September
16
Pope St. Cornelius
and St. Cyprian, Martyrs
Pope Saint Cornelius
succeeded St. Fabian as Pope in 251. He behaved with zeal and piety in his
pastoral charge and adhered to his duty with courage and steadfastness. The
holy Pope suffered martyrdom, September 14, 252. Saint Cyprian, Archbishop of
Carthage and Primate of Africa, laid down his life for Christ on September 14,
258, six years later, to the day, after his friend St. Cornelius. St. Cyprian,
one of the most famous of the earlier Fathers of the Church.
There is a commemoration
of Saints Euphemia, Lucy, and Geminianus, Martyrs as well today. St. Euphemia,
a virgin of Chalcedon, suffered in the persecution continued by the successors
of Diocletian, about the year 307. The Council of Chalcedon was held in her
sepulchral church. St. Lucy and St. Geminianus, two other martyrs who suffered
in the same persecution, are commemorated with St. Euphemia.
Today is Ember Wednesday
A Day of Fasting and Prayer. A Partial Abstinence.
EMBER DAYS IN SEPTEMBER
Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday
after the the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, 14 September, are
known as, Michaelmas – Embertide – A Day of Fasting and Prayer. A Partial
Abstinence.
On this day of partial abstinence,
all between 21 and 59 years of age are bound to fast and those over 7 must
observe the law of abstinence. On days of fast only one full meal is allowed.
Two other meatless meals, sufficient to maintain strength may be taken
according to each one’s need, but together they should not equal another full
meal that includes meat. Eating between meals is not permitted but liquids,
including milk and fruit juices are allowed.
Feast of Pope
St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian/Commemoration of St. Euphemia, Lucy and
Geminianus, Martyrs
Wednesday in Sixteenth Week After Pentecost
EMBER WEDNESDAY
Semi-Double/Red
Vestments
“Intret in conspectu”
INTROIT: Psalm 78:
11, 12, 10
Let
the sighing of the prisoners come in before Thee, O Lord; render to our
neighbors sevenfold in their bosom; revenge the blood of Thy saints, which hath
been shed.
Psalm 78: 1
O
God, the heathens are come into Thy inheritance: they have defiled Thy holy
temple: they have made Jerusalem as a place to keep fruit.
V. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and
to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world
without end. Let the sighing of the prisoners…
Intret
in conspectu tuo, Dominie; gemitus compeditorum: redde vicinis nostris
septuplum in sinueorum: vindica sanguinem sanctorum tuorum, qui effsus est.
Psalm 78: 1
Deus
venerunt gentes in haereditatem tuam: polluerunt templum sanctum tuum:
postuerunt Jerusalem in pomorum custodiam.
V. Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto.
Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper et in saecula saeculorum. Intret in
conspectus.
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St. Cornelius
|
COLLECT
May
the feast of the blessed martyrs and bishops, Cornelius and Cyprian, protect
us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, and their august prayers commend us to Thee
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in
the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God Forever and ever.
Commemoration
Collect of the Holy Martyrs
Let
us pray. Grant unto our prayers, O Lord, both joy and profit, that, as we each
year commemorate with devotion the day of the suffering of the holy martyrs
Euphemia, Lucy, and Geminianus, we may also follow them in the constancy of
their faith. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ: Who liveth and reigneth with Thee
in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God.
Collect for the
Intercession of the Saints
Let
us pray. Defend us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, from all dangers of mind and body:
and through the intercession of the blessed and glorious Mary, ever Virgin,
mother of God, of St Joseph, of Thy holy apostles, Peter and Paul, and of all
the saints, in Thy loving-kindness grant us safety and peace; that, all
adversities and errors being overcome, Thy Church may serve Thee in security
and freedom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth
with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, Forever and ever.
EPISTLE: Wisdom 3: 1-8
Lesson from the
Book of Wisdom
The
souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not
touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die, and their departure
was taken for misery; and their going away from us for utter destruction: but
they are in peace. And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their
hope is full of immortality. Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be
well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of Himself.
As gold in the furnace He hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust He
hath received them, and in time there shall be respect had to them. The just
shall shine; and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds. They shall
judge nations, and rule over people, and their Lord shall reign forever.
GRADUAL:
Exodus 15: 11, 6
God
is glorious in His Saints, wonderful in majesty, doing wonders.
V. Thy right hand, O Lord, is glorified in
strength; Thy right hand hath broken the enemies.
ALLELUIA: Psalm 44:
14
Alleluia,
alleluia. Their bodies are buried in peace, but their name liveth for evermore.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL: Luke 21: 9-19
The
continuation of the holy Gospel according to Luke
At
that time, Jesus said to His disciples: “When you shall hear of wars and
seditions, be not terrified: these things must first come to pass, but the end
is not yet presently.” Then He said to them, “Nation shall rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be great earthquakes in diverse
places, and pestilences, and famines, and terrors from Heaven, and there shall
be great signs. But before all these things they will lay their hands on you,
and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons,
dragging you before kings and governors for My name’s sake. And it shall happen
unto you for a testimony. Lay it up therefore in your hearts, not to meditate
before how you shall answer. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all
your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay. And you shall be
betrayed by your parents, and brethren, and kinsmen, and friends, and some of
you they will put to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My name’s
sake; but a hair of your head shall not perish. In your patience you shall
possess your souls.”
OFFERTORY: Psalm 67:
36
God
is wonderful in His saints: the God of Israel is He Who will give power and
strength to His people: blessed be God. Alleluia.
SECRET
Give
ear, O Lord, to our supplications which we offer in commemoration of Thy
saints, that, we, having no confidence in our own justice, may be assisted by
the merits of those who have been pleasing to Thee. Through our Lord Jesus
Christ Thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the
Holy Ghost, one God.
Commemoration Secret of the Holy Martyrs
Graciously
look upon the desires of Thy people, O Lord, and cause us to rejoice in the
interceding prayers of those whose festival Thou dost permit us to celebrate.
Through Our Lord Jesus Christ: Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity
of the same Holy Ghost, one God…
Secret for the
Intercession of the Saints
Graciously
hear us, O God our Saviour, and, by virtue of this Sacrament, defend us from
all enemies of soul and body, bestowing upon us Thy grace here and Thy glory
hereafter. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with
Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, Forever and ever.
PREFACE Common Preface
It
is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation that we should at all times
and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty,
everlasting God: through Christ our Lord. Through Whom the Angels praise Thy
Majesty, the Dominations worship it, the Powers stand in awe. The Heavens and
the Heavenly hosts together with the blessed Seraphim in triumphant chorus
unite to celebrate it. Together with them we entreat Thee, that Thou mayest bid
our voices also to be admitted, while we say in lowly praise:
SANCTUS, SANCTUS, SANCTUS Dominus Deus
Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria Tua. Hosanna in excelsis. Benedictus
qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis.
COMMUNION: Wisdom:
3: 4-6
And
though in the sight of men they suffered torments, God hath tried them: as gold
in the furnace He hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust He hath
received them.
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ST. CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE
|
POSTCOMMUNION
Filled
with the mysteries of salvation we beseech Thee, O Lord, that we may be helped
by the prayers of those whose festival we celebrate. Through the Lord Jesus
Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy
Ghost, one God.
Commemoration
Postcommunion of the Holy Martyrs
Harken
unto our prayers, O Lord, and may we be comforted by the continual help of Thy
holy martyrs, Euphemia, Lucy, and Geminianus, whose festival we solemnly
celebrate. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ: Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in
the unity of the same Holy Ghost, one God.
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Our Holy Helpers the saints in
heaven
|
Postcommunion for
the Intercession of the Saints
May
the gift of this Divine Sacrament which we have offered, cleanse us and defend
us, we beseech Thee, O Lord; and through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, mother of God, of St. Joseph, of Thy holy apostles Peter and Paul, and of
all the saints, free us from all iniquity and deliver us from all adversity.
Through the Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in
the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God.
ST. CORNELIUS , ST. CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE
Matins – Roman Breviary
Lesson Four
Cornelius was a Roman who held the Popedom during the
reign of the Emperors Gallus and Volusian. He, and that most holy Lady Lucina,
took the bodies of the Apostles Peter and Paul out of the Catacombs and put
them in more convenient places. Lucina laid the body of Paul in a farm of her
own upon the road to Ostia, hard by the place where he had received the
sword-stroke. Cornelius placed that of the Prince of the Apostles hard by where
he had been crucified. When this was told to the Emperors, and likewise that
Cornelius was the means of making many Christians, he was banished to Civita
Vecchia, where Cyprian, the holy Bishop of Carthage, comforted him by letters.
Lesson Five
They
continued thus to write often one to the other, till the Emperors took in bad
part these exchanges of Christian love, and sent for Cornelius to Rome. There
they commanded him to be lashed with scourges loaded with lead as though he
were a traitor, and then to be carried to offer sacrifice before the image of
Mars. He firmly refused to commit this great wickedness, and was forthwith beheaded,
upon the 14th day of September, in the year of our Lord 252. The blessed
Lucina, with the help of the clergy, buried his body in the sand-pit on her own
farm, near the Cemetery of Kallistus. He lived as Pope about two years.
Lesson six
Cypriam was an African. He was first distinguished as a
teacher of Rhetorick. He afterwards became a Christian at the persuasion of the
Priest Caecilius, whose surname he took, and parted all his goods among the
poor. It was not long before he was chosen a Priest, and then made Bishop of
Carthage. It would be idle to enlarge upon his, wit, seeing that his works are
as well known as the sun. He suffered under the Emperors Valerian and
Gallienus, in the eighth persecution, and upon the same day, though not in the
same year, that Cornelius testified at Rome.
R. As
gold in the furnace hath the Lord tried His chosen ones, and received them as a
burnt-offering, and yet a while, and they shall be regarded;
* For the grace of God, and His peace, are with His
chosen.
V. They
that put their trust in Him shall understand the truth and such as be faithful
in love shall abide with Him.
R. For
the grace of God, and His peace, are with His chosen.
HOMILY – ST. GREGORY THE GREAT
Homily by Pope St Gregory the Great.
35th on the Gospels.
Our Lord and Redeemer
willeth us to know what shall be the signs that the
end of the world is at hand, to the end that ye may be the less terrified, when
that cometh whereof ye have already had warning. Darts strike less which are
seen coming: and the plagues of the earth will be to us more bearable, if we
are harnessed against them with the shield of foreknowledge. Behold, how He
saith When ye shall hear of wars and commotions be not terrified for these
things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. It behoveth us to
ponder these words of our Redeemer, wherein He warneth us of suffering, from
without, and from within. Wars are the work of a foreign enemy, commotions of
the citizens. Therefore, that He may let us know that we shall be troubled from
within and from without, He showeth that our wrestling shall be in part against
strangers, and in part against our brethren.
When
these woes come, the end is not by and by. And He saith further Nation shall
rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and great earthquakes shall
be in divers places, and pestilences, and famines, and fearful sights and great
signs shall there be from heaven. Before the last tribulation cometh, shall
come many other tribulations: and, by the many woes which shall come first,
shall be foreshadowed the everlasting woe which shall come in the end. And
therefore, after wars and commotions, the end is not yet by and by many woes
must come first, to give warning of the woe that hath no end.
Reading 9
Commemoration of the day
Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Mark
Mark 9:16-28
At
that time, one of the multitude answered and said unto Jesus: Master, I have
brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit. And so on.
Homily by the Venerable Bede, Priest at Jarrow.
Bk. iii. ch. 38, on Mark ix.
Concerning this possessed person whom the Lord healed, after that He
was come down from the mount, Mark saith that he was deaf and dumb, and Matthew
xvii. 15 that he was lunatic. He was a figure of them of whom it is said: A
fool changeth as the moon, Ecclus. xxvii. 12. These are they who continue never
in one stay, but change now to one sin, and now to another, waxing and waning
dumb, in that they confess not the faith deaf, in that they have no ears for
the word of truth. They foam at the mouth also, and pine away with folly. For
it is the way with idiots, and swooners, and stupified, to foam their spittle
out at their mouths. They gnash their teeth when they are inflamed with the
heat of passion. They wither up in the paralysis of sloth and live nerveless
lives unbraced by any strong exercise.
ST.
CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE
Extra
Ecclesiam Nulla Salus
ON THE
UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
St.
Cyprian – The necessity of belonging to the Catholic Church for salvation
and True Unity.
[THE
DEVIL SEEKS TO DECEIVE MEN SUBTLY]
1. Since the Lord warns us, saying, “Ye are the salt of the earth,” and since He bids us to be simple
to harmlessness, and yet with our simplicity to be prudent, what else, beloved
brethren, befits us, than to use foresight and watching with an anxious heart,
both to perceive and to beware of the wiles of the crafty foe, that we, who
have put on Christ the wisdom of God the Father, may not seem to be wanting in
wisdom in the matter of providing for our salvation? For it is not persecution
alone that is to be feared; nor those things which advance by open attack to
overwhelm and cast down the servants of God. Caution is more easy where danger
is manifest, and the mind is prepared beforehand for the contest when the
adversary avows himself. The enemy is more to be feared and to be guarded
against, when he creeps on us secretly; when, deceiving by the
appearance of peace, he steals forward by hidden approaches, whence also he
has received the name of the Serpent. That is always his subtlety; that is his
dark and stealthy artifice for circumventing man. Thus from the very beginning
of the world he deceived; and flattering with lying words,
he misled inexperienced souls by an incautious credulity. Thus he endeavoured
to tempt the Lord Himself: he secretly approached Him, as if he would creep on
Him again, and deceive; yet he was understood, and beaten back, and therefore
prostrated, because he was recognised and detected.
2. From which an example is given us to avoid the way of the
old man, to stand in the footsteps of a conquering Christ, that we may not
again be incautiously turned back into the nets of death, but, foreseeing our
danger, may possess the immortality that we have received. But how can we
possess immortality, unless we keep those commands of Christ whereby death is
driven out and overcome, when He Himself warns us, and says, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the
commandments?” And again: “If
ye do the things that I command you, henceforth I call you not servants, but
friends.” Finally, these persons He calls strong and steadfast; these He
declares to be founded in robust security upon the rock,
established with immoveable and unshaken firmness, in opposition to all the
tempests and hurricanes of the world. “Whosoever,”
says He, “heareth my words, and doeth
them, I will liken him unto a wise man, that built his house upon a rock: the
rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and
it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” We ought therefore to
stand fast on His words, to learn and do whatever He both taught and did. But
how can a man say that he believes in Christ, who does not do what Christ
commanded him to do? Or whence shall he attain to the reward of faith, who will
not keep the faith of the commandment? He must of necessity waver and wander,
and, caught away by a spirit of error, like dust which is shaken by the wind,
be blown about; and he will make no advance in his walk towards salvation,
because he does not keep the truth of the way of salvation.
[THE
DEVIL HAS ESTABLISHED HERESIES AND SCHISMS FROM THE CHURCH; THEIR FOLLOWERS,
THOUGH THINKING THEMSELVES CHRISTIAN, ARE NOT AND ARE DAMNED]
3. But, beloved brethren, not only must we beware of what is
open and manifest, but also of what deceives by the craft of subtle fraud. And
what can be more crafty, or what more subtle, than for this enemy, detected and
cast down by the advent of Christ, after light has come to the nations, and
saving rays have shone for the preservation of men, that the deaf might receive
the hearing of spiritual grace, the blind might open their eyes to God, the
weak might grow strong again with eternal health, the lame might run to the
church, the dumb might pray with clear voices and prayers – seeing his idols
forsaken, and his lanes and his temples deserted by the numerous concourse of
believers – to devise a new fraud, and under the very title of the
Christian name to deceive the incautious? He has invented heresies and
schisms, whereby he might subvert the faith, might corrupt the truth, might
divide the unity. Those whom he cannot keep in the darkness of the old way, he
circumvents and deceives by the error of a new way. He snatches men from the
Church itself; and while they seem to themselves to have already approached to
the light, and to have escaped the night of the world, he pours over them
again, in their unconsciousness, new darkness; so that, although they do not
stand firm with the Gospel of Christ, and with the observation and law of
Christ, they still call themselves Christians, and, walking in darkness, they
think that they have the light, while the adversary is flattering and
deceiving, who, according to the apostle’s word, transforms himself into an “angel of light” (II Corinthians
11:14), and equips his ministers as if they were the “ministers of righteousness” (ibid.), who maintain night instead
of day,death for salvation, despair under the offer of hope, perfidy
under the pretext of faith, antichrist under the name of Christ; so that, while
they feign things like the truth, they make void the truth by their subtlety.
This happens, beloved brethren, so long as we do not return to the source of
truth, as we do not seek the head nor keep the teaching of the heavenly Master.
[THERE
IS ONLY ONE CHURCH, OF WHICH THE POPE, IN THE PERSON OF PETER, IS MADE THE
FOUNDATION; ONLY THOSE WHO ARE IN HIS COMMUNION ARE IN THE CHURCH]
4. If any one consider and examine these things, there is no
need for lengthened discussion and arguments. There is easy proof for faith in
a short summary of the truth. The Lord speaks to Peter, saying, “I say unto thee, that thou art Peter; and
upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever
thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (St. Matthew
16:18). And again to the same He says, after His resurrection, “Feed my sheep” (St. John 21:16). It
is on him that He builds the Church, and to him that He entrusts the sheep to
feed. And although to all the apostles, after His resurrection, He gives an
equal power, and says, “As the Father
hath sent me, even so send I you: Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins
ye remit, they shall be remitted unto him; and whose soever sins ye retain,
they shall be retained;” (St. John 20:21, 22) yet, He founded a
single Chair. That He might set forth unity, He established by
His authority theorigin of that unity, as having its origin in one
man alone. No doubt the others were all that Peter was, but a primacy is
given to Peter, and it is thus made clear that there is but one Church
and one Chair. So too, even if they are all shepherds, we are shown but one
flock which is to be fed by all the apostles in common accord. If a man does
not hold fast to this oneness of Peter, does he imagine that he still holds the
faith? If he deserts the Chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, has he
confidence that he is in the Church?
Which one Church, also, the Holy Spirit in the Song of Songs,
speaking in Our Lord’s name, says, “My
dove, my spotless one, is but one. She is the only one of her
mother, elect of her that bare her” (6:9). Does he who does not hold
this unity of the Church think that he holds the faith? Does he who strives
against and resists the Church trust that he is in the Church, when moreover
the blessed Apostle Paul teaches the same thing, and sets forth the sacrament
of unity, saying, “There is one body
and one spirit, one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one
God“? (Ephesians 4:5)
[THE
ONE CHURCH IS CATHOLIC, OVER THE WHOLE WORLD]
5. And this unity we ought firmly to hold and assert,
especially those of us that are bishops who preside in the Church, that we may
also prove the episcopate itself to be one and undivided. Let no one deceive
the brotherhood by a falsehood: let no one corrupt the truth of the faith by
perfidious prevarication. The episcopate is one, each part of which is held by
each one for the whole. The Church also is one, which is spread abroad far and
wide into a multitude by an increase of fruitfulness. As there are many rays of
thesun, but one light; and many branches of a tree, but one
strength based in its tenacious root; and since from one spring flow
many streams, although the multiplicity seems diffused in the liberality of an
overflowing abundance, yet the unity is still preserved in the source. Separate a
ray of the sun from its body of light, its unity does not allow a division of
light; break a branch from a tree,–when broken, it will not be able to bud; cut
off the stream from its fountain, and that which is cut off dries up. Thus also
the Church, shone over with the light of the Lord, sheds forth her rays over
the whole world, yet it is one light which is everywhere diffused, nor is the
unity of the body separated. Her fruitful abundance spreads her branches over
the whole world. She broadly expands her rivers, liberally flowing, yet her
head is one, her source one; and she is one mother, plentiful in
the results of fruitfulness: from her womb we are born, by her milk we are
nourished, by her spirit we are animated.
[OUTSIDE
THE CHURCH THERE IS NO SALVATION. WHOEVER IS SEPARATED FROM HER WILL BE DAMNED]
6. The spouse of Christ cannot be adulterous; she is
uncorrupted and pure. She knows one home; she guards with chaste modesty the
sanctity of one couch. She keeps us for God. She appoints the sons whom she has
born for the kingdom. Whoever is separated from the Church and is joined to an
adulteress, isseparated from the promises of the Church; nor can he who
forsakes the Church of Christ attain to the rewards of Christ. He is a
stranger; he is profane; he is an enemy. He can no longer have God for his
Father, who has not the Church for his mother. If any one could escape who was
outside the ark of Noah, then he also may escape who shall be
outside of the Church. The Lord warns, saying, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who gathereth not with me
scattereth” (St. Matthew 12:30). He who breaks the peace and the concord
of Christ, does so in opposition to Christ; he who gathereth elsewhere than in
the Church, scatters the Church of Christ. The Lord says, “I and the Father are one;” (St. John
10:30) and again it is written of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit, “And these three are one.”
(I St. John 5:7) And does any one believe that this unity which thus comes from
the divine strength and coheres in celestial sacraments, can be divided in the
Church, and can be separated by the parting asunder of opposing wills? He who
does not hold this unity does not hold God’s law, does not hold the faith of
the Father and the Son, does not hold life and salvation.
[THE
ONE CATHOLIC CHURCH CANNOT BE DIVIDED]
7. This sacrament of unity, this bond of a concord inseparably cohering,
is set forth where in the Gospel thecoat of the Lord Jesus Christ is
not at alldivided nor cut, but is received as an entire garment, and is
possessed as an uninjured and undivided robe by those who cast lots concerning
Christ’s garment, who should rather put on Christ. Holy Scripture speaks,
saying, “But of the coat, because it was
not sewed, but woven from the top throughout, they said one to another, Let us
not rend it, but cast lots whose it shall be” (St. John 19:23, 24). That
coat bore with it an unity that came down from the top, that is, that came from
heaven and the Father, which was not to be at all rent by the receiver and the
possessor, but without separation we obtain a whole and substantial entireness.
He cannot possess the garment of Christ who parts and divides the Church of
Christ. On the other hand, again, when at Solomon’s death his kingdom
and people were divided, Abijah the prophet, meeting Jeroboam the king in
the field, divided his garment into twelve sections, saying, “Take thee ten pieces; for thus saith the
Lord, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and I will
give ten sceptres unto thee; and two sceptres shall be unto him for my servant
David’s sake, and for Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen to place my name
there” (I Kings 11:31). As the twelve tribes of Israel were divided, the
prophet Abijah rent his garment. But because Christ’s people cannot be rent,
His robe, woven and united throughout, is not divided by those who possess it;
undivided, united, connected, it shows the coherent concord of our people who
put on Christ. By the sacrament and sign of His garment, He has declared the
unity of the Church.
[NO
SALVATION OUTSIDE THE CHURCH]
8. Who, then, is so wicked and faithless, who is so insane
with the madness of discord, that either he should believe that the unity of
God can be divided, or should dare to rend it–the garment of the Lord–the
Church of Christ? He Himself in His Gospel warns us, and teaches, saying, “And there shall be one flock and one
shepherd” (St. John 10:16). And does any one believe that in one place
there can be either many shepherds or many flocks? The Apostle Paul, moreover,
urging upon us this same unity, beseeches and exhorts, saving, “I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms
among you; but that ye be joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment” (I Corinthians 1:10). And again, he says, “Forbearing one another in love, endeavouring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:2,
3). Do you think that you can stand and live if you withdraw from the Church,
building for yourself other homes and a different dwelling, when it is said to Rahab,
in whom was prefigured the Church, “Thy
father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all the house of thy father, thou
shalt gather unto thee into thine house; and it shall come to pass, whosoever
shall go abroad beyond the door of thine house, his blood shall
be upon his own head?” (Joshua 2:18, 19) Also, the sacrament of the passover contains
nothing else in the law of the Exodus than that the lamb which is slain in the
figure of Christ should be eaten in one house. God speaks, saying, “In one house shall ye eat it; ye shall not
send its flesh abroad from the house” (Exodus 12:46). The flesh
of Christ, and the holy of the Lord, cannot be sent abroad, nor is there
any other home to believers but the one Church. This home, this household of
unanimity, the Holy Spirit designates and points out in the Psalms, saying, “God, who maketh men to dwell with one mind
in a house.” In the house of God, in the Church of Christ, men dwell
with one mind, and continue in concord and simplicity.
[WE
SHOULD BE GLAD WHEN HERETICS AND SCHISMATICS LEAVE THE CHURCH]
9. Therefore also the Holy Spirit came as a dove,
a simple and joyous creature, not bitter with gall, not cruel in its bite, not
violent with the rending of its claws, loving human dwellings, knowing the
association of one home; when they have young, bringing forth their young
together; when they fly abroad, remaining in their flights by the side of one
another, spending their life in mutual interaction, acknowledging the concord
of peace with the kiss of the beak, in all things fulfilling the law of
unanimity. This is the simplicity that ought to be known in the Church, this is
the charity that ought to be attained, that so the love of the brotherhood may
imitate the doves, that their gentleness and meekness may be like the lambs and
sheep. What does the fierceness of wolves do in the Christian breast? What the
savageness of dogs, and the deadly venom of serpents, and the sanguinary
cruelty of wild beasts? We are to be congratulated when such as these are
separated from the Church, lest they should lay waste the doves and sheep of
Christ with their cruel and envenomed contagion. Bitterness cannot consist and
be associated with sweetness, darkness with light, rain with clearness, battle
with peace, barrenness with fertility, drought with springs, storm with
tranquillity.Let none think that the good can depart from the Church.
The wind does not carry away the wheat, nor does the hurricane uproot the tree
that is based on a solid root. The light straws are tossed about by the
tempest, the feeble trees are overthrown by the onset of the whirlwind. The
Apostle John execrates and severely assails these, when he says, “They went forth from us, but they were not
of us; for if they had been of us, surely they would have continued with us”
(I John 2:19).
[HERETICS
AND SCHISMATICS ARE DAMNED]
10. Hence heresies not only have frequently been originated,
but continue to be so; while the perverted mind has no peace–while a discordant
faithlessness does not maintain unity. But the Lord permits and suffers these
things to be, while the choice of one’s own liberty remains, so that while the
discrimination of truth is testing our hearts and our minds, the sound faith of
those that are approved may shine forth with manifest light. The Holy Spirit
forewarns and says by the apostle, “It
is needful also that there should be heresies, that they which are approved may
be made manifest among you” (I Corinthians 11:19). Thus the faithful are
approved, thus the perfidious are detected; thus even here, before the day of
judgment, the souls of the righteous and of the unrighteous are already
divided, and the chaff is separated from the wheat. These are they who of their
own accord, without any divine arrangement, set themselves to preside among the
daring strangers assembled, who appoint themselves prelates without any law of
ordination, who assume to themselves the name of bishop, although no one gives
them the episcopate; whom the Holy Spirit points out in the Psalms as sitting “in the seat of pestilence” (1:1),
plagues, and spots of the faith, deceiving with serpent’s tongue, and artful in
corrupting the truth, vomiting forth deadly poisons from pestilential tongues;
whose speech doth creep like a cancer, whose discourse forms a deadly poison in
the heart and breast of every one.
[THE
SACRAMENTS DO NOT GIVE LIFE OUTSIDE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH]
11. Against people of this kind the Lord cries; from these He
restrains and recalls His erring people, saying, “Harken not unto the words of the false prophets; for the visions of
their hearts deceive them. They speak, but not out of the mouth of the Lord.
They say to those who cast away the word of God, Ye shall have peace, and every
one that walketh after his own will. Every one who walketh in the error of his
heart, no evil shall come upon him. I have not spoken to them, yet they
prophesied. If they had stood on my foundation, and had heard my words, and
taught my people, I would have turned them from their evil thoughts”
(Jeremiah 23:16-). Again, the Lord points out and designates these same,
saying, “They have forsaken me, the
fountain of living waters, and have hewed them out broken cisterns which can
hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13). Although there can be no other baptism
but one, they think that they can baptize; although they forsake the fountain
of life, they promise the grace of living and saving water. Men are not washed
among them, but rather are made foul; nor are sins purged away, but are even
accumulated. Such a nativity does not generate sons to God, but to the devil.
By a falsehood they are born, and they do not receive the promises of truth.
Begotten of perfidy, they lose the grace of faith. They cannot attain to the
reward of peace, since they have broken the Lord’s peace with the madness of
discord.
[ONLY
CATHOLICS ARE THE “TWO OR THREE”
WHOM THE LORD SPOKE OF]
12. Nor let any deceive themselves by a futile
interpretation, in respect of the Lord having said, “Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I
in the midst of them” (St. Matthew 18:20). Corrupters and false
interpreters of the Gospel quote the last words, and lay aside the former ones,
remembering part, and craftily suppressing part: as they themselves are
separated from the Church, so they cut off the substance of one section. For
the Lord, when He would urge unanimity and peace upon His disciples, said, “I say unto you, That if two of you shall
agree on earth touching anything that ye shall ask, it shall be given you by my
Father which is in heaven. For wheresoever two or three are gathered together
in my name, I am with them;” showing that most is given, not to the
multitude, but to the unanimity of those that pray. “If,” He says, “two of
you shall agree on earth:” He placed agreement first; He has made the
concord of peace a prerequisite; He taught that we should agree firmly and
faithfully. But how can he agree with any one who does not agree with
the body of the Church itself, and with the universal brotherhood? How can
two or three be assembled together in Christ’s name, who, it is evident, are
separated from Christ and from His Gospel? For we have not withdrawn from them,
but they from us; and since heresies and schisms have risen subsequently, from
their establishment for themselves of diverse places of worship, they have
forsaken the Head and Source of the truth. But the Lord speaks
concerning His Church, and to those also who are in the Church He speaks,
that if they are in agreement, if according to what He commanded and
admonished, although only two or three gathered together with unanimity should
pray–though they be only two or three – they may obtain from the majesty of God
what they ask. “Wheresoever two or
three are gathered together in my name, I,” slays He, “am with them;” that is, with the
simple and peaceable–with those who fear God and keep God’s commandments.
With these, although only two or three, He said that He was,
in the same manner as He was with the three youths in the fiery furnace;
and because they abode towards God in simplicity, and in unanimity among
themselves, He animated them, in the midst of the surrounding flames, with the
breath of dew: in the way in which, with the two apostles shut up in prison,
because they were simple-minded and of one mind, He Himself was present; He
Himself, having loosed the bolts of the dungeon, placed them again in the
market-place, that they might declare to the multitude the word which they
faithfully preached. When, therefore, in His commandments He lays it down, and
says, “Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, I am with them,” He does not divide men from the
Church, seeing that He Himself ordained and made the Church; but
rebuking the faithless for their discord, and commending peace by His word to
the faithful, He shows that He is rather with two or three who pray with one
mind, than with a great many who differ, and that more can be obtained by the
concordant prayer of a few, than by the discordant supplication of many.
13. Thus, also, when He gave the law of prayer, He added,
saying, “And when ye stand praying,
forgive, if ye have ought against any; that your Father also which is in heaven
may forgive you your trespasses.” And He calls back from the altar one
who comes to the sacrifice in strife, and bids him first agree with his
brother, and then return with peace and offer his gift to God: for God had not
respect unto Cain’s offerings; for he could not have God at peace
with him, who through envious discord had not peace with his brother. What
peace, then, do the enemies of the brethren promise to themselves? What
sacrifices do those who are rivals of the priests think that they celebrate? Do
they deem that they have Christ with them when they are collected together, who
are gathered together outside the Church of Christ?
[NO
BLESSED MARTYRS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH; HERETIC AND SCHISMATIC “MARTYRS” ARE
DAMNED]
14. Even if such men were slain in confession of the Name, that
stain is not even washed away by blood: the inexpiable and grave fault of
discord is not even purged by suffering. He cannot be a martyr who is not in
the Church; he cannot attain unto the kingdom who forsakes that which shall
reign there. Christ gave us peace; He bade us be in agreement, and of one mind.
He charged the bonds of love and charity to be kept uncorrupted and inviolate;
he cannot show himself a martyr who has not maintained brotherly love. Paul the
apostle teaches this, and testifies, saying, “And though I have faith, so that I can remove mountains, and have not
charity, I am nothing. And though I give all my goods to feed the poor, and
though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me
nothing. Charity is magnanimous; charity is kind; charity envieth not; charity
acteth not vainly, is not puffed up, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
loveth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things
Charity never falleth” (I Corinthians 13:2-). “Charity,” says he, “never
faileth.” For she will ever be in the kingdom, she will endure for ever
in the unity of a brotherhood linked to herself. Discord cannot attain to the
kingdom of heaven; to the rewards of Christ, who said, “This is my commandment that ye love one another even as I have loved
you:” (St. John 15:12) he cannot attain who has violated the love of
Christ by faithless dissension. He who has not charity has not God. The word of
the blessed Apostle John is: “God,”
saith he, “is love; and he that
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God dwelleth in him” (I St. John
4:16). They cannot dwell with God who would not be of one mind in God’s Church.
Although they burn, given up to flames and fires, or lay down their lives,
thrown to the wild beasts, there will not be the crown of faith, but the
punishment of perfidy; nor will it be the glorious ending of religious valour,
but the destruction of despair. Such a one may be slain; crowned he cannot be.
He professes himself to be a Christian in such a way as the devil often feigns
himself to be Christ, as the Lord Himself forewarns us, and says, “Many shall come in my name, saying, I am
Christ, and shall deceive many” (St. Matthew 24:5). As he is not Christ,
although he deceives in respect of the name; so neither can he appear as a
Christian who does not abide in the truth of His Gospel and of faith.
[CATHOLIC
ECCLESIAL CHARITY IS NECESSARY TO ANY ETERNAL PROFIT]
15. For both to prophecy and to cast out devils, and to do
great acts upon the earth is certainly a sublime and an admirable thing; but
one does not attain the kingdom of heaven although he is found in all these
things, unless he walks in the observance of the right and just way. The Lord denounces,
and says, “Many shall say to me in
that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name have
cast out devils, and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I
profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity”
(St. Matthew 7:22). There is need of righteousness, that one may deserve well
of God the Judge; we must obey His precepts and warnings, that our merits may
receive their reward. The Lord in His Gospel, when He would direct the way of
our hope and faith in a brief summary, said, “The Lord thy God is one God: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength. This is the
first commandment; and the second is like unto it: Thou shall love thy
neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets” (St. Matthew 22:37). He taught, at the same time, love and
unity by His instruction. He has included all the prophets and the law in two
precepts. But what unity does he keep, what love does he maintain or consider,
who, savage with the madness of discord, divides the Church, destroys the
faith, disturbs the peace, dissipates charity, profanes the sacrament?
[HERESY
AND SCHISM WERE INCREASING IN ST. CYPRIAN’S DAY]
16. This evil, most faithful brethren, had long ago begun,
but now the mischievous destruction of the same evil has increased, and the
envenomed plague of heretical perversity and schisms has begun to spring forth
and shoot anew; because even thus it must be in the decline of the world, since
the Holy Spirit foretells and forewarns us by the apostle, saying, “In the last days,” says he, “perilous times shall come, and men shall be
lovers of their own selves, proud, boasters, covetous, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers,
false accusers, incontinent, fierce, hating the good, traitors, heady,
high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a sort of form
of religion, but denying the power thereof. Of this sort are they who creep
into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, which are led away
with divers lusts; ever learning, and never coming to the knowledge of the
truth. And as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the
truth; but they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest
unto all men, even as theirs also was.” (II St. Timothy 3) Whatever
things were predicted are fulfilled; and as the end of the world is
approaching, they have come for the probation as well of the men as of the
times. Error deceives as the adversary rages more and more; senselessness lifts
up, envy inflames, covetousness makes blind, impiety depraves, pride puffs up,
discord exasperates, anger hurries headlong.
[HERETICS
AND SCHISMATICS ARE TO BE AVOIDED]
17. Yet let not the excessive and headlong faithlessness of
many move or disturb us, but rather strengthen our faith in the truthfulness
which has foretold the matter. As some have become such, because these things
were predicted beforehand, so let other brethren beware of matters of a like
kind, because these also were predicted beforehand, even as the Lord instructs
us, and says, “But take ye heed:
behold, I have foretold you all things” (St. Mark 13:23). Avoid, I
beseech you, brethren, men of this kind, and drive away from your side and from
your ears, as if it were the contagion of death, their mischievous
conversation; as it is written, “Hedge
thine ears about with thorns, and refuse to hear a wicked tongue.” And
again, “Evil communications corrupt
good manners” (I Corinthians 15:33). The Lord teaches and warns us to
depart from such. He saith, “They are
blind leaders of the blind; and if the blind lead the blind, they shall both
fall into the ditch” (St. Matthew 15:14). Such a one is to be turned
away from and avoided, whosoever he may be, that is separated from the Church.
Such a one is perverted and sins, and is condemned of his own self. Does he
think that he has Christ, who acts in opposition to Christ’s priests, who
separates himself from the company of His clergy and people? He bears arms
against the Church, he contends against God’s appointment. An enemy of the
altar, a rebel against Christ’s sacrifice, for the faith faithless, for
religion profane, a disobedient servant, an impious son, a hostile brother,
despising the bishops, and forsaking God’s priests, he dares to set up another
altar, to make another prayer with unauthorized words, to profane the truth of
the Lord’s offering by false sacrifices, and not to know that he who strives
against the appointment of God, is punished on account of the daring of his
temerity by divine visitation.
[HERETICS
AND SCHISMATICS ARE DAMNED]
18. Thus Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who
endeavoured to claim to themselves the power of sacrificing in opposition to
Moses and Aaron the priest, underwent immediate punishment for their attempts.
The earth, breaking its fastenings, gaped open into a deep gulf, and the cleft
of the receding ground swallowed up the men standing and living. Nor
did the anger of the indignant God strike only those who had been the movers
(of the sedition); but two hundred and fifty sharers and associates of that
madness besides, who had been mingled with them in that boldness, the fire that
went out from the Lord consumed with a hasty revenge; doubtless to admonish and
show that whatever those wicked men had endeavoured, in order by human will to
overthrow God’s appointment, had been done in opposition to God. Thus also Uzziah
the king, – when he bare the censer and violently claimed to himself to
sacrifice against God’s law, and when Azariah the priest withstood him, would
not be obedient and yield, – was confounded by the divine indignation, and was
polluted upon his forehead by the spot of leprosy: he was marked by an offended
Lord in that part of his body where they are signed who deserve well of the
Lord. And the sons of Aaron, who placed strange fire upon the
altar, which the Lord had not commanded, were at once extinguished in the
presence of an avenging Lord.
19. These, doubtless, they imitate and follow, who, despising
God’s tradition, seek after strange doctrines, and bring in teachings of human
appointment, whom the Lord rebukes and reproves in His Gospel, saying, “Ye reject the commandment of God, that ye
may keep your own tradition” (St. Mark 7:9). This is a worse crime than
that which the lapsed seem to have fallen into, who nevertheless, standing as
penitents for their crime, beseech God with full satisfactions. In this case,
the Church is sought after and entreated; in that case, the Church is resisted:
here it is possible that there has been force; there the will is engaged in the
wickedness: on the one hand, he who has lapsed has only injured himself; on the
other, he who has endeavoured to cause a heresy or a schism has deceived many
by drawing them with him. In the former, it is the loss of one soul; in
the latter, the risk of many. Certainly the one both understands that he
has sinned, and laments and bewails it; the other, puffed up in his heart, and
pleasing himself in his very crimes, separates sons from their Mother, entices
sheep from their shepherd, disturbs the sacraments of God; and while the lapsed
has sinned but once, he sins daily. Finally, the lapsed, who has subsequently
attained to martyrdom, may receive the promises of the kingdom; while the
other, if he have been slain without the Church, cannot attain to the rewards
of the Church.
[CONFESSORS
WHO LEAVE THE CHURCH WILL BE DAMNED]
20. Nor let any one marvel, beloved brethren, that even some
of the confessors advance to these lengths, and thence also that some others
sin thus wickedly, thus grievously. For neither does confession make a man free
from the snares of the devil, nor does it defend a man who is still placed in the
world, with a perpetual security from temptations, and dangers, and onsets, and
attacks of the world; otherwise we should never see in confessors those
subsequent frauds, and fornications, and adulteries, which now with groans and
sorrow we witness in some. Whosoever that confessor is, he is not greater, or
better, or dearer to God than Solomon, who, although so long as he walked in
God’s ways, retained that grace which he had received from the Lord, yet after
he forsook the Lord’s way he lost also then the Lord’s grace. And therefore it
is written, “Hold fast that which thou
hast, lest another take thy crown.” But assuredly the Lord would not
threaten that the crown of righteousness might be taken away, were it not that,
when righteousness departs, the crown must also depart.
21. Confession is the beginning of glory, not the full desert
of the crown; nor does it perfect our praise, but it initiates our dignity; and
since it is written, “He that endureth
to the end, the same shall be saved,” (St. Matthew 10:22) whatever has
been before the end is a step by which we ascend to the summit of salvation,
not a terminus wherein the full result of the ascent is already gained. He is a
confessor; but after confession his peril is greater, because the adversary is
more provoked. He is a confessor; for this cause he ought the more to stand on
the side of the Lord’s Gospel, since he has by the Gospel attained glory from
the Lord. For the Lord says, “To whom
much is given, of him much shall be required; and to whom more dignity is
ascribed, of him more service is exacted” (St. Luke 12:48). Let no one
perish by the example of a confessor; let no one learn injustice, let no one
learn arrogance, let no one learn treachery, from the manners of a confessor.
He is a confessor, let him be lowly and quiet; let him be in his doings modest
with discipline, so that he who is called a confessor of Christ may imitate
Christ whom he confesses. For since He says, “Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he who humbleth himself
shall be exalted;” and since He Himself has been exalted by the Father,
because as the Word, and the strength, and the wisdom of God the Father, He
humbled Himself upon earth, how can He love arrogance, who even by His own law
enjoined upon us humility, and Himself received the highest name from the
Father as the reward of His humility? He is a confessor of Christ, but only so
if the majesty and dignity of Christ be not afterwards blasphemed by him. Let
not the tongue which has confessed Christ be evil-speaking; let it not be
turbulent, let it not be heard jarring with reproaches and quarrels, let it not
after words of praise, dart forth serpents’ venom against the brethren and
God’s priests. But if one shall have subsequently been blameworthy and
obnoxious; if he shall have wasted his confession by evil conversation; if he
shall have stained his life by disgraceful foulness; if, finally, forsaking the
Church in which he has become a confessor, and severing the concord of unity,
he shall have exchanged his first faith for a subsequent unbelief, he may not
flatter himself on account of his confession that he is elected to the reward
of glory, when from this very fact his deserving of punishment has become the
greater.
22. For the Lord chose Judas also among the apostles, and yet
afterwards Judas betrayed the Lord. Yet not on that account did the faith and
firmness of the apostles fail, because the traitor Judas failed from their
fellowship: so also in the case in question the holiness and dignity of
confessors is not forthwith diminished, because the faith of some of them is
broken. The blessed Apostle Paul in his epistle speaks in this manner: “For what if some of them fall away from the
faith, shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: for
God is true, though every man be a liar” (Romans 3:3). The greater and
better part of the confessors stand firm in the strength of their faith, and in
the truth of the law and discipline of the Lord; neither do they depart from
the peace of the Church, who remember that they have obtained grace in the
Church by the condescension of God; and by this very thing they obtain a higher
praise of their faith, that they have separated from the faithlessness of those
who have been associated with them in the fellowship of confession, and
withdrawn from the contagion of crime. Illuminated by the true light of the
Gospel, shone upon with the Lord’s pure and white brightness, they are as
praiseworthy in maintaining the peace of Christ, as they have been victorious in
their combat with the devil.
[WE
AVOID SCHISMS OR ARE DAMNED]
23. I indeed desire, beloved brethren, and I equally
endeavour and exhort, that if it be possible, none of the brethren should
perish, and that our rejoicing Mother may enclose in her bosom the one body of
a people at agreement. Yet if wholesome counsel cannot recall to the way of
salvation certain leaders of schisms and originators of dissensions, who abide
in blind and obstinate madness, yet do you others, if either taken in
simplicity, or induced by error, or deceived by some craftiness of misleading cunning,
loose yourselves from the nets of deceit, free your wandering steps from
errors, acknowledge the straight way of the heavenly road. The word of the
witnessing apostle is: “We command you,”
says he, “in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from all brethren that walk
disorderly, and not after the tradition that they have received from us”
(II Thessalonians 3:6). And again he says, “Let no man deceive you with vain words; for because of these things
cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore
partakers with them” (Ephesians 5:6). We must withdraw, nay rather must
flee, from those who fall away, lest, while any one is
associated with those who walk wickedly, and goes on in ways of error and of sin,
he himself also, wandering away from the path of the true road, should be found
in like guilt. God is one, and Christ is one, and His Church is one, and the
faith is one, and the people is joined into a substantial unity of body by the
cement of concord. Unity cannot be severed; nor can one body be separated by a
division of its structure, nor torn into pieces, with its entrails wrenched
asunder by laceration. Whatever has proceeded from the womb
cannot live and breathe in its detached condition, but loses the substance of
health.
[IT
IS ONLY THROUGH CATHOLIC ECCLESIAL CONCORD THAT WE MAY BE SAVED]
24. The Holy Spirit warns us, and says, “What man is he that desireth to live, and
would fain see good days? Refrain thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they
speak no guile. Eschew evil, and do good; seek peace, and ensue it”
(Psalm 33:12) The son of peace ought to seek peace and ensue it. He who knows
and loves the bond of charity, ought to refrain his tongue from the evil of
dissension. Among His divine commands and salutary teachings, the Lord, when He
was now very near to His passion, added this one, saying, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto
you” (St. John 14:27). He gave this to us as an heritage; He promised
all the gifts and rewards of which He spoke through the preservation of peace.
If we are fellow-heirs with Christ, let us abide in the peace of Christ; if we
are sons of God, we ought to be peacemakers. “Blessed,” says He, “are
the peacemakers; for they shall be called the sons of God” (St. Matthew
5:9). It behooves the sons of God to be peacemakers, gentle in heart, simple in
speech, agreeing in affection, faithfully linked to one another in the bonds of
unanimity.
25. This unanimity formerly prevailed among the apostles; and
thus the new assembly of believers, keeping the Lord’s commandments, maintained
its charity. Divine Scripture proves this, when it says, “But the multitude of them which believed
were of one heart and of one soul” (Acts 4:32). And again: “These all continued with one mind in prayer
with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren”
(Acts 1:14). And thus they prayed with effectual prayers; thus they were able
with confidence to obtain whatever they asked from the Lord’s mercy.
[WE
MUST BELIEVE WITH ZEAL IF WE WOULD BE SAVED]
26. But in us unanimity is diminished in proportion as
liberality of working is decayed. Then they used to give for sale houses and
estates; and that they might lay up for themselves treasures in heaven,
presented to the apostles the price of them, to be distributed for the use of
the poor. But now we do not even give the tenths from our patrimony; and while
our Lord bids us sell, we rather buy and increase our store. Thus has the vigour
of faith dwindled away among us; thus has the strength of believers grown weak.
And therefore the Lord, looking to our days, says in His Gospel, “When the Son of man cometh, think you that
He shall find faith on the earth?” (St. Luke 18:8) We see that what He
foretold has come to pass. There is no faith in the fear of God, in the law of
righteousness, in love, in labour; none considers the fear of futurity, and
none takes to heart the day of the Lord, and the wrath of God, and the
punishments to come upon unbelievers, and the eternal torments decreed for the
faithless. That which our conscience would fear if it believed, it fears not
because it does not at all believe. But if it believed, it would also take
heed; and if it took heed, it would escape.
27. Let us, beloved brethren, arouse ourselves as much as we
can; and breaking the slumber of our ancient listlessness, let us be watchful
to observe and to do the Lord’s precepts. Let us be such as He Himself has
bidden us to be, saying, “Let your
loins be girt, and your lamps burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that
wait for their Lord, when He shall come from the wedding, that when He cometh
and knocketh, they may open to Him. Blessed are those servants whom their Lord,
when He cometh, shall find watching.” We ought to be girt about, lest,
when the day of setting forth comes, it should find us burdened and entangled.
Let our light shine in good works, and glow in such wise as to lead us from the
night of this world to the daylight of eternal brightness. Let us always with
solicitude and caution wait for the sudden coming of the Lord, that when He
shall knock, our faith may be on the watch, and receive from the Lord the
reward of our vigilance. If these commands be observed, if these warnings and
precepts be kept, we cannot be overtaken in slumber by the deceit of the devil;
but we shall reign with Christ in His kingdom as servants that watch.
St.
Cyprian ora pro nobis!
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