Homilies on the First Epistle of John 1.12–2.10

"He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no stumbling block in him." I beseech you by Christ: God is feeding us; we are about to refresh our bodies in the name of Christ, and they have been somewhat refreshed, and must be refreshed again; let our mind be fed. I do not say this because I intend to speak long; for see, the reading is now ending; but lest perhaps from weariness we should listen less attentively to what is most necessary. "He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no stumbling block in him." Who are those who suffer a stumbling block, or cause one? Those who stumble at Christ and at the Church. Those who stumble at Christ are, as it were, burned by the sun; those who stumble at the Church, by the moon. For the Psalm says, "The sun shall not burn you by day, nor the moon by night"; that is, if you hold fast to love, you will suffer no stumbling block either in Christ or in the Church; you will forsake neither Christ nor the Church. For whoever forsakes the Church, how is he in Christ, when he is not in the members of Christ? How is he in Christ, when he is not in the body of Christ? Those, then, suffer a stumbling block who forsake either Christ or the Church. From this we understand why the Psalm said, "The sun shall not burn you by day, nor the moon by night": because it wants that burning to be understood as the stumbling block. First attend to the likeness itself: as one who is burned says, "I cannot stand it, I cannot bear it", and withdraws; so those who cannot bear certain things in the Church, and withdraw either from the name of Christ or from the Church, suffer a stumbling block. For see how those carnal men suffered a stumbling block as from the sun, to whom Christ preached his flesh and said, "Whoever does not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood will not have life in himself." About seventy men said, "This saying is hard", and withdrew from him; and twelve remained. The sun burned all of them, and they withdrew, unable to bear the force of the word. So twelve remained. And lest men should think that they were doing Christ a favour by believing in Christ, and not receiving a benefit from him, when the twelve had remained the Lord said to them, "Do you too wish to go away?", that you may know that you need me, not I you. But those whom the sun had not burned answered by the voice of Peter, "Lord, you have the word of eternal life; to whom shall we go?" And whom does the Church burn, like the moon by night? Those who have made schisms. Hear the very word set down in the apostle: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn?" How, then, is there no stumbling block in one who loves his brother? Because one who loves his brother bears all things for the sake of unity; because brotherly love lies in the unity of love. Someone offends you, whether a bad man, or a man you think bad, or a man you pretend is bad; and do you desert so many good men? What brotherly love is this, what has appeared in these men? While they accuse the Africans, they have deserted the whole world. Were there no saints in the whole world? Or could they be condemned by you unheard? But oh, if you loved your brothers, there would be no stumbling block in you. Hear what the Psalm says: "Great peace for those who love your law, and there is no stumbling block for them." He said there is great peace for those who love the law of God, and therefore no stumbling block for them. Those, then, who suffer a stumbling block lose peace. And whom did he say neither suffer a stumbling block nor cause one? Those who love the law of God. So they are set in love. But someone says, "He said, those who love the law of God, not the brothers." Hear what the Lord says: "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another." What is the law but a commandment? And how do they avoid suffering a stumbling block, except by bearing with one another? As Paul says, "Bearing with one another in love, eager to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." And because this is the law of Christ, hear the same apostle commending this law: "Bear one another's burdens," he says, "and so you will fulfil the law of Christ."

"For he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going." A great matter, brothers; attend, we beg you. "He who hates his brother walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes." What is so blind as those who hate their brothers? For that you may know that they are blind, they have stumbled against a mountain. I say the same things again, so that they may not slip from you. Is not that stone which was cut from the mountain without hands Christ, born from the kingdom of the Jews without the act of a husband? Did not that stone break all the kingdoms of the earth, that is, all the dominions of idols and demons? Did not that stone grow and become a great mountain and fill the whole world? Do we point out this mountain with the finger, as the moon on its third day is pointed out to people? For example, when people want to see the new moon, they say, "There is the moon! See where it is!"; and if there are some there who cannot focus their sight and say, "Where?", a finger is pointed for them so that they may see. Sometimes, ashamed lest they be thought blind, they say they have seen what they did not see. Is it so that we point out the Church, my brothers? Is it not open? Is it not plain? Has it not taken hold of all nations? Is not what was promised to Abraham so many years before being fulfilled, that in his seed all nations would be blessed? It was promised to one believer, and the world has been filled with thousands of believers. See the mountain filling the whole face of the earth; see the city of which it was said, "A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden." But they stumble against the mountain. And when it is said to them, "Go up", they say, "It is not a mountain", and they more readily dash their face against it than seek a dwelling there. Isaiah was read yesterday; whoever of you was paying attention, not with the eyes only but with the ear, and not the ear of the body but the ear of the heart, noticed: "In the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be manifest, prepared on the top of the mountains." What is so manifest as a mountain? But there are also unknown mountains, because they are situated in one part of the earth. Who of you knows Mount Olympus? Just as those who live there do not know our Giddaba. These mountains are in parts of the earth. But that mountain is not so, because it has filled the whole face of the earth; and of it is said, "prepared on the top of the mountains". It is a mountain above the tops of all mountains. "And all the nations," he says, "will be gathered to it." Who goes astray on this mountain? Who breaks his face by stumbling against it? Who does not know the city set on a mountain? But do not wonder that it is not known by these who hate their brothers; for they walk in darkness and do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded their eyes. They do not see the mountain: I do not want you to wonder; they have no eyes. Why do they have no eyes? Because the darkness has blinded them. How do we prove it? Because they hate their brothers; because when they take offence at the Africans, they separate themselves from the whole world; because they do not bear, for the peace of Christ, those whom they defame, and they do bear, for the party of Donatus, those whom they condemn.

All that is read from the holy Scriptures for our instruction and salvation must be listened to attentively. Yet above all those things should be committed to memory which are most effective against heretics, whose snares never cease to surround all the weaker and more careless. Remember that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ both died for us and rose again: died, that is, because of our sins, and rose again for our justification. As you have just heard, the eyes of the two disciples whom he met on the road were held so that they did not recognise him; and he found them despairing of the redemption that was in Christ, and supposing that he had now suffered and died as a man, not thinking that he lived for ever as the Son of God, and that he was so dead in the flesh that he would not come to life again, but as one of the prophets; as you heard their words a little while ago, you who were present. Then he opened the Scriptures to them, beginning from Moses through all the prophets, showing them that all that he had suffered had been foretold; lest they should be the more disturbed if the Lord had risen, and believe him the less, if these things had not been said beforehand of him. For the firmness of faith lies in this, that all that happened in Christ was foretold. So the disciples did not recognise him except in the breaking of bread. And truly, whoever does not eat and drink judgment to himself recognises Christ in the breaking of bread. Afterwards the eleven too thought they were seeing a spirit. He offered himself to be handled, who had offered himself to be crucified: to be crucified by enemies, to be handled by friends; yet the physician of all, of the ungodliness of the former and of the unbelief of the latter. For you heard, when the Acts of the Apostles were being read, how many thousands of those who killed Christ believed. If those who had killed him believed afterwards, were those not going to believe who doubted for a little while? And yet even for them (and this you ought above all to notice and commit to memory, that God willed to set a strong support against treacherous errors in the Scriptures, against which no one dares to speak who wishes in any way to be seen as a Christian), when he had offered himself to be handled, it was not enough for him unless he strengthened the heart of believers from the Scriptures; for he was looking ahead to us, who have nothing in him to handle but have something to read. For if they believed because they held and handled him, what shall we do? Christ has now ascended into heaven; he will not come except at the end, to judge the living and the dead. From what shall we believe, unless from that by which he willed even those who handled him to be strengthened? For he opened the Scriptures to them, and showed them that the Christ had to suffer, and that all things written about him in the law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms had to be fulfilled. He embraced the whole old text of the Scriptures. Whatever is in those Scriptures sounds of Christ; but only if it finds ears. "And he opened their mind, that they might understand the Scriptures." So we too must pray for this, that he may open our mind.

But what did the Lord show to be written about himself in the law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms? What did he show? Let him say it himself. The evangelist set it down briefly, so that we might know what we ought to believe and understand in so great a breadth of the Scriptures. Certainly there are many pages and many books; all of them contain what the Lord said briefly to his disciples. What is it? "That the Christ had to suffer and rise on the third day." You have now what concerns the bridegroom, that the Christ had to suffer and rise. The bridegroom has been commended to us. Let us see what he says of the bride, so that, when you know the bridegroom and the bride, you may not come to the wedding to no purpose. For every celebration is the celebration of a wedding: the wedding of the Church is being celebrated. The king's son is about to take a wife, and the king's son is himself a king; and those who attend are themselves the bride. Not as at fleshly weddings, where some attend the wedding and another is married: in the Church those who attend, if they attend well, become the bride. For the whole Church is the bride of Christ, whose beginning and first fruits is the flesh of Christ: there the bride was joined to the bridegroom in the flesh. Rightly, when he commended that flesh, he broke bread; and rightly in the breaking of bread the eyes of the disciples were opened, and they recognised him. What, then, did the Lord say was written about himself in the Law, and the Prophets, and the Psalms? "That the Christ had to suffer." If he had not added "and rise", those whose eyes were held would rightly have mourned; but his rising too was foretold. And why this? Why did the Christ have to suffer and rise? Because of that psalm which we commended to you especially on Wednesday, at the first station of the last week. Why did the Christ have to suffer and rise? For this reason: "All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before him." For, that you may know that the Christ had to suffer and rise, what did he add here too, so as to commend the bride after commending the bridegroom? "And that repentance and the forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." You have heard it, brothers; hold it fast. Let no one doubt about the Church, that it is throughout all nations; let no one doubt that it began from Jerusalem and has filled all nations. We recognise the field where the vine was planted; but when it has grown, we do not recognise it, because it has taken over the whole. Where did it begin? From Jerusalem. Where has it reached? To all nations. Few remain; it will hold them all. Meanwhile, until it holds all, some useless branches seemed to the husbandman to need cutting off; and they have made heresies and schisms. Do not let what has been cut off lead you to be cut off; rather urge what has been cut off to be grafted in again. It is plain that Christ suffered, rose, and ascended into heaven; the Church too has been made plain, because repentance and the forgiveness of sins are preached in his name to all nations. Where did it begin? "Beginning from Jerusalem." The foolish, the vain man hears this, and, what more shall I call him than blind, who does not see so great a mountain, who shuts his eyes against the lamp set on the lampstand?

When we say to them, "If you are Catholic Christians, be in communion with that Church from which the Gospel is spread through the whole world; be in communion with that Jerusalem", when we say this to them, they answer us, "We are not in communion with that city where our King was killed, where our Lord was killed": as though they hated the city where our Lord was killed. The Jews killed him whom they found on earth; these men blow out at him who sits in heaven. Who are worse, those who despised him because they thought him a man, or those who blow out at the sacraments of him whom they now confess as God? But of course they hate the city in which their Lord was killed! Godly and merciful men, they grieve much that Christ was killed, and they kill Christ in men! But he loved that city and had pity on it; he said that his preaching was to begin from there: "beginning from Jerusalem". He made there the beginning of the preaching of his name, and do you shudder at communion with that city? It is no wonder if, cut off, you hate the root. What did he say to his disciples? "Stay in the city, for I am sending my promise upon you." See what city they hate. Perhaps they would love it if the Jews, Christ's killers, lived in it. For it is plain that all Christ's killers, that is, the Jews, were driven out of that city. The city which held those who raged against Christ holds those who worship Christ. That is why these men hate it: because Christians are in it. There he willed his disciples to stay, and there to send them the Holy Spirit. Where did the Church begin, if not where the Holy Spirit came from heaven and filled a hundred and twenty sitting in one place? That number twelve had been multiplied by ten. A hundred and twenty men were sitting, and the Holy Spirit came and filled the whole place, and there was a sound as of a mighty wind rushing, and tongues were divided as of fire. You heard the Acts of the Apostles; that very lesson was read today: "They began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." And all who were there, Jews who had come from various nations, recognised each his own language; and they wondered that those unlearned and ignorant men had suddenly learned not one or two languages but those of all nations whatever. So where all languages were already sounding, it was being shown that all languages would believe. But these men, who love Christ so much and therefore will not be in communion with the city that killed Christ, honour Christ in such a way as to say that he has been left with two languages, Latin and Punic, that is, African. Does Christ hold only two languages? For these two languages alone are in the party of Donatus; they have no more. Let us wake up, brothers; let us rather see the gift of the Spirit of God, and believe what was said beforehand about him, and see fulfilled what was said beforehand in the Psalm: "There is no speech nor language in which their voices are not heard." And lest perhaps the languages themselves came to one place, rather than the gift of Christ coming to all languages, hear what follows: "Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." Why this? Because "he set his tabernacle in the sun", that is, in the open. His tabernacle is his flesh; his tabernacle is his Church: it has been set in the sun; it is not in the night but in the day. But why do they not recognise it? Go back to the reading at which yesterday's sermon ended, and see why they do not recognise it: "He who hates his brother walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes." Let us, then, look at what follows, and not be in darkness. How shall we not be in darkness? If we love the brothers. How is it proved that we love the brotherhood? Because we do not tear unity, because we hold to love.

"I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you through his name." You are little children because you are born when your sins are forgiven. But through whose name are sins forgiven? Through Augustine's? Then not through Donatus's either. You can see who Augustine is, or who Donatus is: nor through the name of Paul, nor through the name of Peter. For when people were dividing the Church among themselves and trying to make parties out of unity, love, the mother who was in labour with little ones in the apostle, lays bare her womb, tears, as it were, her breasts with words, weeps for the children she sees being carried off, calls back to one name those who wanted to make many names for themselves, thrusts them away from love of herself so that Christ may be loved, and says, "Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" What is he saying? "I do not want you to be mine, so that you may be with me: be with me; we all belong to him who died for us, who was crucified for us." Hence here too: "Your sins are forgiven you through his name", not through the name of any man.

"I write to you, fathers." Why little children first? "Because your sins are forgiven you through his name", and you are reborn into new life; that is why they are little children. Why fathers? "Because you have known him who is from the beginning": for the beginning belongs to fatherhood. Christ is new in the flesh, but ancient in divinity. How ancient do we think him? How many years old? Do we think him older than his mother? Plainly older than his mother: for all things were made through him. If all things, then the ancient one also made the very mother of whom he was to be born new. Do we think him before his mother alone? He is ancient before his mother's forefathers too. Abraham was his mother's forefather, and the Lord says, "Before Abraham, I am." Before Abraham, do we say? Heaven and earth were made before man existed. Before these the Lord was; indeed, he is. For he very well does not say, "Before Abraham I was", but "Before Abraham, I am." For what is said to have been, is not; and what is said to be going to be, is not yet: he knows nothing but to be. As God, he knows to be; to have been and to be going to be he does not know. There the day is one, but everlasting. Yesterday and tomorrow do not set that day in the middle; for when yesterday is finished, today begins and will be finished when tomorrow comes. That one day there is without darkness, without night, without intervals, without measure, without hours. Call it what you will: if you will, it is a day; if you will, it is a year; if you will, it is years. For it is said of him, "And your years will not fail." But when is it called a day? When it was said to the Lord, "Today I have begotten you." Begotten of the eternal Father, begotten from eternity, begotten in eternity: with no beginning, no end, no extent of space; because he is what is, because he is himself "He who is". This name of his he told Moses: "You shall say to them, He who is has sent me to you." What, then, before Abraham? What before Noah? What before Adam? Hear Scripture: "Before the morning star I begot you." Finally, before heaven and earth. Why? Because "all things were made through him, and without him nothing was made." So acknowledge the fathers: for they become fathers by knowing what is from the beginning.

"I write to you, young men." They are little children, they are fathers, they are young men: little children because they are born; fathers because they know the beginning. Why young men? "Because you have overcome the evil one." In the little children there is birth, in the fathers antiquity, in the young men strength. If the evil one is overcome by the young men, he fights with us. He fights, but he does not conquer. Why? Because we are strong, or because he is strong in us who was found weak in the hands of his persecutors? He has made us strong who did not resist his persecutors. For "he was crucified in weakness, but he lives by the power of God."

"I write to you, children." Why children? "Because you have known the Father." "I write to you, fathers": he commends this and repeats it, "because you have known him who is from the beginning." Remember that you are fathers: if you forget him who is from the beginning, you have lost your fatherhood. "I write to you, young men." Consider again and again that you are young men: fight, that you may conquer; conquer, that you may be crowned; be humble, that you may not fall in the fight. "I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one."

All these things, brothers (that we have known what is from the beginning, that we are strong, that we have known the Father): do they all commend knowledge, as it were, and not commend love? If we have known, let us love; for knowledge without love does not save. "Knowledge puffs up, love builds up." If you are willing to confess and not to love, you begin to be like the demons. The demons confessed the Son of God and said, "What have we to do with you?", and they were driven away. Confess, and embrace. For they feared because of their iniquities; you, love him who forgives your iniquities. But how shall we be able to love God if we love the world? So he prepares us to be dwelt in by love. There are two loves, of the world and of God: if love of the world dwells within, there is no way for love of God to enter. Let love of the world withdraw, and love of God dwell within; let the better receive the place. You used to love the world; do not love the world. When you have emptied your heart of earthly love, you will draw in divine love; and love begins to dwell there, from which no evil can come. Hear, then, the words of one who is clearing the ground. He finds the hearts of men like a field; but how does he find it? If he finds a forest, he roots it out; if he finds a cleared field, he plants. He wants to plant a tree there, love. And what forest does he want to root out? Love of the world. Hear the uprooter of the forest: "Do not love the world" (for this follows), "nor the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

You have heard that "if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Let no one say in his heart that this is false, brothers: God says it; the Holy Spirit has spoken through the apostle; nothing is truer: "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Do you wish to have the love of the Father, so as to be a co-heir with the Son? Do not love the world. Shut out the bad love of the world, so that you may be filled with the love of God. You are a vessel, but you are still full: pour out what you have, so that you may receive what you do not have. Certainly our brothers have now been reborn of water and the Spirit; and we too were reborn of water and the Spirit some years ago. It is good for us not to love the world, lest the sacraments remain in us for condemnation, not as supports for salvation. The support of salvation is to have the root of love, to have the power of godliness, not the form only. The form is good, the form is holy: but what does the form avail if it does not hold to the root? Is not a branch that is cut off thrown into the fire? Have the form, but in the root. And how are you rooted, so as not to be uprooted? By holding to love, as the apostle Paul says, "Rooted and grounded in love." How will love be rooted there amid such thickets of the love of the world? Root out the forests. You are going to put in a great seed; let there be nothing in the field to choke the seed. These are the uprooting words that he said: "Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

"For all that is in the world is the desire of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes, and the ambition of the world": he named three things, "which are not from the Father, but are from the world. And the world passes away, and its desires; but whoever does the will of God abides for ever, as he too abides for ever." Why should I not love what God made? What do you want? To love temporal things and pass away with time, or not to love the world and live for ever with God? The river of temporal things drags us along; but our Lord Jesus Christ has sprung up like a tree beside the river. He took flesh, died, rose again, ascended into heaven. He willed, in a way, to plant himself beside the river of temporal things. Are you being swept headlong? Hold on to the tree. Is love of the world rolling you along? Hold on to Christ. For your sake he became temporal, so that you might become eternal; for he became temporal in such a way as to remain eternal. Something was added to him from time; nothing was taken from his eternity. But you were born temporal, and through sin you were made temporal: you were made temporal through sin; he was made temporal through the mercy of forgiving sins. How great a difference is there, when two are in prison, between the accused and the one visiting him? For a man sometimes comes to his friend and goes in to visit him, and both seem to be in prison; but they are very far apart and are distinct. One is held by his case, the other has been brought there by kindness. So in this mortality, we were held by guilt; he came down in mercy. He entered to the captive as a redeemer, not an oppressor. The Lord shed his blood for us, redeemed us, changed our hope. We still bear the mortality of the flesh, and we take for granted the immortality to come; we are tossed on the sea, but we have already fixed the anchor of hope on land.