On Lent, Fourth Sermon

In setting out to preach this most holy and important fast to you, dearly beloved, how could I begin more fittingly than with the words of the apostle, in whom Christ himself was speaking, and by reminding you of what we have read: “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation”? For though there are no seasons that are not full of divine blessings, and though access to God’s mercy is always open to us through his grace, yet now everyone’s mind should be moved with greater zeal to spiritual progress and filled with larger confidence. For the return of the day on which we were redeemed invites us to all the duties of godliness, so that we may keep the surpassing mystery of the Lord’s passion with bodies and hearts made pure. These great mysteries do indeed call for such unflagging devotion and tireless reverence from us that we should remain in God’s sight always the same as we ought to be found on the Easter feast itself. But few have this constancy. As long as the stricter observance is relaxed out of regard for the frailty of the flesh, and as long as our concerns stretch over all the various activities of this life, even devout hearts are bound to pick up some dirt from the dust of the world. So divine Providence, in its great kindness, has seen to it that the discipline of the forty days should heal us and restore the purity of our minds. During these days the faults of other times may be redeemed by devout acts and removed by chaste fasting. [a]

So, dearly beloved, as we are about to enter on those days of sacred mystery that are dedicated to the benefits of fasting, let us take care to obey the apostle’s commands, cleansing “ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit.” Then, by controlling the struggles that go on between our two natures, the spirit, which ought to govern the body if it is under God’s guidance, may uphold the dignity of its rule, so that we may give offense to no one and not be open to the scolding of those who reprove. For we will rightly be attacked with rebukes, and through our fault ungodly tongues will arm themselves to harm religion, if the conduct of those who fast is out of keeping with the standard of perfect purity. For our fast does not consist chiefly in mere abstinence from food, and it does no good to withhold delicacies from our bodily appetites unless the mind is called back from wrongdoing and the tongue held back from slander. This is a time of gentleness and patience, of peace and calm, when all the pollutions of vice are to be rooted out and we are to reach constancy in virtue. Now let devout minds boldly accustom themselves to forgive faults, to overlook insults, and to forget wrongs. Now let the faithful spirit train itself with the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, so that through honor and dishonor, through bad report and good report, the conscience may stay undisturbed in unwavering uprightness, not puffed up by praise and not worn out by abuse. The self-restraint of the devout should not be gloomy but sincere; no murmurs of complaint should be heard from those who are never without the comfort of holy joys. In practicing works of mercy, no one should fear that his worldly means will shrink. Christian poverty is always rich, because what it has is more than what it lacks. Nor is the poor man afraid to toil in this world, since it is given to him to possess all things in the Lord of all things. So those who do what is good must have no fear at all that the means of doing it will fail them. For in the Gospel the widow’s devotion is praised for her two small coins, and freely given generosity is rewarded even for a cup of cold water. The measure of our generosity is set by the sincerity of our feelings, and whoever shows mercy to others will never lack mercy himself. The holy widow of Zarephath discovered this. In the time of famine she offered the blessed Elijah one day’s food, which was all she had, and putting the prophet’s hunger before her own needs, she gave up a handful of grain and a little oil without grudging it. But she did not lose what she gave in all faith. In the vessels emptied by her devout generosity a source of new plenty sprang up, so that the fullness of her goods would not be diminished by the holy purpose she had put them to, because she had never dreaded being brought to want. [b]

But, dearly beloved, do not doubt that the devil, the opponent of every virtue, is jealous of these good desires, to which we are confident you are moved of your own accord. To this end he is arming the force of his malice, to make your very devotion its own snare, and he is trying to overcome by boastfulness those whom he could not defeat by distrust. For the vice of pride is a close neighbor of good deeds, and arrogance always lies in wait right beside virtue. It is hard for one who lives in a praiseworthy way not to be caught by human praise, unless, as it is written, “he who boasts, boasts in the Lord.” Whose intentions would that most wicked enemy not dare to attack? Whose fasting would he not try to break down? For, as has been shown in the Gospel reading, he did not hold back his tricks even from the Savior of the world himself. Being greatly afraid of his fast, which lasted forty days and nights, he wanted very cunningly to find out whether this power of abstinence had been given to him or was his very own. For he would have no need to fear the defeat of all his treacherous designs if Christ were throughout of the same condition as his body. So first he craftily tested whether he was himself the Creator of all things, able to change the natures of material things as he pleased. Second, he tested whether the Godhead lay hidden under the form of human flesh, the Godhead for whom it would be easy to make the air his chariot and carry his earthly limbs through space. But the Lord chose to resist him by the uprightness of his true manhood rather than to display the power of his Godhead. So the devil turned the craft of his third design to this: to tempt with the lust for empire the one in whom the signs of divine power had failed to appear, and to entice him to worship the devil himself by promising him the kingdoms of the world. But the devil’s cleverness was made foolish by God’s wisdom, so that the proud enemy was bound by the very thing he had once bound, and he did not fear to attack the one who had to be slain for the world. [f]

So let us beware of this adversary’s tricks, not only in the lures of the palate but also in our purpose of abstinence. For he who knew how to bring death on mankind by means of food also knows how to harm us through our very fasting. Using the Manichaeans as his tools, just as he once drove people to take what was forbidden, so now, in the opposite direction, he urges them to shun what is allowed. It is indeed a helpful observance that accustoms one to a scanty diet and checks the appetite for delicacies. But woe to the teaching of those whose very fasting is turned into sin! For they condemn the nature of the creature, to the Creator’s injury, and maintain that they are defiled by eating things whose author, they contend, is the devil, not God. Yet absolutely nothing that exists is evil, and nothing in nature is counted among the truly bad. For the good Creator made all things good, and the Maker of the universe is one, “who made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all that is in them.” Whatever of these is granted to man for food and drink is holy and clean after its kind. But if it is taken with immoderate greed, it is the excess that disgraces those who eat and drink, not the nature of the food or drink that defiles them. “For all things,” as the apostle says, “are clean to the clean. But to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is clean, but their mind and conscience are defiled.” [j]

But you, dearly beloved, the holy offspring of the catholic Mother, taught in the school of truth by God’s Spirit, temper your freedom with due reasonableness. Know that it is good to abstain even from lawful things, and at seasons of greater strictness to distinguish one food from another, with a view to giving up the use of some kinds, not to condemning their nature. So do not be infected with the error of those who are corrupted by their own rules alone, “serving the creature rather than the Creator,” and offering a foolish abstinence in the service of the lights of heaven. For they have chosen to fast on the first and second days of the week in honor of the sun and moon. In this one instance of their perverseness they prove themselves twice disloyal to God and twice blasphemous, setting up their fast not only in worship of the stars but also in contempt of the Lord’s resurrection. For they reject the mystery of human salvation and refuse to believe that Christ our Lord was truly born in the true flesh of our nature, truly suffered, was truly buried, and was truly raised. As a result they condemn the day of our rejoicing with the gloom of their fasting. And since, to hide their unbelief, they dare to be present at our gatherings, at the communion of the mysteries they sometimes bring themselves, to make sure they stay hidden, to receive Christ’s body with unworthy lips, though they utterly refuse to drink the blood of our redemption. We make this known to you, holy brothers and sisters, so that you may detect people of this kind by these signs, and so that those whose impious pretenses have been uncovered may be driven from the fellowship of the saints by priestly authority. For the blessed apostle Paul, in his foresight, warns God’s church about such people, saying, “But we urge you, brothers, to watch those who cause dissensions and offenses contrary to the teaching you learned, and to turn away from them. For such people do not serve Christ the Lord but their own belly, and by sweet words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the innocent.” [m]

So, dearly beloved, fully instructed by these warnings of ours, which we have often repeated in your ears against this abominable error, enter on the holy days of Lent with godly devotion, and prepare yourselves to win God’s mercy by your own works of mercy. Put out your anger, wipe out enmities, cherish unity, and compete with one another in the services of true humility. Rule your slaves and those placed under you with fairness; let none of them be tortured with imprisonment or chains. Give up vengeance, forgive offenses; exchange severity for gentleness, indignation for meekness, discord for peace. Let everyone find us self-controlled, peaceable and kind, so that our fasts may be acceptable to God. For, in a word, we offer him the sacrifice of true abstinence and true godliness when we keep ourselves from all evil, with the help in all things of Almighty God, to whom, with the Son and the Holy Spirit, belong one Godhead and one majesty, forever and ever. Amen.