Homily for Sexagesima

Sunday's homily, based on Luke 8:4-15, focused on Jesus' own interpretation of the Parable of the Sower, specifically the "interpretive key" that "The seed is the Word of God" (Luke 8:11). What happens when we take that "Word of God" in light of John 1:14 - "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us"? The Father plants His Seed - His only-begotten, beloved Son - in the field of the world, and His saving words and works are heard and received in different ways (the four soils). Thus, Sunday's homily was titled "The Divine Seed." Click here to download the audio file and listen.

Johann Gerhard gave a marvelous way of introducing this take on "The Divine Seed":

In His Creation, God the Lord not only made the earth fruitful with various and multitudinous seeds, but He also sowed a noble Seed into the heart of the first two people--it was, of course, the image of God. From this Seed within their hearts there was supposed to sprout up and grow forth the noble fruits of divine knowledge, as well as perfect love for, and heartfelt praise to, God. Indeed, the fruit of eternal life was to grow forth from this Seed in their heart. (Postilla, 199)

Homily for Last Sunday of the Church Year

November brought a reprieve from the pulpit on Sunday mornings, though only to concentrate on preaching several funerals as well as the normal Wednesday routine of Morning Prayer (school chapel) and evening Divine Service.

However, on 21 November it was great to get back in the pulpit for the Last Sunday of the Church Year (a.k.a. Trinity 27) and preach on the Gospel from Matthew 25:1-13. It's amazing how many different angles a preacher can take on a single text over the years. This time it was a joy to focus on the theme, "Don't Miss Out!"

Just click on this link to download the audio file and then listen to the homily.

Robert Farrar Capon's treatment of the parable of the wise and foolish virgins was certainly compelling throughout. But this quote, which also concluded the homily, was hard to ignore:

“’Watch therefore,’ Jesus says at the end of the parable, ‘for you know neither the day nor the hour.’ When all is said and done—when we have scared ourselves silly with the now-or-never urgency of faith and the once-and-always finality of judgment—we need to take a deep breath and let it out with a laugh. Because what we are watching for is a party. And that party is not just down the street making up its mind when to come to us. It is already hiding in our basement, banging on our steam pipes, and laughing its way up our cellar stairs. The unknown day and hour of its finally bursting into the kitchen and roistering its way through the whole house is not dreadful; it is all part of the divine lark of grace. God is not our mother-in-law, coming to see whether her wedding-present china has been chipped. He is a funny Old Uncle with a salami under one arm and a bottle of wine under the other. We do indeed need to watch for him; but only because it would be such a pity to miss all the fun.” (Robert Farrar Capon, Parables of Judgment, 166)

Circle of Spiritual Care for Pastors

Here's a great quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the circle of things that make up spiritual care for pastors:

The life of the pastor completes itself in reading, meditation, prayer, and struggle. The means is the word of Scripture with which everything begins and to which everything returns. We read Scripture in order that our hearts may be moved. It will lead us into prayer for the church, for brothers and sisters in the faith, for our work, and for our own soul. Prayer leads us into the world in which we must keep the faith. Where Scripture, prayer, and keeping the faith exist, temptation will always find its way in. Temptation is the sign that our hearing, prayer, and faith have touched down in reality. There is no escape from temptation except by giving ourselves to renewed reading and meditation. So the circle is complete. We will not often be permitted to see the fruits of our labors; but through the joy of community with brothers and sisters who offer us spiritual care, we become certain of the proclamation and the ministry.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Spiritual Care (Fortress Press, 1985), p. 69.

You Cannot Multiply Wealth by Dividing It

Here's a quote given the comments of my previous post on Socialism. After reading and pondering it just a bit, I think it's worth more than just comment status and so I'm putting "up front" in its own post. Thanks to DRG for posting it.

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom.  What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.  When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation.  You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

The late Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931 - 2005

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)

And speaking of Vocation...

...here's a great quote from Dorothy Sayers, compliments of the Doxology website (www.doxology.us), on just what makes a "good work."

The Church’s approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and is orderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables.

Church by all means, and decent forms of amusement, certainly—but what use is all that if in the very center of his life and occupation he is insulting God with bad carpentry? No crooked table legs or ill-fitting drawers ever, I dare swear, came out of the carpenter’s shop at Nazareth. Nor, if they did, could anyone believe that they were made by the same hand that made Heaven and earth. No piety in the worker will compensate for work that is not true to itself; for any work that is untrue to its own technique is a living lie.

Yet in her own buildings, in Her own ecclesiastical art and music, in her hymns and prayers, in Her sermons and in Her little books of devotion, the Church will tolerate, or permit a pious intention to excuse work so ugly, so pretentious, so tawdry and twaddling, so insincere and insipid, so bad as to shock and horrify any decent draftsman.

And why? Simply because She has lost all sense of the fact that the living and eternal truth is expressed in work only so far as that work is true in itself, to itself, to the standards of its own technique. She has forgotten that the secular vocation is sacred. Forgotten that a building must be good architecture before it can be a good church; that a painting must be well painted before it can be a good sacred picture; that work must be good work before it can call itself God’s work.

Let the Church remember this: that every maker and worker is called to serve God in his profession or trade—not outside it. The Apostles complained rightly when they said it was not meet they should leave the word of God and serve tables; their vocation was to preach the word. But the person whose vocation it is to prepare the meals beautifully might with equal justice protest: It is not meet for us to leave the service of our tables to preach the word.

The official Church wastes time and energy, and, moreover, commits sacrilege, in demanding that secular workers should neglect their proper vocation in order to do Christian work—by which She means ecclesiastical work. The only Christian work is good work well done. Let the Church see to it that workers are Christian people and do their work well, as to God: then all the work will be Christian work, whether it is church embroidery, or sewage farming.

…If work is to find its right place in the world, it is the duty of the Church to see to it that the work serves God, and that the worker serves the work. (Dorothy Sayers, "Why Work?" Creed or Chaos? [Harcourt, Brace: 1949/1974 ed. Sophia Institute Press], pp. 77-78)

Helpful Quote on Preaching?

The following quote comes from Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) in his Yale Lectures on Preaching of 1872. It was today's Reading IV in For All the Saints, vol. IV, p. 173. Just out of curiosity, I'd like to know what you, the readers of this blog--especially the clergy though also welcoming responses and insights from lay readers--think about the content of this quote:

There are, also, some specialties in this true Christian love and sympathy that bear upon the pulpit. In the first place, the whole cast of your thought and the subjects with which you deal are to bear the impress of this good news,--that God is Love, and that God so loved the world, that, having died for it, he now sits at the right hand of God, a risen Saviour, to live for it.

If you preach justice alone, you will murder the gospel. If you preach conscientiously, as it is called; if you sympathize with law and with righteousness as interpreted by the narrow rule of a straight line; if you preach, especially, with a sense of vindictive retribution,--I do not care who the criminals are,--you will fail of your whole duty. There must be justice, and punitive justice, of course; but, after all, "Vengeance is mine," saith the Lord. It is a quality so dangerous to handle that only Infinite Love is safe in administering it. No mortal man should dare to touch it, for it is a terrible instrument. You are to administer all the great truths, the most rugged truths, in the spirit of the truest sympathy, benevolence, and love.

So, what say you? Is the content of this quote helpful for the preaching task or not? If so, how so? If not, why not? How does it help, or not, the preacher diagnose our sin and then give us the healing medicine of Jesus the Physician of the soul? Pros? Cons? What's helpful? What's not?

Now it's your turn. Comments, questions, or "smart remarks"?

Pastors as Sheepdogs

I first encountered the following quote from Evelyn Underhill when I attended "DOXOLOGY: The Gathering" back in January 2009. What a tremendous picture it is for refocusing a pastor's attention on his proper vocation! I've also used it to teach my congregation what a pastor's job really is, and the most recent attempt at this came in this past Sunday's homily for "Good Shepherd Sunday," a.k.a. the Third Sunday of Easter. For all of my brothers in office, may these words and this image help you, as it has helped me, to "transcend mere dogginess."

Now those sheep-dogs that afternoon gave me a much better address on the way in which pastoral work among souls should be done that I shall be able to give you. They were helping the shepherd to deal with a lot of very active sheep and lambs, to persuade them into the right pastures, to keep them from rushing down the wrong paths. And how did the successful dog do it? Not by barking, fuss, ostentatious authority, any kind of busy behaviour. The best dog that I saw never barked once; and he spent an astonishing amount of his time sitting perfectly still, looking at the shepherd. The communion of spirit between them was perfect. They worked as a unit. Neither of them seemed anxious or in a hurry. Neither was committed to a rigid plan; they were always content to wait. That dog was the docile and faithful agent of another mind. He used his whole intelligence and initiative, but always in obedience to his master’s directive will; and was ever prompt at self-effacement. The little mountain sheep he had to deal with were amazingly tiresome, as expert in doubling and twisting and going the wrong way as any naughty little boy. The dog went steadily on with it; and his tail never ceased to wag.

What did that mean? It meant that his relation to the shepherd was the centre of his life; and because of that, he enjoyed doing his job with the sheep, he did not bother about the trouble, nor get discouraged with the apparent results. The dog had transcended mere dogginess. His actions were dictated by something right beyond himself. He was the agent of the shepherd, working for a scheme which was not his own and the whole of which he could not grasp; and it was just that which was the source of the delightedness, the eagerness, and also the discipline with which he worked. But he would not have kept that peculiar and intimate relation unless he had sat down and looked at the shepherd a great deal.

[Evelyn Underhill, “The Teacher’s Vocation,” Collected Papers of Evelyn Underhill, Lucy Menzies, ed. (New York: Longmans, Green and Co., Inc., 1946), pp. 182-183.]

Comforted by the Resurrection

“Faced with Death We Are Comforted by the Resurrection”

by Ephraim the Syrian

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

Let not your hearts be sad, ye 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, ye 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, ye 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. (A Spiritual Psalter, #149, p. 231-32)

A Gem from Luther

Here's a gem of a quote from Luther, which was part of a larger reading at this morning's Holy Thursday Morning Prayer:

"Therefore, the Sacrament is given as a daily pasture an sustenance, that faith may refresh and strengthen itself so that it will not fall back in such a battle, but become ever stronger and stronger. The new life must be guided so that it continually increases and progresses. But it must suffer much opposition. For the devil is such a furious enemy. When he sees that we oppose him and attack the old man, and that he cannot topple us over by force, he prowls and moves about on all sides. He tries every trick and does not stop until he finally wears us out, so that we either renounce our faith or throw up our hands and put up our feet, becoming indifferent or impatient. Now to this purpose the comfort of the Sacrament is given when the heart feels that the burden is becoming too heavy, so that it may gain here new power and refreshment." (Large Catechism, V:24-27; Concordia, pp. 434-35)

Holy Thursday - Quote of the Day

"What shall I do with my sins? I do not know. My mind cannot imagine what I might use to wash and cleanse myself. If I took it into my head to wash with water, then the seas and the rivers would not be sufficient to cleanse me. Yet if I wash myself with the blood and water that flowed from the rib of the Son of God, then will I be cleansed, and compassion will be showered upon me." (Ephraim the Syrian, A Spiritual Psalter, #140, p. 221)

Fatherly Wisdom-"Lenten Instruction"

Reading IV from For All the Saints (volume I, page 803) gives us this nice little snippet from Caesarius of Arles simply called "Lenten instruction":

Let it not be enough for you that you hear the divine lessons in church, but read them yourselves at home or look for others to read them and willingly listen to them when they do. Although through the mercy of God you frequently and devoutly hear the divine lessons throughout the entire year, still during these days we ought to rest from the winds and the sea of this world by taking refuge, as it were, in the haven of Lent and in the quiet of silence to receive the divine lessons in the receptacle of our heart.

Devoting ourselves to God out of love for eternal life, during these days let us with all solicitude strive to repair and compose in the little ship of our soul whatever throughout the year has been broken, or destroyed, or damaged, or ruined by many storms, that is, by the waves of sins.

During these holy days of Lent if you cannot cut off the occupations of this world, at least strive to curtail them in part. By fleeing from this world, through an expedient loss and a most glorious gain you may take away from earthly occupations a few hours in which you can devote yourselves to God. For this world either laughs at us or is laughed at by us.

Fatherly Wisdom-Preacher: Preach with deeds before words

St. Gregory the Great concludes Book III of his Book of Pastoral Rule with this exhortation to preachers:

"But in the midst of these considerations, we are brought back in the zeal of charity to what we have already said, which is that every preacher should be 'heard' more by his deeds than by his words. Moreover, the footprint fo his good living should be that path that others follow rather than the sound of his voice showing them where to go. For that cock, which the Lord used in his manner of speaking to symbolize a good preacher, when it prepares to crow, first shakes his wings and by striking himself with them makes himself more alert. For it is certainly necessary that those who offer the words of holy preaching must first be vigilant in the zeal of good works. Otherwise, if they are sluggish in performing them, they will have only words to entice others. Let them first perform lofty deeds and then convince others to live well. Let them carefully examine whether there is anything about themselves that is sluggish and, if so, correct it with strict observance. Only then should they tell others how to live their lives. Let them first correct their own sins through tears and then denounce what is punishable in others. But before they offer any words of exhortation, they should proclaim by their actions everything that they wish to say." (The Book of Pastoral Rule, III:40)

Fatherly Wisdom-Repentance

Let us fix our eyes on the blood of Christ and understand how precious it is to his Father, because, being poured out for our salvation, it won for the whole world the grace of repentance. Let us review all the generations in turn, and learn that from generation to generation the Master has given an opportunity for repentance to those who desire to turn to him. Noah preached repentance, and those who obeyed were saved. Jonah preached destruction to the people of Nineveh; but they, repenting of their sins, made atonement to God by their prayers and received salvation, even though they were alienated from God.

The ministers of the grace of God spoke about repentance through the Holy Spirit; indeed, the Master of the universe himself spoke about repentance with an oath: 'For as I live, says the Lord, I do not desire the death of the sinner, so much as his repentance.' [Cf. Ezek. 33:11]" (The Letter of the Romans to the Corinthians, 7-8; quoted from Lightfoot and Harmer, The Apostolic Fathers, Second Edition, p. 32)

Need for Repentance

Yesterday I had the privilege of being interviewed on Issues, Etc. on the topic of Ash Wednesday and Lent. We discussed all kinds of Ash Wednesday matters, from ashes being applied in the shape of a cross to figuring the date of Easter and the counting of 40 days excluding Sundays. At the end of the interview we talked briefly - far too briefly, I'm afraid - on the matter of why we need repentance. Some might say, "Why do we need repentance? That's such a downer. We should be happy and joyful and upbeat."

As soon as it's available on the Issues, Etc. website, I plan to embed the interview here so that you can hear my response in full. Essentially, I said that we need repentance now because we are sinners who are trapped in our sin and death. We need God's help; we need His work of freeing us from sin and death. And if we are looking for "joy" and "happiness" and "upbeatness" in life, we will be sorely disappointed. You see, this life is not all cheer and roses. Our sin and death and the many fruits thereof constantly plague us and haunt us.

Besides all that, Lent teaches us that the journey of the Christian life is best lived in the footsteps of Christ. That is, He humbled Himself. He endured suffering, shame, rejection, and death. Only then did He enter the glory of the resurrection. We too walk the same path. Now we live in the time of humility, repentance, and confessing our sins. Then, by God's pure and boundless grace, we will enter the joys of life with Him in eternity, in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Lent teaches us that we can indeed wait for the pure joy, the true happiness, and, yes, the genuine "upbeatness" of eternity with out loving Triune God.

With that final thought from yesterday's interview still in mind, though, I was delighted to come across this quote from St. Gregory the Great in his Book of Pastoral Rule. Why do we need repentance, especially as we embark on another season of Lent with one of its main themes being repentance? While not using the specific vocable "repentance," St. Gregory surely describes repentance and its purpose as he says:

"God does not enjoy our torments. Instead, he heals the diseases of our sins with medicinal antidotes so that we who have departed from him through the pleasures of sin might return to him by the tears of bitterness, and we who have fallen by losing ourselves in sin may rise by controlling in ourselves even that which is lawful. For the heart that is flooded by irrational delights must be cleansed with beneficial sorrow, and the wounds caused by pride can only be cured by the subjugation of the humble life." (The Book of Pastoral Rule, III, 30)

Oops!

Well, it's only fitting that on this Ash Wednesday I must eat some (more) crow, that is, in addition to the usual reminder of returning to dust as ashes were placed on my head. About what? About a Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote that I posted last August. For some reason I thought that the quote about Christ building His Church came from Life Together - at least that's what I thought at some point when I retrieved the quote from somewhere and saved it in the "Quotes" folder on my hard drive, whenever I happened to do that.

A while back I went skimming through Life Together, searching for the page number - you know, finally to make my quote file complete and accurate. But, alas, I couldn't find the quote. At the time I thought that I just didn't skim carefully enough. So I put it on the "To Do Later/Whenever" list. And wouldn't you know it, Pr. Landskroener emailed and asked for the exact source of the quote, since he had had the same problem with his optical skimming scanners.

Well, I was wrong. (What do you expect from a sinner?) I'm man enough to admit it. (No, I won't wander off into that little joke about a man being out in the woods all alone, speaking, and still being wrong. :-) Here's the correct source, or at least what I can glean from "googling" the quote. (I guess one can "google" just about anything these days.)

That great quote from Bonhoeffer is not from Life Together, but from a sermon on Matthew 16:13-18 titled "Peter and the Church Struggle (Church election sermon, Berlin), July 23, 1933." Evidently, it shows up originally in a book titled No Rusty Sword, but I found it here, in a book called A Testament to Freedom: The Essential Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (just scroll to pp. 215-216 if the link doesn't take you straight there).

In case you don't want to wade through the scanned pages at Google Book Search, here's the quote again, this time with corrected source info. It's always a good reminder of our true life, purpose, and mission in the Church.

“It is not we who build. [Christ] builds the church. No man builds the church but Christ alone. Whoever is minded to build the church is surely well on the way to destroying it; for he will build a temple to idols without wishing or knowing it. We must confess—He builds. We must proclaim—He builds. We must pray to Him—that He may build.

“We do not know His plan. We cannot see whether His is building or pulling down. It may be that the times which by human standards are times of collapse are for Him the great times of construction. It may be that the times which from a human point of view are great times for the church are times when it is pulled down.

“It is a great comfort which Christ gives to His Church: you confess, preach, bear witness to Me and I alone will build where it pleases Me. Do not meddle in what is My province. Do what is given to you to do well and you have done enough. But do it well. Pay no heed to views and opinions. Don’t ask for judgments. Don’t always be calculating what will happen. Don’t always be on the lookout for another refuge! Church, stay a church! But church, confess, confess, confess! Christ alone is your Lord; from His grace alone can you live as you are. Christ builds” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Peter and the Church Struggle (Church election sermon, Berlin), July 23, 1933," quoted in A Testament to Freedom, pp. 215-216).

Tomorrow I'll have to come back and read the whole sermon. Perhaps there are some other gems for citing (yes, with the correct source reference given).

Ash Wednesday Meditation 3

Fasting and Mercy

Fasting bears no fruit unless it is watered by mercy. Fasting dries up when mercy dries up. Mercy is to fasting as rain is to the earth. However much you may cultivate your heart, clear the soil of your nature, root out vices, sow virtues. If you do not release the springs of mercy, your fasting will bear no fruit.

When you fast, if your mercy is thin your harvest will be thin; when you fast, what you pour out in mercy overflows into your barn. Therefore, do not lose by saving, but gather in by scattering. Give to the poor, and you give to yourself. You will not be allowed to keep what you have refused to give to others. (Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 43; quoted from Wright, Readings for the Daily Office from the Early Church, p. 121-122)

Ash Wednesday Meditation 2

On the Lenten Disciplines

There are three things by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy, and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other.

Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others you open God’s ears to yourself.

When you fast, see the fasting of others. If you want to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself what you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.

Let this be the pattern for all when they practice mercy: show mercy to others in the same way, with the same generosity, with the same promptness, as you want others to show mercy to you.

Therefore, let prayer, mercy and fasting be one single plea to God on our behalf, one speech in our defense, a threefold united prayer in our favor. (Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 43; quoted from Wright, Readings for the Daily Office from the Early Church, p. 121-122)

Ash Wednesday Meditation

This passage from St. Gregory the Great's The Book of Pastoral Rule is addressed specifically to those who have experienced sins of the flesh, but also applies to all sinners in general. It also serves as a great meditation for this Ash Wednesday.

God Calls the Sinner

For indeed, this merciful calling for us to return after our sin is well expressed through the prophet when to a man who had turned [from God] it is said: ‘Your eyes will be your teacher and your ears will hear the words of the one behind you encouraging you.’ [Is. 30.20-21] For the Lord did, indeed, admonish the human race to its face when it was created in paradise, given free will, and told how it should act. But humanity turned its back on the face of God when through pride it spurned his commands. Even then, God did not desert the prideful race, for he gave humanity a law for the purpose of recalling mortality. Therefore, ‘standing behind our back, he advised us,’ for even though we are contemptible, he recalled us to the recuperation of his grace. Therefore, what we can say generally about all, it is necessary to speak of individually. For everyone, as if standing before God, hears the words of his admonition when the precepts of his will are made known to us just before we sin. For to stand before his face is not the same thing as to despise him through sin. But when one abandons the good of innocence and freely chooses iniquity, it is as though he turns his back on the face of God. But behold, even after one turns his back, God follows and advises in that even after sin, he invites the sinner to return. He calls him to return; his is not mindful of the transgression but expands the bosom of mercy to the one who returns. And so, we ‘hear the words of the one behind us encouraging us’ if, after our sins, we at least return to the Lord, who welcomes us. (St. Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule, III, 28)

Fatherly Wisdom-Preacher, Heal Thyself

Gregory the Great gives this advice to preachers who rightly understand God's Word but do not speak it with humility:

"For indeed, he is a poor and unskilled physician who attempts to heal others but is not able to diagnose his own wounds. Therefore, those who do not speak the words of God with humility must be advised that when they apply medicine to the sick, they must first inspect the poison of their own infection, or else by attempting to heal others, they kill themselves. They ought to be advised that they take care so that their manner of speaking is consistent with the excellence of what is being said, and what they say with words is also preached by their actions. And let them hear what is written: 'If anyone speaks, let him speak as the words of God' [1 Pet. 4:11]" (Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule, part III, chapter 24.)