1. Prepare the way of the Lord. Luke 3:4.
TuE SuNDAY SERMONS OF ST. BONAVENTURE
SERMON 5: FourTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT
1. Prepare the way of the Lord. Luke 3:4.
[Protheme] Master, we have worked through the night and have taken nothing; but at your word I will lower the net. Luke 5:5. If the net is the sermon by which people are taken like fish in a net, then the fisher is the preacher whose role is to lower the nets, that is, to compose the sermon, wash the nets,*° that is, to adorn the sermon, and to restore the nets, that is, to confirm the sermon with authorities: unless God commands with his word that the nets be lowered, preaching is shrouded in darkness by the obscurity of error, which is suggested when it says: through the night; it is an onerous burden given the weight of the labor which is noted when it adds: have worked; and it is unfruitful work, without benefit, as mentioned when it adds: we have taken nothing. Before all else it is necessary to ask God with a prayer, so that with his word of grace, and piety, he wash the net, that is, our sermon and ennoble it with the clarity of truth by removing the obscurity of error, with the delight of rest by removing the gravity of labor, and with the usefulness of charity by removing the unfruitfulness of the works, so that with clear understanding, delighted affections, and beneficial works, we might be able to say some things to the praise and glory, etc.
80 See Luke 5:2.
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[Sermon] 2. Prepare the way of the Lord. John the Baptist, ever the good disciple, faithful messenger, and truthful precursor, was sent out to prepare the way of the true master, great king, and fair judge, Jesus Christ.
Diligently desiring to fulfill the duty God gave him, he indicated three things in these proposed words. First he set out a challenging admonition so we may rise from the sleep of sin. Second, he included an informative directive, so we may take on ourselves the rule of good living. Third, he added the explicit motive, so we may come to the Lord with humble deference. First, he set out a challenging admonition so we might rise from the sleep of sin when it says: Prepare. Second, it includes the informative directive that we may take on the rule of good living when it adds: the way. Just as a material road is a particular rule that directs a person lest one deviate into error and leads one, instead, to his native city, so too, the spiritual way of penance is a particular rule pointing out misleading errors to a person, and guides him to the celestial homeland. Third, it adds the explicit motive so we may come to the Lord with humble deference when it adjoins: Lord.
3. But since the third concerns motivation because the purpose of our preparation pertains to the coming of the Lord, let us look, first of all, at the qualities of the Lord, let us therefore prepare the way of interior dwelling place for him, conforming both to the manifold excellence of his character and the measure of our possibility. The Lord Jesus Christ has three noble qualities in him that render him a suitable motivating force for our preparation: first, the quality of profound wisdom making him the wisest master; second, the quality of sublime power making him the most powerful king; third, the quality of equitable justice making him the most just judge. He possesses, therefore, certain knowledge with regard to good
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and evil, regal government with regard to evil, and final jurisdiction with regard to the dead and the living.
4. First, Christ is the wisest master by reason of profound wisdom. Whence Psalm 146:5 states: Great is our
Lord, and great is his power. There is no measure to his wisdom. He is the great Lord because he is intimately near to everything in existence. We should not think, therefore, that he is absent if we disfigure his dwelling; great is his power because he is most powerful in action. Therefore when we commit sin we should not think we can avoid punishment from him whose kingdom we defile. There is no measure to his wisdom, because he is most commanding in knowledge. And therefore when we commit shameful things, we should not think he ignores them because all things are naked and open*' to his infallible eyes of wisdom. Whence Gregory says: "When you close your eyes to the sun, you do not hide yourself from him, but him from you."®? 1 Kings 2:3 speaks of this profound wisdom:
Let the old matters depart from your mouth, for the Lord is the God of all knowledge and all thoughts are open to him. This is like saying: all human thoughts are subject to the claims of divine truth, not to the claims of sophistic reason that, like the matters of old, are without worth, for the Lord Jesus Christ is the God of all knowledge,® in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge of God are hidden.*™ 1 See Hebr 4:13: "And there is no creature hidden from God's sight. But all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we have to give account."
* Bonaventure adapts Book XXV, c. 6 n. 11 of Moralia in Iob. See CCSL ecxliiib, 1236.
*° See 1 Sam 2:3: "The Lord is a God of all knowledge...."
*4 See Col 2:3: "In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
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5. Second, Christ is the most powerful king by reason of sublime power. Whence Exodus 15:11 says: Who is similar to you among the strong, Lord, who is similar to you, magnificent in holiness, terrible and praiseworthy, working wonders? All these things contained for them figures® of our liberation from the hand of the diabolical power.
Therefore, we say, according to the manifest truth: Who is similar to you among the strong, Lord, who plunged the diabolical powers into the profound abyss; who is similar to you magnificent in holiness, who freed a faithful people from the beating of eternal death by the effusion of your own blood; praiseworthy, in the passion accepted out of benevolent and charitable love; and terrible, in the resurrection on account of the splendor of glory and clarity; and working wonders, in the ascension through the elevation of the earthly body to the right hand of God, the Father.
6. Third, Christ is the most just judge by reason of equitable justice. Whence Zephaniah 2:3 states: Seek the Lord all you meek of the earth, you who accomplish his judgment; seek the just, the meek. The meek of the earth are spoken of as the humble of heart, who seek the Lord with the deference of filial reverence; you, who accomplish his judgment by confessing past sins and not committing them again afterward, seek the just by punishing the proud; seek the meek by embracing the penitents.
Whence Bernard: "You will experience his coming to the degree you give yourself to him since you will be holy with the holy and innocent with the innocent man."**
85 See 1 Cor 10:11: "Now all these things happened to them as a type."
86 Bonaventure has adapted Sermon 69 n. 7 of Bernard's Sermons on The Song of Songs. See SBOp 2.206 in which Bernard cites Ps
17:26.
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7. Prepare follows where the challenging admonition is noted. We are admonished to prepare ourselves according to the threefold excellence of his qualities. First because he is the wisest master, we prepare ourselves as disciples longing to believe the master, who teaches through the submission of the intellect. Second, because he is the most powerful king we prepare ourselves as dutiful servants to obey the commander by carrying out actions. Third, because he is the most just judge we prepare us as penitent men to respond to the judge by correcting shortcomings.
8. First, we prepare ourselves as disciples longing to believe the master, who teaches through the submission of the intellect. Ezra 7:10 is able to explain this: Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord. Every good Christian should follow Ezra's example by preparing one's heart to seek the evangelical Jaw with firm faith in the cognitive power, sincerity of soul in the affective power, and assiduous zeal in the operative power; not according to the claims of sophistic reason, but according to the claims of eternal truth. It is this law which illuminates reason to recognize truth, inflames concupiscence to desire the good, and raises the irascible to hope for what is difficult.
9. Second, we prepare ourselves as dutiful servants to obey the commander by carrying out actions. Psalm
118:60 speaks of this: I am ready and I am untroubled, so I might keep your commands. It declares I am ready where it notes prompt obedience; and I am untroubled, because I will sacrifice for you voluntarily, with love; so I might keep your commands by diligently fulfilling them with works. Regarding this 1 Samuel 7:3 states: Prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve him alone, accepting nothing contrary, allowing nothing dissimilar, but extol-
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ling him sublimely over all others, by loving him with the heart, by obeying him with works, and by preaching him with the mouth and, if necessary, by suffering and even dying for him with the body.
10. Third, we prepare ourselves as penitent men to respond to the judge by correcting shortcomings. Sirach
2:20 speaks of this: They who fear the Lord will prepare their hearts and in his sight they will sanctify their souls.
They who fear the Lord, that is, with the fear of filial reverence; prepare their hearts, by removing mortal fault.
Whence Gregory: "The one who prepares the house of the mind cleanses it from the filth of base works."®' And in his sight, that is, of God, they will sanctify their souls with the affection of love and benevolence.
11. Third, the informative directive as to how we might take on the rule of good living, is noted in the proposed passage, when it adds: the way. We prepare the way of interior dwelling, with great zeal, according the example of a material road. If the way of interior dwelling is not prepared well, Christ will not come to us nor will we be able to meet Christ. A material road is prepared well in three ways: first, by removing waste; second, by laying down a covering; third, by superimposing the finish; a spiritual way is prepared similarly, first, by the cleansing and expulsion of filth in complete confession; second, by the laying down of bodily delights in discrete, necessary chastisement; third; by the addition of the bouquet of chastity achieved in the supererogation of a pure mind and body.
12. First, the way of interior dwelling is prepared well by the cleansing and expulsion of filth in complete con87 See Homily 30 n. 2 of GGHG in CCSL cxli, 257.
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fession. Whence Jeremiah 31:21 says: Set a watchtower for yourself, make yourself bitter, direct your heart on the right way. A watchtower must be set up so the sinner may see, in conscience, what sins need to be confessed; make yourself bitter, by deploring with compunction what has been committed; and direct your heart on the right way, by doing good.
13. Second, the way of interior dwelling is prepared well by laying down a covering through the necessary chastisement of bodily delights. Whence Deuteronomy
5:32 states: Do not go to the right or to the left, but walk along the way your God has commanded that you might live in the land. A person does not go to the right or the left on the way of austerity and penance when the body obeys the spirit in command, nor does the body rush toward sin or succumb to death when the spirit takes care of bodily needs. God has commanded us to walk along the way of a specific bodily chastisement so we might live in the land; for this way of life is the rebuke of discipline®* when, according to the direction of a specific discipline, the licentious flesh is reprimanded and recognizes the need for obedience to the spirit. He who castigates concupiscence avoids the fault from which all evil arises. Whence Gregory in the Fifth Sermon of the Commentary on Ezekiel:
"Our mind, if distracted by carnal desires, can never, by itself, consider its nature since to the degree it is guided by so many thoughts, so much is it blinded by so many obstacles."*® Given the weakness of the flesh and the vanity of the world, the devil presumes his power can do many things. Consequently, we have to break through the tricks
*° See Prov 6:23: "Because ... reproofs of instruction are the way of life."
*° Bonaventure has adapted Book II, Homily 5 n. 8. See Sancti Gregorii Magni Homiliae in Hiezechihelem Prophetam, edited by Marcus Adriaen; CCSL cxlii (Turnhout: Brepols, 1971), 281.
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of devil, conquer our bodies, and despise the vanity of the world and, thus, walk along the way God has commanded us, going not to the right or the left.
14. Third, the way of interior dwelling is prepared well by the supererogation of decorative chastity in the conservation of a pure mind and body. Whence in Psalm
100:6: The one walking along the immaculate way, that person served me. That person walks along the immaculate way of chastity and serves Christ with the bouquet of virginity whose outward body is not only pure, but also whose heart is perfectly ordered within through good affections. For just as we see in the human body that when many evil and corrupt fluids abound they generate certain scabs and foul lesions similar to leprosy taking away the purity of the body, in a similar manner, evil thoughts that abound generate corrupt fluids and desires in the body that, in turn, generate the scab of incontinence and the leprosy of licentiousness and take away the purity of chastity and holiness. Whence: Perverse thoughts separate us from the Lord." Let us, therefore, pray to the Lord, etc.
90 See Wis 1:3: "Perverse thoughts separate from God."
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SERMON 6: SUNDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE
OF THE NATIVITY
1. This one has been placed as the ruin and resurrection of many in Israel and as a sign of contradiction. Luke 2:34.
[Protheme] The prophet Elijah arose like a blazing fire. Sirach 48:1. The passage proposed from Sirach brilliantly expresses the qualities proper to one who preaches the divine word. First, he must be withdrawn or removed from worldly concerns. Second, he must be illuminated by evangelical truth. Third, he must be inflamed by charity toward God and neighbor. Withdrawal from worldly concerns is noted, when it says: Elijah arose; illumination of evangelical truth is noted, when it adds: prophet; and the inflammation of fraternal charity is noted, when it brings in: like a blazing fire. Dearly beloved, let us at the beginning of our sermon before anything else, humbly implore the source and principle of mercy that is the paternal light, that through his gracious condescension, he might separate us from the love of worldly prosperity, illuminate us with splendor or knowledge of evangelical truth, and inflame us with the fervor of fraternal charity; so that withdrawn from love of the world, illuminated by the splendor of the gospel, and inflamed with love of God and neighbor, we might then offer something worthwhile to the praise and glory of God's blessed name and for the well-being and consolation of our souls. Amen
[Sermon] 2. This one has been placed as the ruin and resurrection of many in Israel and as a sign of contra-
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diction. Luke 2:34. The appearance of the material sun saddens some and delights others according to the disposition of those looking at it; so Saint Simeon, illuminated by the gift of prophecy, offered the above mentioned words concerning Christ, This one has been placed as the ruin, etc., because he saw many would be shaken because of the blindness of evil and fall headlong into sin while others would be rectified and raised up to the light of grace by the truthful words, honest examples, and lucid works proceeding from the sun of justice,®! Christ. In these words the perversity of presumption in the display of good works is certainly noted first, when it says: This one has been placed as the ruin; second, the kindness of the pious assistance which lifts up the prostrate person is noted, when it adds: and resurrection of many; third, the guiding example to be imitated in the regulation of good actions is noted, when it adds: as a sign; and fourth, the evil and perverse resistance of those who oppose the kind doctor is certainly noted, with the addition: of contradiction.
3. It says: This one as been placed as the ruin, where, first of all, the perversity of presumption in the display of good works is noted. What a great perversity it is to turn the good of another into something evil for oneself.
There is nothing under heaven more evil or stupid than this. But the reason why these perverse people receive ruin and death from good works is this: by nature whatever is placed into a mold takes on the form and figure of the mold in the manner of the recipient and not the received. Since their hearts were perverse and evil, whatever good works of Christ they took into their hearts was made perverse by rash judgment alone. For this reason
91 See Mal 4:2: "But unto you who fear my name, the sun of justice will arise."
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they brought upon themselves ruin and death through such perverse evil, even if they had presumed to possess the good works of Christ. For first, Christ, as virtue, has been placed as the ruin of the proud by accepting infirmity with benign humility. Second, as truth, this one has been placed as the ruin of the malicious by rebuking human iniquity. Third, as salvation, this one has been placed as the ruin of the impious by the voluntarily acceptance of the imposed death.
4. First, as virtue Christ accepted infirmity with benign humility and became a medicinal tonic for expelling the vice of pride. The proud abuse this medicine through vice alone, and consequently they change what was the cause of their salvation into deadly ruin. Whence proud
Herod did not wish to submit himself with the humility of the Magi to the Most High, who was hidden by the infirmity of our flesh. Instead the very benign humility of the weakness accepted by Christ became the cause of the greatest ruin through the evil will of him, who sought to kill him. While the abuse of benign humility became the occasion of death for proud Herod, the same humility was the cause of salvation for the humble Magi who made good use of it. Isaiah 8:14 speaks of this: The Lord will be a sanctification for you but a stumbling block and a rock of offense to the two houses of Israel, a snare and ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The Lord was the source of sanctification for the humble Magi, because he removed foolish error, ulcerous pride, and the stench of impurity, granting to them instead: splendorous truth in the heart to recognize the secret mystery of the incarnation; powerful words on their lips to confess before Herod, the king of the ages;®? and the fear of filial reverence in * See 1 Tim 1:17: "To the king of the ages, who is immortal, invisible, the one only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen."
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JP works to adore the Creator of all. And so to the degree they looked upon, adored, and worshiped the humble one in his humanity, they recognized the power of God and the wisdom of God.*? This same Lord was a stumbling block and a rock of offense to the two houses of Israel. Israel is interpreted as the guidance of God or the man who sees
God," thus signifying the person who, by nature, is led into the divine vision in creatures or conscience. The two houses are the heart and the mouth; for the heart is the dwelling place of God through belief, and truly the mouth contains the word through confession, so that what is believed in the heart promotes justice and confession of the mouth leads to salvation.® The Lord, however, becomes a stumbling block in the house of the heart where there is blind infidelity, and a rock of offense in the house of the mouth where divinity is denied. In the third the Lord is a snare and ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that is, to Herod and his accomplices, because of their evil conspiracy to kill God. Herod and his collaborators literally lived or stayed in Jerusalem. And Proverbs 17:19 speaks of this: The one who exalts in heart seeks ruin.
5. Second, as truth Christ rebuked human iniquity and has been placed as the ruin of the malicious. And this is what Isaiah 26:19 says: Dew of light, your dew, and you will drag the land of the giants into ruin. The most efficacious doctrine of Christ is referred to with the names light and dew, since it reveals and exposes what is shameful like light and tempers what is despoiled like the dew. For according to Isidore: "The dew protects against poisons,
93 See 1 Cor 1:24: "... Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God."
%4 See CCSL Ixxii, 139: "Israel is the man seeing God, but better the upright of the Lord."
95 See Rom 10:10: "With the heart a person believes unto justice, and with the mouth profession of faith is made unto salvation."
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because they cannot cause harm during the night." But the wicked Jews had a greater love for darkness® because they were able to give themselves over to evil deeds more freely, and at the same time they hated'the light of truth, and so now that they were unable to bear the challenges and arguments of a just rebuke, they plotted the death of the one who rebuked them. Whence the Lord says in John
7:20: Why do you seek to kill me, the person who spoke the truth to you? Whence Bernard states: "What marvelous insanity! We get angry with the one who heals but not with the one who wounds!"® And certainly this sickness is incurable, not because the doctor is incapable, but because of the sick person's vice. And you will drag the land of the giants into ruin," that is, with the sternness of eternal judgment you will drag into the ruin of eternal damnation the worldly people or Pharisees, who knew nothing else than the things of the world, like the giants who surpassed others in evil.
6. Third, as salvation Christ voluntarily accepted an imposed death and has been placed as the ruin of the impious. In fact on the cross Christ, like a grape squeezed in the winepress, wrung from the wounds of his florid body fragrant liquor capable of healing all sickness and most useful for health. However the impious Jews were so offended by this medicinal liquor that they incurred the ruin of death, and multiplied ruin upon ruin by spurning this most healthy medicine and antidote that saves
°° Bonaventure provides the gist of Book XII, c. 4 n. 40 of Isidore's Etymologiarum sive originum libri xx.
°7 See John 3:19: "... The light has come into the world. Yet men and women have loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil."
** Bonaventure adapts Sermon 42 n. 3 on The Song of Songs. See SBOp 2.34.
%° See Isa 26:19: "And the land of the giants you will pull down into ruin."
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the human race. Like toads'™ offended by a wonderful fragrance from a vineyard, they turned around and ran away. Proverbs 29:16 speaks of this: When the impious are multiplied, crimes will multiply, but the just will see their ruin. Truly, when the impious Pharisees are multiplied, crimes will multiply for the chief priests and Pharisees gathered in deliberation so they might seize Jesus deceitfully and kill him. But the just, that is, the apostles, saw their ruin when the sons and heirs of the kingdom, namely the Jews were thrown out" by divine punishment, and the Gentiles rested in the bosom of Abraham!" by benign adoption.
7. It follows: The resurrection of many, where the kindness of the pious assistance which lifts the prostrate person is noted. This kind, pious assistance appears in the raising of three types of obedient people to the truth, for whom Christ is the cause of life and salvation, according to the three characteristics that made him the passive and understood occasion of ruin and death for the obstinate who contradicted the truth. First, through virtue in the kindness of pious assistance, the helpless rise from the cruelty of the diabolical that oppresses the irascible power. Second through truth in the kindness of pious assistance, the foolish rise from the darkness of ignorance that blinds the rational power. Third, through salvation in the kindness of pious assistance, the lustful rise from the filth of carnal indulgence that deforms the concupiscent power.
100 Toads also represented the devil in medieval sermons. See Joan Young Gregg, Devils, Women, and Jews: Reflections of the Other in Medieval Sermon Stories (Albany: State University of New York Press,
1997), 34.
101 See Matt 8:12.
102 See Luke 13:28 and esp. Luke 16:23: "... he saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom."
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8. First, through Christ's virtue manifest in the kindness of pious assistance, the helpless rise from the cruelty of the diabolic that oppresses the irascible power.
Whence Acts 12:7 says: Arise quickly and the chains fell from-hands. Peter, who was placed in iron chains by diabolical suggestion and held under military custody so he might be killed, signifies the sinner who is bound by fraudulent, diabolical chains and placed under demonic custody in order to be punished by the death of eternal damnation. Here, however, he is moved by angelic admonition to arise, since by the aid of Christ's virtue, the high gates of demonic custody are shattered and the diabolic, fraudulent chains fall from the hands of the one who has done evil works. Something similar is stated in 1 Kings
21:10: David arose on that day and fled from Saul. Saul, who is interpreted as the abuser," signifies the devil who abuses the creatures of God. Good David arises from his power and with the aid of Christ's virtue, flees from his view.
9. Second, through Christ's truth manifest in the kindness of pious assistance, the foolish rise from the darkness of ignorance that blinds the rational power. Isaiah
60:1 speaks of this: Arise and shine Jerusalem, your light comes and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Arise and shine Jerusalem, notice the darkness of blindness: for nothing is illuminated unless it lacks light; your light comes, notice the kindness of the one coming, for the light of the angels has become the light of humanity, the light of those in heaven above has become the light of those on earth below; and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you, notice the happiness of heart, for if one who could not see glories in seeing light again, so much the more does hu103 See CCSL Ixxii, 77: "Saul means one who has sought eagerly or the abuser."
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manity glory since the descent of the true light calls those blinded by sin from darkness to light.
10. Third, through Christ's salvation manifest in the kindness of pious assistance, the lustful arise from the filth of carnal indulgence that deforms the concupiscent power. Joshua 1:2 speaks of this: Rise and cross the Jordan, you and all your people, enter the land I will give to the people of Israel. The people of Israel, who are interpreted as those who see God,'™ are the good Christians who, by restraining the flesh, see God in their consciences. For the sake of obtaining the celestial home, they are ordered to cross the currents of carnal concupiscence designated with the name of a flowing river.
11. The third follows indicating the guiding example to be imitated when regulating good actions, as the text says: and as a sign. Although the Lord Jesus Christ offered an exemplary sign in every one of his actions, nevertheless in this present case he offered a threefold sign: first, the incarnation as the most powerful sign of reconciliation; second, preaching as the truest sign of renewal; third, the passion as the most salutary sign of healing.
12. First, he was placed as a most powerful sign in the incarnation. Whence Genesis 9:13 says: I will set my bow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant. This bow, generated when solar rays are curved and moistened in the clouds, is Christ, who is constituted from the solar ray of divinity and the cloud of humanity by reason of humility. It says curved and moistened because of the fullness of grace; it says I will set in the clouds, that is, in the carnal weaknesses of darkened humanity that necessitate human salvation, not to obscure but to temper
104 See CCSL Ixxii, 139: "Israel means the man seeing God."
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him, whose extremes touch heavenly divinity and earthly humanity; and that one is the bow and the sign of the covenant between God and creation.
13. Second, Christ was the truest sign of renewal in preaching. Whence Isaiah 11:12 says: He will raise up a sign for the nations, and assemble the refugees of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The Lord will raise up a sign of renewal in preaching to the nations; and the Lord will gather the refugees of Israel, that is, those who are willing to be directed along the good road, for Israel is interpreted to mean the direction of the Lord; and he will gather the dispersed of Judah so they confess the name of the Lord,' for Judah is interpreted as confession;' he will assemble and gather the just from the four corners of the earth, that is from the four inordinate affections: from the tumor of vanity and pride to the trepidation of humility and reverence; from the deformity of carnality and impurity to the beauty of chastity and sanctity; from longing for earthy things and avarice to love of poverty and need; and from the furor of impiety and jealousy to the sweetness of benign charity.
14. Third, Christ was the sign of salutary healing in the passion. Whence Numbers 21:9 says: Moses made a bronze serpent for a sign. Those who looked upon it were healed. This serpent, which has the similitude and shape of a serpent nevertheless without poison, signifies our
Lord Jesus Christ who has the similitude, nature, and shape of a human being, nevertheless without the poison of sin, so whoever is bitten by the cunningness of satan, finds complete healing by considering, in compassion and *°° See Ps 121:4: "For thither (to Jerusalem) did the tribes go cs ee to praise the name of the Lord."
*°6 See CCSL Lxxii, 67: "Judah means praise or confession."
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iy) imitation, Christ hanging from the cross. For if one is tempted by honors, he will find the vilest death; if by delights he will find the most painful death; and if by riches he will find naked poverty; and so, by virtue of Christ's passion, one will not be harmed by the bite of the ancient serpent.
15. In the fourth and final section the evil and perverse resistance of those opposing the kind doctor is noted, when of contradiction is added. Truly, it is a great evil to oppose such a great doctor. First, the proud opposed his unsurpassable power with the rash charge of infirmity and helplessness; second, the liars opposed his infallible truth with the false claim of fabrication and blasphemy; third, the malicious opposed his undeniable goodness with the wicked accusation of seduction and malice.
16. First, his unsurpassable power was opposed by the rash claim of infirmity and helplessness. The proud
Jews, because they saw Jesus suffer and grow weak in his humanity, having intellects darkened' by the tumor of pride, did not believe that he was the power of God'" in his divinity. With the rash charge of infirmity and helplessness, they reviled him somewhat even though he had demonstrated earlier his divine power in miraculous deeds: he saved others but he is unable to save himself.'
O proud Jews blinded even more by this blindness, are you not awaiting ruin! The greater virtue is to patiently persevere in the torments to the end and then miraculously triumph over bodily infirmity, instead of descending from the cross'° and be miserably overwhelmed by bodily
107 See Eph 4:18: "Having their intellect clouded in darkness..."
108 See 1 Cor 1:24.
109 See Matt 27:42.
110 See Matt 27:42.
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infirmity. If no one will be saved except the one who will have persevered to the end," in what way can we speak of Jesus Christ as the Savior in either word or deed, if he had not patiently persevered on the cross to the end?
Whence it is said in Psalm 17:44: You will deliver me from the opposition of the people, you will make me the head of the nations. The Son of God said to the Father: You will deliver me from the opposition of this insulting Jewish people, who rashly attribute infirmity and helplessness to divine power; you will make me the head of the nations of those who believe that I am not only a human being, but even the all-powerful God.
17. Second, his infallible truth was opposed by the false claim of fabrication and blasphemy. The lying Pharisees refuted his infallible truth with fabrication and blasphemy, when they said: You offer witness to yourself, and your witness is not true,"* and elsewhere: He blasphemes.'*
Job 16:9 speaks of this: A liar has risen up against my face, contradicting me. In opposition to this 6:10 similarly states: This was my consolation, that the one afflicting me with pain did not spare me, and I did not contradict the words of the Holy One. Job, who is interpreted as pain or one who cries out,' signifies a person, who does penance, suffers, and deplores one's sins. Such a person not only does not contradict the words of the Holy One, or of the holy ones of Christ, but it is consolation to the person since Christ, the good doctor, does not spare, but exposes the wicked wounds with the sword of preaching, so that afflicted by the multiple pains of contrition, health is recovered.
111 See Matt 10:22.
112 See John 8:13.
3 See Matt 9:3.
14 See CCSL I xxii, 133: "Job means sorrow."
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18. Third, his undeniable goodness was opposed by the wicked accusation of seduction and malice. The malicious
Jews bore false witness against the goodness of Christ, saying Christ was a malicious seducer! with words, a glutton'® and a sinner in deeds." Even worse, they put aside good for evil and light for darkness,'* saying the miraculous works of Christ, the Son of God, were done by Beelzebub, the prince of demons. And because evil will destroy the evil,® Isaiah 41:11 says of them: All who fight against you will be confounded and ashamed. They will be as nothing, and the men who oppose you will perish.
Let us ask, therefore.
115 See Matt 27:63.
116 See Matt 11:19 and Luke 7:34.
117 See John 9:14.
118 See Isa 5:20.
119 See Matt 21:41: "They said to him: He will utterly destroy these evil men and will let out the vineyard to other vinedressers...."
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SERMON 7! SUNDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EPIPHANY
1. Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you in sorrow. Luke 2:48.
[Protheme] Without me you can do nothing. John 15:5.
The words proposed in the second verse are the words of divine truth that speak in the Gospel of John to those who are solicitous in the careful examination of Sacred
Scripture; they certainly appear to contain within them a tacit refutation made against those who in this process presuppose their own ingenuity and impute to their own imaginary powers the good that God reveals to them.
Scripture speaks of their shame, saying: they fornicated with their works.'*° According then to the Apostle in 2
Corinthians 3:5: We are not sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as from ourselves. Therefore let us then have faithful recourse to him who gives abundantly to all and does not refuse'*' those who ask in humility, so that he might deign to grant me something from the abundance of grace, and I might say those things to the praise, etc.
[Sermon] 2. Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you in sorrow. Nothing is lost with great sorrow that is not possessed with great love, so it is with the Blessed Virgin, who bore the sting of great pain in the soul when she lost the bodily pres120 See Ps 105:39.
#1 See James 1:5: "... God, who gives abundantly to all and does not reproach...."
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ence of her beloved son, whom she loved most tenderly and above all. She hardly gave sleep to the eyes or rest!" to the feet until she found him in the midst of the doctors in Jerusalem. When she, however, saw his most gracious face, she rejoiced with great gladness and ineffable delight.'*? Although she spoke briefly with virginal reserve, she offered words of great prudence and wisdom, saying:
Son, why have you done this to us? Certainly with such words the most prudent virgin presents, first, a sweet statement in speech when the text says: Son, why have you done this to us? Second, it expresses the bitterness of great tribulation in the heart, when the text adds: Your father and I in sorrow. Third, it includes the solicitude of discreet searching in works when she adds: have been looking for you. And so it is that in these brief words the most prudent one implied that she had given to God the knowledge of the heart, the utterance of the mouth, and the effort of the entire body.
3. First, the sweetness of the kind utterance in speech is noted in the proposed words, when she says the word:
Son. Since Jesus was a good son, he deserved sweet words, for just as a good son is the delight and happiness of his mother, even more so this good son, the boy Jesus, was the delight and happiness of the Virgin Mother, because three qualities were in him that draw every soul to desire and love him: first, a beautiful grace and purity in mind and body; second a sweet piety and wisdom in speech; third, pliant gentleness and patience in works. These three qualities are in the child Jesus, and such a good child is the delight and happiness of his Mother.
122 See Ps 131:4: "If I will give sleep to my eyes or rest to my eyelids."
123 See Luke 2:10: "And the angel said: ...
I bring you good news of great joy...."
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4. First, in the Son of the Virgin there was a beautiful grace and purity in mind and body. Whence Psalm 44:3 says: You are most beautiful among the sons of man; this is not without reason since no one was without actual or original sin except the boy Jesus, who is the splendor of eternal light and the unblemished mirror of God's majesty.%4 Here is the gracious boy Solomon, spoken of in Proyerbs 4:3: For I also was the tender son of my father, the only son of my mother. Truly, the boy Jesus was the tender Son of the God the Father, because he was delicately nurtured in the true delights of divinity; and the only son of his Virgin Mother through the assumption of humanity; and so with eyes purified from all blurring due to sin, it is pleasant and enjoyable to consider, according to the double vision of humanity, namely interiorly in regard to divinity and exteriorly in regard to humanity.
5. Second, in the Son of the glorious Virgin there was a sweet piety and wisdom in speech. Whence Proverbs
10:1 states: The wise son delights a father, but a foolish son is the sorrow of his mother. Even if the wise boy Jesus is the Father's happiness and glory according to eternal generation, because he was brightness of glory and the image of his substance," nevertheless, he is not only the Father's happiness, but also the Mother's in the nature he assumed through glorious conduct in the world, since he taught wisely, lived even more wisely, and most wisely bore evil punishment. And thus, he illuminated reason with doctrinal truth, informed concupiscence with holy living, and perfected the irascible by patient example.
Whatever he taught in word he brought into concordance with deeds. He did not have a harmony in loquaciousness but in reality, for he united whatever he taught by word
124 See Wis 7:26.
125 See Hebr 1:3.
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with what was factual, actual, and accomplished, because he first began to act and later to teach.!26
6. Third, in the Son of the glorious Virgin there was pliant gentleness and patience in works. Whence Isaiah
9:6 says: For a little child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and sovereignty is placed upon his shoulders. A little child, the prophet says, is born to us: behold the restrained humility, for even though he was the great Lord and exalted King, he restrained himself in the form of a little boy, accepting the form of a servant.'2" On that account, he was more humble than others in his descent and so, in accord with the infallible rule of divine justice that states the one who humbles oneself will be exalted,'"8 he was more sublime than all others in his ascent. And a son is given us: behold the pliant obedience in his nonresistance. Indeed God the Father so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,!*? who was not stubborn in resisting, but pliant in acquiescing to the will of the Father. And sovereignty is placed upon his shoulders: behold the kind patience in sustaining. The celestial sovereignty was not given for nothing. In fact he acquired it with the great labor and pain he supported on his shoulders, even though he was free from legal burdens, labor, and the pains of death. To the degree that his flesh appeared deformed and pallid in dying, so much the more was it enveloped with the greatest beauty and decorum in rising. And because he seemed like seed tossed upon the ground in shame, he rose and grew into the greatest glory. No one should fear to be weakened by pains in the heart and afflicted by fasting in the body, for the flesh will
126 See Acts 1:1.
127 See Phil 2:7.
128 See Luke 14:11.
129 See John 3:16.
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rise more gloriously inasmuch as it has been humbled for Christ, who will refashion our humble body, conformed to his glorious body.'*° 7. The second follows: your father and I in sorrow, where the bitterness of profound tribulation in the heart is noted. I certainly do not marvel, glorious Virgin, if you are troubled of heart, if you are bitter, if you are sorrowful.
On the other hand, I would marvel if you did not sorrow since you are without the bodily presence of your beloved son, which filled your soul with great consolation. And granted the glorious Virgin had many sorrows, tribulations, and bitterness in this world due to her Son, nevertheless we can say, in the present situation, that she had a threefold sorrow: first, the loss of the son's bodily presence; second, the sight of the Lord's passion; third, compassion for the blindness of the Jews.
8. First, the Blessed Virgin suffered the loss of her son's presence. Whence Psalm 93:9: According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, your consolations have gladdened my soul. This could be the word of the Virgin
Mother speaking to her beloved son after she found him, as if to say: According to the multitude of my sorrows, which I had when I lost your bodily presence; your consolations, from the vision of your face radiated with divine splendors, have gladdened my soul. Bernard states:
"What would be more joyful than to see the person who is the Creator of humanity? He is delightful to see, pleasant to hold, sweet to enjoy. He is pleasing in himself, and suffices as a reward."!*!
130 See Phil 3:21.
13! The critical edition refers to Sermon 25 n. 8 of Bernard's Sermons on The Song of Songs. Non inveni.
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9. Second, she suffered the sight of the Lord's passion.'** Whence Lamentations 1:12 says: Stop and see if there is a sorrow like my sorrow. Let us listen to the voice of the Virgin Mary in lament and consider her intense pain, and we will see that there is no sorrow like her sorrow with the exception of her Son's sorrow, to whose example her sorrow was conformed. With a miraculous and incredible compassion that cannot be expressed with our words, she turned the suffering, punishments and reproaches of the Son toward herself and took them into her very own person, feeling what it means to be in Christ Jesus.!3°
The great co-martyr stood next to that martyr, wounded with the wounded one, transfixed with the pierced one, stabbed also with the sword, for the sword of Christ's passion pierced her soul.1** The comeliness of purity palled, and natural beauty faded from this one, because an image shined within this one to such a degree that she reflected the material body of the Son. The face of glory was marred with spittle, and desolate mourning marred this one. For lover offers no other appearance than what the power of love had expressed from the beloved. O ungrateful people! We never darken from the glorious sun, we never pale with Christ, and we never remove our adornments, mindful of the nakedness of Christ. Who would assist me to grow dark with Christ, become pale with his
Mother, and to be red with shame and abandon myself, so I might have a share in the passion of my Lord? Bernard says: "The bride does not darken in shame because she knows that Christ, the spouse, has already preceded her.
She does consider nothing to be more glorious than to bear the reproach of Christ. Whence, the voice of exulta132 On Mary and Christ's passion, see Lig vit, n. 28, in VIII, 78b79a.
183. Cf, Phil 2:5.
184 See Luke 2:35.
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tion and salvation: I glory in nothing except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."'*° 10. Third, she suffered in compassion due to the blindness of the Jews. Whence Psalm 68:27 says: They have added to the grief of my wounds. Indeed the Queen of mercy suffered so much from the blindness of the malicious Jews, because they were heaping iniquity upon iniquity, spurning the great sacrament and despising that salubrious medicine of Christ's passion and the antidote, by which the infirm human race is healed, that it appeared to her as if pain was added to the mental pain, which the sword of her Son's passion had impressed upon her soul. For she did not bear everything goaded by angry resentment, nor offer a gentle soul in exasperation to the troublesome enraged by flames of hatred, without thinking to forgive such injuries as repayment. Indeed with singular compassion, Mary, overcoming all their malignity and forgetting the injury, more importantly took compassion on their madness in complete harmony with the heavenly sweetness, which at that time was being poured out on sinners.
11. Third, she introduced the solicitude of discrete inquiry in deed when it says: were looking for you. In fact, the Blessed Virgin was solicitous to inquire, although she was not negligent in losing him.'* For according to the expositors it was the custom of the Jews that men preceded without the company of women, who similarly remained apart from the rest, in processions and jour- #8 Bonaventure adapts Sermon 25 n. 8, Bernard's Sermons on The Song of Songs. See SBOp 1.168 where Bernard cites Gal 6:14 at the conclusion.
*86 See Bedae Venerabilis Opera, Pars II/3: Opera exegetica, In Lvcae Evangelivm expositio, In Marci Evangelivm expositio, edited by D.
Hurst. CCSL cxx (Turnhout: Brepols, 1960), 73.
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neys, while ascending to the temple or even while staying in the temple. Boys, however, were not held to this law and so at times went with the fathers and at other times with the women. Whence, the Virgin Mary thought he was with Joseph in the company of the men and Joseph thought his son was with Mary in the company of the females. And this custom had been introduced for the honest reason of safeguarding chastity. And so it appears, that she was not negligent in losing him but forcefully solicitous and diligent in inquiring, because she sought him first, trusting with rectitude of conscience; second, lovingly with a latitude of benevolence; third; expecting, with certitude of confidence. And so she, as model and mirror for Christians, offered a correct example as to how one is to search for Christ.
12. First, she sought him, trusting with the rectitude of conscience. Whence Wisdom 1:1 says: Seek him in the simplicity of heart, for he is found by those who do not tempt him. He appears, however, to those who have faith in him. Seek him through continual, devout prayer; and in the simplicity of heart, through the purity of intention and innocence of works, so there may be no interior duplicity, no exterior falsity, but rather, a heart totally turned around into God, and neither bent back toward its own concerns, nor raised up after human favor; for he is found by those that do not tempt him with the presumption of reckless inquisition. Whence Augustine, in Book
16 against Faustus: "The presumption of arrogance closes the eye of the heart, such that it does not see at all; or it distorts it, so that it sees perversely and approves or dis-
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approves one thing for another."'*' He appears, however, to those who have faith in him, through the elevation of mental consideration.
13. Second, she sought him, lovingly, with latitude of benevolence. Whence Mark 16:6 says: You are searching for Jesus of Nazareth. These sacred women whom the angel addresses were seeking Jesus with such loving desire that they did not even rest during the night. Was
Mary Magdalene not seeking Christ with a great fervor of love,!*®= she who was not afraid to stay for awhile at the tomb, even while her gender is timid by nature? For indeed she was not content with the vision of the angels or with the company of the apostles. To the contrary, it was wearisome for her to see some other creatures until the time she was able to find the one she was seeking,
Jesus Nazarene crucified, because when he is possessed, every good is possessed. For Christ inasmuch as crucified, confers the benefit of pardon in the absolution of fault; inasmuch as the Nazarene, that is florid,'*® confers drops of grace for the promotion of justice; but inasmuch as Jesus, which is interpreted as salvation, confers the fulfillment of glory in the glorification of body and spirit. And Jeremiah 29:13 says something similar about this: When you will seek me with your entire heart, you will find me, says the Lord. The Blessed Virgin searched for him well with her entire heart, not dividing it among worldly concerns.
14. Third, she sought him, expecting, with certitude of confidence. Whence Colossians 3: 1-2: Seek those things
87 See Sancti Avreli Augvustini, De vtilitate credendi, De dvabvus animabus contra Fortunatum, Contra Adimanum, Contra epistvlam fundamenti, Contra Favstum, edited by Joseph Zycha; CSEL xxv (Prague:
F. Tempsky, 1891), 454.
138 Cf. John 20:13.
139 See CCSL lxxii, 137: "Nazareth means flower...."
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that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, not those things on the earth. The divine Virgin was seeking those things that are above with celestial longings, by expecting with certitude of confidence the preferable gifts of God the Father; where Christ inasmuch as human being, enjoys perpetuity; not those things on the earth by depressing the affections down to worldly things, because these worldly consolations, which are carnally experienced, compared to those delights that are above at the right hand of God the Father, must be spoken of rather as desolations. Indeed where a person believes to find delight, he finds torment because every delight in the present is stained by bitterness, but the delights that are above at the right hand of God delight because "delight is the union of the suitable with the suitable,"!*° and the soul has a greater suitability with nothing more than with that, to whose image or similitude it was formed.
Let us therefore ask the Lord.
140 See Book VIII, c. 7 of Avicennae Metaphysica, Pro manuscripto (St. Bonaventure, NY: The Franciscan Institute, 1948), 269: "There is no delight unless there is apprehension of the suitable, according to what is suitable."