[Sermon] 1. I am the good shepherd. The good shep-
THE SUNDAY SERMONS OF ST. BONAVENTURE
SERMON 23: SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER
[Sermon] 1. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. John 10:11. Our
Lord Jesus Christ, the shepherd of the triumphant and militant Church, like any good shepherd, when the lamb of humanity was missing, placed the angelic flock in the desert of divine pleasure, put on the vestment of human flesh and visibly sought after the long lost lamb, which he found in the mouth of demons. In order to liberate it from their jaws, he exposed his own body to death, so that having found and liberated it, he might lead it back to the sheepfold in the celestial homeland and placed it with the angelic herd in the quiet of glory. But since it is proper for the good shepherd to have toward his herd, first vigilant solicitude in guarding, then benevolent affection in sustaining or nurturing, and later prudent discretion in expending what is necessary for the sheep proper; the proposed words, therefore, show us the good shepherd,
Christ, who is marvelous and commendable according to the three previously mentioned conditions. First, he is commended for solicitous vigilance in the performance of the pastoral office; second, for benevolent breadth in the exposure of his own body; third, for prudent discretion in the liberation of his own herd, and not others. First, the good shepherd, Christ, is commended for solicitous vigilance in the performance of the pastoral office, when it says: Good shepherd; for the goodness of the shepherd is displayed, when he keeps vigil and guards his flock.
Second, he is commended for benevolent breadth in the exposure of his own body, when it adds: he lays down his
EASTER
life; for there is no greater sign of love and benevolence that a shepherd can show his flock than to expose his own body to death for its defense and liberation. Third, he is commended for prudent discretion in the defense and liberation of his flock, not that of another, when it adds: for his sheep, through the conformity of imitation; not that of another, through the infidelity of error.
2. It says, therefore: Good shepherd, where he is commended for the diligent performance of the pastoral office. Indeed this pastor, who diligently performs his office according to the manifest factual evidence, first instructs and domesticates his animals with external words; second, he nourishes and sustains with bodily assistance; third, he defends with the aid of forceful protection. In this manner, the good shepherd of the Church, Christ, first instructs the human flock with the teaching of salvific instruction; second, nourishes it with the assistance of sacramental refreshment; third, defends it with the aid of forceful protection. Moreover through the first the intellective power is illuminated, through the second the affective power is sweetened and quieted, through the third the effective power is strengthened.
3. First, Christ the shepherd teaches with the useful instruction of salvific preaching to illuminate the intellect. Sirach 18:13 says: He who has mercy, teaches and instructs as a shepherd with his flock. Since the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ must totally concern the benignity of mercy and the charity of benevolence, it is consequently easy to understand, and brief and useful to accomplish. Whence our Lord Jesus Christ, due to the exceeding sweetness of the highest mercy and the charity of benevolence that he has toward his flock, teaches it with the words of doctrine and instructs it with the example of life; and this, because to teach in word alone
THE SUNDAY SERMONS OF ST. BONAVENTURE
is vain, to instruct only by example is little, but one way with the other is perfect.** The doctrine of this shepherd must be impressed on the hearts of prelates as a seal is impressed in wax, so afterward with word and example, they might transcribe it on the hearts of their subjects.
Whence Jeremiah 3:15 says of the good shepherd: J will give you shepherds according to my own heart, and they will feed you with knowledge and doctrine. Now prelates preside according to the good pleasure of the divine will when they nourish their flock with knowledge regarding the word, and with doctrine regarding the example because examples of work move more than words. Whence
Gregory in the Pastoral Office: "Let the leader be eminent in action since in living, he declares the way of life to the subjects, and the flock, which follows the voice and conduct of the pastor, is more pleased by examples than by words."4!
4. Second, Christ the shepherd nourishes us with the delightful assistance of sapiential refreshment that sweetens the affections. Although Christ as the uncreated
Word supports all things, he nourishes essentially with uplifting wisdom. As the inspired Word sustaining the intellect, he nourishes spiritually with reforming justice.
Nevertheless as the incarnate Word restoring humanity, he nourishes sacramentally with refreshing grace.
And this threefold sustenance is necessary for humanity, if one is to be perfectly nourished. In fact, a person has spirit, motion, and sense. Perfect spiritual refreshment requires one to possess the spirit of life in the reformation of grace, movement in the exercise of justice, and "4 See Bernard, Sermon "In nativitate S. Johannis Baptistae," n.
3 in SBOp 5.178: "Indeed to only shine is vain, to only burn is insufficient: to burn and shine is perfect."
"5 See Part II, c. 3 of Regulae pastoralis liber in PL 77:28B. The citation is virtually verbatim.
EASTER
sense in the contemplation of wisdom. And 1 Kings 17:4-6 speaks of this sacramental sustenance through the figure of Elijah: I have commanded the ravens to feed you;... The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and similarly bread and meat in the evening. The ravens are said to be priests,*"® who like ravens must be darkened by penance, spurn momentary delights, and croak tomorrow, tomorrow, announcing future glory. God truly commands them to feed Elijah that is every Christian, offering him bread and meat, that is, the body of Christ under the species of bread, baked not by material fire, but cut by the passion of the cross and baked with the fire of love. The ravens are said to offer Elijah bread and meat early, because the priests must minister the body of Christ under the species of bread early to people fasting, similarly in the evening, recalling to mind that Christ gave his body to the apostles after dinner under the species of bread.
5. Third, Christ defends us with the insuperable aid of forceful protection. Whence Ezekiel 34:12 says:
As a shepherd visits his flock in the day when he will be in the midst of his scattered sheep, so will I visit my sheep and liberate them from all the places where they had been scattered.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, like a good shepherd, wished to visit visibly his sheep dispersed by certain deviating vices, so that freed from the bite of demons by the blood of the eternal covenant,' he might congregate them, with wounds bound and healed by the oil of piety and mercy,*"®
416 See Book XXX, c. 9 n. 28-35 of Gregory the Great's Moralia in Iob in CCSL exliiib, 1510-15 for some general parallels to Bonaventure's interpretation of "the raven."
417 See Hebr 13:20: "Now may the God of peace, who brought forth from the dead the great pastor of the sheep, our Lord Jesus, in virtue of the blood of an eternal covenant."
418 See Luke 10:34: "And he went up to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine."
Tue SUNDAY SERMONS OF ST. BONAVENTURE
into the sheepfold united in faith, and even strengthen and firm up their weakness with multiple virtues.
6. Second, Christ is commended for the extent of his benevolence in the exposure of his own body, when it adds: he lays down his life. Christ possessed benevolent charity for his flock beyond measure, thus, he laid down his life, that is his corporal life, first as the price of human redemption to liberate captives; second, as proof of a special love to inflame the tepid; third, as the example of virtuous imitation to animate the timid.
7. First, he laid down his life as the price of human redemption to liberate captives. And Isaiah 53:10-12 speaks of this: If he will lay down his life for sin, he will see offspring endure and the will of the Lord will be accomplished through his hand.... Because he handed over his soul to death and was reputed among the wicked, ... he bore the sins of many. Christ, the divine wisdom, has two treasures, that is, above the heavens and below the heavens. After having examined both as it were,*!' he assumed what was most noble and precious from both, that being divine excellence from above the heavens and human innocence from below the heavens. He then joined these two treasures together in the unity of the human person and weighing them on the balance of the cross, spent them for the salvation of the human race. He willingly accepted death for the salvation of the human race not out of obligation, but graciousness; so with the debt of the first transgression paid, when reputed among the wicked, he bore the sins of many, and the rigor of divine justice satisfied, the will of the Lord through his hand, that is, in his work, will be accomplished, is completed;
"8 Cf. Ps 63:7: "They have searched after iniquities; they have failed in their examinations."
EASTER
that is why the Lord himself said in Matthew 20:28: The Son of Man has not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. For many is said, with regard to efficacy, although what would be given was sufficient for everyone. Whence, even though the passion of Christ may be sufficient for the salvation of all, nevertheless it does not effect salvation except in those whose faith is operative in love.*"° 8. Second, he laid down his life as proof of a special love to inflame the tepid, and by this we know the love of God, because he laid down his life for us.*?1 And John
15:13 speaks of this: No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. The Son of God as a sign of most ardent love is similar to certain water creatures, of which Ambrose says in his Commentary on the Hexaémeron: "There are certain marine beasts that when they have a premonition of danger for their young, immediately open their sides and take their young entirely within them, carrying them for awhile until they are brought to safety or defend them with their own body as an obstacle."4"? In this manner Christ wished, as a proof of most ardent love, to open feet and hands and to open up his side, so he might receive us into the inner most recesses of his charity and protect and defend us from the malignant enemy. Dearly beloved, for this reason, when the deception of the devil arises, enter into the rock,*" that is Christ, in meditation, thoughts, and affections, because
420 See Gal 5:6.
421 See 1 John 3:16.
422 Bonaventure greatly adapts Book V, c. 3 n. 7 of Exameron.
See Sancti Ambrosii Opera, edited by Carol Schenkl, CSEL xxxii/1 (Prague: F. Tempsky, 1897), 145-46.
423 See 1 Cor 10:4: "and all drank the same spiritual drink (for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ)."
THE SUNDAY SERMONS OF ST. BONAVENTURE
nothing is better able to defeat the devil than the memory of Christ's passion. Whence Bernard says: "I say no demon will be able to remain when it sees the sword by which it was defeated."4*4 So when troublesome temptation arises, most especially in the flesh, hide in the pit,*"° that is, in the body of Christ pierced by multiple wounds, not through a bodily presence, but assiduous meditation.
Take what you lack from the inner recesses of Christ because, as grapes squeezed in the press from the wounds of his body, torrents of grace are not wanting. Inflamed and comforted by them, you will triumph easily over the deceptions of the devil, the troublesomeness of the world, and the enticements of the flesh.
9. Third, he laid down his life as the example of virtuous imitation to animate the timid. Whence 1 John 3:16 says: He laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Whence the Lord says in Matthew 10:38-39: One who does not accept his cross and follow me is not worthy of me, and the one who loses his life will find it. The person who accepts the cross and follows Christ continually carries the mortification of the cross in one's body, so that the life of Jesus is manifested*"® in that person by means of imitation; such that when one will have lost his life with vices and concupiscence*"" in the present, he will find it in the future through the ac- *" The critical edition states this citation is from Homily 45
(Opus imperfectum) of John Chrysostom and refers erroneously to PG 56:896.
° See Isa 2:10: "Enter into the rock and hide yourself in the pit from the face of the fear of the Lord and from the glory of his majesty."
426 See 2 Cor 4:10.
427 See Gal 5:24.
EASTER
quisition of deifying grace, because those who are companions* in tribulation will also be in consolation.
10. Third, Christ is commended for prudent discretion in the defense and liberation of his flock, not that of another, when it adds: for his sheep, who imitate him in life and conduct. Whence the Lord Jesus Christ is such a prudent shepherd that he did not lay down his life for alien sheep that live in a dissimilar manner, so as to liberate them, but for his sheep, which follow Christ according to the threefold property of sheep. For sheep possess an innocent simplicity that does not harm, a patient docility in sustaining, and a manifold fecundity in proliferating.
In the same manner these sheep of his, for whose liberation Christ, the prudent shepherd, laid down his life, also have the three previously mentioned properties: innocent simplicity through the rectitude of pure intention, patient docility through the toleration of every manner of tribulation, and manifold fecundity through the multiplication of good works.
11. First, Christ therefore liberates his sheep, which possess innocent simplicity through the rectitude of pure intention. This is the sheep of Christ, which is similar to the innocent sheep and does not have arms for fighting, proud horns, violent claws, cruel teeth, rapacious nails, or malignant poison. Due to this innocent quality, David says of his people in 2 Samuel 24:17: Those that are the sheep, what have they done? as if to say: they have committed no wrong. And so it is when a person has purity in affection and truth in work, there is then neither interior duplicity nor exterior falsity.
428 See 2 Cor 1:7: "And our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that as you are partakers (companions) of the sufferings, so will you also be of the consolation."
Tue SUNDAY SERMONS OF ST. BONAVENTURE
12. Second, Christ liberated his sheep, which possess patient docility through the toleration of every manner of tribulation. Whence Isaiah 53:7 states: He is led like a sheep to the slaughter; for just as a sheep that is led to the market does not kick with the feet, bite with the teeth, or attack with horns; so the truly patient, in accord with the example of Christ, when placed in tribulation should not murmur in the heart, speak evil with the mouth, or resist in a bodily way, so that Psalm 43:22 may be fulfilled: For your sake we are killed all day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
13. Third, Christ liberates his sheep, which possess manifold fecundity through the multiplication of good works. Whence the good Christian must be fecund in good works and, similar to sheep, give to one's shepherd, Christ, the milk of pure affection, the cheese of good works, and wool of honest conduct, so that it may be said of them:
Fruitful sheep, abundant in their goings forth,*"° in accord with what is said in the Psalm. Let us ask, etc.
429 See Ps 143:13.