Ambrose on the Psalms

Here's a great meditation from Ambrose on the Book of Psalms:

Though all Scripture is fragrant with God’s grace, the Book of Psalms has a special attractiveness.
 

Moses wrote the history of Israel’s ancestors in prose, but after leading the people through the Red Sea—a wonder that remained in their memory—he broke into a song of triumph in praise of God when he saw King Pharaoh drowned along with his forces.  His genius soared to a higher level, to match an accomplishment beyond his own powers.
 

Miriam too raised her timbrel and sang encouragement for the rest of the women, saying:  “Let us sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; He has cast horse and rider into the sea.”
 

In the Book of Psalms there is profit for all, with healing power for our salvation.  There is instruction from history, teaching from the law, prediction from prophecy, chastisement from denunciation, persuasion from moral preaching.  All who read it may find the cure for their own individual failings.  All with eyes to see can discover in it a complete gymnasium for the soul, a stadium for all the virtues, equipped for every kind of exercise; it is for each to choose the kind each judges best to help gain the prize.
 

If you wish to read and imitate the deeds of the past, you will find the whole history of the Israelites in a single psalm:  in one short reading you can amass a treasure for the memory. If you want to study the power of the law, which is summed up in the bond of charity (“Who loves their neighbor has fulfilled the law”), you may read in the psalms of the great love with which one person faced serious dangers singlehandedly in order to remove the shame of the whole people.  You will find the glory of charity more than a match for the parade of power.
 

What am I to say of the grace of prophecy?  We see that what others hinted at in riddles was promised openly and clearly to the psalmist alone:  the Lord Jesus was to be born of David’s seed, according to the word of the Lord:  “I will place upon your throne one who is the fruit of your flesh.”
 

In the psalms, then, not only is Jesus born for us, He also undergoes His saving passion in His body, He lies in death, He rises again, He ascends into heaven, He sits at the right hand of the Father.  What no one would have dared to say was foretold by the psalmist alone, and afterward proclaimed by the Lord himself in the Gospel. (Explanation on Psalm 1, 4, 7-8; cited in J. Robert Wright, Readings for the Daily Office from the Early Church, 318-319)

St. Patrick Interview on Issues, Etc.

Check out yesterday's interview with yours truly on St. Patrick, Missionary to Ireland.

St. Patrick

On this day the Church honors St. Patrick, Bishop of Ireland. This article comes from a newsletter article from a couple of years ago.

Who was St. Patrick?

When I say, “March 17,” chances are good that you think, “St. Patrick’s Day.” And once you think of St. Patrick’s Day, you probably think of all the green clothes and hats you can wear, the green food you will eat, and the green decorations that go up just about everywhere. You might even think of delicious corned beef and cabbage (Yum!), and perhaps even green beer. (Although that still doesn’t seem right. I mean why taint perfectly good beer by turning it green? ☺)

However, St. Patrick’s Day is about much more than that. March 17 is the Church’s day to commemorate the great bishop of Ireland and his tireless work to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ among people who were quite hostile to Christianity. Through the faithful and even life-threatening work of preaching the Gospel of Christ and founding many churches, God used St. Patrick to convert Ireland from pagan religions such as Druidism to Christianity. March 17, then, commemorates the death of St. Patrick in the middle of the fifth century.

The LCMS website gives this summary of St. Patrick’s life:

Patrick is one of the best-known of the missionary saints. Born to a Christian family in Britain around the year 389, he was captured as a teenager by raiders, taken to Ireland, and forced to serve as a herdsman. After six years he escaped and found his way to a monastery community in France. Ordained a bishop in 432, he made his way back to Ireland, where he spent the rest of his long life spreading the Gospel and organizing Christian communities. He strongly defended the doctrine of the Holy Trinity in a time when it was not popular to do so. His literary legacy includes his autobiography, Confessio, and several prayers and hymns still used in the church today. Patrick died around the year 466.

On one occasion, in A.D. 433, Patrick defied the orders of King Loegaire and refused to honor a pagan festival. The king, then, tried to assassinate Patrick, but Patrick and his coworkers were able to escape unharmed. Tradition says that God’s deliverance from this peril prompted Patrick to write his best-known hymn, known today as “I Bind Unto Myself Today.” This hymn is an excellent confession of the Holy Trinity and of God’s deliverance from sin and evil through Jesus Christ. Here’s the text from our hymnal, Lutheran Service Book, 604:

I bind unto myself today
The strong name of the Trinity
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me forever,
By pow’r of faith, Christ’s incarnation,
His Baptism in the Jordan River,
His cross of death for my salvation,
His bursting from the spiced tomb,
His riding up the heav’nly way,
His coming at the day of doom,
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself today
The pow’r of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need,
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward,
The Word of God to give me speech,
His heav’nly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile foes that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In ev’ry place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me those holy pow’rs.

I bind unto myself the name,
The strong name of the Trinity
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three,
Of whom all nature has creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word.
Praise to the Lord of my salvation;
Salvation is of Christ the Lord!

So, this March 17, instead of merely donning the green and enjoying corned-beef for St. Patrick’s Day, we also thank God for the Bishop of Ireland and his faithful preaching of the Gospel and his confession of the Holy Trinity. No matter what opposition we face, we can also proclaim the goodness and mercy of our holy, Triune God, just as St. Patrick did.

Fatherly Wisdom-God's Promises

From Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, in his commentary on the Psalms:

[God] promised eternal salvation, everlasting happiness with the angels, an unfading inheritance, endless glory, the joyful vision of his face, his holy dwelling in heaven, and after our resurrection from the dead the assurance of no further fear of death. This is (so to speak) his final promise toward which all our intentions should be focused; for when we have reached it, we shall require nothing more nor demand anything further.

Furthermore, our Lord also manifested in his promises and prophecies the way in which we would arrive at our final goal. He promises humans divinity, mortals immortality, sinners justification, the poor a rising to glory. Whatever he promised, he promised to those who were unworthy, so that it was not a case of a reward being promised to workers but of grace being given as a gift as its name indicates.

Hence, even those who live justly, insofar as humans can live justly, do so not through human merits but through divine help. No one lives justly unless that person has been justified, that is, been made just; and one is made just by him who can never be unjust. As a lamp is not lighted by itself, so the human soul does not give light to itself but calls out to God: " You indeed, O Lord, give light to my lamp."

But, my beloved, because God's promises seemed impossible to us--equality with the angels in exchange for mortality, corruption, poverty, weakness, dust and ashes--God not only made a written contract with us to win our belief [referring to the Scriptures], but also established a mediator of his good faith: not a prince or angel or archangel, but his only Son. He wanted, through his Son, to show and give us the way he would lead us to the goal he has promised. (Augustine, Commentary on Psalm 109 [110], 1-3; cited in Wright, Readings for the Daily Office from the Early Church, pp. 85-86.)

Fatherly Wisdom-Honoring John the Baptist

Bede (The Venerable) (673-735) gives this explanation for celebrating the Nativity of John the Baptist:

Quite rightly does the universal Church, which celebrates the many triumphs by which the holy martyrs gained entry into heaven, honor also the birth of Saint John the Baptist and his alone, apart from that of our Lord. We may be certain that this custom did not arise without the support of the gospel. On the contrary, we should treasure in our hearts the fact that as an angel appeared to the shepherds when our Lord was born and said: Behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day a savior, who is Christ the Lord, so also an angel told Zechariah that John would be born, adding: You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. With good reason is the birth of each celebrated with joy and devotion, but in the one case joy is proclaimed to all peoples at the birth of Christ the Lord, the Savior of the world, the Son of almighty God, the Sun of Righteousness, while in the other case it is recounted that many will rejoice at the appearance of the Lord's forerunner, his mighty servant, a blazing and radiant lamp.

John went ahead in the spirit and power of Elijah to teach the Lord's people to be perfect, baptizing them with water so that they would be able to accept Christ when he appeared. Christ came after John in the spirit and power of God the Father to make it possible for them to be perfect, baptizing them with the Holy Spirit and with fire so that they would be able to see the face of the Father (Homily II, 20; quoted in For All the Saints, vol. 4, p. 1314, emphasis original).

Fatherly Wisdom-Living with Christ

Make yourselves gentle, and be born again in the faith which is the body of the Lord and in the love which is the blood of Jesus Christ. No one must bear a grudge against a neighbor. Never give the pagans the slightest pretext, so that the great majority who serve god will not be mocked because of the folly of a few. "Woe to the one on account of whose folly my name is blasphemed."

So turn a deaf ear to the talk of anyone whose language has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. Descended from David, he was truly born of Mary, he really ate and drank, He was really persecuted under Pontius Pilate, and truly died by crucifixion, while heavenly and earthly beings and those under the earth looked on. He truly rose from the dead, being raised by His Father. Those who believe in him ill be raise like him by the Father. We shall rise again in Christ without whom we do not have true life.

Avoid, then, those poisonous growths that bear deadly fruit; the mere taste of them is sudden death. Such growths are not of the Father's planting; if they were they would be recognized as branches of the cross, their fruit would be imperishable. The cross of Christ's passion is his invitation to you who are the members of his body. The head cannot come to life without the members, since God, the very ground of unity, has foretold such a union. (from Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Trallians, chap. 8-9; as cited in Wright, Readings for the Daily Office from the Early Church, p. 277)

Fatherly Wisdom-Praying with Modesty

From Cyprian of Carthage, Treatise on the Lord's Prayer, 4-6:

4. But let our speech and petition when we pray be under discipline, observing quietness and modesty. Let us consider that we are standing in God’s sight. We must please the divine eyes both with the habit of body and with the measure of voice. For as it is characteristic of a shameless man to be noisy with his cries, so, on the other hand, it is fitting to the modest man to pray with moderated petitions. Moreover, in His teaching the Lord has bidden us to pray in secret—in hidden and remote places, in our very bed-chambers—which is best suited to faith, that we may know that God is everywhere present, and hears and sees all, and in the plenitude of His majesty penetrates even into hidden and secret places, as it is written, “I am a God at hand, and not a God afar off. If a man shall hide himself in secret places, shall I not then see him? Do not I fill heaven and earth?” And again: “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” And when we meet together with the brethren in one place, and celebrate divine sacrifices with God’s priest, we ought to be mindful of modesty and discipline—not to throw abroad our prayers indiscriminately, with unsubdued voices, nor to cast to God with tumultuous wordiness a petition that ought to be commended to God by modesty; for God is the hearer, not of the voice, but of the heart. Nor need He be clamorously reminded, since He sees men’s thoughts, as the Lord proves to us when He says, “Why think ye evil in your hearts?” And in another place: “And all the churches shall know that I am He that searcheth the hearts and reins.”

5. And this Hannah in the first book of Kings, who was a type of the Church, maintains and observes, in that she prayed to God not with clamorous petition, but silently and modestly, within the very recesses of her heart. She spoke with hidden prayer, but with manifest faith. She spoke not with her voice, but with her heart, because she knew that thus God hears; and she effectually obtained what she sought, because she asked it with belief. Divine Scripture asserts this, when it says, “She spake in her heart, and her lips moved, and her voice was not heard; and God did hear her.” We read also in the Psalms, “Speak in your hearts, and in your beds, and be ye pierced.” The Holy Spirit, moreover, suggests these same things by Jeremiah, and teaches, saying, “But in the heart ought God to be adored by thee.” Or, “In the heart, O God, ought we to worship Thee.”

6. And let not the worshipper, beloved brethren, be ignorant in what manner the publican prayed with the Pharisee in the temple. Not with eyes lifted up boldly to heaven, nor with hands proudly raised; but beating his breast, and testifying to the sins shut up within, he implored the help of the divine mercy. And while the Pharisee was pleased with himself, this man who thus asked, the rather deserved to be sanctified, since he placed the hope of salvation not in the confidence of his innocence, because there is none who is innocent; but confessing his sinfulness he humbly prayed, and He who pardons the humble heard the petitioner. And these things the Lord records in His Gospel, saying, “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood, and prayed thus with himself: God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are, unjust, extortioners, adulterers, even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. But the publican stood afar off, and would not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner. I say unto you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and whosoever humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

Fix Your Eyes on Jesus

Here's a great quote from St. Gregory of Nyssa on fixing our eyes on our head, Jesus Christ:

If the soul will fix its eyes heavenward on its head, who is Christ, as Paul urges, it will have to be regarded as blest through its keenness of vision, because it has its eyes where there is no obscurity of evil. The great apostle Paul, and others if there are any equal to him, had his eyes on the head; so also do all those who live and move and are in Christ.

Just as it cannot happen that the person who is in the light sees darkness, so it cannot happen that the one who has eyes on Christ will fix them on something lacking value. Hence, the person who has eyes fixed on the head--and by head we mean the principle of all things--has eyes on every virtue (indeed, Christ is the perfect virtue, and absolute in every way), on truth, justice, incorruptibility, and every good work. "The wise person has his eyes on the head, but the fool walks in darkness." Indeed, the person who does not place a lamp on the lampstand but places it under a bushel basket makes darkness take the place of light (from Sermon 5 on Ecclesiastes; cited in Wright, Readings for the Daily Office from the Early Church).

From Ignatius of Antioch

Let us not be insensible of Christ's loving kindness. For if he had acted as we do, we would have been lost indeed. Therefore let us become his disciples and learn to live in the Christian way; those who are called by any other name are not of God. Cast out the evil leaven that has become old and sour, and replace it with the new leaven, which is Jesus Christ. He must be the salt of your lives, so that none of you may become corrupt, since it is by your wholesomeness that you will be judged.

I do not write this to you, my dear friends, because I have heard that any one of you is thus disaffected, but because, though I am less than yourselves, I would have you all guard against falling into the snares of false doctrine. Have a firm faith in the reality of the Lord's birth and passion and resurrection which took place when Pontius Pilate was procurator. All these deeds were truly and certainly accomplished by Jesus Christ, who is our hope; my none of you ever be turned away from him! [Letter to the Magnesians, 10-11]

On Loving God

This quote comes from Basil the Great, in his "Detailed Rules for Monks," Resp. 2, 1 (cited in Wright, Readings for the Daily Office from the Early Church, p. 249). What a great response to the Festival Half of the Church Year (Advent - Easter) that we have just finished, and what a way to round out this week of celebrating the Holy Trinity!

What, I ask, is more wonderful than the beauty of God? What thought is more pleasing and satisfying than God's majesty? What desire is as urgent and overpowering as the desire implanted by God in a soul that is completely purified os sin and cries out in its love: "I am wounded by love"? The radiance of the divine beauty is altogether beyond the power of words to describe.

Fruit of God's Patience and Weakness

After discussing Jesus Christ's Incarnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection, St. Irenaeus gives this wonderfully concise way of summing up the Gospel:

God bore with us patiently when we fell because he foresaw the victory that would be won through the Word [Christ]. Weakness allowed strength its full play, and so revealed God's kindness and great power. (Against Heresies, 3-20, 1)

Great words for trying times

From Bernard of Clairvaux:

Lord, it is good for me to be in distress, provided that you are there with me; that is much better for me than to reign without you, rejoice without you, or be glorified without you. It is far better for me to cleave to you in distress, to have you with me in the crucible than to be without you in heaven. For what have I in heaven, and from you what have I wished upon earth? "Gold is tried in fire and the just in the trials of distress." It is there, among those who are gathered in your name that you are present, as once you were with the three young men [Daniel 3].

Why should we be afraid and make every effort to flee from the crucible? The fire burns, but the Lord is with us in distress. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" If it is also he who saves, who can charm us out of his hand? Who could snatch us from his hand? Finally, if it is God who glorifies, who can deprive us of glory and humiliate us?

"With length of days will I gratify you." answers the Lord. this says clearly: I know what you desire, what you thirst for, and what you crave. You do not crave gold or silver, sensual pleasures, curiosities, or dignities of any kind. All of these are of no help to you; there is no cure except for you to humble yourself in the depths of your heart and refuse to give your attention to what cannot satisfy you. You are not unaware in whose image you have been created and of what greatness you are capable; you do not want a meager profit to be for you the occasion of an immense frustration. Hence, "with length of days will I gratify you," for only the true Light can restore you, only the eternal Light can satisfy you--that Light whose length knows no end, whose brightness knows no dimming, and whose fullness knows no completion. (Commentary on Psalm 91, sermon 17, 4-6: PL 183, 252-253; cited in J. Robert Wright, Readings for the Daily Office from the Early Church, p. 243)

Joys of Pentecost

This quote comes from Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers (+367). Ah, what joys of Pentecost!

We who have been reborn through the sacrament of baptism experience intense joy when we feel within us the first stirrings of the Holy Spirit. We begin to have an insight into the mysteries of faith, we are able to prophesy and to speak with wisdom. We become steadfast in hope and receive the gift of healing. Demons are made subject to our authority. These gifts enter us like a gentle rain, and once having done so, little by little, they bring forth fruit in abundance (Readings for the Daily Office from the Early Church, J. Robert Wright, ed. [Church Publishing Incorporated, 1991], p. 240).

True Perfection

This reading from Gregory of Nyssa is paired up with Exodus 33:1-23 (Moses' request to see God's glory and him actually being permitted to see God's back) in the breviary For All the Saints. In case you get nervous at Gregory's praise of Moses' "perfection," just keep reading to see how the church father explains such "perfection."

What more trustworthy witness of the fact that Moses did attain the perfection which was possible would be found than the divine voice which said to him: I have known you more than all others? It is also shown in the fact that he is named the "friend of God" by God himself, and by preferring to perish with all the rest if the Divine One did not through his good will forgive their errors, he stayed God's wrath against the Israelites. God averted judgment so as not to grieve his friend. All such things are a clear testimony and demonstration of the fact that the life of Moses did ascend the highest mount of perfection.

Since the goal of the virtuous way of life was the very thing we have been seeking, and this goal has been found in what we have said, it is time for you, noble friend, to look to that example and, by transferring to your own life what is contemplated through spiritual interpretation of the things spoken literally, to be known by God and to become his friend. This is true perfection: not to avoid a wicked life because like slaves we servilely fear punishment, nor to do good because we hope for rewards, as if cashing in on the virtuous life by some business-like and contractual arrangement. On the contrary, disregarding all those things for which we hope and which have been reserved by promise, we regard falling from God's friendship as the only thing dreadful and we consider becoming God's friend the only thing worthy of honor and desire. This, as I have said, is the perfection of life. (The Life of Moses; cited in For All the Saints, vol. III, p. 1162-1163)

As Jesus said in John 15:15: "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you."

Incarnation and Renewal of Creation

Here's a great little gem from St. Athanasius. As he introduces his work, On the Incarnation, he ties our salvation together with creation. After all, he says, the same Incarnate Word accomplishes both.

You must understand why it is that the Word of the Father, so great and so high, has been made manifest in bodily form. He has not assumed a body as proper to His own nature, far from it, for as the Word He is without body. He has been manifested in a human body for this reason only, out of the love and goodness of His Father, for the salvation of us men. We will begin, then, with the creation of the world and with God its Maker, for the first fact that you must grasp is this: the renewal of creation has been wrought by the Self-same Word Who made it in the beginning. There is thus no inconsistency between creation and salvation; for the One Father has employed the same Agent for both works, effecting the salvation of the world through the same Word Who made it in the beginning (St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 1:1, emphasis original).

St. Ignatius of Antioch, Pastor and Martyr

Today the Lutheran Service Book calendar commemorates Ignatius of Antioch, as does the Roman calendar. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church gives Ignatius’ dates as c. 35-c. 107. According to Origen, Ignatius was the second Bishop of Antioch, succeeding St. Peter, but according to Eusebius, Ignatius was the third Bishop of Antioch, succeeding Peter’s successor, Euodius, c. 69.

St. Ignatius is best known for his seven letters written to various churches and for his journey to Rome to be executed for confessing Christ Jesus. In his letters he gives wonderful testimony to the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the blessings of harmony and unity in the Church. In fact, in the mind of St. Ignatius, these two things – living in the grace of Christ and living united and harmoniously in the Church – go hand in glove. Here are some selected snippets as we remember St. Ignatius this day:

Glorifying Christ by being united

“It is proper, therefore, in every way to glorify Jesus Christ, who has glorified you, so that you, joined together in a united obedience and subject to the bishop and the presbytery, may be sanctified in every respect” (To the Ephesians, 2).

“For Jesus Christ, our inseparable life, is the mind of the Father, just as the bishops appointed throughout the world are the mind of Christ” (To the Ephesians, 3).

“Thus it is proper for you to act together in harmony with the mind of the bishop, as you are in fact doing. For your presbytery, which is worthy of its name and worthy of God, is attuned to the bishop as strings to a lyre. Therefore in your unanimity and harmonious love Jesus Christ is sung. You must join this chorus, every one of you, so that by being harmonious in unanimity and taking your pitch from God you may sing in unison with one voice through Jesus Christ to the Father, in order that he may both hear you and, on the basis of what you do well, acknowledge that you are members of his Son. It is, therefore advantageous for you to be in perfect unity, in order that you may always have a share in God” (To the Ephesians, 4).

“I was doing my part, therefore, as a man set on unity. But God does not dwell where there is division and anger. The Lord, however, forgives all who repent, if in repenting they return to the unity of God and the council of the bishop. I believe in the grace of Jesus Christ, who will free you from every bond. Moreover, I urge you to do nothing in a spirit of contentiousness, but in accordance with the teaching of Christ” (To the Philadelphians, 7-8).

Necessity of being in the House of God

“Let no one be misled: if anyone is not within the sanctuary, he lacks the bread of God. For if the prayer of one or two has such power, how much more that of the bishop together with the whole church! Therefore whoever does not meet with the congregation thereby demonstrates his arrogance and has separated himself…” (To the Ephesians, 5).

“Therefore make every effort to come together more frequently to give thanks and glory to God. For when you meet together frequently, the powers of Satan are overthrown and his destructiveness is nullified by the unanimity of your faith” (To the Ephesians, 13).

“Continue to gather together, each and every one of you, collectively and individually by name, in grace, in one faith and one Jesus Christ, who physically was a descendant of David, who is Son of man and Son of God, in order that you may obey the bishop and the presbytery with an undisturbed mind, breaking one bread, which is the medicine of immortality, the antidote we take in order not to die but to live forever in Jesus Christ” (To the Ephesians, 20).

The Gospel of Life

“Be deaf, therefore, whenever anyone speaks to you apart from Jesus Christ, who was of the family of David, who was the son of Mary; who really was born, who both ate and drank; who really was persecuted under Pontius Pilate, who really was crucified and died while those in heaven and on earth and under the earth looked on; who, moreover, really was raised from the dead when his Father raised him up—his Father, that is—in the same way will likewise also raise us up in Christ Jesus who believe in him, apart from whom we have no true life” (To the Trallians, 9).

Hunger and Thirst for Christ and His Meal

“I take no pleasure in corruptible food or the pleasures of this life. I want the bread of God, which is the flesh of Christ who is of the seed of David; and for drink I want his blood, which is incorruptible love” (To the Romans, 7).

“Take care, therefore, to participate in one Eucharist (for there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup which leads to unity through his blood; there is one altar, just as there is one bishop, together with the presbytery and the deacons, my fellow servants), in order that whatever you do, you do in accordance with God” (To the Philadelphians, 4).

(All quotes taken from The Apostolic Fathers, Second Edition, translated by J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer, Baker, 1989.)

St. John Chrysostom--Preacher with Gilded Mouth

Lutheran Service Book commemorates St. John Chrysostom on 27 January, but other calendars commemorate the great preacher today, 13 September. So, in the same spirit of striving for ecumenical concord that the Augsburg Confession displays (see AC, Preface, 10), we commemorate John, the golden-mouthed preacher ("Chrysostom" is Greek for "golden mouth"), with a sample of his preaching. (And you can be sure that we'll also commemorate him on 27 January! :-)

Here Chrysostom proclaims our Lord's Resurrection by tying it back to His Incarnation:

How can I recount for you these hidden realities or proclaim what goes beyond any word or concept? How can I lay open before you the mystery of the Lord’s resurrection, the saving sign of his cross and of his three days’ death? For each and every event that happened to our Savior is an outward sign of the mystery of our redemption. Just as Christ was born from his mother’s inviolate virginal womb, so too he rose again from the closed tomb. As he, the only-begotten Son of God was made the firstborn of his mother, so, by his resurrection, he became the firstborn from the dead. His birth did not break the seal of his mother’s virginal integrity. Nor did his rising from the dead break the seals on the sepulcher. And so, just as I cannot fully express his birth in words, neither can I wholly encompass his going forth from the tomb (Homily on Holy Saturday 10; cited in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, John 11-21, p. 336-337).

I sure wish that I could have heard such a preacher with such a golden-mouth way of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen. What a blessing he must have been to his hearers!