“Say to [your wife], ‘Our time here is brief and fleeting, but if we are pleasing to God, we can exchange this life for the Kingdom to come. Then we will be perfectly one, both with Christ and each other, and our pleasure will know no bounds. I value your love above all things, and nothing would be so bitter or painful to me as our being at odds with each other. Even if I lose everything, any affliction is tolerable if you will be true to me.’”
- from Homily XX on Ephesians
Once again, St. John captures the spiritual core of the marriage relationship, way better than you might ever expect from a celibate bishop who lived 16 centuries ago.
And he even manages to address a ‘concern’ of mine, that I blogged about, once upon a time. . .
And besides all that, the concept of ‘even if I lose everything’ is much more, uh, current than I might wish it were. . .
Showing posts with label St. John Chrysostom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St. John Chrysostom. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Christ Is Risen!
An Easter homily of St. John Chrysostom -
Let all pious men and all lovers of God rejoice in the splendor of this feast; let the wise servants blissfully enter into the joy of their Lord; let those who have borne the burden of Lent now receive their pay and those who have toiled since the first hour, let them now receive their due reward; let any who came after the third hour be grateful to join in the feast, and those who may have come after the sixth, let them not be afraid of being too late, for the Lord is gracious and He receives the last even as the first.
He gives rest to him who comes on the 11th hour as well as to him who has toiled since the first. Yes, He has pity on the last and He serves the first; He rewards the one and is generous to the other; He repays the deed and praises the effort.
Come, all of you - enter into the joy of your Lord! You the first and you the last, receive alike your reward; you rich and you poor, dance together; you sober and you weaklings, celebrate the day; you who have kept the fast and you who have not, rejoice today!
The table is richly loaded; enjoy its royal banquet. The calf is a fatted one; let no one go away hungry. All of you enjoy the banquet of faith; all of you receive the riches of His goodness. Let no one grieve over his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed; let no one weep over his sins, for pardon has shone from the grave; let no one fear death, for the death of our Savior has set us free. He has destroyed it by enduring it, He has despoiled Hades by going down into its kingdom. He has vexed it, even while allowing it to taste of His flesh.
When Isaiah foresaw this, he cried out, "O Hades, you have been vexed by encountering Him in the nether world." Hades is vexed because it is frustrated; it is vexed because it has been mocked; it is vexed because it has been destroyed; it is vexed because it has been reduced to naught; it is vexed because it is now captive. It seized a body and lo! It discovered God. It seized earth and behold! It encountered heaven. It seized the visible and was overcome by the invisible. O death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory? Christ is risen and you are abolished; Christ is risen and life is freed; Christ is risen and the tomb is emptied of the dead. For Christ, being risen from the dead, has become the Leader and Reviver of those who had fallen asleep. To Him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
Let all pious men and all lovers of God rejoice in the splendor of this feast; let the wise servants blissfully enter into the joy of their Lord; let those who have borne the burden of Lent now receive their pay and those who have toiled since the first hour, let them now receive their due reward; let any who came after the third hour be grateful to join in the feast, and those who may have come after the sixth, let them not be afraid of being too late, for the Lord is gracious and He receives the last even as the first.
He gives rest to him who comes on the 11th hour as well as to him who has toiled since the first. Yes, He has pity on the last and He serves the first; He rewards the one and is generous to the other; He repays the deed and praises the effort.
Come, all of you - enter into the joy of your Lord! You the first and you the last, receive alike your reward; you rich and you poor, dance together; you sober and you weaklings, celebrate the day; you who have kept the fast and you who have not, rejoice today!
The table is richly loaded; enjoy its royal banquet. The calf is a fatted one; let no one go away hungry. All of you enjoy the banquet of faith; all of you receive the riches of His goodness. Let no one grieve over his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed; let no one weep over his sins, for pardon has shone from the grave; let no one fear death, for the death of our Savior has set us free. He has destroyed it by enduring it, He has despoiled Hades by going down into its kingdom. He has vexed it, even while allowing it to taste of His flesh.
When Isaiah foresaw this, he cried out, "O Hades, you have been vexed by encountering Him in the nether world." Hades is vexed because it is frustrated; it is vexed because it has been mocked; it is vexed because it has been destroyed; it is vexed because it has been reduced to naught; it is vexed because it is now captive. It seized a body and lo! It discovered God. It seized earth and behold! It encountered heaven. It seized the visible and was overcome by the invisible. O death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory? Christ is risen and you are abolished; Christ is risen and life is freed; Christ is risen and the tomb is emptied of the dead. For Christ, being risen from the dead, has become the Leader and Reviver of those who had fallen asleep. To Him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
Friday, March 27, 2009
16 Centuries Ahead of His Time?
Molly and I have this quote from St. John Chrysostom framed, and sitting on our dresser:
“As if she were gold receiving purest gold, the woman receives the man’s seed with rich pleasure, and within her it is nourished, cherished, and refined. It is mingled with her own substance and she then returns it as a child! The child is a bridge connecting father to mother, so the three become one flesh. . . And here the bridge is formed from the substance of each!”
- from Homily XII on Colossians
The early Church fathers have a reputation, not entirely undeserved, for being a little uptight when it comes to sexual matters (Origen and St. Augustine, for two large examples). But God bless St. John. Here he describes sex in terms any married couple could appreciate – ‘the woman receives the man’s seed with rich pleasure. . .’ Yeah, that fits with our experience. And his description of the child as the ‘one flesh’ of husband and wife has always resonated with me. He carries strong echoes (or, more truly, foreshadowings) of the Theology of the Body, 16 centuries before the fact.
So, thank God for St. John Chrysostom. And I would heartily recommend to any of my blog-friends the rich little book of his homilies On Marriage and Family Life.
“As if she were gold receiving purest gold, the woman receives the man’s seed with rich pleasure, and within her it is nourished, cherished, and refined. It is mingled with her own substance and she then returns it as a child! The child is a bridge connecting father to mother, so the three become one flesh. . . And here the bridge is formed from the substance of each!”
- from Homily XII on Colossians
The early Church fathers have a reputation, not entirely undeserved, for being a little uptight when it comes to sexual matters (Origen and St. Augustine, for two large examples). But God bless St. John. Here he describes sex in terms any married couple could appreciate – ‘the woman receives the man’s seed with rich pleasure. . .’ Yeah, that fits with our experience. And his description of the child as the ‘one flesh’ of husband and wife has always resonated with me. He carries strong echoes (or, more truly, foreshadowings) of the Theology of the Body, 16 centuries before the fact.
So, thank God for St. John Chrysostom. And I would heartily recommend to any of my blog-friends the rich little book of his homilies On Marriage and Family Life.
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