Isaac of Stella, Sermons

of sorrows in our hearts, His consolations may gladden our souls. For blessed are those who mourn: not because they mourn, but because they shall be comforted. For mourning is the way, consolation is beatitude. See how He has set the world right, He Who judges the peoples in equity. For it befits the kind and wise God both to correct the perverse, and to direct the corrected, and to receive the directed. Three and three, one against one. Three call away from God to the world, three call back from the world to God. All that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, or the concupiscence of the eyes, or the ambition of the world (1 John 2). The first marries a wife, the second tries out oxen, the third buys a farm (Luke 14). Lust, avarice, pride; carnal and worldly desires, and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. So let the disciples, going out from here with the crowd left behind, and going up the mountain, passing over as it were from the lower to the higher, from the outer to the inner, from the bodily to the spiritual, hear: Blessed are the poor, the meek, the contrite, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and the land, and they themselves: sufficiency, power, sweetness, kingdom, dominion, peace: and all these within, where the plain and smooth man dwells at home, while the rough and hairy man of the woods goes hunting, and is supplanted in the prerogative of the firstborn (Gen. 25): which prerogative the Firstborn among many brethren has transferred to us: Who, the Only-begotten, reigns with the Father for ever and ever. Amen.

SERMON III. ON THE SAME FEAST, III.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice (Matt. 5). Brethren, the book of Wisdom is written within and without. He speaks, as it were, without, when He corrects the perverse; within, when He directs the converted. Let us hear, then, how far and in what way He directs those who place beatitude neither in the body nor in bodily things, but in the virtue of the mind. For virtue is the habit of a well-ordered mind. The affections of the mind, therefore, must be composed and ordered, and also arranged by fitting reason towards what they ought and in the way they ought, so that they may advance into virtues. For it is they that give its name to the outward deed: and they either fall away into vices or advance into virtues. When, therefore, they are ordered prudently, temperately, bravely and justly, they rise up into the virtues, prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice: which are called, as it were, the hinges or roots of all the virtues. Among these, since justice seems to hold as it were the cone or a kind of apex and the highest summit, it possesses the name of virtue in an emphatic sense. Therefore blessed are those who, choosing the short road, hunger and thirst for justice. As it has seemed to some that from the rays of all the stars, glittering upward, a circle remarkable for its whiteness is formed in the cone of the firmament, which they call the Galaxy: so, surely, in the spiritual firmament justice is thought to stand out from the brightness of all the virtues: for which reason they call it a certain evenness and measure in things, in short a fixed limit; beyond and short of which

the right cannot stand. For it is she that makes all things equal, rendering to each what is his own. The law of nature contains her, Scripture commands her, the Gospel fulfils her: that we should not only not do to another what we would not suffer from another, but should do to another whatever we wish done to ourselves. He who seeks beatitude, then, is not to be called away from here, but called back here and directed this way, lest he remain with natural justice, like the philosopher, or set up the justice of the law, like the Jew; rather let him submit himself to the justice of faith, like the Christian, and, a humble accuser of himself, press on to the prize of the upward calling in Christ Jesus. For here whatever there is, or can be, of justice is in part: but there is what is perfect. In part, the way; in the perfect, the fullness of beatitude. Follow on, then, from part to part, as from virtue to virtue, until you lay hold of that for which you have been laid hold of. See that justice never flees from your hand, from your mouth, from your heart; for he who holds fast to justice will lay hold of her full, perfect, at rest: no longer holding her with the labour of exercise, but she preserving him with as much ease as happiness. Therefore blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice.

First, says the same Master, seek the kingdom of God and His justice (Matt. 6). See what you ought to seek, O man: see what your God seeks from you, that you may seek it from Him. For what they are to eat, drink and wear, the gentiles inquire. Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Cast all your care upon Him, keep the labour for yourself: He cares for you, if you do not lack care for justice. Care for her, seek her above all things, and all things for her sake; and the very kingdom of God for her sake, not her for its sake: lest you begin again to be a hireling, and, knowing trade, fail to enter into the powers of the Lord, as one who is not mindful of His justice alone. The other things are adjectives, as having no substance, and therefore not even worth seeking. The other things, He says, will be added to you (ibid.). How many today, and with what zeal, seek what is not to be sought, and seek less what is to be sought, so that if anyone, trusting the word of the Word and untroubled about such things, should aim higher, at justice, he is held a laughing-stock and treated with contempt! But what do we make of His saying not "seek" but "hunger for" justice, unless that we should understand justice to be for the soul what food and drink are for the flesh? She is provision on the journey, in so far as she is in part; she is the supper in the fatherland, where she is perfect; she is milk for little ones, she is solid food for men. Hence that imprecation of the Prophet: As a child weaned upon its mother, so wilt Thou reward my soul (Ps. 130). Blessed, then, are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be filled. Then beatitude is full, when fullness is full; then shall I be fully filled with her in her fullness, whom now in part I enjoy in part. Now for medicine, then for delight: now for discipline, which in the present seems to hold something of difficulty and grief, then for glory, when to those exercised by it it will yield the most peaceable fruit of justice itself (Heb. 12): so that here, as it were, a certain

flower of justice, or of every virtue, appears, there the fullness of the fruit may be gathered. Thus, thus are those who seek beatitude in virtue to be directed from the beginning, through progress, to the perfection of justice: whose beginning consists in doing injury to no one, its progress in bearing patiently the injury inflicted, its perfection in doing good to all, if one can, and if not, in willing it. Hence there follows:

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. It is not safe, even for a just man, to contend with the Most Just: for he will not be able to answer Him one for a thousand (Job 9:3). It is foolish to go out with ten thousand to meet him who comes against one with twenty (Luke 14:31). Therefore, while He is still far off, it is worth the effort to send an embassy of peace, to say: Enter not into judgement with Thy servant, O Lord (Ps. 142:2), even with Thy just witness, whom Thou didst find according to Thy heart, whom Thou didst anoint with Thy holy oil, for in Thy sight no one living shall be justified (ibid.). What is that embassy of peace? Mercy. For mercy alone will obtain mercy. It is the crown of gold on the head of the just man, engraved with the sign of holiness; it is that through which the just man will be saved, where he will scarcely be saved: for justice without mercy is cruel, and will not be saved. It is that which will not fear the evil hearing, nor the harsh word, when a thousand shall fall at God's side and ten thousand at the right hand, without the mercy of the just. Nay rather, to its hearing shall be given joy and gladness, when it is said: Come, blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom (Matt. 25:34). Why? I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat (ibid. 25:35), and so on. As if He were saying: Because you have done mercy, you will obtain mercy. Blessed therefore are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. I perceive here the groans of some, and I catch their sighs. You speak in your hearts, you are pricked with remorse on your beds (Ps. 4:5). Woe to us! Mercy alone will obtain mercy: it has been said, it has been proved, it is true. What are we doing? According to what we do, it will be done to us.

What then can we do for the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the wanderer, the sick, the imprisoned, we who have left all things, who have nothing, to whom every private work is fearfully forbidden? Where at last is that mercy which alone will be praised, will be saved, will be received? This is the sorrow that has been renewed in you; your heart has grown hot within you, we know it. This fire has blazed up in your meditation. But you have become dumb, and have been humbled, and on account of the gravity of taciturnity, and the good of silence, which is the worship of justice, you keep silence even from good things. Let us therefore speak, we to whom a stewardship has been entrusted in the tongue, not our own but the Lord's; and let us make known the end of this matter, so that you may know what is lacking to you. Mercy and judgement David sings to the Lord (Ps. 100:1); but judgement after mercy, otherwise it is to be wept over. For judgement without mercy is for him who has not done mercy. Now of mercy there are two kinds: to give, and to forgive. On which account it is said: Give, and it shall be given to you; forgive, and you shall be forgiven

(Luke 6:37–38). And these in proportion. Hence it is said: Forgive us, as we forgive (Matt. 6:12). And: With what measure you have measured, it shall be measured back to you (Matt. 7:2). Further: of each kind there is a threefold division. For mercy in each is great, greater, greatest: beginning, grown, strong: measure against measure. Whoever has been in no degree of mercy will be in no place of pardon. The first degree of mercy, then, gives of its own things. So the Saviour admonishes: Give alms, and all things are clean for you (Luke 11:41). The second gives all its own things, so as to say: Behold, we have left all things, and what shall there be for us? (Matt. 19:27.) The third gives itself, so as to be able to say: I will not only spend, but will also be spent for your souls (2 Cor. 12:15). Greater love than this no one has: this is what he renders to the Lord, as far as he can, taking the cup from the hand of the Saviour, and, trusting in the Lord, he calls upon His name. In the same way you have it also of the other kind; for both something of debts is remitted, and debts are forgiven entirely; and he who owes his whole self is at times set free. Nor are these things done only outwardly and in bodily matters; for an injury is pardoned, and counsel is given, and prayer is spent, and a good example is shown, and discipline is imposed, and in each kind six hundred other things: sometimes indeed against the will, often for profit: for they are often bestowed on the unwilling. Where, I ask, is what you feared? If you have left all things, you will judge even those who obtain mercy. If daily, beyond all the property you have left, you spend your very selves, so that you keep for yourselves neither the disposal nor the freedom of body or of will, saying: Abba, Father, not what I will, but what Thou willest: you shall sit upon twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel by comparison and by authority.

Therefore, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. For mercy, as the summit of the whole active discipline, is rightly placed as the peak of this mountain; for there is nowhere further you may walk on foot. But if it pleases you to change your strength, so as to fly into contemplation, take on wings like the eagle; and if that is too much for you, say: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest? (Ps. 54:7.) For what more can a man among men, in this mortal life or living death, do either towards himself or towards another, than that through voluntary contempt of the mammon of iniquity he be modest and solid in himself; through meekness placid and serene towards others; through compunction circumspect and devout; through justice, outwardly and in himself, wholly smooth and round; through mercy beneficent to many, benevolent to all: that through love of poverty he spurn the smiling world, through meekness disdain the angry man, through the gift of compunction take himself back, by pursuing justice submit himself to God, through mercy bind his neighbour to himself: through love of poverty content with little, by a steady course of modesty hostile to none, of compunction