By St. Leo the Great
(Sermon 15: On the Fast of The Tenth Month, IV)
(Sermon 15: On the Fast of The Tenth Month, IV)
CHAPTER I - The threefold remedy of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving against the temptations of the devil and the wounds of sin.
We confidently exhort you, beloved, to works of piety, because experience has taught us that you willingly embrace what we urge. For you know, and by God’s instruction you understand, that the observance of the divine commandments will bring you profit toward eternal joy. Yet in fulfilling them, human frailty often grows weary, and in many ways, through the slippery weakness of our nature, it falls. Therefore the merciful and compassionate Lord has given us remedies and aids by which we may obtain pardon.
For who could escape so many enticements of the world, so many snares of the devil, and finally so many dangers arising from his own instability, unless the mercy of the eternal King preferred to restore us rather than to lose us? Even those who have already been redeemed, already reborn, and made sons of light, so long as they are detained in this world — which lies entirely in the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19) — and so long as corruptible and temporal things entice the weakness of the flesh, cannot pass these days without temptation. Nor does anyone easily attain such a bloodless victory that amid many enemies and frequent conflicts he is free not only from death but also from wounds.
Therefore, for healing the injuries frequently sustained in fighting against an invisible enemy, the medicine of three remedies above all must be applied: persistence in prayer, the discipline of fasting, and the generosity of almsgiving. When these are practiced together, God is appeased, guilt is erased, and the tempter is defeated. A faithful soul ought always to be equipped with these defenses, but should prepare itself even more diligently when those days draw near which are specially appointed for these works of piety.
CHAPTER II - The command of fasting — just like the command of philanthropy — has not been abolished by the grace of the New Law; works of mercy must be joined to it.
Among these days is also the solemn fast of this tenth month, which must not be neglected merely because it is taken from the observance of the Old Law, as though it belonged to those practices that ceased — such as distinctions of foods, differences of washings, and the sacrifices of birds and cattle. For when those things were fulfilled which carried the figures of things to come, the things signified came to an end. But the usefulness of fasting has not been removed by the grace of the New Testament; indeed, pious observance has accepted fasting as always beneficial to both body and soul.
For just as the Christian understanding holds firm the commandments: "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve" (Matt. 4:10); "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart" (Matt. 22:37); "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt. 22:39), and the rest of such precepts — so too what is commanded in the same books concerning the sanctification and healing power of fasting is not annulled by any interpretation.
At all times and in all the days of this life, fasting makes us stronger against sins, conquers our desires, repels temptations, humbles pride, softens anger, and nurtures every good inclination of the will toward the maturity of all virtue — provided, however, that fasting wisely joins to itself the companionship of charity and exercises itself in works of mercy. For fasting without almsgiving is not so much a purification of the soul as an affliction of the flesh; and it should be attributed more to avarice than to self-control when someone abstains from food in such a way that he also “fasts” from piety.
Therefore, beloved, let our fasting abound in the fruits of generosity, and let it be fruitful in kindly gifts to the poor of Christ. And let not those of modest means be slow in this work, thinking what they can give from their resources too little. The Lord knows the strength of all, and the just Inspector sees from what measure each one gives. Unequal means cannot have equal offerings, but what differs in quantity is often equal in merit, for the intention can be the same even where the wealth is unequal.
Therefore, that these things may be carried out with devout piety through God’s help, let us fast on Wednesday and Friday; and on Saturday let us celebrate vigils at the shrine of the blessed Apostle Peter, so that aided by his prayers we may be found worthy of God’s mercy in all things.
Source: Migne P.L. 54. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
