Fifth Sermon for Christmas Eve: On the Manner in Which We Must Prepare and Sanctify Ourselves for the Vision of God

« Sanctify yourselves to-day and be ye prepared, for to-morrow you shall see in you the Majesty of God.’’—From the Responsory of the Office of Vigils for Christmas Eve.

To-day, my brethren, on the eve of the Lord’s nativity, the Church wisely admonishes us to prepare ourselves in all holiness for the celebration of so unspeakable a mystery. For the Holy of Holies is at hand: He is at hand Who has said, “ Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy.” How can that which is holy be given to dogs, or how can pearls be offered to swine, unless the dogs are first converted from their wickedness and the swine cleansed from their foulness, and unless they are resolved for the future to shun with all solicitude, the former the vomit, the latter the slough ? Of old, when the carnal Israelites were about to receive the commandments of God, they sanctified themselves with the justifications of the flesh, with various ablutions, with gifts and sacrifices, none of which things had the power of purifying the conscience of him who performed them. But now all these rites and ceremonies have passed away, because they were only given to be observed until the time of interior justification by the grace of redemption, which time, as you know, has already come. Rightly therefore has perfect holiness been from that moment expected and demanded of us, rightly has purification of the conscience been enjoined and spiritual cleanliness exacted. For the Lord Himself has said, “ Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.” For this we live, my brethren, for this we have been born, for this we have been called, for this it has been granted us to see the sun to-day. It was night in times past when no man was able to do these things. It was night all over the world before the dawn of the true Light, before the birth of the Saviour. It was also night for each one of us before his conversion to God and his spiritual regeneration.

Shall it be questioned that a most profound night and densest darkness covered the whole face of the earth, when our fathers of old worshipped gods made with hands, and with a sacrilegious madness fell down in adoration before stocks and stones? And with regard to each of ourselves, was it not gloomy night whilst we were “living without God in this world,” whilst we were “ going after our lusts,” whilst we were consenting to our carnal inclinations, whilst we were obeying “ worldly desires,” whilst we were yielding our “ members as instruments of iniquity unto sin,” whilst we were “serving uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity,” “ of which we are now ashamed ”’ as of the works of darkness? Hence the Apostle says, “ They that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that are drunk are drunk in the night.” Such have we been, my brethren ; but we have been awakened and sanctified, if yet we be the sons of light and day rather than of night and of darkness. For he is the herald of day who cries out to us, “ Be sober and watch.” And to the Jews the same Apostle (St. Peter) said on the feast of Pentecost, speaking of his fellow-disciples, ‘‘ These are not drunk as you suppose, seeing that it is but the third hour of the day.” This is also the burden of his brother-apostle, St. Paul, where he says, “ The night is passed and the day is as hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light.” “Let us cast off the works of darkness,” such as drowsiness and drunkenness—since, as you have just heard, “ they that sleep, sleep in the night ; and they that are drunk are drunk in the night,” —and, as being now in the day, let us not slumber but “ walk,” and let us “ walk honestly,” not with the staggering steps of the wine-bibber. Do you see a man whose “ soul slumbereth through heaviness ”’ with regard to every good work ? Such a one “is in darkness even until now.” Do you see a man “ inebriated with wormwood,” “‘ more wise than it behoveth to be wise,” and not “ wise unto sobriety,” whose “eye is not filled with seeing, neither is his ear filled with hearing,” who, loving money or something similar, longs for it with a desire as insatiable as the thirst of a dropsical patient ? He is the son of night and darkness. These two evils of sloth and inordinate desire are not easy to separate. Hence it is said in Holy Scripture that “the idle man is full of desires ” ;* that is to say every sluggard is given to intemperance. Let us therefore sanctify ourselves to-day, and let us be prepared. Let us prepare ourselves to-day by shaking off the drowsiness which belongs to the night; and let us sanctify ourselves as in the day, and cleanse ourselves from nocturnal excesses, restraining the impetuosity of wicked desires. In other words, let us avoid t evil and do good, because “‘ on these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.” But it is only for to-day we shall be thus employed. To-morrow we shall spend neither in sanctifying ourselves, nor in preparing ourselves, but in contemplating the Divine Majesty. For so sings the Church in her office, ‘‘ To-morrow you shall see in you the Majesty of God.” This is the same as what the Patriarch Jacob said of old, “ My justice shall answer for me to-morrow.” To-day we cultivate justice, to-morrow it will respond to our labours. It is exercised to-day, it will bear fruit to-morrow. For no man shall reap what he has not sown. So he who now neglects internal holiness shall not be admitted hereafter to the contemplation of Majesty; the Sun of glory shall never shine on him on whom the Sun of justice has not risen ; nor shall he see the dawn of to-morrow who has not lived in the light of to-day. For, as the Apostle teaches, the same Christ, “ Who of God is made unto us Justice” to-day, shall appear as our Life to-morrow, when we “ also shall appear with Him in glory.” To-day He is born for us as a Little One, “that man may no more presume to magnify himself upon earth,” but that we may rather “ be converted and become as little children.” But to-morrow He will show Himself to us as the “great Lord and greatly to bepraised,” so that we also shall be magnified in glory when “‘ every man shall have praise from God.” For those whom He justifies to-day, He will magnify to-morrow, and to the consummation of holiness shall succeed the vision of Majesty. Neither is that an unprofitable vision which constitutes a resemblance to the Godhead. For “ we shall be like to Him, because we shall see Him as He is.” Hence in our text also it is not said simply, “you shall see the Majesty of God,” but, “ you shall see im you the Majesty of God.” That is : to-day, when He appears in cur human nature, we see ourselves in Him as in a mirror ; but to-morrow we shall see Him in ourselves, when He will clothe us with His own Divinity, when He will unveil to us His Countenance, when He will take us to Himself. This is the promise He has made to those who watch for His coming, “ that He will gird Himself and make them sit down to meat and passing will minister to them.” Meantime, we all receive of His fulness, not yet indeed glory for glory, but only “ grace for grace.” But it is written, “ The Lord will give grace and glory.” Despise not, therefore, the foregoing gifts if you wish to obtain the following. Do not disdain the food which is first served if you would partake of that which comes after. Even for the sake of the dish which contains it, refuse not the meat that is offered. For our Divine Peace-Maker has fashioned for Himself an incorruptible dish, “ fitting’ to Himself an incorruptible Body, and in this most precious dish He ministers to us the food of salvation. “ Thou wilt not give Thy Holy One,” sings the Psalmist, “ to see corruption.” And it is of the Same the Angel Gabriel says to Mary, “ The Holy Which shall be born of thee shall becalled the Son of God.”

Therefore, let us be sanctified to-day by this Holy One, in order that we may see His Majesty in us when that future day shall dawn. For the day of sanctification has already shone upon us, and the day of salvation, but not yet the day of glory and of bliss. It is only proper that so long as the passion of the

Holy One (Who suffered on the Parasceve, that is, on the day of preparation) is still announced, it should be said to all, ‘‘ Sanctify yourselves to-day and be prepared. Sanctify yourselves more and more, by advancing from virtue to virtue, and prepare yourselves by perseverance in good.” But in what things are we to be sanctified? I have read in the Scriptures of Moses, how that the Lord “ sanctified him in his faith and meekness.”’ For it is quite as impossible to please men without meekness as to please God without faith. Rightly, then, are we admonished to prepare ourselves in these virtues whereby we shall give satisfaction to God Whose Majesty we are destined to contemplate, and also to each other, so that we may behold that Majesty even in ourselves. For this is the reason why it behoveth us to “ provide good things not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of all men,” namely, in order that we may render ourselves agreeable to our fellow-citizens and brothers-inarms, as well as to our King.

In the first place, therefore, we must seek after faith, by which, as St. Peter testifies, God purifies our hearts. For “ blessed are the clean of heart because they shall see (the Majesty of) God.” Abandon thyself, therefore, to God, commit thyself to Him, “ cast thy care upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee.” Then mayest thou say with confidence, ‘The Lord is careful for me.” But such confidence is unknown to men who love themselves, who are wise in their own conceit, who “‘ seek the things that are their own,” and “ make provision for the flesh in its concupiscences,’’ who are deaf to the voice which calls out to them, saying, “Cast all your care upon Him, for He hath care of a?

you.” For to believe in one’s self is not faith but perfidy, and it is rather diffidence than confidence to trust in one’s self. He is truly faithful who neither believes in himself nor hopes in himself, but, like the Prophet, becomes to himself “as a broken vessel,” so: losing his life in this world that he may preserve it eternally in the next. But it is only humility of heart that can induce the faithful scul not to rely on her own strength, but, abandoning herself, to rest upon the Lord, and thus to “ ascend from the desert, flowing with delights, (because) leaning upon her Beloved.” But in order that our sanctification may be perfect, it is also clearly incumbent on us to learn from the Saint of saints the sweetness and kindliness which are necessary in human society. Hence He Himself has said, ““ Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart.” But of him, who has thus made perfect his sanctification ; who “is sweet and mild and plenteous in mercy,” like God Himself; who is “all things to all men,” like the Apostle ; who, in a manner, anoints all his brethren with that ointment of gentleness and meekness with which he is himself so saturated, so full, so brimming’ over that he seems to diffuse it on every side,—-why should I not say of such a one that he is “ flowing with delights” ? Happy the man who by reason of this double preparation of faith and meekness is able to say with the Psalmist, “ My heart is ready, O Lord, my heart is ready.” For he has to-day his “ fruit unto sanctification ” and to-morrow shall have “ the end, life everlasting,” because to-morrow he shall see the Majesty of God, in which everlasting life consists, according to the words of Truth Itself, “ This is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent.” And “the Lord, the just Judge, will render to (him) in that day,” to which no other shall succeed, the “crown of justice.” “ Then shall he see and abound, and his heart shall wonder and be enlarged.” By how much shall his heart be enlarged? By so much as shall enable him to behold in himself the Majesty of God. But do not imagine, my brethren, that Ican explain to you in words what that promise means.

“ Sanctify yourselves to-day and be prepared.” Tomorrow you shall see and shall rejoice, and “ your joy shall be full.” For what capacity is so great that the Majesty of God cannot fill it? Yea, you shall be filled up and to overflowing when the “ good measure, and pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, they shall give into your bosom.” And so superabundant is this reward that it transcends “ above measure exceedingly ” not only our merits but even our desires. For God is able to accomplish what is beyond our hope and power of understanding. There - are, my brethren, three ultimate objects of human desire, namely, the honourable, the useful, and the delectable. These are the goods which we all covet: we all covet all of them, but in varying degrees, for this has more attractions for one and that for another. Thus some men are so given up to pleasure that they have but little regard either for the honourable or the useful. Others, devoting themselves particularly to the pursuit of gain, viz., the useful, pay less attention to the honourable and the pleasurable. Others again make honour their chief or only object of endeavour, looking upon the useful and the delectable with comparative indifference. Now, we do nothing reprehensible in desiring these things, provided we seek them there where alone they can be truly found. But where they are truly found, they are one. For the one Sovereign Good is at once supremely useful, supremely delectable, and supremely honourable. And this is our hope—so far as we can conceive it in the present life—and the promised vision, whereby we shall see In us the Divine Majesty: that God shall be all in all to us, all our pleasure, all our profit, all our honour. Amen,