Homilies on the Statues, Homily 20

1. The season is finally drawing toward the end of the Fast, so we should devote ourselves all the more earnestly to holiness. Just as runners gain nothing from all their laps if they miss the prize, so all these efforts and hardships of fasting will bring us no benefit if we cannot enjoy the sacred Table with a good conscience. This is why fasting and Lent are appointed, along with so many days of solemn gatherings, listening, prayers, and teaching: so that through this earnest effort we may be cleansed in every possible way from the sins we have accumulated throughout the year, and reverently partake of that unbloody Sacrifice with spiritual boldness. If this is not the result, we will have gone through all this effort entirely in vain, without any benefit. So let everyone consider what fault he has corrected, what good work he has accomplished, what sin he has cast off, what stain he has washed away, and how he has become better. If he finds that he has made any profit through the fast in this good business, and knows that he has taken great care of his wounds, let him approach! But if he has remained negligent, with nothing to show but fasting alone, and has done nothing else right, let him stay outside. Then let him enter when he has cleansed himself of all these offenses. Let no one rely on fasting alone while continuing unchanged in evil practices. Someone who does not fast may probably obtain pardon by pleading bodily weakness, but someone who has not corrected his faults cannot possibly have an excuse. Perhaps you have not fasted because of bodily weakness. Tell me, why have you not been reconciled to your enemies? Can you really plead bodily weakness here? Again, if you hold on to envy and hatred, what excuse do you have, I ask? No one can take refuge in bodily weakness as an excuse for offenses like these. And this was an act of Christ’s love for humanity: He ensured that bodily weakness would in no way interfere with the most important commandments, those that sustain our life. 2. But since we need to practice all the divine laws alike, and especially the one that tells us to consider no one an enemy, not to hold on to resentment for long, and to be reconciled immediately, allow us to speak to you today about this commandment. Just as we cannot imagine that someone who engages in sexual immorality or blasphemy can partake of the sacred Table, so someone who has an enemy and bears malice cannot enjoy holy Communion. And with good reason. When someone engages in sexual immorality or commits adultery, he completes the sin at the same time that he satisfies his lust. If he is willing to recover from that fall by living watchfully, he may afterward find some relief by showing deep repentance. But someone who holds a grudge commits the same wickedness every day and never brings it to an end. In the first case, the deed is over and the sin completed; here, the sin is committed every day. What excuse can we have, I ask, for willingly handing ourselves over to such an evil monster? How can you ask your Lord to be gentle and merciful to you when you have been so harsh and unforgiving to your fellow servant? 3. But perhaps your fellow servant has treated you with contempt? Yes! And you have often treated God with contempt. What comparison is there between a fellow servant and the Lord? Perhaps the former insulted you after being injured in some way, and you became furious. But you insult the Lord even though He treats you with neither injustice nor ill will, and instead blesses you day after day. Consider, then, that if God chose to investigate strictly everything done against Him, we would not live a single day. For the prophet says, “If You were to be strict in keeping track of sin, O Lord, O Lord, who could stand?” And leaving aside all those other things that every sinner’s conscience knows about, for which he has no human witness, but only God, if we were called to account for the things that are open and admitted, what leniency could we expect for such sins? What if He examined our inattentiveness and negligence in prayer, and how, while standing before God and pleading with Him, we do not show even as much fear and reverence for Him as servants do for their masters, soldiers for their officers, or friends for their friends? When you talk with a friend, you pay attention to what you are doing. But when you come before God because of your sins, asking pardon for so many offenses and expecting to obtain forgiveness, you are often inattentive. While your knees rest on the ground, you let your mind wander everywhere, into the marketplace or the house, while your mouth babbles pointlessly and to no purpose! And we experience this not once or twice, but often! If God chose to examine this alone, do you think we could obtain pardon or find any excuse? Truly, I think not! 4. But what if the unkind things we say against one another every day were brought against us, along with the rash judgments by which we condemn our neighbor for no reason except that we like to blame people and find fault? What, I ask, could we say in our defense? Again, if He examined our wandering glances and the evil desires we carry in our minds, so often letting disgraceful and impure thoughts enter through our eyes’ unchecked wandering, what punishment would we not have to bear? And if He demanded an explanation for our abusive words (for He says, “Whoever says to his brother, You fool, will be in danger of hell fire”), how could we possibly open our mouths, move our lips at all, or say anything great or small in reply? Moreover, if we examined the craving for empty admiration we allow into our prayers, our fasting, and our almsgiving—I do not mean if God examined it, but if we ourselves, the sinners, did so—could we lift our eyes toward heaven? Then there are the deceptions we devise against one another: praising a brother when he is present and speaking to him as a friend, but abusing him when he is absent. Can we endure the punishments for all these things? Then what about our oaths? What about our lies? What about our perjury? What about our unjust anger, and the envy with which we so often regard people who receive honor, whether enemies or even friends? And what about the fact that we are pleased when others suffer harm and consider their misfortunes a comfort in our own distress? 5. But suppose we were made to pay the penalty for our inattentiveness in our solemn gatherings. What would our condition be? You cannot fail to know that often, while God Himself is speaking to all of us through His prophet, we have frequent and lengthy conversations with those near us about things that do not concern us at all. Leaving everything else aside, then, if He chose to exact the penalty due for this sin alone, what hope of salvation would there be? Do not suppose that this is a small offense. If you want to know how great it is, examine how this very behavior is regarded among people, and then you will understand the enormity of the sin. Just try, while a magistrate is speaking to you—or even a friend of somewhat higher rank—to turn away from him and start talking with your servant. Then you will understand what you dare to do when you treat God this way! If he belongs to one of the more distinguished classes, he will even demand compensation for such an insult. Yet although God is treated with this much contempt, and even more, every day, not by one or two or three people but by almost all of us, He remains forbearing and patient. And this applies not only to this offense, but also to others far more serious. These are things we must admit, things obvious to everyone, and almost everyone practices them shamelessly. But there are still other things known to the consciences of those who commit them. Surely, if we thought about all this and reasoned with ourselves, even if we were the cruelest and harshest people alive, the very fear and agony we felt as we surveyed the multitude of our sins would leave us unable to remember the injuries others had done us. Keep in mind the river of fire, the venomous worm, the fearful Judgment where everything will be naked and exposed! Reflect that things now hidden will then be brought to light! But if you forgive your neighbor, all these sins awaiting their disclosure will be wiped away here. When you leave this life, you will not drag any of that chain of transgressions behind you. So you receive greater things than you give. Indeed, we have often committed many such transgressions that no one else knows about. When we think that on That Day these sins of ours will be exposed to everyone’s eyes on the public stage of the universe, our pain is worse than any punishment, as our conscience chokes and strangles us. Yet this shame, great as it is, these sins and punishments, great as they are, can be washed away through the forgiveness we show our neighbor. 6. Indeed, nothing equals this virtue. Do you want to learn its power? “Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me,” God says, “my soul would not regard them.” Yet those whom Moses and Samuel could not snatch away from God’s anger could be snatched away by observing this commandment. That is why He continually urges those to whom He spoke these words, saying, “Let none of you plot evil revenge against his brother in your heart,” and, “Let none of you dwell on his neighbor’s malice.” He does not simply say, give up your anger, but do not keep it in your mind; do not think about it; let go of all your resentment; heal the sore. You suppose you are paying him back for the injury, but first you are tormenting yourself, setting up your rage as an executioner throughout your whole being and tearing up your own guts. What could be more miserable than someone who is constantly angry? Just as madmen never enjoy tranquility, someone who holds a grudge and keeps an enemy will never enjoy any peace. He is constantly raging, daily increasing the storm of his thoughts, recalling the other man’s words and actions, and hating the very name of the person who has wronged him. Just mention his enemy, and he immediately becomes furious and suffers great inward anguish. If he happens to catch even a glimpse of him, he is afraid and trembles as though facing the worst of evils. Indeed, if he sees any of his relatives, or even his clothing, his house, or his street, the sight torments him. Just as the faces, clothes, sandals, houses, or streets of those we love stir us the moment we see them, so if we notice a servant, friend, house, street, or anything else belonging to those we hate and consider our enemies, all these things sting us. The sight of each one deals us repeated and unending blows. 7. Why, then, endure such a siege, such torment, and such punishment? Even if hell did not threaten those who hold grudges, the torment this behavior brings in itself should lead us to forgive the offenses of those who have wronged us. But when undying punishments also await us, what could be more senseless than someone who brings punishment on himself both here and there while thinking he is taking revenge on his enemy? If we see him still prospering, we are ready to die of frustration. But if he is in trouble, we are afraid that some favorable turn of events might come his way. And for both these responses, an inevitable punishment is stored up for us. For he says, “Do not rejoice when your enemy stumbles.” Do not tell me how great the injuries you received were. That is not why you hold on to your anger. It is because you do not remember your own offenses, and because you keep neither hell nor the fear of God before your eyes! To convince you that this is true, I will try to make it clear from what has happened in this city. When those accused of those outrageous crimes were dragged before the court, when the fire was lit inside and the executioners stood around tearing their sides, suppose someone standing beside them had announced, “If you have any enemies, let go of your resentment, and we will be able to free you from this punishment.” Would they not have kissed their enemies’ very feet? And why do I say their feet? If someone had told them to accept their enemies as their masters, they would not have refused then. But if human punishment, which has its limits, would have overcome all anger, how much more would the punishment to come drive not only resentment but every evil thought from the soul, if it constantly occupied our thoughts? For what is easier, I ask, than letting go of resentment against someone who has injured you? Must you undertake a long journey? Must you spend money? Must you call for other people’s help? You only need to decide, and the good deed immediately reaches its goal. What punishment, then, do we not deserve if, for worldly business, we stoop to servile tasks, show a submissiveness unworthy of us, spend money, speak with doorkeepers so that we can flatter ungodly men, and do and say every kind of thing to achieve our purpose completely, yet cannot bear, for the sake of God’s laws, to appeal to a brother who has injured us, but consider it disgraceful to make the first move? Tell me, are you ashamed when you are going to be the first to gain? Instead, you should be ashamed of persisting in this passion and waiting until the person who injured you comes to you to be reconciled. That is a disgrace, a reproach, and the greatest loss. 8. The person who comes first reaps all the fruit. When you set aside your anger at someone else’s request, the good work must be credited to him, because you have fulfilled the law as a favor to him rather than in obedience to God. But if no one appeals to you, and the man who injured you neither approaches nor asks you, and you yourself put all shame and delay out of your mind, freely run to the person who injured you, and completely put down your anger, the good deed becomes entirely your own, and you will receive the whole reward. If I say, “Practice fasting,” perhaps your excuse is bodily weakness. If I say, “Give to the poor,” it is poverty and raising children. If I say, “Make time for the gatherings of the Church,” it is worldly concerns. If I say, “Pay attention to what is said and consider the power of what is taught,” it is lack of education. If I say, “Correct someone else,” you say, “He pays no attention when he is advised; I have often spoken and been scorned.” Feeble as these excuses are, you at least have some excuses to offer. But suppose I say, “Let go of your anger.” Which of these will you offer then? You cannot plead bodily weakness, poverty, lack of education, lack of free time, or anything else of that kind. This sin is the most inexcusable of all. How will you be able to stretch your hands toward heaven, move your tongue, or ask for pardon? Although God wants to pardon your sins, you yourself do not let Him while you hold on to your fellow servant’s offense! But suppose he is cruel, fierce, savage, and eager for revenge and retaliation? That is exactly why you should be especially ready to forgive. Have you been badly wronged, robbed, slandered, and injured in matters of the greatest importance, and do you want to see your enemy punished? Even for this purpose, forgiving him will benefit you. Suppose you yourself take revenge and pursue it through words, actions, or curses against your adversary. Then God will not pursue it afterward as well, since you have taken your revenge. And He will not only refuse to pursue the matter for you, but will also exact a penalty from you for treating Him with contempt. This same thing happens among people: if we beat another person’s servant, the master becomes indignant and calls the act an insult (for although we may be injured by slaves or free people, we should wait for the legal decisions of magistrates or masters). If taking revenge ourselves would be unsafe even among people, how much more so when God is the avenger! 9. Has your neighbor wronged and grieved you and brought a thousand troubles upon you? Granted; still, do not pursue revenge yourself, so that you do not insult your Lord! Leave the matter to God, and He will deal with it far better than you could wish. He has charged you simply to pray for the person who injured you; how to deal with him, He has told you to leave to Himself. You can never avenge yourself as thoroughly as He is ready to avenge you, if you leave room for Him alone and do not curse the person who has wronged you, but let God alone determine the sentence. For although we may forgive those who have wronged us, although we may be reconciled, although we may pray for them, God does not forgive them unless they themselves turn and become better. And He withholds pardon for their own benefit. He praises and approves you for your spiritual wisdom, but punishes the other man so that your wisdom does not become an occasion for him to grow worse. So the common saying on this subject misses the point. When I rebuke people who refuse to be persuaded after being urged to reconcile with their enemies, many think it appropriate to offer this excuse, which is nothing less than a cloak for their wickedness. “I am unwilling,” someone says, “to be reconciled, in case I make the man worse, more bad-tempered, and more inclined to treat me with contempt afterward.” Besides this, they also offer this excuse: “Many people,” they say, “think it shows weakness for me to seek reconciliation first and appeal to my enemy.” All these things are foolish. The Eye that never sleeps has seen your good intention. So you should disregard your fellow servants’ opinion when you have gained the approval of the Judge Who is about to try your case. 10. But if your concern is that your enemy may become worse because of your mercy, learn this: that is not what makes him worse. Remaining unreconciled is far more likely to do so. Even if he were the vilest of men, even if he would neither acknowledge it nor say it publicly, he will silently approve your Christian wisdom and respect your gentleness in his own conscience. But if he persists in the same wickedness while you try to soften him and win him over, he will have to endure the heaviest punishment from God. To show you that, although we should pray for our enemies and those who have injured us, God does not pardon them if our forbearance is likely to make them worse, I will tell you an ancient account. Miriam once spoke against Moses. What did God do? He struck her with leprosy and made her unclean, even though in other respects she had been meek and modest. Afterward, when Moses himself, the injured party, pleaded for the anger to be removed, God did not agree. What did He say? “If her father had merely spit in her face, should she not be ashamed? Let her remain,” He says, “outside the camp seven days.” What He means is this: “If,” He says, “she had a father, and he had sent her out of his presence, would she not have had to endure the rebuke? I approve of your brotherly devotion, your meekness, and your mercy, but I know the right time to lift her punishment.” So show your brother every kindness. Do not forgive his offenses because you want him to receive a greater punishment, but out of tenderness and goodwill. Yet understand this very clearly: the more he insults you while you work to win him over, the greater the punishment he will bring down on himself. 11. What are you saying? Tell me, does your care make him worse? That brings blame on him, but praise to you. Praise to you because, even when you saw him behaving this way, you did not stop doing God’s will by trying to win him over. Blame to him because your mercy has not made him better. But “it is far more desirable for others to be blamed because of us than for us to be blamed because of them.” Do not give me this feeble reply: “I am afraid people will think I approached him out of fear, and that he will therefore despise me even more.” Such a reply reveals a childish and foolish mind, anxious about human approval. Let him suppose you made the first move out of fear. Your reward will be all the greater, since you knew this beforehand and still agreed to endure everything out of fear of God. Someone who pursues human approval and seeks reconciliation for that purpose reduces his reward. But someone who is certain that many people will insult and ridicule him, yet still does not stop trying to be reconciled, will have a double, indeed a triple crown. This is truly the person who acts for God’s sake. And do not tell me that the man has wronged you in this or that particular way. Even if his behavior toward you has displayed every kind of human wickedness, God has still commanded you to forgive him everything! 12. Listen! I warn you beforehand, I testify, and I proclaim this loudly enough for everyone to hear! “Let no one who has an enemy approach the sacred Table or receive the Lord’s Body! Let no one who approaches have an enemy! Do you have an enemy? Do not approach! Do you want to approach? Be reconciled, and then approach and touch the Holy Thing!” Indeed, this is not my declaration. It is the declaration of the Lord Himself, Who was crucified for us. To reconcile you to the Father, He did not refuse to be sacrificed and shed His blood! And are you unwilling to say a word or make the first move to be reconciled to your fellow servant? Hear what the Lord says about those in this condition: “If you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you”—He does not say, “wait for him to come to you,” or “speak to someone else as a mediator,” or “appeal to someone else,” but “make the move toward him yourself.” For the command is, “Go, first be reconciled to your brother.” What an astonishing wonder! Does He Himself consider it no dishonor for the gift to be left unoffered, while you think it disgraceful to go first and be reconciled? How, I ask, could such behavior deserve pardon? If you saw one of your limbs cut off, would you not make every effort to have it reattached to your body? Do the same for your brothers. When you see them cut off from your friendship, hurry to recover them! Do not wait for them to make the first move. Press forward so that you may be first to receive the prize. 13. We are commanded to have only one enemy, the devil. Never be reconciled to him! But never harbor hostility toward a brother in your heart. And if any pettiness of spirit arises, let it be fleeting and never last beyond a single day. For he says, “Do not let the sun go down on your anger.” If you are reconciled before evening, you will obtain some pardon from God. But if you remain enemies longer, that hostility no longer comes from being suddenly carried away by anger and resentment, but from wickedness, from a foul spirit that habitually practices malice! And the terrible thing is not only that you deprive yourself of pardon, but also that doing what is right becomes even harder. When one day has passed, the shame becomes greater. When the second arrives, it increases further. If it reaches a third and a fourth day, it will add a fifth. Then five become ten, ten become twenty, twenty become a hundred, and eventually the wound becomes incurable, because the breach widens as time goes on. But you, my fellow man, must not give in to any of these irrational passions. Do not be ashamed or blush, or say to yourself, “Only a short time ago we called each other such names and said a huge number of things, some fit to be spoken and some not. Am I now to hurry straight into reconciliation? Who will not blame me for giving in so easily?” I answer that no sensible person will blame you for your willingness to give in. But when you remain unyielding, everyone will ridicule you. Then you will give the devil the advantage of this wide breach. For hostility becomes harder to get rid of, not simply because time passes, but also because of what happens in the meantime. Just as “love covers a multitude of sins,” so hostility creates sins that do not exist. From then on, everyone who brings accusations, rejoices in others’ troubles, and broadcasts their disgraceful conduct is considered credible. 14. Knowing all this, then, make the first move toward a brother. Take hold of him before he has withdrawn completely from you. If you must run through the whole city that same day, go beyond the walls, or undertake a long journey, leave everything else you may be doing and attend only to this one task of reconciling your brother. If the work is difficult, remember that you are enduring all this for God’s sake, and you will find enough comfort. When your soul shrinks back, hesitates, feels shy, or is ashamed, rouse it by constantly returning to this theme and saying, Why are you delaying? Why are you shrinking back and holding off? Our concern is not money or any other fleeting thing, but our salvation. God commands us to do all this, and everything must come second to His commands. This matter is a kind of spiritual trade. Let us not neglect it or be lazy. Let our enemy understand, too, that we have taken great pains to do what pleases God. Even if he insults us again, strikes us, or does something else still more serious, let us bear everything courageously, since we are benefiting ourselves even more than him. Of all good works, this one will especially come to our aid on That Day. We have sinned and offended in many serious matters and have provoked our Lord. In His loving kindness, He has given us this way to reconciliation. Let us not throw away this precious treasure. Could He not have simply commanded us to be reconciled without assigning any reward to it? Who could contradict Him or correct His decree? Yet in His great loving kindness He has promised us a vast, indescribable reward, one we should especially desire to obtain: the pardon of our sins. In this way He also makes our obedience easier. 15. What excuse can be made for us, then, if, even when we could receive so great a reward, we still do not obey the Lawgiver but persist in our contempt? That this is contempt is clear from the following. If the Emperor had established a law that all enemies must be reconciled to one another or have their heads cut off, would not every one of us hurry to be reconciled to his neighbor? Yes! I certainly think so! What excuse do we have, then, for not giving the Lord the same honor we would give those who are our fellow servants? This is why we are commanded to say, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” What could be gentler or more merciful than this commandment? He has made you the judge of the pardon of your own offenses! If you forgive a few things, He forgives you a few! If you forgive many things, He forgives you many! If you forgive sincerely, from the heart, God likewise forgives you! If, beyond forgiving him, you consider him a friend, God will treat you this way as well. So the more he has sinned, the more urgently we need to hurry toward reconciliation, because it becomes the means by which greater offenses are forgiven us. Do you want to learn that there is no pardon for us if we hold grudges, and that no one can rescue us? I will make my claim clear with an example. Suppose a neighbor has injured you in some way, seized your property, confiscated or embezzled it. And rather than confine myself to such a case, let me add more things, worse things, whatever you like. He has wanted to destroy you, exposed you to a thousand dangers, shown you every kind of malice, and left undone nothing that human wickedness can do. Without going through everything separately, suppose he has injured you more than anyone has ever injured anyone before. Even then, if you hold a grudge, you will not deserve pardon. And I will explain why. 16. Suppose one of your servants owed you a hundred gold coins, and someone else owed him a few silver coins. Suppose your servant’s debtor came and pleaded with you, begging for leniency, and you called in your own servant and instructed him, saying, “Forgive this man his debt, and I will deduct that debt from the amount you owe me.” If that servant afterward were wicked and shameless enough to seize his debtor, could anyone rescue him from your hands? Would you not certainly have him beaten a thousand times for insulting you so outrageously? And quite rightly, too. God will do the same. He will say to you on That Day, “You wicked, villainous servant, was it really your own property you forgave him? You were told to credit him out of what you owed Me. For I say, ‘Forgive, and I will forgive you!’ Although, to tell the truth, even if I had not added this condition, it would still have been your duty to forgive at your Lord’s request. But in this case I did not command you as a master. I asked it as a favor from a friend, and I asked it from My own property, and I promised to give greater things in return. Yet even with all this, you did not become a better man.” Moreover, when people act this way, they credit their servants’ accounts with only the amount of the debt. For example, suppose the servant owes his master a hundred gold coins, and the servant’s debtor owes him ten coins. If the servant forgives his debtor’s debt, the master does not forgive him the hundred coins, but only those ten, and still demands all the rest. But it is different with God. If you forgive your fellow servant a few things, He forgives your entire debt. 17. How do we know this? From the Prayer itself. “For if,” He says, “you forgive people their debts, your heavenly Father will forgive your debts.” And the difference between the debts on the one side and those on the other is as great as the difference between “a hundred denarii” and “ten thousand talents”! What punishment, then, does someone not deserve if he could receive ten thousand talents in exchange for a hundred denarii, yet still refuses to forgive this small sum and offers the Prayer against himself? When you say, “Forgive us, as we forgive,” and afterward do not forgive, you are asking God for nothing less than to deprive you entirely of every excuse or leniency. “But I do not dare to say,” someone replies, “‘Forgive me as I forgive,’ but only, ‘Forgive me.’” What difference does that make? Even if you do not say it yourself, God still acts this way: as you forgive, He forgives. He has made this perfectly clear in what follows, for it says there, “If you do not forgive people, neither does your heavenly Father forgive you.” So do not think it is reverent caution to avoid repeating the whole sentence. Do not offer the Prayer in halves, but pray as He commanded you, so that the very obligation expressed in those words may frighten you daily and compel you to forgive your neighbors. 18. Do not tell me, “I have appealed to him many times, pleaded with him, begged him, but I have not achieved reconciliation.” Never stop until you have reconciled him. For He did not say, “Leave your gift and go. Appeal to your brother.” Instead, He said, “Go. Be reconciled.” So even if you have appealed many times, you must not stop until you have persuaded him. God appeals to us every day, and we do not listen, yet He does not stop appealing. And do you think it beneath you to appeal to your fellow servant? How, then, can you ever be saved? Suppose you have often pleaded and been rejected. Even so, you will receive a greater reward for this. The more he resists and you persevere in appealing to him, the greater your reward becomes. The more difficult the good work and the more laborious the reconciliation, the greater the judgment on him and the brighter the crowns of victory for your forbearance. Let us not merely applaud all this, but put it into practice in our actions. Let us never abandon the work until we are restored to our former friendship. It is not enough simply to avoid grieving an enemy, injuring him, or feeling unkindly toward him. We must also bring him to feel kindly toward us. I hear many people saying, “I feel no hostility. I am not upset. I have nothing to do with him.” But God does not command you to have nothing to do with him. He commands you to have a great deal to do with him. That is why he is your “brother.” That is why He did not say, “Forgive your brother whatever you have against him.” What did He say instead? “Go. First be reconciled to him.” And even if he has “something against you,” do not stop until you have reunited the limb in friendly harmony. But you, who count out gold, speak with many merchants, and often undertake long journeys to obtain a useful servant, tell me: are you not making every effort to turn an enemy into a friend? How, then, will you be able to call on God while neglecting His laws this way? Certainly, possessing a servant will bring us no great benefit. But making an enemy a friend will make God gracious and favorable toward us, readily free us from our sins, gain us praise among people, and bring great security to our lives. For no one is more unsafe than someone who has even a single enemy. Our reputation in this world is damaged when such a man says a thousand evil things about us to everyone. Our minds are also in turmoil, our conscience is disturbed, and we are exposed to an unending storm of anxious thoughts. 19. Now that we recognize the truth of all this, let us free ourselves from punishment and vengeance. Let us show our reverence for the present feast by doing everything that has been said, and let us allow others to enjoy the same favors we hope to receive from the Emperor because of the feast. I hear many people saying that, out of reverence for the Holy Passover, the Emperor will be reconciled to the city and pardon all its offenses. How absurd it is, then, that when our safety depends on others, we appeal to the feast and its claims, but when we are commanded to be reconciled to one another, we treat this same feast with disdain and disregard it. Truly, no one pollutes this holy feast as much as someone who cherishes malice while observing it. Or rather, I might say that such a person cannot possibly observe it, even if he goes without food for ten days in a row. Where there is hostility and strife, there can be neither fast nor festival. You would not dare to touch the holy Sacrifice with unwashed hands, however pressing the necessity. Then do not approach with an unwashed soul! This is far worse than the other and brings a heavier punishment. Nothing fills the mind with impurity as much as anger constantly remaining within it. The spirit of meekness does not settle where anger or passion exists. And when someone lacks the Holy Spirit, what hope of salvation does he have, and how will he walk the right path? So, beloved, do not plunge headlong downward in your desire to take revenge on your enemy, or leave yourself alone without God’s protection! Even if the duty were difficult, the greatness of the punishment resulting from this act of disobedience would be enough to rouse the laziest and most apathetic people and persuade them to undertake every kind of effort. But as it is, our argument has shown that the duty is very easy, if we are willing. 20. So let us not neglect what our life depends on, but make every effort to have no enemy and thus present ourselves at the sacred Table. Nothing—nothing, I repeat—that God commands will be difficult if we pay attention. This is clear from those who have already reformed. How many people used to be deceived by the habit of swearing oaths and imagine that this practice was extremely difficult to change! Yet through God’s grace, when you made just a little effort, you largely washed yourselves clean of this vice. That is why I urge you to get rid of what remains as well and become teachers of others. And to those who have not yet succeeded, but plead the long time they previously spent swearing and say it is impossible to uproot in a short time what has been rooted for many years, I would give this answer: putting any of God’s commandments properly into practice does not require a long time, many days, or an interval of years. It requires only fear and reverence in the soul. Then we will be sure to accomplish it, and in a short time. But so that you will not suppose I am speaking carelessly, take a man you consider deeply addicted to swearing, someone who swears more times than he speaks. Hand this man over to me for just ten days, and if I do not rid him of his entire habit in those few days, pass the severest sentence on me. 21. That these words are no empty boast will be clear to you from things that have already happened. Who could have been more stupid than the Ninevites? Who could have been more lacking in understanding? Yet these foolish, barbarian people, who had never heard anyone teach them wisdom or received such commandments from others, heard the prophet say, “Three more days, and Nineveh will be overthrown,” and within three days abandoned all their evil habits. The person who had practiced sexual immorality became chaste, the brazen man meek, the grasping extortioner restrained and kind, the lazy man hardworking. They did not remedy just one, two, three, or four vices, but all their wickedness. But how do we know this, someone asks? From the prophet’s words. The same man who had accused them and said that “the cry of their wickedness has risen even to heaven” himself testifies to the opposite, saying, “God saw that everyone turned from their own evil ways.” He does not say from sexual immorality, adultery, or theft, but from their “own evil ways.” And how did they turn? As God knew, not as people judged the matter. After this, are we not ashamed? Must we not blush if these barbarians abandoned all their wickedness in just three days, while we, after being urged and taught for so many days, have not overcome a single bad habit? Moreover, these people had previously reached the extreme of wickedness. When you hear it said, “The cry of their wickedness has come up before me,” you can understand it only as meaning their extreme wickedness. Yet within three days they were able to be transformed into a state of complete virtue. Where the fear of God exists, there is no need for days or any interval of time. Conversely, days do no good where this fear is lacking. Just as someone who rubs rusty tools with water alone will not rid them of all their grime, however long he spends on them, while someone who puts them into a furnace will quickly make them brighter than newly made tools, so a soul stained with the rust of sin gains no further benefit if it cleanses itself superficially and carelessly, even if it repents every day. But if it throws itself into the furnace, so to speak, of the fear of God, it will purge everything away in a very short time. 22. So let us not put things off until tomorrow. For we “do not know what the next day may bring.” Nor should we say, “We will overcome this habit little by little,” since this little by little will never end. Instead, let us dismiss that excuse and say, “If we do not correct the practice of swearing today, we will not stop until we do, even if ten thousand things press upon us, even if we must die, be punished, or lose everything we have. We will not give the devil the advantage of slackness or the excuse of delay.” If God sees your soul on fire and your diligence stirred to life, He Himself will help you reform! Yes, I beg and plead with you, let us be earnest, so that we too do not hear it said of us, “The men of Nineveh will rise up and condemn this generation.” They heard once and reformed, but we do not turn even after hearing repeatedly. They mastered every part of virtue, but we have mastered none. They were frightened when they heard that their city would be overthrown, but we are not frightened even though we have heard about Hell. They were people who had not shared in the prophets’ instruction; we enjoy continual teaching and abundant grace. 23. I say these things to you now, not to rebuke you for your own sins, but for the sake of others. I know very well that you have fulfilled this law about swearing (as I have already observed). But this is not enough for our safety unless we reform others by teaching them. The man who brought back the one talent, returning the whole amount entrusted to him, was punished because he had not increased what he had been given. So let us not be satisfied that we ourselves have been freed from this sin. Let us not stop until we have freed others from it, and let everyone offer God ten friends whom he has corrected. Whether you have servants or apprentices—or if you have neither servants nor apprentices, you have friends—reform them. And do not give me this reply: “We have mostly banished oaths, and we are rarely caught in that snare.” Get rid of even these rare offenses. If you had lost one gold coin, would you not go around to everyone, searching and asking questions to find it? Do the same with oaths. If you realize that you have been tricked into uttering a single oath, weep and mourn as though you had lost all your property. Again I say what I said before. Shut yourself up at home and make this a matter of practice and training with your wife, children, and household servants. First say to yourself, “I must not lift a finger in private or public affairs until I have put this soul of mine right.” If you train your own sons this way, they in turn will teach their children. Thus this discipline, reaching all the way to the consummation and appearing of Christ, will bring that whole great reward to those who address the matter at its root. If your son has learned to say, “Believe me,” he will not be able to go to the theater, enter a tavern, or spend his time playing dice. That expression, resting on his mouth like a bridle, will make him feel ashamed and blush, however unwillingly. And if he ever does appear in these places, it will quickly force him to leave. Suppose some people laugh. You, for your part, should weep for their transgression! Many once laughed at Noah while he was building the ark, but when the flood came, he laughed at them—or rather, the righteous man never laughed at them at all, but wept and mourned! So when you see people laughing, remember that the teeth now grinning will one day have to endure that most dreadful wailing and gnashing, and that on That Day, while grinding and gnashing their teeth, they will remember this very laugh! Then you too will remember this laugh! How the rich man laughed at Lazarus! But afterward, when he saw him in Abraham’s bosom, he had nothing left to do but mourn for himself! 24. Keeping all these things in mind, press everyone to fulfill this commandment quickly. Do not tell me you will do it little by little, or put it off until tomorrow, because this tomorrow never ends. Forty days have already passed. If Holy Easter passes without this being corrected, I will pardon no one and give no further warnings, but use my authority to command and impose discipline that cannot be brushed aside. This excuse based on habit has no force. Why could a thief not also plead habit and escape punishment? Why not a murderer or adulterer? So I solemnly declare and warn everyone: if, when I meet you privately and test you on this matter (and I certainly will test you), I find anyone who has not corrected this vice, I will punish them by ordering their exclusion from the Holy Mysteries. This is not so that they may remain shut out forever, but so that, once they have reformed, they may enter and enjoy the Holy Table with a pure conscience. For this is what it means to partake of Communion! May God grant that, through the prayers of those who preside over us and of all the saints, we may correct these and all our other failings and obtain the kingdom of heaven through the grace and loving kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, honor, and adoration, now and always, forever and ever. Amen.