Seeing the Unseen

Deus, in adjutorium meum intende. Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina.
O God, come to  my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me.
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Today I simply am re-printing what was in our Sunday Parish Bulletin, a homily from St. John Chrysostom, Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of the Church, who died in 407 A.D. Underlined sections are my additions.

  " Let us then everywhere obey God and never contradict Him, even though what He may say seems contradictory to our own reason, or to our power to see. Rather let His word prevail over our understanding and our power to see. And let us do this in the sacred mysteries also, looking not alone to what we see before us, but also holding firmly to His words. For His words do not deceive, while our senses are easily deceived. His word never fails, but our mind fails in many things.

   Since therefore He has said: This is My Body, let us trust Him, let ius believe Him, and let us look upon Him with the eyes of our soul. For Christ has given us nothing that the senses can perceive. For though they are under sensible forms, yet they are all things of the mind. So it is in Baptism, where a gift is bestowed on us by means of the visible substance of water; yet what is done is something spiritual, namely, birth and regeneration. For if you had no body, He would have given you these spiritual gifts as it were unveiled. But since your soul is united to a body, He gives you His spiritual gifts within things you can see.

   How many are there who now say: Would that I could see Him in human form, see the print of His feet, His garments? But you do see Him, you do touch Him, you eat of Him. You long to see even His garments; but He gives Himself to you, and not merely to see, but to be touched by you, to eat, to be received within you. But let no one on that account draw near with a sense of nausea, no one with indifference, but all eager and fervent. For if the Jews ate the Paschal lamb in haste, standing, their feet shod, staff in hand (Exod.12), how much the more ought we to eat it with sober watchfulness? They were about to journey forth to Palestine, and for this they were dressed as travelers. You are soon to go to Heaven. And so because of this we must be vigilant on all sides: for not light is the punishment of those who eat the Pasch unworthily. "

Jesus Christ gave us Himself as food for our souls,  to keep our spirits nourished for the hard journey here on earth, the narrow way, to help us gain Heaven. Our bodies need nourishment to live. Our souls need His nourishment to help us in our journey to eternal life, body and soul.

St. Paul admonished those who would receive the Eucharist unworthily. "Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself: and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord." (1 Cor. 11: 27-29).

June 1, 2015