Homily for the Beginning of Lent

By Paulinus of Béziers (fl. c. 418)

Introduction

This is one of the texts edited by Cardinal Angelo Mai (1782-1854), a philologist skilled in reading palimpsests, where a previous text is wiped off a parchment in order to make room for a new one. Cardinal Mai could decipher the original texts and printed many collections of otherwise-lost ancient texts. The manuscript only attributes this homily to a "Paulinus"; Cardinal Mai thinks the most likely author is Paulinus of Béziers (fl. c. 418), rather than the more famous St. Paulinus of Nola (354-431), among others. An interesting element of this Lenten homily is Paulinus' explanation of the resurrected state; based on Christ's death age of 30 (we would now say 33), at the General Resurrection, all will be at age 30, no matter what age they died.

Homily for the Beginning of Lent

1. As our Lord Jesus Christ did not permit this world to perish, so He deigned, through the womb of the holy Mary, to come into the world, in order to redeem us. The Lord did not want to lose our souls; for this He came into the world, in order to redeem the human race: since, if He wanted to lose those souls, He would not have sustained such lashings for us. See, brethren, with what precious flesh He redeemed us, not with gold, not with silver, not with clothing; but His own blood He poured forth for us. He left in heaven the thousands of angels, and came to the world to redeem us, and recalled us to His beatitude. From the heavens He came into a womb, from a womb He came into a crib, from a crib He fled into Egypt. From there He returned among the Jews, and He fasted for forty days and forty nights. Then He came to the Passion. For us He sustained such mockeries. The Jews spit upon Him, they whipped Him, they gave Him blows on the face, they placed a crown of thorns upon His head. For us He hung on the cross between thieves; and, when He was on the cross, they gave Him vinegar mixed with gall to drink. They pierced nails into His hands and feet. And the Lord sustained such things for us. When His body lay in a sepulcher, He proffered His light to hell; and, entering into it, He snatched from there the first man, Adam, who, for five thousand, two hundred, and twenty-eight years, lay there for his faults. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when He descended into hell, bit it, since He took a part, and left a part; the just He took, the sinners He left there. From there He led out Adam and the prophets and the patriarchs and all who were held there without cause.
2. And you, brethren, consider how many things our Lord sustained for us. And we, for God, ought to observe these forty days in fasts, in vigils, in prayers, in almsgivings, in patience, in charity, in humility, in purity, in sobriety, in love of God and neighbor: since these forty days are a tenth of the year: and we, in these days, ought to cease from every iniquity; and for those faults, which we committed before, we ought to do penance: since, however much we are sinners, if, with our whole heart, we want to convert to the Lord, and to cease from those faults, and to do penance, in these days we can come to emendation. As the Lord fasted forty days and forty nights; and Elijah similarly fasted forty days and nights; and Moses fasted on Mount Sinai. For there are, from the beginning of the Forty until the Paschal solemnity, six weeks, and there are forty-two days, and there are six Sundays. Removing these Sundays, there do not remain any more than thirty-six days in abstinence. In these thirty-six days, we can do penance, if we want to return to the Lord. As the Lord said: "I do not will the death of the sinner, but that He convert and live" (Ez 33:11). And as the Son of God, Who suffered for us, arose on the third day from the sepulcher, so also we, in likeness of Him, at the age of 30 years, all the people, just and sinners, have to arise for the judgment of God. Every man will die at some age, either an old man or a boy or a baby in the womb of his mother, and even if he will die in the same womb, we will have to arise at the age of 30 years; sinners, so that they will descend, with their flesh, into hell; the just, so that, in their flesh, they can attain the kingdom of God, with Whom they perform good deeds.

Source: Angelo Mai, ed., Spicilegium Romanum, Tomus IV (Rome: Typis Collegii Urbani, 1840), 311-313.

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