[...] Or what king, going to join battle against another king, does not first sit down and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, when the other is still some distance away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

(Luke 14:16-33)

Aut quis rex iturus committere bellum adversus alium regem, non sedens prius cogitat si possit cum decem millibus occurrere ei qui cum viginti millibus venit ad se? Alioquin adhuc illo longe agente, legationem mittens, rogat ea quae pacis sunt.

A KING comes to do battle against another king the equal of himself. But if he considers carefully that he is unable to hold out, he sends a delegation and begs for terms of peace.

Rex contra regem ex aequo venit ad praelium, et tamen si se perpendit non posse sufficere, legationem mittit, et ea quae pacis sunt postulat.

With what tears should we hope for pardon, who in the dreadful inspection do not come to judgment with our king as an equal! Our status, our weakness, our cause reveal us as inferiors.

Quibus ergo nos lacrymis veniam sperare debemus, qui in illo tremendo examine cum Rege nostro ^[1278C] ex aequo ad judicium non venimus, quos nimirum conditio, infirmitas, et causa inferiores exhibet?

Perhaps we have already cut away the sins of our wicked deeds, already made an outward change from everything wrong. Are we able to offer an explanation of our thoughts? One is said to be coming with twenty thousand, and another coming with ten thousand cannot hold out against him. Twenty thousand is double ten thousand. If we are making great progress, still we hardly preserve our external works from error. Even if we cut away all outward dissipation, we have still not entirely removed it from our hearts.

WHAT must we do, my friends, when we perceive that we are unable to hold out with an army half his size, except send a delegation and ask for terms of peace when he is still some distance away? He is said to be some distance away because we do not yet see him present for judgment.

Quid ergo agendum est, fratres, nisi ut dum nos cum simplo exercitu contra duplum illius sufficere non posse conspicimus, dum adhuc longe est, legationem mittamus, et rogemus ea quae pacis sunt? Longe enim esse dicitur, qui adhuc praesens per judicium non videtur.

Let us send him our tears as a delegation,

Mittamus ad hunc legationem lacrymas nostras,

let us send him works of mercy.

mittamus misericordiae opera,

Let us slaughter propitiatory victims on his altar.

¹⁶³¹ mactemus in ara ejus hostias placationis,

Let us acknowledge that we cannot contend with him at the judgment;

^[1279A] cognoscamus nos cum eo in judicio non posse contendere;

let us consider the power of his strength, [and]

pensemus virtutem ejus fortitudinis,

[let us] ask for terms of peace.

rogemus ea quae pacis sunt.

This is our delegation, that reconciles the king who is coming.

Haec est nostra legatio, quae regem venientem placat.

Consider, my friends, how fortunate it is that the one who can vanquish us at his arrival is slow in coming. Let us send our delegation to him, as I have said, by weeping, by bestowing alms, and by offering holy sacrifices.

because the one who, himself rising from the dead, will never die again, (Rom 6:9)  is even now suffering for us anew through this sacrifice in his own mysterious way.

As often as we offer him the sacrifice of his passion, we renew his passion for our forgiveness.

quia is qui in se resurgens a mortuis jam non moritur, adhuc per hanc in suo mysterio pro nobis iterum patitur.

Nam quoties ei hostiam suae passionis offerimus, toties nobis ad absolutionem nostram passionem illius reparamus.

IT is the case, or so I think, dearly beloved, that many of you know the story that I want to recall to your memories. It is related how not long ago a certain man was captured by the enemy and transported far away. He was held for a long time in chains, and when he did not return from captivity his wife considered that he had died.

WHEN after a long time he returned, he revealed to his wife, since he wondered greatly at it, how on certain days in each week his chains were unshackled. Considering which days and hours these were, she realized that his chains were loosened whenever she remembered him in the sacrifice offered for him. Think carefully of this, dearly beloved, and draw from it a realization of the power the holy sacrifice has to loose the bonds of our hearts, if when one person offered it for another it was able to loose the chains on his body.

Nam longa post tempora reversus, admirans valde suae indicavit uxori quod diebus certis, hebdomadibus singulis, ejus vincula solvebantur. Quos videlicet dies ejus uxor atque horas discutiens, tunc eum recognovit absolutum, cum pro eo sacrificium meminerat ^[1279C] oblatum. Hinc ergo, fratres charissimi, hinc certa consideratione colligite, oblata a nobis hostia sacra quantum in nobis solvere valeat ligaturam cordis, si oblata ab altero potuit in altero solvere vincula corporis.

MANY of you, dearly beloved, know Cassius, bishop of the city of Narni.^, It was his practice to offer the sacrifice to God every day, so that scarcely a day of his life passed without his offering God the propitiatory victim. And his life corresponded to the sacrifice: after giving away all that he had in alms, when he came to the time to offer the sacrifice, entirely dissolved in tears he offered himself with great compunction of heart.

9. Multi vestrum, fratres charissimi, Cassium Narniensis urbis episcopum noverunt, cui mos erat quotidianas Deo hostias offerre, ita ut pene nullus dies vitae ejus abscederet quo non omnipotenti Deo hostiam placationis immolaret (Lib. IV Dialog., cap. 56). Cui cum sacrificio valde etiam concordabat vita. Nam cuncta quae habebat in eleemosynis tribuens, cum ad horam offerendi sacrificii venisset, velut totus in lacrymis defluens, semetipsum cum magna cordis contritione mactabat.

I learned of his life and death from a deacon of venerable life whom Cassius had trained. He said that on a certain night the Lord stood by his priest in a vision and said: ‘Go and tell your bishop: Continue to act as you are acting; do what you are doing. Don’t let your foot or your hand stop working. On the Apostles’ day you will come to me, and I will pay you your wages.’ The priest arose; but because the day of the Apostles was near, he feared to report to the bishop that the day of his death was so close. The Lord returned on another night, strongly rebuked his disobedience, and repeated his command in the same words. The priest rose intending to go ahead, but again his heart weakened and prevented him from declaring the revelation. He refused to yield to the command, which had already been repeated once, and failed to make known what he had seen.

Cujus et vitam et exitum, quodam venerabilis vitae Diacono, qui fuerat ab ^[1279D] eo nutritus, referente, cognovi. Aiebat enim quod quadam nocte ejus presbytero per visum Dominus astitit, dicens: Vade et dic episcopo: Age quod agis, operare quod operaris, non cesset pes tuus, non cesset manus tua; natali apostolorum venies ad me, et retribuam tibi mercedem tuam. Surrexit presbyter, sed quia e vicino apostolorum natalitius dies imminebat, tam propinqui exitus diem episcopo nuntiare pertimuit. Alia nocte Dominus rediit, ejusque inobedientiam venementer increpavit, atque eadem jussionis suae verba retexuit. Tunc presbyter surrexit ut ^[1280A] pergeret, sed rursus infirmitas cordis impedimento facta est indicandae revelationis; et ad admonitionem quoque iteratae jussionis obduruit pergere, et quae viderat manifestare neglexit.

BECAUSE when grace is rejected great anger follows upon former kindness, the Lord appeared for a third time in a vision of punishment. He now added blows to his words, and gave him such a severe beating that the wounds to his body vanquished his stubbornness of heart. He therefore arose, taught by the blows, and proceeded to the bishop whom he found waiting, as was his custom, to offer the eucharistic sacrifice beside the tomb of the blessed martyr Juvenal. He asked to see him apart from those standing around, and prostrated himself at his feet. When the bishop had with difficulty raised the weeping man, he was eager to learn the reason for his tears. The priest, to reveal the course of the vision, first removed the clothing from his shoulders to disclose the blows his body had received. He showed as what I might call witnesses to the truth and to his sin how severely the blows he had received had cut into his body, and the weals they had caused. When the bishop saw them, he was horrified, and inquired with astonishment who had ventured to do such things to him. The priest answered that he had endured them for him. The bishop’s amazement and his alarm grew stronger. Without further delay the priest disclosed to him the secret revelation, and told him the words of the Lord’s command which he had heard: ‘Continue to act as you are acting; do what you are doing. Don’t let your hand or your foot stop working. On the Apostles’ day you will come to me, and I will pay you your wages.’ On hearing this the bishop fell prostrate in prayer, with great compunction of heart; he who had come to offer the eucharistic sacrifice at the third hour postponed it until the ninth, owing to the length of his protracted prayer.

Sed quia magnam mansuetudinem contemptae gratiae major se qui ¹⁶³² solet ira vindictae, visione tertia Dominus apparens, jam verbis addidit verbera, et tam districta caede mactatus est, ut in eo duritiam cordis emollirent vulnera corporis. Surrexit ergo eruditus ex verbere, perrexit ad episcopum, eumque jam ex more juxta beati Juvenalis martyris sepulcrum ad offerendum sacrificium consistentem reperit, secretum a circumstantibus petiit, seque ejus pedibus prostravit. Cumque eum ubertim flentem episcopus vix ad se levare potuisset, lacrymarum causas cognoscere studuit. ^[1280B] Ille vero, relaturus ordinem visionis, prius vestimento ex humeris devoluto, detexit plagas corporis, ut ita dicam, testes veritatis et culpae, monstravit quanta animadversione districtionis membra illius accepta verbera, livore inflicto, sulcaverant. Quae mox ut episcopus vidit, exhorruit, et quis sibi talia facere praesumpsisset cum magnae obstupefactionis vocibus inquisivit. At ille respondit, haec se pro ipso fuisse perpessum. Excrevit cum terrore admiratio; sed nullas jam presbyter inquisitioni ejus moras adjiciens, secretum revelationis aperuit, eique jussionis dominicae per ea quae audierat verba narravit, dicens: Age quod agis, operare quod operaris, non cesset manus tua, non cesset pes tuus; natali apostolorum venies ad me, et retribuam tibi ^[1280C] mercedem tuam. Quibus auditis, episcopus se in orationem cum magna cordis contritione prostravit, et qui oblaturus sacrificium ad horam tertiam venerat, hoc pro extensae orationis magnitudine ad horam nonam usque protelavit.

FROM that day the riches of his devotion increased; he became as steadfast in his work as he was certain of his recompense, and he who had been under obligation to the Lord now began to have the Lord under obligation to him, because of his promise. It had been his practice to go to Rome every year on the Apostles’ day. Now, apprehensive because of the revelation, he decided not to go according to habit. He was watchful at the same time during the second year too, and the third, in expectation of his death, and felt the same uncertainty during the fourth, fifth and sixth years. He could almost have lost hope in the truth of the revelation if the blows had not given credit to the words.

Atque ex illo jam die magis magisque aucta sunt ei lucra pietatis; factusque est tam fortis in opere quam certus ex munere, quippe qui eum, cui ipse debitor fuerat, ex ea promissione jam coeperat habere debitorem. Huic autem consuetudo fuerat, annis singulis, natalitio apostolorum die Romam venire; jamque ex hac revelatione suspectus, venire juxta morem noluit. Eodem ergo tempore sollicitus fuit, secundo quoque anno vel tertio in mortis suae exspectatione suspensus, quarto, quintoque, et sexto similiter. Qui desperare jam de veritate revelationis ^[1280D] poterat, si verbis fidem verbera non fecissent.

In the seventh year he had reached the eve of the awaited feast of the Apostles unharmed, but a slight fever beset him then. His flock was expecting him to carry out the solemn mass on the Apostles’ day, but he refused, saying that he could not. But because they were equally apprehensive of his departure from this life, they came to him in a body, binding themselves in a unanimous agreement that they would not take part in the celebration of the solemn mass on that day unless their bishop would be their mediator in the presence of God. Then he, constrained to do so, celebrated mass in the bishop’s oratory, and distributed with his own hand the Lord’s body, and gave the kiss of peace to all.

Cum ecce anno septimo usque ad exspectati natalis sacras vigilias incolumis pervenit; sed lenis hunc in vigiliis calor attigit, atque ipso die natalitio filiis suis se exspectantibus, missarum solemnia implere se posse recusavit. Illi vero quia de ejus erant pariter egressione suspecti, simul ad eum omnes venerunt, sese unanimiter astringentes ut die eodem nequaquam acquiescerent missarum solemnia celebrari, nisi pro eis apud Dominum ¹⁶³³ idem antistes suus intercessor accederet. Tunc ille, compulsus, ^[1281A] in episcopii oratorio missas fecit, et manu sua corpus dominicum pacemque omnibus tribuit.

WHEN the sacrificial offering had been completed, the bishop returned to his bed. As he lay there, and saw his priests and minsters standing round, he gave them a kind of last farewell. He counseled them concerning the preservation of the bond of love, and commended the great harmony that ought to unite them. In the midst of these words of exhortation he suddenly cried out in a terrible voice, ‘It is the hour,’ and immediately gave with his own hands to those standing by him the linen cloth which according to custom is placed over the face of the dying. When it was in place he sent forth his spirit, and so the holy soul, reaching eternal joys, was freed from the corruption of the body.

Qui cuncto ministerio oblati sacrificii peracto, ad lectulum rediit, ibique jacens, dum sacerdotes suos ac ministros circumstetisse cerneret, quasi vale ultimum dicens, de servando eos vinculo charitatis admonebat, et quanta debuissent concordia inter se uniri praedicabat. Cum subito inter ipsa sanctae exhortationis verba, voce terribili clamavit, dicens: Hora est. Moxque assistentibus ipse suis manibus linteum dedit, quod ex more morientium sibi contra faciem tenderetur. Quo tenso, spiritum emisit, sicque sancta illa anima, ad gaudia aeterna perveniens, a carnis corruptione soluta est.

WHOM, dearly beloved, did that man imitate in his death if not the one he had contemplated during his lifetime? When he said, ‘It is the hour’, he went forth from his body. Jesus too, when everything had been completed and he had said, ‘It is finished’, bowed his head and gave up his spirit.(Jn 19:3016)  What the Lord did because of his power, his servant did because of his call.

Quem, fratres charissimi, quem vir iste in morte sua imitatus est, nisi eum ^[1281B] quem in vita sua fuerat contemplatus? Dicens enim: Hora est, de corpore exiit, quia et Jesus, peractis omnibus, cum dixisset: Consummatum est, inclinato capite, tradidit spiritum (Joan. XIX, 30). Quod ergo Dominus ex potestate, hoc egit famulus ex vocatione.

 The delay in his coming shows that he is awaiting a delegation of peace. He would have come already if he had wanted to, and would have slaughtered all his adversaries. He reveals how fearful he will be when he comes, and yet that he is slow to come, since he does not want to find any to punish.

 Quod adhuc moram facit venire, legationem pacis sustinet. Venisset jam namque si vellet, ^[1281C] et cunctos suos adversarios trucidasset. Sed et quam terribilis veniet indicat, et tamen ad veniendum tardat, quia non vult invenire quos puniat.

So therefore, everyone of you who does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be my disciple. And yet he bestows the remedy of the salvation we are to hope for. He whom we cannot endure because of his anger desires to be appeased by the delegation of peace he has begged for. And so you must wash away the stains of your sins with your tears, dearly beloved, you must wipe them away with your almsgiving, and atone for them with the holy sacrifice. You must not possess by desiring them the things you have not yet abandoned because you need to use them.

Reatum nobis contemptus nostri denuntiat, dicens: Sic ergo omnis ex vobis qui non renuntiat omnibus quae possidet, non potest meus esse discipulus; et tamen sperandae salutis remedium confert, quia qui per iram non potest ferri, per postulatae pacis vult legationem placari. Lavate ergo, fratres charissimi, lacrymis maculas peccatorum, eleemosynis tergite, sacris hostiis expiate. Nolite possidere per desiderium quae adhuc per usum minime reliquistis.

Put your hope in your Redeemer alone. Pass in your heart to your eternal homeland. If you possess nothing in this world by your love for it, even though you have possessions you have abandoned everything

May he who has bestowed upon us the remedies for eternal peace grant us longed-for joys, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

Ipse nobis gaudia ^[1281D] desiderata concedat, qui nobis aeternae pacis remedia contulit, Jesus Christus Dominus noster, qui vivit et regnat cum Patre in unitate Spiritus sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.