[LATIN COLUMN]
their nature, as they broke the power of fire, so here the sterile woman dissolved the bonds of nature. And learn how she did this. He besought, it says, for his wife, since she was sterile (Gen. xxv, 21). These things were read to you today: yesterday a sermon was held concerning prayer, and today again the demonstration of the power of prayer occurs. Do you see how it happened by the providence of the grace of the Spirit, that things consonant with what was said yesterday were read today? He besought, it says, for Rebecca his wife, because she was sterile. A First of all, it is worth asking for what cause she was sterile. A glorious life and one full of great chastity belonged both to her and to her husband. We cannot carp at the life of the saints and say that sterility was the effect of sins. Nor was she alone sterile, but also his mother, Sarah, who bore him; nor indeed was his mother only sterile, nor his wife, but also his daughter-in-law, the wife of Jacob, Rachel. What does this crowd of sterile women signify? All were just, all were living in virtue, all were approved by the testimony of God. For of them He had said: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Exod. iii, 6). Concerning them, Paul also speaks thus: For which cause God is not ashamed to be called their God (Heb. xi, 16). Many of their praises are in the New, many of their praises in the Old Testament; they were in every way bright and illustrious, and all had sterile wives, and lived without children for a long time. When, therefore, you see a man and his wife living according to the precept of virtue, when you see them religious, studious of piety, and yet bereft of children, do not think that childlessness is by any means a retribution for sins. B For many are the reasons of God's providence that are hidden to us, and for all things thanks must be given, and only those are to be called miserable who live contaminated by vices, not those who lack children. Often God does this usefully, but we are ignorant of the reasons for what happens. Therefore, it is right to praise His wisdom everywhere, and to render glory to His ineffable benevolence.
On the fact that no one should despair of himself
is able to teach us; but the cause must also be touched upon, for which those women were sterile. For what then was the cause? That, when you see a virgin bringing forth our common Lord, you might not refuse to have faith. Train your mind, therefore, on the womb of the sterile women: so that when you see an unfruitful and bound womb opened by divine grace to beget children, you may not wonder when you hear that a virgin has brought forth. Nay, rather both wonder and be astonished, yet do not refuse to believe the miracle. When the Jew says to you, How did a virgin give birth? you say to him, How did a sterile woman, and one burdened with old age, give birth? Two impediments existed then, advanced age, and inapt nature: but in the virgin there was one impediment, that she had not known marriage. Therefore, the sterile woman paves the way for the virgin. And so that you may understand that the sterile went before, so that the birth of the virgin might be believed, hear with what words Gabriel explained it to her. For when he had come, and had said to her, Thou shalt conceive in the womb, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Jesus (Luke i, 34), the virgin was astonished, and wondered, and said: How C shall this be, seeing I know not man? (Ib. v. 34). What then the angel? The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee (Ib. v. 35). Do not seek the order of nature, he says, when that which is being done is above nature: do not look around for marriages and the pains of childbirth, when the mode of generation has been above marriages. How shall this be, she says, seeing I know not man? And yet for this reason it shall be, because thou dost not know man. For if thou hadst known man, thou wouldst not have been accounted worthy to serve in this ministry. So believe on this very account, for which you refuse to have faith. Furthermore, you would not have been held worthy to serve in such a ministry, not because marriage is an evil, but because virginity is better: for it was necessary that the entry of the Lord be more august; for it was royal: and the king enters by a more august way. It behooved him both to share in common generation, and to differ from ours. Therefore, both these things are ordained. For to be born from the womb is common with us: but to be born without marriage exceeds our condition. And to be carried and conceived in the womb is human nature; but that conception happens without intercourse is narrower than human nature. For this reason both things happened, so that you might learn both how much more superior to you is He who is born, and how much He shares of your nature. D that they are done, shines forth. Neither did that superiority injure the likeness and kinship by which He is joined with us; nor did our kinship obscure His superiority, but both were declared in all things; and one part had what was ours intact, the other, however, diverse from us. But as I was saying, the sterile women went before for this reason, that the birth of the virgin might be believed, that she might be led as if by the hand to have faith in the promise and that pledge which she heard the angel say, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: thus, he says, thou art to bring forth. Look not to the earth; from heaven comes the efficacy. The grace of the Spirit is what is being done, do not seek from me the nature and laws of marriages. But because these words exceeded her capacity, he wishes to provide also another demonstration. But you consider how the sterile woman leads her to have faith in this matter. For because that demonstration exceeded the mind of the virgin, hear how, letting down his discourse to lower things, he leads her as if by the hand through things subject to the senses. For behold, he says, Elizabeth thy kinswoman, and she hath also conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her, who is called sterile (Luke i, 36). Do you see that she is sterile for the sake of the virgin? Why else did he bring forward the kinswoman’s birth into the middle? For what cause did he say: In her old age? Why did he add, She who is called sterile? Doubtless, by all these things he was inciting her to have faith in the annunciation. Therefore he related both age and the weakness of nature: therefore he also bade her watch the time elapsed from the day of conception.
for he did not herald it to her immediately from the beginning, but waited for the barren woman to reach the sixth month, so that the swelling of the belly might henceforth guarantee the pregnancy and become an indisputable proof of conception. And observe for me again the wisdom of Gabriel. He did not remind her of Sarah, nor of Rebecca, nor of Rachel; although they too were barren, and they too were aged, and what happened was a miracle, yet those were ancient tales. But as for ancient things, new and recent ones happening in our own generation are wont to lead us more surely to faith in miracles. For this reason, leaving those aside, he proposed from the kinswoman herself, Elizabeth, that which concerned her, so as to lead her from that woman to her own most awesome and most holy birth. For the place of the barren woman was halfway between ours and the Master’s—lesser than that of the Virgin, yet greater than ours. For this reason, as if by a bridge, Elizabeth being in the middle, he leads the mind from the pangs according to nature to those beyond nature of the Virgin.
9. On Isaac's Prayer
I wished to say more, and to teach you other reasons why Rebecca and Rachel were barren, but the time, pressing the argument toward the power of prayer, does not permit it. For this is why we have brought up all these things, so that you might learn how the prayer of Isaac broke the barrenness of his wife, and the prayer of such a long time. *Isaac prayed*, it says, *concerning Rebecca his wife, and God heard him* (Gen. 25:21). Do not imagine that he called upon God and was immediately heard; for he spent a long time beseeching God. And if you wish to learn how long, I will tell you this also with accuracy. Twenty years he spent beseeching God. Whence is this clear? From the series of the narrative itself. Since Scripture wished to show the faith and patience and philosophy of the righteous man, it did not pass over the time in silence, but made it clear to us, covertly indeed, so as to stir up our sluggishness, but yet it did not leave it hidden. Hear, then, how covertly it declared the time to us. *And Isaac was forty years old*, it says, *when he took Rebecca daughter of Bathuel the Syrian* (Gen. 25:20). Did you learn how many years old he was when he took his wife? Forty years old, it says, when he took Rebecca. But since we learned how many years old he was when he married his wife, let us learn also when he at last became a father, and how many years old he was then, when he begat Jacob; and we shall be able to see how long the woman remained barren, and that Isaac was beseeching God for all this time. How many years old was he, then, when he begat Jacob? *Jacob went out*, it says, *holding with his right hand the heel of his brother; for this reason he called him Jacob, and the other Esau. And Isaac was sixty years old when he begat them* (Gen. 25:25-26). If, therefore, he was forty when he married Rebecca, and sixty when he begat his sons, it is evident that for twenty years the woman remained barren, and for all this time Isaac was beseeching God.B 10. Do we not then feel shame, nor are we covered in confusion, seeing the righteous man persisting for twenty years and not withdrawing; while we, after a first or second request, often give up and become indignant? And yet he had great boldness before God, and still he did not fret at the postponement of the gift, but kept on enduring; but we, filled with countless sins, living with a wicked conscience, displaying no affection toward the Master, if we are not heard before we have even spoken, we are agitated, we are vexed, we withdraw from the request—for this reason we always depart empty-handed. Who has besought God for one thing for twenty years, like this righteous man? Or rather, who has remained for twenty months? Yesterday, indeed, I was saying that there are many who pray with listlessness, and yawning, and stretching, and turning about constantly, and using all manner of neglect regarding their prayers; today, however, I have found another injury even more destructive than that which additionally attends prayers. For many, casting themselves prone, and striking the earth with their forehead, and pouring forth hot tears, and groaning bitterly from within, and stretching out their hands, and displaying great zeal, use this very heat and eagerness against their own salvation. For they are not beseeching God for their own sins, nor asking for forgiveness for the faults committed by them, but they stir up all this zeal against their enemies, doing the same as if someone, having sharpened a sword, were not to use the weapon against the enemies, but to thrust it through his own throat. Thus also do these not use their prayers for the forgiveness of their own sins, but for the punishment of their enemies; which is to thrust the sword against themselves. The wicked one has devised this also, so that we might destroy ourselves from every side, both through sloth and through zeal. For some provoke God by their neglect regarding prayers, displaying their contempt through their sloth; others, because they display zeal, display the zeal again against their own salvation. So-and-so, he says, is slothful; it is enough for me that he obtains nothing; this one is zealous and vigilant; what then should be done? I cannot quench the zeal, nor cast him into neglect; I will circumvent his destruction in another way. How? I will prepare him to use the zeal for transgression; for to pray against enemies is unlawful. He shall depart, therefore, not only having gained nothing from his zeal, but having suffered even greater harm than that which came through sloth. Such are the machines of the devil: he destroys some through sloth, and others through zeal itself, whenever it is not performed according to the laws.
11. But it is also worth hearing the very words of the prayer, and how the words are of a childish mind, how of an infantile soul. I am ashamed, indeed, as I am about to say them, yet it is necessary by all means to speak and to mimic that untaught tongue. What then are the—
words? "Vindicate me from my enemies; show them that I too have a God." You do not learn that we have a God, O man, when we are indignant, and enraged, and take things badly; but rather when we are modest, meek, and humane, and practice every kind of philosophy. Thus also God said: *Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven* (Matt. 5.16). Do you not perceive that you do an injury to God, when you ask God against your enemies? By what method, tell me, do you do an injury to God? Because He Himself said: *Pray for your enemies* (Matt. 5.44), and introduced this divine law. When therefore you ask the lawgiver to violate his own laws, and you urge him to pass laws contrary to his own, and you entreat him who forbade you to pray against enemies, that he might hear you praying against enemies: you are not praying, while doing this, nor are you exhorting, but you bring insult upon the Lawgiver, and you are insolent toward Him who was about to give you good things, which occur by the occasion of prayers. And by what method, I ask, is it possible that you should be heard while you pray, if you irritate Him who is to hear? For while you do these things, you drive your own salvation into an abyss, and you rush into a precipice, while you cast your enemy under the feet of the King. For although you do not do this with your hands, yet you strike Him with your words; which you do not dare to perform toward fellow servants. Therefore, should you dare to do this while a magistrate is watching: even though your deeds were innumerably right, you would altogether be led away to death immediately. Therefore, if you do not dare to treat an equal with insult before a magistrate: why, I ask, do you not tremble, do you not fear, when you do this before God, and when you so grow angry and savage at the time of prayer, showing yourself to be wickedness greater than him who was demanding the hundred denarii? For since you bring a greater injury than that man, hear how history testifies to this. Someone owed ten thousand talents to the lord; then, as he did not have wherewith to repay, he begged that he might be patient with him, so that by selling his wife, home, and children, he might pay the debt to his lord (Matt. 18.24 sqq.). But when the lord saw him lamenting, he was moved with compassion, and forgave him the ten thousand talents. That one, having gone out, when he had found another fellow servant who owed him a hundred denarii, choking him, he demanded them with much cruelty and inhumanity. Having heard these things, the lord cast him into prison, and what he had previously forgiven, the debt of ten thousand talents, he imposed upon him again, and that man paid the penalty for his cruelty toward his fellow servant. Consider, you who pray against enemies, what you are doing. That man did not ask the lord to demand a hundred denarii, but he himself was demanding the hundred denarii: but you urge the Lord to an impudent and forbidden demand. And that man indeed did not do this in the eyes of the lord, but outside, choking his fellow servant: but you do this standing before the King in the very time of prayer. But if that man, since he was not urging the lord to demand, and only did this after he had gone out, did not obtain any pardon, you who drive the Lord to this forbidden resolution, and do these things in His sight, with what punishment, I ask, will you not be smitten? But your mind is inflamed with rage from the memory of enmity, and it bloats, and the heart is stirred, and while you remember the injury received, you cannot repress the swelling of your soul? But you, oppose to this inflammation the memory of your own sins, and the fear of future judgment. Remember of how many things you are guilty before the Lord, and that you are liable to the penalties of all these things, then that fear will altogether overcome that irascibility, since this passion also is far more powerful than that. Remember the hell of punishments and torments at the time of prayer, and not even the enemy will come into your mind. Crush your spirit, humble your mind by the memory of your own transgressions, and anger will not even exhibit any trouble. But this is the cause of all evils, that in the sins of others we truly inquire diligently, but our own we pass by very negligently. The contrary ought to have been done: we ought to forget our own, but never ought we to revolve the affairs of others in our mind. If we do this, both God will be propitious to us, and we will cease to pursue a neighbor with immortal hatred, and we will never have an enemy. And if we should have one at some time, we will quickly put aside the hatred, and we will obtain swift pardon of our sins. For just as he who is mindful of injuries received from a neighbor, by no means permits the punishments to be dismissed which he will reap for his own sins: so he who is immune from anger, will quickly also be immune from sins. For if we, wicked and serving anger, through the command of God despise all sins committed against us: much more the benign and good Lord, since He is pure from every perturbation, will ignore our offenses, and will reward the kindness and humanity shown to a neighbor with the remission of our own sins. Which may it come to pass that we all attain, by the grace and benignity of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and empire, forever and ever. Amen.
NOT TO DESPAIR, NOR TO POUR FORTH PRAYERS AGAINST ENEMIES, NOR TO FAIL IN SPIRIT, ALTHOUGH ONE WHO PRAYS DOES NOT RECEIVE; AND TO HUSBANDS REGARDING PRESERVING PEACE TOWARD WIVES.
The boundary of malice. I give great thanks to you, because with alacrity of mind you have received the sermons held about prayers, because you have rendered me blessed.
A For when I was exhorting you not to curse your enemies, and was saying that by doing this we provoke God and legislate against Him—for He said, "Pray for your enemies," but we, by cursing our enemies, demand that He revoke His own law—when I was saying these and such-like things, I saw many among you beating their faces and breasts, groaning bitterly, stretching their hands to heaven, and asking for forgiveness concerning such prayers. And then I too, having lifted my eyes to heaven, gave thanks to God, because so quickly the word of instruction brought us fruit. B For such is the condition of spiritual seed: it does not need years, nor seasons, nor days, but if it takes hold of a noble soul, it immediately shows the ear of corn flourishing and completed. Even that which happened yesterday at your hands. I cast a word of compunction, and a groan of confession sprouted—a groan that held the great wealth of good things. For if that publican, in order to say, while beating his breast, "Be merciful to me a sinner," went away justified beyond the Pharisee, how much confidence should we expect to gain, having displayed such compunction in a short time?
And yet, there is nothing worse than a publican; for this is the final boundary of malice; which Christ also, indicating, brings forth the harlots and the publicans as an example of the worst evils. For it is a life of unrestrained violence, of unrebuked plunder, of shameless mode of greed, of trade having no account, of unfair exchange; C but yet he who lived with such evils had the strength, from bare footsteps, to cast off his reproaches, and to receive more than he asked. For he himself asked, saying, "Be merciful to me the sinner"; but God was not only merciful but also justified him above the Pharisee. Therefore Paul says, "To Him who is able to do all things far more abundantly than what we ask or think" (Eph. 3:20). And yet the Pharisee prayed, and stood in the temple, and called upon the same God, and said more words, and made the beginning of the prayer from thanksgiving. Whence, then, did he lose the good things he had, while this man gained confidence which he did not have? Because the mode of prayer was not the same. For the one was filled with arrogance and pride and folly, but this one with much gratitude; for this reason the one, having countless burdens of sins, put them all away and received righteousness; but the other, having brought a ship full of achievements—and of alms, and of fasting—having run aground as if on some reef by the disposition of vain-glory and folly, suffered shipwreck in the very harbor; D for to be impoverished in prayer is to suffer shipwreck in the harbor. But this did not happen contrary to the nature of the prayer, but contrary to his own choice.
2. DOST THOU SEE
how prayer is not sufficient for our salvation, if the laws which Christ has set are not added to it? And what laws has He set? To pray for enemies, and for those who cause much pain. And if we do not do this, we perish entirely; and it is clear from the example of the Pharisee. For if this one, not having cursed his enemies, but only having practiced vain-glory, paid such a penalty, what punishment awaits those who extend long and many words against their enemies? What are you doing, O man? You stand asking for forgiveness of sins, and you fill your mind with anger? When it is necessary to be more gentle than all, conversing with the Master, entreating for your own transgressions, asking for mercy and philanthropy and forgiveness, then do we become savage, and fall into bestiality, and fill our mouth with bitterness? And how shall we be able, tell me, to attain salvation, putting forward the form of suppliants, but bearing words of folly, and provoking the Master against ourselves? A You have entered to heal your own wounds, not to make those of your neighbor more grievous; it is a time for propitiation, a time for prayer and groans, not one for tears of malice, not for anger, for compunction, not for resentment. Why do you confuse the order? Why do you war against yourself? Why do you tear down your own building? It behooves the one praying, before all other things, to have a gentle mind, a composed spirit, and a contrite heart; but he who rails against enemies could never achieve this: for he is filled with anger, and is not able to have a composed mind.Let us not, therefore, curse our enemies, but let us not even remember our own achievements, so that we do not suffer what the Pharisee did. For just as it is good to remember sins, so it is good to forget achievements. For what reason? Because the memory of achievements raises us to arrogance, but the memory of sins composes the mind and humbles it; and the former makes us more slothful, while the latter makes us more earnest. B For those who think they have nothing good become more eager to acquire good things; but those who think they have stored up much merchandise for themselves, trusting in the abundance of this, would not display much zeal to acquire more again.