ages. Amen.