The sea's beauty and the church's calm

You can also see the water of the sea being boiled by sailors: they catch the vapors with sponges and so relieve their need in emergencies, sufficiently. It is beautiful in another way in God's sight as well, because it encircles the islands, providing them at once with adornment and with safety through itself. Then too, because it joins together the continents that stand farthest apart from one another, offering sailors unhindered intercourse; through this it grants knowledge of things unknown, becomes a source of wealth for merchants, and easily supplies the needs of life, providing export for the surplus of those who abound and granting relief for the lack of those in need. And how could I see with precision the whole beauty of the sea, as much as appeared to the eye of its Maker? If the sea is beautiful and praiseworthy to God, how much more beautiful is the assembly of such a church, in which a mingled sound—like a wave breaking on the shore—is sent up from men and women and infants in their prayers to our God. A deep calm preserves it unshaken, since the spirits of wickedness have not been able to trouble it with heretical words. May you then become worthy of the Lord's approval, preserving this good order in the most fitting way, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY 5: On the Sprouting of the Earth

And God said, "Let the earth sprout the herb of grass, seed-bearing according to kind, and the fruit tree producing fruit according to kind, whose seed is in it" (Genesis 1:11). It follows that after the earth had rested, having put off the weight of the water, the command came to it to sprout first herb, then tree—which we still see happening now. For that voice then, and that first command, became like a law of nature and remained in the earth, granting it the power to generate and bear fruit for the time to come. "Let the earth sprout." First in the generation of growing things is the sprouting; then, when the sprouts come up a little, herb appears; then, when it has grown, it is grass, as the growing things are gradually articulated and advance to the completion of the seed. For the green and grassy state is similar in all of them. "Let the earth sprout the herb of grass." Let the earth bring forth the sprouting by itself, needing no cooperation from any other source. Since some people think the sun is the cause of the things that grow from the earth, drawing up the power from the depths to the surface by the attraction of heat, for this reason the ordering of the earth is older than the sun—so that those who have gone astray may stop worshiping the sun as though it provided the cause of life. If they are persuaded that everything concerning the earth was ordered before the sun's creation, they will also let go of their excessive wonder at it, considering that it is younger than grass and herb in its origin. Was food then laid out beforehand for the cattle, while our own provision appeared worthy of no forethought? But surely the one who stored up fodder for cattle and horses beforehand is above all preparing wealth and enjoyment for you.