Having devoted Great Lent to the eradication of the bad habit of swearing, the preacher proceeds to denounce another vice and condemns anger and passion for retribution for offenses, which he does by explaining the parable of the servant who owed ten thousand talents. - Jesus Christ, through this parable, wanted to teach His disciples to suppress fits of anger in themselves; This is proved by the question with which Ap. Peter turns to the Savior on this subject. "We must forgive, not seventy-seven times, as some interpret, but an infinite number of times. - The report that the King of Heaven will demand will be equally strict for all ages, sexes and conditions. - About the meaning of the words: "he had nothing with which to pay." - How a debtor who feared to be condemned receives forgiveness of his debt as a result of his supplication. - God, who forgives Him the insults inflicted on Him, did not forgive the offense of which the cruel servant was guilty towards his brother. "There is nothing more hateful before God than vengeance.

II. CONVERSATION on the words:

"My Father! if possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt" (Matt. 26:39).

Since the prophets also knew about the circumstances of the sufferings of Jesus Christ, how much more did He Himself know about them. - It cannot be said that Jesus Christ refused to undergo suffering; this is indicated by the severe rebuke which He made to Ap. Peter, who wanted to turn Him away from this. - Just before the crucifixion, He said to His Father: "The hour has come, glorify Thy Son," as if all His glory was to come from the cross. - Miracles performed by the cross. - In vain do the Anomoeans and Arians use the text: "My Father! if possible" to confirm his misconceptions. - The petition with which Jesus Christ addressed His Father, He made as a man, and not as God. - The Father and the Son have only one and the same will. - The Doctrine of the Incarnation. - Since this mystery is beyond human reason, God, in order to make it plausible, proclaimed it through the prophets. - He Himself appeared in the world, and in order not to be mistaken for a ghost, He proved that He was the true first man, having endured all the calamities and all the inconveniences associated with human nature, and finally undergoing death on the cross. - If all these signs could not prevent Marcion, Valentinus, Manes and other heresiarchs from questioning the mystery of the Incarnation, then what would have happened if Jesus Christ had been a stranger to human infirmities? Then, of course, we would see even more false teachings of all kinds.

III. ON THE LIFE ACCORDING TO GOD AND ON THE WORDS:

"Strait is the gate"... etc. (Matt. 7:14), and the explanation of the prayer: "Our Father."

In this discourse, the preacher, after showing how the faithful should be attentive to the proclamations of the Gospel, and by means of the texts "strait is the gate, and narrow is the way" and "wide is the gate, and broad is the way," having pointed out how many Christians occupy themselves with their souls and heavenly things, and to what extent, on the contrary, they devote themselves to the care of the body and earthly things, after these preliminary reflections, proceeds to prayer, as an object that is actually subject to explanation. - The conviction of the majority of people that they ask God for temporal and transitory blessings - beauty, riches, honors, and do not turn to Him with a request for goods, which alone are truly useful; he denounces those vengeful souls who give themselves over to their vengeance with malicious glee, while God Himself condemns vengeance. - Jesus Christ teaches us how we should pray. - Praise of the Lord's Prayer and then the very explanation of this excellent prayer, all the petitions of which are consistently set forth with extraordinary elegance and simplicity.

IV. CONVERSATION about the paralytic,

lowered through the roof; that he is not the same as that spoken of in John; and of the equality of the Son with the Father.

At the beginning of this discourse, the preacher says that some time ago he had already delivered a discourse on a paralytic who had suffered for thirty-eight years, which undoubtedly points to the twelfth discourse against the Amoneans (see Pr. I.), in which it is proved, through the miraculous healing of the paralytic, that the Son is equal to the Father in omnipotence. - This discourse, as it is believed, was pronounced by Chrysostom in the year 398, when he was already Archbishop of Constantinople; To the same time should be attributed the conversation about the paralytic who was lowered through the roof. - The properties of spiritual riches are that they are never exhausted. - The story of this paralytic teaches us to endure the trials of life. God is always Father and Physician, whether He acts with severity or with condescension. - The need for the help of divine grace. - The preacher moves on to the second paralytic. - Evangelists do not contradict each other. - The difference between these two paralytics. - The greatness of the faith of the paralytic. - Christ manifests His divinity. -Absolution. - Exhortation to patience in sorrows.

V. DISCOURSES ON THE INSCRIPTION OF THE BOOK OF ACTS

1. CONVERSATION

about those who did not come to the church assembly; that the inscriptions of the Divine Scriptures should not be ignored; about the inscription on the altar and about the newly enlightened.

With this discourse begins a series of discourses, five in all, on the question of the inscription of the book of Acts; the first of them speaks of the title of the book itself, the second of the author, the third of the beginning of the book and the difference between action and miracle, the fourth of the benefit of reading the Holy Scriptures. The fifth is about why the book of the Acts of the Apostles is read at Pentecost. The second of these discourses has come down to us only in an insufficient and even distorted form, which is why it is referred by the Benedictine publishers to the end of Volume III.