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| On Lent, XI.
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Sermon
XLIX.
On Lent, XI.
I. The Lenten fast is incumbent on all
alike.
On all days and seasons, indeed, dearly-beloved,
some marks of the Divine goodness are set, and no part of the year is
destitute of sacred mysteries, in order that, so long as proofs of our
salvation meet us on all sides, we may the more eagerly accept the
never-ceasing calls of God’s
mercy. But all that is bestowed on the restoration of human souls
in the divers works and gifts of grace is put before us more clearly
and abundantly now, when no isolated portions of the Faith are to be
celebrated, but the whole together. For as the Easter festival
approaches, the greatest and most binding of fasts is kept, and its
observance is imposed on all the faithful without exception; because no
one is so holy that he ought not to be holier, nor so devout that he
might not be devouter. For who, that is set in the uncertainty of
this life, can be found either exempt from temptation, or free from
fault? Who is there who would not wish for additions to his
virtue, or removal of his vice? seeing that adversity does us harm, and
prosperity spoils us, and it is equally dangerous not to have what we
want at all, and to have it in the fullest measure. There is a
trap in the fulness of riches, a trap in the straits of poverty.
The one lifts us up in pride, the other incites us to complaint.
Health tries us, sickness tries us, so long as the one fosters
carelessness and the other sadness. There is a snare in security,
a snare in fear; and it matters not whether the mind which is given
over to earthly thoughts, is taken up with pleasures or with cares; for
it is equally unhealthy to languish under empty delights, or to labour
under racking anxiety.
II. The broad road is crowded, the narrow
way of salvation nearly empty.
And thus is perfectly fulfilled that assurance of
the Truth, by which we learn that “narrow and steep is the way
that leads to life941
;” and whilst
the breadth of the way that leads to death is crowded with a large
company, the steps are few of those that tread the path of
safety. And wherefore is the left road more thronged than the
right, save that the multitude is prone to worldly joys and carnal
goods? And although that which it desires is short-lived and
uncertain, yet men endure toil more willingly for the lust of pleasure
than for love of virtue. Thus while those who crave things
visible are unnumbered, those who prefer the eternal to the temporal
are hardly to be found. And, therefore, seeing that the blessed
Apostle Paul says, “the things which are seen are temporal, but
the things which are not seen are eternal942
,” the path of virtue lies hid and in
concealment, to a certain extent, since “by hope we were
saved943
,” and true faith loves that above
all things, which it attains to without any intervention of the
flesh. A great work and toil it is then to keep our wayward heart
from all sin, and, with the numberless allurements of pleasure to
ensnare it on all sides, not to let the vigour of the mind give way to
any attack. Who “toucheth pitch, and is not defiled
thereby944
?” who is not weakened by the flesh?
who is not begrimed by the dust? who, lastly, is of such purity as not
to be polluted by those things without which one cannot live? For
the Divine teaching commands by the Apostle’s mouth that
“they who have wives” should “be as though they had
none: and those that weep as though they wept not; and those that
rejoice as though they rejoiced not; and those that buy as though they
possessed not; and those that use this world as though they used it
not; for the fashion of this world passeth away945
| 945 1 Cor. vii. 29–31. In the last clause but one, the
Lat. runs, qui utuntur hoc mundo tanquam non utantur (as also
the Vulg. and the margin of R.V., “(as not) using to the
full,” though the text reads, “as not abusing
it”). | .” Blessed, therefore, is the
mind that passes the time of its pilgrimage in chaste sobriety, and
loiters not
in the things
through which it has to walk, so that, as a stranger rather than the
possessor of its earthly abode, it may not be wanting in human
affections, and yet rest on the Divine promises.
III. Satan is incited to fresh efforts at
this season of the year.
And, dearly-beloved, no season requires and
bestows this fortitude more than the present, when by the observance of
a special strictness a habit is acquired which must be persevered
in. For it is well known to you that this is the time when
throughout the world the devil waxes furious, and the Christian army
has to combat him, and any that have grown lukewarm and slothful, or
that are absorbed in worldly cares, must now be furnished with
spiritual armour and their ardour kindled for the fray by the heavenly
trumpet, inasmuch as he, through whose envy death came into the
world946
, is now consumed with the strongest
jealousy and now tortured with the greatest vexation. For he
sees947
| 947 The allusion is of
course to the large number of persons baptized every year at
Easter. | whole tribes of the human race brought in
afresh to the adoption of God’s sons and
the offspring of the New Birth multiplied through the virgin fertility
of the Church. He sees himself robbed of all his tyrannic power,
and driven from the hearts of those he once possessed, while from
either sex thousands of the old, the young, the middle-aged are
snatched away from him, and no one is debarred by sin either of his own
or original, where justification is not paid for deserts, but simply
given as a free gift. He sees, too, those that have lapsed, and
have been deceived by his treacherous snares, washed in the tears of
penitence and, by the Apostle’s key unlocking the gates of mercy,
admitted to the benefit of reconciliation948
| 948 Portas
misericordiæ Apostolica clave reserante ad remedia
reconciliationis admitti: no doubt confession and priestly
absolution is meant with a reference to S. Matt. xvi. 19. | . He feels, moreover, that the day
of the Lord’s Passion is at hand, and
that he is crushed by the power of that cross which in Christ, Who was
free from all debt of sin, was the world’s ransom and not the
penalty of sin.
IV. Self-examination by the standard of
God’s commands the right occupation in
Lent.
And so, that the malice of the fretting foe may
effect nothing by its rage, a keener devotion must be awaked to the
performance of the Divine commands, in order that we may enter on the
season, when all the mysteries of the Divine mercy meet together, with
preparedness both of mind and body, invoking the guidance and help of
God, that we may be strong to fulfil all
things through Him, without Whom we can do nothing. For the
injunction is laid on us, in order that we may seek the aid of Him Who
lays it. Nor must any one excuse himself by reason of his
weakness, since He Who has granted the will, also gives the power, as
the blessed Apostle James says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God, Who giveth to all liberally
and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him949
.” Which of the faithful does
not know what virtues he ought to cultivate, and what vices to fight
against? Who is so partial or so unskilled a judge of his own
conscience as not to know what ought to be removed, and what ought to
be developed? Surely no one is so devoid of reason as not to
understand the character of his mode of life, or not to know the
secrets of his heart. Let him not then please himself in
everything, nor judge himself according to the delights of the flesh,
but place his every habit in the scale of the Divine commands, where,
some things being ordered to be done and others forbidden, he can
examine himself in a true balance by weighing the actions of his life
according to this standard. For the designing mercy of
God950
| 950 Artifex misericordia
Dei. | has set up the
brightest mirror in His commandments, wherein a man may see his
mind’s face and realize its conformity or dissimilarity to
God’s image: with the specific
purpose that, at least, during the days of our Redemption and
Restoration, we may throw off awhile our carnal cares and restless
occupations, and betake ourselves from earthly matters to
heavenly.
V. Forgiveness of our own sins requires
that we should forgive others.
But because, as it is written, “in many
things we all stumble951
,” let the
feeling of mercy be first aroused and the faults of others against us
be forgotten; that we may not violate by any love of revenge that most
holy compact, to which we bind ourselves in the Lord’s prayer, and when we say “forgive us our
debts as we also forgive our debtors,” let us not be hard in
forgiving, because we must be possessed either with the desire for
revenge, or with the leniency of gentleness, and for man, who is ever
exposed to the dangers of temptations, it is more to be desired that
his own faults should not need punishment952
| 952 Ut suas culpas
habeat impunitas (some through a misunderstanding of the argument
read punitas here) quam ut plectat alienas. |
than that he should get the faults of others punished. And
what is more suitable to the
Christian faith than that not only in the Church, but also in all
men’s homes, there should be forgiveness of sins? Let
threats be laid aside; let bonds be loosed, for he who will not loose
them will bind himself with them much more disastrously. For
whatsoever one man resolves upon against another, he decrees against
himself by his own terms. Whereas “blessed are the
merciful, for God shall have mercy on
them953
| 953 S. Matt. v. 7, quoted in the same form in Serm. XCV.
chap. 7, q.v. | :” and He is just and kind in
His judgments, allowing some to be in the power of others to this end,
that under fair government may be preserved both the profitableness of
discipline and the kindliness of clemency, and that no one should dare
to refuse that pardon to another’s shortcomings, which he wishes
to receive for his own.
VI. Reconciliation between enemies and
alms-giving are also Lenten duties.
Furthermore, as the Lord
says, that “the peacemakers are blessed, because they shall be
called sons of God954
,”
let all discords and enmities be laid aside, and let no one think to
have a share in the Paschal feast that has neglected to restore
brotherly peace. For with the Father on high, he that is not in
charity with the brethren, will not be reckoned in the number of His
sons. Furthermore, in the distribution of alms and care of the
poor, let our Christian fast-times be fat and abound; and let each
bestow on the weak and destitute those dainties which he denies
himself. Let pains be taken that all may bless God with one mouth, and let him that gives some portion of
substance understand that he is a minister of the Divine mercy; for
God has placed the cause of the poor in the
hand of the liberal man; that the sins which are washed away either by
the waters of baptism, or the tears of repentance, may be also blotted
out by alms-giving; for the Scripture says, “As water
extinguisheth fire, so alms extinguisheth sin955
.” Through our Lord Jesus Christ, &c.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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