It is she who loftily advances the increase of hope. She directs our action, that we may be able to hold the way of Christ while we walk through His endurance. She brings it about that we persevere as sons of God, while we imitate the patience of the Father. And since I know, dearly beloved brethren, that very many, whether by the weight of distressing injuries or by grief over those who assail and rage against them, desire to be avenged swiftly, this also must not be left unsaid in the final part: that, set amid these whirlwinds of an unstable world and amid the persecutions of Jews or Gentiles and of heretics also, we should patiently await the day of vengeance, and not hasten with querulous haste to the avenging of our own grief, since it is written:
Wait for me, saith the Lord, in the day of my resurrection, for a testimony; for my judgment is unto the gatherings of the nations, that I may take the kings and pour out upon them my wrath. The Lord bids us wait and sustain with brave patience the day of future vengeance. He also speaks in the Apocalypse, saying: Seal not the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is now at hand: and let those who persist in doing harm, do harm; and he who is in filth, let him be filthy still; but let the just do still more just things, and likewise the holy more holy things. Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to render to each one according to his deeds.
Whence also the martyrs, crying out and hastening toward their vengeance with grief bursting forth, are bidden still to wait and to show patience until the times are fulfilled and the number of the martyrs is completed. And when he had opened, he says, the fifth seal, I saw under the altar of God the souls of those slain for the word of God and their testimony, and they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? And to each of them was given a white robe, and it was said that they should rest yet a little while, until the number of their fellow servants and brethren should be completed, who afterward also are to be slain after their example. And He declares when the divine vengeance for the just blood shall come:
the Holy Spirit speaking through the prophet Malachi: Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, burning like an oven, and all the strangers and all the wicked shall be stubble, and the coming day shall set them on fire, saith the Lord. We read the same likewise in the Psalms, where the advent of God the Judge is proclaimed, to be revered in the majesty of His judgment: God shall come manifestly, our God, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall burn before Him, and round about Him a mighty tempest. He shall call the heaven above and the earth, that He may separate His people. Gather unto Him His just ones, who dispose His covenant in sacrifices. And the heavens shall declare His justice, for God is judge. And Isaiah foretells the same, saying:
For behold, the Lord shall come as fire, and as a tempest His chariots, to render vengeance in wrath; for in the fire of the Lord they shall be judged, and by His sword they shall be wounded. And again: The Lord God of hosts shall go forth and shall shatter the war; He shall stir up the conflict and shall cry out against His enemies with might: I have held my peace; shall I always keep silence? But who is this who says that He first held His peace and shall not always keep silence? Surely He who, as a sheep led to the slaughter, and as a lamb without voice before its shearer, opened not His mouth. Surely He who cried not out, nor was His voice heard in the streets.
Surely He who was not stubborn nor contradicted, when He set His back to the scourges and His cheeks to the blows, yet turned not away His face from the foulness of spittings. Surely He who, when He was accused by the priests and elders, answered nothing, and, while Pilate marveled, kept a most patient silence. This is He who, having kept silence in His passion, shall hereafter not keep silence in His vengeance. This is our God, that is, the God not of all but of the faithful and believing, who, when He shall come manifest at His second advent, shall not keep silence. For though He was first hidden in lowliness, He shall come manifest in power.
Let us await Him, dearly beloved brethren, our Judge and Avenger, who will avenge alike the people of His Church and the number of all the just from the beginning of the world together with Himself. Let whoever hastens and presses too eagerly for his own vengeance consider that not even He who avenges has yet been avenged. God the Father commanded His Son to be adored; and the apostle Paul, mindful of the divine precept, sets it down and says: God hath exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things heavenly, earthly, and infernal. And in the Apocalypse the angel resists John, who would adore him, and says: See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren: adore the Lord Jesus.
Of what kind is the Lord Jesus, and how great His patience, that He who is adored in heaven is not yet avenged on earth! Let us, dearly beloved brethren, ponder His patience in our persecutions and sufferings. Let us render full and obedient expectation to His advent, and not, as servants, hasten to be vindicated before the Lord with irreverent and immodest haste. Let us rather press on and labor, and, watching with our whole heart and steadfast unto all endurance, keep the commandments of the Lord, so that, when that day of wrath and vengeance shall come, we may not be punished with the impious and the sinners, but be honored with the just and those who fear God.