The Twentieth Festal Letter, for Easter 348

Let us now keep the feast, my brothers and sisters. For as our Lord gave notice to his disciples then, so he tells us now in advance that “after some days is the Passover.” On that day the Jews betrayed the Lord, but we celebrate his death as a feast, rejoicing because we then obtained rest from our afflictions. We are eager to gather together, for in time past we were scattered and lost, and we have been found. We were far off and have been brought near. We were strangers and have become his, who suffered for us and was nailed to the cross, who bore our sins, as the prophet says, and was afflicted for us, so that he might take away grief and sorrow and sighing from all of us. When we thirst, he satisfies us on the very day of the feast, standing and crying out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” For such is the love of the saints at all times that they never once stop. They offer the Lord an unbroken, constant sacrifice. They thirst continually and ask him for something to drink. As David sang, “My God, my God, I seek you early; my soul thirsts for you. Many times my heart and my flesh long for you in a barren land, without a path and without water. So I was seen by you in the sanctuary.” And Isaiah the prophet says, “From the night my spirit seeks you early, O God, because your commands are light.” Another says, “My soul faints with longing for your judgments at all times.” And again he says, “I have hoped in your judgments, and I will keep your law at all times.” Another boldly cries out, “My eye is always toward the Lord.” And with him another says, “The meditation of my heart is before you at all times.” And Paul further advises, “Give thanks at all times; pray without ceasing.” Those who are always occupied in this way wait wholly on the Lord and say, “Let us press on to know the Lord. We will find him ready as the morning, and he will come to us like the early and the late rain on the earth.” For he does not satisfy them only in the morning, nor does he give them only as much to drink as they ask. He gives to them abundantly, according to the greatness of his loving kindness, and grants them the grace of the Spirit at all times. And what it is they thirst for he adds at once, saying, “Whoever believes in me.” For as the proverb says, “Cold water is pleasant to the thirsty,” so to those who believe in the Lord the coming of the Spirit is better than any refreshment and delight. [a]

So in these days of the Passover it is fitting for us to rise early with the saints, and to draw near to the Lord with all our soul, with purity of body, with confession and godly faith in him. Then, when we have first drunk here and are filled with these divine waters that flow from him, we may be able to sit at table with the saints in heaven and share in the one voice of gladness that is there. Sinners are rightly thrown out from it, because it wearied them, and they hear the words, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?” Sinners do thirst, but not for the grace of the Spirit. Inflamed with wickedness, they are wholly set on fire by pleasures, as the proverb says: “All day long he craves evil cravings.” But the prophet cries out against them, saying, “Woe to those who rise early and run after strong drink, who linger till evening, for wine inflames them.” And since they run wild in their wantonness, they dare to thirst for the destruction of others. First, having drunk lying and unfaithful waters, they have suffered what the prophet describes: “My wound is grievous,” he says. “How will I be healed? It has truly become to me like deceitful waters that cannot be trusted.” Second, while they drink with their companions, they lead astray and unsettle right thinking, and turn the simple away from it. And what does the prophet cry out? “Woe to him who makes his neighbor drink muddy destruction and makes him drunk, so that he may look upon his caverns.” But those who pretend, and steal the truth away, quench their hearts. Having first drunk these things, they go on to say what the prostitute says in the Proverbs: “Take hold with delight of hidden bread and sweet stolen water.” They lay snares in secret, because they do not have the freedom of virtue, nor the boldness of Wisdom, who praises herself in the gates, speaks freely in the broad streets, and preaches on the high walls. That is why they are told to “take hold with delight”: having the choice between faith and pleasures, they steal the sweetness of the truth and disguise their own bitter waters, to escape the blame for their wickedness, which would otherwise have come quickly and in public. For this reason the wolf puts on the sheep’s skin, and tombs deceive by their whitewashed outsides. Satan, that is … [d]