SERMON XIII
On the Feast of St Paul the Apostle
Of an absolute dying unto self and to all things. Of the use
of suffering; of the Love, the Suffering and the Blood of
Christ.
Vivo autem, jam non ego, vivit vero in me Christus.
"And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me."[32]
St Paul had so completely died unto himself and
to all things, and was so transformed into true love for God and for all men,
that he would willingly have died a thousand deaths for the salvation of men;
and had even so forgotten self, that he knew nothing save Christ crucified; and
desired nothing, but to win all men to Christ, as though he had begotten all
men, and were their earthly father. There are four things besides other virtues
which will be especially useful to us, if we desire to imitate this exalted
Apostle in true love and resignation, and to please God. First, we must
absolutely banish and separate ourselves from all created things outside God.
Secondly, we must forget and ignore all creatures. Thirdly, we must be
constantly looking back to our origin, which means that, in God, we must long
after and desire God with strong crying. Fourthly, we must labour that we may
be more deeply impressed with, and fashioned in the Likeness of Christ.
Absolute poverty is thine when thou canst not
remember whether anybody has ever owed thee or been indebted to thee for
anything; just as all things will be forgotten by thee in the last journey of
death. If thou desirest in time to live above time, and to be separated from
all creatures, thou must learn to forget thy own powers, and all that nature
can accomplish. A constant return to thy origin means, that the presence of all
things, in which thou canst not find God, will seem like a wound to thee. The
labour, by which Christ is more deeply imprinted and formed in thee, takes
place within, where Christ ever receives the Person, Nature and Being of His
Father. The more Christ sees man thus choosing Him, the more clearly will
Christ be found in him. All, who are like unto Christ in pain, bitterness and
patience, will also be elected and chosen to be with Him, where He at all times
partakes of the Being and Nature of His Heavenly Father. He who can kill and
destroy his infirmities will also receive new strength from God; therefore in
him, who devotes all the powers of his human nature unto Christ, Christ will
pour the power of His Divine Nature. The loving Heart of God will be satisfied
if thou diest to thy very self.
A holy soul, which has become barren and empty of
all created things, and which cannot form nor mould in itself anything that is
of the creature, moves God to draw it to Himself, to the very centre of His
Divine Being. The exit of all created things out of thy heart, brings about the
entering in, and pouring in of all the riches of His Almighty Power. No one can
enjoy the Presence of God, and His Likeness, like the man who is dead to all
things, and who is as dead in heart and will as a thing that never possessed
any being.
The next way is to die to all things and to live
to God alone. He who always dies to self, is always beginning to live unto God,
and that without ceasing. In the truest death of all created things, the
sweetest and most natural life lies hidden. There is no more natural or more
real way of procuring Eternal Life, than by killing and dying in heart to all
created things, and by the subjection, the submission and destruction of self,
as beneath all creatures.
A man once thought that God drew some men even by
pleasant paths, while others were drawn by the path of pain. Our Lord answered
him thus: "What think ye can be pleasanter or nobler than to be made most like
unto Me? that is by suffering. Mark, to whom was ever offered such a painful
and troubled life as to Me? And in whom can I better work, in accordance with
My true nobility, than in those who are most like Me? They are the men who
suffer. No man ever suffered so bitterly as I; and yet no man was ever so pure
as I. When was I more mocked than when I was most glorifying My Heavenly
Father? Learn that My Divine Nature never worked so nobly in human nature as by
suffering; and because suffering is so efficacious it is sent out of great
love. I understand the weakness of human nature at all times, and, out of love
and righteousness, I lay no heavier burden on man than he can bear. The crown
must be firmly pressed down that is to bud and blossom in the Eternal Presence
of My Heavenly Father. He who desires to be wholly immersed in the fathomless
sea of My Godhead, must also be deeply immersed in the deep sea of bitter
sorrow. I am exalted far above all things, and work supernatural and wonderful
works in Myself; the deeper and the more supernaturally a man crushes himself
beneath all things, the more supernaturally will he be drawn far above all
things.
A man desired to know when man's nature became
absolutely dead. Our Lord replied: "When all sins are as impossible and as
hateful to thee, as they are to the high estate of My Divine Nature." Then the
man said: "Ah! dear Lord, but what can cause this death?" Answer: "The presence
of My death and of My Dying Life, during which I was always working out the
salvation of the human race. My Death was always present to Me, and a consuming
thirst that I might suffer for the sake of man the very bitterest sufferings
that had been ordained for Me. It was not sufficient for Me to be rejected by
all men; those, also, who acknowledged and confessed Me, must be hated and
tormented as well. The burning thirst I felt for all men, caused the welling up
of My precious streaming Blood; for it would have been far more bitter to Me
than the death I suffered, had one drop of blood or water remained in my Heart,
that I should not have poured forth for the salvation of man. As the seal
impresses its form on the wax, so the love, with which I have loved man, has
power to impress his form on My Hands, My Feet and My Divine Heart, so that I
can never forget him. Even so My wounds were pierced with the sharp nails and
pointed spear, so have I filled them up again with the sweet balsam of My
Divine Nature, so that it may always freely flow forth into the weakness of
human nature. My Blood is always a bath, boiling over in the flame of My Divine
Nature, in which man may wash away his sins.
"What can be sweeter and more satisfying than to
work the like in him for whom I have suffered, and to bring forth fruit and
increase in My dear members? Nothing is more pleasing to Me than that it should
be made manifest how supernaturally in the power of My Love, I have worked and
suffered for man."
A holy man once bethought himself how painful it
must have been to God to have been seen by his enemies when he was taken
prisoner. Our Lord answered him: "My enemies appeared unto Me in my presence as
friends, who wished to help me in carrying out the sweetest and most desirable
work that I ever worked in my life." God appeared most miserable unto man,
when, exhausted and overwhelmed, He was taken away from the column or pillar,
and said: "Behold, how love for man has exhausted Me, ought it not to be sweet
to Me to drink at his hand the recompense of My Martyrdom? See how many
precious signs man may see in Me, if he looks upon the numberless wounds of
love in Me and meditates upon my Sacred Passion."
The soul is so nobly united to God, and, at
first, in such a supernatural way, that man might justly shun, like death,
every thought that could interfere with this union. The thought, which is to
receive God into itself, can endure nothing strange. Therefore desire only
invisible and inexpressible things. All will be forgotten by thee that can be
spoken in words. "Keep silence on all that I work in thee; for I am precious to
all creatures, because I am absolutely hidden from all creatures. It is natural
to Me to dwell in the Heart of my Father; so also is it natural and dear to Me
to dwell in the soul, in which I find rest and the likeness of my bleeding
Wounds, and which I have won by the eternal tokens of my Fatherly Heart; and
these Wounds shall flourish eternally in that soul before my Divine Eyes. For
him for whom I have ordained a painful life in this world, I have also ordained
the enjoyment in eternity of the sweetest honey of My Divine Nature. I cannot
really enter into a man's soul until he resigns himself, and yields himself up
in all humility, and until the old man be driven out." May God grant that we
may follow St Paul perfectly in this, and in all other good exercises. Amen.
[32] Gal. ii. 20.