Sermons of Maximus of Turin (Bruni's collection) 112.1–116.1

We read in the holy Gospel that when a certain centurion's servant, who was very dear to him, was suffering from the grave sickness of paralysis, and that centurion asked the Saviour through the elders of the Jews to heal his pains (for he was, as Scripture says, about to die), among other things, to commend him the more, the Jews said to the Lord: "He is worthy that you should do this for him; for he loves our nation, and he himself built the synagogue for us." If, then, he who built a synagogue is commended to the Lord, how much more commended is he who built a church? And if he earns favour who provided a receptacle of impiety, how much greater favour does he earn who prepared a home for religion? And if he is visited by heavenly mercy who constructed a place where Christ is always denied, how much more is he to be visited who had a tabernacle built where Christ is preached daily? For in the centurion the Lord approved not what work he had done but with what mind he had worked. For he who at that time, when there were not yet Christians, carefully built a synagogue, would, it is understood, have built a church much more carefully if there had been Christians. And yet, though he builds a synagogue, he preaches Christ; for in the very work he admonishes the Pharisees that they ought to receive the Saviour, and shows that he added a larger tabernacle for this reason, that they might speak there the Lord's glory in many ways. For if the founder of the synagogue believes in Christ, much more ought the inhabitant of the synagogue to believe. If, then, the centurion was justified because of a frail and earthly work, plainly our most illustrious and most provident count is to be justified because of a work so lasting and heavenly; this count, as he is above a centurion in rank, so ought he to be more devout in faith. A wise and devout man is the count, who, as much as he serves the Saviour in war for the emperor, and as much as he hastens to rescue captives from the hands of enemies, so much the more hastens to free himself from the sacrilege of the devil. There he kills the enemies of the earthly king, here he pursues the adversaries of the heavenly Lord; there he conquers barbarians, here demons. Wise, I say, who, as he is a count of the emperor, so desires also to be a companion of Christ. For by acting well and devoutly he desires his rank to be everlasting, according to what is written in the prophet: "And you, good kings, make your ways and your doings good, and hear the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will repent of the evil which he has spoken against you." So when the centurion asked the Lord to rescue the sick man from death, and the Lord wished to go to the centurion's house, in which the servant lay, the centurion said: "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof." The centurion excuses himself, then, and calls himself unworthy for the Lord to enter under his roof. See, our count is worthy, under whose roof the Saviour enters today. Let us see what grace the centurion's excuse itself has; for he says: "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed." O Christian faith, which is accustomed to obtain everything with humility! See, the devout centurion becomes more worthy to receive salvation while he professes himself unworthy; and while he thinks his house an insult, he made it the more honourable and pleasing. For he was a man of great and perfect faith, who understood that Christ was the Lord of the heavens, since he feared that the narrow quarters of his lodging would not receive him. So, the centurion objecting, the Lord does not go to the house. The Lord does not go, but the Lord's medicine goes; the Saviour does not visit the sick man, but the Saviour's healing visits him. And what shall I say of our brothers, the holy men Vitalianus and Maianus? I know that they do not seek glory from men but from God alone; yet even if I am silent, their very works speak; for whatever we praised in others a little before belongs to their praise. For though many built this tabernacle, yet these worked at the expense with one consent. And with what expense, since in the world they are of modest and slender means? Namely with that of which the Apostle speaks, the abundance of faith and the riches of simplicity. For to holy men poverty itself is always rich. Hence I believe that these blessed men built this church no less with prayers than with expenses; for so it was fitting that the work of Christ should grow more by prayers than by stones and mortar. For they both spent their whole substance on the building of this work, and certainly they themselves lack nothing. That, as we said, is plainly the rich and wealthy poverty which spends everything and possesses everything. But this is blessed by God, like that widow of whom the Lord says in the Gospel: "This poor widow has put in more than all; for all these put in from their abundance for God's gifts, but she put in all the living she had."

When the Only-begotten of almighty God wished to show men who and how great he was, and had resolved to open to mortals the spring of his goodness, he spoke thus: "All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and him to whom the Son wills to reveal him." This eternal knowledge of Father and Son, dearest ones, without doubt shows that their substance is one and undivided. Attend more carefully now, brothers, to what and how great is the power of the divine nature in our Lord and Redeemer, the wisdom of heavenly teaching, and the incomprehensible kindness of his most merciful breast. For after he declared, as the gospel word testifies, that all things had been handed over to him by God his Father, "nor," and so on ... from deceitful men simple, from angry men gentle, humble from proud. Christ, then, refreshes us, or rather remakes us, when either by stricter admonitions he forestalls crimes about to be committed, or by the gift of his indulgence forgives those committed. "Take," he says, "my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart." Christ is truly gentle, because he came down from heaven for this, that through his reproaches and injuries he might bestow forgiveness on mortals, who always sin. And he is truly humble, who, so that he might die for the dead, deigned to join fleshly nature to himself. "I am gentle," he says, "and humble of heart." The Lord declares himself humble of heart, because that humility is truly holy which proceeds from the purity of a devout mind, not that which comes down from a vicious breast with a trembling conscience. "Learn," he says, "from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart." How well such a master teaches, who sets before his disciples in himself examples of holy teaching to be imitated! But you, dearest ones, look not to human frailty but always to him who spoke what he did and did what he spoke. "Take," he says, "my yoke upon you, for my yoke is sweet and my burden light." The yoke of Christ, brothers, loosens all the bonds of the devil's yoke. The yoke of Christ does not chafe the neck but adorns it. The yoke of Christ does not press down our heads but holds them. The yoke of Christ, with the ploughshare of faith furrowing, cuts down all the grasses and briars of vices. The yoke of Christ joins God and men in everlasting fellowship with harmonious bonds of love. And what shall I say of the Lord's burden, which is such that it turns from our necks the weight of all sins? For the burden of Christ is modesty, the burden of Christ is humility, the burden of Christ is patience, the burden of Christ is contempt of the world and the blessed torments of martyrdom for the confession of his name. These most wholesome burdens of life, brothers, the Saviour lays on us, lest we be overwhelmed by the deadly weights of this world. And so let us submit our heads to the gospel yoke with more devout zeal, and put our shoulders under the delightful burdens of a holy way of life, so that our almighty God, as truly good and truly gentle, may deign to rescue and free us from the most hard yoke of the devil's captivity and from the burden of wretched slavery.

The disciples, still not knowing how great is the glory of humility, were contending about the precedence of their merit or honour, saying to the Lord: "Who do you think is greater in the kingdom of heaven?" The disciples had a dispute about who was greater in the kingdom of heaven, though without doubt he is held greater with God who is humbler, as he himself says: "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Hence, not without reason, to cut off this unnecessary dispute of his disciples, "Jesus called a child," it says, "and set him in their midst and said: Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." Having set a child in the midst, the Lord exhorts the disciples by his example, showing that unless each one becomes like a child he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. But the Lord did not bring forward the example of children, or command us to become like children, so that we should imitate children in age, since an age already older cannot return to infancy; but so that we should imitate the infancy and innocence of children. The blessed Apostle knew how we are commanded by the Lord to be children, when he says: "Do not become children in understanding, but in malice be little ones, so that in understanding you may be mature." For a child or little one does not know the malice of the world, does not know how to sin, does no evil to his neighbour, does not keep anger, hates no one, does not seek riches, does not admire the glory of this world, always follows his father, does not leave his mother. For this reason, then, the Lord wishes us to become like children, so that by a like example we may live in the present world without malice and without guile; let us flee sin, let us do no evil to our neighbour; let us not keep anger, let us not seek riches nor the glory of the world. Let us always follow our Father, that is, God, whose sons by adoption we have already begun to be; let us not leave our mother, that is, the Church, through whom we have been born spiritually to God. In the lap of this mother let us rest, like little ones set in their father's bosom. Let us be nourished daily by her wholesome teaching, so that we may grow in faith and in the grace of baptism; according to what Peter testified in his Epistle, saying: "As infants, love the milk, so that by it you may grow." And holy John too shows us in his Epistle how we ought to be children, when he says: "I write to you, children, because you have known the Father." In this, then, we are commanded to be children: that we acknowledge the Father; that we live in this world innocent and simple as doves. The Lord, then, wishing such a likeness of children to be in us, not without reason says in the present place: "Unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever, then, humbles himself like this child, he is greater in the kingdom of heaven." The Lord clearly declares, then, that he will be greater in the kingdom of heaven whoever imitates the humility and innocence of a child. Indeed the Lord himself, so that he might show us perfectly from himself an example of humility, even himself, having taken flesh, deigned to become a child, according to what we read written of him: "For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, whose rule is upon his shoulders." Hence too the holy patriarchs and apostles are called children by the Lord, according to what we read written of them: "Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me," because like children they remained without guile, without malice. Let us imitate, then, the example of such children, that is, of all the saints, so that we may earn to enter the kingdom of heaven with them. Let us imitate the humility of the Lord himself, who for our salvation deigned to be a child, so that we may be able to reign with him. And rightly he added: "But whoever receives one such child in my name receives me"; showing that whoever receives a servant who believes faithfully in Christ and lives according to a child's innocence receives himself. The Lord said that he is received in the receiving of such a one so that we should not hold in contempt any such servant of God who lives humbly. Therefore he added, saying: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it is better for him that a donkey's millstone be hung around his neck and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea." It was necessary that after the reward of devout faith, condemnation should follow unbelief. For as punishment is owed to men who cause the faithful to stumble, we know from this very thing how grave a sin it is to cause stumbling, since the Lord says that it is better for such a man to have a donkey's millstone hung around his neck and be drowned in the depth of the sea than to cause one of the little ones who believe in Christ to stumble; so that, the sin of such stumbling being forestalled by this sentence, we may, if it can be, prefer to live in the present life without causing stumbling rather than to incur with stumbling the eternal punishment of that death. If, then, the Lord says this of one who causes one of the little ones to stumble, what punishment do we think heretics will have, who by depraved and faithless teaching cause stumbling not to one but to the whole Church? And though this saying of the Lord about the donkey's millstone can be understood simply, yet according to the mystical sense something more can be understood in the meaning of the donkey's millstone. The animals that are usually yoked to the mill usually have their eyes closed. Hence by the meaning of the mill the toil of the present life is shown. In the donkey, then, the Gentile man is shown, who lives without knowledge of God and the light of faith, like a blind animal, in the toil of the world. The depth of the sea is the deep error of the world. And so he rightly said that it is better for one who causes stumbling to have a donkey's millstone hung around his neck and be drowned in the depth of the sea. In this he seems especially to signify the Jew, who is known to take offence at the cross of Christ and at the preaching of his name. It would be better for such a one if he were plunged in the blindness of Gentile error as in the depth of the sea, than that, under the preaching of the law, through which the Jew thinks he knows the light of truth, he should take offence at Christ or his apostles, whom he calls little ones; because it is easier for a Gentile without the law not to believe in Christ than for a Jew living under the law to deny the Lord of the law himself. We can also recognize the two Testaments signified in the donkey's millstone, by which everyone who causes stumbling, bound by a just sentence, is plunged into the destruction of death. We recognize this sentence of the donkey's millstone fulfilled especially in the Jewish people, who, since they often stirred up stumbling against the Lord and his apostles, by hearing those same two Testaments as if for a remedy of salvation, having lost their own kingdom, were plunged into the depth of the sea, that is, scattered into the gathering of different nations; who dwell in the error of this world as in the depth of the sea, not knowing the Creator of heaven, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom be salvation and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Whoever, sighing after God's saving precepts, has been eager to bend the pride of his swollen mind, hateful to all; to restrain avarice, the root of all evils; to rein in luxury, the enemy of good virtues; to calm envy, the foe of holy chastity; not to love the ruinous profits of usury; not to burden justice, the guardian of peace, with bribes; to shudder at the harmful schemes of factions; to turn aside from the inglorious and sometimes bloody canvassing for undeserved honour; to restrain the incitements of discord and the curses of an insulting tongue; also to drive from a Christian mouth lies, which stain life, wound the soul and scatter friendships; and to flee, for love of the true God, from all superstitions of demons and sacrileges of idols, by which especially the kindness of the Almighty is offended: such a man, with the Lord's support, has been able to conquer the devil.

For whoever abounds in his own goods does not seek the treasures of the world. For one's own goods are honesty, sobriety, mercy, chastity; these goods are more precious than all gold, so that you may know that metals themselves are cheaper than these. Talents of gold can be dug up, vessels of silver can be bought; honesty alone cannot be dug up; for honesty is not dug up but acquired, because it does not consist in price but in virtue. You, then, who possess gold, if you please, let us compare our goods with each other. When you set out abroad, your treasures remain at home; while they are placed far from you, you are always trembling and always uncertain whether, when you return home, you will not have what you had. So while you always fear their loss, you are naked and poor in your conscience. But wherever I go, my riches follow me, and my goods cannot be separated from me, because they are kept not in an earthly cave but in the treasury of the breast. When you depart from the world, by leaving your riches you have lost them; but when it befalls me to move from this world, I carry my riches to paradise. After death, as in the example of that rich man clothed in purple, fire and darkness follow your riches; my riches, as in the example of Lazarus, Abraham's bosom and blessedness will receive.