Saturday, January 2, 2016

Forward to What Lies Ahead

The Church Fathers ... they really 'get it.' Here Gregory Nazianzen ("the Theologian") preaches around the year 390 on Christian community. He nails it.

"Let each one of us, no matter what his walk of life or circumstances, offer to God all that he can on every occasion according to the measure of his capacity, according to the gift bestowed upon him.... Let one contribute his riches, another his abject poverty;...one a commendable deed, another a perceptive thought; one a timely remark, another eloquent silence;...one virginity that is pure and severs all contact with the world, another a marriage that is devout and in no way divorced from God; one fasting that is not tainted with pride; another feast tempered by restraint; one unbroken prayers and spiritual hymns, another the care of the poor; all of us our tears, all of us our purification, all of us our upliftment and a straining forward to what lies ahead" (Saint Gregory Nazianzen).