The Sermons of Johannes Tauler · 24 of 124

Sermon for Quinquagesima Sunday

With Christ I am nailed to the cross. And I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me. — Gal. ii, 19.

The holy apostle St. Paul, whose life was a spectacle of suffering for Christ and of conforming to God’s will, shows us how a spiritual man should bring forth the fruit of eternal life. It is by being joined close to Christ: “With Christ I am nailed to the cross. And I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me and he adds: “And that I live now in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself for me.” This is salutary counsel. The apostle bids us so to live that Christ may appear in us and be honored in us; that His passion and death may be exhibited in our mortal bodies, to our own profit and that of our neighbor. Now, although we have many afflictions to suffer, and each of these crosses has its length, breadth, depth and height, yet we should clearly understand, that it is only by the cross of Christ’s holy humanity that we are saved. To this cross is joined — if we may so express ourselves — the cross of Christ’s divinity, all painless and elevated in heavenly joy. And on either side of the cross of Christ stood two others — on the right that of the penitent thief, on the left that of the impenitent thief. These three crosses will serve to illustrate how our sufferings may be made to advance our spiritual welfare.

By the cross of the bad thief, we may understand those persons who belong to some holy state of life, and who are therefore obligated to certain painful outward observances. They have well deserved their sufferings, and yet they are not spiritually helped by them, for they obstinately continue in their wicked self-will and fall into other sins. Although nailed to their cross, such persons may suffer eternal loss with the impenitent thief. So that, having borne a heavy burden here, they may bear an infinitely heavier one hereafter.

The height of this cross is spiritual pride and self-sufficiency. They set themselves arrogantly over other men; they are insufferably vain of their austerities. No one is good enough to be their equal in virtue, so they think; and they look with contempt on all who do not practice their manner of life. To such as these St. Augustine wrote: “Dear brothers, rather than have you say or even think that you are better than other men, or any way different from them, I would prefer that you went back into the world. You should say, with Christ, as represented by the prophet: ‘I am a worm and no man, the reproach of men and the outcast of the people/ (Ps. xxi, 7.) And you should say, with the poor sinner: I have sinned; Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

The depth of this cross is the depth of sinfulness in such a man. His motives are essentially false, and he has never seriously been converted to God, never realized his unmortifled state, nor really desired to change for the better. He has rested wholly upon his external observances, and even that very unwillingly and under compulsion. He knows nothing at all of intimate union of the soul with God — thinks and enquires about such things and longs for them as little as does the Grand Turk. To him the real spiritual life is as if it did not exist. If he hears devout men speaking of such things, he understands it as little as an Italian does German. He mumbles his Pater Fosters, and he mechanically recites his psalms, and he performs his barren routine of observance of rule, and so he is quite content. As to God uniting Himself intimately to men’s soul, what does he care or know about such a thing as that? If by some outward religious practices one may gain some profit or attract some attention, then, indeed, he takes a living interest in the matter. Cross his will, if you dare; he at once is revealed as an ordinary senseless worldling. Hence St. Augustine says, that he knows no man worse than one who falls from a holy state of life, for it often happens that he ends in rejecting the true faith and impugning the teaching of Holy Scripture. Thus deep does such a man sink with the cross to which he is nailed.

The breadth of this evil cross is that it points to the broad and welltrodden road that leads to hell. Men fixed to it live according to the eternal welfare. These men are self-seekers, and they are self-opinionated in everything. They must be favored in everything; they must be continually dispensed from the Lord’s counsels of perfection; in one word, their whole object in life is never to suffer. But this cross they must suffer, whether they will or no — sharp pangs of conscience. For they can have no trust in God, because they have rejected and despised Him; nor in the world, for the world, in turn, despises them. Ah, dear children, they have, indeed, a hard life and carry a painful cross! They would be without any suffering, and yet they have the bitterest kind. Add to this the forebodings of eternal suffering if they do not return to God.

And that brings us to consider the length of this cross. This is shown when its votaries persevere in vice even to the end, which comes from their ingratitude. They have received many great graces from God, the like of which, if given to persons living in the world, would have been gratefully received by them. But all these graces they have wilfully rejected; they have disregarded God’s many inner admonitions, even sometimes being themselves amazed at their own hardness of heart. They have not turned to God, and have finally reached that dreadful state spoken of by St. Paul: “It is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, have moreover tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come, and are fallen away; to be renewed again to penance; crucifying again to themselves the Son of God, and making Him a mockery.” And the apostle adds a comparison: “For the earth that drinketh in the rain which cometh often upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is tilled, receiveth blessings from God. But that which bringeth forth thorns and briars, is reprobate, and very near unto a curse, whose end is to be burnt.” . (Heb. vi, 4-8.) Which all means this: These men who have been given so many graces, who have been favored with so many marks of God’s special love, and who have wilfully refused Him their heart’s allegiance and persevered in their wickedness — it is to be feared that they will finally suffer God’s eternal anathema. See to it, my dear children, that you do not allow yourselves to be fixed to this cross of eternal condemnation, lest you remain hanging there till the end.

The cross of the thief at the right hand is good, for he has made it fruitful unto eternal life. It serves to illustrate the resolute earnestness of those who have entered upon a life of penance, turning away from the world and from all sinfulness with heartfelt sincerity. They have regarded it as a favor to suffer very painfully for their former sins, thus atoning for the free rein they once gave to their fleshly passions and to their proud self-will. All this they have now quite and entirely given up for the sake of God, and they are content to suffer whatever penalties God may inflict on them. To them the cross is not only salutary; it is also comforting, sweet and well beloved. The cross brings to them, as it did to the good thief, strong faith joined to an unshaken confidence in God’s unspeakable love and mercy. Ah, my dear children, what greater good could the dying thief ever have gained in this poor, fleeting life than to hear those welcome words: “Amen, I say to thee, this day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke xxiii, 43.) And what more consoling words could a soul so well disposed, so truly converted, ever hear than these: “Come to Me all ye that labor and are heavy burdened, and I will refresh you?” (Matt, xi, 28.) Which means that I will receive and embrace you by My grace, assist you in times of trial, and aid you to bear your burdens; and after brief intervals of spiritual toil, will continually and swreetly strengthen you.

The depth of this cross represents humility without limit. By this virtue a man never rates himself higher than others, and sees no one’s faults but his own. He is like the good thief, who freely confessed that he suffered justly for his crimes. A good man, therefore, amid the acutest pains, willingly owns that he deserves yet more for his sins. All the sufferings of earth and hell, he really thinks, are not enough to atone for his former wickedness. Such a man can despise no one but himself, nor judge and condemn anyone except himself. And this humble state of the soul is the blossom and fruit of this tree of the cross.

Its height is elevation of spirit, withdrawal from outward things, and contemplation of heavenly ones. This means that we should train and direct our souls upward to thoughts of the eternal life, steering clear of all bodily delusions. We should meditate on the life and character of our beloved Lord, the soul’s rich mine of all virtues — His sufferings and His bitter death, His resurrection, His ascension and His glory in the Kingdom of Heaven. This occupation of mind it is that makes our cross very light, as it did that of the good thief, who was thinking of Heaven and longing for it when he prayed: “Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy kingdom.” (Luke xxiii, 42.)

The breadth of this cross is universal and true-hearted love of God and creatures; by which a man is ever inspired to pray, not only for himself, but for all men, even for his very enemies. His prayers know no bounds. His kind feelings are lavished upon all men. And his special task is to appease the wrath of God aroused against men who have dishonored Him. This is the love spoken of by St. Peter (I Peter iv, 8) and by our Lord about Mary Magdalene as covering a multitude of sins: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much.” (Luke vii, 47.)

The length of this cross is perseverance and the increase of good works, for such men are never done doing good. And they practice their virtues in such good order and with such prudence, that in all things they may put off the old man and clothe themselves with the new man, newly created by God in the righteousness and holiness of truth. By this means their inner man is from day to day renewed, and they press onward through all sorrow, pain and opposition, so that they may truly say with St. Paul: “That which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above measure exceedingly, an eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (II Cor. iv, 17-19.)

The third cross is the cross of Christ. This means the perfect man, to whom the heavenly Father imparts a peculiar glory and honor in union with His only begotten Son. To such men He sends many peculiar sufferings, contradictions, troubles and various other crosses. To them he grants the privilege of drinking the same chalice that His beloved Son drank, as our Lord foretold to His blessed apostles John and James: “Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink?” They say to Him: “We can.” He saith to them: “My chalice, indeed, you shall drink.” (Matt, xx, 22-23.) As if he would say (for they had been contending about the first places in His kingdom) : If you would become God’s best and most favored friends, then make up your minds to endure the greatest opposition, for the disciple is not above his Master. If it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to carry the cross in order to enter into His Father’s kingdom, so without any doubt every friend of God must endure suffering.

The depth of this cross is a filial fear of God, by which these men give themselves up wholly into His hands, and have an anxious care lest they may offend Him. Its height is the true hope of finally coming to eternal bliss. This is no vain trust in their own merits or in their devout life, of spirit in the bonds of peace, being ever on the watch against bitterness of heart, anxious to serve everybody and to be hurtful to none. Gladly do they bear adversity, if they can but thereby lead souls back to God. The length of this cross is the lifting upward of their thoughts to eternal life, for which they will cheerfully suffer every pain. Whatsoever God shall allot to them in time or in eternity, that is the most pleasing to them — let Him do or not do, place them here or place them there, it is all one; repining or contradiction is quite unknown to them. They can in all sincerity make Christ’s words to His Father their own: “Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” (Matt, xxvi, 39.) Their sharpest pain is the thought that they cannot totally uproot their own will, being yet subject to some human weaknesses. O, how happy are these men! And how fruitful a tree is their cross, not only for themselves, but for all Christendom.

This cross leads them on to the ineffable cross of the Divine nature, as St. Paul wished his converts: “That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts; that, being rooted and founded in charity, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth.” (Eph. iii, 17-18.) The length is God’s endless eternity; the breadth is the immensity of His goodness and gentleness, poured out and to be poured out upon all men and creatures; the height is His infinite power; the depth is the abyss of His eternal wisdom. But whosoever would attain to the cross of God’s Divine nature, must first be conformed to the cross of His humanity. Round about this cross are gathered all those who lead a truly spiritual life, as we have already explained. They must strictly abstain from all works of the flesh, which God abhors, and they must have an earnest love of all holy living, their souls’ hands being, as it were, actually nailed to God’s Divine cross. They must, furthermore, constantly strive to fulfill God’s will, steadfastly fix their thoughts upon Him, and most carefully avoid whatever they perceive to be displeasing in His eyes. And this will stand for the nailing of their right foot to the cross of God’s nature. Again, they must learn to choose between two joys; namely, never to be drawn into

Christ’s humanity, and that we may finally be brought to the eternal vision of His unveiled divinity, may the almighty and the all-holy Trinity mercifully grant. Amen.

grade of merit is religious fear of hell, forming an unstable condition of virtue and beset with many dangers — Second, fear of purgatory, and is far in advance of the first; but is mercenary and lacks whole-heartedness — Third class is made up of souls determined to toin heaven by entirely generous devotion to God — Some of these unconsciously are self-interested — Perfect gratitude finishes their course.