In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

SERMON 26 A Fifth on the Same 1 he parable that the lord told in response to Peter’s question in today’s reading, many in the audience surely thought was spoken only to the apostles themselves, to the teachers, and to those who preside over churches. Peter asks: “Lord, are you speaking this parable to us or to everyone?” The Lord answers him: “Who do you think is the faithful and prudent servant whom the master sets over his household to give it a measure of wheat at the right time? Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing this when he returns. I tell you, he will set him over everything he possesses. But if that servant should say: ‘My master is delayed in returning,’ and begins to beat the male and female slaves, to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will return on a day he is not expecting and at an hour he does not know, he will divide up his portion and rank him with the unfaithful” (Lk 12.41– 46). 2. Certainly this analogy encompasses first of all the leaders of the Church, but this parable exempts absolutely no human being, no mortal; while the Lord speaks it to the steward, he responds to everyone even though only one person asks the question . If there is anyone who receives nothing from God, he will not be fearful about an examination of stewardship, about the office of steward. But if you, O man, have received the very thing that you give, how will you deny that you have received what you have? From heavenly storehouses, from Divine silos the Distributor will settle accounts and will ensure justice for 1. Lk 12.41–48. This sermon may have been preached after Sermon 22 or Sermon 24. See F. Sottocornola, L’anno liturgico, 71–72, and A. Olivar, Los sermones , 261. 110 the Church; and the greater the credit one receives, the greater the debt that he is certain to repay, as the Lord says: To whom more has been entrusted, from him more will be exacted (v.48). And in another place: “The powerful will suffer torments powerfully.”2 The higher a person ascends, the deeper will he slip and fall. What is higher than heaven? The one who transgresses in heaven falls from heaven. He is more hopeless in his sin when he commits the offense before the very eyes of the Lord, and he has no excuse when he commits his deed with the Judge himself as witness. Or for what defense can he hope whom the testimony of a witness accuses? Thus the devil, although he was an angel, although he was always so radiant and brilliant while he dwelt in heaven and in the presence of God, the moment he tried God’s ears, the moment he grew haughty in God’s sight, he fell to earth, he was cast down to hell, he was changed from an angel into the devil; he who was the minister of favors became the one in charge of punishments. This is why the Apostle urges the person of our order not to fall into haughtiness and the snare of the devil.3 3. Therefore, the steward of the divine word and the distributor of heavenly teaching, who stands continually before God, is always engaged at the altar, and never departs from the eyes of God, receives, bears, and offers the sins, the trials, and the sorrows of the people; he who in every regard is the substitute for an angel pours out prayers, he takes up, brings back, and restores all that has been petitioned by humanity; he has no place to sin except before the very face of God amidst the holy of holies,4 with the result that he contracts guilt onto himself from the very place where he had been accustomed to bring back forgiveness to others. In just this fashion when Dathan and Abihu the priests, sons of Aaron the priest, presume to contaminate the altar with a foreign fire, they are consumed by the fire of that very altar, such that those who had made a sin out of propitiation received their punishment from the sacrifices.5 Drunkenness had SERMON 26 111 2. Wis 6.6. 3. See 1 Tm 3.6–7 and 6.9. 4. See Ex 26.34 and Heb 9.3. 5. See Lv 10.1–3. [3...

Share