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But you will say to me, what is this value, I pray
you, which holy love gives to our actions? Oh!
Theotimus, verily I should not have the assurance to
say it, if the Holy Ghost himself had not declared it
in most express terms by the great Apostle S. Paul,
who speaks thus: What is at present momentary and
light of our tribulation, worketh for us above
measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory.(1)
For God's sake, let us ponder these words.
Our tribulations, which are so light that they
pass in a moment, work for us the solid and stable
weight of glory. I beseech you, behold these wonders!
Tribulation produces glory, lightness gives weight,
and moments work eternity.
But what is it that can give such power to these
fleeting moments and light tribulations? Red purple,
or fine crimson violet is a most precious and royal
cloth, yet not by reason of the wool but of the
colour. The works of good Christians are of such
worth that heaven is given us for them; but Theotimus,
it is not because they proceed from us and are the
wool of our hearts, but because they are dyed with
the blood of the Son of God, I mean because our
Saviour sanctifies our works by the merits of his
blood. The vine-sprig, united and joined to the
stock, brings forth fruit not by its own power but in
virtue of the stock.
Now we are united by charity unto our Redeemer as
members to their head, and hence it is that our
fruits and good works, drawing their worth from him,
merit life everlasting. Aaron's rod was dry, and
incapable by itself of bringing forth fruit; but as
soon as the name of that great high priest was
written upon it, in one night it brought out its
leaves, its flowers and its fruits.(2)
We of ourselves are withered branches,
unprofitable, fruitless, not sufficient to think
anything of ourselves, as of ourselves, but our
sufficiency is from God, who also hath made us fit
ministers,(3) and able to do his will, and therefore
as soon as by holy love the name of our Saviour, the
great bishop of our souls, is engravern in our
hearts, we begin to bear delicious fruits unto life
everlasting. And as seeds which of themselves would
only bring forth insipid melons, would bring forth
sugared and mucked ones, if they were steeped in
sugared or mucked water; so our souls, which of
themselves are not able to produce one single good
thought towards God's service, being steeped in
sacred love by the Holy Ghost who dwells within us,
produce sacred actions, which tend towards and carry
us to immortal glory.
Our works as proceeding from ourselves are but
frail reeds; but these reeds become golden by
charity, and with the same we measure the heavenly
Jerusalem, which is given us by that measure:(4) for
as well to men as to angels, glory is distributed
according to charity and its actions. So that the
measure used by men and that used by angels is the
same,(5) and God has rendered and will render to
every man according to his works,(6) as all the
divine Scripture teaches us, assuring us of the
felicity and eternal joys of heaven in reward of the
labours and good works which we have performed on
earth.
A magnificent reward, and one that savours of the
Master's greatness whom we serve. He indeed,
Theotimus, if so he had pleased, might most justly
have exacted our obedience and service without
proposing unto us any salary or hire at all, because
we are his by a thousand most legitimate titles, and
because we can do nothing of worth save what is in
him, by him, for him, and from him. Yet his goodness
has not disposed thus, but, in consideration of his
Son, our Saviour, has willed to treat with us at a
set price, receiving us for hire, and engaging
himself by promise to pay us, according to our works,
eternal wages.
Nor is it that our service can either be necessary
or profitable unto him, for when we shall have
accomplished all his commands, we are yet to avow
with most humble truth or most true humility that
indeed we are most unprofitable servants, and utterly
useless to our Master, who by reason of his essential
superabundance of riches can have no profit by us;
but, converting all our works to our own advantage
and good, he ordains that we shall serve him with as
little profit to him as there is much to us, who by
such small labours gain such great rewards.
He was not bound to pay us for our service if he had
not given his promise to do so. But do not think,
Theotimus, that he would so manifest his goodness in
this promise as to forget to glorify his wisdom; yea,
on the contrary, he most exactly observed the rules
of equity, mingling seemliness (bienseance), with
liberality in an admirable manner; for though our
works are indeed very small and in no wise comparable
with glory by their matter, yet in regard to their
quality they are very proportionate thereunto, by
reason of the Holy Ghost, who, by charity dwelling in
our hearts, works in us with so exquisite an art,
that the same works which are wholly ours are still
more wholly his, since he produces them in us as we
again produce them in him, he does them for us as we
do them for him, he operates them with us as we
co-operate with him.
Now the Holy Ghost dwells in us if we be living
members of Jesus Christ, who therefore said unto his
disciples: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the
same beareth much fruit;(7) and this, Theotimus, is
because he that abides in him is made partaker of his
divine Spirit, which is in the midst of man's heart
as a fountain of living water springing up unto life
everlasting.8) So the holy oil which was poured upon
our Saviour as upon the head of the Church militant
and triumphant, spreads itself over the society of
the Blessed, who as the sacred beard of this heavenly
Master are continually attached to his glorious face,
and runs down upon the company of the faithful, who
as garments are joined and united by love to his
Divine Majesty; and both companies, as being composed
of brethren of the same family, have reason to cry
out: Behold how good and how pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity: like the
precious ointment on the head, that ran down upon the
beard, the beard of Aaron, which ran down to the
skirt of his garments.(9)
Our works, therefore, as a little grain of
mustard-seed, are in no sort comparable in greatness
to the tree of glory which they produce, yet they
have the vigour and virtue to produce it, because
they proceed from the Holy Spirit, who by an
admirable infusion of his grace into our hearts makes
our works his, and yet withal leaves them our own,
since we are members of a head of which he is the
Spirit, and ingrafted in a tree whereof he is the
divine sap.
And as he thus acts in our works, and we after a
certain manner operate or co-operate in his action,
he leaves us for our part all the merit and profit of
our services and good works, and we again leave him
all the honour and praise thereof, acknowledging that
the commencement, the progress, and the end of all
the good we do depends on his mercy, by which he has
come unto us and prevented us, has come into us and
assisted us, has come with us and conducted us,
finishing what he had begun.
But, O God! Theotimus, how merciful is his
goodness to us in thus distributing his bounty! We
give him the glory of our praise, forsooth! and he
gives us the glory of possessing him. In fine, by
these light and passing labours we obtain goods which
endure for all eternity. Amen.
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