I promise I'm not stalling on the autobiographical posts...I just wanted to post this since it was fresh on my mind and heart. The Ancient Christian Devotional, which has an Old Testament reading, a Psalm, a New Testament reading, and a Gospel reading for each week along with reflections from the Church Fathers on the passages, brought me to the following thoughts this week:
A prayer by Augustine (Proper 28):
'O Christ, who knows our sorrows: comfort our brethren who are lonely and heavy with griefs. Give courage to those who are assailed by vehement temptations; give strength to them who have no might, and when they are tried, grant them the victory. Remember the sick and afflicted, especially such as are dear to us whom we name in our hearts...and if so it seems good to you, give health again, in body and soul, for your tender mercies' sake. [Amen.]' (emphasis mine).
Some thoughts by John Chrysostom the devotional relates to 1 Thessalonians 5.1-11:
'We are not masters of our end. Let us be masters of virtue. Our Master Christ is loving' (The Second Homily Concerning the Power of Demons 2).
And long before Rich Mullins...even long before Francis of Assissi (12th-13th century), lived this great saint (c. 347-407), who, so eloquent with words ('Chrysostom' literally means 'golden-mouth'), put it this way: 'After all, nothing is such an attraction to the way of truth as an upright life - in other words, people pay less attention to what we say than to what we do' (Homilies on Genesis 8.4-5).
Pax!
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