St. Peter Chrysologus is one of the 37 declared Doctors of the Church. In this context, a doctor simply means teacher of our faith and to be declared a Doctor of the Church is one of the highest honors a member of the faithful can receive. It expresses that the Church understands their learning and sanctity were of such a preeminent degree as to warrant elevation and proclamation to the entire Church to sit at their feet in imitation of how they sat at our Lord’s.
Chrysologus (besides being an excellent baby name!) means “golden-worded.” Once again, we have the time-honored tradition of saints being recognized, not by their baptismal name, but by their nickname which captures their flavor and character. Before Pope Francis warned priests to keep their homilies short to prevent us in the pews from falling asleep (eight minutes Father!), St. Peter Chrysologus has already imbibed that wisdom. His sermons were pithy and zealous. They still hold up today. Sadly, they are not available for free in English, though there is a three-volume translation of his selected sermons available from the Catholic University of America Press (Those volumes are free to check out online with an account on Internet Archive!).
As I perused the third volume, there was a sermon simply numbered 163 that stuck out to me. I think it serves as a good introduction to this saint many of us are unfamiliar with. That isn’t surprising, his first biography was written 400 years after he died in 450 and despite being declared a Doctor of the Church in 1729, and allegedly inspiring Pope Leo the Great’s famous “Tome” which solidified an orthodox understanding of Jesus’s nature, he has been neglected in both study and popular piety. I hope to do my part in rectifying that tragedy and giving us an introduction to this great saint by receiving a bit of what he preached from the pulpit. The greatest testament to who he was is in what he preached. We can be assured he practiced it to the best of his ability by the great honor the Church has given him. This sermon captures why he received the nickname Chrysologus and is known and loved as the Doctor of Small Sermons.
Sermon 163 is St. Peter Chrysologus’s reflection on Jesus’s teaching on anxiety beginning with Luke 12:22 (for my preferred parallel verse see Matthew 6:25; for an amazing sung rendition of this verse you can listen to the song, Matthew 6 by Tekoa, Rory McKenna, and Mark Barlow). It reads, “He said to [his] disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life and what you will eat,” (NABRE). What we then receive is his insightful and prayerful reception of our Lord’s great teaching. Chrysologus begins by praising those who let this verse pierce their hearts and transform their minds by its promise from the Lord. He suggests that freedom from our present difficult worries arises within the promises of Jesus. If we seek what is good for us in Christ we ought not to shirk away from trials, struggles, and pains. Instead, he states, “God is at hand everywhere and at all times [He] puts together a meal for you” (St. Peter Chrysologus, Selected Sermons, vol. 3, page 292). So why are we anxious? The Lord is preparing the nourishment we need.
God is our King, our Master, and our Father, as such He is just, He is always concerned for us, and, beyond concern, He takes our anxieties upon Himself. As such we ought not to seek plans apart from His providential will, that is our daily bread, our day’s worth of manna. This is one of the great insights of the Our Father. The Good Father gives His children what they need and, within that, what they ask for. Don’t try and provide cheap, easily broken, and soon-to-expire provisions for yourself. Trust in His promises in all circumstances. This doesn’t mean don’t work. It means working with Him and within His promises. Given what Jesus taught us, St. Chrysologus states rather frankly, that it would be insane for the person of faith to not trust in the Father’s provision throughout their daily living. After all, we only need to look at the crucifixion, the empty tomb, and the ascension to see the Father’s faithfulness and the Son’s power.
But St. Peter Chrysologus wisely reminds us that the Father’s provision is only for our good, not simply for what we want. If our desires are vain, then they will be left unfulfilled. For instance, we cannot make ourselves taller to appear more handsome to the beauty standards of the world. What clothing is considered beautiful will change in the blink of an eye. Our attractiveness is finite, nobody finds a corpse beautiful! But if we let our desires be formed in Christ and with His loving touch we can begin to see that all of us will be, and are already being made, beautiful. The profound fact that each person is made in the image and likeness of God means that we all have a unique beauty meant to radiate the truth and goodness of God in our lives. God knows our desires. He is the one who breathed them into us and sustains their flame even now. Yet they are not fulfilled in the parts of this earth that are passing, merely worldly ends. Instead, they are fulfilled when they conform to the pattern of Jesus Christ, the Word through which all of creation (which was made good) came into existence. As we ask for what we need we must remember we are made good in Him, but we are made even better, more glorious in Christ’s redemption of us as we enter into an intimate relationship with Him in prayer, the sacraments, and the community of believers in the Church.
Look how profoundly the Lord can lead us through deep reflection on a handful of verses! St. Peter Chrysologus’s short sermons remind us that we don’t need to devour the entire bible in a sitting to encounter the Lord. Sitting with Him little by little is almost always more powerful. Here in these few verses, we see the outlines of human dignity. If we move too fast we might miss the lesson. In this same sermon, St. Peter Chrysologus praises “the diligence of a teacher,” our Lord, who provides a powerful example in comparing the majesty of Solomon and lilies to the care He has for each of us (296). This He said to strengthen our faith in the blessings that Jesus always has available to sustain us in Himself no matter what situations rear anxiety in our hearts. We know (because His promise is true!) that we can always lay our burdens upon Him for His yolk is light. Here is where our “golden-tongued” saint wants us to dwell and to leave our anxieties, upon our Lord’s loving care.
This sermon is just one example of the clear terms that St. Peter Chrysologus discussed Jesus for us. Though his sermons are simple they are not weak or watered down. Often the truth we need is straightforward. His faith was full, devoid of half measures; humble, devoid of pride; and centered entirely on Jesus. We don’t need to overcomplicate it or our teachings. He always reiterated Jesus’s desire to be united with us in the Church and the importance of clear teaching authority to assist all the faithful in that goal. He preached with great intensity and compassion. When he taught he spoke in a style that was precise but popular. Without realizing it I had been praying a little piece of his 96th Sermon every mass right before the homily (with the roles reversed), “May our God deign to give me the grace of speaking and you the desire of listening.” This can serve as an excellent “before homily” prayer, “May the Holy Spirit give this priest/deacon the grace of speaking and me the desire of listening!”
These are desires close to the hearts of many of us in the pews to this very day. It is a good lesson to remember that, even in the year 400, we all have similar lessons to learn in the faith. We ought to ask for this great teacher’s intercession to assist our pastors, instructors, and brothers and sisters. By St. Peter Chrysologus’s assistance may we all become more aware of what being united to Jesus means, may the peace of God remain with us, may our teachers embrace their authority and teach in a well-rounded, deeply humane manner, and may we all be spared of the over-ambitious long-winded homily!
St. Peter Chrysologus pray for us.
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