31 March 2006
Patristic Quote for the Day
And why do I speak about martyrs? For if their Master is not ashamed to be our Head, by far more are they unashamed to be our limbs. For they possess a love that is firmly rooted, and it is the way of love to join and bind together what is divided, and it doesn't scrutinize the value. So then, just as they join in grieving for our sin, so we join in rejoicing over their good works. This is in fact what Paul ordered us to do, when he said to "rejoice with those who rejoice," and to "weep with those who weep." (Rom 12:15) - St. John Chrysostom, Homily on Saint Romanus, par. 2
30 March 2006
Patristic Quote for the Day
"That I shall be merciful to their wrongdoings and I shall no longer store in my memory their lawless ways." What did he mean? Here he indicates baptism and forgiveness through grace. This happened not under the law, but under the new covenant. For under the law there was punishment and torture and penalty punishing those who transgressed its edicts. Under the new covenant, grace and forgiveness of wrongdoings and absolution. That's why Paul also said: "Because God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself, not counting up their faults against them and placing on us the ministration of that reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:19). Which is what the prophet says too: "I shall be merciful to their wrongdoings and I shall no longer store in my memory their sins."... when the law was dissolved, no one demanded payment for sins but each received forgiveness for his wrongdoings. - St. John Chrysostom, Homily on Eleazar and the Seven Boys (preaching on Jeremiah 31)
29 March 2006
Patristic Quote for the Day
How, then, isn't it absurd that in all worldly matters we put labors ahead of pleasure, and risks ahead of security, and this when the expected out of those labors is of little value and trivial; yet when it's heaven that lies ahead of us and angelic honors and a life that has no end and spending time with angels and the blessings of which one can neither conceive nor speak, we expect to achieve them through laziness and indolence and a dissolute soul and not to dignify them with the same effort as worldly matters? Don't, please, don't let's plan so badly for ourselves and for our salvation, but look to these saints, these noble and brave athletes, who have been given us in place of torches, and amend our life to their own courage and patience, so that after we depart this life by their prayers we might be able to both see and embrace them and be assigned to their heavenly dwellings. May we attain all these blessings through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen. - St. John Chrysostom, *An Encomium on Egyptian Martyrs*
28 March 2006
Patristic Quote for the Day
Did you hear Abraham saying in the Old Testament: "They will keep you for themselves, but will kill me"? Did you hear Jacob saying: "Snatch me away, Lord, from the hand of Esau, my brother, because I am afraid of him"? Did you see Elijah fleeing a woman's threat because of death? Hear how Paul is disposed regarding this matter - whether he considers it terrifying like they; whether he's distressed when it's approaching, and is afraid. To the contrary, he even thought the thing desirable. For this reason he says: "That I may depart and be with Christ is far better." To them it was terrifying, to him better. To them unpleasant, to him a pleasure. And rightly so! For previously death led us down into Hades. Now death sends us on to meet Christ.
- St. John Chrysostom, Sermon on Saints Bernike, Prosdoke, and Domnina, par. 9
- St. John Chrysostom, Sermon on Saints Bernike, Prosdoke, and Domnina, par. 9
Homily for Judica (Passion Sunday)
"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad." So says our Lord in today's Gospel to the Jews. What did he mean? When did Abraham ever see Jesus' day? When did it fill his heart with joy? Well, we heard about it in today's first reading.
Faithful Abraham takes the wood for the offering and lays it on the back of his beloved son. Faithful Abraham takes in hand the fire and the knife. Faithful Abraham tells his servants: “The boy and I will go over there and worship, and then we shall come back to you.” Faithful Abraham and the beloved son move together toward the appointed mountain of sacrifice. And the beloved son, the child whose name meant laughter, the promised one through whose seed God would bring blessing to all the families of the earth, Isaac, notices that something is missing. He asks: “Father, we have the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
Faithful Abraham, seeing the Day of our Lord, answered his son in a remarkable prophesy: “God will provide himself a Lamb for the offering, my only son.”
What Abraham foresaw was not what took place shortly afterward on Mount Moria. For there, the life of Isaac was spared as the angel of the Lord revealed to Abraham a ram caught in a thicket by its horns.
Abraham did indeed offer up the ram in place of his son. Isaac’s life was spared by the mercy of God. But did you notice what Abraham called the place? “Yahweh Yireh.” The Lord WILL see to it; and to this day it is said, on the mountain of the Lord it WILL Be seen to. Will be, future tense. Not has been, past tense.
Abraham knew well enough that the ram was not the Lamb, but that the ram pointed to the Lamb, even as did his son, Isaac. For the day was coming when God would indeed provide– quite literally – himself as the Lamb for the offering. The day was coming when wood would be laid across the back of another Father’s beloved and only Son. The day was coming when that Father’s Son would climb a mountain with that wood upon his back, and this time, no ram in the thicket. This time, when the Son is bound to the wood for the offering, there is no angel to stay anyone’s hands. This time the hammer blows fall, the nails pierce, and the Lamb is spitted and hoisted high. This time the Son offers Himself to the Father in infinite love for our fallen race, and the Father in infinite love accepts and rejoices in the Son’s self-offering. “It is finished” he cried. The sins of all wiped out and the death of all destroyed.
“Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day.” Christ meant the day of His sacrifice's culmination. The day when the High Priest of the good things to come would enter with His own blood into the Most Holy Place in heaven once and for all, having obtained an eternal redemption. The day when the Mediator of the New Testament, by means of His death, would redeem everyone from their transgressions so that they might receive the promised eternal inheritance. (Epistle)
But what makes this sacrifice of the Lord Jesus so powerful that it can wipe out the sins of the world? How can the spilling of one man’s blood – even though He is the perfect man who never sinned – still, how can His blood blot out every accusation of the Law of God against you? Listen! He who is truth and does not lie, tells you: “Before Abraham was, I Am.”
Not by accident did they take up stones to kill him when they heard him say that. He had just made a claim that they could not misunderstand. In those words Jesus told them (and everyone who will ever hear them) that He is Yahweh. That it is He who called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees and set him apart and promised that through him blessing would come to all families of the earth. He spoke to Moses in the burning bush and revealed His name: “I am who I am.” He led the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt. He parted the sea. He led them through on dry ground. He provided them manna from heaven in their forty-year wandering. He brought them into the promised land. He gave them their inheritance there. He sent them prophets to call them to repentance and faith, and now He had come among them in their own flesh and blood, to do for them and for all what He alone could do: yield His sinless life as the offering to take away the sins of the world. Not, however, by stoning, but by being crucified. And since His hour had not yet come, He hid himself and went out from the temple. But His hour would come; the moment when the Lamb foretold by Abraham would be sacrificed so that through Abraham’s Seed blessing – the blessing of eternal life – might indeed come upon all families of the earth.
So, then, when Jesus suffers, it is divine suffering. And when He bleeds, it is divine blood. And when He dies, it is a divine death. Who would dare to put a value on such suffering, blood, and death? The suffering, blood and death of God the Eternal Son is beyond calculation, without price! And that is Who ransomed you. He
thought you were worth that! Me too! Is that awesome or what?
Nor is that the end of the story. Because He knows how hard it is for us to believe that, and to hold on to it, on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided. What God once offered for you on Golgotha, He now offers to you on His altar – built up, you notice, like a little mountain. Here He gives you to eat and to drink as the continual memorial of His sacrifice, His body and His blood and He tells you that it is all for you: given in your place; poured out in your place, to blot out your sins. Here, He, who is before Abraham was, eternally is, comes to you, to be Your Lamb. Amen.
Faithful Abraham takes the wood for the offering and lays it on the back of his beloved son. Faithful Abraham takes in hand the fire and the knife. Faithful Abraham tells his servants: “The boy and I will go over there and worship, and then we shall come back to you.” Faithful Abraham and the beloved son move together toward the appointed mountain of sacrifice. And the beloved son, the child whose name meant laughter, the promised one through whose seed God would bring blessing to all the families of the earth, Isaac, notices that something is missing. He asks: “Father, we have the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
Faithful Abraham, seeing the Day of our Lord, answered his son in a remarkable prophesy: “God will provide himself a Lamb for the offering, my only son.”
What Abraham foresaw was not what took place shortly afterward on Mount Moria. For there, the life of Isaac was spared as the angel of the Lord revealed to Abraham a ram caught in a thicket by its horns.
Abraham did indeed offer up the ram in place of his son. Isaac’s life was spared by the mercy of God. But did you notice what Abraham called the place? “Yahweh Yireh.” The Lord WILL see to it; and to this day it is said, on the mountain of the Lord it WILL Be seen to. Will be, future tense. Not has been, past tense.
Abraham knew well enough that the ram was not the Lamb, but that the ram pointed to the Lamb, even as did his son, Isaac. For the day was coming when God would indeed provide– quite literally – himself as the Lamb for the offering. The day was coming when wood would be laid across the back of another Father’s beloved and only Son. The day was coming when that Father’s Son would climb a mountain with that wood upon his back, and this time, no ram in the thicket. This time, when the Son is bound to the wood for the offering, there is no angel to stay anyone’s hands. This time the hammer blows fall, the nails pierce, and the Lamb is spitted and hoisted high. This time the Son offers Himself to the Father in infinite love for our fallen race, and the Father in infinite love accepts and rejoices in the Son’s self-offering. “It is finished” he cried. The sins of all wiped out and the death of all destroyed.
“Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day.” Christ meant the day of His sacrifice's culmination. The day when the High Priest of the good things to come would enter with His own blood into the Most Holy Place in heaven once and for all, having obtained an eternal redemption. The day when the Mediator of the New Testament, by means of His death, would redeem everyone from their transgressions so that they might receive the promised eternal inheritance. (Epistle)
But what makes this sacrifice of the Lord Jesus so powerful that it can wipe out the sins of the world? How can the spilling of one man’s blood – even though He is the perfect man who never sinned – still, how can His blood blot out every accusation of the Law of God against you? Listen! He who is truth and does not lie, tells you: “Before Abraham was, I Am.”
Not by accident did they take up stones to kill him when they heard him say that. He had just made a claim that they could not misunderstand. In those words Jesus told them (and everyone who will ever hear them) that He is Yahweh. That it is He who called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees and set him apart and promised that through him blessing would come to all families of the earth. He spoke to Moses in the burning bush and revealed His name: “I am who I am.” He led the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt. He parted the sea. He led them through on dry ground. He provided them manna from heaven in their forty-year wandering. He brought them into the promised land. He gave them their inheritance there. He sent them prophets to call them to repentance and faith, and now He had come among them in their own flesh and blood, to do for them and for all what He alone could do: yield His sinless life as the offering to take away the sins of the world. Not, however, by stoning, but by being crucified. And since His hour had not yet come, He hid himself and went out from the temple. But His hour would come; the moment when the Lamb foretold by Abraham would be sacrificed so that through Abraham’s Seed blessing – the blessing of eternal life – might indeed come upon all families of the earth.
So, then, when Jesus suffers, it is divine suffering. And when He bleeds, it is divine blood. And when He dies, it is a divine death. Who would dare to put a value on such suffering, blood, and death? The suffering, blood and death of God the Eternal Son is beyond calculation, without price! And that is Who ransomed you. He
thought you were worth that! Me too! Is that awesome or what?
Nor is that the end of the story. Because He knows how hard it is for us to believe that, and to hold on to it, on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided. What God once offered for you on Golgotha, He now offers to you on His altar – built up, you notice, like a little mountain. Here He gives you to eat and to drink as the continual memorial of His sacrifice, His body and His blood and He tells you that it is all for you: given in your place; poured out in your place, to blot out your sins. Here, He, who is before Abraham was, eternally is, comes to you, to be Your Lamb. Amen.
27 March 2006
Patristic Quote for the Day
Sacred love, permeating all from first to last, from head to foot, joins all to itself, links them up, ties together and unites, renders them strong and unshakable. In experience, it reveals itself to each man as one and the same. It is God with Whom the last may be first and the first last. - St. Simeon the New Theologian, *Practical and Theological Precepts* (#156)
26 March 2006
Patristic Quote for the Day
The Son of God has become the Son of Man in order to make us, men, sons of God, raising our race by grace to what He is Himself by nature, granting us birth from above through the grace of the Holy Spirit and leading us straightway to the kingdom of heaven, or rather, granting us the kingdom of heaven within us, in order that we should not merely be fed by the hope of entering it, but entering into full possession thereof should cry: our 'life is hid with Christ in God.'
Baptism does not destroy our self-will and wilfulness, but it frees us from the tyranny of the devil, who can no longer rule over us against our will. After baptism, it begins to lie within our will either of our own accord to obey the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ, in Whose name were baptised, or to deviate from the right path, and return again to the devil, our adversary and foe.
- St. Simeon the New Theologian, *Practical and Theological Precepts* par. 120, 121
[I was struck by the similarity in thought in the second paragraph to the Formula's treatment in SD II:67, 68]
Baptism does not destroy our self-will and wilfulness, but it frees us from the tyranny of the devil, who can no longer rule over us against our will. After baptism, it begins to lie within our will either of our own accord to obey the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ, in Whose name were baptised, or to deviate from the right path, and return again to the devil, our adversary and foe.
- St. Simeon the New Theologian, *Practical and Theological Precepts* par. 120, 121
[I was struck by the similarity in thought in the second paragraph to the Formula's treatment in SD II:67, 68]
25 March 2006
The Annunciation of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ
“And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The Virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel...”I stand amazed before the Maiden, and she looks in amazement at me. But my amazement is greater than hers. She is amazed at my appearing to her but I am amazed at the tidings I bring her. For she shall be a mother, though she knows not a man. She shall conceive in her womb and bring forth a son, though a virgin she shall be and remain. But it is who her son will be that fills me with greatest awe. For this Child that shall be born of her shall truly be hers. A human being exactly as she is a human being. A creature of flesh and blood. A creature that grows from childhood to adulthood. A creature that eats and sleeps and breathes and all that attends being human. Such a creature will her son be.
And that is why I stare at her in awe. For the little child that shall soon be conceived in her womb and that she shall feed at her breast is none other than the Son of the Highest, God the Son, the Eternal Word of the Father through whom I was made, through whom she was made, through whom all things are made. She shall be mother of the Maker. She shall be mother of the Eternal One who was before the stars began their shining or the planets began their great dance. She shall be mother of Him whom it is our delight to serve and worship and praise world without end.
The Child she bears shall reign over David’s house forever. The promise of the Kingdom that has no end is fulfilled in Him. A forever Kingdom! O Lady, do you know what that means? He will reign through endless days and those over whom He reigns will live in endless life. Lady, do you know that you will carry in your womb Him through whom death itself will be destroyed? Lady, do you know that through the deeds of your Son the sin that separates the human race from the all-holy Father will be covered, atoned, pardoned? Lady, do you know how He will do it? No. I can see that you do not know. That is best for now. The day will come when you stand on a darkened hill and see a sight of love so grievous that it will tear your soul in two. But it will be His love for you and for your fallen race that drives Him to it, Lady. So rejoice!
And do not worry yourself over how this promise I bring you will be fulfilled. God knows that you are a virgin. But His Holy Spirit will overshadow you and fill you and change you and inside of you Life Himself will begin to grow and so the Holy One born of you will indeed be my Master, my Lord, my God. It is impossible for any word of God to fail. His promises are more certain than heaven and earth. He said it and so, Lady, rejoice and be glad. It shall be so.
Meekly do I see you bow your head. Meekly do I hear you utter the words: “Behold, the maidservant of the Lord.” Meekly do I hear you say: “Let it be to me as you have said.” And so the moment has come and the great time of God’s keeping all his promises has begun. Begun in you, Lady. Begun in your womb, which He shall make His holy temple and His home for the next nine months during which His tiny infant heart will beat beneath your own, till that moment when the Lord blesses you and keeps you and makes His face shine upon you and gives you peace; that moment when your baby looks at you and nestles at your breast and closes his eyes in the peace and the warmth of your embrace. As you will hold him, so even now, does He hold you and all welcome Him.
Farewell, then, Lady until we meet once more, until together we bow before the Child you will bear and worship at His feet and give Him eternal praise in the Kingdom He comes to prepare, in the presence of all who have trusted in Your Son for forgiveness and salvation, in the life that has no end, where the joys are eternal and where the sorrows are forgotten. Farewell, Vessel of His grace! Farewell, Temple of the Presence! Farewell, Mary, child of David, child of Abraham, Mother of God! Farewell.
“And the angel departed from her.”
23 March 2006
Patristic Quote for the Day
It is the one Savior of his body, our Lord Jesus Christ, who prays for us and in us and is himself the object of our prayers. He prays for us as our priest, he prays in us as our head, he is the object of our prayers as our God. - St. Augustine, Commentary on the Psalms
21 March 2006
Patristic Quote for the Day
The Israelites saw the Lord's mighty power at work when He led them out of Egypt, but you have experienced even greater wonders. Instead of seeing Pharoah and his army drowning in the sea, you witnessed the devil and his forces swallowed up in the waters of baptism. The Israelites passed through the sea; you have passed from death to life. They were rescued from the Egyptians; you have been rescued from evil spirits. They were delivered from slavery in a foreign land; you have have been delivered from something worse - slavery to sin. - St. John Chrysostom
Happy Birthday, Bekah!
Today the beautiful Rebekah Lee turns 15. And she already got her birthday present - her very own cell-phone. Now she is officially a REAL teenager (this is said to be determined by the possession of the phone, not her actually getting older). I still remember the day this girl was born - a beautiful and warm day in North Carolina, Spring in full swing. Looking outside the window today...well, a little different. Several inches of snow. I love snow, but NOT on my daughter's birthday. Ick! Nevertheless, may God grant her a joyful year of growth in His grace and love. We love, you Bekah Boo!
20 March 2006
Patristic Quote for the Day
[Because the Sundays of Lent are privileged, the Commemoration of St. Joseph is tranferred to today even though it fell yesterday]
If the Patriarch Joseph (sold by his brethren through envy, and forced into servitude in Egypt) was a type of Christ sold by his brethren and handed over to the Gentiles, the other Joseph (forced through the envy of Herod to flee into Egypt) did in actual fact bring Christ amongst the Egyptian Gentiles. The first Joseph (keeping faith with his lord) would not carnally know his lord's lady. The second Joseph (spiritually knowing the Lady who was the Mother of his Lord to be virgin) kept faithfully virgin toward her. To the first Joseph was given to know dark things in the interpretation of dreams. To the second Joseph was given in sleep to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. - St. Bernard
If the Patriarch Joseph (sold by his brethren through envy, and forced into servitude in Egypt) was a type of Christ sold by his brethren and handed over to the Gentiles, the other Joseph (forced through the envy of Herod to flee into Egypt) did in actual fact bring Christ amongst the Egyptian Gentiles. The first Joseph (keeping faith with his lord) would not carnally know his lord's lady. The second Joseph (spiritually knowing the Lady who was the Mother of his Lord to be virgin) kept faithfully virgin toward her. To the first Joseph was given to know dark things in the interpretation of dreams. To the second Joseph was given in sleep to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. - St. Bernard
19 March 2006
Homily for third Lenten Midweek
[Third in our series of midweek homilies focusing on the readings for the Easter Vigil]
Two weeks ago we rejoiced in Baptism as putting us into the eighth day of a new creation through the Resurrection of Christ. Last week we rejoiced in Baptism as the gift of death and new life. Tonight we see that our Baptism into Christ means exodus. It means leaving behind slavery and embracing freedom; it means leaving behind fear and embracing peace; it means leaving behind sorrow and embracing joy.
Before a person is baptized they are asked to do a strange thing. We ask it of children (who speak through their sponsors). We ask it of adults. It is called the renunciation. Do you renounce Satan? And all his works? And all his ways? This before the profession of faith. Years ago, the renunciation was made facing West, the place of the dying light, and the last act was actually spitting at Satan. Then the person was literally lifted up, faced east toward the rising sun and asked to confess faith in God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What on earth was the point of all that? It was meant to show and confess that in Baptism, Christ sets his people free from their bondage to Satan, to sin, and yes, even to death.
When God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt he prefigured for all time what he planned and intended to do for the whole human race through his Son. The children of Israel lived in Egypt as in exile. They knew it wasn’t home. They were not free. They were forced to work for others. Their lives were tears and hardship and backbreaking labor. But God in his great mercy had not forgotten his people. He sent them his servant Moses. Through the mounting tension of the ten plagues God hammered home to Pharaoh the message: “Let my people go!” Pharaoh’s heart was hard. He did not want to let the children of Israel go free. But finally he could not stand up to the terrible plague brought by the angel of death. He told the children of Israel to go, to get out.
And go they went. Moses led them and he led them in a peculiar way. He led them right up against the shores of the Red Sea. And in the time it had taken Moses to lead them there, Pharaoh had hardened his heart once more and all his armed might was sent to go and bring back the children of Israel, to make them slaves again.
At the shore of the sea, with their enemies closing in behind them, and nothing but water in front of them, God effected a mighty deliverance. His wind, His spirit, blew upon the waters and the waters parted and a way opened up right through the midst of the sea itself. The children of Israel raced into the heart of the sea and walked through towering walls of water on dry ground. When the Egyptians tried to pursue them, the waters collapsed and drowned horse and chariot. When it was all over, God’s children stood on the edge of the sea and looked back in fear and amazement. And then in overwhelming joy. Their slavery was really over! It was ended! God had brought them out with a mighty hand and an oustretched arm. The water had cut them off from the power of their enemies and they were free!
If you want to ever understand the joy of the first Christians over Easter, you must understand it from the perspective of this event. Just listen to one of the hymns we sing: “Come, ye faithful, raise the strain of triumphant gladness; God hath bro’t His Israel into joy from sadness. Loosed from Pharaoh's bitter yoke, Jacob's son and daughters, led them with unmoistened foot through the Red Sea waters.” The whole sad story of Israel in the land of Egypt was like the story of the whole human race. We were living in exile, born in a land that was not our true home, enslaved to sin, living in fear, and headed toward death. But into our darkness and sadness, God sent us a Mighty Deliverer. He broke the fetters that held us captive, he crushed Pharaoh Satan, and he led us straight through the waters to be a new people, a redeemed and rescued people. And the waters covered over and crushed our foes: sin, death, and the devil.
Baptism then marks a “cutting off” from the past. The beautiful prayer used in the Baptismal liturgy expresses this so well: “Almighty and everlasting God, who... didst drown obdurant Pharaoh with all his host in the Red Sea and didst safely lead Thy people Israel through the midst thereof, prefiguring thereby this washing of Thy Holy Baptism... look with favor upon this child and bless him in the Spirit with true faith that... being separated from the number of the unbelieving, he may be kept securely in the holy ark of the Christian Church and ever serve Thy name with fervent spirit and joyful hope.”
Baptism cuts us off from our slavery to Satan and to sin and to the “old ways” of unbelief in this world. It frees us from their tyranny! St. Paul put it like this: “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” (Rom 6:11-13) He could speak that way because he had just reminded of them of their Baptism in which they had been buried with Christ and given his new life to live as their very own life.
So in your Baptism, my friends, Christ has severed you from the allegiance to Satan to which were bound by Adam’s fall. Christ has led you through the waters to set you free from that old Pharaoh, free from fear, free from bondage, free from sin, and yes, yes, most glorious of all, free from death.
Death was one of those enemies that drowned in the water. Baptism cuts us off from death. It does that by transforming death itself. We always hear “death” and think right away of biological death. But biological death is only the fruit, the symptom of the real thing: spiritual death. Death is separation from Him who is Life. Death is alienation from God. By his embracing of the way of suffering and death, by His going to His Cross, our Lord Jesus Christ has filled even suffering and death with his life and light and love. He has transformed death itself into a passage to life: “Jesus lives and now is death but the gate to life immortal! This shall calm my trembling breath when I pass death’s gloomy portal. Faith shall cry as fails each sense: Jesus is my confidence!” This is the joy of the Church! This is God’s gift to you in your Baptism! You live now cut off from your enemies and headed under God’s protecting hand to the land of promise. Baptized into Christ, you have nothing to fear! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory be to Him forever!
Two weeks ago we rejoiced in Baptism as putting us into the eighth day of a new creation through the Resurrection of Christ. Last week we rejoiced in Baptism as the gift of death and new life. Tonight we see that our Baptism into Christ means exodus. It means leaving behind slavery and embracing freedom; it means leaving behind fear and embracing peace; it means leaving behind sorrow and embracing joy.
Before a person is baptized they are asked to do a strange thing. We ask it of children (who speak through their sponsors). We ask it of adults. It is called the renunciation. Do you renounce Satan? And all his works? And all his ways? This before the profession of faith. Years ago, the renunciation was made facing West, the place of the dying light, and the last act was actually spitting at Satan. Then the person was literally lifted up, faced east toward the rising sun and asked to confess faith in God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What on earth was the point of all that? It was meant to show and confess that in Baptism, Christ sets his people free from their bondage to Satan, to sin, and yes, even to death.
When God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt he prefigured for all time what he planned and intended to do for the whole human race through his Son. The children of Israel lived in Egypt as in exile. They knew it wasn’t home. They were not free. They were forced to work for others. Their lives were tears and hardship and backbreaking labor. But God in his great mercy had not forgotten his people. He sent them his servant Moses. Through the mounting tension of the ten plagues God hammered home to Pharaoh the message: “Let my people go!” Pharaoh’s heart was hard. He did not want to let the children of Israel go free. But finally he could not stand up to the terrible plague brought by the angel of death. He told the children of Israel to go, to get out.
And go they went. Moses led them and he led them in a peculiar way. He led them right up against the shores of the Red Sea. And in the time it had taken Moses to lead them there, Pharaoh had hardened his heart once more and all his armed might was sent to go and bring back the children of Israel, to make them slaves again.
At the shore of the sea, with their enemies closing in behind them, and nothing but water in front of them, God effected a mighty deliverance. His wind, His spirit, blew upon the waters and the waters parted and a way opened up right through the midst of the sea itself. The children of Israel raced into the heart of the sea and walked through towering walls of water on dry ground. When the Egyptians tried to pursue them, the waters collapsed and drowned horse and chariot. When it was all over, God’s children stood on the edge of the sea and looked back in fear and amazement. And then in overwhelming joy. Their slavery was really over! It was ended! God had brought them out with a mighty hand and an oustretched arm. The water had cut them off from the power of their enemies and they were free!
If you want to ever understand the joy of the first Christians over Easter, you must understand it from the perspective of this event. Just listen to one of the hymns we sing: “Come, ye faithful, raise the strain of triumphant gladness; God hath bro’t His Israel into joy from sadness. Loosed from Pharaoh's bitter yoke, Jacob's son and daughters, led them with unmoistened foot through the Red Sea waters.” The whole sad story of Israel in the land of Egypt was like the story of the whole human race. We were living in exile, born in a land that was not our true home, enslaved to sin, living in fear, and headed toward death. But into our darkness and sadness, God sent us a Mighty Deliverer. He broke the fetters that held us captive, he crushed Pharaoh Satan, and he led us straight through the waters to be a new people, a redeemed and rescued people. And the waters covered over and crushed our foes: sin, death, and the devil.
Baptism then marks a “cutting off” from the past. The beautiful prayer used in the Baptismal liturgy expresses this so well: “Almighty and everlasting God, who... didst drown obdurant Pharaoh with all his host in the Red Sea and didst safely lead Thy people Israel through the midst thereof, prefiguring thereby this washing of Thy Holy Baptism... look with favor upon this child and bless him in the Spirit with true faith that... being separated from the number of the unbelieving, he may be kept securely in the holy ark of the Christian Church and ever serve Thy name with fervent spirit and joyful hope.”
Baptism cuts us off from our slavery to Satan and to sin and to the “old ways” of unbelief in this world. It frees us from their tyranny! St. Paul put it like this: “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” (Rom 6:11-13) He could speak that way because he had just reminded of them of their Baptism in which they had been buried with Christ and given his new life to live as their very own life.
So in your Baptism, my friends, Christ has severed you from the allegiance to Satan to which were bound by Adam’s fall. Christ has led you through the waters to set you free from that old Pharaoh, free from fear, free from bondage, free from sin, and yes, yes, most glorious of all, free from death.
Death was one of those enemies that drowned in the water. Baptism cuts us off from death. It does that by transforming death itself. We always hear “death” and think right away of biological death. But biological death is only the fruit, the symptom of the real thing: spiritual death. Death is separation from Him who is Life. Death is alienation from God. By his embracing of the way of suffering and death, by His going to His Cross, our Lord Jesus Christ has filled even suffering and death with his life and light and love. He has transformed death itself into a passage to life: “Jesus lives and now is death but the gate to life immortal! This shall calm my trembling breath when I pass death’s gloomy portal. Faith shall cry as fails each sense: Jesus is my confidence!” This is the joy of the Church! This is God’s gift to you in your Baptism! You live now cut off from your enemies and headed under God’s protecting hand to the land of promise. Baptized into Christ, you have nothing to fear! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory be to Him forever!
18 March 2006
Patristic Quote for the Day
So let us take our part in the Passover prescribed by the law, not in a literal way, but according to the teaching of the Gospel; not in an imperfect way, but perfectly; not only for a time, but eternally. Let us regard as our home the heavenly Jerusalem, not the earthly one; the city glorified by angels, not the one laid waste by armies. We are not required to sacrifice young bulls or rams, beasts with horns and hoofs that are more dead than alive and devoid of feeling; but instead, let us join the choirs of angels in offering God upon his heavenly altar a sacrifice of praise. We must now pass through the first veil and approach the second, turning our eyes toward the Holy of Holies. I will say more: we must sacrifice ourselves to God, each day and in everything we do, accepting all that happens to us for the sake of the Word, imitating his passion by our sufferings, and honoring his blood by shedding our own. We must be ready to be crucified. - St. Gregory of Nazianzus, *Homily for Holy Week*
17 March 2006
In Honor of Saint Patrick
St. Patrick's Breastplate:I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through the belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.
I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth with his baptism,
Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,
Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,
Through the strength of his descent for the judgment of Doom.
I arise today
Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In prayers of patriarchs,
In predictions of prophets,
In preaching of apostles,
In faith of confessors,
In innocence of holy virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.
I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.
I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me:
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.
I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.
Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me abundance of reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.
Patristic Quote for the Day
Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am not one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim waits for you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity. - Ancient Homily on Holy Saturday
[In the setting of the homily, Christ is speaking these words to Adam. I've produced it as it appears in the Breviary. I suspect the troublesome words about "now I make them worship you as God" are to be understood from the context of Christ Himself confessing unity with Adam: "For your sake, I, your God, became your son." A bit over the top, but it really drives home the same point that Lewis did in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The thrones for which we are destined; the heights to which He has summoned us and prepared the way, and IS that way; and the shocking truth that the angels are made to SERVE us!]
[In the setting of the homily, Christ is speaking these words to Adam. I've produced it as it appears in the Breviary. I suspect the troublesome words about "now I make them worship you as God" are to be understood from the context of Christ Himself confessing unity with Adam: "For your sake, I, your God, became your son." A bit over the top, but it really drives home the same point that Lewis did in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The thrones for which we are destined; the heights to which He has summoned us and prepared the way, and IS that way; and the shocking truth that the angels are made to SERVE us!]
16 March 2006
Homily for Oculi
St. John put it very simply: “This was the purpose of the appearing of the Son of God, to undo the work of the devil.” (1 John 3:8b). Jesus was doing just that – His work of setting free a man from a devil who held him speechless – when an argument broke out about him. By what power was he able to do this? Some actually said and thought that he was using Satan's power to drive the devils out.
Jesus is shocked by their illogic. He asks what happens to countries and families where people are fighting against each other? Do they stand strong or do they fall apart? They fall apart! Jesus asks: “Does it look to you like Satan’s kingdom is coming to pieces at the seams?” No way! Satan and all his demons are perfectly united in their opposition to the Kingdom of God and in their hatred and torture of the human race. There is no way that Jesus, breaking their power over human lives, could be doing so with their own power and permission.
Rather, this is how Jesus pictures the struggle: Satan is like a strong man, fully armed, who guards his own home and his goods. His home, unfortunately, is in the hearts and lives of humans. He lives there like a parasite, ultimately destroying the very lives that host him. And he guards his own home, always vigilant for any threat to his power.
But, says Jesus, along comes a stronger man – stronger than the strong man. That's our Lord! And he attacks Satan in the very place where he has set up his kingdom – the hearts of humanity. He attacks and defeats him there. He takes away his weapons on which he relied. His lies, his empty promises and deceits. And then he shows the devil the door; boots him out.
He exposes the lies of Satan above all by His cross - for there every lie that Satan has ever sold us on about our God is shown to be utterly false. The cross reveals the deepest truth about our God: His infinite love for all people that would bring Him to this immense suffering to take away the sin of the world and to destroy by His death the power of death. The cross reveals that God is pre-eminently FOR us. That He is on our side in this battle, that the Stronger One is our hero, come to do what we could never do for ourselves! And as our risen and reigning Lord He continues His great work of liberating folks from Satan's power.
How does he do all this in the lives of humanity? Listen to Dr. Luther on this: “For this task Christ left us designated instruments: holy baptism, the blessed Sacrament, the Word and absolution, and whatever else belongs to the ministry of preaching, in order to enable us to destroy the devil’s kingdom, to take from him his captives and cast him out of people. (HP 1, p. 330)”
Since we are all born under sin, rebels in our hearts, allied with Satan from birth, the first act of the Christian church in driving out the devil from the heart of men, is to baptize. In Baptism, Jesus arrives on the scene and shows Satan the door. It is not by accident that the first words of the Baptismal liturgy are: “Depart unclean spirit and make room for the Holy Spirit!” That’s what Baptism does. It drives out the devil.
But Jesus warned that Satan does not give up easily. Once driven out, he constantly seeks for entrance back in. It’s torture for an unclean spirit not to be resting in a human host. Jesus spoke of them seeking a place of rest. And so Jesus not only left the Church Baptism to drive Satan out, but also Absolution, the Word, and the Eucharist. The faithful use of them KEEPS him out!
Luther again: “When a person whom the devil has greatly overwhelmed and seared with many accusations comes to me with heavy heart and troubled conscience seeking comfort and instruction, I have the mandate, as does every Christian, to comfort my brother and pronounce God’s grace for Christ’s sake upon him. The devil must yield, not to me, a poor and wretched sinner, but to the Word which the Lord Christ left us on earth. When your conscience is weak and terrified, therefore, and you are unable to grasp tightly enough the comfort that God graciously wants you to have, the forgiveness of sins, then know that Christ has given the Lord’s Supper, his true body and blood to eat and to drink, so that you have no reason further to doubt that his body was given for your sins and his blood poured out for your transgressions. Where such faith and trust are present, it is impossible for the devil to dwell and hold sway. This work, therefore, must continue apace in Christendom, in order to drive out the devil by the finger of God.” (HP 1, p. 330, 331)
The Church has no other weapons for her battle with Satan than these means of grace: Baptism, the Gospel of Christ Crucified and Risen, Absolution, and Eucharist. Through these Jesus continues even to this day the work that he began when he walked the earth: his liberation of the hearts of men from the oppression of the devil, and returning them to what they were intended to be, homes for the Triune God.
It is small wonder, then, that Satan works with might and main to divert us from the faithful use of these means of grace – always suggesting that something else might be more important, more pressing, more engaging and entertaining, or attempting to seduce us to make of use of them only in a ritualistic way, without trusting in the promises they make to us. In today’s Epistle Paul warns of being seduced by Satan’s lies into returning to the bondage we were in before Christ liberated us. “Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of the light!” As though he were to say: don’t leave the light of Christ’s Word and Sacraments, through them let Jesus dwell within you to drive all the darkness away!
A woman cried out after hearing Jesus teach: “Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” Jesus corrected her: “More blessed still are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” He wasn’t putting his mother down. He was teaching us that the blessed of Mary – a blessed we can all share in – is that she welcomed and treasured and guarded the Word of God in her heart. She would not let Satan rob her of that treasure and that is why she is blessed among women.
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. To drive him out and to keep him out. “Let us, therefore, thank God for his grace, because he has sent his Son for help against the devil, to drive him out, and has left us his Word through which today he yet performs this work, destroying Satan’s kingdom, building and extending the kingdom of God. God keep us in such grace through his son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. (HP 1, p. 343)” (Luther)
Jesus is shocked by their illogic. He asks what happens to countries and families where people are fighting against each other? Do they stand strong or do they fall apart? They fall apart! Jesus asks: “Does it look to you like Satan’s kingdom is coming to pieces at the seams?” No way! Satan and all his demons are perfectly united in their opposition to the Kingdom of God and in their hatred and torture of the human race. There is no way that Jesus, breaking their power over human lives, could be doing so with their own power and permission.
Rather, this is how Jesus pictures the struggle: Satan is like a strong man, fully armed, who guards his own home and his goods. His home, unfortunately, is in the hearts and lives of humans. He lives there like a parasite, ultimately destroying the very lives that host him. And he guards his own home, always vigilant for any threat to his power.
But, says Jesus, along comes a stronger man – stronger than the strong man. That's our Lord! And he attacks Satan in the very place where he has set up his kingdom – the hearts of humanity. He attacks and defeats him there. He takes away his weapons on which he relied. His lies, his empty promises and deceits. And then he shows the devil the door; boots him out.
He exposes the lies of Satan above all by His cross - for there every lie that Satan has ever sold us on about our God is shown to be utterly false. The cross reveals the deepest truth about our God: His infinite love for all people that would bring Him to this immense suffering to take away the sin of the world and to destroy by His death the power of death. The cross reveals that God is pre-eminently FOR us. That He is on our side in this battle, that the Stronger One is our hero, come to do what we could never do for ourselves! And as our risen and reigning Lord He continues His great work of liberating folks from Satan's power.
How does he do all this in the lives of humanity? Listen to Dr. Luther on this: “For this task Christ left us designated instruments: holy baptism, the blessed Sacrament, the Word and absolution, and whatever else belongs to the ministry of preaching, in order to enable us to destroy the devil’s kingdom, to take from him his captives and cast him out of people. (HP 1, p. 330)”
Since we are all born under sin, rebels in our hearts, allied with Satan from birth, the first act of the Christian church in driving out the devil from the heart of men, is to baptize. In Baptism, Jesus arrives on the scene and shows Satan the door. It is not by accident that the first words of the Baptismal liturgy are: “Depart unclean spirit and make room for the Holy Spirit!” That’s what Baptism does. It drives out the devil.
But Jesus warned that Satan does not give up easily. Once driven out, he constantly seeks for entrance back in. It’s torture for an unclean spirit not to be resting in a human host. Jesus spoke of them seeking a place of rest. And so Jesus not only left the Church Baptism to drive Satan out, but also Absolution, the Word, and the Eucharist. The faithful use of them KEEPS him out!
Luther again: “When a person whom the devil has greatly overwhelmed and seared with many accusations comes to me with heavy heart and troubled conscience seeking comfort and instruction, I have the mandate, as does every Christian, to comfort my brother and pronounce God’s grace for Christ’s sake upon him. The devil must yield, not to me, a poor and wretched sinner, but to the Word which the Lord Christ left us on earth. When your conscience is weak and terrified, therefore, and you are unable to grasp tightly enough the comfort that God graciously wants you to have, the forgiveness of sins, then know that Christ has given the Lord’s Supper, his true body and blood to eat and to drink, so that you have no reason further to doubt that his body was given for your sins and his blood poured out for your transgressions. Where such faith and trust are present, it is impossible for the devil to dwell and hold sway. This work, therefore, must continue apace in Christendom, in order to drive out the devil by the finger of God.” (HP 1, p. 330, 331)
The Church has no other weapons for her battle with Satan than these means of grace: Baptism, the Gospel of Christ Crucified and Risen, Absolution, and Eucharist. Through these Jesus continues even to this day the work that he began when he walked the earth: his liberation of the hearts of men from the oppression of the devil, and returning them to what they were intended to be, homes for the Triune God.
It is small wonder, then, that Satan works with might and main to divert us from the faithful use of these means of grace – always suggesting that something else might be more important, more pressing, more engaging and entertaining, or attempting to seduce us to make of use of them only in a ritualistic way, without trusting in the promises they make to us. In today’s Epistle Paul warns of being seduced by Satan’s lies into returning to the bondage we were in before Christ liberated us. “Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of the light!” As though he were to say: don’t leave the light of Christ’s Word and Sacraments, through them let Jesus dwell within you to drive all the darkness away!
A woman cried out after hearing Jesus teach: “Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” Jesus corrected her: “More blessed still are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” He wasn’t putting his mother down. He was teaching us that the blessed of Mary – a blessed we can all share in – is that she welcomed and treasured and guarded the Word of God in her heart. She would not let Satan rob her of that treasure and that is why she is blessed among women.
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. To drive him out and to keep him out. “Let us, therefore, thank God for his grace, because he has sent his Son for help against the devil, to drive him out, and has left us his Word through which today he yet performs this work, destroying Satan’s kingdom, building and extending the kingdom of God. God keep us in such grace through his son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. (HP 1, p. 343)” (Luther)
Patristic Quote for the Day
For the sake of suffering humanity he came down from heaven to earth, clothed himself in that humanity in the Virgin's womb, and was born a man. Having then a body capable of suffering, he took the pain of fallen man upon himself; he triumphed over the diseases of soul and body that were its cause, and by his Spirit, which was incapable of dying, he dealt man's destroyer, death, a fatal blow. - Paschal Homily of Melito of Sardis
15 March 2006
The Sorrows of Death Compassed Me...
...yesterday we fed him with the bread of life, the very Body of Christ given for the forgiveness of sins, for the life of the world. Today he is with the Lord. "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace" we sang in the ICU and He did.
She's facing a move to the nursing home. She hates the thought of it and what it means. Her son is suffering from cancer and in a room in the hospital not far from her own. It doesn't look good. Her daughter-in-law is under double-strain.
"The Lord doesn't give us more than we can bear" another friend said to me this week as she broke down, but she was really wondering if it was true. A parent's love for a child is beyond words.
Imogene called from Texas yesterday morning. She'd moved down there to be near her son. He died yesterday of pancreatic cancer. She's lost son and husband now. He'd come back to the Lord before he died; had received the Holy Eucharist. She had that comfort.
On and on and on. Is it any wonder the Church prays for mercy so often?
Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!
"then called I upon the name of the Lord." His name IS mercy. The Lord, the Lord, gracious and merciful. His gracious mercy shone in the gift of His Son into death for us. His gracious mercy shone in breaking the bonds of death and granting forgiveness to a a world. Help us believe, Lord. Help them all to cling to you!
She's facing a move to the nursing home. She hates the thought of it and what it means. Her son is suffering from cancer and in a room in the hospital not far from her own. It doesn't look good. Her daughter-in-law is under double-strain.
"The Lord doesn't give us more than we can bear" another friend said to me this week as she broke down, but she was really wondering if it was true. A parent's love for a child is beyond words.
Imogene called from Texas yesterday morning. She'd moved down there to be near her son. He died yesterday of pancreatic cancer. She's lost son and husband now. He'd come back to the Lord before he died; had received the Holy Eucharist. She had that comfort.
On and on and on. Is it any wonder the Church prays for mercy so often?
Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!
"then called I upon the name of the Lord." His name IS mercy. The Lord, the Lord, gracious and merciful. His gracious mercy shone in the gift of His Son into death for us. His gracious mercy shone in breaking the bonds of death and granting forgiveness to a a world. Help us believe, Lord. Help them all to cling to you!
Yet more Spring thoughts...
From the Akathist of thanksgiving:
Every flower is fragrant through the power of the Holy Spirit, in a delicate flow of aroma and tenderness of color; the beauty of the Great contained in what is small. Praise and honor to God Who gives life, Who spreads forth the meadows like a flowering carpet, Who crowns the fields with golden ears of wheat and azure basilisks, and the soul with the joy of contemplation. Let us rejoice and sing to Him: Alleluia!
How beautiful You are in the triumphant festival of spring, when all creatures come to life again and in a thousand ways joyfully call out to You; You are the source of life; You are the victor over death.
To the song of the nightingale, the valleys and forests stand in snow white bridal array by the light of the season. All the earth is Your bride, waiting for the immortal bridegroom. If You clothe even the grass is such splendid way, how will You transfigure us in the future age of resurrection, how will our bodies be made light and our souls be made luminous:
Glory to You, who brought out of the earth's darkness diversity of color, taste, and fragrance.
Glory to You, for the warmth and caress of all nature.
Glory to You, for surrounding us with thousands of Your creatures.
Glory to You, for the depth of Your wisdom reflected in the whole world.
Glory to You, I kiss reverently the footprint of Your invisible tread.
Glory to You, Who kindled before us the bright light of eternal life.
Glory to You, for the hope of immortal, ideal, incorruptible beauty.
Glory to You, O God, unto ages of ages!
Every flower is fragrant through the power of the Holy Spirit, in a delicate flow of aroma and tenderness of color; the beauty of the Great contained in what is small. Praise and honor to God Who gives life, Who spreads forth the meadows like a flowering carpet, Who crowns the fields with golden ears of wheat and azure basilisks, and the soul with the joy of contemplation. Let us rejoice and sing to Him: Alleluia!
How beautiful You are in the triumphant festival of spring, when all creatures come to life again and in a thousand ways joyfully call out to You; You are the source of life; You are the victor over death.
To the song of the nightingale, the valleys and forests stand in snow white bridal array by the light of the season. All the earth is Your bride, waiting for the immortal bridegroom. If You clothe even the grass is such splendid way, how will You transfigure us in the future age of resurrection, how will our bodies be made light and our souls be made luminous:
Glory to You, who brought out of the earth's darkness diversity of color, taste, and fragrance.
Glory to You, for the warmth and caress of all nature.
Glory to You, for surrounding us with thousands of Your creatures.
Glory to You, for the depth of Your wisdom reflected in the whole world.
Glory to You, I kiss reverently the footprint of Your invisible tread.
Glory to You, Who kindled before us the bright light of eternal life.
Glory to You, for the hope of immortal, ideal, incorruptible beauty.
Glory to You, O God, unto ages of ages!
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