Sermon Fragment — Arise (Surge)

Thomas Aquinas (The Leonine edition asserts that this sermon fragment is almost certainly authentic.)

There are three things that hold fast the lazy in their own laziness so that they may not arise.

First: fear, mostly: the lazy man says: there is a lion in the way (Prov 26:13). The lazy man says this whenever he sees some difficulty, believing that he would fail at once if he were to endure that difficulty. There is a lioness in the roads (Prov 26:13), that is, he also says, “I am weak; I cannot endure it.”

But to such men it is said, how long will you sleep, O lazy one? (Prov 6:9). Bravely arise! For it is said in Job: the roaring of the lion (Job 4:10)**, that is, of the devil, has been completely conquered; hence: have confidence, I have overcome the world (John 16:33). The lioness too, that is, every weakness, has been taken away, for it is crushed by the power of the cross; hence, the Apostle says, our old man is crucified (Rom 6:6).

The second thing that holds back the lazy is love, which is twofold.

First, indeed, there is the love of his own external goods. As the door turns upon its hinges, and nevertheless is not moved by its hinges, so does the lazy man turn upon his bed (Prov 26:14), that is, in his riches, where he rests, in the way one rests in a bed. He is turned by the preachers, but he is not moved by them.

The other love is the love of his own body. For the lazy do not want to endure any difficulties. The lazy man hides his hand under his armpit, and it grieves him to turn it to his mouth (Prov 26:15). Against which, the Apostle has said, it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep (Rom 13:11); and elsewhere: the charity of Christ presses us (2 Cor 5:14).

Still others are held back in their laziness by error. (Reading errore instead of envie, in light of what Aquinas says further on about how Scripture calls us back from error. The word envie is unusual and may be a scribal error. However, sense can be made of the word “envy,” if it is understood as the desire to not share goods with others in order that one may not be surpassed by them. Aquinas says elsewhere: pusillanimes sunt invidi, quia omnia reputant magna, et quidquid boni alicui accidat, reputant se in magno superatos esse, “the small-spirited are envious, because they deem every matter to be something great, and whatever good happens to another, they deem that they themselves have been surpassed in something great” (ST II-II.36.1, ad 3). And also: memoria praeteritorum bonorum, inquantum fuerunt habita, delectationem causat, sed inquantum sunt amissa, causant tristitiam. Et inquantum ab aliis habentur, causant invidiam, quia hoc maxime videtur gloriae propriae derogare, “the memory of past goods, inasmuch as one has had them, causes pleasure. . . . But inasmuch as they are had by others, they cause envy, because this especially seems to detract from one’s own glory” (ST II-II.36.1, ad 4).) To these it seems that their own goods are sufficient. Such was that rich man who said, my soul, you have many goods stored away for many years; take your rest (Luke 12:19)—you need not arise with the others in the morning. But to him is said, you fool, this very night your soul is required of you, and whose shall those things be which you have provided? (Luke 12:20). Scripture, enlightening the intellect, calls us back from this error in the Psalm: send forth your light and your truth; they have led me (Ps 42:3); they have not caused me to rest.

Add to this what Solomon says: whatever your hand is able to do, do it earnestly: for neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge shall be in hell, to where you are hastening (Eccl 9:10).