Homily 3

Pronounced before the people

in the Basilica of Saint Felicite, martyrdom,

the day of his birthday

November 23, 590

The Mother and the brothers of Jesus

The old Passion of Saint Felicite and her seven sons martyrs († 162?) - the one that the people of Rome read in 590 - can be summed up as follows: Felicity was a very pious widow, whose social situation was very much in evidence. Rome. The pagan pontiffs declared to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius that his example was most dangerous, and that if it were not brought to venerate the gods, they would be so irritated that it could no longer be appeased. The emperor charged the prefect Publius to compel her to sacrifice. Publius summoned her, and in a private conversation he tried to obtain his abjuration. Unable to do so, he summoned her to appear at the March Forum with her sons for a regular judgment. The seven sons of Felicite (Janvier, Felix, Philippe, Sylvain, Alexandre, Vital and Martial) made admirable answers to the magistrates charged with seducing them. Their mother animated them with his own faith: "Lift up your eyes in Heaven, look up, my children; there, Christ is waiting for you; fight for your souls; stay firm in his love! "None of them having weakened, the Emperor condemned them all to death. January died under the blows of a whip lined with lead; Felix and Philip were killed with sticks; Sylvain was precipitated from the top of a rock; Alexander, Vital, and Martial had their heads cut off, and so did Felicite. This magnificent hagiographic account is irresistibly reminiscent of the death of the seven Maccabees brothers and their mother, whom King Antiochus Epiphanius wanted to force to eat pork, prohibited by the Jewish law (2 M 7): "The mother, admirable Above all expression and worthy of an illustrious memory, seeing his seven sons die in the space of a single day, supported him generously, sustained by his hope in the Lord. "(v. 20)

This Homily covers the words of Jesus in Matthew: "Whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, this is my brother, and my sister, and my mother." Gregory explains, about saintly Blessed, how can one become the mother of Christ? Then he uses all the strength of the example of the saint to shame his listeners for their cowardice. Does not it often happen that a few mockery are enough to paralyze them in the good? Fourteen centuries later, the vigorous speech of the pope retains all its tone and timeliness: human respect and the sin of omission remain the two main obstacles to the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Mt 12, 46-50

At that time, as Jesus was speaking to the crowds, behold, his mother and his brothers were outside, seeking to speak to him. Someone said to him, "Here is your mother and your brothers who are there, outside, and they are looking for you." Jesus answered him who was speaking to him, "Who are my mother, and who are my brothers?" And extending his hand to his disciples, he says, "Here is my mother and here are my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and my sister, and my mother. "

It is short, very dear brothers, the lesson of the Holy Gospel that has just been read, but it is above all filled with profound mysteries. Indeed, Jesus, our Creator and Redeemer, having pretended not to know his mother, teaches us who his mother is and who are his relatives, not by the kinship of the flesh, but by the union of the spirit: "Who is my mother," said he, "and who are my brothers? Whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, this is my brother, and my sister, and my mother. "What does he want us to understand by these words, other than that he attracts to him many Gentiles docile to his commandments, and that he ignores the Jewish people, of whom he was born according to the flesh? So we are told that his mother is outside, as if he did not know her: a sign that the Synagogue is not recognized by its founder, because while maintaining the observance of the Law, it has lost spiritual intelligence, and has settled abroad to keep the letter.

2. That he who does the Father's will be named sister or brother of the Lord is not surprising, since both sexes are called to the faith. On the contrary, it is very surprising that he is also called his mother. Christ deigned to give the name of brothers to the disciples who believed in him, when he said, "Go and tell my brethren." (Mt 28:10) 1. But we must look for how one who could become the brother of the Lord by embracing faith, can also be his mother. Well, let us know it: whoever is brother or sister of Christ by faith, becomes his mother by preaching. For he is so to speak the birth of the Lord when he introduces him into the heart of him who listens to him; and he becomes his mother, if his voice begets the love of the Lord in the heart of the neighbor.

3. Blessed Felicity, whose feast we are celebrating today, is very timely in confirming this truth. Her faith made her servant of Christ, and her exhortations made her the mother of Christ. As she reads in her most accurate legend, she was so afraid of letting her seven sons survive in the flesh that carnal parents usually saw their children precede them in death. When the trial of persecution fell upon her, she strengthened by her exhortations the hearts of her sons in the love of the heavenly fatherland, and she raised up by the spirit those whom she had borne by the flesh: by the word she bore for God those whom, through the flesh, she bore for the world. Consider, dear brothers, this man's heart in a woman's body. Before death, she stood without fear. She feared to lose her son's truthful light if she kept them alive.

Shall I call this woman a martyr? But she is more than a martyr. The Lord said the same, speaking of John, "What did you go to see in the wilderness? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet "(Mt 11: 9). And John himself, having been questioned, answered, "I am not a prophet" (Jn 1:21). Knowing more than a prophet, he denied being one. If the Lord says that John is more than a prophet, it is that the role of a prophet is only to announce the future, not to show it. John is thus more than a prophet, because he points to the one he has announced by his word. As for this woman, I will not call her a martyr, but more than a martyr, since she died seven times before her own death, by each of the seven wages of love which she sent to precede her in the Kingdom. came first to the torture, but only succeeded in the eighth. The mother saw the death of her sons with great suffering, but without fear; she mixed the joy of hope with the pain of nature. She feared for them during their lives, she rejoices for them at the moment of their death. She wished to leave none after her, lest, in order to preserve one of them as a survivor, she could not keep him as a companion.

Let none of you, dear brothers, go out to fancy the death of your sons, the heart of this mother has not vibrated with natural tenderness. Her sons, whom she knew to be her own flesh, she could not painfully see them die, but she had within her a strong enough love to overcome the pain of the flesh. In the same sense, the Lord said to Peter, who would have one day to suffer: "When you are old, you will spread out your hands, and another will gird you, and he will lead you where you will not want." (John 21, 18). If Peter had completely refused to do so, he could not have suffered for Christ; but martyrdom, whom, by weakness of the flesh, he did not wish, he loved by the power of the spirit. While he felt in his flesh a strong fear of going to the torture, he exulted in his spirit to advance towards the glory, and it arrived as well as the torment of the martyrdom, which he did not want, he wanted it anyway. We, too, when we seek to regain the joy of good health, we take a very bitter medicinal potion. In this potion, bitterness we dislike, of course, but the health that makes us this bitterness we like. Felicite, therefore, loved her sons as nature intended, but for the sake of the heavenly fatherland, she wished that those whom she loved should die, and even in her presence. It was she who felt their wounds, but it was she who grew up in the person of the sons who preceded her to the Kingdom. Yes, this woman deserves that I say that she is more than a martyr, because in her ardor, she died in each of her sons, and thus obtaining to multiply her martyrdom, she carried away a palm which exceeds that of the martyrs .

As it is said, it was customary among the ancients that the consuls hold office for a fixed period of time. But if one of them was renewed to the honor of the consulate, become consul, no longer for the first time, but for the second or even the third time, he surpassed in praise and dignity those who had not been once. Blessed Felicity has gone beyond the martyrs, since she has given and restored her life for Christ by so many dead sons before her. To be content with dying herself was far from sufficient for her love.

4. Consider this woman, my brothers, and consider what we will weigh in front of her, we who are virile by the body. Often, when we propose to do good, it is enough for a word, even insignificant, sprung against us from the mouth of a mocking, so that our resolution to act bends immediately, and that, disassembled, we recoil . Here, in many cases, words keep us from doing a good work, even when even the tortures could not relieve Felicity in her holy resolutions. We stopped by the light breath of a nasty word; it was by the sword that she flung herself into the Kingdom, neglecting as nothing what stood in the way of her resolution. We do not want to abide by the commandments of the Lord by giving alms of our goods, even if we have too much; she not only brought her fortune to God, but she also gave for himself her own flesh. When we lose our children by the divine will, we weep without being consoled; she would have cried them dead if she had not offered them.

When the Rigid Judge comes for the terrible examination, what can we say, men, at the sight of the glory of this woman? In what will the weakness of their hearts excuse men when they are shown that woman who, besides the world, has conquered her sex? Let us follow, dear brothers, the austere and harsh path of the Redeemer: the practice of virtues has so smoothed out that women take pleasure in borrowing it. Despise all the goods of the present life; they are worthless, since they can pass. Shame to love what we are sure to lose very quickly. Let us not be dominated by the love of earthly things, nor swell with pride, nor tear with anger, nor defile with lust, nor consume with envy.

It is for the sake of us, dear brothers, that our Redeemer is dead; also learn to defeat ourselves for the sake of him. If we know how to do it perfectly, not only will we escape the punishment that threatens us, but we will receive the reward of glory with the martyrs. For although we are not persecuted, peace also knows its kind of martyrdom: even if we do not offer our heads in the flesh, we carry the spiritual sword in our soul to put to death carnal desires. May God help us ...

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1 Jesus gives the holy women the mission to proclaim His resurrection.