Edmund. II. Rotelle, John E. III. Augustinian
Published in the United States by New City Press
86 Mayflower Avenue, New Rochelle, New York 10801
©1993 Augustinian Heritage Institute
Cover design by Ben D'Angio
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo.
The works of Saint Augustine.
"Augustinian Heritage Institute" Includes bibliographical references and indexes. Contents: —pt. 3. Sermons, v. 1. 1-19. Introduction / Michele Pellegrino — pt. 3. Sermons on the Old Testament, v. 2 20-50 — [etc.] — pt. 3, v. 6 Sermons on the liturgical seasons, 184-229Z.
1. Theology — Early Church, ca. 30-600. I. Hill, Edmund. II. Rotelle, John E. III. Augustinian Heritage Institute. IV. Title. BR65.A5E53 1990 270.2 89-28878 ISBN 1-56548-055-4 (series) ISBN 1-56548-050-3 (pt. 3, v. 6)
Nihil Obstat: John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., S.T.L.
Delegated Censor
Imprimatur: Thomas V. Daily, D.D.
Bishop of Brooklyn
Brooklyn, New York: October 6, 1992
Printed in the United States
CONTENTS
Sermon 184 — On Christmas Day.17
Let the humble hold fast to the humility of God — 17; Rejoice, all Christians; it is the birthday of Christ — 18; The two births of Christ —18
Sermon 185 — On Christmas Day.21
Truth has sprung from the earth — 21; Justice has looked forth from heaven — 21; See whether you can find anything but grace -— 22
Sermon 186 — On Christmas Day.24
A virgin for ever — 24; One who was God became man — 24; The Word of God became man — 25
Sermon 187 — On Christmas Day.27
The greatness and the humility of Christ — 27; The human word and the divine Word — 27; Thought and Word — 28; Christ, God and man — 29
Sermon 188 — On Christmas Day.31
Small wonder if we human beings cannot explain in words the Word through which all things were made — 31; The eternal day — 31; The only thing which could lift you up was divine humility —- 32; The virgin holy Church — 32
Sermon 189 — On Christmas Day.34
Who can this day from day be? -— 34; What justice can there be without faith? — 34; Christ was bom that we might be reborn — 35; The two births of Christ — 35
Sermon 190 — On Christmas Day.38
Even the day of Christ's birth contains the mystery of his light — 38; Christ wished to honor each sex in his birth — 39; Both speechless infant and Word — 39; That weakness might become strong — 40
Sermon 191 — On Christmas Day.42
Christ inserted himself into the passing procession of the years — 42; Mary's virginity —r 42; The Church is virgin and mother — 43; What you marvel at in the flesh of Mary, perform in the depths of your soul — 43
Sermon 192 — On Christmas Day.46
We are filled with wonder at the virgin's bearing a child — 46; Mary is the mother of unity — 47; Christ bent down to pick us up — 47
Sermon 193 — On Christmas Day.50
Glory to God, and on earth peace — 50; Christ's mercy gets in ahead of us every single time — 50
Sermon 194 — On Christmas Day.53
Love what you believe, proclaim what you love — 53; Both angels and human praise Christ — 53; The treasures of wisdom and knowledge — 54; Let us celebrate the birthday of the form of a slave — 55
Sermon 195 — On Christmas Day.57
His begetting who shall tell the tale of? — 57; The Son of holy Mary — 57; Christ came in the flesh —58
Sermon 196 — On Christmas Day.60
Two births of our Lord Jesus Christ — 60; Three kinds of life in the Church — 61; We have Christ as an infant; let us grow up with him — 61; New Year's Day — 62
Sermon 196 A.64
By Christ's justification we are circumcised in the heart — 64; The humility of Christ has conformed itself to us — 65; Let Christ start growing in your hearts — 66
Sermon 197 — Against the Pagans, On 1 January: Fragments, from a Se¬ lection of Texts on Paul Compiled By Bede and Florus.68
From creature to Creator — 68; Hold on to Christ — 70; As against such pride the apostle stays down in humility — 70; Do not place any hopes in the apostle, but in truth — 70; Love of the head for his body — 71; Do not be deceived — 71
Sermon 198 — On 1 January, Against the Pagans .73
The pagan celebration of New Year — 73; Three sentiments of the soul: believing, hoping, loving — 73; Christians and Gentiles — 74
Sermon 198A — On 1 January, Against the Pagans, Fragments.77
We are rightly called a royal and priestly race — 77; Christ entered, and there he still is — 77; The high priest offers up our prayers — 78
Sermon 199 — On the Lord's Epiphany.79
Christ the cornerstone — 79; The Jews did not understand the time of Christ's coming — 79; The Magi from among the Gentiles, the shepherds from among the Jews — 80
Sermon 200 — On the Lord's Epiphany.83
Epiphany means manifestation — 83; The nobility of the one being bom lay in the virginity of the one giving birth — 83; The divine books and prophecy — 84; Christ has been manifested to Jews and Gentiles as the cornerstone — 85
Sermon 201 — On the Lord's Epiphany.87
Christ's manifestation to the Gentiles — 87; The Magi and Pilate — 88; The Jews carry around the divine testimonies, not for their own, but for the Gentiles' salvation and acceptance — 88
Sermon 202 — On the Lord's Epiphany.91
Magi, the firstfruits of the Gentiles — 91; He couldn't yet speak with his tongue on earth, so he spoke from heaven with a star — 91; Don't the Jews show the Gentiles the Christ whom they decline to worship with the Gentiles? — 92; Spread the good news about Christ by pursuing a new way, not returning by the way we came — 93
Sermon 203 — On the Lord's Epiphany.95
The world-renowned festival — 95; The humility of the Gentiles — 95; The Magi, firstfruits of the Gentiles — 96
Sermon 204 — On the Lord's Epiphany.98
Christmas and Epiphany belong to the manifestation of Christ — 98; A great sacrament and mystery with a twin festivity — 98; Christ the cornerstone, once upon a time laid in a manger, later lifted up to the summit of heaven — 99
Sermon 204A — On the Lord's Epiphany.101
Sermon 205 — On the Beginning of Lent.103
If you don't want your footsteps to sink in the earthly quagmire, don't come down from this cross — 103; Works of penance — 104; Fast from quarrels — 104
Sermon 206 — On the Beginning of Lent..106
Lent—these days of humbling ourselves — 106; Two sorts of almsgiving: giving and forgiving — 107; Prayer flies beautifully when it's supported on wings of such virtues —
Sermon 207 — On the Beginning of Lent.109
Fasting without kindness and mercy is worth nothing to the one who's fasting — 109; Let your fasting be accompanied by frugality — 110; Prayer must be chaste — 110
Sermon 208 — On the Beginning of Lent..112
Lent, a time to be more alert than usual — 112; What self-restraint withdraws from pleasure, mercy may deposit with charity — 113
Sermon 209 — On the Beginning of Lent.115
Let charity be exercised by your living good lives — 115; We should add to alms what we subtract from ourselves by fasting and abstaining from our usual diet — 116; Nobody should take such pleasure in the goodness of being generous, as to forfeit the goodness of being humble — 116
Sermon 210 — On the Beginning of Lent.118
The meaning of Lent — 118; The time for fasting — 118; Christ's baptism and John's baptism — 119; Why we fast before Easter — 120; Why we have to fast and pray — 120; Special time for fasting — 121; The day of bringing forth — 122; The fast before the fifty days — 122; The daily fast — 123; Those who fast wrongly — 123; Those who seek new forms of self-indulgence — 124; Alms and forgiveness — 124
Sermon 211 — During Lent.128
Anger is one thing, hatred quite another — 128; Whoever hates his brother or sister is a murderer — 128; Pardon your brother or sister — 129; A friendly approach is a way of asking pardon — 130; If you are ready to forgive, you have already forgiven — 131; May we keep Easter without any anxiety — 132
Sermon 211A — During Lent: a Fragment.133
Until the passion, penance; after the resurrection, praise — 133; Here we do one thing and another; there one thing — 133
Sermon 212 — At the Handing Over of the Creed.136
Brief exposition of the Symbol — 136; Keep the Symbol in your memory — 138
Sermon 213 — At the Handing Over of the Creed.140
We are now hoping for what we are to receive — 140; I believe in God the Father Almighty — 141; Christ, the only Son of the Father, was made flesh — 142; Crucified—buried in the flesh — 142; He rose, he ascended into heaven, he sits at the right hand of God — 143; Christ, our judge and our advocate — 144; The Holy Spirit — 144; The Church is like Mary because it is a virgin and gives birth — 144; The forgiveness of sins by baptism and the Lord's prayer — 145; Resurrection of the flesh — 146; In eight days the repetition of the Symbol — 147
Sermon 214—At the Handing Over of the Creed.150
The Symbol — 150; God created all from nothing — 150; God knows how to make good use of the bad — 151; The Almighty cannot do what he does not will — 152; Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Father — 153; Bom of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary — 153; Crucified under Pontius Pilate and buried — 154; Rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father —155; He will come to judge the living and the dead — 156; The Holy Spirit — 156; The holy Church, the forgiveness of sins — 157; The resurrection of the flesh — 157 »
Sermon 215 — At the Giving Back of the Creed.160
Always retain the Symbol in mind and heart — 160; We believe in God the Father Almighty — 160; What cannot be suitably spoken can be faithfully believed — 161; The blessed Mary conceived by believing the one whom she bore by believing — 162; Christ died for us while we were still sinners — 162; The resurrection of the dead distinguishes our life of faith from the unbelieving dead — 163; Christ ascended into heaven — 164; The Trinity — 164; Through the holy Church — 164
Sermon 216 — To the Competentes.167
Who are the "competentes"? — 167; Overcome the world — 167; Do not let the seed of God's word in you be trampled on the path or wither — 168; You used to be conformed to the world's pattern; now be reformed to God's — 169; Put to death your members —
169; Empty out all the poisons from your hearts by calling on the name of the Savior — 170; Strive to be brought forth in health, not fatally aborted — 171; There immortality is serene; there serenity is immortal — 171; Growing together and growing apart — 172; Humility is rewarded with what pride has been denied — 173; Be converted — 173
Sermon 217 — On the Words of the Lord in the Gospel of John: This Is Eternal Life, That They Should Know You, the Only True God, and Jesus Christ Whom You Have Sent: and On the Trinity.177
Christ prays as man; he gives what he prays for as God — 177; The Holy Spirit is true God — 178; Father and Son are one God — 178; It's the body of Christ that is God's temple — 179; Do good in a bad place — 180; Christ is day — 180; The one God begot is the same as what God is himself — 181
Sermon 218 — On the Lord's Passion: On Good Friday.183
The meaning of the passion — 183; Christ carries the cross — 183; Calvary — 183; The two crucified with Jesus — 184; The king of the Jews — 184; Written in three languages — 184; King of the Jews and the Gentiles — 184; The garments divided — 185; The tunic without seam — 185; Mary entrusted to the beloved disciple — 185; Vinegar on a sponge — 186; Death with a bowed head — 186; The broken legs of the two thieves —186; Blood and water from the side of Jesus — 186; Burial — 187
Sermon 218A — Fragments From a Sermon on the Lord's Passion ... 189
Christ brought us life — 189; The mercy of God toward the Gentiles — 189; The interior person — 189
Sermon 218B — On the Lord's Passion.191
Christ crucified is to unbelievers a scandal and a folly, but to us the power of God and the wisdom of God — 191; No one can tear or divide the charity of Christ — 192
Sermon 218C—On the Lord's Passion.194
Ours was what Christ died by; his was what we might live by — 194; To take pride in the cross of Christ — 195; Christ's divinity didn't die in the man — 195; Go along with a humble God — 196
Sermon 219 — At the Easter Vigil .198
The mother of all holy vigils — 198
Sermon 220 — At the Easter Vigil ...200
The solemnity renews the event by celebrating it regularly — 200
Sermon 221 — On the Holy Night.202
The joy and splendor of this holy night — 202; In comparison with this vigil, others are scarcely to be regarded as vigils — 203; The reason for vigils — 203; The particular vigil — 204
207 Sermon 222 — At the Easter Vigil
Dispelling the darkness — 207
Sermon 223 — At the Easter Vigil . . 209
The day which the Lord has made is the newly baptized — 209; There are bad Christians in the Church of this present age — 210
Sermon 223A — On the Beginning of Genesis at the Easter Vigil .... 212
God created heaven and earth in the beginning through the Word — 212; The Word was hidden with the Father. In order to come to us he took flesh — 213; To know God we must rise above and go beyond our time-bound experience of our own minds — 214; Who is my God? — 215; The divine name, "I am who I am" — 216; Prayer — 218
Sermon 223B — Discourse on the Holy Night.220
This vigil as a reminder of Christ's death and resurection — 220; We keep watch at the same time as Christ slept in the tomb — 220
Sermon 223C — On the Holy Night.222
Christ slept the sleep of death voluntarily, not out of necessity, for our redemption — 222
Sermon 223D — At the Easter Vigil .224
The preferred vigil — 224; Christ rose again during the night, as light shining out of the darkness —224; By celebrating this past event of Christ's resurrection, we anticipate the future even of our own — 225
Sermon 223E — At the Easter Vigil.226
Watch and pray lest we enter into temptation — 226; In baptism all our past sins have been destroyed, like Pharaoh's horsemen drowned in the Red Sea — 227
Sermon 223F — At the Easter Vigil.229
The sermon, like the vigil itself, a reminder of what you already know — 229; Two very different lions—Christ and the devil — 229; Why we should keep vigil and pray — 230
Sermon 223G — At the Easter Vigil .231
The blissful state that will be ours without time for eternity — 231; The end we have in view has no end — 231
% Sermon 223H — At the Easter Vigil .234
The apostles, mountains of God cast into the sea, have consecrated this vigil as a means for us to humble our souls — 234
Sermon 2231 — At the Easter Vigil.236
By our own humility let us call back to remembrance the humility of Christ — 236
Sermon 223J — At the Easter Vigil.238
Let us watch and pray in this vigil, in order to come to where we will never need to sleep anymore — 238
Sermon 223K — At the Easter Vigil .240
Two kinds of sleep, two kinds of wakefulness, corresponding to two sorts of day and night — 240
242 Sermon 224 — On the Octave of Easter.
Sermon 225 — On Easter Day; to the Infantes.247
Choose for yourselves those in the people of God whom you would imitate — 242; Against the whispered suggestions of the devil, we ought to employ the enchantments of Christ — 242; While God has promised forgiveness, he hasn't anywhere promised tomorrow — 243
Who was Christ before becoming man? — 247; The Holy Spirit brought about the flesh of Christ — 248; Just as my word assumed sound, in order to be heard, so the Word of God assumed flesh, in order to be seen — 248; Don't get drunk on wine; get drunk on the Holy Spirit instead — 249
Sermon 226 — On Easter Day to the People and the Infantes.252
The infantes are the day which the Lord has made, in which we are to rejoice — 252
Sermon 227 — Preached on the Holy Day of Easter to the Infantes, on the Sacraments.254
Sermon 228 — On Easter Day to the People and the Infantes.257
You are yourselves what you receive — 254
The older faithful exhorted to give a good example to the newly baptized infantes — 257; The infantes exhorted to model themselves on good Catholics — 258; Sermon on the eucharist — 258
Sermon 228A — Fragment in the Collection of Bede and Florus on Ro¬ mans 6 from a Sermon on the Lord's Resurrection.260
Baptism is a dying and being buried with Christ, and rising with him to newness of life — 260
Sermon 228B — About the Sacraments on Easter Day.261
The sacrament of our time is the body and blood of the priest himself — 261; Recognize in the bread what hung on the cross; in the cup what flowed from his side — 261; By the eucharist we are changed into the body of Christ — 262; You are beginning to receive what you have begun to be, provided you do not receive unworthily — 262; You receive worthily, if you keep the leaven of charity — 263
Sermon 229 — On Holy Easter Sunday about the Sacraments of the Faithful.265
The bread and wine on the altar become the body and blood of the Word, which he made us into as well — 265; Be one yourselves, in the same way as you can see the bread and wine have been made one — 265; Explanation of the rite of the Mass from the preface onward — 266
Sermon 229A — Preached on Holy Easter Sunday.269
What you receive is what you are; what you see on the altar is the sacrament of unity — 269; The body of Christ is made one by the harmony of charity — 270; The words of the preface of the Mass explained — 270
Sermon 229B — Preached on Holy Easter Sunday 273
Live good lives, and you are the day which the Lord has made — 273; The everlasting joy of the kingdom will not generate boredom, any more than good health does in this present life—274
Sermon 229C — On the Holy Day of Easter.276
The Jews, celebrating the passover, do not acknowledge what it signifies — 276; The Christian passover fulfills that of the Old Testament — 277
Sermon 229D — On the Holy Day of Easter.278
Christ suffered, let us die to sin; Christ rose again, let us live for God — 278; Keep this passing feast joyfully, and think about the coming kingdom that will last for ever — 278
Sermon 229E — Preached on the Monday after Easter.280
Christ has exchanged the good things of the region he came from for the bad things of this region of ours he came to — 280; Absolutely all sins are forgiven in baptism, even the sin of killing Christ — 281; The resurrection is the sacrament, the model, of the new life — 282; Christ is both food and wages to those who work in his vineyard — 283
Sermon 229F — Preached on the Monday after Easter.285
We have believed in the resurrection of Christ, though we never saw it, on hearing the writings of those who didn't believe, even when they saw — 285; How Jacob, in his wrestling with the angel, prefigured both the Jews who believed in Christ and those who rejected him — 286; If you have come to believe in Christ, recognize yourself as blessed; if you have denied Christ, recognize yourself as lame — 287
Sermon 229G — On the Tuesday after Easter.289
The one who said Show us the Father, and that is enough for us was unable to recognize the Father in the Son — 289; Whoever sees me also sees the Father — 290; Steering between the Scylla and Charybdis of the Sabellians and Arians — 291; Explaining I and the Father are one — 292; How did Christ die? — 292
Sermon 229H — Preached on the Tuesday after Easter.295
All we know in this region is being bom and dying; Christ brought us from his region the new thing of resurrection — 295; The one disease there is no recovery from for anyone is that of being bom. It is invariably mortal — 296; The resurrection of Christ is the thing that defines the Christian faith; and it assures us of eternal life — 297
Sermon 2291 — Preached on the Wednesday after Easter.300
May God pardon those who still think the Lord's resurrection was only spiritual, as he pardoned his apostles — 300; The apostles saw the head, believed about the body; we see the body, believe about the head — 300; Jews who had killed Christ pricked to the heart at Pentecost, and repented on the spot. So they came to drink in faith the blood they had shed in fury — 301; The gospel spread, after Stephen's martyrdom, like fire spread from a bonfire — 302
Sermon 229J — Preached on the Wednesday after Easter.304
The error of the apostles in thinking the risen Christ was a spirit is the central doctrine of the Manichees — 304; Christ has lost the whole fmit of his passion if there's no truth in his resurrection — 305; Christ proved the reality of his bodily resurrection by eating some baked fish—which represents the faith of the martyrs — 305; It was necessary for everything to be fulfilled that was written in the law and the prophets and the psalms about me — 306; The Church among all nations also foretold in the scriptures — 307
Sermon 229K — Preached on the Thursday after Easter.309
It is better to touch Christ by faith than in the flesh — 309; "Stop touching me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father" means "Why look for my flesh, when you cannot yet grasp my divinity?" — 310
Sermon 229L — Preached on the Thursday after Easter.312
Look how the angels didn't show themselves to Peter and John, and showed themselves to a woman — 312; There's something greater which you don't realize — 313
Sermon 229M — Preached on the Friday after Easter .315
The difference between the two catches of fish recounted in the gospels — 315; The number 17, the key to the number 153, means the fulfillment of the law by the gifts of the Holy Spirit — 316; How the number 17 is related to the number 153 of the fish caught — 317
Sermon 229N — Preached on the Saturday of the Easter Octave.320
Christ's questions to Peter about whether he loved him are addressed to us as well — 320; The keys entrusted to Peter are also held by all bishops, and even by all the faithful — 321; May Christ's love lead us all to where there are no more tears — 321
Sermon 2290 — Preached on the Saturday of the Easter Octave.323
Peter's threefold confession of love makes up for his threefold denial — 323; Let us congratulate the apostle Peter — 324; Feed my sheep, but remember they are mine, not yours — 324; Augustine announces to his people the conversion of one out of four Eunomian heretics, whom he had previously warned them to avoid — 325
Sermon 229P — On Peter's Love.327
The Church is built upon the rock of Peter's confession of faith — 327; Peter three times confesses his love of the one whom he had three times denied — 327; Peter had learned the truth about his own weakness when he denied Christ — 328; Christ the shepherd, who entrusts his sheep to Peter, is also himself the sheep and the lamb — 329
Sermon 229R — Fragment from a Sermon Preached during the Easter Octave.331
The allegorical meaning of light and firmament — 331
Sermon 229S — Fragment from a Sermon Preached during the Easter Octave.333
Sermon 229T — Fragment of a Sermon Preached during the Easter Oc¬ tave . 335
The allegorical meaning of the sea and the dry land — 333
The allegorical interpretation of the lights in the firmament — 335
Sermon 229U — Fragment of a Sermon Preached during the Easter Oc¬ tave .337
Allegorical explanation of "reptiles of living souls" — 337
Sermon 229V — Fragment of a Sermon Preached during the Easter Oc¬ tave .339
All God's works contained in man, the microcosm — 339
Sermon 229W — Fragment on the Restoration of the Image.342
God seeks his own image and likeness in man, just as Caesar looks for his in the coinage — 342
Sermon 229Z — Fragment on Genesis 1:11.344
Chronological Table.345
Index of Scripture .351 Index.358
Sermons