HOMILY XI. Delivered to the people in the basilica of Saint Agnes, on her birthday.
READING OF THE HOLY GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW. At that time, Jesus told his disciples this parable: The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid, and out of joy over it he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls; and finding one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea, gathering fish of every kind. When it was full, they drew it out and, sitting on the shore, sorted the good into vessels but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from among the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Have you understood all these things? They said to him: Yes, Lord. He said to them: Therefore every scribe learned in the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.
The kingdom of heaven, dearest brothers, is said to be like earthly things so that from those things which the mind knows it may rise to things unknown, that by the example of visible things it may carry itself off to invisible things, and through those things which it has learned by experience, being as it were rubbed together, it may grow warm, so that through knowing how to love what is known, it may learn to love also things unknown. For behold, the kingdom of heaven is compared to a treasure hidden in a field, which when a man finds, he hides, and for joy of it goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. In this matter it should also be noted that the found treasure is hidden so that it may be kept safe, because the pursuit of heavenly desire is not sufficient to guard from malign spirits if one does not hide it from human praises. For in the present life we are as it were on a road by which we journey to our homeland. But malign spirits beset our journey like certain robbers. Therefore he who carries treasure openly on the road desires to be plundered. But I say this not so that our neighbors may not see our good works, since it is written: Let them see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven, but so that through what we do we may not seek praises from without. Let the work be in public in such a way that the intention remains in secret, so that we may both offer an example to our neighbors from our good work, and yet through the intention by which we seek to please God alone, we may always desire secrecy. The treasure is heavenly desire, and the field in which the treasure is hidden is the discipline of heavenly pursuit. This field indeed one purchases by selling all things, who, renouncing the pleasures of the flesh, tramples all his earthly desires through the guardianship of heavenly discipline, so that nothing which the flesh flatters may please him, nothing which kills the carnal life may the spirit dread.
Again the kingdom of heaven is said to be like a merchant man seeking good pearls, but he finds one precious pearl, which indeed once found, he buys by selling all things, because whoever has perfectly known the sweetness of the heavenly life, insofar as possibility allows, willingly abandons all things that he loved on earth; in comparison with it all things become worthless, he forsakes what he possessed, he scatters what he had gathered, his soul burns with desire for heavenly things, nothing on earth pleases him, whatever pleased him about the appearance of earthly things is seen as ugly, because the brightness of the precious pearl alone shines in his mind. Concerning the love of which it is rightly said through Solomon: Love is strong as death, because indeed just as death kills the body, so the love of eternal life slays attachment to bodily things. For whomever it has perfectly absorbed, it renders outwardly insensible to earthly desires.
For indeed this holy woman, whose birthday we celebrate today, could not have died for God in body, if she had not first died to earthly desires in mind. For her soul, raised to the height of virtue, despised torments and trampled upon rewards. Led before armed kings and governors, she stood firmer than those who struck her, more exalted than those who judged her. What do we bearded yet feeble men say amid these things, we who see girls going to the heavenly kingdoms through the sword, while anger overcomes us, pride puffs us up, ambition disturbs us, and lust defiles us? If we cannot attain the heavenly kingdoms through the wars of persecution, let this itself be a shame to us: that we are unwilling to follow God even in peace. Behold, at this time God says to none of us: Die for me, but only: Kill the unlawful desires within you. We who in peace are unwilling to subdue the desires of the flesh—when would we give up that very flesh for the Lord in battle?
Again, the kingdom of heaven is said to be like a net cast into the sea, gathering fish of every kind, which when filled is drawn to shore, and the good fish are selected into vessels, while the bad are thrown away. The Holy Church is compared to a net, because it has been entrusted to fishermen, and through it each person is drawn from the waves of the present age to the eternal kingdom, lest they be plunged into the depths of eternal death. It gathers fish of every kind, because it calls to the forgiveness of sins the wise and the foolish, the free and the enslaved, the rich and the poor, the strong and the weak. Hence it is said to God through the Psalmist: To you all flesh shall come. This net, namely, is universally filled when at its end the sum total of the human race is enclosed. They draw it out and sit beside the shore, because just as the sea signifies the world, so the shore of the sea signifies the end of the world. At which end, namely, good fish are selected into vessels, while the bad are thrown away, because each of the elect is received into eternal tabernacles, and having lost the light of the inner kingdom, the reprobate are dragged away to outer darkness. For now the net of faith holds us together, both good and bad, as if we were fish mixed together, but the shore reveals what the net, that is, the Holy Church, was dragging. And indeed fish that have been caught cannot be changed; but we are caught as evil, yet we are transformed into goodness. Let us therefore think about our capture, lest we be divided at the shore. Behold how pleasing today's solemnity is to you, so that it would be no small loss if anyone happened to be absent from this assembly of yours. What then will he do on that day, who is seized from the sight of the Judge, separated from the company of the elect, who is darkened from the light, tortured by eternal burning? Hence the Lord also explains this same comparison briefly when he adds: So it will be at the end of the world. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from among the righteous, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This, dearest brothers, is to be feared rather than expounded. For the torments of sinners have been spoken in plain words, lest anyone resort to the excuse of ignorance if something about eternal punishment were spoken obscurely. Hence it is also added: Have you understood all these things? They say to him: Yes, Lord.
And in the conclusion it is added: "Therefore every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like a householder bringing forth from his treasure things new and old." If by the new and old that is spoken of we understand both Testaments, we deny that Abraham was instructed, who although he knew the deeds of the New and Old Testament, by no means proclaimed their words. Nor can we compare Moses to the instructed householder, who although he taught the Old Testament, nevertheless did not bring forth the sayings of the New. Since therefore we are excluded from this interpretation, we are called to another. But in what the Truth says: "Every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like a householder," it can be understood that He was speaking not of those who had existed, but of those who could exist in the Church. They bring forth new and old things when they speak the proclamations of both Testaments by their words and their conduct. Yet this can also be understood in another way. For it was ancient for the human race to descend to the prison of hell, to endure eternal punishments for their sins. To this, through the coming of the Mediator, something new was added, so that if one rightly strives to live here, he may be able to enter the kingdom of heaven: and man, born on earth, may die from a corruptible life, to be placed in heaven. And so it is old that the human race should perish in eternal punishment for its guilt; and it is new that, being converted, it should live in the kingdom. What therefore the Lord added in the conclusion of His discourse is certainly what He had stated beforehand. For first He brought forth the treasure found and the good pearl concerning the likeness of the kingdom, but afterward He narrated the punishments of hell concerning the burning of the wicked, and in conclusion He adds: "Therefore every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like a householder bringing forth from his treasure things new and old." As if it were openly said: That preacher is instructed in the holy Church who knows both how to bring forth new things concerning the sweetness of the kingdom, and to speak old things concerning the terror of punishment, so that at least punishments may terrify those whom rewards do not attract. Let each one hear of the kingdom that he may love, let him hear of punishment that he may fear, so that if love does not draw the sluggish soul clinging vehemently to the earth toward the kingdom, at least fear may drive it. For behold, concerning the description of hell it is said: "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." But because present joys are followed by perpetual lamentations, here, dearest brothers, flee vain joy if you dread weeping there. For no one can both rejoice here with the world and reign there with the Lord. Therefore restrain the fleeting pleasures of temporal joy, subdue the lusts of the flesh. Whatever in the soul smiles upon you from the present age, let it become bitter from the consideration of eternal fire. Whatever rejoices in the mind in a childish manner, let the censure of youthful discipline restrain it, so that while you willingly flee temporal things, you may seize eternal joys without labor, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.