Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Eugène Burnand, “The Importunate Neighbor”

And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, to set before him’; and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:5–13)

Be urgent in prayer; draw near unto God Who loves to be kind; and that very constantly. And if you see that the gift of grace is delayed, do not yield to weariness: do not despair of the expected blessing: do not abandon the hope set before you; nor further foolishly say within yourself, “I have drawn near frequently; I have gained absolutely nothing; I have wept, and received not; I have supplicated, but not been accepted: for of all I asked, nothing has been accomplished.” Rather think thus within yourself, that He Who is the universal treasure house better knows our state than we do, in that He bestows to every man what is due and suitable to him. You ask sometimes what is beyond your ability; you wish to receive those things of which you are not yet worthy. The Giver Himself knows the time suitable for His gifts. Earthly fathers do not immediately and without discretion fulfill the desire of their sons: but often delay in spite of their asking, and that not because they have a grudging hand, nor again because they regard (merely) what is pleasant to the petitioners, but as considering what is useful and necessary for their good conduct. And how will that rich and bounteous Giver neglect the due accomplishment for men of what they pray for, unless of course, and without all doubt, He knows that it would not be for their benefit to receive what they ask? We must therefore offer our prayers to God with knowledge, as well as with close attentiveness: and even though there be some delay in your requests, continue patiently with the harvesters, as being well assured that what is gained without toil, and readily won, is usually despised: whereas that which is gathered with labor is a more pleasant and abiding possession.

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Therefore examine your prayer: for if you ask anything by receiving which you will become a lover of God, God, as I said, will grant it: but if it be any thing unreasonable, or that is able to do you an injury, He will withhold His hand: He will not bestow the wished-for object; in order that neither He may give anything of an injurious nature,—for this is completely alien from Him,—nor you be harmed yourself by receiving it. And let me explain how: for which purpose I shall bring forward examples. When you ask for wealth, you wilt not receive it from God: and why? Because it separates the heart of man from Him. Wealth begets pride, self-indulgence, and the love of pleasure, and brings men down to the pitfalls of worldly lusts.…

Ask, therefore, the bestowal of spiritual gifts without restriction. Ask strength, that you may be able manfully to resist every fleshly lust. Ask of God an uncovetous disposition; long-suffering; gentleness; and the mother and nurse of all good, I mean, patience. Ask calmness of temper; self-control; a pure heart; and further, ask also the wisdom that comes from Him. These things He will give readily: these save the soul: these work in it that better beauty, and imprint in it God’s image. This is the spiritual wealth; the riches that have never to be abandoned: these prepare for us the lot of the saints, and make us members of the company of the holy angels; these perfect us in piety, and rapidly lead us onward to the hope of eternal life, and make us heirs of the kingdom of heaven, by the aid of Christ, the Savior of us all; by Whom, and with Whom, to God the Father be praise and dominion, with the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever, Amen.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on St. Luke 78, 79

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38–42)

What was Mary enjoying while she was listening? What was she eating? What was she drinking? Do you know? Let us ask the Lord, who keeps such a splendid table for his own people, let us ask him. “Blessed,” He says, “are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they shall be satisfied.” It was from this wellspring, from this storehouse of righteousness, that Mary, seated at the Lord’s feet, was in her hunger receiving some crumbs. You see, the Lord was giving her then as much as she was able to take. But as for the whole amount, which he was going to give at His table of the future, not even the disciples, not even the apostles themselves, were able to take in at the time when He said to them, “I still have many things to say to you, but you are unable to hear them now.”

So what, as I was saying, was Mary enjoying? What was she drinking so avidly with the mouth of her heart? Righteousness, truth. She was enjoying truth. In her hunger she was eating truth, drinking it in her thirst. She was being refreshed, and what she was being fed from was not diminishing. What was Mary enjoying, what was she eating? I am persistent on this point, because I am enjoying it too. I will venture to say that she was eating the One she was listening to. I mean, if she was eating truth, didn't He Himself say, “I am the truth”? What more can I say? He was being eaten, because he was the Bread. “I,” He said, “am the bread who came down from heaven.” This is the bread which nourishes and never diminishes.

Augustine, Sermon 179.5

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God. You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning. You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the Lord. You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord. You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord (Lev 19:9-18)

During the harvest the owners are prohibited from appropriating what falls from the sheaves; as also in reaping [the Law] enjoins a part to be left unreaped; thereby excellently teaching those who possess to sharing and generosity by foregoing of their own to those who are in need and thus providing means of subsistence for the poor. You see how the Law proclaims at once the righteousness and goodness of God, who dispenses food to all ungrudgingly. And in the vintage it prohibited the grape-gatherers from going back again on what had been left, and from gathering the fallen grapes; and the same injunctions are given to the olive-gatherers. Besides, the tithes of the fruits and of the flocks taught both piety towards the Deity, and not covetously to grasp everything, but to communicate gifts of kindness to one’s neighbors. For it was from these, I reckon, and from the first-fruits that the priests were maintained. We now therefore understand that we are instructed in piety, and in liberality, and in justice, and in humanity by the Law. For does it not command the land to be left fallow in the seventh year and bids the poor fearlessly use the fruits that grow by divine agency, nature cultivating the ground for the benefit of all and sundry? How, then, can it be maintained that the Law is not humane, and the teacher of righteousness? Again, in the fiftieth year, it ordered the same things to be performed as in the seventh; besides restoring to each one his own land, if from any circumstance he had parted with it in the meantime; setting bounds to the desires of those who covet possession, by measuring the period of enjoyment, and choosing that those who have paid the penalty of protracted destitution should not suffer a life-long punishment.

Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis 2.18

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

70 Apostles - courtesy of Wikipedia

Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:17–20)

The authority which they bore to reprove evil spirits, and the power of crushing Satan, was not given them that they might themselves so much be regarded with admiration, as that Christ might be glorified by their means, and be believed on by those whom they taught, as by nature God, and the Son of God; and invested with so great glory and supremacy and might, as to be even able to bestow upon others the power of trampling Satan under their feet. But they, it says, in that they were counted worthy of so great grace, “returned rejoicing, and saying, Lord, even the devils are subject to us in Your name.” For they confess the authority of Him Who honored them, and wonder at the supremacy and greatness of His power. But they seem to have rejoiced, not so much because they were ministers of His message, and had been counted worthy of apostolic honors, as because they had wrought miracles: but it would have been better for them to have reflected, that He gave them the power to work miracles, not that they might be regarded by men with admiration on this account, but rather that what they preached might be believed, the Holy Spirit bearing them witness by divine signs. It would have been better, therefore, had they manifestly rejoiced on account of those rather who had been won by their means, and had made this a cause of exultation.

Even though, therefore, we receive some gift from Christ not unworthy of admiration, we must not think too highly of it, but rather make the hope prepared for us our cause of rejoicing, and that our names are written in the companies of the saints, by Christ’s gift, the Savior of us all, Who, from His love to man bestows, with all besides that we have, this also upon us: by Whom, and with Whom, to God the Father be praise and dominion with the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever, Amen.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on St. Luke 64

A Case for Sanctuary Cities

Since before the founding of this country, people have made their way to our lands. Some came seeking opportunity, others freedom. This was a land recognized for welcoming all regardless of their prior circumstance or condition. Indeed, the national ethos was recognized worldwide and preserved by Emma Lazarus in “The New Colossus”:

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

These words accurately describe the majority condition for those risking what little they have for something better. A brief recounting is sufficient to remind us from what these seekers fled: religious persecution, governmental ostracization, economic or resource destitution, etc. They have struggled to develop in their respective circumstances under constraints that might give a sense of security but in actuality inhibited freedom. Sadly, many who began the trek did not survive, succumbing to the elements, illness, hunger, or thirst; but those who survived were welcomed to integrate themselves into society as productive members.

Over time, the open borders became more constrained as obstacles were established to slow the influx. Laws enacted to regulate who would be allowed to reside in our country based on a series of predetermined stipulations: Are there familial ties established within our borders? Are they wanted for a unique skill set? Does their presence constitute a public good? Will they place an undue burden on society? These laws had a dual purpose. Our economy would be protected from the additional residents, and those considered undesirable would not be allowed entry.

In recent years, the bureaucracy established to regulate the number of people entering our country to establish residency has become a major impediment to entry. Because of the long waiting period for entry, many have tried to circumvent procedures surreptitiously. While some have had success in prematurely accelerating the process, too many have ended in death. No good comes from this. While these people may not be citizens, they are human beings that should be accorded basic rights until such time as they can take their place in society. What we need are sanctuary cities—in great number. Are you puzzled by this suggestion seeing that there are many already established across the United States? The individuals to whom we should be offering sanctuary are the most vulnerable and least able to care for themselves, those poised to vie for a place on American soil—the unborn.

Unborn children are increasingly being considered less worthy than an immigrant trying to gain residency. Questions are asked:

• Should this child be brought into this terrible world?
• Can the child be cared for financially?
• Can the child be raised to be of benefit to society?
• How will my immediate and long-term plans change?
• Does the child have needs that will require specialized care?

Barriers, not of concrete or steel but of personal ideology and autonomy, are emplaced to impede what should be the only humane outcome. In cold, systematic fashion, risks are weighed against the future value of the person on society. Is there a net gain? If so, the baby is allowed entry; if not, entry is denied. The child is deported to the place from whence it came—its Maker.

Abortion is a disgrace for any nation. Americans legitimized abortion in 1973, and groups like Planned Parenthood have done their best to turn a heinous practice into a flourishing industry protected by the American legal system. Have we gone mad? Apparently so. When referring to abortion as a woman’s right to choose or a healthcare option or having autonomy over one’s body, the individual is acknowledging that there is a separate entity living within. Yes, there is a symbiotic relationship, but this is no parasite or bacteria or virus. This is a baby. And calling him or her a fetus does not help because fetus is Latin for “offspring.” That is still a baby, no matter how one wants to slice and dice rhetoric—or the baby. Abortion is not a necessary violence for the convenience of the woman carrying the child or one that should be mandated (as being attempted in England) because it could potentially be a burden. The children must be accorded the same dignity offered to the immigrant population we so readily seek to protect. Waskom, Texas has boldly declared itself a sanctuary city for the unborn. Good for them! Would that all cities follow suit.