On the Parable of the Prodigal Son

515 ^A tundant. To his second prayer, he gave no response. He approached a third time, and then he answered. ^B Therefore, so that you may learn, if you ask for that which is not for your profit, and receive the contrary, that it is not to be taken ill. You often ask for that which you think will be profitable, but it is not. God does not look to the tears, but to those things which are harmful. For a child often asks its mother for bread; yet if he asks for something that brings injury, she does not give it, nor does she pay heed to his pain, but looks to his utility. One who is feverish is also often bothersome to the physician, asking him to give a cold draught, yet he does not grant it; for he does not attend to the present, harmful desire, but studies the future health. Thus also Paul did not know how to ask for what was useful. By what indulgence, then, are we worthy? Since, indeed, losing heart, he approached him, saying: "Let me catch my breath for a little, let me be freed from dangers, grant me a little rest: I am human, and you have entrusted the whole world to me." He approached him first, and he gave no response; a second and a third time he approached. ^C For this reason, "I thrice sought the Lord" (2 Cor. 12:8). Why so? That I might preach without trouble, that I might have no assailant, that no enemy might be present, no scourges, no dangers, no prisons, no abductions, no nakedness. For this I approach, this I ask. I have labored, I have sweated, I have been affected by miseries, cast out from everywhere. What, I pray, does God answer him? He did not nod to the petition, he did not give what he was asking for; but he said to him: "My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is made perfect in weakness" (Ibid. v. 9). "My grace is sufficient for you." You see what you suffer, you do not see what you do: you see what enemies do against you, you do not see what I do in you. They scourge you, I give grace. Have you entered into prison, or have you not? I have entered, and I ask you. Did you see the angel of Satan there, or not? I saw him, who was casting me into it. Did he bind you, or did he not? What did I do? Did I not shake the walls? Did I not open the doors? Did I not loose the chains? Did I not hand over the prison guard as a captive to you? Did the angel of Satan harm you? Did my grace not profit you? Did that miracle not make you more splendid? My grace is sufficient for you. And do you seek both these things and those? You do not want scourges, why do you seek signs? You do not want dangers, why do you seek miracles? When you are being scourged, you see; when you raise the dead, do you not see? When your garments were torn, you saw; when your words put sicknesses to flight, did you not 516 see? When you were coming into judgment in chains, you saw; when Festus (a) said to you, "In a small way, you persuade me to become a Christian" (Acts 26:28), did you not see? My grace is sufficient for you. You have taken a great weapon, the power of the Spirit, which conquers plots, and makes you more splendid. What do you want? To suffer nothing? And how would my power be shown? It would indeed be shown, but not as it is now shown. In what way? Because Paul, lamenting, was saying: "Woe to me, I am a herald of the kingdom, a disciple of Christ, I preach immortal things; and I am scourged, I am treated with contumely, I am led away—so that you may not therefore lose heart, these things make you more splendid: unless you suffered these things, you would not be so conspicuous." You entered into prison. Unless you had been bound, and if you had only entered, he would have detained you, and led you out: even now, however, when you were bound, he loosed you, the bound one. Your feet were held by the wood, and grace shook the walls. I say these things so that no one may be astounded by the plots structured against us. We say these things, not equating ourselves to Paul (for we are not so foolish), but so that we may show that God brings this very thing to the humble. "My grace is sufficient for you." We have not been cast out. Where is the grace? Where six hundred enemies structured their plots. Where is that grace? There were many lovers, who did not want me to be separated from you. Where is the grace? They even added the Jews to our number. "My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore, let not the tribulations which have been given to the lot of the gospel move you. "My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is made perfect in weakness." How are you scourged, and do you remove the scourgers? You are sought by plots, and do you overcome those plotting? For "my power is made perfect in weakness." What, therefore, Paul heard, is this what you want? Is this sufficient for you? That I should fall by scourges, be afflicted with disgrace and ignominy, this I want. "For which reason I am pleased in weaknesses, in contumelies, in persecutions" (2 Cor. 12:10). O the grateful spirit of the servant! He approached him, asking to be freed from tribulations: but when he heard that the Lord not only did not want this, but even wanted the contrary: "This, therefore, seems so to you," he says, "that I should be afflicted; this I want, in this matter I have gratitude." He did not say only, "I want"; but, "This pleases me, I crave, I desire to be scourged, to be driven, to be in straits." "For which reason I am pleased in weaknesses, in contumelies, in persecutions, in straits." Why? That the power of Christ may dwell in me, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

(a) Not Festus, but King Agrippa says this in the Acts.

MONITUM CONCERNING THE FOLLOWING ORATION

ON THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON (a). (Luke 15:11)

^A was stirred. Nature recognized as father Him who fashioned him, even if his will did not honor the Creator. "Father, give me the portion of the substance that falls to me." He rightly asked for God's things from God; but wrongly did he consume what he received. "And the father divided the living among them." He gave them, as his own house, the whole world; he gave them, as Creator, the whole of creation; he bestowed upon them bodies and reasonable souls, so that, being guided reasonably by the Word, they might do nothing unreasonable; he set over them his own law, both natural and written, as a divine pedagogue, so that being trained by this they might fulfill the will of the Lawgiver. "And not many days after, having gathered everything together," the younger son acted as the younger, and went on a journey into a far country. He departed from God, and God departed from him; for He does not force those who do not wish to serve Him. For all virtues are of the will, not of necessity. There he dissipated his substance, living riotously. There he lost the whole wealth of the soul; there, pleasing and being pleased, he suffered shipwreck; there, mocking and being mocked, he became a beggar; there, purchasing soul-destroying pleasures and buying laughter, he received the tears of a father; and the virtues which he had, he cast away; and the vices which he had not, he took on. And when he had spent everything (for the wealth of grace is not wont to remain with those who live shamefully), there arose a strong famine in that country. For wherever the wheat of temperance is not farmed, there is a strong famine; where the vine of continence is not planted, there is a strong famine; where the grape of purity is not trodden in the winepress, there is a strong famine; where the heavenly must does not flow, there is a strong famine; where there is a fruitfulness of evils, there is always a barrenness of goods; where there is an abundance of wicked deeds, there is always a hunger for virtues; where the oil of philanthropy does not spring forth, there is a strong famine. Then, therefore, he too began to be in want. For nothing remained for him, except only the evils of intemperance, since he had committed the evils of lawlessness. And he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country. These citizens of that country were the demons, in which he happened to be a wanderer. And that citizen sent him into his field to feed swine. For so do demons honor those who honor them; so do they love those who love them; such are the gifts they bestow on those who obey them. And he longed to fill his belly with the pods that the swine were eating. What is "from the pods"? The taste of the pods is sweet, but yet also hard and rough. For such is the nature of sin: it delights briefly, and punishes greatly; it pleases for a time, and scourges eternally. Coming, therefore, to himself, and pondering his former blessedness and his second misery, and laying to heart who he was when he was ordered with God and the Father, and who he had become, being subjected to the demons. Coming to himself, therefore, he said: "How many hired servants of my father abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger?" How many catechumens now feast upon the holy Scriptures, while I am held by the famine of the divine words? Oh, of how many good things have I deprived myself! Oh, with how many evils have I clothed myself! For why did I depart from that blessed way of life? Why did I enter into this deadly life? I learned from what I suffered, not to abandon God; I learned to hold fast to Him who always guards those who hold to Him; I learned not to trust in the unclean demons, those who teach every impurity. What then does he say? "I will arise ^B and go to my father." I will return well, from whence I departed, and I will go to my own father, and Creator, and Master, and guardian, and provider; I will overtake him who was waiting long ago and anticipating those who return to him. "I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired servants." These words are enough for me for salvation; the name of my father is enough for me for my earnest petition; for my father, having been called father by me, cannot but appear a father in his deeds; He cannot but move His bowels, being compassionate; He cannot but grant forgiveness to my lapses, having heard "I have sinned"; He cannot, having heard the voice being poured forth, forget His just anger. I know how much repentance can do before Him; I know how effective tears are before Him; I know how every sinner, looking up to Him, and weeping fervently, like Peter, receives the remission of his sins; I know the goodness of my God; I know the gentleness of my father. He will pity me as I repent, whom He did not exclude as I sinned. ^C

2. "And he arose and came to his father." He added the good work to the good counsel. For it behooves us not only to counsel what is advantageous, but also to show good impulses by our deeds. And while he was still a long way off, but near in his manner, and beating his hands continuously ^D and striking his own breast, as being the workshop of wicked thoughts, and fixing his face upon the ground, and making his eyes the partners in his prayer, with the drops of tears, and rehearsing his apology, having reached him, he cried out with a loud voice, saying with tears: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you." I have sinned, I know, Christ Master and God; You alone know my sins; I have sinned, have mercy as God and Master. I am not worthy to look to heaven, and to entreat You my good Master, being full of the greatest and most grievous charges; there is no number to my sins. Have mercy as being always a good God, "For I am not worthy to be called your son, make me as one of your hired servants." Thus praying from the depth of his heart, he saw him who looks upon those who do wrong, and overlooks those who sin, and waits for their repentance; his father saw him, and was moved with compassion. For He was a father in kindness, even if He existed as God by nature. "And running, he fell upon his neck, and kissed him." He did not wait for the one who had offended to come near, but he himself went to meet him eagerly. And he did not loath his neck, as being spotted and defiled with the stains of debauchery; but with his own immaculate hands he embraced and kissed him insatiably, whom he had long ago yearned for. Oh, the unspeakable and terrible compassion! Oh, the paradoxical philanthropy! Oh, the strange reconciliations! He bent immediately God toward a single moment of inclination and participation with tears, and to overlook such a multitude. Have you wondered seeing God flattering a sinner? Oh, the affection of the paternal bowels! The sinner on earth wept, and the only sinless One from heaven bent Himself toward philanthropy. Who ever saw a sinner being flattered by God? Who ever saw a judge attending to a criminal? Who ever saw a condemned man being flattered? But nevertheless, God entreats, as once He did Israel. "My people," He says, "what have I wronged you, or what have I troubled you?" And now the same things happen, and were done, because the Father of mercies and God of all consolation is accustomed to be overcome by Himself. Yet the prodigal son was not satisfied with these things; but being a prodigal even in the goods of repentance, he did not think that such great philanthropy was sufficient for his perfect salvation for the multitude of his sins; but what he had rehearsed to say to the father, these too he...

confessed; my sins I do not hide, those which you see, I do not deny those which you know; as a guilty man I lie wretchedly, as an iniquitous man I am condemned, but as judge have mercy on me. I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am afraid to lift my eyes to heaven; for I dread the appearance of the firmament as the voice of an accuser; I fear to fix my gaze in the light of the Godhead, since I have the eyes of my mind defiled. I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. See, I betray myself, I condemn myself, I pronounce sentence upon myself. I have no need of a judge to pronounce sentence, no need of accusers to convict the guilty, no need of witnesses to confirm the documents. I have within a presiding conscience, I bear an implacable judge in my soul, and a formidable court: in my conscience I carry witnesses around, in my eyes I produce accusers; the theaters accuse me, the circuses cry out against me: the spectacles of those who fight with beasts shout at me: prodigality traduces me, my actions, my own infamy overwhelm me, my present nakedness makes me manifest; the very rags of ignominy with which I am clothed cover me with shame, and I am not worthy to be called your son: "Make me as one of your hired servants." Do not, however, drive me from your hall, O Lord, that the enemy may not find me wandering again and lead me away like a captive, nor station me near your dreadful and mystic table: for I would not dare to look upon the holy of holies with open eyes. Let me stand with the catechumens within the doors of the church, that, contemplating the mysteries that are performed therein, I may desire to become, little by little, a partaker of them; that, washed with divine waters, I may wipe away the filth of shameful songs residing in my ears; that when I see your pearls snatched away by the pious, I may myself desire to have hands worthy to receive such a gift. When the prodigal had finished these things, and had cried out thus with tears, "The father said to his servants" (Luc. 15.22). To which servants? Listen: to the priests and ministers of his commandments. "Bring forth quickly the first robe, clothe him." Bring the robe woven from above, prepared by spiritual fire; bring the robe textured in the waters of the font; bring the robe forged from spiritual fire, and clothe him who has stripped himself: clothe the new Adam whom the devil stripped; clothe the king of creation, adorn him through whom I have adorned the world, decorate the most beloved limbs of my son: for I cannot look upon him unadorned, I do not suffer my image to be left naked: I consider my son's disgrace my own disgrace, my glory I consider the illustrious name of him. Let him carry the pledge, and being carried by him, let him be guarded by the Spirit himself; that wearing my seal, he may appear formidable to all enemies and adversaries; that from afar it may be understood whose father's son this is. "Give also sandals for his feet": lest the serpent find his heel naked again, and strike him with his sting; but that he himself may rather trample upon the head of the dragon, that he may crush the stings of the enemy, and run the path which is according to God. "And bring the fatted calf, and kill it" (v. 23). Whom, at length, does he call the fatted calf? Whom indeed? Him whom the heifer Mary the Virgin brought forth. Bring the untamed Calf, who has not yet borne the yoke of sin, the virgin, and born of a Virgin, who follows those who follow him, not out of necessity, but willingly; who does not use his own strength, nor horns, but readily bows his neck to those who wish to slaughter him. Slaughter, therefore, him who is slaughtered willingly; slaughter him who gives life to those who slaughter him; kill him who is killed, but does not die; kill him who is sliced limb by limb, and sanctifies those who slice him; kill him who is eaten by those who know him, and is never consumed; kill him who renders those who eat him blessed. "And let us all feasting rejoice, because this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." "And they began to feast" (v. 24). You know the spiritual delights, you who have tasted them—you who have been initiated into the fearful mysteries, while the ministers of the holy office, imitating the wings of the angels with their thin linen veils, which sit on their left shoulders, run about in the church, and cry: "Let no one of the catechumens, let no one of those who do not eat, let no one of the explorers, let no one of those who cannot look upon the Calf who is eaten, nor any of those who cannot look upon the celestial blood shed for the remission of sins, let no one unworthy of the living host, let no one uninitiated, let no one of those who cannot touch the dreadful mysteries with undefiled lips": then are added the voices of the angels praising from the heavens and saying, "Holy is the Father, who willed the fatted Calf to be slaughtered, who knew no sin, as the prophet Isaiah said: 'Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth'" (Isai. 53.9; 1 Pet. 2.22). Holy is the Son, and at the same time the Calf who is always slaughtered willingly, who is always alive; holy is the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit who performs the sacrifice. While these things were being done within, the elder son, having arrived, "heard from afar the symphony and the dances" (Luc. 15.25); and when he had called one of the boys, he was asking what this might be: "A sound strikes my ears." But he said: "David the prophet sings within: 'Then shall they lay upon your altar calves'" (Ps. 50.21). The same again exhorts those who are present to the feast, and says: "Taste and see, for the Lord is sweet" (Ps. 53.9). Paul the interpreter of divine things proclaims and says: "Christ our Passover has been sacrificed" (1 Cor. 5.7). The Church keeps a feast, feasts, and leads dances. But he says to the servant: "Is it so? While I am outside, do others divide my mysteries, with me absent?" "It is so," he says, "for your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe." Having heard these things, the just man was angry, and would not go in (Luc. 15.28). The just man was angry, and was made a slave to envy: he who had trampled the delights of life underfoot was overcome by envy. But how does Paul say: "I myself wished to be anathema from Christ for my brothers, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh" (Rom. 9.3)? Not to show the just man to be envious, but to imply a certain immense magnitude, the Savior so shaped the prayer, that he might declare the immense riches of the goodness of his Father. And he indicates that through what follows. For the father having gone out began to entreat him. O ineffable wisdom! O religious providence! He both had pity on the sinner, and flattered the just man; and he did not permit him who was standing to fall, and he raised him who had fallen: he made the poor man rich, and did not allow the rich man to become poor through envy. But he answering said to his father: "Lo, so many years I serve you, and I never transgressed your commandment, and you never gave me a kid, that I might feast with my friends" (Luc. 15.29): "but I go around in sheepskins, in goat skins, needy, distressed, afflicted" (Hebr. 11.37). "But after this son of yours here, who contemned you, who devoured your substance with harlots, came, you suddenly killed for him the fatted calf, and neither did you punish him with a word, nor did you avert your face from him in appearance; but you immediately received him with hospitality, and adorned him with all your garments, made him splendid with a golden ring, provided him with sandals, opened the church, adorned the table, filled the craters, killed the fatted calf, called together the faithful to the feast, urged the angels to the dances, called together a miraculous banquet of heaven and earth. Such great gifts, therefore, you have conferred upon him who had contemned your goodness, and who had affected your nobility with reproaches. What shall I say of the sea of your mercies? How shall I admire the ocean of your kindness? You have mercy upon all, O Lord, because you can do all things, and you wink at the sins of men, that they may be converted to repentance." But the father said to him: "Son, you are always with me" (Luc. 15.31). "You have never been separated from my bosom; you"

you have welcomed him, and adorned him with your whole robe, and made him shine with a golden ring, and shod him with your shoes, and opened the Church, and embellished the table, and filled the cups, and sacrificed the fatted calf, and invited the faithful to the feast, and made the angels dance, and assembled a feast strange to heaven and earth; and you have granted such gifts to one who scorned your goodness and insulted your nobility. 58 What shall I say to the depth and sea of your mercies? How shall I wonder at the ocean of your serenity? You have mercy, Lord, on all, because you can do all things, and you overlook the sins of men for the sake of repentance. But his Father said to him: "Child, you are always with me." You were never separated from my bosom; you never pulled away from my Church; you always gave heed to psalms and hymns; you commune with the angels at all times; you, standing at the altar, cry out with confidence, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." But this one approached me condemned, ashamed, pressing his face toward the earth, and with a contrite and mournful voice shouted, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am not worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired servants." What was I to do at these words? Could I not have had mercy on my son who came to me? You, the irritable one, might judge. But I am not constituted so as to act inhumanly, being a lover of mankind; I cannot but have mercy on him whom I created; I cannot but pity him whom I brought forth from my own bowels. Child, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours; heaven is yours, the firmament is yours, the sun is your torchbearer, the moon is your maidservant, the stars are your lamps, the air is your nourisher, and all things in the air are yours; the earth and what is in it are yours, the sea and what is in it are yours, the world is yours, the Church is yours, the altar is yours, the fatted calf is yours, the sacrifice is yours, the angels are yours, the apostles are yours, the martyrs are yours; things present are yours, things to come are yours, the resurrection is yours, immortality is yours, incorruptibility is yours, the kingdom of heaven is yours; all things visible and intelligible are yours. Did I take away your things and give them to him? Did I strip you and clothe him? Did I not bestow mercy from my own possessions? Am I not the Father of both you and him? And I honor you for your virtue, and I have mercy on him for his most excellent conversion; and I long for you for your life, and for him for his change; and I love you for your conduct, and him for his repentance; and I love you for your patience, and him for his return to me. But you ought to have been gladdened and to have rejoiced, because this brother of yours was dead, and has come to life; he was lost, and has been found. Who, seeing 59 a dead man rising, does not rejoice? And who, having found what he lost, does not exult? Come now, you too, my son, rejoice with us, and leap with the angels, and embrace your brother with us, and sing with David that spiritual canticle which is fitting for the present festivity: "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin" (Ps. XXXI, 1-2). You have heard the divine parable, and understood its purpose, and seen its power; you have learned how merciful a Lord we have, how long-suffering. Let us, therefore, take refuge in Him with a pure heart. Come, let us cry out to Him with a common voice: "Master, Lord, Lover of mankind, only-begotten Son of God, we have sinned against heaven and before You, and we are not worthy to be called Your sons; but we trust in Your mercies; we have as pledges of Your philanthropy the precious cross, which You endured for us; we have as guarantors of Your compassion the once-harlot, and the once-thief." For through them, we and all sinners are urged to run to Your philanthropy. As You showed them to be famous and blessed, Lord, have mercy also upon us who fall before You; as You raised the dead while being crucified, raise up us, deadened by sin, on account of Your great philanthropy, that we may enjoy, together with those who have been redeemed, Your resurrection. Saying these things, let us persevere, so that our Master Christ may say to us: "According to your faith be it done to you" (Matt. IX, 29). And you, who are about to enjoy the gift of baptism, having cast away every alien thought, and directed your souls toward the heavenly bridegroom, enjoy the grace of the Holy Spirit. The Lord is near, have no anxiety (Phil. IV, 5-6). The Redeemer stands at the doors, the physician is present to those who believe, the infirmary is open, the medicines are ready, the pool receives all, grace is unfurled, the spiritual garment is being woven by the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Blessed are they who are deemed worthy to wear the robe. Only do you light the lamps of faith, and pour in lavishly the oil of piety, so that at night, when the voice sounds saying, "Behold, the bridegroom comes, go out to meet him" (Matt. XXV, 6), you may go out with bright lamps, dancing and leaping, and shouting, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" (Ibid. XXI, 9): to Him be glory and power, both now and always, and unto the ages. Amen.

On the Dancing of Herodias, and the Beheading of John the Forerunner and Baptist.

1. Just as a man who loves solitude, sitting in some wooded place shaded by trees, delighted by the sweet-sounding warbling of birds and the peaceful murmur of flowing waters, has a gentle disposition—such a man pleases all people; so too have we, during the preceding days, being refreshed by the gentle breeze of the Spirit, been discussing with you concerning almsgiving. But when the Gospel proclaimed the madness of Herod, and the immorality of women, and the revelry of mad men, and an unholy table, and an unlawful gift, and an impious work, and the burial of a most venerable body—I have become one thing after another. For I become speechless, beloved, whenever I bring before my eyes the events that took place under Herod; if indeed it is possible to call those events, and not wounds, for him who did such things. "At that time," it says, "Herod the tetrarch heard the report of Jesus, and said to his servants: This is John, whom I beheaded. He has risen from the dead, and therefore the powers are at work in him" (Matt. XIV, 1-2). He confesses the murder of the prophet, which he cannot deny; and he knew, when he killed him, that he was a prophet, and a righteous man. For if he had not known this, he would not have said that he had risen from the dead, and that therefore the powers were at work in him. Oh, the shame of a bad conscience! For any murder whatever, he bears witness against himself; oh, the shame of a bad conscience dwelling with a filthy soul, and tormenting it even until death, and even after death tormenting it implacably! Whom did he kill for this reason—the prophet? Because he was the herald of truth, and to prevent his action through his rebuke—