23 December 2008

Patristic Quote of the Day

[Sent to me by Paul McCain moments ago - a MUST for the PQOTD]

“We know that Jesus is the Son of God and that the Father has sent him to be the Savior of the world. And we believe in the love which God has for us, the same love which he has for his only-begotten Son, because God did not want His son to be an only child. He wanted Him to have brothers and sisters, and so he adopted us in order that we might share His eternal life.” (St. Bede, the Venerable. PL 93:110).

10 comments:

Chris said...

We could also read in this text from the Venerable Bead that the Lord did not have any earthly brothers and sisters and that his mother was semper virgo.

Just thought I'd throw that one out there.

William Weedon said...

Yup. Just like the Treasury has on Christmas Day too. :)

Rev. Paul T. McCain said...

You guys are obsessed with Mary's sex life.

By the way, what is PQOTD?

Dcn Latif Haki Gaba SSP said...

"Obsessed with Mary's sex life" is a phrase that much better describes those who teach that she had one.

William Weedon said...

BINGO, Latif! :) Blessed Christmass to all of you, dear brothers!

Rev. Paul T. McCain said...

Obsession with Mary's sex life, or lack of one, is obsession.

Dcn Latif Haki Gaba SSP said...

Fr. Weedon,
I don't have a copy of the Treasury book. Would you please share the Christmas Day passage to which you allude? Thanks.

William Weedon said...

....and the Word became flesh without being changed, of the Holy Spirit and Mary the holy and ever-virgin one, the Mother of God.... part of a very tasty chunk from St. John of Damascus on the glories of the incarnation, and this but a casual mention (as it often is). It's on page 1053.

Rev. Gerson Flor said...

With or without obsessions, I find it sad when Christmas is turned into Marymass. She is the servant, of low regard as she herself states; He is God, our Saviour, who has done great things for us.

I truly cannot understand why we have to turn His nativity, the beginning of the gospel of our salvation, into an excuse to speculate about things that the gospels do not make clear [and despite all the Roman and Orthodox bullies out there, they don't] and so to distract from the real reason of the festival [His incarnation, not her eternal virginity, which would not save us anyway].

And concerning the Smalcald Articles supposed confessional stamp on the semper virgo, I would recommend you guys should read Engelbrecht's "One True God," which treats of a passage that uses the same syntaxis.

That said, I wish you all a blessed Nativity of Our Lord. Thanks, brother Weedon, for you wise words through the year.

Dcn Latif Haki Gaba SSP said...

Rev. Flor,
It indeed would be sad if we were to turn Christmas into Marymas. Perhaps this is done by some. There is no evidence at all that it is done by anyone who has participated in this discussion.

Not that Mary Masses are wrong in themselves. Modern Lutherans would do well to have an increased devotion to the chief Marian feasts.

Your concerns over the ever-virginity of the Mother of God of course can easily open up a juicy discussion. Today I for one will resist, for the sake of all the Nativity tasks on which I am behind. Do look for good Christian discussion on this topic in the future, here no doubt, at my blog, and elsewhere.