preached on Good Friday. Sermon 218 did not mention "today," which is why it is reasonable to
192 SAINT A UGUSTINE - SERMONS by one nation, he is now worshiped by all the nations. And yet, not only then but even now they6 still read, as though blind, still sing as though deaf what had been foretold so long ago by the prophetic voice of the psalmist: They dug my hands and my feet, they counted all my bones; they, however, looked me up and down, they divided up my clothes, and over my garment they cast lots (Ps 22:17-19). In the gospel we can read about these things being fulfilled just as they were foretold in the psalm. But then the hands of the Jews carried out the things their ears heard in vain; and the less they understood that this was a prophecy of the Lord's passion, the more effectively they fulfilled it. Now, though, they can both read how it was foretold and recognize how it was fulfilled; and still they choose to deny Christ, because they cannot kill him anymore.
No one can tear or divide the charity of Christ
2. Worse, though, than the Jews are the heretics; those deny Christ whom they cannot observe; these attack the Church which they can see perfectly well. And the heretics are more miserably crazy not only than the Jews who deny Christ now, but also than those who killed him then. They, after all, did not delete the title of the one who was hanging on the cross, while these blow out the baptism of the one who is seated in heaven.7
And so from this psalm before us we can reply to both adversaries; to those who deny the head, and those who deny the body. The head, you see, is Christ, the body is the Church. Against the Jews we read, They dug my hands and my feet, they counted all my bones (Ps 22:17-18), and the rest that follows. Against the heretics we read, All the ends of the earth will remember, and will turn back to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship in his sight; for the kingdom is the Lord's, and he will lord it over the nations (Ps 22:28-29).
But let us grasp the meaning of that garment, woven from the top, which not even those who killed Christ divided, but which those who could attain to it did attain to it by lot.8 So while the sacraments of Christ can be divided up among many heretical bodies, none of the faithful tear or divide up the charity of Christ; but those who belong to the lot of the saints in light (Col 1:12) hold on to it as their own, because they have a spiritual love for unity.
And so, dearly beloved, let us celebrate this day with the devotion the anniversary calls for; let us glory, though, in the cross of Christ (Gal 6:14), not just once a year, but with constant and holy dedication.9
NOTES
1. At last we have a real sermon on the subject, instead of just jottings and scraps. It was clearly preached on Good Friday. Sermon 218 did not mention "today," which is why it is reasonable to