Избранные места из священной истории Нового Завета

St. Virgin Mary visits Elizabeth The Blessed and Immaculate Virgin Mary, soon after being conceived by the Holy Spirit, carrying in her pure womb the Son of God made man, arose and went with haste to the mountainous country, to the city of Judah. And she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elisaveta heard Mariino’s greeting; then the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And where does it come from for me that the Mother of my Lord came to me? For when the voice of your greeting reached my ears, then the baby leaped joyfully in my womb. And blessed is she who believed; because what was spoken to her by the Lord will be fulfilled. Then Mary, expressing before her relative the feelings of humility and gratitude that filled Her most holy heart, said: “My soul magnifies the Lord; And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; That He has respected the lowliness of His servant; for from now on all nations will call me blessed, That the Mighty One has done greatness for me; and holy is His name; And His mercy throughout all generations of those who fear Him. He showed the strength of the arm. He has squandered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones, and has exalted the humble, and has sent away the rich with nothing. He has taken Israel His servant, as he said to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed forever.” Edifying Reflections The example of our Lord, as well as the example of the Holy Virgin and the Apostles, proves to us, says one most enlightened theologian, that there is no state more perfect than that where external life is sanctified by internal life. Those who live in this way never lose sight of God in the midst of external activities; they always have food in heaven, like the Angel who accompanied Tobiah on earth. Mary, not vain of the high dignity to which she has been elevated, and despite the difficulties of the path, warns her relative Elizabeth and goes to see her out of sheer love. Oh, how much grace and blessings poured into the house of Zechariah when the Blessed Virgin entered it! If Abraham received so much grace by receiving three Angels in his home, if Jacob brought so many blessings to Laban, the pagan and idolater; if Lot was delivered from the flames of Sodom, giving shelter to two Angels for the night, if the Prophet Elijah filled the vessels of a poor widow with oil; if Elisha raised the son of a Somanite woman; finally, if the ark of the covenant, when Abeddar gave him shelter in his house, was for him a source of heavenly mercies; then how great and varied, therefore, were the mercies and blessings that filled the house of Zechariah when he received the Angel of the great council, the true Jacob, the Divine Prophet, the true ark of the covenant, our Savior, who was in the womb of His Divine Mother? Meanwhile, the miraculous grace associated with Mary’s visit gives us a glimpse of what we can expect from heaven at her intercession: the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of Elizabeth, teaches us how we should glorify and pray to Her. This holy wife calls the great Virgin blessed, not for anything else, but only for the gifts She received from God and for the Holy dispositions with which She received them, and does not lavish secular greetings, the subject of which are only transitory benefits and perishable earthly goods. “Blessed is she who believes!” Blessed also, exclaims Saint Ambrose, are all of you who hear and believe; for every soul that has living faith also conceives and gives birth spiritually to the Word of God, and in humility acknowledges His wonderful works. Mary, hearing the praises of her relative, descends into the depths of her insignificance, and attributing to God all the gifts of grace that abides in Her, she expresses her love, gratitude and humility with an amazing song, which the Church repeats daily at Matins. In this song, one can see the sublimity of feelings, thoughts and style, surpassing the writings of the ancient Prophets. The Holy Virgin praises God in it for His endless mercies and gives Him all the glory. In a rapture of joy, She worships her Savior, who was pleased to look upon Her humility. Although all nations should call Her blessed, She says that Her lot is one humiliation, and that the mystery that takes place in Her proves only the omnipotence and goodness of God, Who has never ceased and will never cease to patronize His people and is concerned about bringing them the possession of the great benefits promised to the faithful. We too sweat, following the example of the Most Rev. Virgin Mary, to sanctify our meetings and conversations, which serve for many Christians as a reason for so many sins; Let us, like Her, run away from all conversations that are alien to holiness, empty and useless. If our spirit needs rest, let us try as much as possible to ensure that our conversations serve to make us more virtuous or, at least, to increase our knowledge and means of doing good. Let us banish these childish things that humiliate and oppress the soul. Let's be modest: in society there is nothing more intolerable than these incessant talkers who cannot restrain themselves, often divulge things about which it would be much better to remain silent, express their thoughts without giving them time to come into proper order in their heads, and, in a word, have the talent to bore everyone, becoming funny themselves. How many mistakes and troubles we could get rid of if we had the happy habit of controlling ourselves and being careful in our words! Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ In those days, Caesar Augustus issued an order to take a census of all the lands subject to the Roman Empire. This census was the first during the reign of Quirinius in Syria. And everyone went to fit in, each to his own city. Joseph also went from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, called Bethlehem (because he was from the house and family of David), to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. While they were there, the time came to give birth to Her. And she gave birth to her firstborn and only begotten Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the hotel. In that country there were shepherds in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Suddenly an Angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were afraid with great fear. The angel said to them: Do not be afraid; I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people, for today a Savior has been born to you in the city of David, who is Christ the Lord. And here is a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly a large army of heaven appeared with the Angel, praising God and crying: glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. The shepherds, after the Angels had departed from them into heaven, said to each other: let's go to Bethlehem and see what happened there, which the Lord told us about. And they came hastily, and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in a manger. When they saw it, they told what had been told them about this Child. And all who heard were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary kept all these words, writing them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for everything that they had heard and seen, as they had been told. After the osmium of days had passed, when it was necessary to circumcise (the Child), they gave Him the name Jesus, which was called by the Angel before He was conceived in the womb.” The Roman Empire was never as vast and powerful as under Caesar Augustus. Since the largest and best part of the three then known countries of the world submitted to the power of the Romans, they called themselves rulers of the whole earth. Therefore, Augustus, wanting to know with accuracy the strength and income of the Empire, ordered a census to be taken of his subjects and imposed a tax on them, which was collected from everyone. To do this, everyone had to come to their homeland, enroll in the general lists and pay the prescribed amount for themselves. This sovereign probably had only vain and selfish views: but Divine Providence arranged it this way so that Joseph and Mary would be forced to come to Bethlehem, and the Messiah would be born in the city in which, according to the predictions of the Prophets, He was to be born. How far the thoughts of God are from the thoughts of men! Joseph and Mary did not find anyone from their tribe or from their relatives who would accept them into their home. The strong lands have magnificent palaces, the poorest artisan lives in a house; and the Lord and Ruler of the universe at His birth does not find any other refuge from the cold and harshness of the air except the den. From His very appearance into the world, the Divine Savior had to experience cruelty and contempt from people. And from the very beginning, God did not announce the birth of His Son to the rich, not smart people in Bethlehem: pride, stinginess and effeminacy would serve as a strong obstacle to going to worship the poor, suffering and humiliated. First of all, Jesus Christ was announced to the shepherds, poor, lowly people and accustomed to work: they were more capable than others to accept with simple and fiery faith the secrets of religion, which God is pleased to reveal to small people and hides from great ones. Glory to God and peace to people! These two words constitute the high meaning of all the mysteries in the redemption of the human race. All Divine perfections, power, wisdom, goodness, justice appear here in the clearest light. Jesus Christ is born to reconcile the world with His Father, giving God the glory that sin tried to steal from Him, is born to wage war against sin and defeat it, to bind the devil, to subdue the flesh to the spirit and to unite human wills among themselves and with the will of God; therefore, the Angels worthily and righteously sang this song of joy and happiness: Glory to God! Peace to the people! Glory to God, who avenges us with forgiveness! Peace to the people who obey the teachings and grace of the Savior. Let us learn from the shepherds not to neglect Divine suggestions; like them, let us encourage each other with edifying words and good deeds, faithfully corresponding to the action of grace. If sometimes in doing deeds of piety we do not find the consolations that we hoped to find; then this is because we did not perform them with zeal and readiness, the example of which the shepherds here set for us. Without dwelling on the powers of the Divine Name of Jesus, before Whom every knee bows, in heaven, on earth and under the earth, let us note, however, that, being the proper name of the Savior, it gives rise to an objection as to why Jesus Christ was not called Immanuel, as the Prophet Isaiah predicted. The enemies of religion, such as Jews, pagans, ancient heretics, reproached it for this imaginary contradiction, meanwhile, there is nothing easier to explain this. The name Emmanuel was predicted not as the proper name of Jesus Christ, but as a name signifying what Jesus Christ should be, and indeed, since He was at one time both God and man and dealt with people, He was truly Immanuel, that is, God with us. In a similar way, the same Isaiah said: “and His name is called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace, Father of the Age to Come” (Is. 9:6); This does not mean that each of these names should be His own name, but only shows that He will be everything that these names mean, and that each of them is appropriate to Him. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem and said, “Where is the newborn King of the Jews?” For we saw His star in the east, and we came to worship Him. When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem was with him. And having gathered all the high priests and scribes from the people, he asked them: where should Christ be born? They said to him: in Bethlehem of Judea; for the prophet wrote this: And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no way less than the chief cities of Judah; For out of you will come a leader who will shepherd My people Israel. Then Herod, secretly calling the magi, found out from them the time of the appearance of the star. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said: Go and inquire carefully about the child; and when you find Him, notify me so that I too can go and worship Him. Having listened to the King, they went: and behold, the star that they saw in the east walked before them; how she finally came and stopped over the place where the Child was. Seeing the star stop, they rejoiced with very great joy. They entered the house, saw the Child with His Mother Mary, and fell down and bowed to Him; and having opened their treasures, they presented Him with gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having received a command in a dream not to return to Herod, they set off to their country by a different route. They generally think, although without complete certainty, that the Magi about whom the Gospel narrates were people who rose above others in their power and in their knowledge: tradition, based, it seems, on the number of gifts they brought, believes that there were three of them; the quality of these gifts gave reason to think that the Magi came from Arabia. One can only make guesses about the properties of the star that appeared to them, about the country of the sky where they saw it, and how it directed their path. This is what they say about this with greater probability. It was not a true star, but a star-like meteor, with a brilliance much brighter than that of ordinary stars, because it was not darkened by the light of day. They saw a star over Judea: for how could it instill in them the idea of ​​the birth of the King of the Jews if they saw it over the country in which they themselves lived? And the prophecy that foreshadowed: “a star will shine from Jacob” (Num. 24:17), could it refer to a star that suddenly appeared over Arabia? Standing over Judea, this star, by its very position, served as their leader. Having reached Jerusalem, they stopped seeing her. If one can think that God commanded her to disappear from sight in order to test their faith, then one can also say that Providence did this so that the Jews would learn from the Magi about the birth of the Messiah, and the Magi from the Jews about the place where the Messiah was to be born and about the agreement of the prophecies with the wonderful sign that attracted them. We are called like the Magi: the lamp of faith shines before our eyes: may He guide our path to that spiritual Bethlehem, where we can worship our Savior in spirit and truth and offer Him ourselves as a gift. The Magi went as soon as they saw a star: such fidelity should be a model for believers throughout all centuries. “It’s easy,” says St. John Chrysostom on this occasion, “it’s easy to follow the movement of Grace when it costs nothing for nature, and to obey the inspiration of God when there is no obstacle from the world. The dignity of Christian faith and wisdom consists in giving up when necessary, even what you love with all tenderness, leaving your habits, breaking off your connections, depriving yourself of the benefits and pleasures of life and forcing yourself by force, without which it is impossible to achieve the Kingdom of God.” Let us also follow these blessed wanderers as courageously as they did. Let us leave those rich countries in which the world lives far from Jesus Christ; Let us hasten to the manger, no matter what the cost, in order to be worthy of seeing our Divine Master there. Let us not be afraid of the difficulties of the path: if the Magi had not decided to leave their homeland; then they would not know anything except the star, they would not have the unspeakable consolation of seeing the Sun of Truth and contemplating the Savior. So, let us take courage, leave the vanities of the world, let us go on the road, let us flow with joy to the home where the Divine Child lies. If people and the elements take up arms against our faith and begin to resist the fulfillment of such a holy duty, let us not allow pious zeal to grow cold in our souls. Only with courageous faith can one triumph over all obstacles. The Magi escaped the snares laid by Herod only after they had already enjoyed the contemplation of the Divine Child, and they had barely satisfied the movement of their hearts when peace reigned in it, and then it was no longer the radiance of a star, but the voice of an Angel that began to guide their path. So, let us flee from this world, where disorder reigns, where we can constantly be exposed to the empty charm of lies and deceit, and let us take refuge in the holy city, where everything is calm and where we feed on the bread of heaven. Whether you are a simple shepherd, you will be allowed to watch Jesus there. Will you be a king, adorned with purple and initiated into all the secrets of science, if you do not come there to honor the Divine Child, all the splendor of your dignity and all your knowledge will not save you. However, beware of having the slightest resemblance to the wicked Herod, who asked where to go to worship Him in a manger, with the secret intention of destroying Him; such are people, slaves of their love for wealth, honors and pleasures, raising within themselves a tyrant filled with envy of Jesus Christ, who is unable to unite with Christ. They are like all those who, while outwardly paying homage to Jesus Christ and offering prayer only with their lips, contradict the Christian faith with their deeds. Regarding the gifts brought by the Magi, let us accept the explanation taught by the Fathers of the Church, and which the Church approves: they bring gold to Jesus as to a king; they bring incense, honoring His Divinity, and myrrh, giving honor to His humanity. If you are rich, cast your gold at His feet: and to give to Jesus is to give into the hands of the poor. At the sight of these strangers who have come from afar to see Him in the cradle, you will be left without excuse, you who are afraid to take a step in order to approach the sick or unfortunate, suffering without help in need and sorrow. And when the days of the purification of Mary were fulfilled, according to the law of Moses; then they brought the Child Jesus to Jerusalem to present him before the Lord, as it is prescribed in the law of the Lord, that every male child who opens the womb should be dedicated to the Lord (Ex. 13:2); and to offer a sacrifice, according to what is said in the law of the Lord, two turtle doves or two chicks of pigeons. Then there was someone in Jerusalem named Simeon, a righteous and pious man, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. He was predicted by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he saw Christ the Lord. He came by the inspiration of the Spirit to the church: and when the parents brought the baby Jesus to perform the legal rite on Him; then he took Him in his arms and blessed God, and said: now Thou releasest Thy servant, O Master, according to Thy word, in peace; For mine eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared before all nations, a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel. Joseph and His Mother marveled at what was said about Him. And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, His Mother: This is set for the fall and for the rebellion of many in Israel, and for the subject of controversy, (even a sword may pierce your own soul), so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. There was also Anna the prophetess, daughter of Phanuel, from the tribe of Asher, who had reached a very old age, having lived with her husband for seven years from her virginity, a widow of eighty-four years old, who did not leave the church, serving God day and night with fasting and prayer. And she, at that time, came up, praised the Lord and spoke about Him to everyone who hoped for deliverance. There are circumstances in which, although the law does not oblige itself, one must nevertheless fulfill it exactly, partly in order not to tempt one’s neighbor, partly in order to give him edification, such was the behavior of Mary, especially in the case of bringing the divine child Jesus to the church. It should be noted here that there are two different laws: one obligated women to come to the church after a certain number of days after their birth for purification; another ordered that every firstborn male be offered to the Lord. These laws did not apply to Jesus or Mary. Jesus Christ, as God, was above all the law: but since He voluntarily subjected Himself to fulfilling the Law of Moses, then, as the firstborn, He could not help but fulfill It. The law of purification was intended to purify the impurity of women condemned by law and brought on by childbirth. Mary, having become a mother, did not cease to be a pure virgin, and therefore was not subject to this law; but Her perfect purity was a mystery that had yet to remain unknown. Therefore, She could not leave the common duty without appearing as if she were breaking the law, that is, without giving in to temptation; in this case, obedience to the law was for Her an obligation of love. When Jesus Christ was brought to the church, there were people from every class there: but He allowed Himself to be recognized only by Simeon and Anna because of the holy dispositions of the soul that He found in them. Of this multitude of faithful who attend our churches, how few feel the presence of Jesus Christ there and worship Him as they should! The Old Testament righteous lived with faith, hoping for the consolation of Israel, and looked at the time when the Messiah was to come, not in a low and carnal way, like the Jewish people in general, but in a spiritual way and worthy of the true children of Abraham, who constantly thought in spirit and heart about the everlasting city, whose artist and builder is God Himself (Heb. 11:10). Precious is the moment when St. Elder Simeon had the happiness of holding his God in his arms! And a Christian, at a holy meal, enjoys even greater grace. “By the grace,” says Origen, “which the wife of the Gospel received when she touched the hem of the robe of Jesus Christ, one can judge how great was the grace that Simeon received, holding Jesus Christ Himself in his arms and embracing Him with living faith! After he saw the Savior of all nations, we see that he, completely filled with the Spirit of God, no longer thinks about anything related to this life and is ready to die with indescribable joy. God, in His wisdom, determined to grant from now on even the pagan peoples the hope of salvation; a hope that He actually began to bring to fulfillment through the calling of the Magi, and which at first he hid from the Apostles only in order to fulfill the promises given to Israel and related primarily to the tribe of Abraham. The Jews were the first to be called, which is why Simeon says that Jesus Christ is the glory of the people of Israel, who saw His birth in the flesh from the line of the kings of Israel. But St. John says that the Divine Savior, having come to his own, was not recognized by them; and so, as a result of their ingratitude and unbelief, God's mercy rather illuminated the eyes of the pagans with the light of life, which at first illuminated the Jews. Joseph is called the father of Jesus Christ, partly because, as the betrothed of His holy Mother, he could be so called much more justly than those who in former times were called the fathers of the children adopted by them; partly because, in the general opinion of the people, he was truly revered as the father of Jesus, for the time had not yet come to publicly reveal the secret of the miraculous incarnation of the Son of God in the pure womb of the Holy Virgin. The Father and Mother of Jesus marveled at what was said about Him! But what human words could surprise this Woman, blessed above all women, to whom the Angel so completely revealed the whole secret of the incarnation of the Word? It must be thought that Mary did not suddenly learn all the consequences of this great secret. She knew that Her Divine Son would reign forever over the house of Jacob; but the Angel did not say what Simeon explained to Her: that Jesus would not only be the glory of Israel, but also the light of the Gentiles. The Angel also did not tell Her that this Divine Child lies at the mercy of the fall and rebellion of many and the subject of controversy among many people. Finally, the Angel did not tell Her what part She would take in His suffering. Jesus Christ only gradually reveals to us the secrets of a perfect life. Let us strive, like Mary, to be attentive to the slightest suggestions of Grace; this is the surest means of quickly achieving the fullness of active knowledge of Jesus Christ, Who is the pinnacle of holiness. When Joseph and Mary completed, according to the Law of the Lord, everything related to the presentation of Jesus in the church, they returned to Galilee, to their city of Nazareth. The child grew and became strengthened in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him. Seeing the Divine Child Jesus in the arms of Mary, accompanied by Joseph, the believer does not know what to be more amazed at, whether the greatness of God, which all nature proclaims to us every minute, day and night, or the humble state in which He deigned to be clothed, becoming human and becoming a participant in the weaknesses and infirmities of infants. Another wonderful phenomenon. The Holy Scriptures tell us nothing about the infancy of Jesus; and meanwhile, after centuries, what could be more interesting than the most detailed details of such a precious life? When the son of the sovereign is born, the entire court is in motion: they notice everything in him, remember his first words, examine his childhood movements and try to guess from them what they should hope for in the future for the state. Why is there complete silence about the first years of the One who was supposed to arrange the happiness of the entire universe? A worldly man sees here an impenetrable mystery; the man of God, the inner man, and he alone, can learn a great lesson from here. Jesus Christ was always a perfect man - not only in the first days of His life, but also when He was in the virgin womb of His Most Holy Mother. This truth is easy to understand if we separately consider in Jesus Christ His Divinity, soul and body. According to His Divinity, He was never a baby, although He was the Only Begotten Son of God His Father, therefore He never began to live: it is true that He has an origin, but has no beginning in time, because He is just as eternal as His Father. According to His soul, He truly began to exist from the moment of conception in the womb of the Virgin, His Mother. But the minute His soul was created, by a miracle of Divine omnipotence, a miracle in which He himself participated along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, it was as perfect as it is now; she was granted the full use of reason - she was filled with all the gifts of Grace, illuminated by the fullness of the light of the supernatural and natural, enriched with all the virtues, embraced by the most perfect love for God. So, Jesus Christ, even before His birth, was a perfect man according to the word of the Prophet Jeremiah: the wife will surround the husband. But in His body He really was a baby and was like other babies; This is where His wondrous love for us is visible. In fact, imagine how the eternal Word, powerful to create thousands of worlds out of the insignificance, united with this great soul, which alone had more intelligence and strength than all Angels and men, is also united with this small body, to which the Incarnate could in one instant give all the perfections revealed in Him over the years, and which, however, He accepted in all its weakness, because the Word, having become flesh, in order to take upon ourselves all the infirmities of our nature, we were pleased to wait for the slow and imperceptible growth characteristic of our nature. The Son of God allowed His body to grow insensitively, not giving His members more strength so that they could grow more quickly, nor His tongue more mobility so that He could speak more quickly, nor His feet more firmness for walking, nor His hands more strength so that they could act; He was like a simple baby, like everyone else. O God, how profound is the humility of Thy infinite wisdom, that Thou hast deigned to subject Thyself to the weaknesses and shortcomings of infancy! O Divine Word, to what extent have You condescended out of love for us! But was it right that Almighty God, who gives every living creature food, should Himself feed on the milk of His Mother? Was it necessary for this Most Blessed Mother to prepare children’s food for Him and force Him to eat it, so that She would console Him with various caresses, and, finally, take for Him all the other care that all children who do not yet have reason need in general? Did infinite wisdom need this? Or better yet, how could she accept these childish consolations, unnecessary for a person in more mature years? What an amazing sight! God the Child, God putting aside for a time the omnipotence of His Divinity and all the greatness of the soul in order to leave the physical nature in the same state in which all children are; God, submitting to all the needs of this so tender age. O Most Pure Mary! What glory to You! Oh! Without a doubt, the Blessed Virgin, who knew the dignity of this Divine Child, fulfilled all duties in relation to Him, like the best mother. How She shames, by Her example, those who forget the impulses of nature, or reckless mothers, who, often without any plausible reason, rush to transfer from themselves to others the care of breastfeeding and raising their children. Saint Joseph was honored with the glory of being Mary's assistant in that high ministry to nourish and preserve the true Son of God: with the sweat of his brow, with the labor of his hands, he contributed to this goal for several years. O great Saint! What a pleasure it was for your soul to give bread to the One who feeds and preserves this entire great universe with His providence. Happy are we, Christians, who are able in various ways to fulfill duties in relation to the Divine Infant Jesus, similar to those touching duties that Joseph and Mary were called to perform. Let us try, through fervently diligent communion of the Holy Mysteries, to be worthy of Jesus living and acting more and more in our hearts; Let us try to help by the good example of our lives to ensure that He dwells in the hearts of our brothers; Let us support, guide, and console His suffering, lost and lost members with pious alms, wise advice and words of peace: thus, truly, one can achieve that glory so that, like Joseph and Mary, one can be called the mother and guardian of the Savior. After the departure of the Magi, behold, the Angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and says: “Take the Child and His Mother and flee to Egypt, and be there until I tell you; for Herod will seek the Child in order to destroy Him.” Joseph got up, took the Child and His Mother at night and went to Egypt. And he was there until the death of Herod; that what was spoken of the Lord might be fulfilled through the Prophet, who says: Out of Egypt I called My Son. Let us now mention the vain, unfounded reproach that Celsus, and subsequently other distributors of wickedness, made to the Lord Jesus regarding His flight into Egypt: “What need was there for You to emigrate in infancy? Are you afraid to die? But should the fear of death penetrate the soul of God? Here an Angel descended from heaven commands You and Your neighbors to flee, to escape from the common danger; but couldn’t God have delivered You from it, when out of love for You He had already sent His Angels more than once?” Celsus speaks as a man who recognizes absolutely nothing divine in the body and soul of Jesus. But we believe that in Him there was both Divinity and humanity: He was God, who, as He Himself says, is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6); He was also a Man, as He Himself testifies in other words: “You seek to kill Me, the man who told you the truth, which I heard from God” (John 8:40). When the Son of God took on human flesh, is it strange that He acts like a man, that is, runs away from danger? “He could have chosen other means.” Who argues against this? But was it necessary to waste miracles when simple and natural methods were sufficient? Unusual and striking means did not always agree with His intention to show the world that this man visible to people is the Word of God, God's Power and Wisdom, Christ, the Son of God. (Or. Prot. Celsus book 1) “They are surprised,” says John Chrysostom (Demon 8. on the Gospel of Matthew), “that God did not save this Child from the wrath of Herod in another way, as soon as He commanded Him to flee with His Mother to Egypt. But with this seeming powerlessness, the Son of God begins to act in accordance with the divine arrangement of the mystery of His incarnation. For if He had always acted as God, in all the greatness of His power, then those who dared to imagine His incarnation as a fable would have even more boldly denied that He once took on our flesh. So, He flees not through the action of human fear, but through Divine Wisdom; not out of necessity, but out of choice. And the reason for fleeing to Egypt was the same mercy that later prompted Him to accept the cross and offer Himself on it as a cleansing sacrifice for our salvation.” Moreover, this order of Divine Providence regarding the Child Jesus is not only glorious for God, but also useful for man, who, through reflection on it, can find here consolation in troubles and reinforcement in the persecutions that always lie ahead of the Church, her servants and Saints. So St. Joseph, a righteous man, a faithful servant of God, does not oppose any human reasoning to the command that was given to him from above; he does not look at the dangers or difficulties of a long journey; he obeys the Lord and leaves all care for his guidance to Him. If we are surprised to see how Judea drives out Jesus Christ, then we will be no less amazed at how Egypt gives Him refuge from His persecutors. Moreover, let us remember that God predetermined the transformation of the future both in the sons of the Patriarchs, and in the life of Jesus Christ - the fate of the Church. Thus, the salvation of the pagans, called to faith as a result of the unbelief of the Jews, was clearly typified by this flight of the Savior, persecuted from Judea and hidden among the pagans. In order to somehow prepare the unfaithful for the grace of the Gospel, the Son of God left the domain of Herod, his persecutor, and chose the kingdom of the most superstitious pagans as his refuge. This explains the well-known fall of idols during the entry of the Divine Child into Egypt, according to the prophecy of Isaiah: “He will come to Egypt, and Egypt will be shaken at His presence” (Is. 19: 1). Let us also add to this that the abundant grace that illuminated Egypt during the times of St. Anthony, Pachomius, Hilarion and so many other hermits who lived the life of Angels there is the effect of the Divine blessing brought by Jesus when He came there to hide from Herod’s wrath. How long did Jesus stay in Egypt? Opinions on this vary quite a bit; it is enough for us to know that He remained there as long as the danger lasted. One of the precautions that mentors who wrote about the exploits of inner life and experienced spiritual fathers instill in true repentants is to avoid cases that have been or could be, in their opinion, harmful, places, persons, objects, pleasures that have aroused or may arouse sinful inclinations in them. This is not only simple advice, but an indispensable duty, without which neither a sinner can hope for correction, nor a righteous person can stand firm in goodness. The heart has not renounced sin as long as it still clings to cases that have given or could give rise to its fall; and if it is not up to him not to meet them, he at least has the power not to look for them and to move away from them. A Christian who has experienced his weakness must fear the slightest danger; objects that are completely innocent to others are not so to him. The Holy Spirit warns us that he who loves danger will perish from it (Sir. 3:25). Jesus Christ teaches us to pluck out an eye and cut off a hand if they offend us, that is, not to allow ourselves to experience cases that lead to sin (Matthew 5:29). Jesus, Mary and Joseph live in Egypt until the time when the Lord commanded Them to leave there; and, living among the abominations of paganism, nevertheless, they remain faithful to God. And we often complain about our condition, position and imagine that with them it is impossible to serve God well: a dangerous delusion! The state in which we can best strive for a holy life is precisely the one in which God has placed us. His grace sanctifies us, and He knows how to proportion it to our various states and social responsibilities. Often someone who would have died in a monastery is saved in the world. Herod, seeing that he had been ridiculed by the Magi, became very angry and sent to kill all male children in Bethlehem and throughout its borders, from two years old and below, according to the time that he found out from the Magi. Then what was spoken by the Prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled, who said: a voice was heard in Rama, weeping and mourning, and a great cry; Rachel cries for her children and cannot be consoled; for there are none (Jer. 31:15). If Herod had not been carried away by anger and had tamed himself, says St. John Chrysostom, he would have realized that he was undertaking an impossible task. But an insensitive soul does not accept the healing given by God, the heart, controlled by the dark and tyrant passion of ambition, resists everything. Stubborn in his intention, Herod thinks only of murder and, in his blindness, hastens to fall into the abyss. Completely overwhelmed with anger and envy, like a demon, he wants to satisfy his annoyance and political fears at any cost. Nothing stops him. Nature grows numb in the depths of this heart, darkened by fury; hatred of the Magi was poured out on innocent creatures, and by massacring the infants, Herod renewed the terrible event that had once covered Egypt with blood. He orders the beating of all young children in Bethlehem and its environs. How to depict the horror of this terrible execution? How to draw these pictures of crying and cruelty? The pitiful cries of dying victims, the sobs of fathers and mothers, mixed with the brutal threats of the executioners; on the one hand, love makes efforts to save the fruit of its womb, snatches swords from the armed hands of warriors, throws itself under their blows, tries to snatch prey from them with the danger of becoming another victim of their rage; on the other, the frantic screams of the murderers, with one hand tearing the son from the mother's breast, and with the other - plunging a knife into their insides, killing both son and mother for one thing, and at once shedding the blood of one and the other! How to imagine the despair of the fathers, their groans and pleas for mercy of the children they hugged for the last time! Bl. Jerome notes that Holy Scripture calls the innocent babies beaten for Jesus Christ the children of Rachel, because near Bethlehem there was a field belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, on which Rachel, the wife of Jacob and the mother of Benjamin, was buried. St. Hilary thinks that Rachel, who was barren for a long time, in this case represents the Church; just as the large number of innocent victims of Herod’s rage prefigures the many martyrs who had to shed blood for Jesus Christ. About the Church, this holy mother, who was barren for so many centuries, and later became so fruitful in the holy martyrs, it can truly be said that she listened to their groans, and during their glorious suffering, she cried not so much for the death of her children, but for the death of their murderers. We can all imitate the amazing love of this holy mother; and let us imitate her if we are afraid of being the cause of her sorrow. It is not physical death that greatly upsets her, but mental death. She has learned from her Divine Bridegroom and from her chief members to boast in sorrows and suffering, but she fears the temptations that kill before God those whom she loves, like a tender mother. Let us touch upon what confuses her so deeply; Let us be sensitive to her illnesses. Let us avoid everything that could tempt our brothers, and let us, like the Church, shed tears only for sin and its terrible consequences. “Where,” exclaims Bossuet, “are the people, to strengthen their faith, who want the pagan histories of that time to mention this villainy of Herod, as well as others? As if our faith should depend on what the historians of the world, through negligence or political reasons, say or keep silent in their histories. But let’s leave these insignificant thoughts aside. Human species alone, if the Evangelist had them, could have prevented him from depriving his Holy Gospel of trust by describing such a public matter that would not be true.” But, they ask, why did God allow the premature death of these babies? And they blame His justice for not stopping such a heinous murder! God allowed this murder in the same way as He allows other crimes of people, and as He bears the blasphemies of the infidels, postponing punishment until He pleases. He could have preserved Jesus Christ in another way; but is there any remedy against which unbelief would not present doubts and reproaches? Let's say more, it is not in human power to cause real harm to anyone. God allows us to experience sorrow partly to cleanse our sins, partly to leave us an opportunity for merit. He who endures them with courageous submission not only does not suffer any harm from them, but also derives from them the most precious benefits. Are the babies sacrificed by Herod to his bloody lust for power unhappy because they died instead of Jesus Christ? Wouldn’t it be fairer to compare them with the children of a high family, serving the Royal Son, whom Judea presented to its infant King, and whom the Church in all centuries honors and accepts as the flower of martyrs? In vain did Herod shed streams of blood with a terrible murder: He Whom he wanted to destroy was not subjected to it. He killed thousands instead of one; and this one, Whom he wanted to seize, escaped from him, and His birth received even more glory from him. Why? Because it is written: There is neither counsel nor wisdom against the Lord (Proverbs 21:30). This was and this will always be the effect of all persecutions against Jesus Christ and His Church: He and His Church will show the powerlessness of earthly authorities, fulfill prophecies, spread the knowledge of the truth, and bring eternal bliss to those who will be their victims. Every year His (Jesus Christ) parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover holiday. And when He was twelve years old, they came, according to custom, to Jerusalem for the feast. When they returned at the end of the holidays; the youth Jesus remained in Jerusalem; and Joseph and His Mother did not notice it; but they thought that He was going with others. Having passed the whole day, they began to look for Him among relatives and acquaintances. And not finding Him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for Him. Three days later they found Him in the church, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and questioning them. All who listened to Him were amazed at His intelligence and answers. And when they saw Him, they were surprised; and His Mother said to Him: “Son! What have you done to us? Behold, Your father and I have been looking for You with great sorrow.” He said to them: “Why did you seek Me? Or did you not know that I should deal with the things that belong to My Father?” But they did not understand the words He spoke to them. And He went with them, and came to Nazareth; and was in obedience to them. And His Mother kept all these words in Her heart. The men of the Jews were obliged to come to Jerusalem for sacrifice three times a year: on Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles, on the basis of the following law of Moses: “Three times in the year shall every male sex of thy appear before the Lord thy God” (Ex. 23:17). When God's people multiplied and were divided into tribes, it was impossible for all the Palestinian inhabitants to come to Jerusalem three times a year and on the same days. However, although everyone, especially those distant from Jerusalem, was not obliged to do this, many did not stop coming there out of piety. This is what Saint Joseph and the Holy Virgin did on Easter. It is not enough to strictly fulfill the commandments, it is also necessary, for the exercise of virtue, to perform some truly pious deeds and approved by the Church, which was the case in the Old Law of visiting the Temple of Jerusalem on holidays especially dedicated to the Lord. As soon as children have reached the age of revelation of rationality, parents should try to take them with them to church and to places where they would see only examples of piety and virtue, in order to teach them to “bear the yoke of the Lord from youth” (Lamentations 3:27). What to think of those who try to free themselves from the education of their children as best they can, and in their upbringing they completely rely on the care of people about whose rules and faith they know little or nothing at all! Others, with some care, bring up a child with them, who may very well be spoiled by the very excess of their tenderness - when, instead of trying to sow the seeds of virtue deeper in a young and obedient heart, a mother in her daughter or a father in her son often admires the first glimpse of a nascent passion, as if it were their own creation, and, not trying to stop it, because only because it has been accepted by debauchery, or the vanity of the age, they engage in means to warm it and support it. Let us no longer be surprised to see children treating their parents indecently and having neither love nor respect for them, since they never knew them; then young people without piety and fear of God, carried away by their whims and whims of their youthful imagination, immersed in laziness and enemies of every honest occupation; the first beginnings of the Christian religion were interpreted to them only for show, but they were never given an example of abstinence and order; never inspired modest desires and love of work; and surprisingly managed to turn them into spoiled and vicious children. From the very birth of the baby Jesus, the Most Holy Virgin, His Mother, never left Him, and nowhere is it said that She took Him anywhere other than the church. Fathers and mothers, learn from here with what attention and with what self-sacrifice you should raise and educate your children yourself, or at least entrust them only to such persons on whose piety and virtues you could completely rely. Jesus, knowing what grief He would cause Mary and Joseph by His absence, could not help but feel this; but He wanted to teach us that when it is necessary to follow the will of God, clearly proclaimed by the inner attraction of a calm conscience and the advice of wise people with whom we must first consult, then we must impose silence on natural feelings and be able, when necessary, to sacrifice the most legitimate affections in order to follow the voice of God’s love, which impels and calls us. Mary and Joseph had nothing in the world dearer than Jesus; He was all their consolation, all their treasure; Is it necessary after this to be surprised at the anxiety and diligence with which they sought Him? Alas! How many Christians are little concerned at being deprived of Jesus Christ, when, like Mary and Joseph, they are not only deprived of His presence, but, what is much more pitiful, of His love and grace! The Lord sometimes hides His presence from zealous souls; but let them not cease to seek Him; they will certainly find Him after several days of sorrow and tears; they will find Jesus Christ in the church during prayer. It is easy to be amazed at the teachings of Jesus Christ; It’s even hard not to be surprised by him; but what will we achieve if we limit ourselves, as usually happens, to only being amazed at His Divine examples and lofty teaching? Perhaps it’s all the same, and even in some respects it’s better not to know them than to neglect to fulfill them. Joseph and Mary noticed in the Savior a love of solitude and the unknown; Therefore, they were surprised to notice Him publicly revealing His Divine wisdom. They did not understand then the intentions of the Heavenly Father, Who kept His Son in Jerusalem; They don’t even seem to have the desire to comprehend them. They were pleased how quickly they found the Savior and learned the reason for His absence. Sermon of St. John the Baptist (Mark 1:2–3, 6; Matt. 3, 14) As it is written in the Prophet Isaiah: Behold, I send My messenger before You, who will prepare the way for the Lord; straighten His paths! John the Baptist comes and preaches in the Judean desert and says: repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. He wore a robe of camel's hair and a leather belt around his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey. In the gospel events, following one after another, the human mind sees only individual incidents, but the discerning eye of faith reveals in them an amazing connection of secret arrangements by which Divine Providence constantly achieves its goal and the perfect fulfillment of the intentions of the Almighty. If subsequent incidents are not always announced in advance; some of them explain in a special way the events that preceded them, which then cease to be incomprehensible. The more important the event in itself and in its consequences, the more it is connected with secondary events: thus John the Baptist concludes a number of Prophets and reveals to the world the coming of Jesus Christ, Who in His life is the implementation of all transformations, and in His teaching is the fulfillment of the law. Let us listen here to the beloved disciple as he majestically begins his gospel narrative: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It was in the beginning with God. Everything happened through Him, and without Him nothing happened, whatever happened. In Him was life, and life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness; but darkness did not overcome him. There was a man sent from God named John. This One came for testimony, to testify about the Light, so that everyone would believe through him. He himself was not the light, but was sent to testify about the Light. There was the true Light, which enlightens every person coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, but the world did not know Him. He came to his own, but his own did not accept Him. And to those who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the power to become children of God, who were born neither of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God. And the Word became flesh: and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; and we saw His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father. John testifies of Him, and, exclaiming, says: “Behold, He of whom I said that He came after me, takes precedence over me, because He was before me” (John 1:1-15). After thirty years spent in solitude, prayer and the most severe feats of mortification, John the Baptist began to preach in the desert, where he had lived since childhood. He could proclaim the word of God in cities great and rich, but he is content to teach the lowly and poor people, at a distance from the noise of the world. He knew that God does not count the power of this world as anything, and exalts the humble: and so he testifies of the Son of God; testifies boldly and loudly; testifies with self-abasement, recognizing that Jesus Christ is infinitely superior to him and should be preferred to him in everything. A testimony that is glorious for the Divine Savior, but is also glorious for John the Baptist himself, for the true glory of a servant is to glorify his master. John the Baptist, according to the remark of Blessed Jerome, is the first to preach about the Kingdom of Heaven, an advantage granted to the Holy Forerunner of the Messiah alone. The Jews were then expecting a Savior, whose reign, filled with splendor, would make them happy on earth and conquerors of their enemies; for at all times of the Old Law they received temporary benefits and were attracted by earthly rewards to the exact fulfillment of God’s commandments; but as soon as the time for the new Law arrived, John began to openly preach the truth and proclaimed in the desert, where the Spirit of God usually loves to speak to the human heart, this so amazing and unheard of word: Repent!... The time is approaching for the fulfillment of the promises given to you for so many centuries; and the beginning is not of a temporary and transitory kingdom, as you have imagined it until now, but of the Kingdom of Heaven. John preached repentance to the Jews, says St. Hilary, at the approach of the Kingdom of Heaven, - because only through repentance could they renounce the error in which they were and come out of the abyss of their sins, accepting the firm intention to leave them. Alas! You may already be at the end of your life; your best days are past; the light is dimming in your eyes, and you have almost reached the moment when you must cross into the Kingdom of Heaven if you tried to earn it. Even if you have not earned it, then all is not lost for you: Repent! No matter how far you are from the pier, repentance can lead you there. Cry over the neglect of so many mercies, over the loss of so many years for eternity: and these tears, if only they are sincere, can still compensate for your losses and save you from eternal tears. John baptizes and teaches those who come to him (Matt. 3:5–7; Luke 3:8–18) The zeal of John the Baptist soon became known and respected: then Jerusalem, all of Judea and the entire region around the Jordan came out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. Seeing many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him to be baptized, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who admonished you to flee from the coming wrath? If the fear of God's judgment and a sincere desire to convert brought you here: bear fruits worthy of repentance, and let your good deeds be a sure sign of your true conversion to goodness; but if your intentions are criminal, if the outward appearance of virtue hides only your hypocrisy, ambition and anger: do not say within yourself: we have Abraham as our father, for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. Already the ax lies at the root of the trees; Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” And the people asked him: what should we do? He answered and said to them: He who has two coats, give it to the poor; and whoever has food, do the same. The publicans also came to be baptized by him and said to him: Teacher! What should we do? He answered them: do not take more than what is necessary. The soldiers also asked him, saying: what should we do? And he said to them: do not offend anyone; do not slander, and be content with your salary. When the people were perplexed, and everyone thought in their hearts about John: is this not the Christ? John answered everyone, saying: “I baptize you with water; but one stronger than me is coming, whose boot I am not worthy to untie; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. The shovel is in His hand; and He will winnow the grain from His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into the barn, and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.” He preached many other things to the people, exhorting them. A glance at the multitude of people gathered around St. John is of real benefit; when we understand what the fruit of his coming was. John does not desire to please, but only to win souls to Jesus Christ; on the other hand, people come to him not to be surprised by him, but to benefit from his teaching and example. The baptism performed by John the Baptist did not have the power of a sacrament for the remission of sins; it was nothing more than the well-known rite of cleansing legal impurities used by the Jews under this name. However, John’s baptism was remarkable in that it was preceded by repentance, that is, sorrow for sins and turning away from them, satisfaction for unrighteousness and a change of life, and that it was accompanied by confession of sins. It was more perfect than the Jewish one: this, according to St. John Chrysostom, was like a bridge leading from the baptism of the Jews to the baptism of Jesus Christ, the higher of the first and the lower of the second. Let us note in passing, against the wicked who claim that the priests established confession, that the Gospel here speaks very clearly about confession, not a cursory and some kind, not about recognizing oneself only as a sinner in general, not about a vague confession of misdeeds and failures to fulfill the law in thought, word and deed; no, it was a clear and detailed revelation of his sins, contrary to the law. This was the confession of the Jews when they laid their hands on the heads of the victims about sin. (Note: Some worthy people assert that the Jews, at the time of their death and to this day, confess almost the same way as we do. The famous rabbi, Cavalier Drak, who converted, in his reasoning, recently published in Rome [year of publication 1851], proved the falsity of this opinion, in which Orthodoxy has no need in order to confirm the Divine institution of confession, despite the ridicule of unbelievers, bitter against such a sacred act, which so strongly contradicts their wickedness.) From the acts of the Apostles it is clear that the converted pagans came to confess their sins at the feet of the Apostles. This proves that confession of sins in general and in particular is not a new invention, but was sanctified and instituted in detail by Jesus Christ himself, when He instituted the sacrament of repentance; for the Apostles could not accurately exercise the right to bind and destroy, which was granted to them by the Divine Teacher, without knowing what were the sins that they had to forgive or retain, and the simplest and most natural means of knowing them is confession. When it was necessary to crush the hardened hearts of the Pharisees, John the Baptist shows the fiery and strict zeal of Elijah: “Bred of vipers,” he tells them; but his zeal is meek, and, like Moses, it is lenient towards publicans and soldiers, whose behavior deserves more leniency. So, the true servants of Jesus Christ and, in general, all people who have any kind of power, are far from excessive zeal, which condemns everything, and from weak zeal, which excuses everything. True zeal must be wise and prudent, and therefore, sometimes gentle, sometimes strict, depending on the different characters and different needs of those on whom it acts. Be especially careful not to confuse abuse of office with the office itself. The position is from God, and the abuse is from man. St. John does not perform miracles, and yet they wonder if he is the Messiah, on the grounds that the holiness of life is much more and more touching than all miracles. Saints are the lower in their own eyes, the higher in the eyes of God, and the more people reverence them for their virtues. But this is like a miracle that only holiness can create. A truly humble soul considers everything it has done as nothing and, following the example of John the Baptist, tries only to magnify the works of God and give Him glory in our Lord. Testimony of John the Baptist Saint John, the beloved disciple of Christ, communicating the lofty concept of the Word of the Son of God and the mystery of His incarnation, sets out to us how Saint John the Baptist was sent to testify of the Word incarnate, the Divine Savior, our Lord, Jesus Christ: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. It was with God in the beginning. Everything received existence through Him, and without Him nothing received existence that did not receive existence. In Him was life, and life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness: and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God named John. This one came for testimony, to testify about the Light, so that all would believe through him. He himself was not the light, but was sent to testify about the Light. There was the true Light, which enlightens every person coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, but the world did not know Him. He came to his own, but his own did not accept Him. And to those who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the power to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh: and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth: and we saw His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. John testifies of Him and exclaims, saying: This is the One of whom I spoke, that He who comes after me takes precedence over me, because He was before me. And from His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses: (a) grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Where am I plunging, into what depths, into what abyss! Bossuet exclaimed as he read the first page of the Gospel of St. John. Can we know Jesus Christ, born before all ages? Of course, because we have been given the Gospel. Let us go under the leadership of the eagle of the Evangelists, the beloved of the disciples, who speaks in a language not human, who shines like lightning, thunders, deafens and subdues every created spirit into the obedience of faith, when with a swift flight, cutting through the air, piercing the clouds, and rising above the Angels, above the heavenly Powers, Cherubim and Seraphim, this is how his Gospel begins: “In the beginning was the Word...” Why talk about the beginning, when the work is it about the Beginningless? In order to say that in the beginning, at the origin of things, He was already: He did not begin, He was: He was not created, He was, and who was He? Who was this one who was not created and had no beginning, when God gave the beginning to everything? This, who was in the beginning, was the Word, the internal Word, Divine Reason, Meaning, Wisdom, the internal Verb of God, the Verb without ranting, the Reason without reasoning, in which one is deduced from the other by conclusions, the eternal Verb, in which all truth essentially resides, and which is the truth itself. Where am I? What do I see? What do I hear? Silence my mind: and without reasoning, without reasoning, without sensory images, without words uttered by the tongue, without sounds, without the assistance of an agitated imagination, without confusion, without human effort, let us say internally, let us say with faith, captivating and subduing the mind to it: In the beginning, without beginning, before any beginning, above any beginning, there was the existing and always existing Word, the eternal Verb, the eternal and hypostatic Thought God: It was self-existent, but not as something separate from God, for It was in God, not as our thought in us, but as a Person distinct from God the Father, in Whom It abides. It was with its Father, in His bosom. It was, and what was It? Who can say it? Who will confess, who will explain to us His generation (Is. 53:8)? It was like His Father, He; It is perfection itself, the Ever-present, and being itself; but what was It? Who knows? We know nothing except that It was born of God, and abides self-subsistently in God; that is, It is the Son of God and God Himself.” The unity of God and the diversity of Persons in God - this is what I am obliged not to investigate, but to accept by faith; this is a mystery that I must not penetrate, but reverently honor. Only in the name of the One God in Three Persons am I washed from sins! Everything was created by the Word; for besides the fact that Divine power belongs to Him equally with the Father, He is the thought of God, the image of the being of God (Heb. 1:3), and is also the Divine Prototype, according to which all beings are created. The stupidity of man is amazing! His own nature tells him about his Creator; but he is deaf to this verb and does not want to see in created objects anything other than what flatters his sensuality and perverse desires. Let us recognize the features of the image of the Divine Word in all creation, let us especially recognize and honor them in ourselves, and thereby give Him glory and honor for the Image of God in us and for everything that was created for our use. Since the Divinity of Jesus Christ was hidden under the cover of humanity, John the Baptist was sent to proclaim that Jesus is true God and true man, and to make clear to the world what treasure it has in the God-man. John is an irreproachable witness: the miracles that accompanied his birth, the holiness of his life, the predictions of the Prophets about him were indisputable evidence of his embassy. Jesus Christ is the true light. He did not borrow His light from anyone, and everyone is enlightened by Him. He lights in us both the lamp of reason and the lamp of grace: he is the source of all our knowledge, natural and supernatural. Finally, this light can never be exhausted and always pours out; but, alas, man himself closes himself so as not to see him, arbitrarily closes his eyes, and loves darkness more than light. Blessed are those who open their eyes to the light of Jesus Christ, the Sun of Truth! What a glorious birth is this spiritual birth that makes a person a child of God and an heir of God! - Oh, Christian, know your dignity, do not live like an insignificant son of man, but honor the dignity given to you and the nobility you have acquired. God humbled himself to raise you to Himself; witness this, like John the Baptist, with a pure, humble and valiant life, and if circumstances require it, it is better to die than to betray your faith and the holy duties that it prescribes for you. Temptation of Jesus Christ in the Desert (Matthew 4; Mark 1; Luke 4) Having received baptism from John the Baptist, Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. And having fasted for forty days and forty nights, living with the beasts, he finally became hungry. He showed this human weakness in Himself in order to give the devil the courage to tempt Him; the devil, indeed, took this hunger as an opportunity to either seduce Jesus, or at least reveal who He is. Then the tempter came to Him and said: If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. But He answered: The Scripture says: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Deut. 8:3). Then the devil takes Him to the holy city and places Him on the roof of the church, and says to Him: if You are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for the Scripture says: They will command their angels concerning You (to keep You), and in their hands they will bear You up, lest You dash Your foot against a stone (Psalm 90:11-12). Jesus said to him: The Scripture also says: Do not tempt the Lord your God (Deut. 6:16). Again the devil takes Him to a very high mountain and shows Him all the kingdoms and their glory; and says to Him: All this I will give to You, if you fall and bow down to me. Then Jesus said to him: Get behind Me, Satan; for the Scripture says: Worship the Lord your God and serve Him alone (Deut. 6:13). After these temptations, the devil hid until the time of the suffering of Jesus Christ, when he tempted with torment the One Whom he could not defeat either with sensuality, or lust for power, or vanity. Then the angels came to Jesus and ministered to Him. Unbelievers, who sometimes assume the appearance of pious zeal, are tempted by the fact that the Savior allowed the devil to tempt Him; this means, they say, in their feigned zeal, to give the enemy of salvation power that is offensive to the dignity of the Son of God. The Fathers of the Church have long since responded to these objections, which are now renewed, as follows: It was just as fitting for the Savior of the world to be tempted as to be clothed with the infirmities of human nature, or to endure reproaches from the Jews and to be crucified by them. He wants to teach us that temptation in itself is not guilt; that if we resist it, then virtue receives even greater dignity and a new value. He wanted to encourage timid and suspicious souls who consider themselves guilty because they are tempted with greater or lesser force, and because of this incorrect conclusion about themselves they become discouraged on the path of virtue. Finally, He wanted to show them with what weapons they should defend themselves from the tempter. These weapons are: fasting, prayer and the instructions of the word of God. The Son of God “had to,” as St. says. Paul in his letter to the Jews, “to be like the brothers in everything, to be a merciful and faithful high priest in relation to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:17). For just as He himself endured temptation and suffering; then he can help those who are tempted (Heb. 2:18). We do not have a High Priest who cannot suffer with us in our weaknesses, but one who, like us, has experienced everything except sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 7:15–16). Why did Jesus stay with the beasts, and what kind of company did He have in the wilderness? Because the animals were in their natural state, so to speak in innocence; on the contrary, everything among people is corrupted by sin: “All flesh has become corrupt in its ways” (Gen. 6:12). Between people, says Bossuet, we find only pretense, infidelity, selfish friendship, mutual exchange of flattery for the pleasure of both, lies, secret envy under the guise of secret goodwill, inconstancy, injustice and debauchery. Let us run away from this, even in spirit; animals will be better for us than the society of people in the world. And we are faced with temptations, like Jesus Christ, who presented Himself to us as an example; then, like Him, Angels will serve us. They literally served the Savior in the need in which He was pleased to be after so long a fast, and we must remember that they are “ministering spirits sent out to minister for those who are to inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14); and that in honor of the Savior they become servants of those who fast with Him in the desert, love prayer and solitude and live, abstaining from what the old nature finds its pleasure in, and do not put their hearts into it. The vicissitudes and sorrows that impart some aversion from the world, and even less, the special friendship that attracts us to withdraw from the world, are not sufficient for this: all this cannot delight the labors and sorrows inherent in solitude, and help us endure them with firmness. In order to constantly endure the boredom, temptation and severity of a hermit's pious life, in order to be worthy of communion with Angels, that is, in order to receive consolation and help from above, for this we need God's calling to a solitary life, we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit - just as our Savior was brought into the desert by Him, we need, in the silence of feelings and especially imagination, to accurately verify the correctness of our intentions, which, in order to be pleasing to God, must strive solely for self-sacrifice, a virtue without which all others are just empty smoke. St. Gregory the Great and many other holy teachers noticed that temptation comes upon us in three ways: suggestion, pleasure, and permission. Suggestion occurs when either the devil presents us with some thought, or this thought is born from our contact with external objects. The devil could only tempt the Son of God in this way: but, as for us, as soon as the thought is accompanied by voluntary pleasure, and as soon as the mind dwells on it, then we must think that permission and “lust” will soon follow, which, in the words of St. Apostle James, “gives birth to sin... and death” (James 1:15). So, stop the temptation at the first step, which is not yet guilty; for if you give him the opportunity to flatter your feelings and intoxicate them, and if the devil, who can act on the body, intervenes, what a storm will then arise in your soul! Try to awaken your faith, which may be lulled; stop the temptation the first time. Prevent pleasure, born either from feelings, or from vanity, or from covetousness, so that it does not slip and penetrate your heart and carry it away to the permission so cunningly prepared. Even after a victory achieved through courageous efforts, one must not cease to be awake. Woe to the one who indulges in reckless peace: for the enemy returns unexpectedly, captures the arrogant soul and takes possession of all the spoils that he lost - it was. Jesus Christ drives the sellers out of the church Having honored the marriage in Canna with His presence, Jesus Christ “came to Capernaum, Himself and His Mother, and His brothers, and His disciples; and they stayed there for a few days. The Passover of the Jews was approaching, and Jesus came to Jerusalem. And he found that in the church they were selling oxen, sheep and doves, and there were money changers sitting. And making a scourge of ropes, he drove everyone out of the church, including the sheep and oxen; and he scattered the money from the money changers and overturned their tables. And he said to those who sold doves: Take this from here, and do not make My Father’s house a house of trade.” At the same time, His disciples remembered that the Scripture says: “Zeal for Your house consumes Me” (Ps. 68:10). But the Jews, having entered into a conversation with Him, said: By what sign will You prove to us that You have the power to do this? Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this church; and in three days I will raise it up. To this the Jews said: This church took forty-six years to build; and will You raise it up in three days? And He spoke about the church of His body. When He rose from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said these things; and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus spoke. If we want to know what could prompt the Lord to depart from His usual meekness in order to appear so irritated against those who were selling and buying in the church; then the answer He made explains everything to us. Christ, consumed by zeal for His Father’s house, could not bear without indignation the disrespect shown to this house of prayer, making it a den of thieves. Assuming that the trade was carried out in all good faith; then even then we must agree that it is very wicked to engage in completely human affairs in a place dedicated to serving God and asking Him for the grace necessary to take firm steps along the path of salvation. But since it is rare, and especially in our time, that honesty is maintained between those who sell and those who buy; It is not in vain that Jesus Christ accuses them of making the house of prayer a den of thieves. Is there, in fact, anything more inappropriate than to be solely occupied with your passions in that holy refuge, where you only need to enter in order to work to destroy them? Is there anything more reprehensible than committing new iniquities in the house of God, which is dedicated to the practice of repentance, cleansing sins already committed? “What would our Lord do,” says the Venerable Bede, “if he saw the indecent position of the body, the seductive entertainments, the vain conversations that are allowed in our churches in the presence of Him, who drove out of the church those who bought sheep and doves there to offer sacrifices to Him? And meanwhile, in our churches we honor not the images of the Mysteries that the Patriarchs once honored, but the Mysteries themselves!” There is another church, more precious in the eyes of the Lord than these material churches built of stone and marble, a church whose desecration irritates the Lord even more: these are our hearts; they are living temples of the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul says to the Corinthians. The human heart was created for God, it is a secret place where we must retire to daily worship our Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. But if sin penetrates there, then the human heart soon turns into a terrible nest of passions and vices. “We must,” says Saint Ambrose, “not only show zeal in relation to our external churches; but most of all we must use it to cleanse our inner church, out of fear that it does not become a den of thieves.” For vices, if you look at them well, are something other than stealers of the glory of God. So, let us take the scourge of mortification in order to drive out from the heart all these germs of evil that lust wants to grow in it. How many things do we forgive ourselves because we look upon them as unimportant, even as permissible, or at least excused by the custom and example of others, and which the Divine Lord does not look upon in that way! Let us therefore learn to correct our judgments and conduct, taking into account not the opinions or customs of men, but the holiness of the God whom we serve. True zeal renounces all human-pleasing, and its motives begin only in God and in the great reward that He has destined for His faithful servant. Jesus Christ learned about a rumor that had reached the Pharisees that He was gaining more disciples and baptizing than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but His disciples did); therefore He left Judea and withdrew again to Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria. So, He comes to the city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the inheritance plot of land given by Jacob to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there. Jesus, tired of the journey, sat down over a well. It was about six o'clock; At this time a woman comes from Samaria to draw water. Jesus says to her: Give me something to drink. (For His disciples went into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to Him: How can you, being a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink? For the Jews have no communication with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and Who says to you, Give Me a drink; then you yourself would ask Him for a drink, and He would give you living water. The woman says to Him: Master! You have nothing to draw with, but the well is deep; where will you get living water from? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it, and his children and his cattle? Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life. The woman said to Him: Master, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty and will no longer come here to draw water. Jesus says to her: Go, call your husband and come here. The woman said: I don’t have a husband. Jesus says to her: You said the truth that you have no husband: for you have had five husbands; and the one you have now is not your husband: you spoke the truth. The woman says to Him: Lord! I see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that the place where one should worship is in Jerusalem. Jesus says to her: Believe Me, woman, that the time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You do not know what you bow down to, but we know what we bow down to, for salvation comes from the Jews. But the time is coming and has already come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth: for the Father is looking for such as him to worship Him. God is spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. The woman says to Him: I know that the Messiah (i.e. Christ) will come soon; and when He comes, He will explain everything to us. Jesus says to her: It is I who speak to you. At that time, His disciples came and were surprised that He was talking to a woman: however, not one of them said to Him: what do you require from her, or what are you talking to her about? Meanwhile, the woman left her waterpot, went into the city and said to the people: come, see the man who told me everything that I did: is not this the Christ? They left the city and went to Him. The story of the Samaritan woman contains many high lessons for the servants of God, and in general, for everyone who cares about the conversion of sinners, as well as for the converted souls themselves: the action of grace in the heart of the sinner, predisposing him, arousing tenderness in him, transforming him and filling him with horror for his misdeeds, inclining him to feelings of repentance and strengthening him in goodness, is vividly presented here to the eyes of faith, carefully reflecting on all circumstances this edifying story. Jesus Christ asks the woman for some water, thereby arousing in her a thirst for that most excellent water that He wants to give her. This is the mode of action of grace: at first it requires little from us, it requires some vigilance over ourselves, some curbing of ourselves and submission to our duties; but by giving her the little that she demands from us, we thereby put ourselves in the opportunity to receive the fullness of the heavenly gifts that she prepares for us. The gifts of God are various grace-filled powers corresponding to the various needs of our souls, and making us what we really are before God. Without grace we cannot do anything good, but with grace we can do everything. But, not realizing its value, people often reject it, often abuse it! How difficult it is to look boldly at the evil that you love! How even more difficult it is to wish for a cure for it! The Samaritan woman is aware of the disorder of her life; This is her first step towards conversion! But at that very moment she rejects the memories of her unrest, the peace-lover will willingly agree to talk with you about religion; but as soon as you raise your hand to touch the wounds of his heart, he will immediately shy away from it and force you to change the conversation. Jesus Christ does not declare Himself as the Messiah so openly in any place in the Gospel as here. What goodness on the part of the Savior that He revealed Himself in such a way to a woman who had nothing good or worthy of praise except one disposition to listen to Him, which He Himself aroused in her! Sinful soul! Let not the multitude of your sins weaken your hope in Jesus Christ. If you repent, if you remain faithful to the voice that He arouses in the depths of your heart, then you can expect everything from His goodness, you can even hope for close communication with Him and His special mercies. The surprise of the disciples shows us how Jesus Christ always avoided interviewing women in private; but the manner of action of the Divine Savior also shows us how wise and enlightened zeal knows how to set proper limits to such deviation. Therefore, on the one hand, you need to be very careful in your judgments, on the other, you need to be very prudent in your relations with people. There is no danger in conversations of this kind if they really talk only about the needs of the soul and the matter of salvation. One day, when Jesus stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and the people crowded around Him, wanting to hear the Word of God, He saw two boats standing in the bay, and the fishermen who came out of them were washing their nets. Having entered one boat, which was Simon's, He asked to sail a little from the shore; and sitting down, he taught the people from the boat. When did he stop teaching? He said to Simon, “Sail out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered Him: Master! We toiled all night and caught nothing: but at Your word I will let down the net. Having done this, they caught a great many fish, and even their net was broken. And they gave a sign to the comrades who were on the other ship to come help them; and they came and filled both ships, so that they began to sink. Seeing this, Simon Peter fell at the knees of Jesus, saying: get away from me, Lord! I am a sinful person. For horror seized him and all who were with him because of the multitude of fish they had caught; also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon's companions. And Jesus said to Simon: Do not be afraid; From now on you will not catch fish, but people. And having pulled both ships ashore, they left everything and followed Him. The Holy Gospel, expressing so vividly the zeal of the peoples to listen to the Word of God, does not tell us anything about the change in their morals. Did these peoples, instead of instruction, seek only pleasure in the touching words of the Savior? This is consolation for preachers (when the crowd flocks only to listen to them, and not to benefit from the sermon), if only they themselves preach for the same purpose as the Savior! Alas! The Word of God, sometimes barren even in the mouth of Jesus Christ, teaches the faithful that this barrenness must be attributed to them. Although, one can say about the useless life of noble people that they live idlely and without work, and this is not the most important disorder in the Church itself; on the contrary, what kind of worries are they not burdened with there? What kind of businesses do they not start and what efforts do they not make to succeed in them? But the most deplorable of all misfortunes is that they waste their lives in vain in so many labors and worries; that so many enterprises and plans do not lead to anything significant, that the workers do not actually derive any fruit from so many tedious efforts, and that after so many worries they are brought to the same complaint as the Apostles expressed: “we worked all night and caught nothing.” Why is this? Because so many worldly people work, without Jesus Christ and in darkness, “toiling all night.” True, they work actively in the world, but they work in accordance with the world, in worldly ways and for the world. And this is to work in darkness and at night, because God, so to speak, is not present here and does not take any part in this; and since God accepts only what relates to Him and is done for Him, then all labors for the world have no value in His eyes, and no reward can be expected for them: “nothing like I did.” Do you, child of the Church, want to accumulate treasure and become rich before God, do you want, like the Apostles, to fill your nets and have an abundant catch of truths? Call on Jesus Christ and work according to His will, and in His name: “according to Your word I will cast down”; that is, work in the light of faith, act in accordance with faith and faithfully, and exercise yourself in works of faith, these holy and sanctifying works, necessary works, so as not to lose faith itself and maintain it. Jesus Christ leaves the people who followed Him on the shore, and, moving out into the open sea, in one minute gives the disciples to catch a wonderful multitude of fish. Here is a visible image, firstly, of the abandoned Jewish people, who heard so many times the Divine Teacher and saw so many miracles from Him; then the pagans, sought out by grace in the abyss of darkness, so that in one minute they could fill the ship of the Church with them. Some learned interpreters think that St. Peter, struck by the power of our Lord, and seeing his boat ready to sink, was afraid that God would not allow him to perish because such a sinner as he dared to enter the same boat with Jesus Christ, and, unable to leave himself, asked the Lord to leave. But most teachers think, and this is more likely, that these words of Peter show deep respect for the Divine Teacher and holy horror at the sight of such a great miracle. Thus, it is true that deep humility usually results from the extraordinary successes of truly Apostolic people. They look upon themselves only as feeble instruments, and ascribe to God all the glory of their deeds; and through this they become chosen vessels, capable of fulfilling the most extensive intentions. As soon as Jesus Christ announced to Peter and his co-workers that He had chosen them for the ministry of the Gospel, He immediately forces them to leave everything and follow Him; for in order to more successfully lead people to God and instill in them a love for heavenly blessings, one must not only have nothing, but also not be attached to anything on earth. The life of a Christian, and even more so the life of a priest, is a life of self-sacrifice, awaiting reward only in heaven and comforted by the thought of immortal hopes among the misfortunes sown by the spirit of malice under the feet of a virtuous person. Healing on the Sabbath After healing the son of a certain courtier in Capernaum, Jesus came to Jerusalem for the Jewish holiday: there is a pool in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate, called Bethesda in Hebrew, which had five covered passages. In them lay a great multitude of the sick, the blind, the lame, the withered, waiting for the movement of the water. For the Angel of the Lord from time to time went into the pool and troubled the water; and whoever first entered it when the water was disturbed recovered, no matter what illness he was possessed by. There was a certain man who was ill at thirty-eight years of age. Jesus, seeing him lying down, and learning that he had been lying there for a long time, said to him: Do you want to be healthy? The sick man answered Him: (I want) Lord, but I do not have a person who would lower me into the pool when the water is troubled; when I arrive, another has already descended before me. Jesus says to him: get up, take up your bed and walk. And he immediately recovered and took up his bed and walked. And this was on the Sabbath day. Therefore the Jews said to the healed man: Today is the Sabbath; You shouldn't take the bed. He answered them: He who healed me said to me: Take your bed and walk. They asked him: Who is the man who said to you, Take up your bed and walk? But the one who was healed did not know who He was: for Jesus was hidden among the people that were in that place. Then Jesus met him in the church and said to him: Behold, you are healed: do not sin, lest something worse happen to you. This man went and announced to the Jews that the one who healed him was Jesus. And the Jews began to persecute Jesus because He did such things on the Sabbath. Jesus said to them: My Father is working until now, and I am working. And the Jews sought even more to kill Him because He not only violated the Sabbath, but also called God His Father, making Himself equal to God. Jesus, turning his speech to them, said: Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless he sees the Father doing it; for whatever He does, the Son also does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him everything that He Himself does: and He will show Him greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whomever He will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son; that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life; he is not subject to judgment, but has already passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, the time is coming, and has already come, that the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and having heard, they will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son to have life in Himself. And He gave Him authority and judgment, because He is the Son of man. Do not be surprised at this: for the time is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God: and they who have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life; and those who did evil, into the resurrection of condemnation. I cannot create anything on my own. As I hear, so I judge; and My judgment is righteous: for I do not seek My will, but the will of the Father who sent Me. If I testify about Myself, then My testimony is not true. There is Another who testifies of Me; and I know that the testimony with which He testifies of Me is true. You sent to John, and he testified to the truth. However, I do not accept testimony from man; but I say this so that you may be saved. He was a lamp, burning and shining: but you wanted to rejoice in his light for a little while. But I have a testimony greater than John: for the works that the Father gave Me to do, these very works that I have done, testify of Me that the Father has sent Me. And the Father who sent Me testified about Me. But you have never heard His voice, nor seen His face. And you do not have His Word abiding in you: because you do not believe Him whom He sent. Search the Scriptures: for you yourselves think that through them you can have eternal life; and they testify of Me. But you do not want to come to Me in order to have life... If you believed Moses, you would believe Me: for he wrote about Me. If you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words? Having paid due attention to this Gospel narrative, we will notice in it a fierce struggle between lies and truth. A lie covers itself with shame; and the truth shines with new brilliance from attacks on it. There is nothing more praiseworthy than to honor the law; but when one of two laws contradicts the other, then, obviously, the more perfect one should be preferred. Thus, strict observance of external rites must yield to the demands of mercy; but, alas, false piety gives way to deception; observing strictness in everything that may be beautiful, but not essential, it carelessly nourishes in its heart more criminal passions: pride, hatred, envy. Jesus Christ draws the attention of the Jews to their false severity (in life), and in clear, precise words reveals to them His hidden Divinity. But in vain they speak for Him of the holiness of His life and the greatness of miracles: self-interest, passions and prejudices prevent them from seeing the offensive truth. Those who are zealous for the law are afraid of remaining defeated, and instead of seeking instruction, they suddenly become indignant. Here is a brief picture of unbelievers and in general of all people who, in order to maintain their prejudices, suppress their ears, and think to escape the painful consequences of their unfounded opinions by not listening to the voice of prudence and true concern for their good. Jesus heals the paralytic A few days after healing the leper, Jesus again came to Capernaum; and as soon as it was heard that He was in the house where He usually stayed, many immediately gathered, so that there was no room outside the doors; and He spoke the word to them. But they came to Him with a paralytic carried by four people. And being unable to reach Him because of the multitude of people, they opened the roof of the house and lowered the bed on which the paralytic lay. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic: child, your sins are forgiven. Here some of the scribes sat and thought in their hearts: Why does He blaspheme so much? Who can forgive sins except God alone? Jesus, immediately realizing in His spirit that they were thinking this way in themselves, said to them: Why are you thinking this way in your hearts? Which is easier? say to the paralytic: are your sins forgiven? Or should I say: get up, take up your bed and walk? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, (he says to the paralytic): I say to you, get up, take up your bed and go to your house. He immediately got up, took the bed and went out in front of everyone; So everyone was amazed and glorified God, saying: We have never seen anything like this. The entire fruit of the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ is that the Lord would drive the devil away from our souls and reign peacefully in them by His grace. The relaxed one, lying motionless on his bed, brought by four people to the Son of God for healing, gives us a twofold edification. First of all, we must learn from this example how necessary it is to come to Jesus Christ and turn to Him when, through misfortune, we have moved away from Him through our sins; no obstacles should frighten us if we find that they cannot be avoided at every step on the path to Him. The seductions of the world, the charm of pleasures, the fear of temptations, the fear of gossip, the shame of ridicule - all this is used against us by the enemy of salvation; he increases the attack as we desire to change our lives. But we have our most terrible enemies within ourselves; these are ardent passions that must be tamed, pleasant inclinations that must be abandoned, tempting pleasures that must be changed, dear connections that must be interrupted, ingrained habits that must be overcome. Imagination further increases these difficulties, and often the mere thought of the efforts that must be made for this stops us at the first step. Alas! How much this destructive fear of fighting with oneself has dispelled holy thoughts and destroyed saving intentions! How many appeals, which began happily and sometimes went on for quite some time, unhappily died from one temptation, chance, bad example, people-pleasing. If the poor, paralytic began to lose heart; if, yielding to difficulties, he had stopped; if, despairing of reaching Jesus Christ, he had abandoned his efforts, the unfortunate man would have remained sick for the rest of his life, and, what is even sadder, would have died burdened with the weight of sins. This is the fate of sinners who are held back by laziness from entering the path of repentance or who have weakened along this path; not having the courage to undertake the procession, or to continue it, trembling at the thought of obstacles, or retreating at the sight of them. Without a doubt, we should not rely on ourselves, but can we not rely on God, who has promised us his help? We will beg for this help, with which we will certainly triumph; but together we will not forget that it will be commensurate with our efforts. If, due to our weakness, we cannot go to Jesus Christ ourselves, then we must ask our godly friends to lead us to Him, or at least not resist their caring zeal to lead us to Him. “O you, whose souls, weakened by many sins, are unable to throw off this burden and express only vain desires; entrust yourself to the virtuous guides of your souls. They will lead you, and, if necessary, carry you to Jesus Christ. Their knowledge will enlighten you, their experience will guide you, and their love will support you. They will teach you to do what you think is impossible. Their prayers, pleasing to God, will bring your prayers to Him; together they will be beneficent intermediaries, asking for your forgiveness, and happy judges of your conscience, pronouncing it. Jesus, seeing such faith, performed three miracles instead of one. First of all, He forgave sins in order to teach us that all human diseases come from sin; that our greatest disease, from which we must first of all ask for deliverance, is sin; that in order to cleanse it, we must endure bodily sorrows. The second miracle, although secret, was more striking: Jesus penetrated the most secret thoughts of the Pharisees and exposed their stubborn malice; and we must not forget that our Supreme Judge sees all our thoughts and all our motives for our actions. The last miracle was more clear and confirmed the first two. Only God alone could forgive sins, even the enemies of the Savior admitted this; also God alone could read hearts. And so Jesus Christ, to shame them, showed them a visible and indisputable sign of His Divine omnipotence over body and soul: He healed the paralytic in one minute and with one word! When Jesus, through the mouth of His servant, gives us the remission of sins, does our life prove healing and gratitude? Are we getting up? Are we falling behind bad habits, carelessness, carelessness, laziness, and spiritual relaxation? Are we firm in our intentions? Are we not subject to the same illnesses, the same attachment to creatures? Do we have the courage to overcome, remove and destroy all causes of sin? Do we have the nobility to triumph over them and erect from this a monument of victory to our Liberator? Do we engage in contemplation and prayer in solitude? Do our whole life, all our actions glorify the Lord and contribute to our salvation? (Matt. 8:18–23, 25–27; Mark 4:37–38; Luke 8:23) After the healing of St. Peter's mother-in-law, Jesus, seeing a crowd of people around Him, ordered the disciples to sail to the other side. And one scribe came up and said to Him: Teacher! I will follow You wherever You go. Jesus says to him: Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has no place to lay his head; those who want to follow Him should not expect a better fate. Another of His disciples said to Him: Lord! Let me first go and bury my father. But Jesus said to him, follow me and leave the dead to bury their dead. And when He entered the boat; His disciples followed Him. While they were swimming, He fell asleep. A storm arose on the lake; the waves beat on the boat so that it was already filled with water, and they were in great danger. And He slept at the stern, at the head. His disciples came up to Him and began to wake Him up, saying: Lord! Save us, we are perishing. And he said to them: Why were you afraid, you of little faith? Then he stood up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great silence. The people, amazed, said: Who is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him? The boat into which Jesus Christ entered is unanimously considered holy. Fathers, is the image of a united, holy, catholic, apostolic Church, which, despite the fact that it is ruled by a divine Master, is often subject to various storms. In this sea, agitated not according to the ordinary laws of nature, but according to the will and power of Him who sends the winds from their stores, and Who set the limits of the sea, our Savior wanted to show His disciples the image of those storms to which they would subsequently be subjected; and, in the midst of this sea, pacified in an instant by the power of His word, He breathed into His disciples the trust that they should have in Him, in order to anticipate them and convince them in a moment of danger to resort to Him in prayer. He wanted to put their faith to the test: to prepare them as courageous warriors for the battles that they must experience everywhere on earth; He wanted to shake them in order to strengthen them, to frighten them with Himself, in order to fill them with hope and fearlessness after His removal from them. They saw many sick people miraculously healed; but they did not feel over themselves the power that He exercised over others. since, says St. John Chrysostom, we feel much better what is happening in ourselves than what is happening in others; and since among the Apostles there were neither blind, nor lame, nor sick, He allows a storm to arise, so that they would be delivered from obvious destruction by the action of His grace, they would cleave with greater strength and confidence to Him, whose goodness and omnipotence they would experience. It is an endless consolation for those who are sad and unhappy in life to know that the Savior is before them and endures with them everything that they endure for Him. Let us note that He takes only disciples and sends away the people, motivated more by curiosity than by a sense of piety. This teaches us that a Christian should not desire the most peaceful life, that it is better during a storm to be with Christ, like His Apostles, than to be removed from Him, like those people; and that the more He sends us grief and misfortune, the more we should see in them His merciful providence for us. So, let us not think that he who is with Jesus Christ will not suffer; on the contrary, because we are with Him and He loves us, that is why He often exposes us to the greatest dangers and the most severe persecution, not in order to put us to death, but to glorify Him, the Son of God. In such difficult circumstances, all our support and our duty is to resort to the Lord, to trust in Him, to pray for His grace to grant everlasting victory over our enemies, visible and invisible, and to remain steadfast in the midst of the greatest adversities, saying with St. Paul: “If God is for me, who can be against me?” (Rom. 8:31). “We swim,” says Blaj. Augustine, - in the sea of ​​​​the world, where there is no shortage of winds and storms, that is, where there are many temptations and persecutions. We can often fall under the strength of some and the weight of others. Why is this? Because Jesus is sleeping, and we are not trying to wake Him up.” Jesus sleeps in us when we sleep before Him and when our faith is lulled to sleep. He sleeps, but His heart is awake; He sleeps so that we ourselves may stay awake; He sleeps, finally, so that we can wake Him up! There are always people who, blinded by their depravity and pride, use their minds and position in society for evil, speaking contemptuously about the Church without justification, and with their coldly calculated slander, fulfilling the miserable position of raising waves around the mysterious ship of Christ. It is a pity that some defenders of religion sometimes attach too much importance to these reckless attacks. What can these haters of dogma and morality, these scientists without rules, speaking with pomp and slander about what they do not know, do against the Church? talking about religion without understanding its original foundations or the alphabet itself? It is known that their words have no power for any enlightened and straightforward person; and if they are strong enough to seduce some minds that have already strayed from the true path of religion and philosophy, then this only better reveals their powerlessness; for the ship, steered by God, sails ever on, and stands most majestic against the wretched assaults and incessant fury of the blasphemers. What will the barking of little dogs that sometimes run along the road to bark at his feet do to a powerful traveler? Such is the position of the poisonous speculations of these teachers of wickedness; and what need is it that their words are preached from a more exalted or humbler pulpit? Can their thoughts and efforts end in anything other than empty noise? Learn from the vain! Is the Church, with all its beauty, always ancient and always new, less alive because some shameless people want to sing funeral songs over it, throwing dirt at it, which bounces off on them and covers them with shame? So, let’s calm down: “there is pleasure,” says Pascal, “to be in a ship under storm when we are sure that it will not perish.” Jesus Christ deigned to place the Church in this state, building it up. Let hell itself rise up with its accomplices; will he do anything against the Church more than what he has already done for eighteen centuries, without ever, however, defeating her? Suffice it to say that it will never overcome! Having freed one unfortunate man from the unclean spirit that possessed him and made his life deplorable, Jesus again crossed to the other side of the sea; and a great crowd gathered to Him. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue, named Jairus, comes and looks for Him and, seeing Him, falls at His feet and convincingly asks, saying: My daughter is dying; come and lay Your hands on her, and she will be healed and live. Jesus went with him, and a great crowd followed him, and pressed him. At this time, a certain woman, who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years, who had suffered much from many doctors, who had exhausted all her property, but had received no benefit, and who was still in a worse state, having heard about Jesus, came up to Him from behind among the people and touched His garment. For She said: if I just touch His clothes, I will be healed. And suddenly the flow of her blood stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the disease. Immediately Jesus, feeling within Himself that Power had come out of Him, turned to the people and asked: Who touched My clothes? His disciples answered Him: You see how the people are crowding You, and you ask: Who touched Me? But he looked around to see who did it. The woman, knowing what had happened to her, overwhelmed with fear and trembling, fell at His feet and confessed to Him the whole truth. Jesus said to her: daughter! Your faith has saved you: go in peace and be healthy from your illness. He also spoke about how they came from the house of the ruler of the synagogue and said to him: your daughter is dead, why are you still working for the Teacher. But Jesus, having heard these words, said to the ruler of the synagogue: Do not be afraid, only believe. And he did not allow anyone to follow him except Peter, James and John, the brother of James. When they arrived at the house of the ruler of the synagogue, Jesus saw many people in confusion, weeping and crying out loudly. And He entered and said to them, “What is this confusion, and why are you crying?” The girl did not die; but I just fell asleep. And they laughed at Him. He, having sent everyone out, took the father and mother of the girl, and those who were with Him, and entered the room where the girl lay: and taking her by the hand, he said to her: Talifah kumi: what does it mean, girl, I tell you, get up. Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk: she was twelve years old. The amazement of those present was extreme. But He strictly ordered them not to tell anyone anything: and ordered them to give her something to eat. Man, as a result of original sin, is subject to three great disasters in this world: a disaster that crushes the body, a disaster that strikes the soul, and an extreme disaster that crushes both the soul and the body through their separation: that is, death. Our Lord, who came into the world to restore what was destroyed by sin, deigned under various circumstances to give people tangible evidence of His Divine messenger, revealing Himself as the ruler of these three disasters. He showed his omnipotence through the miraculous healing of various diseases, which were often considered incurable, and through the liberation of many unfortunate people from the dominion of the devil, and, finally, through the resurrection of many dead. It was necessary for the Apostles, whom God once predestined to witness the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to be clearly convinced in advance of His omnipotence over nature, death and evil. We see that many always flock to the feet of our Lord; but not everyone, approaching Him, gets what they want; it depends solely on the inner disposition of the soul. The whole work of salvation does not consist in this alone, just to draw closer to our Lord, for example, through memories of Him, through standing in the performance of the Holy Mysteries, through communion with Him; in order to take advantage of these abundantly blessed means, for this you need to cleanse your heart, try to renounce the blessings of this world and desire a closer and more sincere unity with God; What is needed is unfeigned humility, combined with complete hope and fervent prayer. Only then can we undoubtedly find in Jesus Christ the cure for our illnesses, strength in our weaknesses and consolation in our sorrows. A woman who has experienced all the healing methods used among people, and who instantly felt healed through just one touch of the Savior, is a living image of a heart that, having long sought its peace in the blessings of creation and in human pleasures, finds it in a sincere appeal to Jesus Christ. This heart, hitherto unhappy and restless, suddenly feels that the source of its restless desires is drying up in it, because it now loves only those goods for which it was created, and which alone can satisfy it. The Gospel tells that the doctors forced this woman to endure a lot, and that, however, all their efforts did not give her any relief in her painful condition. Very often, the most skillful doctors do not understand the disease, or, if they guess it, they do not know what to do with it. Sick Christians should know that every doctor is nothing more than a bandage of wounds, but that God Himself heals them, that is, God blesses the medicines prescribed by the art of medicine so that they can produce a beneficial effect. Therefore, in the midst of bodily suffering, prayer to God is not a powerless task; The Lord “brings down to hell and raises up” (1 Samuel 2:6) to life. Honor to the doctor, if he confesses before God that all human art, no matter how well his doctor understands, has little power over illnesses, then he humbles himself and deserves that God will enlighten him and help him alleviate the disease about which he is being consulted. Sometimes a confessor needs to put in a lot of effort in order to truly reveal the painful state of the soul; meanwhile, he can give saving advice only if they openly and sincerely confess to him the evil, the development of which he must stop, erase its traces and restore what was destroyed. In such difficult circumstances, the believer himself is obliged to revive his faith and confess with complete frankness... Here, on the ashes of the grave, in the prime of her life, is the only daughter of a man highly placed in his rank! Truly, neither gender, nor wealth, nor age can protect us for one minute from the unexpected blows of death! Jairus is confident that Jesus Christ can return his daughter to him by simply laying his hand on her: the Divine Savior could do this with His one word, with one simple desire. But Jesus Christ in this, as in many other similar cases, uses visible signs: no doubt in order to make the audience more attentive to the miracles that He performed, and to allow them to better comprehend the greatness of them, and perhaps for other reasons that we do not know. What is especially noteworthy here is the way in which the Divine Mentor disposes the soul to accept the grace-filled life it has lost: this method consists in removing all noise and confusion from the soul, through this it is given the opportunity to listen to His voice. Beheading of John the Baptist Herod, the tetrarch who ruled Galilee, heard the rumor about Jesus; for His name became known throughout the whole country. He was informed of all the miracles performed by Jesus, and did not know what to think about this, since some said: it was John who rose from the dead, and that is why miracles were done by him. Others said: this is Elijah. Others, finally: this is one of the ancient prophets who has returned to the world. Herod said: This is true - John, whose head I cut off: he rose from the dead. For Herod himself sent to seize John and ordered him to be put in prison in chains for Herodias, the wife of Philip, his brother, with whom he had an illegal relationship; for John said to him, “You must not have your brother’s wife.” For this Herod wanted to kill him; but he was afraid of the people; because John was revered as a prophet. Meanwhile, Herodias, angry with John, sought to kill him; but could not achieve this goal, because Herod was afraid of John, and, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, he took care of him, even in many cases acted on his advice, and listened to him with pleasure. Finally, a convenient time came - Herod’s birthday, when this king gave a feast to his nobles, commanders and elders of Galilee. The daughter of Herodias entered there and danced, and pleased Herod and all his guests so much that the king said to the girl: Ask me what you want, and I will give it to you. Yes, he repeated with an oath, I will give you everything you ask, even until half of my kingdom. She went out and, having told her mother the king’s promise and oath, asked her: what to ask? The heads of John the Baptist, the mother answered. And immediately, entering with haste to the king, she said to him: I want you to give me now on a platter the head of John the Baptist. The king was saddened: but, because of the oath given and for his guests, he did not want to refuse her; and immediately sending one of his guards, he ordered him to bring the head of John; and the guard came to the prison, cut off his head and brought it on a platter, and gave it to the maiden, and the maiden gave it to her mother. John's disciples, hearing about his death, took his body and placed it in a tomb. Then they informed Jesus about this sad event. Threats, insulting treatment, prison - such is sometimes the lot of those people who, by their rank, must proclaim the truth to the mighty of the earth. St. John boldly admonished Herod and fearlessly denounced him to his face for incest and a seductive life. This evil ruler not only did not turn the saving denunciations of St. John into his favor, but also ordered that shackles be placed on him. But what great glory for the forerunner of the Messiah to defend the cause of God with the loss of his freedom, even his blood and life! Do not be upset, you, faithful servants of the Lord, if the world burdens you with insults; It is impossible for you to properly fulfill the duties of your ministry without being the subject of unjust persecution! What will you not tolerate from the demon when you zealously strive to crush his power and the kingdom of sin? What can you not endure from people who are servile to their passions when you expose their vices and preach to them the narrow path leading to heaven? Make sure in advance that if you fulfill your duty exactly, you will not avoid sorrows. St. Paul said this not only about the messengers of the truth, but also about everyone who wants to live godly in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:12). A criminal heart cannot be calm and without remorse; it always punishes itself, and thus unwittingly becomes an instrument of God’s justice against itself. It is in vain that the shameless man arms himself with his wickedness, in vain the wicked man does not admit his shamelessness: the miracles of Jesus will always constitute torment for his heart. Not only the glory of the Savior, but His religion, the Divine service founded by Him, and His Divinity, confessed by the whole universe, will, like a heavy burden, oppress the wicked and disturb the peace of which he boasts in vain. At Herod's court no one thought about the Messiah; the thought of Him would have plunged Herod and his servants into even greater horror than the thought of the risen John. Oh! Do not imitate these bitter blind men; Confess the Divine Master in the works of His omnipotence. If you are criminal, yield to remorse and have recourse to the mercy of Jesus: if His grace has preserved or delivered you from wickedness, thank Him and pray to Him, that He may not cease to support you in the paths of innocence or repentance. What first indiscretion, and then what weakness and baseness appear in Herod! This is what the intoxication of passion leads to! So we see every day that people, and educated ones at that, blindly sacrifice their property, happiness and even honor to an object they like, and make an idol out of it, to which they cannot refuse anything: and since there is only one step from lawless love to cruelty, they often do it; and then the crime is most shameful, for example. the shedding of innocent blood means nothing to a depraved heart. The head of the greatest of prophets becomes a reward for dancing! From this, Christian mothers, exclaims St. Ambrose, learn what rules you should instill in your daughters and what kind of amusements you should reject them from! Ah, if you love purity and chastity, then give your daughters better religious lessons than dancing lessons. Jesus Christ healing the sick Jesus Christ, after the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, swam across Lake Tiberias, and came with His disciples to the country of Gennesaret. When they left the ship, the inhabitants recognized Jesus, and as He passed through the whole country, they brought the sick to Him on their beds wherever they heard that He was. And to whatever place He came, whether it was cities or towns and villages, they laid the sick in the squares and asked Him to allow them to touch only the hem of His garment, and all who touched were healed. Seeing how people in great numbers came running from all sides to ask Jesus Christ for some relief from various illnesses that burdened them, and received complete healing from them, as a reward for their faith, can we resist exclaiming with the royal Prophet in feelings of the most living gratitude: “Whoever in the clouds is equal to the Lord will be like the Lord among the sons of God” (Ps. 88:7)? What goodness, what love for people, so often ungrateful, the Son of God showed in the fact that he humbled himself before taking on human nature in order to give people: in time, help and consolation, in eternity, life and bliss! But alas! To what madness does not the malice of a damaged person and the blindness of wickedness extend? They don’t want to acknowledge God even in His greatest blessings... And was it possible to speak to the mind and heart in a language more convincing and touching than the language of so many supernatural deeds of the Divine Savior, which He, deploring misfortunes of all kinds, scatters in His footsteps in order to demonstrate His omnipotence and confirm the high dignity and purpose that He received from God, His Father? So, let’s say this with one of our most famous new defenders of the faith, Mr. Freysinou, Bishop of Hermopolis, in the words of his excellent work Defense of Christianity (Volume II): “The miracles described in our Gospels are the eternal monuments of the Divine mission of Jesus Christ; and even if a Christian had no others, his faith would be sufficiently justified and reasonable. Let the names of superstition and gullibility ring in his ears, let him remember the false miracles presented in the annals of various nations, let him dare to draw indecent comparisons between Jesus Christ and famous deceivers! The Christian will be offended by all this empty noise of ridicule and false thinking; but if he has learned the proofs of religion, his faith will not be shaken. For him, ridicule, even if it were even more intricate and caustic than the ridicule of unbelievers, does not have the force of proof; he knows that between the weakness of the gullible mind and the pride of the stubborn mind there is a fair and wise middle; that there are rules of justice, strict but not binding, in order to distinguish true stories from untrue stories; that false miracles do not weaken the power of true ones, that counterfeit coins do not destroy real ones, that sophistry does not destroy sound reason. And when we remember that the most excellent geniuses on earth, glorified for eighteen centuries both for their learning and virtue, and known for their deep knowledge of languages ​​and antiquities, completely sincerely believed in the truth of the miracles of the Gospel, we will see that one can believe without having a weak mind, and we will easily be consoled by hearing empty and easy reproaches of gullibility... What served as the basis for Christianity was not eloquence, neither force of arms, nor indulgence in voluptuousness, but belief in the miracles of the Gospel proclaimed in the universe. This is how they are connected with the most amazing, most universal, most lasting transformation of the world that the human race has ever seen from its very beginning... The apostles were not speculative dreamers who make idols of their opinions and defend them until the loss of their lives. They do not tell you: we think, we judge, we conclude; their own opinions may have been false, their judgments unfounded, their conclusions poorly drawn and erroneous; They tell us: “We have heard, we have seen, ...and our hands have touched” (1 John 1:1). So, let us admit that the writers of the New Testament were animated by a love of truth; that, given the simplicity of the Apostles, their consent, their courage, with which they were ready to die and died for the confession of wonderful deeds, which, according to them, they were obvious witnesses, serve as irrefutable evidence of their sincerity, which is sought in vain in the stories of pagan antiquity. What is this age of ours, in which knowledge and wit seem to exist only in order to make conclusions and considerations directed against religion, without meaning and logic! What the unbelievers of all centuries have not come up with, trying to weaken, if possible, the painful power of the miracles of the Divine Savior for them! Some said that the sick whom He healed were not really sick, but pretended to be sick, and, calling themselves sick, were deceivers sent by Jesus Christ himself! Others said that if these sick people were really sick, then their healing was only apparent. Many assumed that their healings were a natural work of art, but the ignorant Jews took them for miracles. And the Jews, for their part, attributed them to the devil; then their teachers wrote that Jesus performed them through the utterance of the ineffable name of God. These contradictions already allow us to see the confusion of non-believers and prove that no subterfuge can satisfy an intelligent person. If it were possible to expose the lies of the evangelists’ stories, then there would be no need to resort to so many tricks; skilled doctors of different times proved that most of these diseases, as they were described by the evangelists, could not be cured by natural means. Giving justice to the dignity of their work, we think that this is not very necessary, because a conscientious person can easily do without such searches, and an unscrupulous person will not be touched by them and will not cease to persist in his bitterness and opposition to the truth. It is as useless as it is to dwell on those disgusting comparisons which some passionate lovers of magnetism have dared to make—comparing the miracles of our Savior with their amazing deceptions. But not only the touch of the Savior’s precious clothing, not only the wave of His Divine hands, not only the word emanating from His sacred lips, these are the ways in which our Lord heals our infirmities. He, giving us his whole self in holy communion, gives life to the soul, and then health to the body, if it is needed for salvation. And yet, how many are weak, how many infirm and, what is especially pitiful, how many unfortunates we see who do not even think of looking for the only cure, but an undoubted cure, offered in living faith and sincere piety for their suffering, for their sorrows and, perhaps, for their despair. Canaanite woman at the feet of Jesus Christ Jesus Christ, leaving the land of Gennesaret, where, after healing many sick people, denounced the scribes and Pharisees for their customs based on tradition, He retired to the countries of Tire and Sidon: and, entering the house, He wanted no one to know about this; but could not hide. For when a certain woman, whose daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit, heard about Him, she came and fell at His feet; and that woman was a pagan, a Syrophoenician by birth, a Canaanite by birth. And she begged Him, saying: Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David; my daughter is furious. But He did not answer her a word. And the disciples came to Him and begged Him, saying: Let her go, because she is screaming after us. But He answered and said: I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. She came up and bowed to Him, saying: Lord, help me. But He answered: It is unjust to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. She said: So Lord! But dogs also eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ tables. Then the Lord answered her: O woman! Great is your faith; let it be done to you as you wish. And her daughter was healed at that very hour. She returned to her house and found that the demon had gone out and her daughter was lying on the bed.” Great faith, deep humility, invincible patience - these are the virtues in the Canaanite woman that we are amazed at in the Canaanite woman, and which the blessed one presents to us as an example to follow. Jerome. Even if the Lord did not say anything about the faith of this woman, even if He did not teach us that she owed the dignity of this virtue to the healing of her daughter, then, of course, we would have found in that place of the Gospel where it speaks of the Canaanite woman, features of the most perfect faith. In fact, the more obstacles the Canaanite woman had to believe in Jesus Christ, the more miraculous her faith should seem. She was not only a foreigner and a pagan, but when the Gospel tells us that she came from Canaan, then, says St. John Chrysostom, this is in order to encourage us to remember this lawless people, who transformed natural laws to the very foundations and were separated from the Jews so as not to corrupt them. So, let us marvel at the strength and power of the grace of Jesus Christ, who can, whenever He pleases, “raise up the children of Abraham from the stones” (Matt. 3, 9); and Who gives us to see in a woman, from an idolatrous country, a faith so perfect that she does not weaken either from silence or from the seeming contempt of Him who was full of meekness and condescension for everyone... The fact that we so rarely receive what we ask from God should be attributed to the lack of our faith in general. Let us say to the Lord and the Apostles: “Add faith to us” (Luke 17:5); and then we will not waver in our hope and we will beg, like the Canaanite woman, to free us from the devil. Whoever sees himself in the slavery of Satan, can he ask for another mercy before that in order to be freed from such a tyrant? But whoever lives under the power of passions is not a slave of Satan. So, if the demon of impurity possesses you, or the demon of stinginess holds you captive, or the demon of ambition dominates you, in a word, no matter what temptation torments you, no sorrow oppresses you, no matter what sorrow torments you, cry to the Lord: Lord! Have pity on my soul: for it is cruelly tormented by the demon! Let your prayer be short; but most importantly, let her be ardent and full of faith - that’s what is necessary. When we reflect on the one hand about the greatness of God, and on the other about our insignificance, about the immensity of our needs, about the multitude of our sins; then we will immediately understand the need to constantly humble ourselves before God, and especially at the time when we begin to pray. Sincere humility is so pleasing to God that not only does He fulfill the prayers of the righteous who humble themselves before Him, but He even stops the blows with which he is ready to strike wickedness when He sees a sinner who has prostrated himself before Him and recognizes that He alone is Lord and Master. Therefore, let us not think that Jesus Christ wanted to reject the request of the Canaanite woman: He only wanted, with His rejecting appearance, to test all the virtues of this woman, and especially her humility, in order to present us with a wonderful example. Never has anyone been as convinced as she is of the need for the omnipotence of God to heal her daughter; no one understood better than she how unworthy she was of such great mercy; and this is what this deep humility does, this is what produces the persistence with which she asks, and the patience with which she endures everything that seems harsh to her in the words of the Lord, this is, finally, why, instead of demanding the fulfillment of what is due, she asks only for mercy; she humbly presents her misfortune and asks only for mercy. And we, unfortunately, very often do not even suspect what need we have for God’s mercy due to the arrogant conviction that God should give it to the one who demands it, we approach prayer with pride, like the Pharisee about whom the Gospel speaks; meanwhile, as it is written: “The Lord resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). Never are the mercies of God so useful to us as when we have desired and asked for them for a long time. “Indeed,” says St. Augustine, “God does not cease to help us when he hesitates to help; and, distancing his help from us, thereby giving it to us: because if He would immediately fulfill our impatient and hasty desires for our recovery; then we could only receive from Him weak and imperfect health.” So, let us ask, like the Canaanite woman, let us ask with constancy, with invincible devotion to the will of God, if we want God to fulfill our request. This is what Saint Paul so urgently advises us, and this is what the Church Fathers teach in all their writings. “Does the Lord fulfill our prayers? - says Saint John Chrysostom, - let us testify to Him our living gratitude. Or does He not agree to our desires? Let us be more persistent in prayer that He will grant us what we ask for. If we are unworthy of the mercy we need, then prayer will make us worthy.” So, we understand that the Lord desires even more to reward us with His gifts than we do to receive them, and that if He tests us with delays, this means that He wants to give us the most useful. The more He seems to reject us; let us show all the more zeal in order to bend Him to mercy through pious persistence; Let us cry out to Him like Jacob: “I will not let You in unless You bless me” (Gen. 32:26). So let us pray to Him, and we will rejoice in our efforts and exclaim with the repentant king: “The Lord is good and His mercy endures forever” (Ps. 135:1). (Matt. 17; Mark 8; Luke 9) Jesus Christ, calling the apostle blessed. Peter for his confession of faith and promising to give him the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, he foreshadowed to His disciples about His shameful suffering and His glorious triumph over death, in order to protect their faith from cowardice and temptation; and added: “Truly I tell you, some of those standing here will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God come with power and the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” This great communication was not slow to be fulfilled: in fact, after eight days Jesus took with Him Peter, John and James his brother, and went up with them to a high and solitary mountain to pray. And when he prayed, the appearance of His face changed, and He was transformed before them: His face shone like the sun, His clothes shone with light, and became white as snow; and behold, two men appeared to them, Moses and Elijah, talking with Him; they were surrounded by glory and spoke of that abundant love that He wanted to testify to people by accepting suffering and death for them in Jerusalem. Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep, but when they awoke, they saw the glory of Jesus and the two men standing with Him. And how Moses and Elijah departed from Him. Peter, delighted with the glory of his Lord, and partly anticipating the joy with which the glory of the Lord fills the saints who contemplate it in all its splendor, said to Jesus: “Lord, it’s good for us here, if you want, we’ll put three canopies here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still saying this, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them; and behold a voice from the cloud, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom is all my good pleasure: hear ye him. This voice was still heard when Jesus was left alone; and therefore His disciples could no longer doubt that the words they heard applied to Him alone. At these words they fell on their faces and were overcome with great fear. But Jesus came and touched them and said: Arise and do not be afraid. Then lifting up their eyes and looking around them, they saw no one except Jesus. When they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone what they had seen, unless after He had risen from the dead. The Son of God, miraculously transformed on Tabor, revealed to His disciples the inherent glory of His Divine nature, and thus, as it were, stopped for a time that most amazing constant miracle, which consisted in the concealment of His glory, which continued throughout His earthly life - in order for the predestination of God the Father to be fulfilled about the salvation of the human race. Nothing was a more righteous property of His holy humanity, nothing was more natural to Him than the radiance of His glory. But, since God the Father wanted to save people through the humiliation and suffering of His Son, then for this there was a need for this constant miracle, consisting in the internal concealment of the radiance of Divine greatness, covered with a veil of flesh, so that in the state of exhaustion of the God-man, not a single ray of this radiance penetrated into the outside, and in this the overwhelming humiliation of the Lord Jesus was manifested, for He, out of obedience to His Father, He subjected Himself to a state so unworthy of His greatness; He humbled himself, as St. Paul says, “having become obedient even to the point of death, even death on the cross” (Phil. 2:8); in this His abounding love was revealed; for out of love for us He submitted to all the determinations of the will of God the Father, no matter how painful their fulfillment was. Jesus Christ was transfigured during His prayer, but the Gospel does not say that He prayed to be transfigured. One should not ask God for such extraordinary gifts; saints even fear them; they hide them following the example of the Savior, who, to reveal the radiance of His glory, chose a secluded mountain and took with Him a few witnesses, whom he then commanded to remain silent about what they saw. But when He wanted to suffer a shameful death; then he chose a mountain open to the eyes of all Jerusalem. This is how He humbles our pride! The pious Francis de Sales used to say that true piety consists in clinging not so much to the consolations of God, but to the God of all consolation. The light with which the face of Jesus Christ shone during His prayer and the whiteness of His clothes show us that during prayer the soul is enlightened, and that then the fire of Divine love kindles in it, which erases its stains and purifies it before the eyes of God. Jesus in this mystery appears between Moses and Elijah: for Jesus Christ is the end and goal to which all the ancient law and prophets relate. He is the key of the Holy Scriptures, and in order to understand them profitably, one must always have Him before one’s eyes while reading them. The Eternal Father commands that we listen to Jesus Christ; because Jesus Christ is the truth, the true light of the world, and those who follow Him do not walk in darkness. He does not order to listen to people who speak from themselves: because they, like people, are subject to lies and delusion and can speak in the language of passions. However, Jesus Christ said to His apostles and through them to the priests of His Church: “Listen to you, He listens to Me, and reject you, You are rejected from Me” (Luke 10:16). The altar minister, in the holy seat of repentance, from the Christian pulpit commands, pronounces judgment and preaches only in the name of Jesus Christ; and he must, like the Divine Teacher, draw his strength from prayer and his authority from obedience. A little later after His glorious Transfiguration, the Lord Jesus chose seventy more disciples, whom He sent before Him, two at a time, to all the cities and places where He Himself was to go. And he said to them: Go; Behold, I am sending you like lambs into the midst of wolves; He who listens to you listens to Me, and he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me. And the seventy disciples returned with joy and said to Him: Lord, even the demons obey us because of the power of Your name. Jesus answered them: I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I give you power to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits obey you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. At that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said: I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes; Hey, Father! For this was pleasing to You. Everything has been handed over to My Father, and no one knows except the Father who the Son is; equally no one knows who the Father is, except the Son, and the one to whom the Son chooses to reveal. And turning to the disciples, he especially said to them: blessed are the eyes that see what you see; for I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it; hear what you hear and haven't heard. Then one lawyer stood up and, in order to tempt Him, asked: Teacher! What must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus asked him, “What is written in the law?” How do you read? He answered: love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and his neighbor as himself. Jesus said to him: You answered correctly, do this and you will live. But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus: who is my neighbor? To this Jesus said: a certain man, passing from Jerusalem to Jerechon, fell into the hands of robbers, who took off his clothes, wounded him and left, leaving him barely alive. By chance, a certain priest was walking that road and, seeing him, passed by. In the same way, the Levite, being at that place, came up, looked and passed by. And one passing Samaritan, finding and seeing him, took pity. And he came and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and putting him on his donkey, he brought him to the inn, where he took care of him. The next day, as he was leaving, he took out two denarii, gave them to the owner and said: Take care of this man, and if you spend more, I will give it all to you when I return. Which of these three do you think was the neighbor of the one who fell among the robbers? The lawyer answered: he showed him mercy. Then Jesus said to him: Go and do the same yourself. What dignity we see in the treatment of Jesus Christ with His disciples! How He took every opportunity to show how worthy they were of respect, and to inspire the people with deep respect for those whom He sent in His place for healing, consolation, admonition. He was God, and called the Apostles more His friends than servants. Alas! Time has compressed our hearts; love has cooled, and sometimes, that is, very often, in our days with deep sorrow we see how even those who should be humble teachers of love and constant examples of it abandon this essential virtue of Christianity. There are two types of benefits, says St. John Chrysostom, which are related to love, and with which we must consider all the uses of this virtue, namely: our own benefit and the benefit of another; our own benefit, which is usually the subject of our most ardent passions, and the benefit of another, which we are generally little touched by; our own benefit, which we protect with all possible diligence, and the benefit of another, which we are not afraid to undermine; the first, i.e., one’s own benefit, is an obstacle to love, the other, i.e., the good of one’s neighbor, is the object of love. Having thought carefully about these two types of benefit, we can immediately agree, firstly, that no matter how great our own benefit may be, excluding perhaps the salvation of the soul, we must always be ready to sacrifice it for Christian love; secondly, that no matter how small the benefit of our neighbor, we must always respect and protect it in order to maintain Christian love. Indeed: what disturbs the order of love between people? Two things: love of one’s own self-interest, effeminacy or selfishness, and indifference to the benefit of one’s neighbor, cruelty or injustice. The happiness of the Savior’s disciples did not consist in the fact that they saw Him only with their bodily eyes, for the Jews also saw Him, just like them, and, however, did not cease to persecute Him with bitterness, even to death; and not only that they saw Him with the eyes of faith; for according to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures it is known that Abraham, Isaiah and many other patriarchs and prophets saw the glory of the Lord in this way, but in the fact that they saw Him together with both physical and spiritual eyes. This advantage - to see and hear physically and spiritually the Savior, and to confess Him as Christ and the Son of God, is granted only to His disciples. As for us, we see the Savior of the world only with spiritual eyes, but, meanwhile, much more clearly than the Old Testament righteous. We need not regret that we do not live in the time of the apostles; because in those days it was much more difficult to recognize the Son of God and God Himself as the One who loved to hide among the people and under the humble roof of the tree-grower, than to believe in Him now together with the entire universe, together with the faith of eighteen centuries. Meanwhile, we must apply to ourselves the words of Jesus Christ: “Blessed are the eyes that see even as you see” (Luke 10:23), because the happiness of Christians lies in the fact that they see and hear what so many pagan peoples have not seen or heard, who have no idea about the religion of Jesus Christ, without which it is impossible to be saved; and instead of confusing our minds in finding the reasons why God left some in the darkness of error, and brought others out of it, let us better try to arouse in ourselves feelings of just gratitude to God for the fact that He has honored us with His gifts, and think about the duties that this great blessing places on us, that we are called to faith. Jesus Christ in the house of Martha and Mary Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus, lived with their brother in Bethany, a village located near Jerusalem. The Divine Savior repeatedly honored this virtuous and very respectable family in that country with His presence. One day Jesus Christ came to Bethany. Martha received Him into her home. Then Mary, her sister, sitting at the feet of the Divine Teacher, listened to His word. Meanwhile, Martha took a lot of care about the treat, and, approaching, said: Lord! Or do you not need that my sister left me alone to serve? Tell her to help me. Jesus answered her: Martha! Marfa! You care and fuss about many things: but you only need one thing. Mary chose the good part, which will not be taken away from her. “Behold, what is good, or what is good, but the brethren must live together” (Ps. 133:1), wrote the holy prophet David. This happiness presupposes a firm and constant friendship, which can only be the fruit of great piety and the true spirit of love. Love makes friendship lasting and ennobles, teaching people to mutually tolerate differences in character and misdeeds of each other; piety strengthens it, directing all the affections of the heart to God. What a pity that friendship has become so rare, even between relatives! Oh! This is because neither piety nor love is almost unknown in the world! Should it be surprising that the Lord Jesus Christ, Who came to bring peace to earth, Who calls the peacemakers blessed, Who gives us peace as the most precious good, should it be surprising that He loves to accept the hospitality of such people who, as He knows, always desire this ineffable treasure? How many people envy the lot of Martha, who was honored to receive Jesus Christ to herself and serve Him at the table? But didn’t the Savior say: “He was hungry, and he will give Me food... because you have made one of these, the least of my brethren, you have created for Me” (Matthew 25:35, 40)? How many others would like to rush with Mary to the feet of our Lord in order to directly receive from Him completely spiritual and Divine food? But cannot we always have this blessedness, with very many other advantages, in holy communion, or during fervent prayer? Didn't Christ say that He truly is our food? And when we have Him in us, is it not given to us, through this, to be at His feet, to listen to Him, and to feed on His heavenly teaching? Then He miraculously makes us understand the importance of salvation, which is the only thing necessary for us; then He kindly convinces us and inclines us to selflessly sacrifice everything that could expose our soul to destruction. There are two states in spiritual life, which are called active life and contemplative life. Each of these states offers its consolations and advantages; but in both there are also some kind of delusions and dangers. God, whose intentions are incomprehensible, and who is the Lord of His gifts, sometimes in a special way calls faithful souls to one of these two states; but the combination of both is the more common path to achieving perfection in this life, where contemplation is necessary in order to give the soul its characteristic food through prayer and knowledge of the eternal truths and will of God; and where work is necessary, as atonement for sin and a means for maintaining life and increasing virtues. Activity presupposes needs and disasters, and corresponds to life here, which is full of them. Contemplation seeks a calmer and purer life and will remain, or rather, will be perfect when, instead of this weak ray of eternal light, which the soul, here held captive in the shackles of the flesh, imperfectly sees, it, freed from everything that binds it to created things, sees the very light at its source. So it is clear why our Savior asserted that Mary chose the better part; and if not everyone is called to lead a contemplative life in a monastery and in solitude, then everyone, however, must choose a state of life in which they can more safely achieve salvation; everyone should, in accordance with their condition, save a few minutes every day in order to reflect on the final goal of life and be aware of their success on the path of active fulfillment of Christian virtues. “It should not,” says St. Augustine (On the City of God, book. XIX.), - to indulge in the peace of contemplation so as not to think about being useful to one’s neighbor, not to indulge in activity so as to forget about contemplation. The calmness that one should love is not idleness, but removal from worries and vanities in order to seek the truth, in order to benefit both oneself and others. In an active life, what should be kept in mind is neither honor, nor power, nor consolation, which can sometimes be associated with this life, but the achievement connected with it, when it contributes to our own sanctification and success in love for our neighbor. A wife convicted of adultery The Pharisees constantly used new efforts to lay hands on the Divine Mentor and put Him to death. But His hour has not yet come. One day, after a rather heated debate between the Pharisees, in which Nicodemus also took part, reproaching the teachers of the Law for the inconsistency of their actions, inspired by the blindness of passion, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. And in the morning he came to the church again, and all the people came to Him. He sat down and began to teach them. Here the scribes and Pharisees bring to Him a woman taken in adultery: and, setting her in the middle, they say to Him: “Teacher! This woman was taken in the very act of adultery; and Moses commanded us in the law to stone such people: What do you say to this? They said this, tempting Him, in order to find something to accuse Him of. But Jesus, bending down, wrote with his finger on the ground, not paying attention to them. And how urgently they began to ask Him; Then, standing up, he said to them: “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” And again bending down, he wrote on the ground. But they, having heard this, and being convicted by their conscience, went away one by one, beginning from the oldest to the last: and only Jesus remained, and the woman standing in the middle. Jesus, looking up and not seeing anyone but the woman, said to her: “Woman! Where are your accusers? Has no one judged you? She answered: “Nobody, Lord!” Jesus said to her: “And I do not condemn you. Go and sin no more.” What the enemies of Jesus Christ did in the described circumstance with the aim of trapping Him in His word and destroying Him, only served to expose them to themselves and arouse wonder at His wisdom and goodness. The position of the Divine Mentor, apparently, was difficult: He had to maintain His dignity, and preserve the love of the people, and expose the hypocritical malice of the Pharisees, and save a guilty but unhappy wife, and keep the law: and now Jesus satisfies all these requirements calmly, humbly, without any miracle! The severity of laws and moral judgment against adultery is obviously based on the public good. This vice both violates public order and leads to the commission of other crimes. The more important the duties imposed by the marriage state, the more necessary it is that this union should be sacred and inviolable. When this crime is once committed, then there is no longer any respect, no trust, no mutual tenderness between the spouses - not to mention other, more harmful consequences that can arise from here; - the connection that was supposed to make the spouses happy becomes unbearable for them. This gives birth to obvious discord, seductive divorces of spouses, mutual disgrace, open hatred between families: and to what extremes can jealousy, vindictiveness, and rage lead? What are the examples for children who should find examples of virtues in those from whom they received life? This is how the Pharisees concluded: If He is of the opinion that this woman should be stoned, then He will act contrary to that meekness that attracts all hearts to Him; and if He thinks that He should let her go without punishment, then He will clearly violate the sense of justice. Without a doubt, in order not to lose in the minds of the people that superiority that makes Him the object of universal love, He will express the idea that she should not be put to death - and then we will have a wonderful opportunity to seize Him and accuse Him as a despiser of the Law. So, the Jews thought to confuse the Savior; but the word that was spoken even before this by the Holy Spirit is true: “In vain are feathered creatures washed” (Proverbs 1:17). The Divine Mentor answers in a way completely unexpected for them. He did not say that this woman should not be stoned, so as not to break the law; did not say that it was necessary to stone her, because He came not to destroy, but to save: He softens His answer so much that He does not offend either justice or mercy. “Who among you is without sin” - this is the goodness and mercy of the God-man, which has the goal of freeing this woman from the hands of her accusers! “Let him be the first to throw a stone at her”—this is the justice of the Most High, which demands that sin be punished; for, according to the explanation of Blessed Augustine, the Savior here seems to say this: let the sinner be punished, but not by sinners; the law must be fulfilled, but not by those who break the law. This answer, full of truth, embarrassed the corrupt people, who hastened to leave to hide their shame. This condescension of our Savior should not inspire false hope in sinners, but only teach them that if they repent, then Jesus Christ is always ready to forgive their sins. The Pharisees themselves were caught in the net they were spreading for the Divine Mentor. We must know that we bring similar shame upon ourselves whenever we accuse others of a vice of which we ourselves are guilty. In order not to be subjected to such an important and, unfortunately, such an ordinary shortcoming, we, before we begin to condemn the weaknesses of another with such severity and even, as is often done, demand punishment for them, must conscientiously test ourselves whether we are able to throw the first stone at him. Alas! How many people are there who see the speck in their brother’s eye without noticing the plank in their own eyes! How many of them are there who, in all their conversations, only open their mouths to censure the actions of such and such, to examine the behavior of such and such, but how quickly they would fall silent when they were told: he who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone! Even if a person were not guilty of the vice he condemns, then in the eyes of God it is enough that he is not completely innocent to attract the same condemnation to which the Pharisees were subjected; for they were free from the vice of adultery, of which they accused the woman they brought to Christ; but their hearts were darkened by the envy and hatred they had towards Him. If, before judging others, we tested ourselves, then we would show to others the same condescension that we need for ourselves; we would not condemn, so as not to be condemned: we would be more humble at the sight of our neighbor’s shortcomings, for we would learn that no one is free from them, and that every minute one can fall into incomparably significant offenses. Once, when tax collectors and sinners approached Jesus Christ to listen to Him, the Pharisees and scribes grumbled about this and said: He receives sinners and eats with them. But Jesus gave them the following parable. One man had two sons. The youngest of them said to his father: My father! Give me the part of the estate that should go to me. And the father divided his estate for them. A few days later, the youngest son, having collected everything, went to a distant place, and there he squandered his property, living dissolutely. When he had lived through everything, a great famine arose in that side, and he began to be in need. Then he went and accosted one of the inhabitants of this side; and he sent him to his fields to graze pigs: there he was glad to fill his belly with the food that the pigs ate, but no one gave him that either. Finally, having come to his senses, he said: How many hired servants in my father’s house are content with bread in abundance, while I am dying of hunger! I will get up, go to my father and say to him: parent! I have sinned against heaven and before you, and am no longer worthy to be called your son: accept me as one of your hired servants. He got up and went to his father. And while he was still far away, his father saw him and took pity on him, and, running, threw himself on his neck and kissed him. The son said to him: parent! I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. And the father said to his servants: Bring the best clothes and put them on him, and put a ring on his finger and boots on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it: let us eat and be merry; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; was lost and found. And they started having fun. Meanwhile, his eldest son was in the field, and returning, when he approached the house, he heard singing and rejoicing; calling one of the servants, he asked what it was. The servant answered him: Your brother has returned, and your father killed the fatted calf, because he saw it healthy. He became angry and did not want to enter. His father came out and called him; but he answered him: I have served you for so many years and have never disobeyed you in anything that you did not order me; but you never gave me even a kid so that I could have fun with my friends. And when this son of yours returned, having squandered your property with indecent women, you killed the fatted calf for him. The father said to him: my son! You are always with me, and everything that is mine is yours. And you had to rejoice and be glad that this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; was lost and found. All the instructions of Jesus Christ are marked with the seal of truth and infinite wisdom, with which inexpressible treasures are hidden in His divine heart. Why does it happen that not all of these instructions make such a deep impression as the parable of the prodigal son? This is because it presents the most sensitive picture, the most living contrast and the most touching description of the extreme error of the human heart and the inexhaustible mercy of God. There are so many lessons here in a few words, and what lessons! Is it possible to read this parable and not be moved, not feel horror at vice, not decide to love God, Who, in order to attract us to Himself, depicts Himself in features that signify incomparable kindness? Is it possible, having fixed your gaze on the excellent image of the prodigal son, which was drawn by the brush of Spada (Spada, the famous Bolognese painter of the 16th century), not being touched to the depths of your heart, and together with the prodigal son, shedding sweet tears of contrition and love, not exclaiming: My Father! I come to you; my behavior will no longer be a reproach to the blessings with which you showered me! I want to become the best. The purpose of this parable is to show how a person moves away from virtue, and then how he returns to God; what evils one is freed from and what benefits one acquires through sincere conversion. The waste of the father's wealth depicts to us the abuse that a sinner makes of the natural and supernatural gifts he has received from God. Hunger and poverty are that immeasurable emptiness that forms in the soul, created for God alone, which nothing can fill, even in the midst of abundance, when it does not have God in itself. The owner to whom the prodigal son gives himself is the devil. Oh! What slavery has he reached through false freedom, instead of the sweet freedom found in the slavery of the children of God! - Pigs are those vile passions of which he became a slave; and the pig's food is those pitiful pleasures to which he has sacrificed everything, which are often not given to his desires and always remain unable to satisfy them. The dissolute son who says: What evil is this doing to my father? - there is a madman who adds arrogance to insult; and the sinner who says: What evil does my sin do to God? - there is a wicked person who adds blasphemy to lawlessness. How many sinners are there who say like the prodigal son: I will rise and go: but some go immediately, others delay their return: this is why there are repentant and unrepentant people; the chosen ones, who had previously sinned a lot, and the rejected ones, who had planned to repent a thousand times. – Precious clothing is a symbol of original innocence. The ring is a guarantee of the return of the Holy Spirit to the heart, from which He was expelled through sins, to which He returns again with the fullness of His gifts and grace. Boots protect the feet of the penitent against the stones of temptation and protect them from the bite of the infernal serpent. The well-fed calf depicts the flesh of Jesus Christ, which is given to the repentant as a sign of reconciliation, and as food necessary for the preservation of spiritual life, which is mercifully returned to him. Jesus blesses the children Having announced to His disciples about His glorious coming on the day of the last judgment, Jesus offered them a parable about how one should always pray and not lose heart, saying: in a certain city there was a certain judge who did not fear God and was not ashamed of people. In the same city there was a certain widow, and she came to him and said: protect me from my rival. But for a long time he didn’t want to; but then he said to himself: although I am not afraid of God, and I am not ashamed of people, but since this widow bothers me, I will stand up for her so that she does not come to constantly bother me. And the Lord said: Hear what the unjust judge says. Will not God protect His chosen ones who cry out to Him day and night, although He is slow to protect them? I tell you that he will give them protection soon. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? Also, to some who were confident in themselves that they were righteous, and humiliated others, he spoke the following parable. Two people came to the church to pray: one was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing, prayed to himself like this: “God! I thank You that I am not like other people, robbers, offenders, adulterers, or like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I acquire.” The publican, standing at a distance, did not even dare to raise his eyes to heaven: but, striking himself on the chest, he said: “God! Be merciful to me, a sinner! I tell you that this one went home justified, and not that one: for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. They also brought babies to Him so that He could touch them; The disciples, seeing this, did not allow those bringing it. But Jesus called them and said, “Let the little children come to me, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child; he will not enter it. - And one of the nobles asked Him, saying: Good Teacher! What must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him: Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: do not commit adultery; do not kill; don't steal; do not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother. He said: I have kept all this from my youth. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing: sell everything that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come and follow Me.” When he heard this, he was saddened, because he was very rich. Jesus, seeing that he was saddened, said: How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. And those who heard said, “Who then can be saved?” But He said: what is impossible with men is possible with God. Peter said: Behold, we have left everything and followed You. He said to them, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left home, or parents, or brothers, or sisters, or wife, or children for the kingdom of God, and will receive eternal life again in this time and in the age to come.” Truly pious people, and not those who only try to appear so, not only have certain hours designated for prayer itself, but in order to fulfill the commandment of the divine Mentor, they, renewing their good intentions, constantly rising in spirit towards God, try to turn all their actions into prayer, although not verbal, but nevertheless strong internally and continuous. Seeing that the widow’s request could soften the heart of even the most merciless judge, what should we not expect from God, Who is goodness itself? Our Divine Mentor, offering this example of the effectiveness of prayer, teaches us that God, having the most lively disposition to do good to us, nevertheless wants us to pray to Him for this ardently and constantly. Nothing is so contrary to the spirit of the Gospel as the character of those vain people who, presenting themselves as models of righteousness, despise others. How many people are there who, like the Pharisee, bring into prayer only the spirit of pride, enter the sanctuary to be vain of their luxury, flaunt their wealth and ask God for His favors as if they were demanding what was due to them, always being ready to turn Divine gifts into objects of vanity when the Lord sends them down, and to grumble if He refuses them! Alas! There are too many people who are self-deceived and wrongly understand the essence of piety, who, apparently, place all virtue in the outward severity of life and in the fulfillment of the external duties of religion. This is because it is much easier to exhaust the body with fasting than to tame the spirit with humility, and it is incomparably easier to renounce property than to renounce self-love. But the most severe exhaustion of the flesh, the strictest justice, the most impeccable purity cannot open heaven to us if these virtues are not accompanied by Christian humility. Sin, which humbles a person, through the saving contrition that it arouses in the soul, again elevates him from a state of humiliation. For God, as soon as he sees us falling at His feet, immediately returns His mercy to us and showers us with good deeds; but He angrily rejects and leaves in sin the proud Pharisee, who sees nothing in the world better than himself. Jesus Christ condemns the misunderstood sense of respect for Him by His disciples, who alienated their children from Him for fear that they would not be a burden to Him. By this He teaches the great of the world and people who have any power to be accessible to even the most insignificant persons, to listen to their requests, their complaints. Strong lands! This poor man, whom your eyes do not notice, because either his modesty or your pride keeps him at a distance, this man, unknown in his humble position, may be great before God for his innocence and virtue. So, be afraid, for the mere insignificance of your position in the world, not to respect those whom God looks upon as His friends, those whose good qualities are valued by the world itself, which is more just than you. Salvation is difficult for the rich, because wealth almost always produces one of these three consequences: it either inflames greed in the heart, or puffs up pride, or makes a person sensual and self-loving. Blessed is the one who, at the sight of these difficulties, looks at wealth with apprehension, instead of being carried away by it: for attentiveness to the danger that threatens him with destruction forces him to find and use for good the means that God's mercy always places in his power to save him from shipwreck and establish him in the holy hope of achieving the kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a master who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. Having agreed with the workers to pay them a denarius per day, he sent them to his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idly at the market, and he said to them, “Go you too into my vineyard, and whatever happens, I will pay you; and they went. Coming out again around the sixth and tenth hour, he did the same. Finally, going out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing idly, and said to them: Why have you been standing here all day idly? They answer him: no one hired us. He says to them: Come you too into my vineyard. When evening came, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning from the last to the first. And those who came about the eleventh hour received each a denarius. Those who were hired first, having arrived in turn, thought that they would receive more; however, they also received a denarius. And having received it, they began to murmur against the owner and said: these last worked only an hour, and you put them on a par with us, who worked all day and endured the heat. But he answered one of them: my friend, I do not offend you: did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take yours and go. I want to give this last one the same as I gave you. Don't I have the power to do whatever I want? Is your eye envious because I am kind? So the last will be first, and the first last: for many are called, but few are chosen. Many Church Fathers see in this parable an advantage given to the pagans over the Jewish people, who were chosen and called before them. It is very likely that this was indeed the intention of the Divine Savior when He offered it. But, according to most interpreters, it also has another meaning, which our Savior probably also had in mind, and we will pay attention to it; because he relates to us closer and more directly and provides us with a more abundant source of edification. In this parable we see a tender picture of the infinite mercy of the Lord, Who mercifully stretches out His hands to the sinner and lovingly receives him, no matter at what time he comes to Him. Unfortunately, many put off their conversion for a long time due to false calculations, from which they sometimes die. As long as the breath of life remains in a person, he is in the power of God’s mercy, which awaits his repentance; this is absolutely true; but it is very foolish for a person to imagine that he, having spent most of his life in infinity, or in oblivion of the rules of piety, will, as he assumes, in the last days have both the desire and enough time to thoroughly take care of his salvation. How many terrible accidents that should plunge us into holy fear and convince us to immediately get down to business in order to secure, while it is still in our power, the success of the only cause for which we live in this world. The Lord of the vineyard is God; the workers are we, the vineyard is our soul, which we must cultivate willingly in the duties of our holy religion; the hours of the day are different ages of life in which labor, no matter how long it is, is only the labor of one day; finally, the denarius is a heavenly reward. Oh, how good is our God, who calls and seeks us from morning to evening, that is, from our cradle to the grave! He invites, He convinces us with His Holy word, with the good examples that we witness, with the sorrows with which He grieves us and sometimes encourages us to run away from sins with illnesses, misfortunes, unforeseen deaths, in a word - with all the incidents that surround us. He especially acts on us by arousing in us good feelings, holy thoughts, pious desires, saving intentions, worries that worry us, remorse that worries us - all these are the essence of the suggestions that God sends to us and with which he encourages us not to remain idle... Ah! Finally, stop persisting against His tenderness; have as much pity for your soul as He has; have as much concern for your happiness as He shows you. Whatever the hour of the day in your life, go, like the workers mentioned in this Gospel, to work in the vineyard and begin to earn the reward that He promises you. But He assigns this reward to unremitting diligence, and through this He shows you that the Christian life is not a life of distraction and pleasure; and in order to better make us understand this, He chooses for comparison the work in the vineyard, which especially requires a lot of vigilance and the most continuous and difficult care. Make up for the multiplicity of time with your jealousy, cut off useless branches, that is, excesses that burden the soul: purge from the heart the criminal attachments that infect it; eradicate to the last branch the vile passions that suffocate your zeal for salvation. Cultivate your vineyard continually to attract the dew of holy anointing to it. Bring him, with the heat of your zeal, to such a state as to present him to the Master of the House as holy as you received him after your baptism, and even more, abounding in rich fruits for eternity. The lord of the vineyard in this parable gives equal reward to those who worked one hour and to those who worked the whole day; but in saying this, the Divine Savior did not intend to say that the Saints reigning in heaven would have equal glory. The same lips that said that all the workers were given a denarius each proclaim that “in the house of the heavenly Father there are many abodes” (John 14:2); and that in the Kingdom of Heaven the greatest will be the one who humbles himself more on earth. Everyone will receive the same award, but they will receive it in accordance with their merits. In the same way, others will undergo one punishment in hell, but their torment will be in accordance with their crimes. In Bethany, Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, was sick. Therefore his sisters sent him to say to Jesus: “Lord! The one you love is sick.” Jesus, hearing this, said: “This illness is not for death, but for the glory of God, that through it the Son of God may be glorified.” Then he said to His disciples: “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going to wake him up.” To this His disciples said: “Lord! If he falls asleep, he will recover.” Jesus spoke about his death; but they thought that He was talking about an ordinary dream. Then Jesus said to them directly: “Lazarus is dead; and I rejoice for you that I was not there; so that you may believe; but let’s go to him.” When Jesus arrived, he found that he had already been lying in the tomb for four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs away; many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to console them in their grief about their brother. Martha, hearing that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him; and Maria was sitting at home. Then Martha said to Jesus: Lord! If You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. Jesus says to her: Your brother will rise again. Martha says to Him: I know that he will rise again on the resurrection, on the last day. Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life; He who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. And whoever lives and believes in Me will never die: do you believe this? She says to Him: So Lord! I believe that you, Christ, are the Son of God, who was about to come into the world. Having said this, she went and secretly called Mary her sister, saying: The Teacher is here and is calling you. She, as soon as she heard it, quickly got up and went to Him. Jesus had not yet come to the village; but was in the place where Martha met Him. The Jews who were with her in the house and consoled her, seeing that Mary hastily got up and left, followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to cry there. Mary came to where Jesus was and, seeing Him, fell at His feet and said to Him: Lord! If You had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her crying and the Jews who came with her crying, he himself was sad in spirit and indignant. And he said: where did you put it? And they say to Him: Lord! Come and see. Jesus shed tears. Then the Jews said: Look how He loved him. And some of them said: Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have ensured that this one would not die? Jesus, again grieving internally, comes to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay on it. Jesus says: take away the stone. The sister of the deceased Martha said to Him: Lord! It already stinks; for he has been in the grave for four days. Jesus says it: Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? So, they took the stone away from the cave where the deceased was laid. Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said: Father, I thank You that You heard Me. I knew that You would always listen to Me, but I said this for the people standing here, so that they would believe that You sent Me. Having said this, he cried out with a loud voice: Lazarus! Get out. And the dead man came out, wrapped hand and foot in swaddling clothes, and his face was bound with a scarf. Jesus says to them: Untie him, let him go. Then many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus had done believed in Him. The Gospel tells us only about three cases of the resurrection of the dead by our Savior. These three resurrections, according to St. Augustine, signify different degrees of depravity and damage to the sinner, as well as different degrees of grace necessary for sinners to convert them to God. The first resurrection performed by the Savior was the resurrection of the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, who died in her father’s house and was still on her bed; the image of a soul that suffered the misfortune of sinning, but which, after the first sinful infatuation, stopped on the path to evil, struck by its crime. The second resurrection of the son of the widow of Nain, who had been dead for a whole day, and who had already been taken out of the house, is an image of those sinners who lived for some time in iniquity, but had not yet fallen into the depths of the abyss. The last resurrection of Lazarus, who had already died for four days and was subject to decay, is the image of a sinful soul buried in addictions, as if in the darkness of a tomb. Alas! Why does it happen that people strive for sin, which they can avoid if they want, while with great care they try to avoid death, the blows of which are inevitable? A strange disorder, an extreme perversion, an incredible blindness of a man who chooses the worst and always strives for the impossible? Oh! If only it were possible to extract people from this fatal sleep, to breathe into them the same fiery desire for eternal life that they apply to preserving this transitory life! What won’t another person do to continue his life for a few miserable moments! Order him to undertake long journeys - he sets off; whether it is necessary to indulge in painful labor - this costs nothing to him; and when God commands us so little to acquire immortal life in the depths of bliss, we refuse to obey Him! When the unfortunate habit of sinning is added to sin, then Jesus Christ needs to use all the power of his grace to snatch that soul from the bowels of death; then there is something to cry about and something to be indignant about; for what is more worthy of the tears of the God-Man than a soul created in the image of God and made captive of the devil and sin? What object is more capable of disturbing the heart of the Savior than the spectacle of people redeemed at the price of His blood and carried away by the habit of sin, to the very center of destruction? By His embarrassment, Jesus Christ allows us to see that He is a man and at that moment when, through the resurrection of Lazarus, He presented one of the most amazing proofs of His Divinity. Having offered up prayer to God His Father, Jesus cried out with a loud voice. He did not say: “My Father, raise this dead one”; but, even sending up prayer, he showed that His own power was sufficient to perform this miracle. Humble in His words, He acts like God. Jesus says to the dead as to the living: “Lazarus, get out,” and the dead man came out! What can compare with such power! Isn't this the work of the Lord of nature? Truly, Jesus raises Lazarus for no other reason than to testify that He is the Son of God, equal to God His Father. Many of the Jews who saw the resurrection of Lazarus believed in Jesus Christ. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. On this occasion, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered a council and said: what should we do? This man does many miracles. If we leave Him like this; then everyone will believe in Him and the Romans will come and take possession of both our place and our people. One of them, named Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, said to them: you know nothing and will not think that it is better for us that one person should die for the people than that the whole people should perish. He did not say this on his own, but, being high priest that year, he predicted that Jesus had to die for the people; and not only for the people, but in order to gather together the scattered children of God. Thus, from that day they decided to kill Him: Jesus no longer walked among the Jews openly, but went from there to a country near the desert, to a city called Ephraim, and remained there with His disciples. But since the Jewish Passover was approaching, many from that country came to Jerusalem before Passover in order to cleanse themselves. There they looked for Jesus and said to each other: What do you think? Won't He come to the holiday? But the chief priests and Pharisees gave a command: if anyone knew where He would be, he would tell them to take Him. Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was dead, whom He raised. There they prepared a supper for Him, and Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with Him. Mary took a pound of fragrant myrrh from pure nard - a dear price; she anointed Jesus’ feet with it and wiped them with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the world. Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed Him, said: Why not sell this ointment for three hundred denarii, and give it to the poor? He said this not because he cared about the poor; but because he was a thief, having a cash box, he wore what was put in there. Jesus said: Leave her, she has saved this for the day of My burial. For you will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have Me. Many of the Jews, having learned that He was there, came here not only for Jesus, but to see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. Meanwhile, the high priests decided to kill Lazarus, because many of the Jews came there for his sake and believed in Jesus. Strange is the blindness of man! Passion always leads him to considerations completely contrary to his benefit, although he seems to have only his own benefit in mind. An example of this is the extravagance of the Jews after the resurrection of Lazarus and the destructive fruit of their carnal wisdom. Thus, they brought upon themselves the disasters that they feared, which they wanted to protect themselves from. Through the death of Jesus Christ they thought to prevent the overthrow of the independence of their people and the destruction of the city; but precisely because they killed Him, the Jewish people lost their independence and the city was destroyed. At the same time, they lost both temporary autocracy, which they were afraid to lose, and eternal life, which they did not think about. Often Providence allows a person invested with a high rank to prophesy without his will and accidentally. This is exactly what happened to the high priest Caiaphas. But here, naturally, another reflection is born, that sometimes, despite the unworthiness of a servant of the Lord, who does not properly fulfill the essential duties of his calling, the Spirit of God does not deprive him of the gifts connected with the priest by the dignity of his title and those powers that flow from there. The Jewish high priests, no matter how they humiliated themselves both when entering into their position and when passing through it, nevertheless did not stop, according to the remark of the blessed one. Jerome, to possess during their ministry the gifts of the Spirit of God, assimilated to their high rank, and were not deprived of It until they put Jesus Christ, the Supreme High Priest of the New Testament, to death. For this reason, the evangelist, conveying the wonderful words of Caiaphas, “It is for us that one man die for the people, and not the whole tongue perish,” immediately adds: “This is not what he said about himself, but the bishop prophesied that year that Jesus wanted to die for the people.” Although Jesus Christ could safely continue to appear among the Jews, regardless of their hatred and threats, He was pleased to observe in His outer actions conformity with the weakness inherent in human nature, with which He was clothed, in order to give to His disciples, as the blessed one says. Augustine, with his avoidance of adversity, an example of prudence and self-reliance in dangerous circumstances, when to go against danger unnecessarily would mean to tempt God. Jesus Christ does not refuse the feast that was prepared solely for Him. True piety does not reject some of the innocent decencies accepted in the world, but it knows how to sanctify their use and find in them an object for virtue. We have here before our eyes an example of a Christian meal; the presence of Jesus Christ teaches us to eat food in the sight of God, whose gracious Hand gives it to us every day; the spirit of love depicted in the person of Martha, moderation and self-mortification - represented in the person of Lazarus... We know that the Lord is present on our altars to receive our vows and worship in our hospitals, in prisons, in the refuge of the poor and unfortunate, to receive help and consolation there; but do we come to Him there? Oh! This very coldness and reluctance of ours to visit these places should impose silence on our vanity and pride; and yet there is no passion that would invent more beauties to cover itself, like stinginess and pride. Solemn entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem The Divine Savior, having spent some time in Bethany with Lazarus, whom He resurrected, undertook the return journey to Jerusalem. When the Lord and His disciples approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage to the Mount of Olives; Then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them: Go to the village that is right in front of you; and immediately find the donkey tied and the colt with her; untie it, bring it to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, answer that the Lord needs them; and they will immediately release them. All this was done, that what was spoken by the prophet might be fulfilled, saying: Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh to thee meekly, sitting on a young donkey, born of the yoke. (Zechariah 9:9). The disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them; they brought the donkey and the colt, covered them with their cloaks, and He sat on top of them. Many people spread their clothes along the road, and others cut branches from the trees and threw them along the road. The people who preceded and accompanied exclaimed, saying: Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! And when He entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in a commotion, saying: Who is this? And the people said, This is Jesus the Prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. Finally, a solemn day has come in the earthly life of the Divine Savior - the day on which He should be publicly recognized as the Messiah and King of Israel. All the people flock to the glorification of Jesus; and if subsequently this same people ended by rejecting Him, then it was necessary that in this previous glorification they should give a testimony against themselves, a testimony of the truth that Jesus presented sufficient evidence that He was the Son and messenger of God, because, finally, as such the people recognized Him, without any other motive than the confidence of this truth. The minds of everyone were disposed to this confidence not by hired persuaders sent to persuade the mob and beggarly beg for their approval; Jesus did not use any of the similar means that were used against Him; His virtues, His teaching, miracles, some spoke in His favor and among the miracles - mainly the resurrection of Lazarus, which recently took place and was now before everyone’s eyes. This is what was the cause of His glory and prepared His triumphal entry; but even here it would be in vain to think of seeing such splendor as usually surrounds triumphant victors. Here everything was in perfect agreement with the character of the One who said: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). His enemies could not have sufficient grounds to conclude from this that He was thinking about royal dignity, towards which no one would want to march as Jesus did. However, it should be noted that, in accordance with the customs of that time and that country, the circumstances of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem did not represent anything strange or funny, as it might seem to us: everything here was only an expression of simplicity and modesty; and everything simple gave a new radiance to the glory of the Savior, showing that the extraordinary honors received by Him were not expelled, and were, as it were, forced by the terrible splendor that surrounds the kings of the earth, but were given to Him solely out of feelings of high respect and deep reverence for His Person, with which the whole people were imbued. “Let us not imagine,” says Blessed Augustine, “that it would be any advantage for the King of Angels to also be the king of men. The kingdom that He wants to establish over us is peace, freedom, life and salvation for His people. He is not a King to demand taxes, to gather numerous troops; but He is the King because He rules over souls, because He communicates to us eternal blessings, and makes those whom love subjects to His dominion as participants in His Kingdom” (Homil in Math.) The duty of the servants of Jesus Christ is, according to His command, to release sinners, represented by two animals, in order to bring them to Him and make them instruments of the triumph of His grace: in vain the devil, the world and the flesh resist the liberation of the soul. The Lord is the ruler: and at the moment when He declares that this soul, in whatever way, must be subject to the plans of His mercy, they leave it and nothing will prevent it from belonging to the Lord; her strong will, assisted by grace, will overcome all obstacles. How lively and simple-hearted is the piety of this people, who take off their clothes to lay them under the feet of Jesus! And we, in the face of the poor, often see Him naked and suffering, and not thinking of covering Him with the abundance of our clothes, we give Him only rags that are unfit for use. “They only demand a little money from you, a little bread for the poor, dying of hunger and poverty, and even that can barely be plucked from your stingy hands,” says St. Chrysostom on this occasion, “what if much larger donations were placed on you?” Strange blindness! After so many amazing miracles performed by Jesus, people in Jerusalem still ask: who is Jesus? This is how we see many worldly people who, having been raised in the depths of the Church, do not know Jesus Christ. – Here the people bear witness to the dignity of the Savior. Thus, O our God, You find in small, simple people the ability to accept the knowledge of Jesus Christ, while most of the rich, learned and great of the world close their eyes before the light. But in the true sense of the word, there are no rich, no wise, no great in the world except those who know and love Jesus Christ. In vain does wickedness grumble, like the Pharisees, at the sight of the triumph of the God-man. If it listens only to its hatred of Jesus Christ, if the death of the Righteous One has already been decided, finally, if the cross is already being prepared; then now, as in former times, the evil plans of the wicked are crumbling, and this very cross will be the salvation of the universe. Denarius with the image of Caesar The Divine Mentor became the object of hatred of the scribes and high priests. Everything He did or said to make them go deeper into themselves only irritated them more and more. One day, after they asked Him treacherous questions, the answers to which plunged them into confusion and embarrassment, He began to speak to the people this parable: A certain man planted a vineyard and gave it to husbandmen, and went away for a long time. And in due time he sent a servant to the vinedressers so that they would give him fruit from the vineyard; but the winegrowers, having beaten him, sent him away empty-handed. He also sent another servant; but they, having beaten and scolded him, sent him away empty-handed. And he sent a third one: they also mutilated him and drove him out. Then said the lord of the vineyard: What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: perhaps when they see him they will be ashamed. But the vinedressers, seeing him, reasoned among themselves, saying: This is the heir; Let's go, kill him, and his inheritance will be ours. And they brought him out of the vineyard and killed him. What will the lord of the vineyard do with them? He will come and put those vinedressers to death and give the vineyard to others. When they heard this, they said: God forbid! But He, looking at them, said: What does it mean that is said in the Scripture: the stone that the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner? Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken, and whoever it falls on will crush him. At this time the chief priests and scribes sought to lay hands on Him, but they were afraid of the people; for they understood that he spoke this parable about them. And, watching Him, they sent insidious people who, pretending to be pious, would catch Him in some word in order to betray Him to the authorities and the power of the hegemon. And they asked Him: Teacher! We know that You speak and teach correctly, and do not look at the face: but you teach truly the way of God. Should we give tribute to Caesar or not? And realizing their wickedness, he said to them: Why are you tempting Me? Show Me the denarius; Whose image and inscription is on it? They answered: Caesar's. He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God.” And they could not catch Him in His word before the people; and, surprised at His answer, they fell silent. When we see that Jesus Christ Himself, the most perfect example of all virtues, becomes the target for the poisonous arrows of malice of those very people to whom His infinite goodness bestowed only benefits, we cannot help but feel that there is a mystery here: but in any case, from here we can see how great the malice must be in the hearts that serve as the playground of passions: further, if the best of the Mentors drank such a cup of sorrow, if ingratitude pursued Him, if He was a victim of such injustice, then it should not be surprising that we all, sinners, will experience the same fate. This teaches us to be compassionate towards those who harm us and to endure with selflessness the disasters that, by the will of Providence, sometimes strike us. Saint John Chrysostom, speaking about acts of injustice in relation to neighbors and in particular about the appropriation of someone else's property, both violent and acts committed through deception, with which society is constantly indignant, expressed a solid truth when he said that injustice is one of those disorders in the world that are condemned, serve as an object of disgust and fear mainly in others, while at the same time this vice is left unattended, tolerated, and nourish in themselves. “It is strange to see,” says this holy teacher, “the care with which we take precautions against the treachery of people towards us, and how little distrust we harbor in our own fidelity towards them. We are vigilant and attentive to prevent those who have business with us from causing us the slightest harm: but we hardly ever think about the harm that we cause them. Nevertheless, it is obvious that the injustice with which we are treated is less reprehensible for us than that with which we act in relation to others; because, in accordance with the truths of salvation, it is incomparably greater evil to deceive than to be deceived, to cause injustice than to endure it, to rob one’s neighbor than to suffer theft of one’s property.” The world judges this differently; but faith, which serves as the rule of our life, affirms this moral position as an unshakable truth that is not subject to any doubt. It follows from this that a Christian who wishes to live according to the principles of God's law must be more careful not to violate the benefits of his neighbor than to preserve his own benefits; he, mainly, must take care not to protect himself only from the bad intentions of those who approach him, but to protect those who approach him from them, to protect himself from these intentions. This truth was considered undeniable, even in paganism: is it possible to challenge it in the religion of Jesus Christ? To render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's does not mean to offer him a gift, but to pay a debt: so the Son of God did not say “give,” but “render.” These words convey a clear and precise image of our responsibilities to government officials. It is useless to dwell on this issue: it cannot present any difficulty for anyone who knows even a little about the Holy Scriptures and in particular the epistles of St. Apostle Paul, who knows that “the existing powers were created by God” (Rom. 13:1). Let’s just say that all our responsibilities to kings, rulers and bosses in general come down to three main ones: firstly, obedience and fidelity, then to zealously fulfill the duties assigned to each by his rank, and finally, to prayer for those holding power. We need constant caution to anticipate and avoid the snares laid out for us in the world. The Savior forces His enemies to silence, forces them to recognize His wisdom and marvel at it. Between Christian wisdom and human prudence there is the same difference that exists between flesh and spirit, between God and man. One is always restless, the other is always firm and courageous, because it is not in vain that she establishes herself in God. Jesus predicts the destruction of Jerusalem Shortly before his much-sorrowful suffering, Jesus denounced the scribes and Pharisees for their pride, untruth and hypocrisy, revealing in His conversation their deceit and mourning the city that served as their place of residence. He called out to this city like this: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the Prophets and stones those sent to you! How many times have I wanted to gather your children together, as a bird gathers its chicks under its wings, and you were not willing? The time is coming when all your houses will be empty!” Then, turning His gaze to the Temple of Jerusalem, He said to His disciples: “Do you see all these buildings? Truly I tell you, they will all be destroyed, so that not one stone will be left upon another.” Then, when He was on the Mount of Olives, His disciples came to Him alone and asked: Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of Your coming and the end of the age? Jesus answered and said to them, “Take heed that no one deceives you.” For many will come in my name, saying: I am the Christ; and they will deceive many. You will also hear about wars and war rumors. Look, don't be horrified; for all these things must come to pass: but this is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in various places. Yet this is the beginning of sorrows. Then they will hand you over to torture and kill you; and you will be hated by all nations because of My Name. Then many will be tempted, and will betray each other, and will hate each other. And many false prophets will arise and deceive many; and as iniquity continues, the love of many will grow cold. He who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come. So, when you see the abomination of desolation, predicted by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand! For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not happened since the beginning of the world, nor will there ever be. And if those days had not been shortened, not a single person would have been saved; but for the elect those days will be shortened. Then, if someone says to you: here is Christ or there; don't believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders; so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I tell you this in advance. So, if they tell you: here He is in the desert, do not go out; here He is in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever there is a corpse, there the eagles will gather. And suddenly, after the sorrow of those days, the sun will darken, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven: and, seeing this sign, all the tribes of the earth will mourn and will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet voice; and they will gather His elect from the four corners of the world from one end of the heavens to the other. Heaven and earth will pass away; but My words will not pass away. About that day and hour, except My Father, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven. And at the coming of the Son of Man it will be the same as it was in the days of Noah. For just as in the days before the flood people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the Ark; and they did not think until the flood came and destroyed everyone; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Watch therefore, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will come. But you know that if the owner of the house knew at what time the thief would come, he would not sleep and would not allow his house to be undermined. Therefore, you too be prepared; for you do not know at what hour the Son of Man will come. No, it seems, hotter than the love that a mother hen has for her chicks: Jesus Christ, according to St. Hilaria, through his incarnation, became like this bird, with which he compares himself; for He became man in the most pure womb of the Virgin Mary in order to cover people with the life-giving wings of His holy humanity, in order to impart to them, as His chicks, the divine warmth of immortal life, and in order, by giving them a new birth, to teach them to rise, like the birds of heaven, in spiritual flight to God. And the people who have been granted such invaluable grace, alas! They would rather crawl on the earth, immerse themselves in sensuality and renounce their high purpose! What ingratitude towards such a good God! What disastrous blindness! But let them tremble! for after the time of mercy there must come a time of justice. The goodness of God foresees the disasters that are about to break out over the guilty and anticipates them with tenderness; if they refuse to heed the sentence that threatens them with terrible punishment, then they will have no one to complain to but themselves when the curse weighs down on them. The destruction that befell Jerusalem as a result of the prophecies of Jesus Christ is a terrible lesson, and a striking confirmation of the fulfillment of what was predicted about the end of times. Shameless wickedness will cause incalculable devastation everywhere, and many people will be caught in the net, spread out under the feet of the children of the Church. Among so many temptations that are strong to captivate and shake even the chosen ones, who can remain unscathed and remain unstumbling and firm in the faith? The one who will imprint on the tablets of his heart the words of the Divine Mentor, and who will place his trust in God, with the confidence that the Lord never leaves, and most of all does not leave in the hour of terrible struggle, his good servant, who sincerely uses all his efforts to remain faithful to him. Jesus washes the feet of his disciples (Mark 14; Luke 22; John 13) On the first day of unleavened bread, when they slaughtered the Passover lamb, the disciples said to Jesus: where do you want to eat the Passover? We will go and cook for You. And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city; and you will meet a man with a jug of water; follow him. And where he enters, tell the owner of that house: The Teacher says: Where is the upper room, that I may eat the Passover with My disciples? And he will show you a large room, cleaned and ready; cook for us there. His disciples went and came into the city, and found as he had told them, and prepared the Passover. When evening came, He came with His twelve disciples and said to them: I greatly desired to eat this Passover with you before My suffering; for I tell you that I will no longer eat it until it is completed in the kingdom of God. So, Jesus, knowing that the hour had come for Him to go out of this world to the Father, solemnly showed that, having loved His beings in the world, He loved them to the end. During the supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Simon Iscariot to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given everything into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, got up from the supper, took off His outer garment and, taking a towel, girded Himself. Then he poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. He approaches Simon Peter: and this one says to Him: Lord! Should you wash my feet? Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do, you do not know now, but you will understand later.” Peter says to Him: You will never wash my feet. Jesus answered him: If I do not wash you, you will have no part with Me. Simon Peter says to Him: Lord! Not only my legs, but also my arms and head. Jesus says to him: He who has been washed only needs to wash his feet, because he is all clean; and you are clean, but not all. For He knew His betrayer; That's why I said, not all of you are clean. When he had washed their feet and put on his clothes; Then he lay down and said to them again: Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me teacher and Lord, and you say it correctly; for I am exactly that. So, if I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet; then you too should wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do the same as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his Master, and a messenger is not greater than Him who sent him. If you know this; blessed are you when you do it. From the very moment of His incarnation until death, the Son of God, for our salvation, had the main goal of healing that vice that seems to serve as the root of all others in man - this is pride. He made it clear even before that His heart is a flaming crucible, containing within itself the fire of divine love, which He came to kindle on earth; but first of all, He declared that we should learn from Him, that is, from His words and examples, that He is meek and humble in heart, and not only in His external relationships, but also in the very depths of His soul, in all the sincerity of His heart (Matthew 11:29). He is humble and therefore obeys all the requirements of the law. He is ready to give man the most wondrous pledge of His love in the institution of Holy Communion, a sacrament equally transcending both our concepts and our hopes, in which the power and goodness of God are revealed with such greatness that it is impossible not to recognize here the amazing work of the Infinite Being. But this miracle of power had to be preceded by a miracle of humiliation for the teaching of the Apostles and the edification of the Church in subsequent centuries: “He emptied himself,” says the Apostle Paul, “to receive the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:7). The Son of God, foreseeing the unfair feeling of those who consider self-abasement to be dishonor, set out to overthrow him in advance, warn His disciples about this and convince them that vanity is the property of small souls, and humility is the valor of great and noble souls. So, knowing the human heart, which is naturally prone to pride, vain glory, and inappropriate self-love, Jesus humbles himself to the point of washing the feet of the Apostles and tries to encourage them to imitate His example. If I, Whom you acknowledge as your Lord and Teacher, Whom I truly am; if I, with all My greatness, did not consider it unworthy to humble myself to the point of washing your feet, then can it really be shameful and indecent for you to imitate Me? I have explained to you, and you must remember this, that the student is not higher than the teacher, and that the highest degree to which he can strive is to be like the Teacher. Self-deprecation on your part will not be great if you diligently pay attention to who you are; but it will bring you glory if, remembering who I was, you do what I did. So, let us humble ourselves, and together we will know that we will never humble ourselves to the extent that Jesus Christ humbled Himself; for this beggar to whom we show acts of mercy, this beggar who asks us for alms, the beggar before whom we humble ourselves, is none other than Jesus Christ Himself. Every work of mercy, He says, which “you did for one of the least of these My brothers, you did for Me” (Matthew 25:40). The Fathers of the Church in the washing of feet see an image of the internal cleansing necessary for a worthy approach to the Holy Meal... Alas! While we are in the world, it is impossible not to fall into some, albeit small, sins that darken the beauty of our soul: therefore, we must make every effort to, through sincere repentance, receive forgiveness even for these venial sins, before we accept within ourselves God, Who is holiness itself. (Matthew 26, 26ff. Mark 14, 22ff. Bow. 22, 19 et seq. In. 13, 16 et seq.) The solemn hour came when Jesus Christ, establishing the venerable sacrament of His Body and His Blood, finally deigned to replace the ancient sacrifices with that sacrifice which was to take the place of all of them in its unity, and in its superiority, to infinitely exceed them in its dignity and power. And while they were eating, Jesus, taking bread and giving praise, blessed it, broke it and gave it to His disciples, saying: Take, go: this is My body, which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me. He also took the cup after supper, and having given praise, he gave it to them, saying: Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins... However, behold, the hand of him who betrays Me is with Me at the table. Jesus, Who wanted to teach His Church that a secret sinner should not be excommunicated from public communion of the sacraments, felt in Himself the natural horror of that crime, the deplorable consequences of which He had already decided to experience on Himself. He was troubled in spirit and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” At these words, the disciples looked around at each other, wondering who He was talking about, and, immersed in deep sadness, began to say to Him one after another: Isn’t it me, Lord? But He answered: one of the twelve, who dipped his hand with Me in the dish, this one will betray Me. However, the Son of Man departs, as it is written about Him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed; It would be better if that person had not been born! At this, Judas, His betrayer, probably fearing that his silence would bring suspicion upon him, asked, like others: Rabbi! Isn't it me? Jesus says to him: You said. The disciples did not understand the Lord’s answer, and still restless, began to ask each other, who would be among them who would decide on such a thing? One of them, whom Jesus loved, reclined at Jesus' breast. Simon Peter made a sign to him to ask, who is this, who is he talking about? The beloved disciple, falling to the chest of Jesus, said: Lord! Who is this? Jesus answers: he to whom I will give a piece after dipping it. And having dipped the piece, he gave it to Judas Simon Iscariot. After Judas took the piece of bread that Jesus gave him, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said to him, “Whatever you are doing, do it quickly.” Judas understood this, but none of those lying around understood why He told him this. And how Judas had a box; then some thought that Jesus was telling him: buy what you need for the holiday, or that he should give something to the poor. So Judas immediately went out; and it was night. A wonderful mystery! God, having sacrificed Himself for His creatures, sanctifies for all time the power of His highest sacrifice by establishing the eternal priesthood, and in the venerable sacrament is made food, a pledge, a seal of immortality! “Divine Providence,” says Francis de Sales, “knowing that this sacred sacrament of the Eucharist cannot be comprehended by our weak minds, has been pleased to give many proofs of this truth, both in the Old and in the New Testament. God so abundantly enlightened the prophets and gave them such a high understanding of this sacrament that one cannot help but be surprised that some of them wrote about it; they spoke about it so clearly that you are almost involuntarily amazed when reading about it and seeing how God gave Himself to us in order to be with us in our churches until the end of the world. Truly, we should worship this Divine Sacrament a thousand times a day, in gratitude for the love with which the Lord dwells with us in it; and this would be a great consolation for our faith.” Because the essence of this sacrifice is that the offered and consecrated gifts are converted into the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus; then in it the mysterious death of Jesus Christ appears to our inner eyes, and at the same time it is made known that just as on Golgotha ​​the blood of the Lord was separated from His body, so in St. Liturgy, with the words of consecration, the bread is transformed into His body and the wine into His blood. This Sacrifice cannot now be bloody; for the Savior, by His resurrection, became glorified and immortal. His natural death was to last only a few hours, but after it His mysterious death was to take place, represented daily by the fragmentation of the species of His body and blood. Jesus Christ repeatedly shed His blood, this exceedingly abundant price of redemption; but it is also necessary that this treasure be assimilated by believers. His suffering on the cross, so to speak, collected and prepared this treasure; St. Liturgy divides it. Jesus Christ died on the cross for all people; on St. on the throne He appears to have died especially for each of us. What a mysterious confluence of miracles! In the sacrifice that is performed on St. throne, Jesus Christ unites together both the state of His glory and the state of His death: the state of His glory in order to replace with it the humiliation of Calvary; the state of His death, so that every believer may learn the fruits thereof. Although He appears here in a state of death, He nevertheless remains dispassionate. His glory would blind us, His death would frighten us; mutual moderation of both is needed: on St. on the throne He appears at the same time both as He is in heaven and at the same time as He was on the cross; here He is present as in heaven, but without the visible brilliance of glory, and as on the cross, but without suffering; in heaven He is as the High Priest, on the cross as the sacrifice; and on St. on the throne He is both. How many grave thoughts, what deep horror the treachery of Judas inspires in us! But he who dares to receive communion unworthily renews this immeasurable crime. And despite this, the Lord spares him. Why is God so long-suffering? “Because He is eternal,” answers Blessed Augustine. The Divine Savior was subjected to the most severe scourging and inhuman bloodshed. Pilate, thinking that the Jews were already content with such tortures and insults, came out to them again and said: Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, so that you may know that I do not find any guilt in Him. Then Jesus came out wearing a crown of thorns and a scarlet robe, and Pilate said to them, “Behold a man!” When the high priests and ministers saw Him, they shouted: Crucify Him, crucify Him! Pilate says to them: Take Him and crucify Him; for I testify again that I find no guilt in Him. The Jews answered him: We have a law, and according to our law He must die, because He made Himself the Son of God. Pilate, hearing this word, became more frightened. And again he entered Praetorium and said to Jesus: Where are you from? But Jesus did not give him an answer. Pilate said to Him: Do you not answer me? Don’t You know that I have the power to crucify You and the power to release You? Jesus answered: You would not have any power over Me if it had not been given to you from above; Therefore, he who delivered Me to you has greater sin. From that time on, Pilate sought to release Him. The Jews shouted: if you let Him go, then you are not a friend of Caesar. Anyone who calls himself a King is an opponent of Caesar. Pilate, having heard this word, brought Jesus out and sat down at the judgment seat, in a place called Liphostroton, in Hebrew Gavvatha. Then it was the Friday before Easter, at the sixth hour: and Pilate said to the Jews: Behold your King! But they shouted: executions, executions, crucify Him! Pilate says to them: Shall I crucify your king? The high priests answered: We have no king except Caesar. Then, finally, he handed Him over to them to be crucified, and they took Jesus and led him away. Will anyone ever understand the mystery contained in these simple words of Pilate: here is a man! Truly, this is the terrible state to which sin brought not only the Son of God, Who, having become the Helper of mankind before God the Father, had to, as an innocent Sacrifice, wash away the sins of the world with His blood: but the same deplorable state of man himself, through the Fall, fell from that high rank to which God raised him, making him king of creation and destining him for a blissful and immortal life. Meanwhile, in the midst of humiliation, the Savior constantly preserves the character of His undying Royal dignity, whose symbols and signs are torn around Him, apparently, only so that, in the midst of ignominy, that glory is returned to Him, which, unfortunately, man lost through pride: “It is good for me, for you have humbled me” (Psalm 119:71)! Thus, the first virtue that a disciple of Jesus Christ should imitate, looking to his Divine Teacher, is humility, deeply rooted in the heart, and from there spreading a beneficial influence on all the faculties of soul and body. A humble heart is horrified by sin and endures everything with patience just to avoid it or make amends for it. A humble heart denies itself; fears praise more than contempt and, in all circumstances, thinks only of giving glory to God. Many are surprised at the silence that Jesus maintains before His judges, for silence is sometimes mistaken for consent and, apparently, when we do not answer the questions put to us, we thereby confirm what we are accused of: therefore, does not the Savior, by His silence, confirm the justice of those accusations that His enemies bring against Him? Absolutely not: on the contrary, by His very silence He already refutes the accusation. He has a reason to remain silent who has no need to defend himself. Let those who fear failure in their cause think of remedies, and hasten to speak; as for Jesus Christ, He is victorious even when He is condemned, He triumphs even when the final sentence is pronounced upon Him. Pilate himself must say: “I am not guilty of the blood of this Righteous One” (Matthew 27:24). Thus, the best and just cause is the one that is not defended, and which, meanwhile, is unshakable. Not the completely just cause that is supported by words, but the one that is supported by the truth itself. The truth should not be defended in the same way that untruth is usually defended. On this occasion, Pilate demonstrates his power: but won’t he think about the duties that power imposes on him? It is a great misfortune to have, like Pilate, power in your own hands, and not have enough firmness to resist the brutal demands of evil people who are plotting the oppression of innocence. Persons of partiality or lack of firmness lead to great injustices: and when a great injustice has been committed, how can it be corrected? How? You call Jesus Righteous, and yet you betray Him to the fury of the people? Won't you snatch Him from his cruel hands? Incapable of noble feelings, the cowardly ruler allows himself to be carried away and finally gives in to the fierce cries of the people: “let him be crucified!” (Matthew 27, 22). But the people do not only demand His death, but want Him to die a shameful death - on the cross! “Beware, Christians, lest this guilt turn upon you,” exhorts St. Chrysostom, “and if you understand its importance, then you cannot help but be touched by it. Conscience, not by our will, presiding in us like a judge, internally says to each of us: what will you decide on? Here is your pleasure on the one hand, your God on the other: which of the two will you become when it is impossible to keep both together? You must lose either your pleasure or your God: and this you must decide for yourself. Passion, which has become the owner of our heart, given our excessive tendency to infidelity, inspires us with the following decision: I want pleasure.” But what will you do with your God? (conscience secretly asks: and can I remain silent about Him, when it is impossible for me not to defend His rights, contrary to your desires? “I have no need for Him (passion shamelessly answers); I want pleasure, I have already decided. - But do you know (conscience cries out through its remorse) that by allowing yourself pleasure, you again crucify the Son of God within yourself? “There is no need, let Him be crucified, if only I were satisfied.” But what evil has He done, and why are you betraying Him like this? My pleasure is my right, and since God is the enemy of my pleasure, I repeat: “let him be crucified.” This is the sad position of a sinner who insensitively allows the enemies of his salvation to take a place in his soul. his successes in further struggle. Jesus carrying his cross The soldiers, who were entrusted with carrying out the death sentence pronounced on Jesus, took Him, took off His purple robe, leaving Him with a crown of thorns, clothed Him in His clothes and led Him to execution. And carrying his cross, He went out to a place called Skull, in Hebrew Golgotha. On the way (when leaving the city) they met a certain man called Simon, the father of Alexandrov and Rufov, who was passing there, returning home from the field. Since the Divine Savior, exhausted by fatigue, fell under the weight of the cross, they laid the cross on his shoulders so that he would carry it behind Jesus. Meanwhile, a great multitude of people and women followed Jesus, weeping and lamenting for Him. Jesus turned to them and said: Daughters of Jerusalem! Weep not for Me, but weep for yourself and for your children. For the days are coming in which they will say: Blessed are the barren, the wombs that have not given birth, and the breasts that have not nursed. Then they will begin to say to the mountains: fall on us, and to the hills: cover us. For if they do this to a green tree, what will happen to a dry tree? They took two more villains with Jesus to execution and soon arrived at the Place of Execution. This is a great spectacle,” exclaims Bl. Augustine (Tract. 117. in loan.), - a spectacle that the wicked can turn into a subject of laughter, but which, nevertheless, is worthy of the surprise of Angels and men! Jesus carries the tree of His execution - this is a sign of disgrace, but He changes this shameful tree into the Royal scepter, before which the Lords of the world will once bow - this is incomparable glory! Let us forget for a moment the countless insults, bitter ridicule, blows, and torments to which the Divine Savior was subjected, from the time of His betrayal by the lawless Judas into the hands of cruel enemies even until His last breath, let us dwell on this astonishing spectacle presented to us by the Son of God, who deigned to die for those very people who inhumanly drag Him to death. He, according to Jeremiah, is like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. Jerusalem, ungrateful city! You are ignominiously expelling your Redeemer from your bosom after all the good deeds with which He has filled you! His innocence, His meekness cannot soften you, and, apparently, only irritate the rage of your proud and bloodthirsty rulers, but their terrible triumph accelerates their and your destruction! As for us, it is appropriate for us to recall these words of our Lord, worthy of memory: if anyone wants to be My disciple, let him take up his cross as willingly as I carry Mine, and follow Me; for these sorrowful circumstances of the suffering of our Divine Teacher can most powerfully awaken pious feelings in us. When we see Jesus carrying His cross, we will feel sincere contrition that we have offended God, since our sins make the Savior’s cross so difficult and painful; Let us be ashamed of our negligence in serving our Master, who has endured so much for us; let us humble ourselves at the thought of our weakness retreating before the cross; let us overcome our aversion from it, and, by the example of our Divine Prototype, we will be encouraged to enter the holy path of the cross, and we will be convinced of the necessary need to follow the Savior, bearing our cross, so that we may one day have a share in His glory. How many benefits, how many treasures are contained in the cross! Can one then be amazed that the most experienced ascetics of ancient times unanimously advised souls who wish to rise to their perfections to constantly meditate on the mysteries of the cross? There are people who reject the cross; there are others who bear it with murmuring; finally, others carry it lazily and barely lift it from the ground. But there are also people who carry it courageously and high. We must observe to which class we belong, however, we must assure ourselves that all people bear the cross, not excluding those who even deny carrying it; good people wear it; the wicked also wear it, and for the latter it is much heavier than for the former, because they do not use the reinforcements of Divine grace, depicted for us in the person of the good Cyrenean, who helps Jesus bear His heavy burden. It is not out of compassion that the Jews force Simon to bear the cross of the Savior, but out of refined cruelty. The Savior was so weakened by the torments He had already endured that He wavered at every step; since His exhaustion is obvious, they were forced to give Him an allowance, but not in order to soften the punishment for Him, but in order to prolong it, for they are afraid that He would die before being crucified. Jesus knew their intention, but just as He did not refuse to bear the burden that was to crush Him, so He did not refuse the benefit offered to Him, although it was only supposed to prolong His languor. Is this how you bear your cross? Is this how you lighten the weight of it? Is your comfort from bearing the cross intended to enable you to better serve God, the Church, and society? Aren't you too lenient with yourself and too strict with others, like the Pharisees, who laid heavy and unbearable burdens on the people, but you yourself did not want to lift a finger on them? The Gospel tells that Simon of Cyrene was forced to bear the cross of Jesus. This means that no one by nature loves the cross, but that one must make an effort on oneself and overcome one’s aversion: - that God, in His goodness, forces us through loving compulsions to turn to Him; that for our salvation, even when we resist it, for salvation precisely, He gives us the cross, sends us illnesses, troubles, griefs that are too sensitive and contrary to our inclinations. Sometimes the world, seeing how a great sinner leaves him, and even tramples on him in order to return to God, thinks that he is entering the path of religion either out of annoyance or out of despair: this is usually the worldly judgment; but when would it be so; what a blissful annoyance this is! What holy despair! If this happens, then soon the rush of annoyance passes, and meanwhile the person imperceptibly surrenders to the service of God, and is bound by the bonds of love, which eases the yoke of Christ, which initially seemed beyond our strength. For it happens that someone, at the whim of his imagination, or following insidious advice, chooses a kind of life where everything, apparently, promises him happiness, but the matter ends in fatal disappointment; while the other, against his will, but out of obedience, embarks on the path of life, contrary to his desires, and reveres Providence, kisses his cross and carries it willingly, and the matter ends with the fact that in this very path he sees the path of his salvation. The Great Sacrifice of Calvary (Matt. 27; Mark 15; Luke 23; John 19) When Jesus came to the Place of Execution, they gave Him vinegar mixed with bile to drink; but He, having tasted it, did not want to drink. With Him they crucified two thieves, one on the right, the other on the left; This is how the saying in Scripture was fulfilled: “and he was made a parable among the evildoers” (Is. 53:12). Then, praying for His crucifiers, He said: Father forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing. They wrote on the top of the cross in Hebrew, Greek and Roman the guilt of His condemnation: Jesus, Nazarene, King of the Jews. But the high priests, having read this inscription, said to Pilate: do not write: King of the Jews, but what He said: I am the King of the Jews. Pilate answered: I wrote what I wrote. The soldiers, when they crucified Jesus Christ, took His clothes and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier, and a tunic (underwear); The tunic was not sewn, but woven from top to bottom. So, they said to each other: we will not tear it apart, but will cast lots to see who will get it. Thus was fulfilled what was said in the Scripture: They divided My garments among themselves, and cast lots for My clothing. That's what the warriors did. After this, they sat and guarded Him so that no one would take Him off the cross and carry Him away. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon, that is, nine o'clock in the morning, while Jesus was crucified: Jesus, while undergoing mortal torment, was at the same time subjected to the most severe reproaches. “Those who passed by stopped to look at Him and cursed Him, nodding their heads and saying: He who destroys the church and builds it in three days! Save Yourself; if you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. Along with the common people, the rulers also mocked Him. The chief priests, scribes and elders cursed and said: He saved others, but he cannot save himself? If He is the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and let us believe in Him. He trusted in God, let him now deliver Him, if He pleases Him: for He said: I am the Son of God. Holy King David predicted all these reproaches; and the Jews unintentionally contributed to the fulfillment of the solemnly pronounced prophecy. The soldiers also mocked Him and, approaching, brought Him vinegar. To add insult to injury, the thieves who were crucified with Him mocked Him. However, while one of the hanged villains, slandering Him, said: if You are the Christ, save Yourself and us, another, on the contrary, suddenly changed (by the action of grace) calmed him down and said: Or are you not afraid of God, when you yourself are condemned to the same thing? And we are condemned righteously; for we have received what is worthy according to our deeds; but He did nothing bad. And he said to Jesus: remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” At the cross of the Savior stood: His Mother, and His Mother’s sister, Mary of Cleopas and Mary Magdalene. Jesus, seeing His Mother and the disciple whom He loved standing, said to His Mother: Behold Your son! Then he says to the disciple: here is your mother! And from that hour this disciple took Her to him. At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole earth and continued until the ninth hour. At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying: Eloi! Eloi! Lama Savakhthani? What does it mean: My God! My God! Why have you left me? Some of those standing there, hearing this, said: Behold, he is calling Elijah. After this, Jesus, knowing that everything has already been accomplished (except for only one (insignificant) predicted circumstance) so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, says: I thirst. There was a vessel full of vinegar. One of those standing at the cross at that time ran, took his lip, filled it with vinegar and, putting it on a reed, gave Him something to drink. And others said: wait; let's see if Elijah comes to save Him. When Jesus tasted the vinegar, then, seeing that everything intended for His sacrifice had been fulfilled, he said: “It is finished!” Then, exclaiming with a loud voice, he said: Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit! And having said this and bowed his head, he gave up his spirit. What can I say after this story? The soul feels the need only for silence in order to concentrate within itself and reflect on the high lessons contained in it. Reading with attention this simple account of the Gospel about the last sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, is it possible not to feel reverence in the spirit and tenderness in the heart? The power of truth is such that the most wicked cannot fail to respect it when it appears in such a clear light; and Divine Providence so arranges that she finds zealous defenders for herself among her most notorious enemies. Therefore, we now intend to turn not to the Fathers of the Church, and not to seek edification in their writings: but we will try to find satisfaction in the loud words poured out from the pen of one of the luminaries of skeptical philosophy, when he speaks of the incomparable history of the life of our divine Master: “The Gospel,” says Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “this Divine book, with one reflection on its contents, gives birth to love in the soul to her Scripture and the desire to fulfill His rules. Virtue never spoke in such a meek tongue; never has the highest wisdom been expressed with such power and simplicity. After reading it, you can’t help but feel better than before” (Emil, volume 4). Pay attention, indeed, to the magnificent works of philosophers; how small they are before this book! Is it possible that this book, both so lofty and so wise, could be the product of the human mind? Is it possible that the One whose History it contains was only a simple man? Does it have the tone of an enthusiast or an ambitious cult founder? What meekness, what purity in His morality! What touching sweetness is in His instructions! What sublimity in His rules! What deep wisdom is in His conversations! What presence of mind, what insight and justice in His answers, what dominion over His feelings! Imagine a person, imagine a sage who could act like this, suffer and die - without weakness and without vanity? When Plato describes his imaginary Righteous One, covered in reproach, as a villain, and yet worthy of all rewards for his virtue, he depicts Jesus Christ very similarly; Even the Fathers of the Church felt this striking similarity, and it is impossible not to notice it! What prejudice and what blindness it would be to compare the son of Sophroniscus with the Son of Mary! What an immeasurable distance between one and the other! Socrates, dying without suffering and not an inglorious death, could easily have sustained himself to the end, and if this easy death had not glorified his life, then one could doubt whether Socrates would have turned out to be anything other than a sophist! He, they say, invented moral teaching; but others even before him actually carried out this teaching - he only expressed in words what others did, turned their examples into lessons... Moreover, did he borrow from his own people that sublime and pure morality, to which he alone taught lessons and examples? The death of Socrates, calmly contemplating wisdom with his friends, is the most pleasant one one could wish for; the death of Jesus, giving up His spirit amid the torment, reproach, ridicule and slander of the entire people, is the most terrible one that can be feared! Socrates, accepting the cup of poison, consoles the one who gives it to him with tears: Jesus, amidst the most terrible torment, prays for His cruel crucifiers! Will they say that the gospel story is made up to please? No no; they don’t make this up: and the circumstances of Socrates’ life, which no one doubts, are not attested with the same reliability as the circumstances of the life of Jesus Christ. Moreover, to assert this would mean to evade the difficulty without resolving it! It would be more incongruous in the assumption that many persons, by common consent, composed this story, than in the fact that One Person provided them with His life one common subject for description; Jewish writers would never have invented such a narrative tone or such morality! The Gospel presents signs of truth so striking, so completely inimitable, that the inventor of such characters would deserve greater surprise than his Hero himself (Letter 1.4). Everything we have said is too enough to block the lips of unbelievers of the past, present and future. There is no need to add to this that Voltaire himself, this merciless destroyer of all morality and all religion, as well as all sound philosophy and applaudable Politics, who so unforgivably abused his mind, Voltaire himself repeatedly could not help but pay sincere respect to the Divine messenger of Jesus, who died on the cross for the salvation of the world, Jesus, whose Church he attacked with violent rage, and whom he himself wanted to crush with the power of ridicule; Thus, the founder of the newest wicked people said: “The example set by Jesus Christ is holy; His moral teaching is Divine... But why such a shameful execution? - say the non-believers. Wasn’t it more natural for God to forgive Adam’s sin than to execute it so terribly in the person of his own Son? To find out whether the sufferings of Jesus Christ were unnecessary and unworthy of God, the most reliable means for this is to judge by their consequences. The death of the God-man on the cross gives us the concept of both God’s justice and His love for us, and, arousing in us aversion from sin, inspires us with the deepest gratitude for His divine benefits; from this it happened that so many souls, long stagnant in vices and pride, entered the path of a holy life and full of self-sacrifice. The death of the God-man on the cross inspires a Christian with the courage to endure the most terrible torment rather than betray his faith: hence there are so many martyrs of every age, of every class. The death of the God-man on the cross supports and consoles the believer in his sorrows, and eases mortal pain for him; hence there are so many righteous people who demonstrate examples of patience under all trials and perfect obedience. After this, let's listen to the apostle. Paul to the Corinthians: “We preach,” he exclaims, “Christ was crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to the Greeks; to those who are called themselves, that is, to believers, Jew and Greek, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:23-24). In fact, is there anything more amazing than the miraculous conversion of the world by preaching about the crucified God? This miracle, however, has undoubtedly existed for 1800 years, despite the unheard-of efforts of unbelievers of all times, and will continue to exist until the end of the universe. Jesus Christ said: “If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all things to Himself” (John 12:32); He fulfilled this word and will fulfill His promise in the same way - to remain with His Church until the end of the age. The unbelievers of our time, even more hostile to Jesus Christ than His contemporaries, without blushing, cast suspicion on His miracles, both those that He performed during His life and those that occurred at His death. “Such obvious miracles, they say, if they were actually performed, would be able to convert the Pharisees, scribes and rulers of the synagogue to the faith.” But the Apostles really, on the one hand, presenting the prophecies of David and Isaiah, on the other, the narration of the Evangelists, converted to faith in Christ all those between Jews and pagans who willingly listened to them and conscientiously sought the truth. And that a very large number of people remained in unbelief, this should not be surprising when we ourselves see every day to what extent the stubbornness and madness of people who decide not to believe in anything can reach. Have those who propose such an objection ever thought about the effects of prejudice, envy and bitter hatred! During the three years in which Jesus passed through Judea, fulfilling it with His teachings and miracles, the disgust and rage of the Jewish leaders against Him constantly increased. Can one then be amazed that those prejudiced against so many miracles performed by Jesus Christ during His life did not believe the miracles of Calvary? Refusing to believe them, they are unreasonable but consistent; for the same impulse guides them, the same passions inspire them, the same principles govern them. And don’t we see, in the behavior of the unbelievers of our time, a response to their false reasoning? An obvious, indisputable, constantly existing miracle - the miracle of the conversion of the world does not awaken faith in them! Should they be surprised that the miracles that took place at the Cross did not convert the unbelievers of that time to faith?! As for us, Christians, then, wanting to contemplate the God-man in all His power and glory, let us look at Calvary, at that moment when He is ready to breathe his last breath on the cross. Let us contemplate in Him not raising the dead, not commanding the winds and storms, not driving away demons, for we have already seen Him governing the elements of the world, life and death; as befits the Lord of the universe, let us not be surprised by the thick darkness that covers the earth, or by the opening tombs, or by the general fluctuation of nature; but let us take a closer look (which will undoubtedly touch us) to the fact that the Crucified God-Man - calm among insults and torment - answers the prayer of a notorious villain; as a reward for his faith, He bends the hardest stone of his heart, softens it, applies it and makes it worthy of the greatest promise: today you will be with Me in Paradise!... How is this possible, O Jesus? Cherubim with flaming weapons guard the gates of heaven, prohibiting entry into them; - and you promise to open this gate to the robber! Truly so! I am the Lord of the Cherubim, and hell and its flames are subject to My voice. But what kind of King, entering his capital, was accompanied by a villain, or was a subject ever seated together with the King on a triumphal chariot? But this is how our great Tsar acts. Entering His Kingdom, He brings in with Him a man who was formerly criminal, but now has become such that his presence cannot desecrate the dwelling of the saint - on the contrary, it even elevates his glory; for the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven lies precisely in this, that it has a powerful and good King, who can make even a villain capable of participating in the pure pleasures of heaven. Thus, when, during His evangelistic travels, He called publicans and sinners to His Royal House, He thereby made it clear even then that He could change and sanctify them so that they would become worthy of the highest honors and rewards: - like a doctor, whose art appears in the most brilliant light when it successfully fights against diseases recognized as incurable. Finally, what extraordinary thing did this robber do that he received special care from the Savior himself, and so suddenly moved from execution on the cross to heavenly pleasures? To explain this mystery, this incomparable miracle of mercy, one word is enough: humble confession! The robber admits himself guilty and worthy of death, and together, fearlessly and loudly, he confesses out loud to everyone the innocence and Divinity of the Supreme King, Whom the blinding of the people condemned to execution: “We are condemned righteously, for we have received what is worthy according to our deeds; but He did nothing bad.” By this confession, all the requirements of the law are fulfilled, for the fulfillment of which, according to the word of the Prophet, forgiveness of sins is promised: “Thou hast spoken thy iniquities before, that thou mayest be justified” (Isa. 43:26). Not one sin, but the whole life accuses this great confessor; and only after a sincere confession of his crimes, and a spontaneous statement of his faith in Jesus Christ, does he dare to turn to Him with these words: “Remember me, Lord, when you come into Your kingdom.” Learn from this what is the fruit of confession; learn not to despair of yourself; think about the infinite mercy of our God, and hasten the beneficial correction of your morals. We should not look for the reasons for the suffering and death of Jesus Christ in the malice of the Jews; for they would never have reached such an extreme of inhumanity if Jesus Christ had not accepted the determination to atone for our sins; Moreover, even if they were capable of such an extraordinary task, they would not be able to fulfill such an intention. It goes without saying that they were too vicious, and too depraved, when they already deserved that God allowed them to commit such a terrible crime as was ever committed; but, nevertheless, it is also true that they are not the main and first reason for the suffering of Jesus Christ, this reason is human sins. Jesus Christ suffered and died for our crimes: “he was betrayed,” according to the word of the Apostle Paul, “for our sins” (Rom. 4:25). So, sin is the real cause of the death of Jesus Christ; His killers are us, in the truest sense. We not only contributed to His death, but each of us can say that he is the true cause of His death, since He suffered not only for all people in general, but also for each of us in particular. Therefore, blessed. Jerome puts the following words into the mouth of Jesus Christ: You forced Me to endure these torments - from you and in your place, and out of love for you I endured them: Naes a te, haec pro te, haec propter te passus sum. Therefore, how valuable the suffering of Jesus Christ should be for us, for each of us can exclaim with St. Paul: The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me! (Gal. 2:20) The Great Apostle finds his treasure where philosophers think to find only disgrace: “Let me not boast, but in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (Gal. 6:14). On the holy mountain, sanctified by the last breath of the God-man, at the foot of the Cross, in communion with His Divine Matter, who had wept all the tears, and in contemplation of His venerable wounds - this is where it is timely to reflect on the merit of His suffering. There the soul rises above nature; there she enjoys the triumph of Divine love; there she sees and experiences the torment that the Savior endured; there she mixes her tears with Divine blood, and in a feeling of surprise and gratitude constantly repeats the words: so God love the world; so my God loved me! So, let us cast ourselves more often at the foot of the Cross, so we will draw all the grace necessary for our sanctification. If we often stop before the venerable image of our crucified God, contemplating Him with tender love, sending warm vows to Him, then we will see Him with hope when, on the last day of our life, at the moment of our imminent appearance before the judgment of God, it presents itself to us in order to unite our final sacrifice with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Then we will turn our tender eyes to the cross, our weakening hands will squeeze it with love; our lips will cling to Him with holy joy, with living joy we will see His appearance, when at the end of the ages Jesus comes again, armed with this sacred sign, to pronounce His merciful and just sentences on all people! Woe to him who neglects this saving piety! If business, absent-mindedness, worldly pleasures removed you from the cross of your God, then what thoughts will the cross awaken in you at the moment of your destruction, lowered before your eyes? What horror will He fill you with during the general judgment, when the very sight of it will reproach you for abusing His grace and humiliating His merits? Holy wives at the tomb of Jesus Christ On the first day of the week, very early, with prepared incense, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the tomb and found the stone rolled away from the tomb. And when they went inside they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. When they were perplexed about this; behold, two men appeared before them in shining robes; and then, as they were in fear, and lowered their gaze to the ground, they said to them: Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here: He is risen; remember how He spoke to you, while still in Galilee, saying that the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and on the third day rise again. They remembered His words. Since the resurrection of Jesus Christ forms the foundation on which the proofs of His divinity and the truth of His messengership from God the Father are established for the salvation of the world; then Providence wished that this event should be surrounded by all the signs most capable of confirming its authenticity in the eyes of every sincere person who conscientiously seeks to be enlightened, to dispel his doubts, or to confess his errors. The holy women can be venerated as the first to recognize this great event, which, on the ruins of the Old Testament, erected a new law, strong in the triumph of the God-man, the Conqueror of death and the Savior of the world. “If Christ is not risen,” says the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, “then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain. Yes, and we would be false witnesses before God, since we would testify about God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise” (1 Cop. 15:14-15). The prophets predicted that the Messiah would die and be resurrected after His death. “Even if He gives up His life for sin,” says Isaiah, “He will live again, will have numerous descendants, and will accomplish the destinies of the Lord. since His soul suffered illness, He will again see the light and be satisfied with good things” (Is. 53:10–11). Jesus Himself repeatedly told His disciples that three days after His death He would rise from the grave in glory. The Jews are still convinced that the Messiah they expect must die and rise again. So, it is very important to prove that the story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, depicted by the evangelists, is free from any reproach, from any suspicion of deception. It is useless to prove what is obvious to everyone except those who are blinded by passions and forced to believe nothing. We consider the death of Jesus Christ to be an obvious and indisputable event; it is made undeniable by the excessiveness of the suffering He endured; the blow of the spear with which His side was pierced, and finally the anointing of His body with perfumes, and all the circumstances that followed His position in the tomb. Further, we affirm that the disciples of Jesus did not take His body away from the tomb in which He was buried, at the entrance of which the Jews forced a huge stone to be rolled, and which they sealed and surrounded by guards, firstly because they would not have dared to do so. They themselves admit their timidity; they were not the kind of people to use violence against armed guards and, through violence, to carry away a corpse from a coffin that was so well protected. Secondly, even if they dared to do this, they would have no reason to want it; thirdly, if they wanted to, it was impossible for them; finally, if they could, they didn’t do it. They are cleared from suspicion of such theft by the testimony of the guards, when the latter announced to the Jews what had happened, and by the Jews themselves, who did not accuse them of stealing the body of their Teacher, but only of preaching about His resurrection, despite the prohibition made to them. The resurrection of Jesus Christ has been proven by irrefutable evidence. It is proven, firstly, by all the Apostles, who claim that for forty days they not only saw Jesus Christ alive, but also touched Him; that they talked, drank and ate with Him, as before His death; they all laid down their lives as a witness to this event; and their whole life until the last minute was such that they must earn complete trust in them. This truth of the resurrection is confirmed by the conversion of the world: indeed, to say that the spread of the Gospel proves its Divinity is to say a truth that is very easy to prove. “How,” says St. John Chrysostom, - Could the apostles have considered themselves called to conquer the world if they had not seen Jesus Christ risen? Were they really so unreasonable that they abandoned themselves to chance in such an enterprise? It would be the height of folly to hope for any success without the help of Divine power.” The point was to change habits that had become obsolete over a long series of centuries, to instill contempt for the pleasures of this life, to enter into a struggle with all human passions, and to force the human race to bow under the yoke of humility and self-sacrifice. Even if the Apostles were people versed in the sciences, distinguished by high honors, possessing enormous wealth, surrounded by all the splendor of glory; even then could such bold assumptions be born in them? But, really, what were they? People of the lowest origin, engaged in crude crafts necessary for their livelihood, completely devoted to activities completely alien to philosophy and almost incapable of elevating the mind. How is it possible to imagine that such people could conceive the idea of ​​​​an enterprise to establish throughout the entire universe the belief in a fictitious resurrection? They could convince the world only by an extraordinary and everlasting miracle; and God does not perform miracles to support a lie. But this miracle exists. The Church, according to the prophecies of Jesus Christ, was to experience thousands of attacks, which, however, did not crush it, and which will always find it unshakable. So, the Gospel is true, so Jesus Christ has risen. But, they will say, it was only through a strange madness that the world allowed itself to be convinced. It is a strange, dangerous madness to believe that the soul is immortal; that after death we will be subject to the verdict of an impartial Judge; that in all our lives we will give an account to God, who reads in the depths of our hearts; that we will see the evil punished and the good rewarded! How! To despise the blessings and fleeting pleasures of this world, to honor one virtue, not to look here on earth for rewards for your sacrifices, for your noble struggle, to expect it in another world and to direct all your hopes to heaven; to strengthen your soul with faith in future blessings, without losing courage in the face of any of the present evils - is all this madness? On the contrary, isn’t this the height of wisdom? Isn't this truly heavenly philosophy? The Risen Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene On the first day of the week following the death of the Divine Savior, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb early, when it was still dark, and sees that the stone that blocked the entrance to the tomb has been rolled away from the tomb. So he runs and comes to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and says to them: They have taken the Lord away from the tomb, and we do not know where they laid Him. Immediately Peter and the other disciple came out and went to the tomb. They both ran together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and came to the tomb first. And bending down, he saw only the linens lying: but he did not enter the tomb. Simon Peter comes after him and enters the tomb, and sees only the linen cloths lying and the cloth that was on His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but especially rolled up in another place. Then the other disciple, who had first come to the tomb, entered and saw and believed. For they did not yet know from the Scriptures that He had to rise from the dead. So, the disciples returned to themselves again. And Mary stood near the coffin and cried. And while she was crying, she bent down to look into the coffin. And he sees two Angels sitting in white robes, one at the heads and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus lay. And they say to her: why are you crying? He says to them: They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him. Having said this, she turned back and saw Jesus standing; but did not recognize that it was Jesus, Jesus said to her: Why are you crying? Who are you looking for? She, thinking that it is the gardener, says to Him: if you brought Him out, tell me where you laid Him, and I will take Him! Jesus says to her: Mary! She turns and says to Him: Rabbi, which means: Teacher! Jesus says to her: Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; But go to My brothers and say to them: I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and to your God. Mary Magdalene goes and tells her disciples that she saw the Lord and what He said to her. The zeal of Mary Magdalene to see Jesus again and her courage, which was not afraid to seek Him in the darkness of the night, are the distinctive characteristics of a soul devoted to God and with a pure heart desiring to return to Him. The stone rolled away from the tomb makes us understand that God destroys obstacles, apparently the most insurmountable ones, and smoothes the most difficult paths for those who seek Him with a right heart; one only needs to sincerely desire one’s conversion in order to feel the sweetness and power of grace that accomplishes it. “Seek the Lord until you can find Him,” exclaims the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 55:6). “Do not put off day by day” (Sir. 5:8) until the end of your life, for fear that you will seek Him in vain and will not find Him. Look for Him at all times, following the example of Mary Magdalene, whenever you can find Him, look for Him early in the morning, at sunrise, that is, immediately as Jesus Christ, the Divine sun of truth, sheds several rays of His grace into your soul. You can fully hope for the mercy of your God if you turn to Him at a time when some human weakness has removed you from Him, just like St. Peter, who was worthy to receive forgiveness for his crime because he repented of it and cleansed it on the same night in which he sinned. On the contrary, fear His justice if you persist in your iniquities; sad experience shows that when a person begins to add sins to sins, remorse disappears, all fear disappears, and then the sinner, completely calm, drinks iniquity like water. The Lord, who promises us pardon, does not assign any time at which we could with full confidence expect this pardon. “Those who are awake in the morning seeking Me will find Me,” says the Wise One (Prov. 8:17). So, seek the Lord from the very morning of your life, as soon as the light of reason begins to shine on you, and do not wait to devote your decrepit old age to Him, and go to Him only when the world abandons you. Seek Him, like the Prophet, “in the morning” (Psalm 5:4). Dedicate to Him all the first minutes of the day; from the very dawn present yourself to the One to whom you should always look as the beginning and end of all your actions. There are temptations in which the impulses to faith and hope seem to be completely hidden from the soul; in her confusion, she asks where the Lord is: but the Lord is never so close to her as in these very minutes and does not hesitate to reveal Himself to her. The soul in such trials must resort to Peter and John, i.e. to some wise and enlightened leader who would again breathe faith into her and lead her to where she should again find Jesus Christ. The servants of the Church are visible Angels whom God has given to us to dry our tears and console our inner anxiety. Let's go to them with power of attorney; grace is connected with their words, and often even with our very story about our suffering, made before them, the grace of consolation arises in our soul. Jesus, out of His love, is always ready to forgive, even giving His disciples the name of brothers. However, He appears to loving souls who remain faithful to Him until the grave before others. They receive the first consolations. Moderate your joy, no matter how holy and lawful it may be, for fear that it may lead you to some kind of frivolity. In the same way, to be too anxious and fall into extreme sadness when God deprives us of the sweetness of His consolations for a time is cowardice and a lack of trust in the goodness of the Lord, who at this time no less testifies of His love and goodwill towards us, as when He gives us consolations, because He takes them away only in order to encourage us to be more careful and attentive to ourselves, and to force us to repay Him the honor and glory that are due to Him. This alternation of joy and sadness is much more useful for us than the constant calm that we would desire. The dignity of the soul does not consist in having more divine consolations, but in submitting to the will of God, being confirmed in sincere humility and being more filled with love for God and neighbor. On the very day of the Savior’s resurrection, two of His disciples went to a village sixty stadia (about ten and a half versts) from Jerusalem, called Emmaus, and talked among themselves about all these adventures. And while they were talking and reasoning among themselves, Jesus himself came and went with them. But their eyes were held back, and they did not recognize Him. He said to them: “What is this incident that you are talking about among yourself, and why are you sad?” One of them, named Cleopas, answered Him: Are you the only one who is in Jerusalem and does not know what has happened in it these days? And he said to them: about what? They said to Him: About Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; How did the chief priests and our rulers deliver Him up to be condemned to death and crucify Him? But we hoped that He would deliver Israel; but it’s already the third day since this happened. Some of our women also surprised us; for when they were early at the tomb they did not find His body, and when they came they said that they had also seen the appearance of Angels, who said that He was alive. And some of our men went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see Him. Then He said to them: O foolish ones and slow of heart in believing all that the prophets have foretold! Was this not how Christ had to suffer and enter into His glory? And beginning with Moses, from all the prophets he explained to them what was said about Him in all the Scriptures. - Meanwhile, they approached the village to which they were going; and He showed the appearance that he wanted to go further. But they restrained Him, saying: stay with us, because it is already late, and the day was approaching evening. And going in, he stayed with them. And when He reclined with them at the table; Then he took the bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. And He became invisible to them. Then they said to each other: Didn’t our heart burn within us when He spoke to us on the road and explained the Scripture to us? And getting up at that same hour, they returned to Jerusalem and found together the eleven Apostles and those who were with them, who said that the Lord had indeed risen and appeared to Simon. And they told about what had happened on the way, and how they recognized Him in the breaking of bread. The story of the appearance of our Lord to the disciples going to Emmaus presents us with many very edifying reflections. The death of the Savior was a test for His disciples, but a test already foreshadowed; therefore, their faith had to patiently await the further fulfillment of the Savior’s predictions. The two disciples spoken of here represent to us a semblance of the blindness and weakness of man, who moves away from God and seeks consolation in creatures. How worthy of pity is that soul which, in days of sorrow, abandons its spiritual exploits and the fulfillment of the sacred duties of religion! For at this time, the help of religion is needed more than ever, so that we can arm ourselves with courage, overcome sadness and endure with devotion to the will of God. What, in this case, will “entertainment”, as the world calls it, serve our soul? It will only aggravate her suffering without healing it, and even make it completely incurable. “A virtuous and truly pious person,” says the writer of a book about imitation of Jesus Christ, “has his Comforter with him everywhere - Jesus and often calls on Him: be with me, my Savior at all times and in all places! Let all my joy consist in the arbitrary deprivation of human joys. And if You, Lord, remove Your consolation from me, then let obedience to Your will and Your justice, which sends sorrows upon me, replace me with the highest consolation: for Your anger will not always endure and the severity of Your punishments will last only for a while.” The reproaches that the Lord addresses to his disciples show us two types of dangers that threaten to shake our constancy and our fidelity in serving God. Often people care little about their teaching of the truths of the Gospel - truths that are inconvenient for a damaged nature; hence comes the lack of light and spiritual strength to penetrate into the depths of the mystery of the cross, which is the mystery of human life, the only hope of salvation, the only key that opens heaven for us. The Savior’s rebuke, in this regard, is one of the actions of His loving care for the heart, which gives itself over to cowardice more out of weakness than because of depravity, and for the sinner himself, whom He seeks to distract from his errors. But how shameful for us is the criminal inattention that we show to the presence of our Divine Mentor, Who constantly accompanies us, like the Emmaus pilgrims, together as a King, and as a Shepherd, and as a Judge! As a King, He shows us the way by His example and commands us to follow Him; as a Shepherd, He, with His merits and His grace, accompanies us and helps us both in moving away from evil and in doing good; as a Judge, He tests our actions in order to give each one the reward or punishment due to him. He Himself becomes a wanderer in order to teach us that we also do not have a permanent home on earth, but were created for a more glorious dwelling; that therefore on earth we should live as heirs of heaven and eternity, and not as creatures who live only for a short time and care only about the present, without thinking about the future. Following the example of the disciples who went to Emmaus, let us pray to the Lord that He will be with us, especially when it becomes late, that is, when we are threatened by misfortunes arising from the sinful darkness that vice and delusion spread in society and in souls. We always recognize our Divine Master in the breaking of bread, which in Scripture has three different signs. First of all, it means alms and in general all acts of both spiritual and physical mercy that we show to our neighbors. “Break your bread to the hungry,” says the Prophet Isaiah (Is. 58:7): this is the means to know Jesus Christ and receive his mercy in abundance. Further, the breaking of bread signifies the word of God. If you want to succeed in the knowledge of the love of Jesus Christ, then imitate those two disciples who eagerly listen to the words of the Lord, who reveals to them the mystery of the cross. Finally, the breaking of bread signifies the sacrament of Holy Communion. Here souls ardent with faith come to know the Lord in all fullness and truth. Hungry and thirsty for this heavenly bread and drink, they prepare their hearts and incessantly, with spiritual hunger, open their lips to receive this bread of life and immortality. In the evening, on the very day of His glorious resurrection, which was the first day of the week when the doors of the house where the disciples had gathered were locked, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst of them, and said to them: Peace be with you. Having said this, He showed them His hands and feet and His side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Thomas, otherwise called Didymus (the Twin), one of the twelve, was not here with them when Jesus came. The other disciples said to him: We have seen the Lord. But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the marks of the nails, and put my finger into the marks of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” After eight days had passed, His disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came when the doors were locked, stood in the midst of them and said: Peace be with you. Then he says to Thomas: put your finger here, look at my hands; give me your hand and place it in My side, and do not remain in unbelief, believe. Thomas answered Him: My Lord and my God! Jesus says to him, When you saw Me, you believed: blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. “It is not our business to test,” says Saint Gregory, “how Jesus Christ could enter the house where His disciples were when the doors were locked; but it is our duty to know that if we comprehended the works of God, then they would not be a subject of surprise for us, and faith would then have no merit in us when it was confirmed by reason and experience” (Demon 16. on the Gospel) “So, do not become strong,” we add with St. Chrysostom, - to penetrate into the divine secrets: humbly accept what God reveals to you, and with your curiosity do not try to comprehend what He hides from you” (Des.4 on Matt.). “This shows, as Blaj noted. Augustine, that He who, at birth, left the virginity of Mary, His Mother, intact, could even after the resurrection pass through the closed doors.” (Tract. 10. in loan.) “Have faith quickly, be light at heart.” (Sir. 19:4). But it would be stubbornness and not to believe the testimony of many people worthy of faith, out of partiality for one’s own conviction. In Divine things, faith must precede vision: “if you do not believe, you will not understand” (Is. 7:9) the mysteries of religion. For our edification, Providence allowed such stubbornness in one of the Apostles; to prevent our unbelief, it allowed its unbelief to be revealed. “Unbelievers! - exclaims one pious teacher, - you often repeat that this is why you cannot believe the miracle of the resurrection, because in order to verify it, you would like to be witnesses of it yourself. What you are now saying was already said by someone else, at a time close to the event, and was convinced. Unbelief was defeated here in its very last refuge. Is it really true that in order to make any event worthy of faith, it is necessary to constantly renew it throughout the centuries? Does God really have to reveal himself again to all those who desire it? And will it be worthy of His wisdom to multiply the evidence, as the unbelief of people increases and their contempt for the evidence that He has already given? Jesus Christ refused the evil Pharisees the miracles they demanded of Him. He did not deign to answer Herod’s empty curiosity, with which the latter expressed a desire to see some miracles: He did not want to descend from the cross, as His enemies, who nailed Him to the cross, suggested. Seeing the different motives of these desires, He acts differently; with kindness he condescends to the demands of the student, who is guilty, it is true, but not malicious; who did not submit to the truth, but wanted to know it; refusing to believe the evidence of His resurrection, but also ardently wanting to be convinced of it, slowed down in his faith by the very excess of his desire and the fear that it would not come true.” If you have misfortune, like St. Thomas, hesitate with doubts and perplexities, then have the same purity of good intentions as he does; like him, desire the truth and it will be revealed to you: ask God for knowledge of it, and He will show it to you - the truth is no longer in sensory phenomena, but through the invisible action of His grace. Truth will be the first reward of your efforts to find it; but, on the contrary, in fairness, error is and should be the first punishment of everyone who dwells on it with love. The Fathers of the Church offer various reasons why the Savior of the world had to be resurrected with the signs of His painful suffering. Blazh. Augustine says that this was to heal our unbelief, and to convince us that the same flesh that suffered a shameful death and was buried should also sit at the right hand of the Eternal Father (Serm. 147 de temp.). So, let us learn never to separate these two sacraments: Jesus crucified and Jesus risen. In the death of Jesus Christ we see only the weaknesses of man, and thinking only about this, we could weaken in our courage: in His resurrection we see only the glory of God and will not find anything to imitate: but uniting His death and His resurrection, we see the God-man, Who is entirely the foundation of that holy faith that we have the good fortune to profess. We should not doubt at all that the members of our body that will be most affected by suffering here will be the most glorified there: so not only should we not be sad when suffering any serious illness, but we should also rejoice at it; because if we become like Jesus Christ during this life, then we will be like Him after our death, and those ulcers and sufferings, which we currently look at only with a feeling of horror, will then be our consolation and triumph. Saint Ambrose believes that Jesus Christ, being a mediator between God and people, had to save His wounds in order to show them to His Father as the price of our redemption and thus incline His wrath, constantly aroused by our sins, to mercy, and not to show them to people, now arousing their love and piety, now reproaching them for ingratitude and insensibility! The pious Bernard says that the Son of God preserved not only these marks and traces of His wounds, but also the openings of His pierced hands and sides, in order to show sinners the very depth of His mercy, to offer them refuge, to open the way to His heart, and to draw their hearts to Himself, revealing His (Serm. 61. in Cant.). All Jerusalem witnessed the miraculous discovery of the gift of tongues in the Apostles: everyone was amazed and, perplexed, said to each other: what does this mean? And others, mocking, said: they got drunk on sweet wine. But Peter with the eleven Apostles stood before the people and began to speak to them in a sublime voice: Jews and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem! Know this and listen to my words. They are not drunk as you think; for now it is still the third hour (ninth hour of the morning according to the current reckoning) of the day; but this is what was foretold by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on My servants and on My handmaids in those days I will pour out My Spirit, and they will prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above, and signs on the earth below: blood and fire and smoking smoke. The sun will turn into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes, and whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Israelis! Listen to these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man testified to you by God with miracles and appearances and signs that God did through Him among you, as you yourself know, according to the exact determination and foreknowledge of God, betrayed, you took him and killed him, nailing him to the cross with the hands of the wicked. But God raised Him up, breaking the bonds of death, because it was not possible for it to hold Him. For David says of Him: I have always seen the Lord before me, for He is at my right hand, so that I should not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; that my flesh may rest in hope; because You will not leave My soul in hell, and You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You made me know the ways of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence. Brethren! Let it be allowed to tell you directly about the forefather David, that he died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being a prophet and knowing that God promised him with an oath from the fruit of his loins to raise up Christ according to the flesh and seat him on his throne, he foresaw the resurrection of Christ, and therefore said that His soul was not left in hell, and His flesh did not see corruption (Ps. 15:10). This Jesus God raised up, of which we are all witnesses. So, He, having been exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into heaven, but he says: “The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool” (Ps. 109:1). Know therefore, all the house of Israel, that God has made this very Jesus, whom you crucified, to be Lord and Christ. Hearing this, they were touched in their hearts and said to Peter and the other Apostles: “Brothers! What should we do? Peter said to them: “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise has been made to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” And with many other words he convinced and exhorted, saying: “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” So those who diligently received his word were baptized; and about three thousand souls were added that day. And they constantly arrived in the teaching of the Apostles, in fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. And fear was upon every soul; and the Apostles did many signs and wonders in Jerusalem. The believers were all together and had everything in common. They sold estates and all kinds of property, and distributed them to everyone, depending on the need of each. And every day they remained in the church with one accord: and, breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with joy and in simplicity of heart, praising God, and were loved by all the people. The Lord added daily those who were being saved to the church. If we ever need to justify ourselves in an unjust accusation, then let our justification be as brief as the answer of St. Peter and the Jews, who unjustly accused the Apostles of drunkenness. It is commendable to have the humility to endure slander in silence if it concerns us alone; but it is our duty to justify ourselves with modesty when it comes to the honor of religion and the glory of God. The first sermon of St. Peter sets an amazing example for imitation by all those who are called to the sublime duty of teaching and defending the sacred dogmas of the faith. In this sermon we notice the frequent use of Holy Scripture, clearly and correctly explained; an image of expression that is understandable and touches the hearts of everyone; the power of proof, which, with the help of grace, always leads to practical consequences. This should be the word of every preacher who wants to bring true and lasting benefit to his listeners; he, so to speak, needs not so much extensive talents as the Spirit of God; So, let him learn to be more a man of God than a man of this world. The spirit of the world awakens passions and feeds all vices - the causes of disunity and all kinds of disorder and evil in society: The Spirit of God fetters passions, destroys all vices and everywhere sows peace, harmony, sincerity, righteousness, unity, love and happiness!... Sapphira, stricken by death The apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, boldly continued to speak the word of God. The large community of believers had one heart and one soul; and no one called anything of his property his own, but they had everything in common. The apostles testified with great power to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; and great grace was upon them all. There was no one poor among them; for all the owners of estates or houses, when they sold them, brought the price of what was sold and laid them at the feet of the Apostles, and everyone was given what they needed. So Josiah, called by the Apostles Barnabas, which means the son of consolation, a Levite, a native of Cyprus, who had his own land, sold it, brought money and laid it at the feet of the Apostles. Someone named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold the estate and withheld some of the price, with the knowledge of his wife, and brought some of it and laid it at the feet of the Apostles. But Peter, at the inspiration of the Spirit of God, having learned about the deception of this hypocrite, said: Ananias, why did you allow Satan to put the thought into your heart - to deceive the Holy Spirit and hide part of the price of the estate? Didn’t what was not sold belong to you, and what was acquired by sale was not in your power? How did you come up with this idea? You lied not to men, but to God. Hearing these words, Ananias fell lifeless: and great fear seized all who heard this. And getting up, the young men prepared him for burial, and, carrying him out, buried him. About three hours later his wife came, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her: tell me, how much did you sell the estate for? She said: yes, for that much. But Peter said to her: Why did you agree to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, those who buried your husband are entering the door; and they will carry you out. Suddenly she fell at his feet and gave up the ghost. And when the young men entered, they found her dead, and, carrying her out, they buried her next to her husband. And great fear seized the whole church and all who heard this. A special feature of self-interest is that it divides a person with himself, doubles his character, hiding under the veil of hypocrisy, and introduces trickery, deception, disagreement and division everywhere. On the contrary, the miracle of Christian love lies in the fact that it most closely unites people who often have completely opposite views and different passions, so that they all seem to have one soul and one heart, and hence the same desires, the same inclinations and the same affections. Unselfishness, the virtue of the holy Apostolic Society, constituted the glory of the primacy of the Church. The Apostle of the Christians of Ephesus subsequently called for this, worthy of surprise, communion of the first believers, saying: “to carefully preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace; For you have one body and one spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling” (Eph. 4:3-4). Happy is the society, among which there is not a single poor person! Because the rich, possessed of a love for eternal goods, considered it their duty not to allow their brothers to be deprived of temporal goods. The gifts they squandered were all the more generous the more they depended on their arbitrariness; these gifts, on the one hand, were evidence of mutual goodwill between Christians, on the other hand, contempt for earthly goods, which faith commands. Ananias and Sapphira hoped to provide an external service to society by throwing all their property at the feet of the apostles, but they lied about the integrity of their gift. In vain do wicked defenders, naturally unfit, try to justify the important crime of Ananias and Sapphira. It was not St. Peter who punished this crime; for could his word have so much power without the power of God? But the Lord Himself, whose wisdom may have wanted to prevent other temptations and even greater abuses. What a saving fear truly gripped the entire church on the occasion of the sudden and terrible execution of Ananias and Sapphira! The surest way to prevent unrest, both in a decent family and among an educated people, as well as the unrest of one person, is to be able to punish the first deviations, in due time. Ananias and Sapphira present a striking image of those foolish people who think to combine the spirit of this world with the outward appearance of piety. Crazy! What they leave for the world prevents them from enjoying the pleasure that comes from devotion to God; just as, on the contrary, what they give to God prevents them from enjoying the pleasures that they expect from the world. And how many people like Ananias are there in this age of pretense, deceit and love of money. There are so many people today who openly and loudly tell everyone they meet that they are friends, defenders, even martyrs of religion and sound philosophy, if circumstances so demanded, but in fact they are ready to sell themselves in the service of the one who will give them more - gossipers, boasters of good manners, petitioners or shameless promises! Their opinions, their talents, their pen, are at the same time friendly with truth and lies, flattery and slander, temptation and good example. They also fearlessly laugh at good, which they sometimes capriciously extol with praise, as well as at evil, which they pursue with their pharisaical jealousy. There are many such people everywhere. Social annals present to us a great multitude of such strange people, such preachers of morality in words, such lawless judges, such significant and proud persons, whom a piece of gold, insignificant gifts, and sometimes even a few copper pennies make soft as wax, obliging like slaves. Others easily allow themselves to be carried away by flattery - this false and insignificant coin of meager minds. When an honest and disinterested man with intelligence and conscience meets them, they do not understand his language; for Christian modesty is not baseness, just as humility is not humiliation. To become understandable to them, he must humiliate himself and crawl, but he has honor and principles - not empty words and false shine like theirs. Poor people, they need to cover themselves up more tightly, even their disguise betrays them! Religion mourns them, reason stigmatizes them, man runs around them with feeling, the evil laughs at them, and yet the great world tolerates them; but death will come, and in eternity justice!!! Saul, breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, came to the High Priest and asked him for letters to Damascus to the synagogues, so that whoever he found following the teachings of Christ, both men and women, would be tied up and brought to Jerusalem. As he walked and approached Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven shone around him; and, falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him: Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me? He said: Who are you, Lord? The Lord said: I am Jesus, whom you persecute; It's hard for you to go against the grain. He said in awe and horror: Lord! What will you have me do? And the Lord said to him: get up and go into the city; and you will be told what you need to do. The people walking with him stood in a daze, hearing the voice but not seeing anyone. Saul got up from the ground and with his eyes open he saw no one. And they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. For three days he did not see and did not eat or drink. Then there was a certain disciple in Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision: Ananias! He said: I am the Lord. The Lord said to him: get up and go to the street, so-called straight, and look in the house of Judas for the Tarsian named Saul; he is now praying and has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come to him and lay his hand on him to restore his sight. Ananias answered: Lord! I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he did to Thy saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the high priests to bind all who call on Your name. But the Lord said to him: Go, for this man is My chosen instrument and will carry My name to the nations and kings and the children of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for My name. Ananias went and entered the house, and laying his hands on him, said: Brother Saul! The Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were walking, sent me so that you could receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately it was as if scales fell from his eyes; and suddenly he began to see, and, standing up, was baptized. And having taken food, he became stronger. And Saul was with his disciples in Damascus for some time, and immediately began to preach in the synagogues about Jesus, that He is the Son of God. And all who heard marveled, and said, Isn’t this the same one who persecuted in Jerusalem those who call on this name? and did he come here for this, to bind him and lead him to the high priests? Saul grew stronger and stronger and argued with the Jews living in Damascus, proving that Jesus is the Christ. It was not enough for Saul to dip his hands in the blood of St. Stephen and make the whole Church the field of his persecution; his bloodthirsty rage demanded even new victims; but Stephen’s blood begged the Lord for mercy towards the executioners who killed him, and he received what he asked for. Stefan dies, his voice condemned to silence; the voice of Saul, who became Paul, soon resounds like the sound of a trumpet. So God does not abandon His Church and rewards its losses with new gifts even more glorious. At the very time when Saul was breathing only threats and murder, Jesus Christ accomplishes His victory over him. The Divine Savior does not wait until the very excess of the persecutor’s enmity forces him to moderate himself, and this enmity softens by itself: no, He wants to triumph over him when his passions are at the highest degree of tension, in order to show the strength of His power, subduing him in the midst of his most ardent impulses. Like cool dew falling from the sky, the Savior's voice extinguishes the burning passion that consumes him. “What a great miracle,” exclaims St. John Chrysostom, “the conversion of St. Paul! Peter denied Jesus Christ during His lifetime; Paul confessed Him after His death. Truly, to triumph over Paul, to bend him under the yoke of the Gospel, was a miracle more powerful than the resurrection of the dead by the mere overshadowing of His shadow. Here nature obeyed a supreme order, which she had no power to resist; but there was freedom to obey and disobey; and through this the power of God is especially revealed, who knew how to bend her to obedience. Therefore, to change the will of such a person was a miracle higher than commanding nature.” Bringing Paul to the feet of Jesus Christ, after Jesus Christ died and was laid in the tomb, is a special triumph of religion! Only by allowing him to exhaust all his hatred did Jesus Christ call him to confirm with irrefutable evidence the truth of His resurrection and His teaching. Peter preaching the resurrection might still seem suspicious. Persistent minds, capable of closing their eyes to the evidence that presented them with the testimony of such a person who first swears to turn away from his Master, then confesses Him and gives up his very life for Him, which of course he could not do without the most sincere conviction - these stubborn minds could say that Peter preaches the resurrection of Jesus only because he was His disciple, shared a meal with Him, lived for three years in community with He was carried away by flattering promises. But when Paul, who had never seen or heard Jesus; not being among His followers during His earthly life, and cruelly enmitying Him even after His crucifixion, without mercy putting to death those who believed in Him, leaving behind him everywhere awe and horror - when this Paul suddenly changes, preaches Jesus with much greater zeal and labor than Christ’s own disciples; – is it possible, we ask after all this, not to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ? For, if Christ was not resurrected, then who could attract such a cruel persecutor of Christianity to Christianity? Who convinced Paul, we ask the Jews, to accept faith in Jesus Christ? Was it not Peter, or James, or John, in whom he inspired fear and distrust, not only before his conversion, but even for some time after it, because when Barnabas introduced him into the assembly of believers in Jerusalem, everyone still retained feelings of distrust (Acts 9:26)? Without a doubt, no; Paul's conversion was not a matter of human persuasion, but of God's grace alone. If Jesus died as a simple man, and His body was stolen by the disciples; then how did this dead man perform one of His greatest miracles when He was no longer among the living? And after His death, He not only turns His irreconcilable enemy to Himself, which in itself serves as sufficient proof of Divine omnipotence, but also binds him to Himself with bonds so strong that of all the Apostles, he works most hard to establish the very Church that he had previously so cruelly persecuted. Where can we find expressions strong enough to adequately portray the virtues of this great man? In himself alone he combines everything that is most excellent in all others. Everything that is most amazing in the virtues of the patriarchs and the righteous, in the holiness and deeds of the prophets, in the zeal of the apostles and the selflessness of the martyrs - we find all this to the highest degree in the life of St. Paul. And without intending to diminish their glory in any way, we can say that Paul united in himself their most sublime virtues. But what are we saying? Let us rise in our thoughts above the boundaries of the earth: let us transport our thoughts to heaven itself, and we will not hesitate to attribute to Paul the high title of Angel. The glory of the heavenly spirits consists in their perfect obedience to the commands of the Lord, who makes them, according to the Psalmist, His messengers and servants. Paul, like them, like a flame of fire, flowed through the entire earth, cleansing it; he was not stopped by the shell of his body, which chained him to the earth, and he, while still living among people, was a worthy competitor of heavenly minds. What a great man! How excellent is human nature! What virtue cannot she achieve? All this, more than any other mortal, was proven by Saint Paul. His life is the most eloquent answer to the detractors of humanity, the most powerful exhortation to virtue. It shows with what efforts of struggle with oneself it is possible for a person to destroy the barrier separating him from the heavenly spirits. The Holy Apostle was obsequious to us; His nature was not composed of other elements; he did not dwell on an earth different from ours: how did he rise so far above everything human and earthly? What can those who place vice on the slippery slope of a mountain, and virtue at the very top of an inaccessible cliff, object to his example? Saint Paul refutes them with these words: our present light sufferings in the greatest abundance produce for us eternal glory (2 Cor. 4:17). Therefore, he rejoiced in disasters, reproaches, persecutions, for all this was for him a guarantee of spiritual blessings, and each of his struggles was for him an opportunity to acquire glorious monuments of victory, which he erected for the glory of God, who gave him victory. He does not wait for sorrow to overtake him, he himself goes to meet them, they constitute pleasure for him; he would rather die than live; desires poverty more than wealth; he seeks labor and sorrow more zealously than others do for peace and pleasure; He prays for his persecutors with greater zeal than with which others persecute their enemies. Insulting God is true evil; doing His will is true good. Paul doesn’t know anything else: because of this, not only does the earth represent for him nothing worthy of his respect, and neither power, nor happiness, nor power attracts his desires: but heaven itself has only one object, which for him embraces everything that is desirable. Jesus Christ alone occupies his thoughts, fills his heart, without Him everything else has no meaning for Paul; the love of Jesus Christ replaces for him all honors and all riches. Paul could not bear the thought of being separated from the love of Christ: this removal for him is all kinds of punishments, the only torment that he fears, hell itself. To possess the love of Jesus Christ is for him the only life, the whole universe, the whole heaven, all the present and the future; to possess this love for him means to reign, to receive the fullness of promises, to be at the pinnacle of bliss. Let us marvel at the power of the Lord and the zeal of Saint Paul in furthering the plans of His mercy. But let's not limit ourselves to just simple surprise. Let us imitate his example so that we may one day be worthy to share his rewards with him. He himself calls us to this: “I have accomplished a good deed,” he says, “I have finished my career, I have kept the faith. And now there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all those who loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:7-8). Let us not stop at the mere contemplation of this majestic courage, this flame of holy fidelity, which bestowed upon Saint Paul such high advantages. Let us not forget that Paul was the same person as we are, subject to all the infirmities of our nature, and the vicissitudes of life will seem to us as easy and bearable as they did to him; for like him, being strengthened by the never-failing grace of Jesus Christ for us, we will be able to endure everything. When the blessed Apostle, who in his high “admiration”, rising above the forces of human nature, could penetrate into heaven itself, above the spaces inhabited by heavenly faces, exhorts us to become like Jesus Christ, presenting himself as an example, he tries most of all to prove that this likeness is achieved primarily by a life that brings good and benefit to everyone, and adds: “walk in love” (Eph. 5:2). This is the virtue that brings a person closest to the Divine; other virtues, no matter how great their radiance, are inferior to it; they all constitute a person’s personal dignity; These are, for example: sobriety, abstinence, contempt for worldly goods, moderation and avoidance of anger. The goal of love is more sublime; love is something common to God and man: it is the great commandment of the Lord. Thus Paul, perfected in the fulfillment of each of the virtues, predominantly rises above the other living flame of his love; it ignites it, penetrates it; it constitutes, so to speak, his being. A father does not love his children with more tenderness than Paul loves all people. He was “all all things” in order to win everyone to Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 9:22). He was ready to sacrifice everything to save souls, even himself. He sees in love the fulfillment of the law, the union of perfection, the source of all blessings, the beginning and limit of all virtues. Love made him what he is, and we no longer need to talk about the dead he raised, the lepers he healed. God will not demand miracles from you: have Pavlov’s love, at least try to acquire it. Do you want God to call you like Paul? This is what he does; He tells you - to the extent that your heart is capable of listening to Him, and if you do not have this attention, then in vain His voice would be heard from the heights of heaven: you will also remain deaf and disobedient. So, fervently pray that He will open the ears of your understanding and fall at His feet, crying out like this: “Lord! What will you have me do?” And His Divine Spirit will teach you everything, both Himself and through the other Ananias, who through the Holy Sacrament will reconcile you with the Church of God, where you will find peace and bliss, temporary and eternal. St. Peter resurrects Tabitha Paul turned to Christ. The churches throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria were at peace, being edified and walking in the fear of the Lord; and with the consolation of the Holy Spirit they multiplied. It happened that Peter, going around everyone, came to the saints living in Lydda. There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been lying on his bed in relaxation for eight years. Peter said to him: Aeneas! Jesus Christ heals you; get up and change your bed: and he immediately rose up. And all those living in Lida and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord. There was a certain disciple in Joppa named Tabitha, whose name means Chamois, she did many good deeds and gave a lot of alms. It happened in those days that she fell ill and died. They washed her and laid her in the upper room. And how Lida was not far from Joppa; Then the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him to ask him not to delay in coming to them. Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they brought him into the upper room, and all the widows came to him with tears and showed him the shirts and clothes that Serna had made while living with them. Peter sent everyone out, and, kneeling down, prayed; then, turning to the body, he said: “Tabitha! Stand up." And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and raised her; and, calling the saints and widows, he presented her to them alive. This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. And he spent a considerable time in Joppa, with a certain Simon a tanner. Seeing the Supreme Apostle personally visiting all believers, we learn that love which, like his great Mentor, descends primarily where there is more poverty that needs help, where there is more weakness that requires encouragement, where there is more suffering for which healing is needed. The more importance and power someone has in the Church, the more worthy he is to be everything to everyone, in order to win all hearts to Jesus Christ. The shepherd of the Church belongs not to himself, but to his flock, and there is little benefit if he limits himself to contemplative vigilance and theoretical zeal, if he does not possess active and constant care, which is constantly revealed more in actions than in words, which learns to know his flock and embrace them with his love, which opens them free access to himself, so that they too can love and know their shepherd. How pitiful is that shepherd whom no one dares to approach, whom no one dares to ask for intercession! How far he is from Jesus Christ, who hid the radiance of His greatness and His Divinity in order to open the way to Himself for all the unfortunate and oppressed by sorrows! Tabitha is a role model for a Christian woman, and especially a widow, faithful to the Lord. Death should find her rich not in the abundance of goods acquired by her, but in the multitude of deeds of mercy she has performed. A Christian retains only those treasures of his, after his death, which he sent to heaven with the hands of the poor. The death of Tabitha was the subject of universal sorrow and tears. What praise for a Christian are the tears of the poor after his death! How eloquent they are to adore God's mercy! What benefit do the tears of their servants bring to many rich people?... It was impossible to ask for a miracle in a more touching and powerful way; never did trust in the mercy of God have more solid foundations, because the point was to return the mother to the poor who needed her, to confirm the faith of the former disciples and to gain new ones for Jesus Christ. The actions of the Apostle during the resurrection of Tabitha serve as an example of what should be done when a sinner is converted from the death of sin to a life of grace. First you must pray for him; then talk to him with meekness and strengthen him in his weakness, and finally, he should introduce him into communication with virtuous and sincerely pious people. God is pleased to demonstrate the power of His faithful servants and to pour out upon us the visible gifts of His mercy through their mediation, in order to honor their high virtue and to establish for us the duty of that veneration which we should render to the Saints. Whatever the heretics say, God confirms the honor that we give to the Saints, and the prayers that we send to them, by the very fact that we listen to them. Does He empower superstition by miracles, and thus become the patron of actions offensive to the rights of His deity? No. The Church presents saints to us as our intercessors in heaven; Let us delve into its spirit and never cease to beg them to intercede for us before God. One miracle of the resurrection of Tabitha converted thousands of souls to Christ; and yet so many visible and invisible miracles performed in all centuries are not strong enough to overcome the unbelief of the imaginary sages of our time! In them we encounter the greatest abuse of the Divine gifts. Nowadays, when, on the one hand, people have so many means to learn and be enlightened by the radiance of truth, on the other, when they encounter so many temptations and delusions, when faith soon ceases to be their guide, they enter a labyrinth in which the further forward you go, the more mistaken you become. Recklessness and blindness increase at every step, so that with the loss of faith people seem to lose their very reason, so ridiculous and absurd are the opinions of which they serve as echoes and pitiful victims. The man who raised the dead could have chosen a place other than the craftsman's house to live; but Peter is not afraid to humiliate his ministry with humility and modesty. He does not think to collect tributes of gratitude and praise for a work which he attributes to God alone. He prefers the tanner's house to all others, in order to be freer in the exercise of his ministry, in order to teach by his example the servants of Jesus Christ to have God alone as their goal, not caring about the lower worldly benefits, in order to finally take away from the rich every reason for exaltation, and from the poor the pitiful habit of being ashamed of the state in which Providence has placed them. St. Paul before Festus and Agrippa St. Paul, initially accused before Felix, defended himself with such dignity that aroused respect for him in his court, however, despite this, Felix, out of favor to the Jews, left him in prison. After two years, when Festus took over from Felix, the Jews came to him in Jerusalem, then to Caesarea, bringing many grave accusations against Paul that they could not prove. Paul solemnly proved his innocence; but when Festus, wanting to please the Jews, invited Paul to appear for trial in Jerusalem, he refused and demanded trial from Caesar. Then Festus, having talked with his council, answered: you demanded judgment from Caesar, then you will go to Caesar. A few days later, King Agrippa and his sister Verenice arrived in Caesarea to congratulate Festus. And as they remained there for quite some time, Festus proposed to the king about Paul’s case... Agrippa said to Festus: I would also like to listen to this man. Festus answered: tomorrow you will hear him. The next day, when Agrippa and Berenice came with great pomp, and entered the place of hearing the trial with the captains of thousands and the distinguished people in the city: by order of Festus, Paul was brought in. And Festus said: King Agrippa and all those present are with us! You see a man against whom, both in Jerusalem and here, the Jews in large numbers approached me, shouting that he should no longer live. But I found that he did nothing worthy of death; and as he himself demanded trial from the sovereign, I decided to send him to him. Now, not having anything correct to write about him to the sovereign, I present him to you, and especially to you, King Agrippa, so that after consideration I will have something to write. For it seems to me indecent to send a prisoner and not show what he is accused of. Agrippa said to Paul: You are allowed to speak for yourself. Then Paul, stretching out his hand, began to speak in his defense: “King Agrippa! I consider myself happy that today I can defend myself before you in everything that the Jews accuse me of; especially since you know all the customs and controversial opinions of the Jews. And therefore I ask you to listen to me generously. All the Jews know my life from my youth, which I first spent among my people in Jerusalem; They have also known about me for a long time (if they want to testify) that I lived according to the teachings of the Pharisees, the strictest in our religion. And now I stand before the court for the hope of fellowship given from God to our fathers, which all our twelve tribes hope to see, unceasingly serving God day and night. It is this hope, King Agrippa, that the Jews accuse me of. What? Do you really think it incredible that God raises the dead? True, I myself thought that I should act strongly against the Name of Jesus of Nazareth; and I did this in Jerusalem. Having received power from the high priests, I imprisoned many saints, and when they were killed, I gave my voice to it. And throughout all the synagogues he repeatedly tormented them and forced them to blaspheme Jesus, and, in extreme rage against them, he persecuted them in foreign cities.” St. Paul then tells the King the story of his conversion and continues: “Therefore I did not resist the heavenly manifestation; but first he preached to the inhabitants of Damascus and Jerusalem, then throughout the entire land of Judea and the pagans, so that they would repent and turn to God, and do deeds worthy of repentance. For this reason the Jews seized me in the church and tried to kill me. Having received help from God, to this day I am alive, and I testify to small and large things, saying nothing more than what the prophets and Moses said would happen; that is, that Christ had to suffer and, being the first to rise from the dead, proclaim light to this people of the Jews and the Gentiles.” With these words, Festus called Paul crazy, but Paul firmly answered him that he had not gone mad, but that, on the contrary, he was speaking words of truth, that the events he was narrating did not happen secretly somewhere, but that the king himself knew about them, who also believed in the prophets. Agrippa said to Paul: You have not persuaded me to become a Christian. And Paul said: I would pray to God, that whoever knows how much, not only you, but also everyone who listens to me today, would become like me, except for these bonds. When he said this; then the king, the ruler, Bernice and those sitting with them stood up, and, stepping aside, said to each other: this man has not done anything worthy of death or chains. And Agrippa said to Festus: this man could have been released if he had not demanded trial from Caesar. A faithful servant of the word of God, like a wise man, being forced to defend his innocence, to speak before the great of the world without humiliation and without pride; in his mouth flattery does not weaken the truths that he must proclaim; but at the same time, prudence and respect for the dignity soften his words as much as the truth allows, and love for others requires. He is not afraid of educated and conscientious people even less, for if ignorance often prevents justice, then the passions of the heart even more often deviate from even wanting it. When St. Paul in chains says to his judges: I have persecuted the religion for which I now bear these chains; I was forced to admit its truth, I will not stop preaching it, even if it costs me my life - when the Apostle says this, can one think that he is not convinced of the religion he preaches, or that he is carried away by frivolity, extravagance or weakness of character? You might be interested in: