The Sunday Sermons of St. Bonaventure

Sermon 31: Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

The Sunday SermonS of ST. BonavenTure 348 sermon 31: fourTh sunday afTer PenTeCosT [Sermon] 1.Leaving all things,they followed him.Luke 5:11. Since the doctrine of Christ assumed a beginning from the highest poverty, and the primary foundation of evangelical perfection is firmly established in the security of poverty, therefore the apostles of Christ, the teachers of the holy Gospel, upon whom the Lord was about to found his Church, are shown to have left all things in the proposed verse, when it says: Leaving all things, they followed him. Certainly two things necessary for the salvation of each one are noted: first, the desertion of restraining impediment; second, the attainment of fulfilling freedom. First, therefore, contempt for earthly things is noted in the proposed verse, when it says: Leaving all things. While not everyone is held to leave everything in regard to effect, except for the perfect who are obliged by the vow of poverty, nevertheless everyone is held to leave everything in regard to affect, lest overcome by love for them, they place their hearts over and against the flowing riches and, in perverse order, love the creature more than God. Second, the appetite for the eternal is noted, when it adds: they followed him. 2. It says, therefore: Leaving all things, where the desertion of the restraining impediment is noted. The apostles , in fact, as true legates, in order to be a similitude of Christ, who commands the removal of whatever is a restraining impediment, left all things: first, inasmuch as they are heavy burdens, so they might be quicker to hurry after Christ; second, inasmuch as they are hindrances, so penTecoST and The SundayS afTer 349 they might be more secure in denouncing evil; third, inasmuch as they are entangling obstructions, so they might be more efficacious in promoting the good. 3.First,they left all things inasmuch as they are heavy burdens, so they might be quicker to hurry after Christ, who exults like a giant to run the course527 of evangelical perfection, because he was not weighed down by anything earthly. For from the beginning of his birth he consecrated poverty in his body, lived poorly and associated with poor people, at the end was truly placed on the cross nude, and appeared in the guise of a pilgrim after the resurrection .528 Whoever, therefore, wishes to be bound to Christ must himself walk as he walked.529 On the other hand, the one who walks among the chariots and finely adorned horses,530 with pomp and riches, is neither a successor nor legate of Christ, because he does not have in his life the seal of the poor Christ, which is the confirmed signet of legation. Attentive to this, Peter said to the Lord in Matthew 19:27-28: Behold we have left all and followed you: what then shall we have? And Jesus said to them: Amen I say to you, that you who have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory, shall also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. “Peter was a fisher and a poor man, who sought sustenance with the work of his hands, and nevertheless he confidently stated his case for merit, when it says: Behold we have left all and followed you, and he searches for a reward, when it adds: What then shall we 527 See Ps 18:6. 528 See Luke 24:16 in the story of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. 529 See 1 John 2:6. 530 See Ps 19:8: “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will call upon the name of the Lord.” The Sunday SermonS of ST. BonavenTure 350 have as a reward?”531 And this, because as Gregory says: “As much was left by those who were following, as those who were not following would have desired.”532 Therefore you did well, Peter and the other disciples by leaving all things, because through this you have received a great reward. Otherwise it is not certain that you would have obtained the primacy of the Christian faith, because the Lord was not about to found the Church on you, unless he had led you first to that foundation and strengthened you in it, nor would he have raised you up to a seat of...