The Departed at the Sacred Mysteries. (Homilies on First Epistle to Corinthians, XLI., Vol. Ii., P. 524.)
Since, then, we are to enjoy goods so great, let us join ourselves to that company which is as bright as the sun, and let us not weep for those who depart hence, but for those who make a bad end. For, as the husbandman does not grieve over his seed dissolved, but is in fear and anxiety as long as it remains solid, so he rejoices when he sees that it is dissolved. For dissolution is the beginning of the future generating. So let us also rejoice when the corruptible habitation perishes, and man is generated. And wonder not if Paul called the burying a generating, for this is the better generating of the two. Death, labours, dangers, cares, succeed the one; whilst for the other, if we have lived righteously, we receive crowns and rewards: corruption and death succeed the one; incorruption, immortality, and a thousand goods succeed the other. In the one generating there is embracing, pleasure, sleep; in the other there is only the voice coming down from heaven, and all things accomplished in the twinkling of an eye. And he who rises is no more driven to a laborious life, but he will be where pain and sorrow and lamentation have fled away. If, however, you are seeking for a protector, and weep over the man on this account, fly for refuge to God, the common Protector, and Saviour, and Benefactor of all: to the almighty Friend, to the never-failing Succour, to the lasting Shelter, Who is everywhere and always holding us up. ‘But,’ you say, ‘the intercourse was pleasant and fascinating.’ I know it was. Still, if you meet your suffering with your reason, and consider in yourself who it is that has taken him, and that if you bear it bravely, you offer up your wish as a sacrifice to God, you will be borne aloft even over this wave, and Christian principle will effect what the action of time does; but if you are pusillanimous, time will weaken your passion without bringing you a reward. Together with these recollections, ponder on the examples offered both in this present life and in Holy Scripture. Consider how Abraham slaughtered his own son, neither shedding tears nor uttering a bitter word. ‘But he was Abraham,’ you say. Yet you are called to greater conflicts. Job, indeed, showed sorrow as a loving father would who mourns over those departing from him. Now we show the grief of foes and enemies. For if a man were summoned to a palace and crowned, and you were to beat your breast and be in sorrow at it, I should say you were not a friend to the man crowned, but a determined adversary and hater. ‘I am not weeping for him,’ you say, ‘but for myself.’ Neither is this the part of a lover—the wishing him to be still in conflict on your account, to be left in uncertainty as to the future, instead of being crowned, or to be tossing on the sea when he might be resting in harbour. ‘But,’ you say, ‘I know not where he has gone.’ How is it that you do not know? This will be evident from the fact of his having lived righteously or the reverse. ‘And as he departed in sin, this is the very reason why I am tormented.’ What you say is a mere pretext. If this is why you mourn over a dead man, you should have taken pains with the living one and set him right. You are throughout thinking of your own interests, not of his. If, indeed, he departed hence in sin, you should rejoice that his sins were stopped and that he did not continue in evil, and you should help him by those means which are in your power: not by tears, but by prayers, and supplications, and alms-giving, and offerings. It is not by chance that these things have been ordered, nor is it due to haphazard that we commemorate the dead at the sacred mysteries, and that we succour them by supplication to the Lamb, Who is lying there, Who takes away the sins of the world, but that they may derive hence some consolation. Nor is it without reason that he who is standing by the altar, as the sacred mysteries are performed, utters this cry: for all those who have fallen asleep in Christ, and for those who make commemoration in their behalf. For if commemoration were not made for them, this would not be said. Our mysteries are no theatrical display. God forbid! These things take place by the disposition of the Spirit. Therefore, let us help them, and make commemoration in their behalf. For if Job’s sacrifice purified his children, why do you doubt that the departed receive comfort when we too offer sacrifice for them? God is wont to give graces to some on behalf of others. And this Paul also showed, saying that for this gift obtained for us, by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many in our behalf. Let us not weary of helping the departed, both by offering sacrifice and claiming intercession for them. For the sacrifice which saves the whole world is before us. Therefore we pray confidently at it for what concerns the world, and we name them with martyrs, and confessors, and pontiffs. For we are all one body, even if certain members be more resplendent than others; and everywhere we may be gaining forgiveness for them, by prayers, by offerings made for them, by those who are named with them. Why, then, do you grieve and weep, when you are able to apply so great a forgiveness to him who has departed? Is it because you have become lonely, and have lost your protector? But you ought never to say this, because you have not lost God. As long as you possess Him, He will be more to you than any man, be he father, child, or near relation; for even when these were living, it was He in reality Who did everything.