Sermon

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 exaltation. 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 Sermon.) second, the progress; (In the Evening Collation.) 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. (Psalm 84:6 (thema).) Why? The psalmist explains immediately (In verse 8.) 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]); (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. Isa 2:3, for example).) lo: the place that he has built.

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. (ST I.108.5, ad 5; III.7.9.) Well, God is happy by his own nature, and thus he is the cause of happiness in others. (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 Psalm 103:5.) Hence the Apostle says in 1 Timothy 6:15: our Lord Jesus Christ, whom the happy and only powerful king of kings and Lord of lordships will show. So no one can arrive at happiness unless by divine help.

Let us see what help the Lord grants us, so that mankind may arrive at happiness. I mention a triple help: first, God chides mankind; second, he teaches us; and third, he takes us up. (In what follows, Thomas expounds these three steps in view of Romans 8:30.)

1. That God chides us is a way to happiness. Job 5:17 reads: happy the man who is chided by God. This correction pertains to being called. (Vocatio: ST I-II.113.1, obj. 3. Correctio is etymologically connected with rectus: right, upright, righteous.) Mankind is chided only because of sin. Being called happens from afar; through sin it happens that someone is far from God, as it says in Isaiah 59:2: your sins cause a division between you and your God. (Cf. ST I.48.4.) The Apostle shows us the blessing of being called when he says in Romans 8:30: the ones he has predestined he has also called. (Cf. ST I.23.2.) And St. Martin was called by the Lord and was chided, that is, removed from original sin and preserved from actual sin. (ST I-II.113.1, obj. 3: “being called” means that through God’s help our mind is moved and excited to refrain from sinning. This is not the same as the forgiveness of sins; it is its cause.) Isaiah 41:2: who has raised the just one from the east and called him to follow him? Those who are raised from sin are raised by God. Some are converted in the east—that is, in their boyhood (The east, from where the day (life) begins. See also Sermon 8, The Boy Jesus, Prothema and under section 1.3 of the Sermon, and Sermon 9, A Sower Went Out, under 2.2 and 2.3 of the Sermon.)—just like St. Martin; when he was ten years of age, he became a catechumen, against his parents’ will. (Cf. Sulpicius Severus, On the Life of St. Martin, ch. 2 (CSEL 1:112; PL 20:161C).) When he was twelve he thought of how he could become a hermit.

See that help: it is necessary for man that God chides him (cf. Heb 12:7). You should know that no matter how often you are chided by a human being, this correction is not worth anything, unless you become more intimate with God’s grace, which is calling you. Thus it says in Ecclesiastes 7:13: consider God’s works: no one can correct someone whom he has despised. So it is not worth anything that someone be chided by highly placed people or by others, unless God works in him through his grace. (Cf. Isaiah 26:12; Philippians 2:13; Hebrews 13:21; we are just instruments (instrumenta separata, as distinct from instrumenta coniuncta: ST III.62.5) of his grace; we cannot do anything apart from him, as in John 15:4–5.) God’s chiding of man is a sign of his love. (For Thomas’s terminology of “love,” see Sermon 1, He Who Is Desired, note in section 3.3.) Thus we read in Proverbs 3:12: the Lord chides whom he loves. (This love is not only love out of justice (ST III.59.1), but also like the love of a father for his son, as Proverbs 3:12 continues. Cf. ST I-II.69.3, obj. 4; I-II.109.8, ad 2; II-II.33.3, obj. 3; and III.59.1. See also note above on correctio.) God chides man in three ways:

1.1. first, by inspiring fear. Hence we read in Sirach 1:27: who is without fear cannot be justified; fear of the Lord belongs to wisdom. (Cf. Proverbs 1:7; Psalm 111:10.) So we must apply ourselves to having fear [of God]. This is the first step to happiness. (Cf. ST I-II.113.4, obj. 1; II-II.19.2 and 4–11: this fear of and reverence for God is a gracious gift of the Holy Spirit.)

1.2. Second, God chides someone by forgiving him his sins. God is the only one who can forgive sins, according to Mark 2:7. (ST III.3.8, ad 3; III.89.1; cf. I-II.113.1–2.) And in Psalm 27 we read: happy the ones whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered (Ps 32:1).

1.3. Third, God chides someone by pulling him away from sins. Isn’t it a divine blessing that, just as God forgives a man his sins, he also preserves him from sinning? (ST III.88.1.) Augustine says this in Confessions, book II, chapter 7: I ascribe it to your grace and your mercy that you have melted away my sins like ice. Also, the many evil things I did not do I ascribe to your grace, because I was not able to do them. (Augustine, Confessions, bk. 2, ch. 7, para. 15 (CCSL 27:25; CSEL 33:41; PL 32:681).) Psalm 1:1 touches upon this happiness, saying: happy the man who did not go astray following the advice of the godless and did not come to a standstill on the way of sinners. St. Martin did not need this grace of the removal of sins, since we do not read about actual sins committed by him. But God chided him in this respect: that he preserved him from sinning.

2. Second, God offers his help to a man by teaching him. In Psalm 94:12 we read: happy the man whom you teach, Lord, and whom you instruct in your law. This is not a teaching that would only enlighten the intellect; it moves the affection as well. (God as well as creatures can enlighten and change a person’s intellect and affection, but in different ways: ST I.111.1–2; cf. I.107.2 and I-II.79.3.) The art of oratory has an effect on a judge’s affection. If this is the effect of human pleas, the effect of divine pleas (Cf. Psalm 4:2, 43:1, 119:154; also Romans 8:26.) must be much stronger. Hence we read in John 6:45: everyone who has listened to my Father and has learned, comes to me. Someone listens to the Father when he is inspired with a good thing; someone who rejects inspired things does not learn. Isaiah has not acted in the latter way; he says in 50:5: God has opened my ear, and I have not objected; I have not recoiled, that I may listen to him as to a teacher. Someone who subjects his heart to the divine inspiration learns. This pertains to justification. (ST I-II.100.2, ad 1; 111.2, obj. 2: God does not justify a human being without his/her co-operation and obedience (II-II.104).) The Apostle says in Romans 8:30: those whom he has called, he has also justified. There are three stages in the divine teaching (cf. 1 Cor 13:13).

2.1. First, he enlightens the intellect through faith. (ST I-II.62.4 (in quaestio 62, Thomas distinguishes the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love); cf. ST I.12.5; II-II.2.1; II-II.6.1–2; II-II.8.2 and 4.) This is the greatest teaching. Having a little bit of faith is more than knowing everything that all philosophers in the world have known. (See also Sermon 14, Beware of the False Prophets, under section 1.2.2 of the Sermon.) Hence it says in Deuteronomy 4:6: show that wisdom and understanding of yours before the peoples. And in John 20:29 it reads: happy those who have not seen and yet believe.

2.2. Second, this teaching raises up the mind through hope. When the mind believes through faith, it is then elevated by hope. (For the relation between faith and hope, see ST II-II.17.7.) This is the second stage of happiness. Psalm 40:5: happy the man whose hope is the name of the Lord and who has not looked at vain and unhealthy things that are false. Some do not trust in God, but in vain things. Which are vain things? Temporal goods, riches, honors, and the like. (ST I-II.2.1–7.) Psalm 39:6 says: but still total vanity is the living man. (Cf. ST I-II.4.8.) So you should not put your trust in those things. (Fiducia, confidere: deeply rooted belief that precedes knowledge in someone or something who/that can and will help you (ST I-II.40.2, obj. 2). Eventually only God is to be trusted in this way, according to Psalms 49 and 146; cf. ST II-II.129.6, obj. 1.) Some, and that is worse, trust in unhealthy things; they turn to the interpretations of omens, predictions, and the superstitions of black magic. (All these are to be repudiated: ST II-II.92–96, 122.2, ad 3, and 122.3. Cf. Sermon 14, Beware of the False Prophets; Quodlibet II, q. 7, a. 1, resp.)

2.3. The third stage of this teaching is that it changes the affection through love, because it says in Tobit 13:17: happy all who love you. (Tobit 13:14.) St. Martin’s father and mother were pagans, yet still his soul did not sense anything but spiritual things (cf. 1 Cor 14:1), (Cf. Sulpicius Severus, On the Life of St. Martin, ch. 2 (CSEL 1:111–112; PL 20:161BC).) and he was so erudite that he has written a book on the Trinity. (Together with St. Hilary of Poitiers, he strongly opposed Arianism, a popular heresy in early Christianity which denies the divinity of Christ.)

3. The third divine help is that God takes us up (cf. Exod 19:4). Psalm 65:4 reads: happy the one whom you have chosen and taken up; he will live in your forecourts. This action of taking someone up pertains to the third blessing of God, namely, magnification. The Apostle says in Romans 8:30: the ones whom he has justified, he has also magnified. And how has the Lord magnified St. Martin? Surely with a triple step.

3.1. First, through the holiness of his works. If someone reads St. Martin’s biography, he will discover how grand he has been: how great his virtue, his abstinence, and his chastity have been. Genesis 26:13 says of such a magnitude that Isaac advanced and increased until the effect was great. St. Martin has been great in the observance of the commandments. Thus the psalmist says: happy those who hear your law and guard it in their whole heart. (See Psalm 119:1–2. See also Proverbs 8:32, Proverbs 29:18, and Luke 11:28.)

3.2. Second, St. Martin has been great because of the greatness of [his] miracles. (a) He has raised up three dead people. (See Sulpicius Severus, Dialogue*, dialogue 2, ch. 4 (CSEL 1:184; PL 20:204AD); On the Life of St. Martin, bk. 1, cc. 6–8 (CSEL 1:117; SC 133:266–270; PL 20:164C–165B); in the liturgy of the Dominican Order (Rome, Santa Sabina AGOP XIV L 1, f. 222vb).)* (b) His garments (cf. Acts 19:12) and the letters he sent cured those who were ill. (See Sulpicius Severus, On the Life of St. Martin, bk. 1, cc. 18–19 (CSEL 1:127; SC 133:292; PL 20:170CD); in the liturgy of the Dominican Order (Rome, Santa Sabina AGOP XIV L 1, f. 223va).) About this magnification we read in Sirach 45:2: he has made him great in the fear of enemies, (It is God who made him great, for it was through grace that Martin could work these miracles: ST I.43.3, ad 4; 104.4, 117.3, ad 1.) (c) that is: of his enemies, the pagans (Sir 45:2 [Vg]), and by his words he has tamed monsters. For once there was a tree cut down, and he had placed himself in the path of its fall, and the tree fell over to the other side. (See Sulpicius Severus, On the Life of St. Martin, bk. 1, cc. 12–13 (CSEL 1:22; SC 133:280–282; PL 20:167C–168A); in the liturgy of the Dominican Order (Rome, Santa Sabina AGOP XIV L 1, f. 223rb). Here Thomas refers to the event when druids whom St. Martin tried to convert offered to cut down their sacred fir or pine tree, if he stood in the path of its fall. He agreed. The tree was cut. But as it was about to crush St. Martin, he held up his hand and made the sign of the cross. Subsequently it fell the opposite way.) (d) Likewise, he wanted to penetrate the troops of the enemies unarmed, and subsequently he tamed the monsters, because his enemies sent peace negotiators. (See Sulpicius Severus, On the Life of St. Martin, bk. 1, ch. 4 (CSEL 1:114; SC 133:260; PL 20:163A); in the liturgy of the Dominican Order, the sixth reading of Matins (Rome, Santa Sabina AGOP XIV L 1, f. 222va); the seventh reading: postea vero die hostes legatos de pace miserunt.) Because of these miracles St. Martin must be magnified, like the Blessed Virgin, who has said: because he has done great things for me (Luke 1:49), namely, the greatest miracle of the miracles: that in her womb God became man and that she gave birth and yet she remained a virgin. (See Aquinas, In III Sent. 3.2.1, resp.; In IV Sent. 11.1.3, qa. 3, resp.; On the Power of God, q. 6, a. 2, ad 9; q. 6, a. 9, obj. 9; Commentary on Hebrews, at 2:4, ch. 2, lect. 1. See also SCG I.6; Commentary on 1 Corinthians, at 15:1, ch. 15, lect. 1; ST III.28.1–3.) Also for St. Martin he has done many great things. Because of this he must be magnified by all people.

3.3. The third step is proper to the magnification of the happiness of St. Martin, found in the spreading of his fame, all over the earth. For which is the devotion and which is the city where the name and the fame of St. Martin are not renowned? Psalm 137:2 (Vg): you have magnified your holy name above every name. Although a gloss (Glossa interlinearis, at Psalm 137:2, in Glossa ordinaria 3.1498; Peter Lombard, Commentary on the Psalms, on Psalm 137:3 (PL 191:1207B).) relates this to Christ, still it could be said of St. Martin. Think about the miracles he has done. So many kings, so many emperors have applied themselves to making a name for themselves on earth (Ps 48:12 [Vg]): some have built triumphal arches; others, houses and castles; and still their memory has perished with their sound (Ps 9:7). There are only a few who know who Trajan and Octavian were. (Trajan was a mighty Roman emperor at the beginning of the second century AD who extended the boundaries of the empire, undertook an enormous building project in Rome, and enlarged social welfare. Octavian is the name of the first Roman emperor, Augustus, who ruled from 23 BC until 14 AD. So both were very famous and great in the eyes of the people there and then.) But St. Martin, who was lowly on earth—the effect [of his life] is great. (See Aquinas, Sermon 16, I Have Found David.) It says in Job 29: upon hearing my name the ear has blessed me (Job 29:11). All who hear the story of St. Martin bless him.

The first point is clear now, namely, the beginning of how he became happy, which is the divine help, and how God chides and teaches man and takes him up.