Dom Donald's Blog

michael-burghers-
Origen-of-alexandria-christian-writer-and-teacher-
one-of-the-greek-fathers-of-the-church

First Week Lent

Wednesday

First Reading Deuteronomy 10:12 ...

Second Reading From a homily by Origen of Alexandria

                                                    (Homilies on Numbers 12, 3: PG 12, 662)

God's gifts and human freedom

Do human beings have anything to offer to God? Yes, their faith and their love. These are what God asks of them, as it is written: And now, 0 Israel, do you know what the Lord, your God, requires of you? To fear the Lord, your God, to walk in his ways, to love him, to keep all his commandments, and to serve the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your soul.

These are the offerings, these the gifts which we must present to the Lord. And in order that we may offer him these gifts from the heart, we must first know him, we must have drunk the knowledge of his goodness from the waters of his deep well.

But look more closely at these words of Moses the prophet:

And now, 0 Israel, what does the Lord, your God, require of you? Those who deny that the salvation of human beings is within the power of their freedom ought to blush when they hear these words! Would God require something of human beings if they were incapable of responding to God's demand and offering him what they owe him? No: there is indeed God's gift, but there is also a contribution they must make.

For example, it was indeed within the power of a human being to make a gold piece earn ten more or five more, but it was for God to see it that this man should have the gold piece which he could use to earn ten more. When the man present­ed to God the ten pieces he had earned, he received another gift, not money this time, but authority and rule over ten cities.

So, too, God required Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on a mountain which the Lord would show him, and Abraham unhesitatingly did surrender his only son. He placed him on the altar and took out the knife to cut his throat, but a voice immediately held him back and a ram was given him to sac­rifice in place of his son.

As you see, what we offer to God remains ours, but this offering is required of us in order that by giving it we may witness to our love for God and our faith in him.