Isaac of Stella, Sermons

and be able to prepare a poison for which wisdom does not hold the antidote!

Therefore, dearly beloved, following the example of the Lord our Saviour into the desert, not only of place but also of the spirit, or even at times of God, going out beyond our very spirit, together with the angels, let us meditate continually on His law, whether the letter written outside us, or nature within us, or the figure of this world, or the very wisdom of God, which is the eternal law and can be called the law of laws. For here we shall be fed with the bread of life and understanding, and given to drink of the water of saving wisdom, so that, refreshed and filled with inward delight, we may despise the devil's bread of stone outside. Let us also disdain the exaltation of the world, which ruin follows (for before ruin the heart is exalted) and which casts down. All the affluence and glory of the world, which is promised to one who falls, let us, standing and raised upright, blow away together with the one who promises it, out of the desire and thought of our heart, saying: Begone, Satan. For every movement that invites us to a fall is Satan, that is, our adversary: If, falling down, he says, you will worship me. Let us rather stand, dearly beloved, with our feet in the courts of Jerusalem, and without doubt we shall go rejoicing on those same feet into the house of the Lord, where all participation will be in the selfsame, which will be all in all. May He deign to bring us all there, without whom no one can come there, He who by His temptation strengthened us to stand when by His victory He weakened the tempter, Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

SERMON XXXIII. ON THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT I.

Jesus went out and withdrew into the parts of Tyre and Sidon (Matt. 15:21). There is indeed, dearly beloved, in so far as He is the everlasting Word of the Father, and not transitory or finite, a certain eternal going out of the Lord Jesus from the Father Himself, and an eternal abiding in the Father, and an eternal return to the Father. For whence He rises, thither He is borne back, and there He abides. As He does not cease to be there when, born from there, He proceeds, so neither does He arrive when, borne back there, He as it were returns, where He always abides and has abided. Yet we believe that no man is able to meet this incomprehensible going out of the ineffable birth. To the holy angels, however, as the access is happier, so it is easier, though only when they have gone out from their own bounds, that is, gone beyond themselves. But why do we attempt things higher than ourselves, of which we are wholly ignorant, perhaps with an unripe desire, as fledglings in the nest move their still unequal wings to fly, wings which can indeed be shaken but are not strong enough to lift the weight of the body? There is, then, besides this eternal going out of nature, a certain going out in time and of grace, when the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14), when He went out from the Father and came into the world; when, being in the form of God, going out as it were beyond the bounds of His homeland, He emptied Himself, so that in the form of a servant and in the likeness of sinful flesh, as in the parts of Tyre and Sidon, He might be found; but by those who, having also gone out of their own bounds,

meet Him in those same parts. So the Son of God came, free, so that He might be able to set free, into the form of a servant and the likeness of sinful flesh, but not into servitude itself or the reality of sinful flesh. He came to sinners, but did not enter into sin; He came to the infirm, but did not come down to the cause of infirmity; He came to punishment, but did not arrive at guilt; in short, the Saviour came, from the first state free from sin, from the second infirm on account of sin, from the third strong against sin. If anyone, then, a slave under sin, infirm through sin, feeble against sin, desires to be saved by Him, let him go out from his sin by repenting, let him meet Him by believing, let him cry out after Him by praying. For He who has not stood in the way of sinners is always walking on. Let the captive come to Him who is free, and therefore can set free; the infirm to Him who, from the things He suffered in infirmity, knows how to suffer with others; the feeble to Him who, making purgation of sins by the word of His power, is able to save for ever.

Let the Canaanite woman, then, go out from her inner bounds, and in the outer parts of her region meet the physician who comes of His own will, who has mercifully gone out of His own bounds, and who kindly meets the sick man in bounds not His own; for while He remained in His own He could not be approached at all. For He, as the blessed God, just and strong, was on high, where it was not lawful for unhappy man to ascend. Nor was it safe for the unjust to appear before the just, nor could one send another to the dwelling of strength, where there was no one who was not sick. So the Merciful One did what befitted mercy: He came to sinners, but to sins He neither ought to nor could. He came to the avaricious, but not to avarice; to the covetous, but not to covetousness; to the lustful, but not to lust: in short, He came mercifully to the vicious, but did not wretchedly arrive at vices. Let us go out, then, let us go out one by one, each from the place of his iniquity: let us go out from the midst of Babylon, and at its borders let us meet God our Saviour, as the prophet admonishes: Be ready, Israel, to meet the Lord, for He comes (Amos 4:12). Let us go out from the pit of sin into the likeness of sinful flesh. Let us go out from the will to sin into repentance for sin: for there we shall find Christ. For He did penance for sin, which He did not commit at all. There He who saves the penitent will save; He who hates sinners and has mercy on the penitent. But you say: If we have gone out from sin, what need have we of a physician; or who can go out from sin by himself? But the greatest sin is the love of sin, the greatest iniquity the will to sin. Do not, then, will to sin, even if you cannot yet not sin. Hate sin, and you have gone out from sin. You have hated sin, and you have met Christ where He is: He does not want sin to be committed, but hates sin, and to one who hates it, because he acts with Him, He forgives the guilt meanwhile, until He takes away sin wholly, even from the act. But you say that this too is much for you, and impossible for man without the grace of God, that sin

hate, and desire justice, so that it is unwilling to sin and willing to repent. Let them therefore give thanks to the Lord for His mercies, and for His wonderful works to the children of men, since He who freely and openly withdrew into the parts of Tyre and Sidon, where the woman could come to meet Him, by grace secretly drew the woman out from His inmost depths, so that she should come to meet Him, the woman whom the Son openly received outside. This woman, then, signifies the Church, predestined from eternity, called and justified in time, to be glorified after time, who prays unceasingly for her daughter, that is, for each one of the elect: and yet she is neither easily nor at once heard, nor is she in the end driven away empty of a hearing. All things have their time and their order; they wait for the moment and the manner in which they are to come about. But, as I see, you would rather welcome the moral exposition, and you have long been waiting to hear what this woman, or her daughter, ought to be called in the moral sense.

The woman, then, is understood to be any soul forestalled by God, so that it hates sin and desires justice, yet lacks the ability, so that it cannot do it with the same ease with which it longs for it: a soul to whom to will the good is present, but to accomplish it it does not find; which does not the good that it longs for, but the evil that it hates, that it does. And therefore she pleads for her daughter, that is, for natural freedom, which is weighed down by difficulty. And although the will is, as it were, sound, in that it loves the good and the just, yet the ability is held captive under sin, so that it cannot do it. Hence, as though taught by the Apostle, she cries out: Unhappy woman that I am, who will deliver this daughter of mine from the body of this death, that is, from the oppression of this demon? For this is the demon of which the Apostle says: I know that there dwells not in me, that is, in my flesh, any good (Rom. 7). For to one who wills to do good, evil is present, a demon, that is, hard and dire, by which the daughter of this woman is grievously troubled. But since there is nothing that can save her except the grace of God, and that through Jesus Christ, therefore she cries out constantly: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me (Matt. 15). For David is interpreted strong of hand. For strong help is needed for so strong a demon to be driven out. I, dearly beloved, foresee that my own case is being dealt with here, and it is not easy for me to find another that concerns me more. For, forestalled freely by the grace of God, I withdrew with a contrite heart not only from sins and from every occasion of sinning, but also, as can be seen, from almost all the company of men and from the common world, into this hidden and arid desert, so that I might punish my past delights and my vain and frivolous curiosities by the drynesses, the fastings and the desolations now present in me, and, the matter and the occasion of such things being henceforth withdrawn, might more easily and more freely, forgetting the things that are behind, stretch myself forward to those that are before. And yet this daughter of mine is so grievously troubled by this demon, and the ability to fulfil the good which I rightly will, which I desire, which I have resolved upon, for the sake of which I fled and went far away from men, is weighed down by such difficulty, that neither can the mother, who seemed to be sound, be quiet or secure, nor can she apply herself to that which belongs to sound desire, that is, to the contemplation

of tranquil wisdom; but the whole anxiety and fear of the mother is for her daughter, lest she waste away under such great evils, and the mother fail together with her, and both go to ruin. O Lord Jesus, who shall endure before the face of Thy cold? Why does even an idle intrusion weary a man who desires only serious and eternal goods? Why does the unclean memory of the world ever draw back the mind which the love of heaven has once drawn out of the world? Why is it not permitted to one who seeks nothing but Thee to follow Thee freely, as he pleases? O Lord, save me from faintness of spirit and from the storm, that is, from the demons proper to the desert. For I fear lest the will fall back through faintness of heart, unless the ability be set free from the storm of difficulty. O Lord, strong of hand, almighty Jesus, Who hast loosed my reason from the demon of ignorance, and rescued my will from the plague of concupiscence, set free my ability from this difficulty, so that, with Thy holy angels, to whom it belongs to be able when they will, we may be mighty in strength, who are devoted in will, doing Thy word, to hear the voice of Thy words. Nevertheless, since I have laboured with crying, so that my throat has become hoarse, and He has not answered me a word, do you, brethren, devout and holy, disciples of His worthy to be heard, speak a word to the Word for me, who cry out also after you, and through you to Him, from Whom alone help can come: Who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God before the ages, and now and for ever. Amen.

SERMON XXXIV. ON THE SAME FEAST II

His disciples say to Him: Send her away, for she cries out after us (Matt. 15). Come, brethren, we are tired from the work of our hands: but let us rest a little, while I answer this brother's question about the end of yesterday's sermon, as the Lord shall deign to grant. For he wonders what it means that, when the Lord did not answer the woman, the disciples, moved by compassion, made request for her, as though they were more compassionate and merciful than their Lord, Who is the fountain of compassion, when it ought to be enough for the disciple if he is as his master. But how do you know, brother, whether they did it moved by compassion or overcome by weariness, they whose words are known to be these: Send her away, for she cries out after us? But be it so; let us hope better things of them, and things nearer to compassion. Yet which of us is there who does not wish every man to be saved, and no one at all to be damned in hell? And indeed God, than Whom we are certainly not better, could do this with the same ease as He wills it, if He wished. Again, when we see a poor man shivering in winter, or wasting away with hunger in summer, we overflow indeed with the bowels of compassion, but, not having the means to drive away his need, we at least groan deeply: but God, Who is rich in all things, if He is compassionate, how does He neglect him, and why does He Who can easily do so not come to his help? There is no comparison of the creature with the Creator, no proportion of our compassion or will to the divine. For He often makes His own will piously what He Himself more piously does not will. Often also He permits those not His own to will impiously what He piously wills; often

but He makes His own will piously what He piously wills, and those not His own impiously refuse what He piously does not will. But in order to discuss the disciples' prayer more fully, we must begin, as the saying goes, a little further back.

Blessed is the election which obtains what Israel pursued and did not attain. As you know, it is called one body, of which Christ, the elect of God, is the head: hence all who are under so holy a head are called members of this body. The body is one, as the head is one, but the members are many. And all this is said by reason of its likeness to the human body, which has its head on high and an upright stature. For the animals that are called beasts are bent down towards the belly; their head, feet and belly incline downward together and by nature tend towards one point. But God gave man a lofty face. Hence someone says:

He gave man a lofty face, and bade him look upon the heavens / and lift his upturned countenance to the stars. (Ovid, Metamorphoses I, lines 85–86.)

Hence man is called by the natural philosophers an upturned tree, which has its head on high like a root, and sends down its leaves, that is, its members, and its branches, as it were the joints of the members. And the head is one, from which the multitude of the members has sensation and motion. The roundness of the crown at the top is also one, from which the eyes, ears, nostrils, lips, breasts, arms, sides, buttocks, hips, knees, shins and feet are paired. But where it touches the earth, that is, with foot and hand, it becomes fivefold, manifold at the bottom, one at the top: fivefold towards the earth, where it is earthly; one towards heaven, where it is heavenly. Moreover, one thing is necessary; about many things there is care and trouble. With a like composition, in this mystical body, under the one head, Christ, and the one root (for He too, as He is one man, who cries from the ends of the earth, so is one tree, which yields its fruit in its season), there are many members: some higher than others and nearer the head; others lower and further from the head, and for that reason more manifold, and leaning more upon the earth. Nevertheless, just as from the life of the root alone greenness and vigour and life proceed into the whole body of the tree, so from the Holy Spirit of Christ our God alone the whole body of the Church lives, feels and moves. And just as the life of the root belongs only to its own tree, and to the whole of it, so the spirit of Christ, as far as this sacrament is concerned, reaches to His own body alone, and to the whole of it, so that the whole lives and moves from Him, and only in Him. And just as, though there is one soul in the body of a man, whole everywhere by its essence, yet differently by its power and operation, so in the Church there is one spirit in all, yet differently in operation, office and grace. And just as in the body of a man the members did not place themselves, nor choose their number, place or office, so neither in the body of Christ did anyone place himself, nor choose his place or office, nor determine the number. As therefore in the body of a man, though the members are of different action, yet by a most beautiful necessity

they need one another and come to one another's help with a most dutiful charity, so too in the body of Christ, since each is necessary to the others, and as no one is superfluous, so no one is sufficient to himself by himself, so that he who has more does not have too much, and he who has less is not diminished, but all share themselves with one another in charity. And just as in the body of a man the lower, duller and harder members carry the upper, more tender and more vital ones, from which nevertheless they receive life and strength, so in the body of Christ the animal and active are bound to sustain the spiritual and contemplative in the necessities of the body; from whom they receive far better things, that is, spiritual ones. For hence the blessed Apostle says: If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great matter if we reap your carnal things? (1 Cor. 9.) Neither can the eye walk upon the ground, nor the foot give light to the body: yet both are necessary to the body, even though both cannot be done by one member.

And so God, Who can do all things, though by Himself He could suffice for all and accomplish whatever He willed, nevertheless wills, for the sake of the office of brotherly charity, that there should be in His body a place for need, and an occasion of humility, so that brother helping brother may be like a strong and fortified city. The lower members therefore help the higher and are helped by them, and likewise equals help equals, and altogether all help one another. And He Who predestined for all that here temporal need should not be lacking, and that in the future beatitude should be present, differently and each in its own manner: He also predestined the difference and the manner, and what He would bestow on each; and He Who by Himself can sustain all here and perfect them there, predestined how much, how, when, where and through whom each thing should come to each. For He did not Himself make the world and hand it over to another to be ruled. Nor does anything happen in it by chance. He Who made it rules it: without Whose will not a leaf falls from a tree, nor does a sparrow fall upon the ground. He, then, Who predestined life in heaven for His own, Himself predestined for them the way in the world; He Who predestined the reward there predestined the merit here; He Who is to give glory there Himself gives grace here. For it is not that one promises and another does: rather, what He predestined to be done He Himself does, so that it is done; and He Who predestined the rank there Himself predestined the manner by which it is reached. Yet it is not the case, as some rave, that if God has predestined life for this man, then however he lives here and whatever he does, he will attain to it. But He Who predestined life for this man predestined also that he should so live as to attain to it, that is, by a justice of this kind or that, his own, yet not from himself, or by the faith or prayer of another, or as He Himself knows how to distribute to each: He Who Himself does what He predestined, and bestows, when He wills, as He prepared it, what He prepared when He established all things together and at once. But you say: If God, as He predestined salvation for each of His own, so predestined the manner of coming to it, then he who is predestined so to live cannot live otherwise than he lives, and he whom God makes

so to live, just as he who is predestined to be saved cannot perish. Truly, for he who is predestined can also perish. For he can be saved in such a way that he can also perish. For he can perish who nevertheless will not perish; and he can live otherwise who will not live otherwise. For God did not predestine that such a one, who, having free will, can be turned either way, should be unable to perish, nor that he should be unable to live otherwise than he lives; but simply that he should so live and not perish. For not to perish and to be unable to perish are very different things. The one, therefore, He predestined, the other not at all, though He gave both. For to be able to perish belongs to our nature; not to perish, to His mercy: but to perish will belong to our fault and to His justice. Hence he who is predestined can perish through the mutability of nature; but he will not perish, because of the predestination of grace. The heavenly generation keeps him: and if he could not perish at all, he would have no need of keeping.

It is predestined, therefore, that he who can perish should not perish, and he certainly will not perish, though he can perish, because he is predestined. For this is impossible, that this man be predestined and perish: for it is necessary that, if he is predestined, he should not perish, lest predestination be deceived; not that he should be unable to perish, since predestination certainly does not contain this. And so He Who predestined the daughter's deliverance Himself, for its sake, predestined the mother's prayer and the obtaining of it through the apostles. Hence, so that what was to be might be brought about, which was not to be done otherwise, though it could have been done otherwise, neither the mother's anxiety is found superfluous, nor the Lord's seeming disregard, nor the disciples' devout prayer. Rather, as the manner by which what was so to be done should be done, all things appear necessary; not so that a new word might arise through it in God's disposition, but so that His eternal counsel might be fulfilled. And He Who could either refuse or grant it otherwise preferred it so, in order to bestow on many in one act: on the daughter, that is, the gift of health, on the mother the debt of devotion, on the disciples the office of charity: and He Who outwardly did not answer the woman a word was Himself, the Word of the Father, working inwardly in the woman and in the apostles at once. And He Who for a just and hidden reason had delivered the daughter to Satan for the affliction of the flesh, taking occasion, as it were, from this, according to the saying that all things work together for good for the good, created for the mother and the disciples the merit of virtue. For he who has no care for his own, and especially for those of his household, has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever (1 Tim. 5). This for the mother and daughter. And for the disciples and the mother: He who sees someone placed in need, and shuts up his bowels from him, the charity of the Father is not in him (1 John 3). While, then, merit is acquired for these, and the daughter is at last restored to health, the demon alone is the one who is mocked by the Lord, as it is written: This dragon, which Thou hast formed to mock him (Ps. 103). For if he had foreknown that this would come of it, he would certainly not have wished to trouble the girl, unless

that, as malice had blinded him, so it also hardened him.

Plain, therefore, is the goodness of our God, Who as it were wrings merits for us out of us, while outwardly He prepares the occasion of the work and inwardly creates the desire. For when what He commands outwardly He does inwardly with us, so that we do it, as it is said: Not I, but the grace of God with me (1 Cor. 15), what else does He do but create merits for us, to which He Himself may render rewards? Certainly, in what He does without us He finds nothing for which to reward us, even though what He does is done for us. In this, though no merit intervenes, yet the benefit is plain. But what we do without Him always deserves punishment, since it can only be evil. Without Him, indeed, no action can be done, and yet it is manifest that only good is done through Him. And as He often does a good through someone which profits that person not at all, so too someone sometimes does through Him what is for him no merit reaching to the reward. Those things alone, then, procure merit reaching to the reward of eternity which God does with us perseveringly, and which He causes us to do with Him. Of all these the foundation, as it were, is first faith, which He certainly does not create in us without us. For no one believes unwillingly. The almighty and kind God gently compels us within, and draws us willing, without violence, where He wills, dividing between us within us, so that what we do not will we may gladly will, and what we will we may strongly refuse. Let us therefore, dearly beloved, gladly give the whole to God, since nothing is ours, as the blessed Cyprian says (book On the Lord's Prayer). For He Himself, as the prophet testifies, has wrought all our works for us (Isa. 26), just as He made us, and not we ourselves. But neither does He so make us, or what is ours, as a human craftsman, who, when he has finished some piece of work, ceases from working, and, the work remaining, turns to something else. Rather, it is as the soul works life in the body, or balance health, or the sun the day, or outward light sight in the eye. For these do not so work that they depart while the work remains, or that the works remain when they depart; but so that, when they have accomplished it, they are always doing it; and when they cease to do it and withdraw themselves, all that they did is nowhere. So too God, in all things which He has made to be, works assiduously and continually lest they cease to be, according to what the Truth Himself, through Whom all things are made, says: My Father works until now, and I work (John 5). For just as everything that is has its being from essence, so, essence being withdrawn, whatever is by it cannot be at all. And if without essence not even essence itself can be, how shall whatever is from it be without it? All things therefore, in order to be, always need to be; but He alone is sufficient to Himself, Who is all that is His, and needs nothing other than Himself.

By His eternal and unchangeable essence, therefore, that is, by Himself Who is, ever working, all things that are, are, so much, then, and so long, as

when and as long as He Himself works it. By His eternal wisdom, that is, by Himself Who is, by Whom He is wise, ever working, all who are wise are wise, so much, then, so long and in such a way, as much, when, as long and in what way He Himself works it. By His eternal goodness and charity, that is, by Himself Who is, by Whom He is good, ever working, those who love the good are good, so much, then, so long and in such a way, as much, when, as long and in what way He Himself works it. And likewise with these concerning power, and all things whatsoever that are anything at all, because, as without Him nothing was made (John 1), so without Him nothing that was made remains; or beyond what it has received from Him it will be able to advance not at all. For who may have what he has not received from Him? Who will be able to do anything without Him? But the things which were made by Him of a mutable nature can fail of themselves, yet only by His permission, Who, as He does all things willingly, so permits nothing unwillingly; as He does nothing without reason, so He permits nothing without cause; Whose judgements are often hidden, always just. So, with creating essence working, and wisdom enlightening, charity inflaming and power strengthening, there is created in us essence, wisdom, charity and power, that we may be, may know, may will and may be able.

All these things, then, turned towards Him through our very charity, formed in us by His own charity with which God loves us, make us meanwhile good and devout here. But when He has turned Himself fully towards us, and has perfectly caught us up to Himself, they will surely make us blessed, where for the eternal merit, which He Himself will work for ever, He will pay the eternal reward, which He Himself is. For he who will always so love will always deserve to be loved fully and perfectly. Meanwhile, however, he who loves more is loved more, because those who love more, He loves more. For He first loves us, that we may love, and as He apportions to each the measure of faith, so also of love, so of wisdom, so of power; keeping with Himself, indeed, the gomor according to which He apportions it. Yet of the things named above, that is, essence, wisdom, charity and power, charity alone seems here to procure the reward; the rest, though not without that charity which never falls away, are believed rather to belong to the reward. For always to be, to know perfectly, to be fully able, and in these things to delight in the sweetness of charity, what is this but the reward of the blessed life? The reward, that is, of which to live well is the merit. But one does not live well except by the charity with which God is loved. And this charity cannot be had by us except then and to that extent, when and as far as it is created and formed in us by the charity with which God first loves us. Let us therefore, forestalled by Him for this very thing, ask God the Father Himself, through the Son in the Holy Spirit, with the whole, inmost and unfailing affections of our hearts, ascribing the whole to Him, that by His charity He may, by creating, pour out, and by pouring out, create in us that charity which loves God the Trinity above all things, and the neighbour for His sake: in which consists all merit,