1. Lord save us, we are perishing. Matthew 8:25.
TuE SUNDAY SERMONS OF ST. BONAVENTURE
SERMON 10: FourRTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
1. Lord save us, we are perishing. Matthew 8:25.
[Protheme] Seeing that the Apostle says in Romans 1:16: The Gospel is the power of God to save all who believe, and since the word of God is intended for the ordered salvation of our souls, James 1:21 thus follows: Jn humility receive the word, which is able to save your souls.
Whoever then is attentive to the salvation of the one's soul listens attentively to the word of God just as someone who is concerned about bodily health listens willingly to the words of a physician. And since the efficacy of God's word may be impeded at some time by a defect of the preacher or a defect of those who are listening, the grace of God is required, therefore, for the preacher who is speaking and the people who are listening. On that account let us then ask the Lord, at the beginning of our sermon, that he would grant me to propose, and you to hear, those matters which are to the praise and glory of his name and the salvation of our souls.
[Sermon] 2. Lord, save us, we are perishing. Because disciples are secure when they listen to true masters, and sons are commended when they imitate good fathers, and servants bring glory upon themselves when they follow vigorous rulers: in the proposed verse we, who are his disciples, sons, and servants, are thus admonished in every necessity to return to the assistance of divine mercy, which is helpful in all situations, in-accord with the example of the apostles, who are true masters, good fathers,
SUNDAYS IN CHRISTMAS AND EPIPHANY
vigorous rulers, and leaders of the Christian faith. When threatened by bodily danger, they ask reverently for divine assistance and even obtain it efficaciously. In order to do this better, the example of the apostles in the proposed verse instructs us to proceed systematically according to the premise of the verse. First, the affectionate invocation of preeminent majesty is set forth. Second, the specific mention of imminent need is added. Third, the devout petition for assisting mercy is included. Consequently, first they speak of power when they say Lord; second, they demonstrate need when they say we are perishing; third, they implore clemency when they say save us.
3. First then, in saying Lord, they commend the excellence of power. Moreover his excellent and magnificent power, which is understood by the name Lord, can be grasped in three ways: first, in regard to insurmountable power in prevailing; second, in regard to infallible wisdom in knowing; third, in regard to unspeakable mercy in forgiving. As so he is frightful to enemies due to his magnificent power, honorable to those close to him due to his rich wisdom, and loving and desirable to the miserable and needy due to his affluent mercy.
4. First, the Lord has dynamic power in prevailing.
Whence Psalm 46:3 says: The Lord is on high, frightful, and great king over all the earth. He has subjected people to us and placed the nations under our feet. Jesus Christ is the Lord on high because of majestic dominion: frightful, because of severe judgment; the great king over all the earth, because of the dignity of imperial rule; He has subjected people to us and placed the nations under our feet, through the strength of his unsurpassable ability to prevail. For this reason Esther 13:9 says: Lord, almighty king, all things are under your dominion, and there is no one who is able to resist your will.
THE SuNDAY SERMONS OF ST. BONAVENTURE
5. Second, the Lord has infallible wisdom in knowing. 1 Samuel 2:3 says: Let things of the past be removed from your mouths because God is the Lord of knowledge, and all thoughts are displayed to him. The things of the past, of logical reasoning and philosophical arguments, are practically worthless; be removed from your mouths, does not mean that you should not talk about philosophy but, rather, that you should not depend on it, since the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom every treasure of wisdom and knowledge is found," is the God of knowledge who knows all things, both the latest and the oldest. And all thoughts are displayed to him,'" so they might be directed along the way of truth and justice according to the guidelines of his wisdom, and not those of philosophical reasoning.
6. Third, the Lord has pious mercy in forgiveness.
Whence Isaiah 55:7 says: Let the impious abandon his way and the evil man his thoughts and return to the Lord.
He will have mercy on him, for our God is great in forgiveness. Let the impious abandon his way, that is, sinful works; and the evil man his thoughts, that is, sins of the heart; and return to the Lord with fear; and to our God with love; and he will have mercy on him by pardoning all his offenses; because he is great in forgiveness since the greater the offense, the greater the one who is offended.
We are able to see certainly how great he is in forgiving in a coarse example, which has been proven through experience. It is commonly said' that an adulterous woman is repudiated, denied a life together with her man, and 170 See Col 2:3.
™ See Ps 138:5: "Behold, O Lord, you have known all things, the latest and the oldest" and 1 Sam 2:3: "... for the Lord is a God of all knowledge, and all thoughts are displayed to him."
™? See Jer 3:1: "It is commonly said: Ifa man put away his wife and she go from him and marry another man, will he return to her any more?...."
SUNDAYS IN CHRISTMAS AND EPIPHANY
never accepted back to be reconciled with him due to abhorrence for her past, indecent deeds. The soul, however, which has turned away from God and fornicated, so to speak, by committing many sins, is accepted back mercifully by Christ should it choose to turn back; he never refuses companionship due to the indecent actions of the past. And because of this Jerome, that most trustworthy doctor, says about Jeremiah 3:7: I said turn back and she has not returned. "Such mercy! Such hardness of heart!
While even after so many wounds you move us to salvation, we still do not wish to turn to better things."!"
7. It follows with: We are perishing, where they display the indigency of necessity. According to the example of the apostles, each and everyone should declare their indigence and need before Christ when a person sees himself perishing on account of: first, the helpless weakness of the one who is sinking; second, the ignorant blindness of the one who is straying; third, the miserable punishment of the one who is being overwhelmed.
8. First, someone perishes because of the helpless weakness of the one who is sinking. Whence Exodus 10:7 states: Do you not see that Egypt has perished? Egypt, contradicting the divine will, recognizes it has perished due to the debilitating weakness it displayed when resisting the punishments it earned, signifies each and every fool, who, in a threatening and anxious situation, remains indifferent to divine assistance. Weakened by the consideration of personal fragility, he perishes in a dangerous state of interior anger.
173 See Jerome, Letter 122 n. 2 in PL 22:1041. The citation is virtually verbatim.
TuE SUNDAY SERMONS OF ST. BONAVENTURE
9. Second, someone perishes because of the ignorant blindness of the one who strays. Whence Baruch 3:28 says: Since they did not have wisdom, they perished on account of their foolishness. No one is able to arrive at the state of salvation unless a person possess the wisdom of God, for such wisdom leads all things back to the Creator, demonstrates the powerful force of the Creator, and displays divine worship proper to the Creator. Whence, the philosophers, to be more precise, the proud ones, perish because of their foolishness. They would rather depend on the stupidity or vanity of fanciful reason than on the solidity of the first truth. And note that it says their, because the defect is their fault and not divine wisdom. O proud intellect! While you are inflated by the winds of vain elation, the strength of redeeming wisdom is emptied from you, and you are excited by the stupidity, which distracts you.
10. Third, someone perishes because of the miserable punishment of the one who is overwhelmed. Psalm 72:19 says: They are desolate and have given up; they perished on account of their iniquity. Sinful people, when they are filled with many miseries, oppressed by great punishments, and afflicted with various pains, do not wish to patiently undergo a conversion marked by tears, laments, or to cry out humbly to the Lord, until the thorns of tribulation and punishment break. They allow themselves instead to be so overcome and absorbed by impatient anger that they quickly loose the strength to prevail. And this is what the passage says: They are desolate and have given up. And certainly the punishments, which were an opportunity to exercise virtue and the occasion of salvation and grace, result in even more blame. For that reason it follows: they perished on account of their iniquity. The highest wisdom is certainly required to live in accord with the
SUNDAYS IN CHRISTMAS AND EPIPHANY
virtues, and the highest stupidity to commit vices and sins.1"4
11. Third, save us, is added, where a devout appeal for merciful assistance is noted. According to the example of the apostles, we should ask moreover for divine mercy, so that first the Lord of invincible, prevailing power, may save us from the impotent weakness of the one who is sinking through the influence of strength, which fortifies the operative power. Second, that the Lord of infallible, knowing wisdom, may save us from the ignorant blindness of the one who strays through the most brilliant light, which illuminates the intellectual power. Third, that the Lord of unspeakable pardon, both forgiving and assisting, may save us from the miserable punishment of the one who is overwhelmed through the gift of salvation, which delights the affective power.
12. First, the Lord of invincible, prevailing power saves us through the influence of strength, which fortifies the operative power from the impotent weakness of the one who is sinking. Whence Psalm 43:7-9 says: I will not hope in my bow, and my sword will not save me. Indeed, you have saved us from those who afflicted us, and you confounded those who hate us. We will rejoice in the Lord throughout the day, and we will praise his name forever.
Those who hope to be saved by their sword and bow, who trust in their own strength and praise themselves with their proud thoughts, are the ones to whom divine help is rightly denied; but the Lord saves those who recognize their powerlessness and return to seek divine assistance by supporting them with interior strength, lest they be shaken, and by shielding them exteriorly from every dan174 The critical edition cites Book III n. 2 of Jerome's Apologia adversus libros Rufini and PL 23:458B.
Tue SUNDAY SERMONS OF ST. BONAVENTURE
gerous obstacle, lest they be hurt. On account of this example from David, in every good we should rejoice in God, not ourselves, and praise his name by attributing every good to him.
13. Second, the Lord of infallible, knowing wisdom saves us through the most brilliant light, which illuminates the intellectual power from the ignorant blindness of those who stray. Whence Isaiah 49:6 states: J gave you as a light to the nations, so you might be my salvation to the ends of the earth. The Son of God, true and purest light, who is without any darkness due to ignorance or any mark of blame, was given freely by God the Father to the nations who walk in darkness, to demonstrate the errors of their way, lest on our journey we fall headlong into falsehood or deception. So you might be my salvation, divine not human, of all the faithful; to the ends of the earth, openly from the east of those who are beginning in faith, to the west of those who are ending in death, from the midday of fervent lovers and the north of those bearing the evils of punishment with courage; and thus no one alive in any part of the earth lacks that true salvation due to its sufficiency.
14. Third, the Lord of unspeakable pardon, both in forgiveness and assistance, saves us through his gift of salvation which delights the affective power from the miserable punishment of those who are overwhelmed.
Whence Philippians 3:20 says: We await the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humility and conform it to his glorious body. If we wish to conform our bodies in anticipation of the judgment to the glorious body of Christ, we should [be conformed] to the example of his body, which underwent fasting, privations, and was beaten shamefully to the ground with torments like those when wheat is prepared; so, too, our body must
SUNDAYS IN CHRISTMAS AND EPIPHANY
be pressed by fasting and humbled by affliction, for the more someone's body is conformed to the glorious body of Christ, the more that person will be humble for the sake of his name.