The Academic Sermons (The Fathers of the Church, Mediaeval Continuation, Volume 11): Mediaeval Continuation, Volume 11)

Sermon 21: Beatus Vir

313 SERMON 21 BEATUS VIR Sermon on the Feast of St. Martin, the Eleventh of November Psalm 83.6–7 (Vg): Happy the man whose help is from you: he has set his heart on ascending while in the valley of tears, in the place which he has built. Part 1: Prothema APPY THE man whose help is from you: he has set his heart on ascending while in the valley of tears, in the place which he has built” [Ps 83.6–7 (Vg)]. The proclaimed words show explicitly enough that St. Martin has arrived at the glory of highness through divine help. That help is ready for all people. And just as St. Martin needed divine help in order to arrive at the glory of highness, so we, too, need divine help so that we can arrive at glory.1 Therefore, in accordance with the exhortation of the Apostle in Heb 4.16: “Let us approach with confidence to the throne of his grace, that we may receive mercy and obtain grace in the favorable time,” so that he may give me something to say, et cetera. Part 2: Sermo “Happy the man” [Ps 83.6–7 (Vg)], et cetera. It is a custom that when someone is promoted to a great status or to a great dignity, he and his relatives and friends commemorate this ex- “ 1. ST I 73,1,1; cf. I–II 3,1. 314 THOMAS AQUINAS altation. This day St. Martin is promoted to the highest dignity and the highest place, namely, to the kingdom of the heavens. Therefore, Mother Church commemorates his happiness. Concerning his happiness three things come up that we must consider on the ground of the words proclaimed. First, we can consider the beginning of his happiness [in this part, the Sermo ]; second, the progress [in the Collatio in sero]; and third, the endpoint of his happiness [touched upon in the final sentence]. The origin or cause of his happiness was divine help, which is mentioned when it is said: “Happy the man (whose help is from you).” He has made progress in ascents: he advanced from one virtue to another, which is mentioned when it says: “He has set his heart on ascending.” The endpoint of his happiness is the gain of eternal happiness, which is mentioned when it says: “in the place which he has built.” Why? The Psalmist explains immediately2 what he has said, as he adds: “The Giver of the Law will also give a blessing”; see: the divine help. [He continues:] “They will go from one virtue to another”; behold: the ascent from one virtue to another. “The God of gods will be seen in Zion” [Ps 83.8 (Vg)];3 lo: the place that he has built. E First, I say that the origin or the cause of arriving at a particular dignity is divine help. With our reason we find in creatures that when something reaches something by its own nature, it is the cause of it. As for those things that it does not reach by its own nature—like fire: it is warm by its own nature, and therefore it is the cause of the heating in those things which it does not reach by its own nature.4 Well, God is happy by his own nature , and thus he is the cause of happiness in others.5 Hence the Apostle says in 1 Tm 6.16: “(our Lord Jesus Christ,) whom the happy and only powerful King of kings and Lord of lord2 . In verse 8, not in verse 3 as the Latin text says. 3. Zion is the mountain on which Jerusalem, the city of God, is built, whence the use of the verb ascendere, to ascend, to go up (cf. Is 2.3, for example). 4. ST I 108,5,5 (Secundo . . .); III 7,9. 5. ST I 26,1–4, resp., I–II 2,8; others are not happy by nature, but participate in God’s happiness insofar as he gives us a share in it. In this context Thomas refers to Ps 103.5. SERMON 21 315 ships will show.” So no one can arrive at happiness unless by divine help. Let us see what help the Lord grants us, so that humankind may arrive at happiness. I mention a triple help: (1) first, God chides mankind; (2) second, he teaches us; and...