The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity
Home, 20th Sunday after Trinity
O ALMIGHTY and most merciful God, of thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech thee, from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things which thou commandest; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Source: Sacrementary of Bishop Gelasius of Rome [494]. Much minor reworking from the Latin. [Barbee and Zalh]
Ephesians v. 15 Psalm 116 & St. Matthew xxii. 1
Augustine on Psalm CXVI
Ecclesiastes ix. 4
For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
Ephesians v. 15
SEE then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
St. Matthew xxii. 1
JESUS said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding-garment: and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding-garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.
Scripture from 1928 Book of Common Prayer
The Collects of Thomas Cranmer, Barbee and Zahl
Homily
Augustine on the Psalms
Psalm CXVI
1. "I have loved, since the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer"
(ver. 1). Let the soul that is sojourning in absence from the Lord sing
thus, let that sheep which had strayed sing thus, let that son who had
"died and returned to life," who had "been lost and was found;"
let our soul sing thus, brethren, and most beloved sons. Let us be
taught, and let us abide, and let us sing thus with the saints: "I have
loved: since the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer." Is this a
reason for having loved, that the Lord will hear the voice of my
prayer? and do we not rather love, because He hath heard, or that He
may hear? What then meaneth, "I have loved, since the Lord will hear"?
Doth he, because hope is wont to inflame love, say that he hath loved,
since he hath hoped that God will listen to the voice of his prayer?
2. But whence hath he hoped for this? Since, he saith, "He hath
inclined His ear unto me: and in my days I have called upon Him" (ver.
2). I loved, therefore, because He will hear; He will hear, "because He
hath inclined His ear unto me." But whence knowest thou, O human soul,
that God hath inclined His ear unto thee, except thou sayest, "I have
believed"? These three things, therefore, "abide, faith, hope,
charity:" because thou hast believed, thou hast hoped; because
thou hast hoped, thou hast loved....
3. And what are thy days, since thou hast said, "In my days I have
called upon Him"? Are they those perchance, in which "the fulness of
time came," and "God sent His Son," who had already said, "In an
acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I
helped thee"? ...I may rather call my days the days of my
misery, the days of my mortality, the days according to Adam, full of
toil and sweat, the days according to the ancient corruption. "For I
lying, stuck fast in the deep mire," in another Psalm also have
cried out, "Behold, Thou hast made my days old;" in these days
of mine have I called upon Thee. For my days are different from the
days of my Lord. I call those my days, which by my own daring I have
made for myself, whereby I have forsaken Him: and, since He reigneth
everywhere, and is all-powerful, and holdeth all things, I have
deserved prison; that is, I have received the darkness of ignorance,
and the bonds of mortality....For in these days of mine, "The snares of
death compassed me round about, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me"
(ver. 3): pains that would not have overtaken me, had I not wandered
from Thee. But now they have overtaken me; but I found them not, while
I was rejoicing in the prosperity of the world, in which the snares of
hell deceive the more.
4. But after "I too found trouble and heaviness, I called upon the Name
of the Lord" (ver. 4). For trouble and profitable sorrow I did not
feel; trouble, wherein He giveth aid, unto whom it is said, "O be Thou
our help in trouble: and vain is the help of man." For I thought
I might rejoice and exult in the vain help of man; but when I had heard
from my Lord, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be
comforted:" I did not wait until I should lose those temporal
blessings in which I rejoiced, and should then mourn: but I gave heed
to that very misery of mine which caused me to rejoice in such things,
which I both feared to lose, and yet could not retain; I gave heed to
it firmly and courageously, and I saw that I was not only agonized by
the adversities of this world, but even bound by its good fortune; and
thus "I found the trouble and heaviness" which had escaped me, "and
called upon the Name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my
soul." Let then the holy people of God say, "I called upon the Name of
the Lord:" and let the remainder of the heathen hear, who do not as yet
call upon the Name of the Lord; let them hear and seek, that they may
discover trouble and heaviness, and may call upon the Name of the Lord,
and be saved....
5. "Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful"
(ver. 5). He is gracious, righteous, and merciful. Gracious in the
first place, because He hath inclined His ear unto me; and I knew not
that the ear of God had approached my lips, till I was aroused by those
beautiful feet, that I might call upon the Lord's Name: for who hath
called upon Him, save he whom He first called? Hence therefore He is in
the first place "gracious;" but "righteous," because He scourgeth; and
again, "merciful," because He receiveth; for "He scourgeth every son
whom He receiveth;" nor ought it to be so bitter to me that He
scourgeth, as sweet that He receiveth. For how should not "The Lord,
who keepeth little ones" (ver. 6), scourge those whom, when of mature
age, He seeketh to be heirs; "for what son is he whom the father
chasteneth not?" "I was in misery, and He helped me." He helped
me, because I was in misery; for the pain which the physician causeth
by his knife is not penal, but salutary.
6. "Turn again then unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath done
good to thee" (ver. 7): not for thy deservings, or through thy
strength; but because the Lord hath done good to thee. "Since," he
saith, "He hath delivered my soul from death" (ver. 8). It is
wonderful, most beloved brethren, that, after he had said that his soul
should turn unto rest, since the Lord had rewarded him; he added, since
"He hath delivered my soul from death." Did it turn unto rest, because
it was delivered from death? Is not rest more usually said of death?
What is the action of him whose life is rest, and death disquietude?
Such then ought to be the action of the soul, as may tend to a quiet
security, not one that may increase restless toil; since He hath
delivered it from death, who, pitying it, said, "Come unto Me, all ye
that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," etc.
Meek therefore and humble, following, so to speak, Christ as its path,
should the action of the soul be that tendeth towards repose;
nevertheless, not slothful and supine; that it may finish its course,
as it is written, "In quietness make perfect thy works." "Thou
hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet
from falling." Whoever feeleth the chain of this flesh, chanteth these
things as fulfilled in hope towards himself. For it is truly said, "I
was in misery, and He delivered me;" but the Apostle saith this also
truly, that we are saved by hope. And that we are delivered from
death, is well said to be already fulfilled, so that we may understand
the death of unbelievers, of whom he saith, "Leave the dead to bury
their dead." ...He will then clear our eyes of tears, when He
shall save our feet from falling. For there will then be no slipping of
our feet as they walk, when there will be no sliding of the weak flesh.
But now, however firm our path, which is Christ, be; yet since we place
flesh, which we are enjoined to subdue, beneath us; in the very work of
chastening and subduing it, it is a great thing not to fall: but not to
slip in the flesh, who can attain? "I shall please in the sight of the
Lord, in the land of the living" (ver. 9)....We "labour" indeed now,
because we are awaiting "the redemption of our body:" but, "when
death shall have been swallowed up in victory, and this corruptible
shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal immortality;"
then there will be no weeping, because there will be no falling; and no
falling, because no corruption. And therefore we shall then no longer
labour to please, but we shall be entirely pleasing in the sight of the
Lord, in the land of the living.
7. ..."I believed," saith he, "and therefore did I speak. But I was
sorely brought down" (ver. 10). For he suffered many tribulations, for
the sake of the word which he faithfully held, faithfully preached; and
he was sorely brought down; as they feared who loved the praise of men
better than that of God. But what meaneth, "But I"? He should rather
say, I believed, and therefore I have spoken, and I was sorely brought
down: why did he add, "But I," save because a man may be sorely brought
down by those who oppose the truth, the truth itself cannot, which he
believeth and speaketh? Whence also the Apostle, when he was speaking
of his chain, saith, "the word of God is not bound." So this man
also, since there is one person of the holy witnesses, that is, of the
Martyrs of God, saith, "I believed, and therefore will I speak." "But
I;" not that which I believed, not the word which I have delivered;
"but I was sorely brought down."
8. "I said in my trance, All men are liars" (ver. 11). By trance he
meaneth fear, which when persecutors threaten, and when the sufferings
of torture or death impend, human weakness suffereth. For this we
understand, because in this Psalm the voice of Martyrs is heard. For
trance is used in another sense also, when the mind is not beside
itself by fear, but is possessed by some inspiration of revelation.
"But I said in my haste, All men are liars." In consternation he hath
had regard to his infirmity, and hath seen that he ought not to presume
on himself; for as far as pertaineth to the man himself, he is a liar,
but by the grace of God he is made true; lest yielding to the pressure
of his enemies he might not speak what he had believed, but might deny
it; even as it happened to Peter, since he had trusted in himself, and
was to be taught that we ought not to trust in man. And if every one
ought not to trust in man, surely not in himself; because he is a man.
Rightly therefore in his fear did he perceive that every man was a
liar; since they also whom no fear robs of their presence of mind, so
that they never lie by yielding to the persecutors, are such by the
gifts of God, not by their own strength....
9. "What," he asketh, "what reward shall I give unto the Lord, for all
the benefits that He hath returned unto me?" (ver. 12). He saith not,
for all the benefits that He hath done unto me but "for all the
benefits that He hath returned unto me." What deeds then on the man's
part had preceded, that all the benefits of God were not said to be
given, but returned? What had preceded, on the man's part, save sins?
God therefore repayeth good for evil, whilst unto Him men repay evil
for good; for such was the return of those who said, "This is the heir:
come, let us kill him."
10. But this man seeketh what he may return unto the Lord, and findeth
not, save out of those things which the Lord Himself returneth. "I will
receive," he saith, "the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of
the Lord" (ver. 13). "My vows will I render to the Lord, before all His
people" (ver. 14). Who hath given thee the cup of salvation, which when
thou takest, and callest upon the Name of the Lord, thou shalt return
unto Him a reward for all that He hath returned unto thee? Who, save He
who saith, "Are ye able to drink the cup that I shall drink of?"
Who hath given unto thee to imitate His sufferings, save He who hath
suffered before for thee? And therefore, "Right dear in the sight of
the Lord is the death of His Saints" (ver. 15). He purchased it by His
Blood, which He first shed for the salvation of slaves, that they might
not hesitate to shed their blood for the Lord's Name; which,
nevertheless, would be profitable for their own interests, not for
those of the Lord.
11. Let therefore the slave purchased at so great a price confess his
condition, and say, "Behold, O Lord, how that I am Thy servant: "I am
Thy servant, and the son of Thine handmaid" (ver. 16)....This,
therefore, is the son of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is above, the
free mother of us all. And free indeed from sin she is, but the
handmaid of righteousness; to whose sons still pilgrims it is said, "Ye
have been called unto liberty;" and again he maketh them
servants, when he saith, "but by love serve one another."...Let
therefore that servant say unto God, Many call themselves martyrs, many
Thy servants, because they hold Thy Name in various heresies and
errors; but since they are beside Thy Church, they are not the children
of Thy handmaid. But "I am Thy servant, and the son of Thine handmaid."
"Thou hast broken my bonds asunder."
12. "I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of praise" (ver. 17). For I
have not found any deserts of mine, since Thou hast broken my bonds
asunder; I therefore owe Thee the sacrifice of praise; because,
although I will boast that I am Thy servant, and the son of Thy
handmaid, I will glory not in myself, but in Thee, my Lord, who hast
broken asunder my bonds, that when I return from my desertion, I may
again be bound unto Thee.
13. "I will pay my vows unto the Lord" (ver. 18). What vows wilt thou
pay? What victims hast thou vowed? what burnt-offerings, what
holocausts? Dost thou refer to what thou hast said a little before, "I
will receive the cup of salvation, and will call upon the Name of the
Lord;" and, "I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving"? and
indeed whosoever well considereth what he is vowing to the Lord, and
what vows he is paying, let him vow himself, let him pay himself as a
vow: this is exacted, this is due. On looking at the coin, the Lord
saith, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God
the things which are God's:" his own image is rendered unto
Caesar: let His image be rendered unto God.
14. "In the courts," he saith, "of the Lord's house" (ver. 19). What is
the Lord's house, the same is the Lord's handmaid: and what is God's
house, save all His people? It therefore followeth, "In the sight of
all His people." And now he more openly nameth his mother herself. For
what else is His people, but what followeth, "In the midst of thee, O
Jerusalem"? For than that which is returned grateful, if it be returned
from peace, and in peace. But they who are not sons of this handmaid,
have loved war rather than peace....
Let us pray in the words of Augustine.
Turn we to the Lord God, the Father Almighty, and with pure hearts offer to him, so far as our
meanness can, great and true thanks, with all our hearts praying his exceeding kindness, that of
his good pleasure he would deign to hear our prayers, that by his Power he would drive out the
enemy from our deeds and thoughts, that he would increase our faith, guide our understandings,
give us spiritual thoughts, and lead us to his bliss, through Jesus Christ his Son our Lord, who
liveth and reigneth with him, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
[A prayer which he was wont to use after his Sermons and Lectures.]
NPNF (V1-08) St. Augustine
Finis
HOME