Category: Catholic

Advice From Saint Ignatius I exhort you to continue your course in the grace in which you are clothed, and to exhort all to be saved. Justify your office by paying attention to the bodily and spiritual concerns of all; concentrate on unity, since there is nothing better than that. Be the same support to all as the Lord is to you. Be loving and patient with everyone, as you already are.

Devote your time in unceasing prayer. Ask for greater understanding than you have. Be vigilant with unsleeping spirit. Speak to each individual just as God would and bear the sickness of all like a perfect champion of Christ. Where there is greater toil there is great benefit.

If you love good disciples, you do yourself no favor; rather try to use gentleness to subdue the more troublesome. Not every wound is healed with the same kind of medicinal plaster. To bring spasm to an end you most use liniment.

Be intelligent like the serpent in all things and eternally innocent like the dove. The reason why you have a physical and a spiritual nature is so that you may have a softening effect on what is visible to you; but you must beg for the invisible to be revealed to you, so that you lack nothing and possess every gift in abundance.

As sailors require winds and the storm-tossed require harbors, the time requires you to attain God. Be vigilant, like a champion of God. The prize is immortality and eternal life in which you also believe. In all things I and my bonds, which you loved, are a substitute for you.

Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Saint Ignatius was the Patriarch of Antioch in early 2nd century and was martyred in Rome.

Advice From Saint Ignatius Courtesy of Holy Myrrh-Bearers Church

Catch Hold of Christ’s Humility — What does Jesus say himself, after all to the weak and infirm so that they may recover that kind of sight and to some extent at least attain to or brush against the Word through which all things were made?

“Come to me, all you who toil and are over-burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart.”

What is the Master, the Son of God, the Wisdom of God through whom all things were made addressing to us?

He is calling the human race and saying, “Come to me all you toil, and learn of me.”

You were thinking, no doubt, that the Wisdom of God was going to say “Leanr how I made the heavens and the stars, also since in me all things, even before they were made, had been numbered how in virtue of their unchangeable ideas even the hairs of your head have been numbered.” Is that the sort of thing you were thinking He would say? No but first this: “that I am meek and humble of heart.”

This is hat you have got to get hold of, brothers and sisters, and it’s certainly little enough. We are striving for great things; let us lay hold of little things, and we shall be great. Do you wish to lay hold of the loftiness of God? First catch hold of God’s lowliness. Deign to be lowly and humble on the same account, yours, not His own. So catch hold of Christ’s humility, learn to be humble, don’t be proud.

St. Augustine of Hippo

Courtesy of Holy Myrrh-Bearers Church

Following The Risen Lord In All Things — Christ has redeemed us by giving Himself as our ransom; He is the price paid for every soul and by redeeming us from death and giving us immortality He has made us His own. So now that we belong to the Lord we must follow His will in all things, not living for ourselves anymore but only for Him who has purchased us with His life. We are no longer autonomous but belong to the One who has bought us, and we must be ruled by His will. As long as death had power over us we were ruled by sin, but now that we belong to the Lord of life we must give our allegiance to our new Master. Sin must never again make us disobey Him, for that would bring us once more under the domination of the evil one and of death.

We feel bound to Christ when we know that He is, as Paul tells us, both victim and priest, that He was actually offered for us as our paschal sacrifice, and that He Himself was the priest who made this offering to God. He gave Himself up, says Paul, as a sacrifice to us. Those who realize that Christ gave Himself up and became our Passover will in their turn offer themselves to God as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable. They will become spiritual oblations. Refusing to conform to the standards of the world, they will change their whole outlook so as to know the will of God, what is good, pleasing to Him and best in every way.

While our minds remain subject to our lower nature we are at enmity with God and refuse to obey His law. Meditation on Christ’s offering of His own blood in atonement for our sins should teach us to imitate Him and to make atonement for our own sins, mortifying our bodies in order to purify our souls.

St. Gregory of Nyssa

Courtesy of Holy Myrrh-Bearers Church

Our Exodus Our Passover — We have been released not from physical but from spiritual bondage. We have been freed not from earthly labor but from worldly defilement. Our flight has not been from Egyptian taskmasters, nor from a godless and savage tyrant who is nonetheless a human being like ourselves, but from wicked and unclean demons who urge us to sin and from their commander, who is Satan himself.

We have passed through the sea of this present life with its pleasures and idle distractions. We have eaten spiritual manna, the bread from heaven which gives life to the world. We have drunk water from the rock, for we have found our delight in the spiritual streams flowing from Christ. By the grace of holy baptism we have crossed the Jordan and entered the land promised to the saints and worthy of them, the land the Savior himself spoke of when He said: “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the land.”

Therefore, in honor of a a new happening, a new hymn should be sung by the Lord’s kingdom, that is, by those subject to Him and governed by Him. A hymn should be sung, worthy praise should be given, not only in the land of the Jews but from one end of the earth to the other; in other words, everywhere in the world. Of old, God was known in Judaea and His name was great only in Israel, but now that we have been called by Christ to the knowledge of the truth and His glory fills all heaven and earth, fulfilling the prophecy of Psalmist: “The whole earth shall be full of his glory.

Saint Cyril of Alexandria

Courtesy of Holy Myrrh-Bearers Church

The Appearance Of The Risen Christ — Christ the Resurrector will appear in the heights with glory. He will bring the dead to life and raise those in the graves. The children of Adam, who were made of earth, will all arise together and give praise to the Resurrector of the dead.

Let not your hears be sad, you mortals. The Lord’s day shall come and He will awaken and gladden us who have reposed. Those who have kept the law shall be roused before the Lord and the angels shall rejoice in the day of resurrection.

Let not your souls be sorrowful, you who were redeemed by the cross and called into the kingdom. The Lord’s day shall; come He will give voice to the deceased and the dead will arise and give Him praise.

Let us glorify and worship Jesus, the Word of God, who according to His love, came to save us by His cross and is coming again to resurrect Adam’s children in the great day when His majesty shall shine forth.

Grieve not, you mortals, over your corruption. Christ the King shall shine forth from on high. He who is omnipotent shall beckon and thus raise the dead from their graves, and clothe them with glory in his kingdom. If death has reigned and laid waste to our nature because Adam sinned and violated the commandment, then shall we not be justified and saved all the more by the sufferings of Christ who has vanquished death and vindicated our nature?

Our Lord has granted the deceased hope and consolation, for He Himself rose from the grave, vanquished death, promised resurrection and life, and bestowed great blessings on Adam and all his children.

Praise and glory to the Father who created us, to the Son who saved us by His cross, and to the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to the all-praised and incomprehensible Trinity who raises the dead and clothes their bodies with glory.

Saint Ephrem the Syrian

Courtesy of Holy Myrrh-Bearers Church of Swarthmore.

The Appearance Of The Risen Christ

Hailing The Way, The Truth And The Life — All the deceased will arise at the sound of the trumpet and sing praise to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Resurrector of their bodies. O Father who created Adam from dust, O Son who by your cross delivered Adam’s race from ruin, resurrect me and set me at your right hand, that I might glorify your name!

You do I worship, O Christ our Savior. You are the Resurrector and Savior of all the departed who were baptized in your name and confessed your cross and your death. Blessed is Christ who promised life and resurrection to Adam’s children in the day of His coming. We too shall arise and exalt him along with the saints who have been pleasing to him. Praise to you! By your Resurrection didn’t you grant all the mortal race the hope of life and resurrection? And we offer you praise, for you are the Resurrector of all flesh.

You mortals, exalt and praise Him who by his death emptied the dominion of death and promised all the mortal race life and resurrection. May the soul that has sought refuge in your cross and inherited eternal incorruptible treasure praise and exalt you together with the spirits that number her among your ranks.

Fitting it is to worship the Father who sent us His Only-Begotten Son, who saved our race from death and Satan, and sits at the right hand of His Father entreating his compassion on behalf of all of us.

Saint Ephrem the Syrian

Saint Ephrem, who lived in the 4th century, was one of the first to introduce song into the Church’s public worship as a means of instruction for the faithful.

Courtesy of Holy Myrrh-Bearers Church of Swarthmore.

Hailing The Way

Whoever Wishes To Be Great — Blessed is he who, dwelling, amidst many people, does not turn towards the many, but directs his whole heart to God. Blessed is he who purchases Christ with all his belongings and has, as his only possession, the cross, which he raises on high. Blessed is he who administering his legal possessions extends God’s hand to those who are in need.

Blessed is he who, having authority over the people, by holy and great sacrifices brings Christ to earthly folk Blessed is the one who being a child of the flock, a most perfect nursling, keeps the place of the heavenly Christ.

Blessed is he who, by his pure mind’s forceful movements, beholds the brilliance of the heavenly lights. Blessed is he who honors the Lord by much-toiling hands: and, for many people, this the law of life. All these things fill up the heavenly receptacles in which are stored the fruit of our souls, while every individual virtue leads to a different place. For many are the mansiions pertaining to different lives.

Blessed is he, whom the might Spirit has shown to be poor in passions, whoever leads a life of repentance; who can never get his fill of celestial food; who, by kindness, becomes inheritor of great things; who, by bowels of mercy, draws down God’s great compassion, being a friend of peace and pure in heart; who for the sake of the renowned Christ, has endured many sufferings, and will find great honor. Keep to the way of these people, whichever you prefer.

St. Gregory the Theologian

Courtesy of Holy Myrrh-Bearers Church of Swarthmore.

Whoever Wishes To Be Great

Bede On The Healing Of The Deaf Mute — The deaf-mute, of whose marvelous cure by our Lord we have heard, represents those members of the human race who merit being freed by divine grace from the error brought on by the devil’s deceit. Man became deaf, unable to hear the word of life after, puffed up as he was against God, he listened to the serpent’s deadly words; he was made mute and unable to declare the praises of his Maker from the time when he presumed to have a conversation with his seducer.

Rightly did God close man’s ears from hearing the praises of his Creator along with the angels– whose ears which the unsuspected enemy by his speech had opened to hearing denunciation of this same Creator.

Rightly did God close man’s mouth from proclaiming the praises of his Creator along the angels — that mouth which the proud deceiver had filled with his lies about the forbidden food, in order, as the devil said to improve upon the work of the same Creator.

And alas, the unfortunate rebellion of the human race which sprouted in a corrupt manner at the root, began to spread in a much more corrupt way in shoots from the branches, so that when our Lord dame in the flesh, with the exception of a few of the faithful from among the Jews, almost the entire world, now deaf and mute, was wandering away from recognition and confusion of the truth.

But where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more. Our Lord came to the Sea of Galilee where He knew that there was a disabled person whom He would heal. He came by his benevolent grace to the proud, disordered and inconstant hearts of the nations, since He knew that among them were some who would be receptive to His grace.

St. Bede The Venerable

Courtesy of Holy Myrrh-Bearers Church of Swarthmore.

Sabbath Renewal Saint Gregory Palamas — Another reason why the Sabbath day was blessed is that He who formed this world in six days foresaw that man would turn towards evil and would, as a result, go back to the ground, descend to Hades, and be imprisoned there; and this whole world would grow old and useless beause of man, but would be renewed by God becoming man.

This renewal was effected when God incarnate descended into Hades through death and declared there on the Sabbath the recall of souls. It was because He foresaw that this would happen on the sabbath that He rightly deemed it the only day worthy to be blessed.

However, although this work was secretly made ready on the seventh day, the Sabbath, everything was clearly brought to light and accomplished when the body had been summoned to immortality through the Lord’s Resurrection on the eighth day.

This is why we call it the Lord’s Day.

As Friday, the day of preparation, stands in relation tot he Sabbath, so is the Sabbath in comparison with Sunday, which is obviously superior to it.

As perfection and reality surpass beginning, pattern, and shadow, so is Sunday more excellent and honorable, because on it the exceedingly blessed work was finished and on it we await the General Resurrection of all the perfect entry of the saints into the divine rest and dissolution of the world into its elements.

Saint Gregory Palamas

Courtesy of Holy Myrrh-Bearers Church of Swarthmore.

Saint Gregory was an archbishop of Thessaloniki in the 14th century. He may be best known today for Hesychasm in which peace is sought through uninterrupted Jesus prayer, which is a major plot device in J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey.

On The Holy Images — In former times God, who is without form or body, could never be depicted. But now when God is seen int he flesh conversing with men, I make an image of the God whom I see. I do not worship matter. I worship the Creator of matter who became matter for my sake, who willed to take His abode in matter; who worked out my salvation through matter.

Never will I cease honoring the matter which wrought my salvation. I honor it, but not as God. How could God be born out of things which have no existence in themselves? God’s body is God becuase it is joined to His person by a union which shall never pass away. The divine nature remains the same; the flesh created in time is quickened by a reason endowed soul. Because of this, I salute all remaining matter wiht reverence, because God has filled it with His grace and power.

Through it my salvation has come to me. Was not the thrice-happy and thrice blessed wood of the Cross matter? What of the life bearing rock, the holy and life-giving tomb, the fountain of our resurrection, was it not matter? Is not the ink in the most holy Gospel-book matter? From it we receive the bread of life.

Are not gold and silver matter? From them we make crosses, patens, chalices.

And over and above all these things is not the Body and Blood of our Lord matter?

Either do away with the honor and veneration these things deserve, or accept the tradition of the Church and the veneration of images.

St. John of Damascus

St. John wrote this during the height of Byzantine iconoclasm — the destruction of icons or images — which occurred during the 8th century. This was soon after Muslims captured what we call the Mideast, where John lived, from the Byzantine Empire. John got along well with the Muslims albeit not so much with Church leaders in Constantinople, or the Byzantine emperor who forged documents with the intent to get him killed. You can read about it here.

Courtesy of Holy Myrrh-Bearers Church of Swarthmore.

On The Holy Images