The rest of the building consists of stones, which are all the faithful who are built upon it, as the Apostles Peter (1 Pet. 2) and Paul clearly set forth in their Epistles (Eph. 2). And since this part of the building concerns everyone, it will be best to note the conditions or qualities which those must have who desire to be built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, under Jesus Christ Himself, the chief cornerstone; so that they may not only be in the city of God, but may themselves be the most exalted and most happy city of God.
Three things are required for a man to be built upon so noble a foundation: first, that he be a stone; secondly, that he be living; and lastly, that he be as well polished and squared as possible. First, then, we must be stones — not wood, not hay, not stubble — so that we may form a solid wall; that is, we must be grave and steadfast men, persevering in faith, in charity, in humility, and in obedience to the commandments, and not carried about by every wind of doctrine, as heretics are wont to be; nor swept away by various desires, as fickle Catholics are very easily swept away. For such materials are indeed used in building, but they serve for the making of huts, which are destroyed without any trouble. Secondly, we must be living stones, as St. Peter admonishes (1 Pet. 2), that is, full of charity and of the spirit of life, such as is the cornerstone Christ: who, though He died once according to the flesh, yet according to the spirit always lived, and according to the flesh lived again after having tasted death, and now shall die no more. Dead stones build dead houses, that is, bodily houses; but a spiritual house — or rather the city of the great King — which is known to be spiritual and heavenly, requires spiritual, and therefore living, stones. Lastly, we must be squared and polished stones, not rough and shapeless, for so it befits the building of the most excellent of all cities. For if Arphaxad built Ecbatana of squared and hewn stones, as we read in the book of Judith (Jdt. 1); and if king Solomon built the temple of the Lord on this earth of ours from hewn and finished stones, as Scripture says in the first book of Kings (1 Kgs. 6); what care, then, is fitting in the building of the eternal City, which is by far the most excellent of all?
But this squaring, and cutting, and hewing must be done here on earth, not in heaven. A figure of this went before in the building of the temple of Solomon. For thus we read in the third book of Kings: Now the house, when it was in building, was built of stones hewn and made ready; and neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was in building (1 Kings 6:7); because, namely, the stones were cut and pounded far from the house of the Lord, and so perfectly squared that, when they were brought to the temple, they were placed in their positions without any sound of the hammer. Therefore in the heavenly City no sound of the striking hammer will be heard, because there there will be no persecution, no tribulation, no labor of penance, no groaning, no pain, no sadness. The stones chosen, therefore, for the glory of the heavenly House must be polished by poundings and pressures in this vale of tears; for so the Church sings:
Polished by poundings and pressures, the stones
Are fitted each into its place
By the hand of the Craftsman, and set to abide forever in the sacred edifice.
Here the labor of penance is necessary for us, for in many things we all offend (James 3:2), as St. James affirms. Here must the carnal concupiscences be tamed, here our own wills conquered, here the body chastised and brought into subjection, here must the shield of faith be held up with unwearying labor against the fiery darts of the unclean spirits. Otherwise, if we cannot bear the pounding of the hammer, how shall we, rough and unpolished, be admitted by the heavenly Architect into the heavenly fabric? O if mortals understood how great a good they are deprived of while they flee the striking hammer, and can bear nothing troublesome, nothing harsh, nothing bitter! Surely they would change their resolve and, giving up feasting, leaving off fine apparel, would seek hair-shirts; neglecting idle talk, they would devote themselves to vigils and prayers; and if they suffered any trouble from false brethren or from open enemies, they would not think of revenge, but would give thanks to God, and from their heart pray to God for those who slander and persecute them, because the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18). For that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation worketh in us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:17).
And certainly, if we look at the living stones that went before us into the heavenly edifice, we shall see none that were not polished by many poundings and varied pressures. Christ Himself, the most precious corner stone, who for Himself needed no hewing, nevertheless suffered for us, leaving us an example: and when He was reviled, He did not revile; when He suffered, He threatened not (1 Pet. 2:21-23). All the Apostles could say with St. Paul: Even unto this hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no fixed abode, and we labor, working with our own hands: we are reviled, and we bless; we suffer persecution, and we endure it; we are blasphemed, and we entreat; we are made as the refuse of this world, the offscouring of all (1 Cor. 4:11-13). What of the martyrs? Did they not all ascend to the edifice of the heavenly City, cut and hewn by many tribulations and torments and most bitter deaths? I pass over the blessed Confessors, Anchorites, Virgins, Widows, and all the others who pleased God, who were admitted to the heavenly building only by crucifying their flesh with its vices and concupiscences, and by waging war with themselves. Nor was this hewing of living stones necessary only after the coming of Christ, but also before, and from the very beginning of the world. The first living stone was Abel, cruelly slain by his brother Cain. The holy Patriarch Joseph was sold by his brethren. To Tobias the Angel Raphael said: Because you were acceptable to God, it was necessary that temptation should prove you (Tob. 12:13). He did not say, Because you were a sinner and hateful to God, it was necessary that you should pay the penalty of blindness and beggary; but, Because you were acceptable to God, as being just and holy — therefore, as a living stone destined for the heavenly edifice, it was necessary that you should be proved by trial. Which of the Prophets did not suffer persecution from the wicked? What torments did the blessed Maccabee youths not endure? Let us hear the Apostle preaching of the blessed of the Old Testament in the Epistle to the Hebrews: And others, he says, had trial of mockeries and stripes, moreover also of bands and prisons; they were stoned, they were cut asunder, they were tempted, they were put to death by the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts, in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth (Heb. 11:36-38). What will you say to this, O Christian soul? If the Builder's hammer did not spare those of whom the world was not worthy on account of their outstanding holiness, so that they might be squared and polished and made fit for the heavenly edifice, what will be done with you and those like you, who take pleasure in sinning and find the labor of penance too heavy? One of two things must needs be: either you are struck and polished in this life or in purgatory, or you will have no place in that lofty edifice, and the hammer of hell will pound you forever. Why, then, do you not choose (if you have any sense) rather to be pounded and squared in this life by a brief and light tribulation, than to be rejected in the life to come and consigned to eternal and intolerable pounding?
For that punishment in the life to come, although it is not eternal, is nevertheless more severe, and often lasts longer, than any punishment of this life. For hear St. Augustine explaining the thirty-seventh Psalm: "It is said," he says, "he shall be saved, yet so as by fire. And because it is said, He shall be saved, that fire is made light of; yet that fire will be more severe than whatever a man can suffer in this life." So says he, who adds that the pains of purgatory will be more grievous than the torments inflicted on robbers, and than the sufferings of the martyrs were; and that therefore they are foolish who despise the fire of purgatory, yet shrink in horror from the tribulations of the present life. And because in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall stand, hear St. Gregory on the third penitential Psalm: "That transitory fire," he says, "I judge to be more intolerable than all present tribulation." Hear St. Bernard in the sermon On the Death of Humbert the Monk: "Know this," he says, "that after this life, in the places of purgatory, the things that were neglected here are repaid a hundredfold, even to the last farthing." Hear finally St. Anselm in his exposition of the third chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians: "It must be known," he says, "that that fire is more severe than whatever a man can suffer in this life. For all the torments that are here are easier; and yet men, to avoid suffering them, do whatever is commanded them by man. How much better is it to do what God commands, that we may not suffer those more grievous things?"