Passing by, Jesus is called upon and heals.
Pay attention now, most beloved. The Lord was passing by, the blind were crying out. What does it mean, 'was passing by'? He was doing transient works, as we have already said. According to these transient works, our faith is built. For we believe in the Son of God, not only because He is the Word of God, through whom all things were made: for if He had always remained in the form of God, equal to God, not emptying Himself by taking the form of a servant; the blind would not feel, so that they could cry out. But when He was working transiently, that is, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross, two blind men cried out: "Have mercy on us, Son of David." Because even this very thing, that the Lord and creator of David, also wished to be the son of David, He did in time, making this happen by passing by.
To cry out to Christ, what.
What does it mean, however, brothers, to cry out to Christ, if not to align with the grace of Christ in good works? I say this, brothers, lest we be noisy in voices and mute in conduct. Who is it that cries out to Christ to remove the inner blindness as Christ passes by, that is, by dispensing to us temporal sacraments, which remind us to grasp the eternal? Who is it that cries out to Christ? He who despises the world cries out to Christ. He who rejects the pleasures of the age cries out to Christ. He who says, not with the tongue, but with his life: The world is crucified to me, and I to the world; cries out to Christ. He who scatters and gives to the poor, that his righteousness may endure forever; cries out to Christ. For he who hears, and is not deaf, hears: Sell your possessions and give to the poor; make for yourselves purses that do not grow old, a treasure in heaven that does not fail: as if hearing the footsteps of Christ passing by, let the blind man cry out at these things, that is, let him do these things. Let his voice be in deeds. Let him begin to despise the world, distribute his own to the needy, consider as nothing the things that men love; let him disdain injuries, not seek to avenge, offer the cheek to him who strikes, pray for enemies; if anyone takes his belongings, not seek to retrieve them; if he has taken anything from anyone, restore it fourfold.
The crowd preventing them from shouting.
When they begin to do these things, all their relatives, friends, and acquaintances are disturbed. Those who love the world contradict them: "Why are you so insane? You are excessive. Are there not others who are Christians? This is foolishness, this is madness." And the crowd shouts such things, lest the blind call out. The crowd rebuked the shoutings, but it did not overcome their cries. Let them understand what they are doing, who wish to be healed. And now Jesus passes by: let those who are beside the way call out. These indeed are the ones who honor with their lips, but their heart is far from God. They are beside the way, whom the Lord commands to be of a broken heart. For when the things the Lord did are recited, passing by, Jesus is always shown to us as passing by. Because until the end of the age, there will not lack the blind sitting by the way. Therefore, it is necessary that those sitting beside the way cry out. The crowd that was with the Lord restrained the cry of those seeking healing. Brothers, do you see what I am saying? For I do not know how to say it, but more I do not know how to be silent. I say this, and I say it openly. For I fear Jesus passing by and remaining: and therefore I cannot be silent. Good Christians, truly zealous, wanting to do the commandments of God, which are written in the Gospel, are hindered by bad and lukewarm Christians. The very crowd that is with the Lord hinders those crying out; that is, it hinders those doing good works, lest by persevering they be healed. Let them cry out, not be discouraged, nor be led by the seeming authority of the crowds; nor imitate those who were Christians first, living poorly and envying good works. They should not say: "How do so many live, so let us live." Why not rather say as the Gospel says? Why do you want to live according to the rebuke of the prohibiting crowd, and not according to the footsteps of the passing Lord? They will insult, reproach, call back: you cry out until you reach the ears of Jesus. For those who persevere in doing such things as Christ instructed, and do not heed the prohibiting crowds, nor think much of the fact that they seem to follow Christ, that is, that they are called Christians; but love the light that Christ will grant more than they fear the noise of those prohibiting: in no way will they be separated, and Jesus will stand and heal them.
How eyes are healed.
For how are our eyes healed? How do we perceive Christ through faith when He passes by in temporal dispensation; thus let us understand Christ standing in immutable eternity. For there the eye is healed, when the divinity of Christ is understood. Let your Charity perceive this: heed what I will say, a great mystery. All things done temporally by our Lord Jesus Christ embed faith in us. We believe in the Son of God, not only in the Word through whom all things were made; but in the Word made flesh, so that He might dwell among us, born of the Virgin Mary, and the other things that faith holds, which were shown to us, so that Christ might pass by, and so that the blind, hearing the footsteps of Him passing by, might cry out, recalling with their deeds the profession of faith in life. Now that they may be healed by crying out, Jesus stands still. Indeed, he who says: And if we have known Christ according to the flesh, but now no longer do we know, sees Jesus already standing. For he saw the divinity of Christ, as far as possible in this life. There is the divinity of Christ, there is the humanity of Christ. Divinity stands, humanity passes. What is this, that Divinity stands? It does not change, is not moved, does not depart. For He did not come to us in such a way that He left the Father: nor did He ascend in such a way that He was moved from His place. By assuming flesh, He changed place: but God assuming flesh, because He is not in place, neither changes place. Let us be touched while Christ stands, let our eyes be healed. But whose eyes? Namely those crying out, when He passes by: that is, those doing good works through the faith that was dispensed temporally to educate us as infants.
The inner light is compared with the visible.
Having healed eyes, what could we possess more precious, brothers? Those who see this light which is made, which shines from heaven, or which is shown from a lamp, rejoice. And how wretched are those who seem not able to see this? But why do I speak, why do I say these things, except to exhort all of you to cry out when Jesus passes by? I commend to your Holiness a light to be loved, which perhaps you do not see. Believe, while you do not yet see; and cry out, that you may see. How great is the misfortune thought of men who do not see this bodily light? Someone is blinded: immediately it is said, 'He had an angry God, he committed some evil.' This is what the wife of Tobias was saying to her husband. He was shouting about the kid, lest it be from theft; he did not want to hear the sound of theft in his house: she defending her deed, struck her husband with reproach: and when he said, 'Return it, if it is from theft'; she responded insulting, 'Where are your justices?' How blind she was, who defended theft: and what light did he see, who commanded the return of theft! She was outside in the light of the sun: he was inside in the light of justice. Which of them was in the better light?
Alms do not allow [one] to go into darkness.
To this light, brothers, we urge your Love to love it; so that you may cry out through works as the Lord passes by: let the voice of faith resound; so that Jesus, the Wisdom of God and the majesty of the Word of God through which all things were made, may open your eyes. Tobias likewise advised his son to cry out for this: that is, he advised him to do good works. He told him to give to the poor, ordered him to make alms for the needy, and taught him saying: Son, alms do not let one go into darkness. A blind man gave advice for receiving and obtaining light. Alms, he said, do not let one go into darkness. If the son, amazed, replied to him, Why then, father, did you not give alms, so that now you speak as a blind man? Are you not now in darkness, who tells me, Alms do not let one go into darkness? He knew about which light he taught his son, he knew in the inner man what he saw. The son reached out his hand to the father, so that he might walk on the earth; and the father to the son, so that he might dwell in heaven.
Shouting must be done among the crowds preventing shouting.
Briefly, to conclude, brothers, this discourse, from that which most touches and distresses us, see that there are crowds that reprimand the shouting blind men. All who in this crowd wish to be healed, let them not deter you: for many are Christians in name, and impious in deeds; do not let them deter you from good works. Shout among the restraining crowds, recalling, insulting, living badly. For not only with voices do the wicked compress good Christians, but also with evil actions. The good Christian does not want to go and watch. This very fact that curbs his desire, that he may not go to the theater, he shouts for Christ, he shouts to be healed. Others rush in, but perhaps Pagans, perhaps Jews. Indeed, so few would be in the theaters, that they would leave in shame if Christians did not go to the theaters. Therefore they too run, bearing the holy name to their punishment. So shout, by not going, pressing in your heart the temporal desire; and hold yourself with a strong and persevering shout to the ears of the Savior, that Jesus may stand and heal you. Shout amid those very crowds, do not despair of the Lord's ears. For those blind men did not shout from that part where the crowd was not, to be heard from that part where there was no impediment of those preventing. They shouted amidst those very crowds: and yet the Lord heard. So also you, even among sinners and the wanton, among lovers of worldly vanities, shout there, that the Lord may heal you. Do not shout to the Lord from another place, do not go to heretics, and there shout to the Lord. Pay attention, brothers, because in that crowd which forbade shouting, those who shouted were healed.
Perseverance overcomes opponents.
For Your Holiness to consider, what it means to persevere in calling out. I will say what many have experienced with me in the name of Christ: the Church does not cease to bear such ones. When any Christian begins to live well, to be fervent in good works, and to despise the world, in the novelty of their works, they suffer reprovers and contradictory cold Christians. But if they persevere, surpass them by enduring, and do not falter from good works, the same ones who previously prevented them will now obey. For they reprimand and disturb and forbid as long as they presume they can be overcome. But if defeated by the perseverance of those making progress, they turn and begin to say: Great man, holy man: blessed is he to whom God has granted. They honor, congratulate, bless, and praise, like the crowd that was with the Lord. They prevented the blind from crying out, but after they cried out in this way, deserving to be heard and to obtain the mercy of the Lord, the same crowd says again: Jesus is calling you. Now they become encouragers who a little before were reprimanding them to be silent. However, he alone is not called by the Lord who does not labor in this world. But who in this life does not labor in sins and iniquities? If all labor, it is said to all: Come to me, all you who labor. If it is said to all, why blame your inviter for your fault? Come. His house is not narrow for you: equally by all, the kingdom of God is possessed entirely by each individual; increasing the number of possessors does not diminish it, because it is not divided. To each is the whole intact, which is held concordantly by many.
The good and the bad are intermixed in the Church.
However, in the mystery of this reading, brothers, we recognize that which resounds most openly in other places of the holy books: that inside the Church there are both good and evil, which we often call wheat and chaff. No one should leave the threshing floor before the time; bear the chaff during the threshing, bear it on the threshing floor. For what you bear, you will not have in the granary. The winnower will come, who will separate the evil from the good. There will also be a physical separation, which is now preceded by a spiritual one. Always separate yourselves from the evil in heart; cautiously couple with them in body for a time. Be diligent in correcting your own, who pertain to your care in whatever way, by admonishing, teaching, exhorting, warning. Use whatever means you can. And, when you find in the Scriptures and in the examples of the saints, whether those before or after the Lord's advent in this life, that the evil do not taint the good in unity, do not become lazy in correcting the evil. The evil does not taint you in two ways: if you do not consent and if you rebuke: that is, do not participate, do not consent. It is indeed participation when their deed is joined with a partnership of will or approval. Thus, the Apostle admonishing us says: Do not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness. And because it was not enough to merely not consent, lest indifference to discipline follow, he says: But rather, also reprove them. See how he includes both: Do not participate; but rather also reprove. What does it mean: Do not participate? Do not consent, do not praise, do not approve. What does it mean: But rather also reprove? Rebuke, correct, restrain.
Correction must not be done with a proud spirit.
Next, in the very act of correcting or restraining the sins of others, one must be cautious not to exalt oneself when correcting another; and that apostolic saying must be considered: "Therefore let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall." Outwardly, reproof should sound terrifying; inwardly, love should hold on to gentleness. If a man is overtaken in any transgression, as the same apostle says; you who are spiritual should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Again, elsewhere: "The servant of the Lord must not quarrel; but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition; if perhaps God will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will." Therefore, be neither consenting to evils, so as to approve them; nor negligent, so as not to rebuke them; nor proud, so as to rebuke others insultingly.
Unity must never be abandoned.
But he who has deserted unity violates charity: and whoever violates charity, whatever other great thing he may possess, he himself is nothing. If he speaks in the tongues of men and angels, if he knows all mysteries, if he has all faith to move mountains, if he distributes all his goods to the poor, if he gives his body to be burned, but lacks charity; he is nothing, it profits him nothing. He possesses all things in vain, who lacks that one thing by which all things are used.
Let us then embrace charity, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Let us not be led astray by those who understand carnally and make a physical separation, separating themselves in spiritual sacrilege from the grains of the Church scattered throughout the world. For the good seed has been sown throughout the whole world. That good sower, the Son of Man, did not sow the good seed in Africa alone, but everywhere. However, the enemy sowed weeds among the wheat. But what did the householder say? Let both grow together until harvest. By what means shall they grow? Certainly through the field. What is the field? Is it Africa? No. What is it then? Let us not interpret for ourselves, let the Lord speak: let no one presume anything by his own will. For the disciples said to the Master: Explain to us the parable of the weeds. And the Lord explained: The good seed, he said, are the children of the kingdom; but the weeds are the children of the evil one. Who sowed them? The enemy, he said, who sowed them is the devil. What is the field? The field, he said, is the world. What is the harvest? The harvest, he said, is the end of the age. Who are the reapers? The reapers, he said, are the angels. Is Africa the world? Is this time the harvest? Is Donatus the reaper? Await the harvest throughout the whole world, grow into the harvest throughout the whole world, tolerate the weeds throughout the whole world until the harvest. Do not be led astray by the perverse, by the very light chaff, which flies off before the coming of the winnower from the threshing floor: do not be led astray. Hold them to this one simile of the weeds, and do not allow them to speak further. He handed over the books. No. But he handed over the books. Whomever it was, did the faithlessness of the betrayers nullify the faith of God? What is the faith of God? That which he promised to Abraham, saying: In your seed all nations shall be blessed. What is the faith of God? Let both grow together until the harvest. By what means shall they grow? Through the field. What is, "Through the field?" Through the world.
A story of the Donatists about the diminution of the grains.
Here they say to him: Indeed both had grown throughout the world, but now the grain has diminished, and has been brought back to this our region and scarcity. The Lord does not allow you to interpret what you want. He who expounds this parable shuts your mouth, a sacrilegious mouth, an impious mouth, a profane mouth, a contrary mouth to you, who contradict the testator, even calling you to the inheritance? How does he shut your mouth? By saying: Let both grow until the harvest. If the harvest had already happened, we would believe the grain to be diminished. Although not even then will it be diminished, but will be stored in the barn. For so he says: Collect first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn; but gather the wheat into my barn. If therefore they grow until the harvest, they are stored after the harvest; wicked, impious, when are they diminished? I concede that in comparison to the tares and the chaff, the grains are fewer: yet both grow until the harvest. For when iniquity abounds, the love of many grows cold: the tares grow, the chaff grows. But because there cannot be an absence of grain in the whole field, which by enduring to the end may be saved, both grow until the harvest. And if because of the abundance of evils it was said: Do you think, when the Son of Man comes, he will find faith on the earth? and by this name are signified all those who through the transgression of the law imitate him to whom it was said: You are dust, and to dust you shall return: yet also because of the abundance of good, and because of him to whom it was said: Thus shall your seed be as the stars of heaven, and as the sand of the sea, even that cannot be left unsaid: Because many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac in the kingdom of God. Therefore both grow until the harvest; and the tares or chaff have their judgments in the Scriptures, and so do the grains. Those who do not understand these confuse and are confused; and thus they clamour with blind desire, so that they do not wish to be silent even when the truth is revealed.