SERMO VII. De Adventu Domini.
PL. 162.567A–568D
Quoniam praesentium observatione dierum, utrumque Christi adventum celebramus, distinguendum est fraternitati vestrae, quid hac observatione praeteritum debeatis credere, quid futurum exspectare, quatenus exspectatio futurorum, per timorem sollicitos vos compescat a malis: praeteritorum autem fides, per charitatem non tepescentes confirmet in bonis. Dominum enim jam in forma servi venisse, ut judicaretur, nemo est vestrum qui dubitet: eum in eadem forma venturum ut judicet, nemo est vestrum qui neget.
Sermon 7, On the Advent of the Lord”
Translation & Preface by Nick Kamas
Since, in the observance of the present days, we celebrate each advent of Christ, Your Fraternity should distinguish what prior thing you ought to believe by this observance, and what future thing you should expect; to what degree the expectation of future events restrains you, disturbed by fear, from evil things, the faith of past events supports you, not becoming lukewarm though love, in good things. That the Lord has already come in the form of a servant (cf. Phil. 2:7) that he might be judged, there is none of you who doubts; that he will come in the same for that he may judge, there is none of you who denies.
Primus ergo adventus ejus occultus, secundus manifestus. De primo enim adventu ejus ita legitur: «Et homo est, et quis cognoscet eum?» (Psal. LXXXVI.) Et in Evangelio: «Lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebrae eum non cognoverunt (Joan. I),» multa in hunc modum. De secundo autem ita habetur in psalmo: «Deus noster manifeste veniet, et non silebit (Psal. XLIX).» Primo quidem adventu siluit, non a praecepto, sed a judicio. «Cum enim malediceretur, non maledicebat: cum percuteretur, non comminabatur (I Petr. II; Isa. LIII),» et sicut agnus coram tondente se sic non aperuit os suum. Secundo non silebit, cum unicuique reddet secundum opera sua. Ita enim dicturus est eis, qui a sinistris ejus erunt: «Ite, maledicti, in ignem aeternum (Matth. XXV).» Ita vero his qui a dextris ejus erunt: «Venite, benedicti Patris mei: percipite regnum quod vobis paratum est ab origine mundi (ibid.).»
His first advent, therefore, was hidden; his second is evident. For it is read thus concerning his first advent: “And he is a man, and who will recognize him?” (Jer. 17:9, VTL). And in the Gospel: “A light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not know it” (John 1:5) and many things in this fashion. About the second, however, it is thus treated in the psalm: “Our God will come clearly, and he will not be silent.” (Ps. 49:3). And indeed he was silent at the first advent, not from teaching, but from judgment. “For although he was cursed, he did not curse; although he was struck, he did not threaten,” (1 Petr. 2:23) and just as a lamb before its shearer he thus did not open his mouth (Isa. 53:7). At the second advent he will not be silent, when he will render to each according to his works (Rom. 2:6, cf. Apoc. 2:23). And he will speak thus to those who will be at his left hand: “Go, cursed ones, into the eternal fire” (Mat. 25:41); but thus to these who will be at his right: “Come, blessed ones of my Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from the beginning of the world” (Mat. 25:34).
Primus adventus humilitate et mansuetudine, secundus cum terrore et majestate. De primo enim per prophetam dicitur Ecclesiae: «Ecce rex tuus venit tibi mansuetus et. humilis (Zach. IX; Matth. XXI).» De terrore secundi ita dicitur in psalmo: «Ignis in conspectu ejus exardescet, et in circuitu ejus tempestas valida (Psal. XLIX),» ut reprobos ad gloriam [corr. ed. “ab gloria”] visionis ejus tempestas procul pellat, quos deinceps ignis exurat [urat]. De hac tempestate scriptum est: «Tollatur impius, ne videat gloriam Dei (Isa. XXVI).» De igne autem, cui tradendi sunt reprobi, ita dicit Dominus per Moysen: «Ignis succensus est in furore meo, et ardebit usque ad inferni novissima (Deut. XXXII).» Cum majestate quoque se venturum ad judicium, ipse sic dicit: «Cum venerit Filius hominis in majestate sua, congregabuntur ante eum omnes gentes (Matth. XXV).»
The first advent was with humility and mercy; the second with fear and grandeur. It is said to the Church about the first through the prophet: “Behold your king comes to you, merciful and humble” (Zach. 9:9). It is said about the fear of the second in the psalm: “A fire will burn in his sight, and around him a powerful storm” (Ps. 49:3), so that the storm might drive the condemned, whom the fire would then burn, from the glory of his sight. It is written concerning this storm: “Let the impious be destroyed, lest he see the glory of God” (Isa. 26:10). But concerning the fire, to which the cursed ones will be given over, the Lord says thus through Moses: “A fire is kindled in my anger, and it will burn to the lowest parts of hell” (Deut. 32:22). And that he will also come with majesty for judgment, he himself says: “When the son of man will come in his majesty, all peoples will be gathered together before him” (Matth. 25:31–32).
Primo adventu venit impios justificare, secundo venturus est impios condemnare. Primo venit aversos revocare, secundo conversos glorificare. Primo adventu Christus pro impiis indebitae morti traditus est, secundo impios debitae morti traditurus est. Primo adventu venit nos intus reformare ad imaginem Dei. Secundo autem «reformabit corpus humilitatis nostrae configuratum corpori claritatis suae (Philip. III).» Sicut enim per primum hominem terrenum, peccatum intravit in mundum, et per peccatum mors (Rom. V), ita congruum erat, ut per secundum hominem coelestem, homo primum a peccato justificaretur, postmodum per eumdem immortalitati restitueretur (I Cor. XV). Eo enim ordine quo perierat, eo ordine reparandus erat. Prima quippe mors, praevaricatio: ex qua generata est secunda, per subtractionem animae, carnis corruptio. Ita ergo prima resurrectio, justificatio; secunda, in immortalitatem carnis corruptae, reformatio.
At the first advent he came to justify the wicked (cf. Aug. Enar. in Psa. 110, 3); at the second he will come to condemn the wicked. At the first he came to call back the diverted; at the second to glorify the converted. At the first advent Christ was given over to an unearned death on behalf of the wicked, at the second he will hand over the wicked to an earned death. At the first advent he came to reform us internally to the image of God. At the second, however, “he will reform the body of our humility, fashioned to the body of his brightness” (Philip. 3:21). For just as sin entered into the world through the first earthly man, and through sin, death (Rom. 5:12), thus it was fitting that man was first justified from sin through the second, heavenly man, and later through the same man was restored to immortality (cf. I Cor. 15:47). By that very order through which he perished, by that same order he was to be restored. For the first death is transgression, from which the second death is generated; through the removal of the soul, the corruption of the flesh. Therefore the first resurrection is justification; the second, for the immortality of the corrupted flesh, is reformation.
Quia vero uterque adventus nostrae restaurationi fuit necessarius, utrumque sub unius temporis observatione sancta venerari consuevit Ecclesia, ut inchoata prioris beneficia recolat cum gratiarum actione: consummata vero futuri adventus bona, cum pia exspectet trepidatione. Idcirco ea quae de utroque Domini adventu in lege et prophetis et psalmis et Evangelio scripta sunt, his quatuor hebdomadibus specialius legendo et cantando recitantur in Ecclesia, ut his quatuor testimoniorum generibus, de perceptis beneficiis ad gratiarum actionem muniamur [moneamur], ad futuram vero sollicitudine non pigra praeparemur.
But since each advent was necessary for our restoration, the Church is accustomed to honoring each in the observance of a single time, so that she might remember the incomplete benefits of the prior advent with thanksgiving, but that she might await the completed good things of the future advent with pious fear. Therefore the things which are written in the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms and the Gospel concerning either advent of the Lord are recited by reading and chanting in the church, specifically during these four weeks, so that, through these four types of testimony, we may be strengthened by our secured benefits in giving thanks and that we might be prepared for the future thanksgiving without a dulled sense of concern.
Conservemus igitur primam innocentiae stolam, quam in primo adventu recipimus, ut cum ea ad nuptias patrisfamilias occurrentes, alteram quoque stolam immortalitatis percipere mereamur. Mundemus nos ab omni inquinamento carnis et spiritus: ut quem redemptorem laeti suscipimus, venientem quoque judicem securi videamus. «Dies Domini,» sicut ait Apostolus, «quale sit opus uniuscujusque declarabit, quia in igne revelabitur (I Cor. III).» In die quippe Domini iste aer terrae vicinus, quousque aquae diluvii ascenderunt, igne replebitur: per quem transibit omnis resurgens, qui ante tribunal Christi praesentabitur. Sicut vero ignis aurum et argentum aut probat, aut purgat: sic ignis iste resurgentium opera perfecta probabit, imperfecta purgabit. Sic enim dicit Apostolus: «Si cujus opus manserit, igne probabitur: si cujus opus arserit, ipse salvus erit, sic tamen quasi per ignem (ibid.).»
Therefore let us preserve the first garment of innocence, which we received in the first Advent, so that, when we are running with it to the wedding of the Master, we may merit to gain also another garment of immortality. Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit (2 Cor. 7:1) so that we also may see untroubled the coming judge whom we received as a redeemer. “The day of the Lord,” as the Apostle says, “will declare what the work of each person is, because it will be revealed in fire” (1 Cor. 3:13). For on that day of the Lord the air itself will be near to the ground until the waters of the flood have risen, it will be filled with fire through which will go each person, rising up again, who will be presented before the tribunal of Christ. For just as fire either proves or purges gold and silver, so this fire will either prove the completed works of those rising again or it will purge the incomplete works. For thus says the Apostle: If the work of any should remain, it will be tested with fire; if the work of any should burn, he himself will be saved, yet still as by fire (I Cor. 3:13).
Haec scientes, charissimi, praeparemus nos in [ad] adventum judicis: ut non quod condemnet, sed quod coronet, in nobis inveniat. «Praeoccupemus adventum ejus in confessione (Psal. XCIV),» plangamus mala quae fecimus: statuamus judices conscientias nostras adversum nos, quia sicut ait Apostolus: «Si nos judicaremus, non utique judicaremur (I Cor. XI).» Summus enim Pontifex, qui seipsum pro nobis obtulit Deo Patri, adhuc interpellat pro nobis ad dexteram Patris (Hebr. IX; Rom. VIII): adhuc reservat peccantibus locum veniae, qui aversis et non reversis postmodum solum reservat locum vindictae. Dum igitur tempus habemus, vitemus vindictam prioris vitae per correctionem [vitae correptione], quaeramus misericordiam per observantiam justitiae, ne postremo adversum nos districtus judex sedeat, qui nunc pius pontifex pro nobis interpellat Jesus Christus Dominus noster (ibid.).
Knowing these things, dearly beloved, let us prepare ourselves for the advent of the judge, so that he may not condemn, but rather crown, that which he will find in us. “Let us anticipate his advent in confession” (Ps. 94:2), let us lament the bad things that we have done, let us set up our consciences as judges against ourselves, for just as the Apostle says: “If we would judge ourselves, we would assuredly not be judged” (1 Cor. 11:31). The High Priest, who offered himself on our behalf to God the Father, still intercedes on our behalf at the right hand of the Father; he still reserves a place of pardon for sinners, and he also reserves a place of vengeance only for those who have gone astray and have not later returned. While we have time, therefore, let us avoid the vengeance of the prior life through correction, let us seek mercy through the observance of justice, lest in the end a harsh judge be seated against us, one who now intercedes for us as a pious priest, our Lord Jesus Christ.