HOMILY V. Delivered to the people in the basilica of blessed Andrew the apostle, on the day of his nativity.
Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. At that time, Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishermen), and he said to them: Come, follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. And they immediately, leaving their nets, followed him. And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. And they immediately, leaving their nets and their father, followed him.
You have heard, dearest brothers, that at the voice of a single command, Peter and Andrew, leaving their nets, followed the Redeemer. They had seen him perform no miracles yet, they had heard nothing from him about the reward of eternal recompense; and yet at one command of the Lord they forgot what they seemed to possess. How many of his miracles do we see, with how many scourges are we afflicted, by how many harsh threats are we deterred, and yet we disdain to follow him when he calls? He who admonishes us about conversion already sits in heaven; he has already subjected the necks of the nations to the yoke of faith, he has already laid low the glory of the world, he already announces, as its ruins multiply, that the day of his strict judgment draws near; and yet our proud mind does not wish to abandon willingly what it loses daily against its will. What then, dearest ones, what shall we say at his judgment, we who are neither bent by commands nor corrected by blows from the love of the present age?
But perhaps someone may say to himself in silent thoughts: At the Lord's voice, what or how much did each of these fishermen leave behind, who had almost nothing? But in this matter, dearest brothers, we ought to weigh the affection rather than the wealth. He left much who retained nothing for himself; he left much who, however little it was, abandoned everything. Certainly we both possess what we have with love, and seek from desire those things we do not have at all. Therefore Peter and Andrew left much, since each also abandoned the desires of having. He left much who renounced his longings along with the thing he possessed. Therefore those who followed gave up as much as could be desired by those who did not follow. Let no one therefore, even when he sees that certain people have left many things behind, say to himself: I want to imitate these despisers of the world, but I have nothing to leave behind. You leave many things, brothers, if you renounce earthly desires. For our external possessions, however small, are sufficient for the Lord. For he weighs the heart, not the substance; nor does he consider how much is offered in his sacrifice, but from how much it is brought forth. For if we weigh external substance, behold, our holy merchants purchased the perpetual life of angels by giving up their nets and boat. Indeed it has no estimation of price, yet the kingdom of God is worth as much as you have. For it was worth half his substance to Zacchaeus, because he reserved the other half to restore fourfold what he had unjustly taken. It was worth the abandoned nets and boat to Peter and Andrew; it was worth two small coins to the widow; it was worth a cup of cold water to another. The kingdom of God, therefore, as we said, is worth as much as you have.
Consider therefore, brothers, what is cheaper when purchased, what is more precious when possessed. But perhaps not even a cup of cold water is available to be offered to one in need; even then the divine word promises us security. For when the Redeemer was born, the citizens of heaven were revealed, who cried out: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will. For before the eyes of God the hand is never empty of a gift, if the treasury of the heart has been filled with good will. Hence the Psalmist says: In me, O God, are your vows which I shall pay, praises to you. As if he were saying openly: Even if outwardly I do not have gifts to offer, yet within myself I find what I may place upon the altar of your praise, because you who are not fed by our giving are better pleased by the offering of the heart. For nothing richer than good will is offered to God. But good will is to fear the adversities of another as our own, to rejoice in the prosperity of our neighbor as in our own advancement, to consider the losses of others as our own, to reckon the gains of others as our own, to love a friend not for the sake of the world but for the sake of God, to tolerate even an enemy by loving him, to do to no one what you do not wish to suffer, to deny to no one what you justly desire to be rendered to yourself, not only to assist the needs of your neighbor according to your abilities, but to wish to help even beyond your abilities. What then is richer than this holocaust, when through what the soul sacrifices to God on the altar of the heart, it slays itself?
But this sacrifice of good will is never fully paid unless desire for this world is perfectly abandoned. For whatever we covet in it, we without doubt envy our neighbors. For it seems that what another obtains is lacking to us. And because envy always conflicts with good will, as soon as the former seizes the mind, the latter departs. Therefore the holy preachers, that they might perfectly love their neighbors, strove to love nothing in this age, never to desire anything, to possess nothing even without desire. Looking upon them well, Isaiah says: "Who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows?" For he saw them despise earthly things, draw near to heavenly things in mind, rain down words, flash forth miracles. And those whom holy preaching and sublime life had lifted up from earthly contagions, he calls both flying and clouds. Moreover our windows are our eyes, because through them the soul looks upon what it desires outwardly. But the dove is a simple animal, and free from the malice of gall. Therefore they are as doves to their windows who covet nothing in this world, who look upon all things simply, and are not drawn by the zeal of rapacity in what they see. But on the contrary, the kite and not the dove is at its windows, who pants with desire for plunder at what it considers with its eyes. Therefore, dearest brothers, since we celebrate the birthday of blessed Andrew the apostle, we ought to imitate what we honor. Let the solemnity of a changed mind show the service of our devotion; let us despise what is earthly, and leaving behind temporal things, let us purchase eternal ones. But if we cannot yet leave our own possessions, let us at least not covet those of others. If our mind is not yet kindled with the fire of charity, let it have the bridle of fear in its ambition, so that invigorated by the steps of its progress, while it is restrained from desire for others' goods, it may eventually be led to despise its own, with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.