Hunolt Sermons/Volume 12/Sermon 73

1. Helen, by honoring the cross of Christ, restored His honor and glory, and spread them through the world; 2. We, too, by bearing contradictions, can increase and spread the honor and glory of God. Preached on the feast of St. Helen.

Whosoever shall glorify Me, him will I glorify." (1 Kings 2:30)

According to the old saying, one honor deserves another. If this holds good among men, although they are often guilty of ingratitude, and are very apt to forget benefits received, how much more will it not be true of God, who never allows His creatures to surpass Him in generosity; who receives one, and gives back a hundred; who has promised on His word: "Who soever shall glorify Me, him will I glorify "? Therefore, my dear brethren, the great honor and glory to which Christ has raised our holy empress and patroness Helen in heaven we can measure to some extent from the sole consideration of the honor and glory to which she exalted Christ before the world. That honor, how she gained it for Our Lord, and how we may imitate her in this respect, shall form the subject of this sermon.

Helen, by honoring the cross of Christ, restored His honor and glory, and spread it throughout the world; the first part. We can, l)y patiently hearing contradictions, increase and spread the honor and glory of God; the second part.

That this latter may happen, we beg, Lord, Thy light and grace, through the intercession of Mary and of the holy angels, while we rejoice on account of the honor which Thy great and holy servant Helen brought to Thee.

The meaner the condition from which one is rescued, the more is the honor prized to which he is elevated. It is an uncommon piece of good fortune for a poor, lowly peasant to be called out of his straw-thatched cabin to court, to be there ennobled and made a great lord. That change of fortune is more appreciated by him than if he had been born in that position. What an honor for Joseph to be brought out of the fetid prison, in which, although innocent, he had lain for some years as a malefactor, and to be suddenly declared viceroy of Egypt! What an honor for Saul to be anointed king by the Prophet while he was seeking his father's asses! What an honor for David to be called from keeping sheep to hold the royal sceptre in his hand! The former lowly condition of these men, and the high position to which they were afterwards elevated, must have largely added to their gratitude to Him who effected that great change in their state.

But is it my object now to cast Our Lord down to such a low condition, and maintain that Helen raised Him up and made Him illustrious before the world? We know by the faith that Christ was born of a poor mother, in a lowly stable, that He was brought up in a poor workshop, and looked on by men as the son of a carpenter, and that He was put to death as a malefactor. But all this had occurred three hundred years before; He had long ago made His triumphant entry into heaven, and there taken possession of the kingdom that belonged to Him by right; there He is seated on the right hand of the Father as the lawful King of heaven and earth, and as such He was acknowledged by all Christians in the whole world even in the time of Helen; many thousand martyrs of both sexes had already shed their blood and given their lives for Him, and we cannot say that Helen had any share in all that. How, then, is it true that she restored His honor and glory, since He had that already before heaven and earth without any aid from her?

St. Ambrose remarks, very appositely to my subject, that Christ sets His honor and glory especially in His holy cross, on which He suffered for the salvation of the world: "The glory and honor of Christ is His cross." And so He Himself calls it in the Gospel of St. John, when speaking to His disciples of His passion and death: " The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified." a And again, while on His way to the Garden of Gethsemani: "Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son;" honor Him and make Him illustrious! For this reason Peter did not wish to be crucified upright, but with his head down ward, as St. Ambrose says: " Lest he should seem to lay claim to the glory of his Master."

In the time of Helen this glory of Christ was hidden and concealed from the world, for the cross was buried deep in the ground, and no one knew where this divine treasure was to be discovered; so that it lay buried, too, as far as the minds and memory of men were concerned, since no one could pay it public homage. Nay, it was not merely forgotten and without hon or, but was covered more with shame and reproach than with earth. All nations and peoples still held to the words of the Lord in Deuteronomy: " He is accursed of God that hangeth on a tree." J In those days crosses were to be seen, as the wheel and gallows is with us, only in the place of public execution, and the name of one who had been nailed to the cross was held in execration and dishonor. The cross was then the instrument of punishment on which thieves, robbers, traitors, assassins, and incendiaries were executed. And as they are now disgraced who are publicly put to death or punished, so Christ, although He enjoyed His glory in heaven, had still in some measure to suffer before the world the disgrace of His cross, on which the Jews had put Him to death as a criminal, His cross being still held in the same dishonor as the gibbets on which notorious malefactors suffered the extreme penalty. Therefore she who rescued the cross from this shameful position, and raised it to a, high place of honor before the world, deserves the praise of having, as it were, taken away a disgrace from Christ Himself, and restored and increased His honor in the sight of men.

As every one knows, my dear brethren, Helen did this great work. Hardly had she conceived the heroic design of setting out on her travels to seek the cross of Christ, wherever it might be, to say nothing of the time when she found and exalted it, when at once, by the command of Constantine the Great, her son, the cross ceased to be an instrument of punishment to evil doers. For through reverence for the holy cross he forbade, under severe penalties, any one to be again crucified, a custom that all Christendom has since observed to the present day. Thus, as St. Augustine says, the cross is rescued from disgrace, since it is no longer used as an instrument of punishment; while its glory commenced, and still remains, and will last for all time. What glory? "It was transferred from the place of execution to the brows of emperors." From that time Constantine would have no other standard in his kingdom and for his army but the cross; the pearls and precious stones on his crown had to make room for it; the heathenish images of Mars and Hercules were taken from the helmets of the soldiers, the eagles and lions from the standards, and in place of them was everywhere to be seen the glorious and resplendent sign of the cross. From that time we see the cross on the tiara of the popes, on the crowns of kings, on the mitres of bishops, on the vestments of priests, on the spires of churches, and oil the summits of altars, everywhere occupying the chief place.

Since that time how many orders of knighthood were established under the sign of the cross, to bear it and the honor due to it publicly through the world orders, the members of which vowed to defend it at the cost of their lives! In a word, the cross is the standard under which all faithful Christians, as religious of the cross, to use the expression of Tertullian, promise on oath, in holy baptism, to be true to God. The cross is that holy thing that we reverence on bended knee in our churches, in our homes, in the market-place, on mountains and in valleys as the sign of our eternal salvation. " We mark everything with the cross," says St. Chrysostom, "as with a royal sign." We sign it on the forehead, on the lips, on the breast; at our going in and out; when eating and drinking; when rising and laying down to rest. A small particle of the true cross is to us Catholics a treasure of such great weight, of such immense value, that no wealth of gold or silver can be compared to it. In the cross we see, like St. Paul, our highest, nay, our sole renown and glory, according to the words of the Introit of the Mass of to day: " God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ."

What an honor for thee, city of Treves, to have brought up her to whom all Christendom must give this praise, that she, by elevating His cross, spread the honor and glory of Our Lord, and made it known to all nations! What a happiness for us, my dear brethren, if, after the example of St. Helen, we, too, by exalting the cross, further the honor and glory of God! This shall be the case if we bear the cross of Our Lord in a moral sense, that is, if we are patient and resigned for His sake in all the trials and contradictions of life; as I shall prove in the

Let us see, without further preface, in what consists the honor and glory that God seeks from men. In this, especially, that man fully submits himself to God as his Creator and sovereign Lord, obeys His commands readily, at the least sign, in all imaginable circumstances, gives up his will altogether to the will and providence of God, and thus makes the glory of God known before the whole world. For,, as I have often said, God is not in the least need of His creatures, and He places His exterior honor in this, that they are always ready to do, to omit, to suffer what He wills, how, and when He wills.

Never does a man show this complete submission and obedience clearer and better than in trials, when he bears them with contentment, without exception, accepting them from the hands of God, and submitting to them with patience and joy for His sake. If I were to point to a man who has hitherto lived in prosperity, in good health, in the enjoyment of abundant wealth, possessing a high reputation and the esteem of every one, and to say: There is a man who is content with the Almighty in his state of life, who is resigned to the divine will, satisfied with the arrangements of Providence, and always obedient and submissive to the divine law; he is always grateful for the benefits be stowed on him by God would not that man honor and glorify his Creator by his Christian mode of life and edifying resignation to the divine will? There is not a doubt of it. Meanwhile, however, you will perhaps say to yourselves: I, too, would be satisfied with the will of God, and be grateful to Him, if He acted in the same manner towards me. For it is natural to receive willingly and with pleasure what we desire. So that your remark is not without reason.

But I say to you again: There is a man who has been in misery and wretchedness for a long time past. That poor workman must plague himself the whole day to find enough food for him self and his family. Everything that unfortunate man under takes is a failure; nothing succeeds with him; wherever he turns he finds a cross. That desolate widow, with her family of little children, is persecuted and harassed on all sides by enemies. That woman, besides the daily want she has to suffer, is exposed to the brutal treatment of a drunken husband, who beats and abuses her. That man has been lying for years on a bed of pain and sickness, etc. Oh, truly, those are troublous circumstances, which have no sweetness in them, nor anything to appeal to our sensuality, for they are, as it were, contrary to nature. And yet all these people are as satisfied with God in their misery as the former in their prosperity; they follow their Lord on this uncomfortable road, over thistles and thorns, as quickly as the former do on roses and flowers; and while the former thank God for the goods He has given them, the latter praise and bless Him with humble hearts for the sufferings He has sent them, for depriving them of worldly goods, as if those trials were great benefits. Never is there seen in them the least sign of impatience; and although sensitive nature feels the pain, and sometimes forces a tear from their eyes, yet with all their weeping and sighing their only cry is: God's will be done! What think you of them? Oh, you must acknowledge, with the greatest admiration, theirs is indeed a far different case; what great delight must not the Almighty God have in such souls! What an edifying example they give to the whole city! And what a source of secret shame they must be to other tepid, vain, and luxurious Christians! What renown they gain for our religion! What honor and glory for the Lord! One of them does more to honor and praise God and His holy gospel than a hundred of the others in their prosperity.

So it is, my dear brethren. They who serve God in prosperity seem to me to resemble the servants and courtiers of a king who are always in their master's presence, and accompany him in public; they go with him to the chase, they share in his amusements, they sit at table with him, they wait on him in magnificent array early in the morning and late at night; while they who serve God in adversity are like those brave heroes and generals who, far from home, in the field, under the canopy of heaven, lead restless lives, exposed to danger, with death from a hostile sword or spear staring them in the face, ready at any moment to give their lives for their king. Which of the two sorts of servants must the king love best? There is no doubt that the least heroic exploit of a soldier in battle, or at a siege, or in any military expedition gains more glory for the king than all the other courtiers together with their daily and nightly attendance on the person of their sovereign. The latter, with their show and glitter, surround the king with outward pomp and glory; but the others, by their fighting and conquering, spread his name through the world as that of a great victor, and thereby render him terrible to his enemies and to other monarchs. My dear brethren, to pray long and frequently, to hear many Masses daily, to distribute alms to the poor, and perform similar good works, constitutes, according to the opinion of most people, true devotion and piety. And there is no doubt that those are good and praiseworthy actions, whereby we acknowledge what we owe to God, and, as it were, show Him honor by outward parade. But I do not hesitate to say that a heart felt Deo gratias! thanks be to God! a single God's will be done! in suffering and trial, generally speaking, brings more honor and glory to God than praying whole books full of prayers, and performing other works of devotion when things go according to our wishes. By that complete subjection to the divine will in adversity a man gives to God at once all that he has in and outside of himself his happiness, his goods, his health, his joy and pleasure all of which he places at the disposal of the Almighty, ready to lose, if such should be His will, his body, his soul, his under standing and will: all of which he gives over unreservedly, in humility and obedience, to the divine will.

I must conclude, since my time is expired, and I do so in the words of the ancient Origen: " Let no one, then, be so ignorant of the meaning of trials sent by the Almighty as to think them simply misfortunes and punishments; " Let no one be so foolish as to complain, on account of them, that God is a hard taskmaster; let no one be so senseless as to turn into still greater trials the crosses sent him by God by impatience and obstinacy! If the cross brought us no other advantage and profit than to enable us to increase the honor and glory of the great God, should we not, with the saints, desire it, and take it as a glorious pledge from the hands of the Lord? Come, then, my dear brethren, as I have often said before, let us bear with patience and contentment for God's sake what we are obliged to bear in any case; and let us do so with this consolation and assured hope, that if we honor God in this world by patience and contentment we shall also be honored and exalted by Him in heaven for all eternity. For "whosoever shall glorify Me, him will I glorify." Let it be so, Lord, with Thy help. Amen