Ambrose of Milan: Holy Scripture is Drunk when the Power of the Word Penetrates the Depths of the Mind Tuesday, Feb 5 2013

First drink from the Old Testament, so that you may drink from the New as well.

You cannot drink from the second without drinking from the first.

Drink from the Old Testament to slake your thirst, and from the New to quench it completely.

Compunction is found in the Old Testament; joy in the New.

Notice how the Lord, on his servants’ behalf, countered the wiles of the devil.

With deceitful cunning the devil beguiled one man in order to overthrow all mankind in his person.

But with salutary food Jesus redeemed all mankind, in order to restore with him all, even him who had been beguiled.

The Lord Jesus poured out water from the rock and everyone drank. Those who drank from the symbol were satisfied, but those who drank from the reality were inebriated.

That was a good inebriation that steadied the walk of the sober mind; that was a good inebriation that watered the gift of eternal life.

Drink of this cup, then, of which the Prophet said: Your cup that inebriates, how noble it is!

Drink the cup of the Old Testament and of the New, for in both you drink Christ.

Drink Christ because he is the vine; drink Christ because he is the rock that poured out water.

Drink Christ because he is the fountain of life; drink Christ because he is the river whose running waters give joy to the city of God, and because he is peace, and because out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Drink Christ to drink the blood which redeemed you; drink Christ to drink his words: the Old Testament is his word; the New Testament is his word.

Holy Scripture is drunk and swallowed when the power of the eternal Word penetrates the depths of the mind and the virtue of the soul.

In short, we do not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Drink this word, but according to its own order.

Drink it first in the Old Testament; then hasten to drink it also in the New.

Ambrose of Milan (c. 337-397): On Psalm 1, 33 (CSEL 64:28-30);  from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Saturday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time Year 1.

Leave a Response »

 

Evagrius the Solitary: Standing Fast in Battle like Warriors of Our Victorious King, Jesus Christ. Wednesday, Jan 30 2013

I write of the reasoning nature that fights beneath heaven: first, what it battles against; second; what assists it in the battle; and finally, what the fighter keeping valiant watch must confront.

Those who fight are human beings; those assisting them are the angels of God; and those opposing them are the evil demons.

Failure results not from the enemy’s formidable strength, nor because the protectors are careless: rather, it is because the fighter is unprepared that the knowledge of God vanishes and fails.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who handed on to us everything necessary for salvation, bestowed on us power “to trample serpents and scorpions, and all the powers of evil” (Lk 10:19).

And together with all his teaching he handed on to us what he himself did when tempted by Satan (Mt 4:1-11; Lk 4:1-13).

And so in the moment of battle, when the demons attack and hurl weapons against us, we too (like Christ), must speak out against them from the text of sacred Scripture.

In this way their foul tempting-thoughts will not persist in us, enslaving the soul through sin arising from action, staining it and casting it into the sin of death. As scripture says, “The soul that sins shall die” (Ez 18:4).

For when sin has not yet entered the mind it is still possible to speak out against the evil, vanquishing it easily and rapidly.

[...] For this reason we have carefully selected the right words from the Scriptures, so that armed with them we may “vigorously drive away the Philistine” (cf. 1 Sam 14:52) while standing fast in battle, like powerful men and warriors of our victorious king, Jesus Christ.

But we know this, beloved: that to the degree that we withstand them in battle and answer the demons back, they will be embittered to that degree against us.

We are instructed in this by Job who said, “No sooner do I start to speak, then they wound me.” (Job 6:4 LXXX).  And David speaks similarly: “When I speak out for peace, they make war against me” (Ps 119:7).

But it is not right for us to be afraid of them: instead, we must withstand them confidently in the power of our Savior.

For if we believe in Christ and carefully keep his commands, we will cross the Jordan and take Jericho, the “city of palms.” (cf. Jdg. 3:13 LXX).

In this battle we need the spiritual weapons, (cf. 2 Cor 10:4) of steadfast faith (Col 1:23) and teaching, which imply: perfect fasting; mighty victories; humility; calm stillness; slowness to react or utter imperturbability; and prayer without ceasing. (cf. 1 Th 5:17).

Evagrius Ponticus (345-399): Antirrhetikos (Prologue), translated by Luke Dysinger OSB.

Leave a Response »

 

John of Karpathos: It is Christ Himself that We Breathe Monday, Jan 14 2013

Sometimes our soul grows despondent at the huge swarm of its sins and temptations, and says, ‘Our hope is gone and we are lost’ (Ezek. 37:11; LXX).

Yet God, who does not despair of our salvation, says to us: ‘You shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord’ (Ezek. 37:6).

To the soul that doubts how it can ever give birth to Christ through great acts of holiness, these words are said: ‘The Holy Spirit shall come upon you’ (Luke 1:35).

Where the Holy Spirit is present, do not expect any more the sequence and laws of nature and habit.

The Holy Spirit whom we worship is all-powerful, and in an astonishing way He brings into existence what does not as yet exist within us.

The intellect that was previously defeated He now makes victorious: for the Paraclete who in compassion comes upon us from above ‘is higher than all’ (John 3:31), and He raises us above all natural impulses and demonic passions.

Struggle to preserve unimpaired the light that shines within your intellect.

If passion begins to dominate you when you look at things, this means that the Lord has left you in darkness; He has dropped the reins with which He was guiding you, and the light of your eyes is gone from you (cf. Ps. 38:10).

Yet even if this happens, do not despair or give up, but pray to God with the words of David: ‘O send out Thy light and Thy truth to me in my gloom, for Thou art the salvation of my countenance and my God’ (cf. Ps. 43:3, 5); ‘Thou shalt send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created; and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth’ (Ps. 104: 30; LXX).

Blessed is he who, with a hunger that is never satisfied, day and night throughout this present life makes prayer and the psalms his food and drink, and strengthens himself by reading of God’s glory in Scripture.

Such communion will lead the soul to ever-increasing joy in the age to come.

Do all in your power not to fall, for the strong athlete should not fall. But if you do fall, get up again at once and continue the contest.

Even if you fall a thousand times because of the withdrawal of God’s grace, rise up again each time, and keep on doing so until the day of your death.

For it is written, ‘If a righteous man falls seven times’ – that is, repeatedly throughout his life – seven times ‘shall he rise again’ (Prov. 24: 16; LXX).

John of Karpathos (7^th century): For the Encouragement of the Monks in India, 81-84, trans. G.E.H. Palmer, P. Sherrard, and K. Ware, The Philokalia, vol. 1 (Faber and Faber, London & Boston: 1979), pp. 317-318.

2 Responses »

 

Ignatius Brianchaninov: The Words of the Gospels are Spirit and Life Wednesday, Jan 9 2013

This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him (Matthew 3:17; 17:5).

Thus did the voice of the pre-eternal God the Father speak to people about the pre-eternal God the Son, when the Son, at the behest of the Father, through the action of the Spirit, became incarnate of the Virgin and wrought the salvation of perishing mankind.

Brothers! Let us show obedience to the Son of God, as God desires of us, that Divine good will might abide with us.

Perhaps someone might say, “I would like to obey the Son of God; but how can this be done, when two thousand years have passed since our Lord Jesus Christ dwelt on earth in the flesh and preached His all-holy teaching?”

It is very easy for us to be continually with Christ, to ceaselessly hear His sweet voice, and to nourish ourselves with His life-giving teaching; for the Lord Jesus Christ still abides with us.

He abides with us in His Holy Gospels, through the Holy Mysteries of the Church; He abides through His omnipresence and omnipotence—bountifully, as befits the boundless, all-perfect God.

That the Lord abides with us is plainly proved by souls freed from the captivity of sin, the bestowal of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and by many signs and wonders.

Those who wish to approach the Lord and unite with Him in blessed union forever should begin this sacred work with scrupulous study of God’s words; they should begin by studying the Gospels, where Christ can be found, and from which Christ speaks and acts.

The words of the Gospels are spirit, and they are life (Jn. 6:63). They turn a fleshly man into a spiritual man, and revitalize a soul deadened by sin and the cares of life.

They are spirit, and they are life—beware of trying to explain the great word of the Spirit with your reason, which crawls upon the earth.

Beware of attempts to explain words filled with awesome Divine power in ways that might seem simpler to your deadened soul, deadened heart, and deadened mind.

A word spoken by the Holy Spirit can only be explained through the Holy Spirit.

Those who wish to approach the Lord in order to hear His Divine teaching, to be enlivened and saved by Him—come and stand before the Lord with utmost reverence and holy fear, as do the bright Angels, His Cherubim and Seraphim.

Your humility will turn the earth upon which you stand into heaven. The Lord will speak to you from His Holy Gospels as to His beloved disciples!

May the holy fathers who expound the Holy Gospels through the gift of the Holy Spirit be your guides to an exact and unmistaken understanding of the Holy Gospels.

Ignatius Brianchaninov (1807–1867; Russian Orthodox): Spiritual Instruction on the Feast of the Theophany translated by Nun Cornelia Rees @ Pravoslavie.

Leave a Response »

 

Mark the Hermit: At the Times when You Remember God… Monday, Nov 26 2012

At the times when you remember God, increase your prayers, so that when you forget Him, the Lord may remind you.

When you read Holy Scripture, perceive its hidden meanings. ‘For whatever was written in past times was written for our instruction’ (Rom. 15:4).

Scripture speaks of faith as ‘the substance of things hoped for’ (Heb. 11:1), and describes as ‘worthless’ those who do not know the indwelling of Jesus (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5).

Just as a thought is made manifest through actions and words, so is our future reward through the impulses of the heart.

Thus a merciful heart will receive mercy, while a merciless heart will receive the opposite.

The law of freedom teaches the whole truth. Many read about it in a theoretical way, but few really understand it, and these only in the degree to which they practice the commandments.

Do not seek the perfection of this law in human virtues, for it is not found perfect in them. Its perfection is hidden in the Cross of Christ.

The law of freedom is studied by means of true knowledge, it is understood through the practice of the commandments, and is fulfilled through the mercy of Christ.

When we are compelled by our conscience to accomplish all the commandments of God, then we shall understand that the law of the Lord is faultless (cf. Ps. 19:8. LXX).

It is performed through our good actions, but cannot be perfected by men without God’s mercy.

[...] God is the source of every virtue, as the sun is of daylight.

When you have done something good, remember the words ‘without Me you can do nothing’ (John 15:5).

Afflictions bring blessing to man; self-esteem and sensual pleasure, evil.

He who suffers injustice escapes sin, finding help in proportion to his affliction.

The greater a man’s faith that Christ will reward him, the greater his readiness to endure every injustice.

By praying for those who wrong us we overthrow the devil; opposing them we are wounded by him.

Distress reminds the wise of God, but crushes those who forget Him.

Let all involuntary suffering teach you to remember God, and you will not lack occasion for repentance.

Forgetfulness as such has no power, but acquires it in proportion to our negligence.

Do not say; ‘What can I do? I don’t want to be forgetful but it happens.’ For when you did remember, you cheated over what you owed.

Do good when you remember, and what you forget will be revealed to you; and do not surrender your mind to blind forgetfulness.

Mark the Hermit (5th-6th c.): On The Spiritual Law, 25-33, 40-45, 56-60, Text from G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware (trans. and eds.) The Philokalia: The Complete Text, vol. I (Faber & Faber, London & Boston: 1979), pp. 112-114.

Leave a Response »

 

Maximus the Confessor: The Lamp Set upon the Lamp Stand – Jesus Christ – the True Light from the Father Wednesday, Oct 17 2012

The lamp set upon the lamp stand is Jesus Christ, the true light from the Father, the light that enlightens every man who comes into the world.

In taking our own flesh he has become, and is rightly called, a lamp, for he is the connatural wisdom and word of the Father.

He is proclaimed in the Church of God in accordance with orthodox faith, and he is lifted up and resplendent among the nations through the lives of those who live virtuously in observance of the commandments.

So he gives light to all in the house (that is, in this world), just as he himself, God the Word, says: No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 

Clearly he is calling himself the lamp, he who was by nature God, and became flesh according to God’s saving purpose.

[...] Lamp-like indeed, he alone dispelled the gloom of ignorance and the darkness of evil and became the way of salvation for all men.

Through virtue and knowledge, he leads to the Father those who are resolved to walk by him, who is the way of righteousness, in obedience to the divine commandments.

He has designated holy Church the lamp stand, over which the word of God sheds light through preaching, and illumines with the rays of truth whoever is in this house which is the world, and fills the minds of all men with divine knowledge.

This word is most unwilling to be kept under a bushel; it wills to be set in a high place, upon the sublime beauty of the Church.

For while the word was hidden under the bushel, that is, under the letter of the law, it deprived all men of eternal light.

For then it could not give spiritual contemplation to men striving to strip themselves of a sensuality that is illusory, capable only of deceit, and able to perceive only decadent bodies like their own.

[...] For the letter, when it is not spiritually understood, bears a carnal sense only, which restricts its expression and does not allow the real force of what is written to reach the hearer’s mind.

Let us, then, not light the lamp by contemplation and action, only to put it under a bushel…lest we be condemned for restricting by the letter the incomprehensible power of wisdom.

Rather let us place it upon the lamp stand of holy Church, on the heights of true contemplation, where it may kindle for all men the light of divine teaching.

Maximus the Confessor (580-662):Questions to Thalassius, 3 (PG 90, 667-670) from the Office of Readings (liturgy of the hours) for Wednesday of the 28th week in Ordinary Time @ Crossroads Initiative.

Leave a Response »

 

Augustine of Hippo: The Lord Jesus Christ, God and Man, Became the Proof of God’s Love for Us Monday, Aug 27 2012

In everything we say we should bear in mind that the purpose of our instruction is to arouse the love that comes from a pure heart, and clear conscience, and a genuine faith.

This is the end to which we should relate all our words, and toward which we should also move and direct the thoughts of those for whose instruction we are speaking.

The chief reason for Christ’s coming was so that we should know how much God loves us, and knowing this be on fire with love for him who loved us first;

and that we should love our neighbour at the bidding and after the example of him who became our neighbour by loving us when we were not his neighbours, but had wandered far from him.

Moreover, all inspired Scripture written before the Lord’s coming was written to foretell that coming, and all that was later committed to writing and ratified by divine authority speaks of Christ and teaches us to love.

It is clear therefore that upon these two commandments, love of God and of our neighbour, depend not only the whole of the Law and the Prophets, which was all that made up holy Scripture when the Lord spoke these words, but also all the divinely inspired books which were later written for our salvation and handed down to us.

In the Old Testament, then, the New is concealed, and in the New the Old is revealed.

Insofar as the New Testament is con­cealed, worldly people, who interpret Scripture in a worldly way, are now as in the past subject to the fear of punishment.

But insofar as the Old Testament has been revealed, spiritual people, who interpret Scripture spiritually, are set free by the gift of love;

that is to say, both those of old to whose devout knocking hidden things were made known, and those of today who seek without pride, for fear that even what is manifest may be hidden from them.

Nothing is more contrary to love than envy, and the mother of envy is pride, to cure our boundless conceit by a more powerful antidote.

For this reason the Lord Jesus Christ, God and man, became both the proof of God’s love for us, and the example of humility among us.

Great is the misery of human pride, but even greater is the mercy of divine humility.

With this love before you, then, you have something to which you may relate everything you say.

So speak that by hearing those whom you address may believe, and that belief may give them hope, and hope inspire them to love.

Augustine of Hippo (354-430): De catechizandis rudibus I, 6-8  (CCL 46:124, 126-128); from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Wednesday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2.

Leave a Response »

 

Diadochus of Photiké: Theology Embraces Our Intellect with the Light of a Transforming Fire Saturday, Aug 25 2012

All God’s gifts of grace are flawless and the source of everything good.

But the gift which inflames our heart and moves it to the love of His goodness more than any other is theology.

It is the early offspring of God’s grace and bestows on the soul the greatest gifts.

First of all, it leads us gladly to disregard all love of this life, since in the place of perishable desires we possess inexpressible riches, the oracles of God.

Then it embraces our intellect with the light of a transforming fire, and so makes it a partner of the angels in their liturgy.

Therefore, when we have been made ready, we begin to long sincerely for this gift of contemplative vision, for it is full of beauty, frees us from every worldly care, and nourishes the intellect with divine truth in the radiance of inexpressible light.

In brief, it is the gift which, through the help of the holy prophets, unites the deiform soul with God in unbreakable communion.

So, among men as among angels, divine theology – like one who conducts the wedding feast – brings into harmony the voices of those who praise God’s majesty.

Our intellect often finds it hard to endure praying because of the straightness and concentration which this involves. But it joyfully turns to theology because of the broad and unhampered scope of divine speculation.

Therefore, so as to keep the intellect from expressing itself too much in words or exalting itself unduly in its joy, we should spend most of our time in prayer, in singing psalms and reading the Holy Scriptures, yet without neglecting the speculations of wise men whose faith has been revealed in their writings.

In this way we shall prevent the intellect from confusing its own utterances with the utterances of grace, and stop it from being led astray by self-esteem and dispersed through over-elation and loquacity.

In the time of contemplation we must keep the intellect free of all fantasy and image, and so ensure that with almost all our thoughts we shed tears.

When it is at peace in times of stillness, and above all when it is gladdened by the sweetness of prayer, not only does it escape the faults we have mentioned, but it is more and more renewed in its swift and effortless understanding of divine truth, and with great humility it advances in its knowledge of discrimination.

There is, moreover, a prayer which is above even the broadest scope of speculation: but this prayer is granted only to those who fully and consciously perceive the plenitude of God’s grace within them.

Diadochus of Photiké (c.400-before 486): On Spiritual Perfection chs 67-68, Text from G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware (trans. and eds.) The Philokalia: The Complete Text, vol. I (Faber & Faber, London & Boston: 1979).

One Response »

 

Origen Adamantius: Building an Ark of Salvation Within the Heart Wednesday, Aug 22 2012

Just as at that time Noah made an ark, so also our Noah, who is Christ Jesus, is told by the Father to make himself an ark of squared planks and give it dimensions filled with heavenly mysteries.

[...] There are two lower decks and three upper decks to show that in the Church, although all are contained within the one faith and are washed in the one baptism, progress is not one and the same for all, but each one in his own order.

Since God orders that the ark be constructed not only with two decks but also with three, let as also make sure we join to our twofold exposition of the Scriptures also a third meaning.

For the literal meaning which comes first is a kind of foundation at the lower level. The mystical interpretation comes second, being higher and loftier. Let us attempt, if we can, to add a moral exposition as the third level.

If there is anyone who, while evils are increasing, can turn from the things which are in flux, and can hear the word of God, this man is building an ark of salvation within his own heart and is dedicating a library, so to speak, of the divine word within himself.

He does not construct this library from planks which are unhewn and rough, but from planks which have been squared and arranged in a uniform line, that is, not from the volumes of secular authors, but from the prophetic and apostolic volumes and from the works of those who have followed them in the right lines of faith.

You shall make it with two decks and with three decks. From this library learn the historical narratives; from it recognise the great mystery which is fulfilled in Christ and in the Church.

From it also learn how to correct habits and to curtail vices. You ought also to bring in animals of every kind, the unclean as well as the clean.

I think that concupiscence and wrath, which are in every soul, are necessarily said to be unclean in the sense that they serve to make man sin.

But because the human race is not renewed without concupiscence nor can any correction or discipline exist without anger, they are said to be necessary and must be preserved.

Let us pray, however, the mercy of the omnipotent God to make us not only hearers of his word, but also doers and to bring upon our souls also a flood of his water and destroy in us what he knows should be destroyed and quicken what he knows should be quickened, through Christ our Lord and through his Holy Spirit.

Origen Adamantius (c.185-254): Homilies on Genesis 2.1, 3, 6; FoC 71 (1981) tr. Heine, from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Friday of the First Week of Ordinary Time, Year 2.

Leave a Response »

 

Bede the Venerable: Parable of the Good Samaritan (3) Tuesday, Aug 7 2012

(Continued from here…)

And the next day he took out two pence and gave to the host and said: Take care of him. 

The next day is, after the Resurrection of the Lord. For even before this He had, by the grace of His Gospel, enlightened those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death (Lk. i. 79), but after His Resurrection there shone out the mightier splendour of His Perpetual Light.

The two pence are the Two Testaments, in which are contained the Name and Image of the Eternal King. For the end of the Law is Christ (Rom. x. 4).

These He took out next day, and gave them to the host: for it was then He opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures (Lk. xxiv. 45).

The next day the innkeeper received the denarii, as payment for taking care of the wounded man; for the Holy Spirit coming down, taught the Apostles all truth (Jn. xvi. 13), by means of which they would be able to preach the Gospel and to stand secure in instructing the Gentiles.

And whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee.  

[...] At His return, the Debtor will repay what He promised; for the Lord, coming in judgement, shall say: Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord (Mt. xxv. 23).

Which of these three in thy opinion was neighbour to him that fell among robbers? But he said: He that showed mercy to him.
From these words Christ’s mind has been made clear to us: That no one is more a neighbour to us than he who shows us mercy.

[...] Receiving this in its more sacred sense, since no one is more our neighbour than He who has healed our wounds let us love Him as the Lord our God, let us love Him as our neighbour.

For nothing is so close as the head is to the members. Let us also love him who is an imitator of Christ. For this is what follows.

And Jesus said to him: Go, and do thou in like manner; that is, show that you truly love your neighbour as yourself; doing with love whatever you can do to help him, also in his spiritual necessities, to the praise and glory of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Amen.

The Venerable Bede (672/4-735):Commentary on St Luke’s Gospel (PL 92, Lib. III, Cap. X, col. 467); Translated by M.F. Toale, D.D. @ Lectionary Central.

Leave a Response »