Caesarius of Arles

In his own words on James

• James 2:10

  What does it mean to offend in one point and lose all, except to have fallen from the precept of love and thereby to have offended in all the other commandments? Without love none of our virtues amounts to anything at all.

  SERMONS 100a.12

• James 2:16

  Christ says: "My justice can give you nothing except what your works deserve. To no purpose do you cry out, now that you are dead and in the power of another, for when you had opportunities and saw me in the person of the poor, you were blind."

  SERMONS 31.4

• James 2:19

  The apostle says that a man who believes and does not act has the faith of demons. If that is true, imagine the fate of a man who does not believe at all.

  SERMONS 12.5

• James 2:26

  In order that we may bear the name Christian as a remedy, not leading to judgment, let us take up good works while the remedies are still within our power.

  SERMONS 13.1

• James 4:6

  Be humble, in order that God may rest in you, which he wants to do.

  SERMONS 210.5

• James 4:7

  Let us fight as hard as we can, with the Lord's help, against that most harsh captivity of the soul [which is the devil's ability to divert our thoughts away from spiritual concerns].

  SERMONS 77.7

• James 5:2

  Riches cannot harm a good person, because he spends them kindly. Likewise they cannot help an evil person as long as he keeps them avariciously or wastes them in dissipation.

  SERMONS 35.4

• James 5:5

  These things which Christ threatened through the apostle should terrify us very much, but we should not despair of the mercy of God. Those of us who have been careless up to now can, with God's help, correct ourselves, provide that we are willing to dispense more generously those alms which we have given sparingly up to now.

  SERMONS 199.5

• James 5:15

  Whenever some illness comes upon a man, he should hurry back to the church. Let him receive the body and blood of Christ, be anointed by the presbyters with consecrated oil and ask them and the deacons to pray over him in Christ's name. If he does this, he will receive not only bodily health but also the forgiveness of his sins.

  SERMONS 19.5