On the Fast of the Seventh Month, Fifth Sermon

Dearly beloved, we proclaim the holy fast of the seventh month for the exercise of our common devotion, and with fatherly encouragement we confidently urge you to make Christian, by your keeping of it, what was formerly Jewish. For it is fitting at all times, and in agreement with both the New and the Old Testament, that God’s mercy should be sought with the chastening of both mind and body, because nothing is more effective in prevailing with God than for a person to judge himself and never stop asking pardon, knowing that he is never without fault. For human nature has this flaw in itself. It was not planted there by the Creator but contracted by the transgressor, and it is handed down to his descendants by the law of generation, so that from the corruptible body springs what may corrupt the soul as well. That is why, although the inner man is now reborn in Christ and rescued from the chains of captivity, it has unceasing conflicts with the flesh and must endure resistance when it tries to restrain empty desires. And in this struggle so perfect a victory is not easily won that the habits we must break no longer hinder us, and the vices we must kill no longer wound us. However wisely and prudently the mind presides as judge over the outward senses, temptation is always too close at hand, even amid the pains it takes to rule and the limits it sets on the appetites of the flesh. For who so withdraws himself from bodily pleasure or pain that his mind is not affected by what delights it or tortures it from outside? Joy and sorrow cannot be separated from a human being. No part of him is free from the flare-ups of anger, the overpowering of delight, the crushing weight of affliction. And what turning away from sin can there be where ruler and ruled alike are subject to the same passions? The Lord rightly exclaims that “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” [a]

And so that despair would not lead us into sheer idleness, he promises that God’s power will make possible what is impossible to man through his own lack of strength. For “narrow and hard is the way that leads to life,” and no one could set foot on it, no one could advance a single step, unless Christ, by making himself the Way, had cleared away the difficulties of the approach. So the one who appointed the journey becomes the means by which we are able to complete it, because he not only lays the labor on us but also brings us to the harbor of rest. In him, then, we find our model of patience, in whom we have our hope of eternal life. For “if we suffer with him, we will also reign with him,” since, as the apostle says, “whoever says he abides in Christ ought himself also to walk as he walked.” Otherwise we put on an empty show if we do not follow the footsteps of the one whose name we glory in. And surely those footsteps would not be a burden to us, but would free us from every danger, if we loved nothing but what he commanded us to love. [d]

For there are two loves, from which all wishes come, as different in quality as they are in their sources. The reasoning soul, which cannot exist without love, loves either God or the world. In the love of God there is no excess, but in the love of the world everything is harmful. So we must cling inseparably to eternal treasures, but use temporal things like passers-by. We are strangers here, hurrying to return to our own country, and all the good things of this world that meet us should be aids on the way, not snares to hold us back. That is why the blessed apostle proclaims: “The time is short. It remains that those who have wives should be as though they had none, and those who weep as though they did not weep, and those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, and those who buy as though they did not possess, and those who use this world as though they did not use it. For the form of this world is passing away.” But since the world attracts us with its appearance, its abundance and its variety, it is not easy to turn away from it unless, in the beauty of visible things, it is the Creator rather than the creature who is loved. For when he says, “You shall love the Lord your God from all your heart, and from all your mind, and from all your strength,” he wants us never in anything to loosen ourselves from the bonds of his love. And when he links the love of our neighbor to this command as well, he lays on us the imitation of his own goodness, that we should love what he loves and do what he does. For although we are “God’s field and God’s building,” and “neither the one who plants is anything, nor the one who waters, but God who gives the growth,” yet in all things he requires our ministry and service, and he wants us to be the stewards of his gifts, so that the one who bears God’s image may do God’s will. That is why in the Lord’s Prayer we say most devoutly, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth.” For what else do we ask in these words but that God may subdue those he has not yet subdued, and that as in heaven he makes the angels servants of his will, so on earth he may make human beings his servants too? And in seeking this we love God and we love our neighbor as well, and the love within us has only one object, since we desire the slave to serve and the Lord to rule. [f]

This state of mind, then, beloved, from which earthly love is shut out, is strengthened by the habit of doing good, because the conscience cannot help being delighted by good deeds, and it does willingly what it rejoices to have done. So fasts are kept, alms are freely given, justice is upheld, prayer is turned to often, and the desires of individuals become the common wish of all. Labor nourishes patience, gentleness puts out anger, kindness tramples down hatred, unclean desires are killed by holy longings, greed is driven out by generosity, and burdensome wealth becomes the means of virtuous deeds. But because the devil’s snares are not at rest even in such a state of things, it is most rightly provided that our strength should be renewed at certain seasons of the year. And now especially, when someone greedy for present goods might boast over the mildness of the weather and the fruitfulness of the land, and, having stored his crops in great barns, might say to his soul, “You have many goods; eat and drink,” let him pay attention to the rebuke of God’s voice and hear it saying: “You fool, this night they demand your soul from you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” This should be the wise man’s most anxious thought, so that, since the days of this life are short and its span uncertain, death may never come on him unawares, and knowing himself mortal, he may meet his end fully prepared. And so, that this may avail both for the sanctifying of our bodies and for the renewal of our souls, let us fast on Wednesday and Friday, and on Saturday let us keep vigil with the most blessed apostle Peter, whose prayers will help us to obtain the fulfillment of our holy desires, through Christ our Lord, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen. [j]