In Nomine Dei Summi - Sermon 4

From R. E. McNally, "In nomine Dei summi": Seven Hiberno-Latin Sermons', Traditio 35 (1979), pp. 121-43.

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In the name of God most high.

'Seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things will be given to you'. We seek with the heart, we ask with the mouth, we knock with good works. If, therefore, we relinquish all vices and all that is contrary to the will of God, we shall possess the kingdom with the angels and archangels and the prophets, and with the apostles and martyrs, where there will be rejoicing without end, serenity with a cloud, a kingdom without turmoil.

However, not all those who seek the kingdom of this world find it; and he who has found it does not possess it forever. Everyone who seeks the kingdom of God with faith and justice finds it, and he who has found it is never sent away. But the kingdom of this world is like a shadow on water, and 'the glory' of man is like 'the flower of the grass'. But 'the grass withers and its flowers fall away'. But the kingdom of this world is like a dream in the night; but the friends of God remain forever. For all 'those things which are seen are temporal, but those things which are not seen are eternal'. Therefore, 'Seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things will be given to you'.

So one should first seek the kingdom through good works, that is charity and fasting and prayer and humility and benevolence; and whatever we need, that will be placed before us, and he gives us immortality and eternal life for our good works. God does not seek the start of the work but its end.


(From "Journeys on the Edge: the Celtic Tradition" by Thomas O'Loughlin, (Traditions of Christian Spirituality Series) 2000, London, Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd. )