Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Second Sunday in Lent

You who fear the Lord, praise Him.
All you seed of Jacob, glorify Him;
Fear Him, all you seed of Israel.
For He has not despised nor scorned the beggar’s supplication,
Nor has He turned away His face from me;
And when I cried out to Him, He heard me.
My praise is from You in the great church;
I will pay my vows before those who fear Him.
The poor shall eat and be well-filled,
And those who seek Him will praise the Lord;
Their hearts will live unto ages of ages.
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord;
And all families of the Gentiles shall worship before You,
For the kingdom is the Lord’s;
And He is the Master of the Gentiles.
All the prosperous of the earth ate and worshiped;
All going down into the earth shall bow down before Him,
And my soul lives with Him.
And my seed shall serve Him;
The coming generation shall be told of the Lord,
And they will declare His righteousness
To a people who will be born, because the Lord made them. (Ps 22:23–31)

When He said that thanks are to be rendered by one and all because the Godhead deigns to hearken to the poor, the Lord Christ intruded Himself with the words: Neither has he turned his face away from me. In this way, then, He made the cause of all men His own; in this way, He eliminated the sins of the world through the holiness of His body so that by His drawing human weakness to Himself the devil might lose the prize he held. But why did He cry, and why did He say He was heard? Precisely so that our death might be bounded by His destruction so that the sin of the old man might be redeemed at the price of His most holy passion.

With You means ‘concerning You’; in the great church, that is, the Catholic Church spread through the whole world, for it is rightly called great in glory and distinction. My vows He wishes us to interpret as the sacraments of His body and blood, offered in the presence of those subject to Him in holy fear. Finally, observe what follows. … Realize that by poor He meant those who scorned the enticements of this world with the richest contempt; not the wealthy, stuffed with this world’s happiness, but the poor, those hungry for God’s kingdom. So He added: And shall be filled; only those possessed by such hunger could be filled.

The poor praise the Lord, the rich exalt themselves. The rich accumulate treasures on earth, the poor grow rich with heavenly abundance. Their resources differ, but their mentalities are totally at odds. In short, the rich derive their wealth from the world, the poor from God. How very different are the vows which they have fulfilled! The poor possess what they can never lose; the rich hold what not only the dead but even the living often lose. Next comes: Their heart lives forever and ever. Their heart lives, in other words, their hope immovable is renewed; for we say that what continues in the grace of the Godhead truly lives.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 21.25, 27

When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mk 8:34–37)

While there is much in the world to love, it is best loved in relation to the One who made it. The world is beautiful, but much fairer is the One who fashioned it. The world is glorious, but more delightful is the One by whom the world was established. Therefore, let us labor as much as we can, beloved, that love of the world as such may not overwhelm us, and that we may not love the creature more than the creator. God has given us earthly possessions in order that we may love him with our whole heart and soul.

Caesarius of Arles, Sermons 159.6

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the First Sunday of Lent

Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you did this thing, and for My sake did not spare your beloved son, I will certainly bless you, and assuredly multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore; and your seed shall inherit the cities of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you obeyed My voice.” (Gen 22:15–18)

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14–15)

But if you wish to learn more clearly in the words of Scripture that Christ is the seed of Abraham and the son of Abraham, hear how it is written in the Gospel: “The book,” it says, “of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” In this, therefore, is fulfilled also that word regarding which Scripture says: “Your seed shall take possession of the cities of their enemies for an inheritance.” How has Christ taken possession of “the cities of his enemies for an inheritance?” Doubtless in this way, that “the sound” of the apostles “has gone forth into all the earth,” and “their words into the whole world.” … The seed of Abraham, therefore, that is, the seed of the Word, which is the preaching of the Gospel and faith in Christ, has occupied “the cities of their enemies.” …

But what does it profit me, if the seed of Abraham, “which is Christ” should possess “the cities of his enemies for an inheritance,” and should not possess my city? If in my city, that is in my soul, which is “the city of the great king,” neither His laws nor His ordinances should be observed? What does it profit me, that He has subjected the whole world and possesses the cities of His enemies if He should not also conquer His enemies in me, if He should not destroy “the law which is in my members fighting against the law of my mind and which leads me captive in the law of sin?”

So, therefore, let each one of us do what is necessary that Christ may also conquer the enemies in his soul and in his body, and, subjecting and triumphing over them, may possess the city even of his soul. For in this way we are made to belong to His portion, the better portion, which is “as the stars of heaven in glory,” that also we might be able to receive the blessing of Abraham through Christ our Lord, “to whom belongs glory and sovereignty forever and ever. Amen.”

Origen, Homilies on Genesis 9.3

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Transfiguration

Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid. And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves. (Mark 9:2–8)

The Lord of all
    is the treasure store of all things:
upon each according to his capacity
    He bestows a glimpse
of the beauty of His hiddenness,
    of the splendor of His majesty.
He is the radiance who, in his love,
    makes everyone shine
—the small, with flashes of light from Him,
    the perfect, with rays more intense,
but only His Child is sufficient
    for the might of His glory.

Accordingly as each here on earth
    purifies his eye for Him,
so does he become more able to behold
    His incomparable glory;
accordingly as each here on earth
    opens his ear to Him,
so does he become more able to grasp
    His wisdom;
accordingly as each here on earth
    prepares a receptacle for Him,
so is he enabled to carry
    a small portion of His riches.

The Lord who is beyond measure
    measures out nourishment to all,
adapting to our eyes the sight of Himself,
    to our hearing His voice,
His blessing to our appetite,
    His wisdom to our tongue.
At His gift
    blessings swarm,
for this is always new in its savor,
    wonderfully fragrant,
adaptable in its strength,
    resplendent in its colors.

Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns on Paradise 9.25–27

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

Praise the Lord, for a psalm is a good thing;
Let praise be sweet to our God.
The Lord is building Jerusalem,
And He shall gather together the dispersion of Israel;
He heals the brokenhearted
And He binds up all their wounds. (Ps 147:1–3)

Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. But Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick with a fever, and they told Him about her at once. So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them. At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him. (Mark 1:29–34)

“He heals the broken of heart and binds up their wounds.” A marvelous kind of healing is spoken of so that we wear ourselves away constantly if we wish to be restored to health. But that wound of contrition pertains to what makes us whole and leads to full recovery. And—what is beyond every good—it leads us to that physician who offers eternal health. Next comes, “He binds up their wounds.” The metaphor is taken from a doctor's skills, which bind up broken and crushed bones with cloth bandages, whenever they want to make them solid so that the limbs come back together into their proper place and coalesce into their former solidity. The heavenly physician binds penitents’ hearts that have been crushed by dire affliction with a certain bundle of his piety imposed on the penitent and he further solidifies it and leads it to a very firm hope of healing, just as was said in the fiftieth psalm, “God does not despise a contrite and humbled heart.” For also that publican who beat his heart with constant beating showed that he had brought about that contrition in himself, which he did not cease to pour into his guilty heart.

Cassiodorus, Expositions on the Psalms 146.3

But in that He gives most profusely His gifts of healing and doctrine on the sabbath day, He teaches, that He is not under the Law, but above the Law, and does not choose the Jewish sabbath, but the true sabbath, and our rest is pleasing to the Lord, if, in order to attend to the health of our souls, we abstain from slavish work, that is, from all unlawful things. It goes on, and immediately the fever left her, etc. The health which is conferred at the command of the Lord, returns at once entire, accompanied with such strength, that she is able to minister to those, of whose help she had before stood in need. Again, if we suppose that the man delivered from the devil means, in the moral way of interpretation, the soul purged from unclean thoughts, fitly does the woman cured of a fever by the command of God mean the flesh, restrained from the heat of its concupiscence by the precepts of continence.

Bede, Mark 1.6, 8