A seemingly small act commended by our Christ

Almsgiving above all else requires money, but even this shines with a brighter luster when the alms are given from our poverty. The widow who paid in the two mites was poorer than any human, but she outdid them all.

 

Make Your Spouse Beautiful

A Meditation for Married Men from St. John Chrysostom:

 

Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord.  From these words of Paul you sense how open-hearted should be your wife’s subjection.  But now listen to what Paul requires of you.  Follow the same example, Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church.  You see how much obedience is asked of you.  Now hear how much love is required. 

You want your wife to obey you as the Church obeys Christ?  Then you  must care for her as much as Christ cares for the Church.  Should it be necessary to die for her, to be cut into a thousand pieces, to bear any sort of suffering, you should not say no; and if you have indeed suffered like that, you still have done nothing compared with what Christ has done.  In point of fact, you would be doing these things for one to whom you are already united, while he has done them for one who opposed him and hated him, despised him, spat on him, rejected. him.  With all the tenderness of his soul he prevailed upon her to kneel at his feet without insulting her, without humiliating her, without making her afraid. 

You, too, must behave in the same way with your wife.  Even if you see that she despises you, even if she rejects and humiliates you, you can bring her back to you if you take trouble over her, if you care for her, if you are fond of her, if you love her. 

 

Nothing is stronger than these bonds, particularly between husband and wife.  By resorting to intimidation you might be able to keep a domestic servant attached to you—but not even him, for probably the servant will leave you and escape.  The companion of your life, the mother of your children, the basis of all your joy, ought not to be tied to you by threats and fear, rather by love and the warmth of emotion.  What sort of union would that be in which the wife is afraid of her husband?  And what pleasure could her husband find in staying with her as if she were a servant? 

Whatever kind of woman you have chosen, you cannot have chosen anyone like the spouse Christ has chosen in marrying the Church.  And if she is different from you, it is not so different as the Church is from Christ.  Even so, he has not hated her, or loathed her for her terrible deformity.  You want to know the extent of her deformity?  Then listen to Paul, You were one time darkness. (Ephesians 5:8)  Do you see how obscure she was?  What is more obscure than darkness? 

See too how brazen faced she was.  We were passing our days in malice and iniquity.  (Titus 3:3) and how unclean, We were foolish and disobedient.  What I mean to say is, she was a fool and a blasphemer, and yet, despite that, he sacrificed himself for that deformed spouse as if she had been beautiful, most deserving of love, marvelous.  Full of admiration, Paul exclaims, One will hardly die for a righteous man, yet Christ died for us while we were still sinners.  (Romans 5:7-8) 

 

After taking a spouse like that, he made her beautiful and he washed her.  He did not shrink even from that.  He did it that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present her to himself in splendour.  With water he washed her uncleanliness away, water accompanied with a word.  What word was it, In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  He not only adorned her, he made her resplendent without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

We too in our spouse seek this beauty.  It could be that we are in a position to create this beauty ourselves.  Do not ask of your wife what is not in her power.  Note carefully that the Church received everything from the Lord.  It was he who made her resplendent without spot or wrinkle. 

On the benefit of the night hours

 

If you are willing to reflect on the meaning of night, you will also discover the infinite providence of the Creator. 

 

Night restores the tired body and relaxes limbs which are tense through the efforts of the day.  By means of rest, night helps them to regain their rhythm. 

 

And not only that.  Night sets you free from sorrow and relieves your worries.  It often reduces fever by making sleep a cure and by changing itself into a doctor’s assistant. 

 

That is the importance of night.  It is so great that often if you cannot benefit from your rest, you will not have the strength to face a new day. 

 

At night, as in a time of truce, the exhausted soul and the worn out body regain their energy and are prepared to take up their daily activity again.  On the other hand, if we prolong the day into night by staying awake to work or even to do nothing, we are condemning ourselves to being useless because gradually our strength is wasted.  

Bold in Christ

 

Sin makes man a coward; but a life in the Truth of Christ makes him bold. 

Riches & generosity go hand in hand

 

The rich man is not one who has much, but one who gives much.  For what he gives away remains his forever. 

 

 

Why not admit sin?

Are you a sinner? Do not become discouraged, and come to Church to put forward repentance. Have you sinned? Then tell God, ‘I have sinned.’ What manner of toil is this, what prescribed course of life, what affliction? What manner of difficulty is it to make one statement, ‘I have sinned’?

Perhaps if you do not call yourself a sinner, you do not have the devil as an accuser? Anticipate this and snatch the honor away from him, because it is his purpose to accuse. Therefore, why do you not prevent him, and why do you not tell your sin and wipe it out, since you know that you have such an accuser who cannot remain silent? Have you sinned? Come to Church. Tell God, ‘I have sinned.’ I do not demand anything else of you than this.

Holy Scripture states, ‘Be the first one to tell of your transgressions, so you may be justified.’ Admit the sin to annul it. This requires neither labor nor a circuit of words, nor monetary expenditure, nor anything else whatsoever such as these. Say one word, think carefully about the sin and say, ‘I have sinned.'” 

On distress of soul

 

When a soul is distressed, it looks for comfort everywhere.  The afflicted soul doesn’t want to be concerned about many things.  It only wants peace and stillness.  It is content to be done with the present things, even if nothing else follows.  So then, don’t sink in your afflictions, but give thanks in everything so that you may profit from them and please God. 

 



On prayer & almsgiving

Prayer together with almsgiving can furnish us with countless good things from above.  They can quench the fire of sin in our souls and can give us great freedom.  Cornelius had recourse to these two virtues and sent his prayers up to heaven.  Because of these two virtues he heard the angel say, “Thy prayers and thy alms have gone up and been remembered in the sight of God,” Acts 10:4. 

Chrysostom on Enmity

St. John Chrysostom on Enmity

Here are presented excerpts from two homilies of St. John Chrysostom dealing with the passion of enmity. The first homily is on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, and the second concerns Onesimus, the runaway slave of Philemon.  

“Be angry but do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no place to the devil.” (Eph. 4:26-7)

So then, to be at war with one another is "to give place to the devil". While we all have need to be in close array, and to make our stand against him we have relaxed our enmity against him, and are giving a signal to turn against each other; for never has the devil such place as in our enmities. Numberless are the evils thereby. Stones in a dam, as long as they are closely fitted together and leave no opening, stand firm. However, if there is but a single needle's passage through them, or a crevice no broader than a hair, this destroys and ruins all: so is it with the devil. As long as we are closely set and compacted together, he cannot introduce one of his wiles, but when he causes us to relax a little he rushes in like a torrent. In every case he needs only a beginning, and this is the thing which it is difficult to accomplish; but once it is accomplished, he makes room for himself on all sides. For now he opens the ear to slanders, and they who speak lies are the more trusted since they have enmity which acts as an advocate, rather than truth which judges justly. And just as where friendship is, even those evils which are true appear false; so where there is enmity, even the false appear true. There is a different mind, a different manner of judgment which does not hear fairly, but hears instead with great bias and partiality.

As in a balance, if lead is cast into the scale, it will drag down the whole, so is it also here; but the weight of enmity is far heavier than that of lead. Therefore let us, I beseech you, do all that we can to extinguish our enmities before the going down of the sun. For if you fail to master it on the very first day, both on the following, and oftentimes even for a year, you will be protracting it; and the enmity will thenceforward augment itself, and will no longer require anything to aid it. For by causing us to suspect that words spoken in one sense were meant in another, and the same with gestures, and indeed in everything, it infuriates and exasperates us. It makes us more distempered than madmen, not enduring either to utter a name, or even to hear it, but saying everything in revilement and abuse.

How then are we to allay this passion? How shall we extinguish this flame? By reflecting on our own sins and on how much we have to answer for to God. By considering that we are wreaking vengeance, not on an enemy, but on ourselves. By reflecting that we are delighting the devil, and that we are strengthening our enemy - our real enemy - and that for him we are doing wrong to our own members.

Do you desire to be revengeful and be at enmity? Be at enmity; but be at enmity with the devil, and not with your own member. It is for this purpose that God has armed us with anger: not that we should thrust the sword against our own bodies, but that we should baptize the whole blade in the devil's breast. There bury the sword up to the hilt, yes, if you so desire, hilt and all, and never draw out again, but add yet another sword and another. And this actually comes to pass when we are merciful to those of our own spiritual family and peaceably disposed one towards another. Thus let us say to ourselves: let money perish, let glory and reputation perish; mine own member is dearer to me than they all....

In regard to his fellow men Paul never considered this—that it was the individual who had sinned and needed advocacy; but rather that it was a human being - the living thing most precious to God, and for whose sake the Father had not spared even His Only-Begotten Son. Don't tell me that this or that man is a runaway slave, or a robber or thief, or laden with countless faults. Nor that he is a beggar and abject, or of low value and worthy of no account, but consider that for his sake the Christ died and this suffices for you as a ground for all solicitude.

Consider what sort of person he must be, whom Christ valued at so high a price so as not to have spared even His own blood. If a king had chosen to sacrifice himself on anyone's behalf, would we seek out another demonstration of that person being someone great and of deep interest to the king? I think not, for the King’s death would be sufficient to show his love for the one for whom he had died. But as it is not man, nor angel, not archangel, but the very Lord of the heavens Himself, the Only-Begotten Son of God Himself, Who -having clothed Himself with flesh - freely gave Himself on our behalf. Shall we not do everything and take every trouble, so that the men that have been thus valued may enjoy every solicitude at our hands? Therefore let us not despise our brethren or look down upon them for any cause. But let us cast off such a shameful disposition and bring ourselves to compassion in order to persuade ourselves to care for our neighbors; and even more than this, let us ever look to the Master's death, which He voluntarily suffered for our sake.

Amen!

SOURCE:  Panagia: "Quick to Hear" | June 8, 2015 at 7:14 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/p2f0aX-6m

On the greatness of gentleness

 

Do you see what a great thing gentleness is?  More than any vehemence, it pricks our hearts, inflicts a keener wound.  For in the case of bodies which have become callous, the man that strikes upon them does not affect the sense so powerfully, but if he first mollify them and make them tender, then he pierces them effectually.  But that which softens is not wrath, not vehement accusation, not personal abuse; it is gentleness. 

 



The wonder of the Holy Eucharist

 

What the Lord did not endure on the Cross (the breaking of His legs), He submits to now in His sacrifice for His love for you. He permits Himself to be broken into pieces that all may be filled. What is in the chalice is the same as that which flowed from Christ’s side. What is the Bread? Christ’s Body. Not only ought we to see the Lord, we ought to take Him and unite ourselves with Him in the closest union. 

On astrology

The belief in stars is a foolish disbelief against God’s omnipotence and creativity, for God is subjected to the star’s power. 

On voluntary poverty

Let no man then accuse poverty as being the cause of innumerable evils, nor let him contradict Christ, who declared it to be the perfection of virtue, saying, ‘If you will be perfect.’ [Matthew 19:21] For this He both uttered in His words, and showed by His acts, and taught by His disciples. Let us therefore follow after poverty, it is the greatest good to the sober-minded.

Perhaps some of those who hear me, avoid it as a thing of ill omen. I do not doubt it. For this disease is great among most men, and such is the tyranny of wealth, that they cannot even as far as words endure the renunciation of it, but avoid it as of ill omen. Far be this from the Christian’s soul: for nothing is richer than he who chooses poverty of his own accord, and with a ready mind. 

 

A home's adornment

For what is a disgrace to a house? I pray thee. It hath no couch of ivory, nor silver vessels, but all of earthenware and wood. Nay, this is the greatest glory and distinction to a house. For to be indifferent about worldly things, often occasions all a man’s leisure to be spent in the care of his soul.

When therefore thou seest great care about outward things, then be ashamed at the great unseemliness. For the houses of them that are rich most of all want seemliness. For when thou seest tables covered with hangings, and couches inlaid with silver, much as in the theatre, much as in the display of the stage, what can be equal to this unseemliness? For what kind of house is most like the stage, and the things on the stage? The rich man’s or the poor man’s? Is it not quite plain that it is the rich man’s? This therefore is full of unseemliness.

What kind of house is most like Paul’s, or Abraham’s? It is quite evident that it is the poor man’s. This therefore is most adorned, and to be approved. And that thou mayest learn that this is, above all, a house’s adorning, enter into the house of Zacchaeus, and learn, when Christ was on the point of entering therein, how Zacchaeus adorned it. For he did not run to his neighbors begging curtains, and seats, and chairs made of ivory, neither did he bring forth from his closets Laconian hangings; but he adorned it with an adorning suitable to Christ. What was this? “The half of my goods I will give,” he saith, “to the poor; and whomsoever I have robbed, I will restore fourfold” (Luke xix. 8).

On this wise let us too adorn our houses, that Christ may enter in unto us also. These are the fair curtains, these are wrought in Heaven, they are woven there. Where these are, there is also the King of Heaven. But if thou adorn it in another way, thou art inviting the devil and his company.

He came also into the house of the publican Matthew. What then did this man also do? He first adorned himself by his readiness, and by his leaving all, and following Christ.

So also Cornelius adorned his house with prayers and alms; wherefore even unto this day it shines above the very palace. For the vile state of a house is not in vessels lying in disorder, nor in an untidy bed, nor in walls covered with smoke, but in the wickedness of them that dwell therein. And Christ showeth it, for into such a house, if the inhabitant be virtuous, He is not ashamed to enter; but into that other, though it have a golden roof, He will never enter. So that while this one is more gorgeous than the palace, receiving the Lord of all, that with its golden roof and columns is like filthy drains and sewers, for it contains the vessels of the devil.  

On misuse of wealth

I am often reproached for continually attacking the rich.  Yes, because the rich are continually attacking the poor.  But those I attack are not the rich as such, only those who misuse their wealth.  I point out constantly that those I accuse are not the rich but the rapacious. Wealth is one thing, covetousness another.  Learn to distinguish. 

How much does God love us?

 

God loves us more than a father, mother, friend, or any else could love, and even more than we are able to love ourselves. 

 



On the naming of children

 

So let the name of the saints enter our homes through the naming of our children, to train not only the child but the father, when he reflects that he is the father of John or Elijah or James; for, if the name be given with forethought to pay honor to those that have departed, and we grasp at our kinship with the righteous rather than with our forebears, this too will greatly help us and our children. Do not because it is a small thing regard it as small; its purpose is to succour us. 

 

When correct faith does not benefit

Correct faith does not benefit in anything when life is corrupted. 

What is the best treatment?

 

Nothing is more forceful and effective than treatment which is gentle and kind. 

 

The manner of gift giving

The gift is doubled by the manner of giving.  St. John Chrysostom