Manifestation

October 16th 

…the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up… [and] God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. 

Exodus 3:2,14 (NIV)

…Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

Acts 7:55-56 (NIV)

 

The infinite, inaccessible, uncreated God, through His infinite and inconceivable kindness, embodied Himself, and, if I may say so, diminished Himself from His inaccessible glory, to make it possible for Him to be united with His visible creatures, such as the souls of saints and angels, that they might be enabled to partake of the life of God-head.

In the same way, the infinite and inconceivable God in His kindness diminished Himself, and put on this body, and gathered Himself in from the inaccessible glory. How much more cannot He, who is as He will and what He will, through His unspeakable kindness and inconceivable goodness change and diminish and assimilate Himself, embodying Himself according to their capacity in holy and worthy faithful souls, that He, the invisible, might be seen by them, He, the impalpable, be felt… that they might enjoy in real experience the goodness of the light?

All things are easy to Him, and He transforms Himself into any shape He chooses for the benefit of faithful souls. For the Lord embodies Himself even in meat and drink, as it is written in the gospel, ‘He that eateth this bread shall live for ever‘ to give the soul rest unutterable, and fill it with spiritual cheer ; for He says, ‘I am the bread of life.’ He embodies Himself in the drink of a spring of heaven, as He says, ‘Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, it shall be in him a well of water springing up into eternal life,’ and ‘We have all, it says, been made to drink the same drink.‘

To each of the holy fathers He appeared in the manner that pleased Him and was best for them, in one way to Abraham, in another to Isaac, another to Jacob, another to Noe, to Daniel, to David, to Solomon, Esaias, and each of the holy prophets. To each of the saints He appeared as He pleased, to give them rest and salvation and lead them to the knowledge of God. Everything is easy to Him that He chooses. As He pleases, He diminishes Himself by some embodiment, and transforms Himself to come under the eyes of those who love Him, manifesting Himself to those who are worthy in an inaccessible glory of light, according to His great and unspeakable love, and by His own power.

from (Pseudo-)Macarius’ Homily IV

What it means to minister

June 23rd

“For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth.”

Malachi 2:7 (NIV)

To the elders among you… be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

1 Peter 5:2-4 (NIV)

…when those who are rich in the Holy Ghost, really having the heavenly wealth and the fellowship of the Spirit in themselves, speak to any the word of truth, it is out of their own wealth and out of their own treasure, which they possess within themselves, that they speak, and out of this that they entertain the souls of the hearers of the spiritual discourse; and they have no fear lest they should run short, because they possess within
themselves a heavenly treasure of goodness, upon which they draw to entertain those whom they are spiritually feasting.

But one who is poor, and does not possess of the wealth of Christ, and has no spiritual wealth in his soul, yielding a stream of all goodness, both of words and of deeds, and of divine ideas, and of mysteries unspeakable, even if he wishes to speak a word of truth and to entertain some of his hearers, yet not possessing in himself the word of God in power and reality, but only repeating from memory, and borrowing words from various parts of the bible, or what he has heard from spiritual men, and relating and teaching this, he seems to entertain others, and others enjoy what he tells them, but after he has gone through it, each word goes back to the source from which it was taken, and he himself remains once more naked and poor, having no treasure of the Spirit for his own, upon which he draws to entertain others, not being himself first entertained, nor rejoicing in the Spirit.

Let us then beseech God, and believe in love and much hope, that He may give us the heavenly grace of the gift of the Spirit, that that Spirit Himself may govern us also, and guide us into all the will of God, and refresh us in all the variety of His refreshing…

from (Pseudo-)Macarius’ Homily XVIII

Satisfaction

March 29th

As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

Psalm 17:15 (NIV)

When a man has renounced this world, and has rid himself of possessions for the Lord’s sake, and has crucified himself, and made himself a stranger and poor and needy, but does not find in himself divine comfort instead of the comfort of the world, and does not receive the solace of heavenly grace and a divine repletion in the soul; this man is beyond all men miserable; this man has been deprived of things here, and failed to enjoy divine gifts.

For this is the reason why a man is made a stranger to the world, [so that he lives, mentally, in] another world and age. As the Lord said, ‘He that believeth in Me, hath passed from death unto life.‘ Because there is another death besides the death that is seen, and another life besides the life that is seen.

If, then, you are going to withdraw from all the affairs of this life, and if you persevere in your prayer, shall you not esteem this labour rather to be full of rest, and shall you not consider the little affliction and pain to be charged with joy and recreation?

When such good things are set before us, and such promises have been promised, and such has been the good pleasure of the Lord towards us, let us not neglect, O my children, nor delay to press to the life eternal, and to give up ourselves entirely to pleasing the Lord.

from (Pseudo-)Macarius’ Spiritual Homilies (no. 49)

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Psalm 17 is very good, I’d even go so far as to say it’s a classic 😉

…and if this sounds familiar, that’s because I already touched on the 1 Corinthians 15 theme of ‘if we only have hope in this life, we are of all men most to be pitied’ thing before.

Somewhat related: Jim Gilbert’s Think About His Love. Because no week is complete without a traumatizing flashback to ’90s worship music. Or was it ’80s? I don’t know.