In the law whoever touched a dead body was
considered impure. But the Saints are not dead: since he who is essential Life
and from whom life springs, has been counted in the number of the dead, we no
longer call those dead who sleep in hope of the resurrection and faith in him.
For how could a corpse work miracles? And from whence would it come that the
Saints drive out the devils, drive away maladies, cure the infirm, give back
sight to the blind, health to the lepers, dispel temptations and griefs, that
in a word they cause to come down from the Father of lights, on those who ask
with firm faith, every best gift, and every perfect gift?
What would we not accept to suffer, if thereby we
could induce a protector to bring us before one of the kings of this earth and
speak of us to the king? Then, should we not reverence those who are the
protectors of all men and who speak of us to God? Certainly we must honor them
: in their name we must build churches for God and offer him the produce of our
fields ; we must celebrate their feasts and rejoice spiritually in them, that
our joy may be also the joy of those who unite us, and that under pretext of
honoring them, we do not rather rouse their anger. All that honors God gladdens
these servants of God, and all that annoys him will arouse the anger of his
courtiers. It is by psalms, hymns, spiritual canticles, compunction, pity
towards the indigent, that we, the faithful, must honor the Saints, because it
is that which above all honors God. Let us erect visible monuments and pictures
to them, but let us be ourselves their living monuments and pictures by
imitating their virtues.
Let us honor her who brought forth God, for is
truly and of full right the Mother of God. Let us honor the prophet John
because he is the Precursor and the Baptist, Apostle and Martyr, of whom our
Lord has said: God has raised up no greater son of woman than John the Baptist,
and also because he was the first preacher of the kingdom. Let us honor the
Apostles, because they are the brethren of our Lord, his eye-witnesses, his
attendants at his passion, whom he has destined from the first to be molded
into the image of his Son, Apostles first, then prophets, and thirdly
teachers.4 Moreover let us honor the Martyrs, whom our Lord chose from all
classes, because they are the soldiers of Christ, they have drunk of his
chalice and have been baptized with the baptism of his lifegiving death,
because they have taken part in his passion and his glory. Let us honor their
head, Stephen, the first deacon, apostle and first Martyr of Christ, Let us honor also our holy fathers, the Ascetics, who have led their lives of long
and hard interior mortification to the end: And others experienced mockery and
scourging, chains, too, and imprisonment; they were stoned, they were cut in
pieces, they were tortured, they were put to the sword; they wandered about,
dressed in sheepskins and goatskins, amidst wants and distress and ill-usage;
men whom the world was unworthy to contain.t Finally, let us honor the Prophets
before the era of grace, the Patriarchs and Just Men, who had foretold the
coming of our Lord. We will consider the life of them all, desire their faith,
their charity, their hope, their zeal, their manner of life, their patience in
suffering, their fidelity unto blood, so that we may have a share also with
them in the crowns of glory.
No comments:
Post a Comment