Hope, Good Works And Love

Quae est autem voluntas Patris, nisi quod aut Martha, aut faciebat soror ipsius Maria? Nil quippe nobis aliud praecipitur, nisi ut aut ministremus Christo in membris ipsius, aut assideamus Christo in contemplanda voluntate ipsius. Inde aliquid si negleximus, suspiremus, plangamus, pectora nostra tundamus, poenitentiam agamus, frequens ministerium Domini aut repetamus, aut vacantes orationibus et desideriis coelestibus, a pedibus benigni Jesus nullatenus divellamur, donec ad illud unum, quod solum est necessarium, perveniamus, hoc est eundum, qui nobis solus sufficit, Dominum. Dicis econtra, sic enim est consuetudo dicta humana: Licet non tanta quanta debeo faciam bona, facio aliqua; et perfecte in Deum credens, spero quae Dominus suis fidelibus praecepit speranda. O utinam haec duo fiderem re, fratres, habere! Certus profecto de tua essem salute, videlicet ut in Deum perfecte crederes, et illa tantummodo, quae praecepit speranda, sperares. Dicit vero Psalmista: Spera in Domino. Respondes, spero. Fac bonitam sed dicit ille. Si ergo speras in Domino, suggero: Fac bonitatem, et non inaniter speras, promitto. Dicente enim Jacobo: Quid prodest, fratres, si fidem quis habeat, opera vero non habeat? Nunquid poterit sola fides salvare eum? Una sola audiri ita potest sententia. Si perfecte credis in Deum, et aliud non speras, quam quod ille te sperare praecepit, videlicet si opera habes bona; consequenter de remuneratione, si ita tamen perseveraveris, non est tibi opus dubitare perpetua. Quae sunt autem bona opera, nisi illa quae ex charitate prodecunt: quam solam si non habes, nec in fide, dico tibi, confidas; nec quod suis promisit Dominus fidelibus, speres. Fides, enim, si non habeat opera, mortua est in semetipsa. Et: Spes non confundit, quia charitas Dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris per Spiritum Sanctum, qui datus est nobis. Si ergo charitatem in corde non habes, spem inutiliter habes. Ratherius Veronensis Sermo XI, De Maria et Martha Source:Migne PL 136.754b-755a

For what is the will of the Father unless that which either Martha or her sister Mary did? 1 Certainly nothing is commanded us, unless that we either serve Christ in His members, or seek Him in the contemplation of His will. Whence if we neglect something, let us sigh, let us weep, let us strike our hearts, let us make penitence, ever seeking to turn back to the service of the Lord, or turning to prayer and heavenly desires, that we never be torn from the feet of the kindly Jesus, while we approach that one and only thing necessary, the same Lord who alone suffices for us. You may say against this, for such is the custom of human speech: It not being possible that I do very much in the making of good works, I do something, even perfectly believing in God and hoping for those things which the Lord commanded His faithful ones to hope for. O, that I could believe you to have these two things, brothers. Certainly I would have you advance to salvation, that you believe perfectly in God, and that you hope only for that which He commands should be hoped for. Truly the Psalmist says: 'Hope in the Lord.' You reply: 'I hope.' But then he says: 'Do good.' 2 If, therefore, you would hope in the Lord, I counsel you: do good, and you will not hope in vain, I promise. For James says: 'What does it benefit, brothers, if a man have faith and yet he have not works? Shall his faith alone save him?' 3 One can hear only one intention here. If you believe perfectly in God, and you do not hope for anything but what He commanded should be hoped for, and if you have good works, from which the reward comes, if indeed you perservere, you should not doubt the eternal reward. For what are good works, unless they come forth from love, which if alone you do not have, neither in faith, I say, should you be confident, nor should you hope in the things the Lord promised His faithful ones. 'For faith, if it have not works, is dead.' 4 And: 'Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God is diffused in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.' 5 If, then, you have no love in your heart, your hope is vain. Ratherius Of Verona, from Sermon 11, On Mary And Martha 1 Lk 10.38-42 2 Ps 36.3 3 Jam 2.14 4 Jam 2.17 5 Rom 5.5