Sermon II
Sermon II
ST. PAUL, OUTSTANDING EXAMPLE
OF THE POSSIBILITIES
OF HUMAN NATURE FOR VIRTUE
The love of Christ was the source of all his strivings and his whole pleasure—His one ambition was to save souls—
Angelic in his purity and resolute in his determination— All can share in his achievement.
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Outstanding Example of Virtue 29 St. Paul was the noblest of men and the most outstanding example of the nobility of human na ture and of its possibilities for virtue. By speak ing up for the Master and exhorting us to virtue he completely refutes those who find fault with human nature, seals the lips of those who make slanderous charges, and shows that little divides angels from men if they are willing to perfect themselves.
Paul's nature was no different from ours.
His soul was no different. He was an inhabitant of no different world. In the same world, the same country, with the same laws and customs, he sur passed in virtue all men, present and past. Where now are those who protest that virtue is difficult and vice all too easy? This man refutes them with his words: For our present light affliction prepares for us an eternal weight of glory that is beyond all measure (2 Cor. 4:17). If his tribulations are light, how much more so ours, which are pleasures by comparison.
The fact that in the excess of his zeal he did not feel the pains involved in being virtuous is not the only marvelous thing about him. There is also the fact that he ha,d no ulterior motive in his vir tue. We are reluctant to endure pains to acquire virtue even when rewards are on offer, but he lovingly embraced it even without rewards and
30 Sermon II endured with all meekness whatever seemed to stand in the way of virtue. He did not chafe at bod ily weakness, or pressure of engagements, or the tyranny of habit, or anything else. Yet his respon sibilities exceeded those of generals or earthly kings. Nonetheless he increased daily in virtue; increasing the threats of danger only served to in crease his zeal. He tells us as much in the words: forgetting what is behind, I strain to what is before (Phil. 3:13). When death was imminent he called them to share in this pleasure saying: joy and re joice with me (Phil. 2:18) and he exulted in dan ger, injury, and every opprobrium. Writing to the Corinthians he says: wherefore I am satisfied with infirmities, with insults, with hardships (2 Cor. 12:
10). He called these the arms of justice, showing that they were a fruitful source of good to him, and that he was invincible to his enemies. Though beaten, and abused, and reviled, as if in trium phal procession he erected many earthly trophies, rejoiced and offered thanks to God, saying: thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph
(2 Cor. 2:14). To further his preaching, he was honored to accept discredit and shame, regarding death as we would life, and poverty as we would wealth, and toil as we would rest, nay far more than we would, and grief more than we would pleasure, and praying more for his enemies than
Outstanding Example of Virtue 31 others would against them. He changed the order of things, or rather, I should say it is we who change it. He merely kept it as God had decreed.
For what he sought was according to nature, and what we seek is contrary to nature. The proof of this is that Paul, human though he was, sought what he did and not what we do. One thing only he feared and avoided: giving offense to God, nothing else. One pleasure only he sought: to be pleasing to God. I do not mean just present pleas ure, but future pleasure as well.
Don't talk to me of cities, and peoples, and kings, and armies, and arms, and money, and prov inces, and power—these things he reckoned as mere gossamer threads. But reckon up heavenly pleasures and then you will see his exceeding love for Christ.
The dignity of angels, or archangels, or any thing else, meant less to him than the love of Christ. For he had within himself the greatest of all possessions—the love of Christ, and with it he considered himself the happiest of men. Without it he had no wish to belong to the company of dominations or principalities or powers. With this love he preferred to be numbered among the low est of reprobates than without it to be on the heights among the most reputable. There was only one punishment in his eyes: to be without
32 Sermon II this love. This was hell to him, this was punish ment, this was evil without end. Likewise the possession of the love of Christ was heaven: this was life, this was the whole world, this was being an angel, this was present joy, this was future joy, this was being a. king, this was the Promise, this was goodness without end.
Apart from these he considered nothing else as pleasurable or painful. The whole visible world he despised as a piece of rotting foliage.
Tyrants, in his eyes, and people breathing fire were just like gnats. Death, abuse, and punish ment were children's playthings, as long as he was enduring them on account of Christ. Then he embraced them gladly, and he prized the embel lishment of his chains more highly than if they were Nero's precious crown. Prison he occupied as if it were very heaven, and lashes and stripes he endured with more eagerness than other men hunt after prizes, prompting him to call pains a grace. Let me explain what I mean.
It would certainly be a, prize to depart and to be with Christ (cf. Phil. 1:23). To stay on in the flesh was a trial. Nonetheless he chose the trial instead of the prize, and said it was more necessary for him. To be anathema from Christ was certainly a trial and a pain, nay surpassing a trial and a pain. To be with Christ was the prize.
Outstanding Example of Virtue 33 But for the sake of Christ, he preferred to be anathema than to be with Christ.
Perhaps someone will say that all these things were pleasant to him because of Christ. I will agree that what would be distressing to us was very pleasant to him. Why do I mention dangers and other causes of wretchedness? His constant distress prompted him to say: Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not inflamed? (2 Cor. 11:29).
One might say that there is a certain pleasure inherent in distress. Many who grieve at the deaths of their children find consolation if they are left alone with their tears. If their weeping is interrupted they feel the pain more intensely.
Paul likewise drew consolation from weeping by day and night. No one ever grieved for his own sufferings as this man grieved for the sufferings of others. How great must have been his concern for the salvation of the Jews when he prayed to be excluded from the glory of Heaven if only they were saved!1 Isn't it clear from this that their loss of salvation was-more grievous to him than his own? If not, he would not have prayed as he did.
He would prefer to be lost himself, and derived consolation from that thought. It was not just a passing thought, but rather a vehement desire, expressed in the exclamation: 1 have (great) sad3. Praise of St. Paul
34 Sermon II ness and continuous sorrow in my heart (Rom.
9:2). What then, can be compared to Paul, daily grieving for every inhabitant of the world, for every race and city, and for every single individ ual? He is more resolute than iron or adamant.
What word will describe this soul of his, golden or adamantine? It is more durable than adamant, more precious than gold or diamonds. It is more solid than adamant and worth more than gold. To what, then, will one compare it? To nothing, for it is incomparable. If gold were as durable as ada mant or adamant as precious as gold, then we would have some basis for comparison. But why compare Paul's soul to adamant or gold? Conjure up the whole world and even then you will see the world unworthy of the soul of Paul. For if this is said of those wandering in sheepskins and in caves in a hole in the earth 2 how much more fit tingly it is said of him?
And if the world is unworthy of him, what is worthy? The heavens, perhaps? Even this is found not to measure up. For if he preferred the love of the Lord to the heavens and its inha bitants, would not the Lord, whose goodness sur passes Pauls as much as ordinary goodness surpasses wickedness, prefer him to many heavens? For God's love is not just proportioned
Outstanding Example of Virtue 35 to ours, but outstrips it in an indescribable manner.
Let us consider the honors Paul received.
He was caught up into Paradise, into the third heaven, made to share in secret words that man may not repeat.3 He deserved the honor for as he walked the earth he did everything as if he were in the company of angels. Under the trappings of a mortal body he was angelic in his purity, and despite his human frailty he strove to be as angelic as the powers above. His course through the world was like that of a creature on wings: and like an incorporeal creature he despised toils and dangers.
He despised everything on earth as if he had al ready attained the heavens, and exercised per petual vigilance as if he already lived with the angels in heaven. To be guardians over particular peoples has often been assigned to angels, but none of them ever kept such guard over their par ticular assignment as Paul kept over the entire earth.
Do not object that it was not Paul himself that did these things. I agree. But even if he did not accomplish these things by his own power, he should not on that account be excluded from the praises for the accomplishments, since he made himself worthy of the grace that he received.
36 Sermon II Michael's assignment was the Jewish race,4 but Paul's was the earth and sea, the habited and the uninhabited world. And I say this, not to run down the angels,—God forbid!—but to show that man can be in the same company as the angels and enjoy almost equal status.
Why were angels not commissioned to preach the Gospel? So that you might have no ex cuse for slothfulness, or might not resort to a dif ference of nature in your sleep. Also that the net result might be greater. For surely it is marvelous and unexpected that a word springing from a tongue of clay should rout death, forgive sins, restore sight to the blind, and turn earth into heaven. This makes me marvel at the power of God; this makes me admire the zeal of Paul in receiving such grace and in preparing his soul for its reception.
I exhort you not merely to admire but to emulate this archetype of virtue. That way we will be able to share his crown. If it comes as a surprise to anyone to hear that we can match
Paul in achievement if we imitate his example, let him listen to himself saying the same thing: 1 have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. For the rest there is laid up for me a crown of justice which the Lord, the just Judge, will give to me in that day, yet not
Outstanding Example of Virtue 37 to me only but also to those who love His coming
(2 Tim. 4:7, 8). You see how he calls all to share in his achievement. Since then the same reward is open to all, let us all be zealous to prove worthy of the blessings that are promised. We should look not just to the greatness and glory of the life of virtue but also to the steadfastness of purpose through which this grace is attained, and to the fact that Paul was in no way different from our selves. He was the same as we are and this should make what is very difficult appear light and easy to us, so that after this short period of labor we will continue to wear this lasting and immortal crown, through the grace and goodness of our
Lord, Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power now and always, forever and ever. Amea.