was good. And God divided between the light and the darkness; and God called
SERMON 223
AT THE EASTER VIGIL
Date: after 4121
The day which the Lord has made is the newly baptized
1. In the book called Genesis scripture says, And God saw the light that it was good. And God divided between the light and the darkness; and God called the light day, and the darkness he called night (Gn 1:4-5). So if God called the light day, then without a shadow of doubt those to whom the apostle Paul says,
You were once darkness, but now light in the Lord (Eph 5:8), were day; since the one who commanded light to shine out of the darkness (2 Cor 4:6) had enlightened them.
These infants,2 whom you behold outwardly clothed in white, inwardly cleansed and purified, the brilliance of their garments representing the splendor of their minds, were once darkness, when the night of their sins was covering them. But now that they have been washed clean in the bath of amnesty, that they have been waitered from the fountain of wisdom, that they have been bedewed with the light of justice, this is the day which the Lord has made; let us exult and rejoice in it (Ps 118:24). Let the day of the Lord listen to us; let the day made by the Lord listen to us; let it listen and obey, so that we may rejoice and exult in it; because, as the apostle says, this is our joy and our crown, if you stand fast in the Lord.3
So listen to me, O you freshly bom children of a chaste mother; or rather, listen to me, you children of a virgin mother. Because you were once darkness, but now light in the Lord, stick close to the children of light; and let me put it quite plainly: stick close to those of the faithful who are good. Because there are, you see, and this is a sad and sorry fact, a number of the faithful who are bad. They are the faithful who are called so, and are not really so. They are the faithful by whom the sacraments of Christ are misused; who live in such a way that they both perish themselves and ruin others. They perish themselves by living bad lives; while they min others by setting them the example of living bad lives. So you, then, dearly beloved, see you don't join such people. Seek out the good ones, stick close to the good ones, be good ones yourselves.