HOMILY XXXV. Delivered to the people in the basilica of Saint Mennas the martyr, on the day of his birth.
READING OF THE HOLY GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE. At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: When you shall hear of wars and seditions, be not terrified; these things must first come to pass, but the end is not yet at hand. Then he said to them: Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be great earthquakes in various places, and pestilences and famines, and terrors from heaven, and there shall be great signs. But before all these things, they shall lay their hands upon you and persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, dragging you before kings and governors for my name's sake. And these things shall happen to you for a testimony. Lay it up therefore in your hearts not to meditate beforehand how you shall respond. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and contradict. And you shall be betrayed by parents and brethren and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they shall put to death. And you shall be hated by all men for my name's sake, yet not a hair of your head shall perish. In your patience you shall possess your souls.
Because we have journeyed rather far from the city, lest a later hour hinder us from returning, it is necessary that a shorter discourse pass through the exposition of the holy Gospel. Our Lord and Redeemer announces beforehand the evils that precede the perishing world, so that the things to come may disturb us less because they have been foreknown. For missiles that are foreseen strike less forcefully; and we endure the evils of the world more tolerably if we are fortified against them by the shield of foreknowledge. For behold he says: "When you hear of wars and seditions, do not be terrified; for these things must happen first, but the end is not yet at once." The words of our Redeemer must be weighed carefully, through which he announces that we will suffer one thing internally, another externally. For wars indeed pertain to enemies, seditions to citizens. Therefore, to indicate that we are troubled both internally and externally, he declares that we suffer one thing from enemies, another from brothers. But since the end does not immediately follow when these evils come first, he adds: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be great earthquakes in various places, and pestilences and famines, and terrors from heaven; and there will be great signs." Or as is found in certain manuscripts: "Terrors from heaven and storms." And afterward it is added: "And there will be great signs." The final tribulation is preceded by many tribulations, and through the frequent evils that come before, the perpetual evils that will follow are indicated. And therefore after wars and seditions the end does not come immediately, because many evils must run before, so that they may be able to announce evil without end. But since so many signs of disturbance have been mentioned, we ought to touch briefly upon the consideration of each one, because it is necessary that we suffer some things from heaven, some from earth, some from the elements, some from men. For he says: "Nation will rise against nation"—behold the disturbance of men; "there will be great earthquakes in various places"—behold the look of wrath from above; "there will be pestilences"—behold the disorder of bodies; "there will be famine"—behold the barrenness of the earth; "terrors from heaven and storms"—behold the disorder of the air. Because therefore all things are to be brought to an end, before the end all things are disturbed; and we who have sinned in all things are struck in all things, so that what is said may be fulfilled: "And the world will fight on his behalf against the senseless." For all things that we received for the use of life we have turned to the use of sin, but all things that we bent to the use of wickedness are turned against us for the use of vengeance. Indeed we turned the tranquility of human peace to the use of vain security; we loved the pilgrimage of earth as if it were our homeland's dwelling; we reduced the health of bodies to the use of vices; we twisted the abundance of plenty not to the necessity of the flesh but to the perversity of pleasure; we forced even the serene enticements of the air to serve our love of earthly delight. Rightly therefore it remains that all things strike us together, which all together served our vices in evil subjection, so that as many joys as we previously had unharmed in the world, so many torments from it we are afterward compelled to feel. But it should be noted what is said: "Terrors from heaven and storms." Since winter storms usually come according to the order of the seasons, why are storms predicted here as a sign of destruction, unless because the Lord announces that storms will come that in no way keep the order of the seasons? For those that come in an orderly fashion are not a sign; but storms are a sign that confound even the appointed times of the seasons themselves. This we too have recently experienced, because we saw the entire summer season turned into winter rains.
But because all these things come not from the injustice of the one striking but from the merit of the world that suffers, the deeds of wicked men are set forth first when it is said: "But before all these things they will lay their hands upon you and persecute you, and deliver you to synagogues, leading you before kings and governors for my name's sake." As if he were saying openly: First the hearts of men are disturbed, and afterward the elements, so that when the order of things is thrown into confusion, it may be shown from what retribution this comes. For although the end of the world depends on its own order, it is made known that it finds certain more perverse people who may worthily be crushed by its ruins, when it is added: "Leading you before kings and governors for my name's sake. But these things will happen to you for a testimony." For a testimony, clearly, of whom, unless of those who either inflict death by persecuting or who see and do not imitate? For the death of the just is a help to the good and a testimony against the wicked, so that the perverse may perish without excuse from the very thing whence the elect take an example that they may live.
But upon hearing so many terrors, the hearts of the weak could be disturbed, and therefore consolation is added when it is immediately subjoined: "Settle it therefore in your hearts not to premeditate how you will answer. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries will not be able to resist or contradict." As if He openly says to His weakening members: Do not be terrified, do not be afraid; you approach the contest, but I fight; you utter the words, but I am the one who speaks. It follows: "But you will be betrayed by parents and brothers, and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death." Evils inflicted by strangers cause lesser pain. But those torments rage more fiercely within us which we suffer from those in whose minds we had confidence, because along with bodily harm, the evils of lost love torment us. Hence it is that the Lord says through the Psalmist concerning Judas His betrayer: "Indeed if my enemy had cursed me, I would have borne it; and if he who hated me had spoken great things against me, I would certainly have hidden myself from him. But you, a man of one mind with me, my guide and my acquaintance, who took sweet food together with me, we walked in the house of God with agreement." And again: "The man of my peace in whom I trusted, and who ate my bread, has greatly plotted treachery against me." As if He says in plain words about His betrayer: I bore his transgression all the more gravely because I perceived it from one who seemed to be mine. All the elect, therefore, because they are members of the supreme Head, also follow their Head in sufferings, so that they feel those very people as adversaries in their death from whose life they had confidence, and their reward of labor increases all the more as the gain of their virtue profits from another's loss of love.
But because the things foretold concerning the affliction of death are harsh, consolation is immediately added concerning the joy of the resurrection, when it is said: "Not a hair of your head shall perish." We know, brothers, that flesh when cut feels pain, but hair when cut does not feel pain. Therefore He says to His martyrs: "Not a hair of your head shall perish," clearly saying: Why do you fear that what feels pain when cut may perish, when even that which does not feel pain when cut cannot perish in you? There follows: "In your patience you shall possess your souls." The possession of the soul is placed in the virtue of patience because patience is the root and guardian of all virtues. Through patience we truly possess our souls, because while we learn to master ourselves, we begin to possess that very thing which we are. Patience, however, is to endure the evils of others with equanimity, and to feel no sting of resentment even against the one who inflicts the evils. For whoever bears the evils of a neighbor in such a way that he nevertheless grieves silently and seeks an opportunity for fitting retribution does not display patience but merely shows it outwardly. For it is written: "Love is patient, love is kind." It is patient so as to bear the evils of others, and kind so as to love even those whom it bears. Hence Truth says through Himself: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute and slander you." It is therefore a virtue before men to tolerate adversaries, but the virtue before God is to love them, because God accepts only that sacrifice which the flame of charity kindles before His eyes on the altar of good works. 5. But it should be known that very often we seem to be patient only because we cannot repay evils. But whoever does not repay evil because he is unable to, without doubt, as we said, is not patient, because patience is sought not in outward show but in the heart. Through the vice of impatience, doctrine itself, the nurse of virtues, is scattered. For it is written: "A man's learning is known through patience." Therefore, the less patient anyone is shown to be, the less learned he is shown to be. For one cannot truly impart good things by teaching if he does not know how to tolerate the evils of others with equanimity in his way of living. For Solomon again indicates how great is the height at which the virtue of patience excels, saying: "The patient man is better than the strong man, and he who rules his spirit than he who captures cities." It is therefore a lesser victory to capture cities, because what is conquered is external. But what is conquered through patience is greater, because the mind is overcome by itself, and it subjects itself to itself, when patience prostrates it in the humility of forbearance. But it should be known that it very often happens to patient people that at the very time when they suffer adversities or hear insults, they are struck by no grief, and they display patience in such a way that they take care also to guard the innocence of their heart. But when after a little while they recall to memory those very things they endured, they are inflamed by the fire of most vehement grief, they seek occasions for revenge, and they lose in their reconsideration, judging themselves, the meekness they had while enduring.
The cunning adversary wages war against two people: inflaming one to be the first to hurl insults, while provoking the other to return insults when injured. But since the one whom he stirred to utter insults has already emerged as his victor, he grieves more bitterly against the one whom he could not move to return injuries. Thus it happens that he rises up with all his strength against the one whom he observes to have bravely endured insults. Since he could not move him during the very hurling of injuries, he withdraws for a time from open battle, seeks an opportunity for deception in secret thought, and he who lost in public warfare burns to lay hidden ambushes. For now in a time of quiet he returns to the victor's mind and brings back to memory either losses of possessions or the darts of injuries. Greatly exaggerating everything that was inflicted upon him, he shows it to have been intolerable, and disturbs the mind of the one at rest with such fury that often a patient man, now a captive after his victory, is ashamed that he bore those things with equanimity. He grieves that he did not return insults and seeks to repay worse if the opportunity should arise. To whom, then, are such people similar, if not to those who are victorious on the battlefield through courage, but are afterwards captured within the city walls through negligence? To whom are they similar, if not to those whom a severe illness striking suddenly does not take from life, but whom a recurring fever coming lightly kills? Therefore, he truly preserves patience who both tolerates the evils of others without distress for the time being, and reflecting on these same things, rejoices that he endured such things—lest the good of patience perish in time of quiet which was guarded during disturbances.
But because we celebrate today the birthday of a martyr, my brothers, we ought by no means to consider ourselves strangers to the virtue of his patience. For if, with the Lord helping us, we strive to preserve the virtue of patience, we both live in the peace of the Church and yet hold the palm of martyrdom. For there are two kinds of martyrdom: one in the mind, another in the mind together with action. And so we can be martyrs even if we are not slain by any sword of persecutors. For to die at the hands of a persecutor is martyrdom in open deed; but to bear insults, to love one who hates us, is martyrdom in hidden thought. For that there are two kinds of martyrdom, one in hidden deed, another in public, the Truth testifies, who asks the sons of Zebedee, saying: "Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?" When they immediately answered Him: "We can," the Lord at once replied, saying: "You shall indeed drink my cup." For what do we understand by the cup except the suffering of the Passion? Of which He says elsewhere: "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." And the sons of Zebedee, that is, James and John, did not both die through martyrdom, and yet both heard that they would drink the cup. For John did not end his life through martyrdom, yet he was a martyr, because the suffering that he did not undergo in body he preserved in mind. Therefore, by this example, we too can be martyrs without the sword, if we truly guard patience in our soul. I do not think it beside the point, dearest brothers, if I speak to you one example of preserving patience for your edification.
There was in our days a certain man named Stephen, father of a monastery situated near the walls of the city of Rieti, a man of great holiness, singular in the virtue of patience. And many still survive who knew him and relate both his life and his death. His speech was unpolished, but his life was learned. He had despised all things for love of the heavenly fatherland; he fled from possessing anything in this world; he avoided the tumults of men and was intent upon frequent and prolonged prayers. Yet the virtue of patience had grown exceedingly strong in him, so that he considered anyone who had caused him some trouble to be his friend; he returned thanks for insults; if any loss had been inflicted upon him in his very poverty, he counted this the greatest gain; he regarded all his adversaries as nothing other than helpers. When the day of death pressed him to depart from the body, many gathered together to commend their souls to so holy a soul as it departed from this world. And while all those who had gathered stood around his bed, some saw with their bodily eyes angels entering, but they were utterly unable to say anything; others saw nothing at all; but all who were present were struck with such violent fear that no one was able to stand there while that holy soul was departing. And so both those who had seen and those who had seen nothing at all, all struck and terrified by the same fear, fled, and no one was able to stand by him as he died. Consider therefore, brothers, how the almighty God terrifies when he comes as a strict judge, if he so terrified those standing by when he came gracious and rewarding; or how he can be feared when he can be seen, if he so prostrated the minds of those present even when he could not be seen. Behold, dearest brothers, that patience preserved in ecclesiastical peace raised him to what a height of recompense. What did his Creator give him inwardly, concerning whom such great glory was made known to us outwardly on the day of his departure? With whom should we believe him to be joined except the holy martyrs, whom, with bodily eyes also bearing witness, we know to have been received by blessed spirits? He did not fall struck down by any sword, and yet in his departure he received the crown of patience which he had held in his mind. We prove daily that what was said before us is true: that holy Church, full of the flowers of the elect, has lilies in peace, roses in war.
It should also be known that the virtue of patience is usually exercised in three ways. For there are some things we endure from God, others from the ancient adversary, and others from our neighbor. From our neighbor we endure persecutions, losses, and insults; from the ancient adversary, temptations; and from God, we bear chastisements. But in all these three ways, the mind must watch itself with a vigilant eye, lest against the evils of a neighbor it be drawn to return evil, lest against the temptations of the adversary it be seduced into delight or consent to sin, lest against the chastisements of its Maker it rush into excessive murmuring. For the adversary is perfectly conquered when our mind is not drawn to delight or consent amid his temptations, when it is guarded from hatred amid the insults of a neighbor, and when it is restrained from murmuring amid the chastisements of God. Nor, in doing these things, should we seek present goods to be given to us in return; for in exchange for the labor of patience, the goods of the life to come are to be hoped for, so that the reward of our labor may begin when all labor has completely ceased. Hence it is also said through the Psalmist: "The poor shall not be forgotten forever; the patience of the poor shall not perish forever." For the patience of the poor seems to have perished when nothing is repaid to the humble for it in this life. But the patience of the poor shall not perish forever, because its glory is received when all toilsome things are ended together. Therefore, brothers, preserve patience in your mind, and when circumstances demand it, exercise it in action. Let no insulting words move any of you to hatred of your neighbor; let no losses of perishable things disturb you. For if with a steadfast mind you fear lasting losses, you do not consider the losses of passing things to be serious; if you behold the glory of eternal recompense, you do not grieve over temporal injury. Therefore tolerate your adversaries, but love as brothers those whom you tolerate. Seek eternal rewards in exchange for temporal losses. And let no one among you trust that he can accomplish this by his own strength, but obtain through prayers that he who commands this may himself grant it. And we know that he gladly hears those who ask, when what is asked to be given is what he commands. When he is continually implored in prayer, he swiftly aids in temptation, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns as God with him in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.