SERMO 127
OF THE WORDS OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN (5, 24-29):
"Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and is now here,"
When the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live, etc.
AND ALSO CONCERNING THE WORDS OF THE APOSTLE (1 COR 2, 9):
"Which eye has not seen", etc.
The hope of Christians is for things that are not seen. A fitting simile.
Our hope, brothers, is not in this time, nor in this world, nor in the happiness which blinds people who forget God. This we must primarily know and hold in the Christian heart, that we were not made Christians for the good things of the present time; but for something else that God already promises, and which man does not yet comprehend. For it is said of this good thing: "What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." Therefore, because this good is so great, so splendid, so ineffable, it did not find man as a perceiver, but God as a promiser. For now, what is promised to him, man having a blind heart does not perceive; nor can it be shown to him in the present what he himself will be in the future, to whom it is promised. For even a newborn infant, if he could understand the words of someone speaking, while he could neither speak, nor walk, nor do anything, but as we see him weak, lying there, needing the help of another, if he could only understand him who spoke to him and said to him: "Behold, as you see me walking, working, speaking, after a few years you will be like this"; contemplating himself and that person, although he would see what was promised; yet, considering his own weakness, he would not believe, and would nonetheless see what was promised. However, for us, lying like infants in this flesh and weakness, both the promise is great, and it is not seen; and faith, by which we believe what we do not see, is raised up, so that we may deserve to see what we believe. Whoever mocks this faith, thinking that it is not to be believed because it is not seen, when what he did not believe comes, he blushes; he is separated in confusion, separated he is condemned. But whoever has believed, is set apart to the right, and will stand with great confidence and joy among those to whom it will be said: "Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." The Lord concluded, when he spoke these words, thus: "And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." This is the eternal life which is promised to us.
Eternal life promised to us is so lovable.
Because humans love to live on this earth, life has been promised to them; and because they greatly fear dying, eternal life has been promised to them. What do you love? Living. You will have this. What do you fear? Dying. You will not suffer this. This appeared to suffice for human frailty, so that it might be said: You will have eternal life. The human mind grasps this, in one way or another, from what it does, it grasps what is to come. But how much does it grasp from this small portion of what it does? Because it lives and does not want to die; it loves eternal life, wants to live forever, never to die. But even those who will be tortured in punishments want to die, and cannot. Therefore, it is not great to live long or to live always; but it is great to live blessedly.
Let us love eternal life, and from that, let us understand how much we should labor for eternal life, when we see people, lovers of the present, temporal, and transient life, laboring for it in such a way that, when the fear of death comes, they do whatever they can not to remove, but to delay death. How much man labors when death is imminent, fleeing, hiding, giving whatever he has, and redeeming himself, laboring, enduring torments and troubles, employing doctors, and whatever else man can do? You see that, having exhausted his labors and resources, whatever he can do so that he may live a little longer, he can do; but that he may live forever, he cannot. If therefore with so much labor, effort, expenses, insistence, vigilance, and care it is done so that he may live a little longer, how should it be done so that he may live forever? And if those are called prudent who in every way act to delay death and live a few days, lest they lose a few days, how foolish are those who live in such a way that they lose the eternal day?
What eternal life is, and how much it is worth to be bought. The value of eternal life. Eternal life cannot be described in human words.
This alone, therefore, can be promised to us: that the gift of God may somehow become sweet to us from what we presently have; because from His gift we have life, we are safe. Let us then place such a life before our eyes, when eternal life is promised, removing from it whatever distress we endure here. For it is easier to find what is not there, than what is there. Behold, here we live, we shall live there too. We are safe when we are not sick here, nor does anything in the body hurt; we shall also be safe there. And when it is well with us in this life, we suffer no punishments; we shall suffer none there either. Therefore, imagine here a man living, safe, enduring no punishments; if someone could give him always to be so, and this good would never cease, how much he would rejoice! How much he would be uplifted! How he would be beside himself with joy, without penalty, without torment, without end of life! If God only promised us this, as I have said, described and recommended in whatever words I could now use, how much would it be worth buying, if it were for sale? How much would be given, to purchase it?
Whatever you have would suffice, even if you possessed the whole world. And yet it is for sale: buy it if you wish. And do not be overly distressed about such a great thing because of the expense. It is worth as much as you have. To obtain something so great and valuable, you would gather gold, or silver, or money, or some fruits of cattle or crops, which would be born in your possession, in order to buy something of such great and eminent worth, so that you might live happily on this earth. And buy this, if you wish. Do not consider what you have, but who you are. This thing values you. It is worth as much as you are. Give yourself, and you will have it. Why are you troubled? Why do you fret? Will you search for yourself, or buy yourself? Behold, you who are as you are, give yourself to that thing, and you will have it. But I am bad, you might say, and perhaps it will not accept me. By giving yourself to it, you will be good. To give yourself to this faith and promise is to be good. When you are good, you will be the price of that thing, and you will have not only what I said, safety, well-being, life, and life without end; not only will you have this, I add more. There will be no getting tired and sleeping there: there will be no hunger and thirst there; there will be no growing and aging; for there will be no birth, where perfect numbers remain intact. The number that is, remains; there is no need to increase it, for it does not decrease. Behold how many things I have said, and still I have not said what will be there. Behold, there is already life, already well-being, already no punishment, no hunger, no thirst, no deficiency, none of these; and yet I have not yet said: What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man. For if I had said it, it would be false that it is written: What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man. How would it ascend into my heart, to say: What has not entered into the heart of man? It is believed, not seen: not only not seen, but not even spoken. How then is it believed, if not spoken? Who believes what they do not hear? If heard to believe, it is spoken; if spoken, it is thought; if thought and spoken, it enters into the ears of men. And because it would not be said unless thought, it has entered into the heart of man. Behold, this question of such a great thing disturbs us, so that we cannot explain the question in words. Who explains the matter?
The Son is always begotten by the Father.
Let us attend therefore to the Gospel, just as the Lord was speaking, and let us do what he said: Whoever believes in me, he said, passes from death to life, and does not come into judgment. Truly I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. He granted it by begetting; because he begot, he granted. For the Son is from the Father, the Father is not from the Son, but the Father is the Father of the Son, and the Son is the Son of the Father. Nevertheless, the Son is begotten from the Father, not the Father from the Son, and always the Son; therefore always begotten. Who can grasp this always begotten? For every man, when he hears begotten, it occurs to him: therefore there was a time when he who was begotten did not exist. So what do we say? Not so: there was no time before the Son, because all things were made through him. If all things were made through him, and time was made through him, how could there be time before the Son, through whom time was made? Therefore take away all time, the Son is always with the Father. If the Son is always with the Father, and yet the Son, always begotten; if always begotten, he was always with the begetter who begot him.
The eternal generation of the Son of God cannot be explained.
I never saw this, you say, someone generating, and always with him whom he generated; but he who generated preceded in time, and he who was generated followed in time. You speak well: I never saw this, because it pertains to what the eye has not seen. You ask how it is said? It cannot be said: because neither ear has heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man. Let it be believed and worshipped. When it is believed, it is worshipped; when it is worshipped, it grows; when it grows, it is comprehended. For still in this flesh; as long as we are away from the Lord, to the holy angels, who see these things, we are infants, to be nourished by faith, to be fed by vision. For thus says the Apostle: As long as we are in the body, we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are going to come to the vision, which is thus promised to us through John in his Epistle: Beloved, we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We are already children of God by grace, by faith, by the sacrament, by the blood of Christ, by the redemption of the Savior: We are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We know that when it is revealed, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
God is the food of the blessed mind.
Behold for what we are nourished to be taken, behold for what we are nourished to be received, to be eaten; so that what is eaten is not diminished, and he who eats, is invigorated. For now, food invigorates by being eaten; but the food that is eaten is diminished, yet when we begin to eat righteousness, to eat wisdom, to eat that immortal food; both we are invigorated, and that food is not diminished. For indeed the eye knows to be fed by light, yet it does not diminish the light; for light will not be less because it is seen by many; it feeds the eyes of many, and yet it is as great as it was; and they are fed, and it is not diminished; if God gave this to the light, which He made for the eyes of the flesh, what is He Himself, the light for the eyes of the heart? If then some great food were praised to you, which you were going to eat, you would prepare your stomach; God is praised to you, prepare your mind.
The resurrection of the soul through faith.
Behold what your Lord says to you: The hour is coming, and now is. The hour is coming, and the hour is now, when: what? When the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. Therefore, those who do not hear will not live. What is: those who hear? Those who obey. What is: those who hear? Those who believe and comply, they will live. Therefore, before they believed and obeyed, they were lying dead; and they walked, and they were dead. What did it matter that they walked as dead? And yet if anyone among them died bodily, they would run, prepare a tomb, wrap, carry, and bury the dead one, of whom it is said: Let the dead bury their dead. Such dead are thus raised by the word of God to live in faith. Those who were dead in unbelief are raised by the word. Of this hour the Lord said: The hour is coming, and now is. For by His word He was raising the dead unbelievers; of whom the Apostle says: Arise, sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. This is the resurrection of minds, this is the resurrection of the inner man, this is the resurrection of the soul.
The resurrection of the body [is] for some unto good, for others unto evil.
But this is not the only thing, the resurrection of the body remains as well. He who rises again in the soul, rises again in the body with his good. For not all rise again in the soul: all will rise again in the body. In the soul, I say, not all rise again, but those who believe and obey; because: Those who hear will live. As the Apostle says: Not everyone has faith. Therefore, if not everyone has faith, not all rise again in the soul. When the hour of the resurrection of the body comes, everyone will rise; whether they are good or evil: all will rise. But he who rises again in the soul rises in the body with his good; he who does not rise again in the soul rises in the body with his evil. He who rises again in the soul, rises again in the body to life; he who does not rise again in the soul, rises again in the body to punishment. Therefore, because the Lord has entrusted us with the resurrection of souls, to which we must all hasten, in which we must labor that we may live, and by living we may persevere to the end; it remained for Him to entrust us also with the resurrection of bodies, which will take place at the end of the age. But listen to how He also entrusted that to us.
The cause and reason of the Incarnation of the Son of God. The Son of God in himself is life. How he died.