Undusted Texts

On Sexagesima Sunday

By Gottfried of Admont (d. 1165)

Introduction

Gottfried was a Benedictine monk, as was his brother, Irimbert. In 1130, he became abbot of Weingarten Abbey; some years later, he briefly became prior of the Monastery of St. George in the Hercynian Forest. He is most remembered, though, for his time as abbot of Admont Abbey, which he became in 1337. He was known as a reformer, correcting the laxities of monastic life, and as a scholar; he is credited with greatly enlarging Admont Abbey's library. He died on June 25, 1165 and was succeeded as abbot by his brother. He left behind many homilies, in three sets. The first explains the Gospel and Epistle reading for each Sunday; the second explains them for the Feasts of the year; the third explains various Scripture passages. This homily is from the first group; it is on the readings for Sexagesima Sunday, the second Sunday before Lent. The readings are 2 Cor 11:19-13, 12:1-9 and Lk 8:4-15. Paragraph divisions are from Migne's text, but I have added the numbers.

Homily XXIII

On Sexagesima Sunday

When a great crowd gathered, and came to Him from the cities, He said, through similitude: He who sows went out to sow his seed (Lk 8:4-5).

  1. This man, who went out to sow his seed, signifies He Who says this, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Who is well compared to sowing man. For He it is Who sowed all that is. He it is Who formed and created all existence. But why does He say: He went out? Where did He go, or whence did He go out? In some way, He was within, since the invisible God remained unknown to man, in the substance of His invisible divinity. Truly, He went out, when, descending from the bosom of the Father into the womb of the Virgin mother, He assumed humanity’s form, through which the invisible God appeared a visible man, to the world. But He was also within in another way, when, in that assumed form of humanity, He hid Himself for thirty years, since He manifested His omnipotence to the world by no sign nor doctrine of divinity. But He went out to sow His seed, when He began to preach to the world with flashing miracles. Indeed, He went out daily to sow His seed in His preaching, in teachings of truth, while His mercies preceded the words of teaching in the hearts of listeners. For everyone who preaches labors in frustration, unless the omnipotent God, in His blessings, precedes and opens the heart of man. For He is the key of David, which opens and no one closes, closes, and no one opens (cf. Rev 3:7).
  2. And while He sows, some fell by the way, and it was trampled, and the birds of heaven ate it (Lk 8:5). These words which, as Blessed Gregory says, Truth explains by Himself, do not presume to discuss human weakness. [1] But yet it is necessary for us, if someone can make His exposition of them plainer for us. For they, His elected disciples, the holy apostles who were wise, who, as much as is possible, communicated at the living font of eternal Wisdom and knowledge, day and night, comprehended and understood much from little; this little sufficed; but we, miserable ones, who are of tardy heart, and sometimes comprehend and understand very little from many words, I do not say the parable, but the parable’s exposition is too obscure for us.
  3. But if we are imitators of the apostolic life, we can hope the word, which He replied to them, seeking the mystery of this parable, is, nevertheless, spoken to us. To you, He says, it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but, to the rest, in parables (Lk 8:9). These words were then spoken to them corporally; the same words are daily spoken spiritually us spirits, that is, men. By the mystery of the kingdom of God, the mystery of Sacred Scripture is understood, which is not incongruously compared to the kingdom of God, when God is truly in Holy Scripture, God is truly known from Holy Scripture. Holy Scripture, which speaks to spirits of the mysteries of the kingdom of God, is like a parable to worldly men.
  4. And what He says is to be noted: To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. For He affirms that to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, to know the mystery of Sacred Scripture, is given to us, not so that we know, but so that, by what we know, we will strive to fulfill by works. For to know the Scriptures profits us nothing, if good action does not follow good knowledge. Indeed, it hurts more than it profits, as the Lord testifies, Who says: The servant knowing the will of his master, and not doing it, will be greatly flogged (Lk 12:47); and the apostle: The one knowing the good and not doing it, he is sinful (Jas 4:17).
  5. But since He subjoins: That the seers not see, and the hearers not understand, we think that, through this, the learned and the unlearned cannot be treated unequally. For those knowing the Scripture’s mysteries are rightly called seers: those not knowing, but awaiting the word of God from others, are rightly denoted by hearers. The seers do not see, who, reading the Scriptures, see something by knowledge, but do not see it by experience. The hearers do not understand, who hear by doctrine, but do not know by efficacy. By what was briefly touched on before, we see what are the three things which the eternal Wisdom of God proposes to us in this reading. First, He posits the way, after the way, the stone, after the stone, the thorns.
  6. And when he sows, it says, some fell by the way, and was trampled, and the birds of heaven ate it. And some fell upon the stone, and, being born, fell to run, since it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns, arising together, suffocated it (Lk 8:5-7).
  7. By the way, we can understand the mind’s negligence, by the stone, the heart’s hardness, by the thorns, the heart’s avarice. These are the three, by which the seed of the Word of God, sown in the field of our hearts, perishes, since, at dawning, it will not be able to produce fruit through good action. By the way the seed falls, when the word of God is preached to the negligent. Therefore, the Lord says: But that which is by the way, are those who hear, then the devil comes, and takes the word from their heart, lest, believing, they be saved (Lk 8:12). By the way are those who are not solicitous about their own custody. With all custody, says Solomon, preserve your heart, since life proceeds from it (Prv 4:23). What is sown by the way is trampled, since where the guard is removed, namely, the mind’s solicitous vigilance, noxious, useless, and vain thoughts, in turn, succeed it, licitly retire, and advance; the heart of man is like a triple way, in which, even if the seed of the word of God falls, it cannot germinate there, but the birds of heaven ate it, since unclean spirits, designated by birds, entering and exiting through suggestions and unclean thoughts, even if something good arises in that heart, seize, devastate, and devour it.
  8. After the way, He rightly posits the stone, by which we understand the heart’s hardness: since, while the torpid and negligent mind is bound by no custody, justly is it thus hardened and blinded in itself by God’s judgment, since, even when it willed, it could not return to its interior, either through the remembrance of sins, or for the desire of eternal things. Whence the Lord, after He says: And some fell upon the stone, rightly adds: And, being born, it fell to ruin, since it had no moisture. This moisture is the moisture of tears, by which the conceived seed of the Word of God is assiduously irrigated. For the Word of God is conceived when it is heard; it is born when it leads to the effect of good action. But if the moisture of tears is lacking, being born, it will fall to ruin, since, whatever good will or good action man gives birth to from hearing the word of God, from the aridity of a hard heart, as if born, it falls to ruin, it does not grow, it does not advance into the fruit of perfect action. Therefore the Lord says:
  9. For those upon the stone, they are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and they do not have roots, since for a time they believe, and, in the time of temptation, recede (Lk 8:13). There are some who receive the word of God with joy, namely, who listen freely, who propose to follow what they heard. But since they are stone, and do not have roots, since they lack the virtues of humility and perseverance, which are roots, they begin, in some way, to fulfill and follow what was heard with deeds, but when temptation assaults, if wrath or envy seizes the mind, if prosperity, if adversity show themselves to someone, they leave what was well begun, they run back to pristine custom of the vices of instability and inconstancy, since it for a time believes, and in the time of temptation, recedes. And since such is the heart of man, that nothing avails to be there except what it loves, while it neglects God and those things which are God’s, and condemns them, it begins to love the world and the things which are the world’s, it strains to be overtaken. Whence, after the way, after the stone, He rightly places the thorns.
  10. And some, He says, fell among thorns, and the thorns, arising together, suffocated it (Lk 8:7). By thorns, we said that avarice is to be understood. But it is not avarice of money alone, but of honor and of lust, as the same Author of Truth proves, saying: But what fell among thorns, they are those who hear, and are suffocated by solicitudes and riches and the lusts of life, and do not bear fruit (Lk 8:14). What are solicitudes, riches, and lusts of life except avarice! These are those three tyrants who fight us, who always recall and retard us from doing and producing the fruit of justice and truth, namely, the devil, the world, and the flesh, which we bear. The devil fights us through solicitudes, when he does not solicit and perturb through his suggestions. The world fights us through riches, namely, the favors and honors of the present life. Our flesh fights us through lusts, so that, resisting the spirit, we love the deeds of the flesh. These are the evilly-fighting thorns, which, if they fix a root in the heart of man, even if the seed of the word of God is sown there and rises, the thorns, arising together, suffocate it, so that it does not bear fruit, as it is not able to rise to the study of good action.
  11. Against these three, the way, the stone, and the thorns, the Psalmist prayed, saying: Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to avarice (Ps 118:36). Against the way, he places this word, incline, by which humility is designated, since the heart founded in humility closes off the entrance malign spirits from itself, by the virtue of humility, lest it be unpassable or passable to their suggestions and prompts. Against the way, against the mind’s negligence, he prayed, saying incline my heart. Against the stone, against the heart’s hardness, he prayed, adding to Your testimonies, by which is expressed meditation on the Sacred Scripture, since there is nothing which so softens the heart of man as meditation on the testimonies of God, from which is generated the solicitous observation of the commands of God. After these two, namely, the way and the stone, man will turn away, through humility and the observation of the commands of God; the third, which is avarice, will not prevail against him. For a humble heart, and one solicitous in the observation of the commands of God, even if it is fought by the devil, by solicitudes, by the world, by riches and honors, by the flesh, by lusts, yet it is not overcome, but, the seed of the word of God growing within him, he is daily animated to bear fruit worthy of God. Therefore, the Lord subjoined, and said:
  12. And some fell on good earth, and, rising, bore fruit a hundredfold (Lk 8:8). What He signified by good earth and fruit a hundredfold, He Himself explains, when He says: But that on good earth, these are they who, hearing, retain the word of God in a good and best heart, and bear fruit in patience (Lk 8:15). The good earth designates the good man, good heart figuratively designates a fearful heart, best heart, a loving heart. And rightly do these two, namely, fear and love, oppose the two preceding, namely, the way and the stone, fear against the way, love against the stone. For the fear of God constrains man, lest he be on the way, lest he be negligent in the heart’s custody; the love of God softens man, lest he be stone, namely, stony earth, the internal humor of sweetness being dried up. Therefore, we can say the good heart to be the heart watched by custody, the best heart, the heart softened by love’s grace.
  13. And well does He say: They who, hearing, retain the word in a good and best heart. The word of God is heard by a good heart, is retained by a best heart. For it is good to hear the word of God, it is best to retain it, that is, to fulfill it by works. From these two, from a good and best heart, from divine fear and love, that fruit is born, by which God is delighted and fed. That fruit is the fruit of the love of God and neighbor, which, therefore, is designated by fruit a hundredfold, since, when God is loved above all, when, for God, love of neighbor is guarded among all, the reward of eternal beatitude is multiplied a hundredfold. But since neither love of God nor love of neighbor can be administered without the adversities and perturbations of the present life, the Lord subjoins here, and says:
  14. And bears fruit in patience. The Lord warns us, in these few words, that we not, moved by prosperities or adversities, be idle in love of God, not fall from the love of God through any interruptions by various things or by occasional perturbations, but that we always bear our fruit in patience. Did not the vase of election, Paul, I say, the apostle, bear this fruit, the fruit of love of God and neighbor, in patience, who, for love of God, by which he was inflamed, so burn with love of neighbor, [158] that he could not be recalled from his intention, by which he labored for the salvation of neighbors, by any adversities or labors of the present life? For what he underwent, how he labored more than all of Christ’s disciples, he himself enumerates in today’s reading, in which he says: From the Jews I received, five times, forty minus one lashes. Thrice I was felled by rods, once I was stoned, thrice I was shipwrecked. Night and day I was in the depth of the sea, often, in my journeys, amid perils of currents, perils of thieves, perils from my race, perils from the nations, perils in the city, perils in solitude, perils in the sea, perils amid false brethren, in labor and hardship, in many vigils, in cold and nudity (2 Cor 11:24-27). Let us also, beloved brethren, who ought to be imitators of the apostolic life, imitate such a man, let us strive, lest we be the way, lest we be the stone, lest we be thorns suffocating the seed of the word of God in us, lest we be those to whom the Lord speaks in parables, but rather those to whom He opens the mystery of His kingdom, in which we are taught, so that we be good earth, which, in a good and best heart, hears and retains the word of God, and bears fruit in patience, which remains without end. May He Himself deign to help, Who, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns through all the ages of ages. Amen.

    15. Footnotes: [1] St. Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Gospels I.XV.1 (PL 76:1131C).

    Source: Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina, ed. J.-P. Migne, Tomus CLXXIV (Paris: J.-P. Migne, 1854), 153D-158B. [PL 174:153D-158B]


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