From the Morning Scriptures

Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority. In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!”  And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.

–Luke 4:31-37 (TNIV)

The demons knew who Jesus was and acted accordingly, because they had no hope in him. Do you know who Jesus is and do you act accordingly?

Knowing the Mind of God

God’s mind, being infinite, is impenetrable by finite beings. His thoughts are as much higher than our thoughts as the heavens are higher than the earth (Is. 55:9). How then can we know them? By ourselves we cannot. They are beyond us. There is no ladder by which we may climb to the heights of heaven, no way by which we may delve into the mind of God. But God has disclosed his thoughts to us by speaking. The Isaiah 55 passage continues: ‘As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, … so is my word that goes out from my mouth’ (verses 10-11). God has clothed his thoughts in words. His mouth has declared what is in his mind. Theologically we may say that revelation has come to us through the means of inspiration.

–Dr. John R.W. Stott, The Authority and Relevance of the Bible in the Modern World

Honoring Christ’s Body

Do you want to honor Christ’s body? Then do not scorn him in his nakedness, nor honor him here in the church with silken garments [for the altar table] while neglecting him outside where he is cold and naked. For he who said: “This is my body,” and made it so by his words, also said: “You saw me hungry and did not feed me,” and “inasmuch as you did not do it for one of these, the least of my brothers, you did not do it for me.” What we do here in church requires a pure heart, not special garments; what we do outside [of church] requires great dedication. Let us learn, therefore, to be people of wisdom and to honor Christ as he desires. God does not want golden vessels [for the sacraments] but golden hearts.

Now in saying this I am not forbidding you to make such gifts [to the church]; I am only demanding that along with such gifts and before them you give alms. He accepts the former, but he is much more pleased with the latter. In the former, only the giver profits; in the latter, the recipient does too. A gift to the church may be taken as a form of ostentation, but [a gift to the poor] is pure kindness. Of what use is it to weigh down Christ’s table with golden cups, when he himself is dying of hunger? First, fill him when he is hungry; then use the means you have left to adorn his table. Will you have a golden cup made but not give a cup of water? What is the use of providing the table with cloths woven of gold thread, and not providing Christ himself with the clothes he needs? What profit is there in that? Tell me: If you were to see Christ lacking the necessary food but were to leave him in that state and merely surround his table with gold, would he be grateful to you or rather would he not be angry?

Once again, I am not forbidding you to supply these adornments [for the altar]; I am urging you to provide these other things as well, and indeed to provide them first. No one has ever been accused for not providing ornaments, but for those who neglect their neighbor a hell awaits with an inextinguishable fire and torment in the company of the demons. Do not, therefore, adorn the church and ignore your afflicted sisters and brothers, for they are the most precious temple of all.

–John Chrysostom, Homily 50 on Matthew.3-4

In this solemn piece, based on Matthew 25:31-46, Chrysostom warns us to keep our priorities straight in loving Christ. The “golden heart” of which he speaks is key to understanding the right motivation in which to help the poor. We do so not to earn our salvation, an impossibility, nor as a bean counting activity. Rather, we do so because our hearts have been transformed by Christ. We love him and want nothing more than to please him. We remember the inexpressible gift of healing and life we have been given by Christ. We remember we were lost, helpless, and hopeless, but that we were rescued from our alienation from Life by God himself who loves and pursues us madly. This grace allows us to see ourselves in the desperate plight of others and we reach out to help them in love and compassion because we understand the hopelessness and despair of their situation and we desire to do for them, albeit in a much less complete way, what God has done for us in Christ.

Setting Wise Priorities

We love this life despite the fact that it is vanishing, slipping away with equal speed in our youth and in our declining years. So how much better is it for us to hold onto something secure, the life that we will enjoy when this life is over? After all, what is really long if it comes to an end? Moreover, this life is not only short; it is also uncertain. We can die at any age. Therefore, it is just good sense to kneel humbly before God, to confess our sins and groan over them, to tell our Divine Doctor of our sickness so that we may be cured.

–Augustine, Sermon 360B.6

The Strength of Love and Death Compared

Death is strong, for it can rob us of the gift of life. Love too is strong, for it can restore us to a better life. Death is strong, for no one can withstand it. Love too is strong, for it can conquer death itself, soothe its sting, calm its violence, and bring its victory to naught. Love is as strong as death because Christ’s love is the very death of death. Hence it is said: “I will be your death, O death! I will be your sting, O hell!” Our love for Christ is also as strong as death, because it is itself a kind of death: destroying the old life, rooting out vice, and laying aside dead works. We lay aside the likeness of the earthly person and put on the likeness of the heavenly person [Christ]; we love him as he loved us. For in this matter “he has left us an example so that we might follow in his steps.”

That is why he says: “Set me as a seal upon your heart.” It is as if he were saying: “Love me as I love you. Keep me in your mind and memory, in your desires and yearnings, in your groans and your sobs. Remember the kind of being I made you. How far I set you above other creatures. Remember  not only how much I have done for you but all the hardship and shame I suffered for you. Yet look and see: Do you not wrong me? Do you not fail to love me? Who loves you as I do? Who created and redeemed you but I?”

Lord, take away my heart of stone, a heart so bitter and uncircumcised, and give me a new heart, a heart of flesh, a pure heart. Take possession of my heart and dwell in it, contain it and fill it. Set the seal of your likeness upon my heart! In your mercy set your seal upon my heart, “God of my heart and God who is my portion forever!”

–Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury (d.1190), Treatise 10.204

Human Mortality: A Lesson in Humility

The reason why (after Adam’s sin) humans were infected with mortality was to train them in humility. In being mortal they were forced to face the fact that they could not live on earth forever and that at some time or other this life would come to an end. They were thus encouraged to humble themselves before God and strive to lay hold of that unending future life even as this present life is rushing away.

–Augustine, Sermon 360B.5