Præpara animam tuam ad tentationem
Iam audístis quid mali pastóres díligant. Vidéte quid néglegant. Quod infirmátum est, non confortástis; et quod male hábuit, non corroborástis; et quod contribulátum est, id est, quod confráctum est, non colligástis; et quod errábat, non revocástis; et quod périit, non inquisístis; et quod forte fuit, confecístis, interfecístis, occidístis. Infirmátur ovis, id est, infírmum cor gerit, ut possit cédere tentatiónibus, incáuto et imparáto si supervénerit.
Pastor néglegens, quando credit talis, non illi dicit: Fili, accédens ad servitútem Dei, sta in iustítia et timóre, et præpara ánimam tuam ad tentatiónem. Qui hæc enim lóquitur, confórtat infírmum et ex infírmo facit firmum, ut non ille cum credíderit próspera huius sæculi speret. Si enim doctus fúerit speráre próspera sæculi, ipsa prosperitáte corrúmpitur; superveniéntibus adversitátibus sauciátur aut fortássis extínguitur.
Non ergo eum ædíficat super petram, qui sic ædíficat, sed super arénam ponit. Petra autem erat Christus. Christi passiónes imitándæ, non a christiánis delíciæ conquiréndæ. Confortátur infírmus, cum ei dícitur: «Spera quidem tentatiónes huius sæculi, sed ab ómnibus te éruet Dóminus, si ab illo non recésserit retro cor tuum. Nam ad confortándum cor tuum venit ille pati, venit ille mori, venit sputis illiníri, venit spinis coronári, venit oppróbria audíre, venit postrémo ligno confígi. Omnia hæc ille pro te, tu nihil. Non pro illo, sed pro te».
Quales autem sunt, qui timéntes hos lædere quibus loquúntur, non solum non præparant ad imminéntes tentatiónes, sed étiam promíttunt felicitátem huius sæculi, quam Deus ipsi sæculo non promísit? Ille prædícit labóres super labóres usque in finem ventúros ipsi sæculo, et tu vis ab ipsis labóribus excéptum esse christiánum? Quia christiánus est, áliquid plus passúrus est in hoc sæculo.
Etenim ait Apóstolus: Omnes qui volunt in Christo pie vívere, persecutiónem patiéntur. Iam si tibi placet, pastor tua quærens non quæ Iesu Christi, ille dicat: Omnes qui volunt in Christo pie vívere, persecutiónem patiéntur, et tu dic: «Si in Christo pie víxeris, abundábunt tibi ómnia bona. Et si fílios non habes, suscípies et enútries omnes, et nemo tibi moriétur». Hæccine est ædificátio tua? Atténde quid fácias, ubi ponas. Super arénam est quem constítuis. Ventúrus est imber, influxúrus est flúvius, flatúrus est ventus, impíngent domum istam, et cadet et fiet ruína eius magna.
Leva de aréna, pone super petram: in Christo sit quem vis esse christiánum. Atténdat ad passiónes Christi indígnas, atténdat illum sine ullo peccáto quæ non rápuit exsolvéntem, atténdat Scriptúram dicéntem sibi: Flagéllat omnem fílium quem récipit. Aut paret se flagellári, aut non quærat récipi.
Vertaling:
St Augustine's sermon On Pastors
| Prepare your soul for temptation |
|---|
You have already been told about the wicked things shepherds desire. Let us now consider what they neglect. You have failed to strengthen what was weak, to heal what was sick, and to bind up what was injured (that is, what was broken). You did not call back the straying sheep, nor seek out the lost. What was strong you have destroyed.
Yes, you have cut it down and killed it. The sheep is weak, that is to
say, its heart is weak, and so, incautious and unprepared, it may give
in to temptations.
The negligent shepherd fails to say to the believer: My son, come to the service of God. Stand fast in fear and in righteousness, and prepare your soul for temptation.
A shepherd who does say this strengthens the one who is weak and makes
him strong. Such a believer will then not hope for the prosperity of
this world. For if he has been taught to hope for worldly gain, he will
be corrupted by prosperity. When adversity comes, he will be wounded or
perhaps destroyed.
The builder who builds in such manner is not building the believer on a rock but upon sand. But the rock was Christ.
Christians must imitate Christ’s sufferings, not set their hearts on
pleasures. He who is weak will be strengthened when told: “Yes, expect
the temptations of this world, but the Lord will deliver you from them
all if your heart has not abandoned him. For it was to strengthen your
heart that he came to suffer and die, came to be spit upon and crowned
with thorns, came to be accused of shameful things, yes, came to be
fastened to the wood of the cross. All these things he did for you, and
you did nothing. He did them not for himself, but for you.”
But what sort of shepherds are they who for fear of
giving offence not only fail to prepare the sheep for the temptations
that threaten, but even promise them worldly happiness? God himself made
no such promise to this world. On the contrary, God foretold hardship
upon hardship in this world until the end of time. And you want the
Christian to be exempt from these troubles? Precisely because he is a
Christian, he is destined to suffer more in this world.
For the Apostle says: All who desire to live a holy life in Christ will suffer persecution. But you, shepherd, seek what is yours and not what is Christ’s, you disregard what the Apostle says: All who want to live a holy life in Christ will suffer persecution.
You say instead: “If you live a holy life in Christ, all good things
will be yours in abundance. If you do not have children, you will
embrace and nourish all men, and none of them shall die.” Is this the
way you build up the believer? Take note of what you are doing and where
you are placing him. You have built him on sand. The rains will come,
the river will overflow and rush in, the winds will blow, and the
elements will dash against that house of yours. It will fall, and its
ruin will be great.
Lift him up from the sand and put him on the rock. Let
him be in Christ, if you wish him to be a Christian. Let him turn his
thoughts to sufferings, however unworthy they may be in comparison to
Christ’s. Let him centre his attention on Christ, who was without sin,
and yet made restitution for what he had not done. Let him consider
Scripture, which says to him: He chastises every son whom he acknowledges. Let him prepare to be chastised, or else not seek to be acknowledged as a son.
