The Word of Christ Is Spoken

1. The Word of Christ is spoken,
And angels bend to see
How hearts, once bound and broken,
Are set at liberty.
For Christ, the Lord of Glory,
Proclaims His death again;
No doubt can dim the story
That pardons all our sin.

2. With bread and wine are given
Christ’s body and His blood;
The earthly hides the heaven
As flesh encloses God;
The right hand of the Father
Is now the Holy Place
Where Christ, our God and Brother,
Bestows on sinners grace.

3. Depart each unbeliever
And those who live in sin!
Nor let a false deceiver
Dare here to enter in.
O saints, discern here Jesus,
His body and his blood,
Lest righteous judgment seize us
For not believing God.

4. Blest is the hungry spirit,
Who has no good to give,
But clings to Jesus’ merit –
By faith this soul shall live;
The Lord will not deceive him,
As sin and Satan do,
Nor will his Savior leave him,
Whose Word cries out, “for you!”

5. And kneeling at the altar,
United we shall be,
Though we are weak, and falter,
Strong is our unity.
For Jesus’ precious preaching
Dispels the devil’s pow’r.
He won’t allow false teaching
To ever win the hour.

6. So we with gladness enter,
And we with gladness leave;
Christ’s cross is at the center
Of all that we believe.
This sacrament will give us
Abundant joy and peace
Till angels will receive us
In Heaven’s Holy Place.

Rev. Mark Preus, Christian Culture

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Seventh Sunday of Easter

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:20–26)

Now the Lord was praying and pleading not for Himself, what indeed would He want for, innocent as He was, but for our sins, just as He Himself made plain when He said to Peter: “Look, Satan was asking that he should sift you like wheat. I, however, have asked on your behalf that your faith should not fail you.” And afterward He pleaded with the Father for all people when He said: “I do not pray for these alone but for those who shall believe in me through their word, that they should all be one; just as you, Father are in me and I in you, so should they be in Us.” So great are the kindness and the fidelity alike of God, with regard to our salvation, that He was not content simply to redeem us through His own blood but beyond this that He should plead for us so fully. You may see what was the desire of him who pleaded, that just as the Father and the Son are one, so we likewise should remain in the selfsame unity. And thus it may also be understood how great a sin it is to tear apart unity and peace, because the Lord prayed for this very thing, desiring that His people should have life, knowing that discord does not enter the Kingdom of God.

Cyprian, On the Lord’s Prayer 30

Our Lord Jesus Christ, then, prays not for the twelve Apostles alone, but rather for all who were destined in every age to yield to and obey the words that exhort those who hear to receive that sanctification that is through faith, and to that purification which is accomplished in them through partaking of the Spirit. And He thought it not right to leave us in doubt about the objects of His prayer, that we might learn hereby what manner of men we ought to show ourselves, and what path of righteousness we ought to tread, to accomplish those things which are well-pleasing to Him. What, then, is the manner of His prayer? That, He says, they may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us. He asks, then, for a bond of love, and concord, and peace, to bring into spiritual unity those who believe; so that their unity, through perfect sympathy and inseparable harmony of soul, might resemble the features of the natural and essential unity that exists between the Father and the Son.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John 11.11

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Sixth Sunday of Easter

And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. (John 16:23–24)

Hereby he exhorts the disciples to pray for spiritual graces, and at the same time gives them this encouragement—that what they ask they will not fail to obtain; adding the comforting assurance of the word “verily” to His promise that if they will go to the Father’s throne and make any request, they will receive it of Him, He Himself acting as Mediator and leading them into the Father’s Presence. For this is the meaning of the words in my Name; for we cannot draw nigh unto God the Father save by the Son alone. For through Him we have obtained access in One Spirit unto the Father, according to the Scripture. Therefore also He saith: I am the Door: I am the Way: no one comes to the Father but by Me. For inasmuch as the Son is also God, together with the Father He conveys good gifts to the Saints, and associates Himself with Him in granting us the portion of the blessed. Moreover, the inspired Paul most evidently confirms our belief herein by writing these words: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And in right of His titles, Mediator, High Priest, and Advocate, He conveys to the Father prayers on our behalf, for He gives us all boldness to address the Father. In the Name then of Our Savior Christ we must make our requests, for so will the Father most readily grant them, and will give to those that ask good gifts, that we may take them and rejoice therein. So being fulfilled with spiritual graces, and enriched with the grant of knowledge from Him through the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts, we shall gain a very easy triumph over every strange and abominable lust; and thus being active in good works, and attaining to the practice of every virtue with fervent zeal, and strengthened with everything whatsoever that makes for sanctification, we rejoice with exceeding joy at the prospect of the reward that awaits us; and, dismissing the despondency that springs from an evil conscience, we have our hearts enriched with the joy that is in Christ. This did not enter into the life of the men of old time; they never practiced this manner of prayer, for they knew it not. But now is it ordained for us by Christ, at the appropriate season, when the time of the accomplishment of our redemption was fulfilled, and the perfect fruition of all good was gained for us by Him. For just as the Law accomplished nothing, and as righteousness according to the Law was incomplete, so also was the mode of prayer inculcated thereby.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John 11.2

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fifth Sunday of Easter

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. (John 16:12–15)

Therefore, we ought to take what has been said about the Holy Spirit, “For He will not speak of Himself; but what things soever He will hear, he will speak,” in such a way that we understand that He is not of Himself. For the Father alone is not from another. The Son is born from the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, but the Father is neither born nor proceeds from another. And yet, because of this, absolutely no disparity in that supreme Trinity should occur to human thought; for the Son is equal to Him from whom He is born, and the Holy Spirit is equal to Him from whom He proceeds. But what difference there is between proceeding and being born, it is both too large a task to discuss it through inquiry and rash to define it once you have discussed it. For this is most difficult both for the mind to comprehend in any way at all and, if the mind perchance comprehends something of it, for the tongue to explain it, however great a teacher is leading the discussion, however great a listener is present. Therefore “He will not speak of Himself” because He is not of Himself. “But what things soever He will hear, He will speak”; He will hear of that one from whom He proceeds. For that one, to hear is to know, but to know is to be, as was argued earlier. Therefore, because He is not of Himself but of Him from whom He proceeds, and His knowledge is of Him of whom His essence is, therefore from Him is His hearing, a thing that is nothing other than His knowledge.

Augustine, Tractate on the Gospel of John 99.4.3

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday of Easter

Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” (John 10:22–30)

A willing readiness to obey characterizes the sheep of Christ, as disobedience marks those that are not His. For thus we understand the word “hear,” as equivalent to “obey,” namely, the words that are spoken: and they who thus hear God are known by Him, and “known” signifies “brought into friendly relationship:” for no one is altogether unknown by God. When therefore He says: I know Mine, He says this: “I will receive them and bring them into friendly relationship both mystically and firmly. And anyone might say that, inasmuch as He has become Man, He brought all men into friendly relationship by being of the same race; so that we are all united to Christ in a mystical relationship, inasmuch as He has become Man.… And He says: And My sheep follow Me; for they who are obedient and follow, by a certain God-given grace, in the footsteps of Christ, no longer serving the shadows of the Law, but the commandments of Christ, and giving heed to His words, through grace shall rise to His honorable Name, and be called sons of God. For when Christ ascends into the heavens, they also shall follow Him. And He says that He gives to those that follow Him as a recompense and reward, eternal life and exemption from death, or corruption, and from the torments that will be brought upon the transgressors by the Judge. And by the fact of His giving life, He shows that He is in His Nature Life, and that He furnishes this from Himself and not as receiving it from another. And we understand by eternal life, not [only] the length of days which all, both good and bad, are going to enjoy after the resurrection, but also the spending it in bliss.

It is possible also to understand by “life” the mystical blessing by which Christ implants in us His own life through the participation of His own Flesh by the faithful, according to that which is written: He that eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John 7.1.