sermon, because even if the spirit is willing, still the flesh is weak;2 all the same,
SERMON 228
ON EASTER DAY TO THE PEOPLE AND THE INFANTES
Date: uncertain1
The older faithful exhorted to give a good example to the newly baptized "infantes"
1. After all the hard work of last night, I mustn't detain you with a long sermon, because even if the spirit is willing, still the flesh is weak;2 all the same, though, I do owe you a sermon. All these days after the passion of our Lord, during which we sing to God with alleluia, we keep in joy as feast days until Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was sent from heaven as promised.3 And of these days, the seven or eight we are in at the moment are earmarked for telling the infantes about the sacraments they have received.4 A short while ago they were called "Askers"; now they're called "Infants." They were called askers, because they were agitating their mother's womb, asking to be bom. They are called infants because they have just now been bom to Christ, having previously been bom to the world.
What ought to be growing strongly in you has been started afresh in them; and you that are already the faithful must set them good examples which can help them to make progress, not bad ones that may cause their ruin. Being newly bom, you see, they look to you to observe how you live, who were bom a long time ago. That's what we all do, when bom of Adam's line; first we are babies, and then, once we've begun to notice the habits of grown-ups, we watch out for things to imitate. And since the younger follows where the elder leads, it is to be hoped that the elder will proceed along a good road, or else by following along a bad one younger and elder may perish together.
And so you, brothers and sisters, who are after a fashion, in virtue of your age, parents of rebirth, I am addressing you and urging you so to live, that you may rejoice with those who imitate you and not perish with them. A person newly bom observes one or other of the faithful who's a drunkard; what I'm afraid of is that he may say to himself, "Why is that guy one of the faithful, and yet he drinks so much?" He observes one or other of the faithful who's a money-lender, a stingy giver, a harsh exactor of interest, and he says to himself,