My face should reflect the feeling of smilies.
That prompted the messages as Secret Emoticons for MSN Messeneger!
Following the Night Office Second Reading echoed the title The source of happiness!
The rare Patristic writer Gregory of Agrigento embellished beyond the simplicity words of 'HE AND i' in the quotation of the yesterday Post.
.............our Lectionary had a second reading of Gregory Agrigento during the week.
Gregory of Agrigento (late
6th century) was born in Agrigento and ordained a deacon by the Patriarch of
Jerusalem shortly after his pilgrimage to Palestine. He was later made the
Bishop of Agrigento near Sicily. A lengthy biography on Gregory was written by
Leontius, prior of the monastery of Saint Sabas in Rome, which was modified by
Simon Metahrastes
Year II
First Reading
Ecclesiastes 8:5-9:10
Responsoru 1 Cor 2:9-10; Eccl8:17
No eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him;+ these
things God has revealed to us through his Spirit, who searches everything. even
the depths of God.
V. Man stands bewildered before
the mystery of all God's works. + These things God ...
Second Reading
From
a commentary by Gregory of Agrigento (In Eccles. VIlI, 6; PG 98,1071-1074)
I will rejoice in the Lord
Go, eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart,
because it is now that God favours your works. If we want to explain this sentence in
an obvious and ordinary way, we rightly assert that it appears as a just
exhortation by which Ecclesiastes admonishes us to embrace a simple rule of life dedicated to sincere faith in God and joyfully eat bread and drink wine in
peace of mind; not to slip into evil conversations, nor wander into roundabout
paths; but rather to dwell always on good things and, insofar as we can,
benevolently and kindly come to the aid of the poor and needy. We must abandon
ourselves precisely to those sentiments and actions in which God himself takes delight.
However, the anagogical explanation brings us to a higher
knowledge and teaches us to consider the celestial and mystical bread which has
come down from heaven and brought life to the world; and with a right heart to
drink the spiritual wine, namely, that which issued from the side of the true vine
immediately at the moment of his saving passion. Concerning these, the gospel
of our salvation says: Taking bread and giving thanks, Jesus said to his
disciples and apostles: Take this and eat it: this is my body, which is
sacrificed for you in remission of sins. Similarly, he took the cup and
said: All of you must drink from it, for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant,
to be poured out on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins. Hence, those
who eat this bread and drink this mystical wine really rejoice and exult and
can exclaim in a loud voice: "You put gladness into my heart."
Furthermore, I believe that even in the Book of Proverbs the Wisdom
of God subsisting in himself, namely, Christ our Saviour, referred to this bread
and wine when he said: "Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have
mixed," indicating the mystical participation in the Word. Indeed, those
to whom these words are to be applied, because of their merits, at all times
present their vestments as works of light no less resplendent than the light itself,
as the Lord says in the gospels: Your light must shine before all so that
they may see goodness in your acts and give praise to your heavenly Father. In
this way, oil may perpetually be poured out over their heads, that is, the
Spirit of truth, who protects and preserves them from any sinful offense.
Responsory Ps 91:11-12;
Heb 12:1
He will chargehis angels to guard you wherever you go; + they will
bear you upon their hands that you may not strike your foot against a stone.
V. Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let
us run with resolution the race that lies before us, our eyes fixed on Jesus, the
pioneer and perfecter of our faith. +
**********************
TWENTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - SATURDAY
Alternative Reading
From a commentary by Gregory of Agrigento (In Eccles. X, 2: PG
98, 1138-1139)
The source of happiness
For if light were to fail, the world would no longer be the
world, and life would be lifeless; that is why Moses, the Lord's seer said:
God saw how good the light was.
It is good for us to meditate on the great, true, and eternal light
which gives light to every person, that is, Christ the Saviour and Liberator
of the world! After revealing himself to the gaze of the prophets, he became
man and tasted the very depths of the human condition.
It is about him that the prophet David says: Sing to God, chant
praise to his name, extol him who rides upon the clouds, whose name is the Lord;
exult before him. And Isaiah adds his great voice to this:
People seated in darkness, look at this light. Upon you who dwell
in the land of gloom, a light will shine.
Indeed, this light is sweet, and this sun of glory is good for
the eyes that look upon him. At the time of his divine incarnation he said: I
am the light of the world. No follower of mine shall ever walk in darkness;
no, he shall possess the light of life. And again: The judgement of condemnation
is this: the light came into the world.
In this way, therefore, the light of the sun seen by our eyes of
flesh announced the spiritual Sun of justice, who was the most sweet sun that
had risen for those who at that time had the good fortune to be instructed by him
and to see him face to face with their eyes of flesh while he dwelt among men as
an ordinary man. But all the time he was not only an ordinary man but was born
true God capable of giving sight to the blind, letting the lame walk, enabling
the deaf to hear, and bringing the dead to life by means of a single word.
But even now there is nothing more pleasant than to fix on him
our spiritual eyes in contemplation and the vision of his prodigious and divine
beauty; there is nothing more pleasant than to be enlightened and adorned by this
participation and his communion in the light, to have the heart rendered milder,
to have the soul sanctified, and to be filled with divine joy all the days of
this life. This is the meaning of this word from Ecclesiastes: However many years
a man may live, he enjoys them all. For in truth this Sun of justice is, for
all who look upon him, the source of happiness, according to this prophecy of
David: The just rejoice and exult before God; they are glad and rejoice; and
again: Exult, you just, in the Lord.
Responsory Is 55:8-9; Heb 11:2
My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says
the Lord. + For as the heavens are high above the earth, so are my ways above
your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts. V. It was for their faith that
the people of former times won God's approval. + For as the heavens ...
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