4.
Patristic Commentary and Other Authorities
•
St. Ambrose: “By this bread the souls of the prudent are fed and delighted, since it is fair andsweet, illuminating the souls of the hearers with the splendor of truth and drawing them onwith the sweetness of the virtues.”
•
Origen: “Consider what Paul calls ‘futility of mind.’ This occurs when someone has a mind butdos not use it for contemplation, instead surrendering it to captivity under Satan.”
•
St. Jerome: “If anyone has indeed heard and learned Christ, he would already have practicalknowledge, since his ignorance would have been dispelled, his darkness illuminated, andevery blindness lifted from the eyes of his heart.”
•
St. Jerome: “The Word of God kills in such a way as to make the dead one come alive. Hethen seeks the Lord whom he did not know before his death. He does not corrupt but kills theold man. As the outer man decays, the inner man is renewed.”
•
Theophylact: “This bread, being the Son of the living Father, is life by its very nature, andaccordingly gives life to all. Just as earthly bread sustains the frail substance of the flesh andprevents it from falling into decay, so Christ quickens the soul through the power of the spirit,and also preserves even the body for immortality. Through Christ resurrection from the deadand bodily immortality have been gratuitously bestowed upon the human race. For wheneverything had been reduced to a condition of spiritual death, the Lord gave us life throughhimself, who is bread.”
•
Alcuin: “When, through the hand of the priest, you receive the Body of Christ, think not of thepriest which you see, but of the Priest you do not see. The priest is the dispenser of this food,not the author. The Son of man gives Himself to us, that we may abide in Him, and He in us.”
•
Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity: “O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me forget myself entirelyso to establish myself in you, unmovable and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity.May nothing be able to trouble my peace or make me leave you, O my unchanging God, butmay each minute bring me more deeply into your mystery! Grant my soul peace. Make it yourheaven, your beloved dwelling and the place of your rest. May I never abandon you there,but may I be there, whole and entire, completely vigilant in my faith, entirely adoring, andwholly given over to your creative action.”
•
Fr. Antonin Gilbert Sertillanges, O.P.: “The supreme task of the moral conscience is to takehold of itself, explore its contents, consider its objectives. Once more to become ourselvesdeliberately after the dispersal effected by our instincts, to be the self of ourself, that is thewhole of our work….Spending my life in the pursuit of what pleases me is an aberration.Wisdom consists in being pleased with what Providence confers upon me or what I havefreely and wisely chosen. Absolute desires can only refer to absolute values. To be attachedat all cost to what is ephemeral, mortal, is to die incessantly.”
•
Fr. Maurice Zundel: “In order that each one of us may not be an impersonal number, in orderthat our life may be of worth and be recognized as such, Jesus has revealed this secret tous: greatness lies in generosity. What tears man away from his prefabricated self is the lovethat severs him from himself to make a gift of it. The Divine Presence becomes efficacious,radiant, thanks to the ‘yes’ given to it when it was already there. This is an immensedeliverance because, henceforth, God is an experience which coincides with the encounter
Leave a Comment